A unique actuator (130) and user interface preferably located on one side of a communication device enables one-handed operation of the device, such as a radiotelephone or other portable communication device. In particular, a multifunction rocker switch (302) may rotate around or slide along a particular axis to scroll up and down through functions, while the rocker switch could move in an orthogonal direction to select a function. Alternatively, three keys (124-128) could be employed in place of the multifunction rocker switch. Among other functions, the actuator will preferably provide the user access to menu features (604) to perform the confirmation or selection operation in most menu features and access to the name directory (610) to place calls when reviewing a number and to terminate a call when completed.

As wireless communication devices have been significantly reduced in size, they have become easier to transport and use in a variety of environments. Conventional communication devices such as radiotelephones include the standard telephone keys (0-9, *, #) as well as other functional keys to implement various functions of the radiotelephone. However, the operation of conventional radiotelephones is inhibited by the keypad layout. In particular, current radiotelephones often require two hands to implement functions of the radiotelephone. A user of a radiotelephone will typically hold the device in one hand while actuating keys commonly located on the surface of the radiotelephone.
Some conventional radiotelephones have included a pair of discrete keys for controlling the volume of the radiotelephones. Other conventional radiotelephones have added thumb wheels or thumb balls to improve the operation of the device. However, such modifications merely reduce the time required to cursor through a menu, but do not improve the ability to implement functions of the radiotelephone.
Further, as the size of wireless communication devices decreases, the surface area available for keys is significantly reduced. Conventional radiotelephones have a keypad located on the front surface. Although some conventional radiotelephones have added keys on a surface other than the front surface having the main keypad, such keys have limited functionality and must be used in conjunction with the main keypad.
Accordingly, there is a need for a novel method and apparatus for actuating functions of a communication device.
Additionally, there is a need for novel method and apparatus for enabling one-handed operation of a communication device.

Radiotelephone having an auxiliary actuator and method for operating said radiotelephone


A tappet for use in an internal combustion engine comprises Al-alloy base material and a sprayed layer on the outer surface which is slidable with a cylinder head. The sprayed layer is made of Fe-alloy which comprises not more than 0.1% by weight of C, 0.6-2.0% by weight of Mn and the balance of Fe, thereby providing high hardness, high toughness and low cost. The sprayed layer may further contain 0.1-1.0% by weight of Si.

The present invention relates to a tappet or a valve lifter for use in a reciprocating internal combustion engine.
In a known tappet for an internal combustion engine, for example, carburizing hardening has been applied to a tappet body made of steel or cast iron. Recently, coated light alloys have been used in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Pub. No. 63-174508; NiP alloy plated metal in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Pub. No. 62-138803; and Fe-C sprayed metal in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Pub. No. 1-315607.
However, in the known steel or cast-iron tappets or light alloy tappets which are subject to surface treatment, there are disadvantages such as increase in mass in steel or cast iron tappets; increase in cost in tappets as disclosed in Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open Pub. Nos. 63-174508 and 62-138803; and decrease in toughness of a sprayed layer as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Pub. No. 1-315607, which could not be solved sufficiently.
In view of the disadvantages, the object of the present invention is to provide a light-alloy tappet in an internal combustion engine having low cost, a wear-resistant sprayed layer and high toughness.


A system for split-frequency amplification, preferably including: one or more primary-band amplification stages, one or more secondary-band amplification stages, one or more band-splitting filters, and/or one or more signal couplers. An analog canceller including one or more split-frequency amplifiers. A mixer including one or more split-frequency amplifiers. A voltage-controlled oscillator including one or more split-frequency amplifiers. A method for split-frequency amplification, preferably including: receiving an input signal, separating the input signal into signal portions, and/or amplifying the signal portions, and optionally including combining the amplified signal portions and/or providing one or more output signals.

Many traditional wireless communication systems are half-duplex; that is, they are not capable of transmitting and receiving signals simultaneously on a single wireless communications channel. Recent work in the wireless communications field has led to advancements in developing full-duplex wireless communications systems; these systems, if implemented successfully, could provide enormous benefit to the wireless communications field. For example, the use of full-duplex communications by cellular networks could cut spectrum needs in half. One major roadblock to successful implementation of full-duplex communications is the problem of self-interference.
Many solutions to address self-interference rely on amplifiers (e.g., as part of an analog self-interference canceller, a mixer, and/or an oscillator), but these solutions may suffer in performance due to constraints inherent in traditional amplification solutions. Thus, there is a need in the wireless communications field to create new and useful systems for split-frequency amplification.

Systems and methods for split-frequency amplification


Technologies for compressing a blockchain. In some examples, the technologies include removing selected blocks within a blockchain, and replacing the selected blocks with a summary block and a padding block. Each block of the selected blocks includes data in a certain state (such as data in an obsolete state). The technologies can include generating the summary block and padding blocks according to the data in the selected blocks and an original root hash included in the selected blocks and other blocks of the blockchain. The generating of the summary and padding blocks can include generating a new root hash in the summary and padding blocks that only replaces the original root hash in the summary and padding blocks. The generation of the new root hash can be based on a part of a header of a non-selected block of the blockchain directly linked to an end block of selected blocks.

A blockchain is a digitized, decentralized, public ledger of digital transactions. Blockchain technology allows applications and users of the applications to keep track of digital transactions without central recordkeeping. Each blockchain node (such as a computer system connected to a network supporting blockchain technology) can receive and use a copy of the blockchain. Blockchain ledgers can constantly grow, and blocks of a blockchain are often recorded and added to the ledger in chronological order in the network.
In cases where the data associated with transactions in a blockchain is ephemeral or useable for only a short period of time, the constant growth of a blockchain ledger becomes a concern as the expired data or non-useable data provides little to no value to the application using the ledgers or the users using the application. The expired data or non-useable data can become a burden on resources of the network supporting the blockchain. And, at the rate in which blockchain ledgers can grow, the magnitude of the expired data or non-useable data can impair functionality and/or significantly degrade the performance of the application relying on the blockchain ledger. Also, as the growth of ledger chronological, the ratio of valid data on the ledger to the expired or no longer useful data is skewed towards the latter.
Another consideration is that as a blockchain grows its integrity may increase; thus, shortening a fast growing blockchain or breaking it up into smaller parts can introduce technical problems associated with blockchain integrity. For example, the ability of blockchains to maintain immutability and integrity of transactions can occur by aggregating multiple transactions within a block of the chain along with hashes of the previous blocks; thus, creating a dependency chain.
As the blockchain continues to grow the integrity of the blockchain as a whole will continue to become more integrated; and thus, the integrity of the chain improves with its growth. However, as the blockchain becomes too large to query, update, or transmit across its nodes, as well as it becomes too big for its storage resources across the nodes, its size must be managed in some manner. Also, as new nodes are added to the blockchain network, the large and growing blockchain is transmitted to the new nodes as well. This is a significant tax of a computer network's resources since blockchain networks can continue to grow.
Thus, solutions for managing the growth of blockchain ledgers are complex, especially solutions for managing the growth of blockchain ledgers that have ephemeral data or data useable for only a short period of time. Such blockchains can grow rapidly and continually.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Blockchain compression using summary and padding blocks


An endless power transmission belt has an elastomeric body portion, load carrying members embedded in the body portion, and a power transmitting surface integral with the body portion. The elastomeric body portion further includes material to mitigate unstable frictional behavior of the body portion responsible for initiating self-excited vibration at the power-transmitting surface.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to endless power transmission belts and, more particularly, to improved belts having enhanced noise suppression capability. Specifically, the present invention relates to an improved endless belt in the form of a v-ribbed belt having an elastomeric composition including means for mitigating unstable frictional behavior of the belt in order to suppress noise generation and reduce pilling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Many current automotive accessory drive systems employ a multi-ribbed v-belt to transmit power from the engine to the accessories. Most v-belt constructions associated with this application, as well as other endless belts such as power transmission belts, micro-ribbed belts, and the like, typically utilize neoprene, SBR, or polybutadiene-based polymer systems incorporating a variety of additives to enhance certain performance features. One performance characteristic of these belts which has become increasingly important to automotive original equipment and aftermarket applications over the past few years is that of quiet belt operation.
Examples of power transmission belts, v-belts, and micro-ribbed belts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,138,962; 3,200,180; 4,330,287; and 4,332,576. Examples of formation of such belts are readily disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,200,180 as indicated above and U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,772,928 and 4,066,732. These patent references are merely examples of the types of belts and state-of-the-art formation techniques thereof.
Under certain belt and drive conditions, multi-ribbed v-belts can exhibit an audible chirping or squealing noise. One solution to the noise problem in such belts has been to reduce the coefficient of friction of the sprocket engaging surface of the belt by isolating or removing as much of the elastomer as possible from near the surface of the belt when it comes in contact with sprocket teeth or flanges. Such an approach is taken in U.S. Pat. No. 3,772,929. Another manner of dealing with the noise generation problem is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,328 wherein a layer of elastomer impervious material is utilized during the casting operation and bonded to one side of a wear-resistant fabric.
Another approach taken to reduce noise generation in such belts has been to incorporate certain types of short length textile fibers into the belt undercord stock. This practice has been used not only to help inhibit noise but also to enhance wear properties. For particularly demanding belt applications, higher concentrations of textile fiber have been frequently required to ensure acceptable belt noise performance. However, difficulties have often been encountered in the mixing process when a large amount of fiber is to be dispersed into the rubber stock. Consequently, proper dispersion has usually required multiple passes through the mixer which is both time consuming and costly. Furthermore, large quantities of fiber incorporated into the rubber stock have been shown to be detrimental to certain other belt performance characteristics such as fatigue life.
Another problem experienced by multi v-ribbed belts is that of pilling, i.e., wear resulting in the formation of small balls of elastomer material between the ribs of the belt. Pilling can be a source of warranty problems from appearances as well as create noise and tracking problems. Belts to date have not yet effectively addressed this problem.
Consequently, there remains a need to produce a multi-ribbed or v-belt which is quiet during belt operation, reduces pilling and includes a noise suppression mechanism throughout the life of the belt even as it wears, yet does not affect other belt performance characteristics such as fatigue life, temperature resistance, and the like.


A slicer comprising a slicer body including a rotatable blade for slicing a product, and a tray mounted for reciprocal movement relative the slicer body and for supporting and moving the product relative the blade. The tray includes a tray body and a unitary handle. In another embodiment, the invention is a slicer including a slicer body having a rotatable blade for slicing a product and a tray for supporting the product and moving the product relative the blade. The slicer further includes a handle unitary with the tray, the handle providing a surface which a user may grip to manually move the tray.

Commercial food product slicers are widely utilized as rapid and effective means for slicing meat, cheese, vegetables and other food products. Such a slicer is shown in U.S. application Ser. No. 09/470,351, filed Dec. 22, 1999, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. The slicers commonly include a rotatable, disc-like blade, and a reciprocating tray that brings the food product into contact with the rotating blade to cut a slice from the food product. The tray may be motor or manually driven, and typically includes a handle that provides a surface that can be gripped by a user to manually move the tray. It is often desired to remove the tray from the slicer body to clean food, fat, or other debris off of the tray. Once the tray is removed from the slicer, it is typically carried to a sink for rinsing and cleaning.
In most prior art slicers, the handle is attached to the body of the tray such that crevices or gaps may be formed between the handle and the body of the tray. In this case, food or other material may get trapped in the gaps or crevices, which can make the handle and tray time consuming to clean. Accordingly, there is a need for a slicer having a tray with a handle that eliminates any gaps or crevasses adjacent the handle, and is easier to clean.


Disclosed is an LED lighting system comprising a housing equipped with a transparent substrate as an illuminating side, an LED light source located in the housing, and a haze-changeable film attached to the transparent substrate, wherein the transparency of the haze-changeable film changes depending on the application of electric power and the haze-changeable film has a haze on light varying with the intensity of an applied voltage/current. The LED lighting system may be useful for interior emotional lighting because a direct/indirect lighting and a mixed lighting thereof can be provided with a single system and various correlated color temperatures can be produced with a single LED light source.

Since the history of lighting began over 100 years ago with incandescent lamps converting electricity into light, filaments and discharge luminescence light sources have been widely used. However, such filaments and discharge luminescence light sources are problematic because of high power consumption and poor durability. Further, they have disadvantageously low energy efficiency because most of the supplied power is dissipated in the form of heat, while converting only about 5-28% of energy into light. Also, LEDs have been more important as a substitute for conventional light sources due to recent environmental concerns.
LEDs typically do not contain any mercury component and are thus eco-friendly. They have a long lifespan of at least fifty thousand hours and a high energy efficiency of about 90%, as compared to incandescent lamps that have low energy efficiency. Therefore, the scope of application of LEDs has been gradually broadened.
Interior lighting techniques employing an LED light source enable light emitted from the LED to pass through a transparent cover (e.g., a transparent acryl cover) to provide direct lighting, or to pass through a diffusion cover (e.g., a diffusion acryl cover) to provide indirect lighting. Currently, it is necessary to use separate lighting systems adapted for direct lighting and indirect lighting, respectively.
Further, in order to provide two or more correlated color temperatures (CCTs), it is currently necessary to employ LEDs having respective CCTs, resulting in an undesirable increase in the manufacturing costs of the lighting system.
Thus, there has been a demand for the development of novel LED lighting systems capable of addressing the above problems.
Meanwhile, as thin-film materials having various functions have been developed and researches on liquid crystal materials have been made, films capable of adjusting light transmittance or haze have recently been developed. Such a haze-changeable film or a transmittance-changeable film is manufactured by employing functional materials such as liquid crystals and suspended particles.
In a haze- or transmittance-changeable film using liquid crystals or suspended particles, the liquid crystals or suspended particles are interposed between two transparent conductive films. When an electric field is not applied, the liquid crystal molecules or suspended particles are randomly oriented. The haze of the film is maximized since light is scattered, thereby rendering the film opaque. On the other hand, when an electric field is applied, the liquid crystal molecules or suspended particles are well oriented. In such case, light passes through the film, thereby rendering the film transparent. Therefore, the average transmittance of visible light may be adjusted by controlling the intensity of an electric field.
For example, Korean Patent No. 318868 discloses liquid crystals including ferroelectric/antiferroelectric liquid crystal materials and a polymer comprised of urethane acrylate and (meth)acrylate, and a haze-changeable film using same.
Such a haze-changeable film is spotlighted for an increase in its demand, and there have been attempts to apply it to various fields.

Light emitting diode lighting system having haze-changeable film


In one aspect of the invention, a computer system comprises application logic executable to search an optical medium for at least one type of file system that may be resident on the optical medium. In response to identifying the presence of at least one type of file system resident on the optical medium, the system readies a media driver of an apparatus to make the at least one file system available for access.

Today's computing networks employ many types of complex technology. For example, consumers using a variety of client computers such as personal computers (PCs), may communicate virtually seamlessly with a variety of other clients and server computers that may be hosting the same or different operating systems (OSs). These complex technologies also include a proliferation of storage media type, e.g., optical storage media such as Digital Versatile Discs (DVDs), Compact Discs (CDs) and digital video (CDs).
Unfortunately, with the proliferation of various media and other technologies, a consumer may easily be overwhelmed with all of the options required to properly configure a system according to the consumer's need. For example, when readying media such as a CD for access by a processing element such as a computer, many conventional systems and methods blindly attempt to mount a default file system type. If this default file system type is not found on the disk, these systems and methods typically fail. Other systems may be unable to ready media with dual file systems such as Universal Disc Format (UDF)/ISO 9660. Moreover, because the consumer may select among a variety of discs to mount, a conventional system utilizing a default file-system or one that may not read a dual file system typically requires additional time that could be otherwise allocated to more productive tasks. Moreover, user intervention may also be required. Finally, most conventional systems and methods do not monitor for the existence of hazardous files, usually disruptive and/or destructive, that may be used, for example, to launch rogue programs from the mounted discs. Once launched, the rogue program may destroy or modify files on the system.

Automatic media readying system and method for a optical medium with file systems

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


An overvoltage device that is formed from a MOV device that is coupled in parallel with a spark gap. This device is coupled upstream from electronic components to protect these components from damage. For example, in one embodiment, the overvoltage device is coupled to a fault circuit interrupter such as a GFCI, across the phase and neutral lines to protect components of the GFCI from an overvoltage condition. In one embodiment the overvoltage device is formed as an MOV physically coupled to a spark gap wherein the MOV and the spark gap are electrically coupled across the phase line and the neutral line in parallel.

The present invention relates generally to an overvoltage protection device comprising a metal oxide varistor (MOV) that can modify its operating characteristics to protect a ground fault circuit interrupter during the occurrence of an overload voltage surge.
There is a need to protect AC line powered electronics from voltage spikes. One of the most popular methods of surge suppression is the metal oxide varistor (MOV). The surge suppression requirements for AC line powered electronics have increased in recent years. For example, UL testing now requires ground-fault circuit interrupters GFCIs to survive and function normally after several 6 kV, 3 kA voltage surges. It is also required that any surge suppression device for a GFCI must either survive, or self destruct in a safe manner, when a 10,000 amp current surge is applied. A MOV that is 14 or 20 mm in diameter is typically required to have the joule capacity to survive these high voltage, high current surges. At the same time however, circuit interrupter receptacles and plug-in units are required to be small for aesthetic and practical reasons. In particular, receptacle interrupters must fit into standard size wall boxes.
MOVs are bi-polar ceramic semiconductor devices. They act as an open circuit as long as the voltage across them is less than their maximum continuous operating voltage (MCOV). Above their MCOV, MOVs operate as non-linear resistors with a resistance that decreases as the voltage across them increases. This makes MOVs an effective solution for protecting downstream electronics from over-voltages and voltage transients. Since a MOV is open-circuit during normal operating voltages, it does not consume current. However, during voltages transients above the MCOV, it quickly shunts current away from the downstream electronics. In addition, since it is a bi-polar device it can protect electronics from negative and positive voltage transients.
A typical MOV consists of a ceramic mass of zinc oxide grains (mixed with small amounts of metal oxides) placed between two metal electrodes. The shape of the ceramic mass is typically a disk shape with the metal electrodes on the two flat surfaces, though larger MOVs can be square with rounded corners or even toroids. For smaller MOVs (53 mm diameter and less) a lead is soldered to each electrode and the MOV is encapsulated in epoxy or other insulative material.
Clearly there is a need for improved surge suppression techniques that take up a relatively small volume, clamp at low enough voltage to protect 120/240 v circuits adequately and are resistant to catastrophic failure during high current surges.
This is because a high voltage transient surge can totally or partially damage electrical devices such as Ground Fault Circuit Interrupters (GFCIs) located in homes, factories and commercial buildings. In many instances, the damage can cause only the protective features of the GFCIs to become either partially or fully inoperative while the device itself continues to conduct electricity. Thus, a user of this type of GFCI could still obtain power from the face terminals of a GFCI but not receive the GFCI type protection.
In operation, an MOV is connected in parallel with the device that is to be protected such as but not limited to a GFCI. At low voltages the MOV has a very high resistance. At high voltages, the varistor has a very low resistance so that when a high voltage transient surge appears on the power supply line, the MOV, which appears as a low resistance, prevents the transient voltage surge from reaching the device. As stated above, conduction through an MOV begins when the voltage across the MOV reaches a maximum continuous operating voltage, referred to as the varistor voltage. As the voltage increases, the MOV's resistance drops rapidly and may approach zero. Because the resistance of the MOV decreases as the voltage increases, the MOV diverts transient current through itself and not through the device that is connected in parallel with and down stream of the MOV. After the occurrence of the voltage transient surge, the MOV returns to its normal high resistance state and is ready for the next high voltage surge.
However, another characteristic of an MOV is that during operation, the MOV will increase in temperature as it conducts high voltage surges. If the voltage surges are well spaced, the MOV can cool down between events. However, if the events are closely spaced, the MOV will not have enough time to cool down and this heating of the MOV will allow additional current to flow through the MOV. The additional current will further raise the temperature of the MOV, and this will continue until the MOV destroys itself. This condition is known as thermal runaway. When in its thermal runway state, an MOV can explode and possibly cause extensive damage to surrounding components.
One way of protecting the MOV itself is with a thermal protection device wired in series with and located to be heated by the MOV element. The melting point of the thermal protection device is set to be at a temperature below that which will cause the MOV to enter its thermal runaway state. As the temperature of the MOV rises, a point will be reached where the thermal protection device will melt and disconnect the MOV from the circuit. When the circuit is a GFCI, it will no longer be protected by the MOV and the full impact of the high voltage transient pulse will be applied to the GFCI. Thus, when an overload condition occurs, the over voltage transient surge is free to be absorbed by the GFCI that was being protected.
The peak surge current rating of an MOV is a function of the area of the disc itself. To protect a GFCI from destructive high voltage transient surges, test have shown that a relatively large MOV is needed. Unfortunately, it is difficult to connect an MOV of this size to a GFCI and still fit the GFCI and the MOV into a single outlet box.
What is needed is an overvoltage device which can protect a circuit during an overload voltage surge, that is small enough to fit into a relatively small enclosure such as a single gang electrical enclosure.

Overvoltage device with enhanced surge suppression


A processing system includes a level shifter, a drive circuit, and a capacitive sensing circuit. The level shifter is configured to generate a first level-shifted output corresponding to a graylevel value and a second level-shifted output corresponding to capacitive sensing control data. The drive circuit is configured to generate an output voltage based at least in part on the first level-shifted output. The capacitive sensing circuit is configured to receive a resulting signal from a sensor electrode and generate, based at least in part on the second level-shifted output, a capacitive sensing output corresponding to the resulting signal.

Input devices including proximity sensor devices may be used in a variety of electronic systems to provide interfaces for the electronic systems. A proximity sensor device may include a sensing region, demarcated by a surface, in which the proximity sensor device determines the presence, location, force and/or motion of one or more input objects. A proximity sensor device may be based on capacitive sensing using an array of sensor electrodes provided in the sensing region. In various implementations, resulting signals are acquired from the array of sensor electrodes and the capacitive sensing is achieved based on the resulting signals.

Device and method for capacitive sensing


A new and distinct variety of Raphiolepis indica that possesses unique color and growth habit.

The new cultivar 'Listo' originated from a group of seed of an unknown source. Jams Berry grew the seeds in Loxley, Ala. at a commercial nursery. James Berry selected the seedling now known as 'Listo' because of the superior horticultural qualities Mr. Berry identified.
James Berry conducted asexual propagation by cuttings of 'Listo' in Loxley, Ala. at a commercial nursery. Mr. Berry determined that the plant was stable and reproduced true to form over 6 generations.


A replaceable guide piece (10) for an extraction or coal plough (100) is provided. The replaceable guide piece (10) includes a generally U-shaped guide piece body (12) configured to be inserted into a guide claw (14) of the plough (100). A single recess (22) is formed in a central portion of a guide piece body (12) to extend at an angle (α) from an upper side of guide piece body (12) to a side surface of the same. A locking mechanism (24) is configured to engage with the single recess (22) to prevent movement of the guide piece (10) in the longitudinal direction after insertion of the guide piece (10) into the guide claw.

In underground mining, a so-called extraction or coal plough is used for extracting, for example, coal in a coal-mine. Such an extraction or coal plough is generally supported on a conveyer laid out before a coal head. The conveyer includes a plough guide attached to a side profile of the conveyer. The plough guide includes a guide rail on the upper side of the same, and the plough is guided on the guide rail by a pair of guide claws engaged with the guide rail.
A guide piece is provided between each guide claw of the plough and the guide rail. The guide pieces are detachably attached to the guide claws of the plough and can be replaced after having been subjected to wear. U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,256 B2 shows an example of a guide piece that slides on a guide rail.
The disclosed systems and methods are directed at least in part to improving known systems.

Guide piece for an extraction or coal plough


A music sound generator imitates released key string vibration sounds (RKSV) and cabinet resonances of an acoustic piano. When a key is pressed, waveform is readout from a normal music sound waveform memory 15. The normal sound waveform is inputted into a filter 21, and inputted into a filter 22 through a band-pass filter 33. Output waveform of a cabinet resonance waveform memory 17 is inputted into a filter 23 when the key is pressed. Outputs of the filters are synthesized by an adder 27 through multipliers 24 through 26. When the key is pressed, a cut-off frequency of the filter 22 is sufficiently low and RKSV is not generated. If the damper is not on when key-releasing, the cut-off frequency is returned to normal and RKSV is generated. A level controller 32 attenuates the RKSV and the cabinet resonance for a longer time than the normal music sound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a music sound generator, more specifically, to a music sound generator suitable for imitating an effect sound when releasing a key of an acoustic piano.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an acoustic piano, a damper is used to suppress vibration of piano strings other than the time of pressing a key. When depressing the key, first, an action works and then a damper corresponding to the depressed key is released. Second, a hammer strikes the strings to generate a piano sound. When stopping the pressure on the key and returning the key to the original state, the action works in reverse, the released damper comes into contact with the strings again to suppress vibration, and the piano sound is stopped. At the time of this stop of the piano sound, the damper comes into contact with the strings being vibrated, so that a delicate string vibration sound different from the normal music sound is generated although duration of the vibration sound is short. Hereinafter, this string vibration sound will be referred to as "released key string vibration sound."
The damper is not provided for all strings, and for strings of one and a half octaves on the high note side, no damper is provided and the strings are always released. Even in the case of strings for which a damper is provided, portions (fore strings and back strings) of the strings which are not vibrated normally are equivalent to always be in a released state regardless of the working of the damper.
Due to these released strings and frame, etc., the acoustic piano slightly resonates. Therefore, when a piano sound is generated by striking a key, a delicate resonance of the piano itself is added to the piano sound. This resonance is masked by the piano sound and cannot be heard while key pressing, however, it is understood that it remains when the key is released and the piano sound stops. This resonance will be referred to as "cabinet resonance."
Conventionally, attempts were made to imitate a released key string vibration sound and a cabinet resonance by an electronic instrument such as an electronic piano. For example, a released key string vibration sound of a normal music sound generated by pressing a key is imitated by setting a longer attenuation time when releasing the key.
In addition, there is known a music sound generator (Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2001-236067) which when key-off information is supplied, can deaden a main music sound being generated and generate a key-off sound instead of a released key string vibration sound or a cabinet resonance. In this music sound generator, when key-off information is supplied, characteristics of a main music sound at a pitch instructed by the key-off information are detected, and the detected characteristics of the main music sound are set as characteristics of a key-off sound. This music sound generator determines characteristics of a key-off sound according to the time from key-on to key-off.
However, a sound generated when releasing a key of an acoustic piano contains an element that is not generated normally while sounding, so that even if the attenuation time when releasing the key is set to be longer, the characteristic sound when releasing the key cannot be sufficiently reproduced. In addition, in the method described above in which a key-off sound is newly generated when releasing the key, a new system for generating a music sound in response to key-releasing is necessary. Furthermore, to maintain the continuity of the normal music sound, the key-pressing time and normal music sound volume, etc., must be managed and effect sounds generated responsively must be controlled, so that the control becomes complicated and enormous in scale.


A synthetic jet actuator, which can be micromachined if desired, generates a synthetic jet stream characterized by a series of successive vortices that can be used for effectively entraining adjacent fluid. The synthetic jet actuator can be used to bend, or vector, a jet stream from another jet actuator. Further, because the synthetic jet actuator exhibits zero net mass flux, the synthetic jet actuator can be used within a bounded volume. In structure, the synthetic jet actuator comprises a housing defining an internal chamber and having an orifice. A flexible metallized diaphragm forms a wall of the housing and can change the volume of the chamber when moved. An electrode is disposed adjacent to and spaced from the diaphragm, and an electrical bias is imposed between the metallized diaphragm and the electrode by a control system to force movement of the diaphragm. As the diaphragm moves, the volume in the internal chamber changes and vortices are ejected from the chamber through the orifice.

It was discovered at least as early as 1950 that if one uses a chamber bounded on one end by an acoustic wave generating device and on the other end by a rigid wall with a small orifice, that when acoustic waves are emitted at high enough frequency and amplitude from the generator, a jet of air will be produced radiating from the orifice outward from the chamber. See Ingard and Labate, Acoustic Circulation Effects and the Nonlinear Impedance of Orifices, The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, March, 1950. However, the concern of scientists at that time was only with the relationship between the impedance of the orifice and the "circulation" created at the orifice. There was no suggestion to combine the apparatus with another fluid stream in order to modify that stream's direction of flow. Furthermore, there was no suggestion that such an apparatus could be used in such a way as to create a fluid flow in a bounded volume. Such uses and combinations were not only not suggested at that time, but also have not been suggested by any of the ensuing work in the art.
So, even though a crude synthetic jet was known to exist, applications to common problems associated with other fluid flows or with lack of fluid flow in bounded volumes were not even imagined, much less suggested. Evidence of this is the persistence of certain problems in various fields which have yet to be solved effectively.
Until now, the direction of a fluid jet has chiefly been controlled by mechanical apparatus which protrude into a jet flow and deflect it in a desired direction. For example, aircraft engines often use mechanical protrusions disposed in jet exhaust in order to vector the fluid flow out of the exhaust nozzle. These mechanical protrusions used to vector flow usually require complex and powerful actuators to move them. Such machinery often exceeds space constraints and often has a prohibitively high weight. Furthermore, in cases like that of jet exhaust, the mechanism protruding into the flow must withstand very high heat. In addition, large power inputs are generally required in order to intrude into the flow and change its direction. For all these reasons, it would be more desirable to vector the flow with little or no direct intrusion into the flow. As a result, several less intrusive means have been developed.
In an effort to avoid the problems associated with physical intrusion into a flow, a common method of vectoring a fluid jet is to use another fluid flow as a fluidic control jet. Use of a fluidic jet to vector another flow, while known for years, has been used with little success. In particular, the only way known to vector one jet of fluid with another jet of fluid was to align the control jet so as to impinge on the primary jet directly. This involved injection of mass into the flow and was not very effective at vectoring the primary flow because a direct momentum transfer was relied upon for the direction change. To be at all effective, therefore, the control jet needed to be operated at considerable power. Further, such control was difficult and expensive to install because of the complex plumbing necessary to supply the control jet with fluid to operate.
It has been known for a number of years that substantial modification of shear flows can result from the introduction of small perturbations at the boundaries of the shear flow. This modification occurs because the shear flow is typically hydrodynamically unstable to these perturbations. Such instability is what leads to the perturbations' rapid amplification and resultant relatively large effect on the flow. However, these principles have not been used to vector a fluid flow with any great degree of effectiveness.
Not only is it important for safety or thrust vectoring to control the direction of a fluid flow, but fluid flow about an aerodynamic surface is of great concern. In fact, modification of the aerodynamic characteristics of lifting surfaces has long been a goal of many scientists and manufacturers. Flaps and slats have proven successful in altering the apparent shape and camber of an aerodynamic surface, causing the free stream fluid flow to conform to the new shape. However, because of the complex control system required, flaps are expensive to manufacture and install. Flap systems are not only complex, but usually need considerable space on the interior of the aerodynamic surface for installation. Furthermore, considerable power input is required to operate a flap system because of the mechanical intrusion into a flow. Finally, flaps, being complex mechanical apparatus, are often quite heavy. In some applications, the weight penalty to be paid may destroy the usefulness of the flap altogether.
Other efforts of designers to modify the flow about an aerodynamic surface have centered on injection of energy into the boundary layer of the flow in order to augment lift, reduce drag, delay turbulence onset, or delay flow separation. For example, the method disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,642 to Mangiarotty involves the retardation of a flow's transition to turbulence. However, this prior art does not and cannot change the effective aerodynamic shape of the airfoil. That is, the apparatus cannot change the direction of flow of the free stream fluid about the surface. Instead, the apparatus propagates acoustic excitation above the Tollmien-Schlichting frequency in an attempt to disrupt Tollmien-Schlichting waves as they begin to form and thereby delay the onset of turbulence. Although this method changes the drag characteristic of a lifting surface, the mean velocity field and thus apparent aerodynamic shape of the surface remain unchanged.
Such devices as slots and fluid jets have also been extensively employed to inject energy into the boundary layer in order to prevent flow separation. Recently, efforts have turned to the use of piezoelectric or other actuators to energize the boundary layer along an aerodynamic surface. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,363,991 to Edleman. These techniques, which employ acoustic excitation, change the surface aerodynamic performance by suppressing the naturally occurring boundary layer separation. This method requires the flow state to be vulnerable to specific disturbance frequencies. Although proving to be effective at delaying flow separation, none of these devices alter the apparent aerodynamic shape or mean velocity field of a given aerodynamic surface. Even though the changes in lift and drag that are caused by separation can be somewhat restored, there is no effect before separation occurs and the locus of the stagnation points remain largely unchanged. Therefore, before the present invention, there was no way to alter the effective shape of an aerodynamic surface without the complexity, high expense, and weight penalty of mechanical flaps or slats.
In a somewhat different field of study, the ability to effectively control the direction of a fluid stream may have great impact on the mixing of a fluid jet with the ambient fluid into which it is ejected. For example, mixing a hot exhaust plume with cold ambient air to shorten the downstream distance at which it is safe to work is a potential application.
In free turbulent shear flows mixing takes place within a shear layer between two nominally uniform streams of fluids moving at different speeds. In our example, the hot exhaust and the ambient air move at different speeds and mixing occurs at the boundary of these two flows. This boundary forms the turbulent flow region known as a shear layer. Hydrodynamic instabilities in this shear layer induce a hierarchy of vortical structures. Mixing begins with the entrainment of irrotational fluid from each stream by the large-scale vortical structures. Layers of the entrained fluid are continuously stretched and folded at decreasing scales by vortical structures that evolve through the action of shear and localized instabilities induced by larger vortical structures. This process continues until the smallest vortical scales are attained and fluid viscosity balances the inertial forces. This smallest vortical scale is referred to as the Kolmogorov scale. Thus, a long-held notion in turbulence is that the smallest and largest turbulent motions are indirectly coupled through a cascade of energy from the largest to successively smaller scales until the Kolmogorov scale is reached and viscous diffusion can occur. Turbulent dissipation is the process by which (near the Kolmogorov scale) turbulent kinetic energy is converted into heat as small fluid particles are deformed.
Scalar mixing (of heat or species, for example) is similar, but not identical to momentum mixing. Analogous to the Kolmogorov scale, the Batchelor scale is the smallest spatial scale at which an isoscalar particle can exist before scalar gradients are smoothed by the action of molecular diffusion. If scalar diffusion occurs on a faster scale than momentum diffusion, the Kolmogorov energy cascade breaks packets of scalars down into scales small enough that molecular scalar diffusion can occur (at the Batchelor scale). In this case, the Batchelor scale is larger than the Kolmogorov scale and turbulent motions persist at scales where scalar gradients have been smoothed out by diffusion. If, on the other hand, scalar diffusion occurs on a slower scale than momentum diffusion, turbulent motions stop (at the Kolmogorov scale) before the scalar gradients are smoothed out. Final mixing only occurs after laminar straining further reduces the size of the scalar layers.
Because the hierarchy of vortical structures within the shear layer results from flow instabilities, introduction of controlled disturbances at the flow boundary can be used to effectively manipulate a mixing process. To most effectively control mixing processes in turbulent shear flows, it is highly desirable to control both the large scale entrainment of fluid and the small scale mixing of that fluid. However, control of the small scale mixing until now, has been indirect, relying on manipulation of global two-dimensional and three-dimensional instability modes of the base flow to trigger the breakdown to small scale motion. Because this approach depends on the classical cascading mechanism to transfer control influence to the molecular mixing scales, mixing at the smallest scales is only weakly coupled to the control input. More importantly, mixing control of this nature relies on a priori knowledge of the flow instabilities and associated eigenfrequencies of the particular flow. Specifically, it also requires that the flow be unstable to a range of disturbances, a condition which is not always satisfied. In summary, more efficient control of mixing could be achieved by direct, rather than hierarchical, control of both the large scale entrainment and the small scale mixing. Such a control method has, before now, not been available and is enabled by synthetic jet actuators that are the subject of the present disclosure.
Creating a flow in a bounded volume is very desirable in some situations. Particularly, effective mixing of fluids inside a bounded volume could be achieved without the addition of new species, need for a fluid source or drain, and without a mechanical stirring device, which may require a large power input and place additional geometric constraints on the designer. Flow in a bounded volume is also beneficial to heat transfer processes, such as cooling in a sealed environment.
Some common applications of mixing in a bounded volume are mixing in chemical lasers and mixing for chemical or pharmaceutical products. In addition to these fields, the development of methods for enhancement of mixing through manipulation of the flow in which it occurs will have a direct impact on the performance of various other technologically important systems.
As mentioned above, mixing processes in virtually any technological application take place within plane or axisymmetric turbulent shear flows such as shear layers, wakes, or jets. This includes mixing in a bounded volume by use of a fluid flow or a stirring device. To effectively control mixing processes in turbulent shear flows, it is highly desirable to control both the large scale entrainment of fluid and the small scale mixing of that fluid. However, control of the small scale mixing, until now, has been indirect, relying on the classical cascading mechanism to transfer control influence to the molecular mixing scales. The various problems associated with this reliance were outlined above. Even though more efficient control of mixing can be achieved by direct control of both the large scale entrainment and the small scale mixing, until now, such a control method was not available, especially for bounded volumes.
Effective cooling of heated bodies in closed volumes has also been a long standing problem for many designers. Generally, cooling by natural convection is the only method available since forced convection would require some net mass injection into the system, and subsequent collection of this mass. The only means of assistance would be some mechanical fan wholly internal to the volume. However, often this requires large moving parts in order to have any success in cooling the heated body. These large moving parts naturally require high power inputs. But, simply allowing natural convective cooling to carry heat from the body producing it into the fluid of the volume and then depending on the housing walls to absorb the heat and emit it outside the volume is a poor means of cooling.
Thus, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the art for apparatuses and techniques to better control the direction of a fluid flow and to produce a fluid flow in a bounded volume. The invention disclosed herein meets these heretofore unmet needs.

Synthetic jet actuator and applications thereof


Apparatus and methods for estimating a physical property of a specimen, particularly the specimen strength, are provided. More specifically, a roller indenter comprising an indenting wheel and a force indicator is used to create an elongated trough in a specimen. The width of the trough is measured as a plurality of locations and correlated with a known standard to provide an estimate of the strength of the sample.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to apparatus and methods for non-destructively measuring the strength of a specimen, especially a rock specimen from a subterranean formation. More particularly, the present invention is directed toward a light-weight, portable device that directly measures rock strength without destroying the entire rock specimen.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Geologists, geophysicists, and engineers often need to quantitatively measure the strength of rocks making up a particular subterranean rock formation during activities such as well drilling and well completion. The rock strength will frequently dictate whether a well bore needs to be cased or whether the rock formation possesses the strength to avoid collapse.
Various methods exist for determining the strength of a rock specimen. However, these methods generally involve sending the specimen to a remote laboratory for testing. In the meanwhile, the professionals working in the field may have to cease or slow down operations until the testing is completed. Also, many conventional methods for determining rock strength involve applying shear and normal forces to the specimen to the point of specimen failure. As such methods result in the destruction of the specimen, there is no way to perform repeat testing on the same specimen.
Therefore, there exists a need for a portable device that can be used in the field to measure the strength of a rock specimen without destroying the specimen in case further testing is required.


The present invention relates to a new method for enhancement of source coding systems using high-frequency reconstruction. The invention teaches that tonal signals can be classified as either pulse-train-like or non-pulse-train-like. Relying on this classification, significant improvements on the perceived audio quality can be obtained by adaptive switching of transposers. The invention shows that the so-switched transposers must have fundamental differences in their characteristics.

In "Source Coding Enhancement using Spectral-Band Replication" [WO 98/57436], transposition was defined and established as an efficient means for high frequency generation to be used in a HFR (High Frequency Reconstruction) based codec. Several transposer implementations were described. However apart from a brief discussion on transient response improvements, programme dependent adaptation of fundamental transposer characteristics was not elaborated upon.

Enhancing source coding systems by adaptive transposition


This invention relates to a process for preparing pigment compositions by. (a) treating an organic pigment with PA1 (b) blending the resultant surface-treated pigment composition from step (a) with a pigment derivative of formula (I) ##STR1## wherein Q represents an organic pigment moiety, PA1 X is O, S, NR.sup.1, --SO.sub.2 --, --CO--, --Alk--, --Ar--, or combinations thereof, PA1 Y is --OR.sup.2, --NR.sup.3 R.sup.4, or Het, PA1 Alk is C.sub.1 -C.sub.5 alkylene, C.sub.2 -C.sub.5 alkenylene, or C.sub.4 -C.sub.5 alkadienylene, or substituted derivatives thereof, PA1 Ar is arylene, PA1 R.sup.1, R.sup.2, R.sup.3, and R.sup.4 are independently hydrogen, C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 alkyl, C.sub.5 -C.sub.7 cycloalkyl, C.sub.7 -C.sub.16 aralkyl, or C.sub.6 -C.sub.10 aryl, PA1 Het is a heterocycle, and PA1 n is 1 to 4.. (1) a sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amine, and PA2 (2) a liquid in which the organic pigment is insoluble, and

This invention relates to a process for preparing pigment compositions having improved rheology and brightness by surface treating organic pigments with combinations of certain sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines and certain pigment derivatives.
Surface treatment is a type of finishing in which certain auxiliaries, such as rosin or other resins, are applied to pigments to influence their surface structure and thus their physical and coloristic properties. E.g., W. Herbst and K. Hunger, Industrial Organic Pigments (New York: VCH Publishers, Inc., 1993), pages 205-207. Surface treatment is a particularly useful method for improving pigment dispersibility in inks, toners, paints, coatings, and plastics.
The use of amines or amine derivatives in the preparation of pigment dispersions is known. For example, Czech Patent 227,779 discloses a two-step process for dispersing organic pigments in inks by first dispersing the pigments in the presence of ampholytic sulfonates of C.sub.12 -C.sub.24 fatty acids and then coagulating the dispersed pigments with hydrophobic alkyl amines or ethoxylated C.sub.12 -C.sub.24 fatty acids. European Patent Application 544,441 discloses dispersions of organic pigments in which the pigment is treated with a non-polar additive and dispersed in a solution containing a polar additive, including certain rosin amines or multifunctional amines. However, these two patents, besides requiring two-step treatments using two different types of dispersants, do not disclose the use of the sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines that are a critical feature of the present invention.
Japanese Patent 63/305,172 discloses the dispersion of organic pigments in inks in the presence of certain surfactants, including stearylamine and stearylpropyleneamine. This patent, however, does not disclose the treatment of organic pigments with sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,929,279 discloses aqueous dispersions prepared by adding certain surfactants to an aqueous slurry of the pigment and then subjecting the treated pigment to ultrasonic irradiation. The surfactants include narrowly defined groups of diamines having two tertiary amino groups, two quaternary ammonium groups, or a combination of a secondary amino group with a primary amino group. This patent, however, does not disclose the treatment of organic pigments with the sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines that are a critical feature of the present invention.
Certain ring-substituted pigment derivatives, such as sulfonamides, carboxamides, and heterocyclic-containing groups, have been reported to improve pigmentary properties. E.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,457,203, 5,453,151, 5,424,429, 5,368,641, 5,334,727, 5,286,863, 5,264,032, 5,229,515, 5,194,088, 5,145,524, 5,137,576, 4,895,949, 4,844,742, 4,541,872, 4,478,968, 4,455,173, 4,439,240, 4,256,507, and 4,310,359. Such pigment derivatives, however, have not been used in conjunction with sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines such as required in the present invention.
Surface treatment of organic pigments with mixtures of certain sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines is known. For example copending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/769,477 (filed Dec. 20, 1996) now U.S. Pat. No. 5,728,206 discloses the use of a narrowly defined group of tertiary alkyl primary amines. Copending U.S. application Ser. No. 08/769,478 (filed Dec. 20, 1996) now U.S. Pat. No. 5,741,356 discloses the use of a broader class of sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines but additionally requires ultrasonic irradiation during surface treatment. The process of the present invention, however, provides improved rheology and pigmentary properties without the need for ultrasonic irradiation.
The treatment of organic pigments with mixtures of sterically hindered and/or bulky primary amines and pigment derivatives according to the present invention provides pigment compositions having improved rheology and brightness that are particularly suited for use in high-solids coating compositions.

Process for preparing organic pigment compositions


A photo transistor has an active region spaced from a source by barrier. A drain is laterally spaced from the active region. Light incident on the active region creates electron-hole pairs. Holes accumulate at the barrier and modulate the effective barrier height to electrons. A gate reset voltage then is applied to gate which lower the barrier allowing the holes to escape.

1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a phototransistor and a method of operation of such a phototransistor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Phototransistors are useful for detecting optical information in general and low light levels in particular.
A bipolar phototransistor is a classic example of a phototransistor that amplifies the photocurrent generated by incident light. The bipolar transistor has good output characteristics since the output is a high impedance current source which is easy to interface. Unfortunately it is difficult to make bipolar transistors with good performance in amorphous silicon or polysilicon which are suitable for so-called large area technologies, such as those used in imagers.
Thin film phototransistors do exist and a conventional thin film phototransistor is illustrated in FIG. 1. The structure is formed on a substrate 2, typically glass or plastic. A gate 4 is formed over the substrate, and the whole surface covered in turn with a gate insulator 6 and a layer of semiconductor 8. The semiconductor 8 acts as the photosensitive layer, and may typically be doped amorphous silicon (a-Si:H). A source contact 10 formed from a highly doped layer 12 and a metallic contact 14 is formed at one end, and a similar drain contact 16 is formed at the other end of the device also having a highly doped layer 12 and metallic contact 14. A protective layer 18, for example of nitride, protects the structure.
The resistance of the a-Si:H layer 8 is high in the absence of light and this high resistance reduces to a very low level the current passing through the transistor formed by source 10, gate 4 and drain 16.
When the device is illuminated, electron-hole pairs are created in the a-Si:H layer 8 and this very significantly reduces the resistance of the transistor thereby increasing the current when the transistor is switched on by applying a suitable voltage to the gate 4.
However, such prior art phototransistors are not very sensitive since no more than one electron and one hole is created per photon. This means that high light levels are required.
Thus, there is a need for an improved phototransistor capable of being integrated into large-area and/or thin-film circuits.

Phototransistor with source layer between barrier layer and photosensitive semiconductor layer and a gate layer for controlling the barrier height of the barrier layer


A multi-function yo-yo switchable between operation as a traditional yo-yo, a free-spin yo-yo, and a centrifugal-clutch yo-yo. Within one or both of the fly disks is one or more rotational-speed governors, and about the axle is a cylindrical axle sleeve which is rotatable about the axle. Each governor is spring-biased to an inwards position the governor contacts the axle sleeve, forcing the axle sleeve to rotate with the fly disks and axle. However, when the yo-yo spins sufficiently rapidly, the governors are thrown by centrifugal force to a radially-outwards position so as not to be in contact with the axle sleeve so that the axle sleeve may rotate independently of the fly disks. A function control switch locks the governors in the inwards position or the outwards position or allows the position to be controlled by centrifugal force.

The traditional yo-yo has two closely-spaced fly disks which have their axes of cylindrical symmetry aligned and are joined by a narrow axle along the axis of cylindrical symmetry. The traditional yo-yo includes a string which is attached, i.e., fixed, to the axle. The basic yo-yoing operation of the traditional yo-yo is the unrolling of the string about the axle as the yo-yo moves away from the operator, followed by the rolling up of the string about the axle as the yo-yo returns to the operator.
A free-spin yo-yo has a two-strand twisted string with a single-strand loop at its end so the axle can spin within the loop. A basic yo-yoing operation performable with the free-spin yo-yo is to make it "sleep," i.e., spin at the end of the unrolled string without immediately returning up the string. Controlling if a free-spin yo-yo sleeps or returns, and controlling the length of a sleep requires some skill.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,332,102, issued Jun. 1, 1982 to Michael S. Caffrey, teaches a yo-yo which has a centrifugal force-actuated spring-loaded clutch mechanism. When the yo-yo rotates with sufficient speed, centrifugal force causes clutch members (16) and (18) mounted on the body to move outwards away from contact with a central hub (20) of the axle so the yo-yo operates as a free-spin yo-yo. Therefore, with a sufficiently hard "throw," the yo-yo can be readily made to sleep. However, as the rotation of the yo-yo slows or as the result of a sharp translational acceleration, the clutch members (16) and (18) are spring biased by springs (22) and (24) to grip the central hub (20) so that the yo-yo operates as a traditional yo-yo. Therefore, sleeping is terminated and the yo-yo readily returns along the string by tugging on the string or waiting until the rotation of the yo-yo slows sufficiently. Thus, a centrifugal-clutch yo-yo provides the advantage of being easily induced to sleep like a free-spin yo-yo, and easily induced to return along the string like a traditional yo-yo.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a yo-yo having multiple modes of functions.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a yo-yo which can function as a traditional yo-yo or a free-spin yo-yo or a centrifugal-clutch yo-yo.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a multi-function yo-yo which is easily switched between different modes of functioning.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a multi-function yo-yo which has multiple, readily accessible function-switching levers.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and will be apparent from the description or may be learned from the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the claims.


System and method, including path sections,    each path section including a supply line into which a medium-frequency current is able to be injected by an infeed assigned to the particular path section,    each infeed encompassing a control circuit,    a first one of the control circuits transmitting a clock signal for the synchronization of the additional infeeds thereto.

Japanese Published Patent Application No. 2002067747 describes a system for contactless energy transmission, in which a plurality of path sections are energized by different infeeds in a synchronized manner. In the process, a clock signal is transmitted from a master path section to a slave path section using light. It is disadvantageous in this context that the phase relation of currents must be determined, in particular in a complex manner using current sensors.


There is provided a method including, acquiring brain function data and diffusion tensor data, calculating a connection degree between voxels adjacent to each other based on the diffusion tensor data, constituting a data evaluation value based on the brain function data and the connection degree between the adjacent voxels, subjecting the data evaluation value to nonparametric regression analysis, and forming and displaying images based on results of the analysis.

While typical non-invasive methods for measuring brain functions include fMRI, PET, MEG (magnetoencephalography) at present, the fMRI is considered to have the highest spatial resolution of data among them and is widely used.
The fMRI is a method for imaging various kinds of physical quantity allowing to locate activated brain regions as a measuring quantity, and is an effective technique for measuring brain functions (refer to Non-patent Documents 1 and 2). While reflecting the proton density, longitudinal relaxation time T1, and transverse relaxation time T2 of tissues in a living body as same as the principle of an anatomical MRI which images a brain structure, fMRI particularly has a feature to detect an increase in blood flow volume in an activated brain region. It is known that the blood flow volume will locally increase in the activated brain region and hemoglobin in blood differs in its magnetic properties between a state that oxygen is bound thereto (oxygenated hemoglobin) and a state that it is released therefrom (deoxygenated hemoglobin). It is considered that fMRI signals (BOLD signals) in an active region will increase since the amount of deoxygenated hemoglobin which disturbs a magnetic field is decreased in the increased arterial blood. Hence, the use of fMRI can locate regions in the brain related to the task (active region), by following a change in BOLD signal when a subject is performing a certain task.
Typical techniques to analyze the time series data of BOLD signals measured by fMRI includes SPM (Statistical Parametric Mapping) based on a general linear model (refer to Non-patent Document 1), a data analysis based on a principal component analysis and an independent component analysis (refer to Non-patent Document 3). These techniques have features in which results in which the time series data of the BOLD signals is individually subjected to statistical processing for every three-dimensional pixel (Voxel) is output as an image to locate activated brain regions.
In the above analysis techniques, however, there exists an issue that the network structures of neurons are not taken into consideration upon analyzing data. Many neurons constitute a complicated network via synapses in a brain, and it is considered that the brain realizes a higher brain function as a whole by mutual cooperation of each region thereof via such a neural network according to recent knowledge of brain science. For example, when the subject performs a certain task, it is observed a phenomenon that a plurality of regions are activated in the brain. Then, the analysis of this phenomenon using the above analysis techniques enables to locate each active region, but it is difficult to locate a connection between the active regions.
This has an underlying cause as follows. Since BOLD signals measured by fMRI are based on blood flow volume as described above, the activity of a gray matter (cell body of the neuron) having a relatively high blood flow volume in the brain is captured, but the activity of a white matter (axon of the neuron, or nerve fiber) having relatively low blood flow volume is hardly captured by fMRI.
Meanwhile, as a method for capturing a running direction of a nerve fiber group, which is the basis of the neural network structures, it has recently drawn attention a DTI (Diffusion Tensor Imaging) method in which the degree of proton diffusion in a body tissue is measured as a new observation quantity of MRI (refer to Non-patent Document 4). When a normal anatomical MRI is utilized, a nerve fiber becomes a high signal in a T1 weighted image and a low signal in T2 weighted image. The reason that the nerve fiber is converted into the high signal in the T1 weighted image is in presence of myelin. The myelin is composed of a lipid with a double-layer structure and a huge protein and takes a form to arrange along the running direction of the nerve fiber. Hence, there occurs anisotropy that the diffusion constant of protons is large in the running direction of the nerve fiber and is small in a direction perpendicular to it. DTI is the technique of measuring the anisotropy of diffusion by applying MPG (Motion Probing Gradient): {right arrow over (G)}=(Gx,Gy,Gz)T in order to emphasize the diffusion of protons. It is the technique, for example, to measure the intensity S′(l, m, k, i) of a BOLD signal obtained by ST (Stejskal-Tanner) pulse sequence in which STG (Stejskal-Tanner Gradient) pulses for diffusion detection are added to before and after SE (Spin Echo) pulses. Here "l", "m" and "k" are positive discrete variables representing the position of a voxel and represent an X coordinate, Y coordinate and Z coordinate of the voxel, respectively. In addition, "i" is a positive discrete variable representing a measuring time. The intensity S′(l, m, k, i) of the BOLD signal can be written asS′(l,m,k,i)=ρ′(l,m,k,i)exp(−b{right arrow over (G)}T(l,m,k){right arrow over (G)}).  (1)
When a diffusion weighted image is generated, the diffusion tensor:
                              D                                (                          l              ,              m              ,              k                        )                          =                  (                                                                                D                    ll                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    lm                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    lk                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    ml                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    mm                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    mk                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    kl                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    km                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                D                    kk                                                                          (                                          l                      ,                      m                      ,                      k                                        )                                                                                )                                    (        2        )            in Equation (1) will be an object of the data analysis. Here ρ′(l, m, k, i) represents the intensity of a BOLD signal with no application of MPG, which is an object of data analysis in the normal brain function analysis, and "b" is a parameter representing the strength of MPG. Note that ρ′(l, m, k, i) is represented by
                                          ρ            ′                                          (                          l              ,              m              ,              k              ,              i                        )                          ∝                              f                                      (              v              )                                ·                                    ξ              ′                                                  (                              l                ,                m                ,                k                ,                i                            )                                ·                      (                          1              -                              exp                                                  (                                      -                                                                  T                        R                                                                    T                        1                                                                              )                                                      )                    ·                      exp                                      (                              -                                                                                T                    E                                                        T                    2                                                              )                                                          (        3        )            where f(v) represents a flow velocity, TR a repetition time, TE an echo time; and ξ′(l, m, k, i) a proton density.
There has been currently used a brain function analysis method in which Regions of Interest (ROI) in a brain are connected by a diffusion tensor data D(l, m, k) after analyzing the time series data of BOLD signals ρ′(l, m, k, i) obtained by fMRI measurement (refer to Non-patent Document 5).
Non-patent Document 1: "Human Brain Function: 2nd-Ed.", Richard S. J. Frackowiak, et al, ELSEVIER ACADEMIC PRESS, 2004
Non-Patent Document 2: "Image of Mind", M. I. Posner and M. E. Raichle, W H Freeman & Co, 1997
Non-patent Document 3: "Independent Component Analysis: Theory and Applications", T. W. Lee, Kluwer Acadmic, 1988
Non-patent Document 4: "Korede wakaru diffusion MRI" S. Aoki, O. Abe, Syuujyun sha, 2002
Non-patent Document 5: "Combined functional MRI and tractography to demonstrate the connectivity of the human primary motor cortex in vivo", Guye M, et al., Neuroimage, Vol. 19, pp. 1349-1360, 2003

Brain function analysis apparatus and method


An image forming apparatus includes an image data input unit; an image forming unit adapted to print an image on a printing sheet in accordance with image data from the image data input unit; a control unit connected to the image forming unit; and a billing setting unit adapted to enable to selectively set either a first mode for billing per side of the printing sheet or a second mode for billing per sheet of the printing sheet for double-sided printing, wherein the control unit executes a printing service in accordance with the set mode by the billing setting unit.

It is well known that an image forming apparatus bills a fee for a print service such as copying and printing when such service is provided.
Another proposed apparatus among these types of image forming apparatus deals with a billing process in a case where job data is received, but an error occurs when image data contained in the received job data is converted to a bitmap (see the specification of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-256177).
With an image forming apparatus of this kind, however, a problem has arisen when billing for a double-sided printing service if such print service is provided. Specifically, after the completion of printing on one side of a sheet of paper, the following printing operation is suspended without completing printing on the other side, the problem is whether to bill the user for the printing service of the one side. Since the user was expecting printing on both sides, it may be unreasonable for the user to pay compensation even though only single-sided printed matter is obtained. From the standpoint of the billing side, however, since at least the printing of one side was completed and the print service was provided to the user, so that the billing side wishes to bill for the compensation for the single-sided printing. In other words, a conflict can occur between the billing side and the user side when an incomplete service has been provided.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an image forming apparatus and method thereof, in which double-sided printing service can be billed appropriately.

Image forming apparatus including a billing unit, a method for controlling the image forming apparatus, a control program, and a computer-readable store medium


A system for automated high throughput presentation of an ear of corn for image acquisition and evaluation is provided. The ear evaluation system may include an image acquisition system for acquiring an image of the ear of corn. An ear staging system may be configured for coordinating timing and movement of the ear of corn through the image acquisition system. The ear evaluation system may define a mobile structure. Thereby the mobile structure may be driven or towed over rows of corn in order to acquire images of the corn substantially simultaneously with picking the ears of corn. Accordingly, image data relating to ears of corn may be obtained in a rapid manner. A method for high throughput presentation of a plurality of ears of corn for image acquisition and evaluation is also provided.

It is typical for a company in the agricultural seed industry to generate one or more research plots in order to evaluate certain seed varieties. Such seed varieties may include, but need not be limited to, seeds from a specific source, genotype, population, and/or breeding line that may or may not contain varying constructs or events of single or stacked transgenes. In such a manner, researchers may evaluate characteristics of the plants growing in the research plot, as well as characteristics of any crops produced from the plants. Examples of desirable traits include, but are not limited to, increased yield, increased homozygosity, improved or newly conferred resistance and/or tolerance to specific herbicides and/or pests and pathogens, increased oil content, altered starch content, agronomic traits pertaining to standability, nutraceutical composition, stress tolerance, and specific morphological based trait enhancements. In the context of ears of corn, increased kernel quantity, quality, size, and density on the ear of corn may all be desirable. In some instances these characteristics may be compared to plants grown from different seed varieties in the same research plot or a separate research plot.
Thus, certain experiments may require a researcher to record and evaluate the characteristics of crops grown from a variety of different genotypic backgrounds. Traditional research plot evaluation may be performed using an automated harvesting system (i.e. combine harvester). However, this technology may provide a uni-dimensional view of yield in as much as it may provide a single bulked weight of all grains harvested from that plot with no information on variation within the plot, no removal of alley-adjacent ears, and/or no quantification of ear flex and no information on yield component traits. As such, researchers may resort to manual evaluation of those traits, which may require significant time and labor in order to evaluate a statistically significant number of samples of ears of corn. Further, manual methods of evaluating sample crops may suffer from human error. In this regard, manually recording data relating the samples presents the opportunity for errors to occur. Further, it may be possible for the workers to lose track of which sample crops relate to which variety of seed. For example, in some instances sample crops from different seed varieties may appear substantially identical to the naked eye and thus may not be easily linked to the corresponding planted seed variety. Accordingly, known methods of collecting and evaluating crop samples may require significant manual labor and may produce erroneous labor due to the potential for human error to exist.

System and method for presentation of ears of corn for image acquisition and evaluation


Cab panel structures and methods for their assembly on an overhead guard of a land vehicle. A metal roof panel can be used alone or with a metal frame windshield panel for a partial enclosure. The metal roof and windshield panels can be used with complimentary fabric panels that afford a full enclosure or with complimentary steel panels that afford a full enclosure of high durability. The metal panels are attached to the overhead guard posts in a unique clamp-on method that avoids the need for direct fastening of the guard and, accordingly, allows rapid installation.

Lift trucks, construction equipment, farm tractors, and similar vehicles frequently are manufactured with overhead guard or cage-like structures to protect the driver/operator from injury from falling objects or overturning of the vehicle. Typically, these guards are ruggedly constructed and may be welded directly to the frame, subframe or platform of the vehicle and in such cases are not readily removable from the frame or subframe. Often, a vehicle will be destined for use in an environment that is hostile to the operator. Adverse conditions for the operator include operation in excessively warm or cold environments, rain, dust and the like. In these and other conditions, it is common to provide a cab or enclosure on the vehicle to protect the driver from exposure. The cabs, known in the prior art, can range from simple weatherproof fabric and vinyl covers attached to the overhead guard to sophisticated sheet metal structures with safety glass windshields, side lights and an overhead light. In many instances, metal cabs have been constructed with sufficient rigidity to serve for overhead protection in place of an overhead guard originally fitted or specified on the vehicle. Where the overhead guard originally supplied on a vehicle is fabricated as a weldment that is integrated with the frame or platform of the vehicle it may not be practical to remove the overhead guard and replace it with a self-supporting cab. It is known to construct a cab by assembling panels on an overhead guard but as far as is known this approach has had limited success because of the high labor content that results from the effort and skill required to produce prior art assemblies with acceptable quality and finish.


An apparatus includes an electrical device and a latching micromagnetic switch that controls energy flow through the electrical device. The latching micromagnetic switch includes a cantilever, a permanent magnet, and a coil configured to latch the latching micromagnetic switch in one of two positions each time energy passes through the coil. The electrical device and the latching micromagnetic switch can be integrated on a same substrate. Otherwise, the electrical device and the latching micromagnetic switch can be located on separate substrates and coupled together. The electrical device can be a circuit, a filter, an antenna, a transceiver, or the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical apparatus having an electronic device with its energy flow controlled by switches.
2. Background Art
Switches are typically electrically controlled two-state devices that open and close contacts to effect operation of devices in an electrical or optical circuit. Relays, for example, typically function as switches that activate or deactivate portions of electrical, optical or other devices. Relays are commonly used in many applications including telecommunications, radio frequency (RF) communications, portable electronics, consumer and industrial electronics, aerospace, and other systems. More recently, optical switches (also referred to as "optical relays" or simply "relays" herein) have been used to switch optical signals (such as those in optical communication systems) from one path to another.
While conventional relays are mechanical or solid-state devices, recent developments in micro-electro-mechanical systems (MEMS) technologies and microelectronics manufacturing have made new types of micro electrostatic and micromagnetic relays possible. Such micromagnetic relays typically include an electromagnet that energizes an armature to make or break an electrical contact. When the magnet is de-energized, a spring or other mechanical force typically restores the armature to a quiescent position. Such relays typically exhibit a number of marked disadvantages, however, in that they generally exhibit only a single stable output (i.e., the quiescent state) and they are not latching (i.e., they do not retain a constant output as power is removed from the relay). Moreover, the spring required by conventional micromagnetic relays may degrade or break over time.
Non-latching micromagnetic relay switches are known. Such relays include a permanent magnet and an electromagnet for generating a magnetic field that intermittently opposes the field generated by the permanent magnet. The replay must consume power in the electromagnet to maintain at least one of the output states. Moreover, the power required to generate the opposing field would be significant, thus making the relay less desirable for use in space, portable electronics, and other applications that demand low power consumption.
The basic elements of a micromagnetic latching switch include a permanent magnet, a substrate, a coil, and a cantilever at least partially made of soft magnetic materials. In its optimal configuration, the permanent magnet produces a static magnetic field that is relatively perpendicular to the horizontal plane of the cantilever. However, the magnetic field lines produced by a permanent magnet with a typical regular shape (disk, square, etc.) are not necessarily perpendicular to a plane, especially at the edge of the magnet. Then, any horizontal component of the magnetic field due to the permanent magnet can either eliminate one of the bistable states or greatly increase the current that is needed to switch the cantilever from one state to the other. Careful alignment of the permanent magnet relative to the cantilever so as to locate the cantilever in the right spot of the permanent magnet field (usually near the center) will permit bi-stability and minimize switching current. Nevertheless, high-volume production of the switch can become difficult and costly if the alignment error tolerance is small.
A bi-stable, latching switch that has a very low series resistance value and that does not require power to hold the state is therefore desired. Such a switch should also be reliable, simple in design, low-cost and easy to manufacture, and should be useful in optical and/or electrical environments.

Apparatus utilizing latching micromagnetic switches


The invention is directed, in preferred embodiments, to method and apparatus for storing overlay pixels of a scaled overlay image over background pixels of a background image. The overlay and background pixels being defined by at least a luminance component and a color component. A preferred method comprises: (a) defining a first luminance value corresponding to a transparent overlay pixel; (b) defining a second luminance value corresponding to an opaque overlay pixel; and (c) where, for any first overlay pixels for which luminance components differ from the first and second luminance values, storing the luminance components so as to over-write the luminance components of the corresponding background pixels, and discarding the associated color components so as to leave remaining the color components of the corresponding background pixels. Preferably, the overlay and background pixels are defined in a sampling format providing for color information to be shared between at least two pixels. Preferred embodiments do not require background image pixels previously stored in a memory to be read from the memory. In preferred embodiments, portions of edge artifacts are disguised and remaining portions are eliminated.

Mobile devices commonly have graphics display systems that include a host, a camera, and a display device. They also include a graphics controller for driving the display device and interfacing the host, camera, and display device to one another. The host may be a CPU or a digital signal processor. The graphics controller commonly includes an embedded memory for storing image data. A mobile device may be, for example, a mobile telephone, personal digital assistant, digital camera, or a digital music player. Mobile devices typically rely primarily on a battery for power. To maximize battery life in these devices, it is important to minimize power consumption. It is also important to minimize the size of the memory which reduces cost and also reduces power consumption.
The graphics display systems in mobile devices employ a variety of techniques for minimizing power consumption and memory size. Many of these techniques are not employed in larger, stationary systems, such as personal computers which generally have more memory, faster processors, and less critical power constraints. Use of some of these power saving techniques in mobile devices may result in a modest reduction in image fidelity, which is acceptable because the reduction is not readily noticeable by the human eye. Sometimes, however, these techniques may create artifacts on the display screen that are quite noticeable and therefore undesirable.
One noticeably artifact is a gray fringe that sometimes appears around the periphery of dark text that has been overlaid on a background image, such as a photograph. Accordingly, methods and apparatus for making an edge artifact associated with an overlay image less conspicuous would be desirable.

Making an overlay image edge artifact less conspicuous


A process for obtaining a pyruvate decarboxylase by isolation from a producer organism. The pyruvate decarboxylase is capable of forming (R)-(-)-phenylacetylcarbinole (I) in .gtoreq.95% enantiomer unit with a product ratio of (I) to 2-hydoxypropiophenone of .gtoreq.95%. In addition, the pyruvate decarboxylase has a specific activity with regard to phenylacetylcarbinole formation of >1U/mg. It is the aim of the invention to obtain a pyruvate decarboxylase with improved synthesis capacity concerning the formation of (R)-(-)-phenylacetylcarbinole. The process of the invention developed for this purpose is characterized in that use is made of a producing organism with a gene coding for pyruvate decarboxylase from Zymomonas mobilis, in the DNA sequence of which the tryptophane radical coding codon TGG is replaced at position 1174-1176 by a codon which codes for an amino acid radical with a reduced volume ratio.

The invention relates to a process for obtaining acyloins by enzymatic conversion of .alpha.-ketocarbon acid and/or aldehydes in the presence of pyruvate-decarboxylase (PDC) and it comprises a PDC suitable therefor as well as their production and the gene coding them.
Acyloins, or respectively, x-hydroxy ketones are compounds with an optically active C-atom, which play an important rule in the synthesis of relatively complex compounds such as, particularly, the (R)-(-) phenylacetylcarbinol (PAC), which is of great economic interest for the manufacture of ephedrine. Here, the R-enantiomere is of interest which is formed by fermentative conversion of pyruvate in the presence of benzaldehyde by means of Saccaromyces erevisiae (DE patent 548439 of 1932).
In this synthesis of PAC by means of yeast cells numerous by-products are formed because of the plurality of enzymes present in the yeast and the cell growth is inhibited by the presence of benzaldehyde.
Also, in this conversion the pyruvate-decarboxylase (PDC) isolated from the yeast yields substantial parts of PAC-isomer 2-hydroxypropiophenons.
The thiamindiphosphate- and Mg.sup.2+ -dependent PDC (E.C. 220.127.116.11) is very common; it is found in many plants, yeasts and fungi and in some bacteria. It is a catalyst for the non-oxidative decarboxylization of pyruvate to acetaldehyde and, in a side reaction, an acyloin condensation occurs wherein .alpha.-hydroxyketones are formed as is apparent from FIG. 1.
Such an enzymatic conversion occurs also on the basis of an aldeyde in place of .alpha.-ketonic carbon acid; the aldehyde formed by the decarbooxylization can also participate as "co-substrate" whereby homo acyloins R-CHOH-CO-R.sup.1 with R=R' is formed.
Also, the PDC was already isolated from Zymomonas mobilis. A comparison of a PDC isolated from yeast with a PDC from Zymamonas mobilis with respect to the formation of PAC under comparable conditions however showed a clearly lower capacity of synthesis of the PDC from Zymomonas mobilis (S. Bringer-Meyer and H. Sahm, Biocatalysis 1 (1988) p. 321-331).
Surprisingly, it has now been determined that, with a particular gene technological modification of the PDC gene from Z. mobilis, a PDC with improved synthesis capacity with respect to the formation of PAC can be obtained which furthermore has a relatively high selectivity for the formation of PAC as compared to 2-hydroxypropiophenone.
The kind of process according to the invention as initially referred to is essentially characterized in that an enzyme is used as a PDC, wherein the tryptophane residue in the substrate canal leading to the active center is replaced by a sterically smaller amino acid residue.
The sterically smaller amino acid residue is particularly a simple, especially an aliphatic amino acid such as, specifically, alanine, glycine, phenylalamine, leucine, isoleucine, arginine or histidine or also serine and threonine.

Process for obtaining acyloins, pyruvate decarboxylases suitable therefor and their production and DNA sequence of the PDC gene coding them