A combination gas and charcoal grill that includes a housing, a heat distribution element, a gas burner, and an ash pan drawer. The heat distribution element is disposed in the housing for supporting one of lava rocks and ceramic briquettes when the combination gas and charcoal grill is being used as a gas grill and for supporting charcoal briquettes when the combination gas and charcoal grill is being used as a charcoal grill. The gas burner is disposed in the housing for heating the one of the lava rocks and the ceramic briquettes when the combination gas and charcoal grill is being used as the gas grill and for initially igniting the charcoal briquettes when the combination gas and charcoal grill is being used as the charcoal grill. The ash pan drawer is replaceably mounted in the housing and is removed for heating the one of the lava rocks and the ceramic briquettes and for initially igniting the charcoal briquettes and being returned after charcoal ignition for collecting ashes generated by the charcoal briquettes and food drippings when the combination gas and charcoal grill is being used as the charcoal grill. The combination grill further providing the ease of front-panel loading of lava rocks or charcoal and the venting of heat generated by such heating medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a grill. More particularly, the present invention relates to a combination gas and charcoal grill.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Grilling food on a barbecue grill can normally be accomplished in one of two ways. A typical charcoal grill utilizes charcoal briquettes which are ignited with lighter fluid. The briquettes are then left to burn until the entire charcoal is heated through and glowing, at which time the grill is normally ready for use. As the charcoal is consumed, ash is formed and falls to the bottom of the grill where it is periodically removed.
The second type of grill is gas-fired which normally utilizes two burners that are fueled with natural or propane gas and ignited. A radiant material, such as lava rock, disposed above the burners or element, normally on a steel grate, absorbs heat from the gas flame and conducts it to the food to be cooked thereabove.
These systems are, for the most part, mutually exclusive in that regular charcoal cannot be used in a gas grill due to problems with ash clogging the burners, and radiant material used in gas grills is not designed for or capable of sustained burning as is normal charcoal. Each system, however, has its particular advantages and/or disadvantages. Grilling with normal charcoal imparts a smoked flavor to foods cooked thereover, however, it is a relatively slow procedure from ignition to actual cooking. Cooking on a gas-fired unit is generally faster, however, the smoked flavor imparted by charcoal is normally not obtained from the inert radiant material.
Thus, a choice must normally be made, either to buy two grills, one of each type, or to forego the advantages of one type in favor of the other. Many other considerations are also present including space requirements, expense, safety factors, and personal preference.
The present invention provides for either method of cooking using a single appliance or unit wherein the chef is given the choice of using either a charcoal method of cooking or a natural/propane gas and lava rock method of cooking, as more specifically described herein, with additional advantages consisting in safety features, easy maintenance, clean up, reduced cost and convenience of operation.
Numerous innovations for grills have been provided in the prior art. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, however, they differ from the present invention.
FOR EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,295,509 to Harvey teaches a gas burner apparatus for use in a firebox. The apparatus comprising a pair of spaced parallel support bars, a spreader bar extending between the support bars to maintain the spacing therebetween, the ends of the support bars lying in a plane and formed to be supported to dispose the plane in parallel closely spaced relation above the bottom of the firebox, a burner assembly supported to extend between the support bars, the burner comprising an elongated vane lying generally in a plane tipped at a modest angle to the horizontal and disposing one side edge above the other, the side edges extending transversely of the support bars, a series of burn holes in a line along the upper edge of the vane and beneath the plane of the vane for discharging gas to be burned thereat, an elongated gas manifold extending along the upper side edge of the vane and in gas communication with the burn holes to supply same with a mixture of air and fuel gas, means for mixing air and fuel gas and for feeding the mixture to the manifold, and a valve means disposed to control the flow of fuel gas to the mixing means, the angle of the plane of the vane and the adjacency of the lower side edge thereof with respect to the bottom of the firebox serving to cause air to be drawn upwardly beneath the vane toward the burn holes when the burner is ignited.
ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,500,812 to Korngold teaches a covered barbecue stove. The stove includes a base shell and a cover shell which are separately joined together at an upwardly facing flange formed on the base shell so that the cover shell fits inside the flange and drippings drip into the base shell instead of onto the outside of the structure. The cover shell includes a flue on its central axis with exhaust gas control means in it, and the base shell includes a port to which an ash pan is removably fitted to catch ashes therein. Air inlet control means is provided in the base shell. Food support means and fuel supply means are also provided inside the base shell.
STILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 3,699,876 to Ellis teaches a common casing that encloses an ash pit and grate for a pit-type barbecue cooker and an overhead pan for drippings or for the support of charcoal when the device is utilized as an outdoor charcoal grill. An adjustable grill rack is mounted in the casing above the pan and an adjustable stack with damper in the top of the casing allows smoke from a wood fire to be circulated across food on the grill rack.
YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,643 to Tyson teaches a grill of the type ordinarily associated with charcoal. Such grill features sloped heat reflecting sides which create smoke but will not flame up, an elongated thin, centrally disposed charcoal basket is also provided with a clean out tray therebelow. Additionally, a charcoal igniting chamber is provided which allows the charcoal to be lit through the use of newspaper type combustibles thus eliminating the need for charcoal lighter fluid and similar ignitors.
STILL YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,819,614 to Hitch teaches a barbecue grill assembly having a dual mode of operation for cooking with charcoal briquettes or with a burner element. The firebox of the grill includes a burner element near the floor thereof and an aperture in one of the sidewalls for receiving a tray member. The tray member has channels for receiving charcoal to be ignited by the gas burner and which, in its 180.degree. inverted position, acts as a shield for the burner. Positive locking is accomplished with spring-clips and by bimetallic lever arms which lock the tray in the tracks when heated.
YET STILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,683 to Larsen et al. teaches a system, including apparatus and methods, which facilitates the use of dutch ovens, usually combined with a charcoal heating source, in outdoor cooking. The first apparatus is a safe, independent, time-efficient device which quickly preheats charcoal briquettes contained in a portable hopper, accomplishing the same by means of a self-contained, transportable, propane-fueled burner. A second apparatus is a sturdy, portable cooking stand, which, in the "as used" position, provides a safe, elevated site whereupon the charcoal heating source and a plurality of dutch ovens can be conveniently placed for cooking purposes, and which, in the "as transported" position, is disassembled and may be carried facilely to more desired locations. The third apparatus is a T-handled dutch oven and dutch oven lid lifting device whereby the ovens and/or lids may be conveniently and safely removed from and replaced on the heating source.
STILL YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,752 to Hait teaches an outdoor cooking unit in which a pedestal stand supports above the ground a firebox with an inverted, truncated pyramidal configuration. Disposed within the firebox is a fire grate. A cooking grill is disposed above the fire grate. The pedestal stand includes a pillar having an inverted, truncated pyramidal configuration. The firebox is supported by the pillar of the pedestal stand.
YET STILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,796 to Porton et al. teaches a combination table and cooking grill comprising a substantially horizontal table top having a centrally disposed aperture formed therethrough with a table support surface formed about the periphery thereof mounted on the upper portion of a substantially vertical hollow pedestal, an inner grill housing to operatively house a heat source therein and a cooking grate disposed in operative alignment with the heat source and the centrally disposed aperture such that persons around the periphery of the substantially horizontal table top can cook on the cooking grate as well as place food, drinks, condiments and the like on the table support surface.
STILL YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,075 to Stephen et al. teaches a gas burner for a charcoal grill having a bowl and includes an elongated burner tube secured to the bowl and passed through an opening in the bowl so as to be positioned in a substantially horizontal manner below and substantially parallel to a bed of charcoal supported on a charcoal support grid. The burner has a propane tank connected to the free end thereof outside the bowl and has air intake openings in the tube adjacent the free end. A venturi section is formed into the tube downstream of the air intake openings and elongated diametrically-opposed, horizontal slots defining the gas exit ports are positioned downstream of the venturi section. An ignitor assembly having its electrode extending through an opening into the tube is located between the venturi section and the slots to ignite the flowing gases. The positioning of the electrode within the tube prevents flash-back through the air intake openings.
YET STILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,242,703 to Stewart teaches a barbecue cooker for cooking meats comprising a cooker bowl, a closure for the bowl, means for supporting food in the bowl, one or more heat sources and heat emitters supported within the cavity of the cooker bowl adjacent the heat sources. Heat and temperature are defined whereby maximum efficiency and food flavor are obtained.
STILL YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,284,671 to Stewart teaches a barbecue cooker for cooking meats comprising a cooker bowl, a closure for the bowl, means for supporting food in the bowl, one or more heat sources and heat emitters supported within the cavity of the cooker bowl adjacent the heat sources. Heat and temperature are defined whereby maximum efficiency and food flavor are obtained.
YET STILL ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,481,965 to Kronman teaches a rack and screen assembly for converting gas grilles into charcoal and/or wood burning stations. The assembly is fabricated from high temperature stainless steel, so that the assembly, when heated to its cooking temperature, retains such elevated temperature for an extended period of time. The rack includes an open frame with runner legs at its lower end, that sit atop the cylindrical tubes of conventional gas grilles. Braces extend transversely across the open frame to reinforce same, and ledges are defined at the upper ends of the open frame. The perforated metal screen is inserted into the upper end of the frame until the screen rests upon the ledges. When the screen is damaged, or wears out, the damaged screen is lifted out of the frame and replaced, manually, in a simple fashion and without resort to manual tools.
FINALLY, STILL YET ANOTHER EXAMPLE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,896 to Stuck teaches a conveyorized charcoal cooking apparatus that comprises two sets of horizontally aligned gas-fueled burner assemblies arranged in staggered facing relation to one another, between which a food conveyor travels at a controlled speed, the lower burner assemblies beneath the conveyor having racks on which charcoal briquettes are supported to impart charcoal cooking and flavoring to the food in addition to the cooking energy emitted by the burners. Preferably, the briquettes are of the so-called reusable type having a ceramic binder holding the charcoal material together so as to achieve substantially more extended life of the briquettes in comparison to conventional charcoal.
Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, however, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention as hereafter described.


A people counting system and method for the automatic reconfiguration of a failed people counting sensor device in a people counting system. The system includes a plurality of addressable people counting sensor devices defining a cluster having a master device in communication with at least one slave device, each of the master device and the slave devices having a corresponding Media Access Control (“MAC”) address. The master device is adapted to sequentially transmit power-on commands to each of the slave devices, assign a different node address to each of the slave devices, receive an association of the MAC address of the master device to the node address and MAC address of each of the slave devices to form a cluster configuration, store the cluster configuration as a cluster configuration table, and replicate the cluster configuration table to the slave devices. A dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server assigns an IP public address to the master device.

People counting devices are typically used to count people entering and exiting doorways of stores. Typical doorways are entrances to stores in either open or enclosed malls. One type of people counting system is an overhead people counting system employing image sensors or thermal sensors to identify and count people entering or leaving a store. Information gathered by the sensors is analyzed and can be used by store managers to improve store sales performance and optimize scheduling of resources. The sensors have a limited field of view. In most cases, a single sensor may be used to "see" entrances with lengths of 6′ to 8′. Hence, in order to cover entrances wider than 8′ typical of mall-based stores, it is common practice to "cluster" two or more sensors to "see" much wider entrances; typically 24′ to 32′ in length. In other instances, multiple sensing devices can be interconnected to cover large entrances in excess of 32′ wide. In either configuration, the people counting system must count people entering and leaving doorways and report this information to a remote host computer through a dedicated communications interface, such as an Ethernet connection.
In a multi-device network, each of these devices is linked to another so as a system they appear to cover or "see" one contiguous wide exit. Typically, one of these devices is a "master" device, sensor or node and is in communication with other "slave" devices, sensors or nodes, where each slave node must "bind" to their master. Any overlap in the "field of view" must be communicated to and resolved by the master.
The master and slave devices must typically be configured to suit their environment. Such configuration includes but may not be limited to: setting up one or more virtual count lines, device IDs, physical and logical locations and their corresponding mapping, and various other set up parameters. Virtual count lines are virtual thresholds in memory used to delineate cross-over thresholds crossing the field of view, e.g., across a store entrance. Typically these parameters are downloaded on-site via a PC and stored within the hardware of the people counting system. In currently deployed systems, if a device fails and must be replaced, one has to install a new device and have it set up and re-configured all over again. This requires a field technician to visit the site, re-initialize the sensor, and download the set-up parameters all over again.
Devices currently installed in the field and more specifically sensors using Ethernet (Internet) connectivity, employ an Internet Protocol ("IP") address that uniquely identifies the device from all other devices on the network. These address blocks are typically purchased, allocated and deployed by service providers to customers for devices that connect to the network. Given the widespread use of devices deployed across the Ethernet, institutions are reluctant to issue their IP addresses to manufacturers of Ethernet-based devices or use their assigned public IP addresses to support in-store security systems. In addition, when one of the devices fails for any reason, the device has to be replaced, requiring its IP address and configuration parameters to be manually downloaded again.
Therefore, what is needed is an efficient and cost effective system and method for automatically configuring devices in a security system, e.g., automatically configuring sensors in a people counting system.

System and method for automatic configuration of master/slave devices on a network


A method of controlling movement of multi-vehicle includes acquiring a constraint condition under which vehicles move and a calculation cycle for calculating movement routes of the vehicles; acquiring a position of each vehicle; specifying a target position for each vehicle; calculating, based on the position of each vehicle, the target position, and the constraint condition, a movement route for prediction steps of each vehicle; determining, based on the movement routes of the vehicles, a driving condition of each vehicle from a current time to a unit time; and controlling movement of each vehicle. Calculating the movement route including performing optimization calculation based on an evaluation function, evaluation of which becomes higher as a deviation between the vehicle and the target position for each prediction step becomes smaller, and the constraint condition, to calculate the movement route.

One of the technologies for moving multi-vehicle (Swarm technologies) is a method for controlling movement of a plurality of transportation devices for transporting pieces of baggage (for example, Japanese Patent No. 4138541). The device disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 4138541 indicates that a central processing unit creates an evaluation index such that a total transportation time or a total transportation distance of all transportation devices becomes shortest, sets a route, and controls the movement of each transportation device based on the route.
As in Japanese Patent No. 4138541, in order to set a path through which a vehicle as a transportation device can pass and set a route in which the vehicle moves through the path, information on paths needs to be set in advance, which requires a lot of work. In the case of setting a route based on paths, the degree of freedom of routes that can be set is low.
Swarm technologies include a method for setting a region with respect to the current position of each vehicle and controlling the movement of the vehicle based on information on the region. In the case of processing in which multiple vehicles are each moved to a target position while controlling a movement route in environments where an obstacle is present around the vehicles, it is difficult to appropriately control the movement by the above-mentioned control.

Method, device, and system of controlling movement of multi-vehicle, and computer-readable storage medium

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION TOKAI NATIONAL HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH SYSTEM


An electronic device according to various embodiments of the present invention may comprise: a display; a memory; and a processor operatively connected to the display and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to: detect occurrence of a function mapping event while an application screen is displayed; identify at least one object for detection of a designated event among at least one object displayed on the application screen; receive an input for selection of one of the identified at least one object; and map and store a function of the object, selected on the basis of the input, to a trigger event. Other embodiments are also possible.

With the development of information and communications technology and semiconductor technology, electronic devices are developing into multimedia devices providing various services. For example, electronic devices may provide various services such as broadcasting services, wireless Internet services, music services, etc.
Service providers develop various applications to provide various services described above, and provide them to electronic devices. Accordingly, a user of an electronic device may receive a desired service through an application by downloading and installing the application corresponding to the desired service.
Recently, applications that support a shortcut function regarding a function frequently used by a user from among a plurality of functions provided by an application are developing in consideration of users' convenience. Accordingly, a user of an electronic device may use a specific function of an application through an input on a shortcut icon regarding the specific function, a hardware key mapped onto the specific function, or a smart button mapped onto the specific function, without an additional input.

Method for mapping function of application and electronic device therefor


A touch device and a control method thereof are provided. In the control method, a sensing signal generated by a sensor is received. When an operating object is present, a touch screen is configured for touchable regions and untouchable regions, wherein the untouchable regions cannot generate a response through a touch by the operating object. A gesture is received on the untouchable regions of the touch screen, a processor determines whether the gesture is conformed to a default gesture setting, and the processor decides whether or not to adjust part or all of the untouchable regions to the touchable regions according to the determining result. Accordingly, the touch device and the control method thereof of the embodiments of the invention can prevent or lower the occurrence of an accidental touch by a user and enhance the operating convenience of the user.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electronic device and a control method thereof, and more particularly, to a touch device and a control method thereof capable of preventing an accidental touch during operation.
Description of Related Art
With the progress and development of touch technology, the touch device has gradually become a basic accessory in the electronic device such as a notebook computer, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, or a portable multimedia player. The touch device has also replaced conventional keyboards or physical buttons and has become a development trend of the next generation of input devices. Moreover, for aesthetic needs, the display panel of the above electronic devices generally aims for a larger display area. As a result, the above electronic devices have gradually been developed toward a slim border design.
However, in the current technique, when a display panel having a slim border is used with a touch device, the occurrence of an accidental touch by a user often occurs. To prevent an accidental touch, the user may need to change his normal operating posture, causing inconvenience to the user. Therefore, a technique is needed to allow convenient operation to the user and prevent an accidental touch by the user when holding a display panel meeting the aesthetic need of a slim border.


A foldable wagon comprises a foldable frame, a pull rod assembly installed at the front of the foldable frame, and walking wheels installed at the bottom of the foldable frame, wherein the foldable frame comprises an underframe, a front frame arranged at the front of the underframe, a rear frame arranged at the rear of the underframe, and side frames arranged at the left and right sides of the underframe; and the underframe is connected with the front frame, the rear frame, and the side frames through a lower connecting seat, a supporting rod, and an upper connecting seat to form a foldable frame structure; the underframe comprises a bottom beam and side rods arranged at the front and rear sides of the bottom beam in a crossed manner, which form a stable triangular support structure in a crossed manner; the structural strength of the bottom is high, and the bottom beam comprises a fastening member. The fastening member is connected with the overlapping joint of two inner long rods of the inner rod of the side frame by a bolt penetrating way, which realizes the interconnection between the underframe and the side frame and further increases the overall strength of the foldable frame.

The foldable wagon is loved by consumers because of its characteristics of foldability and being easy to carry and store. However, the structural strength of the foldable wagon is not as good as that of the rigid wagon. Therefore, it is of great significance to improve the structural strength and bearing capacity of the foldable wagon so as to ensure the use needs of consumers to the greatest extent. The existing foldable wagon's underframe structure is relatively simple. Generally, only four underframe pipes form a rotatable structure, and there is no corresponding structural connection between the underframe and the side frame, so the overall structural strength and stability of the foldable wagon are poor.


The Asynchronous Aggregator shifts the burden of retrieving and aggregating asynchronous responses by replacing asynchronous requests in an original request thread with placcholders with a unique identifier, creating new threads for each asynchronous request, writing a script to request the asynchronous request output, and returning the original request and the script to the client. Each of the new threads run independently and when completed, place the output in the server store. The script then requests each output from the server store as the output becomes available to fill the placeholders.

Clients use distributed computer environments to perform a variety of tasks across multiple applications. For a typical task, a client sends a request to a distributed computer environment, which returns a response to the client. While this seems simple enough, there are actually several intermediate steps involved in executing such a request. First, a user or an application initiates the client request by sending the request to an application server. The application server is a computer acting as an intermediary between the client and other resources making up the distributed computer environment. The application server may perform such tasks as verifying the client's security credentials and determining which resource on the distributed computer environment is appropriate for executing the client's request. Second, the application server forwards the request to the appropriate resource on the client's behalf. Third, after the request executes on the appropriate resource, the application server sends the response to the client.
Certain fragment markup and assembly technologies, such as EDGE SIDE INCLUDE (ESI), DELTA ENCODING, and other fragment markup and assembly engines allow for the fragmentation of requests under certain circumstances at the application server. Often, requests can be split into multiple smaller tasks, or "fetches" and distributed across multiple resources. After all the fetches are executed, the fragmented responses are reassembled and returned to the client. Fragmentation allows for more efficient use of resources and for lower cycle-times on a distributed computer environment. Once all the fragments are executed, the responses are aggregated and returned to the client.
When fragments execute in sequence, there can be a long delay from the time the request is made until the fragmented responses are aggregated and returned to the client. To shorten the overall time needed to execute a set of fragments, methods have been developed to allow request fragments to execute asynchronously. With asynchronous execution, fragments can be executed simultaneously, or in any order, reducing the overall time needed to execute a fragmented request.
One example of dispatching asynchronous threads is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,003,570 owned by BEA Systems, Inc. The '570 patent discloses a system that operates on an application server that provides for asynchronous processing of request fragments. After all the request fragments are executed and responses returned to the application server, the responses are aggregated and returned to the client from the application server. But aggregation takes place at the application server, and application server system resources are tied up.
In addition to tying up application server system resources, current asynchronous fragment execution systems require that the client wait until all the fragments are executed and aggregated before receiving a response. Depending on the complexity of the original request, the client may have a long wait before receiving a response. Meanwhile, the application server is tied up with the execution thread until the entire request is executed. The delay is particularly acute when executing multiple fragments and aggregating the fragmented responses before returning a response to the client. Therefore, a need exists for a way to free up the execution thread and shift the burden of retrieving and aggregating the response to the client, freeing up application server resources while preserving in a fragment any context included in the original request.

Method and apparatus for client-side aggregation of asynchronous fragmented requests

International Business Machines Corporation


The present invention is directed to methods for amplifying vocal (i.e., speech) and other sounds produced by humans and other animals. The present invention provides implantable microphones and sound amplification systems suitable for use in diagnostic and research settings, as well as for use by subject's in need of assistance to vocalize.

The production of vocal sounds (e.g., speech) involves the respiratory system, as well as speech control centers in the cerebral cortex, respiratory centers of the brain stem, and the articulation and resonance structures of the mouth, nasal and chest cavities. However, the "organ of voice" is the larynx, a specially adapted organ located in the upper air passageway. The larynx is in the form of a triangular box, with the back and sides flattened, and a prominent vertical ridge in front; the top is broader than the bottom. Simple diagrams of the larynx are shown in FIG. 1 (FIG. 1A is a side view, and 1B is a vertical cross-section of the larynx and upper trachea). The larynx is composed of cartilages connected together by ligaments and numerous muscles; it is lined by mucous membrane that is continuous with the mucous membrane lining of the pharynx and the trachea. The vocal cords are folds located along the lateral walls of the larynx, that are stretched and positioned by several muscles. There are nine cartilages in the larynx (i.e., the thyroid, cricoid, epiglottis, and two each of arytenoid, corniculate, and cuneiform). The thyroid cartilage is the largest cartilage of the larynx, consisting of two lateral lamellae that are united at an acute angle in front, to form a vertical projection in the mid-line (i.e., the "Adam's apple").
During speech, various laryngeal muscles move the vocal cords within the lateral laryngeal walls. When the vocal cords are brought together and air is expired, air pressure from below (i.e., the lower respiratory tract) first pushes the vocal cords apart, allowing rapid flow of air between their margins. The rapid flow of air then immediately creates a partial vacuum between the vocal cords, pulling them together once again. This stops the air flow, builds up pressure behind the cords, and the cords open once more, in order to continue the vibratory pattern. For normal respiration, the muscles pull laryngeal cartilages forward and apart. Contractions of the many small slips of muscle comprising the thyroarytenoid muscles control the shape of the vocal cords (i.e., thick or thin, with sharp or blunt edges), during different types of phonation. The pitch of the emitted sound can be changed by either stretching or relaxing the vocal cords, or the shape and mass of vocal cord edges. The muscles attached to the external surfaces of the larynx can pull against the cartilages, thereby helping to stretch or relax the vocal cords. For example, the entire larynx is moved upward by the external laryngeal muscles, stretching the vocal cords for production of very high frequency sounds, and larynx is moved downward (ie., the vocal cords are loosened) for production of very bass (i.e., low frequency) sounds.
Laryngeal function may be compromised due to various causes, including upper airway obstruction, paralysis, laryngectomy, etc. Partial upper airway (i.e., the passageway from the posterior pharynx to the distal trachea) obstruction is a potentially serious condition, as the individual may lack sufficient respiratory capacity for unaided respiration or speech. Obstruction may be caused by numerous conditions, including extrinsic compression (e.g., mediastinal neoplasm, retrosternal goiter, retropharyngeal abscess, fibrosing mediastinitis, or thoracic aortic aneurysm), intraluminal obstruction (e.g., foreign body aspiration), intrinsic structural abnormalities caused by infectious diseases (e.g., epiglottitis, croup, leprosy, syphilis, and diphtheria), neoplastic disorders (e.g., oropharyngeal, laryngeal, and tracheal tumors), inflammatory and degenerative disorders (e.g., enlarged tonsils and adenoids, laryngeal or tracheal granulation tissue, cricoarytenoid arthritis, tracheobronchial amyloidosis, sarcoidosis, laryngomalacia, tracheomalacia, tracheal or laryngeal stenosis, and relapsing polychondritis), or neurologic disorders (e.g., bilateral vocal cord paralysis and functional laryngospasm).
Bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis resulting in airway compromise is commonly encountered by otolaryngologists. Often, it is a result of thyroidectomy, although other causes (e.g., idiopathic, neurogenic, and traumatic). Traditionally, patients with bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis were surgically treated by tracheostomy (i.e., creation of an opening into the trachea though the neck, with the tracheal mucosa being brought into continuity with the skin; the term is also used in reference to the opening, as well as in reference to a tracheotomy done for insertion of a tube to relieve upper airway obstruction or to facilitate ventilation).
Tracheostomy provides a proper airway and maintains some voice. However, this solution has been less than ideal, as most of the procedures sacrifice voice for the airway. Other treatment approaches, such as recurrent nerve decompression, exploration and neurorrhaphy (i.e., suture of a divided nerve), the nerve and muscle pedicle procedure, and various neural reanastamosis procedures have also been attempted, although they have also only achieved limited success. (See e.g., Otto et al., "Electrophysiologic pacing of vocal cord abductors in bilateral recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis," Am. J. Surg., 150:447-451 1985!). Reanastomosis of severed recurrent laryngeal nerves usually fails or is unsatisfactory; tracheotomy is unsightly, non-physiologic, and often followed by long-term complications; arytenoidectomy is often complicated by aspiration, and always results in dome diminution of voice; and nerve-muscle pedicles are sometimes successful, although the impaired airway is not always satisfactorily restored. As stated by Otto et al., "i!t is apparent that an adequate physiologic solution is yet to be found, and the original dilemma remains unsolved, that is, improving the airway worsens voice quality and may result in aspiration. The ideal solution would be to restore an adequate airway, preserve normal phonation, and preserve the protective function of the vocal cords, thus preventing aspiration." (Otto et al., supra, at 447). These sentiments are oft-repeated in the literature dealing with rehabilitation of patients with bilateral vocal cord paralysis. (See e.g., Broniatowski et al., "Laryngeal pacemaker. Part I. Electronic pacing of reinnervated strap muscles in the dog," Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg., 94:41-44 1986!; Broniatowski et al., "Laryngeal pacemaker. II. Electronic pacing of reinnervated posterior cricoarytenoid muscles in the canine," Laryngoscope 95:1194-1198 1985!); and Otto et al., "Coordinated electrical pacing of vocal cord abductors in recurrent laryngeal nerve paralysis," Otolaryngol. Head Neck Surg., 93:634-638 1985!).
Other situations in which voice and/or ventilation are compromised include patients who have undergone laryngectomy, due to cancer or other causes. In order to speak, these patients must use sign language, writing, esophageal speech, or use a device. Various devices have been developed in order to assist these patients, including electrolaryngeal and other devices to generate speech. (See e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,473,905, 4,672,673, 4,550,427, and 4,539,699 to Katz et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,547,894 to Benson et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,349 to Baraff; U.S. Pat. No. 4,821,326 to MacLeod; U.S. Pat. No. 4,706,292 to Torgeson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,360 to Bloomfield, III; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,571,739 to Resnick; all of which are incorporated by reference). However, many electrolarynx devices are designed to be hand-held, presenting obstacles to post-laryngectomy patient who cannot develop esophageal speech, and requires the use of both hands. In addition, such devices as the pneumatic larynx, which requires that the patient have sufficient respiratory capacity to make the device function. Development of alternative methods, such as the intraoral electrolarynx has represented an improvement. However, saliva can obstruct the intraoral larynx. Other devices include the extralaryngeal electrolarynx, which is of limited value to those patients with considerable post-radiation fibrosis of the neck. In yet another device, the transducer and intraoral tubing are attached to eyeglass frames, the activating switch is strapped to the medial aspect of the upper arm, and the power pack is carried in the pocket of a shirt or jacket. (See e.g., McRae and Pillsbury, "A modified intraoral electrolarynx," Arch. Otolaryngol., 105:360-361 1979!).
It is clear that improved means for providing speech to patients with vocal cord abnormalities, laryngeal paralysis, or laryngectomy are needed.


A semiconductor apparatus includes: a substrate; a buffer layer formed on the substrate; a strained layer superlattice buffer layer formed on the buffer layer; an electron transit layer formed of a semiconductor material on the strained layer superlattice buffer layer; and an electron supply layer formed of a semiconductor material on the electron transit layer; the strained layer superlattice buffer layer being an alternate stack of first lattice layers including AlN and second lattice layers including GaN; the strained layer superlattice buffer layer being doped with one, or two or more impurities selected from Fe, Mg and C.

Nitride semiconductors such as GaN, AlN and InN, as well as mixed crystals thereof have wide band gap and are used in devices such as high-power electronic devices or short-wavelength emitting devices. Of such devices, technical developments of high-power devices have been made with respect to field-effect transistors (FETs), in particular high electron mobility transistors (HEMTs) (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-359256). These nitride semiconductor HEMTs are used in devices such as high-power and high-efficiency amplifiers and high-power switching devices.
In a nitride semiconductor HEMT, an aluminum gallium nitride/gallium nitride (AlGaN/GaN) heterostructure is disposed on a substrate, the GaN layer functioning as an electron transit layer. The substrates used are those such as sapphire, silicon carbide (SiC), gallium nitride (GaN) and silicon (Si).
GaN is a nitride semiconductor which has high saturated electron velocity and wide band gap, and is capable of high withstand voltage characteristics, thus exhibiting excellent electrical characteristics. Further, because the GaN crystal is a wurtzite structure, the crystal has a polarity in (0001) direction that is parallel to the c axis. In an AlGaN/GaN heterostructure, piezoelectric polarization is induced in the AlGaN layer due to lattice strain between AlGaN and GaN. As a result, a two-dimensional electron gas (2DEG) is formed with a high concentration in the vicinity of the interface, which provides a channel. Thus, GaN HEMTs have promising use in high-frequency and high-power devices.
The costs of nitride semiconductor HEMTs may be greatly reduced by using inexpensive and large silicon substrates. The use of such substrates allows for an inexpensive supply of nitride semiconductor HEMTs. Silicon substrates have electrical conductivity. Thus, the use of a silicon substrate involves a nitride layer with high insulating properties that is formed on the silicon substrate. Nitride semiconductor layers such as an electron transit layer are formed on this nitride film. Due to the differences in lattice constants and thermal expansion coefficients between silicon and the nitrides, however, warps and cracks tend to occur in the substrates and the nitride semiconductor layers, and it is difficult to form a thick nitride layer having high insulating properties. Consequently, high leakage current easily flows in the substrate-gate direction. Thus, it has been difficult to ensure withstand voltage in a vertical direction, namely, to ensure sufficient withstand voltage in the direction of thickness of the substrate.
A strained layer superlattice (SLS) buffer in which GaN thin films and AlN thin films form a periodic alternating structure is an approach that allows for forming nitride layers with large thickness on a silicon substrate while reducing the occurrence of warps and cracks (for example, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publications Nos. 2012-23314 and 2007-67077).
In an SLS buffer layer, GaN thin films and AlN thin films form the strained layer superlattices with film thicknesses which are not more than the critical film thicknesses so as to reduce the occurrence of cracks during film production due to different lattice constants.
As a result, nitride layers may be formed with large thickness. Further, an SLS buffer layer includes large compressive strain within the films of the SLS buffer layer so as to cancel strong compressive strain which occurs in the entirety of the nitride layers during the cooling process after film production, thereby reducing the occurrence of warps and cracks. In this manner, the formation of an SLS buffer layer makes it possible to form AlN having wide band gap and high insulating properties with effectively large thickness, and thereby makes it possible to increase the withstand voltage in a vertical direction.
However, it is often the case that leakage current flows and desired withstand voltage may not be obtained by simply forming the conventional SLS buffer layers.


A method for evaluating the integrity of the closure on a hot-filled container in which the hot-filled container is subjected to a pressurized spray of cooling medium, including the step of providing a cooling medium having an effective amount of a fluorescing dye contained therein, is provided. The sealed container then is sprayed with the cooling liquid. After the container has exited the cooling portion of the filling and sealing operation, the container is subjected to ultraviolet light to activate any fluorescing dye which may have migrated past the closure into the interior of the container. The container is then viewed to determine the presence or absence of activated dye.

A wide variety of food and beverage products are packaged in sealed containers in a hot-filling operation in which the food or beverage is heated to a temperature typically above 170° F. (77° C.), and as high as 200° F. (93° C.), in order to achieve shelf stability. After hot-filling and sealing, the sealed containers must be cooled as quickly as possible in order to both minimize any bacterial growth inside the package and to maximize the product's shelf life.
Several methods are used for cooling the hot-filled containers, including conveying the sealed hot-filled containers through a cooling tunnel where they are sprayed with a cooling medium to cool the containers to a temperature typically less than 50° F. (10° C.). When a pressurized spray is used to cool the hot-filled containers, it is important to be sure that the closure for the container is effective in preventing the pressurized spray from migrating past the closure and into the interior of the container. Such migrating cooling medium might contaminate the container's contents, and also indicates that other substances may be capable of entering the container through the closure.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method for evaluating the integrity of a closure for a hot-filled container that is subjected to a pressurized cooling spray.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a method that does not necessarily require that the integrity of the closure be breached to determine whether the closure effectively seals the container.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Closure integrity test method for hot-fill bottling operation


An assembly for supporting knitted outlet guide vanes in a gas turbine engine comprises an exhaust difusser cone, an exhaust discharge duct surrounding and coaxial with the diffuser cone, and an annular array of the vanes extending radially between the diffuser cone and the discharge duct. Each guide vane has a root engaging the diffuser cone, and a tip. Each vane is mounted adjacent its tip to the discharge duct so as to pivot about an axis extending through the vane. A spring means is provided to urge each vane into engagement with the exhaust diffuser cone.

This invention relates to gas turbine engines and particularly to the mounting of outlet guide vanes in the exhaust duct of such engines.
Outlet guide vanes of a gas turbine engine form an annular array positioned immediately to the rear of the turbine stage and are employed to straighten the flow of hot exhaust gas emanating from the combustion chambers and which have been swirled during their passage through the turbine. The vanes extend radially between the inner wall of the exhaust nozzle and the outer wall of the exhaust diffuser cone which is co-axial within the exhaust nozzle. The cone may move axially a small amount between a forward position when the engine is not running, and a rearward position when the engine is running due to the gas flow through the exhaust nozzle applying a rearwardly directed force upon the cone.
Due to the very high temperature of the exhaust gas it is necessary to manufacture outlet guide vanes from very specialized materials such as ceramic and, in one particular case, outlet guide vanes which comprise blades of aerofoil section with end plates are integrally moulded from a sleeve of a knitted ceramic. Such vanes are known as knitted vanes; they are structurally weak and, because they are secured to the engine structure at one end only so as to allow their unrestricted radial extension, their mounting arrangements are difficult to provide. Knitted ceramic vanes are discussed in the present applicant's published British Patent Specification 2,251,001A.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a means of mounting knitted vanes in an annular array which provides their freedom of radial extension, allows axial movement of the exhaust diffuser cone and enables the rearward load applied to the cone by the exhaust gas to be supported more evenly by all of the vanes in the array.


In a PLL circuit, the phase of the frequency of an input signal is compared with that of an oscillation frequency generated from a voltage-controlled oscillator. Charge pump circuits are provided which outputs currents pulse-width modulated based on information about the error between the two phases, respectively. An output voltage of a capacitor provided at a stage subsequent to one of the charge pump circuits is converted into a current by a gm amplifier. Further, the converted current is added to an output current of the other charge pump circuit. The so-added output is used as a control input for the voltage-controlled oscillator. The oscillation frequency of the voltage-controlled oscillator is produced as an output signal frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a PLL (Phase Locked Loop) circuit, and a recording or reproducing apparatus such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or the like, in which the PLL circuit is used as a clock recovery circuit for generating a clock, based on reproduce information.
2. Description of the Related Art
A basic configuration of a PLL circuit is shown in FIG. 1. Referring to FIG. 1, a phase comparator 1 compares the phases of an oscillation frequency generated from a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) 4 and an input signal frequency and supplies information (UP/DOWN) about the error between the phases to a charge pump circuit 2. The charge pump circuit 2 outputs a current Iout pulse-width modulated based on the phase-error information (UP/DOWN) outputted from the phase comparator 1. The output current Iout is smoothed by a loop filter 3 composed of a capacitor 3c and a resistor 3r. A dc output voltage of the loop filter 3 results in a control voltage for the voltage-controlled oscillator 4 and controls its oscillation frequency.
A transient characteristic of the PLL circuit constructed as described above is represented by a natural angular frequency .omega.n and a damping factor .zeta.. Assuming now that the gain of the charge pump circuit 2 is KI, the gain of the voltage-controlled oscillator 4 is KVCO, the capacitance of the capacitor 3c is C and the resistance of the resistor 3r is R, the natural angular frequency .omega.n and damping factor .zeta. are given by the following equations: ##EQU1##
The natural angular frequency .omega.n indicates a loop band of the PLL circuit and simultaneously indicates an Acquisition speed of the PLL circuit. On the other hand, the damping factor .zeta. indicates the stability of a loop.
When the input signal frequency varies, the PLL circuit needs to change the natural frequency .omega.n. When the natural angular frequency .omega.n is changed according to the use of the PLL circuit, the gain KI of the charge pump circuit 2 and the gain KVCO of the voltage-controlled oscillator 4 are controlled. At this time, the damping factor .zeta. is varied in proportion to the natural angular frequency .omega.n. Therefore, the time constant CR of the loop filter 3 must be changed to maintain the damping factor .eta. at a predetermined value.
Since the capacitor needs an area in the case of the idea that the PLL circuit is brought into an IC, it is difficult to vary the capacitance C of the capacitor 3c upon changing the time constant CR of the loop filter 3. Thus, a configuration has heretofore been adopted in which as shown in FIG. 2, the time constant CR of a loop filter 3 is changed by connecting a plurality of resistors 3r1, 3r2 and 3r3 and a plurality of switches 5s1, 5s2 and 5s3 to a capacitor 3c and performing switching between their resistance values under switching control.
However, the conventional PLL circuit constructed as described above is still unfit for the implementation therefore in an IC according to its use because when it is necessary to vary the time constant CR of the loop filter 3 in multistage form, the resistor 3r and the switch 3s are arranged in large numbers and they must be suitably switching-controlled.

PLL circuit and recording or reproducing apparatus utilizing the same


A temperature sensor circuit includes: an output circuit including a first field-effect transistor configured to output a current proportional to temperature when a voltage twice as high as a threshold voltage is applied to a gate of the first field-effect transistor; and a voltage generating circuit configured to generate the voltage twice as high as the threshold voltage by a plurality of field-effect transistors and supply the generated voltage twice as high as the threshold voltage to the gate of the first field-effect transistor.

FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram illustrating a structure example of a temperature sensor circuit. The temperature sensor circuit generates a current I proportional to temperature by using a potential difference generated between collectors of two npn bipolar transistors 101 and 102 different in emitter size. However, in a CMOS process that does not allow the use of a triple well process, the npn bipolar transistors 101 and 102 cannot be used. Therefore, when the CMOS process is used, the temperature sensor circuit in FIG. 1 cannot be manufactured. Further, when the triple well process is used, it is necessary to separate wells, which has a problem of an increase of the area of the temperature sensor circuit.
FIG. 2 is a circuit diagram illustrating a structure example of another temperature sensor circuit. The temperature sensor circuit has MOS field-effect transistors 203 to 205 and pnp bipolar transistors 201, 202 and generates a current I proportional to temperature by using a potential difference generated between emitters of the two pnp bipolar transistors 201 and 202. Even when the CMOS process is used, the pnp bipolar transistors 201 and 202 can be used. However, using the pnp bipolar transistors 201 and 202 leads to a problem of an increase of the area.
Further, a temperature detecting device having a first MOS transistor and a second MOS transistor has been known (refer to Patent Document 1). A potential control circuit detects a potential under a gate of the first MOS transistor at the depletion time, and controls a gate voltage of the first MOS transistor based on the detected potential. A gate voltage of the second MOS transistor is controlled by the potential control circuit and an output of the second MOS transistor is a temperature output.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 09-133587
Since the temperature sensor circuit in FIG. 1 uses the npn bipolar transistors 101 and 102, it is necessary to separate the wells when the CMOS process is used, which has a problem of the increase of the area. Further, the temperature sensor circuit in FIG. 2 has a problem of the increase of its area because of the use of the pnp bipolar transistors 201 and 202.

Temperature sensor circuit and integrated circuit


A method for calculating a regenerative braking amount of a hybrid electric vehicle includes calculating a first possible available charging power of a motor when regenerative braking of the hybrid electric vehicle is required; calculating a second possible charging power of the motor by using the first possible charging power of the motor; converting the second possible charging power of the motor to a torque of a wheel axle; calculating an available amount of regenerative braking by reflecting a coasting torque on the torque of the wheel axle; generating a motor torque command based on the available amount of regenerative braking; and calculating a final regenerative braking amount by monitoring a real motor torque according to the motor torque command and correcting an error.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and a method for calculating a regenerative braking amount of a hybrid electric vehicle, more particularly, to an apparatus and a method that calculate a torque of a wheel axle depending on a motor, and calculate a regenerative braking amount based on the torque of the wheel axle.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Generally, a hybrid electric vehicle is powered by an engine which generates torque from fuel combustion and an electric motor which generates torque from an electric battery.
Hybrid electric vehicles use regenerative braking technology when a braking control according to a brake pedal is performed. In particular, the regenerative braking of the hybrid electric vehicle is a technology which applies a counter torque to the motor by using energy generated during braking to generate electric energy and stores the generated electric energy in a battery.
In the case of regenerative braking, a hybrid controller (HCU) calculates a total braking amount and a regenerative braking amount by considering an operating state of the motor when a driver requests to brake. In addition, an electric brake system (EBS) also calculates the total braking amount and controls hydraulic pressure supplied to a brake cylinder of a wheel in order to satisfy the total braking amount.
In particular, regenerative braking performs braking based on a cooperative control of the EBS which plays a part in hydraulic pressure braking and the HCU.
However, in a transmission mounted electric device (TMED) type of the hybrid electric vehicle which includes a multistage transmission, the hybrid electric vehicle calculates the regenerative braking amount based on a real torque of the motor positioned at a front end of the transmission. If the regenerative braking amount is calculated on the basis of the motor, the regenerative braking amount which is transmitted to the wheel may not be accurately calculated according to a disturbance such as a shift characteristic or a torque characteristic of the motor.
According to the conventional art, regenerative braking amount cannot be calculated because the conventional art does not consider the torque characteristic of the motor and a shift characteristic of multistage transmission that are changed by a charging limit of the motor. Accordingly, the regenerative braking amount is output too much or too little and the total braking amount is changed, so a slip or a shock may be generated during braking.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Apparatus and method for calculating regenerative braking amount of hybrid electric vehicle


Technologies are described herein for collecting client-side performance metrics and latencies. A web page received by a web browser application executing on a user computing device includes markup or scripting code that instructs the browser to collect performance measures during the rendering of the content of the web page. The performance measures may include operation timings that measure the time it takes for a particular operation to complete during the rendering of the content and/or event counters that count the number of times that a specific event occurs during the rendering of the content. The web browser application sends an event report containing the collected performance measures to a reporting module executing on a server computer. The reporting module receives the event report, validates the content of the event report, and adds the event report to a database or other data storage system.

A content provider may provide content in web pages or other files to user computing devices across the Internet. These web pages may also contain web-based advertisements ("ads") or other external content that are sourced from third-party services and rendered at the user computing device along with the content in the web page. Furthermore, these web pages may also contain images or other external content that are sourced from the content provider separately from the web page itself, and rendered at the user computing device along with the content in the web page. The content provider may have the ability to measure server-side latencies and other performance metrics involved with serving the web pages to the user computing devices and responding to other requests for content or data on the content provider's servers. These latencies and performance metrics may be collected and stored in a data storage system, allowing the content provider to monitor the performance of its servers and produce performance reports regarding the serving of the web pages or other data. However, the content provider may not have the ability to measure client-side latencies or other performance metrics involved in delivering and rendering the content at the user computing device.
It is with respect to these and other considerations that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Collecting client-side performance metrics and latencies


A hearing aid includes an electronic assembly mounted in a cylindrical shell with the shell being mounted in an opening in a ear mold. The electronics assembly includes a printed circuit strip having thereon a speaker, a microphone and electronic components forming a signal processing circuit for amplifying the sound. The ear mold is of a soft, durable and compliant material so that it will fit tightly in the ear of a user. The hearing aid is of optimum design having a minimum number of components and is easy to assemble on an automatic basis. This provides a hearing aid which is relatively inexpensive so as to be disposable.

Modem hearing aids comprise an ear mold having therein the necessary electronic for amplifying sound. Such electronics generally include a microphone for receiving the sound and converting the sound to an electrical signal, an electronic circuit for processing the signal produced by the microphone, a speaker for emitting the amplified sound and a battery for operating the system. The ear mold is generally made of a hard plastic which is specially designed and molded to fill the ear of the party who is to use the hearing aid. The ear mold is made of a hard plastic so as to have a long life and so that it can be periodically cleaned. The electronics of the signal processing circuitry are generally adjusted to meet the specific hearing requirements of the party who is to use the hearing aid. These requirements are obtained by first testing the hearing of the party who is to use the hearing aid. After the desired circuit is determined from the tests, the circuit must be finally adjusted by a hearing aid specialist to meet the final requirements of the party. All of the above features of the structure of the hearing aid and the method of making and adjusting it make the hearing aid relatively expensive. Also, the battery in the hearing aid must be replaced periodically since it is small and has only a limited life time of operation. In addition, the hearing aid must be removed from the ear periodically to allow it to be cleaned of ear wax and other contaminates. This not only adds to the cost of operating the hearing aid, but, since most hearing aids are used by elderly persons, it can be difficult for the person to replace the small battery in the small hearing aid. Therefore, it would be desirable to have a hearing aid which is inexpensive with regard to both the structure of the parts of the hearing aid and its method of making, and which can be easily used by the person, particularly the elderly.


A display system is provided to surround a user with an out-the window scene. The system includes a screen structure that is a facetted back-projection dome made up of a polygonal polar top facet surrounded by trapezoidal facets angulated downward from it in an upper facet row. A middle row of facets extends angulated downward therefrom, and a lower row of trapezoidal facets extends down from them. Each facet has video projected thereon by a high definition projector, and to maximize resolution and efficiently use the projector output, the vertical height of each facet makes use of the full vertical field of pixels available from the associated projector. The facets are all tangent to a sphere about a design eyepoint of the dome. The projector resolutions and the size, position and material of the facets are such that the imagery visible on the inside of the dome on the facets is at resolution corresponding to a visual acuity of 20/50 or higher, preferably 20/20, and at or near eye-limiting resolution.

Wrap-around simulation systems are often used to simulate flying and driving through various scenarios and scenes. These simulators are especially popular for training pilots to fly aircraft. In these systems, an out-the-window scene is generated and displayed to the user. The image is generated as pixels and projected on one or more projection screens representing a user's filed of view. Since the projected out-the-window scene is usually large, it will often be at a low pixel per area unit, resulting in low resolution imagery.
Commercial off the shelf high-resolution projectors have become available in recent years that are capable of projecting high resolution video onto large screens. These projectors are already replacing some of the projectors used in movie theaters. These HDTV projectors display images that have what is generally described as a 16:9 projection aspect ratio, meaning the width to height ratio of the image. In some displays, the actual ratio of width to height in the display may vary, although the aspect is usually a wide-rectangular image much greater than the previous standard of 4:3.
It would be desirable to display a simulation scene in high resolution so as to present a more realistic experience for a user, and so as to allow the user to see and distinguish both faraway objects and targets such as those that would be seen by pilots in the real world, as well as the terrain or background comprising the out-the-window ("OTW") scene, at or near eye-limiting or 20/20 resolution, meaning the degree of resolution that corresponds to the visual acuity of the average human eye.
Prior art systems have provided high-resolution imagery in very limited portions in the field of view for viewing individual targets, by providing a separate target projector that can place a small high-resolution field in selected locations on the screen, such as the target projector shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,552,699 B2 to Dugdale, which is incorporated herein by reference. Unfortunately, the high-resolution area of the target imagery is only in the very small area of the target aircraft being displayed. The rest of the OTW scene is a low-resolution image.
High definition television projectors available on the market now can achieve the necessary high resolution, but existing screen systems are not configured to work efficiently with current commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) HDTV projectors. Prior-art wrap-around rear projection simulation systems are typically constructed from screens that are joined so as to form partially-closed dodecahedral and truncated-icosahedral (a polyhedron having 12 regular pentagonal faces and 20 regular hexagonal faces, 60 vertices and 90 edges) shaped structures. FIG. 1 shows the classical dodecahedron shape, and FIG. 2 shows the truncated icosahedron shape of simulator displays of the prior art, which use a combination of pentagonal or hexagonal faces having an approximately 1:1 aspect ratio.
In these prior art systems, such as seen in, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,978 to Lastinger and U.S. Pat. No. 5,023,725 to McCutchen, both herein incorporated by reference, one or more video projectors are mounted outside the screen structure of interconnected polygonal screen panels, each having approximate 1:1 aspect ratios. Each video projector projects sequential images of video on a respective outer or rear face of a respective screen panel so that the images can be viewed from the front face of the screen panel inside the screen structure.
Unfortunately, because high resolution projectors normally project video images at aspect ratios significantly higher than past projectors, they cannot be efficiently used in screen arrangements of the prior art, which are made-up of screens having approximately 1:1 aspect ratios. This difficulty is illustrated in FIG. 3, which shows a 16:9 high-definition projection 200 mapped onto a pentagonal screen 202 having a 1.05:1.00 aspect ratio. The shaded area 204 represents lost or wasted projected pixels of the high-definition projector's field of view that are not applied to the screen 202.
To efficiently employ each high-resolution projector's full field of view with a prior-art projection screen system, multiple high-resolution projectors could be used on each screen of the screen structure. Unfortunately, using multiple projectors per screen are represents a prohibitive additional cost for the additional projectors, as well as additional labor resulting from having to matrix these projectors so as to display the appropriate portion of the out-the-window scene. Also, it is difficult to minimize the gaps between the separate projected videos so as to ensure a seamless projection of two videos from two sources on a single screen panel.

Display system for high-definition projectors


A lens unit L100 is removably mounted on an image pickup apparatus generating control information used for a vibration control that vibrates a correction lens L105 and moves a vibration center of the correction lens L105, includes an image pickup optical system including a magnification varying lens L102 and the correction lens L105, a storage unit storing first information indicating a relation between positions of the magnification varying lens L102 and the correction lens L105, and a lens controller performing a predetermined control in which the correction lens L105 moves in accordance with the movement of the magnification varying lens L102, and the lens controller sends information relating to the magnification varying operation to the image pickup apparatus, and overlaps the vibration control of the correction lens L105 based on the control information in accordance with the information relating to the magnification varying operation with the predetermined control.

In an autofocus (AF) control in a lens interchangeable type image pickup apparatus, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1 (PTL 1), a focus signal that indicates a contrast state of an image (a focus state of an image pickup optical system) is generated at a camera body side. Then, commonly, a correction lens (a focus lens) is moved based on the focus signal obtained from the camera body so as to perform the AF control. In this case, the focus signal according to characteristics of amounted lens unit is generated at the camera body side, and the AF control is performed at the lens unit side. Therefore, the accuracy of the focusing by the AF control is determined in accordance with the combination of the camera body and the lens unit.
On the other hand, recently, the performance of an image pickup element such as a CMOS sensor at the camera body side is dramatically improved, and the high accuracy is also required for the focusing according to this. In this case, it is preferred that the AF control be performed according to the performance of the image pickup element at the camera body side and that the correction lens be moved in accordance with a control signal supplied from the camera body at the lens unit.

Lens unit, image pickup apparatus, and methods of controlling lens unit and image pickup apparatus


A bracket for attaching a wheelchair footrest or leg rest to the front side of a wheelchair frame, wherein the wheelchair frame front side carries a pair of vertically-spaced attachment pins, the invention comprising a support post; a single bracket assembly, coupled to the support post, for mechanically coupling the support post to the wheelchair frame""s front side, and defining a first opening for accepting one attachment pin; and an annular member fitted around the support post, and vertically adjustable with respect to the support post, defining a second opening for accepting the other attachment pin, to allow the bracket to be used with wheelchairs having attachment pins with different vertical spacing and different diameters.

This invention relates to a bracket for attaching a wheelchair foot rest or leg rest to the front side of a wheelchair frame.
Wheelchairs are ubiquitous. There are many different styles and models of wheelchairs, most of which have the ability to have leg rests or foot rests attached to the two front sides of the wheelchair frame. When a patient is admitted to a medical facility, a therapist or other medical professional must find an appropriate wheelchair and leg rests or foot rests that fit the chair. Because there are a dozen or more different brands and styles of wheelchairs in the average facility, each of which has its own style of leg rest and foot rest, this task can be difficult to accomplish, and requires a large inventory and storage space for each different style of foot rest and leg rest for every type of chair in the facility. These problems are compounded by the fact that when the leg rests and foot rests are taken off the chair, they may be misplaced or poorly organized. The result is extra equipment costs and lost personnel time simply to add the correct leg rests or foot rests to a wheelchair.
This invention features a bracket for attaching a wheelchair footrest or leg rest to the front side of a wheelchair frame, wherein the wheelchair frame""s front side carries a pair of vertically-spaced attachment pins, comprising: a support post; means for mechanically coupling the support post to the wheelchair frame""s front side; first means, coupled to the support post, defining a first opening for accepting one attachment pin; and second means, coupled to the support post, defining a second opening for accepting the other attachment pin; wherein at least one of the first and second means is vertically adjustable, to allow the bracket to be used with wheelchairs having attachment pins with different vertical spacing. The means for mechanically coupling and the first means may both be part of a single bracket assembly. The means for mechanically coupling may comprise a pivoting member defining an opening to fit around the wheelchair frame""s front side. The means for mechanically coupling may further comprise a latch, for holding the pivoting member in a closed position located around the wheelchair frame""s front side.
The second means may comprise a fitting movable with respect to the support post. The fitting may be an annular member fitted around the support post. The second means may further comprise a thumb screw for coupling and releasing the annular member from the support post. The support post and the annular member may both have a generally rectangular cross section.
In a more specific embodiment, the invention features a bracket for attaching a wheelchair footrest or leg rest to the front side of a wheelchair frame, wherein the wheelchair frame""s front side carries a pair of vertically-spaced attachment pins, comprising: a support post; a single bracket assembly, coupled to the support post, for mechanically coupling the support post to the wheelchair frame""s front side, and defining a first opening for accepting one attachment pin; and an annular member fitted around the support post, and vertically adjustable with respect to the support post, defining a second opening for accepting the other attachment pin, to allow the bracket to be used with wheelchairs having attachment pins with different vertical spacing.
The single bracket assembly may comprise a pivoting member defining an opening to fit around the wheelchair frame""s front side. The single bracket assembly may further comprise a latch, for holding the pivoting member in a closed position located around the wheelchair frame""s front side. The annular member may further comprise a thumb screw for coupling and releasing the annular member from the support post. The support post and the annular member may both have a generally rectangular cross section.

Wheelchair foot rest or leg rest attachment bracket


A lamp having a planar light-emitting source includes a light-guiding structure, a light-emitting portion, and a shading supporting seat. The point-shaped lighting units of the light-emitting portion emit the point-shaped light beams toward the side plane of the light-guiding structure. Then, these beams enter the light-guiding structure. After turning approximately 90 degrees, a uniformly distributed planar light generated from the light-emitting plane of the light-guiding structure. So, a planar light source is obtained. In this invention, it has a planar light-emitting function with better lighting efficiency. The planar lighting is evenly distributed without shadow. Its energy consumption and heat generation are low. The product's life is prolonged. Its volume is small and it is portable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lamp. Particularly, it relates to a lamp having a planar light-emitting source. This invention has a planar light-emitting function with better lighting efficiency. The planar lighting is evenly distributed without shadow. Its energy consumption and heat generation is low. The product's life is prolonged. Its volume is small and it is portable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are many kinds of traditional desk lamp. But, most of them use the electric bulb as the main lighting source.
One of them directly utilizes the light emitting diodes (or briefly called LED) as its lighting source 12. For example, as shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, it is a traffic light 92 having LED array. In this LED array, there is a plurality of point-shaped light source 921.
However, the traditional device has the following disadvantages.
[1] The lighting efficiency for point-shaped lighting source is poor. If one person just directly utilizes the LED as the light source, it can reduce the cost, but such point-shaped lighting source cannot provide enough brightness. So, the lighting efficiency is poor.
[2] There is a serious shadow problem. If someone uses the LED array as the light source, even though its brightness can be raised, the light still is not uniformly distributed. Also, the shadow problem among any adjacent LEDs is unavoidable.
[3] The energy consumption is high, its life is shorter, and it has heating problem. The traditional electric bulb's energy consumption is high. It also generates heat. After the long term of use, it is easy to be burned out. Thus, the product's life is relative short. In addition, the heating problem is another disadvantage.
[4] The cost is high and it causes the environmental problem. Because the traditional electric bulb's life is shorter, its overall lighting cost is higher. Besides, a traditional fluorescent tube contains mercury (Hg). Mercury is harmful for our environment.
[5] The volume is large and it is not easy to carry. The traditional lamp has larger volume so it will occupy more space. It is not easy to put into a pocket of clothes or into a bag. Thus, it is not easy to carry.

Lamp having a planar light-emitting source

Taiwan Green Point Enterprises Co., Ltd.


In indication and image reproduction apparatus, the ambient brightness must be taken into account for an optimum reproduction quality. This requires an optical sensor, which is associated with additional technical outlay. The invention relates to a circuit which allows the ambient brightness to be determined by means of a sensor that is already present in the device, for the reception of data or control signals. In particular for apparatus appertaining to consumer electronics.

In devices with luminous indications, displays, or means for projection, the readability of the indication or the representation quality of images can vary considerably with the brightness of the ambient light. Under changing light conditions, the user generally has the opportunity to adapt specific operating parameters of the device, such as brightness or contrast, for instance, to the light conditions in the vicinity of the apparatus. In order to spare the user manual adaptation, various apparatus already have automatic adaptation of specific operating parameters to the brightness of the ambient light. The detection of the ambient brightness that is required for automatic adaptation is usually based on an optical sensor fitted in the housing of the apparatus, generally pointing in the direction of the observer. The signal made available by the ambient light sensor is fed to a regulating arrangement which automatically performs optimum adaptation of the operating parameters to the ambient brightness. The application of such automatic adaptation is appropriate, inter alia, in televisions, video projection devices, dashboard illuminations or devices with liquid crystal displays such as portable computers or mobile telephones.
Although the above-described method for adapting the operating parameters of an indication or projection apparatus to the ambient brightness is already used in commercially available apparatus, at the present time it is employed only in a small number of, usually high-quality, devices. The reason for this is that the sensor required for measuring the ambient brightness causes relatively high additional product costs, on the one hand because of the costs for the component per se but on the other hand because of the precautions which are necessary for incorporating the sensor in the apparatus housing. In addition, the optical sensor can entail restrictions for the configuration of the apparatus housing which, under certain circumstances, cannot be harmonized with a miniaturization or a specific aesthetic configuration of the housing.
It is desirable because of this to provide a circuit for detecting the ambient brightness with the least possible additional technical outlay.

Circuit comprising a combined signal and environmental light sensor


The invention relates to a method for radio-link monitoring in a user equipment (4) of a communication network (1). The user equipment (4) receives and/or sends on a first carrier using a primary radio access technology system (2) and on a second carrier using a secondary radio access technology system (3). The method comprises: receiving (100), from a network node (5), information about the primary radio access technology system (2) and the secondary radio access technology system (3), and determining (110), in dependence on information related to the primary radio access technology system (2) and the secondary radio access technology system (3), whether to monitor radio link criteria on: the first carrier on the primary radio access technology system (2), or both the first carrier on the radio access technology system (2) and the second carrier on the secondary radio access technology system (3). The invention also relates to a user equipment implementing the method.

Today, there are many radio and cellular access technologies and standards such as GSM/GPRS (Global system for mobile communications/General Packet Radio Service), WCDMA/HSPA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access/High Speed Packet Access), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access)-based technologies, WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) and recently LTE (Long Term Evolution), to name a few. The technologies and standards have been developed during the last few decades, and it can be expected that the development will continue. Specifications are developed in organizations like 3GPP, 3GPP2 and IEEE. 3GPP is responsible for the development and maintenance of GSM/GPRS, WCDMA/HSPA and LTE standards.
Various frequency bands are typically allocated and/or sold by government organizations, such that an operator may "own" certain bands for a particular use (i.e. the right to use the band in a certain way). Regulations may specify that the owner, i.e. the operator, should deploy a particular technology in a particular frequency band. In some cases, the operator may be able to choose what technology and standard to deploy in their spectrum provided that the choices fulfill certain criteria set up by e.g. the ITU (International Telecommunications Union).
As a consequence of the fact that spectrum is a scarce resource, an operator may have the rights to deploy a new cellular access, such as LTE, in a limited spectrum of, say 20 MHz.
However, the fact that the operator may have an existing customer base with existing terminals will prevent the operator from deploying only one technology in the whole spectrum owned by the operator. This could be the case e.g. for an operator that has a large customer base with WCDMA/HSPA subscriptions using the Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), and the operator wants to deploy the most recent evolution, the Long Term Evolution (LTE) of UTRAN, also called evolved UTRAN or E-UTRAN.
In this example, the operator may then have to divide the available bands between HSPA and LTE. At initial deployment of LTE, the operator may thus continue to use e.g. 10 MHz (corresponding to two WCDMA carriers) with HSPA and reserve 10 MHz for initial LTE deployment.
However, such partitioning of the scarce spectrum to different technologies has some undesired effects on performance:                There is a direct correlation between the peak-rate that can be offered and the spectrum width that is used. Thus, limiting the bandwidth of both HSPA and LTE to 10 MHz in the example above will roughly limit the peak-rate offered to customers to a half. Thus, assuming now, for the sake of illustration, that the technologies can offer around 100 Mbps in 20 MHz, it will mean that the peak-rate will now be limited to around 50 Mbps in each of the technologies.        Initially, it may happen that the HSPA carriers are very loaded, while the LTE carriers in the example only have a few users. Thus, there would be an imbalance between allocation and usage resulting in undesired congestion on the HSPA carriers. However, in order to offer a decent bit-rate on the LTE carriers, it is still not possible to allocate e.g. only 5 MHz to LTE customers, since then the LTE evolution would not provide competitive performance in relation to HSPA.
There have been discussions to find a solution for simultaneous use of multiple radio access technologies. Carrier aggregation (CA), wherein a combination or aggregation of two independent carriers is made, is one way of achieving increased resource utilization and spectrum efficiency. For example, in LTE+HSPA carrier aggregation each carrier may be an LTE carrier or a HSPA carrier. Higher peak rates and load balancing can be offered in heterogeneous deployments including at least two radio-access technologies. Both LTE carrier aggregation as well as HSPA carrier aggregation, i.e. carrier aggregation within the same Radio Access Technology (RAT), is defined in the 3GPP specifications. Dual-carrier HSPA was specified in the Release 8 standard, and LTE carrier aggregation was specified in the Release 10 standard of the 3GPP specification.
A terminal or user equipment (UE) needs to monitor the radio link or links to/from the network (NW) node, such as a base station or NodeB/eNodeB in order to detect problems with the connection or the connectivity. Depending on the system/RAT used different actions are needed in response to e.g. Radio Link Failure (RLF).
Some details of radio link monitoring in WCDMA/HSPA are described in 3GPP TS 25.331, e.g. Clause 8.5.6, and are only briefly described here for reference. In WCDMA/HSPA, using closed loop power control, the uplink (UL) power (from UE to network node) is controlled by the network node and information to increase/decrease power is sent to the UE via transmit power commands (TPC). The TPC do not have any error correction coding, hence the UE interprets the TPC and increases or decreases its transmitted power based on detected TPC. This is made 1500 times per second, i.e. power variations of 1500 dB/second are possible (although limited to a certain range of −50 to 24 dBm). The UE transmission power will have a large impact on the UL performance in neighbor cells within the proximity of the UE, causing additional interference in the neighbor cells. This is particularly true in case of an unreliable downlink (DL), in which case unreliable decoding of the TPC commands could result in that the UE is transmitting with a power that is unsuitable for the current conditions. Therefore, the UE needs to monitor reliability of the TPC commands and in case of unreliable TPC commands on the DL channels, the UE turns off its transmitter in order to not generate interference in the uplink channels. This also holds for the dual-cell HSPA case, when multiple UL carriers or channels are configured. The specifications describe various timers during which physical layer problems are detected and during which a recovery may be observed without resorting to further actions in the UE. If the layer 1 error conditions prevail, the UE will need to release the existing radio link(s).
In LTE however, the network is in control of how the UL resources on the shared UL channel or channels are allocated to each UE, and the TPC transmitted to the UE for UL power control are decoded for error detection. Hence an unreliable DL in LTE will not introduce significant UL interference, but in case the decoding of the commands sent from the network on the DL is unreliable, and if the DL is a primary downlink channel, the UE should anyway disable its UL transmission. It is also important that the UE can select another cell, in case it cannot reliably decode any transmissions from the cell to which it is currently connected. If the UE would not select another cell, it could happen that the UE would remain in a situation where transmission and signaling is impossible. That is, the UE would remain connected to a cell which it cannot reach and/or the network cannot reach the UE via that cell. 3GPP TS 36.331 Clause 5.3.11 describes in some further detail how a failing link is detected, and what actions the UE should undertake if the conditions prevail.
In case of multi-carrier LTE, however, with multiple UL carriers configured and activated, the UE does not need to deactivate secondary (component/addition) UL carriers (of Secondary Cells, SCells). This is because the network node (such as a base station or eNodeB (eNB)) is in full control of the UE as long as the primary carrier (of Primary Cell, PCell) is ok. That is, the UE can be reached and the UE can reach the network as long as at least one DL/UL carrier pair is useful for communication with the network. In 3GPP Rel-10, it was therefore decided that the UE can refrain from any autonomous actions related to recovery from a radio link failures, as long as the PCell and the corresponding UL carrier used for e.g. random access is found to be acceptable by the UE.
For Time Division Duplex (TDD), the UE receives timing information from DL. This timing information is used for the transmission timing of the UL transmission, and it is noted that it is essential for the UE to be able to keep UL transmission timing within guard periods. The loss of the reference downlink should therefore cause the UE to not transmit on the UL on the carrier, as it could result in severe interference in neighboring subframes. Otherwise, this means that a loss of timing could, in TDD, result in that a UE would partly transmit in a subframe intended for downlink reception, resulting in severe interference to other UEs nearby that are prepared to receive a downlink transmission in such a subframe.
The timers and counters related to radio link monitoring and radio link failure (RLF) in EUTRAN (LTE) are here listed for reference (see TS 36.331, v10.0.0):
Detection of physical layer problems in RRC_CONNECTED                Upon receiving N310 consecutive "out-of-sync" indications for the PCell from lower layers the UE starts timer T310; Upon receiving N311 consecutive "in-sync" indications for the PCell from lower layers while T310 is running, the UE shall stop timer T310;        Upon T310 expiry initiate the connection re-establishment procedure;
It is noted that physical layer monitoring and related autonomous actions do not apply to SCells.
There are also specific timers for                T301 start: Transmission RRCConnectionReestablishmentRequest, T301 stop: response. Upon T301 expiry: UE enter RRC Idle of at NW        T304 start: Reception of RRCConnectionReconfiguration message including the MobilityControl Info, T304 stop: at handover successfully completed, Upon T304 expiry: UE enter RRC Idle        T311 start: Upon initiating the RRC connection re-establishment procedure stop: selection of suitable cell, Upon T311 expiry: UE enter RRC Idle
Although prior art method and apparatus exist for radio link monitoring in case of a particular RAT, there is no such method and apparatus describing how and when the terminal/UE should monitor radio links if several RATs are used in the communication between the network node and the terminals. Hence there is a need for such methods describing how radio links should be monitored and corresponding actions when multiple RATs used.

Methods and devices for radio link monitoring