The fusing device using a heat accumulated heating medium and the fusing process using the same is disclosed. The fusing device comprises a heating member having relatively low heat capacity, a heat accumulating system for temporarily accumulating heat energy at the heating member, a nip arrangement for nipping the toner image between the heating member and the copy sheet with an appropriate pressure contact so that the nip arrangement primarily transfers the heat energy from the heating member to the toner image and subsequently cools the toner image, a cooling system for cooling the toner image between the heating member and the copy sheet and a detaching system for detaching the copy sheet from the heating member. The thermal efficiency of the fusing device and process speed for the fusing operation is improved. The fusing condition for both of black color toner image and full color toner image is finely adjustable in this fusing device.

This invention relates to a fusing device and a fusing method using a heating medium which has relatively low heat capacity.
Many reproducing devices, utilizes heat roll type fusing devices. The heat roll type fusing device comprises a heat roll and a pressure roll which form a fusing nip therebetween by pressing both rolls each other. A heating element is installed inside of the heating roll to heat a surface of the heat roll. A copy sheet is passed through the fusing nip to fix a toner image on the copy sheet. In heat roll-type fusing devices, the heat roller generally has a high heat capacity as a whole, requiring relatively long warm-up time, to heat the heat roll up to a sufficient temperature for fusing operation. In addition, high electric power is required to maintain the temperature of the heat roll surface at an appropriate temperature.
To avoid such problems, several fusing devices using a heating medium which has relatively low heat capacity are proposed.
The following disclosures about fusing devices using such heating medium may be relevant to the present invention.
JP-A 63-313182 discloses a fusing device comprising a heat-resistive film and a relatively small heating element. A copy sheet is contacted to the heat resistive film at a fusing nip. The heating element is installed at the nip portion on the backside of the heat resistive film to generate and apply heat energy to the toner image on the copy sheet in response to an input-pulsed signal. The copy sheet is detached from the heat-resistive film after the toner image is cooled and coagulated on the copy sheet. A heat-sink member may be introduced thereto during the cooling operation.
Japan Hardcopy '90, collection of articles published Jun. 20, 1990, pp. 53-56, titled as "New Fixing System `SURF` can reduce the warm up time" discloses a fusing device comprising a thin endless belt extended among two rollers including driving roller and a heater element. A pressure roller is mounted onto one side of the endless belt at a position where the heating element is contacted thereto from the backside. A copy sheet is passed through a nip formed between the endless belt and the pressure roller. A toner image on the copy sheet receives heating energy generated by the heating element from the backside thereof.
In these fusing devices, the film or the belt is typically heated at a fusing nip where the heating element contacts to the pressure member. Generally, such a pressure member have high heat capacity sufficient to reduce the heating efficiency of the heating element. The existence of such a member at the fusing nip still increases the required electric power for the fusing device and reduces process speed of the printing machine.
To enhance heat efficiency of the fusing device, several approaches have been proposed. Several fusing devices separating heat function from the pressure function have been reported to enhance the heating efficiency and reduce the electric power usage. The following disclosures describing separated functions of heat and pressure also may be relevant to the present invention.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,565,439 discloses a low mass heat and pressure fuser characterized by the separation of the heat and pressure functions such that the heat and pressure are effected at different locations on a thin flexible belt forming the toner contacting surface. A pressure roll cooperates with a non-rotating mandrel to form a nip through which the belt and copy substrate pass simultaneously. The belt is heated such that by the time it passes through the nip its temperature together with the applied pressure is sufficient for fusing the toner images passing therethrough.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,829 discloses a fusing apparatus including two nip forming members which cooperate to form a nip having an asymmetrical pressure profile. The pressure profile through the nip, from entrance to exit, is such that toner images on a substrate passing through the nip are first subjected to relatively low pressure which continues until the toner begins to flow. Once, toner flow commences, the images are subjected to pressure high enough to force the toner into the substrate. The nip is readily variable for accommodating different fusing speeds for different processors.
In those references, endless belts are used as a heating medium. The surface temperature of these heating medium is raised easily by applying relatively small amount of thermal energy. Also, the accumulated heating energy of the heating medium transfers from the endless belt to the toner image immediately. However, as these fusing devices release the toner image from the fusing nip right after the thermal transfer, the fused toner image sometimes remains on the surface of the heating elements. In other words, sometimes hot offset occurs onto the heating medium. This offset problem is typically induced when the fusing device is utilized for a fusing process of multi-layered color toner image. This is due to low melt viscosity upon melting of the color toner. In a color image fusing process, it is preferred that the fused toner images, including several different color-toners, should be melted and mixed completely each other. If any interfaces between toner layers remain in the fixed toner image, the brightness of the toner image will be lost because such interfaces will diffuse incident light into the toner image. It is also preferred that the surface of the fixed color toner image should have specific surface smoothness, typically more than 50% , preferably more than 80% in glossiness defined by JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard) Z8741-75. If the surface of the fixed toner image is not smooth, the color of the fixed image will be dimmed because the incident light will be reflected irregularly at the surface of the toner image rather than incorporated into the toner image. Relating to such problems, the following disclosures about fusing devices specialized as the color toner image also may be relevant to the present invention.
JP-A 4-372975 discloses a fusing device using a thin endless loop film. The thin endless loop film passes through several nip portions such a heat applying nip, a sheet detaching nip and a pressure applying nip formed by several roller members with a copy sheet. At the pressure applying nip, pressure is applied to a toner image on the copy sheet until the toner image is cooled and fixed onto the copy sheet, in order to mix color toners well to enhance color reproduction. The amount of pressure applied to the toner image and temperature of the toner image may be controlled at the pressure applying nip. The copy sheet is detached from the thin endless film at the detaching nip after the toner image is cooled and coagulated on the copy sheet.
JP-A 2-72376 discloses a fusing device using a thin endless film. First, heat energy is applied to a toner image on a copy sheet through the thin film, and then the toner image is kept under appropriate pressure by a pressure member while the copy sheet is transported with the thin film, sticking together until the toner image is cooled to a temperature below the softening point of the toner image. Then, the copy sheet is detached from the thin film. This operation controls surface smoothness of the fused toner image so that the image will have an appropriate surface glossiness.
JP-A 4-362679 discloses a belt-type fusing device comprising an endless belt, plural rollers on which the belt is extended, a fusing nip for applying a heat energy to a toner image on a copy sheet and a cooling roller removably mounted to a back surface of the endless belt. The amount of the contact area between the cooling roller and the backside of the belt is controlled in response to a requirement of surface glossiness of final toner image on the copy sheet. Finally, the copy sheet is detached from the surface of the endless belt after the cooling treatment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,182 discloses a specific kind of belt fuser for fusing toner images on a transparency material. The toner images formed on the transparency during the imaging process have time to cool prior to separation from a smooth-surfaced belt. The peak fusing temperature is significantly higher than that used with conventional fusers such as heat and pressure roll fusers. This higher temperature guarantees excellent toner melting and flow thereby producing transparencies with excellent projection efficiency. The belt fuser is comprised of separated electrical sources and electrically resistive polyimide film.
However, in these fusing device, heating energy is still provided at the fusing nips, and relatively high fusing energy is still required to these fusing apparatus. Additionally, a relatively long cooling off time just after the fusing nip is required to the fusing device to avoid offset of the toner image. This relatively longer cooling off time contributes to slow process speed of the image reproducing apparatus.
The references cited herein are incorporated by reference for their teachings.

Fusing device using a heat accumulated heating medium and the fusing method using the same


A forward phase of a forward intermediate rotor is adjusted relative to a crank shaft. A forward stopper mechanism prevents further advance of the forward phase by engaging the forward intermediate rotor at a forward most-advanced phase. A forward locking mechanism locks the forward phase when reaching the forward most-advanced phase at a start time of the engine. A forward biasing member biases the forward intermediate rotor in an advance direction. The backward phase of the intake cam shaft is adjusted relative to a backward intermediate rotor by receiving a cam torque that is biased on average in a retard direction. A backward stopper mechanism prevents further retard of the backward phase by engaging the intake cam shaft at a backward most-retarded phase. A backward locking mechanism locks the backward phase when reaching the backward most-retarded phase at the start time of the engine.

A patent document 1 (JP 2002-21515 A) discloses a valve control apparatus having an intake cam shaft, an exhaust cam shaft that rotates by receiving a crank torque from a crank shaft of an internal combustion engine, and an intermediate rotor, with which the exhaust cam shaft is provided, rotating relative to the exhaust cam shaft. The rotational phase of the intake cam shaft relative to the crank shaft and the exhaust cam shaft is adjusted when the exhaust cam shaft is rotated in association with the intake cam shaft through the intermediated rotor.
A patent document 2 (JP 4161356 B) discloses a valve control apparatus having an intake cam shaft, a housing rotor that rotates in association with a crank shaft of an internal combustion engine, and an vane rotor, with which the housing rotor is provided, rotating relative to the housing rotor. The rotational phase of the intake cam shaft relative to the crank shaft is adjusted when the housing rotor is rotate in association with the intake cam shaft through the vane rotor. In the valve control apparatus of the patent document 2, the rotational phase of the intake cam shaft relative to the crank shaft is locked at an intermediate phase between the most-retarded phase and the most-advanced phase when the engine is started. According to such an intermediate phase locking mechanism, the startability of the engine can be secured, especially during a cold start under low-temperature environment.
In the valve control apparatus of the patent document 1, the locking mechanism in the valve control apparatus of the patent document 2 can be used. That is, the rotational phase of the intermediate rotor relative to the crank shaft and the exhaust cam shaft can be locked at an intermediate phase by the locking mechanism. However, in a case where the engine is started in a failure state in which the intermediate phase locking is released, such as a state after the engine is stopped in a moment at a phase other than the intermediate phase (i.e., engine stall), the intermediate rotor needs to be rotated to the intermediate phase by the cam torque transmitted to the intermediate rotor from the intake cam shaft. In this case, the intermediate rotor receives the cam torque acting alternately in an advance direction and in a retard direction according to a rotational angle of the crank shaft. Therefore, it may be difficult to keep the intermediated rotor at the intermediate phase, and thus to secure the intermediate phase locking during an engine start, resulting in deteriorating startability of the engine.


A device for erecting walls and/or ceilings includes a support shaped-section evincing approximately cross-sectionally T-shaped webs to which at least one beam for wall- and/or ceiling segments can be detachably affixed, further a clamping lock detachable fastened inside the hollow beam and comprising a central retaining element and two spring-steel, lateral retaining elements mounted symmetrically relative to central retaining element. The retaining elements engage adjacent and undercut channels formed by the webs and are tightened against two adjacent webs of the support shaped-section by a rotationally actuated, transverse tightening system crossing the three retaining elements through mutually flush clearances. At the same time, the tightening system affixes the clamping lock inside the beam. The two lateral, elastic retaining elements are joined in integral manner at their rear ends away from the support shaped-section and are mounted in a clamping-lock housing also receiving the central retaining element and the rotatable tightening system. The tightening system comprises a central, cylindrical part crossing the three retaining elements through mutually flush clearances and furthermore two external washers enclosing between them the two lateral retaining elements, the inside surfaces of washers each resting against the associated lateral retaining element. Each of the inside surfaces of the two external washers comprise an actuation plane corresponding to one of the associated lateral retaining elements.

A device for erecting walls and/or ceilings especially for exhibition purposes as at fairs and to be used as exhibition pavilions, free-standing structures, single- or multi- story lobby booths and the like, comprises a support-shaped section, a beam for wall and/or ceiling segments being detachably affixed to approximately cross-sectionally T-shaped webs of the support shape-section and a clamp detachably affixed to the inside of the beam which is hollow. The clamp in the assembly position is associated with the undercut channels defined by the webs of the support shaped-section and tightened by a rotationally driven tightening system against two adjacent webs of the support shaped-section while the clamp is simultaneously affixed inside the beam by the tightening system.
In such devices, short, support shaped-sections as a rule are the central or the corner erection components and determine the angles subtended between the walls or ceilings.
The walls or ceilings are held by beams in the form of hollow shaped-sections engaging the support shaped-section by clamping locks. As a rule the various wall and/or ceiling erections, for instance fair booths, which are to be set up in simple manner, will be regular quadrangular, hexagonal or octagonal constructions.
The German Offenlegungsschrift 37 03 907 discloses a device of the initially cited kind and its object already is a further development of a similar device disclosed in the German patent 29 31 026.
The known clamping-lock design of German patent 29 31 026 does incur a drawback in that two to three revolutions of the tightening system, which is a screw, are required to actuate such a clamping lock. As a result assembly and disassembly times of the wall and ceiling constructions are significantly lengthened. In the case of inexpert (i.e., excessive) actuation of the clamping lock, there is the further danger that the walls of the beam, which as a rule is made of aluminum, shall be unduly stressed by expanded rear ends of the lateral retaining elements, and externally visible pressure spots arise at the support walls.
The German patent 29 31 026 incurs further drawbacks in that on account of the loose central retaining element, accurate positioning of the hollow shaped-section (beam) is substantially hampered, in that the two lateral retaining elements will close on one side so that there take place shifts of the clamping lock and the hollow shaped-section it holds, and in that it is impossible to accurately center the clamping lock inside the hollow shaped-section because this clamping lock is merely held in place by the screw head of the tightening system. Because the two lateral retaining elements of the known clamping lock do not rest automatically, disassembly of the hollow shaped-section from the support shaped-section is made more difficult.
While some of the above shortcomings could be averted by the known clamping lock of the German Offenlegungsschrift 37 03 907, on the other hand the cost involved to do so was prohibitive because of a special design of the clamping lock. Illustratively this known tightening system designed as a cam comprises a metal core clad in an injection-molded plastic. An actuation groove is present in the plastic coating and externally covers each lateral retaining element. The metal core of the known tightening system consists of two integral cylindrical elements however eccentrically offset from each other, one of which constitutes the actuation head in the form of a hexagonal socket and projects from the plastic cladding, the other forming an inner support for the plastic cladding used to hold the tightening system inside the central retaining element and to actuate the lateral retaining elements. Furthermore, the second cylindrical element comprises integral, bilaterally supporting collars extending on both sides of the actuation groove.
The drawback in the German Offenlegungsschrift 37 03 907 that hampers practical application is that on one hand the plastic cladding of the tightening system cannot indefinitely withstand the high forces generated when handling said device and therefore the clamping lock will be unfit for service after short operation because of the wear of the tightening system. The tightening system cannot be made entirely of metal because it is too complex in shape. Again the metal core of the known plastic-clad tightening system can be manufactured only at high cost because of its complex shape.
It should be noted that the term "shaped-section" is used for convenience, and includes all sorts of cross-sections, such as U-sections, T-bars, and the like.

Device for erecting walls or ceilings, especially in exhibition constructions


A vehicle radar system includes a processing system which operates in one of a plurality of operating modes which are selected based upon an environment (or changes to an environment) surrounding the vehicle radar system. In one exemplary embodiment, the vehicle radar system is provided as a vehicle radar system which operates in one of: a highway traffic mode and a city traffic mode depending upon whether a vehicle in which the vehicle radar system is disposed is traveling along a highway or through a city.

Radar systems have been developed for various applications associated with a variety of different types of vehicles, including but not limited to automobiles, trucks and boats. A radar system mounted on a vehicle detects the presence of objects, including other vehicles, in proximity to the vehicle. Such a vehicle radar system may be used in conjunction with a braking system of the vehicle to assist in active collision avoidance or in conjunction with a cruise control system of the vehicle to provide intelligent speed and traffic spacing control. In a further application, the vehicle radar system may be used to provide to a driver of the vehicle an indication of obstacles in or proximate a path of the vehicle.

Vehicle radar system having multiple operating modes


A bicycle lock which can be fastened to a bicycle without any special holding device and which secures the bicycle, the seat support, and the seat is provided. The bicycle lock comprises a) a housing (2) and a drum (3) that is rotatably mounted within the housing (2), b) a cable (4) that is coiled onto the drum (3) and is directed towards the outside through an opening (6) of the housing (2). One end of the cable (4) is fixed to the drum (3) while the other end thereof, which is directed towards the outside, supports a half-lock (5a) that is connected to the half-lock (5b) disposed inside the housing (2) and can be fixed there, c) a coil spring (7) that is arranged between the housing (2) and through which the seat support (1) is guided, and e) a fastening element for fixing the housing (2) to the seat support (10).

Bicycles are secured against theft with the aid of special locks. However, absolute security cannot be obtained; even the most stable and complicated locks can be opened by unauthorized persons with appropriate efforts. However, most locks offer good protection against spontaneous theft.
In the German Laid-Open Specification DE 42 32 540 A1, a lock for two-wheeled vehicles (with the wheels one behind the other) is described. The lock consists of a tubular container in which a centrally supported drum is arranged and around which a rope is wound. One end of the rope is fastened to the drum so as to be undetachable. The other end of the rope supports a safety lock half. To lock it, the safety lock half can be inserted into a second safety lock half fastened to the top end of the container so as to be undetachable.
The disadvantage of this bicycle lock and all other known bicycle locks is that it is fastened—if at all—to the bicycle with a special holding device and that the seat support and the seat connected with it are not included in the protection.


A bacterial preparation from Pseudomonas species isolated #15 ATCC 55638 that has been exposed to gamma radiation exhibits cytotoxicity that is specific for neoplastic carcinoma cells. A method for obtaining a bacterial preparation having antitumor activity consists of suspending a bacterial isolate in media and exposing the suspension to gamma radiation. A bacterial preparation of an aged culture of an amoeba-associated bacteria exhibits anti-reverse transcriptase activity. A method for obtaining a bacterial preparation having anti-reverse transcriptase activity from an amoeba-associated bacterial isolate grown to stationary phase is disclosed.

Within the pharmaceutical industry and medical community, there is an ongoing interest in the development of new chemotherapeutics for the treatment of persons with various types of cancer. Great strides have been made in the treatment of certain types of cancer, whereas certain other cancers remain refractory to treatments that are currently available.
In general, most cancer treatments operate by destroying the cancerous cells or by inhibiting cellular proliferation. Unfortunately, most chemotherapeutic agents known to the art lack specific toxicity, in that they are toxic for dividing normal cells, as well as malignant cells. Consequently, persons undergoing a regimen of chemotherapy may suffer severe side effects or even death as a consequence of nonspecific cytotoxicity. Recently, biological preparations from natural sources (e.g., Taxol, which is derived from the yew tree) have shown promise as a new source of more specific chemotherapeutic agents.
We are currently experiencing a worldwide epidemic of acquired immune defiency syndrome (AIDS), a disease caused by the retrovirus human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). As of December, 1994, more than one million cases of AIDS had been reported to the World Health Organization (WHO). The WHO has estimated that actual AIDS cases as of 1994 totalled more than 4.5 million worldwide. An estimate by the WHO predicts that there will be 10 million AIDS cases and 30-40 million people infected with HIV worldwide by the year 2000.
The human immunodeficiency virus, a lentivirus, is a member of the Retroviridae family of retroviruses. This family includes other members that are causal agents of devastating disease of humans. For example, certain cancers are caused by oncornaviruses, oncogenic viruses that cause transformation of cells. Retroviruses are particularly refractory to treatment, largely because of their unique replication strategy.
Retroviruses are single-stranded RNA viruses. The virions of retroviruses include reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that catalyzes the synthesis of a single-stranded DNA molecule, using the single-stranded viral RNA as a template. Second strand synthesis, also catalyzed by reverse transcriptase, yields a double-stranded DNA provirus that integrates into the host's genome. In the case of lentiviruses such as HIV, the virus may lie dormant for a period of several years before becoming activated again.
The human immuondeficiency virus infects CD4+ T lymphocytes, cells that play an important role in combatting infections. Proliferation of HIV within the T cells results in destruction of the cells and interruption of the cells' normal function. As a consequence, people with AIDS are susceptible to opportunistic infections and the development of neoplasms.
Millions of dollars have been directed toward the development of drugs for the treatment of persons infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). One promising class of chemotherapeutics includes inhibitors of reverse transcriptase, an enzyme that is required for the replication of HIV and other members of the Retroviridae family of viruses.
What is needed in the art are chemotherapeutic agents that are specific for cancerous cells. Also needed in the art are novel drugs that can effectively inhibit reverse transcriptase.

Gamma-irradiated bacterial preparation having anti-tumor activity


An initialization data generator includes a task database in which task descriptions for initializing a computer are specified related with task IDs and an initialization database in which initialization data descriptions for initializing a computer are stored related with initialization data IDs. The initialization data generator takes input of the computer ID of a computer to be initialized and task data, reads task descriptions and initialization data descriptions according to task ordering related with the task data from the task database and the initialization database, based on the task IDs, task ordering, and the initialization data IDs for software modules which are loaded into the computer to be initialized by the tasks corresponding to the task IDs, specified in the task data, and generates and transfers initialization data to the computer to be initialized, thereby initializing the computer to be initialized.

As methods for installing initialization-software into a computer to initialize the computer, for example, methods described in Japanese Patent No. 3173361 and Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H6(1994)-51958 are known. Japanese Patent No. 3173361 discloses a technique for installing software into a computer automatically via a network. According to this, an installation server is provided with a means for automatically generating unique parameters such as computer names corresponding to a plurality of computers to be initialized, by using their respective network addresses. Thereby, it is possible to reduce task time for installing respective initialization-software programs into a plurality of computers connected to a system.
Meanwhile, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H6(1994)-51958 discloses an installation media creating device for creating installation media having respective contents conforming to different users. This installation media creating device comprises an installation software storage means in which software to be installed is stored, an input means for inputting user-dependent data, a software generating means for changing installation software by user-dependent data and generating user-dependent installation software, and a media creating means for creating installation media based on user-dependent installation software generated by the software generating means.
By the way, computers have diverse configurations according to functions and uses. Particularly, for embedded computers, their configurations are much diversified. For example, there even are many computers configured without an interface for network connection, a CD-ROM, or a hard disk. Further even as to software to be loaded into computers, it is required to provide catering to varieties of software, because some computers do not use universal basic software (Operating System; OS) and other computers use a sophisticated OS for network services. Therefore, there is a need for preparing different items of application software programs that are implemented, appropriately according to requirements of respective users of computers.
However, the methods for initializing computers, described in the above-mentioned prior arts and the like, have a problem in which an adequate consideration is not taken for catering to different configurations depending on functions and uses of computers required by users and differences of application software programs to be implemented.
Specifically, the installation server disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3173361 acquires a parameter essential to installation for a machine into which software should be installed from a unique parameter information database. Therefore, a precondition is that a machine into which software should be installed and the installation server be connected by a network. Consequently, this method cannot apply to a computer without a network interface. If a parameter corresponding to a machine into which software should be installed does not exist in the unique parameter information database, a parameter essential to installation is determined by a prearranged rule. This rule has to be determined before hand and it is hard to satisfy a demand for an arbitrary combination of application software programs.
The installation media creating device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H6(1994)-51958 changes installation software by user-dependent data that has been input from the user-dependent data input unit and generates and outputs user-dependent installation software. Here, the user-dependent data is information such as a computer environment, user environment, and software environment specific for an individual user corresponding to a user name. This leaves a problem of not meeting a demand of specifying a combination of application software programs to be installed optionally into an individual computer. In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H6(1994)-51958, no description is provided as to the configuration of the user-dependent input unit. Therefore, it is unclear how to register and refer to user-dependent data and it must be solved how to register a combination of application software programs optionally into an individual computer.
In general, products of embedded computers are available with diversified types, but inmost cases, the number of products manufactured per type is relatively small. Because of a reduction in the manufacturing cost per machine, the number of used parts is reduced as few as possible. For this reason, in most cases, such computers are not equipped with interfaces for basic software and installation media such as, for example, BIOS (Basic Input/Output System) ROM and CD-ROM, generally found in a personal computer (PC). Under such restrictions, there is a demand for a method that makes it possible to perform not only a software installation task in a manufacturing process up to a maintenance task after product shipment at less cost and infallibly.
The present invention is to provide a computer initialization system that can flexibly cater to differences among hardware configurations and software configurations of computers and is convenient.

Computer initialization data generation that accesses task and initialization databases based on computer ID


A system and method may comprise providing a database comprising a user list and a user device list, the user list comprising a list of user biometric identifiers, each extracted from and unique to a respective template of a user biometric of a verified user, and the user device list comprising a list of user biometric identifiers each extracted from and unique to a respective template of a user biometric of a verified user device associated with the verified user; and determining one of (1) whether a user biometric identifier of a known user biometric received from an unverified user device matches a user biometric identifier on the user device list and (2) whether a user biometric identifier extracted from and unique to a new user biometric template received from a verified user device matches a user biometric identifier in the stored user list.

A computing device (such as a desktop, laptop or smartphone) can perform biometric user authentication in several steps. Initially, a user enrolls with the biometric user authentication system by binding their user credentials with the user's biometric template (a "fingerprint template" in specific implementations). The biometric template contains information related to the user's biometric characteristics (also referred to as "biometric information") obtained from a biometric sensor that scans or reads the user's biometric characteristics, such as a fingerprint. A user identification process identifies a particular user among multiple enrolled users (e.g., multiple users enrolled with a particular device, system or biometric sensor). A user verification process verifies that the user who provides their biometric information is who they claim to be by comparing the user's biometric information with the biometric template obtained during enrollment of that user.
For some service providers, such as service providers relating to payment for goods or services, the enrollment process is usually critical. Often, regulations dictate what can and cannot be done during the payment process. The "Know-Your-Customer" (KYC) and "Anti-Money Laundering" (AML) rules require a strong verification of the identity of the person claiming to be the owner of an account, payment instruments, etc. This verification is typically performed by an "accredited facility" such as by a banking agency, by a telecommunications store, or by other means of "physically" verifying the documents provided by the person. Specifically, the identity of the person is matched (e.g., by a clerk) to an officially issued or recognized government document.
The steps taken to identify an individual can be bypassed or may even fail by clever "hatted" personalities. For example, someone may provide identification from a foreign country that a clerk cannot confirm with certainty the genuine nature of the document.
This process is typically possible at a government level by matching the identity of a person to data in an automated fingerprint identification system (AFIS) database. Performing this authentication on a consumer's computing device, however, is often much more challenging. This authentication may be performed on the consumer's computing device via a one-time enrollment to a service with the clerk verifying some documentation and maybe authorizing the provisioning of a payment instrument linked to the now locally created fingerprint template.
However, when a fingerprint template is created, it is typically stored only within that specific computing device. Thus, this step is usually performed only once. Users do not want to have to return to the facility in order to enroll and create a template on another device. Further, users do not want to carry all of their devices into the facility at the same time in order to enroll and validate the user on all of his or her devices. Additionally, users change devices on a regular basis, which heightens this problem further.

Methods and systems for fingerprint template enrollment and distribution process


A parking lot free parking space predicting method, apparatus, electronic device and storage medium are provided. The method comprises: building a parking lot association graph for parking lots in a region to be processed; aggregating environment context features of neighboring parking lots according to weights of edges between the neighboring parking lots and a parking lot i to obtain a representation vector of the parking lot i at a current time; and pre-training a graph attention neural network model using the environment context features of the neighboring parking lots and free parking space information, and a gated recurrent neural model according to the representation vector of the parking lot it at the current time.

When drivers need to park vehicles, they usually want to know which nearby parking lots can provide free parking spaces in near future, and correspondingly, if free parking space information of parking lots can be predicted, the drivers' parking efficiency can be improved effectively.
At present, annotation data may be generated based on a user's feedback, thereby predicting a degree of difficulty in parking vehicles in a certain region. However, the annotation data obtained in this manner might be inaccurate, for example, the user himself does not have precise metrics of the degree of parking difficulty and provides a coarse evaluation only by virtue of his own feeling. Furthermore, some misoperations of the user might occur and affect the feedback accuracy. The prediction results are very inaccurate on account of these problems.

Parking lot free parking space predicting method, apparatus, electronic device and storage medium

BEIJING BAIDU NETCOM SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


The invention relates to a head-mounted display provided with an image display device and an optical system. The optical system comprises a concave mirror and a semi-transmissive element for projecting an image to be formed by the image display device via the concave mirror, the semi-transmissive element and an exit pupil of the head-mounted display on a user""s retina. To improve the resolution of a displayed image of the head-mounted display, a first lens means is arranged between the image display device and the semi-transmissive element.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a head-mounted display provided with an image display device and an optical system comprising a concave mirror and a semi-transmissive element for projecting an image to be formed by the image display device on a user""s retina via, consecutively, the semi-transmissive element, the concave mirror, the semi-transmissive element and an exit pupil of the head-mounted display.
2. Description of the Related Art
A device of the type described above is known from the English-language abstract of Japanese patent application 09090312 A. In a head-mounted display described in this document, an image is formed by means of a liquid crystalline image display panel, which image is projected in the exit pupil of the head-mounted display by means of an optical system comprising a splitting mirror and a concave mirror. During use, the exit pupil coincides with the eye pupil of a user of the head-mounted display, so that an image is formed on the retina. The head-mounted display may be worn by a user for displaying, for example, TV or video images or pictures associated with portable information and communication systems, computer games or computer simulations.
The known head-mounted display has a comparatively low cut-off frequency of the optical modulation transfer function so that the use of an image display device with a high resolution of, for example, a frame matrix of 1024xc3x97768 pixels with a diagonal dimension of 0.5 inch is hardly useful.
It is an object of the invention to improve the optical modulation transfer function. To this end, the device according to the invention is characterized in that the head-mounted display comprises a first lens which is arranged between the image display device and the semi-transmissive element for collimating radiation to be generated by the image display device in the optical system. Since the first lens collimates the radiation to be generated, coming from the image display panel, the radiation is concentrated along an optical axis of the optical system so that the distortion is reduced and the cut-off frequency of the optical modulation transfer function is increased. A further advantage of placing the lens is that the distortion in the corners of the image is reduced.
A particular embodiment of the head-mounted display according to the invention is characterized in that the first lens has a convex surface and a substantially plane surface, and the convex surface faces the semi-transmissive element. It appears that, with such an arrangement, the optical modulation transfer function is further improved.
A further embodiment of the head-mounted display according to the invention is characterized in that the optical system comprises a xcex/4 plate which is arranged between the semi-transmissive element and the concave mirror, and the semi-transmissive element comprises a polarization-dependent beam splitter for reflecting radiation polarized in a first direction and to be generated by the image display device, and for selectively passing radiation polarized in a second direction and coming from the concave mirror and the xcex/4 plate. The use of the xcex/4 plate and the polarization-dependent beam splitter reduces the background illumination and enhances the transmission of the radiation generated by the image display device.
A further embodiment of the head-mounted display according to the invention is characterized in that the polarization-dependent beam splitter comprises two prisms which are separated by a beam-splitting surface having a polarization beam-splitting layer for reflecting the radiation polarized in the first direction and to be generated by the image display device, and for selectively passing the radiation polarized in the second direction and coming from the concave mirror and the xcex/4 plate. Such a polarization beam-splitting layer is known from, for example, the handbook xe2x80x9cThin Film Optical Filtersxe2x80x9d as published by H.A. Macleod, p. 328, section 33. This polarization beam-splitting layer comprises, for example, a stack of optical layers which alternately have a high and a low refractive index. By using such a polarization-dependent beam splitter, a transmission of substantially 100% is achieved for the radiation coming from the image display device. A further advantage is that a thickness of the head-mounted display is reduced, which thickness is determined by the distance between the concave mirror and the exit pupil. The use of a xcex/4 plate and a polarization-dependent beam splitter in a head-mounted display is known per se from United States patent U.S. Pat. No. 5,771,124.
A further embodiment of the head-mounted display according to the invention is characterized in that the polarization-dependent beam splitter comprises a semi-transmissive reflector and a polarization-dependent reflector for reflecting radiation polarized in the first direction and to be generated by the image display device, and for selectively passing the radiation polarized in the second direction. The use of the polarization-dependent beam splitter of this second type is advantageous because it provides a construction of the head-mounted display with a lower weight as compared with the weight of the above-mentioned head-mounted display of a first type which comprises the prisms. It is to be noted that the transmission of the radiation of the head-mounted display of the second type, coming from the image display device, is a factor of eight lower than a corresponding transmission of the head-mounted display of the first type.
A further embodiment of the head-mounted display according to the invention is characterized in that the semi-transmissive reflector has an angle-dependent reflective layer which has a relatively high reflection for large angles of incidence and a relatively low reflection for small angles of incidence. Such a layer comprises a packet of sub-layers which alternately comprise a sub-layer of optically dense material and a sub-layer of optically less dense material, the thickness of the sub-layer being equal to half the wavelength of the radiation applied.
The transmission of the head-mounted display is enhanced by using such a layer.
A further embodiment of the head-mounted display according to the invention is characterized in that the head-mounted display comprises a second lens which is arranged between the semi-transmissive element and the exit pupil for prefocusing the radiation from the semi-transmissive element to the exit pupil of the head-mounted display.
A further embodiment of the head-mounted display according to the invention is characterized in that the head-mounted display comprises at least an optical element having an aspherical surface. The use of optical elements with aspherical surfaces reduces imaging errors such as coma, astigmatism and curvature of the field.
These and other aspects of the invention are apparent from and will be elucidated with reference to the embodiments described hereinafter.


Non-polar or semi-polar (Al, Ga, In)N substrates are fabricated by re-growth of (Al, Ga, In)N crystal on (Al, Ga, In)N seed crystals, wherein the size of the seed crystal expands or is increased in the lateral and vertical directions, resulting in larger sizes of non-polar and semi-polar substrates useful for optoelectronic and microelectronic devices. One or more non-polar or semi-polar substrates may be sliced from the re-grown crystal. The lateral growth rate may be greater than the vertical growth rate. The seed crystal may be a non-polar seed crystal. The seed crystal may have crystalline edges of equivalent crystallographic orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to large-area, non-polar and semi-polar gallium nitride (Al, Ga, In)N substrates useful for producing optoelectronic devices (such as light emitting diodes (LEDs), laser diodes (LDs) and photodetectors) and electronic devices (such as diodes and field effect transistors (FETs)) composed of III-V nitride compounds, and to methods for producing such articles.
2. Description of the Related Art
Group III-V nitride compounds such as aluminum nitride (AlN), gallium nitride (GaN), indium nitride (InN), and alloys such as AlGaN, InGaN, and AlGaInN, are direct bandgap semiconductors with bandgap energy ranging from about 0.6 eV for InN to about 6.2 eV for AlN. These materials may be used to produce light emitting devices such as LEDs and LDs of short wavelength in the green, blue and ultraviolet (UV) spectra, as well as high-frequency, high power RF devices, and device power electronics, such as diodes and field effect transistors (FETs).
GaN-based semiconductor materials and devices have historically been developed through crystal growth in the [0001] direction (c-plane). The lack of mirror-like (or two-fold) symmetry of the hexagonal crystal structure gives rise to spontaneous polarization in the [0001] direction. Additionally, strain in lattice mismatched hetero-epitaxially grown device layers result in piezoelectric polarization. These polarization effects result in large built-in electric fields, hampering the performance of nitride-based devices. In optical devices, the built in polarization field results in charge separation within quantum wells and decreases the recombination efficiency of electron-hole pairs and red-shifts the emission wavelengths. For microelectronic devices, the spontaneous and piezoelectric polarization allows for the accumulation of a very high density of sheet charge (nd) in the conducting channel of GaN-based HEMTs; however the surface of the device requires the appropriate passivation and is sensitive to the stress induced by passivation and thermal effects. As a result, researchers have investigated methods to eliminate the built-in fields of devices grown in the [0001] direction.
Recently, attention has been paid to the development of nitride epitaxial layers and heterostructures with non-polar and semi-polar crystal orientations. GaN-based quantum structures grown along non-polar directions, such as the [1100] (resulting in m-plane surfaces) and [1120] (resulting in a-plane surfaces) have been shown to be free of the aforementioned polarization effects. Additionally, certain orientations of the GaN crystal structure, in particular the [1101] and [1122] have been identified as orientations with low spontaneous polarization relative to the [0001] direction, and have been labeled as semi-polar orientations. Using heteroepitaxially grown non-polar and semi-polar thin films and devices fabricated thereon, higher internal quantum efficiencies and lower EL peak sensitivity for LEDs have been demonstrated. Initial results in this emerging technological area show great promise for non-polar and semi-polar substrates in impacting a number of commercial applications, such as laser diodes, visible and UV LEDs, and high power electronic devices. One of the current limitations in developing non-polar and semi-polar GaN-based devices is the availability of high-quality, large area substrates, which is due to limitations in crystal growth technology.
In order to achieve large area, low defect density non-polar substrates, different growth techniques, substrate materials, and layer orientations have been investigated. The majority of these approaches involve the heteroepitaxial growth of non-polar GaN on non-native (non-GaN or other nitride) substrates. The published research studies are consistent that, in addition to the well known problems for heteroepitaxially grown nitrides in the [0001] direction on sapphire and SiC, such as high dislocation density and strain induced effects, the material grown in [1120] direction on both (1102)-plane (r-plane) sapphire and (1120)-plane (a-plane) SiC, the non-polar GaN material includes a high density of stacking fault (SF) defects and in-plane anisotropy of all the materials properties. Lower mismatch substrates such as spinel (MgAl2O4) and lithium aluminum oxide (LiAlO2) have been suggested with the hope of enabling lower defect density, yet similar structural and impurity related problems have been observed. The well known approach for epitaxial lateral overgrowth (ELOG), employing a selective-growth stripe pattern, has also been used and has been found to improve the morphology and to reduce significantly the defect density, but still the optical properties have been defect dominated. Practically speaking, the ELOG approach has a number of implementation difficulties, including film cracking, anisotropic growth modes in different crystalline directions, stress and crystalline tilt across wing regions and uniformity of coalescence across large areas. Bearing these challenges in mind, an approach to fabricating GaN crystals with selected non-polar crystal orientations of large size and low defect density is desired.
We have investigated and developed the hydride vapor phase epitaxy (HVPE) growth technique for fabricating non-polar GaN substrates. In one example, HVPE layers grown on sapphire in the [0001] direction were grown to ˜1 cm and sliced into non-polar, freestanding bulk GaN substrates. The materials properties of these substrates were extensively characterized using a variety of techniques, and were compared to non-polar and semi-polar GaN layers and substrates grown on non-native substrates. This approach has several advantages over the direct growth of non-polar GaN material. First, the resulting GaN crystal enables one to select the desired non-polar or semi-polar orientation, enabling on-demand crystal orientation for the substrate. Second, preliminary characterization results show the material uniformity and the defect density are significantly improved over heteroepitaxially grown material. The success of this approach depends on the ability to grow thick HVPE layers in the [0001] direction and this capability has been demonstrated for fabrication of [0001] substrates for optoelectronic and microelectronic applications. Increasing the size of non-polar and semi-polar substrates using this technique requires extended growth in the [0001] direction, i.e. 2 inches or more for 2 inch diameter non-polar substrates. According to the present teachings as described below, an alternative method to providing large area, low defect density non-polar and semi-polar substrates is to use a native (i.e. GaN) seed crystal for further growth of bulk GaN material and to then expand the size of the seed crystal laterally to obtain larger substrates.

Non-polar and semi-polar GaN substrates, devices, and methods for making them


A control system for a hybrid drive unit wherein an assist prime mover is connected through a transmission mechanism to an output member to which a torque outputted by a main prime mover is transmitted, a torque of said assist prime mover is limited within a preset range. Specifically, said torque is limited to an upper limit side in case the speed of said assist prime mover exceeds the preset value, and a lower limit value of the torque of the assist prime mover is set in case the output torque of said assist prime mover acts as a driving torque.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a hybrid drive unit provided with a plurality of prime movers as a power source for driving a vehicle, and more particularly, to a control system for a hybrid drive unit, wherein an assist prime mover is connected through a transmission to an output member, to which a torque is transmitted from a main prime mover.
The present invention relates to the subject matter contained in Japanese Patent Application No.2003-171253, filed on Jun. 16, 2003, which is expressly incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of Related Art
In a vehicular hybrid drive unit, an internal combustion engine such as a gasoline engine or a Diesel engine and an electric device such as a motor generator are generally used as prime movers. The modes of combination of those internal combustion engine and electric device are various, and the number of electric devices to be used is not limited to one but may be plural. In JP-A-2002-225578, for example, there is described the hybrid drive unit, in which an engine and a first motor generator are connected to each other through a synthesizing/distributing mechanism composed of a single pinion type planetary gear mechanism so that a torque is transmitted from the synthesizing/distributing mechanism to an output member, and in which a second motor generator is connected to the output member through a gear shift mechanism so that the output torque of the second motor generator is added as the so-called "assist torque" to the output member. Moreover, the gear shift mechanism is constructed of a planetary gear mechanism capable of being interchanged between a directly connected state and a decelerating state. In the directly connected state, the torque of the second motor generator is applied as it is to the output member. In the decelerating state, on the other hand, the torque of the second motor generator is raised and applied to the output member.
In the aforementioned hybrid drive unit, the second motor generator is controlled into a power mode or a regenerative mode so that a positive torque or a negative torque can be applied to the output member. Moreover, a deceleration state can be set by the transmission so that the second motor generator can be changed into a low torque type or a small size type.
In Japanese Published Examined Application 47-31773, moreover, there is disclosed a hybrid drive unit having a high brake and a low brake for interchanging between a high gear stage and a low gear stage. In case of switching to the high gear stage, the low brake is released and the high brake is applied. In case of switching to the low gear stage, on the other hand, the high brake is released and the low brake is applied. Thus, the interchange between the high gear stage and the low gear stage can be achieved by switching a connection of the brakes.
A gear shift in the transmission having such a construction as described in the aforementioned JP-A-2002-225578 is achieved by a control to change a ratio of speed between a member of an input side such as the motor generator and a member of an output side such as the output shaft. Consequently, the speeds of the transmission and the rotary member connected thereto are changed before and after the gear shift. An abrupt change in the speed makes an inertia torque accompanying the change in the speed larger so that so-called "shift shocks" is deteriorated. For this reason, in an ordinary automatic transmission for a vehicle according to the prior art, a torque capacity, i.e., an apply pressure of a frictional engagement device to participate in the shifting operation such as a clutch is controlled to change an output shaft torque smoothly.
However, if a timing of applying/releasing the clutch or the brake to participate in the shifting operation is off, a load added to the second motor generator fluctuates abruptly and thereby the speed of the second motor generator becomes too high or too low. Therefore, it takes time to raise the speed to a synchronous speed or lower, and energy to be absorbed in conjunction with the adjustment to the synchronous speed has to be increased. This may cause a delay in the gear shift and deterioration of durability of the frictional engagement device. Moreover, shocks accompanying the change in the speed may occur if the frictional engagement device is applied/released abruptly so as to avoid the delay in the gear shift.


A mechanism coupling a yoke and cutting unit to a push arm, and having an upright steering pivot mechanism which establishes a relatively large effective steering lever arm for decreasing scuffing of the turf by the rollers of the cutting units, and an inclined pivot mechanism having an axis which is directed generally toward the cutting unit to decrease the effective lever arm between the rollers and the pivot axis and thereby reduce turf scuffing during execution of turns during mowing operations.

This invention relates to reel type mowers and the connection mechanisms which couple them to powered vehicles.
Conventional reel type cutting units are used to mow golf course greens and other areas where relatively precise and accurate mowing is desirable Reel type mowers typically include front and rear rollers which support the cutting units above the ground The height at which the cutting reel is fixed above the rollers determines the height of cut. An arm and yoke typically extend between the cutting unit and the vehicle for dragging the cutting unit along the surface of the ground.
A pivot mechanism is typically provided as a coupling between the yoke and arm for allowing the yoke and cutting unit thereattached to pivot and shift with respect to the arm and vehicle. These conventional pivot mechanisms often include a horizontally and longitudinally extending pivot shaft for allowing the yoke and cutting unit to pivot about a horizontal axis, thereby allowing the cutting unit to evenly engage and roll across the surface of the ground as the cutting unit encounters side slopes. Conventional pivot mechanisms also typically include a vertically extending steering shaft about which the yoke pivots from side to side for swinging the cutting units laterally as the vehicle executes a turn. The swinging of the cutting units during a vehicle turn generally allows the cutting units to follow or steer behind the pivot mechanism, thereby allowing the rollers to roll properly across the ground instead of dragging or skidding sideways. Scuffing or other damage to the ground is thereby reduced by the cutting unit's ability to steer or be pulled behind the yoke's connection to the arm.
Although conventional pivot mechanisms help reduce scuffing, the reel mower units can still scuff the ground undesirably in areas such as golf course greens where turf is highly manicured. During execution of a turn during mowing operations the inside lateral edge portion of the cutting unit can skid laterally and tends to dip down or dig into the turf, thereby often causing excessive turf damage.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a mechanism for coupling a reel mower to a vehicle and which reduces or eliminates turf damage occurring during execution of a turn during mowing operations

Pivot mechanism for reel mower cutting units


A method and apparatus for performing block encoding in an asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) system uses a pipelined structure. The parity check circuit (116) contains a plurality of pipeline stages (201, 203, 205, and 207). Each stage contains an ADSL input data register (200, 202, 204, and 206) at a beginning of each stage and a carry register (208, 210, and 212) separating each stage. Each stage contains a plurality of carry circuits (214-220) which are serially coupled together by carry signals. The plurality of carry circuits (214-220) use generator polynomial root (.alpha.) processing involving serial carry propagation whereby the pipelining is implemented in the stages (201, 203, 205, and 207) in order to break the serial carry path from one long string to smaller segmented strings which are pipelined together. This pipelining is performed so that parity generation can occur at the higher frequencies required by ADSL systems.

In asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) systems, Reed-Solomon encoding is used to perform forward error detection and correction. This Reed-Solomon encoding is typically performed by using a linear feedback shift register which must have access to sixteen different sets of unique generator polynomials which must be stored in memory. The total number of coefficients which must be stored in memory in order to provide the sixteen different sets for the Reed-Solomon encoder is one hundred and twenty. In order to provide the one hundred and twenty generator polynomial coefficients, most asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) systems provide the one hundred and twenty coefficients within read only memory (ROM) memory. This ROM memory consumes a significant amount of substrate surface area which adds costs to the ADSL system. Therefore, a need exists for a Reed-Solomon encoding scheme which does not require a significant amount of ROM memory for coefficient storage while maintaining asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) operation at frequencies equal to or greater than 55 MHz.

Asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) block encoder circuit and method of operation


This invention provides a delay circuit capable of electrically varying the delay amount comprising a first transistor for receiving a signal to be delayed from the base connected to an input terminal and outputting a positive phase signal and a negative phase signal with respect to the signal from the input terminal, respectively from the emitter and the collector thereof; two variable capacity diodes with their terminals of the same polarity connected together and a specified control voltage applied to the point of said connection, one end of the connected diodes being connected to the emitter of said first transistor; a second transistor with the base grounded, the emitter connected to the collector of the above-mentioned first transistor, and the collector connected to one end of a specified resistance; and a delayed signal output terminal having connected thereto the other end of the two variable capacity diodes and the other end of the specified resistance. According to this invention, an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus using this delay circuit is also provided.

This invention relates to a delay circuit for continuously varying a delay time by an electric signal applied to a control terminal and also to an ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus capable of dynamic focusing by using this delay circuit in the phasing circuit.
The ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus sends and receives ultrasonic waves to and from a human body under medical examination through a probe, and obtains information about the inside of the examined body from the reflected wave signal from the inside of the examined body. To obtain images with high resolution of any places at different depths of the inside of the examined body, when receiving the reflected waves from inside the body, dynamic focusing is performed which dynamically varies the focus of the received waves with passage of time. In dynamic focusing, the reflected waves are received by the individual oscillator elements of a probe comprising a plurality of narrow, strip-shaped oscillator elements or a probe comprising concentric, ring-shaped oscillator elements, and the received wave signals are brought to focus by delaying those signals in suitable degrees by using delay lines and adding those signals. This circuit is generally called a phasing circuit. The focal positions of the received waves are determined by delay times of the delay lines. Therefore, dynamic focusing is achieved by dynamically varying the delay times to be given to a plurality of received wave signals according to the depths in the examined body at which the ultrasonic waves are reflected back.
Conventionally, the above-mentioned delay times are varied by providing the delay lines with taps at suitable intervals and selectively switching over from one tap to another with an electronic switch. In this case, when the above-mentioned electronic switch is operated, noise sometimes occurs and enters the received wave signals through the delay lines, so that wrong signals occasionally appear in diagnostic information. To remove this phenomenon, it is only necessary to use a type of switch less liable to produce noise as the electronic switch mentioned above. However, this method has a problem of wastefulness that such an electronic switch is expensive and if many such switches are mounted to correspond to the number of taps of the delay lines, production cost rises.
So, a delay circuit has emerged which uses variable delay elements, each comprising a variable capacity diode and a resistor.
Before proceeding to description of this variable delay element, the principle of the RC delay element will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
In FIG. 1, reference numeral 21 denotes an ideal operational amplifier with a gain of 1, and 22 denotes an ideal operational amplifier with a gain of -1. As illustrated, the ideal operational amplifier 21 is connected in series with a resistor, and the ideal operational amplifier 22 is connected in series with a capacitor, and these two series circuits are connected in parallel.
The transfer function of this circuit network is expressed by the following expression (1). EQU E.sub.out /E.sub.in =sCR/(1+sCR) (1)
where s=j.omega. and j.sup.2 =-1
From the expression (1), the equation to find the delay time T is given as follows. EQU T=2RC/(1+.omega..sup.2 R.sup.2 C.sup.2) (2)
To be more specific, the delay time when the angular frequency .omega. is sufficiently smaller than 1/CR, the delay time is 2RC, and by varying the resistance value or the capacity value, the delay time can be varied. In practice, by using a variable capacity diode the capacitance of which is varied by an electric signal, the delay time can be varied.
As means for effecting variable delay mentioned above, a so-called variable delay circuit which can control the delay time by an electric signal instead of the above-mentioned delay line with taps has been proposed in Japanese Utility Model Application Laid Open No. 63-129863. As shown in FIG. 3, this variable delay circuit 1 receives an input signal Ein supplied from the base of the transistor Tr, and outputs, respectively from the emitter and collector of the transistor Tr, a positive phase signal and a negative phase signal with respect to the input signal Ein, which signals have substantially equal amplitudes and a phase difference of 180.degree. between them. The positive phase signal is input to one end of a series circuit of two variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2 in series with their cathodes tied together, the capacitance of the two variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2 is varied by the magnitude of the reverse voltage Ec, while the negative phase signal from the above-mentioned collector is input to one end of a resistor R. The other end of the series circuit of the above-mentioned variable diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2 and the other end of the above-mentioned resistor R are connected together to provide an output signal Eout. In this circuit configuration, the delay time used to be varied by a change in the reverse voltage Ec applied to the above-mentioned variable capacity diodes.
In FIG. 3, a symbol Rin denotes a resistor to give an electric potential to the base of the transistor Tr, and a symbol Rb denotes a resistor to prevent oscillation. Meanwhile, the load resistors RV- and RV+ in the emitter and collector circuits of the transistor Tr have substantially equal resistance values to ensure that the amplitude of the signal voltage at the emitter is equal to the amplitude of the signal voltage at the collector. Therefore, the above-mentioned transistor Tr works as a phase splitter. With regard to the output signals which differ 180.degree. in phase in the transistor Tr, one signal is sent through the variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2 to which the reverse voltage Ec is applied through a resistor r, and the other signal is sent through the resistor R, and the two signals are added together and output as an output signal Eout.
Either one of the above-mentioned variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2 may be a fixed capacitor. In the variable delay circuit shown in the above-mentioned published utility model application, the circuits shown in FIG. 3 connected in a multi-stage cascade connection are used.
In the variable delay circuit 1 shown in FIG. 3, if the input voltage at the input terminal is denoted by Ein, the output voltage at the output terminal by Eout, the capacitance of the variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2 by C and the constant by s, the transfer function of this circuit network is expressed as follows. ##EQU1## where s =j.omega. (j : complex number, .omega.: angular frequency of signal)
The above expression (3) corresponds to a first-order allpass transfer function. In this case, if the phase transition amount is denoted by .beta. (.omega.), the phase transition amount can be given by EQU .beta.(.omega.)=-2 tan.sup.-1 .omega.RC (4)
If the delay time Tgd is obtained from the expression (3), Tgd is given as follows. ##EQU2##
In this expressed (5), when (.omega.RC).sup.2 <<1, the delay time Tgd is the value of 2RC regardless of the magnitude of .omega., that is, a value proportional to the resistance value of the resistor R or the capacitance C of the variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2. Therefore, assuming that the resistance R is constant, by varying the capacitance C of the variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2, the delay time Tgd can be controlled continuously.
As another example of prior art, there has been proposed in JP-A-62-137043 that a delay circuit which is controlled by an electric signal. The delay circuit in this patent application publication, as shown in FIG. 2, is a circuit made up of a combination of two transistors TR.sub.1 and TR.sub.2, a resistor R, and a variable capacity diode VC, and this delay circuit controls the delay time by varying the capacitance of the above-mentioned variable capacity diode VC by an electric signal from a control terminal 2 to thereby effect dynamic focusing.
In yet another example, as shown in FIG. 6, by transposing the positions where the resistor R and the variable capacity diode VC are connected in FIG. 2, and adjusting the resistor R73, the attenuation of signal can be corrected.
A similar circuit is carried in Arthur B. Williams "ELECTRONIC FILTER DESIGN HANDBOOK" McGraw-Hill 1981.
In FIG. 6, IN denotes a signal input terminal, OUT denotes a signal output terminal, CNT denotes a capacity control signal (delay time control signal) input terminal, V.sub.CC denotes a power source, C71 and C72 denotes capacitors, R71 to R77 denote resistors, and TR2 and TR3 denote transistors.
In the delay circuit 1 mentioned earlier, however, since there is a theoretical limit to the frequency characteristics of the delay time, a large delay amount cannot be set for each section thereof. So, it is possible to form a circuit having the above-mentioned delay circuits 1 connected in multiple stages to obtain a necessary delay amount, but this gives rise to a problem that current consumption increases which is uneconomical. In addition, another problem arises that the high frequency characteristics deteriorate due to the Miller effect in the first transistor TR.sub.1 for providing positive and negative phase signals with respect to an input signal to be delayed.
FIG. 4 shows an example of calculations of the frequency-gain characteristics of the output signal when a fixed capacity C is used in place of the variable capacity diodes VC.sub.1 and VC.sub.2 in FIG. 4, and the circuit constants are given as shown below, and FIG. 5 shows an example of calculations of the frequency-delay time characteristics.
______________________________________ Circuit constants ______________________________________ Power source +Vcc +12 V Power source -Vcc -6 V Resistor Rin 10 k.OMEGA. Resistor Rb 108 .OMEGA. Resistor RV+ 1 k.OMEGA. Resistor RV- 1 k.OMEGA. Resistor R 250 .OMEGA. Capacitor C 20 pF ______________________________________
Incidentally, in FIG. 3, since the resistor r has a sufficiently large value, the terminal of the resistor r was regarded as open in the calculations. As is obvious from FIG. 5, when the frequency exceeds a certain value, the delay time decreases as the frequency increases. For example, it will be understood that the frequency at which the delay time substantially constant over a range of frequencies decreases about 10% is about 7.8 MHz.
In the variable delay circuit 1 shown in FIG. 3, however, the delay time suddenly decreases when the frequency becomes higher than a certain value as shown in FIG. 5. In the frequency-delay time characteristics shown in FIG. 5, to raise the upper limit of the frequencies that can maintain the delay time at a substantially constant length, it is only necessary to use a small capacitance C in the expression (5) mentioned above to set a reduced delay time for every one stage, and connect variable delay circuits 1, shown in FIG. 3, in a multi-stage cascade connection to obtain a required length of delay time. However, in such a circuit configuration, the number of parts used increases and the circuit becomes large, resulting in a large current consumption and a high cost. As a solution to this problem, to decrease the size of the above-mentioned variable delay circuit and reduce cost, it is desirable that the delay time for every one stage of circuit does not decrease up to a high frequency range.
An ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus using a conventional delay circuit, such as this, has a received wave phasing circuit included, and this received wave phasing circuit comprises a circuit which performs what they call focusing of received waves by giving a predetermined delay to the individual outputs from the respective oscillator elements in the ultrasonic probe and adding up the output signals.
FIG. 7 shows an example of a concrete circuit configuration. In FIG. 7, the received wave phasing circuit comprises delay circuit sections 43 each including a first fixed delay circuit 413, a second fixed delay circuit 414, and an aperture control circuit 416, and a third fixed delay circuit 42. Each delay circuit section 43 accepts received wave signals from four channels out of all channels of the oscillator elements of an ultrasonic probe, not shown, and the received wave signals of the four channels are each given predetermined delays by the first fixed delay circuit 413 and the second fixed delay circuit 414, and the delayed outputs are added together by the second fixed delay circuit 414.
The aperture control circuit 416 comprises circuits for controlling the variable aperture for improving the ultrasonic beam characteristics by varying the aperture according to the reception time, and more specifically, the aperture control circuit 416 is formed by a switch circuit which allows a signal to pass or cut it off.
Signals from the delay circuit 43 are sent to the third fixed delay circuit 42.
The received wave phasing circuit 4 has a plurality of delay circuit sections 43. For example, if the received wave phasing circuit is a 64-channel unit, the phasing circuit includes 16 delay circuit sections 43, and if the received wave phasing circuit is a 128-channel unit, the phasing circuit includes 32 delay circuit sections 43.
Signals from the delay circuit section 43 are sent to the third fixed delay circuit 42, and are each given predetermined delay amounts, and are added together. The delay circuit section 43 chiefly controls focusing while the third fixed delay circuit 42 chiefly controls the scanning direction of the ultrasonic beam (deflection of the ultrasonic beam).
In the received wave shaping circuit thus constructed, when dynamic focusing of the received waves is performed, it is only necessary to vary the delay times for outputs from the individual oscillator elements while receiving the waves.

Electrically adjustable delay circuit and ultrasonic diagnosis apparatus


In a computer network system, a command line interface system is described having a text-based browser for browsing details of host devices coupled to the network. The command line interface system data includes logic to monitor and manage network devices by allowing a user to traverse the network using text-based commands to view hierarchy and topology information of the network and the hosts. The command line interface browsing system advantageously ensures a command status state change in one hierarchy level of the host device being browsed is retained and communicated to other hierarchy levels as the user browses the network.

The use of distributed computer systems has been gaining mass appeal over the last few years. The need for enterprises to more effectively use corporate resources and the desire to locate employees at various remote locations from corporate headquarters, pose challenges for most system administrators. In these distributed network systems, the need to keep the network available without constant interruptions is very important. Thus, the need to also manage and monitor the network has become a critical function in many enterprises. Changes in computer interconnect technology are creating new possibilities for managing and monitoring computer network architecture to ensure uninterrupted availability of corporate networks.
These new high performance networking management systems make it possible to manage network workloads and devices and to response to system failures in an expedited manner.
FIG. 1A is a prior art depiction of a network management system 100. The prior art system illustrated in FIG. 1A comprises three layer component of a console layer 101A-101B, a server layer 110 and a host layer 120A-120C.
The console layer 101A-101B comprises multiple consoles serving multiple users for the network management system 100. The consoles 101A-101B provide visual representations of managed objects (for example, hosts and networks) to users of the network management system 100. The consoles 101A-101B also provide users with the ability to manipulate attributes and properties associated with the managed objects and the ability to initiate management tasks (for example, dynamic reconfiguration of a host or a device).
The server layer 110 accepts requests from users through the consoles 101A-101B and passes these requests to the appropriate host. The server 110 then relays the response from the agent back to the user. For example, if a user wants information on the number of users accessing a host, the server 110 receives this request from any one of console 101A-101, and sends the request to that particular host. The host finds the requested information and passes it back to the server which then transmits the information to the user via the console 101A-101B. The server 110 also provides the console 101A-101B with a secure entry point to interface with the hosts 120A-120C.
The hosts 120A-120C perform the actual tasks of information gathering, monitoring and management of objects on the nodes managed by the network management system 100. The server 110 interacts with the hosts 120A-120C to gain access to managed objects on the network.
The prior art network management environment shown in FIG. 1A supports graphic application interface based consoles. When the user logs into server 110, the user is provided a browser window as shown in FIG. 1B. The browser window 130 shown in FIG. 1B is a screen shot illustration of the main browser window that the user sees when the user logs into the network management system 100. The browser window 130 comprises a hierarchy view window 135, a contents view window 140, expansion icon 145, compression icon 150, module icon 155 and options icon 160.
The hierarchy window 135 provides the user with a hierarchy view of the relationship between the host and its modules. The hierarchy view defines named objects in a hierarchy or tree relationship to one another. Objects are grouped depending on the rank of the object in the hierarchy. In the example shown in FIG. 1B, the host has a loaded operating system module MIB-II instrumentation (simple), etc. The user can browse the network by pointing and clicking on the particular resource the user wishes to access in the hierarchy view window 135 or the content view window 140. By using the browser window 130, the user can set system parameters and view a graph of monitored data properties for a particular. The expansion icon 145 and compression icon 150 enable the user to view an expanded or compressed graphical view of network resources.
Although the prior art system illustrated in FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B provides the user with the convenience of using a graphics application interface device to browse a particular network, the prior art system does not provide this functionality for users that do not have such graphics application interfaces such as text-based computer consoles, personal digital assistants (PDAs), etc.

System and method browsing a network topology using a character driven interface


A termination device for use in a WDM-SCM PON system can effectively support a multi-channel integration function of a WDM/SCM PON system. The termination device contained in a termination end of a WDM/SCM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing/Sub-Carrier Multiplexing) PON (Passive Optical Network) to connect the PON with either a subscriber or an Ethernet service network includes: an Ethernet interface module connected to the Ethernet service network or the subscriber to perform an Ethernet interface function; a WDM/SCM physical layer module physically connected to the WDM/SCM PON to transmit/receive optical signals to/from the WDM/SCM PON; and a MAC (Media Access Control)-bridge module for performing a multiplexing/demultiplexing operation based on a MAC address upon receipt of transmission/reception frames, and reconstructing preambles of the frames while being classified according to channels so that individual Ethernet frames are matching-processed while being classified according to SCM channels of the WDM/SCM physical layer module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a PON (Passive Optical Network) based on a WDM (Wavelength Division Multiplexing)/SCM (Sub-Carrier Multiplexing) scheme, and more particularly to a termination device for use in a PON system based on a WDM/SCM scheme, which can effectively use a WDM/SCM-based multi-link (i.e., multiplexing link) simultaneously with being compatible with a conventional Ethernet system, and can guarantee a transmission sequence between a transmission node and a reception node.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has recently been developed a PON (Passive Optical Network) system for satisfying a user-requested high frequency band for use in a digital communication service. The PON system is a subscriber distribution network for connecting a communication connection path requested between the Ethernet network and a subscriber to an optical wavelength provider using a passive optical element, and includes a variety of terminal devices for connecting the passive optical element to either a subscriber or an Ethernet network. A terminal device connected to the subscriber is called an ONT (Optical Network Terminal), and the other terminal device connected to the Ethernet network is called an OLT (Optical Line Terminal).
Basically, the PON system combines a plurality of ONTs with each other using an optical splitter (also called an optical distributor) so that a link ranging from the optical splitter to one OLT is shared with a plurality of subscribers. Therefore, there must be newly developed a method for multiplexing the link shared between the optical splitter and the OLT in an upstream service for transmitting data in the range from the subscribers to the Ethernet network.
There are a variety of such multiplexing methods, for example, a TDM (Time-Division Multiplexing) scheme and an active switching scheme (also called a Home-Run scheme). In the case of downstream transmission, the TDM scheme controls the ONT to perform photoelectric conversion so that it filters data using either an address or an additional ID (e.g., an EPON's LLID) of packets. In the case of upstream transmission, the TDM scheme controls each ONT to transmit an upstream packet over a timeslot having a predetermined time interval at a fixed time. A PON system using the aforementioned TDM scheme is called a TDM-PON system.
The active switching scheme (i.e., the Home-Run scheme) controls an active node ranging from an OLT to an ONT to classify physical links using a point-to-point access scheme, and uses the classified physical links. In this case, the active node must recognize a corresponding port using the photoelectric conversion process, and must perform electric-to-optical conversion such that it can perform an optical transmission operation in the range from a source to either the OLT or the ONT. This network using the aforementioned active switching scheme is called an active network.
The TDM-PON system has advantages in a variety of areas, for example, installation, extensibility, and economic efficiency of optical cables. There is no need for the TDM-PON system to require additional control operations in the case of downstream transmission, but it can perform a high-speed transmission operation. However, the TDM-PON system complicates an upstream transmission process, encounters a TDM delay in packet transmission, and allows two hierarchical packets to be processed by the ONT for every subscriber to be higher than a link speed between the OLT and the ONT, such that it may increase processing capacity instead of a packet reception rate.
The active network has advantages in that it enables individual ONTs of users to be independent of each other and performs upstream/downstream transmission services using the same method, however, it has disadvantages in that it is worse than the TDM-PON system in a variety of areas, for example, installation, extensibility, and economic efficiency of optical cables and must perform photoelectric conversion and electric-to-optical conversion operations in a subscriber distribution/access field.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, as shown in FIG. 1, a WDM(Wavelength Division Multiplexing)/SCM(Sub-Carrier Multiplexing)-PON system for constructing a communication link requested between an OLT 14 and a plurality of ONTs 11 in the form of a multi-link in association with the WDM/SCM scheme is increasingly developed.
The WDM/SCM-PON system shown in FIG. 1 adapts an AWG (Arrayed Wavelength Grating) acting as a passive element and an optical splitter/combiner 12 to physically interconnect the ONTs. A multi-link between the ONTs 11 and the OLT 14 is composed of a plurality of wavelengths and a plurality of sub-carriers as shown in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 2, a first ONT (ONT1) is assigned to a first channel of a wavelength #1 (i.e., Sub-carrier #1), a second ONT (ONT2) is assigned to a second channel of the wavelength #1 (i.e., Sub-carrier #2), and an N-th ONT(ONT N) is assigned to first and second channels of the other wavelength #2 (i.e., Sub-carriers #1 and #2). In this case, a subscriber's frame can be classified by MAC address information. In more detail, if a specific ONT assigned to a corresponding MAC address uses a single SCM channel, it can distinguish a wavelength and an SCM channel from each other, such that the OLT 14 can determine an output link and transmit a frame over the determined output link. Although the ONT assigned to the corresponding MAC address uses a multiplexing SCM channel, the OLT 14 classifies the multiplexing SCM channel using a single link and internally processes the classified multiplexing SCM channel, resulting in a switching to the output link.
The WDM/SCM scheme guarantees an independent connection configuration between the OLT 14 and the ONT 11 using a wavelength and a sub-carrier in a physical layer, and simplifies a control protocol for allocating/guaranteeing bandwidths, differently from the TDM scheme, resulting in increased applicability to a true commercial-use network.
However, the WDM/SCM PON system includes a plurality of SCM channels in the range of a single wavelength, and connects the ONT to the OLT in the form of a point-to-point access over the SCM channels. The WDM/SCM PON system requires a method for maintaining a prescribed frame sequence in transmission/reception modes, classifies traffic data to be transmitted over a link in the IEEE 802.3 link aggregation standard into a few conversation units, and guarantees the prescribed frame sequence in the conversation units. Therefore, provided that there are a small number of classifiable conversation units or an unbalanced bandwidth among the conversation units is formed, the WDM/SCM PON system cannot effectively use a desired link.
In order to solve the aforementioned problems, there has been newly proposed a variety of methods for maintaining a frame transmission sequence, for example, a padding method, a division method, and a tagging method. The padding method for transmitting a frame received from an upper layer using 1518 octets indicative of a maximum Ethernet transmission length is far from efficiency in traffic data of a short frame length, and must control a receiver to extract a padding part. The division method capable of forming a constant frame length divides a frame length into several units instead of padding the frame length, and transmits the divided frame units each having the same length. The division method adds a header having new division information to the divided frame units, transmits the divided frame units each having the header, and controls a reception end to reconstruct reception data according to header information, resulting in a complicated transmission/reception process. Furthermore, the division method cannot maintain compatibility of a lower layer (i.e., a WDM/SCM-PHY), such that it requires a new physical layer. The tagging method for assigning a transmission sequence to the frame records such a transmission sequence to a header, adds the header to the frame, and transmits the frame with the header. However, the tagging method must reconstruct data on the basis of header information of the received frame, and must correct a standard protocol, resulting in a complicated implementation.
In conclusion, the above-described conventional methods cannot effectively use resources of the WDM/SCM-PON system.

Optical network termination device for use in passive optical network based on WDM/SCM scheme

Electronics and Telecommunications Reasearch Institute


A method for manufacturing a covering system for a motor vehicle seat member includes the steps of: providing a support, a cover and a pad; associating the support with the cover, the pad being left free between the support and the cover; and creating longitudinal seam lines, one on either side of the pad. The longitudinal seam lines join together the support and the cover. The longitudinal seam lines form straight segments, extending in a transverse direction towards the first pad, and join together the support, the cover, and the first pad.

A motor vehicle seat member, typically a seating portion, a backrest, or a headrest, comprises a rigid structure (or frame), a padding supported by the rigid structure, and a covering system which covers the padding and forms the physical interface between seat and seat occupant.
Generally, the covering system has certain specific patterns for aesthetic reasons. These patterns also make it possible to distinguish one motor vehicle seat from another.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,584,333 B2 describes a method for manufacturing such a covering system. In that document, it proposes sewing together a support and a cover along two straight and parallel seam lines to form a pocket, then inserting a first pad into this pocket. Other pads can then be arranged between the support and the cover, on either side of the first pad. The support and the cover are then sewn together around the other pads of padding. Finally, seam segments are created which are perpendicular to the two parallel seam lines and which join together the support, the cover, and the pads.
However, insertion of the first pad is only possible if it is rectangular, as explained in said patent. In addition, it is difficult to ensure accurate positioning of the first pad when it is inserted as described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,584,333 B2, which can impact the desired aesthetic effect of the covering system.
U.S. Pat. No. 9,340,134 B2 describes a substantially identical process. However, in U.S. Pat. No. 9,340,134 B1, the parallel seam lines of U.S. Pat. No. 8,584,333 B2 are replaced by longitudinal seam lines which have curved portions to reduce the cross-section of the pocket. In addition, the seam segments are replaced by continuous seam lines, extending transversely in a step-shaped manner.
However, this method is not a satisfactory solution to the problem of positioning the first pad between the support and the cover. In addition, it turns out that the transverse seam lines are fragile.
A need therefore remains for a method for manufacturing a covering system for a motor vehicle seat member that does not have the disadvantages of the prior art. In particular, there is a need for a method for manufacturing a covering system that ensures satisfactory positioning of the block or pads between the support and the cover, while ensuring a relief effect in the covering system.

Covering system for motor vehicle seat member and method for manufacturing such a covering system