A distributed clipping scheme is provided, view frustum culling is distributed in several places in a graphics processing pipeline to simplify hardware implementation and improve performance. In general, many 3D objects are outside viewing frustum. In one embodiment, clipping is performed on these objects with a simple algorithm in the PA module, such as near Z clipping, trivial rejection and trivial acceptance. In one embodiment, the SE and RA modules perform the rest of clipping, such as X, Y and far Z clipping. In one embodiment, the SE module performs clipping by way of computing a initial point of rasterization. In one embodiment, the RA module performs clipping by way of conducting the rendering step of the rasterization process. This approach distributes the complexity in the graphics processing pipeline and makes the design simpler and faster, therefore design complexity, cost and performance may all be improved in hardware implementation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to the field of computer systems and more particularly to 3D computer graphics processor.
2. Description of Related Art
In 3D computer graphics, the view frustum is the region of a three dimensional space in the modeled world that may appear on a computer display screen represented by the 2D screen space (hereinafter also referred to as the screen space). The exact shape of the view frustum may vary, e.g. it may be a rectangular cube, a rectangular pyramid, or other suitable geometric shape. In an example, the frustum may be formed with six planes: near plane, far plane, +X plane, −X plane, +Y plane, and −Y plane. The planes that cut the view frustum perpendicular to the viewing direction are called the near plane and the far plane, which may also be called the near Z plane and the far Z plane.
3D objects in the view frustum may be represented by multiple geometric primitives, such as polygons, triangles, line segments, points, or other appropriate geometric elements. Geometric primitives that fall outside of the view frustum will not be visible and may be discarded, removed, or abandoned, in view frustum clipping, or culling, operation of the graphics processing pipeline. Here, culling refers to the complete removal of a geometric primitive which is completely outside of the view frustum while clipping refers to the partial removal of a geometric primitive which has a partial portion outside of the view frustum. Culling may be considered as a special case of clipping where the partial portion removed defaults to the complete geometric primitive. Clipping/culling 3D objects outside of the view frustum is not necessary to achieve a correct image output, but it accelerates the rendering process by eliminating the unneeded rasterization and post-processing on primitives that will not appear on the computer display screen anyway. Graphics processing pipeline typically includes a primitive assembly module (hereinafter referred to as the PA module) where 3D objects, which may be represented by multiple vertices computed from a vertex shader module, are converted to geometric primitives such as triangles, lines, points, polygons, or other appropriate geometric elements. For example, lines may be drawn from a starting-point (or starting-vertex) to an ending-point (or an ending-vertex) in order to pass conformance tests. The reason is that the ending-vertex may or may not be part of the line. PA module may also perform a conversion from the view frustum to the 2D screen space. In some examples, only the X and Y coordinates are transformed into screen space, while the per-pixel Z values may be stored in a Z-buffer. After processed by the PA module, the primitives are in the screen space. The rest of the pipe acts only on the screen space. In some examples, a clipping block may be added behind a primitive assembly block and before the SE module. In this case, the primitive assembly block would just assemble the primitives, the clipper block would clip the primitives and generate more primitives based on this clipping and than pass it on to a transformation pipe which transforms the clipped primitives to the screen space before it enters the SE module. This whole pipe including the primitive assembly block, clipper block, and the transformation pipe is called the PA module. Graphics processing pipelines typically also include a rasterization module (hereinafter referred to as the RA module) where all the pixels in a clipping window inside the 2D screen space are rendered. The RA module operates on the clipping window which may be a portion of the view frustum. Pixels in the screen space outside of the clipping window also need to be clipped/culled, i.e., discarded, removed, or abandoned. In addition to the primitive assembly module and the rasterization module, there may also be additional set up functions (e.g., computing an initial point of rasterization for a primitive) performed in a set up module (hereinafter referred to as the SE module). In the prior art, clipping/culling of 3D objects outside of the view frustum is typically done in a single place inside a graphics processing pipeline. Such an implementation can cause a bottleneck in the pipeline because of the large number of computation required for performing clipping/culling. For an example, view frustum clipping/culling may be done in the screen space. In this example, all the 3D objects are transformed to screen space and sent to the setup engine to do the clipping according to the clipping window. The advantage of this approach is that the hardware in the PA module may be very simple. The disadvantage is that all the 3D objects need to be transformed to screen space, even the objects outside of view frustum or clipping window. This may increase complexity and cost of the graphics processing pipeline implementation. In another example, all 6-plane clipping may be done in the view frustum before the conversion to the 2D screen space. The advantage of this approach is that all polygons outside of the view frustum are clipped; only the polygons inside the view frustum are transformed to screen space and sent to setup engine. The disadvantage of this approach is that the algorithm of doing 6 plane clipping is complex and expensive for hardware implementation.

Method for distributed clipping outside of view volume


A printed wiring board is disclosed. The printed wiring board includes a board recognition mark formed of a conductive foil, a first component land covered with resist, and a second component land not covered with the resist. The board recognition mark is defined by an area of the conductive foil exposed from a resist opening having the same shape and size as the conductive foil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a technique for printing solder paste with use of a printing machine and mounting a component with use of an automatic mounter onto a printed wiring board including a board recognition mark, and particularly relates to a technique for properly mounting components on a printed wiring board including a component land covered with resist (hereinafter also referred to as an over resist type component land) and a component land not covered with the resist (hereinafter also referred to as a normal resist type component land) even if resist misalignment occurs.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, printed wiring boards with "0603 size" small chip components mounted thereon have been increasing. The "0603 size" small chip components were developed in response to demand for components with smaller size and higher density, and have a size of 0.6 mm in length and 0.3 mm in width.
FIG. 8A shows a related art printed wiring board, wherein normal resist type component lands 5a and 5′ are exposed through resist openings 8a and 8′a having sizes greater than the component lands 5a and 5′a, respectively. Conductive patterns 17a and 18a are extending from the component lands 5a and 5′a, respectively.
If a resist printing mask (not shown) used for forming resist 2a is positioned rightward relative to a predetermined location, an area S2a of the conductive pattern 18a exposed through the right resist opening 8′a is larger than an area S1a of the conductive pattern 17a exposed through the left resist opening 8a. That is, the substantial area of the component lands 5a is not equal to the substantial area of the component land 5′a.
Referring to FIG. 8C, when solder pastes 19a and 20a printed on such component lands 5a and 5′a are heated and melted by a reflow machine, a chip component 15a as small as the "0603 size" chip components might be pulled toward the component land 5′a having the larger substantial area and be partly lifted.
Referring then to FIG. 8B, to avoid such mounting failure, component lands 6a and 6′a having the same area by covering peripheries of conductive foils 22a and 22′a with the resist 2a are formed with an over resist method. The component lands 5a and 5′a formed by a normal resist method and the component lands 6a and 6′a formed by the over resist method are present on the same printed wiring board.
When a normal resist type component land and an over resist type component land are present on a printed wiring board, printing misalignment and mounting misalignment might occur for the following reasons.
The reasons of the occurrence of the printing and mounting misalignment are described with reference to a printed wiring board 1a of FIG. 5 including a board recognition mark 3a formed with the normal resist method, wherein rightward and downward misalignment of the resist 2a exists.
A resist printing mask (not shown) is placed on the printed wiring board 1a including the board recognition mark 3a, the normal resist type component land 5a, and the over resist type component land 6a. The resist 2a is applied onto the printed wiring board 1a through the mask.
The resist opening 8a for the normal resist type component land 5a has a size large enough to accommodate the maximum resist misalignment resulting from misalignment between the printed wiring board 1a and the mask, so as to prevent the component land 5a from being covered with the resist 2a. Accordingly, the center point of the component land 5a is not affected by the resist misalignment, so that the positional relationship between the center point of the component land 5a and a center point 10a of the board recognition mark 3a is consistent with the design value of the printed wiring board 1a.
On the other hand, since the center point of the over resist type component land 6a is defined by the center point of a resist opening 9a, the center point of the component land 6a is displaced from a predetermined center point of the component land 6a by an amount corresponding to the resist misalignment.
This displacement is equal to the displacement ΔX, ΔY between the center point 10a of the board recognition mark 3a and a center point 11a of a resist opening 4a.
With reference to FIG. 6, in a process of mounting chip components 15a and 16a onto the printed wiring board 1a having the configuration as described above, solder pastes 13a and 14a are printed onto the component land 5a and 6a, respectively, of the printed wiring board 1a through a screen mask (not shown) with use of a printing machine.
More specifically, the printing machine captures an image of a recognition mark (not shown) of the screen mask with use of a CCD camera or the like so as to detect the center point of the recognition mark. The printing machine then captures an image of the board recognition mark 3a of the printed wiring board 1a so as to detect the center point 10a of the board recognition mark 3a.
The misalignment between the center point of the recognition mark of the screen mask and the center point 10a of the board recognition mark 3a of the printed wiring board 1a is corrected, so that openings of the screen mask are aligned with the corresponding component lands 5a and 6a. Then, the solder pastes 13a and 14a are printed onto the component lands 5a and 6a, respectively, through the corresponding openings of the screen mask.
The openings of the screen mask corresponding to the component lands 5a and 6a are formed based on design data of the printed wiring board 1a. Therefore, although the solder paste 13a is aligned with the normal resist type component land 5a, the solder paste 14a is misaligned with the over resist type component land 6a by ΔX, ΔY.
Accordingly, printing position correction is required to equalize the amount of printing misalignment of the over resist type component land 6a to the amount of printing misalignment of the normal resist type component land 5a.
The following briefly describes a process of mounting the chip components 15a and 16a onto the component lands 5a and 6a, respectively, with use of an automatic mounter with reference to FIG. 7.
Before mounting the components 15a and 16a, the automatic mounter captures an image of the board recognition mark 3a of the printed wiring board 1a with use of the CCD camera or the like so as to detect the center point 10a of the board recognition mark 3a.
The automatic mounter then mounts the component 15a in a position spaced apart from the center point 10a by a distance (L1, W1), and the component 16a in a position spaced apart from the center point 10a by a distance (L2, W2).
The distance L1, W1 is from the center point 10a of the board recognition mark 3a to the midpoint between conductive foils forming the normal resist type component lands 5a and 5′a, while the distance L2, W2 is from the center point 10a of the board recognition mark 3a to the midpoint between the conductive foils 22a and 22′a forming the over resist type component lands 6a and 6′a. These distances L1, W1 and L2, W2 are defined in a design specification of the printed wiring board 1a, and are registered in advance in a database together with the corresponding components 15a and 16a.
Therefore, although the component 15a is aligned with the normal resist type component lands 5a and 5′a without misalignment, the component 16a is misaligned with the over resist type component lands 6a and 6′a by ΔX, ΔY.
Accordingly, mounting position correction for equalizing the amount of misalignment of the over resist type component 16a and the amount of misalignment of the normal resist type component 15a or mounting position correction for correcting the misalignment of the over resist type component 16a is required.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique for avoiding such problems. According to Patent Document 1, in addition to a recognition mark formed of conductive foil, a second mount recognition mark covered with resist is formed when the resist is applied for partially covering an over resist type component land. The first mount recognition mark formed of the conductive foil is used for mounting a component onto a normal resist type component land, and the second mount recognition mark covered with the resist is used for mounting a component onto the over resist type component land. Thus, the components are mounted on the corresponding component lands without misalignment.
However, because only one of the mount recognition marks can be detected during a solder paste printing process, one of the component lands is misaligned with the solder paste. Therefore, printing position correction is required.
<Patent Document 1> Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 11-40907
As can be understood from the above description, with the above-described related art techniques, if a component land covered with resist and a component land not covered with the resist are present on the same printed wiring board, misalignment between solder pastes and corresponding component lands and misalignment between components and the corresponding component lands due to resist misalignment cannot be avoided.

Printed wiring board for mounting components


A method for determining the Braak stage of neurofibrillary degeneration associated with a tauopathy in a subject having neurofibrillary degeneration is disclosed. The method comprises the steps of (i) administering to the subject a conjugated, chelated or detectable chemical group-associated ligand that labels aggregated paired helical filament (PHF) tau protein and is capable of crossing the blood brain barrier; (ii) determining the presence and\or amount of ligand bound to extracellular aggregated PHF tau in the medial temporal lobe of the brain of the subject, and (iii) correlating the result of the determination made in (ii) with the extent of neurofibrillary degeneration in the subject. Preferred ligands include sulphonated-benzothiazole-like compounds and diamonophenothiazines.

Neuropathological Staging and AD
The neuropathological staging proposed by Braak (Braak, H et al. (1991), Acta. Neuropathol. 82, 239-259) provides the best available definition of progression of relatively pure neurofibrillary degeneration of the Alzheimer-type which is diagnostic of AD (Wischik et al. (2000), "Neurobiology of Alzheimer's Disease", Eds. Dawbarn et al., The Molecular and Cellular Neurobiology Series, Bios Scientific Publishers, Oxford). This staging is shown schematically in terms of brain region in FIG. 2B, and is based on a regular regional hierarchy of neurofibrillary tangle (NFT) distribution. Regions of the brain which appear earlier in the hierarchy have both more tangles and are affected in less severe cases than those later in the list.
Relationship Between AD, Clinical Dementia and Neuropathological Staging
The provision of an effective pre-mortem assessment of Braak Stage would be of use in the assessment and treatment of AD, for which the differential includes Lewy Body dementia, Parkinson's disease, various forms of fronto-temporal and cortico-basal degeneration, progressive supranuclear palsy and a range of rare neurological syndromes.
The original model proposed by Braak was essentially qualitative in nature, and was not linked to any implications about the threshold for development of clinical dementia and symptoms.
In terms of the appearance of clinical dementia by DSM-IV criteria, this corresponds statistically to the transition between Braak stages 3 and 4 (FIG. 2c). The DSM-IV criteria (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th Edition, American Psychiatric Association, American Psychiatric Press, Washington D.C. (1994)) for the definition of dementia equate to an MMSE (Mini-Mental State Examination) cut-off point of about 18, and corresponds to a dementia prevalence of about 5% of the population over-65 years old (over-65's represent about 17% of the total population).
Gertz et al. ((1996) Eur. Arch. Psychiatry Clin. Neurosci. 246, 132-6)) studied cases followed from general practice to post-mortem, which were rigorously characterised at the clinical level using CAMDEX (Roth et al, 1988, "The Cambridge Examination for Mental Disorders of the Elderly (CAMDEX)" Cambridge University Press). These were staged post-mortem by the criteria of Braak and, after excluding all cases with any degree of vascular pathology found post-mortem, there remained uncertainty in about one third of cases at the point of transition. That is, about one third of cases with a clinical diagnosis of AD are actually at early Braak stages (stages 1-3), have vascular pathology, or have concomitant Lewy body pathology. Thus there exists a high degree of uncertainty, even in the best practice research setting. The predominant neuropathological substrate that is actually present when a routine clinical diagnosis of AD is made is even more uncertain.
It has recently been reported that a molecule (PDDNP, 2-(1-{6-[(2-[18F]fluoroethyl)(methyl)amino]-2-naphthyl}ethylidene)malononitrile) demonstrates increased relative retention time (RRT) in medial temporal lobe brain regions (hippocampus, entorhinal cortex and amygdala) following injection and PET imaging in cases with a clinical and neuroradiological diagnosis of Alzheimer's disease (Shoghi-Jadid et al., Am. J. Geriatr. Psychiatr. 2002, 10:24-35).
Although binding to NFTs and amyloid plaques is discussed, no binding to NFTs is shown, although the compound does bind with high affinity to synthetic beta-amyloid fibrils in vitro.
When cases were matched for corresponding disease severity by MMSE score with a neuropathological case series in which vascular pathology was excluded, the RRT values reported by Shoghi-Jadid et al. were found to correlate with beta-amyloid plaque counts but not with measures of neurofibrillary tangle pathology, as shown below.
Spearman Rank Correlation Coefficients:
MTL APGlobal APMTL NFTGlobal NFTRRT0.665**0.654**0.2440.189p<0.01<0.01>0.1>0.1
Pearson Correlation Coefficients:
MTL APGlobal APMTL NFTGlobal NFTRRT0.602*0.596*0.2660.275p<0.05<0.05>0.3>0.3
Where the parameters are defined as follows:
MTL APmedial temporal lobe amyloid plaquesGlobal APaverage amyloid plaque load in 12 brain regionsMTL NFTmedial temporal lobe neurofibrillary tanglesGlobal NFTaverage NFT load in 12 brain regions
However, beta-amyloid deposition is known to discriminate poorly between normal aging and Alzheimer's disease (see FIG. 2d herein), and beta-amyloid pathology does not provide a sound basis for neuropathological staging (Braak and Braak, 1991). Therefore, FDDNP-RRT does not provide a method for in vivo neuropathological staging of Alzheimer's disease.
Although it is possible that further refinement in clinical methods with particular reference to more specific neuropsychological indicators (e.g. split attention tasks, delayed matching to sample, etc.) may improve the accuracy of clinical diagnosis, an essential problem is to develop methods for the direct measurement of underlying neuropathology during life, in particular the extent of neurofibrillary degeneration of the Alzheimer-type.
Progression of Neurofibrillary Degeneration and Tau
As described above, the tau-based pathology of AD is a major feature of the phenotype. It is highly correlated with extent of neuronal destruction (reviewed in Wischik et al. (2000) loc cit).
On a cellular basis, the formation of NFTs from Tau is believed to proceed as follows. In the course of their formation and accumulation, paired helical filaments (PHFs) first assemble as filaments within the cytoplasm, probably from early tau oligomers which become truncated prior to, and in the course of, PHF assembly (Refs 26, 27). They then go on to form classical intracellular NFTs. In this state, PHFs consist of a core of truncated tau and a fuzzy outer coat containing full-length tau (Wischik et al. (2000) loc. cit.). The assembly process is exponential, consuming the cellular pool of normal functional tau and inducing new tau synthesis to make up the deficit (Ref 29). Eventually functional impairment of the neurone progresses to the point of cell death, leaving behind an extracellular NFT. Cell death is highly correlated with the number of extracellular NFTs (Bondareff, W. et al. (1993) Arc. Gen. Psychiatry 50: 350-6). As the outer neuronal membrane is damaged and NFTs are extruded into the extracellular space, there is progressive loss of the fuzzy outer coat of the neurone with corresponding loss of N-terminal tau immunoreactivity, but preservation of tau immunoreactivity associated with the PHF core (FIG. 3; Ref 30).
In the process of aggregation, tau protein undergoes a conformational change in the repeat domain associated with a half-repeat phase-shift (Refs 32, 33). This creates a proteolytically-stable fragment which is identical to that found in the core of the paired helical filaments (PHFs) which constitute the neurofibrillary tangles characteristic of AD. By analogy with other protein aggregation systems, the process most likely involves an alpha-helix to beta-strand change in conformation (reviewed in Wischik et al. (2000) loc. cit.).
Generally speaking therefore, the aggregation of tau can be considered in 3 stages: intracellular oligomers; intracellular filaments (stage 1 of FIG. 3); extracellular filaments (stages 2 & 3 of FIG. 3).
However, to date, no definitive correlation has been established between these stages, which occur at the cellular level, and possibly at different rates and probabilities in different regions in the brain, and the progression of pathology according to the defined hierarchical system of Braak and Braak which, as discussed above, is the best available definition of progression of relatively pure neurofibrillary degeneration.
Invasive Methods for Assessing AD
Lumbar-puncture CSF measurements enable discrimination between AD and controls, and between AD and other neurological disorders, but lumbar-puncture is more invasive then nuclear medicine-based approaches, and carries a higher risk (Refs. 17 to 21). EEG-neurological diagnosis has also been developed (Refs 22-25), but in this regard there remains a need for cheap instrumentation which can be used at the point of clinician contact.
Neurofibrillary Degeneration Via Brain Atrophy —SPECT and PET
Numerous studies have shown that global brain atrophy and specific medial temporal lobe atrophy, particularly of the hippocampus, are closely linked to underlying neurofibrillary degeneration of the Alzheimer-type, and are valuable in the early diagnosis of AD (Refs 1-8).
However, although the diagnosis of AD by monitoring global brain atrophy represents a methodology which can be made to work in a research setting, there are difficulties in defining and measuring atrophy in specific brain regions, and likewise in the measurement of global neocortical atrophy. In any case, a diagnosis based on detectable atrophy may come too late for effective treatment.
There have been advances in diagnostic methodology in recent years, following the identification of diagnostic features in SPECT scans (Refs 9-12; characteristic patterns of perfusion defect detected by HMPAO SPECT), PET scans (Refs 13-15; metabolic defect detected by glucose metabolism profile) and MRI scans (Ref 16; global brain atrophy, specific patterns of lobar atrophy). Of these, the most generally accessible are MRI and SPECT, since PET is for the present time limited to centres which have local specialised cyclotron and radiochemistry capability for the preparation of short half-life injectable radioligands (Aberdeen, London, Cambridge in UK). Notably, the characteristic early stage temporo-parietal perfusion defect detected by HMPAO SPECT in patients with AD corresponds very closely to the pattern of tau pathology which can be detected biochemically (FIG. 1). The biochemical changes precede overt neurofibrillary degeneration as seen by the appearance of NFTs (FIG. 2; Mukaetova-Ladinska et al., 2000 Am. J. Pathol. Vol. 157, No. 2, 623-636).
However, although MRI and SPECT scans are useful for detecting specific patterns of perfusion defects characteristic of AD, discrimination between different neuropathological stages, or between AD and other types of dementia, is difficult.
For instance, SPECT is useful for detection of a specific pattern of bilateral temporo-parietal perfusion defect that is characteristic of AD (Refs 9-11), which can be useful even at very early stage disease. However, SPECT changes discriminate neuropathological stages poorly (Ref 12). Furthermore, discrimination between AD and Lewy Body dementia is difficult. Both have a bilateral temporo-parietal perfusion defect, but only in the latter does an occipital perfusion defect tend to be present. The same patterns of defect can be demonstrated using PET measurement of glucose metabolism (Refs 1315), but the problem of distinguishing Lewy Body dementia persists in this modality.
Thus, as can be inferred from data in Ref 12, the probability of successful SPECT detection of cases at Braak stages 1&2 is 50%, and at stages 3&4 is 60%. It is only at stages 5&6 that 95% of cases become SPECT-positive. Conversely, cases detected as SPECT-positive could be at stages 1&2 (20%), 3&4 (20%), or 5&6 (60%). SPECT will therefore fail to detect 40-50% of the pre-stage 4 target population for early diagnosis and therapeutic intervention. In a further study (data not shown) it was shown that overall agreement between SPECT diagnosis and clinical diagnosis was of the order of 50%.
Thus, in developing a treatment aimed specifically at preventing neurofibrillary degeneration of the Alzheimer-type, there is a critical need to develop, in parallel, non-invasive means of selecting patients for treatment, and monitoring their response to the treatment, according to a defined and reproducible definition of disease progression.


New instruction definitions for a packet add (PADD) operation and for a single instruction multiple add (SMAD) operation are disclosed. In addition, a new dedicated PADD logic device that performs the PADD operation in about one to two processor clock cycles is disclosed. Also, a new dedicated SMAD logic device that performs a single instruction multiple data add (SMAD) operation in about one to two clock cycles is disclosed.

Many applications require the manipulation of data residing in data packets. For instance, packet processing in voice applications require the manipulation of several layers of protocol headers and several types of protocols. Also, protocols such as Internet Protocol (IP), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), and ATM adaptation layers (AALs) require header manipulation and error detection.
In the prior art, reduced instruction set computation (RISC) processors are used to perform manipulation of packet data. However, processors typically require many clock cycles to perform complex data manipulation. In addition, because processors typically operate on fixed length words, some inefficiencies result when the data to be manipulated is less than or more than the length of the word.

Data packet arithmetic logic devices and methods


Disclosed herein is a method and apparatus for use in searching a geographic database to retrieve geographic objects one cell from a neighborhood of cells at a time. A cell neighborhood can be defined using a grid of cells and an initial, or center, point. A first neighborhood is identified based on its proximity to the initial search point, and corresponds to a first geographic area defined using the initial point and a distance from the initial search point in a number of directions. In a case that more than one cell neighborhood is used, each subsequent cell neighborhood is defined so that it excludes cells belonging to a previously-searched cell neighborhood. A subsequent neighborhood corresponds to a geographic area that is a distance from the initial point greater than the distance associated with a previously-searched neighborhood.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure pertains to searching a geographic database, and more particularly to using a grid of cells to identify bounds of a search of the geographic database, with certain of the cells identified as cells nearest to a central point of the search.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Geographic databases exist, which identify geographic, or mapping, information coupled with geographic objects, such as points of interest (POIs), each of is identified in the geographic database using associated information including geographic location information and other attribute information. Other information that may be stored for a POI includes, but is not limited to, name, POI type (e.g., city hall, police station, gas station, park, restaurant, etc.) More and more, people are relying on a geographic database, and are using applications that access a geographic database, to locate a POI based on the geographic information associated with the POI. Such applications include navigation systems used in telephones and other handheld devices, desktop computer applications, in automobiles and other vehicles, to name just a few.
Typically, an application requests information from a geographic database, such as POIs and information associated with POIs, based on some criteria specified by the application itself or a user. The criteria is used to query the database, retrieve a set of search results, e.g., POIs, that satisfy the criteria, and in some cases filter the search results before they are returned to the application. A request for information typically identifies at least an initial geographic location and some information to limit the search, such as a distance from the initial geographic location.
The information provided by an application typically identifies a central location for the search and a distance from the central location, which information can be used to define an area for the search. In a conventional approach, the center point and distance are used to define a search area, with the distance typically being used to identify a radius, r1, of the circular area. If the first search fails to yield the desired results, a second search expands the area using a second radius, r2, which is larger than r1, and the original center point. However, the second search includes the area of the first search, which results most if not all of the first search area being included in the search area for the second search.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An aortic graft assembly includes a tubular component that defines a wall aperture having a proximal end that extends perpendicular to a major longitudinal axis of the tubular aortic component, and a tunnel graft connected to the wall of the tubular aortic component and extending from the wall aperture toward a proximal end of the tubular aortic component. The aortic graft assembly is delivered to a patient through the wall aperture and into interfering relation with the tunnel graft to treat aortic aneurysms.

Aortic aneurysms are life-threatening conditions. Surgical interventions used to treat aortic aneurysms include endovascular repair by transluminal placement of one or more endografts across the longitudinal extent of the lesion. The endograft is placed in the aorta with the intention of bridging the aneurysmal sac to exclude it from the high-pressure of aortic blood flow, which can permit remodeling of the aortic wall in and around the aneurysm site. In certain regions of the aorta accurate placement of the endograft is critical to maintain blood flow to vessels branching from the aorta to minimize compromised blood flow to organs. For example, currently, if aortic devices are placed within the aortic arch in a manner that offsets the aperture for the left carotid artery, the artery can be occluded, which can result in ischemia to the brain. Most surgical methods of treating aneurysms at or near the aortic arch generally involve sternotomy or thoracotomy and may require cardio-pulmonary bypass, often resulting in high morbidity rates. Thus, there is a need to develop new and useful devices and methods of treating aortic aneurysms by endovascular methods.


A system and method for determining an order in which to communicate with a list of numbers and/or addresses for a particular contact is disclosed. Each caller that communicates with the contact may specify a different order for the contact's various phone numbers and other addresses. A communication management system may then automatically dial the numbers or use messaging addresses to initiate data communications in the specified order when the initiating party attempts to communicate with the contact. The order may specify simultaneous and/or sequential use of numbers or addresses. Alternatively or additionally, the communication management system may dynamically and/or automatically determine the communication order or a portion thereof. The automatic determination of the order may be based on a communication history or communication receiving of the initiating party. In some arrangements, the order may be partially manually defined and partially automatically defined.

Current telephony systems allow a user to define an order in which a call is routed when the user cannot be reached at one or more numbers. Accordingly, a caller may be unable to control how his or her call is routed to the user although there may be a preferred or more efficient calling order. Furthermore, defining the call order, e.g., when done by the user, is generally a manual process that may require significant investments of time, especially if the user must define a call order for each and every contact in his or her address book.


A device for adjusting an automotive headlamp reflector to a desired position and indicating a variance in the actual position of the headlamp reflector from the desired zero position. The device includes a directing member which can be operatively engaged with the reflector. An input shaft is provided in operative communication with the directing member, and the shaft, when rotated, can move the directing member in order to move the reflector to the desired position. A rotatable platform is disposed about the shaft. A planetary gear arrangement is provided which engages a gear on the shaft and includes an outer ring gear. Indicia is provided for indicating a position of the ring gear with relation to a position of the platform in order to indicate variance in the actual position of the headlamp reflector from the desired position. The platform is also movable without disengaging any of the gearing, and also without movement of the input shaft and the directing member, which movement can be employed to re-align the indicia to a zero position, after the device has been operated to attain the desired position for the reflector member.

The present invention relates generally to devices for changing the aiming of automotive headlamps, and relates more specifically to devices for directing an automotive headlamp reflector to a desired position and for indicating any variations of the actual position of the automotive headlamp reflector from the desired position, as set at the factory.
Modern day headlamps for vehicles have been engineered and designed to be aerodynamically efficient. In this regard, the headlamps are designed as sealed assemblies wherein the portion of the headlamp approximate the outer surface of the automobile is relatively stationary, and is aerodynamic. A headlamp assembly normally includes: a fixed housing, to which an outer headlamp lens is affixed; a movable reflector, which is mounted within the fixed housing; and a stationary headlamp bulb, which is positioned within the movable reflector. Typically, the movable reflector is mounted to the housing by a number of universal or ball-type pivots which are stationary, or fixed, on the housing. A first pivot point and adjustor mechanism is generally disposed vertical of the fixed pivot, and a second pivot point and adjustor mechanism is generally disposed horizontal of the fixed pivot. As such, the movable reflector may be pivoted about the fixed pivot in the vertical and horizontal planes to aim the headlamp beam. The first and second pivot points, normally termed the vertical pivot and the horizontal pivot, are typically provided by mechanical adjustor mechanisms which effect movement of the reflector in the horizontal and vertical planes. These adjustor mechanisms normally employ an adjustor screw, or other similar component, to effect linear movement. The adjustor mechanisms are typically mounted to the housing of the headlamp assembly and are typically operatively connected to the movable reflector by ball and socket type pivots, or the like, such that linear movement of the adjustor screw will produce pivoting of the removable reflector in the horizontal and vertical planes. In this manner, the adjustor mechanisms can be used to adjust the aim of automobile headlamp beams.
Before an automobile is released to the consumer, the movable reflectors of the headlamp assemblies are adjusted to a desired position so that the headlamp beams are properly aimed in both the vertical and horizontal directions. To this end, adjustor mechanisms are normally operated at the automobile assembly plant.
Once proper vertical and horizontal aiming of the headlamps are attained and before the automobile is released to the consumer, vertical and horizontal indicators on each adjustor mechanism are manipulated to provide a visual indication that each movable reflector is in the desired, or "zero", position. The indicators either naturally transmit, or are adjusted in some manner in order to transmit, a visual indication of the zero position. Thereafter, if a movable reflector moves from its desired position, due, for example, to vibration, jarring, or the vehicle being in an accident, a mechanic can use the visual indication to determine that the movable reflector is no longer in its desired position. Then, the mechanic can operate the adjustor mechanisms in order to return the horizontal and vertical indicators to the zero positions, which should properly align the reflector.
The Department of Transportation of the United States Government has set forth specific guidelines dealing with vehicle headlamp aiming and indicating mechanisms in both the horizontal and vertical directions. These guidelines have been issued under regulation FMVSS 108, and relevant portions of these guidelines are set forth briefly hereinafter, wherein the degree of accuracy required of the horizontal and vertical indicators is apparent. The relevant portions of the regulation state as follows:
On-vehicle aiming.
Each headlamp system that is capable of being aimed by equipment installed on the vehicle shall include a Vehicle Headlamp Aiming Device (VHAD) that conforms to the following requirements:
(a) Aim. PA2 The VHAD shall provide for headlamp aim inspection and adjustment in both the vertical and horizontal axes.
(1) Vertical aim: PA3 The VHAD shall include the necessary references and scales relative to the horizontal plane to assure correct vertical aim for photometry and aiming purposes. An offvehicle measurement of the angle of the plane of the ground is permitted. In addition, an equal number of graduation form the "O" position representing angular changes in the axis in the upward and downward directions shall be provided. PA4 (I) Each graduation shall represent a change in the vertical position of the mechanical axis not larger than 0.19 degree (1 in. At 25 ft.) to provide for variations in aim at least 1.2 degrees above and below the horizontal, and have an accuracy relative to the zero mark of less than 0.1 degree. PA3 (2) Horizontal aim. PA3 The VHAD shall include references and scales relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle necessary to assure correct horizontal aim for photometry and aiming purposes.
An "O" mark shall be used to indicate alignment of the headlamps relative to the longitudinal axis of the vehicle. In addition, an equal number of graduations from the "O" position representing equal angular changes in the axis relative to the vehicle axis shall be provided. PA4 (I) Each graduation shall represent a change in the horizontal position of the mechanical axis not greater than 0.38 degree (2 in. at 25 ft.) to provide for variations in aim at least 0.76 degree (4 in. at 25 ft.) to the left and right of the longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and shall have an accuracy relative to the zero mark of less than 0.1 degree.
With regard to the vertical aiming indicator, a popular form of indicator in the industry is a spirit or bubble level which is mounted to the movable reflector component of the headlamp assembly and is viewable through the lens or an opening in the stationary headlamp housing. The mounting of the bubble level is typically adjustable so that once the desired zero vertical positioning of the headlamp is attained, the bubble level can be "zeroed out", that is, adjusted so that the bubble is at the zero indicia. As such, any subsequent movement of the movable reflector from the desired vertical position will produce a movement in the bubble. Consequently, a mechanic will have an immediate visual indication that the vertical aiming of the headlamp is out of adjustment.
While a bubble level can operate and provide sufficient indication in the vertical plane, it can be appreciated that a bubble level cannot provide an indication in the horizontal plane. Therefore, the industry has developed a number of different types of horizontal adjusting and indicating mechanisms for use with movable reflectors. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,829 discloses a horizontal adjusting and indicating mechanism wherein an adjusting wheel is affixed to a threaded shaft such that turning the adjusting wheel rotates the threaded shaft. The rotation of the threaded shaft causes a headlamp reflector to move. Because the adjusting wheel is meshed with a toothed wheel, rotating the adjusting wheel also causes the toothed wheel to rotate. The toothed wheel is provided with a scale which cooperates with a pointer to indicate, in effect, the positioning of the headlamp reflector. In order to provide that the scale on the toothed wheel correctly indicates the desired positioning of the automotive headlamp reflector, the adjusting mechanism provides that the toothed wheel can be disengaged from the adjusting wheel, turned to the "zero" position , and then re-meshed with the adjusting wheel. As a result, the ability of the scale on the toothed wheel to precisely indicate the zero position of the automotive headlamp reflector is limited by the meshability of the toothed wheel and the adjusting wheel when the toothed wheel has been turned to its zero position. Additionally, the fact that the toothed wheel must be brought out of mesh with the adjusting wheel after the reflector is moved to the desired location provides that the toothed wheel becomes a loose part. Therefore, the toothed wheel is subject to, for example, breaking upon re-engagement with the adjusting wheel. Furthermore, because the toothed wheel and adjusting wheel are not coaxial, the adjusting mechanism disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,829 is not extremely compact or accurate within the guidelines noted above.
Other horizontal indicators in the prior art suffer from similar disadvantages such as not meeting the required governmental standards for accuracy.
The difficulties discussed hereinabove are substantially eliminated by the present invention.

Device for directing and indicating the position of an automotive headlamp reflector


The specification and drawings present a new apparatus and method for providing and using a uniform threshold for capacitive touch sensing in a user interface having a non-flat touch surface. The capacitive touch sensor can to provide a sensor signal using the uniform capacitance threshold level as a function of a location of an object (e.g., finger, stylus, etc.) on or near the non-flat touch surface of a user interface module using a substantially uniform distance between the non-flat touch surface and a capacitive touch sensor layer, and/or using a gradient of a dielectric constant of materials between the non-flat touch surface and the capacitive touch sensor layer according to a predetermined criterion.

User input means (such as a user interface) of an electronic device can be implemented in various ways. Touch pads, keyboards, keymats, touch-screen, etc. are well known user interfaces especially for portable devices as laptop computers and mobile telephones. A touch pad is an input device which typically includes a sensor and an associate circuitry. When a user moves a stylus or a finger to touch (or to put in a close proximity) the touch pad, that contact effects the sensor and is detected by the circuitry. There are various mechanisms for detecting the point of contact on the touch pad.
One approach for detecting a user input is generating an electrical field and detecting a deformation of the electric field by a user. The electric field can be generated, for instance, within the area of a touch-screen. The disturbance of that field caused by the object may then depend on the position at which the touch-screen is touched by the object (e.g., stylus, finger of the user, etc.). For generating and monitoring such an electrical field, different sensor technologies can be employed. One option is to use a capacitive detection.
Among multiple capacitive touch pad principles, a capacitive detector can comprise at least one conductive plate or electrode (element X), which forms a capacitance with at least one another conductive plate or electrode (element Y) as shown in FIG. 1. In this capacitive detector, an electric filed is set between these electrodes. Then the disturbances of the electric field induced, for example, by a user finger (e.g., by touching, which can act as grounding or disturbing element) can be detected by monitoring the capacitance value between elements X and Y as shown in FIG. 1. Thus capacitance values (i.e., changes in the disturbed electric field) can be used for detecting whether there is some object in close vicinity of the detector or not, and at which position. This principle can be used in a matrix type grid sensor arrangement with rx and tx electrodes separated by a gap, wherein the object (e.g., a finger) causes disturbances in coupling the signal which is detected by the measurement circuitry, as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,514 "Capacitive Sensor and Array" by H. Philipp.
There are other multiple alternative methods and variations in the measurement technique in using the capacitance measurement for detection. For example, principles, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,466,036 "Charge Transfer Capacitance Measurement Circuit" by H. Philipp, can be applied to semi-conductive plate (or possibly to a conductive plate) to measure the location of the finger as well, using the following. Charge pulses can be injected from a number of electrodes placed around the touch plane (e.g., semiconducting touch plane) at least three preferably at least four electrodes. There can be more electrodes for increased accuracy and performance. These charge pulses generate electric field around the semi-conductive plane and the finger absorbs energy of some of the pulses (capacitive connection to the plane). The injected charges are collected and counted. The sensing electrodes from the corners of the touch plane have resistance values to the point which forms the capacitance connection to the finger, i.e., changes in the resistance can be detected as changes in an electric current (resistive-capacitive detection). Relative resistance values determine the distances from the corners indicating coordinate values.
The finger (or another object) can interfere with the measurement arrangement by acting, for example, as a grounding element (e.g., by absorbing energy from the electric field). Thus the touch signal sensing strength can be dependent on the distance of the finger from the sensing element. In many cases the overlaying materials and structures on the touch pad are not flat which can cause uneven capacitive sensor signals. In other words, in case of applications with non-flat touch pads, it is difficult to set a certain capacitive value as a threshold value for a touch indication, because this touch capacitive value is different between locations where the finger touches on the touching pad. This can generate signal difference for different locations on the touch pad which may cause nonlinearity in analog capacitive touch sensing.

Uniform threshold for capacitive sensing


A compact short back focus imaging lens system with two lenses is revealed and includes along the optical axis from an object side to an image side: an aperture stop, a first lens with positive refractive power that is a meniscus aspherical lens with convex surface facing the object side, a second lens with negative refractive power that is a meniscus aspherical lens with convex surface facing the image side, an IR cut-off filter and an image sensor. Moreover, the following conditions are satisfied by the imaging lens system:

The present invention relates to a compact short back focus imaging lens system with two lenses, especially to an imaging lens system for mini-cameras or mobile phones with image sensors such as CCD (Charge Coupled Device) or CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), which is formed by one positive lens and one negative lens and is with features of short back focal length, short overall (total) length and low cost.
The electronics available now become more compact and multifunctional. Most of them such as digital still cameras, PC (personal computer) cameras, network cameras and mobile phones, even personal digital assistants (PDA) are equipped with an imaging lens system. The imaging lens system not only requires good imaging quality but also needs compact volume (short overall length) and lower cost so as to match users' requirements.
There are various designs such as two lenses, three lenses, four lenses or five lenses of the imaging lens system applied to mini electronics. Yet while a compromise of resolution and cost, the two lenses is preferred. There are various structures of conventional two lenses imaging lens system and the difference among them or technical character is in the shape of the two lenses, location of the convex surface/concave surface, positive/negative refractive power, or relative optical parameters. Among these designs, the combination of a first lens with positive refractive power and a second lens with positive refractive power can achieve requirement of minimized volume, such as prior arts disclosed in US2005/0073753, US2004/0160680, U.S. Pat. No. 7,110,190, U.S. Pat. No. 7,088,528, EP1793252, EP1302801, JP2007-156031, JP2006-154517, JP2006-189586, TWM320680, TWI232325, and CN101046544 etc. However, the overall length of these imaging lens systems still requires further improvement to be reduced. For the user's requirement of short back focal length, the imaging lens systems disclosed in US2006/0221467, JP2005-121685 and JP2006-154517, use the combinations of a lens with positive refractive power and a lens with negative refractive power, the imaging lens system disclosed in US2003/0197956 uses the combinations of a lens with negative refractive power and a lens with positive refractive power, the imaging lens system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,835,288 is formed by the combinations of a biconcave lenses and a biconvex lenses, the imaging lens system disclosed in JP2004-0281830 uses the combinations of a lens with positive/negative refractive power and a lens with positive refractive power. Or the imaging lens systems disclosed in JP2003-215446, JP2004-177976, EP1793252, EP1793254, U.S. Pat. No. 6,876,500, US2004/0160680, U.S. Pat. No. 7,088,528, U.S. Pat. No. 7,492,528 , JP 3146386, TWI266074, use the combination of two lenses with positive refractive power so as to reduce the overall length. Therefore, in the different designs for reducing the overall length of the imaging lens system with two lenses, it is effective to design a short back focus imaging lens system. But the design with reducing the back focal length will cause the difficulty for adjusting the focal length of the imaging lens. Thus, the present invention provides a better design of the imaging lens system by reducing the back focal length as well as the air gaps between lenses so as to decrease the difficulty for adjusting the focal length and the distortion of image in order to let the imaging lens system be conveniently applied to mini cameras and camera phones.

Compact short back focus imaging lens system with two lenses

Abstract: -      0.3        ≤                  f        1                    f        2              ≤          -      0.01            0.25    ≤          bf      TL        ≤    0.4  wherein f1 is focal length of the first lens, f2 is focal length of the second lens, bf is back focal length of the imaging lens system, and TL (overall length) is the distance from the aperture stop to the image plane. Thus, the imaging lens system of the present invention has short back focal length effects and reduced overall length so as to achieve the requirement of minimized volume for mobile phones or mini-cameras.


A communication apparatus includes a time-stamp generating unit for generating a time stamp during transmission or reception of a PDU transmitted and received, a transmission-data storing unit, a reception-data storing unit, a frame processing unit configured to generate a PDU including a data refresh instruction to the other node, periodical transmission data in the transmission-data storing unit, and a frame transmission time acquired from the time-stamp generating unit and store, upon receiving a PDU from the other node, periodical transmission data included in the PDU in the reception-data storing unit, and a one-way-delay detecting unit for determining, upon receiving the PDU, according to whether a next PDU has been received within a first delay allowable time after the last PDU was received, or whether a transmission time of the PDU is within a second delay allowable time, presence or absence of occurrence of a delay of a PDU.

When communication is performed on a network, in particular, a network used in an FA (Factory Automation) system and required to have real-time properties, it is desired that a communication delay is within a predetermined time and, at the same time, there is no loss of information.
In general, for measurement of a delay, there are a method of measuring a delay time in a round trip between two nodes to be measured and a method of measuring a delay time in one way between the nodes. In the measurement of a delay time in one way, a delay can be determined at a point when a reception side receives a communication frame. Therefore, compared with the method of measuring the round-trip delay time, there is an advantage that a time required for the measurement of a delay can be reduced. On the other hand, to perform the measurement of a delay time in one way, clocks need to be synchronized between the nodes or an offset time of clocks needs to be calculated between the nodes.
The measurement of a delay time in one way is performed in Patent Literature 1 as explained below. First, an offset time of clocks is calculated. Subsequently, a node on a transmission side gives a time stamp of a transmission time to a packet to be transmitted and transmits the packet. Thereafter, a node on a reception side records a time stamp of a reception time of the packet. The node on the reception side calculates a delay using the offset time of the clocks between the nodes, the time stamp of the transmission time, and the time stamp of the reception time.
The calculation of an offset time of clocks is performed as explained below. It is assumed that the nodes have a time calculating function. First, a first node transmits, to a second node, a packet for shift time calculation to which a time stamp of a transmission time acquired from a clock of the first node is given. Subsequently, the second node adds, to the received packet, a packet reception time from the first node and a transmission time in returning a packet to the first node and returns the packet to the first node. The first node records a reception time of the returned packet and calculates a shift time based on these four times.
On the other hand, the clock synchronization between the two nodes is performed in Patent Literature 2 as explained below. First, a first node creates a measurement packet in which a transmission time is put in a first payload and transmits the measurement packet to a second node. Subsequently, when the second node receives the measurement packet from the first node, the second node creates a return packet in which a transmission time of the measurement packet is put in a first payload, a reception time of the measurement packet is put in a second payload, and a transmission time of the return packet is put in a third payload and transmits the return packet to the first node. The first node that receives the return packet records a reception time of the return packet and performs correction of a clock based on these four times.
Concerning a loss of information (a packet), for example, in Patent Literature 1, a packet loss ratio calculating function is provided in a node, a sequence number is given to a transmission packet, and the number of losses of packets is counted according to missing of the sequence number.

Communication apparatus and delay detecting method


RF modulation spectroscopy of a near infrared laser diode source is used to determine the amount of a target substance in a breath sample. In this type of modulation the laser output is modulated to produce sidebands displaced from the laser carrier by the modulation frequency. The modulated beam is passed through a gas sample which differentially absorbs the sidebands, the result of which is the conversion of some of the laser frequency modulation into amplitude modulation which is subsequently detected using a broadband photodetector. In certain tests, the target substance is a particular isotope, whose concentration is measured as an isotope ratio. In order to measure the presence of first and second isotopic species, provision is made to provide laser illumination at characteristic wavelengths for absorption lines for the first and second isotopic species of the gas. This may sometimes be accomplished using a single laser diode and scanning at least one of its operating parameters in order to achieve one of the wavelength difference. Alternatively, first and second laser diodes operating at the first and second wavelengths are used.

The present invention relates generally to medical diagnostic tests, and more specifically to metabolic breath tests utilizing isotope ratios.
Certain diagnostic medical tests rely on administering an isotopically labelled compound to a patient and then monitoring the patient's breath for metabolic products of the labelled compound. Traditional metabolic breath tests rely on administering a .sup.14 C-labelled substrate to a patient and then measuring the concentration of .sup.14 CO.sub.2 exhaled on the breath. Since .sup.14 C is radioactive, it is easily detected with inexpensive radiation monitoring equipment. Unfortunately, this radioactivity is also a problem because of its health risk to the patient. One approach has been to replace the .sup.14 C isotope with a non-radioactive one, such as .sup.13 C. Although this eliminates the risks associated with exposure to .sup.14 C, it creates a new problem; how to detect .sup.13 CO.sub.2 on the breath. This problem is further compounded by the fact that the relative natural abundance of .sup.13 C is approximately 1%, and considerable variability in this value is known to exist. Although a number of traditional approaches exist for monitoring .sup.13 C, including isotope-ratio mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometry, the associated instrumentation is exceedingly expensive and therefore limits the widespread use of .sup.13 C labelled compounds in diagnostic tests.
Lee and Majkowski (U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,805) consider the use of cryogenically cooled tunable infrared lead-salt laser diodes for this as well as other medical tests by monitoring certain molecular species on human breath. Since the strongest absorption lines of interest were in the 4-.mu.m to 5-.mu.m range, lead-salt laser diodes, which emit in the 3-.mu.m to 30-.mu.m region were a natural choice. However, lead-salt laser diodes and their associated detectors operate at liquid nitrogen temperatures. Furthermore, their output is generally multimode and is typically less than a milliwatt.

Diagnostic tests using near-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy


The present invention relates three-dimensional sheet materials which resist nesting of superimposed layers into one another. More particularly, the present invention provides a three-dimensional, nesting-resistant sheet material having a first side and a second side. The first side comprises at least one region having a plurality of spaced three-dimensional protrusions extending outwardly from the first side which are preferably unitarily formed from the sheet material. To provide the nesting-resistant advantages of the present invention, the protrusions form an amorphous pattern of a plurality of different two-dimensional geometrical shapes. Preferably, the second side comprises a plurality of spaced, three-dimensional hollow depressions corresponding to the protrusions, such that the protrusions are hollow. Of particular interest for certain applications, such as a carrier for an adhesive, the protrusions are separated by an interconnected network of three-dimensional spaces between adjacent protrusions. The three-dimensional, nesting-resistant sheet materials are preferably manufactured in accordance with the present invention utilizing a three-dimensional forming structure comprising an amorphous pattern of spaced three-dimensional recesses separated by interconnected lands. The recesses form an amorphous two-dimensional pattern of interlocking two-dimensional geometrical shapes. The amorphous pattern of interlocking shapes is preferably derived from a constrained Voronoi tessellation of 2-space in accordance with the present invention, wherein the tessellation is constrained by a constraint factor which controls the range of permissible center-to-center spacing of the interlocking shapes. To manufacture the three-dimensional, nesting-resistant sheet materials in accordance with the present invention, a sheet of deformable material is introduced onto the forming structure and permanently deformed into compliance with the forming structure. If desired, the interconnected lands of the forming structure may be coated.

Sheet materials having three-dimensional surfaces are well known in the art and have been utilized in many different applications. Such materials may be made in planar sheet form and remain in that form throughout handling or they may be made in continuous web form and be wound on rolls for handling. When in planar form, nesting of sheets may be useful to reduce stack height, for example. However, when wound onto rolls, nesting frequently causes significant problems. For example, nesting of layers having three dimensional surfaces on a roll may create difficulty unwinding the roll due to frictional engagement. Also, if nesting occurs more deeply at one end of the roll than the other end, roll telescoping may occur.
Nesting of any three-dimensional material can occur if protrusions in overlying webs or portions of the same web interlock with one another due to their size, shape, location, and/or geometrical arrangement. Two types of nesting or interlocking can occur: face-to-face nesting and face-to-back nesting. Face-to-face nesting can occur when two analogous faces of the same web or faces of plural webs are brought into contact and protrusions of each web or web portion enter valleys or spaces between adjacent protrusions of the other web or web portion. Face-to-back nesting can occur when opposing sides of the same web or dissimilar sides of plural webs are brought into contact and protrusions of one web or web portion enter the hollow "negative" side of protrusions of the other web or web portion. Such face-to-back nesting is of particular concern with three-dimensional sheet materials having hollow three-dimensional protrusions such as those of the present invention. If a web only exhibits three-dimensional surface features on one surface, i.e., the back surface is generally planar, then face-to-face nesting emerges as the primary consideration as face-to-back nesting cannot occur. While face-to-face nesting is more easily cured by selection of a protrusion spacing which is less than the width of the smallest protrusions, such a selection seriously limits the versatility of the resulting structure since such small protrusion spacing may be undesirable for some applications.
Nesting of adjacent layers or windings of a continuous web when rolled can create difficulty in unrolling the end of the web due to the frictional engagement which occurs with face-to-back nesting. Nesting of stacked individual layers or plies of three-dimensional web materials can result in removal of multiple sheets from a container when only a single sheet is desired, etc. While the ability of the web to nest with itself or with other webs may create a certain degree of difficulty in and of itself, where the three-dimensional web structure is utilized as a carrier for an active substance such as, for example, an adhesive, nesting can cause additional difficulties including premature adhesion and/or contamination of the active substance.
In the art of tapes, labels, and other articles using pressure sensitive adhesive to adhere an adhesive coated surface to a target surface, there has been recognized the problem of premature adhesion. That is, before the adhesive coated surface can be properly positioned over a target surface, inadvertent contact of the adhesive with the target surface causes premature adhesion at one or more locations, thereby inhibiting proper positioning. Others have attempted to overcome this problem by providing an initial contact surface spaced outwardly from the adhesive surface. The initial contact surface acts as a stand-off from the adhesive surface. This is achieved, for example, by a process that forms conical protrusions in a film and partially filling the valleys between protrusions with adhesive at a level below the tips of the protrusions. One such three-dimensional sheet material, as well as methods and apparatus for manufacturing same, is described in greater detail in commonly-assigned, co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/584,638, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,758 entitled "Composite Material Releasably Sealable to a Target Surface When Pressed Thereagainst and Method of Making", filed Jan. 10, 1996 in the names of Peter W. Hamilton and Kenneth S. McGuire, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
While such three-dimensional sheet materials are useful for their intended use, there remains to be solved the issue of nesting of adjacent layers or windings of such materials during manufacture, storage, and dispensing prior to use.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to address the tendency of three-dimensional structures to nest with one another, particularly in the instance of superimposed sheet materials with hollow three-dimensional protrusions, by randomly or at least non-uniformly locating similarly-sized and shaped protrusions on the web. While this approach may be effective for certain web constructions, its effectiveness decreases as the total land area (free space without protrusions) decreases. This is due to the fact that, given an essentially constant protrusion size and shape, increasing the number density of protrusions decreases the degree of possible spacing and location variations to the point where, in a limiting case, the protrusions become so closely packed that they approach a closely-packed uniformly-spaced array. Moreover, due to the non-uniform placement of the protrusions the resulting physical properties of the web are also non-uniform and may be difficult to tailor if the placement is not predictable.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a three-dimensional sheet material which resists nesting of one layer with another superimposed layer whether in planar sheet form or in rolled form.
It would further be desirable to provide a method for forming such three-dimensional sheet materials which may be suitably tailored for a particular material need and which may be readily and economically practiced.
It would also be desirable to provide a suitable forming apparatus for forming such three-dimensional sheet materials which may be tailored for a particular material need and which may be readily and economically utilized in commercial practice.

Three-dimensional, amorphous-patterned, nesting-resistant sheet materials and method and apparatus for making same


A bungee cord with hookless ends includes an elastic body, a first attachment end, and a second attachment end. In a first preferred embodiment, the first and second attachment ends are spade attachment ends. Each spade attachment end includes a lock body, spade end and at least one lock slot. The spade end must be twisted to be inserted into the lock slot. The spade end is then twisted back to its original orientation to lock thereof in the lock slot. In a second embodiment, the first attachment end is a spade attachment end and the second attachment end is a tongue attachment end. The tongue attachment end includes a tongue body, a tongue hole, and a tongue extension. To lock the tongue attachment end, the tongue extension is inserted through a hole in an item until the spade contoured portion prevents further insertion. The tongue extension is then inserted through the tongue hole. In a third preferred embodiment, the first attachment end is a tongue attachment end and the second end is a strap attachment end. The strap attachment end includes a strap body with at least two slots for retention of a strap. In a fourth preferred embodiment, the first attachment end is a tongue attachment end and the second end is a spade attachment end.

The present invention relates generally to bungee cords and more specifically to a bungee cord with hookless ends that reduces the possibility of injury to a user.
A problem frequently encountered with bungee cords is the occurrence of eye injuries while attaching the bungee cord. The danger arises when people align their eye along the tension line of the bungee cord, hook one end of the bungee and then pull the cord to tighten it, only to have the hook come loose and hit them in the eye, according to the Bungee Cord Registry found at http://www.eyemd-va.org/bungee.htm. A recent survey of the Virginia Society of ophthalmology members showed that over 50% of the doctors polled had treated bungee cord injuries. The danger appears to be the ability of the rigid metal hook end to act like a bullet and push into or pierce the eye ball. Sometimes the injury will heal, other times the person will lose their eye sight, and yet other times the eye ball has to be removed all together.
Accordingly, there is a clearly felt need in the art for a bungee cord with hookless ends which greatly reduces the possibility of injury to a user.
The primary objective of the present invention is to provide a bungee cord with hookless ends which greatly reduces the possibility of injury to a user.
According to the present invention, a bungee cord with hookless ends includes an elastic body, a first attachment end, and a second attachment end. In a first preferred embodiment, the first and second attachment ends are spade attachment ends. Each spade attachment end includes a lock body, spade end, and at least one lock slot. The at least one lock slot is disposed in the lock body. The spade end must be twisted to be inserted into one of the lock slots. The spade end is then twisted back to its original position to lock thereof in one of the lock slots. Each lock body is preferably wider than the elastic body.
In a second embodiment, the first attachment end is a spade attachment end and the second attachment end is a tongue attachment end. The spade attachment end is the same as previously described. The tongue attachment end includes a tongue body, a tongue hole, and a tongue extension. The tongue body includes a spade contoured portion and a straight portion. The tongue hole is disposed in the straight portion of the tongue body. To lock the tongue attachment end, the tongue extension is inserted through a hole in an item until the spade contoured portion prevents further insertion. The tongue extension is then inserted through the tongue hole. Pressure exerted by the elastic body in extension forces the tongue extension against the item and prevents the tongue extension from withdrawing from the tongue hole.
In a third preferred embodiment, the first attachment end is a tongue attachment end and the second end is a strap attachment end. The tongue attachment end is the same as previously described. The strap attachment end includes a strap body with at least two slots for the retention of a strap.
In a fourth preferred embodiment, the first attachment end is a spade attachment end and the second end is a strap attachment end.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bungee cord with hookless ends which reduces the possibility of injury to a user.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bungee cord with a strap attachment end which allows the use of a strap in conjunction with a bungee cord.
Finally, it is another object of the present invention to provide a bungee cord with a tongue attachment end which allows the attachment of a bungee cord through an item with a hole.
These and additional objects, advantages, features and benefits of the present invention will become apparent from the following specification.


The invention provides an ambient light sensing device and an ambient light sensing method. The ambient light sensing device includes at least one pixel, a read out circuit, and a combination unit. The invention detects ambient light to obtain plural lower resolution exposure values corresponding to different dynamic ranges respectively, and combines the plural lower resolution exposure values to generate a higher resolution code combination, indicating the result of ambient light detection.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to an ambient light sensing device and method, especially an ambient light sensing device and method which combine plural lower resolution exposures to generate an code combination having an ambient light detection effect equivalent to or higher than one higher resolution exposure.
2. Description of Related Art
Ambient light sensing devices such as ambient light sensor are often used outdoors in street light, advertising digital signage, and indoors in 3C products. The ambient light sensing device therefore requires a resolution of a high dynamic range, capable of operating in low brightness environment (for example, 1 Lux brightness) and also capable of operating under strong sunlight (for example, 60,000 Lux brightness). The conventional method utilizes a 16-bit analog-to-digital converter to process sampled signals, because the requirement for high dynamic range resolution requires at least 16 bits. However, the 16-bit analog-to-digital converter occupies a large area and consumes high power; its technical complexity is also high. Therefore, it is desired and advantageous to provide an ambient light sensing device having a dynamic range equivalent to a 16-bit device without complicated circuitry.


A filter includes a base and a sidewall extending from the base. The base and the sidewall cooperatively define a cavity. The filter further includes a signal input unit, and a signal output unit having a signal output port. The signal output port is located on the sidewall and extends outside of the cavity. The signal output port is connected to a conductive post received within the cavity. The conductive post collects radio signals and outputs the collected radio signals via the signal output port. The signal output unit further includes a signal detection module. The signal detection module includes a coupling plate, a coupling signal output terminal, and a probe. The coupling plate is electrically connected to the probe. The probe is located adjacent to the conductive post to receive radio signals surrounding the conductive post and output the received radio signals via the coupling output terminal.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure generally relates to filters, and particularly to a filter having a signal detection function.
2. Description of Related Art
Filters are very important in radio communication systems. The filter has a signal input port and a signal output port. However, the filter cannot detect radio signals output from the signal output port to determine whether the output radio signals satisfy requirements. Therefore, there is room for improvement in the art.