A limb mounting pocket receives butt ends of split limbs of an archery bow. The pocket includes a top wall extending above the butt ends. First and second outer side walls extend from opposite sides of the top wall for engaging outer sides of the butt ends. First and second tabs each have a first end coupled to the lower face of the top wall and having an opposing free end for engaging the inner side walls of the butt ends. An actuating member, which may be a tapered wedge, is disposed between the free ends of the first and second tabs for pushing the first and second tabs generally away from each other and against the inner sides of the butt ends of the limbs to minimize lateral movement thereof.

Compound archery bows are well known in the field of archery. An early example of a compound archery bow is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,495 to Allen. A handle, or riser, supports upper and lower oppositely directed limbs. A pair of pulleys, or cams, are rotatably supported at the tips of the opposing limbs, and a bowstring extends between the two cams for driving an arrow. One or more cables also extend between the two cams to control the force required to pull the bowstring back as it is drawn from a rest position to a fully-drawn position.
The earliest compound bows typically used so-called solid limbs. For example, in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,486,495 to Allen, each of the upper and lower limbs of the bow is a solid piece of material (wood, fiberglass, etc.) that is bifurcated at its distal tip end for allowing a pulley or cam to be positioned between the bifurcated ends of the distal tip end and pivotally mounted upon an axle supported by such bifurcated ends. More recently, compound bows have been provided with so-called split limb configurations wherein the former solid, relatively-wide upper limb is replaced by a pair of narrower, spaced "split" limb members. Examples of such split-limb compound bows are shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,929 to Peck, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,267 to Walk.
The use of split limbs provides several advantages, including less weight and often faster arrow speed. On the other hand, the use of split limbs can complicate the secure coupling of the butt ends of the split limbs to the bow riser. As noted in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,267 to Walk, the butt ends (innermost ends) of the split limbs are typically mounted to the bow riser by limb mounting pockets. As further noted by Walk, it is important to properly constrain the butt ends of the split limbs within the limb mounting pocket; in this regard, Walk describes a limb mounting pocket having a bottom member and a top member that is secured to the bottom member by a threaded bolt, in one embodiment, or as integral structure, in another embodiment, for enclosing the butt ends of the split limbs. Both the bottom member and top member have central dividers to form two channels in which the butt ends of the split limbs are held. However, Walk does not apply any lateral force against the sides of the split limbs within the limb mounting pockets.
The assignee of the present invention has found that manufacturing tolerances of the limb and limb mounting pockets tend to allow small spaces, or gaps, that allow the butt ends of the split limbs to move and shift laterally within the limb mounting pocket. Such lateral shifting can create limb alignment and bow tuning problems as the limbs, and the cams mounted at the ends of such limbs, move laterally over time. While those skilled in the art have attempted to provide limb mounting pockets that reliably lock the butt ends of the split limbs within the pocket in a manner that prohibits lateral movement of the limbs, such attempts have not provided a simple, inexpensive, and easily-manufactured limb lock for a limb mounting pocket.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a limb mounting pocket for a compound archery bow that reliably and securely maintains the butt ends of split limbs within the pocket in a manner that prevents lateral shifting of the limbs within the pocket.
Another object of the present invention is to provide such a limb mounting pocket that reduces the need to maintain strict manufacturing tolerances on the dimensions of the limb mounting pocket, and the split limbs, in order to prevent lateral shifting of the limbs within the limb mounting pocket.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide such a limb mounting pocket that can easily be accessed and operated after bow assembly to remove any lateral gaps or spaces between the sides of the bow limbs and the walls of the limb mounting pocket.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide such a limb mounting pocket that simultaneously forces both of the split limbs against the outward walls of the limb mounting pocket with a single, rapid adjustment.
A further object of the present invention is to provide such a limb mounting pocket that is easy and inexpensive to manufacture.
These and other objects of the invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description of the present invention proceeds.


A method for processing content data includes the steps of, when content data is transmitted from a data provider, adding usage rule information prescribing a rule of usage of the content data to the content data and transmitting the content data with the usage rule information; receiving the transmitted content data; extracting the usage rule information from the received content data; and notifying a user of the content data of the extracted usage information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of processing content data, an apparatus for providing content data, and an apparatus for processing content data. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method of processing content data on the basis of usage rule information, an apparatus for supplying content data on the basis of usage rule information, and an apparatus for processing content data on the basis of usage rule information.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a great reduction in price for Internet connection service has been achieved. This has made it possible for ordinary people to always get access to the Internet via a high-speed line. As a result of such an improvement in the Internet connection environment, it has become very popular to distribute content data via the Internet.
In the present invention, the term "content data" is intended to describe a wide variety of information which is provided for use by users from an information provider, such as music information, moving picture information, book information, and game programs.
For example, in a music content distribution service using the Internet, such as EMD (Electronic Music Distribution), dedicated software is generally preinstalled in personal computers of users to perform necessary processing such as access to a content providing server on the Internet, downloading of music content data, and accounting. This allows users to easily purchase music content data via the Internet.
Not only such content data which need fee payment but also a great number of charge-free content data such as those produced personally for fun are distributed via the Internet.
In general, content data does not include information explicitly indicating whether or not fee payment is needed. Therefore, when a user receives content data via the Internet, the user cannot know, directly from the content data itself, whether it needs payment or it is free.
In the present environment in which a great number of contents which need payment and also those which are free are distributed, users have a mixture of purchased content data and charge-free content data. Once purchased content data and charge-free content data are mixed together, content data which are not free of charge are used without paying the fee thereof because the content data do not have a mechanism for easily indicating whether or not fee payment is needed, unless additional usage restriction processing by means of, for example, encryption is performed on the content data.
In some cases, in addition to the usage rule in terms of whether fee payment is needed, a usage rule in terms of whether copying is permitted is also specified by a copyright holder. However, also in such content data, the lack of mechanism for indicating the usage rule can cause even those users, who have intention to use content data in valid manners, to illegally copy content data against their intention.

Content providing system, content providing method, content processing apparatus, and program therefor


A high performance steam turbine blade is provided in which the geometry of the blade airfoil is configured to minimize energy loss through the row of blades and control the radial distribution of the degree of reaction. The velocity of the steam over the blade surface is minimized to reduce friction losses, rapid deceleration of the steam velocity as it expands toward the trailing edge is avoided to prevent boundary layer separation and the reaction distribution is adjusted so that a relatively high reaction occurs at the base of the airfoil, thereby reducing secondary flow, and a relatively low reaction occurs at tip of the airfoil, thereby minimizing tip leakage. Specifically, the radial reaction distribution is such that in the hub region at least 20% of the stage pressure drop occurs in the blade row and in the tip region less than 50% of the stage pressure drop occurs in the blade row.

The present invention relates to blades for a steam turbine rotor. More specifically, the present invention relates to a high performance controlled reaction blade for use in the stage that is one stage upstream from the next to the last stage in a low pressure steam turbine.
The steam flow path of a steam turbine is formed by a stationary cylinder and a rotor. A large number of stationary vanes are attached to the cylinder in a circumferential array and extend inward into the steam flow path. Similarly, a large number of rotating blades are attached to the rotor in a circumferential array and extend outward into the steam flow path. The stationary vanes and rotating blades are arranged in alternating rows so that a row of vanes and the immediately downstream row of blades forms a stage. The vanes serve to direct the flow of steam so that it enters the downstream row of blades at the correct angle. The blade airfoils extract energy from the steam, thereby developing the power necessary to drive the rotor and the load attached to it.
The amount of energy extracted by each row of rotating blades depends on the size and shape of the blade airfoils, as well as the quantity of blades in the row. Thus, the shapes of the blade airfoils are an extremely important factor in the thermodynamic performance of the turbine and determining the geometry of the blade airfoils is a vital portion of the turbine design.
As the steam flows through the turbine its pressure drops through each succeeding stage until the desired discharge pressure is achieved. Thus, the steam properties--that is, temperature, pressure, velocity and moisture content--vary from row to row as the steam expands through the flow path. Consequently, each blade row employs blades having an airfoil shape that is optimized for the steam conditions associated with that row. However, within a given row the blade airfoil shapes are identical, except in certain turbines in which the airfoil shapes are varied among the blades within the row in order to vary the resonant frequencies.
The difficulty associated with designing a steam turbine blade is exacerbated by the fact that the airfoil shape determines, in large part, the mechanical strength of the blade and its resonant frequencies, as well as the thermodynamic performance of the blade. These considerations impose constraints on the choice of blade airfoil shape so that, of necessity, the optimum blade airfoil shape for a given row is a matter of compromise between its mechanical and aerodynamic properties.
Generally, major losses in the blade row may occur due to four phenomena--(i) friction losses as the steam flows over the airfoil surface, (ii) losses due to separation of the boundary layer on the suction surface of the blade, (iii) secondary flows in the steam flowing through the channel formed by adjacent blades and the end walls, and (iv) steam leakage past the blade tip. Friction losses are minimized by maintaining the velocity of the steam at relatively low values. Separation of the boundary layer is prevented by ensuring that the steam does not decelerate too rapidly as it expands toward the trailing edge of the airfoil. Losses due to secondary flow and tip leakage may be minimized by controlling the radial reaction distribution along the airfoil.
In a reaction turbine, the airfoils of the stationary vanes and the rotating blades are designed so that a portion of the stage pressure drop occurs in the row of vanes and essentially the balance of the stage pressure drop occurs in the row of blades. The degree of reaction in a turbine stage is defined as the percentage of the stage pressure drop that occurs in the rotating blade row and is an important parameter in blade design. Traditionally, the reaction at the base of the blade airfoil was maintained at approximately 10-15%--that is, in the vicinity of the hub of the stage, 10-15% of the stage pressure drop occurred in the row of blades and 85-90% occurred in the upstream row of vanes. The reaction at the tip of the airfoil was traditionally maintained at approximately 65%. However, such a radial reaction distribution can result in significant secondary flow at the base of the airfoil and high leakage across the tip of the airfoil, both of which adversely affect the performance of the blade, as explained above.
It is therefore desirable to provide a row of steam turbine blades that provides high performance by use of an airfoil shape that maintains the steam velocity at relatively low values, ensures that the steam does not decelerate too rapidly as it expands toward the trailing edge, and controls the reaction so as to produce a radial reaction distribution that tends to minimize secondary flow at the base of the airfoil and steam leakage at the tip.

Controlled reaction L-2R steam turbine blade


Systems and methods for producing a dense, well bonded solid material from a powder may include consolidating the powder utilizing any suitable consolidation method, such as explosive shockwave consolidation. The systems and methods may also include a post-processing thermal treatment that exploits a mismatch between the coefficients of thermal expansion between the consolidated material and the container. Due to the mismatch in the coefficients, internal pressure on the consolidated material during the heat treatment may be increased.

Materials are often produced by heating them to a liquid state and then allowing the molten material to cool. The way in which a molten material cools to a solid state can impacts the properties of the end material and controlled cooling or "quenching" can be exploited to tailor the material properties by adjusting the microstructural make-up. In the solid state, many materials form coherently diffracting domains, which are also known as grains or crystallites. When the material is in powder form and the average grain size is in the range of 100 nanometers to 10 micrometers, the powders may be referred to as micropowders. When the average grain size is equal to or less than 100 nanometers in all dimensions, the powder may be referred to as a nanopowder. When mean grain sizes of respectively, 100 nanometers to 10 micrometers, or equal to or less than 100 nanometers, are present in a bulk material, that material is said to be "microstructured" or "nanostructured". It shall be understood that the dimensions for micropowders, nanopowders, microstructured, or nanostructured discussed above are merely illustrative and nonlimiting. It shall be understood that these definitions do not strictly adhere to the ranges discussed.
To understand the scale of size reduction, it is useful to consider a single crystal of common table salt, or sodium chloride. The common table salt form is a cube of approximate dimensions of 300 micrometers on a side. Compared to this salt crystal, a micropowder particle that is cubic with a dimension of 300 nanometers is a thousand times smaller in dimension on each side and has one billionth of the volume. The surface area to volume ratio of a cube is inversely proportional to length, so if one billion cubes of dimension 300 nanometers on a side were arranged to make up a cube the size of the example table salt crystal, there would be a total surface area that was one thousand times as great, due to all of the surfaces at the interfaces between cubes. If one considers a particle that is cubic with dimension of 30 nanometers on a side, then there is another factor of 1000 reduction in volume and a factor of ten increase in surface area to volume ratio. The concept of surface area of crystalline grains is an important one when considering nanostructured bulk materials since interfaces occur at grain boundaries at the surfaces of grains. With smaller grains, a given volume of bulk material will have more interfaces.
A material with small grains can have very different macroscale properties compared to a more conventional, large grained bulk solid even though both have an identical chemical make-up. For example, as the grains of a densified bulk material are reduced in size (depending upon material) from tens of micrometers to a few micrometers and further into the nanoscale, the yield strength increases—a phenomena characterized by the Hall-Petch relation and given by the formula:
                                          σ            y                    =                                    σ              0                        +                                          K                y                                            d                                                    ,                            (        1        )            where σy is the yield strength, d is the grain size and σ0 and ky are material constants. The Hall-Petch relation does not hold as grain sizes are reduced into the sub 100 nm region because the abundance of weaker grain boundaries softens the structure, allowing a greater degree of plastic deformation and ductility. Material strength may continue to increase with grain size reduction but that increase occurs by an amount that is less than the level suggested by equation (1). As such, a nanostructured bulk material may exhibit both higher strength and higher ductility (together a property known as "toughness") than its larger grained counterpart.
Another example of the use of small grain sizes to engineer desirable material properties is its use in reducing thermal conductivity in thermoelectric materials. In a nanostructured bulk material, the presence of a high density of grain boundaries, lattice defects and scattering centers can serve to decrease the thermal conductivity of a material by impeding phonon transport. Phonons are quanta of lattice vibration and they have a distribution of characteristic wavelengths that are material dependent. In a single large crystal, the mean free path of the phonons can be many wavelengths long. In contrast, the presence of many grain boundaries in a nanostructured material shortens the phonon mean free path and thereby reduces the thermal conductivity due to phonon scattering at grain boundaries. For example, reduced thermal conductivity is an attractive feature for a thermoelectric heat pump because it reduces the lattice heat flow that is counter to the desired pumping direction. Reduced thermal conductivity is attractive for a thermoelectric generator because it reduces the amount of diffusive heat energy flux that passes through the thermoelectric elements without being converted to electricity.
Fine grained bulk materials may be made by consolidating powders having a large proportion of micro-scale or nano-scale crystallites. These fine grained powders can be produced through a variety of well-documented processes including mechanical milling, chemical synthesis, melt-spinning and gas atomization. However, it is challenging to fashion a dense bulk material from powders without a significant increase in the mean size of the grains.
Converting a powder into a solid may be accomplished through a combination of compaction and heat treating. The objective of the compaction step is to obtain high density. The heat treating step then serves to enhance interparticle bonding and reduce intergranular voids. Compaction and heating can be carried out simultaneously.
Compaction can be accomplished through one of a number of approaches. In uniaxial die compaction, a punch compresses powder in a rigid-walled die. Isostatic pressing techniques use a flexible die, which is sealed with powder inside and is submerged in a fluid chamber which is then hydrostatically compressed. In contrast to uniaxial and isostatic compression, which are static compression techniques, shockwave consolidation represents a means to accomplish compaction dynamically. In this technique, an explosive shockwave travels down a powder filled tube, with the very high energy compaction wave causing powder particles to plastically deform and consolidate. During this process there are two sources of heating. First, the surface energy of the powder is higher than the interface energy of the compact. The extra energy gets converted to heat. Second, the deformation of the individual particles and rearranging of atoms on the interface cause heating due to internal friction. More heating occurs at the surface of individual particles, in some cases causing melting at the interfaces, which are then cooled by the particle. As the shock wave travels through the powder, it has to supply the energy for the plastic deformation of the individual particles. This effect serves to diminish the intensity of the wave as it travels from the outside of the pipe to the center. At the same time, the shockwave converges from all radial directions towards the center of the pipe. This convergence serves to increase the intensity of the wave as it travels from the outside of the pipe to the center. These two effects should be carefully balanced to obtain a uniform consolidate.
Shockwave consolidation sometimes yields an incompletely bonded and/or low density material. A post heat treatment then becomes necessary, but the applied temperatures can cause undesirable grain growth. When a fine-grained end product is desired, the challenge is obtaining high density and good interparticle bonding while preserving small grains. The key variables of temperature, pressure and time are all important and can be traded off to obtain a given result.
Various shockwave consolidation techniques have been disclosed, such as in "Shock-Wave Consolidation of Rapidly Solidified Superalloy Powders", by M. Meyers, B. Gupta and L. Murr, Journal of Metals, vol. 33, no. 10, October 1981, pp 21-26, U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,160 to Kecskes, U.S. Pat. No. 7,364,628 B2 to Kakimoto et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 8,668,866 to Rubio and Nemir. However, it can still be challenging to obtaining high density and good interparticle bonding while preserving small grains in the bulk material with known shockwave consolidation processes.
Systems and methods for producing a dense, well-bonded, fine grained bulk material are discussed further herein. The systems and methods may utilize shock-wave consolidation or any other suitable consolidation technique as a mechanism for compacting powders into a bulk solid while preserving grain size. The resulting bulk material within an enclosing container may also be thermally processed to enhance densification and inter-particle bonding.

Pressurized anneal of consolidated powders


According to the present invention, there is provided a holder having a pressure flange not to be easily disengaged from a small-sized electronic part in pressing and accommodating the holder having the small-sized electronic part in a mounting recess. A holder includes a projecting portion protruding from a pressing flange toward a cylinder axis of a holding portion, formed in a portion having a predetermined length of an inner edge of the pressing flange. With this construction, when the holder accommodating a small-sized electronic part is mounted to a casing of an apparatus, even if the pressing flange is rolled up and about to be disengaged from the small-sized electronic part, the projecting portion engages with the small-sized electronic part, thereby preventing the pressing flange from being rolled up.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a holder for holding a small-sized electronic part to be built in an apparatus (herein, referred to as "mounting object apparatus") such as a mobile phone, a personal handy-phone system (PHS), or a personal digital assistant (PDA), examples of the small-sized electronic part including a microphone, a speaker, a receiver, a vibrator, a buzzer, and an electronic part which is a functional combination of those, and for electrically connecting electrodes of the small-sized electronic part to circuit electrodes of a board.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technique for obtaining an electrical connection between electrodes of the small component and circuit electrodes of a board, there is known a technique using a holder for the small-sized electronic part, which is disclosed in JP 11-191469 A.
FIGS. 9A and 9B each show a conventional holder (1) for the small-sized electronic part. The holder (1) includes a cylindrical holding portion (2), a bottom portion (3) for closing one end side of the holding portion (2), and an annular pressing flange (4) protruding inwardly from the other end side of the holding portion (2). The holder (1) is a mold body formed of a soft rubber-like elastic material having electrical insulation properties such as silicone rubber. In this conventional example, in the bottom portion (3) of the holder (1), there are provided four elastic connector portions (5) thicker than the bottom portion (3). At a center of each of the elastic connector portions (5), a conduction path (5a) is formed. The conduction path (5a) is formed of fine granular magnetic conductive materials such as nickel grains. That is, the conduction path (5a) is formed by arranging the magnetic conductive materials, which is mixed in advance with liquid silicone rubber constituting a material resin of the holder (1), in a magnetic orientation along an axial direction of the conduction path (5a) during a molding process of the holder (1). A portion of the elastic connector portion (5) other than the conduction path (5a), that is, an outer peripheral portion (5b) is formed for retaining a shape of the conduction path (5a) and for stabilizing the electrical connection through the conduction path (5a).
The holder (1) is used, for example, for electrically connecting electrodes (6a, 6b) of the small-sized electronic part (6) and circuit electrodes (7a, 7b) of a board (7) provided to a mounting object apparatus such as a mobile phone shown in FIG. 10. To perform electrical connection, first, an inner edge of the pressing flange (4) is pressed to be widened, and then, the small-sized electronic part (6) is accommodated in the holding portion (2). Next, as shown in FIG. 11, the holder (1) accommodating the small-sized electronic part (6) is mounted to a mounting recess (8a) formed in an inner surface of a casing (8) of the mounting object apparatus (for example, mobile phone) by inserting in the mounting recess (8a). When the casing (8) is combined with another casing (not shown) or when the board (7) is fixed to the casing (8), the conduction path (5a) of the elastic connector portion (5) contacting with the electrodes (6a, 6b) of the small-sized electronic part (6) comes into contact with the circuit electrodes (7a, 7b) of the board (7). In this state, the pressing flange (4) functions to press the small-sized electronic part (6) to the board (7). As described above, the electrodes (6a, 6b) of the small-sized electronic part (6) is electrically connected to the circuit electrodes (7a, 7b) of the board (7) through the conduction path (5a) of the holder (1).
Note that, as described above, an operation of mounting the holder (1) accommodating the small-sized electronic part (6) to the mounting recess (8a) of the casing (8) is manually conducted most of the time, so utmost attention is essential for the operation.
In terms of the background of miniaturizing the mounting object apparatus of the small-sized electronic part (6) and miniaturizing the small-sized electronic part (6) itself, the inner edge of the pressing flange (4) of the conventional holder (1) is formed to be identical in shape with and to have a diameter smaller than those of the small-sized electronic part (6). That is, an attention is paid such that the pressing flange (4) engages with the small-sized electronic part (6), whereby the small-sized electronic part (6) does not disengage from the holder (1). However, as shown in FIG. 12, in the case of mounting the holder (1) to the mounting recess (8a), when the holder (1) is rubbed against an inner peripheral surface of the mounting recess (8a) while being pushed therein, the pressing flange (4) is rolled up in its partial or entire periphery, thereby releasing the engagement with the small-sized electronic part (6). In this state, when the holder (1) is accommodated in the mounting recess (8a) and is combined with the board (7), the small-sized electronic part (6) cannot be pressed at a portion where the pressing flange (4) is rolled up. Further, when the pressing flange (4) is rolled up in its entire periphery, there is a fear in that the small-sized electronic part (6) cannot be held in press contact with the conduction path (5a) of the holder (1), thereby being spaced apart from the conduction path (5a). In both cases, pressure with respect to the small-sized electronic part (6) is uneven, thereby causing a fear of a contact failure due to an unstable electrical connection of the electric connector portion (5) through the conduction path (5a).

Holder for a small-sized electronic part


Technologies directed to coupling structures for antenna feeds of phased array antennas are described. One circuit board includes a first layer with a first portion of a RF coupling structure, a second layer with a second portion of the RF coupling structure, and a first insulation layer located between the first layer and the second layer. The RF coupling structure is configured to electromagnetically couple a first conductive trace on the first layer and a second conductive trace on the second layer at RF frequencies. The circuit board also includes an RF shielding structure coupled to a ground connection on the second layer and located in the first insulation layer. The RF shielding structure is configured to operate as a RF short circuit between the ground connection and a third conductive trace on the first layer at RF frequencies.

A large and growing population of users is enjoying entertainment through the consumption of digital media items, such as music, movies, images, electronic books, and so on. The users employ various electronic devices to consume such media items. Among these electronic devices (referred to herein as endpoint devices, user devices, clients, client devices, or user equipment) are electronic book readers, cellular telephones, Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable media players, tablet computers, netbooks, laptops, and the like. These electronic devices wirelessly communicate with a communications infrastructure to enable the consumption of the digital media items. In order to communicate with other devices wirelessly, these electronic devices include one or more antennas.

Vertical coupling structure for antenna feeds


Disclosed is a phase shift mask blank (11) that can prevent the occurrence of a loading effect. The phase shift mask blank (11) includes a phase shift film (5) containing silicon, a light-shielding film (2) made of a material resistant to etching of the phase shift film (5), and an etching mask film (3) made of an inorganic material resistant to etching of the light-shielding film (2), which are formed in this order on a substrate (1) transparent to exposure light. Assuming that the thickness of the phase shift film (5) is t1, the etching rate of the phase shift film (5) by dry etching with an etchant using the etching mask film (3) and the light-shielding film (2) as a mask is v1, the thickness of the etching mask film (3) is t2, and the etching rate of the etching mask film (3) by dry etching with the above etchant is v2, (t1/v1)≦(t2/v2) is satisfied.

The miniaturization of semiconductor devices and the like is advantageous in bringing about an improvement in performance and function (higher-speed operation, lower power consumption, etc.) and a reduction in cost and thus has been accelerated more and more. The lithography technique has been supporting this miniaturization and transfer masks are a key technique along with exposure apparatuses and resist materials.
In recent years, use has been made of photomasks applied with the resolution enhancement technology (RET) such as the phase shift technique. A phase shift mask is a photomask that can improve the resolution of a transfer pattern using interference of light caused by a phase shifter.
Normally, inasmuch as the photolithography is performed by reduced projection exposure in microprocessing of a semiconductor substrate, a pattern of a transfer mask has a size about four times that of a pattern to be formed on the semiconductor substrate. However, in the photolithography according to the semiconductor design rule of DRAM half-pitch (hp) 45 nm and onward, the size of a circuit pattern on a mask is smaller than a wavelength of exposure light. Therefore, if reduced projection exposure of a circuit pattern is carried out using a transfer mask formed with a transfer pattern according to the design, the shape of the transfer pattern cannot be exactly transferred onto a resist film on a semiconductor substrate due to the influence of exposure light interference or the like.
Under these circumstances, as a mask employing the resolution enhancement technology, use is made of an OPC mask or the like applied with a technique of correcting an optical proximity effect, which degrades the transfer characteristics, by performing optical proximity effect correction (OPC) (see, e.g. JP-A-H10-69055 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 5,851,702). For example, it is necessary to form on the OPC mask an OPC pattern (e.g. an assist bar or a hammer head having a line width less than 100 nm) having a size half or less of that of the circuit pattern.

Phase shift mask blank and method of manufacturing phase shift mask


An indirect touch apparatus for belongings may includes a housing (110) having a draw-in/out guide path (20) recessed in a longitudinal direction; a touch part (120) that is slidably provided in the draw-in/out guide path (20) and is curvatured out in one direction so that one side part is in contact with a touch object; a pressing knob (130) for drawing the touch part (120) into and out of the housing (110); and a mounting portion (140) for providing the housing (110) on one side of the rear surface of the belongings (200).

Recently, due to the spread of novel coronavirus infection (Corona 19), many people wear masks in their daily lives to prevent the spread of Corona 19, and use hand sanitizers to disinfect their hands.
In addition, people are trying to minimize contact with contaminants by performing indirect touch on an object to be touched using various devices other than hands in order not to directly contact the surrounding contaminants.
In general, indirect touch is an act of indirectly contacting a touch object using a separate device without directly touching a touch object by a user's hand that is contaminated or expected to be contaminated.
As an indirect touch apparatus for such an indirect touch, recently, an indirect touch apparatus of Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2176131, which has been filed for a patent as an indirect touch apparatus, and an indirect touch apparatus on the market may be used. Alternatively, users may use portable terminals carried by themselves.
The indirect touch apparatus of Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2176131, which has been marketed or filled for a patent, has a rod shape.
Accordingly, when the touch object is a button of an elevator that is used by an unspecified number of people, the user may take out a rod-shaped indirect touch apparatus from a pocket to press the button of the elevator indirectly using the same. In the case of using a portable terminal, the elevator button is indirectly pressed using the side edge of the portable terminal.
However, there are various inconveniences in that the rod-shaped indirect touch apparatus has to be carried separately, and whenever the touch object is pressed, the touch object has to be taken out of a pocket, pressed, and then put back into the pocket.
On the other hand, since the portable terminal is always carried by hand in daily life, there may be no inconvenience caused by the indirect touch apparatus. However, as the portable terminal directly contacts a touch object contaminated with viruses or bacteria for indirect touch, the contacted part may be first contaminated, and there is a problem of causing secondary contamination by continuously touching the phone by hand in order to receive a phone call or use the portable terminal in this contaminated state.


A camera system for providing multispectral imaging of an object, the camera system having a longitudinal axis. The camera system comprises a quasi-collimating lens capable of receiving light from the object and separating wavelengths of the light. Each wavelength is projected to one of a plurality of intermediate image locations which are separated along the longitudinal axis. The system also comprises an achromatic imaging lens to receive the projected wavelengths of light from the quasi-collimating lens, and a pixelated detector positioned to receive the light from the achromatic imaging lens. The achromatic imaging lens and the pixelated detector are movable relative to one another in the direction of the longitudinal axis. The system is configured such that the projected wavelengths of light each form a corresponding image, the images formed on the detector when different distances within the range are achieved.

There is a growing interest in capturing multispectral information of objects. The use of multispectral image information has found many applications, such as determination of food quality and safety, detection of counterfeit currency, and screening for cancer, to name a few.
A significant component of any system providing multispectral image information is a dispersive unit that separates wavelengths or wavelength bands of light from an object for subsequent analysis. Conventional dispersive units for such multispectral imaging systems have employed components such as diffraction gratings, prisms, lenses and/or filters, and some rely on movement of such components.
While some conventional multispectral imaging systems are dedicated instruments for obtaining multispectral image information, others have sought to adapt existing hardware such as camera phones for use in obtaining multispectral image information. Camera phones typically have imaging optics, a detector array, a focus-compensating mechanism including apparatus to translate the imaging optics or detector, highly-developed hardware including a processor and software to process full-color images. Adaptation of a camera phone includes providing a dispersive element or wavelength filter to be used with the camera phone.
Dispersive units or wavelength filters for use with camera phones and other imaging systems have been relatively complex, requiring significant and costly development and/or production, such as tunable MEMS-based Fabry-Perot filters.

Chromatic lens and methods and systems using same


A medical device for performing a therapeutic procedure on a patient. The medical device includes an elongate probe extending to an applicator end and a visually transparent tip positioned adjacent the applicator end. The device also includes an electrode positioned on the tip so that the electrode may be viewed through the tip. The electrode is communicative with an energy source for delivering energy to the electrode when performing the therapeutic procedure on the patient. The probe and tip are sized and shaped to be slidably received in an endoscope working channel.

Various devices and methods have been traditionally used to combat a physical condition known as Barrett's esophagus. Barrett's esophagus is the abnormal growth of intestinal type cells into the esophagus resulting from stomach acid chronically refluxing into the esophagus. Most people occasionally experience heartburn, which is the refluxing of stomach acid beyond the lower esophageal sphincter muscle and into the esophagus.
Such occasional heartburn is not harmful. Severe or frequent reflux, however, is harmful and known by the names gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and chronic reflux esophagitis (also known as Chronic Acid Reflux, or CAR). About one out of every ten patients with GERD/CAR are found to have Barrett's esophagus. In patients with Barrett's esophagus, the healthy mucosal cells of the inner layer or the squamous epithelium of the esophagus are replaced with diseased or intestinal cells. It is believed that such growth is a defense mechanism of the body to avoid esophageal injury due to the acid refluxed from the stomach. Unfortunately, these mucosal tissue changes may lead to low, then high grade dysplasia, and eventually to cancer of the lower esophagus, known as adenocarcinoma.
A common method for destroying diseased esophageal tissue has been to cauterize or coagulate the unwanted tissue with a conventional ablation device. Ablation devices have developed as an alternative to other traditional means of eliminating unwanted tissue, such as cutting away the tissue, cryotherapy, and thermal therapy. Cryotherapy is the application of extreme cold to freeze and destroy diseased mucosal tissue. Thermal therapy is the application of heat to coagulate, cauterize and/or ablate diseased mucosal tissue. Sufficient raising or lowering of tissue temperature causes necrosis of the tissue. For convenience, the term ablate will be used herein to describe any and all of these thermal therapy processes. In use, these devices are placed adjacent the unwanted tissue and tissue is ablated, cauterized, coagulated, frozen, or burnt, as the case may be, by energy transmitted from or to the device.
Traditional ablation devices are used in conjunction with an endoscope. Most of these traditional devices are either a capping type or an insertion type. Capping type ablation devices fit over and around the end of the tubular portion of the endoscope. Such capping type ablation devices are often visually transparent to allow the user to see through them when they are viewed with the endoscope optics. Shortcomings of capping type devices include their large size, poor maneuverability, inaccuracy, complexity, and need to be and stay secured. Regarding their large size, at least a portion of capping type ablation devices is necessarily wider than the working end of the endoscope because such devices attach to endoscopes by fitting over and around the working end of the endoscope. Larger size, among other things, results in a more invasive procedure. Further, movement of capping type devices is limited to the movement of the endoscope. That is, normally there is no relative motion between a capping type ablation device and the endoscope with which it is used. The inaccuracy of capping type devices primarily results from the size and maneuverability. For instance, when targeting particular tissue, the larger size and lack of maneuverability lowers the likelihood that targeted tissue, and no other tissue, will be ablated. Further, capping devices require structure to attach the device to the endoscope. This attachment structure adds complexity to the device compared with devices not requiring such structure. In addition, such attachment structure is usually required to be selectively removable from the endoscope and there is the potential for the device to become displaced or completely disconnected from the endoscope during the procedure. Attachment structure designed to greatly lower the likelihood of unintentional disconnection would further increase the complexity and size of the device.
The other type of conventional ablation device, the insertion type, is inserted into the working channel of the endoscope. Traditional insertion type devices have opaque probes for ablating tissue. The probes contain the energy transferring devices with which the unwanted tissue is destroyed. A primary shortcoming of insertion type devices is the inability to view through the probes. This inability results in maneuvering difficulties and reduced accuracy in use. For instance, because the probe is not visually transparent, a user must estimate the position of the probe when positioning of the device within the patient and during the energy transmitting procedure. The requirement to estimate the position of the device during the energy transmission prevents the user from knowing whether the energy transmission has affected the targeted tissue until the tissue visible around the opaque tip has been affected. The likelihood of destroying healthy cells is greatly increased when such delayed and indirect feedback is used.
A primary challenge for battling Barrett's esophagus is to destroy targeted tissue without affecting healthy adjacent esophageal cells or muscular cells underlying the diseased and healthy tissue. Injury to the healthy underlying muscular tissue, for example, can lead to the creation of a stricture or constriction in the esophagus. Another challenge is to have a device that is relatively simple and easy to use. The conventional approaches to treating Barrett's esophagus, or other diseases requiring the precise and relatively easy ablation of tissue, are insufficient in these regards. Thus, there is a need for an ablation device and method for using such a device that are accurate, minimally invasive, and relatively easy to maneuver and operate.


An object of the present invention is to separate in real time a captured image into a foreground component image and a background component image. An image captured by an image-capturing unit 74 is separated into a foreground component image and a background component image, which are stored in an image storage unit 72. A billing processor 75 performs billing processing to charge fees for separating the image. A separating portion 91 performs motion-blur processing of the separated foreground component image and outputs the processed foreground component image and the background component image to a synthesizer 92. The synthesizer 92 combines the input motion-blur-processed foreground component image and the separated background component image to synthesize an image and displays the synthesized image on a display unit 73. The present invention is applicable to a camera terminal device.

Technology for processing captured images has gradually become popular and widely used.
Hitherto, motion blur that arises when two different images are combined or when an image of a moving subject is captured is eliminated by separately combining the images after the images have been captured or by eliminating the motion blur.
In the latter case, that is, when the image of the moving subject is captured, there is a method for eliminating in real time motion blur that arises due to the motion. Specifically, for example, as shown in FIG. 1A, when an image of a subject swinging a golf club is captured, a displayed image includes a blurred golf club due to the motion of the golf club. The effect that arises when such a blurred image is displayed is the so-called motion blur.
In order to eliminate the motion blur in real time, as shown in FIG. 1B, one possible method uses a high-speed camera to capture an image. When an image is captured by the high-speed camera, the amount of luminance at the time the image is captured is insufficient (since one shutter period is short, the amount of light obtained is small, and hence, the luminance is insufficient). The subject needs to be irradiated with special intense light, or, as shown in FIG. 2, irradiated with a flash of intense light at the same time as the shutter is pressed, and an image of the subject needs to be captured by the high-speed camera.
In the foregoing method, the image synthesis processing cannot be performed in real time. In the synthesis processing, if there is no image needed for synthesis, an image must again be captured at the same place. There is a method for performing the motion-blur elimination processing in real time. For example, capturing an image of a wild animal at night for the purpose of ecological observation using the foregoing method may frighten the wild animal, which is the subject, since the foregoing method involves using intense lighting. As a result, the natural ecology may not be observed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In the disclosed method, users are provided with sets of authentication codes, each set includes a secret, a private key container and a matching public key container, the private and public key container are generated from respectively a first string including a domain name of an authentication server system and a PKI private key and a second string including the same domain name and a matching PKI public key. Upon receipt on the authentication server system of the first strings as a result of a first user reading the respective private key container, an action definition procedure is performed in which the first user is requested to enter a secret of the same set of authentication codes. If a check returns a positive result, the first user can define a set of actions to be performed upon receipt of the second string belonging to the same set of authentication codes.

QR-codes are known. A QR-code (Quick Response code, ISO/IEC 18004:2006), herein also called QR-tag, is a specific matrix barcode (or two-dimensional code), readable by camera phones equipped with a QR barcode reader. The QR-code comprises coloured modules (mostly black) arranged in a square pattern on a white background. The information encoded can comprise an URL.
Many QR-code reading applications are known, which can be executed on smart phones and by means of which the user can scan a QR-code and is automatically directed to the web page at the URL encoded in the QR-code. This avoids that the user has to key in the URL on his smart phone in order to access the service behind a web page. All information in the QR-codes is parsed to the web page, making it easy for someone to parse complex alphanumerical string (e.g. codes) to a service without entering them manually.
A Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) is a combination of hardware and software used to issue and verify digital certificates, in particular public and private key pairs, for the purposes of security or authentication, for example to encrypt information or to authenticate users. PKI generally comprises a certification authority (CA) which generates PKI public and private key pairs to users, a registration authority (RA) where the users can register their PKI public and private key pairs and a validation authority (VA) which validates PKI public and private key pairs.
As PKI public and private keys can be relatively long strings of characters, it is not easy for users to enter these keys on their smart phone. When these keys are stored on the device, they can be misused when the smart phone is stolen, or information is copied from. As a result, PKI security solutions are nowadays not suitable for use on communication devices like smart phones.
In the paper 'Dynamic 2D-barcodes for multi-device web session migration including mobile phones' (A. Alapetite, Personal and Ubiquitous computing, vol. 14, no. 1, April 2009, pp. 45-52) 2D barcodes or QR-codes are used to store sessions information in order to handover sessions from a web browser on one terminal to a web browser on another terminal.
In JP2008/048135 a two-dimensional code is used to transfer the results of an encryption of an (access) address with a private key to a terminal that can read and decode the two-dimensional code. Next that retrieved address is decrypted with the public key and can give access to that decrypted address.
Application JP2008/090512 discloses a two-dimensional code used to transfer information (an URL and a password) from a content display to a smart phone, sending that information to a content distribution system. That system calculates the correlation between URL and password and decides if the smart phone should receive (additional) information about the (items) in the content display associated with the two-dimensional code.

Method and system for authenticating entities by means of terminals


There is provided an information processing system including: a first apparatus (10a) that divides a user key (UK) of a share-source user through a secret distribution process to generate a plurality of distribution keys (S1 and S2); a second apparatus (10b) that sends a processing request to execute a predetermined process by using one of a plurality of the distribution keys generated by the first apparatus; and a third apparatus (20) that makes a determination based on one of a plurality of the distribution keys generated by the first apparatus and the processing request received from the second apparatus.

In recent years, cloud services or the like have been increasingly available. This leads to an increase in situations where individuals, companies, or the like hold data in servers that service providers manage. In such servers described above, data are typically encrypted to ensure the level of security, for example. In addition, in recent years, a searchable encryption technology has been developed, achieving an information search with data encrypted. For example, PTL 1 discloses a technology that increases the speed of a searching process for large scale data in an information search using searchable encryption.

Information processing system, information processing method, and information processing apparatus


The present disclosure relates generally to methods and materials for detecting light released from a labeling material using self triggering excitation. In particular, the present disclosure provides an architecture for a detection system that detects accumulated phase shifts in the form of a ring-oscillator frequency. The present disclosure provides devices for detection of a light released by a labeling material, the device comprising: a start-up circuit that provides power to a pulse generator block that drives an LED driver, a photodetector that detects the light released by a labeling material and provides a first signal; a variable reference that provides a second signal; a slicer for comparing the first signal to the second signal, wherein the slicer generates an output signal with a delay that triggers the pulse generator block after the start-up circuit is disabled; a frequency reference; and a frequency counter for comparing the output from the slicer to the frequency reference thereby producing a output signal.

Assay test kits currently are available for testing a wide variety of medical and environmental conditions or compounds, such as a hormone, a metabolite, a toxin, or a pathogen-derived antigen. Most commonly these tests are used for medical diagnostics either for home testing, point of care testing, or laboratory use. For example, lateral flow tests are a form of immunoassay in which the test sample flows along a solid substrate via capillary action. Some tests are designed to make a quantitative determination, but in many circumstances all that is required is a positive/negative qualitative indication. Examples of such qualitative assays include blood typing, most types of urinalysis, pregnancy tests, and AIDS tests. For these tests, a visually observable indicator such as the presence of agglutination or a color change is preferred.
In the field of immunoassay detection, the presence of an antigen may be inferred by the presence of specially created antibodies which contain reflectance or fluorescence labeling materials. The fluorescence material may be excited with a light pulse, and the fluorescence decay may be detected soon after the excitation source has been turned off. The period during this after-glow yields the best signal-to-noise ratio of the immunoassay labels, since the excitation source is turned off, thereby eliminating any background signal. To further improve the sensitivity, a method of detection known as time resolved fluorescence detection may be employed (see, e.g., FIG. 1). Generally, the labeled material 25 may be illuminated with a pulsed light source, such as with a laser or LED 20. After the light source has been turned off, the amount of fluorescence after-glow may then be detected with a light detector, such as a PIN photodiode 30, and its signal amplified with a transimpedance amplifier (TIA) 40. With further signal amplification 50, the signal may be applied to a Sample/Hold Circuit 60, where the output is further averaged usually by filtering 70. The final output 75 may then be measured with an Analog-to-Digital Converter (ADC) 80, and further processed with a micro-controller 90 to deliver the signal to a user-friendly output, such as an LCD display 100.

Methods and materials for detecting light released from a labeling material using self triggering excitation


A method and system for rendering accurate bar code images in a distributed network wherein a plurality of different types of rendering devices, such as printers, having different resolution characteristics are connected for rendering such images. The resolution of a connected rendering device is detected and the bar code image to be rendered by such device is scaled to effect proper alignment of the resolution units of the bar code and the rendering device whereby the need for interpolation is effectively obviated. The bar code is scaled by a whole integer multiplier of the minimum bar code size based upon at least one dimension of the print area of the bar code display and the resolution characteristic of the rendering device. The bar code image is aligned or mapped and is centered in the display area with equal units of the excess print area on either side of the image. By avoiding the need to interpolate print data by the rendering device, the bar code rendering system defeats inaccuracies in detection and decoding and provides a more reliable data recovery system.

The invention relates to rendering bar codes for use on coupons, promotions and other incentives and for other purposes. The invention also relates to providing a method and system in a distributed network for electronic distribution of incentives, such as coupons, to a plurality of remote users and the management of information involved in such distribution.
The present invention relates to the electronic distribution of secure money saving or discount coupons and other marketing incentives and in particular to use of a centrally located online computer system for interactively distributing such coupons to remotely connected consumer computers and for collecting user-specific data regarding coupon usage and user demographic information from the remote computers.
Millions of consumers regularly use product redemption coupons and realize substantial savings as a result. Significant time is spent clipping and sorting coupons, discarding expired coupons and organizing current coupons for use on shopping trips. Conventional coupon distribution results in significant wasted time due to consumers"" attempts to manage their coupon use.
Coupons are delivered to consumers through a variety of media. The primary coupon distribution is via pull-out sections in newspapers, which are known as free standing inserts (FSIs). This accounts for just over 80% of coupons used. Other methods of distribution include in-store shelf coupon dispensers, check-out coupons (generally issued based on the customer""s current purchase), register receipt coupons, in-product coupons, instant peel-off on-product coupons and direct mail coupons. In addition to manufacturers"" coupons, consumers use retail store coupons, such as those issued by large retail chains on a weekly basis.
Some consumers use coupons on a fairly random basis. These consumers tend not to keep coupons for future use, but will review coupons available just prior to shopping to see if any of them cover products they plan to buy or if there are any for new or improved products of interest.
More organized coupon users maintain some form of storage system to keep coupons for future use. These consumers often clip coupons regularly from all available sources, and often have coupon filing systems by product category. They will also review their coupons regularly, discarding unused coupons which have expired.
For most consumers, attempts to maintain an organized coupon file often fails. The xe2x80x9cbotherxe2x80x9d and time required to maintain organized coupon files often results in neglect of those files, even though diligent shoppers know that a consistent significant savings is easily achievable using coupons.
The notion of issuing product redemption coupons to consumers was an innovative idea to entice consumers to try new products in the hope that, after the first try of a new product at a coupon discounted price, they would become repeat customers at the regular price. Coupons are effective tools used in launching new products. Manufacturers also find coupons can shore up flagging sales, help reduce excess inventory or win back consumers"" brand loyalty, and so coupons for existing products have become customary, so much so that today""s consumers have come to expect coupons. Often, coupon price incentives significantly reduce brand loyalty, and manufacturers must issue more coupons than desired to maintain market share. Market share also has been impacted by an increase in the number and variety of competing xe2x80x9cno-namexe2x80x9d store brands. The competitive nature of the retail industry does not allow manufacturers to reduce coupon distribution, and in some market sectors, such as cereals, the majority of purchases are made with coupons.
Consumers are most familiar with FSIs as a source for manufacturers"" coupons. In 1993, the coupon redemption rate from FSIs was 2.3%, and gradually declining. The primary factors which keep the redemption rate low include consumers not needing or wanting the product advertised, consumers not bothering to clip coupons, losing clipped coupons or leaving them behind on shopping trips, lack of 100% distribution of newspapers, overcouponing within specific areas, and unavailability of new products when the coupon is issued.
Free standing inserts currently represents the largest share of the coupon distribution industry, roughly 80.2%. On average, manufacturers who use FSIs for coupon distribution, spend approximately $0.92 per coupon redeemed, which is the lowest redeemed cost per coupon redeemed when compared with other current coupon distribution methods. FSI coupon distribution results in high costs per coupon because of the shear complexity of and volume of materials involved in coupon distribution and redemption. Charges to manufacturers by FSI producers cover set-up, printing, paper, freight, newspaper insertion costs, sales and marketing, overhead, and profit.
Direct mail coupons accounted for approximately 4.4% of coupon distribution in 1992. Direct mail coupons may be issued as part of a nationwide campaign or a regional campaign, may be cooperative or solo, and may be mass, zip-code/lifestyle/lifestage segmented or household targeted. Regional direct mail coupons are more common, and are usually limited to marketing the products and/or services of local vendors. Companies who practice database marketing make use of direct mail campaigns for delivering targeted incentives.
Run-of-Press (xe2x80x9cROPxe2x80x9d) Coupons accounted for 4.1% of the coupons distributed in 1992. These coupons consist primarily of stand alone newspaper advertisements with clip-out coupons. Often these advertisements are specifically placed to coincide with a relevant feature article. This form or coupon is marketed directly or through third party coupon issuers who have the nationwide newspaper distribution channels through which to place ROP coupons.
In/on pack coupons accounted for 3.5% of the coupons distributed in 1992. On pack coupons consist of an attached coupon which is removed and redeemed at the cash register at the time of purchase. In pack coupons are found within the product and act as an incentive to customers to repurchase the same product. It is estimated that the actual cost per in/on pack coupon redeemed is significantly less than that associated with other coupon distribution methods. Most on-pack coupons are redeemed as customers pay for their purchases. However, this also means that all items are sold at the coupon discount, lowering a manufacturer""s overall revenues per product more so than other types of coupons.
In 1992, various other coupon distribution methods represented 5% of coupons distributed. Two important coupon distribution methods in this category include shelf distribution and custom prepared coupon distribution. Thousands of stores use coupon dispensers which are attached to a product""s shelf. Customers can pull out one coupon from the dispenser for the product advertised. This method of coupon distribution is designed to reach the consumer at the point of making a purchase decision, and has a redemption rate of approximately 18%.
Check-out coupons are printed at the check-out by a printer installed at the cash register. A computer analyzes the purchases made by each customer, and can print competitor""s coupons or other coupons related to items in the current purchase. This system has a coupon redemption rate of approximately 9%.
The coupon industry expends a great deal of resources in market research, printing, issuing, distributing, and redeeming coupons, yet produces an extremely low redemption rate. This is attributed to the haphazard systems used by most consumers of manually clipping, filing, sorting through, and ultimately using the coupons, and to the high cost associated with targeting coupons to each consumer.
Attempts have been made in the prior art to meet the needs of the coupon industry and the consumer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,249,044 to Von Kohorn describes a television-based coupon reception system wherein coupon information is transmitted along with program information to a broadcast audience. A member of the audience can generate a coupon for subsequent redemption at a store.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,278 and 5,287,181 to Holman also teach a television-based coupon reception system. Coupon information is encoded into a television broadcast signal and decoded at the consumer""s television by circuitry similar to that used for closed-caption broadcast decoding. The extracted coupon information is then recorded on a medium such as a magnetic stripe card or a microprocessor-based xe2x80x9csmart cardxe2x80x9d. The user can then present the medium at the supermarket in order to automatically receive the appropriate discount.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,695 to Pruchniki discloses an electronic paperless coupon system which obviates the need for a paper coupon in order to save printing, processing, and clearinghouse costs as well as eliminating counterfeiting. Coupon redemption information is transmitted from a central system to local retailers, where coupon signs are placed near the related item. The discount is automatically applied at the point of sale without the need for the consumer to present a paper coupon.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,176,224 to Spector teaches a closed-loop coupon system which consists of a kiosk type printer station located at a retail store. The kiosk is linked to the manufacturer(s) in order to obtain specific coupon information. The consumer selects the desired coupon at the kiosk, and the coupon is printed and dispensed. The consumer presents the coupon at the register, where the discount is applied and the discount transaction data is transmitted back to the manufacturer.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,041 to Lemon et al. discloses a system with remotely located coupon printing stations capable of limiting the number of coupons printed in a given time period. Each coupon station has a display for indicating the available coupons, selection means to allow the consumer to choose the desired coupon, and coupon printer. The system disables display of a particular coupon when a preselected coupon limit has been reached.
While these aforementioned prior art attempts at providing couponing systems are useful in their own right, they fail to provide for a secure and interactive coupon generation system in which the user can request, select, store, manipulate, and print coupons as desired, in which user-specific information such as demographic data and data representative of those coupons so requested, selected, printed, and actually used may be provided back to the coupon issuer and distributor for more efficient coupon targeting in subsequent coupon issuance and distribution. Readable images, such as bar codes, are used extensively for various purposes and in numerous applications. In particular, bar codes are used in transaction applications, such as in the redemption and tracking of coupons, wherein the bar code image represents one or more transaction data. Examples of transaction data represented by or encoded within bar codes are: redemption amount; expiration or term of offer; identity of coupon holder, issuer, redeemer, subject product or service; and many other pertinent or desirable information. Typically, in a coupon issuing or distribution system a particular document format is applied in universal or nearly universal fashion in which a predefined area is reserved or assigned for use in applying a bar code while other areas are reserved for other images or information. Often, electronic information representing the bar code image and the other reserved fields are transmitted or delivered to a station, typically a PC and connected printer, which has a built-in document generating module or program. The document generating module creates a desired document, such as a coupon, by applying the predefined document formatting rules to the received document information. The created document is then delivered to the attached printer for generating a printed document consistent with the document format and displaying the received document information, as well as other information that may be included within the formatting module.
Many techniques for printing bar codes are known. In general, bar code symbols are formed from bars or elements that are typically parallel alternating black and white rectangular stripes having a range of possible widths. The particular widths and order of the elements define the characters represented based on an established scheme or set of rules associated with a specified code or xe2x80x9csymbology.xe2x80x9d The relative size of the bars and spaces is a function of the code. The bars and spaces, typically alternating spaces of black and white stripes, are of differing light reflecting characteristics. The number of characters per inch represented by the bar code symbol relates to the symbol""s density. A collection of bars and elements is arranged in a complete bar code symbol sequence to encode a desired string of characters so as to form a decodable message. Each character of the message is represented by a corresponding group of bars and spaces. Also, a xe2x80x9cstartxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cstopxe2x80x9d character may be included to indicate where the bar code begins and where it ends. These bar code schemes or symbologies include UPC, EAN, Code 39, Code 128, Codabar, and others.
Electro-optical scanning systems and CCD (charge coupled devices) code readers are used to scan and decode bar codes. Optical readers and scanning systems read bar code symbols from documents, labels, surfaces of articles, etc. The bar code symbol, as described above, is a coded pattern that collectively presents a graphic indicia. The optical readers and scanning systems transform the graphic indicia into decodable electrical signals that are descriptive of some article or subject. The digitized electrical signals are input to a data processing system, such as for point-of-sale processing, inventory management, mailing system management, etc.
Typical scanning systems have a detector or sensor which detects light reflected from the alternating bars and spaces that make up the bar code symbol. The systems are configured so that the detector is placed in an optical path having a field of view by which it can access the bar code symbols being presented for scanning. The reflected light patterns are detected and converted into electrical signals. A decoder receives the electrical signals and decodes the electrical signals into digital representations of the scanned character data. The analog electrical signal detected by the optical detector is converted into a PWM signal having widths that correspond to the physical widths of the graphical image or indicia. The signal is then decoded into a binary representation of the character data, and then to the alphanumeric character.
Some detectors utilize solid state imaging technology, e.g., charge coupled devices (CCDs), CMOS imagers, etc. In such solid state devices an array of multiple detectors is employed and is typically referred to individually as xe2x80x9cpixels.xe2x80x9d The detector floods the bar code image with light from a light source or from ambient light to determine the presence of bars or spaces. A CCD reader employs an imaging lens and an image sensor, or a linear CCD array, and uses a scanning mirror for scanning, or a fixed mirror for manually scanning, the presented bar code image or graphic indicia.
Initially, with the scanning mirror in a fixed mode, the system outputs a beam of light which is aimed by the user to the center of the bar code image. Next, the scanning mirror rotates causing the light beam to scan the entire code. After scanning and acquiring the image, the CCD array generates an analog electrical signal representative of the scanned bar code. An analog to digital converter processes the electrical signal and generates a digital representation thereof. A bar code image discriminator may be used to identify the type of code.
Bar codes are particularly useful in that they permit electronic scanning and may be utilized in a variety of applications. Bar code scanners are known and are commercially available from sources such as Symbol Technologies, Inc. To facilitate scanning without errors and without requiring expensive scanners, it is generally desirable to print bar codes that are relatively large. In some applications the amount of space available for the bar code, and thus to at least a certain extent the maximum size of the bar code, is limited by other factors.
For example, bar codes may be used on coupons that are electronically downloaded by a consumer from a centralized source to a personal computer, wireless handheld device, mobile phone, PDA, kiosk or other terminal device and printed by an attached printer or other rendering device. Bar codes enable the coupons to be scanned when presented, when redeemed, or at other times. In at least some cases, the downloaded coupon may be formatted in a certain way, giving rise to limitations on the maximum size of a bar code imprinted therein. For example, a coupon template may specify an area for a UPC bar code, where the area may occupy a 3 inch wide region. If the coupon is being rendered by a printer, the size of the bar code will be primarily dictated by the space available (in this example a maximum width of 3 inches) and the resolution of the printer or other rendering device. For example a printer with a resolution of 150 dpi (dots per inch) could render the UPC bar code with a maximum of 450 dots (3 inchesxc3x97150 dpi). Some bar codes, e.g., a UPC bar code, may have specifications that require a fixed integer resolution (e.g., a fixed number of pixels). For example, if a bar code has a width of 118 pixels, but the screen display area for the bar code is 450 pixels, certain drawbacks exist.
Printers, displays and other rendering devices are not of infinite resolution. Thus, such a device must anti-alias or adjust an image when it scales the image. Thus the lines may not exactly align with the pixels of a printer or other rendering device. As a result, inaccuracies in the desired proportions exist. This can lead to scanning errors.
Past attempts to maximize the size of the UPC bar code in this example would result in some form of anti-aliasing, interpolation or other technique to xe2x80x9cspreadxe2x80x9d the 118 units over 450 pixels. This leads to various problems, including at least some lines of the bar code being grainy or blurry. This can lead to scanning errors. This is an undesirable drawback.
One object of the invention is to overcome these and other drawbacks of existing systems and methods.
One object of the invention is to avoid inaccuracies in the proportions of the lines of a bar code when xe2x80x9cstretchingxe2x80x9d or scaling the bar code, such as caused by aliasing techniques.
In addition to the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide such a coupon distribution system which overcomes the aforementioned problems and shortcomings of the prior art.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an electronic coupon distribution system which can be easily accessed by masses of consumers by using a readily available personal computer rather than needing to purchase special-purpose equipment.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows a user to request transmission of coupon data and select, store, manipulate, and print coupons from such coupon data.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows the coupon issuing companies to access valuable information directly from the consumer without requiring specific and additional action by the consumer, but rather by using the information from the user""s personal computer regarding the consumer""s selection, printing, and actual redemption of coupons, as well as responses to demographic queries posed to the users.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows a consumer to generate shopping lists associated with coupons selected and printed, in order to simplify the shopping process and promote the use of product coupons.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such an electronic coupon distribution system which allows for automatic deletion of expired coupons in the user""s computer database and the modification of redemption amounts of coupons in the user""s database, both of which can be transparent to the user.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a secure coupon system which generates unique coupons with user-identifying data and allows the printing of a coupon only once, thus eliminating the possibility of fraud by both the consumer and the retailer.
It is a still further object of the invention to provide an efficient, low cost, zip-code/lifestyle/lifestage or household targeted coupon distribution system to tailor the incentives to each user.
Readable images, such as bar codes, are used extensively for various purposes and in numerous applications. In particular, bar codes are used in transaction applications, such as in the redemption and tracking of coupons, wherein the bar code image represents one or more transaction data. Examples of transaction data represented by or encoded within bar codes used in coupons, incentives or other such documents include: redemption amount; expiration or term of offer; identity of coupon holder, issuer, redeemer, subject product or service; and many other pertinent or desirable information. In a coupon issuing or distribution system of the present invention a predefined document format is applied in a universal or nearly universal fashion in which a predefined area is reserved or assigned for use in applying a bar code while other areas are reserved for other images or information. Often, electronic information representing the bar code image and the other reserved fields are transmitted or delivered to a station, typically a PC and connected printer, which has a built-in document generating module or program.
The document generating module creates a desired document, such as a coupon, by applying the predefined document formatting rules to the received document information. The created document is then delivered to the attached station printer for generating a printed document that is consistent with the document format and that displays the received document information, as well as other fixed information that may be included within the formatting module. Where a plurality of remote users access and print coupons from a variety of remote station configurations having a variety of printer types, the particular resolution associated with each such printer type may vary widely.
In accordance with the above stated objects, as well as others, The bar code rendering system of the present invention addresses such objects by various embodiments discussed herein. According to one embodiment of the invention, the system detects the resolution of the printer or other rendering device and optimizes the scale of the bar code so that the bar code lines and pixels perfectly align to avoid blurry or grainy lines. In this manner, the bar codes are always the theoretical ideal of a scalable bar code, a whole integer multiple of the available pixel xe2x80x9cbandwidth.xe2x80x9d Device resolution is typically quantified based on the picture element unit xe2x80x9cpixels.xe2x80x9d
A pixel is the smallest resolvable rectangular area of an image, either on a screen or stored in memory. Each pixel in a monochrome image has its own brightness, from 0 for black to a maximum value, e.g., 255 for an eight-bit pixel, for white. In a color image, each pixel has its own brightness and color, usually represented as a triple of red, green and blue intensities. For purposes of the disclosure of the embodiments provided herein the description is limited to monochrome images, however it should be understood that the present invention fully contemplates other images, including color images. Inaccuracies arise when the pixel width of a bar code image does not match or align with the available pixels in a defined width based on a given printer""s resolution.
For example, if a bar code is 118 pixel units wide, and only 450 pixels are available on the printer, the system will not attempt to stretch the bar code image to 450 pixels. Rather, the system will only use the greatest whole number multiple of the number of required pixels less than the total number of available pixels and center the image in the total available pixels. For the example above, the system will scale the bar code to 354 pixels (3 times the 118 pixel requirement) and center those 354 pixels in the 450 pixels. If however, the coupon were being rendered on a printer with a resolution of 500 dpi, the UPC bar code could be scaled to 472 pixels. Because the system uses whole integer scaling, the available pixels align with the bar code pixel bandwidth. An analogy would be to describe the bar code and the printer map as being in tune at a particular frequency, the whole integer one being the fundamental frequency and the whole numbers greater than one being harmonic frequencies of the fundamental frequency.
This is a significant advance over the prior art methods of rendering bar codes which effectively xe2x80x9cstretchedxe2x80x9d the image to fit the available space without regard for aligning the pixel maps of the bar code and the printer. Using the example of a 118 pixel width bar code and a printer area width of 450 pixels, one method of the prior art would stretch the bar code image to fit the entire available printer area. In this manner, the stretching factor is 3.813, which is 450 divided by 118, and the misalignment factor is 4.6875, which is 450 divided by 96, the remainder of 450-354. Accordingly, every fourth or fifth pixel column along the entire width of the available printer area will not align with the bar code and where adjacent information is not identical, then the rendering system xe2x80x9cguessesxe2x80x9d or interpolates the information to assign to that pixel column. In dealing with adjacent black and white stripes of bar code images, there are three typical methods of interpolating such data and generating print data: 1) average the data by creating a xe2x80x9cgrayxe2x80x9d pixel column, really an array of spaced apart black dots on a white background; 2) randomly or pseudo-randomly assign the entire column as black; and 3) randomly or pseudo-randomly assign the entire column as white. Each of these xe2x80x9cinterpolationsxe2x80x9d will result in blurry hard to read images or inaccurate renderings caused by arbitrary pixel print information.
In addition to the foregoing, and in accordance with still other objects, provided is a system for distributing and generating at a remote site product redemption coupons comprising centrally located repository of electronically stored product redemption coupon data, transmission means operatively associated with said centrally located repository for providing data communication between said repository and a plurality of remote user computers, and a remote user computer operatively associated with said transmission means. The remote user computer in the present invention comprises interface means for providing user interaction with the centrally located repository, a memory, and a coupon data management program. The coupon data management program is implemented by the computer for requesting coupon data from the centrally located repository, for storing in the memory coupon data transmitted from the centrally located repository, and for generating printable coupon data from the stored coupon data. The remote user computer also comprises a coupon output buffer operatively associated with the data management program for storing the printable coupon data generated by said coupon data management program.
The present invention additionally comprises a printer for printing product redemption coupons from the printable coupon data stored in the coupon output buffer. Alternatively, the system may enable the user to transmit electronically the printable coupon data from the coupon output buffer to the centrally located repository or directly to the retailer for electronic coupon redemption.
As a result of the present invention, a user of the remote computer is able to request coupon data to be transmitted from said centrally located repository, and the user is able to instruct his computer to print or electronically transfer product redemption coupons generated from the transmitted coupon data. In particular, the user""s computer assembles product redemption coupons for printing by using two data components; (1) fixed coupon data which is transmitted to the user""s computer during an initialization or xe2x80x9csign-upxe2x80x9d process and which remains stored on the user""s computer for subsequent coupon generation, and (2) variable coupon data which is transmitted to the user""s computer whenever he requests coupon data from the central repository.
Additionally, the coupon data management program of the present invention operates in conjunction with the remote computer to allow the user to select and store certain desired coupon data from the coupon data transmitted by the centrally located repository and print coupons as selected. The coupon data management program also allows the user to generate a shopping list which is correlated to the coupons printed for subsequent redemption.
In the present invention, the data exchange capabilities provided by the transmission medium between the remote computer and the central repository allow the automatic transfer of valuable information from the remote computer to the central repository and, ultimately, to the coupon distributing and issuing centers. Information related to the coupons selected and printed can be supplied to the coupon distributors and issuers, which can also use information obtained from the various retail stores as to which coupons were actually redeemed in order to more intelligently market subsequent coupons and target coupon issuance in a more cost effective manner.
The data exchange capabilities are further advantageously utilized in the present invention to allow, via the central repository, the updating of coupon data stored in the user""s remote computer without required interaction from the user if the user is online. In particular, the central repository can delete expired coupons from the remote computer""s coupon database and can vary the amount of redemption value of a non-expired coupon if so desired. The capability for the updating and deleting of coupons within a user""s computer is programmed in the user""s computer such that no further interaction with the central repository is required for such coupons to be deleted or updated.
Finally, the present invention provides for secure coupon generation by allowing the printing of a particular coupon only once. Further, and quite importantly, the present invention provides for the printing on each coupon of certain user-specific data, thus making each coupon printed unique. Thus, two different users with access to printing a particular coupon will each print coupons with the same product, discount, and expiration date data, yet each will be unique since printed thereon will be user-specific data, preferably in the form of a user-specific bar code. Thus, any attempts to duplicate via photocopying techniques any particular coupon will be discouraged since the coupon redemption center will detect when a particular coupon has been redeemed, will identify the user who redeems a particular coupon, and will disallow any attempt at redemption of a second coupon with identical product and user-specific data.

System and method for bar code rendering and recognition


A quasi-optical material treatment apparatus includes a first mirror and a second mirror. The first mirror is arched, and has a focal point in a chamber distance, and a coupling port to receive a high power microwave from an external microwave source that travels along the chamber distance to output a strong field microwave beam. The second mirror and the first mirror jointly form a quasi-optical action chamber and are movable relative to each other to adjust the total chamber distance between the two. A material to be treated may be moved through a focusing zone (about one wavelength of the strong field microwave beam) of the strong field microwave beam to be treated rapidly and evenly.

The conventional laser optical resonator consists of two spherical mirrors or a spherical mirror and a plane mirror with dimensions about one hundred thousand times of that of the wavelength. The microwave quasi-optical resonator also adopts the same structure and principle. However, because the wavelength is much greater than the optical wavelength, the dimensions of the chamber are only a dozen or a few dozen times the wavelength. Hence it is called a quasi-optical resonator.
Heating by microwave, compared with radiation heating by a conventional high temperature furnace, has many advantages, such as instant penetration, fast heating speed, short action time and saving of energy. Hence it is gradually becoming accepted and increasingly popular. The present microwave action chambers are made in various forms. But the main body of the system generally adopts a closed resonator. Material is heated in an electromagnetic wave field in a microwave mode.
The present closed resonator has three limitations when in use: 1. the dimension of the material is limited by the size of the resonator; 2. the electromagnetic wave field in the microwave mode is not uniform, which results in uneven treatment of the material; and 3. the field is distributed over the entire chamber, which limits the heating speed.
Because of the aforesaid limitations, the conventional closed resonator cannot meet the material treatment requirements of new material developments and technologies. For instance, electronic textile that contains deformable electronic modules is one focus of future technologies. Such products have a large area, and the modules have materials withstanding different-temperature material treatment that cannot be supported by the manufacturing process proceeding at the same temperature. Hence a strong absorption layer that can be heated quickly and locally is required in the development of a new technique to bond a functional layer and the substrate material of a lower melting point. The present closed microwave resonator and the conventional thermal radiation heating chamber cannot meet the requirements of those new materials and manufacturing processes. Therefore a new action chamber has to be developed to meet those requirements.

Quasi-optical material treatment apparatus

Industrial Technology Research Institute


Systems and methods for tagging portions a spherical video segment are provided. The spherical video segment may include visual content. User input indicating a moment in time in the spherical video segment and a viewing angle corresponding to the moment in time may be received. Tag information for the spherical video segment may be generated. The tag information may identify the moment in time and the viewing angle such that a subsequent presentation of the spherical video segment, proximate to the moment in time, includes a notification that the viewing angle is outside a display field of view based on the viewing angle being located outside the display field of view.

Captured video segments may include content captured in multiple views with multiple perspectives. If users are able to choose their view point within the captured video segments during playback, they may miss content available in other views and/or areas of the captured video segments. Missing content may cause the user to have a less than satisfactory experience.

System and method for presenting and viewing a spherical video segment


A multi-channel remote diode temperature sensor includes a variable current supply configured to provide a base or an elevated current, a bias circuit, an analog-to-digital converter having a first and second input terminals, a logic block and a switch arrangement. The switch arrangement cooperates with the logic block to electrically connect the current supply, bias circuit and analog-to-digital input terminals to first and second data pins. Pairs of anode-to-cathode connected remote diodes in electrical communication with the data pins are monitored by measuring the difference in forward voltages at the two currents. Reversal of the configuration of the switch arrangement paths permits monitoring of the other member of the anode-to-cathode remote diode.

When operated at a constant current, the voltage (Vfor) of a forward-biased P/N diode exhibits a negative temperature coefficient of about −2 mV/° C. This property can be utilized to detect temperature. Unfortunately, the absolute value of Vfor varies according to diode composition and hence the process conditions under which the diode was fabricated. One approach to overcome such process-based variation in Vfor is to calibrate the current supplied across the P/N junction to match the variation in Vfor exhibited by a particular diode. However, such a calibration of individual current supplies is impractical for mass produced devices. Another approach is to detect a change in forward-biased diode voltage (ΔVfor) for two different applied currents, 1X and NX, where NX is a known multiple of 1X. Specifically:
                              T          =                                    q                                                                                ΔV                for                                                    η                                                                                k                                                                                ln                                                  (                  N                  )                                                                    ,        where                            (        I        )
T=absolute temperature (°K);
q=the charge on the carrier (electron charge);
ΔVfor=change in forward-biased voltage;
η=ideality factor of diode.
k=Boltzman's constant; and
N=ratio of the two applied currents.
The premise of this approach is the principle that any uncertainty in diode behavior introduced by process variation is eliminated (i.e., cancelled out) by detecting a voltage change for two different currents flowing across the same diode.
Conventional temperature sensors utilize a positive data pin and a negative data pin to sense the forward-biased diode voltage of each diode. Thus, the number of data pins required to monitor a diode is double the number of diodes being monitored. This use of data pins places a burden of the minimal architecture of modern integrated circuits, thus limiting the data pins available for other functions.

Efficient method of sharing diode pins on multi-channel remote diode temperature sensors