A piece of scientific/technological equipment is presented for the generation of a convergent photon beam for radiotherapy or other applications. This equipment consists of adequately modifying the trajectory of an electron beam from a linear accelerator (LINAC) by applying magnetic and/or electric fields. These electrons perpendicularly impact the surface of a curved material that has a particular curvature ratio (anode), thus generating X-rays. The interaction of the electrons with the atoms of the anode's material generate X-rays with a non-isotropic angular-spatial distribution, with a greater concentration in the focal direction, which is defined by the geometry of the anode. A curved collimator with an adequate curvature ratio is attached to the back of the anode. The collimator is made up of an array of a great number of small holes that point toward the focal point. This device transmits X-rays solely in the focal direction. The Summary Figure presents a typical configuration of the invention that has been presented.

From the discovery of the X-ray in 1895 until now, the emission of a radiation ray, at any energy range, is essentially divergent and the intensity is a function of the distance between it and the emission source (inverse square law). This is due to the X-ray production mechanism; in other words, electrons that impact a target. There are currently several ways to generate X-ray beams, each with a determined source size and a specific, always-positive divergence. The X-ray beams employed in radiotherapy are divergent.
The expected objective of radiotherapy is, by using X-rays, to achieve a high X-ray flow zone within a specific volume. These X-rays would then deposit their energy. The energy deposited per unit mass is known as dose in radiotherapy. Since the beam that is used is noticeably divergent, several beams (fields) aimed at the volume of interest must be employed. As is widely known, the depth dose for an X-ray beam is dependent on an exponential downward curve according to the depth, with a maximum value near the surface. A multi-field application allows for a maximum dose in the interest volume (tumor site), despite the fact that the dose values in the surrounding areas are lower than those at the tumor site. These dose values are significant as they have higher values than what is tolerable in some cases, which can prevent the use of an effective dose in the tumor.
More refined techniques such as Intensity Modulated Radio Therapy (IMRT) or arc therapy improve and conform the maximum flow volume of X-rays, thus lowering dose levels in neighboring tissues and organs, though this decrease is not significant. A dose value decrease of up to 80% in tissues and organs near the interest zone has currently been achieved in relation to the dose in the interest zone. Treatment planning, however, continues to be complex. A decrease of collateral effects caused by radiation is always attempted, though their complete elimination is impossible.
A radiotherapy technique that has lower collateral effects and greater radiobiological effectiveness at the tumor site is that of hadrontherapy. This technique uses hadrons (protons or heavier nuclei) to deposit high doses at the tumor site that are very conformed, that is to say, limited to that area. The cost of this technique, however, is much higher than conventional photon or electron methods, precluding its use for many patients. It is also rarely available at hospitals and health and treatment centers. FIG. 1 shows a sketch comparing the relative depth dose of the most widely used radiotherapy techniques.
This invention proposes the use of a device able to generate a convergent photon beam with advantages that are significantly greater than the conventional external radiotherapy technique and the hadrontherapy techniques, the latter catalogued as being those that provide better results.
From a comparative point of view, conventional conformal radiotherapy techniques or IMRT (the latter being better): administer a greater superficial dose; are a greater risk to healthy organs; require fractioning and a more complex planning system; require more energy and, therefore, more costly bunkers; not all tumors are accessible; thus rendering the techniques less effective. The advantages of these techniques are that a greater volume is treated and the positioning system is simpler. FIG. 2 shows the fundamental difference between the conventional method, (a), and the convergent method (b).
The convergent method, however, presents: lower surface dose, low dose in healthy organs; high dose in the tumor which does not require fractioning; simpler planning system; shorter treatment (one or two sessions); greater effectiveness and accessibility to most tumors; simpler refrigeration system; high energy is not required thus bunker shielding requirements are lower. The disadvantage is that, as the treated volume is smaller, a tumor scan and a more precise positioning system are required.
The only external photon method that is comparable, quality-wise, to the convergent technique of the invention being proposed is the arc therapy technique, also known as Tomotherapy, using photons with a linear accelerator (LINAC) that generates electron beams to produce the required X-rays. Arc therapy emulates convergence by using an angular scan around the isocenter (tumor site). Despite longer sessions and equally complex planning, however, each beam is still essentially divergent and the doses in healthy organs are not insignificant. Like the other conventional LINAC techniques, several sessions are required. Similar results can be obtained using a robotic device called a "Cyberknife".
The hadrontherapy technique presents the following: a low surface dose and is highly effective as it deposits a high dose depth in a very small site (Bragg peak, see FIG. 1). Hadrons and ions have high radiobiological effectiveness (protons are 5 times more effective than photons) and complex positioning systems. However, a very complex installation is required, which includes a synchrotron able to accelerate particles to energies ranging from several hundred MeV to several GeV, high vacuum, and electrical and magnetic guide systems. Furthermore, the cost of a hadrontherapy system exceeds $100M USD. There are 28 hadrontherapy installations in the world's most developed nations and the technique continues to grow despite its high cost. Hadrontherapy is out of the question for Chile at present though Spain is evaluating the possibility of acquiring one of these installations in the next few years. Hadrontherapy has shown excellent results in patients with complex cancers as it is able to treat tumors that cannot be treated with photons. The cost of this therapy, however, means it is available to only a select few.
The convergent method employed by the invention presented here delivers low surface dose and is highly effective, as it deposits a high depth dose in a very small area ("peak focus"). Photons have less radiobiological effectiveness, but the dose deposited at the focus peak site can be up to 100 times greater than the dose on the surface, despite the attenuation effect. This compensates for the photons' lower radiobiological effectiveness and generates an even lower relative dose on the surface and in the healthy organs than that which is obtained in hadrontherapy. The positioning system, however, must be more precise than that of conventional techniques. All of the above will allow for the treatment of complex cancer cases as with hadrontherapy but with a less complex installation.
Furthermore, the cost of a LINAC plus a bunker and control building is in the $2 to 3 MUSD ranges, while a LINAC-adaptable convergence system may cost $0.5M USD or less, a noteworthy advantage in relation to the cost of a hadrontherapy installation which is almost two orders of magnitude greater. In this regard, a convergent system would function similarly to a hadrontherapy system but at a significantly lower cost.
The first step taken prior to the development of this invention was the study of the effects of a photon beam's convergence on a specific material that was carried out by Monte Carlo Simulations (MCS) and theoretical calculations. FIG. 3 shows the curves of a depth dose corresponding to MCS and the theoretical results.
Devices currently exist that achieve beam convergence with a divergent X-ray beam based on the total reflection principle. The divergent X-rays enter a cone-shaped capillary, and the beams travel the length of it by total reflection inside the capillary until they reach the end. The exit section is smaller than the entry section, thus allowing a greater intensity to be achieved. In order to attain a significant increase in intensity, a set of these cone-shaped capillaries set in parallels is used. This makes up what is known as a poli-capillary and allows the entry area to be increased. However, as these devices employ the total reflection principle, its use is only advantageous with X-rays with energies below 50 keV, which limits its application in radiotherapy equipment, where the X-ray energy is much greater than the aforementioned amount. There is currently a great variety of X-ray focusing devices that use not only the total reflection principle but diffraction and/or refraction as well, though all of them can be used for low energy X-rays (<50 keV). For example, in astronomy, an X-ray telescope (Chandra and equivalents) obtains X-ray images of the Universe, allowing us to see emission sources, including black holes. This is a large-scale device (several meters) that is based on the same total reflection principle and uses reflector plates and other materials.

Convergent photon and electron beam generator device


A present disclosure relates to a stamp for applying to a surface. The stamp includes a stamp type unit. The stamp type unit includes a die bracket, a first elastic element, a second elastic element, and a bearing bracket. The bearing bracket includes a type band and operatively associated with the first elastic element, the second elastic element and the die bracket. The first elastic element and the second elastic element are disposed between the die bracket and the bearing bracket in a manner that the type band is level with respect to the surface.

Unless otherwise indicated herein, the approaches described in this section are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.
The present disclosure relates to a stamp, and more particularly to a self-inking stamp. The self-inking stamp may include a housing and a stamp type unit being upwardly and downwardly displaceable relative to the housing.
FIG. 9 and FIG. 10 illustrate perspective assembly views of a conventional stamp type unit 92. Conventional stamp type unit 92 includes die bracket 90, bearing bracket 91 and two fasteners 93. Bearing bracket 91 is mounted on die bracket 90 with fasteners 93. Bearing bracket 91 may further include type band 95 configured to extend out from lower surface 96 of die bracket 90 and adhesive 83 to apply stamping patterns on rubber die 94 and type band 95 on a surface. Fasteners 93 are located at two edges of bearing bracket 91, respectively. Any of fasteners 93 is configured to penetrate ribs 97 of bearing bracket 91 and fasten bearing bracket 91 to die bracket 90.
Rubber die 94 may be provided to be attached to lower surface 96 of die bracket 90 via adhesive layer 83. To levelly align type band 95 with respect to rubber die 94 and lower surface 96 to appear stamping patterns on a surface, bearing bracket 91 may be moved relative to die bracket 90 by adjusting the two fasteners 93. However, adjusting two different fasteners 93 at two different edges of bearing bracket 91 may not be able to provide one uniform adjustment with respect to rubber die 94 and lower surface 96. In response to two fasteners 93 are not evenly adjusted, type band 95 may incline with respect to rubber die 94 and lower surface 96, which causes ink non-uniformly attached on type band 96 and generates indistinct stamping patterns on a stamping surface.


A device for equally-spaced transportation of randomly arranged incoming products, such as packets of cigarettes, whereby the products traveling successively and in randomly arranged manner along a first path and in a first given direction are brought into engagement with a braking device for forming an orderly line of products, which are removed successively from the first path by a transfer device and in a substantially transverse pickup direction in relation to the first traveling direction, and are fed, rotated 90.degree., on to a second path along which they are fed continuously and in equally-spaced manner in a second direction forming any angle in relation to the first traveling direction.

The present invention relates to a device for transporting randomly arranged incoming products in equally-spaced manner.
The present invention is particularly suitable for packing machines in general, and cigarette packing machines in particular, to which the following description refers purely by way of example.
In cigarette packing machines, the problem of transporting randomly arranged incoming products, in this case packets of cigarettes, in an equally-spaced manner is normally solved using devices comprising first and second conveyors perpendicular to each other; and a transfer device located over the point at which the two conveyors meet, and which provides, at a constant rate, for transferring the packets traveling in a randomly arranged manner on the first conveyor from the output end of the first conveyor to the input end of the second conveyor. As they are transferred, the packets are rotated 90.degree. in relation to the traveling direction, so that, if they are traveling, for example, along the first conveyor with the larger side facing forward, they are fed with the smaller side or the end surface facing forward along the second conveyor.
In other words, on known devices of the aforementioned type, equally spacing the randomly arranged incoming packets necessarily involves a 90.degree. variation in the traveling direction of the packets, and, consequently, 90.degree. rotation of the packets in relation to said traveling direction.
Such variations in both the traveling direction and the position of the randomly arranged incoming products in relation to the traveling direction are not always desirable. Generally speaking, in fact, only rotation of the product may be used to advantage, whereas the 90.degree. change in the traveling direction of the products poses serious problems as regards the size and overall design of the packing machine.

Device for equally-spaced transportation of randomly arranged incoming products


A fault tolerant disk drive matrix comprises a plurality of disk drives. A mapping method associates a subset of the disk drives with a logical RAID-5 array. Each of the disk drives in the matrix may be associated with a plurality of different logical RAID-5 arrays. Logical units of data are subdivided into blocks and stored in an interleaved manner across the disk drives of the logical RAID-5 array. The arrangement of data and parity blocks on the logical RAID-5 arrays within the matrix reduces throughput degradation when a disk drive fails. In the event of a disk drive failure, data blocks stored on the failed disk drive can be reconstructed using redundancy blocks and data blocks from the surviving disk drives within the logical RAID-5 array. Replacement disk drives may also be provided to substitute for the failed disk drive in the logical RAID-5 array. Thus, the mapping of logical RAID-5 arrays to physical disk drives in the matrix may change in position and identity due to disk drive replacements caused by failures.

1. Field of the Invention.
This invention relates in general to computer disk drives, and in particular, to a disk drive matrix having enhanced fault tolerance.
2. Description of Related Art.
One technique for achieving media fault tolerance involves a design termed "Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks" (RAID). The RAID design offers an attractive alternative to single large expensive disk drives, promising improvements of an order of magnitude and performance, reliability, power consumption and scalability. Five levels of RAID design, termed RAID-1 through RAID-5, are known in the art and are described in the following publication, which is incorporated by reference herein: D. A. Patterson, G. Gibson, and R. H. Katz, "A Case for Redundant Arrays of Inexpensive Disks (RAID)", ACM SIGMOD Conference, Chicago, Ill., Jun. 1-3, 1988.
The RAID-1 design consists of mirrored disk drives, which are a traditional approach for improving reliability However, while such a design provides greater read throughput and fault tolerance than a single disk drive it doubles the cost of data storage.
In the RAID-2 design, a plurality of bits of a logical unit of data are striped simultaneously and in parallel across a plurality of disk drives, so that an individual read or write operation spans the entire plurality of disk drives. Parallel check disks are added to detect and correct errors. In the RAID-2 design, a single parity disk can detect a single error, but additional check disks are required to determine which disk drive failed.
The RAID-3 design is similar to the RAID-2 design, but eliminates the additional check disks of RAID-2 as being redundant, since most disk drive controllers can detect when a disk drive fails, either through special signals provided in the disk drive interface or by using error correcting codes (ECCs) stored with each sector of data. Therefore, data on a failed disk drive can be reconstructed by calculating the parity of the surviving disk drives and then comparing it bit-by-bit to the parity calculated for the original full group.
The RAID-4 design is similar to the RAID-3 design, except that a plurality of sectors of a logical unit of data are striped across a plurality of disk drives. Thus, individual reads may be performed independently, so as to maximize retrieval rates. While the RAID-4 design enhances read operations, write operations are still limited since every write operation must read and write a parity disk.
The RAID-5 design is similar to the RAID-4 design, except that placement of parity blocks is rotated among the disk drives in the array. This rotation lessens the contention for the parity disk drive during write operations experienced by the RAID-4 design. The RAID-5 design provides the random access read throughput of the RAID-1 design with the reduced redundancy cost of the RAID-3 design. However, in the presence of a failure, the random read throughput of the RAID-5 design drops by 50% because the corresponding data and parity sectors on all surviving disk drives must be read to reconstruct the data sectors on the failed disk drive.


Rectangular shaped members are provided for covering the gaps formed at the rear of a pickup truck and as seen in the rear wheel wells between the frame and side walls of the rear bed. Each of the rectangular shaped members has two elongated edges and two shorter edges with apertures formed therethrough near one of the elongated edges for receiving fastening means for attaching the rectangular shaped members to the side wall of the wheel well or to the frame on each of the sides of the pickup truck for covering the gap.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to members for covering gaps found at the rear of certain pickup trucks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
CHEVROLET and GMC from 1988 to the present (including newly redesigned 1999 models) produced 1/2 and 3/4 ton wide bed, short and long wheel base, pickup trucks that have gaps between the rear frame and the lower end of the rear bed which are visible by way of the rear wheel wells. Other CHEVROLET and GMC pickup trucks and also certain DODGE and FORD pickup trucks have gaps between the rear frame and the lower end of the rear bed which are visible by way of the rear wheel wells. Although the gaps do not cause any problems, the looks of the pickup trucks can be improved if these gaps are not visible.

Gap covering member for different types of pickup trucks


A layout displaying apparatus has the capability to display a layout of a text in at least one layout display region of a display. The layout displaying apparatus includes a layout display control for displaying a single page of stored data in each layout display region and an extension layout display control for alternatively displaying two adjacent pages of stored data in each layout display region in the form of a double column display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a layout displaying apparatus for use in a word processor and, more particularly, to a layout displaying apparatus which is used to display the layout of document data on a display.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In general, English language word processors, for example, have been provided with displays having a plurality of display lines and a number of functions for facilitating a process for inputting document data and a process for editing the same. In particular, a word processor having a layout display function for converting a train of characters representative of document data into a train of dots or a linear pattern to display the same for each page on a display has been recently put into practical use.
Where it is desired to provide the layout of document data on the display by making use of the layout display function, a desired document is normally displayed on the display and then a "layout" key is operated. Consequently, the document data is deleted from the display, one rectangular layout display region representative of a printing region on the display based on pre-inputted format information related to a printing format is displayed, and the layout of document data corresponding to one page with a cursor displayed thereon within this rectangular layout display region is displayed. At this time, a "next-page" key or a "previous-page" key is operated to display the layout of document data at the next page or the layout of document data at the previous page, respectively, for each page on the display.
As described above, in the word processor of such a type that the layout of the document data corresponding to one page is displayed in one layout display region, problems arise in that the manner of printing effected by a double column printing process, or column-stepped printing process, for printing document data at the first page on the left half of a printing sheet and printing document data at the second page, which is adjacent to the former document data, on the right half of the printing sheet, for example, cannot be simultaneously viewed in the form of the layout display.

Layout displaying apparatus for a word processor


A device for detecting a resonant frequency comprises a sound source, a switch, a mixer, and a sound meter. The switch and mixer are capable of switching between a first state in which the switch and mixer output a measurement signal and a second state in which the switch and mixer output a synthesized signal containing the measurement signal and the signal output from a microphone. The device detects the resonant frequency based on comparison between the first amplitude frequency characteristic measured in the first state and the second amplitude frequency characteristic measured in the second state.

In some cases, it is necessary to detect a resonant frequency in a resonant space. For example, when acoustic equipment such as a speaker is installed in a hall or a gymnasium to radiate a loud sound wave from a speaker, music or voice from the speaker is sometimes difficult to listen to because of the presence of a resonant frequency in this space (loud sound space in which the acoustic equipment is installed). To be specific, if the loud sound wave from the speaker contains a component of the resonant frequency in large amount, resonance occurs in a frequency of this component in the loud sound space. A resonant sound is like "won . . . " or "fan . . . ." The resonant sound is not a sound wave to be radiated from the speaker and makes it difficult to listen to the music or the voice from the speaker.
To avoid this, the resonant frequency in the loud sound space is detected, and a dip filter or the like is provided at a forward stage of the speaker in the acoustic equipment to attenuate the component of the resonant frequency. Thereby, resonance is unlikely to occur in this loud sound space, making it easy to listen to the music or the voice from the speaker. In order to determine a frequency characteristic of the dip filter, it is necessary to first detect the resonant frequency in the loud sound space.
Traditionally, an operator or a measuring person for the acoustic equipment has distinguished the loud sound from the speaker or the resonant sound depending on their senses of hearing to make judgment of the resonant frequency.
However, some skill or experience is required to distinguish the sound for judgment of the resonant frequency depending on the senses of hearing. Such detection of the resonant frequency depending on the skill or experience is not always accurate. Further, this has impeded automatic measurement and automatic adjustment of the acoustic equipment installed in the loud sound space or the like.

Method of detecting resonant frequency, method of selecting resonance frequency, and device for detecting resonant frequency sensor


An elliptical exercise apparatus includes two cranks disposed rotatably on a frame and rotatable about a common crank axis, two rails each disposed fixedly on the frame and having a non-circular guide slot, two extension links connected respectively, radially, and slidably to the cranks and mounted with rollers disposed respectively and movably within the guide slots, two connector members disposed on the frame and reciprocatable along a longitudinal direction of the frame, and two foot links each having a first end connected pivotally to the corresponding extension link and a second end connected pivotally to the corresponding connector member. When the rollers move along the rails, the extension links are extendable and retractable relative to the cranks, respectively.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an exerciser, and more particularly to an elliptical exercise apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Referring to FIG. 1, a first conventional elliptical exercise apparatus includes a frame 1, a pair of cranks 2 disposed pivotally on a rear end of the frame 1, a pair of front links 3 disposed on a front end of the frame 1, and a pair of foot links 4 mounted with pedals 401. Each of the foot links 4 is interconnected pivotally between the corresponding crank 2 and the corresponding front link 3.
Referring to FIG. 2, a second conventional elliptical exercise apparatus includes a frame 5, a pair of cranks 6 disposed pivotally on a front end portion of the frame 5, a pair of rollers 7 disposed movably on a rear end portion of the frame 5, and a foot link 8 mounted with a pedal 801. Each of the foot links 8 is interconnected pivotally between the corresponding crank 6 and the corresponding roller 7.
During exercise using the first and second conventional elliptical exercise apparatuses, each of the pedals 401, 801 moves along an elliptical path. Since the rotating radius of each of the cranks 3, 6 is fixed, the major and minor axes of the elliptical paths traveled by the pedals 401, 801 are short, thereby resulting in a poor exercising effect. To obtain a better exercising effect, the cranks 2, 6 may be lengthened. However, this increases the volumes of the exercise apparatuses.


Implementations of enhanced content collaboration technology are disclosed herein. In an implementation, a collaboration service determines which collaboration commands to surface in association with each user in a list of users collaborating on a document. The collaboration commands are selected based on each user's collaboration state. The service updates local applications with information indicative of the user state, so that the local applications may surface a user-specific, collaboration state-driven selection of commands.

Collaboration services allow users to collaborate with respect to content that is shared between them. A group of users may share a document, for example. With the support of a collaboration service, the users may edit the document together, review and comment on each other's work, and otherwise co-author the document in real-time from multiple locations.
Some collaboration services include instant messaging features, video chat capabilities, and other communication services embedded in an application's user interface. Such tools enhance the collaboration experience by making it easy for users to communicate while working on content.
A recent improvement to user interface technology for document collaboration includes a list of users who have access to a given document, combined with an indication of which of those users are presently editing the document. This gives a user a quick view into not only who the document is shared with, but also who is presently collaborating on it.
Overview
This Overview is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Technical Disclosure. It may be understood that this Overview is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Technology is disclosed herein that enhances the user experience with online collaboration. In an implementation, a list of users associated collaboratively with a shared document are ordered in a user interface based at least partly on their respective collaboration states with respect to the document. As their collaboration states change, updates are received from a collaboration service and the list of users is re-ordered to reflect their updated collaboration states.
In another implementation, the collaboration service determines which collaboration commands to surface in association with each user, based on that user's collaboration state. The service updates local applications with information indicative of the same, so that the local applications may surface the user-specific, collaboration state-driven selection of commands.

State-specific commands in collaboration services


Provided are a color evaluation apparatus and the like capable of evaluating the appropriateness of a color scheme in an image to be evaluated. A color evaluation apparatus 101 includes a division unit 102 that identifies a partial region of an input image, an acquisition unit 103 that acquires color information for identifying a color contained in the partial region and a first character string contained in the partial region, an extraction unit 104 that extracts a second character string which is associated in advance with the color information, and an evaluation unit 105 that evaluates appropriateness of the color information according to a result of comparing the first character string and the second character string.

The present invention relates to the technical field of information processing for evaluating the appropriateness of colors.
In order to determine the color scheme of a screen to improve usability, in addition to simply combining the colors, it is also necessary to give consideration to the meaning represented by the information that exists in the region to which a color is to be assigned. Nevertheless, the related technologies described in the related technical documents and the like simply evaluate the appropriateness of the color scheme only based on the area of the region or the relationship of the colors.
The color evaluation apparatus disclosed in Patent Document 1 extracts information of color and images as hierarchy/color scheme information according to Web contents. Subsequently, this color evaluation apparatus calculates the index values (brightness, color phase, saturation) pertaining to readability from the foregoing information of colors and images. Finally, this color evaluation apparatus uses the foregoing index values and evaluates, in multiple stages and in a comprehensive manner, the readability based on the extracted information. This color evaluation apparatus thereby inspects the readability of the text color and background color, and further presents the recommended colors.
The technology disclosed in Patent Document 2 assigns the base color and the accent color according to the area of the object configuring the document or the occupancy in the overall document. This technology performs a color scheme of assigning the accent color to the object with the smallest area and assigning the base color to the object with the largest area, respectively.
The technology disclosed in Patent Document 3 analyzes the input contents and obtains the characteristic data thereof. Subsequently, this technology checks the association of the obtained characteristic data and the input index data, and performs weighting of the respective index data according to the association. This technology thereafter associates the contents and the plurality of index data that were subject to weighting processing, and registers the association in a database.
Patent Document 1: Patent Publication JP-A-2002-197403
Patent Document 2: Patent Publication JP-A-2006-058950
Patent Document 3: Patent Publication JP-A-2008-171299
In order to determine the color scheme of a screen to improve usability, in addition to simply combining the colors, it is also necessary to give consideration to the meaning represented by the information that exists in the region to which a color is to be assigned. Thus, it is difficult for a person with no expertise in color schemes and usability to perform a color scheme that gives consideration to meanings or present improvement plans of a color scheme.

Color evaluation apparatus, color evaluation method and computer program


An information processing apparatus is disclosed which includes: an accepting element for accepting an access request from a terminal over a network; a first acquiring element for acquiring information which designates a character unique to the terminal and which is received over the network; a second acquiring element for acquiring character data constituting the character designated by the character-designating information acquired by the first acquiring element; and a transmitting element for transmitting to the terminal over the network the character data acquired by the second acquiring element.

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program. More particularly, the invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program for allowing a personal computer to represent its user symbolically in unified fashion not only when operating on a stand-alone basis with a plurality of programs in use but also when connected with other personal computers over a network.
The Internet coming into general use today has made exchanges of e-mail messages between a plurality of users all but an everyday affair.
In transmitting and receiving e-mails, some Internet service providers and some e-mail application programs are known to let their users display symbolic characters called Post Pets (registered trademark) representing the users on the PC screen. The Post Pet is seen delivering e-mails between the connected users, giving them pleasure in handling their electronic correspondence.
There also exist systems each allowing users to gain access to a specific server in order to share a virtual space with other users who take part in the system. According to such systems, the participating users usually represent themselves as so-called avatars that are active in the shared virtual space.
One disadvantage with the above-mentioned Post Pets and avatars is that they can only be utilized within a single, specific system offering the e-mail and/or virtual space service. It has been impossible to use such alter-ego characters across different systems in unified fashion.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program


A self-service checkout apparatus includes dispensers each configured to dispense an article, first sensors each configured to detect a presence of the article in the corresponding dispenser, first indicators each configured to indicate that the presence of the article in the corresponding dispenser, a second sensor configured to detect whether a user is present, and a processor configured to, when one or more articles are detected by the first sensors and the user is detected by the second sensor, perform first notification using the respective one or more of the first indicators, and when one or more articles are detected by the first sensors and the user is not detected by the second sensor, perform second notification according to a priority order predetermined for each article, using at least one of a second indicator of the self-service checkout apparatus and a third indicator of another apparatus.

In the related art, a self-service checkout POS terminal and a semi-self-service checkout POS terminal are known as a checkout device that executes settlement processing on a commodity to be sold by a customer's operation. The self-service checkout POS terminal is a checkout device that executes registration processing for registering the commodity to be sold and settlement processing of the commodity registered by the registration processing by the customer's operation. The semi-self-service checkout POS terminal is a checkout device that executes the settlement processing of the commodity to be sold by the customer's operation.
Meanwhile, the customer sometimes forgets to collect an article, such as a credit card, a receipt, change, and the like, dispensed from the checkout device. A technology for preventing such an article from having been left behind in the device is known in the related art.
However, in the related art, a technology for preventing a plurality of articles from having been left behind in the checkout device is not disclosed. Importance of the articles may be different (e.g., a credit card or a bill versus a receipt), and thus it is not enough to issue the same notification for different kinds of articles. Accordingly, a technology for appropriate notification depending on the importance of the articles is desired.

Self-service checkout apparatus and method thereof


A lighting apparatus using microwave energy comprises, a magnetron disposed inside a casing, for generating microwave energy; a waveguide for guiding microwave energy; a resonator providing a resonant region in which the microwave energy is resonated; a bulb disposed inside the resonator, and filled with a material which emits light, when excited by the microwave energy; and a rear mirror integrally fixed to a rear of the bulb, for forwardly reflecting light which is rearward emitted from the bulb.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lighting apparatus using microwave energy, and particularly, to a lighting apparatus using microwave energy capable of improving lighting efficiency.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, lighting apparatus using microwave energy is a lighting system in which microwave energy generated from a magnetron is transmitted to a resonator through a waveguide, and a fill within a bulb disposed in the resonator emits visible light when excited by the microwave energy. The lighting apparatus using microwave energy has longer life span compared to an incandescent lamp or a fluorescent lamp and has excellent efficiency in lighting.
As shown in FIG. 1, a lighting apparatus using microwave energy comprises a casing 10 having an opening 12 through which microwave energy passes at its one side and a flange 14 outwardly extended from a circumference of the opening 12; a high voltage generator 20 installed inside the casing 10, and for generating and supplying high voltage; a magnetron 30 disposed inside the casing 10, electrically connected with the high voltage generator 20 to generate microwave energy by high voltage; a waveguide 40 fixed to a front surface of the casing 10, and for guiding microwave energy generated from the magnetron 30 toward the opening 12 of the casing 10; a resonator 50 fixed to the flange 14 of the casing 10, communicated with the waveguide 40, and having a resonant region therein where microwave energy is resonated; a bulb 60 rotatably mounted inside the resonator 50, and containing a fill which emits light when excited by microwave energy; a reflector 80 fixed to an outer surface of the casing 10, for forwardly reflecting light emitted from the bulb 60; a fan housing 110 installed inside the casing 10, having an airflow path therein through which an external air is sucked, for cooling heat generated from the high voltage generator 20 and the magnetron 30; a cooling fan 100 provided within the fan housing 110, for sucking external air; a fan motor 101 for rotating the cooling fan 100; a bulb motor 90 for rotating the bulb 60, of which a rotational shaft 92 is connected to a bulb stem 62 extended from the bulb 60; and a disk shaped rear mirror 70 fixed to the flange 14, having a hole 72 at a center thereof in which the bulb stem 62 is inserted.
In the light apparatus according to the conventional art as above, high voltage is generated at the high voltage generator 20 when an external power is applied to the high voltage generator 20, and microwave energy is generated at the magnetron 30 by the high voltage. And, the microwave energy is transmitted to the resonator 50 through the waveguide 40, and excites the fill within the bulb 60. Accordingly, the fill within the bulb 60 emits light, and the reflector 80 reflects the light emitted around the bulb 60. Also, the rear mirror 70 forwardly reflects the light emitted rearwardly from the bulb 60.
At the same time, the cooling fan 100 is rotated by an operation of the fan motor 101, and thus external air out of the casing 10 is sucked into the casing 10 through the airflow path formed inside the fan housing 110. By the airflow inside the casing 10, the high voltage generator, the magnetron 30 and the other internal components are cooled. In addition, the bulb 60 is rotated for being cooled by an operation of the bulb motor 90.
In the lighting apparatus using microwave energy according to the conventional art as above, one of important factors that have an effect on lighting performance is an effective reflection of light emitted from the bulb 60. Accordingly, the reflector 80 is installed around the bulb 60, and the rear mirror 70 is installed at a rear side of the bulb 60, so that the reflector 80 and the rear mirror 70 forwardly reflect light that is emitted around the bulb and to a rear side of the bulb.
However, since the rear mirror 70 provided for the lighting apparatus according to the conventional art is formed in a flat disk shape, the rear mirror 70 cannot effectively reflect light emitted toward the rear of the bulb 60.
Moreover, since the hole 72 is formed in the center of the rear mirror 70 so that the bulb stem 62 is rotatably inserted thereto, even if the hole 72 is formed to have a minimum diameter in which the bulb stem 62 can be rotated in order to reflect the light emitted to the rear of the bulb 60 as much as possible, the light emitted from the bulb 60 is not fully reflected because of the hole 72. Further, the light which is not reflected because of the hole 72 may pass through the hole 72 and may be transmitted to a rear of the mirror 70, or may be scattered by the hole 72, thereby causing degradation in light reflection efficiency
In addition, heat generated from the bulb 60 is transmitted to the bulb stem 62, and thus a thermal damage such that a coated layer is peeled away at a portion adjacent to the bulb stem 62 may be generated. Therefore, components have to be replaced because of such a thermal damage of the rear mirror 70, thereby raising high material and operation costs. In order to prevent the thermal damage, the rear mirror 70 is made of a high priced heat resistible material such as quartz, thereby raising an initial installation cost.

Lighting apparatus using microwave energy


A system to be used to add non-listed characters (i.e., characters not listed in character key-in methods) to the vocabulary banks of character-key-in methods used in hand-held mobile communication devices is disclosed. Users of a mobile communication device can select a character or characters which are built in the system but not indexed by a certain character-key-in method (that is, the characters cannot be keyed in with that character-key-in method), index the aforesaid characters, using the indexing system/method of the character-key-in method, and then add them to the key-in method's character-indexing system so that subsequent users of the mobile communication device can use said character-key-in method to key in said (originally non-indexed/listed) characters.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is about a system to be used to add non-indexed (and, therefore, non-listed) characters to the vocabulary bank of character-key-in methods, particularly those character-key-in methods used in hand-held mobile communication devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
As mobile communication devices such as mobile phones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistance) etc., become more and more popular, and manufacturers are vying with each other for customers, all kinds of value-plus, often personalized, features have been added to this little device to win the hearts of consumers. When a consumer is making a purchasing decision, the factors he must weigh include not just the price of a certain device, but compatibility and expandability of the device as well.
Presently, almost all hand-held mobile communication devices on market have built-in character-key-in methods for users to key in data or messages as needed. Generally speaking, most character-key-in methods used in mobile communication devices do not index all the characters provided by the built-in vocabulary bank stored in the memory of the device. Depending on brands and makes, the number of characters a character-key-in method can key out ranges from a few hundred to a few thousand, which is just enough for general purposes but not for special occasions and needs.
As hand-held mobile communication devices all have their character-key-in methods built in their IC memories, it is impossible for a user to add originally non-indexed characters to a certain character-key-in method. When a situation arises that requires a user to key in a character not available with a certain key-in method, his best bet is to make a make-shift key-in—choosing a substitute character that best resembles the intended one in shape, meaning, or pronunciation. This certainly is an inconvenience that a user may or may not want to live with.

System for adding extra characters to a vocabulary list of a selected character key-in method in hand-held mobile communication devices


A system and method for a motorized land vehicle that detects objects obstructing a driver's view of an active road, includes an inertial measurement unit-enabled global position system (GPS/IMU) subsystem for obtaining global position system (GPS) position and heading data of a land vehicle operated by the driver as the vehicle travels along a road, a street map subsystem for obtaining street map data of the GPS position of the vehicle using the GPS position and heading data as the vehicle travels along the road, and a three-dimensional (3D) object detector subsystem for detecting objects ahead of the vehicle and determining a 3D position and 3D size data of each of the detected objects ahead of the vehicle. The street map subsystem merges the street map data, the GPS position and heading data of the vehicle and the 3D position data and 3D size data of the detected objects, to create real-time two-dimensional (2D) top-view map representation of a traffic scene ahead of the vehicle. The street map subsystems finds active roads ahead of the vehicle in the traffic scene, and finds each active road segment of the active roads ahead of the vehicle that is obstructed by one of the detected objects. A driver alert subsystem notifies a driver of the vehicle of each of the active road segments that is obstructed by one of the detected objects.

Often, a driver's view of intersecting roads ahead of the driver's motorized land vehicle may be partially or completely obstructed by various objects, such as other motorized land vehicles, particularly large motorized land vehicles, such as trucks and buses, by vegetation, such as trees and shrubs, walls, fences and/or buildings. Hence the driver may have no clue that another motorized land vehicle may suddenly emerge from the intersecting road, potentially creating a collision.
In addition, there are many driving distractions including for example, cell phones and passengers, which makes the driver more likely to not notice partially obstructed roads.
Accordingly, a system method is needed that detects objects obstructing a driver's view of roads thereby providing an additional level of safety for driving motorized land vehicles and autonomously driven motorized land vehicles.

Detecting objects obstructing a driver's view of a road


A method for switching from playing a first compressed data segment to playing a second compressed recorded data segment, the method including playing an uncompressed copy of a start of the second compressed recorded data segment upon switching from playing the first compressed data segment, decoding the second compressed recorded data segment from a preceding random access point, the preceding random access point preceding, in the second compressed recorded data segment, a point at which playing is to be switched to the second compressed recorded data segment, stopping the decoding of the second compressed recorded data segment when reaching a point beyond a point currently being played in the uncompressed copy, and switching to playing the second compressed recorded data segment when playing the uncompressed copy of a start of the second compressed recorded data segment reaches the point at which the decoding of the second compressed recorded data segment was stopped. Related apparatus and methods are also provided.

Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), also known as Personal Video Recorders (PVRs), record streamed compressed digital television broadcasts onto a storage medium, and allow a later playback of such broadcasts. Recordings are decompressed during playback using a decoder which is typically implemented in hardware and is comprised in a Set-Top Box (STB) that comprises a DVR or is associated with a DVR. One example of such a DVR is an XTV™ system, commercially available from NDS Limited, One London Road, Staines, Middlesex, TW18 4EX, United Kingdom.
Common video compression methods include MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (MPEG—Moving Picture Experts Group). Such compression methods typically compress video by broadcasting differences between frames of video. A decoder cannot typically immediately start decoding a recording at any arbitrary location; rather the decoding can be started only from specific random access points in a broadcast video stream or, in a case where a DVR is used, from random access points in a video file stored in the DVR. If playing from a specific video frame in a video recording is desired, decoding is performed from a preceding random access point. The decoding can generally run faster than normal speed.
Present generation DVRs typically have only one decoder. Thus, when an STB which includes a DVR or is associated a DVR plays one compressed video segment immediately after another, switching from playing a compressed live video broadcast to playing a compressed recorded video segment, or switching from playing a compressed recorded video segment to playing a compressed live broadcast is not "seamless"; that is, there is a delay between playing the compressed live broadcast and playing the compressed recorded video segment, or between playing the compressed recorded video segment and playing the compressed live broadcast. Such a delay also occurs when switching from playing a first compressed recorded video segment to playing a second compressed recorded video segment.


A traffic and parking management system is in signal communication with vehicles to direct them to park in specific locations that are under the systems authority. The system tracks and determines the availability of parking spaces via a digital camera network, and then allocates spaces based on need, predicted availability, and predicted arrival time at a preferred destination or vicinity. The vehicles are directed to the space so allocated, and in the case of a pay for parking system, billed by the system. The traffic and parking management system operates in conjunction with a smart traffic control device which transmits information to approaching vehicles regarding its current and future state enabling vehicles to control their speed to avoid arriving at the traffic control device until it permits the passage of traffic, thus avoiding stopping, idling and reaccelerating when reaching the traffic control device.

A great deal of city and urban traffic is created by vehicles searching for parking spaces. This results in traffic congestion, lost time and productivity, as well as more air pollution. Further, in many urban areas, private parking spaces are frequently empty but not available to the public, because the usage of such spaces by the owner is not known in advance or is unpredictable and there is not an easy communication mechanism between the public and the owner. Moreover, with respect to traffic flow, while traffic lights work effectively to allow for the safe passage of vehicles through intersections, they have limited capabilities to manage traffic flow in their current configuration. Some traffic lights operate in response to detecting the relative traffic volume in the cross streets they regulate, providing a greater interval of time for vehicles to pass in proportion to the higher traffic load in one direction, with a shorter travel interval to the opposing traffic. However, even when traffic lights are optimally efficient to manage a difference in traffic flow on second by second needs basis, vehicles are necessarily stopped in lines at the traffic light for some period of time, creating traffic congestion. Moreover, increasing population density has generated growing traffic congestion problems that increase air pollution and fuel.
Turning to freeways, typical freeway traffic consists of vehicles traveling at self-managed speeds. When freeway traffic increases, vehicles tend to bunch up in continuous and relatively regular spacing and the rate of speed decreases. In these cases, driver error or lag from driver reaction time is compounded as each vehicle that, in the system described herein, this traffic flow method can alleviate traffic congestion and improve overall traffic flow. The idea of controlling traffic on expressways by timing lights is well known in the art. Simple traffic light coordination schemes that have previously been implemented do not have the ability to actively manage the speed and routing of traffic to eliminate the waste of stopped vehicles and ensure peak flow rates. Accordingly, the inability to better coordinate individual vehicle speeds on roads with intersections is a major cause of traffic congestion, air pollution, and fuel inefficiency.
As can be seen from the foregoing, there is a need for improved methods and systems for managing vehicles to reduce traffic congestion and improve the efficiency by which vehicle movement is managed and controlled and furthermore to improve the manner in which parking spaces are dynamically identified and allocated for vehicles.

Method and system for traffic and parking management


Methods and systems for opportunistic load balancing in deep neural networks (DNNs) using metadata. Representative computational costs are captured, obtained or determined for a given architectural, functional or computational aspect of a DNN system. The representative computational costs are implemented as metadata for the given architectural, functional or computational aspect of the DNN system. In an implementation, the computed computational cost is implemented as the metadata. A scheduler detects whether there are neurons in subsequent layers that are ready to execute. The scheduler uses the metadata and neuron availability to schedule and load balance across compute resources and available resources.

Deep neural networks (DNNs) are used for many artificial intelligence and machine learning applications. These DNNs nominally include multiple hidden layers between an input layer and an output layer. Recently, DNNs have started to use an increasing number of layers which provide increased capacity and accuracy for various prediction problems in image, video, and speech recognition processing and analysis. However, deeper DNNs also result in increasingly greater performance challenges.
For example, DNNs are extremely computationally expensive. It is not uncommon for the training task for a neural network to require days, weeks or even months to be performed. These DNNs are massively parallel and require large throughput devices to be effectively resolved. However, most DNNs at present are serialized between layers. Many DNNs have over 100 such layers, making this a significant limitation to increased parallelism.
One common technique termed "layer-fusion" permits exposing more than one layer to simultaneous computation, but this requires explicit programming to enable. Programmers expose a compiler to the entire computation across the layers. However, layer-fusion is not rigorous but opportunistic, and no compiler presently has the capability to identify that subsequent layers may have sufficient computational demands to warrant beginning to compute them earlier. Furthermore, this approach is difficult. The programmer must expose the compiler to the entire computation across layers. This is considered extremely challenging to program and is not intuitive (i.e., the abstract concept of layers can be lost in the process). Outside of specialized implementations of layer fusion in highly optimized libraries, the layers are implicitly serialized.
Even if optimized, this network would not be transferable to many other networks with substantially different connectivity, network architectures, different hardware capabilities, etc. Furthermore, the process of optimization is error-prone, time-intensive, and expensive to implement. Additionally, even when several layers are fused, it does not expose the entire computational graph, just the fused layers. Finally, dynamic edits to the neural network during runtime, such as pruning, cannot be leveraged by this approach. This is important because pruning alters the computational intensity of pruned layers.

Method and system for opportunistic load balancing in neural networks using metadata


A business card dispenser comprising a main casing and a sliding tray installed in the main casing in a slidable fashion with a business card(s) placed thereon. The sliding tray is pushed by hand in one direction, thus bending the business card(s) to form an arc so that one business card can be removed, and then the sliding tray is moved back in another (opposite) direction to its original position by an elastic force which is produced by the straightening business card, thus dispensing one card at a time quickly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a card dispenser and more particularly to a portable business card dispensing device.
2. Prior Art
Every businessperson and professional uses business cards so as to identify themselves and their company; and it is truly common for individuals to exchange business cards when they first meet each other. Business cards are significantly important to develop and expand business.
There are various types of containers that store therein business cards. Typically, the business card containers come in two different types: one type being placed on a desk top and another type being carried. A carrying type or portable business card container is widely used today since individuals usually carry a supply of cards whenever businesspeople meet for the purpose of not only business but also private acquaintances.
A typical potable or carrying type conventional container is a wallet type which is made of vinyl or leather. However, since the material of this type of container is soft and easily bent, the business cards can be easily wrinkled. In this regards, a hard-shell type business card container is preferred for businesspeople. The hard-shell type container can be put in the inside pockets of their jackets or in their purses without causing the business cards to winkle. In addition, the hard-shell type business card containers are suitable when they are put in the inner pockets of a briefcase.
There are several different types of hard-shell business card containers as disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. Nos:
1,631,334 1,955,633 4,790,435 PA1 4,792,058 5,060,794 5,452,793
However, the business card containers disclosed in these prior art patents have advantages and disadvantages in structure, not exactly meeting the demand of actual use or being suitable for carrying around.


In accordance with one aspect of the present exemplary embodiment, provided is a hand-held printer system and method for printing on a target. The system includes a hand-held printer, a target position sensing system which senses a position of the target, and a hand-held printer position sensing system which senses a position of the hand-held printer relative to a printing surface of the target. A control mechanism actuates the printing of the hand-held printer based on the sensed positions.

The present exemplary embodiment is directed to printing, and more particularly to printing with hand-held wand printers.
For printing a stored image on a target medium such as paper, a desktop printer or portable printer has typically been employed. In such devices, the medium is fed past an ink-jet head, laser or other printing mechanism within the device so that image data is reproduced on the target. Thus, even though printers may be portable, such devices are not suitable for printing on surfaces that cannot be fed through the device. To address this issue, printers commonly referred to as hand-held or hand-propelled wand printers have been investigated. These printers are capable of printing on targets, such as "found paper", which is understood to mean the printer will print on paper which is not within the printer itself, such as paper in a binder, on envelopes, scraps of paper, etc.
One such hand-held printer is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,872 to Yamada. This printer has optical sensors for tracking positions of the hand-held printer relative to the surface of a print medium during a printing process. The change in position of the hand-held printer during the printing process is monitored in real time using navigation information generated by the optical sensors. Images of the surface of the print medium are captured at fixed time intervals. The optical sensors may detect printed features or slight pattern variations on the print medium, such as papers fibers or illumination patterns from reflective features and shadowed areas between raised features. Such features are used as references for determining the movement of the hand-held printer.
Another example of a hand-held wand printing device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,517,266 to Saund. This hand-held printer system is designed for printing a stored image onto a surface. In particular, various embodiments are adapted for hand-held printing onto the surface of a whiteboard. The system includes a marking mechanism having at least one printhead. A global position sensing system senses a position of the at least one printhead, and a control mechanism actuates the at least one printhead based on the sensed position. In other embodiments, the system includes a local position sensing system that senses a position of the at least one printhead relative to a drawing surface.
Yet another hand-held printer is described in Published U.S. patent application No. 2003/0051615 to Denoue et al. This application sets forth a method and system for position-aware freeform printing in which a source image space in a source medium and a target image space in a target medium are specified. A selected image in the source image space is copied and/or optionally processed and transferred to the target image space. A controller captures the selected source image and stores the image in a memory. The image is optionally processed, and the processed and optionally formatted image is output. The controller may format the processed image to fit into the target image space by controlling the rendering of the processed image onto the target medium as the printing device is moved over the target image space in a freeform direction. The controller predicts the freeform direction that the print head will travel by detecting the motion previously traveled and adjusting the image to compensate for the predicted freeform direction.
Two U.S. patents, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,593,236 and 5,988,900 to Bobry, disclose a hand-held and self-contained electronic printing apparatus for printing indicia on a medium disposed outside the apparatus, including a housing that can be manually positioned adjacent a surface of the medium and manually swept across a printing area on the medium during a printing sequence. A printer is disposed in the housing and has a printhead with a plurality of print elements such as ink jet nozzles for printing indicia in a selectable pattern of dots on the medium within the printing area. An electronic control circuit is disposed in the housing for controlling the printer to print indicia on the medium during a printing sequence, the control circuit having compensation for reducing image distortion based on detecting position of the nozzles during a printing sequence.
The above-noted material describes various beneficial aspects of hand-held printing. However, these systems produce an image whose orientation is determined by the initial orientation of the printer when the print swipe commences. Many uses of hand held printers involve casual printing of relatively compact regions. For example, printing a reminder note onto a notepad. For such uses, accurate alignment of the printed material with the target page is not also a priority, although at times such alignment may be desired. At other times, a user may wish to print long stretches of text, maps, or graphic art and in these cases aligned with the page is particularly appropriate.
The known art does not take into account situations where the target (e.g., page onto which the image or data is to be printed is skewed or otherwise aligned in a position other than anticipated.
For example, while Yamada '872 and Bobry '236 and '900 disclose adjusting output for movement of the printer in a curved path as opposed to a straight line, these and the other known systems do not discuss situations where the target onto which the material is to be printed is itself misaligned.


Methods have been developed for alleviating memory problems or psychiatric dysfunctions that have a memory formation component. These methods are based on the finding that a truncated form of an aPKCζ protein is intimately involved in memory formation in animals. This finding is also central to methods for determining drugs that will have an effect on memory formation or the memory formation component of psychiatric dysfunctions.

Mental illnesses are significant for their debilitating effect on the individuals who suffer their manifestations. The rest of society is significantly affected since they must provide care for the individuals who are afflicted with these diseases. Mental impairments that result from such events as strokes are also significant for their adverse consequences for the individuals who suffer their debilitating effects. Memory deficits in individuals have major consequences for them and for others with whom they interact. Although much effort has been expended in an attempt to overcome these maladies, there remain large deficiencies in the ability to understand and effectively treat them. Further treatment modalities are constantly being sought. In particular, the biochemical bases for these diseases or states remains largely unknown and knowledge of these bases will foster further drug discoveries.
All of these diseases or states have a significant memory component. This is particularly true, obviously, when memory loss or abnormally poor memory is the prime or only symptom. Knowing biochemical molecules that centrally participate in memory will lead to methods and compositions that lessen memory abnormalities and will alleviate mental diseases or psychiatric dysfunctions by addressing the memory component of these diseases or dysfunctions.

Alleviation of the memory deficits and memory components of psychiatric dysfunctions by altering atypical PKM activity

The Research Foundation of State University of New York


Embodiments of deposition rings for use in a process chamber are provided herein. In some embodiments, a deposition ring includes: an annular body; an inner wall extending upward from an inner portion of the annular body; and an outer wall extending upward form an outer portion of the annular body to define a large deposition cavity between the inner wall and the outer wall, wherein a width of the large deposition cavity is about 0.35 inches to about 0.60 inches, wherein the outer wall includes an outer ledge and an inner ledge raised with respect to the outer ledge.

Deposition rings may be used in physical vapor deposition (PVD) chambers to protect chamber components, such as a substrate support, from unwanted deposition. Over time, the deposition ring accumulates deposited material from the deposition processes performed in the PVD chamber. For high deposition processes, deposition accumulation on the deposition ring builds up significantly to the point where the deposition can build up to the back of the substrate. At that point, the deposition can adhere or stick to the back of the substrate, which can cause substrate handling issues and lead to broken substrates. Although the deposition ring can be removed and replaced with a clean deposition ring, rapid accumulation of material deposited on the deposition ring leads to more frequent downtime to replace the deposition ring.
Accordingly, the inventors have provided embodiments of improved deposition rings as disclosed herein.

Low profile deposition ring for enhanced life


A hand press type rapid positioning first-aid device with cardiopulmonary resuscitation comprises a press device, an air storage device, a control device, a binding device and a sucking disc. The binding device allows the first-aid device being secured to the chest of the patient rapidly and conveniently. An operation process of continuously pressing the pressed part of the patient five times and blowing air one time after the mouth and nose breather masking the mouth and nose of the patient makes the first-aid cardiopulmonary resuscitation more successful and easily to enhance the function of first-aid. The disposal part, which contacts with the patient, in the mouth and nose breather can prevent from possible bacteria infection between patients.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a first-aid cardiopulmonary resuscitation and particularly to a hand press type first-aid device with cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
2. Brief Description of Related Art
U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,185, which has been granted to the present inventor, discloses a manual pressing and automatic air breathing cardiopulmonary resuscitation first-aid device as shown in FIG. 1 comprises a manual pressing shaft 1′, a pump 2′, an air storage tank under the pump 2′, a frame 4′, a height-adjustable stand 5′, an air control valve 6′, a sucking disk 7′, a mouth-nose breather 8′ and an air passage pipe 9′.
Referring to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4 in company with FIG. 1, the mouth-nose breather 8′ is used to be attached to the mouth and nose of a patient and is composed of a hose 81, a coupling sleeve 82, an air-turning baffler 83, a sleeve 84, a two-way valve 85, a nostril breather 86, a nostril three-way pipe 87, a hollow mask 88, a mouth holder 881 and a Hook and loop belt 89. An end of an air duct 9′ connects with the air control valve 6′ and the air-turning baffle 83 is connected to another end of the air duct 9′. The two-way valve 85 has a shape of post, which is made of elastic material and received in the air-turning baffler 83, has a conical shape. The nostril breather 86 has a central air guide pipe and a plurality of apertures at the periphery thereof with a side thereof facing the air-turning baffle 83. The nostril three-way pipe 87 provides two holes at an end thereof to communicate with the nose of the patient and has a single hole at another end thereof for communicating with the air guide pipe of the nostril breather 86. The sleeve 84 connects with the air-turning baffler 83 at an end thereof and connects with the mouth holder 881. Another end of the mouth holder 881 is placed at the inner side of the mouth. An end of the hose 81 is inserted into the mouth and joined to the mouth holder 881 and another end of the hose 81 is connected to the air turning baffler 83. The hollow mask 88 provides a shape accommodating with the mouth for preventing the mouth holder 881 or the hose from being inserted too deep into the mouth.
The preceding cardiopulmonary resuscitation first-aid device can blow air one time after pressing patient five times to urge the patient reviving as soon as possible. The mouth and nose of the helper do not have to touch the patient to avoid being infected.
Referring to FIG. 5, U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,843, which is owned by the inventor too, discloses an electrical and manual pressing device of automated air blowing for first-aid cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The Electrical and manual pressing device of automated air blowing for first-aid cardiopulmonary resuscitation comprises a press unit 91, a storage unit 92, a control unit 93, a tying unit 94, a stucking disk 95 and a stethoscope 96. U.S. Pat. No. 6,397,843 provides functions such as the air being able to be filled by way of electrical actuation or manual pressing, offering a great deal of air, maintaining a constant pressing force against the heart, quickly fixing the sucking disk at a proper pressing position based on the size of the patient' body, quickly checking a breathing reaction of the patient by way of the air level, checking the heart beat by way of the stethoscope, mixing the oxygen with the air through the air mixing chamber in the air control valve, supplementing the oxygen or the fresh air after the heat beat restoring by way of the pumping ball, and etc.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hand press type rapid positioning first-aid device with cardiopulmonary resuscitation


A twin-shaft pump comprising: a pumping chamber; two rotatable shafts each mounted on bearings is disclosed. Each of the two rotatable shafts comprises at least one rotor element, the rotor elements being within the pumping chamber and the two rotatable shafts extending beyond the pumping chamber to a support member. The support member comprises mounting means for mounting the bearings at a predetermined distance from each other, the predetermined distance defining a distance between the two shafts. A thermal break between the pumping chamber and the support member is provided for impeding thermal conductivity between the pumping chamber and the support member, such that the pumping chamber and support member can be maintained at different temperatures. The support member and the rotor elements are formed of different materials, a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material forming the support member being higher than a coefficient of thermal expansion of a material forming the rotor elements.

The internal surfaces of some pumps may need to be maintained at a high temperature to avoid condensation of process pre-cursors or by-products. Surface temperatures in excess of 220° C. are often desirable. However, other components of pumps may not operate well at such high temperatures.
Bearings' materials for example, can be specially treated to withstand temperatures up to approximately 170° C. without impairing their reliability. The special heat treatment has a cost, and, if the bearing temperature could be reduced to below about 120° C., such treatments would not be required.
It is therefore desirable to isolate the bearings from the high internal temperatures of the pump in order to preserve their reliability. However, with a twin-shaft pump when the pump operates at high temperature, the rotors increase in diameter; if the shafts are mounted on a support member that is maintained at a similar temperature to the rotors then generally the shafts will move apart by the same amount as the rotors expand. If, however, the support member which holds the bearings is maintained at a lower temperature then the axes may move apart by an amount that is less than the growth in the rotor diameter, this will lead either to the rotors touching at high temperatures, or if this is to be avoided, to clearances in the cold condition being increased in order to accommodate the difference. Increased clearances are detrimental to performance and inhibit the pump operating effectively.
It would be desirable to provide a twin-shaft pump where the bearings could be maintained at a lower temperature than the pumping chamber.


A multi-CPU system including plural CPUs, comprising a failure state detection unit for detecting a failure in an operating program, and a recovery unit for determining, when the failure state detection unit has detected a failure, whether or not recovery of data involved in the failure is possible on the basis of content of the detected failure, and for recovering the data when recovery is determined to be possible.

As computer systems have become faster in processing speed, improvement in the reliability of such systems has become an issue.
This means that a technique is needed that can make systems operate stably without shutting them down even when a failure has occurred.
Multi-CPU systems, which are equipped with plural CPUs, can operate stably.
The techniques described below are proposed as techniques for the detection of failures in multi-CPU systems.
Patent Document 1 discloses a technique by which operations are monitored in units of processors. In the technique of Patent Document 1, data is transmitted between processors that are connected via a communications device, and one processor monitors responses from the other processors in order to detect failures.
Patent Document 2 discloses a technique by which an abnormal operation in a system is monitored in units of instructions so that the system can recover from the failure. Patent Document 2 discloses a method in which the occurrence of a failure in a processor is monitored by the processor itself and the processor performs a resetting operation using an automatic reset occurrence circuit and a failure element holding circuit when the system can recover by resetting.
The methods disclosed by the above described patent documents have the problems described below.
In the method of Patent Document 1, processors are monitored by communications between processors themselves. This configuration causes a time gap of several minutes between the occurrence of a failure and the recognition of the failure.
In the method of Patent Document 1, information used for investigating the cause is collected after the recognition of a failure, and this means that the information collected for the investigation is not exactly from the moment at which the failure occurred. This makes it difficult to use the information for investigating the cause, and thereby the investigation tends to take a long time period or sometimes the investigation itself is prevented.
The time scale of monitoring a system (in units of minutes or seconds) and the time scale of a CPU (in units of nanoseconds) are significantly different from each other, resulting in difficulty in understanding the status of the system when a failure occurred, and thereby a long time is required to investigate the cause.
Although there is a technique of collecting information on changes in the status of a CPU in the form of log information, effective information sometimes cannot be collected using this technique because of the limitation on the volume of log information.
According to the technique of Patent Document 2, the monitoring and recovering is performed in units of instructions, and the system is reset in order to restart when the restarting of the firmware can make the system recover from a state involving failure.
In the technique of Patent Document 2, the monitoring and recovering is performed in units of instructions, making it difficult to detect a failure in a program or the like in an OS (Operating System).

Multi-CPU failure detection/recovery system and method for the same


A proportional plus integral controller operates an actuator in an HVAC system. The controller includes a setpoint circuit for providing a setpoint signal representative of a desired room temperature, a sensor circuit for providing a sensor signal representative of the actual room temperature, an error generator for generating an error signal proportional to the difference between the setpoint signal and the sensor signal, and an integrator for generating a control signal related to the time integral of the error signal. The setpoint and sensor signals are derived from a common voltage reference, so that accuracy of the controller is substantially independent of fluctuations of that reference. The integrator includes a capacitance multiplier that provides highly accurate integration of the error signal and a switch for selecting either proportional plus integral or proportional only control. The controller includes an integration disable circuit that removes the integral term from the control signal when the proportional component becomes large enough to fully drive the actuator. The controller also includes a mode selector to configure the controller to operate in either a heating or cooling mode.

Closed loop electronic control systems of the type contemplated herein are commonly used to control the temperature of a fluid or gas for any of a variety of purposes. For example, HVAC systems are used to control the temperature of air inside buildings and other enclosures designed for human occupancy. Refrigeration systems are typically used to store food, chemicals and other materials.
Many applications of temperature control systems require highly precise control of fluid or gas temperature. Because humans can sense changes in temperature of as little as 2.degree. F., HVAC systems must be able to precisely control the temperature of large volumes of air to maximize human comfort. To this end, various types of control systems have been employed in an attempt to provide well regulated control of temperature.
One type of closed loop control that has been used is a proportional controller. In general terms, proportional controllers operate to control a process variable on the basis of the difference between the measured or sensed value of that variable and a desired value of that variable. This difference typically takes the form of an error signal that is generated by subtracting the sensed value of the variable from the desired value (setpoint). This error signal is then used to operate an actuator or other controlled device that moves the process variable toward the setpoint. The sensitivity of these controllers to the error signal can be set as required by choosing an appropriate level of amplification of the error signal. Thus, the system can be made highly sensitive by a large amplification of the error signal. In many applications, this may provide suitable, accurate control of a process variable. However, increasing the sensitivity of a proportional controller will in most applications increase the instability of the system. Overshoots of the setpoint and oscillations can occur at frequencies related to the time constants of the variable as well as those of the control system. This can effectively limit the accuracy of a proportional controller.
Another disadvantage that is inherent in proportional control is that an error must exist between the sensed value and setpoint in order to produce a control output other than a predetermined initially set or calibrated value. Because the control variable or load in most systems require a continuous, but variable input to maintain the load at the setpoint, the system will inherently contain a certain amount of error between the sensed value and setpoint, colloquially known as "droop". This error may also appear as minor oscillations of the value of the controlled variable about the setpoint. However, in systems such as HVAC systems, such minor variations may be substantial enough that they can be felt by humans.
Controllers incorporating integral action are used to eliminate droop and to increase the sensitivity of the controller without decreasing system stability. These controllers are commonly referred to as proportional plus integral (PI) controllers. PI controllers eliminate droop because even small variations of the sensed value from the setpoint are integrated, thereby resulting in an increasing control signal which will bring the process variable back to the setpoint. An example of such a PI controller is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,946,297, issued Mar. 23, 1976, to J. H. Bechtel.
There are, however, several aspects of PI control that reduce accuracy and stability. The first, known as windup, occurs when the device that controls the system variable is driven to its maximum position or output in an effort to bring the system variable to its setpoint. If the system variable does not return toward setpoint (i.e., the load is greater than the control capability of the controlled device), the PI controller will continue to integrate the error signal and will thus, "windup". The controlled device will remain at maximum output until the system variable has crossed the setpoint and enough inverse error has been integrated to remove the integral windup. This effectively decreases the accuracy and stability of the system by causing large overshoots of the setpoint.
It is therefore desirable to eliminate windup in PI control systems. One such means for eliminating windup is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,017, issued Feb. 10, 1976 to T. E. Hayes. In that patent, proportional plus integral control is provided by independently generating the proportional and integral terms of the control signal, which are then summed together. The integral term is generated by an integrator circuit that includes a programmable operational amplifier. This programmable op-amp is a special type of op-amp in that it includes a control input for selectively disabling its operation. Windup is avoided by disabling the op-amp when it becomes saturated. Once the op-amp is disabled, the integral term is forced to zero and the control signal therefore provides only proportional control. The provision of separate channels for generating the proportional and integral terms of the control signal increases the size and complexity of the controller.
A second source of inaccuracy in PI controllers is the capacitive element (typically a capacitor) used to store the integrated value of the error signal. For HVAC and many other systems, integrating time constants on the order of minutes and parts of an hour are required to match the long time constants of air temperature changes. Otherwise, the controller will continuously over- and under-shoot the setpoint temperature. The time constant of the integrator portion of a PI controller is determined by the resistance and capacitance used in the feedback loop. That is, .tau.=RC. However, capacitors (including tantalum or aluminum electrolytics) having a capacitance over approximately 47 .mu.F allow a relatively large amount of current to flow through the capacitor. Such a current is known as leakage current and is substantial enough to undesirably effect integrator accuracy. The effect of leakage current can be modeled as a resistance connected across the capacitor which creates a voltage divider with the resistor used to determine the time constant (.tau.=RC). As a result, the feedback into the input of the integrating amplifier may be erroneously low and a correspondingly low integral will result. Thus, a capacitor having a high leakage current will reduce the ability of the system to accurately achieve the setpoint value of the system variable.
A solution to leakage current that is sometimes available is to chose a large value of resistance (R) and a small value of capacitance (C) for the time constant equation, since leakage current has a direct relationship to capacitance value. However, this solution is unavailable for very large time constants such as those required in HVAC controllers because it would require resistance values upwards of tens and hundreds of megohms. Such resistances may be greater than the resistance between traces on a printed circuit board or, because of moisture condensing from surrounding air, between individual components. Thus, there is a need for providing a large integration time constant using a resistance no more than approximately one megohm and a capacitor having a small leakage current.
Proportional and PI controllers typically require both positive and negative direct current power supply voltages. For controllers operable from alternating current supplies, such as the 24 volt alternating current standard in HVAC systems, this requires separate generation of both positive and negative voltages, which increases the size and complexity of controller designs. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a PI controller operable from a single supply (e.g., from positive voltages only).

Anti-windup proportional plus integral controller


An operating method for a working area comprising an anthropomorphous robot enslaved to a bending press for working a metal sheet comprises a) detecting fixed input data formed by geometric positions in space of the robot, of the press and at least of one feeding unit, b) the definition of variable input data formed by thickness of the metal sheet, height, angle and direction of each bend, length and orientation of each bend, position of a bending tool, c) processing the above-mentioned data in a processing unit by an algorithm based on the solutions of the inverse kinematics in order to automatically generate cycles of feeding, bending and unloading of said metal sheet and d) the transfer of the cycles to a control unit of the robot so as to drive the bending press to start a complete productive working cycle of a finished metal sheet starting from the metal sheet to be bent.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an operating method for a working area comprising a robot enslaved to a bending press for working metal sheets.
2. Related Art and Other Considerations
It is known that the process of cold-bending thin metal sheets has been performed for years with vertical hydraulic bending presses enslaved to manual operators or with completely automatic programmable bending presses. Recent advances in the field of electronic controls have led to the introduction in the sector of working thin metal sheet of bending presses enslaved to anthropomorphous robots provided with an arm having a plurality (five or more) of rotational joints, one or more sliding joints, and a grasping member (hand).
Anthropomorphous robots are programmed with specific instructions that allow the hand to be led through programmable points of space with attributes of speed, acceleration and methods of interpolation that can be defined by the programmer/user. Such instructions for part of specific programming languages that also contemplate the definition of variables, of vectors, of control structures of the type "if . . . then" and of functions. The variables can also be associated with electrical input/output signals to obtain functions of programmable logic.
One of the more complex operations of these robots is their initialization by means of the definition of variables of position that allow the description of the trajectory in space of the arm and of the grasping member to be made. Generally, the initialization of the anthropomorphous robots is executed with a method of execution called "self-learning".
Self-learning allows the initialization of the variables of position, defined in the program of the robot's working cycle, by means of the storage of encoder data, associated with the arm and with the hand under the control of an operator, that leads the robot to the selected point. Generally, robot manufacturers provide a programming language for the sequence of actions to be carried out and a self-learning method for the initialization of the data that can be used for very generic applications. The adaptation of the sequences and of the data to a specific work have the disadvantage that, in the case of a work of bending metal sheets, they require times ranging from four hours to eight hours or more. This time of adaptation is certainly negligible in the case of large production lots but it does translate into a highly onerous "down time" in the case of hydraulic bending presses for thin metal sheets used, as is often the case, for the production of small lots.
Moreover, the self-learning step also requires specific competences on the part of the operator, but this type of operator is frequently missing in the firms that produce small lots or, in any case, his possible presence involves a further increase in costs.
Another drawback is in the fact that the self-learning step has to take place within the field of action of the robot. In fact, in order to initialise the robot, an operator has at his disposal a portable keyboard (teach pendant or control by wire). But, in order to drive the robot to the operating positions with adequate accuracy and to check that it does actually take up the pre-established final positions with respect to the press, the operator is generally obliged to inspect at very close range the positions actually assumed by the robot and this takes him inside the field of action of all the components in motion of a working area and, thus, in conditions of serious danger.
Moreover, the self-learning is often not sufficient to program the working cycle suitable for producing a new bent metal sheet and it has to be integrated with changes in the previously programmed operative sequences.
Generally, since staff have a limited competence, they modify the robot's operative sequences in a somewhat inefficient manner due to their limited familiarity with the subject.
An object of the present invention is an operating method for a working area comprising a robot enslaved to a bending press that allows the above-mentioned disadvantages to be overcome, totally eliminating the steps of self-learning and of modifying the robot's operative sequences whenever it is necessary to produce a new finished bent metal sheet.

Operating method for a working area comprising a robot enslaved to a bending press for working metal sheets


A speech recognition system adaptively estimates a warping factor used to reduce speaker variability. The warping factor is estimated using a small window (e.g. 100 ms) of speech. The warping factor is adaptively adjusted as more speech is obtained until the warping factor converges or a pre-defined maximum number of adaptation is reached. The speaker may be placed into a group selected from two or more groups based on characteristics that are associated with the speaker's window of speech. Different step sizes may be used within the different groups when estimating the warping factor. VTLN is applied to the speech input using the estimated warping factor. A linear transformation, including a bias term, may also be computed to assist in normalizing the speech along with the application of the VTLN.

Speaker variability often affects the performance of a speech recognition system. For example, the performance of a speech recognition system developed using adult speech may degrade when testing on child speech. One major source of speaker variability is the vocal tract length of the speaker. The vocal tract length changes between different people (e.g. male, female, children) causing a change in the formant frequencies of the speech spectrum (e.g. higher for females and lower for males). Vocal Tract Length Normalization (VTLN) is a technique used to reduce the effects of speaker's vocal tract variability through frequency warping. Using VTLN algorithms in a real-world application (e.g., XBOX KINECT) with low or zero latency, however, can be challenging.

Adaptive online feature normalization for speech recognition