An apparatus is provided for setting a print condition according to a TPH (thermal printhead) of a thermal image forming apparatus that includes a TPH ID (identifier) identification portion identifying TPH vendor information by decoding an ID of the TPH. A print condition storing portion stores a predetermined print condition corresponding to a TPH vendor. A print condition setting portion sets the print condition corresponding to a TPH vendor as a print condition corresponding to the identified TPH vendor information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a thermal image forming apparatus using a thermal printhead (TPH). More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for setting a print condition according to a TPH of the thermal image forming apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a thermal image forming apparatus prints text or images using heat. The thermal image forming apparatus includes a method of using media capable of presenting a predetermined color in reaction to heat and a method of using an ink ribbon that transfers a predetermined color to a sheet of paper in reaction to heat. The thermal image forming apparatus is advantageous in that mechanical sound generated during printing is very small and a structure thereof is simple so that it can be made to be small in size. The method of using the ink ribbon requires an additional driving apparatus to drive the ink ribbon and the ink ribbon needs to be continuously replaced so that print costs per page is high. Alternatively, a method of using the media which does not need the ink ribbon uses thermal paper. Thus, since a predetermined color appears when heat is applied to the thermal paper, the print costs are relatively lower than the method of using the ink ribbon.
The TPH for printing text or images is a core part of the thermal image forming apparatus. The TPH is manufactured by depositing a plurality of electric heating bodies on a ceramic insulation body in a predetermined form of points. When current is applied to a wire connecting the points, the electric heating bodies generate heat so that the text or image can be printed on a thermal paper located close to the TPH.
However, the TPH used for the thermal image forming apparatus has different print conditions between various vendors, such as, for example, gamma, sensitivity, and other parameters, such as ampli, ki, alpha, and so forth. Thus, to set an optimal print condition, it is needed to appropriately set a print condition according to a particular TPH vendor. To this end, a user inconveniently needs to set the print condition according to the TPH vendor.
Accordingly, a need exists for a thermal image forming apparatus having an improved thermal printhead that automatically sets print conditions for each particular vendor.

Apparatus and method for setting print condition according to thermal printhead


A system according to an embodiment may include: a generation unit that acquires axis information in a coordinate system drawing execution status of a program, and generates an axis object representing the coordinate system based on the axis information; a display event information generation unit that acquires event information related to each of the two or more events and program structure information related to a section of the program generating the two or more events, and generates display event information related to one or more display events representing the two or more events; and an object generation unit that acquires the display event information and display event unit information indicating a display unit of the display event, and generates one or more event objects based on the display event information and the display event unit information.

Conventionally, there has been a technique related to program information display for supporting program analysis by a user by which to display thread objects indicative of a thread and events in a program executed according to an execution trace of the program, in a coordinate system with a time axis and the thread as axis elements. According to this technique, with a region for displaying activities of the program in all execution status and a region for displaying detailed execution status within a specific range by the use of the thread axis and the time axis, the user is provided with the function of specifying the specific range from the region for displaying all the execution status to display interactively detailed information at specific points from all the execution status of the program.
On development of a program by a program developer, in the case of displaying the execution status of the program for confirmation of operations, performance optimization, and the like, a conventional program information display device would display the execution status of the program thereon, and thus the display region is limited to the size of the display device. Accordingly, when a large number of events needs to be displayed in a region for displaying the detailed execution status of the program, it may be difficult for the program developer to comprehend the detailed execution status of the program in such cases where information on all the events cannot be displayed due to the limited display size of the display device, or the information on all the events can be displayed but objects indicative of the events are represented in an extremely small size or cannot be represented due to the limited drawing performance of the display device, for example.

Program information generation system, method for program information generation, program for program information generation, and program information display system for displaying the execution status of a program


A display panel and a method for manufacturing the display panel are provided. The method includes providing a first substrate, forming a buffer layer including at least one first buffer layer on a first side of the first substrate; forming a LED structure including a first LED structure on a side of the buffer layer facing away from the first substrate, forming a planarization layer covering the LED structure on a side of the LED structure facing away from the buffer layer, forming an electrode structure connected to the LED units on a side of the planarization layer facing away from the LED structure, and forming a control circuit on a side of the electrode structure facing away from the LED structure, where the control circuit is electrically connected to the electrode structure and configured to control operation states of the LED units.

A Light Emitting Diode (LED) has advantages of self-luminescent, small size, light weight, high brightness, long service life, low power consumption, short response time and strong controllability. A Micro-Light Emitting Diode (Micro-LED) has a LED structure designed with being thinned, miniaturized and arrayed, and a size of the Micro-LED is only from 1 um to 100 um. The Micro LED gradually becomes a mainstream development trend of display panels due to its advantages of higher brightness, better light emitting efficiency and lower power consumption than a conventional Organic Light-Emitting Diode (OLED).
During a manufacturing process of a Micro LED display panel in the conventional art, an array substrate and a Micro LED structure are usually manufactured separately, and the Micro LED structure is transported to the array substrate, thereby greatly increasing the complexity of the manufacturing process of the Micro LED display panel.

Display panel and method for manufacturing display panel

SHANGHAI TIANMA MICRO-ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.


A hydrogen peroxide point of use wetted wiper system includes a packaging with a first, a second, and a third compartment, wherein the separate compartments are mergable. Wipers are disposed in the third compartment. Disposed in the second compartment is dry urea hydrogen peroxide, isolated from the wipers. Disposed in the first compartment is a solvent, wherein the solvent is isolated from the wipers and the urea hydrogen peroxide. The first and second compartments can merge to form a unified compartment such that the solvent is combined with the urea hydrogen peroxide at a point of use to form liquid 6% hydrogen peroxide solution. The unified compartment then merges with the third compartment such that the liquid hydrogen peroxide wets the wipers. The liquid hydrogen peroxide concentration and amount is proportional to the wiper absorptive capacity, number, size, and degree of desired saturation.

The present invention is directed to an apparatus and method for providing wetted wipers. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a hydrogen peroxide point-of-use wetted wiper system.
Many attempts have been made to provide effective ways to clean areas. One of the most easy and prevalent ways to achieve clean areas is by wiping the surfaces of an area with a cleaning solution and a wipe. The term "cleaning agent" is intended to include disinfectants, sanitizers, antimicrobials, virucides, fungicides, and the like and is intended to encompass the active ingredients and not additives such as detergents, surfactants, stabilizing agents and the like.
Cleanliness of certain preparation areas or rooms is becoming a bigger issue for a diverse group of organizations such as pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers, industrial research facilities, patient care facilities, animal research facilities, and electronics laboratories. Clean facilities also help to ensure the integrity of research, development, and manufacture by keeping potential contaminants at bay.
Cleanliness is an issue particularly in the wet environments of microelectronics laboratories. Bacteria, including Pseudomonas putida, can grow and flourish in such environments, leaving tools and work surfaces contaminated and unclean. Microbial infestations such as these can be eliminated using a hydrogen peroxide solution.
Methods of cleaning tools and surface areas include applying hydrogen peroxide to the surface, typically through a spray bottle, then scrubbing the surface with the wipe. Another method is applying the hydrogen peroxide to the wipe and then scrubbing the surface with the wipe. While a solution of six percent (6%) hydrogen peroxide is found to be acceptable in killing bacterial growths, the use of free liquid hydrogen peroxide poses both health and safety issues.
Hydrogen peroxide, as well as other liquid cleaning solutions can be difficult to work with. Most liquid cleaning solutions, especially hydrogen peroxide, lose their cleaning potency over time because the cleaning agents are constantly decomposing. For example, hydrogen peroxide decomposes to water and oxygen over time, such that once prepared, the shelf life is extremely short. Furthermore, typically hydrogen peroxide is in a concentrated form of approximately thirty-one percent (31%) and needs to be diluted to a usable concentration such as six percent (6%) just before use. Improper measuring/proportions of the hydrogen peroxide and the solvent, typically water, however, can cause excessive dilution of the hydrogen peroxide, decreasing the effectiveness of the resulting solution.
Further, when liquid cleaning solutions are used, there is often too little solution used, leaving an unsanitized environment; and, in other cases, there is too much solution used, resulting in solution wastage. Moreover, the dilutions of some cleaning solutions may be too weak to be effective, liquid cleaning solution may be spilled, and juggling two or more containers for measuring and diluting the cleaning solution can all be time-consuming, inconvenient, unsafe, and inefficient.
To alleviate some of these problems, wipes that are pre-wetted with an appropriate amount of cleaning solution and then packaged, have been used. A problem with these wipes, however, is that, in addition to the cleaning solution losing its strength or potency over time if not used soon after packaging, the solution reacts with most common fabrics used for the wipes. The reaction causes degradation of the wiping material and of the cleaning agents within a short period of time.
As provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,062,381 and 6,001,187, Paley and others addressed the wipe degradation issue. These patents disclose a small container storing an appropriate amount of cleaning solution positioned within a larger container enclosing wipes. When the wipes are needed for cleaning purposes, the smaller container is broken, releasing the liquid onto the wipes. Because the cleaning solution and the wipes are isolated, there is reduced, if any, wipe degradation. But the problem still remains where the liquid cleaning solution loses its potency over time.
In addition, particularly with hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide continually deteriorates and produces oxygen gas such that if one attempted to package wipes pre-wetted with hydrogen peroxide solution, the gas would build up within the packaging and rupture the packaging over time. The shelf-life of such a product would be extremely short.
As a result, there still exists a need for a hydrogen peroxide point of use wetted wiper system with a long shelf life and little wiper decomposition. In addition, there is a need for an easy to use wiper system where no measuring of hydrogen peroxide is necessary and where the strength/potency of the cleaning solution is retained.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method of generating a hierarchical layout of cells of a semiconductor integrated circuit includes the steps of arranging an abstract cell in a target cell, setting the positions of second terminals in the abstract cell as compaction constraints on first terminals of the target cell, forming jogged lines, moving the first terminals having the compaction constraints to intersections between the jogged lines and an edge of the abstract cell, and compacting the target cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of generating a layout of a semiconductor integrated circuit by compacting hierarchical cells of the circuit and by connecting terminals of the cells to one another without wiring breaks.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A semiconductor integrated circuit has many terminals that are connected to one another according to routing techniques. Well-known routing techniques are channel routing, maze routing, line search routing, and river routing. These are explained in, for example, "Algorithms for VLSI Physical Design Automation," Naveed A. Sherwani, Kluwer Academic Publishers, 1993.
The channel routing minimizes the width of a channel sandwiched between two cell arrays, to minimize the number of tracks in a horizontal direction. The maze routing divides a chip into a lattice and generates routes on the lattice. The line search routing extends horizontal and vertical segments from start and end points and finds routs according to the segments. The river routing will be explained later.
An example of a technique for compacting a hierarchical layout of a semiconductor integrated circuit is a flat compaction. This technique develops the hierarchy into a flat form and compacts the flat form. The technique has a limit in a processible circuit scale because the processing capacity of an EWS serving as a compactor is limited to about 10,000 transistors. To solve this problem, techniques for compacting a hierarchical structure as it is have been proposed.
Such techniques include a bottom-up method and a pitch matching method. The bottom-up method compacts hierarchical cells of a given circuit from the bottom to the top. This method rewires a higher cell to a lower cell according to one of the routing techniques, in particular, the river routing technique, which wires terminals to one another in a single layer without intersections. The pitch matching method matches the pitches of terminals of cells with each other and connects the cells to each other while compacting them. The pitch matching method needs no rewiring.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6-58469 proposes a compromise of the bottom-up and pitch matching methods. Like the bottom-up method, the disclosure compacts hierarchical cells of a circuit sequentially from the bottom to the top. When compacting a given cell, the disclosure sets compaction constraints to restrict the movements of terminals of the cell connected to a higher cell. This makes the routing of the higher cell to the lower cell easier, like the pitch matching method.
The disclosure needs a router tool or a routing routine to connect terminals of adjacent cells to each other. In addition, the disclosure must manually connect breaks, if any. The disclosure, therefore, is troublesome for the user.
The bottom-up method has the same problem as the above disclosure because it must rewire a higher cell to a lower cell. Since the bottom-up method never adjusts the size of a lower cell, it needs a wiring area to deteriorate compaction effect.
On the other hand, the pitch matching method adjusts the pitches of terminals of hierarchical cells, to cancel the bad effect of a wiring area between cells. The pitches, however, are adjustable only when the cells are regularly arranged. If they are irregular, compaction will be stopped to provide no layout. Accordingly, the pitch matching method has limited applications. In addition, the method needs a long processing time, and therefore, is impractical.

Method of generating layout of semiconductor integrated circuit


A laminated circuit board includes a base having a first surface, and a second surface on an opposite side from the first surface, a first metal layer provided in the base and including a first electrode exposed from the first surface, and a second metal layer provided in the base and including a second electrode exposed from the second surface. The first metal layer includes an inductor electrically connected to the first electrode, and the first electrode and the second electrode are bonded and electrically connected to each other.

A proposed DC-DC converter includes a laminated circuit board in which inductors are formed by laminating a plurality of ferrite sheets having electrode patterns and via electrodes formed thereon.
Examples of the laminated circuit board and the DC-DC converter are described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2013-98187, for example.
However, according to the conventional laminated circuit board, it is difficult to form low-resistance electrode patterns on the ferrite sheets.

Laminated circuit board, and electronic component


A turntable for an optical storage drive comprises a fitting member (4) consisting of a stationary yoke and a movable yoke (40) carrying a sliding cam (40a). A plurality of inwardly directed, equally spaced, resiliently deformable fingers (12) extend from a disc setting surface (3) at a location radially inward from the periphery of the turntable. In the rest position, there is no contact between the sliding cam (40a) and the fingers (12). However, after a disc (101) has been positioned on the turntable, the movable yoke is lifted and the sliding cam (40a) provides a locking effect on the fingers (12), thereby improving the centering force thereof.

A disc drive device conventionally comprises a turntable for receiving an optical disc and for rotating the optical disc at a predetermined rotational speed. Problems exist in relation to high-speed optical data storage systems, caused primarily by imbalance effects which occur during rotation of the optical disc. These imbalance effects are caused by various factors, and may be counteracted in prior art systems by the provision of a centering element.
A first type of disc centering mechanism for a removable disc optical storage drive is known as the "sliding cone" type, which uses a so-called "sliding cone" for disc centering purposes. In such a mechanism, a centering member or sliding cone is provided which has a magnet fixed thereto. Another magnet is provided on the clamping member. In use, after a disc has been loaded, the sliding cone is moved upwards by the attraction thereof to a magnet provided on the clamping member, such that the cone becomes wedged in a gap between the inner periphery of a disc and the fitting member. Disc centering mechanisms of this type are described for example in Japanese patent application numbers JP 07065471 A, JP 08017116 A and JP 10275414 A.
However, one main disadvantage of this type of mechanism in current DVD applications, in particular, is the so-called "flying disc" problem, whereby improper design of the sliding cone can cause the disc to "fly" off the turntable, especially during high speed, acceleration, operational shock and unbalanced disc operation, which is a very critical problem because dislocation of the disc can damage the disc and the drive permanently. In addition to external operation factors, other factors which can contribute to the above-mentioned "flying disc" problem include cone shape design, material (friction), disc type and the resultant clamping force.
Referring to FIG. 1 of the drawings, the shape design of the sliding cone 40 is restricted by the tolerance of the inner diameter of the clamping member 15, the thickness of the clamping area and the type and format of the disc 101. In the illustrated example, a dual sided DVD disc 101 is shown, which has an offset between both sides of the disc. Therefore, the slope of the cone 40 must be designed accordingly. This further increases the risk of "flying disc" in the event of even a slight axial displacement of the cone or disc (A).
The friction coefficient of the cone 40 is difficult to control as it is subject to lifetime (disc loading/unloading) and contamination from the disc clamping area. Normally, to achieve better dimension stability, stainless steel or PPS (Polyphenylene Sulphide) is used. This can also be quite costly.
The cone lifting force created by the complementary magnets reduces the resultant clamping force (equal to the initial clamping force minus cone lifting force), which in turn can lead to "flying disc". In order to increase the resultant clamping force, the clamper magnet air gap can be reduced. However, if the clamping force is too high, another problem can arise whereby disengagement of the clamping member 5 from the turntable can be difficult when there is no disc loaded in the drive. This increases the stress on the loading motor. On the other hand, reduction of the cone lifting force can cause a loss of centering performance in the case where the disc is highly unbalanced.
Another type of disc centering mechanism is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,006. Referring to FIG. 2 of the drawings, said U.S. patent describes a turntable 2 having a central fitting member 4 for receiving an optical disc 101. The fitting member 4, which fits over the spindle 1 of an electric motor 5, is provided with a centering ring 11 having a plurality of outwardly directed fingers 12 in the form of spring plates so as to be resiliently deformable. In use, an optical data storage disc 101 is fitted by its center aperture 102 over the centering ring 11, causing it to bear on the centering fingers 12 such that they are elastically deformed and apply pressure in a radial direction on the inner rim of the central aperture 102 of the optical data storage disc 101. The optical data storage disc 101 is provided with a magnetic plate 104 which, when the disc is loaded, is attracted by a magnet 9 mounted in the fitting member 4 so as to press the disc 101 against a disc setting surface 3.
The problem of "flying disc" does not tend to occur in the case of finger centering type mechanisms such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,006 for two reasons. Firstly, referring to FIG. 3 of the drawings, the angle or slope of the finger(s) 12 at the disc-finger contact point B can be made much steeper compared with the sliding cone mechanism illustrated in FIG. 1 of the drawings, bearing in mind that the fingers 12 are flexible in the radial direction C. This helps to prevent the disc 101 from slipping off the turntable. In addition, in the case of any displacement of the disc 101 in the radial direction, the inner diameter 102 of the disc 101 will be stopped first on the turntable vertical wall 50, thereby preventing it from "flying" off.
However, with a disc centering arrangement such as that described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,006, the centering performance tends to deteriorate as rotation speeds increase due to an increase in centrifugal force caused thereby, particularly in the case of highly imbalanced discs. The increased centrifugal force overcomes the centering finger force that results in undesirably high disc eccentricity. In order to solve this problem, it has been proposed to increase the force exerted on the inner rim of the central aperture of the optical data storage disc (by strengthening the fingers). However, this causes its own problem during the disc loading operation in which, in order to achieve proper disc positioning on the turntable, a very high clamping force is required to overcome the higher finger force during disc loading. This requirement is, however, difficult to meet using current loading mechanisms and clamper designs.

Apparatus for centering an information medium on a turntable


An integrated financial system that includes a single customer account that permits a customer to perform various financial transactions. The account includes at least banking components and brokerage components. A consistent user interface means is provided to allow a customer to access the account from a different sources including at least an automatic teller machine, a phone and a personal teller transaction. The account is flexible enough to include a variety of other components such as a credit card component, a line of credit component, a secured credit component and a money market component. A system and method for opening a single integrated account for a customer in a single session is also described.

In recent years, financial institutions have become increasingly diversified. Banks, for example, now offer a wide variety of products and services not previously available. These new products and services fall into two broad categories--new technologies for interacting with the financial institution and new financial services or "PRODUCTS" offered by the financial institution.
Innovative technologies for interacting with banks include the now ubiquitous automatic teller machines and customer activated terminals (ATMs and CATS) and, more recently, screen phones, personal computers configured for banking, personal digital assistants, voice response systems, and smart cards. Technology in existence today allows bank customers to access their banks from any place at any time. Notwithstanding these technical advances few bank customers take advantage of the full range of access points.
Financial institutions have also begun to offer a broader range of traditional banking accounts as well as investment and financial services. The traditional marketing approach of banks has been to try to enroll customers in new accounts, typically checking or savings accounts. Then, when the bank offers additional financial products or services, the bank tries to cross sell new accounts to customers having existing accounts with the bank.
One barrier caused by traditional account opening and cross selling of new accounts is that the customer must repeatedly provide the bank with the same data. This is very inconvenient and inconvenience is a significant obstacle in marketing of financial services.
Financial service is very much an inertia business. Once a customer opens an account, he or she is unlikely to change that account because of the effort involved. Most people don't shop for financial services. Instead, something in a customer's life occurs to cause a customer to make a change or be open to a change. There are moments in life when inertia is overcome; either by moving, death, formation of a family, a customer gets so angry at something that the customer decides to make a change, or other event occurs. Thus, at the moment a customer opens an account they are open to new components, but it is difficult to open a customer up again. For this reason, cross selling financial services is very difficult. Once a person has a set of accounts, then something's got to happen in their life to cause them to open up another account.
To overcome these obstacles, the focus of the present invention is to build a relationship with the customer rather than opening stand alone accounts for the customer. Studies have shown that as a customer's relationship with a bank broadens, the customer's balances increase. The present inventors have found that one way to establish a long term relationship with a customer involves opening a single account in which the customer has access to a full range of services at once.
There have, of course, been attempts to provide linked account structures in the past. The Citicard account, introduced in 1976 and 1977, was the first account that allowed four or five accounts to be mechanically linked together. A simple transactional account, short term savings, day-to-day savings, and 90-day savings, checking and checking plus line of credit were all linked in the Citicard account. Over the next ten years, other banks copied this approach and began offering "linked accounts," which are essentially transactional banking accounts with some saving components and perhaps a line of credit--a very traditional banking product.
Another significant development was the asset management accounts offered by certain brokerage firms. These accounts offered a plurality of securities components in a single account. The brokerage firms were not, however able to offer traditional banking services. One example is Merrill Lynch's cash management account (CMA). Aspects of this account are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,346,442 to Musmanno; U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,978 to Musmanno; U.S. Pat. No. 4,597,046 to Musmanno et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,674,044 to Musmanno et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,663 to Musmanno et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,270,922 to Higgins. The account offered by Merrill Lynch was limited to securities transactions and did not include full banking products.
Similarly, when a customer opens a brokerage account, there is no need to open a separate account for trading equities or for trading fixed income.
The next development in the evolution of Citibank's account was the so-called asset network account that included a full range of brokerage services and, in addition, full banking services. This form of account originally known as FOCUS has become known as the CitiGold Account. This account, like brokerage accounts, was intended for sophisticated investors. The central feature of the account was sweeping funds into a money market account on a daily basis. Such an account is not, however, suitable for a broad market account that includes unsophisticated investors. The CitiGold Account also did not include credit cards as a component of the account. The CitiGold was an elite account intended for sophisticated investors.
The CitiGold Account system introduced the idea of integration and consistent presentations across the entire range of customer access points, including ATM machines, automated voice response systems, phone operators, staff screens, home banking on a computer, home banking on a screen phone, etc. In other words, in every contact with the financial institution, the customer sees the same presentation of the account and the same capability to do the transactions.
Another step in the evolution of the Citibank account was the CitiOne account, introduced in the early 1990's. This account permitted linking of transaction accounts, certain traditional banking accounts and bank saving accounts so the customer could access all these accounts. In some regions the CitiOne account included securities or loan services such as line of credit services.
With the Citione account, customer's accounts could be linked together randomly so that the financial institution's different products and services could be linked together and appear on a customer's statement. This was done on an ad hoc basis depending on a customer's desires. The basic features available in the United States were checking, day-to-day savings, and insured money market accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs) and credit cards.
The next step in the evolution was the Citibank Money Management Account (CMMA), introduced around January 1993. The CMMA allows customers to link separate accounts and to perform a wide variety of financial transactions including traditional banking activities, brokerage activities and loan activities. Again, individual customer accounts could be linked to form an ad hoc mixture of product features. The system categorized those features within categories such as "your money in the bank," "securities," "borrowing and loan," "credit cards" and the like. Among other things, the CMMA allows banking customers the convenience of "one-stop" shopping. Efforts were also made to provide consistent presentation. For example, on the screen phone and in personal computing banking, the top menu was made to look like the same menu on an ATM machine. However, after the initial screen, the systems diverged.
Notwithstanding the opportunities offered by the Citione and CMMA accounts, there is still significant room for improvement. Specifically, the present inventors recognize that while some of the infrastructure is in place, the understanding and concept of a single account that includes all of these features has not yet been achieved. The accounts were still linked on an ad hoc basis and customers were required to open up individual accounts. This required effort in educating customers about these accounts and in selling these accounts.
As with technological advances in remote delivery products, these new accounts offer the possibility of realizing improved customer services and significant operating efficiencies and reduced cost. Again, however, the potential benefits to be obtained from using an integrated financial system such as the Citibank Money Management Account have not yet been fully realized.
There are several deficiencies in currently available financial systems that might contribute to the less than full realization of the benefits offered by new technologies and services. To begin with, existing systems are not as user friendly as they could be. Although customers are able to access the system in a variety of ways, doing so requires that the customer possess certain skills, e.g., computer literacy, or a degree of technical competence that not all potential customers possess. Thus, there is a need to simplify the system for accessing the variety of services.
In addition, customers are not always aware of the variety of services offered by a bank. While banks frequently advertise and promote such services in their branches and elsewhere, not all customers pay attention to or are receptive to such promotional activities. Perhaps more significantly, the promotional efforts do not necessarily reach the customer at the time that they are open to change.
Thus, there remains a need for an improved integrated system for providing financial services. More specifically, there remains a need for an improved system for accessing a financial institution and for setting up customer's accounts within a financial institution.

Integrated full service consumer banking system and system and method for opening an account


A ball hitting training device has a ball hitting implement such as a baseball bat or golf club, a shoulder harness or anchoring device for wearing on a player's leading shoulder when taking a swing with the hitting implement, and an elongate tether of flexible, non-extensible material having a first end secured to the shoulder harness and a second end secured to a location at or adjacent the ball striking end of the hitting implement. By maintaining the tether taut during a practice swing, the player can establish a so-called magic triangle between the hands, the ball hitting end of the hitting implement, and the leading shoulder, and can maintain this triangular relationship throughout the swing.

The present invention relates generally to sports training device and method, and is particularly concerned with a device for use in hitting practice in sports where a club, bat or other ball hitting implement is swung to hit a ball or other object.
One well known problem in swinging a bat or club to hit a ball in sports like baseball or golf is that of hitting the ball from the top or hitting the ball too soon, so that it will not travel as far. In other words, for an ideal swing, no effort should be made to move the hands, wrists, or arms to make the club or bat move. Instead, the movement of the club or bat should result from the player turning their-shoulders and the hands should move with the club or bat, i.e. not faster or slower than the bat.
Many publications on ideal golf or baseball swings refer to the so-called "Magic Triangle" or "Eternal Triangle". This is a triangle formed by the player's leading arm, the golf club or baseball bat, and an imaginary line between the player's leading shoulder to the approximate hitting end of the bat or golf club. For optimum results, this triangle should be maintained from the top of the swing almost up to the hitting area. This will produce a high speed impact with the ball, as described in detail in the book Four Magic Moves to Winning Golf by Joe Dante, pages 102 to 110, Doubleday, New York, 1995. This is a result of the conservation of angular momentum, which is the principle that the angular momentum of an object remains constant as long as no external force or moment acts on that object. The equation defining angular momentum is:angular momentum=mass×velocity×distance (from point object is spinning or orbiting around).In other words, when an object rotates around a fixed axis (when hitting a ball, this is the vertical axis of the player rotating to hit the bill), it rotates at a constant velocity as long as the object remains at the same distance from the axis. If the object is brought closer to the axis, it speeds up. If it is moved farther out, it slows down. In a golf swing, as the player rotates the club, the hands move farther from the body or axis and slow down. This reduction in momentum feeds into the much lighter club and increases the speed of the club head in the last part of the stroke, in a whiplash type of effect, increasing the force of impact on the ball. If the player speeds up their hands in an attempt to catch up with the club, this effect will be lost, reducing the distance that the ball will travel.
Although this effect has been understood in the golfing field for many years, it is very difficult for a beginning or average player to achieve. This is because there is an instinctive desire to manipulate the club in order to make the club head go faster. Even though the player has been told not to move his or her hands or snap his or her wrists in an attempt to speed up the club head during the latter part of the swing, it is very difficult to restrain the impulse to do just that, resulting in hitting the ball too soon or hitting from the top.
Many training devices have been proposed in the past in order to improve a golfer's or baseball player's swing, with limited success. One is simply to strap one or both arms to the player's body, so as to limit arm movement. Such devices are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,960,280 of Corder, Jr., U.S. Pat. No. 5,154,416 of Smull et al., and U.S. Pat. No. 5,295,690 of Johnson. U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,575 of Leith et al. describes a device for tethering the golf club to the wearer's arm, to ensure that the golfer's wrists will pass through the plane of impact before the club head strikes the ball.
The principle and advantages of the delayed hit or late release are well known in the golfing and baseball field, as are the disadvantages of casting, hitting from the top, or early release, in which a player releases their stored energy too early in the swing. Although these principles are well known in the ball hitting field, up to now there has been no simple and effective device for training players in the proper stance and swing positioning for achieving the delayed hit or late release.


A fixed constant velocity universal joint with eight balls achieves improvement in cage strength by increasing a smallest outer diameter of a cage and improvement in joint strength at a high operating angle by ensuring required inner spherical area and spherical surface angle in an outer member regardless of the smallest outer diameter of the cage. In the fixed constant velocity joint of the present invention, among eight frontal sections adjacent to an inner spherical surface on an outer member opening side, present between adjacent ball grooves formed on the inner spherical surface, and forming a smallest inner diameter of an outer member opening, any one or any two mutually opposing frontal sections are retracted from the smallest inner diameter in an outward radius direction by a distance required to allow insertion of the cage through the one or two frontal sections (cylindrical surfaces or planar surfaces) in a state in which a cage axial line is perpendicular to an outer member axial line.

I. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a fixed constant velocity universal joint disposed between two axes on a driving side and a driven side in a power transmission system of automobiles and various industrial machineries, the fixed constant velocity universal joint allowing only angular displacement. The present invention achieves improvements in torsional fatigue strength and quasi-static torsional strength at a high operating angle.
II. Description of the Related Art
A fixed constant velocity universal joint is generally used in an axle connecting section of a drive shaft and a shaft bend connecting section of a steering shaft in an automobile. A Rzeppa-type constant velocity universal joint and an undercut-free type (referred to, hereinafter, as a UJ-type) constant velocity universal joint are conventionally known as the fixed constant velocity universal joint described above. On the other hand, when a wheel base is extended in view of improvements in ride comfort and collision safety of the automobile, the vehicle rotation radius increases. To reduce the vehicle rotation radius, a steering angle of front wheels is required to be increased by the angle of the fixed constant velocity universal joint being increased.
The Rzeppa-type constant velocity universal joint that is a fixed constant velocity universal joint includes an outer member, an inner member, balls, and a cage. A plurality of curved ball grooves are formed evenly spaced on an inner spherical surface of the outer member. The same number of curved ball grooves are formed on an outer spherical surface of the inner member. A center of curvature of the outer member ball grooves and a center of curvature of the inner member ball grooves are offset from a center O of the joint by equal distances to the right and left. A ball is incorporated between an outer member ball groove and an inner member ball groove, and the cage is incorporated between the outer member and the inner member. The cage has spherical surfaces on the inside and outside, the spherical surfaces being in contact with and guided by the inner spherical surface of the outer member and the outer spherical surface of the inner member. The cage also has windows that house the balls and are evenly spaced in a circumferential direction.
The UJ-type fixed constant velocity universal joint has been invented to achieve a higher operating angle than the Rzeppa-type constant velocity universal joint. As shown in FIG. 9, in a ball center trajectory (C3 center) of a ball groove 114 on an outer member 110, among arcs of a meridional line of the above-described Rzeppa-type, a portion closer to an opening side of the outer member 110 than a cross-section perpendicular to an axis passing through a ball groove center (C3) of the outer member 110 is a straight line parallel to a joint axis C L. C2 is an inner spherical surface center of the outer member 10.
FIGS. 5(A) and (B) show the outer member 110 for a constant velocity universal joint having eight balls. 112 indicates an inner spherical surface. 114 indicates a ball groove. 116a indicates a chamfer. 116b indicates a cylindrical section. α0 indicates a spherical surface angle. D0 indicates an axial direction distance from the center of the outer member 110 to a starting position of the cylindrical section 16b. When the cage 120 in FIG. 6 is incorporated into the outer member 110, as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, the cage 120 is inserted from an axial direction of the outer member 110 in a state in which an axial line of the cage 120 is tilted by 90 degrees to an outer member axial line (refer to FIG. 12 in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 6-193645, FIG. 5 in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 5-45253, and FIG. 5 in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. Heisei 9-177814). As another method, the axial lines of the cage 120 and the outer member 110 can be on a same axis, and the cage 120 can be inserted from the axial direction of the outer member 110 (refer to FIG. 5 in Japanese Utility Model Laid-open Publication No. Showa 54-93850).
In the former insertion method, more specifically, an inner member (not shown) is tilted by 90 degrees to the cage 120. After the inner member is inserted into the cage 120 in this state, both components are relatively rotated by 90 degrees in a direction in which an axial center of the cage 120 and an axial center of the inner member are aligned, and the inner member is incorporated into the cage 120. Next, the inner member with the cage 120 and the outer member 110 are relatively tilted to 90 degrees as shown in FIG. 7 and FIG. 8. After the inner member with the cage 120 is inserted into the outer member 110, both components are tilted by 90 degrees in a direction in which axial centers of the outer member 110 and the inner member are aligned, and the inner member with the cage is incorporated into the outer member 110.


An apparatus and method are described for inserting angle plates in transverse duct flanges. The apparatus is especially useful in inserting angle plates into transverse duct flanges of duct fittings. Packages for holding angle plates are also described.

Apparatus and methods for placement of angle plates in transverse duct flanges are known and disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,283,944; 5,321,880; and 5,342,100, the disclosures of these patents being incorporated in their entirety herein by reference. Commercial apparatus using the inventions of these patents have been sold under the trademark CORNERMATIC® by the Iowa Precision Industries Division of Mestek Machinery, Inc. ("IPI"). These machines have been commercially successful and have transformed the industry with respect to the insertion of angle plates into duct work. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 5,926,937 discloses a mobile apparatus for placement of angle plates in transverse duct flanges, the disclosure therein being incorporated in its entirety herein by reference. This latter patented technology has been manufactured commercially by IPI and sold under the trademark CORNER CADET®.
The CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® apparatus and methods have been commercially successful. They have saved the industry substantial time and money and made the insertion of angle plates into ducts substantially easier for sheet metal fabricators, including saving wear and tear on the human body. However, the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines usually cannot accept irregular shaped duct fittings referred to in the industry and herein as "fittings." For example, FIG. 1 shows duct fitting D and its irregular shape. Additionally, fitting D includes Pittsburgh locks PL at the corners of the duct. Referring to FIG. 2, there is shown the fitting D of FIG. 1 and the IPI CORNER CADET® machine. As shown in FIG. 2, the fitting D will not fit into the machine for the automatic insertion of angle plates AP. As seen, the top of the fitting will contact the angle plate supply hopper H of the machine and/or the fitting will contact the press member P of the machine. This prevents the duct flanges F from being positioned in the machine such that the fitting may be clamped in place by clamp C, receive an angle plate AP, the angle plate thereafter pressed into the flange by press member P and a subsequent crimping operation. Workers must, therefore, manually insert the angle plates into the flanges of fittings and then hammer the angle plate into the fitting, and thereafter "crimp" the duct flange by further hammering the flange over the angle plate. Accordingly, the worker spends substantial time in such insertion, slowing down operations, causing expense to the fabricating shop, causing potential damage to the flange and wear and tear on the human body.
Additionally, the fabrication of duct work, including fittings, is not always precise and the duct flanges may be bent or the corners of the duct are of an irregular shape. For example, referring to FIG. 3, there is shown a partial section of duct D having at Pittsburgh lock PL and flanges F. The duct D is not precise in its fabrication, including at the Pittsburgh lock PL, and angle plate AP will not fit properly into the flange leaving a space S. In such instances, the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines may have difficulty in automatically inserting angle plates into the duct flange or may not be able to automatically insert the angle plate. In the latter situation, the angle plate must be removed and manually inserted, thereby causing additional time for the worker, expense to the duct fabrication shop and potential damage to the flange.
The CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines include supply hoppers which feed the angle plates. These hoppers are above the angle plate feed mechanism which slides an angle plate from the bottom of a stack in the hopper into the duct flange. With respect to the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines, the hopper may be in the way of a duct fitting precluding the automatic insertion of an angle plate as referenced above in FIG. 2 and requiring the manual insertion by the worker.
Referring to FIG. 4, there is shown an angle plate 12 useful in the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines and manufactured and sold by IPI and Ductmate Industries, Inc. ("Ductmate") under the trademark CORNERMATIC®. These angle plates come in different dimensions for use in either TDC or TDF duct flanges. The angle plates are sold in cartons of 250 angle plates. The angle plates are stacked in ten columns of twenty-five. The worker must take each column of twenty-five angle plates from the carton using a metal rod placed through bolt hole opening 18 of the angle plate, or by hand, and hand load each column into the angle plate supply hopper of the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines. In some instances, after a number of columns from the carton are loaded, the remaining columns fall over, thereby requiring the loading of the angle plates individually or in small groups. While these machines have saved the industry substantial time and expense, the hand loading of the angle plates still takes time. Accordingly, there is room for improvement to the packaging and loading of angle plates.
In duct fabrication plants, the duct work is first formed and thereafter the angle plates are inserted into the duct work. Presently, each duct fabrication shop is set up differently, and there is no method for a work flow comprising an orderly and economical manufacture of the duct fittings and the automatic insertion of angle plates into the fittings.
Accordingly, while the CORNERMATIC® and CORNER CADET® machines have been an extremely successful "work-horse" in duct fabricating shops, improvement to these machines and methods of use is possible. This is applicable for, among other things, insertion of angle plates into fittings; the automatic insertion of angle plates into duct flanges which are not precise in manufacture or which are bent; and the packaging and loading of angle plates. There is also a need for a method of the work flow in duct fabrication shops to efficiently and economically fabricate fittings and automatically insert angle plates therein.

Apparatus and method for placement of angle plates in transverse duct flanges


The current document is directed to reverse federated identity-management systems and to reverse-federated-identity-management methods employed by the reverse federated identity-management systems. The currently disclosed reverse-federated-identity-management systems automatically provision local proxy identities in distributed computers systems from which distributed resource-distribution systems allocate resources on behalf of users and clients of the distributed resource-distribution systems. In addition, the currently disclosed reverse-federated-identity-management systems automatically record associations of local proxy identities with users and clients of the distributed resource-distribution systems so that the users can be subsequently identified to auditing and monitoring organizations should the need for detailed auditing and monitoring subsequently arise.

Computer systems and computational technologies have steadily evolved, during the past 70 years, from initial vacuum-tube-based systems that lacked operating systems, compilers, network connectivity, and most other common features of modern computing systems to vast distributed computing systems that include large numbers of multi-processor servers, data-storage appliances, and multiple layers of internal communications networks interconnected by various types of wide-area networks and that provide computational resources to hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, or more remote users. As operating systems, and virtualization layers have been developed and refined, over the years, in parallel with the advancements in computer hardware and networking, the robust execution environments provided by distributed operating systems and virtualization layers now provide a foundation for development and evolution of many different types of distributed application programs, including distributed database-management systems, distributed client-server applications, and distributed web-based service-provision applications. This has resulted in a geometric increase in the complexity of distributed computing systems, as a result of which owners, administrators, and users of distributed computing systems and consumers of computational resources provided by distributed computing systems increasingly rely on automated and semi-automated management and computational-resource-distribution subsystems to organize the activities of many users and computational-resource consumers and to control access to, and use of, computational resources within distributed computing systems.
One problem domain that has emerged in the area of distributed computing systems concerns control over various computational resources, including virtual machines, processor-controlled hardware devices, network-attached data-storage devices, services provided through service-provision interfaces, and other such computational resources. Typically, access to computational resources has been controlled by authentication and authorization functionality provided by identity management systems within computer systems and distributed computer systems. As user access to multiple, separately managed, distributed computer systems has become more common, federated identity systems have been developed to provide distributed identity management across multiple data centers and systems. These federated identity-management systems are largely directed to linking separate local identities corresponding to a given user within each of multiple data centers and systems to allow a user to seamlessly access multiple data centers and systems without constantly supplying passwords, biometric data, and/or other information to satisfy local identity-based authentication and authorization requirements of the individual data centers and systems. However, as new, higher-level distributed systems that allocate computational resources from multiple distributed computer systems on behalf of clients and users of the higher-level distributed systems have begun to emerge, new classes of problems associated with user authorization and authentication have emerged that are not addressed by federated identity-management systems. As a result, designers, developers, and users of the new, higher-level distributed systems continue to seek new technologies to facilitate access, by users and clients of the new, higher-level distributed systems, to computational resources allocated on their behalf by the new, higher-level distributed systems from multiple, separately managed distributed computer systems.

Reverse identity federation in distributed cloud systems


A laser handpiece is disclosed, including a shaped fiber optic tip having a side-firing output end with a double bevel-cut shape. The shaped fiber optic tip can be configured to side-fire laser energy in a direction away from a laser handpiece and toward sidewalls of a treatment or target site.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to medical devices and, more particularly, to fiber optic tips for delivering electromagnetic radiation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fiber optics have existed in the prior art for delivering electromagnetic radiation. Radiation delivery systems are typically used to transport electromagnetic radiation from electromagnetic energy sources to treatment sites. One common radiation delivery system can comprise a cylindrically-shaped fiber optic tip from which electromagnetic radiation is emitted in a direction toward the treatment site.
In certain applications, radiation delivery systems can be engineered to generate predetermined beam shapes and spatial energy distributions. The energy distribution of a simple delivery system, comprising a fiber optic tip, can be described as having a circular illumination area, with a so-called Gaussian distribution of beam intensities being spatially distributed within the output beam pattern or illuminated area. For instance, the output beam pattern from a fiber optic tip can comprise a central high-intensity area or "hot spot" surrounded by peripheral areas of lower intensity.
Regarding energy distributions, some beam profiling applications can require or would be optimized with radiation delivery systems capable of generating illumination distributions that vary across parts or all of the illumination area surrounding the output of the radiation delivery system. Moreover, it may also be desirable to generate non-circular illumination areas, or to generate electromagnetic radiation having predetermined energy distributions across a non-planar illumination area. Use of laser radiation having a relatively uniform power distribution over a particularly shaped area can be a practical task for multiple medical applications.


A knife jig assembly (1, 3) for use in sharpening a knife (8) in a grinding machine (16) comprises a conventional knife jig (1) with a clamp (2) for clamping and holding an object. It also comprises a knife holder (3) with means (5, 10) for holding the knife (8) and with a flat rod (4) to be clamped by the clamp (2) of the knife jig (1).

The use of a knife jig at the sharpening of a knife in a grinding machine with a rotating grindstone is conventional. The jig has a clamp for holding the knife, and the jig may be manually operated during the sharpening process, preferably supported by a rod-shaped universal support of the grinding machine.
A problem with such a knife jig relates to the dimensions of the knife blade to be held by the clamp. The blade must normally have a length of some 60 mm and width of some 14 mm to be properly held by the clamp and satisfactorily sharpened by the grinding machine.
Small woodcarving knifes are normally very difficult to mount parallelly, so that an equally large grind bevel is obtained at both sides. The reason is that the blade is only parallel over a very small area close to the handle.
The main object of the invention is to increase the versatility of the knife jig, so that it can be used for a broader range of dimensions and shapes of the knives to be sharpened.
The Invention
This object is according to the invention attained by the addition to the knife jig of a knife holder with means for holding the knife and with a flat rod to be clamped by the clamp of the knife jig. The result is a knife jig assembly comprising the conventional knife jig and the inventive knife holder having a flat rod, which can be simply and securely held by the knife jig clamp. The operation of the knife jig assembly at sharpening is very similar to the operation of the knife jig alone.
The means for holding the knife may preferably be two pairs of open jaws attached to the flat rod and a closed-loop yoke between the jaws, the yoke being movable for engaging the knife.
Surfaces of the jaws intended for cooperation with the handle of the knife may preferably be concave in all directions, which means that the knife handle bears against four points of the jaws.
In a threaded hole the yoke may be provided with a screw for engagement with the flat rod.


Embodiments relate to systems and methods for differential software provisioning on virtual machines having different configurations. A provisioning (or “cobbler”) server can interact with a local virtual machine installation client to initiate a software provisioning process to diverse sets of virtual machines. The provisioning process can entail, for example, the selection and delivery of an operating system to the diverse sets of virtual machines, as well as the installation of applications or other software. In conjunction with the provisioning process, the koan client can identify the virtual machine configuration or type for the various virtual machine sets, such as those based or hosted on a Xen virtualization type, a VMware virtualization type, or kernel-based virtual machine (KVM) type. The cobbler server can generate differentiated versions of the virtualized installations for the different types of target virtual machines, compatible with the various configurations. The supported virtual types can be extensible.

Provisioning platforms are known which allow a systems administrator to select, configure, and push a set of software to new machines on a network. It is a shortcoming in existing provisioning platforms that the systems administrator may have to make manual selections and perform other tasks manually in order to carry out that installation process. In the case of software provisioning to sets of virtualized machines, the installation difficulties can be compounded, since different sets of virtual machines may be configured to use different set of available resources, and/or can be instantiated using management tools from different vendors that may or may not be fully compatible. For instance, one set of virtual machines can be configured with a relatively small amount of hard disk or other store, while another may be configured with extensive storage resources. The provisioning of, for example, a database application to those two classes of virtual machine may therefore be best optimized to use one set of database or storage settings versus another. Existing provisioning platforms make no provision, however, to differentially provision different sets of virtual machines based on available resources. As a result, using known provisioning platforms a systems administrator may have to individually perform a provisioning process for different sets of virtual machines one after the other, even if the target virtual machines are intended to receive essentially the same or a highly similar software installation. It may be desirable to provide methods and systems for the software provisioning on virtual machines having different configurations, in which the distribution platform can automatically identify and make adjustments to different distributions intended for different target virtual machines, based on different configuration classes of the virtual machines.

Differential software provisioning on virtual machines having different configurations


A system for processing and classifying articles that classifies a set of articles based at least upon the locations of the articles within a structure. The system provides a notification over a computer network to a user, wherein the notification informs the user that the user has a time period within which to select a first article from the set of classified articles to add to a pre-existing order by the user, wherein the time period is based at least in part on the anticipated time to transfer at least one article in the set of articles to a different location within the structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to article classification, and in particular, to methods and systems for classifying articles based on selected article characteristics and for processing the articles based on selected article characteristics.
2. Description of the Related Art
At least in part due to the failure of appropriately classifying articles or items in a warehouse or fulfillment center, many conventional warehouse and order fulfillment centers are inefficient in terms of article processing. For example, articles are often not sufficiently classified to determine what articles can be efficiently packed and shipped together. As a result, rather than pack and ship products that may be desired by users in relatively fewer packages and shipments, many current order fulfillment systems inefficiently split orders into several shipments. Alternatively, for those orders intended to be delivered in several shipments, oftentimes order fulfillment systems fail to optimize the grouping of products in each shipment.
Even if orders are efficiently packed for shipping, most order fulfillment systems fail to allow a user to efficiently add items to a shipment at a time subsequent to when the order is placed. Users are often not aware of the deadline for adding articles to an order until after the deadline has passed, or, if the users are aware of the deadline, the users are often not apprised of the risk that adding to the order may adversely affect shipping time and cost. It therefore would be desirable to notify users when articles could be added to an order and shipped in a manner that would not impact the shipping time or cost.

Computer controlled article classification and processing system


An apparatus for clinical evaluation of sensitivity of individuals to learning context provides a visual search task in which a target symbol to be located is associated with context images that cluster around the target symbol to varying degrees. Measurement of a rate of unconscious exploitation of the context symbols in finding the target symbols is used to sort the individuals into categories believed to be useful for characterizing their learning styles.

The present invention relates to clinical diagnostic equipment and in particular to an apparatus and method for assessing an individual's sensitivity to contextual cues during learning, an assessment that may be useful, for example, in developing educational programs for individuals with autism spectrum disorder and the like.
Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) encompasses a variety of developmental disorders affecting communication and behavior. The wide variability in learning performance among individuals with ASD makes it difficult to determine best strategies for learning for a given individual. The present inventors have previously developed an apparatus that can highlight differences between individuals with ASD in completing a visual search task by measuring response speed in locating a visual target and changes in that response speed when contextual cues are added and removed.

Apparatus for evaluating contextual learning


A phase-separator assembly for a boiling-water nuclear reactor includes a steam-separator and a dryer. The steam separator and dryer are mechanically coupled so that relative vertical movement is permitted therebetween. The mechanical coupling limits this relative vertical movement. When installed in a reactor, the steam separator and dryer are independently supported. The dryer is supported so as to define a gap between the dryer and steam separator that optimizes their collective performance. When in storage, the dryer is not independently supported. Instead, the dryer is dropped to a minimum height above the steam separator, providing for compact storage.

This invention relates to nuclear reactors and, more particularly, to a phase-separator assembly for a dual-phase nuclear reactor. A major objective of the present invention is to provide for more efficient installation of a steam separator and a dryer in such a reactor and to provide for more compact storage of said components.
Nuclear reactors generate heat in a fissionable reactor core and transfer this heat by flowing coolant through the core. In dualphase reactors, the flowing coolant stores energy, at least partially, in the form of a phase change, e.g., from liquid to vapor. Since dualphase reactors are primarily boiling-water reactors, the phase change is from water to steam. Herein below, the operation of dualphase reactors generally can be extrapolated from the description of boiling-water reactors.
In a boiling-water reactor, a water-steam mixture rises from the core. The water is to be recirculated down a downcomer and then back up through the core. The steam is to be directed from the reactor for utilization; for example, the steam can drive a turbine, which, in turn, can drive a generator to produce electricity. Steam condenses as it gives up energy to the turbine; the condensate can be returned to the reactor vessel to merge with the recirculating water.
While the separation of water and steam is promoted by gravity, small amounts of steam can be entrained in the recirculating water and small amounts of water can be entrained in the steam exiting the reactor vessel. Both of these phenomena interfere with reactor efficiency. Accordingly, many boiling-water reactors include a steam separator that separates the bulk of the water from the steam/water mixture rising from the core. Steam separators typically leave a small amount of water in the rising steam, so dryers are typically disposed above the steam separators to remove the remaining water.
Both steam separators and dryers remove water from steam. The steam separators provide for gross removal, while dryers provide for fine removal. For example, the mixture rising from the core can be 85% steam by weight. With this input, a steam separator can yield a mixture that is 90% steam by weight. The dryer can convert the output of the steam separator to a steam flow that is better than 99.9% steam.
Since the steam separator and dryer are located above the core, they must be removed during refueling operations to gain access to the core. Typically, during a refueling operation, the top head of a reactor vessel is removed. The dryer is then removed and placed at one location within a storage pool. The steam separator is then removed and placed in another location within a storage pool. Fuel bundles are then replaced. The steam separator is then reinstalled and then the dryer is reinstalled. Finally, the reactor vessel is closed and reactor operation resumed.
Considerable effort and cost are consumed in handling and storing these large, contaminated components. Each transfer of a component such as a steam separator or a dryer is a project in itself. When not in the reactor, steam separators and dryers must be stored and enclosed in shielding material, typically a pool of water in a concrete chamber. The size of the chamber must be adequate to accommodate the components to be stored, and the amount of concrete and safety equipment required to service the chamber grows geometrically with the size of the chamber. Thus, reactor plant manufacturing costs and maintenance costs are severely impacted by the size of components such as steam separators and dryers. What is needed is a system that provides the functions of a steam separator and a dryer while requiring fewer component transfers and less storage space.

Compactable phase-separator assembly for dual-phase nuclear reactor


A water purification device, method and system with the water purification device having a container for holding a water purification material therein with the water purification device including a shroud extending in a direction generally normal to a flow of debris laden water with the shroud inhibiting direct flow of debris into a water inlet in the water purification device by directing water and debris over the shroud and around the water purification device while a portion of the water can be directed laterally into the water purification material within the water purification device to thereby purify the water that flows over the water purification materials with the water purification device including multiple spaced and positioned water inlets so that the likelihood of the water inlet being completely obstructed is remote.

This invention relates generally to water purification and more specifically to a water purification device and method for purifying water in a stream of water that may contain debris.
One of the difficulties with treatment of water in the skimmer basket region of a pool or spa is that the water treatment device becomes clogged with debris. One prior art approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,032 where the canister that holds chlorine is maintained above or along side the skimmer basket. Another approach is shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,779,913 and 6,019,893 which shows a dispenser that is secured to the underside of a skimmer basket. While not holding water purification materials U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,350 discloses a pool skimmer basket that includes a central member that projects above the top of the skimmer basket in order to prevent the basket from becoming clogged and thus preventing flow therethrough. Thus, the placement of water purification devices in a skimmer basket is generally avoided because of clogging problems.
The present invention provides a water purification device that can be positioned in a skimmer basket and in the flow of water with debris with the water purification device maintaining the water inlet to the water purification device in a condition wherein water can continue to be directed through the water purification device even though there is a continual presence of debris in the water flowing around the water purification device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,830,350 discloses a pool skimmer basket with a central core projecting above the top of the skimmer basket.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,124,032 discloses a swimming pool chlorinator that is maintained above the bottom of the skimmer basket.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,019,893 and 5,779,913 disclose a water purification device that is secured to the underside of the skimmer basket.
A flow-through, water purification device, method and system with the water purification device comprising a container for holding a water purification material therein with the water purification device including a shroud extending in a direction generally normal and lateral to a flow of debris laden water with the shroud inhibiting direct flow of debris into a water inlet in the water purification device by directing water and debris over the shroud and around the water purification device while a portion of the water is directed laterally into and through the water purification device and a further portion is directed through water purification material within the water purification device to thereby purify the water that flows over the water purification materials. A shielded exit located below the water purification devices maintains a portion of the skimmer basket free of debris to thereby provide a path for water to continually flow through the water purification device. The water purification device can also include multiple spaced and laterally positioned water inlets so that the likelihood of the water inlet being completely obstructed by debris is remote.


A circuit provides for regulating charge and discharge current of a battery. A bypass circuit is connected to a terminal of the battery and connected in parallel with a load switch. The bypass circuit may selectively direct a bypass current around the load switch. A controller can operate in plural modes to control the bypass circuit. In a first mode, the controller controls one or more parameters of the bypass current based on values corresponding to a current at the terminal, a voltage at the terminal, and/or a temperature of the battery. In a second mode, the controller controls the bypass circuit to disable the bypass current.

Batteries are widely used to power various loads, and a range of battery chemistries can be implemented in applications depending on considerations such as safety, performance, stability, or cost. Configuring multiple batteries to a common load is a way to increase power capability. However, when batteries with different properties are coupled to a common load, the charging/discharging stress may not be distributed evenly, and optimal battery performance may not be achieved. Circulating current flowing among batteries at different SOCs or voltages can occur, and can result in over-charging, over-discharging, early failure of the batteries.
Typical batteries include a battery management system (BMS) to control balancing of multiple battery cells. The BMS controls charging and discharging of the battery cells in order to maintain the battery cells at a common voltage or state of charge.

Battery balancing and current control with bypass circuit for load switch


The invention herein relates to a kind of improved mouse device pad, specifically referring to kind improved mouse device pad that is constructed of knitted fabric and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) compound foam, with the innovations of the invention herein including the utilization of an appropriate quantity of softener and adhesive agents as additives during the fabrication process of the PVC compound foam, which enables after fabrication pliancy and greater surface contact stiction because the aforesaid mouse pad is of a thin profile and remains extremely pliant even after the knitted fabric is glued onto the top. Furthermore, when the PVC compound foam bottom layered and knitted cloth surface layered improved mouse pad of the invention herein is utilized for desktop mouse device operation, in addition to the greater surface stiction provided by the PVC compound foam, the aforesaid mouse pad is not only effectively prevented from sliding randomly out of position, but also remains completely flat against the desktop, enabling a larger mouse device operating surface area and thereby providing improved operating convenience and ease.

As the platform for the mouse device peripherals that control cursor movements on computer screens, mouse device pads are virtually indispensable for computer operation and are currently in widespread utilization. As indicated in FIG. 2, the general configuration mainly consists of a foam body (1) of a certain hardness that is approximately 3 mm thick, with a covering of plastic or cloth (2) glued to the top surface of the foam body (1) for manually moving the mouse device. Undeniably, such types of conventional mouse pads effectively allow for convenient and trouble-free mouse device movement on flat and uncluttered computer desktops. However, the inventor of the invention herein is aware that in addition to the main system, the video display unit, keyboard, and the printer, there are also documents, materials, books, writing implements, and other miscellaneous objects on the desktop. Since the remaining space may not be wide enough to accommodate the placement of an entire mouse device pad and, furthermore, the foam body (1) of the aforesaid mouse device pad has a certain degree of hardness, an item such as the miscellaneous object (A) on the desktop often ends up under an end or other area of the mouse device pad such that the whole mouse device pad cannot lie completely flat against the desk surface and one end is folded up, leaving a space underneath (as depicted in FIG. 1). Under such circumstances, the major shortcoming will be the loss of smooth and accurate mouse device (B) operation, especially since the space under the folded section reduces the effective surface area required for mouse device (B) operation, with the direct hindrance to operation posing a major inconvenience. Furthermore, while the application of force onto the mouse device by the user can serve as a means of keeping the mouse device pad in place on the surface of the desk, the excessive friction produced is problematic in that operations accuracy is no longer possible.
Therefore, in order to correct the aforementioned shortcomings and, furthermore, introduce effective improvements so that the utilization of the aforesaid mouse device pad is more ideal and progressive in operation, the inventor of the invention herein conducted extensive research and development based on scientific theories to improve the design of the conventional product, which finally culminated in the invention herein.


A gate signal line drive circuit and a display using the circuit, which suppress a leak current to reduce a power consumption. A gate signal line drive circuit that supplies a high voltage in a signal high period, and supplies a low voltage in a signal low period, the gate signal line drive circuit including: a high voltage supply switching element that turns on in response to the high period, supplies a voltage of a first basic clock signal to gate signal lines; a high voltage supply off control circuit that supplies a first low voltage to a switch of the high voltage supply switching element in response to the signal low period; and a low voltage supply switching circuit that supplies a second low voltage higher than the first low voltage to the gate signal lines in response to the signal low period.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates a gate signal line drive circuit and a display using the same. In particular, the invention relates to suppression of a leak current in a gate signal line drive circuit.
2. Description of the Related Art
Up to now, for example, in a liquid crystal display device, a circuit thin film transistors (hereinafter referred to as "TFT") arranged in pixel areas of a display screen are formed on the same substrate, that is, a circuit with a built-in shift register may be employed.
The shift register circuit provided in the gate signal line drive circuit outputs agate signal Gout, which becomes a high voltage in a signal high period, and becomes a low voltage in a signal low period which is a period other than the signal high period, to a corresponding gate signal line.
FIG. 17 is a schematic diagram illustrating a configuration of a shift register circuit in a related art. The shift register circuit includes a high voltage supply switching element SWG that supplies a high voltage to the gate signal line in response to the signal high period, a low voltage supply switching element SWA that supplies a low voltage to the gate signal line in response to the signal low period, and a high voltage supply off control element SWB that supplies a low voltage to a switch (control terminal) of the high voltage supply switching element SWG in response to the signal low period.
A low voltage line VGL is connected to an input terminal of the low voltage supply switching element SWA. In response to the signal low period, the low voltage supply switching element SWA turns on and the low voltage supply switching element SWA outputs the low voltage which is a voltage of the low voltage line VGL. The low voltage supply switching element SWA turns off in response to the signal high period. The high voltage is supplied to a switch (control terminal) of the low voltage supply switching element SWA while the low voltage supply switching element SWA is on.
A basic clock signal CLK which becomes high voltage in the signal high period is connected to an input terminal of the high voltage supply switching element SWG. The high voltage supply switching element SWG turns on in response to the signal high period, and the high voltage supply switching element SWG outputs a voltage of the basic clock signal CLK, and the high voltage supply switching element SWG turns off in response to the signal low period. The high voltage is supplied to the switch of the high voltage supply switching element SWG while the high voltage supply switching element SWG is on, and the low voltage is supplied to the switch of the high voltage supply switching element SWG while the high voltage supply switching element SWG is off.
A high voltage supply off control element SWB that supplies the low voltage in response to the signal low period is connected to the switch of the high voltage supply switching element SWG. The low voltage line VGL is connected to an input terminal of the high voltage supply off control element SWB. The high voltage supply off control element SWB turns on in response to the signal low period, and the high voltage supply off control element SWB supplies the low voltage to the switch of the high voltage supply switching element SWG. The high voltage supply off control element SWB turns off in response to the signal high period. The high voltage is supplied to the switch (control terminal) of the high voltage supply off control element SWB while the high voltage supply off control element SWB is on.
Most of one frame period for displaying one screen is the signal low period. Hence, the high voltage is supplied to the respective switches of the low voltage supply switching element SWA and the high voltage supply off control element SWB in response to the signal low period for a long period. The low voltage supply switching element SWA and the high voltage supply off control element SWB become on for a long period, and those elements are deteriorated earlier than the other elements. A gate signal line drive circuit in which a plurality of elements are arranged in parallel in order to suppress the deterioration of those elements, and at least any one of the plurality of elements is driven under the control, to thereby suppress the deterioration of the elements is disclosed in JP 2010-256422 A.

Gate signal line drive circuit and display


The present invention provides a system for evaluating a correlation between a plurality of time-series data. The system includes a calculating section which calculates characteristic quantities indicating symmetry of a diagram drawn by a graph, on which data values included in the plurality of time-series data are plotted in a multidimensional space in which each coordinate axis represents the data value of each time-series data; and an evaluating section which evaluates the correlation between the plurality of time-series data, based on the calculated characteristic quantities.

The present invention relates to a system and method of evaluating a correlation. More particularly, the invention relates to a system and method of evaluating a correlation between a plurality of time-series data.
Analysis of a correlation between observed data obtained from each part of a given observation object is effective for detection of a failure occurring inside the observation object. When an automobile, for example, is under observation, it is hard to detect a failure of the automobile by observing only the gear position of the automobile. Detection of a failure occurring inside the automobile, however, can be often achieved by detecting another observed data, e.g., a value of the engine speed in a case where the gear of the automobile is at a given position.
There has been heretofore widely used the technique of analyzing a correlation between a plurality of variables taking on consecutive values, based on a covariance matrix. This technique permits analysis of a linear correlation such that one variable having a large variable value leads to another variable also tending to have a large variable value. Specifically, an empirical distribution is defined as Equation (1) below, provided that time-series data of observed data are N-dimensional vector variables x. Then, a covariance matrix is defined as <xxT>, provided that the expectation value over the data is expressed as <•>. It will be hereinafter understood that the mean of the data is prenormalized to zero. Also, each element of a correlation coefficient matrix C is defined as Equation (2) below.
                                          p            emp                                          (            x            )                          =                              1            N                                                        ∑                              t                =                1                            T                                                  δ                                            (                                  x                  -                                      x                                                              (                      t                      )                                                                      )                                                                        (        1        )                                          C                      i            ,            j                          =                              〈                                          x                i                                                          x                j                                      〉                                                              〈                                  x                  i                  2                                〉                                                          〈                                  x                  j                  2                                〉                                                                        (        2        )
It will be hereinafter understood that δ represents a Dirac delta function when observed data takes on continuous values, or δ represents a Kronecker delta function when observed data takes on discrete values.
Even if each element of a covariance matrix is zero as to a set of given variables, the variables, however, are not limited to having no correlation. For example, when an empirical distribution is expressed by Equation (3) below, p(xi|xj) is an even function of xi. Thus, a correlation coefficient is zero as expressed by Equation (4) below.
                              p                                (                                          x                i                            |                              x                j                                      )                          =                              1            2                                          [                                          δ                                                  (                                                            x                      i                                        +                                                                                r                          2                                                -                                                  x                          j                          2                                                                                )                                            +                              δ                                                  (                                                            x                      i                                        -                                                                                r                          2                                                -                                                  x                          j                          2                                                                                )                                                      ]                                              (        3        )                                          〈                                    x              i                                                  x              j                                〉                =                              ∫                                          dx                i                                                          ⅆ                                  x                  j                                                                          p                                                  (                                      x                    j                                    )                                                                          p                                                  (                                                            x                      i                                        |                                          x                      j                                                        )                                                                          x                i                                                          x                j                                              =          0                                    (        4        )
As can be seen from Equation (3), the variable values of the variables, however, are distributed around the circumference of a circle with a radius r. As mentioned above, a very strong correlation may exist between the variables even if each element of the covariance matrix is zero.
Furthermore, kernel methods recently have come into use as an approach for incorporating a nonlinear correlation in the field of machine learning. The kernel method, when applied, involves using a kernel function K to substitute <K(x′,x)> for <xxT> which is the base quantity of covariance structural analysis. This permits kernel principal component analysis or the like. For example, a polynomial kernel is defined as (xTy)d, where x and y denote vectors and d denotes a natural number. In this example, assuming d=2 leads to the kernel function defining nonlinear mapping as expressed by Equation (5).Φ(x)=[x12, x22, . . . ,xn2, √{square root over (2)}x1x2, . . . ,√{square root over (2)}xn-1xn]T  (5)
In other words, the inner product Φ(x)TΦ(y) matches the kernel function. Accordingly, the quantity, as expressed as <Φ(x)Φ(y)T>, can be therefore considered as an extension of the covariance matrix, so that principal component analysis can be performed on this matrix. Consequently, the matrix can yield features on which nonlinear correlations reflect. Incidentally, Equation (5) is illustrative, and Φ(x) is not limited to this illustrative example but may be in the form of such map as cannot be explicitly expressed.
However, the kernel method uses a black box called the kernel function for incorporation of nonlinearity, which takes place in the black box. In other words, the kernel method is illustrative only of a general method of incorporating nonlinearity, and is incapable of detecting particular nonlinearity for detection of a correlation between variables.

Pairwise symmetry decomposition method for generalized covariance analysis

International Business Machines Corporation