Motion of the moving handrail of an escalator or moving walkway is interrupted in the event that a foreign object is carried into the handrail reentry housing area on the handrail. Handrail movement stops independently of movement of the conveyor steps, so that the handrail will stop even as the steps are still decelerating as a result of an appropriate signal from a reentry housing foreign object sensor. The handrail will be reset for further motion after the steps stop but will not commence further movement until the steps are intentionally restarted.

Handrail reentry safety devices for escalators and moving walkways are used to prevent and/or sense the entry of foreign objects on the moving walkway into the handrail reentry housing. These safety devices are intended to prevent or minimize injury to passengers or others in the vicinity of the exit landing of the escalator or walkway. The various safety devices which have been proposed include brushes and extended shrouds or hoods which border the reentry housing mouth and which are intended to prevent objects from entering the reentry housing. Such prevention devices have not proven to be 100% reliable in performing their intended function. Other proposed devices include a detector of one sort or another that senses the presence of a foreign object near the reentry housing, or that senses the entry of a foreign object into the reentry housing. These devices will typically set off an audible alarm, and then after a preset time delay, will interrupt power to the escalator so that the entire machine will be shut down. Some of these detectors will shut the conveyor off without the time delay when a foreign object is sensed in the reentry housing.
The aforesaid prior art handrail safety devices which merely sound an alarm, or merely attempt to prevent something from entering the reentry housing, when ineffective, may not prevent injury to passengers or others. The devices which turn the escalator or walkway off when a foreign object is sensed in the reentry housing may also not prevent injury due to entrapment because, in conventional escalators and moving walkways, the escalator steps and handrail are both driven by the same motor through various chain and sprocket connections. Codes require a maximum deceleration of 3ft/sec.sup.2 for the steps when the escalator stops. This deceleration rate has been established so as not to cause passengers who are standing on the steps to fall as a result of a sudden stopping of the steps. While this solves the problem of passengers falling as the escalator stops, it also results in continued movement of the handrail after the object has been detected on the handrail or in the reentry housing. Thus continued handrail movement can lead to entrapment of the detected object between the handrail and reentry housing.

System for emergency stopping of escalator handrail


A multi-objective optimization method for groundwater pollution monitoring network, which mainly includes four steps: groundwater numerical value simulation, groundwater vulnerability assessment, the establishment of the monitoring network optimization model, and the solving of the optimization model. The core of the method is to establish a multi-objective optimization model aimed at establishing the least monitoring wells, monitoring the maximum pollutant concentration, and monitoring the maximum regional vulnerability value. Solving the optimization model by the algorithm and considering the relationship between the quality error and the number of monitoring wells comprehensively to determine the well number and location of the monitoring network.

Groundwater is an important part of water resources and has gradually become an important source of drinking water in China. However, with the increase of human activities and the rapid development of social and economic production, groundwater resources are seriously polluted. In order to ensure the security of groundwater, it is necessary to establish a comprehensive groundwater monitoring network to obtain effective groundwater information.
Due to the concealment, deep burial depth, and slow water circulation, the self-purification ability of groundwater is rather poor. Once contaminated, it is difficult to recover, and the cost of repair is high. Therefore, prevention of groundwater pollution is more important than treatment, and it is necessary to monitor the areas with high pollution risks. Especially for the monitoring system of groundwater source area, while understanding the status of groundwater quality, monitoring the areas with high pollution risks can play a role of early warning. Decision makers can timely grasp pollution trend through monitoring data, formulate effective measures to prevent further spread of pollutants, minimize pollution hazards, and greatly ensure the safety of the wellhead.
At present, most groundwater monitoring networks have problems such as irrational spatial layout and redundancy or inadequacy of monitoring wells. Even if it costs a lot of money and resources, it cannot obtain sufficient and effective groundwater information. It is therefore necessary to optimize existing groundwater monitoring networks to establish groundwater monitoring systems with minimal cost to obtain adequate information. At present, there are numerous studies of optimization methods of groundwater monitoring networks at home and abroad, including statistical methods such as hydrogeological analysis, Kriging, Kalman filtering, and so on, optimization methods based on groundwater simulation, and combination of different methods, for example, multi-objective planning combined with geostatistical methods.
These methods are mainly based on hydrogeological conditions or the distribution of pollutants to optimize the monitoring network, and rarely consider the groundwater susceptibility. Some research on layout of monitoring wells based on groundwater vulnerability does not quantitatively determine the number and location of monitoring wells. Therefore, current research is difficult to quantitatively optimize the number and location of the monitoring network while considering groundwater vulnerability and pollution distribution.

Multi-objective optimization method for groundwater pollution monitoring network

CHINESE RESEARCH ACADEMY OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES


A communication device and method for electronic price label (EPL) systems which use EPL components. The device includes a microcontroller, a first EPL circuit enabled by the microcontroller which sends a first signal to an EPL computer in response to a first polling signal from the EPL computer indicating that data from the microcontroller is ready for transmission, a number of second EPL circuits which store the data from the microcontroller and which send the data to the EPL computer in response to a second polling signal from the EPL computer, a third EPL circuit which receives a second signal from the EPL computer acknowledging receipt by the EPL computer of the data, and which signals the microcontroller of the receipt of the data, a keypad coupled to the microcontroller for recording the data from an operator, and a display for displaying the data as it is recorded and for displaying an indication of the receipt of the data.

The present invention relates to electronic price label (EPL) systems used in transaction establishments, and more specifically to a communication device and method for EPL systems.
EPL systems typically include a plurality of EPLs for each merchandise item in a store. EPLs typically display the price of corresponding merchandise items on store shelves and are typically attached to a rail along the leading edge of the shelves. A store may contain thousands of EPLs to display the prices of the merchandise items. The EPLs are coupled to a central server from where information about the EPLs is typically maintained in an EPL data file. Price information displayed by the EPLs is obtained from the PLU file.
EPLs today may be wired or wireless. Wireless EPLs may employ infrared or radio frequency (RF) transmitters. EPLs systems of the assignee of the present invention employ RF transmitters and modulated backscatter techniques. An EPL computer transmits polling signals to one or more EPLs. In order to respond to the poll, an EPL xe2x80x9creflectsxe2x80x9d the polling signal back to the EPL computer within a predetermined time interval of receiving the polling signal. A good analogy of the RF modulated backscatter acknowledgment signal is a mirror reflection. If two men face each other, one with a flashlight and the other with a mirror, the man with the mirror can send an acknowledgment to the man with the flashlight by reflecting the beam of light back to him. Similarly, the man with the mirror may indicate the opposite by not reflecting the light of the flashlight.
Modulated backscatter techniques are taught in U.S. Pat. No. 5,640,683, to Evans et al., entitled xe2x80x9cModulated Backscatter Wireless Communication System Having An Extended Rangexe2x80x9d, issued Jun. 17, 1997. This patent is hereby incorporated by reference.
Remote control and communication with a host EPL computer system would be desirable anytime the EPL system installer, user, or administrator is performing EPL related tasks away from the host EPL computer. One such task that might be performed by an EPL system administrator is adding or removing an EPL tag to a shelf. Normally, the administrator must perform administrative tasks at the host processor before placing the tag on the shelf. These tasks include initializing the EPL tag and adding the ID of the EPL tag to an EPL database. It would be advantageous to perform these administrative tasks remotely as the system administrator is adding or removing the tag from the shelf.
Hand-held terminals have been developed which communicate with the EPL computer, effectively allowing remote communication with the host processor. However, these terminals are costly and can introduce noise that may interfere with the EPL system. When a hand-held terminal device is introduced that does not share the same communication protocol or hardware as the EPL system, there is some likelihood that the device will interfere with existing EPL system communication. In order to avoid interference, the EPL system must sacrifice performance by giving up radio frequency bandwidth to the device.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a communication device and method for EPL systems that would allow an operator to remotely control the EPL computer from anywhere in a store using the existing EPL infrastructure.
In accordance with the teachings of the present invention, a communication device and method for EPL systems is provided.
The device includes a microcontroller, a first EPL circuit enabled by the microcontroller which sends a first signal to an EPL computer in response to a first polling signal from the EPL computer indicating that data from the microcontroller is ready for transmission, a number of second EPL circuits which store the data from the microcontroller and which send the data to the EPL computer in response to a second polling signal from the EPL computer, a third EPL circuit which receives a second signal from the EPL computer acknowledging receipt by the EPL computer of the data, and which signals the microcontroller of the receipt of the data, a keypad coupled to the microcontroller for recording the data from an operator, and a display for displaying the data as it is recorded and for displaying an indication of the receipt of the data.
The device may be used as a remote control device in which the data includes functions to be executed by the EPL computer from a list of functions maintained by the EPL computer.
In more detail, the second EPL circuits each include a first portion including first control circuitry having a first unique address and a first state out of first and second operational states, and a second portion including second control circuitry having a second unique address and a second state out of the first and second operational states. The EPL computer interprets a binary data xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d when the first state is equal to the first operational state and the second state is equal to the second operational state, and interprets a binary data xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d when the first state is equal to the second operational state and the second state is equal to the first operational state.
The method of the present invention includes the steps of loading a number of EPL data circuits having first and second portions with a portion of data by a microcontroller, and transmitting the data to the EPL computer by the EPL data circuits in response to a polling message from the EPL computer. Loading involves the substeps of enabling acknowledgment of polling messages by the first portions of a first group of the EPL data circuits and disabling acknowledgment of the polling messages by the second portions of the first group of EPL data circuits to form a data value equal to zero, and disabling acknowledgment of polling messages by the first portions of a second group of the EPL data circuits and enabling acknowledgment of the polling messages by the second portions of the second group of EPL data circuits to for a data value equal to one.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a communication device and method for EPL systems.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a communication device and method for EPL systems which would allow an operator to remotely send data to an EPL computer from anywhere in a store.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a remote control device and method for EPL systems which would allow an operator to remotely control an EPL computer from anywhere in a store.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a communication device and method for EPL systems that utilizes the existing EPL infrastructure.

Communication device and method for electronic price label systems


An economical method of producing a press-forming die is disclosed wherein a master die and a master punch are relatively reciprocated with a full stroke and a shorter stroke to produce a press-formed panel and a half-pressed panel. After an elastic material is applied to one surface of the half-pressed panel, the press-formed panel is fitted over the master punch, and the half-pressed panel is forced against the press-formed panel with the elastic material facing away from the press-formed panel, whereby the half-pressed panel is shaped into a die panel complementary in contour to the shape of the press-formed panel. A back-up material such as high-strength cement is then applied to the rear surface of the die panel whereby a press-forming die is produced.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of producing a cooperating pair of punch and die used for pressing-forming a blank material into a panel product.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many parts of a motor vehicle, such as a fuel tank of a motorcycle, are produced by press working. In the press working, a press-forming die assembly formed from a precision-machined alloy steel is used in general. The alloy steel press-forming die assembly is highly durable and hence is able to recover its manufacturing cost when used in mass manufacturing systems of vehicle parts.
In recent years, model changes of motorcycles tend to occur at a relatively short cycle time, and the manufacturing system tends to shift from mass""manufacturing of one type of product to more flexible manufacturing of a wide variety of products with relatively low volume of production. The alloy steel press-forming die assembly, when used in flexible manufacturing systems, may sometimes fail to recover its manufacturing cost, leading to a cost-up of the final product.
With the foregoing problem in view, a press-forming die assembly formed from a synthetic resin is generally used for flexible manufacturing systems. The synthetic resin press-forming die assembly is relatively easy to manufacture and can be manufactured at a low cost as compared to the alloy steel press-forming die assembly. Accordingly, even when the model change cycle of the motorcycle is relatively short, the synthetic resin press-forming die assembly is able to recover its manufacturing cost and hence prevents a cost-up of the final product.
However, a working surfaces of the synthetic resin press-forming die assembly is softer than that of the alloy steel press-forming die assembly and hence is susceptible to wear in a relatively short period of use. Once wear occurs on the working surfaces, it is difficult to maintain the desired accuracies of the press-formed products. Accordingly, in order to maintain the desired product accuracies, the synthetic resin press-forming die assembly must be replaced before the working surface is worn away. With is requirement, the synthetic resin press-forming die assembly is replaced in a relatively short cycle and may sometimes fails to recover its manufacturing cost.
Another known relatively low-cost press-forming die assembly is made of a zinc alloy generally called xe2x80x9cZASxe2x80x9d. The ZAS is a zinc-based alloy containing aluminum and antimony and hence has a relatively low melting point such as about 380xc2x0 C. Because of this low molting point, the ZAS press-forming die assembly can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.
However, a working surface of the ZAS press-forming die assembly is relatively soft and hence is poor in durability as compared to that of the alloy steel press-forming die assembly. Due to a relatively short replacement cycle, the ZAS press-forming die assembly may sometime fail to recover its manufacturing cost.
There has been a keen demand for a press-forming die assembly which can be manufactured at a reduced cost and has high durability comparable to that of the alloy steel press-forming die assembly.
It is accordingly an object of the present invention to provide a method of producing a highly durable press-forming die assembly (punch and die) at a relatively low cost.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a press-forming die, comprising the steps of: preparing a master die and a master punch relatively movable toward and away from each other so as to define therebetween a die cavity; relatively reciprocating the master die and the master punch together while a first blank sheet is disposed between the master die and the master punch, thereby press-forming the first blank sheet into a press-formed panel complementary in contour to the shape of the die cavity; while a second blank sheet is disposed between the master die and the master punch, relatively reciprocating the master die and the master punch together with a stroke smaller than the stroke achieved when the press-formed panel is produced, thereby producing a half-pressed panel; applying an elastic material onto one surface of the half-pressed panel which has been situated in face to face with the master die; fitting the press-formed panel over the master punch and placing the half-pressed panel over the press-formed panel with the elastic member facing away from press-formed panel; forcing the half-pressed panel against the press-formed panel via the elastic material to thereby shape the half-pressed panel into a die panel complementary in contour to the shape of the press-formed panel; and applying a back-up material to the rear surface of the die panel to thereby produce a press-forming die.
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a press-forming punch, comprising the steps of: preparing a master die and a master punch relatively movable toward and away from each other so as to define therebetween a die cavity; relatively reciprocating the master die and the master punch together while a first blank sheet is disposed between the master die and the master punch, thereby press-forming the first blank sheet into a press-formed panel complementary in contour to the shape of the die cavity; while a second blank sheet is disposed between the master die and the master punch, relatively reciprocating the master die and the master punch together with a stroke smaller than the stroke achieved when the press-formed panel is produced, thereby producing a half-pressed panel; applying an elastic material onto one surface of the half-pressed panel which has been situated in face to face with the master punch; fitting the press-formed panel over the master die and placing the half-pressed panel over the press-formed panel with the elastic member facing away from press-formed panel; forcing the half-pressed panel against the press-formed panel via the elastic material to thereby shape the half-pressed panel into a punch panel complementary in contour to the shape of the press-formed panel; and applying a back-up material to the rear surface of the punch panel to thereby produce a press-forming punch.
It is preferable that between the forcing step and the applying step, the method comprises the additional step of applying a backing material to the rear surface of the die panel or the rear surface of the punch panel. The backing material comprises a water-soluble epoxy resin, and preferably a fibre-reinforced water-soluble epoxy resin.
The die panel or the punch panel is preferably made of steel, such as stainless steel or high-tensile steel, and has been subjected to work-hardening processes when the second blank sheet is press-formed into the half-pressed panel and the half-pressed panel is forced against the press-formed panel. The work-hardened die panel and punch panel have an increased surface hardening and hence they are highly resistant to wear.
The elastic material comprises urethane rubber. When the die panel or the punch panel has a rectilinear portion extending parallel to the axis of relative movement the master die and punch, the elastic material is preferably elastically deformable to an extent more than twice of the thickness of the second blank sheet. By using such elastic material, it is possible to produce a pressure or force distributed uniformly over the entire surface of the half-pressed panel while the half-pressed panel is forced against the press-formed panel.
The back-up material may be a high-strength cement or synthetic resin. When the high-strength cement is used, the applying step includes placing a slurry of high-strength cement on the rear surface of the die panel or the punch panel while removing babbles from the slurry by the action of a vacuum. It is preferable that the applying step further includes applying vibrations to the slurry to promote separation of the babbles from the slurry.
The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become manifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to the following description and accompanying sheets of drawings in which certain preferred structural embodiments incorporating the principle of the invention are shown by way of illustrative example.

Method of producing press-forming punch and die


The invention concerns an improved process for the conversion of ethylene into butene-1, wherein the ethylene is brought into contact with a catalyst obtained by the reaction of an alkyl titanate, possibly mixed with an ether, with a compound of aluminium of the formula AlR.sub.3 or AlR.sub.2 H, and in the presence of an additive formed by at least one quaternary ammonium salt.

In the process for the dimerisation of ethylene to give but-1-ene by means of a homogeneous catalyst obtained by the interaction of a preformed mixture of an alkyl titanate and an ether with a compound of aluminium of the formula AlR.sub.3 or AlR.sub.2 H as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,532,370 and 4,615,998, small amounts of solid polymer are formed, which are deposited on the surface of the reactor and the heat exchanger tubes and which are very harmful to good operation of the process as they reduce the rate of heat transfer effects and necessitate frequent derivatives of the reactor in order for them to be removed.

Conversion of ethylene into butene-1 using additives based on quarternary ammonium salts


Mobile station equipment, base station equipment, and an exchange equipped with all or some units for monitoring the speed of a mobile station, making a judgment whether or not the speed exceeds a given threshold value, and restricting both or at least one of channel control and call processing regarding a call occurring at the corresponding mobile station. These mobile station equipment, base station equipment, and exchange operate alone or associate with each other through radio transmission paths or other links. Further a mobile communication system may include these mobile station equipment, base station equipment, and exchange. In the above equipment exchange, accidents normally caused by some operation of an operator on the mobile station equipment in response to a call occurring in the mobile station equipment moving at a high speed are prevented efficiently and reliably.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile station equipment that is carried on amobile unit or in a mobile vehicle or carried by a subscriber to offer communications services to the subscriber. The invention also relates to base station equipment for forming a wireless zone in a region where a mobile station can be positioned and providing channel control in the wireless zone. Furthermore, the invention relates to an exchange that associates with this base station equipment and performs call processing. In addition, the invention relates to a mobile communication system composed of such mobile station equipment, base station equipment, and exchange.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, mobile communication systems have become rapidly widespread because of competition among communication service providers and liberalization of the market. Therefore, subscribers receive various kinds of communication services through in-vehicle terminals, as well as through transportable terminals.
FIG. 14 illustrates an example of configuration of a mobile communication system.
In this figure, mobile station equipment 80 is located within a wireless zone 82 formed by radio base station equipment 81, which is connected with radio control station equipment 83 through a communication link 81L. An exchange 84 connected with switching networks and home location registers (none of which are shown) is connected with the radio control station equipment 83 through a communication link 84L.
The mobile station equipment 80 comprises: antennas 85M-1, 85M-2; a TX/RX part 86M connected with the loading points of these antennas; a processor 87M having input/output ports connected with the control terminals of the TX/RX part 86M and with the output of a speedometer (not shown); a microphone 88 and a receiver 89 both connected with the modulation input and demodulation output, respectively, of the TX/RX part 86M; and a operation/indication part 90 connected with given input/output ports of the processor (CPU) 87M.
The radio base station equipment 81 comprises: an antenna 85B; a TX/RX part 86B connected with the loading point of the antenna 85B; a transmission path interfacing part 91B connected with the modulation/demodulation terminal of the TX/RX part 86B and with one end of the communication link 81L described above; and a processor (CPU) 87B, whose input and output ports of the processor 87B are connected with the control terminals of the TX/RX part 86B and of the transmission path interfacing part 91B.
The radio control station equipment 83 comprises a transmission path interfacing part 91C and an exchange interfacing part 92 both cascaded between the other end of the communication link 81L and one end of the communication link 84L, and a processor (CPU) 87C whose input and output ports are connected with the control terminals of the transmission path interfacing part 91C and of the exchange interfacing part 92.
The exchange 84 comprises: a radio interfacing part (RI) 93 directly connected with the other end of the transmission path 84L; a switch 94 having ports connected with the radio interfacing part 93 and the aforementioned switching networks, respectively; and a processor (CPU) 87E having communication ports connected with the aforementioned radio interfacing part 93, the switch 94, and home location register, respectively.
In the mobile communication system of the construction described so far, the TX/RX part 86B incorporated in the radio base station equipment 81 forms the wireless zone 82 under control of the processor 87B and interfaces, through the transmission path interfacing part 91B, with the communication link 81L and the radio channel both forming the wireless zone 82.
In the radio control station equipment 83, the processor 87C cooperates with the processor 87B disposed opposite to the processor 87C through the transmission path interfacing part 91C, the communication link 81L, and the transmission path interfacing part 91B, and performs channel control of the wireless zone (radio channels).
The transmission path interfacing part 91C and the exchange interfacing part 92 interface the communication links 81L and 84L with each other, based on the procedure of the channel control performed by the processor 87C in this way.
In the exchange 84, the processor 87E performs, by associating with the processor 87C that is located opposite to the processor 87E through the radio interfacing part 93, the communication link 84L, and the exchange interfacing part 92, call processing of the following termination call, terminating from the switching networks to the mobile station equipment 80 and the originating calls of the mobile station equipment 80 that are identified by the radio interfacing part 93.
The call processing adapts to the aforementioned channel control. The originating calls may contain calls for location updating. This call processing contains setting and resetting of a speech path to the switch 94.
In the mobile station equipment 80, when a origination request a call containing a phone number is given by the operation/indication part 90, for example, the processor 87M transmits an origination call signal to a certain radio channel formed by the radio base station equipment 81, and performs the channel control by associating associates with the processor 87B incorporated in the radio base station equipment 81 and with the processor 87C incorporated in the radio control station equipment 83.
When the corresponding origination call is completed based on the procedure of the channel control, the TX/RX part 86M secures a full duplex communication path between the mobile station equipment 80 and the radio base station equipment 81 by matching the speech signal to be sent and received through the microphone 88 and the receiver 89 to the radio channel assigned by the processor 87C incorporated in the radio control station equipment 83 over the period during which the completed call persists.
The processor 87M obtains the speed of the local station given by the speedometer described above and judges whether this speed is greater or smaller than a given upper limit.
The processor 87B recognizes the period for which the speed exceeds the upper limit. During this period, the processor 87B refrains from performing processing that should be invoked as the aforementioned channel control in response to an origination request given by the operation/indication part 90 and/or a paging signal that is sent by the radio base station equipment 81 and addressed to the local station through the antennas 85M-1, 85M-2, and TX/RX part 86M. At the same time, the processor 87B refrains from performing processing associated with location updating that should be invoked based on the procedure of the channel control.
In particular, as long as the upper limit described above is predetermined to a preferable value while the mobile unit or vehicle carrying the mobile station equipment 80 is moving at a high speed, origination calls and response to terminating calls for which the operation/indication part 90 is operated in some manner are restricted. Furthermore, location updating that is a factor of the transition to a state in which a subscriber can perform such operations are permitted is prolonged.
Accordingly, accidents that would normally be caused by user's operation on the mobile station equipment 80 while the mobile station equipment 80 is moving at a high speed are prevented with high reliability.
The TX/RX part 86M monitors the field strength level of receiving waves that reached the antennas 85M-1, 85M-2 from the antenna 85B incorporated in the radio base station equipment 81. The TX/RX part 86M appropriately selects the receiving waves of greater field strength level from those receiving waves and thus maintains high the speech quality according to switching diversity. The receiving waves are not restricted to waves that reach the antennas 85M-1, 85M-2 through the radio channel used for speech.
In the conventional configuration described above, the output of the speedometer described above is connected with the corresponding input port of the processor 87M through a dedicated connector and so there is the possibility that the connector is intentionally removed by the driver or that the driver forgets reattaching the connector after once removed.
In particular, the mobile unit or vehicle carrying the mobile station equipment 80 is able to run at a high speed without attaching the connector and, therefore, prevention of the aforementioned accidents cannot be accomplished reliably due to lack of driver's safety mind or human errors.
Such inappropriate removal of the connector can be prevented certainly by incorporating dedicated hardware in the mobile station equipment 80 to measure the moving speed of the moving unit or vehicle instead of the speedometer and to inform the processor 87M of the moving speed.
However, this configuration lowers of the cost effectiveness of the mobile station equipment and increases the cost. Although this configuration may be applied to newly manufactured mobile station equipment, it is impossible to apply it to already operating mobile station equipment or to those kinds of mobile station equipment which are not operated but appear on the market.
Consequently, it has not been assured that the aforementioned accidents are prevented.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Mobile communication system terminating communications at high speeds


A method is provided for the manufacture of a polyvinylidene-based light polarizer (cf., a "K Sheet"-type polarizer). In one embodiment, the polyvinylidene chromophore of said polarizer is produced by the acid catalyzed dehydration of an oriented polymeric starting material, the acid catalyst being introduced in the method as a bonding agent used to secure the starting material to a carrier web (or other supporting substrate). Advantages of the method include reduced frequency of "streaking" and "mottling"; good processing speed; and the ability to use a low acid concentration, resulting in a correspondingly low-corrosion processing environment.

Normally, light waves vibrate in a large number of planes about the axis of a light beam. If the waves vibrate in one plane only, the light is said to be plane polarized. Several useful optical ends and effects can be accomplished by plane polarized light. For example, in the manufacture of electrooptical devices, such as liquid crystal display screens, crossed polarizers can be used in conjunction with an addressable liquid crystal interlayer to provide the basis for image formation. In the field of photography, polarizing filters have been used to reduce glare and the brightness of specular reflection. Polarizing filters have also been used for the reduction of glare on CRT display monitor screens.
While several materials possess to a degree inherent polarizing properties, synthetic polarizing materials based on thin polymeric films are desirable for their comparative ease of manufacture and handling, their ability to be tailored for particular uses, and the comparative ease with which they may be incorporated into desired end products.
The production of linear light polarizing films has been well described in the art. Linear light polarizing films, in general, owe their properties of selectively passing radiation vibrating along a given electromagnetic radiation vector (and absorbing electromagnetic radiation vibrating along a second given electromagnetic radiation vector) to the anisotropic character of the transmitting film medium.
Dichroic polarizers are linear polarizers of an absorptive variety that owe their light-polarizing capabilities to the vectorial anisotropy of their absorption of incident light waves. The term "dichroism" is used herein as meaning the property of differential absorption of the components of an incident beam of light, depending upon the vibration directions of said component. Thus, light entering a dichroic film encounters two different absorption coefficients--one low and one high. The emerging light vibrates predominantly in the direction of low absorption.
Among the several varieties of synthetic linear light polarizers are the so-called "K Sheet"-type polarizers, which are characterized by their comparatively good environmental resistance to heat and humidity. As described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,173,304 and 2,306,108, both issued to E. H. Land and H. G. Rogers, "K Sheet"-type polarizers are usually prepared by at least partially dehydrating a hydroxylated polymer, such as polyvinylalcohol. In particular, before or after a molecular orientation step (i.e., stretching), a sheet of polyvinylalcohol is dehydrated by exposure in an elevated temperature environment to fumes of a very strong acid catalyst; water molecules are liberated, thereby forming a polymer with conjugated vinylene blocks. In the resultant sheet, incident light is linearly polarized by transit through the oriented polyvinylene molecules.
While useful "K Sheet"-type polarizers can be made by conventional fuming processes, in certain processing environment, and in the absence of suitable controls, said processes can result in polarizers having present a degree of "streaking" and "mottling" unsuitable or undesirable for certain applications, particularly those requiring a high level of optical precision. One condition believed to contribute to these artifacts are environmentally-influenced fluctuations in acid fuming that result in a less than uniform catalytic dehydration. For example, even in a hermetically-sealed enclosure, the elevated temperatures of a fuming oven can produce thermal currents that disrupt or otherwise interfere with uniform fuming. In light of such potential variability, need is present for a method for the manufacture of a polyvinylene-based polarizer that reduces reliance--or more preferably does not involve--the step of acid fuming.

Method for the manufacture of a light-polarizing polyvinylene sheet


A noise robustness method operates jointly in a signal domain and a model domain. For example, energy is added in the signal domain for frequency bands where an actual noise level of an incoming signal is lower than a noise level used to train models, thus obtaining a compensated signal. Also, energy is added in the model domain for frequency bands where noise level of the incoming signal or the compensated signal is higher than the noise level used to train the models. Moreover, energy is never removed, thereby avoiding problems of higher sensitivity of energy removal to estimation errors.

Noise robustness methods for Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR) are historically carried out either in the signal domain or in the model domain. Referring to FIG. 1, signal domain methods basically try to "clean-up" the incoming signal 100 from the corrupting noise. In particular, a noise removal module 102 removes noise in accordance with noise estimates produced by noise estimation module 104. Then extracted features obtained from the adjusted signal by feature extraction module 106 are pattern matched to acoustic models 108 by pattern matching module 110 to obtain recognition 112. Turning to FIG. 2, model domain methods try to improve the performance of pattern matching by modifying the acoustic models so that they are adapted to the current noise level, while leaving the input signal 200 unchanged. In particular, a noise estimation module 202 estimates noise in the input signal 200, and model compensation module 204 adjusts the acoustic models 206 based on these noise estimates. Then, extracted features obtained from the unmodified input signal 200 by feature extraction module 208 are pattern matched to the adjusted acoustic models 206 by pattern matching module 210 to achieve recognition 212.
Noise robustness algorithms are a key for successful deployment of ASR technology in real applications and a vibrant sector of the ASR research community. However the noise robustness methods available today still have limitations. For instance, model-based methods clearly outperform signal-based methods, but may require clean speech databases for the training of the acoustic models. As for signal-based methods, while they under perform model-based methods, they have the advantage that they can be used with acoustic models that are trained in noisy conditions. This advantage is important as sometimes clean training data is not available for certain tasks, and also noisy training data recorded specifically for a certain task is the best way to obtain good task-specific acoustic models.
What is needed is a way to obtain the advantages of signal based methods, plus the improved performance of model-based methods. The present invention fulfills this need.

Joint signal and model based noise matching noise robustness method for automatic speech recognition


What is disclosed is a virtual reality enhancement device that has a chamber in which a user is located, one or more pumps for pumping a fluid into and/or out of the chamber, and a series of ports for allowing the fluid to flow into and out of the chamber. The fluid circulates into and out of the chamber around the user in coordination with the 3-D visual and auditory experience provided to the user in order to enhance the user's haptic experience. The chamber can be used, for example, to simulate a user swimming or flying.

Various attempts have been made to enhance a virtual reality or three dimensional (3D) experience of user. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,784 provides a motion simulating device with up to 6 degrees of freedom. The motion simulating device appears to provide for feeling that the user is in either land based or aeronautical vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,487,749 provides a cylindrical chamber with a cylindrical pin casing and retractable pins lining the chamber. This allows the user to interact with the pins by pushing on the pins. The pins provide haptic feedback to the user in coordination with a 3D immersive environment. Several non-patented, from what the inventor has found, attempts have also been made to enhance the haptic experience of user. For example, a device at somniacs.co under the Trademark name of Birdly® provides a 3D interactive haptic experience that simulates that a user is flying. The device utilizes a fan position on the front of a device in which a user lays with the user's hands spread apart, similar to if a person was positioned horizontally and using the persons arms as wings. However, none of the devices that the user knows of have been used to simulate swimming or immersion into a fluid environment. Similarly, the user does not know of any fluid haptic devices that can be utilized to enhance sensory interaction between a user and a 3D environment via the temperature interface between the user and a fluid.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,219,315 utilizes a fluid based simulator to simulate rapids or waves. This allows the simulation device to simulate a river or other body of water including waves or rapids such as to simulate a white water rafting experience.
What is needed is a device and method to enhance a user's haptic 3-D experience and to provide an improved interactive 3-D experience to simulate flying or swimming in order to maximize a user's 3-D experience.


An electrode connection structure between outer lead(s) of TCP(s), being first circuit board(s), and actuator member electrode(s) for connection to external circuitry, being second circuit board(s); actuator member(s) electrode(s) for connection to external circuitry being formed in or on floor(s) of recess(es) which is/are step(s) smaller in magnitude than thickness(es) of outer lead(s) protruding from polyimide substrate(s) of TCP(s); adhesive(s) having thickness(es) more or less equal to difference(s) between step(s) and thickness(es) of outer lead(s); and outer lead(s) being electrically and mechanically connected to electrode(s) for connection to external circuitry.

This application claims priority under 35 USC 119(a) to Patent Application No. 2004-185351 filed in Japan on 23 Jun. 2004, the content of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present invention relates to an electrode connection structure for use between/among circuit boards and to an electrode connection structure for use between/among inkjet head(s), semiconductor device(s), liquid crystal display panel(s), MEMS (microelectromechanical system) device(s), and/or the like and circuit board(s) such as flexible wiring board(s).
An electrode connection structure for use between an inkjet head and a flexible wiring board is proposed at Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2002-127422 and elsewhere.
Referring to FIG. 9 (a) through (b), a conventional inkjet head will be described in general terms.
An ink chamber comprising a plurality of grooves is formed by lamination of actuator member 100, which is such that piezoelectric material subjected to poling in the thickness direction is laminated together so as to cause polarization directions to be in mutual opposition and which is such that a plurality of grooves are formed in the piezoelectric material; cover member 110, in which ink supply port 111 and common ink chamber 112 are formed; and nozzle plate 120, having nozzle hole 121. Note that the location at which nozzle plate 120 is arranged is taken to be the front end of the ink chamber, and the location opposite to this front end is taken to be the back end of the ink chamber.
The ink chambers are divided by means of partitions, ink chamber electrodes 101 for application of electric field(s) being formed on these partitions.
Formed at the back end of the ink chamber is R-shaped region 102, which is fabricated so as to be R-shaped; and also flat region 103, which serves as electrode lead region for connection with external circuitry. Furthermore, connection electrode 132 of flexible wiring board 130, on which is mounted drive IC (integrated circuit) 131, and electrode 104, which is formed over flat region 103 and which is for connection to inkjet head external circuitry, are electrically and mechanically connected by way of intervening ACF 15 (anisotropic electrically conductive film) 140, in which electrically conductive particles 142 are dispersed throughout epoxy-type resin binder 141.
Here, at the electrode connection region shown at FIG. 9 (b), connection electrode 132 of flexible wiring board 130 protrudes from the board substrate, made up of polyimide, by an amount corresponding to thickness T7 of connection electrode 132; moreover, inkjet head electrode 104 for connection to external circuitry protrudes from the inkjet head substrate, made up of piezoelectric material, by an amount corresponding to thickness T8 of inkjet head electrode 104 for connection to external circuitry. Accordingly, with a conventional electrode connection structure employing ACF 140 or other such adhesive, the thickness of ACF 140 intervening between adjacent electrodes will be approximately (T7+T8); or more accurately, this thickness will be the aforementioned (T7+T8) plus the thickness of the electrically conductive particles in the ACF when in its connected state.
By applying electric potentials of opposite phase to electrodes that face each other by way of intervening partitions at electrodes formed on partitions which form ink chambers, an inkjet head module formed as described above can be driven in shear mode. That is, partitions of ink chambers at lamination boundaries of partitions of ink chambers laminated so as to cause polarization direction to be oriented symmetrically in the thickness direction undergo deformation in v-like fashion; and by utilizing the change in volume within the ink chamber and the change in ink pressure within the ink chamber that occurs in accompaniment thereto, ink droplet(s) can be jetted from small nozzle(s) arranged at the front end of the ink chamber.
Referring to FIGS. 10 through 12, a method by which electrode(s) within ink chamber(s) in a conventional inkjet head are made to extend to the flat region will next be described.
Dry film resist 150 is laminated onto the main surface of the actuator member, photolithography is employed to create resist openings 151 only at portions of flat region 103 (see FIG. 12) at which electrodes are to be formed, and expose and develop operations are carried out. Dicing blade 160 of a dicer is then made to move in the direction indicated by arrow D101 (see FIG. 10) so as to half-dice the piezoelectric material, as a result of which the groove that will later become the ink chamber is formed, and dicing blade 160 is raised to form R-shaped region 102 at the back end of the ink chamber in correspondence to the diameter of the dicing blade. At this time, R-shaped region 102 is made to reach resist opening 151 in dry film resist 150 at flat region 103. After the ink chamber array is formed in this fashion, sputtering and/or plating technique(s) are employed to form metal film(s) comprising Al (aluminum), Cu (copper), Ni (nickel), and/or other such metal electrode material(s) within the ink chambers to form electrodes. Furthermore, in similar fashion, metal film(s) are also formed, forming electrodes, at resist openings 151 in dry film resist 150 at flat region 103 and R-shaped region 102 at the back end of the ink chamber to form inkjet head external circuitry connection electrodes 104 for connection to external circuitry.
Referring to FIG. 9, a conventional method for connecting inkjet head electrode(s) for connection to the exterior and flexible wiring board(s) will next be described.
Following alignment of inkjet head electrode 104 for connection to external circuitry, which is formed over flat region 103 of the aforementioned inkjet head, and connection electrode 132 of flexible wiring board 130, to which ACF 140 has previously been attached in preliminary fashion, a heating tool, not shown, is used to apply heat and pressure to electrically and mechanically connect inkjet head electrode 104 for connection to external circuitry and connection electrode 132 of flexible wiring board 130, completing the ACF connection operation.
Furthermore, in addition to connection between an inkjet head and flexible wiring board as has been described above, patent references (e.g., Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. H06-23996 (1994), Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. H10-44418 (1998), Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. H10-100403 (1998),Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2000-127404, and Japanese Patent Application Publication Kokai No. 2002-127422) have proposed connection between flexible wiring board and rigid printed wiring board, and connection between semiconductor device and flexible wiring board, but just as was the case for conventional connection structures between inkjet heads and flexible wiring boards, these are such that the thickness of ACF or other such adhesive at the electrode connection region is the same as, or is the same as or more than, the thickness of the electrode protruding from the board substrate.
A variety of problems such as the following can arise when a conventional circuit board connection structure as has been described above is employed to connect device(s) to circuit board(s) or is employed to connect circuit board(s) to circuit board(s).
With a conventional electrode connection structure between inkjet head(s) and flexible wiring board(s) employing adhesive(s), the thickness of the ACF or other such adhesive between the boards may be greater than or equal to the thickness of the two electrodes being connected. Adhesive typically having a high coefficient of linear expansion (60 ppm/° C. to 150 ppm/° C.), because a rise in temperature at the electrode connection region will cause adhesive at the electrode connection region to expand by a large amount, with thermal stresses acting in a direction such as will tend to spread the electrodes apart, there has been the problem of occurrence of electrical continuity failures. Furthermore, there has been the problem that the high magnitude of the strain experienced by adhesive with change in temperature causes adhesive force to deteriorate, and there has been the problem of early failure during thermal cycling reliability testing.
Furthermore, just as was the case for the inkjet head electrode connection structure described above, conventional electrode connection structures between circuit boards, e.g., such as those between flexible wiring board(s) and rigid wiring board(s), have the problems of electrical continuity failures at elevated temperature and early deterioration in reliability with thermal cycling.
The present invention was conceived in light of such state of affairs, it being an object thereof to provide a circuit board electrode connection structure having high reliability as a result of prevention of early deterioration in reliability with thermal cycling due to reduction in magnitude of strain due to thermal stress and/or prevention of occurrence of electrical continuity failures.

Circuit board electrode connection structure


A method for causing information including at least FAX messages sent via a telephone system to be subjected to prespecified actions at a FAX receiving station. A telephone call is initiated via the telephone system to the FAX receiving station by dialing a telephone number sufficient to route the telephone call to the FAX receiving station, the telephone number also being sufficient to determine the prespecified actions to which the FAX message is to be subjected at the receiving end. The telephone number is carried through the telephone system in the form of a telephone address signal as part of the call initiation process. The telephone call being initiated is directed to the FAX receiving station, based on the telephone address signal. The telephone call is answered at the FAX receiving station, and the telephone address signal is received at the FAX receiving station. Action information is stored which associates with each possible telephone address signal, a prespecified action to be taken with respect to each received FAX message corresponding to the telephone address signal. When the call has been established, the FAX message is sent via the telephone system to the FAX receiving station. The sent FAX message is received at the FAX receiving station. Then the received FAX message is handled in accordance with the prespecified action.

This invention relates to facsimile (FAX) communication.
Typically, in FAX communication, a FAX machine is connected directly via a telephone company line to the telephone company central office for access to the public switched telephone network. When remote telephone subscriber wants to send a facsimile to a local FAX machine, he gets access to the local FAX machine by dialing its telephone number. When the FAX machine answers, the remote telephone subscriber sends his FAX message.
When the sending party wants to identify the person who is to receive the FAX message, he typically writes that information on a cover sheet; someone at the local FAX machine then delivers the FAX message to the intended recipient based on the information on the cover sheet. In some FAX systems, the intended recipients can be indicated electronically by information which is exchanged after the call has been established. Typically, the information is communicated in accordance with a proprietary protocol restricted to machines of a given manufacturer.
One such scheme uses binary information that is passed (using Non-standard Facilities) as part of the FAX machine handshake. For example, the CCITT standard T.30 permits the use of Non-standard Facilities for providing such information. Such Non-standard Facilities have been used, for example, to set up mailbox facilities for FAX messages with the calling machine identifying the mailbox at the called machine to which the FAX message is to be delivered.
In a second arrangement, a FAX machine would use DTMF tones, sent by the originating FAX machine after the call has been established, to identify the intended recipient.
A third proposed technique would rely on special visible markings, on the first or each page of the FAX message, that would be recognized by the receiving FAX machine.


According to one embodiment of the present invention a method for biasing a power amplifier having at least one transistor exhibiting kink anomaly includes providing a bias circuit coupled to a gate of at least one transistor of the power amplifier. The method also includes providing, by the bias circuit, a bias voltage to the gate. The bias circuit has a load characteristic that intersects a current versus gate voltage curve for the gate at a frequency of operation of the power amplifier only once and that exhibits a low impedance at the intersection of the load characteristic with the current versus gate curve of the gate.

Many high power amplifier monolithic microwave integrated circuits (MMICS) at microwave frequencies use GaAs pHEMT transistors. Under compression these power amplifier MMICs can pull gate current due to break down effects, rectification current, or "kink" effect current. The GaAs pHEMT structure built by many of the GaAs foundaries have an anomaly known as "kink" in the current-voltage curves of the gate of the transistor. This "kink" anomaly, renders difficult operation of a transistor at a particular gate voltage, because the load line of an associated bias circuit may intersect the gate current versus voltage curve at more than one location. Other technologies also exhibit this "kink" effect, including a relatively new technology involving GaN.
Known attempts to address the known "kink" problem include using resistor dividers with significantly higher current levels. This results in a load line for the bias circuit that avoids the kink in the gate current versus voltage curve. A problem with this approach is that it pulls more current from the supply voltage, which is not necessarily desirable. It is also sometimes possible to use a digital to analog converter to set the gate voltage to the power amplifier, but this requires an entire application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) to provide gate bias, which can be costly.
Most attempts to address the current-voltage kink and the impact to device performance focus on material science to try and remove the "kink" anomaly from the transistor. These approaches involve changing the doping profile of the transistor and changing the material structure of the transistor.

Method and system for biasing power amplifiers with kink anomaly


A light emitting device includes a region of first conductivity type, a region of second conductivity type, an active region, and an electrode. The active region is disposed between the region of first conductivity type and the region of second conductivity type and the region of second conductivity type is disposed between the active region and the electrode. The active region has a total thickness less than or equal to about 0.25λn and has a portion located between about 0.6λn and 0.75λn from the electrode, where λn is the wavelength of light emitted by the active region in the region of second conductivity type. In some embodiments, the active region includes a plurality of clusters, with a portion of a first cluster located between about 0.6λn and 0.75λn from the electrode and a portion of a second cluster located between about 1.2λn and 1.35λn from the electrode.

1. Field of Invention
The invention is related to light emitting devices with reflective contacts.
2. Description of Related Art
Semiconductor light emitting devices such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) are among the most efficient light sources currently available. Material systems currently of interest in the manufacture of high brightness LEDs capable of operation across the visible spectrum include group III-V semiconductors, particularly binary, ternary, and quaternary alloys of gallium, aluminum, indium, and nitrogen, also referred to as III-nitride materials; and binary, ternary, and quaternary alloys of gallium, aluminum, indium, and phosphorus, also referred to as III-phosphide materials. Often III-nitride devices are epitaxially grown on sapphire, silicon carbide, or III-nitride substrates and III-phosphide devices are epitaxially grown on gallium arsenide by metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD) molecular beam epitaxy (MBE) or other epitaxial techniques. Often, an n-type layer (or layers) is deposited on the substrate, then an active region is deposited on the n-type layers, then a p-type layer (or layers) is deposited on the active region. The order of the layers may be reversed such that the p-type layers are adjacent to the substrate. Needed in the art are LED structures that increase the amount of light extracted from the device.

Light emitting devices with compact active regions


The present invention relates to a system and method to facilitate data mining applications and automated evaluation of models for continuous variable data. In one aspect, a system is provided that facilitates decision tree learning. The system includes a learning component that generates non-standardized data that relates to a split in a decision tree and a scoring component that scores the split as if the non-standardized data at a subset of leaves of the decision tree had been shifted and/or scaled. A modification component can also be provided for a respective candidate split score on the decision tree, wherein the above data or data subset can be modified by shifting and/or scaling the data and a new score is computed on the modified data. Furthermore, an optimization component can be provided that analyzes the data and determines whether to treat the data as if it was: (1) shifted, (2) scaled, or (3) shifted and scaled.

When learning decision trees for continuous variables (or other types), a scoring criterion employed to evaluate how well a tree fits a set of data is often a function of a prior distribution over respective parameters of the tree. In many instances, it is desirable that this prior information have as little effect on the resulting tree as possible. For example, assuming Normal distributed data, when modeling linear regressions in the leaves of a decision tree, a Bayesian scoring criterion generally requires a prior mean on respective inputs (regressors), a prior mean on a target, and a prior covariance matrix over the inputs and the target. Without knowing the domain of the problem, it is often difficult to anticipate what a useful set of priors will be. For instance, data could be in a 0.01 to 0.001 range or in a 100 to 1000 range in which case the prior distributions with least effect are very different.
One solution to the above problem is to pre-standardize data so that the data has a mean zero and standard deviation of one, thus utilizing a prior mean of zero for all variables and assuming a prior covariance matrix to be diagonal (i.e., assume apriori that all variables are independent). One problem with this solution is that after splitting on a variable in the decision tree, the data that results in different leaf nodes may have very different ranges, and therefore the original problem with the parameter prior is postponed until later in the learning algorithm It is also not favorable to shift or scale data each time a new split is considered in the tree, as this will generally cause an enormous runtime performance reduction due to the additional scaling or shifting operations. To illustrate scaling and shifting of data, the following example is provided.
A variable xk can be employed to denote a variable in some domain. A variable xi denotes a vector of values for a set of variables in the ith case in the data. A variable xik denotes a value of the variable xk in the ith case. For example, if the data is:
x1x2x3Case 1145Case 2987
Then, x1=(1,4,5) and x22=8.
Shifting the n cases x1, . . . , xn is defined as subtracting, for each variable xk, a mean mk=Σi=1nxik/n from each case.
After shifting the data above yields:
x1x2x3Case 1−4−2−1Case 2421
Scaling the cases is defined as dividing the value of each variable in each case by the standard deviation for that variable. The standard deviation for a variable is defined as:
      SD              (              x        k            )                            1        n                                    ∑                      i            =            1                    n                                                                                (                                          x                i                k                            -                              m                k                                      )                    2
(As can be appreciated, there are alternative formulas for standard deviation.)
In this example: SD(x1)=4, SD(x2)=2, SD(x3)=1, and thus the scaled data is
x1x2x3Case 11/44/25Case 29/48/27
Generally, standardizing the cases is defined as first shifting and then scaling the data. The result is that each variable will have a mean of zero and a standard deviation of one in the data. As can be appreciated, with larger data sets and number of cases, and as decision tress grow in complexity, standardizing operations can be quite burdensome in terms of system performance such as the large amount of computer computations that may be required to perform such operations.

Dynamic standardization for scoring linear regressions in decision trees


An improved apparatus for manually manipulating a surgical laser beam is disclosed. The preferred embodiment of the invention includes a mirror nominally positioned at a 45 degree angle to the incident laser beam, a joy stick for manipulating the mirror, and a linkage interconnecting the two. The mirror is mounted to allow it to rotate about two mutually perpendicular and intersecting axes. The linkage operates to direct the reflected laser beam in two orthogonal dimensions such that a ratio between the movement of the reflected beam in each dimension is equivalent to the ratio of the movement of the joy stick in each dimension. This yields a reflected laser beam that moves a distance proportional to the amount of motion input to the joy stick. The reduction or amplification ratio between the input motion and the reflected laser beam motion remains constant, regardless of the direction of motion. In this manner, by moving the joy stick in a circular motion, the reflected laser beam also moves in a circular motion, rather than in an elliptical motion. A simplified joint that allows spherical rotation and axial translation between its two members is also disclosed. In the preferred embodiment, an adjustable hand rest is provided that moves out of the way when not in use.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus for accurately positioning a laser beam used during surgery, and more specifically to apparatus which uses a manually manipulated mirror to direct the laser beam to the intended target area on the patient.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
For over fifteen years, laser energy has been used routinely in major and minor surgical procedures. Various surgical laser applications are found in such areas as plastic surgery, dermatology, ophthalmology, otolaryngology, neurological surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, gastroenterology, urology, and general surgery. These procedures typically require precise positioning of a laser beam on the tissue being operated on.
A surgical laser manipulating system currently in use is the MICROLITE manufactured by Coherent Medical Division in Palo Alto, Calif. A remote laser unit typically delivers a laser beam (or beams) to this micromanipulator through an articulated delivery arm. A set of adjustable optics are located between the articulated arm and the micromanipulator to allow the surgeon to adjust the focus of the beam. The micromanipulator system, focusing optics, and viewing optics may be mounted on a movable arm or stand to allow the surgeon to roughly position this equipment in the proper location relative to the patient.
Once the laser beam enters the micromanipulator unit, the beam is deflected by a mirror through approximately ninety degrees towards the patient's tissue that is to be operated on. The mirror is manipulated by the surgeon through a joy stick which is connected to the mirror by way of a simple linkage. The mirror is mounted in gimbals to allow it to rotate several degrees in any direction from its central position. A bracket attached to the inner frame of the mirror directly connects to a spherical joint located in the joy stick ball. For accurate positioning, the linkage reduces the motion of the joy stick so that a larger amount of movement of the joy stick is required for a smaller amount of movement of the mirror.
Only a small portion in the center of the mirror is highly reflective to visible light. This allows the surgeon to view the operation through the rest of the mirror, looking approximately parallel to the laser beam that is reflected off of the mirror. In a typical arrangement, the viewing optics are located above and to the front of the micromanipulator unit, the joy stick is angled upward from the front side of the unit, and the laser beam enters the back side of the unit through the focusing optics and exits through the bottom to the target area on the patient.
During a surgical procedure, a low-energy, visible laser beam, such as a helium-neon laser, is directed through the articulated delivery arm and focusing optics, reflected off of the mirror, and out the bottom of the micromanipulator unit. The surgeon moves the equipment into place over the patient with the aid of the low-powered beam and positions the beam on the exact spot he desires by looking through the viewing optics and moving the joy stick to manipulate the beam. When the surgeon is ready to operate, a high-powered laser beam, such as an invisible carbon dioxide beam, is activated, often by a foot switch, and the high-energy beam travels down the same optical path as the low-energy beam to the same target point. In some procedures, the joy stick may then be used to further move the target point while the high-energy beam is still activated.
This existing micromanipulator system has some shortcomings. Because of the simplicity of the linkage joining the joy stick to the mirror and because of the angle of the mirror in relation to the laser beam, the ratio of laser beam movement to joy stick movement is significantly smaller in the horizontal (left and right) direction of the joy stick than it is in the vertical (forward and back) direction. In other words, if the surgeon moves the joy stick in a circular motion, the laser beam spot on the patient will move in an elliptical path.
Another disadvantage in the existing system is the obstruction of vision caused by the linkage connecting the mirror to the joy stick. In order to get fairly linear and symmetrical motion in the vertical axis, the linkage must connect to the gimballed mirror bracket near its center. This part of the linkage and bracket cover a central portion of the mirror from top to bottom, thereby blocking some of the surgeon's view.
An additional drawback associated with this system is the occurrence of arm and hand fatigue experienced by the surgeon when operating the joy stick. The size of the housing of the micromanipulator has been made as small as possible so that it does not interfere with the patient when it is being positioned and so that the surgeon can see and reach around it. This leaves the joy stick protruding out from the unit with no way of steadying the hand for more accurate and comfortable laser positioning. To overcome this problem, various forms of hand rests have been used. However, the prior hand rests have had limited adjustability and could not be easily moved away from the front of the micromanipulator.
Also, a small amount of play or backlash can occur in the linkage because of the construction of the spherical joint connecting the joy stick and the mirror.

Micromanipulator apparatus for surgical laser


A computer-implemented method of providing unified event monitoring and log processing is disclosed. The method comprises receiving streaming event data comprising a plurality of event entries from a plurality of domains including a cloud manager for a cloud platform and an application running within a container on the cloud platform; processing the streaming event data into a normalized, domain-independent format; evaluating a plurality of policy rules on the streaming event data, wherein the plurality of policy rules is defined with a unified syntax; and in response to the evaluating satisfying a condition of a first rule of the plurality of policy rules, transmitting to a remote device data related to an action defined in the first rule, wherein the receiving, processing, evaluating, and transmitting for each event entry for the plurality of event entries are performed in real time.

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.
Programmatic containers ("containers") encapsulate computer program applications within individual, relatively isolated runtime environments. For example, a container may bundle into a single package an application program with its dependencies, libraries, and configuration files. Thus, containers enable portability across different operating systems and different hardware environments. In other words, containers provide many of the benefits of virtual machine instances. At the same time, containers use significantly fewer resources than virtual machine instances. For example, a container may be several megabytes in size, whereas a virtual machine instance may be several gigabytes in size.
One reason for this difference is that a container uses the operating system kernel of its host computer, whereas a virtual machine instance includes an entire operating system that runs on top of the operating system kernel of its host computer. This lightweight aspect of containers makes them popular alternatives to virtual machine instances for developing computer program applications. For example, a computer program application may be deployed at one or more times as a set of containers. Furthermore, each container may include a set of code that exhibits simplified dependencies and/or is otherwise streamlined for performance efficiency.
Events related to containerized applications can be captured and analyzed using a policy engine, which specifies and enforces rules that govern the execution of such containerized applications. These days, containerized applications often run on a cloud platform, where events can occur at various levels to various components of the cloud platform, such as namespaces or cluster nodes. All such events could affect the execution of containerized applications or otherwise be of interest to application owners. It would therefore be helpful to broaden the scope of the policy engine to cover additional events to detect and catch all relevant policy violations in real time.
On the other hand, to monitor cloud activities for performance issues, intrusion detection, forensic analysis, and other tasks, cloud log files are generated and stored on cloud nodes. Conventionally, these log files are exported to external log analysis services to perform analysis tasks. The external log analysis services translate the log files into full featured heavyweight databases that use open ended database queries to perform any analysis tasks. The export and indexing typically require extensive computing resources. On the other hand, reducing the amount of log data exported and indexed would often reduce the accuracy of log data analysis. Therefore, it would be helpful to find an alternative method of processing logs from multiple domains while reducing the costs of performing analysis tasks.

Unified event processing and log management over multiple domains


The invention relates to extended-release formulations comprising: (i) a poorly water-soluble active pharmaceutical ingredient; and (ii) a non-aqueous liquid vehicle comprising (a) a hydrophobic lipid comprising a glyceryl ester of a C6-C24 fatty acid, or (b) a hydrophilic organic compound selected from the group consisting of polyethylene glycol, propylene glycol, glycerin, and dimethylsulfoxide, or (c) a combination of (a) and (b), and (iii) an amphiphilic agent wherein the active pharmaceutical ingredient is dispersed as discrete particles having a D90 particle size of about 0.5 μm to about 25 μm in the formulation, and wherein the formulation is non-gelling and thixotropic with a viscosity of less than 10 poise at a shear rate of 10/s at 25° C.

More than 150 million (about 2.4%) of world population has been diagnosed with schizophrenia and bipolar syndrome. Approximately 3 million (7.2 out of 1000) individuals in the United States (U.S.) reportedly suffer from schizophrenia, and the United States has a lifetime rate of schizophrenia bipolar disorder at 4.4%. People with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder are at risk for substance abuse and suicide, and treatments include psychiatric care and medication. Bipolar disorders and schizophrenia are chronic conditions. Approximately 10-20% of people with a bipolar disorder commit suicide while many more attempt suicide unsuccessfully. Fortunately, the worst symptoms may be controlled and stabilized with proper medication, and with adherence to the prescribed regimens.
In spite of recent progress in the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar syndrome, non-adherence to medication regimens, reportedly estimated to be as high as 72%, continues to be a frequent phenomenon. Patient non-compliance to medication regimens is a cause of impairment, hospitalization, higher risk of suicide, longer time to remission, poorer prognosis, unemployment, dangerous behavior, arrest, violence, drug and alcohol consumption, psychiatric emergencies, poor mental performance and may be associated with high costs. For example, the reported national re-hospitalization cost in the U.S., attributable to non-adherence with antipsychotic medications was estimated at approximately $1.5 trillion per year in 2005 (Sun et al, Curr. Med. Res. Opin. 2007 Oct; 23(10):2305-12). Thus the effective management of schizophrenia and bipolar syndrome calls for compliance with medication regimens. Use of a long acting injectable product provides very high assurance of patient compliance in addition to many other advantages when compared with conventional formulations of the same compounds. These advantages include: a predictable drug-release profile during a defined period of time following each injection; improved systemic availability by avoidance of first-pass metabolism; reduced dosing frequency (i.e., fewer injections) without compromising the effectiveness of the treatment; decreased incidence of side effects; and overall cost reduction of medical care.
Lurasidone is an atypical antipsychotic drug belonging to the chemical class of benzisothiazol derivatives. Latuda® Lurasidone Hydrochloride (HCl), immediate-release Tablets, produced by Sunovion Pharmaceuticals Inc., is marketed in the U.S. as an atypical antipsychotic drug for the treatment of schizophrenia and depressive episodes associated with bipolar I disorder (bipolar depression).
Unlike other atypical antipsychotics including, clozapine, olanzapine, and quetiapine that have moderate to high metabolic effects, lurasidone has low metabolic effects including low weight gain, low diabetes risk and low dyslipidemia risk (Citrome L., Clin Schizophr Relat Psychoses 2011; 4:251-7; Leucht et al, Lancet 2013; 382:951-62). In contrast to aripiprazole, asenapine, iloperidone, olanzapine, paliperidone, quetiapine, risperidone, and ziprasidone which can lead to a prolongation of QT interval (the time between the start of the Q wave and the end of the T wave in the heart's electrical cycle) and cause cardiac arrhythmias; the risk of QT interval prolongation is lower with lurasidone, and lurasidone can be used with patients who have long QT intervals, a history of cardiac arrhythmias, or with medications that prolong the QT interval (www.accessdata.fda.gov/drugsatfda_docs/label/2013/200603lbls10s11.pdf).
In addition to the benefits of increased medication compliance attained through the proper formulation of a long acting injection dosage form, an injectable formulation may also increase the bioavailability of lurasidone. The oral bioavailability of the currently marketed Latuda® Lurasidone HCl, immediate-release Tablets is about 9% to 19% due to high first pass effect (www.tga.gov.au/auspar/auspar-lurasidone-hydrochloride). Because the bioavailability of drugs can be improved via the injectable route of administration, an extended-release long acting lurasidone injectable formulation may provide a higher level of bioavailability after intramuscular or subcutaneous administration (≥75%) than the oral route (howmed.net/pharmacology/bioavailability-of-drugs). The increase in bioavailability of an injectable formulation can provide therapeutic plasma concentration levels with a dose that can be administered intramuscularly or subcutaneously once every week, once every month, or once every three months. Owing to the improved bioavailability, the total injected dose can be much lower than the daily dose required over the same time period, thus reducing toxicity and improving patient compliance.
There are several long acting injectable atypical antipsychotic products on the market, specifically, Ability® Aripiprazole extended release injection produced by Otsuka America Pharmaceutical, Inc., Invega Sustenna® and Invega Trinza® Paliperidone Palmitate extended release injections produced by Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Risperidal Consta® Risperidone long acting injection produced by Janssen Pharmaceuticals. These dosage forms consist of drug particles as a powder (Abilify®) or aqueous suspension (Invega Sustenna® and Trinza®) or drug embedded in biodegradable polymer matrix (Risperidal Consta®) particles as powder to be dispersed or ready to use as suspensions of particles in aqueous media. Although aqueous media is commonly used in injectable dosage forms, such media has drawbacks including chemical instability through hydrolytic reactions, particle agglomeration and crystal growth, particle sedimentation due to the low viscosity of water, variation of pH and tonicity, and microbial growth in the dosage form.
A non-aqueous formulation, primarily oil-based, may overcome some of the drawbacks of aqueous-based formulations. Examples of oil-based long acting injections include formulations wherein the drug is solubilized in vegetable oil, e.g., Depo-Testosterone® testosterone cypionate (Pfizer), Haldol Deconate® haloperidol deconate (Ortho-McNeil Neurologics), and Fasoldex® fulvestrant (AstraZeneca). Previously, oil-based injectable formulations were not used for drugs insoluble in oils. Since oil-based formulations tend to have higher viscosities, addition of insoluble particles, e.g., suspended particles, may further increase viscosity and render the formulations non-syringeable and non-injectable. To date, the oil-based injectables are applicable only to drugs that are soluble in oil-based vehicles.


A projectile trap assembly for capturing projectiles emitted along a line substantially parallel to a ground surface includes a support frame generally inclined relative to the line of the projectiles; a primary volume of particulate material disposed on the support frame for slowing down and capturing the projectiles, the primary volume including a target region in which a majority of the projectiles are captured; and the support frame having a trap door positioned proximate the target region, the trap door being arranged and configured to allow a portion of the primary volume of particulate material coinciding generally with the target region to be removed from the trap assembly through the support frame.

Projectile trap assemblies or backstop assemblies have been known whose object is to slow down and capture projectiles fired into them from a specified distance. The following U.S. patents have disclosed examples of different types of projectile trap assemblies or backstop assemblies: U.S. Pat. No. 5,171,020 issued to Wojcinski; U.S. Pat. No. 5,340,117 issued to Wojcinski; U.S. Pat. No. 5,435,571 issued to Wojcinski et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,607,163 issued to Nesler. In these patents, various target backstop assemblies using particulate granulated material are disclosed. The granulate material traps the projectiles. After a period of time of use, the granulate material may be saturated so that the granulate material and the entrapped projectiles or projectile fragments are transferred to be recovered and reconditioned thereafter. The reconditioned granulated material is re-used in the assembly. These types of assemblies may be used for a period of time depending on their trapping capacity. The longer, wider, and thicker the granulated material of the trap assembly is, the larger the capacity of the assembly has, and the less frequent the trap assembly needs to be transferred and recycled. However, the size of the trap assembly does not ultimately determine the trapping capacity. Most of the projectiles are generally trapped in a certain region of the granulated material, which need to be removed and recycled frequently, whereas the projectiles trapped in the other regions of the granulated material do not.
Therefore, a substantial need exists for a trap assembly which is capable of recovering and recycling a designated region of the granulated material of the trap assembly so as to prolong the use of the trap assembly before the entire trap assembly needs to be recycled.


An antenna structure includes a main antenna, a diversity antenna, and at least one accessorial antenna. The main antenna extends in a main antenna direction. The diversity antenna is spaced apart from the main antenna and extends in a first radiation direction substantially parallel to the main antenna direction. The at least one accessorial antenna extends in a second radiation direction which is substantially perpendicular to either the main antenna direction or the first radiation direction.

A MIMO antenna technology uses two or more antennas (usually including a main antenna and a diversity antenna) at each base station and mobile communication terminal carrying data and receiving and detecting signals. Radiation efficiency, isolation, and envelope correlation coefficient (ECC) are important parameters for measurement of a performance of the MIMO antenna.
Usually, an ECC of the MIMO antenna system is required to be less than 0.5, and the ECC between the main antenna and the diversity antenna is lower, a data inaccuracy probability decoded by a receiving terminal of the MIMO antenna is also lower.

Antenna structure and wireless communication device empolying same


A method simulating an occurrence of an air pocket in an object to be coated is provided with steps of: setting an initial boundary element; setting an element having a common nodal point with the initial boundary element as a flanking element; analyzing the flanking element; setting the analyzed flanking element as a secondary boundary element; setting an element having a common nodal point with the secondary boundary element as a flanking element; analyzing the flanking element; and determining whether there is a remaining flanking element. When there is a remaining flanking element, a secondary boundary setting step and a second analysis step are repeatedly performed, until no remaining flanking element is determined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of simulating an occurrence of an air pocket in an object to be immersed in a coating material tank and a program executable by a computer for executing the method. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method and a program for simulating the occurrence of the air pocket in the object by dividing a shape data of the object into two-dimensional elements to thereby perform analysis thereon.
2. Related Art
Coating methods, for example, a plating method of immersing an object to be coated, such as a semiconductor or a vehicle body of an automobile, in a coating material tank filled with molten metal to thereby coat the object, and an electrodeposition coating method of immersing an object to be coated in a coating material tank filled with electrodeposition liquid to thereby coat the object, have advantages in that a coating film is substantially uniform in thickness, and that also, a weld part of the object can be coated. On the other hand, such coating methods have a drawback in that in a case where an air pocket occurs in a concave portion provided in a complicatedly shaped component or in a depressed portion of the inner surface of a hood or a roof, or the bottom surface of a floor of an automobile, no coating area can be formed in this portion.
Accordingly, the shape of the object to be coated is appropriately designed to prevent an occurrence of the air pocket. Then, the object is immersed (see, for example, JP-A-10-045037).
Meanwhile, it can preliminarily be determined by a known analysis method, which utilizes a free surface, whether an air pocket occurs in the object. However, analysis has hitherto been performed by dividing a shape data of an analysis object into three-dimensional elements. Thus, in a case where the object is complex in shape like a vehicle body, the analysis is complex. Consequently, it has been time-consuming to simulate a place at which an air pocket occurs.
A problem to be solved by the invention is to efficiently simulate an occurrence of an air pocket, which is formed in an object to be coated when the object is immersed in a liquid coating material to coat the object therewith, by simplifying analysis.

Method and program for simulating occurrence of air pocket


An image forming apparatus includes an image carrier, an exposure mechanism, a latent-image forming mechanism, at least one image forming mechanism including a development mechanism to develop the latent image, an intermediate transfer member disposed to contact the image carrier, a primary transfer mechanism to transfer a toner image on the image carrier and superimpose one toner image on another on the intermediate transfer member, a secondary transfer mechanism to transfer the toner image superimposed on the intermediate transfer member onto a transfer material, an asperity detector to detect an asperity profile of a surface of the transfer material to identify a concavity of the transfer material, and a toner adhesion control mechanism to increase an amount of the toner transferred to intermediate transfer member according to the concavities in the surface of the transfer material identified by an asperity detector, after a predetermined time elapses.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copier, a printer, and a facsimile machine, and more particularly, to an electrophotographic image forming apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
Various types of transfer materials, such as copy sheets, are used in image forming apparatuses such as copiers, printers, facsimile machines, and the like. Depending on the purpose of image formation, a transfer material that has a rough surface, that is, a material having surface asperities, is sometimes preferred. However, when such a rough-surfaced transfer material (hereinafter "rough material") is used for printing, there is a possibility that an image formed thereon might be disturbed during the transfer process, which is a process of transferring a toner image onto the transfer material. In particular, where the surface asperities are relatively significant, gaps are created between the transfer material and the toner image that is formed on the toner image carrier that carries the toner image. Those gaps can destabilize a transfer electric field used to transfer the toner image from the image carrier, resulting in image failures such as white voids in which toner is partly absent, inconsistencies in lightness, and image density unevenness.
Several approaches described below have been proposed to prevent such image failures.
In one known image forming apparatus, an image carrier such as an intermediate transfer belt is vibrated by ultrasound to weaken adhesion between the toner and the image carrier so that the image can be transferred to the transfer material even if the electric field is unstable in the gap portions. However, in such an image forming apparatus including a vibration member, vibration noise is generated, which can annoy users. Additionally, the vibration tends to shorten the working life of other members such as the image carrier.
In another known image forming apparatus, to print high quality multicolor images, the image carrier such as an intermediate transfer belt includes an elastic layer, and its surface that carries toner is designed to have a surface micro hardness within a predetermined range to follow the asperities in the surface of the recording medium, thus reducing the gaps. However, in this known image forming apparatus, the cost of forming the elastic layer on the image carrier is relatively high. Further, this configuration cannot accommodate tiny gaps.
In another known approach, the image forming apparatus is a direct transfer type. The image forming apparatus includes an information acquisition mechanism that acquires information related to a surface structure of the transfer material, and a control mechanism that varies the degree of toner adhesion depending on the degree of surface roughness of the transfer material as indicated by the information related to the surface structure of the transfer material. Then, when a sheet reading mechanism in the information acquisition mechanism detects that the sheet has a rough surface, the control mechanism increases a transfer bias that is applied to a transfer nip during the transfer process by the control mechanism so as to increase the amount of the toner adhering to the sheet.
However, in this known image forming apparatus, although the sheet reading mechanism judges whether the surface of the sheet is rough or smooth, the judgment is made in accordance with the entire surface of transfer material, and adhesion is adjusted by varying the transfer bias.
Therefore, because this mechanism does not adjust the toner amount in accordance with localized concavities in the surface of the sheet, the overall color reproducibility has a problem, and the solid shaded and halftone areas are not balanced.
Additionally, because the toner amount is increased for the entire transfer material, the developer is consumed in excess, which is inefficient.

Image forming apparatus and control method therefor