A lamp holder 11 is made of white synthetic resin by molding such as injection molding. A reflection sheet 12 made of high-reflectance material such as silver or aluminum has a central portion 12a cut out and is affixed to an inner surface 11a of the lamp holder 11. The light reached the inner surface of the lamp holder 11 of light emitted from a lamp 1 is regularly reflected by the reflection sheet 12 and is diffusively reflected by the cutout portion of the reflection sheet 12. A considerable part of the light reflected on the white surface reaches the vicinity of electrode portions 1a of a discharge tube 1 to enter from an incidence end surface of a light guide in the vicinity of electrode portions 1a. Thus, the difference of light-supplying power between the central portion and the end portions (in the vicinity of the electrode portions 1a) of the lamp is compensated. When the reflection sheet made of a resilient material is used, the reflection sheet can be fixed utilizing the resiliency by putting the reflection sheet along the inner curved surface of the lamp holder. Instead of the reflection sheet, metal (silver or aluminum) may be evaporated on the inner surface of the lamp holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface light source device to be applied to a backlighting of a liquid crystal display or the like, and more particularly to a surface light source device having a characterizing feature in a holder for a straight light source (a straight lamp such as a straight discharge tube) for supplying a light guide with light.
2. Related Art
FIGS. 5 and 6 are cross sectional views showing a general structure of a conventional surface light source device. Referring to FIGS. 5 and 6, a surface light source device comprises a straight lamp 1 such as a cold cathode tube, a light guide 2, a diffusive member 3 disposed on an emitting side of the light guide 2, and a reflection member 4 such as a reflection sheet disposed on a side of the light guide 2, which is opposite to the side at which the diffusive member is disposed. The straight lamp 1 is surrounded from its rear side by a lamp holder 11 having a reflection surface inside.
Generally, a discharge tube such as a cold cathode tube is adopted as a straight lamp for use in this type of surface light source device. The discharge tube such as a cold cathode tube has an electrode portion 1a at each of opposite ends thereof, as shown in FIG. 6, and therefore a power of light supply to an incidence end surface 2a of the light guide 2 in the vicinity of the electrode portions 1a is relatively low as compared with the central portion. As a result, an uneven luminance is caused in an emitting surface 2b of the light guide 2.
In an ordinary cold cathode tube, luminance sharply drops in the range of approximately 15% of the full length from the tube ends. FIG. 7 is a graph for showing the drop of luminance, in which the horizontal axis represents a longitudinal position in the tube and the vertical axis represents luminance (nt) of the emitting surface 2b. The origin of the horizontal axis corresponds to one of the opposite ends of the tube. As shown in this graph, in general, luminance sharply drops at positions spaced apart from the opposite ends of the tube by a distance 10-20% of the full length towards the opposite ends and is substantially constant in both portions around the center, each portion occupying approximately 35% of the full length (approximately 70% in total).
As a solution for eliminating the difference of the light-supplying power between the end portions and the central portion, there is known a method of realizing a uniform intensity of the light emitted from the discharge tube by attaching a shading material or a light reflective material to a part of the surface of the discharge tube.
However, according to the above conventional method, as the light emitted from the central portion, which is inherently bright, is suppressed, the total luminance is reduced. Further, as the light reflected by the inner surface of the lamp holder is shielded by the shading material or reflective material attached to the surface of the discharge tube, the efficiency of utilizing the light would be lowered.
Another problem with the conventional method is that the shading material or reflective material pasted on the tube surface tends to be deteriorated or peeled by the heat generated by the discharge tube.
Still another problem is that the luminance of the emitting surface 2b in the vicinity of the side surface 2d tends to be further lowered by the following causes.
A part of the light entered and transmitted in the light guide 2 comes out of the light guide 2 from the side surface 2d. This phenomenon decreases the light emitted from the emitting surface 2b of the light guide 2 in the vicinity of the side surface 2d. The phenomenon results in further drop of luminance of the emitting surface 2b in the vicinity of the side surface 2d when combined with the insufficient light-supplying power in the vicinity of the electrode portions 1a of the straight lamp (discharge tube) 1, as mentioned.
If the side surface 2d of the light guide 2 is made a reflection surface in order to eliminate the leak of light from the side surface 2d, the manufacturing cost of the light guide would increase.
From another point of view, the light guide is usually molded of synthetic resin by an injection molding. In the molding, a gate for pouring resin may be located at the incidence end surface. If the gate is located in such a position, a vestige of a cut-out gate is left in the central portion of the incidence end surface 2a. In the presence of the gate vestige in the central portion of the incidence end surface of the light guide, the light taken from the gate vestige into the guide light is diffused there so that the greater part of the incident light is emitted from the emitting surface 2b immediately near the incidence position.
As a result, the light emitted from the central portion of the incidence end surface 2a becomes relatively intense, thus causing the luminance unevenness.


A lens module includes a seat, a lens holder and a thermal dissipation structure. The seat includes a base plate and two sidewalls perpendicularly formed on a surface of the base plate. The lens holder is mounted on the seat between the two sidewalls. The thermal dissipation structure is mounted on the seat and thermally conducts with the lens holder for cooling the lens holder.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to lens module of a projector and, particularly, to a lens module having a thermal dissipation structure and a projector using the same, which can effectively disperse the heat of the lens module and make it work in a proper temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lens modules are important and essential optical elements used in projectors for modulating light beams emitted from projection lamps and projecting them as a viewable image on a screen. However, when a projector is in operation, heat produced by the lamp raises the temperature inside the projector. If the temperature inside the projector exceeds a critical degree lens holder holding the lens module may be damaged. As a result, the image projected may be deformed and distorted.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a lens module having a thermal dissipation structure and a projector using the same which can overcome the abovementioned problems.

Lens module having thermal dissipation structure with vaulted contacting block and projector using same


A single-piece housing fixed brake caliper is provided with one relatively large piston bore on one side of the rotor and two relatively smaller piston bores on the opposing side of the rotor. The sum of the areas of the two relatively smaller pistons is equal to the area of the one relatively larger piston to provide balanced braking. The side of the caliper housing opposite the two relatively smaller bores contains two access cavities that provide clearance for the tooling that is necessarily positioned within the caliper to machine the bores. Similarly, the side of the caliper housing opposite the one relatively larger bore contains one access cavity that provides clearance for the tooling.

Disc brake calipers are widely used in vehicle braking systems. Calipers are categorized into at least two main types including fixed calipers and sliding calipers. A fixed caliper's housing is generally mounted to the vehicle's steering knuckle or bearing housing by a rigid connection. A sliding caliper's housing is generally mounted to the vehicle's steering knuckle or bearing housing on a guide pin system and through a mounting bracket. By allowing a caliper to slide, forces on each side of the rotor are balanced, even when a piston is only provided on one side of the rotor. With a fixed housing caliper, pistons are provided on opposed sides of the rotor and forces are balanced hydraulically. A fixed caliper may be preferable in many applications since the balancing of forces is achieved in a closed environment that is not subjected to friction causing contaminates.
One way of providing a fixed caliper design, is to use a "one-piece" housing with a plug in the piston bore(s) of one side of the caliper to allow access to machine the bores on the opposite side of the caliper during manufacturing. A drawback of the plug design is that a true one-piece caliper housing is not achieved since the plug itself is a separate piece that requires additional processing and sealing features. An alternative way of making a fixed caliper is to use a two piece design where the caliper housing is split along the longitudinal direction of the vehicle (substantially in the rotational plane of the rotor), so that the two halves can be machined before assembly. This alternative type of caliper also requires additional processing and sealing features.
Even though brake calipers have been in widespread use for many years, a true one piece housing fixed caliper that uses fewer parts and processing steps still remains elusive. Accordingly, a need continues to exist.


Systems and methods are provided for providing a fine-to-coarse look ahead in connection with parametrization in a graphics system. The use of a variety of parametrization metrics may be supplemented and improved by the fine-to-coarse look ahead techniques of the invention. First, the metric of a parametrization is minimized using a coarse-to-fine hierarchical solver, and then accelerated with a fine-to-coarse propagation. The resulting parametrizations have increased texture resolution in surface regions with greater signal detail at all levels of detail in the progressive mesh sequence.

Texture mapping lets a color signal be imaged onto geometry, giving the appearance of detail on coarse triangle meshes. Using textures is generally more efficient than refining the carrier geometry to represent the signal per vertex. While rasterization hardware has supported basic texture mapping for many years, it has recently begun to offer more powerful features. Multitexturing lets several textures contribute to a pixel fragment, and shader expression trees combine these textures using complex operations. In particular, the trend is towards more general programmability.
With this increased rasterization functionality, many surface signals other than color can be used to achieve new rendering effects, including bump mapping (where surface normals are the signal), displacement mapping (geometry), irradiance shading (spherical harmonics), and self-shadowing (horizon maps). These techniques provide further motivation to compress signals defined with vertex attributes into textures parametrized over the mesh.
There are numerous parametrization techniques. For example, Eck et al. propose the discrete harmonic map, which assigns non-uniform springs to the mesh edges. Duchamp et al. investigate multiresolution solution methods for computing harmonic maps. Floater proposes a similar metric with a different edge-spring weighting that guarantees an embedding for convex boundaries. Haker et al. compute conformal maps onto the sphere. Hormann and Greiner propose the MIPS parametrization, which attempts to preserve the ratio of singular values over the parametrization.
Maillot et al. base their metric on mesh edge springs of nonzero rest length, where rest length corresponds to edge length on the surface. Lévy and Mallet use a metric that combines orthogonality and isoparametric terms.
Commonly assigned U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/138,751 (the '751 application) teaches a parametrization technique that focuses on making textures as small as possible for an unknown surface signal. The geometric-stretch metric taught therein minimizes undersampling by integrating the sum of squared singular values over the map. Intuitively, this measures how distances in the domain get stretched when mapped onto the surface.
Thus, many schemes for flattening a surface chart into 2D minimize some form of a geometric distortion metric. Many of these distortion metrics are tailored for the authoring problem of mapping an existing image onto a surface mesh, rather than the problem of sampling a given surface signal.
In addition to geometric distortion metrics, there has also been some work in exploiting knowledge of the surface signal in optimizing parametrization schemes.
With respect to existing works in the area of signal-specialized chart parametrization, given an existing parametrization, Sloan et al. warp the square texture domain onto itself to more evenly distribute a scalar importance field. Terzopolous and Vasilescu approximate a 2D image using a warped grid of sample values. The warping is achieved using a dynamic simulation where grid edge weights are set according to local image content. Hunter and Cohen compress an image as a set of texture-mapped rectangles, obtained by k-d tree subdivision of the image based on frequency content.
With respect to the use of multi-chart parametrization, to avoid excessive distortion, an arbitrary mesh is generally parametrized using multiple charts. At the limit, distortion can be driven to zero by making each triangle its own chart. However, partitioning the surface into many charts has drawbacks. Such partitioning constrains mesh simplification, requires more inter-chart gutter space, leads to mipmap artifacts, and fails to exploit continuity across charts. Thus, a balance should be made between parametrization distortion and the drawbacks of charts. Several existing approaches, such as Eck et al., Garland et al., Krishnamurthy et al., Maillot et al. and Sander et al., directly partition the original mesh, while other schemes, such as Cignoni et al., Lee et al. and Sander, Gu et al., define the charts using mesh simplification. For an interactive 3D painting system, for example, Igarashi arid Cosgrove construct charts based on the history of drawing operations. The texture resolution on a surface region is selected using the viewing resolution at the time the region was last painted. Commonly assigned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/138,289 (the '289 application) discloses a technique that provides improved parametrization optimized in accordance with a surface signal metric for efficient and accurate graphics reconstruction, wherein the technique automatically adapts to the content of the signal, and scales the charts based on this content.
Existing parametrization techniques involve tradeoffs, and may be selected for various reasons. For example, the geometric approaches of Sloan et al., Terzopolous and Vasilescu, and Hunter and Cohen do not take any knowledge of the signal on the surface into account, fail to adequately capture information about signal directionality, which allows the parametrization to squash in the direction across the signal gradient and/or restrict the chart boundary to be a square. Some prior art approaches do not provide continuous solutions that adequately adapt to high frequencies along diagonal directions. Some approaches are too computationally intensive, or are impractically applied.
One application for parametrization schemes of all kinds, utilizing all sorts of metrics, some of which are described above, is to create a progressive mesh (PM) representation, which encodes an arbitrary mesh as a simple base mesh M0 and a sequence of n refinement operations called vertex splits. The PM defines an array {M0 . . . Mn} of level-of-detail (LOD) approximations, and supports geomorphs and progressive transmission. Unlike multiresolution frameworks based on subdivision, the meshes in a PM have irregular connectivities that can accurately model sharp features (e.g., creases and corners) at all scales.
One challenge in the PM framework is handling texture maps. Hardware rasterization features, including bump maps, normal maps, and multitexturing, allow fine detail to be captured in texture images parametrized over the mesh. Processes that implicate sources for textures include sampling detailed scanned meshes, evaluating solid textures, ray tracing, and 3D painting. In this regard, there are various problems associated with parametrizing texture images over all meshes in a PM sequence. One particular problem is that sometimes the transition from a coarse mesh to a fine mesh is not smooth. For example, there may be, relatively speaking, very few samples devoted to a portion of high detail in a coarse mesh, which, when transitioning to the corresponding finely detailed mesh having, relatively speaking, a lot of samples devoted to the same portion of high detail in the fine mesh, causes artifacts as the switchover is made from relatively few samples in the coarse mesh to the relatively high number of samples in the fine mesh.
However, present approaches do not take this into account because earlier approaches represent the detail simply by storing signal values at the mesh vertices. The problem with such an approach is that in a coarser, more simplified mesh, there are many fewer vertices, so the detail defined on the fine mesh cannot be accurately represented using just signal values at the vertices. Hormann, Greiner and Campagna provide techniques relating to hierarchical parametrizations of triangulated surfaces. Their techniques solve a sequence of progressively more refined parametrization problems, e.g., a progressive mesh sequence, but their techniques do not gather any information about finer levels when parametrizing the coarser meshes. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a technique for use in connection with the generation of a progressive mesh sequence, whereby if there is a lot of detail in a region of the fine surface, additional samples are allocated in parametrizing that same region on the coarser meshes.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for providing a fine to coarse look ahead in connection with parametrization metrics in a graphics system


Provided is a building material manufacturing apparatus and a building material manufacturing method that are suitable for efficiently manufacturing a building material while suppressing clogging of a sieve portion for sieving the building raw material. The building material manufacturing apparatus of the present invention includes, for example, a sieve portion 10 and a receiving tool 30. The sieve portion 10 includes a receiving and sending sheet 11 with no sieve openings, onto which the building raw material M is dropped, and at least one sieve sheet 12 with sieve openings that is located below the sheet. The receiving and sending sheet 11 and the sieve sheet 12 can perform undulating motion, are inclined, and are arranged side by side in the inclination direction. The receiving tool 30 is for receiving the building raw material M that has passed through the sieve openings of the sieve portion 10. In the building material manufacturing method of the present invention, for example, in a state in which the receiving and sending sheet 11 and the at least one sieve sheet 12 are performing undulating motion, the building raw material M is dropped onto the receiving and sending sheet 11, moved from the receiving and sending sheet 11 onto the sieve sheet 12, subjected to sieving by the sieve sheet 12, and the portion that passes through the sieve openings of the sieve sheet 12 is accumulated on the receiving tool 30, whereby a mat with at least one layer is formed.

Examples of building material serving as board material for construction for forming an outer wall and an inner wall of a building include inorganic boards such as fiber reinforced cement siding boards and ceramic boards, fiber boards such as particle boards, and resin boards.
As one method for manufacturing these types of building materials, a method is known which includes a step of forming a raw material mat by sieving powder raw material, which is building raw material, through winnowing and accumulating raw materials of a predetermined size resulting from the sieving on a receiving tool or the like, and a step of performing heat pressing on the raw material mat. A building material manufacturing method in which this kind of procedure is used is described in, for example, Patent Document 1 below.

Building material manufacturing apparatus and building material manufacturing method


The present disclosure provides a foot control pattern for operably controlling an electrohydraulic machine. The machine includes a cab, ground engaging mechanisms, a boom, and a bucket. The foot control pattern includes a machine controller having a plurality of inputs. A first foot control is electrically coupled to a first of the plurality of inputs, where the first foot control is adapted to control the boom. A second foot control is electrically coupled to a second of the plurality of inputs, where the second foot control is adapted to control the bucket. A first hand control is electrically coupled to a third of the plurality of inputs, where the first hand control is adapted to propel and steer the machine.

Work machines, such as those in the construction and forestry industries, include different control inputs for performing multiple functions. For instance, a machine may include one or more work implements for performing a specific task. The machine may have different controls for performing the specific task. Conventional machines, for example, may include a steering wheel, joystick, foot pedal, push buttons, dials, switches, levers, and the like for controlling the machine. This includes steering the machine as well as using the work implement.
A machine operator is often using two or more of the controls for operating the machine. This requires the operator to be well-trained and cognizant of his or her surroundings. With so many different controls, the operator must operate the machine in a safe manner. Moreover, most machines only have a single operator to control all of the functions thereof. In some instances, the machine operator may be using both hands to control joysticks, levers, etc. Here, if a machine operator wants to adjust throttle, trigger a switch, or readjust a machine setting, the operator would have to release one hand from a joystick or other control to complete the desired task. This can cause the machine to operate at less than optimal performance and with lower productivity. Depending on the circumstances, it may also be inconvenient to the operator to release or stop one machine control in order to change or adjust a second machine control.
A need therefore exists to provide a machine control pattern which offers greater freedom and flexibility to the machine operator to make desired changes to machine control. In addition, there is a need for the machine operator to be able to make changes to machine control instantaneously and without sacrificing machine performance or productivity.

Machine foot control operational pattern and method thereof


A method is provided for determining the throughput of a parallelepiped agricultural baler. The baler has a feed duct communicating between a crop pick-up assembly and a baling chamber and the feed duct serves as a pre-compression chamber to accumulate crop to a predetermined density before the crop is transferred to the baling chamber. The transfer of the crop from the feed duct (pre-compression chamber) to the baling chamber is accomplished by a stuffer mechanism actuated in response to a crop density sensor associated with the feed duct (pre-compression chamber). The baler further has a plunger mechanism that compresses the crop into a column to form a bale in the baling chamber. The invention senses when the crop in the feed duct (pre-compression chamber) has reached a predetermined density for transfer to the baling chamber and when the plunger has attained a home position that allows for transfer of crop from the feed duct (pre-compression chamber) into the baling chamber. A wait time between when the feed duct (pre-compression chamber) has reached a predetermined density for transfer of crop to the baling chamber and the plunger is in the home position is calculated and displayed to an operator of the baler.

Typical balers comprise a frame pulled by a tractor over a field to pick up hay, straw or other crop to be baled and feeding the crop into a baling chamber where it is compressed into bales. One common baler type creates parallelepiped shaped bales that are formed by a plunger which reciprocates inside a baling chamber. When the bales are complete a tying mechanism is actuated to bind the bale before it is ejected from the baler.
Typically the plunger reciprocates in the baling chamber against the crop material when a new charge of crop is introduced into the chamber. Crop is fed into the baler via a crop pick-up assembly located at ground level and a duct communicating between the pick-up assembly and the baling chamber. Crop is typically pre-compressed in the duct into uniform amounts prior to introduction into the baling chamber. A stuffer mechanism then transfers the pre-compressed crop into the baling chamber whenever enough crop material is made available in the duct.
There are four basic types of machine configurations possible with the plunger and stuffer combination. The first type has a continuous plunger, i.e. the plunger is gearbox driven and operates continuously, and a continuous stuffer. With this type of baler crop is continuously fed into a pre-compression chamber by e.g. a three cycle feed rake, each successive cycle filling the chamber and the third cycle moving the flake into the baling chamber where the plunger compresses the flake into a bale. With this continuous plunger-continuous stuffer design there is no guarantee of flake consistency (size, density). The feed rake is mechanically timed with the plunger operation resulting in a flake size that varies depending on how much crop is fed during the three cycles for each plunger stroke. This design does not work well if enough crop cannot be gathered in time to create a full flake. This results in bales that are soft at the top.
The second type of baler design also has a continuous plunger, but uses an intermittent stuffer. Here crop is fed into the pre-compression chamber to form a flake, the flake is then transferred into the baling chamber via an intermittently operating stuffer and then the plunger compresses the flake into the bale. With such continuous plunger-intermittent stuffer designs there is also no guarantee of flake consistency (size, density). For example, when the pre-compression chamber sensor reports that the pre-compression chamber is filled to the specified level, the stuffer may not immediately engage because the continuous plunger is not in the appropriate position. During the time between the pre-compression chamber sensor reporting "ready" and the plunger getting into position, additional crop is building up in the pre-compression chamber. The result is inconsistent flake size and density in the pre-compression chamber due to the system waiting on the plunger to get to the appropriate position. This design avoids the "soft top" as in the previous example but the flake size is still inconsistent.
The third type of known baler design uses an intermittent plunger i.e. the plunger is not gearbox driven but is driven e.g. hydraulically and the stuffer is driven continuously. With this continuous feeding system there is no pre-compression chamber and the crop is delivered directly into the baling chamber via a feed fork. A switch at the top of the bale chamber activates a plunger cycle when the baling chamber fills with crop and exerts pressure on the switch. Here the potential variations in flake size and density occur as the feeder mechanism throws crop up into the baling chamber activating the pressure switch.
The fourth and last type of known baler configuration also uses an intermittently driven plunger e.g. hydraulically driven, and also uses an intermittent stuffer. This type of system provides the greatest level of flake consistency as to size and density, because under ideal circumstances the intermittent plunger is always in the ready position when the signal is received that the pre-compression chamber is full. When the pre-compression chamber sensor indicates that sufficient crop has entered the pre-compression chamber a signal is sent to the intermittent stuffer which immediately begins to move the flake from the pre-compression chamber into the baling chamber. As the stuffer approaches a pre-determined position the plunger movement is started. The result is improved flake consistency. This combination gives the best bale quality by having consistent density from top to bottom (due to the intermittent feed system) and consistent flake sizes (from the intermittent plunger system). With both systems being intermittent, the challenge is to appropriately synchronize the activation of the stuffer with that of the plunger.
With the second type of baler described above (continuous plunger-intermittent stuffer) the components are mechanically linked together and therefore operate at predetermined (non-adjustable) rates/ratios. The goal on machines like this is to match the throughput of the baler to some given ratio which would correspond to accumulating each flake in an exact whole number ratio to machine plunger strokes. Examples of this process are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,474,228 and 6,543,342. With a baler like that of the fourth type described above (intermittent plunger-intermittent stuffer), the components (plunger and stuffer) are not linked together with a mechanical linkage so these ratios are not meaningful, instead the goal is to accumulate the predetermined flake of material so that the system, i.e. the combination of the stuffer and the plunger, runs continuously i.e. without any wait time.
With mechanically linked balers as described above, having a continuous plunger drive and an intermittent stuffer drive, the stuffer mechanism has the same cycle rate as the plunger and is typically driven through a one revolution clutch. This clutch is mechanically timed to the plunger so that the plunger is not covering the top opening of the accumulating duct when the stuffer is activated and so that the plunger begins compressing the flake and covers this opening before the stuffer retracts and returns to its home position. If the plunger travels just past the point that the one revolution clutch can be engaged when the chamber full signal is received, the chamber must continue receiving crop material for almost one full plunger cycle before the stuffer can be activated to lift the flake out of the duct and into the baling chamber. If set for maximum throughput, the duct (pre-compression chamber) cannot continue receiving material for this amount of time and the baler will plug. Ideally the chamber full signal is received just before the plunger reaches the point in its cycle that the one revolution clutch can be activated. This is the reason that integer ratios of pre-compression chamber fill time to plunger cycle time should be attained to avoid plugging the baler.
The problem with balers such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,474,228 and 6,543,342 is that there are discrete areas of the function that must be avoided to prevent plugging of the machine. For example, one embodiment uses a ratio Tf/Tp (where Tf is the time required to fill the chamber to the desired density, and Tp is the cycle time of the plunger). For maximum throughput this ratio should be 1. However, plugging problems can occur if this ratio is just above 1 or just above 2 or just above 3 etc. Therefore, if the ratio was just below 2 (an acceptable operating range) maximum throughput is not being achieved so the vehicle speed should be increased, but by increasing the speed the value of the ratio will begin to drop and as it passes through values just above 1 plugging can occur.
In another embodiment described in the above-referenced patents, a value of (Ts−Tf)/Ts is generated (where Ts is the cycle time of the stuffer mechanism). The problem with using this value as a control for the propelling vehicle speed is that this produces a discontinuous function and multiple Tf values will give the same ratio value (because Ts is an integer multiple of Tp and increases to the next multiple if Tf would be greater that Ts). Therefore if the resulting value is in the range that could be produced with multiple values of Tf, the system does not know which segment of the curve it is on without some additional information (it must know what multiple of Tp is being used). Also the problem stated above applies here as well, values of Tf that lie just beyond the discontinuities of the graph can cause plugging problems and need to be avoided.
Accordingly, there is a clear need in the art for a method for maximizing the throughput of a baler without the aforementioned problems.


Methods, systems and carrier media for viewing business rules are disclosed. Components of the business rules may be stored as entries in one or more database tables. A rule editor may access business rule components and assemble the components to form a graphical display of a business rule. In various embodiments, the graphical display may allow the user to view, edit and/or create business rules.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to modifying software. More particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for viewing, editing and/or creating business rules using a graphical user interface.
2. Description of the Related Art
Insurance companies have been processing and settling claims associated with bodily injury for a long time. The task of evaluating, analyzing or estimating the amount of damage associated with one or more types of bodily injuries, especially trauma-induced bodily injuries, can be very complex. Complexity in the evaluation process often arises out of the fact that concurrent expertise in legal, medical and insurance fields is often required to arrive at a particular decision involving a bodily injury claim.
Several factors can affect the estimated amount of the claim associated with a bodily injury. Every accident is different and every injury is unique. Arriving at a customized evaluation of a bodily injury claim, which is unique for a specific accident, injury, etc. is desirable. Applying across-the-board standards may tend to result in an inequitable solution for one or more parties involved. External environmental factors, such as the experience level of a claims adjuster, record of accomplishment of the legal professionals, post-injury quality of life for the injured party, etc., all may affect the valuation of a claim.
During the past several years, many insurance companies have been using computer-based and knowledge-based claim-processing systems to process, evaluate, analyze and estimate thousands of claims in what is believed to be a fair and consistent manner. A knowledge-based claim-processing system may include an expert system which utilizes and builds a knowledge base to assist the user in decision making. Such a system may allow the insurance companies to define new business rules and/or use previously defined rules, in real-time. The business rules are generally written by industry experts to evaluate legal, medical, insurance conditions before arriving at a valuation of a claim.
Often business rules of knowledge-based system may encode the formulas used in evaluating insurance claims in the insurance claim processing software's source code. Thus, for example, the calculation of trauma severity values may be hard-coded into the insurance claim processing software. When there is a new business requirement or a trauma severity calculation needs to be changed, it may be necessary to change the source code. Changing the source code in a large program may be very time consuming. Additionally, care should be used to ensure that a modification is made at each location where it is needed. For example, a particular parameter that needs to be changed may appear at multiple locations throughout the source code. In some cases, the need to change the source code may result in delaying the incorporation of the updated and/or new formulas until the next software system release date. At times, a change may be needed to meet special or unique requirement of a particular user. Such a change may require that the standard formulas be modified or customized for a specific application. For example, different zones or geographic areas in the United States may have different monetary values associated with trauma severity for the same type of injury.
In comparison, some systems have been developed that use databases of rule components. Such systems may typically require that a system administrator find a particular business rule component within a database table to make changes. While viewing a database entry, it may not be apparent what affect a change to the database entry may have. For example, a database entry may be referenced by a number of business rules. If only one business rule has been identified as needing to be changed, the system administrator may have difficulty determining how to best implement the change. If the administrator changes the database entry, other business rules may be unintentionally affected. Alternately, if the administrator creates a new database entry, the database may become unnecessarily large. Another concern may be that if a mistake is made in changing a database entry, it may not be apparent in the future how or why the entry was changed, or who made the change.


In an electromagnet with sleeve-shaped magnet housing with integrated valve body, in particular for the actuating of valves, the pole core is developed as a separate part and is surrounded by the sleeve-shaped magnet housing. The magnet housing has inward-directed corrugations distributed uniformly over its circumference which serve as axial support for the pole core in the direction of the electric windings.

The present invention relates to an electromagnet having a sleeve-shaped housing and an integrated pole core, in particular for the actuating of valves such as fuel injection valves.
In known electromagnets, the sleeve-shaped housing is produced as a lathe-turned part from a solid block and the pole core is developed as part of the housing. The housing extends in sleeve shape beyond the bottom of the pole core, an extension of the housing being fastened to a valve housing by flanging around the end thereof. This known construction of a magnet housing is very expensive to manufacture.

Electromagnet with sleeve-shaped housing


A structure includes a first periodic structure positioned on a chip, the first periodic structure comprising a material of a first layer disposed on the chip. The structure further includes a second periodic structure positioned within the region of the chip adjacent the first periodic structure, the second periodic structure comprising a second material of a second layer disposed on the chip. The structure further includes an acoustic wave transmitter device disposed on the chip and an acoustic wave receiver device disposed on the chip.

In the semiconductor integrated circuit (IC) industry, technological advances in IC materials and design have produced generations of ICs where each generation has smaller and more complex circuits than the previous generation. In the course of IC evolution, functional density (i.e., the number of interconnected devices per chip area) has generally increased while geometry size (i.e., the smallest component (or line) that can be created using a fabrication process) has decreased. This scaling down process generally provides benefits by increasing production efficiency and lowering associated costs. Such scaling down has also increased the complexity of IC processing and manufacturing.
One challenge to semiconductor fabrication is alignment. Semiconductor fabrication involves forming several patterned layers on top of each other. Each of these layers must be precisely aligned, or else the final device may not function correctly.
Alignment techniques often involve the use of overlay marks. For example, various layers to be patterned on a substrate may include overlay marks that are used to align with other formed layers. Matching overlay marks are formed within patterns of the subsequently formed layers. These matching overlay marks are placed within the patterns of the subsequent layers such that when aligned with the corresponding overlay marks of the underlying layers, both layers are aligned. But, such alignment techniques are not perfect and it is desirable to have alignment techniques that provide improved alignment.

Structures for acoustic wave overlay error determination using periodic structures

TAIWAN SEMICONDUCTOR MANUFACTURING CO., LTD


A system and method of initiating an online auction. The system receives a request to acquire at least one line item using the online auction from a buyer and presents a data collection template to the buyer, where the data collection template is being used to collect data having a plurality of attributes relating to the line item being auctioned in the online auction. The system also generates, in response to at least one of the attributes of the data collected from the buyer, a report showing the data including at least one of the attributes relating to the line item and transmits the report to at least one supplier.

It is believed that procurement of goods and services has traditionally involved high transaction costs. The cost of finding and qualifying potential bidders has been particularly high. The advent of electronic commerce, however, has introduced new methods of procurement that lower some of the transaction costs associated with procurement. Electronic procurement, and in particular business-to-business electronic procurement, matches buyers and suppliers and facilitates transactions that take place on networked systems.
Supplier-bidding auctions for products and services defined by a buyer have been developed. In a supplier-bidding auction, bid prices may start high and move downward in reverse-auction format as suppliers interact to establish a closing price. The auction marketplace is often one-sided, i.e., one buyer and many potential suppliers. It is believed that, typically, the products being purchased are components or materials. "Components" may mean fabricated tangible pieces or parts that become part of assemblies of durable products. Example components include steering wheels, gears, bearings, appliance shelves, or door handles. "Materials" may mean bulk quantities of raw materials that are further transformed into product. Example materials include corn syrup or sheet steel.
Industrial buyers may wish to purchase more than one component or material at a time. More specifically, they may wish to purchase whole families of similar components or materials in order to achieve economic means of scale. These items (i.e., similar lines of components or materials) may be grouped into a single lot. That is, a lot may include one or more of similar components or materials, each of which constitutes a line item. Suppliers in industrial auctions may provide unit price quotes for one or more line items in a lot.
Furthermore, industrial buyers not only purchase more than one component or material at a time, but also they purchase components or materials in relatively high frequency within a given period of time (e.g., two or more times a year). As noted, these components or materials typically undergo further processing. For example, steering wheels may need to be fitted specifically for particular motor vehicles. As such, these components and/or materials must meet specific standards (or specifications). These standards, along with other pertinent information relating to the line items, are typically conveyed from a buyer 10 to suppliers 30 using a report.
Creating a report that outlines detailed specifications relating to items in an online auction may be a time consuming, arduous task. For instance, all relevant data relating to the specification of the items must be collected from the buyer prior to generating a report. Once the data is collected, it may be used to generate a detailed report that is distributed to one or more selected suppliers. In some instances, however, relevant information must be carefully selected from the data prior to generating a report. For instance, each supplier may desire certain requirements on the report, and, as such, the report may need to be tailored for each supplier. An operator typically enters this information manually in a given form to create the detailed report for each individual supplier. This process not only increases time requirement, often taking several hours to create a report for one supplier, but also increases a risk of entering wrong information in the report.
Thus, it is believed that there is a need for system and method of streamlining a data collection process for an online auction. In addition, it is believed that there is a need for system and method of streamlining a report generation process for an online auction.

Methods, system, and medium for initiating an online auction utilizing a line item detail report


A semiconductor acceleration sensor comprises: a frame having an opening inside thereof; flexible beams extending from the frame to the inside of the opening of the frame; a weight suspended from and supported by the beams so that the weight can freely move; piezoresistors to be mounted on the beams and to vary the resistance values in response to accelerations which work on the piezoresistors. The frame comprises damper plate portions, each of which covers a part of the opening spanning from a corner portion of two neighboring sides of the frame on the side of the opening to the inside of the opening, and each of which serves serve as a stopper to limit movement of the weight. The weight has corner portions which face the corner portions, respectively, and each of which is chamfered to have a shape of arc or a polygonal line consisting of at least three sides as seen in plan view. Thereby, the breaking strength of each stopper is increased, and hence a semiconductor acceleration sensor having superior shock resistance can be obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor acceleration sensor with shock resistance, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional semiconductor acceleration sensor is shown in FIG. 15A and FIG. 15B. This sensor has: a frame 101 having an opening inside thereof; flexible beams 102 extending from the frame 101 to the inside of the opening of the frame 101 and having an intersection portion; a weight 103 suspended from and supported by the intersection portion of the beams 102 so that the weight can freely move; piezoresistors (not shown) which are mounted on the beams 102 and which vary the resistance values with distortions generated in the beams 102 due to displacement of the weight; and a seating 105. (Refer to e.g. Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Hei 8-327656 and Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication Hei 11-135804.)
The frame 101 is formed of e.g. a semiconductor substrate made of silicon, and has a roughly rectangular shape, as seen in plan view, with an opening 106 inside thereof. The beams 102 are provided each to extend inward from an upper surface of each of the four sides constituting the frame 101, and intersect with each other at around the center of the inside of the frame 101 to form an intersection portion 102a. Each of the beams 102 is formed to be thin so as to be flexible.
Plural piezoresistors (not shown) are provided on the surfaces of the beams 102, and are respectively provided in the vicinity of the intersection portion 102a and at four base end portions 102b of the beams 102. Assume here that a direction being parallel to any arbitrary one of the sides of the frame 101 is X-axis, that a direction being parallel to another side of the frame 101 and intersecting the X-axis at an angle of 90 degrees is Y-axis, and that a direction intersecting each of the X-axis and the Y-axis at an angle of 90 degrees is Z-axis. Under this assumption, three sets each of four piezoresistors corresponding to the X-axis, the Y-axis and the Z-axis form three Wheatstone bridges to detect accelerations working in the directions of the three axes, respectively. These piezoresistors are further connected to electrodes (not shown) formed on the frame 101.
The weight 103 is connected to and suspended from a lower surface of the intersection portion 102a of the beams 102, whereby the weight 103 is supported by the frame 101 so as to be freely movable owing to the flexibility of the beams 102. The weight 103 has a cross section of trapezoidal shape having a width decreasing in the direction of the Z-axis from the frame 101 to the seating 105. Furthermore, the weight 103 has a thickness smaller than that of the frame 101 in order to provide a space for the weight 103 to be able to freely move in response to acceleration working thereon. At corner portions of the opening 106 of the frame 101, stoppers 104 are provided to limit the displacement of the weight 103. Each stopper 104 has a rough shape of triangle, two sides of which are supported by and along the corresponding sides of the frame 101. The stoppers 104 and the seating 105 have functions to limit amount of free movement of the weight 103. As seen in plan view, the seating 105 has a shape of rectangle roughly the same as the outer shape of the frame 101.
When acceleration works on the semiconductor acceleration sensor having the above-described configuration, the weight 103 moves back-and-forth longitudinally, laterally and/or vertically according to the direction and magnitude of the acceleration working thereon, because the weight 103 is supported by the frame 101 and the beams 102 so as to be freely movable. At this time, deflections occur in the beams 102 so that plural ones of the piezoresistors are subjected to stresses, whereby their resistances vary. As a result, the Wheatstone bridges lose the equilibrium, whereby electrical signals corresponding to the acceleration working thereon are output from the Wheatstone bridges corresponding to the respective axes. By taking the electrical signals from the electrodes, the acceleration can be detected. When excessive acceleration works on the beams 102, the stoppers 104 and the seating 105 limit the free movement of the weight 103, thereby preventing them from being broken.
However, according to such semiconductor acceleration sensor, there is a possibility that shocks may be locally concentrated when the weight 103 impacts the stopper(s) 104. Because of its influence, it has been difficult to improve the stoppers 104 with respect to resistance to breaking.

Semiconductor acceleration sensor and method of manufacturing the same


A sensor assembly is described for driver assistance systems in motor vehicles, having a radar sensor and a video camera, in which the radar sensor and the video camera are integrated into a common housing.

Driver assistance systems such as ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) or collision warning systems (PSS, Predictive Safety Systems) require a sensor system in order to acquire the surrounding traffic situation, in particular in order to locate vehicles traveling in front. This sensor system typically includes a radar sensor or a video camera having an associated electronic image evaluation system, or also a combination of both sensor systems. Such a combination is particularly useful because the specific strengths of the different sensor systems supplement one another. Thus, a radar sensor enables, in general, a precise measurement of radial distances and radial speeds, but only a relatively low-resolution measurement of azimuth angles, and only a rough estimation of the width of located objects, whereas a video camera permits precise measurement of azimuth angles, cross-speeds, and object widths, but (in particular in the case of a monocular system) offers only a low degree of precision in the measurement of radial distances and speeds.
German patent document DE 10 2007 018 470 A1 discusses a sensor system that includes a combination of a radar sensor and a video camera, and an electronic evaluation system that fuses the data of the two sensor types with one another.
In available sensor assemblies, the radar sensor is standardly attached to the outside of the vehicle, usually in the area of the front bumper. The video camera, on the other hand, is typically situated inside the vehicle, behind the windshield.
An object of the exemplary embodiments and/or exemplary methods of the present invention is to create a sensor assembly of the type described above that can be particularly easily installed and adjusted.
According to the exemplary embodiments and/or exemplary methods of the present invention, this object may be achieved in that the radar sensor and the video camera are integrated into a common housing.
The radar sensor and the video camera should in general be adjusted so that their optical axes run exactly parallel to one another, for example exactly in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The integration of the radar sensor and the video camera in a common housing makes it possible to carry out this adjustment of the two components relative to one another at the manufacturer with a high degree of precision. During installation in the motor vehicle, the housing then need only be mounted in or on the vehicle body and adjusted relative to the body, thus significantly simplifying the assembly and adjustment processes. For example, the adjustment relative to the vehicle body can take place on a suitable test bench with the aid of the video image recorded by the video camera itself, whereby at the same time a correct adjustment of the radar sensor relative to the vehicle body is also achieved.
The common housing can for example be attached in the interior of the vehicle, behind the windshield, as the video camera was previously.
Advantageous embodiments and developments of the present invention are described herein.
In a particularly advantageous specific embodiment, the common housing contains electronic components for a common pre-evaluation of the data of the radar sensor and of the video camera. In this case, the fusion of the data can already take place at a low level, namely at the sensor level, using the electronic components in the common housing, the data of the radar sensor facilitating the interpretation of the video image and vice versa, so that the amount of data to be communicated from the housing to the rest of the vehicle electronics system can be significantly reduced.
An exemplary embodiment of the present invention is shown in the drawings and is explained in more detail in the following description.

Sensor assembly for driver assistance systems in motor vehicles


Embodiments of the present disclosure describe systems, methods, and computer program products for executing and tuning a machine learning operation within a database. An example method can include receiving a data query referencing an input data set of a database, executing a plurality of machine learning operations to generate, in view of the input data set, a plurality of output data sets each having a respective accuracy value, wherein each of the plurality of machine learning operations is executed by a processing device according to one of a plurality of unique sets of hyperparameters, selecting a first output data set of the plurality of output data sets in view of the accuracy values, and returning the first output data set in response to the data query.

Databases are widely used for data storage and access in computing applications. Databases may include one or more tables that include or reference data that can be joined, read, modified, or deleted using queries. Databases can store small or extremely large sets of data within one or more tables. This data can be accessed by various users in an organization or even be used to service public users, such as via a website or an application program interface (API). The large amount of data that can be contained within a database can often be useful for various types of data analytics, which involves the attempt to determine conclusions and/or predictions based on analysis of the information contained in the data.

Hyperparameter tuning in a database environment


An optical encoder is disclosed, in particular, which has a light sensing element with light-sensing cells arranged in a matrix. The light sensing element repeatedly detects the same reflective light beam by different rows of light-sensing cells to increase the precision of feedback control. Furthermore, since the light sensing element synchronously and repeatedly receives the reflective light beam, the reliability of detected signals is increased.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to an optical encoder and, in particular, to one having a light sensing element with light-sensing cells arranged in a matrix, thereby increasing its precision and reliability.
2. Related Art
When detecting the location of a rotating device (e.g. a motor or a machine axis) or a high-speed moving device, one usually generates a binary identification code in response to each location of the detected device by the on and off of a detecting element in an optical or magnetic ways. For example, several typical optical encoders taught in the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,451,731, 4,691,101, 4,952,799, and 5,317,149.
These encoders mainly include: a light source for emitting light, a code strip for modulating the light in response to the operation of the rotating device, such as a code wheel, an optical grating disk, or an optical scale, and a photo detector for receiving and detecting the modulated light beam. In generally, some code strips have opaque and transparent regions which are staggered. In this case, the light source and the photo detector are located on opposite sides of a measure element, i.e. the code strip. In other case, the code strips have some reflective regions, and the light source and the photo detector are located on the same side of a measure element.
Refer to FIG. 1, showing the structure of a conventional optical encoder. It is mainly comprised of a main optical grating disk 110, an auxiliary optical grating disk 120, an LED illuminator 130, a photo receiver 140, and a main axis 150. The main optical grating disk 110 is sited on the main axis 150 and driven by the main axis 150 in response to a rotating device. The main optical grating disk 110 has transparent regions 112 and opaque regions 114 which are staggered, as shown in FIG. 2. The light emitted by the LED illuminator 130 illuminates the main optical grating disk 110. Part of the light penetrates through the transparent regions 112 and reaches the photo receiver 140 via the auxiliary optical grating disk 120, while the other part of the light is blocked by the opaque regions 114. Therefore, the transparent regions 112 and opaque regions 114 which are staggered on the main optical grating disk 110 provide a basis for the photo receiver 140 to generate the binary identification code, thereby determining the location of the rotating device. However, since the light source and the photo receiver of the optical encoder are on opposite sides of the grating respectively, only one side can be used to generate codes. The resolution is thus limited and the device cannot be made too thin.
The structure of another conventional optical encoder is shown in FIG. 3. It includes: a code wheel 210, an LED illuminator 220, and a photo receiver 230. The code wheel 210 is driven by a wheel (not shown) in response to a rotating device. Moreover, the code wheel 210 has reflective regions 212 and non-reflective regions 214 which are staggered. The LED illuminator 220 illuminates the reflective regions 212 on the code wheel 210, and then the photo receiver 230 disposed on the same side as the LED illuminator 220 receives the modulated light beam directly reflected from the reflective regions 212 to obtain a binary identification code indicating the location of the code wheel 210. The location of the rotating device is thus determined for subsequent controls of the speed and stroke of the rotating device.
In the conventional optical encoder, better control precision is usually achieved by increasing its resolution. The increase of the resolution is often achieved by changing the number of transparent and opaque regions on the code strip (or the number of reflective and non-reflective regions) or by adopting several code strips and several photo detectors. However, this is likely to increase the thickness of the optical encoder, contrary to the trend of miniaturization. Moreover, errors occur when the code wheel is dirty. Therefore, the existing optical encoders need to be improved.


An apparatus is described. The apparatus includes a compute in memory circuit. The compute in memory circuit includes a memory circuit and an encoder. The memory circuit is to provide 2m voltage levels on a read data line where m is greater than 1. The memory circuit includes storage cells sufficient to store a number of bits n where n is greater than m. The encoder is to receive an m bit input and convert the m bit input into an n bit word that is to be stored in the memory circuit, where, the m bit to n bit encoding performed by the encoder creates greater separation between those of the voltage levels that demonstrate wider voltage distributions on the read data line than others of the voltage levels.

With the continually decreasing minimum feature size dimensions and corresponding continually increasing integration levels achieved by modern day semiconductor manufacturing processes, artificial intelligence has emerged as the next significant reachable application for semiconductor based computer processing. Attempting to realize semiconductor based artificial intelligence, however, creates motivations for new kinds of semiconductor processor chip designs.

Compute-in-memory circuit having a multi-level read wire with isolated voltage distributions


A device possessing a secure multifunctional authentication service integrated with data storage capability, wherein the device is a multifunctional intelligent peripheral or accessory device, which, upon implementation into a system, is disposed to control a set of transactions that the system is designated to perform by the device, in conjunction with a data transfer medium which is under the control of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices and methods for identification, verification and authentication of individuals and/or documents, and more particularly to a device possessing a secure multifunctional authentication service integrated with data storage capability, wherein the device is disposed to comprise a multifunctional intelligent peripheral or accessory device, which, upon implementation into a system, is disposed to control a set of transactions that the system is designated to perform by the device, in conjunction with a data transfer medium which is under the control of the device.
2. Description of the Related Art
In 1987, MITRE Corporation prepared a review of Technologies for National Crime Information Center (NCIC) 2000. This review was used as the framework for building the NCIC 2000 program. A significant part of that review addressed the need for law enforcement patrol officers to have the ability to transmit and receive fingerprint and photo information. The review recommended, "The FBI undertake to capture, store, and transmit fingerprint images in a digital form, either binary or in gray scale of the two thumb impressions of a subject in the wanted or missing person file." It was further recommended, "The FBI conduct a study to determine the most cost effective transmission system for photograph, fingerprints, text, and other FBI services that would satisfy user requirements for rapid response using the NCIC 2000 system.
Although the NCIC 2000 project has now been fulfilled and upgrades to the system have been established, the area of fingerprint transmission and other supporting recommendations have not been successfully implemented. Based on surveys taken at the time these capabilities were among the highest priority for implementation. A proof of concept demonstration was conducted in 1989 in three locations, but the required technology to successfully initiate the project was not available.
Increasing demands on law enforcement have made it even more imperative that officers possess access to critical identification information, which includes positive identification by fingerprint, independent of the location of an officer. With the advent of the wireless infrastructure, it is no longer necessary to rely on land based telephone lines to for reliable communication. Wireless systems provide the officers with access to critical information via handheld devices that are available at any location. The officer can access and retrieve data using streamlined interfaces that utilize modern query software. Thus, the officer has immediate access to databases, not only in the immediate organization, but also to other databases such as NCIC-2000 or the State Department of Motor Vehicles.
The primary interest in a mobile/wireless fingerprint capability has been for real-time positive identification purposes by law enforcement personnel performing 1:N searches to determine the identity of a suspect and link that identity to other already determined suspect information. Changes in world events have brought about an increased need to verify the identity of individuals and link these individuals to documents that establish their identity. In these circumstances a 1:1 comparison to verify the claimed identity is sufficient. The need to verify identity may vary from security to fraud prevention to border control. Civil applications such as public aid, customs, immigration, passport, and healthcare ID verification as well as commercial enterprises (banks and credit cards) are areas wherein mobile/wireless fingerprinting may be applied.
Outside the United States, governments are developing new electronic border control solutions, specifically in the European Union ("EU"), where starting in 2012 the use of EU electronic passports shall enable the use of un-manned gates for entry and exit from the Schengen zone for its citizens. The EU shall also enable the use of e-visa and e-passport and e-id entry and exit for non-EU nationals. These stations will be manned; however the personnel will require special equipment to process these transactions. At fixed locations like airports, standard computing technology with biometric and secure credential reading accessories will suffice, however at land border crossings and seaports, a handheld configuration will be required. Thus, the scenarios wherein border guards need to check people on trains, buses or vessels need to be addressed.
Today, several systems have been implemented using mobile wireless technology, however all deployments except the Los Angeles Police Department ("LAPD") use specialized Personal Digital Assistant ("PDA") equipment. LAPD uses the Cogent "BlueCheck" device, which is an accessory to a Smartphone or PDA. Its function is limited to capturing fingerprints and the Smartphone or PDA only forwards the information to a central Automated Fingerprint Identification System ("AFIS"). Therefore, with increased focus on Border Control and the use of secure electronic credentials, there is a need for these mobile handheld devices to incorporate more than just biometric identification.
In addition, there is a need for officers to be able to capture both printed and electronically stored information from secure credentials and then use this information to validate the authenticity of the credentials, to ascertain the holder's correct identity, and finally to establish whether the identified holder is in a national or even the international databases.

Intelligent peripheral device and system for the authentication and verification of individuals and/or documents through a secure multifunctional authentication service with data storage capability


A displacement information measuring apparatus comprising light emitting source for emitting two light fluxes, acoustic optical device for giving a predetermined frequency difference to the two light fluxes from the light emitting source, optical system having a diffraction grating upon which at least one light flux of two light fluxes having the predetermined frequency difference given by the acoustic optical device is vertically incident so that the light fluxes are diffracted, the optical system causing at least one light flux from the diffraction grating to be incident upon an object in which the displacement information is to be measured, and detector for performing a detection by interference of one light flux incident upon said object and emergent from said object with the other of the two light fluxes, the displacement information of the object being obtained from a beat signal corresponding to the frequency difference and obtained from the detector, wherein the optical system is constituted such that the frequency of the beat signal may not be substantially affected by a variation of wavelength of the light flux incident upon the diffraction grating.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a displacement measuring apparatus for measuring the displacement information of a moving object or fluid, and more particularly to a displacement measuring apparatus for measuring the information such as a velocity by detecting the deviation of frequency of a coherent light flux such as a laser beam.
2. Related Background Art
Conventionally, a laser Doppler velocimeter has been known as an apparatus for measuring the movement velocity of a moving object or fluid (thereinafter referred to simply as "moving object") in non-contact and at high accuracy. The laser Doppler velocimeter is an apparatus for measuring the movement velocity of a moving object by directing the radiation of a laser beam to the moving object and using an effect that the frequency of light scattered by the moving object deviates (or shifts) in proportion to the movement velocity, or a so-called Doppler effect.
One example of this conventional laser Doppler velocimeter is shown in FIG. 1. In the figure, 1 is a laser, 2 is a collimator lens, 3 is a parallel light flux, 4 is a beam splitter, 6 and 6' are reflecting mirrors, 7 is a moving object moving in the arrow direction at a velocity V, 8 is a focusing lens, and 9 is a photodetector.
In this constitution, a laser beam emitted from the laser 1 is made into the parallel light flux 3 through the collimator lens 2, and divided into two light fluxes 5 and 5' by the beam splitter 4. The two light fluxes 5, 5' are then reflected at the reflecting mirrors 6 and 6', respectively, and radiated onto the moving object 7 moving at a velocity V at an incident angle .theta., said two light fluxes overlapping. The light scattered by the moving object is detected via the focusing lens 8 by the photodetector 9. The frequencies of scattered lights from two light fluxes are subjected to the Doppler shifts of +.DELTA.f and -.DELTA.f, respectively, in proportion to the movement velocity V of the moving object. Here, the wavelength of laser beam is .lambda., .DELTA.f can be given by the following expression (1). EQU .DELTA.f=V sin (.theta.)/.lambda. (1)
The scattered lights having undergone the Doppler shifts of +.DELTA.f and -.DELTA.f, respectively, interfere with each other to cause a periodical variation of contrast on a light receiving plane of the photodetector 9. Its frequency F can be given by the following expression (2) EQU F=2.DELTA.f=2V sin (.theta.)/.lambda. (2)
Hence, the velocity V of the moving object 7 can be obtained by measuring the frequency F (thereinafter referred to as Doppler frequency) of the photodetector 9 from the expression (2).
With the laser Doppler velocimeter such as the conventional example as above described, the Doppler frequency F is inversely proportional to the wavelength .lambda. of the laser beam. Accordingly, it was necessary to use a laser light source having a stable wavelength as the light source of the laser Doppler velocimeter. As the laser light source capable of continuous emission and having a stable wavelength, a gas laser such as a He-Ne laser is often used, but the laser oscillator main body is large and requires a high voltage, resulting in a large and expensive apparatus. On the other hand, a laser diode (or semiconductor laser) for use in a compact disk, a video disk or in optical fiber communication is very small and easy to drive, but has a problem that the temperature dependence exists.
FIG. 2 shows one example of the normal temperature dependence of a laser diode (quote from Mitsubishi semiconductor data book, 1987: optical semiconductor devices), in which a portion with continuously changing wavelength is mainly due to the temperature variation of the refractive index in the active layer of the laser diode, and is 0.05 to 0.06 nm/.degree. C. On the other hand, a portion with discontinuously changing wavelength is referred to as a vertical mode hopping, and is 0.2 to 0.3 nm/.degree. C.
In order to stabilize the wavelength, a method is generally adopted in which the laser diode is controlled to be maintained at a constant temperature. With this method, it is necessary to attach a temperature control member such as a heater, a radiator or a temperature sensor to the laser diode with a small thermal resistance so as to control the temperature at high accuracy. If this is used for the laser Doppler velocimeter, the apparatus is relatively large and yields high cost, and further the instability due to previously-mentioned vertical mode hopping can not be eliminated completely.
The present applicant has proposed a laser Doppler velocimeter to resolve this problem in European Patent Publication EP 0391278A. According to the method of this Doppler velocimeter (thereinafter referred to as "G-LDV method"), a laser beam from a light source such as a semiconductor laser is incident upon a diffraction grating, among obtained diffracted beams, two diffracted beams at the +n-th and -n-th order (n is 1, 2, . . . ) except for the zeroth order are radiated onto a moving object or flowing fluid at the same intersection angle as an angle made by the two light fluxes, and the scattered light from the moving object or flowing fluid is detected by a photodetector.
FIG. 3 is an example of diffraction when a laser light I is incident upon a transparent diffraction grating 10 having a grating pitch d, in a direction perpendicular to the grating arranging direction t, and the diffraction angle .theta..sub.0 is given by the following expression. EQU sin .theta..sub.0 =m.lambda./d
Where m is a diffraction order (0, 1, 2, . . . ), and .lambda. is a wavelength of the light, in which the lights of the .+-.n-th order except for the zeroth order can be represented by the following expression. EQU sin .theta..sub.0 =.+-.n.lambda./d (3)
(n: 1, 2, . . . )
FIG. 4 is a view in which two light fluxes of the .+-.n-th order are radiated onto a measured object 7 with mirrors 6, 6' so that the incident angle may be .theta..sub.0. The Doppler frequency F of the photodetector 9 is given by: EQU F=2V sin .theta..sub.0 /.lambda.=2nV/d (4)
from the expressions (2) and (3). Therefore, the frequency F is inversely proportional to the grating pitch d of the diffraction grating 10, and proportional to the velocity of the measured object 7, not depending on the laser light I. Since the grating pitch d can be sufficiently stable, the Doppler frequency F can be obtained only in proportion to the velocity of the measured object 7. If the diffraction grating 10 is a reflection type, the same effects can be obtained.
Generally, if a high coherent light such as a laser beam is radiated onto an object, the scattered light due to irregularities of object surface undergoes a random phase modulation, forming spot patterns, i.e., so-called speckle patterns on the observation plane. In the laser Doppler velocimeter, if the moving object is moved, the variation of contrast by the Doppler shift on a detection plane of the photodetector is modulated by irregular variations of contrast due to flow of speckle patterns, and the output signal of the photodetector is also modulated by the variation of transmittance (or reflectance) of measured object.
The G-LDV method as previously described is generally carried out in such a way that the output of the photodetector is passed through a high-pass filter to remove low frequency components electrically in order to pick up only Doppler signals, because the frequency of the variation of contrast due to the flow of speckle patterns and the frequency of the variation of transmittance (or reflectance) for the moving object are generally a low frequency in comparison with the Doppler frequency as shown in the expression (4). But, if the Doppler frequency is low due to a slower velocity of the measured object, the frequency difference with respect to low frequency variation components is smaller, resulting in a problem that the high-pass filter can not be used and the velocity of the measured object can not be measured. Further, the movement direction can not be detected in principle.
Thus, the present applicant has proposed an apparatus having a constitution as shown in FIG. 5 in European Patent Publication EP0391278A. In FIG. 5, the diffraction grating having a grating pitch d is moved at a velocity Vg as shown. A laser beam incident upon the moving diffraction grating is divided into diffracted lights 5a, 5b of the .+-.n-th order, which then undergo positive and negative Doppler shifts .+-.Vg/nd, respectively. The diffraction angle .theta..sub.0 will satisfy: EQU sin .theta..sub.0 =.lambda./nd (5)
(.lambda.: wavelength of the light) If these two light fluxes of the .+-.n-th order are radiated onto the moving object 7 of the velocity V from the mirrors 6, 6' so that the incident angle may be .theta..sub.0, the scattered lights from the measured object 7 undergo the Doppler shift by the amount of +(Vg+V)/nd for the +n-th order light 5 and -(Vg+V)/nd for the -n-th order light 5', and interfere each other, in which the Doppler frequency F is given by: EQU F=2(Vg+V)/nd (6)
As a results, the Doppler frequency F is not dependent upon the wavelength of laser light. That is, even when the velocity of the measured object 7 is slow, the Doppler frequency can be sufficiently taken for a frequency difference with respect to low frequency components caused by the flow of speckle patterns or the variation of transmittance (or reflectance) of the measured object as previously described by the movement velocity Vg of the diffraction grating, and the output signal from the photodetector is passed through the high-pass filter to remove low frequency components electrically in order to pick up only the Doppler signal, whereby the detection of the velocity is enabled.
FIGS. 6A and 6B show the relation between the velocity V of the measured object and the Doppler frequency F in the laser Doppler velocimeter using the diffraction grating. FIG. 6A is an instance where the diffraction grating is fixed, FIG. 6B is an instance where the diffraction grating moves at the velocity Vg. As can be understood from FIG. 6A, even if a certain frequency F1 is detected, the movement direction can not be determined because two velocities V.sub.1, -V.sub.1 of different direction correspond. In FIG. 6B, the Doppler frequency F=Fg+F1 for the velocity V.sub.1 and F=Fg-F1 for the velocity -V.sub.1 are obtained, so that the direction of the velocity V can be detected. From the expression (6), the velocity V is represented by the expression: EQU V=F(d/2)-Vg (7)
Therefore, the velocity V of the expression (7) can be measured by detecting F when the movement velocity Vg of the diffraction grating is controlled.

Displacement information detecting apparatus


An entire outer periphery of an axially central portion of an inner cylindrical member is expanded outwardly to define an expanding portion having a spherical configuration of which a center locates about an axial line of the inner cylindrical member. A cylindrical internal ring is disposed in about the middle between an outer cylindrical member and the inner cylindrical member coaxially and an axially central portion of the internal ring bends in conformity with the expanding portion of the inner cylindrical member. By virtue of the expanding portion and internal ring, the rigidity in the directions perpendicular to the axial direction increases. A first vibration-damping rubber member and a second vibration-damping rubber member are formed between the internal ring and the inner cylindrical member and between the internal ring and the outer cylindrical member, respectively, and annular recesses are formed in both axial end portions of the first and second vibration-damping rubber member, respectively, such that an inner end of each annular recess locates inwardly of an end edge of the expanding portion, thus decreasing the torsional rigidity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a suspension bushing adapted to be used in a suspension system of a motor vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
To prevent the transmission of vibrations in a suspension system of a motor vehicle, suspension bushings have been mounted in coupling portions between a vehicle body and a suspension arm. The suspension bushing generally has an arrangement that, as shown in FIG. 1, an inner cylindrical member 10 and an outer cylindrical member 12 are disposed coaxially, and a vibration-damping rubber member 14 is interposed between the inner and outer cylindrical members 10 and 12.
To improve the stability and controllability of a motor vehicle, it is preferable to increase the rigidity of the suspension bushing in the directions perpendicular to the axial direction (in the directions of arrows a in FIG. 1), and to ensure an improved ride of a motor vehicle, it is preferable to reduce the rigidity thereof in the torsional directions (in the directions of arrows b).
Japanese patent application laid-open No. Sho 64-30937, for example, discloses a suspension bushing, as shown in FIG. 1, of which the inner cylindrical member 10 includes an expanding portion 16 having a spherical configuration in an axially central portion thereof. With this arrangement, the thickness of the axially central portion of the vibration-damping rubber member 14 decreases to increase the rigidity in the directions perpendicular to the axial direction thereof, whereas the thickness of the left and right portions of the vibration-damping rubber member 14 do not decrease, thus ensuring reduction of the rigidity in the torsional directions to a relatively small level.
Recently, further improvement of the stability and controllability has been required. The above arrangement, however, could not satisfy this requirement.
The inner clindrical member has been generally prepared by forging or press forming. However, when the expanding portion is required to have a great height, for example, the expanding portion is difficult to form integrally with the inner cylindrical member. To overcome this problem, Japanese utility model application laid-open No. Hei 6-76729, for example, has proposed another suspension bushing, as shown in FIG. 2, of which an inner cylindrical member 18 has a depression 22 along an outer periphery of the axially central portion thereof. A cylindrical resin member 24 of which an outer periphery expands outwardly into a generally spherical configuration is press-fitted in the depression 22 to define an expanding portion. A vibration-damping rubber member 26 is interposed between an outer cylindrical member 20 and the inner cylindrical member 18 including the expanding portion.
This conventional arrangement, however, has a problem that the thickness of the inner cylindrical member 18 decreases partly due to the provision of the depression 22, thus reducing buckling strength of the inner cylindrical member 18. Furthermore, the cylindrical resin member 24 having a nonuniform thickness is difficult to form, because of shrinkage occurring during the molding operation, or the like. In addition, when the expanding portion is too high, it may receive a large load to cause falling-off or cracking thereof.


An apparatus that prevents the interchange or replacement of an expensive compact fluorescent lamp with a standard inexpensive incandescent bulb to diminish thefts of the more expensive lamp, by using a locking lamp socket insert in combination with newly designed screw lamp base that permits the operation of the compact fluorescent lamp. Should the compact fluorescent lamp be substituted with a standard inexpensive incandescent bulb, the center contact in the base of the incandescent bulb cannot touch the centrally located leaf-spring contact of the lamp socket, thereby preventing the incandescent bulb from operating. The lamp socket insert is a rigid plastic material such as nylon, shaped as a flat disk with three tangential cantilever, spaced apart vanes. A pointed end of each tine permits the insert to rotate upon insertion, but a counterclockwise rotation causes the tines to bite into the interior socket sidewalls preventing its counter-rotation and removal.

The present invention relates primarily to a screw lamp base and locking lamp-socket device, in combination, and more particularly, to a screw lamp base, in combination with a locking lamp-socket insert that prevents the interchangement of a compact fluorescent lamp with an incandescent bulb when used in a conventional lamp socket.
The demand for increased energy conservation has stimulated the development of compact electric discharge lamps, such a fluorescent lamps, as screw-in replacements for the standard incandescent bulb. As a result, the use of the compact fluorescent lamp has resulted in a substantial savings at a reduced operating and maintenance cost.
While it is quite cost effective to replace an incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent lamp, the converse, such as replacing a compact fluorescent lamp with an incandescent bulb, is no longer desirable.
Recreational industries, such as hotels and motels, using these compact fluorescent lamps are subject to pilfering where the expensive compact fluorescent lamp is taken as a souvenir and replaced with an inexpensive incandescent bulb. This exchange is not usually detected in a reasonably short period of time, which may result in an additional operating loss to the facility.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,789, granted Jun. 26, 1990, to J. Ugalde, discloses a method and apparatus for preventing the theft of a fluorescent lamp and ballast transformer. The apparatus comprises a threaded adaptor that is screwed into a conventional lamp socket. The receptacle at the top of the adaptor has spring clips that retain the fluorescent lamp to prevent its removal, once engaged. The table lamp, in which the adaptor is installed, is connected via a male polarized plug, to a remote power supply. The power supply is plugged into a standard wall outlet using a tamper proof fastener, preventing its removal. Spring clips within the power supply prevent the removal of the inserted male plug.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,183,604, granted Jan. 15, 1980, to D. A. Tjornhom, Sr., discloses an apparatus for mounting and removing an electrical adapter from a socket. The adapter threads into a standard lamp socket, where a locking tab on the base of the adapter, permits the adapter to be threaded into the socket, but jams the threads of the socket to prevent its removal. A removal tool is used to release the lock structure to permit removal of the adapter.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,467,937, granted Sep. 16, 1969, to O. C. Norton, discloses a lamp socket insert, which serially connects a thermistor disk in the power line circuit to an incandescent lamp bulb to absorb current surges when the lamp is turned on. The peripheral rim, by interference fit, retains the device from falling out of an inverted socket when the lamp is removed.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,422,393, granted Jan. 14, 1969, to V. L. Plagge, discloses a an electric lamp base and socket adapter combination for rapid and simple lamp replacement. The socket adapter screws into a standard socket, and incorporates a female snap fastener and spring conductors for both electrical connection and mechanical support. The male portion of the snap fastener is affixed to the lamp base and is guided into connecting position by the spring conductors.
What is needed is an apparatus that prevents the interchangement of an expensive compact fluorescent lamp with a standard incandescent bulb to prevent the theft of the more expensive lamp. In this regard, the present invention fulfills this need.
The present invention relates to an apparatus that prevents the interchangement or replacement of an expensive compact fluorescent lamp with a standard inexpensive incandescent bulb to deter or prevent the theft of the more expensive lamp. It is comprised of an elongated medium screw lamp base and a locking lamp-socket device, where the combination of the screw lamp base and locking lamp-socket insert permits the operation of the compact fluorescent lamp having the base of the present invention. If, however, the compact fluorescent lamp is substituted with a standard inexpensive incandescent bulb, the bulb will not operate, thereby preventing the interchangement of a compact fluorescent lamp with a standard inexpensive incandescent bulb.
Projecting from the bottom of a compact fluorescent bulb or from the bottom of a conventional electronic ballast housing is the newly designed elongated screw lamp base. The threaded metal screw portion of the base extends axially approximately one-half inch below the bottom of the ballast housing. This extended portion permits the ballast housing assembly to engage in a standard lamp-socket, without bottoming out against the inner surface of a reflector or lamp harp, should one be used.
The center contact of the newly designed screw lamp base extends through an insulated boss that is preferably {fraction (7/32)} of an inch in diameter and {fraction (5/32)} of an inch long, for a medium lamp screw base lamp.
The lamp-socket insert is made from a rigid plastic material, preferably nylon. It is made in the shape of a flat disk, having three tangential cantilever spring-like tines, equally spaced 120 degrees apart. At the end of each tine is a sharpened end that is shaped to permit the insert to freely rotate upon insertion. If there is an attempt to remove the insert by rotating it in a counterclockwise direction, the spring-loaded tangential tines become further engaged with, and bite into, the interior socket sidewall, so that its counter-rotation and subsequent removal is prevented.
When a fluorescent lamp, having an integral electronic ballastxe2x80x94one that uses the newly designed lamp screw basexe2x80x94is screwed into its protected lamp-socket, a hole in the center of the insert receives the extended center contact of the lamp, permitting it to make contact with the centrally located leaf-spring contact of the lamp-socket.
Should an attempt be made to substitute the fluorescent lamp, having the newly designed base, with a conventional incandescent bulb, the center contact in the base of the bulb cannot come in contact with the centrally located leaf-spring contact of the lamp-socket, thereby preventing the bulb from operating. When a lamp or fixture fails to provide illumination, it either draws attention to the fact that the fluorescent lamp has failed or that someone has made off with it.
Accordingly, it is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a novel elongated lamp screw base and lamp-socket insert combination that prevents the interchangement, substitution or replacement of a protected lamp, with a less expensive bulb.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a novel lamp screw base and lamp-socket insert combination to prevent the theft of a compact fluorescent lamp or fluorescent lamp ballast.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a novel lamp screw base whose center contact extends through an insulated boss, where the diameter of the boss is sized to be received through a hole located centrally in the companion lamp-socket insert.
It is still yet another object of the present invention to provide a novel lamp screw base whose center contact is sufficiently extended axially to come in contact with the centrally located leaf-spring contact of the lamp-socket.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a novel lamp screw base, whose threaded metal screw portion extends axially approximately one-half inch below the bottom of a ballast housing to prevent the housing from bottoming out against the inner surface of a reflector, when used.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a novel lamp-socket insert that coacts with the lamp screw base to prevent the interchangement, substitution or replacement of a protected lamp, with a less expensive bulb.
It is still yet a further object of the present invention to provide a novel lamp-socket insert having three tangential cantilever springlike vanes or tines, equally spaced 120 degrees apart, that are shaped to permit easy insertion upon clockwise rotation.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a novel lamp socket insert, having spring-loaded tangential vanes or tines that become further engaged with, and bite into, the interior socket sidewall, so that a counterclockwise rotation prevents its removal.
A final object of the present invention is to provide a novel elongated lamp screw base and lamp-socket combination that prevents a standard incandescent lamp from being energized.
These and other objects of the present invention will become apparent upon further review and understanding of the detailed specification and drawings that follow.

Lamp socket locking insert in combination with a medium screw lamp base


A method of producing sugar through the recycling of a carbonation scum produced after a first carbonation of a sugar juice treated with a lime milk comprises separating the scum after the first carbonation. The scum-free sugar juice is then filtered for producing sugar. An amount of the separated scum is diluted with water. After diluting, the pH of the diluted scum is adjusted, and a thick portion of the amount of the scum is separated and activated. The activated thick portion of the scum is then recycled for introduction with a sugar juice.

The invention relates to a method of producing sugar through the claiming and recycling of carbonation scum for sugar factories by utilizing the scum produced from a first carbonation.
In known processes for sugar juice clarification, calcium hydroxide (Ca(OH).sub.2) in lime milk form has been used in combination with carbonation gas, i.e. carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2). One essential chemical reaction accompanying the first sugar juice carbonation for these known processes, is that secondary unsoluble calcium carbonate (CaCO.sub.3) is formed on the surface of the juice along with other chemical substances such as nonsugar substances in a solution form. The lime milk and carbon dioxide are manufactured in the sugar factories by burning limestone (CaCO.sub.3) which decomposes into calcium oxide (CaO) and carbon dioxide (CO.sub.2). After having been used for the sugar juice clarification, the CaO and CO.sub.2 are again subjected to a chemical reaction in order to produce calcium carbonate (CaCO.sub.3). This reaction is well-known in the sugar industry.
In the plants, the produced calcium carbonate (CaC.sub.3), also known as carbonation scum or sludge, is separated from the process by filtering and decanting in order to improve the filtering properties of the carbonated juice. Calcium carbonate (CaCO.sub.3) generated in the first carbonation is a nonsugar substance and is removed from the line.
These known sugar processes are considerably expensive due to the relatively high consumption of raw materials necessary for the manufacture of the burnt lime, lime milk and carbonation scum. These processes negatively influence both the economy and the environment.

Method of producing sugar with reclaiming and recycling of carbonation scum