One feature pertains to a content accessing device for securing content. The content accessing device is provisioned with a cryptographic algorithm, and generates a symmetric key also known to a content storage device. The content accessing device sends a first authentication challenge to the content storage device, where the first authentication challenge is based on the cryptographic algorithm and the symmetric key. The content accessing device receives a second authentication challenge from the content storage device in response to sending the first authentication challenge, and determines whether the first authentication challenge is different from the second authentication challenge. If the second authentication challenge is different from the first authentication challenge the content accessing device sends a first response to the content storage device in response to the second authentication challenge.

1. Field
Various features pertain to securing content, and more specifically, improving security measures for content protection for recordable media standards.
2. Background
Many security algorithms exist for securing content (e.g., copyrighted music, videos, programming, sensitive data, etc.) on recordable media (e.g., memory circuit, digital storage devices, etc.). For example, a content provider may wish to limit a storage device from transmitting copyrighted content to another unauthorized communication device. As such, the content provider may establish a cryptographic security algorithm onto the storage device that authenticates other communication devices requesting the content from the storage device prior to allowing the storage device to transmit the content to the requesting communication device. Authenticating the requesting communication device prior to content transmission attempts to secure the content from being distributed without permission.
Despite the myriad of security algorithms that help secure against unauthorized data transmission, many have security vulnerabilities that can be discovered and exploited by an astute, rogue party. One such security vulnerability that exists in some security algorithms is explained in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 illustrates a security algorithm protocol found in the prior art. Specifically, FIG. 1 illustrates a method step flow diagram 100 of a mutual authentication and key exchange (AKE) between an accessing device 102 and a rogue storage device 104. In this example, the accessing device 102 is an authorized recording device that desires to record copyrighted content and/or content subject to restrictions onto another authorized storage device using the AKE. The AKE utilizes a symmetric key cipher algorithm to authenticate authorized communication devices, such as the accessing device 102 and other authorized storage devices. Authorized storage devices include, for example, non-volatile memory circuits (e.g., FLASH, Secure Digital (SD) Cards, etc.) that store secure content. In the illustrated example, the rogue storage device 104 may be any communication device that is posing as an authorized storage device.
Referring to FIG. 1, the accessing device 102 unsuspectingly wishes to record content to the rogue storage device 104. However, before doing so the accessing device 102 must authenticate the storage device 104. As such, the accessing device 102 begins the AKE process by generating (or is otherwise provided) a symmetric key Kmu 106 (ordinarily an authorized storage device would also have a copy of the symmetric key Kmu). Then, the accessing device 102 generates and transmits a first authentication challenge 108 to the rogue storage device 104. The first authentication value is a random number encrypted using an encryption cipher algorithm and the key Kmu. Instead of generating its own unique second authentication challenge with another random number, the rogue storage device 104 sets its second authentication challenge equal to the first authentication challenge received 110. Note that the rogue storage device 104 is presumed not to have the symmetric key Kmu that other authorized storage devices would ordinarily use to generate unique authentication challenges. The rogue storage device 104 then transmits the second authentication challenge 112 to the accessing device 102. The accessing device 102 generates a response R2 based on and in response to the second authentication challenge 114. For example, the response R2 is given by formula (1):R2=Ex(Kmu,AC2)XORAC2  (1)where AC2 is the second authentication challenge, XOR is the exclusive OR operation, and Ex is an encryption cipher algorithm. The accessing device 102 then transmits 116 the response R2 to the rogue storage device 104.
Authorized storage devices then ordinarily generate and transmit a unique response to the first authentication challenge received from the accessing device. However, instead of generating the response itself directly using the received first challenge, symmetric key Kmu, and the cipher algorithm Ex, the rogue storage device 104 sets its response R1 equal to the response R2 118, and sends the response R1 120 to the accessing device 102. Since both the first authentication challenge and the second authentication challenge are equal to one another, the expected responses R1 and R2 to the authentication challenges should also be equal to one another. Thus, the accessing device 102 unwittingly verifies the response R1 it receives from the rogue storage device 104 as being the correct response to its issued first authentication challenge and consequently authenticates 122 the storage device 104. After successful authentication the accessing device 102 records the content 124 (which may be encrypted using a title key Kt unknown to the rogue storage device 104) onto the rogue storage device 104. One or more additional steps not shown in FIG. 1 may take place after authentication 122 at the accessing device 102 and the storage device 104 in order to generate additional keys, such as a session key KS that is used to encrypt the title key Kt that may have been used to encrypt the content. The rogue storage device 104 may then distribute the encrypted content to other accessing devices, such as playback devices, that can derive the session and symmetric keys necessary to decrypt and play the content without proper authorization.
One example of a content protection scheme that utilizes a very similar AKE protocol to the one described above, and thus suffers from the same vulnerabilities, is the Content Protection for Recordable Media (CPRM), Content Protection for Pre-recorded Media (CPPM), and the Content Protection for Extended Media (CPXM) standards developed by the 4C Entity, LLC (a Delaware, USA corporation). Documents that describe the aforementioned CPRM/CPPM and CPXM standards (all herein after referred to simply as "CPRM") include, but are not limited to: Content Protection for Recordable Media Specification: Introduction and Common Cryptographic Elements, revision 1.1 (December 2010); Content Protection for Recordable Media Specification: SD Memory Card Book—Common Part, revision 0.97 (December 2010); Content Protection for Recordable Media Specification: SD Memory Card Book—SD-Binding Part, revision 0.92 (December 2005); Content Protection for Recordable Media Specification: SD Memory Card Book—SD-Video Part, revision 0.96 (June 2006); Content Protection for eXtended Media Specification (CPXM): Introduction and Common Cryptographic Elements, revision 0.85 Preliminary Release; Content Protection for eXtended Media Specification (CPXM): SD Memory Card Book, Common Part, revision 0.85 Preliminary Release; and C2 Block Cipher Specification, revision 1.0, (Jan. 1, 2003).
The CPRM standards are especially vulnerable to the attack described above with respect to FIG. 1 where the rogue device 104 sets the first and second authentication challenges equal to one another. According to the CPRM standards, after successful authentication, a session key KS is derived by the accessing device and storage device. The session key KS is given by the formula (2):KS=EC2(Kmu,AC1XORAC2)  (2)where EC2 is either the Cryptomeria C2 cipher algorithm or Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) algorithm, AC1 is the first authentication challenge, and AC2 is the second authentication challenge (i.e., Kmu and AC1 XOR AC2 are inputs to the EC2 encryption cipher). If AC1=AC2 (e.g., according to the aforementioned attack), then AC1 XOR AC2 will always return a zero (0) value, and thus KS will always equal EC2(Kmu,0) regardless of what specific value AC1 and AC2 are. Such a constant KS value poses a major security vulnerability. According to CPRM, once a rogue storage device obtains the encrypted content (e.g., step 124 of FIG. 1), the rogue device may initiate communications with other playback devices and execute the same AC1=AC2 scheme to derive the constant session key KS and decrypt the encrypted content for unauthorized playback on the playback devices.
Thus, there is a need for security protocols, such as improved AKE protocols, that feature increased security against unauthorized content recording, distribution, and playback. Moreover, there is a need to improve the existing AKE protocol used by the CPRM standards to safeguard against at least the security vulnerability described above with respect to FIG. 1.

Methods and devices for authentication and key exchange


An information transmitter apparatus for use in an information transmission system is provided, where the information transmission system includes the information transmitter apparatus and an information receiver apparatus. The information transmitter apparatus transmits a surface-shaped visible light signal using a light source, where the visible light signal is modulated according to a modulated signal modulated using a plurality of respective-order carriers different from each other, and the respective-order carriers has a fundamental frequency and multiple frequencies of a frame output signal of a video camera of rolling shutter system provided in an information receiver apparatus. The information receiver apparatus receives the visible light signal using the video camera. The information transmitter apparatus includes a modulator that quadrature-amplitude-modulates the respective-order carriers in accordance with input digital data signal, and inverse-Fourier-transforms modulated carriers to generate the modulated signal.

Although visible optical communications have been attempted for a long time, their research and development have become popular since the tablet terminals and smartphone become popular 2010 years later.
Casio's Picapicamera has pioneered commercialization in Japan (see, for example, Patent Documents 1 and 2). An emitting light source thereof is embedded in a board of microcomputer, and the optical signal from the emitting light source is received by the smartphone using application software. The optical signal from the light source and the video frame from the camera are not always synchronized with each other. The transmission rate is about 10 bps or less.
In contrast, we discloses the "time synchronization method using visible light communication" in Patent document 1, which performs visible optical communication faster than that of above camera using emission of a point light source.
Meanwhile, Panasonic Corporation made such an attempt as visional optical communication technique utilizing the characteristic of rolling shutter operation of CMOS (Complementary metal-Oxide Semiconductor) video camera, which has been widely adapted in smartphones (See, for example, Patent Document 3). The patent technique has such features that a surface light source is used instead of the point light source for the light source of the visible optical communication, and the operation of the rolling shutter of the camera is used together with the surface light source. Further, in order to receive a rapid luminance change of the light source, the patent technique has such a feature that an exposure time ratio of the electronic shutter of the camera (which is defined as a time ratio indicating substantially how many seconds the light receiving element receives the light in the video frame of 1/60 seconds) is set to a very short value such as several percent or less, so that the light source emits the light as strobe, to thereby establish the rapid luminance change with distinguishing the binary value of light line and dark line on scanning lines of the rolling shutter. The advantageous effect thereof is that a commercial camera can transmit data at a transmission rate of several kbps.
Further, "the visible optical communication method" disclosed in Non-Patent Document 2 similarly disclosed such a success of communication rate of several bps using a video camera with a light source of short time light emitting and with a small exposure time ratio of the shutter. However, the method used a black and white pattern modulation method using electrical characteristics different from those of the invention disclosed in Patent Document 3.

Information transmission system transmitting visible optical signal received by video camera

INTER-UNIVERSTY RESEARCH INSTITUTE CORPORATION RESEARCH ORGANIZATION OF INFORMATION AND SYSTEMS

NATIONAL UNIVERSITY CORPORATION HOKKAIDO UNIVERSITY


An automatic focusing device in which a plurality of points in a picture frame are measured in distance to form focusing information. The device is provided with weighting means for laying an emphasis on a substantially central portion of the picture frame and another emphasis on the near object distance when forming the above-described focusing information.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to automatic focusing devices for use in still cameras, video cameras, etc. and, more particularly, to automatic focusing devices in which a plurality of points in the picture frame are measured in distance, and focus adjustment information is formed on the basis of the results of distance measurement of these points.
2. Description of the Related Art
Devices of this kind for use in cameras, or devices of the so-called wide visual field distance measuring type (in which distance measurement is performed on a plurality of different points in the picture frame) have been proposed to eliminate the drawbacks of the conventional type automatic focusing device in which only one point of the picture frame is measured in distance. That is, that for a scene of two persons standing side by side, or a scene whose subject mainly a person) is out of the distance measuring area within the picture frame, these main objects fail to be sharply focused, as the focusing is effected at infinity.
What has so far been known as wide visual field distance measuring type automatic focusing device can be exemplified as follows:
(i) The type in which focusing is carried out based on one of the plurality of distance measuring results which is closest (for example, GENERAL & MECHANICAL 4582424, and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Sho 61-88211 and;) PA1 (ii) The type in which if a plurality of distance measuring results lie within the field depth determined by the focal length and aperture size of the photographic lens, focusing is adjusted to the average value so that all the objects corresponding to the plurality of points of distance measurement are sharply focused (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Sho 56-101128, 61-88211, 61-55619 and 61-53614.); PA1 (iii) The type in which depending on the brightness information, i.e., whether it is indoor or outdoor and, if outdoor, the focus is adjusted to the one of the plurality of distance measuring results which is farthest, or if indoor, it is adjusted to the closest one (Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications Nos. Sho 61-55619 and 61-53614.)
But, the use of the above-described type (i) device leads to problem that for the scenes of a side by side arrangement of two persons and the corner location of a main object, although, in many cases, automatic focusing is effected on the person (the main object), if an obstacle lies in front of it, or there is a foreground, the photographic lens will be focused on these surroundings. So, it cannot be focused on the person (the main object).
In connection with the type (ii) device, it is natural that photographic situations where the measured values of distances to the all the points fall in a range for the field depth are very few in number except when a short focal length lens is used, or the ambient brightness is very high. At the time of using the long focal length lens, or of low brightness conditions, a drawback is invited in that the influence of the hand shake appears in the image, or the lens cannot be focused to any of the plurality of previously selected distances.
Further, in the above-described Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. Sho 56-101128 that discloses the type (ii) device, an attempt has been made to eliminate the above-described drawback even when the long focal length lens is in use, or the brightness of the object to be photographed is low. To this end, from the AE information for a given time, how deep the field depth is determined. This value of the field depth is then compared with the position of the object (the measured value of the object distance). In the case when it is found that all measured distance information does not fall within this field depth, a treatment to give an alarm to the photographer or to stop the shooting is carried out. But, the introduction of such an treatment gives rise to an alternative problem that a shutter opportunity is missed or the like.
Furthermore, the countermeasure in the type (iii) device is so short that in outdoor photography the sharp focus is apt to be effected on the background, while in indoor photography a front obstacle, etc. is often chosen in focusing, thus inviting a problem that the percentage of photographs of the person (main object) sharply focused is largely reduced.
This, in the automatic focusing device of the wide visual field distance measuring type according to the previous proposals, most of the photographic situations where two persons at the center of the target area stand side by side, or a person lies in the margin of the target area allow sharp focusing of the person as the main object). On the other hand, where the conventional distance measuring type (in which only one point of the picture frame is measured) is able to focus the lens on the main object, the focusing fails (instead, the lens is focused on the foreground or background.)


An animal trap particularly suited for trapping moles. The trap has a frame formed by two interfitting bails or U-shaped members pivotally joined at their legs so as to form a pair of scissor-like clamps. The distal end of each leg of the U-shaped members has one-half of an animal gripping jaw which cooperates with an opposing one-half of a jaw on the distal end on the adjacent leg of the associated U-shaped member. A shaft extends between the legs of the U-shaped members. The opposite ends of the shaft are welded to the legs of one U-shaped member. The legs of the other U-shaped member are pivoted on the shaft. A pair of coil springs are mounted on the shaft the outer ends of which drivingly engage the legs which are pivoted on the shaft. The inner end of each spring drivingly engages a trigger lever which projects from the shaft. The driving torque exerted by the springs urges the jaw halves into their closed animal gripping condition. A trigger is pivotally mounted intermediate its opposite ends on the distal end of the trigger lever. A pan positioned to be sideways engaged by an animal entering the trap is mounted or formed on one end of the trigger. A hook is formed on the opposite end. A trip rod is pivotally mounted at one end on the bight of the U-shaped member to which the shaft is fixed. The distal end of the shaft releasably engages the hook when the trap is set so that the trip rod and trigger mechanism keep the jaws open against the torque of the springs. With the trap set with the jaws in the ground and pointing down, when an animal presses upwards against the pan, it causes the hook to slip off the end of the trip rod and thereby springs the trap.

This invention relates, generally, to animal traps of the type that capture an animal between jaws when the animal trips a trigger mechanism. More particularly, the invention relates to an improved trap for capturing moles when travelling along a mole run. Animal traps of the type which capture an animal between spring actuated jaws generally have a trigger mechanism which is activated by the animal stepping down on a trigger mechanism. The present invention relates to a jaw-type animal trap wherein the trigger mechanism is horizontally oriented and is actuated by an animal pressing up against the trigger with the jaws being vertically oriented. It has been found that an animal trap of this type is particularly suited for trapping moles as they travel along a mole run.
The object of the invention generally stated is the provision of an improved animal trap of the jaw type having, when properly set, vertically oriented animal gripping jaws and a horizontally oriented trigger mechanism which is actuated by an animal engaging the mechanism from underneath. More particularly, the object of the invention is the provision of a mole trap which is particularly suited for capturing moles as they travel along a mole run and enter between vertically oriented jaws and raise or lift a trigger mechanism so as to trip the mechanism and spring the trap.
A further object of the invention is the provision of such an improved trap which is economical to construct and is safe and easy to install and set.


Provided herein are a motor control apparatus, an image forming apparatus, an image forming apparatus including the same, and a motor control method, by which position error of a motor and a control value for compensating for the position error are calculated and reflected in feedback control, thereby quickly removing position error of the motor.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a motor control apparatus for controlling a direct current (DC) motor, an image forming apparatus including the same, and a motor control method for controlling the DC motor.
2. Description of the Related Art
A direct current (DC) motor is often used as a motor for driving an electronic product. Recently, a brushless DC (BLDC) motor obtained by improving performance of the DC motor has been developed and put to use.
In order to accurately and efficiently control an electronic product having a DC or BLDC motor, there is a need for feedback control to detect rotation information of the motor, compare the rotation information with a target signal, and re-input, to the motor, a control signal for compensating for a difference between the rotation information and the target signal, that is, errors.
Conventionally, only speed control and phase control are performed to compensate for speed error or phase error of a motor, and control to compensate for position error of the motor is not performed. Thus, when a strong external disturbance is applied to the motor, position error is caused to affect an operation of an electronic product.
In particular, when the motor is used in an image forming apparatus, the position error of the motor affects image quality, leading edge margin, and so on.

Motor control apparatus, image forming apparatus having the same, and motor control method


A bus monitoring device includes a detector to detect a signal on the bus. The signal is initiated by one of a plurality of devices coupled to the bus. A clamp circuit is included to clamp the signal to a first predefined level in response to the signal being initiated by a first device of the plurality of devices. A comparator circuit compares the signal and a voltage reference to determine whether the first device initiated the signal.

The present disclosure relates to the field of bus communications for information handling systems, and more particularly to identifying devices coupled to a bus.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to acquire, process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system ('IHS') generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, entertainment, and/or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
A bus typically includes a plurality of conductors to electrically couple a plurality of devices. A data portion of the bus transfers actual data while an address portion of the bus directs the data to a predefined address. Typical examples of widely used buses in the personal computer industry include an I2C bus, a system management bus (SMbus), and an ACCESS bus. A technical specification entitled 'System Management Bus Specification', Revision 1.0, dated Feb. 15, 1995 describes additional details of the SMBus and is incorporated herein by reference. The SMBus is a popular derivative of the I2C bus and is, in most cases, compatible with the I2C bus. Both buses typically use a two-wire communication scheme and have at least one master device and one or more addressable slave devices. In a multi-master configuration, one or more masters co-exist on the bus at the same time without collision and/or data loss.
In a typical configuration of the SMBus/I2C bus, an input/output controller such as a keyboard controller (KBC) is configured as a master device operable to communicate with one or more rechargeable batteries equipped with electronic circuitry that is configured to operate as a slave. The KBC monitors and controls the operation of the one or more batteries. In a particular configuration, the SMBus/I2C bus may enable the batteries to operate as a master device and perform tasks such as broadcasting a signal. The broadcasted signal may include information such as battery status, manufacturer name, serial and model number, voltage, temperature and charge/discharge status.
Presently, tools and techniques available to monitor SMBus/I2C bus signals are unable to detect which master device originated a signal. That is, whether a signal on the SMBus/I2C bus was originated by the KBC or by another master device such as a battery. Such information is often desired to improve product reliability. For example, it may be desirable to identify potential counterfeit and/or non-compliant batteries that may not properly safeguard the charging process causing excessive heating during the charging process.
Therefore, a need exists for an improved method and system to identify an originating source of a message on a bus such as the SMBus/I2C bus. More specifically, a need exists to develop tools and techniques for distinguishing which one of a plurality of master devices coupled to the SMBus/I2C bus originated a signal. Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide for monitoring a bus included in an IHS, absent the disadvantages found in the prior methods discussed above.

Method of detecting and monitoring master device communication on system bus


A processing device employs a stack memory in a region of an external memory. The processing device has a stack pointer register to store a current top address for the stack memory. One of several techniques is used to determine which portion or portions of the external memory correspond to the stack region. A more efficient memory policy is implemented, whereby pushes to the stack do not have to read data from the external memory in to a cache, and whereby pops from the stack do not cause stale stack data to be written back from the cache to the external memory.

In one important application, stack memories provide temporary memory for procedures, also called subroutines or routines, and programs used in processing systems. Stack memories are generally 'first in last out' structures. When data A is 'pushed' or placed onto the stack and then data B is pushed onto the stack, data B must be 'popped' or removed before data A can be popped from the stack.
In the simplest model of a stack, a register referred to here as the stack pointer (SP) in the processor maintains the address of the "top" entry in the region of memory designated as the stack. In a stack that grows downwards with each push, the stack pointer is generally set to the highest address to be used for the stack at program initialization, such as 0xffffffff in a 32-bit system where 0 would be the lowest address. This implementation of a stack is only one of many possible variants and is for discussion purposes only. Embodiments of the invention may be applied to stack architectures that grow by either increasing or decreasing addresses, where the stack base is not at one end of the address space, etc.
In this discussion of a simple stack, the stack pointer is moved to a lower address dictated by the size of the item pushed onto the stack. Pushing data onto the stack causes the amount of in-use data on the stack to grow. The stack pointer moves to a higher address dictated by the size of the item popped from the stack. Popping data from the stack causes the amount of in-use data on the stack to shrink.
Items on the stack are typically referenced by an offset relative to the current stack pointer. For example, if word A and then word B are pushed, B is "at" the stack pointer having an offset of zero words. Word is A is one word prior to the stack pointer having an offset of one word. There are many other embodiments possible, such as one in which B is interpreted as having an offset of one word, and A as having an offset of two words.
Stacks typically have a word size and an alignment that are a function of the size of the general registers of the CPU. For example, an architecture that has 32-bit wide registers would preferably have 32-bit stack words.
On high-performance processors, the use of a cache often decreases the access latency for frequently-referenced regions of memory. Because of their use in holding locally-relevant temporary data, the region of external memory such as in a DRAM corresponding to the active portion of the stack often ends up residing in the cache. The active portion of the stack is the portion used by the current routine. Similarly, other portions of the stack, such as from parents of the currently-active routine, may also be in the cache until they are replaced by other, more-frequently-referenced data. Note that the external memory as referenced in the embodiments could be implemented as one or more similar or disparate types of memory. The type of external memory does not matter.
Caches typically hold blocks of memory that are a power of two in size and alignment, such as a 16-byte block aligned on a 16-byte boundary. A cache line may store a block of external memory in the cache while the contents of that block are being frequently read or written by the CPU. If the cache line is written or modified by the CPU, it is considered to be "dirty" and must be written back to the external memory when it is evicted from the cache. Otherwise the external memory would not have the latest copy of the data and the modifications to that cache line by the CPU would be lost. There are many properties of caches, such as size, degree of associativity, allocation and replacement policies, external memory writing policies, as examples, that can be varied within the scope of the embodiments.
It is possible to implement memory policies recognizing some of the special properties of stack data to determine when external memory reads and writes of stack data are not needed, and to avoid these unnecessary external memory reads and writes, increasing the overall efficiency of the system.

Optimizing cached access to stack storage


A solid-state light source includes laser diodes that emit a laser beam with a first wavelength, a rotatable support that is arranged in a beam path of the laser beam and a reflector that is arranged between the laser diodes and the rotatable support. The rotatable support is formed of a ring or of an optically transparent disc. Further, the rotatable support is mounted to be rotatable around a rotation axis such that the laser beam impinges on a ring-shaped area of the rotatable support during rotation. Segments of the ring-shaped area include wavelength converting material that emits radiation of a second wavelength upon impingement of the laser beam. The rotatable support is mounted in a bearing that is arranged distant from the rotation axis to allow unhindered passage of the radiation directed by the reflector to the emission direction.

Solid state light sources are currently entering many different lighting applications and replace incandescent and gas discharge lamps. Several applications are characterized by a small Étendue of the optical system, e. g. digital protection, optical fibres, architectural, entertainment or stage lighting. High intensity gas discharge lamps, like for example UHP- or Xenon-lamps are currently used in these demanding applications. Nevertheless, solid state light sources are also highly desired as the light source in this type of applications. LEDs are still limited in their brightness and therefore can not be adapted to low Étendue applications. Lasers provide a brightness that is by orders of magnitude higher than the typical requirements of optical applications with low Étendue. This means that there are basically no collection losses to be expected, which makes lasers a very attractive light source for such applications. However, suitable lasers are not available at all required emission wavelengths. Especially in the green wavelength range there is a lack of direct laser diodes with appropriate performance and costs. Furthermore, laser projection is still hampered by Speckle and other interference effects which require additional measures to ensure an acceptable picture quality. These effects are related to the small bandwidth (or high coherence) of lasers.
A new type of light source for projection was recently proposed in which a laser excites a phosphor layer that is placed on a rotating disc. This allows the design of a hybrid RGB-light source, where the blue light is generated by an array of laser diodes, the green light is generated by using—in a time sequential manner—a portion of the blue light to excite the phosphor and convert from the blue to the green, and the red light is generated with a red emitting LED. To keep the temperature of the phosphor in an appropriate range where the conversion efficiency is still good, the phosphor is placed on a rotating wheel. In this way the average laser power that hits the phosphor is spread out and kept low enough so that the temperature of the phosphor remains within an uncritical range. This type of light source makes good use of the laser properties, since it is possible to focus laser beams to very tiny spot sizes and excite only a small area on the phosphor. The smaller the spot size, the smaller is the optical Étendue into which the light is emitted and in this way, a low Étendue light-source is realized. Depending on the type of phosphor, this light-source emits a relatively broad spectrum and does not cause any disturbing Speckle-effects.
US 20110116253 A1 discloses such a solid state light source which includes a phosphor covered disc and a motor rotating the disc in the beam path of a semiconductor laser diode. The disc is made from an optically transparent material such as quartz glass and rotates around a central rotational axis. An optical lens system is arranged behind the rotating disc in order to collect the converted radiation emitted by the phosphor layer.


An instrument and method for scanning large microscope specimen on a specimen holder has a scanning optical microscope that is configured to scan the specimen in one of brightfield and fluorescence. The specimen is dynamically tillable about a scan direction during a scan to maintain focus along the length of each scan line as the scan proceeds. A three dimensional image of the specimen can be obtained wherein the specimen tilt and relative focus are maintained from a first image contour to a second image contour through a thickness of a specimen.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fields of microscopic imaging of large specimens with particular emphasis on brightfield and fluorescence imaging. Applications include imaging tissue specimens, genetic microarrays, protein arrays, tissue arrays, cells and cell populations, biochips, arrays of biomolecules, detection of nanoparticles, photoluminescence imaging of semiconductor materials and devices, and many others. More particularly, this invention relates to an instrument and method for scanning a large microscope specimen in brightfield or fluorescence with a scanning optical microscope and tilting the specimen about a scan direction during a scan to maintain focus along a length of each scan as the scan proceeds.
Description of the Prior Art
Several technologies are used for imaging large specimens at high resolution. Tiling microscopes record an image of a small area of the specimen using a digital camera (usually a CCD camera), the specimen is moved with a computer-controlled microscope stage to image an adjacent area, an image of the adjacent area is recorded, the stage is moved again to the next area, and so on until a number of image tiles have been recorded that together cover the whole area of the specimen. Images of each area (image tiles) are recorded when the stage is stationary, after waiting long enough for vibrations from the moving stage to dissipate, and using an exposure time that is sufficient to record the fluorescence images. These image tiles can be butted together, or overlapped and stitched using computer stitching algorithms, to form one image of the entire specimen. Such images may contain tiling artifacts caused by different focus positions for adjacent tiles. For large specimens, thousands of tiles may be required to image the entire specimen, requiring many changes in focus which increase the chances of tiling artifacts.
Strip scanning instruments are often used for imaging large specimens on microscope slides. In these instruments infinity-corrected microscope optics are used, with a high Numerical Aperture (high NA) microscope objective and a tube lens of the appropriate focal length to focus an image of the specimen directly onto a CCD or CMOS linear array sensor or TDI sensor, and with the correct magnification to match the resolution of the microscope objective with the detector pixel size for maximum magnification in the digitized image {as described in "Choosing Objective Lenses: The Importance of Numerical Aperture and Magnification in Digital Optical Microscopy", David W. Piston, Biol. Bull. 195, 1-4 (1998)}. A linear CCD detector array with 1000 or 2000 pixels is often used, and three separate linear detectors with appropriate filters to pass red, green and blue light are used for RGB brightfield imaging. A high Numerical Aperture 20× microscope objective is often used, with a 1 mm field of view. The sample is moved at constant speed in the direction perpendicular to the long dimension of the linear detector array to scan a narrow strip across a microscope slide. The entire slide can be imaged by imaging repeated strips and buffing them together to create the final image. Another version of this technology uses TDI (Time Delay and Integration) array sensors which increase both sensitivity and imaging speed. In both of these instruments, exposure is varied by changing illumination intensity and/or scan speed.
Such a microscope is shown in FIG. 1 (Prior Art). A tissue specimen 100 (or other specimen to be imaged) mounted on microscope slide 101 is illuminated from below by illumination source 110. Light passing through the specimen is collected by infinity-corrected microscope objective 115 which is focused on the specimen by piezo positioner 120. The microscope objective 115 and tube lens 125 form a real image of the specimen on linear detector array 130. An image of the specimen is collected by moving the microscope slide at constant speed in scan direction 102 along the Y direction using motorized stage 105 in a direction perpendicular to the long dimension of the detector array 130, combining a sequence of equally-spaced line images from the array to construct an image of one strip across the specimen. Strips are then assembled to form a complete image of the specimen.
For brightfield imaging, most strip-scanning instruments illuminate the specimen from below, and detect the image in transmission using a sensor placed above the specimen. In brightfield, signal strength is high, and red, green and blue channels are often detected simultaneously with separate linear detector arrays to produce a colour image.
A prior art strip-scanning microscope for fluorescence imaging is shown in FIG. 2. A tissue specimen 200 (or other fluorescent specimen to be imaged) mounted on microscope slide 101 is illuminated from above by illumination source 201. In fluorescence imaging the illumination source is usually mounted above the specimen (epifluorescence) so that the intense illumination light that passes through the specimen is not mixed with the weaker fluorescence emission from the specimen, as it would be if the illumination source were below the specimen. Several different optical combinations can be used for epifluorescence illumination—including illumination light that is injected into the microscope tube between the microscope objective and the tube lens, using a dichroic beamsplitter to reflect it down through the microscope objective and onto the specimen. In addition, a narrow wavelength band is chosen for the illumination light to match the absorption peak of the fluorophore in use. Fluorescence emitted by the specimen is collected by infinity-corrected microscope objective 115 which is focused on the specimen by piezo positioner 120. Emission filter 205 is chosen to reject light at the illumination wavelength and to pass the emission band of the fluorophore in use. The microscope objective 115 and tube lens 125 form a real image of the specimen on a TDI detector array 210. An image of the specimen is collected by moving the microscope slide at constant speed in scan direction 102 along the y direction using motorized stage 105 in a direction perpendicular to the long dimension of the detector array 210, combining a sequence of equally-spaced, time-integrated line images from the array to construct an image of one strip across the specimen. Strips are then assembled to form a complete image of the specimen. When a CCD-based TDI array is used, each line image stored in memory is the result of integrating the charge generated in all of the previous lines of the array while the scan proceeds, and thus has both increased signal/noise and amplitude (due to increased exposure time) when compared to the result if a linear array detector were used.
A description of strip scanning instruments, using either linear arrays or TDI arrays, is given in US Patent Application Publication #US2009/0141126 A1 ("Fully Automatic Rapid Microscope Slide Scanner", by Dirk Soenksen).
When either linear arrays or TDI arrays are used for scanning a tissue specimen, focus is maintained along the scan strip by moving microscope objective 115 with piezo positioner 120. A focus map for each strip is created before scanning with measurements at several positions along the strip and focus is maintained by the piezo positioner in accordance with the focus map; or automatic focus is achieved during scanning using a separate detector or focus-measuring device. One measurement of best focus position for autofocusing a point scanner (or one using a linear array detector) was described in "Autofocusing for wide field-of-view laser scanning imaging systems", G. Li, S. Damaskinos & A. Dixon, Scanning 28(2), 74-75 (2006). This paper describes the use of an X-Z image acquired at each of several focus points on the specimen to produce a best focus position by segmenting the X-Z image along X and calculating a best focus position for each segment. The result of a best linear fit for these focus positions is used as the line of best focus. In the Y direction, the best focus is determined by a best linear fit to focus positions calculated for various Y locations. Spatial-domain intensity-gradient-based solutions were found to work better than spatial-frequency-domain-based solutions.
If the specimen is not flat, or the specimen is tilted about the scan direction, proper focus may not be achieved across the whole width of the strip. In addition, focus at the edge of adjacent strips may be different, making it difficult to stitch image strips together to assemble a complete image of the specimen without focus mismatch at the edge of strips. These problems are made worse when magnification is increased (which decreases depth of field) and when the width of the scan strip on the specimen is increased.
FIG. 3 shows one embodiment of a prior art confocal scanning laser macroscope, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,951. In this embodiment, the incoming collimated laser beam 302 from laser 300 passes through a beam expander (comprised of lens 304 and lens 306), and is expanded to match the diameter of entrance pupil 312 of laser scan lens 314 (note—entrance pupil 312 as indicated on the figure simply indicates the position of the entrance pupil. A real stop is not placed at this position). Scanning mirror 310 deflects the beam in the X direction. Laser scan lens 314 focuses the beam to spot 316 on (or inside) specimen 318, mounted on microscope slide 101, and light reflected from or emitted by the specimen is collected by laser scan lens 314, descanned by scanning mirror 310, and partially reflected by beamsplitter 308 into a confocal detection arm comprised of laser rejection filter 330, lens 332, pinhole 334, and detector 336. Detector 336 is located behind pinhole 334. Light reflected back from focused spot 316 on specimen 318 passes through pinhole 334 and is detected, but light from any other point in the specimen runs into the edges of the pinhole and is not detected. The scan mirror is computer-controlled to raster the focused spot across the specimen. At the same time, microscope slide 101, which is mounted on a computer-controlled, motor-driven scanning stage 105, moves slowly in the Y direction. The combination of rapid beam scanning across the specimen while it is moved slowly in the perpendicular Y direction results in a raster-scan motion of focused-laser spot 316 across specimen 318. A computer, represented by computer screen 340, is connected to detector 336 to store and display a signal from detector 336. The computer provides means for acquiring, manipulating, displaying and storing the signal from the detector. This confocal macroscope has properties similar to those of a confocal scanning laser microscope, except that the field of view of the microscope is much smaller. Both confocal scanning laser microscopes and macroscopes are often called "spot scanners" or "point scanners", since they both function by scanning a focused spot or point of light across the specimen in a raster scan.
The instrument shown in FIG. 3 has the ability to adjust the gain of the detector depending on the fluorescence intensity of the fluorophore, and a high-speed preview scan can be used to predict the gain required for each fluorophore before scanning the final high-resolution image (see PCT application WO 2009/137935 A1). In addition, because the laser scan lens has a wide field of view, large specimens can be scanned in a few wide strips, making it possible to scan very large specimens (up to 6×8 inches in size in one version of a commercial instrument). Best focus is measured at several positions in the scan (Y) direction, and focus is maintained dynamically during scan. In one version of this instrument, specimen tilt was measured at several positions on the specimen, and an average value was used to adjust specimen tilt using a tilting specimen stage, using the same value of tilt across the entire specimen. This combination was very effective for thin tissue specimens and low resolution imaging (1 micron pixels or larger) but higher resolution (including the use of higher numerical-aperture scan lenses) and thick specimens will require a better solution.
Several other technologies are used for fluorescence imaging of large specimens. With tiling microscopes, the image of a small area of the specimen is recorded with a digital camera (usually a CCD camera), the specimen is moved with a computer-controlled microscope stage to image an adjacent area, an image of the adjacent area is recorded, the stage is moved again to the next area, and so on until a number of image tiles have been recorded that together cover the whole area of the specimen. Images of each area (image tiles) are recorded when the stage is stationary, after waiting long enough for vibrations from the moving stage to dissipate, and using an exposure time that is sufficient to record the fluorescence images. These image tiles can be butted together, or overlapped and stitched using computer stitching algorithms, to form one image of the entire specimen.
When tiling microscopes are used for fluorescence imaging, the areas surrounding each tile and the overlapping edges of adjacent tiles are exposed twice (and the corners four times) which can bleach some fluorophores. Exposure is adjusted by changing the exposure time for each tile. If multiple fluorophores are imaged, a different exposure time is required for each, so each fluorophore requires a separate image at each tile position. Multiple exposure of the specimen for imaging multiple fluorophores can also increase bleaching of the fluorophores.

Slide scanner with dynamic focus and specimen tilt and method of operation


The tooth portion of a metal ring gear is subjected to shot peening after the ring gear is mechanically connected to a metal boss portion by plastic deformation of the metal material.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of connecting a metal ring gear to a boss portion made of metal.
2. Description of the Prior Art boss portion made of metal, e.g., for connecting a ring gear of a differential of an automobile to a differential case, there has been known a method in which the former is mechanically connected to the latter by plastic deformation of the metal material such as plastic flow connection, riveting or the like. For example, there is disclosed, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 61(1986)-42445, a method of connecting a ring gear to a differential by plastic flow connection.
When the ring gear is connected to the boss portion by such a method, the parts associated with the ring gear can be reduced in weight, the parts can be manufactured at a lower cost and the manhour required for the assembly of the ring gear can be reduced as compared with a case where the ring gear is connected to the boss portion by use of bolts and nuts.
When the ring gear is manufactured, at least the tooth portion thereof is heat-treated in order to increase the strength and the resistance to wear.
By subjecting the ring gear to surface hardening heat treating such as carburizing or nitriding treatment, residual compression stress is produced in the hardened surface portion, whereby fatigue properties to repeated loading is improved as well as resistance to wear.
Further there has been known the fact that, by shot peening, scale on the surface of the member can be removed and the surface profile can be improved and at the same time, residual compression surface can be produced in the surface portion of the member.
However the method in which the ring gear is mechanically connected to the boss portion by plastic deformation of the metal material gives rise to a problem that an internal pressure acts on the ring gear in response to plastic deformation of the metal material and a tensile stress acts on the root of the tooth portion in the circumferential direction of the gear, which adversely affects fatigue life of the gear.
That is, even in the ring gear which has been subjected to the surface hardening heat treating, the tensile stress which acts on the root of the tooth portion as a result of connection of the ring gear to the boss portion reduces the residual compression surface in the surface portion and accordingly a desired fatigue life cannot be stably obtained.
Further the method of connecting the ring gear to the boss portion can produce deformation in the tooth portion of the ring gear and deteriorate precision of the gear, which adversely affects mesh of the gears and causes noise.

Method of connecting metal ring gear to metal boss portion


The present disclosure provides an industrial internet encryption system for an internet of things (IoT) environment. The present disclosure provides an apparatus, a system, and a method for providing an industrial internet encryption system comprising: accessing an application module; initiating registration with the application module; completing registration with the application module by providing profile attributes; locally encrypting registration profile attributes; authenticating into a networked environment using encrypted registration information; and maintaining registration information for one or more devices. The method further comprising wherein the profile attributes are at least one of: a fingerprint, a name, a media access control (MAC) address, an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI) number, a password, a cellular phone number, an address, a date of birth, a driver's license, an email address, a username, data nucleus aggregated information (DNA), digital data nucleic authority (DDNA) information, and other personally identifiable information. The present disclosure provides an industrial internet encryption system comprising: a server; an industrial internet encryption system application module; a user interface module; a lokchain module; an endpoint to endpoint cryptographic module for generating secret keys; and an industrial internet encryption system server.

In many situations, security over the internet or between wireless devices is provided by public key infrastructure utilizing public key cryptography. For example, a public key infrastructure (PKI) is a system for the creation, storage, and distribution of digital certificates which are used to verify that a particular public key belongs to a certain entity. Thus, the conventional strategy is to use the PKI to create digital certificates which map public keys to entities, securely stores these certificates in a central repository and revokes them if needed.
Public key infrastructure has been the industry standard for many years. In order to use PKI, a user must establish one or more certificate authorities, a hardware security module (HSM), establish one or more websites which store certificates and certificate revocation lists (CRLs), one or more simple computer enrollment protocols (SCEP) servers which enable mobile and network devices to acquire certificates, and hire staff or administrators to manage the entire certificate system.
This often causes problems because the conventional strategy does not address the increasing complexity of the existing PKI system as more and more mobile devices, computers, and electronic network capable devices are added to the system. For example, devices are now being added to the PKI system which contain emerging technologies. Additional problems are being exposed as PKI continues to be relied upon. For example, in functional PKI communication, there are many certificate errors which are only increasing security risk as more and more users continue to use the PKI system. Many key management systems used to store records of keys used in the PKI system are stored on hard drives which are vulnerable to attack.
The PKI system is also vulnerable to hacking by exploiting other weaknesses in networks that PKI has not solved. Most importantly of all problems, as computer processing becomes more inexpensive as Moore's law continues to hold true and Quantum computing continues to develop, the large prime numbers relied upon by public key cryptography to protect secret information will become easier to solve. Long keys will not make up for an insecure system as total security is no stronger than the weakest component in the system. This is also true of the verifying computer in a PKI system as well as the computer that uses the certificate.
There is a need for a more efficient, more robust, comprehensive cryptography system. The present disclosure solves this problem.


An auditorium chair comprised essentially of four parts that interconnect creating a frame with a three point stability system. The auditorium chair structure has the following components: fastening with screws, snap tight buttons, or other fasteners, dimensioning in accordance with use in current auditorium chair sizes, and fabrication design enabling efficient shipment while maintaining stability and stacking capability.

A folding chair is a light portable chair that can be stored in a stack or row. They are usually used for parties, card games, and temporary seating. They typically can be stored quite easily by either a method of stacking one on top of the other or by folding them into a compact shape.
Folding chairs were already being used in ancient Egypt, Greece and Rome. The curule chair of the Roman magistrate was a folding chair, as well as the seat of the emperor. The frame was mostly made of wood, and seldom made of metal. The wood was inlaid with artistic carvings, gilded, and decorated with ivory. In Northern Europe, folding chairs date back to the Bronze Age.
The folding chair became especially widespread during the middle ages. Here it was treasured as a liturgical furniture piece. Since the 15th and 16th century the folding chair has mostly had arm and head rests. Newer chairs which are often found in functions and events are also called folding chairs. Today, the folding chair is mostly made of hard plastic or metal.
However, folding chairs can lack the stability of a stackable chair. Additionally, folding chairs pose a separate problem of requiring a storage rack to contain the chairs while the chairs are in the collapsed (folded) position for storage. Stackable chairs are not collapsed or folded for storage. Stackable chairs do not require a storage rack. Stackable chairs are readily stored by stacking one or more stackable chairs on top of another stackable chair.
In order to maintain the stability while stacked and maintain stability while an individual is seated on the stackable chair, the stackable chairs are typically assembled by welding the joints together at the manufacturer's location. After the manufacturer constructs a number of stackable chairs, the manufacturer ships the stackable chairs to a consumer or vendor as specified in an order by the consumer or vendor. Though the chairs can be stored readily by a stacking design, the stackable chairs are not shipped very easily. The object of the design and welded assembly at the manufacture is to facilitate more stability during storage by stacking one atop the other and maintaining a specified stability while an individual is seated on the stackable chair. As such, the stackable chairs are cumbersome to ship. What is needed is a stackable chair design that can be knocked-down to enable the manufacturer or vendor to maximize the number of chairs that can be shipped in one container while still maintaining the proper stability required for seating and the functionality of stacking.


Disclosed herein is an device for use with exercising equipment defining a handle device. The handle device includes a support cross member for the user's wrist and a handle member for the user's grip. The handle device has a pair of shoulders at either end of the support cross member. The shoulders are upraised from the support cross member have openings to accommodate a pair of threaded rods having knurled knobs attached thereto and positioned in one of the openings. The threaded rods screw into threaded openings in the handle member and the ends of the rods are affixed thereto. Along each of the rods and between the shoulder and the handle member is a locking member. Depending upon preference and physical dimension and which hand is being used, a user can use the combination of the threaded rods, knurled knobs and locking members to adjust the spaced apart distance of the handle and support cross members as well as the angle therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to exercising equipment and more particularly to a detachable handle which may be used on a variety of exercising devices.
2. Previous Art
During the past twenty-five years, exercising devices have become popular. Various types of exercising devices for strengthening and conditioning and toning muscles have become widely known. Such devices include those made by Nautilus and Universal and more recently Cybex and others which are designed to specifically condition and strengthen an isolated muscle or group of muscles, e.g. biceps and triceps.
It will be appreciated that a muscle group generally includes a number of muscles, namely a primarily muscle to be exercised and muscles surrounding the primary muscle, known as the secondary muscles. The primary muscle to be exercised is dependent upon the secondary muscle(s). The secondary muscle(s) will provide a limit to the primary muscles, if as is often true, it is the weaker muscles. The exercise will only be able to be done as forcefully as the weaker muscles can sustain. Consequently, the primary muscle may not be working as near its maximum as desired.
In order to stimulate growth in a muscle, the muscle must be exercised at a level approximating its maximum. The above analysis is among the strong motivating factors using the equipment described above.
Unfortunately, the isolation of the muscle does not strengthen the surrounding or secondary muscles. Additionally, such exercise devices to do not stimulate the balance and the coordination of the muscles which are necessary for proper athletic movement.
With particular attention to the arm, it will be appreciated more fully hereinafter that the primary limitation is the hand and especially the wrist . The hand, supported by the wrist joint, must hold an object prior to arm exercise.
In order to prevent injury or hyper extension of the wrist, which is easily overloaded, a device is needed which will reduce the force the primary muscles of the upper body, namely the pectoralis major, latissimus dorsi and the long head of the tricep, exerts upon the wrist while allowing the primary muscles to be exercised at a level close to their maximum.
Additionally, it will be noticed from even a casual observation that one's wrist is not parallel with the hand. In other words, one's right wrist is set at a different angle to the right hand than one's left wrist and hand. By drawing a line across the wrist and knuckles of each hand, it will be seen that the two lines are not parallel, nor are the angles for the left and right equal. Rather the angles are complementary for each hand.
Thus, in addition to having a handle device which is designed to protect both hands, it would be desirable to have such an device which could be separately configured for each hand, the left and the right.


A coaxial cable connector structure including a sleeve and an annular nut on the front end of the sleeve is presented, wherein an inner tube is disposed inside the sleeve for connecting the coaxial cable, and a spring is disposed between the inner tube and the inner threads on the annular nut, the spring having a first end positioned proximate the bottom of the annular nut and a second end positioned forward of the front end of the inner tube for the end surface of the connection base towards the annular nut to contact the spring and electrically connect the inner tube when the annular nut is at least partially screwed onto the connection base, so that the coaxial cable connector structure can transmit signals when it is not completely screwed onto the connection base, and provide the effect of vibration suppression from the compressed spring having its two ends abutted against the bottom of the annular nut and the end surface of the connection base by the elastic restoring force when the connection base is completely screwed onto the connection base.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coaxial cable connector structure, and more particularly to a coaxial cable connector structure having a spring disposed inside the annular nut for electrically connecting the coaxial cable connector and the connection base when the coaxial cable connector is loosened or not completely screwed onto the connection base.
2. Description of Related Art
The coaxial cable is a signal transmission cable widely used in television and network systems, which is fixed on the corresponding connection base of video or network equipment by the coaxial cable connector set at the end. For example, a common F-type coaxial cable connector connects to the coaxial cable through a sleeve, a rotatable annular nut is disposed on the front end of the sleeve, and an inner thread is disposed on the inner surface of the annular nut and a hexagonal outer wall is disposed on its outer surface for rotating to fasten by fingers or clamping tools.
The annular nut needs to be rotated repeatedly to completely connect the abovementioned coaxial cable connector to the connection base, to thereby ensure electrical connection for transmitting signals from the coaxial cable. An incompletely tightened annular nut can result in a disfigured signal. For example, a loose annular nut may move relative to the connection base causing the copper wire inside the cable to move relative to the female connector inside the connection base. In addition, a loose annular nut may also permit outside signals to interact or interfere with the signal carried by inside the cable. However, since the outer contact area of the annular nut is small, it cannot be effectively forced to rotate by fingers, the motion of fastening the annular nut by fingers is time-consuming and labor-intensive. Also, since the connection base is typically disposed on the back side of the abovementioned equipment and the equipment is set in a narrow space, users are compelled to move the equipment to access the connection base for completely fastening the coaxial cable connector. This may cause considerable inconvenience. In view of this, embodiments of the present invention improve the abovementioned defects for transmitting signals when the coaxial cable connector structure is not completely fastened on the connection base, and thereby also increase convenience in use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A new and distinct cultivar of hydrangea named `Paris Rapa`, particularly characterized by intense rose color of the flowers, early growth, storable in the cold and lack of need for chemical growth regulators in the early stage of cultivation and during forcing, particularly suitable for growth in pots, compact and extremely high resistance to mildew.

The present invention comprises a new and distinct cultivar of Hydrangea macrophylla known by the varietal name `Paris Rapa`.
The new cultivar is the product of a planned breeding program which had the objectives of creating a new hydrangea having a compact form and vigorous growth requiring little or no chemical growth regulator and with full and rich bright-colored flowers which survive periods of cool storage, remain on the plant during forcing and require little or no growth regulator.
The new cultivar was selected from a population of seedlings of unknown parentage maintained by Rampp Jungpflanzen OHG, D-8949 Pfaffenhausen, Mindelbergstrasse 7, Postfach 29, Germany. Selection was made by the breeders at Rampp Jungpflanzen OHG in 1994.
Asexual reproduction was accomplished when cuttings were taken from the mother plant and tissue cultured.
The new cultivar has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary with variations in environment such as temperature, light intensity and day length. The following observations, measurements and comparisons describe plants pinched once in autumn and grown in 13 cm. pots in Pfaffenhausen under greenhouse conditions which approximate those generally used in commercial practice.
The following traits have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be basic characteristics of the new cultivar which in combination distinguish this hydrangea as a new and distinct cultivar.
1) Intense rose colored flowers.
2) Early growth.
3) Stroable in the cold.
4) No chemical growth regulators nesessary in the early stage of cultivation nor during forcing.
5) Very suitable for growth in pots.
6) More compact than `Hermann Dienemann`, not patented.
7) Extremely high resistance to mildew.


A method of making a paper straw with a bend includes coating a strip of paper with polyethylene on a first side and a second side of the strip of paper; cutting the strip of paper to a desired length; providing a spring apparatus of a predetermined length; rolling the strip of paper around the spring apparatus such that the strip of paper partially overlaps with itself to form a straw, the polyethylene holding the strip of paper in a rolled position; applying steam to the straw; and bending the straw to create a bend, the straw remains bent; and removing the spring apparatus from the straw.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to drinking straws systems, and more specifically, to a paper straw with a bend.
2. Description of Related Art
Drinking straw systems are well known in the art and are effective means to drink from glasses, mugs, and other dishware without having the need to come into physical contact with the container. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a conventional drinking straw 101 having a cylindrical elongated body with a hollow center 102 with two open ends 103, 104. During use, as depicted in FIG. 2, the user places one end 103 of the drinking straw system 101 in a glass 105 and drinks from the opposing end 104.
One of the problems commonly associated with system 101 is environmental pollution. Most straws are composed of a plastic or similar material, which takes a very long time to decompose and therefore is damaging and hazardous to the environment. Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a drinking straw composed of a more environmentally friendly material.
Accordingly, although great strides have been made in the area of drinking straw systems, many shortcomings remain.
While the system and method of use of the present application is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present application as defined by the appended claims.

Method of making a paper straw with a bend


The transmitter QPSK-modulates the audio data, generates a transmission channel clock having a frequency 5/4 times the data clock based on the audio data, and outputs the modulated signal resulted from QPSK-modulation at the timing of the transmission channel clock. The infrared emitter emits infrared-rays based on the modulated signal. Digital data is thus efficiently transmitted by way of infrared-rays with suppressed complexity of data processing for modulation and demodulation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transmission apparatus, sending apparatus, and receiver, and transmission method. In particular, this invention relates to a transmission apparatus, sending apparatus, and receiver, and transmission method preferably used for, for example, transmitting a digital audio signal regenerated by, for example, a digital audio apparatus to a speaker or headphone by way of infrared-rays.
2. Description of Related Art
In a conventional audio signal transmission device for transmitting an audio signal (aural signal) regenerated by an audio apparatus such as a CD (compact disc) player to other audio apparatus, for example, as speaker or headphone by way of infrared-rays, the CD player modulates the frequency of the audio signal to be transmitted, and an emitter is driven based on the resulting modulated signal. The infrared-ray corresponding to the modulated signal is emitted, the infrared-ray is transmitted in the space and received by an infrared receiver at the receiving side, for example, a speaker or a headphone. In the receiving side, the received infrared-ray is converted to a received signal corresponding to the above-mentioned modulated signal, and the original audio signal is regenerated by decoding the received signal.
Accordingly, an audio signal can be transmitted to a plurality of audio apparatuses simultaneously without physical transmission line by using the above-mentioned audio signal transmission device. However, in such audio signal transmission device, an audio signal is subjected to analogmodulation such as frequency-modulation, and such analog-modulation degrades signal-to-noise ration (S/N) of the audio signal in the receiving side if the transmission distance between the transmission side and the receiving side is far.
To avoid the degradation, recently the digital system in which an audio signal is digitally converted for transmission has been proposed. It is ideal that the ratio of data rate to transmission rate of a digital audio signal is one from the view point of transmission efficiency for using such digital system. However, because of the need for the transmission of error correcting code and other necessary data, the actual transmission rate is inevitably higher than the data rate for transmission of digital audio signals.
Accordingly, for improvement of transmission efficiency, the ratio of transmission rate to data rate of close to one is preferable, but if the ratio is complex, data processing may be complex for modulation and demodulation.
The transmission rate should be decided by taking both the improvement of transmission efficiency and the complex data processing into consideration.
Further, for example, since the frequency band permitted to use for transmission of audio signals by way of infrared-rays is specified by CP-1205 of EIAJ (Electronic Industries Association of Japan) and IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission)-1603, the transmission rate should thus be decided such that the transmission band used for the transmission is contained in these specified frequency bands.
The present invention is accomplished in view of these problems to perform not only efficient transmission by way of digital infrared-rays in conformity with specifications but also to suppress and minimize the complexity of data processing for modulation and demodulation.

Transmission apparatus, sending apparatus, and receiving apparatus, and transmission method


An illumination device comprises a circuit board that carries solid-state light sources and a heat transfer structure to which the circuit board is intimately physically coupled such that the circuit board is curved along at least one of a longitudinal dimension or a lateral dimension thereof. Such may allow less fasteners to be used than would otherwise be possible, while maintaining close contact over a large portion of the surface area. Some embodiments may employ a clamp, for example a peripheral clamp such as a cover or bezel clamp.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure generally relates to illumination, and more particularly to apparatus and methods that employ a heat exchanger to cool solid-state light sources.
2. Description of the Related Art
With increasing trend of energy conservation and for various other reasons, solid-state lighting has become more and more popular as the source of illumination in a wide range of applications. As generally known, solid-state lighting refers to a type of lighting that emits light from a solid-state materials, such as a block of semiconductor material. Such contrasts with more traditional forms of lighting, for example incandescent or fluorescent lighting which typically employ a filament in a vacuum tube or an electric discharge in a gas filled tube, respectively. Examples of solid-state light sources include light-emitting diodes (LEDs), organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs), and polymer light-emitting diodes (PLEDs). Solid-state lighting devices typically require several solid-state light sources to produce a suitable level of illumination.
Solid-state light sources tend to have increased lifespan compared to traditional lighting. This is because solid-state light sources have a greater resistance to shock, vibration, and wear. Solid-state light sources generate visible light with reduced parasitic energy dissipation (i.e., reduced heat generation) as compared to traditional lighting. Nevertheless, solid-state light sources do generate heat and excess heat needs to be removed to protect the solid-state lighting sources from damage.
Some illumination devices use a heat exchanger (e.g., heat sink) to remove heat from the light sources. Heat exchangers such as heat sinks are typically made of materials with high thermal conductivity, for example metals such as aluminum and copper, and which are also electrically conductive. Less commonly, heats exchangers may be electrically non-conductive, to provide electrical isolation with respect to the various components of the illumination device. Electrically non-conductive heat exchangers are typically made of an electrically non-conductive polymer loaded with electrically non-conductive particles such as boron nitride or other ceramic materials. However, electrically non-conductive heat exchangers tend to have very low thermal conductivity relative to electrically conductive heat exchangers. Electrically non-conductive heat exchangers are also typically more expensive than electrically conductive heat exchangers.
Solid-state light sources are typically soldered or adhesively bonded to a printed circuit board (PCB). The PCB may, for example, take the form of a "metal core" type or an "enhanced FR-4" type PCB. The PCB is then attached to a heat exchanger via with multiple screws or via adhesive. When screws are used, a thermal interface material (e.g., silicone grease, thermal pad, graphite sheet) is typically placed between the PCB and the heat exchanger. The thermal interface material must be compressed with sufficient force to adequately conduct thermal energy away from the solid-state light sources. The screws must be positioned close to the solid-state light sources to assert a high force in order to achieve the high degree of intimate contact required to provide a suitable level of thermal conduction. The large number of solid-state light sources required to achieve a desired level of illumination means that a large number of screws are typically required to fasten the PCB tightly enough to the heat exchanger to obtain the desired level of thermal conduction. For example, one commercially available lamp having 12 Cree XPG LEDs mounted on a metal core PCB employs 35 screw fasteners to couple the metal core PCB to the heat exchanger.
As noted, the PCB may be physically coupled to the heat exchanger via an adhesive. Such an approach suffers from a number of drawbacks: For example, typical adhesives do not provide as high a thermal conductivity as compared to liquid silicone thermal interface materials or thermal interface pads made of silicone or graphite. Also, adhesive attachment of the PCB to the heat exchanger is permanent. Consequently, it is imperative that the PCB is correctly positioned the first time it is applied to the heat exchanger. Also, adhesives are typically not electrically insulating, unlike silicone thermal pads. Thus, the heat exchanger is not electrically isolated from the PCB. Electrical isolation is desirable in many designs to protect a user from electrical shock. Additionally, the PCB is not easily removable for servicing or replacement if one or more LEDs is damaged, out of specification or fails.
A new approach to providing heat transfer from solid-state light sources is desirable.

Solid state lighting device and method employing heat exchanger thermally coupled circuit board


An object which is to be implemented with ions is enclosed in a container. A plasma is generated in a chamber which is separate from, and opens into the container. The plasma diffuses from the chamber into the container to surround the object with uniform density. High voltage negative pulses are applied to the object, causing the ions to be accelerated from the plasma toward, and be implanted into, the object. Line-of-sight communication between a plasma generation source located in the chamber and the object is blocked, thereby eliminating undesirable effects including heating of the object by the source and transfer of thermally discharged material from the source to the object. Two or more chambers may be provided for generating independent plasmas of different ion species which diffuse into and uniformly mix in the container. The attributes of the different plasmas may be individually selected and controlled in the respective chambers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an improved plasma source arrangement for providing ions for implantation into an object. The invention is especially suited for hardening by ion implantation of large objects such as die tooling materials for the automotive industry.
2. Description of the Related Art
Plasma source ion implantation (PSII) is an ion implantation technique which circumvents the line-of-sight restriction inherent in conventional ion implantation. The basic technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,394, entitled "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PLASMA SOURCE ION IMPLANTATION", issued Aug. 16, 1988, to J. Conrad (University of Wisconsin Alumni Association). Ion implantation into surfaces of three-dimensional target objects is achieved by forming a plasma about the target within an enclosing container and applying repetitive pulses of negative high voltage between the target and the conductive walls of the container. Ions from the plasma are driven into the target object surface from all sides simultaneously and omnidirectionally without the need for manipulation of the target object. The plasma may be formed of a neutral gas introduced into the evacuated container and ionized therein with ionizing radiation so that a constant source of plasma is provided which surrounds the target object during the implantation process. Significant increases in the surface hardness and wear resistance characteristics of various materials are obtained with ion implantation using the PSII technique.
The conventional PSII plasma-production process disclosed in the Conrad patent is limited in several aspects, which severely restricts it application to ion implantation of large-scale objects such as dies and tools used in manufacturing automobiles. First, direct ionization of gas atoms in the PSII working volume is difficult and impractical to implement for producing large-scale plasmas, generally larger than one square meter, with densities between 10.sup.6 to 10.sup.11 ions/cm.sup.-3, required to surround large scale dies for ion implantation. For filament discharges inside the container, the filament must be heated to a high temperature, on the order of 2000.degree. C., for sufficient electron emission. At this temperature, evaporation of the filament material occurs which would be undesirable since it would coat the tool or die part without complicated baffling. Radiation emitted from unbaffled hot filaments would heat the die surface. For large scale plasmas, on the order of 20 m.sup.3, a large number of filaments would be required, on the order of 20 filaments, producing as much as 1 W/cm.sup.2 of heating radiation power on a die surface of 1000 cm.sup.2 in area. For a 1 mA/cm.sup.2 plasma implantation current density, 100 kV implantation voltage, and 1% duty cycle operation of the pulse modulator, the average power density heating the of die surface by implantation alone is also 1 W/cm.sup.2. Therefore, if a conventional filament discharge technique is used for large scale plasma generation, it will double the power heating the tool or die surface during implantation, with potentially deleterious effects.
Where more than one ion species is desired for implantation, as in the case of multi-ion implantation, the ion-production of each ion specie cannot be selectively controlled when the ion generation occurs in the same container which encloses the target object. This is because all gas atoms become ionized collectively, rather than selectively. Thus, the basic PSII technique as disclosed by Conrad is only suitable for implantation of a single ion species.
In PSII, it is important to produce a plasma that is uniform in density, in order to achieve uniform implantation. In any plasma production process, plasma density gradients are always highest near the plasma production or generating source. In a conventional PSII apparatus, this restricts the location of the plasma source in the container which encloses the target object, and places yet another highly limitative constraint on the configuration of the apparatus.

Method of implanting ions from a plasma into an object


A protector for a rear seat of a vehicle includes a seat cushion and a back pad, wherein the back pad includes a left back pad and a right back pad, the left back pad and the right back pad are respectively provided with a first engaging portion and a second engaging portion, the left back pad and the right back pad are respectively oppositely provided with a first notch and a second notch, the first notch, the second notch and the corresponding partial edge of the seat cushion form a receiving hole, the receiving hole is matched with the vertical cross section of the open state of a central armrest, the protector further includes a cover portion that selectively opens or covers the receiving hole. The protector can provide more comprehensive protection for the rear seat of the vehicle.

Nowadays, the protectors of the rear seat of the vehicle are separated into left and right sides, which are respectively laid in the left seat and the right seat, however, the position of the seat corresponding to the position of the central armrest is completely exposed to the outside, and it may be contaminated and damaged by external conditions, such as when carrying a child or a pet. There is also a protector for the rear seat of the vehicle which is left and right, the middle part of the pad corresponding to the central armrest is provided with a notch from the top of the back pad of the pad to the seat cushion, so that the central armrest can be opened and folded, however, after the central armrest is opened, the receiving hole for accommodating the central armrest will be completely exposed to the outside, and will be contaminated and destroyed by external conditions, when the central armrest is folded, the part of the central armrest corresponding to the back pad is also completely exposed to the outside, and will still be contaminated and destroyed by external conditions. There is also a protector for the rear seat of the vehicle which is left and right, and two vertical zippers are installed in the middle of the back pad, when the zipper is opened, it can be pulled from the upper edge of the back pad to the connection of the back pad and the seat cushion, when the central armrest is lowered, the zipper is fully opened, but the receiving hole for accommodating the central armrest is completely exposed to the outside and is subject to external conditions of contamination and damage.


A method of determining aggregation rate data predicting an aggregation rate of a polypeptide defined by an amino acid sequence, the method comprising determining a hydrophobicity value, a charge value, and at least one shape propensity value for said sequence; identifying one or more aggregation-influencing patterns within said sequence; determining a pattern value for the sequence responsive to said identifying; and determining said aggregation rate data by determining a weighted combination of said hydrophobicity value, said charge value, said at least one shape propensity value, said pattern value and at least one factor extrinsic to said amino acid sequence.

An understanding of the propensities of specific polypeptides to aggregate is of crucial importance for elucidating the molecular basis of protein deposition diseases, such as Alzheimer's and other amyloid diseases, and for understanding the mechanisms of action of the mutations associated with hereditary forms of such diseases.
In each of the various pathological conditions associated with protein and peptide deposition, a specific peptide or protein that is normally soluble is deposited, either intact or in fragmented form, into insoluble aggregates that accumulate in one or more type(s) of tissue. Numerous mutations have been found to be associated with familial forms of protein deposition diseases and more than 100 have been shown directly to involve the sequence of the peptide or protein responsible for aggregation (Siepen and Westhead, 2002). Many of these mutations have been identified over the past 5 years, and the number is expected to increase dramatically in the near future. Investigation of the mechanisms by which natural mutations result in pathological behaviour has proved to be of fundamental importance for exploring the molecular basis of the underlying disease, even in those cases where they are sporadic rather than familial in origin (Selkoe, 2001; Volles & Lansbury, 2002).
The ability to form highly organised aggregates having common structural characteristics, such as amyloid, has been found to be a generic property of polypeptides, regardless of sequence or structural similarity, and not simply a feature of small numbers of proteins associated with recognised pathological conditions (Dobson, 2001).
In the native state, hydrophobic residues are usually embedded within the core of a protein, thus the opportunity for these residues to interact is limited. However, proteins are dynamic and an equilibrium exists between the stable and folded conformation, and destabilised, partially or fully unfolded states. The free energy value (ΔG, kJ mol−1) for a protein provides an indication of the stability of the protein. Aggregation occurs when proteins in their native state denature; as the protein unfolds, intramolecular bonds are broken, allowing the polypeptide main chain (backbone) and hydrophobic side chains to be exposed. Hydrogen bonds and other interactions can then form between the partially or fully denatured protein molecules, resulting in intermolecular associations and aggregate formation.
In some instances, it may be desirable to form aggregates, in particular fibrils, for example for use as plastic materials, in electronics, as conductors, for catalysis or as a slow release form of the polypeptide, or where polypeptide fibrils are to be spun into a polypeptide "yarn" for various applications; for example, as described in published patent applications WO0017328 (Dobson) and WO0242321 (Dobson & McPhee).
However, in other circumstances the formation of aggregates is disadvantageous, for example, when it is desired to use a polypeptide at concentrations or under conditions desirable for physiological activity, therapeutic administration or industrial application. In particular, the use of bioactive peptides and proteins as pharmaceutical agents is limited where the peptide or protein tends to form aggregates during manufacture, processing, storage or following administration. These issues are widely recognised in the biotechnological and pharmaceutical industry and constitute a major problem and economic burden, that can be difficult to overcome and may require the use of sophisticated expression and refolding techniques, the development of specific formulations, stabilising agents and excipients, cold chain delivery, or immediate reconstitution before use. Almost all known polypeptide therapeutic products present these problems, e.g. insulin, interferon-γ, BMPs, calcitonin, glucagon, antibodies.
Various factors are known to affect the tendency of a polypeptide to aggregate. Some of these factors are local to amino acid residues, other factors are global and can affect the entire protein. For example, when mutations are made in a polypeptide, local factors in the region of the mutation such as increased hydrophobicity, or tendency to convert from α-helix to β-sheet conformation, result in a higher rate of aggregation than that of the wild type (non-mutant) protein. "Global" or overall changes due to mutations can also affect the rate of aggregation; for example, a change in net charge of the mutant polypeptide bringing it closer to neutral results in an increased tendency of a polypeptide to aggregate. Mutations that destabilise the native state of the polypeptide also result in facilitated aggregation.
A detailed mutational study on a model protein, muscle acylphosphatase (AcP), demonstrated that the rate of aggregation for an ensemble of partially denatured conformations can be followed readily for AcP using a variety of spectroscopic probes. The rate of aggregation was determined for over 50 mutational variants of this protein (Chiti et al., 2002a; 2002b: Chiti, F., Taddei, N., Baroni, F., Capanni, C., Stefani, M., Ramponi, G. & Dobson, C. M. Kinetic partitioning of protein folding and aggregation. Nature Struct. Biol. 9, 137-143 (2002a); Chiti, F., Calamai, M., Taddei, N., Stefani, M. Ramponi, G. & Dobson, C. M. Studies of the aggregation of mutant proteins in vitro provide insights into the genetics of amyloid diseases. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 99: 16419-16426 (2002b)). Many of these mutations, particularly those involving residues 16-31 and 87-98, were found to perturb the aggregation rate of AcP very significantly (Chiti et al., 2002a; 2002b). Chiti (2002a) concluded that the measured changes in aggregation rate upon mutation positively correlated with changes in the hydrophobicity and β-sheet propensity of the regions of the protein in which the mutations are located. Chiti (2002b) examined AcP mutations that altered the charge state of the AcP protein without affecting significantly the hydrophobicity or secondary structure propensitities of the polypeptide chain. An inverse correlation was reported between the rate of aggregation of protein variants under denaturing conditions and the overall net charge of the protein.
The factors that affect the rate of aggregation of a protein are diverse. When amino acid substitutions are made in a protein, several factors are involved to different extents. A single mutation can increase the net charge, thereby disfavouring aggregation (for example, the replacement of Ala for Asp in a positively charged protein). Nevertheless, the same mutation can increase hydrophobicity, thereby bringing an accelerating contribution to the aggregation rate. Finally, the same mutation also changes the α-helical and β-sheet propensities of the polypeptide chain, introducing other factors. The relationship between these factors and their relative importance to aggregation (solubility) are not well characterised.
Thus, it has not been possible to predict accurately the tendency of a protein to form insoluble and ordered aggregates, such as amyloid fibrils, nor to predict or calculate the effect of specific amino acid modifications, such as replacements, on aggregation/solubility. The inability to make such predictions or calculations constitutes a problem in the design and/or handling of polypeptides, whether in vivo or in vitro.
The ability to predict polypeptide aggregation is of crucial importance in elucidating the pathogenic effect of the large numbers of mutations associated with protein deposition diseases. Establishment of general principles in aggregation would make it possible to use statistical methods to analyse the relationships between mutation, aggregation and disease. An understanding of the propensities of specific proteins to aggregate would allow the establishment of criteria to modify rationally the aggregational properties of natural or designed peptides and proteins for industrial processes, research purposes, medical treatment or biotechnological application. Furthermore, methods of the invention may be used to identify or design polypeptide sequences with a reduced aggregation propensity, re-designed polypeptides could be administered by methods such as gene therapy to treat certain disorders, particularly those associated with protein aggregation. The ability to identify or design polypeptides with specific aggregation properties will be important for development and manufacture of polypeptides for applications in the material and device areas, such as those described in WO0017328 (Dobson) and WO0242321 (Dobson & McPhee).
It would therefore be useful to be able to determine which parts of an amino acid sequence promote aggregation, to be able to determine whether a particular polypeptide is likely to form insoluble aggregates, and to be able to predict the effect that a particular modification or modifications of amino acid sequence will have on the aggregation/solubility properties of a polypeptide.

Method and apparatus for assessing polypeptide aggregation

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