The invention relates to an electrolysis cell of alkali solutions partitioned by an ion-exchange membrane into an anodic compartment in which an alkaline electrolyte is circulated and a cathodic compartment consisting of a gas chamber; the cathodic compartment contains a gas-diffusion cathode in whose interior an electrolyte film coming from the anodic compartment percolates.

Production of hydrogen and oxygen by electrolysis of aqueous solutions is widely known in the art. Technologies based on electrolysis of either acidic or alkaline solutions were employed in the past, the latter being largely preferred due to the lesser aggressiveness of electrolytes, allowing a wider selection of metallic materials for their manufacturing. The electrolysis of alkali solutions, such as caustic soda or potash, is practiced in cells partitioned by semipermeable diaphragms at atmospheric pressure since seventy years on an industrial scale. As it is well known, commonly used diaphragms present severe limitations in terms of process conditions, being unsuitable for pressurized operation in safety conditions and for high current density operation, for instance above 3 kA/m2. In addition, for the sake of simplifying the process, the electrolyte at the outlet of the cathodic compartment, whose pH would tend to increase under the effect of the cathodic reaction, has to be blended with the electrolyte at the outlet of the anodic compartment, whose pH conversely tends to decrease, prior to being recycled to the cell. Hydrogen and oxygen dissolved in these two outlet flows, albeit in a limited amount, end up mixing, thereby diminishing the purity of the final products: from a commercial standpoint this is considered particularly critical for product hydrogen.
In the attempt of overcoming such limitations, a generation of electrolytic cells called "PEM" or "SPE" (respectively from "Proton Exchange Membrane" or "Solid Polymer Electrolyte") capable of electrolyzing pure water was developed at a later time, based on the use of ion-exchange membranes, suitably catalyzed on the two faces, to separate two compartments consisting of gas chambers; ion-exchange membranes are in fact capable of withstanding pressure differentials of a few bars and can be operated at much higher current density, which in extreme cases may reach values around 25 kA/m2. Also PEM/SPE cells nevertheless present some important drawbacks, especially associated with difficulties in designing big size cells in the absence of a highly conductive electrolyte capable of compensating for the constructive tolerances and preserving local electrical continuity. For this reason, it is generally considered that the maximum power which can be installed for this kind of technology is in the order of few kW.
There has thus been identified the need of providing an electrolytic technology for production of hydrogen and oxygen overcoming the limitations of the prior art, coupling a high purity of products with the capability of operating at high current density on a large scale.


A liquid crystal apparatus includes a pair of substrates. The pair of substrates includes a liquid crystal layer disposed therebetween, and a two-dimensional array of pixel regions each including a transmissive display region and a reflective display region, the transmissive display regions of different pixel regions having areas different from one another. One of the substrates has a plurality of color filter layers provided in correspondence with the pixel regions, a reflective film provided over the color filter layers, and an overcoat film covering the reflective film. Among the pixel regions including the transmissive display regions having different areas, a pixel region including a transmissive display region with a large area has a color filter layer with a thickness larger than that of a color filter layer provided in a pixel region including a transmissive display region with a small area.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to liquid crystal apparatuses, color filter substrates, and electronic apparatuses.
2. Related Art
Transflective liquid crystal apparatuses employing both the reflective display mode and the transmissive display mode have been used as display apparatuses for mobile phones and the like. In a known example of such transflective liquid crystal apparatuses, a reflective metal film made of aluminum or the like having openings therein is provided as a transflective film on the inner surface of a lower substrate. JP-A-2006-3393 discloses another example, a so-called mono/color transflective liquid crystal apparatus, in which the reflective display mode is for black-and-white display and the transmissive display mode is for color display.
The liquid crystal apparatus disclosed in JP-A-2006-3393 includes a reflective film covering a color filter layer provided on a lower substrate. Further the area of openings provided in the reflective film is changed with colors to be displayed in individual pixel regions, whereby the luminances of the individual pixel regions in the transmissive display mode are made uniform. Additionally, an overcoat film is provided on the reflective film so as to obtain a flat surface.
However, there is still a problem with such known liquid crystal apparatuses. Since the openings provided in regions corresponding to pixel regions have different areas, the overcoat film may be formed with different thicknesses at regions above the openings in accordance with the areas of the openings. Further, conforming to the difference in surface levels of the overcoat film, the liquid crystal layer may also have different thicknesses at regions above the openings provided correspondingly to pixel regions. Consequently, the liquid crystal layer may have various amounts of retardation in the transmissive display mode. This may color the black or white display regions in the transmissive display mode, thereby degrading contrast.

Liquid crystal apparatus, color filter substrate, and electronic apparatus


A composition includes (a) a crosslinking agent comprising; and (b) a resin, wherein the resin is cured to form a polymer network to encapsulate the crosslinking agent. The crosslinking agent may comprises from about 10% to about 90% by weight of the composition, and the resin may comprises from about 90% to about 10% by weight of the composition. A method for controlling a rate of vulcanization includes encapsulating a crosslinking agent in a polymer network; degrading the polymer network to release the crosslinking agent in a controlled manner; and performing the vulcanization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to crosslinking slow release systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to encapsulation of polymer crosslinking agents to provide a slow release system.
2. Background Art
Crosslinking agents (or more commonly named vulcanization agents) are widely used in several types of polymers (such as rubber) to enhance their mechanical properties. The crosslinking agents (or vulcanization agents) are selected based on the types of polymers. For example, rubber is often vulcanized with sulfur agents. Hard rubber is vulcanized with 30% to 50% of sulfur, and soft rubber typically includes less than 5% of sulfur. The vulcanized rubber is not sticky, does not harden with cold or soften with heat, is elastic, springs back into shape when deformed, is highly resistant to abrasion and to most chemicals, and is a good insulator against electricity and heat.
Chemically, vulcanization involves the formation of cross-linkages between the polymer chains. Using rubber as an example, vulcanization involves mixing sulfur and rubber (and sometimes with an organic accelerator, such as an aniline compound, to shorten the time or lower the heat necessary for vulcanization) and heating the mixture in molds under pressure. Vulcanization can also be accomplished with peroxides, gamma radiation, and several other organic compounds.
Vulcanization is also used in the "curing" of other materials. For example, vulcanization of polymer dissolved in asphalt can enhance the elastomeric properties of the asphalt for use in the paving and roofing industry. While vulcanization improves the properties of such polymer modified asphalt, it is important to control the rates of vulcanization. A typical vulcanization tends to have a fast reaction (initial burst) at the beginning followed by slow reactions during the subsequent, undefined long period of time. The initial burst and the subsequent reactions are not desirable because they tend to form over-vulcanization, leading to thermoset components commonly known in the asphalt industry as "gels." Asphalts that have been over cross-linked are not useful because they no longer have manageable viscosities even with heating.
Similar problems may also occur with the vulcanization of other polymers. In addition, when these polymers and crosslinkers are pre-mixed for storage, it is necessary that the vulcanization be controlled, either by use of controllable crosslinkers or by storing the mixture at sub-ambient temperatures to avoid pre-vulcanization. Otherwise, pre-vulcanization would yield products with poor mechanical properties. Therefore, it is desirable to have methods and products to control the rates of vulcanization in a polymer-crosslinker system.

Crosslinking agents encapsulated in polymers and methods of manufacturing the same


In a blister pack comprising a base foil with chambers formed therein for receiving a product sealed into the chambers, a rupture foil disposed on the base foil to close and seal the chambers and a plastic foil disposed on the rupture foil for the protection of the rupture foil, wherein the plastic foil is attached to the rupture foil with a retaining force which is lower than the force with which the rupture foil is attached to the base foil, except for a limited edge area of the rupture foil which is delimited by a seal edge and a perforation extending along the seal edge, so that, upon removal of the plastic foil and the rupture foil from the base foil in the limited edge area where the rupture foil is not attached to the base foil, the rupture foil breaks away from the plastic foil when reaching the perforated seal edge so that the chamber remains reliably covered by the rupture foil while the plastic foil is peeled off the rupture foil.

The invention relates to a blister pack comprising a base foil with at least one chamber closed by a rupture foil in such a way that the rupture foil is firmly connected to the base foil except for a limited area and a cover foil is disposed on top of the rupture foil which cover foil is less firmly attached to the rupture foil than the rupture foil is attached to the base foil so that the cover foil can be removed without affecting the rupture foil.
Such a blister pack is known for example from a brochure "Blister Lidding" of the company Lawson Mardon Singen GmbH. In this known blister pack, several areas of a base foil, each of which includes a chamber obtained by cupping, are separated from one another by grid-like arranged perforation lines. The chambers which generally receive medications are closed by an aluminum foil cemented onto the base foil. On the aluminum foil, a removable foil is disposed at its side remote from the base foil.
At the crossing points of the perforation lines circular areas are formed in which the aluminum foil is not connected to the base foil. In these so-called seal-free areas, the aluminum foil is not attached to the base foil so that it, and the removable foil disposed thereon can be grasped with the fingers.
The removable foil is disposed on the aluminum foil with a retaining force which is smaller than that with which the aluminum foil is mounted to the base foil. In this way, the removable foil can easily be removed from the aluminum foil without the aluminum foil being removed from the base foil.
Since the aluminum foil and the removable foil are so sized that the products contained in the chambers can be pressed through the rupturing aluminum foil only when the removable foil is removed, the removal of the products from the blister pack is difficult. Such blister packs are therefore called child-safe blister packs.
Although the removable foil is attached to the aluminum foil with a lower retaining force than the aluminum foil is attached to the base foil so that the removable foil can be removed from the aluminum foil, it happens quite frequently that, starting at the seal-free area, parts of the aluminum foil remain attached to the removable foil. Normally, the parts remaining attached to the removable foil have the shape of a wedge. In order to prevent the wedge from extending up to the chambers whereby the closure of the chambers would be detrimentally affected and the product would be at least partially exposed, the distance between the chambers and the seal-free areas must be correspondingly large. This however is disadvantageous since the pack must then be relatively large.
In order to avoid the formation of such wedge-like release of the aluminum foil, the aluminum foil has been perforated along a line extending between the seal-free areas and the chambers. As a result, the rip wedge should be interrupted at the perforated line so that it does not extend into the area of the chambers containing the medicine. In this way, the distance between the seal-free zones and the chambers can be reduced so that the pocket can be smaller but it has been found that the arrangement is not reliable that is the rip wedge is not reliably terminated at the perforation line. Often, a new rip wedge is formed starting at the perforation line which detrimentally affects the closure of the chambers.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a blister pack of the type described above which however is relatively small and with which the chambers remain sealed, with high reliability, when the removable foil is removed from the pack.


A method of manufacturing an earth-boring bit having a fluid plenum and a plurality of fluid pathways includes modeling flow characteristics of the fluid plenum and the plurality of fluid pathways, optimizing the flow characteristics to minimize fluid separation through each fluid pathway, constructing a plenum blank from the optimized model, and sintering matrix power between the plenum blank and a bit head mold to create the fluid plenum and plurality of fluid pathways.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to drill bits used in the oil and gas industry. Specifically, the invention relates to an improved method of manufacturing earth-boring bits for drilling earth formations.
2. Background Art
Drill bits are used in the oil and gas industry to drill earth formations in the exploration for gas and oil. FIG. 1 shows a drilling rig which incorporates a drill bit 101. Drill bit 101 is connected to the bottom of a drill string 103 to drill a wellbore 105. The drill string is controlled by surface equipment configured to rotate the drill string, apply downward force to the drill bit to penetrate the earth formation (referred to as weight on bit ("WOB")), and supply drilling fluid to drill bit 101 by pumping the fluid through a bore of the drill string. Because a variety of earth formations are penetrated in the pursuit of oil and gas, several different types and configurations of drill bits are used. These drill bits are usually grouped into two different categories, shear cutter bits and roller cone bits.
Shear bits are drill bits that cut the earth's formation by primarily scraping the earth formation when drilling. The shear bit is fixed to the drill string which is rotated so, as the drill string rotates, the bit also rotates to cut into the earth formation. The shear bit has a plurality of cutting elements arranged on the body of the drill bit such that the cutting elements scrape and shear the earth formation from the bottom and sides of the wellbore as the drill bit is rotated. Shear bits do not have any moving parts upon the bit itself, only the bit body moves from the rotation of the drill string.
Roller cone bits, in contrast, are drill bits having cones rotatably mounted onto journals. The roller cone bit typically has a bit body with at least one journal, in which a cone is mounted thereupon and allowed to rotate. As the bit body is rotated by the drill string, the cones rotatably contact the earth's formation. A plurality of cutting elements arranged on the roller cones crush and scrape the earth's formation as the bit is rotated. Even though both types of drill bits are useful for drilling into earth formations, only shear bits will be discussed from this point forward.
Shear bits can be further grouped into two categories: steel body bits and matrix body bits. Steel body bits typically have their heads machined from solid pieces of metal, typically steel. Upon completion of the machining, the remainder of the steel body bit is assembled with a bit shank. Usually shear bits use polycrystalline diamond compact ("PDC") cutters or some other type of wear resistant material to shear the earth formation.
In contrast, matrix body bits are constructed using a powder metallurgy manufacturing process. A cutter head mold of the desired bit head shape is constructed and filled with matrix powder and a binder. Next, the mold is placed in a furnace to allow the binder to melt and infiltrate the matrix powder. As the binder infiltrates the matrix powder, a solid metal casting is formed. The two general types of matrix body bits consists of bits which incorporate PDC cutters for cutting elements, and bits which incorporate natural diamonds impregnated in the matrix powder to shear the formation. In addition, bits may be manufactured with combinations of the two matrix bit body technologies. The focus of the remaining discussion will be directed toward matrix body bits.
Typically, the mold from the matrix body bits defines the external geometry of the bit head, as well as the internal hydraulic passageways. The external geometry of the mold defines the blade shape and junk slots of the bit head, the receptacles for cutters on the blades and on the blade body, and the drilling fluid nozzle orifices. The internal hydraulic passageways of the matrix body bit usually include nozzle ports and an internal fluid plenum. The internal hydraulic passageways of the matrix body bit are used to distribute the drilling fluid pumped through the drill string to various orifices on the face of the bit head. The plenum is generally defined as the internal volume from which all of the nozzle ports receive drilling fluid. The drilling fluid helps cool and clean the bit head, and also carries the cuttings away from the wellbore and back up to the surface.
Before the sintering process in manufacturing the matrix body bits, nozzle displacements and an internal plenum blank are set within the mold of the matrix body bit to form the internal hydraulic passageways. An internal plenum blank defines the internal plenum of the internal hydraulic passageways, and the nozzle displacements define the nozzle ports that will act as receptacles for the nozzles to be assembled with the bit later. Alternatively, the ports defined by the displacements are mere orifices through which the hydraulic fluid travels without the subsequent installation of nozzles. Nonetheless, the nozzle displacements are installed into the mold of the bit head and machined to create a plane, commonly referred to as an "interface plane", which is typically perpendicular to the bit centerline. The internal plenum blank is then installed at the interface plane to be adjacent to the nozzle displacements. The nozzle displacements are typically manufactured of graphite or cast sand, and the internal plenum blank is typically created as a sand casting. As expected, the plenum blank and the nozzle displacements are a negative representation of the internal hydraulic passageways within the matrix body bit, wherein the space occupied by the sand castings and graphite represent the volume of the internal plenum and nozzle ports to be created as a void within a sintered matrix body bit. Following the sintering process, the plenum blank and the nozzle displacements are chipped or machined out of the sintered matrix body bit to create this void.
Before the installation of nozzle displacements, the plenum blank is hand shaped from its original cone-shaped sand casting. An example of such a cone-shaped plenum blank 301 is shown in FIG. 2. Plenum blank 301 includes a pin section 303 and a bell section 305, with an interface plane 307 at the bottom of bell section 305. Before plenum blank 301 is shaped, it is positioned on top of the nozzle displacements such that interface planes of plenum blank 301 and the nozzle displacements are in contact. The location and shape of the nozzle displacements are then transferred by hand to the bottom of the plenum blank interface plane. Skilled workers then begin the process of hand shaping the sand cast plenum blank 301, removing material from bell section 305 to create the internal hydraulic passageways of the matrix body bit. An effective plenum blank will allow for drilling fluid to be efficiently transferred from the pin section down to the orifices on the face of the bit head through the nozzle ports.
The hand shaping of plenum blanks in manufacturing matrix bit bodies creates several issues. For instance, the design of the internal plenum and the transition from the internal plenum to the nozzle ports changes from bit to bit. Because the plenum blanks are hand shaped, each and every design for the plenum blanks is unique and subject to the skill level of the worker shaping the blank. The effectiveness of the hand shaped plenum blanks will therefore vary from pattern to pattern and are not repeatable. Additionally, as bit sizes and designs change, specific configurations and geometries of the plenum blank will need to change as well. An internal plenum design for one particular bit may work well, where the same design for another bit may encounter problems that lead to a washout from internal erosion or to a reduced bit life. Thus, even the most experienced and skilled craftsmen need to continuously refine their manufacturing techniques to accommodate the new bit designs.
Furthermore, the process of hand shaping the plenum blanks makes it difficult to identify problems with the internal hydraulic passageways of a particular bit. Designers cannot effectively analyze hand-shaped internal hydraulic passageways of the bit for improvement. As such, the internal plenum and transition areas to the nozzle ports cannot be reconstructed into a computer model for analysis. Therefore, plenum blanks with optimized transitions from the internal plenum to the nozzle ports are difficult to create. Such ineffective designs can easily occur if sufficient care is not taken by the worker to hand shape the transition region of the plenum blank properly.
Although methods for manufacturing matrix body bits have been successful in the prior art, further improvements may still be obtained by improving the repeatability characteristics and designs of the internal hydraulic passageways. In a market that is driven by using a drill bit multiple times, internal erosion can limit revenue by reducing the number of times a drill bit can be used and rebuilt. While PDC cutters can be replaced several times on a drill bit, the internal hydraulic passageways of a drill bit made from matrix powder are difficult to rebuild or replace. Thus, a method of manufacturing that allows a design to be made with repetition is desirable. Additionally, it is desirable for the method to allow a designer or engineer to design the interior components of a bit, analyze the design for improved performance, and manufacture the improved design.

Method of manufacturing a matrix body drill bit


An internal combustion engine includes a cylinder of which the interior is divided into two in the longitudinal direction. The lower chamber serves as a mechanical driving portion in which the piston is reciprocated. The upper chamber serves as a power portion in which combustion gas is drawn in, compressed, burned and exhausted. A cylindrical portion with a lid which moves into the power portion is continuously provided on top of the piston. A gap is defined between the cylindrical portion and the inner peripheral surface of the power portion of the cylinder. The inner peripheral surface of the power portion is defined by a heat shield tube fitted in the cylinder. A heat insulating tube is provided on the outer periphery of the heat shield tube.

A typical piston type internal combustion engine (reciprocating engine) is described first. FIGS. 4A to 4C show a four-cycle internal combustion engine, which typically includes a cylinder 1 (defining a cylinder bore), a piston 2 slidably mounted in the cylinder bore of the cylinder 1, and a connecting rod 4 through which the piston 2 is connected to a crankshaft 3. This engine further includes intake and exhaust valves 5, and a spark plug 6.
This internal combustion engine is configured such that when the piston 2 moves down from the uppermost position (FIG. 4A) to an intermediate position (FIG. 4B) and then to the lowermost position (FIG. 4C), a fuel-air mixture is introduced (sucked) into the cylinder 1 through one of valves 5, and when the piston 2 rises from the lowermost position to an intermediate position (shown by chain line in FIG. 4B) to the uppermost position, the fuel-air mixture is compressed.
With the fuel-air mixture compressed, the spark plug 6 is ignited to cause combustion of the fuel-air mixture, thus moving down the piston 2 to the lowermost position (see FIGS. 4A to 4B to 4C).
When the piston rises again from the lowermost position, burned gas is exhausted from the cylinder 1 through the other of the valves 5 (see FIGS. 4C to 4B (chain line) to 4A). Then, the suction stroke begins again. Due to the four strokes (suction, compression, combustion/expansion and exhaustion), the piston 2 rotates the crankshaft 3 through the connecting rod 4. The rotating crankshaft 3 in turn rotates a rotary shaft 7. If the engine is an automotive engine, the rotary shaft 7 is a drive shaft for driving wheels.
In the combustion engine, while fuel-air mixture is sucked into the cylinder, compressed, burned and exhausted, with the piston 2 reciprocating in the cylinder 1 while kept in contact with the inner wall of the cylinder 1, the inner wall of the cylinder 1 is directly heated by the high-pressure, high-temperature burned gas. In order to prevent damage to the piston 2 and the cylinder 1 due to friction between the outer peripheral surface of the piston 2 and inner wall of the cylinder 1, the piston 2 carries a piston ring 9 which is brought into sliding contact with the inner wall of the cylinder 1. The cylinder 1 is formed with a cooling passage 8 as shown in FIG. 4A to 4C through which water is passed to cool the cylinder 1 and the piston 2 (remove heat from the cylinder and the piston).
By cooling the cylinder 1, thermal energy is lost during the combustion/expansion stroke, so that thermal efficiency deteriorates. For higher thermal efficiency, the portion of the inner wall of the cylinder which is brought into contact with the high-pressure, high-temperature burned gas, which generates power, should be kept at high temperature. On the other hand, the portion of the inner wall of the cylinder that is brought into sliding contact with the piston has to be kept at low temperature for lubrication. However, in the conventional arrangement, since the cylinder is a monolithic member, it is necessary to cool the entire cylinder 1, so that thermal efficiency is low.


Technologies are provided herein for modeling and tracking physical objects, such as human hands, within a field of view of a depth sensor. A sphere-mesh model of the physical object can be created and used to track the physical object in real-time. The sphere-mesh model comprises an explicit skeletal mesh and an implicit convolution surface generated based on the skeletal mesh. The skeletal mesh parameterizes the convolution surface and distances between points in data frames received from the depth sensor and the sphere-mesh model can be efficiently determined using the skeletal mesh. The sphere-mesh model can be automatically calibrated by dynamically adjusting positions and associated radii of vertices in the skeletal mesh to fit the convolution surface to a particular physical object.

With the imminent advent of consumer-level virtual and augmented reality technology, the ability to interact with the digital world in more natural ways, such as by using hands instead of keyboards and/or mice, is becoming becomes more important. A number of techniques have been explored to address this problem, from expensive and unwieldy marker-based motion-capture to instrumented gloves as well as imaging systems. Some multi-camera imaging systems can recover the hand pose and hand-objects interactions with high accuracy, but such systems are only capable of operating a low frame rates, such as 10 Hz. Thus, conventional approaches do not provide satisfactory motion tracking with a single RGBD sensor, and are typically limited by low speed, low resolution, or a combination thereof.

Real-time hand modeling and tracking using convolution models


Continuous authentication of a user of a computing device is established to ensure security of the computing device. A smart pen fingerprint print reader identifies a user fingerprint and a determination is made to grant access to a computer device for this user. Communication with the computing device is accomplished through the smart pen. A security event is detected when the continuous user contact with the smart pen device is disrupted. In addition, user inactivity or exceeding a threshold distance between the smart pen device and the computing device may also trigger a security event. Detection of a security event will cause the screen content of the computing device to become unintelligible and the computing device becomes inoperable.

In many industries employees/workers share computer devices, like smart phones or tablet computers to reduce the number of devices and thus the costs for purchasing and maintaining these devices. For example, a large store can provide a pool of devices for its sales staff. A factory can provide a set of devices for each shift. In this and other scenarios, security is a very large concern. Sales staff could forget to log out before they return the device to the pool or hand it over to a co-worker. Automatic time-out mechanisms provide some protection in that regard, but this it is not enough to allow sharing of devices in areas which much higher security requirements, like government agencies, military institutions, the banking industry, to name a few.
Even if devices are not shared with employees/workers, a device can get stolen or lost, and unauthorized people could get access to the data stored on the device or retrieve it from server connections. To prevent the unauthorized use of a device at all times the identity of the user must be established at all times and if this is not the case then the device must be inoperable. This invention addresses this problem by proposing a secure pen (Smart Pen) that is the only way to operate the device and that authenticates the current user at all times while operating the device.
There are input devices with integrated finger print readers, like keyboards and mouses. But none of them allow the authentication of the user at all times. A secure application would force a user to re-authenticate using the finger print reader over and over after a perceived inactivity. In addition these devices are used on desktop or laptop computers and are usually just some of a variety of input devices on these systems. With the Smart Pen "user activity" is maintained while the user holds the input device in a natural manner, unaware in doing so.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,728,881 to Somayajulu Karamchetty describes an authorization system uses card and signature devices to provide access to a machine. The devices include capacitance grids positioned on different surface regions of the devices to convert fingerprint images of at least two fingers into electrical signals. An images processor in the device processes the electrical signals detected from the fingerprints to produce electrical images of the user's fingerprints. The devices store fingerprint information and encrypted user identification data. An authenticating processor compares the user's fingerprints detected on the capacitance grids with authorized user's previously recorded fingerprint's and the user's name and identification data to produce an authenticating signal if there is a match of the fingerprint images. Signature storage and identification can be provided to store and authenticate the uses' electronic signature.
U.S. Patent Application publication number 20130298224A1 to Mark Heilpern describes an electronic device may include a finger sensor to sense a user's finger. The electronic device may also include a processor coupled to the finger sensor to perform multiple applications, acquire finger-matching biometric data of the user's finger from the finger sensor, and authenticate the user based upon a match between the acquired finger-matching biometric data and finger-enrollment biometric data. The processor may also start a given application, from among the applications thereof, based upon the authentication. The processor may treat the authentication as valid for a threshold time period
U.S. Patent Application publication number 20080166028A1A1 to Joseph Turek describes a method and system that decreases the rejection rate in fingerprint capturing and authentication by a pressure actuated fingerprint sensing module. The biometric device for fingerprint recognition of a user comprises a fingerprint sensing module for capturing the fingerprint image of the user at a pre-specified pressure, or a pre-specified pressure range. The fingerprint sensing module comprises a fingerprint capturing module, a pressure sensing module, a sensor memory and a sensor controlling module. The fingerprint capturing module captures the fingerprint when the pressure applied by the finger reaches the pre-specified pressure, or when the applied pressure falls within the pre-specified pressure range. The pressure sensing module measures the pressure applied on the fingerprint capturing module. The sensor memory stores a pre-defined set of pressures or pressure ranges. The sensor controlling module actuates the capture of the fingerprint image at a pre-specified pressure or in a pressure range.
U.S. Patent Application publication number 20080166028A1A1 to Ronald Doyle describes a method, system, computer program product, and method of doing business by improving security of a computing device. Continuous authentication of a user of the computing device, which may be (for example) a portable or personal computing device (also known as a "pervasive computing device"), is performed. The disclosed techniques also improve the security of operations or transactions carried out with such computing devices. Biometric sensors are preferably used for obtaining identifying information from users of computing devices, and this obtained information is compared to previously-stored biometric information which identifies the legitimate owner of the device. If the information matches, then it can be assumed that this user is the device owner, and a security-sensitive transaction is allowed to proceed so long as the biometric input is uninterrupted. Otherwise, when the obtained information does not match, or when there is an interruption in the biometric input, then the device may be in the wrongful possession of an impostor. A transaction may therefore be prevented or aborted, or in other cases perhaps simply marked as suspect or not authenticated; or, it may be desirable to completely deactivate the computing device.
Although there have been several developments in technology that enhances the security of computing devices there remains a need for a smart pen system that can restrict access to security sensitive devices while continuously authenticating the user.

Smart pen system to restrict access to security sensitive devices while continuously authenticating the user

International Business Machines Corporation


A steering linkage in which a pair of steering arms rotatably mounted on the vehicle frame are jointed by a tie rod to form, in combination, a parallelogram. For each wheel, a steering arm slidably engages a crank arm secured to a king pin that rotatably mounts the wheel to the frame. The pivot point of each steering arm is arranged so that a given angular rotation of both steering arms produces a differential angular wheel rotation that maintains the point of intersection of the steered wheel axes proximate the axis of the fixed wheels or more generally, the rotational axis of all wheels proximate a fixed point.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a short turning radius steering linkage based on the so-called Ackerman Steering Principal in which all wheels rotate on a circle with a common center; an improved linkage that is particularly well suited for use with front-wheel-drive wheelchairs.
Front-wheel-drive wheelchairs provide good tracting, dynamic stability, and accurate steering control. Although not limited to such applications, this invention is particularly well adapted for use as a steering system for front-wheel-drive wheelchairs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The following patents relate to short turning radius steering systems.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,380, to Schumacher, discloses a steering linkage that has unequal angles of turn for two-steerable wheels of a vehicle. Each wheel is turned through a gear. While driving one or each of the gears by means of a steering drive element in the same direction of rotation, the positive engagement of the two gears through the pinion and the eccentric mounting of the pinion on the swing arm produce a larger angle of turn of the wheel running inside the turn as compared to the angle of turn of the wheel running at the outside of the turn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,195,858, to Goodacre, discloses a steering linkage for a pair of wheels with upright pivot axes comprised of links and pivots. Torque can be applied to each wheel via a pivotal connection to an intermediate link when control links are pivoted about their fixed pivots by a drive applied through a tie bar. Each wheel can be rotated about its pivot axis by at least 180.degree., and the turning circles of the wheels have a common center which, when the wheels are steered describes a line parallel to the line which joins the pivot axes of the wheels. In a four-wheeled vehicle the described line is coincident with the rotational axes of the second set of wheels.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,368,142, to Kelley, discloses a wheelchair having large front wheels mounted on fixed axles, and a pair of smaller steered rear wheels. The two rear wheels are linked together via cams and a chain mechanism for turning the rear wheels at different angles. The patent describes turning of the rear wheels so that their axes intersect along the line corresponding with the axis of the front wheels. When the intersection point is disposed midway between the front wheels, the turning radius is at a minimum.
These prior art proposals have not proven to be altogether satisfactory in terms of their operation and/or economy of implementation.


A incontinent brief moisture indicator is provided including a brief formed of a moisture absorbing material. The brief includes a top waist opening and pair leg openings. The brief has a front portion, a rear portion, and a crotch portion. Next provided is an elongated transparent sleeve with a front face, a rear face, a top closed end and a bottom open end. The transparent sleeve is coupled to the brief in a vertical orientation with the bottom end extending downwardly and terminating at the crotch portion. A moisture indicator strip is situated within the transparent sleeve such that a top end thereof is situated coincident with the top closed end of the transparent sleeve and a bottom end thereof extends through the bottom opening of the transparent sleeve and is situated in communication with the moisture absorbing material of the crotch portion of the brief. During use, the strip is adapted to change color upon the detection of moisture.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to moisture indicators and more particularly pertains to a new incontinence brief with moisture indicating strip for providing an indication of a predetermined amount of moisture within an incontinence brief.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of moisture indicators is known in the prior art. More specifically, moisture indicators heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art moisture indicators include U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,370; U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,513; U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,051; U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,093; and U.S. Pat. No. Des. 354,809.
In these respects, the incontinence brief with moisture indicating strip according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing an indication of a predetermined amount of moisture within an incontinence brief.

Incontinence brief with moisture indicating strip


An apparatus for routing power between a set of power supply taps of an automated tester and power connections on an integrated circuit under test, where the integrated circuit belongs to a family of integrated circuits that have a common power connection layout and different power connection voltage requirements. An interface board having first electrical contacts disposed in the common power connection layout makes electrical connections to the power connections of all integrated circuits belonging to the family of integrated circuits. The first electrical contacts are electrically routed to second electrical contacts disposed in a standardized configuration. A power personality card having third electrical contacts makes electrical connections to the second electrical contacts of the interface board. Fourth electrical contacts are disposed in a standardized configuration, and the third electrical contacts are electrically routed to the fourth electrical contacts via electrical lines that are hard wired for the power connection voltage requirements of the integrated circuit under test. The power personality card and the interface board are interchangeable, one with another. Power supply taps make electrical connections to the fourth electrical contacts and provide power to the fourth electrical contacts.

As the term is used herein, "integrated circuit" includes devices such as those formed on monolithic semiconducting substrates, such as those formed of group IV materials like silicon or germanium, or group III–V compounds like gallium arsenide, or mixtures of such materials. The term includes all types of devices formed, such as memory and logic, and all designs of such devices, such as MOS and bipolar. The term also comprehends applications such as flat panel displays, solar cells, and charge coupled devices.
Currently, customized integrated circuits require their own specially configured test hardware. This tends to dramatically increase the cost of the hardware required to test the customized integrated circuits, and also dramatically increases the engineering effort and the cycle time required to accomplished the testing. Even for design families of integrated circuits that use the same package, customized testing hardware is still needed, because each integrated circuit design in the same family has its own configurations in terms of power segment usage, IO buffer type, power level of each power segment, IP usage, and other resource usage.
What is needed, therefore, is a system by which problems such as those described above are overcome, at least in part.


This invention relates to novel diazabicyclic aryl derivatives which are found to be cholinergic ligands at the nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Due to their pharmacological profile the compounds of the invention may be useful for the treatment of diseases or disorders as diverse as those related to the cholinergic system of the central nervous system (CNS), the peripheral nervous system (PNS), diseases or disorders related to smooth muscle contraction, endocrine diseases or disorders, diseases or disorders related to neuro-degeneration, diseases or disorders related to inflammation, pain, and withdrawal symptoms caused by the termination of abuse of chemical substances.

The endogenous cholinergic neurotransmitter, acetylcholine, exert its biological effect via two types of cholinergic receptors, the muscarinic Acetyl Choline Receptors (mAChR) and the nicotinic Acetyl Choline Receptors (nAChR).
As it is well established that muscarinic acetylcholine receptors dominate quantitatively over nicotinic acetylcholine receptors in the brain area important to memory and cognition, and much research aimed at the development of agents for the treatment of memory related disorders have focused on the synthesis of muscarinic acetylcholine receptor modulators.
Recently, however, an interest in the development of nAChR modulators has emerged. Several diseases are associated with degeneration of the cholinergic system i.e. senile dementia of the Alzheimer type, vascular dementia and cognitive impairment due to the organic brain damage disease related directly to alcoholism.
WO 00/58311 discloses 1,4-diazabicyclo[3.2.2]nonane-4-carboxylates and carboxamide derivatives useful as inhibitors of the nicotinic α7 receptor subtype. Other 1,4-diazabicyclo[3.2.2]nonane-4-methanone derivatives are not disclosed.


A food container comprising three or more plies, a first ply, a second ply, and at least a third ply. The first ply is oriented towards the hands and face of the user and receives food in use. The first ply is essentially continuous throughout its plane. The third ply is oriented towards the lap of the user or a table top in use. The second ply spaces the first and third plies apart. In a preferred embodiment, the food container may be made of a corrugated material. The food container may be made from a blank which is deformed out of its plane during manufacture.

This invention relates to food containers, particularly a food container which may be disposable, and more particularly a food container which comprises multiple plies.
Disposable food containers are well known in the art. Disposable food containers include common paper plates, bowls, clam shells, trays, etc.
The art has paid considerable attention to making, molding, and deforming these food containers out of a single plane. In this latter process a blank is provided. The blank is inserted between mating platens and pressed. The blank may have radial grooves at its periphery. The radial grooves provide for accumulation of the material deformed by the platens. Exemplary art includes U.S. Pat. No. 3,033,434, issued May 8, 1962 to Carson; U.S. Pat. No. 4,026,458, issued May 31, 1977 to Morris et al., the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference; U.S. Pat. No. 4,606,496, issued Aug. 19, 1986 to Marx et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,609,140, issued Sep. 2, 1986 to van Handel et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,500, issued Jan. 26, 1988 to van Handel et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,230,939, issued Jul. 27, 1993 to Baum; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,326,020, issued Jul. 5, 1994 to Cheshire et al.
The blanks are typically comprised of paperboard, and more particularly a single sheet of paperboard, as illustrated in the aforementioned patents. A single sheet of paperboard is utilized due to the belief that to deform the blank out of its plane the blank must be thin and of a single ply. The paperboard, or other material used for the blank, is typically substantially homogeneous, as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,499 issued Jan. 26, 1988 to Marx et al. It is believed that homogeneity aids in the radially symmetric deformation of round food containers, such as plates and bowls.
However, these attempts in the art suffer from several drawbacks. As illustrated by the plethora of attempts to improve the rigidity and stability of the food containers, the prior art attempts do not provide food containers of sufficient strength. This lack of strength leads to spillage of food when the food container becomes overloaded, or, alternatively, unduly constrains the amount of foods which can be placed on the food container at a given time.
Yet another disadvantage occurs with the single ply paperboard food containers of the prior art. The relatively thin single ply paperboard provides only minimal thermal insulation. When warm food is placed on the food container, little insulation is provided, allowing the food to cool. Cooling occurs due to heat transfer through the food container to the surface below, or to the atmosphere.
What is needed in the art, therefore, is a food container providing increased strength, rigidity, and thermal insulation. One potential solution is to increase the thickness of the blank. However, this increase is accompanied by an often unacceptable increase in material costs, since the material costs are proportional to the basis weight of the blank.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a food container having the aforementioned properties but without undue material costs. Furthermore, the blank for such a food container must be readily deformable out of its plane.
One attempt in the art to overcome this trade off is to use multi-ply laminate food containers. For example, it is known in the art to make food containers out of corrugated laminates. Such food containers have panels which are typically scored and folded as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,476 issued Apr. 27, 1993 to Sorenson. However, this scored and folded food containers require a costly folding apparatus and are inherently unreliable. Adjacent panels in the food container are defined by cuts or score lines. The adjacent panels are then foldably connected. After adjacent panels are foldably connected, they must be adhesively joined or mechanically interlocked to remain in place. The adhesive and its associated application apparatus represent additional capital costs and ongoing material costs. Mechanical materials have tabs. The tabs require cutting/slitting operations and are inherently unreliable. The tabs become disengaged, torn, or simply misaligned.
One attempt in the art to overcome this deficiency is to use single faced corrugated materials and continuously form rather than score, cut and fold the food container as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,989 issued Nov. 26, 1996 to Neary. Continuously formed food containers have peripheral sections which are raised gradually and continuously through a transition area relative to the central region of the food container. However, single faced corrugated materials have neither the strength nor the insulating capability of three ply corrugated materials. Neary acknowledges that the industry had been unable to create a satisfactory unitary construnction by stamping corrugated paperboard of more than two plies.
However, these deficiencies in the prior art are overcome by the present invention. The present invention provides multi-planar food containers made, in one embodiment, of three ply corrugated materials without relying upon the score, cut and fold techniques of the prior art.


The present disclosure describes optical devices and methods for manufacturing such optical devices. Namely, an example optical device includes a first optical transparent thermoplastic layer, a second optical transparent thermoplastic layer, and in between both thermoplastic layers, a diffractive optical element adjacent to one thermoplastic layer, a spacer in between the diffractive optical element and the other thermoplastic layer and, a border enclosing the diffractive element thereby forming a sealed cavity.

Presbyopia is a well-known disorder in which the eye loses its ability to focus at close distance, affecting more than 2 billion patients worldwide. Classic solutions include passive lenses such as reading glasses, progressive lenses or multifocal contact lenses. However, these passive lenses typically suffer from limited field-of-view, reduced contrast or long adaptation times.
Therefore, refocusable lenses, where the focal length of, a part of, the lens can be changed have attracted much attention in this field, as they would eliminate many of the known problems. Although some opto-mechanical solutions exist, electro-optical solutions are preferred as they are easier to reconfigure, have a faster response time and are mechanically more robust. Most electro-optical solutions require a cavity filled with one or more liquids and are generally using a liquid crystal based implementation. While Liquid Crystal Display technology is very mature, finding a way to integrate a refocusable liquid crystal lens in ophthalmic lenses has proven to be difficult, mainly because of the meniscus shape ophthalmic lenses generally have.
For instance, existing refocusable liquid crystal lenses are described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,728,949. This patent discloses lenses consisting of two plastic lens halves: a first curved lens half with a diffractive/refractive optical structure and a second lens half. On both lens halves transparent electrodes are deposited. The lens halves are glued together across the entire surface, except for the area of the optical structure; with a UV curable adhesive at the location of the optical structure a liquid crystalline material fills the gap between both lens halves. In the off-state the liquid crystal has the same index of refraction as the plastic substrate of the lens halves. It then conceals the diffractive/refractive structure and there is no lens action. By applying an electrical field between the lens halves, the index of refraction of the liquid crystalline material is modulated and it becomes different from the underlying diffractive/refractive optical structure, thereby leading to lens action.
The above approach, where the liquid crystal lens is directly made on two relatively thick (>1 mm) lens halves has a series of disadvantages. It is very difficult to manufacture in large volume because a conformal deposition of the electrode layer onto the curved surface of the diffractive/refractive optical structure is difficult to realize and may lead to yield and reliability issues. Obtaining a cost-effective and esthetically clean seal using a state-of-the art one-drop fill process is difficult to realize in ultra-thin lenses hence impeding high volume production of this approach. The diffractive/refractive optical structure can have a flat surface, but this limits the maximum diameter in typical thin lens designs where the flat lens needs to be somehow integrated between the curved back and front surfaces. The diffractive/refractive optical structure can be curved, but then the liquid crystal may spill over during the process, leading to contamination of the surfaces and bad adhesion of the glue. Filling the cavity post adhesion is another option but may leave the channel, through which the lens is filled, visible and compromises the aesthetics of the lens. One has to manufacture each lens blank separately, limiting the throughput. Since a polarization independent focal length change is generally required, one either needs to use a multi-layered lens structure with nematic liquid crystals, e.g. two layers with orthogonal alignment for both polarizations, or use a single layer combined with a cholesteric liquid crystal. The approach makes it really hard to create a multi-layer lens structure, forcing the use cholesteric liquid crystal to build a polarization independent lens with only one layer. However, it is known for people skilled in the state of the art that it is very difficult to control the haziness of the cholesteric layers, particularly thick layers, due to disclination lines and the large internal energy of the cholesteric layers. To avoid haziness of the cholesteric liquid crystals, one has to reduce the thickness of the liquid crystal layer, but this limits the blaze height forcing the use of a shorter pitch of the blazes in the optical diffractive/refractive structure, thereby increasing chromatic aberrations. As said, multi-layer lenses using nematic liquid crystals may result in a polarization independent lens with less haze, but the proposed approach will lead to lenses with a large thickness and many handling issues.
Another approach to address the above challenges may be to form a thin film liquid crystal layer first on a flat surface and then embed this flat surface it into passive lenses. An attempt hereto is disclosed in EP 1,428,063B1, describing a method for building electro-chromic lens inserts based on liquid crystal. The approach described is to manufacture first a liquid crystal device on a flat substrate. The device consists of two opposite facing substrates, on which transparent conductors are deposited, spaced from another using classical ball spacers or spherical polymer particles. The spacing is filled with a liquid crystal layer and sealed thereafter. The flat device is then thermoformed for integration in lens blanks. The described device does not have any lens action, i.e. it can be used to change the transparency of the lens, not the optical power.
Hence there is a need for a curved optical device with electrically tunable phase profile, e.g. a focal length change, whereby this device can be mass manufactured in a reliable way.


The invention relates to a detector cell comprising tunnel-effect superconductive devices organized in a two-dimensional array and placed on a common substrate, each superconductive device comprising a tunnel-effect superconductive junction and being electrically connected to a bottom connection area and to a top connection area. The superconductive devices are separated from one another by trenches extending down to and including the bottom connection area and defining individual bottom connection areas disposed between each of said junctions and the substrate. At least one individual bottom connection area is electrically connected to at least one bottom connection area of an adjacent superconductive device by a localized bridge region.

Such a device is known from the article by E. Eposito et al. entitled "Development of a dark matter detector using series arrays of superconducting tunnel junctions", published in "Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research" A370 (1996) pp. 31-33.
Arrays of Josephson tunnel-effect devices are also known:
from the article by F. Muller et al. entitled "Performance of Josephson array systems related to fabrication techniques and design" published in IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity, Vol. 5, No. 2 (June 1995); and PA1 from French patent FR 2 696 544 entitled "Cellule de detection, Detecteur, Capteur et Spectroscope" [A detector cell, a detector, a sensor, and a spectroscope] filed on Oct. 5, 1992 and granted on Jun. 23, 1995 to the Applicant.

Tunnel-effect superconductive detector cell


A method converts a resolution of video signals, the method including: calculating up-sampling and down-sampling ratios based on a resolution of an input video signal and a desired resolution of an output video signal; calculating a number of filter tabs by multiplying the up-sampling and down-sampling ratios by a number of side lobes; calculating first filter coefficients of a same number of the filter tabs by multiplying a window function by a sinc function; calculating final filter coefficients by subtracting a result of a multiplication of a Gaussian function by a window function from the first filter coefficients, and then normalizing the final filter coefficients; and performing filtering in vertical and horizontal directions based on the final filter coefficients by modifying a sampling rate of an input video signal depending on the up-sampling and down-sampling ratios, to obtain clear video images.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of converting input video signals to have a desired resolution and an apparatus using the same, and more particularly, to a method of converting a resolution of video signals, by which the details of the input video may be provided in high definition without additional definition enhancement circuits, such as a peaking circuit, by filtering video signals with optimal filter coefficients being calculated based on a resolution of input and output video signals, and an apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Since digital display devices, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), a digital micro-mirror device (DMD), and a plasma display panel (PDP), have a display resolution fixed for each product model, a video input to the individual digital display device has different resolutions, and thus, should be converted to have a resolution adjusted to a corresponding display device.
Particularly, a resolution conversion technique is required to convert a variety of digital television formats, defined by the advanced television system committee (ATSC), into a format which may be reproduced in a high definition television (HDTV).
The resolution conversion techniques allow for the converting of a sampling rate of an input video signal, and the conversion techniques are classified into a resolution extension to convert a low-resolution format into a high definition format and a resolution reduction to convert a high-resolution format into a low-resolution format. In the case of the resolution extension, since new signal components are interpolated between samples of an original input signal, a blurring takes place due to losses of high frequency components when the signals are being filtered. Therefore, users can readily recognize a deterioration of display quality when standard definition (SD) video signals are reproduced on a high definition digital display device, such as the HDTV.
Also, in the case of the resolution reduction, since high frequency components in an input video are aliased on a low frequency signal, deterioration, such as a zigzag artifact and a moiré pattern, occurs.
According to conventional linear filtering techniques as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,889,895 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,671,298, resolution conversion is accomplished by using a bilinear interpolation and a cubic interpolation. However, since high frequency components of the input video are not sufficiently extended during the resolution extension, both the definition and the display quality deteriorate. To compensate for such a problem, a method was proposed in which a peaking is applied to a low resolution video to identify potential edge pixels, and then edge pixel detection, edge linking, and luminance transition enhancement are sequentially accomplished so as to output high definition video signals. However, such a scaling method uses a conventional linear filter, and thus, has a problem that both pre-processing and post-processing require an increase in arithmetic operations and additional hardware, thus causing costs to increase because the peaking and the luminance transition enhancement should be accomplished for the video signals in both pre-processing and post-processing stages during filtering to improve the display quality and the definition of a video.
In addition, according to the conventional art disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,852,470 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,804, video signals corresponding to the edge regions are processed satisfactorily. However, fine textured regions of a video cannot be processed with high definition. In addition, their performances are unsatisfactory compared to the linear filtering technique, with the exception of most regions of the edge components.

Method of converting resolution of video signals and apparatus using the same


A multiple color display system employing a low speed active matrix panel and a color enhancing unit for defining composite pixel groupings in the active matrix panel and for causing each grouping to produce in excess of 24 thousand different color shading levels.

There have been various different types and kinds of full color video display systems. Inventive techniques for producing such a full-color display include the use of direct view video or television monitors.
While such techniques have been satisfactory for some applications, direct video and television monitors are generally limited with respect to the size of the viewing image, due to the limited screen area associated with the cathode ray tube employed by such monitor units. Moreover, such systems have been relatively expensive to manufacture, since direct view video monitors are expensive.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved full-color display system, which can produce a large television image for group viewing, without employing an expensive large direct view television monitor.
One attempt to over come the problem of having a limited viewing area has been to employ a rear view projection system, where a set of red, green and blue images are projected onto the rear side of a large transparent screen for viewing purposes. While this technique may satisfactory for some applications, it has proven to be relatively expensive to manufacture and requires a large cumbersome display unit cabinet which is difficult to move from place to place. In addition, the brightness of the viewed images is somewhat restricted or impaired due to the loss of light in traversing the transparent screen.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to have a new and improved video display system for displaying large color images produced from a television signal which would be relatively inexpensive and that would not be difficult to move from place to place for viewing purposes.
Another attempt to overcome the problem associated with poor luminance in a large screen viewing system, has been to employ a direct front projection system. The direct projection system is similar to the rear view system except that the red, green and blue images are projected onto the front surface of a large reflective screen from a projection unit disposed in front of the screen. Again, while such a technique has proven satisfactory for some applications, the projection unit has typically been mounted in a permanent location relative to the screen, for proper focusing and to assure that a sufficient amount of light is projected onto the screen to provide an image with sufficient brightness for viewing purposes.
Therefore, it would be highly desirable to produce large screen viewing images having a relatively high luminance level and not being required to be permanently mounted or otherwise positioned.
Another attempt to overcome the problem associated with poor luminance has been to use a high speed active matrix panel with an overhead projector for the display of information. Such flat high speed active matrix panels have been capable of producing full color displays with thousands of bright colors. Such a large number of colors however has been possible only by using very sophisticated duty cycling techniques so that individual pixels in the liquid crystal display device may be selectively modulated to produce multiple intensity levels. While such duty cycle techniques have been successful for the high speed active matrix liquid crystal panels, a less sophisticated approach may be warranted for slower speed active matrix panels. Therefore, it would be highly desirable to be able to produce thousands of different bright colors in a low speed liquid crystal display panel without using a sophisticated duty cycle technique.

Video display system and method of using same


A volatile organic compound (VOC) abatement system is provided which incorporates a carbon or zeolite type concentrating adsorption device, with VOCs collected upon the adsorption surfaces. A heat source is required heat gases flowing to the adsorption device in order to remove the concentrated VOCs. Also, heat is required to oxidize the VOCs into a safe form prior to their release into the atmosphere. The present invention employs a regenerative thermal oxidizer for efficiently combusting the VOCs prior their release into the atmosphere. The present system also employs a bypass valve for introducing a portion of the VOCs directly into a combustion chamber without regenerative preheating. The resulting lowering of thermal efficiency of the regenerative thermal oxidizer allows the exhaust from the regenerative thermal oxidizer to carry more thermal energy. The thermal energy from the exhaust is then transferred to a heat exchanger to heat gasses flowing into the adsorption device.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for treating a waste stream containing volatile organic compounds ("VOC").
Treatment of waste in industrial facilities causes a multitude of environmental and economic problems. Over the years, increasingly strict governmental pollution guidelines, as well as increased costs of waste disposal, have led to escalating concern in waste treatment. The difficulty in disposing of gaseous waste materials is increased when the waste includes dilute concentrations of VOCs. Under these circumstances, it is desireable to first concentrate the VOCs through the use of carbon, zeolite or other adsorption media.
Heated desorption gases are thereafter used to remove VOCs from the adsorption media and create a VOC laden effluent. The effluent is then oxidized, or combusted, to destroy the VOCs prior to discharge into the atmosphere.
Problems in the treatment of VOC waste streams, such as that of paint spray booth facilities, arise in the context of trying to simultaneously maximize the thermal efficiency of the waste treatment process and attempting to minimize the use, complexity and cost of the system. Some prior art systems have employed regenerative thermal units to oxidize VOCs. However, VOC abatement systems which currently use regenerative thermal units for oxidizing VOC require additional equipment, such as a "desorption heater" for providing the heated desorption air. Additionally, the pressure drop experienced across the regenerative thermal unit requires larger motors and fans, thus increasing the initial and operational costs of the system.
Alternatively, prior art VOC abatement systems have utilized a recuperative thermal oxidizer in combination with a heat exchanger for heating desorption gasses. However, these systems sacrifice thermal efficiency of the system. Typically, recuperative units will achieve no more than 70% thermal efficiency, whereas their regenerative thermal oxidizer counterparts achieve 90% to 95% efficiency.
No prior art system has been developed for oxidizing VOCs which incorporates the thermal efficiency of regenerative thermal oxidizers while maintaining the design simplicity and cost efficiency of recuperative thermal oxidizers. It is, therefore, desirable to provide a method and apparatus which effectively and economically oxidizes VOC waste streams. It is also desirable to provide a method and apparatus which oxidizes VOC waste streams while utilizing a design with minimal complexity and weight.

Volatile organic compound abatement system


Embodiments of the present invention include a data output circuit that can read data in parallel from a plurality of latches in a pipeline circuit. Even-numbered data and odd-numbered data are simultaneously output over a single clock cycle, and are then converted into DDR data and are then serially output. By moving data in this manner, embodiments of the invention can reduce the number of necessary control signals by as much as 50% over conventional data output circuits.

DDR (double data rate) semiconductor devices are widely used as main memory for computer systems and other data devices. DDR memory devices are so named because they are capable of outputting two-bits of data in a single clock period, using a single data input/output pin. With the spread of DDR semiconductor devices, the operating frequency of devices has been increased.
Since present high-speed graphic memories require a minimal operational speed of about 500 MHz, a four-bit pre-fetch method has been widely adopted over the conventional two-bit pre-fetch method. Correspondingly, the number of CAS (Column Access Strobe) latencies in memories has increased. For the convenience of explanation, when the number of CAS latencies is n (where n is a positive integer number), it will be expressed as 'CL=n'.
tCK is a unit used to measure clock cycles. In general, in a four-bit pre-fetch type memory, four bits of data are input or output through one data input/output pin in two tCKs. In addition, since a column selection line (CSL) is activated over a period of two clock cycles in the four-bit pre-fetch type memory, it is possible to issue a read command every two clock cycles. Accordingly, a minimum time gap (referred to as tCCD) between two read commands is two tCKs.
As described above, since the number of CSLs and a period of time during which a CSL is activated have increased, core timing, i.e., the time between when a CSL is activated and when data are developed by a data sense amplifier, does not lead to a serious problem in a high-speed device having a speed of 500 MHz or greater. More important than core timing, in forming a high-frequency device, is a data input/output element in a semiconductor device.
A "wave-pipeline" type data output circuit has been widely used to make high-speed memories with long latency. The number of latches per bit of data that is necessary to constitute a pipeline in such a wave-pipeline type data output circuit is represented by an integer value that is equal to, or the next integer larger than 'a maximum number of latencies/tCCD'. Accordingly, when a maximum number of latencies is 6, three latches are required for each bit. When a maximum number of latencies is 7, four latches are required for each bit. Since four data elements are output through a data input/output pin in response to one read command in a four-bit pre-fetch type memory, 12 latches are required for each data input/output pin when the maximum number of latencies is 6. Similarly, when a maximum number of latencies is 7, the number of latches required for each data input/output pin is 16.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a conventional data output circuit of a DDR semiconductor device. A data output circuit 100 is a wave-pipeline type data output circuit that adopts a four-bit pre-fetch method and satisfies the following conditions: CL=6 and tCCD=2 tCKs.
The data output circuit 100 includes twelve latches 111˜122 and an output data buffer 140. For the convenience of explanation, a bitline sense amplifier B/L S/A, a data sense amplifier DATA S/A, and a burst data ordering unit 200 are shown in FIG. 1 together with the data output circuit 100.
When a wordline is activated, data stored in a memory cell are conveyed by a bitline (not shown) and are sensed and amplified by the bitline sense amplifier B/L S/A.
Data corresponding to an activated CSL among the data sensed by the bitline sense amplifier B/L S/A are transmitted to the data sense amplifier DATA S/A and amplified. Here, since the data output circuit 100 adopts a four-bit pre-fetch method, four column selection lines (CSL1-CSL4) are activated at the same time in response to one read command.
The data of the bitline sense amplifier B/L S/A corresponding to the activated CSL are developed by the data sense amplifier DATA S/A, are arranged in an appropriate order by the burst data ordering unit 200, and are simultaneously input into four of the twelve latches 111˜122 by operation of one of the three switches DL1, DL2, or DL3.
The data output circuit 100 shown in FIG. 1 multiplexes data output from the latches 111˜122 so that even-numbered data are multiplexed separately from odd-numbered data and then outputs the results of the multiplexing. The even-numbered data are output in response to rising edges of a clock, and the odd-numbered data are output in response to falling edges of the clock.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating the output timing of the conventional data output circuit 100 shown in FIG. 1. The operation of the conventional data output circuit 100 will be described in the following with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2.
Four data SDIOF1, SDIOF2, SDIOS1, and SDIOS2 simultaneously output from the burst data ordering unit 200 are sequentially input into latches of their corresponding bits. The first datum SDIOF1 is input into a single latch among the first through third latches 111˜113, the second datum SDIOF2 is input into a single latch among the fourth through sixth latches 114˜116, the third datum SDIOS1 is input into a single latch among the seventh through ninth latches 117˜119, and the fourth datum SDIOS2 is input into a single latch among the tenth through twelfth latches 120˜122. Which latches the first through fourth data SDIOF1, SDIOF2, SDIOS1, and SDIOS2 are respectively input into is controlled by input control signals DLj (j is between 1 and 3).
Even-numbered output control signals CDQFj (j is between 1 and 6) and odd-numbered output control signals CDQSj (j is between 1 and 6) determine a latch the data of which will be output to an even-numbered node DOFi and an odd-numbered node DOSi.
The data output from the first through sixth latches 111˜116 are output to the even-numbered node DOFi when their corresponding even-numbered output control signal CDQFj (j between 1 and 6) is activated. The data output from the seventh through twelfth latches 117˜122 are output to the odd-numbered node DOSi when their corresponding odd-numbered output control signal CDQSj (j between 1 and 6) is activated. The data output to the even-numbered node DOFi and the odd-numbered node DOSi are sequentially latched by a latch 130, and are output to the outside of the DDR semiconductor device via the output data buffer 140.
The output data buffer 140 generally includes a pull-up transistor TP and a pull-down transistor TN. The pull-up transistor TP and the pull-down transistor TN each drive an output signal DOUT at either a power supply voltage or a ground voltage in response to output data DO of the latch 130.
Referring to FIG. 2, four output control signals CDQF1, CDQS1, CDQF2, and CDQS2 are sequentially activated at intervals of half a clock cycle, i.e., at intervals of tCK/2. Then, and in sequence controlled by CDQF1, CDQS1, CDQF2, and CDQS2, respectively, the datum contained in the first latch 111 is output to the even-numbered node DOFi, the datum contained in the seventh latch 117 is output to the odd-numbered node DOSi, the datum contained in the fourth latch 114 is output to the even-numbered node DOFi, and the datum contained in the tenth latch 120 is output to the odd-numbered node DOSi. The data output circuit 100 shown in FIG. 1 needs 12 output control signals (CDQF1, CDQS1, CDQF2, and CDQS2 for each of the timing signals DL1, DL2, and DL3) generated at intervals of tCK/2, so as to correctly output the data of each of the latches 111˜122 as DDR data.
If a maximum number of latencies in a semiconductor memory device is 7, the number of latches is increased to 16, and the semiconductor memory device needs 16 different output control signals. Because of the high operational frequencies involved, controlling so many output control signals in a short time becomes problematic.
Thus, in conventional circuits, as the operational frequency of a semiconductor device increases, in other words, as tCK decreases, it becomes more difficult to control skews among the output control signals. In addition, conventional data output circuits tend to generate a considerable number of output control signals. Moreover, since it is very complex to transmit such output control signals to a pipeline circuit of the data output circuit, it is difficult to control data output.
Embodiments of the invention address this and other limitations in the prior art.

Data output circuit and method in DDR synchronous semiconductor device


A system is provided for controlling access to digitized data. An unsecure client is provided with a launch pad program which is capable of communicating with a secure Rights Management (RM) server. The launch pad program provides an indicator to a public browser, used by the unsecured client, which acknowledges when a rights management controlled object is detected. Once a rights management object is detected, operational control is transferred from the public browser to the launch pad. The launch pad will communicate with the secured RM server and request the digitized data corresponding to the controlled object. In response thereto, the RM server identifies the type of data being requested, i.e. text, audio, video, etc. and transmits this information to the launch pad. The launch pad then searches whether a secure RM browser appropriate to handle this data is resident on the client. When it is determined that no RM browser is resident, the launch pad requests an appropriate browser from the RM server. Based on this request an appropriate RM browser is obtained and authentication and security information are inscribed. Thereafter the RM browser is transmited to the client. Prior to use, an authentication procedure is undertaken between the launch pad and the RM server to authenticate the RM browser. If authentication does not occur within a predetermined time period, the browser expires.

The present invention relates to the transfer of intellectual property in the form of digital information. The invention finds particular application in the protection of intellectual property distributed in electronic format through a distributed computer network such as the internet, and will be described with particular reference thereto.
The electronic environment is rapidly facilitating the creation, storage and distribution of intellectual properties. As ease of access to these properties increase, so does the demand of the owners and/or distributors of this property to protect its integrity, and the interests of the creators. Security of the digitized intellectual property is of great concern to publishers who are interested in the internet as a new publishing medium, as it has been shown the technology which facilitates operation of the internet also facilitates mis-use and/or mis-appropriation of intellectual property.
A person wishing to mis-use digitized intellectual property will be able to intercept the material on the internet, on an intranet, and/or at an end-user's computer. Also, given enough computing time, cryptographic envelopes containing intellectual property can be broken. The length of time required is proportional to the length of the key. A 40-bit DES key may require several days or weeks of compute time but a 128-bit RC4 key may require tens or hundreds of years. If the key is embedded in a browser, the attacker will opt to extract the key and avoid the brute force search of key-space.
In this regard, with existing World Wide Web (WWW) browsers, once the intellectual property leaves the WWW server, a WWW browser is not obligated to enforce any rights with respect to the intellectual property. A user may freely save, print, or copy to a clip-board. thus, the internet, and especially the World Wide Web (WWW), have made distribution of digitized printed materials a trivial exercise. The academic and publishing communities among others, are therefore rightly concerned about the mass distribution of data which has been neither editorially scrutinized, nor subjected to peer review. Further, intellectual property rights holders are concerned about the potential for illegal re-distribution or unauthorized use of their copyrighted materials, and the right to be duly compensated for legal use of their materials. They also have a desire to exercise control over how their intellectual property may be re-used by others.
Thus, fundamental to the creation, maintenance and use of an on-line multi-media repository, such as an electronic library, are the issues of intellectual property ownership, protection and use compensation. The long term success of the library of the future is directly connected to the ability of computer systems to address these fundamental issues.
It is therefore considered desirable to provide a system of rights management protection which allows intellectual property owners to follow their property onto the internet. In investigating the issues surrounding this topic, the inventors gathered primary requirements for such a system from publishers and librarians. Organizations and individuals in these categories are crucial to the existence and successful operation of an electronic library. Interviews were also conducted with rights reproduction organizations (RROs), attorneys, auditors and patrons. The participants recognize the advent of new technologies offers new ways to disseminate information and manage its uses. In gathering requirements for a system, it became apparent those interviewed were familiar with the existing issues. They also accepted the pivotal roll of copyright law in the reproduction and distribution of copyrighted works, while understanding that the law has not addressed many of the issues facing those who create and distribute the digitized works.
Publishers, who hold most rights to printed materials, require that ownership of intellectual property be carried into the electronic world, and that the electronic version of each work is protected from tampering, unauthorized and illegal copying and distribution. Proper compensation must be made to rights-holders for use of their materials.
In order to execute these mandates, the owners/operators of the electronic library and the rights-holders whose work is to be digitized need to enter into a license agreement that among other concepts:
identifies the owner of the materials; PA1 identifies the material that will be digitized and stored in the library, repository, etc.; specifies the parameters for the use of the material; provides general guidance as to how the material may be scanned, stored and presented; stipulates compensation due the rights-holder; and, defines the duration of the license. PA1 the license agreement data be stored in a secure and protected database; PA1 the permissions parameters be enforced for each access of the intellectual property; PA1 permissions rules governing their holdings be available to the rights-holder at all times; and, PA1 appropriate controls be implemented to ensure the integrity of all system data (both permissions, rules and the digitized intellectual property). PA1 the legal language of the agreement; and, PA1 the list of parameters defining rules for storage, use and access to the electronic intellectual property, as well as royalties for compensation to the rights-holders.
Further, requirements of the publishers include:
Librarian requirements focus on creating digitized holdings that are locatable and searchable, and also allow for patron privacy. Librarians identified the Machine Readable Catalog (MARC) as the protocol of choice for cataloging. They also required that full-text search capability be implemented for text holdings. Unless billable charges occur, the system must protect patron privacy, as is now done in the traditional library setting.
Both publishers and librarians desire that statistics be collected regarding usage. For example, tracking various categories of users which are accessing the materials. This information will allow publishers to establish trends and will also be beneficial to library staff to plan acquisitions. Such a system should also be able to produce reports as requested by licensors and administrators.
To address these issues, the inventors have reviewed existing technology, including browsers which are capable of simultaneously rendering multi-media intellectual property into a variety of presentation formats specific to the type of property (i.e. text, image, audio, video, etc.). It has been noted that although browsers and intellectual property have traditionally been separate entities in rights management systems, it may be desirable to have intellectual property and the corresponding rights embedded in a browser executable program as data, in such a way that a browser must be executed to make use of the intellectual property.
A previously noted important aspect of existing WWW browsers, which function in a Hyper-Text-Mark-Up Language (HTML) environment, is that once the content leaves a WWW server, the WWW browser is not obligated to enforce any rights with respect to the intellectual property. Particularly, such a browser freely saves, prints or copies downloaded information. The present inventors have, therefore, considered that it may be beneficial to provide an additional browser configuration that a server trusts to accept intellectual property along with the associated rights, and which will enforce the rights. If the server is to be able to trust that the additional browser is authentic and not an imposter program which will violate the rights, the server must have means of authenticating the browser.
With attention to authenticity, the inventors believe at least two issues must be addressed. First, if the browser was created by a third party outside of the control of the server, there is no guarantee that the rights will be enforced. Second, if the browser was created by the server and sent to the end-user computer the user may be able to modify the browser to disable rights enforcement or to discover keys to intellectual property cryptographic envelopes.
Therefore, the inventors have considered it to be beneficial, in order to reduce the risk of attacks against a browser while resident on the end-user computer, to have the server impose a finite lifetime for a given browser to be trusted, after which the browser expires and a new instance of the browser must be downloaded from the server. It has been considered that the expiration interval may vary according to the browsers destination and/or environment. Thus, if the end user is from an arbitrary internet address, the interval may be kept short due to a lack of trust, however, if the destination environment is, for example a student computer on a campus intranet or a secure library workstation, the interval may be longer.
Thus, the present invention is directed to providing library functions relating to the acquisition, mounting, access, distribution, and use of intellectual properties in electronic form. The system will exercise server, workstation and network hardware and software, and implement applications designed to control and monitor the access and use of licensed intellectual property.
A formal license agreement between the inventors or users of this system and the intellectual property rights holder will be executed before the intellectual property is digitized for presentation in the system. Each license agreement will contain two equally binding components:

Rights management system for digital media


An image processing apparatus includes an analyzing unit, a changing unit, and a control unit. The analyzing unit analyzes a projection image projected by a projection unit. The changing unit changes, depending on an analysis result obtained by the analyzing unit for the projection image, dimensions of the projection image projected by the projection unit so as to obtain a resized projection image. The control unit performs control for correcting a distortion of the projection image projected by the projection unit, in accordance with an analysis result obtained by the analyzing unit for the resized projection image.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to correction of a distortion of a projection image in a projection-type image display system.
Description of the Related Art
A technique for correcting a distortion of a projection image projected by a projector by capturing an image of the projection image and calculating a distortion correction parameter from the captured image is available.
Japanese Patent No. 3996610 discloses that a distortion is corrected by reducing the dimensions of a projection image projected by a projector in the case where the projection image is larger than a screen. More specifically, the projector projects images obtained by reducing dimensions of the full-size projection image to 75% and 50%, and captures images of the individual projection images. The projector then calculates the position of the full-size projection image projected by the projector and corrects a distortion of the full-size projection image.
However, a distortion of a projection image may not be appropriately corrected depending on the dimensions of the projection image.
For example, in an example described in Japanese Patent No. 3996610, in the case where a range occupied by the projection image is not identifiable using a projection image obtained by reducing the dimensions of the full-size projection image to 75%, a distortion of the projection image may not be appropriately corrected.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, and computer-readable storage medium