A post and beam furniture system having a plurality of horizontally-extending beams having a longitudinally-extending T-shaped first channel and a longitudinally, T-shaped second channel, and a plurality of vertical posts each having a lower portion thereof adapted to be abuttingly supported on a floor surface of an office space, and an upper portion thereof adapted to be connected with the horizontally-extending beams, and a longitudinally-extending T-shaped channel. The channels of the beams and posts receiving a plurality of connectors and accessories, including a multiple bracket post and beam connectors, a T-nut connector, and T-connector, an infill panel, a horizontally-extending two-part wire manager, a vertically extending wire manager, a vertically adjustable worksurface, a transactional surface, a swivel support for supporting a post thereon, and a universal utility hook.

The present invention relates to furnishing for open office spaces and the like, and in particular to a plurality of connectors and accessories for post and beam furniture systems.
Portable partition systems for open office space and other similar settings are well known in the art. Individual partition panels are interconnected in different configurations to form separate offices, workstations, and/or work settings. The particular panels are extremely durable and can be readily disassembled and reassembled into alternative configurations to meet the ever-changing needs of the user. Examples of such partition systems are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,822,146; 3,831,330; and 4,144,920, which are owned by Steelcase Development Corporation, the assignee of the present application.
Post and beam furniture systems have also been developed to divide open office plans three-dimensionally into individual workstations and/or work settings. Examples of such furniture systems are provided in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,003,275; 5,950,371; and 5,899,025, which are also owned by Steelcase Development Corporation, the assignee of the present application.


According to one embodiment, there is provided a belt positioning structure including a belt roller, a belt, a projection, and a first rotating body. The belt roller is rotatable about a roller axis. The belt is wound around the belt roller. The projection is provided so as to protrude from an inner peripheral surface of the belt. The first rotating body regulates the projection from moving in a first direction approaching the belt roller along the roller axis. The first rotating body is rotatable around an axis. At least a portion of an outer peripheral surface of the first rotating body faces a side surface of the projection on the first direction side.

As an image forming apparatus, there are a multi-function peripheral (MFP) which is a multifunction machine, a printer, a copying machine, and the like. The image forming apparatus transfers a toner image to an endless transfer belt and transfers the toner image to a recording medium such as a paper sheet.
The transfer belt may include a rib on an inner peripheral surface thereof for preventing the belt from being deviated. A roller around which the transfer belt is wound may include a regulating plate on which the rib can abut. The regulating plate forms an inclined surface on which the rib can abut. The regulating plate returns the rib and the transfer belt to a normal position by the inclined surface. For that reason, skewing of the transfer belt can be suppressed.
When the transfer belt is skewed greatly, a deviating force of the belt may exceed a regulation force for returning the rib to the normal position by the inclined surface of the regulating plate. In this case, the rib rides up on the inclined surface of the regulating plate. When the rib rides over the inclined surface up to a cylindrical belt winding surface, the rib and the transfer belt may come off from their normal positions and fall off.

Belt positioning structure, belt and roller unit, and image forming apparatus


An application monitoring system autonomously selects routines for performance monitoring based on characteristics of the content of the routines. These characteristics are preferably related to aspects of routines that are likely candidates for performance improvement, such as repetitive loops, event waits, synchronized blocks, and on. Routines that appear to be relatively un-improvable are excluded from initial monitoring, and routines that are subsequently determined to be relatively un-improvable, based on performance analysis and/or user feedback, are excluded from future monitoring. The determination of each routine's candidacy for monitoring is maintained over time, so that each subsequent monitoring session need not repeat the determinations. Changed routines are routinely re-monitored and/or re-assessed to affirm or modify the routine's candidacy for subsequent monitoring.

This invention relates to the field of software engineering, and in particular to a performance monitoring method and system for efficiently monitoring software applications.
Software performance monitoring systems, or profilers, are common in the art. As each function or subroutine is executed, a count is maintained to record how often each routine is executed; in most monitoring systems, the total time spent within each routine is also accumulated, as well as other statistics related to the execution of each routine. The gathered data is processed and presented to the user, generally in the form of histograms and bar charts so that the most often called routines, or the routines that consume the most time, are readily identifiable.
Conventional performance monitoring systems can generally be classified as manually-configured or automated. In a manually-configured performance monitoring system, the software developer specifically includes calls to predefined monitoring functions in selected routines, and the monitoring provides performance statistics for each of the configured routines. In an automated system, the monitoring system automatically includes monitoring functions in each routine.
Manually-configured monitoring systems require the user to determine which routines will be of interest for potentially improving performance, and are generally used when specific parts of an application are known or suspected to be substantial consumers of time and resources that may require further work for improving performance. Such systems are poorly suited for providing an overall assessment of an application's performance to identify possible candidates for improvement.
Automated monitoring systems do not require an a priori identification of candidate routines for improvement, and are generally purposely designed to provide an exhaustive assessment of an application's performance. While automated software performance monitoring systems are generally effective for assessing applications having perhaps a few hundred routines, their effectiveness for assessing large applications having thousands of routines is severely limited.
The reasons for the ineffectiveness of conventional automated monitoring systems for assessing large applications are varied. The time and resources required to monitor each and every routine in a large application can be substantial, and the overhead associated with monitoring and accumulating the performance data can render the application unsuitable for its intended purpose.
Additionally, in any application, there are many 'core' routines that are repeatedly executed, and will regularly appear in the histograms and bar charts as routines that significantly affect the performance of the application. However, the fact that these core routines are 'substantial consumers' of time or resources may have little bearing on determining how to improve the performance of the application, other than in a theoretical sense. If, for example, an application is data-intensive and the storing and retrieving of data consumes a large portion of time, this consumption may not be a problem, per se, if the time to store or retrieve each block of data is commensurate with the current state of the art. In like manner, arithmetic routines in an application that is computation-intensive can be expected to consume a substantial amount of the application's time, and a high consumption of time would not necessarily be indicative of a problem.
Similarly, beyond the core routines, there may be higher level routines that are known to be designed as well as the state of the art allows, and their regular appearance as substantial consumers on the performance monitoring displays, along with the aforementioned core routines, only serves to obscure the less obvious routines for which performance improvements may be achieved.
Conventional software monitoring systems are also not generally well suited for assessments of ongoing applications that are continually revised and updated. When a new version of an application is to be released, a performance assessment will generally be conducted. In most cases, the results of this analysis are presented to the user, and if the results are not substantially different from the assessment of the prior version, the new version is approved for release. However, such comparisons are often obscured by the presence of all of the aforementioned 'substantial consumer' routines, and unless the new release has a significant effect on one of these substantial routines, or introduces a new routine whose consumption approaches the level of these substantial routines, the presence of inefficient routines in the new release will often go unnoticed. Over time, the accumulation of such unnoticed inefficiencies with each release of the application can often result in a degree of inefficiency that necessitates a major rewrite of large portions of the application.
It would be advantageous to provide an automated performance monitoring system that provides for selective monitoring and reporting of routines that affect the performance of an application. It would also be advantageous if the selective monitoring is dynamically configurable. It would also be advantageous if some or all of the selective monitoring is autonomous to the monitoring system. It would also be advantageous if the selective monitoring is based on the selection of routines that are likely to be improvable.
These advantages, and others, can be realized by an application monitoring system that autonomously selects routines for monitoring based on characteristics of the content of the routines. These characteristics are preferably related to aspects of routines that are likely candidates for performance improvement, such as repetitive loops, event waits, synchronized blocks, and on. Routines that appear to be relatively un-improvable are excluded from initial monitoring, and routines that are subsequently certified as being relatively un-improvable are excluded from future monitoring. The determination of each routine's candidacy for monitoring is maintained over time, so that each subsequent monitoring session need not repeat the determinations. Changed routines are routinely re-monitored and/or re-assessed to affirm or modify the routine's candidacy for subsequent monitoring.
This drawing is included for illustrative purposes and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Selective monitoring of software applications


Disclosed is a communication system for a tire, whose receiving antenna is less likely to be damaged even in a case where the antenna is arranged near the tire. In this communication system, a motor vehicle is equipped with a receiver for receiving data from an electronic device installed in a wheel including a tire, and a receiving antenna connected to the receiver. The receiving antenna is covered with a flexible insulator to form an antenna insert body, and the antenna insert body is arranged within a range which allows the data to be accepted.

For the purpose of monitoring information concerning the inside of the tire, including the air pressure and the temperature, a conventional practice has been to install an electronic device including various sensors in a tire air chamber, and thus to cause a receiver outside the tire to receive data from the electronic device by use of radio waves (see Japanese patent application Kokai publication No. 2002-324292, for example).
In the case of vehicles including trucks and buses in particular, radio waves attenuate to a large extent due to influence of structure of the tire while the radio waves pass the tire. For this reason, a receiving antenna is installed in each of the wheel houses. For the purpose of protecting an antenna circuit, the receiving antenna is installed on the motor vehicle so as to be in a state of being contained in a rigid resin case.
However, if the receiving antenna contained in the rigid resin case is arranged near the tire, the resin case may be damaged due to a stone flown or the like in some cases. In addition, in a case where the resin case is covered with snow due to the motor vehicle's drive on a snowed road, radio waves can not be received. When the snow is intended to be wiped off, it is likely that the rigid resin case may be damaged. Then, if the resin case is damaged, it is likely that the receiving antenna and the antenna circuit, which are contained in the damaged resin case, may be destroyed.


A storage panel for mounting items using a plurality of brackets includes a planar mounting surface having a longitudinal axis and a latitudinal axis. The storage panel includes a means for securing the storage panel to a wall or another substantially vertical surface. An array of spaced apart mounting slots extends through the mounting surface. The array of mounting slots includes longitudinal mounting slots and latitudinal mounting slots. The longitudinal mounting slots are arranged to be parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mounting surface. The latitudinal mounting slots are arranged to be parallel to the latitudinal axis of the mounting surface.

The present invention pertains to a modular display, storage and/or organization system for mounting objects on a vertical surface. A common example of these type of systems is a peg board and its associated mounting brackets. Peg boards are typically used for mounting objects such as tools or other items onto a wall in an organized manner. Brackets that fit into the holes or slots in the peg board and have forward facing hookMUs, clips or other supports are used to support the desired tools or accessories.
Many improvements have been attempted for the traditional peg board, but each offers its own advantages and disadvantages. One example, such as that used by the Wall Control® brand of peg boards, includes a peg board or storage panel having vertical slots as opposed to holes. This design constrains the peg board to being usable only in an orientation in which the slots extend vertically so that the slots can effectively retain the inserted brackets in the proper orientation. This is inconvenient when the desired support surface does not have space for the peg board in the required orientation, but may have space for the peg board in a different orientation. Furthermore, by providing only vertical slots the type of brackets which can be utilized is limited. Additionally, given that peg boards often come in a variety of colors and sizes, the fact that each peg board has only one usable orientation doubles the number of individual stock keeping units (SKUs) required in order to meet consumer demand. This increased both manufacturing as well as the level of inventory which is required to be maintained at both the retail and wholesale levels.
Thus, there is a need for improvement in this field.

Multidirectional wall mounted storage panel


A process combines a high performance silicon pin diode (60) and other semiconductor devices such as transistors, resistors, and capacitors. The pin diode (60) is formed beneath an epitaxial layer (44) of the device at a depth that maximizes absorption of light having a wavelength greater than approximately 600 nanometers. Devices such as transistors are formed in the epitaxial layer (44). An integrated circuit has a substrate (41), an intrinsically doped layer (42), a buried layer (43), and an epitaxial layer (44). An isolation region (45) isolates an intrinsically doped region (46), a buried layer region (47), and the epitaxial layer region (48). The pin diode (32) has a substrate (41), an intrinsically doped region (46), and a buried layer region (47). A polysilicon region (62) provides a top side contact for the pin diode (60).

The present invention relates, in general, to optical systems and, more particularly, to an integrated optical receiver.
The use of optical interconnect systems is gaining wide spread acceptance for transferring data at high speeds. Applications such as Local Area Networks (LANs), Multimedia, and the Internet are integrating optical solutions into their systems because they have the capability of meeting present and future needs. The main competition to an optical interconnect system is a copper interconnect system. Copper interconnect systems are inefficient at transmitting data at transfer rates exceeding 300 megabits/second. Copper interconnect systems are also lossy, making long runs of interconnect impossible without intermediate amplification stages. Unlike copper interconnect, optical (or fiber) interconnect has extremely high bandwidth and low loss. In particular, optical interconnect is ideal for data transfer in the 300 megabit/second to 40 gigabit/second range for the applications described hereinbefore.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a prior art transmitter system 11 and a receiver system 12 for sending data across an optical fiber 13. Transmitter system 11 converts a plurality of electronic signals into a stream of data bits. Transmitter system 11 comprises a multiplexer (MUX) 14, a laser driver 15, and a laser diode 16. The high speed of data transmission of an optical system allows multiple data channels to be ported through a single link. Providing more than one data channel ensures that the optical link is highly utilized. Multiplexer 14 has a plurality of inputs and a single output. Multiplexer 14 is a switching circuit coupling one of the inputs to the output. Laser driver 15 receives a signal from multiplexer 14 and has an output coupled to laser diode 16. Laser driver 15 enables laser diode 16 to transmit an optical signal corresponding to the electrical signal from multiplexer 14. Laser diode 16 is connected to optical fiber 13 for carrying the optical signal.
Receiver system 12 comprises a photodiode 17, a preamplifier 18, an amplifier 19, a clock extraction circuit 20, a frequency divider circuit 21, a decision circuit 22, and a demultiplexer 23. Photodiode 17 is a reverse biased diode sensitive to the frequency of light emitted by laser diode 16. Photodiode 17 is connected to optical fiber 13. Light transmitted through optical fiber 13 is absorbed by photodiode 17 creating electron-hole pairs. An electric field across reverse biased photodiode 17 forms a current with the electron-hole pairs corresponding to the light being transmitted.
Preamplifier 18 amplifies the small current signal generated by photodiode 17. The small current signal can be either an analog or a digital signal. In general, preamplifier 18 is a transimpedance amplifier that converts the optically generated current to a voltage signal. Amplifier 19 further amplifies the voltage signal produced by preamplifier 18. The amplified signal of amplifier 19 requires further processing or wave shaping to conform to a signal type being used at the receiving end. In general, high speed digital data transmission does not produce signals with sharply defined transitions. For example, a high speed digital transmission may look more like a sine wave than a square wave. Decision circuit 22 performs the wave shaping of the amplified signal from amplifier 19. Data transmission error is minimized by having decision circuit 22 sense the amplified signal at a maxima or minima, providing an increased signal to noise ratio. Clock extraction circuit 20 generates a clock signal for decision circuit 22 that is centered about the maxima and minima of the small signal current signal of photodiode 17. Decision circuit 22 outputs a signal to demultiplexer 23 corresponding to the small current signal generated by photodiode 17. Frequency divider circuit 21 generates a signal from the clock signal of clock extraction circuit 22 to select a data channel output of demultiplexer 23. The signal provided by decision circuit 22 is output at the selected data channel output of demultiplexer 23.
Integrated optical receiver circuits being offered in the marketplace that operate at transmission rates greater than one gigabit/second are typically implemented in gallium arsenide (GaAs). The GaAs integrated optical receiver circuits comprise a photodetector and a transimpedance amplifier. High levels of integration are not easily accomplished in GaAs nor is it cost effective. In general, a two chip solution is required to build a complete optical receiver system.
Accordingly, it would be advantageous to have an integrated circuit capable of high levels of integration with an efficient photodetector and a method for manufacturing the integrated circuit. It would be of further advantage for the photodetector to operate at frequencies up to 3 gigabits/second with a substantially reduced cost.


A nasal dilator comprises a laminate of vertical layers each consisting of one or more members or components. The laminated layers form a unitary, or single body, truss featuring horizontal regions adapted to engage outer wall tissues of first and second nasal passages and to traverse the bridge of a nose therebetween. When in use the dilator acts to stabilize and/or expand the nasal outer wall tissues and prevent said tissues from drawing inward during breathing. The dilator includes means to direct its resilient properties comprising one or more interior or exterior material separations, or discontinuity of shape of material, formed in at least one region of the truss and extending through at least one layer of the dilator. Said material separation or discontinuity of shape may comprise an opening, relief cut, slit or notch, and which may be configured to separate or vertically protrude, in part, from the truss when the dilator is in use on the nose of a wearer. Said separation or vertical protrusion changes the angle of focused delaminating spring biasing forces generated by the resilient layer, transforming said forces, at least in part, from primarily peel forces into primarily shear forces, and further redistributing or imparting said transformed forces to tissue engaging surface areas extending outward and beyond said material separation.

A portion of the human population has some malformation of the nasal passages which interferes with breathing, including deviated septa and swelling due to allergic reactions. A portion of the interior nasal passage wall may draw in during inhalation to substantially block the flow of air through the nasal passage. Blockage of the nasal passages as a result of malformation, symptoms of the common cold or seasonal allergies are particularly uncomfortable at night, and can lead to sleep disturbances, irregularities and general discomfort.
Spring-based devices for dilating outer wall tissues of the human nose adjacent the nasal passages have a history spanning over one hundred years. The spring-based concept uses resilient means which flex across the bridge of the nose together with means to engage the nasal passage outer walls from either the interior mucosa or exterior epidermis sides thereof and thus stabilize or urge outwardly the nasal outer wall tissue. Some examples of present external nasal dilators are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,453,901; D379,513; D429,332; D430,295; D432,652; D434,146; D437,64; and Japanese patent Reg. No. 1037944; the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. The commercial success of at least one of these inventions, together with that of other modern external nasal dilators, collectively and commonly referred to as nasal strips, has led to the creation and establishment of a nasal dilator product category in the present consumer retail marketplace. Commercial success of prior art nasal dilator devices disclosed before 1990, in particular that of U.S. Pat. No. 1,292,083 (circa 1919), is presumed to be commensurate with the nature of consumer product retail environments at the time of those inventions.
Throughout the history of those medical devices which engage external bodily tissue (i.e., tissue dilators, nasal splints, ostomy devices, surgical drapes, etc.), a long-standing practice in the construction and use thereof has been to interpose a buffer material between the device and the user's skin to facilitate engagement of the device to the skin and to aid user comfort. Said material, such as a spunlaced polyester nonwoven fabric, typically has properties which permit limited, primarily plastic and somewhat elastic deformation within the thickness thereof. These properties can spread out peeling, separating or delaminating forces such as may be caused by gravity acting on the weight of the device; the device's own spring biasing force or rigidity (such as that of a tissue dilator or nasal splint); biasing force that may be present in bodily tissue engaged by the device; surface configuration differences between the device and the skin of the device wearer; displacement of the device relative to the skin or external tissue as a result of shear, tensile, cleavage and/or peel forces imparted thereat via wearer movement (e.g., facial gestures) and/or contact with an object (e.g., clothing, pillow, bedding, etc.); and so on, that may cause partial or premature detachment of the device from the wearer. By spreading out these delaminating forces, said interface material acts as a buffering agent to prevent the transfer of said forces to its adhesive substance, if any, and thereby to the skin. Preventing the transfer of focused delaminating forces substantially eliminates any itching sensation (caused by the separation of the adhesive substance or device from the skin) that a wearer may experience if these delaminating forces were otherwise imparted directly to the skin.
There has been a continuing need in the art to develop nasal dilators which address and improve upon the dynamics and design parameters associated with limited skin surface area adjacent the nasal passages, adhesive attachment, delaminating spring biasing forces, device comfort, and durational longevity.
Firstly, tissues associated with and adjacent the nasal passages have limited skin surface areas to which dilation may be applied. Said surfaces extend upward from the nostril opening to the cartilage just above the nasal valve, and extend outward from the bridge of the nose to each approximate line where the sides of the nose meet each cheek.
Secondly, nasal dilators are, of necessity, releasably secured to said skin surfaces by use of pressure sensitive adhesives. Skin surfaces transmit moisture vapor to the surrounding atmosphere. Said adhesives break down in the presence of skin oils, moisture and the transmission of moisture vapor, often within hours.
Thirdly, the functional element of present and historic spring-based nasal dilator devices designed to engage and stabilize and/or expand nasal outer wall tissue is a semi-rigid resilient member which extends beyond each side of the bridge of the nose adjacent the nostrils. External nasal dilator devices of the present modern era feature a flat, substantially rectangular or slightly arcuate resilient member made of plastic. When engaged to a nose, the resilient member exerts a spring biasing force which tends to substantially return or restore the device to an original, generally planar, state thus dilating the local tissue. Said spring biasing force creates primarily peel and some tensile forces generated at the end regions of the device where engaged to the nose of a wearer. Said forces work to delaminate the end regions of the dilator device from skin surfaces so engaged.
Constructing a device with less than 10 grams of spring biasing force in order to mitigate delaminating peel forces may not provide suitable stabilization to, or dilation of, nasal outer wall tissues. Over-engineering the dilator by using a more aggressive adhesive, a greater amount of adhesive, or greater adhesive surface area in order to withstand greater spring biasing force increases the likelihood of user discomfort during use and damage to the tissue upon removal of the device. Additionally, a dilating spring biasing force of 40 grams or more could, in and of itself, be uncomfortable for most users.
Presently known spring-based nasal dilator devices which are suitable or adaptable for mass commercialization in the present consumer retail market typically fall within a range of dimensions of 5.0 to 7.5 cm (2.0″ to 3.0″) in length and 1.2 to 2.5 cm (0.5″ to 1.0″) in width. Resilient members are typically from about 4.2 to 5.8 cm (1.7″ to 2.3″) long, approximately 0.048 to 0.12 cm (0.12″ to 0.30″) wide and typically 0.010″ thick. A resilient member thickness of more or less than 0.010″ is not common in the art, but may be incorporated with proportionate adjustments to width and length. Examples include devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. D379,513; 5,533,503; 5,546,929; RE35408; 6,453,901; 7,114,495; and Spanish Utility Model 289-561 for Orthopaedic Adhesive. These devices provide sufficient dilation of nasal passage outer wall tissues and thus provide the claimed benefit to the vast majority of users. In addition, the '503 and '901 disclosures teach means for shifting, transforming and redistributing delaminating peel and tensile forces into primarily shear forces. Said shifting or transforming is desirable since the pressure sensitive adhesive disposed on nasal dilator devices for engaging skin surfaces adjacent the nasal passages withstand shear forces generally better, longer and more reliably than peel forces.
The '503 device features a complicated structure at the device lateral end edges whereby to shift, transform or redistribute said delaminating peel and tensile forces. Said structure includes first and second parallel, spaced apart, resilient spring bands with identical scalloped end edges forming upper and lower protrusions separated by a valley. The extent of said protrusions are defined by the respective ends of the resilient bands. Outboard and adjacent said upper and lower protrusions are respective upper and lower extensions separated from said protrusions by upper and lower back cuts. Said extensions extend past said protrusions. The '503 specification teaches that the constituent features of this end edge structure combine to effectively minimizes significant inadvertent peeling of the device end regions from the outer wall tissue of the nasal passages as a result of the discontinuity of shape of the materials at the intersection of said protrusions and said extensions, as defined by said back cuts, and redistributes and transforms peeling and tensile delaminating forces into primarily shear forces which are imparted to said upper and lower extensions extending beyond said back cuts.
The '901 disclosure teaches a simpler end region structure which includes relief cuts placed adjacent each terminal end of a single resilient spring band, extending around its terminal ends and slightly along the upper and lower longitudinal edges thereof, corresponding to the general outline of the terminal ends of the resilient band without contact thereto. When in use on the nose of a wearer, this structure shifts peel and tensile delaminating forces into primarily shear forces which are imparted to the material extending between said relief cuts and the lateral end edges of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,333 discloses a dilator device which features various openings, slits, notches and cuts formed within the peripheral edges of a resilient member whereby to selectively reduce spring biasing forces locally so that the resilient member may be used as a stand alone dilator device without the use of additional materials for maintaining the dilator device engaged to the nose of a wearer.
The present invention builds upon the prior art by providing means to direct the resilient properties of a nasal dilator whereby to overcome the aforementioned dynamics and design parameters associated with external dilation of nasal outer wall tissues.

Nasal dilator with means to direct resilient properties


‘UCD Warrior’ is a short-day cultivar of a strawberry plant that is highly resistant to Fusarium wilt; exhibits resistance to Verticillium wilt and Macrophomina; and produces high yields of high quality, long shelf-life fruit.

This invention relates to a new and distinct short-day strawberry cultivar designated as 'UCD Warrior', which originated from a cross performed in the winter of 2008 between proprietary germplasm parents 05C165P001 (unpatented) and 04C076P004 (unpatented). Seeds of the cross were harvested from greenhouse-grown plants in the spring of 2008 and germinated in June 2008. Seedlings were transplanted to a greenhouse in July 2008 and transplanted to the field in October 2008. 'UCD Warrior' was selected and clones were first harvested in 2009. 'UCD Warror' has been asexually propagated since 2009.
The plant of this selection was originally designated '08C138P003' (also represented as 8.138-3) and later called '16SD034' or 'UC34' for evaluation in field trials.

The Regents of the University of California


An enterprise framework for a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) is disclosed. The enterprise framework is utilized for creating, replacing, or modifying services on the SOA without modifying core code. With the framework, a service client may access services provided by the SOA via any middleware available now or in the future by utilizing auto-generation of middleware bindings via templates.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to Service Oriented Architectures (SOAs), and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to an enterprise framework for creating, replacing, or modifying services on the SOA.
2. Background of the Related Art
Many service oriented architectures available today provide a generic system to meet customer needs that are common to a variety of customers. Although many architectures strive to meet most customer needs out of the box, it may not be possible to meet all customer needs in a core product that is sold to a large customer base. As such, many customers must extend or modify the behavior of the core product (e.g., core code base of service implementations within the SOA) to meet their specific needs. Modifications may also require access to source code and are generally more costly and difficult to maintain throughout upgrades etc. The term "core product" as defined herein refers to any item delivered in a product intended for more than one customer. The term "custom" as defined herein refers to any item added by a customer to supplement or change the core product (i.e., a supplement or change that is not shared by more than one customer). Source code may be in the core product or custom product, as well as any item supporting the source code, such as, configuration and deployment descriptors.
Furthermore, many customers customize the core product without consulting the core product provider. As a result, many customizations result in pervasive changes to the core product. For example, many customizations are currently accomplished via surround code and include new tables and stored procedures. Alteration of existing tables may disrupt standard product functions posing support issues. As illustrated above, by altering the core product, costs significantly increase for customers when attempting to upgrade the core product. For example, many customers may not be able to forward fit their customizations into the new upgraded core product. This, in turn, has lead to many customers resisting upgrades and/or using product combinations in non-standard configurations that may cause support and product management issues.
In addition, many architectures may not provide for easy integration with third party products either in front or behind service interfaces. For example a customer may wish to add a new service or replace a generic service with another third party product. Again, customers in today's market alter the core product in order to implement third party products, which may lead to complications when an upgrade or additional new products are available for the core product.

System and method for customizing a core product


A method and apparatus for the nondestructive testing of a bond connection between a bond wire and a substrate or pad which utilizes an ultrasonic tool for bonding the bond wire to the substrate or pad. The test force is applied in the plane of the bond connection transversely to the bond wire through an ultrasonic welding tool.

Various processes for testing the quality of a wire bond connection have been proposed heretofore. For example, the bond connection formed between the bond wire and the substrate can be tested by applying in the longitudinal direction of the wire a force thereto which ruptures the bond between the bond wire and the substrate. The force which is detected in this test is that which is required to destroy the bond connection. While this method does supply information as to the quality of the bond connection, it has the drawback that the use of the method destroys the bond connection itself which is a significant drawback. The nondestructive tension testing method applies force in the longitudinal direction of the bond wire while a satisfactory bond connection can resist the force so that only defective bond connections will be destroyed. Connections which satisfy this type of qualitative test can be used.
Quality testing of the connection between bond wires and their substrates of the state of the art have the drawback that to apply the test force, a device must be provided on the bond head which allow clamping to the wire. Usually the wire clamp has two jaws which must engage the wire between them so that a pull can be exerted on the wire through the clamp. Aside from the fact that the construction of the clamp is expensive, the use of the clamp takes a considerable amount of time and testing with these devices thus may slow down the rate of production of bond-wire connection.

Method of and apparatus for testing a wire bond connection


The invention relates to an image-processing method for automated contrast modification of digital image data. At least one low and one high-frequency signal are formed based on the digital image signal of the image data; the low-frequency signal component is modified using a characteristic-curve function; and then the modified, low-frequency signal is again added to the high-frequency signal component. In order to prevent the occurrence of distracting artifacts, so-called “halos”, the formation of the low-frequency signal component to be modified is formed in dependence upon the high-frequency image components.

The invention relates to an image-processing method for automated contrast modification of digital image data, in which at least a low and a high-frequency signal component are formed from the image signal of the image data; the low-frequency signal component is modified according to a characteristic-curve function; and then the modified, low-frequency signal component is then added to the high-frequency signal component.
Digital image data often include very great brightness differentials, and are therefore difficult to reproduce on photographic paper since these materials include a contrast range that is too narrow. Thus, copies of such images are over-exposed in the bright areas but under-exposed in the darker areas. Individual details are thus very difficult, or impossible, to discern in the under- or over-exposed areas. A classic example of this is a photograph of a shadowed gateway arch with an extremely bright background. Contrast modifications have been developed in order to improve the quality of such high-contrast photographs for printed pictures for such copies from digital image data.
One such procedure in which particularly the global contrast (gradation) of digital image data is modified is described in the German Patent No. DE 36 29 409 A1. This contrast modification procedure is based on subjecting the digital image data to frequency filtering in which they are split into a low-pass and a high-pass component. In order to optimize global contrast, the low-pass signals are modified based on a non-linear gradation separating line. The low-pass signals thus modified are then again added to the high-pass signals, whereby in general the high-pass signals are also modified in order, for example, to undertake focal sharpening of detail information contained in the image. Contrast modification is, however, exclusively realized within the low-pass component since the high-pass component does not allow any influence on global image sizes.
During application of such image-processing procedures for contrast modification, it has been shown, however, that undesirable effects are sometimes triggered with certain motifs. Thus, for example, a dark motif before a medium-density background may be so reproduced after image contrast modification that a very bright border arises about the dark motif that only matches the density of the background at a larger distance from the motif. Such an occurrence is called a "white halo" because of its appearance. In an opposite density constellation, so-called "black halos" may also be generated if a bright motif is to be reproduced against a medium-density background.
This problem with contrast modification procedures, in which conventional copies are made on photographic paper, has long been known. In this conventional procedure, contrast is modified by locally influencing the copy light, realized by the LED illuminating the negative, with a digitally-created mask. The mask thus reproduces a strongly-unfocused, inverted intermediary image of the motif to be copied. In this procedure, the halo phenomenon is avoided in that the very strong bright/dark interfaces that cause these phenomena are slightly displaced in the mask. This displacement results in areas in which the photographic paper is either too strongly or too weakly exposed, since the paper sensitivity to density gradations in these areas is very low. The effect is thus produced that the strong contrast transitions are displaced into almost invisible areas of densities. Such a procedure is described in the German Patent No. DE 197 03 063 C2. This approach for avoiding undesirable halos is not applicable, however, in an image-processing procedure for digital image data as described in the aforementioned DE 36 29 409 A1, since an unfocused mask which might be modified in the case of strong contrast transitions is not explicitly taken into account in this process.

Image processing method for automated contrast modification of digital image data


An inexpensive garden stake to provide physical and structural support to growing plant life is disclosed. The invention provides an improved device for providing an anchoring base to the supporting stake which increases the useful life of a garden stake. The anchor has legs which expand upon implantation. The increased support provided by the anchor reduces the need for replanting or disturbing the plant in a significant manner.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a novel and improved support for growing plants in the ground or in potted plants.
2. Prior Art
Horticulturists and gardeners have traditionally used a garden stake to provide support for many types of plants, particularly vines, which are planted in the ground and in containers. One disadvantage of conventional garden stakes is that they do not provide adequate support for the plant because the stake itself is not rigidly fixed in the ground or container so that the conventional garden stake often begins to lean over and is difficult to maintain in an upright position. The conventional garden stakes are particularly likely to lean over from the upright position as the plant grows larger. When the stake leans over from its upright, vertical position in a potted plant, the gardener may attempt to solve the problem by replanting and reinserting the stake.
With the present invention, the novel design of the garden stake provides substantially improved anchor fixing of the garden stake in the soil so that the stake will remain upright even as the plant grows. The garden stake of the present invention provides an improved support so that the garden stake will remain upright and vertical eliminating the need to replant and reinsert the stake. Eliminating the necessity to replant is particularly important when it is aesthetically or physically impractical to replant. If replanting is necessary, the present invention facilitates the removal of the plant by simply pulling out the garden stake. As the root ball is intertwined with the anchor, the plant will be removed with the stake.


A lens adapter is disclosed. The lens adapter includes: an adapter ring having a flexible fitting portion and an installation portion in which an optical component is mounted, the fitting portions being fitted over a fitting engagement portion of a lens ring mounted around a lens portion facing a front surface of an imaging apparatus; and a lock ring fitted over an outer surface of the adapter ring, the lock ring being manipulated so as to be moved between a locked position where the lock ring is opposite to the fitting portions fitted over the fitting engagement portion and flexure of the fitting portions is prevented and an unlocked position where the lock ring is retracted from the locked position.

The present application relates to an imaging apparatus and, more particularly, to a lens adapter in which an optical component such as a conversion lens is mounted and also to an imaging apparatus using the lens adapter.
From the past, digital still cameras have often incorporated retractable zoom lenses. In this kind of digital still camera, a zoom optical system is housed in a camera body. Thus, the zooming function is accomplished without spoiling the thinness of the camera. Normally, when the power supply for the camera body is turned on, the zoom lens projects forwardly. When the power supply is turned off, the lens is retracted into the camera body.
However, only with the zoom lens incorporated in the camera body that has been thinned, the magnification is restricted. Therefore, in order to obtain images at high magnifications, it is necessary to install a separate tele-conversion lens or other optical component onto the lens barrel. A digital still camera having such an optical component that can be mounted onto the lens barrel is described, for example, in patent reference 1 (JP-A-2000-235222). In the digital still camera described in this patent reference 1, a cylindrical lens accommodation portion in which a zoom lens unit is housed protrudes from the front surface of the camera body. A threaded groove is formed in the inner wall of the lens accommodation portion. Furthermore, a threaded groove is formed at one end of the tele-conversion lens. The optical component is mounted without applying a load to the zoom optical system by screwing the tele-conversion lens into the threaded groove in the lens accommodation portion. When the tele-conversion lens is not in use, it is removed from the lens accommodation portion.
However, in the digital still camera in which an optical component such as a tele-conversion lens is screwed into the lens accommodation portion formed in the camera body, it is necessary to secure a region where plural turns of threaded grooves are formed. Therefore, it may be required that the lens accommodation portion protrude ahead of the camera body. The lens accommodation portion protrudes from the camera body at all times, i.e., even when no tele-conversion lens is mounted. In the camera body that has been thinned, forward protrusion of the lens accommodation portion impairs portability and design.
On the other hand, if the number of threaded grooves formed in the lens accommodation portion is made fewer, and if the amount of protrusion of the lens accommodation portion is reduced, the thinness of the camera body is not deteriorated but there is the possibility that the reliability with which a connection is made with the tele-conversion lens is deteriorated.


This system and method error-diffuse image data to generate printing decisions; scan and print stages are preferably included. Multiple image-data rows are held in longterm memory, usually external to an integrated circuit that does the processing; preferably data from plural rows at a time are received from that memory. Error from earlier-processed data is also held in longterm memory and fed to the circuit. Longterm-memory access is shared with many other functions; the invention keeps error diffusion from dominating that access. Processing preferably proceeds generally transverse (preferably skewed, ideally at 45.degree.) to data rows, with final error distribution into each pixel when it is the "left pixel" (or when it is the "next pixel" if it is at the top of a row group). For pixels at the top of each run, the circuit retrieves error from, and for pixels at the bottom the circuit deposits error into, longterm memory; for intermediate pixels the circuit does neither--thus amortizing each data access over several pixels. Preferably plural rows are preprocessed to impart a skewed structure and also insert dummy pixels at corners (to simplify repetitive processing)--ideally with data and dummy pixels together forming a parallelogram, the dummy pixels being outboard at both sides of the data. Data can be padded out internally, too, for calorimetric improvement, if correspondingly finer printing resolution is available. In one form of the invention two or more (e. g., four) current pixels are processed simultaneously.

a. Rendition processes of various kinds are widely practiced. Their purpose is as follows.
Typical current-day input images to be printed are sometimes represented by data for three additive primary color lights, typically red, green and blue; and sometimes instead for three or four subtractive primary colorants, typically cyan, magenta, yellow and black; and sometimes for other color spaces, including for example the Dillinger hue-plus-gray or hnk system originating at the Hewlett Packard Company. In all such cases most typically the data are stated for multiple, typically 255, visual levels.
Such high-bandwidth input is impossible to reproduce dot for dot, or pixel for pixel, with a low-bandwidth printing machine. By this I mean any machine that operates in binary color--or even in multilevel color but with only relatively few levels (e. g. a maximum of a few dots) per pixel.
A process that deals with this problem is called "rendition". In general, rendition forces the average color of at least several printed pixels to approximate the originally desired input colors averaged over a roughly corresponding group of positions.
Rendition includes so-called "dithering" methods, generally used for graphics such as broad fields of solid color, and "error diffusion"--which as mentioned above ordinarily provides better results for photograph-like images.
b. Error diffusion is a familiar conventional rendition process generally attributed to Floyd and Steinberg, but modified by many other workers for application to color images. In printing or copying machines of the type under consideration, heretofore the universal way of implementing Floyd-Steinberg error diffusion is to process one row 10 (FIG. 1) at a time, starting at one side of the image pixel-data array 21 and moving 22 along that row--dealing with each generalized pixel 11 in turn--to the other side.
After processing of each row 10 is complete, the next row below is taken up in a like manner. Accordingly the overall processing propagates row-wise downward 23.
In this procedure, as is well known to those skilled in the art, each pixel 11 starts out with its initial color values established in a data file or otherwise, as for instance by acquisition in real time from a scanner. (The term "values" here merely means numbers, as distinguished from the "value" parameter used in some color spaces.) For example each pixel may have three, four or five associated values, one for each color or calorimetric parameter employed by the particular system that is in use.
To these values in each pixel 11 will be added--unless the pixel is in the top row of the image--so-called "errors" for the same colors respectively, generated by certain previously processed nearby pixels 12-15 (FIG. 2). Most usually the number of such earlier-processed contributors is four, but some systems operate using more, or fewer--even one.
These additions from the nearby pixels 12-15 are summed into separate memories for the various colors, for the pixel 11 of interest during (in systems of which I am aware) the times when the system is processing those earlier pixels. It is particularly important to note that, while an earlier pixel 12 is being processed, the system reaches forward in the image data array to place errors for the various colors into memory cells for a pixel 11 that will be processed later; and similarly for the other earlier pixels 13-15.
For each pixel 11 of interest, error values are thus received from several (four, in the drawings) specific previously processed pixels 12-15 in turn, as those particular pixels are taken up for processing. This leads to an accumulated error sum, for each color, which is completed only during processing of the last of those earlier pixels to be processed--i. e., the pixel 15 which is immediately upstream (to the left, in the drawing) in the processing sequence, along the same row 10.
Now when it is time for the pixel 11 of interest to be processed, this accumulated error sum is added into the original input image values (typically much larger), and then the grand total is evaluated. If the sum exceeds one or more of certain programed thresholds, the system prints a dot (or in some cases plural dots, or no dot) of a particular color in the current pixel. That dot has a specific color shade, and corresponding value (again, simply a number).
The difference between the accumulated input sum and the color value of the actual printed dot is denominated the "whole error". This "whole error" is next divided among neighboring pixels 16-19 (FIG. 3) which have not yet been processed. Analogous distributions, as will be understood, were the origins of the errors inherited by each pixel 11 from previously processed pixels 12-15 as mentioned above.
The number of destination pixels 16-19, into which error is distributed, typically equals the number of previously mentioned pixels 12-15 from which error is distributed (i. e., again, most usually four). For each particular one of the target pixels 16-19, the "whole error" is multiplied by a respective fraction and then truncated to the next smaller integer, which is then added into that particular one of the target pixels 16-19.
In such a process, error values propagate through the data array in a manner reminiscent of fluid diffusion through a permeable medium--whence the term "error diffusion".
Fractions are commonly selected that add up to roughly unity, so that the error flow neither blows up nor damps out. By setting thresholds and maximum-print levels, the designer or user can program the output to have--for example--two, three or four levels.
In at least some prior software, and for purposes of the present document including the claims, a particular pixel 11 being processed is called the "current pixel". By the phrase "being processed" I mean at least the operation of distributing error out to other pixels. The four neighbors into which error is distributed are called the "next pixel" 16, "left pixel" 17, "center pixel" 18 and the "right pixel" 19.
The first-mentioned of these, the "next pixel", is traditionally "next" in two different senses: it is immediately adjacent to the current pixel, and it is also the next to be processed--after the current pixel. (As will be seen, I retain this historical nomenclature even though in accordance with my invention the meaning in one of these senses is not applicable.)
The second of these meanings is related very closely to the order of processing, namely along the row 10 longitudinally and--from the earliest convention--in the direction 22 left to right. As the shading (FIGS. 2 and 3) suggests, processing actually progresses along a path through a series of "next pixels", each "current pixel" being the final contributor to its "next pixel".
As soon as that final contribution to a "next pixel" is made, that "next pixel" has received all the error contributions it will ever receive--so a natural next step is to process that "next pixel" as the succeeding "current pixel". In other words, from an opposite perspective: to implement a strategy of longitudinal processing along each row 10 in turn, in a natural manner, advantageously the final error distribution into each pixel should be made at a time when that pixel is a "next pixel". This process, of distributing into the next pixel last, runs right into the processes of print decision for that pixel and then distribution of remaining error from that pixel.
When that next pixel thus becomes the current pixel, it similarly distributes error into the new left, center and right pixels 17-19 (FIG. 3) and into the new next pixel 16. The shading suggesting the path 22 of processing is accordingly extended by one pixel rightward along the row 10, in a succession of natural steps.
Row-wise longitudinal processing certainly qualifies as conventional wisdom, for it arises in an extremely pervasive fashion: it is the manner in which data are generated by a row scanner (by far the best known and most common type) and the manner in which data are queued for display (from the earliest video), and also the manner in which data are most commonly stored and transfered.
For two reasons, however, left-to-right processing is not at all exclusive. First, it is arbitrary: an image pixel grid (though of course not the image information itself) is perfectly symmetrical, and the data are therefore amenable to perusal and processing in either direction. Second, even within an established processing algorithm or apparatus it is known to analyze the data along a processing path that is left-to-right sometimes and right-to-left at other times.
Indeed alternation between the two directions, as for instance in a serpentine path that reverses direction in every other row, reduces directional-pattern artifacts in certain types of error diffusion. Such bidirectional processing is therefore popular for error diffusion in some schools of thought.
Therefore for purposes of this document it will be understood that the "next pixel" is not always to the right of the current pixel. Rather it is in the same row, and adjacent, and in a certain sense along a direction of processing. (That sense, however, as will be seen later does not necessarily mean along a row which is being processed.)
Analogously the designations "right pixel" and "left pixel" are not to be limited to their literal meanings. Rather they are hereby defined as pixels disposed relative to the current pixel downward and, respectively, in and opposite to a direction of processing (where once again the "direction of processing" does not necessarily mean along a row which is being processed).
Because error diffusion is inherently progressive, and therefore to a necessarily large extent directional, the occurrence of directionality artifacts has always posed problems. A major line of development in this field is the introduction of techniques for breaking up or concealing directionality.
In addition to the use of serpentine paths an important technique is introduction of randomness into the processing. Random sequencing, random weights, random spatial distribution of the error, and numerous other methods are extensively discussed in the patent and other literature. It is important that any new overall strategy for implementing error diffusion be compatible with at least some such randomization techniques.
Understanding of these and many other sophisticated enhancements of error diffusion is beyond the scope of this document, as those theoretical analyses--while in general compatible with my invention--are not at all necessary to understanding or practice of my invention. For further details on those advanced theories I therefore refer the reader to the literature, an excellent starting point being Ulichney, Digital Halftoning (MIT 1987, 1993).
c. Conventional software implementations of error diffusion, as mentioned above, call for processing one row 10 at a time, from one side of the image to the other. Such processing is commonly performed by a printer driver (software) in a host computer.
In this environment the number of memory cells, both short- and longterm memory--and also the amount of hardware available for the desired computations--is ordinarily ample for the tasks at hand. We need not discuss such considerations as conserving memory of various types, or the cost of computing-hardware elements needed to perform the work.
The absolute speed of error-diffusion processing in this environment of course varies with the performance of the host computer. Considered instead in terms of relative speed or efficiency, this type of image rendition--in comparison with, for example, dither methods of rendition--by the general-purpose host CPU is relatively very slow.
Consumer demand for higher throughput in economical printers, copiers etc. continues to rise, and the market-place for these machines intensely competitive. Therefore it is very undesirable to be limited by the speed of a host computer.
This is a particularly serious matter for manufacturers and vendors of printers and copiers, since it interferes with ability to advertise a particular throughput--without having to hedge as to the unknown speed of the host. Therefore it is extremely desirable to increase overall printing or copying throughput in inexpensive image-related devices, and also to isolate this performance to a certain extent from that of a computer to be obtained and connected by the customer.
In thus increasing throughput, however, it is crucial to refrain from running up the price of the printer or copier unduly, since this would degrade the overall competitive position of the product in the market. These considerations are particularly aggravated by the fact that four-pixel error-diffusion itself, as already indicated, is notoriously slow.
Its slowness is due partly to performing a significant amount of arithmetic for each pixel--but this is accomplished rather quickly using internal registers of the system central processor. Of equal or greater interest for present purposes is the time required for reading information from relatively longterm memory, and also for storage, as such, of the results of calculation--back into the relatively longterm memory.
I refer to time taken up directly by the electronic processes involved in copying or shifting each of the several error-data values into several pixels other than the one being processed. There are three main types of transactions of the sort here under discussion: reading image data from a source device (e. g., scanner etc.) or more commonly some sort of input storage, reading error data from earlier-processed pixels 12-15, and writing (summing) error data into later-to-be-processed pixels 16-19. Image processing in general, whether by software or hardware, tends to require ample data storage and correspondingly large numbers of storage transactions.
d. Substitution of hardware/firmware--It is known, in general, to replace a software module with dedicated hardware, fabricated with instructions for data processing. Indeed this has been done for error diffusion--first in so-called "firmware", usually a read-only memory (ROM) integrated circuit feeding the instructions to a microprocessor; and later in an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that not only has the instructions but also obeys them. Possibly such hardware implementations might instead be carried out in, merely by way of example, a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), or a programmable logic array (PLA).
Any of such devices when manufactured with a suitable program can typically achieve higher speed than corresponding or analogous software running in a general-purpose computer. Such a speed improvement may be accomplished in part simply through design of the circuit particularly for a given task--but speed may be enhanced also through various specific strategies.
One such known strategy, for example, is direct memory access (DMA), which moves data to and from external, intermediate storage devices such as dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) directly on command. In this type of data access it is not necessary to wait for a processor to receive and process instructions from an applications program to make a data transfer--which instructions sometimes in turn may entail still other steps required by an operating system (such as testing the propriety of the data transfer, or determining the best way of accomplishing it).
Another strategy available in custom hardware is performance of many tasks (including to an extent certain types of data transfer) simultaneously. Thus, implementing error diffusion in hardware starts out with some weighty advantages.
Modernly it is known to provide relatively large dedicated hardware/firmware modules that control numerous functions in a printer, copier or multifunction machine. This too may be deemed an advantage, since it facilitates sharing the cost of some hardware and this may confer a price advantage on the error-diffusion part of the overall module.
A straightforward hardware implementation of error-diffusion sequencing will now be analyzed in detail, particularly to facilitate later comparison with the methods of my invention. Here the focus, unlike that in analyzing software implementation, necessarily includes careful attention to the use of all the hardware resources.
In single-row longitudinal processing, a typical sequence may be as follows, given a representative series of three rows of pixels diagramed thus--
______________________________________ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 a b C d e f g h m n o p q r s t. ______________________________________
We take up the sequence as the processing reaches current pixel C. (Another conceptualization of the flow of error data into DRAM for later analysis, and into flipflops or other storage for use in the actual printing process, appears in FIG. 4.)
Original image data for that pixel C were initially placed in DRAM cells for that pixel, and later read from DRAM into internal memory--not in the part of the hardware that performs error-diffusion calculations, but rather in one of its earlier blocks which performs preliminary processes such as color correction or adjustment, filtering or the like. Pixels are handed down from all such earlier blocks sequentially via internal registers to the error-diffusion modules.
Error from pixels 2, 3 and 4 has subsequently been summed into registers (for the several colors) for that same pixel C. Error was first distributed into pixel C at a time when pixel 2 was the current pixel and pixel C was the right pixel. Additional error later was similarly distributed into pixel C from pixel 3 (when C was the center pixel), and then still later from pixel 4 (when C was the left pixel).
At that last-mentioned point the sum of these three distributions into the pixel-C registers was stored into DRAM cells temporarily assigned to that pixel, releasing the working registers for other use. At this point the initial image value too, in purest principle, could have been summed into the DRAM cells--but this step, in consideration of the greater number of bits reserved for each image value and therefore the register sizes that must be carried along thereafter, is advantageously deferred until pixel-C processing time.
The memory transactions for all such distributions will be made more clear momentarily. They occurred during processing of "current pixels" in the row above pixel C, typically two or three thousand pixels earlier than the processing of pixel C.
Moreover, much more recently, error from pixel b has just been stored (or possibly just retained, as will be seen) in new temporary working registers for pixel C. That occurred when pixel C was the next pixel--during processing of pixel b as the current pixel.
Now to open processing of C as the current pixel, the sum of its previously accumulated error contributions is fetched from its DRAM cells and summed into the just-mentioned temporary pixel-C working registers. Also preferably added in at this point, though not necessarily into the selfsame registers, is the initial image value for the pixel.
That value is most typically handed down at this moment from an upstream processing block in the ASIC. The resulting new sum is compared with the system threshold or thresholds that have been worked out, for the number of levels to be printed, generally as in FIG. 5.
The printing decision is thereby made and stored or implemented as in FIGS. 4 and 5--leaving for pixel C, after subtraction of the print value, a residual or error value. That pixel-C "whole error" is multiplied by the planned weights, and its resulting fractional parts stored into respective working registers for the right pixel p, and also center pixel o (where it is summed into a previously stored right-pixel error component from pixel b).
The fractional part for left pixel n, however, is added to contributions into that pixel from pixels a and b (kept in temporary pixel-n working registers for the purpose), and the sum transfered to DRAM cells for pixel n. The pixel-n registers just mentioned were first opened when pixel n was the right pixel, for pixel a. The right-pixel error from pixel a, stored in the pixel-n registers, was then incremented, when pixel n was the center pixel, by the amount of the center-pixel error from pixel b.
DRAM storage, rather than registers, is used for the now-accumulated error for pixel n--when it is the left pixel, because this is the final contribution from the current row for pixel n. This pixel will not be taken up again until the system is working in the row "mnopqrst", at the time when pixel n is the next pixel for then-current pixel m.
If instead the left-pixel error were kept in registers for pixel n, this would imply that the same treatment would be appropriate for pixels o, p, q etc.--i. e. for virtually all the pixels in each row. This would require provision of an undesirably very high number of registers, equal (for each color) to the number of pixels in a row.
The rest of the errors in the pixel-C registers are the distributions for the next pixel d, which error fraction may be transfered to pixel-d registers. (Alternatively it is possible to roll over the registers used in processing each current pixel--i. e. to only, in general effect, rename the pixel-C registers as the pixel-d registers. As will be understood, such a simplified description omits many timing and housekeeping considerations.) Also summed into them are the image data and previously accumulated errors retrieved from DRAM for pixel d.
The immediately foregoing discussion of the mechanisms for storage of error from successive current pixels should make clear that error flows first into working registers, for the right and center pixels, and then (as a consolidated transfer of the cumulation) into the left-pixel DRAM cells as those pixels in turn progressively become the left pixel. This analysis thus shows how the previously discussed errors were summed into the pixel-C DRAM cells, too.
(The right- and center-pixel working registers, along with the registers for the several colors of the current pixel, amount to a group of just three working memories per color, for the cluster of pixels in FIG. 4. These preferably are, or can be, in effect rolled over or recycled into corresponding functions for all the other current pixels in the current row and the row just below--and eventually the entire image.)
In current-day systems with which I am involved, each DRAM so-called "fetch" or "store" typically transfers sixteen bits, and data for each color most commonly require only eight bits. Therefore each transaction for a pixel in a four-color system takes two (not one, or four) fetches or stores. The number of fetches or stores thus depends upon the number of colors or other color parameters in the system, and also on whether the sixteen-bit custom just described is being followed in the particular hardware involved. To avoid the resulting confusion, and to generalize the discussions in this document, in passages that require specifying or comparing how many DRAM transactions occur in prior-art systems or in my invention, I shall refer to DRAM retrievals and deposits--which I hereby define for purposes of this document to mean respectively the fetches and stores required to deal with whatever number of colors is present in one generalized pixel. This is not standard terminology, but is adopted in this document because the utility and basic sense of my invention relate most fundamentally to transfer of information per pixel--and do not depend on the system bit or byte architecture, or the number of bits per color, or indeed even the color space in use--i. e., the number of colors or color parameters which are being carried along in the calculations. Further I define a DRAM transaction as a retrieval or deposit.
In summary therefore the system in performing processing of one current pixel:
(1) performs one retrieval from DRAM--of the errors previously summed due to the roles of that same pixel as right, center and left pixel respectively; and PA1 (2) performs one deposit into DRAM--of the left-pixel error with previously summed errors for the same (left) pixel in its roles as right and center pixel; PA1 (3) typically receives and adds in the handed-down original image data; and PA1 (4) maintains open storage registers for at least the current, next, right, and center pixels. PA1 data-receiving means for receiving, from the input-data means, a group of plural rows of the data at a time, and PA1 calculating circuitry for processing the plural rows of data by error-diffusion procedures, to generate printing-decision data. PA1 data-receiving means for receiving, from the input-data means, a group of plural rows of the data at a time, PA1 error-receiving means for receiving the accumulated error from the previous-error memory means, and PA1 calculating circuitry for combining the plural rows of data and the accumulated error by error-diffusion procedures, to generate printing-decision data.
Thus two DRAM transactions, in different directions and at slightly different moments, are required in processing (e. g., four total fetches or stores, in a sixteen-bit CMYK system) of each pixel as a current pixel.
A straightforward implementation such as just described has certain undesirable characteristics or limitations. Recognition of these undesirable features has required extremely extensive experience and analysis; I therefore consider this recognition to be a part of the inventive contribution which is the subject of this document. Accordingly I shall reserve for the "SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE" section, which follows, introduction of these limitations.
For purposes of definiteness, in this document operation such as just described is called "processing one row at a time" even though some of the error from the row containing the current pixel is distributed into the row below. This operation is also called "processing longitudinally along rows"--even though some of the error flow is generally transverse to the rows.
Directions of error flow are determined by the basic error-diffusion protocol itself; the present invention for the most part retains that protocol and the resulting error-flow directions, and as will be seen focuses on the sequenced selection of "current pixels". Thus the terminologies "one row at a time" and "longitudinally" are hereby defined specifically with reference to the successive selection of "current pixels".
e. Other kinds of processes--In various types of image processing other than error diffusion, strategies for working with several rows at a time are known. Examples are dithering (another kind of image rendition, as mentioned earlier) and filtering.
Each such strategy, however, requires very detailed and intricate implementation tactics which necessarily are extremely specific to the particular process involved. Heretofore to the best of my knowledge it has not been suggested to devise or apply any such plural-row strategy or tactics to error diffusion.
f. Conclusion--As suggested by the foregoing, speed of error-diffusion rendition has continued to impede achievement of excellent color printing of near-continuous-tone or other photograph-like images--in an economical printer or copier, at high throughput. Thus important aspects of the technology used in the field of the invention remain amenable to useful refinement.

Image rendition by plural-row error diffusion, for faster operation and smaller integrated circuits


According to one embodiment, an imprinting method comprises forming a carbon film on a substrate. The carbon film being oxygen in an amount of less than or equal to 15% by weight. A transfer material is dispensed over the carbon film. A patterned template is brought into contact with the transfer material. The transfer material is cured with light passing through the patterned template. The patterned template is then detached from the cured transfer material.

An imprinting method has been proposed as a method for forming fine patterns. The imprinting method involves steps of applying a transfer material, such as a resist, onto a film that has been formed on a substrate, pressing a template having a fine pattern formed thereon against the transfer material so the space between the template and the substrate is filled with the transfer material, and then subsequently irradiating the transfer material with ultraviolet light to cure the transfer material. After detaching the template from the transfer material, the transfer material patterned on the substrate serves as a mask for processing of the film on the substrate.

Imprinting method and semiconductor device manufacturing method


A symmetrical load transfer device for use in insulated concrete wall panels. The symmetrical shape allows for forces induced in manufacturing, transportation, installation and nature to transfer through the device equally to both concrete wythes of the wall panel. The load transfer device is preferably made of a thermoplastic or thermoset resin matrix incorporating continuous filaments, such as glass rovings. The low thermal conductivity of the matrix of filaments and resins greatly reduce thermal bridging of the insulation layer while maintaining structural integrity of the wall panel.

The invention relates generally to connector systems for insulated concrete wall panels and, more specifically, to a symmetrical load transfer connector for use in precast insulated concrete wall panels.
Precast insulated concrete wall panels are well known in the art and offer a number of advantages for residential and commercial building construction. These advantages include shorter construction schedules, improved thermal resistance, improved quality control, and enhanced durability. However, conventional concrete wall panels are heavy, thus increasing the cost of transporting the panels from the precasting plant to the job site. The large weight of the panels often times requires multiple loads to be delivered to the job site, thereby resulting in potential delays during loading, transportation, and unloading. The large weight also requires the use of an expensive, heavy crane for panel installation.
Insulated concrete wall panels may include inner and outer concrete layers, or wythes, with an internal insulation layer provided between the concrete layers, so as to be lighter weight than solid walls of the same thickness. The prior art concrete wall panels are typically constructed using metallic connectors with high thermal conductivities. Plastic connectors have been used to reduce thermal bridging and problems with corrosion of the metallic connectors, but have problems due to long-term creep and quality due to manufacturing processes. Another connector system uses transverse layers of fiber rovings. However, these connectors result in weak points in the wall panels and are subject to inner laminar shear resulting in brittle failure of the connection system.
To improve the composite character of insulated wall panels, while avoiding the solid concrete sections and metallic connectors which created thermal bridges across the wythes and reduce the insulation factor of the panels, connectors made of high-strength composite materials, such as resin-boded glass fibers, have come into use. These materials do not suffer from the long-term creep of plastic connectors and are resistant to the laminar shear that causes failure of the layered roving connectors.
The connector of the present invention has low thermal conductivity to prevent thermal bridging and is of a symmetric shape which allows the formed wall panels to resist forces induced during manufacturing, transportation and installation of the wall panel and environmental forces induced on the wall panel after installation.
Accordingly, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved connector system for insulated concrete wall panels.
Another objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved concrete wall panel.
A further objective of the present invention is the provision of a symmetrical insulating connector for interconnecting two or more concrete layers of a concrete panel and which is adjustable to accommodate sandwiched insulation layers of a range of thicknesses.
These and other objectives become apparent from the following description of the invention.

Symmetrical load transfer device for insulated concrete sandwich wall panels


The specification and drawings present a new method, apparatus and software product for using a flash light with, e.g., light-emitting diodes (LEDs) or other light sources of a camera of an electronic device for improving quality of images provided by the camera. The flash related parameters comprising a white balance setting and/or exposure settings can be determined using, e.g., an ambient light level and an estimate of the flash light reflected from said object.

When a camera is taking an image with LED flash the illumination of an object is most often a mix of a flash and an ambient light. Colors of the image captured by the camera are affected by ambient light type (fluorescent, incandescence, etc.), but also by the level of the ambient light compared to the flash light. The amount of reflected flash light from the object back to the camera depends mostly on flash efficiency, object reflectance and especially on a distance from the object to the flash, because the luminance follows inverse square law: it varies in inverse proportion to the square of distance.
Furthermore, the characteristics of images acquired by the camera depend on the spectral content (or the color temperature) of the light. When the spectral content of the flash is fixed, the desired image characteristics can be achieved by mounting color filters on the lens of the camera. However, this provides only limited control of image characteristics because the filters do not provide continuous control of the spectral content of the light received by the camera. In addition, the filters are inconvenient to use because to achieve different spectral filtering, the filters must be physically interchanged.
In case of some LED flashes, it is possible to turn the flash on for such a long time that camera AE (Auto Exposure) and AWB (Auto White Balance) control can adjust the exposure and color compensation gains to an optimum. The problems with that are increased power consumption, shortened lifetime of LED flash (result of heating) and longer delay between user's shutter-key press and actual image capturing. Also, most humans do not feel comfortable when a very bright light is pointing to their eyes, for example, for half a second.
Also, some cameras try "to guess" the best exposure and white balance settings before the flash is fired so that flash power consumption and capture delays are minimized. The problem is that it is difficult to calculate the settings if the distance and reflectance of the target object are not known.


A linear multi-color LED illumination device is described herein as including a rotational hinge, which allows a power cable of the illumination device to enter and exit through a rotational axis of the hinge, and which does not require special tools or an independent locking mechanism to secure in place.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to rotational hinge mechanisms for an illumination device, and more specifically, to a rotational hinge that allows a power cable of the illumination device to enter and exit through a rotational axis of the hinge. In addition, the rotational hinge described herein to allows the illumination device to be adjusted about the rotational axis and secured in a desired rotational position without the use of special tools or an additional locking mechanism.
2. Description of Related Art
Illumination devices using light emitting diodes (LEDs) provide many advantages over traditional light sources, such as fluorescent lamps and incandescent bulbs. These advantages include high energy conversion and optical efficiency, robustness, lower operating costs, small size and others. LED illumination devices generally include a plurality of LEDs of the same color, or a number of different colors. Multi-color linear LED lights often comprise red, green, and blue LEDs; however, some products use some combination of red, green, blue, white, and amber LEDs.
LED illumination devices (also referred to herein as light fixtures, luminaires or lamps) have been commercially available for many years in a number of different form factors (e.g., PAR, linear, A19, strip, automotive headlights, decorative, etc.). Parabolic light fixtures are often used as flood lights for interior or exterior applications. Typical applications for linear light fixtures include wall washing in which a chain of lights attempt to uniformly illuminate a large portion of a wall, and cove lighting in which a chain of lights typically illuminates a large portion of a ceiling.
Linear light fixtures generally include a number of LEDs arranged in a line in an elongated emitter housing. As with other form factors, power converters and drive circuitry are provided to power and control the light output from the LEDs. Unlike some form factors, linear light fixtures may be provided with a hinge that allows the fixture to rotate relative to a mounting bracket securing the fixture to a wall or ceiling.
One major design requirement for linear lighting fixtures is to have the power cable enter and exit through the axis of rotation. This requirement allows multiple fixtures to be chained together, and adjacent lighting fixtures to be independently adjusted, while maintaining a constant distance between connection points of adjacent lighting fixtures. However, this requirement complicates the design of the rotational hinges used in the linear lighting fixtures, as it prevents the hinges from both rotating and passing power through the same central axis. Therefore, conventional linear lighting fixtures tend to ignore this requirement and typically route the power cable through the fixture somewhere off the central axis. However, this inevitably produces strain between adjacent fixtures that are adjusted to different angles.
Another design requirement is to provide some means for adjusting and securing the light fixture in a desired rotational position. Most conventional linear light fixtures require special tools and/or an independent locking mechanism for adjusting and securing the light fixture. This is both cumbersome and time consuming, and can be frustrating if the tools are misplaced.
A need, therefore, exists for an improved rotational hinge for a linear light fixture, which allows a power cable to enter and exit through a rotational axis of the hinge, and which does not require special tools or an independent locking mechanism to secure the light fixture in place. Although an improved rotational hinge for a multi-color linear LED illumination device is disclosed herein, one skilled in the art would understand how the improved hinge design may be implemented in lighting fixtures having other form factors.

Linear LED illumination device with improved rotational hinge


A rewritable, nonvolatile memory includes a first region having stored therein a processing program which allows an electronic device to perform a process, and having a first specific portion which is accessed first upon boot-up by the electronic device; and a second region having stored therein a boot program and a rewrite program. Upon erasing storage contents of the first region, the storage contents of the first region are erased by the rewrite program such that a storage content of the first specific portion is erased last. Upon writing storage contents into the first region, new storage contents are written into the first region by the rewrite program such that a storage content of the first specific portion is written first.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rewritable, nonvolatile memory, such as a flash memory, that stores an executable program which allows an electronic device to perform a process, and a rewrite program used to rewrite the executable program, an electronic device, a method of rewriting the rewritable, nonvolatile memory, and a storage medium having stored thereon a rewrite program.
2. Description of the Background Art
An electronic device, such as a personal computer (PC), an image forming apparatus which forms an image based on digital image data, or any other household electrical appliance, has an processing unit that executes a program, and ROM that stores the program to be executed by the processing unit. For ROM included in the electronic device, a flash memory which is a rewritable, nonvolatile memory is widely used. The electronic device performs a process by reading a program stored in a flash memory and executing the program at the processing unit.
To correct malfunctions, improve functions, or the like, the need may arise for an electronic device including a flash memory to rewrite the storage contents of the flash memory. The configurations of an electronic device that allow for rewriting of a flash memory include one in which a means of rewriting the storage contents of the flash memory is provided to a portion other than the flash memory, and one in which the flash memory has stored therein a rewrite program for itself. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-338690 discloses a flash memory having a first region where a program is stored, and a second region, which is different from the first region, where a program used to rewrite the program stored in the flash memory is stored.
When the electronic device employs the configuration in which a means of rewriting the storage contents of the flash memory is provided to a portion other than the flash memory, the configuration of the electronic device becomes complicated, causing an increase in costs. On the other hand, when the electronic device employs the configuration in which the flash memory has stored therein a rewrite program for itself, if an error occurs, where the electronic device is stopped while the storage contents of the flash memory are being rewritten, there is a possibility that the electronic device may become unable to start up due to the program stored in the flash memory being incomplete.
In the flash memory disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-338690, since the second region is accessed first upon boot-up by the electronic device and has stored therein a boot program used by the electronic device to perform a boot, the electronic device is always able to start up. However, in a flash memory having a program to be rewritten which is stored in a region including a portion accessed first upon boot-up by the electronic device, there is a possibility that the electronic device may become unable to start up after rewriting is done.

Rewritable, nonvolatile memory, electronic device, method of rewriting rewritable, nonvolatile memory, and storage medium having stored thereon rewrite program


A composition for energy dissipation in at least a portion of the frequency range from about 1 GHz to about 20 GHz, the composition can comprise a dielectric and graphene mixed with at least a portion of the dielectric, wherein the percentage volume of the graphene relative to the total volume of the composition is configured such that dissipation of incident electromagnetic radiation is substantially optimized in at least a portion of the frequency range from about 1 GHz to about 20 GHz.

Electromagnetic (EM) radiation attenuating technology is useful for a wide variety of military and civilian applications ranging from minimizing the Radar signature of a target to EM shielding in consumer electronics. EMI (Electromagnetic Interference) shielding of electronic systems to decrease susceptibility to, and radiation from, EM sources is increasingly important in various applications, in particular at/in the radio to microwave wavelengths.

Methods and compositions for energy dissipation


Integrated circuit (IC) devices are provided. An IC device includes a substrate including an active region. The IC device includes a bit line on the substrate. The IC device includes a direct contact connected between the active region and the bit line. The IC device includes a contact plug on the substrate. Moreover, the IC device includes a boron-containing insulating pattern between the contact plug and the direct contact.

The present disclosure relates to an integrated circuit (IC) device, and more particularly, to an IC device including a plurality of conductive patterns located adjacent to each other. In recent years, as the downscaling of IC devices has rapidly progressed, a distance between a plurality of interconnection lines has become narrower and thus, a distance between the plurality of interconnection lines and a contact plug interposed between the plurality of interconnection lines has been gradually reduced. Thus, a parasitic capacitance between the contact plug and the plurality of interconnection lines has increased, and the likelihood of an electrical short between the contact plug and a conductive region adjacent thereto has also increased.

Integrated circuit devices including a boron-containing insulating pattern


The present invention is directed to a process for the preparation of the reagent dimethyl titanocene (Cp.sub.2 Ti(CH.sub.3).sub.2) from titanocene dichloride (Cp.sub.2 TiCl.sub.2) and a methyl magnesium halide, in particular, methyl magnesium chloride (CH.sub.3 MgCl). The instant process provides the desired reagent in a manner which is generally less hazardous and more economical than previous methods.

Dimethyl titanocene is an effective methylenating reagent for a variety of carbonyl compounds, including esters and lactones (N. A. Petasis and E. I. Bzowej, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 112, 6392-6394 (1990)). The reagent has been used to methylenate heteroatom-substituted carbonyls, and is also a ring-opening metathesis polymerization catalyst (N. A. Petasis and S.-P. Lu, Tetrahedron Lett., 36, 2393 (1995); N. A. Petasis and D.-K. Fu, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 115, 7208 (1993)). Accordingly, it is well recognized in the art that dimethyl titanocene has become a valuable synthetic tool. See for example the extensive use of dituethyl titanocene by e.g., N. A. Petasis and M. A. Patane, Tetrahedron Lett., 31, 6799 (1990); P. DeShong and P. J. Rybczynski, J. Org. Chem., 56, 3207 (1991); J. S. Swenton, D. Bradin, B. D. Gates, J. Org. Chem., 56, 6156 (1991); N. A. Petasis and E. I. Bzowej, Tetrahedron Lett., 34, 1721 (1993); H. K. Chenault and L. F. Chafin, J. Org. Chem., 59, 6167 (1994); D. Kuzmich, S. C. Wu, D.-C. Ha, C.-S. Lee, S. Ramesh, S. Atarashi, J.-K. Choi and D. J. Hart, J Am. Chem. Soc., 116, 6943 (1994); U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,790 (1992); and C. Dorn, et al., PCT Patent Publication WO 95/16679 (1995).
Although synthetic methodology may require the availablity of this reagent on a multi-kilogram scale, the published preparation procedure for the preparation of dimethyl titanocene is not amenable to large scale operations (K. Claus and H. Bestian, Justus Liebigs Ann. Chem., 654, 8 (1962)). The reference protocol calls for methylating titanocene dichloride with the pyrophoric reagent methyl lithium in ether, followed by an aqueous quench, and then a work-up where the material was isolated as a solid. However, it has been noted that Cp.sub.2 Ti(CH.sub.3).sub.2 is unstable in the solid phase, and evaporation of solutions containing the reagent have decomposed unpredictably (for a discussion of the solid state stability of dimethyl titanocene see: G. J. Erskine, J. Hartgerink, E. L. Weinberg and J. D. McCowan J. Organomet. Chem., 170, 51 (1979) and references cited therein). The preparation of dimethyl titanocene from methylmagnesium iodide and dichlorotitanocene in diethyl ether has been reported in German Patent Publication No. 1,037,446 (1959) to Farbwerke Hoechst, however, few details of the procedure are provided, and a yield of only 58% is reported.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a safer and more economical method for the preparation of dimethyl titanocene. The present invention provides a safer method for the preparation of dimethyl titanocene in high yield from titanocene dichloride and methyl magnesium chloride. The present process avoids the use of methyl lithium which is a pyrophoric reagent and hazardous to use on a large scale. Methylmagnesium chloride is safer to use than methyllithium and is also less expensive.

Process for the preparation of dimethyl titanocene