This invention encodes information (such as the field values of a database record, or the words of a text document) so that the original information may be efficiently searched by a computer. An information object is encoded into a small "signature" or codeword using a method. A base or "leaf" signature S1 34 is computed by a known technique such as hashing. The logical intersection (AND) of each possible combination of pairs of bits of the base signature is computed, and the result is stored as one bit of a longer combinatorial signature CS1 42. The bit-wise logical union (bit-OR) of the combinatorial signatures of a group of records produces a second-level combinatorial signature CS2 52 representing particular field values present among those records. Higher-level combinatorial signatures CS3 60, CS4, etc. are computed similarly. These combinatorial signatures avoid a "saturation" problem which occurs when signatures are grouped together, and a "combinatorial error" problem which falsely indicates the existence of nonexistent records, thereby significantly improving the ability to reject data not relevant to a given query. When the combinatorial signatures are stored in a hierarchical data structure, such as a B-tree index of a database management system, they provide means for more efficiently searching database records or document text by eliminating large amounts of nonmatching data from further consideration.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to computerized data processing, and more particularly to structures and methods for storing and searching data using encoded signatures representing that data.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Methods for coding and organizing data to allow for faster searching are important to information systems. Signature coding is one such method. To understand the problems solved by this invention, we begin by explaining the signature generation or encoding process. We will use the term "record" to indicate a generic data object such as a database record or a text fragment within a document.
The actual encoding process consists of computing a short signature S1 containing only 1's and 0's for each record. Various known "hashing" techniques may be used for generating these signatures, and will not be discussed in detail. The resulting signature for each record is usually much smaller than the original record. The signature and identifier of the record (called a TID) are stored on "pages" for later retrieval. A page is a fixed sized unit of storage which can contain key and signature data and may be in memory or on disk.
To locate a record or text fragment containing one or more values, a signature is computed from the search terms by using the same encoding process. This "query" signature is then compared against the stored signatures. When the stored signature contains a 1 bit in each position in which there is a 1 bit in the query signature, the record associated with the signature is identified as potentially satisfying the query. The TID stored with the signature is then used to retrieve the record. The data fields in the record (or words in the text fragment) are precisely matched against the search values using a conventional string compare algorithm to determine if a match has occurred. Records which satisfy the precise match conditions are then returned to the user.
To accommodate large numbers of records, "parent" signatures are computed for "groups" of records. Higher level (e.g., grandparent) signatures are organized similarly for groups of lower-level signatures. These signatures can then be organized into a hierarchical (multi-level) file structure. One well-known method for computing a new parent signature is to superimpose or "bit-OR" a group of individual signatures. A query signature is then compared to this parent signature first before it is compared to individual signatures. If a 1 bit occurs in any position of the query signature without a corresponding 1 in the patent signature, the entire group of lower-level (child) signatures and their associated records need not be accessed for further examination. This process allows a parent signature to filter out a large number of non-matching signatures and records.
Unfortunately, when this technique is used, both saturation and combinatorial errors occur. As more signatures are superimposed into the parent signature, more bits are set to 1. At some point, saturation occurs and the parent signature contains all 1's. The parent signature then becomes useless, because it will match any query signature and never be rejected. Since several methods are known to control this saturation problem, it will not be discussed in detail.
The second problem is that since the bits of a signature represent fields of the original records, the parent signature represents not only all existing individual records, but also nonexistent "virtual" records which appear to contain data formed by combining values from among the records in the group represented by the parent. These virtual records do not exist in the data, but are falsely indicated as existing by the parent signature. For example, assume records contain simple last name, title field pairs (Chang, Engineer), (Schek, Scientist), (Yost, Manager), and (Lohman, Scientist). Signatures for these might be (00111010), (01110100), (10110000), and (01010100). A parent signature (11111110) formed by bit-ORing these four signatures would correctly indicate the presence of the above records, but would also incorrectly indicate the presence of non-existent virtual records (Chang, Scientist), (Schek, Manager), (Yost, Engineer), etc.
The saturation and combinatorial error effects caused by using the superimposed method of grouping signatures results in records being unnecessarily accessed. Unnecessary accesses of records are also called "data false drops". When a parent signature causes a set of child signatures to be accessed unnecessarily, this is called a "signature false drop".
Parent signatures indicate a superset of records over which an exact test must be performed. Ideally, the size of this set should match the size of the correct answer set (i.e., no false drops.) Due to imperfections in hashing, and because of various saturation and combinatorial effects, this is not the case. Thus, the number of data and signature false drops is a crucial indicator of the effectiveness of any such coding scheme in eliminating non-matching records from further consideration. Several different multi-level signature organizations have already been investigated by Roberts (1979), Pfaltz (1980), Deppisch (1986), Sacks-Davis (1987), and others in attempts to solve these problems.
Pfaltz documents a multi-level signature organization using a sparse signature encoding scheme. Signatures with a low ratio of 1's to 0's are bit-OR'ed to form group signatures. While this helps the saturation problem, a combinatorial error remains. Queries composed of combinations of record values from the same group result in unnecessary accesses of record signatures. In addition to this combinatorial error, the sparse encoding scheme by Pfaltz results in an inefficient use of the signature space.
Roberts first proposed and implemented a signature storage method which minimized the combinatorial error effect by using a bit-sliced architecture. In this approach, signatures logically form rows in a matrix, and are physically stored by bit columns. When a query is processed, positions in the query signature where 1's occur indicate which columns in the matrix should be accessed and examined. The major disadvantage of this method is the high cost of updates and deletions. Since the storage for each bit column is determined by the total number of rows, the storage and update requirements for each column can be tremendous.
Sacks-Davis have devised a multi-level block approach improving on the bit-sliced architecture first proposed by Roberts. In this approach, bit-sliced parent "block" signatures are used to reduce saturation. However, the combinatorial error problem is not solved. Furthermore, in environments where updates are frequent update costs of this approach are on the order of several dozen to over a hundred page accesses per signature insert, which is unacceptably high.
Deppisch has developed a multi-level method wherein leaf signatures are clustered by similarity of bit patterns. Signatures exhibit slightly less sensitivity to the combinatorial error effect due to the use of signicantly larger data and query signatures. This method has two distinct disadvantages. First, more storage space is required for the larger signatures. Second, significantly more computation is required for the clustering algorithm.

System for searching information using combinatorial signature derived from bits sets of a base signature

International Business Machines Corporation


A chain-driving mechanism and a conveyor apparatus of the present invention include a plurality of rollers (20) arranged to convey to-be-conveyed objects, a driving mechanism that drives the rollers (20) in conjunction with each other, and a motor (80) that exerts a driving force onto the driving mechanism. The driving mechanism includes a plurality of sprockets (40) that rotate coaxially with and together with the rollers (20), an endless chain (50) wound onto the sprockets (40), and a chain guide (60, 61, 62) disposed adjacent to the chain (50) so as to sandwich the chain (50) from the outside in the upward and downward directions. With this structure, there is no need to adjust the stretch of the chain, and the chain can be prevented from slipping off. Additionally, the structure can be made simpler, and costs can be made smaller.

A conventional conveyor is known that includes a plurality of rollers arranged to convey objects to be conveyed, a plurality of sprockets each of which is provided so as to be coaxial with the roller and rotate together therewith, an endless chain wound onto these sprockets, another chain wound onto some of the sprockets and onto a driving sprocket of a driving source in order to provide a driving force, and a tension adjusting mechanism that automatically adjusts the tension of the chains.
In this apparatus, if an elongation occurs in the chains wound onto the sprockets, for example, because of a time-dependent change caused by a conveying operation, the chain wound onto the driving sprocket is adjusted to automatically absorb the elongation by means of the tension adjusting mechanism. On the other hand, there is a fear that the chain wound onto the other sprockets that rotate together with the rollers will be disengaged from the sprockets when looseness is caused in proportion to the elongation. Therefore, to remove this looseness, the conveyor is required to be regularly stopped and be adjusted (for example, see Japanese Published Unexamined Utility Model Application No. H5-82926).
However, the operation of the apparatus must be stopped for the adjusting work during which productivity is lowered, and the adjusting work is troublesome. On the other hand, if the tension adjusting mechanism is provided, the adjusting work becomes unnecessary, but the tension given to the chain will cause an increase in a driving load. Additionally, the tension adjusting mechanism is complex, and a space to dispose the mechanism is needed, and, furthermore, the tension adjusting mechanism leads to a rise in the cost of the apparatus.
The present invention has been made in consideration of the foregoing circumstances. It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a chain-driving mechanism that has a simple structure, that is low in cost, that is not required to adjust an elongation even if such an elongation occurs in a chain, that can prevent a chain from slipping off from sprockets or from being positionally inaccurately engaged therewith, and that can reliably transmit a driving force, and to provide a conveyor apparatus using this chain drive mechanism.

Chain-driving mechanism and conveyor apparatus


A folding wirecart convertible into float and handtruck is comprised of a body rotatably attached to a base. The folding wirecart convertible into float and handtruck is equipped with main wheels and a handtruck handle whereby said base may be used as a cargo floor to transport a load. Additionally, the folding wirecart convertible into float and handtruck has a float handle and swivel wheels whereby the folding wirecart convertible into float and handtruck may be used in a float configuration. A float load support bar and a float load holder may be employed to facilitate the transport of long items in the float configuration. Axles with set screw collars sized to accommodate standard wire spools allow the folding wirecart convertible into float and handtruck to be used to dispense wire; removable wings augment the wire spool support capacity of the folding wirecart convertible into float and handtruck and may also be used as the floor of the float.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wirecarts and in particular to a folding wirecart convertible into a float and handtruck.
2. Background of the Invention
The discovery of electricity and its subsequent reduction to general use required the installation of large quantities of differently sized electrical wire.
Current wire installation practice involves the transport of a wide variety of wire installation tools, as well as the wire itself, to the work site. The scope of wire installation may vary all the way from the re-wiring of an existing structure, through wire installation in new single-family subdivision or multifamily apartment or condominium construction, to large commercial and industrial installations in structures having hundreds of thousands of square feet in area.
Once the tools and wire are on site, the spools of wire must be rotatably held in place in order to allow the wire they hold to be dispensed for installation.
Finally, after the wire installation work is complete, the tools and remaining wire must be transported back to where they were stored prior to the job, and the means of transporting these supplies securely stored.

Folding wirecart convertible into float and handtruck


Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for semi-supervised training of an object recognition model. The methods, systems, and apparatus include a monitoring system including a camera located at a property and configured to generate images and one or more computers and one or more storage devices storing instructions that are operable, when executed by the one or more computers, to cause the one or more computers to perform actions of determining a cluster of images meets a threshold for number of included images and a threshold for cluster tightness. A representative image of the cluster is selected and a query including the representative image of the cluster is provided. User feedback responsive to the query is received and an object recognition model is updated based on the user feedback.

For a residential-based commercial intelligent surveillance system solution, detecting vehicles, animals, or people and having the ability to differentiate quickly between them is valuable for preventing unnecessary alerts and/or incurring costs associated with false alarms. To reach a level of efficacy where such systems are useful, substantial ground truth data is required. Since the ground truth data may be specific to a user's particular environment, the training data typically must be provided by the user themselves or collected over a prolonged period of time.

Semi-supervised learning based on clustering objects in video from a property


In a non-limiting embodiment, there is provided a compound of formula (I), which may permit for a method or use in treating or preventing a cancer, such as pancreatic cancer or leukemia. In one embodiment, there is also provide a method of preparing a compound of formula (Ia), the method including conducting a cyclization reaction of a compound of formula (III) to obtain a compound of formula (IV), wherein conducting the cyclization reaction comprises conducting a Michael reaction in the presence of a Lewis acid.

The allocolchicinoids, or allocolchicines (the terms hereafter used interchangeably), are a well-recognized series of natural products and natural product derivatives based on a dibenzocycloheptane ring system, and which inevitably possess a 9,10,11-trialkoxy substitution pattern in the A ring. Many of the individual compounds of this class are known to have antitumor properties against a variety of cancer cell lines. Unfortunately, these compounds tend to be cardiotoxic, which apparently renders them inapplicable for cancer treatment. For example, ZD 6126 (N-Acetylcolchicinol dihydrogen phosphate) failed in Phase 2 clinical testing because of this cardiotoxicity.

Catalytic method for dibenzocycloheptane synthesis and allocolchicinoid synthesis


The present invention relates to antibodies and antigen-binding fragments thereof that bind to PD-1, and to methods of using such antibodies and antigen-binding fragments. For example, the present invention provides humanized anti-PD-1 antibodies and methods of use thereof.

Programmed death receptor 1 (PD-1) is primarily expressed on lymphocytes and has two ligands, PD-L1 and PD-L2. PD-1 is a 55 kDa protein encoded by a gene Pdcd1 and was shown to down-regulate antigen receptor signaling driven by its ligand's engagement (Freeman et al. (2000) J Exp Med 192:1027-34; Latchman, et. al. (2001) Nat Immunol 2:261-8; Carter et al. (2002) Eur J Immunol 32:634-43). PD-1 belongs to the immunoglobulin superfamily which includes members such as CD28, CTLA-4, ICOS and BTLA. PD-1 is type I transmembrane glycoprotein containing an Ig variable-type (V-type) domain for ligand binding and a cytoplasmic tail for the binding of signaling molecules. PD-1 contains two cytoplasmic tyrosine-based signaling motifs, an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibition motif (ITIM) and an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based switch motif (ITSM). Following T cell stimulation, PD-1 recruits the tyrosine phosphatase SHP-2 to the ITSM motif within its cytoplasmic tail, leading to the dephosphorylation of effector molecules such as CD3 Zeta, PKC theta and ZAP70 that are involved in the CD3 T cell signaling cascade. In contrast, PD-1's ligands (PD-L1 and PD-L2) have two short cytoplasmic regions with no known functions. The ligands have an extracellular region containing IgV- and IgC-like domains and are constitutively expressed or can be induced in a variety of cell types, including non-hematopoietic tissues as well as various tumor types. PD-L1 is not only expressed on B, T, myeloid and dendritic cells (DCs), but also on peripheral cells, like microvascular endothelial cells and non-lymphoid organs like heart, lung etc. In contrast, PD-L2 is only found on macrophages and DCs. The expression pattern of PD-1 ligands is suggestive of a role for PD-1 in maintaining peripheral tolerance and may serve regulate self-reactive T- and B-cell responses in the periphery. To date, numerous studies have shown that interaction of PD-1 with its ligands leads to the inhibition of lymphocyte proliferation in vitro and in vivo. Disruption of the PD-1/PDL1 interaction has been shown to increase T cell proliferation and promote cytokine production.
Thus, there is an important role for the PD-1/PD-L1 pathway in controlling immune responses. Dysfunction of PD-1/PD-L1 signaling appears to be correlated with initiation and development of diseases such as cancer and viral infection. Analysis of knockout animals has led to the understanding that PD-1 functions mainly in inducing and regulating peripheral tolerance. Thus, therapeutic blockade of the PD-1 pathway would be helpful in overcoming immune tolerance and in the treatment of cancer or infection as well as in boosting immunity during vaccination (either prophylactic or therapeutic). There is a need in the art for improved methods for blocking the PD-1 pathway.


A method of cutting chemically toughened glass which is chemically toughened in a chemical toughening process of creating compressive stress in the surface of glass by exchanging first alkali ions in the glass with second alkali ions. The method includes the steps of applying a paste on a portion of the chemically toughened glass that is to be cut, heating the paste, and cutting the chemically toughened glass along the portion on which the paste is applied. The paste contains alkali ions. The ion radius of the alkali ions in the paste is smaller than an ion radius of the second alkali ions which substitute the first ions in the chemical toughening process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of cutting chemically toughened glass, and more particularly, to a method of cutting a piece of chemically toughened glass in which compressive stress is created in the surface of the chemically toughened glass.
2. Description of Related Art
Glass products are treated as indispensable components in a variety of technological and industrial fields involving image and optical equipment, such as monitors, cameras, video tape recorders (VTRs) and mobile phones, transportation equipment, such as vehicles, various types of tableware, construction facilities, and the like. Accordingly, glass products having a variety of physical properties that meet the requirements of respective industrial fields are manufactured and used.
In particular, recently, chemically toughened glass is widely used as cover substrates for displays including organic light-emitting displays (OLEDs), liquid crystal displays (LCDs), plasma display panels (PDPs) and field emission displays (FEDs).
Methods of toughening glass include a physical toughening method and a chemical toughening method. The physical toughening method, also referred to as air-cooled toughening, is mainly applied to the safety glass of a vehicle. The chemical toughening method is a technology that can be usefully applied to a thin glass sheet that has a complicated shape or a thickness of about 2 mm or less. The chemical toughening method exchanges alkali ions having a small ion radius (generally Na ions) that are present inside a piece of glass with alkali ions having a large ion radius (generally K ions) under predetermined conditions. A great amount of compressive stress is created in the surface of the chemically toughened glass due to the ion exchange, thereby increasing the strength and hardness of the glass.
However, the chemically toughened glass has the drawback in that, after the glass is toughened, it is substantially impossible to perform secondary machining, such as cutting or grinding, due to the compressive stress present in the surface of the chemically toughened glass. When it is attempted to cut the chemically toughened glass using a related-art diamond wheel, the glass will break into irregular fragments instead of into an intended shape due to the large compressive stress present in the surface of the glass.
Accordingly, in the related art, chemically toughened unit glass having an intended size or shape is manufactured by cutting or grinding a large piece of glass and then performing chemical toughening on the cut or ground piece of glass. However, the process of manufacturing such chemically toughened unit glass has the problem of low process efficiency and productivity.
Therefore, in order to manufacture chemically toughened glass having a variety of sizes and shapes at high process efficiency and productivity, the development of a technology for cutting the chemically toughened glass is required.
In this regard, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0064306 disclosed a technology of cutting chemically toughened glass after the glass is chemically toughened. Here, the chemical toughening is performed after a shielding layer which prevents ion exchange is formed from polymers or the like at a portion to be cut. However, there are several limitation factors. That is, the shielding layer must withstand a high-temperature environment of a chemical toughening temperature, i.e. a temperature similar to the glass transition temperature, and the shielding layer must be easily removed after the chemical toughening process.
In addition, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0206008 disclosed a technology of cutting chemically toughened glass using a laser. However, the use of the laser is not efficient for productivity, which is problematic.
Furthermore, United States Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0135195 disclosed a technology of cutting chemically toughened glass by forming a tensile area in the surface of the chemically toughened glass through etching or the like and then propagating cracks. In this case, however, cracks formed in the glass surface make it difficult to handle the glass during the toughening process.
The information disclosed in the Background of the Invention section is provided only for better understanding of the background of the invention, and should not be taken as an acknowledgment or any form of suggestion that this information forms a prior art that would already be known to a person skilled in the art.

Method of cutting chemically toughened glass


Systems, methods, and computer-readable media are disclosed for dynamic character enhancement for rendering digital content. Example methods may include identifying a reading speed indicative of a rate at which a user desires to read, determining a number of words in a portion of content to present to the user, and determining a base time interval for at least one word of the portion of content based at least in part on the reading speed. Methods may include determining an average difficulty value of the portion of content, determining that a first difficulty value of a first word exceeds the average difficulty value, and determining a first time adjustment for the first word based at least in part on the first difficulty value. Methods may include determining a first time interval based at least in part on the base time interval and the first time adjustment.

Users may consume digital content on electronic devices. Some digital content, such as text, may include a number of lines, paragraphs, pages, and the like. While consuming digital content, users may desire to increase reading speeds, or may desire guidance during consumption of digital content. However, some words or characters may be more difficult to consume than other words or characters. Users may therefore desire to increase reading speeds while accounting for difficulty of characters or words presented in digital content.

Context-based dynamic rendering of digital content


A shockwave generator pre-treats one or more production zones within a well to facilitate recovery of liquid and gaseous hydrocarbons from the well. The well may be heated to a particular temperature, where after a cooling agent is introduced through the shockwave generator which effects a cooling action in the walls of the well and induces cracking which is propagated by the tremors or shocks of the cooling agent as it exits the generator. The initiated cracks may be further propagated using one or more additional stimulation methods, including a freeze-thaw method which is implemented through a subsystem having overlapping components with the shockwave generator subsystem.

A well drilled into a hydrocarbon-bearing subsurface formation, during an initial post-completion stage, commonly produces crude oil and/or natural gas without artificial stimulation, because pre-existing formation pressure is effective to force the crude, oil and/or natural gas out of the formation into the well bore, and up the production tubing of the well. However, the formation pressure will gradually dissipate as more hydrocarbons are produced, and will eventually become too low to force further hydrocarbons up the well. At this stage, the well must be stimulated by artificial means to induce additional production, or else the well must be capped off and abandoned. This is a particular problem in gas wells drilled into "tight" formations, i.e., where natural gas is present in subsurface materials having inherently low porosities, such as sandstone, limestone, shale, and coal seams (e.g., coal bed methane wells).
Despite the fact that very large quantities of hydrocarbons may still be present in the formation, it has in the past been common practice to abandon wells that will no longer produce hydrocarbons under natural pressure, where the value of stimulated production would not justify the cost of stimulation. In other cases, where stimulation was at least initially a viable option, wells have been stimulated for a period of time and later abandoned when continued stimulation became uneconomical, even though considerable hydrocarbon reserves remained in the formation. With recent dramatic increases in market prices for crude oil and natural gas, well stimulation has become viable in many situations where it would previously have been economically unsustainable.
There are numerous known techniques and processes for stimulating production in low-production wells or in "dead" wells that have ceased flowing naturally. One widely-used method is hydraulic fracturing (or "fraccing"). In this method, a fracturing fluid (or "frac, fluid") is injected under pressure into the subsurface formation. Frac fluids are specially-engineered fluids containing substantial quantities of proppants, which are very small, very hard, and preferably spherical particles. The proppants may be naturally formed (e.g., graded sand particles) or manufactured (e.g., ceramic materials; sintered bauxite). The frac fluid may be in a liquid form (often with a hydrocarbon base, such as diesel fuel), but may also be in gel form to enhance the fluids ability to hold proppants in a uniformly-dispersed suspension. Frac fluids commonly contain a variety of chemical additives to achieve desired characteristics.
The frac fluid is forced under pressure into cracks and fissures in the hydrocarbon-bearing formation, and the resulting hydraulic pressure induced within the formation materials widens existing cracks and fissures and also creates new ones. When the frac fluid pressure is relieved, the liquid or gel phase of the frac fluid flows out of the formation, but the proppants remain in the widened or newly-formed cracks and fissures, forming a filler material of comparatively high permeability that is strong enough to withstand geologic pressures so as to prop the cracks and fissures open. Once the frac fluid has drained away, liquid and/or gaseous hydrocarbons can migrate through the spaces between the proppant particles and into the well bore, from which they may be recovered using known techniques.
Another known well stimulation method is acidizing (also known as "acid fracturing"). In this method, an acid or acid blend is pumped into a subsurface formation as a means for cleaning but extraneous or deleterious materials from the fissures in the formation, thus enhancing the formation's permeability. Hydrochloric acid is perhaps most commonly as the base acid, although other acids including acetic, formic, or hydrofluoric acid may be used depending on the circumstances.
Another relatively new and more effective system and method for stimulating production in oil and gas wells is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,775,281 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR STIMULATING PRODUCTION FROM OIL AND GAS WELLS BY FREEZE-THAW CYCLING and pending U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0263874 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR FREEZE-THAW WELL STIMULATION USING ORIFICED REFRIGERATION TUBING, both of which are incorporate herein by reference in their entireties. This new system and method fractures the subsurface formation by freezing a water-containing zone within the formation in the vicinity of a well, thereby generating expansive pressures which expand or created cracks and fissures in the formation. The frozen zone is then allowed to thaw. This freeze-thaw process causes rock particles in existing cracks and fissures to become dislodged and reoriented therewithin, and also causes new or additional rock particles to become disposed within both existing and newly formed cracks and fissures. The particles present in the cracks and fissures act as natural proppants to help keep the cracks and fissures open, thereby facilitating the flow of fluids from the formation into the well after the formation has thawed. Freeze-thaw fracturing enables recovery of higher percentages of non-naturally-flowing hydrocarbons from low-permeability formations than has been possible using previously known stimulation methods.
Prior to introducing a stimulation method, it is know to prepare the well by initiating cracks or instability in the well walls to better respond to the stimulation methods. This preparation has previously been accomplished using, a charge or other mechanical means, e.g., vibration hammer, to create a stress crack. These prior art preparation methods either include moving parts, which introduced inefficiencies into the process and/or they would damage wells having pre-existing slotted or perforated liners. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an improved system and method for pre-treating a well bore in order to improve stimulation methods such as those discussed above.

System and method to initiate permeability in bore holes without perforating tools


A frequency sweep signal generator in which the frequency error is small even when the control values and the oscillating frequencies have a non-linear relation. The frequency sweep signal generator includes a variable frequency oscillator that changes an oscillating frequency according to a change of an input control value, and a first controller that generates a first control value so that the oscillating frequency within a predetermined frequency sweeping range is output. The first controller controls an increment of the first control value to be output to the variable frequency oscillator per unit time so that, when a change of the oscillating frequency with respect to the increment of the first control value is non-linear, the oscillating frequency is changed linearly with respect to a passage of time.

In recent years, the cognitive radio technique has been attracting attention in order to effectively use stringent radio frequency bands. Examples of typical cognitive radio standards include IEEE 802.22. The cognitive radio technique according to the IEEE 802.22 searches for an available frequency band (white space) from among the frequency bands for television, which extend from 54 MHz to 862 MHz, and uses the available frequency band for a secondary purpose. The implementation of the cognitive radio technique requires a frequency component analysis apparatus for searching for a white space from among a wide range of frequency bands.
If the frequency component analysis apparatus can find a white space at a high speed, the radio apparatus can be used for a longer time, which is longer because the white space can be found in a shorter time, for data communication. Further, if the frequency component analysis apparatus can immediately detect the presence of a radio system(s) having a priority (a television set in the above-described example), the radio apparatus can prevent any interference with the system having a priority by using the cognitive radio system. Therefore, it is desired that the frequency component analysis apparatus, which searches for a white space, has a high-speed characteristic.
Patent literature 1 discloses a frequency component analysis apparatus including a local oscillator using a phase-locked loop, a mixer for performing a frequency conversion by multiplying a signal to be analyzed by a local oscillation signal, a filter for removing a unnecessary frequency component, and an intensity detector for detecting the intensity of a signal contained in a necessary frequency band. The frequency component analysis apparatus like this sweeps local oscillating frequencies in a range of a necessary frequency band and thereby can analyze a radio-wave intensity distribution in the swept frequency band by using a frequency resolution determined by the band width of the filter.
However, it is very difficult to increase the processing speed for the frequency component analysis by using the simple configuration like this. That is, in the method in which local oscillating frequencies are swept in a predetermined frequency range while locking the frequency with a predetermined resolution in a stepwise manner, the sweeping speed depends on the lock time that is determined by the time constant of the phase-locked loop. Specifically, while the convergence time of the filter used for extracting only the signal band of the digital television broadcast, whose signal band width is 8 Mhz, and the convergence time of the intensity detector for the frequency component that has passed through the filter are no greater than 10 microseconds, the lock time for one frequency is about 50 microseconds to 100 microseconds.
Further, in measurement apparatuses for frequency component analysis, in general, a ramp signal is added to the control value of a variable frequency oscillator while locking a local oscillating frequency at the center of a predetermined frequency range. The method for sweeping frequencies like this has an excellent high-speed characteristic. However, this method requires a circuit for generating a ramp signal in addition to the phase-locked loop. In general, an operational amplifier is used for the ramp signal generation circuit. Therefore, there are problems that the power consumption is large and a number of capacitive elements are used, requiring a large area. Further, there is another problem that when the relation between control values and local oscillating frequencies is not linear, a large frequency error occurs.
Therefore, Patent literature 2 and 3 disclose configurations in which a frequency oscillator receives digital data, generates a frequency according to the digital data, and outputs the generated frequency. The digital data and the frequency to be generated are associated with each other in advance. This configuration eliminates the need for outputting a signal or the like to the frequency oscillator by using the phase-locked loop.

Frequency sweep signal generator, frequency component analysis apparatus, radio apparatus, and frequency sweep signal generating method


A simplified scrambling scheme that unifies all signals of a satellite broadcasting system, including frame header (404), frame body (402) and pilot symbols (408) with a common reference phase. This results in the simplification and increased flexibility of the receiver front-end design without affecting the overall system performance. In many current communications systems with frame headers and pilot symbols, the phases of frame headers and pilot syrnbols are not designed to be aligned with any constellation points of the modulated data from the frame body. This scrambling scheme takes into account possible impact due to irregular phase changes between frame headers/pilot symbols and modulated data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to methods and systems for scrambling transmitted information, and more specifically, to a simplified scrambling scheme that unifies all signals with a common reference phase.
2. Description of the Related Art
Digital Direct Broadcast Systems (DBS), such as DIRECTV®, which is provided by the assignee of the present invention, have become very successful. However, as such systems evolve, there is an increasing demand for additional bandwidth to carry an ever-increasing set of audio, video and data services.
In satellite television, there is a constant need for additional throughput to adequately accommodate the ever-increasing demands with respect to the video and data services which they provide. With respect to developing their next generation systems, more efficient forward error correction (FEC) codes such as low-density parity check (LDPC) codes, turbo codes, etc., are under investigation in order to achieve the aforementioned goal. To use these highly efficient FEC codes, a frame header is pre-inserted to modulated data to ensure that the boundaries of code frames can be easily identified by the decoder. Also, since these codes are often operated over channels with very low carrier-to-noise ratio (CNR) and in the presence of low noise block (LNB) and other phase noise, pilot symbols are inserted periodically to improve the performance of carrier synchronization.
Header and pilot symbols are essential in the next generation of satellite television broadcasting systems to ensure the quality of timing acquisition and frame synchronization as well as carrier (including frequency and phase) acquisition and tracking. There is a need to improve demodulation performance of systems with header/pilot symbols. The present invention satisfies this need.

Simplified scrambling scheme for satellite broadcasting systems


A video processing system including a video processing apparatus (VPA) including: a housing having a top wall with a top wall periphery, a top surface extending to the top wall periphery, and a central area; an input port adapted to receive video input signals from a videoscope; an output connector adapted to transmit video output signals; and a bracket interface supported by the housing and adapted to support a support bracket including a first retention feature, bracket interface located within the central area of the top wall and comprising a bracket base receptacle and a second retention feature, the bracket base receptacle sized and shaped to receive a base end of the support bracket, and the second retention feature sized and shaped to cooperate with the first retention feature to removably retain the base end of the support bracket.

Medical videoscopes comprise endoscopes, colonoscopes, ear-nose-throat scopes, duodenoscopes, and any other medical device having an image sensor configured to obtain images of views of a patient. The term "patient" herein includes humans and animals. Portable medical monitors can be communicatively coupled to the medical videoscopes to receive image data therefrom and present images corresponding to the image data on a display module of the monitor. Traditional medical monitors comprise video processing circuits and a display module combined in a common housing. Such monitors offer many advantages and conveniences in many settings including in the field, emergency response vehicles and hospitals.
Videoscopes are made for various procedures and may have different technical characteristics suited for the procedure they are designed to perform, based on the age of the device, or for other reasons. The technical characteristics, or technology, may comprise the type of image sensor included with the videoscope, whether the videoscope includes on-board data processing capabilities, and whether the videoscope includes additional sensors which provide information to the monitor, potentially including more than one image sensor. The type of image sensor may provide different capabilities, including various controls such as image inversion, image rotation, contrast, and exposure. Thusly, a medical monitor capable of adaptation to different videoscope technologies provides significant value. Examples of such medical monitors are described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,835,106 and 10,980,397.
An endoscope is a type of a videoscope. An endoscope described in commonly owned U.S. Patent Application No. 2019/0223694 has an insertion tube with an internal working channel and a connector at the handle adapted for the attachment of a syringe. A recess is adapted to accommodate a cylindrical body of the syringe when the syringe is attached to the connector. The endoscope is adapted to perform bronchoalveolar lavage, a procedure for obtaining samples, through the working channel, of organic material from a lung segment of a patient. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 10,321,804 describes an articulated tip of an endoscope. Commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 9,220,400 describes a camera housing arranged at the distal end of the insertion tube. The camera housing is molded and contains an image sensor and a light source, e.g. LED, embedded in the material of the camera housing. The foregoing application and patents describe technical characteristics of respective videoscopes described therein and are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
Furthermore, portable medical monitors with display modules integrated with the medical monitors, as described in commonly owned U.S. Pat. Nos. 10,835,106 and 10,980,397, may have video outputs to present the image data, or video stream, on the communicatively coupled display modules in addition to the presentation with the integrated display module. Upgrading the display module integrated with the medical monitor might not be technically or economically feasible.
Based on the foregoing it is evident that a need exists for an economical apparatus operable with a variety of videoscopes and videoscope technologies in a variety of settings that can also be provided with various display modules.


An electronic image-capturing apparatus includes: an image-capturing element that captures an image of a subject and generates electronic image information; a recording device that records the electronic image information that has been generated in a recording medium; a registration device that registers inherent information with respect to a registrant; an information detection device that detects inherent information with respect to a user of the electronic image-capturing apparatus; an information verification device that references the inherent information with respect to the user detected by the information detection device with the inherent information registered in the registration device; and a control device that allows an image-capturing operation to be performed on the electronic image-capturing apparatus if it is decided by the information verification device that the two sets of inherent information match.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic image-capturing apparatus having the user verification function.
2. Description of the Related Art
The increasingly widespread use of digital cameras and the advances in Internet technology have facilitated the handling of digital images so that they can be transferred to another party by electronic mail or the like with ease in recent years. One of the characteristics of digital images is that they can be reproduced or processed without degrading of image quality. In other words, images that another person owns can easily be used without his authorization as if they were owned by oneself. A great deal of concern regarding the issues of copyright and illegal tampering with images has resulted in the development of digital watermarking technology whereby information is invisibly incorporated in the image itself without compromising the quality of the digital image.
A copyright holder employs a special system such as a personal computer to achieve digital watermarking for embedding inherent information that asserts the copyright into the image information of an image obtained by performing a photographic operation on a digital camera in the prior art.
However, when such a system is utilized, digital watermarking information of a party other than the true copyright holder may be input into a photograph. Thus, there is a problem in that a person holding the copyright in the true sense cannot be identified.

Electronic image-capturing apparatus having function for verifying user


Focus detecting apparatus detecting focus to a plurality of areas has (1) a first auto-focusing mode in which, regardless of an in-focus or out-of-focus state, an auto-focusing operation (including focus detection and driving of an optical system) are repeatedly performed, and (2) a second auto-focusing mode in which the auto-focusing operation is performed until an in-focus state is obtained and the auto-focusing operation is terminated after the in-focus state is detected. A sensor unit is provided for receiving light beams form a plurality of different areas in a photographic scene. A focus processing circuit is provided for, in the first auto-focusing mode, causing the auto-focusing operation to be performed on the basis of an output of a sensor unit representing a particular area of the plurality of areas as long as the output of said sensor unit which represent the particular area is appropriate. In the second auto-focusing mode, the processing circuit selects as a result of the focus detection operation a signal representing a particular focusing state among the focus state signals of each said area obtained by the focus detection operations performed on outputs of sensor units corresponding to each area of the photographic scene.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic focus control apparatus for detecting defocus amounts of a plurality of object areas within a frame of a photographic lens and, for performing focus control of the photographic lens.
2. Related Background Art
In a conventional focus detection apparatus for a camera, the following method of detecting a defocus amount of an object is known well. Light beams emitted from an object and passing through different exit pupil areas of a photographic lens are focused on a pair of line sensors, and a relative positional displacement between a pair of image signals obtained by photoelectrically converting an object image is obtained, thereby detecting the defocus amount of the object.
In the above method, since a pair of focus detection systems (optical systems and sensors) are used, only a defocus amount in one object area within the frame is detected. However, various methods are proposed wherein a plurality of detection systems are prepared to detect defocus amounts of plural object areas within the frame. In the latter methods, since plural object areas are used, a plurality of defocus amounts are detected. However, when the number of object areas to be focused in a camera is one or two (in the later case, focusing is performed by an intermediate value of the defocus amounts of the two object areas), an object area is selected in accordance with a given technique, and focusing of the photographic lens is performed by the defocus amount of the selected area.
As a method of selecting the object area, an object area judged as an object area nearest to the camera is generally selected.
The above selection method may have the following drawback.
In a single-lens reflex camera, an automatic focus control (AF) method includes a mode (to be referred to as a ONESHOT mode hereinafter) for locking focusing unless a release button is released once an in-focus state is obtained, and a mode (to be referred to as a SERVO mode hereinafter) for always performing focus control regardless of the in-focus or out-of-focus state. The ONESHOT mode is set when a photographer takes pictures of stationary objects, e.g., a portrait or scene. The SERVO mode is set when the photographer takes pictures of moving objects, e.g., a sport game or car race.
In portrait photographing dealing with a person as a main object, when an object area judged to be nearest to the camera is selected as in the above selection method, it is possible to focus on the person as the main object in most cases. However, as for a rapidly moving object as in sport photographing, the main object is usually present at the center of the frame in consideration of framing. When the nearest object area is simply selected, an object which is not the main object, e.g., spectators in a car race, may be undesirably set in an in-focus state.
Another method of selecting one of plural object areas is to select areas except for areas having improper sensor outputs. A typical example is a method of not selecting areas having low contrast levels.
The latter method is effective when sensor outputs are improper due to the low-contrast state. However, improper sensor output values may also be caused by dust attached to the sensors. In this case, a sensor to which dust is attached cannot be non-selected.
In addition, in the method wherein an improper sensor output is not selected to be used, when sensor outputs become improper as outputs for performing focus detection every time focus detection is performed, an unstable AF operation may occur.


In a magnetic tape on which digital picture data is recorded along helical tracks formed on the tape, the format used therefore is such that: each picture data segment consisting of picture data of one frame or one field is recorded in a plurality of consecutive tracks, the picture data segments are grouped into blocks, each block comprising a plurality of picture data segments, block numbers identifying the respective blocks are recorded in the tracks in the respective blocks, and picture numbers identifying the respective picture data segments within each block are written in the tracks which also record the picture data segments.

FIG. 1 illustrates the tape format of a conventional digital audio tape (DAT) recorder in which information is recorded along helical tracks. As illustrated, music program regions are provided along the length of a magnetic tape 1. In each music program region, digital audio data for one piece of music and additional information, such as a start ID (identification) for high speed indexing, the piece-of-music number, the time code, and the like are recorded.
FIG. 2 illustrates the composition of one of the helical tracks 3 forming the music program region. As illustrated, each track comprises marginal areas 4 on both ends, subcode areas 5, auto-tracking areas 6, a PCM area 7, and interblock gaps 8. Digital data representing the audio signal is recorded in the PCM area 7.
Additional information (the start ID, the piece-of-music number, the time code, etc.) is recorded in the subcode areas 5 or the PCM area 7. The start ID is written in the subcode areas 5 of 600 tracks at the beginning of each program region. An identical start ID is written over 600 tracks so as to permit high speed indexing (e.g., at a speed 200 times higher than the normal playback speed).
The auto-tracking areas 6 are for recording information used for tracking. For the purpose of tracking, the head scanning is controlled such that the amounts of crosstalk component from the pilot signals on both adjacent tracks are equal. The interblock gaps 8 are provided to permit independent writing and overwriting in the subcode areas 5. This allows post production recording of the subcode areas 5.
The conventional DAT is composed in the above manner. When a video signal is to be recorded on the magnetic tape with the above format, the video signal of one frame, i.e., picture data segment, is recorded in the same way as the audio digital data of one piece-of-music is recorded over one music program region. When an NTSC standard video signal (resolution: 910 dots horizontal.times.525 lines vertical) is to be recorded, 166 tracks are required for one picture data segment. Thus, the number of tracks required for the recording of the picture data segment is smaller than the number of tracks (which is 600) over which the start ID is to be recorded for the high speed indexing. As a result, no picture data is recorded in the 434 (600-166) tracks, and the tracks of the tape are not fully utilized.
Another problem of the conventional DAT is the inability to record the video signals of different systems, such as NTSC and PAL, onto a single magnetic tape.
An additional problem is inability to align timing in recording and playback taking each picture as a unit.
A further problem is that, due to head writing timing deviations, the basic track quantity cannot be maintained during overwrite.

Magnetic tape format for recording digital picture data


A pet leash for walking two pets such as dogs, together without tangling. It is great for training your pets to walk on a leash This invention is durable and made in many colors and sizes, Made with nylon strapping, The leash has a handle at one end and a metal ring at the other end. machine sewn, This leash is removable.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to walking two pets simultaneously without tangling; making walking pets pleasurable.
2. Prior Arts Descriptions
There are many pet owners that enjoy walking two pets at one time but find themselves getting consistently tangled up, tripped, leash burned, and pulled in two different directions. This least solves those problems by making walks with a pets a pleasure. There are a wide variety of inventions that have been created for walking two or more dogs simultaneously. Such as Goodger, Sr. U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,668, although the use of swiveling action is a concept that helps prevent entanglement. This I believe couldn't completely prevent entanglement. Because the multiple leads are made of flexible material witch in some cases could possibly become entangled. With my design its believed that the hollow rods over the two pet leads will prevent the lead materials from becoming entangling. The pet leash for two is designed to walk two pets at the same time without tangling it can be used in multiple ways. The leash can be removed so handler can add a different length lead. Unlike Maglich, U.S. Pat. No. 6,439,168, where as long as the length of leash is set with one length and not versatile. The present pet leash for two it is a tangle free leash, made with nylon strapping, three swivel snaps, and two hollow rods. These rods prevent tangling. The present pet leash for two is designed for walking two pets such as dogs at one time without the possibility of tangling the dogs or the strapping. The pet leash for two is made of nylon strapping, three swivel snaps, a removable leash, and two hollow rods. These hollow rods prevent tangling unlike the flexible leads in reference to Sporn, U.S. Pat. No. 6,237,539, Crowe; U.S. Pat. No. 4,879,972, and Mireles, U.S. Pat. No. 6,247,428.

Abstract: With another piece of nylon strapping, at one end there is a swivel snap or equivalent to that is sewn for security, then a colorful hollow rod is slid onto the strapping next to the swivel snap Then another swivel snap is slid onto the strapping then another colorful hollow rod is slid onto the strapping, then the final swivel snap is sewn to the end of the strapping for security.


The application provides a microblog client, a method for aggregating a microblog message, and an Instant Messaging (IM) client. The microblog client includes: a message pulling module, which is to pull a microblog message from an external network server according to location information; a message pool, which is to store the microblog message pulled by the message pulling module; and a geography page service module, which is to generate one or more geography pages, and display the microblog message on a corresponding geography page, based on the location information corresponding to the microblog message pulled. By adopting the client and method provided by the application, microblog messages may be aggregated based on the location information. And users may be facilitated to obtain microblog messages.

In recent years, instant messaging (IM) tools have been accepted by the majority of Internet users and become essential network tools. It should be noted that, network IM tools are widely used not only in usual entertainment, but also in users' work. The IM tools are frequently used by the users to communicate with their friends, colleagues and students in life and work. Therefore, users may put forward higher requirements in ease of use, stability, security and other aspects of IM tools (such as IM software). The IM tools mainly achieve a buddy independent chat mode for one to one, and a message chat mode for one to N in group or discussion group.
With continuous development of Internet applications, microblog or one-sentence blog (also known as microblog) appear. The microblog (e.g., twitter) is growing steadily as a new product and new application with information transmission mechanism of extension of IM tools. In the microblog, a user may express himself or herself with one sentence of 140 words for example. Messages may be quickly transmitted in this way, so that user message chat mode can be changed from one to one mode, one to N mode to one to endless mode. In such one to endless message chat mode, a person may transmit a message to infinite people, while the person may simultaneously obtain messages from more than ten thousands users, which put forward new requirements for the application with large amount of users.
Compared with other network communication tools, present IM is a conversational application, the interactive mode of which is the most primitive and the most natural, but less efficient. It usually needs a lot of dialogues to express a complete meaning. Blog is a document-type application, and there is no clear object to communicate with. A blogger may have a personal style or manner, and meanings can be expressed more completely, but the requirements to write a blog is high. Microblog uses short messages, and there is no clear object to communicate with. The meanings can be expressed more completely. The requirements to write microblog are very low. Microblog may be a sentence, and also may be a sigh with emotion. Therefore, compared with the IM and blog, the microblog tools such as twitter have higher information transmission efficiency and lower usage requirements.
In the existing microblog client, microblog messages are presented in chronological order, the information presentation way of which is relatively loose and lack of classification and aggregation strategy. For microblog module integrated into the IM client, microblog messages only present on IM main panel in chronological order.
Further, memory occupation amount is an important index to measure the performance of a computer application tool, and more particularly, for the application tools displaying a large quantity of messages such as microblog client. With the increasing messages received by the user, the information displayed on the interface becomes more and more, at the same time, the memory occupied by the application tool will become larger. There will be very serious consequences if no reasonable memory usage policy used.

Microblog client, method for aggregating microblog messages, and instant messaging client

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


A touch screen assembly and an electronic device are provided. The touch screen assembly comprises a first thin film layer, a conductive layer and a second thin film layer stacked together from bottom to top, and a base wherein the first film layer is disposed on the base. A difference value of refractive index between the base and the conductive layer is 0˜0.6, thus improving light transmittance, reducing influence to visual effects and improving touch screen quality.

In recent years, the development of touch display technology has advanced by leaps and bounds, and users can directly operate on touch displays, so the display technology has received more and more attention and applications.
In the prior art, the transparent conductive oxide film is the main component of the capacitive touch screen. The film is located in the display area, and, generally it is formed by etching an ITO film. Visible light around an ITO electrode in the display area and in gaps of the ITO electrode which is reflected by the ITO electrode is quite different from the light penetrating through the ITO electrode regarding the spectrums thereof, so that the electrode and the gaps are clearly visible, and the colors thereof are not neutral. In addition, the larger size of the touch screen is, the smaller surface resistance of the ITO layer is required; therefore thickness of ITO layer is required to be thicker, resulting in more obvious color difference between the ITO electrode and the gaps therein. The visible light transmittance also is lowered, which seriously affects the visual effect and reduces the quality of the touch screen.
Therefore, the prior art has drawbacks and it needs urgent improvement.

Touch screen assembly and electronic device with improved light transmittance

WUHAN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS SEMICONDUCTOR DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A mobile wireless communication device includes: a communication device housing; an antenna module configured to provide an antenna pattern having a directional beam to transmit electromagnetic energy of outgoing signals and to receive electromagnetic energy of incoming signals; a beam-altering module communicatively coupled to the antenna module and configured to alter a three-dimensional direction that the directional beam is pointing; and a three-dimensional orientation sensor module communicatively coupled to the beam-altering module and configured to provide at least one indication of three-dimensional orientation information associated with the communication device; where the beam-altering module is configured to receive the at least one indication of three-dimensional orientation information associated with the communication device and to use the at least one indication of three-dimensional orientation information associated with the communication device to alter the three-dimensional direction that the directional beam is pointing.

Wireless communication devices are incredibly widespread in today's society. For example, people use cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants, laptop computers, pagers, tablet computers, etc. to send and receive data wirelessly from countless locations. Wireless communication devices are typically served by base transceiver stations (BTSs). With numerous users served by a single BTS, noise and interference between the mobile devices and the BTS as well as with other signals make the transmission of information more difficult, e.g., to transmit the data accurately. Further, the noise and interference reduce the throughput of the wireless communication systems, e.g., due to omni-directional transmission in which each device contributes to the noise of its counterparts.
One technique employed currently for helping to reduce the noise and interference and increase data throughput in wireless communication networks is to beam form from the BTS. In this technique, an antenna beam from the BTS is produced in a direction for a particular wireless communication device in order to use a higher directivity antenna pattern, thereby allowing a reduction in transmission power and a reduction in noise and interference for communications or data transmission from the BTS to a particular mobile device.
Another technique to combat noise and interference is to use a mechanically steered antenna. In this example, the antenna can be physically moved at the BTS to point in a desired direction, e.g., toward a satellite.
Another technique to combat noise and interference is to use a mechanically steered antenna. In this example, the antenna can be physically moved at the BTS to point in a desired direction, e.g., toward a satellite.
Another technique for combating interference is to use multiple input and multiple output antennas. The use of multiple antennas on both the transmission and receiving ends allows multiple signals to be combined to provide a combined signal that can be processed to help eliminate the noise and interference effects.


Footwear (1) adapted to enhance the visibilty of the wearer contains a light source (12), a power source (14), circuitry (15, 16, 17) to connect the power source (14) to the light source (12) , and a pressure switch (18) disposed in the sole (5) of the footwear (1) between the wearer's foot and the ground and adapted to turn the light source (12) off when the wearer's foot is on the ground, and hence static, thereby conserving the power source (14), and to switch the light source (12) on when the wearer's foot is off the ground, and usually moving, thereby providing enhanced visibility of the footwear (1) and its wearer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to footwear in general, and in particular, to footwear with lights that flash to enhance the visibility of the wearer.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has long been known in the field of footwear to incorporate lighting devices, usually electrical in nature, into shoes, boots, sandals and the like for various reasons, e.g., to permit the wearer to see or be seen in reduced light situations, or to provide special effects during certain entertainment events.
A simple implementation of this type of footwear typically includes a light source, e.g., an incandescent bulb, a neon tube, or a light emitting diode ("LED") , a portable power supply, such as a battery, a manually operated on-off switch, and an electrical circuit connecting the three in series, all located in the footwear, typically within the sole and/or heel structures. Examples of these in the patent art may be found in the sandal of B. Arias et al. in U.S. Pat. No. 2,931,893, in the high heel shoe of A. McCormick in U.S. Pat. No. 4,253,253, and in the dress shoe heel described by W. Pahde in German Patent Application 3343-897-A.
More complex lighted footwear efforts have been directed to switching the lighting circuit on and off in association with the presence or absence of the wearer's foot in the shoe, or by the contact of the wearer's foot with the ground, e.g., during walking or running. Examples of the former in which the lighting circuit is switched on when the wearer's foot is inserted into the shoe include the houseshoe in U.S. Pat. No. 3,008,038 to M. Dickens et al., and the high heel described in Dutch Patent Application No. 8,005,050 by J. de Nijs, et al. The latter reference also includes means for automatically deactivating the lighting circuit under conditions of high ambient light.
Examples of footwear lighting circuits activated by a switch disposed in the sole of the shoe and actuated by pressure exerted on it by the underside of the wearer's foot in contacting the ground may be found in: U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,133 to H. Duval; U.S. Pat. No. 4,014,115 to R. Reichert; U.S. Pat. No. 5,052,131 to P. Rondini; and, Belgian Patent Application No. 570,614 to E. Abramovitch et al. A more elaborate example involving a pneumatically actuated switch is described in European Patent Application No. 335,467A by A. Heister, et al.
Examples of footwear lighting circuits activated by a switch disposed in the sole of the shoe and actuated by pressure exerted on it by the ground when the shoe contacts the ground may be found in: U.S. Pat. No. 1,933,243 to J. De Merolis et al; U.S. Pat. No. 3,070,907 to J. Rocco; U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,861 to A. Pelengaris; U.S. Pat. No. 4,130,951 to A. Powell; and, British Patent No. 444,392 to J. Jordan.
Examples of footwear containing lighting circuits activated by the angular position of the footwear include those found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,893,247 and 4,158,922, both to A. Dana, III, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,009 to N. Rodgers.
Each of the three examples in the latter group involves a "tilt switch," i.e., a mercury switch, to sense the angular position of the shoe with respect to the gravity gradient and to activate the circuit at a particular attitude. In the first two of these, the lights are on so long as the shoe is in a given attitude, and off in a second attitude, and both references require a master switch to deactivate their respective circuits unconditionally of the footwear's angular position. The last reference incorporates an electronic timing and "latching" circuit that turns the lighting circuit off a predetermined period of time after the switch is closed, and maintains it in the off state until the switch is first opened, then closed again. Thus, in each of these latter examples, the on-off condition of the light circuit is a function of the angular position of the footwear, and in particular, that of the tilt switch, relative to the gravity gradient, and is independent of any translational movement of the footwear or its position relative to the ground surface.
Each of the above-described examples of the relevant art is subject to certain shortcomings. Those that are "on" continuously tend to exhaust their batteries more quickly than those that are on only intermittently.
Those that are "on" only when the foot is in contact with the ground or in a certain angular position and otherwise "off" are not as effective as they might be for two reasons. First, the footwear is more likely to be obscured by, e.g., grass or uneven terrain when the foot is at ground level than when it is above the ground, and generally, the higher the light is above the ground, the further away it can be seen.
Secondly, in normal walking or running activities, the footwear, and hence, the light sources, are typically static, or unmoving, when the footwear is on the ground, and moving only when the footwear is above the ground. Two psychophysical phenomena act to ensure that the moving lights will be more readily seen than the static ones: First, in a static field, a moving object is more easily detected by the eye than a static one. Second, under appropriate lighting conditions, a moving point source of light is perceived, due to the phenomenon of "persistence," by the human eye (and some cameras) as a large, elongated streak of light "painted" on the retina of the eye by the point source, rather than as a small, moving point of light.
The present invention overcomes the limitations of the art described above and enhances the visibility of the wearer by the provision of a simple, economical and reliable design for footwear containing a lighting system that is "off" when the wearer's foot is contact with the ground, and unmoving, thereby conserving battery life, and "on" when the wearer's foot is off the ground, and usually moving, thereby enhancing the wearer's visibility for the reasons given above.


Disclosed are an apparatus and a method for determining whether or not a biosensor comprising two working electrodes and one reference electrode is well manufactured, and for rapidly and accurately quantifying a specific substance contained in a biological sample. The method comprises the steps of: sequentially supplying the respective working electrodes with power supply voltage; sequentially detecting the amounts of current flowing in the respective working electrodes by virtue of the supplied power supply voltage; re-supplying the two working electrodes with power supply voltage after a predetermined time to redetect the amounts of current flowing in the respective working electrodes; reading concentrations corresponding to the amounts of current detected from a memory, and calculating an average value from the read concentrations; and checking whether or not the concentrations read from memory are within a predetermined critical range to display an error message or the calculated average value.

Generally, a biosensor comprises an electrically insulating base plate, an electrode system including a plurality of electrodes and formed on the electrically insulating base plate using a screen printing method, and an enzyme reaction layer including a hydrophilic polymer, oxidoreductase and an electron acceptor and formed on the electrode system. When a sample liquid containing a substrate is dropped on the enzyme reaction layer of the biosensor, the enzyme reaction layer is dissolved to allow the substrate and enzyme to react with each other. At a result, the substrate is oxidized, and then the electron acceptor is reduced. After such an enzyme reaction finishes, the concentration of the substrate in the sample liquid is determined from an oxidation current obtained by electrochemically oxidizing the reduced electron acceptor.
As a biosensor for quantifying a specific substance contained in a biological sample using an electrochemical manner, a glucose sensor is known. FIGS. 1 and 2 show a structure of the glucose sensor.
FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional biosensor in which a reaction layer is omitted. FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of the biosensor shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, silver paste is screen-printed on an electrically insulating base plate 1 to form leads 2 and 3 on a base plate 1. Conductive carbon paste containing a resin binder is then printed on the base plate 1 to form an operating electrode 4 on the base plate 1. The operating electrode 4 is contacted with the lead 2. Electrically insulating paste is then printed on the base plate 1 to form an insulating layer 6. The insulating layer 6 covers all portions except the operating electrode 4 so that the exposed area of the operating electrode 4 is maintained to be constant. Conductive carbon paste containing the resin binder is printed on the base plate 1 to come into contact with the lead 3 and thus to form a ring-shaped counter electrode 5. Subsequently, on or near an electrode system including the operating electrode and the counter electrode, a reaction layer is formed.
The electrically insulating base plate 1 having the reaction layer and a cover 9 having an air hole 11 are bonded to each other via a spacer 10, along dashed dot lines marked in FIG. 1, to manufacture a biosensor. A slit 13 is formed at the spacer 10 to provide a sample supplying path between the base plate and the cover. Referring to a longitudinal sectional view of the biosensor having the above-mentioned structure, a hydrophilic polymer layer 7 is disposed at the electrically insulating base plate 1 having the electrode system, and a reaction layer 8 including enzymes and electron acceptors and a lecithin layer 8a are disposed on the hydrophilic polymer layer 7 in this order.
When a biological sample is contacted with an introduction port 12 of the biosensor having the above-mentioned structure, the biological sample fills the slit 13 acting as a sample receiving space, and at the same time air in the sample receiving space is vented through an air hole 11 formed at the cover 9.
However, since the air hole 11 is formed at the upper part of the biosensor, the biosensor is disadvantageous in terms of its handling due to measurement errors caused by frequent contact with the air hole 11 when using the biosensor. Considering the fact that the reaction progresses immediately after the sample comes into contact with the reaction layer, it is important to rapidly absorb the sample irrespective of viscosity of the sample. However, in the biosensor having the above-mentioned structure, since the air hole 11 for venting air is arranged at the rear side of a sample introduction passage, rapid absorption of the sample is limited.
Such limited absorption of the sample causes measurement errors in biosensors that initiate the measurement after checking whether or not the sample is completely introduced. The measurement errors are mainly caused by insufficient amount of sample to be introduced, slow absorption of sample and errors generated in the manufacture of a biosensor. In a biosensor including three electrodes, two electrodes must have the same size if possible to minimize the measurement errors. However, since conventional measuring apparatuses cannot detect whether or not the electrodes have the same size and cannot display whether or not the biosensor is properly manufactured, to a user, there exists a danger that the user may erroneously diagnose reaction results of the sample on the biosensor.

Apparatus and method for measuring reaction result of samples on biosensor


A method controls a user interface and an air-conditioning unit of a vehicle. The user interface includes display and operating elements. The method displays a plurality of the elements on the user interface, receives at least two operation parameters of the air-conditioning unit, determines one or more display parameters for a first element from the plurality of elements on the basis of the at least two operation parameters, and displays the first element on the basis of the one or more display parameters.

The disclosure relates to a method and a system for controlling a user interface and an air-conditioning unit in vehicles. The disclosure relates, in particular, to a method and a system for an integrated display and operating concept for the automated control of components in vehicles, for example for the fully automated control of a heating/air-conditioning system in vehicles.
The prior art discloses methods and systems for controlling components which enable manual, partly automatic or fully automatic control of the components in vehicles. By way of example, mention shall be made here of the air-conditioning of the vehicle interior, which can be controlled on the basis of a multiplicity of parameters. The display and operating concepts disclosed here are described below on the basis of practical application to the air-conditioning of a vehicle, but in principle are applicable to a wide variety of areas within and outside the field of (motor) vehicle technology.
The aim of the air-conditioning of a motor vehicle is generally to ensure the occupants' well-being. In this case, air-conditioning that is controlled in an automated manner is becoming increasingly more important vis-à-vis manually controlled air-conditioning. In the case of automated air-conditioning, on the basis of various parameters, for example on the basis of the outside temperature, the setpoint temperature values set by the occupants in the vehicle and the current interior temperature, the temperature of the interior can be regulated so as to give rise to a climate in the vehicle that is pleasant for the occupants.
Traditionally the user has the option of himself/herself manually setting the temperature, the fan and the combination of the air vents, for example, or of predefining suitable settings for (partly) automated regulation. At all events this requires a corresponding number of operating elements for the settings to be implemented in each case. Very recently, mechanical switches, buttons and controllers have increasingly been replaced by corresponding operating elements that are displayed on approach- or touch-sensitive display elements, for example touchscreens. In this case, it has proved difficult to transfer the convenience familiar from mechanical elements with regard to haptics and operability to the operating elements displayed on the display. Mechanical operating elements formerly familiar as rotary or sliding controllers are often being replaced by simple touch controls, which in many cases is perceived as a retrograde step by the user. Set against that are cost savings made possible by the omission of mechanical operating elements.
Over and above the issue regarding the individual configuration of individual operating elements, the aim is to make operational control intuitive, clear and user-friendly. In this case, what has proved to be one of the major influencing factors is how many settings have to be separately set and combined by the user in comparison with functions that can be regulated automatically.
In known systems, outlet temperatures of the ventilation, essentially separately from one another at the top (at the windshield, or "defrost"), in the middle (outlets in the instrument panel) and in the footwell, and also the intensity of the fan can be calculated and regulated automatically by way of a model stored in the system. In order to increase the air-conditioning comfort in the vehicle, it is possible to use further functions such as seat, parking, steering wheel or surface heating and/or ventilation systems. These typically have to be operated manually and are not integrated into the automatic regulation. In this case, the user is required to set a wide variety of heating and/or ventilation elements in concert as much as possible with regard to the desired climate, and possibly to readjust them continuously.
It has been found that users often do not trust the automatic vehicle air-conditioning. By way of example, if a user gets into a vehicle when outside temperatures are very high, said user generally does not set a sensible setpoint temperature of about 21° C., but rather chooses maximum cooling (also "Max AC"), or said user sets the setpoint value to a very low value (e.g. 16° C.). In this case, the user is not aware that the air-conditioning is employing the maximum capacity anyway to reach the temperature set by the user. In the case of this exemplary change in setpoint value, the vehicle cools down after a while and the user has to counteract this actively by means of a further temperature adjustment. This is usually done with a delay after a sensible setpoint temperature has already been significantly undershot. In addition, on account of the high cooling capacity required by the system, the user is often bothered by an increased noise level over a relatively long period of time. Moreover, the air-conditioning capacity available in each case in different states is often not clear to the user. By way of example, without the engine actively running, there are generally no possibilities for cooling or heating. This is not displayed by conventional display and operating systems, however. In many cases it is even suggested that specific setpoint value settings can always be implemented.
This practice is at odds with the purpose of automatic air-conditioning, the aim of which should be that the user has to intervene in the regulation as little as possible. The lack of trust in the air-conditioning system of the vehicle prevents the air-conditioning from being able to work automatically and thus efficiently.
The circumstances mentioned above essentially give rise to a number of potential disadvantages in conventional methods and systems.
The user does not trust the automatic air-conditioning because not enough feedback is given about how the system is currently operating and how rapidly a desired setpoint value will be reached. The user therefore tends to intervene manually in the regulation, which negates the purpose of automatic air-conditioning. As a consequence, the system cannot operate efficiently and does not achieve the best possible air-conditioning convenience. Furthermore, the user is forced to intervene in the automatic system where possible repeatedly or continuously.
Unclear and/or complex operational control, for example caused by virtual operating elements, i.e. operating elements merely displayed graphically on a display, which are arranged in a manner nested in different levels, makes the system unattractive to the user. A simple overview of the range of functions offered by the respective extra equipment is lost. During driving operation, hampered operability may give the consequence, which can additionally distract the user's attention from other tasks.
Additional functions such as seat, steering wheel, surface heating and/or ventilation cannot automatically be included in the regulation, but rather have to be switched on manually by the user. Such additional functions possibly present are often actuatable only in a discrete manner, for example in a maximum of 3 stages. This can hamper an intuitive setting.
For the reasons mentioned above, air-conditioning currently offered can typically indeed be referred to as "automated", but not as "fully automated". Additional convenience functions have to be manually activated/deactivated.
In addition, currently available systems often have further deficiencies. In this regard, there is no possibility of communicating to the system a request for urgency from the user. Moreover, the system cannot provide feedback as to when the desired (predefined) air-conditioning comfort will be attained, or whether the system is already operating at its capacity limits.
Not least owing to the numerous operating elements duplicated for driver and passenger, conventional display and operating concepts appear overloaded and unclear. There is no clear organization that structures individual elements with regard to overall vehicle settings and personal climate zone per occupant.
Context information possibly present is not included in the regulation and vehicle start-up takes place only by way of existing vehicle sensor technology and on the basis of the last user setting. Settings and sensor data from vehicles in the surroundings or other ambient information such as weather data, position of the sun, fine particulate matter pollution and so forth are not currently taken into consideration.
The document DE 103 01 156 B3 describes a device for controlling a heating/air-conditioning system with a mechanical operating element. The operating element has three movement possibilities, each of these movement possibilities being assigned exactly one function of the control of the heating/air-conditioning system. The functions of setting the temperature, setting the amount of air and setting the air distribution are optionally assigned to the movement possibilities. An operating mode of the heating/air-conditioning system cannot be deduced from the switch position.
The document DE 10 2009 030 263 A1 describes an operating method for a menu-based operating and information system of a vehicle. The operational control is based essentially on calling up, from a menu, context-sensitive expansion menus, optionally in a plurality of levels.
Embodiments of the methods and systems disclosed in the present case enable the following advantages.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case make it possible to strengthen the user's trust through communication between the vehicle and the user by enabling a display proceeding from the actual state through progress until attainment of the desired state by means of an indicator component (also called "indicator"). Said indicator permits feedback with regard to the time requirement, the urgency, the system limits and/or the intensity. Consequently, the user's trust in the automatic regulation is strengthened and manual interventions are minimized and the user's tendency to effect manual interventions is partly or completely reduced. The efficiency of the system can thus be significantly increased and optimized to the greatest possible extent. This is a major advantage particularly in the case of electrically operated vehicles.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case furthermore provide a user-specific automatic mode. Particular user preferences, such as more intensive use of seat heating, for example, can be taken into account and the automatic regulation can thus be optimized.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case can furthermore include all enclosing areas available to the air-conditioning (i.e. heating and cooling elements, such as e.g. seat, steering wheel, area heating and seat cooling) in the regulation in line with requirements and in a continuously variable way.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case can furthermore provide simple or intuitive operational control of the air-conditioning system, as a result of which a greatly reduced user interface is achieved, which enables simpler, more intuitive and elegant operational control by virtue of lower complexity. Input possibilities are reduced to the user's desire for air-conditioning comfort "colder" or "warmer" and to optional communication of a request for urgency if the user desires a particularly rapid adaptation.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case furthermore provide a clear representation of all available additional functions (seat heating, areas, steering wheel heating, seat ventilation, etc.) included and currently not included in the regulation and the operating state (e.g. intensity) of said additional functions.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case furthermore provide a particular combination of operating element and state display, thereby enabling a compact and clear display and operator interface.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case furthermore make it possible to implement the concept without mechanical operating elements.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case furthermore provide a possibility for organization into overall vehicle settings (menu "central") and personal climate zone per occupant. This allows firstly the reduction of the operating part, and secondly a clearly structured representation of less frequently required functions and/or operating elements.
Methods and systems disclosed in the present case furthermore enable context information possibly present to be taken into consideration. Said information can now be included in the regulation, such that, in addition to the existing vehicle sensor technology and the last user setting, the vehicle start-up can take account of further environmental parameters, such as, for example, settings from vehicles in the surroundings or local weather data.
The overriding aim of the methods and systems disclosed in the present case is to relieve the burden on the user to such an extent that the user regularly has no cause to make manual interventions in the regulation of the heating/air-conditioning system in order to obtain a vehicle at a pleasantly regulated temperature with air-conditioning comfort as desired. Ideally the user gets into the vehicle and the air-conditioning regulation is set to the user's needs in a context-dependent manner and in line with the requirements. The vehicle makes use of all available possibilities in order to establish the desired climate as efficiently as possible. These also include historical data obtained from operational control by the user in the past, and also ambient conditions, extended user data (e.g. living space conditions—networking) and so forth.
The objective of fully automated air-conditioning is to systematically correctly interpret the user's desire for higher or lower temperature regulation and to set and/or regulate the suitable functionalities in an appropriate intensity.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide methods and systems for an integrated display and operating concept in vehicles, and also vehicles comprising such systems, which avoid one or more of the disadvantages mentioned above and realize one or more of the advantages mentioned above.
This object is achieved by means of the subject matter of the independent claims. Advantageous configurations are specified in the dependent claims.
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for controlling a user interface and an air-conditioning unit of a vehicle is specified. The user interface comprises display and operating elements, which hereinafter are also referred to as "elements" for simplification. The method comprises displaying a multiplicity of the elements on the user interface, receiving at least two operation parameters of the air-conditioning unit, determining one or more display parameters for a first element from the multiplicity of the elements on the basis of the at least two operation parameters, and displaying the first element on the basis of the one or more display parameters.
Preferably, the method further comprises detecting an interaction of a user with a second element from the multiplicity of the elements, determining a control signal on the basis of the interaction of the user, and transmitting the control signal to the air-conditioning unit.
Preferably, the interaction of the user comprises a single or repeated first interaction with the second element, preferably comprising one or more momentary approaches to or single or repeated momentary touching of the user interface in the region of the second element for a duration of up to one second; maintaining a second interaction with the second element, preferably comprising an approach to or tapping of the user interface in the region of the second element for a duration of more than one second; or a third interaction with the second element by means of a relative movement of the user relative to the user interface in the region of the second element, preferably comprising a linear relative movement of a hand or part of a hand of the user in relation to the user interface in the region of the second element, the relative movement comprising an approach to or a touch of the user interface in the region of the second element.
Preferably, the one or more display parameters are selected from the group comprising, preferably consisting of: a coloration and/or color intensity of the element; a position of the element on the user interface; a dimensioning of the element; and/or a shaping of the element.
Preferably, the at least two operation parameters are selected from the group comprising, preferably consisting of: a delivery capacity of a fan; a heating capacity of a heat exchanger for a fan; a driving of a multiplicity of air outlets of a fan; a heating capacity of seat heating; a heating capacity of steering wheel heating; a heating capacity of area heating; and a delivery capacity of seat ventilation.
Preferably, determining the control signal comprises a) adapting one or more operation parameters selected from the group comprising, preferably consisting of: a delivery capacity of a fan; a heating capacity of a heat exchanger for a fan; a driving of a multiplicity of air outlets of a fan; a heating capacity of seat heating; a heating capacity of steering wheel heating; a heating capacity of area heating; and a delivery capacity of seat ventilation; and b) determining the control signal on the basis of the adapted one or more operation parameters.
Preferably, the first element is identical to the second element.
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a system for controlling a user interface and an air-conditioning unit of a vehicle is specified. The system comprises a control unit and a user interface, wherein the control unit is configured to carry out the method in accordance with the embodiments described here.
Preferably, the system further comprises a display and operating unit configured to display the user interface; wherein the display and operating unit comprises an approach- or touch-sensitive display, the approach- or touch-sensitive display preferably comprising a touchscreen, wherein the touchscreen further preferably operates capacitively.
In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, a vehicle is specified, comprising the system in accordance with the embodiments described here.
Exemplary embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated in the figures and are described in greater detail below.
Hereinafter, unless noted otherwise, identical reference signs are used for identical and identically acting elements.

Method and system for controlling a user interface and an air-conditioning unit

Bayerische Motoren Werke Aktiengesellschaft