There is provided a storage apparatus including a storage case which stores a specimen container accommodating a specimen inside and having a wireless tag recorded with identification information on a side surface, and an antenna surrounding the periphery of the specimen container stored in the storage case.

In the related art, for example, blood (specimen) collected from a patient is put into a blood collection tube of which a bar code is attached to a side surface and the blood collection tube is managed by using the bar code associating information on the patient and the blood. However, in this case, it is necessary to arrange the directions of a plurality of the blood collection tubes to be stored in a rack so that the bar codes of the plurality of blood collection tubes stored in the rack can be efficiently read.
Meanwhile, there is known a technique in which a wireless tag such as a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag is attached to a blood collection tube to read and write identification information in a wireless manner. In this manner, by attaching a wireless tag to the blood collection tube, data on the wireless tag can be read and written regardless of the direction of the blood collection tube.

Storage apparatus storing specimen container and examination system using the same


One embodiment provides a method, including: detecting, using an application of an information handling device, an incoming call from another device, the incoming call being associated with an identifying message signed with a user-specific signature; determining, using a processor, whether the user-specific signature is associated with a valid signature; and accepting, responsive to determining that the user-specific signature is associated with a valid signature, the call. Other aspects are described and claimed.

Individuals often become frustrated when they receive "spam" telephone calls from scammers, telemarketers, prankers, etc. One type of spamming method that has become increasingly popular over the past decade is caller ID spoofing ("spoofing"). Spoofing is the practice of causing the telephone network to indicate to a recipient of a call that the originator of the call is a station other than the true originating station. Such a tactic may trick the recipient into answering the phone.

Signature based communication authentication


Circuits, methods, and apparatus that provide sampling networks that avoid undesired transient voltages. One example provides a sampling network that includes a switch such that charge is transferred to an integrator in two separate steps instead of one. This switch connects the first side of a capacitor to an intermediate voltage after it is connected to an input voltage and before it is connected to a reference voltage, where the reference voltage is the output of a one-bit digital-to-analog converter. This intermediate switching allows charge to be transferred from a sampling capacitor to an integrating capacitor in two steps, thus avoiding undesirable transient voltages.

Sampling networks are useful building blocks that find applications in many types of integrated circuits. Common uses for sampling networks include switched capacitor filters, sample and hold circuits, track and hold circuits, and others. When combined with an integrator, they can form an input stage for a sigma-delta modulator.
Sampling networks are efficiently implemented using MOSFET transistors. As a result, sampling networks have become much more popular with the increasing use of MOSFETs in analog and mixed signal applications.
In sigma-delta modulators, two signals are added together by sampling the signals and integrating the result. In one specific example, an analog signal being converted to a digital word is sampled and a reference voltage or signal that is the output of a one-bit digital-to-analog converter is subtracted from it.
The sampling of these signals can create voltages that exceed the supply voltage ranges of an integrated circuit on which these actives are performed. This in turn can lead to transient voltages that cause parasitic diodes to conduct and clamp voltages. This causes errors in the integrated output voltage.
Accordingly, what is needed are circuits, methods, and apparatus that provide sampling networks that avoid these undesirable transient voltages.

Input sampling network that avoids undesired transient voltages


An image forming apparatus includes a main body having an image forming portion and a first indicating device for indicating an accumulated number of copies the image forming portion, and an IC card detachable from the main body. The IC card includes a second indicating device for indicating the accumulated number of copies when the IC card is attached. The IC card further includes an arithmetic operation key for inputting a numerical calculation expression. A numerical calculation will be carried out in accordance with the arithmetic operation key. Finally, the IC card will have first and second states and the image forming apparatus will be switched between operable and inoperable conditions depending on the first and second states

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image forming apparatuses, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus having a detachable storage medium device such as an IC card.
2. Description of the Related Art
Such a system has been proposed that a storage medium such as an IC card in which a copying mode of a copying apparatus (copying magnification, exposure, the number of copies, copy paper size, etc.) is previously registered as data is connected to the copying apparatus so as to set all of the copying mode of the registered data together in the copying apparatus.
In this system, a dedicated data input device such as an input device for edition has been conventionally employed for registering copying mode data in the IC card.
In case where an operator temporarily uses the copying apparatus which is being occupied by another operator,. it is considered adequate to immediately set a second copying. mode by connecting the IC card to the apparatus, and after the connection is released, return to a first copying mode according to the above described copying system.
In this case, an interruption mode must be set before setting the copying mode registered in the IC card by operating a set key or the like provided in the copying apparatus. The interruption mode serves to save data of a copying mode currently set (hereinafter referred to as "the first copying mode") to set another copying mode (hereinafter referred to as "the second copying mode"), and after the second copying mode is released, restore the first copying mode.
In the meanwhile, there is a demand that the registration of copying mode data into the IC card should be carried out without a special data input device required. The IC card includes a group of four-arithmetical operation keys (.times., .div., +, -, =) to be able to function as a calculator as well.
Furthermore, there is another demand that arithmetical operation of copying magnification or the like should be performed by providing the four-arithmetical operation keys in the copying apparatus. However, taking into consideration that the operation panel of the copying apparatus has no spare area-and that an increase in the number of keys is disadvantageous in cost, such a proposal has been made for the foregoing demands as to provide, for example, the four-arithmetical operation keys as a variable key (which performs different functions from the normal function when operated after the operation of a predetermined function key).
In this case, this variable key requires time to be operated and is less frequently used, so that the operator can not get used to operation of the key and hence becomes liable to cause operation errors and the like.
In the meanwhile, the IC card includes a power source ON/OFF key and indication means, by which a copying mode registered in the card is indicated when the power source is turned on. In addition, while the IC card is normally powered by built-in batteries, it is also powered and even charged by a power source of the copying apparatus when connected to the copying apparatus.
In case of connecting the IC card to the copying apparatus to set the copying mode registered in the card, the copying apparatus is to be in an operating state (in which the power source is ON and a copying operation is available).
To this end, conventionally, the power source of the copying apparatus is turned on in order to put the copying apparatus in a standby state before connected with the IC card.
That is to say, dual operations are required that the turning on of the power source of the copying apparatus and the connection of the IC card, causing a demand that these operations should be performed in a single operation.
As described above, the IC card is to be charged from the power source of the copying apparatus while being connected with the copying apparatus.
Therefore, such a case also occurs that only the charging of the above described IC card is required without the setting of copying mode in the copying apparatus.
In the meanwhile, a copying apparatus is proposed which includes two numeric value indicating means: copy number indicator means for indicating the set number of copies, namely, how many copies of one original is to be made (normally in two digits) and magnification indicator means for indicating a copying magnification set (normally in four digits).
As numeric values to be indicated in the copier, the accumulating total number of copies, for example, is provided other than the number of copies and the copying magnification. This is used for the aim of maintenance period or the basis of a charge (rate) calculation.
However, it is less effective to provide independent indicator means for indicating only the accumulating total number of copies due to limitation in the area of an indicator panel or an increase in cost.
Thus, such a system is proposed, for example, as to locate the above describe two numeric value indicator means in close positions on the panel, constituting a numeric value indicator portion of six digits by employing these means simultaneously in a particular mode so as to indicate the accumulating total number of copies.
However, this system fails to indicate the number of copies or the copying magnification which is to be indicated intrinsically while indicating the accumulating total number of copies.
The indication of the accumulating total number of copies is carried out in general when instructed by input means such as an accumulating total number indication instructing key or the like.
A request has been made that the accumulating total number of image forming processes carried out by employing storage medium means such as the IC card or the like should be informed. Since the IC card is prepared in general for each individual person or for each section in a company, it is necessary to know the frequency of use of a copying apparatus per each individual person or each section and to acquire base data of calculation of charges (rates) for each person or each section according to the accumulating total number of copies processed for each IC card.
Conventionally, the data of the accumulating total number of Copies processed for each IC card is indicated on the indication panel of the above described dedicated data input device by connecting the IC card to the data input device and operating predetermined keying means such as the accumulating total number indication instructing key qr the like. It is a very ineffective method, however, that the IC card is connected to the dedicated data input device in order to merely indicate the above described accumulating total number data.
As described in the foregoing, a special data input device such as an input device for edition has conventionally been employed in registration, on of copying mode data. Further, the registration of copying mode data is carried out while checking data to be inputted on the indication panel of the data input device.
There is another request that registered data of the IC card should easily be checked. This request is made, for example, when the copying mode registered in the IC card is to be checked prior to setting the copying mode in the copying apparatus. That is to say, this checking has been considerably difficult because it has not been achieved until the indication of data was instructed after setting the IC card in the data input device.
There is still another request that the registration of copying mode data into the IC card should be easily carried out without employing the data input device.
Moreover, a card-type calculator or the like for executing a predetermined arithmetic operation based on an instruction externally provided corresponds to the above described storage device such as the IC card.
There is a case where data held by the IC card is to be checked by an indication or the like before the data is loaded into the copying apparatus. Further, there is another case where upon indicating data of the IC card or the card-type calculator (registered data, data indicating the result of arithmetic operation, etc. ), the content of the indication is to be shown to other persons facing to the operator.
In the foregoing description, the transfer of data from the IC card to the copying apparatus and the setting of the copying mode defined by the transferred data are performed by operating an IC card key of the copying apparatus after connecting the IC card and the copying apparatus.
The IC card key is in general an optional operation key provided in the copier, which serves to instruct the data transfer from the IC card and the setting of the copying mode defined by the transferred data.
The setting of a copying mode in the copying apparatus in accordance with the registered data of the IC card is performed by the operation of the IC card key of the copying apparatus, as described above.
Therefore, the IC card key is unrequited for the user who does not utilize the IC card, and is thus optionally provided in general.
It is not during manufacture of the operation panel but usually after shipment from the factory when the key is added optionally. Therefore, an exchange of a sheet (on which the location of switches is printed) is carried out mostly by service men. However, the service men are not used to the sheet exchange and thus are liable to make mistakes.
In addition, if keys which are less frequently used such as the above described IC card key are also provided on the operation panel of the copying apparatus, along with keys which are closely relating to the copying operation and frequently operated for usage of the copying apparatus (e.g., a copying start key, a ten-key for inputting numeric values, etc. ), it becomes difficult to operate or the keys which are to be frequency operated.
There is a demand that data registration should be carried out with respect to the above described IC card (for loading a copying mode into the copying apparatus) without employing a data input device.
In the meanwhile, there is provided a card-type calculator having four-arithmetic operation keys, a numeric value data input key, an indication panel, etc. In this connection, there is a further demand that the IC card should be employed for other applications than the copying mode data registration in consideration for the capacity of and processing capabilities of chips used in the IC card.

Image forming apparatus having detachable IC card


An active pixel image sensing device that provides uniform integration periods and either independent pixel reset, row, pixel reset, or column pixel reset, having a plurality of photodetector elements arranged in a matrix of rows and columns, each of the photodetectors having a transfer gate operatively connecting the photodetectors to a floating diffusion and further including a reset and clamp and sample function. A reset transistor for each row of photodetectors having a gate that can have a predetermined voltage applied to reset each row, and a column reset transistor for each column of photodetectors having a gate that can have a predetermined voltage applied to reset each column. This allows for uniform integration periods and a signal sample and clamp circuit for the entire array of photodetectors.

APS are solid state imagers where each pixel contains a photo-sensing means, charge to voltage conversion means, reset means, and all or part of an amplifier. They have some advantages over charge coupled device imagers (CCD), including single 5V supply operation, x-y addressability, and on-chip signal processing.
APS are solid state imagers where each pixel contains a photo-sensing means, charge to voltage conversion means, reset means and all or part of an amplifier. Because of the approach used in resetting the pixel, APS devices have been operated in a manner where each line or row of the imager is integrated, reset, and read out at a different time interval than each of the remaining lines or rows. Hence if one were reading out the entire imager, each line would have captured the scene at a different point in time. Since illumination conditions can and do vary temporally, and since objects in the scene may also be moving, this method of read out can produce line artifacts in the resulting representation of the imager. This limits the usefulness of APS devices in applications where high quality motion or still images are required.
Additionally, this method of operation (reset and read a row at a time), requires that each column of the device have a separate clamp and sample amplifier. It is often the physical size of this amplifier as realized in the process used to fabricate the device that limits the pixel size of the sensor. In order to build high resolution, small pixel APS devices, it is necessary to use sub-.mu.m CMOS processes to realize the same resolution and sensitivity APS device when compared to a standard charge coupled device (CCD) sensor. The minimum pixel size of an APS device is typically 15.times. to 20.times. of the minimum feature size of the process technology used, compared to 5.times. to 10.times. for a CCD device.
From the foregoing discussion, it should be apparent that there remains a need within the art of APS devices for the provision of a reset mechanism that provides the capability to reset all pixels simultaneously as well as for selectively providing reset of a pixel at a time. Additionally, there remains a need in the art for a circuit design that will provide simultaneous and equal integration times of each pixel and enable use of a single clamp and sample amplifier per device rather than per column.

Active pixel sensor with single pixel reset


A spectral notch modulation technique for encoding information in a signal involves transforming the signal into the frequency domain via a fast Fourier transform (FFT) of length N, such that the signal is represented by N frequency bins, selectively nulling M of the N frequency bins, where nulled combinations of M frequency bins respectively correspond to encoded information bits, transforming the selectively nulled signal to the time domain via an inverse FFT, and transmitting the selectively nulled signal. At the receiving end, the signal is demodulated to recover the encoded information by transforming the signal into the frequency domain via a fast Fourier transform (FFT) of length N, identifying the set of M nulled frequency bins among the N frequency bins, and converting the set of M nulled frequency bins to corresponding information bits.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods and apparatus for encoding information in a signal by spectral notch modulation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Systems that transmit and receive digital signals to convey or collect information are being refined continually to improve signal throughput. A variety of factors affect the potential throughput of information in such systems, including: the signal bandwidth, the signal data rate, the transmit power, transmit beam directivity, transmission distances, receiver sensitivity, noise and interference levels, multipath reflections, the acceptable bit error rate, the modulation scheme, the error correction coding scheme, the amount of overhead and control signals required within the transmission protocol, and the sophistication of the transmitter and receiver equipment. Typically, information is encoded into a transmitted signal using one of variety of known modulation schemes, such as phase shift keying, frequency shift keying, quadrature amplitude modulation, amplitude modulation, or frequency modulation. By demodulating the signal at the receiver, the original information can be recovered.
Virtually all signaling systems can benefit from increased signal throughput. For example, in systems that primarily convey communication information such as data, voice, video, etc., it would be desirable to increase the proportion of the modulated signal that is devoted to the communication information while minimizing throughput lost due to the necessity of conveying overhead and control signals. Likewise, in systems that transmit navigation signals, such as time-of-arrival (TOA) ranging signals, it would be desirable to additionally convey communication information without having to transmit an excessive number of non-navigation messages that reduce the time available for navigation signals.
For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,453,168 and 6,801,782, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties, disclose a state-of-the-art position location and communication system that provides accurate, reliable three-dimensional position determination of a handheld or portable, spread spectrum communication device within milliseconds without interruption of voice or data communications. Using spread spectrum waveforms and processing techniques, the system is capable of determining the position of a device to an accuracy of less than one meter and communications performance commensurate with the modulation and error correction coding that is employed in a severe multipath environment.
The position determining technique is based on transmitting and receiving TOA ranging packets that are used to measure the range between a master communication device and reference communication devices. Using trilateration, the measured ranges are transformed into the (x, y, z) location coordinates of the master communication device. The TOA ranging process uses a great deal of radio network bandwidth, leaving very little for communication of voice data or video information. As the TOA ranging update rate and number of references being used increase, the lack of air time for communications is compounded.
As described in the aforementioned patents, TOA ranging signals are exchanged between pairs of communication devices to determine the range between the devices. Once the exchange is complete, at least one additional message must be transmitted between the communication devices to supply information necessary to support the computation of the range and position. Theoretically, this data could be conveyed by adding data fields to the TOA waveform of the TOA ranging signals. However, this approach would add considerable complexity to the transmitter and receiver hardware as well as the waveform itself and would increase the duration of the TOA ranging signals. As with overhead signals that accompany the transmission of communication signals, it would be desirable to convey necessary support signals without reducing the time available for transmitting the primary signals of interest. More generally, it would be advantageous in many signaling systems to supplement the information throughput achievable with the primary modulation scheme with some form of additional signal throughput.

Methods and apparatus for encoding information in a signal by spectral notch modulation


Gene probes for specific regions of chromosome 3 (3p21.3) and chromosome 10 (10q22) have been found to be tools for the diagnosis and prognosis of smoking related cancers such as non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). For example, these probes can be used with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), and used to stratify smokers into high and low risk groups, as well as determine a patients susceptibility to the development of smoking related cancers.

I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the fields of oncology, genetics and molecular biology. More particular the invention relates to the use of two probes for regions of human chromosomes 3 and 10 that are highly predictive of the development of neoplasia and progression of neoplastic events.
II. Related Art
Lung cancer is one of the leading causes of cancer death in the world. The high mortality rate for lung cancer probably results, at least in part, from the lack of standard clinical procedures for the diagnosis of the disease at early and more treatable stages compared to breast, prostate, and colon cancers. There is also extremely poor prognosis associated with diagnosis of the disease, especially in advanced disease. It is important that strategies to detect early stage lung carcinoma or its precursors, such as atypical squamous metaplasia, dysphasia and carcinoma-in-situ in subjects at high risk be devised.
Cigarette smoking over a prolonged period of time is the most important risk factor in the development of lung and other smoking related cancers, with other risk factors including exposure to passive smoking, certain industrial substances such as arsenic, some organic chemicals, radon and asbestosis, ingestion of alcohol, radiation exposure from occupational, medical and environmental sources, air pollution and tuberculosis. Many of these factors greatly increase the risk of development of lung and other smoking related cancers if they occur in a person who is concurrently a smoker.
Genetic detection of human disease states is a rapidly developing field (Taparowsky et al., 1982; Slamon et al., 1989; Sidransky et al., 1992; Miki et al., 1994; Dong et al., 1995; Morahan et al., 1996; Lifton, 1996; Barinaga, 1996). However, some problems exist with this approach. A number of known genetic lesions merely predispose to development of specific disease states. Individuals carrying the genetic lesion may not develop the disease state, while other individuals may develop the disease state without possessing a particular genetic lesion. In human cancers, genetic defects may potentially occur in a large number of known tumor suppresser genes and proto-oncogenes.
The genetic detection of cancer has a long history. One of the earliest genetic lesions shown to predispose to cancer was transforming point mutations in the ras oncogenes (Taparowsky et al., 1982). Deletion and mutation of p53 has been observed in bladder cancer (Sidransky et al., 1991). Numerous studies have shown deletions in the 3p region are related to lung and other smoking related cancers (Mitsudomi et al., 1996, Shiseki et al., 1996, Wistuba et al., 2000, Wu et al., 1998, and Shriver et al., 1998).
Molecular studies (fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) for polysomies, PCR for hypervariable markers (MI) and LOH, or specific mutations) have demonstrated that morphologically normal areas of bronchial epithelium closest to the carcinomas frequently show the most molecular abnormalities (3p, 17p, 9p, 5q). In particular, the short arm of chromosome 3 has been shown to frequently harbor deletions of alleles in several regions including 3p25-26, 3p21.3-22, 3p14 and 3p12. These regions are presumed to be the site of tumor suppressor genes, and loss of chromosome 3p allelles have shown to be an early event in lung tumorigenesis.
Chromosomal alterations in several cancers have been investigated, and frequent LOH at chromosome 10 has been reported in a variety of cancers, including glioma, glioblastoma multiforme, prostate cancer, endometrial cancer, chondrosarcome, bladder cancer, malignant melanoma, and follicular thyroid tumors ((Licciardello et al., 1989; Auerbach et al., N. Engl J. Med., 265: 253-267, 1961; Voravud, et al., 1993; Feder et al., 1998; Yanagisawa et al., 1996; Thiberville et al., 1995; Papadimitrakopoulou et al., 1996; Zou et al., 1998; Brugal et al., 1984; Dalquen et al., 1997; Muguerza et al., 1997).
Deletion rates of chromosome 3p are known to correlate with lung cancer. However, there is no current clinical method for the identifying a population of individuals who are at a high risk to develop lung cancers or upper airway primary or secondary cancers. A technique for determining the risks of developing these cancers would be of great value for the ability to limit exposure to additional environmental risk factors and to know when additional tests, supplements, or treatments are appropriate.
In various studies, chromosome deletions have been studied as identifiers for lung cancers. For example, Shiseki et al., (1996) analyzed 85 loci on all 22 autosomal chromosomes to determine that the incidence of LOH on chromosome arms 2q, 9p, 18q, and 22 q in brain metastases were significantly higher than that in stages I primary lung tumors. Mitsudomi et al. (1996) used PCR-based analysis for the detection of LOH in non-small cell lung cancer. Multiple regions on chromosome 3p were observed to show that deletions of the 3p chromosome may help to identify non-small cell lung cancer patients with a poor prognosis. Wistuba et al. (2000) used fifty-four polymorphic markers used to study the entire chromosome arm 3p and concluded that 3p allele loss is nearly universal in lung cancer pathogenesis. Wu et al. (1998) studied 3p21.3 deletion using the probe, D3S4604/luca. Peripheral blood lymphocytes of 40 lung cancer patients were observed to give the conclusion that lung cancer patients exposed to benzo[a]pyrene, a common byproduct of tobacco smoke, have frequent deletions in peripheral blood lymphocytes. Shriver et al. (1998) studied lung cancer cell lines and identified the human homolog of the L14 ribosomal protein gene, RPL14; deletion of RPL14 was shown to be related to the development of lung cancer. None of theses studies, however, are able to predict the susceptibility of a patient to the development of lung cancer or to predict whether smokers and non smokers are at a high risk of developing lung or other smoking related cancers.
Because of the grim prognosis of lung cancer with a ten year survival rate of <5% the only curable cancers are those diagnosed in the early stages and treated surgically. There is a shift of interest towards diagnosis and study of early and preneoplastic states. Because early detection and effective chemoprevention therapy have potential to be curative, it is imperative to stratify the patients in clinical trials. These patients need to be monitored fore results of chemoprevention therapy and also for predictions whether a particular preneoplastic lesion may progress.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Detection and diagnosis of smoking related cancers

Board of Regents, The University of Texas System


A conversation assistance system with a bi-lateral array of microphones arranged externally of a space that does not include any array microphones, where the space has a left side, a right side, a front and a back, the array comprising a left side sub-array of multiple microphones and a right side sub-array of multiple microphones, where each microphone has a microphone output signal, and a processor that creates from the microphone output signals a left-ear audio signal and a right-ear audio signal. The left-ear audio signal is created based on the microphone output signals from one or more of the microphones of the left-side sub-array and one or more of the microphones of the right-side sub-array and the right-ear audio signal is created based on the microphone output signals from one or more of the microphones of the left-side sub-array and one or more of the microphones of the right-side sub-array.

Conversation assistance devices aim to make conversations more intelligible and easier to understand. These devices aim to reduce unwanted background noise and reverberation. One path toward this goal concerns linear, time-invariant beamforming with a head-mounted microphone array. Application of linear beamforming to conversation assistance is, in general, not novel. Improving speech intelligibility with directional microphone arrays, for example, is known.
For a directional microphone array aimed at a talker in the presence of diffuse noise, an increase in array directivity yields an increase in talker-to-noise ratio (TNR). This increase in TNR can lead to an increase in speech intelligibility for a user listening to the array output. Excluding some complexities discussed later, increasing array directivity increases speech intelligibility gain.
Consider the four microphone array 10 in FIG. 1 located on the head of a user. In a prior art beamforming approach, the arrays are designed assuming the individual microphone elements are located in the free field. An array for the left ear is created by beamforming the two left microphones 20 and 21. The right ear array is created by beamforming the two right microphones 22 and 23. Well-established free field beamforming techniques for such simple, two-element arrays can create hypercardioid free-field reception patterns, for example. Hypercardioids are common in this context, as in the free-field they produce optimal TNR improvement for a two element array for an on-axis talker in the presence of diffuse noise. Arrays such as array 10 when designed for free field performance may not meet performance criteria when placed on the head because of the acoustic effects of the head on sound received by the microphone elements that make up the array. Further, arrays such as array 10 may not provide sufficiently high directivity to significantly improve speech intelligibility.
Head-mounted arrays, especially those with high directivity, can be large and obtrusive. An alternative to head-mounted arrays are off-head microphone arrays, which are commonly placed on a table in front of the listener or on the listener's torso, after which the directional signal is transmitted to an in-ear device commonly employing hearing-aid signal processing. Although these devices are less obtrusive, they lack a number of important characteristics. First these devices are typically monaural, transmitting the same signal to both ears. These signals are devoid of natural spatial cues and the associated intelligibility benefits of binaural hearing. Second, these devices may not provide sufficiently high directivity to significantly improve speech intelligibility. Third, these devices do not rotate with the user's head and hence do not focus sound reception toward the user's visual focus. Also, the array design may not take into account the acoustic effects or the structure that the microphones are mounted to.
White noise gain (WNG) describes the amplification of uncorrelated noise by the array processing and is well defined in the art. WNG is essentially the ratio of total array filter energy to received pressure through the array for an on-axis source. This quantity describes how array losses due to destructive interference will increase the system noise floor, for example. A simple hypercardioid array is a lossy array which may yield too much self-noise when equalized for flat on-axis response. Failure to consider the WNG of a particular array design can result in a system with excessive self-noise.


Sweep retaining structure includes a spring wire retainer with a base supported in a groove on the underside of the wedge support which mates with a stem portion of the sweep. The wedge support is apertured, and a central curved portion of the retainer passes through the aperture and supports a sweep-contacting end above the surface of the wedge support. The end is biased toward a contact area on the sweep to engage the area and eliminate sweep loss problems by preventing the sweep from slipping downwardly from the mounted position. To remove the sweep, a tool is inserted through the slot to depress the retainer end, and the sweep is forced off the wedge support. A raised area on the sweep directs soil away from the retainer and contact area to reduce wear and eliminate depression of the end during operation. The underside of the raised area positions the wire end and provides bend-resisting support for the wire.

Standard assemblies for implements such as chisel plows and field cultivators typically include a spring trip shank assembly extending downwardly to a tool-receiving end which mounts a shovel, point or sweep. Previously available mounting structure included bolts extending through holes in the tool and the shank to secure the tool. When the tool in such an assembly has to be replaced because of wear or damage, the bolts must be removed. Wear and corrosion of the bolts substantially hinders removal and often makes the replacement a difficult and time-consuming task.
Several solutions to the problem of easily and quickly replacing worn elements such as sweeps on shanks have been developed over the years, including adapter brackets providing a self-locking fit with a matching taper on knock-on sweeps. Frangible pins and bolts have also been suggested. However, most retaining devices have suffered from one or more problems, including need for additional parts and the loss of sweeps when encountering high removal forces during transport and during rebounding of the shank from a tripped position. To reduce incidences of sweeps falling off the shanks in quick mount arrangements, some manufacturers have offered detent mechanisms such as a retaining clip in the form of a sheet metal stamping with a spherical protrusion that fits into a hole in the sweep. To release the sweep, a screwdriver or other tool is used to depress the clip and move the protrusion away from the hole. Other detent arrangements are shown, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,061,021 and 6,289,996. Such detents generally help retain the sweeps on the shanks, but the forces exerted on a sweep, particularly forces exerted on deep tillage tools, can be so great that the sweep fails to stay on the shank. The geometry of most previously available sweep detent arrangements, including non-symmetrical mating surfaces on some, usually limits penetration of the retaining surface into the hole so that retaining forces are limited. Some care must be taken to align the protrusion with the hole, and part tolerances, variations in force used to mount the sweep, or lack of indexing of the clip relative to the shank can make such alignment troublesome. A relatively small, ramped contact area between the clip and the hole also increases the potential for losing a sweep. Soil moving up and around the stem portion of the sweep can move the clip from the detent position or wear away the clip until it is ineffective for holding the sweep on the shank. Extreme forces on the detent, such as those which occur during rebound, can also cause deformation of the detent. If the detent deforms, loosened sweeps can unacceptably dangle from the shank or be lost. A hefty detent construction or frequent detent replacements are therefore usually required.

Knock-on sweep structure and tools therefor


To provide a circuit board comprising a plurality of first signal lines which transmits first signals, a plurality of second signal lines which transmits second signals which are higher in speed than the first signals, a joint which is bonded to a joint of another circuit board through an anisotropic conductive material, a plurality of first electrodes which are arranged at regular intervals separated by a first distance in the joint, each of the first electrodes are connected to a respective one of the first signal lines, and a plurality of second electrodes which are arranged at regular intervals separated by a second distance larger than the first distance in the joint, each of the second electrodes are connected to a respective one of the second signal lines.

1. Field
The present invention relates to a circuit board and more particularly to a circuit board on which signal lines adapted to transmit high-speed signals are placed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, anisotropic conductive film (ACF) interconnection technique has attracted attention as a technique to interconnect circuit boards, such as printed wiring boards (PWB) or flexible printed circuit boards (FPCB).
ACF interconnection technique is one in which the joints of circuit boards are compression-bounded together through an ACF, which is an anisotropic conductive material. The anisotropic conductive material is electrically conductive in the direction of thickness of the joint and nonconductive in the direction of plane of the joint. Such a property of the anisotropic conductive film allows the ACF interconnection technique to be suitable for interconnection of circuit boards that contain fine interconnect lines. For this reason, the ACF interconnection technique has been frequently used in interconnecting a display panel and its associated peripheral portion.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-216064 discloses an electro-optical device in which a display board serving as a display panel is connected to a junction board, such as an FPCB, through the ACF interconnection technique.
Recently, in information-processing devices such as personal computers, the use of a high-speed signal interface adapted to transmit signals higher in speed than display signals has begun. For this reason, not only signal lines for transmitting normal-speed signals but also signal lines adapted to transit high-speed signals are placed on circuit boards.
The circuit boards that contain such high-speed signal lines need to provide stringent impedance matching and make provisions for high-frequency noise.
However, the conventional ACF joints allow for interconnection of circuit boards which contain fine interconnect lines but not interconnection of circuit boards which contain high-speed signal lines.

Circuit board having signal lines adapted to transmit high speed signals


A device for optically scanning a surface (2) with a focal spot (11) formed by an objective lens (10). The objective lens is electromagnetically suspended in a stationary coil system (14) comprising a plurality of coil pairs located one behind the other in a given direction. The coil system can move the objective lens in five or six degrees of freedom. A radiation beam is displaced parallel to itself via a pivotal mirror (22) and a scanning lens (23) so as to track the movement of the objective lens in said direction. A communicator (96) drives only those coils of the coil system which are proximate to the objective system at a given moment.

The invention relates to a device for optically scanning a surface over a given stroke in the X direction in a rectangular system of coordinates XYZ, which surface is substantially parallel to the X-Y plane, said device comprising a radiation source for supplying a radiation beam, an objective lens for focusing the radiation beam on the surface in the Z direction, said objective lens being mounted in an objective system comprising a permanent magnet, and a system of coils for electromagnetically supporting and driving the objective system, said system of coils comprising a plurality of coil pairs, each coil pair comprising two coils arranged one above the other in the Z direction.
A device of this type is suitable, inter alia, for reading disc-shaped optical record carriers in which the information is arranged in a plurality of concentrical tracks or quasi-concentrical tracks together forming a spiral track. A single track on the record carrier can be scanned by rotating the record carrier. To scan other tracks, the objective lens must be moved across the tracks in the radial or X direction. For a short access time to the stored information, it must be possible to move the objective lens rapidly across the tracks.
A device as described in the opening paragraph is known from the article "A floating-lens actuator", published in Japanese Journal of Applied Physics, vol. 26 (1987) supplement 26-4, pp. 195-197. In this known device the objective system, with the optical axis along the Z axis again, comprises a ring magnet which is surrounded by a system of coils for electromagnetically supporting and driving the objective system in five degrees of freedom. The system of coils comprises three coil pairs which are circularly positioned around the objective system. By correctly driving the coils, the objective system can be displaced with respect to the coil system in the X, Y and Z directions and can be rotated around the X and Y axes. The stroke in the X and Y directions is limited because the coils tightly enclose the objective system in the X-Y plane. When optical record carriers are scanned, a long stroke in the X direction is required so as to be able to place the scanning spot formed by the objective system on each track of the record carrier. To this end the coil system in the known device is placed in a carriage which is movable in the X direction over the required long stroke. A coarse control of the position along the X axis of the objective system can then be realised by means of the carriage, while the system of coils with the ring magnet ensures the fine control along the X axis.
A drawback of the known device is the relatively large mass of the carriage. This makes it difficult to realise a short access time to the tracks on the record carrier.

Optical scanner with a long fast access stroke


The alkylation of aromatic compound with acyclic mono-olefin is effected at low aromatic compound to mono-olefin ratios with reduced co-production of heavies. In the processes a small crystal, acidic FAU molecular sieve is used as a catalyst under alkylation conditions. This invention also relates to catalysts containing small crystal, acidic FAU molecular sieve and at least one other acidic catalytic component.

The alkylation of benzene with olefins is a widely practiced process, especially for the production of alkylbenzenes. Alkylbenzenes having alkyl groups of 8 to 14 carbon atoms per alkyl group, for instance, are commonly sulfonated to make surfactants. The alkylation conditions comprise the presence of homogeneous or heterogeneous alkylation catalyst such as aluminum chloride, hydrogen fluoride, or zeolitic catalysts and elevated temperature.
The catalysts are not selective and other reactions of olefins can occur to produce heavies, i.e., dimers, dialkylaryl compounds and diaryl compounds. Also, skeletal isomerization of the olefin can occur, resulting in a loss of selectivity to the sought alkylbenzene. The formation of dialkylaryl compounds is particularly problematic as the reaction approaches complete conversion of the olefin and the concentration of the alkylbenzene has thus increased thereby increasing the likelihood that an olefin molecule will react with an alkylbenzene molecule rather than benzene. Accordingly, typical processes use a large excess of benzene to reduce the molar ratio of the sought alkylbenzene to the olefin in the reactor. For homogeneous hydrogen fluoride catalyzed processes, the benzene to olefin ratio is generally in the range of 6:1 to 8:1. Solid catalysts are prone to generate more heavies. Hence, for these solid catalysts the mole ratio of benzene to olefin is typically greater than 15:1, often in excess of 20:1 and sometimes as much as 30:1.
The refining system for alkylbenzene production is summarized in Peter R. Pujado, Linear Alkylbenzene (LAB) Manufacture, Handbook of Petroleum Refining Processes, edited by Robert A. Meyers, Second Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, N.Y., USA, (1996), pp 1.53 to 1.66, especially pages 1.56 to 1.60. Especially for large-scale, commercial alkylation processes such as are used for the production of linear alkylbenzenes, capital and operating costs can be very important, and the reboiler heat required to recover benzene from the alkylbenzene is a significant portion of the energy required in the refining system. Thus, as the ratio of benzene to olefin increases, material additional process costs are also incurred in the recovery and recycling of the unreacted benzene in the alkylation product.
Although the use of hydrogen fluoride as the alkylation catalyst is being used in commercial processes at lower benzene to olefin ratios, the use and handling of hydrogen fluoride does provide operational concerns due to its toxicity, corrosiveness and waste disposal needs. Solid catalytic processes have been developed that obviate the need to use hydrogen fluoride. However, the high benzene to olefin ratios required to minimize heavies make with these solid catalysts have rendered them unattractive to retrofit a production unit using hydrogen fluoride catalyst. Moreover, reducing the benzene to olefin ratio without increasing the amount of heavies produced would render solid acid catalyst processes more attractive for new facilities as compared to the hydrogen fluoride processes. Accordingly, solid catalytic processes are sought to further enhance their attractiveness through reducing energy costs and improving selectivity of conversion while still providing an alkylbenzene of a quality acceptable for downstream use such as sulfonation to make surfactants.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,641,177 discloses the use of steam stabilized hydrogen Y and rare earth-hydrogen Y zeolites containing less than 1% Na for catalyzing the alkylation of benzene with olefins.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,876,408 discloses the use of and ammonium exchanged, steam stabilized zeolite Y for selective monoalkylation of aromatics with olefins, especially ethylene and propylene.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,027 discloses the use of low crystallinity, partially collapsed zeolite for producing alkyl aromatic hydrocarbons. The preferred zeolite is zeolite Y. The patentees state that the process has a high degree of selectivity to the monoalkylated product.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,977,319B2 discloses processes for making alkylated aromatics using catalyst compositions comprising zeolite Y and mordenite zeolite having a controlled macropore structure.
US Application Publication 2003/0147805A1 discloses processes for making nanocrystalline inorganic based zeolite such as zeolite Y. The zeolite Y is stated to be useful in a number of hydrocarbon conversion processes including the preparation of linear alkylbenzenes.
US Application Publication 2004/0162454A1 discloses hydrocarbon conversion processes using nanocrystalline zeolite Y.
US Application Publication 2005/0010072A1 discloses an alkylation process using at least two catalysts in at least two distinct reaction zones. A preferred process uses Y zeolite in one reaction zone and mordenite in the other zone.
US Application Publication 2006/0142624A1 discloses zeolite Y catalysts having controlled macropore structures for alkylation.
Gong, et al., in Catalytic Performance of Nanometer MCM-49 Zeolite for Alkylation Reaction of Benzene with 1-Dodecene, Chinese Journal of Catalysis, Vol. 25, No. 10, 809-813, October 2004, relate increased activity with high selectivity for 2- and 3-phenylalkanes using MCM-49 having a diameter of 300 to 500 nanometers and a thickness of 20 to 25 nanometers.

Processes for producing alkylbenzenes over solid acid catalyst at low benzene to olefin ratios and low heavies make


We describe techniques for restoring an audio signal. In embodiments these employ masked positive semi-definite tensor factorization to process the signal in the time-frequency domain. Broadly speaking the methods estimate latent variables which factorize a tensor representation of the (unknown) variance/covariance of an input audio signal, using a mask so that the audio signal is separated into desired and undesired audio source components. In embodiments a masked positive semi-definite tensor factorization of ψftk=MftkUfkVtk is performed, where M defines the mask and U, V the latent variables. A restored audio signal is then constructed by modifying the input signal to better match the variance/covariance of the desired components.

The introduction of unwanted sounds is a common problem encountered in audio recordings. These unwanted sounds may occur acoustically at the time of the recording, or be introduced by subsequent signal corruption. Examples of acoustic unwanted sounds include the drone of an air conditioning unit, the sound of an object striking or being struck, coughs, and traffic noise. Examples of subsequent signal corruption include electronically induced lighting buzz, clicks caused by lost or corrupt samples in digital recordings, tape hiss, and the clicks and crackle endemic to recordings on disc.
We have previously described techniques for attenuation/removal of an unwanted sound from an audio signal using an autoregressive model, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,978,862. However improvements can be made to the techniques described therein.

Restoring audio signals with mask and latent variables


A system for supporting security administration in a network system, includes a node-information memory storing node information indicative of security functions provided by hardwares and softwares of the network system, for each of the hardwares and each of the softwares, an input device which receives a set of rules as guidance relating to security of the network system, and topology information indicative of hardwares of the network system and softwares installed in each of the hardwares, and a correspondence maker which, based on the node information, makes correspondence between each of the rules and each of the hardwares or softwares indicated by the topology information.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system for supporting security administration, a method of supporting security administration, a program for supporting security administration, a system for displaying information, and a method of displaying information, and more particularly to such a system, method and program for supporting establishment and operation of security in a network system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, an information system making use of Internet is broadly used as infrastructure in company's commercial activity. With such broad use of an information system, a security system becomes important for avoiding illegal access to such an information system and menace to information asset by virus. In addition, various devices have been suggested as devices to be used for such an information system.
Companies making use of Internet tend to establish its own security policy. Herein, security policy indicates a set of guidance relating to securities in an organization, in other word, a set of guidance for avoiding various menaces. Hereinbelow, each of guidance about security is referred to as a rule. Thus, security policy is expressed as a set of rules.
Security policy includes rules determining policies for man's action, such as rules for allowing a person to enter a server room or rules for handling a recording medium. Security policy also includes rules for establishing securities in a system to be administrated. That is, rules indicating how contents of various items relating to security are determined are also included in security policy. It is necessary for a system administrator to establish security policy in accordance with rules as guidance for establishment of security.
A system administrator has to have expertise knowledge in order to establish appropriate security for a network system and safely and effectively run the network system. Even if a system administrator had such expertise knowledge, he has to receive remarkably much work load.
Thus, some attempts have been made to lighten work load of a system administrator.
For instance, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-94509 has suggested a system in which diagnosis policy and supervision policy are made, based on network structure definitions indicative of a structure of a computer network, and diagnosis and supervision results are analyzed to thereby output an analysis report. In accordance with the report, a system administrator analyzes a network structure again.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-247033 has suggested a system which establishes security in accordance with security policy for a network to be administrated. In the Publication, a "rule" is expressed as a "policy".
The suggested system includes an information security policy database, a security administration and supervision program database, a policy and security-set information mapping table, a security-set information database, and other databases. The information security policy database stores action programs of a policy, devices to which a policy is applied and a software to which a policy is applied all in association with each of policies. In the policy and security-set information mapping table are written items to be included in a program to be administrated, and set values recommended in the items. The security-set information database stores set contents of each of softwares.
In the suggested system, an image is displayed in a screen for a user to select elemental parts (devices, softwares and programs) constituting an information system which a user (system administrator) established or is going to establish, to thereby urge a user to select elemental parts. Once elemental parts have been selected, a set of policies applicable to the thus selected elemental parts is extracted out of the information security policy database. The system displays thus extracted set of policies, and requests a user to select a policy among them. Once a policy has been selected, the system stores security-set information associated with the selected policy in the security-set information database in light of the security-set information mapping table. If a plurality of entries matches to a set item, the system shows set values stored in the security-set information database to urge a user to select a set value.
A security operational system has been suggested for following latest security-hole information and security-patch information, and appropriately operating a network system in R. Sato & F. Tanemo, "A study on a Dynamic Reconfiguration System to Keep a Network in a Secure Condition", IPSJ S/G Notes Vol. 2002, No. 12, Feb. 14 and 15, 2002, pp. 169-174. In the suggested system, when new information about either a security hole or a solution to a security hole is input into the system, a server host which will be influenced by a new security hole is detected, based on information about devices constituting each of server hosts. The system transmits information indicative of a solution to a new security hole, to the thus detected server host.
A system having the same functions as those of the above-mentioned system is suggested in F. Tanemo et al., "Managed Security System: A Mechanism that Diagnoses and Reconfigures Hosts Based on Vulnerability Alert", NTT & RD Vol. 51, No. 9, 2002, pp. 737-747.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-324104 has suggested a method of setting security policy including the steps of identifying a policy-setting area by selecting a plurality of communication terminals constituting a virtual network to be constructed, on a screen in which a network map is displayed, selecting communication conditions out of a security-policy information storing table storing communication conditions including cipher algorithm, retrieving communication paths on a network, based on the identified setting area and the selected conditions, retrieving network devices constituting each of the retrieved communication paths, and applying the selected communication conditions to each of the network devices.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-157221 has suggested a system for finding a solution to security vulnerability points. In the suggested system, a host computer attacks a computer to be tested through a network to thereby detect security vulnerability points of the computer to be tested, and makes a file including a solution to the thus detected security vulnerability points. Then, the host computer applies the solution to the computer to be tested.
Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2000-261839 has suggested a system for administrating communication security. In the suggested system, inconsistency between security policies is detected without rendering secret information about different structures of security policies open, thereby preventing communication failure caused by a difference in security policy.
Each of rules included in security policy does not always indicate a content that a title of a hardware or software included in a system to be administrated is designated, and a certain setting is applied to the hardware or software. Hence, it is difficult to know correspondence between each of rules included in security policy and a hardware and software to which the each of rules is applied. As a result, a system administrator may set security policy which is short of or excessive over a system to be administrated. For instance, a system administrator may group a rule irrelevant to a hardware or software included in a system to be administrated, into security policy. As an alternative, a system administrator may forget setting a rule to be applied to a hardware or software. As an alternative, a system administrator may group rules which are contradictory to each other with respect to a common hardware or software, into security policy.
In particular, if a system administrator forgets setting a rule to be applied to a hardware or software, the hardware or software might become a security hole. That is, even though a certain hardware or software could have functions about security, if properly set, the certain hardware or software would operate in default setting, if a system administrator properly sets a rule for accomplishing such security functions. As a result, such a hardware or software cannot have security functions, resulting that the hardware or software is turned to a security hole.
As mentioned above, through a system administrator intends to properly accomplish functions of a hardware or software, if he/she forgot setting a rule, there would be caused a security hole.
The system suggested in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-94509 makes diagnosis policy and supervision policy, and carries out security diagnosis and security supervision for supporting a system administrator. However, correspondence between each of rules included in the security policy and a hardware or software to which the each of rules is applied is not made.
The system suggested in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-247033 displays a set of policies (rules) applicable to devices selected by a system administrator, and urges a system administrator to select security policy. However, the system is accompanied with a problem that a system administrator may set security policy short of or excessive over a system to be administrated. That is, when a plurality of values is set to a single item, the system displays the values, and urges a system administrator to select one of them. However, the system may fails to set a necessary value. In addition, the system does not consider topology of a system to be administrated.
As mentioned earlier, each of rules included in security policy does not always indicate a content of a hardware or software. Accordingly, a system administrator had to identify a content of each of set items in accordance with security policy, and properly set each of hardwares or softwares. In addition, commands for properly setting each of hardwares and each of softwares are different from one another, which exerts a burden on a system administrator when he/she sets each of hardwares and softwares.
If a system administrator receives information relating to a new security hole while he/she operates a network system, the system administrator has to remove such a security hole. In the systems suggested in the above-mentioned studies, a solution to a new security hole is applied to a host server having device-setting information coincident with information relating to a new security hole. As a result, a solution to a new security hole is applied to all of host servers having the same device-setting information. However, host servers having the same device-setting information are not always accompanied with a problem of a security hole. If the same solution to a security hole is applied to all of host servers, a host or hosts to which a solution is not necessary to be applied may be accompanied with a new problem.

System for supporting security administration and method of doing the same


Methods for classifying, anchoring, and transforming ink are disclosed. Ink drawings and ink annotations are captured and stored with additional information that allows the various described methods to associate the ink with one or more displayed elements. During reformatting or re-flowing a displayed document, the ink may be properly displayed as originally intended.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure generally relates to the electronic display of documents. More particularly, the disclosure relates to the placement and use of ink and annotations in electronically displayed documents.
2. Related Art
Many factors today drive the development of computers and computer software. One of these factors is the desire to provide accessibility to information virtually anytime and anywhere. The proliferation of notebook computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and other personal electronic devices reflect the fact that users want to be able to access information wherever they may be, whenever they want. In order to facilitate greater levels of information accessibility, the presentation of information must be made gas familiar and comfortable as possible.
In this vein, one way to foster success of electronic presentations of information will be to allow users to handle information in a familiar manner. Stated another way, the use and manipulation of electronically-presented information may mimic those paradigms that users are most familiar with, e.g., printed documents, as an initial invitation to their use. As a result, greater familiarity between users and their "machines" will be engendered, thereby fostering greater accessibility, even if the machines have greater capabilities and provide more content to the user beyond the user's expectations. Once users feel comfortable with new electronic presentations, they will be more likely to take advantage of an entire spectrum of available functionality.
One manner of encouraging familiarity is to present information in an electronic book format in which a computer displays information in a manner that closely resembles printed books. In order to more completely mimic a printed book, users will need to have the ability to make textual notes to themselves, akin to writing in the margins of paper books. Users will also want to highlight selected portions, as these are active-reading activities of which a user would expect to see in an electronic book. Users will want to add drawings, arrows, underlining, strike-throughs, and the like, also akin to writing in paper books. Finally, users will want to add bookmarks.
The above-identified so-called "active-reading" activities are available. In the case of any computer application with GUI that displays text, it can be assumed that the displayed text is of primary significance to the user. If the process of adding ink-marks to the primary text negatively impacts the presentation of the primary text, then the user is unlikely to frequently ink-annotate the electronic information and/or is unlikely to have a satisfactory ink-annotation experience. As a result, the perception of electronic books (or e-Books) as a step forward from paper books will suffer. What is needed is a mechanism to enhance the e-Book ink-annotation feature to match or surpass a similar experience with paper books.
Handwriting, scribbling, and marking on text are the most highly developed skills humans have for capturing short and graphical comments on documents. Only when computers can support these activities can they match the handiness of paper. Handwriting need not be recognized by the computer in order to be useful. But, it must be applicable wherever one could expect to be able to handwrite on a displayed document page. The writing should be visible without requiring any additional obstruction of the document, and without requiring any change to the layout of the document. Known methods for annotating documents fall short of these goals. Further, always associating an annotation with a singular element (a given page, for example) may create difficulties in rendering when re-flowing the text of a document. These difficulties include rending the annotation on a page different from the original subject of the annotation.

Classifying, anchoring, and transforming ink


A data processing apparatus is disclosed, having: an instruction decoder configured to decode a stream of instructions, a data processor configured to process the decoded stream of instructions; wherein in response to a plurality of adjacent instructions within the stream of instructions execution of which is dependent upon a data condition being met and whose execution when said data condition is not met does not change a state of said processing apparatus, the processor is configured to: commence determining whether the data condition is met or not; and commence processing said plurality of adjacent instructions; and in response to determining that said data condition is not met; skip to a next instruction to be executed after said plurality of adjacent instructions without executing any intermediate ones of said plurality of adjacent instructions not yet executed and continue execution at the next instruction.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to data processing apparatus and in particular to the processing of predicated instructions that is instructions whose execution is dependent upon data conditions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conditional instructions whose execution is dependent upon particular data conditions are known. For example, the set of instructions CMP x y, ADDGE, SUBLIT compare two values stored in locations x and y and add them together if x is greater than or equal to y and subtract them from each other if x is less than y.
Vector instructions that perform operations on multiple data elements are becoming more common. They often use masks to control which elements are processed. For example, executing an 8-element vector store instruction using the mask 10000001 would only store 2 elements (the first and last). A common optimisation when writing vectorised code that uses masks in this way is to recognize that a sequence of instructions are all controlled by the same mask and to insert a branch around all of these instructions if the mask is zero, as in this case none of the instructions would do anything. Thus, the code would become:
VCMP D0, D1, D2; compare D1 and D2 put result mask in D0VTEST D0;test if all bits in D0 are zeroBEQ L1;if mask is zero skip the next 10 operationsD0 → VOP1;perform vector operation 1 under control of maskD0D0 → VOP2;perform vector operation 2 under control of maskD0...D0 → VOP10;perform vector operation 10 under control of maskD0L1
This is very effective if the mask is often zero as then the test and branch cost only two instructions and avoid the need to perform the 10 instructions that would be performed if the branch were absent. However, a problem with this prior art approach is that the branch is data dependent in that whether it is taken or not is dependent upon two data values D1 and D2. Data dependent branches are very hard to predict and thus, if branch prediction is used to speed up the operation the branch may often be mispredicted and if it is predicted to be taken when it should not have been taken the state of the machine will need to be rolled back to the state it was in before the branch was taken. When performing vector processing saving the state of the machine at a certain point is expensive in area due to the length of the data words.
It would be desirable to be able to improve the performance of conditional instruction execution

Controlling the execution of adjacent instructions that are dependent upon a same data condition


Injection devices are disclosed for injections of substances. The disclosed devices separately may hold two separate substances, e.g., solid, liquid or gas substances, in separate compartments which are interrupted so that the separate substances come into contact during the activation of the device. One disclosed device includes a needle for injection and two substances that are mixed with only a few actions by the operator of the device. The device may or may not activate mixing by the removal of a sleeve which triggers compartment interaction through movement of pins, pegs, springs, wires, string, or other mechanisms which allow the materials held in separate chambers to come into contact with each other. Operator error during mixing and checking the dosage of substances to be injected is avoided with the disclosed devices. Also, the needle is maintained in a sterile state because the needle is held internally of the device until the sleeve is removed and the device begins to activate.

1. Technical Field
Devices are disclosed for rapidly mixing and delivering substances, such a lyophilized or spray dried substances. For example, devices are disclosed for rapidly mixing and injecting solid stored substances, such as glucagon, vaccines, animal products, combat medications, antibodies, recombinant proteins, anti-venoms, vitamins, drugs, compounds, and many others, for use in many different types of therapies and treatments are possible. Methods of rapidly treating hypoglycemia and other conditions are also disclosed.
2. Description of the Related Art
Diabetes mellitus affects over 24 million Americans and is the seventh leading cause of death nationally. Approximately 17.9 million diabetics have been diagnosed in the United States. Diabetes can take two forms: Types I and II. Type I patients cannot produce insulin while Type II patients suffer from impaired glucose regulatory pathways or insulin production. Both Types I and II patients require treatment with insulin injections, lifestyle changes, monitoring, or oral medications.
Hypoglycemia is a condition of lower than normal blood sugar that results in a lifestyle of a diabetic patient. Hypoglycemia can result in coma, seizure, or even death in 2-4% of diabetics. Decreased levels of glucose can have damaging effects on the brain or other organs. The incidence of hypoglycemia in the diabetic population is hard to measure because so many the level of hypoglycemia amongst diabetics varies. Usually, a type I diabetic experiences a severe hypoglycemia episode at least once per year and mild episodes several times per week, Type II diabetics have a 20% chance of having a severe attack sometime during their life but also have mild episodes in higher frequencies. A blood glucose level below 50 mg/dL is considered a severe episode of hypoglycemia. However, as patients age, some lose their ability to recognize symptoms.
Diabetics currently only have two options to treat severe hypoglycemia. Both options are hypoglycemic rescue kits manufactured by Nova Nordisk and Eli Lilly. These kits comprise a single needle filled with a sterile solution, and a vial of glucagon/lactose powder which is mixed to and injected into the patient by hand. This method is dangerous and not effective for a wide number of potential users who are unfamiliar with needles, or have trouble focusing on the need to mix the powder and liquid during the stress of an attack on themselves or a person whom they are assisting in an emergency.
Accordingly, improved devices and methods for conveniently and quickly delivering medical products to a patient are needed.

Compact device for rapidly mixing and delivering substances to a patient


Innerspring coils for innersprings for mattresses and other reflexive support structures, have generally helical coil bodies and at least one non-helical segment or step which extends between one or both axial ends of the coil body and one or both of the coil ends. The step or steps may be linear or non-linear, and parallel to or angularly disposed with respect to a longitudinal axis of the coil body. When located proximate to a coil end, the step extends out of the plane in which the coil end lies. One or more steps may alternatively be formed intermediate to helical turns of the helical coil body.

Mattress innersprings, or simply "innersprings", made of matrices or arrays of a plurality of wire form springs or coils, have long been used as the reflexive core of a mattress padding and upholstery is arranged and attached around the innerspring. Innersprings made of formed steel wire are mass produced by machinery which forms the coils from steel wire stock and interconnects or laces the coils together in the matrix array. With such machinery, design attributes of innersprings can be selected and modified, from the gauge of the wire, the coil design or combinations of designs, coil orientation relative to adjacent coils in the matrix array, and the manner of interconnection or lacing of the coils.
Mattresses and other types of cushions have for decades been constructed to be "double-sided" or in other words symmetrical in cross-section, wherein the configuration and arrangement of materials and components is identical on each side. Double-sided symmetrical construction enables flipping of the cushion or mattress to obtain the same support characteristics on a fresh uncompressed side. It was long held that this was necessary to allow compressed layers of padding, particularly natural materials such as cotton batting or fowl feathers, to decompress while the opposite side was used as the support side. But with the advent of improved materials for the padding layers, including foam materials with excellent resilience which promptly return to an uncompressed or substantially uncompressed state, the padded support side does not require a prolonged recovery period as was provided by flipping to an performance for the life of the product. This has led to the recent development of "one-sided" mattresses, designed and constructed to have only one support permanent support side or surface, with an opposite side designed for permanent support by and contact with the top side of a box spring or foundation. One-sided or "no-flip" mattresses are thus designed to concentrate essentially all of the support and comfort features at or near the single support side, with the opposite or bottom side serving only as a platform for support by a foundation. The amount and quality of padding and other filling materials at or near the support side is therefore dramatically greater than at the opposite bottom side.
A recent trend in mattress design is the one-sided "no flip" mattresses, having only one surface or weight-bearing side. In one-sided mattresses, padding is eliminated from the bottom side an augmented on the support side. However, despite this radical change in the padding placement, the innerspring design has not been changed or designed for one-sided support performance. Instead, the construction of one-sided mattresses has continued to use conventional innersprings, which, due to their symmetrical construction resulting from the use of generally symmetrical coils as manufactured by coil production, have two sides (as defined by the coils ends) which provide reflective support. In this respect, in a one-sided mattress made with a conventional innerspring, there is a substantial amount of wire material and structure on the bottom side of the innerspring which is excessive and not required for adequate or optimal performance of the single support surface.
Among the many design attributes of wire form innersprings, the height and stiffness of the individual coil springs are especially important. The overall height of a mattress is dictated in part by the height of the coils, and tall coils such as in the 5.5 inch-8.0 inch range are desirable for American style high profile mattresses. High height coils and innersprings present a greater engineering challenge to maintain adequate stiffness. In helical shaped coils, stiffness generally decreases with height, which is achieved by forming a greater number of helical turns of wire in the body of the coil. The smaller helical angle between the more numerous turns of the coil requires less force for compression. Although this provides a softer support structure, it can be too soft to provide adequate and long-lasting support in a one-sided mattress. Also, when the number of helical turns is increased symmetrically about the length of the coil, this adds wire at the bottom end of the coil where there is no direct load applied in a one-sided mattress. The stiffness of coils can be increased by using heavier gauge wire, but this adds significantly to weight and material costs. Therefore, simply increasing the number of coil turns in the coils of an innerspring is not a practical solution to creating a high height or high profile innerspring for use in a one-sided mattress.
A primary factor in innerspring design is material cost, namely that of steel wire. Although heavier gauge wire can be used to increase stiffness, as mentioned this increases material and handling costs. Also, heavier gauge wire induces a greater amount of wear on the wire forming equipment used to manufacture innersprings. A coil design which has adequate or augmented height and stiffness, and which is configured to have one of many weight-bearing end and which requires a lesser amount of material than conventional symmetrical coils would be desirable.
In this respect, in a one-sided mattress with a conventional innerspring, there is a substantial amount of material and structure on the bottom side of the innersprings which is excessive and not required for adequate or optimal performance. Among the many design attributes of a wire form innerspring, height and stiffness of especially important. The overall height of a mattress is dictated in part by the height of the coils, and tall coils such as in the 6.5-7.5 in range are desirable for American style tall profile mattresses. High height coils and innersprings present a greater engineering challenge to maintain adequate stiffness, which generally decreases with height as achieved by a greater number of helical trims of wire per coil.
Another factor in innerspring design is material cost, namely that of steel wire. Although heavier gauge wire can be used to increase stiffness, this of course increases the cost. Also, heavier gauge wire induces a greater amount of wear on the wire forming equipment. A coil design which has adequate height and stiffness, and which is configured to have one of many weight-bearing end and which requires a lesser amount of material than conventional symmetrical coils would be desirable.

Innerspring coils and innersprings with non-helical segments


According to an embodiment, a display control system includes a recognizer, a calculator, and a display controller. The recognizer is configured to recognize sound generated from a sound source. The calculator is configured to calculate a first direction of the sound source from a position of a user based at least in part on the recognized sound. The display controller is configured to cause a display to output display information that visually expresses the sound in a first display format determined based at least in part on an angle between a second direction in which the user faces and the first direction of the sound source.

Conventionally, a technique for displaying an image including text information expressing voice in a display device such as a head mounted display (HMD) or a smart device has been known.
In the conventional technique, however, it has been difficult to visually express a sound field including sound from a sound source out of a user's field of vision.

Display control system, display control method, and computer program product using display sectors in one revolution of clockwise or counterclockwise direction


The effect of the fluctuation of a signal that is caused by interference between the lines of an image display apparatus can be reduced. For this purpose, an image display apparatus comprises a plurality of lines, a plurality of display devices to which signals are respectively transmitted along the lines, and a signal circuit for generating the signals. The signal circuit outputs a signal having a duration, which is equivalent to a high-level period, that has been corrected in accordance with the length of a high-level period for a signal that is to be transmitted to an adjacent line of each line or in accordance with the number of times the level of a signal that is to be transmitted to an adjacent line is changed during the high-level period, or in order to reduce a change in luminance due to a level change for a signal that is to be transmitted to an adjacent line. Preferably, to correct a luminance signal that is input to terminal d, a crosstalk correction unit employs for its own line luminance signals for adjacent lines.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus and to a method for employing a display device to display an image. In particular, the present invention pertains to an arrangement for forming an image on a plane.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 15 is a diagram illustrating a conventional image display apparatus that displays an image by employing pulse width modulation for which all start times for driving modulation signals are identical. FIG. 16 is a timing chart showing the operational timing for the image display apparatus. In FIG. 15, the image display apparatus comprises: a timing controller 1, for generating the operational timing for the apparatus; an A/D converter 2, for converting an image signal S1 into a digital signal S2 representing the luminance of each pixel; a display panel 4, across which display devices are distributed, one at each intersection of lines arranged as columns and rows; a column selection controller 3, for controlling the selection of the lines arranged as columns on the display panel 4; a shift register 5, for distributing the digital image signal S2; PWM generators 6, for performing pulse width modulation for a luminance signal received by the shift register 5 and for controlling the display luminance; and a row driver 7, which includes the shift register 5 and the PWM generators 6.
With this arrangement, an input image signal S1 is converted by the A/D converter 2 into a digital signal S2 representing the luminance of each pixel, and the digital signal is transmitted to the PWM generator 6 for a pixel. Each of the PWM generators 6 employs a signal from the timing controller 1 to modulate the luminance signal to obtain a pulse length, and drives a line arranged as a row on the display panel 4. At the same time, the column selection controller 3 sequentially drives a column corresponding to a pixel that is to be displayed. Individual devices can therefore be driven in accordance with the image signals.
The structure of a PWM generator 6 is shown in FIG. 17, and the operational timing is shown in FIG. 19. In FIG. 17, a clock generator 10 supplies a clock pulse S10. Upon the arrival of the clock pulse at a terminal CK, a down counter 11 decrements by one the value held by an internal register ct (not shown). When the counter value reaches 0, the counting by the down counter 11 is halted and a terminal NZ is set high. Then, when a pulse is input at a terminal LOAD, the down counter 11 loads an input value DATA into the internal register, and resumes the counting. And an output driver 12 receives the level set for the terminal NZ of the down counter 11 and drives the display panel 4.
A signal S11 received at the terminal LOAD of the down counter 1 is a timing signal for loading the luminance signal S12, and is either a horizontal synchronization signal or another signal based on it. The luminance signal S12 input at the terminal DATA is a digital luminance signal; a signal S13 (FIG. 19) is a value held in the register ct of the down counter 11; a signal S14 goes high when the internal register value S13 is other than 0; and a signal S15 emitted by the output driver 12 is a modulation signal output in accordance with the signal S14.
In FIG. 15, the thus arranged PWM generator 6 performs the above operation to modulate into a pulse length the luminance signal received from the shift register 5, and outputs the resultant signal to the display panel 4.
In the arrangement in FIG. 15, for example, a floating capacitance called an inter-line capacitance is present between the individual lines of the display panel 4. If a drive signal having a waveform shown in FIG. 20 is to be transmitted to the n-th line, for example, the signal for the n-th line is affected by the trailing edges of drive signals that are transmitted to the adjacent (n−1)th and (n+1)th lines, and its waveform is distorted as is shown in FIG. 21. This occurs because of crosstalk induced by inter-line capacitance.


A method for carrying out a mass polymerization of monomers and/or pre-polymers, which are at least partially soluble in their polymers, in particular methyl methacrylate (MMA) is provided. The method involves the addition of at least one monomer or pre-polymer in a reactor. Mass polymerization for amorphous polymers is carried out without solvents below the glass transition temperature and for crystalline polymers below the melting point, achieving a high degree of conversion of the monomers.

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for carrying out a mass polymerization of monomers and/or prepolymers which are at least partly soluble in their polymers, in particular of methyl methacrylate (MMA), at least one monomer or prepolymer being metered into a reactor.
(2) Prior Art
The polymerization in a kneading reactor with or without solvent was also investigated and is described in DE 101 40 217.1/EP 10122571.7.
Polymerization is understood as meaning the conversion of low molecular weight compounds (monomers, oligomers) into high molecular weight compounds (polymers, macromolecules). Thus, the industrial production of polymers can be effected under heterogeneous or homogeneous conditions. Heterogeneous reactions are understood as meaning polymerization in suspension/emulsion, precipitation reactions and the fixed-bed procedure.
The suspension/emulsion polymerization methods are usually carried out in stirred vessels (viscosity is low). Large amounts of water and different additives are, however, required in order to produce segregation/heterogeneity.
The precipitation polymerization is frequently effected using thermodynamic separation of the polymer from its monomer and/or a solvent. A precondition for this is that the polymer is insoluble in the monomer or the solvent. In this method of production, the polymer is precipitated.
The continuous fixed-bed procedure operates with back-mixing. The already reacted polymer is mixed back in the direction of metering. This gives a heterogeneous mixture between liquid metering and prepared (polymerized) product. The result is a heterogeneous granular polymer material in which the liquid monomer or prepolymer completely polymerizes around the solid particles, these solid particles already having been polymerized.
Homogeneous mass polymerization is understood as meaning that the polymer forms a homogeneous solution in its monomer. The first condition to be fulfilled is that the polymer is readily soluble in its monomer. Such a defined homogeneous polymerization system can also operate with the above-mentioned fixed-bed procedure, with the result that the polymerization method takes place heterogeneously in this case because the monomer or prepolymer metered in has no time properly to dissolve its back-mixed granular polymer. Here, the limitation is the diffusion of the monomer into the polymer particles.
During the homogeneous mass polymerization of methyl methacrylate (MMA) with high monomer conversion, the polymer forms a solid or highly viscous polymer material which can block or shut down any conventionally operated reactor (e.g. CSTR, stirred vessel).
In order to overcome these mixing problems (limitations of heat transfer and mass transfer lead to local overheating and concentration segregation) which are associated with the highly viscous polymer material, various possible methods were proposed in the prior art for the homogeneous polymerization of MMA. Among these useful possibilities were:                a) the polymerization with high monomer conversion carried out at high temperature in order to reduce the melt viscosity. However, some parameters, such as the ceiling temperature (at which an equilibrium occurs between polymerization and depolymerization), can influence this possibility (Fleury P. A., Meyer T., Renken A., Dechema (1992), Volume 127, VCH, "Methyl methacrylate polymerization in a tubular reactor: product quality and reactor behavior"). Sulzer Chemtec has, for example, developed a continuous, homogeneous polymerization of styrene and MMA (methyl methacrylate) in a circulation reactor having static mixing elements. This method requires high temperatures (>>Tg, well above the glass transition temperature) in order to keep the viscosity of the reaction material low and hence to avoid deposits on the reactor walls and on the mixing elements. However, such high temperatures have undesired side effects, for example the formation of oligomers or depolymerization. In the case of styrene, these side effects are not problematic; however, for MMA, the depolymerization begins at as low as 155° C. (stabilizers are then required).        b) Dilution of the polymerization mixture with a large amount of an inert, liquid phase (solvent), which prevents the solidification of the reaction material for the polymerization with high monomer conversion and at low/medium temperature (close to Tg). The disadvantage of this method is the necessity of providing an expensive separation step with solvent recovery/treatment. Moreover, the use of solvents results in both a lower molecular weight and a reduced polymerization rate. For quality reasons, the PMMA producers do not wish the presence of solvents.        c) Polymerization in a CSTR (continuous stirred tank reactor) without a solvent at a medium temperature (close to Tg) up to a maximum monomer conversion of from 50 to 60%. The monomer conversion is limited in order to avoid a run away reaction in which the Trommsdorff effect causes stability problems in a conventionally stirred tank reactor. The large amounts of unreacted monomer must be separated from PMMA in an extruder and recycled. This is the conventional preparation method.

Method for carrying out a mass polymerization


An output circuit includes a totem-pole output circuit for driving a power MOSFET. A pull-up circuit and a pull-down circuit drive the output node low or high as required. The circuit prevents the pull-up and pull-down circuits from simultaneously conducting current. The pull-up circuit has a pull-up threshold voltage and the pull-down circuit has a pull-down threshold voltage such that the pull-up circuit is turned off before the pull-down circuit is activated when the output node is switched from a high state to a low state and further wherein the pull-down circuit is turned off before the pull-up circuit is activated when the output node switches from a low state to a high state. The pull-up circuit is held off when the output node is switched from a high state to a low state by two diodes from the output node to an input of the pull-up circuit. The diodes are connected in series, one diode having its anode coupled to the output node and the cathode of the other diode coupled to the input of pull-up circuit. The pull-down circuit is cut off before the pull-up Darlington drives the output from low to high by having the pull-down threshold higher than the pull-up threshold. A resistor connected between the base of the controlling transistor for the pull-up Darlington and the ground shortens the output low-to-high propagation delay time and the output rise time by shunting transient parasitic capacitance current of the pull-up controlling transistor to the ground.

In conventional bipolar totem-pole drivers for power MOSFET's it is possible for both the pull-up and pull-down circuits to conduct at the same time during transients. Spikes of current flow from the positive supply to the ground, resulting in excessive power losses at high switching frequencies. The switching transient spikes can also deleteriously affect the operation of other sensitive circuits.
The circuit described in this patent eliminates transient cross-conduction current by preventing the pull-up and pull-down circuits from conducting simultaneously. Other design considerations for the circuit described include reduced switching time and means of producing temperature independent, non-overlapped conduction intervals for cross-conduction elimination.

Power MOSFET driver with cross-conduction current reduction


A board game apparatus including two playing boards, each having a different playing surface with a plurality of triangular playing spaces upon which are positioned and moved two sets of playing pieces, one for each player. Each set of playing pieces includes a number of pieces which are separately movable to different groups of the triangular playing spaces. The players alternately move one piece each with the objective being to threaten the opposing player's most important piece with imminent capture.

The invention concerns a board game for two opponent players, consisting of 54 equilateral triangular spaces of two alternating colors inside of an inner rectangle where play takes place, two sets of 18 three-dimensional pieces each set and two sets of 18 circular game chips each set, rules of movement and capture and the object of the game.