A thumb actuated system for adjusting the magnification of a variable power (zoom) scope mounted on a rifle without removing the rifle from the shooting position. The magnification adjustment system, which is removably securable to the ocular end of the scope housing proximate the rotatably adjustable zoom lens arrangement, includes a multipositional lever assembly which may be easily manipulated by the thumb of a shooter's trigger hand while in the shooting position, a gearing system for producing a rotational force in response to the thumb actuated movement of the multipositional lever assembly and a belt system for applying the rotational force provided by the gearing system to the rotatably adjustable zoom lens arrangement, thereby adjusting the magnification of the variable power scope.

A telescopic gunsight, hereafter referred to as a scope, is essentially a telescope containing an aiming reference point (reticle), for mounting on a rifle. The magnification provided by a scope generally offers many advantages over the iron sights found on most rifles. For example, a scope can increase the visibility of a distant animal or target and/or assist in the identification and location of game. Often, an animal that would ordinarily go unnoticed in protective cover stands out more clearly when viewed through a scope. Similarly, while deer hunting, a distant deer may appear as a buck or a doe through iron sights; with a scope, a hunter can more easily identify the sex of the deer and even determine the size of the buck's rack. A scope may also add a margin of safety to hunting by reducing the number of accidental shootings. What may look like a deer, bear or other animal with the naked eye may well turn out to be a camouflaged hunter when viewed through a scope. A scope may also serve as an aid to failing eyesight. For example, older hunters or shooters with reduced eye accommodation generally have difficulty with iron sights when trying to simultaneously focus the rear sight, the front sight and the target, which are all located at different distances from the eye. With a scope, this difficulty disappears because the image of a target or game is placed directly on the reticle. Consequently, when the shooter's eye is focused on the reticle, it is also focused on the target.
The primary function of a scope is to make a distant object look closer by making it appear larger. This function is achieved by the relative arrangement of the various lenses within the housing of the scope. Typically, rifle scopes are available in a wide variety of fixed powers ranging from approximately 1.5x to 30x or greater and with variable powers offering a broad range of magnifications including 11/2x to 6x, 3x to 9x, 6x to 24x and others. Although fixed power scopes are generally smaller, lighter and less expensive than variable power scopes, they are not as versatile and are limited in their application. In particular, the field of view (the width of the area visible through the scope) provided by a fixed power scope may not be appropriate for different types of hunting or shooting. For example, while the narrow field of view and greater magnification provided by a high power scope may be sufficient and desirable for target shooting or for long range hunting of stationary game, it is generally unsuitable for quick shots at a moving target or animal. Conversely, while the wider field of view provided by a lower power scope is highly important for close shooting or for running shots because it allows a target to be more easily tracked through the scope, the magnification provided by the lower power scope may not be appropriate for long range hunting or for competitive target shooting. Thus, a shooter must make a tradeoff between magnification and field of view when purchasing a fixed power scope.
A variable power scope avoids the above-described disadvantages of fixed power scopes by providing an adjustable range of magnification and an adjustable field of view. A variable power scope typically includes an elongated housing (main tube) containing a collective lens, an erector lens and an adjustable reticle, an ocular lens arrangement (eyepiece) located at the end of the housing nearest the shooter's eye, an objective lens arrangement located at the end of the housing closest to the muzzle of the rifle and a rotatably adjustable zoom lens arrangement located proximate the eyepiece or integral therewith. The magnification of a variable power scope may be quickly adjusted by manually rotating an element such as a ring or sleeve located about the perimeter of the zoom lens arrangement.
Correct hand positioning is essential for the proper support and immobilization of a rifle while aiming and/or shooting at a target. This is particularly true for rifles with scopes mounted thereon because the magnification provided by the scope increases the apparent tremors of the sight picture. For example, when holding a scope mounted rifle in the right handed shooting position, a shooter typically supports and stabilizes the forearm of the rifle with the left hand, tucks the butt of the rifle into the pocket of the right shoulder, grasps the pistol grip of the rifle with the right hand and positions the right eye according to the eye relief of the scope. In this position, the stock and forearm of the rifle are primarily supported by the fingers and palms of the right and left hands, respectively. In general, the index finger of the right hand is placed on or near the trigger of the rifle the middle, ring and pinkie fingers are secured around the underside of the pistol grip and the thumb is wrapped thereover. Similarly, the fingers of the left hand are commonly wrapped around the forearm of the rifle with the palm facing upwards. Unfortunately, in order to adjust the magnification of currently available variable power rifle scopes, a shooter must remove the rifle and/or one or both hands from the shooting position prior to any manual manipulation of the rotating element on the zoom lens arrangement, thereby resulting in the potential loss of a previously sighted target or animal from within the field of view of the scope and the possible forfeiture of a shooting opportunity.
A powered zoom rifle scope which utilizes a thumb operated switch located on the upper surface of the eyepiece to control a motorized zoom lens assembly has recently been developed in an attempt to overcome the above-described problem. Although it is an object of this scope to allow for the thumb actuated adjustment of the zoom lens assembly while maintaining a shooting finger on the trigger of the rifle, the location of the thumb manipulated switch requires the shooter to remove the thumb and palm of the trigger hand from their shooting position on the pistol grip of the rifle and to maneuver the trigger hand into a very unnatural and uncomfortable position. Consequently, the rifle may be prone to significant movement during the magnification adjustment of the zoom lens assembly, thereby resulting in the potential loss of a target from within the field of view of the scope. More importantly, however, the rotational movement of the trigger hand that is required to correctly position the thumb on the eyepiece switch tends to force the trigger finger of the shooter against the trigger of the rifle, possibly resulting in an accidental firing of the rifle.

Magnification adjustment system for a variable power rifle scope


An information processing apparatus having a simplified switching function of a user is disclosed that can reduce the processing burden upon a CPU and eliminate an action that is not intended by its user. If an application, which implements a function of a device or the like that is not supported as a standard device by an OS and is started up for each user, has been started up by a first user who is not active at present, that is, a user in a logon state whose desktop has been switched to that of a second user, then part of the processing of the application is temporarily stopped. Then, if it is detected that the first user is rendered operative, that is, when the desktop is switched to that of the first user, the processing of the application of the first user is re-started. Since the processing of the application by the user (first user) who is not active at present is temporarily stopped partially, the other user (second user) who is active at present can execute its processing without being influenced by the processing of the former user.

This invention relates to a technique for reducing the processing burden on a calculation section and preventing occurrence of an action not intended by a user in an apparatus in which an operating system having a simplified switching function of a user is incorporated.
As one of operating systems ready for multiple users and multiple tasks for use with a computer system, an operating system having a simplified switching function of a user (for example, Windows XP: trademark of Microsoft) is known. The operating system of the type mentioned provides a function (function on a local computer) convenient where a single computer is used by a plurality of users. In particular, since the operating system allows switching from a first user to a second user to be performed through authentication of the person itself by inputting of a password or the like while the first user remains in a logon state without the necessity for a logoff operation by the first use. It is advantageous in that, for example, when members of a family use a single computer commonly, each member can use the same application by changing over the desktop.
However, all of devices and hardware elements, which compose a computer, are not always supported or managed in a standardized fashion by an operating system (hereinafter referred to simply as OS) incorporated in the computer. For example, the following devices or hardware elements are not supported or managed in a standardized fashion:
(a) Operation apparatus provided in addition to standard operation inputting apparatus;
(b) Special operation keys unique to the apparatus; and
(c) Devices provided additionally or connected as options, or devices that can be connected in a form selected by a user from among a plurality of forms, and so forth.
For example, while a keyboard and a mouse are standardized operation inputting apparatus and supported as standard apparatus by an OS, some other operation apparatus can be added for the object of enhancement of the operability, assistance to an operation and so forth. If a dial type operation apparatus is taken as an example, it allows a higher speed operation, because a desired choice can be selected from among a plurality of choices by a rotating operation of the dial and the selected choice can be settled by a pressing operation of the dial.
Meanwhile, as special operation keys, for example, a hotkey (simultaneous operation of a "Fn" key and a function key) or a shortcut key that realizes a corresponding function by depressing a desired function key or the like while a particular key on a keyboard is kept depressed, an image pickup operation key on an apparatus in which a camera is incorporated, an operation key (PPK: Programmable Power Key) for making the power supply available and performing automatic start up of an application, and so forth may be listed.
As an additional device, for example, an input/output device (for example, a card reader/writer), which is required when an application is used, may be listed.
Also, although there are devices that are supported or managed to some degree in a standardized fashion by an OS, these do not provide a sufficient service in regard to the convenience to the user because they are not sufficiently ready for a simplified switching function of a user. For example, such devices as a battery and an AC adapter may be listed as such.
Since such devices or hardware elements as mentioned above naturally function almost hardly if they remain incorporated in an apparatus, corresponding software is required, and a user uses them through the software. Further, for example, for the dial type operation apparatus described above, a utility therefor is available. Also a hotkey processing program, a camera application for acquiring a still picture or a moving picture in response to depression of the image pickup operation key, a utility for making the power supply available and performing automatic startup of a pertaining application when a particular key is depressed are available. Further, a device driver, a management utility, or the like is installed when necessary.
For power supply circuits and apparatus such as a battery and an AC adapter, a power supply managing utility for performing supervision, setting and so forth regarding information relating to a power supply or supplies is used. The power supply managing utility has various functions such as acquisition of information of the remaining capacity of a battery, alarming (notification by voice or a display on a screen) of the shortage of the remaining capacity, and supervision against removal of a plug of an AC adapter connected to a commercial AC power supply or removal of a battery from the apparatus or against disconnection and notification to a user.
Such various applications and utilities are hereinafter referred to as "object applications".
In conventional apparatus, the following problem occurs when an object application is started up and used on an OS that has the simplified switching function of a user described above.
It is assumed now that an OS having the simplified switching function of a user is installed and two or more users are registered in one computer. Thus, the registered users can use the same application through switching therebetween.
For example, in order to switch from a user A to another user B to use an object application, the procedure is as follow:
Step 1. Startup of the computer
Step 2. Logon of the user A
Step 3. Startup of the object application by the user A
Step 4. Switching operation to the user B
Step 5. Switching to a passing screen ("Welcome screen", hereinafter described)
Step 6. Logon of the user B
Step 7. Startup of the object application by the user B.
For example, if it is assumed that the object application is software for implementing a function of a dial type operation apparatus described hereinabove, then the object application is started up by the user A at the "step 3" described above, and the object application is started up by the user B at the "step 7" described above. Therefore, at the latter point of time, the two applications (processes) are operating simultaneously on the computer.
Accordingly, for example, if the user B rotates the dial, then the object applications of both of the users B and A react with the rotation of the dial, which gives rise to some trouble in action such as troubles caused by an influence of an action or setting of a certain user upon all users.
From the problem just described, the load on the CPU is increased by an application operating on the background, or an unintended action or the like occurs. Therefore, the simplified user switching function is not made the most of or cannot be utilized conveniently.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Information processing apparatus having simplified user switching function and program for use therewith


A method and system for determining attenuation and controlling uplink power in a satellite communication system includes receiving a beacon signal and establishing a clear sky uplink power value. A fade value is determined in response to the beacon signal and in response to the clear sky uplink power value and the fade value, an uplink power is determined. The fade value corresponds to a delta value in addition to the clear sky uplink power to obtain the final uplink power.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Satellite broadcasting of television signals has increased in popularity. Satellite television providers continually offer more and unique services to their subscribers to enhance the viewing experience. Providing reliability in a satellite broadcasting system is therefore an important goal of satellite broadcast providers.
One aspect of broadcasting satellite signals is compensating for attenuation in the uplink and downlink signals. Uplinking and downlinking attenuation is typically controlled by increasing the uplink power. Therefore, it is desirable to determine the amount of uplink power used in the broadcasting of signals.

Method and system for determining attenuation and controlling uplink power in a satellite communication system


Embodiments of the present invention address deficiencies of the art in respect to social bookmarking and provide a method, system and computer program product for automated surfacing of tagged content in a vertical application. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for automatically surfacing tagged content in a vertical application can be provided. The method can include parsing text from content in an end user application, comparing the parsed text to social bookmarks and associated metadata in a social bookmarking system and matching portions of the content to respective ones of the social bookmarks based upon the comparison, and visually emphasizing the matched portions of the content in the end user application.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of bookmarking content and more particularly to social bookmarking.
Description of the Related Art
Content browsing refers to the retrieval and presentation of electronic content in a browser client. Content generally can include electronic documents, messages, audio, audiovisual and video materials and imagery. Most commonly, content can be stored in a server environment and published for access by content consumers over a computer communications network such as the global Internet. Content consumers, in turn, can retrieve content over the network by reference to a network address for the content. Once retrieved, the content can be presented in a browser client including not only conventional visual browsers such as the venerable Web browser, but also in alternative browsers such as those deployed in pervasive devices and those supporting different modes of presentation such as the audible presentation of material.
Given the vast amount of content published for accessibility over the Internet, modern content browsers provide a mechanism for ably retrieving previously accessed content. Known as a "bookmark" or "favorite" (collectively referred to as a bookmark), end users can record content of interest as a bookmark. Subsequently, end users can access a list of bookmarks in order to recall the content of interest without being compelled to recall from memory the precise uniform resource indicator (URI) for the content of interest.
While bookmarking reflects the personal experience of individual users, social bookmarking provides a foundation for users within a social group to store, organize, share and search the bookmarks collectively established by the users within the social group. In operation, a social bookmarking system, users save links to memorable content. Unlike traditional bookmarks however, in a social bookmarking system the links subsequently can be published for public inspection and use so as to provide a communal repository of bookmarks. Consequently, groups of the users can access the links encapsulated within respective social bookmarks, though the groups of users in fact may never have viewed the associated content—a prerequisite for a traditional bookmark.
Social bookmarking services often encourage users in a social network to annotate bookmarks with meta-information rather than merely storing bookmarks in a traditional file hierarchy. As such, users processing annotations for a social bookmark can view the social bookmark for content along with meta-information pertaining to the bookmark, for instance a number of users having bookmarked the content. Further, some social bookmarking services infer clusters of bookmarks from the relationship of corresponding annotations. Finally, many social bookmarking services provide subscription based feeds for lists of bookmarks, including lists organized by annotations. Consequently, subscribers can become aware of new bookmarks as the bookmarks are saved, shared, and annotated by other users.
Social bookmarking systems often follow an "inward" bookmarking metaphor. The inward bookmarking metaphor provides for the tagging of content in a browser and the storage of the bookmark (and subsequent access of the bookmark) from a central location. Therefore, in the inward bookmarking metaphor, users leave an active application to interact with a different application in order determine topical or interesting knowledge provided by social bookmarks. The "outward" bookmarking metaphor recognizes the clumsiness of the inward bookmarking metaphor and provides several tools for propagating social bookmarking knowledge into the active application. Examples include tag clouds enabled to bring users to a central bookmarking system or to draw information from a central bookmarking system from within an active application.

Automated surfacing of tagged content in vertical applications

International Business Machines Corporation


An optical apparatus provided with a light combining prism having three light incident faces, receiving the three beams of light having different wavelength bands through the three light incident faces, and combining the three incident beams of light for output, three reflection type polarization plates, three plate-like reflection type polarization elements provided corresponding to the three reflection type liquid crystal panels, each receiving a different wavelength band of light among the three different wavelength bands, each selecting a first polarized beam component to pass and making it strike the corresponding reflection type liquid crystal panel by two perpendicular polarized beam components, and each making modulated light spatially modulated and converted to a second polarized beam component at the reflection type liquid crystal panel strike the corresponding incident face among the three light incident faces of the combining prism, and at least three fixing plates with surfaces which can be joined with the three light incident faces of the light combining prism, wherein at least the reflection type polarization elements between the reflection type polarization elements and reflection type liquid crystal panels are fixed to the corresponding light incident faces of the light combining prism via the fixing plates, and a projection apparatus using the same.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical apparatus for combining light modulated by a reflection type liquid crystal display device and to a projection apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Known in the art is a projection type display device for displaying projected image by spatially modulating and emitting incident light and focusing and projecting the emitted light according to an electric signal supplied to a spatial light modulation device. In general, a color display projection apparatus has an illumination optical system having a light source constituted by a lamp and a condensing mirror, splitting the light emitted from the light source to three wavelength bands, and condensing the split lights at corresponding spatial light modulation devices to illuminate, a light combining prism for combining lights modulated by spatial light modulation devices, and a projection lens for projecting the emitted light of the light combining prism to a screen etc. (the projection apparatus will be referred to as a "projector" hereinafter).
A liquid crystal projector uses spatial light modulation devices using liquid crystal materials (hereinafter, referred to as "liquid crystal panels"). As the projector, a transmission type projector passing light through the liquid crystal panels and modulating the light in the process of passing through the liquid crystal panels and a reflection type projector emitting light to the liquid crystal panels and modulating the light when reflected at the liquid crystal panels to change the polarization axes are known.
A reflection type liquid crystal projector using reflection type liquid crystal panels can be realized with small sized panels with a high resolution. A reflection type liquid crystal projector requires use of a polarization element able to combine and split two perpendicular linear polarized beams (s polarized light and p polarized light).
As such a polarization element, a polarized beam splitter constituted by a glass block is known (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-350024). As disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2001-350024, by forming a plurality of thin films between two pieces of glass, it becomes possible to split or combined two linear polarized beams.
However, such a polarized beam splitter constituted by a glass material is affected in characteristics by distortion of the glass, therefore low distortion glass must be used. For this, lead etc. must be dissolved in the glass resulting in glass having a very high specific gravity. There therefore arises the problem of increase of the weight.
As opposed to this, as a projector realizing a light weight reflection type liquid crystal panel optical system, a projector using a reflection type polarization plate has been proposed (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-508813). Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2003-508813 proposes a projector using a wire grid element forming a metal conductor in a lattice state to split incident light into two perpendicular linear polarized beams one of which passes through the plate and the other of which is reflected at the plate. In an optical system using such a reflection type polarization plate, a reduction of weight can be realized.
When using three reflection type liquid crystal panels, inputting the three primary colors of light to the panels, combining the modulated light again, a projector enabling full color display can be realized.
FIG. 1 is a view of the schematic configuration of an optical system of a liquid crystal projector using three liquid crystal panels and able to display not a black and white, but a color image.
This liquid crystal projector 10 has, as shown in FIG. 1, a light source 11 having a lamp 111 and a condensing mirror 112, an illumination optical system 12, three reflection type liquid crystal panels 13R, 13G, and 13B, a light combining prism 14, and a projection lens 15.
The illumination optical system 12 has a lens 121 oriented so that light output from the optical system having the function of aligning the light emitted from the light source 11 with a predetermined polarization (for example p polarization) is emitted toward the reflection type liquid crystal panels 13R, 13G, and 13B, a dichroic mirror 122 for splitting it into light LR having a red wavelength region and light LGB having green and blue wavelength regions, a reflection mirror 123 for reflecting the red light LR split at the dichroic mirror 122, a reflection mirror 124 for reflecting the green and blue light LGB split at the dichroic mirror 122, a dichroic mirror 125 for reflecting only the green wavelength region in the light LGB reflected at the reflection mirror 124 and passing the blue wavelength region therethrough, a polarization plate 126R for passing the p polarized red light LR reflected at the reflection mirror 123 therethrough to make it strike the reflection type liquid crystal panel 13R and reflecting the red light spatially modulated and s polarized at the reflection type liquid crystal panel 13R and making it strike the light combining prism 14, a polarization plate 126G for passing the p polarized green light LG reflected at the dichroic mirror 125 therethrough to make it strike the reflection type liquid crystal panel 13G and reflecting the green light spatially modulated and s polarized at the reflection type liquid crystal panel 13G and making it strike the light combining prism 14, a polarization plate 126B for passing the p polarized blue light LB reflected at the dichroic mirror 125 therethrough to make it strike the reflection type liquid crystal panel 13B and reflecting the blue light spatially modulated and s polarized at the reflection type liquid crystal panel 13B and making it strike the light combining prism 14, and optical lenses 127 to 129 arranged at incident sides of the polarization plates 126R, 126G, and 126B.
In the liquid crystal projector 10, white light output from the light source 11 is made uniform by a not shown integrating optical system (integrator) and aligned with a predetermined polarization by a polarization conversion element (P-S converter). Then, the output light is oriented by the lens 121 of the illumination optical system 11 so as to strike the reflection type liquid crystal panels 13R, 13G, and 13B and then split to three wavelength regions of light by the color splitting mirrors constituted by the dichroic mirrors 122, 125, etc. The split color beams of light strike the reflection type polarization plates. Only the light in a certain polarization direction is selected by the polarization plates 126R, 126G, and 126B and strikes the reflection type liquid crystal panels 13R, 13G, and 13B. The reflection type liquid crystal panels 13R, 13G, and 13B are struck by RGB light.
Video signals (image signals) of colors corresponding to the incident light are supplied to the reflection type liquid crystal panels 13R, 13G, and 13B, whereupon the incident light beams are rotated in polarization directions, modulated, and output according to the video signals. The modulated light beams emitted from the liquid crystal panels strike the polarization plates 126R, 126G, and 126B again. Only the polarized light component rotated by 90 degrees is selected from among the polarized beams of light striking the polarization plates 126R, 126G, and 126B and striking the light combining prism 14. The color beams of light modulated at the three reflection type liquid crystal panels are combined and emitted to the same direction at the light combining prism 14. The emitted combined light from the light combining prism 14 is output and projected to a screen etc. by the projection lens 15.

Optical apparatus and projection apparatus


A timing error compensation system in an OFMD/CDMA communication system includes an analog-to-digital converter for converting an OFDM signal, comprised of a data symbol stream in which a pilot symbol is inserted at intervals of a prescribed number of data symbols, received from a transmitter, to a digital OFDM symbol stream by prescribed sampling synchronization, a guard interval remover for removing a guard interval inserted in the OFDM symbol by prescribed frame synchronization, and a fast Fourier transform (FFT) device for performing fast Fourier transform on the guard interval-removed OFDM symbol and outputting a data symbol stream. In the time error compensation system, a pilot symbol detector receives the data symbol stream and detects the pilot symbols inserted in the data symbol stream at prescribed intervals. A timing compensator determines a linear phase difference line for the detected pilot symbol, generates a timing error estimation signal according to the determined linear phase difference line, and provides the timing error estimation signal to the analog-to-digital converter and the guard interval remover so as to determine the sampling synchronization and the frame synchronization.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for compensating timing errors in an OFDM/CDMA communication system, and in particular, to a system and method for continuously compensating timing errors by detecting a pilot signal inserted in a symbol unit and using a phase difference line.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, an OFDM/CDMA (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing/Code Division Multiple Access) communication system uses multiple carriers having orthogonality. In the OFDM/CDMA communication system, it is very important to maintain the orthogonality among the multiple carriers during demodulation, since maintaining the orthogonality among the multiple carriers at the receiver is closely related to the call quality. A receiver in the OFDM/CDMA communication system also performs frame sync (synchronization), sampling sync and carrier frequency sync in order to demodulate an OFDM signal transmitted from a transmitter, similar to receivers in other mobile communication systems. Since the OFDM/CDMA communication system must maintain the orthogonality during demodulation by using multiple carriers, it is necessary to perform accurate synchronization.
FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of a general OFDM/CDMA communication system, and FIG. 2 illustrates a general method for inserting pilot signals. A description of FIGS. 1 and 2 follows below.
The structure of a transmitter in a general OFDM/CDMA communication system is illustrated in FIG. 1. A pilot sample inserter 101 generally receives a data symbol comprised of N spread data samples and inserts a pilot sample at regular intervals as shown in FIG. 2. The pilot sample inserting method is divided into (1) an inserting method for delaying actual sample data in a position where the pilot sample is to be inserted; (2) a puncturing method for inserting-after-puncturing the actual sample data (i.e., puncturing a specific bit and then inserting the actual sample data in the bit-punctured position). In the description hereinbelow, the puncturing method is used for pilot sample insertion. The data symbol is a signal spread with a code having a rate of N times. A serial/parallel (S/P) converter 103 separates the pilot symbol output from the pilot sample inserter 101 into N data samples, and provides the separated data samples in parallel to an inverse fast Fourier transform (IFFT) block 105. The IFFT 105 performs inverse fast Fourier transform, i.e., OFDM modulation on the N data samples output from the S/P converter 103, and outputs the N OFDM-modulated OFDM data samples in parallel. A parallel/serial (P/S) converter 106 receives in parallel the OFDM data samples output from the IFFT 105, and outputs an OFDM symbol comprised of N samples to a guard interval inserter 107. The guard interval inserter 107 then inserts, at the head of the OFDM symbol, a guard interval determined by copying the last G data samples (hereinafter, referred to as "copied data samples") out of the N OFDM data samples. A digital-to-analog converter (DAC) 109 converts the OFDM symbol output from the guard interval inserter 107 to an analog OFDM signal and transmits the converted analog OFDM signal.
The OFDM signal transmitted by the transmitter is received by an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) 111 of a receiver. The ADC 111 converts the received OFDM signal to a digital OFDM symbol comprised of a guard interval and N OFDM data samples and provides the converted OFDM symbol to a guard interval remover 112. The guard interval remover 112 removes the guard interval included in the provided OFDM symbol, and outputs a pure OFDM symbol comprised of N OFDM data samples. The ADC 111 and the guard interval remover 112 operate according to a prescribed timing error estimation signal. An S/P converter 113 separates the OFDM symbol output from the guard interval remover 112 into N OFDM data samples, and outputs the N OFDM data samples in parallel. A fast Fourier transform (FFT) block 114 performs fast Fourier transform, i.e., OFDM demodulation on the N data samples received in parallel from the S/P converter 113, and outputs N OFDM-demodulated data samples. The N data samples are converted to a serial data symbol by a P/S converter 115 and then provided to a pilot sample detector 116. The pilot sample detector 116 detects pilot data samples inserted in the data symbol output from the P/S converter 115, and provides the detected pilot data samples to a timing compensator 117 and the data samples to a despreader 119. Receiving the pilot data samples from the pilot sample detector 116, the timing compensator 117 calculates a timing error using the FFT property shown in Equation (1) below, compensates the calculated timing error, and outputs a timing error estimation signal to the ADC 111 and the guard interval remover 112.
                                          x                                      [                              n                -                                  n                  0                                            ]                                ⇔                                    X                                            (                k                )                                                                W              N                              k                                  n                  0                                                                    ,                              where                                                                                W              N                                =                      ⅇ                                          -                j                                                                                2                                    π                                N                                                                        (        1        )
In Equation (1), x[n−n0] indicates a transmission signal which is time-delayed by n0, and X(k)WNkn0 indicates a received signal which is linear phase shifted by WNkn0 according to the delay time n0.
A detailed operation of the timing compensator 117 will be described in detail with reference to Equation (1). The timing compensator 117 calculates a difference between a phase of the pilot sample detected by the pilot sample detector 116 and a previously known reference phase, and estimates a timing error using a fluctuation of the calculated difference value. The despreader 119 despreads the data symbol received from the pilot sample detector 116.
As described above, the OFDM/CDMA communication system has two types of timing compensation methods.
The first method is to insert a pilot data sample between original data samples in a specific period or pattern. In this case, the OFDM/CDMA communication system processes the data in a symbol unit at the receiver, since the respective samples in one symbol have the same information. However, when this method is used, the data is shifted back by the number of the pilot samples, so that transmission is not performed in the symbol unit. Further, the position of the sample where the actual data symbol starts is continuously changed, so that the receiver must continuously search the start position of the actual data symbol.
The second method is to puncture some of the actual data samples in a specific period or pattern and insert a pilot sample in the punctured data sample position. In this case, significant noise is generated because the sample data, which is the original data, is punctured when the receiver despreads the actual sample data.
Further, in the receiver, a frequency error in a time domain is expressed by timing changing in a frequency domain after passing the FFT stage. If the frequency error larger than a sub-carrier band passes the FFT stage, one or more samples are shifted, so that another data sample is located in a position where the pilot data sample is to be located. This is because the positions of the pilot data samples in the symbol are not continuous. In this case, it is not possible to obtain required information. Thus, it is not possible to compensate for the timing error in the conventional method.
More specifically, in an ideal system, a phase difference between the received pilot data sample and the reference data sample is (2πnek)/N and has a linear property with respect to an index 'k', as shown in Equation (1). That is, it is possible to calculate a timing error ne by calculating a slope for the index 'k' of the phase difference and then dividing the calculated slope by 2π/N. However, due to the phase characteristic in which the value is limited to ±π, it is not possible to obtain a linear phase difference line and the phase difference line has an abrupt fluctuation of about ±2πat around ±π. In this case, a process for converting the phase difference line to a linear phase difference line is required. This raises a more serous problem in a non-ideal system. A factor affecting the phase difference line includes a frequency error, a common phase error (CPE), noises, and non-cyclic shift.
In the receiver, a frequency error ke can be divided into a frequency error kei of a multiple of one-data sample interval and a frequency error ked of within one-data sample interval. The frequency error ke in the time domain is expressed in timing changing in the frequency domain after passing the FFT stage, and if a frequency error kei occurred longer than a one-sample period passes the FFT stage, the respective pilot data samples in the data symbol are shifted by over one data sample, so that a data sample other than the original pilot data sample is received, thus making it difficult to calculate an accurate phase difference. In addition, the frequency error ked also affects the phase difference line caused by fluctuation of the phase. In this case, the phase difference line is formed as shown in FIG. 3. In this phase difference line, the dots denote the pilot data samples.
Therefore, in order to use the conventional timing error compensation method, the OFDM/CDMA communication system should necessarily compensate the frequency error of over the sub-carrier band before timing estimation.
The number of pilot data samples is also an important factor affecting the performance. As the timing error increases more and more, the fluctuation of the phase increases and the number of transitions also increases, so that many pilot data samples are required. For example, one data symbol requires the pilot samples over four times of the timing error.

System and method for compensating timing error using pilot symbol in OFDM/CDMA communication system


A weather prediction model predicts a weather state for a query location within a region. The weather prediction model accesses current and/or historical indicator weather states from weather measurement systems located near the query location. The weather measurement systems that are located near a query location are those within a proximity distance of the query location. The weather prediction model partitions the region into sectors each containing a number of the weather measurement systems. The weather prediction model determines a representative weather state for each sector at a representative distance from the query location using the indicator weather states. The weather prediction model predicts a weather state at the query location by interpolating the representative weather states for the sectors. The weather prediction model transmits the predicted weather state to a user responsible for agricultural management of the query location.

Farmers, producers, and agronomists use farm management systems to support their agronomic management and agricultural planning process. Farm management and agricultural management systems, commonly require a variety of data inputs to perform necessary calculations for the agricultural management cycle. Many of these inputs are categorical variables and properties that support agricultural management life cycles, including and not limited to, soil properties, elevation, seed type, crop variety, nutrient applications, weather, and so on.
Meanwhile, when each categorical variable is examined, there are many additional properties that comprise the categorical variable. With particular interest in the attributes that comprise weather properties, which may include, temperature, humidity, precipitation, wind speed or direction, to provide a few examples. Whenever available, the weather information collected directly from the agriculture field will drive more accuracy in the decision-making process.
One approach to collect weather data directly from the field is to install weather stations at all desired locations. However, by installing hardware at every desired location, this may impose a substantial cost. Therefore, a method to retrieve and leverage data from already existing weather stations would be beneficial. Further, a method that can approximate weather data for locations that do not include a weather station would be beneficial.

Indicator interpolation to predict a weather state


A transaction model for data stores using a distributed file system is disclosed. In various embodiments, a transaction-related metadata is sent to each of a plurality of segments to which a corresponding assigned portion of a query plan is assigned. A metadata modification record is received from zero or more of the segments, reflecting changes, if any, to system metadata required to be made to reflect changes to data made by that segment in processing the portion of the query plan assigned to that segment. It is determined whether a metadata modification record has been received from each of the segments in the plurality of segments. In the event a metadata modification record is determined to have been received from each of the segments in the plurality of segments, a system metadata store is updated to reflect the respective metadata modification records received from the plurality of segments.

Distributed storage systems enable databases, files, and other objects to be stored in a manner that distributes data across large clusters of commodity hardware. For example, Hadoop® is an open-source software framework to distribute data and associated computing (e.g., execution of application tasks) across large clusters of commodity hardware.
EMC Greenplum® provides a massively parallel processing (MPP) architecture for data storage and analysis. Typically, data is stored in segment servers, each of which stores and manages a portion of the overall data set.
Distributed systems, such as a distributed database or other storage system, typically embody and/or employ a "transaction model" to ensure that a single logical operation on the data, the processing of which may be performed by more than one node, is performed collectively in a manner that ensures certain properties, such as atomicity (modifications made potentially by more than one node either succeed or fail together), consistency (database is never left in a "half-finished" state, and instead is left in a state wholly consistent with its rules), isolation (keep transactions separate from each other until they are finished), and durability (once a transaction is "committed", its effects on the data will not be lost, due to power fail, etc.
Two-phase commit protocol or other distributed transaction commit protocols are commonly used to implement global transaction in a parallel transactional MPP database system. These distributed transaction protocols are complicated to implement and require multiple interactions between master and slave/worker nodes. Also, typically each node must keep its own log.

Transaction model for data stores using distributed file systems


A roof safety anchor (10) having an elongated body (22) including a right edge (23), a left edge (24), a fixed end (25) and a rigid free end (26) that defines an aperture (28). The body (22) is of a size and shape to conform to a roof (R, R1, R2, R3, R4) of a building, wherein the roof has a layer of roof cladding (16), layered over a layer roof sheathing (12), which is layered over spaced apart structural beams (14). The fixed end (25) is fixably connected to the roof sheathing (12), and underneath the roof cladding (16). Preferably, the fixed end is fixedly connected to the roof sheathing through a plurality of lag bolts. The free end (26) protrudes outwardly from the roof, over the roof cladding (16). In use, an object, such as a safety line, is tied to the free end (26) through the aperture (28) in order to anchor the object the roof (R, R1-R4). The anchor (10) also includes a plurality of bending lines, wherein each line connects the right edge (23) to the left edge (24) and is positioned between the free end (26) and the fixed end (25). Each bending line is bent to form an angle to conform to the roof. Methods of securing anchor (10) are provided for various roof types, specifically, a peaked roof (R1), a roof-to-wall (R2), a one ridged peaked roof (R3), and a large roof requiring a midspan anchor (R4). Anchor (10) may also include a plurality of security tabs (74, 76) that are bent to conform to a structural beam, either below the roof, such as a structural wall, or on the roof itself underneath the roof sheathing.

A roof of one's home is inherently a dangerous place. A fall off a roof can be extremely hazardous, possibly even fatal. Contractors who provide roof related services, such as roofing, chimney repairs, pressure washing, and vent repair, are aware of the inherent dangers. In addition, home owners occasionally find themselves atop their roofs to inspect for repairs, clean out gutters, etc. The danger to the homeowner may be even greater than to the contractor, as the homeowner is not used to regularly working with the inherent hazard.
Many states, such as Washington, require workers to tie off when working on a roof by an anchored line that can carry up to 5000 pounds of load. Often a worker on a roof utilizes a safety line, which has an anchored end, while the other end is attached to the worker. My U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,558, along with co-inventor Jon McCown, granted Nov. 8, 1994, entitled "Roof Mountable Safety Line Anchor" addressed an anchor for a safety line for a peaked roof application. However, my prior invention does not address various roof types. It is an object of the present invention to be able to accommodate various roof types with one basic anchor body type.


A cleaning unit for cleaning travel equipment allows the travel equipment to be shifted from an operating mode to a cleaning mode. The cleaning equipment is an escalator or a moving walkway which has tread units connected with an endless conveyor. The cleaning unit can be mounted as a substitute for a tread unit of the travel equipment during a cleaning sequence and includes cleaning elements. The travel equipment can be shifted from an operating mode to a cleaning mode in which the cleaning equipment is substituted for one or more tread units and the travel equipment operated whereby a cleaning sequence is performed. After cleaning is performed, the equipment is stopped, the cleaning equipment removed, and the removed treads reinstalled.

Items of travel equipment in the sense of the present invention are escalators and moving walkways with a plurality of tread units connected with an endless conveyor. Users of the travel equipment stand on tread surfaces of the tread units or walk on the travel equipment in the same direction as the travel equipment themselves move.
In the case of escalators the tread units form escalator steps, termed 'steps' in the following, and in the case of moving walkways the tread units form moving walkway plates, termed 'plates' in the following. Escalators overcome, with a relatively large angle of inclination, large differences in height, such as entire storys. Moving walkways run horizontally or at a slight inclination, but generally with lower angles of inclination than escalators.
The tread units are, particularly in the case of poor weather, walked on by wet and dirty footwear. As a result, not only the tread surfaces of the tread units, but also laterally adjoining stationary parts of the travel equipment, are soiled. Additional sources of dirt are escaping or excessive lubricant by which certain parts of the travel equipment are lubricated, as well as abrasion materials of guide elements which run against one another during movement of the travel equipment. In order to keep the travel equipment functionally capable and safe and to increase its service life, as well as to avoid noise due to worn and contaminated parts of the travel equipment, it is therefore necessary to undertake sufficient cleaning measures.
Manual cleaning is not held in high regard by operators of travel equipment, since it is unpleasant and time consuming and has the consequence on each occasion of a very long interruption of operation.
Accordingly, cleaning systems have been developed by which it is sought to avoid these disadvantages.
JP-08157176-A describes a cleaning system for cleaning stationary parts of the travel equipment, which laterally adjoin the tread units. This system contains cleaning elements in the form of brush elements which are arranged below the tread surfaces in the lateral regions of a tread unit to be invisible for users and move together with the tread unit. The brush arrangements can for cleaning purposes, be temporarily adjusted laterally outwardly from rest positions to operative positions in which they wipe along the stationary regions of the travel equipment to be cleaned. The adjustment of the cleaning elements or brush arrangements takes place by remote control. It is regarded as an advantage of this cleaning system that the operation of the travel equipment does not have to be interrupted during the cleaning process. However, it is necessary from time to time to interrupt operation of the travel equipment in order to replace worn brush arrangements of the cleaning elements. The wear may be comparatively high, since the brush arrangements always wipe in the same direction along the surfaces to be cleaned. Moreover, the remote control for adjusting the cleaning elements or brush arrangements is relatively complicated and is disposed in the contaminated region of the travel equipment, and thus is susceptible to disturbance or damage.
US-2001/0025764-A1 discloses cleaning systems with cleaning elements in the form of cleaning modules or cleaning blocks, particularly of fibre-filled plastics materials, which during movement of the endless conveyor constantly scrape off or scrub off contaminants from soiled stationary surfaces. The cleaning elements can be provided with a so-termed cleaning medium, not a liquid or pasty cleaning agent, but a cover in the form of a brush structure. The cleaning elements are fastened laterally below a cleaning unit which, for cleaning purposes is mounted in place of guide elements. It is disadvantageous with this cleaning system in that the substantially rigid cleaning elements can leave scratch tracks at the surfaces to be cleaned and that the cleaning elements wear out quickly. This is the case, even if to a moderated degree, when the cleaning elements have a cleaning medium with a brush structure. Moreover, it has proved necessary to secondarily clean the cleaning elements themselves to a certain degree, for which purpose a brush arrangement can be provided. However, such thereby results in a comparatively complicated cleaning system.
It is therefore objects of the invention to create a cleaning unit of the kind stated in the introduction, by which the mentioned disadvantages are avoided and which cleans efficiently, is not susceptible to disturbance and has a high service life;                to provide travel equipment which can be cleaned by such a cleaning unit; and        to provide a method for carrying out a cleaning sequence for cleaning the travel equipment.
According to the invention the foregoing and other objects and purposes are met by a cleaning unit for travel equipment, and particularly escalators and moving walkways, in the form of a unit that can be mounted in place of a tread unit for a cleaning cycle or process and then demounted from the travel equipment and the conclusion of the cycle or process.
By a cleaning unit there is to be understood within the scope of the present description a step or plate, which is constructed for cleaning the travel equipment, including all its individual components even when these do not form a "unit" in the actual sense of the word.
According to the invention the new cleaning unit is not a step or plate permanently mounted in the endless conveyor of the escalator or moving walkway, but it is mounted as a substitute for a usual step or plate only temporarily for a cleaning sequence with respect to cleaning purposes. In this connection small or short mounting and demounting operations (approximately 2 to 5 minutes expenditure of time) do indeed occur for each cleaning process, but this small disadvantage is offset by the advantages of the invention. The most important advantages of the invention are to be seen in that                a more efficient and complete cleaning can be undertaken by new cleaning units;        the cleaning unit is not susceptible to disturbance and has a long service life, since it is not permanently in use;        possible disturbances of the cleaning unit can be eliminated in a simple manner and worn cleaning elements can be replaced when the cleaning unit is not in use and is demounted, as a result a secondary cleaning of the cleaning elements during use is not needed;        a single cleaning unit can be used in connection with a number of travel equipment units;        cleaning of stationary lateral walls, even in the visible region thereof can be accomplished, whereas with the previously known cleaning units in the case of escalators only a visible strip, narrow in height, could be cleaned and, moving walkways, no visible parts at all could be cleaned;        depending on the respective degree or kind of contamination, specifically acting cleaning units can be installed, which are suitable for, for example, removing dry dust or dirt containing lubricant or slush containing dispersed salt, wherein optionally a specifically acting cleaning agent or neutralisation agent, preferably in fluid form, can be added;        in the case of need further tread units can be temporarily replaced by cleaning units;        demounting of tread units, in a given case to clean, check or replacement can be accomplished; and        cleaning performed in a cleaning mode of operation of the travel equipment allows the endless conveyor to be so moved that the cleaning is performed in an optimum manner, wherein the endless conveyor can be moved in a different manner with respect to speed and direction than in a normal operating mode.
Preferably the cleaning elements are constructed as brush arrangements which are arranged in side regions of a cleaning step unit in such a manner that during the cleaning process they project slightly beyond the lateral boundaries of the step units and contact the adjoining stationary walls in a cleaning manner. The cleaning elements can also be constructed as a sponge or a cloth. A washing train can also be formed: sponge, brush, cloth and drier. Cleaning elements in the form of brushes are subject to only slight wear. With suitable selection of the bristle material, bristle dimensions and pressing pressure, scratch tracks on the cleaned surfaces can be avoided and, in fact, will not result due either to the bristles themselves or due to foreign particles, since such are only lightly pressed against the surfaces or wiped along the surfaces by the brushes of the brush arrangements. Moreover, due to the resilient flexibility of the bristles it is not necessary to position the brushes with a high degree of accuracy.
Use may be made of brush arrangements with brushes which lie below a surface which corresponds to the tread surface of the tread units of the cleaning unit. The travel equipment can thereby in a given case also be used by the public while the cleaning unit is installed.
In order to also clean considerable visible regions of the stationary lateral walls of the travel equipment there can be used a brush arrangement which has brushes which lie above a surface which corresponds with the tread surface of the tread units of the cleaning unit. In this connection, however, the travel equipment should no longer be made available to the public without restriction, but it is still possible for operators to be able to stand on the surface.
A respective brush arrangement may be provided at both side regions of the cleaning step, and it has proved advantageous if each of the brush arrangements comprises at least one non-rotatably mounted brush and at least one rotatably mounted brush. The non-rotatably mounted brush can either be fixedly mounted or mounted for area vibration. The rotatably mounted brush, which is also termed a "roller brush", is generally set in rotation by a movement produced in the travel direction of the cleaning step. The two brushes are preferably detachably mounted, for example by means of bolt/nut connections.
The non-rotatably mounted brush can be fastened to a support body of the cleaning unit which in turn is mounted to a body of the cleaning unit, preferably detachably and by means of, for example, a further bolt/nut connection. The rotatably mounted brush, which can be constructed as a roller brush, is fastened to a roller shaft of the cleaning unit by means of, for example, a screw or bolt connection.
It is particularly favourable if a flowable cleaning agent, preferably a fluid, is fed to at least a part of the brushes continuously or at intervals in time. In this connection the flowable cleaning agent can be fed from a cleaning agent dispenser which co-moves solidly with the cleaning step. The feed of the cleaning agent is advantageously carried out automatically or by gravitational force. The fluid dispenser can be, depending on the respective arrangement of the brushes, a gravity dispenser or a pump dispenser, wherein the pump can have an approximate form of drive. It can be driven, for example, electrically, mechanically or chemically by combustion cells or by compressed air.
Travel equipment in the form of an escalator or moving walkway, with tread units which are connected to an endless conveyor, are usually disposed in an operating mode in which the endless conveyor is driven. For carrying out a cleaning sequence in accordance with the invention, the travel equipment is shifted to a cleaning mode, wherein the endless conveyor is stopped, at least one tread unit is replaced by at least one cleaning unit, the endless conveyor is driven again for the actual cleaning and subsequently the cleaning units are demounted and tread units remounted. The travel equipment can thereupon be shifted back to its operating mode.

Cleaning unit for cleaning travel equipment, travel equipment with a cleaning unit and method for carrying out a cleaning sequence for cleaning travel equipment


Resveratrol, an antioxidant found in various fruits, vegetables, grapes, and red wines, has been shown to have free radical scavenging, anti-inflammatory and anti-thrombogenic activities in biological systems. Moreover, resveratrol has also been shown to be a good cancer preventive chemical and has been recommended as a food supplement for health benefits. Resveratrol can effectively lower the blood sugar in both type 1 (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, IDDM) and type 2 (insulin-independent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM) diabetic rats. Resveratrol could also delay the onset of the insulin-resistant phenotype in experimental rats with prolonged injection of insulin. Further, resveratrol simultaneously slows down the body weight increment compared with untreated insulin resistant animals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the therapeutic use of resveratrol in reducing blood sugar levels for both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM)
2. Description
Diabetes can be due to a deficiency of insulin or to a decreased responsiveness to insulin. Thus, diabetes is several diseases with different causes. Diabetes is classified into type 1 and type 2 based on how much insulin a person's pancreas is secreting. In type 1 diabetes mellitus (insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, IDDM), insulin secretion is completely or nearly completely absent from the μ-cells of the islets of Langerhans, and Therapy with insulin is essential. In type 2 diabetes mellitus (insulin-independent diabetes mellitus, NIDDM), insulin is usually present at nearly normal or above normal levels. However, in about one third of NIDDM patients, insulin therapy is beneficial.
It was estimated that DM affects about 130 million people in developed countries worldwide, and by year 2025, about 300 million will be affected. Thus, the development of new effective antihyperglycemic drugs for both IDDM and NIDDM patients is of great medical importance. Currently, insulin injection is The only way to lower the plasma sugar for IDDM patients. For NIDDM patients, current treatment is the administration of sulfonylurea related drugs to stimulate insulin secretion by μ-cells or of biguanides to promote the response of peripheral tissue to insulin. Administration of insulin is beneficial to about one third of The NIDDM patients; however, the development of insulin-resistance may aggravate The problem. So far, no drug has been developed that could have therapeutic antihyperglycemic efficacy on both IDDM and NIDDM patients. Trans-resveratrol has antihyperglycemic effects on both IDDM and NIDDM rats. In addition, resveratrol also delays the onset of insulin-resistance in long term insulin administrated rats. Further, resveratrol also slows down the body weight increment compared with untreated insulin-resistant animals.
The medical community has a need for the development of resveratrol as an antihyperglycemic drug and as a healthy food supplement to lower the levels of plasma sugar in IDDM, NIDDM and obese people.

Therapeutic use of resveratrol for hyperglycemia


A trocar catheter includes a trocar rod having a stepped diameter distal end for use with a catheter having a stepped diameter lumen wherein the trocar is inserted into the lumen of the catheter and the trocar is used to incise a patient and install the catheter after which the trocar is removed from the lumen of the catheter. The distal end of the trocar rod is provided with a stepped coaxial bore into which a piercing point rod, a spring and a safety sleeve are assembled. The piercing point rod has a proximal small diameter portion which is press fit into a correspondingly small diameter portion of the coaxial bore in the distal end of the trocar rod. The spring is carried on the small diameter portion of the piercing point rod and biases the safety sleeve in a distal direction. The distal end of the piercing point rod has a larger diameter portion tapering to a piercing tip and the safety sleeve has a stepped inner diameter which prevents it from moving beyond a predetermined distal position covering the piercing tip. The stepped coaxial bore has a large diameter portion for receiving the safety sleeve when it is pressed proximally against the spring. A protrusion on the distal outer surface of the safety sleeve prevents the catheter from accidentally slipping off the trocar.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a surgical trocar catheter for drainage. More particularly, this invention relates to a trocar for use with a drainage catheter where the trocar has a spring biased safety shield mechanism.
2. State of the Art
Trocar catheters for drainage are well known in the surgical arts. These devices generally include a flexible, partially elastic catheter and a metal trocar which is removably inserted into the catheter. One such known device is a chest drainage trocar catheter shown schematically in longitudinal cross section in prior art FIG. 1 The prior art chest drainage trocar catheter device 10 includes a flexible partially elastic catheter 12 which is approximately nine and one half inches long having a cross section of approximately one quarter of an inch and an inner diameter defining a lumen 13 of approximately one eighth of an inch. The lumen 13 has a stepped smaller diameter portion 16 at the distal end 14 of the catheter. The proximal end 18 of the catheter is flared for coupling with a drainage conduit or syringe (not shown). The distal end of the catheter preferably includes a plurality of openings or ports (not shown) for drainage. A metal trocar 20 approximately eleven inches long having an outer diameter of approximately one eighth of an inch is inserted into the lumen 13 of the catheter 12. The distal end of the trocar has a piercing point 22 and the proximal end of the trocar has a small circular gripping or pushing plastic base 24. The piercing point 22 of the trocar has a stepped smaller outer diameter 26 which mates with the stepped smaller inner diameter 16 of the distal end of the catheter so that the piercing point extends a predetermined fixed length beyond the distal end of the catheter. The trocar 20 is thereby prevented from passing beyond that point through the catheter. The stepped diameters of the trocar and catheter also insure that forward movement of the trocar 20 carries the catheter 12 with it.
In use, a sterile catheter with an inserted sterile trocar is removed from a sterile package, taking care that the catheter does not slip off the trocar. The surgeon grasps the proximal end of the catheter typically with four fingers wrapping around the catheter and thumb resting on the base of the trocar. The device is thrust into a patient's chest whereby the piercing point of the trocar incises the chest. The catheter, carried by the trocar, is forced through the incision into the chest cavity of the patient. After an appropriate length of the catheter has been inserted into the chest cavity, the trocar is removed from the catheter and a drainage conduit or device is coupled to the proximal end of the catheter in order to pull or drain fluids from the chest of the patient.
The prior art trocar catheter, as detailed in FIG. 1, has several disadvantages. First, the piercing point 22 of the trocar is exposed and can cause accidental pricks and punctures while the device is being handled prior to incision. Moreover, after the catheter is installed in the chest cavity and the trocar is removed from the catheter, the piercing point of the trocar is again exposed and presents the same dangers. Second, with the prior art device there is no effective means for preventing the catheter from sliding off the trocar when the device is being handled by the surgeon prior to incision. As both the trocar and the catheter must be sterile, the danger of the catheter detaching from the trocar before installation is that the catheter will fall onto a nonsterile surface and will be unusable.
Other known catheters include suprapubic catheters such as shown in FIG. 1a which is used with the a similar trocar as shown in FIG. 1, except that the trocar has a sharp beveled tip 222. The suprapubic catheter 212 is also a flexible partially elastic catheter having an inner diameter defining a lumen 213. The lumen 213 has a stepped smaller diameter portion 216 at the distal end 214 of the catheter. The proximal end 218 of the catheter is flared for coupling with a drainage conduit or syringe (not A metal trocar like the one shown in FIG. 1 is inserted shown). A metal trocar like the one shown in FIG. 1 is inserted into the lumen 213 of the catheter 212. The suprapubic catheter is also provided with a 5cc latex retention balloon 225 near its distal end 214 and a collar 223 for optional anchoring to the skin with sutures or tape after the catheter is inserted into the suprapubic region. Proximal of the collar 223, Y-ports 219 and 221 are provided for inflation and irrigation through luer connections 219a and 221a.
While the suprapubic catheter has many enhancements for use in the suprapubic region, it still relies on the same kind of trocar as the chest catheter of the prior art and suffers from the same disadvantages.


In a telecommunication system (15) with at least one gateway (1), at least one subscriber unit (2), a system controller (3), at least one communication satellite (4) and global positioning satellites (5), communication satellite (4) provides positioning information to subscriber units (2). System controller (3) uses links (13,14) with communication satellites (4) to control links (10,11) and links (8,9). Subscriber unit (2) receives on link (6) positioning information which is used by subscriber unit (2) to determine which global positioning satellites (5) are overhead. Knowing which global positioning satellites (5) are overhead allows subscriber unit (2) to more quickly acquire and track the global positioning satellites (5) required to accurately geo-locate itself. Subscriber unit (2) computes accurate location data and can transmit this data to gateway (1).

When achieving communication between communication satellites and world-wide users of a global telecommunication system, accurate knowledge of a location of each user and each satellite is important to establishing and maintaining a communication link. A subscriber unit which combines voice/data communication and accurate, location self-determination has several advantages as described in prior art. Applications of such a subscriber unit in a system include asset management as described in the prior art. Prior art patents also describe applications such as the coordination of activities of search and rescue and various military operations.
Since communications between a subscriber unit and a group of satellites can involve frequent hand-offs between cells created by the individual satellites and between adjacent satellites, knowledge of accurate location data for both the subscriber unit and the satellites can be used to efficiently determine an appropriate hand-off strategy. Accurate location data for a subscriber unit also aids in the acquisition process by permitting precise correction for Doppler and reference frequency induced errors. In addition, accurate subscriber unit location data allows a telecommunication system operating in a global market to conform to diverse rules and procedures which can be imposed by diverse political entities within whose jurisdiction a telecommunication system can operate.
The more accurate the location data, the better. More accurate data allow a telecommunication system to better ascertain when subscriber units cross from one jurisdiction into another. However, costs generally increase in proportion to the accuracy of the location data, and an intense need to keep the costs as low as possible and the revenues as high as possible exists. One cost which is of particular concern is the amount of communication resources which are consumed in maintaining current location data. As more resources are consumed in maintaining current location data, fewer resources are available for use by communication service subscribers and for generating revenues.
A GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver can achieve great accuracy in self-determining location in a short period of time if it has current ephemeris data and almanac data and has not moved beyond 500 to 1000 km from its last location. Generally, a GPS receiver is required to receive the latest ephemeris data from the satellite and so the time to first location fix is dominated by the time taken by the GPS receiver to receive the data. A GPS location acquisition process, in general, includes the following steps:
1) Prediction of GPS satellite visibility/Doppler at the current time; PA1 2) Sequential detection of those satellites thought to be visible. The detection process switches to a sky search on all the satellites if no acquisition is achieved; PA1 3) Acquisition process hands off to track process; PA1 4) Track process includes acquiring message synchronization, and collecting time from a GPS broadcast message; PA1 5) Track process also includes collecting ephemeris data; and PA1 6) Track process continues with the collection of almanac data.
When GPS receivers are turned on from a warm start, a receiver must find appropriate satellites and then collect current ephemeris from the GPS satellites. This data could be transmitted at 50 bits per second, for example, and could take 30 seconds to collect from each of the satellites that are tracked.
If a GPS receiver is doing a cold start or a GPS receiver has moved a great distance around the earth, then the receiver must find the satellites in view without any apriori knowledge. This complete search can take minutes. After satellites are acquired, the receiver then must collect a complete almanac from the GPS satellite, which includes information on the current satellites' orbits and health.
Also, if exact location is not required, then a GPS receiver does not need ephemeris data, and almanac data by itself can be used to estimate satellite location. This results in a loss of accuracy depending on the age of the almanac. A benefit of using almanac data only is that the ephemeris collections can be bypassed and the access time is shortened. However, provisions to update the almanac data must be provided eventually. A GPS receiver takes about 12.5 minutes to accomplish this task and requires a continuous track on at least one GPS satellite. Bit errors and blockages can cause GPS receivers to use multiple 12.5 minute intervals and this can lead to excessive battery drain. Subscriber units are often battery operated, and an excessive battery drain is not acceptable.
Accordingly, there is a significant need for a geo-location subscriber unit to obtain and use positioning information from a global communication satellite system to decrease the time that a subscriber unit located anywhere proximate to the surface of the earth takes to self-determine accurate location data using geo-location information supplied by a global positioning system.

Method and apparatus for an acquisition-aided Geo-locating subscriber unit


A lighting module includes a connector having a first contact and a second contact, a first device that emits ultraviolet (UV) light, and a second device that emits visible light. The UV light emitted by the first device is in a first wavelength range of 200-315 nm and the visible light emitted by the second device is in a second wavelength range of 400-750 nm. The first device emits substantially no light at a wavelength greater than 550 nm. Both the first device and the second device are coupled to the first contact. The lighting module may be used in a disinfection device.

Ultraviolet (UV) light, which is invisible to the naked eye, is well known to kill bacteria and viruses, especially UV-C band light having a wavelength of between 200 and 280 nanometers (nm). Many devices are commercially available that emit UV light to disinfect a surface, but UV light can be harmful to humans, causing irritation or burns of eyes and skin. This is especially an issue for light in the UV-B band (wavelengths between 280 and 315 nm). Many germicidal UV sources, such as UV mercury lamps and xenon arc lamps provide a wide spectrum of light ranging from UV-C(or even shorter wavelengths) through the UV-B and UV-A bands into the visible spectrum. Light emitting diodes (LEDs) are now available that emit UV light in a narrow wavelength band of less than 50 nm centered in the upper UV-C band, such as 265 nm, so that little UV-B and substantially no UV-A or visible light is emitted. Thus, while it can be easy to tell using the naked eye whether a traditional germicidal UV source is on, this is not the case for disinfecting devices using UV-C LEDs.


A motor response of a muscle to neural stimulation is assessed. Electrical stimuli are applied from a first electrode to a selected neural pathway to evoke an efferent neural response. A slow neural response upon the neural pathway evoked by the electrical stimuli is observed. Based on the slow neural response, a motor response of at least one muscle to the stimuli is assessed.

There are a range of situations in which it is desirable to apply neural stimuli in order to give rise to a compound action potential (CAP). A neuromodulation system applies an electrical pulse to tissue in order to generate a therapeutic effect. Such a system typically comprises an implanted electrical pulse generator, and a power source such as a battery that may be rechargeable by transcutaneous inductive transfer. An electrode array is connected to the pulse generator, and is positioned adjacent the target neural pathway(s). An electrical pulse applied to the neural pathway by an electrode causes the depolarisation of neurons, and generation of propagating action potentials. In almost all neuromodulation applications, a single class of fibre response is desired, but the stimulus waveforms employed can recruit action potentials on other classes of fibres which cause unwanted side effects.
Another control problem, facing neuromodulation systems of all types, is achieving neural recruitment at a sufficient level required for therapeutic effect, but at minimal expenditure of energy. The power consumption of the stimulation paradigm has a direct effect on battery requirements which in turn affects the device's physical size and lifetime. For rechargeable systems, increased power consumption results in more frequent charging and, given that batteries only permit a limited number of charging cycles, ultimately this reduces the implanted lifetime of the device.
Neural modulation can be applied to activate a selected muscle group. One example of such neuromodulation is sacral nerve stimulation, in which stimulation frequencies are typically low (<20 Hz) and the currents are usually quite high (up to 7 mA). Without intending to be limited by theory, it is generally thought that sacral nerve stimulation induces a reflex inhibitory effect on the detrusor muscle of the urinary bladder through afferent and efferent fibers in the sacral nerves. Following implantation of a sacral nerve neuromodulator, adjusting the stimulus amplitude and frequency in current stimulation systems is a trial and error procedure. The stimulus amplitude is turned up until a motor response is recorded or the patient informs the programmer that paraesthesias are generated. The amplitude is then reduced below perception threshold and set to that level, but how much reduction is adequate to avoid undesirable motor responses or paraesthesias while still maintaining appropriate therapeutic effect is poorly known.
Any discussion of documents, acts, materials, devices, articles or the like which has been included in the present specification is solely for the purpose of providing a context for the present invention. It is not to be taken as an admission that any or all of these matters form part of the prior art base or were common general knowledge in the field relevant to the present invention as it existed before the priority date of each claim of this application.
Throughout this specification the word "comprise", or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising", will be understood to imply the inclusion of a stated element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps, but not the exclusion of any other element, integer or step, or group of elements, integers or steps.
In this specification, a statement that an element may be "at least one of" a list of options is to be understood that the element may be any one of the listed options, or may be any combination of two or more of the listed options.


Systems and methods are described for reducing error rates on data storage devices by applying data shaping to data written to such devices in order to avoid error-prone states on cells within the devices. Different states of individual cells (such as those representing different bit patterns) may have different propensities for error, and these propensities may vary during operation of a device. Thus, a device as disclosed herein may determine error-prone states for a cell or group of cells, and apply data shaping to data written to such cells to reduce the likelihood that writing the data places the cell or cells into an error-prone state. Data shaping may be used, for example, to increase the occurrence of “0” bits within input data, thus avoiding error-prone low voltage states that may be used to represent a series of “1” bits.

Non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, have been widely adopted for use in consumer products. Flash memory may be found in different forms, for example in the form of a portable memory card that can be carried between host devices or as a solid state disk (SSD) embedded in a host device. Flash memory devices can enhance data storage density by storing multiple bits in each flash memory cell. For example, Multi-Level Cell (MLC) flash memory devices can provide increased storage density by storing 3 bits per cell, 4 bits per cell, or more.
Storing multiple bits of information in a single flash memory cell typically includes mapping sequences of bits to states of the flash memory cell. For example, a first sequence of bits "110" may correspond to a first state of a flash memory cell and a second sequence of bits "010" may correspond to a second state of the flash memory cell. After determining that a sequence of bits is to be stored into a particular flash memory cell, the particular flash memory cell may be programmed to a state (e.g., by setting a threshold voltage) that corresponds to the sequence of bits.
Once memory cells in a data storage device have been programmed, data may be read from the memory cells by comparing the cell read out voltage to one or more read voltage thresholds. Preferably, these thresholds distinctly divide the states of the cell, and writing data into the cell results in a cell read out voltage between these distinct read voltage thresholds. However, defects in cells (either introduced during production or over use of the device) can cause the distributions of cell read out voltages within cells to shift or expand, such that it may not be possible to establish a read voltage threshold to distinctly differentiate a cell's state based on read out voltage. Thus, errors are introduced into the data written to the cell. When these errors occur frequently enough to overwhelm the error correction available to a device, these cells can become unusable.

Data shaping to reduce error rates in solid state memory devices


A surgical technique for harvesting an autogenous symphysis bone graft including making a single vertical incision to the symphysis area of a patient and harvesting bone from the symphysis area of the patient's mandible. The single vertical incision is made parallel to muscle fibers of the patient's chin.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure includes a process for immediate implant placement and provisionalization of a maxillary lateral incisor with a chronic buccal infection and a defective buccal plate including harvesting autogenous bone from the mandibular symphysis area with a single vertical incision.
2. Description of the Related Art
Restoration in the anterior region of the mouth is challenging both from the surgical and prosthetic point of view. The goal of implant therapy today is not only to attain osseointegration of the implant but also to enhance and maintain the soft tissue esthetics around dental implants. Maintenance of the soft tissue architecture around the implant restoration to mimic the contra lateral tooth in the anterior esthetic area is a requirement for a successful restoration. Immediate implant placement and loading maintains the soft and hard tissue architectures, avoid need for additional surgeries, and shorten treatment time (Chen S T, Wilson T G Jr, Hammerle C H, "Immediate or early placement of implants following tooth extraction: Review of biologic basis, clinical procedures, and outcomes," Int. J. Oral Maxillofac Implants. 2004; 19 (suppl): 12-25; Koh R U, Rudek I, Wang H L, "Immediate implant placement: positives and negatives," Implant Dent., 2010 April, 19(2):98-108; and Lazzara R J, "Immediate implant placement into extraction sites: Surgical and restorative advantages," Int. J. Periodontics Restorative Dent., 1989; 9:332-343—incorporated herein by reference). Clinical trials showed that a high success rate of the immediate implant placement in fresh extraction alveolus (Kan J Y, Rungcharassaeng K., "Immediate placement and provisionalization of maxillary anterior single implants: a surgical and prosthodontic rationale," Pract. Periodontics Aesthet. Dent., 2000: 12(9): 817-24; Botticelli D, Berglundh T, Lindhe J., "Hard-tissue alterations following immediate implant placement in extraction sites," J. Clin. Periodontol, 2004: 3 1:820-828; Chen S T, Darby I B, Reynolds E C, "A prospective study of non-submerged immediate implants: clinical outcomes and esthetic results," Clin. Oral Impl. Res., 2007; 18:552-5623—incorporated herein by reference). Careful analysis of soft and hard tissue is prerequisite for an immediate implant placement in the anterior region of the mouth (Kois J C, Kan J Y., "Predictable peri-implant gingival aesthetics: surgical and prosthodontic rationales," Pract. Proced. Aesthet. Dent., 2001; 13(9): 691-8—incorporated herein by reference). Kois named five diagnostic factors used to assist a predictable immediate implant placement (Kois J C., "Predictable single-tooth peri-implant esthetics: Five diagnostic keys," Compend. Contin. Educ. Dent., 2004: 25:895-896, 898, 900 passim; quiz 906-897—incorporated herein by reference). Three of five diagnostic factors are the form, biotype of the periodontium and the height of the alveolar crest prior to the tooth extraction which addressed the importance of soft and hard tissue components. Presence of a chronic apical or periodontal infected residual socket may be considered as a contraindication for the immediate implant placements (Schwartz-Arad D, Chaushu G. Placement of implants into fresh extraction sites: 4 to 7 years retrospective evaluation of 95 immediate implants. J Periodontol 1997; 68:1110-1116—incorporated herein by reference). An infected alveolus confirms the presence of the bacteria that will induce inflammatory activity, increase the bone resorptive process and result in a higher risk of implant failure (Campos M I, dos Santos M C, Trevilatto P C, Scarel-Caminaga R M, Bezerra F J, Line S R., "Early failure of dental implants and TNF-alpha (G-308A) gene polymorphism," Implant Dent. 2004; 13:95-101—incorporated herein by reference). Lindeboom et al. compared the survival rate of immediate and delayed implant placement into infected residual alveolus (Lindeboom J A, Tjiook Y, Kroon F H., "Immediate placement of implants in periapical infected sites: A prospective randomized study in 50 patients," Oral Surg. Oral Med. Oral Pathol. Oral Radiol. Endod., 2006; 101:705-710—incorporated herein by reference). The author showed a 92% survival rate of immediately placed implants compared with a 100% survival rate of delayed placement implants. Additionally, there was more mid-buccal soft tissue recession in the immediate placement compared with the delayed placement protocol one year after placement. In another study by Seigenthaler et al. demonstrated an equal survival rate of the immediate and delayed implant placement into infected socket (Siegenthaler D W, Jung R E, Holderegger C, Roos M, Hammerle C H., "Replacement of teeth exhibiting periapical pathology by immediate implants: A prospective, controlled clinical trial," Clin. Oral Implants Res., 2007; 18:727-737—incorporated herein by reference). Complete debridement of the alveolus with a primary stability of the implant is prerequisite for immediate placement. Immediate placement of an implant in presence of a chronic infection with a deficient buccal plate in a patient with a high smile line is very challenging and complex. Autogenous bone graft harvested from intraoral or extraoral sites has been used for predictable guided bone regeneration (Misch C M, Misch C E., "The repair of localized severe ridge defects for implant placement using mandibular bone grafts," Implant. Dent., 1995 Winter; 4(4):261-7; and Pikos M A., "Mandibular block autografts for alveolar ridge augmentation," Atlas Oral Maxillofacial Surg. Clin. N. Am., 2005; (13):91-107—incorporated herein by reference). There are certain complications of the donor sites have been reported (Toscano N J, Shumaker N, Holtzclaw D H., "The Art of Block Grafting: A review of the surgical protocol for reconstruction of alveolar ridge deficiency," J. Implant. Adv. Clin. Dent., 2010; Vol. 2, No. 2; Misch C M., "Comparison of intraoral donor sites for onlay grafting prior to implant placement," Int. J. Oral. Maxillofac. Implants, 1997; 12:767-776—incorporated herein by reference).
A surgical process and the restorative protocol for an immediate implant placement and provisionalization in the presence of large periodontal abscess with a buccal plate defect in a highly esthetic demanding area is described by harvesting an autogenous mandibular symphysis graft harvested with a single vertical incision.
Autegenous bone graft has been used as a gold standard for grafting procedure due to the osteogenic, osteoinductive, and osteioconductive capacity. Intraoral harvested bone from mandibular symphysis can be used for predictable guided bone regeneration (GBR). The increase of popularity of using the mandibular symphsis as a donor sites is due to the Local availability of the donor sites eliminate need for extraoral sources, up to 10 cc of Cortico:cancelious bone graft can be harvested, and a predictable bony gain up to 6 mm in horizontal and vertical dimensions. However, while the mandibular symphysis has many advantages, there are some complications of using such technique making it less attractive for dental practitioners. Post-operative morbidity and patient discomfort have been reported as a major concern of harvesting bone from the mandibular symphysis. Misch reported that 29% of patients reported alter lower incisors sensation, 9.6% had a paresthesia for up to six months, and 10.7% had incision dehiscence at the donor site. Chin ptosis is also a concern due to the disturbance of the muscle attachments due to bone harvesting from the mandibular symphysis area.

Surgical technique for harvesting autogenous mandibular symphysis graft


A communication unit within a trunked communication system can reduce control channel traffic by maintaining a data base of the communication system services that it can perform. The data base is maintained by the communication unit selecting a service that it desires to perform. Having selected the service, the communication unit verifies that it is one of the services that it can perform and transmits a request to perform that service to a communication resource allocator. The communication resource allocator responds to the request and the communication unit updates its data base based upon the response from the communication resource allocator. The response transmitted by the communication resource allocator may comprise either a grant to the communication unit that allows it to perform the selected service or a denial that the selected service is one that the communication unit is not allowed to perform.

Trunked communication systems are known to comprise a plurality of communication units, a limited number of communication resources that are transceived via a predetermined number of repeaters, or base stations, and a communication resource allocator that allocates a limited number of communication resources among the plurality of communication units. The communication resources may comprise a TDM bus, a carrier frequency, a pair of carrier frequencies, or any RF transmission means. Of the communication resources, one is selected to act as a control channel which transceives operational data between the communication resource allocator and the communication units. The communication units, which may be portable radios and/or mobile radios, are arranged into talk groups by commonality of use. For example, a talk group may comprise communications that are operated by a police department while another talk group comprises communication units operated by a fire department.
In addition to basic communications between talk group members, trunking communication systems offer a variety of services that a particular communication unit can subscribe to. For example, a communication unit may subscribe to such services as telephone interconnections, facsimile transmissions, private calling, wide area calling and the like. The communication resource allocator maintains a data base of the systems services that a communication unit has subscribed to. However, the communication unit does not contain such information. Thus, when a communication unit desires to perform a particular function it transmits in a request via a control channel, and once received by the communication resource allocator, the communication resource allocator determines whether that particular communication unit can perform such a service. If the communication unit has not subscribed to that service, the communication resource allocator transmits a denial message to that particular communication unit. This prevents the communication unit from accessing the selected service but does not prevent the communication unit from transmitting the same request at a subsequent time and having to receive the denial message again.
With the communication unit transmitting service requests that will not be granted over and over again, the control channel becomes unnecessarily busy. Therefore, a need exists for a method that will allow a communication unit to maintain a data base of the system services that it can perform such that control channel traffic is reduced.

Method for a communication unit to maintain a data base of system services