An A/D conversion device has an A/D conversion section including A/D conversion units. Each A/D conversion unit has a pulse delay circuit including delay units connected in daisy chain to form a ring delay line. Each delay unit delays a pulse signal by a delay time corresponding to an input voltage. The A/D conversion section counts the number of pulse signals that passed through the delay units during a period counted from a timing when a start signal is switched to an activation level from a non-activation level at a timing when a sampling signal is received. When each two successive timing signals CKi (i=1, 2, . . . and m) have a same specific period. The each two successive timing signals have a different phase shifted by 1/m of the specific period. Each A/D conversion unit receives the timing signal CK1 as the start signal, and the timing signal CKi+1 (CKm+1=CK1) as the sampling signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to analogue to digital (A/D) conversion devices equipped with a plurality of delay units arranged in multiple stages, and each of the delay units is capable of delaying a received pulse signal by a delay time which corresponds to an input voltage.
2. Description of the Related Art
There have been used various types of analogue to digital (A/D) conversion devices having a conventional structure. For example, a patent document, Japanese patent laid open publication No. H05-259907 has disclosed a conventional A/D conversion device equipped with a pulse delay circuit. The pulse delay circuit is comprised of a plurality of delay units. The delay units are arranged in a ring loop shape. Each of the delay units delays a received pulse signal by a corresponding delay time determined by a magnitude of an input voltage. The conventional A/D conversion device receiveds analogue input signals and converts the received analog input signal to digital output signals. The digital output signals represent numeric data.
In the conventional A/D conversion device disclosed in Japanese patent laid open publication No. H05-259907, an activation signal having an activation level (for example, a high level) is generated in order to initiate the operation of the pulse delay circuit. After this, an output signal of each of the delay units and a counter output signal of a pulse loop counter are latched at a timing of a sampling signal. The pulse loop counter is capable of counting a number of loops of pulse signals circulated in the pulse delay circuit. In the conventional A/D conversion device, the latched signals are encoded in binary digits which represent the number of the delay units through which the pulse signals have passed. The conventional A/D conversion device outputs the encoded signals as A/D conversion data. Because the activation signal and the sampling signal are generated at a constant period, the conventional A/D conversion device outputs the A/D conversion data items at constant time intervals.
There is a conventional technique to perform the A/D conversion device previously described at a high speed. The conventional technique always maintains the activation signal having the activation level, and encodes the number of the delay units, through which the pulse signals have passed, in binary digits during one period of the sampling signal. In this conventional structure, the pulse delay circuit and the pulse loop counter must obtain A/D conversion data on the basis of a difference between two successive encoded data items because the operation of the pulse delay circuit and the operation of the pulse loop counter are not reset in every A/D conversion operation.
However, because the conventional technique previously described requires an additional subtraction unit, it becomes difficult for the subtraction unit to follow and adapt a period of receiving A/D conversion data when the operation of the A/D conversion device operates at a high speed (for example, at a GHz speed). This introduces that the A/D conversion device having the conventional structure does not perform a correct A/D conversion operation.
Further, in the conventional technique of continuously performing the operation of the pulse delay circuit and the pulse loop counter without any resetting process, because the period of the sampling signal and the period of counting the number of the delay units through which the pulse signals have passed have the same value, it is difficult to detect a high frequency component, which is higher than a frequency of the sampling frequency, to the A/D conversion data.


There is provided an information processing apparatus, an information processing method, and a program that enable output of a sound to be heard at an assumed viewing/listening position of a zoom image when an image is displayed as the zoom image. In the case of image content such as a sports broadcast, the individual location information, direction and posture information, and audio data of each player as an object are stored separately for direct sound and reverberant sound, at the time of recording. At the time of reproducing a zoom image, the direct sound and the reverberant sound are mixed according to the direction of a player as an object with respect to an assumed viewing/listening position in the zoom image, so that a sound to be heard at the assumed viewing/listening position is output. The present disclosure can be applied to a content reproduction apparatus.

With the advance of imaging technology, the resolution of an image to be captured has been increased, so that even if a part of a captured image is displayed as a zoom image, image quality is not significantly reduced.
For this reason, when reproducing a captured image, it is possible to achieve viewing/listening while displaying a part of the captured image as a zoom image.
Meanwhile, there has been proposed a technique of displaying an image of a partial region cut out from a wide-angle image relating to a point specified by a user operation in a bird's-eye view image (see Patent Document 1).
According to the technique of Patent Document 1, the partial region cut out from the wide-angle image is variable according to a direction specified by a user operation in the bird's-eye view image. Thus, the user can actively move in the scenery on the basis of the bird's-eye view image.
Therefore, it is conceivable that the technique of Patent Document 1 is applied to a high-resolution image so that any desired range in the image is displayed as a zoom image and provided for viewing/listening.

Information processing apparatus, information processing method, and program


In an air conditioning apparatus, the refrigerant discharged from a compressor of an outdoor unit is passed through an outdoor heat exchanger, the refrigerant having passed through the outdoor heat exchanger is passed through an indoor heat exchanger of an ambient air-conditioning unit and the refrigerant having passed through the indoor heat exchanger is returned to the compressor to cool the whole space in the room. At the same time, the refrigerant discharged from the compressor is passed through the outdoor heat exchanger, the refrigerant having passed through the outdoor heat exchanger is passed through indoor heat exchangers of a plurality of personal air-conditioning units and the refrigerant having passed through the indoor heat exchangers is returned to the compressor to separately cool the discrete spaces in the room. At the time of cooling, the processes for the sensible heat load and latent heat load are effected in the in the indoor heat exchanger of the ambient air-conditioning unit and only the process for the sensible heat load is effected in the indoor heat exchanger of each of the personal air-conditioning units.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a multi-type air-conditioning apparatus having a plurality of air-conditioning units connected to an outdoor unit. 2. Description of the Related Art
A multi-type air conditioning apparatus having a plurality of indoor units connected to an outdoor unit is known. For example, such a multi-type air-conditioning apparatus is disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 1-203856 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,926,652.
Further, an air conditioning apparatus having a plurality of personal air-conditioning units instead of a plurality of indoor units is provided. The personal air-conditioning units are disposed on a large number of desks are installed in a room, for example, to separately air-condition various spaces in the room.
When the air conditioning apparatus having a plurality of personal air-conditioning units is installed in an office of a building, the refrigerant pipe and drain pipe are generally disposed in the space under the floor. Such a space is called a free access floor.
However, a free access floor is originally provided for accommodating electrical, wirings for a computer and business machines. The depth of the floor thereof is set to at most approx. 10 cm. The depth imitation is imposed on the free access floor because if the difference between the room floor and the corridor floor becomes too large, it creates an inconvenience when going into or out of the room. Also, ceiling of the room becomes relatively low creating a sense of oppression when the depth of the free access floor is set excessively large.
When the drain pipe is disposed in such a free access floor, the inclination of the drain pipe cannot be made large. Therefore, dust will tend to be deposited in the drain pipe and the pipe will be clogged with the dust.
In order to solve the above problem, a method of forming an opening in the concrete slab lying below the free access floor and extending the drain pipe to the lower floor via the opening is considered.
However, with the above method, it is necessary to form a new opening in the concrete slab each time the arrangement of the desks disposed on the floor is changed and to fill up the old opening. This construction work is extremely troublesome.
As is disclosed in Japanese Patent Disclosure No. 2-302532, a cooling system having cooling units provided for a plurality of heat-generating units installed on the same floor is proposed. In this case, it is also difficult to provide adequate drainage in the limited space.
The capacity of the personal air-conditioning unit is approx. 0.1 to 0.5 horse power. In contrast, the capacity of a compressor in an outdoor unit is 5 to 10 horse power. The capability controlling range of the compressor of this class is approximately one horse power at minimum, even in an inverter-driven type compressor.
Therefore, when only one personal air-conditioning unit is used, it is necessary to save the capability thereof to approximately 0.1 horse power in order to set up a comfortable air-conditioned environment with less temperature variation. This is impossible to do.

Air conditioning apparatus having ambient air-conditioning unit and a plurality of personal air-conditioning units connected to outdoor unit


In a liquid crystal display device comprising a plurality of layer domains of a liquid crystal material between a first and a second substrate member with two adjacent ones of which domains made to serve as a first layer domain of a first twist angle of liquid crystal orientations and as a second layer domain of a second twist angle of liquid crystal orientations, an angle between the first and the second twist angles is selected between 80.degree. and 100.degree. with the liquid crystal material made to have a chiral pitch between 20 micrometers and 200 micrometers in each of the first and the second layer domains. Preferably, the liquid crystal orientations have a pretilt angle between 0.degree. and 1.50.degree. at an interface between the liquid crystal material layer domains and at least one of the first and the second substrate members.

This invention relates to a liquid crystal display (LCD) device and to a method of manufacturing the same.
In the manner which will later be described in greater detail with reference to about a dozen of accompanying drawing figures, known are various liquid crystal devices in which a layer of a liquid crystal (LC) material is divided into a plurality of layer domains per pixel. When supplied with an electric voltage, the pixels show different contrast to provide a display of a pattern dependent on the voltage applied across each pixel. Such a multi-domain liquid crystal display device has a wide viewing angle of the display with an excellent contrast between those parts of the display which the pixels may correspond to either from pixel to pixel or from pixels of a segment to pixels of a background of the display.
The multi-domain liquid crystal display comprises first and second substrate members and the layer of liquid crystal display material between the first and the second substrate members. It will be presumed without loss of generality that the display is viewed by watching the first substrate member with the voltage applied across the first and the second substrate members. The pixels are usually defined by the second substrate member. Each substrate member comprises an alignment film in contact with the liquid crystal material. The layer domains are provided by processing the alignment films of the first and the second substrate members locally different in each pixel.
In each of such domains, the liquid crystal material has orientations which depend primarily on manners of processing the alignment films. Irrespective of the manners of processing, the orientations are subjected to a twist even when no voltage is applied across the first and the second substrate members. The twist results in a twist angle between the alignment films of the first and the second substrate members. Furthermore, the liquid crystal material has a chiral pitch specific to the material in a direction perpendicular to the first and the second substrate members when no voltage is applied between the substrate members.
As will be pointed out with reference to a few of the accompanying drawing figures later before describing this invention in detail, it has been confirmed by the present inventor that the layer domains have energy whose stability depends on the twist angle in each of the layer domains. This stability depends also on the chiral pitch. The viewing angle and the contrast primarily depend accordingly on the twist angle and the chiral pitch among others.

LCD of a selected twist angle through an LC material of a selected chiral pitch


A device for programming PCM cells includes a pulse-generator circuit for supplying programming current pulses. The pulse-generator circuit includes: at least one first capacitive element; a charging circuit, connectable to the first capacitive element in a first operating condition, for bringing a reference voltage on the first capacitive element to a reset value; a discharge-current generator, selectively connectable to the first capacitive element in a second operating condition, for discharging the first capacitive element through a controlled discharge current; a logic unit, configured to control connection and disconnection of the first capacitive element), of the charging circuit, and of the discharge-current generator; and a voltage-to-current converter, for converting the reference voltage into current.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a device for programming a phase-change memory (PCM) cell with discharge of capacitance and to a method for programming a PCM cell.
2. Description of the Related Art
As is known, phase-change memory (PCM) elements exploit the characteristics of materials that have the property of switching between two phases having distinct electrical characteristics. For example, these materials can switch between an amorphous, disorderly, phase and a crystalline or polycrystalline, orderly, phase, and the two phases are associated with resistivities of considerably different values. In addition, intermediate configurations, in which the material has only partially switched to the amorphous phase or to the crystalline phase, can be associated with intermediate values of resistivity.
Currently, the alloys of Group VI of the periodic table, such as Te or Se, referred to as chalcogenides or chalcogenic materials, can be advantageously used in phase-change cells. The currently most promising chalcogenide is formed by an alloy of Ge, Sb and Te (Ge2Sb2Te5, GST), widely used also for storing information in overwritable disks. In chalcogenides, the resistivity varies by two or more orders of magnitude when the material passes from the amorphous phase (more resistive) to the crystalline phase (less resistive) and vice versa.
The use of PCM elements for providing memory cells and arrays has been already proposed. In particular, in phase-change memories, a portion of chalcogenic material is used as programmable resistor, which can be electrically heated by a controlled current so as to switch between a high resistance condition and a low resistance condition and vice versa, respectively associated to which are a first logic value and a second logic value. The state of the chalcogenide can be read by applying a voltage sufficiently low as not to cause a sensible heating and by measuring the current that traverses it. Since the current is proportional to the conductance of the chalcogenic material, it is possible to distinguish the two states.
As has been mentioned, the phase transitions between the highly resistive amorphous state and the highly conductive crystalline state can be induced electrically through current pulses of appropriate amplitude and duration.
In particular, the transition towards the amorphous state ("reset") is obtained by applying current pulses of an amplitude sufficient to heat the chalcogenide beyond the melting point by Joule effect. The current pulses are generally rectangular, or in any case with steep edges so that cooling of the chalcogenide is so fast as to prevent crystallization.
The transition towards the crystalline state ("set") can be induced in different ways, and different techniques are currently used.
Irrespective of the technique adopted, a reset pulse is applied preliminarily for rendering completely amorphous an adequate volume of chalcogenide.
A first technique uses rectangular set current pulses. The amplitude of the set pulses is smaller than the amplitude of the reset pulses so that the temperature of the chalcogenide will exceed a phase-switching temperature, without, however, reaching the melting temperature. The duration of the pulses is, instead, sufficient to enable complete crystallization of the chalcogenide. The time required for programming is, however, excessively long, and the levels of performance of the memories are not acceptable.
A second technique, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,570,784 exploits trapezoidal set pulses. The amplitude of the set pulse is initially close to the amplitude of the reset pulse, and then decreases according to a linear ramp for a time interval, after which the pulse is interrupted. Also the temperature of the chalcogenide decreases ("quenching") according to a linear ramp. The technique exploits the fact that the crystallization time is very short in a narrow range of temperatures around an optimal temperature. The initial amplitude and final amplitude of the set pulse can be easily calibrated in such a way that the temperature of the chalcogenide, during the quenching ramp, will vary around the optimal crystallization temperature. In the previous case, instead, the duration of the set pulses had to be in any case long enough to enable crystallization even with temperatures of the chalcogenide significantly different from the optimal temperature so as to take into account the process dispersions and the changeable operating conditions.
According to a further solution, a single pulse is supplied having a constant stretch and a decreasing-ramp stretch, instead of a reset pulse followed by a set pulse. The initial amplitude of the pulse is sufficient to bring the chalcogenide to the melting temperature. Once a time interval has elapsed such as to ensure complete amorphization, the amplitude of the pulse decreases according to a linear or discrete ramp. The time necessary for programming is further reduced, since a single pulse is used. However, the quenching time is in any case rather long, since the ramp starts from a temperature higher than the melting temperature. In addition, to produce the set pulse a waveform-forming circuit is used that is rather complex and cumbersome.
According to U.S. Pat. No. 7,075,841, the set pulse has a trailing edge of an exponential type. The proposed solution enables reduction of the time necessary for programming the individual memory cell, but requires two separate circuits for generating the set and reset pulses.

Device for programming a PCM cell with discharge of capacitance and method for programming a PCM cell


The present disclosure describes a method called the rinse test for determining where silver is being lost and the variability of this loss in a photographic emulsion manufacturing process. Results from this method can be used to determine what parts of the emulsion manufacturing process should be improved to increase silver yield thereby reducing manufacturing costs and what parts of the emulsion manufacturing process should be improved to reduce silver loss variability thereby improving an emulsion's sensitometric response. The photographic emulsion manufacturing process includes at least one kettle and a plurality of processing equipment which may include sections of pipe, permeators, mixers and pumps. The silver loss is determined by adding water to a kettle after the product has been removed from but prior to cleaning of this kettle. The concentration of silver in this rinse water is measured and the amount of silver is determined. Each piece of processing equipment is flushed sequentially with water from this kettle and the concentration of silver in this rinse water is measured after each piece is flushed. The amount of silver in the receiving kettle is determined then the silver loss in each piece of processing equipment is determined from the incremental increase of the total silver in this rinse water.

In the manufacture of photographic emulsions, silver nitrate is typically reacted with halide salts in the presence of gelatin to form a photographically active silver halide. Typical photographic manufacturing processes include the preparation of raw materials in separate kettles (e.g., one kettle for silver nitrate, one kettle for halide salts, one kettle for gelatin, and optional kettles for chemical addenda). After the raw materials are prepared, the silver nitrate and halide salts are transferred at high shear rates into a reaction vessel, usually referred to as the make kettle, which contains water and may contain some gelatin, salts and ripeners. The silver nitrate and halide salts are reacted in the make kettle to form a silver halide suspension, hereafter referred to as an emulsion, containing silver halide grains of a certain size and morphology. This emulsion is typically transferred through a filter after which the emulsion is washed and concentrated. After washing and concentrating the emulsion, the emulsion is transferred into a finish kettle. The concentration of silver in the finish kettle is then determined from which is calculated the total amount of silver in the finish kettle. In many cases, chemical addenda are added to the emulsion in the finish kettle based on the total amount of silver in the finish kettle. These chemical addenda include sensitizing dyes that make an emulsion sensitive to certain wavelengths of light, gelatin to increase the viscosity and achieve certain coating parameters and salts, acids and bases to minimize changes after storage in the final silver halide grain morphology.
In order to manufacture a high quality photographic emulsion as determined by a consistent sensitometric response, the ratio of addenda to silver must be kept as consistent as possible. The more consistent this ratio, the more reproducible will be the amount of addenda adsorbed onto each silver halide grain and the more consistent the sensitometric response of the emulsion. Therefore, sensitometric consistency can be improved by having consistent amounts of silver in the finish kettle.
A second important manufacturing parameter for a photographic emulsion is the quantity of silver as silver halide in the finish kettle. Yields of silver in the finish kettle that approach 100% of the amount of silver prepared in the silver nitrate kettle mean less waste and lower manufacturing costs.
Therefore, both the silver yield and silver yield variability in the finish kettle are important process control parameters that ensure consistent, high quality photographic emulsions manufactured with the lowest possible manufacturing costs. Unfortunately, the silver yield and the silver yield variability in the finish kettle are a result of the silver loss caused by all of the above-described processing steps. If the silver yield in the finish kettle is too low or if the silver loss variability in the finish kettle is too high, it is usually not obvious what part or parts of the emulsion manufacturing process should be improved to reduce the variability and yield problems. It is therefore desirable that the main sources of low silver yield and/or high silver loss variability be identified.
Current methods for determining where silver is lost and where silver loss variability is introduced into an emulsion manufacturing process are to measure the silver yield in each part of the process. For example, once all of the silver nitrate for a batch has been added to the silver nitrate kettle, the concentration of silver times its kettle volume is a measure of the amount of starting silver in the silver nitrate kettle. Once all of the silver is transferred out of the silver nitrate kettle into the make kettle, measurements of the volume and silver concentration of the emulsion in the make kettle can be used to determine how much silver is in the make kettle. The difference between these two measurements is an indication of the silver left in the silver nitrate kettle and the silver nitrate transfer line.
Other measurements that might be used to estimate total silver are the mass of the emulsion based on kettle weigh scales or based on a mass flow meter in a transfer line and a measured density to infer silver concentration. Whatever method is used to determine total silver yield, the problem with these methods is that yields are typically so close to 100% that measuring the silver yields to the needed accuracy of typically less than 0.01% is not practical. These methods of measuring silver yield from each part of the emulsion manufacturing process also cannot be used to differentiate which part of the process is the main cause of the problem.
The present invention is an easily implemented method for determining where silver is being lost in the emulsion manufacturing process and for determining sources of silver loss variability. Once sources of silver loss and/or silver loss variability have been determined, steps can be taken to reduce the problems and thereby increase yields and/or increase the consistency of silver in the finish kettle from one batch to another.

Method to determine silver loss in a photographic emulsion manufacturing process


A method of controlling flow includes treating a region of a surface to have a non-wettable surface characteristic or a wettable surface characteristic in the region.

Fluid flow control is an issue for many applications. One application, for example, is control of adhesive flow in packaging of micro-electro-mechanical structures (MEMS). Another illustrative application in which adhesives are used is that of inkjet pen or cartridge assembly, where adhesives may be dispensed through needles. Other exemplary applications for which precise pattern control of fluid deposition on a surface is desirable include fabrication of biological or chemical sensors, ink-jet printed OLED displays, nanoparticle deposition for conductive traces, and organic or inorganic electrics. Good spatial control of deposition of the drops and later migration or diffusion may be useful in producing good quality electronic devices.


The diving nozzle includes a first tube and a second tube. The first tube having a first inlet and a first outlet. The first inlet connected to a supply of a first material. The first outlet operable to dispense the first material into the package. The second tube is moveable with respect to the first tube. The second tube having a second inlet and a second outlet. The second inlet connected to a supply of a second material. The second outlet operable to dispense the second material into the package. The first material is one of the product and the purging gas, the second material is the other of the product and the purging gas.

It is well known in the art to perform a purging operation after a package, such as a flexible pouch, has been filled with a variety of products including consumable liquids and other edible products. In order to extend the shelf life of the product in the flexible pouch, oxygen present in the pouch must be purged by an inert gas prior to the sealing of the flexible pouch. The presence of oxygen in the pouch increases the chance of a bacteria forming or may affect the taste of the consumable liquid or other edible products within the packaged pouch.
Previously known pouch filling and sealing machines included a separate gas flush or gas purge station positioned after a filling station. The separate gas purge station purged the interior of the pouch with the inert gas prior to the sealing of the pouch. However, there are several disadvantages of the previously known fill-seal machines which include a gas purge or flush station positioned between the filling station and the sealing station.
Specifically, the inclusion of a separate station of the fill-seal machine for the sole purpose of purging the interior of the pouch of oxygen decreases the operational efficiency of the fill-seal machine operation. The requirement for a separate station increases the overall time required for the flexible pouch to undergo the fill-seal operation. Moreover, the inclusion of a separate station for the purging operation increases the overall size of the fill-seal machine and reduces the number of pouches which can undergo simultaneous operation at each station.
Moreover, by conducting the purging operation at a separate station from the filling station requires that the pouch be displaced from the filling stage to the separate purge station. The movement of the pouch from the filling station to the purge station often disrupts product filled within the flexible pouch which may be splattered or otherwise adhered to the interior portion of the upper edge of the flexible pouch. The contamination of the upper edge of the pouch can decrease the effectiveness of a later applied seal that seals the upper edge of the pouch.
Thus, there exists a need in the art for a diving nozzle which overcomes the above mentioned disadvantages of the previously known flexible pouch filling systems.

Diving nozzle for filling a product into a package and for gas purging and method for the same


A method of monitoring a rock drilling and a rock drilling device includes generating a stress wave, which propagates in a tool of the rock drilling device, measuring the stress wave propagating in the tool and measuring a drilling parameter indicating a drilling penetration rate. The method further includes identifying, from the measured stress wave propagating in the tool, at least one of a compressive stress wave and a tensile stress wave of a reflected stress wave reflected from a rock to be drilled back to the tool, determining at least one property of the at least one of the compressive stress wave and the tensile stress wave of the reflected stress wave, detecting, on the basis of a change in the at least one property of the at least one of the compressive stress wave and the tensile stress wave, that the tool is approaching the cavity.

In rock drilling holes are drilled in the rock by a percussion rock drilling machine. In this context, the term "rock" is to be understood broadly to also cover a boulder, rock material, crust and other relatively hard material.
The rock drilling machine includes a percussion device, which gives impact pulses to the tool either directly or through a shank, and thereby generates stress waves travelling in the tool. The impact of the percussion device to the tool or the shank provides a compression stress wave in the tool, where the wave propagates to the outermost end of the tool. When the compression stress wave reaches the tool's outermost end, the tool penetrates into the rock due to the influence of the wave. Some of the energy of the compression stress wave generated by the percussion device is reflected back as a reflected wave, which propagates in the opposite direction in the tool, i.e. towards the percussion device. Depending on the situation, the reflected wave may include only a compression stress wave or a tensile stress wave. However, the reflected wave typically includes both the tension stress wave component and the compression stress wave component. The stress wave travelling in the tool may be measured and the measuring result may be employed in controlling of the rock breaking device as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,671,366, for example.


An in-car entertainment (ICE) unit includes a compact disc (CD) player configured to play a CD. A radio receiver is configured to receive a radio broadcast. A docking station is provided in which a digital camera can be docked so that information can be downloaded from the camera. A liquid crystal display (LCD) can display information from the CD, the radio broadcast or the camera. A printer is configured to print the displayed information.

These days, more and more information is provided to people. The information is made available in various forms, including audible forms and visual forms. Often, the information is made available to persons in a conveyance.
There are situations where it is desirable to have a record of such information. To date, making a record of such information means that the person needs some means to record the information, for example, on a recording medium such as an audio-tape dictation machine or by making written notes on paper. Often such recording devices are not readily to hand and vital information can be lost.

In-car entertainment unit incorporating a printer


A method of rolling NiW alloy tapes for coated conductors belongs to the technical field of metal materials rolling. According to the method, a cylindrical NiW alloy ingot with a diameter not less than 10 mm is used to be rolled back and forth along the axial direction as a rolling direction, wherein the content of W is 5˜7 at. %, and the axis of this ingot is perpendicular to the plane where the axes of working rollers are located. During rolling process, the cross sectional area reduction of the ingot is retained at 5% per pass. When the total cross sectional area reduction of the ingot is larger than 98% and the thickness of the tape is down to 60˜100 μm, the rolling is stopped, and thus the NiW alloy tape is obtained. The method has the advantages that the negative influence generated when the NiW alloy tape is produced from a cuboid initial NiW alloy ingot can be reduced as much as possible, the yield of the NiW alloy tapes is increased, as well as relatively ideal effects can be obtained in terms of the surface biaxial texture, the length and the axial quality.

As the representative of the second-generation high temperature superconducting coated conductors, YBCO (Yttrium, Barium, Copper and Oxide) which has a brittle ceramic structure need to epitaxially grow on a flexible metal tape with a biaxial texture and obtain the biaxial texture to meet the application requirements. Therefore, for the purpose of obtaining the high-performance coated superconducting wires and tapes, the key goal is to prepare the flexible metal tape which has favorable biaxial texture on surface, long length of single tape and uniformity in axial quality.
The NiW alloy is a kind of material for metal alloy tape which is selected for its good mechanical property by applying the rolling assisted biaxially textured substrate (RABiTS) method by scientific workers for years. The NiW alloy tape which has high-quality biaxial texture on surface and about 60˜100 μm thickness is produced from the NiW alloy, through heavy rolling and recrystallizing to the NiW alloy ingot (the content of W is 5˜7 at. %). But a cuboid initial NiW alloy ingot applied in a traditional rolling method is difficult to reach ideal effects in terms of the biaxial texture on surface, the length and the axial quality, upon the following reasons:
1. in order to obtain the NiW alloy tape with the high-quality biaxial texture, it needs to meet the conditions that during rolling process, the total thickness reduction of cold rolling is larger than 98%, the thickness reduction per pass is retained at certain level, and additionally, the annealing treatment cannot be performed during this process;
2. in the condition of ensuring that the thickness of the final tape is kept about 60-100 μm, in order to produce the tape which is relatively long and meet requirement 1, the initial ingot must be thickened, which will cause the increase of the total deformation of the NiW alloy ingot, resulting in serious strain hardening leading to crack sources easily generating on the both edges of the tape and tape rupture. Although the crack sources on the both edges can be removed by frequently trimming edges, the workload and the loss of materials may be increased, as well as the working hour is prolonged. More importantly, when the deformation of the ingot reaches a certain degree, its deformation effect is not remarkable anymore and a larger rolling force capable of enabling the ingot to deform needs to be provided. Therefore, more energy is consumed and loss of rolling mills is increased; even large-tonnage rolling mills are required, and accordingly, the production cost is greatly increased;
3. with regard to a cuboid initial NiW alloy ingot, hidden troubles to generate cracks described in the item 2 are brought in the subsequent cold rolling deformation processing since much stress is concentrated on the axial side edges in such processes as hot forging and hot rolling etc. before cold rolling;
4. in according to the rolling theory, the rolling process will not be smoothly finished until the width/height ratio of the NiW alloy ingot meets certain proportional relation in a rolling deformation process, that is, in case of meeting the increase in thickness (mentioned in the item 2), the ingot is need to be correspondingly widened. In other words, when the mass of raw materials is increased, the increase in width can affect the increase in length, which generates a negative influence on the expected length of the tape, and also comes up with a higher requirement on the rolling force of rolling equipment;
5. with regard to the rolling process of the long tape, the smaller the difference between the length of the final tape and the length of the initial ingot is, the more profitably the quality of the finished-product tape is well-distributed in the rolling direction, that is, the larger the contribution of the length of the initial ingot is, the longer the length of the final tape is, as well as the larger the contribution of the thickness of the initial ingot is, the more unprofitable it is.
Integrating the above reasons, in the traditional rolling method, the cuboid initial NiW alloy ingot applied in rolling can produce some unprofitable factors to producing the tape and also may cause increase of the production cost, so this is particularly remarkable for the production of the long tape. And therefore, there are some more needed to improve in selecting and rolling methods of the NiW alloy ingot.

Method of rolling NiW alloy tapes for coated conductors


A scanner-equipped apparatus includes a combination of a base unit such as a printer unit, personal computer or word processor incorporating a printer unit and a scanner unit. The printer unit and the scanner unit can operate as automatic sheet feeder type apparatus, respectively. The scanner unit can be used as a handy scanner in the state detached from the base unit. The basic unit and the scanner unit are disposed substantially in upstanding posture in parallel with each other, wherein the scanner unit is removably combined with the base unit so that the scanner unit can be used as the handy scanner. A sheet transporting path for the scanner is formed between confronting surfaces of the base unit and the scanner unit. The sheet feeding mechanism for the scanner unit is so implemented as to be used intact as a driving mechanism for the handy scanner. The scanner-equipped apparatus can be realized inexpensively in a simplified mechanical structure while ensuring enhanced manipulatability.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to an apparatus equipped removably with a scanner unit (also referred to as a scanner-equipped apparatus) in which a base apparatus or base unit such as a personal computer, a word processor or the like incorporating therein a printer unit is combined detachably with a scanner unit so that the scanner unit itself can also be used independently as a so-called handy scanner. By way of example, as a typical one of the scanner-equipped apparatus, there may be mentioned a printer/scanner combination apparatus which is composed of a printer unit and a scanner unit combined integrally and mutually detachably and which provides advantages that the space demanded for the installation of the apparatus can be reduced when compared with the space required for installing separately the printer unit and the scanner unit and that the printer/scanner combination apparatus can be manufactured at relatively low costs. Thus, the present invention is particularly concerned with a printer/scanner combination apparatus which includes a printer unit and a scanner unit combined detachably such that the scanner unit can be detached to be used as the handy scanner, to thereby enhance the utility of the scanning function while ensuring high manipulatabilty and serviceability for maintenance of the apparatus.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, in the field of data processing with the personal computer, there arises an increasing tendency of processing image, graphics and the like data, which is accompanied with rapid spreading of the scanner apparatus for fetching the image data.
In general, the personal computer system is comprised of a main body, a display unit, a keyboard, a printer, etc. Consequently, for the installation of the personal computer system, a considerably large space is demanded. Such being the circumstances, user who bought a scanner will often bother his or her head over the place where the scanner is to be installed. Furthermore, although the scanner is commercially available at remarkably low price at present, purchase of the scanner means not a little burden on the consumers.
Under the circumstances, there have been developed various scanner-equipped printer apparatuses in which a sensor is mounted on a carriage of the printer, wherein image reading operation is carried out by making use of the sheet feed mechanism of the printer for feeding an image document sheet (i.e., paper or the like sheet having text, a picture or graphics recorded thereon) in efforts to implement the scanner at low costs while mitigating the space demand for the installation of the scanner.
However, in the case of the conventional scanner-equipped printer apparatuses known heretofore, the sheet feeding mechanism is used in common for both the scanning function and the printing function. Consequently, it has been impossible to use both the functions at the same time. Further known is such a printer/scanner combination apparatus in which the reader unit provided for realizing the scanning function can be detached so as to be used as a so-called handy scanner. However, because the conventional reader unit includes no driving mechanism, the handy scanner can be operated only manually. In order to allow the handy scanner to operate automatically, it is required to provide a driving mechanism dedicated for the handy scanner. However, in the conventional apparatus, the driving mechanism for the handy scanner is left unused in the state in which the handy scanner is mounted on the printer unit. Thus, in the conventional printer/scanner combination apparatus, the efficiency of hardware utilization is low, which in turn means that the cost-performance of the conventional printer/scanner combination apparatus is poor.

Apparatus equipped with removable scanner unit


A test signal generating system for providing test signals to electronic circuit components under test in a burn-in system, the test signal generating system having a timing arrangement for eliminating glitches from the test signals, The test signal generating system comprises a data generator, a timing generator and a format selector, each of which provides an input signal to a test signal selector, A first, second and third flip-flop are electrically connected to the data generator, timing generator and format selector, respectively. A fourth flip-flop is electrically connected to an output of the test signal selection means, Each of the flip-flops is triggered by the same clock.

The present invention relates to the provision of test signals to electronic circuit components in a burn-in system and, in particular, to a system for generating test signals which contains a timing arrangement that eliminates any glitches in the test signals sent to electronic circuit components.
In a burn-in system, it is necessary to be able to selectably provide a variety of test signals in various sequences to the electronic circuit components under test. A problem with providing such test signals occurs when the input signals from which the test signal is chosen do not change state at exactly the same time. When this occurs, a momentary selection of the previous value of one of the input signals may occur. Such an inaccurate selection can manifest itself in the form of a glitch in the test signal. Such a glitch can adversely affect the operation of the electronic circuit components under test.
In some burn-in systems, glitches in the test signal are ignored. This can result in parts of the electronic circuit components being falsely triggered, interfering with their operation. In other burn-in systems, glitches in the test signal are minimized by limiting the order and variety of the test signals used so that a glitch will not appear. However, this solution limits the versatility of the burn-in system.
There is therefore the need for a system for generating test signals that is capable of providing a glitchless test signal to the electronic circuit components under test.


Secure extensibility access to application program interfaces (APIs) is described. Techniques are described in which trust indicia are used determine relative trustworthiness of an extensibility module attempting to access of APIs of an application module. Access to APIs of the application module is managed based upon trustworthiness of the extensibility module.

Computer software applications often provide mechanisms for extensibility, such that third party developers may create third-party applications adding functionality to host software. Extensibility is typically provided by permitting access to published or unpublished application program interfaces (APIs) within the host software.
Traditionally, APIs were made openly available to anyone desiring to access the APIs to encourage development and increased functionality of the underlying software. Accordingly, APIs may be freely used to provide enhanced functionality and to deliver additional functionality to end-users. However, APIs may also be targeted by malicious parties, which may exploit the APIs for malicious purposes to attack the underlying software and/or attack other software. When users are utilizing a trusted application, for instance, it is often difficult for the users to know when to trust third-party applications that plug into the trusted application and extend functionality. Thus, users may unknowingly install an untrustworthy, rouge, or malicious extensibility application that may cause harm.

Authenticating third party products via a secure extensibility model


A solar cell having a molded lead frame, and method of manufacture of same, is disclosed. Specifically, a plurality of solar cells is manufactured from a strip of lead-frames and soft solder techniques for die assembly and component assembly. After wire bonding, glass attachment and transfer molding, a trim and form process produces individual solar cells having a molded lead frame.

Interest in alternative energy sources that are sustainable and renewable continues to increase as costs of conventional energy sources continues to rise. This interest has generated development of alternative energy sources such as solar power. Solar power requires photovoltaic devices. Photovoltaic devices configured as semiconductor photovoltaic are commonly termed solar cells. Solar cells must be robust in order to enable a reliable energy source, and must be manufactured efficiently to satisfy volume and cost requirements.
Solar cells are typically made with ceramic substrates using injection molding techniques and require heating steps to enable bonding or adhesion of components. Conventionally designed and manufactured solar cells tend to generate relatively high manufacturing costs and low utilization. Also, conventional solar cells are manufactured in individual units, rather than through a strip format, which increases production cost. Furthermore, conventional approaches require heating to enable bonding, and encounter quality problems such as inconsistent control of the void area between a die and a thermal pad.
Attempts to improve solar cell reliability and loser manufacturing costs include stacking of laminates to form a package that supports a solar cell, as described in US 2011/0265871, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference. The stacked configuration provides layers that serve variously as a heat sink, solar cell mount and electrical connection. However, the '871 publication appears difficult to manufacture in a cost-effective manner.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,026,440 provides a solar cell module unit with a laminar substrate fitted with an electrically conductive upper layer, a middle layer which is heat conductive but not electrically conductive, and a thermally conductive bottom layer. A solar cell is mounted on a printed circuit board positioned on the upper layer. The '440 publication does not use a lead frame substrate and is silent as to its method of manufacture. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 8,026,440 are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,977,777 provides a lead frame thermoplastic package for a solar cell. The '777 publication does not use strip format construction techniques and uses stamp and plating techniques to attach its die to its lead frame. The entire contents of U.S. Pat. No. 7,977,777 are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
What is needed, therefore, is a solar cell module that is of increased capability, increased quality and decreased cost than conventional solar cells and methods of manufacture. What is needed is a design for such a solar cell and for a method of manufacture.

Solar cell module on molded lead-frame and method of manufacture


A method for installing artificial turf at an airport or airfield includes removing or milling a portion of an airport runway or taxiway to create a new surface of the runway or taxiway, adhering a section of artificial turf to the new surface of the runway or taxiway and applying an infill to at least a portion of the artificial turf. An artificial turf system for an airport includes an airport runway or taxiway having a removed or milled surface, an artificial turf is adhesively secured to the new, milled surface of the airport runway or taxiway and an infill layer installed on at least a portion of the artificial turf.

The present disclosure relates generally to systems and methods for securing artificial turf around airports or airfields and more specifically to systems and methods for adhesively installing artificial turfs around airports or airfields.
Airfields, including military airfields, small airfields and large commercial airports often have natural grass surfaces adjacent to the airport runways and taxiways. Those natural grass surfaces are difficult, time consuming, expensive to maintain and are aesthetically unpleasing. Natural grass surfaces can also create a number of safety problems for departing and arriving aircraft and potential safety problems relating to the clean-up of hazardous waste spills and to the use of pesticides and herbicides necessary for proper upkeep of the grass.
Various systems and methods have been developed for installing and securing artificial turf around airport runways and taxiways to help solve some of the problems associated with existing natural grass surfaces. For example, U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0030709 to Carr, which is assigned to the assignee of the present disclosure, teaches various systems and methods securing the artificial turf near a runway or taxiway. One such method uses a header system. The header system generally includes a composite stud member that serves as an anchor onto which the artificial turf is attached and/or a member that protects the edge from high velocity engine jet blasts and forces of natures (e.g., high winds) that can cause the artificial turf to fly-up or become removed from an underlying base material. In one such system, the artificial turf is glued to a header or stud member that is porous. The porous header can be glued to the runway or taxiway.
Using header systems to securely install artificial turf adjacent to runways or taxiways, however, has its own problems. For example, a header system can be costly to install due to the time (i.e., labor costs) and related material costs.
In another known system for securing artificial turf adjacent to runways, which is also disclosed in U.S. Patent Publication No. 2010/0030709 to Carr, the artificial turf is secured to a base material (e.g., sand or crushed rock) located under the runway using mechanical pinning or attachment devices, or secured merely via the weight of the base material. However, these known systems and methods for securing artificial turf adjacent to runway or taxiways can also be costly.
A need accordingly exists for an improved system and method for securing artificial turf adjacent to airport runways or taxiways.

Adhesively secured artificial turfs for airports and methods of installing such artificial turfs


There is provided a printer including: a recording head which performs recording by ejecting ink; a recording unit which stores the recording head; a liquid storage unit which is provided outside the recording unit, and stores a liquid storage body that stores the ink to be ejected from the recording head; ink supply tubes which supply the ink that is stored in the liquid storage body stored in the liquid storage unit to the recording head; and a supporting portion which is provided in the liquid storage unit, and supports the ink supply tubes. As a mark which is a reference of a part supported by the supporting portion, a line is provided in the ink supply tubes.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus, such as an ink jet type printer.
2. Related Art
In the related art, an ink jet type printer which performs printing (recording) by ejecting ink (liquid) onto a recording medium, such as a paper sheet, from a liquid ejecting head (recording head) is known as one type of a recording apparatus. In such a printer, in order to make it possible to supply the ink to the liquid ejecting head continuously and stably even when a relatively large amount of printing is performed, a configuration in which an ink bag (liquid storage body) which has a relatively large amount of storage of the ink is provided is suggested (for example, refer to JP-A-2009-202346).
In the recording apparatus described in JP-A-2009-202346, the ink bag is supported by a supporting device which is provided outside a housing, and the ink is supplied through an ink supply tube to the liquid ejecting head which is provided inside the housing from the ink bag.
However, as described above, in the recording apparatus in which the ink is supplied to the liquid ejecting head provided inside the housing from the ink bag provided outside the housing, the ink is supplied to the recording head from the ink bag through the ink supply tube. For this reason, when the ink supply tube which links the ink bag and the liquid ejecting head to each other is bent and crushed in the middle, there is a concern that a printing error, such as dot omission, is generated because a flow of the ink deteriorates, and a sufficient amount of ink cannot be supplied to the recording head.
In addition, such a problem is not limited to the recording apparatus which ejects the ink from the liquid ejecting head, but generally common to the recording apparatus which supplies the liquid via the liquid supply tube to the recording head from the liquid storage body that stores the liquid to be ejected from the recording head.


A triggered action set for a first device can be defined by the first device. Instructions for executing the triggered action set can be provided by the first device to a second device. Subsequent to providing the instructions, the first device can monitor the status of the second device; if the delegate device enters a state in which it is presumed to be unavailable to execute the trigger, the first device can monitor for a triggering event associated with the triggered action set and send a control message to an accessory device in response to detecting the triggering event.

The present disclosure relates generally to automated environments and in particular to delegation of executing triggered action sets in such an environment.
Electronic devices are becoming increasingly popular in a range of applications. Mobile phones, tablet computers, home entertainment systems, and the like are just some of the electronic devices users interact with regularly.
Another category of electronic devices that is becoming more popular includes various electronically controllable devices, such as thermostats, lighting devices, household appliances, etc. Users want to control these devices easily and conveniently using mobile devices and the like and to automate their operation.

Delegation or revocation of trigger execution in an automated environment


The present invention discloses a self-bias phase locked loop including a phase frequency detector, a charge pump, a loop filter, a voltage control oscillator, a divider and a bias current converter. A charging or discharging current output from the charge pump equals to a first control current. A resistor of the loop filter is controlled by a first control voltage a second control voltage which is adjusted according to the first control voltage and a second control current. The loop filter boosts or lowers the first control voltage according to the charging or discharging current output from the charge pump. The voltage control oscillator generates a bias current according to the first control voltage and increases or decreases an oscillation frequency according to the boosted or lowered first control voltage, and symmetric loads of the voltage control oscillator are controlled by the first control voltage. The first control current output from the bias current converter equals to the ratio of the bias current to a constant, and the second control current output from the bias current converter equals to the ratio of the bias current to a frequency division factor. The circuit of the self-bias phase locked loop is simple and a low jitter.

A Phase Locked Loop (PLL) is widely applied in a System on Chip (SOC) to constitute a frequency synthesizer, a clock generator and the like. FIG. 1 is a basic structure of a PLL, in which a Phase Frequency Detector (PFD) 10 detects a frequency difference and a phase difference between an input signal Fref and a feedback signal Ffb, and generates pulse control signals UP and DN and sends them to a Charge Pump (CP) 20. In the CP 20, the pulse control signals UP and DN are converted into a current Ip so as to charge or discharge a capacitor Cp of a Loop Filter (LP) 30, the LP 30 generates and sends a control voltage Vctrl to a Voltage Control Oscillator (VCO) 40. The VCO 40 increases an oscillation frequency as the control voltage Vctrl is boosted, and the VCO 40 decreases the oscillation frequency as the control voltage Vctrl is dropped. An output signal Fout of the VCO 40 results in the feedback signal Ffb via a divider 50, so that the entire system forms a feedback system, and the frequency and phase of the output signal Fout are locked to a fixed frequency and phase.
A loop damping factor ξ of the PLL illustrated in FIG. 1 is denoted by Equation (1) and a loop bandwidth ωn is denoted by Equation (2):
                    ξ        =                                            R              p                        2                                                                                I                  p                                                                  K                  v                                                                  C                  p                                            N                                                          (        1        )                                          ω          n                =                                                            K                v                                                          I                p                                                    NC              p                                                          (        2        )            where Cp denotes the capacitor of the LF 30, Rp denotes a resistor of the LF 30, Ip denotes a current for charging or discharging the capacitor Cp (that is, the charging or discharging current output from the CP 20), Kv denotes a gain of the VCO 40, and N denotes a frequency division factor of the divider 50.
A high performance phase looked loop should have advantages as follows: insusceptibility to variations of process, voltage and temperature (PVT), a wide frequency band, a low phase jitter and a small frequency change after being locked, a monolithic integrated filter, low power consumption for circuit and the like. However, it may be difficult to design a phase looked loop satisfying all the requirements. A typical phase looked loop based on a VCO has a phase jitter caused by the noise of a power source and a substrate. The loop acts as a low-pass filter for the noise, and the narrower the loop bandwidth is, the lower the jitter will be. On the other hand, the capacitor of the filter can not be manufactured largely in size due to the requirement of monolithic integration, and at the same time, the bandwidth may be restricted by the loop stability condition. These restrictive conditions may result in the designed PLL with a narrow operation frequency band and poor jitter performance.
A method for improving a bandwidth and lowering a jitter is to vary the bandwidth of the PLL to follow the operation frequency of the PLL. The loop has a narrow bandwidth and a low jitter in each operation status, but the varying bandwidth of the PLL may result in a very wide frequency range while reducing phase and frequency jitters introduced by the noise. An example of the method is a self-biased method to design a PLL with a loop damping factor ξ of a fixed value (typically 1). The damping factor ξ and the ratio of the loop width ωn to an angular frequency of an input signal ωref (hereinafter, referred to as an input frequency, ωref=2πFref, where Fref denotes a frequency of the input signal) are determined only by a relative value of a capacitor during a fabrication process.
The technical document titled "Low-Jitter Process-Independent DLL and PLL Based on Self-Biased Techniques" (John G Maneatis, IEEE Journal OF Solid-State Circuits, VOL. 31, NO. 11, NOVEMBER 1996) discloses a basic structure of a self-biased PLL. As illustrated in FIG. 2, a capacitor C1 and a bias generator 60 constitute a LF 31, that is, the bias generator 60 creates a resistor of the LF 31, and a current output from an additional CP 21 is applied at the output terminal of a bias voltage VBP of the bias generator 60, so that a CP 20 charges and discharges the capacitor C1 and the CP 21 charges and discharges the resistor created by the bias generator 60.
The bias generator 60 generates bias voltages VBP and VPN from a control voltage VCTRL to provide input voltages to a VCO 41. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the bias generator 60 includes a bias initialization circuit 601, an amplifier bias circuit 602, a differential amplifier circuit 603, a half-buffer replication circuit 604 and a control voltage buffer circuit 605. The amplifier bias circuit 602 provides the differential amplifier circuit 603 with a bias, and the differential amplifier circuit 603 adjusts the bias voltage VBN, so that the half-buffer replication circuit 604 and the control voltage buffer circuit 605 replicate the control voltage VCTRL to the bias voltage VBP at the output terminal, that is, VBP=VCTRL.
The VCO 40 of the basic PLL illustrated in FIG. 1 typically includes a plurality of buffer stages with a differential structure, and the VCO 41 of the self-biased PLL illustrated in FIG. 2 includes n (n≧2) differential buffer delay stages with symmetric loads, for example, the VCO 41 including three differential buffer delay stages 410 with symmetric loads as illustrated in FIG. 4. The bias voltage VBN provides the loads 411 and 412 with a bias current 2ID (ID denotes a current flowing through the symmetric load 411 or 412). The bias voltage VBP of the symmetric loads 411 and 412 equals to the control voltage VCTRL, and an equivalent resistance of the symmetric loads 411 and 412 equals to ½gm, where gm denotes a transconductance of one transistor in the symmetric loads. A resistance of the symmetric loads 411 and 412, a time delay of the buffer stages and a frequency of the output signal (CK+ or CK−) of the VCO 41 vary with the control voltage VCTRL.
It is assumed that the current Ip of the CPs 20 and 21 x times the bias current 2ID of the VCO 41, that is, Ip=x 2ID, and the resistance Rp of the LF 31 created by the symmetric load 606 in the bias generator 60 y times an equivalent resistance Ro of the buffer stages 410 of the VCO 41, that is, Rp=yRo=y/2gm. Therefore, a loop damping factor ξ of the self-biased PLL illustrated in FIG. 2 is denoted by Equation (3) and the ratio of an loop bandwidth ωn to an input frequency ωref is denoted by Equation (4):
                    ξ        =                              y            4                                                        x              N                                                                                C                1                                            C                B                                                                        (        3        )                                                      ω            n                                ω            ref                          =                              xN                          2                                                                                π                                                                                C                B                                            C                1                                                                        (        4        )            where CB denotes a parasitic capacitor of the VCO 41. Thus, parameters x and y and the frequency division factor N meet certain ratio relationship by designing a circuit so as to counteract the frequency division factor N, so that the damping factor ξ of the PLL and the ratio ωn/ωref of the loop bandwidth to the input frequency are determined only by a relative value of the capacitors CB and C1 in a fabrication process.
Two CPs are typically used in most of existing self-biased PLLs to charge or discharge a capacitor and a resistor respectively, for example, as mentioned in the U.S. patents No. US20020067214, No. US20060267646 and No. US20070152760, which is more one CP than the basic PLL so that the circuit may be relatively complex.

Self-biased phase locked loop and phase locking method

Semiconductor Manufacturing International (Shanghai) Corporation


The present invention provides a digital camera comprising a planar image display device, a camera body coupled to an end of the image display device, and a printer device coupled to another end of the image display device. In the digital camera, the camera body and/or the printer device can store the image display device, and the camera body and the printer device can be coupled to each other through a coupling device when the image display device is stored.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital camera, and more specifically to a digital camera which has a printer and can be a compact unit when it is stored.
2. Related Art
Recently, it is normal that a quickly and widely spread digital camera (electronic camera) has a relatively large image display device. A liquid crystal display (LCD) is widely adopted as an image display device.
To satisfy the request to produce a compact unit, there has been a proposition of adopting an organic EL (electro-luminescence) display using an organic EL device (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-180934).


A reservoir is arranged to permit directing of various fluids into an ice maker such as spring water and the like, wherein the reservoir includes a valve arranged to permit selective fluid flow into the ice maker or selectively into a further conduit for discharge of fluid from said reservoir.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to ice maker apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved ice maker reservoir apparatus wherein the same is arranged to control fluid characteristic into an ice maker.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Conventional ice makers typically direct fluid communication between household water supply and the associated ice maker, wherein the instant invention attempts to overcome such prior art by permitting use of a reservoir permitting selective fluid flow into an ice maker utilizing spring water, as well as various other fluids. U.S. Pat. No. 4,027,499 to Barto sets forth a reservoir directing fluid into an ice maker, with U.S. Pat. No. 4,941,902 permitting purified water flow into an ice maker.


An apparatus for sharing information between entities includes a processor and a trusted execution module executing on the processor. The trusted execution module is configured to receive first confidential information from a first client device associated with a first entity, seal the first confidential information within a trusted execution environment, receive second confidential information from a second client device associated with a second entity, seal the second confidential information within the trusted execution environment, and execute code within the trusted execution environment. The code is configured to compute a confidential result based upon the first confidential information and the second confidential information.

The field of data sharing has become increasingly important. Mutually distrusting entities often have a necessity or desire to share sensitive information with one another. However, they are often reluctant to do so due to the risk of information leakage. For example, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and an airline may need to share sensitive data to prevent a suspected terrorist from boarding an airplane. The DHS maintains a terrorist suspect watch list database and wants to verify that a person matching a description in that database is apprehended before the flight takes off. The airline has a passenger manifest of all passengers scheduled to board flight. The passenger manifest may include a suspected terrorist as well as other people not on the terrorist suspect watch list. However, because of the sensitivity of data in the DHS database, the DHS may not want to disclose the sensitive data to the airline. For example, if the watch list is leaked, a terrorist could be alerted which may jeopardize some aspect of national security. For privacy reasons, the airline may not want to provide information regarding all of the passengers on a particular flight to the DHS. If the passenger manifest is leaked and misused, the airline may violate privacy regulations with respect to the passengers private information. Significant challenges remain for sharing of sensitive information between distrusting entities while ensuring that the shared information will only be used for an agreed upon purpose by the entities.

Mutually assured data sharing between distrusting parties in a network environment


A method and apparatus for producing a X-ray image of a patient's teeth by placing an intra-oral sensor having a plurality of pixels disposed in a linear array inside the patient's mouth, and moving a radiation source around outside of the patient's mouth. The intra-oral sensor detects the radiation that has passed through the patient's teeth and generates corresponding output signals that depend on the amount of radiation arriving at each pixel. The information contained in the output signals is stored and can be used to create an X-ray image of the patient's teeth. The intra-oral sensor can be moved about inside the patient's mouth in coordination with the movement of the radiation source in order to improve the resulting image quality. This method and apparatus can be used to obtain an X-ray image of any number of teeth, including a panoramic image of all of the patient's teeth, in a single, quick, uninterrupted operation.

This invention relates to a method and apparatus for obtaining an X-ray image of teeth. Specifically, the method and apparatus use an intra-oral (i.e. in-the-mouth) linear array sensor to detect radiation that originates from a radiation source outside the mouth, and create an image from the output of the sensor.
The procedure most commonly used by dentists to obtain radiographic images of the teeth, jaw structure or the like of patients produces what is called a periapical X-ray radiograph. In this known procedure, an X-ray film packet is inserted into the patient's mouth near the teeth or other anatomical structure to be imaged. The procedure makes use of an X-ray tube of the type which generates X-rays at a fixed point on an anode and in which the X-rays radiate out from that fixed point. The tube is provided with a shield cone which is directed at the film packet through the teeth or other structures to be imaged. Precise positioning of both the film packet and the shield cone is necessary to obtain useful X-ray images.
Although the conventional periapical X-ray procedure is very extensively used, it is subject to several serious disadvantages. The need to insert and retain a relatively large film packet in a patient's mouth, for example, often causes discomfort or gagging and may not be tolerable to certain patients such as small children and elderly persons. Further, no visible image is available to the dentist until the film packet has been removed and subjected to a time-consuming and costly development procedure. An instantaneous radiographic image would be much more useful to the dentist. In addition, this development procedure requires the use of chemicals which can have a negative environmental impact.
Another very serious problem with film is the undesirably large radiation dosage that is needed in order to produce a complete set of dental X-ray images. This is in part a result of the very low detection efficiency of the unscreened X-ray film commonly used for dental X-ray operations.
Techniques for reducing radiation exposure have heretofore been developed utilizing screened film that greatly improves detection efficiency by disposing an image-intensifying phosphorescent material on the X-ray film emulsion surface. The phosphorescent screen, however, reduces the definition of the resulting images, and has accordingly proved to be impractical in many situations.
The problem of high radiation exposure in dental radiology is often aggravated by a need to repeat the X-ray imaging process. For example, after the X-ray film is developed, it may be found that the film was not properly aligned during the original exposure, or that errors were made in developing the exposed X-ray film. Each of these occurrences is fairly common.
Some newer X-ray imaging systems do not use photographic film, and thereby avoid some of the disadvantages described above. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,160,997 (Schwartz), the pioneer patent in the field of filmless dental radiography, describes a system for taking periapical X-rays using an electronic sensor instead of photographic film. In Schwartz, X-rays which have passed through the patient's teeth are converted into light by a phosphorescent screen, and the light is detected by a two-dimensional solid state image pickup device such as a CCD (charge coupled device). The screen and the image pickup device are packaged together and connected to an electronic video display system. Improvements to this type of system are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,434,418 (Schick).
Systems of the type described in Schwartz address some of the problems associated with conventional periapical X-ray systems described above. In particular, because electronic sensors that use phosphorescent screens are much more sensitive to X-ray radiation than photographic film, systems using these sensors can use a much smaller dosage of X-rays to register an image. In addition, because the output of the electronic sensor can be processed very rapidly by a micro-computer, the images are available immediately after the exposure is taken. Finally, no film developing chemicals are needed with these electronic sensor systems.
However, while the electronic sensor systems provide significant advantages over traditional photographic periapical systems, some disadvantages remain. Most notably, it is still necessary to insert the electronic sensor into the patient's mouth repeatedly, in various positions, and to take multiple exposures.
Because a full set of periapical X-rays includes up to 21 X-ray pictures, the process of asking the patient to open his mouth, inserting the film packet or electronic sensor, walking out of the room, actuating the X-ray tube, returning to the room, and repositioning the sensor must be repeated numerous times. Even when an abbreviated set of "bite wing" periapical X-rays are taken, the process must be repeated four times. This takes a significant amount of time, even when performed by a highly skilled technician, and can be even more time-consuming with a less experienced technician. In addition, the process is uncomfortable for the patient because biting down on the sensor package can be painful, and because the patient cannot speak for extended periods of time.
The panoramic (also known as pantomographic) image technique is another advance over standard periapical X-ray imaging, and has been extensively utilized in the recent past by dentists and oral surgeons. In this procedure, panoramic or wide angle X-ray images are produced by generating a narrow linear X-ray beam which is revolved during the exposure about an axis of rotation which passes through the anatomical structures to be examined. The X-ray tube is essentially a conventional one which generates X-rays at a small fixed point on an anode. Radiation generated at this point is collimated by a first slit which is parallel to the axis of rotation, passes through the patient's head and then through a second similar collimating slit situated in front of a screened film cassette which is rotated in synchronism with the rotational movement of the X-ray beam. The tube and detector motion causes the X-ray beam to sweep across the intervening anatomical structures. Upon development of the film, a panoramic two-dimensional strip image is produced of curved anatomical structures in the patient's head such as the mandible or maxilla.
Although a significant reduction of patient radiation dosage may be realized in comparison with periapical procedures, the conventional panoramic image technique is itself subject to several disadvantages. It is necessary that the X-ray beam pass through the entire skull of the patient, even if it is only desired to obtain an image of a portion of the skull such as the dental arch. Consequently unwanted images are superimposed upon the desired image data. This makes interpretation of the image more difficult and detracts from the general quality of the image by obscuring desired data to some extent with undesired information. Moreover, radiation exposure remains undesirably high as the X-ray beam must necessarily pass through the entire skull. Anatomical structures which are not of particular interest are thereby necessarily subjected to radiation dosage which does not contribute any useful information but actually detracts from the quality of the desired data. Further, a significant amount of X-ray scattering occurs during passage of the X-ray beam through the patient's entire head, creating a background fog in the image on the developed film that undesirably limits the range of contrast in the image and which may cause loss of definition. This process also requires the time consuming and troublesome film developing process of the conventional periapical X-ray procedure.
Additional losses of definition and contrast arise from the presence of the intensifying screen in front of the X-ray film. Underlying and supplementing these contrast limitations peculiar to the panoramic image technique is the undesirably limited grey scale latitude of X-ray film in general. Still further, a long exposure time, typically about 20 seconds, is needed to complete a full-mouth panoramic image. As result, problems often arise from patient motion or equipment vibration with consequent blurring of the resulting X-ray images. This tends to be particularly severe when the patient is an infant or young child. Finally, a considerable degree of distortion of the depicted objects is normally present in the conventional panoramic image.
Attempts have been made to develop a system that eliminates some of these shortcomings. U.S. Pat. No. 4,323,779 (Albert) describes a panoramic X-ray system that uses an electronic sensor instead of photographic film. In particular, Albert teaches the use of a sweeping electron beam to produce a moving point source of X-rays. The X-rays from this moving point source pass through the patient's teeth and strike an X-ray detector, which is made of a small scintillator crystal that converts the X-rays into visible light and a photosensitive element that converts the light into an electrical signal. As the point source is moved, the X-rays from the source will pass through different points on the patient's teeth on their way to the sensor. A portion of the X-rays is absorbed by the teeth, and the rest strikes the sensor. The electrical signal produced by the sensor is proportional to the portion of X-ray radiation that arrives at the sensor. This electrical signal is then processed by appropriate electronic circuitry.
Albert's system, however, has several drawbacks of its own. In particular, the system relies on complex components, including an electron gun, an anode plate, and a deflector means for moving the point X-ray source. Two problems are inherent in this type of system: Optical distortions must be compensated for, and focal length adjustments are often required. Moreover, the Albert system cannot provide an panoramic image of the entire mouth in one operation--it can only obtain an image of a portion of the dental arch. Therefore, multiple exposures are required in order to obtain a full panoramic X-ray image of the patient's teeth. Moreover, attempts to increase the number of teeth in a single image result in increased optical distortion.
There is therefore a need to develop a substantially improved dental radiography system that departs from past approaches.

Dental radiography using an intra-oral linear array sensor


A semi-automatic method of extracting a contour in a digital image using a combined active contour and starter/guide approach is based on an iterative process of deforming an active contour to obtain a current trace and extending the current trace by a straight line segment. An initial contour is entered into the image to seed the iterative process. Local analysis of the digital image at a point of the initial contour determines a first reference datum. At each iteration this analysis is carried out locally at a plurality of points around the end point of the current trace to determine, by correlation with the first datum, the orientation of the straight line segment extending the current trace.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a semi-automatic method of extracting a contour of a contrasted area in a digital image stored in computer memory, in particular a digitized photographic image.
The invention applies in particular to iterative systems aiding the extraction and identification of networks of roads or rivers or coastlines in a digital satellite or aerial image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The article "Using Dynamic Programming for Minimizing the Energy of Active Contours in the Presence of Hard Constraints" by Amir A. Amini et al, IEEE, Second Int. Conference on Computer Vision, 5 Dec., 1988, TAMPA (Fla.), pages 95-99, describes a contour extraction method based on an iterative process of deforming an active contour using an energy minimizing function. The article "Towards Dynamic Adaptation of Snakes Contours" by Marie-Odile Berger, International Conference Image Analysis & Processing", COMO (Italy), September 1991 also refers to a semi-automatic contour extraction method of this kind.
This prior art method includes the input of an initial contour into the digital image near the contour to be extracted. This initial contour is in the form of a polygonal trace that seeds the iterative process. The iterative process deforms the initial contour until it finds an equilibrium position corresponding to an energy minimum, this equilibrium position defining a part of the trace of the contour to be extracted. This part of the trace is then extended by a straight line segment, the combination being deformed again and this process repeated on each iteration until the process is halted by the operator. On each iteration of the process a function extends the current trace in an extension direction determined by local analysis of the digital image at the end point of the current trace. This local analysis of the image at the current point is conventionally based on determining the tangent to the trace at the current end point or determining the perpendicular to the gradient at the current end point.
The manner in which the current trace is extended is not always satisfactory. In particular, if the contour to be extracted has sudden variations in curvature, the trace tends not to follow these curvature variations. It is then necessary to intervene manually in the deformation process or the active contour extension process to assist the trace to rejoin the contour to be extracted. Such intervention is time-consuming if it is required frequently. This is the case when the contour to be extracted in a digital image is particularly complex, for example when it is a coastline.

Method of extracting contours using a combined active contour and starter/guide approach

Alcatel Alsthom Compagnie Generale D'Electricite


In the present invention, a method of inhibiting fatty liver disease is disclosed. The method comprises administrating an effective amount of an extract of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa to a subject in need thereof at a dosage of 150 to 600 mg for per kilogram per day of the subject in need, lasting for 4 weeks. The extract of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa is obtained by extracting roots of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa through a process of supercritical fluid extraction, water extraction, or organic solvent extraction. A preparation method of the extract of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa is also disclosed in the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an extract of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa for treating fatty liver and, more particularly, to an extract of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa for treating fatty liver disease and a medication comprising the said extract of Angelica acutiloba Kitagawa for treating fatty liver.
2. Description of the Related Art
Fatty liver, also known as fatty liver disease (FLD), is characterized by large vacuoles of lipid, such as triglyceride, accumulating in liver cells, or steatosis (also called fatty degeneration) within liver cell.
It is reported that, 25% to 36% of adults in Taiwan suffer from fatty liver disease. However, due to the non-obviousness of fatty liver disease in clinical symptoms, for example non-specific gastrointestinal disorders including upper abdomen pain, loss of anoresia, flatulence, burnout, or liver pain and, thus that people usually aware of their pathogenesis only when acute hepatomegaly and fulminant hepatitis occur or in an abdominal ultrasound diagnosis.
Fatty liver disease is mainly occurred in person who has excessive drinking, obesity, malnutrition, diabetes (having high incidence, about 80%, to fatty liver disease) or use steroid for a long time. Generally, conventional treatments of fatty liver disease depends on what is causing it, and basically, treating the underlying cause will reverse the process of steatosis accompanied with healthy diet and moderate exercises so as to relieve the accumulation of triglyceride in liver cells.
However, negative attitudes in conventional treatment of fatty liver disease usually result in disease progression, such as hypercholesterolemia, poor blood circulation, slow bloodstream and increase incidences to cardiovascular diseases and serious complication, such as chronic hepatitis, fulminant hepatitis, cirrhosis or liver cancer, leading to irreversible consequences.
On the other hand, for people who have hypercholesterolemia and fatty liver, conventional hypolipidemic agents only can effectively reduce level of blood fat, but is poor in reducing fat in liver cells. Also, the conventional hypolipidemic agents will increase hepatotocity after long-term of treatment. Besides, for people who only have fatty liver disease, the conventional hypolipidemic agents are useless in treatment. As a result, due to the inconvenience of the conventional treatments, there is no preferable medication for suppressing fatty liver disease till now.


A method for making an angular velocity sensor having two masses which are laterally disposed in an X-Y plane and indirectly connected to a frame is provided. The two masses are linked together by a linkage such that they necessarily move in opposite directions along Z. Angular velocity of the sensor about the Y axis can be sensed by driving the two masses into Z-directed antiphase oscillation and measuring the angular oscillation amplitude thereby imparted to the frame.

Sensing of angular velocity is frequently performed using an inertial sensor. Inertial angular velocity sensors broadly function by driving the sensor into a first motion and measuring a second motion of the sensor that is responsive to both the first motion and the angular velocity to be sensed.
Frequently, a mass (usually referred to as a proof mass) within the sensor is driven into oscillation by an actuator. Rotation of the sensor imparts a Coriolis force to the oscillating mass that is proportional to the angular velocity (or rotation rate), and depends on the orientation of the angular velocity vector with respect to the velocity vector of the proof mass. The Coriolis force, the angular velocity vector and the mass velocity vector are mutually orthogonal. For example, a proof mass moving in an X direction within a sensor rotating about a Y axis experiences a Z directed Coriolis force. Similarly, a proof mass moving in an X direction within a sensor rotating about a Z axis experiences a Y directed Coriolis force. Finally, a proof mass moving in an X direction within a sensor rotating about the X axis experiences no Coriolis force. Coriolis forces imparted to the proof mass are usually sensed indirectly by measuring motions within the sensor that are responsive to the Coriolis forces.
Recently, the development of micromachining technology (also known as MEMS technology) has led to the development of various MEMS angular velocity inertial sensors. MEMS technology is basically a planar technology, where suitable MEMS actuators for driving in-plane motion tend to differ significantly from suitable MEMS actuators for driving out-of-plane motion. Similarly, suitable MEMS sensors for measuring in-plane motion responsive to Coriolis forces tend to differ significantly from suitable MEMS sensors for measuring out-of-plane motion responsive to Coriolis forces. These differences are both structural differences and performance differences.
An in-plane MEMS angular velocity sensor must either drive an out-of-plane motion or sense an out-of-plane motion in order to detect an in-plane angular velocity component, due to the orthogonality of mass velocity, angular velocity and Coriolis force discussed above. In contrast, an out-of-plane MEMS angular velocity sensor can drive and sense two orthogonal in-plane motions in order to detect an out-of-plane angular velocity component. Due to the planar nature of MEMS technology, in-plane MEMS sensors and out-of-plane MEMS sensors tend to differ significantly.
Some known in-plane MEMS angular velocity sensors have two proof masses driven into oscillation. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,283 to Cardarelli teaches an in-plane MEMS sensor. In the coordinates of Cardarelli, the device plane is the YZ plane. In a first embodiment, Cardarelli teaches two masses dithered in the +/−Y direction (i.e., in-plane). Angular velocity about a Z axis leads to X directed Coriolis forces on the two masses. The two masses are attached to a gimbal rotatable about the Z axis such that X directed forces on the masses provide Z directed torques on the gimbal. The two masses are dithered to have oppositely directed velocities, so the two Coriolis forces provides a net torque on the gimbal about the Z axis. Motion of the gimbal about the Z axis is sensed.
In a second embodiment, Cardarelli teaches two masses dithered in the +/−X direction (i.e., out-of-plane). Angular velocity about a Z axis leads to Y directed Coriolis forces on the two masses. The two masses are attached to a gimbal rotatable about the Z axis such that Y directed forces on the masses provide Z directed torques on the gimbal. The two masses are dithered to have oppositely directed velocities, so the two Coriolis forces provides a net torque on the gimbal about the Z axis. Motion of the gimbal about the Z axis is sensed.
Another known in-plane MEMS angular velocity sensor having two proof masses driven into oscillation is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 6,508,122 to McCall et al. McCall et al. teach an in-plane MEMS sensor having two unconnected masses that are laterally disposed in the device plane and dithered out of phase with respect to each other in this plane direction. For definiteness, let the device plane be the XY plane, and let the dither be in the X direction. The masses oscillate in the Z direction when the sensor is rotated about the Y axis, due to Z-directed Coriolis forces. The Z directed oscillation of the masses is sensed.
The approaches of both Cardarelli and McCall et al. are motivated by a desire to reject "common mode" interference from the measurement of angular velocity. For example, an angular velocity sensor having a single proof mass can register an incorrect reading if subjected to a linear acceleration in the same direction as the Coriolis force to be sensed. With two masses, various arrangements are possible, including those mentioned above, that respond to Coriolis forces but generally do not respond to linear acceleration in the same direction as the Coriolis forces. Typically, such arrangements depend on driving the two masses so that their velocities are always equal and opposite. Any deviation from a condition of equal and opposite velocities is disadvantageous, since such deviation reduces the desired response to the Coriolis forces, and increases the undesired response to linear acceleration.
However, in practice it is not straightforward to drive two masses with equal and opposite velocities. For example, two nominally identical and identically mounted masses can differ in practice so that actuating these two masses with the same actuation provides velocities which are not equal and opposite. Actuators tend to vary in effectiveness as well, so even if two masses were identical and identically mounted, variation in the actuators connected to the two masses could again provide mass velocities which are not equal and opposite. Similarly, circuitry connected to actuators may not be identical, etc. As a result, known two mass in-plane angular velocity sensors have not fully realized the common mode rejection promised by two mass configurations.

Method of making an X-Y axis dual-mass tuning fork gyroscope with vertically integrated electronics and wafer-scale hermetic packaging