Methods, apparatus, and computer readable media applicable to robots, such as balancing robots. Some implementations are directed to determining multiple measures of a property of a robot for a given time and determining a final measure of the property of the robot for the given time based on the multiple measures. One or more control commands may be generated based on the final measure of the property and provided to one or more actuators of the robot.

Balancing robots have a statically unstable balancing base that may take various forms, such as a balancing base that includes two axially-aligned wheels (e.g., as depicted in various figures herein), a balancing base that includes only a single wheel, or a balancing base that includes a spherical roller. Balancing robots are not statically stable and must be at least selectively actively balanced to remain upright. For example, in response to a disturbance to a balancing robot (e.g., force applied by the balancing robot and/or force applied to the balancing robot), one or more components of the robot may need to be adjusted to actively balance the robot and ensure it stays upright. In other words, in response to a disturbance, component(s) of the balancing robot are adjusted to thereby adjust the center of mass of the balancing robot so that the center of mass of the balancing robot is returned to a stabilized/balanced position (e.g., over a center point of a balancing base).


The described technology is generally directed towards improving indexes and queries for files by indexing file directories. According to an embodiment, a system can comprise a memory and a processor that can execute the components stored in the memory. The components can comprise a data interface to couple to a database system comprising a database storing metadata describing a file system, wherein the database comprises records that correspond to ones of directories of the file system, and wherein the records comprise a field that corresponds to files logically stored in the directories of the file system. The system can further comprise an indexing component that creates an index for the records based on an index key and an analysis of the ones of the files and the directories to which the records correspond, wherein the index comprises links between instances of the index key and ones of the directories. Further, the system can comprise a query component that queries the database for a file of the file system by employing a search key and the index.

Indexing can be a useful way to increase the performance of different data manipulation functions, e.g., queries, sorts, and relational joins. Indexes are broadly configurable with respect to fields included, sort order, use of multiple indexes. Balanced against the benefits that can accrue from using indexes is the overhead, e.g., cost of design, creation and updating and the extra processing.
One way that database administrators can try to mitigate the negative aspects of indexes is to take advantage of different efficiency features offered by database systems. However, even when the mitigation approaches work as planned, the approaches frequently lead to an increase in the size and complexity of the indexes, and this increase can counteract other index benefits. In addition, for very large enterprise systems, where the size of the system may already be an issue, smaller index size can be the difference between successful and failed systems.

Indexes and queries for files by indexing file directories


Various methods and systems are provided for a cathode cup having a surface texturing to aid in adherence of emitter deposited films. In one embodiment, a method may include chemically and/or mechanically texturing a surface of a cathode cup to form a plurality of features with a higher than threshold depth of each feature, the surface of the cathode cup facing an emitter coupled to the cathode cup.

Noninvasive imaging modalities may transmit energy in the form of radiation into an imaging subject. Based on the transmitted energy, images may be subsequently generated indicative of the structural or functional information internal to the imaging subject. Electron sources are employed in x-ray systems, such as computed tomography (CT) and cardiovascular (CV) systems. Electron sources usually comprise of thermionic emitters which emit electrons upon reaching a certain temperature. The filaments forming these thermionic emitters may be made of metal with a high melting point, like tungsten, lanthanum, or their alloys.
The radiation source such as an x-ray source typically comprises an x-ray tube including a cathode assembly having an emitter fixed in a cup oriented to face an anode, or target, which is typically a metal or composite structure electrically connected to a high-voltage electrical circuit. The space between the cathode and anode is evacuated. The cathode cup is designed to produce a tailored electric potential distribution in the vacuum such that all electron trajectories are redirected from their initial divergent motion toward a focal spot on the anode surface. Upon energization of the electrical circuit, which produces a potential difference of, for example, 60 kV to 140 kV, electrons are directed from the cathode to the anode. The electrons strike the anode (target) and produce high-frequency electromagnetic waves, such as x-rays, and residual thermal energy. The residual energy is absorbed by the components within x-ray tube as heat.
During operation of the x-ray system, certain portion of the x-ray tube such as the emitter material may be exposed to high temperatures. Such elevated temperatures may cause material from the emitter to sublimate. A reliable process is employed to contain the sublimated material.

Methods and systems for x-ray tube with texturing


The present invention relates to methods for delivery of fusion polypeptides into cells. Methods are provided for local delivery of fusion polypeptides, e.g., through the skin, eye and the airway, to prevent allergic inflammation, airway hyper-responsiveness and to block T cell activation. Methods for delivery of fusion polypeptides to suppress graft rejection are also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods for delivery of a biomolecule transduction complex (BTC), such as a fusion polypeptide, into cells. The biomolecule transduction complex (BTC) comprises a protein transduction domain (PTD) and a molecule of interest, such as a polypeptide.
2. Background Art
Generally, living cells are not permeable to macromolecules such as proteins and nucleic acids. The fact that only small-size molecules can permeate through the membrane of living cells at very low rates has restricted the research to develop drugs to cure, prevent, or diagnose diseases using macromolecules, such as, proteins and nucleic acids. Therefore, an effective method of transducing biologically active macromolecules into the cytosol and nucleus of living cells, without deleterious side effects, is needed.
Protein transduction domains (PTDs) have been used for delivery of biologically active molecules (Viehl C. T., et al., Ann. Surg. Oncol. 12:517-525 (2005); Noguchi H., et al., Nat. Med. 10:305-309 (2004); and Fu A. L., et al., Neurosci. Lett. 368:258-62 (2004)). However, no attempts have been made to use PTDs as a way of delivering a cytoplasmic domain of a receptor protein. Also, no attempts have been made for the intranasal delivery of a PTD with a biological molecule.
CTLA-4 (cytotoxic T lymphocyte antigen-4) is an activation-induced surface molecule on T cells and is essential for the negative regulation of T cell activation. It binds to B7-1 or -2 on antigen presenting cells (APC) with an affinity of 10- to 20-fold higher than that of CD28 which is a positive costimulatory molecule for T cell activation (Ngoc L. P., et al., Curr. Opin. Allergy Clin. Immunol. 5:161-166 (2005); Noel P. J., et al., Adv. Exp. Med. Biol. 406:209-217 (1996); and Perkins D., et al., J. Immunol. 156:4154-4159 (1996)).
The cytoplasmic domain of CTLA-4 containing Immunoreceptor Tyrosine-based Inhibitory Motif (ITIM) has been found to be 100% conserved among different species, suggesting that this domain is important for negative regulation of CTLA-4 on T cell activation by sequestering intracellular signaling molecules (Ravetch, J. V. & Lanier, L. L., Science 290:84-89 (2000); and Jay, C. U. & Jie, J., Curr. Opin. Immunol. 9:338-343 (1997)). Therefore, the cytoplasmic domain of CTLA-4 is an excellent molecular target for the development of immunotherapeutic drugs for asthma, autoimmune diseases and graft rejection. To date, attempts to deliver a receptor protein, in particular CTLA-4, into a cell using a PTD have been difficult. We have now shown a way to deliver CTLA-4 as a cargo for a PTD by fusing just the cytoplasmic domain of the receptor protein with a PTD. The cytoplasmic domain of CTLA-4 is specific to the activated T cells, so when used as a cargo protein for a PTD, it overcomes the lack of tissue specificity of the cationic PTDs which limited their in vivo utility.

Methods for treating rheumatoid arthritis using a CTLA-4 fusion protein


A method and apparatus for predicting content preferences of an active user with reference to content preferences of other users that are similar to those of the active user, the method including: measuring similarity ratios of the active user and other users using an overlapping ratio of use of content items commonly used between the active user and the respective other users; generating a recommender list for the active user based on the measured similarity ratios; and predicting a preference rating of the first user with respect to an unused content item based on a preference rating of an other user included in the recommender list with respect to the unused content item. Accordingly, the similarity ratio between the users can be accurately measured so that reliability of a preference rating prediction system can be increased.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to a method of predicting a user preference, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus of accurately predicting a user's preference for content items in measuring similarities between content users.
2. Description of the Related Art
Due to advances in technology, the storage capacity of multimedia apparatuses has steadily increased. As a result, content has become more accessible to users of the multimedia apparatuses. Generally, in this multimedia age, the amount and variety of available content has also increased.
Due to such a quantitative increase in available contents, it can be difficult to find information that is useful to a particular individual. Accordingly, various methods of mechanically predicting preferences of active users with respect to corresponding contents have been attempted. However, the most difficult problem has been to increase an accuracy of prediction values in a preference prediction system.

Method and apparatus for predicting user preference


An apparatus and method for lapping and fabricating a read/write head is described. The lapping method includes performing a first lapping process on a structure having the read/write head fabricated therein. The first lapping process is for reducing a first resistive region. The first resistive region is located proximal to a surface of the structure. The first lapping process is for achieving a first lapping benchmark. The lapping method further includes performing a second lapping process on a second resistive region. The second lapping process laps at a rate lesser than the first lapping process. The second lapping process is for achieving a second lapping benchmark. The second resistive region is interposed between the first resistive region and the read/write head. The second resistive region has a different resistive value than the second resistive region.

Hard disk drives are used in almost all computer system operations. In fact, most computing systems are not operational without some type of hard disk drive to store the most basic computing information such as the boot operation, the operating system, the applications, and the like. In general, the hard disk drive is a device which may or may not be removable, but without which the computing system will generally not operate.
The basic hard disk drive model was established approximately 40 years ago and resembles a phonograph. That is, the hard drive model includes a plurality of storage disks or hard disks vertically aligned about a central core that spin at a standard rotational speed. A plurality of magnetic read/write transducer heads, for example, one head per surface of a disk, is mounted on the actuator arm. The actuator arm is utilized to reach out over the disk to or from a location on the disk where information is stored. The complete assembly, e.g., the arm and head, is known as a head gimbal assembly (HGA)
In operation, the plurality of hard disks are rotated at a set speed via a spindle motor assembly having a central drive hub. Additionally, there are channels or tracks evenly spaced at known intervals across the disks. When a request for a read of a specific portion or track is received, the hard disk drive aligns a head, via the arm, over the specific track location and the head reads the information from the disk. In the same manner, when a request for a write of a specific portion or track is received, the hard disk drive aligns a head, via the arm, over the specific track location and the head writes the information to the disk.
Over the years, refinements of the disk and the head have provided great reductions in the size of the hard disk drive. For example, the original hard disk drive had a disk diameter of 24 inches. Modern hard disk drives are generally much smaller and include disk diameters of less than 2.5 inches (micro drives are significantly smaller than that). Refinements also include the use of smaller components and laser advances within the head portion. That is, by reducing the read/write tolerances of the head portion, the tracks on the disk can be reduced in size by the same margin. Thus, as modern laser and other micro recognition technology are applied to the head, the track size on the disk can be further compressed.
A second refinement to the hard disk drive is the increased efficiency and reduced size of the spindle motor spinning the disk. That is, as technology has reduced motor size and power draw for small motors, the mechanical portion of the hard disk drive can be reduced and additional revolutions per minute (RPM) can be achieved. For example, it is not uncommon for a hard disk drive to reach speeds of 15,000 RPM. This second refinement provides weight and size reductions to the hard disk drive and increases the linear density of information per track. Increased rates of revolution also provide a faster read and write rate for the disk and decrease the latency, or time required for a data area to become located beneath a head, thereby providing increased speed for accessing data. The increase in data acquisition speed due to the increased RPM of the disk drive and the more efficient read/write head portion provide modern computers with hard disk speed and storage capabilities that are continually increasing.
Particularly, with regard to data storage devices, these advances have attributed to increases in storage density. However, the increase in storage density has led to a weaker and/or smaller signal strength emitted by each data bit. This has required the development of read/write heads having increased sensitivity to the intensity of the signals emitted by the data bits. Those skilled in the art utilizing techniques for fabricating read/write heads are constantly searching for alternatives that provide increased sensitivity to the read/write head.
Specifically, within the read/write head fabrication and assembly process, once the read/write head wafer is fabricated and sliced, creating separate head sliders, there is a lapping process. The lapping process thins and polishes the head slider. This lapping process, in part, determines the flying height of the read/write head over the disk, the sensor dimension, and the sensitivity of the sensor.
Prior art FIG. 1 shows a conventional lapping environment 10 depicting a common lapping process 66 to be performed on a customarily fabricated and sliced read/write head wafer 15. Read/write head slider 15 includes a deposition surface 25 upon which the layers and components of the read/write head slider 15 are deposited. Read/write head 15 also includes a surface 20 upon which the lapping process 66 is performed. Surface 20 is commonly referred to as an air bearing surface and is the surface of the read/write head slider 15 that is most proximal to a data bearing surface of the platter upon which a data bit is stored. Slider 15 also includes a sensor 40 for sensing the charge state of data on a data storage device, e.g., a hard disk drive, and for affecting change in data charge state. Lapping process 66 is performed on surface 20 and sensor 40 as indicated by arrows 67. It is noted that conventional lapping processes, e.g., 66, are performed directly on sensor 40 as sensor 40 has been extended to contact surface 20 during fabrication.
However, because lapping process 66 is applied to sensor 40, the abrasive quality of lapping process 66 creates a layer material under stress of process 66 that can induce degradation of the magnetic sensor response. In many instances, this degradation can completely disable sensor 40, thus requiring new wafer fabrication. Further, lapping process 66 can also induce surface damage to sensor 40. Lapping induced surface damage is known to cause deadening of sensor 66, rendering the sensor incapable of detecting a charge state of a data bit. Further, by virtue of sensor 40 exposure, conventional lapping process 66 can contribute to electrostatic discharge (ESD), further reducing sensitivity of sensor 40.
Further, because of sensor 40 being comprised of one material, e.g., a single element or a composition of elements, there is no detectable resistance difference within the material comprising sensor 40. Thus, conventional lapping processes are resigned to utilize time of lap and rate of lap to control the lapping process.
A common solution to achieve a better lap is to cause a smoother (more precise) lapping process 66 that, while slower than a rough lap, can provide a finer lap. It is known that a smoother lap can consume a non-trivial amount of time to achieve proper lapping. Economically, at some point the result achieved with a smoother lap is overshadowed by the amount of time, e.g., cost, required to achieve the desired result.

Distributed shunt structure for lapping of current perpendicular plane (CPP) heads

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies, Netherland B.V.


Applications in social networks support interaction between members through various types of channels such as notifications, newsfeed, and so forth. For each channel, applications are ranked based on their user affinity measures. User affinity is based on measuring positive and negative interactions by users as both senders and recipients of messages generated by applications. Metrics are computed for the different types of messages and interactions provided by applications. For each channel, an application receives user affinity score based on specific weighted combination of the metrics. Applications use channel resources to send messages to increase their user base. Given the large number of applications that are available, the extent to which applications are allowed to use channels is controlled, limiting their resource consumption. User affinity scores of applications calculated for a channel are used to decide the allocation of channel resources for an application.

Some social network websites provide application developers with the ability to create applications that extend the functionality of the social networking website to provide new ways for users to interact with each other. For example, an application may provide an interesting way for a member (also called user of the social networking website) to communicate with his friends, or allow users to participate in multi-player games, or collect some interesting information such as news related to a specific topic and display it to the member periodically; another application may provide a "newsfeed" about the activities of the member to that member's friends.
Social networking websites typically provide mechanisms (referred to as channels) for members to communicate with each other, e.g., emails, invitations, notifications, newsfeeds etc. Social networking applications typically make use of the various channels to provide useful features to the members, such as sending out emails about the member's activities, displaying a newsfeed to the member's friends, and so forth.
The success of such an application generally depends on how many members install and run the application. Many application developers rely on an expectation of a "virtuous cycle" to build up the user base for their application: the application provides a certain functionality that becomes increasingly beneficial as more and more members adopt the application. Users of such applications thereby have an inherent incentive to install and use the application. Some application developers attempt to exploit member behavior and the availability of the various channels as resources to increase their user base. For example, when a member tries to run an application, the application may not enable full functionality until the member sends out messages to the member's friends inviting them to use this particular application. Applications also try various mechanisms to get member's attention such as sending notifications or emails or by occupying space on the webpage viewed by the member while viewing the social networking website.
A typical member of the social networking website is likely to spend only a limited amount of time on the website, and as a result, has a generally limited amount of time to review messages, invitations, notifications from application, as well a limited amount of time to search for applications the member would like to use. An excessive number of invitations and messages from applications only cause the member to ignore such messages; if messages from abusive applications become too frequent, then the member learns to distrust or ignore all such communications, thereby impeding the distribution of all applications, not merely abusive ones. Also, a typical member prefers to limit how many applications appear on the webpage when viewing the social networking website.
Since the total number of applications available on a social networking website can grow to be very large and each application is trying to get the member's attention and trying to increase its user base, the end result is that members can get inundated with information from applications that they may not be interested in. Members would like to see and focus on information that they like and be able to avoid or minimize the information that they do not like.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Resource management of social network applications


On a relay guide neighboring with a paper supply tray, a guide rib rotated and projected from a guide face is installed, and the width of sheets is controlled, thus an occurrence of skewing of various sheets supplied from a paper supply tray is prevented, and the conveyability of sheets is improved, and the image quality formed on the sheets is improved.

In an image forming apparatus such as an electro-photographic copying machine, a facsimile, and a printer, for ordinary paper in a specific size with high frequency in use, sheets of paper are supplied using a paper supply cassette. While for sheets of paper or sheet films with low frequency in use, sheets are generally supplied using a manual paper supply tray. When supplying sheets of paper using the paper supply tray, various kinds of sheets of paper supported by the paper supply tray are taken out by paper supply rollers, and then while being guided by a relay guide, the sheets of paper are conveyed toward separation conveying rollers and then register rollers. The paper supply tray, to prevent the sheets of paper on the conveying path from the paper supply tray to the register rollers from skewing, has a side guide slidable for controlling the width of sheets on the sheet support face.
However, for thick paper stiffer than ordinary paper, there is a fear that the side guide may be defeated and moved by a load due to skewing of sheets during paper supply. As a result of movement of the side guide like this, the sheets may be skewed. Further, for sheets in a comparatively small size such as a postal card or a playing card, sheets taken out from the paper supply tray by the paper supply rollers come out from the side guide before reaching the separation conveying rollers. As a result, after passing the side guide position, the sheets may be skewed.
Therefore, conventionally, there is an apparatus available for installing a stopper on the side guide or controlling the slidability of the side guide, thereby preventing the side guide from moving due to a load of sheets. Further, conventionally, there is an apparatus available for supplying sheets in a small size from a close position by the separation conveying rollers and reducing skewing of the sheets coming out from the side guide.
However, in the conventional apparatus, the sheet width is controlled only by the side guide installed on the paper supply tray, so that after passing the side guide position, it is impossible to correct skewing. Therefore, due to skewing caused after passing the side guide, there is a fear that conveying defects such as jamming of sheets and bending of front ends may be caused. Further, when sheets are skewed, it is necessary to greatly arrange the sheets by the register rollers. Therefore, arrangement by the register rollers cannot be executed sufficiently, thus there is a fear that the image quality may be lowered due to an image displacement.
Therefore, a sheet conveying device and an image forming apparatus for surely preventing sheets taken out from the paper supply tray from skewing, guiding the sheets in the separation conveying direction free of skewing. Thereby preventing various kinds of sheets from defective conveying, surely arranging the front ends of the sheets at the position of the register rollers, and forming a good image on the sheets are desired.

Sheet conveying device and image forming apparatus


The present disclosure provides a method and apparatus for interaction control of a display page. The method includes: obtaining a sliding operation performed by a user on the display page and a sliding parameter corresponding to the sliding operation, the display page including a plurality of pieces of display content; controlling the display page to move in accordance with the sliding operation, and predicting, based on the sliding parameter, a position of current display content on the display page when the display page stops; determining whether the position of the current display content meets a predetermined requirement; and correcting, when it is determined that the position of the current display content does not meet the predetermined requirement, the position of the current display content, such that the position of the current display content meets the predetermined requirement when the display page stops.

The rapid development of the Internet has provided a brand new carrier for storage, processing, transmission, and use of information. Using the Internet for work, study, entertainment, and social interaction has become a norm in the information society. In recent years, various video applications have been emerging one after another, bringing users richer experience in content consumption.
In the related art, for video applications, a user can switch a video being played on a display page by performing a sliding operation on a terminal. However, in this scheme of interacting with the display page through the sliding operation, the strength exerted by the sliding operation will affect a position of display content on the display page. As a result, when the strength exerted by the sliding operation is inappropriate, the position of the display content may not meet the user's expectations, such that viewing experience of the user may be affected.

Method and apparatus for interaction control of display page

BEIJING BYTEDANCE NETWORK TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A transformer core of non-circular cross-section, preferably rectilinear, is formed by successively wrapping individual packets of core strips around a stationary mandrel of non-circular cross-section. Each packet is wrapped by a pair of yieldably biased rollers which follow the contour of the mandrel. As the packet is being wrapped, pressure pads are extended to hold the packet against the mandrel. The pressure pads are momentarily retracted to accommodate return movement of the roller wipers to receive a subsequent packet. The ends of the packet form a joint at the top of the mandrel. The positions of successive packets can be changed to vary the location of the joint in order to form a desired joint pattern.

The present invention relates to apparatus for the manufacture of transformer cores, and, in particular, the manufacture of amorphous alloy cores having a non-circular cross section.
It has been conventional to manufacture transformer cores of non-circular cross section, e.g., quadrilateral cross section, by making a core of circular cross section and then deforming that core into the quadrilateral shape. In particular, amorphous alloy material in strip form, i.e., either a continuous strip or precut strips, is wrapped around a rotating circular cylindrical mandrel and then banded as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,413,406 and 4,467,632. Prior to being annealed, the thus-formed core is squeezed at the top, bottom, and sides into the desired quadrilateral shape such as a rectangular shape.
Shortcomings of such a manufacturing technique involve the fact that the deforming of the core into the quadrilateral shape increases the tensile stresses therein, particularly at the corner regions, and also increases the compressive loads in the corner regions. Also resulting from the core deformation is a greater possibility of interlaminar bonding occurring during the annealing step, as well as increased core loss and the need for greater exciting power.
Moreover, the use of a rotating mandrel complicates the manufacturing efforts because of the difficulties involved in forming a precise overall joint construction in either the yoke or leg portion of the core as the pre-cut strips are being assembled upon the rotating mandrel. Moreover, if the core is formed by winding a continuous strip around a rotating mandrel, then it becomes necessary to apply the electrical coils (windings) to the core either during the core-shaping operation or thereafter by cutting the core. The former step is complicated and inefficient, and the latter step can lead to increased core loss. Those shortcomings thus apply to proposed techniques for making rectangular cores discussed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,011,697; 2,542,806; and 3,162,391, wherein a continuous strip of core material is Wound around a rotating rectangular mandrel.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide methods and apparatus for making transformer cores of non-circular cross section which eliminate or alleviate the above-described shortcomings.

Apparatus for making a transformer core of non-circular cross-section


In computer aided diagnosis, a high-accuracy image indicating a temporal difference of a diseased part of a patient is produced from a current image and a past image as follows. First, a plurality of matching ROIs (Regions of Interest) are defined on the current image and the past image. A matching processing is performed on corresponding ROIs of the two images to determine points on the past image corresponding to the respective points on the current image. Obtained shift vectors are fitted to a two-dimensional polynomial. In the fitting, when a matching ROI of the current image is included in or overlapped with a previously-defined region of interest, shift vectors are weighted by a small factor. The current image is then modified according to obtained fitting coefficients. Finally, an image indicating the difference between the modified current image and the past image is produced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and an image processing system for extracting a temporal change in a subject based on images such as X-ray images of the subject.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the field of medical image technology, intensive research activities continue to occur on computer aided diagnosis (CAD). In CAD, a diseased part of a patient is detected by analyzing a diagnosis image such as an X-ray image or a CT (Computer Tomography) image using a computer. CAD is a promising technique for early disease detection.
A wide variety of CAD techniques have been proposed depending on what is detected and on what type of image is output. Of the wide variety of techniques, one promising technique is known as temporal difference CAD. In this technique, a difference between images of the same subject taken at different times is detected, and an image is produced based on the detected difference such that a part having a temporal difference is enhanced in the image.
More specifically, in the temporal difference CAD, for example, when a set of chest X-ray images (a current image and a past image) taken at different times is given, images are analyzed to detect the relative positional displacement between the images. The positional displacement of the current image or the past image is corrected such that the anatomical parts of the two images come to the same positions. Thereafter, the difference between the two images is detected on a pixel-by-pixel basis, and a difference image indicating the difference is produced. Because the temporal difference CAD technique provides a difference image that indicates only a temporal difference between images taken at different times without indicating the anatomically normal parts, the temporal difference CAD technique is very useful to monitor a change in a diseased part.
An example of a temporal difference CAD technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,915. FIG. 7 shows a process of determining a temporal difference in accordance with the technique disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,982,915.
In the technique shown in FIG. 7, in step P1, a current image and past image captured prior to the current image each have a 2048×2048 resolution. The images are converted to images with lower resolutions of 512×512 and 128×128 by using a proper resolution conversion method. In step P2, the images with the 128×128 resolution are passed through a Gaussian filter to remove high-frequency components from the images thereby producing images with a reduced size representing their outline.
A global shift vector indicating a global positional replacement between two reduced images with the 128×128 resolution is then determined. In step P4, based on the positional relationship between the two images indicated by the global shift vector, regions of interest (ROIs) are set in each image with the 512×512 resolution, and local shift vectors are determined by comparing each pair of corresponding ROIs of the two images. Parameters that allow calculation of a shift vector at an arbitrary position are determined by means of interpolation using a two-dimensional polynomial, and the relative positional displacement between the two images is corrected by modifying the current image or the past image. Thereafter, the difference between the two images is detected and a difference image is produced based on the detected difference.
As described above, a high-accuracy positional correction is made by performing the two-stage correction process, that is, by first correcting the positional displacement due to a difference in position of a subject whose image is taken, and then correcting the global displacement using reduced images before performing the difference detection process.
In principle, the difference image indicates only the difference between two images. This means that when each image includes a diseased part, if there is no change in the diseased part between the two images, the difference image indicates nothing about the diseased part. This can cause wrong diagnosis unless information is provided to indicate that there is the diseased part.
If a diseased part has already been detected, when a difference image is produced to monitor a change in the diseased part, it is desirable that the difference image produced via the difference determination process precisely represents the details of the difference in the diseased part.
However, in the conventional technique, past diagnosis information of a patient is not used in the temporal difference determination process, which can cause a reduction in reliability of diagnosis. Thus, there is a need for a technique to avoid such a problem.

Method and system for processing an image


A safety syringe is particularly equipped with a needle receiving tube which safely facilitates the mounting and dismounting of a disposed needle. The safety syringe has a container, an injection rod, a needle and a needle receiving tube. The needle can be withdrawn into the container via rotation of the injection rod after being used for disposal so as to protect hospital personnel from being accidentally punctured by a disposed needle which can cause fatal contagion of various diseases. The container is provided with a protruded needle mounting neck having a lid attached to the edge thereof. The injection rod housed in the container has a rubber piston head which is provided with a plunger end. The plunger end is made up of 4 symmetric plane extensions each having a round projection on the edge of each plane extension. The needle has a slantly cut shot end and a threaded engagement bottom end which is internally provided with 4 symmetric plane lugs and a protruded ring at the edge thereof for retaining purpose. The plunger end of the injection rod can firmly engage with the bottom end of the needle in the mounting and dismounting of a needle housed in a needle receiving tube so as to protect a hospital personnel from being accidentally punctured by a disposed needle.

The present invention relates to a safety syringe particularly equipped with a needle receiving tube which safely facilitates the mounting and dismounting of a disposed needle. The safety syringe has a container, an injection rod, a needle and a needle receiving tube. The needle can be withdrawn into the container via rotation of the injection rod after being used for disposal so as to protect hospital personnel from being accidentally punctured by a disposed needle which can cause fatal contagion of various diseases. The container is provided with a protruded needle mounting neck having a lid attached to the edge thereof. The injection rod housed in the container has a rubber piston head which is provided with a plunger end. The plunger end is made up of 4 symmetric plane extensions each having a round projection on the edge of each plane extension. The needle has a slantly cut shot end and a threaded engagement bottom end which is internally provided with 4 symmetric plane lugs and a protruded ring at the edge thereof for retaining purpose. The plunger end of the injection rod can firmly engage with the bottom end of the needle in the mounting and dismounting of a needle housed in a needle receiving tube so as to protect a hospital personnel from being accidentally punctured by a disposed needle.
There have been many hospital related personnel suffering from fatal contagion of various diseased as a result of accidentally punctured by disposed needles, such as AIDS, TB and diseases of the like, which are distributed via blood. So, it is a life and death matter for doctors and nurses to deal with disposed needles within hospitals and clinics.
To better protect hospital personnel from being fatally punctured by disposed needles, a number of safety syringes have been designed and marketed for many years. The most common safety syringes on markets are made up of more than 4 pieces, causing the production cost of syringes to increase in one aspect and to burden the natural enviroment when disposed without processing in another aspect. So, it is not popularly used at all.
Furthermore, another type of safety syringe as illustrated in FIGS. 1, 2, such a prior art safety syringe is made up of a tubular container 1, an injection rod 2, a needle 3 and a needle cover (not shown). The tubular container 1 has a needle mount 10 for the retaining of the needle 3 at one end and has an oval shaped stop flange 11 at the other end. A limiting plate 12 having a retaining recess 13 at its edge extends from one side of the stop flange 11. The injection rod 2 having a cross-shaped section is slidably housed in the tubular container 1. At the front end of the injection rod 2 is disposed a piston end 20 having a mushroom-shaped retaining piece 21 at one end and at the other end of the injection rod 2 is disposed a circular disk 22. On two opposite points of the periphery of the circular disk 22 are disposed a retaining piece 23 respectively which is engaged with the retaining recess 13 of the limiting plate 12 of the tubular container 1.
The needle 3 has a slantly cut puncturing end 30 and the other end of the needle 3 has an outerly threaded tube 31 having a pair of opposite openings on the wall thereof. There are two slant retaining claws 32a, 32b housed in the threaded tube 31 and extending from the edge of the openings respectively, as shown in FIG. 1, so as to permit the mushroom shaped retaining piece 21 to be locked in place by the retaining claws 32a, 32b. The slant angles of the retaining claws 32a, 32b are not identical. When the injection rod 2 is pulled backward, the needle 3 can be withdrawn into the tubular container 1 after the needle 3 is rotated to disengage from the needle mount 10. The needle will lean to one side as a result of the difference of the slant angles of the retaining claws 32 when it is pulled into the tubular container 1. Afterwards, the needle mount 10 is closed by the needle cover (not shown) so as to protect hospital personnel from being pricked by disposed needles which are withdrawn into the tubular container after use.
Such a prior art safety syringe has the following disadvantages in its design and practical use:
1. The needle is easily subject to contamination after it is taken out from its germ-free packing by hospital personnel wearing no gloves and exposed to the air. PA0 2. The needle cover is easily dropped and the exposed needle can get people pricked accidentally. PA0 3. The retaining claws are made in a relatively complex manner having too many cuts and corners in which residues produced in a manufacturing process can be hidden and injected into a patient's body via blood vessels, causing unexpected diseases. PA0 4. The injection rod can not be pushed fully to the bottom end of the tubular container, making medical liquids unable to be fully and efficiently injected into patients' bodies. PA0 5. The tubular container is not provided with slippery proof strips; a person exerting a large force to withdraw the injection rod and get a disposed needle pulled into the tubular container will easily get pricked by a used needle as a result of slippery of his or her hands off the tubular container.

Safety syringe with a needle receiving tube

No. 25, 10 Lin, Nan Shih Chun, Lin Kao Hsiang


A free-running microcontroller (i.e., one without any reset signal) is shown with special mode enable detect logic for placing the microcontroller into the test or special operations mode, without the benefit of a dedicated pin for such purposes. Rather, the instant invention implements the methodology of first applying a test voltage to indicate to the free-running microcontroller that the test mode is to be entered. Since the device has no reset signal to interrupt normal operation once it has begun, the test voltage is applied before the power supply V.sub.DD to ensure that the device enters test mode before it can enter normal operation.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is in the field of microcontrollers and methods of operation therefore and, more particularly, is a microcontroller having special mode enable detection circuitry and a method of operation therefore.
2. Description of the Related Art
Special modes can be used with microcontroller devices for a variety of reasons, the most common of which is to test the device in a non-user environment (i.e., when the device is not in normal operation). Due to the common use of special modes as a means for testing a device, some simply refer to the special operating mode as a test mode. It is known to those skilled in the art that functions other than device testing can be done in the special mode. Such other functions might include, but are not necessarily limited to, the built-in self-test (BIST) function, and device initialization in normal user (i.e., non-test) mode.
In order to enter a special operating mode, those in the past sometimes simply added an independent pin to the microcontroller that had the exclusive function of indicating that the device is to enter test or special operating mode. After applying power to the device, the dedicated special mode pin is set to a level that indicates to the device that it should stop normal execution, and begin operating in special mode. This approach has the obvious drawback that it wastes space (i.e., the dedicated pin for detecting special mode), and therefore, if space constraints are a concern for a device, this approach is not desirable. In an alternative prior art approach, there is no dedicated test mode detection pin for the microcontroller, but rather a shared pin that functions both as an Input/Output (I/O) pin and as a pin for detecting the test mode. This shared pin approach works as follows. When the test mode is to be entered, a voltage above V.sub.DD is applied to the shared pin to indicate that a test mode is to be initiated; however, such a technique requires that the microcontroller has some means for stopping normal device operation before testing--in other words a reset signal or the like is required. The situation at issue in the instant invention does not require a reset signal to interrupt normal microcontroller operation. Thus, this second prior art approach would not work in the situation involved with the instant invention.
In contrast to the prior art, the invention here arose from the necessity to enter a test mode on a microcontroller device that has a low pin count, and no means of keeping the device from free-running execution after applying power to the device. Here, the limitation of a "low pin count" means that the chip designer does not want to waste a pin for the exclusive function of identifying the initiation of the test mode--this could be the case in a microcontroller having very few pins (such as 8) or many (such as 64). The point is that the specific number of pins is not relevant. What is relevant is the fact that the designer doesn't want to waste space with using a dedicated pin for detecting the test mode. Further note that the situation here that necessitated the instant invention included the limitation that there was no means for the microcontroller to keep itself from free-running execution after applying power to the microcontroller device. In other words, the situation here involved a microcontroller that would not have a reset signal, either from an external reset signal input to the device via a reset pin or via some type of on chip software-generated reset signal well known to those skilled in the art. Since no reset signal was available for the microcontroller here involved, once V.sub.DD was applied to the device, there was no way to stop it, and enter a test mode for the device. Thus, for the purpose of discussion here, the term "free-running microcontroller" means a microcontroller without an externally provided reset signal, and without any type of on chip software or hardware induced reset signal for the microcontroller, or at least if such a software or hardware induced reset signal could be established, it has not been so established. In other words, a free-running microcontroller (which is the area of concern for the instant invention) has no reset signal to stop it from running once V.sub.DD has been applied to the microcontroller.
Therefore, there existed a need to provide a free-running microcontroller that can enter the test or special operations mode without the benefit of a dedicated pin for such purposes, and a method of operation therefore.

Microcontroller having special mode enable detection circuitry and a method of operation therefore


A mat that may be placed on a baseball or softball playing field for designating a batter on-deck area.

In baseball and softball games, it is conventional to have an on-deck area where a batter may warm up prior to batting in a batter's box adjacent to home plate. The warm up usually includes exercises to stretch a player's muscles, to practice swinging a baseball bat, and to gain a closer inspection of an opposing pitcher's technique as well as the flight of a ball pitched to the opposing team's catcher.
An on-deck area is usually located about half-way between home plate and the home team's dugout, along and away from the first base line, and another on-deck area is usually located about half-way between home plate and the visiting team's bench or dugout, along and away from the third base line.
In many baseball and softball fields, an on-deck area is designated by a chalk line circle, and sometimes with dirt, instead of grass, within the circle. However, many fields are less fastidiously maintained, and have no designated on-deck area.
A player positioned in an on-deck area is subject to various dangers associated with play on the field, such as foul balls being hit towards the player, broken bats or inadvertently thrown bats flying through the air, the opposing team's players chasing foul balls, and the opposing team's players running for back-up position for balls thrown to a base.
It is important for an on-deck area to be properly located so as to minimize these dangers and to have some designation for the area so that an on-deck player does not meander from the area. It is also important for other players to have an appreciation of where the on-deck area is located so that they may avoid collisions with an on-deck player or a bat swung by the on-deck player.
The present invention was developed with an appreciation for better defining on-deck areas than simply using a chalk line or a patch of dirt, and especially for defining on-deck areas in those fields that have no chalk line, dirt patch, or other designation for the on-deck area. The present invention also appreciates that many young boys and girls play baseball and softball and helps to ensure that, when such youngsters are on-deck, they know where the on-deck area is located and do not stray from that area. Also, the present invention provides a strong visual indication to the on-deck player's teammates not to wander or venture into the on-deck area and alerts the opposing team's players of the location of the area so that collisions may be avoided.

Mat—adapted for use as a baseball or softball on-deck circle


An output buffer circuit (10, 40, 50) includes an output driver transistor (12), a predriver circuit (14, 54), and a bias generator (16, 54). The predriver circuit (14, 54) has an input terminal for receiving an input signal (IN), a first terminal coupled to a power supply voltage terminal, a second terminal, and an output terminal coupled to the control electrode of the transistor (12). The bias generator (16, 54) is coupled to the second terminal of the predriver circuit (14, 54), and provides a bias voltage (VG) to the second terminal of the predriver circuit (14, 54) for controlling the gate voltage of the output driver transistor (12).

In integrated circuits, such as microprocessors, memories, and the like, signals may be routed for relatively long distances using transmission lines. A transmission line may be a bus, a printed circuit board trace, or other type of relatively long metal line for transporting a digital signal. Typically, a printed circuit board trace has a characteristic impedance of between 50 and 75 ohms. A driver circuit is used to provide enough current to "drive" a signal the length of the transmission line. A CMOS driver circuit commonly includes a P-channel transistor and an N-channel transistor connected in series between a positive power supply voltage terminal and a ground terminal. The gates of the transistors receive an input signal, and an output terminal of the driver circuit is located between the transistors. The P-channel transistor functions as a "pull-up" transistor, and the N-channel transistor functions as a "pull-down" transistor. The output impedance of the driver circuit should match the characteristic impedance of the transmission line in order for the driver circuit to absorb the reflected signal and prevent "ringing". Ringing is the repeated overshooting and/or undershooting of the signal. Ringing can cause reduced noise immunity and increased time for the signal to become, and remain, valid at the far end. Impedance matching is the practice of matching the impedance of the driver and/or the load to the characteristic impedance of the transmission line to facilitate the most efficient transfer of power. Impedance matching results in quieter waveforms, better noise immunity, and improved signal timing margin.


The present invention relates, in part, to cleaning methods and solvent cleaning compositions including at least one hydrofluoro-olefin or hydrochlorofluoro-olefin solvent for use in connection with cleaning of metal parts, and in certain preferred embodiments cleaning metal parts to be used in an aircraft.

Effective cleaning compositions and cleaning methods for use in connection with certain metal parts, and in particular with metal parts used in high stress and/or high criticality applications are frequently difficult to identify. For example, certain critical metal components used in the engines of an aircraft are formed from titanium or alloys comprising titanium. Such parts are not only typically subject to high levels of stress and/or strain, they are also critical components in the sense of having a potentially direct impact on the safety and/or reliability of the aircraft. Other metals and metal alloys, including those described hereinafter, are frequently used in similar situations and are also difficult to effectively and safely clean.
With respect to the safety of the cleaning composition and the cleaning method, one of the concerns that is relevant to the identification of such compositions and methods is the possibility of causing an unacceptable change in one or more of the important properties of the metal. For example, cleaning compositions and methods which are used to remove soils from titanium parts used in aircraft, and in particular in aircraft jet engines, must not undergo any substantial increase in embrittlement as a result of being exposed to the cleaning composition or the cleaning methods. Heretofor it has been generally accepted that halogenated solvents should not be used to remove soil from such metal parts because of the unacceptable tendency of the heretofore used halogenated compounds to cause an increase in the brittleness of the titanium. Because of the critical applications of these metal parts, even a relatively small increase in the brittleness of the metal is unacceptable.
Accordingly, applicants have come to recognize a need for new cleaning solvents and cleaning methods that are effective to remove residue from certain parts formed from metals and metal alloys without negatively affecting one or more of the important properties the metal, including in particular, without negatively affecting the brittleness of the metal.


Improved compositions comprise polymer blends of a linear alternating polymer of carbon monoxide and at least one ethylenically unsaturated hydrocarbon with an ethylene/propylene/non-conjugated diene terpolymer, and, optionally, an acidic polymer containing moieties of an .alpha.-olefin and an .alpha.,.beta.-ethylenically unsaturated carboxylic acid. The blends demonstrate improved barrier properties.

The polyketone polymers are relatively high molecular weight materials having established utility as premium thermoplastics in the production of shaped articles, such as containers for food and beverages, film for packaging, and flexible parts for automotive applications, which are produced by processing the polyketone polymer according to well known methods. For some particular applications, it is desirable to have properties which are somewhat different from those of the polyketone polymers. The more desirable properties of the polyketone polymers may be retained, and yet other properties improved, through the preparation of a polymer blend.
In order to improve the utility of polyketone polymers in food and beverage packaging and other applications, it would be desirable to improve the barrier properties of the polyketone polymer. It has been found that an ethylene/propylene/non-conjugated diene terpolymer may be blended with a polyketone polymer to produce blend compositions which exhibit improved barrier properties as well as a good balance of mechanical properties such that the blends have utility in food and beverage packaging applications.


The invention relates to a burner cover insulation device for shielding a burner cover from a boiler burner, the device comprising a cover layer comprising a heat resistant inorganic fibrous material and having a first outer peripheral edge; a support layer providing mechanical strength to the device and having a second outer peripheral edge that at least extends to the outer peripheral edge of the cover layer; and a filling material forming an insulating layer between the cover layer and the support layer, wherein a through hole extends through the cover layer and the support layer. The invention furthermore relates to a method for manufacturing such a device.

In a conventional boiler, fuel, such as gas or oil, is burned and the hot gasses produced are passed through a heat exchanger, usually in a housing, where much of the heat of the hot gasses is transferred to a heat transfer medium such as water, thus raising the medium's temperature.
One of the hot gasses produced in the combustion process is water vapour (steam), which arises from burning the hydrogen content of the fuel. A condensing boiler extracts additional heat from these waste gasses by condensing the water vapour to liquid water, thus recovering its latent heat of vaporization. A typical increase of efficiency can be as much as 10-12% compared to a non-condensing boiler. Thus, the choice of materials used in the areas where liquid is present have to be suitable. At high temperatures, the most commonly used materials are aluminium alloys and stainless steel alloys.
Condensing boilers are provided with a heat exchanger and a burner to heat the water or other heat transfer medium in the heat exchanger. The temperatures associated with heating the medium are usually above 500° C. or even above 1000° C. To protect the parts of the boiler that are not water cooled, or are outside the heat exchanger, and to prevent any flue gasses to escape the heat exchanger, the boiler is provided with a sealing gasket to prevent any hot gasses to escape the burner and/or heat exchanger housing and direct them towards a flue, and an insulating part in the shape of a burner stone to shield the cover plate of the boiler from the high temperatures in an interior of the burner and/or heat exchanger housing. In addition to the high temperatures, the condensate produced is slightly acidic, 3-5 pH.
The sealing gasket seals the periphery of the cover plate from the heat exchanger housing. The burner stone is usually made of moulded granular vermiculite with a binder or bio soluble inorganic fibres in a binder.
A disadvantage of the used sealing gasket and the burner stones is that they have a relatively high failure rate in the harsh environment of the heat exchanger housing.
A first disadvantage of the burner stone is that it is fragile to begin with. The burner stone is easily damaged during transport and handling. Secondly, the binder of both burner stones is burnt out of the stones upon first use of the burner stones in the boiler due to the high temperatures, thereby weakening the structure of the burner stones.
In addition, the vermiculite burner stone is not suitable for withstanding thermo shock that is characteristic for modulating condensing boilers. In these condensing boilers, the temperature can shift between relatively low temperatures of below 300° C. to relatively high temperatures to 1000° C. The thermo shock results in failure of the vermiculite burner stone, such as cracks, flaking and complete failure of the stone, resulting in reduced protection of the cover plate and potential failure of the sealing gasket.
The inorganic fibre burner stone comprises inorganic high temperature resistant fibres that are bio- or body soluble, i.e. soluble in the human body. Thus they are also soluble in water, which is contained in the condensate produced in the burner. Upon use of the inorganic fibre burner stone, it will come into contact with the condensate and will bit by bit dissolve. The result is failure of the inorganic burner stone, similar to the vermiculite burner stone. In the past, other inorganic fibres than bio- or body soluble inorganic fibres were used, but these inorganic fibres are nowadays used less and less due to potential health risk, i.e. potential carcinogenic properties.
The sealing gasket itself is not capable of withstanding the high temperatures in the heat exchanger and is also protected by the burner stone. During use and particularly upon failure of the burner stone, the quality of the sealing gasket deteriorates quickly, thereby reducing the sealing ability of the sealing gasket.
It would be desirable to provide a burner cover insulation device and a sealing gasket capable of withstanding the harsh environment within the condensing boiler thereby overcoming the disadvantages of the known device.

Burner cover insulation device for a boiler and method for manufacturing such a device


In a video photographing apparatus having an infrared rays AV transmitting function, there are provided: exchanging unit for moving the infrared rays cutting filter serving as a component element of a camera portion to an outside of an optical path and, in place of it, for arranging the infrared rays transmitting material such that the optical path is equivalent to that of the infrared rays cutting filter onto the optical path; switching unit for switching an infrared rays emitting unit for infrared rays AV transmission to the turn-on in the non-modulating state; and sensitivity switching operating unit for making the exchanging unit and the switching unit operative in an interlocking manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a video camera which is frequently used at a home and, more particularly, to a video photographing apparatus having an infrared rays AV transmitting function. In more detail, the invention relates to a video photographing apparatus which can accurately photograph an object even in a dark state.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a video photographing apparatus having a CCD image pickup element, what is called a video camera, has a function for recording a video signal and audio signals onto a recording medium such as tape, magnetic disk, or the like and a function for reproducing those signals.
In recent years, an apparatus in which an infrared rays AV transmitting function is added to the video photographing apparatus having such a function in order to transmit the reproduced video signal and audio signals to a monitor apparatus such as a television receiver or the like installed at a position away from the video photographing apparatus has also appeared.
The video photographing apparatus has a construction such that at the time of an infrared rays AV transmission, the video signal and audio signals are modulated on the basis of an infrared rays AV transmission format determined by EIAJ or the like.
Therefore, infrared rays emitting means and modulating means for modulating the infrared rays by the reproduced video signal and audio signals are added to the video photographing apparatus having the infrared rays AV transmitting function.
The conventional video photographing apparatus can record a clear image when an ambient state of an object is bright like a daytime.
When the ambient state is dark (at the time of a low illuminance) like an evening or a night, however, there is a problem such that the image is unclear or cannot be recorded depending on the case.
Such a problem similarity occurs also with respect to a video photographing apparatus having an infrared rays AV transmitting function.

Video photographing apparatus having infrared rays AV transmitting function


A game performing method for executing a game by arranging a plurality of objects comprising a plurality of objects to be stuck and an operation object, in a virtual space, controlling rolling and movement of the operation object according to a player's input, and rolling and moving the operation object while sticking the objects which the operation object comes in contact with, comprises: setting a plurality of first displacement points capable of displacing only in predetermined radial directions different from each other, from a reference point respectively; displacing the first displacement point adjacent to a contact position, in the predetermined radial direction when the operation object comes in contact with the object to be stuck; setting a second displacement point in a position which meets a predetermined distance condition; and controlling the rolling of the operation object based on rolling surface reference points comprising the first and second displacement points.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a game executing method for executing a game for arranging a plurality of objects comprising a plurality of objects to be stuck and an operation object, in a 3D virtual space, controlling rolling and movement of the operation object according to operation input by a player, and rolling and moving the operation object while sticking the objects to be stuck which are contacted with the operation object.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, various types of games have been proposed. As one category of these games, there is a category so called action adventure game. It is the game that a player controls own character to run the whole course of a predetermined stage within a time limit, while fending off or eliminating obstructions or the attack of enemies. The player makes the own character run through the stage while jumping or hopping to enjoy exhilarating feeling, by making full use of operation techniques for the own character. Then, the player competes scores with the time required for completing the stage or the number of items obtained in the stage.
As shown in JP-Tokukai 2000-113225A, there is also the game that a player controls a monster to walk around while destroying buildings or the like and competes scores with the way of destruction. In such game, it is important how the destruction is represented realistically. Each of display blocks to be scattered after the collapse is previously set as collective movable display elements, and elements to be destroyed, such as buildings or the like, are displayed by the display elements. Then, when the building is destroyed by the attack of the monster controlled by the player and so on, it seems that concrete blocks fall by the collapse, by separating the display elements.
As above, in the conventional action adventure games, the setting is mostly that the own character controlled by a player is in the motif of the main character in the game story (in some case, the main character is a machine or the like controlled by a player) and the own character itself runs the whole course of a game stage. Although there are some differences in game stories, there are not large differences as for the development such as progression by fending off or eliminating obstructions or enemies.

Game performing method, game apparatus, storage medium, data signal and program


There is disclosed an installable and centralized self-contained, appliance-like fluid dispensing system for selectively dispensing combinations of fluids or fluid and liquid dispersants. The system includes a centralized housing assembly housing sources of liquid dispersant, pumping devices, valve arrangements, manually controlled system devices and arrangement for providing compressed air to a hand held device.

The present invention relates generally to spraying and washing equipment and, more particularly, to a versatile, installable and centralized self-contained, fluid dispensing system which serves as an appliance-like device for use in a household and is selectively operable to dispense a variety of fluid mixtures through a fluid applicating device, such as a hand-held spray gun.
Heretofore, the prior art has offered various fluid dispensing systems which dispense, through a hand-held spray gun device, water and various detergents, concentrates, etc. The dispensing of such dispersants can be for such diverse purposes as automobile cleaning, lawn and garden care, snow and ice removal, etc. Therefore, it is desirable to have a versatile and durable washer system which operates to selectively apply different cleaning or treating substances to the objects to be cleaned or treated. In addition, it is desirable to minimize many laborious tasks involved in a cleaning operation. Often a significant amount of time and labor are expended in setting-up and disassembling the various components in known systems. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a system which is constructed and arranged to perform many of the cleaning and treatment functions primarily in a residential environment in a much easier, faster and more convenient manner. To achieve these desires there are, for example, efforts in the marketplace to sell hose-end products. These are products which are directly attachable to, for example, a garden hose and can be used for cleaning and/or lawn and garden care functions. Such products include individual containers in which the substances to be dispensed are housed and which are separately attached to the hose end. In general this approach is limiting since the container must be changed for different treatments and only household water pressure is typically involved.
Besides hose-end products, provisions have been made for so-called power washing type systems. Several examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos.: 3,118,610; 3,318,535; 3,361,300; 4,176,793; 4,197,994; 4,585,168; 3,575,348; 4,621,770; 3,595,268; 4,850,536; and 3,608,824. There are, however, significant shortcomings associated with these known power washer systems. These shortcomings include the fact that they comprise a number of separate components which are often not readily accessible and which nevertheless require time-consuming assembly procedures to be joined together into an assembly which can function. Also significantly, they are not entirely centralized and easily installable into, for example, a residential environment as an appliance-like device.

Installable and centralized self-contained appliance-like fluid dispensing system


The invention is based on an apparatus and a method for scanning specimens (1) using an optical imaging system (3) and a scanning stage (2), images of the specimen (1) being acquired by means of a camera (4), and/or measurements on the specimen (1) being made by means of an optical measurement device (5), at specimen points Xp, Yp. For that purpose, the scanning stage (2) is calibrated by obtaining and storing height values Z at different calibration positions X, Y of the scanning stage (2), and thereby generating a running height profile of the scanning stage (2). For the scanning of specimens (1), the specimen height positions Zp at specimen points Xp, Yp are determined by means of a reference height Zref of the specimen (1) together with the running height profile of the scanning stage (2). While each specimen point Xp, Yp is being traveled to with the scanning stage (2) the relevant specimen height position Zp is already being set, so that running errors of the scanning stage (2) are compensated for and image acquisitions or measurements are possible immediately upon reaching the specimen point Xp, Yp.

The invention concerns a method and an apparatus for scanning specimens using an optical imaging system and a scanning stage, images of the specimen being acquired by means of a camera, and/or measurements on the specimen being made by means of an optical measurement device, at specimen points Xp, Yp.
The images or measurements performed at the specimen points are used for inspection and mensuration purposes. Inspection and mensuration systems with microscopes, with which faults and defects on wafers can be recognized and classified, are used in particular in semiconductor technology in the manufacture of integrated circuits on wafers. For that purpose, the wafers are displaced with the scanning stage in the X and Y directions. Conventionally, at each inspection or measurement location (specimen point), focusing occurs in the Z direction using a focusing system, and an image is acquired and/or a measurement performed. Focusing at the specimen points is necessary, among other reasons, in order to compensate for mechanical errors of the scanning stage in the Z direction.
The mechanical shortcomings of the scanning stage cause running errors upon displacement of the scanning stage. The running errors are brought about principally by dead weight and by the design of the bearings and guides of the scanning stage. Because of differing torques (resulting, for example, from different overhangs of the scanning stage), differing forces are caused in the bearings of the stage guidance system depending on the particular X-Y position of the scanning stage. These result in different inclinations of the scanning stage as a function of its X-Y position. The scanning stage therefore runs in inhomogeneous fashion upon displacement, i.e. the distance between the surface of the scanning stage and the optical system varies during displacement of the scanning stage.
Because of these running errors of the scanning stage, even in the case of flat specimen surfaces the image field is focused manually or with a focusing system so that a sharply focused image is always available for visual observation, for image acquisition with a camera, or for optical measurement purposes. A method of this kind with conventional focusing at the observation location and subsequent image acquisition or measurement is, however, disadvantageous for the requirements of rapid passes with many image acquisition or measurement points on the specimen, because of the large time expenditure. This is especially the case, of course, when a specimen needs to be completely scanned for a 100% inspection, for example in the case of a wafer in order to identify and classify defects or particles on the wafer surface.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,256,093 describes an on-the-fly automatic substrate defect classification procedure in which the wafer is scanned using an X-Y stage in order to locate defects. A laser light source illuminates the wafer in spot fashion during scanning. No focusing means are used here. The light scattered by the wafer is acquired using at least two separate detectors and evaluated in terms of various properties such as intensity, linearity, and asymmetry.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,172,349 discloses an automatically focusing, high-resolution microscope in which surfaces within the microscope image field differing from the surfaces on which measurements are performed are used for focusing on a wafer. For this, during a set-up phase an identification is made, within each microscope image field, of that surface portion at which, during displacement in the focusing direction, the intensity meets the criterion of maximum signal-to-noise ratio. When the wafer is subsequently inspected, only the light reflection from those identified surface portions within the respective microscope image field is used to focus the microscope. In order to increase wafer throughput, the microscope stage can be continuously displaced from one measurement location to another, and images can be acquired on the fly.

Method and apparatus for scanning a specimen using an optical imaging system


A method is provided for introducing analog loss to an information-bearing signal being transmitted to or from end-user terminal equipment over a communication system such as a cable network The method begins by establishing a communication path to the terminal equipment over the communication system and then introducing a level of loss into the communication path to reduce echo. The level of loss that is introduced is based on the information content of the information-bearing signal.

Various standards have been proposed to allow transparent bi-directional transfer of Internet Protocol (IP) traffic between the cable system headend and customer locations over an all-coaxial or hybrid-fiber/coax (HFC) cable network. Two such sets of standards have been developed, the first by the Cable Television Laboratories (CableLabs) under the PacketCable project designation, which is commonly referred to as "PacketCable." The second standard has been developed by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) and is referred to as IPCablecom, TS 101 909 Digital Broadband Cable Access to the Public Telecommunications Network; IP Multimedia Time Critical Services. Among other things, these sets of standards specify a scheme for service flow for real-time services such as packet telephony. Packet telephony may be used to carry voice between telephones located at two endpoints. Alternatively, packet telephony may be used to carry voice-band data between endpoint devices such as facsimile machines or computer modems.
Today, access to the Internet is available to a wide audience through the public switched telephone network (PSTN). Typically, in this environment, a user accesses the Internet though a full-duplex dial-up connection through a PSTN modem, which may offer data rates as high as 56 thousand bits per second (56 kbps) over the local-loop plant.
However, in order to increase data rates (and therefore improve response time), other data services are either being offered to the public, or are being planned, such as data communications using full-duplex cable television (CATV) modems, which offer a significantly higher data rate over the CATV plant than the above-mentioned PSTN-based modem. Services under consideration by cable operators include packet telephony service, videoconference service, T1/frame relay equivalent service, and many others.
When providing any of the aforementioned services over a cable network it is necessary to reduce the level of echo signals that are present on the transmission paths. The echo signals, which are unavoidably present in each path between end users, are primarily echoes of the far end user's voice or voice-band data signals. These echo signals are carried on the transmission path to the receive end user and are reduced there based upon a so-called fixed analog loss plan. The fixed loss plan provides that a predetermined fixed amount of loss be present in the transmit and receive paths. The particular amount of loss depends on the standards to which the cable network conforms. For example, Cable Television Laboratories specifies analog loss plan of 4 dB in both the transmit and receive directions. On the other hand, the ETSI Guide specifies an analog loss plan of 4 dB in the transmit direction and 11 dB in the receive direction.
The need to reduce echo also arises in the context of the PSTN itself. In this case the loss plan is generally specified by the regional telephone companies and typically depends on whether the call is intra-office, intra-exchange (local), intra-LATA (toll) or inter-LATA (toll).
Given the wide variety of services to be deployed over various communication systems, it would be desirable to provide a loss plan that better optimizes the quality of service that can be offered by them.

Method and apparatus for dynamically adapting telephony analog loss based on channel content


The present invention provides improvement of operations providing annotation and layout for an HTML page file. In an example embodiment, a page acquisition module obtains page files from a web server, and an HTML file analysis module extracts tags and characteristic values related to the layout. A page group detection module employs layout tags and their characteristic values to group page files that have the same or a similar layout. When an annotation addition module adds an annotation to an arbitrary page file in the obtained layout group, the annotation is applied for another page file in the layout group. When the layout group is divided or layout groups are unified, a correction module for the function of distance calculation corrects a calculation expression for a distance between pages or layout groups in order to reflect the division or unification results obtained by the user.

The use of the Internet became popular. As the role of the Internet has been varied, variety of apparatuses for access to the Internet becomes more diverse. Conventionally, a computer system having a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) with a display area of about 12 to 20 inches, a liquid crystal display or a plasma display device has been used as an apparatus for connection to the Internet.
However, while taking into account cases wherein portability is important, there has been a dramatic spread in the integration of handy telephones, PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) and i-mode handy phones. These apparatuses are generally having small display area. Further, since visually impaired persons cannot confirm the output of computers by observing display devices, the reading software, such as speech browsers, has been developed. It is anticipated that such reading software will eventually constitute a human interface improvement, not only for visually impaired persons but also for users who are unfamiliar with computers. Then, this kind of software technique can contribute to and promote the wider use of computer systems. In addition, for wearable computers, since the areas of their display devices should perforce be small, it is predicted that speech output will be a primary or, at the least, an auxiliary output means.
In general, the designs of page layouts for web sites are based on the assumption that the display devices of computer systems will have 12 to 20 inch display areas. Furthermore, for the output to display devices, it is premised that displays will be used by persons with normal sight. Specifically, the menu area (link information is embedded there) of a site and an advertisement banner are ordinarily arranged at the upper or left portion of a display area, and the two-dimensional layout of the data is presented, so that it can be easily viewed by users with normal sight. The information inherent to a page commonly tends to be arranged in the center or in the latter half of a page layout.
When a web page, designed for users with normal sight, or a large screen device, is to be displayed on a PDA or a portable telephone, or is to be output by a speech browser, usually the information (frame information, an advertisement, etc.) at the first of a page tends to be an obstacle. The two-dimensional information, such as frame information or advertisements, is effective and improves the usability for users with normal sight and a large screen. However, for users who operate small screen devices or employ speech browsers, these secondary information becomes an obstacle to find the most important information, such as the inherent information of the page. Therefore, when a device having a small screen or a speech browser is employed to output a page file designed for a large screen, we have to provide some method for accessing to important information easily.
Therefore, when a device having a small screen or a speech browser is employed to output a page file designed for a large screen, some means is required for rapidly accessing the initially sought information. One well-known means is a method that provides annotations for a page file. Annotation is an additional data, such as the structure of a page file and the importance level of each portion. Usually, the annotation is written to an external file, and is used to simplify page file accurately.
However, it is not easy to provide annotations for each page file. Generally, while each page file is browsed and the display-is conformed, the importance level of the page file should be determined and annotations should be provided. These operations need be performed manually. Especially at a news site or a database site, the annotator's workload to prepare annotations is significantly increased because the volume of available page files is large. In addition, when a new file is to be generated by including date data in the URL (Uniform Resource Locator), even if annotations have already been provided to the site, additional annotations should be prepared.

Display annotation and layout processing

International Business Machines Corporation


An imaging member can be prepared by imagewise application of a mixture of a sol precursor in a liquid to a suitable substrate. Application is preferably accomplished by ink jet printing. Upon removal of the liquid, such as by drying, an insoluble, crosslinked polymeric sol-gel matrix is formed that will accept a lithographic printing ink. The resulting imaging member can be used for lithographic printing.

The art of lithographic printing is based upon the immiscibility of oil and water, wherein the oily material (or ink) is preferentially retained by image areas on a substrate. When a suitably prepared surface is moistened with water and an ink is applied, the background or non-image areas retain the water and repel the ink. The image areas then accept the ink and repel the water. Ink on the image areas can then be transferred to the surface of a suitable receiving material, such as cloth, paper or metal, thereby reproducing the image. Commonly, the ink is transferred to an intermediate material known as a blanket which in turn transfers the ink image to the surface of the final receiving material upon which the image is to be reproduced.
Conventional lithographic printing plates typically include a hardenable polymeric layer (usually visible or UV light-sensitive) on a suitable metallic or polymeric support. Both positive- and negative-working printing plates can be prepared in this fashion. Upon exposure, and perhaps post-exposure heating, either imaged or non-imaged areas are removed using wet processing chemistries.
Thermally sensitive printing plates are also known. They include an imaging layer comprising a mixture of dissolvable polymers and an infrared radiation absorbing compound. While these plates can be imaged using lasers and digital information, they require wet processing using alkaline developers to provide the printable image.
Dry planography, or waterless printing, is well known in the art of lithographic offset printing and provides several advantages over conventional offset printing. Dry planography is particularly advantageous for short run and on-press applications. It simplifies press design by eliminating the fountain solution and aqueous delivery train. Carefuil ink water balance is unnecessary, thus reducing rollup time and material waste. Use of silicone rubber, [such as poly(dimethylsiloxane) and other derivatives of poly(siloxanes)] have long been recognized as preferred waterless-ink repelling materials.
In the lithographic art, materials that release or repel oil based inks are usually referred to as having "oleophobic" character. Herein, ink repelling materials are defined as "melanophobic" and, conversely, the term "melanophilic" is used to describe ink "loving" or accepting materials.
The planographic materials noted above are the object of considerable development effort in the industry, but due to a number of performance problems or costs, there remains a need to explore other means for providing printed images using sources of digital information, such as digitally controlled printing devices.
Many different types of digitally controlled imaging or printing systems are known. These systems utilize a variety of actuation mechanisms, marking materials and recording media. Examples of such systems include, but are not limited to, laser electrophotographic printers, LED electrophotographic printers, dot matrix impact printers, thermal paper printers, film recorders, thermal wax printers, dye diffusion thermal transfer printers, and ink jet printers. Due to various disadvantages or limitations, such digital printing systems have not significantly replaced mechanical printing presses and the more conventional printing plates described above, even though these older systems are labor intensive and inexpensive only when more than a few thousand copies of the same image are wanted. Yet, there is considerable activity in the industry to prepare and use recording media that can be digitally imaged and used to provide high quality, inexpensive copies in either a short- or long-run job.
Ink jet printing has become recognized as a viable alternative in the industry because of its non-impact deposition of ink droplets, low-noise characteristics, its use of plain paper as a receiving material, and its avoidance of toner transfer and fixing (as in electrophotography). Ink jet printing mechanisms can be characterized as either continuous ink jet or "drop on demand" ink jet printing. Various ink jet printers and systems are currently available for a number of markets, including their common use with personal computers. A very essential aspect of such systems, of course, is a printing ink that has all of the necessary properties for a given application.
Various teachings about ink jet printing including nozzles and drop modulation are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 1,941,001 (Hamsell), U.S. Pat. No. 3,373,437 (Sweet et al), U.S. Pat. No. 3,416,153 (Hertz et al), U.S. Pat. No. 3,878,519 (Eaton), and U.S. Pat. No. 4,346,387 (Hertz).
Conventional continuous ink jet printing utilizes electrostatic charging "tunnels" that are placed close to the point where the ink drops are formed in a stream. In this manner, individual drops may be charged, and these drops may be deflected downstream by the presence of deflector plates that have a large potential difference between them. A gutter (sometimes known as a "catcher") may be used to intercept the charged drops, while the uncharged drops are free to strike the recording medium. If there is no electric field present, or if the drop break off point is sufficiently far from the electric field (even if a portion of the stream before the drop break off point is in the presence of an electric field), then charging will not occur. In order to avoid these complications and uncertainties, it is desirable to avoid the use of electrostatic charging tunnels when using ink jet printing.
Printing plates have been made using ink jet printing and various techniques, as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 4,003,312 (Gunther), U.S. Pat. No. 4,833,486 (Zerillo), U.S. Pat. No. 5,501,150 (Leenders et al), U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,924 (Young), U.S. Pat. No. 5,511,477 (Adler et al), U.S. Pat. No. 4,599,627 (Vollert), U.S. Pat. No. 5,466,658 (Harrison et al), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,495,803 (Gerber et al).
JP Kokai 53-015905 describes the preparation of a printing plate by ink jet printing using an ink comprising an alcohol-soluble resin in an organic solvent onto an aluminum support. Similarly, JP Kokai 56-105960 describes ink jet printing using an ink comprising a hardening substance, such as an epoxy-soybean oil, and benzoyl peroxide, or a photohardenable polyester, onto a metallic support. These inks are disadvantageous in that they include light-sensitive materials or environmentally unsuitable organic solvents.
EP-A-0776,763 (Hallman et al) describes ink jet printing of two reactive inks that combine to form a polymeric resin on a printing plate. JP Kokai 62-25081 describes the use of an oleophilic liquid as an ink jet ink.
Inks for high speed ink jet drop printers must have a number of special characteristics. Typically, water-based inks have been used because of their conductivity and viscosity range. Thus, for use in a jet drop printer the ink must be electrically conductive, having a resistivity below about 5000 ohm-cm and preferably below about 500 ohm-cm. For good fluidity through small orifices, the water-based inks generally have a viscosity in the range between 1 and 15 centiposes at 25.degree. C.
Beyond this, the inks must be stable over a long period of time, compatible with ink jet materials, free of microorganisms and functional after printing. Required functional characteristics include resistance to smearing after printing, fast drying on paper, and being waterproof when dried.
Thus, problems to be solved with ink jet inks include the large energy needed for drying, cockling of large printed areas on paper surfaces, ink sensitivity to rubbing, the need for an anti-microbial agent and clogging of the ink jet printer orifices from dried ink.
Some of these problems may be overcome by use of polar, conductive organic solvent based ink formulations. However, non-polar solvents generally lack sufficient conductivity. Addition of solvent soluble salts can make such solvents conductive, but such salts are often toxic, corrosive and unstable, and therefore present a number of reasons why they should be avoided.
It would be desirable to have a means for preparing printing plates using ink jet printing techniques in an economical fashion, at high speed without the limitations of requiring an electrically conductive ink and without the problems noted above. It is also desirable that printing plates prepared in this fashion would be long wearing, that is be useful for long press runs.

Imaging and printing methods to form imaging member by formation of insoluble crosslinked polymeric sol-gel matrix