The present disclosure provides extended release trihexyphenidyl compositions suitable for once- or twice-daily administration. The compositions comprise a core comprising organic acid that is coated with at least one drug layer comprising trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride, and a functional coat over the drug-layered core. The extended release compositions of the disclosure provide extended release of trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride, with reduced Cmax, and a Cmin:Cmax ratio of ≥0.4, while maintaining a therapeutically effective concentration for a period of at least about 16 hours. The compositions of the disclosure improve solubility of trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride, at a pH of greater than or equal to 5, to maintain its minimum effective concentration at such pH. In certain embodiments, the compositions of the disclosure comprise an IR drug layer to provide extended release with a minimal lag time, while maintaining a therapeutically effective concentration of trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride for a period of at least about 16 hours.

Trihexyphenidyl, a phenyl propylamine (also known as benzhexol and trihex) is an anticholinergic agent. THP is a synthetic antispasmodic drug that is widely used in the treatment of patients with all forms of parkinsonism, including primary or idiopathic Parkinson's disease, secondary symptomatic parkinsonism (postencephalitic, arteriosclerotic, infection-induced, tumor-induced, trauma-induced, and drug-induced), and involuntary movements due to side effects of certain psychiatric drugs. See, Cheung et al. (1988) "Pharmacokinetic evaluation of a sustained release formulation of trihexyphenidyl in healthy volunteers" J. Pharm. Sci., 77(9):748-50. It is often useful as adjuvant therapy when treating these forms of parkinsonism with levodopa. Additionally, it is indicated for the control of extrapyramidal disorders caused by central nervous system drugs such as dibenzoxazepines, phenothiazines, thioxanthenes, and butyrophenones. Trihexyphenidyl is also used for treating primary dystonia, dystonia associated with cerebral palsy (dyskinetic cerebral palsy), and/or sialorrhea, using extended release THP HCl pellets.
THP, chemically known as α-cyclohexyl-α-phenyl-1-piperidinepropanol, has the following chemical structure.

Trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride was introduced as a synthetic drug for treatment of Parkinson's disease in 1949. Dosahay and Schwab (1962) "Slow-release Trihexyphenidyl in Parkinson's Disease" JAMA, 180(2):159-61. It has proved to be one of the more useful drugs for the treatment of Parkinson's disease and has been available in 2 mg and 5 mg scored tablets for many years. Corbin (1949) "Trihexyphenidyl: Evaluation of New Agent in Treatment of Parkinsonism" JAMA, 141(6):377-82.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had approved extended release THP hydrochloride capsules (Artane), prior to Jan. 1, 1982 (now discontinued), as well as various immediate release generic forms of THP hydrochloride, for the treatment of parkinsonism and drug-induced parkinsonism.
THP hydrochloride, due to its poor solubility at pH greater than or equal to about 5, exhibits highly variable blood plasma levels after oral administration. The approved and currently marketed IR THP hydrochloride products have side effects, e.g., drowsiness, dizziness or blurred vision, dry mouth, stomach upset, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and difficulty in urinating, associated with high peak serum concentrations (Cmax) and low trough-to-peak concentration ratios (Cmin:Cmax). In elderly individuals, if the dosage strength is too high, the side effects are urinary difficulty and/or retention, confusion, agitation, and hallucinations, particularly during the night. Dosahay and Schwab, supra.
Unlike other compounds employed in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, THP shows little tendency towards an increase in tolerance and can be used with consistent benefit for over ten years. Further, THP is an efficient drug that is safe and has a long period of clinical experience. The above-mentioned advantages of THP make it an ideal candidate for extended release formulations that can provide and maintain reasonably stable therapeutically effective plasma concentrations.
However, trihexyphenidyl has a short plasma half-life (about 3.7 hours), short duration of action, and requires (1) frequent dosing, which results in various side effects associated with high Cmax and low Cmin:Cmax ratios; or (2) dosing at higher strengths as ER dosage forms, which results in various side effects associated with an initial drug release in an amount that is higher than the therapeutic range (e.g., a burst release of the drug) and/or exhibits highly variable blood plasma levels after oral administration due to its poor solubility at a pH greater than or equal to about 5. Thus, it is desirable to develop ER THP compositions that can reduce variations in plasma concentrations of the drug, associated with a reduction in solubility at a pH of greater than about 5, over an extended period of time, and reduce side effects associated with presently approved IR compositions.
There is a need to develop once-a-day extended release THP compositions, which can provide at least a 16-hour, preferably a 24-hour, release profile of trihexyphenidyl hydrochloride, with no burst release, and reduce the side effects of currently marketed IR compositions.
There remains a need to develop once-a-day THP compositions that provide improved drug solubility at pH of greater than or equal to about 5, and provide extended release of the drug for periods of about 12 hours to about 24 hours, e.g., about 16 hours.
There remains a need for ER THP compositions that provide a minimal lag time, similar to that of an IR THP product, provide extended release with minimal or no initial burst release, and maintain a stable therapeutic plasma concentration of the drug for extended periods of time. There remains a need in the art for ER THP compositions that provide extended release of THP with minimal lag time of about 30 minutes or less. There remains a need in the art for ER THP compositions containing an IR drug layer to minimize the lag time, and an ER portion to provide membrane-controlled extended release with minimal or no initial burst release of the drug beyond the therapeutic range. There remains a need in the art for ER THP compositions that will allow for reduced frequency of administration of the composition, improve patient compliance, provide consistent plasma levels by improving drug solubility at a pH of greater than or equal to about 5, and reduce side effects associated with an unwanted initial burst in drug release; and for development of once-a-day ER THP compositions that can provide a lag time of about 30 minutes or less, provide an extended release for at least about 16 hours (preferably about 24 hours), and reduce side effects associated with initial burst release of the drug.

Extended release compositions comprising trihexyphenidyl


A display system and methods; in general, a plurality of display sub-assemblies collectively creating a viewing plane. Each display sub-assembly having a plurality of light emitting elements on a substrate with a plurality of substantially equal pixel gaps between light emitting elements. Bend gaps are provided between pixels that enable the display sub-assemblies to bend thereby creating a curved viewing plane. A mobile LED panel display may be formed of a plurality of LED display modules having a plurality of pixels, four or more casters, a battery powered supply, a media player (electrically communicating with the plurality of display modules for controlling the display of images on the LED panel display, and a removable content storage device and; thus, functions as a rugged, light weight, battery powered display to inform customers and passers-by about product and service offerings via a rugged person size mobile light weight battery powered display.

As is widely known, to present goods for sale to the public in a store setting or other private or public venue or establishment, merchants use stationary plastic, wooden or metal displays, walls, surfaces, tables, shelves and racks having surfaces on which goods offered for sale may be displayed to inform customers and passers-by about product and service offerings. Another known display system the stationary pep or slotted board display wall, surface, table, shelf, and rack wherein a variety hangers, such as hooks may be positioned to assemble a wall or surface of hangers to orderly position goods for sale and to enable easy access to such goods. Such static display racks may include adjustable shelving or surfaces to display a variety of goods and services and allow for individualized positioning and placement of such goods. Moreover, such static display racks may enable placement of static marketing and advertising materials, such as posters and flyers; which may be positioned approximate such goods. Still further, such static display racks may include an audio or video display, such as CRT, TV, LCD monitor, positioned within the static display racks to enable a customer positioned, right next to the display, to see and hear marketing advertising content relating to the sale of the goods positioned in the static display racks.
CRT, TV, LCD monitor, and like displays have many drawbacks: such displays are stationary or immobile displays due to their hazardous weight and tip over potential, and therefore must be enclosed in an immobile frame for support. Moreover, such displays have glass fronts or covers, such as CRT and LCD, and can cause serious injury when bumped or dropped resulting in an explosion or shards of glass in the viewing area. Furthermore, large displays having glass fronts and covers, such as CRT and LCD, are heavy, thick and bulky and are cumbersome or difficult to move easily and quickly about the merchants venue, especially during product liquidations and mark downs or seasonal or theme reconfigurations or changes, wherein the footprint of the store is significantly altered or redesigned. Still further, large displays, such as CRT and LCD, consume large amounts of power and generate heat in the process making them expensive to operate and maintain. Yet, still further, such displays are not proportional in size to a viewer having smaller or partial sized avatar or digital mannequin images which fail to extend from the floor to up above the viewer; therefore, such images limit the viewer's experience of interacting with a full size avatar or digital mannequin. Such unnatural or partially sized avatar or digital mannequin images tend to reduce or limit the willingness of a customer to interact with such digital content; thus, reducing the displays effectiveness of informing customers and passers-by about products and service offerings, and answering informational requests.
In addition, large mobile displays, such as CRT and LCD, are in use for medical, dental and spa establishments where a CRT or LCD display, computer, printer, and AC power supply connection are positioned on or integrated into a table top or wheeled table top assembly. For example, a 46 inch LCD may be mounted on a mobile display rotated in portrait mode and a miniature scale image of a person may be displayed on the LCD screen. In other applications, LCDs may be stacked side-by-side to create a larger image but create visible seams that distort and segment the visual image into areas or sectors. These bezels create significant disruption an interruption of the visual image as seen by the viewer.
CRT or LCD displays have drawbacks such as they utilize heavy hard to move high resolution CDT or LCD displays with glass fronts or covers. Such displays can cause serious injury when bumped or tipped over resulting in an explosion or shards of glass in the viewing area. Because of this risk the table top or wheeled table top includes large, heavy frames and support structures to stabilize such displays causing the display portion to be several inches or feet off of the floor. Moreover, these large scale displays tend to be heavy, expensive to operate, not easily transported and set up, and are power hungry.
Furthermore, it is also known to place print material on external surfaces of vehicles, such as city buses and motorized trucks to publicly display marketing and advertising materials to inform customers and passers-by about product and service offerings.
Moreover, it is also known to incorporate a single capture device, such as a camera which is often positioned above or below the viewer to integrate external audio, still frames, or video content into the display system or display system content; however, integrating content, such as downward perspective or upward perspective from such capture device does not create a full size, proper dimensional or perspective image of the viewer. Rather such capture device captures a distorted perspective visual of a viewer or passers-by.
Lastly, LCDs have been mounted in portrait mode having the long side of the LCD positioned vertically. This vertical LCD is mounted on a stand and placed on the floor of a retailer or other establishment. The problem with this vertical LCD is that they are not full person size. For example, the LCD may be 46-54 inches diagonally and any image displayed thereon will appear as an unnatural miniaturized person scaled to fit on the display. Moreover, LCDs have large frames around the border of the LCD causing the screen portion to be elevated off the ground giving the appearance of an unnatural floating image of a person displayed on the screen.
Therefore, it is readily apparent that there is a recognizable unmet need for a mobile, personsize (6 foot or more high 3 foot or more wide; personsize) display system and method of use that safely and economically functions to inform customers and passers-by about product and service offerings via rugged full personsize mobile, with the bottom of the display as close to the floor as practically possible, light weight, thin, battery powered display and; thereby, enables full personsize viewing, quick redesign and configuration changes to the merchant's establishment without the need for heavy moving dollies, skids and other moving equipment, or any special tools or special power requirements or power alterations to operate the mobile display system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A frequency detector for a PLL controller, the controller being for generating an output signal to control a motor driver electrically connected to a motor having multiple phase windings arranged as a stator and a rotor having a permanent magnet or a DC current excitation winding for rotating the rotor, the motor driver selectively establishing current paths through selected windings in response to said output signal, to provide maximum torque to the rotor based on the rotational position of the rotor relative to the windings, the frequency detector comprising a monitor for detecting a number of pulses in said output signal during a time period between a first and a second rotational position of the rotor relative to the windings and a governor for generating a frequency control signal as a function of said number of pulses, wherein the PLL controller generates said output signal at output frequencies selectively as a function of said frequency control signal, whereby the frequency detector minimizes a difference between the frequency of the output signal and a corresponding rotational frequency of the rotor.

A typical disk drive includes a spindle motor for rotating a data disk, and an actuator for moving a head carrier that supports read/write heads radially across the disk to access data stored on concentric data tracks on the disk. A spindle motor can be a brush less DC motor having multiple phase windings arranged as a stator, and a rotor having a permanent magnet for rotating the disk. During an acceleration phase, the motor is commutated to start from standstill and accelerate to its operational speed. Thereafter, the motor is commutated to maintain that operational speed, by sequentially energizing appropriate phase windings based on the location of the rotor relative to the phase windings. The energized windings generate torque inducing magnetic fields relative to the rotor magnet that rotate the rotor.
In order to ensure that proper phase windings are energized, indirect or sensorless position detection systems, such as back electromotive force ("back emf") detectors, are utilized to determine the rotor position relative to the windings. Back emf detectors sense back emf transitions in the phase windings, due to magnetic flux caused by a moving rotor, to identify the proper phase windings to be energized. Specifically, when the rotor is moving, the change in the course and direction of the magnetic field lines emanating from the rotor magnet causes a magnetic flux through the stator windings, inducing a current in the stator windings. The current induced in the stator windings is a function of the rotor speed or the frequency of magnetic transitions in the stator windings due to the magnetic flux through the stator windings. The induced current develops back emf voltages across resistors electrically connected in series with the phase windings, wherein the back emf voltages provide rotor position information. Once the rotor position is determined, the motor is commutated by sequentially energizing appropriate windings to provide maximum torque to the rotor.
The timing of the commutations is synchronized with back emf transitions in a phase lock loop ("PLL") controller. A conventional PLL controller typically comprises a multiplexer switch, a phase detector, a filter capacitor and a voltage control oscillator ("VCO") for generating commutation timing signals. The multiplexer switch, coupled to the phase detector, sequences back emf voltages from the windings such that only voltages from windings in the unrecognized ("off") state are processed by the phase detector. The phase detector converts the voltages to signals or currents to charge or discharge the filter capacitor depending on whether the voltages are above or below a motor center tap. In effect, the voltages are integrated relative to the center tap. The VCO then generates an output signal at a frequency proportional to the voltage across the filter capacitor. The output signal is used as a clock signal for timing the commutations, whereby the PLL controller keeps the commutation frequency in phase with the electrical cycles of the motor.
A disadvantage of conventional PLL controllers, however, is that they can lock onto a harmonic of the motor frequency rather than the actual motor frequency. For example, a conventional PLL controller can mistakenly lock on to a harmonic of the motor frequency such that the PLL controller produces commutation timing for a harmonic frequency twice that of the actual motor frequency. As a result, although the commutation and motor frequencies are in phase, the frequency of the commutations does not match the frequency of the electrical cycles of the motor.
To solve this problem some PLL controllers further include a frequency detector to detect the frequency of the motor in coast mode and generate a signal causing the VCO to vary the commutation frequency, until the commutation and motor frequencies match. The frequency detector is electrically connected to the motor coils to detect the start of an electrical cycle of the motor, and to the VCO to detect the start of a commutation cycle. Upon detecting the start of an electrical cycle, the frequency detector signal causes the charge pump to charge the filter capacitor and the VCO increases the commutation frequency in response. And upon detecting the start of a commutation cycle, the frequency detector signals the charge pump to discharge the capacitor and the VCO decreases the commutation frequency in response. This process continues until an electrical cycle of the motor and a corresponding commutation cycle occur at the same time.
The frequency detector depends on using the time difference between the start of an electrical cycle and the start of a commutation cycle as the phase error therebetween. The time difference creates a voltage difference at the charge pump causing an incremental change in the frequency of VCO output signal to move the start of a commutation cycle closer to the start of an electrical cycle. By subsequent charge and discharges of the filter capacitor the phase error between the motor frequency and commutations are reduced to a small error. The frequency detector then hands over commutation to the phase detector to keep the commutation frequency in phase with the motor frequency. As such, the PLL controller can generate commutation timing in phase with, and at the same frequency as, the motor.
However, a major disadvantage of PLL controllers with conventional frequency detectors is the inability of such detectors to diminish the phase error between the commutation and motor frequencies for a full range of motor frequencies in minimum time. A mathematical model of the phase error in such controllers can be represented by the following equation wherein the resulting phase error is calculated for (n+1) number of electrical cycles: ##EQU1##
Wherein, K1 is the rate at which the VCO output frequency changes with the VCO input voltage (VCO Gain), K2 is the voltage change at the filter capacitor during the time of charging (Charge Gain), .DELTA.t(i) is the phase error at the ith cycle, V is the starting voltage of the charge pump, and Tt is the period of an electrical cycle of the motor. As such, the rate of reduction in the phase error is controlled by the VCO Gain K1 and by the Charge Gain K2. For each set of K1 and K2 values the phase error can be reduced to a very small error for only a limited motor frequency range. This is because, conventional frequency detectors depend on using the time interval between the beginning of an electrical cycle and the beginning of a commutation cycle as a measure of phase error. Therefore, the frequency detector can overshoot in minimizing the time difference, and the phase error will oscillate in one direction rather than to the other, for a certain range of frequencies.
This shortcoming is evident from numerical solutions to the above equation for high and low motor frequency ranges. In each case below, the phase error is 10% of an electrical cycle. For parameter values of K1=100 Hz/V, K2=0.1/sec, Tt=1 msec, and .DELTA.t(0)=0.1 msec, the phase error is reduced from 0.1 msec to about 5 .mu.sec in about 20 electrical cycles lasting 20 msec. As such, for a high motor speed of about 7200 revolutions per minute ("rpm") in an 8 pole spindle motor, the phase error is reduced to a small value in a bout 20 msec. However, for parameter values of K1=100 Hz/V, K2=0.1/sec, Tt=5 msec, and .DELTA.t(0)=0.5 msec, the phase error is reduced from 0.5 msec to about 100 .mu.sec in about 90 electrical cycles lasting 450 msec, and continues to oscillate at that value thereafter for several hundred msec. As such, the phase error settles to a small value relatively quickly for high motor speeds ranging from about 4200 rpm to about 7000 rpm, but fluctuates greatly for an extended period of time for low motor speeds ranging from about 100 rpm to about 4200 rpm.
A major disadvantage of such a shortcoming is that a conventional PLL controller cannot be reliably used to "hot start" a spindle motor after loss of power. When there is a power interruption, the motor enters a "coast" mode wherein the inertial momentum of the rotor keeps the rotor spinning until friction or breaking bring the rotor to a stop. The motor speed can range from 300 rpm to 7200 rpm depending on the length of the power interruption. Due to the power loss the phase detector in the PLL controller loses track of the motor frequency and must rely on the frequency detector to detect the proper motor frequency before the phase detector can take over and commutate the motor back to its operational speed. In many applications it is crucial to "hot start" the motor after power is restored by commutating the motor back to its operational speed as quickly as possible. However, due to the limited dynamic range of conventional frequency detectors, existing PLL controllers cannot commutate the motor back to its operational speed in minimum time for the full range of frequencies which a motor can experience. As such, either the motor must be brought to a complete stop and restarted again or an entire processing system must idle while the PLL controller attempts to commutate the motor properly.
There is, therefore, a need for a frequency detector for a PLL controller capable of reliably detecting motor frequencies for a full range of motor speeds in minimum time.


A method, computer readable medium, and touch sensor system for reducing the effects of contaminants on an acoustic touch sensor. Acoustic energy is transmitted across the touch sensor substrate. Any perturbations in the acoustic energy induced by environmental events, such as valid touches or contaminants, are sensed and analyzed. If the perturbation exhibits a monotonic growth over a time period, it is considered to be a valid touch. If the perturbation exhibits a non-monotonic growth over the time period, it is considered a contaminant.

Touch sensors are transparent or opaque input devices for computers and other electronic systems. As the name suggests, touch sensors are activated by touch, either from a user's finger, or a stylus or some other device. Transparent touch sensors, and specifically touchscreens, are generally placed over display devices, such as cathode ray tube (CRT) monitors and liquid crystal displays, to create touch display systems. These systems are increasingly used in commercial applications such as restaurant order entry systems, industrial process control applications, interactive museum exhibits, public information kiosks, pagers, cellular phones, personal digital assistants, and video games.
The dominant touch technologies presently in use are resistive, capacitive, infrared, and acoustic technologies. Touchscreens incorporating these technologies have delivered high standards of performance at competitive prices. All are transparent devices that respond to a touch by transmitting the touch position coordinates to a host computer. Each has, of course, relative strengths and weaknesses.
Acoustic touchscreens, also known as ultrasonic touchscreens, have competed effectively with the other touch technologies. This is due in large part to the ability of acoustic touchscreens to handle demanding applications with high transparency and high resolution touch performance, while providing a durable touch surface. Acoustic touchscreen systems comprise a transparent touch sensor (i.e., a touchscreen), a controller and leads coupling the touchscreen and the controller. Typically, the touchscreen comprises a touch sensitive substrate in which an acoustic wave is propagated. When a touch occurs on the substrate surface, it results in the absorption of at least a portion of the wave energy being propagated across the substrate. The touch position is determined using electronic circuitry to locate the absorption position in an XY coordinate system that is conceptually and invisibly superimposed onto the touchscreen. In essence, this is accomplished by recording the time the wave is initially propagated and the time at which a touch induced attenuation in the amplitude of the wave occurs. The difference in these times can then be used, together with the known speed of the wave through the substrate, to determine the precise location of the touch.
A common type of acoustic touchscreen employs Rayleigh type acoustic waves—where the term is intended to include quasi-Rayleigh waves. Illustrative disclosures relevant to Rayleigh wave touchscreens include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,642,423; 4,645,870; 4,700,176; 4,746,914; 4,791,416; Re 33,151; U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,825,212; 4,859,996; 4,880,665; 4,644,100; 5,739,479; 5,708,461; 5,854,450; 5,986,224; 6,091,406; 6,225,985; and 6,236,691. Acoustic touchscreens employing other types of acoustic waves such as Lamb or shear waves, or combinations of different types of acoustic waves (including combinations involving Rayleigh waves) are also known. Illustrative disclosures of these technologies include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,591,945; 5,854,450; 5,072,427; 5,162,618; 5,177,327; 5,329,070; 5,573,077; 6,087,599; 5,260,521; and 5,856,820. The above cited patents are hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
Acoustic touchscreens, including Elo TouchSystems, Inc.'s IntelliTouch® products, which sense touch via the absorption of Rayleigh waves, have proved to be commercially successful. The success of products using Rayleigh waves is due in large part to two properties exhibited by Rayleigh waves. First, Rayleigh waves are typically more sensitive to touch than are other acoustic waves. Second, Rayleigh waves are surface waves that can propagate on the surface of any simple homogenous glass substrate of sufficient thickness.
However, Rayleigh waves are sensitive to liquid contaminants such as oil and water. These contaminants absorb energy from the propagating waves. A drop of water can generate a signal that in many ways behaves like a touch signal. Contamination of the touchscreen by water on the surface, say as the result of a spill, a sneeze, or rain, can produce false readings, since the contaminant absorbs some of the Rayleigh wave and consequently attenuates a portion of the wave amplitude, i.e., it generates a dip in the wave amplitude. It is important to minimize the adverse effects of water and other contaminants.
One approach that has been used to deal with the problem of water contamination, makes use of the fact that—depending on the amount of water contamination—the corresponding amplitude dip may be wider than for a normal finger touch. This phenomenon is illustrated in FIGS. 1(a)-(c), which shows three separate graphs of amplitude versus time. FIG. 1(a) shows the behavior with no touch or water, and hence shows no dip at all. FIG. 1(b) shows the dip associated with a finger touch. FIG. 1(c) shows the dip associated with water contamination. As FIGS. 1(1b) and 1(c) illustrate, the water contamination dip may be wider than the normal finger touch dip, and thus, such water contamination can therefore be distinguished from normal finger touches. This water rejection algorithm has been in use since the earliest commercial acoustic touchscreen products. A later more explicitly documented example of the application of algorithm use of dip widths (but not applied to water contamination) is found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,093, which considers the use of dip width to differentiate between different types of touches. This patent is hereby incorporated by reference into this patent application. Unfortunately, not all water drops produce wide dip shapes, and thus, it is often difficult to distinguish between water contamination and actual touches using this methodology.
Another ameliorative approach involves reference waveform updating. A static dip from a water contaminant is eventually "memorized out" and becomes part of the reference waveform. Thus, an implementing algorithm may redefine as a contaminant any dip that remains static for more than 30 seconds, for example, and update the reference waveform accordingly. Of course, an appropriate wait time, such as, for example, 30 seconds, must be carefully established. This is important because, like contaminants, valid touches may also have a significant duration. Such an updating algorithm prevents a valid touch from being blocked by a water drop that landed on the touch surface well in advance of the finger touch. This algorithm thus improves system performance.
However, there is still a problem with water contamination of width comparable to a finger, that arrives close in time to a valid finger touch. For example, if the user's fingers are wet from the condensation of a cold drink, a valid finger touch may also leave a residue of water contamination with a width the size of finger touch. In such cases, there is a risk that the ultrasonic touch system will continue to consider the wet finger to be touching the touchscreen surface, and thus, block out the next valid touch. One way to obviate this difficulty is simply to declare that the last touch to appear "wins." Algorithms that use this approach have the advantage that a valid touch will automatically override any contaminant induced dips, so that the system will respond "instantaneously" to the user's latest input. Thus, even if water contaminants cause a spurious input, the user quickly regains control.
While reasonably effective in reducing the negative effects of water on system performance, the "last touch wins" algorithm does not support multiple simultaneous touches. Multiple touch algorithms are considered in U.S. Pat. No. 5,854,450, which is hereby incorporated by reference. Applications that demand multiple touch capability, such as, for example, two-player video games, still demand water rejection that matches or improves upon current levels of water-rejection performance. Present algorithms cannot satisfy both these demands. This increases the need for additional algorithm methods for recognizing and rejecting water contamination.
Different acoustic modes vary in their susceptibility to water. The Rayleigh waves typically used in ultrasonic touchscreens are strongly absorbed by radiation damping, even for a zero viscosity fluid. In contrast, absorption of shear waves depends only on viscous damping. As a result, shear waves are much less affected by water than are the more commonly used Rayleigh waves. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,177,327 teaches a variant of ultrasonic touchscreen technology using horizontally polarized shear waves. Touchscreens using this technology demonstrate a high degree of water immunity. Indeed, the substrate surface can be completely submerged in water, and still correctly sense the position of finger touches. For ultrasonic touchscreen applications with very high levels of water contamination, use of shear acoustic modes may well be required.
The use of shear acoustic modes, however, comes with a cost. Shear modes are generally much less sensitive to touch than are Rayleigh waves. Furthermore, the use of shear modes often require complex, and hence more costly, substrate designs than does the Rayleigh mode. For applications subject to more moderate levels of water contamination, it is therefore preferable, whenever possible, to enhance water rejection using signal processing, and to continue to use the lower cost Rayleigh mode touchscreens.
Hence, despite the shear acoustic mode option, there remains a significant need for improved water rejection signal processing that supports multiple touch capability. Moreover, even if multiple touch capability is not required, there is still a need for improved water rejection signal processing, since any improvement in water tolerance will enable ultrasonic touchscreens to be used in applications with higher levels of water contamination.


A DAC is provided to convert an input word into dual output voltages, and the input word includes a least significant bit and remaining bits. The DAC includes an R-string DAC section and a selecting section. The R-string DAC section is capable of providing an nth and (n+2)th voltage levels according to the remaining bits. The selecting section includes a first multiplexer and a second multiplexer. The first multiplexer is coupled to the R-string DAC section to provide a first output voltage according to a panel polarity signal. The second multiplexer is coupled to the R-string DAC section to provide a second output voltage according to the LSB bit of the N-bit input word. The DAC may further include an operational amplifier to average the dual output voltages for producing an analog output signal.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to digital-to-analog converters. More particularly, the present invention relates to a digital-to-analog converter having two sections for processing an input word.
1. Description of Related Art
There are many different types of digital-to-analog converters (DAC) available, such as a resistor string (R-string) DAC. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional R-string DAC. An R-string DAC 100 includes a resistor string of resistors 110 and a selector 120. The selector 120 includes selecting lines 124 each of which is composed of switching elements 122. Each switching element 122 is controlled by one of the bits of an input word.
The resistor string is connected between a high reference voltage (VH) and a low reference voltage (VL). Each of the selecting lines 124 is connected to one of the nodes in the resistor string. Only one of the selecting lines 124 has switches all turned on by the input word and couples the voltage on the corresponding node in the resistor string to the output node Vo.
For N-bit digital-to-analog conversion, the R-string DAC 100 requires 2N selecting lines. Moreover, each of the selected lines 124 requires N switching elements. Therefore, 2N×N switching elements are required for the N-bit R-string DAC 100. The number of switching elements dramatically increases when the bits of the input word are increased, which results in a larger layout area. This is disadvantageous for chip shrinkage and cost reduction.


The present invention provides an absorbent garment subassembly for attaching to an absorbent garment, the absorbent garment having a front portion, a back portion and two side portions. The subassembly has a first carrier layer and an elastic member operatively associated with the first carrier layer. The elastic member has a center portion and two end portions. The center portion has a greater area than either of the end portions.

Absorbent garments, such as diapers, adult incontinence products, training pants, and feminine care products, are in widespread use today.
The comfort level associated with wearing such garments is of great importance to the users of the garments. Most garments of this type include some sort of elastic material to help provide a snug, and therefore leak resistant, but still comfortable, fit.

Disposable article with centrally located zones of elasticity


This invention provides proteins and genes thereof involved in the GPI lipid remodeling process and, thereby and constructing a system for screening for useful substances such as anticancer agents and a system for detecting abnormalities in the GPI lipid remodeling process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to novel genes and proteins involved in carcinogenesis and the GPI biosynthesis process.
2. Background Art
It has been known that, in some breast cancer cells or gastric cancer cells, a chromosomal region referred to as 17q12 is amplified and that the expression level of a gene of unknown function that is referred to as PERLD1 in the region increases (Non-Patent Document 1: Nezu, M., Nishigaki, M., Ishizuka, T., Kuwahara, Y, Tanabe, C., Aoyagi, K., Sakamoto, H., Saito, Y, Yoshida, T., Sasaki, H., and Terada, M. Jpn. J. Cancer Res. 93: 1183-1186 (2002); and Non-Patent Document 2: Katoh, M. and Katoh, M. Int. J. Oncol. 22: 1369-1374 (2003)).
The glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI) anchor is a form of posttranslational modification of proteins. GPI anchors enable extracellularly secreted proteins to stay in the vicinity of the cell surface. Intensive studies have been conducted on the biosynthesis mechanism of GPI-anchored proteins. However, on the lipid remodeling steps following the addition of a GPI to a protein, only some aspects have started to become clear (Non-Patent Document 3: Bosson, R., Jaquenoud, M., and Conzelmann, A. Mol. Biol. Cell 17: 2636-2645 (2006)).
Recent studies revealed that genes in the GPI biosynthesis system may be involved in carcinogenesis. However, all of the genes that have been found in the GPI synthesis system and reported as oncogenes encode transamidases, which transfer GPI to a protein (Non-Patent Document 4: Guo, Z., Linn, J. F., Wu, G. Anzick, S. L., Eisenberger, C. F., Halachmi, S., Cohen, Y, Fomenkov, A., Hoque, M. O., Okami, K., Steiner, G, Engles, J. M., Osada, M., Moon, C., Ratovitski, E., Trent, J. M., Meltzer, P. S., Westra, W. H., Kiemeney, L. A., Schoenberg, M. P., Sidransky, D., and Trink, B. Nat. Med. 10, 374-381 (2004); and Non-Patent document 5: Ho, J. C., Cheung, S. T., Patil, M., Chen, X. and Fan, S. T. Int. J. Cancer 119, 1330-1337 (2006)).

Lipid remodeling of GPI-anchored proteins

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology


After bringing a conductor of an electric wire into press contact to connect with a wire caulking portion of a connection terminal, the conductor and the wire caulking portion are welded to connect by irradiating laser beam to a bottom wall of the wire caulking portion. Laser irradiation is carried out intermittently by three times and the laser irradiation at the second time and thereafter which is carried out later is carried out such that during a time period in which a laser welded portion immediately previously is brought into a predetermined state of elevating temperature, portions or welded regions overlap welded regions in laser irradiation irradiated previously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of connecting and a structure of connecting an electric wire and a connection terminal for bringing a conductor of an electric wire into press contact to connect with a wire caulking portion of a connection terminal and thereafter welding to connect the conductor and the connection terminal by laser welding.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, as a method of connecting an electric wire and a connection terminal, there is spread a method of electrically connecting an electric wire and a connection terminal by bringing a wire caulking portion mounted to the connection terminal into press contact to connect to caulk on a conductor of the electric wire.
However, in the case of a press contact connection, when the conductor of the electric wire is constituted by a multicore twisted wires structure, although core wires disposed on an outer peripheral side thereof are brought into direct contact with the connection terminal and therefore, conduction is easy to achieve, core wires disposed on a center side thereof is brought into contact with the connection terminal via the core wires on the outer peripheral side.
Further, when dimensions of C/W and C/H of a press contact terminal 1 do not match as shown by FIG. 5, a clearance 5 is liable to be produced between a conductor press contact portion 1a and a conductor 3, which is devoid of reliability of electric connection. Therefore, there poses a problem that many kinds of press contact terminals having dimensions of C/W and C/H matched to respective sizes of electric wires and respective kinds of terminals need to prepare and caulking operation needs to control to thereby increase fabrication cost.
Hence, in order to prevent contact resistance at a press contact portion from being dispersed, as shown by FIG. 6, there has been proposed a connecting method of bringing the conductor 3 of an electric wire 2 into press contact to connect with the conductor press contact portion 1a of the connection terminal 1 and thereafter irradiating laser beam 9 from a laser generating apparatus 8 to the conductor 3 exposed at the center portion and the front and rear portions of an upper face of the conductor press contact portion 1a to thereby weld the conductor press contact portion 1a and the conductor 3 (for example, refer to JP-A-2-103876).
However, according to the above-described connecting method, as shown by FIG. 7, there poses a problem that a terminal material melted by irradiating the laser beam 9 is absorbed by clearances of the conductor 3 and a large recess 13 is produced at a laser welded portion 11 to thereby reduce welding strength or the like. Further, in laser welding, the welding is carried out by irradiating the laser beam having high density energy and therefore, rapid heating or rapid boiling of the terminal material and the conductor is brought about which may bring about explosive scattering (splash phenomenon).
Hence, there has been proposed a laser welding terminal in which a wire caulking portion of a connection terminal is provided with a projected portion or a thick-walled portion for replenishing a melted volume and a recess produced by irradiating laser beam is filled by the melted projected portion or the melted thick-walled portion (for example, refer to JP-A-6-302341).
Further, as shown by FIG. 8, there has been proposed a structure of a connecting portion in which there is formed an irradiation port 17 for irradiating laser beam at a pair of core line press contact pieces 16, 16 formed at a press contact portion 15 of a connection terminal 14 and respective strands of the core line portion 3 are subjected to laser welding by irradiating laser directly to the core line portion 3 at inside of the press contact portion 15 by passing the irradiation port 17 (for example, refer to JP-A-2000-231944).
According thereto, even when the connection terminal is brought into press contact therewith without previously operating excessive press contact force to a portion of core lines which are not welded, respective strands can be welded together at inside of the press contact portion, and electric resistance between the connection terminal and the electric wire can be restrained to reduce by restraining to reduce contact resistance among the respective strands.
However, when the electric wire and the connection terminal are connected by laser welding described in JP-A-6-302341 and JP-A-2000-231944, mentioned above, and the like, as described above, the projected portion or the thick-walled portion for replenishing the welded volume needs to provide at the wire caulking portion of the connection terminal, or the irradiation port for irradiating laser beam needs to form at inside of the press contact portion of the connection terminal to thereby pose a problem of increasing working steps in fabricating the connection terminal or increasing cost of the connection terminal owing to complicated formation of a die for pressing a connection terminal.
Further, in recent times, there are a number of cases in which materials (physical properties) of a connection terminal and an electric wire differ from each other. For example, although Cu alloys are frequently used for the material of the connection terminal, in contrast thereto, a material which is difficult to achieve electric conduction of aluminum series or Fe—Ni series or the like is frequently used for the material of the electric wire. Whereas a melting point and heat of melting of aluminum are 660° C. and 94.5 cal/g, and a melting point and heat of melting of copper are 1083° C. and 50.6 cal/g and physical properties thereof differ from each other significantly and therefore, it is difficult to ensure excellent connection function by applying laser welding, mentioned above.

Method of connecting and structure of connecting electric wire and connection terminal


To provide a glass sheet incorporating a plurality of optical elements, which incorporates a plurality of glass optical elements and realizes higher productivity and uniform quality of glass optical elements. The glass sheet incorporating a plurality of optical elements includes a plurality of lens parts formed by molding a glass material, reference surface areas each of which is formed around an outer periphery of each lens part and is horizontal to the lens part, and connection parts each of which extends from one reference surface area and connects one lens part to another lens part, in which the connection part has a margin for facilitating separation of the glass sheet into a plurality of pieces.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glass sheet incorporating a plurality of glass optical elements intended for improving mass-productivity of glass optical elements used in image sensor chips, such as CCD and CMOS.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional glass optical element, for example, a microlens has been manufactured one by one by melting or softening a spherical glass material (glass perform) 100′ and press-molding the molten and softened glass material in a mold having a molding surface conforming to an optical surface of a lens which is to be manufactured (see FIG. 1).
For use, a lens 100 thus manufactured has been incorporated into a lens barrel 101 or the like and combined with an image sensor chip 102 as shown in FIG. 2.
However, according to such a conventional method for manufacturing a microlens, the microlenses 100 are manufactured separately one by one. Thus, the productivity is low, and the mass-productivity is also disadvantageously low.

Glass sheet incorporating a plurality of optical elements and method for manufacturing the same


An automatic charging device and method is described that is positionable to access an underside of an electrical vehicle that facilitates hands-free connection of a vehicle-side electrical connector with a floor unit electrical connector. The automatic charging device includes a floor unit, a first slidable carriage disposed in the floor unit, a second slidable carriage disposed in the floor unit, a pivotal link coupled to the floor unit electrical connector, and a lift mechanism connected to the second slidable carriage and the pivotal link. The floor unit electrical connector is arranged to rise away from the floor unit in a direction of the vehicle-side electrical connector to facilitate a mating of the vehicle-side electrical connector and the floor unit electrical connector. The first and the second slidable carriages are configured to move in a linear xy-direction, respectively, and the lift mechanism is configured to move in a linear z-direction.

Use of electrical vehicles is becoming increasingly popular due to the environmental benefits of removing pollution caused by fossil fuel burning vehicle engines from the environment, especially in densely populated urban environments. As with most mobile electrical devices, electrical vehicles carry electrical power storage devices or batteries, which provide power to the vehicle propulsion and other systems. As can be appreciated, the vehicle batteries require periodic recharging to provide consistent vehicle operation.
At present, electric vehicle recharging is a time consuming process that is typically carried out over long periods, for example, overnight or during prolonged periods when the electric vehicle (EV) is parked. Power dispensers include flexible conduits or wire bundles that include a connector at their end, which plugs into a vehicle receptacle and then begins the transfer of power from the dispenser the vehicle's battery.
Traditional vehicle power dispensers operate at around 200-240 Volt AC, and transfer about 30 Amp of electrical power into a vehicle. As a consequence, providing a full charge to a vehicle can take up to 10 hours or more. With the increase in popularity of electric vehicles, faster charging solutions are required, especially for vehicles that operate for more than 12 hours per day such as emergency vehicles, public transportation, professional vehicles and the like.
With faster charging there is a need to isolate the user from the high voltages and high current of chargers by fast charging via the undercarriage of the EV with an automatic charging device (ACD) or the like.
Many ACD mechanism designs exist, but many fail to provide adequate protection against moisture, dust and debris ingress. The overall height of the ACD mechanism should be smaller than the EV ground clearance is another challenge to overcome. The ACD mechanism must also be resistant to accidental drive-over events. Finally, the ACD mechanism must lend itself to occupy only a minimum footprint when not in use.

Linear positioning system for automatic charging device


A vehicle roll stabilizer for the chassis of a motor vehicle is provided, with its actuator (3, 38) being energized with independent energy, as necessary, for counteracting a roll. The actuator (3, 38) is provided with at least one additional energy accumulator (33a, 57), with its stored energy additionally counteracting the roll.

For example, a stabilizer arrangement for the chassis of a motor vehicle has been known from DE 100 02 455 A1, with its actuator energized with independent energy, counteracting any roll, if necessary. The actuator is provided with an electromechanical actuating drive, its rotor driving a threaded spindle provided with a threaded nut. A transmission is connected to this electromechanical actuating drive, converting a longitudinal shift of the threaded nut on the threaded spindle into a rotating motion around the rotational axis of the actuator. In this case, the actuator is allocated between two stabilizer halves and rotates them in reference to one another in order to counteract a roll. In the known arrangement, electric current is supplied as an independent energy driving the motor of the electromechanical actuating drive. However, hydraulic drives can be used as well, in which the hydraulic fluid moves a working piston, for example. These so-called active roll stabilizers must provide relatively great power, because the undesired roll moments of approximately 300 Nm have to be counteracted in only 400 milliseconds. Though hydraulic drive concepts can provide such power relatively easy, due to the high power density of hydraulic applications, electromechanically active roll stabilizers are bound by practical limits. Due to the fact that, using the conventionally installed 12 V vehicle power, the electric current required to provide such power usually results in unacceptably high values, which can lead to an unacceptable heating of the wiring harness. In hydraulic applications, appropriately strong pumps must be provided in order to ensure the necessary power, which increases the costs of the roll stabilizers.

Roll stabilizer for the chassis of a motor vehicle

Luk Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligungs KG


A polyimide precursor composition, including a polyamic acid including a repeating unit represented by Chemical Formula 1 and transparent metal oxide nanoparticles coordinated to a ligand represented by RCOOH, wherein R is a linear or branched C1-C4 alkyl or a linear or branched C2-C4 alkenyl:

1. Field
This disclosure relates to a polyimide precursor composition, a method of preparing a polyimide, a polyimide prepared by using the method, and a film including the polyimide.
2. Description of the Related Art
A colorless transparent material has been researched for diverse purposes such as for an optical lens, a functional optical film, and a disk substrate. But as information devices are being further miniaturized and display devices are providing higher resolution, more functions and greater performance are required from the material.
Therefore, there remains a need in development of a colorless transparent material having excellent transparency, heat resistance, mechanical strength, and flexibility.

Polyimide precursor composition, method for preparing polyimide, polyimide prepared by using the method, and film including the polyimide

Abstract: wherein variables Cy, A3, R31, and n34 in Chemical Formula I are described in the specification.


Operation of an internal voltage supply level (Vgg) of an IC is characterized over operating temperature or at a selected temperature to determine a temperature-equivalent internal voltage level. The internal voltage supply of the IC is set to the temperature-equivalent level, and the IC is tested at room temperature to screen for low-temperature defects or high-temperature defects.

Many ICs have stringent operating requirements, and are required to operate over a variety of conditions, such as varying voltage/current levels/timing and ambient temperatures. The testing procedures for complex ICs, such as field-programmable gate arrays ("FPGAs"), application-specific integrated circuits ("ASICs"), microprocessors, and memories can be very time consuming and represent a significant portion of the total manufacturing time and cost.
Non-room temperature testing is particularly expensive because it uses hot or cold test fixtures, which are relatively expensive compared to room temperature ("RT") test fixtures, and the device under test must be brought to the appropriate temperature, which adds time into the test sequence. Testing a device at a temperature hotter than room temperature can be twice as costly, and testing a device at a temperature colder than room temperature can be four to six times as costly.
Many approaches have been tried to meet quality requirements over a wide range of temperatures for ICs. Testing each IC at both ends of the devices' specified temperature operating range is direct, time consuming, and expensive, but acceptable for some devices, such as low-volume specialty devices. Other devices are 100% tested at room temperature and high temperature, but are only sampled for testing at cold temperature. Unfortunately, sampling cannot assure the required quality for all IC products, and price constraints often preclude 100% cold testing of high-volume parts.
Techniques have been developed to associate cold (or hot) IC failures with single temperature (typically RT) electrical measurements. One technique varies the external electrical test conditions, such as varying an external test voltage, to simulate or mimic low or high temperature operation. Other techniques use test guard bands (i.e., more stringent RT test limits, also called parametric modification), sometimes in conjunction with varied electronic test conditions, to identify ICs that have a propensity for failure at the maximum or minimum operating temperature based on statistical characterization of the IC and the test conditions. However, parametric modification of external test conditions is not able to identify all possible low-temperature failures.
Techniques for detecting defects in ICs that manifest at cold or hot temperatures using RT electrical testing that avoids the limitations of the prior art are desired.

Internal voltage level shifting for screening cold or hot temperature defects using room temperature testing


A clamping apparatus for use in a surgical retractor system is disclosed. The system comprises a shaft member having first and second ends. The shaft member carries first and second clamping members. The first and second clamping members have resilient leg portions that are movable toward and away from each other between clamping and non-clamping positions. A cam member is pivotally connected to the first end of the shaft member. The pivot axis of the cam member is perpendicular to the axis of the shaft. The cam member has an eccentric outer surface of incrementally increasing radius from the pivot axis. The cam member is rotatable about the pivot axis by a lever arm. Rotation of the cam member between clamping and non-clamping positions urges the leg portions of the first and second camping members between clamping and non-clamping positions. The cam member may be rotated 360 about the axis of the shaft member.

The invention relates to surgical apparatus for retracting anatomy to provide exposure of the operative site, and, more particularly, to a retraction apparatus which is sturdy, adjustable, conducive to thorough sterilization, and suited for use in conjunction with a tubular framed stretcher.
Retraction apparatus are used during surgical operations to access internal organs and bone structures. Variance in the types of surgery and patient size necessitates a device which is both adjustable and sturdy. Furthermore, the nature of a patient's injuries or the patient's condition may make it desirable to leave the patient on a tubular-framed stretcher during surgery as opposed to transferring the patient to a conventional operating table. In addition, equipment sterilization requirements call for a device which can be thoroughly cleansed by conventional means in a safe and easy manner.
Existing table mounted surgical retraction devices utilize rail clamps. A first type of rail clamp commonly used cannot be secured to an operating table without breaking the sterile field. Repositioning of this rail clamp during surgery must be performed by a non-sterile circulating nurse, thereby increasing the duration of the surgery. An example of such a rail clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,617,916.
A second type of rail clamp can be secured to an operating table without breaking the sterile field. However, without disassembly, such rail clamps do not permit access to internal threads of the clamp for proper cleaning and lubrication. Saline solution and blood which is not completely removed during the sterilization process can subject the threads to premature galling, marring, and stripping. An example of such a rail clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,254,763.
A third type of rail clamp can be secured to the rail of an operating table without breaking the sterile field and permits access to internal threads of the clamp for proper cleaning and sterilization without disassembly. However, this type of rail clamp cannot be secured to the frame of a conventional framed stretcher and, therefore, cannot be used in situations where the patient must remain on a framed stretcher during the surgical procedure. An example of such a rail clamp is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,971,038.
In addition, surgical retraction devices utilize universal connecting joint mechanisms. Such joint mechanisms consists of several parts which allow the surgeon to swivel and/or rotate the retractor blades into place. Examples of such devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,221,743, 4,617,916, and 5,025,780. However, moving such retractor blades requires loosening the universal joint, then moving the retractor blade and then retightening the joint. It would be highly desirable to have a universal joint mechanism which permits ease of movement of the retractor blade and the other joint components.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved surgical retractor.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a surgical retraction system having a rail clamp which can be secured to the frame of a conventional framed stretcher without breaking the sterile field and facilitates the cleaning, lubrication, and sterilization of internal threads without disassembling the clamp.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a retraction system having a rail clamp which can be secured to either a conventional framed stretcher or to a conventional operating room table.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a retraction system having a universal connecting joint mechanism that is easy to use and permits quick release and repositioning of attachments such as retractors.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a retraction system having a universal connecting joint mechanism which can be cleaned, sterilized and lubricated without being disassembled.


The present invention provides a pronunciation error detection apparatus capable of following a text without the need for a correct sentence even when erroneous recognition such as a reading error occurs. The pronunciation error detection apparatus comprises: a speech recognition part that recognizes the speech in speech data based on a speech recognition model for a non-native speaker, and outputs speech recognition results, reliability and time information; a reliability determination part that outputs the speech recognition results with higher reliability than a predetermined threshold and the corresponding time information as the determined speech recognition results and the determined time information; and a pronunciation error detection part that outputs a phoneme as a pronunciation error when reliability for each phoneme in the speech recognition results using the native speaker speech recognition model under a weakly constraining grammar is greater than the reliability of the corresponding phoneme in the speech recognition results using the native speaker acoustic model under a constraining grammar in which the determined speech recognition results are correct for the speech data in a segment specified by the determined time information.

An example of prior arts relating to pronunciation evaluation in language learning is Non-patent literature 1. A GOP score calculation apparatus 9 in Non-patent literature 1 includes a speech language data storage part 91a, a phoneme typewriter storage part 91b, an English acoustic model storage part 91c, a phoneme alignment generation part 91 and a GOP score calculation part 92. The phoneme alignment generation part 91 generates a phoneme alignment based on speech language data (consisting of speech data and text data), a phoneme typewriter and an English acoustic model (S91). The GOP score calculation part 92 calculates a GOP score based on the generated phoneme alignment (S92).

Pronunciation error detection apparatus, pronunciation error detection method and program

NIPPON TELEGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


A method for the production of high proportions of homokaryons among spores from breeding stock of the mushroom Agaricus bisporus includes the steps of providing a first strain of Agaricus bisporus carrying a gene or genes which determines the trait for production of basidia which predominantly bear at least three spores rather than two, and crossing the first strain of Agaricus bisporus with a second, different strain of Agaricus bisporus.

The mushroom species Agaricus bisporus (Lange) Imbach, also known as Agaricus brunnescens Peck, is a well known and widely cultivated commercial mushroom. At least one distinct variety of this species of mushroom has been the subject of a U.S. Plant Pat. No. 7,636, incorporated herein by reference.
Notably, a distinctive characteristic of Agaricus bisporus, that historically has defined the species, is that virtually all known strains predominantly produce only two spores on each basidium. Small percentages of aberrant basidia having as many as eight spores and as few as one spore have been shown to occur in various Agaricus bisporus strains. Nevertheless, following meiosis in a typical two-spored basidium of Agaricus bisporus, each spore receives two nuclei which are jointly necessary for fertility. As a result, most spores for this species of mushroom produce fertile, heterokaryotic progeny. This two-spored trait characterizes all commercially cultivated strains as well as the great majority of naturally occurring or "wild" strains of Agaricus bisporus thus far discovered. Such a trait of self-fertility poses a problem for the mushroom breeder because heterokaryons undergo little, if any, hybridization.
In contrast, all other known species of Agaricus produce predominantly four-spored basidia. In agaric fungi, the four-spored trait is associated with the production of mononucleate homokaryotic spores which are not fertile. In mushroom breeding, homokaryons, haploid strains which function in a manner similar to the gametes of plants and animals, are generally required for the practical crossbreeding of stocks to produce new hybrid strains. Homokaryons mate easily with other compatible homokaryons. However, although rare, it is possible to cross a homokaryon and a heterokayron or, in even rarer instances, to cross two heterokaryons.
To produce hybrids, homokaryons from the parent varieties of mushrooms must fuse and establish a common heterokaryotic cytoplasm. However, homokaryons are presently very difficult to obtain by conventional spore isolation from the two-spored Agaricus bisporus strains because less than three percent of the spores typically produced by such strains are homokaryotic. The great majority of spores of these strains produce fertile, heterokaryotic progeny as noted hereinabove.
Moreover, heterokaryotic and homokaryotic offspring are generally indistinguishable from one another except by genetic screening, such as by the use of allozyme or DNA markers, which is time consuming and costly. Homokaryons are also difficult to obtain by other presently available methods. For a more complete description of some conventional methodologies for the recovery of Agaricus bisporus homokaryons, and some difficulties and drawbacks thereof, see "Strategies For The Efficient Recovery of Agaricus bisporus Homokaryons" by Kerrigan et al. in Mycologia, 84(4), 575-579 (1992), hereby incorporated by reference.
Therefore, the need exists for a process which will permit the mushroom breeder to obtain large percentages and fractions of homokaryons relatively quickly, efficiently and inexpensively from the breeding stock of the Agaricus bisporus mushroom.

Method for the production of high proportions of homokaryons in breeding stock of the mushroom Agaricus bisporus


In a motor vehicle having a vehicle height adjusting device, wherein the height of each suspension is controlled so as to attain a set reference vehicle height, reaction forces of respective suspensions are detected and a difference between the detected reaction forces is calculated according to a formula, while the vehicle is stationary or is being driven straight. When the difference exceeds a predetermined value, it is determined that there are imbalances of the road surface contact loads of the wheels. Upon the determination of imbalances, the reference vehicle height is increased for some suspensions and decreased for other suspensions to eliminate the imbalances. The determination of imbalances is made when a value given by a formula including the integrated values for the suspensions exceeds a predetermined value, and then reference vehicle height is increased and decreased for the suspensions to eliminate the imbalances.

The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for controlling height of a vehicle having a vehicle height adjusting device.
Conventional motor vehicles are known that have a vehicle height adjusting device to control the height of a vehicle to zones such as high, medium or low. Motor vehicles are also known that monitor the vehicle height at a high resolution (such as in millimeter units, for example) and that independently adjust the height for each of the four wheels. Such vehicles are disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 139709/1987.
In motor vehicles provided with suspension stroke sensors to detect the up-and-down relative displacement or stroke of the suspension units of each of the four wheels, suspension stroke information detected by each of the suspension sensors is used as the basis for performing vehicle height control independently for each of the suspension units. In this type of vehicles that has an active suspension, each suspension unit operates to achieve control to be in agreement with a reference vehicle height when there is a vehicle distortion or skewing, or when the degrees of wear of the tires are different. This causes imbalances between the contact loads of the wheels with the road surface.
As will be described later in detail with reference to he drawings, when the vehicle body is distorted, the suspension units of the left and right front wheels and the left and right rear wheels operate to cause the suspension lengths to take a set value or a reference vehicle height, so that whether the vehicle is running or stationary, the contact loads of one pair of diagonally opposite wheels are increased and the contact loads of the other pair of diagonally opposite wheels are decreased.
If an imbalance in the contact loads occurs as described above, the vehicle will become unstable and will tend to tilt with respect to a line connecting the points of contact with the road surface, of the diagonally opposing pair of wheels for which the suspension units are contracted.
Such an imbalance of the contact loads of the wheels occurs not only when there is distortion or skewing of the vehicle body and when there is tire wear, but also when there is deformation in the sensor links of the suspension stroke sensors, and when the vehicle stops on a distorted road surface.

Method and apparatus for controlling height of a vehicle


A method for automatically generating a limited set of spectrum and service profiles for use in an operator's telecommunication network includes collecting physical layer parameter values for individual lines, determining a set of optimized parameter values for each one of the individual lines, estimating a probability density function for each optimized parameter based on optimized parameter values for multiples lines, sampling the probability density function for each optimized parameter and selecting and combining according to parameter and profile policies a set of optimized parameter values to generate the limited set of spectrum and service profiles.

At present, spectrum and service profiles are generated manually, typically in close collaboration with the operator. The operator's network is investigated for potential sources of performance limitations and for physical layer parameter values that are regularly used in the network. This information is interpreted manually and used to determine in close collaboration with the operator a consistent set of spectrum and service profiles that enables to face the main issues and improve the overall performance.
As a result of uprising new services such as IPTV (Internet Protocol Television), VoD (Video on Demand), and Triple Play services, the management of system performances and customer support become more demanding. Often, the physical layer that transports the information over wired lines up to the end user, is the bottle neck for quality of service. Operators are using a network analyzer to remotely detect and diagnose physical layer problems, and eventually take action to improve performance.
Such network analyzer, like the Alcatel Lucent 5530 NA, typically features a Dynamic Line Manager (DLM) that monitors the line performance and takes action in order to improve performance of a line. The DLM thereto uses the spectrum and service profiles manually generated with collaboration of the operator. In a DSL network for instance, a set of such manually defined spectrum and service profiles is available from a server or in the DSLAMs. The set of spectrum and service profiles is typically constructed offline and stored on a server, e.g. the Dynamic Line Management (DLM) server. After construction, for simplicity of maintenance, the set of profiles is usually pushed into each DSLAM of the network. The set of spectrum and service profiles is consequently the same for all equipment in the DSL network, constructed to face most of the common situations, and consequently used to manage the entire DSL network. The DLM switches between the profiles and chooses the most suitable one for each line.
The human effort in the known method for generating spectrum and service profiles is tremendous: a detailed interpretation and analysis of the existing network data is required, a suitable set of parameter values has to be identified, and a set of spectrum and service profiles has to be determined in collaboration with the operator. As a consequence, the effort and cost for operators and network management system vendors is high.
An additional drawback of the known, manual method for generating spectrum and service profiles is that it tends to result in sub-optimal behaviour because the manual method inherently lacks objectivity. The set of spectrum and service profiles in other words is insufficiently accurate.
It is an objective of the present invention to disclose a method and tool for generating spectrum and service profiles that overcomes the above mentioned drawbacks of the known, manual method. More particularly, it is an objective to teach generating spectrum and service profiles in a manner that requires less or no human effort, that is less costly and time consuming for operators and network management system vendors, and that generates more optimal spectrum and service profiles.

Method and tool for automatically generating a limited set of spectrum and service profiles


A cursor control method, and an apparatus and a memory medium which stores a program related thereto controls a position of a cursor displayed on a screen based on an input from a pointing device. The cursor control method includes the steps of detecting a present position of the cursor based on the input from the pointing device, and (b) controlling a moving quantity of the cursor on the screen based on the input from the pointing device depending on mask information which indicates a specific region on the screen and the present position of the cursor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to cursor control methods, recording mediums and information processing apparatuses, and more particularly to a cursor control method for controlling a position of a cursor displayed on a screen of a display unit based on an input from a pointing device in an information processing apparatus such as a personal computer and a work station, a computer-readable recording medium which stores a program for causing a computer to control the position of the cursor, and an information processing apparatus which uses such a cursor control method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, most display units used in information processing apparatuses such as a personal computer and a work station employ a graphical interface. When a user makes some kind of instruction with respect to the information processing apparatus, there are more and more situations for the user to control the cursor movements on the screen using a pointing device such as a joy-stick and a track-ball, in addition to using a keyboard. The cursor which is displayed on the screen based on an input from the pointing device is also referred to as a xe2x80x9cmouse cursorxe2x80x9d, so as to distinguish the cursor which is displayed on the screen based on the input from the pointing device from the cursor which is displayed on the screen based on the input from the keyboard.
In the case of a desk-top type information processing apparatus, a mouse is normally used as the pointing device because a relatively large work area can be used to operate the mouse. On the other hand, in the case of a portable information processing apparatus such as a notebook type or laptop type personal computer, a joy-stick or a trackball is normally used as the pointing device.
The pointing device, such as the joy-stick and the track-ball, is provided in a part of the keyboard, and the ease of operation in general is poor compared to the ease of operation of the mouse.
For this reason, there is a problem in that it is difficult to quickly and accurately move the cursor on the screen by operating the pointing device such as the joy-stick and the track-ball.
On the other hand, even in the case of the mouse, if the user is not a skilled person and is unfamiliar with the operation of the mouse, there is a problem in that it is difficult for such a user to quickly and accurately move the cursor on the screen by operating the mouse.
Accordingly, it is a general object of the present invention to provide a novel and useful cursor control method, computer-readable recording medium and information processing apparatus in which the problems described above are eliminated.
Another and more specific object of the present invention is to provide a cursor control method, a computer-readable recording medium and information processing apparatus which can quickly and accurately move a cursor on a screen by operating a pointing device, regardless of the kind of pointing device and the familiarity or skilled level of the user.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a cursor control method for controlling a position of a cursor displayed on a screen based on an input from a pointing device, comprising the steps of (a) detecting a present position of the cursor based on the input from the pointing device, and (b) controlling a moving quantity of the cursor on the screen based on the input from the pointing device depending on mask information which indicates a specific region on the screen and the present position of the cursor.
According to the cursor control method of the present invention, it is possible to quickly and accurately move the position of the cursor on the screen by operating the pointing device. In the cursor control method, the step (b) may invalidate a movement of the cursor on the screen for a predetermined time when the present position of the cursor moves within the specific region. In this case, the moving cursor stops for an instant when the cursor enters the specific region on the screen. Hence, the cursor can be positioned with ease when clicking or dragging a window frame, small buttons and the like on the screen.
In the cursor control method, the step (b) may control a moving quantity of the cursor on the screen based on a distance between the present position of the cursor and the specific region. In addition, the step (b) may reduce the moving quantity of the cursor on the screen when the distance increases, and/or, the step (b) may increase the moving quantity of the cursor on the screen when the distance decreases. In these cases, it is possible to quickly position the moving cursor to a target position on the screen, such as the window frame and the small buttons on the screen, by increasing the cursor moving speed as the cursor approaches the specific region. In addition, it is possible to prevent the cursor from overrunning the target position, by reducing the cursor moving speed when the cursor passes the specific region.
In the cursor control method, the specific region may include at least a first specific region and a second specific region, and the step (b) may invalidate a movement of the cursor on the screen for a predetermined time when the present position of the cursor is within the first specific region, and control the moving quantity of the cursor on the screen based on the distance between the present position of the cursor and the second specific region. In this case, it is possible to control the cursor with a high flexibility, by changing the cursor control method depending on the kind of the specific region on the screen.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a computer-readable recording medium which stores a program for causing a computer to control a position of a cursor displayed on a screen based on an input from a pointing device, comprising detecting means for causing the computer to detect a present position of the cursor on the screen based the input from the pointing device, and control means for causing the computer to control a moving quantity of the cursor on the screen based on the input from the pointing device depending on mask information which indicates a specific region on the screen and the present position of the cursor.
According to the computer-readable recording medium of the present invention, it is possible to quickly and accurately move the position of the cursor on the screen by operating the pointing device.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an information processing apparatus having a function of displaying a cursor on a screen based on an input from a pointing device, comprising a detecting part detecting a present position of the cursor on the screen based on the input from the pointing device, and a control part controlling a moving quantity of the cursor on the screen based on the input from the pointing device depending on mask information which indicates a specific region on the screen and the present position of the cursor. According to the information processing apparatus of the present invention, it is possible to quickly and accurately move the position of the cursor on the screen by operating the pointing device.
Other objects and further features of the present invention will be apparent from the following detailed description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Cursor control method, recording medium and information processing apparatus


A method and apparatus for increasing the performance of communications between a host processor and an interconnected device is provided. The present invention allows data transfers to be performed without requiring frequent interrupts of the host processor by the adapter interconnecting the host processor to the device. In addition, the present invention allows the host to issue commands without writing extensive commands or data to the adapter. Instead, the host is merely required to increment a value held by a register, and to place commands in memory that is local to the host. Furthermore, the present invention allows direct memory access operations to commence even in the absence of receiving confirmation from the device that the device is ready to perform such operations. The present invention is suitable for interconnecting a host system to one or more devices, including in connection with the provisions of a redundant array of inexpensive disks.

Data may be transferred between host computers and peripheral storage devices in accordance with various standards. In addition, various methods of structuring the transfer of commands and data may be utilized.
As an example, according to a programmed input/output (PIO) scheme, the host computer issues commands to the storage device through an adapter. The adapter interrupts the host each time that it is ready to transfer a sector (e.g., 512 bytes) or a multitude of sectors of data. The host controls the transfer of data between the storage device and the memory by issuing instructions. Accordingly, a programmed input/output (PIO) scheme requires significant host resources in order to coordinate and control the transfer of data.
With reference now to FIG. 1, a flow chart illustrating the operation of a prior art adapter in accordance with a programmed input/output (PIO) system or scheme is shown. According to such a system, the host computer writes command parameters to the appropriate task file registers (step 100). The host then writes the command itself to the task file's command register. The task file registers are typically maintained as part of a host to device adapter (step 104). At step 108, a determination is made as to whether the device, for example, a hard disk drive, is ready. If the device is not ready, the system idles at step 108. If the device is ready, the task file status register is updated with a drive ready signal (step 112). In the case of a read from the device, an interrupt is also asserted to the host. Depending on the direction of the transfer, the host or the device writes the data register, until one or more sectors of data are transferred (step 116). After the data has been transferred, the adapter interrupts the host (step 120) to notify the host that the transfer of data has been completed. At step 124, if all commanded data transfers have been completed, the system may return to step 100. If data transfers remain to be completed, the system returns to step 108.
From the above description of a prior art programmed input/output system for transferring data between a host computer and a peripheral storage device, it can be appreciated that such a system consumes a large amount of host computer resources. In particular, a PIO data transfer scheme requires the host computer to write the instructions to commence the operation to the adapter and requires the host computer to monitor the status register to determine when the data transfers can commence. Such implementations requiring interactions with the host are slow. Once the transfer of the data is started, the host or the device writes the data one dword at a time, resulting in a slow rate of transfer. Furthermore, the PIO scheme for transferring the data involves interrupting the host after one or multiple sectors of data have been transferred. In addition to consuming large amounts of host resources, the PIO scheme for transferring data is inefficient, because various components of the system sit idle while waiting for confirmation that other components are ready to perform the data transfers. Accordingly, clock cycles are wasted, and the time required to complete the data transfers is extended.
Another scheme for transferring the data is a direct memory access (DMA) system or scheme. In a direct memory access system, the storage device adapter is provided with the information regarding the location of the data to be transferred and the number of bytes to transfer to or from that location by the host computer. The storage device adapter can then directly access the memory to complete the data transfer. Under such a scheme, fewer host resources are required. However, in existing systems, the storage device controller issues interrupts periodically. In addition, in existing systems, there is a period of latency between receipt of a command to transfer data and actual data transfer.
With reference now to FIG. 2, a flow chart illustrating the operation of a prior art adapter in connection with a direct memory access system is illustrated. Initially, at step 200, the host computer writes the address of the data and the number of bytes for the transfer into the DMA engine registers. Next, at step 204, the host writes the command parameters and the command itself to task file registers in the adapter. At step 208, a determination is made as to whether the peripheral device, such as a hard disk drive, is ready to begin the data transfer. If the device is not ready, the system idles at step 208. If the device is ready, the DMA engine initiates the data transfer. The data is then transferred between the host computer and the peripheral device until the bytes in the DMA byte count register expire (step 216). At step 220, a determination is made as to whether all of the commanded data transfers have been completed. The commanded data transfer may be equal or larger than the bytes programmed in the DMA engine byte count register. If the commanded data transfer is not completed, the device channel interrupts the host at step 224 and transitions to step 228, for the DMA engine to be reprogrammed.
The adapter then returns to step 216 for the new data transfer. If at step 220 all the data transfers have been completed, the device channel interrupts the host (step 232). The data transfer is then complete (step 236).
From the above description of the operation of a prior art DMA scheme, it is apparent that the host computer is required to write commands to the registers associated with the adapter each time a transfer of data is required. Therefore, the host computer is required to expend clock cycles accessing the registers in the adapter to pass commands involving devices connected to the adapter. In addition, it will be noted that data transfers do not occur until confirmation that the device is ready. Accordingly, the components of the prior art system utilizing a DMA scheme are idle until such confirmation is received. The data transfer in a DMA scheme, although an improvement over the PIO scheme, has the additional limitation that the DMA engine byte count may not be sufficient to transfer all the data. If the number of bytes programmed in the DMA engine expire before the transfer of the data is completed, the host is interrupted to program the DMA engine with a new address and byte count. In this situation, the performance of the write operation to the device is limited by how fast the host can reprogram the DMA engine. In this situation, the performance of the read operation can be enhanced by adapters which store the data read from the device until the DMA engine is programmed. Typically the storage is limited and if the adapter's storage becomes full the device is held idle.
Therefore, there is a need for a method and apparatus that improves the exchange of command and status between the host and the adapter. Furthermore, there is need for a method and an apparatus that reduces the overhead in programming of the DMA engine by managing the address and byte count information (referred to as scatter/gather information) and that offloads the host from the flow control of the data exchanged between the host and the adapter. In addition, there is a need for a method and an apparatus that minimizes the number of interrupts that the host is required to service. In addition, there is a need for such a method and an apparatus to reduce the latencies associated between the host and the device.

Method and apparatus for increasing the performance of communications between a host processor and a SATA or ATA device


An accounting system includes a point of sale terminal (20) to print a transaction receipt (26) having a nonpredictable bar code (36) and human-readable transaction information (34) based upon the transaction data. The point of sale terminal (20) communicates the transaction information to a transaction information system. The transaction information is downloaded from the transaction information system by reading the nonpredictable bar code (36) with a data reader (54).

Many software packages are available for automating accounting procedures using a personal computer. Quicken.RTM. from Intuit is one example of an accounting software package. Quicken.RTM. assists or automates accounting procedures such as writing checks, updating a check register, reconciling an account, setting up a budget for income and expenses, tracking transactions, business or personal bookkeeping, and tax-related information gathering.
A disadvantage of using present accounting software is that many transactions have to be manually entered from a receipt obtained from a point of sale. For example, using a keyboard, an end user may have to manually enter a category of the transaction, items in the transaction, credits or debits in the transaction, a method of payment, a transaction date, and/or a name of a transaction party from the receipt.
Sears, Roebuck & Co. prints receipts having bar codes associated with transactions at its department stores. Each bar code is predictably formed to consist of a first code identifying a store at which the transaction occurred, a second code identifying a point of sale terminal in the store, and a third code indicating a transaction number. The transaction number is incremented for each subsequent transaction at the point of sale terminal. The bar code can be read by a point of sale terminal to retrieve transaction information associated with the receipt. However, the transaction information is not widely accessible by customers over an electronic network, such as the Internet, for import to an accounting software package.

Accounting methods and systems using transaction information associated with a nonpredictable bar code


A system connected to a host computer is used to write in or read out data on a disc. The system includes a CD RW controller, a RAM, a xcexc processor, and a drive mechanism. The RAM, although functioning as a data buffer, receives instruction codes and variable parameters directly from the host computer. Based on the instruction codes and variable parameters, the xcexc processor and the CD RW controller work the drive mechanism to write in and/or read out data on a disc.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to optical disk drive methods and systems, and in particular to methods and systems for optical drive systems that can accommodate a variety of optical drive technologies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Because of the high capacities and relatively low costs associated with optical storage discs and drives, optical disc technologies, such as CD and DVD technologies, are frequently used to store data, programs, and multimedia. Many computer systems and the like utilize optical drives that can accommodate writable optical media, such as write-once CD disks, re-writable CD disks (CD-RW), and re-writable DVD disks (DVD-RW). This allows users to utilize optical media to archive data, or store programs, photos, audio files, video files, or the like.
Optical drives, such as CD-RW drive systems, are typically operated at least partly based on hard-coded instruction and parameters. The instruction codes may identify the type system to be controlled, such as the CD-RW system, the CD write once recordable system, the DVD-RW system, and so on. The hard coded parameters conventionally control parameters of drive system mechanisms, such as an optical pickup and a spindle motor. Thus, for example, the parameters controlled may include the laser write power, the spindle motor currents, servo currents, and the like.
The present invention is related to a system for writing in or reading out data on a medium. The system comprises a mechanism unit, a volatile memory, and a driving unit. The mechanism unit writes in or reads out data on a medium. The volatile memory stores mechanism driving information and data for writing in or reading out on the medium from an external apparatus. The driving unit activates the mechanism unit in response to the mechanism driving information, and sends the data to said mechanism unit.
The present invention is also related to a method for writing in or reading out data on a medium using a mechanism unit, a volatile memory, and a driving unit. The method detects a type of mechanism unit by the driving unit, stores into the volatile memory mechanism driving information corresponding to the mechanism unit detected from an external apparatus, and furnishes the mechanism driving information to the mechanism unit through the driving unit for activation. Then the method stores data for writing in or reading out into the volatile memory from the external apparatus, and furnishes the data to the mechanism unit through the driving unit for writing in or reading out on the medium.
The present invention can flexibly adapt to a variety of optical drive technologies. For example, in one embodiment, the same controller can be used with write-once CD optical drives, re-writable CD (CD-RW) optical drives, and re-writable DVD (DVD-RW) optical drives
Thus, in accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, a drive. memory is used both as a buffer memory, and also to store data that is typically hard coded, such as disk drive operating parameters. Since one system can be changed to another type of system by replacing information in the drive memory with information for another type, the embodiment of the invention can produce flexibility and economic efficiency.

Systems for managing optical disk drive parameters