A ceramic member, in a carrier device, includes: a plurality of ceramic layers that have insulating properties and are integrally sintered; a clamping electrode formed on a first ceramic layer among the plurality of ceramic layers and inside of the plurality of ceramic layers, and configured to attract a dielectric material by electrostatic force; a power feed port configured to receive a supply of electric power to the clamping electrode from outside of the ceramic member; a land formed on a second ceramic layer, which is different from the first ceramic layer among the plurality of ceramic layers, and configured to receive electric power through the power feed port; and a via arranged to pass through at least one of the plurality of ceramic layers and provided as a conductive material to electrically connect the clamping electrode with the land.

A ceramic member used to hold a carried object in a carrier device is also called pick. A proposed ceramic member has a plurality of ceramic layers that are integrally sintered (see, for example, Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2). Another proposed ceramic member is configured to use electrostatic force to attract a carried object that is a dielectric material (for example, wafer) (see, for example, Patent Literature 3). Clamping electrodes which are electrodes of generating electrostatic force are provided inside of the ceramic member configured to attract the carried object by electrostatic force.


A method is for generating tomograms of a cyclically and complexly moving examination object using a tomography unit that reconstructs tomograms in at least one slice plane from detector output data. At least two tomograms from different phases of the movement cycle of the examination object are reconstructed in the region of at least one slice plane. The tomograms are subdivided automatically into subregions with good and bad image quality, and at least one complete tomogram is assembled from subregions with relatively good image quality per slice plane.

Methods are generally known. Reference may be made by way of example to the laid-open patent applications DE 198 54 939 A1 and DE 102 07 623 A1. In these known methods, an attempt is made during scanning of the moving examination object to freeze the movement of a complexly moving object, this usually being a beating human heart. This freezing is based on the fact that the object moves little during a sufficiently long time period, that is to say a certain cardiac phase. Data that were recorded during this time period are then used during the reconstruction.
However, practice has shown that the time period in which a single image is generated is nevertheless too long, and so at least individual regions of the images are unsharply imaged nevertheless because of an unavoidable movement of the object.

Method for optimizing the display of flat slices of a cyclically and complexly moving examination object from detector measured data of a tomography unit


A substrate treatment method that includes circulating a treatment liquid from a treatment vessel through a circulation path extending through a filter and a temperature controller, spouting the treatment liquid toward a substrate accommodated in the treatment vessel to recover the treatment liquid in the treatment vessel, and controlling the liquid surface level of the treatment liquid retained in the treatment vessel below the substrate held at a substrate treatment position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a substrate treatment apparatus and a substrate treatment method for treating a substrate with a treatment liquid. More specifically, the present invention relates to a technique for reducing the amount of particles remaining on a substrate treated with a treatment liquid. Examples of the substrate to be treated include semiconductor wafers, substrates for liquid crystal display devices, substrates for plasma display devices, substrates for organic EL devices, substrates for FED (Field Emission Display) devices, substrates for optical disks, substrates for magnetic disks, substrates for magneto-optical disks, substrates for photo masks, and substrates for solar cells. Exemplary treatment processes to be performed with the use of a treatment liquid include an etching process and a peel-off process.
2. Description of Related Art
US2007/0034231A1 discloses a substrate treatment apparatus including a treatment vessel in which an SPM solution (Sulfuric Acid/Hydrogen Peroxide/Water Mixture) is retained as a treatment liquid and substrates are accommodated for treatment. The substrate treatment apparatus is adapted to simultaneously treat a plurality of substrates by immersing the substrates in the SPM solution retained in the treatment vessel.
Further, JP2000/183011A discloses a substrate rinsing method for rinsing substrates treated with a chemical liquid by showering water onto the substrates. In this method, the substrates treated with the chemical liquid are put in a water rinsing vessel, and then moved up and down in the water rinsing vessel. Nozzles are disposed in opposed relation above an upper open end of the water rinsing vessel. While the substrates are moved up and down, water is showered downward toward surfaces of the substrates from the nozzles.


There is provided a cryptographic round dater and its method of use. By capturing customer profile information and encoding the information on a label affixed to the customer's submitted mailpiece, fraudulent or criminal use of the mail may be deterred by providing traceability to the source of the mail piece. The information attached to the mailpiece may be both human readable and machine readable, said machine readable portion being optionally encrypted to protect the privacy and security of the encoded information. Further benefit is provided by allowing the handling of a mailpiece to be traced, allowing for effective remediation or investigation in the event of an unauthorized use of mail.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile, cryptographic round dater for use in mail operations. More particularly, the present invention relates to equipment and procedures associated with the mailing process whereby mailpieces and packages may be affixed with a cryptographic round date stamp that records mailing information in a unique data array.
2. Description of the Related Art
The Postal Service round dater has traditionally comprised a stamping device which, when applied to a mailpiece, leaves an ink mark on the mailpiece or package. The round date stamp typically shows information such as the date, time, and place of delivery of the mailpiece to the Postal Service. Round date stamps may be applied by means of a hand stamp. Additionally, round date stamps are also applied through a mechanical process whereby an impression-making device deposits ink on the mailpiece or package with the round date information.
Mail receptacles have occasionally been the targets of pranks, tampering, and vandalism. Recently, there have been more serious incidents involving contaminated mail. It is believed that mail was deposited and delivered through typical mail channels where the mailpieces had been deliberately contaminated with biological hazard material. Investigation has confirmed that some mailpieces deposited in mailboxes were contaminated with anthrax spores. Some members of the postal service, as a result of their handling contaminated mail, suffered exposure to the biological materials. Moreover, terrorists may attempt to use the mails to deliver harmful and dangerous agencies to a desired addressee.
In many instances the mailpiece or package that carries the terroristic or threatening agency is preserved. Thus the mailpiece itself becomes an important source of evidence for determining who may have perpetrated the illegal activity. Information on the package itself can be very useful in tracing the origins of the package. The information conveyed by the round dater stamp can provide very important information to investigators—the date and time the mailpiece was posted, and the place where the mailpiece entered postal processing.
Information can be added to the round date stamp that will help to prevent improper use of the US mail. In particular, the sender of a package or mailpiece can be required to submit identifying information that can be used to trace a mailpiece back to the individual who deposited it. Likewise, information can be recorded relating to the identity of the Postal Service employee who received a package from a customer. Information that a package was received by a bona fide, authorized Postal Service employee can guard against fraudulent labeling, while at the same time discouraging collusion to subvert postal regulations between Postal employees and customers.
Thus it is desired to develop equipment and methods for using the same that provides a recordable link between the sender of a mailpiece and the mailpiece itself. It is also desired to develop a system of recording and printing mailer information that use existing hardware and software methods that are compatible with existing Postal Service processes. It is further desired to record mailer information using encryption technology where each mailing transaction is assigned a corresponding electronic signature.
It would also be desirable to retrofit existing machines so that they may access and apply the encrypted round dater, such as point of sale terminals, bulk mail acceptance systems, and mail processing equipment.
It would also be desirable to provide a method to improve security in postal processing that can be enacted quickly, easily and inexpensively.


A radiation-damage resistant radiation detector is formed on a substrate formed of a material doped with a first conductivity type dopant. The detector includes at least one first electrode formed of first conductivity type dopant, and at least one second electrode that is spaced-apart from the first electrode and formed of a second conductivity type dopant. Each first and second electrode penetrates into the substrate from a substrate surface, and one or more electrodes may penetrate entirely through the substrate, that is traversing from one surface to the other surface. Particulate and/or electromagnetic radiation penetrating at least a surface of the substrate releases electrons and holes in substrate regions. Because the electrodes may be formed entirely through the substrate thickness, the released charges will be a relatively small distance from at least a portion of such an electrode, e.g., a distance less than the substrate thickness. The electrons and/or holes traverse the small distance and are collected by said electrodes, thus promoting rapid detection of the radiation. By providing one or more electrodes with a dopant profile radially graded in a direction parallel to a substrate surface, an electric field results that promotes rapid collection of released electrons and said holes. Monolithic combinations of such detectors may be fabricated including CMOS electronics to process radiation signals.

Solid state radiation detectors are known in the art, and provide a useful mechanism for detecting radiation. Such detectors have evolved from detectors using surface barrier electrodes, to ion-implanted electrodes.
Descriptions of such detectors and their uses may be found in applicant's article "A Proposed VLSI Pixel Device for Particle Detection", Nucl. Instr. and Meth. A275, 494 (1989), A342 59-77 (1994), and in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,593,381, 5,237,197, 5,355,013, 5,461,653 and 5,465,002, among other references.
FIG. 1 depicts such a prior art radiation detector 10, which is more fully disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,197 (in which applicant herein is co-inventor). In FIG. 1, a detector array 10 includes a preferably lightly doped P-type charge depletable substrate 20, having first and second surfaces 30 and 40 spaced-apart by a substrate thickness L of perhaps a few hundred microns. Substrate thicknesses in this range provide good sensitivity for collecting radiation-generated charge from within the substrate, as well as providing acceptable voltage breakdown levels, and protection from radiation damage.
Adjacent the first substrate surface 30 voltage-biasable doped well regions 50 of preferably N-type material are formed. Buffer well region 55 is formed of N-type or P-type material, depending upon the nature of the circuitry 60 in this well region. Well regions 50, 55 preferably are sufficiently highly doped to act as an electrostatic shield for underlying regions of the detection device. Electronics 60 may be fabricated within buffer well region 55.
Also adjacent first substrate surface 30 and separated from each other by the N-type well regions 50 are formed spaced-apart collection electrodes 70, preferably made from highly doped P-type material. Preferably the gate lead of one (or more than one) metal-oxide-semiconductor ("MOS") transistor 80 is coupled to each collection electrode 70. The lower surface of the substrate includes a preferably heavily doped N-diffusion region 90, beneath which is an electrode (not shown), and isolation regions 100. Of course, the conductivity types of the materials used to form detector 10 could be reversed, e.g., substituting P-type for N-type and vice versa.
One collection electrode 70, its associated MOS device 80, and indeed the associated underlying semiconductor structure may collectively be termed a "pixel", and the terms pixel and detector may be used interchangeably. It is seen from FIG. 1 that P-type collection electrodes 70 and P-type substrate 20 form a plurality of PN diode junctions with the N-type well regions 50 adjacent the first surface.
In practice, a well bias voltage of many volts is coupled between the collection electrode regions and bottom regions and N-doped well regions. The resultant electric fields extend from the second surface 40 toward and to the first surface 30. The resultant depletion region extends through the perhaps 300 .mu.m thickness of the substrate, whereupon a plurality of P-I-N diodes are formed by P-type collection regions 60, intrinsic substrate region 20, and N-type region 90.
The biasing causes force lines to emanate from the N-diffusion region 90 through the substrate thickness and focus upon the P-type collection electrodes 70. Incoming radiation (not shown) releases charge within the substrate, which charge is focused by the force lines and caused to be collected by the electrodes 70. As noted, N-wells 50 further serve as a Faraday shield for the array of pixels in structure 10. As noted, well regions 50, 55 can also serve as areas in which electronics are fabricated. Unfortunately, CMOS electronics that require wells of both dopant conductivity types can present a problem. Such CMOS electronics can be accommodated in the area over the active detection region, providing wells of like-conductivity type as the collection electrodes are implanted completely within wells of the opposite conductivity type. Understandably, if same-type wells were to be formed directly on the depleted silicon substrate, the wells would collect ionization charge on the substrate, which charges would not be collected and detected by the collection electrodes and assorted circuitry.
But as noted in the U.S. Pat. No. 5,237,197 patent, detector 10 can nonetheless function reasonably well because the wells surrounding the collection electrodes were doped with opposite type dopant and were back-biased relative to the collection electrodes. This configuration caused electric field lines to be directed to carry one sign of ionization charge from the substrate and the well to the collection electrodes. Like-signal wells, needed for CMOS electronics, were placed along the structure edges, beyond the sensitive detection area. Even though only perhaps 10% of upper surface 30 may be covered by collection electrodes, efficiency in the sensitive regions is extremely high with more than 99.99% of the radiation-induced charges being collected by electrodes 70. The collection electrodes preferably are uniformly distributed in a two-dimensional array on the surface, to provide resultant uniform array sensitivity and spatial resolution.
Once the radiation-induced charge has been collected by the collection electrodes 70, the transfer to an associated MOS device(s) can be rapid as the distance is now but a few microns. Further, because there is small capacitance (C) at the MOS gate, the charge (q) developed by the incoming X-ray radiation can produce a substantial voltage signal (v), since v.apprxeq.q/C. Electronics 60 may be used to signal process the charge associated with the MOS devices. For example the collected charge at a MOS gate may be used to modulate readout current caused to flow through the MOS device. Such readout may be made on an addressable row-column basis.
As noted, radiation detection sensitivity for prior art detector 10 can be very high. But radiation-induced charge cannot be detected until it has been collected by the surface-located collection electrodes 70. Unfortunately the collection or drift path that released charge must traverse before being collected can be very long, e.g., comparable to the few hundred micron full substrate thickness. Of course should some radiation-generated charge happen to be released closer to the collection electrode surface, collection of the charge can occur in a shorter time. In practice, prior art detectors using two-dimensional electrodes such as shown in FIG. 1, or the common silicon strip technology that preceded what is shown in FIG. 1, may take upwards of 25 ns for charge-produced signals to return to a baseline level from a peak. Of course, amplifier delays may extend this time even further.
Attempting to reduce radiation detection time by using a thinner substrate is counter productive because thinner substrates have shorter tracks, and therefor less signal charge. Also, thinner materials can break more readily during fabrication. It would also be desirable to provide a detector structure that is kept small in size in the presence of radiation damage, requiring a smaller voltage magnitude to achieve depletion, while still preventing so-called bulk type-reversals. Finally, in many detection environments it is necessary to continuously refrigerate the detector, even for maintenance.
Thus, there is a need for a sensitive solid state radiation detector having improved detection response times. Such detector should also provide good voltage breakdown, not require excessively high depletion voltages, and exhibit good radiation damage resistance characteristics. Further, such detector should permit implementing a monolithic combination of collection electrodes and CMOS electronics, without thereby hindering collection of released charge. Finally, such a detector should function without the need for operation at low temperatures.
The present invention provides such a detector, and a method for its fabrication.

Three-dimensional architecture for solid state radiation detectors


The present invention relates to isolated DNA sequences from Arabidopsis encoding proteins for regulating dehiscence of mature fruits and transgenic plants with delayed fruit dehiscence. The invention also relates to methods of preventing dispersal of seeds through the process of dehiscence (pod shattering) by transforming plants with DNA sequences encoding proteins that cause an indehiscent phenotype.

The present invention is directed to a mutation in Arabidopsis thaliana which prevents dehiscence (pod shattering) of the mature fruit. The isolated gene is identified as SGT10166 and encodes a protein that was found to be similar to the basic Helix-loop-Helix class of transcription factors. The expression pattern of the gene and the phenotype of the mutant plants indicates its role in silique dehiscence.
The publications and other materials used herein to illuminate the background of the invention or provide additional details respecting the practice are respectively grouped in the appended Lists of References.
The fruit is a specialized plant organ which is responsible for the maturation and dispersal of seeds. Dispersal of seeds occurs through a process of dehiscence, e.g., where a seed pod opens to release the seeds therein. Dehiscence is of agronomic importance in crops like Brassica sp., where it leads to significant seed loss during harvest.
The fruit of Arabidopsis is known as silique, which develops from a fertilized gynoecium. The gynoecium consists of an apical stigma, a style and a basal ovary. The ovary consists of two carpels that share a fused tissue called septum. The walls of the carpel are known as valves, which are joined to the replum. The replum represents the outer margin of the septum (Sessions, 1999). After fertilization, the gynoecium expands to form an elongated silique. Dispersal of seeds occurs through a process of dehiscence where the silique opens to release the seeds. Dehiscence in Arabidopsis requires the development of a dehiscence zone along the replum-valve junction which allows the valves to detach from the replum, releasing the seeds (Gu et al., 1998).
Thus, there is a continued need to investigate genes involved in the dispersal of seeds through the process of dehiscence as the prevention of dehiscence in crops would significantly minimize seed loss during harvest.
It is also desired to identify plant genes which are involved with dehiscence in order to derive promoter and/or enhancer and/or intron sequences for use in preparing transgenic plants or in order to interfere with normal dehiscence in transgenic plants to produce indehiscent plants.

Dehiscence gene and methods for regulating dehiscence

Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory Limited


A computer-implemented method for detecting malicious email attachments may include (1) identifying a shortcut file received as an attachment to an email, wherein the shortcut file is configured to open a target file, (2) analyzing the shortcut file to identify at least one attribute of the shortcut file, wherein the attribute comprises information about the shortcut file useful for determining whether text accurately characterizes the shortcut file, (3) identifying accompanying text in the email that characterizes the attachment, and (4) determining that the attachment is malicious by comparing the attribute of the shortcut file with the accompanying text in the email that characterizes the attachment and, based on the comparison, determining that the accompanying text does not accurately characterize the shortcut file. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

Emails may include a variety of different attachments, such as pictures, documents, and/or videos, among others. While attachments received from close friends or family members are commonly safe and free of malware, attachments received from unfamiliar sources may pose a security risk. In particular, attackers may send malicious attachments through email in mass mailings or targeted attacks. These malicious attachments may appear as legitimate files, such as documents, statements, receipts, etc., but may actually reference separate files that are malicious. Although some email recipients may be keen enough to recognize attachments with questionable and/or unfamiliar characteristics, attackers are becoming more skilled at disguising the attachments to make them appear legitimate. For example, an attacker may associate a misleading computer icon with the attachment in order to mask a malicious action that occurs when the attachment is opened. Thus, even computer-savvy email recipients may be duped by attachments that seem legitimate, but actually reference separate files that are malicious. Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies a need for additional and improved systems and methods for detecting malicious email attachments.

Systems and methods for detecting malicious email attachments


Described herein is a computer implemented method comprising accessing code coverage information, the code coverage information describing units of a particular version of a particular source code base and, for each unit, a code coverage status indicating whether the test suite covered, did not cover, or partially covered the unit. The code coverage information is then associated with the relevant source code by, for each unit described in the code coverage information, identifying the corresponding unit in the source code and associating the code coverage status as described in the code coverage information with the corresponding unit identified.

The developments described in this section are known to the inventors. However, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the developments described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section, or that those developments are known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
In computer software development, source code management systems (also called revision control or version control systems) are used to track and manage computer program source code as the code is written and revised. For readability, the acronym "SCM" will be used herein in place of "source code management".
Generally speaking, SCM systems store data—typically source code—in repositories and facilitate access to that data from multiple different client systems. In order to work on a project, a user (using a client system) creates a local copy of the relevant data (e.g. the program source code files) from a repository and works on their local copy. If the user makes changes that are to be incorporated into the remote version of the data, the user's local copy of the data—or at least those portions that have been changed—is written back to the repository using the SCM system. The SCM system controls access to the repository data and also manages version control for the data.

Source code management systems and methods


Provided are a method of and an apparatus for automatically setting a channel to achieve channel synchronization between a transmitter and a receiver in a wireless transceiver system. The transmitter stores information about a channel tuned according to an initial channel number, transmits a message indicating a completion of the channel information storage to a receiver, and transmits a next channel number in response to a message confirming the completion of a channel information storage performed in the receiver. The receiver receives a tuned channel number and the message indicating the completion of the channel information storage in sequence from the transmitter, stores channel information corresponding to the received tuned channel number, transmits the message confirming the completion of the channel information storage to the transmitter, and waits for the next channel number to be received from the transmitter.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2004-0000885, filed on Jan. 7, 2004, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
Methods and apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to a wireless transceiver system, and more particularly, to a method of and an apparatus for setting channels automatically in a wireless transceiver system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A typical transceiver system includes a transmitter and a wireless receiver. For example, assuming the transmitter is a set top box and the receiver is a television set, the set top box converts a digital image signal, which is received from an antenna, to an analog image signal. The television set displays the image signal on the screen, which is input from the set top box. The television set may be separated from the set top box by a wall. For example, if the set top box is installed in the living room, the television set may be installed in the bedroom. In principle, the user can operate various functions of the set top box and the television set remotely using their respective remote controllers.
In such a typical transceiver system, a transmitter and a receiver should maintain an identical channel. For example, when a user controls the receiver using a remote controller to execute an automatic channel mode, the transmitter operates in response to a tuned broadcasting signal, and the receiver operates in response to a broadcasting signal sent by the transmitter. Viewers can confirm channel information from the receiver and remotely manipulate the channel information displayed on the receiver using the remote controller. However, the receiver may have a channel information map different than a channel information map sent by the transmitter. In other words, since the transmitter and the receiver in a typical wireless transceiver system are separated from each other, they may not have consistent channel information and an identical channel map.

Method and apparatus for setting channels automatically in wireless transceiver system


A method of operation analysis of operation of a plurality of sump pumps located at various, separate locations. A plurality of sensors are respectively associated therewith. Each sensor sensing at least one operation condition. A plurality of location communication devices are respectively associated therewith. A master communicating device is located away from the separate locations. The communicated information is received at the master communicating device. The received communicated information is stored in memory. At least one benchmark value is determined concerning an operating condition utilizing the received information for each of the plurality of sump pumps. The received information for each of the sump pumps is compared to the benchmark value. Each sump pumps based is classified based upon each respective comparison.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a sump pumps.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
Sump pump are used for the removing water that enters into a building such as a dwelling. As can be appreciated, proper and timely operation of a sump pump can be of great importance so as to avoid damage that might otherwise be caused by the water entering into a building.
Often, sump pumps are provided so as to be operational via consumption of AC current and operational via consumption of DC current (i.e., via a back-up battery). The AC current can be considered to be primary power and the DC current can be considered to be back-up power. The primary power and the back-up power could be utilized to operate a single sump pump. Alternatively, the primary power could be supplied to a first, primary sump pump and the and back-up power could be supplied to a second, back-up sump pump. To be sure, the provision of back-up power and/or a second, back-up sump pump are logical to help ensure the proper and timely operation of a sump pump so as to avoid damage that might otherwise be caused by the water entering into a building.
Associated with a sump pump arrangement within a building is typically a sensor and alarm arrangement. The sensor senses an undesirable condition (e.g., a water level above a predefined level indicating a sump pump failing to accomplish the task of removing water that enters into the building so as to avoid damage that might otherwise be caused) and causes the alarm to activate (i.e., emit an alarm sound) within the building. Such, provides notice to persons present within the building that attention to the sump pump may be needed.
Also, it is possible to include a remote monitoring arrangement to a sump pump arrangement within a building. The remote monitoring arrangement again includes a sensor that senses an undesirable condition (e.g., a water level above a predefined level indicating a sump pump failing to accomplish the task of removing water that enters into the building so as to avoid damage that might otherwise be caused). However, in lieu of or in addition to local alarm activation (i.e., emit an alarm sound) within the building, the remote monitoring arrangement transmits the "alarm" indication external to the building. The alarm transmission may be via a telephone line transmission or a cellular transmission to a monitoring company. In turn, the monitoring company can contact an owner or other responsible person concerning the "alarm" condition that has occurred at the building. As can be appreciated, providing such an "alarm" condition, while good and useful, is an indication of a potentially adverse situation that has already occurred. Also, as can be appreciated, contacting an owner or other responsible person concerning the "alarm" condition that has occurred at the building, while good and useful, may further expend time and again is only an indication of a potentially adverse situation that has already occurred. Accordingly, there is a continuing need for improvements in the field of sump pumps.

Sump pump system with automated system monitoring and data collection


A mold clamping system for clamping a first mold component to a second mold component in a continuous casting machine includes a tensioning rod that is connected to the first mold component, a support frame that is connected to the second mold component and a load cell member that has an inner portion, an outer portion and a force measuring mechanism for measuring the amount of axial force that is transmitted between the inner and outer portions. The inner portion is secured to the tensioning rod, and the outer portion is acted upon by a compression spring that is interposed between the support frame and the outer portion of the load cell member. In order to permit adjustment of the clamping force, the system also includes anti-biasing structure that is positioned to apply force to the outer portion of the load cell member for countervailing the biasing of the compression spring. This system permits an accurate measurement of the tensioning force that is applied to the mold part through the tensioning rod regardless of the amount of anti-biasing force that is being used.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates broadly to the field of continuous casting of metals, such as steel. More specifically, this invention provides an improved system and process for monitoring the clamping force that is applied to the mold sidewalls in a continuous casting machine, and a method of controlling the continuous casting machine in response to such monitoring.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Production of metals by use of the continuous casting technique has been increasing since its large-scale introduction about thirty years ago, and now accounts for a large percentage of the volume of steel, among other metals, is introduced each year worldwide. It is well known that continuous casting machines typically include a mold that has two essentially parallel and opposed wide walls, and two essentially opposed narrow walls th at cooperate with the wide walls to define a casting passage of rectangular cross section. Molten metal is supplied continuously into a top end of the casting passage, and the mold is designed to cool the metal so that an outer skin forms before the so-formed slab or strand exits a bottom of the casting passage. The strand is further solidified by secondary cooling sprays as it travels away from the mold, until it becomes completely solidified at or near the end of the continuous casting machine. It may then be processed further into an intermediate or finished metal product, such as steel plate, sheeting or coils by traditional techniques such as rolling.
Continuous casting molds typically have two opposed pairs of sidewalls, one pair serving to clamp against the other, maintaining a fluid-tight joint therebetween. The clamping forces which are initially set by a mold assembly person may vary during the casting operation due to thermal loading. Also, the usual mechanical arrangements for setting clamping forces may be subject to variations caused by human error. Molds which have adjustable sidewalls are in some cases subject to having excess strain exerted on the clamping mechanism due to thermal loading. Also, a clamping force that is larger than necessary may be applied as a safety factor when one clamping mechanism is used for all mold sizes.
FIG. 1 depicts a conventional continuous casting mold assembly 10, in this case of the thin slab type, which includes first and second opposed mold inserts 12, 14 each defining a sidewall 16, 18, respectively. The mold inserts 12, 14 are respectively mounted on first and second support frames 20, 22. In order to clamp the sidewalls together during operation of the mold, the support frames 20, 22 are forced toward one another by at least two tensioning rods 24, each of which is kept in tension by a clamping mechanism 26. A representative clamping mechanism 26, which is identical to one disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,487,249 to When, is depicted in FIG. 2. In this mechanism, one end of the tensioning rod 24 is formed as a threaded boss 28 that is positioned within a threaded recess in a first spring containment block 30. A compression spring 32 that is made of a number of Belleville spring discs is interposed between the first spring containment block 30 and a second spring containment block 34. A compressive load cell 36 is positioned between the second compression spring containment block 34 and the support frame 20. During normal casting conditions, the compression spring 32 will urge the first spring containment block 30 away from the support frame 20, thus placing the tensioning rod 24 under tension in order to clamp the mold. The tensile force in the tensioning rod 24 will be equal to the compressive force that is applied by the spring 32, which is measured by the compressive load cell 36. By monitoring the output of the load cell 36, the system or an operator could determine the clamping force that is applied to the mold, and adjust the clamping force if it was not in a predetermined range.
One way of adjusting the clamping force in a mechanism of the type shown in FIG. 2 would be to apply mechanical force (e.g. a downward force to the first spring containment block 30, as viewed in the figure) in order to counteract some of the force that is being applied by the compression spring. Unfortunately, the load cell 36 shown in FIG. 2 could not accurately measure the tensile force in the rod 24 if the clamping force was so adjusted. The mechanical force would register as additional force on the load cell 36, rendering it unable to measure the actual tensile force that is being applied to the rod 24. A need exists for a clamping mechanism and force monitoring system that is not so limited, and that more accurately reflects the actual clamping force that is applied to the mold under all conditions.

Dynamic clamping system for continuous casting machine


A firearm apparatus and a method of firing ammunition therefrom, where the method utilizes a barrel (12) having a breech end surface (40) and immovably affixed to frame (10), a stand pressure surface (32), and a cartridge container (16) with a cartridge case (26) therein and countermass main body (18) movable in opposite directions. Gas from a deflagrating propellant moves the movable members and applies directionally opposite forces upon the breech end surface (40) and the stand pressure surface (32), which results in the force cancellation and ensures that the barrel (12) remains stable during firing. This solves the problem of the angle of departure and contributes to a high accuracy of shooting.

1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
The present invention relates generally to cannons and firearms, more particularly to a method of firing projectiles there from, and an apparatus that realizes the method.
2. Background Art
Nearly all firearms used today are engineered according to the basic design solutions developed decades ago. Major small arms developers' product lines are based on such generic-design firearms manufactured only with some cosmetic modifications or minor structural changes most of which do not make any significant improvements to the firearm's core functional features. An example of such a generic design developed nearly a century ago is the Colt Model 1911 pistol, which has also been used as a template for a number of other commercial models. As a result, today's firearms have inherited such functional weaknesses as poor accuracy of shooting due to large projectile dispersion (often as a result of a trade-off for reliability), significant recoil, especially when used with high-energy ammunition, and complicated design.
Most presently used small arms feature a barrel with a cartridge chamber and a breech block, which closes or locks the chamber to prevent gas escape therefrom during firing. In designs with the barrel immovably affixed to the firearm's frame, a reaction force created due to propelling a projectile along the barrel bore acts backward upon the breech block and rotates the firearm around its center of mass. This produces a significant angle between the axis line of the barrel bore immediately prior to firing and at the moment the projectile leaves the muzzle, referred to as the angle of departure, which is a major contributing factor to projectile dispersion and hence inaccuracy of shooting.
In firearms with a movable barrel, the reaction force moves the breech block, interlocked with the barrel, backward during firing. This design introduces yet another factor contributing to large projectile dispersion—tolerance levels between the barrel and the frame. Since tolerances of moving parts are usually in an inverse relationship with product's reliability and its cost to manufacture, most modern firearms' reliability comes at the expense of their accuracy.
The concept of a movable chamber (also referred to as the floating chamber) introduced at the beginning of the 20th century suggested some usage of the reaction force, an example of which was disclosed by David Williams in U.S. Pat. No. 2,090,657 where a small-caliber ammunition's energy is distributed to propel a projectile and move a heavy breech block with a movable chamber. Although the movable-chamber concept suggested superior accuracy firearm designs due to the opportunity to controllably use the reaction force to move the chamber and keep the barrel undisturbed and stable during firing, such firearms showed little or no improvement in projectile dispersion. The problem of unsatisfactory dispersion stems from the following: Upon firing a cartridge, the reaction force moves the chamber with a cartridge case therein backward exposing the breech end of the barrel to the high-pressure gas from the deflagrating propellant. Since the gas-pressure force acting upon the breech end of the barrel is uncompensated, it displaces the barrel forward and around the firearm's center of mass producing a tangible angle of departure and resulting in projectile dispersion proportional to the ammunition energy, its caliber, friction of the projectile against the wall of the barrel bore, and the area of the breech end of the barrel. Prior art designs show no evidence of any successful solutions to this problem. Against the foregoing background, the present invention was developed.


The circuit including a capacitor which is alternately discharged and charged in synchronism with the signal which develops across the terminals of a resistor operating to detect the current in the lamp. A sawtooth wave form is thus obtained, which is compared with a threshold level which is varied in dependence on the current which it is necessary to provide to the lamp. On the basis of this comparison logic signals are produced which are utilized to control the power switches of the inverter which controls the lamp.

The present invention relates to a self-oscillating circuit for driving a gas discharge lamp, particularly for use in motor vehicle headlights or spotlights.
More specifically, the invention relates to a self-oscillating circuit comprising
an inverter having two circuit branches connectable to a DC voltage source and including respective electronic switching means in series with a respective primary winding; the primary windings of the circuit branches being inductively coupled to the same secondary winding connected to the lamp;
an impedance in which variable as a function of frequency, connected in series with the lamp; and
control circuit means operable to render the electronic switch means alternately conductive in such a way that an alternating voltage develops across the terminals of the said secondary winding, the control circuit means having a control input intended to receive a control signal to cause a variation in the frequency of the alternating voltage in such a way as to cause a corresponding variation of the impedance and a consequent variation of the current flowing through the lamp;
a current sensor resistor connected in series with the lamp and connected to the said control circuit means;
the said control circuit means including signal treatment circuit means connected to the terminals of the said resistor and operable to provide at its output a square wave signal at the same frequency as the signal developed across the terminals of this resistor.
A self-oscillating circuit for driving a gas discharge lamp of the type specified above is described in earlier Italian Patent Application No. T091A000549. In this circuit the signal treatment circuit means are arranged to provide first and second square wave signals, respectively in phase and in phase opposition with the signal developed across the terminals of the current sensor resistor. These square wave signals are utilised to control the charging and discharging of two capacitors to generate first and second ramp signals in phase with the first and second square wave signal respectively. The ramp signals thus generated are compared with a reference level which varies in dependence on an external control signal. On the basis of the result of this comparison pilot signals are generated for the electronic switches of the two circuit branches of the inverter.
In the above described self-oscillating circuit disadvantages can arise if the two capacitors utilised to generate the ramp signals have different capacity values.

Self-oscillating circuit for driving a gas discharge lamp, particularly for use on board a motor vehicle


A method and system for registering a bone of a patient with a computer assisted orthopaedic surgery system includes retrieving an image of the bone having indicia of the position of a magnetic source coupled thereto, determining first data indicative of the position of the magnetic source in a bone coordinate system, determining second data indicative of a correlation between a coordinate system of the image and the bone coordinate system based on the first data; and displaying an image of the bone based on the second data.

There is an increasing adoption of minimally invasive orthopaedic procedures. Because such surgical procedures generally restrict the surgeon's ability to see the operative area, surgeons are increasingly relying on computer systems, such as computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems, to assist in the surgical operation.
Computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems assist surgeons in the performance of orthopaedic surgical procedures by, for example, displaying images illustrating surgical steps of the surgical procedure being performed and rendered images of the relevant bones of the patient. Before a computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) system can display a rendered image of a bone, the bone must first be registered with the computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) system. Registering the bone with the computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) system allows the system to determine the relevant contour, location, and orientation of the bone and display the rendered image according to such parameters. In typical computer assisted orthopaedic surgery (CAOS) systems, a bone is registered by touching a number of locations of the bone with a probe. In response, the system computes a rendered image of the bone, including the contour of the bone, based on the recorded locations. Because the typical registration process occurs during the orthopaedic surgery procedure, the typical registration process adds additional surgery time and increases the time during which the patient is exposed to possible infection. Moreover, current registration of the bony anatomy of particular skeletal areas, such as the hip joint, are challenging due to the difficulty of repeatably locating fiducial markers and anatomical planes.

Method and system for registering a bone of a patient with a computer assisted orthopaedic surgery system


Methods for ensuring relevant information sharing during public safety incidents include monitoring inputs associated with a public safety incident, determining that an input includes information important or critical to communicate to a responding public safety officer, accessing communications with the officer, determining that the input has not been communicated to the officer, and initiating action to communicate the input to the officer. The input may include audio or video input, or a note composed by a dispatcher or call taker representing information provided by a person reporting the incident or obtained through a database query. Initiating action to communicate the input to the officer may include providing an indication to a dispatcher that the input includes important or critical information not yet communicated to the officer, providing data to the officer's vehicle-mounted communication device, or providing an audible alert or audio message to the officer's hand-held communication device.

Public safety organizations may operate communication systems through which call takers communicate with citizens reporting public safety incidents and dispatchers communicate with public safety officers assigned to respond to those incidents. Call takers and dispatchers may enter information into a record associated with a public safety incident that, although it may be of importance to an officer en route to a reported incident or already on the scene, is not forwarded to the officer. This may be due to a lack of attention or a distraction on the part of the call taker or dispatcher, a belief that the information is already known, or simple human error, for example. As a result, officers in the field may miss critical information and may be put in dangerous situations due to the lack of communication of the critical information. In addition, officers may waste time on-scene collecting information that has already been communicated to the call taker or dispatcher and added to the record associated with the incident if that information is not provided to them in the field. In some cases, information is communicated to an officer en route to a reported incident or already on the scene in a manner that is not appropriate under the circumstances. For example, information displayed on a vehicle-mounted device is of little use when the officer is away from the vehicle.
Historically, software related to call taking tasks and dispatch-related software have executed on separate computing systems that do not communicate with each other in a manner that facilitates information sharing between the two systems. Information entered in one of the systems might not be shared with the other system and, as a result, might not be properly communicated to an officer en route to a reported incident or already on the scene regardless of its importance to the officer.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by suitable symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Methods and apparatus for ensuring relevant information sharing during public safety incidents


A method and device for monitoring the quality of service of logistic services. A shipping device, which is shipped along a travel route from a source location to a destination location, includes an electronic device. Times are logged at one or more locations during the travel. The electronic device includes: a GPS-indoor receiver device connected to a control logic, a storage connected to the control logic, a power supply, and an I/O interface. The control logic is arranged for logging, during the shipping device traveling time, datasets including at least the current Time of Day and the current geographic location information derived from GPS signals received en route into the storage. The log data is read out via the I/O interface. The log data is evaluated according to predetermined rules reflecting the quality of service of the actual shipping device shipping.

Supply chain management is a common problem for any organization that deals with the transportation of a large number of goods over a wide geographic area. Point-in-time-delivery is a major task for providers of logistic services as this is increasingly demanded by their clients. This is in particular true for manufacturing companies, where the successful supply of raw materials to make components, and components to make goods, is essential to the business goal of the manufacturing company. Thus, it is an important issue to monitor goods which are shipped from their source location to their destination location.
The international patent application WO 02/47048 discloses a method for real-time tracking of goods in a supply chain wherein a radio-frequency-ID tag is affixed to each good to be tracked or to each conveyance that is used to store or carry the goods, and in which the location of such good is marked at a few fixed service points en route by way of a contactless RF-ID marking between the tag affixed to the good and a so-called data appliance, i.e. a tag reader device which is provided at the service point. Such service points include intermediate stations, in which the goods are reloaded from one carrier device to another one when distributing the goods for example in a typical grocery supply chain. Dependent on the nature of the supply chain and the length of the route more or less such service points exist. When the tag is read at such service points a data set is generated including a time stamp, the tag-ID and the service point-ID. Such data are collected in a respective site server located at said service point and may be uploaded to a centralized "data center" which is used for billing purposes for example.
Although goods can be tracked in regard to time and location in a computer-based way some disadvantages remain, however.
When applying the teaching of this disclosure for the purpose of monitoring the quality of service of logistic services, manually-initiated marking is required according to this method, because for marking the location of a good, a passive RF-ID-tag must be passed by a respective RF-ID-tag reader device nearby, in order to generate a marking data set correctly. An active RF-ID tag can tolerate a wider distance from the reader, but is even more expensive. Any manual, human intervention, however which is necessary en route increases the costs of the logistic services provider.
Secondly, only a few, fixed marking points can be used during the travel time, because the above-mentioned RF-ID-tag reader devices are installed only at a respective few service points, when the goods are handled for regrouping them into more granular packages for the purpose of distribution, for example, or for any other reloading from one to the other carrier device. For many goods, however in particular when they are of higher value it would be desirable to have more tracking data, in particular such tracking data, which is recorded directly within the geographic travel in between the above-mentioned service points. Assume a case, in which such service points are hundreds of kilometers distant from each other, it would be strongly desired to be able to track time and location directly en route in order to discover situations in which the goods are not moved during their travel, for example because the truck driver who performs the transport of the goods is involved in an accident, or the truck does not move anymore because of any technical defect, or due to any other situations, like traffic jams, overnight resting time situations, and the like. All these situations happen always between such service points and are not tracked and are thus not retrievable in any post processing done for evaluation purposes, in order to monitor or improve the quality of logistic services as mentioned above.
Further, when applying the prior art method as mentioned above for controlling the quality of service of a logistic services provider no useful means is offered in this prior art method for guarantying that a test shipment of the goods is done according to objective boundary conditions because the human intervention required at the service points imply some subjective influence on the speed, in which such good is handled, because it is obvious that staff members knowing that sometimes a test shipment of particular goods is performed, would speed up the handling of such packages, if they were visibly provided with such an RF-ID-tag.
In the prior art method as mentioned above the use of global positioning service (GPS) data is disclosed in the context of the above-mentioned marking step, which takes place only at the above-mentioned service points. It is not disclosed, however in which way such GPS data is set in context with the good itself nor can be derived any useful teaching, how to use GPS data in the context of monitoring such goods.

Method and system for logistics quality of service measurements using GPS

International Business Machines Corporation


Compositions and methods for treating red blood cells are disclosed. The methods include contacting a red blood cell sample ex vivo with an amount of nitric oxide or a nitric oxide-releasing compound sufficient to convert at least a portion of the extracellular ferrous hemoglobin present in the red blood cell sample to ferric hemoglobin. Red blood cells administered to a mammal following the ex vivo treatment have reduced adverse effects on the mammal to which they are administered.

Transfusion of red blood cells stored for longer than two weeks has been associated with increased rates of infection, a prolonged hospital length of stay, and increased mortality rates in intensive care unit patients and patients undergoing cardiovascular surgery (Triulzi et al., Transfus Apher Sci 2010; 43:95-106). Prolonged storage of red blood cells causes marked biochemical, mechanical, and functional alterations in erythrocytes, termed collectively the "storage lesion" (Kim-Shapiro et al., Transfusion 2011; 51:844-51). Compositions and methods are needed to reduce or eliminate adverse effects associated with transfusion of stored red blood cells.


An ultrasound tissue imaging system having an acoustic transducer, B-mode imaging means to produce with said transducer an electronically scanned B-mode image of tissue under examination, Doppler imaging means that accepts and processes large amplitude, low frequency signals to produce with said transducer an electronically scanned acoustic image of moving tissue, and color display means for displaying the B-mode image as a two-dimensional image with echo intensities encoded using a first mapping function and for simultaneously displaying Doppler information from moving tissue as a two-dimensional image using a second and distinct mapping function that is spatially coordinated with and superimposed upon said B-mode image to augment the B-mode image.

In B-mode medical ultrasound imaging, the scanner transmits ultrasonic bursts into the body and detects the energy of ultrasonic echoes backscattered from both stationary and moving tissues in the body. Ultrasonic scanners may also offer two dimensional Doppler flow detection (also referred to as color Doppler imaging) to detect and image moving blood. Recently, some investigators have proposed using color Doppler blood flow imaging capabilities to image moving structures other than blood, for example the moving heart structure.
In B-mode imaging, stationary and moving targets are both imaged. Often these images are degraded by the presence of stationary noise or clutter from both electrical sources and acoustic sources. In cardiac ultrasound applications, the moving myocardium is of principal interest, and can be obscured by stationary noise detected with B-mode imaging. Color Doppler imaging methods will remove this stationary clutter but cannot detect moving myocardium with the required sensitivity and specificity, since Doppler processing has been optimized for detecting blood velocities and not slower moving myocardium. The characteristics of ultrasonic signals returning from moving myocardium are different from those signals returning from blood. For example, in blood flow detection, the processor recognizes echoes from the strong, slow moving heart tissue as clutter and removes them from the image by means of a stationary target canceller or a high pass filter or both. Such a high pass filter is illustrated in the system described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,710 entitled "Steered Linear Color Doppler Imaging" for the color Doppler path. It is precisely those strong, slow moving targets that correspond to moving myocardium, but they, too, are removed from the color Doppler image. Therefore, prior art color Doppler imaging systems have had difficulty imaging slow moving myocardium.

Ultrasonic tissue imaging method and apparatus with doppler velocity and acceleration processing


The invention provides a portable customizable desktop environment, enabling a User to replicate and use the User's preferred desktop configuration on any computing device by means of an enabled portable memory device such as USB drive. Further, the portable desktop can be encapsulated, such that little if any trace of the use of the portable desktop are glean-able from the host computer. Also provided is a method of learning to duplicate a program's environment requirements within the portable desktop environment. The invention further provides a means for providing universal synchronization of a portable customized desktop, thereby preserving data and providing alternate access by User.

Individuals tend to arrange their graphical interface "desktop" to suit their work habits and practice. As individuals become more mobile, they increasingly need to carry out their computing tasks from many locations. When using a device other than one's "home" device (laptop, notebook computer, etc.) one most often encounters a different desktop environment. What is desired is a means of providing Users a consistent desktop environment, providing similar look and feel and functionality regardless of the computing device providing an interface.
To be useful to a mobile user, such a portable desktop environment should include the most commonly used programs (in their entirety), data files, environment settings in addition to the graphical desktop that can be used to launch the applications. What is also desired is a means to synchronize portable device environments, data and applications. Further desired is a) a means to learning the dependencies of a program for duplication in the portable desktop environment and b) a means for carrying out the work in the portable desktop environment in such a way so copies are not left in the host computer.


A computer-implemented method and system for determining taxably relevant data is described. Data associated with a transaction is received. Transactions using the method may include purchase orders, invoices, and transactions involving contract labor, or goods previously removed from inventory. A taxable consequence is determined based on a jurisdiction code and a product code. A product code is assigned by iterating through a hierarchy of rules using singularly defined business rules and transactional data until an appropriate code is determined. An intermediate jurisdiction code is determined by iterating through a hierarchy of potential intermediate jurisdiction codes using the singularly defined business rules until the intermediate jurisdiction code is selected. An originating jurisdiction code is determined by processing the data associated with the transaction and the intermediate jurisdiction code. A destination jurisdiction code is determined in response to processing the originating jurisdiction code, wherein the taxably relevant data is thereby determined.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to transactions subject to U.S. state and local sales and use tax. More specifically, the invention relates to a dynamic, rule-based, tax-decision system for determining taxably relevant data associated with a taxable transaction.
2. Description of Related Art
As technological development continues at a rapid pace, there has been a push towards more efficient business solutions that utilize enterprise software, which is computer software designed to integrate and automate all of a company's functions. Enterprise software has been used in performing many basic functions, including accounting. Enterprise software solutions are designed to provide global processes for organizations. As such, they typically offer basic tax calculations to perform sales tax calculations but do not include more complex calculations, such as use tax calculations. Consequently, enterprise software may obtain these kinds of calculations from external complex tax software packages. The use of differing platforms and the need for varying types of information, as well as other issues, may make the exchange of information between enterprise software and complex tax software packages inefficient. Enterprise software does not target the most relevant data for tax decisions and does not provide tax calculations. Thus, unmet needs remain in the current art between enterprise software and complex tax software packages.

Dynamic, rule-based, tax-decision system


In a receiving device, a receiver receives extended program information. A user selects a program to be reserved by a selection operation using an operation input unit. An extended reservation manager causes an instruction receiver to transmit an extended reservation instruction based on an extended program identifier for identifying the selected program. In a recording device, a receiver receives program data, mapping information, and program information. The instruction receiver receives the extended reservation instruction transmitted from the receiver. An extended reservation executor acquires an extended program identifier from the received extended reservation instruction and acquires a program identifier corresponding to the extended program identifier on the basis of the mapping information, to store a program reservation on the basis of the program identifier. A program recorder/reproducer records and/or reproduces the program data in accordance with the stored program reservation. The extended reservation instruction is configured so as not to be recognized as a reservation instruction by a recording/reproducing appliance that is not adapted to the extended program information.

In conventional program reserving methods and program reservation systems, recording or reproduction is reserved using programming information transmitted by broadcasting.
Programming information is information composed of a plurality of program information. The program information is information relating to each program, and includes at least a broadcasting station and a broadcasting date. The program information may, in some cases, include information used for a user selecting or retrieving a program in addition thereto. Examples of the information include the title of the program, the genre of the program, a descriptive text of the program, performers, and link information to related information. A display window for an EPG (Electric Program Guide) can be configured by displaying the programming information on a screen. The programming information may, in some cases, be referred to as EPG data. Furthermore, programming information until after a predetermined time period, for example, eight days from today is transmitted. A user can display a program listing until after a predetermined time period. The user can select a program which he/she wants to view from the program listing and register a reservation of the program. This allows the program whose reservation has been registered to be recorded on a recording appliance.
Program information includes a date on which a program is broadcast, a broadcasting station at which the program is broadcast, a program identifier for identifying the program, and the title of the program, for example.
The program identifier has a value unique to programming information transmitted at least a certain time. If the program identifier is designated, program information relating to the program can be referred to by referring to the programming information at that time point. The program identifier is "event_id" prescribed in ARIB (Association of Radio Industries and Businesses) STD-B10 that is a digital broadcasting standard in Japan, for example. Since "event_id" is stored in a 16-bit field, a maximum of 65536 programs per broadcasting station can be distinguished by "event_id". Since a range of value that can be taken by "event_id" is finite, a value that can be used once is utilized again after a sufficient time period. Furthermore, "event_id" is automatically assigned to the program by a broadcasting transmission system at the broadcasting station. For example, a finally assigned value plus one is assigned to the subsequent program.
Description is herein made of a normal reservation operation performed in a program reservation system including a receiving device and a recording device.
The receiving device stores programming information. First, a user instructs the receiving device to display a program listing. Thus, the receiving device displays the program listing on the basis of the stored programming information.
Then, the user selects a program which he/she wants to reserve from the program listing. The receiving device generates information relating to a date on which and a broadcasting station at which the selected program starts to be broadcast as a reservation entry. Furthermore, the receiving device generates a reservation instruction corresponding to the reservation entry, and transmits the reservation instruction to the recording device.
Then, the recording device stores, when it receives the reservation instruction from the receiving device, information included in the reservation instruction as a reservation entry. The reservation entry includes a broadcasting date on which and a broadcasting station at which the program is broadcast. The recording device receives the program broadcast at the broadcasting station included in the reservation entry while starting a recording operation on the broadcasting date included in the reservation entry. This causes a reservation to be executed.
Patent Document 1 discloses a method of reserving future programs after a predetermined time period during which programming information is transmitted. Patent Document 1 assumes that enlarged program information relating to the future program after the predetermined time period is transmitted in addition to the programming information. The extended program information includes an enlarged program identifier for identifying the program.
In this case, in a broadcasting station system, information for establishing a one-to-one correspondence between an extended program identifier and a program identifier at the time point where the program identifier is defined is generated as mapping information and broadcast.
Patent Document 2 discloses an example in which a broadcasting date on which a program is broadcast is undefined at the time point where extended program information is transmitted.    [Patent Document 1] WO 2005/117422 pamphlet    [Patent Document 2] JP 2005-328218 A

Program reservation system and program reserving method


A method and system for sharing information between users while reproducing media in a media reproducing system, the method including: reproducing the media in the media reproducing system; capturing a part of the media in the media reproducing system; and registering a media related question including the captured part of the media in an information sharing server through a return channel of the media reproducing system. Accordingly, the users can share information in real time by generating the media related question by directly capturing the media in the media reproducing system, registering the media related question in the information sharing server, and displaying on the media reproducing system of another user that such media related question is registered. Also, since a question can be directly registered while reproducing the media, information can be conveniently shared without interrupting the media reproduction.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to sharing information between users in a media reproducing system of digital broadcasting, and more particularly, to a method and system to provide information in a media reproducing system including a bidirectional channel, wherein a user registers a question in a server by generating the question using a media capture, and another user solves the requested question.
2. Description of the Related Art
Unlike analog broadcasting, digital broadcasting (such as digital television (DTV) and internet protocol television (IPTV)) provides information related to a current TV program in addition to an image (such as video data). However, the user is not provided with whole data, but unilaterally receives information selected by a content provider. In other words, the user is not entirely provided with desired information.
When the desired information is not provided, the user may obtain the desired information via a search engine or a web site of the corresponding broadcasting company. However, finding desired information is difficult as a text based search is performed in order to search for the information. Accordingly, instead of using a keyword, a method of capturing the media (such as an image or audio of a video broadcast on a TV) and using the captured media is beneficial.

Method and system for sharing information between users in media reproducing system


This invention relates to a flat printed antenna for transmission and/or reception of microwave signals of the type that includes particularly. a plate of dielectric substrate PA1 an earth plane formed by a first conductor layer deposited on a first face of the plate of dielectric substrate, PA1 a radiating element (30) formed by a second conductor layer deposited on a second face of the plate of dielectric substrate, PA1 means of feeding the antenna. This antenna has a fundamental mode, in which it generates a radiation pattern having a maximum in the direction perpendicular to the plane containing the radiating element, and at least one higher mode, in which it generates a radiation pattern with low elevation,. According to the invention, the radiating element has at least one slot (31 to 34) allowing the control of the resonance frequency of a chosen higher mode.

The field of the invention is that of flat printed antennae for the transmission and/or reception of microwave signals.
More precisely, the invention relates to a flat antenna producing maximum radiation at low elevations.
The antenna of the invention has numerous applications. It can, for example, be used in a network positioned on the roof of a particular vehicle so as to provide telecommunications via satellite. In effect, certain mobile stations, and particularly those linked to geostationary satellites in countries of medium or high latitude (Northern Europe for example) require flat antennae producing maximum radiation at low elevations.
At present, for reasons of the space occupied and for cost reasons, "patch" type printed antennae are used in mobile stations. In effect, these have the notable advantage of being flat and inexpensive.
In a general way, a printed antenna includes a dielectric substrate plate, an earth plane (constituted by a first conductor layer deposited on a first face of the dielectric substrate plate), a radiating element (constituted by a second conductor layer, deposited on a second face of the dielectric substrate plate) and means of feeding the antenna.
In their everyday operation, that is to say, when they are operating in their fundamental mode, these antennae generate a radiation pattern having a maximum in the direction perpendicular to the plane that contains the antenna. For this type of everyday operation, the length of the radiating element is very close to the half wavelength taking into account the permittivity of the dielectric substrate used.
In order to be able to generate radiation having a maximum for low elevations, that is to say in directions a long way from the perpendicular axis to the plane containing the antenna, the printed antennae must operate in a higher mode, the current distribution of which allows this type of radiation to be created.
The major problem rests in the fact that the higher modes that are of interest appear for frequencies that are relatively high in relation to those of the fundamental mode. This means that in order to be able to use this type of (higher) mode for the desired frequency band (close to that corresponding to the fundamental mode), the antenna must be overdimensioned to a very high degree.
This oversizing makes it quasi-impossible to integrate it into a network of radiating elements so as to obtain high gain antennae. This size problem is all the more crucial for a network having to generate radiation at low elevation, the radiating elements must be positioned very close to one another so as to avoid large network lobes which seriously reduce the gain of the antenna.

Compact printed antenna for radiation at low elevation


An improved hand tool having a plurality of semispherical projections, which can be attached to or formed integral with, the handle of a hammer and which enables a carpenter to use his hammer to quickly and easily carry sheet material and to hold the sheet material in place and to nail it without the loss of time entailed in setting his hammer down and subsequently retrieving it.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to hand tools and is particularly directed to improved hammers having grip members attached to the handle of the hammer to facilitate gripping scenery flats and sheet material, such as plywood, sheetrock, etc. for transportation.
2. Prior Art
In the theater industry, it is customary for stage carpenters and the like to construct scenery flats for backdrops and for simulating interior and exterior building walls and the like. These flats are composed of frameworks of 1.times.3 boards faced with 1/4 inch plywood or the like and may be as large as 15.times.20 feet. To transport these flats from one location to another, requires several workmen. Moreover, once the flat is delivered to its desired location, it must be held in place while it is nailed in place by one or more workmen. Similarly, in the construction industry, it is customary for carpenters to erect a framework of 2.times.4 boards and, subsequently to cover the framework by nailing sheets of plywood, sheetrock or the like to the framework. However, the standard size for such sheets is 4.times.8 feet, which is too large, and often too heavy, for an individual to carry alone. Moreover, the sheets are usually shipped by truck, in bales containing approximately 60 sheets per bale, and the bales are delivered to a location near the worksite by forklift trucks or the like. Thereafter, the carpenters must open the bales and carry the sheets, one at a time, to the worksite for installation. For transporting both scenery flats and sheet material, it is necessary for the carpenter to lay down his hammer, in order to have both hands available for carrying the sheet material, and once the sheet has been carried to the worksite, it is often necessary for someone to hold the sheet in place while the carpenter retrieves his hammer in order to nail the sheet to the framing. Obviously, considerable time is lost by the carpenter in setting his hammer down and retrieving it. Numerous prior at devices have been proposed to overcome these problems. However, many of the prior art devices have been complex in structure and use and have been expensive to produce and purchase. Other prior art devices have been ineffective or have interfered with the use of the hammer for conventional purposes. Thus, none of the prior art devices have been entirely satisfactory.


Disclosed are adjustable powered rehabilitation devices and methods for using the same to rehabilitate and/or train a user. The rehabilitation devices preferably have a plurality of selectable power settings that correspond to one or more rehabilitation-oriented actions or functions of the rehabilitation devices. For example, the power of the rehabilitation device may be selected based on a need, ability, muscle-power and/or physiological characteristics of the user. For instance, a rehabilitation device may be operated at a relatively low power setting to allow a patient to use his or her own muscle power when moving with the rehabilitation device. The rehabilitation device may also include an adjustable sensitivity level that corresponds to a user difficulty in triggering a particular rehabilitation-oriented action. The powered rehabilitation device may also temporarily be used to train a user in interacting with a passive or more conventional prosthetic device.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to systems and methods for rehabilitation and, in particular, to powered prosthetic or orthotic systems usable to rehabilitate and/or train a patient.
2. Description of the Related Art
The number of disabled persons and amputees is increasing each year as the average age of individuals increases, as does the prevalence of debilitating diseases such as diabetes. As a result, the need for prosthetic and orthotic devices is also increasing. Conventional orthoses are often external apparatuses used to support a joint, such as an ankle or a knee, of an individual, and movement of the orthosis is generally based solely on the energy expenditure of the user. Many conventional prostheses, which include artificial substitutes for a missing limb, are also passive devices that rely mostly on the muscle strength of the user. Such passive devices can often lead to movement instability, high energy expenditure on the part of the disabled person or amputee, gait deviations and other short- and long-term negative effects.
To address some of the foregoing drawbacks, some prosthetic and orthotic devices are equipped with basic controllers that artificially mobilize joints and are capable of powering basic motions. Certain users, such as first-time users, however, often may have difficulty adapting to the powered motion of such prosthetic or orthotic devices due to a lack of experience, voluntary muscle control and/or balance.

Prosthetic and orthotic systems usable for rehabilitation


Apparatus and methods for an extensible robotic device with artificial intelligence and receptive to training controls. In one implementation, a modular robotic system that allows a user to fully select the architecture and capability set of their robotic device is disclosed. The user may add/remove modules as their respective functions are required/obviated. In addition, the artificial intelligence is based on a neuronal network (e.g., spiking neural network), and a behavioral control structure that allows a user to train a robotic device in manner conceptually similar to the mode in which one goes about training a domesticated animal such as a dog or cat (e.g., a positive/negative feedback training paradigm) is used. The trainable behavior control structure is based on the artificial neural network, which simulates the neural/synaptic activity of the brain of a living organism.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates in one exemplary aspect to hardware implementations of robotic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Current controller systems for robotic devices generally fall under two design categories: controller boards and controller boxes. Controller boards generally comprise a single printed circuit board with onboard integrated circuits (processors, flash memory, RAM, etc.) and pin or other connectors for power and serial input/output. These boards can be small and lightweight, and can have light to moderate computing capabilities. However, the user is responsible for providing power and other necessary signaling to the board, and making physically secure connections that will not fail under the mechanical stress of the robotic environment.
Controller boxes offer a similar range of computing power to that of the boards, but also provide more all-in-one functionality. Boxes often provide onboard power supply/management for computational devices and external devices. Boxes may also include an onboard user interface (e.g. display and keypad).
One example of the foregoing, Arduino, is a popular open-source microcontroller board line. The Arduino board has a low performance processor and small banks of RAM and flash memory (less than 100 Kbytes). The Arduino microcontroller can be programmed through the Arduino Integrated development Environment (IDE). The Arduino IDE includes a C/C++ library that provides custom functions for setting up the functions of the microcontroller board. The provided C/C++ library ostensibly simplifies programming the microcontroller. With knowledge of microcontroller operation and an intermediate level knowledge of the C/C++ programming environment, a user may setup control functions for the Arduino microcontroller. Further, the comparatively low functionality of the hardware of the Arduino board necessitates that only the most minimal operating systems and languages can be used. Thus, two primary limitations of this environment are exposed: (i) one can readily reach the limits of the capability of the Arduino board without complex programming; and (ii) intrinsic knowledge of microcontroller programming and programming languages is required to utilize the capabilities of the board.
Other controller boards, such as the Beagle Board and Gumstix, offer more processing power and memory. However, the user is still responsible for powering/signaling the board, and engineering fault-resistant connections. Further, the increase computing power of the board requires a more complex programming environment to fully take advantage of their increased computing power, thereby increasing the skill level required for their use.
One example of a controller box is the LEGO® NXT. The NXT box is generally similar in computing performance to the Arduino board. In addition, the NXT box is offered with the LEGO Mindstorms system, which allows for programming of the NXT box via a flow-chart-based graphical programming language called the Robotic Command eXplorer (RCX) code. The RCX language allows a user to lay out their commands graphically in the program editor. The NXT box also includes battery cells able to power the on board computing devices and a number of external add-on devices such as servo motors. A user interface including a display and keypad is disposed on the outer surface of the NXT box. A user may initiate various pre-programmed routines from this interface. The battery cells (which are quite large to support the powering of servos) and on-board user interface add considerable bulk to the NXT box, when compared to the computationally similar Arduino board. The bulk limits the ability of the user to manage the form of their robotic device, as well as its capabilities.
The VEX Pro is another extant controller box, but with processing power somewhat in excess of the Gumstix board. Therefore, the VEX Pro requires a similar programming skill set to that of the Gumstix, but the integrated nature of the VEX Pro reduces the need for a user to engineer his/her own connections. The VEX Pro has both an onboard interface and onboard battery pack capable of powering servos. Thus, the VEX Pro disadvantageously has bulk similar to the LEGO NXT.
The foregoing controller boards require the user to engineer a significant portion of the robotic infrastructure. Thus, users lacking experience soldering and/or coupling of connections and working with power supplies may find these boards too complex. Controller boxes offer users an integrated option without the need to engineer such infrastructure, but are often bulky and add functionality that may be unnecessary for the user. Further, all of these systems require programming schemes that may be too complex for inexperienced users, because they either rely on text-based or graphical computing languages.
A third type robotic system foregoes central control of any type. Cubelets (manufactured by Modular Robotics, LLC) allow for a construction of a robot through the addition of cubes dedicated to a highly specific single task. Cube tasks are limited to one of simple voltage logic control operations (signal max, signal min, signal addition or subtraction), motion (wheels or rotation plates), power supply, light sensing, distance sensing, or light generation. The Cubelets do not allow for any behavioral control (i.e. no programming or software input), but rather have their operation determined by the physical arrangement of the simple logic functions of the cube. Thus, a user of the Cubelet system is limited to a single behavioral profile for any given physical configuration of the Cubelet modules.
Thus, there is a salient need for improved robotic controller apparatus and methods that require little if any engineering experience, are comparatively high in performance, and do not necessitate the inclusion of potentially unused functionality. Ideally such improved apparatus and methods would also incorporate a highly modular and interchangeable architecture.

Intelligent modular robotic apparatus and methods


Each of a general chunk to which pilot signals are allocated at a general density, and a high-density chunk to which pilot signals are allocated at a higher density than the density of the general chunk, is transmitted in a frequency band common to OFDM transmitters. Each of the OFDM transmitters allocates the high-density chunk to any one of OFDM receivers, which notifies poor receiving quality.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an OFDM radio communications system employed in a mobile communications system such as a cellular telephone system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) radio communications system, a plurality of transmitters use the same carrier frequency for the communications. It is considered to execute, in the transmitters, channel coding repetition of repeating the data symbol over a plurality of subcarriers and spreading code multiplication of spreading using the spread code over a plurality of subcarriers (refer to, for example, R1-060140 Orthogonal Pilot Channel Structure for Sectored Beams in E-UTRA Downlink, NTT DoCoMo, Fujitsu, Mitsubishi Electric, NEC, Sharp, [searched 20 Feb. 2006], Internet <URL: http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/tsg_ran/WG1_RL1/TSGR1—44/Docs/R1-060140.zip>). If this processing is executed in the transmitter, the receiver is able to receive signals at a high signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).
On the other hand, it is also considered to balance an interference signal component from a transmitter other than a desired transmitter and convert the interference signal component into white noise, in the receiver, in order to execute a stable reception. This is based on the matter that in a case where coding is executed, an error-correcting ability is improved and the receiving performance is enhanced by randomizing an error.
When the receiver executes such a signal reception, the signal is scrambled by a scrambling pattern peculiar to the transmitter or a data signal is interleaved by a pattern peculiar to the transmitter, in the transmitter. At this time, scrambling patterns or interleaving patterns in the transmitters are set to have a completely orthogonal or pseudo-orthogonal relationship with each other.
The interference signal component is made orthogonal or pseudo-orthogonal with a signal transmitted from a desired transmitter, and is thereby canceled or converted into white noise on the receiver side. In addition, since a pilot signal is often dispersed in a frequency direction, pilot orthogonality between the transmitters can also be implemented by frequency hopping of changing the frequency location for every transmitter.
The receiver employed in the above-described system needs to receive the OFDM signal at two stages. At the first stage, the pilot signal is balanced within a frequency-time symbol having a correlation with a channel response value, by taking advantage of the matter that the spreading codes or the scrambling patterns employed for the diffusion of the pilot signal in the transmitters have an orthogonal or pseudo-orthogonal relationship with each other. The interference signal component is thereby converted into white noise, and a channel response from the desired transmitter to the receiver is estimated. Furthermore, the data signal is also processed with the interleaving patterns or scrambling patterns to convert the interference signal component into white noise. At the second stage, channel equalization, i.e. equalization of compensating for the channel distortion which the data signal undergoes is executed by utilizing the channel response obtained at the first stage.
However, the location of the pilot signal in the frame employed in the conventional OFDM radio communications system has a problem that the receiver cannot sufficiently acquire the SN gain of the pilot signal. The pilot signal has a lower density than the data signal. Even if the transmitting power of the pilot signal is set to be greater than the transmitting power of the data signal, the pilot signal energy cannot be sufficiently acquired on the cell boundary. In addition, since the pilot signal is pseudo-orthogonal, the interference component cannot be completely canceled.
For this reason, even if the gain of the data signal is sufficiently acquired by the diffusion or scrambling, accuracy in the channel estimation value is insufficient and accuracy in the data reception is therefore deteriorated.

OFDM radio communications system, transmitter and receiver