A safety switch for affecting the operating state of equipment to which the safety switch is at least indirectly connected. The safety switch includes a configuration, such as a number of contacts, that is arranged to change from a first condition to a second condition depending on whether or not an actuator has been engaged with or disengaged from the safety switch. The safety switch includes an arrangement for determining information that is at least indicative of an operational property of the configuration, and for storing information that is at least indicative of the obtained information.

The present invention relates to a safety switch, and in particular a safety switch arrangement.
Safety switches are well known, and are typically used to prevent access to for example dangerous electromechanical machinery when that machinery is in operation. In a conventional arrangement the safety switch is mounted on a doorpost of a machinery guard, and an actuator for the safety switch is mounted on a corresponding door. When the door is closed the actuator engages with the safety switch, which in turn closes a set of electrical contacts which allow power to be supplied to the machinery. This arrangement ensures that power can only be supplied to the machinery when the guard door is shut. When the guard door is opened, the actuator disengages from the safety switch, thereby opening the electrical contacts and cutting off the supply of power to the machinery.
A typical safety switch comprises a housing, in which is provided a set of contacts fixed in position relative to the housing. An axially slideable plunger is mounted inside the housing, and is moveable relative to the housing. The plunger (or another plunger in contact with the plunger, for example a contact block plunger) is provided with another set of contacts. The plunger is biased towards a cam arrangement by a spring. The actuator mentioned above is arranged to engage with the cam arrangement.
In many safety switches, if the actuator is not engaged with the cam arrangement (i.e. if the actuator is not engaged with the safety switch), the cam arrangement is arranged to prevent the contacts on the plunger coming into contact with the contacts of the housing by preventing movement of the plunger (i.e. the plunger is kept in a first plunger position). By preventing the contacts from contacting one another, the switch cannot conduct electricity while the actuator is not engaged with the cam arrangement.
Bringing the actuator into engagement with the cam arrangement causes the cam arrangement to rotate, which in turn causes the plunger (which is biased toward the cam arrangement) to move into a notch provided in the cam arrangement. The plunger is then in a second plunger position. When the plunger moves into the notch, the contacts on the plunger are brought into contact with the contacts of the housing, allowing electricity to flow through the safety switch.
Before a safety switch is sold to a customer, it is often desirable to undertake certain tests on that safety switch, or on a safety switch similar to that safety switch (for example, a safety switch from the same batch, production run, series of safety switch, etc.) to validate the quality of construction and operability of the switch. For instance, it may be desirable for the manufacturer or supplier of the safety switch to ensure that the safety switch performs to a desired level, for example a level quoted in literature or marketing documentation. The tests may also be desirable to ensure that the safety switch is of a desired standard, and is, for example durable enough to be used in the conditions in which the safety switch is intended to be used. For instance, in some jurisdictions throughout the world, safety switches have to meet certain safety criteria (for example, safety standards set by governments or government related bodies) which these switches have to meet in order to be sold or used in that particular country.
The testing mentioned above may take one of a number of forms. For instance, an actuator may be repeatedly engaged with and disengaged from the safety switch to check that the safety switch remains operable during and after the repeated engagement and disengagement. For example, the actuator may be engaged with and disengaged from the safety switch a hundred thousand times to ensure that, when sold, thereby increasing confidence that the same or similar safety switch will not fail prematurely.
If the safety switch (or switches) in question pass the test, the safety switch can be sold with reasonable confidence that the switch is durable enough to withstand a desired or expected number of operations. However, once sold, there is no way of telling how many times the safety switch has been used. For instance, there is no way of telling how many times somebody has entered and left an enclosure incorporating such a safety switch, and therefore how many times an actuator has been engaged with and disengaged from the safety switch. More importantly, there is no way of telling whether the safety switch is being used or has been used to such an extent that it exceeds the level up to which it was initially tested. For example, if the safety switch was tested to ensure that it retained structural integrity and an operating state for 50,000 operations, once installed for use, there is no reasonable way of telling the number of uses of the switch by the end user. That is, for an exemplary switch having an asserted useable life of at least 50,000 uses, there is no reasonable means for assessing if the end-user of the safety switch has used it 25,000 times and is within the level of testing, or if the end-user has used it 100,000 times and exceeded the level of testing. Since the safety switch may not have been tested to the extent which the end-user has used the switch, there is no way of telling if the safety switch is as safe as was intended. Clearly this is undesirable.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a safety switch arrangement which may overcome or substantially mitigate at least one disadvantage of the prior art, whether identified herein or elsewhere.


Certain embodiments of the present invention provide a method for detecting an electromagnetic field in an imaging system including emitting an electromagnetic field with an electromagnetic transmitter, sensing an electromagnetic field with an imaging system detector, and reading a field image from the detector based at least in part on the electromagnetic field. The imaging system detector is capable of reading an object image and a field image. The detector may be an amorphous silicon flat panel x-ray detector. The electromagnetic transmitter may be used in surgical navigation. The position of a surgical device, instrument, and/or tool may be determined based in part on the field image. The detector may be coordinated to acquire the field image when the electromagnetic transmitter is emitting an electromagnetic field. The detector may be coordinated to acquire the object image when the electromagnetic transmitter is not emitting an electromagnetic field.

The present invention generally relates to amorphous silicon x-ray detectors. In particular, the present invention relates to the detection of electromagnetic radiation by an amorphous silicon x-ray detector for metal detection in x-ray imaging.
Digital imaging systems may be used to capture images to assist a physician in making an accurate diagnosis. Digital radiography imaging systems typically include a source and a detector. Energy, such as x-rays, produced by the source travel through an object to be imaged and are detected by the detector. An associated image processing system obtains image data from the detector and prepares a corresponding diagnostic image on a display.
The detector may be an amorphous silicon flat panel detector, for example. Amorphous silicon is a type of silicon that is not crystalline in structure. Image pixels are formed from amorphous silicon photodiodes connected to switches on the flat panel. A scintillator is placed in front of the flat panel detector. For example, the scintillator receives x-rays from an x-ray source and emits light of an intensity related to the amount of x-rays absorbed. The light activates the photodiodes in the amorphous silicon flat panel detector. Readout electronics obtain pixel data from the photodiodes through data lines (columns) and scan lines (rows). Images may be formed from the pixel data. Images may be displayed in real time. Flat panel detectors may offer more detailed images than an image intensifier and camera combination. Flat panel detectors may allow faster image acquisition than an image intensifier and camera combination depending upon image resolution.
Medical practitioners, such as doctors, surgeons, and other medical professionals, often rely upon technology when performing a medical procedure, such as image-guided surgery ("IGS") or examination. An IGS system may provide positioning and/or orientation ("P&O") information for the medical instrument with respect to the patient or a reference coordinate system, for example. A medical practitioner may refer to the IGS system to ascertain the P&O of the medical instrument when the instrument is not within the practitioner's line of sight with regard to the patient's anatomy, or with respect to non-visual information relative to the patient. An IGS system may also aid in pre-surgical planning.
The IGS or surgical navigation system allows the medical practitioner to visualize the patient's anatomy and track the P&O of the instrument. The medical practitioner may use the tracking system to determine when the instrument is positioned in a desired location or oriented in a particular direction. The medical practitioner may locate and operate on, or provide therapy to, a desired or injured area while avoiding other structures. Increased precision in locating medical instruments within a patient may provide for a less invasive medical procedure by facilitating improved control over smaller, flexible instruments having less impact on the patient. Improved control and precision with smaller, more refined instruments may also reduce risks associated with more invasive procedures such as open surgery.
Tracking systems used in surgical navigation systems may be optical, ultrasonic, inertial, or electromagnetic, for example. Electromagnetic tracking systems may employ coils as receivers and transmitters. An electromagnetic tracking system may be configured in an industry-standard coil architecture ("ISCA"), for example, although other configurations for electromagnetic tracking systems may also be used. The ISCA is characterized by three colocated orthogonal quasi-dipole transmitter coils and three colocated quasi-dipole receiver coils. Other systems may use three large, non-dipole, non-colocated transmitter coils with three colocated quasi-dipole receiver coils. Another tracking system architecture uses an array of six or more transmitter coils spread out in space and one or more quasi-dipole receiver coils. Alternatively, a single quasi-dipole transmitter coil may be used with an array of six or more receivers spread out in space.
The ISCA tracker architecture uses a three-axis quasi-dipole coil transmitter and a three-axis quasi-dipole coil receiver. Each three-axis transmitter or receiver is built so that the three coils exhibit the same effective area, are oriented orthogonal to one another, and are centered at the same point. The exact sizes, shapes, and relative-to-one-another positions of the transmitter and receiver coil-trios are measured in manufacturing. If the coils are small enough compared to a distance between the transmitter and receiver, then the coil may exhibit dipole behavior. Magnetic fields generated by the trio of transmitter coils may be detected by the trio of receiver coils. Nine transmitter-receiver mutual inductance measurements may be obtained. From these nine parameter measurements and the information determined in manufacturing, a position and orientation determination of the receiver coil-trio may be made with respect to the transmitter coil-trio for all six degrees of freedom.
In medical and surgical imaging, such as intraoperative or perioperative imaging, images are formed of a region of a patient's body. The images are used to aid in an ongoing procedure with a surgical tool or instrument applied to the patient and tracked in relation to a reference coordinate system formed from the images. Image-guided surgery is of a special utility in surgical procedures such as brain surgery and arthroscopic procedures on the knee, wrist, shoulder or spine, as well as certain types of angiography, cardiac procedures, interventional radiology and biopsies in which x-ray images may be taken to display, correct the P&O of, or otherwise navigate a tool or instrument involved in the procedure.
Several areas of surgery involve very precise planning and control for placement of an elongated probe or other device in tissue or bone that is internal or difficult to view directly. In particular, for brain surgery, stereotactic frames that define an entry point, probe angle and probe depth are used to access a site in the brain, generally in conjunction with previously compiled three-dimensional diagnostic images, such as MRI, PET or CT scan images, which provide accurate tissue images. For placement of pedicle screws in the spine, where visual and fluoroscopic imaging cannot capture an axial view to center a profile of an insertion path in bone, navigation systems have also been useful.
However, metal or other materials capable of distorting electromagnetic fields in the object being imaged can result in artifacts or distortions in the image. For example, metal in the area of the patient being x-rayed, such as pedicle screws in the spine, can cause streak artifacts. These distortions or artifacts may generally reduce the value of the image to the medical practitioner.
In the case of a three-dimensional (3D) image, these distortions or artifacts may have an even more pronounced effect. 3D volumetric imaging provides new diagnostic and clinical analysis tools to physicians. 3D images are created by acquiring a series of two-dimensional (2D) images at predetermined positions along an arc about a patient. Software applications using complex mathematical processes extract volume elements or "voxels" from the 2D images by using the image content (e.g., a black-and-white x-ray image) and positional information (e.g., where the image was positioned along an arc). The voxels may then be assembled into a three-dimensional image and then viewed from any angle. Artifacts or distortions in the 2D images from, for example, metal in the object being imaged, may be amplified through the use of the 2D images to create the 3D images. This amplification occurs in part because there is less data available in the 2D images, due to the artifacts and distortions, to properly assemble the voxels for the 3D image. Metal artifact reduction algorithms may be used to reduce the effects of the distortions or artifacts caused by metal in the object being imaged. Thus, it is highly desirable to determine when metal is present in the object being imaged so that techniques such as metal artifact reduction algorithms may be utilized.
Another potential source of artifacts or distortions in images are electromagnetic fields. An electromagnetic field affecting the detector may originate in part from an electromagnetic transmitter such as, for example, an electromagnetic transmitter in a surgical navigation system. One or more parts of the detector of the imaging system may be susceptible to electromagnetic fields. For example, the photodiodes, readout electronics, and/or wiring within an amorphous silicon flat panel x-ray detector may be affected by an electromagnetic field. These components may, for example, act as an antenna. The electromagnetic field may result in distortions or artifacts in the images read from the detector in part because the electromagnetic fields introduce spurious signals or noise into one or more of the components of the detector. This noise may appear as artifacts or distortions in the images read from the detector. Thus, it is desirable to detect electromagnetic fields so that distortions and artifacts caused by such fields may be compensated for.
Therefore, there is a need for compensating for electromagnetic fields affecting amorphous silicon x-ray detectors. Further, there is a need for detecting metal in x-ray imaging by electromagnetic radiation using an amorphous silicon x-ray detector.

System and method for detection of electromagnetic radiation by amorphous silicon x-ray detector for metal detection in x-ray imaging


An image-capture device 1 includes: an image acquisition unit 111 that acquires a plurality of images that are successively captured; an identification unit 112 that identifies a golf ball B as a predetermined object in each of the plurality of images; a rotation calculation unit 113 that calculates the number of rotations of the predetermined object; a movement amount calculation unit 114 that calculates a total movement amount that the golf ball B has moved; and a slippage amount calculation unit 115 that calculates a slippage amount based on the number of rotations as well as the total movement amount.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image analysis apparatus, an information notification apparatus, an image analysis method, an information notification method, and a storage medium, that analyze or notify a state of a predetermined object in an image.
2. Related Art
An apparatus that automatically captures, analyzes, and notifies a user of motion of an object, as a golf practice tool, is known heretofore. Known art regarding such a tool is, for example, a golf putting practice device disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2011-240087.
The golf putting practice device disclosed in the abovementioned patent document allows a user to practice putting-distance control by detecting degree of swing back from a putting base point.

Image analysis apparatus to analyze state of predetermined object in image


Torque necessary for cutting band-like paper is properly distributed to both of the preceding motor and the following motor, thereby making it possible to accurately cut the band-like paper. The cut off method for a cut off apparatus including: a preceding knife cylinder on whose peripheral surface a preceding helical knife is provided; a following knife cylinder on whose peripheral surface a following helical knife, which cuts off band-like paper D in cooperation with the preceding knife, is provided; a preceding knife driving motor which rotationally drives the preceding knife cylinder; a following knife driving motor which rotationally drives the following knife cylinder; and a cut off control device which individually controls the preceding knife driving motor and the following knife driving motor, is characterized in that the method comprises: giving, when the band-like paper D is cut, the preceding knife and the following knife a specified amount of torque in the direction in which the preceding knife and the following knife are pressed against each other, by means of the preceding knife driving motor and the following knife driving motor.

In a previous cut off apparatus in a corrugating machine, various attempts have been made to reduce the rigidity of knife cylinders and to realize a specified pressing force between knives. In FIG. 8, for example, the cut off apparatus includes: an upper knife cylinder 53 to which an upper knife 55 and split gears 8a and 8b are attached; a lower knife cylinder 54 to which a lower knife 56, which cuts a corrugated fiberboard web in cooperation with the upper knife 55, and a lower gear 9 which has a meshing engagement with the split gears 8a and 8b are attached; a main drive motor 51 and an auxiliary drive motor 50 which rotationally drive the knife cylinders 53 and 54; and a controller 52 which controls the drive motors 51 and 50. Clearance is formed between the teeth of the split gears 8a and 8b and the teeth of the lower gear 9, which teeth have a meshing engagement with one another when the upper and lower knives 55 and 56 come into contact with each other. The controller 52 controls at least either one of the drive motors 51 and 50 so that a pressing force is applied between the knives 55 and 56 when these knives come into contact with each other (for example, the following patent document 1).
[Patent document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-284430


A method and system for intelligently directing a search of a peer-to-peer network, in which a user performing a search is assisted in choosing a host which is likely to return fast, favorable results to the user. A host monitor monitors the peer-to-peer network and collects data on various characteristics of the hosts which make up the network. Thereafter, a host selector ranks the hosts using the data, and passes this information to the user. The user then selects one or more of the highly-ranked hosts as an entry point into the network. Additionally, a cache may collect a list of hosts based on the content on the hosts. In this way, a user may choose to connect to a host which is known to contain information relevant to the user's search. The host selector may be used to select from among the hosts listed in the cache.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the searching of data contained within a computer network, and, more particularly, to a system and method for searching peer-to-peer computer networks by determining optimal hosts for searching.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
The computer network now known as the Internet began by individuals forming "links" between their respective computers. Over time, for a variety of reasons, users began to access more and more information through a centralized location or locations. Users' information was uploaded to servers, which were in turn accessed and searched by =other users. Today, users typically access the Internet only through their (local) service provider, and companies such as Excite™ and Yahoo™ provide users with search engines, or information portals, which attempt to provide users with a primary access point for Internet searching and use.
Although such centralized sites have various advantages (e.g., the ability to provide an optimized directory to search available resources), the above Internet model, as a whole, suffers from a number of shortcomings. For example, such centralized access and search sites (especially to the extent that they may become inoperable or shut down for any reason), are potential single points of failure, or "weak links in the chain," to the flow of information. Moreover, they typically provide access to only a small portion of the total resources of the Internet (less than 1%, by some estimates, and this number will grow smaller as the Internet grows larger), and may provide links to sites which are outdated (i.e., no longer available). In short, users become overly reliant on services which do not provide reliable, effective "one-stop" Internet access and searching.
As a result, "peer-to-peer" networks, in which every computer can serve as both a host and a client (i.e., can both provide and receive files to/from one another), have recently become more popular. Such networks link individual computers to one another, and are essentially file-sharing systems with limited searching abilities. These networks have certain advantages over the Internet model described above. For example, peer-to-peer networks often provide a greater number and variety of resources. Moreover, links will not be outdated, to the extent that only those files which are currently connected to the network are searched.
Some peer-to-peer networks, however, remain largely centralized. That is, although users are connected to each other, all connections are routed to and/or through a central location. Thus, such systems retain at least some of the shortcomings discussed above; primarily, they contain an obvious choke point(s) at which the exchange of information may be slowed or stopped. Moreover, although such networks have the potential to provide a greater number and variety of resources, it has been difficult to devise a searching technique for effectively utilizing these resources.
Decentralized peer-to-peer networks also exist, in which each computer is linked only to other computers within the network. These networks provide many of the advantages of a centralized peer-to-peer network, but are much more resilient, inasmuch as they are not dependent on any particular site or server. However, as will become apparent, a search technique which is efficient and effective on these networks has not yet been devised.
FIG. 1 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a generic decentralized peer-to-peer network 100. In FIG. 1, a user "A" on host computer 110 connects to at least one other host, which is itself connected to at least one other host on the network. In FIG. 1, each host is numbered 1–5 to demonstrate the number of connections, or "hops," between that host and the user host 110. For example, host 120 is designated "2," as it is 2 hops away from user host 110. Host 130 is 5 hops away from user host 110 via one connection path, but is only 3 hops away via another connection path.
A more specific example of a known decentralized peer-to-peer network is the Gnutella Network (hereafter, Gnutella), which utilizes the basic structure shown in FIG. 1. To utilize Gnutella, a user A must first connect to the network by connecting to at least one other host 140, as shown in FIG. 1. This host may be selected at random, or a particular user may have the knowledge or desire to choose a particular host or hosts. In either case, the user is thus connected to a number of hosts through the initially selected host(s). In other words, the user's connections will spread out until the number of hosts (approximately) reaches a predetermined number of hosts (hereafter referred to as a cluster of hosts) which the network is deemed capable of handling. The hosts illustrated in FIG. 1 may be thought of as such a cluster of hosts.
To process a search request, Gnutella simply passes the search query from one host to the next, in the hopes of finding the searched-for data on a host which is only a few "hops" away. Thus, the query will not reach beyond the user's isolated cluster of hosts, which contain only a limited amount of content (especially if the user chose poorly in selecting his or her initial host connection). This results in poor search results, despite the availability of content in the broader network.
Moreover, the exponential manner in which queries are passed from one host to the next can easily result in many or all of the hosts being virtually dedicated to nothing but the activity of passing along queries and query results for other hosts, with little time or ability left over for any other functionality. Clearly, this shortcoming causes each host, as well as the network as a whole, to operate significantly slower than at optimum speed.
Additionally, in peer-to-peer networks in general, hosts periodically connect and disconnect, so that the availability of hosts is constantly in flux. In other words, although links in a peer-to-peer network will not be stale or outdated in the traditional sense (as mentioned above), it is possible that, even if a given host still contains the desired information, the host will be disconnected from the network when a user seeks to access this information. Also, a host could disconnect from the system during a download of search results. This instability further deteriorates the reliability of searches on the network.
Finally, since hosts in Gnutella and other peer-to-peer networks are selected blindly, there is no way of using geographical location of the other host(s) as a factor in host selection/searching. In other words, prior art peer-to-peer networks will show that a given host is directly connected to the user (and therefore seemingly a good candidate for access), but will not demonstrate the fact that the host may be geographically very distant from the user. As a result, the transfer of information is inefficient in such networks; for example, a time required to search and download files may become inordinately long.
What is needed is a system and method for effectively and efficiently searching a decentralized peer-to-peer network, in which the likelihood of fast, favorable search results is increased, and the stability of the network is improved.

System and method for searching peer-to-peer computer networks by selecting a computer based on at least a number of files shared by the computer


The technology disclosed relates to developing an acousto-optic device (AOD) using an alpha-barium borate (αBBO) crystal. An AOD using αBBO enables high-resolution microlithographic patterning. The AOD includes a slab of αBBO coupled to an RF transducer that drives an acoustic wave through the crystal structure. A laser source emits a beam of light that is incident on the crystal surface. The propagated acoustic wave acts as a diffraction grating that diffracts the incident wave. Using an αBBO crystal allows for high resolution of light in the ultraviolet and visible spectra. The low speed of acoustic wave propagation through the crystal allows for more laser spots to be imaged than AODs made using other types of crystals.

The subject matter discussed in this section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in this section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in this section or associated with the subject matter provided as background should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in this section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also correspond to implementations of the claimed technology.
Acousto-optic deflectors (AODs) are used for laser beam scanning in optical lithography. However, currently-available AODs have limitations. Some AODs do not allow for high resolution of a deflected laser beam, or produce laser beam profiles that are too wide. Other AODs do not operate in the ultraviolet spectrum, and are not ideal for pattern generation. Compensation for AOD deficiencies, when possible, requires additional optical elements to be added in the optical path of the AOD, which increases system complexity and cost.
An opportunity arises to develop an AOD that is highly transparent to ultraviolet light and high-resolution. An AOD should reduce overall system cost, as less additional elements are needed to narrow beam profiles.

Compact alpha-BBO acousto-optic deflector with high resolving power for UV and visible radiation


An apparatus and method for estimating intra-channel nonlinear damage, including: a first determining unit configured to determine a nonlinear phase shift weighting dispersion distribution function of an optical fiber transmission link according to a parameter of the optical fiber transmission link; a segmenting unit configured to segment the nonlinear phase shift weighting dispersion distribution function of the optical fiber transmission link into at least one rectangle; a calculating unit configured to respectively calculate a nonlinear perturbation coefficient of each rectangle in the at least one rectangle, and perform summation on the nonlinear perturbation coefficients of all the rectangles, so as to obtain a nonlinear perturbation coefficient of the optical fiber transmission link; and a second determining unit configured to determine intra-channel nonlinear damage of the optical fiber transmission link according to the nonlinear perturbation coefficient of the optical fiber transmission link.

Currently, as continuous updates of an optical fiber communication system from 100 Gbits/s to 400 Gbits/s or higher transmission rate of a single channel, an intra-channel nonlinear effect in an optical fiber transmission link has become one of important damages affecting the system performance. The key to the study of influence on an effect of nonlinear to the system performance resides in how to quantitatively describe and estimate signal distortion resulted from the effect of nonlinear, so as to provide basis for alleviating or compensating for nonlinear damage.
A basis for the study of an effect of nonlinear in an optical fiber transmission link is a nonlinear equation, which describes an evolution of an optical pulse during transmission. However, as the nonlinear equation is a nonlinear partial differential equation, such a kind of equation usually has no analytic solution. At present, a numerical method that has been widely used is a split-step Fourier (SSF) method, in which a problem of high complexity of calculation exists, resulting in an algorithm of back propagation (BP) digital signal processing of nonlinear damage compensation based on such a method is hard to be carried out. Although an approximation analytic method based on a perturbation theory has an advantage of low complexity, a perturbation model used in an existing method is based on an assumption of a lossless large dispersion link, the analysis and estimation of which on intra-channel nonlinear damage being limited to an optical fiber transmission link without dispersion compensation, and being inapplicable to a current typical dispersion compensation link. FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of similarity of additive nonlinear noise time-domain waveforms estimated by using the perturbation model and the SSF method at different dispersion compensation rates. As shown in FIG. 1, a value of the similarity is lowered as the increase of the dispersion compensation rate, that is, the similarity of the waveforms of the perturbation model and the SSF method is lowered gradually when the dispersion compensation rate is increased gradually. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of comparison of additive nonlinear noise power estimated by using the perturbation model and the SSF method at different dispersion compensation rates. As shown in FIG. 2, the nonlinear damage in a link having dispersion compensation estimated by the perturbation model is invalid.
It should be noted that the above description of the background art is merely provided for clear and complete explanation of the present invention and for easy understanding by those skilled in the art. And it should not be understood that the above technical solution is known to those skilled in the art as it is described in the background art of the present invention.

Apparatus and method for estimating intra-channel nonlinear damage


To provide a seismic isolation apparatus which, as well as widening an applicable shaking range, can be easily configured and is low in height, a seismic isolation apparatus is configured of a low friction combination formed by a point contact between a planar hard base plate, which has a surface on which are disposed at least three convexly curved projections of a uniform height, and a glide plate which is a smooth, hard, flat plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a seismic isolation apparatus, and to an item of equipment such as an automatic vending machine, or a structure like a building, which uses the seismic isolation apparatus.
2. Prior Art
In a seismic isolation apparatus, an ideal seismic isolation is a case in which a friction coefficient is zero. In this case, even in the event that a supporting surface shakes due to an earthquake, its body does not move at all. In the event that the friction coefficient is not zero, but exists even slightly, the body moves, and there is a possibility of a residual displacement occurring after the earthquake. However, in the event that it is possible to easily recover the residual displacement, there is no problem as an anti-earthquake measure. However, the friction coefficient being too low, so that the body moves easily at a time of regular use, is a problem. Designing is done to attain a friction coefficient that satisfies both. Generally, in order to reduce the friction coefficient, as well as using bearings or a material such as tetrafluoroethylene, there is a method whereby a contact surface pressure per unit area is increased. In order to do so, a measure whereby a contact surface is reduced being adopted, as examples adopting this kind of device to date, for example, ones in which there is a contact between planar members or curved members, which have a predetermined area, have been known (refer to JP-A-2000-74138 and JP-A-2002-39266).
Also, in the event of constructing a seismic isolated building using the heretofore described kind of seismic isolation apparatus, an example has been known in which, in order to build at a low cost, structures duplicatively disposed above and below the seismic isolation apparatus are simply constructed (refer to JP-A-2003-293614). In this case, a tabular foundation slab is constructed of ferroconcrete, below a building planar surface, as a foundation structure, and an upper surface thereof is made horizontal. A slip bearing, or the like, to be attached to the foundation slab is driven in to the same height as the upper surface of the concrete. A slip plate, or the like, to be attached to a concrete upper slab, is disposed on the upper surface of the foundation slab, a rubber air jack is disposed in an appropriate place, an arrangement of bars is carried out thereon, and concrete of the upper slab is cast. After the concrete hardens, air is injected into the air jack, the concrete upper slab is lifted up, the slip bearing main body, or the like, is disposed, the air is released from the air jack, and the concrete upper slab is lowered to a predetermined height.
However, with the heretofore described kind of previously known seismic isolation apparatus, not only is an overall height of the seismic isolation apparatus large, meaning that an effective utilization of space cannot be achieved, but also it is not possible to acquire a sufficiently low friction. Meanwhile, in the event of making a contact area small without limit, and forming a mechanical catch in a pointed form, the friction coefficient is raised too far instead. In attempting to avoid such a biting from occurring, surface hardness is also an important factor.
Also, with a building using the heretofore known seismic isolation apparatus, operations of inserting the air jack between the upper and lower slabs, and lifting the upper slab after the concrete hardens, are necessary operations that are troublesome, cause the construction schedule to lengthen, and cause the cost to soar. Furthermore, as the slip bearing main body is inserted under the concrete upper slab, it not being possible to insert it all the way on an interior side, a disposition of the slip bearing main body is restricted to a peripheral edge portion in a range reachable by hand. Thus, a problem to be solved lies in manufacturing, as a simple configuration and at a low cost, a seismic isolation apparatus with a low friction coefficient and a high surface hardness, and furthermore, using it in a seismic isolation structure, such as a small or medium scale building, by a simple method and at a low cost.

Seismic isolation apparatus and structure having seismic isolation apparatus


A CCN-deployment system can design and deploy a content centric network (CCN) topology, either across a collection of CCN nodes or across an existing computer network. During operation, the system analyzes a computer network of N network nodes to determine a physical network topology. The system also determines a number, k, of network nodes of the physical network on which to overlay a content centric network (CCN). The system then determines an average degree of connectivity, and a degree-of-connectivity distribution, that achieves an optimal performance metric for the CCN overlay network. The system generates a network topology of k network nodes that satisfies the average degree of connectivity, and that satisfies the degree-of-connectivity distribution. The system can deploy the content centric network topology across k nodes of the underlying physical network.

Field
This disclosure is generally related to computer networks. More specifically, this disclosure is related to deploying an overlay content centric network across an Internet Protocol network.
Related Art
Recent research efforts are producing content centric networking (CCN) to re-architect the entire network stack around content. In CCN, packets typically do not contain network addresses for a source and a destination of the packet. Rather, clients issue requests for Content Objects, and routers across the network route these requests directly through the network to a closest network node that stores a copy of the content, which returns a packet that includes the requested Content Object to respond to the request.
CCN can use controlled flooding as a mechanism to route the requests to the appropriate content providers, which eliminates the burden of having to configure explicit routes to all possible content providers. However, the benefits produced by this mechanism comes at the cost of an increased overhead of the object-requesting traffic in the network. To make matters worse, the way CCN nodes are connected to each other has a major impact in the amount of Interests present in the network, which makes it difficult to deploy a CCN network without a debilitating overhead. For example, a sub-optimal CCN topology may cause Interests to flow via an undesirably large number of links, and can produce network congestion at certain CCN nodes. This sub-optimal topology can result in unnecessary processing overhead at the CCN nodes, and can increase the delivery time for content accessed by these Interests.

Method and apparatus for deploying a minimal-cost CCN topology


A device for preventing unwanted electromagnetic inquiry of an electronic card storing information thereon by the transmission of a rogue interrogating signal from an RFID skimmer proximate the electronic card. The device comprises a first and a second conductive material layer each operating to detune an antenna associated with the electronic card or to detune front end resonant circuits associated with the electronic card, and one or more third material layers having a greater thickness than the first and second layers and disposed between the first and second layers, the one or more third material layers providing electromagnetic shielding against radio frequency signals emitted from the electronic card.

RFID device use is proliferating worldwide with a growing concern regarding security of the sensitive information stored within these devices and safeguarding that information against unwanted or unauthorized retrieval. These issues are becoming a significant problem worldwide.
RFID cards, RFID devices, RFID enabled credit cards, financial cards, ATM cards, debit cards, stored-value cards, banking cards, passports, and other convenience cards (herein referred to generically as RFID devices or electronic cards) may be "read" at a distance by individuals or remotely operated systems seeking to gain the stored secret or proprietary information, such as bank account numbers, identification information (social security numbers, address, phone numbers, building access information, student personal data, TSA clearance information, or medical information.
Best practices dictate using a method and/or device for guarding such information by disabling the functionality of RFID device except when they are to be legitimately used by the owner or an authorized entity. Although sophisticated methods may be employed to prevent unauthorized use or access, for instance through use of active and interfering signals broadcast in proximity to the subject RFID device, these are more costly and are generally classified as "jammers," as is known in the art. Therefore a simple but effective method and/or device is desired to prevent unauthorized reading or inquiry of RFID devices, and in particular wallet-sized cards carrying magnetic strip and RFID cards or devices.
One such well-known method and/or device shields the RFID device from unwanted interrogating RF signals transmitted from an RFID skimmer that are intended to activate circuits within the RFID device and cause it to transmit or emit sensitive information stored on the device back to the RFID skimmer. Such shielding may be so complete as to form a Faraday shield or cage around the RFID device, and in fact metallic wallets, sleeves, and envelopes have been developed for this purpose. These prior art devices require user intervention to remove the card from the wallet or sleeve to use the card. This may be inconvenient for the user.
In accordance with common practice, the various described features are not drawn to scale, but are drawn to emphasize specific features relevant to the invention. Reference characters denote like elements throughout the figures and text.

Method and apparatus for protecting information in magnetic strip and RFID cards from fraudulent scanning


A pin setter applied to a bowling game machine in which a player rolling a ball toward a plurality of pins arranged in a standing manner on a lane thereby to knock down the plurality of pins. The pin setter that arranges the pins at predetermined positions includes a pin lifter that lifts the pin in a standing state up to the lane, a pin guide that keeps the pin lifted on the lane from falling down, and an evacuation mechanism that evacuates the pin guide from the lane.

For example, in the invention described in Patent Document 1, ten pins which are arranged to form a triangle are lifted from below of a lane by a pin lifter so that the ten pins are arranged at predetermined positions on the lane.    Patent Document 1: Unexamined Japanese Patent Publication No. 2002-119634


An operating apparatus for safely and effortlessly operating beverage dispensers of the character which embody a manually operated air pump for expelling the beverage from the dispenser. The operating apparatus of the invention, which can simultaneously support and operate a plurality of air pump dispensers in a side-by-side relationship, safely constrains the dispensers within an upright supporting structure of novel design to which a number of lever-like, air-pump operating arms can be pivotally connected. The operating arms, each of which includes a pump engaging member, is separately movable from a first at rest position to a second, downward operating position. Because of the mechanical advantage offered by the lever-like operating arms of the device, the plunger component of the air pump can be effortlessly depressed while the dispenser is being securely held in position within the superstructure of the device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to devices for dispensing beverages. More particularly, the invention concerns a manually operated apparatus for operating the air pump of beverage dispensers of the character having an internally disposed air pump that includes a depressible plunger which, upon being depressed, causes the beverage to be dispensed from the container.
2. Discussion of the Prior Art
In recent years, beverage dispensers having internally mounted air pumps for dispensing the beverage from the dispenser have become very popular. In operating these types of dispensers, a plunger, which is usually mounted to the top of the dispenser, is depressed by the user to pressurize the interior of the dispenser container in a manner to controllably force the beverage from the container through a side mounted dispensing spout.
Dispensers of the aforementioned character are widely used in fast-food restaurants, including donut shops and the like for dispensing hot coffee and other beverages. In many instances several dispensers are located side by side in the serving area of the restaurant. The dispensers may be operated either by the customer or by employees of the restaurant.
In those establishments where the beverage is dispensed from the air pump dispensers by the employees, the repetitive pumping action required by the employee can become quite tiring by days end. Additionally, when hot beverages, such as coffee and tea are being dispensed, serious burn injuries can occur if the dispenser is accidentally tipped during the pumping action or if the arms or hands of the user accidentally come too close to the outlet of the dispenser during the dispensing operation. Additionally, because the pumping operation itself is cumbersome and somewhat awkward, the employees hands and arms can be unduly stressed sometimes causing numbness and other physical problems.
In the service establishments where the customer dispenses the beverage from the air pump dispensers, there is a danger that the customer can be seriously injured if the dispenser is not properly constrained or if the dispenser is operated in an improper and unsafe manner. Where several air pump dispensers are placed side by side in a restricted serving area, the risk of injury during the dispensing, particularly of hot beverages, increases because of the crowded serving conditions and because of the awkward manner in which the air pump of the typical dispenser must be operated.
The thrust of the present invention is directed toward solving the problems discussed in the preceding paragraphs by providing a novel, easy-to-use operating apparatus for safely operating the air pumps of the beverage dispenser while the dispensers are constrained in a secure position within the serving area. More particularly, the operating apparatus of the invention, which can simultaneously support and operate a plurality of air pump dispensers, safely constrains the dispensers within an upright supporting structure of novel design to which a number of lever-like, air-pump operating arms can be pivotally connected. The operating arms, each of which includes a pump engaging member, is separately movable from a first at rest position to a second, downward operating position. Because of the mechanical advantage offered by the lever-like operating arms of the device, the plunger component of the air pump can be effortlessly depressed while the dispenser is being securely held in position within the superstructure the device.

Operating apparatus for air pump type beverage dispensers


An embodiment of the invention is based on the idea of adjusting a physiological model of an anatomical region containing blood vessels on the basis of patient-specific 3D image data of the anatomical region. Since the physiological model includes at least one geometric parameter as well as functional parameters, in particular the at least one geometric parameter and/or the functional parameters can be adjusted. The 3D perfusion of the anatomical region is now simulated on the basis of the adjusted physiological model such that the patient-specific supply areas of the anatomical region are identified on the basis of the simulation.

Anatomical regions, in particular muscular tissue and internal organs, must be supplied with blood in order to enable them to perform their function. Areas of such an anatomical region which are supplied with blood can also be referred to as supply areas. A supply area is typically identified on the basis of the particular blood vessel which supplies the supply area with blood. The identification of supply areas within an anatomical region is very important for diagnosis and treatment planning. This applies in particular when the supply areas of the myocardium are to be identified. Although it is possible to identify damaged areas of the myocardium by way of a perfusion measurement, a correct patient-specific identification is however rendered more difficult by the high anatomical variability of the coronary tree. In addition, the hemodynamic effects of pathological changes to the coronary arteries on the distribution of the supply areas can be estimated only with difficulty.
In the article "Standardized myocardial segmentation and nomenclature for tomographic imaging of the heart. A statement for healthcare professionals from the Cardiac Imaging Committee of the Council on Clinical Cardiology of the American Heart Association", published in Circulation (2002), 105(2), pp. 539 to 542, Cerqueira et al. propose a uniform coordinate system and a uniform subdivision of the myocardium. Furthermore, according to Cerqueira et al., subtrees of the coronary tree are also assigned to the defined segments. Said segmentation of the supply areas of the myocardium is well established and is used as a standard inter alia by the American Heart Association (AHA). Said segmentation is also known as the 17-segment model. The disadvantage of a conventional identification of supply areas by way of the 17-segment model and also other known models is the fact that the wide variability of the coronary tree is not taken into consideration.

Method for the identification of supply areas, method for the graphical representation of supply areas, computer program, machine-readable medium and imaging device


A system and a method are disclosed for managing file locks, including initiating, by a processing device executing a kernel, executions of a number of active tasks that each has acquired a respective lock to a record, and in response to release of a first lock to the record by an active task, waking up a previously-designated worker task out of a number of idle tasks, in which the worker task is to attempt an acquisition of a second lock on behalf of at least one remaining task of the idle tasks.

Computing devices such as computers, tablet computers, and smart phones may include one or more processors that each may further include one more computing cores. To reduce processing time and fully utilize the computing power of the processors, an operating system for the computing device may concurrently execute multiple applications and multiple threads of instructions within each applications. These applications and threads may be collectively referred to as tasks for the one or more processors herein.
When tasks run concurrently, they may attempt to concurrently access data stored in a file or a section of a file, collectively referred to as a record herein for convenience. A record may be stored in a storage including registers, cache, memory devices, hard drives, and networked storage devices. Concurrent accesses of a same record by different tasks may create unwanted race situations. For example, after task A reads from an address pointing to a record, task B may read the same record and update the record by writing to the address pointing to the record. If, subsequent to the write by task B, task A comes back and writes to the same record, task A may run the risk of unintentionally overwriting the results of task B—which is often undesirable and unsafe.


Protective layers of the MCrAlX type according to the prior art are often provided with a platinum layer to prevent diffusion of elements out of the base material into the MCrAlX. The MCrAlX alloy according to the invention includes halogens (F, Cl, Br, I), which prevent this diffusion, in particular of titanium.

Thermal barrier coating systems are mostly used on nickel-base or cobalt-base systems as base material, in which case, to improve the mechanical properties, the proportion of the γ′ phase is increased by additions of aluminum and titanium. However, since titanium has a very high diffusion coefficient at the temperatures of use, titanium diffuses from the base material into a bonding layer of the MCrAlX type in the layer system, where it is incorporated in the thermally grown aluminum oxide layer (TGO), so that titanium spinels, which have very unfavorable effects on the bonding of a ceramic layer above, are formed on the bonding layer.
The MCrAlX bonding layer is often coated with platinum in order to prevent this diffusion, but the costs of this are very high.
EP 0 489 659 B1 discloses a process for treating metals in which metallic halides are applied as a layer.
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to overcome the abovementioned problem.

MCrAlX alloy and turbine component having protective layer made from MCrAlX alloy


A redetachable self-adhesive device                a) whose reverse face is bonded with a strip of a double-sidedly adhering adhesive sheet in such a way that one end of the adhesive sheet projects beyond the device as a grip tab,        b) the adhesive sheet is such that the bond made with it is redetachable by stretching pulling on the grip tab of the strip in the direction of the bond plane,        wherein        c) on its reverse face (2) the device (1), in the region (3A, 3B) situated against the grip tab (6) of the adhesive sheet strip (5) or and also partly against the free adhesive composition, has an average roughness Ra of 0.4–25 μm.

Elastically or plastically highly extensible (strippable) self-adhesive tapes which can be redetached without residue or destruction by means of extensive stretching substantially within the plane of the bond are known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,024,312, DE 33 31 016, WO 92/11332, WO 92/11333, DE 42 22 849, WO 95/06691, DE 195 31 696, DE 196 26 870, DE 196 49 727, DE 196 49 728, DE 196 49 729, DE 197 08 366, DE 197 20 145, WO 99/31193, and WO 99/37729.
They are frequently employed in the form of single-sidedly or double-sidedly pressure-sensitive adhesive sheet strips (adhesive tape strips, adhesive strips), which preferably have a noriadhesive grip tab region from which the process of the detachment is initiated. Particular applications of such self-adhesive tapes can be found, inter alia, in DE 42 33 872, DE 195 11 288, U.S Pat. No. 5,507,464, U.S Pat. No. 5,672,402, and WO 94/21157. Specific embodiments are described, for example, in DE 44 25 587, DE 44 31 914, WO 97/07172, DE 196 27 400, Wo 98/03601, and DE 196 49 635, DE 197 20 526, DE 197 23 177, DE 297 23 198, DE 197 26 375, DE 197 56 084, and DE 197 56 816.
Preferred areas of use of the abovementioned adhesive sheet strips include, in particular, the residuelessly and nondestructively redetachable fixing of light to moderately heavy articles in the home, workplace, and office segments. In these applications they replace conventional fastening means, such as hooks, pins, thumbtacks, nails, screws, conventional self-adhesive tapes, and liquid adhesives, to name but a few. Key to the successful use of the abovementioned adhesive sheet strips is not only the possibility of residueless and nondestructive redetachment of bonded articles but also their quick and easy bonding, and the secure hold they provide for the envisaged period of bonding.
In accordance with the abovementioned patent documents, pressure-sensitive adhesive compositions suitable for such products include in particular those based on natural rubber/resin mixtures, synthetic rubber/resin mixtures, and acrylate copolymers. In practical application, however, it is pressure-sensitive adhesive compositions based on styrene block copolymer/resin mixtures that have taken over the market. For instance, the products tesa® Power-Strips®, tesa® Power-Strips® mini, and tesa® Poster-Strips from Beiersdorf AG, Hamburg (D), Command® Adhesive from Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Co. Inc., St. Paul (US), and Plastofix® Formule Force 1000 from Plasto (F), all utilize a pressure-sensitive adhesive composition based on styrene block copolymer/resin mixtures.
Also sold commercially are devices made of plastic, normally bonded in the form of hooks with abovementioned double-sidedly pressure-sensitively adhesive products and redetachable without residue or destruction by extensive stretching in the bond plane.
Devices of this kind are described, inter alia, in DE 42 33 872 and WO 94/21157. DE 42 33 872, for instance, describes a redetachable self-adhesive hook equipped with a pull-release adhesive sheet (available commercially, inter alia, under the designation "tesa® Powerstrips® system hook"). Devices which can be used in this way are composed of only one plastic part or have a modular composition comprising two or more functional parts. The abovementioned system hook is composed of 2 functional parts, a baseplate and a mountable hook molding.
In the course of practical use of such devices, however, problems may occur, especially during redetachment by extensive stretching of the adhesive sheets used. At the extensional stress which occurs in this procedure, the effect of debonding is of substantial significance, in addition to a sufficiently high tensile strength. It is also necessary to ensure that the pulling of the adhesive strips takes place preferentially in the bond plane.
One possibility of circumventing the restriction just described can be found in EP 832 588, in which a redetachable self-adhesive device is provided with regions of low static friction and sliding friction. For a device to have such a construction, however, complex production technologies are needed (2-component injection molding and many more).
An additional disadvantage with the solutions known to date is that the pressure-sensitive adhesive compositions used which are able to meet the typical profile of requirements for the applications described, are restricted to a relatively large extent in the degree of freedom of the formulations and in the selection of the base materials. In many cases, high-grade modern adhesive formulations are unsuitable for the described redetachment mechanism by the bonding on stretching in the bond plane, since debonding is not sufficient. In this case the static friction and sliding friction, especially in edge regions of the bonded devices, are too high, and the adhesive strip then tends to tear, so that traceless redetachment of the device is no longer possible.
In addition, misapplications may occur for the inexperienced user if she or he fails to perform the stretching operation in one step and instead carries out stretching and release a number of times, in stages, so that in moments of release the adhesive strip may become adhesively bonded again, particularly to the edge regions of the device. This renewed bonding under simultaneous extensional stress then leads in many cases to the adhesive strips becoming torn off, as a result of additional frictional forces which occur.
Effected to a particularly great extent by these application areas are adhesive compositions which, in principle, have a tear propagation force which is much less than the tear force. Under the above-described influences of rebonding and reduced debonding such adhesive compositions are subject to very small instances of damage superficially, which owing to the low tear propagation force may lead very quickly to tearing of the adhesive strip.
Applications of these adhesive films, redetachable by extensive stretching, for decoration purposes are accumulating to an increasing extent. In such applications, visual aspects are much more significant. In these cases, particular value is placed by the users on the fact that the adhesive strips and devices (e.g., hooks) used appear visually in as unobtrusive a way as possible in relation to the decoration that is to be affixed. The prior art does not describe how a device (e.g., hooks, baseplates) is to be modified in such a way that the favored redetachment characteristics and the described optical neutrality function in combination. Thus, DE 197 29 706 describes regions which reduce static and sliding friction and which are composed of polymeric materials. However, these regions are normally not neutrally colored and/or not transparent in terms of their visual appearance, so that according to this description a desired lack of visual obtrusiveness in the user's applications cannot be achieved.
It has in fact been found that the devices or plastic parts, especially hooks, of this kind that exist have not been paid the attention appropriate to them, either in the patent literature or in practical use of the various commercially available products. Indeed, despite all of the efforts made to date, tearing occurs again and again during detachment. Quite evidently, the problem has not been fully recognized. It is found that the adhesive sheets present on the market to date, which am redetachable without residue or destruction by extensive stretching in the bond plane, do not possess a device rendering them capable of very largely retaining tear-free redetachment even under relatively disadvantageous debonding characteristics and application influences. Equally, in many cases, the desired, visually neutral appearance during application is not achieved.
It was an object of the present invention to remedy this situation and, in particular, to be able to offer the user a product of consistently high and uniform quality without him or her when using said product being disappointed in terms of the performance of a bond made using it or its subsequent parting, in particular as a result of tearing.


Special CD-keys are generated so as to have special patterns recognizable by compliant installer programs, which require special actions to be taken by the compliant installer programs when recognized. Since the special patterns are different than those used for valid CD-keys, non-compliant installer programs will treat them as invalid CD-keys and refuse to install any computer programs for which the invalid CD-keys are provided. The special CD-keys are included in text files that have associated metadata indicating that they are for installing copies of computer programs to be protected. The text files are then offered by agent computers for downloading on file sharing networks.

Unauthorized copying in decentralized networks using peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing has become a major concern to copyright owners. Unlike a centralized network, decentralization makes it commercially impractical to pursue all copyright violators in court. This is because decentralization requires filing lawsuits against virtually millions of client computer operators instead of only one party operating a central computer.
Accordingly, copyright owners seek other methods for protecting their copyrighted material, such as blocking, diverting or otherwise discouraging the unauthorized distribution of their copyrighted works on a publicly accessible decentralized or P2P file sharing network. In order to preserve the legitimate expectations and rights of users of such a network, however, it is desirable that copyright owners do not alter, delete, or otherwise impair the integrity of any computer file or data lawfully residing on the computer of a file sharer.
Although much of the concern and protection activity has been directed towards music files, other material such as computer programs are also subject to illegal copying and distribution on file sharing networks. Also, although protection activities are primarily directed towards preventing the distribution of material, it would be beneficial if the distribution of illegal copies of material in file sharing networks could also be used somehow to promote the sale of legal copies of the material.

Method for discouraging the distribution of illegal copies of computer programs over file sharing networks


A system and process for distributing a product in accordance with a subscription purchase agreement that includes the establishment by a customer of an account with a seller of a product, the assignment of a customer identification number to the account maintained by a customer, the receipt of a credit card number corresponding to the customer, and the receipt of a request from the customer to purchase the product from the seller. The request includes a set of purchase terms and conditions related to the product. Also, the set of purchase terms and conditions are recorded for the customer. The set of purchase terms and conditions indicate a purchase price for the product. A customer's credit card or other account may be assessed a penalty in the event that the customer does not honor the purchase terms and conditions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of mass merchandising and, in particular, the sale and distribution of products in accordance with agreements including volume commitments and price guarantees.
2. Description of the Related Art
Over the past two decades, while U.S. gross spending on food and food-related products has grown to over $300 billion dollars per year, the market share of conventional supermarkets and groceries has dwindled significantly below a once controlling interest. In large part, this drop in market share has been caused by competition from bulk purchasing clubs.
Bulk purchasing clubs, or warehouse clubs, have identified and are exploiting a lucrative portion of the food products market; those customers who are willing to make bulk purchases in exchange for discount prices. Such bulk sales have cut directly into the volume of conventional supermarkets and groceries.
With market share steadily eroding, it has become necessary for supermarkets and groceries to attempt to stem the loss of customers to warehouse clubs. Due to the fundamental differences in their businesses, however, it is difficult for a conventional supermarket to compete with a bulk purchasing club.
Bulk purchasing clubs represent a very specialized portion of the food products market. They are able to locate in less expensive areas--often occupying warehouse type facilities--while still attracting customers desirous of discount pricing. They are able to stock a very limited number of products; customers do not expect every product to be available in quantity. They sell larger quantities of product per transaction, thereby realizing lower per-sale costs.
Bulk purchasing clubs are not expected to offer the amenities often provided by supermarkets, such as non-food product goods and services, check-cashing services, and bagging. Further, customers, also known as Omembers,O are often willing to pay a membership fee for the right to belong to the Oclub.O Such fees help offset what are traditionally thin margins.
In contrast, conventional supermarkets and groceries must locate in convenient areas for their customers, thus often realizing higher real estate costs. They must stock a much larger number of products in order to attract customers, and they have relatively higher transaction costs due to the typically large quantity of small items per purchase. To compete in their core business, conventional markets are expected to provide significant customer amenities, without the imposition of any type of service or membership fee.
In addition, supermarkets typically do not have the physical infrastructure necessary to compete in a traditional bulk selling environment. Because they are located in pricier facilities, they often have less floor and shelf space, with all available space being used by the large number of products they stock.
In one attempt to compete with bulk retailers, supermarkets have implemented frequent shopper programs. In a typical frequent shopper program, a customer is provided with a card identifier which is presented at each visit. Records are typically kept of customer purchases, and various discounts and benefits are typically provided to the customer in return for registration and subsequent use of the card.
Frequent shopper programs, however, suffer from relatively limited acceptance by customers. It is not atypical to have less than 25 percent usage of such programs by regular customers, and it is not financially prudent for these programs to provide prices that are competitive with bulk purchasing programs. Overall, frequent shopper programs do not provide a realistic alternative to customers interested in bulk purchasing. In fact, no systems or methods are known to applicants which permit conventional supermarkets to compete effectively against bulk purchasing clubs.
There thus exists a serious need for systems and processes which provide conventional supermarkets and grocery stores with the tools necessary to compete with bulk resellers. Without such systems and processes, their market shares and profitability will continue to decline. To be effective, such programs must provide customers with the same or similar levels of discount prices that strongly motivate bulk purchasing customers, while at the same time accommodating the constraints of the supermarket: that is, permitting the supermarket to continue to compete successfully in their core business.

System and method for establishing and managing subscription purchase agreements including commitments to purchase goods over time at agreed upon prices

Walker Asset Management Limited Partnership


A system and method of determining shape and position corrections of a beam such as a particle or other beam used in a system such as a particle beam lithography. The method of providing corrected deflector voltages may include determining a voltage step value by subtracting a previous deflector voltage value with a current deflector voltage value; determining a plurality of correction values using the voltage step value and an exposure time for the current deflector voltage value; selecting a current voltage correction value from the plurality of correction values using the current deflector voltage value; and calculating a corrected deflector voltage value by adding the current voltage correction value to the current deflector voltage value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a system and method for correcting beam exposure during beam shaping and/or beam positioning. It more particularly relates to a method and apparatus for correcting the exposure of a particle beam such as a particle or other beam for use in various applications such as particle beam lithography.
2. Background Art
There is no admission that the background art disclosed in this section legally constitutes prior art.
A typical particle beam lithography device may include a beam column having a series of high speed deflectors. The top set of deflectors is referred to as a blanker and turns on and turns off the beam. The other deflectors may be beam shape deflectors and position deflectors.
The shape deflectors position the beam over a cutting aperture to generate different sizes and shapes of the beam, such as rectangles, triangles, etc. The voltage applied to the shape deflectors may be dependent on the desired size and shape of the beam. The beam column may contain more than one set of shape deflectors and cutting apertures.
The position deflectors such as raster scan and/or vector scan deflectors may position the beam by, for example, applying a directional vector to the shaped beam. The voltage values to the vector deflectors may be different for each different directional vector. Therefore the voltage values to these vector deflectors may be changing for each flash of the beam. Similarly, the beam column may contain more than one set of raster scan and/or vector deflectors.
The lithography device further may include a controller for providing deflector voltages to these deflectors. The controller may include, for example, a digital board having a field programmable gate array (FPGA). The FPGA receives the shape and directional vector codes and converts them into digital words that represent the voltage values for the deflectors. These digital words may be provided to digital to analog converters (DACs). These DACs may include output amplifiers having high slew rates causing significant ringing of the deflector voltage waveform.
The flash rate and lithography accuracy requirements for the next generation beam lithography are much greater than those of previous shaped beam tools. Nominally, shape size and placement accuracy of 1 part in 4000 (or 0.025%) are required. Typically, the raw accuracy of high speed output driven over several feet of cable to an imperfectly terminated deflector may be a few parts per hundred.
To achieve high writing throughput (i.e. high flash rate), it is necessary for at least some applications to unblank the beam before the shape and vector deflection signals have fully settled to their final values. Due to the high rate of the output amplifier and imperfections in the electronics, the settling time may be longer than the blanking time causing the actual deflector voltage to exhibit significant oscillation or ringing.
In the case of the vector deflection signals, this has the effect of causing the exposed flash to "move around" slightly. The position at which the edge resolves is a function of the average deflection voltage during the exposure time of the flash. The ringing may affect the average deflection voltage during the exposure time by causing a blurring of the doping of the resist at the edge of the desired pattern or shape. This blurring may cause a displacement of the dose development threshold on the resist, resulting in an offset position of the shape of the resist. The blur caused by this motion cannot be eliminated in many instances.
A problem can exist when increasing the flash rate to achieve the shape size and placement accuracy required for this generation of beam lithography devices due to the ringing of the deflector voltage signals. A technique is needed for modern high speed, high accuracy beam systems to correct for the ringing of the deflector voltage signals.

Beam exposure correction system and method


A computer implemented method, computer usable program code, and a data processing system for selecting a candidate implementation of a virtual overridden method for inlining into a calling method. A determination as to which implementation of a virtual overridden method to inline is made based on its relative “hotness” compared to the other implementations of the same method. The relative hotness can be inferred from the invocation count and sampling count that the virtual machine and the just-in-time compiler already collect for other purposes, that is, without collecting and storing of call-edge profiling information. When a method is being compiled and it is identified that the method contains a call to an overridden method, a candidate for inlining from among the implementations of the overridden method is selected based on relative hotness values. The candidate implementation of the overridden method is then inlined, with a guard, into the calling method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to data processing and, more particularly, to inlining into a caller method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inlining is a method of improving program performance by embedding the body of a callee into the body of its caller. The performance improvement is gained by eliminating the overhead of an invocation and exposing additional optimization opportunities in the combined code. One of the fundamental elements of the Java™ programming language is its object-oriented class hierarchy (JAVA and all JAVA-based trademarks are trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States, other countries, or both). Therefore, a method implementation in a class, A, can be overridden by an implementation of the same method in a subclass of A. A method that can be overridden is called a "virtual method."
When there is more than one implementation of a callee, any of the implementations can be called, or even all of them at different executions of the call. This makes inlining of virtual methods challenging in terms of trying to improve performance and preserving correctness. In other words, it is important to inline the "right" method, or the method that is "right" the majority of the time, but always execute the correct implementation for the call. If the right implementation is not inlined, then the code will have to make an invocation, which slows down execution; therefore, it is important to be right more often to achieve the desired performance gain.
One existing solution to inlining virtual methods is to limit inlining to cases where the callee is not overridden at the time the caller gets compiled, using an "override guard" for correctness. An "override guard" is a relatively inexpensive test that checks whether a method implementation got overridden. Information identifying whether a method is overridden gets updated in the Java virtual machine when a class with an overriding implementation gets loaded. In an object-oriented class hierarchy, where method overriding is common, this limitation is too strict. For example, there are cases where the same implementation will always be called at a particular call-point and still will not be inlined, simply because another implementation of that method exists.
Another existing solution is to use profiling information to choose which method to inline and to inline it using a "virtual guard." A "virtual guard" is more expensive than an "override guard," but allows the caller to keep using the inlined implementation, even if it got overridden, as long as it can verify that this is the appropriate implementation. Using profiling information can be quite expensive in terms of memory usage and performance, because it requires collecting and keeping profiling data for every call edge in the call-graph.
Yet another existing solution inlines when the callee is not overridden at the time the caller gets compiled without using an "override guard." This method requires re-compiling the caller (using "on stack replacement" when needed) for correctness when an overriding implementation of the callee gets loaded. The advantage of this method is that there is no need for a "virtual guard" when there are no additional implementations of the method, which may improve performance over the "virtual guard" solution. On the other hand, this method requires a decompile and recompile whenever a class with an overriding method gets loaded.

Speculative inlining of overridden methods without using profiling information

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of functionalizing reclaimed elastomer material is described. The method involves subjecting particles of the reclaimed elastomer material to shear at temperatures less than 100° C. such that inter-chain bonds of the reclaimed elastomer material are cleaved wherein the particles of the reclaimed elastomer material have a size of 60 mesh or smaller. The reclaimed elastomer material can be subjected to shear in the presence of a modifier which selectively promotes the cleavage of inter-chain bonds in the reclaimed elastomer material. A functionalized reclaimed elastomer material made by a method as described above and an elastomer compound which comprises the functionalized reclaimed elastomer material are also described.

Reclaimed elastomer materials (i.e., "reclaimed materials," "ground tire rubber," "GTR," "micronized rubber powders," or "MRP"), which include vulcanized elastomer materials, are used in a variety of applications, including elastomer compositions (e.g., tire tread compounds for vehicle tires), plastics compositions (e.g., as fillers for polyolefins), asphalt fillers, and others. In many of these applications, the micronized rubber powders are used as "filler" in place of a portion of the virgin compound material. One of the primary reasons for the use of reclaimed elastomer materials is cost. Moreover, rubber powders, whether GTR or MRP, are typically significantly less expensive than virgin (i.e., non-reclaimed) rubber or plastic, and when used as a "filler" in elastomer or plastic compositions, tends to reduce the overall manufacturing cost of the composition. Further, because micronized rubber powders typically are made from recycled or reclaimed material (e.g., vulcanized scrap from manufacturing processes and used tires or other elastomeric products), reincorporating them into elastomer and plastic compositions reduces landfill waste and results in a more environmentally-friendly product. Finally, use of recycled GTR or MRP provides a strategic supply chain hedge against petroleum-based supply chain price and supply volatility.
Generally, GTR consists of particle size distributions that range from a diameter of 2 mm to 0.5 mm and are produced in a variety of ways including grinding methods such as cryogenic grinding. Micronized rubber powder, or MRP, is termed as such because it generally contains a significant fraction of particles less than 100 microns in size. MRP may also be produced by either ambient or cryogenic grinding methods. Powders such as GTR and MRP are commonly designated by their mesh size. For example, powders in the size range of 10-30 mesh generally are considered GTR, while 40-300 mesh materials generally are considered MRP. GTR typically is less expensive than MRP because of the higher manufacturing cost required for making the smaller particles. Because of this cost difference, GTR generally is used instead of MRP, unless the specific application requires properties than can only be achieved through the use of MRP. As noted previously, reclaimed elastomer materials used to manufacture elastomer particles generally are obtained from previously-manufactured products (e.g., used and unused vehicle tires) and from vulcanized scrap generated during the manufacturing process (e.g., vulcanized scrap generated from the tire manufacturing process), and thus the reclaimed elastomer material is generally vulcanized.
Vulcanized particles are relatively inert, i.e., the particles are non-reactive with virgin matrix materials. As such, they are limited in their use as a component in elastomer compositions because when added at high levels, the resultant elastomer composition exhibits diminished performance characteristics. This limitation, however, can be eased by the use of functionalized particles.
Vulcanized elastomer material can be functionalized through a variety of processes. Broadly speaking, functionalization involves modifying the chemistry of the vulcanized particles. One such functionalization process is devulcanization. Devulcanization processes are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,770,632, U.S. Pat. No. 6,451,526 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,109 B1, European Patent Application No. 0 748 837 A1, European Patent Application No. 1 242 520 B1, European Patent Application No. 0 690 091 A1 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0317752. Generally speaking, devulcanization involves the chemical, thermal, and/or mechanical treatment of vulcanized elastomer to break the chemical crosslinks formed during the vulcanization process. One devulcanization process involves applying a chemical additive to the reclaimed vulcanized particles while the particles are under shear stresses. This type of functionalization is performed, for example, by Levgum, Ltd., having a principal place of business in Kanot, Israel. An alternate devulcanization process utilizes high temperatures as opposed to chemicals to break the chemical crosslinks. In these processes, the input powder is reacted and generally converted into a spongy mass. The resulting devulcanized (i.e., functionalized) material can then be used in admixtures with virgin elastomeric materials. Previously, in terms of reclaimed rubber powders, only GTR has been considered as a raw material for functionalization, for three reasons. First, the GTR is lower in cost. Second, the resultant "spongy mass" functionalized material is identical in appearance regardless of the particle size of the input material. Third, the assumption has been that, in a chemical, thermal and/or mechanical devulcanization process, the input particle size is irrelevant since the entire mass of the material is converted during the devulcanization process. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,109, vulcanized rubber in the form of crumb having a size of 0.5 to 5.0 mm or pieces having a thickness of up to 15 mm was devulcanized in a two roll mill.
While elastomer compositions comprising functionalized GTR exhibit improved mechanical properties as compared to elastomer compositions comprising vulcanized GTR, the use of functionalized GTR in admixture with virgin material can still result in a reduction in the mechanical properties of the resulting elastomer formulations. It was assumed previously that elastomer compositions comprising functionalized GTR or functionalized MRP would exhibit comparable performance characteristics irrespective of the size of the input functionalized particles. Specifically, the conventional assumption has been that elastomer compositions and other material compositions comprising functionalized rubber powder of any particle size would exhibit diminished strength and durability properties (e.g., measured through tensile strength tests) as compared to those comprising virgin elastomer materials. Further, it has been assumed that the functionalization process renders the particle size of the input material irrelevant with respect to the final properties of admixed compositions.
Therefore, there is a long-felt but unresolved need for elastomer compositions that comprise reclaimed elastomer materials, but which retain mechanical properties comparable to elastomer compositions containing no reclaimed material. The use of functionalized MRP can meet this need.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods of functionalizing reclaimed elastomer material and compositions comprising the same


A service information receiving device receives pay service information and year/month/day-of-month data, both multiplexed with FM broadcast radiowaves and transmitted from an FM broadcasting station. The device compares the use end date data, stored in an information storage medium which is detachable from the device, with the year/month/day-of-month data received by the device, and the device permits the display of the pay service information during the period in which these two sets of data disagree with each other, and after they have coincided with each other, inhibits the display of the pay service information.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a receiving device that receives the pay display information transmitted from a broadcasting station and displays it. The present invention is most suitable for receivers for FM teletext multiplexed with FM broadcast radiowaves and which is then transmitted.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been a service using the medium of FM broadcast radiowaves, where service information, such as character information, is multiplexed with FM (Frequency Modulation) broadcast radiowaves--audio information--and then transmitted, and the service information is caused to appear on a display means provided on the reception side. This service is known as FM teletext and has been coming in practice as a visual information radio.
Specifically, the FM broadcasting station on the transmission side transmits the FM broadcast radiowaves with which display information, such as characters and numbers, has been multiplexed. The radiowaves are received on the reception side with an FM radio with a liquid-crystal display, which separates the display information, such as characters and numbers, from the FM broadcast radiowaves, converts the display information into character codes, and displays the characters on the liquid-crystal display unit to enable the user to view, for example, a weather forecast or traffic information on the screen. With the FM teletext system, some of the service information is available free of charge and specific kinds of the service information may be provided with charge.
When the pay service information is provided for the users in the FM teletext system, the company operating the FM teletext must collect license fees in a suitable way. If the company tries to collect license fees according to a monthly pay contract with the users, some users are liable to fall behind in their payment, making it complex to manage the users. Furthermore, since it is expected that more than one company will run a service information providing business, each company practically cannot pinpoint the users of its service and collect license fees.
On the part of users, they have to go to the company or the financial institution to pay their licence fees, imposing a burden on them. Furthermore, in the case of FM teletext, it is practically impossible to stop the supply of service information only to the users who have fallen behind in their payments, because FM broadcast radiowaves are used.

FM teletext receiving device with a detachable storage medium


A method of generating debug data in a simulation environment includes generating a listing of one or more signals that relate to a failure signal; monitoring simulation data of the one or more signals for transitions between a defined state and an undefined state; and generating a waveform of data based on the transitions between the defined state and the undefined state.

1. Field
This disclosure relates to methods, systems, and computer program products for debugging in a digital simulation environment.
2. Description of Background
An uninitialized logic or an undefined value at a primary input of a chip design may drive many or all latches of the chip into an undefined state. These problems are found by running multi-valued simulations using a digital simulator. For example, an existing HDL design can be converted into a netlist representation and into a multi-value simulation model. A test case is run using this multi-value simulation model until a checker detects an X state failure. An X state failure is defined as a transition from a defined value to an undefined value in multi-valued simulation. A waveform is generated for all signals in the design for the entire simulation time.
There are many drawbacks to this approach. For example, the approach is time consuming and requires large amounts of storage space. The approach also may need multiple iterations for the following reasons: simulation time increases with model size for creating a waveform of all the signals, since storing the simulation data every cycle becomes a bottleneck and reduces the overall simulation speed; test sequences that run into millions of cycles result in a huge amount of data for the waveform that can not be handled any more by the waveform viewer; and space needed for storing the signal information increases with the number of cycles to run and the model size.
In some cases, simulation may end abruptly with "out of memory" errors. These errors enforce a hard limit on the design size and the number of cycles to record in a waveform and, thus, result in the need for multiple iterations of simulation runs, with each run producing a waveform for a reduced amount of cycles.

Detecting X state transitions and storing compressed debug information


API-based service command invocation is provided through a method that includes identifying one or more executable commands of a service. The one or more executable commands correspond to one or more service operations supported by the service. The method generates one or more application programming interfaces (APIs), each API of the one or more APIs to invoke a respective executable command of the one or more executable commands. The method exposes at least one API of the generated one or more APIs to an end-user of the service.

There is an ever-increasing desire to publish software applications as a service for delivery to an end-user on the cloud. Given the large size and resource demand of many software offerings, it is common to provision such software in a virtual machine or other 'container'. However, in the cloud environment, customers may face difficulties in the ease-of-use of the software service. A new user may need training to understand where and how to run use the software on the cloud. Existing users may need to take the cumbersome steps of logging into a cloud virtual machine or using a virtual private network (VPN) to operate the software, such as to perform operations to start or stop an instance, or to collect log information. Furthermore, administrators may not be able to expose approved commands to end-users using a virtual machine or other container, instead resorting to complex security controls that limit usage of software services/commands. In addition, it may be difficult for users working with many different software services in the cloud to remember the login information and proper operations of each of these services.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION