A computer-implemented method for providing controls for application behavior may include (1) identifying an application that is distributed via an application repository and that is configured to use a permission on a computing platform that enables the application to access a feature of the computing platform, (2) receiving a request to reconfigure the application to intercept and interfere with attempts by the application to use the permission, (3) reconfiguring the application, in response to the request, to intercept and interfere with attempts by the application to use the permission, (4) determining that an updated version of the application is available via the application repository, and (5) reconfiguring the updated version of the application to intercept and interfere with attempts by the application to use the permission in response to an instruction to update the application. Various other methods, systems, and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

With the rise of mobile computing, devices such as cellular telephones, tablet computers, and e-book readers, have become a ubiquitous part of everyday life. However, the ability to access the Internet from these devices also brings the various dangers of the Internet to these devices. Untrusted sources for mobile applications may offer malicious applications for download. Furthermore, trusted sources, such as digital distribution platforms (or "application stores") for some mobile platforms may sometimes inadvertently host malware.
Additionally, legitimate applications without malware may pose privacy concern to users. For example, some mobile computing platforms may provide installed applications access to potentially sensitive device data and user data (as well as access to various other features of the mobile computing platforms). Traditional systems for controlling applications' access to sensitive data and features have included a permissions scheme that requires an application to have a permission for each potentially sensitive feature of a mobile computing platform that a given application wishes to access. These traditional systems may display which permissions an application requires (e.g., at the time of installation), allowing users to accept the required permissions list and install the application or refuse the required permissions list and forgo installing the application. Unfortunately, these traditional systems may require users to make potentially undesirable tradeoffs when deciding whether or not to install applications. Some users may wish to install and use an application without worrying about how the application might exploit the permissions that it requires. Furthermore, users may soon lose track of which applications are exploiting which permissions.
Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for providing controls for application behavior.

Systems and methods for providing controls for application behavior


The present invention is directed to a bedding article which provides a structured construction for filling with filler material. Specifically, the present invention is directed to a bedding article that incorporates a number of pattern arrangements. The pattern arrangements allow for the sequestration of high performance filler material to areas of maximum effectiveness. Likewise, the pattern arrangement allows for standard performance material to be used in areas where user interaction is likely to be minimal, in order to minimize the amount of material needed in manufacture.

Comforters are a bedding material typically used as accessories to the primary sheets placed on a bed. In the current art, comforters are usually filled or manufactured to include batting or another material that provides both comfort and warmth or heat retention functions. However, the prior art fails to provide a bedding material that provides specialized zones of warmth in a comforter.
Featherbeds have various sewing constructions, including a channel arrangement which runs the entire length or the entire width, i.e. from side to side, of the featherbed. Channel construction can also include baffles, which are fabric elements which extend between the top and bottom fabric layers of the featherbed within the individual channels. In general, the channel/baffle construction divides the featherbed geometrically into a pattern of rectangles.
Other sewing constructions used with featherbeds include stitch sewing, which can include various sewn patterns, such as squares, diamonds or other shapes, and which individually connected to the top and bottom fabric layers of the featherbed, but are not connected together to form a continuous or repeating pattern.
Frame construction for featherbeds comprises channels sewn along the outer sides and across the top and/or bottom of the featherbed. Frame construction can be combined with sewn patterns, if desired.
There are disadvantages to all of the above constructions. Channel construction without baffles, as well as stitch sewing and frame sewing, allow the feathers within the featherbed to readily move or shift within the featherbed during typical use. Feathers ordinarily will shift to the top (head) and/or bottom (foot) of the featherbed. The featherbed will as a result look uneven, and its heat retention and comfort will be compromised. While this can be remedied by fluffing and physically shifting the featherbed, this is often inconvenient to do on a daily basis.
With the baffle construction, which is the most popular sewing construction for featherbeds, the baffle squares have an opening which runs along one edge of the baffle fabric wall inside the featherbed to allow for filling (blowing-in) of the individual squares. This is well-known in the industry. However, these "blow holes" in the baffles remain open after the filling is completed (there is no convenient way of closing the openings) and feathers will eventually migrate out of the individual squares into adjacent ones during use of the featherbed. This results in an uneven look and diminished performance, which cannot be corrected by fluffing because the feathers cannot be forced back into the openings in the squares from which they have migrated.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is an article that allows for the retention of high performance materials in pre-designated zones, while lowering the cost of manufacture.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,708,995 to Wu, herein incorporated by reference, provides a comforter with different warmth characteristics for two occupants with a light side, a warm side, and a transitional area between, with specific stacked layers. U.S. Pat. No. 5,007,125 to Owenby, herein incorporated by reference, details a comforter which provides a warmer lower portion than the upper portion. U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,284 to Marquette, herein incorporated by reference, describes a comforter using a one-weave manufacturing process with two halves of different warmth characteristics for two occupants. However, none of the cited prior art providing all the features of the disclosed invention.
Likewise U.S. Pat. No. 6,643,872 to Buswell, introduces two halves of dual warmth to form a bedding article. However, this invention does not provide a solution that eliminates the need to use the maximum amount of bedding material. Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 6,961,970 to Pedersen, introduces various embodiments of channel construction. However, this prior art reference fails to describe the use of limited selections of material so as to reduce overall product manufacturing costs.

Filled bedding articles consisting of more than one filler


The Bookmark list display control program rearranges and reads the sites in the Bookmark storage area in reverse chronological order of access to sites, then displays the Bookmark list (step 51). Next, it is determined whether the target (desired) site or URL is present or not (step 52). In case the target site or URL is present, the user is automatically connected to the target site or URL by selecting the target site or URL (step 53). In case the target site or URL is absent in step 52, the user selects the Bookmark input mode and enters a new site or URL (step 54). Then, the user stores the new site or URL in the Bookmark storage area, or in case the memory of the area is insufficient, the user overwrites an old Bookmark site with this new site (step 55).

The present invention relates to a URL display method in a portable telephone having the non-voice information communications mode (for example i-mode) function and a portable telephone using the URL display method. The invention is particularly to display the title or URL of a site that was selected last time at the top of a Bookmark list on the screen, when a site registered to the Bookmark is selected. The non-voice information communications mode is the operation mode for the online data service using digital portable telephones, wherein a service to connect to sites (programs) registered in a center, an internet connection service, a message service, and e-mail service (for example, i-mode mail) are available.
Conventionally, in a portable telephone having the non-voice information communications mode function, the user can activate the Bookmark operation mode to display a Bookmark list. To call a site (program) registered to the Bookmark, the user selects a target site (program) or URL (Universal Resource Locator) with a Bookmark list displayed shown in FIG. 6. This connects the user to the target site or URL.
Here, a "site (program)" is displayed in title name. The user can enter the operation mode of the online data browsing service by using a portable telephone having the non-voice information communications mode function and for example connect to a site to obtain stock price information, various event information or weather forecast information.
In a portable telephone having the non-voice information communications mode function according to the related art, a site that has been registered to the Bookmark is displayed in a fixed position of the screen. In case the Bookmark list in FIG. 6 is displayed, position of each site in the list remains unchanged when the Bookmark list is displayed next time.
The user can connect to the site (program) "stock price" shown in FIG. 6A without scrolling through the screen by using a navigation key. The problem is that the user has to scroll through the screen by using the navigation key to select the site "weather" shown in FIG. 6B.

Portable telephone with bookmark sort function

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A current collector for an electrode with two halves. The current collector has a first layer positioned on the first half of the electrode, a second layer positioned on the second half of said electrode, and a third layer positioned between the first and the second halves of the electrode.

Metal-air battery cells have wide applicability to portable electronic equipment, such as lap-top computers, video cameras, and other types of hand-held devices. Metal-air battery cells provide relatively high power output with relatively low weight as compared to other types of electrochemical cells. These power and weight advantages are due in part to the fact that metal-air cells utilize oxygen from the ambient air as a reactant in the electrochemical process rather than a heavier material such as a metal or metallic composition.
Generally described, a metal-air cell, such as a zinc-air cell, uses one or more air permeable cathodes separated from a metallic anode by an aqueous electrolyte. During operation, oxygen from the ambient air is converted at the cathode to produce hydroxide ions while zinc is oxidized at the anode to react with the hydroxide ions. Water and electrons are released in this reaction to provide electrical energy. On recharge, voltage is applied between the anode and the cathode of the cell and the electrochemical reaction is reversed. Oxygen is discharged back to the atmosphere through the air permeable cathode and hydrogen is vented out of the cell.
High power output from metal-air cells has been accomplished through the use of a dual cathode or a dual air electrode cells. An example of such a dual air electrode cell is found in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,569,551 which describes a metal anode, multiple layers of separator materials with liquid electrolyte substantially trapped therein, an upper and lower cathode, an upper and lower mask wall, side walls, and side vents. A further development is shown in commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 5,639,568 entitled "Split Anode for a Dual Air Electrode Cell." This patent describes a metal anode for a dual air electrode cell that has upper and lower metal anode layers and either a foil current collector therebetween or a two layer current collector with means for inhibiting zinc movement positioned between the two current collector layers. This design is effective in eliminating or reducing "slumping", i.e., the migration of zinc from one layer to another. Slumping may contribute to capacity loss, operating voltage loss, and may cause an imbalance in current distribution between the cathodes.
A drawback with the current design of metal-air cells is that the cells tend to lose power capability during storage, particularly start-up power. This problem may be due to the manner in which the zinc anode operates while being cycled. During discharge, the zinc discharges from the outside interface with the cathode back towards the current collector. As the anode discharges, zinc is converted to zinc oxide such that the zinc oxide forms from the cathode interface towards the current collector. On recharge, the bulk of the zinc electrode also charges from the cathode interface on the outside back towards the current collector, i.e., the bulk of the zinc forms from the cathode interface towards the current collector.
This pattern may create the situation in which the anode, if not fully charged, has a layer of zinc oxide between the charged zinc at the interface with the cathode and the current collector. In other words, the current collector is not in sufficient contact with the metal zinc to provide minimum power. The zinc oxide layer apparently somehow passivates during storage. This passivation may be due to a change in the morphology of the zinc oxide or by the zinc oxide forming over any metal zinc bridges to the current collector. Passivation leads to a higher resistance in the anode and creates a power loss for the cell as a whole. This problem is particularly of concern at start-up. Although metal-air cells tend to have a power dip for the first several minutes after start-up and before the cell achieves its rated voltage, the power loss problem becomes more acute after the cell has been in storage for a given length of time.
There is a need, therefore, for a metal-air cell that avoids passivation and, more particularly, limits the loss of power at start-up. Such a design would limit the loss of power at start-up so as to provide a more reliable cell. These goals must be accomplished in a cell that remains light-weight and relatively inexpensive for wide spread consumer use in any type of portable electronic device.


A general purpose acting intelligent system includes a pattern association central subsystem which modifies actions taken by an output subsystem through a statistical valuation of the positive or negative effects of associations based upon the proximity in time between perception patterns developed from responses by sensors in an input subsystem, and actions previously taken by the output subsystem in response to such perception patterns. The pattern association central subsystem also modifies output actions taken based upon statistical associations between perception patterns perceived by the input subsection and positive or negative results detected by the input subsection to speed up the response of the system.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is directed to intelligent systems which perform actions based on "behavior" learned from experience. More particularly, it is directed to a general purpose intelligent system which modifies actions taken in response to a statistical valuation of the positive or negative effects of associations based upon the proximity in time between perception patterns developed from responses by input sensors, and actions previously taken in response to such perception patterns.
2. Background Information
Currently, there is a good deal of research being directed to the creation of artificial systems and devices with intelligent behavior. Some of these systems are based on symbolic serial programming, such as for example, expert systems. Others are mainly based upon connectivity or parallel distributed processing such as for example, neural networks. There has recently been considerable advance in the field of neural networks as many fields of application have been researched, such as for example, pattern recognition and machine vision. Much focus has also been placed on animal sensory perception and its possible emulation. Robotics currently has a mixed environment, but in most cases serial programming is employed.
While a great deal of research is being performed in these various detailed areas, there is a need to understand the general framework within which many different fields of knowledge and techniques can be organized. When the aim is not merely technological mimicry of living beings' partial areas, but a total acting intelligent system, the general architecture of such a system has to be defined. An essential task is to define the central system which monitors the peripheral input/output areas. There is therefore a need for both a general view of the total system and a description of the core which relates the sensorial perception input subsystem with the output subsystem.
The architecture and central core of general purpose acting intelligence systems have to be universal enough to be valid for any kind of environment, any kind of inputs or stimuli and outputs, such as movements and other reactions. But, at the same time, they have to be explicit enough so that they can be implemented in a system with specific sensory devices, specific outputs and in a concrete environment.

Pattern association central subsystem and a perception learning system


An apparatus that provides for the wireless receiving, storing and dissemination of digital data as part of a motor vehicle license plate is disclosed. The apparatus allows for the querying of data typically associated with driving privileges, such as social security numbers, insurance policy information, addresses, registration information, driving records, driving restrictions and the like. Data would be passed wirelessly upon receipt of a valid request signal from a law enforcement vehicle. Such reporting is viewed as a means to reduce data entry and eliminate errors thus freeing the law enforcement officer to perform other duties, or perform multiple queries in the same time as it takes to perform one in a conventional manner. Remote inputs from alarm systems and panic buttons allow for activation of the transmitter portion to alert law enforcement authorities of a possible crime. Such emergency reporting can only be acknowledged and deactivated by authorized authorities.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to wireless data transfer systems and, more particularly, to a motor vehicle license plate with integral wireless tracking and data dissemination device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recent events in our history have reminded us how easily terrorists, criminals and others who are hiding from the law can travel about in motor vehicles. Once such people are inside the anonymity of a car or truck, they can move freely about our country with little danger of being caught. Even if they should be pulled over for a minor travel violation, they are often released without the law enforcement officer even knowing their true identity due to inadequate alerts, incompatible computer systems and often just oversight. Also, due to illegible communications, transcription errors, and the like, incorrect or incomplete license plate numbers are checked, thus allowing criminals and others to be released. Other crimes involving motor vehicles such as car-jackings, kidnaping in motor vehicles and the like are also on the rise and are almost impossible to stop other than by blind luck. Accordingly, there exists a need for a means by which license plate registrations, driver's license information, vehicle status and the like can be queried, accessed and verified without the time-consuming effort and error-prone processes afforded by current methods.
A search of the prior art did not disclose any patents that read directly on the claims of the instant invention; however, the following references were considered related:
U.S. Patent No. Des. 396,439, issued in the name of Turnquest, discloses an ornamental design for an auto license plate lock box system;                U.S. Pat. No. 4,001,822, issued in the name of Sterzer, discloses an electronic license plate for motor vehicles;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,105,179, issued in the name of Smith, discloses an electronic display license plate;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,196,846, issued in the name of Brockelsby et al., discloses a moving vehicle identification system;        U.S. Pat. No. 5,579,008, issued in the name of Hulderman et al., discloses an electronic license plate apparatus and method; and        U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,571, issued in the name of Bantli et al., discloses an integrated retro-reflective electronic display.
Consequently, there exists a continuous need for new ideas and enhancements for existing products in the electronic tracking and database transmission industry.

Motor vehicle license plate with integral wireless tracking and data dissemination device


An optical disc apparatus according to the present invention includes: an optical pickup including an optical system that converges a light beam on an optical disc and a photodetector that detects light reflected from the optical disc; and a fingerprint detector for detecting, based on the output of the photodetector, multiple fingerprint dots on the surface of the optical disc. The fingerprint detector confirms the presence of a fingerprint on the optical disc on sensing the output of the photodetector change according to the pattern of the fingerprint dots.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus and an optical pickup. More particularly, the present invention relates to an optical disc apparatus and an optical pickup that can accurately locate a fingerprint on an optical disc by detecting a dot-to-dot gap of the fingerprint with a narrow converged beam spot.
2. Description of the Related Art
In optical disc technologies, data can be read out from a rotating optical disc by irradiating the disc with a relatively weak light beam with a constant intensity, and detecting the light that has been modulated by, and reflected from, the optical disc.
On a read-only optical disc, information is already stored as pits that are arranged spirally during the manufacturing process of the optical disc. On the other hand, on a rewritable optical disc, a recording material film, from/on which data can be read and written optically, is deposited by an evaporation process, for example, on the surface of a substrate on which tracks with spiral lands or grooves are arranged. In writing data on a rewritable optical disc, data is written there by irradiating the optical disc with a light beam, of which the optical power has been changed according to the data to be written, and locally changing the property of the recording material film.
It should be noted that the depth of the pits, the depth of the tracks and the thickness of the recording material film are smaller than the thickness of the optical disc base material. For that reason, those portions of the optical disc, where data is stored, define a two-dimensional plane, which is sometimes called a "storage plane" or an "information plane". However, considering that such a storage plane actually has a physical dimension in the depth direction, too, the term "storage plane (information plane)" will be replaced herein by another term "information layer". Every optical disc has at least one such information layer. Optionally, a single information layer may actually include a plurality of layers such as a phase-change material layer and a reflective layer.
To read data that is stored on an optical disc or to write data on a rewritable optical disc, the light beam always needs to maintain a predetermined converging state on a target track on an information layer. For that purpose, a "focus control" and a "tracking control" are required. The "focus control" means controlling the position of an objective lens perpendicularly to the information layer (which direction will be referred to herein as a "substrate depth direction") such that the focus position (or focal point) of the light beam is always located on the information layer. On the other hand, the "tracking control" means controlling the position of the objective lens along the radius of a given optical disc (which direction will be referred to herein as a "disc radial direction") such that the light beam spot is always located right on a target track.
To get the focus control and tracking control done, a focus error or a tracking error needs to be detected based on the light reflected from an optical disc and the location of the light beam spot needs to be adjusted so as to minimize the error. The magnitudes of the focus error and the tracking error are respectively represented by a "focus error (FE) signal" and a "tracking error (TE) signal" that are generated based on the light reflected from the optical disc.
Once a fingerprint is left on the surface of an optical disc, the intensity of the reflected light will decrease when the light beam passes through that fingerprint. As a result, the intensity distribution of the light beam will decrease non-uniformly, thus causing a disturbance in the TE signal and producing tracking abnormality. Consequently, some type of tracking failure such as a track jump happens. Various techniques have been proposed so far to avoid such tracking failures. For example, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-179136, the decrease in the intensity of the reflected light is detected on a regular basis, and if any defect, including the presence of a fingerprint, has been detected, the user is notified of that, thereby avoiding predictable write failures. Meanwhile, if the user permits such a soiled disc, a read/write operation will be performed on it just as instructed by him or her. Furthermore, by providing means for avoiding a repetitive notification, an opportunity to perform a read/write operation just as planned can be guaranteed while avoiding write failures to be caused by the dirt on the disc.
Various types of optical discs such as DVD (digital versatile disc)-ROM, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, DVD-R, DVD+RW and DVD+R have become more and more popular these days as storage media on which a huge amount of information can be stored at a high density. Meanwhile, CDs (compact discs) are still popular now.
To increase the storage density of an optical disc, the light beam that has been converged on the data plane of an optical disc preferably has as small a spot size as possible. The spot size of a light beam is inversely proportional to the numerical aperture NA of an objective lens for use to converge the light beam. Thus, by increasing the numerical aperture NA of the objective lens, the spot size of the light beam can be decreased. Meanwhile, Blu-ray Disc (BD) and other next-generation optical discs that have even higher storage density and even bigger storage capacity than the optical discs mentioned above have become more and more popular nowadays. A BD requires a larger objective lens NA than a DVD's and covers the surface of its information layer with a thin light transmitting layer with a thickness of approximately 100 μm. That is why compared to a DVD, a BD is more sensitive to dust, fingerprints and other sorts of defects because the light beam converged on the information layer of a BD is affected by such defects much more significantly than on a DVD.
In the prior art, not just the fingerprints but also various other defects such as dirt, grazes, scratches and dust on an optical disc are detected by sensing a decrease in the amplitude of a reflected light intensity (which will be referred to herein as an "RF amplitude"). That is to say, no matter what type of defect has been detected, the user is just notified of the presence of a defect on the disc. And he or she has no choice but to replace the disc with such a defect with another one.
However, in a situation where a scheduled recording operation is carried out while the user is away from home or after he or she has gone to bed at night with the recording schedule entered, even if the recorder tries to notify the user of the defect, he or she cannot replace the optical disc. In that case, the recorder cannot help either continuing the write operation on the optical disc, in which the defect has been detected, at the expense of the quality of the data stored, or stopping the write operation with an error message displayed.
Among other things, a BD is far more sensitive to scratches than a DVD is. Nevertheless, a BD is standardized as a bare optical disc. That is why even if only a tiny fingerprint were left accidentally on a brand-new BD that has just been removed from its case while it is loaded into a drive, a track jump or a write error would still be caused by the fingerprint.
What is worse, a fingerprint left on a BD could prevent the user from either writing data on it as intended or even reading data from it. As a matter of fact, results of experiments also revealed that a BD with a fingerprint had a significantly decreased RF amplitude and that a BD was much more sensitive to fingerprints than a DVD was. These results are quite understandable considering how a BD works in principle.
A fingerprint sometimes has as large a diameter as more than 10 mm. Thus, it is difficult to provide an alternative area that could substitute for the entire area with a fingerprint. In other words, if an area with a fingerprint were managed as a defective area without removing the fingerprint, the storage capacity of the optical disc would be wasted in vain. It has also been known that even if the area with the fingerprint is subjected to the same type of error correction processing as the one applied to a DVD, it is still difficult to correct the read/write errors that have been caused due to the presence of the fingerprint. That is why a BD has enhanced error correction ability. In addition, according to its initial standard (BD-RE: Ver. 1.0), a BD should be housed in a cartridge and non-removable from the cartridge to prevent the BD from being soiled with a fingerprint.
However, according to recent standards such as BD-RE: Ver. 2.0 and standards for BD-R and BD-ROM, a BD is supposed to be used as a bare optical disc (i.e., an optical disc without a cartridge) just like a CD or a DVD to meet the market needs. Thus, on the supposition that a fingerprint left on a BD should be wiped away manually with a cleaner such as a brush or a piece of cloth, the strength of the hard coating on the surface of a BD is defined by the Taber's scratch test. Furthermore, a cartridge in/from which a BD could be housed or removed is also defined to prevent the user from leaving a fingerprint on it.
Thanks to these standards and techniques, when a digital telecast is recorded on a BD or when a movie is played back from it, some errors could be caused due to the presence of a fingerprint or dust but would be just momentary noise that never persists long, thus achieving an acceptable level as far as a normal viewer's impression is concerned.
Meanwhile, in the field of personal computers (PCs), a user who uses a BD should be rather experienced and professional by now in handling various types of optical discs. And it is quite natural for such a person to handle a BD carefully enough to avoid spotting it with a fingerprint or dirt. More specifically, a PC user uses a BD in most cases to make a backup of data files that are stored on a hard disk. That is why if he or she is handling files with a PC by the drag-and-copy technique, for example, verification is automatically required after the files have been written. That is why if write errors were caused due to the presence of a fingerprint or dust, the verification would fail, thus letting the user know that the write errors have occurred. In that case, the user can avoid the write errors due to the presence of a fingerprint or dust by retrying writing a number of times until the verification succeeds.
As described above, various problems that could be caused by a fingerprint on a BD are not currently considered serious ones. However, the broader the applications of BDs and the greater the number of BD users, the more likely a fingerprint on a BD would raise a big issue. For example, to take advantage of the high storage density and big storage capacity of BDs fully, people are now exploring options to use them in industrial and medical applications. More specifically, banks may use them as archives to store a huge amount of customer data and market data. In medical fields, on the other hand, still pictures of CT scans and MRI, which have recently increased their definition significantly, and moving pictures shot with a gastric camera or an endoscope would be stored on BDs more and more often in the near future. In these applications, it is more strongly recommended to avoid those write errors one way or another.
More specifically, as for medical applications, it would be very difficult to remove an optical disc and clean it manually during a surgery or an inspection, for example. For that reason, in such applications, the dust or fingerprint should be cleanable automatically by a machine. Also, if the image data collected from a single patient is easily retrievable on a disc-by-disc basis (i.e., if the entire data about a single patient is managed on a single optical disc), then the person who is inspecting him or her can know more easily how much the disease has advanced, what will be the risks of complication in cases of surgery, or whatever has changed in him or her in general. In that case, the doctor can treat the patient more quickly and more appropriately without missing any little variation or symptom.
In that case, every time a patient is subjected to a surgery or inspection, high-definition moving pictures that have been shot with an endoscope or a gastric camera would be directly written on his or her dedicated optical disc without passing through any server computer or the hard disk drive of a PC. In such an application, even momentary noise is intolerable considering an affection that could be caused in the patient and the status of the diseased part of his or her parietal wall or gastric wall unlike the situation where a digital telecast needs to be recorded or a movie needs to be played as described above. That is why there will be an increasing demand for more reliable scheme and system than conventional ones.
Furthermore, as for car navigators, car BD players and other devices to be used in cars, a person who is driving a car is much more likely to leave a fingerprint on an optical disc to be newly loaded compared to a situation where a fixed recorder or player is used. According to a conventional technique, a defect, if any, is automatically detected during a disc loading process, and an alert "wipe the disc" is displayed to prompt the user to clean the disc. However, the same alert is also displayed even if the defect detected is just a graze or an uneven portion of the base member, not a fingerprint or dust, thus often making the user feel uncomfortable. What is more, the user cannot know exactly what part of the 12 cm disc needs to be wiped. That is to say, even if the user believes he or she has wiped the disc well, the wiped part does not always agree with the location where the fingerprint has actually been detected, and the same alert may be displayed over and over again.
In order to overcome the problems described above, the present invention dares to take advantage of the drawback of a BD that is more sensitive to fingerprints. And an object of the present invention is to provide an optical disc apparatus and an optical pickup with a cleaner that can notify the user exactly where on the optical disc a fingerprint has been detected, can wipe the fingerprint away automatically, and can transfer important data stored to an alternative location with no fingerprints by detecting the dots themselves of the fingerprint with a light beam spot very narrowly converged on the surface of the optical disc and locating the fingerprint accurately.
A more specific object of the present invention is to provide an optical disc apparatus and an optical pickup with a cleaner that ensure reliability that is high enough to use them even in industrial and medical applications with no problem.

Optical disc apparatus and optical pickup


A power management circuit includes first and second power control circuits for controlling respective first and second switching elements that energize a load. The power control circuits determine intervals of conduction for the switching elements that define the voltage charging level of the circuit.

As is known in the art, there are a variety of circuits that limit the energy in a circuit. For example, dimming circuits for lighting applications adjust the brightness of a light source. Exemplary power control, dimming, and/or feedback circuits are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,686,799, 5,691,606, 5,798,617, and 5,955,841, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
However, known power control/dimmer circuits typically have significant performance degradation for non-linear loads. Some known circuits have feedback from the load that can generate significant Electromagnetic Conductive interference (EMC), which degrades circuit performance and limits use of the feedback.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary prior art dimming circuit 10 having a diac D coupled to a triac TR gate. A resistor R and a potentiometer P are coupled as shown. A black wire terminal BLK is coupled to the resistor R and the triac TR and a white wire terminal WH is coupled to the load LD, which is coupled to the potentiometer P and the triac TR, as shown.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the voltage across the potentiometer P reaches a predetermined level VT, the diac D fires and the triac TR enables the circuit to become conductive. An input signal IS has a conductive region CR and non-conductive region NCR based upon when the diac fires.
While this circuit arrangement may be effective for linear loads, non-linear loads may render the circuit unstable. In addition, storage capacitors and other energy storage devices will charge to a voltage level corresponding to the peak Vp of the input signal. That is, the non-linear load selects the charge voltage level. In addition, current surges are not generated at optimal times and can degrade circuit performance.
It would, therefore, be desirable to overcome the aforesaid and other disadvantages.


The present application provides a novel drug screening platform designed to identify drugs that favorably modulate cellular bioenergetics in the human brain of a zebrafish which has been modified by altering a teleost gene that corresponds to a human gene associated with a brain dysfunction disorder (such as epilepsy). The drug screening platform are also useful for determining a mutation in a human gene associated with a brain dysfunction disorder that is associated with a human individual responsive to the treatment of a compound. Also provided are modified teleosts useful for the methods described herein.

Epilepsy is a common neurological condition that affects about 1-2% of the general population. For example, of the nearly 700,000 Canadian with epilepsy, about 250,000 people will not respond to drugs and will continue to have unremitting recurrent seizures and attendant life-long cognitive, behavioral, and mental health problems. Drugs remain the mainstay of treatment for epilepsy, yet despite nearly eight decades of research and advent of many newer medications, the efficacy rates have not significantly changed. Most of the drug screening process to date have been conducted in normal (i.e., non-epileptic) human brain, and in vitro functional read-out assays have almost exclusively focused on plasma membrane-bound ion channels and transporters as targets, and have largely reflected enzymes and substrates critical for cellular homeostasis.
Zebrafish are simple vertebrates that are highly amenable to teleost genetic manipulation and share >80% teleost genetic similarity with humans. Many biological pathways are shared between zebrafish and humans. In addition, like humans, zebrafish have a chambered heart, rhythmic pumping of oxygenated blood, exquisitely organized structures of the human brain, eyes, and other neural regions, and peripheral organs including the liver, pancreas, kidneys, and intestines. These features make zebrafish an attractive model for human disease.
Throughout this specification, various patents, patent applications and other types of publications (e.g., journal articles, electronic database entries, etc.) are referenced. The disclosure of all patents, patent applications, and other publications cited herein are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes.

Metabolism-based drug screening platform in bioengineered zebrafish


The fuel assembly includes an arrangement for quickly fixing the guide thimble into an opening passing through the adaptor plate of a dismountable nozzle of the assembly. This arrangement includes at least two bearing stops inside the opening of the nozzle, a bearing sleeve integral with the end of the guide thimble and a locking ring which includes stops for bearing on bearing surfaces of the stops inside the opening of the nozzle and deformable elastic parts capable of being accommodated in cavities of the opening of the adaptor plate or of the bearing sleeve, in order to place the ring in a position in which the guide thimble is locked or unlocked. The sleeve includes a rim for bearing on a bearing surface of the adaptor plate at the periphery of the opening.

Nuclear reactors cooled by water, and particularly pressurized-water nuclear reactors, include assemblies consisting of a bundle of very long fuel rods arranged parallel to one another and held in a framework formed by guide thimbles, spacers, and two end nozzles. The guide thimbles are arranged in the longitudinal direction of the assembly and are connected to transverse spacers spaced evenly along the length of the assembly.
The guide thimbles are also connected at each of their ends to one of two nozzles, constituting components for stiffening and closing the assembly.
The fuel rods of the assembly constitute a bundle in which the rods are parallel to each other and arranged in the transverse sections of the assembly, in a uniform pattern defined by the spacers. Some positions of the bundle are occupied by guide thimbles which are generally connected rigidly to the spacers.
The guide thimbles are longer than the fuel rods and are placed in the bundle so as to include a part which projects relative to the bundle of fuel rods at each of their ends. The nozzles are fixed to these projecting end parts of the guide thimbles so as to close the assembly at each of its ends.
The fuel rods consist of sintered pellets of nuclear fuel substance stacked up inside metal cladding isolating the pellets from the fluid surrounding the fuel assembly. In the event of the cladding of a rod of a fuel assembly breaking, it is necessary to replace this rod very rapidly in order to avoid leaks of radioactive product into the fluid for cooling the reactor. In order to gain access to the fuel rods and replace them, it is necessary to dismount one of the nozzles of the assembly, which involves eliminating the links between the end parts of the guide thimbles and the nozzle.
The nozzles include a transverse plate, termed adaptor plate, including through-holes reproducing the pattern of the guide thimbles in each of which a guide thimble is engaged and fixed.
To replace the defective rods in fuel assemblies, novel fuel assemblies including guide thimbles have been designed and developed in which the link with at least one of the end nozzles is dismountable.
In order to replace the defective fuel rods, the assembly is placed under water in a vertical position, in a pit such as a storage pit, such that the assembly rests on the bottom of the pit via one of its nozzles, or bottom nozzle. The other nozzle, or top nozzle, is accessible under a certain depth of water from the top of the pit.
In one type of known dismountable fuel asembly, those parts of the guide thimbles which are engaged in the top nozzle of the assembly include a radially expansible part, which may, for example, be a split bush connected to the end of the guide thimble. An immobilizing sleeve inserted inside the guide thimble radially expands the split bush and fastens the guide thimble, a radially projecting part of which becomes accommodated inside a cavity machined in the nozzle.
Such a device requires special forming of the end of the guide thimble which is to be engaged inside the adaptor plate of the nozzle.
Furthermore, the fitting and extraction of the sleeves for immobilizing the guide thimbles when assembling or dismounting the fuel assembly require special tools allowing tension or thrust to be exerted on the immobilizing sleeve and allowing the immobilizing sleeves to be dismounted and removed, leading to the formation of radioactive waste.
Fuel assemblies have also been proposed which include linking means which can be maneuvered quickly by turning an immobilizing element through a fraction of a turn, in order to lock or unlock the link between a tie for holding the assembly and the dismountable nozzle.
Such devices are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,004 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,948, and have a complicated structure and many components.
Furthermore, these devices require the guide thimble to project above the adaptor plate of the nozzle and include parts projecting above the adaptor plate which are fixed to the end of the guide thimble and have an appreciable height which is incompatible with the use of consumable poison clusters. These parts include a bearing plate coming into a superposed arrangement relative to the adaptor plate of the fuel assembly, when the consumable poison rods are inserted into the guide thimbles of the fuel assembly.
The device according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,948 may include a sleeve fixed to the guide thimble and coming to bear under the adaptor plate of the nozzle, and two components which are also mounted on the end of the guide thimble so that they can move in rotation relative to one another about the axis of the guide thimble. One of these components is a ring rotatably mounted on the guide thimble and including two radially projecting parts. The adaptor plate of the nozzle is traversed by an opening of constant cross-section, the shape of the opening corresponding to the shape of the transverse section of the ring. The ring is mounted on the end of the guide thimble projecting out of the opening of the plate, and a second component fixed to the end of the guide thimble is provided in order to immobilize the ring in the position in which the guide thimble is locked or in the position in which it is unlocked. The device for fixing the guide thimble is therefore, in the main, situated outside the nozzle above the adaptor plate.

Dismountable fuel assembly of a nuclear reactor cooled by light water


This application provides a data processing method and device, to implement bearer mapping of control plane signaling of user equipment on each interface. An IAB system includes a centralized unit CU, a distributed unit DU, a first IAB node, and a second IAB node. The method includes: generating, by the CU, a downlink F1AP message, where a message included in the downlink F1AP message is one or a combination of the following: an F1AP message of a terminal device, an F1AP message of the first IAB node, and an RRC message of the second IAB node; and sending, by the CU, the downlink F1AP message to the DU, and indicating that a message type of the message included in the downlink F1AP message is one of the following: an RRC message type, an F1AP message type, or an RRC message type and an F1AP message type.

To ensure deployment and application of a future cellular network, a technology that supports wireless backhaul can provide more flexible and dense deployment of NR cells. This technology is an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) technology. A 5th generation (5G) new radio (NR) technology can provide a bandwidth larger than that in a long term evolution (LTE) technology. Therefore, in NR, the wireless backhaul may provide extended coverage for an NR cell, and may also provide capacity enhancement for the NR cell.
An IAB network architecture mainly includes user equipment, one or more relay nodes, a donor base station, and a core network. The relay node may be a relay node or an IAB node. The donor base station may be a donor gNB or an IAB donor. A link between the user equipment and the relay node is referred to as a radio access link, a link between relay nodes and a link between the relay node and the donor base station are both referred to as a wireless backhaul link, and the donor base station is connected to a core network through an NG interface.
Further, both the donor base station and the relay node in the IAB network architecture may use an architecture in which a centralized unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU) are separated, that is, the donor base station may include a CU and a DU, where the CU is connected to the DU through an F1 interface, and the CU is connected to the core network through the NG interface. The relay node includes one DU and one MT (Mobile Termination). The DU of the relay node communicates with the CU of the donor base station through an air interface link. Therefore, how to implement bearer mapping of control plane signaling and user plane data of the user equipment on each interface in the IAB architecture is a problem that urgently needs to be resolved.


The present invention provides polynucleotides encoding stem cell antigens, the partial sequences for which were initially isolated from THP-1 and bladder tumor cDNA libraries and which identify and encode novel human stem cell antigens. The invention provides for genetically engineered expression vectors and host cells comprising the nucleic acid sequences encoding the stem cell antigens.

Sca-2 is a member of the LY-6 family, a group of small cysteine rich proteins which are widely expressed on the surface of lymphoid cells. These proteins are anchored to the cell membrane by a glycosylphosphotidyl-inositol (GPI) moiety and show conserved protein sequence important for tertiary structure. The general structure seen within the LY-6 family resembles that of the receptor for a urokinase-type plasminogen activator and the alpha-neurotoxins isolated from snake venoms (Fleming T J et al (1993) J Immunol 150:5379-90; Ploug M and V Ellis (1994) FEBS Lett 349:163-8).
Intrathymic T cell precursors express Sca-2. In fact, the progeny of the intrathymic precursor cells continue to express Sca-2 until they transition from blast cells to small cells. During this transition, expression of Sca-2 is downregulated. In contrast, Sca-2 is not expressed on the hematopoietic stem cells of the bone marrow which give rise to T cell precursors or on mature thymocytes and peripheral T cells; however, peripheral B cells are Sca-2 positive.
In studies involving interferon gamma induced murine kidney, Blake P G et al. (1993; J Am Soc Nephrol 4:1140-50) showed a high level of expression of LY-6s associated with lupus nephritis. Such expression makes these molecules either candidates or targets for alloresponses and autoimmune disease. Upregulation of LY-6 was also associated with mercuric chloride nephropathy.
Sca-2 is also related to the mouse thymocyte marker, TSA-1 (Godfrey D I et al. (1992) J Immunol 148:2006-11). TSA-1 is expressed on immature thymocytes and a subset of thymic medullary epithelial cells and appears to be a unique molecule for discriminating between mature and immature thymocytes. TSA-1 is distinct from CD5, CD11a/18, Thy-1, LY6A/E, LY6C, ThB, CD25, and CD44. TSA-1 appears to play a role during positive selection in the transition from CD4+CD8+ thymocytes to the mature CD4+CD8- and CD4-CD8+ subsets (MacNeil I et al. (1993) J Immunol 151:6913-23).
Katz et al(1994; Int J Cancer 59:684-91) showed that LY-6 is highly expressed on non-lymphoid tumor cells originating from a variety of tissues in mice. Upregulation or high expression is correlated with a more malignant phenotype which results in higher efficiency of local tumor production. Since cells with high or low expression show no differences in vitro, it is suggested that micro-environmental factors operating in vivo contribute to malignant phenotype. Katz also noted that antibodies to LY-6 transduce proliferation.
LY-6 proteins also block interleukin 2 (IL-2) secretion (Fleming T J and T R Malek (1994) J Immunol 153:1955-62). IL-2 is an approved anticancer agent and key regulatory hormone in cell-mediated immunity. It stimulates the proliferation of both T and natural killer cells and activates NK cells. In vitro, activated NK cells can directly lyse freshly isolated, solid tumor cells. Fleming also reported that controlled administration of high doses of IL-2 and autologous NK cells (expanded ex vivo) produced favorable responses in patients with metastatic melanoma and renal cell carcinoma.
Understanding the correlations among high expression of Ly-6 family proteins, blocking of IL-2 secretion, and alloresponses or malignancy may allow new approaches to transplantation and treating carcinomas. Identification of novel stem cell antigens provides increased opportunities to develop the diagnostic and pharmacological tools and drugs to intervene in autoimmune diseases, problems arising with allografts and tumor development.


A mechanism is provided for resource management. A first network interface card in a set of network interface cards receives network data from one or more servers in a set of servers. Responsive to the first network interface card determining that a first threshold has been met indicating that an overload condition is imminent in the first network interface card, the first network interface card sends a resume signal to a second network interface card in the set of network interface cards. Responsive to the first network interface card determining that a second threshold is being met indicating that the overload condition has been met in the first network interface card, the first network interface card delegates the network data that caused the overload condition to be met to the second interface card.

The present application relates generally to an improved data processing apparatus and method and more specifically to mechanisms for improving network efficiency and power savings.
Most modern computing devices make use of input/output (I/O) adapters and buses that utilize some version or implementation of the Peripheral Component Interconnect standard, which was originally created by Intel in the 1990s. The Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) standard specifies a computer bus for attaching peripheral devices to a computer motherboard. PCI Express, or PCIe, is an implementation of the PCI computer bus that uses existing PCI programming concepts, but bases the computer bus on a completely different and much faster serial physical-layer communications protocol. The physical layer consists, not of a bi-directional bus which can be shared among a plurality of devices, but of single uni-directional links, which are connected to exactly two devices.

International Business Machines Corporation


A secure device includes a memory capable of storing information. The secure device also includes a secure microcontroller capable of securing the information in the memory. The secure microcontroller includes a plurality of registers. The secure microcontroller also includes combinatorial logic capable of receiving at least one output value provided by at least one of the registers. The combinatorial logic is also capable of performing one or more combinatorial operations using the at least one received output value. In addition, the secure microcontroller includes dummy cycle circuitry capable of causing one or more of the registers and the combinatorial logic to change state and consume current during one or more dummy cycles.

Smartcards and other secure devices are routinely used to identify personnel or provide other security features. For example, smartcards are often used to identify particular computer users, where authorized users may use a computing device or access a computing system after identification. As another example, smartcards are often used in television distribution systems, such as in cable and satellite television receivers, to control which customers receive service.
Hackers and other people routinely attempt to illicitly access secure information stored on smartcards or other secure devices. Different techniques have been used to access information stored on the smartcards and other secure devices, such as current analysis and electromagnetism analysis. Conventional smartcards previously used "dummy cycles" in an attempt to defeat these techniques. Dummy cycles represent periods of time where the conventional smartcards attempt to mask their normal operations. In theory, by randomizing when dummy cycles are used, it is more difficult to identify how the conventional smartcards operate and to access the secure information. However, dummy cycles typically create a recognizable signature that can be detected with accurate current analysis or electromagnetism analysis, allowing the protection provided by the dummy cycles to be easily overcome.

System and method for using dummy cycles to mask operations in a secure microcontroller


Security mechanisms detect and intervene in a malicious attack against a runtime function, even in the presence of a coding flaw such as a buffer overrun or overflow. One such exemplary mechanism uses a predetermined security list of the valid targets for a first runtime function (such as longjmp). For every call to a second runtime function (e.g., setjmp) that prepares for a later invocation of the first runtime function, the dispatcher finds and stores a reference to this list. When a subsequent attack targets the runtime functions by creating an attacker-provided setjmp target address (e.g., the attack overwrites the longjmp target address so that the pointer points somewhere else, such as code provided by the attacker or code that already exists that will eventually pass control to code provided by the attacker), the new (attacker provided) target address is compared to a reference list of the real (valid) target addresses. The list of real target addresses is stored in memory. If the target address that has been provided is found on the reference list, then the runtime function (e.g., longjmp) is allowed to continue to execute by the dispatcher (which may be the actual runtime function). Otherwise, the dispatcher assumes the application is under attack and terminates the process' execution.

Computer programs often contain flaws, and in some instances these flaws can be exploited in such a way that a security or privacy violation is possible. Conventionally, these flaws could only be prevented by careful testing and code review. Unfortunately, these techniques are not perfect and often production code is released with security flaws. It is desirable to detect a flaw and intervene at the time of attack.
A runtime library is a library of routines that are bound to a program during execution. Exemplary C runtime functions are setjmp and longjmp. The setjmp function saves a stack environment, which can subsequently be restored using longjmp. When used together, setjmp and longjmp provide a technique to execute a nonlocal goto. They are typically used to pass execution control to error-handling or recovery code in a previously called routine without using the normal calling or return conventions.
Conventionally, a call to setjmp saves the current stack environment in "env". A subsequent call to longjmp restores the saved stack environment and execution locale previously saved in env. longjmp returns control to the point just after the corresponding setjmp call. Execution then resumes at that point. All variables (except register variables) accessible to the routine receiving control contain the values they had when longjmp was called. These runtime functions store information in a structure of type jmp_buf. The jmp_buf structure contains a code pointer along with other information.
Runtime functions may put information, such as pointers, on a stack. This has provided attackers with an opportunity to maliciously attack the runtime function model by attacking the stack or the information pointed to by the pointers on the stack. In particular, an attacker can overrun (i.e., overflow) a buffer (e.g., a jmp_buf structure) that can provide the opportunity to rewrite a return address. Because the return address was corrupted (e.g., by being overwritten), the operating system passes control of the program to arbitrary code supplied by the attacker. It is thus desirable to intervene in the middle of an attack and stop an attacker from hijacking the computer or otherwise interfering with the normal operation of the computer. Moreover, it is desirable to protect against an attacker modifying a jmp_buf structure via a buffer overflow or other means.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and methods that overcome the limitations and drawbacks of the prior art.

Protection against runtime function attacks


An electrical connector includes a housing having a signal contact section and a power contact section. The housing has a plurality of signal contact channels at the signal contact section and a plurality of power contact channels at the power contact section. A signal contact assembly is coupled to a rear of the housing and has a plurality of signal contacts. The signal contacts are configured to be terminated to a circuit board. A power contact assembly is coupled to the rear of the housing and has a plurality of power contacts received in corresponding power contact channels. The power contacts are terminated to ends of power wires. The power wires are configured to be electrically connected to the circuit board remote from the signal contacts.

The subject matter herein relates generally to electrical connectors that provide an interconnection between circuit boards.
Electrical systems, such as those used in networking and telecommunication systems, utilize connectors to interconnect electrical components and route power through the system. The electrical connectors are mounted to circuit boards, such as motherboards, daughtercards, backplanes, line cards, switch cards and the like. In conventional systems, line and switch cards are connected to backplanes using midplane circuit boards. The midplane circuit boards include header connectors on both sides of the midplane circuit board, such header connectors being mated to receptacle connectors on the daughter cards that plug into the midplane. Midplanes add cost and additional electrical routing complexity to systems. Some known systems eliminate the need for the midplane circuit boards by using direct plugging of electrical connectors on the daughter cards on one side of the system to the daughter cards on the other side of the system. The daughter cards on opposite sides of the system are typically orthogonal to each other (for example, the daughter cards on the front side are horizontal while the daughter cards on the rear side are vertical, or vice versa), which makes connector design difficult.
Furthermore, system demands are increasing. For example, some systems require power connectors to transmit power between the circuit boards. However, due to the arrangement of the circuit boards in orthogonal orientations, placement of the connectors, and transmission of power, is difficult. For example, separate power connectors are provided and mating of such power connectors is difficult due to the relative orientations of the circuit boards. Further, the routing of power on a circuit board can be difficult. Significant space must be reserved for power to be routed through power connectors to various components located in the system.
A need remains for an electrical connector system that provides power and data signal transmission between orthogonal circuit boards; and can reduce the space requirements needed for routing power on a circuit board.

Electrical connector having a signal contact section and a power contact section


An apparatus for manufacturing a guitar string includes a table part; a holding part holds both ends of a first wire so that the first wire is rotatable; a winding part which is movable in a direction in which the first wire is extended, so that the winding part sequentially winds a second wire around on the outer surface of the first wire being rotated; and a supply part for supplying the second wire to the winding part, wherein the supply part includes a height measuring part; a first pulley part including a movable pulley and a movable body; a bobbin part around which the second wire has been wound; a motor part for rotating the bobbin part; and a control part which controls the speed of the second wire supplied to the winding part by controlling the operation of the motor part.

The guitar is one of the popular musical instruments in our lives. In general, guitar strings are classified into a wound string and a plain string. The wound string refers to one which is made by winding a wrap wire tightly around a core wire, and the plain wire refers to one including only a core wire without a wrap wire. In the case of a 6-string guitar, plain strings are usually used for the 1st and 2nd strings, and wound strings are used for the 3rd to 6th strings.
A metal steel wire such as a piano wire, or a strong synthetic fiber may be used as the core wire of the plain or wound string. An alloy wire made of copper and zinc may be usually used as the wrap wire, and an appropriate amount of phosphorus may be added to the alloy wire if necessary.
In order to manufacture a wound string, a process of winding a wrap wire around a core wire is essential. However, when the wrap wire is supplied to the core wire to wind the wrap wire around the core, if the tension applied to the wrap wire is not constant, the manufactured wound string may be defective or its sound quality may be deteriorated.

Apparatus for manufcturing guitar string


A third group of lenses is constructed by subsequently arranging those four lenses from an object side to an image side which include a positive lens, a cemented lens of a positive lens and a negative lens, and a positive lens, both of a surface of the third group of the lenses nearest to the object side and a surface of the third group of the lenses nearest to the image side are so aspheric that positive refractive power becomes gradually weaker as a location of the third group of the lenses departs from an optical axis; and a following conditional formula is satisfied:−0.5<(Y′ max/R34I)<0.0                where R34I is a curvature radius of the surface of the third group of the lenses nearest to the image side, and Y′ max is a maximum image height.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens capable of selectively setting zooming to a desired focal length within a range of a predetermined focal length, and particularly, to a zoom lens aimed to achieve widening of a field angle of a wide-angle end and high magnification power in addition to miniaturization and improvement in performance, which is suitable for a camera utilizing an electrically imaging device such as a digital camera and a video camera, and to a lens unit, a camera and a portable information terminal device using such a zoom lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
A camera of a type that images an image of a subject to be photographed with a solid-state imaging device such as a CCD (Charge-Coupled Device) imaging device or the like, acquires image data of a static image (still image) or a motion image (movie image) of the subject thereby, and digitally stores the acquired image data into a nonvolatile semiconductor memory or the like represented by a flash memory, which is referred to as a digital camera or an electronic camera etc., has been generalized already. Such a type of camera is rapidly replacing a conventional type of camera utilizing a traditional silver salt film, more specifically, the silver salt camera.
A market for such a digital camera has been a very large one, and the user's demands for the digital camera have been ranged in scope. In particular, improvement in image quality and miniaturization of the digital camera are always the user's demand, and are of large interest of the user. Therefore, compatibility of improvement in performance and miniaturization is requested for a zoom lens used as a photographing lens as well.
In order to accomplish the miniaturization, it is necessary to shorten an overall length of lenses when in use, in other words, to shorten a distance from a lens surface which is nearest to an object side to an image plane, and also, it is important to reduce thickness of each group of lenses to curb the overall length at the time of storage. In addition, to accomplish the improvement in performance, it is necessary to secure resolving power corresponding to an imaging device having the number of pixels of at least 3 million to 5 million pixels or more throughout the entire zooming range.
Additionally, there are number of users who desire widening of a field angle of the photographing lens, so that it is desirable to provide a half field angle of a wide-angle end of the zoom lens to be more than 38 degrees. 38 degrees of the half field angle is equivalent to a focal length of 28 mm in terms of a 35 mm silver salt camera using a 35 mm size (so-called Leica size) silver salt film.
Furthermore, it has been desired that magnification power of zooming is as large as possible. It is considered to be possible to deal with most of the general photographing if a zoom lens has a focal length of worth 28 mm to 135 mm in terms of the 35 mm silver salt camera, and the magnification power of such a zoom lens is approximately 4.8 times. Accordingly, equivalent or higher magnification power with respect to such a zoom lens is desired in the digital camera as well.
Meanwhile, there are many types of zoom lenses which can be considered for the zoom lens to be used in the digital camera. A zoom lens having more than four groups of lenses has a tendency that total thickness of the entire lens systems becomes large, and consequently, there is a limit in shortening of the overall length of lenses and is not suitable for miniaturization, accordingly. Also, as a most general type of zoom lenses having magnification power of 3 times, there is a zoom lens comprising a first group of lenses having a negative focal length, a second group of lenses having a positive focal length and a third group of lenses having a positive focal length which are subsequently arranged from an object side to an image side, and having an aperture stop provided at the object side of the second group of the lenses that moves integrally with the second group of the lenses, and in accordance with changes in magnification power carried out from a short focal end to a long focal end, the second group of the lenses monotonously moves from the image side to the object side, and the first group of the lenses moves so as to correct fluctuation of an image plane position caused in accordance with the magnification power.
However, the zoom lens of such a structure is not suitable for attaining high magnification power exceeding magnification power of 4 times.
Within the zoom lenses of such a structure mentioned above, there is a type of zoom lenses, in which the number of group of lenses is three, which is less, and which is suitable for attaining relatively high magnification power, comprising a first group of lenses having a positive focal length, a second group of lenses having a negative focal length and a third group of lenses having a positive focal length which are subsequently arranged from an object side to an image side, and having an aperture stop provided between the second group of the lenses and the third group of the lenses, and in accordance with changes in magnification power carried out from a wide-angle end to a telephoto end, at least the first group of the lenses and the third group of the lenses are moved such that an interval between the first group of the lenses and the second group of the lenses becomes gradually larger and an interval between the second group of the lenses and the third group of the lenses becomes gradually smaller. The zoom lenses of such a type is, for reference, disclosed in JP-A H11-109236, JP-A H11-142733, JP-A H11-242157, etc.
More specifically, the zoom lens disclosed in JP-A H11-109236 has large magnification power of 10 times, but the half field angle in the wide-angle end is obtained only to the extent of 31 degrees, which is totally insufficient in terms of the widening of the field angle. Also, JP-A H11-142733 discloses an example of the zoom lens having the magnification power of 3 times to 5 times and in which the half field angle in the wide-angle end is 25 degrees to 34 degrees. However, according to the detailed example thereof, the variable ratio of only 3 times is maintained in an example in which a zoom lens having a relatively wide half field angle of 34 degrees in the wide-angle end is shown, which cannot be said that compatibility of the widening of the field angle and the achievement of the high magnification power is sufficient. The zoom lens disclosed in JP-A H11-242157 has the magnification power of 3 times to 6 times and is relatively compact in size, but similar to the case in JP-A H11-109236, the half field angle in the wide-angle end is maintained only to the extent of 31 degrees, which is, again, insufficient in terms of the widening of the field angle.

Zoom lens, lens unit, camera and portable information terminal device


A device to introduce bottles into a lyophilization chamber of a lyophilization machine provided at least with an arrival plane of the bottles and with a deposit plane inside the lyophilization chamber comprises at least limited feed means cooperating with a thruster bar to move it along an approach travel in the direction from the arrival plane to said deposit plane. The introduction device also comprises pantograph means connected to the limited feed means and to the thruster bar and configured to extend with respect to the limited feed means and toward the deposit plane, at least by the defined amount necessary to introduce the bottles completely into the lyophilization chamber.

It is known that in the treatment chambers of lyophilization and/or sterilization machines (hereafter lyophilization machines only) there are normally several deposit planes which are mobile from a feed/discharge position to an inactive or holding position. In this way, the deposit planes can be positioned co-planar on each occasion with a plane on which the bottles, vials and various containers (hereafter only bottles) arrive and are arranged, so as to determine a continuity between the deposit plane and the arrival and arrangement plane (hereafter only arrival plane) and allow to feed or discharge the bottles.
To this purpose, the arrival plane cooperates with means to feed bottles and means to discharge bottles.
The arrival plane also cooperates with translation means that thrust the bottles on the deposit plane or remove them once treatment is finished. All this is known.
It is also known that the translation means are of various types and must normally be equipped with movement means.
In the case of translation means which on each occasion, with every row of bottles or groups of rows of bottles, make said row/rows advance as much as is necessary to leave free the space for preparing the next row/rows, and then retreat, the problem arises that the same translation means are able to make the rows of bottles advance only to a certain point. In order that the translation means can make the rows of bottles advance, which bottles will then occupy all or almost all the deposit plane of the lyophilization machine, it is obligatory to provide particular auxiliary thrust means.
The auxiliary thrust means can be pistons, motion feed cables, auxiliary translators, etc.
The thrust means have disadvantages, such as considerable bulk, mechanical complications, electric and electronic complications, maintenance problems, cleaning problems, problems regarding the release of dust, etc.
These disadvantages are all poorly supported in particular environments such as those where pharmaceutical products are treated.
The purpose of the present invention is therefore to simplify known translation means using an introduction device that is simple, easy to make, compact, easy to maintain, which does not emit either dust or particular fumes, and which requires only minimum maintenance and cleaning.
The Applicant has devised, tested and embodied the present invention to overcome the shortcomings of the state of the art and to obtain these and other purposes and advantages.

Device for introducing bottles into a lyophilization chamber

I.M.A. INDUSTRIAL MACCHINE AUTOMATICHE S.P.A.


A hot air extraction vaporizer that is provided with a heat exchanger, a filling chamber for accommodating a substance generating an aerosol when subjected to heat, and a vaporizer outlet for inhaling the aerosol/air mixture. The heat exchanger is in a thermally conductive connection with the filling chamber that when heated up subjects the substance to radiant heat. The heat exchanger is provided with at least one airflow channel generating a hot airflow. The filling chamber comprises at least one of airflow passages and a mesh allowing the hot airflow to pass through the filling chamber and the substance provided therein.

The invention relates to a hot air extraction vaporizer comprising a heater for heating a substance that generates an aerosol when subjected to heat and mixes into an airflow when this airflow flows through the substance, and can either be inhaled via a mouthpiece after being stored in an intermediate storage volume or can be inhaled directly.
Such therapeutic vaporizer apparatuses for generating aroma and/or active ingredient vapors for inhalation are known from the prior art in various styles. For example, the German patents DE 100 42 396 B4 and DE 198 03 376 C1 are mentioned in this connection. These vaporizers provide thermal vaporization and subsequent inhalation of substances that vaporize under heat and form an aerosol.
Simple hot air in extraction vaporizers only have a heated filling chamber for heating the substance to be vaporized via heat radiation. These are inexpensive to manufacture but provide only a somewhat insufficient vaporization since the non-heated air flowing into the filling chamber and seeping through the substance provided therein has a cooling effect and therefore interrupts the vaporization process. This requires then waiting until the radiant heat of the filling chamber has heated up the substance again to the extent that it can be vaporized. Hot air extraction vaporizers that operate only on the basis of radiant heat are at best suitable for pure substances but are operational only to a limited extent when vaporizing aromas or active ingredients from medicinal herbs.
More efficient is a method where the substance is subjected to a hot airflow that is heated by passing a heat generator. The hot air seeps through the filling chamber holding the substance, wherein the substance vaporizes and its active ingredients, for instance medicinal herbs, are vaporized (extracted) from a substrate and then mixed into the hot air. This hot air may carry for instance all aromas and/or active ingredients is then inhaled as breathing in air after it has been cooled down to a temperature that is comfortable for inhaling, allowing the active ingredients to be absorbed by the lung into the blood circulation. For the purpose of the hot air extraction typically medicinal herbs or other suitable plant substances are used that are shredded to the size that is useful for the purpose of application or possibly also synthetic substances and therapeutic substances that may be provided in form of a powder. It is also possible to vaporize liquid substances. For forming an aerosol, the substances need to be subjected for example to a temperature of for example 390° F. by the hot air. Typical evaporation temperatures range between approximately 250 to 500° F., specifically between 266 and 446° F. (130-230° C.).
For a more effective method for heating air typically a heat exchanger is used that comprises at least one air channel for the air flow that is to be heated up. The air channel may run internally through the heat exchanger or may encompass the heat exchanger from the outside. There are also implementations where electrical heating wires are provided in an open fashion within the air channel. In general, prior art hot air extraction vaporizers implement two basic principles for generating a hot airflow via a heat exchanger. According to one embodiment, the airflow may be generated by sucking out air at an outlet opening or in another alternative embodiment by blowing in air from an inlet opening of the air channel, generating the required high or low pressure either by a person's lung or by using a blower or pump, for instance a membrane pump. By the thermal contact with the heat generator the air from the environment flowing through an inlet of the vaporizer is heated up by the heat exchanger from ambient temperature to for instance 390° F. (199° C.) depending on a temperature and a volume flow through the air channel. The temperature is matched with the boiling or extraction temperature for inhalation of the substance forming the aerosol so that the active ingredients and/or aromas are vaporized by the hot airflow seeping through the filling chamber and the aerosol is carried by the airflow. After passing through the filling chamber with the substance generating the aerosol the airflow carrying the aerosol is provided for breathing in or for inhaling.
However, first of all, the hot airflow as well as the cold substances and the cold filling chamber need to be heated up so that vaporization of these substances is generally possible.
By using hot air extraction vaporizers comprising a pump and an intermediate storage such as for instance a plastic inhalation bag as described in the German patent DE 19803376 C1 the disadvantages are limited since the non-enriched pure air provided for inhalation is mixed with air that has been enriched by the aromas and/or active ingredients before the mixture is inhaled from the intermediate storage. However, applying the present invention to this type of hot air extraction vaporizers including a pump and an intermediate storage would also result in a more effective vaporization.
In contrast, when using hot air extraction vaporizers using a hot airflow that is directly inhaled from the inhaler or sucked in therefrom the problem occurs that at first several breaths are required for heating up the cold substances as well as the surrounding cold filling chamber with the hot airflow since prior to heating up no vaporization can happen. Apart from this process bothering the user, the user is also not aware when exactly vaporization starts.
It is an object of the invention to improve the prior art to the extent that for hot air extraction vaporizers where inhalation is performed straight out of the vaporizer already with the first breathing in and thereafter continuously aroma vapors and active ingredient vapors are provided.

Vaporizer with combined air and radiation heating