An apparatus and method for preventing condensation in a selected area of a printing press, for example a dampener system, by, for example, controlling the air temperature surrounding the dampener system by cooling, heating or changing the humidity of the air such that the temperature difference between the components of the dampener system and the surrounding air has a desired value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for preventing condensation in machines processing web-like material. More particularly, the present invention relates to an apparatus and method for preventing condensation in a printing press by controlling temperatures in an area of a printing unit of a printing press.
2. Description of the Related Art
In print shops and press testing facilities there has been a problem that on high-speed machines, condensation occurs on those safety elements, such as finger guards, vital to protecting the press operating staff as well as on other sub-systems of the printing press. Condensation on a guard can be, for example, in the form of droplets on the surfaces which can collect to form drops dripping either onto the surface of the web-type material to be printed upon or into the printing unit itself, thereby causing print defects and other undesirable conditions. Condensation below the web-type material can cause print defects as well, for example, when droplets drip onto surfaces of vibrator rollers or the like of a lower printing unit.
Even on other printing unit components such as shields, rails, frame parts or tail tuckers, condensation may also occur in the form of droplets dripping on the web or on components of the ink train, thus posing a risk for maintaining print quality. For example, condensation of water on the surface of print unit rolls, especially the rolls in the dampening system of a printing press, can have a detrimental effect on the water feed in the lithographic printing process--condensed water added to the dampening solution on a roll can exceed the capacity of the nip resulting in excess water build-up and excess water in the nip can result in unstable water feed, thereby reducing print quality. Indeed, drips onto the web can cause direct lithographic errors and condensation on a roll, especially dampener rolls, can destabilize the lithographic process.
It is an object of the present invention to prevent defects on printed material from a printing press due to condensation. It is another object of the present invention to maintain the air temperature surrounding a selected area of a printing press to prevent condensation.

Apparatus and method for preventing condensation in machines processing a web of material


Methods and systems are disclosed for sensing and assessing a patients responses to tests using a device that may include tactile input, voice input, still image analysis, and responses to visual and auditory stimuli. In one example, a method includes obtaining interactive clinical assessment data using a remote client device and a computer-based control device, the method including providing on a display of a remote client device one or more test prompts for conducting an interactive clinical assessment, each displayed test prompt instructing a user to perform an action using the remote client device in response to the test prompt, and providing on the display of the remote client device one or more potential responses of actions that may be performed in response to the test prompt.

1. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates generally to a mobile clinical assessment device itself, the methods for controlling the mobile clinical assessment device and the technology for performing these relevant clinical deficit assessments. More specifically, but not by way of limitation, this disclosure relates to devices, systems and software for facilitating the analysis and reporting of both directly and indirectly entered clinically relevant neurologic parameters, and numerically outputting the presence or absence of neurologic deficit worsening, utilizing a computing device similar in form and function to a smartphone.
2. Description of the Related Art
The current marketplace has numerous technologic devices aimed at quantifying and reporting physiologic data in the medical field. These devices are used in a wide array of settings and for various clinical uses such as home monitoring, inpatient hospital physiologic monitoring, or even monitoring of clinical and physiologic parameters in the rehabilitation setting. All of these devices have in common the ability to monitor parameters and report them to an interpreting care provider.
Many of the monitoring devices currently available focus mainly on continuously or intermittently assessing physiologic parameters (such as electrocardiogram (ECG) tracings, pulse oxymetry, forced vital lung capacity, blood sugar monitoring results, etc.). Clinical parameters are usually not included as they often require significant interaction with the patient to obtain clinical assessment data. Physiologic data monitoring is simpler and lends itself to more streamlined reporting of results.
Limitations of the prior art utilizing transmission of electrical signals such as ECG or EEG tracings include focusing on the physiologic parameters and not on meaningful clinical deficit examinations. Other applications fail to provide a reliable, inexpensive personal monitoring device that is readily compatible with existing computing devices where the clinical data can be compiled, analyzed and reported to a provider in clinically meaningful (and customizable) ways. It would be useful if the disadvantages of the prior art and other issues were addressed in a personal monitoring device configured to transmit real time clinical data.

Device and methods for mobile monitoring and assessment of clinical function through sensors and interactive patient responses


A device for detecting rotary movements includes a measuring data emitter that co-rotates with the part performing the rotary movement, and a stationary transducer which includes a magneto-resistive sensor element with a bias magnet. The measuring data emitter is an encoder having successive permanent magnet areas of alternating polarity in the direction of rotation (Y direction). The sensor element is arranged and the bias magnet is magnetized in such a way that, during rotary movement, in a preferred direction of the sensor element (Y direction) which is orthogonal to the magnetic field component (X direction) produced by the bias magnet, the magnetized areas cause a variable magnetic field component between the adjacent permanent magnet areas which is representative of the rotary movement and passes through the magneto-resistive sensor element in the Y direction.

Devices of this type are often required on automobiles to monitor the rotational behavior of the individual vehicle wheels. Wheel speed is of critical importance as an input variable for control systems, such as anti-lock systems, traction slip control systems and driving stability control systems.
Sensor devices to determine the rotational speed of wheels are known in a great number of applications. Normally, the measuring data emitter in such sensor devices is an incremental encoder which is coupled mechanically to the component or wheel the rotation of which is to be measured. Further, there is a transducer or sensor which scans the encoder. Ferromagnetic toothed wheels, toothed rings, ferromagnetic hole discs, etc., are used as encoders. When sensors are used in wheel bearings, it is also customary to employ magnetized structures as a measuring data emitter, for example, annular or circular arrangements of successive north/south poles, embedded in a mechanic carrier member.
It is also common to use so-called "passive" sensors according to the reluctance principle. These sensors use a copper coil with a permanent magnet as a transducer. The transducer is coupled magnetically to the toothed disc serving as measuring data emitter, or to any other encoder. The encoder modulates the magnetic coupling reluctance synchronously with movement, and an alternating voltage representative of the movement is induced in the copper coil. The frequency of the alternating voltage permits being evaluated as a measured quantity to determine the rotational wheel speed. The magnitude of the induced signal voltage is a function of the rotational speed and the air slot between the measuring data emitter and the transducer or between the tooth system and the sensor.
"Active" sensors, which also cover the subject matter of the present invention, are well known in the art. In principle, they are combined of a magneto-statically sensitive element and a permanent magnet which is magnetically coupled to the encoder. The encoder modulates, synchronously to movement, the magnetic coupling reluctance or the field direction, and the sensor element responds to the variation of the flux density or the movement of a field vector. Examples in the art of such magneto-statically responsive elements are Hall probes and magneto-resistive structures on the basis of permalloys. The magnitude of the signal voltage on the sensor element is responsive to the air slot, but independent of the rotational speed or the frequency.
The publication entitled "Magneto-resistive rotational speed sensor--reliable and inexpensive" (Graeger, Petersen, Elektronik 24/1992, pages 48 to 52) describes an active rotational speed sensor of such a type which interacts with a toothed disc made of ferromagnetic material that is the measuring data emitter. The actual sensor element includes a permanent magnet on the side remote from the toothed disc. The magnetic field of this magnet serves to bias the magneto-resistive sensor element and to produce the magnetic coupling reluctance with the co-rotating toothed wheel. Therefore, a permanent magnet with a relatively large volume is required to permit an air slot that is sufficient in practical operations.
An object of the present invention is to provide a device of the previously mentioned type including an active sensor element which, compared to known devices of this type, necessitates a minimum possible structural volume to permit accommodation of the device in a wheel bearing of an automotive vehicle, for example, and which also permits a largest possible air slot or distance between the measuring data emitter and the transducer.
A special feature of the device of the present invention is that the measuring data emitter has successive permanent magnet areas of alternating polarity in the direction of rotation, and that the sensor element is arranged and the bias magnet is magnetized such that the bias magnet produces a field component which extends vertical to the direction of movement of the measuring data emitter in a preferred direction of the sensor element, and that during a rotary movement, in a preferred direction of the sensor element which is orthogonal to the magnetic field component produced by the bias magnet, the magnet areas cause a varying course of field strength between the adjacent permanent magnet areas which passes through the sensor element in the direction of rotation and represents the rotary movement.
A magneto-resistive sensor element is used in the present invention because it is known to permit, under comparable conditions, larger air slots between the encoder and the sensor compared to Hall elements. The sensor element KMI 10/1 cited in the above-mentioned publication (Elektronik 24/1992) is an example of a like active rotational speed sensor element. The above-mentioned sensor element is intended for use in combination with an encoder of any ferromagnetic material. As is shown in the attached FIG. 1, the sensor comprises a magneto-resistive resistance bridge 1, an electronic evaluating circuit 2 and a permanent magnet 3 which is magnetized in the direction of the XZ plane. In operation, the sensor is coupled magnetically over a small air slot to a toothed wheel made of ferromagnetic material. The teeth are oriented in the X direction (see FIG. 1) and move on rotation of the toothed wheel in the Y direction past the side of the bridge, comprising the magneto-resistive resistors, that is opposite to the permanent magnet 3. The result is an alternating deformation of the magnetic field of the XZ plane additionally in the Y direction. The magneto-resistive bridge is so designed and arranged that it reacts to the field strength component in the Y direction by mistuning. The electronic evaluating circuit 2 mainly comprises a bridge signal amplifier with a subsequent trigger circuit which produces a binary output signal with two constant amplitude values in the area of the nominal air slot irrespective of the size of the air slot. The change in flanks of the amplitude values represents the division of the toothed wheel of the measuring data emitter. The evaluating circuit is designed so as to issue the signal in the form of a current through terminals 4. Both the sensor element and the signal-processing circuit are integrated circuits that are encapsulated in a plastic housing each. The two housings are mechanically interconnected by a system carrier member 10. Also, the system carrier member provides the electrically conductive connections.
The device of the present invention is based on the teaching that the desired reduced structural, volume and, additionally, a larger admissible air slot can be achieved by subdividing the magnetic structure into a bias magnet, which produces a magnetic field in the X direction, that is, in one of the preferred magnetic directions of the magneto-resistive sensor element, which extends orthogonally to the direction of movement of the encoder (Y direction), and the permanent magnet areas of a measuring data emitter.
In a preferred embodiment of the device of the present invention, the measuring data emitter has the shape of a disc performing the rotary movement. More preferably, the disc-shaped emitter is cylindrical in shape having an inner and outer periphery. The permanent magnet areas are distributed evenly over the periphery of the disc. Preferably, the permanent magnet areas are embedded on the outer edge periphery of the disc. Alternatively, the permanent magnet areas are embedded on the inner periphery of the disc. Appropriately, the permanent magnet areas are embedded in a mechanic carrier material or they are produced by magnetization of areas. The transducer is aligned in parallel to the disc or paraxially depending on the arrangement of the areas.
Further favorable embodiments of the present invention are set forth herein. For example, the transducer may be configured as a one-housing or a two-housing basic element, and the bias magnet may be arranged on the housing, especially on the side remote from the encoder, or it may be embedded into the housing.

Device including magnet-biased magnetoresistive sensor and rotatable, magnetized encoder for detecting rotary movements


A method of controlling a content addressable memory (CAM) device. A data structure is generated that specifies (i) a prioritized set of rules and (ii) storage locations within the CAM device for one or more match clauses of each of the rules. A new rule having a specified priority is recorded in the data structure. Candidate storage locations within the CAM device are identified within the CAM device for the match clauses of each of the rules having a lower priority than the new rule. The candidate storage locations are compared with the storage locations specified by the data structure. Each match clause for which the candidate storage location does not match the specified storage location is stored in the CAM device.

Routers are devices that direct traffic in a network. Each router in the network has a route table that typically includes routing information to enable incoming packets to be forwarded or routed to their destination in the network. Some routers forward packets based only on the destination address indicated in the packet. Other, more complex, routers forward or route packets based on policies defined, for example, by a network administrator. The latter routing schemes are commonly referred to as policy-based routing.
Policy-based routing can enable packets to be forwarded or routed in a network based on any number of criteria, including the source of the packet, the destination of the packet, the cost of forwarding the packet through different routes or paths in the network, or the bandwidth available on different routes in the network. Policy-based routing can also be used to provide a certain Quality of Service (QoS) or Type of Service (ToS) to differentiated traffic in the network. For example, one or more of the various fields (e.g., the ToS bits) in the header of an Internet Protocol (IP) packet can be used by policy-based routers to forward IP packets in a network.
Each policy-based router implements a policy through the use of route maps that define how to forward the packet in the network. Each route map statement or policy statement is referred to herein as a rule and contains one or more match clauses and a set clause. The match clauses are a series of conditions that are used to determine if an incoming packet satisfies a particular rule. If the rule is satisfied, the set clause specifies how the router should forward the packet in the network. If none of the match clauses of a given rule is satisfied, the policy-based router investigates lower priority rules.
A content addressable memory (CAM) may be used within a policy-based router to determine whether an incoming packet matches a rule. In a typical implementation, each rule is converted to one or more match clauses that are stored within respective entries in the CAM. When an incoming packet is received, it is processed by control circuitry within the router (e.g., typically a host processor and/or network processor) to determine the policy field information. The policy field information, in turn, is provided to the CAM as a policy search key. For each match clause in the CAM that matches the policy search key, a corresponding match signal is asserted, thereby enabling the host processor to determine if a given rule is satisfied.
Entries stored within a CAM are often prioritized according to storage location. For example, in a conventional CAM, entries stored at lower-numbered addresses are typically deemed to have a higher priority than entries stored at higher-numbered addresses. This presents challenges in policy-based routers, as it is often necessary to insert new rules having intermediate priorities (or higher priorities) relative to previously stored rules. For example, if a CAM device contains N rules having priorities ranging from a highest priority (0) to a lowest priority (N−1), and a new rule having a higher priority than the existing rules is to be stored, then each of the existing N rules is deleted from its current location and stored again at a lower priority location to make room for the new rule to be stored in the highest priority location. Such operation tends to be time consuming and inefficient both for the control circuitry within the router (e.g., typically a host processor and/or network processor) and the CAM.

Table management within a policy-based routing system


The invention is concerned with novel heteroaryl carboxamides of formula (I)

The invention is concerned with novel heteroaryl carboxamides of formula I and their use as inhibitors of coagulation factor Xa. Factor Xa is a serine endopeptidase composed of two disulfide-linked subunits that converts prothrombin to thrombin in the blood coagulation cascade. Inhibitors of factor Xa can be used for treating thrombotic disorders by inhibiting the formation of thrombin. Prior to the present invention, other inhibitors of factor Xa have been suggested for the inhibition of the formation of thrombin and for the treatment of related diseases. However, there is still a need for novel factor Xa inhibitors which exhibit improved pharmacological properties, i.e., an improved selectivity towards thrombin.

Abstract: wherein A, R1, R2, X, Y, Z and m are as defined in the description and in the claims, as well as physiologically acceptable salts thereof. These compounds inhibit the coagulation factor Xa and can be used for the treatment or prevention of thrombotic disorders.


Methods and nodes are provided herein that can generate reliable acknowledgements within the time-frame required to transmit a single message over a decoupled connection so as to meet the real-time requirements of the CEC protocol. Specifically, there is provided a method in a communication system, the communication system comprising a first device, a second device, a first node and a second node, the first and second nodes being connected via a decoupled connection, the method comprising sending a plurality of data packets from the first device to the second device via the first and second nodes; on receiving a data packet from the first device, providing an acknowledgement for said data packet from the first node to the first device; wherein the acknowledgement provided to the first device corresponds to an acknowledgement provided to the first node from the second device in respect of a data packet preceding said data packet.

The High-Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) is an uncompressed, all-digital audio/video interface. HDMI provides an interface between any compatible digital AV source, such as a set-top box, a DVD player, or an A/V receiver and a compatible digital audio and/or video monitor, such as a digital television.
Further developments of the HDMI standard are being made, in particular for providing wireless HDMI connections and also optical HDMI connections. In a conventional system, a number of devices are interconnected by physical HDMI leads, and write and read back operations occur over the connection without delay. However, when a wireless or optical connection is used, the physical wires effectively become 'decoupled', which means that there is a delay between a write operation on the transmit side and a read back operation as a result of the write operation.
This is not a problem for the transmission of audio and/or video data over a HDMI connection, as this transmission is unidirectional and does not require fast feedback from the destination to the source. In some cases, feedback may not be required at all. It is also not a problem for the transmission of I2C data, as although acknowledgement on every single byte is required, some delay can be tolerated by only reporting the acknowledgement of the recipient for the last byte of the transmission. In addition, the I2C bus has means for flow control via the so-called clock stretching.
However, the delay caused by decoupled connections is a problem for the transmission of Consumer Electronics Control (CEC) data. CEC is an optional protocol in a HDMI system which allows HDMI devices to pass on control functions to all or other devices in the system. These control functions can be originated by a remote control for one of the devices in the system, and can include one-touch play, system standby, one-touch record, timer programming, OSD and device menu control functions.
Although CEC data is transmitted at a relatively low bit rate, this protocol can use single byte messages, and feedback from the receiver is required effectively instantaneously after the last bit is transmitted. In addition, the CEC protocol does not have any flow control, and having different timing intervals between consecutive messages for new data and retry data increases the complexity.
If the CEC data is forwarded by a decoupled connection, it is necessary to wait for the returned acknowledgement, which means that the real-time requirements of the ack/nack message cannot be met. If the complete message was captured at the transmitter, forwarded to the receiver via the decoupled connection, and reproduced at the receiver, the message interaction between the transmitter and receiver will be affected and the real-time behaviour of the complete system will be changed.
Currently, single byte CEC messages are used for a logical address resolution protocol. The address resolution protocol relies on receiving proper acknowledgements, and unique addresses for devices are required for the active devices.


Methods of packet-based synchronization in non-stationary network environments can include accumulating timestamps transmitted in packets between master and slave devices that are separated from each other by a packet network. Operations are also performed to determine whether first timestamps accumulated in a first direction across the packet network demonstrate that a first packet delay variation (PDV) sequence observed from the first timestamps is stationary. Thereafter, estimates of at least one of frequency skew and phase offset between the master and slave clocks are acquired using a first algorithm, from the first timestamps accumulated in the first direction. These operations of determining further include determining whether second timestamps accumulated in a second direction demonstrate that a second packet delay variation (PDV) sequence observed from the second timestamps is stationary.

Clock synchronization in geographically separated devices is an important problem in a wide range of applications ranging from telecommunications to industrial automation. Due to imperfections in clock oscillators and variations in environmental conditions, individual clocks in networked systems invariably drift from one another. One proposed solution to clock drift includes using packet-based methods to synchronize multiple clocks within a network. As shown by FIG. 1, a reference or master clock may be coupled to a slave clock, which must synchronize to the master clock using information transported via an arbitrary packet network. These packet-based methods may utilize timing observations recorded in special packets. For example, according to the IEEE 1588 protocol, timing observations may be made available by two-way exchanges of special "timestamped" packets that are synchronized to a master clock and one or more slave clocks, which must all synchronize to the master clock. While this communication protocol, including the way that timestamped packets are exchanged, is well defined by the IEEE 1588 standard, the actual phase and frequency estimation tasks are only presented for elementary cases (e.g., perfectly symmetrical and fixed transit delay between master and slave devices). The problem of tracking a Master clock over a non-1588 aware network and exhibiting multiple hops and non-stationary traffic, is a challenging problem. In addition to the possible large network packet-delay variation, the clocks themselves typically drift from one another over time, due to imperfections in clock oscillators and variations in environmental conditions. Adding to the complexity of the problem, it is important to achieve synchronization in a timely manner, for many practical reasons, including telecommunication operators' ease of use.
As illustrated by FIG. 2, in one round of two-way exchanges between a master device ("Master") and a particular slave device ("Slave"), the Master first sends the Slave a packet containing its most accurate reading of the packet departure time T1. The Slave notes in time T2 the reception time of the packet (according to its own slave clock). After an arbitrary amount of time, the Slave responds to the Master with a packet departing at time T3, which the Master stamps at arrival time T4. A packet containing the value of T4 is then sent back to the Slave to complete the exchange. This process may be repeated multiple times, with the variable k indexing N exchange rounds. Accordingly, the Slave may accumulate a set {T1(k), T2(k), T3(k), T4(k)}k=1N of timestamps, from which it must extract information to synchronize to the master clock. As further illustrated by FIG. 2, clock synchronization techniques may also be devised for one-way message dissemination mechanisms.
The information to be extracted can be separated into two components: frequency and time/phase. Frequency synchronization, or "syntonization", refers to the adjustment of two electronic circuits or devices to operate at the same frequency so that the frequency skew, which is defined as a ratio between Master and Slave frequencies, approaches unity. Relatively few prior art publications address techniques to estimate frequency differences between Master and Slaves, as opposed to estimating the time/phase offset between their clocks. A survey of some recent estimation techniques is provided in an article by III-Keun Rhee et al., entitled "Clock Synchronization in Wireless Sensor Networks: An Overview," Sensors, Vol. 9 (2009). Additional estimation techniques are disclosed in an article by Kyoung-Lae Noh et al., entitled "Novel Clock Phase Offset and Skew Estimation Using Two-Way Timing Message Exchanges for Wireless Sensor Networks," IEEE Transactions on Communications, Vol. 55, No. 4, April (2007); and in J. Elson et al., entitled "Fine-grained Network Time Synchronization Using Reference Broadcasts," Proceedings of the Fifth Symposium on Operating System Design and Implementation, Boston, Mass., December (2002).
One of the most significant applications (in terms of market size) for frequency synchronization is that of mobile base station synchronization. Mobile networks using standards such as GSM, UMTS or LTE all require that each Slave base station is disciplined so as to maintain a certain maximum frequency difference from the Master base station. Typically, the maximum frequency difference must be constrained to an accuracy of ±50 parts per billion (or ppb), so that a frequency ratio between the Master and Slave clocks must be within 1±50×10−9 at the air interface.
A variety of techniques exist for the estimation of frequency skew a for one-way transmissions of timestamps. Due to its simplicity and computational efficiency, one of the most popular techniques consists in using a least-squares linear regression. The resulting Least-Squares (LS) estimate typically coincides with a maximum-likelihood estimate under the assumptions that the packet delay noise is composed of Gaussian independent and identically-distributed random variables. LS-based estimates, which can be fairly robust to Gaussian-like stationary components in the noise process (even with large variance), are also permutation-invariant and robust to packet loss. LS-based estimates will also be accurate provided that the noise-free relationship between T1(k) and T2(k) is indeed linear, and especially provided the packet delay noise does not contain significant "spikes," which creates outliers. The first condition is relatively simple to satisfy if the observation window length is not too long (i.e. there is no significant drift in the master clock frequency over the observation period). However, the second condition is less likely. For example, in low- to mid-range traffic load disturbances, the noise is far from Gaussian distributed, to the point that the LS estimate may become meaningless. In non-symmetric (non-zero mean included), multi-modal noise statistics, the LS estimate can also be extremely poor.
As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,051,246 to Benesty, entitled "Method for Estimating Clock Skew Within a Communications Network," recursive and sequential algorithms such as the Kalman Filter algorithm have also been used to estimate clock skew. However, as described by the '246 patent, the packetization period (i.e., the packet rate of the Master) is considered fixed and ideally accurate, which may not be easy to guarantee in all situations. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 7,257,133 of Jeske et al., entitled "Method for Estimating Offset For Clocks At Network Elements," discloses a sufficient statistic (SS) estimator, which may operate as a minimum variance estimator within a class of linear unbiased estimators based on ordered one-way delay measurements.
Additional skew estimating techniques may be based on statistical assumptions and Maximum-Likelihood Estimators (MLE) may be derived accordingly, both in one- and two-way mechanisms contexts. These solutions can be relatively well-performing in relatively low noise conditions, but struggle in more noisy situations. With an exponential distribution assumption for the packet delay noise, the MLE for the skew in a one-way mechanism has also been found to coincide with the solution of a linear programming problem, yielding an estimate that is overall fairly robust and efficient, but may be relatively sensitive to certain types of non-exponential noise (e.g. to Gaussian-like noise). Other algorithms include Paxson's Estimator and the Piecewise Minimum Estimator. Paxson's estimator (devised for one-way data only) partitions the timestamps into non-overlapping subsets, and then uses a Theil-Sen slope estimator on the points corresponding to the minimum delays of all the subsets. This estimator can be fairly robust but typically has certain flaws. First, for large data sets, it can be computationally expensive. Second, for large initial skews, the minima will be biased towards the first or last data points within the timestamps subsets. Moreover, Paxson's estimator, like the Linear Programming algorithm, is not robust to additive Gaussian-like noise. Finally, the Piecewise Minimum Estimator also partitions the stamps into non-overlapping subsets, but then simply connects the minima to form a possibly non-straight line. Notwithstanding these techniques, there continues to be a need for frequency skew estimators that can produce accurate results regardless of the type of packet delay variation statistics (e.g., exponential, Gaussian, skewed, multi-modal, etc.) and approaches the performance of a least-squares (LS) estimator for purely Gaussian noise or Paxson's estimator for purely exponential-noise. There also continues to be a need for techniques that set up skew and/or phase algorithms capable of achieving and maintaining synchronization over arbitrary and possibly changing network traffic, in a well-defined and short period of time (e.g., by minimizing the required N exchange rounds).


A portable clothes dryer has a rectangular cabinet for storing a blower fan at a rear portion of the cabinet and shelf inserts at a front portion of the cabinet. The cabinet has vertical slots located on the inside of the cabinet side panels for receiving and storing the shelf inserts. The cabinet further has a pair of front door panels having aligned horizontal slots that extend along the inside of the front door and side panels. The shelf inserts are fitted into the horizontal slots and clothing is placed on the shelf inserts. The blower fan then circulates air about the clothing placed on the shelf inserts. After the clothes are dry, the shelf inserts are removed from the horizontal slots and placed in the vertical slots. The front door panels may then be closed and the portable clothes dryer can be conveniently stored. Rollers are provided on the bottom of the cabinet to aid in movement of the dryer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a portable clothes drying device, especially for drying sweaters and the like which are susceptible to stretching or other distortion during drying operations. More particularly, the present invention relates to a portable clothes drying device for housing a conventional blower fan and a plurality of slidably engageable horizontal shelf inserts that support the clothing during the drying operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional clothes dryer is a large machine having a heat source, an internal rotating drum, and a door. Clothing is placed inside the rotating drum and the door is closed. The clothing is rotated and heated air is circulated about the clothes. The dampened air is directly vented to the outside of the house. The clothes dryer, however, is an expensive, bulky machine that must be permanently installed and requires a great deal of electricity and/or gas to operate.
Portable clothes dryers have been developed as alternatives to the clothes dryer machine. Also, clothes lines are commonly strung outdoors and clothing is hung on the line and affixed with a pin. Likewise, standing clothes drying racks have been utilized for hanging clothes both indoor and outdoor. However, these hanging lines or standing racks require a great deal of time for the clothes to dry thoroughly. Outdoor racks subject the clothes to inclement weather, insects and debris. Indoor racks, on the other hand, require a great deal of space and dampen the immediate air.
One type of indoor drying rack is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,619 to Kaplan, in which a foldable drying rack fits over a hot air floor duct. Clothing is hung on the rack and hot air is directed through ducts in the rack to the hanging clothing. The drying rack of Kaplan, however, is clearly limited to being used only over floor ducts. This requires the floor duct, as well as the surrounding area, to be free from furniture and other obstructions. In addition, vent coverings must be removed, which may be hazardous to children in the event the rack is knocked over. Also, the Kaplan rack interferes with the heating plan of the house, and cannot be used during non-heating months.
Another portable clothes dryer is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,409,996 to Konstandt. Konstandt hangs a heated blower to extend horizontally from a wall. A hanger rod runs parallel to the blower so that clothes can be hung on the hanger. The Konstandt apparatus, however, is not portable. In addition, the clothing must be hung, which results in stretching and deformity of clothes, particularly sweaters and the like.


A method and system are provided for instantiating objects for participation in information sharing relationships. According to one technique, a copy of an object is made, where the copy includes all changes made prior to a particular point in time, and no changes made after the particular point in time. The copy is used to create a second object. Data that reflects the particular point in time is stored, and subsequently used to determine which changes should be applied to the second object. Data that indicates that the creation time of the second object is stored, and subsequently used to determine which changes should be applied to the original object.

Systems have been developed to enable the propagation and management of data, transactions and events in a data stream either within a database, or from one database to another. For example, such a system is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/308,924 now U.S. Pat. No. 6,889,231 entitled "Asynchronous Information Sharing System", filed on Dec. 2, 2002 by Benny Souder, Dieter Gawlick, Jim Stamos, Alan Downing.
In such systems, a data stream may be used to route published information to subscribed destinations. The information sharing may be unidirectional, bi-directional, or may involve numerous unidirectional and bi-directional information sharing relationships between numerous entities. The result is a new feature that provides greater functionality and flexibility than traditional solutions for capturing and managing events, and sharing the events with other databases and applications.
Typically, before information sharing relationship can begin operation, certain preliminary setup operations must be performed. For example, when the information sharing relationship is between database objects that reside in different databases, one issue in the setup and administration of such an information sharing system is how to "copy" database objects located at a source database to destination databases that are interested in the changes to these objects. In some cases, the objects may already exist at these destination databases. In other cases, it does not and needs to be created.
Another issue arises when the copy of the database object is taken at some point-in-time in the past. Specifically, in order to be consistent with the source object, changes that have occurred since the copy is taken need to be applied at the destination site. However, care must be taken to avoid reapplying changes that are already reflected in the copy.
The process of making consistent copies of database objects at destination databases is referred to herein as "instantiation". It is desirable to perform instantiation in a manner that is efficient and accurate, but which does not place a heavy burden on the administrator of the system. Specifically, it is desirable to perform instantiation without locking the source object for the duration of the instantiation operation. Further it is desirable to provide an instantiation technique that is flexible enough to take advantage of a wide variety of export mechanisms, such as pluggable/transportable tablespaces.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Instantiation of objects for information-sharing relationships


A hand-held scanner is provided for reading characters from a string of characters recorded on a substrate. The scanner may be held like a pen and moved, in contact with the substrate, along the string of characters. Movement of the scanner is sensed by a sensor. An optical system views a small area of the substrate and an optical detector detects the relative intensity of light reflected from each of several points in the area of view. To facilitate tracking, a portion of the string of characters adjacent to the area of view is clearly visible to the user. The scanner includes memory for storing codes representing individual characters. The scanner may include a computer, connected by a cable, or may be self-contained and battery operated.

Hand-held scanners used for acquiring textual information from printed sources are available but all of them are bulky, most require to be connected via cable to a computer while in use and none are capable of reading along a line of text, one character at a time, to selectively read a single line of text or a portion of a single line of text.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,887,165 to Sato discloses a portable image reader, having a detachable memory, capable of scanning a document and selectively storing bit-mapped images in its detachable memory for later transfer to a computer for OCR processing and editing. The image reader of the Sato invention is designed to operate disconnected from the body of the document editing apparatus. It is moved by hand down a document such that its viewing area covers each entire line of text in succession. There is provision for selective discard of scanned images (such as portions of a page read from the document for test purposes or portions of a page that are deemed unnecessary) to improve utilization of the limited memory available. However, the device is not capable of selectively reading individual characters from a line.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,194 to McWaters discloses a battery-operated hand-held optical character reader, including a hand-held wand and a recognition control unit, that is capable of manual scanning of alphanumeric characters. The wand includes a keyboard and a display and is designed to be moved along a line of text such as on a label or on a document. The wand provides illumination of the label or document by use of a fiber-optic light pipe. The wand is, however, attached by a cable (or by a receive/transmit unit) to the recognition control unit which is battery operated and portable but too large to be hand-held.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,185 to Yamoguchi discloses an optical character reader having a hand-held scanner whose field of view covers a plurality of characters such as for reading the characters on a price tag. This scanner provides character line deletion and selects from among horizontal optical recognition ranges of various widths corresponding to possible character heights.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,947,817 to Requa discloses a hand-held optical data reader and a processor utilizing a two dimensional array of photosensitive elements capable of operation at a high frame rate. The processor is an OCR device using hardware combinational logic. The optical data reader is connected by a cable to the processor. The invention includes timing circuitry to overcome the inaccuracies arising from the loosely constrained movement of a hand-held device.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,918,028 to Humphrey discloses a hand-held optical reader having a light source and a line-array of optical sensors and the hand-held optical reader contains OCR circuitry. The OCR circuitry is capable of recognizing a limited set of characters consisting of horizontal and vertical bars.
U.S Pat. No. 4,048,617 to Neff discloses apparatus and method for detecting and discarding characters picked up on the back scan when using a hand-held optical scan unit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,180,204 to Koenig discloses a hand-held scanner for scanning and recognizing characters on shipping labels and for marking the label on successful completion of a character recognition reading using a photosensitive dye-forming material and a UV flash.
The article "Scanners Build a Better Image", PC Magazine, Mar. 28, 1989, describes the Mitsubishi Hand-Held Image Scanner. This hand-held scanner requires cable connection to a PC and with an optional attachment is capable of reading a full 81/2 by 14 inch document. This device is not designed to scan selectively along a succession of single lines of text.
It is difficult for a user of a prior art scanner to aim the scanner and sweep the line of characters accurately because, with prior art scanners, it is impossible to view simultaneously characters before the device, directly under the device, and following the device. Accuracy of aim is critical, and the human hand is subject to variable movements that would jeopardize accurate movement.

Hand-held character-oriented scanner with external view area


A PRAM includes a memory cell array of phase change memory cells, and a write circuit receiving an externally provided first voltage and supplying a write pulse for writing data to the memory cells in a normal operation mode. The write circuit also receives an externally provided second voltage higher than the first voltage and supplies a firing pulse to at least one firing-failed phase change memory cell.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a PRAM and a method of firing memory cells in same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A Phase change Random Access Memory (PRAM) stores data using a phase change material, such as a chalcogenide alloy. The logic state of the stored data is determined by the physical state of the phase change material (e.g., a crystalline state verses an amorphous state). Contemporary phase change materials alter their physical state under defined thermal conditions (e.g., applied heating and cooling conditions). One common form of phase change material exhibits low electrical resistance in a crystalline state and a high resistance in an amorphous state. The crystalline state has been associated with a "set" logic value (i.e., a logic value of 0). The amorphous state has been associated with a "reset" value (i.e., a logic value of 1).
The fabrication of a PRAM, like all other semiconductor memory devices involves the complex sequence of fabrication processes. However, unique to the fabrication of PRAM devices, is the process of "firing". The firing process applies one or more electrical pulses of relatively significantly magnitude to a phase change memory cell. More specifically, following the fabrication of the phase change memory cell, the constituent phase change material resides in a mixed amorphous state, including material in a Face-Centered-Cubic (FCC) state, and other material in an Hexagonally-Close-Packed (HCP) state. A principal object of the firing process is to place all of the phase change material uniformly in the FCC state. Once the phase change material is placed in the FCC state, transition characteristics associated with the material may be readily predicted (i.e., conditions associated with changing the material between an amorphous state and a crystalline state may be predicted with good accuracy). This predictability allows for improved sensing margins for the constituent phase change memory cell.
The foregoing assumes that that the "firing pulse" applied during the firing process are of a sufficient magnitude to uniformly change the initial state of the phase change material. For this assumption to hold, a firing pulse of significant magnitude must be applied. However, application of a large magnitude firing pulse runs the risk of damaging one or more of the weaker phase change memory cells in a memory cell array.
Additionally, conventional PRAMs include a circuit block specifically designed to facilitate the firing process. This requirement expands the size of conventional PRAMs in direct opposition to considerable ongoing efforts to minimize its size.


According to the invention, signalling of the used common channels is carried out implicitly via the data rate. Several combinations of channels (spread codes) are only permitted as an alternative for particular data rates of the individual services. Transmission capacity is saved since it is not necessary to reserve individual bits inside the TFCI parameter uniquely for the allocation of said common channels to different connections. The invention is especially useful in the downlink of the FDD modus of UMTS mobile radio systems.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting data in a radio communication system, particularly in mobile radio systems with a broadband radio interface, also called UMTS (universal mobile telecommunication system).
2. Description of the Prior Art
In radio communication systems, data are transmitted via a radio interface using electromagnetic waves. The radio interface refers to a connection between a base station and subscriber stations, with the subscriber stations being either mobile stations or stationary radio stations. In this context, the electromagnetic waves are radiated at carrier frequencies situated in the frequency band provided for the respective system. For future radio communication systems, for example the UMTS mobile radio system or other 3rd generation systems, frequencies in the frequency band of approximately 2000 MHz are provided, with the bandwidth of a channel being 5 MHz.
By contrast, with systems like GSM (global system for mobile communications), a number of services which also can be transmitted in parallel is provided for the UMTS mobile radio system. Patent specifications EP 98 122 719 and DE 198 55 194 describe options for signaling the transport formats for the combination of data for a number of services. The data for a number of services on a connection are transmitted via a jointly used physical channel in this case.
The use of jointly used physical channels for transmitting data for a number of services on a connection to a subscriber station presupposes that a unique mapping specification indicates the allocation of the services to different segments of the physical channel.
By way of example, a physical channel is defined by a frequency band and a spread code (CDMA code division multiple access) within a frame.
The following terms are customary for describing the mapping specification:
Transport Format (TF):
A transport format defines a data rate, a coding, scrambling (interleaving), a data rate adjustment by puncturing and an error protection specification for a transport channel for a service.
Transport Format Set (TFS):
This denotes a set of possible transport formats which are permitted for a specific service.
Transport Format Combination (TFC):
This term indicates a possible combination of transport formats for the various services which are mapped onto a common physical channel.
Transport Format Combination Set (TFCS):
This denotes a set of possible TFCs as a subset of all TFCs which are permitted for a specific connection.
Transport Format Combination Identifier (TFCI):
This information item indicates the currently used combination of transport formats within the TFC.
In order to be able to select the currently used combination of transport formats for the various services in line with requirements, the TFC needs to be able to be changed, and hence the TFCI needs to be signaled regularly. This signaling ties up transmission capacity, however. The greater the number of possible combination options (TFCS), the more capacity is required for signaling.
In the case of the broadband CDMA system chosen for the FDD mode (FDD frequency division duplex) for the UMTS mobile radio system, when transmitting from the base station to the subscriber station in the downlink direction, the problem arises that the number of orthogonal spread codes which are useful is limited, which makes it more difficult to support variable data rates. Thus, with relatively high traffic densities in the system, it is not possible to allocate to all subscriber stations as many dedicated (i.e., used exclusively by the subscriber station) channels (DCH) as they need for transmission at their respective highest data rate.
For this reason, common channels, "shared channels" (DSCH downlink shared channel), are defined in the downlink direction, in this regard cf. ETSI, SMG2, UMTS-L1, Tdoc SMG2 UMTS-L1 559/98, dated Nov. 9, 1998. The common channels are formed within the broadband frequency band by spread codes which are temporarily allocated to various connections or subscriber stations for the duration of one or more frames in each case. In this context, however, the problem arises of how it is possible to signal to a subscriber station with minimum complexity whether information is being transmitted for the subscriber station and, if so, in which of these common channels.
In addition, ETSI SMG2 UMTS-L1, Tdoc SMG2 UMTS-L1 559/98, dated Nov. 9, 1998, discloses that the data rates for the services transmitted using time-division multiplex are signaled using the TFCI parameter, which is transmitted during each frame as part of the control information; i.e., in-band. To ensure rapid allocation of common channels, explicit signaling is proposed which uses a particular number of these TFCI bits exclusively for the purpose of indicating a particular spread code (cf. penultimate page).
This solution has the drawback that, as a result of this, for a given number of TFCI bits, the number of combination options for transport formats for the services is significantly limited, which has a considerable effect on flexibility when transmitting variable data rates.
The present invention is, therefore, directed to a method and a radio communication system which, when using common channels for a number of connections, increase the flexibility of resource allocation when transmitting variable data rates.

Methods and apparatus for transmitting data in a radio communication system including signaling allocation of a common channel


A system for automatically controlling the position of a tractor-trailer rearview mirror to maintain unobstructed vision in the mirror during turns employs a pair of ultrasonic transducers mounted on the external rear wall of the tractor on opposite sides of the centerline thereof so as to project ultrasonic sound beams onto the forward wall of the trailer. A control circuit determines the difference in the two path lengths, indicating the degree of turning of the vehicle, to generate control signals to a mirror rotating motor. A third transducer may be mounted for rotation with the mirror and directs an ultrasonic beam along the zone immediately beside the trailer for detecting persons or objects within the zone and actuating an alarm in the event of such detection.

Tractors used for pulling semi-trailers are commonly equipped with two external rear view mirrors, these mirrors generally being rectangular and mounted on brackets extending laterally from opposite sides of the tractor cab with provision for at least direct manual adjustability about the vertical axes of the mirrors to provide the driver with views rearwardly along the sides of the trailer. When a tractor trailer turns, the tractor rotates relative to the trailer about the fifth wheel and, with the conventional fixed position rear view mirror installations, the lines of sight of the mirrors likewise rotate relative to the trailer so that the mirror on the side of the turn is aimed toward the side of the trailer, preventing the driver from viewing completely the area to that side of the trailer. Due to the greater distance between the driver and the right or off side mirror than that to the left mirror, the field of view provided by the right mirror is quite narrow, about 2.degree., and, consequently, the problem of obstructed rear vision on this side during turning maneuvers is of particular concern.
In order to overcome this problem, a number of mirror positioning systems have been devised. Among these are driver actuated remote positioning systems such as those shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,792,220, Janowicz and 4,798,967, Yamana et al. A disadvantage of such systems, however, is that their operation requires the driver to divert attention from steering and watching conditions forward and lateral of the vehicle. Positioning systems for automatically rotating the mirror in response to changes in the angular relation of the trailer to the tractor eliminate the requirement of driver intervention. These systems include ones employing mechanical linkages, for example, the systems disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,988,957, Kotora, Jr.; 3,166,630, Esslinger; 3,208,343, Prochnow; 3,527,528, McKee et al.; 3,536,382, McKee et al.; 3,640,608, McKee et al.; 3,761,164, McKee et al. and 3,950,080, McKee et al., and ones having rotation sensors and electrical controls for mirror rotation, examples of which are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,469,901, Cook et al.; 3,749,480, De Witt et al. and 4,609,265, McKee et al. The relative complexity of these latter systems, the requirement of modification of either or both the tractor and the trailer and the loss of flexibility in the use of a given tractor with many trailers have limited the adaption of such systems.
When a tractor trailer is turning, the trailer does not directly follow the path the tractor. Rather, the rear wheels of the trailer follow a path offset in the direction of the turn so that there is lateral movement of the trailer in this direction and this effect is more pronounced with longer trailers. This trailer lateral movement poses a serious risk of accident resulting from collision of the side of the trailer with an individual or object in the area in close proximity to the turning side of the tractor trailer. Rear view mirror systems which automatically rotate the mirrors to maintain vision along the side of the trailer during turning are of some value in preventing such accidents. However, during a turning maneuver the truck driver's attention is normally directed primarily to conditions forward and to the opposite side from the turn of the vehicle and serious accidents have occurred when, for example, another motorist or a bicyclist has attempted to overtake the tractor trailer on the turning side or a pedestrian has stepped in to the path of travel of the turning trailer. Among the precautions now taken against such accidents is the use of a placard displayed on the rear of the trailer bearing a legend such as "CAUTION! THIS VEHICLE MAKES WIDE TURNS!" Such a warning is of only limited value. Auxiliary convex mirrors are also used to provide increased rearward vision but such a mirror severely distorts the perspective of the image, limiting its effectiveness.
It is the primary object of the present invention to provide a positioning system for a rear view mirror of a tractor which automatically rotates the mirror to provide clear vision along the side of an attached trailer at all times.
It is also an object of the present invention to provide such a mirror positioning system which is self-contained in that the system does not require either mechanical linkage or electrical signal connections between the tractor and the trailer or with the steering mechanism of the tractor.
A further object of the invention is the provision, in conjunction with a rear view mirror of a tractor-trailer, of means for alerting the driver of any intrusion into the zones to the sides of the trailer.

Rear view mirror positioning and alerting apparatus


An air conditioner for an automobile having a passenger compartment comprising is provided, including an air control system to control a property of air entering the passenger compartment, a manual setting member through which the property of the air is manually controlled, and a control system that automatically controls the property of the air based on a control characteristic. The control system updates the control characteristic based on an input from the manual setting member and based on a variable learning rate. The variable learning rate may be based on a time value measured between a first adjustment of the manual setting member and a second adjustment of the manual setting member and based on a magnitude of the second adjustment of the manual setting member. The property of the air entering the passenger compartment may be volumetric flow rate or temperature.

The present invention relates generally to an air conditioner for automotive vehicles, and more particularly to a control system that automatically controls air entering a passenger compartment of the automotive vehicle based on a control characteristic.
An important feature for an air conditioner is an adaptive control system that develops a control characteristic based on manual adjustments made by a vehicle occupant. The control system "learns" a vehicle occupant's climate control preferences by analyzing the occupant's manual setting adjustments corresponding to various environmental conditions. The control system then automatically adjusts the air conditioning settings when similar environmental conditions reoccur.
Currently, adaptive control systems may generate an inaccurate control characteristic based on atypical manual setting adjustments by the occupant, or by frequent or over-exaggerated manual setting adjustments. Additionally, current systems may be slow to create a control characteristic due to infrequent manual setting adjustments by vehicle occupants. Therefore, it is desirous to improve the accuracy and the response time of a control system adapting to an occupant's climate control preferences.

Adaptive automotive climate control with variable learning rate


Method for calibrating or monitoring performance of an optical measurement device that includes using a robotic arm to move a reference device having an optical reference material into a signal-detecting position of the optical measurement device. With the optical measurement device, detecting an emission emitted by the optical reference material of the reference device in the signal-detecting position. Then generating a reference signal representing a characteristic of the emission detected by the optical measurement device and comparing the reference signal to an expected reference signal for the emission to calibrate or monitor the performance of the optical measurement device.

None of the references described or referred to herein are admitted to be prior art.
Various industrial and commercial processes require the accurate measurement of optical electromagnetic emissions of differing wavelengths.
For example, in the field of nucleic acid diagnostics, to detect different nucleic acids of interest, different probes configured to hybridize to different nucleic acids, each of which may provide detectibly different fluorescent emission signals, can be used. Different probes configured to hybridize to different targets can be formulated with fluorophores that fluoresce at a predetermined wavelength when exposed to excitation light of a prescribed excitation wavelength. Assays for detecting different target nucleic acids can be performed by alternately exposing sample material to different excitation wavelengths and detecting the level of fluorescence at the wavelength of interest corresponding to the probe for each target nucleic acid of interest. Parallel processing can be performed using different signal-detecting devices constructed and arranged to periodically measure signal emissions during the assay process, and with different signal-detecting devices being configured to generate excitation signals of different wavelengths and to measure emission signals of different wavelengths to thereby detect the different nucleic acid of interest. Because the probe hybridizes to the targeted sequence or its complement in a manner permitting detection of a signal indicating the presence of the targeted sequence in a sample, the strength of the fluorescent signal is proportional to the amount of target sequence or its complement that is present in the sample.
In general, an optical measurement device ("OMD") configured to measure an optical emission signal (e.g., detect the presence or absence of and/or determine the intensity of) will include components for generating an excitation signal, directing the excitation signal at a target, receiving an optical emission signal from the target, and generating an electrical signal, such as a current and/or voltage, corresponding to the strength or intensity of the emission signal received. Such an OMD may comprise, for example, a fluorometer configured to direct an excitation signal of a prescribed wavelength at a target and generate an output signal, such as a current or voltage, based on receipt of a fluorescent emission signal of a prescribed wavelength from the target. Such an OMD may comprise a light-emitting element, such as a light-emitting diode (LED), a light-detecting element, such as a photodiode, optic elements, such as one or more lens(es), filter(s), mirrors, optical collimators, optical wave guides (such as optic fibers), beam splitters, etc., and integrated circuits. The OMD may include a housing or other structure on which components of the OMD are supported. Such a housing may provide a window through which excitation light passes out of the housing and emission light passes into the housing, but the housing may otherwise provide a light-tight environment to minimize the influence of stray light on the emission signal detection. The optic elements may define optic paths from the light-emitting element to the window and from the window to the light-detecting element.
Suitable signal-detecting devices include fluorometers, such as a fluorometer described below. An automated nucleic acid diagnostic instrument may be configured to process numerous samples carried in multiple receptacles, and each fluorometer may be configured to take fluorometric readings from the receptacles as they are indexed past the fluorometer, or as the fluorometer is indexed past the receptacles, for example, once every 3 seconds. Thus, 1200 times for each hour of operation of the instrument, each fluorometer generates an excitation signal that is directed at the sample receptacle and measures the emission signal emitted by the contents of the receptacle, generating an electrical signal that is proportional to the intensity of the emission signal.
OMDs, such as fluorometers, are susceptible to generating false, poor, and/or inconsistent readings for a number of reasons, including inherent differences between individual fluorometers due to the manufacturing process, malfunctioning of the OMD, and accumulation of debris in the system (primarily on or around the optic element). An OMD assembly may include numerous components and tolerances in the construction and installation of such components may exist from one OMD to the next. For example, system to system variability may be created by the stacked tolerances relating the construction and installation of light sources, optic fibers, lenses, filters, mirrors, etc. Such structural variability can lead to signal variability. Thus, the signals of the OMDs can be calibrated, i.e., standardized or normalized, to the signals of a "standard" OMD detecting an emission signal from a known emission source.
A malfunction (device failure and/or deteriorated performance) by an OMD during operation of the instrument or miscalibration of the OMD will cause errors in the optical readings generated by that OMD and thereby cause errors in the diagnostic results. Such malfunctions may be due to mechanical and/or electrical failures that occur during operation of the OMD. While operation of the OMDs can be checked during routine maintenance of the instrument, such opportunities for testing are rare, since the testing can only be performed when the instrument is shut down. In some instances, the instrument is operated continuously for extended periods of time for maximum throughput. Therefore, it becomes impractical and non-cost-effective to repeatedly shut the instrument down to perform OMD functionality testing.
Calibrating an OMD, such as a fluorometer, and/or monitoring the performance of the OMD involves typically generating an emission signal (a fluorescent reference emission) of known intensity and/or wavelength. The reference emission is detected by the OMD to be calibrated or monitored and the signal generated by the OMD from the reference signal is compared to the signal to be expected from the reference emission. For calibration, if the actual and expected signals do not agree, the OMD may be adjusted as necessary, e.g., by adjusting electronic gains in the signal processing electronics, so that the signal generated by the OMD matches the expected signal.
In the past, different mechanisms have been employed for generating reference emission signals for calibrating and/or monitoring fluorometers and other OMDs.
For example, a reference emission could be generated by a light source providing an optical signal of known intensity as well as, optionally, providing a referencing signal of a known wavelength. Such a light source may comprise a light emitting diode, a laser, or a white light and appropriate filters. Such devices are difficult and expensive to build and maintain. In addition, the output of a light source may not be stable, so that a reference emission generated by the source may not be stable. Furthermore, such devices may be relatively large and bulky and may not be suitable for calibrating or testing the OMD in its normal operating environment thereby requiring that the OMD be removed from an instrument or system in which it is employed so that it can be tested and re-calibrated.
Another mechanism for generating a reference emission is the use of controlled sources that generate known optical emission signals. Such sources may comprise fluorescent sources, such as liquid dyes. Such dyes can be placed into a receptacle, e.g., a multi-well plate, and placed into a diagnostic instrument for detection by the OMD and the signal generated by the OMD can be compared to an expected signal from the fluorescent source. Such fluorescent sources can, however, be unstable and often have special storage requirements and pre-use preparation procedures. For example, liquid dyes may need to be stored in a frozen state and require special preparation procedures prior to their use. In addition, such sources may be unstable and may need to be used within a relatively short period of time following their preparation. Fluorescent dyes may also be susceptible to photo-bleaching, whereby repeated exposure of the fluorescent source to an excitation light signal may alter the emission signal over a period of time.
A third mechanism for generating a reference emission is to use emissive plastics, such as fluorescent plastics. Typical plastics used to date fluoresce at certain specific wavelengths (i.e. colors), and thus different plastics or differently-colored plastics are required for testing different fluorometers configured to detect emissions of different wavelengths. In addition, fluorescent plastics used today can be unstable and degrade over time and are susceptible to photo-bleaching. Thus, the reference emission signals generated by such plastics can be degraded over time and/or after repeated exposures to an excitation signal.
Accordingly, a need exists for means and methodologies for periodically confirming the proper functionality of the OMDs during the operation of the instrument as well as for calibrating or standardizing multiple OMDs so that they generate consistent readings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A linking device including two hinge pins and having flexibility allowing vibrations between these two shafts to be filtered. The device includes a stack of plates connected to one another by layers of elastomer material. Plates of a first type are coupled to one of the shafts in relation to the movements parallel to the plates, while the plates of a second type are coupled to the other shaft in relation to the movements parallel to the plates, so as to allow relative movement of the shafts parallel to the plates. This linking device may be used in particular as a connecting rod, spreader beam or three-point shackle used in connecting a turbine engine to a pylon in a propulsion system of an aircraft such as an airplane.

The present invention relates to a linking device including at least two shafts intended for the reciprocal articulation of two elements, and allowing filtering of vibrations between the two shafts.
The proposed linking device is intended in particular for aircraft engine attachments.
This device is intended, for example, to form a connecting rod, or a three-point shackle, or again a spreader beam for transferring thrust forces, to connect a turbine engine to a pylon, also called an EMS (Engine Mounting System). Generally speaking, such a pylon allows an engine to be suspended beneath the wing surface of an aircraft, or allows this engine to be mounted above this same wing surface or, again, allows this engine to be mounted on an aft portion of an aircraft's fuselage.
The proposed linking device is not limited to an application in the aeronautics field, and may be used for connecting two elements in any other type of application.
The invention also relates to a propulsion system for an aircraft including at least one linking device of this type, together with an aircraft fitted with at least one such propulsion system.
Airplanes' turbine engines are habitually attached to the wing surface or fuselage by means of a pylon to which the turbine engine is connected through engine attachments and thrust force transfer connecting rods.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a propulsion system 8, of the type intended to be attached laterally to an aft portion of an airplane fuselage. This propulsion system 8 includes a turbine engine 10, for example of the type having an unshrouded fan positioned at the aft, commonly called an open rotor pusher, and a pylon 12, which is partially visible, to which the turbine engine is connected. The fans, the nacelle and the air inlet of turbine engine 10 are not represented in FIG. 1, such that only the main structural casings of the turbine engine may be seen. Turbine engine 10 has a longitudinal shaft 11.
Turbine engine 10 is attached to pylon 12 mainly by a forward engine attachment 14, an aft engine attachment 16, and two thrust force transfer connecting rods 18, only one of which may be seen in FIG. 1.
FIG. 2 illustrates forward engine attachment 14 at a larger scale, together with the connection of connecting rods 18 to a rigid structure of pylon 12.
Forward engine attachment 14 includes a bracket 20 attached to pylon 12, to which a connecting rod 22 and a three-point shackle 24, also called a boomerang shackle, are connected. Connecting rod 22 is connected to bracket 20 by means of a first shaft, and is intended to he connected to turbine engine 10 by means of a second shaft. Shackle 24 is connected to bracket 20 by means of two shafts, and is intended to be connected to turbine engine 10 by means of a third shaft. The shafts of connecting rod 22 and of shackle 24 extend in parallel to longitudinal shaft 11 of the turbine engine which may be seen in FIG. 1. Finally, each of thrust force transfer connecting rods 18 is connected to a spreader beam 26, which is itself connected to bracket 20 by means of two shafts. It should be noted that the shafts of the elements described above are not represented in FIG. 2 for reasons of clarity.
However, connecting turbine engine 10 to pylon 20 by means of the elements described above causes vibrations of the turbine engine to be transferred to pylon 12.
This is particularly disadvantageous in the case of propulsion systems attached to the fuselage, as described above, since the vibrations are in that case transmitted directly to the structure of the airplane's fuselage. These vibrations are thus likely to increase wear and tear of the structure of the fuselage, and to impair the passengers' comfort.
Propulsion systems attached above or beneath the wing surface of airplanes generally include an engine attachments and thrust force transfer connecting rods configuration which is comparable to the one described above.
In these latter propulsion systems the vibrations caused by the turbine engines are in theory damped by the flexibility of the wing surface.
However, when the intensity of these vibrations is particularly high, notably in the event of a turbine engine operating incident, the vibrations of this turbine engine may also be transmitted to the structure of the airplane's fuselage.

Flexible linking device for an aircraft propulsion system


A method for generating color Doppler images is implemented in real time using digital processing steps implemented on multi-purpose microprocessors. Processing is reduced by estimating velocity only when a tissue threshold decision for a given sample indicates that the sample is not tissue. Arc tangent calculations in the velocity estimation are performed using simplified look-up tables without sacrificing accuracy. One look-up table is lineraly quantized. A second is nonlinearly quantized.

This invention relates to ultrasound imaging methods and apparatus, and more particularly to color doppler imaging methods and apparatus.
Medical imaging systems are used as diagnostic tools for viewing internal areas of a patient's body. Imaging systems based on ultrasound technology are desirable because such systems are non-invasive, portable and generally easy to use. Ultrasound energy is sound wave energy having a frequency greater than approximately 20 kHz. To generate ultrasound energy, electronic signals are input to a transducer which converts the electrical signals into ultrasound signals. Ultrasound signals, typically of 2 MHz to 10 MHz, are transmitted into a patient's body where they are in-part absorbed, dispersed, refracted and reflected. Reflected ultrasound signals are received at transducer elements which convert the reflected ultrasound signals back into electronic echo signals. The echo signals undergo beamforming to correlate the ultrasound signals. Subsequently the beam-formed signals are processed to analyze echo, Doppler, and flow information and obtain an image of the patient's targeted anatomy (e.g., tissue, fetus, vessels, blood flow).
Individual images produced by ultrasound imaging systems include discrete frames. Each frame has a limited field of view due to a relatively narrow region traversed by the transmitted ultrasound energy. As the transducer probe is manipulated along the patient's body surface, each previous image is replaced on the viewing display by a new image defined by the current position, and thus field of view, of the transducer probe. The data for generating one output image frame typically may be acquired in 20 to 200 milliseconds, depending on the desired target depth and the amount of data to be collected. To perform imaging in real time, the combined time for processing and displaying image data is not to be longer than the time spent in acquiring the data.
A B-mode image is a brightness image in which component pixels are brightened in proportion to a corresponding echo signal strength. The brightness image represents a two dimensional cross section of a patient target area through a transducer's scanning plane. Typically the B-mode image is a gray scale image in which the range of darker to brighter gray-scale shades corresponds to increasing brightness or echo strength. The typical ultrasound B-mode image is formed by a linear scan or sector scan of the patient's target area with the transducer probe.
Velocities of moving targets within the area scanned are measured by performing Doppler analysis on the gathered data. Blood flow, for example, may be calculated throughout a given image plane and displayed as a color overlay on a B-mode image. The resulting image is referred to as a BC-mode image. Typically, a large number of complex operations, such as arctangent, division, and square root operations are required for each output pixel of a BC-mode image. As a result, color Doppler imaging has not been performed in real time on general-purpose microprocessors without sacrificing functionality or accuracy.
Following is background on conventional color Doppler processing:
Color Doppler input Data
Input data is generated by emitting, then receiving, ultrasound signals at a transducer. The signals are modulated on a specific carrier frequency (w.sub.c). The amount of energy transmitted over time to a specific location is: EQU T(t)=2 cos(w.sub.c t)=e.sup.jw.sbsp.c.sup.t +e.sup.-jw.sbsp.c.sup.t
Such energy is transmitted to many points within the body. Echo data samples are received in both a time range and a spatial range. The number of samples taken per spatial location over time typically is small (e.g., not more than 16). A set of data samples from a specific spatial location over time is called an ensemble.
The instantaneous energy of a received ensemble (R(t), depends on the acoustic reflectance, B(t), of the tissue being scanned. The frequency of the received ensemble is a combination of the carrier frequency, w.sub.c, and any Doppler frequency, w.sub.d, that is present. The energy of the received ensemble is: EQU R(t)=B(t)*e.sup.j(w.sbsp.c.sup.-w.sbsp.d.sup.)t +e.sup.-j(w.sbsp.c.sup.-w.sbsp.d.sup.)t !
The carrier frequency is removed from the ensemble using quadrature down conversion as follows: EQU LPFB(t)e.sup.jw.sbsp.c.sup.t !=LPFB(t)(e.sup.j(2w.sbsp.c.sup.-w.sbsp.d.sup.)t +e.sup.jw.sbsp.d.sup.t)!=B(t)*e.sup.jw.sbsp.d.sup.t
where LPF signifies a low pass filter. To remove the dc components in B(t) (which represent tissue) each ensemble is passed through a high pass filter. The resulting complex samples are: EQU HPFB(t)*e.sup.jw.sbsp.d.sup.t !=P(t)*e.sup.jw.sbsp.d.sup.t =I(t)+jQ(t)
where P(t) is the power of the received Doppler signal, I(t) is the real component of P(t)e.sup.jw.sbsp.d.sup.t, and Q(t) is the imaginary component of P(t)e.sup.jw.sbsp.d.sup.t.
Deriving the Doppler Frequency
One method for calculating Doppler frequency is to use Fast Fourier Transforms (FFT) to convert each ensemble into the frequency domain, then locate the small peak in the FFT spectrum. This peak corresponds, for example, to the Doppler signal from moving blood. The use of FFTs, however, can lead to inaccuracies. This is because the FFT treats the ensemble as being periodic. Since this is not generally the case, the periodicity assumption causes a discontinuity in the results which is not part of the original ensemble. To ameliorate this, it is known to use a window function. However, in doing so, the frequency domain resolution suffers. Accordingly, time domain techniques have been developed in the art.
A common time domain method estimates the Doppler frequency by computing a mean frequency of the ensemble using an autocorrelation algorithm. To compute the autocorrelation function, the jth point in the output signal is the sum of the products of the input signal and the complex conjugate of the input signal shifted right by j points. The value j ranges from 0 to J-1. The first lag of the autocorrelation function is where j equals 1. The product terms for the first lag are: EQU L.sub.h =(I.sub.h I.sub.h-1 +Q.sub.h Q.sub.h-1)+j(Q.sub.h I.sub.h-1 -Q.sub.h-1 I.sub.h)
where h is an index into the ensemble. The instantaneous frequency of the ensemble is calculated as the instantaneous change in phase, as follows: EQU phase=.DELTA..PHI..sub.h =full arctan (Q.sub.h /I.sub.h), and EQU .DELTA..PHI..sub.h -.DELTA..PHI..sub.h-1 =full arctan (Q.sub.h /I.sub.h)-full arctan (Q.sub.h-1 /I.sub.h-1)
with EQU .DELTA..PHI..sub.h -.DELTA..PHI..sub.h-1 =full arctan (Q.sub.h I.sub.h-1 -Q.sub.h-1 I.sub.h)/(I.sub.h I.sub.h-1 +Q.sub.h Q.sub.h-1)!
where full arctan returns a value from -pi to pi. The numerator in the above full arctan equation is the imaginary part of the product terms of the first lag autocorrelation of the ensemble. The denominator of the same equation is the real part of the product terms of the first lag autocorrelation of the ensemble. The mean frequency of the ensemble is proportional to the phase of the mean output sample of the first lag as follows: ##EQU1## where E is the number of the complex samples per ensemble. The numerator of this equation is herein referred to as `num,` while the denominator is referred to as `denom.`
Generating Color Velocity Images
To estimate blood flow velocities, the complex outputs of the autocorrelation function are converted into velocities, as follows: EQU estimated velocity=atan2(num,denom)!/.pi.
where atan2(num,denom) returns the phase of (denom+j num) from -.pi. to .pi. in the complex plane. The .pi. in the denominator normalizes the output from -1 to 1. Alternatively, the function .theta.=arctanabs(num)/abs(denom)! is used, which returns the phase of (denom+j num) from 0 to .pi./2 in the complex plane.
The estimated velocity equation is applied to every num-denom pair in each ensemble so that an entire range of velocities is generated. These velocities are then quantized into a small number of bits. In a 5 bit quantization, for example, each velocity is mapped to one of 32 different colors. Note that the equation is implemented even for data pairs which correspond to tissue rather than blood flow.
Once the velocities are calculated, a color Doppler image is generated conventionally by overlaying the velocity image on top of the corresponding gray-scale tissue image. This process includes a pixel-by-pixel decision of whether to output an estimated velocity value or a gray-scale tissue value. Each incoming echo (tissue) pixel is checked against a predetermined tissue threshold value. If the tissue value is greater that the tissue threshold value, it is a valid tissue pixel. Thus, the tissue value is used in the output image. If the tissue value is less than the tissue threshold value, and a color flow velocity test is passed, then the color flow value is used in the output image. The color flow validity test determines whether the magnitude (num.sup.2 +denom.sup.2).sup.0.5 and the estimated velocity exceed their respective thresholds. If a pixel fails this validity test, then the tissue value is used in the output image, even though the tissue value is less than the tissue threshold value.
The complexity of these algorithms has presented a challenge to implementing color Doppler imaging in real time using general purpose processors. Conventionally, functionality or accuracy is compromised to achieve real-time performance. Alternatively, expensive, dedicated hard-wired circuit boards have been implemented to perform Doppler processing fast enough for real-time display.

Real time color doppler ultrasound imaging


Methods and systems for digitally reconstructing a patient tissue sample are described herein. In one embodiment, the method may include projecting a first structured light pattern onto the patient tissue sample, receiving a first reflection of the first structured light pattern from the patient tissue sample, and reconstructing the patient tissue sample based on the first reflection and the projected first structured light pattern. In another embodiment, the system may include a projector adapted or configured to project the first structured light onto the patient tissue sample, a charge-coupled device (CCD) adapted or configured to receive the first reflection from the patient tissue sample, and a reconstruction device adapted or configured to reconstruct the patient tissue sample based on the first reflection and the projected first structured light pattern.

Conventional skin disease detection techniques avoid using fluorescence microscopy until the very late stage of the disease. Existing 3D fluorescence microscopy methods require sample preparation and tissue cut from human skin, which damages the disease area. Furthermore, current 3D fluorescence microscopy methods, including confocal microscopy, and optical coherence tomography (OCT), are based on scanning techniques, which require skin exposure to laser radiation for a period of time in the orders of seconds to minutes. Even though researchers have been continuously improving those methods, the long exposure time to laser results in few practical applications for live measurement of skin diseases.

Noninvasive three-dimensional fluorescence microscopy for skin disease detection


A driving device of the massaging chair including a main shaft, a bevel gear mounted on one end of the main shaft, a worm rod mounted on another end of the main shaft, and a driving rotor mounted slidably between the bevel and the worm rod. When the main shaft is driven by a motor to turn forward, the driving rotor is engaged with the bevel gear to actuate a kneading shaft of the massaging chair. When the main shaft is driven by the motor to turn backward, the driving rotor becomes disengaged with the bevel gear and moves away from the bevel gear to engage the worm rod so as to actuate a beating shaft of the massaging chair.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, a conventional driving device of the massaging chair consists of a motor "M" for driving a main shaft 11 on which a bevel gear 12 is mounted such that the bevel gear 12 is engaged with a spiral gear 131 mounted on a rotary shaft 13. A worm rod 14 is mounted on another end of the main shaft 11 for linking a rotary shaft 15 at a lower speed in conjunction with a worm wheel 16 mounted on a rotary shaft 15. Since the rotary shafts 13 and 15 are incapable of synchronous rotation, the transmissions of the bevel gear 12 and the worm rod 14 are brought about by the main shaft 11 in cooperation with a clutch 20. As shown in FIG. 2, the clutch 20 comprises a left locating sleeve 21 and a right locating sleeve 22. The left locating sleeve 21 is provided with two locating holes 211 opposite in location to each other, whereas the right locating sleeve 22 is provided with two locating holes 221 opposite in location to each other. As a result, the locating sleeves 21 and 22 can be located securely on a locating shaft 101 of a main body 10 such that a rotor 23 is rotatably fastened between the two sleeves 21 and 22 in conjunction with two rings 24 which are resistant to wear and heat. The rotor 23 is provided with a spiral hole 231, which is engaged with a spiral rotor 25 which is provided respectively at both ends thereof with an end gear 252 corresponding in location to the end gears 121 and 141 of the bevel gear 12 and the worm rod 14. The spiral rotor 25 is provided at one end thereof with a polygonal hole 251, which is engaged with a polygonal portion of the main shaft 11 such that the spiral rotor 25 is capable of sliding freely on the main shaft 11.
When the motor "M" starts to turn forward to drive the main shaft 11, the spiral rotor 25 is actuated to turn in the spiral hole 231 of the rotor 23 such that the end gear 252 of the spiral rotor 25 moves toward the bevel gear 12. The end gear 252 of the rotor 25 is securely engaged with the end gear 121 of the bevel gear 12. When the spiral rotor 25 is incapable of axial displacement inside the spiral hole 231 of the rotor 23, the rotor 23 and the spiral rotor 25 can be actuated synchronously. When the main shaft 11 is driven to turn backward, the spiral rotor 25 is actuated to displace likewise such that the end gear 252 of the spiral rotor 25 is engaged with the end gear 141 of the worm rod 14. The worm rod 14 and the rotor 23 are thus actuated synchronously by the spiral rotor 25 to turn. With the cooperation of the clutch 20, the main shaft 11 is capable of linking independently the rotary shaft 13 and the rotary shaft 15. In other words, the rotary shafts 13 and 15 are caused to turn at different speeds by the forward rotation and the reverse rotation of the main shaft 11. As a result, when the rotary shaft 13 is turned, the massaging chair is capable of bringing about a kneading effect. On the other hand, when the rotary shaft 15 is turned, the massaging chair brings about a beating effect.
Such a prior art driving device as described above has several shortcomings, which are described explicitly hereinafter.
It is technically difficult to make the rotor 23 and the spiral rotor 25 by a plastic injection molding. Such injection molding is expensive and often results in a high rejection rate of the rotors.
The clutch 20 is composed of many component parts which can not be easily assembled with precision. For example, the locating sleeves 21 and 22 can not be assembled with the locating shaft 101 of the main body 10 with ease and precision.
After a prolonged service, the rotor 23 and the spiral rotor 25 are vulnerable to deformation. In addition, the rotor 23 and the spiral rotor 25 must be lubricated from time to time so as to ensure that they are capable of smooth engagement. Moreover, a mechanical friction can take place between the rotor 23 and the locating sleeve 21 or 22 at such time when the rotor 23 rotates at a high speed along with the spiral rotor 25.

18 Wuey Chung Street Wuey Chung Village, Fu Sing Hsiang


A data storage device is modified or adapted to support the storage and retrieval of versioned data sets. In some embodiments, the modified or adapted data storage device is capable of writing and tracking multiple data sets per logical location, and is capable of retrieving a specific versioned data set upon receiving a read request for that version of the data set.

Modern data storage devices have grown in complexity and capacity over time. Increasingly, data storage devices rely on complex mappings to represent data to users of the devices, and some modern data storage devices retain multiple versions of data written to the drive in an effort to defer computationally and practically disadvantageous writes and erasures of the physical drive media. Such drives typically do not allow external access to the older versions of the data, and the expense and time required to implement versioning and/or snapshotting capabilities can be substantial.