A hinge assembly (200) for joining a cover section (110) to a body section (120) of a foldable electronic device (100) includes a main shaft (10), a rotating member (20), a sliding member (30), and a spring (40). The main shaft has a fixing portion (12) at one end, a deformed shaft portion (14) at its central section, and a distal shaft portion (16) at the other end. The rotating member receives the distal shaft portion, and the rotating member includes an engaging portion (24). The sliding member engages with the deformed shaft portion. The sliding member has a deformed hole (34), engaging with the engaging portion of the rotating member. The spring surrounds the main shaft and elastically biases between the sliding member and the fixing portion. The hinge assembly is modularized, easy to install, and low in cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hinge assemblies and, particularly, to a hinge assembly for foldable electronic devices such as portable telephones, portable computers, PDA (Portable Digital Assistant) and so on.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
At present, perhaps the most popular portable electronic device in the marketplace is the foldable cellular telephone, which generally includes a cover section and a body section. The cover section and the body section are rotatably interconnected through a hinge assembly, for switching the telephone between an in-use position and a closed position.
One kind of hinge assembly employs a compression coil spring and a cam to make the cover section open up from the body section and be held in an open position. An example of such a kind of hinge assembly is represented in FIG. 8 (Prior Art). That hinge assembly is used in a foldable mobile phone 70. The foldable mobile phone 70 includes a main housing 72 and a cover 74. The hinge assembly includes two cams 60, 62, a spring 64, and a pair of posts 76 contained in the main housing 72. The cover 74 has a channel 742 defined at an end thereof. The cam 62, the spring 64, and the cam 60 are fixed in the channel 742, in that order. The cams 60, 62 protrude out from the channel 742 and engage with the posts 76. When the cover 74 is rotated, the cams 60, 62 rotate along with the cover 74, until stopping the cover 74 in a position where it maintains an angle of 180° relative to the main housing 72.
However, the hinge assembly includes a variety of individual pieces that must be installed within the foldable mobile phone when the foldable mobile phone is assembled. This does not meet the growing trend for foldable mobile phone manufacturers to use integrated one-piece hinge assemblies that can be quickly and easily press-fitted into foldable mobile phone sub-assemblies during manufacturing. Manufacturing costs associated with non-integrated hinge assemblies are higher than those associated with one-piece hinge assemblies.
Accordingly, what is needed is a hinge assembly for devices such as mobile phones, in which the hinge assembly modularized, easy to be installed into foldable mobile phones, and low in cost.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Hinge assembly for portable electronic devices

Shenzhen Futaihong Precision Industry Co., Ltd.


The present invention relates to optimal compositions useful in treating HCV infections in humans. These compositions comprise alpha-interferon or pegylated alpha-interferon and an IMPDH inhibitor selected from VX-148 or VX-944, wherein the IMPDH inhibitor is present in an amount such that a ratio of Cavg/Cmin is between 1 to 10, wherein:                Cavg is average plasma concentration produced by said IMPDH inhibitor in said human; and        Cmin is estimated trough concentration produced by said IMPDH inhibitor in said human.

Hepatitis C virus ("HCV") infection is a common cause of viral hepatitis. It is estimated that 3% of the world's population is infected with HCV. (Clarke, B. E., Balliere's Clinical Gastroenterology, 14, No. 2, pp. 293-305 (2000). Until recently, alpha-interferon was the first therapy with proven benefit for treating HCV infection. Depletion of cellular guanine nucleotide reservoirs via inhibition of the NAD+-dependent enzyme, inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase ("IMPDH"), which is the rate-limiting enzyme in the de novo nucleotide biosynthesis, has been identified as an attractive target for anti-HCV therapy. See, VX-497, Drugs of the Future, 25(8), pp. 809-814 (2000). Known inhibitors of IMPDH include Ribavirin, VX-497, mycophenolate mofetil (CELLCEPT®), tiazofurin and mizoribine. Recently, a combination therapy, using alpha-interferon and Ribavirin™, has shown greater efficacy in treating HCV infection than a monotherapy using either entity. However, the combination therapy is not problem free. Alpha interferon is known to cause side effects such as high fevers, headaches, nausea and depression. Ribavirin tends to increase these side effects, and also cause haemolytic anaemia. Hepatologists are reluctant to reduce the dosage of Ribavirin below 800 mg/day (see, Foster, G. R. and Thomas, H. C., Balliere's Clinical Gastroenterology, 14(2), pp. 255-264 (2000). The minimum effective dose of Ribavirin is not yet known.
Thus, there is a need for a therapy that takes advantage of the synergy and/or additivity observed between alpha-interferon and an IMPDH inhibitor in the combination therapy, but preferably without the drawbacks associated with the individual components of the combination therapy.
Thus, there is a need for an optimal composition for treating HCV infection in a human, comprising alpha-interferon and an IMPDH inhibitor.
There is also a need for a method for treating HCV infection in a human comprising the step of administering to said human an optimal composition comprising alpha-interferon and an IMPDH inhibitor.
There is also a need for a method for evaluating the suitability of a composition comprising an IMPDH inhibitor and alpha-interferon for optimally treating HCV infection in a human.
There is also a need for a method of producing an optimal composition for treating HCV infection in a human, wherein said optimal composition comprises alpha-interferon and an IMPDH inhibitor.

Compositions comprising IMPDH inhibitors and uses thereof for treating HCV infection

Abstract: The present invention also relates to methods of producing and using the optimal compositions to treat HCV infections in humans.


Techniques for avoiding wake word self-triggering are provided. In one embodiment, an electronic device can receive an audio-out signal to be output as audio via a speaker of the device and can attempt to recognize a wake word in the audio-out signal using a first recognizer. If the wake word is recognized in the audio-out signal, the electronic device can further determine whether a wake word match is made using a second recognizer with respect to a mic-in audio signal captured via a microphone of the device at approximately the same time that the audio-out signal is output via the speaker. If so, the electronic device can ignore the wake word match made using the second recognizer.

In recent years, voice command-and-control has become a popular feature on electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets, media streaming devices, smart speakers, and so on. Generally speaking, this feature allows a user to interact with the device in a hands-free manner in order to access information and/or to control operation of the device. For example, according to one implementation, the user can say a predefined trigger word or phrase, known as a "wake word," immediately followed by a query or command phrase. The device will typically be listening for the wake word (using, e.g., conventional phrase spotting/speech recognition techniques) in an always-on modality. Upon detecting an utterance of the wake word, the device can cause the following query or command phrase to be processed, either locally on the device or remotely in the cloud. The device can then cause an appropriate action to be performed based on the content of the query or command phrase and can return a response to the user.
One limitation with existing voice command-and-control implementations is that, when listening for the wake word, they will occasionally make the mistake of recognizing audio output by the device itself as being an utterance made by a user. This may occur in scenarios where, for example, the audio waves generated by the device are reflected back by an object (e.g., the user's body or a nearby wall) to the device's microphone. If, in these instances, the audio output by the device includes the wake word or a word/phrase that sounds similar to the wake word, the voice command-and-control system may erroneously "self-trigger" (i.e., detect that the wake word was uttered and attempt to process a follow-on query/command, even though the wake word was generated by the device itself rather than spoken by a user). This wake word self-triggering can result in a frustrating user experience for end-users.


An N type well (NW) is formed over a prescribed depth from a main surface of a semiconductor substrate (SUB), and a P type well (PW) and an N type drain region (ND) are formed in the N type well (NW). An N type source region (NS), an N+ type source region (NNS), and a P+ type impurity region (BCR) are formed in the P type well (PW). The N type source region (NS) is formed on a region situated directly below the N+ type source region (NNS), and not on a region situated directly below the P+ type impurity region (BCR), and the P+ type impurity region (BCR) is in direct contact with the P type well (PW).

A semiconductor device with a field effect transistor having a high breakdown voltage is used as an IC (Integrated Circuit) for controlling an LED (Light Emitting Diode) or an IC for controlling a power supply. As such a field effect transistor having a high breakdown voltage, an N channel-type field effect transistor with an N type well that is applied to a high voltage-side (high-side) will now be described.
An N type well is formed over a prescribed depth from a main surface of a semiconductor substrate (P type), and a P type well is formed in the N type well over a prescribed depth from a surface thereof. An N type source region is formed in the P type well over a prescribed depth from a surface thereof. N type drain region is formed to surround the P type well in a prescribed region of the N type well at a distance from the P type well, over a prescribed depth from a surface thereof. On a portion of the P type well and a portion of the N type well lying between the source region and the drain region, a gate electrode is formed with a gate insulating film interposed therebetween.
Moreover, a P type back gate contact region is formed in the P type well over a prescribed depth from a surface thereof, in order to keep the threshold voltage that is to be applied to the gate electrode for forming a channel, at a constant level. Within the P type well, N type source regions and P type back gate contact regions are arranged alternately in one direction (gate width direction).
In the N channel-type field effect transistor described above, when a voltage equal to or higher than the prescribed threshold voltage is applied to the gate electrode, a channel is formed in a portion of the P type well situated directly below the gate electrode, which causes a current to flow from the source toward the drain. Examples of documents disclosing field effect transistors having high breakdown voltages include Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 05-267652 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 2008-10628 (Patent Document 2), and Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 11-307763 (Patent Document 3).

Semiconductor device and method for manufacturing same


A system that includes a first network device in a first network configured to send a file from a plurality of files to a compliance controller in the first network. The compliance controller is configured to determine whether the file satisfies a set of compliance rules and to send the file to the virtual machine in the first network in response to determining that the file satisfies the set of compliance rules. The virtual machine is configured to send the file to a second network device in a second network via a network interface. The network interface is configured to block the first network device from sending the file from the first memory to the second network device in the second network. The network interface is also configured to send the file from the virtual machine to the second network device in the second network.

In a network environment, network devices may be in data communication with other network devices within their network as well as with other network devices in other networks. These network environments allow files to be shared among network devices in different networks. For example, files may be exchanged between a network device in one network and another network device in a different network.
One of the technical challenges that occurs when files are exchanged between network devices in different networks is controlling data leakage and unauthorized access to files. In conventional systems, a user is typically given permission to allow a network device to exchange files with another network device in a different network. Existing systems can only provide all or nothing data access control and are unable to assign partial rights or permission for controlling data access and movement. As result, the user and the network device are given full permission to exchange files with other network devices in other networks. Conventional systems are unable to control or monitor data access and movement once the network device is given full permission.
Without the ability to control or monitor data access and movement the system is vulnerable to having sensitive data leak the network and/or allowing malicious data to enter the network. Thus, it is desirable to provide a solution that provides more flexibility for controlling and monitoring data access and movement when allowing a network device to exchange data with another network device in a different network.

Data leakage and information security using access control


In response to a contents data transmission request from a user terminal, a contents storage server encodes a contents data meeting the transmission request by vector coding or hierarchical coding and transmits the encoded contents data to the user terminal. The user terminal having received the encoded data notifies a charging server of information on a resolution selected by the user and then receives information needed for a corresponding decoding process from the charging server. The charging server carries out a charging process based on the received information on the resolution.

The present invention relates to contents providing method, contents providing system and contents server for providing a user terminal with contents desired by the user via a network.
In one example of utilization of Internet, desired information is obtained from a server connected to Internet. On Internet there exist contents servers each acting to provide a user terminal with information desired by the user. Such a contents server has contents data, such as image data and sound data, stored therein. When the user requests his or her desired contents data, the contents server provides the user terminal with the desired contents data.
Conventionally, various techniques for contents data distribution by a contents server have been developed. For example, the invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2002-222237 adopts the technique of communicating information on contents data sizes and resolutions between the contents server and the user terminal in obtaining desired contents data from the contents server. Also, the invention described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. H09-046680 adopts the technique of automatically selecting a resolution for desired contents data depending on the density of communications on a network in transmitting the contents data.
With the former technique, however, the user's terminal must be kept connected to the contents server all the way during a period from the start to finish of specifying a contents data size and a resolution. For this reason, the time period during which the contents server is kept connected to one user terminal becomes longer, which results in a decreased number of user terminals which are allowed to connect to the contents server within a fixed time period.
With the latter technique, a lower resolution is selected for the desired contents data to relieve congestion of communications on the network and, hence, it is possible that the desired contents data is transmitted to the user terminal with a resolution undesired by the user.
A feature of the present invention is to provide contents providing method, contents providing system and contents server which are capable of providing a user terminal with contents data desired by the user and carrying out a proper money-charging process in accordance with selection made by the user while reducing the load to be imposed on a contents server in responding to the user terminal.

Contents providing method, contents providing system, and contents server


A hybrid vehicle configured to allow charging from a source external to the vehicle includes a connector electrically connecting a battery with an external commercial power supply, an absorption unit absorbing fuel vapor, and an activation unit activating the absorption unit to facilitate disengagement of the fuel vapor during connection of the power storage device with the external power supply by the connector. The absorption unit includes a canister to which fuel vapor adheres. The activation unit includes a heater receiving electric power from at least one of the battery and external power supply to heat the canister. The hybrid vehicle further includes a purge mechanism conducting a purge relative to the canister. Thus, there can be provided a hybrid vehicle that can process fuel evaporating gas without reducing the EV allowed travel distance.

A hybrid vehicle that uses both a motor and engine for driving the wheels are now attracting attention as ecologically-friendly vehicles. Research on a configuration allowing charging from an external source for such hybrid vehicles is in progress. This is advantageous in that the number of times the driver has to go to a gas station to supply fuel is reduced by conducting charging at the residence and the like. There is also an advantage in terms of cost by using economic midnight power.
Japanese Patent Laying-Open No. 8-37703 discloses a hybrid vehicle including a battery that can be charged by external charge means, an electric motor that can drive the wheels based on the electric power from the battery, an engine used to drive the wheels, and control means for controlling the operation of the electric motor and engine.
By frequently charging the battery from an external power supply based on such a configuration that allows charging from an external power supply for the vehicle, the frequency of operating the engine can be reduced by maintaining the SOC (State of Charge) of the battery constantly at a favorable level. It is possible to envisage an event of such charging operation in the case where the cost required for charging through external electric power is lower than the cost of fuel required to operate the engine.
It is noted that, when the engine is left without being operated for a long period of time, fuel vapor will be generated significantly if the temperature is high. For example, a great amount of evaporating gas of gasoline will be generated in the gasoline tank in the case where a gasoline engine is employed. If the amount of evaporating gas is so great that it cannot be trapped by a charcoal canister or the like, the evaporating gas will be discharged into the air, which departs from the initial object of the hybrid vehicle to realize low pollution.
A possible approach to this problem is to force the canister to be heated by means of a heater or the like during the running operation to conduct a purge intentionally for the purpose of mixing the fuel vapor with the intake air to cause combustion. However, the value of the vehicle will be degraded if the EV allowed travel distance is reduced by the power consumption of the heater.

Hybrid vehicle, control method for hybrid vehicle, and recording medium recorded with a control program for hybrid vehicle


A biocompatible, biodurable polycarbonate polyurethane with internal polysiloxane segments and devices made therefrom.

The invention relates to biodurable polycarbonate polyurethanes and biocompatible devices made therefrom.
Pinchuk U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,013 discloses polyurethanes which are reaction products of a polycarbonate macroglycol, a diisocyanate, and a polyfunctional poly(fluoroalkylsiloxane) having hydrolytically unstable Si--O--C moieties resulting from the reaction of a silanol-terminated monomer with a glycol 4:41-55!.
Kira et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,834,746 discloses poly(alkoxy) block copolymers with internal siloxane segments mixed with polyurethanes and polyurethaneureas for making artificial vessels 1:19-21, 3:35!. Poly(alkoxy) block copolymers contain numerous biologically unstable ether linkages. See also Ward et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,686,137 (describing a block copolymer of polyethyleneoxide, urethane, siloxane, and polytetramethylene oxide, as a coating or film which contains numerous biologically unstable ether linkages 5:5-10, 4:31, 4:36!).
Ward et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,589,563 discloses medical devices made of a base polymer covalently bonded to a polysiloxane-terminated polycarbonate aliphatic polyurethane, less than 5% by weight relative to the base polymer, including 1,3-cyclohexyl diamine and ethylene diamine as chain extenders FIGS. 5 and 6, 5:64-66, 13:55-57!. Ward '563 does not teach internal siloxane segments. In fact, Ward '563 teaches that the surface-modifying moieties are preferably at the termini of the base polymer 6:55-64!. Ward '563 also teaches that silicones are resistant to oxidative degradation 9:9-10!. Example 1 uses a diethylamine terminator.
Ward et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,675,361 discloses physical mixtures of base polymers such as polyurethanes and polycarbonates 5:35-45! with block copolymers of poly(dialkyl)-siloxanes for medical devices that contact blood 9:63-65, 2:20!. These devices have only a small percentage of the siloxane polymer additive.
Ward et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,830 discloses a crosslinked, thermoset polysiloxane-polyurethane useful for surfaces which contact blood. Ward '830 teaches that silicone-containing polycarbonates have low contact angles which may be inappropriate for a blood-contacting surface 1:65-2:2!.

Hydrolytically-and proteolytically-stable polycarbonate polyurethane silicone copolymers


An optical recording medium for recording a predetermined command code at a predetermined region of contents, an apparatus and method to play the optical recording medium, which executes a predetermined command when the contents are played so that the predetermined command is moved into contents at a predetermined portion of a screen. The method of playing an optical recording medium includes analyzing a signal that is read from the optical recording medium, and searching whether a predetermined command is recorded in a reserved region in a predetermined packet, storing the searched predetermined command and executing the stored predetermined command with a command execution key, and displaying the result of the command that is executed with the command execution key on a screen of the optical recording medium.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording medium on which predetermined command code is recorded in a predetermined region in which contents are stored, and an apparatus and method to play the optical recording medium and which executes a predetermined command when the contents are played so that the predetermined command is moved into contents at a predetermined portion of a screen on which the contents are displayed.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a digital versatile disc (DVD) is the same size as a compact disc (CD) having a diameter of 12 cm and a thickness of 1.2 mm but is capable of storing 7 times as much data as a CD. A CD has a capacity to hold data sufficient to play for 74 minutes (i.e., to play a capacity of 688 megabytes). A DVD has a capacity of 4.7-17 gigabytes depending on whether the DVD is single sided or double sided and is formed of a single layer or multiple layers. Since the DVD has a large capacity, the DVD can provide better video than the CD. Further, the DVD need not use a moving picture experts group (MPEG)-1 compression method, which places more weight on high compression than on picture quality, but instead can use an MPEG-2 compression method, which places more weight on picture quality.
By providing audio and subtitles and by assigning a space in which information including all kinds of set-up menus are stored, many functions can be provided. These functions can include an interactive (conversation-type) progress function to reproduce contents according to a user's selection, a multilingual subtitle processing function to display a maximum of 32 languages, a multilingual speech processing function to provide sound tracks in a maximum of 8 languages, a digital surround function that is provided through six speakers (e.g., front-right, front-left, back-right, back-left, central, middle and low frequency speakers), a multi-story function in which a user selects from many preset stories in the case of a movie, a multi-angle function in which a scene that is filmed in various angles is provided and a viewer can select a desired angle and can view a scene from that angle, and a viewing-restriction function to restrict viewing by grading each scene.
Among the set-up menus of the DVD, there is a sub-title menu to set the language and the subtitles. The sub-title menu is useful and is often used to allow a user to enjoy various discs in different languages. However, a conventional DVD includes only a subtitle processing function in a selected language, and thus, a learning function cannot be enhanced.

Optical recording medium to display stored command along with content, and apparatus and method to play the same


A superconductor and a method for producing the same are provided. The method for producing a superconductor includes the step of forming a superconducting layer on a base layer by performing a film deposition at least three times, wherein the film thickness of a superconducting film in each film deposition is 0.3 μm or less. In such a case, even when the layer thickness of the superconducting layer is increased, the decrease in the Jc is suppressed and the Ic is increased.

With respect to superconductors such as superconducting wires, increasing the thickness of a superconducting layer has been studied in order to increase the critical current.
However, if a superconducting layer is formed so as to have a large thickness by deposition at one time, a sufficient amount of oxygen cannot be taken in the superconducting layer during the film deposition. In such a case, the critical current density (hereinafter referred to as "Jc") is decreased, and accordingly the Ic cannot be increased. Furthermore, if the superconducting layer is formed so as to have a large thickness by performing the film deposition once, the time required for one film deposition process becomes long. As a result, an element, such as Ni, in a base layer is diffused into the superconducting layer, resulting in a problem such as reaction with the superconducting layer.
Therefore, in order to form a thick superconducting layer and to increase the Ic, a multi-layer deposition method has been studied, in which the film deposition is performed at least two times and the thickness of a superconducting film in each film deposition is decreased (For example, see Kazutomi Kakimoto and two others, "Preparation of Y-system coated conductor with high Ic using repeated deposition by PLD", Abstracts of the 67th Cryogenic Association of Japan (CSJ) Conference in 2002, p. 228).
According to Kakimoto et al., the thickness of the superconducting film was controlled to be 0.35 μm in each film deposition and the deposition was performed 4 to 6 times. Even when the thickness of the superconducting layer (10 mm in width) was 1 μm or more, the Ic was as small as about 130 A. In the experiment described in the above-mentioned paper, the moving speed of a base tape having a width of 10 mm on which the superconducting layer was formed was 4 m/h.
Accordingly, it is desired that further increase in the Ic of superconductors be achieved.

Superconductor and process for producing the same


A local positioning system is proposed for wirelessly locating an object using existing features within a static environment, such as walls, as the references for determining the position of the system. An antenna 16 attached to the object transmits RF signals which are reflected by the surroundings. During a training mode, the reflected signals are used to train a neural network 22, 43 to map the position of the object to the characteristics of the reflected signals. During a working mode, the trained neural network is to identify the position of the object based on reflected signals in working mode. Optionally, the reflected signals may be subject to a clustering process before input to the neural network.

Many methods determining the position of an object using a transmitter/receiver device in conjunction with at least one active/reflective device situated at a pre-determined position as a point of reference. Frequently, a system is provided which is capable of monitoring its own position relative to the active/reflective device, and this system is attached to the object.
The best known of such systems is the GPS system, in which the position of a GPS receiver located on the surface of the earth is determined using 27 Earth-orbiting satellites (of which 24 are in operation at any time). The distances between the receiver and at least three of the satellites are determined by measuring the travelling time of radio waves between them. Subsequently, a 3D trilateration method can be applied to determine the receiver's location on the planet (see Marshall Brain & Tom Harris, "How GPS receivers work", http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/gps.htm). The calculations are dependent on an almanac in the receivers detailing the position of the satellites at any given time.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,977,958 and 6,054,950 describe methods for measuring time-of-arrival with ultrashort RF pulses (UWB) transmitted from the transmitter to an array of receivers. Despite the differences in technical details, both patents require devices at pre-known positions. U.S. Pat. No. 5,977,958 uses 4 receivers for its 2D scenario and U.S. Pat. No. 6,054,950 needs at least 4 receivers or beacons for 3D applications (these receivers or beacons are here termed "explicit references"). There are other similar technologies which are based on angles of arrival of received signals instead of their times of arrival. In such technologies, multiple references are needed. The problem with this type of system is the requirement for references at pre-known positions. This increases the number of devices needed and introduces difficulty in setting up the systems in certain situations or surroundings. Furthermore, such systems require direct line of sight (LOS) between the transmitter and receivers, the performance decreases sharply in the areas where LOS is not available.
Self-positioning methods employed in robotics often use a ring of ultrasonic transducers or laser range finders to get a measurement of the respective distance from an object to a surrounding environment in each of a number of directions. A sonar/laser range image can be formed from the distances between the detector and nearby objects. This image can be compared to a known floor plan or trained database in order to find the location of the robot. However, these methods involve multiple directional sensors (e.g. a ring of ultrasonic sensors around the robot) or scanning mechanism (e.g. a scanning laser range finder) and are highly complex.
Cameras are also used for positioning purposes. Optical images of surroundings captured at a certain location with a certain orientation (or information abstracted from these images subsequently) can be compared to a database, to determine the current position and bearing of the robot. However, such systems can only work in special environments where specific visible features (e.g. straight lines) are available. Another disadvantage is that daunting computing resources are needed for image processing in these systems.
Another U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,095 proposes a method of location determination in which a transmitter transmits a radio signal and a receiver device uses an array of antennas to receive the signal both directly and along paths which include reflections (multipath signals). Different locations of the transmitter cause the set of reflected paths to be different, so that the received signals constitute a signature of the position. The determination of the location of the transmitter is based on a set of pre-calibrated signal covariance matrices corresponding to possible transmitter locations. However, the uniqueness of the signature is, in principle, not guaranteed and sometimes leads to big errors when the multipath features of one location are similar to those of other locations. Furthermore, the teaching in this citation is meant for outdoor application, and a base-station is required for its implementation.

Local positioning system which operates based on reflected wireless signals


An elongated cam pin for use in a clamping assembly, the pin comprising a first half-round portion and a second half-round portion laterally offset from the first half-round portion, wherein the centers of the first and second half-round portions are spaced-apart a distance S along a diametral center line of the pin, wherein each of the half-round portions has a radius R and a diameter D equal to 2R, and wherein the ratio D/S is between approximately 2 and approximately 3. In one embodiment the ratio D/S is approximately 2.3. In some embodiments rotation of the cam pin within the clamping assembly is actuated by a shaft having a relatively short stroke length. In some embodiments the cam pin is rotatable within the clamping assembly through an arc of up to approximately 40°. In some embodiments the actuating shaft is movable within the housing of a compact locking apparatus to cause the clamping assembly to releasably engage a restraint cable in a self-gripping fashion. In some embodiments the locking apparatus may be used in a locking system designed to safely lock a suspended load at a desired location relative to the cable. In some embodiments the cable is at least one inch in diameter and the diameter D of each of the half-round pins is approximately 1.75 times the diameter of the cable. In some embodiments the suspended load may comprise a bin floor and any supported lumber travelling between loading and discharge positions in a lumber sorting apparatus.

Locking systems for suspended loads are known in the prior art. In some cases the purpose of such systems is to releasably lock a load at a selected position in order to allow workers to safely work underneath the load. Once the work is completed the lock can be disengaged. For example, such systems may be used to lock a bin floor in a lumber sorting mill which, in operation, travels vertically in a reciprocating cycle between a lumber loading position and a lumber discharge position.
Some prior art systems employ clamps for mechanically gripping a metal cable. Some exemplary prior art clamping systems are described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,995,339 issued 8 Aug. 1961 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,410,525 issued 12 Nov. 1968 which are hereby incorporated by reference. Such clamping systems employ a plurality of cam pins each comprising first and second laterally offset half-round portions. Each cam pin is rotatably adjustable to cause clamping surfaces to releasably engage or disengage a cable.
The need has arisen for locking systems comprising improved cable clamping mechanisms. One problem that has arisen with some prior art systems is that the clamp surfaces may slip relative to the cable, particularly at higher loads. This causes wear of the clamping components and may eventually result in complete failure of the locking system, posing a very significant safety hazard. In order to guard against this possibility the clamping components require more frequent inspection and replacement.
It is possible to engineer cable clamps to grip a cable with more force by increasing the stroke length of the actuator which controls rotation of the cam pin. However, increasing the stroke length of the actuator can increase the overall size of the locking system which is disadvantageous in some applications. For example, if the locking system is mounted on the bin floor of lumber sorting apparatus it is desirable that the system have a very compact size to avoid interfering with the loading and unloading of lumber deposited into the bin.
As described herein the relative spacing of the half-round portions of the cam pin may be altered to increase the clamping force applied to the cable without appreciably increasing the stroke length of the actuator, thereby maintaining the compact size of the locking system. However, if the spacing is increased such that the ratio of the half-round pin diameter and the center-to-center spacing is below an optimum range, the amount of force applied to the cable may cause the internal components of the locking system to deform, such as by thinning or bending of the metal at stress locations. This in turn requires more frequent replacement of clamp components and/or the use of higher grade metal components, increasing the overall cost of the locking system.
The need has therefore arisen for an improved locking system for suspended loads having a compact size which employs cam pins suitable for high load applications.
The foregoing examples of the related art and limitations related thereto are intended to be illustrative and not exclusive. Other limitations of the related art will become apparent to those of skill in the art upon a reading of the specification and a study of the drawings.


An automatic document feeder (ADF) including a platen cover which covers a copying region, a document tray which is provided on the platen cover and on which a document fed to the copying region is stacked, a pickup assembly which includes a pickup roller that picks up the document stacked on the document tray and transfers the document to a feed path, and a feeding roller that receives the document picked-up by the pickup roller and allows the document to enter the feed path and which pivots the pickup roller centering on a shaft of the feeding roller by a predetermined distance according to a rotating direction of the shaft of the feeding roller, and a pad holder which is installed in a pad holder groove formed at a region corresponding to the feeding roller in the tray and supports a frictional pad installed to contact the feeding roller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic document feeder (ADF), and more particularly, to an ADF capable of transferring a document to a region where the document is to be scanned, in a multifunctional device to perform functions of a facsimile, scanner, and printer.
2. Description of the Related Art
An automatic document feeder (ADF) is provided in a multifunctional device having a copying function, such as a copier or a facsimile. By providing an ADF, when a multi-sheet document is to be copied, a document sheet can be automatically fed without repeatedly opening and closing the cover in a copying region so that continuous copying can be done; thus, remarkably reducing copying time.
FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view schematically illustrating the structure of a multifunctional device on which a conventional automatic document feeder (ADF) is mounted, and FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view to explain a feeding step performed by the ADF shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the conventional ADF includes a tray 11, on which documents D to be fed into a multifunctional device 10 are stacked, and a pickup roller 12 which draws out a sheet of document D stacked on the tray 11 to enter the multifunctional device 10. The ADF is employed to feed documents.
As shown in FIG. 2, when the pickup roller 12 is rotated by driving a motor 13, the topmost sheet of a stack of sheets, which contacts the pickup roller 12, on the tray 11 is fed into the multifunctional device 10. Reference numeral 14 denotes a cover to protect the pickup roller 12 and an entrance of the multifunctional device 10 into which the document D is fed. The cover 14 is in a closed state, as shown in FIG. 2, during a printing operation.
Meanwhile, in the above structure, a front end of the document D has to be placed well under the pickup roller 12 when the document D is stacked on the tray 11 so that the document D is smoothly fed into the multifunctional device 10. However, when a document containing too many sheets is stacked on the tray 11, it is difficult to place the front end of the document D under the pickup roller 12. Thus, a document having a maximum of 20 sheets can be stacked on the tray 11 at one time. This causes inconvenience for a user in that the user has to stack documents on the tray 11 several times when the document to be printed has a large number of sheets. In addition, in the above structure, the slant of the tray 11 toward the pickup roller 12 is set as steep as possible such that the documents are smoothly slid under the pickup roller 12. Thus, the height of the multifunctional device 10 becomes larger as much, and a large space to install the multifunctional device 10 is needed, and double feeding of the document occurs.
FIG. 3 is a side cross-sectional view of a feeding apparatus disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 2001-58632, and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a frictional member and a pad holder of FIG. 3.
Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the feeding apparatus includes a frame 51 provided on a main body of a printer, a pad holder 60 which is hinge-coupled in an intermediate region of the frame 51 and elastically biased upwardly, a pickup roller 50 which is installed to contact the upper portion of the pad holder 60, and a knock-up plate 80 which is fixed on the frame 51 and supports one end of paper P to contact the pickup roller 50.
The pad holder 60 includes a body 61 at one side of which a hinge-coupling portion 64 is formed, and a saddle portion 62 on which a frictional member 63 is mounted. An insertion hole 75, a support protrusion 74, and a coupling hole 69 are formed in the body 61 of the pad holder 60. The saddle portion 62 includes an insertion protrusion 77, a support groove 76, and a hook 73 in which a hanging jaw 73a is formed. A support plate 78 which supports upper and rear sides of the pad holder 60 through a long hole 65 and fixes the frictional pad 63 and the saddle portion 62 to the body 61, is arranged. In addition, a protrusion 66 is formed at a rear side of the body 61, and an elastic spring 71 is connected to the protrusion 66, such that the pad holder 60 is elastically biased upwardly.
In the feeding apparatus having the above structure, a sheet of a document that contacts the pickup roller 50 by the rotation of the pickup roller 50 is picked-up and fed to a feed path. And, double feeding is prevented by a friction force of the friction pad 63.
In order to replace the frictional pad 63 with another one, a user removes the pickup roller 50 from the printer, and then, presses a protrusion 68 by about 1.5–2.0 mm by hand. Then, the coupling hole 69 is moved to the right sides of FIGS. 3 and 4, and the locked state of the hook 73 hung by the hanging jaw 73a in the coupling hole 69 is released. If the protrusion 68 is continuously pressed, a body of the saddle portion 62 is slid along a slanted surface of a rib 72 and is naturally lifted. Thereafter, the support plate 78 which clips the frictional pad 63, is lifted, and the frictional pad 63 mounted on the saddle portion 62 is removed, and a new frictional pad 63 is mounted on the saddle portion 62 and assembled for use.
However, the structure of the pad holder 60 is complicated. If the support plate 78 is deformed due to long-term use, the frictional pad 63 is not fixedly mounted on the saddle portion 62, and it is not easy for the user to dismantle the pickup roller 50 and replace the frictional pad 63 with another one.


Described herein are systems, methods, and other techniques for training a generative adversarial network (GAN) to perform an image-to-image transformation for recognizing text. A pair of training images are provided to the GAN. The pair of training images include a training image containing a set of characters in handwritten form and a reference training image containing the set of characters in machine-recognizable form. The GAN includes a generator and a discriminator. The generated image is generated using the generator based on the training image. Update data is generated using the discriminator based on the generated image and the reference training image. The GAN is trained by modifying one or both of the generator and the discriminator using the update data.

Text recognition from handwritten record images is an important problem in the genealogy domain. Accurate and efficient text recognition can help genealogists discover and unlock family history. Automating the text recognition process would further benefit them in saving time, manual labor, and the associated cost. However, many document images suffer from challenges including varying noise conditions, interfering annotations, typical record artifacts like fading and vanishing texts, and variations in handwriting, each of which make it difficult to transcribe. Over the past decade, various approaches have been proposed to solve document analysis and recognition such as optical character recognition (OCR), layout analysis, text segmentation, and handwriting recognition. Although OCR models have been very successful in recognizing machine print text, they stumble upon handwriting recognition due to the aforementioned challenges, as well as the difficulty of connecting characters in the text as compared to machine print ones where the characters are easily separable.
Handwriting image recognition is traditionally divided into two groups: online recognition and offline recognition. In the online case, the time series of coordinates representing the movement of the writing utensil tip is captured, whereas in offline recognition the image of the text is available. Several computer vision and machine learning algorithms have been proposed to solve various challenges of handwriting recognition, but the problem is far from being solved. Some standard handwriting recognition approaches include hidden Markov models (HMM), support vector machines (SVM), and sequential networks including recurrent neural networks (RNN) and its variants.
Sequential networks have outperformed SVM and MINI models in handwriting recognition tasks. Long short term memory (LSTM) networks are a type of RNN that propagate sequential information for long periods of time and have been widely applicable in handwriting recognition tasks. Multidimensional RNNs are another type of sequential networks that have been widely used in modern handwritten text recognition tasks. Annotating handwritten text at a character level is a challenging task. Connectionist Temporal Classification (CTC) has been developed that avoids calculating the loss of sequential networks at the character level. Further, CTC-based networks may not require post-processing of the recognized text. As such, sequential networks with CTC loss have gained a lot of attention in handwriting recognition tasks.
Generative adversarial networks (GANs) have proven to be successful generative models in many computer vision tasks. A GAN model formulates a generative model as a game theory minimax game between generator and discriminator models. The generator model tries to generate "fake" samples as close to the real ones and the discriminator model tries to discriminate "fake" samples from real ones. An extension of the GAN is the conditional GAN, where the sample generation is conditioned upon an input, which can be a discrete label, a text, or an image. In some instances, a GAN can utilize a conditional GAN framework and a U-Net architecture for its generator and discriminator models. This approach tends to capture hierarchical features inside images. Although GAN models are successful in generating fascinating and realistic images, they can be hard to train due to their low-dimensional support, vanishing gradient, mode collapsing issues, and their difficulty in achieving Nash equilibrium.
Many GANs employ either the Kullback-Leibler (KL) or the Jensen-Shannon (JS) divergence to model loss functions, which can give rise to mode collapsing, gradient vanishing, and low-dimensional support problems in a high-dimensional space. The Wasserstein distance (WD) has gained attention in computer vision and machine learning community due to its continuous and differentiable nature, which can overcome the above-mentioned problems. In some instances, a Wasserstein GAN (WGAN) which uses the Wasserstein-1 (earth mover) distance to learn probability distributions can be employed. One issue with the Wasserstein-1 distance is that its primal form can be intractable and it is hard to enforce the Lipschitz continuity constraint in high-dimensional space for its dual form. To circumvent this, the sliced Wasserstein Distance (SWD) can be used due to the Wasserstein distance providing a closed-form solution for one-dimensional probability densities. Previously, the SWD has been utilized for dimensionality reduction, clustering, and learning Gaussian mixture models. Recently, it has been employed in generative models such as sliced Wasserstein generative models and sliced Wasserstein auto-encoders. The SWD factorizes high-dimensional probabilities to multiple marginal distributions. Theoretically, the SWD can compute infinitely many linear projections of a high-dimensional distribution to one-dimensional distributions followed by computing the average Wasserstein distance of these one-dimensional distributions.

Adversarial network for transforming handwritten text


A near field light generating device generating near field light from incident light by using a solid immersion mirror and a heat assisted magnetic recording head with the same are provided. The near field light generating device includes a light source; a waveguide core which transmits light; and a solid immersion mirror, which generates near field light, including an upper transmission surface through which light from the waveguide core is transmitted into the solid immersion mirror, a lower reflection surface, opposite the upper transmission surface, which reflections light incident thereon, lateral reflection surfaces, facing each other at sides of the solid immersion mirror, which reflect light incident thereon, and a lower transmission region disposed at a center of the lower reflection surface. Light reflected from the lateral reflection surfaces forms a light spot on the lower transmission region.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to a flat panel type near field light generating device which includes a flat panel type solid immersion mirror to generate near field light, and a heat assisted magnetic recording head with the same device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Research has been conducted to increase the recording density of magnetic recording media. As recording density increases, the bit size for recording unit information on a magnetic recording medium is reduced. However, as the bit size is reduced, the magnetic field signal from the magnetic recording medium becomes small. Thus, it becomes necessary to reduce noise in order to secure a good signal-to-noise ratio when reproducing data. As the noise is mainly generated from a magnetization transition region of the recording medium, the signal-to-noise ratio is secured by reducing the size of the grains forming the recording bits in order to reduce the transition noise.
To stably maintain the information recorded in a magnetic recording medium, each spinning grain should maintain its recorded orientation without heat fluctuation. For this purpose, the ratio of magnetic anisotropy energy to heat energy (KUV/KBT) should have a sufficiently large value (about 60 or more), where, KU is the magnetic anisotropy energy density of the magnetic recording medium, V is the grain volume size, KB is the Boltzmann constant, and T is the absolute temperature. To secure the thermal stability of a high-density recording medium having a small grain, the magnetic anisotropy energy density of the magnetic recording medium should increase at a constant temperature. The magnetic anisotropy energy density is proportional to the coersive force materials, therefore a large coersive force should be used for the magnetic recording medium.
However, when these materials are used to increase the thermal stability of the magnetic recording medium, data recording is impossible due to the strength limit of the magnetic field generated in a magnetic recording head.
To address the aforementioned problem, a heat assisted magnetic recording system has been developed. According to this system, heat is locally applied to the magnetic recording medium to lower the coersive force so that the magnetic recording medium can be easily magnetized by the magnetic field applied from the magnetic recording head. Although the grain size of the recording medium decreases when the heat assisted magnetic recording head is used, the thermal stability is secured.
A method of irradiating laser beam is generally used to apply heat locally to a magnetic recording medium.
FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a conventional heat assisted magnetic recording head 1, which comprises a recording unit for converting information into a magnetic signal and applying the magnetic signal to a magnetic recording medium 2, a reproducing unit including a reproduction element 9 for detecting a bit recorded on the magnetic recording medium 2, and an optical system including a light source 6, such as a laser diode, for heat assistance. The recording unit includes a recording pole 3, for applying a magnetic field to the magnetic recording medium 2; a return pole 4 for forming a magnetic circuit together with the recording pole 3; and an induction coil 5 for inducing a magnetic field in the recording pole 3. When the magnetic recording medium 2 moves in direction A, a light spot 7 is formed on the magnetic recording medium 2 by the laser beam generated from the light source 6, and when the coersive force is lowered immediately after the magnetic recording medium 2 is heated by the laser beam, the magnetic recording medium 2 is magnetized by magnetic flux leakage generated from the recording pole 3. The information recorded in this manner is reproduced by the reproduction element 9, which may be a giant magnetoresistance element.
To enable the high-density recording by the heat assisted magnetic recording head 1, the light spot formed by the laser beam has to be very small. For example, a light spot having a diameter of about 50 nm is required in order to obtain a recording density of 1 Tb/in2. There have been research conducted on a heat assisted magnetic recording method to obtain a small light spot by using near field light. Such research generally utilizes near field light having an aperture of the size same as or less than half the wavelength of light. However, in such a near field light head, the transmission efficiency of light is very low and it is difficult to form the aperture into the magnetic head.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,430 discloses a heat assisted magnetic recording head using a SIL (solid immersion lens) in the form a mode index waveguide lens, which is a two-dimensional optical element. In this patent, however, since the optical element includes a number of refraction surfaces, it is difficult to control scattering and mode conversion of a progressive wave generated at the interface between the waveguide core and the lens, it is difficult to form a large number of apertures, aberration generated due to a beam misaligned with respect to an optical axis is large, and the focal length remarkably changes according to a change of the thickness of the thin film.

Near field light generating device and heat assisted magnetic recording head with the same


A passenger seat, an aircraft passenger seat in particular, has seat components such as a seat frame (20), a backrest (12), and a seat cushion carrier (30) with seat cushion (16). The seat depth between backrest (12) and a seat front edge (26) can be varied by an adjustment mechanism (32) with an energy accumulator, such that the seat depth is adjustable and fastenable in desired adjustment positions. The adjustment mechanism has at least one variable-volume energy accumulator. An adjustment position of the seat depth may be associated with each volume level. The seat depth adjustment may be effected essentially free of mechanical components such as sets of levers.

An aircraft passenger seat with an adjustable seat depth is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,681. The changing of the seat depth within certain limits in the case of such seats significantly contributes to the comfort of the seat occupant. The distance between seat front edge and backrest may be adjusted to the distance between the hollow of the knee and the buttocks of a particular seat occupant. This adjustment is an advantage in the case of seats for commercial aircraft, in which an effort must be made to achieve maximum seat comfort in view of the extended duration of the flights involved. Adjustment of the seat depth is also favorable in the case of such seats if a folding or pivoting leg rest adjoins the seat front edge.
Adjustment of the seat depth is also important for modern aircraft passenger seats, as are used in the business class and first class compartments (see, e.g., DE 102 20 248 C1). Such seat can form a bed position in which the back-tilted backrest is designed to form an essentially integrated reclining surface together with the seat component and the leg rest, even for taller individuals. The additional reclining surface achieved with the extended leg rest still would not be enough to create in the aggregate a long total reclining surface. As a result of the additional displacement of the seat front edge forward, the leg rest is moved forward as a result of coupling of this leg rest with the seat frame or seat cushion carrier. If the support surface in this reclined position is lacking, an extension movement of 3 to 6 centimeters may be enough to create a pleasant comfort or bed position, even for very tall individuals. An additional advantage is achieved in that any gap between the upper end of the leg rest and the seat cushion carrier is closed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,560,681 discloses an actuating or adjustment mechanism including a set of levers mounted between seat frame and seat cushion carrier, and pretensioning a pressure spring for movement displacing the seat cushion carrier to increase the seat depth so as to make a clear-cut seat depth adjustment possible. In the disclosed solution, the pressure spring normally is blocked by a hydraulic cylinder, which cylinder may be unblocked by hydraulic means, so that the force of the released spring displaces the seat cushion carrier forward. To move the seat cushion carrier again to reduce the seat depth, the seat occupant must unblock the hydraulic cylinder and move the seat cushion carrier back manually against the force of the pressure spring.
Aside from the exertion of effort by the seat occupant and a corresponding expenditure of force required of the seat occupant to reduce the seat depth, the structural configuration of the actuating mechanism in the form of a set of levers with a pressure spring and a hydraulic cylinder provided for blocking in seats of this type is relatively large. The structural space required for the structural component and associated link joints is a disadvantage. In particular, the large number of components results in a high weight for the respective aircraft passenger seat, something which is undesirable for obvious reasons (e.g., fuel costs). In addition, continuously reliable operation is not always guaranteed, because of the complexity of the lever mechanism.

Passenger seat with adjustable seat depth


A vehicle body assembly includes a steering column assembly, a steering wheel, an actuator mechanism and a controller. The steering wheel is rotatably supported to the steering column assembly for rotation about a first axis. The actuator mechanism is connected to the steering column assembly and includes a lever movable relative to the steering column assembly between a first position and a second position about a second axis that extends in a direction perpendicular to the first axis. The controller is operably connected to the actuator mechanism and to a trailer connector such that in response to the lever moving from the first position toward the second position, the controller transmits a braking signal to the trailer connector corresponding to activation of a trailer braking system of a trailer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a vehicle body assembly that includes an actuator mechanism coupled to a steering column within a vehicle. More specifically, the present invention relates to an actuator mechanism supported on a steering column or a steering wheel of the vehicle, the actuator mechanism being configured to actuate trailer brakes.
2. Background Information
Many vehicles are provided with towing capabilities. For example, a rear end of a vehicle can be provided with a trailer hitch such that a trailer can be mechanically attached to the trailer hitch and towed behind the vehicle. An electrical connector is also provided at the rear of the vehicle such that a mating electrical connector on a trailer wiring harness of the trailer can be attached to the electrical connector. The electrical connector provides an operating connection between the brake lights and vehicle brakes of the vehicle, and trailer lights and trailer brakes of the trailer. More specifically, the electrical connector provides an operating connection between the vehicle brakes and the trailer brakes. Consequently, when a vehicle operator engages the vehicle brakes, the trailer brakes are simultaneously engaged.
Some towing vehicles are provided with a separate a trailer brake control mechanism within the passenger compartment of the vehicle. The trailer brake control mechanism provides the driver with a means for engaging the trailer brakes independently from engagement of the vehicle brakes. However, the conventional trailer brake control mechanism is typically mounted below the instrument panel of the vehicle or on the instrument panel of the towing vehicle. Consequently, the driver of the towing vehicle must take one hand off the vehicle steering wheel in order to operate the trailer brake control mechanism.


A method of lighting to protect sea turtles comprises providing in a housing both a white light source, for example a low-voltage incandescent source, and a red LED source that is visible to humans but that does not interfere with the normal nesting and hatching behavior of sea turtles, and selectively energizing the latter source during turtle nesting season.

Eight out of twelve species of sea turtle are on the endangered species list. A large part of the problem is that the hatchlings crawl toward lights along the beach instead of toward the moonlight reflecting off of the water and are killed. Lights may also discourage female turtles from coming ashore to nest.
Turtle nesting season runs from March 1 to November 1. Florida has mandated that beachfront illumination must be turned off or blacked out during this period. This presents a potential hazard for pedestrians negotiating dark walkways. There is gathering evidence that turtles cannot see red and/or yellow wavelengths well. The present application uses LEDs of such peak wavelengths, preferably red LEDs, as Turtle Friendly Lights. In an implementation, a light also may use an incandescent or fluorescent white light and red LEDs with the same power source switchable between emitting white light and red light.
Due to the nature of color vision, monochromatic red light may be used. Filtered (incandescent) white lights may look red to humans while still emitting a significant portion of yellow, green and even blue light. These shorter wavelengths of light do not significantly impact the perception of red color to humans, but may still be visible to turtles.
Low-pressure sodium vapor lamps emit nearly monochromatic yellow light that has been shown not to interfere with the nesting behavior of some species of turtles. This color may be unappealing and can exhibit poor color rendering properties. Due to their size, power supply requirements and expense, it is difficult to integrate these lamps with another more traditional light source to provide flexible and appropriate landscape and decorative lighting. The low-pressure sodium lamps are more suited to area illumination of parking lots and highway interchanges.
Traditional landscape lighting uses incandescent or fluorescent lighting fixtures. Both of these light sources emit significant amounts of light at wavelengths less than 570 nm, which has proven to be disorienting to both nesting adult turtles and hatchlings. While these light sources could be rendered more ecologically compatible in turtle nesting areas by use of filters, significant labor is required to install and uninstall these filters at the beginning and end of turtle nesting season. Further, high quality filters that block all light emission at wavelengths below 570 nm and will not degrade in the temperatures and humidity typical of turtle nesting beaches are expensive and are not available in useful shapes. Therefore, filtering will be an expensive and inconvenient solution.

Method of lighting for protecting sea turtles


A service creation apparatus may include an adapter communicatively coupled to a provider module by way of a uniform interface. The adapter may also be coupled to a tool via the tool's native interface. A system may include a processor coupled to a memory including the apparatus. A method for creating a service may include selecting a plurality of features provided by a native interface of a tool, collecting the plurality of features from the native interface to form a service having a uniform interface, and providing the service to a plurality of users using the uniform interface.

Traditional data center operations tools, such as backup, security, and network monitoring, are typically implemented on an infrastructure-centric basis. Such tools have been devised, often at great expense, to provide one or more services within a particular operational entity. Thus, there is no concept associated with these services of a "customer" as such, but merely the use of one or more services available within the entity, such as a data processing center.
With increased access to information by small to medium-sized businesses via wide area networks, a marketing niche has arisen: the provision of computational and information management services to businesses unable to afford custom application development, either with respect to time or money. While some service providers have come to the market with newly-developed, multi-customer and network-enabled software to provide such services, there are many others that wish to offer these services using legacy tools, originally developed in-house for use by a single entity, on a networked, multi-customer basis. Such tools have a history of operating on a daily basis in a real-world environment, providing the additional benefit of proven performance.
In selling services to consumers, the ability to offer a product which is competitively priced, free from operational inconsistency, and readily available on a semi-custom basis is important. However, attempting to deploy legacy tools in the form of newly-developed, customized versions for a variety of individual customers over a network is expensive, time-consuming, and fraught with many of the problems inherent in any programming development effort.
In addition, some legacy tools, while operating at a suitable level within a particular entity, may not be capable of meeting consumer expectations associated with most basic service offerings, such as the generic ability to accommodate usage preferences of multiple customers (and users which make up a single customer), to gather usage statistics, to provide customer-specific control, health, and status reports, as well as to provide operational problem alerting.
Another difficulty in converting such tools for use by a variety of customers is creating a customer-centric operational view, such that the application interface is consistent across multiple customers and, possibly, across multiple service offerings. Each tool typically has distinct interface requirements. Further, while many users share operational and logistical characteristics, so as to be somewhat the same, there are also unique needs which must be addressed, such as requirements for operational problem alerting, service billing, and reporting.

Service creator apparatus, systems, and methods


Rotors or stators of this kind are cut out from rolled sheet metal with a predominant magnetic direction and are stacked to form a rotor or stator lamination bundle. In order to largely compensate for a magnetic anisotropy of the rotor or stator lamination packet, when the sheet metal blanks are asymmetrical (A, B), they are cut out from the rolled sheet metal rotated in relation to one another with regard to the predominant magnetic direction. The process according to the invention can be used for electric machine rotors or stators comprised of sheet metal blanks.

This is a 35 USC 371 application of PCT/DE 99/00055 filed on Jan. 15, 1999, which in turn claims priority to German application 19818198.1, filed Apr. 23, 1998.
A process of this kind for manufacturing a rotor of an electric machine, in which the sheet metal blanks stamped out with a die are embodied as point-symmetrical, has already been disclosed (DE 32 46 356 A1). The sheet metal blanks are disposed in the rotor lamination bundle, provided that the geometric embodiment of the blanks permits this, by random distribution or are disposed offset by a particular angle from the next sheet metal blank in the circumference direction. This should largely compensate for the magnetic anisotropy produced by the rolling process of the sheets. However, this process is unsuccessful when the sheet metal blanks are asymmetrical, since the non-rotatability leads to an uniform alignment of the predominant magnetic direction of all of the sheet metal blanks.
The process according to the invention, has the advantage over the prior art that with the acceptance of increased tool production costs, at least two batches of sheet metal blanks with different predominant magnetic directions are produced which, when congruently stacked in an alternating sequence, permit the magnetic anisotropy to be largely eliminated. Since the two batches of the sheet metal blanks can preferably be cut out in stamping tools with two dies (multiple cut), a high degree of materials utilization of the rolled sheet metal strip used can be achieved by means of favorable die disposition.

Process for manufacturing a rotor or stator of an electric machine out of sheet metal blanks


An organic electroluminescent device is provided. The structural components of the organic electroluminescent device can be excluded from external conditions without using a cap and whose thickness can be remarkably reduced without installing a getter. The organic electroluminescent device as embodied has the structure that a protective layer with a multi-layered structure is formed on the entire structure of the structural components to exclude the structural components completely from external conditions. The protective layer is consisted of an organic material layer formed on the structural components of the device, an inorganic material layer formed on the organic material layer, and a coating layer formed on the inorganic material layer. The coating layer formed on the inorganic material layer is made from titanium aluminum nitride (TiN).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent device, particularly to an organic electroluminescent device which can completely separate its components from external conditions without using a cap and clearly reduce its thickness without installing a getter.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Organic electroluminescence is the phenomenon that excitons are formed in an (low molecular or high molecular) organic material thin film by re-combining holes injected through an anode with electrons injected through a cathode, and light of specific wavelength is generated by energy from thus formed excitons.
Organic electroluminescent device using the above phenomenon has a basic structure as illustrated in FIG. 1. The basic structure of organic electroluminescent device includes a glass substrate 1, an indium-tin-oxide layer 2 (hereinafter, referred as "ITO layer") acting as anode electrode, formed on the upper side of the glass substrate 1, and an insulating layer, an organic material layer 3, and a metal layer 4 acting as cathode electrode in order.
For reference, the organic material layer 3 has the structure that a hole injection layer for injecting holes into the device; a hole transport layer for transporting the holes injected from the anode electrode to a light emitting layer; the light emitting layer which electron supplied from the cathode electrode and holes supplied from the anode electrode are recombined and light is emitted therefrom; and an electron transport layer for transporting electron supplied from the cathode electrode are stacked in order.
The organic electroluminescent device having the above structure is manufactured through the following processes. First, the ITO layer 2 is deposited on the glass substrate 1 through the vacuum deposition method, and the ITO layer 2 is patterned by the photolithography method.
Then, an insulating layer (not shown), the organic material layer 3, and walls W are formed on the patterned ITO layer 2. The organic material layer 3 is formed on the insulating layer, and the metal layer 4 acting as the cathode is formed on the organic material layer 3. Here, each wall W is formed to separately deposit the metal layers 4 on the ITO layer 2.
After each component is formed as described above, a cap 6 is bonded on a periphery portion of the substrate 1 by a sealant 5. As shown in FIG. 1, a closed space is formed between the cap 6 and the substrate 1, and so the above components disposed in this space are not influenced by external conditions such as moisture and the like.
Here, organic material constituting the device is vulnerable to moisture and heat, and thus the cap 6 used for protecting the components from external conditions is made from metal, glass, or synthetic material thereof. Also, an ultraviolet ray-curable adhesive is used as the sealant 5.
On the other hand, a getter 8 which is moisture absorbent is attached to a lower surface of the central portion of the cap 6 by a tape 7 made from organic material. Moisture (humidity) remains in the space between the cap 6 and the substrate 1 at which the structural components constituting the device are disposed. Therefore, in order to absorb the moisture, the getter 8 is attached to a lower surface of the cap 6, and then the cap 6 is bonded to the substrate 1.
The getter 8 used for the above-explained purpose is made from, for example, calcium oxide (CaO), barium oxide (BaO), etc., and can be applied in the form of film, paste, or powder.
The organic electroluminescent device shown in FIG. 1 needs a space for the getter 8. Also, the metal layer 4 is oxidized in case the getter 8 and the metal layer 4 are contacted with each other, and so a certain space is needed between the metal layer 4 and the getter 8. This structure acts as a factor increasing thickness of the device. Thus, it is desirable to eliminate the factor increasing thickness of the device in order to conform to the trend of miniaturization of the device itself and apparatus that the device is mounted to.

Organic electroluminescent device without cap and getter


The present invention provides a method for the preparation of a gluten-containing grain having lowered levels of gluten. The method includes providing a prepared gluten-containing grain which may be optionally sterilized or pasteurized. The prepared gluten-containing grain is then inoculated with a prepared fungal component and incubated. In one embodiment the prepared fungal component myceliates the prepared gluten-containing grain while incubated and during this process hydrolyzes gluten in the prepared gluten-containing grain. The present invention also includes a gluten-containing grain having lowered levels of gluten which has been prepared by the methods of the invention.

Celiac disease is an autoimmune disorder that inhibits the physiology and degrades the tissue of the small intestine due to the presence of serotypical HLA-DQ2 receptors that recognize deaminated gluten/glutaminase complexes as antigenic. A gluten-free diet is the only medically accepted treatment. The disease affects an estimated 1% of adults worldwide and appears to be on the rise epidemiologically but because of the rare occurrence of symptoms it is believed that only 5-10% of cases are diagnosed. Tolerable gluten doses varies among people with celiac disease. Although there is no evidence to suggest a single definitive threshold a daily gluten intake of less than 10 mg is unlikely to cause significant histological issues. A gluten-free diet is generally recommended to those with celiac disease.
Regulation of the gluten-free label varies by country. Most countries derive key provisions of their gluten-free labeling regulations from the Codex Alimentarius International Food Standards for labeling, which has a standard relating to the labeling of products as gluten-free. Gluten-free is defined as 20 ppm (20 mg/kg) or less. It classification of gluten-free food includes food that has become gluten-free through "special processing".
The inventors have developed methods for myceliating agricultural substrates, see, e.g., PCT/US14/29989, filed Mar. 15, 2014, PCT/US14/29998, filed Mar. 15, 2014, U.S. 61/953,821, filed Mar. 15, 2014, U.S. 61/953,823, filed Mar. 15, 2014, U.S. 62/042,071, filed Aug. 26, 2014, all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties.
A need remains in the art for gluten-containing products with reduced gluten levels and for methods of obtaining such products. There are no reports of higher order filamentous fungi hydrolyzing gluten as described herein and in view of art it is apparent that efficient digestion of gluten is difficult.

Methods for lowering gluten content using fungal cultures


There is disclosed an apparatus for depositing metal on a member comprising: (a) a first electrode comprising a first corrugated side; (b) a second electrode having the same polarity as the first electrode and comprising a second corrugated side, wherein the second corrugated side is disposed opposite the first corrugated side, and spaced therefrom; (c) a channel defined by the first corrugated side and the second corrugated side for movement of the member therebetween, wherein the channel has a plurality of alternating expansive areas and constrictive areas; and (d) a conveyor device for transporting the member through the channel.

This invention relates generally to a metal deposition cell and more particularly to anode electrodes of the metal deposition cell which have corrugated sides. The anodes and processes described herein are illustrated primarily in the context of an electroforming process, but the anodes are useful for other metal deposition processes including electroplating. The resulting electroformed articles are used for example as substrates in the fabrication of photoreceptors.
In electroforming cells employing two straight sided anodes, it is known that a mandrel moving through the channel defined by the anodes will experience varying current densities. The mandrel surface will experience varying current densities even if the mandrel were rotating. Non-uniform current densities tend to degrade the uniformity of the electroform thickness as well as the surface appearance of the electroform. The conventional response to the problem of varying current densities resulting from the use of straight sided anodes is to employ larger electroforming tanks to increase the mandrel to anode distance. However, the use of larger electroforming tanks requires more floor space, a larger quantity of bath components, and a higher voltage. There is therefore a need for a new anode design that allows the metal deposition process to occur at a smaller mandrel to anode distance which would decrease the size of the electroforming tank or apparatus. A smaller tank or cell reduces the amount of floor space, bath components, and/or voltage needed.
Various anode configurations and processes which employ these anodes are known:
Ashcroft, U.S. Pat. No. 1,545,383, discloses an electrolysis cell useful in connection with a process for the production of either zinc or lead by the reduction of the appropriate metal chloride. The anode and cathode surfaces of the electrodes of the cell may be corrugated to facilitate the flows of metal and chlorine in the cell. (See, e.g., page 3, lines 49-54).
Bailey et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,844,906, discloses a process for maintaining a continuous and stable aqueous nickel sulfamate electroforming solution which employs an anode electrode in the form of an annular shaped basket.
Polan, U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,486, disclosed an arcuate shaped anode useful for the continuous electroforming of metal foil.


The present invention provides a method that is implemented in a base station. The method includes predicting a transmission rate adaptation associated with a mobile unit during a first time interval. The prediction is based on a signal-to-noise ratio for transmission associated with the mobile unit in the first time interval. The predicted request is for a transmission rate adaptation that is predicted to occur during a second time interval subsequent to the first time interval. The method also includes performing a system reconfiguration or a resource reallocation for communication between the base station and the mobile unit at the predicted transmission rate during the second time interval. The system reconfiguration or the resource reallocation is performed prior to the second time interval.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to communication systems, and, more particularly, to wireless communication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
The coverage area of a wireless communication system is typically divided into a number of geographic areas that are conventionally referred to as cells. Mobile units located in the coverage area of a cell may access the wireless communications system by establishing a wireless communication link, often referred to as an air interface, with a base station (or node-B) associated with the cell. The strength of signals received by the mobile unit from the base station decreases with increasing distance between the base station and the mobile unit due in part to the propagation loss of radio signals transmitted by the base station. Consequently, the mobile unit may find it increasingly difficult to decode the signals transmitted by the base station if the base station continues to transmit signals to the mobile unit at the same power level and at the same data transmission rate as the mobile unit moves away from the base station.
Some wireless communication systems, such as Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems (UMTS), compensate for the degraded signal strength by using a power control loop to increase the transmission power used to transmit signals to more distant mobile units. However, increasing the transmission power to one mobile unit may decrease the power available to transmit signals to other mobile units. Furthermore, increasing the transmission power for one mobile unit may increase the interference experienced by other mobile units within the same cell and within neighboring cells. Consequently, simply increasing the transmission power to distant mobile units may decrease the overall system capacity, particularly when many mobile units are near the edge of a cell.
One alternative to using a power control loop to increase the transmission power when a mobile unit moves away from the base stations is rate adaptation. In a rate adapting scheme, the mobile unit may detect the reduction in the signal quality or strength as it moves away from the base station. For example, the mobile unit may fail to decode a particular transmission or the decoding failure rate may increase above a predetermined threshold. The mobile unit may then request that subsequent information be transmitted using a more robust coding scheme and a lower data transmission rate. Although selecting a more robust coding scheme may improve decoding at the mobile unit, better coding schemes typically occupy the wireless medium longer to transport the same amount of information, relative to the less robust coding schemes. Thus, the capacity available to the mobile units in a serviced area will drop as a result of one or more users performing rate adaptations.
Conventional wireless communication systems do not anticipate rate adaptations that may be performed for the mobile units in the system. This deficiency is due, at least in part, to the absence of a standardized technique for determining when a rate adaptation should be performed. To the contrary, different service providers (and even different mobile devices supplied by a single provider) typically implement different algorithms for determining when a rate adaptation should be performed. Even techniques for estimating signal-to-noise ratios differ from device to device. A wireless communication system may serve many different devices that are maintained by many different service providers, which makes it difficult for the wireless communication system to predict when (or if) a rate adaptation may occur. Thus, conventional wireless communication systems are not able to anticipate and prepare for capacity changes that may result from future rate adaptations.

Method of predicting transmission speed adaptations


An electronic device includes a body, a display screen and a notch defining a notch area fixedly arranged at the body, and a sensor. The sensor is configured to obtain a touch input of an operating entity at the notch area.

Currently, having a large display screen is the development trend for electronic devices, such as mobile phones and tablets. Considering that the user has the need to operate buttons, such as the Home button, Back button, and Menu button, a rectangular space is generally included at the bottom of the electronic device. Physical buttons are arranged at the rectangular space and are divided into push buttons and touch buttons.
However, the physical buttons arranged at the bottom of an electronic device often reduce the effective display area of the electronic device. But if the electronic device does not arrange any button, the user experience may be affected. The disclosed methods and systems are directed to solve one or more problems set forth above and other problems.


Disclosed herein are systems, computer-implemented methods, and tangible computer-readable storage media for automatically initiating online social interactions based on participation in a conference call. Audio of the conference call is analyzed for data, such as timestamps indicating when people spoke, the volume of speech, words per minute, and emotional context. This analysis determines relationships between participants, and initiates online social interactions compatible with those relationships. This initialization can take the form of a prompt, or can be performed without interruption to the participants.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to initiating online social interactions based on conference call participation and more specifically to creating online social invitations based on the interactions and relationships developed during a conference call.
2. Introduction
Conference call participation is a useful tool for communicating with others and rapidly sharing ideas. Too often, however, the relationships and communication opportunities created by conference calls end with the conference call. Modern online communications tools, such as blogs, microblogs, and social networks, allow relationships and communication opportunities to persist while providing additional opportunities to build relationships, communicate, and increase the overall efficacy of users. Despite the fact that these modern communication tools exist and can aid users to continue communicating, conference call participants rarely use these tools to continue interacting with other participants.

System and method for initiating online social interactions based on conference call participation


Disclosed is a system and method for accessing password-protected Web sites through Web browsers without manually supplying username and password by users. A browser maintains, for each user, one user security profile which stores the URLs and the corresponding login username and password. When the browser receives a username-password challenge from a Web server, instead of immediately prompting the user for such information, the browser first searches the user security profile for the URL the challenge is received from. If a match is found, the browser sends the challenging Web server the username and password that is associated with the matched URL. Thus the user does not have to manually supply the username and password once the triple of (URL, username, password) is stored in the user security profile. This feature is especially valuable for users of voice browsers and phone browsers.

The present invention generally relates to accessing World Wide Web using Web browsers, and more particularly to a new user security profile feature for Web browsers.
Today, people use Web browsers such as Netscape browsers and Internet Explorer to communicate with Web servers which serve Web pages to browsers by the HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP). The HTTP protocol is a client-server protocol where HTTP clients (also known as browsers) send the Web server the identifier of the Web page (commonly known as URL or Uniform Resource Locator) that the user wants to retrieve. Upon receiving the URL sent by the browsers, a Web server sends the requested page to the requesting browsers and the browsers present the received page to the users via a graphical user interface (GUI). A Web page typically contains hyperlinks that point to other Web pages; users can request these pages by clicking on the hyperlink. A user can save the URL of the Web page he is visiting in a bookmark file so that he can revisit the page next time by just clicking on the corresponding bookmark entry. A user can also retrieve a Web page by typing the URL as a text string into the browser.
In addition to the aforementioned browsers with a graphical user interface (GUI), there exists other types of browsers which do not have GUI. An example is voice browsers which can be used by people with impaired vision or people whose eyes are not available while navigating the Web, e.g., automotive drivers. With the lack of a GUI interface, a voice browser typically employs text-to-speech technology to covert the text information of Web pages into speech signals and speech recognition technology to recognize what the user said. With the maturity today""s speech technology, a user typically say the number or the keywords that are associated with the page he wants to get. With such a restricted user interface, it is very difficult for users to specify a URL by spelling out the URL letter by letter or word by word.
Another example of browsers without GUI interface is a phone browser system. FIG. 1 shows a system diagram of a typical phone browser system. The phone browser system allows a telephone user to access the Web pages (not shown) residing at Web servers 170 on the Internet. The system works as follows. A caller picks up a phone 105 and dials the phone number corresponding to the URL of the Web page that he/she wants to reach. The phone call will be routed by the PSTN (public switch telephone network) 110 to a IVR platform 120 which on one hand interfaces with the PSTN I 10 and on the other hand interfaces with the Internet 150, to which a phone browser 160 and a Web server 170 are connected. The phone call will be picked up at the IVR platform 120 by the call handling routine 122 which will find the destined URL by looking up the phone number/URL table 124 based on the phone number the caller dialed. The call handling routine 122 then proceeds to establish a session with a phone browser 160 and initializes the phone browser 160 with the selected URL by a proprietary protocol, called V protocol. The phone browser 160 then interacts with the Web server 170 hosting the destined URL by the HTTP protocol.
The IVR platform 120 interfaces with the PSTN via a telephony interface 128 which includes DTMF (Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency) detection, call answering/disconnecting, digital-to-analog and analog-to-digital converters, etc. The IVR platform 120 includes audio functions 126 such as text-to-speech converters, audio players, audio recorders, etc. The information (e.g. text and audio) obtained from the Web server 170 is first processed by the phone browser 160 (e.g., appending a voice menu at the end of the page.) The processed information is then sent to the call handling routine 122 via V protocol. The received information at the call handling routine 122 is presented to the caller after the necessary conversion is done at the IVR platform 120. The caller now listens to the transformed Web page in speech and chooses the next URL by pressing the corresponding touch-tone button on the phone 105 according to the voice menu presented to the caller by the call handing routine 122. The call handling routine 122 converts the received DTMF tone into a digital format (e.g., ASCII text) and sends it to the phone browser for the next Web page. The process repeats till the caller hangs up the phone. Similar to the situation in a voice browser system, it is very difficult for a user to supply a URL in text in a phone browser system.
With the growing awareness of security and privacy, today many Web sites require users sign up and set up a login username and password when users first visit their Web sites. When a user tries to download a page that is password protected, the browser will prompt the user to supply username and password as a result of receiving a password challenge from the Web server hosting the page. As such, each user has to manage a list of login information (i.e., URL, username, and password) for each site he signs up and manually supply the username and password every time he visits these sites.
For a browser with GUI, it is extra work to manage the many usernames and passwords for all the sites that are password protected. Some users may find it inconvenient to supply username and password each time a password-protected site is visited. For browsers without GUI such as voice browsers and phone browsers, it is very difficult to for users to tell the browsers username and password.
An object of this invention is a method for users to access password-protected Web sites without manually supplying username and password for each visit of the sites.
Another object of the invention is a method for telephone users to access password-protected web sites without supplying username and password information over the phones.
The present invention is a system and method for accessing password-protected Web sites through Web browsers without manually supplying a username and password by the users. The invention requires a browser maintains, for each user, one user security profile which stores the URLs and the corresponding login username and password. When the browser receives a username-password challenge from a Web server, instead of immediately prompting the user for such information, the browser first searches the user security profile for the URL the challenge is received from. If a match is found, the browser sends the challenging Web server the username and password that is associated with the matched URL. Thus the user does not have to manually supply the username and password once the triple of (URL, username, password) is stored in the user security profile. This feature is especially valuable for users of voice browsers and phone browsers.

International Business Machines Corporation