An optical pickup actuator having: a holder positioned at one side of a base; a lens holder on which an objective lens is mounted, a magnetic driving portion having focusing coils, tracking coils, and tilting coils, and a magnet used to drive the lens holder in focusing, tracking, and tilting directions; at least one support member supporting the lens holder, one end of the support member being combined with the holder, and an other end thereof being combined with the lens holder; and wires installed separate from the support member to apply a current to the focusing coil, the tracking coil, and the tilting coil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical pickup actuator that can be driven centering on the same driving axis as an optical axis of an objective lens, and improves sensitivity by preventing subsidiary resonance caused by a leakage magnetic flux, and an optical pickup, and an optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, an optical pickup is a device that is used in an optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus, moves in a radial direction of an optical disc as an optical recording medium, and performs recording and/or reproducing of information on and/or from the optical disc in a noncontact manner.
The optical pickup requires an optical pickup actuator, which drives an objective lens in tracking and focusing directions of an optical disc, so that light emitted from a light source is formed as a light spot in an appropriate position on an optical disc. But the desire to make a portable personal computer (PC), such as a notebook, thin and light, causes limitations in available space in such a computer. Thus, an actuator used in the portable PC should be made slim.
A reflector is used in the optical pickup to direct light toward the objective lens. As the actuator should be made slim, an asymmetric actuator having a driving axis different from an optical axis of the objective lens has been proposed, to reduce a distance between the objective lens and the reflector of the optical pickup. An example thereof is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,645.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a holder 14 is positioned at one side of a conventional optical pickup actuator 10, a focusing coil 18 is wound along an outer circumference of a lens holder 12, a first accommodation groove 16a is positioned at a center of the lens holder 12, and a pair of tracking coils 15 are wound at one side of the lens holder 12. In addition, a second accommodation groove 16b is positioned in a moving portion 17, on which an objective lens 11 is mounted, and the lens holder 12 is accommodated in the second accommodation groove 16b. Here, a U-shaped yoke 31 is inserted into the first and second accommodation grooves 16a and 16b, and a magnet 32 is mounted at one side of the U-shaped yoke 31 to face the pair of tracking coils 15.
One end of each of a pair of suspensions 13a and 13b is fixed in the holder 14, and the respective other ends thereof are fixed at sides of the moving portion 17. The moving portion 17 is supported by the pair of suspensions 13a and 13b, and the moving portion 17 and the lens holder 12 are combined with each other to move together.
If a current is applied to the focusing coil 18 and the tracking coil 15, a force is applied to the coils 18 and 15 by an electromagnetic interaction between the magnet 32 and the focusing coil 18 or the tracking coil 15, such that the moving portion 17 moves. A direction in which the force is applied to the focusing coil 18 and the tracking coil 15 follows Flemings Left Hand Rule.
Thus, if an electromagnetic force acts on the coils 18 and 15 by the electromagnetic interaction between the magnet 32 and the focusing coil 18 or the tracking coil 15, the lens holder 12 moves in a focusing direction F or a tracking direction T. As such, the moving portion 17 combined with the lens holder 12 moves together, and simultaneously, the objective lens 11 moves, and a position in which a light spot is formed in a disc (not shown) is adjusted.
FIGS. 3A and 3B schematically show an electromagnetic interaction between the focusing coil 18 and the magnet 32. Here, the focusing coil 18 includes a portion 18a placed inside the U-shaped yoke 31 and a portion 18b placed outside the U-shaped yoke 31. However, an electromagnetic force is applied to the portion 18a of the focusing coil 18 placed inside the yoke 31 by an interaction between the portion 18a of the focusing coil 18 and the magnet 32. On the other hand, the portion 18b of the focusing coil 18 placed outside the yoke 31 is blocked by the yoke 31 and thus, is not affected by the magnet 32. But in actuality, as indicated by a dotted line of FIG. 3A, a magnetic flux generated in the magnet 32 is deviated from the center of the magnet 32 and is widely spread at an edge of the magnet 32. Then, the magnetic flux is deviated from the yoke 31 and is leaked to the outside.
The portion 18b of the focusing coil 18, placed outside the yoke 31, is affected by a leakage magnetic flux. Arrows from the focusing coil 18 of FIG. 3A represent the size and direction of a force applied to the focusing coil 18 by distribution of a magnetic flux in accordance with Flemings Left Hand Rule. In this way, a force is applied to the portion 18b of the focusing coil 18 placed outside the yoke 31 by a leakage magnetic flux, and this causes distribution of a nonuniform force applied to the focusing coil 18. In other words, as is shown in FIG. 3B, a force Fu applied to the portion 18a of the focusing coil 18 placed inside the yoke 31 and a force Fd applied to the portion 18b of the focusing coil 18 placed outside the yoke 31 are nonuniform such that a pitching mode, in which the lens holder 12 and the moving portion 17 are shaken back and forth, is formed. That is, the lens holder 12 and the moving portion 17 are shaken in a direction of arrow P of FIG. 3B.
In addition, the portion 18b of the focusing coil 18 placed outside the yoke 31 is a coil that is not used for a focusing operation, and due to an increase in mass and wound coil resistance, sensitivity of the actuator is lowered. Thus, a problem occurs in a high-speed follow capability caused by high-speed of a disc.
Since a motion centroid H of the tracking coils 15 is not identical with a mass centroid G of the tracking coils 15 during motion in the tracking direction T caused by the pair of tracking coils 15, a rolling mode is formed. As is shown in FIG. 4A, when the lens holder 12 stops, a mass centroid G of the actuator 10 is identical with a motion centroid H of the lens holder 12. Arrows of FIG. 4A represent the size and direction of a force applied to the tracking coils 15 by the magnet 32. The size of a force applied to the tracking coils 15 depends on the size of current and a magnetic flux flowing through the tracking coils 15. When a current is constant, the size of the force applied to the tracking coils 15 depends on only the size of a magnetic flux. The magnetic flux is the largest in the center of the magnet 32, and is gradually reduced closer to an edge of the magnet 32.
As is shown in FIG. 4A, when the tracking coils 15 are in a neutral position, a magnetic flux is distributed symmetrically with respect to the tracking coils 15. As such, the mass centroid G of the tracking coils 15 is identical with the motion centroid H of the tracking coils 15.
But as is shown in FIG. 4B, if the lens holder 12 is focused upward by the focusing coil 18, a force applied to the tracking coils 15 by the magnet 32 is deflected to a lower portion of the tracking coils 15. Thus, since a tracking force in a downward direction of the lens holder 12 is larger than a tracking force in an upward direction of the lens holder 12, a rotational moment occurs in a direction of arrow R1.
On the other hand, as is shown in FIG. 4C, if the lens holder 12 is focused downward by the focusing coil 18, a force applied to the tracking coils 15 by the magnet 32 is deflected to an upper portion of the tracking coils 15. Thus, since a tracking force in the upward direction of the lens holder 12 is larger than a tracking force in the downward direction of the lens holder 12, a rotational moment occurs in a direction of arrow R2.
Consequently, as is shown in FIG. 4D, since the motion centroid H and the mass centroid G of the tracking coils 15 are not identical with each other according to a focusing direction of the lens holder 12, a rolling mode that rolls in directions of arrows R1 and R2 is formed.
A rotational vibration mode, such as a pitching mode and a rolling mode, affects the phase and displacement of basic frequency characteristics during focusing and tracking operations, and thus, an optical signal is decreased. Thus, when the size of the magnet 32 is made large to increase magnetic flux density for improvement of AC sensitivity, a leakage magnetic flux is increased, subsidiary resonance occurs, and there is a limitation in an increase in magnetic flux density. Further, in a high-speed and high-density optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus, the pitching mode and the rolling mode are often generated. Thus, a high speed optical pickup actuator suitable for an optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus is needed.
In the case of tilting driving, in addition to focusing driving and tracking driving, the number of suspensions is at least six. It is very difficult to perform an operation of soldering such a suspension in a narrow space, and defective rates are high. Further, if a current is supplied to the suspension, heat is generated in a soldered portion, causing failure.

Optical pickup actuator, optical pickup, and optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus


A light emitting device having a stacked structure is provided. The stacked structure includes, in recited order: a first electrode layer; an organic layer including a light emitting layer; a second electrode layer; a consecutive conductive sealing layer; and a third electrode layer.

The present application relates to a self-luminous light emitting device including an organic layer, a method of manufacturing the light emitting device, and a display unit including the light emitting device.
Recently, an organic EL display using a self-luminous light emitting device including an organic layer has been put to practical use. The organic EL display is of a self-luminous type, and therefore has a wide viewing angle compared with, for example, a liquid crystal display, and is sufficiently responsive to a high-definition and high-speed video signal.
Previously, the organic light emitting device has been tried to be improved in display performance through control of light generated in a light emitting layer, such as improvement in color purity of emission light or improvement in light emission efficiency by introducing a resonator structure. For example, the organic light emitting device may adopt a structure where a first electrode layer, an organic layer, and a second electrode layer are stacked in this order on a substrate with a drive circuit including a drive transistor, etc. in between. In the organic light emitting device of a top emission type, the second electrode layer is configured of a transparent conductive material, and light from the organic layer is multiply-reflected between the first and the second electrode layers, so that the light is extracted from a surface (top) on a side opposite to the substrate. The transparent conductive material used for the second electrode layer typically has a higher resistance value than a metal material. Hence, in a relatively large light emitting device, display performance may be reduced towards a central region from an end region of a display section due to voltage drop. When thickness of the second electrode layer is increased, voltage drop in a display plane is reduced due to a decrease in resistance value, but visible-light transmittance of the second electrode layer is decreased, and light extraction efficiency of the light emitting device is reduced.
To solve such difficulties, there is provided techniques of reducing voltage drop in the second electrode layer, for example, by connecting the second electrode layer to an auxiliary electrode provided on a second substrate via a conductor, a conductive rib, or a conductive resin layer (for example, see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication Nos. 2002-033198 and 2011-103205 (JP-A-2002-033198 and JP-A-2011-103205)).

Light emitting device, method of manufacturing the light emitting device, and display unit


An automatic suction device for an eyeglass lens and a method for determining suction jig installation position, capable of recognizing that a frame exchange lens holder is being installed on a placement table, making transition to installation work of a frame exchange mode, and avoiding an erroneous contact between the frame exchange frame and a lens holding frame. The kind of holding means placed on the placement table is determined from an image of the inside of an opening (141), which image is taken by a CCD camera (105), and the installation position of a suction jig (121) at an eyeglass lens (L) placed on a frame exchange lens holder (300) is obtained.

Various techniques have been proposed in connection with a glasses lens chucking jig mounting method involving picking-up an image of the surface of any of various unmachined glasses lenses using an image device, subjecting the image to image processing, judging whether a figure is present or not, and loading a chucking jig such as a chucking cup automatically in accordance with the type of the glasses lens.
In connection with a raw lens having a hidden mark such as a progressive multifocal lens, or a glasses lens having a printed dot mark, or a glasses lens having a segment (small sphere) such as a bifocal lens, there is known a system in which a graphic image of a reference marker is picked up using a hidden mark, a printed mark or a segment as the reference marker, and a chucking jig such as a chucking cup is loaded to a chucking position (optical center) of a glasses lens which is geometrically related to the reference marker (Patent Documents 1 to 6). By the printed dot mark is meant a dot mark printed on a glasses lens with use of a lens meter or the like.
Also, a system is known which picks up a graphic image of a glasses lens, binarizes an image signal and detects a hidden mark or the like stamped or printed on the surface of the glasses lens or detects unevenness or damage on the lens surface (Patent Documents 1 to 3 and 5 to 7).
Patent Documents:                1. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-296144        2. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2000-19058        3. Japanese Utility Model Registration No. 3077054        4. DE3829488A1        5. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-139713        6. Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-1638        7. EP856728A2

Device for installing suction jig for eyeglass lens and method for determining suction jig installation position


A convertible leg apparatus is provided for use with articles of furniture, such as for supporting two tables in abutting relation. The apparatus preferably includes a double-post leg assembly mounted to a plate. The plate defines a pair of parallel slots, each elongated along parallel axes, and a pair of apertures spaced apart from an end of each slot and aligned along the corresponding axis of the slot. The slots and apertures are sized to receive an elongated fastener therethrough. The underside of each tabletop includes a plurality of fastener bores, each of the bores being aligned with one of the pair of slots or pair of apertures. Elongated fasteners, such as thumbscrews, extend through the slots and apertures for engagement within threaded bores aligned therewith. The convertible leg apparatus can be engaged at each end of a tabletop, and optimally at the joint between the abutting tabletops. The parallel slots in the plate of the convertible leg apparatus allows the plate to slide between a first position solely underneath one table, to a second position spanning the adjacent tabletops. In the second position, the parallel slots are aligned with the fastener bores in one tabletop, while the pair of apertures are aligned with outboard fastener bores in the abutting second tabletop.

The present invention concerns a table leg apparatus that is convertible between a position underneath and supporting a single article of furniture, such as a table, to a position capable of supporting two adjacent articles.
The needs of modern office layout design have dictated the design of the office furniture components. One important feature for these office furniture components is modularity. Elements of modular office furniture can be mixed and matched, and combined into a variety of configurations. For instance, a modular table system can be arranged into a variety of table configurations for use as a small conference table, a large meeting table, or a training center. With a typical modular furniture system, several interchangeable components are provided that can be stored when not in use and that can be interconnected to form the variety of layouts.
Most modular furniture elements have small mechanisms for connecting adjacent elements. For example, various table ganging plates have been made available to directly connect existing "stand alone" tables. For example, the metal fastening plate of Waller, shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,290,710, is a plate that is directly fastened to adjacent tables. In a refinement of that general concept, the patent to Burr, U.S. Pat. No. 4,665,836, shows a table interconnecting apparatus in which a plate is slidable from a position underneath one table to a position interconnecting two adjacent tables.
While the Waller and Burr plates permit interconnection of furniture elements, the elements themselves must be "stand alone" units. In other words, each of a pair of tables ganged together using either one of these prior devices must have its own full complement of table legs.
In order to enhance the modularity of office furniture elements, it has been found desirable to reduce the number of support legs for some of the modular elements. Reducing the number of support legs not only increases the versatility of a modular system it also reduces the storage requirements for those elements. In one approach, a modular table includes removable table legs that can be connected solely beneath a single table, or can be connected to span between adjacent tables. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,232,303 and 5,528,996 show two such interconnecting table legs. In both cases, the table legs are "plugged into" fixtures mounted within the underside of the adjacent tables. As disclosed in these two patents, each table leg is configured to be plugged into a single fixture in one table, or into portions of two fixtures in adjacent tables.
In another approach, a table leg is mounted to a plate that is pivoted or rotated between its operating positions. Examples of this approach are shown in the patent of Noakes, U.S. Pat. No. 5,341,749, and McDaniel et. al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,794,545. In both cases, an individual table leg is affixed to a plate that is pivoted about a single point. The plate, and therefore the table leg, can assume a position directly underneath one table, or can be pivoted to a position in which the plate and the leg span the joint between the adjacent tables.
One principal drawback with the swinging or rotating plate approach of the '545 and '749 patents is that several of the fasteners used to attach the plates to the tabletops must be removed, leaving a single fastener about which the leg assembly is pivoted. A further determent of this approach is that the action of pivoting the table legs is physically awkward and requires the user to be able to manipulate the leg assembly while underneath the tables.
A further problem with these prior approaches is that the rotating or pivoting concept only works for a single table leg extended from the rotated plate. For stability, many modular furniture elements require a double leg assembly. A double leg assembly includes a pair of leg posts affixed to a single plate, with each leg post having floor engaging elements, such as glides or casters. Typically, the double post leg assembly will also include a horizontal bar spanning between the two leg posts near the base of the legs. The resulting "H" shape of the double post leg has been found to provide greater stability to the table then a traditional single post, "T" shaped leg.
Consequently, there remains a need for a table leg apparatus that can be converted for use with a single table or between adjacent interconnected tables. There is further a need for such an apparatus that can accommodate a double post leg configuration.


A secure messaging system that requires pairing of second and receiving devices via user identification credentials and the associated media access control addresses (MAC addresses) of the paired devices. Paired devices may communicate encrypted messages and deletion parameters may be established by a sending device, including immediate deletion requests. The message and the instructions are automatically decrypted by the receiving device and interpreted to provide the data and configure the deletion parameters. The system preferably manages device pairing via a remote server that is accessed by a device application.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data transmission systems and, more particularly, to a system that provides identity and data theft protection.
2. Description of the Related Art
Messaging over the internet and mobile cellular networks has been growing at an astonishing rate over the last decade, and includes the transmission of additional date, such as sound, video, and picture files. A primary concern in the use of messaging systems is the security and integrity of such data transmission. While some solutions exist that perform encryption on transmitted data or require encryption keys, there is no way to know whether the receiving party is the intended target or whether a third party with unauthorized access has intercepted or broken the encryption. In addition, there is typically no way to ensure that the receiving party deletes sensitive messages or data as promised. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a data transmission system that can verify the receiving party is authorized to receive the transmission and is actually the authorized party prior to data transmission, and that can ensure the appropriate deletion of received data after transmission.


Disclosed herein are Furin/PC inhibitors for inhibiting Furin and other Propprotein Convertases. Method of making the Furin/PC inhibitors, chemical and biological characterization of the Furin/PC inhibitors, and the use of the Furin/PC inhibitors to treat infectious diseases, cancers, and inflammatory/autoimmune disorders, are also disclosed.

Furin belongs to the subtilisin-like proprotein convertase family. Furin is a proprotein convertase that processes latent precursor proteins into their biologically active products. It is a calcium-dependent serine endoprotease that cleaves precursor proteins at their paired basic amino acid processing sites. Some of the Furin substrates are: proparathyroid hormone, transforming growth factor beta 1 precursor, proalbumin, pro-beta-secretase, membrane type-1 matrix metalloproteinase, beta subunit of pro-nerve growth factor and von Willebrand factor.

Inhibitors of Furin and other pro-protein convertases

SANFORD-BURNHAM MEDICAL RESEARCH INSTITUTE


An adjustable antenna assembly has an antenna bracket, an adjusting bracket and a supporting bracket. The antenna bracket has a face and two sidewalls mounted on the face. The adjusting bracket is connected pivotally to the antenna bracket and has a fixed board, two elevation boards and an adjusting device. The elevation boards are mounted on the sides of the fixed board. The adjusting device is attached to the antenna bracket and the elevation boards and has a mounting device, two mounting brackets and an adjusting post. The supporting bracket is connected to the adjusting bracket and has a connecting board and a connecting shaft. The connecting board is attached to the fixed board. The connecting shaft is a single piece and is connected to the connecting board with a connecting plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an adjustable antenna assembly, and more particularly to an adjustable antenna assembly to adjust a satellite antenna in signal-receiving angle.
2. Description of Related Art
To receive satellite signals such as video, telephone or the like, a satellite antenna is applied to receive and transmit signals from and to a satellite.
With reference to FIGS. 4 and 5, a satellite antenna has a concave antenna dish with a rear surface and is generally mounted on a conventional adjustable antenna assembly (60). The conventional adjustable antenna assembly (60) substantially comprises an antenna bracket (61), an adjusting bracket (62) and a supporting bracket (63).
The antenna bracket (61) is U-shaped, is attached to the rear surface of the antenna dish and has two sidewalls.
The adjusting bracket (62) is U-shaped, is connected pivotally to the antenna bracket (61) and has two sidewalls, a bottom, multiple curved slots (621), multiple fasteners (622), two mounting bricks (623) and an adjusting post (624).
The sidewalls of the adjusting bracket (62) are adjacent to the sidewalls of the antenna bracket (61). The curved slots (621) are respectively formed in the sidewalls of the adjusting bracket (62). The fasteners (622) are mounted respectively through the curved slots (621) and the antenna bracket (61) to attach the antenna bracket (61) to the adjusting bracket (62). The mounting bricks (623) are respectively mounted on one of the sidewalls of the antenna bracket (61) and a corresponding sidewall of the adjusting bracket (62). The adjusting post (624) is connected to the mounting bricks (623) to adjust and rotate the antenna bracket (61) relative to the adjusting bracket (62).
The supporting bracket (63) is connected rotatably to the adjusting bracket (62) and has a connecting board (631) and a connecting shaft (632). The connecting board (631) is connected rotatably to the bottom of the adjusting bracket (62). The connecting shaft (632) is connected securely to the connecting board (631), is opposite to the adjusting bracket (62) and has a proximal end and a connecting plate (633). The connecting plate (633) is attached to the proximal end of the connecting shaft (632) by welding and is connected to the connecting board (631).
When the fasteners (622) are loosened, the antenna bracket (61) and the antenna dish can be pivoted relative to the adjusting bracket (62) so as to adjust the signal-receiving angle of the antenna dish.
Defects and shortcomings of the conventional adjustable antenna assembly (60) as follows:
1. The mounting bricks (623) and the adjusting post (624) are mounted on one sidewalls of the antenna bracket (61) and the adjusting bracket (62), and this may cause the antenna bracket (61) and the adjusting bracket (62) deforming when rotating the adjusting post (624). Then, the thickness of the antenna bracket (61) and the adjusting bracket (62) must be increased to prevent the antenna bracket (61) and the adjusting bracket (62) from deforming. This will increase the cost of manufacturing the antenna bracket (61) and the adjusting bracket (62).
2. Since a welding process is necessary for combining the connecting plate (633) with the connecting shaft (632), this will increase the cost and time for manufacturing the adjustable antenna assembly. Furthermore, a manually welding process may result in weak joints between the connecting plate (633) and the proximal end of connecting shaft (632).
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an adjustable antenna assembly, which is strong and can be manufactured quickly and easily to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


An exhaust system includes a first exhaust pipe group, a first catalyst device, and a second exhaust pipe group. A first coupling pipe of the first exhaust pipe group includes spaces in communication with respective first exhaust pipes. A second coupling pipe of the second exhaust pipe group includes spaces in communication with respective second exhaust pipes. The first exhaust pipe group and the second exhaust pipe group are joined such that the respective spaces are opposed to one another, with the first catalyst device interposed therebetween.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an exhaust system that exhausts exhaust gas from an engine, and an engine device and a vehicle with the same.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, a catalyst device has been provided in an exhaust system to remove harmful substances contained in the exhaust gas emitted from an engine.
In order to quickly activate the catalyst device, the temperature of the catalyst needs to be rapidly increased in a short period of time. Consequently, there has been developed an exhaust system in which the catalyst device is arranged closer to the engine, so that high temperature exhaust gas flows into the catalyst.
For example, in an exhaust system with a catalyst in a motorcycle described in JP 3242488 B, auxiliary oxidation catalysts are provided in a front exhaust pipe and a rear exhaust pipe connected to a front cylinder and a rear cylinder of a V-type two cylinder engine. However, in the configuration described in JP 3242488 B, the auxiliary oxidation catalysts need to be increased in number with an increase in the number of the cylinders of the engine, which increases the manufacturing cost.
As a method to solve such a problem, there is a method in which exhaust pipes of a plurality of cylinders are merged into one exhaust pipe and a catalyst device is provided at this portion where the exhaust pipes are merged (e.g., JP 2001-241323 A and JP 2002-309930 A). This can reduce the number of catalyst devices to be installed.
In an exhaust treatment device of the exhaust gas of an internal combustion engine described in JP 2001-241323 A, exhaust pipes of first and third cylinders, in the order of ignition, are merged into one chamber to cause the exhaust gas to flow into a catalyst device through this chamber. Furthermore, exhaust pipes of second and fourth cylinders, in the order of ignition, are merged into the other chamber to cause the exhaust gas to flow into a catalyst device from this chamber.
In an integral dual catalyst exhaust manifold described in JP 2002-309930 A, exhaust pipes coupled to a first cylinder and a fourth cylinder are merged to connect to a first catalyst container, and exhaust pipes coupled to a second cylinder and a third cylinder are merged to connect to a second catalyst container.
Meanwhile, when the exhaust pipes of the plurality of cylinders are merged into one exhaust pipe, exhaust gas pressure interference occurs at the merging portion. The output performance of the engine is largely influenced by a length of the exhaust pipes to the merging portion where this exhaust gas pressure interference occurs. FIG. 10 is a chart for explaining a change in the output characteristics of an engine resulting from varying the exhaust pipe length to the merging portion. In FIG. 10, the horizontal axis indicates the engine speed and the vertical axis indicates a generated torque of the engine. Furthermore, the dotted line indicates an output characteristic of the engine in the case where the exhaust pipe length leading to the merging portion is long, and the solid line indicates an output characteristic of the engine in the case where the exhaust pipe length leading to the merging portion is short.
Generally, in the case where the length of the exhaust pipes leading to the merging portion is long, the generated torque of the engine becomes highest in a region where the engine speed is low as shown in FIG. 10. On the other hand, in the case where the length of the exhaust pipes leading to the merging portion is short, the generated torque of the engine becomes highest in a region where the engine speed is high as shown in FIG. 10. That is, in such a vehicle where it is desirable to have a large generated torque of the engine at a low speed, the length of the exhaust pipes leading to the merging portion is preferably long, while in such a vehicle where it is desirable to have a large generated torque of the engine at a high speed, the length of the exhaust pipes leading to the merging portion is preferably short.
However, in the configurations of the exhaust pipes described in the above-described JP 2001-241323 A and JP 2002-309930 A, if the length leading to the merging portion of each of the exhaust pipes becomes long, a distance between the engine and the catalyst becomes long, so that a temperature of the exhaust gas decreases before the exhaust gas reaches the catalyst. In this case, the catalyst cannot be quickly activated.

Exhaust system, and engine device and vehicle with the same


Anomalous activities in a computer network are detected using adaptive behavioral profiles that are created by measuring at a plurality of points and over a period of time observables corresponding to behavioral indicators related to an activity. Normal kernel distributions are created about each point, and the behavioral profiles are created automatically by combining the distributions using the measured values and a Gaussian kernel density estimation process that estimates values between measurement points. Behavioral profiles are adapted periodically using data aging to de-emphasize older data in favor of current data. The process creates behavioral profiles without regard to the data distribution. An anomaly probability profile is created as a normalized inverse of the behavioral profile, and is used to determine the probability that a behavior indicator is indicative of a threat. The anomaly detection process has a low false positive rate.

The rapid detection of security threats is critical for organizations to prevent the compromise of their computer systems, data, networks and applications Organizations, whether commercial, educational or governmental, and other enterprises store and transfer the majority of their data in digital form in computer systems and databases. Much of this data is valuable confidential commercial information or private information about individual employees or members that is not intended for public view, and any exposure or manipulation of this data could cause the organization and individuals great financial or reputational damage. Organizations are consistently challenged by threats aimed at stealing, exposing or manipulating this digital data. A large number of these attacks, as reported by the news media, have involved fraud, data breach, intellectual property theft or national security. Some attackers who may have been backed by nation states or organizations with political agendas have taken to more sinister attacks aimed at gaining control or damaging critical infrastructures.
Organizations typically employ a multi-layered network topology to separate various components of their IT infrastructure from the Internet. Workstations and servers are generally protected from direct access via the Internet or other external networks by a web proxy server; Internet traffic is typically terminated at "demilitarized network zones" (DMZ); and the incoming traffic is filtered through a firewall. External attackers normally attempt to penetrate an organization's defenses that are set up at the organization's network perimeter, and many security solutions exist to address external attacks. However, once external attackers breach the perimeter and get onto the internal network, they typically operate under the guise of an internal user by either hijacking an existing user's account or by creating a new user. Internal attackers are more insidious and more difficult to defend against because they are users of the organization's computer network systems. They have legitimate IT accounts, and their unauthorized or illicit activities may generally fall within their areas of responsibility, but exceed what is normal behavior. Attacks may even involve a nexus between external and internal attackers. For instance, detecting illicit activity by an insider customer service representative such as granting a customer an inappropriately large refund may be very difficult to detect.
Most security solutions primarily utilize signatures of known attacks to identify and alert on similar attacks. In order to define signatures for any new threat, the underlying components of the associated threat vector must be studied in detail and signatures of these threat vectors must be made available to a threat detection system. There are several major shortcomings of these signature-based threat detection approaches. The development of signatures for new threats requires an in-depth analysis on an infected system, which is time consuming and resource intensive, and may be too slow to address quickly evolving threats. Signatures do not adapt themselves to changes in threat vectors. Moreover, signature-based approaches are ineffective for zero-day attacks that exploit previously unknown vulnerabilities, and are not available for detecting insider threats originating from within an organization. Identifying insider attacks typically involves constructing various profiles for the normal behaviors of insiders, detecting anomalous deviations from these profiles, and estimating, the threat risk of these anomalies. However, constructing profiles that accurately characterize normal insider behavior is difficult and is not an exact art. For example, many profiles are constructed using statistical approaches for observables that are assumed incorrectly to be normally distributed when they are not. Using such profiles for detecting behavior anomalies can produce erroneous results and lead to many false positive alerts that overwhelm security analysts. Balancing between the risk of missing an actual threat, by using high confidence levels for detection to minimize false positives and using an overly permissive approach that floods security analysts with alerts is a difficult trade-off.
There is a need for systems and methods that address these and other anomaly detection problems in protecting organizations from data breaches and other losses. In particular, there is a need for proactive, reliable adaptive defense capabilities for detecting anomalous activity within an organization's IT infrastructure to identify threats while minimizing false positive alerts. It is to these ends that this invention is directed.

Anomaly detection using adaptive behavioral profiles


A method of treating a gas based on fluorine and containing hydrofluoric acid, and which may optionally contain condensable gaseous compounds, especially uranium compounds, and non-condensable gases. The gas is refrigerated to obtain a gaseous component containing fluorine and any non-condensable gases present, and a liquid phase containing liquid HF and condensable compounds in solution and/or suspension. The liquid phase is filtered to recover the compounds in suspension.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a method of treating a gas based on fluorine, obtained by electrolysis from baths containing hydrofluoric acid, and which may contain gaseous uranium compounds such as uranium hexafluoride. The method enables the constituents of the gas to be recovered separately, for example hydrofluoric acid which is carried over in electrolysis or uranium hexafluoride gas emanating from its own production process.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known that fluorine gas is generally obtained by electrolysis of anhydrous hydrofluoric acid dissolved in a bath of melted fluorides, that the fluorine thus produced carries over some 5 to 15% by volume of HF, due to the partial pressure of the HF in the bath at the electrolysis temperature, and that the HF may be a troublesome impurity in subsequent applications of the fluorine.
It is also known that the applications of fluorine include use in burning solid uranium compounds to obtain gaseous uranium hexafluoride. The solid compounds are chiefly uranium tetrafluoride (UF.sub.4) but also oxides or oxyfluorides where U is in the IV or VI state.
Such combustion is generally carried out with an excess of fluorine (6 to 8% relative to U), first in a primary reactor followed by a UF.sub.6 crystallizer (condenser), the non-converted or non-burned compounds (about 5% of the uranium involved) then being exhausted in a secondary reactor, again followed by a UF.sub.6 crystallizer. The pure uranium hexafluoride is condensed in the solid state in the crystallizers by refrigerating it to as low as -30.degree. C. HF is not condensed in the liquid state at this temperature in view of its low partial pressure.
A gaseous residue is recovered after combustion and crystallisation, including the excess fluorine, hydrofluoric acid from electrolysis which was not involved in combustion, non-condensed uranium hexafluoride and non-condensable gases, such as oxygen from the oxides introduced and/or nitrogen from various purges of the gas circuits.
The gaseous residue is normally treated--after being carefully filtered and passed into a non-return cold trap (at about -15.degree. C.)--by bringing it down (abattage) in a column using a basic solution, generally a potassium one, which leaves all the fluorine in solution in fluoride form and precipitates the uranium in the form of uranate contaminated with fluoride. The uranate cannot be recovered without undergoing a full, lengthy conversion treatment.
The fluoride solution in turn is generally treated with lime. This precipitates calcium fluoride free from uranium, which can be discarded after filtration, and regenerates caustic potash ready for recycling.
It will be appreciated that the treatment of the residue is long and difficult, that it condenses valuable products (UF.sub.6, F.sub.2, HF) in degraded or non-recoverable forms, that it consumes caustic potash, an expensive reagent, as a back-up material (appoint), and that there is always a danger of the discarded calcium fluoride being polluted with uranium. In addition, all the fluorine ends up in the form of discarded fluorides; this represents a large amount of effluent which is expensive to store, and a loss of fluorine which is also expensive.

Method of treating gas based on electrolytic fluorine containing uranium compounds


A turbomachine includes a compressor, a first shaft, a second shaft, a first turbine, and a second turbine. The first shaft carries at least one turbine wheel belonging to one of the elements selected from the first and second turbines. The second shaft carries at least one turbine wheel belonging to the other element selected from the first and second turbines. The first and second shafts are oriented substantially vertically in normal utilization situations of the turbomachine. The first shaft is held by a first single bearing while the second shaft is held by a second single bearing.

Conventionally, a turbomachine comprises at least one shaft connected to at least one turbine wheel (which turbine wheel may be free or linked) the shaft being arranged horizontally, i.e. with its axis oriented in a direction that is substantially perpendicular to the direction of gravity. In order to hold the shaft appropriately and support its weight, a plurality of bearings are distributed along the shaft, generally two bearings. Thus, in a turbomachine comprising in succession from upstream to downstream: a compressor, a combustion chamber, and a turbine, one bearing is located upstream from the compressor, and another bearing is located downstream from the combustion chamber. That presents several drawbacks.
A first drawback is that the shafts are often long and heavy, and in spite of the point support provided by each bearing, there remain long portions that are cantilevered out and in which the shaft can deform as a result of its own weight and of the weight of the turbine wheel(s) it carries. Such static deformation modifies the straightness of the shaft, and creates an unbalance while the turbomachine is in operation and the shaft is revolving about its own axis.
A second drawback is associated with the presence of a plurality of bearings, thereby increasing the weight of the turbomachine and decreasing its efficiency.
Finally, a third drawback is that the bearing that is located downstream from the combustion chamber is in a zone of the turbomachine that is particularly hot, where it is subjected to high levels of thermal stress. In order to ensure that that bearing operates properly, and in order to avoid any risk of it coking, it is necessary to provide a cooling system, conventionally using a cooling oil circuit. Such a cooling system is complex to install and to maintain, and it increases the costs of manufacturing and maintaining the turbomachine, as well as further increasing its weight.


Disclosed herein is a method of horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling and manufacturing process for fixtures and tooling comprising: selecting a contact area geometry; generating a tooling model corresponding to the contact area geometry; virtual machining the tooling model to generate the fixtures and tooling; and generating machining instructions to create the fixtures and tooling; where the tooling model exhibits an associative relationship with the contact area geometry. Also disclosed herein is a horizontally structured CAD/CAM model for fixtures and tooling, comprising: a selected contact area geometry; a tooling model that corresponds to the contact area geometry, generated from the selected contact area geometry; where the tooling model includes virtual machining operations to generate the fixtures and tooling; and the tooling model exhibits an associative relationship with the contact area geometry. Further disclosed is a storage medium encoded with a machine-readable computer program code for horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling. The storage medium including instructions for causing a computer to implement the method of horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling and manufacturing for fixtures and tooling. Additionally disclosed is a computer data signal for horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling. The computer data signal comprising code configured to cause a processor to implement a method of horizontally structured CAD/CAM modeling and manufacturing for fixtures and tooling.

This invention relates to Computer-Aided Design and Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAD/CAM) methods. CAD/CAM software systems are long known in the computer art. Some utilize wire-and-frame methods of building models while others utilize form features. Typically, in the form feature method of building CAD/CAM models, physical features are added to the model in an associative relationship with whatever other feature they are immediately attached to. Unfortunately, then, the alteration or deletion of any one feature will result in the alteration or deletion of any other features attached to it. This makes altering or correcting complicated models extensive and time-consuming.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Horizontally-structured CAD/CAM modeling for virtual fixture and tooling processes


A technique for acquiring magnetic field maps simultaneously with the images they affect allows improved correction of shimming and/or geometric distortions in the image and allows imaging techniques where subject motion is inevitable or required.

The present invention relates to magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and in particular to a pulse sequence and methodology for acquiring image data contemporaneously with information about variations in magnetic field homogeneity.
Magnetic resonance imaging is used to generate medical diagnostic images by measuring faint radio frequency (RF) signals (magnetic resonance) emitted by atomic nuclei in tissue (for example, water protons) after radio frequency stimulation of the tissue in the presence of a strong magnetic field.
The location of the precessing protons is made possible by the application of orthogonal magnetic gradient fields which serve to "encode" the spins according to frequency, phase, and/or slice. The combination of the radio frequency stimulation and the applied gradient fields is termed a pulse sequence.
The acquired signal from the spins (termed a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signal) provides data in "k-space", a mathematical construction in the frequency domain. A two-dimensional Fourier transform of the k-space data produces the actual image. It will be understood, therefore, that the k-space data does not represent the image itself, but represents the spectral components of the image with the center of k-space representing low frequency spatial components of the image, and the outer portions of k-space representing the high frequency spatial components of the image.
The impressing of spatial location information onto the spins of the NMR signal by the applied magnetic gradients makes it extremely important that all applied magnetic fields (including the polarizing magnetic field B0 and the gradient magnetic fields Gx, Gy, and Gz) be well characterized. For this reason, and particularly for the B0 field, it is well known to incorporate shimming coils into the design of a magnetic resonance imaging machine which serve to correct for inhomogeneities in the B0 field through the application of one or more superimposed shimming fields.
A number of techniques are known by which to measure inhomogeneities of the magnetic field and thus to calculate the currents needed for the shimming coils. For example, special pulse sequences detecting phase differences in the MRI measurements of a homogenous phantom, for example, a tank of water, may be used to deduce variations in the magnetic field of the MRI system.
Shimming of the MRI system may be accomplished with great precision, however, the magnetic homogeneity is upset almost immediately upon insertion of a human subject whose tissue distorts the field. In order to address this problem, it is known to create a magnetic field map once a subject is in position in the MRI machine to compensate for this distortion. Such compensation is particularly important for echo planar imaging (EPI) and spiral imaging where the precessing nuclei have a long period of time in which to be influenced by the magnetic field, and thus to accumulate errors caused by inhomogeneity.

System for concurrent MRI imaging and magnetic field homogeneity measurement


An electrowetting system and method for the movement of a droplet across the surface of a substrate, utilizing an applied voltage. The actuation of the droplet is achieved by introducing a diode into the idealized electrical circuit of the electrowetting system. The diode is in parallel with a capacitor (dielectric) and effectively shorts the droplet on the side of a lower potential electrode so that the entire voltage drop is across the dielectric over the higher potential electrode. This difference in potential creates an energy imbalance that is effective in moving the droplet towards the higher potential electrode. If the voltage polarity is reversed, the direction of actuation will also be reversed.

Recent technical advances have enabled the manipulation of small volumes of fluids, often in discrete droplets. Many of these systems utilize the phenomena of electrowetting to manipulate the small electrical droplets. Electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) is the reduction in apparent contact angle of a fluid droplet using the capacitance of a dielectric layer which lies between the droplet and an electrode. Applying voltage across the barrier, between the droplet and electrode, causes charge migration to occur within the droplet and within the electrode which modifies the apparent surface energy of the droplet, causing its apparent contact angle to be reduced.
Applications for electrowetting, in general, are diverse, ranging from the shaping of micro lenses, fiber optics switching, display technology, and optical filters, to the creation of small low-power-consumption motors. When looking at applications for EWOD droplet transport, perhaps the most significant is lab-on-a-chip designs. Additionally, the use of droplet motion to assist in assembly of nano- and micro-scale components for microdevices holds promise.
Droplet movement by spatially asymmetric electrowetting, wherein only a portion of the droplet has its contact angle reduced resulting in the droplet motion, is known in the prior art. The prior art uses successive activation of discrete small electrodes, several of which are covered by the droplet. As each electrode is activated and the contact angle above it is reduced, the droplet is "handed off" from one electrode to another electrode. This hand-off accomplishes droplet movement in successive discrete steps, each step having a magnitude equivalent to the size of the electrodes. These prior art electrowetting systems require complex control systems to control the activation of the electrodes in the proper sequence and exhibiting the proper timing. Moreover, because electrowetting behavior is related to the voltage squared, the behavior typically shows no significant dependence upon the polarity of the voltage applied to the electrodes.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is an electrowetting system that provides a substantially smooth, continuous, movement of a droplet across a single circuit that does not require complex control systems to accomplish movement of the droplet along a surface. What is also needed in the art is an electrowetting system that is dependent on the polarity of the applied voltage, such that the actuation direction of the droplet can be changed by changing the polarity of the applied voltage.
However, in view of the prior art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art how the limitations of the art could be overcome.

System and method for electrowetting actuation utilizing diodes


A pool table ball controller is programmable to vary time, cost, and other parameters relating to money-operated pool tables. A piano-hinge-type guard retains the balls and is operated by an electric motor driving a linkage to raise and lower the guard. Since the electric motor can be stopped in the lowered position, timed pool play can be selected so that the balls will continue to return to the user rather than being retained. The controller can be used to select between timed and rack play for a user of the pool table or may be moved into a programming mode wherein operators of the table can set time parameters relating to length of time for timed play and costs for both timed and rack play. In addition, diagnostic and other messages are displayed on an LCD screen. The controller also allows for programming in periods of time wherein cost and time are varied and when limits may be placed on time play and also periods when either timed or rack play are prohibited.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to game tables commonly known as pool tables and more particularly, to a device for programmably controlling the release of pool balls on money-operated pool tables.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The game of pool or billiards is a well known game played on a horizontal, rectangular-shaped table having a pocket in each corner of the table and two intermediate side pockets. The table further includes an opening at a side or end where the playing balls are extracted.
Money-operated pool tables are provided in restaurants, game saloons, and the like wherein customers conventionally pay to play pool. To release personnel from the difficulties of cashing game money, it is a known practice to provide devices which release pool balls upon the insertion of a predetermined sum of coins. The most common device comprises a slanted runway where the balls are held in place by a rotating cage until the cage is activated to release the balls into a holding pocket where the balls can be accessed. Activation is caused by the insertion of coins into a coin chute and manually pressing forward and releasing the chute handle. As each ball is driven into a pocket, it is trapped in the cage and remains trapped until the cage is re-activated. The cue ball is separated from the other balls by weight or a magnet, so that play may continue should the cue ball fall into a pocket.
There are several disadvantages to the prior art ball release mechanisms in coin operated pool tables. One disadvantage is that the guard is manually activated, thereby requiring the user to activate the guard by forcibly pressing the coin chute handle. In some instances, the chute may jam and cannot be forced to its desired position, causing balls to remain on the runway, thereby causing users to lose money and the operator to make repairs. Further, the mechanical counter which is used to maintain a coin count as a function of the number of times the coin mechanism is actuated can be bent or broken, causing an inaccurate count. Another disadvantage is that the device has a linkage between the coin chute and rotating cage that includes springs, bearings, lugs and other parts that loosen from their workable form. These parts shorten the life of the device and increase the frequency of repairs.
However, it is possible to overcome these disadvantages from coin operated pool tables. The problem of balls remaining on the runway after they have been released would be solved by lowering a guard instead of rotating a pivoting guard. Lowering the guard provides a smoother transition from the runway to the path leading to the outer holding chamber. The problems associated with manual activation of the cage could be overcome by a motor which, upon insertion of coins, activates the guard rather than manual activation. An easily actuated lowering gate would also eliminate some of the problems associated with complicated linkages having many parts.
Pool playing practices at money-operated pool tables have generated considerable interest in having the release cage remain activated for a predetermined time period, whereby the cage does not prevent the balls from passing through the slanted runway into the accessible holding pocket. U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,995 embodies this proposition through an invention that has a mechanical timer responsive to a manually reciprocated or oscillatory coin receiver for automatically setting the timer to operate. However, there are shortcomings with a timer activated release cage of the type described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,358,995. The device limits the user to time play only and does not provide for time play or paying by the rack. In addition, it does not allow the controller to vary the price during predetermined time periods, such as during league nights or during happy hour. Variations in price can only occur if the coin chute is replaced by a new chute. Although it is possible to vary time with cost, it involves purely mechanical adjustments that need to be made inside the device. Also, it may be desirable to make changes on the length of the play period for different times of the day or days of the week, depending on the type of play or number of people waiting to play.
It can be seen then that there exists a need for a reliable money-operated pool table that does not limit the user to timed or rack play only and which provides a player with an option to select between rack play and timed play. A need also exists for a table which allows the operator to vary the price of predetermined time periods as well as the price of rack play, as well as being able to vary length and cost of the timed play period, cost of one rack of play, or the date and time at which these variations will take place. The present invention addresses these, as well as other problems associated with money-operated pool tables.


In a plasma processing apparatus including a plasma chamber having a strip-shaped rectangular window having a longitudinal length formed in a side wall of the plasma chamber, an object to be processed is provided within the plasma chamber so as to be close to the window. The plasma processing apparatus includes a coupling rectangular waveguide having a strip-shaped rectangular slit formed in an E-plane thereof so as to extend in a direction of an axis thereof, wherein the coupling rectangular waveguide is provided so that the direction of the axis of the coupling rectangular waveguide is parallel to the longitudinal direction of the window of the plasma chamber. A coupling member made of a material for propagating a microwave is mounted between the slit of the coupling rectangular waveguide and the window of the plasma chamber, and electromagnetically couples the slit with the window in an airtight state. Further, a microwave generating unit is connected to the coupling rectangular waveguide to generate and supply a microwave into the coupling rectangular waveguide, thereby propagating the microwave through the slit of the coupling rectangular waveguide, the coupling member and the window of the plasma chamber into the plasma chamber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a plasma processing apparatus for generating a uniform strip-shaped plasma, and more particularly, to a plasma processing apparatus for performing a plasma process such as a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process, an ashing process, a sputtering process, an etching process or the like by projecting a generated plasma onto an object to be processed, wherein the plasma is generated by supplying a microwave within a plasma chamber in which a predetermined processing gas is contained at a predetermined pressure.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a method of forming a diamond film on a mechanical tool, a magnetic film or the like as a protection film has been developed, and in the conventional method, a plasma is used in order to form the protection film uniformly in a high speed at a low temperature. Further, conventionally, a plasma has been used upon etching a film in one of processes for manufacturing an LSI and a liquid crystal display unit.
FIG. 18 shows the whole composition of a conventional plasma processing apparatus.
Referring to FIG. 18, the conventional plasma processing apparatus comprises a microwave generator 1, an isolator 2, a directional coupler 3, an impedance matching unit 4, a corner rectangular waveguide 5, rectangular waveguides 6 and 7, and a terminating unit 8 including a movable short-circuit plate 8a which are connected in series to each other, and further comprises a silica tube 9 mounted so as to pass through a through hole formed in the rectangular waveguide 7. The silica tube 9 is connected to a vacuum pump (not shown). After the vacuum pump makes the inner air of the silica tube 9 in a predetermined high vacuum state, and then a predetermined processing gas G is supplied into the silica tube 9 so that the inner pressure of the silica tube 9 becomes a predetermined pressure.
A microwave generated by the microwave generator 1 is supplied through the isolator 2, the directional coupler 3, the impedance matching unit 4, the corner rectangular waveguide 5 and the rectangular waveguide 6 into the rectangular waveguide 7. The microwave supplied within the rectangular waveguide 7 propagates through a tube wall of the silica tube 9 into a plasma chamber located within the silica tube 9, and then makes the processing gas supplied within the silica tube 9 in a plasma state so as to generate a plasma of the processing gas. An object to be processed is provided in the center of the rectangular waveguide 7 located within the silica tube 9 or on the downstream side of the generated plasma so as to be projected by the generated plasma.
Further, a plasma generating apparatus utilizing the Electron Cyclotron Resonance (ECR) (referred to as an ECR plasma generating apparatus hereinafter) has been used. In the ECR plasma generating apparatus, a microwave is supplied into a plasma chamber through a rectangular waveguide, and an air-core coil is provided so as to surround the plasma chamber. A magnetic field generated by exciting the air-core coil and the supplied microwave lead to the ECR phenomenon, thereby generating a plasma having a high density in a high vacuum state.
In order to improve the processing efficiency in performing a plasma process such as a process of forming a thin film, etching a film or the like, it has been necessary to provide a technique or method of performing the plasma process uniformly at a high speed at a low temperature by uniformly projecting a plasma onto an object having a relatively large area to be processed. Further, in a process for manufacturing a liquid crystal display performed in a manner similar to that of the process for manufacturing an LSI, as the size of the liquid crystal display is enlarged, it has been necessary to provide a technique or method of uniformly projecting the generated plasma onto a processing surface having a relatively large area of the object to be processed.
However, in the conventional plasma generating apparatuses, since there is caused a difference of the density of the plasma between the center of the plasma and the periphery thereof, a speed of forming a film and an etching speed at respective different parts of the object to be processed can not be uniform, and then it is difficult to manufacture a device having a good quality with a higher efficiency. Further, since the cross section of the plasma is generated in a shape of circle, the plasma process can not be efficiently performed in the case where the processing surface of the object to be processed has either a rectangular shape or a square shape.
As a method of generating a plasma having a larger diameter or area in the conventional plasma processing apparatus shown in FIG. 15, it is supposed to enlarge the diameter of the silica tube 9. However, since the diameter of the silica tube 9 is limited by the dimension of the waveguide determined depending on the wavelength of the used microwave, the diameter of the silica tube 9 can not be enlarged so as to process an enlarged object to be processed.
Further, in the ECR plasma generating apparatus, in order to enlarge the diameter of the generated plasma, it is necessary to enlarge the diameter of the air-core coil, resulting in enlarging the size of the ECR plasma generating apparatus. This results in that the enlarged ECR plasma generating apparatus can not be used for practical use.

Plasma processing apparatus for generating uniform strip-shaped plasma by propagating microwave through rectangular slit


A target torque is calculated as a proportion PI relative to a torque generated by an engine at a basic ignition timing. An ignition timing correction amount is calculated based on this proportion PI, and by correcting the ignition timing by this correction amount, an ignition timing correction which precisely matches a torque-down request is performed rapidly and accurately.

Tokkai Sho 63-280862 published by the Japanese Patent Office in 1988, for example, discloses control of a basic ignition timing of an engine which realizes minimum spark advance for best torque (MBT) in order to improve engine fuel-cost performance.
However, the MBT is not used in all operating regions of the engine, and in some of these regions, the basic ignition timing is retarded relative to the MBT. For example, in the low speed, high load region of the engine, the basic ignition timing is set to a value later than the MBT so as to prevent knocking. Also even when an idle switch is ON, the basic ignition timing is set later than the MBT in order to improve engine running stability under no load conditions.
When the basic ignition timing is set to a value later than the MBT, torque can be increased by advance correction of the ignition timing even when there is a drop in engine speed when the idle switch is ON. In other words, due to the advance correction of the ignition timing, the ignition timing approaches the MBT and torque increases. As a result of this torque increase, the engine rotation speed returns to a set idle rotation speed. The basic ignition timing is also set to a value later than the MBT so as to prevent increase in the discharge amount of hydrocarbons (HC).
Various torque-down controls are also practiced in order to stabilize idle running, to prevent speed change shocks, or to reduce the shock due to a sudden acceleration or transient surge backing immediately thereafter.
Describing speed change shocks, a step occurs in the torque transmitted to the drive wheels when there is a shift-up of a transmission. The magnitude of the speed change shock due to this step depends on driving conditions such as engine rotation speed or throttle valve opening at that time. The torque step is also larger the higher the speed or the greater the throttle opening.
To eliminate this torque step, the following control is for example performed.
When there is a shift-up such as during acceleration, a torque-down request signal is sent from an automatic transmission control unit to an engine control unit via a communications device. In response to the torque-down request signal, the engine control unit applies a retardation correction to the ignition timing according to a throttle valve opening and the engine speed, so that a torque-down due to this retardation correction cancels out a torque-up due to the shift-up.
However, the offset amount from the MBT of the basic ignition timing and the generated torque are not in a first order linear relation, and it is not easy to precisely correct the ignition timing so as to accurately satisfy any given torque-down request.
Moreover the torque-down amount when a given ignition timing correction is applied depends on the magnitude of the offset amount from the MBT of the basic ignition timing. For example, the ignition timing correction amount required to obtain the same torque-down is different when the basic ignition timing is equal to the MBT and when it is not.
For these reasons, it was not easy to apply an ignition timing correction amount to a torque-down amount.

Controller and control method for engine ignition timing


A mobile-terminal platform system having an application subsystem and an access subsystem. The access subsystem includes hardware and software for providing connectivity services. The application subsystem includes hardware and software for providing user application services. The application subsystem and the access subsystem communicate via a defined interface. Each of the application subsystem and the access subsystem are adapted to be independently scaled.

1. Technical Field
The present invention generally relates to mobile-terminal platform systems, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to mobile-terminal platform systems that are readily scalable with respect to both access services and application services.
2. History of Related Art
Since cellular telecommunications systems were first introduced in the 1980's, mobile terminals utilized in the cellular telecommunications systems have become increasingly complex. Mobile terminals were initially designed to primarily provide voice telephony services. In later years, mobile terminals were developed that also included the ability to transfer user data not related to that of a voice telephone call. Such user data included, for example, data to be transferred over a dial-up network connection initiated via a personal computer.
Currently, so-called third generation (3G) systems are being developed. 3G systems combine high-speed access with traditional voice communications and provide a user with access to internet browsing, streaming audio/video, positioning, video conferencing, as well as many other capabilities other than traditional voice telephony.
The Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) was established in an effort to ensure compatibility among several 3G systems being developed around the world. The Universal Mobile Telephone System (UMTS) is being developed by 3GPP to provide a 3G system that includes terrestrial and satellite systems capable of delivering voice, data, and multimedia anywhere in the world.
The drastically-increased functionality that is being included in cellular telecommunications systems via the 3GPP standardization has placed substantial demands on mobile-terminal developers to be used in the cellular telecommunications systems. This demand is exacerbated by the fact that a mobile terminal is a so-called resource-scarce environment that is limited in size, memory, and power. Mobile-terminal developers have traditionally designed, fabricated, and marketed substantially-complete mobile terminals that include all of the hardware and software needed for basic terminal operation, as well as the hardware and software needed to provide the features and capabilities desired by the developer or a particular user based upon their perception of market needs. As market demand has increased for mobile terminals with additional capabilities not traditionally found in mobile terminals, such as, for example, multimedia, including cameraphone features, mp3 players, videophony features, short range wireless communication features, such as, for example, BLUETOOTH, and Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectivity, the traditional mobile-terminal design, fabrication, and marketing approaches have not been able to provide the flexibility to quickly adapt to rapid changes in market demands or satisfy the diverse requirements of multiple users.
There is, accordingly, a need for a method of and system for a scalable mobile-terminal platform that addresses the demands discussed above.

Mobile terminal application subsystem and access subsystem architecture method and system


A system is provided for attenuating tonal acoustic noise associated with a single positive displacement compressor, or multiple positive displacement compressors proximately located from each other. A controller selectably controls the rotational speed and the frequency of operation of each of the compressors. The controller controls the rotational speed of the compressors about a predetermined rotational speed, in a random manner, within the pre-selected speed band to reduce the magnitude of the central tonal acoustic frequency of the pressure pulsations and disperse the sound power over a wider acoustic bandwidth.

The present invention relates generally to a method of operation and apparatus for noise attenuation of positive displacement compressors, and more particularly, to a method of operation and apparatus for noise attenuation of screw compressors that decreases the audible noise generated by one or more of the screw compressors by varying the operating speed of each screw compressor about its respective central frequency.
Heating and cooling systems typically maintain temperature control in a structure by circulating a fluid within coiled tubes such that passing another fluid over the tubes effects a transfer of thermal energy between the two fluids. A primary component in such a system is a positive displacement compressor, which receives a cool, low pressure gas and by virtue of a compression device, exhausts a hot, high pressure gas. One type of positive displacement compressor is a screw compressor, which generally includes two cylindrical rotors mounted on separate shafts inside a hollow, double-barreled casing. The side-walls of the compressor casing typically form two parallel, overlapping cylinders which house the rotors side-by-side, with their shafts parallel to one another. Screw compressor rotors typically have helically extending lobes and grooves on their outer surfaces forming a large thread on the circumference of the rotor. During operation, the threads of the rotors mesh together, with the lobes on one rotor meshing with the corresponding grooves on the other rotor to form a series of gaps between the rotors. These gaps form a continuous compression chamber that communicates with the compressor inlet opening, or "port," at one end of the casing and continuously reduces in volume as the rotors turn and compress the gas toward a discharge port at the opposite end of the casing.
These rotors rotate at high rates of speed, and multiple sets of rotors, or multiple compressors, may be configured to work together to further increase the amount of gas that can be circulated in the system, thereby increasing the operating capacity of a system. While the rotors provide a continuous pumping action, each set of rotors produces pressure pulses as the pressurized fluid is discharged at the discharge port. These pressure pulses are generated by the compressor at increments of the operating speed of the driven screw, which is typically about 5 or 6 times the driven or operating RPM. These discharge pressure pulsations act as significant sources of audible sound within the system.
To eliminate or minimize the undesirable sound, noise attenuation devices or systems can be used. One example of a noise attenuation system is a dissipative or absorptive muffler system typically located at the discharge of the compressors. The use of muffler systems to attenuate sound can be expensive, depending upon the frequencies that must be attenuated by the muffler system. Typically, the lower the frequency of the sound to be attenuated, the greater the cost and size of the muffler system.
What is needed is an effective, low cost, efficient and easily implemented method or apparatus for compressor rotor noise attenuation.

System and method to reduce acoustic noise in screw compressors


A method for authenticating an interactive optical disk, wherein first content is stored on the interactive optical disk for reproduction by a reproducing system, the method comprising: transmitting a first request to a content server to access second content from the content server based on enhanced navigation data recorded on the interactive optical disk; and authenticating identity of the interactive optical disk with the content server based on authentication data provided by the reproducing system, when the first request indicates that authentication is required.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for authenticating an interactive recording medium such as an interactive DVD (IDVD) or an enhanced navigation DVD (ENAV DVD).
2. Description of the Related Art
High-density optical disks capable of recording large amounts of data are being widely used. The Digital Versatile Disc (DVD), which is a recording medium that is capable of recording large amounts of high-quality video data as well as digital audio data, is one example of these high-density optical disks.
Interactive optical disk such as IDVDs and ENAV DVDs are now under development. An interactive optical disk stores various ENAV applications such as characters, other movies, animations, or dubbed audio related to the main A/V stream that is being reproduced and thus allows a user to select and reproduce an ENAV application along with the main A/V stream. The ENAV DVD comprises a DVD video zone storing main A/V data and other zones storing ENAV applications data related to the main A/V data.
An optical disk player capable of playing ENAV DVDs comprises a DVD playback engine for reproducing the main A/V stream and an ENAV engine for reproducing the ENAV applications in synchronization with the main A/V stream and for controlling the DVD playback engine from time to time. If an ordinary DVD is loaded into the ENAV DVD player, the main A/V stream recorded thereon is reproduced only by the DVD playback engine. If an ENAV DVD is loaded, the main A/V stream and relevant ENAV applications are reproduced by the interaction of the DVD playback engine and the ENAV engine.
The ENAV DVD player is expected to be able to utilize various contents data in addition to the ENAV applications data recorded on an ENAV DVD by connecting to a remote contents server through the Network and downloading contents data relevant to the ENAV DVD, which extends the range of application services of the ENAV DVD and helps overcome the limit of disk capacity.
Due to the advent of new rewritable recording media such as DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM, ENAV DVDs are exposed to illegal copying of contents. Also, concern about attempts to copy the contents of ENAV DVDs to hard disk drives is increasing.
In case of an ordinary DVD, the DVD player is required to judge whether the DVD is an illegal copy. In case of an ENAV DVD, not only the DVD player but the server to which the DVD player attempts to connect is required to authenticate the ENAV DVD inserted into the DVD player.
Contents providers, who provide through the network contents data needed for reproducing ENAV applications recorded on ENAV DVDs, want to examine whether clients attempting to access their contents servers to download contents data (e.g., users of ENAV DVD players or PCs having ENAV DVD drives installed therein) use authenticated DVDs or illegal copies. A contents server, therefore, will allow a client to access it only when the client's ENAV DVD is a genuine product and block the access if the client's ENAV DVD turns out to be an illegal copy.
Methods for determining whether a recording medium inserted into an ENAV DVD player attempting to access a remote server that provides contents data is a genuine product are under discussion. In general, a disk player attempting to access a remote server is requested to transmit to the server the ENAV disk ID (hereinafter referred to as ENAV DiskID) or the signature of sector raw data (hereinafter referred to as SSRD) of the disk loaded into the player.
Such authentication methods, in particular, specific authentication procedures needed between a disk player and a contents server are required. However, an effective solution or standard is not yet available.
In order to judge whether an ENAV DVD loaded into the ENAV DVD player attempting to access the contents server is a genuine product, the contents server requests that the ENAV DVD player provide information on the ENAV DVD, i.e., ENAV DiskID or SSRD corresponding to a particular logical sector number (hereinafter referred to as LSN) of the ENAV DVD specified by the contents server.
The ENAV DiskID is commonly recorded at an initial position that can be accessed first when the disk is inserted into the disk player for reproduction. The server-specified LSN may be arbitrary in the data area of the disk.
If the disk authentication is requested before the reproduction of the main A/V stream or ENAV applications begins, it is no problem to move the optical pickup of the disk player to a position from which the authentication data can be obtained. However, if the disk authentication is requested in the middle of the reproduction of the main A/V stream or ENAV applications, the movement of the optical pickup for obtaining the authentication data causes the reproduction to stop temporarily.
Even in the middle of the reproduction of the main A/V stream or ENAV applications, the disk player may connect to the server to obtain required contents data according to the viewer's request. In this case, the viewer may tolerate the suspension of the reproduction caused by the attempt to obtain the authentication data because he/she made the request.
On the other hand, while the main A/V stream or an ENAV application is being reproduced or after the reproduction of an ENAV application is completed, contents data for a next ENAV application may be required. In this case, the disk player attempts to connect to the contents server to obtain the required data, which makes the reproduction of the main A/V stream stop temporarily. This situation is not what the viewer can expect and prepare for and thus may frustrate the viewer.
Whether the main A/V stream or ENAV applications can be reproduced seamlessly depends on various factors, such as when the contents sever performs the authentication process, the authentication data type that the contents server requests from the disk player, and whether the authentication process is performed on a server basis or on a universal resource identifier (hereinafter referred to as URI) basis. The URI represents the individual position of each of the stored contents data file within the server.
For a stable and seamless playback of the main A/V stream or ENAV applications, a new method for authenticating an ENAV DVD to be performed by the contents server and the disk player is required.

Authentication system and method for an interactive optical disc


A method for subaperture polishing includes determining a first portion of a sample to be polished disproportionately compared to a second portion of the sample. Based on the determination of the first portion, a sweep frequency that is a first rate of lateral motion for a polishing pad is selected to be substantially equal to an integer multiple of a rotation frequency that is a rate of rotation for the sample. The method further includes rotating the polishing pad at the polishing frequency, rotating the sample at the rotation frequency, and polishing the sample using the polishing pad while rotating the polishing pad and the sample.

Subaperture polishing techniques are useful for preventing difficulties associated with using polishing pads of roughly the same size as a sample being polished. For example, there can be edge effects resulting from the pad making contact with the edges. This can create "pad rebound", wherein the pad repeatedly bounces off of the sample, or "burn off," wherein the contact area with the pad is disproportionately small so that too much material is worn away. The use of subaperture techniques, using a pad smaller than the sample that is swept from an edge to a middle region of the sample, can reduce or even eliminate some of these drawbacks. Conventional systems use a uniform polishing rate to produce uniform profiles for flat surfaces. In cases, where non-uniform profiles are desired, the sample and one or more polishing heads may be moved relative to one another to differentially polish different areas of the sample.


Binding data sinks and sources across ring levels of a computer. A new binding channel is created and attached to a comm channel. A unique name is created for the binding channel, and a handle to the unique name is obtained at a relatively low priority ring level. The handle is passed to an unbound relatively high priority ring level code module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to different ring levels of computer systems, and, in particular, to methods for binding a data sink at one ring level to a data source at another ring level.
2. Description of the Related Art
Computer systems typically run a variety of applications and programs, from user-applications to server-type programs which provide services for applications, to operating systems which support all other applications and programs running thereon. Data streams are often established between various elements of a computer system to allow for the communication or transmission of data. These elements may be hardware, such as a speaker or "SoundBlaster" card or peripheral, or they may be software entities such as applications, dynamically-linked libraries ("DLLs"), servers, operating systems, objects, and the like. In addition, communication ("comm") channels are often used for interconnecting different PCs.
Many central processing units ("CPUs"), or processors, of computers and their respective operating systems operate at various so-called computing or processing "ring levels." A Ring level may be understood to be a priority level at which the processor operates when running certain code or programs or when controlling or servicing certain hardware devices. Often there is communications between modules within the computer at different Ring levels, or across Ring levels. As is understood, Ring levels are utilized to avoid conflicts in the operating system and for other purposes. For instance, Ring 0 is considered to be the highest priority Ring level, while Ring 3 is a lower priority Ring level. Thus, an operating system running at Ring 0 has higher priority than an application running at Ring 3. Within a given Ring level there may also be different priorities, such as a relatively high priority interrupt. However, a Ring 3 interrupt is typically of lower priority than a non-interrupt Ring 0 function.


The present invention provides a method for treating a wastewater which enables one to treat a difficultly biodegradable wastewater, particularly an organic wastewater containing aminopolycarboxylic acids to substantially decrease COD at a low cost, in which the method for treating an organic wastewater containing aminopolycarboxylic acids, comprising subjecting the organic wastewater containing aminopolycarboxylic acids to a high-speed electrolytic oxidation treatment, particularly, a method for treating an organic wastewater which comprises conducting treatment with microorganism subsequent to the high-speed electrolytic oxidation treatment.

Difficultly biodegradable chelating agents, particularly aminopolycarboxylic acids, are being popularly used in various fields such as industrial soaps, the photographic industry, the pulp industry and the plating industry. It has been pointed out that, in addition to the difficultly biodegradable properties, the chelating agents contained in the industrial wastewater discharged from these fields might possibly enter into surface layer water, specifically rivers, and ground water. For example, in Germany, discharge of the difficultly biodegradable chelating agents of aminopolycarboxylic acids is self-imposed. In Japan, there exist at present no regulations on use and discharge of them but, since the difficultly biodegradable aminopolycarboxylic acids increase the COD value of a wastewater, the COD value of the wastewater containing the difficultly biodegradable aminopolycarboxylic acids has become problematical in view of regulation of COD.
As methods for treating difficultly biodegradable wastewater such as a wastewater containing an aminopolycarboxylic acid for reducing a COD load of the wastewater, there have conventionally been known a chemically treating method (JP-B-57-37396, JP-A-61-241746, etc.), a reverse osmosis method (JP-A-50-22463), an activated sludge method (JP-B-55-49559, JP-B-51-12943, etc.), an electrolytic oxidation method (JP-A-48-84462, JP-A-49-119458, etc.), etc. However, these methods respectively have the following defects.
As the chemically treating method, there have been known treating methods by adding hydrogen peroxide, persulfates, perhalogenates, chlorous acid, or hypochlorous acid. For wastewaters having a high COD (chemical oxygen demand) value, however, all of the methods show such a poor treating efficiency that chemicals are used always in amounts more than is necessary, leading to a high operation cost. In the case of using a membrane as with the reverse osmosis method, the membrane must be exchanged so frequently due to adsorption of the components in the wastewater or due to dirt that the operation cost is liable to become high.
As to the activated sludge method, its operation cost is inexpensive, but its effect on materials having a poor biodegradability is low. Particularly, it is almost ineffective for treating a wastewater containing an aminopolycarboxylic acid such as EDTA (ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid).
Although the electrolytic oxidation method shows a strong oxidation power, it involves such problems as (1) that oxidative decomposition treatment of a waste liquor having a high COD value requires a large electric current and a high cost of equipment and takes a prolonged treating time and (2) that decomposition of organic compounds often stops at a level of lower fatty acids such as propionic acid which have a load of BOD (biological oxygen demand), leading to an insufficient decrease of the BOD value.
There have been disclosed methods of carrying out electrolytic oxidation under high-speed agitation as means to further enhance the effect of electrolytic oxidation; for example, in JP-A-8-281272 is set forth a wastewater-treating apparatus to which high-speed electrolysis is applied, in JP-A-9-40482 is set forth a method of obtaining an aqueous manure solution from the effluent from electroless plating and an apparatus for such method, and in WO 02/090621 is set forth a method of electrolytically treating wastewater in continuous mode and an apparatus for such method. However, no one of these disclosed patent literatures contains any description on the treatment of aminopolycarboxylic acid, and in addition the preferable pH range is adjusted not to exceed 6.
It is also possible to conduct the treatment of wastewater according to an ozone decomposition method, but its large cost is a bottleneck.
These difficultly biodegradable compounds are scarcely decomposed by the conventional activated sludge treatment, and the alternative methods are not effective as described hereinbefore. Hence, a dilution method of diluting a wastewater before its discharge is the most general method for decreasing the COD value to a regulation level or lower. However, the dilution method is costly and fails to reduce the total amount of discharged COD. Thus, there has been desired an essentially problem-solving means of substantially decreasing COD in the discharged water.

Method for treating organic wastewater containing aminopolycarboxylic acid


A system for verifying the generation of a critical symbology includes a display processor configured to generate graphic commands from one or more system inputs. The display processor is further configured to determine the critical symbology. A graphics processing unit is coupled to the display processor. The graphics processing unit is configured to generate a plurality of pixels forming an image and is further configured to mark at least a portion of the plurality of pixels to produce marked pixels of the critical symbology. A graphics logic device is coupled to the graphics processing unit and includes an integrity monitoring function and a memory coupled to the integrity monitoring function. The integrity monitoring function is configured to detect the marked pixels and generate data regarding the critical symbology. The memory is configured to store the data regarding the critical symbology. A monitor warning function device is coupled to the graphics logic device and is configured to receive the data regarding the critical symbology and verify the generation of the critical symbology.

An operator of a system often relies upon visual indicators to show, among other things, the status of the system. For example, the operator of an aircraft can be provided with indicators such as a visual indicator of the horizon line of the aircraft, a visual indicator of the airspeed of the aircraft, and a visual indicator of the altitude of the aircraft. At one time these visual indicators were provided using analog, mechanical displays. Increasingly, electronic display panels, comprised of a number of individually addressable pixels, are being used to provide visual indicators of system status. Typically, to display the symbology that provides visual indicators, a graphics processing unit is used to generate the symbology, which is then displayed on a display. The proper generation of the symbology is needed to provide the operator an accurate indicator of system status.
Because of the importance of correctly displaying critical symbology, the data sent to the display is typically monitored to determine if the critical symbology was correctly rendered. In a typical prior art system, the display system includes a server that receives information regarding the images to be displayed from a processor, such as an airborne system and generates commands to produce images. The commands are received by a graphics processing unit, which uses the commands to generate the image to be displayed by determining the state of each pixel in the image based on the generated commands. The display receives the information regarding each pixel and sets each pixel in the display that comprises the image to the proper state.
In prior art systems, the data produced by the display processor and the data produced by the rendering engine can be checked. The display commands produced by the display processor from input data are received by a comparator circuit (or processor). The comparator circuit also receives the same input that the display processor uses to generate the display commands. Since in prior art systems the input data from the display commands can be extracted, the comparator circuit compares the data from the display processor with data that the comparator circuit calculated from the input. If there is a match, this part of the verification passes and the display processor is producing the correct commands from a given input.
In one prior art system, the display processor also inserts a sequence of test commands in the commands sent to the rendering engine. These commands generate test images in an extended area of the display that is not visible to the user. The display output of the rendering engine sent to the extended area of the display is sampled and a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) value is calculated from the sample data. The CRC value is then compared to an expected CRC value to determine if there is a failure in the rendering engine.
While the prior art systems were adequate for monitoring many display systems, an increasing reliance on commercial off the shelf (COTS) display chips has made the task of monitoring display systems more difficult and problematic. One reason is because the architecture of display systems, especially those based on COTS display chips, have undergone changes that render previous monitoring systems inadequate. For example, some COTS rendering engines include integrated circuits that may incorporate functions previously performed in the display processor. This change makes previous methods of monitoring display systems unusable, as it is impractical to extract the commands used to generate pixel data.
Accordingly, it is desired to provide a method and system for image monitoring. Furthermore, the desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will be apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.