A method for managing data traffic in a multi-user multiple-simultaneous-access (MUMSA) environment, for example in a code reuse multiple access (CRMA) environment or other physical environment having true random access with more than one transmission present at the same time, the method including estimating channel load for multiple users, then using the estimate of channel load to calculate a congestion threshold on an ongoing basis, at each terminal performing an experiment using that congestion threshold value and a random number generator to determine if a packet is eligible to be transmitted, transferring downstream virtual channel traffic and redistributing user terminals to affiliate with the proper downstream virtual channel.

This invention relates to management of bandwidth resources in a packet telecommunication network, particularly at the datalink layer of a wireless network involving Multiple User Multiple Simultaneous Access (MUMSA) channels via a satellite communication network.
There are various bandwidth management schemes known for attempting to control traffic load, particularly at the datalink layer and the physical layer. Single simultaneous user traffic management is known in the random multiple access services environment for a Multiple User Single Simultaneous Access (MUSSA) channel. However, the known traffic management schemes are deficient when applied to MUMSA applications because a so-called multi-user channel of the current art allows only single simultaneous user access. As load is increased, collisions between two or more transmissions decrease efficiency. Examples relevant to the present invention are described in a paper presented at IEEE INFOCOM 2001 by Zohar Naor and Hanoch Levy, entitled "A Centralized Dynamic Access Probability Protocol for Next Generation Wireless Networks," IEEE INFOCOM 2001 The Conference on Computer Communications, No. 1, April 2001, pp. 767-775. In this paper, the channel load in a conventional ALOHA channel access protocol system is estimated by a measurement at the hub, then the hub sets a probability of access for the network and broadcasts that probability for use as a control or channel access restriction parameter to the network through a control channel or in a control timeslot. This protocol is not directly applicable to a multiple-simultaneous-user environment.
There are many multiple-user, single-channel protocols, but almost all such protocols rely on a central control to dole out channel access to a subset of the general user population. For example, in the well-known Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, a central authority allocates individual spreading codes to a number of users, one at a time. Thus, the random access on this MUMSA channel is accomplished by only a strictly controlled subset of the user population.
Code Reuse Multiple Access (CRMA) is an example of the MUMSA channel in which the entire user population is free to broadcast randomly. Here there is a true multiple-user, multiple simultaneous access environment, but it lacks sufficient control mechanisms to optimize channel utilization.
Consumer broadband satellite services are gaining traction in North America with the start up of star network services using Ka band satellites. While such first generation satellite systems may provide multi-gigabit per second (Gbps) per satellite overall capacity, the design of such systems inherently limits the number of customers that may be adequately served. Moreover, the fact that the capacity is split across numerous coverage areas further limits the bandwidth to each subscriber.
While existing designs have a number of capacity limitations, the demand for such broadband services continues to grow. The past few years have seen strong advances in communications and processing technology. This technology, in conjunction with selected innovative system and component design, may be harnessed to produce a novel satellite communications system to address this demand.
What is needed is a system for control of access to MUMSA channels that maximizes the channel utilization under all load conditions while minimizing the amount of overhead, and maintaining the low delay of a random access approach.

Method for channel congestion management


A rig for use in conjunction with a helicopter or other aircraft which allows the aircraft to be quickly converted to use as a platform for rappelling. The rig is preferably constructed of strapping materials into relatively planar main body portion with attached legs which connect to the struts supporting the helicopter's landing gear. The rig may also be bent and folded for compact storage without loss of structural integrity.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a rig used as a connection point for connecting rappelling or fast-roping ropes to a helicopter or similar vehicle.
(2) Background of the Invention
In modern society, there is a need for humans to be able to access locations from above. How this access is obtained depends on the nature of the target location and the surrounding terrain and structures. To get into remote, inaccessible, or high elevation locations where access from above is required, individuals often utilize the techniques of rappelling or fast-roping. These techniques essentially allow a user to utilize a rope and a friction device to descend from an overhead position into the location in a controlled manner. Essentially, the user descends from an elevated position to a lower position with the rope and friction device slowing or stopping the descent.
In order to rappel or fast rope, however, a rope is generally supported at the upper elevation and allowed to freely hang into the lower elevation under the force of gravity. The user then descends down the rope using the rope and associated equipment to generate sufficient friction to control the descent. In this way, so long as the user can get higher than the target location, they can access it from above.
While rappelling or fast roping may be performed from a natural or manmade structure down a slope or drop, this generally only allows access to a lower elevation from a higher elevation accessible by an alternative route. Rappelling and fast-roping are, however, particularly useful where the location is inaccessible by an overland or similar route, but is accessible from above by air. Therefore, the technique is often used from a helicopter or other hovering aircraft.
The need to rappel into a location arises in numerous different contexts. For instance, in search and rescue operations it is often necessary for rescue personnel to reach an area relatively inaccessible from the ground very quickly. For instance, an adventure seeker may be injured and require rapid medical intervention to avoid a permanent injury or death. If the adventure seeker is many days hike from roads or other locations, or has fallen in a location inaccessible from the ground (such as into a gully, or off a rock formation), personnel on foot may not be able to reach him/her in time to provide the needed medical intervention. However, an aircraft can often arrive over the adventure seeker's position significantly faster and rescue personnel can rappel down to the person to provide aid until overland help can arrive, or they can move the person toward approaching overland units to decrease the time before the adventure seeker is in the care of a hospital. In some situations, an overland route may be completely impossible. For instance, a ship lost in high seas can result in many survivors floating in the water. Because of the conditions which sank the original ship, it may be impossible for rescue personnel to approach the survivors by water. However, aid may be able to be rendered by personnel approaching from above by helicopter.
In other situations, military or police organizations need to drop personnel into potentially hostile areas so they can fight hostile forces, or attempt to arrest or contain criminals. In many of these situations (as also in many of the above situations) rappelling is a preferred method because the helicopter cannot land or it is unsafe for the helicopter to land. For instance, if the helicopter were to land on a building during a hostage situation, the hostage taker may attempt to commandeer the helicopter to make an escape. In other situations, the location simply does not permit the helicopter to land as the target location may be within dense forestation, rocks, or other objects or may be under fire. All of these conditions can prohibit the existence of a suitable landing site.
For all these reasons, rappelling has become one of the primary methods for getting personnel from a hovering helicopter to the ground safely. While rappelling may be a preferred method in many situations, most civilian helicopters and smaller helicopters have to do more than just carry rappelling individuals and are therefore not designed for rappelling maneuvers at all times. In search and rescue and other activities, the helicopter may be needed for many things other than just rappelling (such as rapid response of ground crews to a nearby area or transport of injured parties) and the inclusion of a rappelling rig in the helicopter at all times can necessarily take up space that would be better used for other things on some missions or can even completely prevent the use of the helicopter for other tasks. Further, as a helicopter generally has to have its doors removed for use in a rappelling situation, it is undesirable, and potentially dangerous, to prepare the helicopter for rappelling maneuvers unless they are known to be needed as personnel and gear can fall from the helicopter in flight when the doors are removed.
While rappelling is a great tool, it is also a hazardous activity. When rappelling, a person is suspended by rope high above the ground and the only items preventing them from falling are the strength of the rope, the knots, and the support to which the ropes are secured. Ropes and connectors used in rappelling are generally of highly modern materials and construction and are designed to support much more weight than necessary, even when damaged. However, where these ropes attach are often barely within weight requirements and are often not designed for the rappelling task. Many times the helicopter does not include preset hard points to allow for secure connection to the body of the helicopter and the rappeller is forced to attach at structures intended for another purpose entirely which may or may not be suitably secure. In use, multiple rappellers may also simultaneously rappel from multiple points also placing undo strain on the support, possibly with disastrous results.


A generator-brake integration type rotating machine comprises an inertia disk coupled to a shaft to rotate; a rotor ring rotating around the shaft inside the inertia disk and having magnets mounted to a circumferential outer surface thereof; and a laminated yoke positioned between the inertia disk and the rotor ring, and having brake coils located at regular angular intervals on a circumferential outer surface thereof and generator coils located at regular angular intervals on a circumferential inner surface thereof. The generator coils are wound on first bobbins which project inward from the circumferential inner surface of the laminated yoke, and the brake coils are wound on second bobbins which project outward from the circumferential outer surface of the laminated yoke. The laminated yoke is fixedly coupled to a stator holder, which in turn is coupled to the shaft by way of a bearing and is fixedly coupled to a housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a generator-brake integration type rotating machine, and more particularly, to a generator-brake integration type rotating machine which can obtain braking force using electricity generated by external rotational kinetic energy.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in devices requiring braking force, the following factors should be considered. First, the braking force must have no ripple. Second, the same braking force should be obtained under the same set values. Third, the devices must have inertia force. Fourth, braking should be performed in a silent manner.
Meanwhile, devices for obtaining braking force through mechanical friction between two objects moving relative to each other have problems as described below. That is to say, frictional heat is generated, frictional surfaces are unevenly worn, and braking force is changed due to the alteration of physical properties.
In order to cope with these problems, recently, research has been conducted for devices which can generate braking force using eddy current. In this case of using eddy current, the problems in relation to ripple, wear, noise, etc. can be solved. However, since braking force generated by eddy current is nonlinear in relation to current, speed, temperature, physical properties, etc., it is difficult to control the braking force.
For this reason, the devices for generating braking force using eddy current are currently being adopted for simple application.
For example, the brake device with a combination of power-generating and eddy-current magnetic resistance disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,325 has a disk which rotates, a brake yoke which is disposed outside the disk, and a generator which is disposed inside the disk, such that braking force can be provided through self-generation without using an external power source.
Nevertheless, in the brake device with a combination of power-generating and eddy-current magnetic resistance disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,084,325, a solenoid for generating eddy current is disposed outside the disk, and the generator is disposed inside the disk. In this case, while braking force can be maximized, an air gap is likely to be changed due to machining errors and assembly errors. Also, since magnets are attached to the heat generating section of the disk, the characteristics of the magnets are apt to be deteriorated with the lapse of time. Therefore, a disadvantage is caused in that the size of the magnets increases in order to suppress the change in the characteristics of the magnets by heat. Further, because inertia compensation is not conducted in the brake device, another disadvantage is caused in that the size of the disk markedly increases. Moreover, due to the fact that only one solenoid is used so as to obtain sufficient torque, the temperature of the heat generated in coils may be excessively increased, and it is difficult to constantly control torque because of current change due to a rise in the temperature of the coils. In addition, since a solenoid yoke is disposed at one side, force is concentratedly applied to one side. Therefore, the functionality of a bearing, which supports a shaft, may be degraded, and the available service life of the bearing can be shortened.
For another example, an autonomous generation brake assembly disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,731 has a solenoid yoke, in which a solenoid for a brake and a solenoid for a generator are integrated with each other, in a core. Since the autonomous generation brake assembly is a core integration type, errors can be reduced in the fabrication procedure thereof. However, the solenoids of the brake and the generator are not positioned at regular angular intervals in the circumferential direction. Due to this fact, a number of magnets are needed for the generation of electricity, and torque ripple increases during the generation of electricity. Further, because the solenoid for the brake is positioned inside the yoke, the magnitude of braking torque by eddy current considerably decreases. Hence, in order to prevent the braking torque from decreasing, coils having a large number of turns are needed.
For further example, in the magnetic controlled loading device in combination of a power generating set and an adjusting drive mechanism disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,018,324, the amount of eddy current generated in a metal conductor increases as the distance between the metal conductor and permanent magnets is shortened, and therefore, braking force can be increased. The device employs compression springs to push a magnetic plate toward a flywheel.
Nonetheless, since the elasticity of the compression springs changes with the lapse of time, the air gap between the metal conductor and the permanent magnets during a single rotation of a motor may vary, whereby the braking force can be changed. In addition, because the length of the air gap and the magnitude of braking torque have a nonlinear relationship, a drawback is caused in that it is difficult to control a brake.

Generator-brake integration type rotating machine


A toothed belt construction, preformed fabric liner therefor and methods of making the same are provided, the preformed fabric liner being adapted to line the toothed surface of a toothed belt construction and having serially disposed tooth-shaped projections throughout the length thereof that substantially accurately correspond to the teeth of the belt construction so as to line the toothed surface thereof, the preformed fabric liner comprising an endless tubular sleeve.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a new toothed belt construction and to a new preformed fabric means for lining the toothed surface means of a toothed belt construction as well as to new methods of making the same.
2. Prior Art Statement
It is known to provide a preformed fabric means for lining the toothed surface means of a toothed belt construction, the preformed fabric means having serially disposed tooth-shaped projections substantially throughout the length thereof that substantially accurately correspond to the teeth of the belt construction so as to line the toothed surface means thereof. For example, see the U.S. patent to Hirai, U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,375.

Method of making a preformed fabric liner which lines a toothed belt construction


The diffusive body lets first light enter and emits scattered light, wherein a scattering layer and a transmission layer, the diffusive body has a light incidence surface that lets the first light enter and a main surface where a first light emission surface emitting the scattered light is formed, the light incidence surface is formed at an end face forming a first end part of the main surface, the diffusive body functions as a light guide path that makes the entered first light move to and fro between the scattering layer and the transmission layer, the scattering layer includes an optical medium on a nanometer order and generates the scattered light by having the first light scattered by the optical medium on the nanometer order, and a correlated color temperature of the scattered light is higher than the correlated color temperature of the first light.

As an example of an illumination device that simulates a natural sky, there is an illumination system described in Patent Reference 1. The illumination system described in the Patent Reference 1 includes a first light source (2) and a lamp shade structure (10). The lamp shade structure (10) includes a screen structure (14) and a base body (12), and the base body (12) includes a diffuse light generation body (20). The diffuse light generation body (20) works as a Rayleigh diffuser, absorbs substantially no light in the visible light region, and more efficiently diffuses colliding light at shorter wavelengths compared to long wavelength components. The first light source (2) and the lamp shade structure (10) are arranged in a camera obscura (16). The first light source (2) is placed at a position deviated from the center of the diffuse light generation body (20) in a vertical direction and a horizontal direction and irradiates the diffuse light generation body (20)'s top surface overall with light at an angle of approximately 60 degrees that is considered to be the angle of a principal ray.


A network management system which enables a user to manage a network using browsers available on remote computer systems. A designer provides a page specification document identifying information elements of interest and corresponding explanatory labels. The page specification document is translated into a plurality of hypertext documents. The page specification document also allows the designer to logically group the information elements of interest, and the grouping automatically defines the sequence in which the hypertext documents are accessed from other hypertext documents by actuating hypertext links in the other hypertext documents. The user interface is further simplified by providing Java Applets, which provide a simple user interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to network management, and more particularly to a system and method for managing network elements using web browsers available in the market place.
2. Related Art
Computer systems are often connected using networks. The resulting connectivity enables several features such as sharing of data and other resources on the network. For example, networks enable applications such as electronic mail, network file systems (sharing of data using disks accessed over networks), distributed processing (different computer systems executing different parts of a program, generally in parallel) and sharing of printers. These applications usually result in enhanced communication capabilities, efficient use of resources, and/or faster processing of data, thereby leading to productivity gains.
Provision of network connectivity and applications generally entails the operation of several network elements implemented according to predefined interfaces. Network elements include, but are not limited to, hardware circuits/devices and software entities (e.g., a process or a thread) which may operate according to interface specifications to provide the network connectivity or applications. The interfaces may be based on open standards such as Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) and IEEE 802 family of protocols commonly used in the Internet Community, or proprietary standards such as System Network Architecture (SNA) implemented mostly in IBM computing environments.
Proper management of such networks may be critical in the provision of network connectivity and applications. In general, network management can include several functions such as network monitoring (e.g., to ensure the proper operation of network elements in the network), performance management (e.g., to ensure performance bottlenecks are within acceptable levels), software distribution etc. The proper operation of each network element may be critical in a networking environment as the malfunctioning of (or performance bottleneck in) any network element in the path between two computer systems (or any two network resources) may adversely impact the applications and services between the two computer systems. As the network elements are typically shared (or used) by several (potentially in the range of thousands) computer systems, many of them located in remote networks, the performance bottlenecks are often of great concern to managers/operators of computer systems and networks. In addition, as each network element may execute using different revisions or versions of software, it may be important to ensure that all network elements operate using software versions which can operate cooperatively in a desired manner.
Network management stations (NMS) implementing network management functions are employed to manage the networks. Typically, network operators manage the network using a suitable interface (generally graphical user interface based) on a NMS. The NMS indicates by a suitable alarm any problems with or changes in the status of the network. The operator may take appropriate corrective action with or without using the NMS.
The network management task is often complicated by the fact that each of the network elements may be provided by several vendors. The network elements may simply need to conform to a pre-defined interface (or standard) to operate as a part of an integrated network. While the availability of each network element from multiple vendors may lead to reduction in prices, the management of networks having network elements from several different vendors poses additional challenges to network managers.
For example, some vendors may allow their network elements to be managed from proprietary platforms only. Some vendors may support standards based network management applications (e.g., Simple Network Management Protocol), but the integration of the management of their devices into an NMS often requires extensive training. For example, the installation of the software to work with an NMS may require training from the vendor. Operators may need more training for providing on-going support. Such training may need to be provided each time a new network element is added to the network. In addition, substantial effort may be required on the part of the vendors to develop software which runs on the NMS. The resulting overhead due to the development and training required may be unacceptable in certain situations.
Therefore, what is needed is a network management solution which allows easy integration of additional devices. The solution must also be usable by operators without requiring significant training.
There are yet more challenges encountered while managing networks that typically span multiple organizations and distant geographies. A network manager/operator may wish to monitor the status of a remote network. As will be appreciated, it is often impractical to install or provide the software for managing each network element on all remote sites. In addition, a manager/operator may wish to monitor the remote network from any of several machines. A manager may further wish to know the events which may have occurred prior to the precipitation of a problem.
Therefore, what is also needed is a network management solution which allows a person to easily monitor a remote network, preferably from several machines. The network management solution should also allow the person to know significant events which may have occurred around (before and after) the time a problem has precipitated in the network. This knowledge may facilitate easier problem resolution.

Network management using browser-based technology


A method for generating a sequence of concealment samples in connection with transmission of a digitized audio signal, wherein the method comprises generating the sequence of concealment samples from buffered samples of the digitized representation of audio signal in sample time order, wherein at least two consecutive subsequences of samples in the sequence of concealment samples are based on subsequences of buffered samples, wherein said subsequences of buffered samples are consecutive in reordered time.

Modern telecommunications are based on digital transmission of signals. For example, in FIG. 1, a transmitter 200 collects a sound signal from a source 100. This source can be the result of one or more persons speech and other acoustic wave sources collected by a microphone, or it can be a sound signal storage or generation system such as a text-to-speech synthesis or dialog system. If the source signal is analog it is converted to a digital representation by means of an analog-to-digital converter. The digital representation is subsequently encoded and placed in packets following a format suitable for the digital channel 300. The packets are transmitted over the digital channel. The digital channel typically comprises multiple layers of abstraction.
At the layer of abstraction in FIG. 1, the digital channel takes a sequence of packets as input and delivers a sequence of packets as output. Due to degradations in the channel, typically caused in noise, imperfections, and overload in the channel, the output packet sequence is typically contaminated with loss of some of the packets and arrival time delay and delay jitter for other packets. Furthermore, difference in clock of the transmitter and the receiver can result in clock skew. It is the task of the receiver 400 to decode the received data packets and to convert the decoded digital representations from the packet stream and decode this into digital signal representations and further convert these representations into a decoded sound signal in a format suitable for output to the signal sink 500. This signal sink can be one or more persons who are presented the decoded sound signal by means of, e.g., one or more loudspeakers. Alternatively, the signal sink can be a speech or audio storage system or a speech or audio dialog system or recognizer.
It is the task of the receiver to accurately reproduce a signal that can be presented to the sink. When the sink directly or indirectly comprises human listeners, an object of the receiver is to obtain a representation of the sound signal that, when presented to the human listeners, accurately reproduces the humanly perceived impression and information of the acoustic signal from the source or sources. To secure this task in the common case where the channel degrades the received sequence of packets with loss, delay, delay jitter, and clock skew may furthermore be present, an efficient concealment is necessary as part of the receiver subsystem.
As an example, one possible implementation of a receiver subsystem to accomplish this task is illustrated in FIG. 2. As indicated in this figure, incoming packets are stored in a jitter buffer 410 from where a decoding and concealment unit 420 acquires received encoded signal representations, and decodes and conceals these encoded signal representations to obtain signal representations suitable for storage in a playout buffer 430 and subsequent playout. The control of when to initiate concealment and what specific parameters of this concealment, such as length of the concealed signal, can, as an example, be carried out by a control unit 440, which monitors the contents of the jitter buffer and the playout buffer and controls the action of the decoding and concealment unit 420.
Concealment can also be accomplished as part of a channel subsystem. FIG. 3 illustrates one example of a channel subsystem in which packets are forwarded from a channel 310 to a channel 330 via a subsystem 320, which we for later reference term the relay. In practical systems the relay function may be accomplished by units, which may take a variety of context dependent names, such as diverse types of routers, proxy servers, edge servers, network access controllers, wireless local area network controllers, Voice-over-IP gateways, media gateways, unlicensed network controllers, and other names. In the present context all these as examples of relay systems.
One example of a relay system that is able to do audio concealment is illustrated in FIG. 4. As illustrated in this figure, packets are forwarded from an input buffer 310 to an output buffer 360 via packet switching subsystems 320 and 350. The control unit 370 monitors the input and output buffers, and as a result of this monitoring, makes decisions if transcoding and concealment is necessary. If this is the case, the switches direct the packets via the transcoding and concealment unit 330. If this is not the case, the switches directs the packets via the minimal protocol action subsystem 340, which will make a minimum of operations on the packet headers to remain compliant with applied protocols. This can comprise steps of altering sequence number and time-stamp of the packets.
In transmission of audio signals using systems exemplified by, but not limited to, the above descriptions, there is the need for concealment of loss, delay, delay jitter, and/or clock skew in signals representative, or partially representative, of the sound signal. Prior art techniques to approach this concealment task categorize in pitch repetition methods and time-scale modification methods.
Pitch repetition methods, sometimes embodied in the oscillator model, are based in an estimate of the pitch period in voiced speech, or alternatively in the estimation of the corresponding fundamental frequency of the voiced speech signal. Given the pitch period, a concealment frame is obtained by repeated readout of the last pitch period. Discontinuities at the beginning and end of the concealment frame and between each repetition of the pitch period can be smoothed using a windowed overlap-add procedure. See patent number WO 0148736 and International Telecommunications Union recommendation ITU-T G.711 Appendix 1 for examples of the pitch repetition method.
Prior art systems integrate pitch repetition based concealment with decoders based in the linear predictive coding principle. In these systems the pitch repetition is typically accomplished in the linear predictive excitation domain by a read out from the long-term predictor or adaptive codebook loop. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,481, International Telecommunications Union recommendation ITU-T G.729, and Internet Engineering Task Force Request For Comments 3951 for examples of pitch repetition based concealment in the linear predictive excitation domain. The above methods apply for concealing a loss or an increasing delay, i.e., a positive delay jitter, and situations of input or jitter buffer underflow or near underflow e.g. due to clock skew. To conceal a decreasing delay, a negative delay jitter, or an input or jitter buffer overflow or near overflow, the generation of a shortened concealment signal is needed. Pitch based methods accomplish this by an overlap add procedure between a pitch period and an earlier pitch period. See patent number WO 0148736 for an example of this method.
Again this can be accomplished while exploiting facilities present in linear predictive decoders. As an example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,481 discloses a method by which fixed codebook contribution vectors are simply discarded from the reproduction signal, relying on the state of the adaptive codebook to secure pitch periodicity in the reproduced signal. In connection with pitch repetition methods one object is a seamless signal continuation from the concealment frame to the next frame. Patent no. WO 0148736 discloses a method to achieve this object. By the invention disclosed in WO 0148736 this object is achieved by means of concealment frames of time varying and possibly signal dependent length. Whereas this efficiently can secure seamless signal continuation in connection with concealment of delay jitter and clock skew, this solution introduce a deficiency in connection with systems of the type depicted in FIG. 4: Following this type of concealment an encoding of the concealment into frames of fixed preset length that connects seamlessly with the already encoded frames that are preferably relayed via the minimal protocol action 340, cannot be guaranteed.
A recurrent problem in pitch repetition based methods for concealment of loss and abruptly increasing delay is that the repetition of pitch cycles makes the reproduced signal sound unnatural. More specifically, this audio signal becomes too periodic. In worst cases so-called string sounds are perceived in the reproduced sound signal. To alleviate this problem, numerous methods exist in the prior art. These methods include the use of repetition periods that are the double or triple of the estimated pitch period. As one example, Internet Engineering Task Force Request For Comments 3951 describes a method by which two times the estimated pitch period will be used if the estimated pitch period is less than 10 ms. As another example, International Telecommunications Union recommendation ITU-T G.711 Appendix 1 describes a method by which a doubling and later a tripling of the repetition period is introduced to repeat two and later three pitch cycles rather than repeating a single pitch period. See International Telecommunications Union recommendation ITU-T G.711 Appendix 1 for a full description of this method. Moreover, a mixing of the concealment signal with a random or random like signal component with a level, which is dependent on the voicing level of the speech, and a gradual attenuation of the concealment signal is typically introduced to alleviate string sounds. Sometimes, this random-like signal is derived by operations on the buffered signal or by using facilities such as random codebooks that are already available in the decoder. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,699,481, International Telecommunications Union recommendation ITU-T G.729, and Internet Engineering Task Force Request For Comments 3951 for examples of using such features. Also gradual attenuation is used to suppress introduced artefacts. Whereas this, given the underlying concealment method, may be the best choice as interpreted by a near-end listener. A far end listener, in a scenario with echo return and an adaptive filter to cancel this echo, may interpret the effect of this attenuation as predominantly negative. This is because the attenuation decreases the persistency of the excitation of the adaptive echo canceller. Thereby, the tracking of this to the actual echo path degrades, and the far end listener can experience a greater echo return.
Time-scale modification methods of the type described e.g in Linag, Farber and Girod, "Adaptive Playout Scheduling and Loss Concealment for Voice Communication over IP Networks", IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 532-543, December 2003 function via a matched smooth overlap-add procedure. In this procedure a signal segment is buffered but not yet played out signal is smoothly windowed and identified as the template segment, subsequently other smoothly windowed segments are searched to identify the similar segment, where similarity can be e.g. in the correlation measure. The smoothly windowed template segment and the smoothly windowed similar segment are subsequently over-lapped and added to produce the time-scale modified signal. When the playout time-scale is extended the search region for the similar segment is positioned before the template segment in sample time. Conversely, when the playout time-scale is compressed the search region for the similar segment is positioned ahead of the template segment in sample time. In known time-scale modification methods the length of the template and similar segment and the windows applied to them are predefined before execution of the time-scale modification, these quantities are not adapted in response to characteristics of the particular signal that the time-scale modification is applied on. As observed in Linag, Farber and Girod, "Adaptive Playout Scheduling and Loss Concealment for Voice Communication over IP Networks", IEEE Transactions on Multimedia, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 532-543, December 2003: with prior-art time-scale modification, spike delays cannot be effectively alleviated from a starting-point in a low-delay playout scheduling as needed in real-time two-way voice communication over packet networks.
Other methods with points of resemblance to the time-scale modification and pitch repetition methods are known. One type that should be mentioned in this context is sinusoidally based concealment methods. See e.g. Rødbro and Jensen, "Time-scaling of Sinusoids for Intelligent Jitter Buffer in Packet Based Telephony", in IEEE Proc. Workshop on Speech Coding, 2002, pp. 71-73. Depending on the amount of interpolation, respectively pitch repetition that are accomplished via the sinusoidal model domain by these methods, these methods are subject to the same limitations as identified for the pitch repetition and time-scale modification methods mentioned above.

Method for generating concealment frames in communication system


A surgical tool for use with a drill bit to prevent skiving at an implant insertion site on a bone includes a cannulated sleeve having a distal end defining a burr surface. The distal end may be detachable from a body of the cannulated sleeve. The tool may be used with more than one distal end, each of the distal ends defining a burr surface having a different cutting surface from the others. The tool may form a system that includes the drill bit.

The present invention generally relates to instrumentation for forming an opening in bone for receiving an implant, and more particularly for forming an opening in a pedicle of a vertebra.
A technique commonly referred to as spinal fixation is employed for fusing together and/or mechanically immobilizing vertebrae of the spine. Spinal fixation may also be used to alter the alignment of adjacent vertebrae relative to one another so as to change the overall alignment of the spine. Such techniques have been used effectively to treat many degenerative conditions and, in most cases, to relive pain suffered by the patient.
In some applications, a surgeon will install implants, such as pedicle screws, into the pedicles of adjacent vertebrae (along one or multiple levels of the spine) and thereafter connect the screws with a spinal rod in order to immobilize and stabilize the vertebral column. Whether conducted in conjunction with interbody fusion or across single or multiple levels of the spine, the use of pedicle screws connected by fixation rods is an important treatment method employed by surgeons.
Prior to implantation of the implant, the target area, e.g. the pedicle, is incised to create an opening for receiving the implant. One problem a surgeon or other medical professional may face while creating such an incision within bone is skiving due to the shape and anatomy of the bone that is often angled with respect to the axis along which the instrumentation and implant are used. When the incision tool slips along a surface of the bone, the trajectory of the tool and the resulting opening becomes inaccurate for the placement of the implant.
There remains room for improvement in the design and use of instrumentation that prevents skiving which provides for surgical efficiency and maintains safety and accuracy for implanting an implant along a desired trajectory.

Tools for insertion of a spinal implant and methods of using same


A method and apparatus for reducing power in a computer system having a counter and a phase generator. The method consists of receiving an input clock signal which has a plurality of clock cycles and receiving an enable signal. If the enable signal is active, then the counter performs a divide operation. In addition, a block signal is generated when the enable signal is active to hold the output signal in its present state. The block signal is removed if the divide operation is completed or if the enable signal becomes inactive. When the enable signal is not active, then the output signal generated is equal to and in phase with the input clock signal if the enable signal is not active.

Power consumption poses a serious problem in modern computer systems. This is especially true in mobile systems, which are typically powered by batteries. The more power the system consumes, the less time the system can operate using a given size battery. In order to extend the operation time, while meeting the increased power demand, additional batteries may be added. Additional batteries are bulky and heavy however. Given the trend towards producing smaller and lighter mobile systems, this solution is not desirable. Alternatively, there are exotic batteries available that provide an increase in operation time without increasing the weight of the system. These batteries can, however, be quite expensive and reduction of system cost is also an important goal. Therefore, neither of these solutions is satisfactory.
The greatest amount of power consumption within a CMOS chip occurs on the leading and trailing edges of clock pulses (i.e., when a clock signal transitions from a low voltage state to a high voltage state, or vice versa). Therefore, when the operating speed of the microprocessor is increased, the number of clock pulses in a particular time period also increases, thereby increasing the power consumption of the microprocessor during this time period. Similarly, a decrease in the operating speed of the microprocessor results in a decrease in the number of clock pulses in a particular time period, thereby decreasing the power consumption of the microprocessor during this time period.
To reduce the power consumption of the system or microprocessor, many different techniques of controlling the clock are used. Typically, the clock continues to toggle during idle time, thereby needlessly consuming power. One method to reduce power by controlling the clock signal is through the use of a dynamic power management system that turns off the clock signal to components while they are idle. This method typically consists of enabling the system or processor component clocks only when the component is needed and disabling the component clocks when the components are not needed. Such a method reduces the overall power consumption of the system or microprocessor by reducing power consumed by idle components.
An alternative method, which can be used independently or in conjunction with the above method of enabling or disabling different components, is to reduce the operating frequency of the clock signal. This method is referred to as frequency reduction. Although it is not always desirable for the system or processor to run at a reduced speed, it can be a useful method of reducing power during times in which it is not necessary for the processor to run at full speed. Frequency reduction is usually accomplished by dividing the clocking signal supplied to the components.
Although this method of dividing the clock is useful in reducing the power consumption of the system, such a method results in the complication of system and component design. For example, in a system in which the microprocessor creates its internal clocks based on a system clock, the system design is complicated when the microprocessor uses a divided clock for power savings. In such a system, depending upon the divide value selected, the falling edges of a divided clock may actually correspond to the rising edge of a non-divided clock. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, in a conventional divide-by-four mode, the falling edge of the divided clock occurs during a rising edge of the non-divided clock. Due to this problem, the external clock (to the microprocessor), which the internal clocks are created from, cannot be used to track the internal clock signals unless additional signals are brought off the microprocessor. The fact that the asserting edges of divided clocks and non-divided clocks do not align also results in a complication of component interface design.
In addition, the above divide method results in the complication of device testing of the component during the divided clock power saving mode. For example, in a dual phase design it is common to combine two phases into a single tester cycle to increase the maximum testing speed. Device timing specifications are normally referenced to occur relative to a specific phase. When the occurrences of the phases are not at a consistent position (as when the deasserting edges of some divided clock align with asserting edges of non-divided clocks) testing becomes more complicated.
Furthermore, in large divide modes, such as divide by 8, 10, 16, etc., there is a long latency associated with waking up from divide mode. In order to prevent glitches on the clock signal, which may adversely affect data integrity, a clock divide must be completed before coming out of divide mode. Therefore, although the system components or processor components may be ready to wake up from the slower operating mode, the clock signal cannot return to its normal operating frequency until it has completed a divide cycle. Therefore, if the components are ready to wake up while in divide by 16, but the clock divide circuitry has just begun the divide count, the component must remain in the slower frequency mode until the divide count reaches 16, or until the divide cycle is complete.

Apparatus and method for controlling clocking frequency in an integrated circuit


Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to detector circuits. Embodiments provide a low-power, accurate reference-free threshold detector. In particular, embodiments reduce leakage current at low input levels and prevent shoot through current for higher than nominal low input levels. Further, embodiments require no bandgap or accurate reference, and as a result eliminate the need for a constantly ON bandgap or accurate reference circuit. As such, embodiments have significantly reduced power consumption compared to conventional circuits. In addition, embodiments detect correctly low and high input levels that are separated narrowly and that may have wide ranges. Embodiments can be extended to any particular design choice of low and high input levels and corresponding output levels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to detector circuits.
2. Background Art
Conventionally, threshold detectors are made using inverter circuits, degenerated common-source input circuits, or comparator circuits. However, inverter and degenerated common-source input circuits perform poorly when the low and high input levels are narrowly separated. Comparator circuits perform well but require a reference from a bandgap or external source such as a Zener diode, for example.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved low cost and low power threshold detectors.

Low power, accurate reference-free threshold detector


A magnetic head for vector recording/playing capable of recording in multiple directions to increase recording density. In the magnetic head according to the present invention, a body is formed to have four poles, each of which is wound with a coil. Accordingly, 3-bit data, in which magnetic domains are arranged in eight directions may be recorded/reproduced, to thereby record a large amount information in one recording area of the track, and reduce the data transfer rate.

The present invention relates to a magnetic head for vector recording/playing of a hard disk drive or a floppy disk drive, and more particularly, to a magnetic head for vectorially recording/playing capable of recording in multiple directions to increase recording density.
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional magnetic head for recording/playing. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional magnetic head is formed by winding a wire around a tetragonal or cylindrical body 11 to form coils 12, so that a magnetic recording direction 14 is bidirectional 15 and parallel to a track 13. Therefore, only 1 bit is recorded on one recording area, to thereby reduce the recording efficiency ratio (bits/area), and data is processed bit by bit during recording/playing of data, to thereby increase access time, which is obtained by adding the read time to the data transfer time (i.e., access time=read time+data transfer time).


In some embodiments a processing device is disclosed. The processing device is configured to read data from a memory device. The processing device transmits a read request to the memory device for a data block at a certain address and reads the data block for the certain address from the memory device. The processing device dynamically detects boundaries for the data block read by detecting an alignment pattern in data received from the memory device. Other embodiments are otherwise disclosed herein.

Storing and forwarding of data is a common function in equipment used in packet-based communication networks. A key part of such store-and-forward systems is the queuing of incoming data into memory, followed by the subsequent de-queuing of the data, before sending to its destination. In high-speed store-and-forward devices (e.g., switches, routers), this function is typically implemented in hardware, consisting of digital logic (e.g., application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), field-programmable gate array (FPGA)) in conjunction with memory (e.g., semiconductor memory) that holds the packet data and control information for the queues.
To achieve full throughput in a high-speed store-and-forward device (e.g., switch or router), the queuing and de-queuing operations need to be executed in a pipeline. Pipeline operations entail queuing and de-queuing operations being initiated in every clock cycle. The pipelined operations may be based on single-edge clocking (single read/write per clock cycle) or dual-edge clocking (read/write on both rising and falling edge of clock). Modern memory technologies, such as double data rate (DDR) and quad data rate (QDR) memories support dual-edge pipelined operation. QDR memory devices have two data ports, one for reads and the other for writes, which enable a read and a write operation to be performed in parallel. Although the pipelined memory devices, such as QDR and DDR, support very high throughputs, they have long latencies. That is, a read operation must wait for several clock cycles from starting the operation before data becomes available for the device. Similarly, a write operation takes several cycles for the data to be updated in memory.
For high-speed operations, the read interface of the memory device is typically designed as a source-synchronous interface (a clock signal is carried along side the data from a driving point to a receiving point). The processing device supplies an input clock to the memory device and the memory device uses the input clock for latching the address for a read operation. Because of the delays within the device, the data may not be in phase with the input clock. Therefore, the memory device retimes the input clock to be in phase with the data. As an alternative to the memory device retiming the incoming clock and transmitting as a separate clock signal, the incoming clock can be delayed by external means to align its phase with respect to the data transmitted to the processing device.
The retimed clock/delayed clock (clock signal) is then transferred alongside the data from the memory device to the processing device. The processing device can use the clock signal to clock the data into an input register. The clock signal may have the same frequency as an internal clock of the processing device, but its phase may be arbitrary with respect to the internal clock. By matching the delay of the path of the clock signal to the delay of the data signals, the processing device can clock the data into the register precisely at the right time, when data is valid. The data latched by the processing device from the read operation needs to be further synchronized to its local clock before it can be used by the logic within the processing device. If all the delays associated with the memory read operation are constant, this synchronization can be achieved by reading the output of the latch with the local clock n cycles after starting the read operation, where the value of n is chosen to account for all the delays in the read path (pipelining delays, propagation delays of signals, and latency of memory device).
In many practical applications, it is difficult to predict the total delay in the read path accurately, as it depends on the propagation delays of the signals. In addition, the delay may change dynamically during system operation as a result of process, voltage and/or temperature (PVT) changes. Thus, it is difficult to determine exactly the clock cycle in which the first word of a block read from memory is latched into the input latch in the processing device after the read operation begins. Detecting the boundary of valid data is exacerbated when multiple memory devices are used in parallel to increase the bandwidth of the memory interface. In such a system, a data word from the processing device is broken up into sub-words and each sub-word is stored in a separate memory device. For example, if the processing device processes data as 128-bit words and the size of the memory word is 32 bits, then four memory devices can be used in parallel to enable the processor to read and write data in 128-bit words. These four devices storing the sub-words are sometimes referred to as banks, and such a memory system as banked memory. In this example, banking quadruples the transfer rate between the processing device and memory.
When data stored in multiple memory devices are read in parallel, the devices independently perform retiming of the incoming clock and provide an outgoing clock. This clock is then carried along with its sub-word of data, and is used by the processing device to clock in the sub-word. Because the propagation delays of the signals associated with each of the memory devices may not be identical, the retimed clocks provided by the memory devices may not be in phase with each other. Thus, when the incoming data is latched by the processing device, each sub-word may be latched at a different time. As in the case of a single memory device, these time instants can also vary during system operation with changes in PVT.

Dynamic detection of block boundaries on memory reads


The present invention provides an electric tool which includes an electrical device, such as a radio, as an additional function, and is lightweight and easy to handle for operation. The electric tool includes a lithium-ion secondary battery as a power supply, and is equipped with an electrical device, which operates on small electric power supplied from the lithium-ion secondary battery.

Electric tools, such as electric drivers, for use in the screw fastening work have hitherto been used primarily in construction sites and the like for business purposes as they permit significant improvement in operative efficiency. In recent years, they are available at home improvement centers and the like, and have come to be generally used for home carpentry.
In home carpentry, the price of an electric tool per one operation is expensive because of a low frequency of the use thereof. Thus, electric tools have been required to provide some sort of added value. Moreover, since portable radios are often brought into working operation sites, there have been proposed configurations in which a radio is added to a charger for charging a battery of an electric tool (e.g. Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-92726: corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 6,427,070 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,496,688). However, in operation sites used by operation workers, commercial power supplies are often not prepared. Further, it is often the case that a customer having ordered working operations bears electrical expenses thereof. For these reasons, in many cases, spare batteries are prepared in working operation sites and batteries are not charged. It is therefore necessary to add some sort of value not to a charger, but to an electric tool itself.
Since a person holds an electric tool with his hand while at work, however, it needs to-be light enough for portability. This has made it impossible to add an additional function which would cause a weight increase of an electric tool.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A glass composition is provided. The glass composition includes: 25-40 wt % SiO2; 2.5-10 wt % B2O3; 0-10 wt % Al2O3; 0-15 wt % Li2O; 0-16 wt % of Li2O, Na2O, and K2O in total; 10-25 wt % CaO; 0-15 wt % BaO; 0-5 wt % MgO; 0-5 wt % SrO; 10-30 wt % CaO, BaO, MgO, and SrO in total; 0-7 wt % ZnO; 2-10 wt % ZrO; 2-15 wt % TiO2; 5-25 wt % Nb2O5; 0-5 wt % Ta2O5; 5-25 La2O3; and 0-5 wt % Y2O3. The glass composition has a refractive index from about 1.74 to about 1.80, a density from about 3.5 g/cm3 to about 4.0 g/cm3, a critical cooling rate from about 1° C./min to about 50° C./min, and a liquidus viscosity greater than 25 Poises.

It has long been recognized that glass having a high refractive index (nD) and low density would be especially desirable in many types of optical devices including microscopes, eyewear, displays, virtual reality devices and augmented reality devices requiring high corrections and minimum weight. The low density, very high refractive index glasses presently known exhibit high dispersion or, expressed differently, have a low Abbe number (ν), i.e., frequently less than 30, with the consequence of iridescence appearing at the sides of the lenses. In addition, these same high refractive index glasses also exhibit poor thermal stability.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved high refractive index glass compositions that provide improved materials that can translate into improved optical performance, reliability, and manufacturing costs to produce improved optical devices.

High refractive index silicate glass compositions with reduced devitrification kinetics


A system and a method for information acquisition of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) data as a cloud based service are provided. An apparatus in the system including a WSN, a service cloud, and a device, includes a virtual sensor configured to receive data from a physical sensor in the WSN. The apparatus further includes a virtual sensor controller configured to receive a request for the data from the service cloud or the device, and spawn a virtual machine (VM) based on the request. The apparatus further includes the VM configured to transmit the data to the service cloud or the device.

1. Field
The following description relates to a system and a method for information acquisition of Wireless Sensor Network (WSN) data as a cloud based service.
2. Description of Related Art
Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) may transform peoples' daily lives. A WSN senses and disseminates information from various environments, and may serve many diverse applications. In more detail, a WSN is a network of physical sensors that may include several hundred nodes, which spatially and temporally track environments of interest to sample physical data, such as a temperature, a humidity, a light, an inclination, an acceleration, a chemical, a substance, a physiological measurement, an environmental change, and/other physical data known to one of ordinary skill in the art. This data is then either stored temporarily in the local nodes or wirelessly transmitted immediately to a gateway. WSNs can be used to monitor as well as control, and they form a constituent of ubiquitous sensing, communication, computing, and control.
WSNs are deployed for a wide range of applications, such as environmental monitoring, location tracking, military intelligence (surveillance), precision agriculture, disaster management services, factory instrumentation, hospital management and information tracking, and/or other applications known to one of ordinary skill in the art. With use of WSN technology likely to increase many fold, a large amount of WSN data will be generated. This valuable, informative data will remain underutilized if not made accessible to end users.
Integrating WSNs with a cloud computing infrastructure eases management of storage and computational resources. It also provides application data over the Internet. Combining WSNs with cloud computing makes it easier to share and analyze real-time sensor data on-the-fly. It also provides sensor data or sensor events as a service over the Internet.
Conventional methods use an ad-hoc process and thread based solution to send WSN data to a cloud. The use of ad-hoc processes and threads for data collection and forwarding requires recompilation/porting of logic for different platforms. Moreover, ad-hoc processes and threads require assistance for load balancing in a network. Some existing methods provide an infrastructure for abstraction of physical sensors, but these fail to provide the abstraction with flexibility and scalability.
Accordingly, there is still a huge gap in bringing together information available from heterogeneous, distributed resources of WSNs to a non-localized user. As such, a system and a method to enhance WSNs' data availability, accessibility, and utilization using cloud computing is appreciated.

System and method for information acquisition of wireless sensor network data as cloud based service


In an embodiment, a peripheral interface controller may include an inline cryptographic engine which may encrypt data being sent over a peripheral interface and decrypt data received from the peripheral interface. The encryption may be transparent to the device connected to the peripheral interface that is receiving/supplying the data. In an embodiment, the peripheral interface controller is included in a system on a chip (SOC) that also includes a memory controller configured to couple to a memory. The memory may be mounted on the SOC in a chip-on-chip or package-on-package configuration. The unencrypted data may be stored in the memory for use by other parts of the SOC (e.g. processors, on-chip peripherals, etc.). The keys used for the encryption/decryption of data may remain within the SOC.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention is related to the field of peripheral interface controllers and, more particularly, to encryption and secure memory management unit (MMU) functionality in peripheral interface controllers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits in a variety of devices include one or more peripheral interface controllers to communicate on peripheral interfaces to other components of the device. A variety of industry-standard interfaces can be used, such as Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI), PCI Express (PCIe), Universal Serial Bus (USB), Firewire™, etc.
Because the peripheral interfaces are connected between components (e.g. on a printed circuit board (PCB)), the data transmitted on the peripheral interfaces can be somewhat more easily observed by a third party as compared to data that remains within a component. For example, the data may be protected by copyright or may be otherwise protected digital content that requires a license to view. The third party may be attempting to steal the data.
Additionally, a variety of storage devices (e.g. solid state storage such as Flash memory, magnetic storage such as fixed or removable disk drives, optical storage such as compact disk (CD) or digital video disk (DVD) storage, etc.) can be connected via a peripheral interface. Data stored in/on such storage devices may be accessible to a third party as well. Accordingly, protecting the data while stored on the storage device may also be needed for security.

Embedded encryption/secure memory management unit for peripheral interface controller


A device assembly (16) for a precision apparatus (10) includes a device housing (30), a device (32), a device mover assembly (34), and a measurement system (36). The device mover assembly (34) moves the device (32) relative to the device housing (30) about a first axis and about a second axis that is orthogonal to the first axis. The measurement system (36) monitors movement of the device (32). The measurement system (36) monitors movement of the device (32) and can include a first sensor assembly (260) that monitors movement about the first axis and a second sensor assembly (262) that monitors movement about a second axis. Each sensor assembly (260) (262) can include a sensor adjuster (474) (476) that adjusts the position of a portion of the respective sensor assembly (260) (262) to independently tune the sensor assemblies (260) (262) and independently enhance the performance of each sensor assembly (260) (262). Further, each sensor assembly (260) (262) can be a magnetic type sensor.

Optical mirrors are commonly used in precision apparatuses to make precise adjustments to the path of a beam. For example, the precision apparatus can include a beam source that generates a beam, an object, and an optical mirror that redirects the beam at the object. In certain situations, the performance of the precision apparatus is enhanced if the beam travels in a controlled environment. With this design, one or more tubes extend between the beam source and the object, and the mirror is positioned within the tubes. Unfortunately, with this design, the mirror is not visible and information regarding the movement and position of the optical mirror is not readily available.

Optical assembly with adjustable optical element and independently tunable position sensors


The electromagnetic radiation detector comprises at least one membrane suspended above a substrate by at least one nanowire. The nanowire forms a thermoelement comprising an electrically conducting core and external layer, respectively doped of different types and insulated form one another by an electrical insulation layer. When the substrate and membrane are at different temperatures, the nanowires constitutes a thermometer providing measurement signals, by Seebeck effect, representative of heating the membrane.

The invention relates to an electromagnetic radiation detector comprising at least one radiation absorption membrane able to absorb electromagnetic radiation, to transform the radiation into heat and to transmit this heat to a thermometer, said membrane being suspended above a substrate by at least one nanowire substantially perpendicular to the substrate.

Electromagnetic radiation detector with nanowire thermometer and method for producing same


A system and method for event-based content presentation, including: receiving a content presentation request to present a content item at an event where presentation of the content item can be captured. The content presentation request can include an event identifier identifying the event at which the content item is to be presented, and can further identify the content item to be displayed. The submitted content item can be presented on a content presentation device located at the event. Presentation of the content item can be captured and the resulting captured content presentation can be stored, broadcasted on a messaging platform, provided to the requesting user, etc.

Social media allows fans to interact directly with their favorite celebrities and events. For example, users can send messages to or tag their favorite celebrities in content using a social media service. Likewise, users can share messages and comments regarding a major award show, sporting event, etc. While social media allows fans to connect with their favorite celebrities and share in the excitement of their favorite events, oftentimes fans cannot be physically present at events attended by their favorite celebrities. Accordingly, improvements are needed.

Event-based content presentation using a social media platform


A FCC process in which spent catalyst is stripped of hydrocarbon in a stripping zone prior to entering the regenerator. In order to maximize the amount of strippable hydrocarbon removed in the stripping zone with minimal use of stripping gas, a sample of spent catalyst is removed prior to entering the regenerator. The spent catalyst is analyzed for strippable hydrocarbon by conducting the sample to a heated catalyst collection vessel, evacuating the catalyst, collecting the gases from the collection vessel and analyzing the gases for amount of strippable hydrocarbon on the spent catalyst.

Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) is a well known process for converting heavy hydrocarbon feeds to lighter products. Most FCC units include a reactor and a regenerator in the fluid solids portion of the overall FCC process. The movement of catalyst between the reactor and regenerator represents a cyclical process. Heavy hydrocarbon feed is contacted with hot catalyst in the reactor to produce lighter products. During the cracking process, carbonaceous deposits or coke and other contaminants such as metals are deposited on the catalyst resulting in at least a partial deactivation of the catalyst. The deactivated catalyst is separated from the lighter products and sent to a regenerator. The coke deposits are removed from catalyst particles by burning and the regenerated catalyst recycled to the reactor. Heat from coke combustion is typically used to help maintain the desired temperature in the reactor where additional cracking of feed occurs.
Deactivated catalyst particles sent to the regenerator are first subjected to a stripping process to recover a substantial fraction of absorbed hydrocarbon material. The recovered hydrocarbons from the stripping zone are typically added to the cracked hydrocarbons from the FCC reactor to enhance the yield of total hydrocarbon materials. These recovered hydrocarbonaceous materials are then sent for further processing to desired products. The stripped catalyst is sent to a regenerator.
In order to monitor performance of the stripping zone, it is typical to measure coke on catalyst. Current techniques for measuring coke on catalyst do not, however, differentiate between strippable hydrocarbons and non-volatile coke.
It would be desirable to maximize the yield of strippable hydrocarbon from spent FCC catalyst without using excessive stripping gas such as steam. In order to achieve maximum yield with minimal stripping gas, it would be desirable to have a quick and reliable test for measuring strippable hydrocarbon. For example, setting the preferred stripping steam rate for a given feed composition and process conditions is typically a trial and error procedure relating regenerator conditions to steam rate changes.

Analyzer system for strippable hydrocarbon on FCC catalyst


An electronic device includes: a display unit capable of displaying a rotational pathway which rotates on a screen and with which an operation of the electronic device is associated according to a position on the rotational pathway; a touch screen that detects a touch from an outside and receives an input of a positional signal according to a position of the touch; a display controller that converts the position of the touch corresponding to the positional signal received by the touch screen into a position on the rotational pathway and causes a mark to be displayed at the position converted; and an operation controller that controls an operation of the electronic device according to a display position of the mark on the rotational pathway.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device provided with a touch screen, a driving method of the electronic device, and a recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a technique of receiving inputs of operations related to shooting by a touch screen provided on a display screen of a display unit that displays images in an imaging device such as a digital camera has been known (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-232911, for example). In this technique, a concave shaped guide part that guides a touch operation is provided in a right region of a touch screen at a gripping end for gripping the imaging device with a right hand. Thereby, it is possible to perform operations related to shooting by touch operations even if a user is not able to check a display unit while the user's eye is kept close to a finder.

Electronic device, driving method of the same, and computer readable recording medium


A refractive power measurement apparatus capable of measuring a refractive power of an optical system to be measured with a simple constitution at low cost. The refractive power measurement apparatus includes a projection optical system which projects measurement light onto an optical system to be measured, a photo-receiving optical system provided with a photodetector which photo-receives the measurement light from the optical system to be measured and a lens system which guides the measurement light onto the photodetector, a moving device for moving the lens system within a plane intersecting at right angles with an optical axis of the photo-receiving optical system so as to form a predetermined measurement pattern image on a photo-receiving surface of the photodetector, and a calculation device for calculating a refractive power of the optical system to be measured based on the measurement pattern image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a refractive power measurement apparatus which measures a refractive power of an optical system of an eye, a spectacle lens or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there is known a refractive power measurement apparatus which projects spot light onto a fundus via a central portion of a pupil, places a ring-shaped opening or a mask pattern which is symmetric with respect to an optical axis of a photo-receiving optical system, and a lens, so as to derive reflection light from the fundus through the periphery of the pupil to guide the reflection light onto a photodetector, and measures a refractive power of an eye based on a measurement pattern image formed on a photo-receiving surface of the photodetector. For example, Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. Hei1-293841 discloses that the measurement pattern image is formed on the photo-receiving surface of the photodetector using a ring-shaped diaphragm (a ringshaped iris) and a ring-shaped lens. Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. Hei2-252437 discloses that the measurement pattern image is formed on the photo-receiving surface of the photodetector using a diaphragm with a hole (a perforation iris), a lens and a wedge prism. Additionally, Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication No. Hei10-305013 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 6,234,978 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,540,692) discloses that the measurement pattern image is formed on the photo-receiving surface of the photodetector using a plurality of micro-Fresnel lenses arranged within a plane intersecting at right angles with an optical axis.
However, in the case of utilizing the ring-shaped lens or the plurality of micro-Fresnel lenses, a fine processing technique different from a usual one is required. Therefore, there are problems of an increase in cost and difficulty in design. Further, also in the case of utilizing the wedge prism, it is difficult to process the wedge prism, and moreover, it is required to mount the wedge prism at a predetermined position with accuracy. Therefore, the structure becomes complicated and incurs much cost.


An exposure apparatus for exposing a photomask pattern onto a photosensitive substrate via a plurality of optical systems includes a source of illumination for irradiating the photomask pattern with beams of light adapted to pass through the pattern and optical systems onto the substrate. A scanning mechanism for synchronously scanning the photomask pattern with the beams of light is included to transfer the pattern to the substrate. A plurality of illumination intensity measuring devices is provided for substantially simultaneously measuring the illumination intensities of the beams of light passing through the optical systems.

The present invention relates to an exposure method and apparatus. More specifically, the present invention relates to an exposure method and apparatus which controls illumination intensity.
In recent years, liquid crystal display devices have been used as display elements for word processors, personal computers, TV sets, etc.
A liquid crystal display device is formed by photolithographically patterning transparent thin-film electrodes on a glass substrate. An exposure apparatus is known as an apparatus to serve the purpose of photolithography. The primary pattern formed on a mask is exposed onto a photoresist layer formed on the glass substrate via a projection lens.
Recently, the trend toward liquid crystal display devices has become greater and an increase in the size of the glass substrate has been demanded. From a manufacturing efficiency point of view, a plurality of display devices are exposed at the same time in many cases. Also an increase in the exposure region for an exposure apparatus has been required.
To meet the demand for larger exposure regions, a scanning exposure apparatus having a plurality of projection lenses as shown in FIG. 1 has become available.
In the prior art apparatus of FIG. 1, a mask 2 has a photolithographic pattern printed thereon. A plate 4 (glass substrate) has an upper photoresist surface and is attached to a carriage (not illustrated). Between the mask 2 and the plate 4 are located a plurality of optical systems or projection lenses 5 through 9 which direct a set of divided erect images of a pattern on the mask 2 to the plate 4. The pattern from the mask 2 are thereby printed on the plate 4 in a piecewise manner.
As illustrated, the projection optical systems 5, 6, 7, and 8, 9 are spaced at a predetermined distance from each other and each of the exposure regions are staggered such that they slightly overlap each other.
An illumination system 3 for exposure comprises illumination units 3a through 3e whose optical axes are respectively aligned with the projection lenses 5 through 9. An illumination adjustment mechanism (not illustrated) is built into the illumination units 3a through 3e.
In the above prior art configuration, after the mask 2 and the plate 4 are aligned, the relative position and distance between them are maintained while they are moved in the scanning direction A with respect to the illumination system 3 and the projection lenses 5 through 9. The mask 2 and the plate 4 are moved by a carriage drive mechanism such that the photomask patterns which continue on the mask 2 are divided by means of the projection lenses 5 through 9 to be exposed onto the plate 4.
In this way, the pattern on the entire surface of the mask 2 is transferred onto the plate 4. However, when the illumination intensities are dispersed among each of the projection lenses, the resulting re-synthesized pattern has various line widths which are dependent on the arrangement of the projection lenses.
Luminous intensity is dispersed due to the variation in the transmittivity of the projection optical systems 5 through 9 and the variation in the illumination intensity of the illumination units 3a through 3e. In order to prevent such unfavorable conditions, a new configuration having a sensor S0 for measuring light has been proposed so as to control the illumination intensity based on the output from the illumination sensor S0.
The sensor S0 for measuring light is installed onto a carriage (not illustrated) holding the mask 2 and the plate 4 such that the sensor is movable in the B direction of FIG. 1 on the carriage.
The carriage is also movable in the A direction for scanning exposure on the mask 2 and the plate 4. If the projection lenses 5 through 9 are relatively movable to a point at the right edge of the mask 2 and a point at the right edge of the plate 4 in FIG. 1, the sensor S0 can measure illumination intensity at an arbitrary point for each of the projection lenses by scanning with the sensor S0 in the B direction from such point.
FIGS. 2 through 5 show how illumination is measured in such prior art arrangement.
FIG. 2 shows the positional relationship between the carriage and optical systems when measuring illumination for projection lenses 8 and 9.
The sensor S0 is moved in the B direction to measure illumination for the projection lenses 8 and 9.
FIG. 3 shows the shapes and arrangement, on the imaging surface of the plate 4, of the exposure regions of the projection lenses 5 through 9. Each of the projection lenses 5 through 9 has a built-in field stop which comprises a trapezoid exposure region shown in FIG. 3. Each stop is arranged such that the shorter edge of the trapezoid exposure region of a set of the projection lenses 5 through 7 faces the shorter edge of the stops for lenses 8 and 9. Viewing from the scanning direction A, it is clear that the set of projection lenses 5 through 7 facing the set of lenses 8 and 9 are arranged such that the slopes of the trapezoid exposure regions overlap each other.
In prior art apparatus, to serve the purpose of controlling illumination, a method of measuring the illumination of the overlapped portions of the exposure regions has been proposed. In other words, as shown in FIG. 3, illumination intensities I1, I1', I3, and I3' are measured for the overlapped portions a1 through a4 respectively.
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the carriage can be moved so that the illumination intensities I0, I0', I2, I2', I4, and I4' are measured in the same manner for the overlapped portions b1 through b6, respectively, of the set of projection lenses 5, 6, and 7.
Examples of the results obtained from the illumination measurements performed with the above prior art method are shown in FIG. 6. If there is a difference in illumination intensities (I0'-I1, I1'-I2, I2'-I3, I3'-I4) between adjacent projection lenses, the width of the line in the photomask pattern changes sharply. Thus zero or minimum illumination differences can be made by means of illumination adjustment mechanisms built into the illumination units 3a through 3e.
FIG. 7 shows the result of an adjustment example in which illumination intensities of the projection lenses 6, 7, 8, 9 are adjusted such that the difference in illumination between their overlapped portions is zero while fixing the illumination intensity I0 of the projection lens 5. In other words, using the illumination of the projection lens 5 as a standard, each of the illumination system units 3a through 3e of the illumination system 3 is controlled according to the illumination intensity I0 such that the illumination intensities at overlapped portions conform as I0' and I1, I1' and I2, I2' and I3, and I3' and I4 for the projection lenses 8, 6, 9, 7 in that order to eliminate a sharp change in illumination intensities for each of the positions of the projection lens 5. J0 through J5 in FIG. 7 shows the final illumination at overlapped portions for each of the positions of the projection lens 5.
In the above conventional technique, a scanning mechanism is required for light measurement, making the configuration complex. This provides problems in terms of cost effectiveness. Also scanning by means of the illumination sensor is time consuming. In addition, because scanning for measuring light takes place outside the scanning exposure regions, the illumination difference cannot be checked during the exposure sequence. This provides a further problem.
Moreover, regarding the exposure control, in the technique in which the measurement taken by a sensor at the edge is used as a baseline, if the projection lens at the edge provides an unusual value, it may be impossible to obtain a normal exposure under certain circumstances. This is due to the fact that other illumination intensities are determined based on the measurement taken by the sensor.


A method including receiving claim data corresponding to a subscriber from a health plan server, analyzing the claim data to select a medical code, and displaying health content related to the medical code.

People who are diagnosed with a new medical condition or who suffer from chronic or acute medical conditions typically want current, relevant information regarding treatments, medical research, support groups, etc. for these medical conditions. In addition, people receiving a new prescription medication typically want additional information regarding such things as the efficacy and potential side effects of the medication. Furthermore, people taking prescription medications to treat chronic conditions want current information regarding the availability and efficacy of alternative medications. People may also want current and relevant information regarding medical procedures and possible alternatives, and/or about medical service providers (e.g., physicians or hospitals). These people generally perform web searches attempting to find relevant and useful information regarding a medical condition, a medical procedure, a medical service provider, and/or a prescribed medication. To get valuable results, the searcher must determine the right keywords to use and sift through the results of the searches to find relevant information.

Method and system for providing relevant content based on claim analysis