The present invention relates to an abutment for securing a dental prosthesis to a dental implant. The multi-member abutment corrects for angular misalignment between the dental prosthesis and implant by way of thirty or greater discrete orientations about a central vertical axis and, an external ball that protrudes from the upper surface of the abutment to externally constrain the prosthesis from the side. Exchangeable members are available for variability in height and offset angle beyond a specified range.

The present invention relates to the field of dental implants; more specifically, to an interface between a dental implant which is drilled and permanently fixed into the mandibular or maxillary bone and, a removable device inserted into the mouth by the end-user, such as, but not limited to dentures. The interface is known as an abutment in the field of dentistry, and will be referred to as the "invention" herein. Likewise, the removable device will be referred to as "prosthesis."
Dental implants can be screw-like. Conventional two-piece implants comprise a cone-tip externally threaded at the distal or lower end, and a multi-position interface, such as a hexagonal socket head, at the proximal or upper end. Additionally, the proximal end is internally tapped into and below the hexagon socket. Alternatively, some dental implants may have a protruding feature such as a hexagon or other pattern at its proximal end. All features described thus far are concentric about a single vertical axis.
A hole is bored through the gums into the mandible or maxilla jawbone) by a dental surgeon. The dental implant is then fixed in place with implant specific tools thereby eliminating all degrees of freedom of movement. In most cases, the patient's teeth do not align on the same vertical axis as the dental implant. Consequently, an abutment is used to adapt between the implant's vertical axis and that of the prosthesis. The abutment should correct the angular misalignment between the two vertical axes as described above, and in some cases, it may account for translational misalignment.
A replica mold of the patient's mouth is created to facilitate design of the prosthesis in a laboratory environment. Adjustments must then be made when the prosthesis is installed into the patients' mouth in the dental office. Conventional abutments provide freedom of rotation about one or more axes. The dental surgeon fits the prosthesis to the implant via movement of the abutment to the desired position. The abutment is then fixed in place by way of a lock mechanism.
Anatomy of the human mouth varies widely between different individuals. Similarly, each manufacturer produces a unique variation to the prosthesis and implant design. An ideal abutment not only maximizes positional settings, but can accommodate a variety of prostheses and implants with minimal modification.
Numerous abutment designs describe multi-member assemblies in which the first or upper member mates with the prosthesis and is offset at an angle relative to the vertical axis thereby compensating for angular displacement between prosthesis and implant. The second or lower member mates with the dental implant and may rotate in a discrete number of orientations about the implant's vertical axis. In most cases, six orientations—every 60 degrees—are made available whereby a hexagon extrusion on the second member fits into a hexagon socket on the dental implant.
The patents herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety for all purposes. U.S. Pat. No. 6,299,447 issued to Zuest et al, U.S. Pat. No. 5,350,302 issued to Marlin, U.S. Pat. No. 5,195,891 issued to Sulc, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,297 issued to Lazarra et al, illustrate designs in which the upper member possesses a fixed offset angle. If the specific angle is unsuitable for the patient, the member may be exchanged for a matching member with a different offset angle.
Alternatively, abutment designs such as U.S. Pat. No. 7,214,063 issued to Cohen, U.S. Pat. No. 6,500,003 issued to Nichinormi, U.S. Pat. No. 5,073,110 issued to Barbone and U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,350 issued to Niznick, employ a spherical or ball-and-socket joint which provides greater flexibility in positioning. These offer freedom of rotation about all three axes: yaw, pitch and roll. The ideal orientation is obtained by unconstrained manipulation of the sphere which is then locked in place. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,823,601 issued to Linden engages a spherical unit set into a conical receptor.
All abutments disclosed herein are uniformly coupled to the prostheses whereby an extension of the prosthesis inserts into a hollow cylindrical or conical receptor on the proximal or upper aspect of the abutment.

Multi-position abutment with angular ball attachment for dental implants


A method is provided that is capable of forming a wiring pattern having an extremely flat surface and few convexo-concave shapes on a substrate on which the wiring pattern is formed. The method to form a wiring pattern includes a bank forming process, a conductive layer forming process and a transferring process. Here, a photothermal converting layer including a photothermal converting material that converts light energy to thermal energy and a sublimation layer including a sublimable material are stacked on a first substrate in this order. In the bank forming process, a first light irradiation is performed to a fixed region on a surface of the first substrate from the sublimation layer side so as to sublimate a part of the sublimation layer, thereby forming banks made of the sublimation layer to a region excluding the region for light irradiation. In the conductive layer forming process, a conductive layer is provided between the banks. In the transferring process, a conductive pattern layer including the conductive layer and the banks, and a substrate to be treated are faced. Then, a second light irradiation is performed to the faced substrates so as to transfer the conductive pattern layer to the substrate to be treated.

1. Field of Invention
Exemplary aspects of the present invention relate to a method for forming a wiring pattern, a method for manufacturing a semiconductor device, an electro-optic device and electronic equipment.
2. Description of Related Art
Along with the popularization of notebook personal computer and cellular phones or the like, thin-and-light liquid crystal display devices are widely used. This type of related art liquid crystal display device has a construction in which a liquid crystal layer is sandwiched between an upper substrate and a lower substrate. Specifically, the liquid crystal display is constructed by a glass substrate, a gate scanning electrode and a source electrode both of which are wired on the glass substrate so as to intersect each other, a drain electrode wired on the glass substrate, a pixel electrode (ITO) connected to the drain electrode, an insulator provided between the gate scanning electrode and the source electrode, and a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) formed by a thin film semiconductor.
To form a wiring pattern in an electro-optic device typified by such a related art liquid crystal display device, for example, a method in which a dry process and a photolithographic etching are combined is used. However, such a dry process has disadvantages as follows. The manufacturing cost is relatively high. Also, it is difficult to cope with a large size substrate in production. Consequently, a related art method such that a wiring pattern is formed on a substrate using an inkjet is employed. See Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-164635.

Method for forming wiring pattern, method for manufacturing semiconductor device, electro-optic device and electronic equipment


Described is a method and apparatus for mapping Fast Ethernet data interfaces (in addition to possible data interfaces of different type) into a single VC-4 Virtual Container of a STM-1/OC-3 payload transmitted to a radio-link system. The method is characterized by the steps of: packeting the Fast Ethernet signal and any other signal, mapping the packets into a single (VC-4) Virtual Container of a STM-1/OC-3 payload of a SDH/SONET signal frame, and transmitting said signal frame through the point-to-point radio-link, said radio link being a point-to-point SDH/SONET radio link. All the packets have the same format and are associated to a header for identifying the source. The interfaces of different type are conveniently grouped. Possibly, the VC-4 is filled with null packets to exhaust the maximum available capacity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of telecommunications and in particular to the point-to-point radio-link communication systems. More in detail, it relates to a method and the respective apparatus for mapping Fast Ethernet interfaces (and possible data interfaces of different type) into a single Virtual Container of a STM-1 (or OC-3) payload transmitted to a point-to-point radio link system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present telecommunication networks try to maintain an optimized connection from the point of view of data and by an optimal exploitation of the available bandwidth in view of a geographical expansion of activities and the continuous increase of bit rates of IP (Internet Protocol) transmission. The bottleneck of the so-called "last mile" between the business LAN networks and the public networks is still limiting the business productivity and the profits of network service providers (NSP).
So far, the connection between local networks (LAN) and public networks was carried out substantially through optical fiber lines, dedicated lines or wireless systems designed to transmit voice signals. All these known connection systems have several disadvantages. For example, they provide high costs, delays in the physical cable laying, fees to be paid, contract restrictions and technical limitations reducing the business production capacity.
In addition to the traditional structures (Ethernet), based on a bus topology, utilized to interconnect computers in a local area network (LAN), it is well known the so-called "Fast Ethernet". The Fast Ethernet has now become a finally ratified Standard by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). To this Standard has been awarded the official name "802.3u" but it is more known with the name "100BASE-T" (it does not refer to the cable used but to the utilization manner of the cable itself). The 100BASE-T has a transmission bit-rate equivalent to 100 Mb/s and utilizes the CSMA/CD (Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection) method to manage the access to the cable.
The existing solutions, both via cable and wireless, for interconnecting two LAN networks are considered as inadequate in particular in the presence of a 100 Mb/s transmission bit-rate.

Method and apparatus for mapping fast ethernet data interfaces into a single VC-4 virtual container of a STM-1/OC-3 payload transmitted in a radio-link system


A method and battery management system performing cell balancing for a battery pack includes measuring a voltage of each of a plurality of battery cells in a battery pack, selecting one of the plurality of battery cells as a battery cell subject to cell balancing based on the measured voltages, selecting one of a plurality of resistors as a resistor on which cell balancing is performed, and outputting the voltage of the battery cell subject to cell balancing from a multiplexer that receives the voltage of each of the plurality of battery cells to the resistor on which cell balancing is performed.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a method of measuring a voltage of a battery pack and an energy storage system including the battery pack.
2. Description of the Related Art
As environmental destruction and resource depletion become problematic, a system for efficiently storing power and using stored power increasingly draws attention. Also, renewable energy that does not generate pollution in a process of generating power is of interest. An energy storage system is a system to link renewable energy, a power storing battery, and conventional system power, and much research and development have been made corresponding to a change in today's environment.
In the energy storage system, efficient management of a battery is an important factor. A battery needs to be managed for various factors such as charge, discharge, cell balancing, etc. The life of a battery may be extended through the efficient management thereof. Also, power may be stably supplied to a load.

Battery pack, cell balancing method of the same, and energy storage system including the battery pack


An image forming apparatus determines a remaining recording material amount based on a sensor value and a predicted value. When a sensor falsely detects the remaining recording material amount, the image forming apparatus appropriately determines the remaining recording material amount. Upon acquisition of a new sensor value, the image forming apparatus does not update a current value with the new sensor value if a difference between the new sensor value and the current value is a predetermined value or greater.

Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method, and a program.
Description of Related Art
Image forming apparatuses form images on sheets with recording materials such as toner. Generally, the recording material is stored in a storage unit such as a cartridge. In some instances, the image forming apparatuses may detect a remaining amount of the recording material in the storage unit to display the detected amount on a display unit such as a user interface (UI).
Conventionally, the image forming apparatuses include sensors. Such a conventional image forming apparatus displays an amount of a recording material detected by the sensor as a remaining recording material amount. However, in consideration of the cost, there are many cases where the image forming apparatus employs a sensor that cannot achieve favorable detection accuracy until the remaining amount becomes relatively small. In such a case, the sensor discretely detects the remaining recording material amounts of 100%, 20%, and 0%, for example. As a result, the remaining amount of the recording material is discretely displayed at, for example, 100%, 20%, and 0% on a display unit.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-343621 discusses an image forming apparatus using a technique for seamlessly displaying a remaining toner amount on a display unit in spite of the use of a sensor which discretely detects a remaining amount. For example, when the image forming apparatus forms an image, a predicted value of a remaining toner amount is calculated based on a dot count value of raster data, and the resultant value is displayed as a current value of the remaining toner. When the image forming apparatus acquires a value of the remaining toner amount from the sensor, the current value is updated with the sensor value.
However, the sensor may falsely detect the remaining toner amount due to a limited capability of the sensor or affected by a level of the remaining toner amount. Consequently, the false remaining toner amount may be notified by the sensor which is significantly different from the actual remaining toner amount, as a sensor value. In this case, when the current value is updated with the sensor value, the current value does not come close to the actual remaining toner amount, and significantly deviates from the actual remaining toner amount. As a result, the value significantly deviating from the actual remaining toner amount is displayed on a display unit, and thus such a display confuses a user.

Image forming apparatus, control method, and program for determining a remaining amount of recording material


Techniques are disclosed for virtualized server kernel and virtual networks consolidation. The network consolidation allows a data center to migrate from an infrastructure that uses multiple dedicated gigabit Ethernet Network Adapters to manage system virtualization and migration to an infrastructure using consolidated, redundant, 10 gigabit Ethernet adapters. Different priority classes may be defined for different classes of network traffic such as hypervisor management traffic, inter-host virtual machine migration traffic, virtual machine production traffic, virtualized switching control plane traffic, etc. Further, an enhanced transmission standard may be used to specify a minimum bandwidth guarantee for certain traffic classes. Thus, the hypervisor management and inter-host virtual machine migration traffic may be transmitted, even the presence of congestion.

1. Technical Field
Embodiments described in this disclosure generally relate to techniques for managing servers running multiple virtual machines in a data-center environment. More specifically, embodiments described in this disclosure relate to virtualized servers kernel and virtual networks consolidation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Server virtualization technology allows multiple virtual machines to run concurrently on a single physical computing system. Currently, data center environments are used to create large clusters of such physical computing systems (commonly referred to as servers), where each server runs multiple virtual machines. This approach has led to data centers that can supply massive amounts of computing power. At the same time, the networking infrastructure to manage such a data center has grown ever more complex.
From a networking perspective, server virtualization requires the use of several Network Interface Cards (NICs) and Host Bus Adapters (HBAs). A typical configuration requires multiple NIC cards for server production traffic (at least 2 for redundancy), one NIC for management, one NIC used for memory copy operations during the migration of virtual machines, potentially one NIC for heartbeats when clustering is used, at least 2 HBAs for storage access, and finally separate NICs for a control plane and data plane VLANs (virtual Local Area Networks) in cases where a distributed virtual switch is deployed. The need for multiple NIC cards arises from a need to guarantee uninterrupted management access to each server and distributed virtual switch and to provide a minimum bandwidth for memory copy operations.
At the same time, each additional network interface increases the cost, cabling complexity, and energy consumption within the data center. Further, each additional card generates heat which increases cooling requirements, also driving up the cost of running the data center. Thus, data center operators are interested in reducing this proliferation of NICs and HBAs to reduce data center complexity as well as cost and power consumption.
A simple approach is to use 10 Gigabit Ethernet cards and using VLANs to separate different traffic types. However, VLANs do not provide any guarantee in terms of bandwidth to any particular quality of service classification. Furthermore, it is important to note that the first congestion point for the traffic on a virtualized server is the Ethernet link between the virtualized server and the attached physical switch. This is because the physical NIC in the in the virtualized server is shared among competing traffic flows from different virtual machines, as well as the management traffic that enables the server virtualization functionalities, so the concept of traffic prioritization needs to be applied between the server itself and the switch, rendering VLANs alone insufficient.

Network consolidation for virtualized servers


A metal gasket of the invention is used for an internal combustion engine, especially for an engine with a cylinder liner. The gasket is formed of a first metal plate having a first hole greater than a hole of the engine, an annular ring and a sealing device. The annular ring has an inner size substantially corresponding to the hole of the engine, an outer size substantially corresponding to the first hole, and a thickness greater than that of the first metal plate. The annular ring is situated inside the first hole and attached to the first metal plate. The sealing device provides a surface pressure on the first plate outside the annular ring. Even if there is a gap between the upper end of the cylinder liner and an upper surface of the cylinder block, the annular ring can seal around the hole together with the sealing device.

The present invention relates to a metal gasket with a seal ring for use as a cylinder head gasket of an internal combustion engine.
In an engine with a cylinder liner, the cylinder liner is installed inside a bore of a cylinder block. In this case, an upper end of the cylinder liner is provided with a flange, and the cylinder block has an annular recess, wherein the flange is placed in the annular recess of the cylinder block. It is designed that the upper end of the cylinder liner is flush with the upper surface of the cylinder block, but the upper end of the cylinder liner may be located slightly lower than the upper surface of the cylinder block.
A gasket for the engine with the cylinder liner is disposed under the cylinder head and above the upper surface of the cylinder block and the upper end of the cylinder liner. If the upper end of the cylinder liner is lower than the upper surface of the cylinder block, a small space is formed between the cylinder head and the upper end of the cylinder liner. In this case, conventionally, the gasket has a fire ring around the cylinder bore to securely seal therearound, which makes the gasket inevitably thick.
In case a thick gasket, such as a gasket with a fire ring, is not suitable for an engine, a gasket may be formed of one metal plate, such as Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 61-14748. In this gasket, the metal plate includes a bead and a sealing portion in a ring shape around the cylinder bore. The sealing portion is made thick with a thickness of 0.03-0.05 mm by plating, so that the sealing portion operates as a fire ring.
Since the sealing portion made of plating is expensive and needs extra labor, the above gasket with the sealing portion is not appropriate. Therefore, a thin annular ring has been fixed by welding on a metal plate around a cylinder bore instead of forming the sealing portion by plating. When the gasket with the thin annular ring is installed between the cylinder head and the cylinder block and is tightened, the thin annular ring regulates a compressible height of a bead formed around the thin annular ring, and seals a space in case the upper end of the cylinder liner is located slightly lower than the upper surface of the cylinder block.
However, when the above space is shallow or the surface pressure regulation height for the bead formed therearound is low, the thickness of the annular ring must be thin. In this case, it is difficult to prepare and fix the thin annular ring to the metal plate. Also, the processing cost becomes high.
Further, in case the cylinder block is formed of light metal or alloy thereof in order to provide a light engine, since the rigidity of the cylinder block is lowered especially around the cylinder bore, if a high pressure is formed around the cylinder bore, the cylinder block may deform around the cylinder bore.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,711,456, rings connected to each other are disposed in the cylinder bores, but the rings are covered by a cover member. Also, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,982, a rubber ring is disposed around a fluid hole, not for a cylinder bore. These rings are not easily assembled with a main part of the gasket.
Accordingly, one object of the invention is to provide a metal gasket with a seal ring, wherein the seal ring can be easily assembled with a metal plate.
Another object of the invention is to provide a metal gasket with a seal ring as stated above, which is suitable to be installed in a narrow space or gap, such as between an upper end of a cylinder liner and an upper surface of a cylinder block.
A further object of the invention is to provide a metal gasket with a seal ring as stated above, which can prevent deformation of a cylinder block in case rigidity of the cylinder block is not so strong.
A still further object of the invention is to provide a metal gasket with a seal ring as stated above, which can easily and slightly regulate a surface pressure of a bead.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following description of the invention.

Metal gasket with a thick seal ring around a bore


The invention relates to a method and apparatus for compensating the lens shading phenomenon in image sensor. The invention first stores an inputted compensation reference value, identifies a center pixel using digital image signals received sequentially in correspondence to each pixel from a sensor, generates analysis data corresponding to each pixel, generates and stores block compensation values for blocks grouped according to the distance from the center pixel, calculates the distance from a compensation target pixel to the center pixel, calculates a compensation value corresponding to the compensation target pixel using the block compensation value corresponding to the distance, and generates for output correction pixel data by aggregating analysis data and the compensation value corresponding to the compensation target pixel. Thus, the invention allows the maintaining of colors as close as possible to the original through the respective compensation of RGB which takes into consideration the respective characteristics of the color filters and through the respective compensation of gain and level for the disparity in transmissivity according to position.

Portable devices with image sensor (e.g. digital cameras, mobile communication terminals, etc.) have recently been developed and are currently in the market. Image sensor comprises an array of tiny photosensitive diodes known as pixels or photosites. The pixels themselves usually do not extract color from light, but convert photons into electrons from a wide spectrum band. To record color images with a single sensor, the sensor is filtered so that different pixels receive lights with different colors. This type of sensor is known as a color filter array, or CFA. Different color filters are disposed across the sensor in a predefined pattern.
The most common pattern is the Bayer color filter array developed by Kodak. The CFA of a color image generally follows a Bayer pattern. In other words, a half of the total number of pixels is green (G), and two quarters of the total number are assigned red (R) and blue (B). To obtain color information, the color image pixels are formed as a repetitive pattern of red, green, or blue filters, 2×2 arrays in the case of a Bayer pattern, for example.
The Bayer pattern is based on the premise that the human eye derives most of the luminance data from the green content of a scene. Therefore, an image with a higher resolution may be generated when more of the pixels are made to be green, compared to when an equal number of red, green, and blue pixels alternate.
However, the conventional image sensor on recently marketed portable devices had a problem of image distortion due to the geometric pattern of the pixel array composition. This is because of its small outer lens and high f number.
FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating the disparity in transmissivity, and FIG. 2 is a graph illustrating the change in signal amplitude according to the distance from the center.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, the pixels in the central part of the image sensor and the pixels in the outer perimeter are exposed to the light source from different positions. These minute differences in position cause differences in illumination, and differences in illumination affect color because of differences in light frequency and refractive ratio.
Consequently, color distortion and reduction in signal amplitude dependant on the position of the pixels inevitably occur, which cause degradation in the quality of original images.

Method and apparatus for compensating image sensor lens shading


A positioning device for a driving shaft of a lathe chuck includes a casing, a motor received in the casing with a driving shaft of the motor extending through a first end and a second end of the casing, and a disk disposed to the first end of the casing and threadedly mounted to the driving shaft. The disk has at least one hole defined therethrough and the first end of the casing has a plurality of holes defined therethrough so that a pin is removably extending through the hole in the disk and received in one of the holes in the first end of the casing to position the driving shaft to which the lathe chuck is connected.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a positioning device and, more particularly, to a positioning device for a driving shaft to which a lathe chuck is connected.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
A wood-turning lathe can be used to cut a periphery of a tubular work piece, for example to cut a slot and a notch diametrically opposite in the periphery of the work piece. However, the work piece is fixed connected to a chuck which is driven by a driving shaft of a motor, in order to precisely cut such slot and notch as mentioned above, an operator has to fix the chuck by using an angle setting device which will be fixedly disposed to the chuck and the work piece is attached to the angle setting device. This involves many additional processes and additional cost.
The present invention intends to provide a positioning device for positioning a driving shaft to which a lathe chuck is disposed so as to mitigate and/or obviate the above-mentioned problems.

Positioning device for a driving shaft of a lathe chuck


A method and system for producing, marking, and packaging ingots for use in fabricating dental prosthetics.

Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to the field of packaging of ingots, particularly those used for dental casting alloys and other applications.
Background
Several types of alloys are used in dental repair and reconstruction. Typically, these alloys are produced in ingots for convenient handling and storage in a dental laboratory. As these materials can be expensive, it is important for a dental laboratory to be able to easily monitor inventory, making sure that there is enough on hand to produce dental devices, while not maintaining a costly excess.
These alloys can have different compositions for suitability in different applications. However, sometimes it is not possible to differentiate different types of ingots themselves by physical inspection. Therefore, ingots are usually marked, by engraving, etching, or printing to indicate the alloy of which they are made. It is also important to keep the various types of ingots organized in the dental laboratory to facilitate producing dental devices and avoid confusion and potentially costly mistakes by using the incorrect alloy. Additionally, due to the high value of some of the materials and the values of some of the alloys provided by various sources of the ingots, methods and systems of identifying the source of and/or composition of the materials rapidly can prove valuable.
In addition, counterfeit ingots can enter the market, which can lead to inferior dental products for patients. Sometimes these imitations can be difficult to discern from the legitimate ingots. Therefore, it is also important to develop a production system that is difficult to copy without authorization.
What is needed is a system to efficiently produce and package ingots so that they can be safely transported and stored, neatly organized, and easily recognized in a dental laboratory to produce quality dental devices.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for packaging dental ingots


The present invention relates to a microcapsule particle composition that is composed of a sol-gel material. The microcapsule particle composition is well suited for personal care and cleaning products.

Fragrance chemicals are used in numerous products to enhance the consumer's enjoyment of a product. Fragrance chemicals are added to consumer products such as laundry detergents, fabric softeners, soaps, detergents, personal care products, such as but not limited to shampoos, body washes, deodorants and the like, as well as numerous other products.
In order to enhance the effectiveness of the fragrance materials for the user, various technologies have been employed to enhance the delivery of the fragrance materials at the desired time. One widely used technology is encapsulation of the fragrance material in a protective coating. Frequently the protective coating is a polymeric material. The polymeric material is used to protect the fragrance material from evaporation, reaction, oxidation or otherwise dissipating prior to use. A brief overview of polymeric encapsulated fragrance materials is disclosed in the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 4,081,384 discloses a softener or anti-stat core coated by a polycondensate suitable for use in a fabric conditioner; U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,688 discloses selected fragrance materials having the proper volatility to be coated by coacervation with micro particles in a wall that can be activated for use in fabric conditioning; U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,842 discloses a solid core of a fatty alcohol, ester, or other solid plus a fragrance coated by an aminoplast shell; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,248,703 discloses various agents including fragrance in an aminoplast shell that is included in an extruded bar soap.
While encapsulation of fragrance in a polymeric shell can help prevent fragrance degradation and loss, it is often not sufficient to significantly improve fragrance performance in consumer products. Therefore, methods of aiding the deposition of encapsulated fragrances have been disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 4,234,627 discloses a liquid fragrance coated with an aminoplast shell further coated by a water insoluble meltable cationic coating in order to improve the deposition of capsules from fabric conditioners. U.S. Pat. No. 6,194,375 discloses the use of hydrolyzed polyvinyl alcohol to aid deposition of fragrance-polymer particles from wash products. U.S. Pat. No. 6,329,057 discloses use of materials having free hydroxy groups or pendant cationic groups to aid in the deposition of fragranced solid particles from consumer products.
In addition, the prior art discloses the use of silica to form microcapsule formulations specifically designed to prevent an encapsulated active ingredient from leaving the microcapsule. This is desirable when the active ingredient is an irritant to the body tissue to which it is applied. It is also is desired when the active ingredient acts by interaction with light, such as sunlight. However, U.S. Pat. No. 6,303,149 fails to disclose compositions and methods for releasing and hence delivering the active ingredients. Despite these and many other disclosures there is an ongoing need for the improved delivery of fragrance materials for various personal care products, rinse-off products and leave-on products that provide improved performance.

Microcapsules containing active ingredients


Disclosed is water-soluble composition made by subjecting pentacyclic triterpene compound belonging to amylin group such as oleanolic acid, ursolic acid and hederagenin to inclusion in cyclodextrins. Though the aforementioned pentacyclic triterpene compound has various pharmacological functions, it has suffered a disadvantage such that it is insoluble in water. However, by subjecting the compound to inclusion in cyclodextrins, the water-soluble composition can be made with maintaining the pharmacological functions, and applied for foods, drinks, toothpaste, gargle and chewing gum, exhibiting the effect of cariostatic.

Triterpenes are classified into amylin, lupeol, nosterol and squalene groups. These are all compounds which are insoluble in water and soluble in oil, organic solvents or the like.
The triterpenes are widely distributed in throughout the plant kingdom in the form of a free radical and bound with sugar into saponin or with acid into ester. The amylin group of the triterpenes, which is represented by a chemical formula having an OH-radical at the third position and a COOH-radical at the seventeenth position is a compound as represented by the following formula [1]. The compounds thereof are typically oleanolic acid, ursolic acid and hederagenin as concretely shown in Table 1 below.
The oleanolic acid mentioned above is variously found in a beet in the form of saponin and in the leaves of an olive, a green perilla, a jujube, and a ground ivy, the peel of an apple, the germ of a clove and so on. The ursolic acid is obtained from not only fruit such as an apple and a cherry and waxy coat material of the leaf thereof, but also the leaves of the ground ivy, jujube tree and so on. Furthermore, hederagenin is found in hedera helix, the fruit of a soapberry and so on. ##STR1## wherein, R.sub.1 represents CH.sub.3 or CH.sub.2 OH, R.sub.2 represents H or OH, R.sub.3 represents H or CH.sub.3, R.sub.4 represents H or CH.sub.3, and R.sub.5 represents H or OH.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Compound R.sub.1 R.sub.2 R.sub.3 R.sub.4 R.sub.5 ______________________________________ Amylins Oleanolic acid CH.sub.3 H CH.sub.3 H H Ursolic acid CH.sub.3 H H CH.sub.3 H Pomolic acid CH.sub.3 H H CH.sub.3 OH Hederagenin CH.sub.2 OH H CH.sub.3 H H Echinocystic acid CH.sub.3 OH CH.sub.3 H H ______________________________________
On the other hand, there have been recently carried forward investigations as to substances having pharmacological functions in various plants including medicinal herbs by research laboratories of universities, public and private research institutions and nongovernmental laboratories. Then, it has been confirmed that the amylins of a triterpene group present in a plant, which is represented by a chemical formula having an OH-radical at the third position and a COOH-radical at the seventeenth position, shows pharmacological activity such as antibiosis relative to a tumor, hepatitis, inflammation and caries. Various types of amylin groups have been so far reported in academic societies and in literatures, reviewed in news papers and magazines and proposed by patents.
The inventors of the present invention have also conducted experiments on the pharmacological function of oleanolic acid obtained from a sugar beet and confirmed that the oleanolic acid has the effects of antibiosis to a tumor and hepatitis, cariostatic (insoluble glucanynthesis inhibition) and so on.
Further, as a use of oleanolic acid, there have been proposed compositions for use in the mouth on the basis of the pharmacological function of oleanolic acid (Japanese Patent Publication No. SHO 63-26083).
However, as these triterpenes are insoluble in water, the pharmacological experiments as mentioned above were conducted using specimens obtained by dissolving the triterpene into an organic solvent such as dimethyl sulfoxide (hereinafter referred as to DMSO), ethanol, propylene glycol, and butanediol so as to make the "in vitro" and "in vivo" tests no matter how coarse or fine the triterpene applied therefor is.
There are a good many cases of using particularly DMSO having the high boiling point and high solvent power as the organic solvent applied for the tests as noted above. However, the DMSO is not approved as an additive to foods, drinks or compositions for use in the mouth. Also, the other organic solvents are not satisfactory when being used as a food additive.
Also, the compositions for use in the mouth proposed in the aforenoted Japanese Patent Publication No. SHO 63-26083 do not contain oleanolic acid in the water-soluble state. Therefore, a product obtained from the compositions conventionally proposed shows scarcely the effect of cariostatic and is unmarketably.
One of the inventors of the present invention has proposed a process for producing oleanolic acid from beet pulp (Japanese Patent Application Public Disclosures Nos. SHO 60-268189 and SHO 60-268190), and tried to provide oleanolic acid of high purity with solubility in water weight losing its pharmacological function in order to add oleanolic acid to foods, drinks, compositions for use in the mouth or the like. However, there has not yet been produced the intended compound having high deprived of the pharmacological function of oleanolic acid.
The inventors of the present invention have further proposed a method for producing compositions for use in the mouth by completely dissolving oleanolic acid in ethanol, glycerin, propylene glycol, menthol or the like and combining the solution resultantly obtained with other compositions, on the basis of the fact that oleanolic acid is a little soluble in an organic solvent such as ethanol which is known as a pharmacological solvent (Japanese Patent Appln. Public Disclosure No. HEI 1-290619). However, the proposed method has suffered a disadvantage that compositions thus obtained are unstable in effect, and oleanolic acid contained therein becomes insoluble in water with time.
Also, the pharmacological experiments were carried out by causing oleanolic acid to be dissolved into water or emulsified by use of surface active agents of various types such as fatty ester (nonionics) and ampholytic surface active agent (derived from natural substance). However, the "in vitro" test the inventors conducted reveals that almost all of the surface active agents have no effect of cariostatic. Even in the case of the surface active agents showing a little effect of cariostatic, its effect was remarkably scattered, and moreover, the reproductivity thereof could not been accomplished.
As the result of making the progress in the inventors' elaborate studies, there has been found that a new composition which is soluble in water while keeping the effect of cariostatic shown by the triterpenes in its active condition can be produced by subjecting triterpene having oleanolic acid to inclusion with cyclodextrin (hereinafter referred to as CD).
Though solubilization or emulsification of the triterpenes by use of the surface active agent as touched upon above has been generally accomplished, there has not yet been published a report on a method of subjecting triterpene to inclusion with CD for the purpose of making water-soluble of triterpenes while maintaining the inherent functions of triterpene in its active state.

Water-soluble pentacyclic triterpene composition and method for producing the same


A claim editing engine for automated integration and error resolution of claim records is provided. The processor of the engine is configured to extract a set of claim components of a plurality of claim components. The processor is further configured to transform the set of claim components to conform to a standardized data format. The processor is also configured to integrate the set of transformed claim components into a set of unified claims by unifying each of the set of transformed claim components having matching claim identifiers into a unified claim. The processor is configured to apply a rule set to the set of unified claims to generate a simulation of execution of the set of claims and identify errors in the simulated execution. The processor is configured to transmit an instruction to resolve each identified error. The processor is configured to cause each resolved unified claim to be processed.

In complex data processing systems, such as medical and insurance claim centers, hundreds or thousands of distinct data records may interrelate with one another such that they all relate to the same "claim" or "case". As such, in order to update a particular case, updates to hundreds or thousands of records may need to be made. Complicating matters, in many such data processing systems, the underlying data records may be written in a variety of formats and are stored or available in a variety of disparate data systems. For a particular case or claim, some data records may be of significant importance and yet unlinked to other related data records.
Further, in many such data processing systems, claims or cases are processed linearly using manual intervention. Individual cases or claims are processed by users utilizing dozens or hundreds of distinct data processing tools such as business analytic tools.
Compounding problems further, in many claim processing systems or case processing systems there is tremendous time sensitivity that requires that a particular claim or case be processed and resolved within a narrow time window. Because of the complexity of such claim or case processing, known systems require significant deployment of manually driven systems in order to effect claim processing. Further, the complex interdependencies of claim data may cause an inaccurate edit to a claim to cause subsequent errors (e.g., a chain reaction of errors) or cause a processing error.
Accordingly, systems and methods are desired for automated definition, integration, processing, and editing of claim and case records in complex data systems.

Systems and methods for providing automated integration and error resolution of records in complex data systems


The invention provides a semiconductor integrated circuit device with improved designing efficiency while achieving higher functions. An inner circuit is surrounded by a plurality of cells in which a first switch element for connecting a power supply voltage line or a ground voltage supply line to a power supply line of an internal circuit is disposed below power supply lines extending in a first and second directions, and the power lines are connected together.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit device and, more particularly, to a effective technique when used for a system LSI (large scale integrated circuit) or the like which is divided into circuit blocks for a plurality of function modules and supplies a power supply voltage to each of the circuit blocks.
By a publicly-known-technique search performed after the present invention has been made, the existence of Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-218682 in which a plurality of function modules are assembled in a semiconductor integrated circuit and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. Hei 11(1999)-008306 in which an annular-shaped power source is connected by macro cells was reported. The patent documents, however, do not describe anything regarding the technical problems to be solved by the present invention to be described later.


Field Configurable Radiation Antenna Device for fixed dipole antenna comprising of a hollow tube and at least one pair of directional vanes is described. The beam direction of the antenna can be changed by operationally connecting multiples pairs of directional vanes to the hollow tube and by rotating the directional vanes relatively outer peripheral surface of the hollow tube. Such adjustments allow the user to tune the antenna to meet new or unforeseen coverage issues.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a directional radio antenna, and more particularly, to a directional dipole antenna with adjustable reflector(s).
2. Description of Related Art
An antenna is a resonant device that transmits and/or receives electromagnetic waves. Electromagnetic waves are often referred to as radio waves. An antenna must be tuned to the same frequency band that the radio system to which it is connected; otherwise, reception and/or transmission will be impaired. The antenna size regularly refers as relative to wavelength. For example: a half-wave dipole, which is approximately a half-wavelength long. Wavelength is the distance a radio wave will travel during one cycle.
Gain and directivity are intimately related in antennas. The directivity of an antenna is defining a radiation of the RF energy directionally. It is quite intuitive that if the amount of radiating RF energy remains the same, but is distributed over less area, the apparent signal strength is higher in some particular direction. In another words, the directivity is the ability of an antenna to focus energy in a particular direction when transmitting or receiving energy. The attained increase in signal strength is the antenna gain. The gain is measured in decibels over either a dipole or a theoretical construct called an isotropic radiator. The qualitative relation between gain and directionality can be defined as gain=efficiency/directivity, where the antenna efficiency takes into account losses associated with the antenna structure and input terminals.
Another important characteristic of the antenna is a beamwidth, which characterizes the directivity of the antenna. The beamwidth is typically measured between the −3 dB points, i.e. the points on the main lobe where the signal strength drops off −3 dB (one-half) from the maximum signal point. The gain of the antenna is inversely proportional to the beam width: the narrower the beamwidth the higher the gain.
The antennas usually classified by the radiation characteristics on omnidirectional and directional antennas. Radio antennas produce a three-dimensional radiation pattern; however, for the description of the present invention it will be enough to analyze two-dimensional patterns from top or side projections
The omnidirectional antenna radiates or receives electromagnetic waves equally well in all directions and does not favor any particular direction. One way to view the omnidirectional pattern is that it is a slice taken horizontally through the three dimensional sphere.
Directional antennas focus energy in a particular direction. Directional antennas are primary used in applications where the coverage is preferable over some particular sector, and when one site needs to connect to only one other site or to multiple sites in same directional line, and omnidirectional coverage is not required. For example, point-to-point links are benefit from using directional antennas because it will minimize interference and maximize communications distance between these two sites. FIG. 2 shows the beam pattern 201 for a dipole antenna 202 without a reflector, and FIG. 3 shows the beam pattern 302 for a dipole antenna 303 with a flat reflector 301.
Directional or reflector antenna, in one form or another, have been used since the discovery of electromagnetic wave propagation in 1888 by Hertz. Although directional antennas may take many geometrical configurations, in practical applications the most widely used shapes are the plane, corner, and curved reflectors, and the paraboloid. Azimuth radiation patterns of direct, reflected, and diffracted rays of the vertical omni dipole antenna may be calculated analytically using the corresponding formulas that may be found in Balanis, Constantine, Antenna Theory: Analysis and Design, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (1997).
To improve the collimation of the radiation pattern in the forward direction, the geometrical shape of the flat reflector must be changed in the way to prohibit radiation in the back and side directions. One configuration, which achieving this goal is a combination of two flat reflectors joined so as to form a corner. Because of the simplicity of such construction, the corner reflector found many applications.
FIG. 4 shows top views of a radiation pattern for two corner reflectors 402 and 404 (406 and 408) placed at quarter wavelength behind the dipole antenna 401 (409). The azimuth radiation pattern of directed rays for the vertical omni dipole antenna 401 (409) with two corner reflectors composes the shape 403, 405 (407, 410) and depends on such parameters as the spacing distance between the vertex of the reflector and the dipole antenna, circular angle between vertexes of reflectors, the aperture of the corner reflector, etc.
FIG. 5 shows top views of a radiation pattern for three corner reflectors 502, 506, and 507 placed at quarter wavelength behind the dipole antenna 503. The azimuth radiation pattern of directed rays for the vertical omni dipole antenna 503 with these three corner reflectors composes the shape 501, 504, and 505.
FIG. 6 shows top views of a radiation pattern for four corner reflectors 509, 511, 514 and 515 placed at quarter wavelength behind the dipole antenna 516. The azimuth radiation pattern of directed rays for the vertical omni dipole antenna 516 with these four corner reflectors composes the shape 508, 510, 512 and 513.
A general concept of antenna reflectors and many particular applications have been discussed in a number of U.S. patents and publications.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,632 "Extendable directional dipole antenna" discloses an extendable directionally adjusted dipole antenna suitable for use with motor vehicles. The antenna includes a vertical column having an extendable dipole arrangement at its upper end utilizing flexible actuators associated with a pair of reels where the actuators and associated telescoping antenna assemblies are simultaneously extended and retracted. An operating shaft for rotating the reels extends through the column and either manual or electric means rotate the shaft. The column is rotatable for directional adjustment, and under manual control the shaft extends through the vehicle roof permitting interior adjustments.
The U.S. Pat. No. 4,983,988 "Antenna with enhanced gain" discloses a combination of the plurality of vertically-polarized, omni-directional antennae having a reflector added to each one to limit the horizontal beamwidth to 90 degree and increase the gain to 16 dB. By utilizing four antennae and utilizing power combining hybrids to connect each of the two opposed antennae together, excess gain over a 10 dB omni-directional system will be obtained. The vertical beam width and physical height of the antenna are preserved with the increase in gain at the cost of an additional antenna complexity.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,389,941 "Data link antenna system" discloses an antenna that employing the back radiation of a crossed-dipole to illuminate a parabolic cylindrical reflector. The crossed dipole is supported by a feed network mast, which simplifies the feed network and eliminates the need for other supporting structure and its electrical blockage. To provide an omni-directional radiation coverage, four of these antennas are located at the four quadrants, each covering one quadrant in the azimuth direction. The RF signal is fed through a single switch to the selected antenna to be radiated to the desired direction.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,469,181 "Variable horizontal beam width antenna having hingeable side reflectors" discloses a broadband directional antenna having a central reflector plate, a dipole and at least one side reflector panel. The dipole is arranged on the central reflector plate for radiating a radio frequency signal, including a binary feed network having a microstrip transmission line and a collinear array of radiating elements. The side reflector panel is hinged to the central reflector plate for adjusting the horizontal radiation beamwidth of the radio frequency signal.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,707 "Directional antenna, in particular dipole antenna" discloses a directional dipole antenna that is designed comparatively simply, and has improved electrical properties. It is provided that the symmetrical part of the antenna is made from the material of the reflector cut from the remaining material of the reflector wall, except for a connecting segment, which is cut preferably in the region of the immediate connecting point with the remaining material of the reflector wall and bent out relative to the plane of the reflector wall.
The U.S. Pat. No. 5,867,130 "Directional center-fed wave dipole antenna" discloses a directional center-fed half wave dipole antenna is constructed from a multilayer substrate having dipole antenna elements disposed on opposite surfaces of the multilayer substrate. An energy reflector is disposed on at least one side of the substrate and positioned adjacent to the dipole antenna elements that are fed by a center feed member that has a tapered width so as to provide the necessary impedance matching. A ground plane is disposed within the multilayer substrate, the elements of which are positioned on both sides of the center feed element.
The U.S. Pat. No. 6,198,460 "Antenna support structure" discloses an antenna support structure for at least three directional antenna sub-systems that can be planar antenna arrays. The antenna support structure comprises at least four panels adapted to support respectively one of the antenna sub-systems. The first two panels include a main panel and at least three secondary panels respectively adjacent to the main panel. The secondary panels can be respectively attached by hinge means to the main panel. In additon, the secondary panels can be individually adjusted in a predetermined angle to the main panel. The antenna support structure according to the invention can be particularly used in combination with wide-band printed dipole antennas for microwave and millimeter-wave applications.
In practical applications, if an omni antenna is already in place, and the coverage pattern needs to be adjusted according to the user specifications, the user typically would change antenna. The present invention is directed to the preserve existing antenna and to change the radiation pattern of installed antenna by putting over the antenna a plastic tube with reflective directional vanes.

Field configurable radiation antenna device


A call admission method considering call characteristics and the service level of a subscriber terminal in a CDMA mobile communication system is provided. When a new call is requested in a situation where it cannot be admitted, a call being serviced with a lower service level than the new call is held for admission of the new call. If the held service can be resumed under some circumstances, it is resumed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a call admission method in a CDMA mobile communication system, and in particular, to a call admission method considering call characteristics and the service class of a subscriber terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today's rapid growth in the mobile communication industry increases the demand for a mobile communication system that is capable of providing multimedia services including transmission of data and pictures as well as typical voice services. This mobile communication system is called the future mobile communication system. This future mobile communication system generally operates in CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access). The CDMA systems are deployed in a synchronous scheme or in an asynchronous scheme. Europe and Japan employ the asynchronous scheme, whereas the U.S. employs the synchronous scheme. Therefore, different standardization works are under way in the U.S. and Europe. The European future mobile communication system is UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication Systems) or W-CDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access).
A variety of regulations should be defined for multimedia services, besides voice call services, in the on-going standardization work for the future mobile communication system. Among them, an efficient call admission scheme is a major issue.
In general, the CDMA mobile communication system has limited radio resources available for a UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Access Network) to assign to UEs (Unit Equipments). To properly assign the limited resources for traffic generated from the UEs, a call admission method should be exploited.
The W-CDMA mobile communication system can afford to provide multimedia services efficiently that support QoS (Quality of Service) for each transport channel. However, it cannot implement a reliable call control for unexpectedly generated traffic. The unexpected traffic includes a frequent handoff and a call setup request for a special use from a UE. Moreover, an efficient, immediate call process cannot be provided when overload is imposed on the UTRAN due to excessive call processing requests.
This situation impedes implementation of fast and reliable services in the W-CDMA mobile communication system. What is worse, the ever-increasing packet data service makes it more difficult to ensure QoS through call admission control and efficient bandwidth management.
Accordingly, there is a pressing need for a call admission control which considers the characteristics of a requested call and the service class of a subscriber terminal. For this purpose, a novel RRC (Radio Resource Control) message and its related operation must be offered.

Call admission method in CDMA mobile communication system


A fuselage of a fiber-reinforced composite material for an aircraft with a skin and with a multiplicity of circumferential stiffeners and only a small number of longitudinal stiffeners, the skin having a multiplicity of local reinforcements.

Aircraft fuselages are traditionally embodied in a metallic form of construction with a backing structure of a multiplicity of longitudinal and circumferential stiffeners. While the manufacture of such aircraft fuselages is indeed very easy to control, the aircraft fuselages, by virtue of the metallic materials, have a relatively high weight. In addition to the high weight of the metallic aircraft fuselages the high number of parts of the longitudinal stiffeners and their attachment, or integration, are particularly labour-intensive. In recent times, therefore, a growing trend towards the replacement of the metallic fuselages with fuselages of fibre-reinforced composite materials can be observed. Here the fuselages and their backing structures are usually copies of metallic fuselages. This means that longitudinal stiffeners accommodate the longitudinal loads, circumferential stiffeners accommodate the circumferential loads and moments, while the skin primarily accommodates the internal pressure and also longitudinal and shear loads.
In addition attempts are being made, as shown for example in U.S. 2007/0108347 A1 to replace the conventional arrangement of the longitudinal and circumferential stiffeners by an integral stiffening structure in the form of a lattice, in which a multiplicity of stiffeners located in one plane, and aligned at an angle to the longitudinal axis of the fuselage, are joined in crossing regions. However, what is problematical in the composite form of construction with the lattice-type backing structure is the large number of stiffeners and their joining in the crossing regions, which requires complex production devices. Furthermore the lattice-type backing structure is not optimally designed for the loads that occur, but represents somewhat of a compromise in terms of accommodating all the loads to be anticipated.


The present invention is directed to a brake control system for controlling a braking force applied to a wheel of an electrically operated vehicle. A changeover device is disposed in a main passage for selectively placing one of a first operating position where a static hydraulic pressure supplied from a master cylinder to a wheel brake cylinder is controlled to be lower than a master cylinder pressure generated from the master cylinder when an electric motor applies the regenerative braking force to the wheel, and a second operating position where the static hydraulic pressure is controlled to be substantially equal to the master cylinder pressure when the electric motor does not apply the regenerative braking force to the wheel. A pressure transmitting device is communicated with a dynamic pressure generator through an auxiliary passage and connected to the main passage between the changeover device and the wheel brake cylinder, so that it fluidly separates the dynamic hydraulic pressure and the hydraulic pressure in the wheel brake cylinder, and transmits the dynamic hydraulic pressure to the wheel brake cylinder. And, a valve device is disposed in the auxiliary passage so as to close the auxiliary passage when the regenerative braking force is applied to the wheel, and alternately open and close the auxiliary passage when the hydraulic braking force is applied to the wheel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a brake control system for an electrically operated vehicle to perform a regenerative braking operation and a hydraulic braking operation, and more particularly to the brake control system which is provided with a static pressure generator and a dynamic pressure generator, and which is adapted to apply a braking force to a wheel by supplying a dynamic hydraulic pressure from the dynamic pressure generator in a transitional period from the regenerative braking operation to the hydraulic braking operation.
2. Description of the Related Arts
In an electrically operated vehicle provided with an electric motor as a power source, the electric motor also functions as a generator for performing the regenerative braking operation to recover energy by charging a battery and increase the energy when driving the motor. Since the braking force applied to the vehicle wheels through the regenerative braking operation is limited, it must be compensated by a hydraulic braking operation. Therefore, both of the regenerative braking operation and the hydraulic braking operation are performed, in general. In order to add the hydraulic braking operation to the regenerative braking operation, for example, a relief valve is disposed between a master cylinder and a wheel brake cylinder to be opened when a difference in pressure between the master cylinder and the wheel brake cylinder exceeds a predetermined value.
In order to increase the efficiency of recovering the energy through the regenerative braking operation, various apparatuses have been proposed. According to a brake apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No.7-336806 for example, an ON/OFF valve is disposed between the master cylinder and the wheel brake cylinder, and closed when the regenerative braking operation is performed. In the Publication, it was raised as an issue to be solved that a brake pedal was moved forward to vary the depressing force, when the ON/OFF valve was switched from its closed condition to its open condition so as to cancel a mode for giving a priority to the regenerative braking operation. Therefore, the brake apparatus was proposed to rapidly increase the pressure in a hydraulic braking device by temporarily introducing a hydraulic pressure from a hydraulic booster.
With respect to the braking force applied through the regenerative braking operation as described above, FIG. 9 illustrates its limit (Fu). When a vehicle speed is in an intermediate speed zone (Vm), the limit (Fu) is provided for the braking force applied through the regenerative braking operation, due to mainly mechanical factors such as output torque. When the vehicle speed is in a high speed zone (Vh), the braking force applied through the regenerative braking operation is lowered in accordance with the increase of vehicle speed, due to mainly electrical factors such as an inverter, battery or the like. And, when the vehicle speed is in an extremely low speed zone (Vs), it is preferable not to perform the regenerative braking operation, because the energy consumed through the generating operation by the motor will be more than the energy recovered through the regenerative braking operation, and a vibration might occur during the regenerative braking operation. Therefore, when the braking force is applied to the vehicle moving at a speed "V1" as shown in FIG. 10, for example, it is preferable to apply the braking force only by the regenerative braking operation until the time "t1" as shown in FIG. 10. After the time "t1", the hydraulic braking operation may be added to the regenerative braking operation to apply the braking force by both of the regenerative braking operation and the hydraulic braking operation, and in the extremely low speed zone after the time "t2", only the hydraulic braking operation should be performed.
In such conditions as described above, when the braking operation is switched from the regenerative braking operation to the hydraulic braking operation, the master cylinder pressure is temporarily reduced until the wheel cylinder pressure is increased close to the master cylinder pressure, so that the stroke of the brake pedal is rapidly varied and the vibration of the depressing force occurs to deteriorate the brake pedal feeling, as described in the Publication No.7-336806. According to the apparatus proposed in the Publication, when the difference of the pressure between relief valves (VR1), (VR2) is to be cleared, a solenoid valve (V1) is closed at the outset and subsequently a solenoid valve (V4) is opened to temporarily introduce the hydraulic pressure from a hydraulic booster (HB), so as to prevent a large pressure difference from being caused between the master cylinder pressure and the wheel cylinder pressure.
According to the apparatus proposed in the Publication, however, the hydraulic booster (HB) included in a dynamic pressure circuit is connected to a static pressure circuit between the master cylinder and the wheel brake cylinder through the solenoid valve (V4). The static pressure circuit includes the relief valve (VR2) for use in adding the hydraulic braking operation to the regenerative braking operation or changing for it, a solenoid valve (V5) and a check valve (VC2). Therefore, when the hydraulic braking operation is changed for the regenerative braking operation, brake fluid is supplied from the hydraulic booster (HB) to the static pressure circuit, so that more amount of brake fluid is supplied from the hydraulic booster (HB) to the wheel brake cylinder, than the brake fluid supplied from the master cylinder. As a result, sealing members in the master cylinder might be deteriorated due to the residual pressure therein. Furthermore, in the apparatus according to the Publication, two pressure circuits are connected to each other through the solenoid valve (V4). Therefore, if malfunction occurs in the static pressure circuit with the solenoid valve (V4) held in its open position, the brake fluid might be discharged through the dynamic pressure circuit.

Brake control system for an electrically operated vehicle


A thin film transistor array substrate includes an insulating substrate; a thin film transistor arranged in a part of a pixel area on the insulating substrate; an auxiliary capacitor having an auxiliary capacitor electrode arranged in the pixel area and an opposite electrode facing the auxiliary capacitor electrode via an insulating layer, the opposite electrode being located in the same layer as source and drain electrodes of the thin film transistor; and a pixel electrode formed in the pixel area. The opposite electrode is divided into two or more sections, and each of the sections is electrically connected to the pixel electrode via a contact hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a thin film transistor (TFT) array substrate and a repair method for a TFT array substrate, and more particularly, to an auxiliary capacitor structure of a TFT array substrate used in display apparatuses and a method for repairing point defect produced during the fabrication process of the TFT array substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years and continuing, cost reduction and improved image quality are demanded for display units of information technology equipment. Such demand is especially remarkable for liquid crystal displays (LCDs) used in cellular phones, personal digital assistants, notebook PCs, view finders of video cameras, and the like.
In a liquid crystal display, liquid crystal is sandwiched between a TFT array substrate, in which an array of thin film transistors is formed for driving pixels, and an opposite substrate. Displayed images are controlled by regulating orientation of the liquid crystal. It takes several miliseconds until orientation of the liquid crystal is stabilized, and an electric charge supplied by switching of the thin film transistor has to be maintained during this period. For this reason, an auxiliary capacitor is required to achieve high-quality image display.
Because a defect in the auxiliary capacitor leads to a defect of a pixel, it is important to remove deficiencies in auxiliary capacitors, and an improved and reliable structure of auxiliary capacitors is required.
In reality, millions of TFTs are often formed on a substrate, and it is difficult to manufacture a TFT array substrate with substantially no point defects. Accordingly, technology for repairing a point defect detected by inspection during the manufacturing process of the TFT array substrate becomes important.
FIG. 1 is a plan view of a pixel area of a conventional TFT array substrate, FIG. 2A is a cross-sectional view taken along the C–C′ line of FIG. 1, and FIG. 2B is a cross-sectional view taken along the D–D′ line of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, a semiconductor film 104 is formed over a gate electrode 101 via a gate insulating layer 103. A region of the semiconductor film 104 that faces the gate electrode 101 functions as a channel region. Over the semiconductor film 104 are formed a source electrode 107 and a drain electrode 106 via an impurity diffusion layer 121. The source electrode 107 and the drain electrode 106 face each other across an etching stopper 105 (See FIG. 1).
On the right-hand side of FIG. 2A, an auxiliary capacitor electrode 102 is formed in the same level as the gate electrode 101. A middle electrode (or an opposite electrode) 109 is positioned over the auxiliary capacitor electrode 102 with the gate insulating layer 103 between them to form an auxiliary capacitor. To be more precise, the middle electrode 109 is formed over the gate insulating layer 103 via the semiconductor film 104 and the impurity diffusion layer 121.
The middle electrode 109 is connected to a pixel electrode 112 through a contact hole 111. The pixel electrode 112 is also connected to the source electrode 107 through another contact hole 111. Accordingly, the source electrode 107 and the middle electrode 109 are electrically connected to each other via the pixel electrode 112 and contact holes 111. With this conventional structure, a conducting pad is required for contact on the source electrode 107, which reduces the aperture ratio.
If, in this TFT array substrate, malfunction or bad electrical contact occurs in a TFT, a voltage is not supplied to the pixel electrode 112, which results in a point defect. To deal with this problem, the point defect is detected by electrically inspecting the capacitance of the auxiliary capacitor during the fabrication process of the TFT array substrate. Upon detection of a point defect, such defect is to be repaired.
Conventionally, extra TFTs and isolated electrodes are provided in advance in the TFT array substrate for repair purposes, expecting occurrence of point defects. If a point defect pixel is detected, that pixel is repaired using the extra TFT and the isolated electrode.
For example, JP 10-161156A discloses a technique for repairing a point defect pixel. With this technique, an isolated electrode is arranged between adjacent pixels, and the pixel electrode of a point defect pixel is connected to that of the adjacent normal pixel via the isolated electrode by laser irradiation.
In general, when a necessary level of voltage is not supplied to a pixel electrode, that pixel becomes a point defect pixel in the normally-black mode. With the technique disclosed in JP 10-161156A, a required potential difference is produced in the point defect pixel by connecting the pixel electrode of the point defect pixel to that of the adjacent normal pixel.
Another technique is disclosed in JP 2002-278476A, which technique does not require extra TFTs or isolated electrodes. With this technique, the malfunctioning transistor (TFT) of the point defect pixel is cut off from the pixel electrode by a laser, and the separated pixel electrode is connected to that of a normally operating adjacent pixel by a metal film formed by laser CVD such that electric connection is obtained. This repair method makes use of the regularity in arrangement of the pixel array.
However, with the conventional repair methods, a voltage sufficient to support two pixels has to be guaranteed in spite of the fact that the voltage and the auxiliary capacitance supplied from the normally operating TFT are for a single pixel. To this end, driving means and driving voltages have to be determined predicting necessity of repair. This leads to increase of power consumption.
Concerning the image quality, the above-described conventional repair methods are acceptable as long as the repaired (or connected) two adjacent pixels belong to an area to be displayed with the same tone. However, if the boundary or the outline of a pattern extends between the repaired two adjacent pixels, and if these two pixels are to be displayed with different tones, then one of the pixels will be recognized as a dark spot or a bright spot.
Along with the structural problem, that is, the reduced aperture ratio, of the conventional TFT array substrate, the problems in the conventional repair methods degrade the image quality of a liquid crystal panel.

Thin film transistor array substrate and method for repairing the same


A computer readable medium stores a computer program for interactive training based on a simulated customer interaction. The computer readable medium includes a dialog code segment that provides a predetermined customer portion of a dialog segment from the simulated customer interaction to a trainee. The dialog segment includes the customer portion and at least one predetermined keyword associated with the customer portion. The computer readable medium further includes a response code segment, which receives a response to the customer portion from the trainee, and a determining code segment, which determines whether the response includes the at least one keyword.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of interactive computer-based training. More particularly, the present invention relates to training call center agents at remote terminals networked to a database, based on verbal and/or textual interaction with simulated customers in dynamic scenarios.
2. Background Information
Customer service agents working in call centers are typically required to learn and internalize significant amounts of information, including various policies, procedures, products and systems, in order to competently perform their duties. In addition to the large amount of information, many modern service industries, such as the telecommunications industry, involve a high rate of change as a result of evolving technology, regulations and consumer appeal, further increasing the difficulty for the customer service agents to remain current. Moreover, customer service call centers historically suffer high turnover of personnel. The combination of these factors requires the expenditure of significant resources to continually train customer service agents to reach and maintain acceptable levels of performance.
The conventional approach to training call center agents includes providing the necessary substantive information regarding products, services, corporate policies and the like, teaching the appropriate customer communication techniques and implementing practice sessions to replicate (to the extent possible) actual conversations with customers. The typical practice sessions are conducted by trainer/instructor teams, in person. The training may include standard policies and parameters, but these are not consistently enforced or measured in an automated fashion. The consistency of training and measure of progress, from one trainee (or group of trainees) to another, is largely unknown. To simulate realistic customer interactions, many call center training operations use face-to-face role playing, which involves fellow trainees or trainers acting as customers. The interactions, as well as the accompanying feedback, are therefore inconsistent in quality and content. Such variance in training and feedback may result in disparate training results. Furthermore, statistical tracking of training results is not particularly useful because of the potential for inconsistency in the underlying training methodology.

Interactive dialog-based training method


A universal serial bus (USB) interface connection for one of a USB connector and a USB port of a device comprises an insulating substrate including a first side and a second side. First, second, third and fourth conductors are arranged adjacent to each other on the first side of the insulating substrate and have a port side and a second side. First, second, third and fourth conductors are arranged adjacent to each other on the second side of the insulating substrate and have a port side and a second side. The USB connector can be connected in first and second orientations.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Most computers sold today include one or more Universal Serial Bus (USB) connectors. The USB connectors allow users to connect mice, printers, jump drives, microphones, USB cables, headsets, and other devices to the computer quickly and easily. The computers typically run an operating system (OS) that supports the USB to allow easy installation. As compared to other ways of connecting devices to the computer (including parallel ports, serial ports and custom cards installed inside the computer's case), the USB devices are relatively simple. If the USB device is a new device, the OS auto-detects the USB device and may initiate a dialog with the user to locate a driver for the USB device. If the USB device has already been installed, the computer activates the USB device.
A USB cable typically includes two wires for power (typically 5V (volts) and ground) and a twisted pair of wires to carry data. The USB cable may also be shielded. Low-power devices (such as mice and/or other devices) can draw their power directly from the USB connection. High-power devices (such as printers and/or other devices) have power supplies and draw minimal power from the USB connection. USB devices are hot-swappable, which means that they can be plugged and unplugged at any time.
The host computer powers up, queries all of the USB devices connected to the bus and assigns an address to each USB device. This process is called enumeration—USB devices are also enumerated when they are connected to the bus. The host computer determines the type of data transfer that the USB device employs. Devices such as mice or keyboards, which send relatively small amounts of data, tend to use an interrupt mode. Devices such as printers, which receive data in large packets, tend to use a bulk transfer mode. Data is sent to the printer in blocks and verified. Streaming devices (such as speakers) use an isochronous mode. Data streams between the device and the host in real-time without error correction.

Reversible universal serial bus connection interface for USB connectors and universal serial bus ports


A dual rotor arrangement 100 for a wind or water turbine has a planetary gearbox with two inputs and an output. One rotor 1 is connected to one of the inputs 3 and the other rotor 8 is connected to the other input 6. A generator is connected to the high speed shaft 11. The rotational speed of the output is determined by the relative rotational speeds of the rotors which means that the generator produces electricity of a desired frequency. The arrangement enables electricity of constant frequency to be generated under conditions where the wind or water speed is variable.

This invention relates to wind and water turbines, and in particular to wind and water turbines having dual rotors.
Wind or water turbines are devices for converting wind or water power into electrical power and usually include a rotor, a gear box and a generator. In operation, wind causes the rotor to rotate and to provide a high torque, relatively low frequency input to the gear box. The gearbox transforms this input to provide a high, preferably constant, speed to the generator so that alternating current of the required frequency is produced.
In dual rotor turbines, combining the rotational energy from each rotor so that a single generator may be used has been achieved using bevel gears. It has also been achieved by connecting each turbine rotor to counter-rotating stator and rotor components of a generator, or having the first turbine rotor connected to first generator field rotor, and second turbine rotor connected to second field rotor. This arrangement means that the two rotors rotate in opposite directions and, for the first approach, the speed of the two rotors relative to each other cannot be adjusted.
One problem with existing wind/water turbine assemblies is the difficulty of maintaining a constant output speed to the generator. Another drawback is the relatively complex nature of wind/water turbine gearboxes, often utilizing multiple stage planetary gear systems.
US 2006/0093482 A1 discloses a windmill having counter-rotating screws. The screws are both located on the upwind side of an epicyclic gearbox, and serve to increase power supplied at a turbine location. The speed of the rotors can be controlled using a breaking mechanism, but the windmill is not configured to produce a constant output speed.


An apparatus and method are provided. A hierarchical navigation database with multiple levels including tiles is defined. Link data records representative of a road segments are stored in the hierarchical navigation database. A lower level tile containing a starting point data record of a route is identified. A link data record crossing the lower level tile border is identified. Whether the identified link data record also crosses a tile border of a higher level tile is determined. If the identified link data record crosses a tile border of a higher level tile, whether the higher level tile includes a destination point record is determined. Unless the higher level tile is determined to include the destination point record, a next link data record is determined in the route from the higher level.

The following disclosure generally relates to navigation, and, more particularly, to compiling a navigation database for providing an optimal route.
Navigation systems may be provided on various different computer platforms. For example, a navigation system may be a standalone system or a networked system. In a standalone navigation system, the software applications, geographic data, and hardware are combined at a single location. The standalone system may be installed in a vehicle or carried by a person. In a networked navigation system, some of the software or geographic data is/are located with the hardware with the user and some of the software or geographic data is/are located remotely and accessed over a communications system. The navigation system may be implemented on a dedicated platform in which the hardware and software are specifically designed for navigation purposes. Alternatively, the navigation system may be implemented on a general purpose computing platform (e.g., a personal computer, personal digital assistant, smart phone, or a networked computer) using appropriate navigation-related software applications and data.
Navigation systems provide a variety of useful features and services. For example, navigation systems used in vehicles can provide detailed instructions for driving to desired destinations, thereby reducing travel times and expenses. Navigation systems and navigation applications can also search for businesses of a desired type and provide routing guidance to locations of such businesses.
Finding an acceptable route from a starting point S to a destination point D is the core functionality of a navigation system. Most navigation systems do not attempt to determine an "optimum" route from S to D, as such a determination, which would require analyzing all of the links in the navigation system, would be both memory and time-intensive. For example, computing the "optimum" route from a starting point S in Madrid to a destination point D in Moscow may take upwards of an hour on an embedded navigation system.
Instead, most navigation systems aim to determine and provide an acceptable route, in a timely manner, for a given cost function (e.g., "the shortest route," "the fastest route," etc.). These navigation systems may, for example, utilize a navigation database created according to the Navigation Data Standard ("NDS"). NDS databases include a 5-layer or level hierarchical graph structure. Each layer or level of the graph structure may be divided into tiles, or equally-sized areas, and includes only those links or road segments that belong to a specific functional road class ("FRC"). Each link may, for example, be assigned a FRC value between 1 and 5, with the assigned value reflecting the importance of the link for route calculations (e.g., a FRC value of 1 indicates that the link is the most important for route calculation purposes). The links are then placed into one of the layers or levels based on the assigned FRC value. When these navigation systems are attempting to find an acceptable route between a starting point and a destination point, these navigation systems may "explore" all links on a routing level (e.g., the lowest routing level) around the starting point and the destination point. The system may then apply heuristics to determine when to switch from the lowest routing level to another level (e.g., the second lowest routing level). Using this approach, the navigation system may calculate, in a timely manner, the appropriate, but not necessarily optimal, route from the starting point and the destination point.