Provided is a swing-back preventing apparatus capable of preventing a hydraulic actuator in a stop state from operating by undesired load. The swing-back preventing apparatus includes a housing, a piston, and a pair of biasing members. First and second spaces are formed between the piston and the housing, and the piston includes a pair of communication passages that are communicable with first and second spaces. When the piston is located at a first offset position, the first space is blocked from a first port. When the piston separates from the first offset position, the first space is connected to the first port. When the piston is located at a second offset position, the second space is blocked from a second port. When the piston separates from the second offset position, the second space is connected to the second port. When the piston is located at a position on the first offset position side of a neutral position, a first communication passage is connected to the first space. When the piston is located in a range from the neutral position to the second offset position, the first communication passage is blocked from the first space. When the piston is located at a position on the second offset position side of the neutral position, a second communication passage is connected to the second space. When the piston is located in a range from the neutral position to the first offset position, the second communication passage is blocked from the second space.

Construction machines and the like include hydraulic actuators, such as hydraulic motors and hydraulic cylinders, to move structures, attachments, and the like. Such hydraulic actuator includes two ports. An operating direction of the hydraulic actuator is switched by changing supply and discharge of an operating liquid through the two ports. In the hydraulic actuator configured as above, when the weight of the structure, the attachment, or the like is heavy, pumping of the hydraulic actuator occurs at the time of braking due to inertial force of the structure, the attachment, or the like, and this causes a swing-back phenomenon. To prevent the swing-back phenomenon, a swing-back preventing apparatus is attached to the hydraulic actuator. A valve device of PTL 1 is known as one example of the swing-back preventing apparatus.
The valve device of PTL 1 includes a housing and two poppets. The housing includes two small holes and a communication passage. The two small holes are connected to the respective two ports of the hydraulic actuator and communicate with each other through the communication passage. The two poppets are arranged in the housing so as to be inserted into the communication passage. The operating liquid flowing through one of the small holes to the communication passage flows around the two poppets and is then introduced to the other of the small holes. The two poppets move in accordance with a differential pressure between the two ports of the hydraulic actuator. The two poppets move to close the communication passage. To be specific, when the liquid pressure of one of the ports becomes high, the two poppets move to one side to close the communication passage. When the liquid pressure of the other of the ports becomes high, the two poppets move to the other side to close the communication passage.
In the valve device configured as above, when the port of high pressure in the pumping in the swing-back phenomenon switches from one port to the other port, the two poppets are made to move to the other side. At this time, the communication passage opens, and the two ports are connected to each other through the communication passage. With this, the pressure difference between the liquid pressure of one port and the liquid pressure of the other port is made small, and this suppresses the occurrence of the swing-back phenomenon.


An episodic execution of program instances and a coordinated message exchange protocol are combined to achieve eventual consistency in the communication between nodes of a distributed system. Program instances run in episodic loops that are triggered by defined input events and that generate checkpoints. The checkpoints indicate when messages are to be sent from the one instance to another instance or other device. The coordinated message exchange protocol allows the instance to send a message to a receiver, to acknowledge that the message has been received, and to confirm the acknowledgement to the receiver.

Distributed applications typically run on a system with multiple nodes. A variety of message exchanges are used by the distributed applications to communicate internally among the nodes. To maintain a consistent state for the overall application, the message exchanges often require a third party coordinator to ensure that the individual nodes send, receive, and process these messages without failure. The third party coordinator allows the entire exchange to be rolled back, if needed, and provides proper compensating logic. In a typical distributed application, a distributed transaction coordinator must be deployed and managed on each node of the system. The developer must explicitly opt-in to using transactions in the third party coordinator program. However, in certain environments, such as cloud computing, where such third party coordinators are unavailable, the developer bears the burden to ensure consistency in the messaging exchanges.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Episodic coordination model for distributed applications


Systems and methods for protecting an airborne platform against collisions are provided. One system includes FMCW radar sensors including transmitting antennae, means for receiving signals from echoes and for processing and digitizing same, and means for sending a central unit data representing said digital signals via a dedicated point to point link. The central unit includes means for processing said data to detect obstacles, means for calculating parameters for each obstacle including its radial velocity, distance range and azimuth, and means to transmit an avionic system of said platform data representing said detected obstacles and parameters. The system further includes means for guaranteeing that said emitted signals are shifted in time to create a shift in frequency guaranteeing that the radar sensors operate in the whole frequency band without perturbing each other.

The present disclosure belongs to the area of protecting an airborne platform against collision.
The disclosure is more particularly aiming at detecting short range obstacles over a wide field of view. This field of view may cover at least 180° horizontally in order to survey the rear part of the platform which is not observable by the pilot, if the airborne platform is piloted. This field of view will encompass parts of the fuselage of the airborne platform.
The whole field of view has to be surveyed continuously, and not sequentially, in order to minimize the warning time and hence allow sufficient reaction time for the pilot.
In operational scenarios of the disclosure, the airborne platform is stationary or moving at very low speed. Consequently, the obstacles to be detected are located at close range, at the order of magnitude of the airborne platform dimension.
In order to avoid a high false alarm rate which would consequently have the system rejected by the pilot community, the detected obstacles have to be localized with high accuracy.
State of the art radars for obstacle detection have been developed in the automotive domain.
The wide field of view requirement is fulfilled by using several sensors, covering segments of the whole field of view. The sensors are arranged so that a given sensor never receives echoes of signals emitted by another sensor which are reflected by the automotive platform itself.
This is no longer the case for an airborne platform where moving parts of the fuselage, such as rotor blades of a helicopter platform, will be permanently in view of sensors, creating spurious signals generated by one sensor transmitter and reflected into the other sensor receiver.
The range accuracy requirement is fulfilled by the use of Ultra Wide Band frequency of operation. Moreover, Ultra Wide Band frequency allows shifting in frequency automotive sensors, as proposed in document EP 2 180 336 A2, so that two sensors located in close proximity do not interfere with each other, while maintaining sufficient bandwidth for each sensor in order to fulfill the range accuracy requirement.
Shifting sensors in frequency, i.e. operating at different frequency ranges (sub-band) in the same bandwidth, as proposed in document EP 2 180 336 A2 is no longer possible in airborne domain where the use of Ultra Wide Band frequency is strictly prohibited by frequency regulation authorities. Airborne sensors have to conform to ITU regulations where the authorized bandwidth, especially for airborne application, is relatively narrow so that each sensor has to use the whole frequency band in order to provide the accuracy required by the collision avoidance application at low speed.
Having the sensors operating sequentially in time degrades the detection refresh rate over the whole field of view and do not allow sufficient warning time for the pilot to avoid the collision.
The frequency used in automotive sensors is high, so that high directionality is achieved with small sensors. This helps to prevent interference between sensors, and allows easy azimuth direction estimation.
This is no longer the case in airborne sensors as the available frequency band is much lower, so that small sensors will have a wide radiated beam.
One object of the disclosure is to overcome these limitations.

System for protecting an airborne platform against collisions

Nederlandse Organisatic Voor Toegepast-Natuurwetenschappelijk Onderzock TNO


A lateral connector assembly for connecting a bone engaging fastener to an elongated member, such as a spinal rod includes a lateral connector having an elongated opening for receiving a portion of the bone engaging fastener therethrough. The lateral connector includes a plate portion and an integral yoke portion, which yoke portion is attached to the elongated member by way of a clamp. The lateral connector assembly can include variable angle means between the clamp and the yoke portion of the lateral connector that permits rotation of the lateral connector about an axis projecting outward from the spinal rod. The plate portion and the yoke portion of the lateral connector are oriented at non-perpendicular angles, preferably an angle greater than 100 degrees. In a further embodiment the plate portion of the lateral connector is curved so that as the bone engaging fastener slides along the elongated opening, it assumes variable angular orientations relative to the lateral connector assembly and the elongated rod.

The present invention generally concerns spinal fixation systems, such as systems for use in the fixation of the spine for the treatment of various spinal deformities. Specifically, the present invention contemplates a lateral connector assembly for interconnecting an elongated member, such as a plate or a rod, with a bone engaging fastener, such as a hook, screw or bolt.
The treatment of spinal deformities and injuries has evolved significantly over the last 30 years. Spinal deformities, such as scoliosis and kyphosis, as well as fractures, spondylolisthesis, and other medical indications have been treated using a system of relatively rigid elongated members spanning the vertebral column. In one type of system, the elongated members constitute a plate that has a number of openings or slots through which bone bolts or bone screws extend. The bone engaging fasteners are threaded into different aspects of the vertebra to achieve fixation of the elongated plate. One system of this type is the DYNA-LOK.RTM. Spinal System provided by Sofamor Danek Group, Inc. of Memphis, Tenn.
In another approach, the system includes a generally rigid spinal rod sized to span along the length of the vertebral column. In this system, a variety of bone engaging fasteners are connected to the spinal rod by way of a clamp. In some systems, such as the CD.TM., CD HORIZON.TM. and LIBERTY.TM. spine systems marketed by Sofamor Danek, the fixation elements are threaded directly onto the spinal rod and held in place by a system of set screws. In this approach, the bone engaging fastener is situated directly in line with or beneath the spinal rod. The LIBERTY.TM. System also includes the STAR.TM. connector which is threaded onto the rod and provides for lateral connection of the same bone engaging fasteners.
In another type of rod-based spinal system, the bone engaging fasteners are connected laterally to the spinal rod. Two such systems are the TSRH.RTM. and the GDLH.RTM. spinal systems provided by Sofamor Danek. In these two systems, arrangements of eyebolts or T-bolts are threaded onto the rod and provide an interface to the bone engaging fastener, such as a hook or a screw. The TSRH.RTM. Spinal System includes bone screws, with one type having a central post that is engaged directly to the spinal rod, and another type providing variable angle capability, such as the TSRH.RTM. variable angle bone screw as shown and described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,909, to Sutterlin et al. As disclosed in the '909 Patent, which disclosure is incorporated herein by reference, the variable angle bone screw can achieve variable angular positions in a plane adjacent and perpendicular to the radius of the spinal rod. The TSRH.RTM. variable angle screw thus provides an additional degree of freedom for attaching the bone engaging fastener to the spinal rod over the fastener having a central post.
It is of course known in the field of spinal instrumentation that the fixation system must adapt to the spinal anatomy, both the original anatomy and the desired corrected anatomy. Movement or manipulation of the components of the system in different degrees of freedom has become essential to achieving proper correction and fixation. Consequently, the TSRH.RTM. Spinal System is provided with T-bolts for engaging the variable angle screws that provide an additional degree of freedom by laterally displacing the screw from the rod at predetermined distances. Lateral offset plates are also included which can be moved to adjustable lateral distances from the spinal rod to connect to the bone engaging fastener.
In the other type of rod-based system, as illustrated by the GDLH.RTM. posterior spinal system, bone bolts can be provided for fixation to the vertebrae. The bone bolts include a lower portion threaded for engagement in the vertebral bone, and an upper machine threaded portion. The GDLH.RTM. System includes various rod/bolt connectors for attaching the bolt to a spinal rod. In one type of GDLH.RTM. rod/bolt connector, the connector includes a single hole through which the machine threaded portion of the bone engaging fastener extends. A nut is threaded onto the machine threads to clamp the bone bolt to the connector. In this type of rod/bolt connector, the bone bolt is held at a fixed lateral position relative to the spinal rod. In another type of GDLH.RTM. rod/bolt connector, the connector includes an elongated opening or slot which allows relative lateral movement of the bone bolt with respect to both the connector and the spinal rod. With this GDLH.RTM. rod/bolt connector, the bone bolt can be engaged to the rod at variable lateral distances from the rod. Again, this feature allows the surgeon to accommodate variations in the spinal anatomy with respect to the placement of the spinal rod.
In the implantation of any spinal instrumentation, one goal of the surgeon is to minimize the intrusion into the patient, whether by the amount of implants that must be used or by the length of time required to fix the implants within the patient. In the early days of spinal fixation, the surgeon was limited in the locations and manner in which the bone engaging fasteners could be fixed to the vertebrae, and ultimately attached to an elongated member, such as a plate or a rod. As the spinal fixation systems became more elegant, the surgeon was been provided with additional degrees of freedom for movement and positioning of the bone engaging fasteners and the elongated members, either individually or with respect to each other. The use of lateral connectors between the bone engaging fastener and a spinal rod, for instance, has provided an additional degree for freedom to the surgeon. Adding the elongated slot for engagement to a bone bolt, such as in the GDLH.RTM. Spinal System, or providing T-bolts of varying lengths to engage the variable angle bone screw of the TSRH.RTM. Spinal System, adds a further degree of freedom. With these components providing lateral variability of the connection between the fastener and the rod, the surgeon need not bend the rod laterally to meet the position of the bone engaging fastener. For example, in some indications, a bone bolt is threaded into the pedicle of the vertebra. During the correction process, the spinal rod may not be directly aligned over or adjacent to the top of the bone bolt. In prior less sophisticated systems, the surgeon was required to bend the rod laterally so that the rod could be positioned directly adjacent the bone engaging fastener for connection between the two components. The addition of the lateral variability provided by the GDLH.RTM. and TSRH.RTM. components discussed above eliminates this bending requirement.
While this lateral adjustment feature has proven to very beneficial to spinal surgeons, additional degrees of freedom can still greatly improve the surgeon's task in quickly and efficiently instrumenting a patient's spine. The starting point of any spinal surgery is the spine itself, and more specifically the position and orientation of each of the vertebrae to be instrumented. Each vertebra has only a few "engagement points" onto which can be affixed a bone engaging fastener, such as a hook, screw or bolt. If that engagement point of the vertebra does not match the location of the connector for fixing the fastener to the elongated member, the surgeon must either manipulate the vertebra, or manipulate and/or bend the elongated member. In order to avoid this mechanical manipulation, it is desirable to provide the surgeon with additional degrees of freedom to more easily accommodate all possible orientations of a bone engaging fastener when it is engaged to a vertebra.
Consequently, there remains a need for providing a means for connecting a bone engaging fastener with an elongated member not only at variable lateral positions, as provided in some prior systems, but also at additional degrees of freedom relative to the rod. This need specifically encompasses variable angular orientations between the bone engaging fastener and the elongated member to which the fastener is to be connected.


A method for making a molded refractory article including the steps of providing a mold including a master pattern, the mold and master pattern defining a mold cavity; filling the mold cavity with a mixture comprising refractory particles and a heat fugitive binder; placing the assembly of the mold, master pattern and mixture in a furnace; curing the mixture; separating the mold and master pattern from the cured mixture; removing the binder to form a porous structure, sintering the porous structure to provide a porous refractory article and infiltrating the porous refractory article with a filler metal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for economically forming precision molded articles, in particular hard molds for plastic injection molding or die casting, from mixes of refractory particles and heat fugitive organic binders.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The present invention has broad utility and can be used to form many kinds of molded refractory articles. For illustrative purposes, the invention and its background will be described in the context of the fabrication of hard molds for use in plastic injection molding.
Techniques for molding sintered metal articles from mixes of refractory particles or powders and heat fugitive organic binders have long been known. Such techniques can be used, for example, to make sintered metal core and cavity inserts for durable injection molds capable of producing millions of plastic injection molded parts. In a typical process currently in use, shown schematically in FIG. 1, a flexible molding material such as RTV (room temperature vulcanized) silicone rubber 200 is poured around a master pattern 202 in a frame 204 and allowed to cure, forming an interim mold pattern 206. Alternatively, the process may begin with pattern 206 as the master pattern. In either case, it is typical for the master pattern to be formed using stereolithography. Once the RTV has cured, the master pattern is separated from the interim RTV mold and an intermediate mold 208 is formed by pouring a second RTV material in and around the interim RTV mold. This second RTV material is cured, and the interim RTV 206 removed to leave a cavity 210 in mold 208. A mixture of refractory metal particles (for example, A.sub.6 tool steel particles and tungsten carbide particles) and a heat fugitive organic binder 212 (for example, a thermoplastic polymer or catalyzed epoxy liquid) is poured into the intermediate RTV mold. The epoxy is cured to hold the particles together. The thermoplastic polymer may be heated slightly to cause melting and then cooled or it may be compacted to create adhesion. The refractory particles mixed with the cured epoxy or solidified polymer, referred to as a green article, is removed from the RTV mold and heated to melt, or burn off, the binder and tack the refractory particles together and sinter the refractory particles to form a porous sintered article. The sintered refractory article is then infiltrated with a metallic infiltrant, such as copper. The metallic infiltrant has a melting point lower than that of the porous sintered article. The result is a mold of a metal composite refractory article (MCRA) 213 of shape and dimensions suitable for forming, by injection molding therein, a polymeric structure 214 duplicating the master, the mold having both high hardness and high impact strength. The technique is particularly useful for producing tooling for a plastic injection molding.
Production and use of tooling formed using powder metal technology are known in the art. Examples of techniques for such production and use are disclosed in the following U.S. Patents that are each herein incorporated by reference in their entirety:
(1) U.S. Pat. No. 3,823,002, entitled "Precision Molded Refractory Articles," issued July 1974 to Kirby, et al.
(2) U.S. Pat. No. 3,929,476, entitled "Precision Molded Refractory Articles and Method of Making," issued December 1975 to Kirby, et al.
(3) U.S. Pat. No. 4,327,156 entitled "Infiltrated Powdered Metal Composites Article," issued April 1982 to Dillon, et al.
(4) U.S. Pat. No. 4,373,127, entitled "EDM Electrodes," issued February 1983 to Hasket, et al.
(5) U.S. Pat. No. 4,431,449, entitled "Infiltrated Molded Articles of Spherical Non-Refractory Metal Powders," issued February 1984 to Dillon, et al.
(6) U.S. Pat. No. 4,455,354, entitled "Dimensionally-Controlled Cobalt Containing Precision Molded Metal Article," issued June 1984 to Dillon, et al.
(7) U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,654, entitled "EDM Electrodes," issued September 1984 to Hasket, et al.
(8) U.S. Pat. No. 4,491,558, entitled "Austenitic Manganese Steel Containing Composite Article," issued January 1985, to Gardner.
(9) U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,218, entitled "Infiltrated Powdered Metal Composite Article," issued November 1985, to Gardner, et al.
(10) U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,336, entitled "Method of Constructing Fully Dense Metal Molds and Parts," issued to Tobin.
Although the described technique is relatively straightforward, it has several shortcomings in the fabrication of molds, tooling, usable articles, or full size prototype devices:
First, the effective cost per cubic inch of an MCRA is many times greater than that of a device machined from conventional tool steel. For especially small parts (for example, 1-3 cu. in.) this difference in material cost is not significant relative to set-up charges or incremental charges associated with increased speed of delivery. However, for larger pieces (for example, 10 cu. in. and greater), the material cost penalty for the entire tool (core and cavity) becomes substantial and the process becomes far less economically attractive. In particular, the mixture of refractory particles and binder can be a significant part of the costs to prepare a final part. Additionally, since the master has to be removed from within the RTV mold, certain parts, particularly masters with undercuts and complicated geometries cannot be readily reproduced and the RTV mold can be torn during the process of removing it from the master.
Secondly, the green article shrinks appreciably during sintering and infiltration. Such shrinkage may be nonuniform when sections of significantly different thicknesses exist in an article, and especially when such sections share a common intersection. Nonuniform shrinkage often results in part distortion and decreased precision of the article.
Thirdly, the green article is relatively fragile and is therefore subject to breakage during demolding with consequent decreases in process yield. This is a significant problem with larger parts. The articles in their final, sintered state are also subject to breakage.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to reduce the cost per unit volume of molded refractory articles.
It is another object of the present invention to reduce the handling of the parts during the various stages of production, thus reducing damage to the parts produced.
It is a further object of the present invention to establish a processing scheme which is readily adaptable to automated control.
It is a still further object to eliminate the need for the intermediate and interim RTV mold.
It is a further object of the invention to pursue the above and other objects, which will be apparent from the instant disclosure, alone and in various combinations.

Process of making a molded refractory article


Techniques are disclosed for removing blemishes from a digital image by detecting pixels containing the blemishes and replacing or blending those pixels with other pixels in the image that have a relatively low probability of containing a blemish. A standard pixel mask includes a user-selected region of the image; an extended mask extends beyond the user-selected region; and a minimal output pixel mask corresponds to the user-selected region. The minimal mask increases the transparency of some regions in the standard mask while maintaining the opacity of the standard mask in the blemish areas. Colors in the extended mask are weighted and clustered, and pixels in the minimal mask are assigned varying shades of transparency as a function of the color frequency. A blemish removal algorithm is applied using the minimal mask, with semi-transparent regions receiving a blend of source and patch pixel colors according to the level of transparency.

Digital image editing tools can be used to remove unwanted features from images. For instance, using some existing techniques, certain pixels containing a blemish are regenerated based on colors of nearby pixels by blurring or smoothing (e.g., using Gaussian filters), or infilling (e.g., using patch-based pixel replacement algorithms), which have the effect of diminishing or removing the blemish. Some techniques also apply a high-frequency component from another image to a healed region after it has been modified to replace defective pixel colors. Yet the results of such techniques often result in undesirable visible effects. For instance, some techniques produce visible discontinuities at the edges of the regenerated pixels or result in a loss of detail. These areas are easily noticed, especially when the surrounding areas are unevenly textured, or when pixel intensity changes sharply at the boundary. Another existing blemish removal technique involves altering the lighting or other attributes of the image, such as color or contrast, to make the blemish less visible. However, this technique may be unsatisfactory if the blemish remains visible, or if the changes adversely affect other portions of the image. Therefore, improved blemish removal techniques are desirable.


A method for de-interlacing is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) determining a plurality of target mode values for a target pixel being synthesized to convert a current field into a current frame, wherein at least two of the target mode values are based on both (i) a plurality of original pixels and (ii) a plurality of synthesized pixels in a plurality of synthesized frames, (B) generating a plurality of candidate values for the target pixel using a plurality of interpolation techniques that includes a motion estimation interpolation utilizing a particular one of the synthesized frames and (C) selecting a particular one of the candidate values for the target pixel in response to the target mode values.

De-interlacing has become an important technique because of the popularity of progressive scan television devices. Since the invention of television more than 70 years ago, the interlaced scan has been used exclusively due to a tradeoff between frame rate and transmission bandwidth utilization. The interlaced scan doubles the frame rate as compared with a progressive scan, allowing still or slow-moving areas to be perceived with higher vertical detail, while fast-moving areas are perceived with a higher temporal rate at half vertical resolution. However, if an interlaced-scan video is directly shown on progressive devices, defects like line crawling, edge-flicker, and jagged edges appear and make the viewer uncomfortable.
De-interlacing is conventionally accomplished using a software approach or a hardware approach. BOB and Weave are two low-complexity de-interlacing methods commonly adopted in the software approaches. BOB is an intra-field interpolation method that uses a single field to reconstruct one progressive frame. However, the vertical resolution is halved and the image is blurred using the BOB method. Weave is a simple inter-field de-interlacing method directly combining two interlaced fields into a single progressive frame. However, the line-crawling effect will arise in motion areas created with Weave.
For hardware-base de-interlacing approaches, motion adaptive methods are commonly used in consumer electronics. The basic concept is to select an appropriate interpolation method according to the motion in different areas of an image. In particular, spatial filtering is selected in motion areas and temporal filtering is selected in static areas. Hence, the motion adaptive de-interlacing method combines the advantages of both intra-field de-interlacing and inter-field de-interlacing. However, some motion detection errors still exist with the conventional motion adaptive methods.
The most advanced hardware de-interlacing methods use a motion compensation scheme where the interpolation is performed along a motion trajectory. The conventional motion compensation methods are useful for getting high resolution and flicker-free pictures in motion areas. However, the motion compensation approaches are highly dependent on the accuracy of motion estimation, which results in high hardware complexity. In particular, sub-pixel accuracy is a condition to reflect the true motion of an object. However, too many sub-pixel interpolations fail to retain true image resolution.

Accurate motion detection for the combination of motion adaptive and motion compensation de-interlacing applications


An image processing apparatus which associates a plurality of images obtained in advance for the purpose of panoramic image synthesis or stereo-scopic viewing display without troubling the user. Whether or not component images are to be associated with each other is determined with reference to the file names and attribute information of a plurality of component images to be synthesized without the intervention of the user.

The present invention relates to an image-picking up and displaying system having a panoramically imaging/displaying function and stereo-scopically imaging/displaying function, and the image-picking up and displaying system.
The present invention also relates to an edit system for an image file obtained by an imaging or image-picking up apparatus.
Conventionally, a method for processing (e.g., synthesizing) and displaying a series of a plurality of captured images is known. For example, an image-picking up/displaying method for displaying two systems of image signals picked up by a multiple image-picking up apparatus or by a single image-picking up apparatus via two picking-up processes is known. When the single image-picking up apparatus is used, picking-up is done by matching the view points of two image-picking up optical systems, and the two obtained images are synthesized at the boundary of the image-picking up ranges, thus presenting to the observer a high-precision panoramic image, which has a larger field. angle and suffers less distortion than the image picked up by the single image-picking up apparatus.
When picking-up is made from two view points by placing two image-picking up optical systems at right and left positions at a spacing nearly equal to the base length, since disparity is produced in the two obtained images, the observer can observe a stereo-scopic image by stereo-scopically observing these two images. As a stereo-scopic image display method, a method of displaying an image using a stereo-scopic display, a method of switching and displaying right and left images using liquid crystal shutter spectacles, and the like are known.
In the following description, assume that n-eye images include both n images obtained by an n-eye image-picking up apparatus via a single picking-up process, and n images obtained by a single image-picking up apparatus via n picking-up processes.
In either of panoramically image-picking up/displaying or stereo-scopically image-picking up/displaying, two systems of image signals picked up by a multiple image-picking up apparatus or obtained by a single image-picking up apparatus must be simultaneously processed. Upon recording these two images on a recording medium of an apparatus, the synthesized image may be recorded. However, in consideration of the need for observation of only component images of the synthesized image or capacity saving of the recording medium, and the like, only component images are conventionally recorded.
When only component images are recorded on the recording medium, and a panoramic or stereo-scopic image is reproduced from the images stored in the recording medium, a plurality of component images, i.e., a pair of component images that form the synthesized image, must be selected to reproduce the synthesized image.
In general, in order to read out a plurality of images picked up by an n-type image-picking up/displaying system or obtained by a single-eye image-picking up/displaying system via a plurality of picking-up processes from the recording medium, process (e.g., synthesize) these images, and display them at the same time, the user must select the plurality of images to be processed one by one.
However, in the aforementioned prior art, since a set of n images picked up at the same time are independent ones, it is troublesome for the user to select such set of n images one by one.

Image synthesizing system for automatically retrieving and synthesizing images to be synthesized


A non-slip foam design pad apparatus and method in which a design pad is adapted in a stretched condition for use on a surface, such as a surfboard, to provide a non-slip surface and to provide a selected design pattern on the surfboard. The design pad apparatus comprises a thin sheet of flexible foam material, a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer on one surface, and a removable protective layer over the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer. The foam sheet material is characterized by being diecut into a plurality of foam connected sections connected in a side to side alternating manner by short, uncut sections of the foam sheet material and adapted to move between a relaxed, diecut position and a stretched design position by longitudinal stretching of the non-slip design pad.

Pads having a friction type, for example, non-slip surface thereon and having an adhesive layer on the other side are often employed, for example, in bathrooms to provide a non-slip surface to the tub surface. In addition, non-slip or friction type pads are often affixed by adhesive to watercraft surfaces to form a non-slip surface to prevent slipping of the user's feet or body. In watercraft such as surfboards, normally a wax coating is applied to the upper surface of the surfboard, which wax provides for a sticky, rough friction surface which retains the body of a surfer on the top surface of the surfboard, which wax layer is not affected by the water. In another embodiment, surfboards may have fixed friction pads secured to the top surface as a solid pad or layer.
It is desired to provide for a new, efficient non-slip design pad which is also adapted for use on a surface to provide a non-slip or friction type surface such as on watercraft and also to form a selected pleasing design pattern by the use of such a pad.

Non-slip design pad for surfboard and method


The invention relates to a gown having a gown body, an inflatable chamber capable of selectively inflating and deflating carried by the gown body, and a shaping element carried by the gown body. The shaping element is directly responsive to inflation of the inflatable chamber so that the shaping element is moved from an initial arrangement to a subsequent arrangement by inflation of the chamber. Upon subsequent deflation, the shaping member retains its shape. The entire structure is suitable for the self-assisted donning of a surgical gown.

The present invention relates to gowns and other garments and particularly to surgical gowns. More particularly, this invention relates to mechanisms that enable a gown wearer to aseptically don the gown on his or her own through the use of selectively inflating and deflating gas filled chambers. Such a gown could be donned by the wearer without requiring him to move his hands outside a region commonly referred to as the "sterile zone". This would serve to minimize the risk of hand contamination prior to a surgical procedure.
As is generally known, sterile surgical gowns are designed to greatly reduce, if not prevent, the transmission through the gown of liquid and biological contaminants that may become entrained therein. In surgical procedure environments, such contamination sources include the gown wearer's perspiration, and patient liquids including blood and life support liquids such as plasma and saline.
Surgical gowns were originally made of cotton or linen and were sterilized prior to the use in the operating room. These gowns, however, permitted transmission or "strike-through" of various liquids encountered in surgical procedures. In these instances, a path was established for transmission of bacteria and other contaminants to and from the wearer of the gown. Furthermore, these gowns were costly and required laundering and sterilization procedures prior to reuse.
Disposable surgical gowns have largely replaced linen surgical gowns. Surgical procedures can require surgical gowns that exhibit total liquid repellency to prevent strike-through, or surgical gowns that are not totally liquid impervious. Whether the surgical procedure dictates the use of a surgical gown that is or is not totally liquid impervious, it is generally preferred that gown closure about the wearer's body occur at the wearer's back and not the wearer's front. In this way, the portion of the gown that overlies the wearer's chest and abdomen may be formed from an uninterrupted sheet of material, albeit that the sheet of material may itself be formed from a plurality of pieces of material stitched or otherwise seamed together.
While a continuous gown front provides improved barrier protection in the areas of the gown most likely to contact or be contacted by liquids when compared to gown fronts which are gapped or interrupted by a closure means, the barrier protection provided by the back of the gown is also a concern for health care providers, gown manufacturers and patients alike. This is because traditional closure means used in disposable surgical gowns, for example, buttons, hooks, tape, and ties, require manual manipulation in order to fasten the side panels together in back of the gown. Moreover, the gown wearer typically requires assistance in closing the back of the gown for at least two reasons. First, the gown wearer often cannot reach the closure means on his or her own due to its location and second, even if he or she could, the wearer's hands would be placed outside the area directly observable by the wearer and into areas considered non-sterile, for example behind the back, below the waist, above the neckline. Hand placement in such non-sterile areas does not conform with accepted practices for maintaining aseptic techniques. Whether the surgical gown is disposable, reusable, liquid impervious, or partially liquid impervious, there exists a need for a back closure gown that enables a wearer, without assistance, to close the back of the gown without moving his or her hands into areas considered non-sterile.

Surgical gown donned through the self-assisted use of inflatable chambers


A cemented carbide of the invention contains at least one of cobalt and nickel; calcium, sulfur, aluminum, silicon and phosphorus; balance tungsten carbide; and unavoidable impurities. The content of cobalt or nickel should range from 4 to 35% by weight. The content of each of calcium, sulfur, aluminum and silicon should be no greater than 50 ppm by weight, while the content of phosphorus should be no greater than 20 ppm by weight. The tungsten carbide has an average crystal grain size of 0.2 to 1.5 micrometers. The cemented carbide may further contain 0.1 to 40% by weight of at least one compound which may be carbides of metals in Groups IVa, Va and VIa of the Periodic Table other than tungsten, nitrides of metals in Groups IVa and Va of the Periodic Table and solid solution of at least two of the carbides and nitrides.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a cemented carbide which exhibits excellent toughness and wear resistance and is suitable for use in solid end mills, solid drill bits and wire members.
2. Prior Art
Heretofore, print pins of a dot printer, solid end mills or solid drill bits have often been made of WC-based cemented carbide since high wear resistance is required. Such conventional cemented carbide includes a hard dispersed phase composed of tungsten carbide and a binder phase composed of 4 to 20% by weight of one or both metals of cobalt and nickel. In some cases, the hard dispersed phase further contains 0.1 to 40% by weight of one or more of compounds selected from the group consisting of carbides of metals in Groups IVa, Va and VIa of the Periodic Table other than tungsten, nitrides of metals in Groups IVa and Va of the Periodic Table and solid solution of two or more of these carbides and nitrides.
Although the prior art cemented carbides as mentioned above have been superior in wear resistance, they have been inferior in toughness, being susceptible to breakage in actual use. This has been especially the case when the cemented carbides are used with apparatuses developed in recent years wherein requirements for their performance are getting severe in order to achieve a higher speed operation as well as a higher performance.


A mobile communication device that has self-contained audio recorder and playback circuitry therein.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention relates to mobile communication devices and, more particularly, to a mobile communication device that has means for recording and playing back audio messages.
2. Description of the Invention Background
Mobile communication devices, such as wireless and cellular telephones, personal digital assistants ("PDA's"), pagers, etc. are becoming increasing popular and indispensable work tools for many individuals. Likewise, portable sound recording devices which enable the user to record an audio memorandum and play it back at a later time have also become popular. However, to have both capabilities, a user must typically carry two separate devices. It is desirable and convenient to have a mobile communication device that also has the ability to record and play back audio messages without having to carry two separate devices.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,233,320 to Haimi-Cohen discloses a method and apparatus for recording and playing back conversations using a digital wireless phone.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,240,302 to Harrison discloses a wireless phone with removable personal information manager.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,321,129 discloses enhanced user control operations for portable digital audio recorders.

Mobile communication device with audio recorder


A light source unit and reader can include a line light source that is attached to a radiator and a rod lens that is attached above the line light source. The radiator with the line light source and the rod lens attached thereto, and a linear strip-shaped reflector arranged in front of the rod lens, are housed in a carriage. The carriage is supported beneath a contact glass and movable in a direction normal to a longitudinal axis of the line light source. The lens has a section in a plane normal to a longitudinal axis of the lens, in which a surface of the lens facing the light source has a curved line that expands or is convexly facing toward the light source. The opposite surface of the lens from the light source has composite curves including a plurality of continuous curves with different radii of curvature. The composite curves are located on both sides of a plane containing the optical axis of the LED and expand or are convex in an opposite direction from the light source.

1. Technical Field
The disclosed subject matter relates to a light source unit, and more particularly to a light source unit for reading objects in a reader, such as a scanner.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a conventional process for reading a document in a scanner with a shrinkage optical system or a contact optical system, a line-shaped scanning light having a certain width may be emitted or applied onto the document image. The reflected light or transmitted light is then image-formed on a line solid-state imaging device (line CCD) through an optical path including mirrors and lenses. The output signal from the line solid-state imaging device (line CCD) is processed to read the document image.
Among conventional devices, there has been proposed an irradiation optical system configured as shown in FIG. 7 to apply light emitted from a light source to a document image.
The system comprises a carriage 50, which houses a line light source 51 such as a halogen lamp and a reflector 52 arranged in the vicinity of the line light source 51. Direct light from the light source 51 and light emitted from the light source 51 and reflected at the reflector 52 are collected and, after transmission through a contact glass 53, applied to or incident on a document image 54. The light reflected at the document image 54 and transmitted through the contact glass 53 is guided via a mirror 55 similarly housed in the carriage 50 to an optical path reaching a line CCD (for example, see Japanese Patent document 11-27458A).
In the document image reading method configured above, the width of the line-shaped light that is applied onto the document image, falling within 20% the fluctuation of the amount of light, is determined to be 1.5 times or more the width of the image forming area in the line CCD. In this case, an error in accuracy of attachment of the optical moving part (carriage) and a displacement of the irradiated position due to vibrations when moving (scanning) may occur. Even in such a situation, it is possible to suppress the fluctuation of the amount of light on the document image within the image forming area in the line CCD.
In the above-described document image reading method, the light emitted from the light source is split into two optical paths: a first optical path and a second optical path. On the first optical path, the light transmits through the contact glass 53 directly and reaches the document image 54. On the second optical path, the light is reflected from the reflector 52 and the reflected light transmits through the contact glass 53 and reaches the document image 54.
In this case, a wide-directivity halogen lamp is used as the light source 51, and the reflector 52 is located in the vicinity of the light source 51 to improve the effect of collecting light. The amount of light traveling on the second optical path to the document image 54 is, however, less than the amount of light traveling on the first optical path to the document image 54.
The distribution of intensities of illumination in the direction of movement (sub-scan direction) in a width dimension of the line-shaped light that is applied onto the document image 54 therefore becomes uneven and causes variations in reading the document image 54.
The wide-directivity light source provides a large amount of light that can not contribute to reading the document image 54 ( i.e., there is an inherent loss in light) and the light from the light source can not be utilized sufficiently. The use of LED light sources having an extremely lower amount of total light beams as compared to the halogen lamp to achieve an amount of illuminating light equal to the halogen lamp requires a large number of LED light sources.
To solve such a problem, two halogen lamps may be provided in parallel beneath the contact glass to apply symmetrical light sources from both the halogen lamps to a document image above the contact glass, thereby achieving an excellent distribution of intensities of illumination with the illuminating light.
In this case, an optically excellent distribution of intensities of illumination can be obtained. However, the use of two halogen lamps in the light source increases the material expense and size and causes an increase in production costs.
The disclosed subject matter has been made in consideration of the above and other problems and can be configured to provide a light source unit for reading documents at low cost, while excellent in utilization of light, with a higher intensity of illumination of document images, and being capable of applying a light with an excellent distribution of intensities of illumination while taking up a small amount of space.


A multi-level visual display system has a plurality of screens spaced in the depth direction. A user can move a visual indicator such as a cursor between the screens, via an input device such as a mouse button. In drawing applications a visual link such as a line can be created between two screens. In game applications a user can move an image both within and between screens by dragging a cursor while moving it between the screens, to provide an illusion of three dimensional movement. The screens may comprise layered liquid crystal displays.

Particularly, the present invention relates to a visual display system including multi-level screens which are placed physically apart.
Such screens are described in PCT Application Nos. PCT/NZ98/00098 and PCT/NZ99/00021.
These devices are created by combining multiple layers of selectively transparent screens. Each screen is capable of showing an image. In preferred embodiments the screen layers are liquid crystal display. Preferably the screens are aligned parallel to each other with a pre-set distance between them.
With this device images displayed on the screen furthest from view (background screen) will appear at some distance behind the images displayed on the screen closer to the viewer (foreground screen). The transparent portions in the foreground screen will allow viewers to see images displayed on the background screen.
This arrangement allowing multiple screens allows images to be presented at multiple levels giving the viewer true depth without use of glass or lens.
Up until now, software has been written to create visual sequences on the multi-level screens. These sequences have been mainly passive, mainly for viewing rather than for interaction.
While the visual effect of these sequences is spectacular, it will be desirable if potential uses of a multi-level screen display could be explored further.
It is an object of the present invention to address this problem, or at least to provide the public with a useful choice.
Aspects of the present invention will now be described by way of example only with reference to the following description.

Control of depth movement for visual display with layered screens


Techniques are described for generating statistics that reflect the consumption of media resources, such as television program resources. The techniques involve polling a group of devices identified in a random sample list or a custom sample list to collect event data describing the consumption of resources by the devices. Lower-bound and upper-bound thresholds are applied to remove or modify event data that may not accurately reflect the legitimate consumption of resources. Varying probability weights can also be assigned to events to reflect their likelihood of representing the legitimate consumption of resources. Based on such filtered event data, for a given device, a computation technique computes the percentage of time that the user has consumed a particular resource relative to a total amount of time in a time segment. Similar percentages are computed for other devices and other time segments to provide plural percentage values. Rating information and share information are computed based on these calculated percentage values. The tracking functionality compiles the calculated statistics into various web-enabled UI presentations and provides these reports to an operator over an intranet or like network.

Various entities involved in the distribution of television programs are keenly interested in determining the number of viewers who have watched a particular program. For instance, among many applications, these entities may use this information to adjust the schedule of programs, the lineup of channels, the assessed value of advertisements that air during certain programs, and so forth.
The television industry relies on a variety of statistical measurements to reflect the number of viewers who have watched a particular program. Two common measurements are ratings and shares. A rating measurement is representative of the number of television units that have presented a particular program relative to a total number of television units that were capable of presenting this program. For instance, assume that a television network provides services to a hypothetical pool of 100 set-top boxes associated with 100 television units. If 30 of these set-top boxes are tuned to a particular program, then the rating of that program is 30%. On the other hand, a share measurement is representative of the number of television units that presented a particular program relative to a total number of television units that were actually presenting programs in a prescribed time frame. For example, assume that 30 set-top boxes in the above example were tuned to a particular program, but only 60 set-top boxes of the entire pool of 100 set-top were turned on. In this case, the share of this program is 50%.
The industry has provided a number of techniques that can be used to collect the raw data from which rating and share measurements can be computed. In one traditional technique, an entity conducting a survey selects a sample pool of viewers and forwards viewing logs (also known as diaries) to these viewers. The entity instructs these viewers to record an indication of the programs that they have watched over a prescribed period of time, and then, at the end of this time, to send the logs back to the entity. The entity then aggregates the entries in the logs and computes various statistics.
Because of the complex nature of viewing habits, entities conducting surveys may make various simplifying assumptions regarding a viewer's behavior. For instance, it is common to instruct a viewer to indicate that the viewer has watched a program if the viewer has watched the program for more than a prescribed amount of time (e.g., 8 minutes).
There is room for considerable improvement to traditional techniques for computing viewing statistics. For instance, the above-described manual technique of computing statistics is labor-intensive and error-prone. Further, the simplifying assumptions used in traditional techniques have the potential of providing skewed—that is, potentially inaccurate—viewing statistics. More specifically, the simplifying assumptions can sometimes result in viewing estimates that are unduly high, and/or viewing estimates that are potentially contradictory (e.g., by falsely indicating that a user simultaneously watched two programs within a given reporting interval).
There is accordingly a need for more convenient and reliable techniques for generating statistics that reflect the consumption of media resources, such as, but not limited to, television programs.

System and method for generating media consumption statistics


An apparatus for light detection and ranging is provided. The apparatus includes a reflective surface configured to oscillate about a rotation axis, and a plurality of light sources each configured to controllably emit a respective light beam via an optical system onto the reflective surface. Further, the apparatus includes a controller configured to control emission times of the plurality of light sources so that the reflective surface emits a plurality of light beams to an environment according to a first sequence of beam directions for a first measurement, and according to a second sequence of beam directions for a subsequent second measurement.

Automotive LIDAR (as well as other applications) uses high power lasers for illuminating the environment. These LIDAR systems need to comply with laser safety regulations, which may limit the usable laser power. Furthermore, vehicle displacement during measurements may cause motion blurring. Hence, there may be a demand for improved LIDAR techniques.

Apparatuses and method for light detection and ranging


A system can maintain multiple queues for deduplication requests of different priorities. The system can also designate priority of storage units. The scheduling priority of a deduplication request is based on the priority of the storage unit indicated in the deduplication request and a trigger for the deduplication request.

A storage system is a processing system adapted to store and retrieve information/data on storage devices, such as disks or other forms of primary storage. Typically, the storage system includes a storage operating system that implements a file system to organize information into a hierarchical structure of directories and files. Each file typically comprises a set of data blocks, and each directory may be a specially-formatted file in which information about other files and directories are stored.
The storage operating system generally refers to the computer-executable code operable on a storage system that manages data access and access requests (read or write requests requiring input/output operations) and supports file system semantics in implementations involving storage systems. The Data ONTAP® storage operating system, available from NetApp, Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., which implements a Write Anywhere File Layout (W AFL®) file system, is an example of such a storage operating system. The storage operating system can also be implemented as an application program operating over a general-purpose operating system, such as UNIX® or Windows®, or as a general-purpose operating system configured for storage applications.
The storage operating system, will control the process of reading and writing data to a storage device, such as a disk drive, a tape drive, a solid state memory device, a virtual memory device, or some other type of system for storing data. In addition to controlling and supporting data access operations, like data reads and writes, the storage operating system can also organize the data that is stored in memory. This organization process can improve access speed, making it faster to read and write data, and can help reduce the cost of storage, by using the available storage medium more efficiently.
Despite the introduction of less expensive memory devices, such as Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) disk drives, one of the biggest challenges for storage systems today continues to be the storage cost. There is a desire to reduce storage consumption and therefore storage cost per megabyte by eliminating duplicate data through sharing blocks across files.
One technology to accomplish this goal is a flexible volume that contains shared data blocks. Basically, within one volume, there is the ability to have multiple references to the same data block. Thus, multiple files can share a stored data block that is common to both files, rather than require each file to maintain its own stored copy.
To this end, the storage system may use a deduplication process that performs a duplicate data reduction process by analyzing every block in the volume that has stored data. Each block of data is hashed to generate a digital fingerprint. When deduplication runs for the first time on a flexible volume, it creates a fingerprint database that contains a sorted list of all fingerprints for used blocks in the volume. A separate process compares each fingerprint in the database to all other fingerprints of the flexible volume. If two fingerprints are found to be the same, the system typically performs a byte-for-byte comparison of all bytes in the two blocks and, if there is an exact match between the new block and the existing block on the flexible volume, the duplicate block is discarded and its disk space is reclaimed.
To reclaim the block, the block's pointer is updated to the already existing data block and the new (duplicate) data block is released. Releasing a duplicate data block typically entails updating the logical structure that the storage system uses to track where on the physical volume the data is stored. The deduplication process will increment the block reference count for the maintained location, and free the locations of any duplicate data.
Although these deduplication processes provide powerful tools to improve storage capacity, one of the barriers to adoption of deduplication processes is the amount of user involvement in determining whether a volume will benefit from deduplication and, once a benefit is known, setting up the volume for deduplication. Another barrier is the impact on the system of having deduplication enabled. Deduplication is a heavyweight process. It demands substantial system resources and essentially prevents other processes from running efficiently.
The disclosed system provides ease of management of the deduplication process, and can include the effective use of resources, estimation and policy based management

Scheduling deduplication in a storage system


An electric rotating machine includes a stator having a plurality of stator teeth facing a rotor. The rotor has a plurality of pairs of permanent magnets. Permanent magnets of each pair are located in a “V” shape configuration and form a magnetic pole. Every other tooth of the plurality of stator teeth is a long stator teeth and an adjacent tooth is a short stator teeth. Adjusting recesses formed in the rotor are at symmetrical, about a d-axis of each magnetic pole, locations in a way that each of the adjusting recesses has a width made equal to a width of one of the stator teeth and their deepest levels are equidistant from a d-axis of the magnetic pole in one and the opposite circumferential directions angularly about the axis of the rotor by 56° in electrical degrees.

Electric rotating machines are required to have varying characteristics with different types of equipment in which they are used. For example, it is required that an electrical machine acts as a variable speed motor over a wide range as well as a high torque motor for low revolution speed operation when it is used, as a traction motor, in a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV) with an internal combustion engine or an electric vehicle (EV) as a driving source.
It is proposed for an electric machine with such characteristics to construct by adopting an interior permanent magnet (IPM) structure in which a plurality of pairs of permanent magnets are embedded in a rotor in a way that the magnets of each pair are located in a "V" shape configuration opening towards the rotor periphery because it is advantageous to use a structure that can effectively utilize reluctance torque together with magnetic torque (see e.g. patent literature 1).
Adopting the IPM structure enables an electric machine to make effective use of reluctance torque because q-axis magnetic path is kept by permanent magnets of each pair, embedded in a rotor, located in a "V" shape configuration. This increases the proportion of reluctance torque to magnetic torque and also saliency ratio (Ld/Lq), a ratio between inductance in d-axis and inductance in q-axis, resulting in increased tendency of space harmonics of the higher order to overlap flux waveform. The direct axis or d-axis is aligned with a direction of flux generated by magnetic poles and acts as a center axis between each pair of permanent magnets located in "V" shape, while the quadrature axis or q-axis is at an angle of 90 in electric degrees from the d-axis electrically and magnetically and acts as a center axis between the adjacent magnetic poles (i.e., the adjacent pairs of permanent magnets).
This causes high torque ripple, i.e., the difference between maximum and minimum torque during one revolution, in such electric rotating machine. The high torque ripple causes an increase in oscillation of the machine and electromagnetic noise. Especially, electromagnetic noise is desired to be reduced as much as possible because it gives an unpleasant sound to occupant(s) in a vehicle having, as an electric drive, the electric machine due to a relatively high frequency of the electromagnetic noise to that of noise generated by drive of an internal combustion engine.
On the other hand, oscillation becomes loss to cause a reduction in efficiency of performance of the electric machine although highly efficient performance is demanded to generate a desired driving force efficiently with less consumption of electricity.
Following not only restrictions of loading space, but also recent demands of improvement in energy conversion efficiency (mileage) in hybrid and electric cars, there is a growing demand of lightweight and miniaturization in electric rotating machines capable of providing high energy density output. Reducing torque ripple is effective to control judder, abnormal vibrations, and to provide smooth acceleration performance because, for example, there is a need to provide highly efficient drive over a usually used range for driving a car in street use.
It is very difficult to combine miniaturization as stand-alone units with improved efficiency, reduced electromagnetic noise and low torque ripple because, in electric rotating machines (motors), there are a tendency of increase in electromagnetic noise and a tendency of decrease in efficiency caused due to occurrence of torque ripple in accordance with an increase in output density per unit volume, but the demand of lightweight and miniaturization is growing.
In order to realize low electromagnetic noise and low torque ripple, it is proposed to axially divide a rotor to allow one of the adjacent pairs of permanent magnets to assume an angularly twisted positional relation with the other or give a skew angle (see, for example, patent literature 2).
The above-mentioned measure to give a skew angle in an electric rotating machine causes not only an increase in assembly cost and thus an increase in production cost, but also a difference at interfaces of the adjacent pairs of permanent magnets and a deterioration of the rate of magnetization at the interfaces, causing the permanent magnets to lower their magnetic flux density. As a result, the output torque to be produced by the electric rotating machine drops.
This is why various different ideas from the measure to give a skew angle are proposed to realize low electromagnetic noise and low torque ripple. They include an approach to modify an air gap between a rotor and a stator surrounding the rotor in such a way that an air-gap length at a position where every p-axis intersects the air-gap is greater than air-gap lengths at the other positions by, for example, modifying the shape of the rotor periphery in such away that the rotor periphery has a bulged shape at every magnetic pole like a "petal" shape (see, for example, patent literatures 1, 3 and 4).
In electric rotating machines described in patent literatures 1, 3 and 4, an inductance at every p-axis, which serves as a magnetic axis of one of magnetic poles created by permanent magnets on a rotor, increases because an air gap is wide, causing not only a drop in saliency ratio and a drop in torque, but also a decrease in machine efficiency.


The invention relates to an appliance for cooking food under pressure, the appliance comprising:                a bowl and a lid;        locking/unlocking means suitable for going between a locking position in which the lid (2) is locked relative to the bowl and an unlocking position; and        decompression means (6) for decompressing the vessel;        wherein said locking/unlocking means and said decompression means (6) are connected functionally to a single, common control member (7A), said control member (7A) being designed to be suitable for finding itself in a locking and decompression position in which the locking/unlocking means find themselves in their locking position, while the decompression means are activated. The invention is applicable to household appliances for cooking under pressure.

Receptacles for cooking under pressure are known that comprise a bowl and a lid designed to be locked onto the lid by locking/unlocking means suitable for going between a locking position in which the lid is locked and an unlocking position.
Such known appliances are also generally provided with decompression means making it possible to cause the pressure inside the appliance to drop, in particular at the end of the cooking process, in order to open the lid under safety conditions that are acceptable for the user.
For such known appliances, the locking/unlocking means going from their locking position to their unlocking position (and vice versa) is controlled by a first control member which, for example, comprises two push buttons corresponding respectively to the locking operation and to the unlocking operation.
The decompression means are controlled by means of a second control member distinct from the first control member which controls the locking/unlocking means. The second member can, for example, be in the form of a rotary ring.
That multiplicity of control members makes known pressure cookers awkward to handle, in particular for a user who is used to cooking with conventional cooking pots that operate at atmospheric pressure.
Unlike a user of such cooking pots, the user of a pressure cooker seeking to separate the lid from the bowl at the end of a cooking cycle, must perform a plurality of distinct manipulations in a pre-established sequence.
Thus, a user of a prior art pressure cooker who wishes to open the pressure cooker at the end of cooking must firstly turn (actuate in rotation) the second control member in order to activate the decompression means, and then, once decompression is complete, must shift (actuate in translation) the first control member which is distinct from the second control member in order to unlock the lid.
In addition to it being necessary for the user to memorize that sequence of distinct operations, said sequence is even more restrictive since it forces users of conventional pressure cookers to know the functions of the various control buttons and sliders present on the pressure cooker, which is far from always being easy and intuitive.
In addition, the multiplicity and the diversity of the control members present on a conventional pressure cooker gives rise to mechanical designs that are relatively complex, and that involve numerous moving parts, which can give rise to non-negligible risks of wear and jamming, and to problems of reliability.

Pressure-cooking appliance having a single control member for decompression and for locking/unlocking


A variable cam timing phaser for an internal combustion engine with at least one camshaft includes a housing (144), a rotor (138), and a phaser control valve (168). The phase control valve is offset from a center axis of rotation through the camshaft of the phaser and may also be parallel to the center axis of rotation. The phaser control valve directs fluid flow to shift the relative angular position of the rotor relative to the housing. The phaser may be cam torque actuated, oil pressure actuated, or torsion assist.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention pertains to the field of variable cam timing systems. More particularly, the invention pertains to a variable cam timing phaser with an offset spool.
2. Description of Related Art
Internal combustion engines have employed various mechanisms to vary the angle between the camshaft and the crankshaft for improved engine performance or reduced emissions. The majority of these variable camshaft timing (VCT) mechanisms use one or more "vane phasers" on the engine camshaft (or camshafts, in a multiple-camshaft engine). In most cases, the phasers have a housing with one or more vanes, mounted to the end of the camshaft, surrounded by a housing with the vane chambers into which the vanes fit. It is possible to have the vanes mounted to the housing, and the chambers in the housing, as well. The housing's outer circumference forms the sprocket, pulley or gear accepting drive force through a chain, belt or gears, usually from the camshaft, or possibly from another camshaft in a multiple-cam engine.
The spool valve of the variable cam timing phasers may be mounted externally from the phaser or internal to the phaser. The internally mounted spool valve may be center mounted and some of the limitations of center mounting of a spool are having to use a center bolt to mount the spool valve as shown in Butterfield et al.'s U.S. Pat. No. 5,046,460, mounting the spool valve in the camshaft end as in Butterfield et al.'s U.S. Pat. No. 5,002,023, or using a flange on the end of the camshaft to mount the spool valve as in Becker et al.'s U.S. Pat. No. 5,107,804.
An example of an internal center mounted spool in a variable cam timing (VCT) phaser is shown in prior art FIG. 1. The VCT phaser 22 is coupled to a camshaft by numerous bolts 36. The housing 40 of the phaser has an outer circumference or teeth 56 for accepting drive force from a chain 58. The rotor 38 is connected to the camshaft and is coaxially located within the housing 40. The rotor 38 has vanes 42, which separates chambers formed between the housing 40 and the rotor 38 into advance chambers 46 and retard chambers 48. The vanes 42 are capable of rotation to shift the relative angular position of the housing 40 and the rotor 38. Fluid is supplied to the phaser 22 through supply line 55 leading to the spool valve 50. Lines 52, 54, 60, supply fluid between the advance 46 and retard chambers 48 and the center mounted spool valve 50. Check valves 61 are present in line 54. The position of the spool within the spool valve 50 controls the motion, (e.g. to move towards the advance position or the retard position) of the phaser.


A method for generating an application specific integrated circuit including providing a software configurable semiconductor integrated circuit having a fixed hardware architecture that includes a plurality of task engines. A high-level language compiler is provided that compiles a user created high-level language program that defines the application specific integrated circuit. The compiler parses the program into a plurality of microtasks for instructing the plurality of task engines to implement the application specific integrated circuit.

The invention relates generally to the field of application specific integrated circuits. In particular, the invention relates to methods of generating application specific integrated circuits using a fixed but configurable hardware architecture.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Custom integrated circuits are widely used today in the electronics industry. The demand for custom integrated circuits is rapidly increasing because of a dramatic growth in the demand for highly specific consumer electronics and a trend towards increased product functionality. Also, the use of custom integrated circuits is advantageous because they reduce system complexity and, therefore, lower manufacturing costs, increase reliability and increase system performance.
There are numerous types of custom integrated circuits. One type is programmable logic devices (PLDs) including field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs). FPGAs are designed to be programmed by the end user using special-purpose equipment. Programmable logic devices are, however, undesirable for many applications because they operate at relatively slow speeds, have relatively low capacity, and have relatively high cost per chip.
Another type of custom integrated circuit is application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) including gate-array based and cell-based ASICs which are often referred to as xe2x80x9csemicustomxe2x80x9d ASICs. Semicustom ASICs are programmed by defining either a) defining the placement and interconnection of a collection of predefined logic cells which are used to create a mask for manufacturing the IC (cell-based) or b) defining the final metal interconnection layers to lay over a predefined pattern of transistors on the silicon (gate-array-based). Semicustom ASICs can achieve high performance and high integration but can be undesirable because they have relatively high design costs, have relatively long design cycles (time it take to transform given functionality into a mask), and relatively low predictability of integrating into an overall electronic system.
Another type of custom integrated circuit is referred to as application-specific standard parts (ASSPs) which are non-programmable integrated circuits that are designed for specific applications. These devices are typically purchased off-the-shelf from integrated circuit suppliers. ASSPs have predetermined architectures and input and output interfaces. They are typically designed for specific products and, therefore, have short product lifetimes.
Yet another type of custom integrated circuit is referred to as a software-only design. This type uses a general purpose processor and a high-level compiler. The end user programs the desired functions with a high-level language. The compiler generates the machine code that instructs the processor to perform the desired functions. Software-only designs typically require general-purpose hardware to perform the desired function. In addition, software only designs have relatively poor performance because the hardware is not optimized to perform the desired functions.
FIG. 1 illustrates a flow chart of a prior art custom integrated circuit design cycle 10. The first step 12 is to design the system at a functional level. A system partitioning step 14 partitions the functional design into a plurality of tasks. A hardware implementation step 16 selects the hardware for the design. A gate level design step 18 configures the logic to implement the hardware design. A netlist generating step 20 produces a netlist of the gate level design. A physical design step 22 determines the geometry of the integrated circuit. A fabrication and manufacturing step 24 generates the custom integrated circuit.
If a general purpose processor (not shown) is used in the custom integrated circuit, additional steps are required. There is a software implementation step 26 where the functional design is coded in software. A hardware/software coverification step 28 verifies the hardware and software implementations. There is also a system integration step 30 that links the hardware and software steps. These steps can add more than 30% to the design cycle.
Today, the custom integrated circuit design cycle 10 typically takes 6-15 months to complete and may cost between one and three million dollars. There are many transformation, analysis and verification steps in the design cycle 10. The design cycle 10 also has potentially time consuming and expensive iterations. Customer modifications or problems occurring during the design cycle may require costly redesign and long delays.
Because of the trend towards increased product functionality in the electronic industry, the complexity of custom integrated circuits is rapidly increasing. The level of skill required to generate custom integrated circuits and the design cycle time is also rapidly increasing. Consequently, prior art methods of generating custom integrated circuits are becoming increasingly inadequate. There currently exists a need for a method of generating application specific integrated circuits that reduces the design cycle time of custom integrated circuits. There also exists a need for a method of generating application specific integrated circuits that allows for modification during the design cycle.
It is therefore a principal object of this invention to greatly reduce the number of steps that it takes to produce an application specific integrated circuit and, therefore, to greatly reduce the design cycle time and the manufacturing cost. It is another object of this invention to provide a method of generating an application specific integrated circuit that easily implements design modifications during the design cycle.
It is another object of this invention to reduce the engineering skill level required to create an application specific integrated circuit. A principal discovery of the present invention is that a custom integrated circuit can be produced by programming a fixed architecture integrated circuit using a high-level object oriented programming language. It is another principal discovery that a custom integrated circuit can be produced by as little as two steps comprising describing the desired functionality of the integrated circuit in an object oriented programming language and compiling the object oriented program onto the fixed programmable architecture.
It is yet another principal discovery that a compiler can be used to perform high level synthesis to map specific functions of an application onto task engines comprised of set data paths in the PSA (programmable system architecture) IC thereby eliminating time intensive analysis of possible data path.
Accordingly, the present invention features a method for generating an application specific integrated circuit that includes providing a software configurable semiconductor integrated circuit having a fixed hardware architecture. The architecture includes a plurality of task engines that executes microtask instructions. The microtask instructions may comprise a Very Long Instruction Word (VLIW) program. The microtask instructions may also be loaded into program memory associated with particular task engines.
A user created high-level language program may be provided that defines the application specific integrated circuit. The high-level language may be an object oriented programming language such as the Java programming language. At least one object oriented class library that performs algorithms, data communications or data manipulations may be provided. The high-level program may be mapped to particular task engines to implement a communication protocol for at least one of an input or an output interface of the fixed hardware architecture.
A high-level language compiler is provided that compiles the high-level language program. The compiler parses the program into a plurality of microtasks that instruct the plurality of task engines to implement the application specific integrated circuit. The program may be parsed into a plurality of threads that are subsequently decomposed into microtasks. The compiler may be optimized to select an optimum task engine for each of the microtasks. For example, the compiler may insert direct memory data references in each of the microtasks. A schedule of multiple microtasks may be statically defined.
The present invention also features a method for generating an application specific integrated circuit. The method includes providing a software configurable semiconductor integrated circuit having a fixed hardware architecture. The hardware architecture includes a plurality of task engines.
A user created high-level language program is provided that defines the application specific integrated circuit. A high-level language compiler is also provided that compiles the high level language program. The compiler parses the program into a plurality of microtasks that instruct the plurality of task engines to implement the application specific integrated circuit.
The present invention also features an apparatus for generating an application specific integrated circuit that includes a semiconductor integrated circuit having a fixed hardware architecture. The hardware architecture includes a plurality of task engines. The plurality of task engines are programmable with a VLIW instruction set that may be unique to each particular task engine. At least one task engine may be included that programs an input and an output interface for accepting data with a communication protocol. The hardware architecture may also include a program memory associated with each of the task engines for storing microtasks for instructing the task engines.
A high-level language compiler compiles a user created high-level language program that defines the application specific integrated circuit. The compiler parses the program into a plurality of microtasks that instruct the plurality of task engines to implement the application specific integrated circuit. The apparatus may also include a software simulator that evaluates particular architectures.

Method of generating application specific integrated circuits using a programmable hardware architecture


An archery bow holder removably supports an archery bow in an upright position in front of a hunter located in a tree stand or adjacent a tree trunk. The archery bow holder includes a tubular member having first and second ends. Screw threads are formed at the first end of the tubular member for attaching the tubular member to a tree trunk. The tubular member has a predetermined length sufficient to position the second end of the tubular member in front of a hunter located adjacent a tree trunk in which the tubular member is mounted. A hook formed of a short leg extending generally perpendicular to the second end of the tubular member and terminating in a short upright arm is formed on the second end of the tubular member to receive and support one end of an archery bow.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to archery bows and, more specifically, to archery bow holders for field use.
2. Description of the Art
Bow hunters frequently use a blind, such as an elevated tree stand, to provide an unobstructed field of view of an area traversed by game animals and to place the hunter above the normal horizontal line of sight of such animals. As hunters may wait for many hours for game animals to approach the blind, most hunters desire to have a convenient holder to temporarily store an archery bow while not in use. Such a bow holder must also enable the hunter to quickly retrieve the bow and to bring the bow and arrow into a firing position.
Since a conventional tree stand includes a foot platform and a seat, various bow holders have been devised for attachment to the front edge of the platform. These holders receive the lower end of one of the bow limbs to support the bow in a generally upright, vertical position. However, such a mounting arrangement is subject to inadvertent release of the bow from the holder if the bow is inadvertently touched by the hunter or due to a gust of wind. Other bow holders are of a makeshift variety and employ nails or hooks which are attached to tree limbs or tree trunks to temporarily hold an archery bow. However, the availability of tree limbs at the proper position in front of the hunter is not always possible, particularly where the hunter desires to position the tree stand with an unobstructed field of view in front of the stand.
Furthermore, temporarily mounting bows by means of hooks or nails to tree trunks positions the bow in a location which is not easy for the hunter to quickly reach and one which requires excessive movement by the hunter in reaching for the bow which may startle the game animal.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide an archery bow holder which overcomes the deficiencies of previously devised bow holders for use in the field. It would also be desirable to provide an archery bow holder which positions the bow at an easily retrievable position in front of a hunter located in a tree stand. It would also be desirable to provide an archery bow holder which securely retains the bow in a storage position and which enables a hunter to easily and quickly remove the bow from the holder without excessive movement. It would also be desirable to provide an archery bow holder which is easily mountable and dismountable from a tree trunk.


Charge-trapping regions are arranged beneath lower edges of the gate electrode separate from one another. Source/drain regions are formed in self-aligned manner with respect to the charge-trapping regions by means of a doping process at low energy in order to form shallow junctions laterally extending only a small distance beneath the charge-trapping regions. The self-alignment ensures a large number of program-erase cycles with high effectiveness and good data retention, because the locations of the injections of charge carriers of opposite signs are narrowly and exactly defined.

Nonvolatile memory cells that are electrically programmable and erasable can be realized as charge-trapping memory cells, which comprise a memory layer sequence of dielectric materials with a memory layer between confinement layers of dielectric material having a larger energy band gap than the memory layer. The memory layer sequence is arranged between a channel region within a semiconductor body and a gate electrode provided to control the channel by means of an applied electric voltage. Examples of charge-trapping memory cells are the SONOS memory cells, in which each confinement layer is an oxide and the memory layer is a nitride of the semiconductor material, usually silicon (U.S. Pat. No. 5,768,192 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,011,725, both of which are incorporated herein by reference).
Charge carriers are accelerated from source to drain through the channel region and gain enough energy to be able to penetrate the lower confinement layer and to be trapped within the memory layer. The trapped charge carriers change the threshold voltage of the cell transistor structure. Different programming states can be read by applying the appropriate reading voltages.
A publication by B. Eitan et al., "NROM: a Novel Localized Trapping, 2-Bit Nonvolatile Memory Cell" in IEEE Electron Device Letters, volume 21, pages 543 to 545 (2000), incorporated herein by reference, describes a charge-trapping memory cell with a memory layer sequence of oxide, nitride and oxide which is especially adapted to be operated with a reading voltage that is reverse to the programming voltage (reverse read). The oxide-nitride-oxide layer sequence is especially designed to avoid the direct tunneling regime and to guarantee the vertical retention of the trapped charge carriers. The oxide layers are specified to have a thickness of more than 5 nm.
The memory layer can be substituted with another dielectric material, provided the energy band gap is smaller than the energy band gap of the confinement layers. The difference in the energy band gaps should be as great as possible to secure a good charge carrier confinement and thus a good data retention. When using silicon dioxide as confinement layers, the memory layer may be tantalum oxide, cadmium silicate, titanium oxide, zirconium oxide or aluminum oxide. Also intrinsically conducting (non-doped) silicon may be used as the material of the memory layer.
The memory layer sequence of a charge-trapping memory cell is composed of dielectric materials. Therefore, it is possible to subdivide the memory layer into separate regions located at the source/drain regions of the memory cell transistor (for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,335,554 B1, incorporated herein by reference). In this way, it is possible to store two bits of information by an application of programming currents in two opposite directions. The function of the source region and the drain region is interchanged so that channel hot electrons are alternatively injected into one of the two separate memory layer regions. The programmed status of the memory cell can be read for the two charge-trapping regions separately. Thus, two bits of information can be stored separately in each transistor memory cell. The stored information is maintained for more than ten years if the memory layer and confinement layers are produced accordingly.
The amount of charge carriers which are trapped in the course of the programming process is not strictly fixed. Therefore, the threshold voltage of the cell transistor may display certain variations so that the actually sensed value deviates from the average value. The distributions of the threshold voltages of the programmed "0" and the programmed "1" should be as narrow as possible and should especially not overlap too much. Ideally, a complete separation of the ranges of the values of the threshold voltages for the two different programmed states is realized so that they do not overlap at all. To obtain this, the relative position of the charge-trapping regions and the adjacent junction of the corresponding source/drain region is critical.

Charge-trapping memory device and method of production


A catheter with many fiber optic pressure sensors. The sensor diaphragm is formed from a wafer with a thin silicon layer and a silicon substrate layer separated by a silicon dioxide layer. A method includes masking and etching channels through the silicon substrate layer in a pattern of concentric circles to form a concentric circular etched channels and cylindrical unetched portions of the silicon substrate layer between the channels, exposing the silicon dioxide in the etched regions, and dissolving the exposed silicon dioxide to expose the crystalline silicon layer in the etched regions. The unetched cylindrical portion of the silicon substrate forms the diaphragm support element and the thin silicon layer forms the diaphragm. After applying a reflective coating to the exposed thin silicon layer, the support element face is adhered to the end face of a tubular housing, and a fiber optic probe is inserted in the tubular housing.

1. Technical Field
The invention is related to miniature fiber optic pressure sensors, and more particularly, to catheters with sensors for measuring pressure in the human body.
2. Background
In recent years, optical fibers have formed the basis for many different types of sensors, such as microphones, static and dynamic pressure sensors, strain sensors, among others. Optical fiber sensors can use interferometry or intensity modulation. Intensity modulated fiber optic sensors, while often less sensitive than comparable interferometric sensors, are simpler and less expensive.
The theory of intensity modulated optical fiber sensors, including pressure sensors and microphones, and examples of such sensors, are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,379,630 to Lagakos et al., U.S. Pat. No. 7,020,354 to Lagakos et al., and U.S. Patent Publication No. 20060072887 to Lagakos et al. The entire disclosure of these documents is incorporated herein by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 7,149,374 to Lagakos et al. discloses fiber optic pressure sensors having an etched diaphragm, and methods for forming the diaphragm. The entire disclosure of this document is incorporated herein by reference.
Optical fibers also form the basis for medical catheter devices for insertion into a human blood vessel. Examples include U.S. Pat. No. 7,447,388, to Bates et al., entitled "Systems and Methods for Minimally-Invasive Optical-Acoustic Imaging" and U.S. Pat. No. 7,396,354 to Rychnovsky et al., entitled "Light Delivery Catheter", U.S. Pat. No. 7,384,407 to Rodriguez et al., entitled "Small Vessel Ultrasound Catheter" discloses a catheter with a fiber optic temperature sensor suitable for small blood vessels. In "Development of an SU-8 Fabry-Perot blood pressure sensor", IEEE International Conference on Micro Electro Mechanical Systems, 2005, pp. 810-813, R. Melamud, A. A. Davenport, G. C. Hill, I. H. Chan, F. Declercq, P. G. Hartwell, and B. L. Pruitt disclose a Fabry-Perot interferometer based optical fiber pressure sensor suitable for use in human blood vessels and a method for forming the sensor using photolithography.
M. Shimada, Y. Kinefuchi, and K. Takahashi, "Sleeve-Type Ultra Miniature Optical Fiber Pressure Sensor Fabricated by DRIE", IEEE Sensors Journal, Vol. 8, No. 7, July 2008, pp. 1337-1341, discloses an interferometric optical fiber pressure sensor and method for forming the sensor.

Fiber optic pressure sensors and catheters

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy