A unitary machine parsable language for use in data representation and problem solving in knowledge based services having a vocabulary of terms which derive from a natural human language to facilitate ease of comprehension by humans based upon a definition of the context of an item of information. A method of increasing the effectiveness of a knowledge based service consultation comprising splitting the consultation into at least a pre-consultation phase, a consultation phase and a post-consultation phase wherein information collected during earlier phases is electronically checked during the post-consultation phase.

In the past it has been difficult for providers of knowledge based services, such as healthcare professionals to increase their productivity in terms of clients (or patients) seen per day. This is because at present, it is necessary for service providers, such as doctors, dentists, physiotherapists, optometrists, podiatrists, to attend to the patient during the entire consultation process. This list is given by way of example only, it is not meant to be exhaustive, nor to indicate a particular class of knowledge based service providers. Nevertheless, the remainder of the present discussion will use the field of healthcare professionals in order to illustrate the concepts involved.
An effective and competent health professional easily builds up a large practice and with constant referrals from within and outside the health care network, may soon be overwhelmed with patient numbers. This limits the time available for solving the problems of the individual patient and hence translates into a deterioration of health care for each of the individual patients once the healthcare professional exceeds his or her limit of patient numbers.
In addition, the potential income of a healthcare professional is presently limited by the time available to spend with each patient. Therefore, despite the arduous acquisition of expert knowledge and skills, the potential income of healthcare professionals is at a relative disadvantage compared with other professions such as in the legal, accounting or architectural professions. In these latter professions, the situation is compounded because the professionals are better able to leverage their skills by employing junior staff to perform many of the less challenging tasks.
This problem is particularly acute for the successful healthcare professional who attracts a large following of patients. Hitherto it has been difficult to increase patient throughput. For example, the average doctor is mentally exhausted by dealing with forty patients a day with common but difficult symptomatology such as chest pains, tiredness, abdominal discomfort, headaches, shortness of breath, swelling in the legs, dizziness, tiredness, loss of weight, weight gain and chronic diarrhea. To analyse each of these problems properly takes precious time and skill.
Overall quality of the consultation and patient care involves an effective evaluation of patient problems in order to lead to an accurately defined diagnoses and treatment goals/management plans. To provide quality healthcare services requires a clear understanding of the clinical status of the patient and activation of best practice management plans for each delineated problem. In addition, it involves the healthcare professional enlisting the patient to be as cognizant as possible of his or her overall problems as well as the patients support for the treatment plans.
The current healthcare professional consultation model (and in particular that utilised by doctors) is flawed by the limited capacity of the human brain to track and evaluate the multitude of complex patient events. Healthcare professionals are naturally inclined to restrict patient numbers to obviate this problem.
Improved productivity may be achieved by addressing some or all of the following key problems:    1. The limited availability of time;    2. Problems associated with the consultation process, including;            (a) The problem of entering patient historical notes into computerized medical packages;        (b) The problem and time consuming task of analysing patient symptoms;        (c) The duty of care owed to the patient;            3. The problem of the patient-computer interface;    4. The problem of augmenting problem solving capacity from a plurality of resources;    5. The need to link various problem solving resources together; and1. The limited availability of time;
The problem is the apparent need to spend time with the patient during the period in which they are seeking healthcare advice. This can be referred to as 'the synchronous nature of the consultation.' Appointments are each made for a block of time during which the healthcare professional spends time face to face with the patient. As the healthcare professional can only be in one place at one time, this is an apparently insurmountable lack of time (or 'time trap').
From the patient's viewpoint, it is considerably inconvenient that he or she cannot obtain a consultation, attuned to their current health context, at any time or place.
2. Problems associated with the consultation process, including;
(a) The problem of entering patient historical notes into computerized medical packages;
                Previously proposed procedures, require healthcare professionals to type in patient notes, click on a picklist or use voice control input during the consultation. Such procedures are not admitted to be part of the common general knowledge. They have been found to extend the time required for a consultation. In addition, this triangular process (which involves the computer, the patient and the doctor) will materially affect the quality of the medical thinking and decrease the value of the consultation process. For example, it has been found that a doctor's concentration on the computer screen rather than the patient can inhibit free communication and make the doctor appear more concerned about taking correct notes than about the patient.(b) The problem and time consuming task of analysing patient symptoms;        The typical medical consultation comprises the phases of history taking, physical examination, and assessment. This is followed up by investigations or treatment with drugs or procedures. The history component of a medical consultation is the most time consuming process that requires great concentration on the part of the healthcare professional.        Some of the key components which go together to make up good clinical skills include memory, associations between presented data and the facility to make inferences from clear or fuzzy data. The healthcare professional has to make constant evaluations after detecting each symptom or sign. In order to home in on a diagnosis, the healthcare professional must pose the most appropriate question or look for a contributory and incriminating sign that supports his or her hypotheses. Often these symptoms are difficult and tedious to analyse, and may consume large amounts of expensive and valuable time.        When under pressure due to large numbers of patients, healthcare professionals tend to succumb to mental laziness, and employ simplistic thinking. This often leads to the ordering of more diagnostic tests which may be unnecessary or even inappropriate.(c) The duty of care owed to the patient;        With the increasing complexity of medical care it is getting harder for the healthcare professional, especially the primary care physician or general practitioner to take good care of their patients. For example, someone with diabetes mellitus needs regular eye specialist referral, foot care, dietary advice, blood tests for HbA1c, glucose, lipids. Likewise there are specific long term management protocols for many other chronic diseases, such as ischemic heart disease and asthma.        Other necessary tasks for the healthcare professional in this regard include:        i) check to make sure that all abnormal tests are followed up with more tests, treatment or referral        ii) check for disease-drug interactions        iii) check for drug—drug interactions        iv) try to explain any presenting symptoms with iatrogenic actions        v) heck to make sure that all diagnoses are covered with some form of treatment—example a patient with gout should be offered at least allopurinol to reduce the uric acid        vi) patient is up to date with preventive health checks3. The problem of the patient-computer interface;
In the past, certain methods utilized paper based or computer forms for example, with check lists. In certain instances, they assist in the creation of a plethora of information regarding the patient. However such a large amount of information has been found to confound the doctor's analysis. Therefore, they have been found to add little in the way of solving the patient's problem. In addition, they do not solve the problem of the healthcare professional having to note down the medical history.
4. The problem of augmenting problem solving capacity from a plurality of resources.
One particular problem solving technique includes the step of looking for information on the world wide web. This technique relies on indexing all the words in a web document. This can be problematic since such internet searches typically return tens of thousands of web documents.
Such searches involve machine conversations in the form of SGML/HTML/XML documents being sent from HTTP servers to web browsers and CGI scripts/VBScripts/Javascripts to servers. The seeking and retrieval of such documents is aided by internet smart engines, web crawlers which index the documents for retrieval by keywords or search categories. With an XML solution, a knowledge broker needs to parse the XML syntax and then parse the contents of the XML document. So really the XML solution is just pushing the problem one layer deeper and in no way solves the problems outlined in this background. The poor efficiency of present systems is compounded by the namespace problem in the knowledge domain. This is illustrated by the word 'driver' which may relate to a driver of a car or a software driver, depending on the context.
5. The need to link various problem solving resources together;
Present computer—based healthcare systems rely on numeric coding methods such as the International Classification Diseases edition 9 and 10. Basically, such systems use the concept of mapping textual descriptions to a fixed predominantly number code. Numeric based coding schemes have led to an explosion of the terms list. Maintenance is a gargantuan task and inevitably the complexity leads to collapse of the system.
The present systems for medical coding use a call by reference coding system. According to these systems, the disease and illness contexts are lumped together to be given a fixed code. A medical code often describes a central theme and has associated modifiers—for example 'injury involving cycling and traffic accident'. According to the present systems, a medical code is analogous to a gelati in which the type of cone (theme) and the flavours of gelati (modifiers) are specified. Hence a cone/gelati combination can be ordered by specifying a reference code on the wall or by naming.
Examples of reference coding are the V series injury codes in ICD10 where there are 98 modifiers or gelati flavours to injury. Even though there are only 11,000 slots for V codes, there are 3,764,376 combinations from 3 or 4 modifiers from the pool of 98. Only a theoretical 1% (11,000 out of 3,764,376) of contextual situations have been coded exactly right.
Such call by reference coding systems (such as ICD, ICPC, Read and Snomed) have been found to have a likelihood of an adverse outcome for patients or a component of the health system. Such errors are likely to arise from the loss of contextual information or misinformation, due to the complexity of using or maintaining such a system—this is termed the gelati syndrome.
In a nutshell, the problem that coding in medicine faces can be reduced to the issues of efficiency of data handling and integrity of data. Previously used reference codes such as Read or Snomed which are modeled on the numeric paradigm appear unable to adequately deal with the problems faced by e-medicine.
Such previous codes such as Snomed are rigid multi-axial systems which map a mainly rigid numeric string to a textual description of the target medical entity that may contain a plurality of contextual information.
A further problem with present medical coding systems is their inability to handle fine detail or 'fine grain information'. Such information can be crucial in medical research and lead to picking the tiny nuances that may lead to a breakthrough in understanding a patient's condition. Present systems, such as the V codes in ICD 10 often lead to a loss of coded information due to loss of context (for example, there are only 3356 V codes with which to cover all types of injuries.)
A further disadvantage of the V codes is that it has a limited range of discriminants or context modifiers (for example, for injuries). There are a total of 98 discriminants or points of differences in the V codes. These 98 discriminants include: 'accident' 'activities' 'agricultural' 'air' 'aircraft' 'alighting' 'all-terrain' 'animal' 'animal-drawn' 'animal-rider' 'antecedent' 'balloon' 'boarding' 'boat' 'bus' 'canoe' 'car' 'causing' 'collision' 'commercial' 'construction' 'craft' 'cycle' 'cyclist' 'derailment' 'driver' 'drowning' 'eating' 'fall' 'fishing' 'fixed-wing' 'glider' 'ground' 'hang-glider' 'heavy' 'helicopter' 'hit' 'income' 'industrial' 'inflatable' 'injured' 'injury' 'kayak' 'leisure' 'merchant' 'microlight' 'mode' 'motor' 'motor-' 'motor-vehicle' 'motorcycle' 'noncollision' 'nonmotor' 'nonmotor-vehicle' 'nonpowered' 'nonpowered-aircraft' 'nontraffic' 'object' 'occupant' 'off-road' 'outside' 'parachutist' 'passenger' 'pedal' 'pedestrian' 'person' 'pick-truck' 'pick-up' 'powered' 'powered-glider' 'premises' 'private' 'railway' 'rider' 'rolling' 'sailboat' 'ship' 'spacecraft' 'sports' 'stationary' 'stock' 'streetcar' 'submersion' 'three-wheeled' 'thrown' 'traffic' 'train' 'transport' 'truck' 'unpowered' 'van' 'vehicle' 'victim's' 'water' 'water-skis' 'water-transport-related' 'watercraft' 'work'.
The V series of codes are based on the template of Vnn.n[n], where there is a capital V with 2 digits before and one or two digits after the decimal point. The number of V codes possible for 3 digits: 10×10×10×10=1,000. The number of V codes possible for 4 digits: 10×10×10×10=10,000. This gives a maximum total of 11,000 possible V codes, without a total rewrite of the V codes series which would lose the multi-axial information encoded in the number and its location within the code.
The V series usually have three or four descriptor sub-themes. Using the nCr formula:
With the 98 discriminants, if we choose 3 out of 98 we get: 152,096 permutations
With the 98 discriminants, if we choose 4 out of 98 we get: 3,612,280 permutations
Based on the assumption that 98 discriminants are all the health and related profession and medical research community will ever need, the number of code space needed is at least:3,612,280+152,096=3,764,376
From this it can be seen that there is a gross mismatch between the contextual situations that the user wants to code and the codes allowed for by the V series design. There are 3,764,376−11,000=3,753,376 contextual combinations that may be required but which have not been expressed in the V code series. In short only a theoretical 1% (11,000 out of 3,764,376) of contextual situations are coded exactly right. In other words, 99% of contextual situations are coded wrong, do not have a code assigned to them or are lumped into the unspecified activity categories.
This has resulted in some interesting ICD codes with dubious contexts: "V81.70", "Occupant of railway train or railway vehicle injured in derailment without antecedent collision, while engaged in sports activity", "Y",
"V81.71", "Occupant of railway train or railway vehicle injured in derailment without antecedent collision, while engaged in leisure activity", "Y",
A still further problem with the V code system is that due to the mismatch between the number of codes and the combinations possible with the discriminants, coded information must be retrieved via a lookup table and not by inspection of the ICD codes themselves.
For example, the discriminant 'alighting' is found in both V codes below, yet there is no location specific digit representation of 'alighting' common in both V codes. This is to be expected as the coding space only allows 1 percent of possibilities. In other words, the user will have to look up the ICD table to see what was actually being coded.
"V10.30", "Pedal cyclist injured in collision with pedestrian or animal, while boarding or alighting, while engaged in sports activity", "Y",
"V43.4", "Car occupant injured in collision with car, pick-up truck or van, while boarding or alighting", "N",
A further problem with the numeric reference code schema is the imprecision and difficulty of coding at the source. For example, what happens to the case of the professional golfer hurt with a golf buggy while engaged in coaching a Japanese tourist at Cape Schanck? It needs to be coded as V99.90, V99.91, V99.91, V99.92 or is it V98.8 or V98.94 or V98.99 or just V99 or all of the above. Would the system allow a couple of V codes? Would not a single unified code do? This makes coding very prone to error. It makes training and staffing of coders a very specialised and arduous task—like the teaching of Latin.
There are also issues as to the proper maintenance of numerical based codes. If the number of discriminants stay the same, then there is no maintenance problem at all. The more the number of discriminants are added the more flaky the system becomes as the location specific number becomes meaningless. However with time the pressure will mount for modifiers such as 'Vietnam', 'Timor', and even ethnic labels to do useful public health research.
Certain public health officials would want to throw in a large number of sporting events such as the ones at the Sydney 2000 Olympics games. A sports medicine physiotherapist or doctor might be interested in looking at injuries involved in distance running. The V codes are confined to 2×2 decimal digits only—to add new discriminants will throw everything out of kilter. To make the new framework backward compatible is a nightmare. There are over 100 Olympic events, the possible number of valid combinations of injuries is a gargantuan figure. To code for all various possible types and causes of sporting injuries using the ICD paradigm would be an enormous task.
A good coding system must be able to cope with the technical problem of the explosion of terms in medical coding or any area of knowledge coding when necessary (such as when the end user wants coding for tiny nuances), without adding thousands and thousands of number codes. The explosion of codes that was seen in the READ coding system, which reached 400,000—would have maintenance a very difficult task.
A still further issue in respect of numerical based systems is the question of information retrieval. An ICD code once applied creates a situation whereby it is hard to retrieve, or analyse a particular subcomponent of a code. For example the code for pedestrian injuries can be anything from V01 to V09. The digits of the decimal code do not appear to have a numeric pattern that is mapped to a particular activity such as "collision" , a "truck", a "car" or "sports activity" or "work".
Since the ICD code (and other similar numeric codes) itself does not have a fixed alphanumeric pattern mapped to an external reality, searching for subcomponents is possible but excruciatingly difficult. To search for all truck injuries, a belief system has to be constructed from the ICD list and all truck injuries are mapped to a collection of ICD V codes that have truck as a possible cause of the injury.
The lack of 'regular patterns' means that the moment a single new ICD code is issued, the analytical tools for ICD diseases are deprecated. To update the analytical tool to the level of correctness, each new ICD code has to be analysed, its impact on every subroutine of the analytical machine needs to be assessed and each subroutine has to be individually updated.
Traditional, numerical based systems are limited as to the level of complexity of events described. As time goes by, scientists become more and more curious. They may want to set up a study to see if the gender of the driver plays a role in serious car accidents. The colour of the vehicle may play a role in serious car accidents and may come up for serious contemplation. The relative damaging results of side on, versus head on collisions may be a topic for a master's dissertation.
From another angle, some minor social practices may lead to profound changes in a disease demographics. The tiny nuances are the source of many medical breakthroughs. An example is the use of condoms or the practice of circumcision in the spread of AIDS. A disease representational system must be able to code for these tiny variations as a minimum requirement. In that sense the current ICD scheme is not sensitive or expressive enough to code for a comprehensive picture that is required by the researchers. These same researchers might create an ad hoc series of codes to be used once and discarded.
Associated with the problem of coding for medical entities (or any entity in any knowledge domain) there is the problem of converting handbooks and textbooks guidelines into fully fledge computerized decision support, offering answers at the point of clinical decision making. This is distinct from conversion of text material into a series of lookup pages in HTML housed in a web browser. The type of decision support required is more similar to the situation where the user is doing data entry into a clinical recording system and by clicking on a button, the computer will respond with the most pertinent treatment plans tailored to that particular patient.
An example of the type of rule to be captured is:
If the patient with endocarditis is an adult, and has no allergy to penicillin, then give:                1) Benzylpenicillin 2 g 4 hourly intravenously for 2 weeks        OR        2) Gentamycin 2 mg/kg 4 hourly intravenously for 7 days, monitoring blood levels.        OR        3) Vancomycin 1 g intravenously 12 hourly PLUS Gentamycin 2 mg/kg 4 hourly intravenously, both for 3 days.
Coding the above with a numeric coding system is a challenge.

Unitary language for problem solving resources for knowledge based services


The end of a lead wire of a DC motor composed of twisted wires is formed into a flat shape by welding the twisted wires together, and is inserted or installed through a grommet with the smaller or shorter dimension of the flat shape oriented in the axial direction of the motor.

This invention relates to a leading-out device for a lead wire of a DC motor wherein a lead wire portion connected to a main circuit conductor of the motor and led outside thereof, is improved.
FIG. 3 is a side view of a starter motor wherein a lead wire is led from a direct current motor portion to the outside thereof. A reference numeral 1 designates a starter motor composed as follows. A numeral 2 designates a DC motor, wherein a rear bracket 4 is connected to a rear end of a yoke 3 and a front bracket 6 is connected to a front end thereof through an intermediate bracket 5. Inside thereof, a speed reducing gear device is connected to an armature and a pinion 15 is extended therefrom through an overrunning clutch. A numeral 16 designates an electromagnetic switch wherein a lead wire 12 extended from the motor 2 to the outside thereof, is connected to a main circuit terminal (M terminal) 17. A numeral 13 designates a grommet fitted to a cut-off portion of the yoke 3 through which the lead wire 12 passes and 14, an insulation tube fitted to the lead wire 12.
A circuit diagram of the DC motor 2 is shown by FIG. 4. A numeral 7 designates an armature, 8, brushes and 9, field coils connected to a conductor 10 to which the lead wire 12 is connected at a connecting portion 11.
When current flows in an electromagnetic switch 16, the contact of the circuit is closed, and a current from a storage battery flows from the main circuit terminal 17 to the lead wire 12 and to the main circuit of the DC motor 2 thereby rotating the armature 7. In the meantime, a plunger of the electromagnetic switch 16 is operated, a shift lever (not shown) is swiveled and a pinion 15 is moved forward through an overrunning clutch to mesh with a ring gear of an internal combustion engine. The rotation of the armature 7 is reduced by the speed reducing gear device and rotates the pinion 15 through the overrunning clutch. In this way, the ring gear is rotated and the engine is started.
FIG. 5A is a sectional diagram of a conventional leading-out device for a lead wire. An end of the lead wire 12 composed of twisted wires is connected to the connecting portion 11 of the connecting conductor 10 of the motor 2 by a brazing material. As shown in FIG. 5B by a sectional diagram, a lead wire 12 passing through the grommet 13 made of a gummy material is a twisted-wire conductor composed of a great number of copper wires. Especially, in the starter motor, since a large current flows in the lead wire 12 and in view of the vibration resistance, the diameter thereof is magnified.
In the conventional leading-out device for a lead wire, the outer configuration of the lead wire 12 is circular and thick. The lead wire 12 reaches inside of the yoke 3 through the grommet 13. To maintain a clearance between the lead wire 12 and the inner field coil 9, the motor 2 is elongated in the axial direction, which hampers the downsizing thereof.
Furthermore, in the above conventional leading-out device for a lead wire, in passing the leading-out portion of the lead wire 12 through the grommet 13, a hole of the grommet 13 has an interference to provide a waterproof performance. Therefore the operation is difficult. Furthermore, a variation of the protruding length of the leading-out portion which passes through the grommet 13 should be avoided and the protruding length should conform to a predetermined length. Therefore, the operation becomes more difficult.

Leading-out device for a lead wire of a DC motor and a method of leading out a lead wire


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method, a system and a server for removing alerts. An example method includes monitoring an alert removing instruction triggered by a current user for alerts in a social application client. An alert removing request of the current user to a server is initiated according to the alert removing instruction. Alerts triggered and returned by the server are received according to the alert removing request of the current user, with the alerts returned by the server being obtained by removing a group of alerts designated to be removed from on-going alerts in the social application client. The alerts in the social application client are updated as the alerts returned by the server.

With development of the virtual social network, various kinds of social applications are developed to implement communication and other communication-related functions. The social application runs in various kinds of terminal devices in a form a client, e.g., a social application client, communicates with the server via the Internet and communicates with other social application clients via the Internet between the client and the server.
The social application client may implement a communication function via various kinds of messages. When the social application client receives a message, the social application client may alert the user of the new message, for instance, the social application client may alert the user by displaying a red dot and number on a message corresponding to each contact in a session list. Therefore, the user may visually know the receipt of new messages and the number of the new messages using the alert.

Method, system and server for removing alerts

TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED


A photo-imaged stress management layer for a semiconductor device is described. The stress management layer is located on an outer surface of a semiconductor device and may be patterned to address certain stress compensation requirements of the semiconductor device. The stress management layer may be manufactured onto the semiconductor device using a photolithographic procedure that allows both simple and complex patterns to be realized.

A. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to the management of stress on a semiconductor device, and more particularly, to the manufacturing and design of a stress management layer on a semiconductor device.
B. Background of the Invention
Semiconductor devices are sensitive to mechanical stress, which may misshape or otherwise harm a semiconductor device. This mechanical stress may adversely affect the performance of the device, and over time, reduce the length of its operative life. One source of mechanical stress is a package, in which a semiconductor device is located, that functions to protect the semiconductor device from its environment and provides an interface for electrical and potentially optical signals.
A semiconductor device may be packaged in various types of semiconductor packages. Examples of available semiconductor packages include transfer molded and pour molded packages. Typically, these packages are made of a molding compound that surrounds the semiconductor device and functions as a barrier between the device and the outside environment. Although the purpose of this molding compound is to protect the semiconductor device, it may actually harm the device as it reacts to temperature changes. This package molding compound may expand or contract at a different rate than the semiconductor device relative to temperature changes caused either by the semiconductor device itself or the outside environment. In particular, the molding compound and semiconductor device may have different thermal expansion coefficients which cause different rates of expansion or contraction relative to a temperature change. This expansion or contraction of the surrounding molding compound applies mechanical stress on the semiconductor device and may reduce the performance, shorten the life, or otherwise damage the device. Thus, as the semiconductor device goes through a series of temperature cycles, the damage caused by this mechanical stress may be compounded resulting in significant shortening of the operative life of the semiconductor device.
One semiconductor device that is particularly sensitive to outside mechanical stress is a surface emitting laser. Surface emitting laser devices also have specific requirements for packaging that may limit the options available to compensate for this mechanical stress. In particular, the molding compound and any filler material between the compound and the device need to be relatively clear to allow light to be emitted from the device. Plastic packaging, having certain transparent properties, is typically used to package surface emitting laser semiconductor devices. As described above, this plastic packaging may expand and contract at a different rate relative to temperature than does the surface emitting laser semiconductor device. Accordingly, as the package molding and filler material expands or contracts, mechanical stress may be placed on the surface emitting laser semiconductor device or components therein.
Certain components or areas of a semiconductor device are particularly sensitive to mechanical stress. For example, an active region within a surface emitting laser is more easily damaged from stress than other components of the laser. This active region contains components, such as mirrors that create a lasing cavity. External stress may induce mechanical stress into these components and thereby diminish the operation of the lasing cavity and the surface emitting laser. Other semiconductor devices, such as other types of lasers or sensors of several varieties, may also contain specific components that are highly-stress sensitive. As a result, a semiconductor device may have certain areas or components that need more protection against stress than other components in the device.
Current methods to reduce stress on a semiconductor device are often difficult, expensive and time consuming to apply. One such method is the use of a syringe to drop liquid material, on a semiconductor device after fabrication. This method, however, does not allow stress management material to be patterned on a substrate nor provide any control of the thickness of this material on the semiconductor itself. Additionally, these current methods are unable to specifically address certain portions of a semiconductor that may be more sensitive to stress, while leaving uncovered other areas for facilitation of electrical contact, for example.

Photo-imaged stress management layer for semiconductor devices


A sun tracking solar energy collection system includes a sun tracker having a base with a rotatable member driven by a base motor. A support extends from the base and is rotatably driven in conjunction with the rotatable member by the base motor. An arm in communication with the support is pivotable relative to the base and the support and is driven by an arm motor associated with the arm. A light sensitive element in conjunction with the arm receives a light from a light source for determining an amount of received light. A solar energy collector is movably positioned to correspond to a relative position of the base and the arm to correspond to the position of the light source for collecting solar energy. A controller controls a position of the sun tracker and the solar energy collector to correspond to a position of the light source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to alternative energy, and particularly to a sun tracking solar energy collection system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solar energy can provide an efficient source of power that is relatively environmentally-friendly in comparison to other forms of power generators, such as generators using natural gas, for example. Solar power generation generally involves the absorption of light, such as sunlight, through a solar energy collector to allow for the conversion of the light into electricity. A potential drawback when using sunlight in the solar energy collection system is the need to reposition the solar energy collector to maintain contact with the sunlight.
Present approaches to address this issue can include a user manually repositioning the solar energy collector to be in contact with the sunlight. Another possible approach is to automate the movement of the solar energy collector in specified time intervals, such as moving the solar energy collector a number of degrees every few hours, for example. These approaches can be problematic however because of the movement of the sun.
Therefore, it is desirable for a solar energy collection system that utilizes sunlight to take into account the movement and position of the sun to efficiently maintain orientation between the solar energy collector and the sun to collect the solar energy.
Thus, a sun tracking solar energy collection system addressing the aforementioned problems is desired.

Sun tracking solar energy collection system


A method for calibrating a physical test cell includes the steps of: determining a set of inputs to be provided to the physical test cell based in part on a set of historical test data; providing the inputs to the physical test cell and receiving a set of outputs associated therewith, wherein the providing includes implementing a sequential space filling sampling procedure to substantially cover a region defined by the set of historical values; creating a virtual test cell comprising one or more response surfaces based on the set of outputs; and interrogating the virtual test cell to determine a calibration relationship between at least one of the inputs and at least one of the outputs. Smooth Kriging may be used to determine the virtual test cell.

Automated testing procedures—particularly those used to characterize complicated electromechanical systems—are often costly and time-consuming. As technology levels increase, the number of variables and complexity associated with such components likewise dramatically increases.
In the case of powertrains and other automotive components, for example, there exist so many inputs and outputs associated with the system that the number of measurements required to properly calibrate even one aspect may take weeks to complete. A modern diesel engine, for example, may have as many as thirteen variables requiring calibration. Systematic and exhaustive measurements of such a system would be prohibitively time-consuming and expensive.
Prior art methods typically address this problem by performing individual tests for each calibration of interest. Design of Experiments (DOE) techniques are used to achieve test efficiency by limiting test conditions to a small set, with the assumption that certain inputs to not interact in their effect on the outputs, and/or that the test outputs follow a presumed mathematical relationship. These prior art testing methodologies may not properly take into account interaction between multiple variables, and therefore do not produce models amenable to optimization—e.g., optimization with respect to fuel economy, performance, quality, etc.
Accordingly, there is a need for improved methods and systems for calibration and testing of complicated electromechanical systems.

Methods and apparatus for a virtual test cell


A corrosion monitoring device for monitoring corrosion in fluid containing systems and other equipment exposed to a corrosive environment comprising sensor elements having a composition substantially the same as the equipment being monitored, the sensor elements having a predetermined thickness for exposure to a corrosive solution of the fluid containing system. An electrical property of the monitoring device changes when corrosion penetrates through the thickness of the sensor element. A digital output device generates a first binary signal when corrosion has not penetrated through the thickness of the sensor elements, and a second binary signal when corrosion has penetrated through the thickness of the sensor elements. Multiple sensor elements may be used to provide multiple binary signals. Information from the digital outputs may be processed to provide a cumulative log of corrosion measurements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system and method for measuring corrosion, and more particularly relates to a system and method for detecting localized corrosion in vessels, piping, valves, pumps, and other equipment exposed to a corrosive environment based on the time required for corrosion to proceed through a predetermined thickness of corrosion sensor material.
2. Description of Related Art
Reliable corrosion monitoring of various process equipment is extremely important. For example, it is generally known that various industrial processes produce corrosive by-products. Such corrosive by-products frequently corrode industrial equipment, increase production costs, and create production delays. Thus, corrosion monitoring is a valuable tool which can alleviate such process upsets. Various attempts have been made using electrochemical (EC) and non-electrochemical techniques to identify corrosion processes. For example, linear polarization resistance (LPR) and electrochemical noise methods have been used to identify corrosion rates, types of corrosion, and parameters associated with localized corrosion. Other techniques include the application of electrical resistance (ER) measurements to determine loss of thickness and hence determine corrosion rates. Foil penetration methods have also been used to study the kinetics of pitting in aluminum and aluminum alloys. However, these methods have not been entirely satisfactory in providing an unambiguous method to determine the propagation of localized corrosion in a robust and cost effective manner.
One of the problems encountered with currently available corrosion monitoring methods and devices is that none of the methods provide reliable and unambiguous measures of the uniform corrosion rate or the rate of localized corrosion. The LPR technique typically only provides information on uniform corrosion conditions because it provides an average signal for the surface of the electrode being monitored. Depending upon the environment, metallic material, and corrosion type, the assumption that the corrosion rate is proportional to the measured charge transfer or polarization resistance is invalid when the corrosion is of a localized nature. It is known that localized corrosion (e.g. pitting) is a leading cause of system failure. With LPR, the instantaneous corrosion rate may vary by several orders of magnitude over a short time, and thus, the computed rate may or may not by itself produce much meaningful information. Moreover, due to the complex nature of the measurements and varying resistances involved, the rate at which the potential is scanned may have a significant effect on the amount of current produced at all values of potential sign. Such systems require precise measurements of small incremental changes in the electrical properties of the sensor device, thus making them quite susceptible to noise. Accordingly, such devices typically require relatively complex and expensive components, substantially increasing the cost of making and using such devices. A drawback of ER-type sensors is their considerable bulk due to the long length of the exposed strip necessary to make changes in resistance easily measurable. Although it may be possible to reduce the thickness of the strip, this will adversely impact sensor life because a reduced sensor thickness will corrode entirely through in a shorter period of time.
In view of these limitations, it would be desirable to provide a sensor system and method which is relatively simple and cost effective to manufacture and use, which is substantially robust to noise, and which is capable of measuring localized corrosion (i.e., pitting) with cumulative corrosion measurements.

Method and apparatus for corrosion detection


Optical recording media configured to deter unauthorized access are described. Methods for manufacturing the optical recording media described above are also presented.

Optical recording media are popularly used for storing and distributing large volumes of content. Examples of optical recording media (optical media) commonly distributed via retail outlets include CDs (compact discs), DVDs (digital versatile disc or digital video discs), HD-DVDs, and BDs.
Several formats of optical media are currently available, including (A) read-only formats such as CD-DA (digital audio compact disc), CD-ROM (CD-read-only memory), DVD-ROM, and other formats wherein content is pre-recorded on the medium, and (B) recordable formats in the form of (i) write-once read-may times formats such as CD-R (CD-recordable), and DVD±R (DVD recordable), etc., or (ii) rewritable formats such as CD-RW (CD-rewritable), DVD-RAM (DVD-Random Access Media), DVD-RW or DVD+RW (RVD-rewritable), PD (Phase change Dual disc) and other phase change optical media. Players that reproduce content recorded on these optical media use a red laser. Optical media, such as HD-DVD and BD (each of which include read-only, recordable and rewritable formats), that can be reproduced with players using a blue laser have also been introduced.
Optical media can be used to store and distribute large volumes of content. For example, a CD-ROM typically has a capacity in excess of 600 MB. Other optical media have recording densities significantly greater than that of a CD. For example, conventional DVD read-only discs have a capacity of from 4.7 GB to 17.0 GB, and HD-DVD and BD discs can store even more content.
Unfortunately, the high capacity of optical media, coupled with recent enhancements to personal computers and the advent of recordable optical media technology, also renders optical media popular for illicit use. For example, unauthorized copying of proprietary and/or copyrighted, recorded content from optical media to optical media on a large scale (also referred to as "piracy") is a growing concern. The piracy typically entails using software on a computer system having an optical medium drive to copy content from a recorded optical medium onto recordable media such as CD-R or CD-RW (or DVD-R, DVD-RW or DVD+RW) discs.
In addition, theft of prerecorded optical media from retailers, although not widely reported to the public, has received considerable attention from content producers, replicators, retailers, and other parties along the distribution chain, since such thefts occur on a large scale. In the past, retailers have employed different techniques to deter theft of prerecorded optical discs from the retail store. These techniques included, for example, the use of bulky packaging that were difficult to conceal, and/or attaching electronic surveillance mechanisms to optical disc packaging.
While such techniques served to some extent as deterrence, they each have significant disadvantages. Bulky packaging for instance leads to substantial solid waste. Electronic surveillance mechanisms (hereinafter, electronic markers) attached to optical disc packaging were easily circumvented by removal of the optical disc from the point-of-sale.
It has been proposed that miniature electronic markers (such as RF transmitters or transponders) may be directly attached to or embedded into prerecorded optical media. For example, it has been proposed to attach an annular electronic marker including a radio frequency identification (RFID) tag to the center hub of an optical disc. As another example, it has been proposed to embed an electronic marker within a non-readable zone of the optical disc. Electronic markers that are sandwiched in between two substrates or within a substrate of an optical disc have also been proposed. However, such markers prevent theft only if passed thru sensing device. They cannot prevent theft from storeroom or truck.
Several disadvantages exist in current proposals for attaching electronic markers directly to an optical medium. First, the use of electronic markers such as RFID tags remain relatively cost prohibitive. Another disadvantage of current design is that an electronic marker attached to the surface of an optical disc is susceptible to tampering and separation from the optical disc. Further, embedding electronic markers in between two substrates or within a substrate requires substantial and costly changes to current optical disc manufacturing equipment.
Therefore, a need remains for an improved approach for controlling access to prerecorded content on an optical recording medium, that preferably allows such prerecorded optical recording media to be replicated with only minimal changes to current manufacturing equipment, thus allowing existing manufacturing lines to remain substantially intact with only minor adjustments thereto.

Recording media with features to render media unreadable and method and apparatus for replication of said media


A system for assessing a computer device's state may collect state data about the device, then assess the state with respect to the policy for granting one or more claims. Each claim may be defined by a set of requirements that, if fulfilled, may be used to permit or deny access to a resource, such as an application, network, data, or other resource. A collection engine may reside on the device or other location and may collect requested data, and some collection engines may be extensible with a plugin architecture for expansion. A server may receive information from the device to evaluate claims. Depending on the use scenario, the claim results may be incorporated into communications and passed to an evaluator that may produce an access token which is used to permit or deny access based on the claim results.

Assessing a computer's configuration and state may be useful to help determine whether or not a device may be permitted to perform a task, for assessing the health or compliance of the computer, or other use scenarios.
The usefulness of the configuration or state information may be proportional to the granularity or preciseness of the information. Some situations may call for more details, while other situations may call for different information.


A sound delivery system such as a hearing aid, a telephone headset, a multimedia headset, or other communications device is capable of being used on either the left or right ear of the user. The sound delivery system includes an integral case and ear hook having a rotatable connection for receiving a sound delivery tube. The sound delivery tube is preformed in a generally L-shaped tube. The sound delivery tube has an eartip at one end configured to be received in the ear canal of the user to secure the end of the sound delivery tube in the ear canal. The tube can be rotated about an axis between a left-ear position and a right-ear position.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a sound delivery system, such as a hearing aid, a communication device, or a multimedia device, and more particularly, the invention relates to an ambidextrous sound delivery tube system for delivery of sounds to the ear canal of a user.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Sound delivery systems such as hearing aids, telephone headsets, radio headsets, and other communications and sound transmitting systems may be utilized to deliver sounds directly to the ear canal of the user. Such sound delivery systems include those two-way communication systems worn by police, firefighters, secret service agents, and the like to receive sound transmissions from a remote location and transmit sound to the remote location. Other sound delivery systems include the class of hearing aids which are used by the hearing impaired to amplify and process sounds. Traditional hearing aids include "behind the ear" (BTE) hearing aid devices which are attached behind the ear of the user.
The BTE hearing aid devices and other sound delivery systems may include a flexible plastic tube connecting a sound receiving device mounted behind the ear to an earmold eartip positioned within the ear canal. In the case of a hearing aid, the receiving device may include a microphone, an amplifier, processing circuitry, and a speaker. In the case of a sound transmission system, the receiving device includes a receiver or speaker, and processing circuitry.
The tubes for transmitting sound from the case behind the ear to the eartip are generally transparent tubes secured on one end to the case and on the other end to the eartip. The tubes may be either flexible tubes or rigid tubes formed in a preformed shape. With a flexible tube, the eartip must hold the end of the tube securely within the ear canal because the tube itself provides little or no support to the eartip to hold the end of the tube in the ear. Eartips which are used with these flexible tubes are generally custom made devices which conform to the ear canal shape and secure the sound delivery end of the tube in the ear canal. With a more rigid tube having a preformed shape, a wide variety of eartips can be used which are partially held in place in the ear canal by the rigidity of the tube. Examples of preformed tubes are described in U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/053,031, filed Jul. 18, 1997, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. With this rigid tube construction, tubes are made in different sizes to fit different ear sizes and are provided in left and right ear configurations.
Hearing aids are conventionally fitted to a left or right ear of a patient and are not switched between the left and right ears. However, sound delivery devices which are used by police and fire departments for communication or sound delivery devices used for multimedia applications may be used in either the left or right ear of the user. Thus, it would be desirable to provide an ambidextrous sound delivery device which may be used behind either the left or right ear of a user.
In addition, when a sound delivery device is used by different people it would be desirable to have a replaceable and disposable ear tube and/or eartip.


An oral care toothbrush includes a head mounted to one end of the handle containing a plurality of oral care elements. An oral care accessory is mounted to the opposite end of the handle. An oral care material dispenser is mounted in the head within the cleaning field defined by the oral care elements. The toothbrush is preferably made of small size and of lightweight so as to be readily portable for use away from the home.

The present invention relates generally to toothbrushes, and, more particularly, to a toothbrush which may have an oral care dispenser, such as a breath freshening, teeth cleaning gel capsule, and an oral care accessory, such as a toothpick.
The advantages of good dental hygiene are well known. Often, however, toothbrushes are forgotten when one is traveling or away from home. Hotels, health care facilities, nursing homes, hospitals, daycare facilities, schools, airlines, etc. have a need for single use disposable or limited multiple use toothbrushes that may be economically supplied to and discarded by individuals without a toothbrush and/or a water supply. Such toothbrushes could be used in vending machines, or distributed in large quantities for simple, portable use from anywhere.
Various types of disposable, limited use, or portable toothbrushes are known in the art. For example, some toothbrush systems have attempted to meet some of these needs by providing toothpaste within the toothbrush itself, through an integrated channel, for distribution through the toothbrush and around the bristles. This approach can be less economical due to the added manufacturing costs of toothbrushes with integrated channels. In addition, the toothpaste in some of these integrated channel toothbrushes, not being properly sealed, has a tendency to become dry, hard and stale.
Thus, there is a need in the art for a waterless, toothbrush having a toothpick connected thereto to enable cleaning in between teeth or other accessory, and a dispenser containing a dentifrice or other oral care material and being connected in the bristle or cleaning element portion of the toothbrush for dispensing the dentifrice to the teeth to provide teeth cleaning and breath freshening or other oral care benefits.


The present disclosure provides protection of customer data traveling across a network. A reverse cryptographic map (also referred to herein as a reverse crypto map) can be defined for a customer, where the reverse crypto map indicates how customer data should be protected. A reverse crypto map for a customer is applied to an interface of an edge device that is coupled to that customer's private subnet (or customer-facing interface). A reverse crypto map can be configured by a network administrator on a provider edge device, or can be pushed from a key server as part of group policy. A provider edge device can protect customer data by encrypting and decrypting the customer data according to the reverse crypto map. A provider edge device can also be configured with virtual routing and forwarding (VRF) tables that can be used to forward the VPN traffic flow across a provider network.

Encryption schemes, such as a group key based encryption scheme or other cryptographic encryption scheme, can protect a stream of communications (also referred to as a traffic flow) that is transmitted across a network (such as a provider network or a customer network). A traffic flow can also be transmitted across a network via a virtual private network (VPN) or a virtual local area network (VLAN). A VPN and a VLAN can couple two or more private networks via the infrastructure of the network.
While the present disclosure is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments of the present disclosure are provided as examples in the drawings and detailed description. It should be understood that the drawings and detailed description are not intended to limit the present disclosure to the particular form disclosed. Instead, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternative falling within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure as defined by the appended claims.

Simplified mechanism for multi-tenant encrypted virtual networks


A system for generating embedded expressions configured to generate a result. The system includes an embedded expression generation engine configured to generate a root expression, including at least one parameter. The parameter includes an assigned embedded expression configured to generate a result based on one or more input parameters. The system further includes an embedded expression user interface configured to display the root expression and associated parameters and embedded expressions and provide expression generation tools allowing the user to modify the root expression.

The present invention relates generally to the field of rules engines that process data based on complex rules. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods for generating generic expressions to perform operations on specific data or to be embedded to perform complex operations on specific data.
Large number of data elements may be created where each data element represents a discrete item, concept, class of items, etc. The data elements may be associated with a plurality of data element fields. The data elements and data element fields may have been created over time, by a different set of users, represent a wide variety of objects, etc. such that a variety of structures may be associated with the data element and/or the data element fields.
It may be necessary to apply general rules to a large number of the data elements despite the different types of data elements and/or data element fields. A user is often required to define a large number of rules to account for the wide variety of structures.
What is needed is a system and method for implementing rule creation allowing creation of embeddable generic expressions to perform operations on certain data types. What is further needed is such a system and method including a user interface configured to facilitate and manage creation of the embedded expressions.

System and method for embedded expression assignment


An image processing apparatus, including a filtering unit that performs filtering on an image using a second order partial differential and calculates a Hessian matrix and an evaluation unit that discriminates a structure included in the image using eigenvalues and eigenvectors of the Hessian matrix, in which the filtering unit includes a correction unit that performs filtering on the image using a first order partial differential of a function representing a hollow sphere having the same radius as the radius of the solid sphere and obtains first order partial differential vectors, and carries out correction to cancel out one of response waveforms of the function representing the solid sphere in each direction, the response waveforms appearing at two positions symmetrically separated with respect to the center of the solid sphere, using values obtained by projecting the first order partial differential vectors onto directions of the eigenvectors.

Recently, high quality three-dimensional images have been used in image diagnosis with the advancement of medical equipment (e.g., multidetector CT and the like). As a three-dimensional image is formed of a multiple of two-dimensional images and has a large amount of information, the doctor may sometimes require a prolonged time to find out a desired observation region and give a diagnosis. Consequently, it is practiced to extract an organ of interest and perform NIP, VR, or CPR display, or the like, in order to enhance the visibility of an entire organ or a lesion and improve efficiency of diagnosis.
In the meantime, as a method of extracting a blood vessel or a bone in a medical image, Hessian analysis using a Hessian matrix is proposed (refer to A. F. Frangi et al., "Multiscale vessel enhancement filtering", Proceedings of MICCAI, Vol. 1496, pp. 130-137, 1998). The Hessian analysis discriminates whether a local structure in an image is a point, a line, or a plane by analyzing eigenvalues of a Hessian matrix whose elements are second order partial differential coefficients calculated by the use of the second differential kernel of a given filter, such as Gaussian kernel or the like. The use of the Hessian analysis allows a blood vessel and a bone to be discriminated as a line-like structure and a plate-like structure respectively.
There are cases, however, in which, if another structure is present in the vicinity of a line-like structure (vicinity structure), the method of A. F. Frangi et al., "Multiscale vessel enhancement filtering", Proceedings of MICCAI, Vol. 1496, pp. 130-137, 1998 erroneously discriminates the vicinity structure as the line-like structure. The method of M. Law and A. Chung, "Three Dimensional Curvilinear Structure Detection Using Optimally Oriented Flux", Proceedings of ECCV, pp. 368-382, 2008 improves the filter proposed in A. F. Frangi et al., "Multiscale vessel enhancement filtering", Proceedings of MICCAI, Vol. 1496, pp. 130-137, 1998 by convoluting a function representing a solid sphere (solid sphere model function) with the inside of the spherical shape as 1 and the outside as 0 and limiting the calculation range of the second order partial differential coefficients to the surface of the sphere in Hessian analysis, whereby the influence of the vicinity structure on the filtering result may be reduced.

Image processing apparatus, method, and program


A magneto-quasistatic field may be used to align hydrogen of materials within a structure and/or to disrupt the alignment of hydrogen of materials within the structure. Realignment of the hydrogen after the disruption may cause emission of energy from the hydrogen. The characteristic(s) of the energy may be detected and used to generate image(s) of interior portion(s) of the structure.

Evaluating conditions of a structure or identifying and locating objects inside a structure, such as a well or a tank, is difficult. For example, an object may have fallen into a wellbore, become stuck, have broken or formed a blockage during drilling which needs to be fished out or cleared from the well bore before drilling can continue. Zero light conditions inside the well and/or opaque high solids fluids inside the well may make it difficult to determine the location, orientation, and condition of the object inside the well using visual means (camera and lights). Typically, wellbore fishing operations rely on lead impression blocks run into the well which are pushed onto the object in the wellbore. The impression block may be retrieved to the drill floor and the impressions (dents, scratches, and other marks) formed on the bottom face of the block may be "interpreted". This operation may be repeated as required and may represent the only information available to inform the continued fishing operations. This information is difficult to interpret and costly to obtain. A more certain set of measurements describing the situation downhole during anomalous operations is desired.

Imaging inside a structure using magneto quasistatic fields


The vibration wave linear motor of the present invention is structured comprising a driven component, a first vibrator having two or more driving contacting parts for driving the driven component in a certain predetermined direction, a second vibrator having one or more driving contacting parts for driving the driven component in the same direction as the drive by the first vibrator, a first supporting part for fixing and holding either one of the first or second vibrators, a second supporting part for holding the other of either the first or second vibrator such that swinging is possible, and a pressing component for pressing the first or second vibrator which is held by the second supporting part, such as to enable swinging, to the driven component.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vibration wave linear motor which implements an ultrasonic vibrator, and in particular, a vibration wave linear motor and lens implement thereof with a simple configuration that can be miniaturized.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, attention has been focused on an ultrasonic motor (vibration wave motor) as a new motor to replace electromagnetic motor. In comparison to a conventional electromagnetic motor, this ultrasonic motor has advantages such as: (a) obtaining high thrust at a low speed without a gear; (b) high holding force; (c) long strokes and high resolution; (d) low noise; and (e) no generation of magnetic noise and no noise-influence.
As a conventional ultrasonic motor having such advantages, a linear ultrasonic motor is proposed, wherein a movement part comprises two vibration boards, one guide shaft is held between the opposing parts of protruding parts which are formed with each on the opposing surfaces of these vibration boards, and the movement part moves along the guide shaft by the vibration of the two vibration boards. (For example, refer to paragraphs [0011] to [0012] and FIG. 1 of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 09-051687.)

Vibration wave linear motor and lens implement using vibration wave linear motor


A damping control device and a damping control method for controlling damping of a vehicle are provided. Damping control of the vehicle is performed by adaptively switching a damping mode while considering energy consumption (fuel economy, a consumption amount of a battery, and the like) according to a state of the vehicle such as a state of an interior of the vehicle, a driving state of the vehicle, and an ambient environment. That is, the state of an interior of the vehicle, the driving state of the vehicle, and the ambient environment are constantly monitored, and the damping mode is switched to a weak damping mode in the case where unnecessity of damping as strong as a current state is determined whereas the damping mode is switched to a strong damping mode in the case where necessity of stronger damping is determined.

Study regarding automatic driving of vehicles has been rapidly in progress (see, for example, Patent Document 1). Emergence of fully automatically driven vehicles on the public road is expected in the near future with further advancement of advanced driver assistance system (ADAS) in the future, improvement of social infrastructure such as introduction of dedicated driving lanes and lane sections where drivers do not need intervention, and further, for example, relaxation of laws and regulations allowing drivers to be disconnected from vehicle control, and the like.
For a passenger of a vehicle completely disconnected from vehicle control, a vehicle interior becomes a space for food, clothing and housing like a living room at home. That is, in the vehicle interior, various activities are supposed to be performed in the vehicle interior, such as not only to relax, sleep, read and talk with each other but also to watch content such as movies and TV programs, play games, eat and have a party. Therefore, the vehicle interior should be a comfortable space that is comfortable to ride (or is an unnoticeable ride to the passenger) so as not to get in the way of these activities.
Technologies for improving a comfortable ride of vehicles have been researched and developed for a long time. For example, a vehicle damping technology for damping vibrations in a pitch direction of a vehicle body, and the like, is known (for example, see Patent Document 2). Further, a vehicle control device for stably improving a comfortable ride of a rear seat occupant has been proposed by determining control amounts for suppressing vibrations in the resonance frequency band of the human body with respect to each of the vibration directions to be suppressed according to the seated posture of the rear seat occupant (see Patent Document 3, for example).

Damping control device, damping control method, and moving body


An apparatus and method for managing data on a storage device. In one embodiment, the apparatus is embodied in computer readable program code and comprises a management interface. The apparatus and method may identify and categorize data on the storage device. In one embodiment, the data is checked against one or more thresholds on a programmed and periodic basis. When one or more of the thresholds are satisfied, the user is alerted, and at least a portion of the data may be reallocated based on the category thereof.

Large capacity storage devices (e.g., hard disk drives, compact discs (CDs), ZIP drives, etc.) are now commonly available. In addition, storage devices are continually being developed with even larger capacity, while at the same time, storage devices are becoming physically smaller, faster, and more reliable. However, these storage devices are also being used to store increasingly more data. For example, typical software applications may each consume several hundred megabytes on a user's computer. Also for example, video and music are increasingly available in digital format, with each file consuming significant storage capacity on the user's computer. As another example, more sophisticated Internet "web" pages with extensive graphics may be downloaded, at least temporarily, to the user's computer. In any event, a portion or all of this data may be stored on one or more of the storage devices on the user's computer for later use. However, as the volume of stored data increases, the performance of the storage device may decline. Eventually, the storage device may even reach capacity.
Various functions that allow the user to delete temporary and/or cache files from the storage device are available with some software applications and operating systems (e.g., Microsoft INTERNET EXPLORER® for Microsoft WINDOWS® 98®, Microsoft Corporation, Redmond Wash.). However, the user is typically not given any options for managing the data. Instead, these functions typically only delete the files in a particular directory (e.g., /temp, /cache). In addition, the user may not select particular files to delete, and instead must delete all of the files in the directory. For example, the user may delete all of the files stored in the /temp directory. Often, the user is not even able to review these files before these files are deleted. Furthermore, these functions only remove limited data from the storage device. Therefore, even when the user makes regular use of these functions, the storage device may continue to fill to capacity.
One solution for ensuring available storage capacity is to purchase and install additional storage devices. For example, most computers are equipped to accommodate multiple hard disk drives, floppy diskette drives, CD drives, ZIP drives, etc. Or another solution may be to supplement attached storage devices with network storage. For example, the user may have access to an Internet storage device, the hard disk drive of a server or other workstations on the network, dedicated network storage (e.g., a network attached storage (NAS) device, a storage area network (SAN)), etc. However, there may be costs or fees associated with the use of this type of storage, and the capacity of network storage may also be limited. In addition, at least a portion of the data on the storage device is typically no longer needed, or at least it may not be needed on a programmed and periodic basis. Therefore, continuing to store this data, whether on an attached storage device or on storage devices available over a network, decreases performance of the storage device, and reduces the storage capacity available for others to use (e.g., on a network storage device).
Another solution is to manually review at least a portion of the data on the storage device using a directory manager, such as Microsoft WINDOWS® Explorer, or the like. Data that is no longer needed, or not needed on a programmed and periodic basis, may be deleted or archived (e.g., using tape backups, or the like) as the user sees fit. However, this is a time consuming process. As such, the user generally will only make random, cursory reviews of the data on the storage device, if any.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The improved Class AB input stage monitors the needs of base current in the slewing transistors 22-25 and supplies that base current with extremely fast and precise feedback loops 90-93. This allows the input stage quiescent current to be very small and gets rid of the non-linearities associated with the lack of base current available to drive the slewing transistors 22-25 in a conventional prior art Class AB input stage. The input stage is a very efficient, low distortion, high small signals and full power bandwidth Class AB input stage.

This invention generally relates to electronic systems and in particular it relates to a class AB input stage.
As the communications technology progresses into higher frequency bands, the requirements for speed in the analog front and back end increase. Operational Amplifier requirements for these applications are not only for a high small signals bandwidth, but also for a high large signals (dynamic) bandwidth. These new Operational Amplifiers need to be even faster than their predecessors in order to ensure low harmonic distortion at high speed.
Large signals bandwidth (BW), or full power bandwidth, is defined as: BW=Slew Rate/2*Vp, where Vp is peak voltage. In other words, the faster the slew rate of the Op Amp, the larger the large signals bandwidth. This also brings better distortion for large signals at high frequencies, mainly due to the fact that the Op Amp will be able to follow faster input signals before it becomes slew rate limited. It is also important to remember that the Op Amp must be power efficient, thus, preferably, only boosting its slewing current during the slewing transitions.
The typical prior art solution to these previously mentioned needs is the Class AB input stage. This topology has the advantage of consuming very low standing current (in absence of input signal or for a small signals input) but capable of boosting its slewing current in the presence of a xe2x80x9clarge signalsxe2x80x9d input stimulus.
The limitation of the conventional Class AB bipolar input stage is a base current limitation that translates into the well known non-linearities that typically are associated with this type of input stage. In other words, there is trade off, when setting this input stage, between available base current to drive the slewing transistor and standing current through those slewing transistors. The boosted slewing current is proportional to the input signal seen by the input stage. Typically the best setting has a low quiescent current and becomes base current limited half way through the slewing transition of the largest possible signal swing. Even with this set up the standing current ends up being substantial which is very inefficient, especially in the case of input signals smaller than the full dynamic input range of the Op Amp. The lack of base current to the slewing transistors translates to distortion, due to the time that the slewing transistor takes to turn xe2x80x9conxe2x80x9d and return back to its quiescent biasing point after suddenly turning xe2x80x9coffxe2x80x9d.
An example of a prior art class AB input stage is shown in FIG. 1. The circuit of FIG. 1 includes transistors 20-31; current sources 34-37; resistors 40-44; capacitor Cc; input nodes IN+ and INxe2x88x92; source voltages VCC and VEE; and output node 46. Resistors 41-44 have the same value. The slew rate (SR) for the prior art circuit of FIG. 1 is given by the following equation:   SR  =            "LeftBracketingBar"                        V                      in            +                          -                  V                      in            -                              "RightBracketingBar"                      R        2            ·              C        c
Vin+ is the voltage at node IN+. Vinxe2x88x92 is the voltage at node INxe2x88x92. R2 is the resistance of resistor 40. Notice that R2 sets the transconductance (gm) of the input stage, which sets the small signals bandwidth, the open loop gain, noise, and large signals bandwidth. R2 is typically set to be around 500 ohms. For a xc2x110V signal the slewing current is as much as 20V/500 ohm=40 mA. For a one volt step this current would be {fraction (1/500)}=2 mA.
To prevent the non-linearities associated with transistors saturating or turning off during slewing, transistors 20-27 cannot be allowed to ever turn off or even get extremely debiased during slewing. For a 20V step and 40 mA slewing current and beta of 80, the current I must be at least 500 mA, preferably twice that. A 1 mA standing current is wasted if the application never requires the opamp to amplify a signal larger than 1 Vpp, where Vpp is peak-to-peak voltage.
An improved Class AB input stage monitors the needs of base current in the slewing transistors and supplies that base current in an extremely fast and precise feedback loop. This allows the input stage quiescent current to be very small and gets rid of the non-linearities associated with the lack of base current available to drive the slewing transistors in a conventional prior art Class AB input stage. A very efficient, low distortion, high small signals and full power bandwidth Class AB input stage is provided.

Class AB, high speed, input stage with base current compensation for fast settling time


A track cross signal generation circuit comprises a tracking error signal generation circuit, an offset compensation circuit, a level setting circuit, and a comparator. The comparator directly receives a tracking error signal output from the tracking error signal generation circuit without passing through the offset compensation circuit and a reference level output from the level setting circuit. Further, the comparator compares the tracking error signal with the reference level, and generates a track cross signal representing the tracks formed on an optical recording medium crossed by a beam. Namely, the gain of the tracking error signal is not affected by the offset compensation circuit even within a high-speed region of the beam. Consequently, the track zero cross signal correctly indicates tracks crossed by the beam, and correctly and stably carries out a seek operation in the high-speed region of the beam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a track cross signal generation circuit, more particularly, to a track cross signal generation circuit for an optical recording medium used in an optical disk device, for generating a track cross signal, i.e., a track zero cross signal indicating tracks crossed by a beam, by using a tracking error signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, optical disk devices using an optical disk or magneto-optical disk, have been studied and developed as a large capacity storage (mass storage device), and an optical beam has been used to carry out a write operation, erase operation, and read operation therein. In the optical disk devices, an optical beam crosses tracks of an optical recording medium (optical disk, or magneto-optical disk) during a seek operation. This crossing movement provides a tracking error signal for a comparator, which generates a track zero cross signal in accordance with the tracking error signal. Based on the track zero cross signal, a track counter in which the number of tracks up to a target track is set and counted down, and when the counter reaches zero, it is determined that the target track has been reached.
During the seek operation, a target speed for controlling the speed of the beam is set in accordance with the number of tracks left in the track counter. The beam speed is also controlled by detecting the beam speed in accordance with the track zero cross signal.
The track zero cross signal is generated in accordance with the tracking error signal whose offset has been compensated in an offset compensation circuit. An example of the offset compensation method of the tracking servo system in the optical disk device is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2-166633.
Note, the frequency band of the offset compensation circuit is lower than the maximum frequency of the tracking error signal in a high-speed region of a beam during the seek operation, the gain of the tracking error signal is not sufficient in the high-speed region of the seek operation to correctly detect track crossings of the beam.

Track cross signal generation circuit of optical disk device for correctly outputting track cross signal and correctly and stably carrying out seek operation even within high-speed region of beam


A high gloss, impact resistant material is made by coextruding a cap layer of a metallocene polyethylene and clarified random copolymer polypropylene onto a core layer. The coextrusion process is guided by a dual manifold die which reduces the interfacial instability of the melt streams as the cap layer is being applied. When thermoformed, the material retains its gloss and exhibits excellent low temperature impact resistance.

Glossy or shiny surfaces have always been desirable for appearance parts made of plastic. Glossy parts, for example the finish on a new automobile, are aesthetically appealing. Plastic manufacturers are continually striving for higher gloss surfaces to make their plastic parts more appealing and to open new markets for their plastics.
This is especially important in the sheet extrusion/thermoforming market because most thermoforming tools are designed such that, in operation, the tool does not touch the appearance side of the sheet. In injection molding, the mold can be made to have a very high polish. By using high pressure to force the molten plastic up against the mold, a high gloss surface is achieved, even though the material itself is not inherently high gloss.
This, however, is not normally the case when a sheet of plastic is thermoformed. The thermoforming process typically consists of stretching sheet materials in all directions. Pressures are much lower in thermoforming and the tools are generally much-lower cost than injection molds and are not designed for aesthetics. Thus, the inherent gloss of the plastic material itself is the determining factor of the gloss of the finished part.
The gloss of a surface is determined by the amount of light that is scattered when light hits the surface of the object. This scattering is a function of the roughness of the surface. Any discrete particles on the surface, especially those large enough to scatter light, affect the gloss. This is the reason that most ordinary particulate fillers when compounded into plastic reduce the gloss dramatically. Ordinary rubber particles which are used to toughen plastics, such as that found in early formulations of acrylonitrile-butadiene-styrene (ABS) and in block copolymer polypropylene (PP), have the same effect. It was well-known in the art that ABS manufacturers had problems with gloss because they could not make small enough rubber particles. Subsequent technology allowed for the manufacture of rubber domains small enough so that ABS could be made with much higher gloss. Nevertheless, it has always been difficult for makers of crystalline or semicrystalline resins to make a high gloss resin because the crystals themselves act like particulates and cause the surface to be rough. High density polyethylene (HDPE) has had this problem, and so has PP to a lesser extent.
When making a sheet, it is possible to make a very high gloss surface by using highly polished chill rolls to cool the sheet. However, this high gloss finish disappears whenever the plastic is stretched and the inherent gloss of the plastic material shows though.
Prior inventions have concentrated on the high gloss aspect of molding materials. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,849,045, a high gloss surface appearance on a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) molding is attempted by removably laminating a smooth film to the surface of the molding piece immediately after extrusion and then stripping off the film after the molding piece is cooled to room temperature. However, this process has limited commercial applicability since only a single gloss level may be achieved by the use of a particular film having a fixed surface finish. A different gloss appearance would require a different type of film. Other efforts have been made to produce a high gloss stretchable sheet material, but a number of these efforts have resulted in coating defects and insufficient uniformity to even undergo the stresses of thermoforming.
As the search goes on for high gloss materials, the impact strength of the materials has generated less interest. However, the thermoforming industry has recognized the need for a high gloss, high impact, material to use for exterior parts. Certain known materials are insufficient for several reasons, which are quite evident. ABS, high impact polystyrene (HIPS), and polycarbonate (PC) cannot be UV-stabilized easily, if at all. HDPE is not glossy. Acrylic coextruded over ABS is brittle, especially at low temperatures. Ordinary high impact copolymer PP is difficult to thermoform and is not glossy. Filled CPP, while easier to thermoform, is not glossy. Homopolymer PP is brittle.
The present invention addresses these deficiencies of the prior art.

High gloss high impact TPO coextrusion and method of making


The present invention provides a message processing method and device, wherein the method comprises: creating a message queue by an application; taking out all current messages from a message queue created by an operating system; performing order adjustment for the taken-out messages and placing them in the message queue created by the application; performing delivery-processing for each message according to an order of messages in the message queue created by the application. Through the present invention, the messages in the message queue may be processed more flexibly.

Windows operating system is a message driving system. Windows' messages provide a means for communication between applications, and between applications and a Windows operating system. A function to be achieved by applications is triggered by a message and completed by virtue of response to and processing of the message.
All input apparatuses of a computer are collectively monitored by the Windows. When an event happens, the Windows first places the inputted messages in a system message queue, and then copies the message to a thread message queue corresponding to the application. A message processing program of the application will detect the message queue repeatedly, converts the detected message, and then delivers it to a corresponding window function, and the corresponding window function performs processing of the message. This is a necessary procedure for an event from occurring to arriving at a window function and being processed.
However, in the Windows operating system, messages are not preemptive, i.e., regardless of degree of urgency of events, the events are always processed in turn in the sequential order of arrival (except for some system messages), which might cause some disadvantageous influences. For example, it is possible that some real-time external events are not processed in a timely manner, which affects achievement of specific functions by the application. For example, as far as a browser is concerned, the application is a webpage browsing tool which needs to interact with the user frequently. After the user triggers some external events, some operations might be caused to invalidate if the events cannot be processed for a long time. In another case, some messages that arrive later must be processed before some other messages that arrive earlier, to achieve a predetermined effect. Apparently, this case becomes impossible if the mechanism of first arriving first processed is still employed.
Therefore, a technical problem to be solved urgently by those skilled in the art is how to process the browser messages more flexibly to better achieve the browser functions.

BEIJING QIHOO TECHNOLOGY COMPANY LIMITED


A combination storage receptacle and power strip/surge protector holder includes an enclosure perimeter defining an aperture for receiving objects, and a power strip mounted to the enclosure perimeter for reducing the clutter of wiring of power strips.

Despite the advance of "wireless" technology, in fact, wires remain an integral part of a home, office, commercial or industrial environment. As a result, there remains a clutter of wires which must be connected to one or more power strips or to one or more combination power strips and surge protectors.
The average user must locate the one or more power strips or the one or more combination power strips and surge protectors in a free standing manner which contributes to the clutter of wires.


A sensing and driving apparatus suitable for a sensing interface is provided. The sensing and driving apparatus includes a driving module and a sensing unit. The driving module outputs a first reference signal and a second reference signal which have different polarities with each other, and respectively transmits the first reference signal and the second reference signal to a first driving line and a second driving line of the sensing interface so as to generate a first sensing signal during a first period. The sensing unit receives the first sensing signal and detects a change of the first signal so as to generate a sensing result. A sensing and driving method, a touch sensing system and a device using the same are also provided herein.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a driving apparatus, a driving method, and a touch sensing system. More particularly, the invention relates to a sensing and driving apparatus and a sensing and driving method used in a touch sensing system.
2. Description of Related Art
At present, the touch panels can be generally classified into resistive, capacitive, infrared, and ultrasonic touch panels, wherein the resistive touch panels and the capacitive touch panels are most common. Compared with the resistive touch panels which can only detect the operation of an user when the panel is pressed by the user, the capacitive touch panels can easily detect the operation of an user when the user's finger touches the panel or is suspended over the panel. In the conventional art, the capacitive touch panels detect a voltage change in sensing lines to obtain touch information of a single point or two points.
FIG. 1 illustrates a voltage waveform of a sensing line before and after the sensing line is touched. Before the sensing line is touched, the sensing circuit is required to store the voltage value V of the sensing line which serves as a baseline. Then, the actually measured voltage value V′ is compared with the baseline so as to obtain a voltage change ΔV corresponding to the sensing line. As shown in FIG. 1, in addition to the voltage change ΔV of the sensing line, a common mode voltage also exists at the sensing side, which equals to voltage value V. Since an offset of an output voltage of the sensing circuit occurs due to the common mode voltage, the degree of sensitivity of the sensing circuit is reduced.

Sensing and driving apparatus, touch sensing system, and sensing and driving method