A plunger rod assembly for use with a syringe barrel is provided and includes a plunger rod slidably disposable within the syringe barrel, wherein the plunger rod includes a hub extending distally from a distal end thereof and at least two tabs extending outwardly therefrom. The syringe further includes a plug configured for slidable disposition in the syringe barrel and configured for selective connection to the plunger rod via a bayonet-type engagement. The plug includes a base wall having at least two resilient fingers supported on a first side thereof, wherein each resilient finger is configured to snap-fit engage a respective tab of the plunger rod during connection of the plug to the plunger rod; and a plunger tip supported on a second side of the base wall, opposite the first side, and being configured to form a substantially fluid tight seal with an inner surface of the syringe barrel.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to syringes and, more particularly, to medical syringes such as disposable syringes and prefilled syringes, which are discarded after a single administration and which include a selectively attachable/detachable plunger rod.
2. Background of Related Art
A conventional syringe typically comprises a hollow barrel configured to slidably receive a plunger having a piston supported on a distal end thereof. The plunger is received in the hollow barrel and partially extends through a proximal end of the hollow barrel. In use, as the plunger is translated relative to the hollow barrel, the piston is also translated to thereby withdraw and/or expel fluid into/out of the hollow barrel.
In the case of pre-filled syringes, the syringe is provided a barrel containing a fluid and with the plunger pre-attached to the barrel. In the instance of relatively large pre-filled syringes, the portion of the plunger extending from the barrel may be relatively large. Accordingly, in order to reduce the overall length of the pre-filled barrel and plunger, in order to minimize storage and shipping costs, pre-filled syringes have been developed wherein the plunger is selectively attachable/detachable to/from the piston. In this manner, syringes comprising pre-filled barrels and separate plungers, may be stored and shipped at reduced costs.
In view of the foregoing, a need exists for improved syringes incorporating plungers which are selectively attachable/detachable to/from a piston.


A high speed processor. The processor includes terminals that each execute a subset of the instruction set. In at least one of the terminals, the instructions are executed in an order determined by data flow. Instructions are loaded into the terminal in pages. A notation is made when an operand for an instruction is generated by another instruction. When operands for an instruction are available, that instruction is a “ready” instruction. A ready instruction is selected in each cycle and executed. To allow data to be transmitted between terminals, each terminal is provided with a receive station, such that data generated in one terminal may be transmitted to another terminal for use as an operand in that terminal. In one embodiment, one terminal is an arithmetic terminal, executing arithmetic operations such as addition, multiplication and division. The processor has a second terminal, which contains functional logic to execute all other instructions in the instruction set. The invention is useful for arithmetic intensive applications, such as graphic processors.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to computer processors and more particularly to processor architectures.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Processors are widely used in electronic systems. The processor may be constructed as an independent semiconductor chip or may be a core implemented as part of the semiconductor chip that contains other functions.
Many processors are general purpose processors. For example, desk top computers are built around general purpose processors. General purpose processors execute a relatively large instruction set, allowing them to be programmed to perform many types of operations. Typically, the instruction set for a general purpose processor will include arithmetic operations, data manipulation operations and control flow operations.
Special purpose processors are also used in many applications. Special purpose processors are often customized to efficiently execute a small instruction set. The instruction set for a special purpose processor is selected to allow efficient execution of operations most commonly needed in the application for which the special purpose processor is designed. For example, arithmetic coprocessors are often specialized to efficiently perform arithmetic operations and graphic accelerators are specialized to perform operations frequently used to create three dimensional images.
One approach for designing processors is called "clustering." In clustering, the processor hardware is partitioned. Each partition has the ability to execute all of the instructions in the processor instruction set.
It would be desirable to have an improved processor architecture.

Processor with automatic scheduling of operations


A method and apparatus for removing marine fouling from underwater substrates such as ships"" hulls (10). The method is characterized by the steps of first subjecting marine organisms such as barnacles to an electrical field of sufficent intensity to degrade the adhesive properties of the organisms to the substrate, and thereafter physically removing said organisms with the help of rotating brushes (16) or similar abrasive removal means. The apparatus is characterized in that it includes a remotely operated submarine (12) or other suitable transport means, such as a vehicle with a magnetized caterpillar track, having a forwardly mounted electrode (14) for imparting an electric field to the organisms together with abrasive removal means (16) mounted behind the electrode for removal of the organisms. A power source (18) is provided, having one pole (20) connected to substrate (10) and a second pole connected to electrode (14).

This invention relates to the removal of marine fouling from structures exposed to a marine environment, and in particular ships"" hulls.
The fouling of underwater structures by marine organisms is a well-known problem. Both static structures such as oil platforms, and mobile structures such as ships are affected. In the case of ships, the accumulation of marine growth can drastically reduce a vessel""s speed and increase fuel consumption. As a result, ships must be regularly serviced to remove this growth. The servicing of ships, however, is very expensive, not only in terms of direct costs but also in lost revenues while the ship is idle. Consequently, increasing the speed with which this work is performed is critical.
Of the various types of organisms that comprise marine fouling, one of the post troublesome is the barnacle. This organism, which outwardly resembles a mollusk, is actually a crustacean, of the class cirripedia. In its larval stage, the barnacle attaches itself headfirst to a substrate such as a ship""s hull, and thereafter constructs a shell composed of six calciferous plates. The animal attaches these plates to the substrate with one of the most powerful adhesives known in nature, which makes removal of the shell extremely difficult. Barnacles are particularly troublesome because these shells remain attached even after the animal is dead.
Various methods have been developed for killing marine growth, however these methods do not address the problem of removing the organisms after they have been killed. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,327,848; 5,2401,674; and 5,593,636 disclose the use of heat for killing zebra mussels. These patents disclose that the use of temperatures in the order of 35-45 degrees Centigrade is sufficient to achieve adequate mortality. U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,065 discloses the use of a low-level electric field to kill marine growth. This patent teaches that subjecting zebra mussels to a field having a power density between about 3,500 to 50,000 microwatts/cubic centimeter for a time interval of about 24 to 72 hours is sufficient to achieve adequate mortality. These patents do not disclose, however, any effect on the adhesive properties of barnacle shells to a substrate, nor provide a means for the removal of such shells. In particular, the time intervals disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,804,065 demonstrates that the technique disclosed therein is aimed at stopping the reproduction and propagation of the organisms, and is consequently unsuitable for the efficient cleaning of hulls or other substrates.
It is therefore an object of the current invention to provide an apparatus and method for removing marine fouling from a substrate, in particular marine organisms such as barnacles, which attach to the substrate with the help of a natural adhesive. It is a further object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method that improves the speed and efficiency with which marine fouling can be removed. Still further objects and advantages will become apparent from a consideration of the ensuing description and drawings.
The present invention is directed to an improved method and apparatus that takes a novel approach for removing marine fouling from underwater structures such as ships"" hulls. The method is characterized by the steps of first subjecting marine organisms such as barnacles to an electrical field of sufficient intensity to degrade the adhesive properties of the organisms to a substrate, and thereafter physically removing said organisms with the help of rotating brushes or similar abrasive removal means. The apparatus is characterized in that it includes a remotely operated submarine or other suitable transport means, such as a vehicle with a magnetized caterpillar track, having a forwardly mounted electrode for imparting an electric field to the organism=together with abrasive removal means mounted behind the electrode for removal of the organisms.

Method and apparatus for removing marine organisms from a submerged substrate


A polarizing beam splitter assembly for directing image light on an input path into multiple exit light paths comprises multiple prisms with edges that meet to form a seam. The polarizing beam splitter assembly includes a diffracting element prior to the seam in the input light path. The diffracting element comprises a geometry that performs at least one of blocking a portion of the image light and scattering a portion of the image light.

In recent years, cinemas and image projection systems have used 3D projection systems that use polarized light to encode the left-eye and right-eye images to form stereoscopic imagery when viewed through polarization filtering eyewear. In some cases, light-doubling polarization projection systems such as those available from RealD Inc. have used multiple paths to minimize light intensity losses from polarization control components, thereby maximizing the amount of image light that reaches the screen to create a brighter cinematic experience for the viewer. Some examples of light-doubling systems include those taught by commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,905,602, commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 8,220,934, commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 7,857,455, and commonly-owned U.S. Pat. No. 9,958,697, all of which are herein incorporated by reference in their entireties.
Such light-doubling systems utilize a Polarizing Beam Splitter (PBS) that generally splits input image light into multiple directions. In some systems, e.g., two-beam systems, input image light is split into two directions—a transmitted path and a reflected path, each path having a different polarization state. In other systems, known in the industry as three-beam systems, there may be a transmitted path and two reflected paths. In such systems, the light in each path may be processed by polarization control components and then the polarization-encoded image light is recombined on a polarization-preserving screen to be viewed by a person with polarization filtering eyewear.

Polarizing beam splitter assembly with diffracting element


A piston-cylinder unit for producing and transmitting compressive forces onto adjusting elements which are guided so as to be slidable on a straight line. The piston-cylinder unit includes a push rod mounted so as to be capable of oscillating transversely of the direction of the compressive forces in a unilaterally open skirt-type piston. The push rod is slidingly movable from a centered position into an oscillating position. The centered position is determined by sealing members placed so as to face each other and mounted at an outer periphery of the push rod and an inner rim of the skirt-type piston. The push rod is movable into the skirt-type piston toward a fixed stop arranged in the skirt-type piston. The push rod is movable against the force of a spring element arranged at the bottom of the skirt-type piston.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a piston-cylinder unit for producing and transmitting compressive forces onto adjusting elements which are guided so as to be slidable on a straight line. The piston-cylinder unit includes a push rod which is mounted so as to be capable of oscillating transversely of the direction of the compressive forces in a unilaterally open skirt-type piston.
2. Description of the Related Art
Piston-cylinder units of the above-described type are used, particularly in heavy machine construction, for applying a controllable pressure onto plane stop surfaces from adjusting elements which are slidable in sliding guides or for counteracting in an unloading manner the pressure acting on these elements. The push rods of the piston-cylinder units act on the respective contact surface of the adjusting element without being coupled to the latter. Piston-cylinder units of this type are arranged, for example, between the chocks of rolling mill stands with one or more pairs of rolls in order to support the chocks of a pair of rolls in a pressure-controlled manner relative to each other or to apply a pressure, for example, a bending pressure, onto the ends of the rolls for obtaining a partial deformation of the rolls.
The oscillating mounting of the push rod in the skirt-type piston of the piston-cylinder units of the above-described type takes into account the fact that the adjusting elements on which the push rod acts during practical operation frequently carry out more or less substantial movements transversely of the direction of the compressive forces which are due, for example, to unavoidable tolerances in the sliding guides of the adjusting elements. When this happens, the push rod absorbs the short transverse movements without changing the pressure contact between push rod and contact surface of the adjusting element with an oscillating movement in the skirt-type piston.
In a known piston-cylinder unit of the above-described type for the application of pressure from chocks of rolling mill rolls, the push rod rests with its crowned lower end surface on a spherical indentation arranged in the bottom portion of the skirt-type piston. The possible oscillating angle of the push rod is narrowly defined by the inner wall of the skirt-type piston in which the push rod is inserted with slight play and by an annular sealing member mounted on the rim of the skirt-type piston. This is to ensure that, after the transmission of the compressive forces onto the adjusting elements have concluded, the push rod again returns into the original centered position within the skirt-type piston and is not in an inclined position when a new force application movement begins.
It has been found that this type of configuration of the piston-cylinder unit is not suitable for absorbing greater oscillating movements of the adjusting elements as they occur. For example, due to worn sliding guides of the adjusting elements as a result of continuous operation, and that even if the oscillations are only slightly increased, the annular seals are subjected to pressures which exceed the elasticity limits of the sealing members and damage the sealing members as a result.

Piston-cylinder unit for producing and transmitting compressive forces


Branch pipes (3) of an intake manifold (1) comprise main bodies (3c), a common flange (11b) and pipe shape joining portions (11c) respectively connecting the main bodies (3c) to the flange (11b). By injection molding, the common flange (11b), the joining portions (11c) and a portion of the main bodies (3c) are formed in one piece as a first component (11), and the remaining portion of the main bodies (3c) is formed in one piece as a second component (12). A notch that has a metal mold draft angle (11d) is formed on the inner circumference of joining portion (11c) and the flange (11b). Filling the notch by using an adjusting member (22) when attaching the intake manifold (1) to an engine through the flange (11b) compensates for changes in shape of a passage cross section caused by the draft angle. A constant passage cross section is thus maintained.

Intake manifolds of internal combustion engines have conventionally been manufactured by die-cast molding. In recent years, however, intake manifolds manufactured out of a synthetic resin by injection molding have also been proposed in order to make the intake manifolds lighter weight.
Injection molding is a process in which a resin material that has been plasticized by heating is injected within a metal mold at high pressure. The metal mold is pulled off after cooling solidification or heat curing, and a molded piece is obtained. Injection molding has an advantage in that members having a complex shape can be manufactured at a relatively low cost.
JP 9-177624 A and JP 9-195869 A, issued by the Japan Patent Office in 1997, disclose methods in which an intake manifold is divided in half into upper and lower components, and the injection molded components are unified by vibration welding.

Intake passage of an internal combustion engine


The liquid ejecting apparatus includes a cleaning member that is brought into contact with a region including a nozzle face of the liquid ejecting head that ejects a liquid from nozzles formed in the nozzle face such that the cleaning member is capable of cleaning the liquid ejecting head, the cleaning member having a pile section in which a plurality of pile elements are raised in a portion of the cleaning member in contact with the region of the liquid ejecting head.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a cleaning device for a liquid ejecting head, and to a liquid ejecting apparatus equipped with the cleaning device.
2. Related Art
An example of a known liquid ejecting apparatus is an ink jet printer. Such a printer has a liquid ejecting head that is capable of ejecting liquid ink and a cleaning device that cleans the liquid ejecting head. The liquid ejecting head ejects an ink from a plurality of nozzles formed in the nozzle face onto printing media such as paper sheets to form images on the printing media. The cleaning device wipes off the ink adhering to the nozzle face to clean the liquid ejecting head.
JP-A-2001-260368 discloses an example of a cleaning device for a liquid ejecting head. The cleaning device may cause a portion of fabric tape to contact a nozzle face to which ink is adhering in order to wipe the ink off the nozzle face.
The printer can cause, for example, paper dust of paper sheets to be attached to the nozzles and then clog the nozzles. Then, if the printer is continuously used with the nozzles being clogged, the ink remaining on the nozzles can become solidified due to thermal history.
In this case, there is concern that the cleaning device according to JP-A-2001-260368 does not remove the ink that has remained and solidified on the nozzles (hereinafter referred to as solid materials) or resolve the clogging because the fabric tape is only brought into contact with the nozzle face of the liquid ejecting head to wipe the ink off, that is, because the fabric tape does not enter the nozzles.

Cleaning device for liquid ejecting head, and liquid ejecting apparatus with the same


A matrix of thermal sensors is provided for accurately evaluating the thermal characteristics of an integrated circuit. The integrated circuit is evenly divided into a plurality of sectors in which a thermal comparison to a known thermal mass will be performed. Each sector includes at least one dual cell comprising a local thermal sensor for providing an output corresponding to a local temperature of the integrated circuit in that sector, and a background thermal sensor. The outputs of selective ones of the background thermal sensors are combined to provide a signal corresponding to a background temperature of the integrated circuit. A decoder/enabler arrangement is used to selectively gate the output of a specific local thermal sensor in a sector to a difference circuit where it is compared to the collective output of selected ones of the background sensors to generate a thermal measurement of the sector under test.

Microprocessor manufacturers are constantly faced with the conflicting requirements of greater processor speed and lower power consumption (i.e., lower heat output). With the packing density of silicon increasing toward tens of millions of transistors per die, microprocessors have become vast metropolises of functions, where many operations can be performed concurrently. Although this has resulted in an increase in processor speeds, the increased complexity and size have made accurate thermal analysis increasingly difficult to achieve.
In a simple integrated circuit, power consumption is typically a function of a switching ratio multiplied by the number of gates, at a known voltage and frequency. However, due to the increased design complexity and concurrent functionality of a microprocessor, the switching ratio is more a function of the actual code patterns being run. Further, since the operational environment determines the cooling rate from the package and external thermal protection, these factors must also be considered. One can attempt to build software models of the transistors, the thermal environment, and a subset of possible code patterns. This, however, is a difficult task to complete for numerous reasons, including the fact that code patterns can only be a small subset of the actual code patterns being run.
One alternative is to analyze the thermal characteristics of the device by testing it while it is still at the wafer level. This has been done using infrared scopes, or by placing temperature sensitive liquids directly on the wafer. Both of these techniques have drawbacks which reduce the accuracy of the analysis. For example, these techniques are at the wafer level, and do not accurately model how the packaged hardware is going to perform, the level of accuracy for area resolution is low, and the number of code patterns that can be applied is limited to tester throughput.

Integrated hot spot detector for design, analysis, and control

International Business Machines Corporation


A system comprising a computer including a plurality of network interface controllers (NICs), the plurality of NICs associated with an address. The system further comprises a switching apparatus coupled to the computer and an echo device coupled to the switching apparatus. The echo device is adapted to send a packet to the switching apparatus to verify connectivity with the plurality of NICs. The packet comprises the address. The switching apparatus compares the address with a data structure to locate a matching address. If no matching address is located, the switching apparatus sends copies of the packet to each of the plurality of NICs coupled to the switching apparatus.

Servers typically couple to computer networks via one or more network interface controllers (NICS) which facilitate communication with devices on the network by wire and/or wireless media. Connectivity failures on the network may cause some devices to retain connectivity to one or more NICs, while other devices may lose such connectivity. Thus, it is desirable to verify connectivity between a network device and one or more NICs. However, some verification techniques may be inefficient.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The vehicle body front portion structure includes a pair of framework members, a bumper framework portion and spacer members. The framework members are long in a vehicle front-and-rear direction and are arranged side by side in a vehicle width direction. Front end sides of the framework members are energy-absorbing portions. The bumper framework portion is long in the vehicle width direction and spans between the front ends of the pair of framework members. The bumper framework portion includes protruding portion that protrudes to vehicle width direction outer sides relative to the framework members. Each spacer member includes a first portion extending from a front end portion and a second portion curving inward in the vehicle width direction from the first portion.

A structure is known (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2008-213739) that includes: a second protrusion portion provided at a rear face side of a bumper beam; and a first protrusion portion that extends to the vehicle width direction outer side from a side face of a side frame, the first protrusion portion and second protrusion portion interfering when there is an impact of a pole to the outer side of the side frame.


A method and instrumentation for performing a patellofemoral arthroplasty orthopaedic procedure includes coupling an anterior cutting block to a femur of a patient such that the cutting block references local anatomy of the femur. The anterior cutting block is used to perform a number of bone cuts to establish a trochlear cavity in the femur. The trochlear cavity is formed such that a trochlear prosthesis may be inset into the cavity and substantially flush with the surrounding cartilage. A finishing burring guide and burr bit may be used to detail the shape and/or size of the trochlear cavity. Additionally, a trochlear drill guide may be used to facilitate establishing peg holes in the patient's femur to receive corresponding pegs of the trochlear prosthesis.

Joint arthroplasty is a surgical procedure by which a diseased and/or damaged natural joint is replaced by a prosthetic joint. Patellofemoral arthroplasty is a type of joint arthroplasty wherein the anterior compartment of a patient's knee, or portion thereof, is replaced with one or more prosthetic components. Additionally, in some cases, the patient's patella may be replaced by an orthopaedic prosthesis.
Typical patellofemoral arthroplasty procedures may include replacing a patient's femoral trochlea, and in some cases, one or both femoral condyles with prosthetic components. Typical orthopaedic surgical procedures require the entire anterior femur to be resectioned to allow overlay of the prosthetic joint components. However, the prosthetic joint components may not replace the entire volume of resectioned bone. Additionally, many patellofemoral arthroplasty procedures and instrumentation reference off of the intramedullary canal of the patient's femur, which resultantly compromises the intrameduallary canal.

Orthopaedic surgical instrumentation for performing a patellofemoral arthroplasty procedure


The present invention relates to a novel pharmaceutical composition and process for preparing swallowable methylcellulose tablets that disintegrate rapidly and meet USP disintegration standards in 0.1N hydrochloric acid as well as water.

The history of cellulose ethers, such as methylcellulose and carboxymethylcellulose, supports that these agents have effectiveness as bulk laxatives. Their mechanism of action involves increasing both the water content of, and the bulk content of the stool, as well as lubricating the stool; thereby relieving constipation.
Cellulose ethers have been administered as bulk laxatives in dosage forms comprising of tablets, suspensions, and bulk powders; the latter as sugar-free or in compositions containing high amounts of sugar.
Cellulose ethers administered as suspensions in water may contain high concentrations of sucrose or other sugars and flavors. In such formulations, the sugar competes with the cellulose ether for available water, thereby preventing the cellulose ether from hydrating sufficiently to form a gel. The advantages of using a suspension formulation is that the cellulose ether is dispersed sufficiently to avoid any significant lumping in the digestive tract. However, these suspensions are viscous, semi-gelatinous, and visually unappealing to the consumer. Another disadvantage is the unpalatability of the suspensions due to the slimy mouth feel and extreme sweetness of such suspensions. Hence, these dosage forms have not gained significant consumer acceptance.
Bulk powders of cellulose ethers often exhibit lumping of individual particles and gelation and thus, remain undissolved as they pass through the digestive tract. That the products are undissolved means that this will prevent hydration and gelling of the powder and does not provide efficacy. Additionally, administration of bulk powders has caused cramping, nausea, and vomiting in some patients. Therefore, bulk powders are not the preferred dosage form for cellulose ethers.
Palatable and visually appealing bulk powders have, however, been accomplished by addition of water or another aqueous liquid to a dry powder mix of a water-soluble cellulose ether and a dispersing agent/sweetening component, typically sugar. This technology is disclosed in South African patent No. 84,1044, published Sep. 26, 1984. The pitfall with these compositions is that they contain about 400 calories of nutritive value per dose, primarily due to the high sugar content. This high caloric value is not acceptable to the average consumers or to users suffering from blood sugar disorders, including diabetics. Elderly people are normally, the common strata of the population that suffers from constipation and the more frequent users of laxatives, and are also commonly suffering with blood sugar disorders. The consumption of large quantities of sugar could aggravate blood sugar disorders.
Sugar encrusted cellulose ethers have been proposed as alternatives to the bulk powders containing high amounts of sugar. Such formulations have 1) less sugar such as natural sugar or combination of sugars such as sucrose, glucose, fructose or corn syrup solids; 2) lower caloric value; and 3) are readily dispersed in cold aqueous liquids.
Citrucel® Orange Flavor, a bulk forming laxative containing methylcellulose as its active ingredient, was first introduced into the market in 1986. This product contains 15 g of sucrose in a 19 g adult dose, which corresponds to a 2 g dose of methylcellulose. To decrease the sugar content of this product, a natural flavored formula lower in caloric value, and containing only 1 g sucrose, was developed and introduced in 1988. Additional patent protection for this product has focused on producing a sugar-free and virtually calorie-free powder. The product has a sugar-free sweetener, a dispersing agent, other excipients, and flavoring and was marketed in 1991 as Sugar Free Citrucel® Orange Flavor.
There still remains a need in the art to develop a rapidly disintegrating solid dosage form of a bulk agent, preferably methylcellulose, which is convenient to take and transport, sugar free, and easily administered to the consumer having blood sugar disorders or diabetics, for instance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Rapidly disintegrating methylcellulose tablets


A silver halide color photographic material and an image forming process using the same are disclosed. Said silver halide color photographic material comprises a reflecting support and provided thereon three light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layers each having a different light sensitivity to a different wavelength region, including a light sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing a yellow dye-forming coupler, a light sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing a magenta dye-forming coupler, and a light sensitive silver halide emulsion layer containing a cyan dye-forming coupler. The silver halide color photographic material satisfies the following conditions.. (1) said cyan coupler is a compound represented by the following formula (C), and of the three silver halide emulsion layers, the silver halide emulsion layer containing the cyan coupler is disposed at the farthest position from the support, p1 (2) a hydrophilic light-insensitive layer containing a compound represented by the following formula (I) and which does not substantially contain an ultra-violet absorbent is formed under said cyan coupler-containing silver halide emulsion layer adjacent thereto, PA1 (3) a hydrophilic light-insensitive layer which contains an ultraviolet absorbent and which does not substantially contain a compound represented by the following formula (I) is formed over said cyan coupler-containing silver halide emulsion layer, and PA1 (4) the average silver chloride content of the silver halide contained in each silver halide emulsion layer is at least 90 mol%; ##STR1## wherein R.sub.1, R.sub.2, R.sub.3 and Y are as defined in claim 1. ##STR2## wherein R.sub.11, R.sub.12, R.sub.13, R.sub.14 are as defined in claim 1.

Recently, for meeting the requirement for rapid processing, a new system wherein a silver halide color photographic material using silver halide emulsions having a lower silver bromide content and a higher silver chloride content than conventional silver halide emulsions is processed in combination with a developer without using a sulfite and benzyl alcohol contained in a color developer for ordinary color photographic papers has been developed and is now being introduced into the market.
When such rapid processing was employed for processing color photographic papers, it sometimes happened that fading of a specific dye image became severe, in particular, under light irradiation, to thereby unbalance fading of three colors and hence to change the color tone, and also background portions which were non-imaged portions became colored in the case of storing the color photographs in the dark.
It is, as a matter of course, necessary in view of the purpose of storing color photographs to provide color photographs in which the extent of fading (light fading and dark fading) is less with respect to both fading under light irradiation and storage in the dark, and in which coloring of the background portions is maintained at a low degree. Accordingly, the foregoing change caused by employing rapid processing is a major problem.
Various attempts for improving the storage stability of color images have been made but in light fading of, in particular, cyan images, the improvement which so far has been obtained by conventionally proposed methods only is not sufficient. Since in a cyan image, the fading speeds between the case of being irradiated by intense light such as direct sunlight and the case of being irradiated by weak light such as room light for a long period of time differ from those of other dye images, a preferred result is not obtained if only an attempt is made to make cyan images which are resistant to fade, and hence a new means of improving both the fadings by intense light and weak light with a good balance has been desired.
As a means of improving this point, a method of using a compatible dispersion of a cyan coupler and a polymer latex is disclosed in PCT W088/00723 and JP-A-63-44658 (the term "JP-A" as used herein means an "unexamined published Japanese patent application"), but the foregoing method is insufficient since the density of cyan images in the case of being irradiated with intense light is greatly lowered. Also, JP-A-3-192347 discloses a method of adding a halogen-substituted hydroquinone to a cyan coloring layer to simultaneously meet the resistance to a fluctuation of photographic properties depending on the exhaustion of a processing solution and the resistance to light fading, but the method is yet insufficient and a further improvement has been desired.
As the result of various investigations by the inventors, it has been found that in a silver halide color photographic material having on a reflecting support three light-sensitive silver halide emulsion layers, each having a different light-sensitivity (i.e., a sensitivity to a different wavelength region), one containing a yellow dye-forming coupler, one containing a magenta dye-forming coupler, and one containing a cyan dye-forming coupler, a color photographic material capable of rapid processing and showing improved cyan fading can be obtained by using a specific cyan coupler, disposing the silver halide emulsion layer containing the cyan coupler at the position farthest from the support with respect to the three silver halide emulsions, forming a hydrophilic light-insensitive layer which contains a specific hydroquinone compound and which does not substantially contain an ultraviolet absorbent under (the support side) the cyan coupler-containing emulsion layer adjacent thereto, and using a silver halide having a silver chloride content of at least 90%.
However, as the result of further making the investigations, it has been clarified that by such a construction described above, the gradation of the high-density portions is softened and so-called loose images are liable to form. Thus, for obtaining steady and clear images, a means for preventing the occurrence of softening of high density portions is required.

Silver halide color photographic material and color photographic image-forming process


A light delivery component includes a delivery fiber configured to include a core and a clad; and a heat radiating member, wherein the delivery fiber is configured to include a first light emitting unit connected to a first heat radiating member which is a portion of the heat radiating member and a second light emitting unit connected to a second heat radiating member which is another portion of the heat radiating member, and at least the second light emitting unit is bent, and wherein the first light emitting unit is installed closer to a light incidence end of the delivery fiber than the second light emitting unit, and a bending radius of the first light emitting unit is set to be larger than that of the second light emitting unit.

A fiber laser system is used in the fields of processing machines, medical instruments, measurement apparatuses, and the like. The fiber laser system emits light amplified by an amplification optical fiber. In some cases, in the fiber laser system, signal light amplified by the amplification optical fiber constructed with a double-clad fiber is emitted from a core of the amplification optical fiber. The amplified signal light is incident on a core of a delivery fiber constructed with a single-clad fiber connected to the amplification optical fiber. Next, the light is allowed to propagate through the delivery fiber to a desired site to be emitted.
However, the light emitted from the amplification optical fiber may include surplus pumping light emitted from the clad besides the signal light emitted from the core. As described above, in the case in which the delivery fiber is connected to the amplification optical fiber, the surplus pumping light is incident on the clad of the delivery fiber. In addition, in some cases, due to mismatch in mode field diameter between the signal light propagating through the core of the amplification optical fiber and the signal light propagating through the core of the delivery fiber or due to deviation in axis, deviation in angle, or the like in the connection of the amplification optical fiber to the delivery fiber, a portion of the signal light emitted from the amplification optical fiber may be incident on the clad of the delivery fiber.
The light incident on the clad of the delivery fiber is absorbed by the cover layer of the delivery fiber, so that a problem that the cover layer is burned out may occur. Therefore, it is preferable that the light incident on the clad of the delivery fiber is appropriately emitted.
Patent Document 1 listed below discloses a fusion splicing structure of an optical fiber emitting light incident on a clad. In the fusion splicing structure, a double-clad fiber and a single-clad fiber are connected to each other in a linear shape, and at least a fusion point of the single-clad fiber is covered with a block having high thermal conductivity. Therefore, even in the case in which light is incident from the double-clad fiber on the clad of the single-clad fiber and heat is released due to the emission of the light, the heat is absorbed by the block, so that deterioration of the cover of the optical fiber can be prevented.
In addition, Patent Document 2 listed below discloses a laser delivery apparatus emitting light incident on a clad. In the laser delivery apparatus, a portion of the optical fiber in which a portion of the clad is exposed is bent with a predetermined radius of curvature and is covered with a light transmitting member, and a light absorbing member and a cooling member are installed in the light transmitting member. In this configuration, since the clad has an exposed portion, light propagating through the clad can be substantially completely removed.    [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-310277    [Patent Document 2] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-002608

Light delivery component and laser system employing same


A radio access bearer in a mobile communication system is controlled by disposing a radio resource control layer having radio access bearers in a user side, disposing a radio link control layer, a media access control layer, and a physical layer in the user side beneath the radio resource control layer in succession, measuring a traffic volume of the media access control layer and radio link control layer in the user side by using the media access control layer in the user side to produce traffic volume measurements, comparing the traffic volume measurements to at least one of an upper critical value and a lower critical value provided to the media access control layer in the user side from a radio resource control layer in a network side of the communication system through the radio resource control layer in the user side of the system, and forwarding a comparison result and the traffic volume measurements to the radio resource control layer in the network side through the radio resource control layer in the user side, and controlling the radio access bearer in the user side through the radio resource control layer in the network side according to a result of the comparison.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a next generation mobile communication system, and more particularly, to in a method for controlling a radio access bearer in a next generation mobile communication system.
2. Background of the Related Art
Recently, the Association of Radio Industries and Business (ARIB) in Japan, the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) in Europe, the TI in the USA, the Telecommunications Technology Association (TTA) in Korea, and the TTC in Japan have planned a further evolved next generation mobile communication system based both on the core network technology of the existing Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) which serves for multimedia, such as audio, video and data, and radio access technology. These organizations have agreed on common research for suggesting a technical specification for the evolved next generation mobile communication system, a project named Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The 3GPP encompasses the following three technical research fields.
The first technical research field is the 3GPP system and service field, for researching system architectures and service capabilities based on the 3GPP specification.
The second technical research field is the field of Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN). The UTRAN is a RAN (Radio Access Network), including W-CDMA according to a Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode, and TD-CDMA according to a Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode.
The third technical research field pertains to a core network having a third generation networking capability, such as mobility management and global roaming, being evolved from the second generation GSM.
Of the Technical Specification Groups (TSGs) conducting such technical research, the Working Group 1 (WG1) related to Radio Access Networks (RAN) suggests general technologies for the physical layer (Layer 1), and the Working Group 2 (WG2), defines a data link layer (Layer 2) and a network layer (Layer 3), both being at higher levels than the physical layer, as a second radio layer (Radio Layer 2) and a third radio layer (Radio Layer 3), and suggests general technologies on the second and third radio layers.
FIG. 1 illustrates a related art radio interface protocol architecture according to the 3 GPP RAN. An air-interface protocol between UE (User Equipment) and a network side UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, UTRAN) consists of layer 1, radio layer 2, and radio layer 3.
Referring to FIG. 1, a protocol architecture is divided into a control plane (C-Plane) for signaling, and a user plane (U-Plane) for transmission of information. The C-Plane has a Radio Resource Control (RRC) Layer at Layer 3, and a Radio Link Control (RLC) Layer and a Medium Access Control (MAC) Layer at Layer 2, a layer lower than the Layer 3, and a Layer 1 at a lowest layer. The U-Plane has the RLC and MAC at Layer 2, and the Layer 1, a layer lower than the Layer 2. The Layer 1 provides a transport channel for upper layer(s) inclusive of the MAC. In this instance, depending on how information is transferred on the air-interface, different transport channels are provided, i.e., either a common transport channel or a dedicated transport channel is provided.
The MAC provides the upper RLC with logical channels, which differ depending on the forms of information to be transported. That is, the MAC provides the data transfer service on the logical channels, forms of which logical channels differ depending on the kinds of the data transfer services provided by the MAC. In this instance, the forms of theological channels differ depending on the forms of information to be transported, wherein, in general, control channels are provided when information for the C-Plane is to be transported, and traffic channels are provided when information for the U-Plane is to be transported. Besides this, the MAC provides radio resource reconfiguration and MAC parameter reconfiguration services, which are served when the RRC requests a radio resource reconfiguration or a MAC parameter change. The MAC also provides a measurement report service, reporting traffic volume values, a service quality index, a MAC condition index, and the like to the RRC. The MAC providing those services has many functions, including a traffic volume monitoring function which informs the RRC of the traffic volume on the logical channel. The RRC analyses traffic volume information reported from the MAC, and determines switching for the transport channels.
The RLC provides services for radio access establishment/or cancelation. The RLC also provides a service for transporting PDU (Protocol Data Units) at the upper layer to which any protocol information, inclusive of segmentation/reassembly functions, is not included. The RRC provides an information broadcast service, in which information is broadcast to all UE in an one area. The RRC also controls Layer 3 C-Plane signal processing between the UE and the UTRAN. That is, the RRC provides functions of establishment, sustenance, and cancelation of radio resource access between the UE and the UTRAN. Particularly, the RRC provides functions of establishment, sustenance, or cancelation of radio access bearers, functions of assignment, reconfiguration, and cancelation of radio resources required for radio resource access (the bearer is a capability defined for a signal transfer on the radio interface), and UE measurement report and report control functions, corresponding to the traffic volume monitoring function among the functions of the MAC. The measurements at the UE are controlled by the RRC, when the RRC informs the UE of an object, a time and a method of the measurement. Then, the RRC informs the UTRAN of the measurements at the UE. The radio interface protocol layers explained up to now provide other various functions and services. In such an existing radio interface protocol architecture, traffic volume at the RLC is monitored at the MAC in the U-Plane, for the RRC to assign, sustain or cancel radio resources.
However, no detailed procedures for these functions are suggested yet, in fact. That is, as explained, what is described in the 3GPP RAN is only that a RLC traffic volume in a current user system is monitored at the MAC, and only that radio access bearer control procedures, such as bearer reconfiguration, and channel reconfiguration are carried out according to the traffic volume monitoring at the MAC, without any suggestions or detailed procedures for carrying this out.

Method for controlling a radio access bearer in a communication system


A method of reducing an on-chip memory associated with storing frame buffer in WCDMA receiver includes obtaining, at a WCDMA front end receiver, an signal, transmitting, by an analog to digital convertor, input samples to a digital to digital sigma-delta converter, converting, by a sample rate convertor, a sampling rate associated with the input samples to a desired sampling rate for a rake receiver, quantizing, by the digital to digital sigma-delta converter, the input samples with a first number of bits to a converted data samples of a reduced number of bits, storing, at a memory unit, the converted data samples of the reduced number of bits, filtering the noise from the converted data samples to obtain a noise filtered converted data samples of the reduced number of bits, and decoding, at a WCDMA receiver processing unit, the noise filtered converted data samples over an entire radio frame.

1. Technical Field
The embodiments herein generally relate to a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) receiver, and, more particularly, to a system and method for reducing on-chip memory for frame buffer storage in a WCDMA receiver.
2. Description of the Related Art
WCDMA (Wireless Code Division Multiple Access) is a widely adapted third generation air interface. In third generation systems, every implementation has a transmitter and a receiver. For example, a WCDMA system typically includes a WCDMA transmitter part and a WCDMA receiver. In the WCDMA transmitter, data bits and control bits are transmitted in parallel using different orthogonal variable spreading factor (OVSF) codes. However, decoding of the data bits in the WCDMA receiver cannot be started unless Transport Format Control Indicator (TFCI) control bits are decoded over an entire radio frame. This requires storage of received samples at the output of an analog to digital converter (ADC) for the entire radio frame.
Also, for granular delay search of a multipath in the receiver, it is usually necessary to have samples at the output of the analog to digital converter (ADC) at a rate higher than the Nyquist rate (Oversampling). This translates to an enormous amount of storage requirement before the receiver processes these received samples. Accordingly, there remains a need for a system to reduce the storage requirement before the receiver for representing samples without degrading quality of received samples and without loss in the receiver performance.

System and method for reducing on-chip memory for frame buffer storage in WCDMA receiver


A method of tracking an object moving relative to a scene includes generating a background image by acquiring a plurality of images of the scene and comparing a pair of comparison images with the background image. Potential objects are matched by comparing spatial characteristics of potential objects of a following image of the pair of comparison images with spatial characteristics of potential objects of a preceding image of the pair of comparison images to match potential objects in the following image to potential objects in the preceding image and each matched potential object is treated as a moving object to thereby track the movement of each moving object relative to said scene.

There is an extensive literature concerned with the analysis of changing images and with the characterization of motion within images. Much of this work is based on the concept of optical flow. This allows the continuity equation of fluid dynamics to be applied directly to image processing problems. Thus much of the extensive corpus of knowledge dealing with the manipulation of the partial differential equations used in fluid dynamics can be brought to bear on image processing problems.
This approach has some serious shortcomings. The underlying assumptions that the domain of investigation, in this case the image intensity function, is everywhere continuous and differentiable is rarely true in practice. The image intensity function is usually a function on a discrete domain of subscript values not on a continuum and rapid changes in intensity called "edges" are common in most images of interest. Such rapid changes in intensity preclude the use of Taylor's theorem in establishing the underlying equations of the optical flow method. The practical consequence of this is that optical flow methods have not proven to be particularly successful in the processing of images. This is hardly surprising when one considers that the very features that facilitate the alignment of images at an intuitive level, that is, sharp edges, have been sacrificed at the outset.
Another approach is to divide the image domain into zones and detect the presence or absence of intensity differences within each zone. This method is limited by the coarseness of this subdivision, which decreases the spatial resolution, and by its inability to independently track two different objects when they pass one another.
Further, changes in pixel intensity can also be brought about by causes other than objects moving in the scene. In particular changes in scene illumination will cause significant changes in image pixel intensity. These intensity changes are then passed to downstream algorithms and give rise to spurious "moving objects" or false alarms. To some extent brightness compensating cameras ameliorate the problem but they cannot compensate for brightness changes that vary across the image.

Method and apparatus for tracking a moving object


Dysfunctional storage locations in a memory device may be demarcated by identifying a first and second dysfunctional storage location in the memory device, and storing a first tag before the first identified storage location, the first tag indicating a storage location immediately after the second identified storage location. A second tag may be used to demarcate functional storage locations by identify a functional storage location, and storing a second tag at the identified functional storage location, the second tag indicating a storage location immediately preceding the first identified dysfunctional storage location.

The invention relates generally to the use of partially defective memory devices and, in particular, to the use of partially defective random access memory (RAM) devices.
Not all applications that use computer memory devices require those devices to provide absolute store-and-retrieve fidelity. For example, applications such as telephone answering machines, some video storage devices, and toys may use memory devices that have one or more non-functional memory locations. Systems such as these may use a memory interface device to identify and map out those blocks of memory having one or more defective locations. Referring to FIG. 1, a system 100 capable of using partially defective memory 102 may also include application 104 (e.g., an audio or video storage application), interface 106 through which application 104 communicates with memory 102, and input-output (I/O) unit 108 through which application 104 communicates with external units or users.
In one prior art technique, interface 106 may generate a table whose entries identify blocks within memory 102 that have one or more defective locations. A block of memory may be a specified number of memory locations, for example, 256 bits, 64 nibbles, 128 bytes, or 64 words. Referring to FIG. 2, interface 106 may write a known pattern (e.g., the zero value) to every location in memory 102 (at 200). Next, a block of memory 102 may be read (at 202) and inspected (at 204). If every location retrieved at 202 reflects the pattern written at 200 (the xe2x80x98yesxe2x80x99 prong at 204), a table entry is generated that identifies the block of memory as valid (at 206). If every location retrieved at 202 does not match the pattern written at 200 (the xe2x80x98noxe2x80x99 prong at 204), a table entry is generated that identifies the entire block of memory as invalid (at 208). If, after creating a table entry at 206 or 208, the entire memory has been inspected (the xe2x80x98yesxe2x80x99 prong at 210), processing terminates (at 212). If, after creating a table entry at 206 or 208, the entire memory has not been inspected (the xe2x80x98noxe2x80x99 prong at 210), processing continues at 202. During subsequent operations, interface 106 may read information from and write information to memory 102 while skipping those blocks identified in the table as invalid. A table created in accordance with FIG. 1 may be generated upon system 100 power-up/reset, or once during the manufacture and testing process. Further, the table may be stored in volatile memory such as RAM or nonvolatile memory such as programmable read only memory (PROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), or FLASH type memory.
In another prior art technique, interface 106 may write a pattern to memory 102 indicating whether a block is valid/functional or invalid/nonfunctional. Referring to FIG. 3, interface 106 may write a known pattern (e.g., the zero value) to every location in memory 102 (at 300). Memory 102 may then be read back a block at a time (at 302) and inspected (at 304). If every location retrieved at 302 reflects the pattern written at 300 (the xe2x80x98yesxe2x80x99 prong at 304), each location in that block of memory is written with a specified pattern indicating it as valid memory (at 306). If every location retrieved at 302 does not match the pattern written at 300 (the xe2x80x98noxe2x80x99 prong at 304), each location in that block of memory is written with a specified pattern indicating it as invalid memory (at 308). If, after storing a pattern to memory at 306 or 308, the entire memory has been inspected (the xe2x80x98yesxe2x80x99 prong at 310), processing terminates (at 312). If, after storing a pattern to memory at 306 or 308, the entire memory has not been inspected (the xe2x80x98noxe2x80x99 prong at 310), processing continues at 302. During subsequent operations, interface 106 may read information from and write information to memory 102 by skipping over those blocks marked as invalid.
Current techniques to incorporate partially dysfunctional memory devices into a system include or exclude entire blocks of memory. Because the cost of memory is becoming increasingly important in driving the cost of finished products such as telephone answering machines, video storage devices, and toys, it would be beneficial to provide a mechanism that allows more of a partially dysfunctional memory device to be used.
In one embodiment, the invention provides a method to demarcate regions of dysfunctional storage locations in a memory device. The method includes identifying a first and a second dysfunctional storage location in the memory device, and storing a first tag before the first storage location, the first tag indicating a storage location immediately after the second storage location.
In another embodiment, the invention also provides a method to demarcate functional regions of storage locations by identifying a functional storage location, and storing a second tag at the identified functional storage location, the second tag indicating a storage location immediately preceding the first identified dysfunctional storage location.
Methods in accordance with the invention may be stored in any media that is readable and executable by a programmable control device such as, for example, a microprocessor or custom designed state machine.

System and method for storing a tag to identify a functional storage location in a memory device


A cheese processing vat of the type having a pair of interconnected generally cylindrical wall portions with agitator panels rotating therein to sweep generally cylindrical volumes includes agitator panels which are driven to rotate in opposite directions such that the panels move through a common swept volume between their axes of rotation in the same direction. The panels are mounted such that one panel leads the other during movement through the common swept volume.

The present invention relates generally to the field of food processing and related food processing equipment and, more particularly, to the processing of semi-liquid food products, such as cheese. The cheese processing vat of the present invention and the method by which it operates preferably utilize a closed vessel in which generally cylindrical wall portions are oriented horizontally and enclosed with common end walls, the generally cylindrical wall sections having rotatable agitators which are mounted to sweep a common volume therebetween.
The use of totally enclosed processing vats, for the manufacture of many types of cheese and similar semi-liquid food products, is well known in the art. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,858,855; 4,206,880; 4,938,424 and 5,178,060 are examples of prior art cheese making vats that are fully enclosed. The vats in each of these patents use agitator means, for both cutting the coagulum and stirring, that are vertically disposed within a vessel comprised of two partial cylinders. This design is very effective for smaller vessels but becomes less efficient with increases in size due to the need to create vertical movement within the vat contents without damagingly high peripheral agitator speeds. In the patents cited above, vertical movement is induced by means of hinged deflector plates which cause maximum turbulence when the agitator is rotated in the stirring direction while maintaining a highly streamlined configuration when the agitator is rotated in the cutting direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,108,058 discloses a fully enclosed cheese making vat in the form of a horizontal cylindrical vessel with a single horizontal shaft carrying the combined cutting and stirring paddles. The construction of the agitator paddle results in less damage to the food product and, in the case of cheese, results in minimum release of butterfat and cheese fines into the whey. A major disadvantage of this design is that the whole contents of the vat tend to rotate during cutting and in effect move away from the knife blades. This, together with a very high velocity gradient between the agitator blades near to the shaft and those on the periphery, makes it very difficult to achieve an evenly cut coagulum and can cause problems of product variability.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,504 describes a fully enclosed cheese making vat in the form of a plurality of horizontally arranged partial cylindrical sections each with a separate shaft-mounted agitator, such that the distance between agitator shafts is greater than the radius of the swept volume created by the rotation of the agitator. This arrangement is an improvement over the single shaft horizontal vat with regard to rotation of the vat contents during cutting, but the problem of velocity gradient between the agitator paddle near to the shaft and that at the periphery is only slightly reduced. The low agitator speeds that are typically used with this type of cheese vat give rise to very poor agitation adjacent to the agitator shaft and can also cause a significant problem with product congealing around the shaft. The vat construction described in the above U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,504 includes an agitator comprising a series of individual paddles attached to the shafts in staggered rows or in a row wrapped spirally around the shafts. A resultant problem with this arrangement is the extreme difficulty encountered when entering the vat for maintenance or hand cleaning due to the impossibility of parking the agitator paddles in a position that allows easy and safe movement around the inside of the vat.
In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,513,559 and 5,606,907, the horizontal axis of each agitator is disposed centrally within each wall portion, the distance between the axes being smaller than the radius of the swept volume created by rotation of the agitator so that a common portion of the swept volume for each axis intersects and overlaps the swept volume of the adjacent axis. The overall agitation pattern is such that the contents of the vat will be induced to rotate in the same direction as the agitator with the contents subjected to significant cross-cutting action and other interactions in the zone where the agitator panels overlap.
Notwithstanding the advantages in the construction and operation of horizontal vats, particularly those utilizing two or more horizontally arranged partial cylindrical sections with agitators that overlap as they rotate through a common volume between the agitators, operational deficiencies remain. It is believed that one of the main operational problems in compound horizontal cheese vats results from the attempt to utilize the prior vertical vat technology without essential change. In other words, the success in the cheese industry of the double cylindrical wall vertical vat of U.S. Pat. No. 4,938,424 led subsequent innovators to attempt simply to turn that vat on its side and operate it in a horizontal mode. Thus, dual agitator horizontal vats of the types described above all utilize agitators which rotate in the same direction, such that one agitator rotates through a common chamber volume between agitators in one direction while the following agitator rotates through that space in the opposite direction. It was assumed that the processing improvements, both in stirring and cutting, provided by the double vertical vat constructions would automatically occur in similar vat constructions which were horizontally oriented.
Actual experience has not supported the foregoing assumption. Thus, in horizontal vats having two generally cylindrical outer wall portions oriented side-by-side and interconnected to provide a common center volume, driving the agitator panels in the same rotational direction (both for stirring and cutting), though providing benefits in increased capacity, uniformity of the cheese product, and somewhat reduced power requirements, deficiencies still remain. In particular, rotation of the agitator panels in the same direction, causing a bulk flow of the curds and whey generally around the walls of the vat, has been thought to be necessary for adequate temperature control and mixing. What typically occurs, however, is that the curds tend to pile up on the side of the vat where the agitator panel is moving upwardly. Curd motion tends to slow and stop and the curds start to undesirably mat together, unless additional mechanical energy is applied, such as increasing the speed of agitator rotation. Such increased velocity tends to over-agitate the cheese, causing solids loss of cheese particles into the whey. Such action is directly contrary to the desirable goal of keeping the cheese curds in suspension and evenly distributed at the lowest rpm. The agitator panel on the side of the vat providing the lift is overworked while the opposite agitator panel is under utilized. This often requires periodic reversal of the agitator to help move the curd to the other side. Such reverse movement is very inefficient because the cutting blades are used rather than the stirring edges and, in addition, the blade cause undesirable additional cutting of the curd and bleeding of whey therefrom.


Method for using chromeless phase shift lithography (CPL) masks to pattern contacts on semiconductor substrates and corresponding CPL masks for performing the method. The method for patterning contacts includes illuminating a CPL mask comprising a reticle having a plurality of phase-shifting features interspersed with non-phase-shifting areas using a short wavelength UV light source, wherein the phase-shifting features are configured in a pattern corresponding to a target pattern of the contacts on the semiconductor substrate. Phase-shifted and non-phase-shifted light passing through the reticle are projected as an aerial image onto a layer of a negative tone resist applied over the semiconductor substrate to pattern the contacts in the resist. The phase-shifting features are recesses which cause light passing therethrough to be phase-shifted by approximately 180° from light passing through non-phase-shifting areas of the mask. Each recess in the CPL mask is used to pattern a separate contact on the semiconductor substrate.

Chromeless phase shift lithography (CPL) has been investigated for many years as a possible single-mask resolution enhancement technique for lines/spaces in semiconductor devices. For positive resists, it is particularly well-suited to the patterning of semi-isolated narrow lines but not to dense line/spaces or contacts. However, with significant mask design effort and added mask complexity, contacts and semi-dense line/spaces have been successfully patterned. Like other phase shifting techniques, such as alternating PSM (phase shift mask), CPL can provide significantly better aerial image contrast compared to binary masks; unlike alternating PSM, however, it is a single mask single exposure technique avoiding many of the dual-reticle concerns such as throughput, mask layout, and reticle-to-reticle overlay.
CPL uses phase edges between 0° and 180° phase shift regions on the mask to pattern lines along the phase edges. This is possible without chrome because destructive interference of light diffracted from regions immediately on either side of the phase edge result in an aerial image minimum at the wafer corresponding to the phase edge, with excellent contrast if it is isolated enough. With just one phase edge defining lines, it would be impossible to pattern arbitrary layouts without a second mask to clear unwanted phase edges. CPL allows one to avoid using a second mask by patterning narrow lines with two closely-spaced parallel phase edges that cannot be resolved. The combined aerial image of the two parallel phase edges is still a deep single minimum that patterns as one line but now the "line" on the reticle (mask) can be drawn just as it would with chrome, wherein the chrome is replaced by a phase shifted region. However, this only works for lines that are not wide; if the phase shifted line becomes too wide, i.e. the two phase edges of the line move too far apart, then they become individually resolvable and will pattern as two parallel lines. If the phase shifted line is too narrow, the aerial image contrast gets worse very quickly as the phase shifted region become smaller and looks more like a uniform piece of quartz. These two cliffs constrain the size of phase shift lines to a relatively tight range of small widths.
These effects are illustrated in the aerial image diagram of FIG. 1, which corresponds to a simulation with 193 nm light, a 0.68 NA (numeric aperture) projection lens, and quadrupole illumination (0.1 sigma poles at 0.7 sigma radii along line/space axes). The ideal case corresponds to a 0.1 μm separation, which produces a deep single minimum. As the separation width increases, the aerial image results in a pair of minimums being produced, as shown by the 0.2 μm and 0.5 μm separation curves. For example, a separation of 0.5 μm would result in two lines being resolved. This of course is undesired. As a result, wider lines are typically patterned using a binary (i.e., chrome-patterned) reticle.
A similar evolution occurs for isolated CPL contact aerial images, as shown in FIG. 2, which illustrates aerial image dependence on contact size for dense (0.20 μm pitch 2D grid) contact spacing. As the CD (critical dimension) increases, the minimum drops quickly and the normalized image log slope (NILS) rises. At some critical size, the minimum begins increasing and the maxima continue to decrease, causing the NILS to get worse to the point at which contact holes cannot be patterned.
Another widely recognized difficulty with CPL for line/space patterning arises when trying to pattern dense 1:1 (equal line and space widths) line/spaces. As the line pitch becomes tighter, the contrast of the aerial images of the lines quickly becomes worse until it is just a flat background, as shown by the solid-line curve of FIG. 3. This loss of contrast prevents CPL from being easily used to produce lines at tight pitches. This complete patterning failure for dense lines/spaces has been one reason that CPL has not been widely used in practice.

Methods to pattern contacts using chromeless phase shift masks


A drawing method for a bare optical fiber, comprises the steps of: melting an optical fiber preform using a heating device and drawing the bare optical fiber; and naturally cooling down the bare optical fiber or forcibly cooling down the bare optical fiber by a cooling device after the heating and melting step, wherein a temperature history during the drawing the optical fiber preform to obtain the bare optical fiber in the heating device satisfies a relational expression: T≦−0.01X+12 where a time period when the heated and molten portion of the optical fiber preform heated and molten by the heating device reaches 1800° C. or higher is T (min) and a OH group concentration in a cladding layer of the optical fiber preform is X (wtppm).

Recently, optical fiber, which is applicable to coarse wavelength division multiplexing (hereafter, abbreviated as "CWDM") transmission, with a lower loss in the band of wavelength 1380 nm (absorption loss due to OH groups), has attracted attention.
The optical fiber with a lower absorption loss due to OH groups enables structuring an inexpensive CWDM transmission system; and in addition, the production cost is also substantially equal to that of typical single mode fiber. Consequently, the optical fiber has a great cost merit, so many companies proceed with research and development and products are commercialized.
When hydrogen diffuses into an optical fiber, it causes increased absorption loss due to OH groups, making so it necessary to prevent hydrogen penetration into the optical fiber. For drawing the bare optical fiber in the manufacturing of the optical fiber, a means to prevent hydrogen penetration into the bare optical fiber is provided.
FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram showing a manufacturing device for an optical fiber used in a conventional manufacturing method for an optical fiber.
In FIG. 7, a reference symbol 31 indicates a drawing furnace. An optical fiber preform 32 is mounted inside the drawing furnace 31 to be axially movable, and a lower end of the optical fiber preform 32 is drawn.
In the manufacturing of the optical fiber, first, optical fiber preform 32 containing as a main component silica-based glass is placed within the drawing furnace 31, and its end is heated to approximately 2000° C. at high temperature in an inert gas atmosphere, such as argon (Ar) or helium (He), and is drawn, thereby obtaining a bare optical fiber 33 with an external diameter of 125 μm.
Subsequently, the bare optical fiber 33 is sent to a mechanism to slowly cool the optical fiber, such as an annealing furnace 34 (hereafter, referred to as "annealing mechanism"), the cooling speed of the bare optical fiber 33 is changed and the optical fiber is slowly cooled.
The bare optical fiber 33 drawn out to the outside of the annealing furnace 34 is cooled to a temperature suitable to the formation of a coating layer for a next process. In the cooling process, it is naturally cooled in an atmosphere surrounding the bare optical fiber 34 or is forcibly cooled by supplying cooling gas, such as helium or nitrogen gas, using a cooling cylinder 35.
The bare optical fiber 33 cooled in the cooling process is coated with a coating layer made of ultraviolet ray curable resin, and which is made of a primary coating layer and a secondary coating layer, by a resin coating device 36 and a UV lamp 37 for the purpose of protecting the bare optical fiber 33, thereby obtaining an optical fiber 38 with an external diameter of 250 μm.
In addition, the optical fiber 38 is turned to another direction by a turning pulley 39, and is wound onto a winding drum 42 via a drawer 40 and a dancer roller 41.
Furthermore, a method for providing a coating layer onto the bare optical fiber 33 is not only a method where after a resin for the primary coating layer formation and a resin for the secondary coating layer are applied by a single resin applicator 36, the resins are cured by a single UV lamp 37, as shown in FIG. 7, but with a method where after a resin for primary coating layer formation and a resin for secondary coating layer are applied by two different resin applicators, the resins are cured by a single UV lamp, and another method where after a resin for primary coating layer formation is applied by a first resin applicator, the resin is cured by a first UV lamp, and after a resin for the secondary coating layer is applied by a second resin applicator, a resin cured by a second UV lamp can also be used.
In the conventional manufacturing method for an optical fiber, in order to reduce Rayleigh scattering and to reduce loss at a wavelength of 1550 nm (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1 to 3), or in order to control the increase in absorption loss caused by OH groups, it tends to slow the cooling speed and to cool the bare optical fiber 33 drawn out to the outside of the drawing furnace 31, by adjusting the drawing speed in a temperature region corresponding to the purpose, respectively, or by prolonging the annealing time.
As described above, when annealing is performed in the drawing the bare optical fiber 33, residual OH groups in the optical fiber preform 32 diffuse and hydrogen is thermally dissociated from the OH groups. In addition, diffusion of the dissociated hydrogen increases. Increased absorption loss due to the OH groups or the combination of a non-bridging oxygen hole center (hereafter, abbreviated as "NBOHC") in the optical fiber and hydrogen results in increased absorption loss due to the OH groups.
Means to resolve the problem are proposed, for example, in Patent Documents 4 to 6.
In Patent Document 4, an optical fiber preform having a substrate tube, a cladding layer inside the substrate tube and a core layer inside the cladding layer, and a barrier layer established between the substrate tube and the cladding layer, and a manufacturing method for an optical fiber using the optical fiber preform are proposed. The barrier layer is formed by depositing a substance with a low OH diffusion coefficient between the substrate tube and the cladding layer, and the penetration of the residual OH groups within the substrate tube to the cladding layer is prevented.
In Patent Document 5, a manufacturing method for an optical fiber is proposed where a first cladding with an external diameter "D" is deposited so as to surround a core with an external diameter "d" using a vapor-phase axial deposition method; a porous core rod satisfying a relational expression, D/d≧4.0, is formed; the porous core rod is dehydrated and the OH group concentration is reduced to 0.8 wtppb or less and vitrified to form a core rod; the transparent core rod is heated and elongated; a second core rod is deposited surrounding the core rod after elongating using the vapor-phase deposition method; the second clad is dehydrated so as to reduce the OH group concentration to 50 wtppm or less; it is vitrified to form an optical fiber preform; and after the optical fiber preform is drawn, it is maintained in a heavy hydrogen atmosphere for a pre-determined time.
In Patent Document 6, in a manufacturing method for an optical fiber where raw material gas is reacted and a glass fine particle aggregate is obtained, and the glass fine particle aggregate is sintered to vitrify it, a method via a first heating process to pre-dehydrate the glass fine particle aggregate and next, a second heating process to increase the temperature to a vitrification temperature, within the temperature range of 950 to 1,250° C. where the glass fine particle aggregate is not remarkably contracted, substantially in the oxygen gas atmosphere containing 1 mol % to 20 mol % of chlorine or chlorine compound, is proposed.
The manufacturing methods for optical fibers proposed in Patent Documents 4 to 6 have a problem where an absorption loss due to OH groups increases depending upon drawing conditions for the optical fiber. Further, there is another problem where a production cost increases.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-338289
Patent Document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-321936
Patent Document 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-335933
Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-535238
Patent Document 5: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-187733
Patent Document 6: Japanese Patent No. 2,549,615

Drawing method for bare optical fiber with suppressed hydrogen diffusion


A measuring method of scintillation appearing on a display image of a display device installed with a light source including: capturing the display image from a plurality of capturing positions respectively having different capturing angles relative to the display image to obtain a plurality of captured images; and acquiring scintillation by comparing pixels of the captured images each corresponding to a common pixel of the display image and acquiring data of pixels having different luminance as scintillation information.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a measuring method of scintillation appearing on a display image of a display device installed with a light source and to a scintillation measuring device.
2. Related Art
There have been widely used various types of display devices for displaying an optical image which is formed by modulating a source light in accordance with image information, the display devices being typically a CRT (Cathode Ray Tube), a liquid crystal display, a plasma display, an organic EL (electroluminescence) display, a projector and the like.
A person observing a display image on a display panel of a display device or a display image projected onto a screen sometimes senses a whitish bright scintillation in a part of the display image when the person slightly moves ones line of sight. The scintillation is considered to be caused by light-diffusion, reflection or the like generated by a light-diffusing member, a lens, etc. provided to the display panel. The scintillation is sensed when a pixel having a luminance higher than other parts exists in the display image. Since the scintillation is very minute and is not always sensed depending on a position for observing the display image, it is difficult to detect the scintillation simply by capturing and processing the display image.
With such background, a technology for measuring the scintillation has not been known.
Incidentally, in other fields, there has been known a technology for measuring a gloss of a painting surface of an automobile body (Document 1: JP-A-7-27704). Herein, by illuminating the painting surface using a light source device including a slit plate having a lot of slits arranged in parallel and a diffuser plate, an image of a parallel grid pattern is formed on the painting surface and the painting surface is captured. Then, a changing amount of a signal level changing in a direction orthogonal to the parallel grid pattern on the painting surface in the captured image is detected by an image processing device. Based on an inclination angle obtained by the changing amount of the signal level, the gloss of the paining surface is measured.
There has also been known a technology for measuring a surface quality of a painting surface, in which the painting surface is illuminated by an LED (Light Emitting Diode) light source and a reflection image reflected by the illumination are captured using a camera. Then, image processing is performed to measure gloss, sharpness and orange-peel of the painting surface based on: difference in luminance among pixels caused by difference of diffusion levels in the reflection image of the painting surface; variation in reflectivity at edges; and the like (Document 2: "Paint Quality measurement", [online], Perceptron Asia Pacific Ltd [retrieved on Aug. 17, 2005], Internet <URL: http://www.perceptron.co.jp/product/paint/autospect.html>).
There has been known another technology for measuring a surface quality of a painting surface, in which the painting surface is illuminated at a plurality of angles, and images of the painting surface are captured for each of the illumination angles. Metallic, matt and orange-peel characteristics of the painting surface are measured based on difference in color between the captured images (Document 3: "Multi-Angle Image Colorimeter" [online], KURABO INDUSTRIES LTD., [retrieved on Aug. 17, 2005], Internet <URL: http://www.kurabo.cojp/el/af/afhl—01.html>).
Although there are technologies capable of measuring a surface quality of a painting surface as disclosed in Document 1 to 3, all of the technologies employ external light sources and cannot be applied to a measurement principle for measuring quality of a display image of a display device incorporating a light source (including a light emitter).
In recent information society, various display devices have been increasingly used for watching television programs, browsing the Internet, watching video software, while being used in presentations, conferences and exhibitions, which makes the display devices more and more important. Accordingly, further improvement of image quality of the display devices is demanded. It is required that a number of display devices with high image quality be provided in offices, cities, schools, homes, etc. with consistent quality.
In order to realize such demand, a predetermined scintillation quality needs to be ensured by performing an inspection for quantitatively measuring scintillation of display images in manufacturing the display devices.
In addition, it is desired to develop a display device free from generation of scintillation by utilizing quantitatively-measured scintillation levels.

Scintillation measuring method of display device and scintillation measuring device


Systems and methods are provided for implementing a provisioned machine that persists across a client machine reboot. For example, a bootstrap function executing on a client machine may identify a delta disk stored on a physical disk of the client machine prior to booting up the operating system of the client machine. The bootstrap function may establish the path to the delta disk during the boot up of the operating system of the client machine. A provisioned machine may then be established based on the delta disk and the remote base disk to form a virtual disk of the operating system. Subsequently, the client machine may shut down, reboot and re-establish the provisioned machine based on the delta disk stored locally on the client machine.

In an environment for centralized management of desktops, multiple client machines may receive access to or execute a computing environment based on copies of a single "golden master" desktop disk image. A machine disk image or desktop disk image may be an image of an operating system (OS), and may include sets of applications and customizations representing a working environment for a user. In some environments, a machine image includes files used to execute a virtual machine (VM) that then executes an operating system or other user applications. In other environments, a desktop image includes files used to execute an operating system or other user application, and either a physical machine or a virtual machine may execute the desktop image. An image of a machine or desktop may be generally referred to as a base disk image.
One aspect of desktop administration is the need to apply changes to either the operating system or to installed applications within the desktop environment (e.g., to perform upgrades or other maintenance). Users on remote clients may create, in effect, their own independent machine image. For example, a change requested by a user to a base disk image is stored in a delta file associated with that user. The combination of the base disk image and one or more delta files associated with that user is referred to as the user's machine disk image. In another example, machine disk images are patched individually. This may be expensive in terms of time taken, as typically each machine is booted, patched and then shut down and re-started. Additionally, this may be expensive in terms of disk usage, as patching will lead to changes in the individual delta files, rather than to changes in the common base disk image. In these examples, changes due to a patch are typically applied to the delta files rather than the base disk image, thus ballooning the size of the delta images and increasing storage requirements for the delta files.

Quickly provisioning a virtual machine by identifying a path to a differential file during pre-boot


Systems for the manufacture of reinforcing preforms for structural composite products. The robotic application system allows use of a single robot in a multiple cell system, and provides offline programming of the robotic routine. The robot moves between the cells on a track system.

The present invention relates to the manufacture of reinforcing preforms for structural composites, and more particularly to optimizing the use of robotic systems in the manufacturing process.
The present invention relates to methods and systems for making rigid three-dimensional reinforcement preforms used in resin transfer molding (RTM) and structural reaction injection molding (SRIM) processes for the manufacture of structural composites. The manufacture and use of structural composite materials is becoming increasingly important today, particularly in components for the automotive industry. Structural composites are lighter in weight than conventional steel or metal components and can result in additional advantages, such as allowing fully automated, highly controllable processes, better part-to-part consistency, reduced waste or scrap, and equivalent or increased component performance.
In general, the structural reinforcing preforms are made from a sprayed chopped material, such as glass and carbon fiber, which is held together by a binder and molded into a precise form and shape. The preform in turn is then molded into products, such as composite components and used in automobiles or other vehicles.
The preform material is chopped and applied along with a powdered binder to a preform screen in a mold using a robotic routine. Positive air flow through the screen holds the chopped material on the screen surface. When the spraying is completed, the mold is closed and the preform is compressed to the desired thickness. Heated air is first drawn through the screen in order to melt the binder. Thereafter, cooled or ambient air is drawn through the preform setting the final shape. Once the preform is completed, it is demolded and transferred to a component mold where the structural component is molded.
Although present automated preform processes and systems have been used to produce satisfactory structural composite products, a need exists to improve the processes and systems, particularly to reduce the cost, increase the output and reliability, and make components of various configurations and thicknesses.
It is an object of the present invention to provide improved systems and processes for making rigid three-dimensional reinforcement preforms for resin transfer molding (RIM) and structural reaction injection molding (SRIM) processes for composite components and products.
It is also a object of the present invention to provide greater flexibility and reach for the robotic system. It is another object of the present invention to provide an additional robot axis and to allow use of a single robot in a multiple cell system.
It is another object of the present invention to improve the process for programming the robotic system for making preforms, including reducing the time for generating the program routines.
It is still another object of the present invention to utilize robotic programming systems offline in order to reduce the use of the actual manufacturing equipment and down time of the manufacturing system.
In accordance with these objects, the present invention provides improvements and advantages over known preform processes and systems. With the present invention, a single robot can be used with a dual cell system. An additional robot axis is used for greater flexibility and reach of the robot. The robot is allowed to move between cells in order to apply the chopped materials and binder in one cell while the applied materials are being consolidated in the other cell.
The program for the robotic equipment used to apply the chopped materials and binder is automatically generated. The program is also generated offline in order to prevent use of the actual manufacturing equipment during the programming process. Software programs can be utilized to program the robot offline, reducing the down time of the manufacturing operation.

Robotic systems for automated preform processing


Social product related content, such as user reviews, comments, and catalogs, are presented to a user via an e-commerce website by assembling, in response to the user requesting accesses to a webpage of the e-commerce website having information for a product, such as a product detail page, a set of documents that have been cross-referenced to the product and by extracting from the set of documents a subset of documents that have been cross-referenced to individuals within a related persons map of the user. The requested webpage is then presented to the user in a manner that additionally provides the user with access to the subset of documents.

The subject invention generally relates to computer-based retail services and, more particularly, relates to systems and method for using a social network to provide product related information.
In the art, systems and methods are generally known for presenting a user with information related to a product and/or service (hereinafter individually and collectively referred to as "product"). For example, U.S. Pat. No. 7,072,884 describes that many retailers have their own e-commerce website to advertise, market, and sell their products. To assist the user in purchasing a product, the websites typically provide to a user information that is directly related to the product such as the product's brand, size, color, price, availability, and/or other product specifications. Due to a plethora of information, websites may include a search engine for the user to easily navigate to and locate a particular product and/or product information they desire.
As a further mechanism to assist a user in the purchase of a product, U.S. Pat. No. 7,478,054 describes a system that functions to notify a first user about a purchase made by a second user. To this end, the system functions to detect that the second user has purchased an item and to determine that the first user has a purchase notification relationship with the second user. The system then provides to the first user a notification, such as an email, that the second user has purchased the item.
Yet further, U.S. Pat. No. 6,092,049 describes a system that functions to actively recommend products to a user. For this purpose, the system utilizes collaborative filtering techniques to associate products with users having a particular user profile considering ratings given to products by users or inferred for users by the system. More particularly, profiles of users and product ratings are used to determine similarity factors with respect to users whereby a user within a determined set of similar users is recommended products that have been highly rated by other users within the set of similar users.
For still further directing a user to a product purchasing opportunity, U.S. Publication No. 2009/0187537 describes a system that assembles a set of documents for a user in response to a search query by the user considering a social network of the user. A respective person is identified with each of a group of documents in the set. For at least one document in the group, a chain of one or more links is found in the social network between the respective person and the user. In this manner, in response to a search request, a search results webpage is displayed which includes an identification of the at least one document together with a sequence of breadcrumbs corresponding to the one or more links in the social network chain between the user and the respective person.
While the systems and methods described in these exemplary publications, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety, generally work for their intended purpose, the subject invention provides improvements thereto which improvements will become apparent from the descriptions that follow.

Systems and methods for using a social network to provide product related information