A laser microscope (10) having a laser light source (22) which generates laser light pulses (23) for the purpose of examining a sample (16). An optical element (25) is arranged in the beam path of the laser light pulses (23). The optical element (25) disperses the wavelength spectrum of the laser light pulses (23). Fractions (46, 48, 60, 62) of the broad-band laser light pulses (32) having different wavelengths travel different path lengths upon passing through a compensation device (30), such that the different fractions (46, 48, 60, 62) arrive at the sample (16) at the same time.

The invention relates to a laser microscope for examining a sample. The laser microscope has a laser light source which generates laser light pulses. An optical element disperses the spectrum of the laser light pulses. The latter are termed broadband laser light pulses below.
Pulsed laser light is usually used in laser microscopes for measuring intracellular ion concentrations. In this case, the process is based on the discovery that the fluorescence lifetime—that is, the average duration for which the electrons remain in the excited state—changes with ion concentration. A corresponding method is, for example, fluorescence lifetime imaging (FLIM). The pulse durations of the laser light pulses necessary in this case are in the range of picoseconds, for example.
For the purpose of examining the fluorescence lifetime of different dyes, the sample must frequently be excited with laser light pulses of varying wavelength. For this purpose, various lasers are provided which each generate laser light pulses of one wavelength or of a very small wavelength region. Due to the different propagation speeds of laser light of different wavelengths in media, resonators in laser light sources commonly have compensation elements which function to make the laser light pulses of differing wavelengths leave the laser at the same time. The time spans being compensated in such cases are in the range of femtoseconds.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,995,281 (=DE 196 22 359) discloses a device for coupling the beam of short-pulse lasers into a microscopic beam path, wherein the coupling is achieved by at least one fiber optic waveguide arranged downstream from the laser.
German patent no. DE 103 13 987 B4 discloses a device for illuminating an object. The light of a light source is coupled into a micro-structured element which disperses the spectrum of the light.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,995,271 (=EP 1 986 030) discloses a laser microscope which has a laser light source. The laser light is coupled into a first and a second fiber optic waveguide.

Apparatus for temporal displacement of white light laser pulses


A stuffer box yarn crimping apparatus for crimping a synthetic multifilament yarn 14. The apparatus includes a feed nozzle 2 which comprises a divided nozzle body, consisting of two molded ceramic components 1. Preferably, the molded ceramic components 1 are made in the form of two flat plates, and combined with precision via fitting means 5, 26, 8, 29. The molded ceramic components 1 abut each other via their two plane surfaces 4, and form together a nozzle tip 50, which extends into a plug channel 40 and, when put together, borders the entire channel with ceramic.

The present invention relates to an apparatus for stuffer box crimping a synthetic multifilament yarn which includes a ceramic nozzle.
For stuffer box crimping a multifilament yarn, known apparatus comprise a feed nozzle and a stuffer box chamber downstream of the feed nozzle. In these apparatus, the feed nozzle advances the yarn into the stuffer box chamber, wherein it is compacted to a yarn plug, and crimped. The feed nozzle is biased with a conveying medium, preferably a heated gas, which advances the yarn inside a yarn channel to the stuffer box chamber. Inside the stuffer box chamber, the yarn plug is formed. In so doing, the multifilament yarn comes to lie in loops on the surface of the yarn plug, and is compacted by the conveying medium, which is able to escape from the stuffer box chamber upstream of the yarn plug. To this end, the wall of the stuffer box chamber includes on its circumference a plurality of slotted openings, through which the conveying medium is able to leave.
To obtain a uniform crimp of the yarn, the plug formation in the stuffer box chamber proceeds with very great uniformity. In this process, the frictional forces that form by the relative movement of the yarn plug have a substantial influence on the texturing process. There exists equilibrium of forces respectively between the advancing action or impact pressure action of the conveying medium advancing from the yarn channel of the feed nozzle and the braking actions exerted on the yarn plug by frictional forces. By adjusting a conveying pressure or by adjusting a removal of the conveying medium by additional suction, it is possible to adjust or control the advancing action. In comparison therewith, the braking action generated by the friction between the yarn plug and the chamber wall is largely dependent on the condition of the chamber wall.
EP 1 060 302 discloses a device for treating yarn, which comprises a releasable screw-type connection. A treatment body constructed in two pieces consists of at least one ceramic component. When being assembled, the two components are positioned relative to each other by means of alignment pins. The treatment body is then secured to a machine frame by means of a screw extending through it. The device relates in particular to texturing nozzles, which can thus be made relatively small.
EP 1 116 806 discloses a known device for stuffer box crimping, which comprises a texturing nozzle for treating a filament-type material in a treatment channel formed between at least two overlying base bodies. In the treatment channel, the device furthermore comprises at least one nozzle body for supplying a gaseous treatment medium and at least one venting component. It is there proposed to make the treatment channel at least in sections of a more resistant material than the metallic base body. To this end, different one-piece ceramic inserts are positioned in the region of the nozzle channel. It is known that the temperature expansion coefficient varies greatly between ceramic and metallic material. Since both high temperatures and temperature fluctuations occur during the stuffer box crimping process, the device for stuffer box crimping may be subjected in operation to greatly differing thermal loads, which under circumstances cause the components of the device to shift in position and thus lead to a faulty formation of the yarn plug.
A further device for stuffer box crimping is disclosed, for example, in WO 03/004743 and corresponding U.S. Patent Publ. No. 2004/0237211, wherein a specially preferred embodiment of the device is configured such that the gas-permeable chamber wall includes on the inner side facing the yarn plug a friction surface of a wear-resistant material, in particular ceramic material. Besides the wear-resistant effect, providing a material of this type in this region also results in that the gas-permeable wall is resistant to corrosion and less susceptible to contaminations. With that, it is possible to prevent in particular yarn lubricant residues from depositing.
WO 03/004743 furthermore discloses an embodiment of a feed nozzle. The feed nozzle comprises a base body and a plurality of guide inserts in spaced relationship, which are advantageously made of a ceramic material, or which may be provided with a corresponding coating. This ensures that points of contact and friction which are greatly subject to the stress of the yarn consist of a wear-resistant material, so as to achieve a stable and uniform advance and feed of the yarn. In addition, the coefficients of friction between the yarn and the points of contact and friction are considerably reduced.
While until now the known device has turned out to be reliable, further technical problems have surfaced in connection with the objective of having devices of a simple construction, which have a long service life on the one hand, and permit a uniform production of the yarn plug on the other hand. As already disclosed in WO 03/004743 and the corresponding U.S. publication noted above, there has previously existed a need for making portions of the devices of solid ceramic, which are contacted by the yarn. This applies in particular also to the feed nozzle. A problem in this connection is that the ceramic components of the device must be assembled with additional components of the device. The cause for the technical problems essentially lies in the different thermal expansion behavior of ceramic and metal. Thus, the combination of ceramic components and metallic components presents a problem in particular where great temperature fluctuations occur. In the present case, this applies in particular to the region of the feed nozzle. In this region of the device, temperature fluctuations occur in a range from room temperature to about 300° C. At the same time, a particularly high precision in the feed or advance of the yarn is required just in this region, so that the position of the individual components relative to one another is to be maintained as exactly as possible during operation.
Based on the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention to provide means, which solve the technical problems as have been described with reference to the state of the art, at least in part, or which lessen their disadvantages.
It is also an object of the invention to provide components of a ceramic nozzle for producing yarn plugs, which can be mounted to metallic components in a durable manner and with high precision, even when considerable temperature fluctuations occur in the vicinity.
It is a further object to provide a device for stuffer box crimping a synthetic multifilament yarn with improved protection against wear with respect to yarn guiding components.

Ceramic nozzle and apparatus for stuffer box crimping a synthetic multifilament yarn


The present invention provides a device and method for diagnosing an audio circuitry, which is applied to a mobile terminal and its earphone. Both of the mobile terminal and its earphone include: a MIC circuit and a sounding circuit, wherein, this device includes: a MIC Circuit Diagnosis Module and a Sounding Circuit Diagnosis Module; A MIC Circuit Diagnosis Module is used for obtaining an amplitude and frequency of a sine wave signal sampled by the MIC circuit, determining whether the MIC circuit is qualified or not according to the amplitude and frequency and outputting the sine wave signal. A Sounding Circuit Diagnosis Module includes: a converter plate with a MIC circuit and a processor; the converter plate is used for sampling an analog signal output by the sounding circuit, converting the analog signal into a digital signal and sending it to a processor; and the processor is used for analyzing and processing the amplitude and frequency of the digital signal and determining whether the sounding circuit is qualified or not. According to the technical scheme provided by the present invention, the quality problem existing in the audio circuitry module of the mobile terminal can be solved, so as to reduce users' complaints and improve the customer satisfaction.

With the cost of a mobile terminal (e.g., a mobile phone) continuously reducing and shipments continuously increasing, different mobile phones have certain differences in audio circuitry modules, and very few mobile phones even have serious quality problems, therefore, detection and calibration need to be conducted in production line. The following two kinds of problems mainly exist:
The first kind of problems is that hardware or a component itself has evident problems. For example, a receiver fails to sound and always has cooing noises; the volume of a microphone (hereinafter referred as to MIC) is so low that the user can not hear it clearly. Distributing such phones to users will result in users' complaints. Therefore, in the production line, the mobile phones with such problems should be directly rejected or their components should be directly replaced.
The second kind of problems is due to the fluctuation of components themselves, resulting in that the setting of some parameters in some phones are not appropriate, therefore their audio frequency parameters need to be updated. For example, due to a component, the sensitivity of MIC has a difference of ±3 dB, and the total difference will be 6 dB. If the uplink analog gain is not changed, the uplink volume will be too high or too low depending on individual difference, and if it is too high, environmental impacts force a user to speak with a loud voice, and the uplink cracked voice will be evident, thus reducing the user's experience.
To solve such problems, the audio frequency testing item needs to be added in the production test so as to reject mobile phones with the first kind of problems and conduct automatic parameter modification to mobile phones with the second kind of problems.

Device and method for diagnosing audio circuitry


A control module for a multi-nozzle shower has a body, a control panel and a controlling assembly. The body is mounted securely in the shower and defines at least one chamber having valve seats, at least one inlet and multiple outlets respectively communicating with the nozzles. The control panel is mounted securely on the body and seals the at least one chamber. The controlling assembly is mounted in the control panel and has multiple valve disks and buttons. The valve disks selectively block the valve seats to stop water flow. The buttons connected to the valve disks and are arranged on the control panel and selectively actuate the valve disks to block the valve seats. Thereby, people can conveniently control water discharged from different nozzles or showerheads of the shower.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a control module, and more particularly to a control module for a multi-nozzle shower to facilitate control of water being discharged from different nozzles.
2. Description of Related Art
Showers are implemented in spas, swimming pools, bathrooms, toilets and the like for cleaning a body. A conventional shower typically has one nozzle that sprays water down on the body and may be a fixed showerhead or a hand showerhead.
With technology developing, various types of showers including shower curtains, sensor-operated column showers and the like are provided. Many showers are provided with multiple nozzles that are separately arranged to spray different portions of the body for improved shower control.
Generally, the nozzles of a shower are respectively controlled by multiple faucets or switches being mounted respectively adjacent to the nozzles. Such that when operating the shower, people have to separately turn on and off the faucets or switches. This is confusing, inconvenient and requires improvement.
The present invention therefore provides a control module for a multi-nozzle shower to obviate or mitigate the aforementioned problems.


A cardiac rhythm management system provides for cardiac pacing that is delivered to a target portion of conductive tissue in a heart, such as the His bundle. In various embodiments, the system is configured to verify capture of the target portion and provide for selective pacing of the target portion. In various embodiments, the system is configured to detect responses of the target portion and adjacent myocardial tissue to delivery of pacing pulses and use an outcome of the detection to verify selective capture of the target portion (i.e., without directly exciting the adjacent myocardial tissue.

The heart is the center of a person's circulatory system. It includes an electro-mechanical system performing two major pumping functions. The left portions of the heart, including the left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV), draw oxygenated blood from the lungs and pump it to the organs of the body to provide the organs with their metabolic needs for oxygen. The right portions of the heart, including the right atrium (RA) and right ventricle (RV), draw deoxygenated blood from the body organs and pump it to the lungs where the blood gets oxygenated. These pumping functions result from contractions of the myocardium (cardiac muscles). In a normal heart, the sinoatrial (SA) node, the heart's natural pacemaker, generates electrical pulses, called action potentials, that propagate through an electrical conduction system to various regions of the heart to excite the myocardial tissues of the cardiac muscles. For example, the action potentials originated from the SA node propagate through the atrioventricular (AV) node that is between RA and RV, the His bundle (also known as Bundle of His), and purkinje fibers to reach the ventricular myocardial tissues, resulting in contraction activities of the ventricles.
Coordinated delays in the propagations of the action potentials in a normal electrical conduction system cause the various portions of the heart to contract in synchrony to result in efficient pumping functions. A blocked or otherwise abnormal electrical conduction and/or deteriorated myocardial tissue cause dyssynchronous contraction of the heart, resulting in poor hemodynamic performance, including a diminished blood supply to the heart and the rest of the body. For example, an abnormal delay in the transmission of the action potentials in the His bundle can cause irregular or dyssynchronous contractions of the ventricles, resulting in an abnormal rhythm of the heart. In such events of cardiac malfunctioning, an artificial cardiac pacing system may be used. The artificial cardiac pacing system can provide electrical stimulations to one or more portions of the heart such as to restore normal functioning of the heart to a certain extent. However, the artificial cardiac pacing can result in dyssynchronous myocardial contraction patterns when not being used adequately. For example, His Bundle pacing may cause dyssynchronous myocardial contraction patterns when the electrical stimulation activates not only the His Bundle but also the adjacent myocardial tissue, an undesirable event referred to as non-selective His Bundle pacing. Therefore, there is a need for configuring cardiac pacing system for achieving the desirable therapeutic effects while reducing or eliminating unintended effects such as activation of non-targeted portions of the heart.

Method and apparatus for selective his bundle pacing


The present invention provides a signal processing device for removing image noise. The device includes a first storage part for recording first image data captured from a field of view, a second storage part for recording second image data captured under a different light-receiving condition, and a processing part for reading and performing data processing on the first and second image data. Particularly, the processing part determines the noise situation of each pixel in the image sensor, and in accordance with the noise situation, selectively performs, pixel by pixel, the replacement processing for replacing an output value of the first image data with an output value of a proximate pixel of the same hue as the first image data, and subtracting processing for subtracting the output value of the second image data from the output value of the first image data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal processing device, signal processing program, and signal processing method for reducing noise in an image signal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally known are the following two types of methods for removing noise in image data.
A first method employs a median filter to smooth singular points. More specifically, the method provides the median value of densities of local areas as an output density. For example, with 3 by 3 areas, nine values are sorted in ascending order and the fifth smallest value that is the median value is determined. Filtering image data with such a median filter allows noises such as bright or dark spots to be removed from the image data as singular points.
The second method subtracts a fixed pattern noise image from a field image pixel by pixel. The field image is image data obtained by capturing the image of a subject with an image sensor. On the other hand, the fixed pattern noise image is image data which includes only noises output from an image sensor under a light-receiving environment such as in a dark condition. This subtracting processing allows the fixed pattern noise to be removed from the subject image in phase, thereby providing an image data with its fixed pattern noise removed.
Now, the second method is described below using a mathematical expression.S(m)=So(m)+N(m),
where S(m) is the signal level of each pixel in a subject image, So(m) is the actual signal level of each pixel, N(m) is the noise level of each pixel, and m is the serial number of pixels.
The detail of the noise level is given byN(m)=Nr(m)+Nf(m),
where Nr(m) is random noise and Nf(m) is the fixed pattern noise.
In general, the longer the exposure time t of the image sensor, the stronger the fixed pattern noise. For this reason, an elongated exposure results in Nf>>Nr, causing the fixed pattern noise to be dominant. In such a case, subtracting the fixed pattern image from the field image givesSo(m)≈S(m)−Nf(m).That is, it is possible to obtain image data close to a true pixel value.
However, the aforementioned first and second methods for removing the fixed pattern noise have the following problems while it can remove fixed pattern noises to some extent.
In the first method, it is necessary to determine respective median values of each of an enormous number of pixels while referring to pixel values in local areas. This results in processing times elongated a great deal or otherwise requires dedicated hardware to be prepared.
Additionally, in the first method, the values of all pixels are to be replaced with their respective median values, thereby easily causing interpolation mistakes to be made and leading to pseudo color or pattern.
On the other hand, the second method allows subtracting processing to be carried out pixel by pixel, thereby making it possible to easily perform data processing without preparing special hardware. However, there is a problem that a fixed pattern noise approximately equal in level to an image signal cannot sufficiently remove the fixed pattern noise.

Signal processing device for reducing noise of image signal, signal processing program, and signal processing method


In the video processing device, a correction amount update determining unit determines whether to update a correction amount based on an input image obtained from an image input unit and when a cut point is detected or when the number of frames in a number of frames storing unit exceeds a fixed value, determines that update is required, and at this time, a correction amount obtaining unit obtains a new correction amount based on the input image. Then, if no cut point is detected, an amount of change of a correction amount in time is limited and the obtained result is recorded in a correction amount storing unit, and an image correcting unit conducts quality improving correction processing with respect to the input image based on a correction amount recorded in the correction amount storing unit and the image corrected is sent to an image output unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video processing device, a video display device and a video processing method therefor, and a program thereof and, more particularly, to a method of automatically improving quality of a moving image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Image quality improving represents subjecting an original image to image correction processing so as to make still picture and moving picture clearer. Among correction processing for improving image quality are saturation correction and γ (gamma) correction.
Saturation correction is correction intended to adjust saturation indicative of a density of color. Since people are apt to prefer an image whose saturation is high, saturation correction is often conducted so as to adjust saturation of an original image to be high. γ correction is correction intended to adjust brightness of an image. People prefer images of appropriate brightness to images too dark or too bright. Adjusting such brightness is γ correction.
Other than those mentioned above, various kinds of corrections exist and using these correction processing methods to make an image clearer is represented as image quality improving processing. As the above-described image quality improving methods, there conventionally exist such methods as set forth below.
For improving quality of a still image, various still picture quality automatic improving techniques have been used. Still picture quality improving techniques here include those recited in "Color Image Quality Automatic Improvement by Adjustment of Saturation, Contrast, and Sharpness" (Inoue and Tajima, the 24th Image Technology Conference Proceedings 3-3, 1993)(Literature 1), Japanese Patent Laying-Open (Kokai) No. Heisei 09-147098 (Literature 2), Japanese Patent Laying-Open (Kokai) No. Heisei 10-150566 (Literature 3) and "Automatic Color Correction Method Realizing Preferable Color Reproduction" (Tsukada, Funayama, Tajima, Color Forum JAPAN 2000 Proceedings, pp. 9-12, 2000) (Literature 4).
In the automatic image quality improving methods recited in these literatures, a certain feature amount is extracted from an input image composed of still images and a correction amount is determined based on the feature amount to conduct correction for quality improving. Feature amount here represents, for example, an average luminance of a dark region within a screen or an average tone value of each of RGB (R: red, G: green, B: blue) in a bright region within a screen.
In the following, one example of each correction method will be detailed. One example of saturation correction realization methods is shown in FIG. 28. In the present saturation correction realization method, first create a histogram of S values using an HSV (Hue Saturation Value) coordinate system or the like with respect to an input image illustrated in FIG. 28(a) [see FIG. 28(b)]. The HSV coordinate system here is recited in "Color Gamut Transformation Pairs" (A. R. Smith, Computer Graphics, vol. 12, pp. 12-19, 1978).
An S value in the HSV coordinate system denotes saturation, and a histogram of S values therefore can be considered as a histogram of saturation. In the histogram here generated, assume that a high saturation portion where an area ratio to the total number of pixels has a fixed rate "a" is a high saturation region. Then, calculate an average saturation SAF of the high saturation region [see FIG. 28(b)]. Calculate a correction amount Copt from the average saturation SAF according to the following expression:Copt=SAFopt/SAF  (1)
where the average saturation SAFopt represents an optimum value that a saturation image of an input image can take.
The larger thus calculated correction amount Copt becomes, the more saturation will be highlighted [see FIG. 28(c)]. The value of c0 in the figure is that obtained when a range of the saturation S of an input image is expanded to the largest and when c=c0, the saturation S of the input image extends to the largest range as shown in FIG. 28(c) [see FIG. 28(d)].
In image quality improving, obtain an S value from an RGB value of each pixel of a frame image and linearly transform the obtained value according to the following expression:S′=C0pt×S  (2).
After the transformation, restoring the value to an RGB value again leads to completion of an image being corrected. The above-described saturation correction is recited in Literature 1.
One example of exposure correction realization methods is shown in FIG. 29. In the present exposure correction realization method, first create a histogram of Y values using an XYZ coordinate system with respect to an input image illustrated in FIG. 29(a) [see FIG. 29(b)]. Since a Y value denotes luminance, the histogram of Y values can be considered as a luminance histogram.
At this time, with all times the number of pixels set to be m, and with a value of the m-th highest luminance as Zmax and a value of the m-th lowest luminance as Zmin, obtain an intermediate value M of the histogram according to the following expression:M=(Zmax+Zmin)/2  (3).
A γ value with which the intermediate value M becomes M0, half the dynamic range, after the transformation can be obtained by the following expression:γ=[log(255/M0)]/[log(255/M)]  (4).
Exposure correction is realized by first obtaining a Y value from an RGB value of each pixel of a frame image and subjecting the input image to gamma correction by using a γ value obtained by the expression (4) and the following expression with respect to the obtained Y value [see FIGS. 29(c) and (d)].
                    Y        =                              255                          255              γ                                                      Y            γ                                              (        5        )
As to the above-described exposure correction, recitation is found in Literature 3.
One example of white balance correction realization methods is shown in FIG. 30. In the present white balance correction method, first create a luminance histogram with respect to an input image illustrated in FIG. 30(a) using an XYZ coordinate system or the like [see FIG. 30(b)].
At this time, with "a" times the number of pixels set to be m, consider a mean value of the respective tone values of pixels having the highest to the m-th highest luminances as a white point of the image. With the white point RGB value denoted as (wr, wg, wb) and a white color RGB value obtained after adjustment as (wr0, Wg0, wb0), obtain white balance correction amounts r, g, b according to the following expressions:r=wr0/wr g=wg0/wg b=wb0/wb  (6).
Based on the above obtained correction amounts and the following expressions, linear transformation of each tone value will realize white balance correction as illustrated in FIG. 30(c):R′=r×R G′=g×G B′=b×B  (7).As to the above-described white balance correction, recitation is found in Literature 2.
One example of contrast correction realization methods is shown in FIG. 31. In the contrast correction realization method, first, create a histogram of Y values, that is, a luminance histogram, with respect to an input image illustrated in FIG. 31(a) using an XYZ coordinate system or the like [see FIG. 31(b)].
At this time, with "a" times the number of pixels set to be m, obtain an average luminance Vmax of pixels having the highest to the m-th highest luminances. Similarly, obtain an average luminance Vmin of pixels having the lowest to the m-th lowest luminances [see FIG. 31(b)].
Based on these values, obtain the following expression which is a straight line passing the coordinates (Vmin, 0), (Vmax, 255):V′=a×V+b  (8).
In the expression, V denotes a luminance Y value of a pixel of an original image and V′ denotes a Y value of the pixel transformed. By linearly transforming a luminance of each pixel using the expression (8) for the inversion into an RGB value realizes contrast highlighting. As to the above-described contrast correction, recitation is found in Literature 1.
One example of sharpness correction realization methods is shown in FIG. 32. In the present sharpness correction method, first subject an input image shown in FIG. 32(a) to a high-pass filter to extract an edge component as illustrated in FIG. 32(b). With ss representing a high-pass filter, E(V) representing an edge region, AE(V) representing an area of an edge region, V representing a luminance and ES0pt representing an optimum sharpness of the image in question, the sharpness correction amount k will be obtained by the following expression:
                    k        =                                                            ES                opi                            ·                                                A                  E                                                                  (                                      V                    ′                                    )                                                      -                          ∫                                                ∫                                      E                                                              (                                              V                        ′                                            )                                                                                                                          V                      ⊗                      ss                                                                                                                  ⅆ                    x                                                                          ⅆ                    y                                                                                ∫                                          ∫                                  E                                                        (                                          V                      ′                                        )                                                                                                                      V                    ⊗                    ss                    ⊗                    ss                                                                                                      ⅆ                  x                                                                  ⅆ                  y                                                                                (        9        )
Using k obtained by the expression (9), the sharpening will be conduced based on the following expression:V′=V+k(V{circle around (x)}ss)  (10)
By inversely transforming an RGB value from V′ obtained by the expression (10), sharpness correction will be realized. As to the above-described sharpness correction, recitation is found in Literature 1.
One example of preferable color correction realization methods is shown in FIG. 33. Preferable color correction is making look of color of an image (representing how the color is perceived by a person, which is also the case in the following description) be more preferable to human eyes by approximating the color of the image to color of the object remembered by a person. Specific processing shown in FIG. 33 as an example is conducted in a manner as follows.
Calculate a hue of each pixel of a frame image shown in FIG. 33(a) to create such a histogram of hues as illustrated in FIG. 33(b). Correct the histogram to make hues related to skin color, color of the sky and green color of plants be those producing more preferable colors by adapting color correction parameters given in advance according to each divisional hue region as shown in FIG. 33(c).
As a result, as illustrated in FIG. 33(d), the image has more preferable colors with only the colors of skin, the sky and green of plants changed. Subjecting the image to such processing realizes preferable color correction. The preferable color correction is intended for obtaining color that one finds preferable when looking only at a corrected image and is conducted based on the contents of know-how accumulated in a data base for a long period of time. As to the above-described preferable color correction, recitation is found in Literature 4.
Using such still picture automatic quality improving techniques as mentioned above realizes quality improving of still picture. Used for improving quality of a moving image is a method of improving quality using a fixed parameter. Fixed parameter is a correction amount parameter fixed to a constant value in order to conduct certain correction for a moving image. Fixed parameters are, for example, as follows.
As shown in FIG. 34, generate images corrected with γ values as various gamma correction parameters in the expression (5) changed and compare the images to obtain an optimum γ value with which the image looks clearer by a subjective evaluation test. At the time of subjecting a moving image to γ correction, when the correction is conducted using an optimum γ value without changing a γ value, the γ value can be considered as a fixed parameter. Technique for improving quality of images using such fixed parameter not only in γ correction but also in various correction processing is employed in moving image quality improving processing.
With the above-described conventional systems in which a correction amount is given by a fixed parameter, however, the moving image quality improving techniques fail to appropriately change a correction amount according to a video source and video shooting conditions.
Moving image has its image quality largely varying depending on its video source and video shooting conditions. In terms of the difference in video sources, a moving image obtained from a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) deck has high saturation and relatively high contrast, while a moving image shot by an individual person using a home-use digital video camera or the like has low saturation and low contrast as well because of properties of cameras.
In terms of shooting conditions, scenery shot by a digital video camera in cloudy weather and that shot in fine weather will partially differ in saturation and contrast. Quality of a moving image thus varies largely depending on circumstances.
On the other hand, with a correction amount determined by a fixed parameter, while an image taken by a digital video camera is clear, a DVD image might exhibit unnatural look because of too much correction in some cases. Although such a case can be coped with by a method of obtaining a fixed parameter for each video source and manually switching and using the parameters according to each video source, the method is not convenient because it fails to cope with different image qualities caused by different shooting conditions and needs manual switching.

Video processing device, video display device and video processing method therefor and program thereof


Spectacles consist of an optical or sunshade front optionally supported by a frame and comprising two interchangeable temples. Each temple is connected to the front or to the frame by a male part and an associated joint. In the spectacles, the joint of each temple consists of at least one pin arranged transversely in a corresponding longitudinal slot formed at one end of a free temple. The pin can be snapped into an elastically deformable recess formed in a plate projecting from the male part, the shape and dimensions of which are approximately the same as those of the slot of the temple, or vice versa.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to spectacles of the type consisting of an optical or sunshade front optionally supported by a frame and comprising two interchangeable temples, each temple being connected to the front or to the frame by a male part and an associated joint.
(2) Prior Art
Generally and as in the prior art, the joint pin used in spectacles temples consists of a screw that connects together the two parts of a hinge forming the joint.
However, a problem well known to opticians is that this screw forming the pin of the joint very often becomes loose and has to be retightened—if the looseness has not resulted in the loss of the temple concerned.
This problem is aggravated if it is wished to make the temples easily interchangeable without the user having to visit a specialist but being able to change the temples himself.


A lens module includes a lens barrel, a first lens, a second lens, a plurality of electrostrictive members and a controlling unit. The first lens has a first optical axis thereof, the second lens has a second optical axis thereof, the first and second lenses being received in the lens barrel. The electrostrictive members are arranged in the lens barrel and connected with the second lens. The controlling unit is configured for controlling the electrostrictive members so as to adjust the second optical axis of the second lens to be in alignment with the first optical axis of the first lens. A camera module using the lens module is also provided.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to lens modules, and particularly to a lens module having lenses with aligned principal optical axes, and a camera module having the lens module.
2. Description of Related Art
With the ongoing development of microcircuitry and multimedia technology, camera modules, including, e.g., still camera modules and digital camera modules have entered widespread use and have combined with various electronic devices. Such camera modules need to be compact, low cost and have excellent optical performance.
Lens modules are key components of the camera modules. A lens module typically includes a lens barrel, and lenses received in the lens barrel. The lenses each usually define an optical axis along a geometric central axis thereof, the optical axes of the lenses are required to be positioned in alignment with each other and as well as a geometric central axis of the lens barrel. However, when an optical axis of a lens deviates from a geometric central axis of the lens, it results in difficulty in positioning the optical axis of this lens in alignment with those of other lenses and the geometric central axis of the lens barrel, this lens therefore has to be compensated for by other lenses, or to be rejected.
What is needed, therefore, is a lens module which is capable of adjusting an optical axis of a lens thereof to be in alignment with those of other lenses.
What is also needed is a camera module using the lens module.

Lens module and camera module having same


To provide a magnetic disk apparatus in which an outline of a seal for hermetically sealing is identical with that of a cover and base having steps at the periphery thereof. In a sealed magnetic disk apparatus in which a cover and base having steps at the periphery thereof are joined together via a seal, two slopes 48 and 50 are provided, in a turned or stairs-like form, at each step portion at the periphery of a cover 60 and a base 40. The first slope 48 descends from the periphery toward the inside, and the second slope 50 connecting to the first slope descends from the inside toward the periphery. The slopes of the cover are provided to mate with those of the base, respectively. A seal 70 has an outline which is substantially identical with that of the cover 60 and the base 40 and includes projections 72 and 74 covering the slopes.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a sealed magnetic disk apparatus and, more particularly, to a magnetic disk apparatus in which a cover and base having steps at the periphery thereof are joined together via a seal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A small magnetic disk apparatus used in many personal computers and workstations is very sensitive to gas and dust in the air. When they get in the apparatus, gas causes the apparatus (especially a disk) to be rusted, and dust causes the magnetic disk apparatus to be damaged because it gets in between the disk and a head floating on the disk. The small magnetic disk apparatus is therefore assembled in a clean room where gas and dust are very little.
In a conventional magnetic disk apparatus, the intrusion of gas and dust is prevented by sealing with a seal material. FIG. 1 is a simple example of a way of sealing for a small magnetic disk apparatus. In the magnetic disk apparatus, the intrusion of gas and dust is prevented by holding a seal 14 between the contact surfaces of a base 10 and a cover 12. Besides, in order to ensure the sealing, the four corners of the cover 12 and the base 10 are screwed down by bolts 16. So as to seal the periphery of the base 10 and the cover 12, the seal 14 is formed according to the outline of the periphery, for example, in a width of about 2 millimeters. The four corners of the seal 14 are curved inside so as to seal the insides of slightly swollen screw nut portions which are at the four corners of the base 10 and the cover 12. In the base 10, a hole 18 through which a shaft of a motor for rotating a disk is passed, is made. FIG. 2 shows an enclosure after sealing. Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application (PUPA) 62-279586 discloses a magnetic disk drive apparatus which is provided with not only a first seal material corresponding to the seal 14, but also a second seal material between a cover and a bolt for fixing the cover to a base. As seen, a seal is one of important parts in a small magnetic disk apparatus.

Cover seal for magnetic disk enclosure having stepped mating surfaces

International Business Machines Corporation


A system and method for providing channels within application servers, messaging systems, and transaction-based systems. Network traffic internal to the server is carried over these channels. This allows the administrator to segregate internal network traffic, usually for security or performance reasons. In addition administrators have finer, dynamic, control over external network channels.

In an application server environment, such as that provided in the WebLogic Server (WLS) product from BEA Systems, Inc., network channels, hereafter to referred to as "channels", are provided to allow external network traffic to be segregated as it arrives or leaves the server. Network channels allow a system administrator to configure additional ports with one or more WebLogic Server instances or clusters (ports in addition to the required Listen Port and SSL Listen Port). A network channel defines the basic attributes for a new network connection to WebLogic Server, including for example:
The protocols the connection supports (HTTP, HTTPS, T3, T3S, COM).
Default listen ports to use for secure and non-secure communication.
Default properties for the connection such as the login timeout value, maximum message sizes, and default user names and passwords.
Whether or not the connection supports tunneling.
Whether the connection can be used to communicate with other WebLogic Servers in the domain, or can be used only for communication with clients.
Channels are configured as distinct entities in the Administration Console, and then one or more channels can be added to servers within the domain. Using a single channel with multiple servers can simplify network configuration for a server domain, because changing the channel configuration automatically changes the connection attributes of all servers that use the channel. Using multiple channels with a single server helps the administrator to segment network traffic by protocol, listen ports, or any other channel configuration property. In a clustered environment, channels also provide the ability to configure clustered server instances on a single NIC, using different port numbers.
After configuring and assigning network channels, the administrator can optionally use channel overrides (also known as network access points) to fine-tune channel settings on an individual server. This includes support for all external protocols; support for connection through NAT firewalls, and support for custom administration channels. This deprecates the requirement for server-level overrides but does not deprecate the usability need for a domain-wide admin port. These channels can be marked exclusively for admin use and there may be more than one of them.
However, all of the above-described features are targeted at channeling external network traffic. Network traffic that is internal to the server is still generally carried over proprietary protocols. However, application server customers are increasingly demanding the ability to also segregate internal network traffic, usually for security or performance reasons. In addition, customers would like to be able to have finer, dynamic, control over external network channels. Accordingly, what is needed is a means for segregating this internal network traffic in a flexible and easily administered manner.

System and method for providing channels in application servers and transaction-based systems


A network address supply system includes terminal equipments, a server, and a switching HUB to which the terminal equipments and the server are connected via communication lines. Each terminal equipment includes an address supply requesting unit. The switching HUB includes interfaces, a first line data storing unit, and a communication line control unit that when one of the interfaces receives an address supply request broadcast packet from one of the terminal equipments, transmits the address supply request broadcast packet to only an interface corresponding to the interface information stored in the first line data storing unit. The server includes a network address storing unit and an address supplying unit that when receiving the address supply request broadcast packet, broadcasts an address broadcast packet containing an unused network address stored in the network address storing unit as a response packet to the address supply request broadcast packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a network system and a line concentrator for constructing the network system,
2. Description of the Prior Art
A shared media type of network has hitherto been adopted as a basic structure in a prior art network system, e.g., in a LAN (Local Area Network) system represented by Ethernet. That is, there is adopted a construction for receiving and transferring data by use of communication lines for connecting a plurality of terminal equipments to each other. Therefore, the terminal equipments connected to the same LAN share a bandwidth with each other. Accordingly, when a traffic volume increases, the bandwidths of the communication lines come to deficiency enough to cause such a case that the smooth transmission and receipt of the data might be hindered. One of countermeasures against this problem may be a network system using a line concentrator (e.g. switching HUB).
FIG. 31 is a block diagram illustrating a whole configuration of the network system employing a line concentrator 1. Referring to FIG. 31, a plurality of terminal equipments (hereinafter simply called xe2x80x9cterminalsxe2x80x9d) 2a-2d are connected via communication lines to the line concentrator 1. The data is transferred and received based on packet communications between the respective terminals 2a-2d. A packet used at this time is stored with a data-transmitted-side address and a data-transmitting-side address in addition to the data to be transmitted.
Therefore, the respective terminals 2a-2d have network addresses (IP addresses (Internet Protocol addresses): layer 3 addresses) of the respective terminals 2a-2d, and MAC (Media Access Control) addresses. Then, when one of the terminals 2a-2d transmits the data to other terminal, the transmitting terminal generates the packet. This packet is stored with the data-transmitted MAC address and the data-transmitting network address, and the data.
On the other hand, the line concentrator 1 incorporates, as illustrated in FIG. 31, a MAC address table 3 stored with the MAC addresses of the terminals 2a-2d. When the line concentrator 1 receives the packet from one of the terminals 2a-2d, the data-transmitted MAC address stored in the packet is compared with the MAC address stored in the MAC address table 3, whereby the data-transmitted MAC address is confirmed, and the packet transmitting terminal and the packet transmitted terminal are brought into such a state as to be connected to each other via one communication line.
For example, referring again to FIG. 31, in the case of transmitting the data packet from the terminal 2a to the terminal 2c, when the line concentrator 1 receives the packet transmitted by the terminal 2a, the terminal 2a is connected via the one communication line to the terminal 2c with the MAC address of the terminal 2c that is stored in that packet (see the broken line in FIG. 31). This is known as a port switching function.
With this port switching function, a medium (communication line) is occupied between the terminal 2a and the terminal 2c, and, besides, the bandwidth is also occupied. Thus, the line concentrator 1 enables the terminals 2a-2d to transfer and receive the data through the one-to-one communication. Hence, the data can be smoothly transferred and received.
In contrast with this, there must be a case wherein each of the terminals 2a-2d transmits the data to the plurality of terminals. In this case, each of the terminals 2a-2d is stored with an address (a broadcast address) purporting that the packet should be transmitted to all the terminals, in an area for storing the packet data-transmitted MAC address. The packet stored with the broadcast designation as the transmitted address is termed a broadcast packet.
This broadcast packet is, when received in the line concentrator 1, transmitted to the plurality of terminals in accordance with setting of the line concentrator 1. More specifically, the line concentrator 1 is capable of unifying the plurality of communication lines (an interface accommodating the communication lines) connected to itself by setting, into a single or a plurality of groups. The line concentrator 1, upon receiving the broadcast packet, distinguishes which group the communication line accepting the transmission of the broadcast packet belongs to, and sends the broadcast packet to the communication line belonging to that group. Herein, a group having such a domain that the line concentrator 1 transmits the broadcast packet is referred to as a broadcast domain.
For example, as shown in a block diagram of FIG. 32, if all the communication lines connected to the line concentrator 1 are set as one broadcast domain, and when the line concentrator 1 receives the broadcast packet transmitted from, e.g., the terminal 2a, the communication lines for connecting the terminals 2a-2d to the line concentrator 1 are connected to each other (see the broken line in FIG. 32), and the broadcast packet is thereby transmitted from the line concentrator 1 to the terminals 2b-2d.
By the way, as illustrated in FIG. 33, there may be a case where a terminal 2e is newly connected via the communication line to the line concentrator 1 in the network system shown in FIG. 31. The terminal 2e immediately after being connected is in such a state as to possess the network address at all.
In anticipation of such a case, as illustrated in FIG. 33, an address possession server 4 (hereinafter simply termed a xe2x80x9cserverxe2x80x9d) is connected via the communication line to the line concentrator 1 in the network system. Herein, the server 4 possesses a self network address (hereinafter called a xe2x80x9cserver addressxe2x80x9d) and a single or a plurality of an unused network address. This server 4, upon receiving a supply request of the network address from the terminal, supplies the unused network address possessed by the server 4 itself.
Given hereinbelow is an explanation of a process when the server supplies the network address to the terminal 2e in FIG. 33. A premise is that the line concentrator 1 is set to transmit, upon receiving the broadcast packet, this broadcast packet to all the terminals 2a-2e and the server 4 that are connected to the line concentrator 1.
At first, the terminal 2e transmits a broadcast packet (xe2x80x9caddress possession server_DISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d hereinafter called a xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d) in which the data is a supply request for the server address and the unused network address. The reason why the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d is defined as the broadcast packet is that the terminal 2e immediately after being connected to the network system is in such a state that a position (address) of the server 4 is unknown. The terminals 2a-2d and the server 4 receive this xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d via the line concentrator 1.
Next, when the server 4 receives the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d, there is transmitted a broadcast packet (xe2x80x9caddress possession server_xe2x80x9cOFFER packetxe2x80x9d: hereinafter called an xe2x80x9cOFFER packetxe2x80x9d) in which the data consists of the server address of the server 4 and a single or a plurality of unused network addresses. The reason why the xe2x80x9cOFFER packetxe2x80x9d is defined as the broadcast packet is that the terminal 2e is in such a state as to have no self address, and therefore the server 4 is impossible of specifying the terminal to which the xe2x80x9cOFFER packetxe2x80x9d should be transmitted from the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d. The terminals 2a-2e receive this xe2x80x9cOFFER packetxe2x80x9d via the line concentrator 1.
Next, when the terminal 2e receives the xe2x80x9cOFFER packetxe2x80x9d, the terminal 2e selectively obtains one network address from the single or the plurality of unused network addresses, and a broadcast packet (xe2x80x9caddress possession server_REQUEST packetxe2x80x9d: hereinafter called a xe2x80x9cREQUEST packet) in which the obtained result serves as a piece of data, is transmitted. This xe2x80x9cREQUEST packetxe2x80x9d is, as in the case of the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d, transmitted via the line concentrator 1 to the terminals 2a-2d and the server 4.
Next, the server 4, upon receiving the xe2x80x9cREQUEST packetxe2x80x9d, analyzes a content of the xe2x80x9cREQUEST packetxe2x80x9d and grasps which network address the terminal 2e obtained. Thereupon, the server 4 transmits a broadcast packet (xe2x80x9caddress possession server_ACK packetxe2x80x9d: hereinafter called an xe2x80x9cACK packetxe2x80x9d) in which the data is an acceptance acknowledgement of a result of the terminal 2e having obtained the network address. This xe2x80x9cACK packetxe2x80x9d is received by the terminals 2a-2e via the line concentrator 1.
If a plurality of network systems shown in FIG. 31 are provided, as illustrated in, e.g., FIG. 34, the respective line concentrators 1a, 1b are connected to routers 30 via the communication lines in each network system. Then, the network system as shown in FIG. 31 constitutes a segment.
The relay system 30 incorporates a so-called xe2x80x9crouting agent functionxe2x80x9d. With this routing agent functionxe2x80x9d, the relay system 30, when receiving the packet from one of the line concentrators 1a, 1b, transmits the packet to the other line concentrator 1a or 1b without any change in terms of content of the same packet.
For instance, referring to FIG. 34, if the terminal 2e immediately after being connected to the line concentrator 1a transmits the above xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d to the server 4a and the server 4b as well, the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d is, when received by the line concentrator 1a, transmitted to all the communication lines connected to this line concentrator 1a. The xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d is thereby transmitted to the server 3a and the terminals 2a, 2b, and also transmitted to the relay system 30 via the communication line on a backbone side. The relay system 30, upon receiving the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d, transmits the packet to the line concentrator 1b without changing the content of the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d by dint of the above xe2x80x9crouting agent functionxe2x80x9d. The xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d is, when received by the line concentrator 1b, transmitted to all the communication lines connected to the line concentrator 1b. The xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d is thereby received by the terminals 2c, 2d and the server 4b. The servers 4a, 4b are thus notified of the network address supply request of the terminal 2e, and subsequently the above-mentioned process is executed, whereby the terminal 2e obtains the self network address.
There arise, however, the following problems inherent in the prior art network system described above. That is, in the network system shown in FIG. 34, the packet switching for obtaining the network address is all performed by use of, as explained above, the broadcast packet between the terminal 2e and the server 4.
Accordingly, in the line concentrator 1, the terminals 2a-2e and the server 4 are connected to each other via the communication lines in order to transmit the broadcast packets to all the broadcast domains, and it follows that the packets such as the xe2x80x9cDISCOVER packetxe2x80x9d and the xe2x80x9cOFFER packetxe2x80x9d are transmitted to the terminals 2a-2d requiring no receipt of these packets. Consequently, the bandwidth shrinks, and the throughput decreases. Particularly when the data are transferred and received between the terminals enough to require a considerable network performance as in a file transfer, etc., there must be a large influence due to the reduction in the bandwidth. As explained above, a first problem is that smoothing of the data communications between the terminals is hindered.
By the way, the terminals 2a-2e in the network system shown in FIG. 34, if not possessed of the network address and the MAC address, are incapable of performing the communications between the terminals based on the one-to-one communication. Accordingly, the terminal 2e illustrated in FIG. 34 is still in such a state as to be incapable of performing the one-to-one communication with other terminals 2a-2d simply by obtaining the network address from the server 4.
For this reason, if the terminal 2e shown in FIG. 34 tries to transmit the data to, e.g., the terminal 2d, the terminals 2e must obtain the MAC address of the terminal 2d through ARP (Address Resolution Protocol). More specifically, the terminal 2e transmits an ARP packet (ARP request packet) to the terminal 2d and, at the same time, receives an ARP (ARP response packet) from the terminal 2d. The ARP request packet is, however, also defined as a broadcast packet. Hence, the first problem described above arises.
Further, the relay system 30, upon receiving the broadcast packet, transmits the broadcast packet to all the line concentrators connected to the router itself through the xe2x80x9crouting agent functionxe2x80x9d. It might be probable that the bandwidth is reduced, and the throughput decreases. Thus, even if each of the line concentrators 1a-1c incorporates the function to occupy the bandwidth of the communication line, there exists a second problem in which the data are not smoothly transferred and received between the segments in the case of the relay system 30 incorporating no function to occupy the bandwidth of the communication line.
Moreover, if the plurality of relay systems are employed in the network system, it may happen that the router transmits a control broadcast packet (e.g., RIP (Routing Information Protocol), etc. (hereinafter termed an xe2x80x9cinternal control packetxe2x80x9d) for controlling other routers and the line concentrators. In this case, it follows that the internal control packet is transmitted to each broadcast domain via each of the line concentrators 1a-1c. The internal control packet is, however, unnecessary for the respective terminals 2a-2e, whereby the above first problems is caused. Further, the internal control packet might contain confidential items of data such as basic construction data of the network system, and therefore a second problem arises, wherein the security of the network may be spoiled.
It is a first object of the present invention, which was contrived in view of the first and second problems given above, to provide a network system and a line concentrator that are capable of smoothly transferring and receiving by preventing a decreases in throughput due to a reduction in bandwidths.
It is a second object of the present invention, which was contrived in view of the third problem given above, to provide a network system and a line concentrator that are capable of keeping a confidentiality of information.
The following is a first construction of the network system of the present invention, which was contrived to obviate the problems described above. That is, a network system according to the present invention comprises a plurality of terminal equipments, a server, and a line concentrator to which the plurality of terminal equipments and the address possession server are connected via communication lines. The terminal equipment includes an address supply requesting element for, when possessing no self network address, transmitting an address supply request broadcast packet to the line concentrator. The line concentrator includes a plurality of interfaces, a first line data storing element for storing data about the interface receiving the address broadcast packet transmitted from the server, and a communication line control element for, when one of the plurality of interfaces receives the address supply request broadcast packet from one of the plurality of terminal equipments, reading the data about the interface receiving the address broadcast packet from the first line data memory storing element, and then transmitting the address supply request broadcast packet from only the relevant interface. The server includes a network address storing element for storing an unused network address in the network system, and an address supplying element for, when receiving the address supply request broadcast packet, transmitting the address broadcast packet containing the unused network address stored in the network address storing element.
The line concentrator may further include an address requesting element for generating the address supply request broadcast packet and transmitting the same packet to the server. The first line data storing element is thereby stored with the data about the interface receiving the address broadcast packet transmitted by the server in response to the address supply request broadcast packet. As a matter of course, the data about the interface may be inputted to the first line data storing element from outside. Further, the line concentrator may include a second line data storing element for, when one of the plurality of interfaces receives the address supply request broadcast packet, storing data about the interface receiving the address supply request broadcast packet. The communication line control element of the line concentrator, when one of the plurality of interfaces receives the address broadcast packet from the server, may read the data about the interface receiving the address supply request broadcast packet stored in the second line data storing element, and may transmit the address broadcast packet from only the relevant interface. Moreover, the line concentrator may further comprise a fiducial traffic volume memory table stored with a fiducial traffic volume, and a traffic measuring element for measuring a traffic volume per unit time and comparing this measured result with the fiducial traffic volume. The address requesting element, when the traffic measuring element detects a traffic volume less than the fiducial traffic volume, may generate the address supply request broadcast packet, and may transmit the same packet to the server. Furthermore, the line concentrator may further comprise a timer for measuring a predetermined time. The traffic measuring element may measure a traffic volume per unit time when the timer measures the predetermined time, and may compare this measured result with the fiducial traffic volume. In addition, the line concentrator may further comprise a procedure stopping element for generating a procedure stop broadcast packet for stopping packet switching for obtaining the unused broadcast packet between the plurality of terminal equipments and the server, and transmitting the same packet to the server.
According to a first construction of the network system of the present invention, the network address storing element of the server is stored with a network address of the server itself, and the address supplying element of the server, when receiving the address request broadcast packet, transmits an address broadcast packet containing the unused network address stored in the network address storing element and the network address of the server itself. In this case, the line concentrator may include an address storing element for storing the network address of the server itself, an address managing element for, when one of the plurality of interfaces receives the address supply request broadcast packet from one of the plurality of terminal equipments, reads the network address of the server itself that is stored in the address storing element, and a packet generating element for generating the address supply request packet in which a packet-transmitted address of the address supply request broadcast packet received by one of the plurality of interfaces is changed into the network address of the server itself that is read by the address managing element, and for transmitting the same packet to the server.
Further, the network address of the server itself may be inputted to the address storing element from outside, and, when the line concentrator receives the address broadcast packet, the address managing element may store the address storing element with the network address of the server itself that is contained in the address broadcast packet.
According to a second construction of the network system of the present invention, a network system comprises a plurality of terminal equipments, a plurality of line concentrators to which the plurality of terminal equipments are connected via communication lines, and a relay system to which the plurality of line concentrators are connected via the communication lines. The relay system includes a control packet transmitting element for transmitting a control broadcast packet of the relay system itself and/or the plurality of line concentrators. Each of the line concentrator includes a plurality of interfaces, a packet distinguishing element for, when one of the plurality of interfaces receives the packet from the relay system, determining whether or not the packet received from the relay system is the control broadcast packet, and a communication line control element for, when the packet distinguishing element determines that the packet received from the relay system is the control broadcast packet, making the control broadcast packet untransmissible from the plurality of interfaces.
According to a third construction of the network. system of the present invention, a network system comprises a plurality of terminal equipments, a plurality of first line concentrators to which the plurality of terminal equipments are connected via communication lines, and a second line concentrator to which the first line concentrators are connected via the communication lines. The plurality of terminal equipments include ARP requesting elements for, when having no data-transmitted MAC (Media Access Control) address, transmitting ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) request packets containing data-transmitted network addresses of the first line concentrators. The plurality of first line concentrators include first address converting elements for, when receiving the ARP request packet from one of the plurality of terminal equipments, transmitting, to the second line concentrators, the ARP request packet in which the packet-transmitted address of the received ARP request packet is converted into the address of the second line concentrator. The second line concentrator include a first address corresponding table stored with the network address in the network system in such a form as to correspond to the MAC address, and a responding element for, when receiving the ARP request packet from one of the plurality of first line concentrators, reading from the first address corresponding table the data-transmitted MAC address corresponding to the data-transmitted network address contained in the ARP request packet, for generating an ARP response packet containing the data-transmitted MAC address, and for transmitting the ARP response packet to the first line concentrator transmitting the ARP request packet.
According to a fourth construction of the network system of the present invention, a network system comprises a plurality of terminal equipments, a plurality of first line concentrators to which the plurality of terminal equipments are connected via communication lines, and a second line concentrator to which the first line concentrators are connected via the communication lines. The plurality of terminal equipments include ARP requesting elements for, when having no data-transmitted MAC (Media Access Control) addresses, transmitting ARP (Address Resolution Protocol) request packets containing data-transmitted network addresses of the first line concentrators. The plurality of first line concentrators include first address converting elements for, when receiving the ARP request packet from one of the plurality of terminal equipments, transmitting, to the second line concentrators, the ARP request packet in which the packet-transmitted address of the received ARP request packet is converted into the address of the second line concentrator, and a second address converting element for, when receiving the ARP request packet from the second line concentrator, transmitting to the plurality of terminal equipments the ARP request packet in which the packet-transmitted address of the ARP packet is converted into a broadcast designation. The second line concentrator includes a second address corresponding table stored with the network addresses in the network system in such a form as to correspond to the MAC addresses of the plurality of first line concentrators, and a third address converting element for, when receiving the ARP request packet from one of the plurality of first line concentrators, reading from the second address corresponding table the MAC address of the first line concentrator that corresponds to the data-transmitted network address contained in the ARP request packet, for generating an ARP request packet in which the MAC address of the first line concentrators serves as transmission destination addresses, and for transmitting the ARP request packets to the relevant first line concentrators.
According to the third and fourth constructions of the network system of the present invention, a network system may comprise a plurality of terminal equipments, a plurality of first line concentrators to which the plurality of terminal equipments are connected via communication lines, a second line concentrator to which the first line concentrators are connected via the communication lines, and an address resolution server to which the second line concentrator is connected via the communication line.
According to the network system of the present invention, it is possible to prevent a throughput from being decreased due to a reduction in terms of bandwidths for the communication lines for connecting the plurality of terminal equipments, the server and the line concentrator and also to properly transmit the data between the terminal equipments.
Further, in such a case that the network system is equipped with the relay system, the control broadcast packet is inhibited from being transmitted to the terminal equipments by providing the line concentrator with a packet distinguishing element. Therefore, the confidentiality of the data contained in the control broadcast packet can be kept, and, in turn, the confidentiality of information in the network system can be also held.

Network address supply system for transmitting an address supply request to only a server


An assembly for a vapor provision device includes a vapor generator for vaporizing source liquid, a liquid conduit for delivering source liquid from a reservoir to the vapor generator, and a liquid capture element in liquid transfer contact with at least a portion of the liquid conduit between the vapor generator and a part of the liquid conduit that receives liquid from the reservoir, and including an absorbent structure providing a lower capillary force than a capillary force of the liquid conduit.

Aerosol or vapor provision devices and systems such as e-cigarettes generally comprise a reservoir of a source liquid containing a formulation, typically including nicotine, from which an aerosol is generated, such as through vaporization or other means. Thus an aerosol source for a vapor provision system may comprise a heating element or other vapor generating component coupled to a portion of the source liquid from the reservoir. In some systems, the heating element and reservoir are comprised within a first section or component which is connectable to a second section or component housing a battery to provide electrical power to the heating element. This first section may be referred to as a cartomizer, and can be disposable to be replaced when the source liquid has been consumed. In use, a user inhales on the device to activate the heating element which vaporizes a small amount of the source liquid, which is thus converted to an aerosol for inhalation by the user.
The reservoir may hold free-flowing source liquid or may house some absorbent material which is soaked in source liquid. The reservoir is designed so that the source liquid can exit the reservoir, reach the heating element and be vaporized when the heating element is at a high temperature; this may be by use of a conduit such as a porous wicking element which reaches into the reservoir and is physically coupled to the heating element. While the reservoir and conduit are constructed to contain the source liquid and deliver it for vaporization at an appropriate rate, this arrangement can be very sensitive to pressure differentials between the reservoir interior and the external environment. An increase in pressure inside the tank relative to the environment can force liquid out of the reservoir until sufficient liquid is lost to re-establish a pressure balance. The escaped liquid may be too much for the conduit and heater to successfully hold or vaporize, and so may leak into the interior of the device, potentially causing damage and ultimately leakage from the device itself, and also loss of liquid that could otherwise be consumed.
Approaches aimed at mitigating these problems are of interest.

Vapor provision device with liquid capture


An alkaline soluble resin, a process for preparing the same, and a photoresist composition containing the same. The alkaline soluble resin is a polyether chain-containing acrylate alkaline soluble resin. A photoresist composition comprising said alkaline soluble resin can reduce the slope angle of the film layer and prevent gaps which cause light leakage from forming in the junction between the colored film layer and the black matrix. Moreover, the coating and the rubbing effect of the orientation layer can be improved.

A colored filter is primarily composed of a substrate, a black matrix, a colored film layer, a protective layer and a conductive layer. Usually, a colored photoresist composition is applied to a substrate to form a photoresist layer, a pre-determined photoresist pattern is formed after exposure of the photoresist layer, and the photoresist pattern is developed and post-baked to obtain the colored film layer.
In a colored filter, there are requirements on the slope angle of the aforesaid film layer. If the slope angle is too large, it is prone to leaking light. The slope angle of a film layer primarily depends on the film forming property of the photoresist composition. The major components of a photoresist composition include an alkaline soluble resin, a photoactive compound, a photoinitiator, a pigment dispersion solution, an organic solvent as well as other additives. After exposure and experiencing a high temperature post-baking, the photoactive compound will form a polymer. Some polymers have high hardness and are not easy to be bent to form a gradient, causing a large slope angle of the film layer. Therefore, gaps may form in the junction between the colored film layer and the black matrix, thereby causing light leakage. Moreover, a large slope angle affects the coating and the rubbing effect of the orientation layer in the liquid crystal glass box in subsequent process, which may also cause light leakage. It may even affect the orientation of liquid crystals, thereby affecting the display quality of the images. It thus becomes a concern to keep the slope angle of the colored film layer within a proper range (23°-60°) in the research and development of a photoresist composition.

Alkaline soluble resin, process for preparing same, and photoresist composition containing same


The present invention provides a power converter mounting system including a flange that cooperates with a power converter and an enclosure. The flange includes a through hole that cooperates with an opening in the enclosure to permit the power converter to extend therethrough. A number of fasteners connect to the flange and overhang a portion of the power converter. The fasteners are configured to be manipulated from a front side of the power converter. An outer perimeter of the flange extends beyond the opening in the enclosure. The flange is secured to the enclosure with a number of fasteners that are also operable from the front side of the power converter. The power converter mounting assembly is configured to secure a power converter to an enclosure so as to satisfy a variety of sealing requirements as well as allowing convenient servicing of the power converter system.

The present invention is directed to power converters, for example motor drives, used to convert electrical energy from one form to another. More specifically, the present invention provides a method and apparatus for mounting the power converter.
As is known to those skilled in the art, power converters, such as motor drives, are commonly mounted within an industrial enclosure. Industrial enclosures may be configured according to many specifications such as those established by the National Electrical Manufacturers Association (NEMA), the Underwriters Laboratories (UL), or the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). These classifications define a series of increasing levels of protection that the enclosures must provide to personnel working around the enclosure or to the equipment contained within the enclosure. NEMA type 4 enclosures, for example, require the enclosure to be constructed for either indoor or outdoor use and to provide a degree of protection to personnel against access to hazardous parts, to provide a degree of protection of the equipment inside the enclosure against ingress of dust or water, and that will be undamaged by the external formation of ice on the enclosure. NEMA type 4X enclosures further require a level of protection against corrosion.
The environments in which the power converter and enclosure are installed typically dictate the level of protection required. The enclosures are often purchased according to the desired level of protection. The enclosures may be made of different materials, utilize different closing members, or different sealing members according to the specified level of protection. In most instances, a power converter may be mounted entirely inside the enclosure, thereby maintaining the original level of protection for which the enclosure was designed. Optionally, a power converter may need to extend outside the enclosure. For example, due to the size of the converter or due to cooling requirements, a heat sink connected to the power converter may extend through one surface of the enclosure. In order for the enclosure to retain its rated level of protection, the hole through which the power converter extends must be sealed to meet the same level of protection as required by the enclosure.
In the past, many converters configured for such an application included a flange integrally formed with the converter housing or provided an add-on flange that sealingly cooperated with the converter and the surrounding enclosure. However, providing a converter with an integral flange increases the cost associated with such converters. Further, different housings must be manufactured and supplied for each converter according to the environment in which it is to be installed.
Providing an add-on flange has also typically incurred various disadvantages. Existing add-on flanges have commonly been secured to the converter and the enclosure in such a manner that the converter can no longer be removed from the enclosure independently of the flange. Such an arrangement complicates the efforts associated with servicing the respective converters. Furthermore, removing the flange to service the converter increases the potential for leaks to form between the converter and the flange when the flange is reinstalled in the enclosure. Such flanges are susceptible to overly complicated mounting and integration assemblies, poor or inadequate sealing, assembly prior to installation of the converter, and cost increases with respect to base model assemblies.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a converter mounting assembly that can provide a generally sealed mounting of the converter in accordance with different enclosure specifications, for example, NEMA Type 4/4X, NEMA Type 12, UL Type 12, IP5X, and IP6X applications. The mounting assembly can provide multiple mounting protocols, is simple to integrate with existing product platforms, and minimally affects the cost associated with providing a converter useable in a variety of other types of applications.

Method and apparatus for mounting a power converter


A shock absorber includes a damping force adjustment mechanism having a flow passage that allows the fluid from a cylinder, a valve seat, a valve body, and a stepper motor that adjusts a flow passage area by driving the valve body. A valve body position in which step-out may occur in the stepper motor if the valve body is moved further toward the valve seat therefrom is set as a step-out boundary position, a zone between a seated position in which the valve body is seated on the valve seat and the step-out boundary position is set as a step-out zone, and when the valve body is to be moved to the seated position through the step-out zone, the stepper motor is energized to move the valve body by a distance that is at least twice a distance to the seated position.

JP2008-14431A discloses a shock absorber that is installed in a front fork of a motorcycle to perform damping force adjustment using a motor. The shock absorber includes a shock absorber main body having a cylinder coupled to an outer tube, a piston that is inserted in the cylinder to be free to slide and divides an interior of the cylinder into a contraction side chamber and an expansion side chamber, and a piston rod that is inserted into the cylinder such that one end thereof is coupled to an inner tube, which is inserted into the outer tube to be free to slide, and another end is coupled to the piston. The shock absorber further includes a passage connecting the contraction side chamber and the expansion side chamber of the shock absorber main body, a check valve provided midway in the passage to allow only a flow traveling from the contraction side chamber toward the expansion side chamber or conversely to allow only a flow traveling from the expansion side chamber toward the contraction side chamber, a needle valve provided midway in the passage, and a stepper motor that is fixed to the other end side of the piston rod in order to drive the needle valve.
During expansion, the shock absorber generates damping force by applying resistance to a flow of working oil using a piston valve provided in the piston, and during contraction, the shock absorber generates damping force by applying resistance to a flow of working oil flowing out of the cylinder into a reservoir using a base valve provided in an end portion of the cylinder.
Further, in this shock absorber, the working oil is caused to flow through the passage either only during expansion or only during contraction by an action of the check valve. By having the needle valve apply resistance to this flow of working oil, the needle valve generates damping force cooperatively during either expansion or contraction of the shock absorber. Furthermore, by driving the needle valve using the motor, the damping force generated by the needle valve can be varied.
Hence, the needle valve performs a damping function only during expansion or contraction of the shock absorber. A front fork that straddles a vehicle wheel of a motorcycle typically straddles the vehicle wheel in a left-right pair. Therefore, the needle valve of the shock absorber built into one front fork performs the damping function during expansion, and the needle valve of the shock absorber built into the other front fork performs the damping function during contraction. As a result, the expansion side damping force and the contraction side damping force can be adjusted by the front fork as a whole.
According to this shock absorber, the flow of working oil passing through the needle valve always travels in one direction and is therefore a stable flow. As a result, the damping force generated by the shock absorber can be adjusted accurately.


An intuitive display including a visual representation of a maximum admissible angle of attack on a pitch scale giving the crew of an aircraft a visual recognition of an imminent stall, or of a stall, together with real assistance with piloting during the stall until the aircraft has come out of the stall completely.

The present invention relates to the field of on-board methods and systems to assist piloting of an aircraft and, more specifically, to alert the crew that a stall is imminent, and to assist them to control the aircraft.
Stalling consists of a sudden loss of lift of the aircraft which may be due to a very high angle of incidence (or angle of attack) between the chord line of a wing and the aircraft's speed vector. More specifically, when the pitch angle increases the angle of attack increases, lift increases, and the flow over the top surface of a wing starts to separate in the area of the trailing edge. When the angle of attack reaches a critical value (called the stall value), which depends on the wing's characteristics, an air flow separation may occur on the top surface of the wing, leading to a loss of lift.
Each wing generally has a sensor (for example, a tongue positioned on the edge of the wing) to measure the current value of the angle of attack. The measurement is transmitted to an indicator on the instrument panel giving the current value of the angle of attack.
In addition, when the angle of attack begins to come close to the stall value, the angle of attack measurement sensor activates cabin alerts of a visual, and/or acoustic and/or tactile (stick vibration) type. The pilot then pushes the stick to regain an angle of attack which is lower than the stall value.
The various alerts thus enable the crew to remedy the situation in order that the aircraft does not stall. However, these alerts do not provide assistance with piloting to facilitate re-establishment of control of the aircraft.
In addition, the crew does not have precise indications enabling them, if required, to increase lift fully without exceeding the stall angle of attack.
The object of the present invention is to propose a system and method to assist piloting which is simple, intuitive and accurate, remedying the abovementioned disadvantages, and in particular providing the crew with visual detection means which are easy to interpret, in order not to enter into a stall, and a real system to assist piloting in order to control the aircraft in stall situations.

Assistance with piloting of an aircraft in a stall