An information service terminal which allows the user to access various items such as the Web pages on the Internet without operating a keyboard and a mouse through complex sequences. The information service terminal has an address database for storing URLs (Uniform Resource Locators), which are used as addresses of the Web pages, in association with respective channels, a channel remote-controller for inputting a channel number, and a display unit. In the terminal, when one of the channel is selected, depending on the channel number, the address database is searched for a corresponding one of the URLs to access the corresponding Web page. The user can browse the desired Web page data by designating the corresponding channel number by the channel remote-controller.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information service terminal for receiving information from a computer network such as the Internet, and more particularly to an information service terminal capable of selecting one, at a time, of a plurality of information services and displaying information from the selected information service.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With rapid advances in the computer network technology, it is now possible for network users to acquire a wide variety of information as desired from computer networks. One form of information acquisition from computer networks is the WWW (World Wide Web) service available on the Internet. On the Internet, there are addresses known as URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) assigned respectively to information documents referred to as Web pages. When the user inputs the URL assigned to a desired Web page on the Internet, the user can access the Web page through the WWW service. Access software used by Internet terminals for enabling the users to access and display Web pages is generally called a WWW browser.
FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a process of operation of a conventional WWW browser for inputting a URL and accessing a corresponding Web page. It is assumed that an Internet terminal used by the user is connected to the Internet when it is connected to an Internet provider through a modem apparatus. Typically, the Internet terminal comprises a personal computer in which the application software of the WWW browser is installed.
First, the user inputs the URL of a Web page which the user wants to read through a keyboard. The WWW browser determines whether the URL is inputted through the keyboard or not in step 501. If the URL is inputted through the keyboard, then the WWW browser acquires the inputted URL from the keyboard in step 502 and then transmits the URL through the modem to the Internet in step 503. In step 504, the WWW browser receives a Web page data indicated by the URL from the Internet in step 504. Thereafter, the WWW browser displays information of the latest received Web page data on the display unit in step 505, and then returns to step 501.
The user may designate a URL through a process other than the process using the keyboard. For example, the user may register, in advance, a list of URLs on an address book, and then use a pointing device such as a mouse on the address book displayed on the screen to indicate a desired URL from the address book. When the user uses the address book, the user uses a mouse or the like to select an address book command and then selects a desired URL from the address book with the mouse or the like. Since the list of URLs is usually too large to be displayed within a full-screen image, the user needs to scroll the displayed address book until a desired URL is displayed for selection.
A process of using the address book to select a desired URL is as follows: If no URL is inputted through the keyboard in step 501, the WWW browser determines whether there is an input from the mouse or not in step 506. If there is no input from the mouse, then the WWW browser returns to step 501. If there is an input from the mouse, then the WWW browser determines whether the input from the mouse is an address book command or not in step 507. If the input from the mouse is not an address book command, then the WWW browser goes to step 509 and processes in step 509 another command as the input from the mouse, after which the WWW browser returns to step 501. If the input from the mouse is an address book command, then the WWW browser reads a URL which the user has selected with the mouse in step 508, and jumps to step 503.
General information services other than the WWW service on the Internet include center-to-end type personal computer communication services or BBSs (Bulletin Board Services). Generally, information items available through the personal computer communication can be called in by following a hierarchical menu tree. Conventional communication software for personal computer communication terminals transmits characters inputted from keyboards simply through modems to the center of personal computer communication services. FIG. 2 of the accompanying drawings shows an example of the structure of a service tree of personal computer communication services.
If the user wants to call an electronic conference service relative to,t for example, "XYZOS" which is a typical OS (Operating System), the user inputs a command "GO FXYZOS" to call a XYZOS forum as indicated by a character string 520 in FIG. 2. The center of personal computer communication services then transmits data of a submenu in a layer to the user's personal computer terminal. The user's personal computer terminal displays on its display unit the transmitted submenu as indicated by a character string 521. The user selects the electronic conference service from the submenu by inputting a selection number "3" for the electronic conference service through the keyboard as indicated by a character string 522. The center of personal computer communication services transmits data of a submenu in a layer which is below the submenu indicated by the character string 521. The user's personal computer terminal displays on its display unit the transmitted submenu as indicated by a character string 523. If the user selects "`Opinion` Online Software Information Forum `Application`" from the submenu, then the user inputs its selection number "3" through the keyboard as indicated by a character string 524. The center of personal computer communication services further transmits data of a submenu in a layer which is below the submenu indicated by the character string 523. The user's personal computer terminal displays on its display unit the transmitted submenu as indicated by a character string 525. If the user selects "Read" from the submenu, then the user presses the carriage return key on the keyboard as indicated by a character string 526. The characters "CR" of the character string represent "Carriage Return". Now, the service which allows the user to read the conference minutes called in, and the user's personal computer terminal displays on its display unit appropriate information as indicated by a character string 527.
Some software for personal computer communication includes macro functions to register a plurality of command character strings as a macro. When the user calls a certain service or item using such a macro function, the user selects a macro execution command with the mouse or the like, and then selects the macro of the desired service from a displayed list of macros.
On the Internet, a vast number of Web pages are currently available and frequently updated. The user needs to frequently read pages of Web sites of interest in order to determine whether they are updated or not. According to the present browsing technology, if the user wants to successively read 1000 Web-pages, for example, everyday to look for those Web pages which have been updated and contain additional interesting information, then the user is presently required to either input corresponding 1000 URLs through the key-board or repeat 1000 times a process of selecting an address book command with the mouse or the like and selecting a URL from the address book. Therefore, insofar as the user relies upon the present browsing technology, it is time-consuming and impractical for the user to repeatedly browse a number of Web pages everyday.
In the personal computer communication services or the BBSs, information is also frequently added to and updated in the menus. If the user wants to successively read 1000 menus, for example, everyday to look for those items of information which have been updated and contain additional interesting information, then the user is presently required to either input command strings for calling the respective 1000 menus through the keyboard or repeat 1000 times a process of selecting a macro execution command with the mouse or the like and selecting the macro of a desired menu from a list of macros. Such repeated sequences are also time-consuming and impractical.
When the user uses information services in a plurality of categories, e.g., the Internet and the personal computer communication service, the user needs to have as many different access software programs as the number of the information services. Since it is necessary for the user to select and execute those access software programs as well as the above browsing sequences for the respective information services, the overall operation is further complex and time-consuming.

Information service terminal for accessing information from a network based on user channel selections


[Problem] To provide an API adapter, an API adapter creation method, and a program capable of efficiently creating an API adapter unit.

In recent years, a communication service of a business to business to X (B2B2X) model that provides services to end users using digital services of other providers rather than building all using facilities of a provider has become popular when new digital services are created by the provider.
With the spread of B2B2X, the importance of a cooperative execution device for a plurality of services for combining a plurality of wholesale partner services to build and operate a service is increasing. Due to the advent of new wholesale services and frequent changes in existing service specifications, a service provider is required to follow new wholesale services and changes in existing service specifications at low cost and in a short time.
Further, each provider provides an application program interface (API) on a web to manage services, and a user builds and operates services through software that calls the API. A specification of the API (a name of the API, a uniform resource locator (URL), parameters, or the like) is defined by each provider, and users use the API according to this definition. In recent years, more APIs have been provided by providers, and it is common for a single provider to provide a plurality of APIs for a service or for a plurality of providers to provide the similar API for a service.
When a service provider develops a device that collectively builds a cooperation service that is a combination of networks, clouds, and applications of a plurality of wholesale service providers providing wholesale services, costs of follow-up are generated each time new services or APIs are added to wholesale services.
There is a technology described in Non-Patent Literature 1 as an architecture which facilitates cooperation of wholesale services of a plurality of providers to realize a new service or API follow-up development in a flexible manner.
Non-Patent Literature 1 proposes a cooperative execution device and an architecture thereof (which is separated into a service-independent unit and a service-dependent unit (an adapter unit)) for a plurality of services. Specifically, a catalog driven architecture, in which specifications of services of a plurality of providers are described as a catalog, is adopted, and "components" and "action rules" are separated as a catalog description method. An execution cooperation scheme for a plurality of services has been proposed, in which a service-independent unit that interprets and executes a catalog and a service-dependent unit that executes an API for each service are loosely coupled and thus follow-up of a new service or API can be realized in a flexible manner. This makes it possible to handle new services or APIs simply by adding a service-dependent unit when handling new services or APIs.
Non-Patent Literature 2 describes an API adapter including an orchestrator/individual service API transmission and reception unit ("/" indicates "and/or"; the same applies hereinafter) that performs transmission and reception of information to and from an orchestrator unit/individual service, an order reception unit that performs reception of an order from the orchestrator and a response process, an API calling logic unit that describes an API calling logic of an individual service (sequence of execution, designation of input and output parameters, or the like), and an orchestrator/individual API wrapper unit that performs information acquisition from the orchestrator/individual service and registration instead to provide functions in units which are easy to use for logic description.

API adapter, API adapter creation method, and program

Abstract: [Solution] An API adapter creation method includes an order reception unit incorporation process for receiving a single order 31 and performing a process for response to a cooperative execution device main unit 20, an API calling logic unit creation process for extracting a parameter necessary for execution of a wholesale service provider API 50 from within the single order 31 and converting an execution result of the wholesale service provider API 50 to a data format distributable to the cooperative execution device main unit 20, a wholesale service provider API execution unit creation and incorporation process for receiving data necessary for execution of a wholesale service provider API, reassembling the data into in the form of an HTTP request, transmitting the resultant data to a wholesale service provider 2, reassembling the data in an appropriate format, and returning the data to an API calling logic unit 120.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


Fluid amplifiers and vibration damping and isolation systems are provided. A fluid amplifier includes a housing assembly, a piezo-electric element, two amplification stages, and a rod. The piezo-electric element is disposed within the housing assembly and is capable of being energized to lengthen axially to provide an input stroke at an initial magnitude. The first amplification stage is disposed within the housing assembly adjacent to the piezo-electric element and is adapted to amplify the input stroke from the piezo-electric element to a first magnitude. The second amplification stage is disposed in series with the first amplification stage and is adapted to increase the input stroke from the first magnitude to a second magnitude that is greater than the first magnitude to yield an amplified input stroke. The rod extends through the second amplification stage and is coupled thereto to transmit the amplified input stroke having the second magnitude.

To attenuate the vibration and to isolate the payload from structural dynamics of the base, vibration isolators may be included in the structural system. One example of a passive-mass damping and isolation system is a three-parameter vibration isolator, manufactured by Honeywell, Inc. of Morristown, N.J. The D-STRUT® vibration isolator is a three-parameter vibration isolation system that mechanically acts like a first spring (KA) in parallel with a second spring (KB) in series with a damper (CA). The D-STRUT® vibration isolator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,332,070 entitled "Three Parameter Viscous Damper and Isolator" to Davis et al. The D-STRUT® vibration isolator includes a hollow shaft and a piston that is configured to slidably move through the shaft. The piston includes a flange that extends radially from a midsection thereof. The flange has a top surface that is coupled to a first sealed bellows and a bottom surface that is coupled to a second sealed bellows. Each of the bellows has a chamber that is filled with fluid. Thus, when the piston moves axially through the shaft, fluid flows from one of the bellows chambers to the other.
An active-passive hybrid damping and isolation system may alternatively be used to damp the structural system. One example of such a system is the Hybrid D-STRUT® vibration isolator, manufactured by Honeywell, Inc. of Morristown, N.J. The Hybrid D-STRUT® vibration isolator includes the passive-mass damping mechanism of the passive D-STRUT® vibration isolator and an active enhancement mechanism. The active enhancement mechanism enhances the force dissipation of the passive damping mechanism and includes an actuator mechanism which has a voice coil actuator system (such as a Lorentz force actuator) that can be tuned to damp a desired vibration. The Hybrid D-STRUT® vibration isolator is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,003,849 entitled "Hybrid Isolator and Structural Control Actuator Strut" to Davis and Hyde.
Although the above-described vibration isolators are generally useful for damping vibrations in most circumstances, they may be improved. For example, currently-known passive-mass and/or active-passive hybrid damping and isolation systems may not operate as effectively as desired in environments in which the structural system may be subjected to low frequencies (e.g., less than 5 Hz). In particular, vibrations in these frequency ranges may have relatively high amplitudes (e.g., greater than 0.25 cm), and the vibration isolators may be limited to damp vibrations having low amplitudes. Thus, other types of isolators may be employed in addition to the aforementioned types of isolators, which may be undesirable in configurations in which space may be limited.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a damping and isolation system that is capable of damping vibrations of low frequencies and high amplitudes. In addition, it is desirable for the improved damping and isolation system to be capable of being retrofit into existing systems. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the inventive subject matter will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the inventive subject matter and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the inventive subject matter.


A system for producing visual representation of eye structures that includes an ultrasonic transducer, a processor, and a display device. The processor translates electronic signals received by the transducer into image data for display by correlating echo intensities with multichromatic color hues. The processor can also translate the electronic signals by correlating the echo signal intensities with display characteristics, such as brightness, by using gamma curves that have at least one portion that is substantially continuous and non-monotonic. The processor can also translate the electronic signals into an image that shows different characteristics of the electronic signals in different display characteristics (i.e. one characteristic is color coded while another characteristic affects how brightly a color appears). The processor can also process phase information to both emphasize the depiction of eye structure boundaries and aid in distinguishing reverberation echo signals from genuine ones. The processor can also process time persistence information and thus create images where moving eye structures appear brighter or dimmer than stationary eye structures.

The present invention relates to ultrasound imaging systems that produce images of eye structures.
Ultrasound has provided physicians, ophthalmologists, and others the ability to examine eye structures without invasive surgery. An ultrasound transducer sends an ultrasound signal into an eye (and possibly surrounding tissue as well) and "listens" for signal echoes. A signal echo indicates the location of a change in impedance (a function of material density and stiffness) within the eye structures. The intensity of the echo signal indicates the amount of the change in impedance. The ultrasound signals detect not only typical eye structures such as the cornea, retina, sclera, etc., but also aberrations such as tumors and blood trapped within an eye's vitreous.
A known version of the Mentor Ophthalmics Advent A/B.TM. System processes ultrasound signals to create images of eye structures by displaying the different ultrasound signal intensities in one of 256 shades of grey. Since the human eye has some difficulty in differentiating close shades of grey, the Advent A/B.TM. System provides operators with tools to alter the image to prevent display limitations from impairing a physician's ability to differentiate eye structures.
One such tool is a set of user-selectable "gamma curves." A gamma curve basically describes a display characteristic such as brightness as a function of echo signal intensity (the term brightness as used herein encompasses the location of a shade of grey on a grey scale). One such gamma curve in the Advent A/B.TM. System simply equates brightness with signal intensity in a linear fashion. The Advent A/B.TM. System also provides non-linear curves such as an "S Curve." The "S Curve" gamma curve has a relatively small slope at low and high signal intensities and has a relatively large slope at intermediate signal intensities. All the gamma curves are monotonic (i.e. the slope of each gamma curve is either always positive or always negative). Though the system contains color output ports, the image is monochromatic. The user can select a single color (e.g. white, sepia, etc.), which is displayed with varying degrees of brightness at different points in the image depending on the different echo signal intensities.
The known version of the Advent A/B.TM. System also provides a "gain knob" to help the user alter the image. By turning the knob, the user adjusts a constant or proportionality associated with any one of the gamma curves, so that the brightness that the gamma curve associates with every echo signal intensity is either increased or decreased.
The user selectable gamma curves and the gain knob allow the user to increase the visual contrast between different features of interest in the image and aid the user in the search for structure boundaries.
The Advent A/B.TM. System also supports "temporal averaging." Temporal averaging consists of storing ultrasound signal data for each image point over multiple scans and creating an image where each image point's shade of grey depends on the average value of the image point over the multiple scans.
An article by Gonzalo R. Diaz entitled "Ultrasound Color Imaging" suggests strategically adding color hues to ultrasound images that also include shades of grey. In particular, the article suggests that a user be allowed to substitute one or more color hues for one or more grey shades. The article states that the colored regions in the display provide good contrast against the remaining, predominately grey image. An accompanying color photograph entitled "Eye Ultrasound" includes various grey shades along with certain regions colored with various color hues. It appears that some closely similar hues were substituted for some closely similar grey shades. There does not appear to be a continuous gradation from the grey shades to the color hues; rather the image appears to abruptly juxtapose grey shades with color hues.
Certain corneal topography systems create color coded topographical maps that use different colors to show different amounts of deviation from an ideal surface. Doppler ultrasound imaging systems have used color to represent blood velocity. Certain magnetic resonance imaging (M.R.I.) systems and computer aided tomography (C.A.T.) scanners use multi-colored images to help physicians differentiate structures of interest.


In some embodiments, a system includes a socket having a first set of socket contacts exposed on a first side of the socket and a second set of socket contacts exposed on a second side of the socket; and a frame comprising at least one surface to engage two lower surfaces of the second side of the socket. The two lower surfaces may be coupled by a lower corner surface of the second side of the socket, and wherein the lower corner surface does not engage the frame.

An integrated circuit (IC) package is used to electrically couple an IC die to external components and circuitry. Conventionally, electrical contacts of an IC die are coupled to electrical contacts of an IC package, which are in turn electrically connected to external contacts of the IC package. The external contacts of the IC package may comprise pins, solder balls or other types of contacts arranged in any suitable pattern.
The external contacts of an IC package may be mounted directly to electrical contacts of a substrate such as a motherboard. Alternatively, sockets have been devised to removably attach an IC package to electrical contacts of a substrate. For example, electrical contacts of an IC package may be removably coupled to first contacts of a socket, and second contacts of the socket may be coupled to a substrate.
In order to ensure a good electrical connection between package and socket contacts, some architectures require the application of a force to bias contacts of the socket against corresponding contacts of the package. This force may result in potentially damaging tension loads on the IC package, the socket, the package/socket interface, and/or the socket/substrate interface.


A check processing device prevents or suppresses entry of ambient light to a transportation path rendered as a vertical slot between the base unit and opening and closing cover. The upstream-side transportation path part 6a of a check processing device 1 is a vertical channel defined by a base unit guide surface 21 and the cover-side guide surface 30 of an operable cover 3. The image scanning surfaces 51a and 52a of a front contact image sensor 51 and back contact image sensor 52 for imaging the front and back sides of a check 5 are exposed at the cover-side guide surface 30 and the base unit guide surface 21. A cover-side visor 62 and a base-side visor 61 are formed to the cover-side guide surface 30 and base unit guide surface 21 directly above the image scanning surfaces 51a and 52a. These visors 61 and 62 prevent or suppress ambient light from entering to the image scanning surfaces 51a and 52a even if the width of the upstream-side transportation path part 6a increases.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a media processing device in which at least a part of the sheet media transportation path is defined by a vertical channel that is open at the top and is formed between the base unit of the media processing device and operable covers that open and close to the base unit.
2. Related Art
Check processing devices for processing checks are one type of media processing device used to process sheet media. See, for example, United States Patent Application 2004/0257626 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Appl. Pub. JP-A-2004-206362. Such check processing devices, also called check readers or check scanners, have an image scanner and magnetic head disposed along the media transportation path for imaging and reading magnetic ink characters from the sheet media (generally referred to as "checks" herein) conveyed through the transportation path. The checks are then sorted based on the captured information.
If a check becomes jammed in the transportation path, the check must be removed from the transportation path. So that this can be done easily, an operable cover that opens and closes is attached to the base unit, and a vertical slot that is open at the top is formed between the base unit and the cover is preferably used as the transportation path. If a check becomes jammed in the transportation path, the transportation path can be opened by simply opening the operable cover. Considering the need for maintenance of the image scanner and other internal parts, being able to open the part of the transportation path where the image scanner, magnetic head, and other parts are disposed by simply opening the operable cover is particularly convenient.
When the transportation path is formed between the base unit and operable covers, however, variation in the closed position of the cover tends to result from differences in the assembly precision of the cover and variation in the parts of the locking mechanism that locks the cover in the closed position. Variation in the closed position of the cover causes the width of the transportation path to also vary. If the width of the transportation path increases, ambient light can easily enter the transportation path from the top opening of the vertical slot rendering the transportation path.
If an image scanner or other optical part is disposed to the part of the transportation path that is defined by an operable cover that opens and closes, ambient light can degrade the quality of scanned images, increase reading error, and prevent checks from being correctly read or imaged.


A bifurcated balloon for in vivo use, comprises: a proximal hollow tubular element, two bifurcating hollow tubular elements extending distally from a distal end of the proximal hollow tubular element, each of the two elements comprising: a first distal tubular element guidable into a first branch of a vessel bifurcation, and a second distal tubular element guidable into a second branch of the vessel bifurcation. The bifurcated balloon further comprises a longitudinal chamber extending from a distal end of the first distal tubular element, and a first substantially longitudinal guidewire channel passing through the longitudinal chamber, the first guidewire channel having two ends of which a first end passes through a proximal portion of the longitudinal chamber.

The present invention relates to endovascular balloons used to recanalize, dilate and/or deploy a stent within a constricted vessel.
Balloon angioplasty for opening a constricted segment of a blood vessel has become a widely accepted therapeutic alternative to coronary and peripheral arterial bypass surgery for many patients.
To deliver a balloon catheter used in balloon angioplasty, a guidewire is advanced through the vasculature across the constricted vessel segment. A dedicated guidewire lumen in the balloon portion of the catheter is fed over the guidewire; the dedicated lumen substantially spanning the longitudinal length of the balloon interior. The balloon is advanced along the guidewire through the vasculature until reaching the constricted vessel segment. The balloon is inflated to apply radial outward pressure against the walls of the constricted vessel segment to restore vessel patency, and normal vessel diameter.
When used to deploy a stent in the constricted vessel segment, the unexpanded stent is mounted around the unexpanded balloon and transported to the constricted vessel segment. Upon reaching the constricted vessel segment, the balloon and stent are expanded, thereby restoring patency and normal vessel diameter to the constricted vessel and providing a structure that will continue to support the vessel wall.
The precise positioning of the balloon against the constricted vessel segment is critical to the success of the procedure; yet, many factors can adversely affect balloon deliverability and precise positioning.
The human vascular tree is far from being uniform in structure and each procedure is a unique experience requiring considerable manual dexterity. With currently available balloon systems, certain lesions are inaccessible and/or exceedingly difficult to reach due to vessel narrowing and rigidity of the treated vessel and lesions. Hence, the unexpanded balloon should be designed with a narrow cross sectional diameter (crossing profile).
Vascular balloon dilation is more challenging when the constricted vessel segment is located within a bifurcation in the vessel: where a sizable side branch vessel bifurcates off a main branch vessel. A common treatment technique consists of inflating two balloons sequentially; a first balloon in the main branch vessel followed by a second balloon in the side branch vessel.
Unfortunately, sequential dilatations are frequently ineffective in treating bifurcated constricted vessels, as the vessel wall at the bifurcation tends to stretch outward; resulting in narrowing of the adjacent branch or shifting atherosclerotic debris from one vessel to the other, referred to as "shifting plaque".
In order to prevent adjacent branch narrowing, a "kissing balloon" technique has been developed, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,896,670 (Crittenden), the entirety of which is incorporated herein by reference. In the kissing balloon technique, a first balloon occupies the proximal main branch vessel (trunk) and a segment of the distal main branch vessel. A second balloon occupies a segment of the proximal main branch (trunk) and a segment of the side branch vessel. Prior to inflation, the proximal portions of the two balloons occupy the proximal main branch vessel sit side-by-side and, upon inflation, the first proximal balloon portion "kisses" the second proximal balloon portion.
The "kissing balloon" technique is not without drawbacks, including:
a) difficulty of coordinating inflation and deflation of two separate balloons using two separate inflators by two operators;
b) creation of asymmetric and non-circular expansion of the proximal main branch (MB) where the "kissing" takes place, potentially causing suboptimal post-inflation results. For example, underexpansion will fail to properly clear the stenotic segments; while overexpansion can cause a dissection (tear) of the vessel wall.
c) balloon slippage during inflation;
d) difficulty in positioning the side-by-side balloon segments due to the large crossing profile created by the separate guidewires and guidewire lumens in each balloon; and
e) difficulty in manipulating the guiding catheters as the catheters must accommodate two separate side-by-side balloons of at least 6 French (2.0 millimeters) or 7 French (2.3 millimeters).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,413,989 (Schjeldahl et al) and U.S. Pat. No. 6,017,324 (Tu, et al), the entirety of which are incorporated herein by reference, disclose a "Y"-shaped balloon, herein bifurcated balloon.
As seen in FIG. 1a, a prior art bifurcated balloon 180 has two guidewire lumens:                a first guidewire lumen 136 passing through a proximal balloon trunk 130 and a first distal balloon branch 132; and        a second guidewire lumen 107 passing through proximal balloon trunk 130 and a second distal balloon branch 134.
The bifurcated balloon solves some of the problems posed by the kissing balloons. However, when guidewires 106 and 156 are fed through guidewire lumens 136 and 107 respectively, the large crossing profile hinders deliverability and accurate positioning of bifurcated balloon 180.
Additionally, two separate side-by-side guidewire lumens 106 and 156 increase the complexity and cost of manufacturing bifurcate balloon 180.
It would be highly advantageous to have a bifurcated balloon that deploys in bifurcated vessels without having at least some of the disadvantages of the prior art.

Bifurcated balloon & stent delivery system


A switchboard device and methods of operation of same are disclosed. Embodiments of the invention may provide a flexible means of interconnecting wideband and narrowband communications interfaces, where wideband communications interfaces may transfer wideband data sampled at a higher sampling rate, and narrowband communication interfaces may transfer narrowband data sampled at a lower sampling rate. Data streams sampled at different sampling rates can be combined and the sampling rate of the result adjusted as needed by the destination interface. Methods of operating embodiments of the present invention are included. An additional aspect of the present invention may include machine-readable storage having stored thereon a computer program having a plurality of code sections executable by a machine for causing the machine to perform the foregoing.

Traditional voice telephony products are typically band-limited to 4 kHz bandwidth using an 8 kHz sampling rate. These products, sometimes labeled as "narrowband", include the telephone, data modems, and fax machines. Newer products aiming to achieve higher voice quality have doubled the sampling rate to 16 kHz to encompass a larger 8 kHz bandwidth, which is also known as "wideband" capable. The software implications of using a higher sampling rate are significant. Increasing the sampling rate not only increases the processing cycles needed, but also increases the memory used to store the data. In addition, software for systems supporting wider bandwidths and higher sampling rates must not preclude support for legacy band-limited functionality.
Increasing memory and processor cycles requirements is expensive because the memory and processing power footprints of digital signal processors (DSPs) are generally small. Implementing support for wider bandwidths thus requires creativeness to optimize memory and processor cycles, and in the means to support a variety of sampling rates.
In an environment with both narrowband and wideband devices, a voice call between a narrowband terminal and a wideband terminal cannot be accomplished by simply exchanging voice data streams. Voice telephony services such as conferencing require that the voice data streams from devices using different sampling rates be combined, so that each participant may hear the voices of all other participants. Combining the digital audio streams from a narrowband terminal with a lower sampling rate and a wideband terminal with a higher sampling rate requires that adjustments be made to the voice data streams to allow them to be combined. It is also necessary that the resulting combined voice data stream be made available in a form acceptable to each participant's terminal, whether it uses a lower or higher sampling rate.
Accordingly, there is a need for switchboard functionality that can support the interconnection of both narrowband devices and wideband devices.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with aspects of the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Switchboard for dual-rate single-band communication system


A method for motion vector coding of an MPEG-4 includes determining motion vector candidates, and selecting a candidate having a minimum bit rate among motion vector candidates in an encoder. A motion vector prediction error and prediction mode information and then to a decoder. The decoder estimates a minimum bit rate for coding a motion vector difference and codes a motion vector against components X and Y, using a minimum rate predictor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coding method, and in particular, to a method for motion vector coding of a moving picture experts group-4 (MPEG-4) video verification model (VM).
2. Background of the Related Art
Redundancy in a temporal domain of image data and redundancy in a two dimensional spatial domain of image data must be removed to efficiently compress a video sequence that changes with time. A discrete cosine transform (DCT) is used to remove the redundancy in the two dimensional spatial domain, and a motion compensation method is used to remove the redundancy in the temporal domain in the MPEG.
The DCT is a method of removing the correlation between data through a two dimensional spatial transformation. After a picture is divided into blocks, each block in the picture is spatially transformed using the DCT. Data, which has been spatially transformed, tends to be driven to a certain direction.
Pictures, which are consecutive in the temporal domain, generally form motions of a human being or an object at the center of the frame. This property is used to remove the redundancy of the temporal domain in the motion compensation method. The volume of data to be transmitted can be minimized by taking out the similar region from the preceding picture and filling a region that has not changed (or has very little change) in the present picture with the similar region of the preceding picture. The operation of finding the most similar blocks between pictures is called motion estimation. The displacement representing the degree of motion is called a motion vector. The motion vector is two dimensional vector that is an offset between the coordinates of a reference frame or a reference field and the coordinates of a present picture or field for motion compensation of the picture.
An 8xc3x978 block search for integer pixel motion estimation is performed inside of a search window of xc2x12xc2xd pixels based on a 16xc3x9716 motion vector in the MPEG-4. When
FIG. 1 a particular macroblock is established to an 8xc3x978 mode, respective motion vectors against the four blocks in the macroblock are within a specified bound.
FIG. 1 shows a bound that motion vectors of the four blocks can indicate when a macroblock is established in the 8xc3x978 mode according to the related art. This bound of the four motion vectors greatly contributes to increasing the coding efficiency of the motion vector. Four motion vectors are maximum permissible inside of the macroblock. When transmitting the four motion vectors, the amount of bits is great. The amount of bits can be decreased by performing variable length coding (VLC) to transmit only a motion vector difference from a motion vector of the preceding macroblock. The difference between successive motion vectors is expressed as a motion vector difference (MVD).
As shown in FIGS. 2a to 2d, an actual motion vector of a block (e.g., an 8xc3x978 block) is estimated using a difference (MVDX, MVDY) between a median of three neighboring motion vector candidates and a motion vector of the relevant block. This can be expressed by the following equation:
PX=Median(MV1X, MV2X, MV3X),
PY=Median(MV1Y, MV2Y, MV3Y),
MVDX=MVXxe2x88x92PX, MVDY=MVYxe2x88x92PY.
FIG. 1 illustrates a limit of motion vector estimation. The motion vector estimation limit shown in FIG. 1 cannot completely support an MPEG-4 VM for the following reasons.
For motion vector estimation candidates in an 8xc3x978 mode macroblock shown in FIGS. 2a-2d, a case of a motion vector used as a median prediction that exceeds the limit of a motion vector in the 8xc3x978 mode is related to MVD2 corresponding to block 2. Since only one of three motion vector candidates is inside of the macroblock in the 8xc3x978 mode, the absolute value of MVD2, which is obtained from the prediction established by the median, can exceed the limit of 5.0.
Thus, there can be a case that the prediction established by the median is out of the limit. When defining MV of block 2 as MBLOCK (a motion vector of a relevant block), MV1 of block 2 as MVINSIDE MV PREDICTION (a motion vector prediction inside a bound), and Median(MV1, MV2, MV3) of block 2 as MVMEDIAN PREDICTION. FIG. 3 illustrates the case that a motion vector median prediction MVMEDIAN PREDICTION exceeds a limit.
As described above, the related art method for motion vector coding uses a median of three neighboring motion vector candidates to estimate one motion vector. However, since this method uniformly estimates all pixels based upon the median of the three neighboring motion vector candidates, there is a problem that motion vector median prediction can exceed a predetermined limit. In addition, there is a problem that coding efficiency significantly decreases in more complicated motion sequences (i.e., motion vector median prediction out of bounds).
An object of the present invention is to provide a method for motion vector coding that substantially obviates one or more of the limitations and disadvantages of the related art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for motion vector coding of an MPEG-4 that decreases an overall bit rate.
A further objective of the present invention is to provide a method of motion vector coding by finding a motion vector having a minimum difference from an actual motion vector among three motion vector candidates and transmitting the value of motion vector candidate found and a mode bit.
To achieve at least these objects and other advantages in a whole or in parts, and in accordance with the purpose of the present invention as embodied and broadly described, a method for motion vector coding of an MPEG-4 includes selecting a candidate that has a minimum bit rate when being coded among three motion vector candidates; sending a motion vector prediction error and prediction mode information to a decoder; estimating a minimum bit rate for coding a motion vector difference; and coding a motion vector against components X and Y, using a minimum rate predictor.
Additional advantages, objects, and features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will become apparent to those having ordinary skill in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned from practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained as particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Method for motion vector coding of MPEG-4


An articulating frame for a shelter includes a plurality of struts pivotally connected to each other to define a skeletal structure that is adapted to be articulated between a folded condition and an erected condition. The skeletal structure in the erected condition includes a segmented arch that defines an interior space. The skeletal structure is adapted to support an associated outer shell covering. The frame includes at least one double-scissor linkage segment including four of the plurality of struts. The four struts include: (i) first and second struts each with opposite inner and outer ends, the first and second struts bring pivotally connected to each other at a first pivot point located between their respective inner and outer ends; and, (ii) third and fourth struts each with opposite inner and outer ends, the third and fourth struts being pivotally connected to each other at a second pivot point located between their respective inner and outer ends. The inner end of the first strut is pivotally connected to the inner end of the third strut at a third pivot point and the inner end of the second strut is pivotally connected to the inner end of the fourth strut at a fourth pivot point such that a four-bar parallelogram accommodating linkage is defined by the four struts between the first pivot point, the second pivot point, the third pivot point, and the fourth pivot point.

Portable, self-supporting, articulating frame shelters are well-known and in widespread use by the military and others. Such articulating frame shelters are collapsible into a relatively compact package that can be stored and transported to a deployment location where the shelter can be quickly deployed or erected and used. The shelter is erected in the field without tools, cranes, power, or other equipment. When fully deployed, the erected shelter comprises a segmented, arched frame including opposite side walls connected by a self-supporting roof span. Examples of such shelters are shown in: U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,481,235; 9,631,393; and, U.S. Patent App. Pub. No. 2017/0247906. As shown in U.S. Pat. No. 9,631,393, the entire disclosure of which is hereby expressly incorporated by reference into the present specification, these shelters are often interconnected in groups making it necessary to have doorways, windows, and other access openings that allow people, equipment, light, and air to travel and flow between the various shelter structures.
These shelter structures comprise a plurality of long, struts that are pivotally interconnected to form an articulating skeletal frame structure. Multiple scissor linkage segments are defined by pairs of struts are pivotally connected at their mid-points by a pin or otherwise to form a generally X-shaped scissor linkage comprising a central pivot point or hinge and four arms that radiate outwardly from the central pivot point/hinge. The frame is constructed by pivotally interconnecting multiple scissor linkage segments (at least two scissor linkage segments) using a hub. The hub, itself, comprises first (upper) and second (lower) hub portions that are releasably interconnected together by a hub post that extends between the first and second hub portions when the frame is erected. The first and second hub portions are selectively separable from each other (with the hub post remaining connected to one of the hub portions) when the frame is collapsed and folded upon itself.
In order for a frame constructed from multiple, interconnected scissor linkages to articulate properly between its collapsed (packed) and expanded (deployed) condition and form an easily packable and transportable cube structure when collapsed, the scissor linkages must all be the same size, i.e., for any two pair of arms of the frame, the sum of the distances (lengths) from the outer pivot point at the distal end of each arm to the central pivot point for the first pair of arms must equal the sum of the distances (lengths) from the outer pivot point at the distal end of each arm to the central pivot point for the second pair of arms. This dimensional scissor-linkage requirement leads to a design trade-off in that longer scissor linkages are often desired for a first part of the shelter frame (e.g., vertical wall regions of the frame that provide doorways or the like for ingress and egress of people and equipment), while for other parts of the frame it is often preferable to use shorter scissor linkages to reduce the overall roof height or to reduce the horizontal span of the structure. Known articulating frame shelter structures do not allow for mixed-length scissor linkage segments since use of scissor linkage segments of different lengths would prevent the frame from properly articulating as required for collapsing and erecting the frame.
As noted above, the hubs used to join adjacent scissor linkage segments include upper and lower hub portions that must be interconnected through a hub post when the frame is erected. Given that there are multiple hubs that extend along the length and width of the frame, it can sometimes be difficult to align and connect all of the upper and lower hub structures when the frame is being deployed. In particular, the hubs that are located adjacent the ground or other support surface on which the shelter is being erected and that are spaced along the length of the shelter frame on the opposite lateral edges can be particularly problematic to assemble when the shelter is erected. Assembling these hubs quickly and effectively is important in order to erect the shelter quickly as required for military and other applications. As such, a need has been identified for a shelter frame that includes a system for facilitating the assembly of the hubs at least along the opposite lateral edges of the shelter frame.
Another difficulty with erecting known shelter frames relates to the installation of the liner. Known shelter frames include an outer fabric or other flexible membrane that covers the outer surface of the articulating frame and that provides shelter from the external environment such as the weather and other surrounding conditions. It is desirable to further include a liner that covers the internal side of the articulating framework to provide a double-walled structure that has improved thermal insulation, sound insulation, opacity to light, and otherwise generally improves the internal appearance and conditions of the shelter. These liners are typically installed in a manner that results in a sagging appearance due to the excess material or "slack" required to accommodate movement of the articulating frame during the process of erecting the frame. In particular, the liner is typically connected to the frame when the frame is in a partially erected state, and excess liner material is required so that the liner does not become tensioned and resist movement of the frame toward its fully erected state. Any excess material or sagging of the liner is highly undesirable and reduces the effective interior space of the shelter.
As noted, known articulating frames for shelters include a plurality of hubs that each comprise an upper hub portion and a lower hub portion releasably connected together by a hub post. These upper and lower hub portions are disconnected from each other when the shelter is collapsed and folded. When the frame is erected, these hubs are required to resist heavy loads from wind, snow, and the like, but must also be capable of being assembled without tools in the field. Known hub structures have been found to be generally effective, but a need has been identified for a new and improved hub for an articulating frame shelter that is easy to assemble and that provides even better strength, rigidity, and resistance to separation of the upper and lower hub components.
Another drawback with known articulating frame shelters is that any door structure defined in the shelters includes a scissor linkage that extends across the threshold of the door opening. The threshold scissor linkage is necessary in order for the articulating frame to maintain its alignment when it is being erected or collapsed. Once the shelter frame is fully erected, the presence of the threshold scissor linkage is undesirable for several reasons. This threshold scissor linkage can present a tripping hazard to those walking into and out of the shelter. Furthermore, a cart or vehicle entering the shelter must roll over the threshold scissor linkage and can damage same. As such, a need has been identified for an articulating frame shelter that overcomes these issues.


A method for reworking a ceramic structure. A portion of a first facesheet is removed from the ceramic structure to form a first aperture. The first facesheet comprises a number of layers of a first ceramic material. A portion of an inner section of the ceramic structure is removed to form a second aperture. The second aperture extends from the first aperture into the inner section. The inner section comprises a second ceramic material bonded to the first facesheet and has a lower density than the first facesheet. A ceramic replacement material is placed in the second aperture. A number of replacement ceramic layers are placed in the first aperture. Ceramic particles are placed between the first facesheet and the number of replacement ceramic layers. The ceramic particles are sintered to bond the number of replacement ceramic layers to the first facesheet.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to ceramic materials and, in particular, to structures containing multiple layers of ceramic materials. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method and apparatus for reworking a ceramic matrix composite sandwich structure to restore the capability of the structure to carry both in-plane and out-of-plane loads.
2. Background
Various types of vehicles require thermal resistance or thermal protection systems. For example, some of the exterior surfaces of spacecraft require a capability to withstand temperatures that may be encountered during re-entry of the spacecraft into the atmosphere. As another example, jet engines, rocket engines, and power generators also have surfaces that are required to be capable of withstanding the operating temperatures that occur during the use of engines and generators.
A ceramic matrix composite material is a ceramic material consisting of two or more components. A ceramic matrix composite material typically includes a ceramic matrix component with additional components being incorporated to strengthen, toughen, or enhance thermal, physical, or other properties. For example, ceramic matrix composite materials may consist of ceramic fibers embedded in a ceramic matrix, thus forming a ceramic fiber reinforced ceramic material. The matrix and fibers may consist of any ceramic material.
Ceramic matrix composite materials are able to withstand a variety of operating environments. For example, ceramic matrix composite materials are able to withstand the operating temperatures that occur during re-entry of a space vehicle or during the use of engines and generators as described above.
Structures made of ceramic matrix composite materials may be used in aerospace and many other applications. For example, ceramic structures may be used to fabricate parts that are subjected to exhaust gasses in aircraft and other applications. Tiles wrapped with ceramic matrix composite materials may be used as part of a thermal protection system on the surface of a spacecraft. Ceramic matrix composite structures also may be used in various components. For example, these components may include, without limitation, a nozzle or combustion chamber for an engine or generator.
Ceramic matrix composite materials may be used to make a variety of structures. For example, ceramic tiles may take the form of a ceramic substrate with a facesheet that is wrapped around and bonded to the ceramic substrate. The facesheet may include a number of layers of ceramic matrix composite materials. Thus, ceramic tiles and other ceramic structures may include layers of ceramic matrix composite materials.
One type of ceramic matrix composite structure is a ceramic sandwich structure. A ceramic sandwich structure may include facesheets formed from consolidated layers of a ceramic matrix composite material. The facesheets are bonded to opposite sides of an interior section or core made of ceramic matrix composite materials to form the ceramic sandwich structure.
In one example, the core of a ceramic sandwich structure may be created by an array of pins made of ceramic matrix composite materials. The ceramic pins are arranged to form a truss core support structure between the facesheets. The pins extend through the thickness of the core and penetrate the facesheets. The pins provide load paths along which various loads are transferred between the facesheets. Such loads may include compressive, tensile, or shear loads or any of these or other loads in any combination.
Inconsistencies may occur in ceramic sandwich structures during the manufacturing or use of such structures. These inconsistencies may include, for example, delamination of layers in a facesheet, a facesheet de-bonding from the substrate, an impact forming a dent or crack in a facesheet and extending into the ceramic core, or other types of inconsistencies. Currently, these inconsistencies may require reworking to restore the structure to a desired level of operation.
The traditional approach for reworking these types of structures is to replace them. For example, a part containing an inconsistency is removed and a new part is put in place of the old part. However, replacement of parts may be costly and time consuming. Parts containing ceramic matrix composite materials may be expensive. In addition to the replacement operation itself being time consuming, the needed parts may not be on hand or may need to be specially manufactured. The turn-around of a vehicle including such a structure may be limited or reduced until the replacement can be made.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to have a method and apparatus that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.


The present invention is capable of suppressing gear shift shocks or delays in acceleration with no interruption of driving force and reducing the weight. Disclosed is a transmission which is provided, with multiple stage shift gears so arranged to shift a number of dog clutches to shift a gear to the upper stage of the multiple stage shift gears, and is characterized in that a guide part is provided to a shift operation section and the dog clutches on each of the sages so as to move the lower dog clutch in a neutral direction by a coasting torque acting on the lower stage by a shift rotation of the upper stage to release a meshing engagement when meshing engagements of the lower and upper dog clutches are simultaneously performed by an operation of the shift operation section.

Generally, a transmission for a vehicle employing a single clutch inevitably involves gear shift shocks, delays in acceleration, and the like due to interruption of driving force when shifting gears. In a construction machinery an agriculture vehicle, or the like with large running resistance and small speed energy, it becomes stopped as soon as driving force is interrupted when shifting gears and may be hard to shift the gears.
To this, it is known that a twin-clutch transmission involves no interruption of driving force to prevent gear shift shocks or delays in acceleration.
However, there is a problem that the twin-clutch transmission is complicated in structure and heavy in weight.
In contrast, a seamless-shift transmission draws attention as one capable of reducing weight.
FIG. 29 is an operationally explanatory view of a seamless-shift transmission. In FIG. 29, for ease of explanation, a shift between a first speed and a second speed will be explained.
The seamless-shift transmission has three first burettes 305 and three second burettes 307 that engage with an input shaft between a first speed gear 301 and a second, speed gear 303 and move according to shift operation. On the first and second speed gears 301 and 302, meshing teeth 301a and 303a are formed, and at both ends of the first and second burettes 305 and 305, complicated different faces are formed in front and rear in a rotational direction.
The first and second burettes 305 and 307 are configured to move toward the first speed gear 301 or second speed gear 303 through a spring concerning an operation of a selecting fork.
With such a structure, for example, when shifting into the first speed gear 301, the three first burettes 305 engage with the meshing teeth 301a of the first speed gear 301, and thereafter, the remaining three second burettes 307 engage with the meshing teeth 301a.
When shifting into the second speed gear, the three second burettes 307 engage with the meshing teeth 303a of the second speed gear 303, and thereafter, the remaining three first burettes 305 engage with the meshing teeth 303a.
With the first burettes 305 and second burettes 307 having such complicated faces arid the selecting operation through the spring, it involves no interruption of driving force to prevent gear shift shocks or delays in acceleration and can reduce the weight.
However, there is a problem that the structure having the first burettes 305, the second burettes 307 and the like is complicated and increases in number of parts.


An external transmitter circuit drives an implantable neural stimulator having an implanted coil from a primary coil driven by a power amplifier. For efficient power consumption, the transmitter output circuit (which includes the primary coil driven by the power amplifier inductively coupled with the implanted coil) operates as a tuned resonant circuit. When operating as a tuned resonant circuit, it is difficult to modulate the carrier signal with data having sharp rise and fall times without using a high power modulation amplifier. Sharp rise and fall times are needed in order to ensure reliable data transmission. To overcome this difficulty, the present invention includes an output switch that selectively inserts a resistor in the transmitter output coil circuit in order to de-tune the resonant circuit only during those times when data modulation is needed. Such de-tuning allows sharp rise and fall times in the data modulation without the need for using a high power modulation amplifier. Because data modulation is typically needed for only a small percent of the time that a carrier signal is present, it is thus possible using the present invention to achieve reliable data modulation, transmission and reception without having to use a high power modulation amplifier in the transmitter.

The present invention relates to modulation amplifiers, and more particularly to a low-power, high-modulation-index amplifier suitable for use in battery-powered devices, e.g., an implantable battery-powered medical device.
Modulation is the process of varying some characteristic of one wave in accordance with another wave. In radio broadcasting, for example, some stations use amplitude modulation (AM), while other stations use frequency modulation (FM). In television, the video portion of the program is amplitude modulated and the audio portion is frequency modulation. In other types of transmissions, such as are used with satellite transmissions or transmissions to and from an implantable medical device, some sort of digital modulation is typically employed, e.g., pulse-amplitude, pulse-code, pulse-duration, pulse-frequency, pulse-position, or pulse-time modulation. These types of digital modulation are typically employed to convey binary bit information, e.g., strings of 1's and 0's, arranged in words and bytes.
A class of small implantable medical devices is known in the art that comprises tiny microstimulators and/or sensors. These tiny microstimulators or sensors, which are hereafter referred to as BION™ devices, are described more fully, e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,193,539; 5,193,540 and PCT Publications WO 98/37926; WO 98/43700 and WO 98/43701, each of which patents or publications are incorporated herein by reference. Advantageously, the BION devices are generally small enough to be implanted in a minimally invasive manner through the lumen of a needle, or a similar-sized cannula.
It has been discovered that the sharpness (rise time and/or fall time) of the pulsed modulation used with the BION device has a direct affect on the reliability of the operation of the BION device, and more particularly on the ability of the BION device to properly decode and validate commands. Disadvantageously, the sharp rise times and fall times of the pulsed modulation signals needed for reliable operation of a BION-type device have heretofore required the use of high power modulation amplifiers. High power modulation amplifiers, in turn, are not compatible with the low power requirements of an implantable medical device systems, particularly systems that include battery-powered devices. There is thus a need in the art for a low power modulation amplifier having sharp rise/fall times that may be used within an implantable device system, such as a system that uses the BION device described in the referenced patents and patent applications.

Low-power, high-modulation-index amplifier for use in battery-powered device


Described as one aspect of the invention are polyester compositions comprising at least one polyester which comprises:                (a) a dicarboxylic acid component comprising:                    (i) about 90 to about 100 mole % of terephthalic acid residues;            (ii) about 0 to about 10 mole % of aromatic and/or aliphatic dicarboxylic acid residues having up to 20 carbon atoms; and                        (b) a glycol component comprising:                    (i) about 20 to about 40 mole % 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol residues; and            (ii) about 20 to about 40 mole % cyclohexanedimethanol residues;            (iii) ethylene glycol residues, and            (iv) less than about 2 mole % of a modifying glycol having from 3 to 16 carbon atoms;                            wherein the total mole % of the dicarboxylic acid component is 100 mole %, and    wherein the total mole % of the glycol component is 100 mole %; and    wherein the inherent viscosity of the polyester is from 0.50 to 1.2 dL/g as determined in 60/40 (wt/wt) phenol/tetrachloroethane at a concentration of 0.25 g/50 ml at 25° C. The polyesters may be manufactured into articles.

Certain commercial polymers, such as bisphenol A polycarbonates, are believed to have glass transition temperatures and notched Izod impact strength desirable for thermoformed film and sheet but are believed to require drying prior to thermoforming. Other commercial polymers, such as acrylics and certain impact modified acrylics, are believed to have the glass transition temperatures desired for thermoformed film and sheet and are not believed to require drying prior to thermoforming; however, they are believed to have room temperature notched Izod impact strengths of typically less than 2 ft-lb/in which is often not desirable for certain end use applications. Thus, there is a commercial need for a polymeric material with a combination of properties making it ideal for thermoformed film and sheet applications including a combination of two or more of high notched Izod impact strength, certain inherent viscosities, certain glass transition temperature (Tg), certain flexural modulus, good clarity, and good color.
In addition, there is a commercial need for a polymeric material with a combination of properties making it desirable for thermoformed film and sheet applications including a combination of three or more of high notched Izod impact strength, certain glass transition temperature (Tg), certain flexural modulus, good clarity, and good color.
Further, there is a commercial need for a polymeric material with a combination of properties making it desirable for thermoformed film and sheet applications including a combination of all of the following properties: high notched Izod impact strength, certain glass transition temperature (Tg), certain flexural modulus, good clarity, and good color.
In addition, in one embodiment, there is a need in the art for polyesters comprising 2,2,4,4-tetramethyl-1,3-cyclobutanediol, ethylene glycol, and, cyclohexanedimethanol, which have good color and/or good clarity and for process(es) to prepare these polyesters.
Further, in one embodiment, there is a need in the art for a process which makes it easier to produce the polyesters of the inventions without at least one of the following occurring: bubbling, splay formation, color formation, foaming, off-gassing, and erratic melt levels, i.e., pulsating of the polyester or the polyester's production and processing systems. There is also a need in the art for a process which makes it easier to produce the polyesters of the invention in large quantities (for example, pilot run scale and/or commercial production) without at least one of the aforesaid difficulties occurring.

Polyester compositions which comprise cyclobutanediol, cyclohexanedimethanol, and ethylene glycol and manufacturing processes therefor


A teeth whitening apparatus includes a first ultrasound generator directed to emit in a first direction into a particular area, a second ultrasound generator spaced from the first ultrasound generator on a first side of the first ultrasound generator and directed to emit in a second direction angled toward the first direction into the particular area, and a third ultrasound generator spaced from the first ultrasound generator and the second ultrasound generator on a second side of first ultrasound generator and directed to emit in a third direction angled toward the first direction and the second direction into the particular area. One or more light emitting devices are spaced from the first ultrasound generator, the second ultrasound generator, and the third ultrasound generator, and directed to emit into the particular area.

With the growing desire for whiter teeth and the revolution of aesthetic treatment methods, teeth bleaching has become a popular procedure in recent years. Tooth whiteners including hydrogen peroxide as the main component have been widely accepted in both in-office and at-home tooth bleaching products. Conventional ways for the activation of hydrogen peroxide include heat, light, chemicals and their combinations. However, the application of heat has been discouraged owing to its potential to cause external root resorption. Currently, tooth whitening using light irradiation is mainly being commercialized. Various light sources have been used as a common approach to dissociate hydrogen peroxide during in-office bleaching treatments, such as halogen, plasma arc, light emitting diode (LEDs) and laser light sources. Ultrasonic devices have been used in endodontics to activate irrigating solutions.


A computer is used to generate an approximation of a workflow in terms of worklets and transitions. Each worklet represents a phase of work in the workflow. Each transition indicates conditions for completion of a worklet. Each worklet includes at least one assistlet having executable code that will be executed for approximating of its work phase.

Traditional workflow management systems are suited for well defined activities, such as manufacturing, where the processes tend to be more established and stable. Such modeling typically requires a detailed understanding of the various processes
Sometimes, however, a detailed understanding of complex processes simply isn't available during design time. Sometimes, processes are ad-hoc or ill defined such that information needed during design time can only be determined during run time. Sometimes processes requirements are changed after design time.

Workflow modeling with worklets and transitions


A night vision device includes an improved image intensifier tube providing an image with reduced dark spots caused by microscopic particulate contamination in the tube. A method of processing image intensifier tubes to reduce dark spots caused by such microscopic particulate contamination within the tubes is disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally in the field of night vision devices of the light amplification type. More particularly, the present invention relates to a night vision device having an improved image intensifier tube (I2T). A method of making such an improved image intensifier tube is disclosed also.
2. Related Technology
Even on a night which is too dark for diurnal vision, invisible infrared light is richly provided by the stars. Human vision can not utilize this infrared light from the stars because the so-called near-infrared portion of the spectrum is invisible for humans. A night vision device of the light amplification type can provide a visible image replicating the night-time scene.
Conventional night vision devices of the image intensification type (i.e., light amplification type) have been known for a considerable time. Generally, these night vision devices include an objective lens which focuses invisible infrared light from a night-time scene onto the transparent light-receiving face of an image intensifier tube. At its opposite image-face, the image intensifier tube provides an image in visible yellow-green phosphorescent light, which is then presented to a user of the device via an eye piece lens.
A contemporary night vision device will generally use an image intensifier tube with a photocathode behind the light-receiving face of the tube. The photocathode is responsive to photons of infrared light to liberate photoelectrons in a pattern replicative of the scene being viewed. These photoelectrons are moved by a prevailing electrostatic field to a microchannel plate having a great multitude of dynodes, or microchannels, with an interior surface substantially defined by a material having a high coefficient of secondary electron emissivity. The photoelectrons entering the microchannels cause a cascade of secondary emission electrons to move along the microchannels so that a spatial output pattern of electrons results, which pattern replicates the input pattern but is at a considerably higher electron density. This pattern of electrons is moved from the microchannel plate to an output electrode which includes a phosphorescent screen. The phosphorescent screen produces a visible image available through a transparent image-output window of the tube.
A persistent problem with image intensifier tubes has been the presence of microscopic contamination within the tube which interferes with the proper operation of the tube. Despite the best possible cleanliness and efforts to control contamination, the manufacturing process itself for an image intensifier tube probably produces some of this microscopic particulate contamination, so that it cannot be entirely eliminated. The particulate contamination within the tube causes dark spots of various sizes on the image produced by the tube. This problem of dark spots in the image provided by image intensifier tubes has been so pervasive and long-standing that the industry and users of such tubes have come to accept this problem, and to deal with it not by eliminating the problem but simply by grading its magnitude. That is, so long as the number and size of dark spots in an image intensifier tube are below a certain standard, the tube is judged to be acceptable. That is not to say that the images provided by presently accepted image intensifier tubes are free of dark spots, but simply that they provide images that is good enough.

Night vision device, improved image intensifier tube for such a device having reduced particulate contamination and method of making


A remote radio unit is disclosed that includes antenna interfaces, RF receivers, and a digital-to-optical converter. The antenna interfaces each receive an antenna signal from a different antenna. The RF receivers downconvert the antenna signals to baseband signals, and convert the baseband signals to digital streams of user data. The digital-to-optical converter converts each of the digital streams of user data to optical signals having different optical wavelengths for output to an optical fiber for communication to a radio equipment control unit. Related radio base stations and network control points are disclosed.

In a mobile communications system, a backhaul network can separate a radio base station into base band units, also referred to as main units (MU), and remote radio units (RRUs). An example conventional mobile communications system is shown in FIG. 1 and includes three RRUs 100 that are connected by a network 120 to one or more MUs 130. The MUs 130 can be centralized and located tens of kilometers from the RRUs 100, which are placed close to radio antennas 102 which may be mounted on masts/towers. Colocating the RRUs 100 and serviced antennas 102 minimizes/reduces feeder and jumper losses, which can increase uplink capacity of mobile services by the communications system.
This main-remote system architecture is gaining significant interest and has some clear advantages, e.g. when the RRUs 100 are installed close to the antennas 102. Example products that can be used in a main-remote system architecture are the Antenna-Integrated Radio (AIR) products and the Micro/Small RRU products manufactured by Telefonaktiebolaget L M Ericsson.
The interface between the MUs 130 and RRUs 100 is typically an optical interface carrying NRZ signals, which are formed by sampling I-Q air waveform signals received from antennas 102. Sampling the air waveform reduces complexity of the RRUs 100, but leads to very high bitrates that are output through the optical interface from each RRU 100, e.g., on the order of 1.25 Gbps per antenna 102.
A typical RRU location has many RRUs 100 and antennas 102. To reduce the required number of fibers that communicatively connect all RRUs 100 at the RRU location to the MUs 130, the RRUs 100 are daisy-chained to generate a multiplexed digital output signal of up to 10 Gbps, which is presently the highest rate supported by the Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) protocol generally used between a RRU and MU. The digital output from the RRUs 100 can therefore pass through a time division multiplexer 110 that time division multiplexes the digital output signals from each of the RRUs 100 into different time slots for a same optical wavelength provided to the network 120.
The very high data rates output from a RRU location, presently up to around 10 Gbps, necessitate the use of expensive electro-optics equipment to interconnect the RRUs 100 and MUs 130. Moreover, because the RRUs 100 are daisy chained while using the CPRI protocol, the antennas 102 become "invisible" to the metro optical network because the network 120 sees an aggregation of the antennas 102 on any one of the optical wavelengths.
For mobile backhaul, it is desirable to re-use low cost passive optical network (PON) technology which is presently available at high volumes (e.g., millions/year) for use in fixed access networks. However, 10 Gbps PON technology is presently available at substantially lower volumes for fixed access networks and, therefore, is relatively expensive, especially when deployed in large numbers in very dense networks.
The approaches and presently recognized problems described above in this section could be pursued, but are not necessarily approaches and/or problems that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise clearly indicated herein, the approaches and problems described above in this section are not prior art to claims in this application and any application claiming priority from this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section

Apparatus for communicating a plurality of antenna signals at different optical wavelengths


A composite computer system which includes a plurality of processors connected to each other by a communication apparatus, an operation supervisory unit for recording operating conditions of the processors when the processors are activated or deactivated, an operation supervisory network for connecting the processors and the operation supervisory unit and a program condition management apparatus for recording operating conditions of programs when the programs of the processors are activated or deactivated. The operation supervisory unit obtains, for fault location purposes, the operating conditions of the processors recorded in the operation supervisory unit via the operation supervisory network and the operating conditions of the programs recorded in the program condition management apparatus.

The present invention relates to a composite computer system for making access through exclusive control of common resources with a plurality of processors operating independently. More particularly, the present invention relates to a technique which can effectively be applied to a composite computer system which executes alternative processing by quickly finding a fault generated at the time of making access through exclusive control of common resources with a plurality of processors.
In an existing load distribution/incorporation type composite computer system where a plurality of processors connected with each other use in common resources such as magnetic disk units or magnetic tape units, incorporation between a plurality of processors has been established by connecting input/output units such as an interchannel coupling unit for making communication between a plurality of processors to realize mutual communication with input/output instructions.
However, in such an existing composite computer system, if interconnection with a processor of a distant station is disabled due to a fault in channel or in a communication path or a fault such as system-down, exclusive processing of resources used in common can no longer be continued.
Therefore, if no-response of the processor in the distant station is detected, a message indicating detection of no-response processor is issued to an operator. Thereby fault location has been made depending on judgment of a person and jobs have also been continued by the processings corresponding to the fault generated.
The response procedures for fault detection in the existing composite computer system is described as "Operator Procedures for MSCF Fault" in the manual entitled "System Operation of Program Product VOS3/AS - JSS3 -", published on December 1994 by Hitachi Limited.
Moreover, in view of saving communication overhead between a plurality of processors in the existing composite computer system, a memory for exclusive control for management of the common resources is provided for effective incorporation between a plurality of processors. For example, lock information for exclusive control is arranged in a non-volatile control memory provided in unit of volume of duplicated magnetic disk units and thereby such lock information for exclusive control of the control memory is used in the disk double-writing control program.
In the disk overwriting control program, when a processor updates the lock information, a plurality of processors are incorporated with each other by making use of the function to report it as an asynchronous input/output interrupt to the other processors. However, if a processor generates system-down while having the lock information in the existing composite computer system, the lock information cannot be reserved for access to the overwriting magnetic disk unit of the other processors operating normally and thereby input/output time over occurs, disabling continuation of the processings.
Since it is impossible to judge the operating conditions of the other processors in the prior art where exclusive control of common resources is executed by making communication between a plurality of processors using input/output units such as the interchannel coupling units explained above and in the prior art where the exclusive control is executed by giving the lock information to one processor like the disk double-writing control program explained above, intervention by the operator is necessary for cancelling of lock information when a fault is generated in the processors having such lock information. Therefore, in the composite computer system of the prior art, it is necessary to previously perform a manual recovery procedure assuming a combination for occurrence of a fault. Such a procedure increases the load for operation of the composite computer system.
The existing composite computer system has a problem that a load shared by an operator such as the generation of operation procedures is increased. Alternatively, it is impossible to cover a long of time automatic operation at the time of message output because when no response of the processor in the distant party is detected, a message is issued to the operator to indicate that a processor of no-response has been detected. Thus, to continue the job the location of fault must be identified depending on judgment of a person.
Moreover, when a processor has generated a system-down while it has the lock information in the disk double-writing control program of the existing composite computer system, and since cancellation of the lock information requires an operator's intervention, the manual recovery procedure assuming a particular combination for generation of fault must be performed beforehand, resulting in a load on operation.


An outboard motor can have a case supported by a hull, an internal combustion engine supported on the upper end of the case, an oil pan formed in the case for storing lubricating oil for the internal combustion engine, and a cooling water jacket formed integrally with the oil pan. A cooling water passage for communicating the cooling water jacket with the internal combustion engine is provided. The cooling water jacket can be formed on the bottom of the oil pan. Optionally, a space can be formed between at least a part of the outer wall of the oil pan and the cooling water passage.

1. Field of the Inventions
The present inventions relate to a water cooling device for an outboard motor, and more particularly, outboard motors with cooling water jackets formed on an oil pan for an internal combustion engine and a cooling water passage for connecting the cooling water jacket with the internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
One type of outboard motor is disclosed in Japanese Patent Documents JP-A-Hei9-189224 and JP-A-2000-62694. In each of these Patent Documents, the outboard motors have a case supported by a hull of a watercraft, an internal combustion engine supported on the upper end of the case, an oil pan formed in the case for storing lubricating oil for the internal combustion engine, and a cooling water jacket formed integrally with the oil pan. A cooling water passage connects the cooling water jacket with the internal combustion engine.
When the internal combustion engine is driven, the lubricating oil in the oil pan is supplied to the internal combustion engine to lubricate the parts of the internal combustion engine. The internal combustion engine can be thereby, continuously driven smoothly.
When the internal combustion engine is driven, cooling water is supplied into the cooling water jacket of the oil pan and the cooling water is supplied to the internal combustion engine. Then, the lubricating oil in the oil pan is cooled by the cooling water, thereby preventing deterioration of the lubricating oil, and the internal combustion engine is also cooled to prevent a temperature rise thereof.
In the above-noted outboard motor designs, a large amount of the lubricating oil stored in the oil pan is supplied to the internal combustion engine when the internal combustion engine is being driven. Thus, the level of the lubricating oil in the oil pan is near the bottom of the oil pan. As a result, less lubricating oil remains in the upper part of the oil pan, and thus the upper part of the oil pan can remain empty. The oil pan is cooled along its entire length in the vertical direction by at least either the cooling water jacket or the cooling water passage.


An interactive voice response and call process application and system for delivering promotional messages allows a user to select a desired number of promotional messages which are played before a connection is established. The user may also request additional promotional messages at any time during the connection in order to extend a free or subsidized connection period provided by the system. The system monitors the connection and provides a warning tone to the user prior to the end of the free or subsidized calling period. The user may then request an additional promotional message, to extend the time period, or terminate the connection in an orderly fashion.

1) Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of telephony and more particularly to a system and method for providing promotional messages to end-user telephony subscribers.
2) Description of the Related Art
Telephony systems have been proposed which allow subscribers to place telephone calls for free or at reduced rates in exchange for exposing the subscriber to advertiser-sponsored promotional messages. Generally, prior art systems of this type fall into one of two categories: (a) systems which incorporate message front-loading; and (b) systems which incorporate mid-call message cycling.
Message front loading systems allow a caller to hear a fixed amount of advertising before an outbound call is connected in exchange for a fixed amount of free or subsidized communication time. In such a system, a caller dials in to the telephony system and hears a predetermined amount of advertising or other sponsored or promotional messaging. After the message period has ended, the caller is connected to the call destination for a predetermined period of time during which the caller may talk with a called party. At the end of the predetermined period of time, the connection is terminated or may continue subject to fees (i.e., it is no longer free or subsidized).
Such message front loading systems suffer several disadvantages. There is provided no flexibility for a caller to earn a period of time for free or subsidized calling which closely matches the desired length of the call. Callers do not have the option to hear a brief amount of advertising in exchange for a brief period of free or subsidized time, or conversely, to hear an extended amount of advertising in exchange for an extended period of free or subsidized time.
If a caller only desires to place a brief call, they must still wait through a long advertisement or fixed series of advertisements before the call is connected. As the messages are played before the call is connected, the caller may lose a substantial amount of time which was invested in the advertisement(s) if the called party does not answer or is busy. Conversely, if a caller desires to place a call requiring a longer time period than that allowed in exchange for hearing the message(s), the system does not provide flexibility to allow the caller to earn a longer time allotment if they so desire by hearing additional advertising. The call is automatically disconnected, or reverts to a per-minute or other rate basis, at the end of the time period provided by the system based on the promotional message(s) played before the call.
Also, such a system does not provide flexibility to allow callers to extend their free or subsidized time allotment during the call, if necessary or desired to extend their conversation without being disconnected or without reverting to a per minute or other rate-based service.
Meanwhile, mid-call message cycling systems allow a caller to hear commercial messages at regular intervals throughout the duration of their call, earning a period of time for free or subsidized calling for each message heard. With such systems, a caller accesses the service, hears a single, brief message and then is connected for a predetermined, and typically brief (e.g., two minutes) time allotment of free or subsidized calling. Upon expiration of the time allotment, another message is interjected into the conversation, allowing the caller to earn an additional allotment of time for free or subsidized calling, and the process repeats.
However, such mid-call cycling systems also suffer considerable limitations. First, a caller is unable to earn an extended time allotment for uninterrupted free or subsidized calling before the call is placed because they cannot control the number of messages heard before the call is placed, and therefore they cannot control the duration of the period of free or subsidized calling earned. This introduces significant limitations with respect to the type of calls which can be placed via the service. For example, a caller cannot communicate for an extended period of time without revealing the fact that they are using a sponsored communication service. This may be a significant limitation for a caller who desires to use the service to call businesses or professional colleagues or other parties to whom they may not desire revealing that they are using a sponsored calling service, or otherwise to not want to be subject to periodic interruptions.
Second, because callers do not have an option to earn an extended time allotment for free or subsidized calling by listening to multiple messages either at the beginning or during the call, callers must endure relatively frequent interruptions throughout the call at relatively short intervals. This is particularly inconvenient since callers cannot control the timing of message interjections and consequently messages may be played at awkward or otherwise inconvenient times during the call.
Also, because callers do not have an option to control the amount of time initially earned for free or subsidized calling by listening to as many messages as they may choose to hear at the beginning of the call, such services are not useful for transmitting facsimiles, checking voicemails, or accessing the Internet since interjected messages would interfere with the communication.
In consideration of the above-noted drawbacks of the related art, it would be advantageous to provide a method and system which allows a user to select a number of promotional messages which are played to earn a desired period of time for free or subsidized calling. Thus, a user may earn time allotment which closely matches the desired length of the call.
It would also be advantageous to provide a system and method which allows a user to request that additional promotional messages be played at the user's convenience during a connection to earn additional free or subsidized connection time. Thus, a user may extend their connection time as long as they desire by earning additional free or subsidized time by listening to any number of messages played at any time during a call at the user's request.
It would also be advantageous to provide a system and method which provides a warning tone to a user informing them that their free or subsidized connection time is about to expire. Thus, a user may end their connection in an orderly fashion, or, if desired, request additional promotional messages to earn additional free or subsidized connection time.
Other and further objects and advantages will appear hereinafter.

Call processing method for delivering promotional messages