A method for disinfecting a needle of a tagging gun is disclosed. The device used in the method includes a container having sides, a bottom and an open end opposite the bottom. A user breakable capsule is located inside the container with a liquid disinfectant inside the capsule. A needle penetratable seal seals the open end of the container until such time as the device is needed. When the capsule is broken, the disinfectant is released into the container and the tagging gun needle is pushed through the seal into contact with the disinfectant. In the preferred embodiment, a finger guard is attached adjacent to the open end of the container for helping to prevent the user from contacting the point of the needle.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a device for disinfecting needles and, more particularly, to a device for disinfecting tagging gun needles.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Tagging guns are used for inserting attaching members, usually formed of flexible plastic, into articles. Tagging guns comprise hollow needles which are injected into the article and usually through a tag or other object designed to be secured to that article by the attachment member. Tagging guns include a plunger which reciprocates through the needle to insert the head of the flexible plastic member through the article to a position on the far side of the article. Examples of such tagging guns are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,103,666, issued to Bone and U.S. Pat. No. 5,472,130 issued to Beringhause et al, the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
However, due to the nature of a tagging gun being hand-held and having a sharp point, it is not unusual for an operator to occasionally prick her finger or some other part of her body and draw blood. This is made more serious by the fact that more than one operator may use the same gun at different shifts and that infectious diseases including tuberculosis and HIV have become the #3 killer in the United States following heart disease and cancer.
One solution to this problem is to clean the tagging gun needle before use. This has generally been done in a separate cleaning station and requires the operator to remove the needle from the gun. One example of such a cleaning station is shown in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 29/025,785, now U.S. Pat. No. Des. 373,198, issued Aug. 27, 1996. Removing the needle from the gun itself is a potentially dangerous event and cleaning the needle along does not clean the plunger located in the needle for pushing the plastic member through the article.
While it is conceivable that the tagging gun and needle could be cleaned by immersing the needle portion of the gun in an open container of a disinfectant or that a disinfectant could be physically sprayed on the end of the gun from an aerosol can of disinfectant, disinfectants, particularly of the type necessary to effectively kill the more virulent strains of bacteria and viruses, are in themselves toxic. Such materials can cause burning of the skin or eyes or other injuries, and leaving an open container or pan of disinfectant or spraying the disinfectant in the air could, in itself, result in serious injury.
Single or multiple use medicament applicators have been known for a number of years. One such example is known by the trademark STING KILL.RTM. (medicinal preparation for external use for relief of stings and bites of poisonous insects and effects of irritating plants) and was developed by Medical Supply Company of Rockford, Ill. in the mid-60's. This device was a self-contained disposable swab-type medication applicator. One such example of such a swab applicator is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,958,571. Other types of such applicators have used either a removable protective cap or an encapsulated medicament within the applicator.
Finally, vials containing one or more dosages of a medicament, such as a vaccine, in which a syringe may be pushed directly through the top of the container without removing the top of the container have been utilized for a number of years. However, such devices have not been used to disinfect needles of tagging guns and, in addition, provide no means of preventing the user from pricking her finger with the needle while using the medicament vial.
Thus, there remains a need for a new and improved tagging gun needle disinfectant device which permits the safe and effective disinfectant in cleaning of a tagging gun needle while, at the same time, provides means for preventing the operator from pricking her finger with an unclean needle.

Method for disinfecting a tagging gun needle


In embodiments of active reflective surfaces, an imaging structure includes a circuit control layer that controls pixel activation to emit light. A reflective layer of the imaging structure reflects input light from an illumination source. An active color conversion material that is formed on the reflective layer converts the input light to the emitted light. The active color conversion material can be implemented as a phosphorus material or quantum dot material that converts the input light to the emitted light, and in embodiments, the active color conversion material is laminated directly on the reflective layer.

Many types of devices can be implemented with reflective-type or projection-type displays, such as mobile phones, portable media players, and the like. Additionally, reflective-type or projection-type display devices can be implemented in a head-mounted display (HMD), such as glasses or other wearable display device that has near-eye display panels as lenses to display an augmented or virtual reality environment. As an emerging technology, there are many challenges and design constraints to developing the optics, imaging units, illumination sources, and display devices small and precise enough for implementation with a wearable display device.
Conventional reflective displays and color-based LCOS (liquid crystal on silicon) projection technologies use color filters to convert white or ambient light to red, green, or blue sub-pixels. However, a majority of the light is lost as it twice passes through the color filters, which can result in an approximately 50-70% loss of the light. The remaining 25-50% of the light that does pass through the color filters is further reduced with polarizers in liquid crystal display-type device, and with reflector imperfections, the overall average is ultimately only about 8-17% of the remaining light before projection optics losses.


A communication system containing a plurality of node elements. Each node element contains: a main communication unit containing a multiplexer/demultiplexer unit, a management control unit, a data input/output terminal unit, a switch unit, a connection mode control unit, and a link establishing unit. The connection mode control unit connects the data input/output terminal unit to either the management control unit in its own node element or another management control unit in another remote node element, by controlling the switch unit. The link establishing unit establishes a link for the data input/output terminal unit to access the management control unit in another remote node element through an overhead channel between the node elements. When a request for access to the management control unit in its own node element is made from the remote node element, the connection mode control unit connects the data input/output terminal unit in the remote node element, and to the management control unit in its own node element, through the above link and the switch unit.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a routing system for accessing a node in a communication network from a terminal device which is connected to another node remote from the above node.
In communication networks, a plurality of data transmission stations (nodes), are distributed over a large area, where each station contains, for example, a digital multiplexer, an optical transmission equipment, and the like, and many of those stations are unmanned. For management of the network, it is necessary for a craftsman to collect information on alarms and conditions of any node.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In a conventional communication network, each station contains a management control processor for controlling management operation of the station, and information on alarms and conditions of the station, a data base for holding the information on alarms and conditions of the station, and an interface for connection of a terminal device used by a craftsman, and an access from the terminal device to the data base. Namely, the craftsman can collect the information on the alarms and conditions of the station by connecting a terminal device to the station, and accessing the data base through the terminal device. However, in the conventional communication network, the craftsman cannot access another station remote from the station to which the terminal device is connected. Therefore, it is necessary for a craftsman to go to an unmanned station to collect the information on alarms and conditions of an unmanned station. In addition, when the craftsman goes to the unmanned station for maintaining or restoring the station element in conventional communication network, the craftsman must convey many tools and replacement units to the unmanned station because the craftsman cannot know which tool and replacement unit is necessary for the operation of maintaining or restoring the station element in the network. Therefore, management costs and service costs are high in the conventional communication network. Further, timely monitoring and evaluation of quality of the network service is impossible.

Routing system for accessing remote node in network from craftman's terminal


A passive radio frequency identification (RFID) chip with a protection function against high-intensity electromagnetic fields includes an antenna for receiving electromagnetic waves generated by an RFID reader and generating AC electrical signals to output to a power unit at an output of the antenna; an input/output circuit; a logic circuit; the power unit for rectifying the AC electrical signals into DC (direct current) voltage and outputting the DC voltage to the logic circuit and the input/output circuit at an output of the power unit; a variable-capacitance diode including an anode connected with the output of the antenna and a cathode connected to ground; and a diode including an anode connected with the output of the power unit and a cathode connected with the output of the antenna. The passive RFID chip prevents the inner logic circuit and the input/output circuit from being damaged when receives high-intensity electromagnetic waves.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to passive radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, and more particularly, to a passive RFID chip with a protection function against high-intensity electromagnetic fields.
2. Description of Related Art
FIG. 1 shows a schematic circuit diagram of a typical passive RFID chip in the existing arts. The passive RFID chip 1 includes an antenna 100, a power unit 200 connected to the antenna 100, an input/output circuit 300, and a logic circuit 400 both connected to the power unit 200. The typical passive RFID chip 1 receives electromagnetic waves 8 from an RFID reader and operates according to electromagnetic energy carried by the electromagnetic waves.
The antenna 100 receives the electromagnetic waves 8 from the RFID reader and generates AC (alternating current) electrical signals to output to the power unit 200. The power unit 200 includes two diodes and two capacitors that are connected in a form for rectifying and smoothing the electrical signals sent by the antenna 100 and outputting a stable DC (direct current) voltage VDD. In this sense, the power unit 200 serves as a DC voltage source and supplies power to the input/output circuit 300 and the logic circuit 400.
The significant advantage of the typical passive RFID chip is that the typical passive RFID chip enables an RFID reader to retrieve identifying information from an RFID device that is configured with the typical passive RFID chip wirelessly. The RFID device only needs to be positioned near the RFID reader to easily retrieve the identifying information. However retrieving the identifying information at a relative longer distance is also desired. But, to retrieve identifying information at a longer distance, the RFID reader needs to generate high-energy electromagnetic waves. Accordingly, the DC voltage VDD outputted by the power unit 200 would also increase, and may damage the logic circuit 400 of the typical RFID chip.
Therefore, a heretofore unaddressed need exists in the industry to overcome the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Passive radio frequency identification chip with a variable-capacitance diode

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (Shen Zhen) Co., Ltd.


A semiconductor device includes: a first conductivity type semiconductor substrate; and a plurality of second conductivity type semiconductor regions, the respective second conductivity type semiconductor regions being embedded in a plurality of stripe shaped trenches formed in the semiconductor substrate so that the respective second conductivity type semiconductor regions are extended in the row direction or the column direction in parallel with a first principal surface of the semiconductor substrate and are spaced in a fixed gap mutually. The semiconductor substrate and the plurality of the semiconductor regions are depleted by a depletion layer extended in the direction in parallel to the first principal surface from a plurality of pn junction interfaces, and the respective pn junction interfaces are formed between the semiconductor substrate and the plurality of the semiconductor regions.

As a power semiconductor device with which a low on resistance and a high breakdown voltage are required, it has used a vertical semiconductor device by which electrodes are disposed on the both principal surfaces of a semiconductor substrate, respectively. For example, in a vertical power MOS field-effect transistor (MOSFET), current flows through a drift region inserted into between a source region and a drain region formed on the both principal surfaces of the semiconductor substrate, respectively. The drift region is a current path when the power MOSFET is turned ON, and the drift region is depleted and then the value of a breakdown voltage is improved when the power MOSFET is turned OFF.
In order to reduce the on resistance of the power MOSFET, it is effective to reduce an electric resistance of the drift region by improving a high impurity concentration of the drift region. However, if the high impurity concentration of the drift region is improved, the extension of a depletion layer becomes unsatisfactory, and then the value of the breakdown voltage is reduced. That is, there is a trade-off relationship between the high breakdown voltage and the low on resistance.
For this reason, it is proposed about a power MOSFET having a drift region of super-junction structure (for example, refer to Patent Literature 1). The drift region of the super-junction structure has a structure which disposes a pillar of p type semiconductor region and a pillar of n type semiconductor region alternately along the principal surface of the semiconductor substrate. The drift region is depleted by the depletion layer extended from a pn junction interface formed of the p type semiconductor regions and the n type semiconductor regions, and then the value of the breakdown voltage of power MOSFET is held. Therefore, even if the extension of the depletion layer becomes small by improving the high impurity concentration in order to achieve the low on resistance, the drift region can be completely depleted by narrowing the width between the pillar of the p type semiconductor region and the pillar of the n type semiconductor region. Accordingly, the low on resistance and high breakdown voltage of the power MOSFET are achievable.

Semiconductor power MOSFET device having a super-junction drift region


A method and apparatus to perform load balancing is described wherein a number of status packets are received from a set of cascaded devices and a plurality of process packets are received at one of the cascaded devices. A number of process packets are forwarded to another one of the cascaded devices in accordance with the number of status packets. The receiving comprises receiving one status packet per cascaded device. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

With the continued increase in Internet traffic, data centers have been utilizing network appliances to offload some of the more intensive processing tasks from servers. Network appliances typically intercept packets communicated between a client and a server, and have specialized hardware or software to increase processing speeds for certain types of packet data. For example, a network appliance may be specifically designed to process Secure Socket Layer (SSL) or Extensible Markup Language (XML) packets. In the case of an SSL network appliance, for example, the appliance may perform the processor intensive task of encrypting and decrypting data, thereby reducing processing demands on the server.
Network appliances may be cascaded to increase the overall processing power for a system. In addition, this may provide a form of fault tolerance. If one appliance becomes inoperative, the others may continue performing the intended task. To operate efficiently, cascaded network appliances typically require some form of load balancing to ensure work is properly distributed among the cascaded devices. Conventional solutions to perform load balancing, however, may be unsatisfactory for a number of reasons. For example, one solution may monitor certain threshold parameters for each appliance and allocate packets accordingly. As demands for faster packet processing increase, however, the threshold parameters may change faster than the load balancing algorithm can properly handle. Further, monitoring threshold parameters is premised upon statistical approximations for load balancing, and therefore may not operate as efficiently during practical implementation. Consequently, there may be a need for improved load balancing techniques to solve these and other problems.


Input according to Pin Yin notation and input according to Zhu Yin notation are allowed. Input data in the Pin Yin notation and input data in the Zhu Yin notation are respectively converted into corresponding Yin codes using a Pin Yin/Yin code conversion table and a Zhu Yin/Yin code conversion table. A dictionary stores a Chinese character code (corresponding to a word) in correspondence with an Yin code sequence. An input Yin code sequence is created from the input data. An Yin code in the input Yin code sequence and an Yin code in the Yin code sequence in the dictionary are compared with each other through a filter for masking a predetermined bit of the Yin code. A Chinese character code corresponding to Yin code sequences which coincide with each other by the comparison is read out from the dictionary, and a word (a Chinese character) corresponding to the Chinese character code is displayed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an apparatus for and a method of converting a representation of a pronunciation by means of phonetic symbols (hereinafter referred to as a phonetic transcription) of Chinese inputted from a keyboard or the like into a corresponding Chinese character to output the same, and more particularly, to an apparatus and a method suitably utilized in a word processor, a work station and the like for Chinese.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chinese is represented by Chinese characters. There are several types of notation for indicating a pronunciation of a Chinese character. Typical examples include Pin Yin notation issued in 1958 by the People's Republic of China Government and Zhu Yin notation used before 1958 and used in Taiwan even at the present time.
A pronunciation of one Chinese character can be analyzed into Sheng Mu corresponding to a consonant, Yun Mu corresponding to a vowel, and Si Sheng or Sheng Diao representing tones or intonations. Yun Mu and Sheng Mu are together referred to as Sheng Yun. Some Chinese characters have toneless pronunciations. A pronunciation of one Chinese character is indicated by not more than one (one or zero) Sheng Mu and one Yun Mu (and further Sheng Diao, as required).
Sheng Diao is classified into the following four types:
Yi Sheng or 1 Sheng: it is a high tone and is flat, which is indicated by "-".
Er Sheng or 2 Sheng: it is raised from a low tone to a high tone, which is indicated by " ".
Shan Sheng or 3 Sheng: it is lowered from a high tone to a low tone and then, is raised to a high tone, which is indicated by " ".
Si Sheng or 4 Sheng: it is lowered from a high tone to a low tone, which is indicated by " ".
For example, a Chinese character " (which means China)" is represented as "Zhong Guo" in the Pin Yin notation, where "Zh" and "G" are Sheng Mu, and "ong" and "uo" are Yun Mu. In addition, a Chinese character " (which means Japan)" is represented as "RiiBen" in the Pin Yin notation, where "R" and "B" are Sheng Mu, and "i" and "en" are Yun Mu.
In the conventional word processor for Chinese, only input according to the Pin Yin notation has been allowed. The Pin Yin notation is relatively new. Accordingly, some people or generations know the Zhu Yin notation but do not know the Pin Yin notation. Consequently, an attempt to allow more people to make use of the word processor for Chinese brings about the necessity of allowing input according to the Zhu Yin notation.
Furthermore, the Pin Yin notation is provided using Pekingese as a standard language. In vast China, some languages have pronunciations different from that of Pekingese in Sheng Diao. Even Sheng Yun may, in some cases, be different from that of Pekingese from region to region. Consequently, it is difficult for people who do not know Pekingese used as a standard language or do not have a good knowledge thereof to correctly input Sheng Yun and Sheng Diao, so that an input error frequently occurs. People within the sphere of Pekingese do not necessarily pronounce Chinese while being conscious in Sheng Diao, so that they must perform input work to the word processor while remembering or thinking of Sheng Diao, thereby not only to make the input work complicated but also to make it impossible to input correct Sheng Diao in some cases.
In the conventional word processor for Chinese, only when Sheng Yun and Sheng Diao are correctly inputted a correct Chinese character corresponding thereto is outputted. Accordingly, if there is an input error, a correct Chinese character is not obtained.

Apparatus and method for selectively converting a phonetic transcription of Chinese into a Chinese character from a plurality of notations


A bicycle pedaling force detector is basically provided with that basically includes a first sensor circuit, a wireless communicator and a first electrical connection member. The first sensor circuit is coupled to a first housing that is configured to be mounted to a crank assembly. The wireless communicator is coupled to a second housing that is configured to be detachably mounted to a crank assembly. The second housing is a separate member from the first housing. The first electrical connection member is configured to electrically connect the wireless communicator and the first sensor circuit.

Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to a bicycle pedaling force detector. More specifically, the present invention relates to a bicycle pedaling force detector having a wireless communicator is configured to be detachably connected to a crank assembly, and housed separately from a sensor circuit mounted to the crank assembly.
Background Information
Bicycles are sometimes equipped with various sensors for providing information to the rider and/or for providing information to a controller to control various aspects of the bicycle such as shifting or suspension stiffness. One such sensor is a torque or force sensor for detecting a pedaling force of the rider. Various sensing arrangements have been proposed for detecting a pedaling force of the rider. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 7,516,677 (assigned to Shimano Inc.), a cylindrical torsion-detecting sleeve member (force sensor unit) is provided on a crank axle for detecting a pedaling force applied to the crank axle during pedaling.
Pedaling force detectors typically use strain gauges to measure pedaling force during pedaling. For example, a force sensor is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0282001 (assigned to Shimano Inc.), which utilizes a strain gauge for detecting a pedaling force applied to a crankshaft during pedaling. Recently, pedaling force detectors have incorporated wireless communication technology. For example, a pedaling force sensor is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2012/0214646, which describes a power measurement device including processing circuitry within a housing. The processing circuitry is coupled with strain gauges mounted on the crank arm, and produces a power value that is wirelessly transmitted to a separate display that may receive and display power measurements. Some pedaling force detectors are arranged such that portions are disposed on a sensor board removable from a crank assembly, as disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2014/0060212 (assigned to Shimano).


An MRI system acquires NMR data and reconstructs an image. The image is enhanced prior to being displayed by automatically calculating a window level value and a window width value and mapping the reconstructed image through the resulting contrast window defined by those values.

The field of the invention is the display of magnetic resonance images, and particularly, the display of such images for maximum human visualization.
Image display technology is used to transmit visual information to human beings. Common examples are television pictures, photographic film and prints, transparency projection, and computer graphics display monitors. Such images are formed by a series of single, smallest physically resolvable elements, called pixels, in which each pixel has a brightness, or intensity level, which ranges from the blackest-black through mid-grays, to the whitest-white. Especially in the display of medical images, such as ordinary X-ray films, the brightness, or "grey scale", information is as important as the structural, anatomical or morphological information in the image.
In every image display there will be some lowest level of reliably discernable discrete step in gray-scale value, or contrast resolution. The value of the range from deepest possible "black" to whitest possible "white", divided by the value of smallest discernable step in that intensity is called the image's dynamic range. The dynamic range of image pixel values commonly is expressed logarithmically by using logarithms of base-2.

Automatic windowing method for MR images

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


An information processing apparatus includes a nonvolatile memory, a volatile memory, and a process control section. A startup program to be required when starting up the information processing apparatus has previously been stored in the nonvolatile memory. When a command to start up the apparatus is received, it is determined whether or not the startup program is present in the volatile memory. When the startup program is absent, the startup program is loaded from the nonvolatile memory into the volatile memory. Thereafter, when a command to turn off the power of the information processing apparatus is received, supply of power to other components of the information processing apparatus than the volatile memory is stopped while maintaining supply of power to the volatile memory, thereby to shutdown the power of the information processing apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, and more particularly, to reduction in startup time of the information processing apparatus.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, there has been proposed a technique of storing, in a nonvolatile memory, a part of data required for startup of a computer device in order to reduce startup time of the computer device, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 7-044325. (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1), and Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 2006-309782 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2).
The technique disclosed in Patent Document 1. is aimed at reducing startup time from when a disk storage device is powered on to when it becomes accessible from a computer, and at reducing access time for every reading/writing of data. A nonvolatile memory such as an EPROM is incorporated, in association with an internal processor, in the disk storage device. Stored in the nonvolatile memory are configuration data (addresses in the disk which are required for loading a DOS and the like, the number of cylinders used in the disk, the number of so-called retries on the reading/writing operation, and the like) which are required when loading, into the computer, a basic program OS in the disk. Then, in parallel with an operation to cause the disk to start rotation at the time of starting up the disk storage device, the configuration data are read from the nonvolatile memory into the processor within a time shorter than the disc startup time. As a result, after the startup of disk rotation is completed, the computer can immediately access the basic program in the disk.
Further, in a device disclosed in Patent Document 2, a nonvolatile memory (flash memory) is provided in an HDD. At initial installation of an OS, an OS startup program is stored in the nonvolatile memory. Thereafter, when the system is powered on, ROMBIOS initializes the HDD. Thereby, the startup program stored in the flash memory is read out, transferred to the system body via a system bus, and loaded into a main memory. Conventionally, when the HDD is initialized after the power-on of the system, a spindle motor provided in the HDD is driven. When the spindle motor reaches a steady speed, the startup program is read from the disk and transferred to the system body, and thereby the system is started up. On the other hand, according to the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, since the startup program, which has conventionally been read from disc, is stored in the flash memory provided in the HDD, it is not necessary to wait until the spindle motor in the HDD reaches the steady speed after the power-on of the system, and thus the startup time of the system is reduced.
Meanwhile, there has been proposed a technique of reducing startup time of a personal computer device by reducing time required for so-called POST (Power On Self Test) process, as disclosed in International Publication WO 02/095556 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 3). In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, when a user of the personal computer device performs an operation to shut down an OS, a BIOS does not immediately turn off power of the device but restarts the device by software reset, and executes POST. When the POST is completed, the BIOS stores, in a volatile memory, the state of the device just before starting startup of the OS, and causes the device to enter a standby mode as a power-saving mode. At next startup of the device, the BIOS skips execution of the POST and performs only a process for restoring the device from the power-saving mode, thereby immediately starting up the OS. Thus, the startup time of the device can be reduced.
However, the above-described devices have the following drawbacks. First of all, in the devices disclosed in Patent Document 1. and Patent Document 2, the data required for startup are stored in the nonvolatile memory. Use of the nonvolatile memory causes the following problems. First, the reading speed of the nonvolatile memory, such as an NAND flash memory, is generally higher than that of a hard disk but lower than that of a volatile memory. Further, since the nonvolatile memory is a rewritable device, data stored in the nonvolatile memory are low in reliability because a hacker or a cracker can illegally rewrite the data. Further, data destruction might occur depending on the number of rewritings of the nonvolatile memory, which also causes reduction in reliability. Furthermore, in order to secure the reliability, a process for checking the reliability and consistency of data is required when the data are read. As a result, the reading takes more time.
In the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3, the personal computer device is caused to enter the power-saving mode with the result of the POST being stored in the volatile memory, thereby reducing the next startup time. However, for example, when the configuration of the personal computer device is changed during the power-saving mode (for example, when a peripheral device such as a USB memory is mounted), if the device is started as it is, the peripheral device may fail to be normally recognized, leading to malfunction. Although it might be considered to perform the POST process again, the time required for the POST process is not reduced in this case. Further, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 3, since the personal computer device enters the power-saving mode with holding the result of the POST, time reduction cannot be achieved for processes subsequent to the POST process. To be specific, after the device has entered the power-saving mode with holding the result of the POST, when the device is started up next time, the time required for the POST process is reduced, but a subsequent process for starting up the OS (for example, a process of loading an OS program from an HDD into a main memory, and executing the OS program developed in the main memory) should be performed every time. That is, the time required for the OS startup process cannot be reduced.

Information processing apparatus, and computer-readable storage medium having startup/shutdown control program stored therein


A method and system using a compressed display mode list is disclosed. In particular, the compressed display mode list includes a plurality of data representing the display modes. The data is formatted according to a plurality of compression format rules. The compression format rules reduce and minimize the size of the compressed display mode list. A driver controls a graphical processing unit that renders an image for displaying on a display device according to a selected display mode from the compressed display mode list. Moreover, a computer-readable medium can store the compressed display mode list.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to graphical processing systems and drivers. More particularly, embodiments of the present invention relate to display mode list having display modes supported by the graphical processing systems and drivers.
2. Related Art
A driver is used to control the graphical processing system (or graphics card) in a computer system. The graphical processing system renders an image to display on a display device according to a display mode that is selected by the user. Typically, the graphical processing system supports a variety of display modes that are included in a display mode list. The display mode list generally is dependent on the graphical processing unit (or graphics processor chip) of the graphical processing system. The display mode list associated with a particular graphical processing unit is usually different from the display mode list associated with another graphical processing unit.
Typically, when the driver for the graphical processing system is installed on a computer system, the appropriate display mode list is also installed on the computer system. The display mode list may be part of an INF file, which is a text file divided into different types of formatted sections. During execution, the operating system of the computer system may store the display mode list in the registry.
FIG. 1A illustrates a portion of a first conventional display mode list 100A. As illustrated in FIG. 1A, the first conventional display mode list 100A includes a header, a color bit depth, a resolution, a refresh rate, and a chip ID. The color bit depth represents the number of color bits per pixel. The resolution represents horizontal pixel H and vertical pixel V numbers. The chip ID represents the graphical processing unit to which the display mode list is associated. The refresh rates, which follow the color bit depth and the resolution, represent a list of refresh rates available/supported given the specific values for the color bit depth and the resolution. Moreover, the first conventional display mode list 100A also includes a mode type which indicates whether the graphical processing unit supports spanning the image across two display devices. For example, if the mode type is standard, the image is displayed on a single display device. If the mode type is vertical spanning mode, the image is displayed on two vertically stacked display devices, doubling the vertical resolution. Additionally, if the mode type is horizontal spanning mode, the image is displayed on two horizontally stacked display devices, doubling the horizontal resolution. Similarly, FIG. 1B illustrates a portion of a second conventional display mode list 100B associated with a different graphical processing unit. As illustrated in FIG. 1B, the second conventional display mode list 100B includes a header, a color bit depth, a resolution, a refresh rate, a chip ID, and a mode type.
The first conventional display mode list 100A and the second conventional display mode list 100B can be very large in this flat or raw format. This can create problems in the registry if the operating system fails to provide enough storage space for these conventional display mode lists 100A and 100B. In particular, these problems become more severe if the driver, which is installed on the computer system, is based on a unified driver architecture. A driver that is based on a unified driver architecture supports a variety of graphical processing units to provide both forward and backward compatibility across the graphical processing units. Hence, the display mode lists for the variety of graphical processing units supported by the driver are installed in the computer system, creating a large display mode list that can be several megabytes in size.

Method and system using compressed display mode list


Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) of an insulated iron or other corrosion prone object (1) is detected by taking a sample (8) of the pore fluid from the pores of a permeable insulation layer (2) that covers at least part of the object (1) and analyzing the composition of the sample (8) on the presence of any tracer fluid, such as phospines, mercaptans, alcohols, acids, ketones and/or aldehydes emitted or acetic acid and/or butoxyethanol absorbed by any corrosion of the corrosion prone object (1) by a tracer fluid detection sensor (6).

The invention relates to a method and system for detecting corrosion of an insulated corrosion prone object.
Inspection of insulated corrosion prone objects generally requires removal of at least part of the insulation layer to facilitate the inspection and subsequent reinstallation of the insulation layer.
International patent application WO 00/45148 discloses the use of corrosion sensors contained within the thermally insulating layer of a metal pipe, wherein the corrosion sensors comprise an electrochemical corrosion cell, an electrochemical noise measuring apparatus and/or an electrode assembly to indicate the presence of an electrolyte in the insulation layer, so that the known method uses the presence of an electrically conductive electrolyte as a tracer for the presence of corrosion of the metal pipe.
Japanese patent applications JP63079053 and JP58167948 disclose electrochemical and electrode assemblies for measuring corrosion of metal objects.
International patent application WO2008/047068 discloses a method for detecting moisture in an insulation layer surrounding an insulated vessel or pipe, wherein radially separated fiber optical Distributed Temperature Sensor (DTS) assemblies are configured to determine any differential temperature across the monitored section of insulation, which differential temperature is used as an indication of the possible presence of moisture in the insulation layer.
The paper "The two odors of iron when touched or pickled: (Skin) Carbonyl compounds and organophospines" published by D. Glindemann, A. Dietrich, H. J. Staerk and P. Kuschk in the magazine Angewandte Chemie, Edition 2006, 45, 7006-7009 discloses that phosphorus- and carbon-rich cast iron and steel under attack by acid emit a garlic-carbide metallic odor, which is dominated by volatile organophosphines and phosphine (PH3).
Other known methods for inspecting corrosion prone objects on the presence of corrosion are disclosed in UK patent application GB 2368914, Kroatian patent KR20060015152 and International patent application WO2009/126802.
There is a need for an improved method for inspecting insulated corrosion prone objects on Corrosion Under Insulation (CUI) in a substantially non intrusive manner, which does not require the use of complex electrode assemblies and which does not damage and/or require removal and reinstallation of the insulation layer.

Method and system for detecting corrosion of an insulated corrosion prone object


A recording medium cartridge includes a disc, an inner rotor and a shutter in a shell. Torque is applied to the inner rotor by a coil spring to drive the shutter so as to maintain the closed state of an opening part provided in the shell. When the recording medium cartridge is inserted into a disc device, the inner rotor is rotated against the resilient force of the coil spring by a shutter opening mechanism provided in the disc recording and reproducing device. Thus, the shutter is moved to a position where the opening part provided in the shell is opened. When the cartridge is ejected from the disc device, the inner rotor is rotated by the resilient force of the coil spring to close the shutter.

As shown in FIG. 30, a recording medium cartridge of a below-described type has been widely employed (for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. hei 2-162275) as a recording medium cartridge 101. The recording medium cartridge 101 includes a disc 102, a shell (case) 103 in which the disc 102 is accommodated so as to rotate freely, a shutter 105 for opening and closing an opening part 104 for recording and reproducing data provided in the shell 103, and a shutter spring 106 for urging the shutter 105 to close the opening part 104. The shutter 105 is linearly moved relative to the shell 103 by the shutter spring 106 to open and close the opening part 104 for recording and reproducing data.
In the recording medium cartridge, the shutter 105 is linearly moved relative to the shell 103. Further, as shown in FIG. 31, a recording medium cartridge 201 of a type that a shutter 105 is rotated relative to a shell 103 to open and close an opening part 104 for recording and reproducing data has been developed (for example, Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open No. sho 61-57364).
In the recording medium cartridge 101 shown in FIG. 30, since the shutter 105 is moved linearly relative to the shell 103 to open and close the opening part 104 for recording and reproducing data, the opening part 104 for recording and reproducing data can be opened and closed with a small amount of movement. Accordingly, even when a torsion coil spring is employed for the shutter spring 106, the shutter 105 can be maintained assuredly in a closed state by the shutter spring 106.
On the contrary, in the recording medium cartridge 201 in which the shutter 105 is rotated relative to the shell 103 to open and close the opening part 104 for recording and reproducing data, when the spring force of a shutter spring 106 is exerted on the outer peripheral side of the shutter 105 to rotate the shutter 105 throughout a wide angle, the torsion coil spring as the shutter spring 106 is brought into what is called a completely opened state, as shown in FIG. 31, so that a resiliency is weakened. Thus, the shutter 105 is hardly maintained assuredly in a closed state.
The present invention provides a recording medium cartridge of a type that a shutter is rotated relative to a shell to open and close an opening part for recording and reproducing data in which the shutter can maintain assuredly the opening part for recording and reproducing data in a closed state.

Information recording medium cartridge having a pair of movable shutter members


A livestock water fountain comprises a first water chamber, a water inlet near the bottom of the first water chamber, and a thermostat in the first water chamber position above the inlet adjacent a preset low-water level in the chamber so as to measure the temperature of the water near the surface of the water. The fountain maybe divided into dual chambers with a wall having a lower passageway for fluid communication which can be plugged to limit water to one of the chambers when water consumption decreases in cold weather.

Water fountains for providing water to livestock are well known and come in many various forms. Fountains can be used in a barn or outside, and are plumbed to a water supply, with the valve to provide automatic filling of the trough of the fountain. In cold climates, these cattle water fountains are insulated and/or heated to prevent freezing of the water in the trough. Fountains can be a single drinking station for one cow or can have multiple drinking stations for more than one cow. However, the multi-station designs utilize more electricity during cold weather to keep larger volumes of water from freezing, even though the cattle drink less water in cold weather. The larger fountains also utilize multiple heating elements, which increase operational costs during cold weather.
Cattle have a tendency to drop feed and other miscellaneous debris into the fountains, which also increases electrical costs due to the debris on the bottom of the trough which absorbs heat that otherwise would be absorbed by the water. Conventional cattle water fountains also are not energy efficient due to insufficient insulation for use in cold weather climates.
Conventional cattle water fountains also utilize a thermostat at a position near the bottom of the water trough, spaced further from the colder water at the top of the trough, such that the surface of the water may freeze without sensing by the thermostat, and without actuation of the heating elements in a timely manner to prevent freezing of the water surface.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved cattle water fountain which overcomes the problems of the prior art.
Therefore, a primary objective of the present invention is the provision of an improved cattle water fountain which can be effectively and efficiently used in cold weather without the risk of water freezing.
Another objective of the present invention is a provision of a heated cattle water fountain having dual drinking stations, with the option of sealing off one of the stations during colder weather when animals consume less water.
A further objective of the present invention the provision of a cattle water fountain which circulates the water in a trough to eliminate or minimize the risk of freezing water.
Another objective of the present invention the provision of a heated cattle water trough having a thermostat mounted high in the trough adjacent the normal water level so as to sense the temperature of the coldest water in the trough.
Still another objective of the present invention is a provision of a cattle water fountain having a water inlet adjacent the bottom of the trough and with a sprayer to flush debris away from the heating elements.
Still another objective of the present invention is a provision of a cattle water fountain with insulation on the exterior of the trough.
Yet another objective of the present invention is the provision of a livestock water trough which is economical to manufacture, and efficient and safe in use.
These and other objectives become apparent from the following description of the invention.


The present disclosure is directed toward systems, methods, and non-transitory computer readable media for generating an identity resolution model from a ground truth data set to accurately match users across one or more digital content providers to perform analyses of user activities across the one or more digital content providers. For example, the systems described herein can generate a ground truth data set of known users and utilize the ground truth data set to generate an identity resolution model for one or more digital content providers based on predicted user identities. Furthermore, in one or more embodiments, the systems utilize the identity resolution model to accurately resolve and match user identities between one or more digital content providers and assign universal identifiers to the user identities. Moreover, the disclosed systems can utilize the universal identifiers to provide analytical insights of user actions between the one or more digital content providers.

Advancements in computing devices and networking technology have led to a variety of innovations in managing data and utilizing data for analysis across computer networks. For example, conventional digital content systems are now able to manage, track, and store millions of bytes of data from multiple sources (i.e., digital content providers) and utilize that data for analysis. Indeed, conventional digital content systems are able to compare data from a digital content provider with other data managed by the conventional digital content system to generate an analysis for the provider of digital content.
Despite these advances, however, conventional digital content systems continue to have a number of problems. To illustrate, conventional digital content systems can manage data of users from multiple sources (i.e., more than one digital content provider) and analyze the data to generate an analysis for one or more digital content providers. Yet, when multiple digital content providers are involved, conventional digital content systems sometimes fail to make a reliable analysis based on data provided individually from the multiple digital content providers. For example, some conventional digital content systems compare data of users from multiple digital content providers to generate an analysis, however oftentimes conventional digital content systems fail to accurately match user identities and the data of those users amongst the multiple digital content providers resulting in an unreliable analysis.
Such failures to accurately match user identities and the data of those users between multiple digital content providers can have significant adverse effects on conventional digital content systems and the corresponding digital content providers. For instance, oftentimes, conventional digital content systems perform unreliable analyses as a result of inaccurately matched user identities between multiple digital content providers. In particular, inaccurately matched identities often inefficiently consume computational resources by performing analyses that result in unusable or unreliable information. Furthermore, unreliable analyses oftentimes deplete the budget of digital content providers in a conventional digital content system without gaining useful insights from the unreliable analyses. Unreliable analyses and corresponding data for the analyses sometimes also requires additional storage space in the computing system of a conventional digital content system. As a result, conventional digital content systems oftentimes occupy more data storage space than necessary.
Additionally, conventional digital content systems often have difficulty tracking statistics for user data spanning across multiple digital content providers. For example, conventional digital content systems sometimes cannot keep track of user actions across multiple digital content providers due to barriers between the digital content providers. In particular, conventional digital content systems oftentimes cannot keep track of user actions across multiple digital content providers because it is difficult, with accuracy, to realize if the same user is being tracked between the multiple digital content providers. The inability to track user actions across multiple digital content providers often leads to a misuse of computational resources because the conventional digital content system must utilize computational resources to guess, with a low yield in accuracy, which user identities match between the multiple digital content providers. For instance, some conventional digital content systems utilize an excess of communication bandwidth and computational resources by attempting to match user identities between the multiple digital content providers without the effort resulting in reliable matches.
Moreover, due to the unreliability of user identity matching between multiple digital content providers, oftentimes there is a barrier in accessing analytics data that is beneficial to any one of the digital content providers. For instance, some digital content providers do not have a registration-based system and, therefore, cannot accurately identify users within their systems. Specifically, some conventional digital systems limit the ability of a non-registration based digital content provider to utilize data analytics based on user actions across a network of multiple digital content providers because the non-registration based digital content provider does not always have enough data to determine a user identity internally. This barrier to accessibility disallows some digital content providers to efficiently utilize data that the digital content provider has gathered.
These and other problems exist with regard to user identification in digital environments.


A method of generating a packet of a physical layer transmitter of a TV white space (TVWS) wireless personal area network (WPAN) system operating a WPAN service in TVWS is provided. A packet that is generated by the method of generating the packet includes a preamble, a start frame delimiter that is positioned after the preamble, a first physical layer header that is positioned after the start frame delimiter, and a physical layer service data unit that is positioned after the first physical layer header. Here, the first physical layer header represents whether the packet is a ranging packet for ranging, and includes a ranging packet identification bit corresponding to a reserved bit of the second physical layer header in a SUN system and a LECIM system, and a parity bit.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a physical layer transmitter/receiver of a TV white space (TVWS) wireless personal area network (WPAN) system for operating a WPAN service in TVWS. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of generating a packet, a method of transmitting/receiving a packet, and a method of ranging a physical layer transmitter/receiver of a TVWS WPAN system.
(b) Description of the Related Art
It is expected that a wireless traffic use amount of the entire world will increase by two times or more every year. At individual space including a home area, as wireless devices using an unlicensed frequency such as 2.4 GHz industrial scientific and medical band (ISM band) rapidly increase, quality deterioration of wireless communication is serious due to interference and thus importance of development of a new idle frequency and development of WPAN technology that can intelligently integrate/manage the idle frequency is emphasized. TVWS is a frequency resource that can randomly access a wideband using a database after being converted to a DTV. TVWS has a remarkably lower security and interference possibility than a presently defined fixed and open band, and may thus conveniently and safely provide various high quality wireless-based application services. Therefore, for activation of a home network, development of TVWS WPAN communication technology is seriously requested.
Currently, in TVWS, IEEE 802.15.4m TVWS WPAN wireless transmission technology standardization for a WPAN service has started and thus standardization of a physical layer (PHY) and media access control layer (MAC) has started. As the American Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enacted a final rule that supplements a TVWS technology reference in September of 2010, when a frequency of a UHF or VHF band satisfies a preliminary regulation condition of the FCC, the frequency was declared to be an unlicensed band that everybody can use and it was approved for access to TVWS based on a database without sensing. Therefore, in order to protect a broadcasting signal of existing primary users, standardization of a TVWS WPAN system that satisfies a TVWS regulation is the largest issue of IEEE 802.15.4m TVWS WPAN standardization.
TVWS regulations include a regulation in which a TV band device (TVBD) should necessarily have location capability within an error level of ±50 m in relation to access to a database. Location capability is an ability to determine whether a TVWS channel is effective in an area in which a TV band device (TVBD) exists. First location capability may be performed using a GPS, but when GPS information cannot be used due to a weak radio area (e.g., indoors and in canyons) in which a GPS satellite is not viewed or GPS jamming, the first location capability cannot acquire location information. Thereby, in TVWS, a WPAN service is stopped. Therefore, for a seamless WPAN service within a TVWS band, a TVWS WPAN transmitting apparatus that can use a location recognition function using an RF signal and a location recognition function using a GPS together rather than performing location recognition by depending on a GPS is necessary.

Method of generating packet, method of transmitting packet, and method of ranging of physical layer transmitter of wireless personal area network system

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


A shielding device for an electronic component for use in a vehicle. The electronic component is positioned on the vehicle and generates an electromagnetic wave. A conductive panel is positioned between the electronic component and an antenna and substantially covers the electronic component. A ground wire is connected to the conductive panel and the vehicle so as to establish a ground connection for the electromagnetic wave.

There are known visual recognition devices in which a camera is provided on the outside of a vehicle so as to help a vehicle operator recognize conditions surrounding the vehicle with ease. For example, one such known rearview recognition device for a vehicle is proposed in Japanese Utility Model Publication No. 5-80883 where a camera is attached to a rear part of the vehicle. The conditions behind the vehicle are captured by the camera, and then the obtained images are displayed in the front of a vehicle within the vehicle operator's line of sight. With the captured image, the vehicle operator can reverse the vehicle with greater safety.

Shielding device for vehicular electronic components


A computer having a computer main body mounted with a plurality of hardware, the computer also having: a port part provided on a part of the main body and having at least one port; a cover slidably connected to the computer main body to open and close the port part; and a guide gear, provided between the cover and the port part, to guide the cover to slide between an open position, at which the cover opens the port part, and a closed position, at which the cover closes the port part. Thus, the cover slides smoothly to open and close the port part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer, and more particularly, to a computer in which a cover to open and close a port part slides smoothly.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, a conventional computer main body comprises: a main body casing forming an external appearance, a side casing detachably connected with the main body casing to open and close an opening on a side of the main body casing, and a front casing connected to a front surface of the main body casing.
The front casing of the conventional computer main body has a recessed port part having a plurality of ports. A front opening of the port part is opened and closed with a cover connected to the front casing by a slider.
The slider comprises: a pair of guides provided on opposite ends of the cover, and guide grooves positioned on the front opening of the port part, to slidably accommodate the pair of guides.
But when the user slides the cover up and down, if the user does not apply force evenly to the left and right guides, the cover may tilt rightward or leftward, and the cover may not slide smoothly. Therefore, the user must move the cover carefully, to apply force evenly to the guides, which may bring the user inconvenience.


A method of and apparatus for slicing a three-dimensional object representation into a plurality of layer representations is described, wherein the layer representations are subsequently used to form the object layer-by-layer according to the principles of stereolithography. If not already provided in the object representation, a plurality of layer boundary representations are first formed, and then the boolean difference of successive layer boundary representations are computed to derive boundaries of up and down-facing regions, enabling different cure parameters to be specified for these different regions.

I. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the slicing of a three-dimensional object representation into layer representations for subsequent use in the stepwise layer-by-layer formation of the three-dimensional object through application of the principles of stereolithography, and more specifically, to the slicing of the object representation into the layer representations utilizing boolean comparisons between the borders of successive layers.
II. Background of the Invention
Several building techniques have recently become available for building three-dimensional objects in layers. One such technique is stereolithography, which is described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,575,330 and 4,929,402 (hereinafter the '330 and the '402 patents), the disclosures of which are hereby fully incorporated by reference herein as though set forth in full. According to the principles of stereolithography, a three-dimensional object is formed layer-by-layer in a stepwise fashion out of a material capable of physical transformation upon exposure to synergistic stimulation. In one embodiment of stereolithography, layers of untransformed material such as liquid photopolymer or the like are successively formed at the working surface of a volume of the liquid photopolymer contained in a container. The untransformed layers are successively formed over untransformed material and previously-transformed material. The process of forming these untransformed layers is known as a recoating step, and is described in detail in Ser. No. 515,479, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,931.
These layers are then selectively exposed to the synergistic stimulation to form successive object cross-sections. Moreover, upon transformation into the object cross-sections, the transformed material typically adheres to the previously-formed cross-sections through the natural adhesive properties of the photopolymer upon solidification. Additional details about stereolithography are available in the following co-pending U.S. patent applications, all of which, including appendices, are hereby fully incorporated by reference herein as though set forth in full:
______________________________________ Application Ser. No. Filing Date Inventor(s) Status ______________________________________ 07/182,830 Apr. 18, 1988 Hull et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,359 07/183,016 Apr. 18, 1988 Modrek U.S. Pat. No. 4,996,010 07/182,801 Apr. 18, 1988 Hull, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,999,143 07/183,015 Apr. 18, 1988 Smalley U.S. Pat. No. 5,015,424 07/268,429 Nov. 8, 1988 Modrek U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,974 et al. 07/268,816 Nov. 8, 1988 Spence U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,988 07/268,837 Nov. 8, 1988 Spence U.S. Pat. No. 5,123,734 et al. 07/268,907 Nov. 8, 1988 Spence U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,021 et al. 07/331,644 Mar. 31, 1989 Hull et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,184,307 07/339,246 Apr. 7, 1989 Hull et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,104,592 07/365,444 Jun. 12, 1989 Leyden U.S. Pat. No. 5,143,663 et al. 07/414,200 Oct. 27, 1989 Hull et al. Abandoned 07/415,168 Sept. 29, 1989 Hull et al. Abandoned 07/429,911 Oct. 27, 1989 Spence U.S. Pat. No. 5,182,056 et al. 07/427,885 Oct. 27, 1989 Spence U.S. Pat. No. 5,133,987 et al. 07/428,492 Oct. 27, 1989 Vorgitch Abandoned et al. 07/429,435 Oct. 30, 1989 Smalley U.S. Pat. No. 5,130,064 et al. 07/495,791 Mar. 19, 1990 Jacobs Abandoned et al. 07/515,479 Apr. 27, 1990 Almquist U.S. Pat. No. 5,174,931 et al. 07/545,517 Jun. 28, 1990 Cohen U.S. Pat. No. 5,096,530 07/566,527 Aug. 13, 1990 Jacobs Abandoned et al. ______________________________________
Additional details of stereolithography are also available in two related applications which are being filed concurrently herewith. The disclosures of these two additional applications are hereby fully incorporated by reference herein as though set forth in full.
The first of these concurrently-filed applications is U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/606,802, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,192,469 entitled "Simultaneous Multiple Layer Curing for Forming Three-Dimensional Objects," filed by Smalley et al. This application describes methods of building high resolution objects from traditionally low-resolution combinations of building materials and synergistic stimulation, which combinations result in a minimum effective cure depth which is typically too deep to form the thin layers required for high resolution objects. This objective is accomplished by delaying the exposure of those areas on a particular cross-section that would negatively impact resolution if those areas were immediately cured upon formation of the cross-section. Resolution may be negatively impacted, for example, if, because of the cure depth involved, material below this cross-section is inadvertently cured upon exposure of these areas. Therefore, to preserve resolution, exposure of these areas is delayed, and corresponding areas which are above these areas on higher cross-sections are instead subsequently exposed, after a delay if necessary, which higher cross-sections are chosen such that the cure depth is deep enough to cure the desired areas without inadvertently curing material on lower cross-sections.
The second of these concurrently-filed applications is U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/605,979, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,209,878 entitled "Improved Surface Resolution in Three-Dimensional Objects by Inclusion of Thin Fill Layers," filed by Smalley et al. This application describes methods for forming high resolution objects by filling the surface discontinuities inherent in three-dimensional objects formed from stereolithography with thin fill layers.
Other embodiments of stereolithography employ materials besides photopolymers such as powdered materials, thermoplastics, dry film photoresists, non-reactive pre-formed films or sheets, all of which share the common characteristics that they are capable of physical transformation upon exposure to an appropriate form of synergistic stimulation. Moreover, a variety of types of synergistic stimulation are possible, other than UV radiation from a laser, including infrared or CO.sub.2 laser radiation, visible radiation, particle beam radiation, reactive chemical agents dispensed from ink jet type printing heads (e.g., binders and initiators) and the like. In addition, various means for selectively exposing the untransformed layers of material are possible, including rotatable scanning mirrors or the like for directing a beam of the synergistic stimulation to trace out the shape of the object layers on the untransformed layers, means such as a mask for selectively applying flood exposure to the untransformed layers, means such as a light valve, imaging system or the like, and xy tables for translating a dispenser for chemical synergistic stimulation or the like.
Various means of performing the recoating process are possible. The '330 patent describes the use of a platform coupled to a Z-stage elevator to overdip a previously-formed layer beyond the working surface as an expeditious means to perform recoating. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/515,479 describes the use of a doctor blade to speed up the recoating process. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/495,791 describes the use of vibrational forces to speed up the recoating process. Additional approaches, which are possible, include dispensing pre-formed sheets or films over a previously-formed layer from a roll or cartridge dispenser. Also, various means of moving the partially-formed part relative to the working surface, besides a platform coupled to a Z-stage elevator, are possible, including means for adding or extracting material from the container, or means for moving the container relative to the partially-formed part. Also, various other means of adhering the layers together, besides the natural adhesive properties of the material being used, are also possible, including pressure or heat sensitive adhesives or the like.
As can be seen from the above description, a wide variety of embodiments are included within the term "stereolithography," all having the common characteristic of being capable of forming a three-dimensional object in a step-wise layer-by-layer fashion.
As described in Ser. No. 331,644, a stereolithography system will typically form a three-dimensional object in accordance with a corresponding object representation, which representation may be formed in a CAD system or the like. Before such a representation can be used, however, as described in Ser. No. 331,644, it must be sliced into a plurality of layer representations. The stereolithography system will then, in the course of building up the object in a stepwise layer-by-layer manner, selectively expose the untransformed layers of material in accordance with the layer representations to form the object layers, and thus, the object itself.
Previous methods of forming the layer representations suffered from a number of disadvantages, however.
First, these methods typically do not make direct use of an object representation generated from a CAD system. Instead, these methods typically require that the object representation be placed into an intermediate format, i.e., a tesselated triangle format, before being useful to the stereolithography system. Because of this limitation, these methods do not have wide applicability, and can only be used with those CAD systems which have the capability of formatting the object representation appropriately. As a result, they are not presently capable of directly utilizing object representations such as CAT scans or the like, which may originate from systems presently incapable of formatting the object representations into the required format.
A second problem with these methods is that they typically assume, in furtherance of achieving computational simplicity, that all portions of a layer will overlap, and therefore, adhere to a previous layer. Therefore, because it is advantageous to slightly overcure these overlapping areas by about 6 mils beyond the specified layer thickness, these methods will overcure all portions of a layer, even those portions that do not overlap previous layers, such as down-facing regions. The result is that part accuracy, and part aesthetics, are negatively impacted, especially at the down-facing regions.
A third problem with these methods is that they are typically inflexible, being capable of specifying either an oversized object or an undersized object, but not both..sup.1/ However, for certain objects, only one of these techniques will be possible. For example, for a complex object, it may be impossible to sand certain, inaccessible areas, so that the undersized technique is the only reasonable one. Therefore, for these objects, past methods have not provided necessary flexibility. FNT .sup.1/ As explained in Ser. No. 331,644, building an oversized or an undersized object enables the surface discontinuities inherent to stereolithography to be smoothed out in a subsequent post-processing step.
A fourth problem with these methods is that they sometimes introduce a vertical registration problem into a part. As explained in Ser. No. 331,644, in furtherance of the interest of computational simplicity, these methods generally create the borders of each layer representation at a vertical position slightly offset from the rest of the layer representation..sup.2/ By doing so, each object layer, once built, will be offset one layer thickness downwards from the corresponding object representation. That is, it will not be correctly vertically registered with the part. Normally, this misregistration will not be a problem if the layer thickness for all object layers is the same, since all object layers will be shifted downwards by the same amount. However, if two object representations are sliced with two different layer thicknesses and then merged and built simultaneously, then each individual object will be vertically shifted downwards by a different amount causing these individual objects to become incorrectly vertically registered relative to each other. FNT .sup.2/ This ensures that the correct number of layer representations are formed. If the borders were to be created at the same vertical level as the rest of the layer, then one too many layer representations would generally be formed.
This problem can be explained more fully with the aid of FIGS. 1a-1b. FIG. 1a shows object representation 1a, and leg representations 1b and 1c. It is assumed that the object representation will be sliced at a smaller layer thickness than the layer thickness used to slice the legs.
FIG. 1a also shows the object and leg representations being sliced by slicing layers 2a-2g into object layer representations 3a-3f. The number of object layer representations is (correctly) one less than the number of slicing layers.
As mentioned earlier, the object layers formed from each layer representation will be displaced one layer thickness downwards from the corresponding layer representation. FIG. 1b shows object (and leg) layers 3a'-3f', each of which is offset one layer thickness downwards from the corresponding layer representations 3a-3f shown in FIG. 1a.
As indicated, layers 3e' and 3f' have been moved downwards farther than layers 3a'-3d', with the result that these layers are no longer in physical contact with each other. This exemplifies the vertical misregistration problem referred to above.
A fifth problem With these methods is that they do not always generate near-flat skins (described in Ser. No. 331,644) in those instances where they would improve surface resolution. Instead, these methods typically only generate near-flat skins to avoid material leakage, with the result that these methods sometimes avoid creating near-flat skins which could contribute to part accuracy.
This problem can be illustrated with the aid of FIG. 2, which shows an envelope 4 of an object representation, cross-sectional outline 5a of a first object layer, and cross-sectional outline 5b of a second underlying object layer.
As indicated, there is a gap 8 between the layers which could allow leakage of untransformed material unless the gap were to be plugged with near-flat skin.
The decision whether to generate near-flat skin will be based on a comparison between normal 6, the vertical axis 7, the angle between the normal 6 and the vertical axis 7, and the minimum surface angle ("MSA")..sup.3/ If this angle is less than the minimum surface angle, then near-flat skins will be generated to close the gap. FNT .sup.3/ The MSA is the minimum angle between normal 6 and the vertical 7 which will guarantee that the cross-sections 5a and 5b will touch, closing gap 8, and preventing material from leaking out of the gap.
Therefore, in the usual case, near-flat skins will not be generated when the cross-sections 5a and 5b are touching, as shown in FIG. 3. However, even in this instance, the addition of near-flat skins would still provide a surface which more appropriately represents the object representation 4, thereby ensuring appropriate formation of an oversized or undersized object.
A sixth problem with these methods is that it is difficult to utilize techniques for achieving enhanced surface resolution, including simultaneous multiple layer transformation, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/606,802, filed concurrently herewith, or generation of extra fill layers, as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 07/605,979, also filed concurrently herewith, with these methods. This is because the methods and techniques in these referenced applications inherently involve the comparison of cross-sectional information between two or more layers. Without a generalized layer comparison capability, the required comparisons (for the referenced applications) must be separately developed for each particular case and for each particular operation that will be performed.
A seventh problem with the vector-based implementations of these methods is that they typically overcure intersection points between border vectors describing the borders of the layers, and hatch or skin vectors describing the interior portions of the layers. Because of this overcuring, a significant distortion may be introduced at the intersection points, both because the cure depth of these points will be too deep, but also since the cure width, which increases proportionally to the cure depth, will also be too large.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a slicing apparatus and method which is less dependent on a particular input format, and which is therefore compatible with a wider range of systems generating object representations, including CAT scan systems or the like, or CAD systems which do not necessarily provide the tesselated triangular format.
It is a further object to provide a slicing apparatus and method which distinguishes more fully between down-facing regions and the remaining areas encompassed by the layer borders, so that the overcure of the down-facing regions can be prevented.
It is a further object to provide a slicing apparatus and method which generates layer borders from portions of the object representation which are not vertically offset from those portions used to generate the interior portions of the layers.
A further object is to provide a slicing apparatus and method which is more flexible in switching between providing oversized, undersized, and average-sized parts, as well as other sizing schemes.
A further object is to provide a slicing apparatus and method which reduces or eliminates the vertical registration problem.
A further object is to provide a slicing apparatus and method which generally produces near-flat skins when they would improve the surface resolution of the object.
A further object is to provide a slicing apparatus and method which is more compatible with additional processes for improving surface resolution, including simultaneous multiple layer transformation, and the generation of thin fill layers.
A further object is to provide a slicing apparatus and method which retracts skin and/or hatch vectors from intersection points with border vectors, thereby reducing unintended overexposure of material at the intersection points.
Additional objects and advantages will be set forth in the description which follows or will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art who practice the invention.


A bed tent (10) with a support portion (16, 18, 30) is erected over a bed and a canopy portion (12) draped over the support portion (16, 18, 30). The canopy portion (12) may be connected to portion (12) provides an enclosure having an open bottom surface area and an opening (26) for entering and exiting the enclosure.

The invention relates generally to accessories for use with beds and specifically relates to providing a fun atmosphere in children's beds.
Children enjoy the idea of camping, sleeping outside in a tent, roasting marshmallows over an open fire, and the excitement of a different sleeping arrangement. Unfortunately, when they are taken outside and sense how dark it is and fear that wild animals would be lurking around the tent, they often change their minds and sleep inside.
This can be very frustrating to the parents who have taken the time to set up the tent in the yard and bring out the sleeping bags, pillows, flashlights, security blankets, and snacks.
Previous attempts have been made to provide a tent-like cover over a conventional bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,451 to Neely provides for a sheet to extend over a support frame of welded angle iron that is connected to the bed frame. Four vertically orientated posts are welded to the support frame near each corner of the bed and are braced by a horizontal bar to form two U-shaped frames. The sheet is then tucked under the mattress at the foot of the bed, extended over the horizontal bars where four pre-formed holes in the sheet line up with the posts, and the other end of the sheet is draped over the headboard with a weight inserted to maintain tension in the sheet. The device of the Neely patent is not well suited for use for children. The bed tent design of the Neely patent is expensive and awkward. The bed tent disclosed in the Neely patent is cumbersome to assemble and only provides rigid fixed positions to place the posts and no allowance for varying the location or height of the horizontal bars.
The bed tent disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,598 to Griesenbeck allows for a form-fitted special tent to be fitted onto an existing mattress with two supports that form a dome-like structure over the mattress and is geared for children. There are several drawbacks to this design. This system requires the removal of the existing bedding. Additionally, no variation exists to change the design from the dome-shaped form, and the assembly is time-consuming and tedious.
Therefore, it is the object of the present invention to overcome the drawbacks of the prior art. The present invention provides a bed tent which allows privacy to persons within the bed and which is light in weight, easy to assemble, adaptable to a variety of shapes, and requires no additional room space.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a bed tent which may be used with a conventional bed sheet or a manufactured sheet.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a bed tent that requires no tools to assemble, can be erected and taken apart easily by one person, and can be stored and transported easily.


A change-out handle system is provided for releasably coupling two elongated, axially relatively displaceable functional parts to a medical instrument unit. The change-out handle system includes a first and a second handle part disposed axially relatively displaceably, a first coupler for releasably axially rigidly immovably coupling a first of the two functional parts to the first handle part and a second coupler for releasably, axially rigidly immovably coupling the second of the two functional parts to the second handle part. The second handle part has a pass-through opening for passing at least the first of the two functional parts. The change-out handle system can be used, for example, for medical solids trapping instruments.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a change-out handle system for the releasable coupling of two elongated, axially relatively displaceable functional parts to a medical instrument unit that is couplable thereto and to a corresponding medical instrument.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the area of medical technology there are on occasions medical instruments which include two elongated, axially relatively displaceable functional parts, in particular for endoscopy applications. Important examples, among others, are stone catcher instruments with a wire basket that can be folded out to capture stones and the like in tissue cavities, wire filter instruments and guide wire units for catheter instruments. The two elongated, axially relatively displaceable functional parts can be, for example, a so-called wire pull and a tube, i.e. sheath, surrounding said wire pull.
The axial relative displacement of the two functional parts controls a distal functional element into at least two different functional states, in the case of a stone catcher instrument, for example, a distal wire basket is optionally controlled into a collapsed state retracted into the tube or into a folded-out state pushed forward out of the tube. At the proximal end, the two functional parts are typically coupled to a control handle in such a manner that the tube is connected to a stationary handle portion and the wire pull is connected to a handle portion that is to be actively manipulated. In the case of these types of conventional arrangements, once the instrument has been inserted into a body tissue canal, the tube consequently remains stationary with respect to said canal, whilst the wire pull is moved axially forward and backward by the proximal user manipulation in order, for example, to move a stone catcher basket distally out of the tube and to fold it open and after catching a stone, to move it back until it is secured. The wire basket consequently changes its axial position in the tissue canal during this functional movement, which can be undesirable or can make the stone catching function more difficult. Conventional handle systems for such applications also frequently have the problem that releasing the functional parts from the handle is often not possible or only possible with difficulty or is only possible when using loose connecting parts that may be lost and/or particular tools.
US disclosure document 2005/0113862 A1 discloses a handle system for releasably coupling two elongated, axially relatively displaceable functional parts of a medical instrument, in particular a guide wire unit, in the form of a central wire pull and a tube surrounding said wire pull, which has a deformable portion between its distal and its proximal end and between said deformable portion and the proximal end has a resiliently prestressing portion, through the prestressing force of which the axial length of the deformable portion can be modified. The wire pull and the tube are in each case fixedly connected to each other at the distal and at the proximal end. A handle with a front and a rear handle part can be used for manipulation, wherein the front handle part has an opening, through which the wire pull and the tube surrounding said wire pull are guided by way of a proximal end portion, which includes the resiliently prestressing portion. In this case, the proximal end portion of the wire pull and the tube are received loosely in an axial receiving bore of the rear handle part, and the tube portion connecting distally to the resiliently prestressing portion is releasably fixed on the front handle part by means of a screw clip. The two handle parts are guided together in an axially relatively displaceable manner for a predetermined length. Through the action of the resiliently prestressing portion, the deformable tube portion is held in a first form state. By manipulating the rear handle part, the deformable tube portion is moved out of said first into a second form state. In this case, the first form state serves to anchor the guide wire unit in a tissue canal in order, for example, to be able to push on and insert a catheter tube via the guide wire unit, whilst the second form state represents an insertion state, in which the guide wire unit can be moved into a tissue canal or out of said tissue canal again.
It is an object of the invention is to provide a change-out handle system of the aforementioned type, which enables a comparatively simple, functionally reliable, releasable coupling of the functional parts to the handle parts, an associated medical instrument unit and an associated medical instrument.

Change-out handle system and medical instrument


Five phase windings (P1-P5) of a motor 30 are disposed on a common stator 32. An rotor 34 contains three magnetic pole pairs (M1N, M1S, M2N, M2S, M3N, M3S). Each phase winding is energized for 72.degree. (electrical) corresponding to 24.degree. rotor rotation (mechanical). During the first half (36 electrical degrees) of each phase winding's electrical energization, the immediately preceding phase winding is simultaneously energized, and during the second half (36 electrical degrees) of each phase winding's electrical energization, the immediately succeeding phase winding is energized. At any given time, only two of the phase windings, and no others, are being simultaneously energized.

A brush type D.C. motor comprises a stator having arcuately shaped permanent magnets distributed around the stator's circumference to create alternating magnetic poles. These magnets provide magnetic flux patterns that interact with commutated electric current flow delivered via brushes to windings disposed on the motor's armature to produce armature shaft rotation.
A brushless type D.C. motor may be considered to comprise a stationary part, the stator, and a rotary part, the rotor. Windings are typically on the stator, and magnets on the rotor. There are several different configurations for a brushless, electronically commutated D.C. motor. In one, the rotor is disposed in circumferentially surrounding relation to the stator, with an intervening radial air gap between the two; in another, the stator is disposed in circumferentially surrounding relation to the rotor, with an intervening radial air gap between the two; and in yet another, the stator and rotor are axially confronting, separated by an axial air gap. In these configurations, the current flow to the windings is electronically commutated, rather than being commutated by mechanical commutators and brushes.
A known form of stator comprises winding slots that are spaced circumferentially around its perimeter. The slots are open in the radial direction and they are parallel to the rotor axis of rotation, being also open at their axial ends. In a motor configuration where the stator surrounds the rotor, the slots are open radially inwardly while in a motor configuration where the rotor surrounds the stator, the slots are open radially outwardly. Windings are disposed in these slots in predetermined winding patterns that will produce shaft rotation when they are energized in proper sequence by electronic commutation.
The present invention relates to a novel winding configuration that is especially, although not necessarily exclusively, useful in a permanent magnet brushless D.C. motor. In the disclosed exemplary embodiment, the invention comprises a five phase stator winding containing five individually commutated windings. Permanent magnets of the rotor provide three magnetic poles pairs wherein each pole pair spans essentially 120.degree. (mechanical) of the rotor circumference.
Generally speaking, the invention relates to a D.C. motor comprising an rotor and a stator circumferentially separated from each other by an air gap, one of the stator and the rotor providing magnetic flux paths across the air gap for interaction with the other of the stator and the rotor, the other of the stator and the rotor comprising multiple phase windings, means for selectively connecting the phase windings in sequence to a D.C. electrical source, wherein each phase winding is energized for a certain span of rotor rotation, and during an initial portion of that span, the immediately preceding phase winding is simultaneously energized, and during a final portion of that span the immediately succeeding phase winding is energized. The invention is further characterized in that at any given time, only two of the phase windings, and no others, are being simultaneously energized.
Principles, and various features and advantages, of the invention will be presented in the following detailed description that is accompanied by drawings representing the best mode contemplated at this time for carrying out the invention.

D.C. motor phase windings and their commutation


A method of transmitting and receiving encoded data generated from input data comprising readable text characters (102) in a communication system having an optical character recognition element (206) and a graphic encoding element (208), the communication system also having a transmitter (114) and a receiver (116), comprises accepting (602) the input data comprising the readable text characters (102) by a facsimile input (202). The method further comprises encoding (620, 622) as character code format data the readable text characters (102) received that are recognizable by the optical character recognition element (206), and encoding (610, 612, 614) as graphic code format data the readable text characters (102) received that are not recognizable by the optical character recognition element (206). The method further comprises assembling (632) the character code format data and the graphic code format data into an output data stream, the output data stream including information that describes original sizes and positions relative to one another of the readable text characters (102).

Communication systems for receiving alphanumeric input from a keyboard device and transmitting the received text to a portable receiver such as a selective call receiver are well-known in the art. A drawback to such systems is that a suitable keyboard device may not always be conveniently available to a person desiring to send a text message. One way around this drawback is to provide one or more facsimile inputs for the communication system, the facsimile inputs being compatible with a standard protocol used for communications between facsimile machines. Then, the person desiring to send the text message may print the message on a sheet of paper and send it from a facsimile machine to the communication system.
Because the message comprises scanned text characters, to save transmission time the communication system typically uses conventional optical character recognition (OCR) techniques to convert the characters into character codes, e.g., ASCII codes. The use of OCR causes a new problem, because OCR may not be able to recognize 100% of the human-readable characters in a message. This is particularly true when the message comprises hand printed or handwritten characters.
Conventional OCR systems use various algorithms to determine a confidence level for the recognition of each character. When the confidence level is below a pre-determined level, conventional OCR systems substitute a special character, e.g., "?" for the unrecognizable character. If a message contains too many such unrecognizable character substitutions, the message may become indecipherable when it arrives at the portable receiver. This can occur even for a message that would have been human readable if received as a facsimile and printed on a sheet of paper by a facsimile machine.
Thus, what is needed is a better method and apparatus for encoding, transmitting, and receiving text messages sent from facsimile machines and accepted by facsimile inputs in a communication system.

Method and apparatus for transmitting and receiving encoded data