A value transfer system of at least one VCD (Value Carrying Device) (1) and at least one VAD (Value Accepting Device) (2), the VAD (2) having a memory (53) for storing at least an aggregate value (28) of previous accepted values and a device for transferring a claiming message (13), the VCD (1) having a memory (52) for storing at least a balance value (7) and a device for transferring a proving message (14), wherein the VAD (2) includes into the claiming message (13) a transaction value (20), a previous aggregate value (21) and a corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram (22), the VCD (1) computes and includes into the electronic message (14) a transaction proving cryptogram (35), computed on the basis of the previous aggregate value (21), the corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram (22) and the transaction value (20), and the VCD (1) computes the at least one transaction proving cryptogram (35) only if it has established the correctness of the received previous aggregate value (21) by using the corresponding previously computed cryptogram (22) and after it has reduced the balance value (7) with the transaction value (20).

The state of the art in electronic purses in adequately described in part II of the (draft) European Standard EN 1546. The description as contained in that document is sumarised here and schematically given in FIG. 1; the draft standard contains a more detailed description and explicitly indicates the potential multiplicity of parties involved in the protocols which aspects have been omitted here for clarity. See also European patent 0,421,808-B1.
Referring to FIG. 1, an electronic purse operates In that in return for payment from a holder of a Value Carrying Device 1. A Value Guaranteeing Institution 4 is responsible for securely loading Balance 7 held in Value Carrying Device memory 52 of the Value Carrying Device 1 with a value using a value initializing protocol 12. The Value Carrying Device 1 is provided with a Value Carrying Device processor 50 connected to memory 52.
For the purpose of a payment the Value Carrying Device 1 which has a current value indicated as balance 7 engages with a Value Accepting Device 2 using a value transfer protocol 9, The Value Carrying Device 1 may be a tamper resistant device such as a smart card or may contain such a device that at least protects the integrity of the balance 7; the tamper resistant feature of the balance 7 is indicated in FIG. 1 by the double lines surrounding the balance 7. The basis of the value transfer protocol consists of a first xe2x80x9cclaimingxe2x80x9d message 13 from the Value Accepting Device 2 to the Value Carrying Device 1, fundamentally containing the amount to be transferred and optionally additional data which may possibly in part serve as a cryptographic challenge and a proving message 14 containing proof of debit of the balance 7. The cryptographic proof contained in the message 14 serves to authenticate the value transferred in the message and indirectly the correctness of processing inside the Value Carrying Device 1 and ultimately establishes a guarantee for refunding the transferred value by the Value Guaranteeing Institution 4. The Value Accepting Device 2 is provided with Value Accepting Device processor 51 connected to a Value Accepting Device memory 6. The Value Accepting Device processor 51 is, preferably, also tamper resistant.
The acceptance of the message depends on the verification by the Value Accepting Device 2 of the cryptographic proof contained in the message 14 upon which the Value Accepting Device 2 increases the value 8 held in its own secure storage 6. Alternative techniques may be used with equal result of accruing value in the Value Accepting Device 2, for instance one which allows value to be collected by storing every transaction individually in either secure or non secure storage in the Value Accepting Device. Such techniques may involve the exchange of more messages than those described in FIG. 2 which may contain additional data, but the net effect is the same: transfer of value. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,996,711 and 5,131,039 of Chaum describe such possible protocols, mainly differing in the cryptographic techniques applied. These and other specific protocols are used in commercially available electronic purse smart card applications.
Periodically, for the purpose of recovering the values accepted from the Value Guaranteeing Institution 4, an Acquirer 3 is involved which may be an entity independent from the Value Guaranteeing Institution 4 or identical to it. The Acquirer 3 uses an acquiring protocol 10 to transfer information about the values accepted by the Value Accepting Device 2 during that period for storage and processing and as a result makes a payment 15 to the operator of the Value Accepting Device 2. The British patent application 9505397.1 (Transmo) describes a particular realisation of an acquiring protocol.
The Acquirer 3 may consolidate, by whatever means, value information from a multitude of Value Accepting Devices 2 and deduce the total value to be reclaimed from each Value Guaranteeing Institution 4 using a clearing and settlement protocol 11. As a result, a Value Guaranteeing Institution 4 makes a settlement 16 with the Acquirer 3 for the payments 15 made for the value issued by that particular institution which had been accepted by the Value Accepting Devices 2 as acquired by said Acquirer 3.
With electronic purse systems implemented according to the state of the art it is generally economically infeasible to store, communicate and electronically process individual transactions when they are in majority of small value, which is often the case. As a remedy, a tamper resistant security device 6. commonly known as xe2x80x9cSAMxe2x80x9d (=Security Application Module) that is provided as an integral component of every Value Accepting Device, is deployed into which individual payments are accumulated into a single value for subsequent processing by the Acquirer 3. Additionally the SAM is also used to hold security keys that when used in conjunction with a publicly known algorithm allow the Value Accepting Device 2 to verify in the value transfer protocol 9 the authenticity of the Value Carrying Device 1 and the value transferred; specifically to verify the correctness of the debit proof contained in message 14. The SAM 6 is thus a integral part of the security of the payment system and holds secret information common to the secret information held in each Value Carrying Device 1, it has to be secure against the revealing or alteration of its contents. If compromised by various forms of physical and or analytical attack, the SAM 6 can be made to reveal the secrets upon which the entire security of payment schemes using such techniques rely. These tamper resistance requirements for the SAM 6 adds to the complexity and cost of Value Accepting Device""s, to increased complexity of security management and increases the exposure to risks of misuse of the payment system.
One could use public key cryptographic algorithms to protect the value transfer protocol in implementations of an electronic purse according to the state of the art which would obviate, in principle, the need for SAM""s 6 as part of the Value Accepting Device 2 to authenticate the Value Carrying Device 1 and the value transferred. This restricts the exposure to risks of Misuse of the system. However, in general the amount of data required to be stored with each public key protected transaction is significantly large. The need to aggregate in the Value Carrying Device 1 is even greater than in alternative implementations. Again, where aggregation is required the Value Carrying Device 1 must contain a se cured component that can be trusted by the Value Guaranteeing Institution 4 or Acquirer 3 to perform the accumulation. The tamper resistance requirements for the Value Accepting Device 2 adds to the complexity and cost of the device and to increased complexity of security management in the system.
In purse systems implemented according to the state of the art the actual value transfer protocol 9 is complicated to ensure that failures in communications between Value Carrying Device 1 and Value Accepting Device 2 do not cause irrecoverable loss of value. Additional protocols may be implemented for recovery of value after interrupted communications. Fundamentally, with implementations according to the state of the art, the risk of irrecoverable loss of value can not be eliminated in full however complex the protocol. The added complexity in protocols needed to reach a sufficient level of practical reliable operation increases the implementation costs, increases the transaction duration and may lead to more complicated device usage handling, e.g. for explicit recovery protocols.
The object of the current invention is, firstly, to obviate the need for secure devices in Value Accepting Devices. secondly, to guarantee no irrecoverable loss of value, thirdly, to simplify the value transfer protocol, and fourthly, to make it technically and economically feasible to apply a single type of protocol for a wide range of electronic payment applications, with varying requirements in speed of transaction, means of communication and range of values to transfer. A further purpose of the current invention is to bring a level of privacy protection to rechargeable purse systems in a manner which before has only been possible with public key cryptography without the need for the lengthy and complex public key cryptographic computations.
The object of the present invention is obtained by a value transfer system comprising at least one Value Carrying Device and at least one Value Accepting Device being able to communicate with each other, the at least one Value Accepting Device comprising a Value Accepting Device memory for storing at least an aggregate value of previous accepted values and being arranged to transfer a claiming message representing at least a transaction value to said at least one Value Carrying Device, the at least one Value Carrying Device comprising a Value Carrying Device memory for storing at least a balance value and being arranged to transfer a proving message to said at least one Value Accepting Device, characterised in that the at least one Value Accepting Device is arranged to further include into the claiming message a previous aggregate value and a corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram;
the at least one Value Carrying Device is arranged to compute and include into the proving message at least one transaction proving cryptogram, computed on the basis of the previous aggregate value, the corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram and the transaction value, and
the at least one Value Carrying Device is arranged to compute the at least one transaction proving cryptogram only if it has established the correctness of the received previous aggregate value by using said corresponding previously computed cryptogram and after it has reduced the balance value with the transaction value.
Risk exposure limitation can easily be obtained by having keys shared by small sets of Value Carrying Devices instead of global key sharing with the associated risk of full system collapse in the event of key compromise. A system using keys shared by small sets is claimed in claim 2.
An other way of risk limitation may easily be obtained by reducing the maximum value of the resulting aggregate value, where the acquiring protocol resets the value. A system directed to such a risk limitation is claimed in claim 3.
Still, an other way of risk limitation may be easily obtained by reducing the maximum value of each individual transfer. A system directed to such a way of risk limitation is claimed in claim 4.
Still, a further way of risk limitation may be easily obtained by reducing the maximum number of transfers, that may be accepted by a device, where the acquiring protocol resets the count. A system directed to such a way of risk limitation is claimed in claim 5.
The present invention is also directed to a Value Carrying Device as part of the system defined above, which is arranged to communicate with at least one Value Accepting Device, said Value Carrying Device comprising a Value Carrying Device memory for storing at least a balance value and being arranged to receive a claiming message representing at least a transaction value and to transfer a proving message to said at least one Value Accepting Device, characterised in that the Value Carrying Device is arranged to receive through the claiming message a previous aggregate value and a corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram:
compute and include into the proving message at least one transaction proving cryptogram, computed on the basis of the previous aggregate value, the corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram and the transaction value, and
compute the at least one transaction proving cryptogram only if it has established the correctness of the received previous aggregate value by using said corresponding previously computed cryptogram and after it has reduced the balance value with the transaction value.
Moreover, the present invention is directed to a Value Accepting Device as part of the system defined above, which is arranged to communicate with at least one Value Carrying Device, said Value Accepting Device comprising a Value Accepting Device memory for storing at least an aggregate value of previous accepted values and being arranged to transfer a claiming message representing at least a transaction value to said at least one Value Carrying Device end to receive a proving message from said at least one Value Carrying Device, characterised in that
said Value Accepting Device is arranged to further include into the claiming message a previous aggregate value and a corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram in order to allow the at least one Value Carrying Device to compute and include into the proving message at least one transaction proving cryptogram, computed on the basis of the previous aggregate value, the corresponding previously computed proving cryptogram and the transaction value, and to allow the at least one Value Carrying Device to compute the at least one transaction proving cryptogram only if it has established the correctness of the received previous aggregate value by using said corresponding previously computed cryptogram and after it has reduced the balance value with the transaction value.
The present invention also relates to a method of cryptographically protecting a communication or a sequence of communications between a transmitter and a receiver, and of establishing a monotonic order in which messages are communicated or a strict monotonic change of numeric values contained in communicated messages characterised in that said communications include at least one number representing said monotonic order or representing said numeric values and cryptograms computed from the at least one number in an encoding using a xe2x80x9cPeanoxe2x80x9d number scheme as follows:
choosing a discrete maximum value for the encoding;
selecting a cryptographic one-way function that maps starting numbers consisting of a predetermined number of bits to object numbers consisting of the same predetermined number of bits a functional application to a number being defined as xe2x80x9csuccessor operationxe2x80x9d in the Peano number scheme;
selecting a random number consisting of said predetermined number of bits as zero element in the Peano number scheme;
determining a value encoded in a number as the value of a Peano number determined by repeated functional applications of the one-way function starting with the zero element until a result of the functional application of the one-way function equals a code number to be decoded, wherein a code word is found not to be a valid encoding if none of the results of applying repetitively for a number of times equal to the chosen discrete maximum value the cryptographic one-way function starting with the selected zero element equals the code word:
and in that the at least one transmitter is arranged to select said random number while keeping said random number confidential in order to warrant unconditional monotonicity of the message order or of the numeric values communicated.
Such a method effectively uses cryptographic encoding of monotonous series of data in one-way counters. Thus, secret keys used for encoding are based on a one-way scheme and can never be revealed by using reverse engineering techniques on data alone. Therefore, data can very securely be transmitted between a Value Carrying Device and a Value Accepting Device,
One possible value transfer system based on the method defined above and using one-way counters based on cryptograms stored in the Value Accepting Device memory, is claimed in claim 11. This embodiment improves over the method of plain cryptographic prooving cryptogram computation in that it allows use of simpler and cheaper shared key cryptography to prove a transfer where the value accepting device need not have available the secret to verify the proof. In addition, it provides a basis for efficient verifiable protection in the acquiring protocol.
An other possible embodiment of the method defined above is claimed in claim 13. The system of claim 13 does not need any additional cryptogram. It is more efficient than the embodiment mentioned above in that it reduces the amount of data to be transferred. Moreover, it is stronger as it does not have any confidential data stored in the Value Accepting Device. Moreover, it more elegantly includes the length (the discrete maximum value) of the one-way counter and additional data in the proving cryptogram.
An advantageous value transfer system, which is especially suited for payments in units. e.g., in telephone systems, toll road systems, public transport systems or in systems for consulting WWW pages, is claimed in claim 16:
The system as claimed in claim 17 shows further risk limitation by including a maximum value per transaction in a one-way counter based value cryptogram.
Claims 18 and 20 claim Value Accepting Devices for use in a value transfer system using one-way counter based value cryptograms, as defined above.
Claims 19 and 21 claim Value Carrying Devices for use in a value transfer system using one-way counter based value cryptograms, as defined above.
Value Accepting Devices may, advantageously, be implemented as a device with a memory only, for instance, a magnetic-strip card or memory-chip card.
The Value Carrying Devices may be implemented as start cards.
However, alternatively, the Value Carrying Devices and the Value Accepting Devices may be implemented together in an electronic device commonly known as a xe2x80x9cwalletxe2x80x9d.
The invention will be explained with reference to some drawings intended to illustrate and not to limit the scope of the invention.

System with and method of cryptographically protecting communications


A control system is described for improving continuous dynamical control on the pressure in the outlet or inlet system (3) or both of a machine (1) in order to control the performance of the machine. The system comprises an actuator (4) for varying the pressure in the selected system, a sensor (8) for monitoring the operation of the machine and producing a signal indicative thereof, and control means (5) responsive to the sensor signals for driving the actuator, wherein the control means operates to adjust the machine performance according to predetermined data, to optimise the machine performance. The data may be in a memory (look-up table) or the control means may operate in accordance with an algorithm. A second sensor may be provided to generate a signal indicative of sound produced by one or other or both of the outlet and inlet systems to produce signals to enable the control means simultaneously to reduce noise generated by the machine as well as to improve the performance of the machine by active feedback.

The efficiency and performance of internal combustion engines has been the focus of a great deal of attention over the years. There are many parameters which affect the performance of an engine whether it be two-stroke, four-stroke, petrol or Diesel, of normal reciprocating type or of one of its derivatives such as a Wankel engine.
One feature of all internal combustion engines is the need to draw fuel and air into a combustion chamber and to expel burnt gases after combustion has taken place. Apart from the design of the mechanical components such as valves, pistons and combustion chambers, the shape of the inlet and exhaust manifolds has been shown to be important. This is because the shape affects the pressure difference between the combustion chamber and the inlet or exhaust. It is this pressure difference which forces the air/fuel mixture into the chamber, or the burnt gases out of the chamber. The function of turbo-chargers and superchargers, for example, is to increase the pressure in the inlet. The pressure difference between the combustion chamber and inlet or exhaust varies with time throughout the cycle of the engine, and so the complete time histories of the pressure differences can effect engine performance, and not just their time averages, for example.
The design of exhaust pipes and inlet systems is also constrained by the requirement that they must reduce the sound radiated from the engine to acceptable levels. This requirement is becoming increasingly stringent and is often in conflict with the desire for good performance and efficiency.
The `tuning` of exhaust pipes, especially for two stroke engines, is a way of influencing the unsteady pressure in the exhaust but, since the tuning is achieved by the fixed exhaust geometry, the tuning cannot be effective at all engine speeds.
Over the last twenty years there has been a development of active control systems which can be applied to reduce the sound radiated from the end of exhaust pipes. These control systems work by reflecting the sound wave in the pipe back towards the engine. They allow shorter and more direct pipes to be used and so affect the efficiency of the engine under some operating conditions, however they can induce strong acoustic resonances in the exhaust pipe which can lead to increased noise radiation from the walls of the pipe.
The use of two actuators to absorb the sound in a pipe rather than to reflect it is known. However, the technique uses a single channel control system and relies on using actuators with a matched response. It is not suitable for practical applications where the response of the individual actuators can vary over a period of time.
There are other machines which have inlet and outlet systems and whose performance is affected by the dynamic pressures in those systems. Examples include gas compressors (which include screw, tooth, reciprocating and centrifugal types), pumps, turbo-machines etc. The performance of these can be measured in different ways (such as mass flow rate, power output, efficiency etc) and, as with internal combustion engines, there is often a conflicting requirement for noise reduction.


Methods and systems for a subband acoustic echo canceller with integrated voice activity detection are disclosed and may include adjusting transmit and/or receive powers of wirelessly communicated audio signals based on voice activity detection via subband analysis of the wirelessly communicated audio signals. The receive power may be adjusted by utilizing a reduced duty cycle, or by conveying voice activity detection information via an asynchronous control channel in a Bluetooth application. A plurality of subbands may be generated utilizing a fast Fourier transform, and a first subset of the subbands corresponding to voice activity may be selected and a second subset of the subbands may be selected that corresponds to background noise. The processing of the subsets may be dynamically adjusted due to variations in the voice activity or background noise. Comfort noise may be generated and transmitted at a reduced bandwidth utilizing the second subset of the subbands.

Bluetooth is an international open standard that allows devices to wirelessly communicate with each other. Bluetooth is a short-range wireless technology that allows Bluetooth enabled devices such as computers, cell phones, keyboards and headphones to establish connections without using wires or cables to couple the devices to each other. Bluetooth is currently incorporated into numerous commercial products including desktop computers, laptops, PDAs, cell phones, keyboards, headsets and printers, with more products being constantly added to the list of Bluetooth enabled devices.
The Bluetooth subband codec (SBC) is a low computational complexity audio coding system designed to provide high quality audio at moderate bit rates to Bluetooth enabled devices. The Bluetooth SBC system utilizes a cosine modulated filterbank, for example, for analysis and synthesis. The filterbank may be configured for 4 subbands or 8 subbands, for example. The subband signals may be quantized using a dynamic bit allocation scheme and block adaptive pulse code modulation (PCM) quantization. The number of bits available and the number of bits used for quantization may vary, thereby making the overall bit-rate of the SBC system variable or adjustable. This is advantageous for use in wireless applications where the available wireless bandwidth for audio, and the maximum possible bit-rate may vary over time.
The Bluetooth community has developed various specifications that define how to use streaming audio over a Bluetooth link. This opens up Bluetooth technology to a whole new class of audio devices, such as wireless stereo headsets, wireless speakers, and wireless portable MP3 players. With the introduction of new Bluetooth specifications for streaming audio, new Bluetooth products such as wireless stereo headsets and wireless file streaming applications are becoming a reality. Wireless applications require solutions that are increasingly low power in order to extend battery life and provide a better end user experience. With existing systems, the computational requirements of high fidelity audio coding may make it cost prohibitive and challenging to add features such as streaming music to some wireless devices especially mobile devices.
Packet based telephony such as Internet Protocol (IP) telephony may provide an alternative to conventional circuit switched telephony, the latter of which may typically require the establishment of an end-to-end communication path prior to the transmission of information. In particular, IP telephony permits packetization, prioritization and/or simultaneous transmission of voice traffic and data without requiring the establishment of an end-to-end communication path. IP telephony systems may capitalize on voice over packet (VoP) technologies, which may provide a means by which voice, video and data traffic may be simultaneously transmitted across packet networks. The data may include video data.
Voice quality (VQ) is a metric, which may be used to define a qualitative and/or quantitative measure regarding the quality and/or condition of a received voice signal. Voice clarity may be an indicator of the quality or condition of a voice signal. Voice quality may be an important metric that may ultimately dictate a quality of service (QoS) offered by a network service provider. The following factors, for example, may affect the voice quality and/or condition of a voice signal—noise, echo, and delay or packet latency. However, the effects of these factors may be cumulative. In this regard, factors such as delay and latency may exacerbate the effects of echo, for example. Delays that may affect the voice quality may include, but are not limited to, routing, queuing and processing delays.
Various VoP specifications, recommendations and standards have been created to ensure interoperability between various network components, and to create an acceptable QoS which may include voice quality. For example, the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) ratified H.323 specification, which may define various processes by which voice, video and data may be transported over IP networks for use in VoIP networks. The H.323 specification addresses, for example, delay by providing a prioritization scheme in which delay sensitive traffic may be given processing priority over less delay sensitive traffic. For example, voice and video may be given priority over other forms of data traffic.
The H.323 specification also addresses voice quality by specifying the audio and video coders/decoders (CODECs) that may be utilized for processing a media stream. A CODEC may be a signal processor such as a digital signal processor (DSP) that may be adapted to convert an analog voice and/or video signal into a digital media stream and for converting a digital media stream into an analog voice and/or video signal. In this regard, a coder or encoder portion of the CODEC may convert an analog voice and/or video signal into a digital media stream. Additionally, a decoder portion of the CODEC may convert a digital media stream into an analog voice and/or video signal. Regarding the CODEC for audio signals, the H.323 specification may support recommendations such as ITU-T G.711, G.722, G.723.1, G.728 and G.729 recommendations. The ITU-T G.711 recommendations may support audio coding at 64 Kbps, G.722 may support audio coding at 64 Kbps, 56 kbps and 48 Kbps, G.723.1 may support audio coding at 5.3 Kbps and 6.3 Kbps, G.728 may support audio coding at 16 Kbps and G.729 may support audio coding at 8 Kbps.
The voice quality of a speech CODEC may be dependent on factors such as the type of encoding and/or decoding algorithm utilized by the CODEC. In general, some CODECs may utilize compression algorithms that remove redundant information from the analog signal. Such compression algorithms may permit at least a close replication of an original analog signal. In this case, the bandwidth required for transmitting any resultant signal may be reduced. Other CODECs may utilize algorithms that analyze the signal and retain only those portions that are deemed to be of cognitive importance. These algorithms may reproduce a close approximation to the original signal. Notwithstanding, in this latter case, bandwidth utilization may be superior to the former case where redundant information may be removed. Accordingly, depending on application requirements and hardware limitations, one or more algorithms may be utilized to optimize performance.
Moreover, although economic attractiveness of VoIP have lured network access providers and network transport providers away from traditional circuit switching networks, factors such as the extensiveness of embedded legacy systems and customer demands, for example, have dictated the coexistence of both packet switched and circuit switch networks. Accordingly, new technologies and techniques such as audio and video coding and decoding may be required to support various modes of operation utilized by each system.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of skill in the art, through comparison of such systems with the present invention as set forth in the remainder of the present application with reference to the drawings.

Method and system for a subband acoustic echo canceller with integrated voice activity detection


An organic light emitting display includes an organic light emitting diode formed on a substrate, coupled to a transistor; a photodiode formed on the substrate and including a semiconductor layer including a high-concentration P doping region, an intrinsic region with defects and a high-concentration N doping region; and a controller that uniformly controls the luminance of light emitted from the organic light emitting diode by controlling a voltage applied to the first electrode and the second electrode according to the voltage outputted from the photodiode.

1. Field of the Invention
Aspects of the present invention relate to an organic light emitting display and a method of manufacturing the same. More particularly, aspects of the present invention relate to an organic light emitting display including a photodiode including a light receiver in which a defect site is formed by subjecting the light receiver to a dry etching process, and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
An organic light emitting display is a next-generation display device having a self-light emitting characteristic. The organic light emitting display has excellent physical properties in terms of viewing angle, contrast, response time and power consumption, compared to the liquid crystal display device (LCD).
The organic light emitting display includes an organic light emitting diode comprising an anode electrode, an organic thin film layer and a cathode electrode. Types of organic light emitting displays include a passive matrix display where organic light emitting diodes are coupled between scan lines and signal lines in a matrix mode to constitute pixels; and an active matrix display where operation of each of the pixels is controlled by a thin film transistor (TFT) that functions as a switch.
However, the organic light emitting display has a problem that, since the organic thin film layer emitting the light is made of organic materials, characteristics of the organic materials deteriorate with time, which leads to a low luminance of the emitted light. Also, the contrast of the organic light emitting display is worsened by the reflection of light incident from the outside.

Organic light emitting display and method of manufacturing the same


One method includes identifying driving conditions associated with a current location of a mobile communication device, receiving a notification to be output on the device, preventing the device from outputting the notification in response to identifying a first driving condition, and outputting the notification on the device in response to identifying a second driving condition. A second method includes identifying one or more driving conditions associated with a current location of a mobile communication device and calculating a driving hazard score as a function of the identified one or more driving conditions. The second method further includes receiving a notification to be output on the device, preventing the device from outputting the notification in response to the driving hazard score exceeding a first threshold value, and outputting the notification on the device in response to the driving hazard score being less than a second threshold value.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of limiting the use of a mobile communication device while driving a vehicle.
Background of the Related Art
A modern mobile communication device may provide many useful capabilities and may be small enough to accompany a person anywhere they go. As a result, most people have their own personal mobile communication device with them at all times. Applications installed on a mobile communication device may be tailored to implement a music player, web browser, social media interface, phone calls, video calls, email messaging and text messaging. Many other applications and functions are already available and even more are expected to be made available over time.
However, using a mobile communication device while driving can be dangerous and has resulted in a rise in the number of vehicle accidents caused by distracted driving. Many organizations have advised against activities that can distract a driver, but the danger has not been eliminated.
There have been a variety of attempts to prevent use of a mobile communication device while driving. Certainly, the mobile communication device may be turned off before driving, but people who use their device frequently will find this to be impractical. A more practical approach includes installing an application that locks the phone entirely if the mobile communication device is in use while in a moving vehicle. Another application has been developed that will send an email notification to a third party, such as a family member of a user, if the user's mobile communication device is in use while in a moving vehicle as determined by a GPS signal. A further application, when enabled, uses GPS to determine speed and automatically silences incoming text message alerts when moving at 15 miles per hour (MPH) or more.

Control of notifications on a mobile communication device based on driving conditions

LENOVO ENTERPRISE SOLUTIONS (SINGAPORE) PTE. LTD.


The inventions are: a composition capable of forming a heat-dissipating member that has high thermal conductivity and in which the thermal expansion coefficient can be controlled; and a heat-dissipating member. This composition for a heat-dissipating member comprises a thermally conductive first inorganic filler bonded to one end of a first coupling agent, and a thermally conductive second inorganic filler bonded to one end of a second coupling agent, the composition being characterized in that: at least one of the first coupling agent and the second coupling agent is a liquid crystal silane coupling agent; the other end of the first coupling agent and the other end of the second coupling agent each have a functional group bondable with one another; and the other end of the first coupling agent bonds with the other end of the second coupling agent by a curing treatment.

In recent years, in semiconductor devices for controlling the power of hybrid vehicles and electric vehicles, and CPUs for high-speed computers, it has been desired to increase the thermal conductivity of a packaging material in order to prevent a temperature of an internal semiconductor from being too high. That is, an ability to effectively discharge heat generated from a semiconductor chip to the outside is important. In addition, due to a rise in the operation temperature, thermal distortion may occur due to a difference between thermal expansion coefficients of materials used in a package, and there is also a problem of a reduced lifespan due to peeling off of a wiring or the like.
As a method of solving such a heat dissipation problem, there is a method in which a highly heat conductive material (heat-dissipating member) is brought into contact with a heat generating part and heat is conducted to the outside, and heat dissipation is performed. Examples of a highly heat conductive material include inorganic materials such as a metal and a metal oxide. In particular, aluminum nitride is preferably used because it has a thermal expansion coefficient close to that of silicon. However, such inorganic materials have problems in terms of processability and being easily cracked, and it cannot be said that they have characteristics sufficient for a substrate material in a package. Therefore, development of a heat-dissipating member having high thermal conductivity by combining such inorganic materials and resins is underway.
In order to increase the thermal conductivity of a resin composite material, generally, a large amount of a metal filling material or an inorganic filling material is added to a general purpose resin such as a silicone resin, a polyamide resin, a polystyrene resin, an acrylic resin, and an epoxy resin. However, the thermal conductivity of an inorganic filling material has a value unique to that substance and has an upper limit that is fixed. Therefore, many methods of improving the thermal conductivity of a resin and increasing the thermal conductivity of a composite material are being attempted.
In Patent Literature 1, as a method of improving the thermal conductivity of a resin, a heat-dissipating member obtained by performing alignment control and polymerization of a liquid crystal composition using an alignment control additive or rubbing treatment method is disclosed.

Composition for heat-dissipating member, heat-dissipating member, electronic instrument, method for producing composition for heat-dissipating member, and method for producing heat-dissipating member

OSAKA RESEARCH INSTITUTE OF INDUSTRIAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY


An item name display region where item names of a plurality of items included in the medical information of a patient are displayed and a content display region where a graph for each item is displayed are provided on a display screen of a medical assistance client. On the display screen, a display/non-display setting of the graph for each item is possible in the content display region by a first operation including a mouse click operation. The graph of a non-display setting item can be temporarily displayed by a mouse-over operation not including the click operation. The mouse-over operation is an operation of just overlapping a pointer on the item name display region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical assistance device to assist with a medical examination, an operation method and a non-transitory computer-readable recording medium storing a program for a medical assistance device, and a medical assistance system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the medical field, a medical assistance system that assists with a medical examination by displaying medical information acquired during the diagnosis of a patient is known (refer to JP1990-228522A (JP-H02-228522A) and JP2011-150395A).
Medical information includes information regarding a wide range of items, such as items regarding vital signs including body temperature, blood pressure, and pulse or items regarding examinations, such as a biochemical test and a blood test. JP1990-228522A (JP-H02-228522A) discloses a display screen on which a plurality of items of medical information are displayed side by side. An item name display region for displaying item names and a content display region for displaying the data content of each item are provided on the display screen. In the content display region, time-series data in which medical information acquired by multiple measurements or examinations performed at different timings is recorded is displayed in the form of a graph or the like. The system disclosed in JP1990-228522A (JP-H02-228522A) has a display/non-display setting function for selecting items to be displayed on the display screen. Operation keys are disposed on the display screen, and items to be displayed among the plurality of items are set by the selection operation including an operation of pressing the operation keys (page 2, lower left field). Only the items selected by such a selection operation are displayed on the display screen, and the other items are not displayed on the display screen.
Similar to the display screen disclosed in JP1990-228522A (JP-H02-228522A), JP2011-150395A discloses a display screen on which the graphs of a plurality of items can be displayed side by side. On the display screen disclosed in JP2011-150395A, a graph that the pointer overlaps is highlighted by a mouse-over operation without a click operation. Here, the mouse-over operation is an operation of just overlapping the mouse pointer on any of the plurality of graphs that are displayed. Specifically, a graph that the pointer overlaps is emphasized since graphs other than the graph that the pointer overlaps are changed to a relatively light color (paragraph 0033). There is a wide range of items in the medical information, and the number of items is large even for the limited items that are required according to a patient or a disease. Therefore, when all of the items are displayed on the display screen, it is very difficult to see the items. For this reason, it is necessary to reduce the number of display items by selecting the display items using the display/non-display setting function disclosed in JP1990-228522A (JP-H02-228522A) or the like. Meanwhile, depending on the condition of a patient or the content or conditions of a disease, many of the items set so as not to be displayed need to be temporarily referred to. Needless to say, considering the visibility of the display screen, it is preferable that the item set so as not to be displayed is not displayed after the end of temporary reference.
However, the display/non-display setting function disclosed in JP1990-228522A (JP-H02-228522A) requires a selection operation including an operation of pressing the operation key for the setting of display and non-display. Therefore, there has been a problem that the operation is complicated when setting the non-display item as a display item temporarily or when returning the display item to the non-display item after the end of temporary reference. Also in JP2011-150395A, there is neither description nor suggestion on the above problem and the solution.

Medical assistance device, operation method and program for medical assistance device, and medical assistance system for temporary medical information display with pointer-over operation


A developing device includes: a frame having an opening; a developer carrying member rotatably supported to the frame; and a side seal. The developer carrying member is rotatable about its axis in a rotating direction and has an axial end portion in an axial direction. The side seal is disposed between the frame and a peripheral surface of the axial end portion, and has a contact member contacting the peripheral surface. The contact member includes: a first seal member disposed adjacent to an edge of the opening in the axial direction; and a second seal member disposed adjacent to and upstream of the first seal member in the rotating direction. The first seal member permits developer to move inward in the axial direction and provides a mobility of developer therein higher than that of the second seal member that is made of a material that restricts movement of developer.

Electrophotographic printers with detachably mountable developing cartridges are well known in the art. The developing cartridge is provided with an outer case rotatably supporting a developing roller that serves to carry toner on the surface thereof; a thickness-regulating blade regulating a thickness of a layer of toner carried on the developing roller; and side seals designed to prevent toner from leaking out of axial ends of the outer case with respect to an axial direction of the developing roller.
As one of such conventional developing cartridge, there is proposed a developer cartridge whose thickness-regulating blade is configured of a leaf spring member, and a rubber pressing member disposed on the leaf spring member for contacting a peripheral surface of a developing roller with pressure. Each side seal includes a sponge seal member affixed to an outer case, and a felt seal member layered over the sponge seal member. The felt seal members contact the peripheral surface of the developing roller and slide over the peripheral surface as the developing roller rotates.
With this conventional developer cartridge, an upper end of each sponge seal member is interposed between a lower end of the leaf spring member and the outer case. The felt seal member extends from the lower end of the leaf spring member across the sponge seal member to a bottom end of the outer case and is affixed thereto.

Developing device having seal members to restrict toner leakage


There is a training device to train dogs to recongnize an object with a distinctive odor such as a drug like marijuana, heroine, cocaine, and the like. An object with a distinctive odor can be placed in a position that the dog cannot touch or contact the object. Then, the dog is allowed to sniff around the object and if the dog recognizes the object with the distinctive odor the dog demonstrates such recognition. The trainer, at a position remote from the dog and also from the object, can release the object so that it will be available to the dog and the dog can put the object in the dog""s mouth or play with the object. The release of the object is a reward to the dog for the dog recognizing the distinctive odor. In this manner, the dog can be trained to recognize an object with the distinctive odor. The distinctive odor may be a drug such as marijuane, cocaine, heroine, or may be another distinctive odor such as the odor of an individual or human being on a search and rescue party.

There is no co-pending utility patent application. There may be a co-pending design patent application.
This invention was developed with private funds and there was no federally assisted fund.
This section is not applicable to this subject matter.
1. Field of the Invention
The genesis of this invention is the training of a dog to sniff a package or an object. A dog may sniff a package or object to determine if there be an undesirable material such as marijuana or cocaine or heroine or other material such as gun powder to name a few to be present. In addition to these materials a dog may be asked to sniff a package or an object to determine if it be a clothing of an individual subject to search and rescue or may be certain foods.
One of the ways of training a dog to sniff a package or an object and to identify the object as having a certain material is for the trainer to place such an object as a ball in a container. The ball may or may not have the undesirable material. For example, say that there are six containers and three of the containers have such an object with a certain odor or characteristic and three of the containers do not have an object with the certain odor or characteristic. The dog goes to the first container and sniffs the container. If the object or ball does not have that undesirable material or material to be identified the dog will go to the second container. Assume that the second container has the material to be identified. The dog sniffs the second container and recognizes the odor and continues to sniff and may use the paws to scrape the container thereby indicating that the dog recognizes the odor.
The trainer to reward the dog removes said object or ball from the container and lets the dog have the object or the ball. Certain dogs like to hold object or ball in the mouth.
Prior to this invention the trainer would go to the container and remove the ball and give it to the dog. I consider one of the undesirable aspects of this procedure is that the dog associates such an object with the trainer and does not associate, only, the object or ball with the material to be recognized.
In order to divorce the situation whereby the dog associates the ball or such an object with the trainer I have invented the subject invention.
(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 37 CFR 1.98
The applicant does not know of related prior art.
The invention comprises a container for said object or the ball. There is a movable plunger barrier for restricting the movement of said object and/or said ball from the container. There is mechanical mechanism and electric circuitry for moving the plunger barrier to allow said object or said ball to move from the container so that the dog can bite into said object or said ball and receive the reward or be able to mouth said object and/or ball and or paw said object and said ball. The plunger is controlled from a remote position and the trainer is not near the plunger barrier and is not near the dog and/or said object and/or said ball. In this way the dog does not associate the ball with the trainer. The dog associates the ball or said object on its own and free of the trainer.


An object is to provide a novel liquid crystal composition that can be used for a variety of liquid crystal devices. Particularly, a novel liquid crystal composition is used to achieve a reduction in driving voltage of a liquid crystal element and a reduction in power consumption of a liquid crystal display device. The liquid crystal composition includes a polymerizable monomer represented by the general formula (G1), a nematic liquid crystal, and a chiral agent. In the general formula (G1), n and m are individually an integer from 1 to 20, and R1 and R2 individually represent hydrogen or a methyl group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid crystal composition, a liquid crystal element, and a liquid crystal display device, and manufacturing methods thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, liquid crystal has been applied to a variety of devices; in particular, a liquid crystal display device (liquid crystal display) having advantages of thinness and lightness has been used for displays in a wide range of fields.
For a larger and higher-resolution display screen, shorter response time of liquid crystal has been required, and development thereof has been advanced (for example, see Patent Document 1).
As a display mode of liquid crystal capable of quick response, a display mode using liquid crystal exhibiting a blue phase is given. The mode using liquid crystal exhibiting a blue phase achieves quick response, does not require an alignment film, and provides a wide viewing angle, and thus has been developed more actively for practical use (for example, see Patent Document 2).

Liquid crystal composition, liquid crystal element, and liquid crystal display device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


Antisense oligonucleotides specific for the vav proto-oncogene inhibit the proliferation of malignant, but not normal, myeloid cells. The oligonucleotides are therefore useful in the treatment of leukemias, in particular, as bone marrow purging agents. The vav antisense oligonucleotides also selectively inhibit the formation of erythroid cell colonies without effect on megakaryocyte and granulocyte/macrophage colony formation. The oligonucleotides are therefore useful in treating disorders characterized by an elevated hematocrit due to overproduction of erythrocytes.

The vav proto-oncogene encodes a 95 kDa protein (p95.sup.vav) which is thought to be expressed exclusively in hematopoietic cells of all lineages and stages of maturation. p95.sup.vav has a number of interesting motifs including several src homology, leucine zipper, zinc finger, helix-loop-helix, and guanine nucleotide releasing factor domains. The presence of these domains suggests that vav serves as a transcriptional activator and/or element of the signal transduction cascade. Indeed, p95.sup.vav functions as a guanine nucleotide releasing factor in ras activation by the T-cell receptor. However, vav's function in other lineages remains unclear.
The human proto-oncogene maps to chromosome region 19p12.fwdarw.19p13.2 (Martinerie et al., Hum. Genet. 86:65-68, 1990). The vav locus was first identified by virtue of its oncogenic activation during the course of gene transfer assays using human tumor DNAs (Katzav et al., EMBO., 8:2283-2290, 1989). Molecular characterization of this oncogene allowed the isolation and characterization of its normal allele, the vav protooncogene (Coppola et al., Cell. Growth & Differ., 2:95-105, 1991; Katzav et al., Mol. Cell. Bio., 11:1912-1920, 1991). The vav proto-oncogene directs the synthesis of a 3.0 kb transcript that has been found to be specifically expressed in cells of hematopoietic origin. Removal of the helix-loop-helix sequences results in the malignant activation of the p95.sup.vav protein (Id.).
The cDNA nucleotide sequence of the vav gene and predicted 797 amino acid polypeptide are provided by Katzav et al., 1989, supra. The vav proto-oncogene nucleotide sequence of the 5' untranslated region up-stream of the translation initiation codon is disclosed in Katzav et al., 1991, Supra.
Analysis of vav gene transcripts in human cell lines has indicated that the gene is expressed in cells of hematopoietic origin; no vav gene transcripts could be observed in epithelial, mesenchymal or neuroectodermal cells (Katzav et al., 1989, supra). Lymphoid, myeloid and erythroid cell lines contained comparable levels of vav gene transcripts (Katzav et al., 1989, supra). However, the therapeutic utility of regulating vav expression has not heretofore been explored.

Selective inhibition of cell proliferation by vav antisense oligonucleotides


A dental tool that has a thin disc covered with an abrasive material. The disc has a flange portion and coupling device is formed adjacent to the flange portion for attaching the disc to a drive device. The drive device spins the disc to treat a dental surface. The thickness of the disc may decrease from a central portion of the disc toward a peripheral edge of the disc. The disc may be interspersed with an abrasive material integrated into the disc by an elastic bond.

In the dental field, for instance when teeth or dentures are prepared, many tasks require the use of dental tools that grind, polish or otherwise treat a desired surface. Some dental tools have grinding heads coated with aluminum oxide and are known in the art. However, such dental tools have heads that are too thick to be used on small interdental spaces and in the treatment and shaping of some fillings. Such grinding heads are also not flexible enough to allow a dentist to easily treat rounded surfaces in interdental spaces.
Furthermore, known dental tools for surface treatment have a drawback that they wear relatively rapidly and thus have only a short service life. Moreover, because they wear out rapidly, the head of such a tool must often be changed during the treatment of a particular dental surface, such as a tooth or a denture.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved dental tool for surface treatment that is flexible, has a longer service life, and is thin so as to provide for treatment of rounded surfaces in interdental spaces. The present invention satisfies need.


A tarp assembly for container trucks comprising a roll-up assembly that is mounted to the top of a fixed-height gantry framework, the gantry framework being welded to the frame of the truck in front of the tilt frame of the truck. A manual crank assembly is mounted to a bracket extending from a lower portion of the gantry framework and is operatively connected to the shaft of the roll-up assembly by a continuous chain and sprockets.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a tarp assembly for covering the load bed of a truck. More particularly, this invention relates to a tarp assembly for extending a tarp over a container positioned on a roll-off bed of a container truck during transport and for retracting the tarp to permit the container to be rolled off the bed of the truck and an empty container loaded thereon.
2. Description of the Background Art
Presently there exist many types of tarp assemblies designed to position a tarp over the load bed of a truck to prevent materials being blown or jostled from the load bed onto the highway. Most jurisdictions require such tarp systems for the safety of passenger vehicles from flying materials.
Tarp assemblies typically comprise a tarp that is wound onto a tarp roll-up bar. The tarp roll-up bar is journalled to the front of the load bed of the truck. The end of the tarp is connected to a rear cross bar connected between a pair of arms that pivotably extend from the sides of the truck bed. Rearward extension of the arms unroll the tarp from the roll-up bar thereby extending it over the opened top of the load bed. Materials are therefore prevented from being blown or jostled from the load bed onto the highway.
Tarp assemblies are usually manually operated, electrically operated or hydraulically operated. Manually operated tarp assemblies often include a pair of spring mechanisms that are operatively connected to the pivoting ends of the arms to tension the arms rearwardly to unroll the tarp from the roll-up bar over the load bed. A manual crank is connected to the tarp roll-up bar such that upon cranking, the tarp is wound back onto the roll-up bar to a retracted position clear of the load bed of the truck. The roll-up bar is then locked to prevent unrolling of the tarp from the roll-up bar due to the tension of the spring assemblies. Electrically operated tarp assemblies have a similar construction with an electric motor operatively connected to the roll-up bar in lieu of the manual crank.
Hydraulically operated tarp assemblies commonly employ a spring-loaded roll-up bar that exerts tension on the tarp to roll-up the tarp onto the roll-up bar. In lieu of spring assemblies, hydraulic assemblies are operatively connected to the pivoting ends of the arms. When actuated rearwardly, the hydraulic assemblies extend the arms rearwardly to unroll the tarp from the roll-up bar over the load bed. When the hydraulic assemblies are actuated forwardly, the arms are retracted over the load bed of the truck as the spring-loaded roll-up bar rolls up the tarp. See for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,956.
The majority of the tarp assemblies are installed on dump trucks with the roll-up bar being mounted to the cab shield of the load bed and the ends of the paired arms being connected to the lower sides of the load bed. In this manner, the load bed together with the tarp assembly may be pivoted upwardly to dump the material from the load bed.
It is also known to utilize hydraulically operated tarp assemblies in connection with container trucks designed to haul 20 or 40 cubic yard containers on a roll-off bed of the truck. In these tarp assemblies, the roll-up bar is mounted to a gantry framework mounted to the truck frame in front of the tilt frame of the roll-off bed. The ends of the paired arms and the hydraulic assemblies are mounted to the sides of the truck frame away from the sides of the tilt frame. In this manner, the paired arms of the tarp assembly may be extended rearwardly to pull the tarp to cover the opened top of a container positioned on the roll-off bed of the truck thereby preventing material in the container from blowing onto the highway during transport. After transport, the paired arms may be retracted fully forward and the tilt frame tilted upwardly to roll-off the container filled with the material and to load an empty container onto the roll-off bed.
It is noted that 40 cubic yard and 20 cubic yard containers are commonly used throughout the industry. The height of the 40 cubic yard containers is significantly higher than 20 cubic yard containers. Hence, the gantry framework is usually positioned substantially level with the top of a conventional 20 cubic yard container and is made to be upwardly adjustable by means of a hydraulic cylinder to be substantially level with the top of a conventional 40 cubic yard container. The adjustability of the gantry framework is required in order for the tarp assembly to fully cover 20 and 40 cubic yard containers without the wind catching under the tarp during transport and blowing the materials from the container onto the highway. Unfortunately, the upward adjustability of the gantry framework substantially increases the complexity and resulting cost of manufacture and installation of the tarp assembly.
The above-described hydraulically operated tarp assembly for container trucks has not been widely accepted in the trade due to the expense of utilizing the hydraulic cylinders for the gantry framework and the hydraulic cylinders in the hydraulic assemblies. Hence, there presently exists a need in the industry for more affordable tarp assemblies for container trucks that may be easily retrofitted to existing container trucks.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a tarp assembly that overcomes the aforementioned inadequacies of the prior art tarp assemblies and provides an improvement that is a significant contribution to the advancement of the tarp assembly art.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tarp assembly for a container truck that is operable without the need for hydraulic cylinders and associated controls.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tarp assembly for a container truck that is less complex and therefore more affordable.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tarp assembly for a container truck that is easily retrofitted to existing container trucks without special expertise.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tarp assembly for a container truck that includes a fixed-height gantry framework that still allows the tarp to cover conventional 20 and 40 cubic yard containers.
Another object of this invention is to provide a tarp assembly having a fixed-height gantry framework and a pivotable hold-down bar that forces the front area of the tarp downwardly over the front edge of a smaller sized (e.g., 20 cubic yards) container thereby preventing wind from catching under the front of the tarp and blowing it upwardly away from the rim of the container.
The foregoing has outlined some of the more pertinent objects of the invention. These objects should be construed to be merely illustrative of some of the more prominent features and applications of the intended invention. Many other beneficial results can be obtained by applying the disclosed invention in a different manner or modifying the invention within the scope of the disclosure. Accordingly, other objects and a fuller understanding of the invention may be had by referring to the summary of the invention and the detailed description of the preferred embodiment in addition to the scope of the invention defined by the claims taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A remote smart-power server receives reservation data indicating parameters for a planned vehicle use, such as pick-up time, pick-up location, and drop-off time. Systems of the present technology are in various embodiments used in connection with electric vehicles. The server interacts with a smart-powering station system to determine available vehicles at the location, including vehicles having sufficient charge, or chargeable to sufficient charge by the pick-up time. The server presents available vehicles to a user device and receives selection of a preferred vehicle. The server sends the selection to the smart-powering station, which implements a charging sequence to ensure the preferred vehicle is charged as needed for the planned vehicle use. Charging is in various implementations performed automatically, such as by computing controls and robotic machinery. The technology in various embodiments includes any of the relevant apparatus of the arrangement, code and algorithms thereof, and processes performed thereby.

This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.
Vehicle-sharing arrangements allow multiple users obtain rights to use a vehicle part-time, and are gaining popular.
By mobile phone applications, users reserve a vehicle for a shared use, similar to conventional applications for arranging vehicle rentals.
Some shared-vehicle lots include electric vehicles (EVs). EVs, including extended-range electric vehicles (EREVs) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs), have an energy storage system, or battery, requiring periodic charging. The energy storage systems are charged by a lot power source such as an alternating-current (AC) or a direct current (DC) supply line when the EVs are parked at the shared-vehicle lot.

Smart-charging apparatus for use with electric-vehicle-sharing stations


An improved vehicle suspension system compensates for flexure of the frame of the vehicle by permitting the front and rear frame structures to pivot with respect to one another. The pivoting of the front and rear structures is controlled to maintain the structures above the ground and to dampen the pivoting movement of the structures when the structures attempt to move away from a selected orientation with respect to one another.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a suspension system for a vehicle.
More particularly, the invention relates to a suspension system which compensates for flexing of the frame of the vehicle and which significantly reduces fatigue in and extends the useful life of the vehicle frame.
When a vehicle accelerates or decelerates, a flexure force is generated which typically causes the frame of the vehicle to bow with respect to the ground. Since the frame of the vehicle is substantially rigid, such repeated bowing flexures of the vehicle cause the metal which comprises the vehicle frame to fatigue. This effect is particularly noticeable in dragsters. Due to the "bowing" fatigue which occurs during flexure, the life of a dragster frame is often a year or less.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Most dragsters utilize a substantially rigid frame and have no suspension in the front and rear of the vehicle. Instead of a suspension system, a dragster relies on the flexure or resilient bending of the frame during acceleration of the dragster. Standard spring type suspension systems have been attempted in the rear of a dragster but have been unsuccessful because the wheel base of the dragster is too long. Similarly, the suspension system utilized on Indy race cars (cars which race during the annual Indianapolis 500 race) has been tried on the front of a dragster. Such Indy suspension systems have not been successful because the front of the dragster does not have sufficient weight to keep the front tires of the dragster on the track. In addition, the high rate of speed of a dragster does not give an Indy suspension system sufficient time to react and work.
Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide an improved suspension system for a vehicle which would compensate for flexure generated during acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle and which could quickly react and function when the vehicle is accelerating at a high rate of speed.
Therefore, it is a principal object of the invention to provide an improved vehicle suspension system.
A further object of the invention is to provide a vehicle suspension system which permits a vehicle frame to bow or flex while reducing the fatigue experienced by the frame during such flexure.
Another object of the invention is to provide an improved vehicle suspension system which, while minimizing the fatigue experienced by the vehicle frame, dampens and absorbs flexure forces which act on the frame during acceleration and deceleration of the vehicle.


A method for managing data bands within an interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) architecture includes transmitting read/write characteristics of a logical block address space, the read/write characteristics including coupling information characterizing a physical arrangement of data blocks associated with different logical zones in the logical block address space, where each of the logical zones spans a continuous range of logical block addresses mapped to a series of data blocks physically interlaced with another series of data blocks corresponding to another one of the logical zones. The method further provides for executing a write command instructing a data write to a target logical zone of the logical zones, the write command being generated based on the transmitted coupling information.

Interlaced magnetic recording (IMR) is a storage technique that utilizes different track widths, sometimes with different linear densities, when writing alternating data tracks on a storage medium. For example, every-other track is written to have a wide track width, and the alternating, interlaced tracks are written with a comparably narrower width. In IMR systems, the tracks are spaced such that each one of the narrow (top) tracks overlaps and overwrites a small portion of the edges of the immediately adjacent wider (bottom) tracks. In some systems, write access rules prohibit data from being written to a narrow IMR track until data is first stored on the two contiguous (physically adjacent) wider IMR tracks. For this reason, the narrow data tracks in IMR are often referred to as "top tracks" while the wider data tracks are referred to as "bottom tracks."
In some implementations, IMR devices utilize a higher bit density when writing the wider (bottom) data tracks than the narrower (top) data tracks. As a result of this variable bit density, the variable track width, and the overlap between edges of adjacent tracks, a higher total areal density can be realized in IMR systems than that attainable in systems that implement the same magnetic recording type without utilizing alternating tracks of variable width and linear density.

Write management of physically coupled storage areas


A rake for smoothing sand and other particulate material surfaces has a head which is an elongate helical coil. Preferably, the coil is a coil spring which can be compressed axially from an open to a storage condition and means are provided for retaining the spring in its storage condition and advantageously also in intermediate operative conditions to compensate for variations in coarseness of the particulate material to be raked. It is also preferred that the rake handle is formed of a mutually inclined pair of arms movable to reduce their included angle and having the coil spring extending between their distal ends. It is especially preferred that the arms are arcuately mutually divergent so that the distal ends thereof move substantially linearly.

Golf courses have so-called "bunkers" which are sandpits provided to constitute hazards for players. When a golf ball lands in a bunker, it has to be struck from the bunker using a golf club. Inevitably, the ball and/or the club disturb the surface of the sand in the bunker as do the feet of a player entering the bunker to play the ball. Accordingly, it is necessary to subsequently smooth out the surface of the sand in the bunker to ensure that the bunker constitutes a uniform hazard for all players. Conventional rakes are generally used for this purpose and are intended to be provided at each bunker. However, the rakes are often removed by thieves or vandals. It has been proposed to provide players with small and/or collapsible rakes to be carried by them for their personal use in smoothing sand in bunkers. Such rakes are not entirely satisfactory since they have prongs which can damage golf bags in which they are carried and cause injury, albeit minor, to a player who inadvertently grasps or otherwise engages the prongs. Furthermore, such rakes are not adjustable to compensate for variations in coarseness of sand resulting, for example, from changes in the moisture content thereof.

Implement for smoothing particulate material surfaces


Connected temporary fastening nails including vertically oriented connecting parts formed by making cuts at fixed intervals along the length of a continuous elastic part which is substantially square in cross-section and which has a hollow space in the interior of the continuous elastic part and a plurality of small diameter nails each provided through adjacent connecting parts at fixed intervals along the length of the continuous elastic part.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to fastening nails and more particularly to fastening nails utilized to temporarily fasten various types of boards on walls, ceilings, etc. while the board being installed utilizing adhesive.
2. Prior Art
Conventional temporary fastening nails consist of individual nails, each of which is formed by anchoring a relatively small diameter nail in an elastic part made of plastic. Such temporary fastening nails have been developed by the present inventor and are described in Japanese Pat. No. 870627, Japanese Pat. No. 898340, Australian Pat. No. 454475, West German Pat. No. 2313615 and Canadian Pat. No. 998265.
Before the above-described conventional temporary fastening nails were developed, the installation of various types of boards on walls and ceilings was performed as follows: After the back surface of the board to be installed had been coated with an adhesive, the board was supported from below by means of support posts, etc., or was nailed in place with ordinary nails. The adhesive was allowed to set and the support posts or nails were removed. Such methods suffered from several drawbacks. First, when support posts were used the assembly and removal of the support posts required the expenditure of time and effort. On the other hand, when nails were used for temporarily fastening and then removed, the board was damaged by the nailing, the nails were difficult to remove and the nail holes that remained after the nails had been removed were conspicious. The above-described conventional temporary fastening nails, which were developed by the present inventor, eliminated some of the above-mentioned drawbacks.
These temporary fastening nails developed by the Inventor were used as follows: After the back surface of the board to be installed had been coated with an adhesive the board was placed against the surface on which it was to be installed and a large number of temporary nails were lightly driven in with a hammer one nail at a time so that the elastic parts attached to the nails supported the board with an appropriate pressing force. After the adhesive had set, the elastic parts attached to the nails were grasped and the nails were pulled out. In this case, the nails could easily be pulled out and the nail holes remained after the nails had been removed were not large enough to be conspicious. Since these temporary fastening nails possesed the above-described advantages, they greatly facilitated the installation of various types of boards on walls and ceilings.
However, the design of the above-described conventional temporary fastening nails made it impossible to drive a large number of nails in a continuous process using a machine such as a nail gun. Thus, there was a demand for temporary fastening nails designed so that they could be driven in with a a nail gun. Moreover, the inventor of the conventional temporary fastening nail recognized that connected temporary fastening nails would also facilitate the nail-driving process where the nails were driven by hand.

Connected temporary fastening nails for use in the adhesive installation of ornamental plywood


The present invention can provide a polycarbonate resin containing a structural unit represented by the following formula (1).

Recently, along with the development of optoelectronics, demands for transparent polymers for optical uses having optically superb isotropy are increasing. Especially, optical films having optical properties applicable for phase films of liquid crystal displays and the like are strongly desired.
A polycarbonate resin obtained by reacting 2,2-bis(4-hydroxyphenyl)propane (generally referred to as "bisphenol A") with phosgene or carbonic acid diester, especially a polycarbonate film formed of such a polycarbonate resin, is used for packaging, optical devices, display devices and other industrial uses. Recently, such a polycarbonate film is a target of attention as a material of phase plates, polarization plates, plastic substrates and the like of optoelectronics devices such as liquid crystal displays, and are now progressively put into practice. Especially for TFT liquid crystal displays remarkably advancing today, among the liquid crystal displays highly developed recently, a polycarbonate film is a target of attention as a phase film used between the liquid crystal layer and the polarization plate in order to improve the visibility of images.
Such a phase film has a role of converting elliptical polarization transmitted through the liquid crystal layer into linear polarization, and is formed of a monoaxially stretched film of a polycarbonate resin mainly formed of bisphenol A.
When used as a phase film, a film obtained by molding a polycarbonate resin formed of bisphenol A has a high photo-elastic coefficient because of the optical anisotropy of the benzene ring of the polycarbonate resin, which causes a problem that the phase difference variance is large due to the low stretching ratio. In addition, a film in a liquid crystal display needs to be treated at a high temperature of 180° C. or higher during the process of forming an alignment film or the like. The above-described film has a problem of not having a sufficient heat resistance.
As a polycarbonate resin having a high heat resistance and a low photo-elastic coefficient, a polycarbonate resin having a specific fluorene structure has been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-25398 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-253960 (Patent Document 2)).
Although having a high heat resistance and a low photo-elastic coefficient, a polycarbonate resin having such a structure may be ruptured when the film is stretched or coiled and may be weak against folding. A polycarbonate film weak against folding does not provide a smooth cutting face when being cut after coiled, and is not sufficiently strong and so may be ruptured when being stretched. Improvements on these points are desired.
A conventional aromatic polycarbonate resin has a problem that the high photo-elastic coefficient and the low fluidity thereof cause a large birefringence as a result of molecule alignment at the time of molding and residual stress. Therefore, for molding an optical material formed of such a conventional aromatic polycarbonate resin, a resin having a relatively low molecular weight is used in order to improve the fluidity, and the resin is molded at a high temperature in order to reduce the birefringence of the product formed using such a resin. However, with the conventional aromatic polycarbonate resin, there is a limit on the reduction of the birefringence even where the above-mentioned means is taken. Therefore, along with the recent spread of the fields in which optical materials are used, a material having a still lower photo-elastic coefficient and a still higher fluidity is strongly desired to be developed in a part of the optical material fields. For this purpose, attempts have been made to develop a resin having a small birefringence.
In the mean time, an optical material having a high refractive index realizes a lens element with a face having a small curvature, and so reduces the aberration of this face. This reduces the number of necessary lenses, the lens eccentricity sensitivity, and the lens thickness, and so reduces the size and weight of the lens system. In the field of lenses for glasses, the lens thickness can be reduced for the same power of glasses, which provides an advantage of improving the external appearance of the glasses.
As an optical resin having a high refractive index and a small birefringence, a totally aromatic polycarbonate resin copolymer using bisphenol A with a fluorene structure having a high polarization ratio in a side chain direction has been studied (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-25398 (Patent Document 1), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-109342 (Patent Document 3)).
A homopolycarbonate resin of an etherdiol with a fluorene structure having a high polarization ratio in a side chain direction and a phenol skeleton in a straight chain direction, and a copolymer of such a homopolycarbonate resin and a bisphenol have been shown (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-101787 (Patent Document 4), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-101786 (Patent Document 5)).
A copolymer of a bisphenol with a fluorene structure having a large polarization ratio in a side chain direction and tricyclodecane[5.2.1.02,6]dimethanol has been proposed (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-169573 (Patent Document 6)).
As described above, various types of materials having a small birefringence have been developed. Nonetheless, these technologies have problems that the refractive index is low, the moldability and the heat resistance are insufficient to provide a satisfying product, and the materials are colored.
Acenaphthene bisphenol, which is a monomer, is known and is used only as a resist composition. A resin having such a skeleton or properties thereof are not known at all, and there is no example in which such a resin is used for a specific use (see Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-326838 (Patent Document 7), Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-346024 (Patent Document 8)).    Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 6-25398    Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2001-253960    Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 7-109342    Patent Document 4: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-101787    Patent Document 5: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-101786    Patent Document 6: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-169573    Patent Document 7: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-326838    Patent Document 8: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-346024

Polycarbonate resin and method for producing the same

Abstract: wherein R represents one selected from an alkyl group having 1 to 9 carbon atoms, an aryl group having 6 to 12 carbon atoms, an alkenyl group having 2 to 5 carbon atoms, an alkoxy group having 1 to 5 carbon atoms, an aralkyl group having 7 to 17 carbon atoms, and halogen; and n represents the number of substituting R's on a benzene ring and is an integer of 0 to 4. Y represents an alkylene group having 1 to 4 carbon atoms; and p is an integer of 0 to 4.


An apparatus is for irradiating light for obtaining a face image of an authentication target. The apparatus includes a first light source unit having a first glancing angle, a second light source unit having a second glancing angle greater than the first glancing angle, and an external light information acquisition unit configured to acquire environment information on an external light other than the first light source unit and the second light source unit for the authentication target. The apparatus further includes a control unit configured to determine a power ratio of a second driving power supplied to the second light source unit to a first driving power supplied to the first light source unit based on the environment information and control currents to be supplied to the first light source unit and the second light source unit based on the power ratio.

It is known that there are various biometric authentication techniques such as a face authentication technique, a fingerprint authentication technique, an iris authentication technique, a blood vessel authentication technique and the like.
In the face authentication technique, light is irradiated from a light source to obtain a face image, and a face image of an authentication target is obtained within a light irradiation region by a camera. Then, a face authentication process is performed on the obtained face image.
In this face authentication technique, a surrounding environment such as an environment illuminance or the like is an important factor to be considered in obtaining a face image used for face authentication.
In a conventional face authentication apparatus, an environment light illuminance is measured by an illuminance sensor, and light is irradiated by a light irradiation apparatus in a state where an illuminance is determined to be low when the environment light illuminance is low and to be high when the environment light illuminance is high.
However, power consumption is limited in an actual driving environment of the light source that irradiates light to obtain the face image. Therefore, even when the surrounding environment light illuminance is high, the increase in the illumination illuminance is limited, which results in a problem that a face image for face authentication may not be obtained.
Patent Document 1: Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2009-0012330.

Light irradiation method and light irradiation apparatus


Downwardly depending contact members are secured to the undercarriage of railroad cars and positioned inboard from the wheels of the cars and also positioned above the level at which the wheels contact the underlying tracks. These contact members are upwardly displaceable when the train derails upon contact with a rail or ground debris to release fluid pressure in the train brake system and thereby activate the brakes of all of the cars.

This invention relates generally to emergency brake systems and more particularly to means for automatically braking a train upon derailment.
Prior to the teachings of the present invention, no effective system existed for automatically braking a railroad train upon derailment of one or more of the railroad cars. It often occurs on long trains that one or more of the railroad cars may derail, yet the engineer is not aware of the situation until the damage created by the derailment has become excessive. It is very common for one or more cars to derail yet the locomotive will drag the derailed cars without the knowledge of the engineer with the subsequent result that many more of the other cars in the train also become derailed and even uncoupled so that very extensive damage is created to surrounding property by runaway cars and to many of the railroad cars themselves as well as the railroad tracks and bed.
It is a principal object of the present invention to provide a braking system which will quickly and automatically activate the train brakes upon derailment of the first car to thereby bring the train to an efficient and safe stop before extensive damage is done to life and property.
Systems do presently exist for railroad trains to activate the train brake system should the train inadvertently pass a red light or a switch which it should not have passed and could thereby cause danger of possible collision with other trains. These mechanisms generally consist of some type of mechanical element which is raised or engaged at the side of the railroad bed when this dangerous situation exists to engage a contact on the train or locomotive which will activate the emergency brake system. However, such emergency brake systems are not applicable to train derailment situations. For years, the railroad industry has been searching for an effective derailment emergency brake system. In this search, very complicated systems have been devised which work on electrical or electronic principles, yet they have been found to be extremely expensive and not practical or fully reliable.


In a method and a circuit arrangement for driving semiconductor switches in a series circuit, in which a voltage limiting device is assigned to each semiconductor switch, the power losses of the voltage limiting devices are detected by a control equipment for equalizing the voltage distribution across the semiconductor switches. The control equipment generates modified control pulses for each semiconductor switch from a common control pulse on the basis of the detected power losses of the voltage limiting devices. By this means, the power loss of the voltage limiting devices is controlled to a minimum.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for driving semiconductor switches a series circuit and to a circuit arrangement for carrying out this method.
2. Discussion of the Background
It is generally known that semiconductor switches--such as power transistors, MOSFET transistors, IGBTs (insulated gate bipolar transistor) and GTOs (gate turn-off thyristor)--have a limited maximum reverse voltage. In the event that higher voltages are to be switched, it is necessary to connect the semiconductor switches in series. In this arrangement, the switched DC voltage exceeds the maximum permitted voltage of each of the semiconductor switches connected in series. In consequence, a protective device must ensure that the maximum permitted voltage on each semiconductor switch is not exceeded, irrespective of the operating condition. This is the case if the DC voltage is distributed uniformly across the individually opened semiconductor switches. A uniform or symmetrical voltage distribution over the switched-off semiconductor switches is normally achieved in steady operation by means of balancing resistors.
In dynamic operation, that is to say during a switch-on or switch-off process, the symmetrical voltage distribution across the semiconductor switches is only ensured if the switching behavior of the individual semiconductor switches is identical. Nevertheless, it is known that the switching behavior or the switch-on and switch-off delay, respectively, of the individual semiconductor switches is different. The dissimilar switch-on and switch-off times, moreover, vary with time and as a function of the temperature. This leads to an equally rapid switch-on or switch-off of the individual semiconductor switches not being guaranteed at all operating points. Thus, the more rapid semiconductor switch accepts a higher voltage during the switching off, because the slower semiconductor switch is still conducting. In consequence, the maximum reverse voltage U.sub.cmax of the most rapid semiconductor switch can be exceeded, so that it is destroyed. The same condition also occurs in the case of unsymmetrical switching on of the semiconductor switches. In this case, the slowest semiconductor switch accepts the full voltage, since all the remaining semiconductor switches are already switched on and accept a lower voltage.
The publication JP-A-55-033313 discloses a circuit arrangement for driving semiconductor switches connected in series, in which the balancing of the switching behavior is guaranteed by means of an individual displacement of the switching commands of the individual semiconductor switches. In this arrangement, the most rapid semiconductor switch receives its control pulse with a maximum delay and the slowest semiconductor switch receives the control pulse immediately, so that all the semiconductor switches finally switch simultaneously.
The technical solution described in publication EP-A-0202962 further proposes to determine the individual displacement of the switching commands of the individual semiconductor switches by means of a measuring technique, in that, for example, the actual transistor switching edges are measured and the necessary switching delay is determined therefrom. This solution is, however, not able to be applied in practice in the case of IGBTs because of the extremely short delay times which can be detected only inaccurately with a measuring technique.
In addition, it can be gathered from the teaching of publication EP-B1-0288422 to measure the steady voltages of the semiconductor switch and to control them to a prescribed desired value by displacing the switching edges. In this case, the procedure is that if the semiconductor voltage in the last switch-off was too large, the next switch-off edge is delayed by a controller. If the voltage of the preceding switch-off was too low, the switch-off edge is displaced to an earlier instant.
One problem of the last two solutions consists in the fact that the first switchings off are carried out uncompensated, because the individual delay time of the respective semiconductor switch must first be built up. The known switching arrangements and, respectively, the methods used in the latter for driving the semiconductor switches can consequently only be used under the condition that the first switchings off are carried out at a reduced DC voltage, so that the corresponding control device can align with the switching behavior, before the full operating voltage or the full operating current, respectively, is built up. Apart from this restriction, a further problem exists in connection with the protection of the semiconductor switches in the event of failure or disturbance of the control equipment for the voltage. In this respect, there is no usable solution to date.
Also known from the prior art is a method for the protection of serially connected semiconductor switches, a voltage limiting device being assigned to each semiconductor switch for carrying out the method. In the case of high voltages on the semiconductor switch, which exceed a specific value and thereby activate the voltage limiting device, a large current flows through the voltage limiting device at a high voltage. In so doing, pulse-like electrical losses occur in the voltage limiting device, which considerably reduce the lifetime of the voltage limiting device in the event of repeated switching processes.

Method and circuit arrangement for driving semiconductor switches in a series circuit