A method for decoding multiword information comprises steps (a) to (e). In step (a), a multiword information cluster, e.g., ECC, including high protective codewords, e.g., BIS, and low protective codewords, e.g., LDC, is provided. In step (b), the high and low protective codewords are stored into a first memory, e.g., DRAM. In step (c), the high protective codewords are decoded to generate high protective word erasure indicators showing whether decoding errors occur. In step (d), the high protective word erasure indicators are stored into a second memory, e.g., SRAM. In step (e), the low protective codewords are decoded. In the meanwhile, an erasure bit for a low protective codeword is marked by finding high protective codewords close to the low protective codeword in the multiword information cluster and looking up the high protective word erasure indicators of the high protective codewords close to the low protective codeword.

(A) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a method for decoding multiword information, which are applied to an optical disk device.
(B) Description of the Related Art
As shown in FIG. 1, an Error Correction Code (ECC) cluster 10 includes 152 long-distance code (LDC) data columns, one SYNC data column 11 and three burst indicator subcode (BIS) data columns 12, wherein the LDC data columns are separated into four LDC blocks 13 by the SYNC data column 11 and three BIS data columns 12. The original LDC data are discontinuous and interleaved into different LDC blocks 13. Some ECC encoding or decoding techniques were described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,100, U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,049, U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,217 and US 2003/0208714, wherein U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,100 disclosed a method for encoding multiword information, U.S. Pat. No. 6,367,049 disclosed an encoding method by interleaving, U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,217 disclosed a decoding method using synchronization (SYNC) codes, BIS codes or their dynamic or static combination as an erasure, and US 2003/0208714, a continuation application of U.S. Pat. No. 6,604,217, further disclosed a method using SYNC code as an erasure indicator. Further, Narahara et al. disclosed an error correction method using LDC and BIS codes that was published in Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. Vol. 39 (2000) pp. 912-919.
However, the patents and article mentioned above only raised a concept of methods for decoding ECC data, i.e., they do not explicitly disclose practical implementation methods. Under such circumstances, it is necessary to develop a useful implementation method and apparatus for decoding ECC data.

Method for decoding multiword information


Coaxial cable shielding. In one example embodiment, a coaxial cable includes a center conductor, a dielectric, a tape, and a jacket. The tape defines first and second edge portions that each borders an interior portion. The thickness of the first edge portion is less than the thickness of the interior portion. The dielectric surrounds the center conductor. The tape is wrapped around the dielectric such that the first edge portion overlaps with the second edge portion. The jacket surrounds the tape.

Typical coaxial cable includes radio frequency (RF) shielding. One common type of shielding is a conductive tape that attenuates interfering electromagnetic fields in the high frequency range.
With reference first to FIG. 1A, a prior art coaxial cable 100 is disclosed. As disclosed in FIG. 1A, the coaxial cable 100 is terminated on either end with connectors 150. With reference now to FIG. 1B, the prior art coaxial cable 100 generally includes a center conductor 102 surrounded by a dielectric 104, a tape 106 wrapped longitudinally around the dielectric, a braid 108 surrounding the tape 106, and a jacket 10 surrounding the braid 108.
With reference now to FIG. 1C, the tape 106 surrounds the dielectric 104, and generally serves to limit the ingress and egress of high frequency electromagnetic fields 126 to/from the center conductor 102. The tape 106 is a laminate tape that includes a first aluminum layer 112, a polymer layer 114, a second aluminum layer 116, and a polymer bonding agent layer 118. The tape 106 also defines a first edge portion 120 that overlaps a second edge portion 124 as the tape 106 is longitudinally wrapped around the longitudinal direction of the dielectric 104, resulting in an overlapping seam that runs parallel to the center conductor 102.
With continuing reference to FIG. 1C, and with reference also to FIG. 1D, a common problem with the tape 106 of the prior art coaxial cable 100 is disclosed. In particular, although the first and second aluminum layers 112 and 116 are generally effective at shielding high frequency electromagnetic fields 126 above the frequency for one skin depth, since the polymer layer 114 and the polymer bonding agent layer 118 are formed from dielectric materials, the layers 114 and 118 are not effective at shielding electromagnetic fields 126. As a result, some high frequency electromagnetic fields 126 from the center conductor 102, such as electromagnetic fields greater than about 50 MHz, exit the prior art coaxial cable 100 by traveling through an overlap aperture 128 of the polymer bonding agent layer 118.
Similarly, although the second aluminum layer 116 is generally effective at shielding electromagnetic fields 126 above the frequency for one skin depth, some fraction of the high frequency electromagnetic fields 126 from the center conductor 102 do pass through the second aluminum layer 116. This results in some high frequency electromagnetic fields 126 from the center conductor 102 exiting the prior art coaxial cable 100 by traveling through an overlap aperture 130 of the polymer layer 114. These high frequency electromagnetic fields 126 that exit the prior art coaxial cable 100 cause harmful interference with surrounding electrical equipment (not shown). Some high frequency electromagnetic fields from surrounding electrical equipment (not shown) also enter the prior art coaxial cable 100 through the overlap apertures 128 and 130, thus causing harmful interference with data signals that are traveling through the center conductor 102.
With reference now to FIG. 1E, another prior art coaxial cable 100′ is disclosed. The coaxial cable 100′ is identical to the coaxial cable 100 except that the coaxial cable 100′ includes a helically wrapped tape 106′. As disclosed in FIG. 1E, the tape 106′ also defines a first edge portion that overlaps a second edge portion as the tape 106′ is helically wrapped around the dielectric 104, resulting in an overlapping seam that runs in a spiral configuration around the dielectric 104. As with the tape 106, the tape 106′ allows some high frequency electromagnetic fields to enter/exit the coaxial cable 100′ by traveling through one or more overlap apertures. These high frequency electromagnetic fields cause harmful interference with surrounding electrical equipment (not shown) and with data signals that are traveling through the center conductor 102.


The present invention provides tangential flow filtration devices and methods for enriching a heterogeneous mixture of blood constituents for leukocytes by removal of non-leukocyte blood constituents. In one particular embodiment the device can provide a composition enriched in monocytes. One embodiment includes a remover unit (1) having a crossflow chamber (3) separated by a microporous filter (5) from a filtrate chamber (4), the remover unit (1) also having a tangential flow inlet (6), a fluid outlet (7) for a fluid enriched in leukocytes and a filtrate outlet (8).

Blood cell populations enriched for leukocytes are often desired for use in research or therapy. Typical sources of leukocytes include whole peripheral blood, leukopheresis or apheresis product, or other less common sources, such as umbilical cord blood. Enrichment of leukocytes can be done in several ways. Typical methods include density step gradients (e.g., FICOLL-HYPAQUE®, colloidal silica, and the like), elutriation, centrifugation, lysis of erythrocytes by hypotonic shock, and various combinations of these methods. There are disadvantages to each of these methods, one of which is the need for laborious washing steps after the enrichment step is performed.
Following enrichment, the cells are typically washed by a repetitive process. The steps generally include placing the enriched cell suspension into a centrifuge tube and pelleting the cells to the bottom of the tube by use of a centrifuge. The tube is removed from the centrifuge, and the supernatant is decanted from the pelleted cells. A wash liquid is added to the tube, and the cell pellet is resuspended. These steps are typically repeated 2 to 4 times.
One disadvantage of this washing process is that sequential resuspension and centrifugation can decrease cell viability and increase cell lysis. Another disadvantage of washing by centrifugation is the opportunity for bacteria or other infectious agents to contaminate the cells. Even if all the materials are kept sterile, the repeated opening of the centrifuge tubes, and the exposure of pipettes and bottles of wash solution to the air can result in contamination. The risk of contamination is significant enough for some medical regulatory agencies to demand that only "closed" systems are used for cell handling.
Filtration methods have also been used to remove leukocytes from blood while retaining other blood constituents for later use. Such methods generally trap leukocytes on a filter in a non-recoverable form, while allowing other blood constituents to pass through the filter and into a collection vessel. For example, filters are available to remove leukocytes from blood so that the incidence of alloimmune reactions is minimized following blood transfusions. This removal is typically done using filters which are made of matted plastic fiber mesh. The mesh is usually arranged to trap the leukocytes in a reticulated matrix having enough depth so that the cells are trapped throughout the depth of the filter, thereby keeping the filter from clogging, as would occur if the leukocytes were trapped on a planar surface.
In addition to the physical trapping of the cells, the materials and large surface area of the filter allow leukocytes to adhere irreversibly to the surface. Many of these adherent cells are the very ones desired for some medical procedures. The resulting combination of trapping and adherence to the filter creates a highly efficient means of removing the leukocytes for disposal prior to blood infusion therapy. However, when leukocytes are the desired cells, this method of filtration is not advantageous.
A method that has been useful in the fractionation of various particles is tangential flow filtration (TFF) or "cross-flow" filtration. TFF relies on the movement of a fluid parallel to the surface of a porous membrane filter. The pores of the membrane allow passage of the fluid and of particles within the fluid that are smaller than the pores. In addition, the cross-flow (or "tangential" flow) of fluid parallel to the filter prevents a build-up of particles larger than the pores on the filter surface.
TFF has been used for the gross separation of various materials. The use of tangential flow filtration in the pharmaceutical field has been reviewed by Genovesi (J. Parenter. Aci. Technol., 37:81, 1983), including the filtration of sterile water for injection, clarification of a solvent system, and filtration of enzymes from broths and bacterial cultures. Marinaccio et al. (WO 85/03011) report a process for use in the removal of particulate blood components from blood for plasmapheresis, and Robinson et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,738) describe the use of TFF for the removal of plasma from blood, allowing the reinfusion of blood cells and platelets into patients.
In another use, TFF has been reported for the filtration of beer (EP 0 208 450), specifically for the removal of particulates such as yeast cells and other suspended solids. Kothe et al. (U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,056) disclose the use of TFF in the purification of immunoglobulins from milk or colostrum, and Castino (U.S. Pat. No. 4,420,398) describes its use in the separation of antiviral substances, such as interferons, from broths containing these substances as well as viral particles and cells. Similarly, TFF has been used in the separation of bacterial enzymes from cell debris. (Quirk et al., Enzyme Microb. Technol., 6:201, 1984.) In addition, tangential flow filtration units have been employed in the concentration of cells suspended in culture media. (See, e.g., Radlett, J. Appl. Chem. Biotechnol., 22:495, 1972.)
TFF has also recently been reported to separate liposomes and lipid particles according to size. (Lenk et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,948,441.) TFF allows for the formation and isolation of liposomes and lipid particles having a defined size range from heterogeneous populations of such particles. (See Lenk et al., supra).
However, while TFF has been used for gross fractionation of biological liquids and the separation of, for example, liposomes, the use of TFF for separation of different live cell populations having defined characteristics has not been appreciated in the art. In particular, the unique problems associated with the selective separation of leukocyte populations (such as, e.g., monocytes, CD34+ hematopoietic stem and precursor cells, dendritic precursor cells, and the like) from other blood cells while maintaining sterility, cell viability, potential hematopoietic to differentiate, and immunotherapeutic cellular activity has not been addressed. In addition, the removal of other cell populations such as, e.g., populations with overlapping size ranges, has not been solved by current approaches.
Therefore, there remains a need in the art for additional devices and methods for selectively enriching leukocytes from other blood constituents, including plasma, erythrocytes, and/or platelets, while preserving sterility, cell viability, potential to differentiate, and immunotherapeutic cellular activity. The present invention satisfies these and other needs.

Tangential flow filtration devices and methods for leukocyte enrichment


Systems and methods of detecting type I ice crystals using an aircraft's onboard weather radar system are disclosed. An exemplary embodiment identifies radar returns having a return level signal strength less than a radar return sensitivity threshold level, determines if at least one of a weather condition and a flight condition concurrently exists with the identified radar returns having the return level signal strength less than the radar return sensitivity threshold level, and identifies a region of airspace potentially having type I ice crystals when the at least one of the weather condition and the flight condition concurrently exists with the identified radar returns having the return level signal strength less than the radar return sensitivity threshold level.

High altitude ice crystals that are not visible to the crew of an aircraft, especially at night, may present a hazard to the aircraft passing through an airspace region having high concentrations of the ice crystals. Such ice crystals, which may be encountered while flying through clouds, may cause power loss in a jet engine or even engine damage. Power loss may include engine instability, power surge, power rollback, stalling, and/or flameout.
These non-visible ice crystals may be found at altitudes between 9,000 and 40,000 feet, when the ambient temperature is between −5° C. to −55° C. High altitude ice crystals are typically associated with convective cloud formations, such as isolated cumulonimbus cloud formations, thunderstorms, or even tropical squall lines. Such convective cloud formations can contain areas of strong updrafts. The strong updrafts in the convective weather can lift liquid water thousands of feet into the atmosphere, and thus form ice crystals.
Regions of airspace having non-visible ice crystals may be at altitudes that are significantly higher than the visible tops of the convective cloud formations which formed the ice crystals. Further, high altitude winds may blow the ice crystals away from the convective cloud formations. Accordingly, regions of airspace having large concentrations of ice crystals may be encountered far above and/or away from the vicinity of the convective cloud formations which formed the ice crystals. Further, such airspace regions may have little to no turbulence to provide a warning indication to the crew of an aircraft as it flies into an airspace region with high concentrations of ice crystals.
Because of the very small size of the ice crystals, which may be as small as 40 microns, the ice crystals are not visibly detectable by the aircraft crew. Thus, the crew may not be aware that their aircraft is travelling through an airspace region having a high concentration of ice crystals, particularly if there is no turbulence and/or if the airspace region is not near any convective cloud formations.
Further, conventional aircraft weather radar systems are typically not configured to detect ice crystals since the reflectivity levels of return echoes from the ice crystals and/or the associated cloud cover, which may be in the range of 0-20 decibels (dBZ), is below the radar return sensitivity threshold levels, typically set at or about 20 dBZ. The aircraft weather radar systems are configured to detect larger water particles, such as rain, hail, and/or snow since these larger water particles provide radar reflectivity signal strength return levels that are discernable by the aircraft weather radar systems since such radar reflectivity signal strength return levels exceed the minimum radar return sensitivity threshold levels of approximately 20 dBZ. Low level radar reflectivity signal strength return levels that are less than a radar return sensitivity threshold level are typically ignored to reduce the amount of information presented on the radar system display. That is, since low levels of precipitation are typically not dangerous to aircraft, and since regions with low levels of precipitation exhibit low radar reflectivity signal strength return levels below the 20 dBZ threshold, such regions of low levels of precipitation are typically not indicated on the radar system display to avoid distracting the aircraft crew. Accordingly, the presence of ice crystals are not indicated on the radar system display because of their low radar reflectivity signal strength return levels.
Accordingly, there is a need in the arts to provide the crew of an aircraft information indicating the location of regions of airspace that are likely to have ice crystals so that the crew may then avoid airspace having potentially high concentrations of ice crystals.

System and method to identify regions of airspace having ice crystals using an onboard weather radar system


A telecommunication network management method and unit are disclosed. Connection requests are received and the possibility of setting up a connection is determined from parameters including time parameters in the form of time intervals. The connections database is updated allowing for the time parameters. The method finds applications in telecommunication networks.

1. Field of the invention
The invention relates to a telecommunication network management method. It also relates to a network management unit implementing the method. The invention applies to managing the availability and use of physical resources.
2. Description of the prior art
Managing a telecommunication network requires an information system able to supply knowledge of physical resources, namely the resources of the network elements (NE), also referred to as nodes, their termination points and the properties of their termination points (more specifically capacity in terms of bandwidth, the maximum number of switchpaths and the available switchpath identifiers).
The termination points are called access points in an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network.
The termination points of a network element have technical characteristics having properties dedicated to the connectivity aspect. The remainder of this disclosure is concerned with these properties. They include the capacity in terms of bandwidth (input bandwidth, output bandwidth); the capacity in terms of the maximum number of switchpaths and the available switchpath identifiers may also be cited.
The information system is based on three-levels of software.
A first level is called the equipment management layer (EML). This is for the most part the application layer responsible for the interface with the network element (NE). This layer provides a knowledge of the status of the network element and is used to send management commands to the element.
A second level is called the network management layer (NML). This is the layer for controlling the switchpaths enabling calls to be set up within a network.
A third level is called the services management layer (SML). This is the layer dedicated to managing services. For example, it is used to manage private networks using the network of a telecommunications operator.
The invention is located at the interface of the NML and SML, as shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1.
It provides all users with a real time view of the resources that are available and that are in use in the short term and in the long term.
In particular, it enables periodic or aperiodic reservation of some or all of the capacity offered by a physical telecommunication resource (for example, the bandwidth capacity offered for each termination point of a node and/or the capacity offered in terms of the maximum number of switchpaths and the capacity offered in terms of identifiers for each termination point of that node).
At present, network management systems manage the paths/connections between the network elements, but most of-them operate on the principle of real time creation/reservation and suppression.
The prior art systems are no longer suitable because of the increasing demand for network capacity and in particular for capacity in terms of bandwidth and the number of switch points.
Moreover, because of the development of new services, such as management of virtual private networks (VPN), requirements for operator assistance are increasing, in particular in the provision of network quality of service management services.
What is more, because of developments in traffic engineering, constraintbased routing algorithms need to rely on services managing availability and use of resources to optimize routing (from the routing point of view, bandwidth is seen as a constraint rather than a resource property).
The invention solves the above problem.

Method of managing a telecommunication network and a network management unit for implementing the method


An improved system, apparatus and method for injecting a chemical from a storage tank into a natural gas or liquefied petroleum gas pipeline at a flow-controlled injection rate is provided. The system, apparatus and method including a pair of positive-displacement pumps driven in substantially complementary fashion by a single driver, a controller controlling the driver, and each pump being fed from the storage tank and discharging chemical into the pipeline. The system, apparatus and method may also include a second pair of positive-displacement pumps having substantially similar displacement and operatively connected to the first pair of positive-displacement pumps, the first pair of positive-displacement pumps being driven in a substantially complementary fashion with the second pair of pumps by a single driver or a pair of drivers.

There are many instances in which it is desirable to inject chemicals of various types into fluids (gas and liquids) flowing in pipelines. One such example is in the area of natural gas pipelines. In addition to such substances as corrosion inhibitors and alcohol to inhibit freezing, odorants are commonly injected into natural gas pipelines. Natural gas is odorless. Odorant is injected into natural gas in order to provide a warning smell for consumers. Commonly used odorants include tertiary butyl mercaptan (TBM). Such odorants are typically injected in relatively small volumes normally ranging from about 0.5 to 1.0 lbs/mmscf.
The odorants are typically provided in liquid form and are typically added to the gas at a location where distribution gas is taken from a main gas pipeline and provided to a distribution pipeline. In such circumstances, the gas pressure may be stepped down through a regulator from, for example, 600 psi or more, to a lower pressure in the range of 100 psi or less. The odorants can also be added to the main transmission pipeline in some situations.
As can be seen above, the odorants which are added to natural gas are extremely concentrated. Odorants such as TBM and other blends are mildly corrosive and are also very noxious. If the job of injecting odorant is not performed accurately, lives are sometimes endangered. It would be possible for a homeowner to have a gas leak without it being realized until an explosion had resulted if the proper amount of odorant was not present. Also, if a leak of odorant occurs at an injection site, people in the surrounding area will assume that a gas leak has occurred with areas being evacuated and commerce being interrupted. Contrarily, if such mistakes become common, people in the surrounding area will become desensitized to the smell of a potential gas leak and will fail to report legitimate leaks.
Two techniques are commonly used for providing odorization to natural gas in a main distribution pipeline. One technique involves bypassing a small amount of natural gas at a slightly higher pressure than the pressure of the main distribution pipeline, through a tank containing liquid odorant. This bypass gas absorbs relatively high concentrations of odorant while it is in the tank. This heavily odorized bypass gas is then placed back into the main pipeline. The odorant, now volatilized, is placed back into the main pipeline and diffuses throughout the pipeline. However, there are a number of disadvantages associated with the bypass system for odorizing pipelines. One disadvantage of the bypass system is the fact that the bypass gas picks up large and inconsistent amounts of odorant from the liquid in the tank and becomes completely saturated with odorant gas. As a result, it is necessary to carefully monitor the small amounts of bypass gas which are used. Also, natural gas streams typically have contaminates such as compressor oils or condensates which can fall out into the odorant vessel in bypass systems. These contaminates create a layer that reduces the contact area between the liquid and the bypass stream. This necessarily degrades the absorption rate of the stream failing to accurately measure and control the amount of odorant being added to the stream. This absorption amount can change as condensates and other contaminates fall out and change the absorption boundary layer.
Another technique involves the injection of liquid odorant directly into the pipeline through the use of a high-pressure injection pump. High-volume odorizers have depended on a traditional positive-displacement pump or solenoid valve to deliver discrete doses of odorant to natural gas or liquid propane gas (LPG) streams for the purpose of bringing these streams to safe perception levels. However, injecting discrete doses in this manner results in higher pressure drops due to the higher piston speed. The higher the piston speed, the more likely the odorant will vaporize and the more likely entrainment of gas. Such vapor lock is detrimental to the performance and accuracy of odorant injection systems. These methods can leave dangerous dead time between doses. Because odorant is extremely volatile, drops injected to the pipeline immediately disperse and spread throughout the gas in the pipeline. In this way, within a few seconds, the drops of liquid odorant are dispersed in gaseous form.
There are also several disadvantages with this prior art technique. As mentioned above, the odorant liquid is extremely noxious. The injection pump must therefore be designed so that no odorant can leak. This requires a pump design which is relatively expensive and complex in order to meet the required operating conditions. Even in such sophisticated systems, there is an unpleasant odor present when working on the pump which can make people think that there is a natural gas leak. There continues to be a need for improvements in odorization systems of the above described types.
The present invention relates to an improved system, apparatus and method for injecting chemical into a pipeline which prevents escape of odorant, nearly eliminates dead time between doses, and provides a reliable, uniform injection rate over a wide variety of rate requirements.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A network function virtualization (NFV) compute element installs an image supporting a virtualized network function (VNF) on the element. The image includes instructions/data to initiate a TCP connection between the element and a Software Defined Network (SDN) controller upon reboot of the element. Upon rebooting, the element establishes, as client in accordance with the instructions/data, a TCP connection with the controller. The element then accepts, as a cryptographic network protocol server, a connection via the TCP connection from the controller as a client in accordance with the instructions. Next, the element accepts, as a network management protocol server, a connection via the cryptographic network protocol connection from the controller as network management protocol client. The element receives, from the controller over the network management protocol connection, commands regarding the status of the rebooted compute element, and then transmits, to the controller over the network management protocol connection, responses to the commands.

Referring to FIG. 1, a packet switched computer networking architecture 100 is illustrated. In a typical computer network, a network node is either data communication equipment (DCE) 110 or data terminal equipment (DTE) 120. Example DCEs 110 include, but are not limited to, routers, switches, and bridges. Example DTEs 120 include, but are not limited to, host computers and peripherals, such as printers. In a network, nodes are connected by a transmission medium, such as wired or wireless, and other elements of a communications network 99.
Packet switched computer network operation across DCEs 110 can be described as occurring across three "planes"—the data plane 112, the control plane 114, and the management plane 116. The data plane 112, also referred to as the "forwarding plane," is responsible for the actual switching/forwarding of packets over the network by a DCE 110 to either another DCE 110 or a DTE 120 based on a forwarding information base (FIB). The control plane 114 is responsible for i) defining the network topology and the network routing protocols, and ii) building/maintaining the FIB in accordance with the topology and routing protocols. The management plane 116 is responsible for both user and programmatic interfaces to the control plane 114 along with other network housekeeping tasks. Typically, each of both data plane 112 functions and control plane 114 functions are tightly coupled to the DCEs 110.

Network function virtualization compute element image upgrade


Visually undistorted thin film electronic devices are provided. In one embodiment, a method for producing a thin-film electronic device comprises: opening a scribe in a stack of thin film material layers deposited on a substrate to define an active region and an inactive region of the thin-film electronic device, the stack comprising at least one active semiconductor layer. The active region comprises a non-scribed area of the stack and the inactive region comprises a region of the stack where thin film material was removed by the scribe. The method further comprises depositing at least one scribe fill material into a gap opened by the scribe. The scribe fill material has embedded therein one or more coloring elements that alter an optical characteristics spectrum of the inactive region to obtain an optical characteristics spectrum of the active region within a minimum perceptible difference for an industry defined standard observer.

Industrial scale thin film devices, such as photovoltaic modules, typically comprise a stack of thin film layers applied to a substrate. To ensure high performance over large areas, the Mack of thin film layers is subdivided, or "patterned" using a scribing methodology into a plurality individual device cells, and materials deposited into the scribed regions to form monolithic interconnections that electrically interconnect the individual device cells. The scribing process, in opening up the scribed regions between device cells, involve the removal of one or more of the previously deposited thin film layers in the region where the scribe is formed. The materials deposited into the scribed regions, will comprise electrically insulating materials, electrically conducting materials, or some combination of both electrically insulating and electrically conducting materials applied in layers.
One problem associated with thin film devices patterned with scribes and monolithic interconnections is that the patterning disrupts the uniform appearance of the thin film materials applied across the substrate. The visual distortions produced by these disruptions is a particularly problematic defect for semi-transparent photovoltaic modules intended for use in building integrated photovoltaics, such as windows or glass curtain walls, where distortion free clarity and aesthetic characteristics are highly scrutinized by architects and engineers, and builders. Visually obvious distortions caused by thin film device patterning is also considered a defect in opaque thin film photovoltaics modules, such as used for spandrel glass panels, which are designed to be opaque in order to hide equipment or other features between the floors of a building.
For the reasons stated above and for other reasons stated below which will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the specification, there is a need in the art for visually undistorted thin film electronic devices.


The present invention provides a fluorescent substance represented by the following general formula: (A1−xBx)2Si2O7, wherein A is at least one member selected from the group consisting of Gd, Y, Lu and La, B is at least one member selected from the group consisting of rare earth elements other than A and x is a numerical value specified by the formula: 0<x≦0.2 and which can emit light rays having a wavelength falling within the range of ultraviolet, visible and infrared regions in response to, for instance, optical stimuli, electron beam stimuli, electric field stimuli, stress stimuli and radiation stimuli; a fluorescent composition comprising such a fluorescent substance dispersed in a silica glass matrix; and a scintillator obtained using the foregoing substance or composition. These fluorescent substance, fluorescent composition, scintillator material and fluorescent material have high luminous outputs and are excellent in the processability.

In the scintillators used in a variety of radiation detectors or sensors, there have mainly been used single crystalline materials. In particular, the γ-ray detector requires the use of a large-scale single crystal having a high density and constituted by heavy elements. In addition, such a single crystal should have a high emission or luminous strength and the wavelength of the light emitted from the single crystal should likewise be adapted to the highly sensitive range of the optical detector. For this reason, there has presently been used the single crystal of cerium (3+)-added gadolinium (3+) orthosilicate (cerium-activated Gd2SiO5, commonly referred to as "GSO") as the most excellent material for such a scintillator.
However, the GSO single crystal has a strong crystalline anisotropy, the production thereof requires the use of a technology of a high order and therefore, the resulting single crystalline material is quite expensive. On the other hand, various kinds of fluorescent substances have been used in other applications, but there has been desired for the development of a fluorescent substance excellent in processability other than single crystalline ones and there has also been desired for the development of a fluorescent substance, having a good luminous efficiency from the viewpoint of the reduction of the electric power consumption of a variety of devices.
For instance, Japanese Un-Examined Patent Publication 2001-282153 discloses a method for the preparation of UV fluorescent glass containing a rare earth element-containing oxide, but the glass comprises CeO2 as a fluorescent component and this article does not disclose, at all, a fluorescent substance represented by the general formula: (A1−xBx)2Si2O7.
In addition, there is disclosed, in S. W. Lu et al., J. Phys. Chem. Solids, 2001, 62:777–781, a method for the preparation of Mn2+-activated Zn2SiO4 powder, but this article does not disclose such a fluorescent substance represented by the general formula: (A1−xBx)2Si2O7.

Fluorescent substance and fluorescent composition containing the same


A hearing aid system includes a first (1) and a second (11) hearing aid, each having link means for establishing a short-range wireless connection (20) between the first and the second hearing aid. At least the first hearing aid has means to monitor whether the link to the second hearing aid is active and alert means to issue an alert based on a condition of the link or on a condition of the second hearing aid. The alert can be a spoken message, a visual indicator, or a message sent to an external unit (30). The invention further provides a method to issue an alarm in a first hearing aid.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hearing aids. The invention, more particularly relates to hearing aids with a wireless link to transmit and receive data. The invention still more particularly relates to binaural systems, i.e. systems including a pair of hearing aids for aiding both ears. The invention further relates to a method of monitoring the operation of a hearing aid.
A hearing aid is here understood to be an electronic device, for helping the hard of hearing, including an input transducer for receiving an acoustic input signal and convert said input signal into an electrical signal, a signal processing unit for amplifying the signal according to the user's needs and an output transducer for converting the electrical signal into an acoustic output signal. The hearing aid can be any type of hearing aid e.g. In-The-Ear (ITE), Completely-In-the-Canal (CiC), Behind-The-Ear (BTE) or hybrids thereof.
2. The Prior Art
DE 102007039455 A1 shows a hearing aid system, where each hearing aid in a pair includes a magnetic field sensor and a wireless connection between the two hearing aids. If the magnetic field sensor in one hearing aid detects an increased magnetic field without the contralateral hearing aid detecting the same magnetic field, this is interpreted as being due to the magnetic field from a telephone, and the hearing aids adjust accordingly. If both hearing aids detect a magnetic field of the same strength, this is interpreted as being due to both hearing aids residing in the hearing aid battery charger, and both hearing aids will automatically deactivate.
Similarly DE 102007046437 A1 describes a hearing aid system with two hearing aids being wirelessly connected to each other. If the two hearing aids are placed in a storage box in close proximity of each other, the field strength of the wireless connection will increase due to the decrease in distance, and the both hearing aids will power down or go in to sleep mode.
US 20050238190 A1 describes a hearing aid with a proximity sensor. Said proximity sensor detects whether a hand is in proximity of the hearing aid, and based on the signal from said proximity sensor, the hearing aid may change program or turn the volume up or down.
WO 2009006889 A1 describes a hearing aid with means for identifying the transducers in said hearing aid by measuring the impedance of said transducers.
EP 1276349 B1 describes a way for the hearing aid to test parts of the electronics or the full function of the hearing aid, to establish which parts need service.

Hearing aid system with lost partner functionality


A fluid pressure regulator has a high pressure side and a low pressure side separated by a plunger. The plunger is biased against fluid pressure on the low pressure side. The fluid pressure on the low pressure side in opposition to the biasing means moves a primary passage through the plunger into and out of flow communication with fluid on the high pressure side under normal conditions. A fine passage through the plunger moves into and out of flow communication with fluid on the high pressure side under start-up conditions.

Fluid pressure regulators employing a plug body can chatter destructively in high pressure difference environments as the plug reciprocates between high flow and no flow positions, or high flow and vent conditions.
The problem is worse as the pressure difference increases. An example of where a solution is critically needed to the problem is offshore platform use in the oil and gas industry, as very high pressure regulated fluid flow is needed to operate safety and other critical equipment.


A device for purifying smoke gases comprising a cylindrical container with a gas inlet at its bottom region and a gas exit for purified gas in its top region, as well as an inlet for washing liquid and an exit for spent washing liquid, wherein the container internally does not include any current baffles so that the gas and liquid can rotate freely, and wherein the container internally has a stirring device of perforated plates, e.g. netting discs, for optimal mixing of gas and fluid. It is also disclosed a process for purifying such smoke gases, wherein such a purification device is used.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns an improved process and a device for removing carbon dioxide (CO2) from combustion gases.
(2) Description of Related Art
DE 1 542 450 discloses a rotating cylinder completely submerged in a fluid that admixes a second liquid or a solid. EP 136 394 A2, DE 1 808 593 and WO 01/45830 disclose different rotating cylinders. GB patent application GB 2121701 discloses a device for mixing gas into a fluid. The devise has current baffles for preventing rotation of the fluid on account of the rotating disc on the bottom of the absorption device. Furthermore, GB 2121701 shows that the rotation force is all of 1-2 kilowatts/m3 gas. U.S. Pat. No. 3,896,212 discloses a classic absorption tower and refers to the use of carbonates for capturing acid gases and CO2 through additions of other chemicals such as amines for an improved absorption and oxidizing chemicals for corrosion prevention.

Process for removal of carbon dioxide from combustion gases


Two genes encoding the predominant polypeptides of Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. thompsoni cuboidal crystals were cloned in Escherichia coli and sequenced. The new class of crystal proteins have electrophoretic mobilities of 40 and 34 kilodaltons (kDa) with the deduced amino-acid sequences predicting molecular masses of 35,384 and 37,505 daltons, respectively. No statistically significant similarities were detected for the 40 kDa and 34 kDa crystal proteins to any other characterized Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein or to each other. A 100 MDa plasmid encodes both crystal protein genes, which appear to be part of an operon with the 40 kDa gene 64 nucleotides upstream of the 34 kDa gene. Both crystal proteins are synthesized in approximately the same amounts. Even though small, compared to other crystal proteins, the 34 kDa crystal protein has insecticidal activity against lepidopteran larvae (Manduca sexta).

During sporulation, Bacillus thuringiensis (hereafter B.t.) produces proteinaceous crystals which are lethal to a variety of insect larvae. The proteins contained in the crystal, after being ingested by susceptible insect larvae, are transformed into biologically active moieties by proteases present in the insect gut. The crystal proteins are highly potent at destroying the gut's epithelium, and even nanogram amounts are capable of killing susceptible larvae. Some of the major insect pests in agriculture and forestry are species of the order Lepidoptera, which are known to be susceptible to B.t. toxins.
These crystal proteins have been grouped into four classes based on their host range and sequence homologies: Lepidoptera-specific (I), Lepidoptera/Diptera-specific (II), Coleoptera-specific (III), and Diptera-specific (IV) (Hofte, H. and H. R. Whiteley 1989. "Insecticidal Crystal Proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis." Microbiol. Rev. 53:242-255). Significant amino-acid similarities exist between the crystal proteins of the different classes with the carboxy-terminal half of the crystal proteins containing most of the conserved sequences. Five well-defined regions are conserved among most of the known crystal proteins; these are located in the N-terminal half of the protein, which is responsible for toxicity (Hofte, H. and H. R. Whiteley. 1989. "Insecticidal Crystal Proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis." Microbiol. Rev. 53:242-255). One exception is CytA, a 28 kDa cytolytic toxin from B. thuringiensis subsp. israelensis which has no detectable sequence identity with the other crystal proteins (Hofte, H. and H. R. Whiteley. 1989. "Insecticidal Crystal Proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis." Microbiol. Rev. 53:242-255).
The majority of the crystal proteins and all Class I lepidopteran-specific crystal proteins are synthesized as 130-140 kDa protoxins, which are then proteolytically cleaved in the insect midgut to 65-70 kDa active toxins. Some crystal proteins, Classes II and III, are produced as 65-70 kDa toxins. The only crystal protein which falls outside these two size ranges is CytA, one of five crystal proteins from dipteran-specific Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis. However, CytA has a different mode of action from other crystal proteins (Thomas, W. E., and D. J. Ellar. 1983. "Mechanism of action of Bacillus thuringiensis var. israelensis insecticidal .delta.-endotoxin." FEBS Lett. 154:362-367) and also has recently been reported to not be essential for mosquitocidal activity (Delecluse et al. 1991. "Deletion by in vivo recombination shows that the 28-kilodalton cytolytic polypeptide from Bacillus thuringiensis subsp. israelensis is not essential for mosquitocidal activity." J. Bacteriol. 173:3374-3381).

Crystal proteins of Bacillus thuringiensis, genes encoding them, and host expressing them


A multiple input multiple output (MIMO) radar system for detecting a moving object is based on an explicit signal model. The explicit signal model accounts for waveform separation residuals by relating measurements of the virtual array to an auto-term including a Kronecker product of object-receiver signatures and transmitter-object signatures; and a cross-term including a Kronecker product of object-receiver signatures and transmitter-object residual signatures. The radar system uses a spatial MIMO object detector that is based on the explicit signal model to detect the moving object.

Automotive radar has manifested its role from existing advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) to emerging autonomous driving. Along with ultrasonic, camera, and Light Detection and Ranging (LIDAR) sensors, it assists the task of environmental sensing and understanding in all-weather conditions with affordable costs and scalable production. Particularly, automotive radar provides direct measurements of radial velocities, long operating ranges, small sizes at millimeter or sub-terahertz frequency bands, and high spatial resolutions.
Among relatively new signaling schemes for better capability of handing mutual interferences, e.g., phase-modulated continuous wave (PMCW) and stepped-carrier orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), frequency modulated continuous waveform (FMCW) is overwhelmingly used in the industry for its simple transceiver architecture and low requirements on sampling rate to harness the benefit of wide frequency bandwidth. At the same time, to increase the spatial resolution, waveform-coded multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radars have been incorporated into the automotive radars for expanded virtual array aperture. The virtual array comprises unique pairwise combinations of transmitters and receivers. In general, MIMO radars can be realized in either the time domain by using time-division multiple accesses (TDMA) or the waveform domain. The MIMO radars may be implemented in an automobile and may be used to detect one or more moving objects with respect to the automobile. In highly dynamical environments such as highways, the waveform-coded MIMO is preferred. Compared with fast-time MIMO radars that require multiplying orthogonal codes on the sample-to-sample basis, slow-time MIMO radars that require multiplying orthogonal codes only on the pulse-to-pulse basis appears to be a more cost-efficient solution for hardware implementation.
Currently, in the MIMO radars, it is assumed that each receiver of the MIMO radars achieves a perfect waveform separation by applying corresponding orthogonal codes that are used at the transmitters to transmit signals. Each of the perfectly separated waveform reflection corresponding to a transmitted signal is assumed to be free of waveform residuals that occur due to interference from waveform reflections corresponding to other transmitted signals from other transmitters. It is difficult to obtain such ideal waveform separation across all Doppler frequencies and time delays. Therefore, assuming the perfect waveform separation at the receiver in order to detect the one or more moving objects may affect efficiency of the MIMO radars to detect object.
Accordingly, there is a need of a radar system that accounts for the waveform separation residuals to enhance the efficiency of the radar system to detect the one or more moving objects.

Radar detection of moving object with waveform separation residual

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


An analog waveshaping circuit is capable of performing waveshaping of an AC analog signal in which the positive and negative peak levels with respect to a reference level are not the same, while considering a DC offset component of the reference level of the analog waveform, so that the positive and negative levels with respect to the reference level are made equal. The analog signal waveshaping circuit to do this is formed by a (1+D) equalizing circuit, an interference detecting circuit which, if the input and output signals of the means for equalizing being X(n) and Y(n), respectively and the interference state from signal X(n) to signal Y(n) is S(n) at the time n, uses a signal X(n) 3-value comparator circuit, a signal Y(n) 3-value comparator circuit, and a state processing circuit to calculate what interference condition occurred of the 7 possible types which are possible from the three values that the signal X(n) can take to the three values that the signal Y(n) can take, this being output by the interference detecting circuit as the interference state S(n), a compensation constant generating circuit which classifies the interference state S(n) into three classes and stores these, and which performs further processing to detect a compensation constant and the DC offset contained in the signal Y(n), an amplitude compensating circuit which compensates the amplitude of the signal Y(n) in accordance with the compensation constant from the compensation constant generating circuit, and a data detecting circuit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a waveshaping circuit for an analog signal, and more specifically to a circuit which shapes an analog signal which should have the same peak value (absolute value) for positive and negative peaks, so that the positive and negative peak values are the same. Yet more specifically, the present invention relates to a circuit which detects and corrects the positive/negative asymmetry of an analog waveform with respect to a proper reference level for the analog signal, considering the condition in which there is a DC offset component in the reference level of the analog signal, so that the positive and negative peak values of the waveform are the same.
2. Description of Related Art
In the past, when recording data or when reading data using an AC analog signal, processing was facilitated if the amplitude with respect to a reference level exhibited positive/negative symmetry. Stated differently, signal processing is easier when the positive-side and negative-side peaks of the analog signal with respect to the reference level are the same. In a magnetic disk, a playback signal read by using an inductive head has positive-side and negative-side peak values with respect to the reference level that are almost the same. In contrast to this, when reading data using a magnetic resistance effect head (hereinafter referred to as an MR head), the positive and negative peaks with respect the reference level differ. As a result, the configuration of the circuit used to demodulate the playback signal from an MR head becomes complex. Therefore, there is a desire for a magnetic disk apparatus using an MR head which enables simplification of the configuration of the circuit used to demodulate the playback signal from the MR head.
In recent years, with an increase in the speed of computer systems, there have also been demands for high speed and large capacity with respect to magnetic disk apparatuses used as external storage devices. For this reason, the frequency of the signals processed in the demodulation circuit of magnetic disk apparatuses have increased, with an accompanying increase in the density of the recording onto the recording medium. In magnetic disk apparatuses in the past, while a single thin-film head was used for both recording and playback, because a thin-film head uses the method of detecting the amount of change of magnetic flux per unit time of the rotating disk, near the center of the disk, at which the speed of the disk is slow, it is difficult to read data, making it difficult to achieve a large capacity.
Because of the above-noted situation, to improve the signal quality when performing high-density recording, a compound MR head, in which a head dedicated to reading of data from the disk is combined with the thin-film head of the past, has reached the stage of practical use. Because data is read the MR head only by the strength of the magnetic flux of the disk, by using the MR head it is possible to read data from the entire disk surface.
However, because of the low conversion efficiency of an MR head, while it has advantages such as a large signal output when performing high-density recording, the signal waveform often has positive and negative peak values with respect to the signal reference level which are not equal. For this reason, when demodulating a signal played back using an MR head, which has positive and negative peak values that mutually differ, the problem of the occurrence of a large number of demodulation errors occurs, this causing a worsening of the error rate.
Also, unless the signal path in the demodulation circuit is directly linked in the DC sense, an analog signal read using an MR head and which has positive and negative peak values that are different is transmitted to the demodulation circuit as a signal waveform which includes a DC offset component, so that what should remain as the proper reference level is corrupted by the DC offset level, making it difficult to perform correction when the positive and negative peak values differ.

Waveshaping circuit for shaping an analog waveform having unequal positive and negative peak levels so that the positive and negative peak levels are equal


A mechanical pencil incrementally rotates a lead by operation of a touch button. The pencil has a barrel in which is disposed a holder. A rotatable pipe having a writing mechanism assembly incorporated therein is attached rotatably to the holder. Around the periphery of the holder, a slide member is disposed to undergo forward and rearward movement, and the slide member is moved forward by pressing the touch button disposed on the barrel. The holder houses a sleeve which is moved forward by the slide member and which turns in a circumferential direction. A rotation-transmitting cam face is provided on each of a front end face of the sleeve and a rear end face of the rotatable pipe. By the forward movement of the sleeve, the cam faces are engaged with each other to incrementally rotate the rotatable pipe, whereby the lead is incrementally rotated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lead-rotatable mechanical pencil in which the front end of a lead worn away by writing can be rotated without changing the user's gripped position of the mechanical pencil.
2. Background Information
When the front end of a lead is worn away by writing, the line becomes thicker, and therefore there has been known a mechanical pencil having a lead-rotating mechanism in which a pointed lead condition can be recovered by rotating the lead. As the lead-rotating mechanism, various structures have been known.
For example, in a mechanism utilizing writing pressure described in Japanese Patent No. 4240417, a front end of a slider protrudes from a tip member disposed at the front end of a barrel and retracts at the time of writing, and this retraction movement makes the lead rotate via a gear. However, in this mechanism, the lead rotates freely by the presence or absence of the writing pressure regardless of the wearing condition of the lead. For example, when a figure made of straight lines is continuously drawn, even if the lead is not worn away, the lead rotates when the front end of the lead is raised apart from paper face. In such instance, when the writing front end is raised in writing, the thickness of straight line is changed halfway. When characters are drawn, since the lead rotates per stroke of the character, it is difficult to keep the thickness of the line uniform. As explained above, in such a structure in which the lead is made to rotate on the basis of writing pressure, the front end of the lead may undesirably rotate regardless of the user's intention. In addition, this type mechanism uses a mechanism that rotates the gear with the movement on writing, and the front end of the slider may sometimes slip into the inside of a tip member, and therefore this mechanism is hardly usable.
With respect to a side knocking type-mechanical pencil, a mechanism in which a lead is rotated by pressing a side knocking button has been known. For example, in the mechanism of a mechanical pencil described in Japanese Patent No. 3852172, a slider is moved by pressing a knocking piece, the movement of the slider moves a lead reservoir, the movement of the lead reservoir moves a slide cam, and the movement of the slide cam moves a rotating cam. The rotation of the rotating cam turns the lead reservoir and a chuck member fixed to the lead reservoir.
As mentioned above, conventionally known lead rotating-type mechanical pencils have complicated structures, a large number of parts, and such pencils cannot be produced and assembled at low cost.

Mechanical pencil having lead-rotating mechanism


A valve test apparatus, a solenoid valve test method and a venturi valve test method are provided. The valve test apparatus may include a gas supply unit, a solenoid valve holding unit, a first measurement unit, a venturi valve holding unit, a second measurement unit, a timer unit and/or a power supply unit. The solenoid valve holding unit may be connected to one end of the gas supply unit. The first measurement unit may be connected to the solenoid valve holding unit. The venturi valve holding unit, on which a venturi valve to be tested may be arranged. The venturi valve may be selectively connected to the solenoid valve holding unit together with the first measurement unit. The second measurement unit may be connected to the venturi valve. The timer unit may measure a time interval between when the solenoid valve is activated and when a measured value by the first measurement unit or second measurement unit is equivalent to a desired value.

1. Field of the Invention
Example embodiments of the present invention relate to a valve test apparatus. Other example embodiments of the present invention relate to a valve test apparatus which is capable of testing whether a solenoid or venturi valve is operating normally, a solenoid valve test method and a venturi valve test method.
2. Description of the Related Art
Solenoid valves and venturi valves, which are widely used in semiconductor manufacturing equipment, control the flow of various gases. After prolonged use of such valves, reactive gas particles may be deposited on the inner surface of the valves, in which case, the valves may not operate properly.
When semiconductor manufacturing equipment equipped with a solenoid valve or a venturi valve is determined to be defective, it is difficult to determine whether the cause of the defective semiconductor manufacturing equipment is due to a defective solenoid valve or venturi valve until replacing the solenoid valve or a venturi valve with a new valve. Conventionally, in order to determine whether the semiconductor manufacturing equipment is operating normally, the solenoid valve or venturi valve may be replaced with a new valve. The solenoid valve or the venturi valve may sometimes still be replaced with a new valve, even when the valve is functioning properly. Valve replacement is costly and inefficient, lowering productivity.
In the case of solenoid valves, which are generally used in precision machinery, it takes a shorter amount of time to control the solenoid valves to supply gas. It may be desirous to determine how the amount of time it takes to drive solenoid valves after applying power to the solenoid valves. It may be difficult to precisely measure the time taken for the solenoid valves to actually begin operating. Hence, it may be difficult to determine whether semiconductor manufacturing equipment equipped with the solenoid valves is operating normally.

Valve test apparatus and methods for testing a solenoid valve or a venturi valve


A method for obtaining trajectory of an object using multi-path tracking mode is provided. The method includes marking a portion of the object in a frame of a video, obtaining consecutive frames in the video, and tracking the marked portion of the object in consecutive frames by estimating sum of absolute difference. The method further includes comparing the sum of absolute difference to a sum of absolute difference threshold, switching between the multi-path tracking mode and single path tracking mode based on the comparison of the sum of absolute difference to the sum of absolute difference threshold, and obtaining trajectory of the marked portion by combining the single path tracking mode and multi-path tracking mode.

Video object tracking is a well known method used in several computer vision-guided applications, such as security, monitoring, sports, traffic, healthcare, or the like. However, different applications have different requirements. For example, in traffic monitoring applications, tracking vehicles moving on highway may require analyzing fast moving objects of rectangular shape. Whereas in sports, tracking players and playing objects like football, tennis ball, basket ball, or the like may be desired. In surveillance applications, often objects are of unknown shape and restrictions on the movement of objects may not be applied. In such cases, tracking methods need to be robust with respect to environmental noise.
In an existing video object tracking method, a portion of an object is marked in first frame and the portion of the object that is marked is tracked in consecutive frames. A corresponding point that matches with the marked portion of the first frame within the consecutive frames is determined by minimizing the matching distance based on matching criteria. The matching criteria can be determined using information such as Sum of Absolute Differences (SAD) or sum of squared differences or any other application specific information.
In an existing block based object tracking method (single path tracking), a block representing a portion of an object is marked or detected in the first frame. A best match of the marked portion in the next frame is selected based on the minimum SAD criteria. Similarly, in each consecutive frame, the best match of the marked portion is selected and the trajectory of the block is obtained following the minimum SAD criteria. A disadvantage of the single path tracking method is that, certain errors exist while detecting the best block at each and every frame using the minimum SAD criteria. Such errors occur because of the similar color and pixel intensity of the neighboring blocks present within the frame and such errors will be cumulatively added while detecting the trajectory of the object. Even, if the best block is selected at every consecutive frame using the existing methodology, an optimal solution may not be achieved. The optimal solution may not be achieved because of the fact that the methods according to the related art depend heavily upon the success of the SAD or any other measure based inter-frame point correspondence technique. Such methods produce local maxima which may not achieve the global solution in all cases. Thus, the single path tracking method may not always achieve the optimal trajectory of the object being tracked.
In view of the above discussion, there is a need for a video object tracking method that reduces the error while detecting the minimum SAD in the single path tracking (e.g., best match criteria) to obtain the optimal trajectory of the object in a video stream.
The above information is presented as background information only to assist with an understanding of the present disclosure. No determination has been made, and no assertion is made, as to whether any of the above might be applicable as prior art with regard to the present disclosure.

Video object tracking using multi-path trajectory analysis


In one aspect, one or more processors may be coupled to a content-addressable memory, a first memory and a second memory. The one or more processors may be configured to receive a data packet, read a predetermined number of bytes from the data packet, and match the read bytes to patterns corresponding to rows of the content-addressable memory. Further, the one or more processors may determine a number associated with the matched row, and based on the number, determine an initial routing instruction. The one or more processors may then determine which bits of the read bytes to hash using hash information stored in the first memory, hash the bits to generate a hash value, determine whether the value corresponds to routing information in the second memory, and route the data packet based on the routing information.

In packet switching networks, data packets may be transmitted from one network component to another network component. Each data packet may include one or more packet headers, which contain routing information. The routing information may specify where the data packet is to be routed. Network Interface Controllers (NICs) via network switches use the routing information to deliver each packet to its destination in accordance with a network protocol (e.g., TCP/IP, BGP, DHCP). Most application specific integrated circuits (ASICs) in NICs recognize only a limited number of protocols and usually cannot be modified to accept newly-invented protocols. Thus, data packets with protocols that are unsupported by a NIC's ASIC are processed by NIC firmware at a much slower rate compared to the processing rate of the ASIC. This causes processing bottlenecks and under-utilization of network bandwidth.


An electrical connector assembly is disclosed for terminating the conductors of an electrical cable. A dielectric housing includes a plurality of terminal-receiving passages for receiving a plurality of terminals terminated to the conductors of the cable. A discrete dielectric cover is removably mounted on the housing over a termination end thereof. A discrete dielectric strain relief member is mounted on the housing near the termination end thereof and to which the electrical cable can be fixed. The cover is mounted to the housing independently of the strain relief member, whereby the cover can be removed from the housing without removing the strain relief member and the affixed cable. The strain relief member can be mounted on the housing at a plurality of different locations, whereby the cable can exit the connector from the housing in different locations and orientations.

Electrical connectors are used in a variety of applications wherein an electrical cable, including a plurality of conductors, is terminated to a plurality of terminals in the connector housing. Once the cable is terminated to the housing, there is a tendency to grab onto or hold the connector by means of the cable itself, or even to disconnect the connector by pulling on the cable. Such actions can cause the conductors of the cable to be pulled out of their respective terminals or actually pull the terminals out of the connector housing. Consequently, electrical connectors often have some form of strain relief means for clamping onto the cable so that forces from the cable are transmitted to the strain relief means and, in turn, to the connector housing rather than being transmitted to the terminals terminated to the conductors of the cable.
A typical application of such a system is in automotive assembly line operations wherein bundled wire assemblies are managed as single bundled units. A bundled wire unit may be terminated to a connector to define a wiring harness. The managing and handling of this wiring harness during assembly is often manual and done by way of grabbing the bundle of wires. Therefore, the connectors terminated to the wire bundles are provided with strain reliefs to ensure that when the wires are pulled or handled, the resulting tensile forces are transmitted from the wires through the strain relief means to the housing and not to the terminals.
Known strain relief members have been molded integrally with the connector housing or cover to reduce the number of components associated with the connector assembly. However, integrally molded strain relief members have presented various problems. For instance, one problem associated with integrally molded strain relief members is due to the fact that in some applications, such as in automotive assembly applications, the wire bundles are held to the strain relief members by cable wraps, tape, cable ties or the like. If a particular wire or terminal must be reworked within the connector housing, the entire wire bundle must be unwrapped and untaped from the strain relief member in order to access the particular wire or terminal. After reworking, the entire wire bundle must be reassembled and retaped to the integral strain relief member of the housing. This procedure can be costly in terms of time and labor.
Another problem associated with integrally molded strain relief members is that connector designs often are developed for particular customer applications which have specific configurations that route the wire bundles. While the connector itself may mate with a complementary connector in a given orientation, the wire bundles may have to exit the connector in a particular direction. These varying configurations require that the integral strain relief member be molded in a particular shape or configuration to ensure the customized routing of the wire bundle. These varying configurations and applications necessitate different strain relief and housing designs for each different orientation or location of the strain relief. This is very costly in terms of mold expenses, design time and inventory requirements. Even if a separate strain relief member is provided independent of the connector housing, various design specifications require the strain relief member to be positioned at different locations on the housing and a multiplicity of different housing configurations and resulting mold and inventory costs are incurred.
The present invention is directed to solving these various problems in an electrical connector having a strain relief system for an electrical cable.

Electrical connector with cable strain relief


A fuel pre-filtering element may comprise a casing provided with a fuel outlet, an internal tube, an upper annular element, a lower annular element, a filtering element and a cover. The filtering element may be arranged around the internal tube The upper and lower annular elements may be respectively fixed to the upper and lower ends of the filtering element The filtering element may be arranged inside the casing such that the internal tube establishes a contact with the fuel outlet, the upper annular element is arranged around the fuel outlet and in contact with an upper surface of the casing, and the upper annular element is deformed and forms an annular projection. The annular projection may establish a seal between the internal tube, the fuel outlet and the casing. The arrangement of the filtering element may be inside the casing and further form a region of unfiltered fuel.

It is known that engines that use diesel or biodiesel require special attention in terms of the quality of the fuel to be injected into the combustion chamber. One of the principal concerns relating to quality lies in the quantity of water present in the fuel.
The presence of water in the fuel may give rise not only to corrosion of the internal components of the engine but also may have an impact on fuel consumption, cause premature wear to the injection system, give rise to irregular combustion, etc.
Given the countless problems arising from the presence of water in the fuel, pre-filtering elements are used, these being placed upstream of the engine to be supplied with the fuel.
Currently, vehicles comprise a filter system and a fuel pre-filtering element, this latter providing a first step of removing impurities from the fuel and the water contained therein. Generally arranged behind the driver's cab in trucks the fuel pre-filtering element enables the driver to drain the water that has settled-out on a daily basis.
Inside the fuel pre-filtering element of the present state of the art it is common for there to be a single coalescing filtering means that on its surface collects the drops of water present in the fuel until larger drops form and settle out.
Pre-filtering elements of the state of the art are, furthermore, commonly made from metallic material. Such models have a high manufacturing and disposal cost since they have to be dismantled after scrapping in order for each of the materials of which they are made to receive the correct treatment.
Thus, the present state of the art lacks a fuel pre-filtering element with a novel structural form/arrangement that totally dispenses with the need to use seals, which is manufactured from simple materials that are easy to manufacture and easy to scrap, thus not using metallic materials, and which uses thermoplastic welding in order to hold all the components connected efficiently in fluid and mechanical terms.


A liquid ejecting apparatus includes an ejecting head that is enabled to eject a liquid; a liquid supply portion for supplying the liquid from a liquid supply source to the ejecting head; a holding frame that holds the ejecting head, the liquid supply source and the liquid supply portion; and a movement mechanism that moves the holding frame. The liquid supply portion has a flow channel forming portion that forms a liquid flow channel connecting the liquid supply source and the ejecting head and a flow channel holding portion that holds the flow channel forming portion in a swayable manner.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a liquid ejecting apparatus which ejects a liquid such as an ink.
2. Related Art
Hitherto, as a liquid ejecting apparatus which ejects a liquid, there has been an ink jet-type printer that ejects an ink containing a component with a settling property such as a pigment onto a medium such as a sheet to perform printing.
In this printer, if the ink with the pigment settled down is ejected toward the paper, color irregularities on a printed portion of the paper occur, thereby leading to a possibility of deterioration in printing quality. However, in a case where an ejecting head which ejects the ink reciprocates while ejecting the ink, an ink tube which is connected to the ejecting head is displaced in accordance with a movement of the ejecting head causing the ink in the ink tube to flow so as to suppress settling of the pigment (For example, JP-A-2011-93222).
Incidentally, in the above-referenced printer, although a portion on a downstream side of an ink tube is displaced in accordance with a movement of an ejecting head, the ink does not flow at a portion on an upstream side of the ink tube which is connected to an ink cartridge that does not move, thereby leading to a disadvantage that a pigment settles down.
Such a disadvantage is not limited to the printer which ejects the ink containing the pigment but is substantially common in liquid ejecting apparatuses which eject a liquid of which characteristics are changed by being in a standstill state.


A system to prevent hot air from entering an intake cover is disclosed. The system includes overlapping extended portions disposed on the intake cover and a battery cover. The extended portions are configured to prevent hot air from entering the intake cover and allow water to drain from the intake cover.

The present invention relates to motor vehicles and in particular to a cover for an intake system.
Methods for preventing water from entering an intake system have been previously proposed. Magrini (U.S. Pat. No. 4,212,659) teaches an air intake device for a combustion engine. Magrini teaches a hollow casing having a downward facing intake aperture in which a series of baffle plates, by means of curved downstream end portions, deflect the induced air away from the inlet causing water droplets to collect on the casing roof and fall by gravity into annular water traps which have water discharge openings.
There is a need in the art for a device that prevents water from entering an intake system and also helps reduce hot air from entering the intake system.


Methods for positioning an expandable metal sealing element in the wellbore. An example method includes an expandable metal sealing element having a reactive metal and disposed in a location. The method further includes actuating a washout prevention element, contacting the expandable metal sealing element with a fluid that reacts with the reactive metal to produce a reaction product having a volume greater than the reactive metal, and allowing the washout prevention element to prevent at least a portion of the reaction product from flowing away from the location.

Sealing elements may be used for a variety of wellbore applications including forming annular seals in and around conduits in wellbore environments. Typically, sealing elements comprise swellable materials that may swell if contacted with specific swell-inducing fluids. An example of these swellable sealing elements are swell packers that may form annular seals in both open and cased wellbores. The annular seal may restrict all or a portion of fluid and/or pressure communication at the seal interface. Seal formation is an important part of wellbore operations at all stages of drilling, completion, and production.
Many species of the aforementioned swellable materials comprise elastomers. Elastomers, such as rubber, swell when contacted with a swell-inducing fluid. The swell-inducing fluid may diffuse into the elastomer where a portion may be retained within the internal structure of the elastomer. Swellable materials such as elastomers may be limited to use in specific wellbore environments, for example, those without high salinity and/or high temperatures. The present disclosure provides improved apparatus and methods for sealing elements and for forming seals in wellbore applications.
The illustrated figures are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environment, architecture, design, or process in which different examples may be implemented.

Washout prevention element for expandable metal sealing elements


Fastening device for coupling of blades in agricultural cultivation machines, in particular, tilling machines such as rotary tillers, including an intermediate fastening element, formed by a solid body, which joins the blade to the rotary plate; the intermediate fastening element being equipped with a fastening arrangement for linking the fastening arrangement to the rotary plate; a guiding arrangement for insertion of the blade into the intermediate fastening element; and at least one through hole, extending transversely with respect to the direction of the guiding arrangement and intended for insertion of a retractable pin which, when the pin is inserted, acts as a retaining element for the blade with respect to the intermediate fastening element such that the arrangement enables the user/operator to manually replace and/or reset the tilling blade, avoiding any need for accessory tools commonly used for this purpose.

At present, agricultural cultivation machines, particularly milling and tilling type cultivation machines, comprise a frame provided with a plurality of rotary plates on which blades are attached or linked.
Particularly, the cutting movement of said blades is rotary since the blades are arranged on the diameter of a rotary plate that is integral with a transmission shaft of said rotary movement.
It is known that said blades are linked to the rotary plates by means of common screws, which implies using auxiliary tools for changing or replacing the blades, or, screws with special properties that are particularly designed for this function, and which require a specific type of tool for handling.
The fastening device for coupling of blades in agricultural cultivation machines, which is the object of this invention, resolves the previously mentioned drawbacks, and also provides other additional advantages that will become evident from the following attached description.
The device of the invention is particularly designed for milling or tiller type cultivation machines, wherein the blades are linked on a rotary plate that is part of the actual machine in question. In particular, the cutting movement of said blades is rotary as they are arranged on the diameter of a rotary plate that is integral to a transmission shaft of said rotary movement.
To this end, and more specifically, said arrangement is characterized by the fact that it comprises an intermediate fastening element, made up of a solid body, which links the blade to the rotary plate; with said intermediate fastening element being provided with fastening means for linking it to the rotary plate; guiding means for inserting the blade in the intermediate fastening element; and at least one through hole transverse to the direction of the guiding means, intended for inserting a removable pin which, in an inserted position of said pin, acts like a retention element for the blade with respect to the intermediate fastening element.
According to the characteristics mentioned, the guiding means for inserting the blade consist of at least two opposite grooves arranged partially along the perimeter on the contact face of the solid body with the blade. This way the blade remains inserted inside the guiding means, except for the attacking area or area used for tilling.
Based on the characteristics described, the fastening means of the intermediate attachment element to the rotary plate consist of at least one bore hole for inserting a fastening screw that links the intermediate fastening element to the rotary plate.
Advantageously, and by virtue of the particular characteristics of the described invention, a device is obtained which makes it possible to change the tilling blade manually, without using auxiliary tools (wrenches, hammers, etc.).
It allows for the changeover or replacement of said blade owing to wear or breakage thereof by simply acting manually on the pin that acts as a retaining element.
In order to complete the following description, and to facilitate the comprehension of the characteristics thereof, a sheet of drawings accompanies this specification, which are an illustrative, non-limiting example of the most relevant details of the invention.


A new Ageratum plant, characterized particularly as to novelty by large light violet blue flowers, early flowering, freely branching plant habit and vigorous growth.

The present invention comprises a new distinct cultivar of Ageratum, botanically known as Ageratum houstonianum. The new cultivar is propagated from cuttings resulting from the cross in October 1999 of 'U 43-2' as female parent and 'T393-3' as male parent. 'U 43-2' is not commercially available and has not been patented. 'T393-3' is not commercially available and has not been patented.
As a result of this cross, present cultivar was created in August 2000 in Enkhuizen, Netherlands and has been repeatedly asexually reproduced by cuttings in Enkhuizen, Netherlands, in Gilroy, Calif., and in Sarrians, France over a three-year period. The distinctive characteristics of this new Ageratum are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations of asexual reproduction. It takes 8 to 10 weeks to produce a finished plant, depending on the temperature.
This new Ageratum plant is an annual in most climatical zones in the U.S., only in zones 9 and 10 it is a perennial plant.


The invention concerns a power reserve indicator mechanism for a timepiece of the type comprising:                a mainspring (14),        a power reserve indicator moving between two end positions,        a differential gear (18), and        an intermediate wheel set (32) including first and second parts respectively kinematically coupled to the differential gear (18) and to the indicator and a coupling member coupling said parts, which rotate conjointly while the winding of the mainspring (14) is comprised between its end positions,

The present invention relates to the field of horology. It concerns, more specifically, power reserve indicator mechanisms for a timepiece movement of the type fitted with an energy source formed of a mainspring. In a conventional manner, the mechanism according to the invention includes a frame, a power reserve indicator and a differential gear with a first input coupled to a wheel set driven in rotation when the mainspring is being wound and a second input coupled to a wheel set driven in rotation when the mainspring is let down, and an output coupled to the power reserve indicator. In such a mechanism, the indicator is able to cover a given angle comprised between two end positions, the first of which is occupied when the mainspring is wound and the second, when the spring is let down.

Abstract: Said coupling member includes a friction mechanism arranged such that the first part can move with friction in relation to the second when the indicator has reached its first end position, and an elastic element arranged so as to be able to be cocked when the indicator has reached its second end position, by the movement of the first part with reference to the second part.


A subtitle processing method includes a subtitle parsing step and a subtitle reading step. The subtitle parsing step includes: dividing a subtitle file into a plurality of subtitle blocks, each of the subtitle blocks including a plurality of subtitle contents, each of the subtitle contents corresponding to a subtitle time; generating an index table that records characteristic times of the subtitle blocks. The subtitle reading step, for reading a target subtitle content corresponding to a current time, includes: identifying a target subtitle block corresponding to the current time and the characteristic times recorded in the index table; and reading the target subtitle content of the target subtitle block according to the current time.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates in general to subtitles, and more particularly to a subtitle processing device and associated method and a subtitle parsing method.
Description of the Related Art
Subtitles may be categorized into embedded subtitles and plug-in subtitles. Embedded subtitles are a part of a video file. For example, a video file may include a video section, an audio section and a subtitle section. Such subtitle section cannot be directly accessed by general users. Plug-in subtitles are a file independent from the video file, and can be directly edited by users. For example, users may adjust the time or texts of the plug-in subtitles. There are various formats for plug-in subtitle files, e.g., ".srt", ".smi", ".sub" and ".txt" are some common file extensions of subtitle files. According to different formats, one plug-in subtitle file may include one set or multiple sets of subtitles. One set of subtitles represent a set of complete subtitles of a video. For example, Japanese subtitles, Traditional Chinese subtitles or Simplified Chinese subtitles are individually one set of subtitles. Each subtitle unit of one set of subtitles usually includes a starting time, an ending time and subtitle contents, or associated variations. FIG. 1A shows a schematic diagram of contents of a conventional subtitle file in an ".srt" format. The subtitle file at least includes a subtitle unit 110 and a subtitle unit 120, which respectively includes starting times 112 and 122, ending times 114 and 124, and subtitle contents 116 and 126. When a current playback time of a video reaches the starting time, the corresponding subtitle contents are displayed on a screen; when the current playback time of the video reaches the ending time, the corresponding subtitle contents are cleared from the screen. FIG. 1B shows a schematic diagram of a conventional subtitle file in a ".sub" format. The subtitle file at least includes a subtitle unit 130 and a subtitle unit 140, which respectively include starting time 132 and 142, ending time 134 and 144, and subtitle contents 136 and 146. It should be noted that, the starting time and the ending time are not directly displayed by hour, minute and second, and need to be converted. A basic column 150 records a conversion method. In this example, 25 frames represent 1 second. Thus, the subtitle contents 136 are in fact displayed from the 1st second to the 2nd second, and so forth.
FIG. 2 shows a diagram of configuration of a conventional memory for processing subtitles. A memory 200 is disposed in a playback device, and is for parsing and displaying subtitles. The memory 200 includes a subtitle section 210 and an index section 220. In general, the playback device supports a fixed number of sets of subtitles. Four sets of subtitles are used here as an example. The subtitle contents of these four sets of subtitles are respectively temporarily stored in subtitle sub-sections 212, 214, 216 and 218. The four sets of subtitles have respective corresponding indices respectively stored in index sub-sections 222, 224, 226 and 228. A temporary storage sub-section 211 is for temporarily storing a subtitle unit to be parsed when the playback device parses the subtitle file. Details of purposes of the memory sections are given with reference to a flowchart of processing subtitles. FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of a conventional subtitle parsing method. Before a video is played, a controller (e.g., a microprocessor or a central processing unit (CPU)) of a playback device parses multiple sets of subtitles. During the parsing process, a part of the subtitle file is first temporarily stored in the temporary storage sub-section 211 of the memory 200, parsed subtitle contents of the part of the subtitle file are stored in one of the subtitle sub-sections 212, 214, 216 and 218, and an index is established and stored in the corresponding index sub-section. When the video is later played, the corresponding subtitles are identified from the memory according to the subtitles the user selects and then displayed. More specifically, one of the four sets of subtitle files are obtained from a storage medium (e.g., a flash memory, a hard drive or a solid-state hard drive) at the beginning of a subtitle process procedure (step S310). As the procedure is at an initial phase, the temporary storage sub-section 211 does not contain any data, and so step S320 and step S330 do not have any contents to be recorded. Thus, the subtitle processing procedure omits these two steps and performs step S340. At this point, it is discovered that the temporary storage sub-section 211 does not contain any data, and so step S360 is performed to determine whether the entire subtitle file is already parsed. Because the subtitle file is only starting to be read, a determination result of step S360 is negative and the procedure proceeds to step S370. In step S370, a part of the contents of the subtitle file is read from the memory medium to the temporary storage sub-section 211. In most circumstances, as the size of each subtitle file is greater than that of the temporary storage sub-section 211, one subtitle file needs to be read for a multiple number of times before it can be fully parsed. The subtitle unit then is identified from the temporary storage sub-section 211 (step S350). If the subtitle unit is identified, the subtitle contents of the subtitle unit are stored in the subtitle sub-section 212 (step S320), and the starting time and ending time of the subtitle unit as well as the position of the subtitle unit in the memory 200 in the last step are recorded in the index sub-section 222 (step S330), thus completing parsing one subtitle unit. When the data in the temporary storage sub-section 211 is not yet fully processed (step 340), a next subtitle unit is identified (step S350) until the data in the temporary storage sub-section 211 is fully processed. It is then determined whether the current subtitle file is completely parsed (step S360). If so, it means that the current subtitle file is completely parsed; if not, step S370 is iterated to read another part of the contents of the subtitle file from the memory medium to the temporary storage sub-section 211. Having completed parsing the current subtitle file, the above process is repeated to parse the other three subtitle files, and the data obtained from parsing is filled into the subtitle sub-sections 214, 216 and 218 as well as the index sub-sections 224, 226 and 228.
FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a conventional method for searching for subtitles when playing a video. After starting to play the video, the corresponding index sub-section (e.g., the index sub-section 224) is identified according to the selected subtitles (step S410), the position of the subtitle contents to be displayed in the subtitle sub-section 214 is identified from the index according to the current playback time (step S420), the subtitle contents are read and a playback interface is notified to play the read subtitle contents (step S430), and it is determined whether the video is completely played (step S440). The process ends when the video is completely played, or else contents of next subtitle contents to be displayed are search for.
In conclusion, the memory 200 is an exclusive memory used for displaying subtitles, and has a fixed size that is determined at the time of completing the system and cannot be readily expanded, meaning that the number of sets of subtitles supported cannot be easily increased by later increasing the memory. Thus, the above conventional memory configuration and processing method for subtitles only allow a playback device to support a fixed number of sets of subtitles (e.g., four sets in the above example). Further, in the conventional method, all subtitle contents of one set of subtitles are temporarily stored in the subtitle sub-section, and so one subtitle sub-section usually needs 256 KB or more storage space. Further, information of index table is quite complicated (including the starting time and the ending time of each subtitle unit as well as the position of the subtitle contents in the memory). Therefore, one index sub-section usually needs to occupy 128 KB or more storage space, and about 1.5 MB or more storage space is required to support four sets of subtitles. In addition, the conventional solution stores all of the multiple sets of subtitles supported in different subtitle subsections, and the memory space occupied by three of the four sets of subtitles is equivalently wasted if only one of the four sets of subtitles are used in the playback process. Such issue of waste is aggravated when the number of sets of subtitles supported gets larger.

Subtitle processing device and associated method and subtitle parsing method