The present invention provides telephone line subscribers the benefits of simultaneous ringing service without wasting telephone network resources. When a simultaneous ringing service subscriber's wireline telephone (the primary telephone) receives an incoming call, a service switching point connected to the primary telephone sends a query to a service control point. The service control point then checks the busy/idle status of the primary telephone as well as the subscriber's wireless telephone (the secondary telephone). If the primary and the secondary telephones are idle and can receive the call, the service control point instructs the service switching point to forward the call to a service node. Otherwise, the service switching point is authorized to terminate the call. When the service node receives the call from the service switching point, it generates two calls simultaneously: one to the primary telephone and one to the secondary telephone. As soon as one of the primary and the secondary telephones is picked up, the service node immediately cancels the call to the telephone that has not answered and connects the caller to the telephone that has answered. The service node then remains on the communication link for several seconds before withdrawing from the communication to minimize a “clipping effect” associated with the use of the service node.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunication systems and more particularly to a method and system for preserving service node resources and reducing clipping effect associated with the provision of an advanced intelligent network service such as a simultaneous ringing service.
2. Background of the Invention
Under the current advanced intelligent network (AIN) structure, a typical telephone call originated by a calling party results in the ringing of the called party's telephone unless the called party subscribes to certain AIN services, such as call forwarding, privacy screening, and messaging, each of which manages an incoming call in a unique manner. AIN structures are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,701,301, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
A call forwarding service allows a subscriber to answer a call at a telephone different from the telephone for which the call was intended. For example, a telephone customer with a subscription to a call forwarding service can receive a call intended for his home telephone at any location he desires as long as he remembers to activate the call forwarding service by supplying a forwarding telephone number. Typically, a subscriber would designate a telephone at which he would receive all calls intended for his home telephone. Although the call forwarding service allows the subscriber the opportunity to answer the call, such opportunity does not always materialize. For example, if the person answering a forwarded telephone call is not the subscriber, that person might say "wrong number," and the subscriber would be deprived of the opportunity to accept the call.
If the subscriber has a wireless telephone, he could potentially solve the above-identified problem by designating his wireless telephone to receive all forwarded calls from his home wireline telephone. This "solution," however, creates new problems. For example, if the subscriber, having activated the call forwarding service, returns home without deactivating the call forwarding service and having his wireless telephone turned off, he will not be able to receive any calls. Furthermore, even if the subscriber stays home with his wireless telephone turned on, he would be answering a telephone call intended for his wireline telephone using his wireless telephone. In this situation, the subscriber would be paying a higher wireless telephone bill due to the higher rates associated with wireless services. Similarly, the subscriber might be using his wireless telephone unnecessarily when someone at his home could have answered the telephone intended for the home telephone.
Attempts have been made to solve the above problems by providing simultaneous ringing services to multiple telephones of a customer. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,901 (Harlow) discloses a system for alerting multiple telephones in response to an incoming call to a subscriber's primary telephone. U.S. Pat. No. 5,502,762 (Andrew) discloses a telephone device that, in addition to routing the call to a first telephone, generates additional calls to one or more additional telephones. U.S. Pat. No. 5,802,160 (Kugell) discloses a method in which a telephone service subscriber has greater flexibility in the management of the multiple telephones receiving simultaneous ringing services.
With the exception of Harlow (which does not use a service node), all the above identified prior art patents use up valuable telecommunication resources each time multiple calls are initiated regardless of whether the telephones are busy or idle. For example, three ports are tied up when two simultaneous calls are initiated to telephones that are busy, i.e., unavailable to receive calls. In these prior art inventions, the multiple outgoing calls use up resources even when the subscriber receives no real benefit from the service. For example, when one or more of the call-receiving telephones are busy, in which case a call to the busy telephone or telephones would have been unnecessary, the inventions disclosed in the references would nonetheless initiate calls to these "busy" telephones and thereby use up resources in the telecommunication system. In some cases, the subscriber might also be billed for those unnecessary calls. Furthermore, none of the prior art references identified above helps a subscriber who does not wish to receive calls on any of his secondary telephones when his primary telephones is busy. In summary, none of the references provides a resource-conserving method in which multiple calls are generated only when the primary and the secondary telephones are idle.
Attempts have also been made to use a service node in the advanced intelligent system to place multiple calls simultaneously. One problem associated with using a service node to make simultaneous calls is the so-called "clipping effect" that cuts off the first few seconds of a communication. The clipping effect occurs when the service node withdraws from the circuit after establishing a communication between a calling party and a called party through their service switching points. In addition to being somewhat annoying, the clipping effect could also result in the following negative effects:                (1) The called party does not get an immediate response from the calling party after the called party answers the call. This may cause the called party abandon the call thinking that someone must have dialed a wrong number.        (2) The calling party does not hear anything on her handset for about three seconds after the audible tone stops. This may cause the calling party to abandon the call thinking that the call has been disconnected by the called party.        (3) The called party's answering machine answers the call, and the calling party misses the greeting message. This may cause the calling party to hang up the telephone instead of leaving a message.
There is currently no effective solution for eliminating or reducing the clipping effect caused by call transferring by a service node.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method to conserve service node resources in the provision of AIN services such as simultaneous ringing service. In addition, there is also a need for reducing the clipping effect associated with the provision of AIN services using a service node.

Method and system for preserving service node resources and reducing clipping effect


A multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna operable in a multiband includes a plurality of antenna elements each including a radiator radiating electromagnetic waves, a ground connected to the radiator, at least one switching element mounted in an area of lengthwise direction of the radiator and short-circuiting or opening the area of the radiator.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses consistent with the present invention relate to a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna operable in a multiband. More particularly, the present invention relates to a MIMO antenna which is provided in a miniaturized size and can operate in a multiband.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the demand for multimedia services of high quality using wireless mobile communication technology, a next-generation wireless transmission technique is required to deliver massive data at a higher rate with a lower error rate.
To respond to this, a multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna has been suggested. The MIMO antenna carries out the MIMO operation by arranging a plurality of antenna elements in a specific structure. The MIMO antenna makes the overall radiation pattern sharp and transmits the electromagnetic waves farther by combining the ration pattern and the radiation power of the antenna elements.
Accordingly, it is possible to increase the data transfer rate in a specific range or expand the system range for a specific data transfer rate. The MIMO antenna, which is the next-generation mobile communication technique applicable to various mobile terminals and repeaters, is attracting attention as a new solution to overcome the limited transmission quantity of mobile communications.
However, since the MIMO antenna requires smaller antenna elements to mount them in a small terminal, it is hard to implement using a conventional antenna.
Thus, a small antenna element is needed that can implement the MIMO system in accordance with the miniaturization of the terminal.
In the mean time, development of various wireless communication services available using the wireless terminal are under way such as GSM, PSC, WLAN, WiBro, and Bluetooth. A reconfigurable antenna is required to receive the radio communication services using a single wireless terminal.
To this end, an antenna having a very wide frequency band covering a plurality of service bands or a multiband antenna operating in double or multiple frequency bands is under development.
By implementing the MIMO antenna by arranging a plurality of antennas operable in the multiple frequency bands, an antenna can operate in various service bands and can also transmit data efficiently.
However, the size of the antenna operating in the wide frequency band can be reduced, but may face noise and interference caused by the unused band. In the case of the MIMO antenna which arranges the plurality of antennas, this problem can be more serious.
In contrast, the multiband antenna suffers less noise and less interference than the antenna operating in the wide frequency band, but its size is greater than the antenna operating in one band. As a result, when the plurality of the multiband antennas are arranged, the size of the MIMO antenna increases.


The present invention is directed to ceiling panels formed from a porous scrim that is coupled to an acoustical substrate using a scrim attachment system that includes an adhesive.

Ceiling panels impart architectural value, acoustical absorbency and attenuation, and/or utilitarian functions to building interiors. Typically, ceiling panels may be used in public areas that require noise control, such as in office buildings, department stores, hospitals, hotels, auditoriums, airports, restaurants, libraries, classrooms, theaters, cinemas, and some residential buildings.
Desirable acoustical absorbency and attenuation can be achieved by creating a ceiling panels that exhibits sufficient airflow through the panel. Achieving desirable airflow through the ceiling panel tends to be difficult when balanced against the need to bond individual layers of a multi-layered ceiling panel—such as one having a base substrate and a decorative scrim. Coupling the base substrate and decorative scrim can be achieved by applying an adhesive there-between, however, the adhesive degrades the amount of airflow through the ceiling panel as well as increases flammability risks. Thus, there is a need for a ceiling panel that can not only provide adequate adhesive bonding between multiple layers, but also does not substantially degrade airflow through the ceiling panel while also not increasing risk of flammability or necessitating excessive amounts of fire-retardant.


The collection of aquatic animal eggs during hatchery production is a critical step in the successful rearing of these animals. Currently, the equipment and culture methods do not allow large numbers of animals to be spawned at the same time without several people handling the process. The disclosed invention solves the problem of collecting large quantities of released aquatic animal eggs after spawning many adults at the same time. The apparatus is simple to build, maintain, and repair, and the method of its use requires only one person to handle the spawning of many adults.

This invention relates to an aquatic animal egg collector used for aquatic animals, such as, tropical fish, freshwater animals, saltwater animals, marine life, or aquacultured animals, to improve collection and removal of ova.
Worldwide, the aquarium products industry has grown in value in recent years to become an important component of international commerce. Like other industries involving the sale of live plants and animals, more restrictions are being placed on the collection of wild stock, and more emphasis being placed on the culture of stock already held in captivity.
Approximately 2,000 species of ornamental aquatic plants and animals are traded worldwide, 80% of which could be captive-bred. In 1995, it was estimated that the retail value for the industry worldwide was between 4 and 15 billion dollars, including all ornamental fish equipment, supplies and accessories. The number of tropical fish hobbyists worldwide can be counted in the millions.
The development of a viable tropical ornamental fish industry in the United States requires the development of techniques to breed a wide variety of tropical fish. Aquaculturists, employing a variety of livebearer traps and management techniques to separate adults and fry, have perfected methods to raise large quantities of livebearers. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of egg layers, and more specifically, egg-scattering tropical fish. The obvious differences between the two groups, dictates that entirely different methodologies be developed to breed these fish. Traditionally, breeders use masses of natural or artificial plants, and/or spawning grids made of net like material to protect newly laid eggs. These techniques work well, but they have their limitations.
Present day breeding procedures for aquacultured animals used on fish farms and similar facilities commonly suffer from problems and disadvantages. They require intensive use of skilled labor, large space requirements and the use of time consuming techniques and procedures that result in low yields of offspring and a limitation on rearing certain species of animals.
Most culture facilities use similar methods to spawn the broodstock. The broodstock animals are commonly held in holding tanks of approximately 20 to 30 gallon capacity. Female broodstock have individual ovulation cycles, so it is necessary to determine which females are ready to spawn. This decision is made from the appearance of the female and it is an educated guess when the female is ready to spawn. This is both time consuming and requires a highly skilled technician to make an accurate assessment from his knowledge of the various species of fish. The broodstock animal is examined by the technician and the ones ready to spawn are removed from the holding tank. The selected broodstock are placed in a temporary container until transferred again to each spawning tank. The volume of these tanks will vary depending on the size of the aquatic animal.
Each spawning tank must be checked two or three times a day to see if spawning has begun. As soon as spawning is completed, carnivorous animals must be removed from the spawning tank to prevent cannibalism. The animals are again transferred to a temporary holding container and then back into its holding tank. The broodstock animals are handled at least four times during each breeding period.
After the eggs are spawned, they lie on the bottom of the tank and must be removed with a siphon hose or by pouring the tank water through a screen. These methods can damage the fragile eggs and reduce the number of viable offspring. Additionally, each tank must be handled. This becomes very labor intensive even with a small number of broodstock animals.
There are many disadvantages associated with the standard methods of spawning aquatic animals. There is great inefficiency with these methods because animals may be selected for spawning that are not ready to spawn, and conversely animals that are not selected may spawn in the holding tank and thus wasting the eggs.
The male of some species must be stimulated by the female before it is able to spawn. The selection of unresponsive or infertile males for spawning will result in the wasting of any spawned eggs. To prevent the loss of eggs, it is a common practice to place 2 or more males in a tank with a single female. Any male combined with a female is wasted for the entire period except for the short time when the female spawns. This practice is a waste of broodstock, time and space.
The bloodstock are usually not fed during the induction of spawning, since any uneaten food and fecal material will be a source for bacterial growth. However, the lack of food makes the broodstock animals hungry, which increases the possibly of the eggs being eaten before they can be collected.
Another disadvantage is the mortality associated with frequent handling of the broodstock animals. These animals are the most valuable individuals in a culture operation and their loss can cause major economic and business problems.
Another drawback with the current spawning methods is the need for many highly skilled technicians to handle the hatchery operation. The increased operating costs associated with paying higher wages for trained personnel and needing more employees to handle the labor-intensive procedures can become a major operating cost. These costs must be recovered by increasing the price for the product. If the skill level and number of employees needed to run the hatchery operation can be reduced, then these savings can be passed along to the customer in reduced prices.
There are many devices in the market designed to help culturists spawn livebearing aquatic animals; however, there are no comparable devices to spawn egg-scattering aquatic animals. The only items available are spawning slates/cones, and artificial spawning grass and mats to receive the eggs of substratum spawners.
The Aquatic Animal Egg Collection Apparatus will help the ornamental aquaculture industry expand and develop by providing ornamental fish culturists with an alternative way to produce egg laying tropical fishes. This is a critical segment of the industry that is deficient now.
To overcome the current disadvantages, an egg collection apparatus and method of using the apparatus has been developed to allow the broodstock animals to remain undisturbed in their holding tanks. A natural social arrangement between the males and females allows the maximum spawning of fertilized eggs and prevents the cannibalism of the eggs without having to remove the broodstock from the tank.

Aquatic animal egg collection apparatus, and method of use


A heated insole for a shoe has an insole body and a battery. The insole body has a battery-receiving portion. The battery is configured to be removable from and insertable into the battery-receiving portion while the insole is disposed within the shoe.

Several occupations require employees to endure harsh weather conditions during the winter months. To name a few, soldiers, construction workers, agricultural workers, and law enforcement officers must routinely spend several hours outdoors despite cold, snowy or icy conditions. Others happily brave cold weather in order to enjoy activities such as skiing, hiking, snowshoeing, and sledding. Further, many must bear freezing temperatures after a snowstorm to shovel their car out and to clear accumulated snow from their driveway and/or sidewalk.
Regardless of whether one is exposed to cold weather conditions for work, fun, or chores, most accessorize with coats, boots, hats, and gloves to make the cold weather bearable. In addition to those accessories, heated insoles for shoes have recently been introduced in order to provide heat directly to a wearer's feet. Known heated insoles include electronics located between an insole's layers. The heated insoles include an internal heating pad coupled to an internal battery. The internal battery, due its size, has a limited battery life (e.g., 3-4 hours). In order to charge the electronics, one must connect the heated insole to an electrical power source. This requirement is a hassle for those who desire warmth in excess of the battery life. One must remove the heated insole from the shoe, plug in the insole to recharge its internal battery, wait for the insole's internal battery to recharge, and then re-introduce the insole into the shoe prior to continuing with their activity.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Heated insole with removable and rechargeable battery


The low-profile magnetic device comprises at least one winding formed by a plurality of conductive metal laminations (9) of substantially annular layout, superposed and electrically insulated from each other and with respect to the ferromagnetic core and furnished with appendages (9X) for external connection. The laminations are accommodated in a well (7A) produced in an electrically insulating container (7) inserted into the said ferromagnetic core (1A, 1B) and a sheet of insulating material (11) is disposed between adjacent laminations. Each of the said laminations (9) is furnished, along at least one of its edges, with a plurality of protuberances (9A, 9B, 9C) disposed in such a way that on mutually superposing identical laminations rotated by 180.degree. one with respect to another about a mid-line (M--M) lying in the plane of the lamination, the protuberances of one lamination (9) are angularly offset with respect to the protuberances of the adjacent laminations.

In many applications in the electronics sector, for example in the construction of DC/DC converters, it becomes necessary to produce power transformers of limited thickness. These components present appreciable constructional difficulties since they are required to have very small dimensions, this being achieved with extremely costly structures which are complex to produce. A particular problem is represented by the mutual insulation between turns of the winding and between turns and ferromagnetic core. There are currently various constructional techniques for producing this type of component, based on the use of turns formed by copper conductive laminations suitably varnished to guarantee mutual insulation and insulation with respect to the ferromagnetic core. The application of insulating varnish is a lengthy and complex operation since appropriate insulation requires the application of many coats of varnish. Other techniques provide for the production of wire coils suitably encapsulated so as to be insulated from the ferromagnetic core.
It is also difficult, in ultra-flat transformers, to achieve high copper densities, that is to say a high quantity of copper for equal volume. The high density is necessary for transferring high power.
Examples of ultra-flat transformers obtained by various techniques are described in, amongst other documents, U.S. Pat. No. 5,175,525, U.S. Pat. No. 5,010,314, EP-B-O 435 461.
Problems similar to those of transformers arise in the production of inductive components for electronic circuits. In this case also, it becomes necessary in certain cases to produce low-profile or ultra-flat components.

Ultra flat magnetic device for electronic circuits


An integrated circuit with a high-speed debug access port includes interface circuitry and a dedicated debug port in the interface circuitry. The interface circuitry includes a function circuit block that is used to receive a data packet from external circuitry coupled to the integrated circuit. The dedicated debug port is coupled to the function circuit block and is used to transmit the received data packet to debug circuitry on the integrated circuit. The interface circuitry may include a peripheral component interconnect express (PCIe) interface circuit.

Programmable integrated circuit devices such as field programmable gate array (FPGA) and complex programmable logic device (CPLD) devices may be loaded or configured with a user design to perform any of a variety of functions. Generally, electronic design automation (EDA) tools are used by circuit designers or design engineers to create circuit designs (commonly referred to as user designs) for integrated circuit devices.
When designing a circuit, a circuit designer or design engineer may debug their design using the EDA tool. As an example, the EDA tool may automatically insert debug circuitry into a user design. When the user design is compiled together with the inserted debug circuitry, the user may perform debugging operations on the design via a Joint Test Action Group (JTAG) port available on the integrated circuit device.
Apart from using the JTAG port, the integrated circuit may be debugged via other interfaces such as the Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) interface standard. However, the user or circuit designer may need to include specific debug traffic circuitry, such as multiplexing and demultiplexing circuits, to allow the PCIe interface to be used for debugging purposes.
Additionally, the user may need to set aside addresses within the PCIe device's address space to be used for its debug logic. This may involve adding an additional Base Address Register (BAR) to the user's PCIe function or expanding the size of one of the user's existing BARs. As such, although the PCIe interface may allow relatively faster debugging access compared to the typical JTAG interface, substantial modifications to a user design may be needed in order for the PCIe interface to be used for debugging a user design.

Integrated circuit with a high-speed debug access port


An apparatus and method for canceling crosstalk between 2-channel speakers and two ears of a listener in a stereo sound generation system. The crosstalk canceling apparatus includes a first signal processing unit to cross-mix first and second channel signals with gain and delay-adjusted first and second channel signals, a second signal processing unit to adjust frequency characteristics of the signals mixed in the first signal processing unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present general inventive concept relates to a virtual sound system, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method to cancel crosstalk between 2-channel speakers and two ears of a listener and a stereo sound generation system using the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A stereo sound system disposes a sound source in a predetermined position of a virtual space through a headphone or speaker and provides a directional perception, a distance perception, and a spatial perception as though a sound is actually being heard from a place at which a virtual sound source of the sound is located. Generally, a stereo sound is implemented by a binaural synthesis filter using a head related transfer function (HRTF) that is an acoustic transfer function between sound sources and eardrums. A stereo sound using the binaural synthesis filter shows the best performance when a signal is reproduced through a headphone. However, if the signal is reproduced through two speakers, crosstalk between the two speakers and two ears of a listener occur such that a stereo perception is degraded. Accordingly, a crosstalk canceller cancels the crosstalk between both signals so that a signal reproduced through a left speaker is not heard in a right ear of the listener and a signal reproduced through a right speaker is not heard in a left ear of the listener.
A technology related to this crosstalk canceller is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,668,061 B1 (filed 18 Nov. 1998, entitled, "CROSSTALK CANCELLER").
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional crosstalk canceller. The crosstalk canceller of FIG. 1 is called a lattice structure and includes four filters 142, 143, 144, and 145.
Referring to FIG. 1, a left input signal 140 (BL) is convoluted through a filter 142, and a right input signal 141 (BR) is convoluted through a filter 144. Subsequently, the two convoluted signals are added to each other by an adder 150 and reproduced as a left output signal 152 (SL). In addition, the right input signal 141 (BR) is convoluted through a filter 145, and the left input signal 140 (BL) is convoluted through a filter 143. Subsequently, the two convoluted signals are added to each other by an adder 151 and reproduced as a right output signal 153 (SR).
In the cross-talk canceling method illustrated in FIG. 1, a convolution operation is performed four times with respect to the four filters 142, 143, 144, and 145. Thus, a large amount of computation is required when the order of each filter is high. Accordingly, in the conventional crosstalk canceller, it is difficult to perform convolution in a time domain and convolution should be performed in a frequency domain. However, since convolution in the frequency domain requires a large-size memory, the size of a program must also be increased.

Apparatus and method to cancel crosstalk and stereo sound generation system using the same


A filter element of a filter for liquid, a drainage closure element, a housing part, and a filter are described, wherein the filter element has a filter medium which continuously surrounds circumferentially an element interior relative to a virtual axis and is connected to an axial end body. The end body is provided with a filter element drainage opening surrounding the axis and communicating with the element interior. A filter element sealing surface or filter element seal surface of a filter element sealing device is provided at the end body and continuously surrounds circumferentially the filter element drainage opening. The filter element drainage opening is closed by the filter element sealing device when the filter element is mounted in the filter housing of the filter. The filter element sealing surface or filter element seal surface is axially oriented with at least one direction component relative to the axis.

WO 2013/178680 A1 discloses a filter device, in particular for a motor vehicle, with a filter housing, with a housing cover fastened to the filter housing and comprising a housing cover drainage opening, with a filter element connectable or connected to the housing cover which comprises a filter element drainage opening and, in a state mounted in the filter housing, separates in the filter housing a raw side from a clean side, with a closure element that can be connected or is connected to the housing cover and, in a state mounted at the housing cover, closes the housing cover drainage opening as well as the filter element drainage opening. The closure element comprises a radial seal by means of which the closure element seals, in the state mounted at the housing cover, the raw side relative to the clean side in the filter element drainage opening.

Filter element of a filter for liquid, drain closure element for a drain opening in a filter housing, housing part of a filter housing and filter


Based on an area detection signal, a layer separation section outputs a text component of a document, to a feature point calculating section, and generates four layers from a pictorial component of the document to output the generated layers to the feature point calculating section. The feature point calculating section sums feature points extracted for each component. A features calculating section calculates a hash value based on the feature points. A vote processing section searches a hash table based on the hash value, and votes for a reference image associated with the hash value. Based on the voting result, a similarity determination processing section determines whether the document image is similar to any reference image, and then outputs the determination result. Thus, even if the document contains a photograph, accurate matching can be performed.

The present invention relates to: an image processing method and an image processing apparatus each extracting features of a document image and determining, based on the extracted features, similarity between the document image and a reference image; and an image forming apparatus each including such an image processing apparatus.
Proposed methods for reading a document with a scanner, matching image data, obtained by reading the document, with image data stored in advance, and determining similarity between the images include: a method in which keywords are extracted from images by an OCR (Optical Character Reader), for example, and similarity of the images is determined based on the extracted keywords; and a method in which images, whose similarity is to be determined, are restricted to formatted images having ruled lines, and features of the ruled lines are extracted to determine similarity of the images.
However, in order to accurately determine image similarity in these determination processes, the skew or the like of a document to be read must be preliminarily corrected (i.e., skew correction must be performed), and there arises a problem that image similarity cannot be accurately determined if skew correction cannot be performed. Further, since a process performed in determining image similarity is complicated, it has been difficult to realize the process by hardware. If the similarity determination process is to be realized by a simple algorithm, the process can be easily realized by hardware; however, the determination accuracy cannot be improved, and furthermore, there arises a problem that the resistance to skew or disturbance such as noise becomes insufficient.
To cope with such problems, Non-Patent Document 1 (Tomohiro Nakai and three others, "Document Image Retrieval Based on Cross-Ratio and Hashing", Technical Report of the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, March 2005) discloses a document image similarity determination method capable of accurately determining similarity even if a document image is rotated, or even if data, which does not exist in a reference image, is written. In this method, a document image is binarized to calculate a connected component, the centroid of the connected component is determined as a feature point, surrounding feature points are extracted with respect to a certain feature point, a set of three feature points, for example, are selected from the extracted feature points to calculate the ratios of distances of the feature points, and then a hash value, serving as features, is calculated using a hash function or the like based on a plurality of the calculated ratios. This hash value is stored in a table in association with an index indicative of a document for each plurality of document formats (reference documents) in advance, and document image matching is carried out by voting for a document format corresponding to the hash value calculated from the read (read out) document image and by performing a threshold process on the number of obtained votes. Centroids, each calculated as a feature point, are unlikely to be susceptible to noise or the like, and even if the rotation, parallel movement or the like of a document has occurred, a relative positional relationship between centroids does not change; thus, a similarity determination process unsusceptible to disturbance can be realized by carrying out matching using features based on the ratios of the distances between centroids (feature points).

Image processing method, image processing apparatus, and image forming apparatus


An optical system including a vision device wearable by a user for seeing objects in a field of view (FOV), the vision device comprising a front section with a normal distortion of rays passing therethrough, and an anamorphic optical element extending from the front section that distorts rays passing therethrough with an extended distortion greater than that of the front section and which enlarges the FOV.

Enlarging peripheral vision is necessary for many applications, such as motorcycle or bicycle riders, divers, sport players, etc. Human vision has the ability to detect moving objects up to 100° off the direct view or 200° with both eyes, but is limited beyond this range. To overcome this limitation, devices such as side view mirrors are used, which have a small field of view (FOV) and enable seeing objects behind the back. In cars it is very simple to implement these mirrors, while in motorcycles and other vehicles it is more complicated. It is also known to place rear view mirrors in helmets and eyeglasses. Rear view mirrors have drawbacks. They obscure some of the forward FOV. The reflected FOV is very small. They tend to be cumbersome and hard to adjust.


An outrigger having a locking mechanism includes an elongated member having a distal end, a proximal end, and a threaded portion proximate the distal end; a moveable member operably associated with the elongated member; and a slide lock operably associated with the moveable member. The thread portion may have at least one flat side and the slide lock may have at least one flat portion. The at least one flat side and the at least one flat portion may engage such that the slide lock translates along, but not rotate about, the threaded portion. The slide lock may engage a surface of the clamp. The moveable member may move the slide lock towards the clamp such that the engagement portion engages the surface of the clamp. The connection between the engagement portion and the surface of the clamp may prevent the slide lock from rotating relative to the clamp.

Outriggers typically form part of an external fixation system and are usually attached to a clamp which holds one or more wires, pins, screws, rods, bars and/or rings. Threads on one end of the outrigger have been used to attached the outrigger to a clamp. Such a construction, however, may allow the outrigger to loosen and/or separate from the clamp after a surgical procedure. Therefore, it is desirable to have an outrigger incorporating a locking mechanism which prevents the outrigger from loosening and/or separating from a clamp after surgery.


An accelerometer for sensing velocity changes particularly suited for passenger restraint systems in a motor vehicle for the deployment of an air bag includes a housing with contact blades and a magnetically biased contacting element. The contacting element is arranged to move toward the contact blades when a deceleration exceeding a threshold level is sensed. A cylindrical permanent magnet is used to bias the contacting element. The magnet is contained in an insert, and a seal is disposed between the insert and the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a velocity change sensor or accelerometer used in motor vehicles for detecting sudden changes in velocity and for activating in response a passenger restraining device such as an air bad. More particularly, this device includes an element which moves to a preset position in response to a sudden deceleration to activate a pair of contact blades.
2. Background of the Invention
Studies have been made which indicate that injuries in motor vehicle accidents, especially at high speeds, can be substantially reduced or eliminated by the use of passenger restraint systems. (The term "passenger" is used to cover the driver of a car as well.) These systems include an inflatable balloon usually termed an air bag which normally is stored away in the instrument panel or the steering wheel. When the motor vehicle is subjected to a sudden deceleration, the air bag is inflated and is deployed automatically in a position which cushions the passengers, restrains their movement and prevents contact between them and the automobile interior such as the windshield, the steering wheel, the instrument panel and so on. Of course, a crucial element of all such systems is the velocity change sensor or accelerometer which initiates the inflation and deployment of the air bags. The motion of the motor vehicle must be carefully and precisely monitored so that the air bags can be deployed very fast, before the passengers suffer any substantial injury.
A velocity change sensor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,549 assigned to the same company as the present invention. This sensor comprises a tubular housing surrounding a metallic shell, a metal ball and a magnet biasing the ball toward a first end of the shell. At the second end of the shell there is a pair of electrical contact blades. The sensor is positioned in the motor vehicle in an orientation such that when the motor vehicle experiences a deceleration which exceeds a preset level, the ball moves from the first toward the second end, making contact with the two blades. Because the blades and the ball are made of an electrically conducting material, when the ball contacts the blades, an electrical path is established between the two blades. This electrical path is used to initiate a signal for the deployment of the air bags.
One problem with the device shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,329,549 is that it requires a relatively large magnet.

Velocity change sensor with a cylindrical magnet


A continuous downstacker apparatus is operable for continuously stacking product in a predetermined stacked pattern. The downstacker apparatus includes a pair of lowerating-pushing heads which continuously move in a vertical elliptical walking beam pattern for receiving, stacking and pushing stacked product from a stacking chamber. The product is delivered to the stacking chamber by conveyor means and the lowerating-pushing heads are shiftable on a support frame for vertical and horizontal components of movement during the stacking and pushing cycle.

In the art of product handling apparatus, there is a group of product stacking devices known as down stackers. These downstacker devices receive product (usually cartons or packages) from an infeed conveyor that is operable to provide a space or gap between adjacent cartons. The space between adjacent products is usually a gap approximating the products length. The product is delivered to a stacking chamber by the conveyor and the product is dropped onto lowerating device which moves downwardly as the product comes in. Once the stacking chamber has the proper number of vertically stacked product in it, the incoming products are then clamped to a stop while a pusher mechanism pushes the accumulated product out of the stacking The pusher then retracts and the lowerating mechanism cycle starts over again. This continues until the proper number of stacks are accumulated in the stack accumulation area at which time the stacked product may be loaded into a case mechanically or hand packed off as desired. These prior art downstacker devices involve an interrupted operation and are not continuous.


An apparatus and method for synthesizing low-noise, high stability, multi-frequency microwave signals is disclosed. The output frequencies of a lower frequency, low-noise, synthesizer are upconverted to higher microwave frequencies by mixing these frequencies with the output frequency of an ultra low noise microwave oscillator, determined by a very high Q resonator. Such resonators exhibit large frequency dependence on temperature, but the frequency of an ultra low noise microwave oscillator cannot be stabilized by phase-lock to a stable reference because of its very narrow voltage-controlled frequency tuning range, caused by the very high Q of the resonator. The microwave synthesizer output frequency stabilization is achieved by a novel phase-lock loop which uses the frequency tunability of a low noise SAW oscillator to compensate for the frequency drift of the microwave oscillator. The system does not require the very precise temperature control of a high Q resonator that otherwise would be needed to control the output frequency of a microwave synthesizer.

The continuing increase in sophistication of radars and communication systems has created the need for very low noise microwave frequency synthesizers for local oscillator and exciter applications.
The present state-of-the-art in low noise frequency synthesis is dominated by direct analog synthesizers. This architecture is based on frequency addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Components used in direct analog synthesizers are low-noise oscillators, high stability accurate reference oscillators, amplifiers, frequency multipliers, frequency dividers, mixers, filters and switches. In a mathematical description of direct analog synthesis, mixing is represented by frequency addition or subtraction while generation of harmonic and subharmonic frequencies is represented by multiplication and division, respectively. Closed loop techniques (such as phase-lock or frequency-lock loops) are used in direct analog synthesizers to perform the ancillary functions of frequency synchronization and/or frequency stabilization.
One of the disadvantages of direct analog synthesis is that the low-noise oscillators such as surface acoustic wave (SAW) oscillators.sup.(1), surface transverse wave (STW) oscillators.sup.(2) and crystal oscillators operate at lower frequencies. Specifically, the highest output frequency of low noise crystal oscillators is approximately 100 MHz and the highest output frequency of low-noise SAW and STW oscillators is approximately 1000 MHz. Thus, either frequency multiplication, frequency upconversion or a combination of both are needed for direct analog synthesis of microwave frequencies. In frequency multiplication the phase noise of a low-noise oscillator is degraded by 20.multidot.log(N)dB where N is the frequency multiplication factor. In frequency upconversion, the output frequencies of a lower frequency direct analog synthesizer are upconverted to microwave frequencies by mixing the frequencies of the direct analog synthesizer with the output frequency of a low-noise microwave oscillator or the output frequency of a low-noise lower frequency oscillator followed by a frequency multiplier. Two examples are presented to illustrate the phase noise performance of prior art microwave direct analog synthesizers.
A prior art X-Band direct analog synthesizer 10 is shown in FIG. 1. It consists of a set of four SAW oscillators F1-F4 that are selected either one or two or three at a time by the switch matrix 12 to synthesize 64 equally spaced output frequencies. The frequencies F1, F2, F3, F4 of the SAW oscillators are equally spaced, the spacing being equal to the output frequency spacing F.sub.S of the synthesizer. This relationship is expressed as EQU F4-F3=F3-F2=F2-F1=F.sub.S (1)
All the oscillators must be energized if short frequency switching and settling times are required. The output signal of one selected oscillator is amplified by amplifier 14 and connected to the input of a times-four frequency multiplier 16 the output of which is connected to the first mixer 18. The second signal to this mixer 18 is the direct output of another (or the same) selected oscillator after amplification in amplifier 15. The output signal from mixer 18 is filtered by band-pass filter 20 to yield the sum of these two frequencies. This sum frequency signal is applied to the input of amplifier 22 followed by the second mixer 24 where its frequency is added to the 16th harmonic of the frequency of another (or the same) oscillator selected by switch matrix 12 and amplified in amplifier 26, and multiplied times sixteen by frequency multiplier 28, and amplified in amplifier 30. The sum frequency signal at the output of mixer 24 is filtered by the second band-pass filter 32 and amplified by amplifier 34. This is the output signal F.sub.o of the synthesizer 10.
As shown in the diagram of FIG. 1, all the SAW oscillators F1-F4 are phase-locked by separate narrow band phase-locked loops (PLLs), with a loop bandwidth of approximately 100 Hz, to frequency F.sub.S derived from frequency F.sub.R of the reference oscillator 36 divided by an integer K. The purpose of the PLLs is to accurately control the absolute frequency of each SAW oscillator without affecting its phase noise to ensure that all the oscillators operate at frequencies that are integer multiples of frequency F.sub.S, which is equal to the output frequency spacing of the synthesizer. Phase locking each oscillator to a common frequency is necessary in order to minimize generation of spurious frequencies in the synthesizer and to control the absolute accuracy of each output frequency of the synthesizer. The frequency of each SAW oscillator must therefore be selected to be an integer multiple of frequency F.sub.S. The signal at frequency F.sub.S is fed to the PLL blocks associated with each of the SAW oscillators. Each PLL includes a phase detector which has the frequency F.sub.S as one of its input signals. The other input signal to each of the PLL phase detectors is derived by dividing the frequency of the corresponding SAW oscillator by an integer chosen to make the output frequency of the divider equal to F.sub.S. The phase detector output signal of each PLL is fed to the frequency tuning port of the corresponding SAW oscillator through appropriate loop amplification and filtering. To ensure that the PLLs do not lose lock as a result of SAW oscillator frequency drift over temperature, the temperature of each SAW oscillator is controlled to reduce its frequency drift to a value that is less than its frequency tuning range. SAW oscillator frequency also drifts over time due to aging of components but this drift is typically much smaller than the drift over temperature and will not be considered in this discussion.
If the frequencies of the four SAW oscillators are F.sub.i (i=1,2,3,4) then the output frequency F.sub.o of this synthesizer is given by: EQU F.sub.o =Fi+4Fj+16Fk i,j,k=1,2,3,4 (2)
Assuming that the phase noise levels of all the SAW oscillators are identical, the highest phase noise at the output of the synthesizer occurs when i=j=k. Under this condition EQU F.sub.o =Fi+4Fi+16Fi=21Fi (3)
meaning that the output frequency is the 21st harmonic of the selected SAW oscillator frequency and that the cumulative phase noise at the output of the synthesizer is the phase noise of the SAW oscillator increased by 20.multidot.log(21) dB, which is equal to 26.4 dB. Other synthesizer components may degrade this noise further.
Consider, for example, a synthesizer with 64 X-band frequencies spaced by 10 MHz, from 9870 MHz to 10500 MHz. This would require SAW oscillator frequencies of 470, 480, 490 and 500 MHz. Since the phase noise of a very low noise 500 MHz SAW oscillator is -167 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier, an increase of 26.4 dB yields phase noise of -140.6 dBc/Hz. Because of all other noise contributors (amplifiers, mixers, switches, etc.) the predicted phase noise at the output of this microwave synthesizer is typically -139.6 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier.
Another prior art direct analog synthesizer topology is shown in FIG. 2 wherein like components to those in FIG. 1 will not be further described (for simplification) and are designated by the same reference numeral with a zero suffix. In this topology the L-band output frequency of a direct analog synthesizer 100 (similar to the one in FIG. 1), capable of generating 16 frequencies (e.g. 1450 MHz to 1600 MHz, spaced by 10 MHz), is mixed with a microwave frequency F.sub.M (e.g. 8.5 GHz) of a low-noise microwave oscillator 400, in this example a dielectric resonator oscillator (DRO). The key components of the DRO are a low phase noise microwave amplifier, a dielectric resonator and a voltage-tuned phase shifter for the DRO's frequency tuning. The output frequency (9950 MHz to 10100 MHz, spaced by 10 MHz) which is the sum of both the L-band synthesizer and the DRO frequencies, is filtered by the band-pass filter 320 and the output signal F.sub.o is amplified by the output amplifier 340. Similarly to FIG. 1, the frequencies of the 4 SAW oscillators and of the DRO are stabilized by phase locking each oscillator to a high stability reference oscillator 420 (e.g. a crystal or other high stability oscillator). As in FIG. 1, the design (including temperature control)of all the oscillators must be controlled to ensure that the frequency drift with temperature and aging effects of each oscillator do not exceed the voltage-controlled frequency tuning range of each oscillator.
Assuming that the 8.5 GHz dielectric resonator in oscillator 400 is made of Barium Tetratitanate, its unloaded Q (Q.sub.U) is approximately 5000 which results in 3 dB bandwidth of 3.4 MHz when critically coupled to the oscillator circuit. This provides a useful voltage-controlled frequency tuning range on the order of .+-.850 kHz. Since resonators of this type are available with numerous values of frequency/temperature relationships, an average value of 2 ppm/.degree. C. (or 17 kHz/.degree. C.) is arbitrarily selected for this example. For an operating temperature range of 100.degree. C. the DRO frequency drift is 1.7 MHz without frequency stabilization. Therefore, if a PLL is used for DRO frequency stabilization and a linear frequency versus temperature relationship is assumed over the operating temperature range, the temperature range of the DRO must be reduced to less than 50.degree. C. to ensure that the PLL does not lose lock. This 50.degree. C. range requires very simple temperature control.
However, the advantage of wide oscillator frequency tuning range provided by low Q resonators is offset by the disadvantage of relatively poor phase noise performance. The predicted phase noise of this DRO is approximately -115 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier, caused primarily by the low Q.sub.U (5000) of the resonator. Since the predicted phase noise of the L-band direct analog synthesizer 100 is -152 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier, the predicted cumulative phase noise of the microwave synthesizer is limited by the phase noise of the DRO to -115 dBc/Hz at 10 kHz offset from the carrier.
The phase noise of the microwave synthesizer topology in FIG. 2 can be reduced significantly by use of ultra low noise microwave oscillators incorporating very high Q microwave resonators and very low phase noise microwave amplifiers (amplifiers with phase noise of -160 dBc/Hz or lower at 10 kHz offset from the carrier). Examples of very high Q resonators include sapphire "whispering gallery" resonators.sup.(3), sapphire disc resonators in enclosures lined with high temperature superconducting (HTS) films.sup.(4), and Distributed Bragg Reflector resonators.sup.(5). The measured Q.sub.U of X-band whispering gallery resonators is 200,000 at room temperature (300 K) and 20,000,000 at 77 K (with cryogenic cooling). The Q.sub.U of an X-band sapphire disc resonator in an enclosure lined with HTS films is 300,000 at 77 K and the Q.sub.U of an X-band Distributed Bragg Reflector resonator is approximately 600,000 at 300 K. As an example, the predicted phase noise of a 10 GHz whispering gallery resonator oscillator at 10 kHz offset from the carrier can be as low as -142 dBc/Hz at 300 K and -159 dBc/Hz at 77 K. Close to the carrier phase noise of these oscillators can be reduced significantly with frequency-locked noise degeneration loops.sup.(6). However, these loops do not impact the problem solved by this invention.
Many very high Q resonators exhibit a large frequency dependence on temperature. For example, the reported frequency variation of a 10 GHz sapphire whispering gallery resonator is 70 ppm/K.sup.(7) or 700 kHz/K at 300 K and 11.5 ppm/K.sup.(8) or 115 kHz/K at 77 K. The frequencies of oscillators using very high Q resonators cannot be stabilized by phase-locking to stable reference oscillators because the high Q values of the resonators result in oscillator voltage-controlled frequency tuning ranges that are much smaller than the frequency drift of the respective resonators over temperature. For example, for an X-band whispering gallery resonator Q.sub.U values of 200,000 at 300 K and 20,000,000 at 77 K, the 3 dB bandwidths are 100 kHz and 1 kHz, respectively, when critically coupled to the oscillator circuit. Under the condition of critical coupling, the loaded Q (Q.sub.L) of the resonator is equal to Q.sub.U /2. Since the effective voltage-controlled frequency tuning range of an oscillator can be realized over approximately 50% of the resonator's 3 dB bandwidth, the tuning range of the oscillator is .+-.25 kHz at 300 K and .+-.250 Hz at 77 K. Consequently, to phase-lock a whispering gallery resonator oscillator to a stable reference, the temperature range of the resonator must be reduced with temperature control not to exceed 0.035K at 300 K and 0.002K at 77 K. Such stringent temperature control requirements are impractical in most frequency synthesis applications.
A need exists, therefore, for a more practical ultra low noise microwave oscillator frequency stabilization method to facilitate the use of these oscillators in ultra low noise microwave synthesizers.


A one way clutch and synchronizer assembly includes a stationary member having a plurality of clutch struts and camming surfaces, a second circular selector member, an third rotating controlled member and a fourth stationary member. The selector member includes apertures or windows through which the clutch struts may pass to engage the rotating member and camming surfaces which provide a selective frictional coupling between the stationary members and the rotating member. A bi-directional hydraulic or electric actuator selectively, bi-directionally rotates the selector member.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may or may not constitute prior art.
Modern multiple speed automatic transmissions commonly employ a plurality of planetary gear sets having sun gears, planet gear carriers and ring gears which are permanently coupled together or selectively interconnected by clutches or grounded by brakes to achieve reverse gear and a plurality of forward gear ratios.
While the foregoing described components provide the fundamental and necessary reverse and forward speeds or gear ratios, automatic transmissions must also include control devices and components which select the desired or required gear ratio and facilitate shifts, both when the vehicle speed is increasing (upshifts) and when the vehicle speed is decreasing (downshifts).
A downshift may be required and may occur during two primary operating conditions: when the driver signals the engine and control components that rapid acceleration is desired, for example, in a passing situation, by fully depressing the accelerator pedal and when the vehicle is coasting and decelerating. In the former condition, there is invariably sufficient data available upon which the control components will base a decision to command a downshift. In the latter condition, however, the data will be more subtle and the decision to downshift as well as the transmission components which affect the downshift must operate smoothly and with a minimum of torque flow disruption.
The present invention is directed to a one way clutch and synchronizer having particular applicability to automatic transmissions which provides smooth and improved downshifts during periods of vehicle coasting and deceleration.

One way clutch and synchronizer assembly


A plurality of element forming regions and an element isolation structural section forming region which separates the plurality of element forming regions from one another, are set to a substrate. A first thermal oxide film is formed. An HfSiON film is formed. Heating processing is done. A silicon nitride film is formed. A trench is formed which extends from an upper surface of the substrate, corresponding to the element isolation structural section forming region to within the substrate. A trench oxide film is formed. A precursor embedded oxide film is formed. The precursor embedded oxide film is removed as a height lower than the upper surface of the silicon nitride film. Then, the silicon nitride film is removed. The HfSiON film and the first thermal oxide film are removed. A second thermal oxide film is formed on an exposed surface of the substrate from which the HfSiON film and the first thermal oxide film are removed. An embedded portion is formed as the same height as that of the exposed surface of the substrate.

The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing an element isolation structural section, particularly, a so-called Shallow Trench Isolation (hereinafter called simply "STI") which separates a plurality of elements built in a semiconductor substrate from one another.
With developments in a semiconductor micro-fabrication technique, an element isolation method using a conventional LOCOS method is encountering difficulties in building element forming regions (hereinafter also called simply "active regions") with elements formed therein in thin widths and with satisfactory accuracy. In order to resolve such a problem, a shallow trench has been formed in a semiconductor substrate and element isolation based on an STI with the trench buried by a silicon oxide film has been carried out.
In a film structure removal process employed in an STI manufacturing method, however, a wet etching step has often been performed in general. Due to this wet etching, an unwanted recess called a divot often occurs in the neighborhood of a boundary between the STI and each active region.
When the divot occurs in the STI, for example, a film material for a polysilicon film formed in a gate electrode forming step remains within the divot. In doing so, there is a fear that the electrical characteristic of an element formed in each active region is degraded.
If an attempt is made to remove the film material having remained in the divot, then so-called overetching is carried out. There is however a fear that due to the overetching, for example, a gate oxide film formed in active region is damaged and the electrical characteristic of each element is degraded.
In order to solve such problems of STI associated with the divots, various STI manufacturing methods have been proposed.
There has been known, for example, a method for manufacturing an STI which has a trench having two-stage tapered angles, which is formed on a semiconductor substrate, a thermal oxide film formed in side and bottom faces of the trench, thermal oxide film sidewalls and a CVD oxide film both of which bury the trench, a gate oxide film, and gate polysilicon which covers the gate oxide film, the thermal oxide film sidewalls and the CVD oxide film from above, and wherein the thermal oxide film sidewalls protect upper end portions of the trench from the gate polysilicon (refer to a patent document 1 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2000-022153)).
According to the STI manufacturing process disclosed in the patent document 1, there are no disclosed the formation of a so-called pre-oxide film (sacrifice oxide film) corresponding to processing for cleaning a substrate surface at the formation of the gate polysilicon, its removal, and a height alignment step for allowing the heights of field and active regions immediately before the formation of the gate polysilicon to coincide with each other and planarizing them. Thus, there is a fear that the above problems associated with the divots cannot be resolved even depending on such a manufacturing process.
A problem also arises in that the manufacturing process is complex and the number of manufacturing steps increases.

Method for manufacturing element isolation structural section


An exercise device that simulates a striding action includes a base. Four linkages support two independently swingable side-by-side foot platforms from spaced apart front and rear supports secured to uprights that are connected to the base. The front and rear supports are positioned with respect to the foot platforms to substantially match the swing length of a person's leg. The distance between the front and rear supports is less than the distance between the front and rear pivots on the foot platforms. Outwardly extending handles are integral with the foot, platforms and are spaced farther apart than the distance between the foot platforms. The rear of each foot platform is slightly elevated with respect to its front.

This invention relates in general to exercise equipment and in particular to a low impact exercise device that simulates a full range of natural striding motion including aggressive striding. It also relates to a striding exercise device that is useful in performing upper body workouts.
The prior art includes a great number of exercise devices that simulate walking, a form of low muscle stress exercise that nearly everyone can perform The beneficial effects achievable by walking are in proportion to the effort expended. The well-known treadmill exercise machine exemplifies such apparatus.
Recently a variety of exercise devices that impose low or minimal impact on the user's knees and legs have become popular. While such devices generally provide some aerobic benefit, they often constrain the user's legs into a very unnatural locked-knee position. In such devices, the user stands on swingably mounted platforms that, for safety reasons, are interlocked to prevent both platforms from simultaneously moving in the same direction. While the interlocking reduces the danger of the user being placed in a precarious position, it unnaturally constrains the user's arm and leg motions and precludes long, natural, as well as aggressive, striding movements.
Handles that are linked to the foot platforms, either directly or indirectly, assist the user in maintaining balance. Even so, the combined foot and arm movements of the devices rarely simulate a natural striding motion. While a treadmill does simulate walking, it imposes impact loading on the user's body, especially on the knees and legs. For many users, this impact loading is undesirable and may even be detrimental.
The prior art also includes a number of so-called cross country skiing machines which attempt to simulate the body movements of a cross country skier. While such machines can provide a very strenuous low impact workout for the user, they are difficult to master, requiring a degree of user skill and balance similar to the sport itself.
The prior art devices generally constrain the range of movement to a small safety zone to preclude the user getting into an unbalanced and precarious position. The limited movements permitted in these devices do not allow for a long, natural striding motion, much less aggressive striding motions, nor do they enable any significant weight transfer to the arms, which is necessary to obtain an upper body workout.
With the exercise device of the present invention, a full range of striding motion is very closely simulated while impact on the user's body is practically eliminated. Significantly, the aerobic effect experienced is readily controllable by merely accelerating the striding action and lengthening the stride, precisely as can be done when aggressively striding. However, unlike striding, with the inventive device a user can lean backward and forward to transfer significant weight to his am without loss of balance or control This not only increases the aerobic effort and enables an upper body workout, but also varies the muscle groups that are being exercised.
The inventive device is very comfortable and easy to learn and use, imparting a feeling of balance and stability to even the most novice of users. It also readily accommodates users of different strength and agility. Further, different muscles may be exercised by elevating on one's toes, bending one's knees or by grasping different portions of the handles. The handles move integrally with the foot platforms, in a natural manner, without requiring any linkage or interconnection between the handles or between the foot platforms, which are independently swingable.


A method to efficiently make flaskless upper and lower molds that are stacked, to efficiently spray a release agent in a closed space, and to promptly place a core. The method includes the steps of holding a match-plate between one pair of cope and drag flasks that are horizontally positioned, each of them having a sand-filling port for supplying molding sand at its side wall, defining upper and lower molding spaces by inserting upper and lower squeeze-plates in respective openings of the pair of cope and drag flasks which openings are opposed to the match-plate, putting the pair of cope and drag flasks and the match-plate in a vertical position, and causing the sand-filling ports to be placed in an upper position, spraying a release agent into the two upper and lower molding spaces, supplying molding sand through the sand-filling ports to the two upper and lower molding spaces, and squeezing the molding sand in the two upper and lower molding spaces.

Molding machines that make flaskless upper and lower molds are publicly known. It comprises a compressing station and a stripping station. The compressing station is placed above a base and squeezes molding sand in a direction that is horizontal and parallel to the surface of the base floor. The pulling out station is placed near the base floor and matches upper and lower molds and strips molding flasks in a direction vertical to the surface of the floor. The machine gets two pairs of cope and drag flasks to intermittently and alternately reciprocate between the compressing station and the stripping station so as to make flaskless upper and lower molds.
However, the conventional molding machine to mold flaskless upper and lower molds has a problem such as insufficient molding efficiency. Especially, a release agent is sprayed in a closed space at the final stage, and the concern has been that the release agent may not be dried sufficiently. Therefore, this is one of the reasons that the next step cannot promptly begin. Also it has been a problem that it is difficult to quickly place a core in the mold (see Japanese Patent Publication of Examined Application No. S62-16736).

Method for making flaskless upper and lower molds, an apparatus therefor, and a method for placing a core


A computer-implemented method and apparatus prevents unsecured access to a computer over a network by a client running on a remote computer. In one aspect of the present invention, a client policy is stored on the remote computer. The client policy includes a configuration of the remote computer that reduces the likelihood of a security breach of the computer as a result of the remote computer accessing the computer. A request is received from a user for access to the computer. It is verified that the remote computer conforms with the client policy, and the client is connected to said computer.

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) is a private network created over a public network where exclusive client and host communications occur. A conventional VPN connects users or sites over a public network, usually the Internet. Virtual privacy is derived from secure tunnels that encapsulate the data as it moves across the shared lines. The VPN enables a user to securely send data between two computers across a shared, public network in a manner that emulates the security properties of a private point-to-point link.
However, the conventional protocol for a remote access (RA) client (a client for creating an Internet connection) communicates the login credentials of the users in an unsecured fashion. If a user maintains identical login credentials for RA authentication and VPN authentication, then the VPN is compromised if the user's RA credentials are stolen. Accordingly, a VPN using a conventional VPN client is vulnerable to the extent the user's RA credentials are vulnerable.
FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate the conventional RA authentication methods and security levels. RA client 10 running on computer 11 accesses server 90 over Internet 40. For example, a typical Internet dial-up connection uses either Password Authentication Protocol (PAP) or Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) over Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) for transporting user credentials to the Internet service Provider's (ISP's) dial access server 30 or network access server (NAS) 42. Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) is used to transport user credentials between the NAS, the ISP and server 90. PAP transmits user identification (ID) and password credentials in clear text between the personal computer 11 (PC) and the NAS. Between the NAS and the RADIUS server, the username is in the clear (i.e., not encrypted), followed by a hashed password using a shared secret setup between the NAS and the RADIUS server.
CHAP utilizes a three-way handshaking process. Once the link has been established, the server sends a challenge message to the originating device. The originating device responds back with a value that is calculated using the user password and a one-way hash function. The server checks the response against its own calculation of the expected hash value. If the values match, the authentication is accepted. CHAP transmits user ID in clear text, but a hash of the password. RADIUS transmits the user name in clear text followed by a hashed password using a shared secret setup between the NAS and the RADIUS server.
One or more ISPs may be involved in the authentication transaction, especially when cross-provider network roaming services are being used. In these situations, the RADIUS protocol is normally used for relaying authentication requests and responses between authentication entities. In these transactions, the user ID is normally transmitted in clear text, although the password is transmitted in encrypted form. However, the password is decrypted and re-encrypted at each ISP involved in the transaction.
Even when the user is accessing the Internet via a wireless networking (Wi-Fi) hotspot, roaming broadband or some other method, and the initial hop of the authentication process secures the user's ID and password via Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) encryption, the ID and password must still be decrypted by the local ISPs before being transmitted via RADIUS. Thus even in these situations, encrypted user ID and passwords are not necessarily protected from theft. In fact, the user ID and password are subject to theft whenever they are communicated in clear text, whether by unscrupulous ISP employees, or others who have hacked into the ISP network. These conventional RA authentication processes are shown in FIG. 3. Accordingly, RA credentials are vulnerable to compromise, potentially leading to theft of Internet access services, and compromise of a VPN accessed by credentials identical to the RA credentials.
Two security products created for authenticating connections to local area networks (LANs) are called ACESERVER and SECUREID (marketed by RSA Security, Inc. an industry leading authentication products supplier). These two products are a tightly coupled system. The SECUREID is a pseudo-random number generator, which outputs a new value every minute. When a SECUREID user is authenticating their login they input their user ID as usual. However instead of entering a reusable password, they enter a personal identification number (PIN) as well as the then-current random number displayed on the SECUREID device. The combination of a pseudo-random number and a PIN is often referred to as a passcode. The authentication request is transmitted over the network (or networks) and ultimately to the ACESERVER. The ACESERVER applies an algorithm to determine what the then-current random number should be for that user and then makes an authentication decision.
The ACESERVER supports a periodic administratively forced PIN reset functionality just as other authentication applications support administratively forced password reset functionality. This is called a "New PIN Challenge." When a PIN reset is required, instead of acknowledging the authentication request, the ACESERVER sends a "New PIN" challenge command to the user. The ACESERVER also supports a periodic random challenge to the user. This is called a "Next Token Challenge." This is done when an authentication failure occurs (e.g. the PIN or random numbers provided by the user do not match those calculated by the ACESERVER). When a new random number (the "token") is required, instead of acknowledging the authentication request, the ACESERVER sends a "Next Token" challenge command to the user.
Conventional dial-up Internet networks and networking protocols (e.g. PAP and CHAP) do not support the notion of sending challenges to the user. The user's computer initiates a connection request, the dial in server commands the user's computer to respond with a user ID and password via either the PAP or CHAP dial authentication protocols. The user's computer responds with the appropriate values and the dial in server transmits them to the ISP. The dial-in server then waits for either an authentication success or authentication failure response. No other response types are supported, including challenge commands originating from an RSA ACESERVER. If either of these message types were returned from the ACESERVER to the dial in server, authentication would fail, as they are unrecognized message types. The present inventors are unaware of systems using a challenge response system such as the ACESERVER and SECUREID for authenticating Internet access.
Further, a conventional VPN client application allows a remote user to establish a direct connection to a corporate network when not on the premises of the corporation. When connecting in this fashion, the connection bypasses the usual corporate network security measures (e.g. firewalls and anti-virus servers). By permitting remote users to bypass the network security perimeter, enterprises run a significant risk that a user establishing a VPN connection to the corporate network is doing so from an unsafe and/or already "infected" machine. This connectivity from an unsafe computer creates a risk that the computer could be used as source of an attack on the network without the end user being aware of it.
Accordingly, a secure means of remote access to a computer system is needed.

System, method, apparatus, and computer program product for facilitating digital communications


An automatic wire connecting device includes a heating electrode that heats an electrode wire by applying a current to the electrode wire, a tension applying unit that applies a tension to the electrode wire to which the current is applied by the heating electrode, a tension control unit that controls the tension applied by the tension applying unit, and a power supply control unit that applies a heating current smaller than a preset annealing current to the electrode wire until a first set time elapses since the current starts to be applied and increases the current applied to the electrode wire to reach the annealing current during a second set time after the first set time elapses since the current starts to be applied.

A wire electrical discharge machine exists that causes an electrode wire composed of a metallic wire to face a workpiece with a minute gap therebetween and performs a cutting process on the workpiece by using discharge energy. An important part of the technology for realizing automation of wire electrical discharge machining is an automatic wire connecting device that passes the electrode wire through a machining start hole of a workpiece before machining is started.
With the use of an automatic wire connecting device, when an electrode wire is broken during machining, machining can be resumed by reconnecting the electrode wire. Moreover, an electrode wire can be automatically inserted into a different machining position of the same machining material or into a new workpiece supplied after machining is finished. Therefore, a wire electrical discharge machine can be operated unattended anytime.
In order to realize the automatic connection function of an electrode wire, an electrode wire needs to be automatically passed from the upper wire guide to the lower wire guide through a groove or a prepared hole of a workpiece. However, the electrode wire is wound on the bobbin before being connected and therefore becomes curled due to the way it is wound on the bobbin. Therefore, the tip of the electrode wire deviates from the groove or the hole and thus cannot be inserted into the prepared hole or the like in some cases.
In view of the above, the straightness of an electrode wire is improved by performing a heating process (annealing) by applying current to the electrode wire before the electrode wire is inserted. When annealing is performed, the temperature of the electrode wire increases; therefore, thermal expansion occurs due to the heating and the electrode wire is deflected. If annealing is performed on the bent electrode wire without removing the deflection due to the thermal expansion, the straightness of the electrode wire cannot be improved. In order to perform annealing while keeping the electrode wire straight, there is a technology, for example, as disclosed in Patent Literature 1, in which a heating process is performed while applying tension to the electrode wire.


A heat-dissipation apparatus of the portable computer is fabricated in a host and a display unit pivotal connected therein for dissipating the heat from the electronic component. The apparatus has a conductive part whose thickness is designed to be equal to the thickness of the portable computer when closed. The conductive part has a first connecting portion and a second connecting portion, which the second connecting portion is used to be inserted by a cooling end of a first heat pipe. The heating end of the first heat pipe extends into the host and faces to the electronic component. The first connecting portion is used to be inserted by a heating end of a second heat pipe. The cooling end of the second heat pipe extends to the display unit.

The present invention relates in general to a heat-dissipation apparatus of a portable computer, and more particular, to an apparatus which has a conductive part with the different axes for fabricating a first heat pipe extending onto the electronic component, and a second heat pipe extending to a display unit. The conductive part is not a hinge, so it has nothing to do with the supporting force of the portable computer. The thickness of the conductive part can be adjusted to fit the thickness of the portable computer for keeping the heat pipe being relative to the electronic component smoothly.
Nowadays, the portable computer needs to be reduced its weight and size for carrying out. The space of host of the portable computer therefore is reduced comparatively, specially the space for fabricating heat-dissipation apparatus. Due to the processing speed of the computer is much faster than before, the heat-dissipation issue is become much more important, too. How to compromise between larger space and better heat conductibility will be an important issue for manufacturer.
Conventional heat pipe has an excellent heat conductibility so as to be used in the heat-dissipation module usually. One example is referring to an U.S. Pat. No. 6,122,166 disclosed a personal computer cooling device having hinged heat pipe. The cooling device is composed by a first heat pipe and a second heat pipe, which forms a hinge at the same time by their combination for connecting the host and the display unit of the portable computer. One end of the first heat pipe is a hollow pipe which provides for the second heat pipe pivoted therein, and another end of the first heat pipe extends around the display unit. The end of the second heat pipe opposite to the end pivoted in the first heat pipe extends to a heat source of the host of the portable computer. Therefore, the first heat pipe will conduct the heat from the heat source to the second heat pipe, and second heat pipe dissipate the heat. That will save the space of the portable computer and leave another hinge structure out. But the above-mentioned hinge combined by the heat pipes can not provide a proper supporting force to handle the opening motion of the portable computer, and the combination of the heat pipes is not easier to fit different types of variable portable computers. If the heat pipes are unsuited to the specific portable computer by means of the wrong enforcement, the incorrect bending angle, or a difference between the heat pipes and the portable computer, they will raise during the portable computer opened. The efficiency of conduction will drop therefor.

Heat-dissipation apparatus of portable computer


A photometric processing part calculates a normal vector of a surface of a workpiece from a plurality of luminance images acquired by a camera in accordance with the photometric stereo method, and performs synthesis processing of synthesizing at least two images out of an inclination image made up of pixel values based on the normal vector calculated from the plurality of luminance images and at least one reduced image of the inclination image, to generate an inspection image showing a surface shape of the inspection target. In particular, a characteristic size setting part sets a characteristic size which is a parameter for giving weight to a component of a reduced image at the time of performing the synthesis processing. The photometric processing part can generate a different inspection image in accordance with the set characteristic size.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an inspection apparatus, an inspection method, and a program.
2. Description of Related Art
In order to measure an accurate three-dimensional shape of a workpiece (inspection target product) by using a photometric stereo principle, there is required an illumination light source whose illumination light is incident on each surface of the workpiece with a uniform light amount. Further, an angle of incidence of the illumination light is required to be known. Moreover, since the angle of incidence of light should not change in accordance with a region of the workpiece, there is required an illumination light source having a size corresponding to the size of the workpiece to be inspected. Furthermore, scale information (actual dimension per pixel) of an image captured by a camera is also required. A visual inspection apparatus is often installed by a user, and it is difficult for the user to satisfy these strict installation conditions. Therefore, according to JP 2007-206797 A, a dedicated apparatus formed by integrating illumination and a camera is proposed, to thereby reduce a burden of installation of the user.
According to the invention described in JP 2007-206797 A, since the illumination and the camera are integrated, there is an advantage of reducing the burden of installation of the user. Nevertheless, a visual inspection apparatus using the photometric stereo principle has not prevailed in the market. There are several reasons for this. According to JP 2007-206797 A, a normal vector image (an image in which each pixel shows a normal vector of the surface of the workpiece) or a reflectance image (an image in which each pixel shows a reflectance of the surface of the workpiece), obtained by using the photometric stereo principle, is applied to image inspection. Accordingly, in the invention of JP 2007-206797 A, an applicable application is limited. For example, the reflectance image is useful for inspection of a workpiece having on its surface a number of glittering portions where luminance is saturated, and the like, but the reflectance image is not suitable for inspection of a fine uneven flaw on the surface of the workpiece or for OCR (optical character recognition) of an inscribed character. Meanwhile, in the inspection application such as the inspection of the fine uneven flaw on the surface of the workpiece or the OCR of the inscribed character, strict installation conditions are not required.
However, in such an inspection application, the user is required to adjust several image processing parameters at the time of generating an image for inspection from the normal vector image or the reflectance image. Hence, a burden of the user is desirably reduced also for this adjustment operation.

Inspection apparatus, inspection method, and program


A method, system and program product for context aware sub-circuit layout modification are disclosed. The method may include defining at least one context for the sub-circuit for each circuit that uses the sub-circuit; in the case that a plurality of contexts are defined, minimizing a number of contexts for the sub-circuit by combining contexts into at least one stage; placing each stage into a staged layout; and modifying the sub-circuit by modifying the staged layout.

1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates generally to integrated circuit (IC) chip fabrication, and more particularly, to context aware sub-circuit layout modification.
2. Background Art
In hierarchical IC chip designs, a set of commonly used sub-circuits, such as library cells, are designed in order to maximize the design re-use and productivity. The sub-circuit layout can be used by many different circuits (macros) and IP blocks of the IC chips. In some customized IC chip designs, there are strict methodology requirements imposed on the placement and routing between the sub-circuits and the environments thereof. For example, application specific IC (ASIC) chip design methodology requires that sub-circuits must be placed in a non-overlapping fashion and design shapes must be half of a ground rule value away from the bounding box of the sub-circuits. However, in other customized designs, there is no such restriction and the interaction between the sub-circuits and their environments can be different from one circuit to another.
A circuit layout may be modified for a number of reasons, for example, to meet the ground rule constraints, to improve the performance, to migrate it from one technology to another, to fix the ground rule violations due to an engineering change order in the design flow, etc. In order to maintain the hierarchy, when a sub-circuit layout is used by multiple macros, the modified layout of the sub-circuit must be identical among all the modified macros. Therefore, usually the sub-circuit is modified first, and then maintained unchanged (frozen) when the macros are modified. Changing the layout of a sub-circuit presents a challenge because it requires the consideration of all the environment of the sub-circuit in order to get the best modified layout. For example, suppose a sub-circuit A is used by three macros M1, M2 and M3. There is no strict design methodology requirement on where and how sub-circuit A must be placed and routed in the macros, i.e., as long as it does not introduce ground rule violation, shapes from the macros can be placed at any spot with respect to sub-circuit A. In order to maintain the hierarchy, when one or more macros of M1, M2 and M3 need to be modified for layout migration from one technology to another, sub-circuit A is modified first and maintained frozen when the macros are modified. If, as shown in FIG. 1, sub-circuit A is modified independently (from A to A′ in FIG. 1) without the consideration of its interaction with all of the circuits (e.g., M1 in FIG. 1), then it is possible that some ground rule violations 10 may occur between sub-circuit A and the macros (e.g., M1 in FIG. 1) that cannot be fixed by modifying the macros due to the fact that the content of sub-circuit A is already frozen. Currently, there is no adequate technique to address this situation.

Context aware sub-circuit layout modification

International Business Machines Corporation


A method of sealing a cable penetration includes assembling a cable seal and inserting the cable seal into a cable penetration. Assembling the cable seal includes adhering at least a portion of a heat-shrinkable tubing to at least a portion of a cable outer jacket, and positioning a secondary elastic seal over the heat-shrinkable tubing. An example of a secondary elastic seal could be O-rings. A cap or other means provides the outer sealing surface.

This invention relates generally to methods and apparatus for assembling cable seals.
Many known industrial facilities have a variety of cable systems used to conduct electrical and electronic signals between field apparatus and non-field apparatus. Some examples of field apparatus are pressure data transmitters and valve position drive motors. Some examples of non-field apparatus include power sources and control system cabinets located in areas such as control rooms and offices. Some examples of cable uses are to transmit data to and from a variety of field apparatus and non-field apparatus, transmit electronic directives to field apparatus from non-field apparatus and to provide electrical power to apparatus regardless of location.
Many known cable systems include data and power cables that are typically routed through open passages of apparatus, the open passages often referred to as cable penetrations. The cable penetrations typically have seals to maintain the integrity of the cable jackets and to mitigate the potential for vapor ingression into the associated instrumentation/electronics region of the apparatus. The aforementioned seals may also be used in circumstances where separating differing environmental conditions between an electronic device and the cable penetration is not as important as simply providing for a cable support mechanism for facilitating cable routing, for example, cable tray ingress and egress, building wall penetrations and cable vault risers.
Many facilities have operating environments that include humidity levels that may exceed 50% relative humidity and temperature levels that may exceed 66° Celsius (C) (150° Fahrenheit (F)) for extended periods of time. Some facilities may also have apparatus positioned such that a potential for exposure to steam or other vapors may be present. In the aforementioned environmental circumstances, the outer jackets of the cables may experience cold flow, i.e., a time dependent strain (or deformation) of the cable jacket resulting from stress, and allow a subsequent vapor ingression into the associated instrumentation/electronics region of the apparatus.