An optical head is provided, which suppresses the offset in the tracking error signal. This head comprises (a) a light source for emitting a light beam to be irradiated to an optical recording medium as an incident light beam; (b) a hologram element for receiving a reflected light beam generated by reflection of the incident light beam on the medium to generate at least two diffracted light beams for focusing error detection and at least two diffracted light beams for tracking error detection; and (c) an optical detector for detecting the at lease two diffracted light beams for focusing error detection and the at least two diffracted light beams for tracking error detection; the detector including a first receiving surface for receiving the at least two diffracted light beams for focusing error detection and a second detection surface for receiving the at least two diffracted light beams for tracking error detection; each of the first and second receiving surfaces being divided into receiving regions; the at least two diffracted light beams for focusing error detection being received at the receiving regions of the first receiving surface; the at least two diffracted light beams for tracking error detection being received at the receiving regions of the second receiving surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical head used for optically recording information on media and/or reproducing and/or erasing the information recorded on the media, which is applicable to optical data recording or storing system using various types of optical disks.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the optical recording field, several types of optical data recording devices or systems using various optical disks, such as magneto-optical (MO) disks and compact disks (CDs), have already been practically used extensively. These optical disks have concentric or spiral recording tracks and pieces of information are optically recorded and reproduced along the tracks.
Moreover, to cope with the recent need to further increase the storage capacity, a new type of optical recording devices using digital video or versatile disks (DVDs) have been developed and put into practice.
On the other hand, there has been the strong need to downsize optical recording apparatuses and to lower their fabrication cost. To meet the need, a technique that simplifies the optical system configuration of optical heads by applying hologram elements to optical heads as one of the base or key components of optical recording apparatuses has been developed and disclosed. Examples of optical heads using this technique were disclosed in the Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication Nos. 7-9708 published in 1995 and 10-269588 published in 1998.
FIGS. 1 and 2A to 2C show the configuration of the prior-art optical head disclosed in the Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 7-9708, in which the tracking error detection function is added to the configuration disclosed in this Publication. This head may be termed the "first prior-art optical head" later.
In FIGS. 1 and 2A to 2C, X and Y denote the radial and tangential directions of concentric or spiral tracks of a disk-shaped recording medium, respectively, and 2 denotes the longitudinal axis of the optical system in the prior-art head.
A linearly polarized light beam (i.e., an incident light beam), which is emitted from a laser diode 101 mounted on a heat sink 102, is reflected by a mirror 103 and then, enters a polarizing hologram element 104. The reason why the incident light beam is linearly polarized is to prevent it from diffracting by the element 104. The incident light beam emitted by the laser diode 101 passes through the element 104 without diffraction and then, it is converted to a circularly polarized light beam by a quarter-wave plate 105. The circularly polarized light beam thus generated is then focused by an objective lens 106 to be irradiated on a disk-shaped recording medium 107. The beam thus irradiated forms a specific spot on the medium 107.
The circularly polarized light beam thus irradiated is reflected by the medium 107, at which the beam absorbs a piece of information recorded in the area of the medium 107 corresponding to the spot. The circularly polarized light beam thus reflected passes through the objective lens 106 and then, it is converted to a linearly polarized light beam by the quarter-wave plate 105. The linearly polarized light beam thus generated is diffracted by the hologram element 104, generating not only a reproduction or playback signal beam but also a focusing error signal beam and a tracking error signal beam. The focusing and tracking error signal beams are received by a focusing error signal beam receiver 109 and a tracking error signal beam receiver 110. These two receivers 109 and 110 are formed in an optical detector 108.
The method of detecting the focusing error, tracking error, and reproduction signal beams in the first prior-art head is explained below with reference to FIGS. 2A to 2c.
The polarizing hologram element 104 is a concentric phase-type diffraction grating made by forming a proton exchange region in a proper crystal such as a lithium niobate (LiNbO3) crystal. As shown in FIG. 2A, the element 104 has arc-shaped gratings whose center is offset with respect to the center of the element 104 itself.
When a reflected light beam 112 by the recording medium 107 passes through the hologram element 104, a zero-order diffracted beam (i.e., a transmitted beam) 113a is not generated while a +1st-order diffracted beam 113b is generated due to a convex lens function and a −1st-order diffracted beam 113c is generated due to a concave lens function.
The focusing error signal beam receiver 109 of the optical detector 108 has three rectangular beam receiving regions 109a, 109b, and 109c. The tracking error signal beam receiver 110 of the detector 108 has eight rectangular beam receiving regions 109a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f, 110g, and 110h. Thus, the detector 108 has eleven beam receiving regions in total.
The total beam receiving surface of the focusing error signal beam receiver 109 is equal in size to that of the tracking error signal beam receiver 110.
The region 109a is equal in size to the region 109c. The region 109b is twice as large in size as the region 109a or 109c. The eight regions 110a to 110h are equal in size to each other, each of which has a half size of the region 109a or 109c.
The detector 108 is located on the optical axis Z of the first prior-art head in such a way that the zero-order diffracted light beam 113a generated from the reflected light beam 112 correctly focuses on the surface of the detector 108 when the incident light beam correctly focuses on the surface of the medium 107 by the objective lens 106. Thus, when the +1st-order diffracted beam 113b and the −1st-order diffracted beam 113c are received at the middle region between the focusing and tracking error signal beam receivers 109 and 110, these two beams 113b and 113c form equal-sized circular spots on the surface of the middle region.
When the medium 107 approaches the optical head with respect to the focusing point of the objective lens 106 due to surface fluctuation of the medium 107 or the like, the focusing angle of the reflected light beam 112 entering the hologram element 104 decreases, thereby moving the focal point of the diffracted beams 113a, 113b, and 113c to be apart from the lens 106. Therefore, the spot diameter of the beam 113c on the focusing error signal beam receiver 109 increases while the spot diameter of the beam 113b on the tracking error signal beam receiver 110 decreases. Contrarily, when the medium 107 moves to be apart from the optical head with respect to the focusing point of the objective lens 106, the focusing angle of the reflected light beam 112 entering the hologram element 104 increases, thereby moving the focal point of the diffracted beams 113a, 113b, and 113c toward the lens 106. Therefore, the spot diameter of the beam 113c on the focusing error signal beam receiver 109 decreases while the spot diameter of the beam 113b on the tracking error signal beam receiver 110 increases.
Here, as shown in FIG. 2C, the electrical output signals generated by the beam receiving regions 109a, 109b, and 109c of the focusing error signal beam receiver 109 and then, current-to-voltage converted and amplified by corresponding current-to-voltage conversion amplifiers 120 are respectively defined as s109a, s109b, and s109c. Similarly, the electrical output signals generated by the beam receiving regions 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f, 110g, and 110h of the tracking error signal beam receiver 110 and then, current-to-voltage converted and amplified by corresponding current-to-voltage conversion amplifiers 120 are respectively defined as s110a, s110b, s110c, s110d, s110e, s110f, s110g, and s110h.
Then, the focusing error signal FE is produced by using the spot size detection (SSD) method in the following way.
A differential amplifier 121 is electrically connected to the beam receiving regions 109a, 109b, and 109c and the beam receiving regions 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f, 110g, and 110h, as shown in FIG. 2C. Therefore, the focusing error signal FE(SSD) is given by the following equation (1).FE(SSD)=(s109a+s109c+s110b+s110c+s110f+s110g)−(s109b+s110a+s110d+s110e+s110h)  (1)
If the recording tracks of the medium 107 are deviated from their desired position due to eccentricity or the like, the radial distribution of the optical strength on the medium 107 varies. Thus, the tracking error signal TE is given by the push-pull (PP) detection method in the following way.
A differential amplifier 122 is electrically connected to the beam receiving regions 110a, 110b, 110c, 110d, 110e, 110f, 110g, and 110h, as shown in FIG. 2C. Therefore, the tracking error signal TE(PP) is given by the following equation (2).TE(PP)=(s110a+s110b+s110c+s110d)−(s110e+s110f+s110g+s110h)  (2)
The tracking error signal TE may be obtained by the differential phase detection (DPD) method, in which a differential amplifier 123 and a differential phase detection circuit 124 are connected, as shown in FIG. 2c. In this case, the tracking error signal TE(DPD) is given by the following equation (3).TE(DPD)=(s110a+s110b+s110g+s110h)−(s110c+s110d+s110e+s110f)  (3)
By using a summing amplifier 125, the information playback or reproduction signal HF is given by the following equation (4).HF−s109a+s109b+s109c+s110a+s110b+s110c+s110d+s110e+s110f+s110g+s110h  (4)
FIGS. 3A to 3C show the configuration of the prior-art optical head disclosed in the Japanese Non-Examined Patent Publication No. 10-269588. The layout of the individual components such as the objective lens 106 is substantially the same as that shown in FIG. 1 and therefore, it is not explained here for the sake of simplification. This head may be termed the "second prior-art optical head" later.
The method of detecting the focusing error, tracking error, and playback signal beams is explained below with reference to FIGS. 3A to 3C.
A polarizing hologram element 130 has four rectangular regions 130a, 130b, 130c, and 130d, which are defined by a division line extending along the x direction (i.e., the radial direction of the recording tracks of the medium 107) and another division line extending along the Y direction (i.e., the tangential direction of the recording tracks of the medium 107). As shown in FIG. 3A, each of the regions 130a, 130b, 130c, and 130d forms a linear phase-type grating whose directions are different from the division lines.
When a reflected light beam 135 by the recording medium 107 passes through the hologram element 130, a zero-order diffracted beam 135a is not generated while four +1st-order diffracted beams 135f, 135g, 135h, and 135i are generated due to a convex lens function and four −1st-order diffracted beams 135b, 135c, 135d, and 135e are generated due to a concave lens function.
A reproducing signal beam receiver 132 of an optical detector 131 has a rectangular beam receiving region. An error signal beam receiver 133 of the optical detector 131 has six rectangular beam receiving regions 133a, 133b, 133c, 133d, 133e, and 133f. Thus, the detector 131 has seven beam receiving regions in total.
The total beam receiving region of the reproducing signal beam receiver 132 is equal in size to that of the error signal beam receiver 133.
The regions 133a, 133b, 133c, and 133d of the error signal beam receiver 133 are equal in size to each other. Each of the region of the reproduction signal beam receiver 132 and the regions 133e and 133f of the error signal beam receiver 133 is sufficiently wide for receiving the corresponding diffracted light beam.
The optical detector 131 is located on the optical axis Z of the second prior-art head in such a way that the zero-order diffracted light beam 135a generated from the reflected light beam 135 correctly focuses on the surface of the detector 131 when the incident light beam correctly focuses on the surface of the medium 107 by the objective lens 106. Each of the diffracted beams 135b, 135c, 135d, 135e, 135f, 135g, 135h, and 135i generated by the hologram element 130 has a sector-like beam shape responsive to the fact that the light 135 is irradiated to the adjoining sector-shaped regions 130a, 130b, 130c, and 130d of the hologram element 130, as shown in FIG. 3A.
The +1st-order diffracted beam 135f generated by the region 130a of the hologram element 130 is irradiated onto the division line of the beam receiving regions 133c and 133d. The +1st-order diffracted beam 135g generated by the region 130b of the element 130 is irradiated onto the division line of the beam receiving regions 133a and 133b. The +1st-order diffracted beam 135h generated by the region 130c of the element 130 is irradiated onto the beam receiving region 133e. The +1st-order diffracted beam 135i generated by the region 130d of the element 130 is irradiated onto the beam receiving region 133f. The −1st-order diffracted beams 135b, 135c, 135d, and 135e generated respectively by the regions 130a, 130b, 130c, and 130d of the element 130 are irradiated onto the beam receiving surface of the reproduction signal receiver 132.
The layout of the beam spots thus formed on the reproduction and error signal beam receivers 132 and 133 is clearly shown in FIG. 3C. Each of these beam spots has a sector-like shape with various orientations.
When the medium 107 approaches the second prior-art optical head with respect to the focusing point of the objective lens 106 due to surface fluctuation of the medium 107 or the like, the focusing angle of the reflected light beam 135 entering the hologram element 130 decreases, thereby moving the focal point of the diffracted beams 135b, 135c, 135d, 135e, 135f, 135g, 135h, and 135i to be apart from the lens 106. Therefore, the spot size of the beams 135f, 135g, 135h, and 135i on the error signal beam receiver 133 increases without changing their sector-like spot shape. Contrarily, when the medium 107 moves to be apart from the optical head with respect to the focusing point of the objective lens 106, the focusing angle of the reflected light beam 135 entering the element 130 increases, thereby moving the focal point of the diffracted beams 135b, 135c, 135d, 135e, 135f, 135g, 135h, and 135i toward the lens 106. Therefore, the spot size of the beams 135f, 135g, 135h, and 135i on the error signal beam receiver 133 decreases without changing their sector-like spot shape.
Here, as shown in FIG. 3C, the electrical output signals generated by the beam receiving regions 133a, 133b, 133c, 133d, 133e, and 133f of the error signal beam receiver 133 and then, current-to-voltage converted and amplified by corresponding current-to-voltage conversion amplifiers 140 are respectively defined as s133a, s133b, s133c, s133d, s133e, and s133f. Similarly, the electrical output signal generated by the reproducing signal beam receiver 132 and then, current-to-voltage converted and amplified by a corresponding current-to-voltage conversion amplifier 120 is defined as s132.
Then, the focusing error signal FE is produced by using the knife edge detection (KED) method in the following way.
Since a differential amplifier 141 is electrically connected to the beam receiving regions 133a, 133b, 133c, and 133d, as shown in FIG. 3C, the focusing error signal FE(KED) is given by the following equation (5).FE(KED)=(s133a+S133d)−(s133b+s133c)  (5)
If the recording tracks of the medium 107 is deviated from their desired position due to eccentricity or the like, the radial distribution of the optical strength on the medium 107 varies. Thus, the tracking error signal TE is given by the push-pull (PP) detection method in the following way.
A differential amplifier 142 is electrically connected to the beam receiving regions 133a, 133b, 133c, 133d, 133e, and 133f, as shown in FIG. 3C. Therefore, the tracking error signal TE(PP) is given by the following equation (6).TE(PP)−(s133a+s133b+s133f)−(s133c+s133d+s133e)  (6)
The tracking error signal TE may be obtained by the differential phase detection (DFD) method, in which a differential amplifier 143 and a differential phase detection circuit 144 are used, as shown in FIG. 3C. In this case, the tracking error signal TE(DFD) is given by the following equation (7).TE(DFD)−(s133a+s133b+s133e)−(s133c+s133d+s133f)  (7)
By using a summing amplifier 145 connected as shown in FIG. 3C, the information reproduction signal HF is given by the following equation (8).HF=s132−s133a−s133b+s133c+s133d+s133e+s133f  (8)
The above-explained first and second prior-art optical heads have three problems described below.
Specifically, the first problem is that the signal processing circuits is complicated and large in scale and at the same time, the electric output signals tend to be degraded in quality due to noises. This is because the count of the beam receiving regions of the optical detector is excessively large, which is explained in detail below.
With the above-explained first and second prior-art optical heads, the focusing error signal is detected through the beam size change of the +1st-order −1st-order diffracted beams generated by the hologram element 104 or 130. Therefore, each of the error signal beam receivers 109, 110, and 133 of the optical detectors 108 and 131 needs to be formed to have three or more beam receiving regions. Also, to detect the tracking error signal simultaneously with the focusing error signal, any one of the error signal beam receivers 109, 110, and 133 needs to be formed to have four beam receiving regions with the division lines extending along the radial and tangential directions (i.e., X and Y) of the disk-shaped recording medium.
Moreover, with the first prior-art optical head shown in FIGS. 1 and 2A to 2C, the optical detector 108 needs to be formed to have eleven beam receiving regions in total. Also, since the output signals of the focusing and tracking error signal receivers 109 and 110 are used for generating both the focusing and tracking error signals, buffer amplifiers (not shown in FIG. 2C) are required for the respective beam receiving regions, thereby increasing the circuit scale. Also, in this case, a lot of necessary amplifiers are configured at several stages and therefore, the quality of the focusing and tracking error signals tends to degrade due to noises occurring in the amplifiers.
The second problem is that the optical detector 131 and the hologram element 130 have to be mounted with high accuracy in the second prior-art optical head. Specifically, the reflected light beam 135 is divided into four parts by the two perpendicular division lines on the hologram element 130, generating the eight diffracted beams 135b to 135f. Thus, if the relative positional relationship between the division lines on the element 130 and the division lines on the optical detector 131 deviates from their desired relationship, the focusing and/or tracking error signal or signals tends to contain some offset and at the same time, the detection sensitivity to the focusing and/or tracking error or errors tends to lower.
The third problem is that complicated positioning operation is necessary to align the optical axes of all the optical components. Specifically, because a light source, optical elements, and optical detectors are integrated on a base, not only the optical components but also the package have to be precisely processed and finished. This raises the fabrication cost of the optical head itself.
Moreover, with the optical heads of this sort, generally, to suppress the bad effect caused by the eccentricity of a recording medium, an objective lens is shifted under control through detection of the tracking error signal. In this case, there arises a problem that some offset occurs in the tracking error signal. Also, to produce the optical heads at sufficiently low cost, there has been the need to form the package of the heads by a proper plastic material. To meet this need, it is essential to efficiently dissipate the heat emitted by a laser diode.

Optical head for optical recording having a hologram element that generates multiple diffracted light beams of different orders


A pair of spectacles has a frame and two lenses. The frame has a skeleton and a bridge formed between the skeleton and dividing the skeleton into two symmetrical members. Two first lugs are transversely formed in a distal end of the skull and adjacent to the bridge, and two second lugs are uprightly formed in a free end of the skull and opposed to the bridge. Two lenses are respectively mounted on the members and respectively have a first channel and a second channel defined in a periphery of the lenses. Two first tabs and two second tabs are respectively mounted on the lenses and the frame in turn, whereby the lenses are securely provided on the frame with easy assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a pair of spectacles, and more particularly to a pair of spectacles which is easy to assemble securely.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional pair of spectacles is composed of a frame and two lenses. Multiple fasteners are inserted into the lenses and the frame or the lenses are respectively mated with the frame so that the lenses are respectively mounted on the frame to form the conventional pair of spectacles.
However, it is easy for the fasteners to damage the lenses when being inserted into the lenses. This may cause serious financial loss as the lenses are expensive. Furthermore, the fasteners are so small that it is inconvenient to mount the fasteners on the lenses and the frame. Additionally, if the lenses are mated with the frame without the fasteners, they are not securely provided on the frame.
Therefore, the invention provides a pair of spectacles to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.


This disclosure is directed to techniques for executing subroutines in a single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) processing system that is subject to divergent thread conditions. In particular, a resume counter-based approach for managing divergent thread state is described that utilizes program module-specific minimum resume counters (MINRCs) for the efficient processing of control flow instructions. In some examples, the techniques of this disclosure may include using a main program MINRC to control the execution of a main program module and subroutine-specific MINRCs to control the execution of subroutine program modules. Techniques are also described for managing the main program MINRC and subroutine-specific MINRCs when subroutine call and return instructions are executed. Techniques are also described for updating a subroutine-specific MINRC to ensure that the updated MINRC value for the subroutine-specific MINRC is within the program space allocated for the subroutine.

A single instruction, multiple data (SIMD) processing system is a type of parallel computing system that includes multiple processing elements which execute the same instruction on multiple pieces of data. A SIMD system may be a standalone computer or a sub-system of a computing system. For example, one or more SIMD execution units may be used in a graphics processing unit (GPU) to implement a programmable shading unit that supports programmable shading.
A SIMD processing system allows multiple threads of execution for a program to execute synchronously on the multiple processing elements in a parallel manner, thereby increasing the throughput for programs where the same set of operations needs to be performed on multiple pieces of data. Because each thread operates on different data, if a program includes conditional branch instructions, it is possible that the branch condition may be satisfied for some of the threads executing in the system and not satisfied for other threads executing in the system. Such a condition may be referred to as a divergent branch condition and results in the SIMD system not being able to execute all of the threads in a synchronous fashion on the multiple processing elements.

Executing subroutines in a multi-threaded processing system


A panel audio loudspeaker includes a panel and an actuator rigidly coupled to a surface of the panel. The actuator includes: a magnet assembly that includes a permanent magnet arranged within a cup, wherein an air gap exists between sidewalls of the cup and the permanent magnet; and a coil rigidly coupled to the panel, the coil including a length of an electrically conducing wire wound in a coil and extending along an axis. The coil includes a first region having a first winding density and a second region having a second winding density higher than the first winding density, the second region at least partially extending into the air gap of the magnet assembly.

Many conventional loudspeakers produce sound by inducing piston-like motion in a diaphragm. Panel audio loudspeakers, such as distributed mode loudspeakers (DMLs), in contrast, operate by inducing uniformly distributed vibration modes in a panel through an electro-acoustic actuator. Typically, the actuators are moving magnet actuators or piezoelectric actuators.
Conventional panel audio loudspeaker magnet systems can have performance limitations arising from the soft magnetic material increasing inductance and electrical impedance with increasing frequency. This increase in electrical inductance can have drawbacks, including a reduction in the acoustic output at high frequency.
The temperature and electrical resistance of a coil conductor in a moving magnet actuator also tends to increase with increasing current that can cause power compression and limit the maximum force generated by the actuator. It may therefore be necessary to maximize the efficiency of the force generated by the actuator.

Moving magnet actuator with coil for panel audio loudspeakers


Fenestration systems and associated methods include use of a lock assembly having a housing, a cam gear, a reversal gear, and one or more catches. Various aspects relate to enhanced locking/security, including repeatability and overall efficacy.

In many instances, unlawful intrusion into a home or building is gained through a standard fenestration product, such as a sliding door. Accordingly, it is very important that the door include a lock mechanism for securely locking the product in a closed position. It is also important that the lock mechanism provides security without sacrificing durability, practicality, simplicity and economic feasibility. Examples of prior art lock mechanisms are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,327,879 issued to Malsom et al. on Dec. 11, 2001.


The invention relates to adjuvants that contain a lecithin, an oil and an amphiphilic surfactant and that are capable of forming a stable oil-in-water emulsion vaccine so as to minimize local reactions to the vaccine in the injected animal.

The generation of immunity to infectious organisms is a powerful tool in disease control. Those antigens that induce immunity to infection are known as immunogens. The protective antibody they induce may collaborate with other natural defenses to inhibit the infective process, or they may neutralize harmful products of the infective organism such as toxins.
An effective means of enhancing the antibody response is the use of an adjuvant. Thus, an adjuvant is included in a vaccine as an additive or vehicle to enhance the response to the antigen. An adjuvant may function by different mechanisms, including (1) trapping the antigen in the body to cause a slow release, (2) attracting cells of the immune system to the injection site, (3) stimulating cells of the immune system to proliferate and to become activated, and (4) improving antigen dispersion in the recipient's body.
A number of agents with diverse chemical properties have been used as adjuvants, including water-in-oil and oil-in-water emulsions, mineral salts, polynucleotides and natural substances. One adjuvant, known under the trademark AMPHIGEN™, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,269. AMPHIGEN™ adjuvant consists of de-oiled lecithin dissolved in an oil, usually light liquid paraffin. In vaccine preparations AMPHIGEN™ is dispersed in an aqueous solution or suspension of the immunizing antigen as an oil-in-water emulsion.
Problems were observed when using an AMPHIGEN™ adjuvant according to U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,269, above. For example, the lecithin in the AMPHIGEN™ does not suffice to produce a stable emulsion of the oil, thus leading to a pool or depot of oil in the injected tissues. Mineral oil can not be metabolized or removed by the animal. As a result, the oil becomes a source of severe chronic inflammation and scarring. Emulsifying the AMPHIGEN™ directly in the antigenic preparation carries the risk of damaging the antigen. Also, if the desired emulsion fails to form, the valuable antigen must be discarded.
An adjuvant useful in vaccines for animals, including humans, that is effective and solves the above problems would therefore be highly desirable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The airflow distribution of bleed air extracted from a plurality of turbine engines (11, 13, 15, 17) is equalized by an airflow sharing system having electronic airflow sensors (49, 51, 53, 55) and closed-loop control algorithm to equalize the pressure-drop characteristics of multiple bleed air branches to flow-share equally. The pressure-drop characteristic of each airflow branch is controlled to the same setpoint characteristic by negative feedback. The closed-loop control can be implemented with an electronic circuit or as a computational process in a digital controller.

The present invention relates to airflow distribution of bleed air extracted from turbine engines, and more particularly to a system for equalizing the airflow distribution among a plurality of engines.
It is a common practice to bleed air from one or more gas turbine aircraft engines to provide pneumatic and thermal power to different aircraft systems, for example, for cabin pressurization and temperature control, equipment environmental control, thrust reversing systems, anti-icing equipment, and pneumatically powered equipment. It is desirable to distribute the burden of supplying air for these auxiliary functions among the several engines of the aircraft. U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,131 entitled AIRCRAFT ENGINE BLEED AIR FLOW BALANCING TECHNIQUE recognizes these problems, measures the pressure drop across a heat exchanger and employs limited authority negative feedback to control a pressure regulating valve for each of two duct systems. Without accurate allocation of the airflow burden among the several engines, the engine having the greatest burden experiences disproportionate diminished fuel economy, elevated operating temperature, and increased wear and maintenance requirements. These problems are discussed in greater detail in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,131.
In an application entitled BLEED AIR FLOW REGULATORS WITH FLOW BALANCE, U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,991 recognizes the shortcomings of the U.S. Pat. No. 4,765,131 patented system due to errors in sensing the pressure drop across the heat exchanger and measures not only the pressure differential across a heat exchanger (precooler), but also another downstream pressure differential and precooler outlet temperature and pressure values in an attempt to refine the equalization of the flow of bleed air from each of several gas turbine engines. The U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,991 control scheme for each flow branch requires the flow information from its own branch and the flow information from the other branch. The cross-feeding of flow information is the key to equalize the flows in the two branches. The system is suitable only for a two-branch flow system. A control scheme for a four-engine system is an extremely challenging control problem, with cross-feeding of all four flow information to all four control channels, creating enormous interaction problem. There remains a need for comparatively simple and economical, yet highly accurate and reliable technique for allocating bleed airflow among several aircraft engines, and this need is particularly acute for applications involving more than two engines.
It is desirable to equally share the air supply responsibilities among the several engines of an aircraft, and to do so in an economical and accurate manner.
The present invention provides solutions to the above problems by measuring individual flow rates and a common downstream manifold pressure, and uses electronic/computer means to implement negative-feedback control for creating identical, e.g., linear, pressure-versus-flow characteristics for all flow branches. Flow branches with identical pressure-drop characteristics will allow the supply sources to naturally and accurately flow-share.
The invention comprises, in one form thereof, a technique for allocating an aircraft air supply demand among several independently operable aircraft engines, each supplying air to a common manifold by way of a corresponding air duct having an inlet pressure control valve for regulating the duct airflow. The rate of airflow through each individual duct may be measured and that measurement used in determining the desired air pressure set point. Additionally, a common manifold air pressure is measured. A combination of the determined and measured pressures is used to generate a corrective control command to the corresponding pressure control valve for each duct independently of the others. Airflow as used herein means the air flow rate, e.g. measured in pounds of air per minute, while pressure drop is measured, for example in pounds per square inch.
An advantage of the present invention is that all ducts can be independently set by controlling individual pressure regulating valves to create identical pressure-drop characteristics downstream of the valves as a function of mass flow rate regardless of differences in downstream pressure drops due to the individual duct length, cross-section area, shape and internal contamination, which is indeterminate in time. Ducts with identical pressure-drop characteristics will flow-share naturally.


The present invention is a process for converting a high-boiling component resulting from the reaction of an organochloride with silicon into commercially more desirable monosilanes. The process comprises contacting the high-boiling component with hydrogen gas at a temperature within a range having a lower limit greater than 250.degree. C. and an upper limit of 1000.degree. C. Yield of the present process may be improved by use of a catalyst selected from a group consisting of activated carbon, platinum metal, platinum supported on alumina, palladium supported on carbon, SbCl.sub.5, H.sub.2 PtCl.sub.6, BCl.sub.3, AlCl.sub.3, and AlCl.sub.3 supported on a support material selected from a group consisting of carbon, alumina, and silica. In a preferred embodiment of the present process the process is run at a pressure within a range of about 250-1000 psig. The present process is preferential for the production of diorganodichlorosilane in relation to organotrichlorosilane in the monosilane product.

The present invention is a process for converting a high-boiling component resulting from the reaction of an organochloride with silicon into commercially more desirable monosilanes. The process comprises contacting the high-boiling component with hydrogen gas at a temperature within a range having a lower limit greater than 250.degree. C. and an upper limit of 1000.degree. C. Yield of the present process may be improved by use of a catalyst selected from a group consisting of activated carbon, platinum metal, platinum supported on alumina, palladium supported on carbon, SbCl.sub.5, H.sub.2 PtCl.sub.6, BCl.sub.3, AlCl.sub.3, and AlCl.sub.3 supported on a support material selected from a group consisting of carbon. alumina, and silica. In a preferred embodiment of the present process the process is run at a pressure within a range of about 250-1000 psig. A significant advantage of the present process is that it is preferential for the production of diorganodichlorosilane in relation to organotrichlorosilane in the monosilane product.
The high-boiling component useful in the present process results from a process typically referred to as the "Direct Process", where an organohalide is reacted with silicon metalloid in the presence of a suitable catalyst to form monosilanes. The Direct Process as described by, for example, Rochow, U.S. Pat. No. 2,380,995, issued Aug. 7, 1945, and Barry et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,488,487, issued Nov. 15, 1949, is the main commercial process by which organohalosilanes (i.e. monosilanes), for example, dimethyldichlorosilane and trimethylchlorosilane are formed. These organohalosilanes are reactive compounds which can undergo numerous reactions to form a variety of useful silicon containing compounds and polymers. In typical commercial direct processes the process is optimized to produce the diorganodihalosilane, since this monosilane can be hydrolyzed to form polysiloxane polymers having a broad range of commercial applications. Polysiloxane polymers are useful, for example, as heat transfer fluids, lubricants, and the like and can be further processed, for example, to form silicone elastomers, resins, sealants, and adhesives.
Operation of the Direct Process results not only in the production of the desirable monosilanes, but also in a high boiling component typically considered to be all materials with a boiling point higher than the particular diorganodihalosilane produced in the process. The high-boiling component is a complex mixture that includes compounds containing SiSi, SiOSi, SiCSi, SiCCSi, and SiCCCSi linkages in the molecules. Some typical compounds found in a high-boiling component are described, for example, in Mohler et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,598,435, issued May 27, 1952, and Barry et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,681,355, issued Jun. 15, 1954. The high-boiling component may also comprise silicon containing solids and soluble and insoluble compounds of copper, aluminum, and zinc.
In current commercial operations for performing the Direct Process, the high-boiling component can constitute as much as ten percent of the resultant product. Therefore, it is desirable to convert the high-boiling component into commercially desirable products to both reduce low value by-products and to improve raw material utilization.
Mohler, U.S. Pat. No. 2,598,435, issued May 27, 1952, describes a process for converting methylpolysilanes present in a Direct Process residue to monosilanes, the process comprises heating the residue at a temperature above 250.degree. C. and below the decomposition point of the formed monosilanes.
Barry. U.S. Pat. No. 2,681,355, issued Jun. 15, 1954, observed that the process taught in Mohler, U.S. Pat. No. 2,598,435, can result in significant coking of the reactor making the process unsuitable for commercial cracking processes. Barry, supra, teaches that this coking can be reduced if the Direct Process residue is contacted with at least four percent by weight hydrogen chloride at a temperature from 200.degree. C. to 900.degree. C. Barry also suggests that the process can be run in a reactor packed with either an inert material such as quartz or a catalytic material such as activated alumina or silica alumina.
Bluestein, U.S. Pat. No. 2,709,176, issued May 25, 1955, reports a process for converting the polysilanes present in a Direct Process residue into monosilanes by the use of a tertiary organic amine catalyst. Bluestein reports that when the Direct Process residue is contacted with a hydrogen halide and a tertiary organic amine catalyst, the process can be conducted at temperatures of about 75.degree. C. to 150.degree. C. with acceptable yields of monosilanes being obtained.
Gilbert. U.S. Pat. No. 2,842,580, issued Jul. 8, 1958, reports a process for converting the polysilanes present in a Direct Process residue into monosilanes by the use of quaternary ammonium halide and quaternary phosphonium halide compounds as catalysts. The process of Gilbert is run in the absence of hydrogen chloride, as described by Bluestein supra, and is reported to provide monosilanes with reduced levels of hydrogen bonded to the silicon atoms.
Atwell et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,639,105, issued Feb. 1, 1972, describe a process where hydrosilanes are produced by contacting disilane with hydrogen gas under pressure. The resulting mixture is heated in the presence of a transition metal catalyst at temperatures within a range of 25.degree. C. to 250.degree. C. Atwell et al. teach that at temperatures in excess of 250.degree. C. catalyst and/or disilane decomposition tends to occur which deleteriously affects the reaction.
Calas et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,059,608, teach a process for hydrogenating disilanes, where a catalyst system containing an aprotic compound and a nickel catalyst is used. Calas et al. teach the process can be conducted at a temperature within a range of 50 to 200.degree. C. In the provided examples the ratio of dimethyldichlorosilane to methytrichlorosilane varies between 0.7 to 1.0.
Neale, U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,071, issued Mar. 14, 1978, teaches a process for preparing high yields of hydrosilanes by reacting methylchloropolysilanes with hydrogen gas under pressure at a temperature of from about 25.degree. C. to about 350.degree. C. in the presence of a copper catalyst.
Takeda et al.. Kogyo Kagaku zasshi (Journal of Industrial Chemistry), Vol. 60, No. 11, p. 1392-1395 (1957), described the use of alumina, carbon, and pumice as catalyst for the catalytic cracking of disilane in a hydrogen stream.
An objective of the present process is to provide a process for the conversion of a high-boiling component from the direct process to monosilanes. A second objective is to provide a process preferential for the production of diorganodichlorosilane in relation to organotrichlorosilane in the monosilane product.

Conversion of direct process high-boiling component to silane monomers in the presence of hydrogen gas


A technique involves managing configuration information used by an application. The technique involves disposing a first file in a first physical device. The first file includes first configuration information. The technique further involves disposing a second file in a second physical device. The second file includes second configuration information. The second physical device is different than the first physical device. The technique further involves providing access to a top level file having a first path string to the first file in the first physical device and a second path string to the second file in the second physical device. The top level file in combination with the first and second files operates as a single virtual document which includes the first configuration information of the first file and the second configuration information of the second file.

Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a markup language which was developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C). A traditional XML document has an .xml file extension, and typically includes XML tags which are defined by the document's author. Such a document enables the author to describe data in a manner that complements, but does not replace, Hyper Text Markup Language (HTML) which is commonly used for web pages.
In a typical XML document, opening and closing tags delimit elements. In particular, each XML document contains a root element, and other elements nested within this root element. Furthermore, parent elements can have child (or sub) elements which are nested within these parent elements.
A variety of tools exist which enable the author to navigate through an XML document. For example, the XML Document Object Model (XML DOM) defines a standard way to access and manipulate XML documents. In particular, the XML DOM presents an XML document as an inverted tree having elements, attributes and text defined as nodes of the inverted tree. The author is capable of traversing and accessing components within the XML document using a set of standard functions.

Techniques for managing configuration information among different physical devices


Provided is portable photography device capable of appropriately control an on/off state of a light source during photography, and reliably carrying out photography by a camera of a portable terminal when the light source is on. The portable photography device includes a smartphone with a camera, and a lens module including LEDs, having different wavelengths, a conversion lens, and light source control unit. The smartphone includes light on/off detection unit that detects the on/off state of each of the LEDs, photography control unit that controls photography by the camera, and display control unit that associates a photographed image taken by the camera with the LEDs, for display on the screen of the smartphone. As a result, it is possible to appropriately control the on/off state of the LEDs, during carrying out photography and reliably photographing skin with the camera of the smartphone.

A conversion lens installed on an electronic device including a portable camera, such as a portable phone (including a smartphone) with camera or a tablet-type electronic device with camera, has been known (e.g., see Patent Literature 1).
By installing such a conversion lens on a lens (master lens) on the side of the electronic device, the focal length of the lens can be changed to the wide angle side or the telescope side even when the lens of the portable electronic device is a fixed focus lens. Alternatively, a lens having a close-up function (macro photographing function) may be used as the conversion lens to allow macro photography.
Meanwhile, a camera for skin for photographing skin of a face in a magnified manner to analyze the state of the skin has also been known. A conversion lens having a function of the camera for skin, such as an object magnification and close-up function, added to the camera of the portable phone or the like has also been known. In this case, it can be realized easily to send a photographed image of the skin by mail or the like to the company who analyzes the skin image and receive a result of the skin analysis by mail or the like.

Lens module and portable photography device


Systems and methods to achieve a charge pump for generating from single supply voltage energy efficient supply voltages having a value of ±⅙ Vdd, ±⅕ Vdd, ±¼ Vdd, ±⅓ Vdd, ±½ Vdd or ±1 Vdd that are symmetrical around ground voltage have been disclosed. The charge pump requires two flying capacitors only. The charge pump generates positive and negative supply voltages following a 1/N ratio of Vdd voltage, i.e. +−Vdd/N, and can be generalized to generate +/−Vdd/2N voltages. This is especially useful for supplying class-G amplifiers with a voltage or power, which is just enough e.g. for an audio signal to be correctly generated at the output of the amplifier.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to DC-to-DC converters and relates more specifically to DC-to-DC converters generating output symmetrical positive and negative supply voltages from a single supply voltage using charge pump technique.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Generating energy efficient reduced supply voltages is key in modern audio systems to be able to generate lower supply voltages when low power consumption for audio playback is required. It is also important that the generated supply voltages have to be symmetrical around ground so that AC coupling capacitors are not required on the audio outputs. These are called "True ground outputs". Amplifiers adjusting their supply voltages dependent upon the output signal are called "Class-G" amplifiers. The Class-G amplifier has several power rails at different voltages, and switches between rails as the signal output approaches each. Thus the amplifier increases efficiency by reducing the wasted power at the output transistors.
For electronic devices such as "Class-G" amplifiers symmetrical positive and negative supply voltages from a single input supply voltage (Vdd) should be generated, wherein the resulting positive voltage (Vp) and negative voltage are according a 1/N ratio of Vdd (Vp, Vn=+/−Vdd/N).
It is a challenge for the designers of charge pumps generating symmetrical output voltages requiring a minimum number of flying capacitors.
There are known patents dealing with charge pumps generating symmetrical voltages.
WO Patent 2006/043479 to Oyama Manabu et al. discloses a switching power supply capable of outputting a plurality of voltages through simple circuitry. The switching power supply steps up or inverts an input voltage Vin applied to an input terminal before outputting it from a first output terminal and a second output terminal. When first and fourth switches SW1 and SW4 are turned on, a flying capacitor Cf is charged. When second and fifth switches and are turned on, charges of the flying capacitor Cf are transferred to a first output capacitor Col. When third and sixth switches and are turned on, charges of the flying capacitor are transferred to a second output capacitor. Input voltage is outputted as a first output voltage Vout1 from the first output terminal, and inverted input voltage −Vin is outputted as a second output voltage Vout2 from the second output terminal.
U.S. patent (U.S. Pat. No. 6,922,097 to Chan et al.) proposes a symmetric dual-voltage charge pump and its control circuit generating bipolar output voltages. The charge pump converts a unipolar power source to a set of dual-voltage outputs of opposite polarity that are completely independent of each other. The charge pump includes two voltage-boosting transfer capacitors and two output capacitors. Two-phase operation generates an increased-magnitude output voltage of a negative polarity and another two phases of operation generate an increased output voltage of a positive polarity. The charge pump selectively charges one or both of the bipolar outputs with individual 2-phase charge cycles or with a sequence of charge cycles. When controlled by comparators with unequal reference voltages, the charge pump can force the bipolar outputs to unequal positive and negative voltages. Charge pumping is faster since only 2 phases are needed for charging either the positive or negative output.
U.S. Patent Application (US 2008/0116979 to Lesso et al.) proposes a signal amplifying circuit and associated methods and apparatuses, the circuit comprising: a signal path extending from an input terminal to an output terminal, a gain controller arranged to control the gain applied along the signal path in response to a control signal; an output stage within the signal path for generating the output signal, the output stage having a gain that is substantially independent of its supply voltage, and a variable voltage power supply comprising a charge pump for providing positive and negative output voltages, the charge pump comprising a network of switches that is operable in a number of different states and a controller for operating the switches in a sequence of the states so as to generate positive and negative output voltages together spanning a voltage approximately equal to the input voltage.
Furthermore Patent GB 245 5524 to MacFarlane et al. describes a charge pump circuit and method of generating a voltage supply Vout+, Vout− from a single input supply+VDD, which comprises connecting at least one flying capacitor (Cf) to at least one reservoir capacitor (CR1, CR2) and to the input supply in repeated cycles so as to generate a voltage on the reservoir capacitor. The cycles differ between at least two modes so that each mode generates a different voltage on the reservoir capacitor. The method includes changing from an existing mode a new mode during operation, and operating in at least one transitional mode for a period prior to fully entering the new mode.
It should be understood that prior art, e.g. GB 245 5524 to MacFarlane et al., requires for generating positive and negative +/−Vdd/N voltages (N−1) flying capacitors. For instance in order to generate +/−Vdd/6 voltages (N=6) five flying capacitors are required. The problem is that each flying capacitor is an expensive external component and requires extra device pins. Therefore solutions requiring less flying capacitors are desired.


A set of footwear blocks having a set of footwear blocks has indicia, such as animal tracks or characters thereon, wherein the tracks can be interchanged between different images. The blocks also have rigid handles to support the arms of the child while walking. In a preferred embodiment the height of the rigid handles can be varied so that they can be raised so the child can walk erect while using the blocks underneath the child's shoes, or the height of the handles can be lowered so that the child, while kneeling, can use the blocks as hand-held printing imagines, for imprinting images in soft surface, such as soft ground or sand.

Various attempts have been made to provide animal tracks for children. Specifically, U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,485 of McMorrow describes animal track footwear soles wherein animal tracks are molded into a footwear sole for laying simulated tracks of an animal in soft ground.
Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,167 of Senter describes a sneaker sole with three dimensional picture images inscribed in the sole. The sole is designed so that the wearer, such as a child, can leave an imprint in soft ground. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 4,050,168 of Pace describes a footwear with detachable symbols for placing under the sole so that the printing can be varied.
Other attempts have been made to make a detachable sole with a printed indicia thereon. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 2,754,598 of Aull describes a tracking toy comprising a auxiliary sole member having printed indicia underneath, wherein the auxiliary sole is strapped on by straps around the outside of the shoe.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,032,897 of Gelineau, while not having indicia imprinted in the sole, describes a sandal member in the shape of a duck track itself, so that the outline of the sandal simulates a duck-webbed foot track.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,362 of Wasserman also describes removable indicia for footwear, however, the indicia is placed laterally on the shoe, not underneath the sole for the purposes of imprinting tracks.
Other detachable footwear members include that described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,020 of Banister which describes the walking block for children, wherein a platform underneath the shoe is attached by straps over the shoe. Auxiliary soles which are attached by straps to a shoe are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,801,478 of Gilbert.
There have also been efforts to enhance a child's recreation by providing stilts, where upon the child's shoe is elevated above another member, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 3,626,609 of Cramer, which is used as a costume device to simulate the lengthening of the child's legs by the stilts underneath the shoe.
Because it is often difficult for the child to be agile while raised above the ground, various patents have been made to provide auxiliary handles to be held while the child's foot or shoe is inserted above or within a member, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 2,644,248 of Seligman or U.S. Pat. No. 3,479,753 of Wade.
The problem with these two patents of Seligman and Wade is that the handles are attached by leather straps so there is no restriction of motion to stabilize the child's arm from below.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,514,054 of Rowan describes a pair of stilts having a user foot support; U.S. Pat. No. 5,362,288 of Razon describes a device for assisting running, walking or jumping; U.S. Pat. No. 4,268,037 of McKinley describes a training device for developing roping skills and U.S. Pat. No. 4,596,387 of Roberts describes exercise handles for athletic shoes.
Furthermore, because the straps are flexible and not taut, the child cannot hold the handle in the child's hand while kneeling and use the stilt as a hand-held printing device for printing in the sand or soft ground.


An antenna system, for use in an NMR or MRI apparatus which includes a radio frequency (RF) signal transmitter and a radio frequency (RF) signal receiver, includes at least first and second electromagnetically coupled circuits, the first circuit comprising a first inductance producing a first electromagnetic field flux vector, and the second circuit comprising a second inductance producing a second electromagnetic field flux vector having a component which interacts with a component of the first electromagnetic field flux vector. A switch system has a first switching position for coupling the first circuit to an output of the RF signal transmitter and preventing a damaging level of signal from the second circuit from being fed to an input of said RF signal receiver, and a second switching position for permitting an RF signal from the second circuit to be fed to an input of the RF signal receiver and decoupling the first circuit from the output of the RF signal transmitter. The antenna produces an electromagnetic field flux enclosing an examination object therewithin, to irradiate the examination object, when the switch system is in the first switching position. An electromagnetic field flux produced by a signal emitted by the examination object's relaxing nuclei is picked up by the antenna system and is fed to the RF signal receiver via the second circuit, when the switch system is in the second switching position. An array antenna system capable of producing a useful variety of electromagnetic field shapes and coverages may be made up of a combination of antenna elements.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention is directed to transmission and reception antennas for use in a nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) apparatus and in a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) apparatus, for calculating spectra or generating images of an examination subject or object.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) is the effect of a resonant rotating or alternating magnetic field, imposed at right angles to a static field, to perturb the orientation of nuclear magnetic moments.
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is the development of nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) techniques for obtaining a diagnostic scan of a subject such as a human or animal body.
The patient or examination subject is placed in a strong magnetic field. This magnetic field induces a net magnetization of the nuclei in the subject. A short radio frequency pulse (RF pulse) is applied at the Larmor frequency of the precessing nuclei which, in turn, emit an RF signal of the same frequency. This is detected and gives a "fingerprint" of the environment of the nucleus being studied. This information is one-dimensional but is converted into a two-dimensional anatomical image by adding a gradient to the applied magnetic field which results in a frequency modulation of the emitted RF signal. A series of such measurements is analyzed by computer to generate the image.
In an NMR apparatus, as well as in an MRI apparatus, a strong magnetic field aligns the nuclei of the subject or object to be studied along the field direction. A radio frequency field delivered through a transmitter antenna, also known as the transmitter coil, brings the nuclei to a higher energy state.
A receiver antenna, also referred to as a receiver coil, intercepts the signal emitted by the object (patient) as its nuclei precess or relax from the higher energy state.
The conditions of efficient energy absorption require that the RF fields of the transmitter and receiver antennas be orthogonal to the static magnetic field. The simultaneous condition of negligibly low interaction between the receiver and transmitter antennas for minimal mutual distortion of their RF fields and for the prevention of high transmitter power to be applied to the receiver, in part also means that the RF fields of the transmitter and receiver antennas must be orthogonal even though transmission and reception do not coincide in time. Acceptable switching time between the two is of the order of about ten microseconds.
As represented by FIG. 1, which shows the prior art, a radio frequency (RF) transmitter 4 transmits a signal to a transmitter antenna 2. The signal which is absorbed and subsequently reemitted by the examination body or subject (patient) 5 is then picked up by a receiver antenna 1 and fed to a radio frequency (RF) receiver 3. The examination body or subject 5 which is being scanned is within the RF fields of both the transmitter and receiver antennas 2,1. The transmitter antenna 2 and receiver antenna 1 are optimized for their respective tasks and are tuned by variable capacitors 6 and 7. Normally, the single, fixed in place transmitter antenna 2 is big enough to encompass the largest part of a body or subject 5 to be scanned. Significantly smaller reception antennas 1, specialized for different body parts, are separately connected and used. Magnet poles 8 and 9 are shown located above and below the patient (body or subject 5), respectively.
Because of the orthogonal arrangement and spatial separations of the transmitter antenna 2 and receiver antenna 1, the resulting low electromagnetic coupling between the transmitter antenna 2 and receiver antenna 1 assures low field distortion and allows utilization of speedy and efficient electronic tuning for the receiver antenna 1. The required transmitting power is high and manual tuning of the transmitter antenna 2 by a variable capacitor 6 is employed, for no known electronically controlled semiconductor device may withstand the incident power.
Another limitation of the prior art apparatus is that the magnet gap between magnet poles 8 and 9 should be large enough to receive the two separate antennas 1, 2 therebetween, which is not always possible or cost efficient.
These prior art types of devices are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,926,126; 4,975,644; 5,144,244; and 5,256,972, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 2 represents another prior art apparatus using a single antenna 10 which is alternatively switched by switch 14 between the RF signal transmitter 12 and RF signal receiver 13. The antenna 10 is tuned by a variable capacitor 11.
In the case of FIG. 2, the transmitter power requirement is significantly lower as compared to the embodiment of FIG. 1. The antenna 10 is not limited to a single orientation but may be multi-orientable. The antenna 10 also does not put a large constraint on the size of the magnet gap. These prior art types of devices are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,901,022 and 5,166,617, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. However, even though the transmitter power is lower in the embodiment of FIG. 2, the transmitter power requirement is still so high as to prevent simple implementation of electronic antenna tuning.

Antenna system for NMR and MRI apparatus


An antenna system including a signal source, at least one antenna coupled to the signal source, a matching circuit connected to the signal source at a first port and to the at least one antenna at a second port and operative to match the at least one antenna to the signal source, the matching circuit having a characteristic impedance with respect to the first port and the second port, real and imaginary parts of the characteristic impedance not being defined by the Hilbert transform.

The following publications are believed to represent the current state of the art:    H. W. Bode, 'Network Analysis and Feedback Amplifier Design,' D. Van Nostrand Company, Inc., Princeton, N.J.; 1945;    H. J. Carlin, 'A new approach to gain bandwidth problems,' IEEE Trans. on Circuits and Systems, vol. CAS-24, no. 4, pp. 170-175, April 1977;    H. J. Carlin and B. S. Yarman, Wideband Circuit Design, CRC Press, Boca Raton, Fla., 1997;    E. H. Newman, 'Real frequency wide-band impedance matching with nonminimum reactance equalizers,' IEEE Trans. Antennas and Propagation, vol. 53, no. 11, pp. 3597-3603, November 2005.


A display driver circuit (100) includes N scanning drivers (150) for driving a scanning set of display electrodes of a display panel (160) with a set of scanning signals (155), P information drivers (130) for driving an information set of display electrodes of the display panel (160) with a set of information signals (135), and a control section (120) having a first mode and a second mode. In the first mode the control section (120) controls the N scanning drivers (150) to generate N different scanning signals (155). In the second mode the control section controls the N scanning drivers (150) to generate a common scanning signal by S of the scanning drivers (156) and N-S different scanning signals by N-S drivers of the scanning drivers (157), wherein N, P and S are positive integers.

Moderately complex liquid crystal displays capable of displaying graphics on a display panel that include either alphanumeric characters or icon segments, or both, are common place today in a variety of electronic devices. The graphics are formed from pixels. The information as to the state of each pixel is hereinafter referred to as the pixel information. Such liquid crystal displays typically have orthogonal electrodes on the front and back planes of the display panel, wherein the pixels are generated in one of two states at each crossing of the front and back electrodes. The back plane electrodes are typically driven with a set of scanning signals, each of which is a different periodic signal. The waveforms of the scanning signals are independent of the pixel information to be displayed. The front plane electrodes are typically driven with a set of information signals. The information signal of each front electrode is dependent on the pixel information to be displayed at the crossings of the front electrode and the back electrodes, and the waveform of each information signal is not necessarily different from the waveforms of other information signals. In particular, when the pixel information to be displayed on any two front plane electrodes is the same, the information signals for the two electrodes are the same.
In a battery operated electronic device such as a pager, it is highly desirable to achieve the smallest possible average power drain, because the average power drain determines the battery life of the pager. Typical pagers have a standby mode, which is a low power mode during which the user is not manipulating controls on the pager and during which the pager is awaiting a message from a paging system. The average power drain during the standby mode often dominates in the determination of the average power drain, and thus often dominates the determination of the battery life. When a battery operated electronic device incorporates such a moderately complex liquid crystal display, the power drain of the display can be a significant portion of the standby power drain.
Thus, what is needed is a technique to minimize the power drain of the liquid crystal display, in order to prolong the battery life of the portable electronic device.


A lift device includes a chassis, a platform configured to support a user, a lift assembly coupling the platform to the chassis, an actuator configured to at least one of (a) move the platform relative to the chassis or (b) propel the chassis, a sensor assembly, and a controller. The sensor assembly includes a bar including a first end portion coupled to the platform and a second end portion opposite the first end portion. The sensor assembly further includes a sensor coupled to the platform and configured to provide a signal in response to the second end portion of the bar contacting the sensor. The controller is operatively coupled to the sensor and the actuator and configured to control the actuator based on the signal from the sensor.

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of lift devices. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to sensor systems for lift devices.
Some lift devices include platforms that support a user. Such platforms are often supported by boom assemblies that facilitate vertical and/or horizontal movement of the platform as controlled by the user through a user interface. During operation, the user is typically positioned in front of the user interface when the platform is moving. As the boom assembly moves the platform, the platform may approach an obstacle (e.g., a wall, a tree branch, etc.). If the user is positioned between the user interface and the obstacle while the platform moves, the user's freedom of movement may be restricted.


A bat gripping apparatus includes a panel that has a top side, a bottom side, a first side edge, a second side edge, a top edge and a bottom edge. The panel comprises a plurality of layers. The plurality of layers at least includes a bottom layer, a middle layer and a top layer. A coupler is configured to selectively secure the panel in a tubular configuration. A bat has a handle terminating in a butt. The panel is extended around the handle so that the bottom side abuts the bat and the bottom edge is positioned adjacent to the butt and the tubular configuration is attained. The panel is then secured in the tubular configuration with the coupler.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to bat gripping devices and more particularly pertains to a new bat gripping device for aiding a person in choking up on a bat to reduce the overall effective length of the bat.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of bat gripping aids is known in the prior art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,268,246 describes a device which is positionable around a bat to aid a person in gripping the bat. Another type of bat gripping device is U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,533 again includes a device extendable around a bat for improving the grip of a bat. Still yet another such device is found U.S. Pat. No. 5,342,046.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the need remains for a device which forms a false butt of the bat to assist a person in properly choking up on the bat. Most batters, and particularly children, inherently move there hands down to the butt of a bat when gripping a bat. For this reason, the device should be easily positionable around a bat adjacent to the butt of the bat so that a person holding the bat may use an edge of the device as a false butt for guiding their hands to a proper position.


Methods of estimating delays between pins on a tile-based programmable logic device (PLD), by identifying repeat patterns and exploiting these patterns to provide accurate delay estimates. A computer-implemented method can include selecting a sample area in a tile-based PLD and constructing a delay table corresponding to the sample area. Each entry in the delay table includes a base delay value and a description of the fastest available route from a source pin in a source tile to a load pin in the sample area. To estimate a net delay, the base delay value and the description of the route are read from the delay table for specified source and load pins. One or more delay variants (e.g., pin delays and/or crossing penalties) are calculated based on the description of the route. The calculated delay variants are added to the base delay value to obtain an adjusted delay value, which is output.

Programmable logic devices (PLDs) are a well-known type of integrated circuit that can be programmed to perform specified logic functions. One type of PLD, the field programmable gate array (FPGA), typically includes an array of programmable tiles. These programmable tiles can include, for example, input/output blocks (IOBs), configurable logic blocks (CLBs), dedicated random access memory blocks (BRAM), multipliers, digital signal processing blocks (DSPs), processors, clock managers, delay lock loops (DLLs), interconnect lines (wires) and programmable interconnection points (PIPs), and so forth.
The programmable tiles are typically programmed by loading a stream of configuration data into internal configuration memory cells that define how the programmable elements are configured. The configuration data can be read from memory (e.g., from an external PROM) or written into the FPGA by an external device. The collective states of the individual memory cells then determine the function of the FPGA.
Other PLDs are programmed by applying a processing layer, such as a metal layer, that programmably interconnects the various elements on the device. These PLDs are known as mask programmable devices. PLDs can also be implemented in other ways, e.g., using fuse or antifuse technology. The terms "PLD" and "programmable logic device" include but are not limited to these exemplary devices, as well as encompassing devices that are only partially programmable. For example, one type of PLD includes a combination of hard-coded transistor logic and a programmable switch fabric that programmably interconnects the hard-coded transistor logic.
FIG. 1 is a simplified illustration of an exemplary PLD, e.g., the Virtex®-4 FPGA available from Xilinx, Inc. The PLD of FIG. 1 includes columns of logic tiles including configurable logic blocks (CLBs) and input/output blocks (IOBs), and programmable interconnect tiles (INTs) that are used to programmably interconnect the logic tiles. Surrounding the array are terminating tiles (TERMs). In the pictured embodiment, the interconnect tiles are identical to one another. This uniformity makes the architecture more amenable to change, and also easier to maintain. Additionally, this approach reduces the design time for a PLD, because design teams designing logic tiles can assume that the connectivity of the interconnect tiles feeding the logic tiles is fixed. Thus, for example, some PLDs also include additional logic tiles with special purposes (not shown), e.g., DLLs, block RAM, and so forth. In the Virtex-4 FPGA, these additional logic tiles also use the same interconnect tiles as the CLBs and IOBs.
Interconnect tiles in the Virtex-4 device include two types of connectivity. One type is the connectivity across tiles, which includes "doubles" (wires two tiles long), "hexes" (wires six tiles long), and "longs" (wires 24 tiles long), for example. The other type is the connectivity to the logical pins of the adjacent logic tile, which can include, for example, connections to input multiplexers and output multiplexers of the logic tile.
Some FPGAs do not use the same interconnect tile for all logic tile types. For example, it may be more area efficient to customize the interconnect tile for each type of logic tile, by only including the connectivity required by that type of logic tile. While this approach may save die area, it also requires more design hours and reduces the symmetry of the FPGA, which may have a negative impact on the efficiency of the FPGA implementation software.
FPGA implementation software typically includes a mapper (which maps the user logic to programmable elements of the FPGA), a placer (which places the mapped elements into logic tiles on the FPGA), and a router (which routes signals between the logic tiles using the interconnect tiles). The tools may also include a physical synthesis tool, which inputs a user design and outputs a netlist representation of the design, suitable for mapping. Each of these software tools can provide a better result (e.g., a design implementation with a faster operating frequency) if provided with accurate timing delays for the various elements of the FPGA.
While worst-case timing delays for each net can be calculated using specified delay values for every individual component of the net, such calculations can be very expensive in terms of computing time and power. Therefore, it is desirable to provide methods of accurately estimating timing delays in a PLD that can be used, for example, when implementing a user design in the PLD.

Methods of estimating net delays in tile-based PLD architectures


A method and systems for gathering information regarding usage of a resource from at least one of a plurality of measuring nodes operatively coupled to a controller, wherein the measuring node includes at least one sensor and a node processor operatively coupled to the sensor, and the controller includes a controller processor. The method includes predicting an estimated resource usage value associated with the at least one sensor with the node processor and separately with the controller each using a predictor algorithm and dataset. The method further includes measuring resource usage to which the estimated resource usage value applies with the sensor and calculating a difference between the estimated resource usage value and the measured resource usage with the node processor. If the difference falls outside of a bound the measured resource usage is communicated to the controller.

Distributed sensor networks may have a number of applications in various fields, including examples such as area monitoring of a battlefield; environmental monitoring for permafrost or water temperature; as well as industrial monitoring of waste or ground water. One application, in particular, may include monitoring energy consumption in one or more buildings. However, sensor networks, such as the networks described above, may have a limited available bandwidth and limited available energy to transmit data packets at each node. Thus it may be desirable to optimize inter-node communication to reduce overall energy use and to minimize network traffic.

Maintaining information integrity while minimizing network utilization of accumulated data in a distributed network


An accurate and robust wavefront-division polarimetric analysis method and device, allows the quasi-instantaneous measurement of the polarization states of a luminous object. The device can be used to produce a plurality of light beams, all polarized according to different polarization states, from a single upstream light beam. The polarized light beams, which do not overlap and which carry information items that are complementary in terms of polarization, are analyzed simultaneously by a plurality of detectors that measure the luminous intensity of each beam. Processing elements digitally process the luminous intensity values obtained in order to determine the polarization state of the upstream light beam. The operations performed by the processing elements prevent luminous intensity variations in the split light beams during the division of the wavefront of the upstream light beam. Therefore, the wavefront-division polarimetric analysis device is robust and its accuracy is not hindered by the experimental conditions.

The invention relates to a wavefront-division polarimetric analysis device allowing to determine the polarisation state of a light beam.
The invention more particularly relates to a wavefront-division polarimetric analysis device for determining the polarisation states of the different source-points of an object or a light beam.
The invention also relates to a spectrometer, a camera or a microscope equipped with such a device.
The invention finally relates to a wavefront-division polarimetric analysis method for determining the polarisation state of an upstream light beam.
Knowing the polarisation state of a light beam, an image or a light source proves to be important not only in many scientific instrumentation fields, as for example astronomy or microscopy, but also for many applications as target detection or automated vision.
For that purpose, different types of polarimetric analysis devices, or polarimeters, may be implemented. Among them, the wavefront-division polarimeters (also called "aperture-division" polarimeters) appear as being particularly interesting when the matter is to determine quasi-simultaneously the polarisation states of different points of an object.

Wavefront-division polarimetric analysis method and device, spectropolarimeter, polarimetric camera and optical microscope using such a device


A program is made secure relative to a CPU by storing in a first memory zone a series of predetermined-address functions that are directly executable by the CPU, by write protecting said first memory zone, and by storing the program in a second memory zone in the form of a series of instructions that are executable within the second memory zone or that activate functions contained in the first memory zone.

Most present microprocessors include not only random-access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM) associated with a central processor unit (CPU) to enable the CPU to operate, but also electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) containing data specific to the bearer of the card and the basic application for which the card is intended. Operators, i.e. the companies that purchase cards from manufacturers to make them available to users, are demanding more and more frequently that a program which is personal to such operators be loaded in the EEPROM. For example, in a microprocessor card for radiocommunications purposes, certain operators require a voice message program to be installed. When the link between the EEPROM and the central unit is left entirely free, allowing the operator to load a program written in a language that is directly understandable for the CPU, then full control over the CPU is made available during program execution without any monitoring by the card manufacturer's operating system, i.e. the operating system is bypassed. Given control over the CPU, the operator's program can contain instructions giving access to any of the information contained in the card, including information that ought normally to be protected from the operator.
To avoid the operator's program taking control over the CPU, microprocessor cards are known in which the memory containing the operator's program needs to be loaded with special commands that are checked by an interpreter disposed between the memory and the CPU, the function of the interpreter being to verify that each command does not compromise the security of information present in the card and to transform the command into an instruction that is executable by the CPU. The drawback of such a system is that it is necessary to write the operator's program on the basis of commands understandable to the interpreter, which limits the options available to the operator's program. In addition, the operator's program is not executed directly but is initially transformed by the interpreter so that program execution speed suffers.

Method of implementing a secure program in a microprocessor card, and a microprocessor card including a secure program