An apparatus and method for tracking aircraft wingtip position during taxi operations to prevent collisions with nearby obstructions. A patterned illumination source is attached proximal the wingtips to project a readily discernable target pattern in the direction of taxi travel. At least a portion of the target pattern is reflected off of any obstructions that lie in the straight-line direction of travel, such that the pilot can maneuver to avoid striking the obstruction. By way of example, the patterned illumination source comprises a laser module positioned with the navigation and/or strobe light of the aircraft that is configured to project a circular pattern in front of the wingtip. The device may be retrofitted to existing aircraft without additional wiring with the control of activation being selectable via power cycling of existing aircraft lighting controls.

Not Applicable
Not Applicable
1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to aircraft safety systems and more particularly to a system and method for preventing collisions between the wingtips of an aircraft moving on the ground and obstructions.
2. Description of the Background Art
Moving aircraft are subject to a variety of situations in which a collision may occur. Recently, advanced GPS systems have been proposed to assure separation between aircraft along their flight paths. Yet one form of collision that is very common among small private aircraft occurs when the pilot taxies the aircraft. Airports are often overcrowded with aircraft while the taxiways are small and may be subject to further encroachment by poorly-parked aircraft. The problem is especially difficult for pilots taxiing in small airports as it is difficult to maneuver the typical 25-40 foot wingspan of a private aircraft amidst a crowded taxiway while keeping the tips from striking other aircraft or obstructions that exist alongside the taxiway. In order to maintain clearance from other aircraft, the pilot while taxiing must look in front of the aircraft and needs to closely monitor the wingtips on either side of the aircraft. The difficulty in judging the proximity of an aircraft wingtip to an obstruction, such as the empennage, propellor, or wingtip of another aircraft should be appreciated. For example, if the tip of the wing is twenty feet (20 ft.) from the pilot, then the pilot must judge possible obstructions in front of the wing are more or less than twenty feet (20 ft.) away. Any error in making this distance judgement can lead to damages to both aircraft. The situation is far removed from a driver attempting to park a car, because a driver is close enough to the periphery of a car, or even a side of the motorhome, to judge the side-distance and generally may only require help in judging the in-line distance to the obstruction. In the situation of an aircraft, however, the position of the obstruction is far removed and distance must be judged in relation to a wingtip which is also far removed from the pilot. During taxiing the pilot is continually attempting to judge if an obstruction is in a forward line with one of the other wingtip. Furthermore, it will be appreciated that the pilot must correctly judge the distance well before the tip of the wing approaches the obstruction so that sufficient room exists to maneuver around the obstruction. If insufficient maneuver room exists, then the pilot will be generally required to shutdown the aircraft use a tow-bar to back up and reposition the aircraft as few smaller aircraft have reversible thrust propellers.
As can be seen, therefore, the development of an apparatus and method for tracking wingtip position between an aircraft moving on the ground and its surroundings would be capable of preventing numerous minor collisions. The system and method of preventing aircraft wingtip collisions in accordance with the present invention satisfies that need, as well as others, and overcomes deficiencies in previously known techniques.
The present invention is a system and method for tracking the relative position of the wingtips of an aircraft by utilizing a light pattern projected forward of the wingtip to aid the pilot in judging the proximity of nearby obstructions. The system employs a set of forward projecting beams, such as from a laser light source, which are configured on the aircraft to project forward of the wingtip to illustrate conditions of an impending collision so that the pilot can easily avoid the obstruction. The beams are projected from the wingtip in a pattern that preferably yields information to the pilot as to both obstruction forward distance and lateral distance. By way of example and not of limitation the beams may be projected as circles, cross-hairs, boxes, and so forth, whose projected size is an indicator of forward distance, and whose projected position on a subject obstruction determines the amount of the obstruction that may be struck should the aircraft continue traversing a straight-path. One or more additional light sources may be incorporated to more precisely gauge distance, or angle, or for aiding with the detection of distance for other aircraft surfaces, such as the tail surfaces. One embodiment is exemplified utilizing a pair of central vertical-fan laser beams coordinated with spiral-rotation laser beams on the tips wherein the distance and relationship of the wingtip and the upcoming object is represented by the light pattern thrown-up on the obstruction.
An object of the invention is to provide additional positional feedback to the pilot of the aircraft relating the position of their wingtips to nearby obstructions.
Another object of the invention is to create a tip tracking system that provides a forward distance reference for the pilot between a wingtip and a possible obstruction.
Another object of the invention is to create a tip tracking system that provides a lateral distance reference which indicates if a collision on a straightforward travel path is likely.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tip tracking system that may be easily implemented on existing aircraft.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tip tracking system that does not require that additional wiring be routed through the wings of an aircraft.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system of tip tracking that is reliable for both daytime and nighttime operations.
Another object of the invention is to provide a system that can optionally provide accurate distance information from the aircraft to obstruction.
Another object of the invention is to provide feedback to the pilot so that operation of the system can be verified.
Another object of the invention is to provide an automatic means of shutting down the tip tracking system to reduce any likelihood of airborne operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a tip tracking system that may be mounted to the airframe with minimal airflow disruption and commensurate drag.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will be brought out in the following portions of the specification, wherein the detailed description is for the purpose of fully disclosing preferred embodiments of the invention without placing limitations thereon.

System and method of preventing aircraft wing damage


A hot tap clamp. The clamp includes a first clamp part, a second clamp part, a fastener for stable fastening of the clamp parts around a section of a pipeline provided with a hot tap coupling, a pipe socket fixedly integrated with one of the clamp parts at an inner end and extending outward from the clamp part to an outer end, a hub on the outer end of the pipe socket, the pipe socket at the inner end going through the clamp part abutting the surface of the pipeline, such that the pipe socket can be sealingly welded to the pipeline by internal welding.

The term "hot tap" denotes establishment of a branching-point or a coupling point in a pipeline carrying fluid under pressure, without prior shutdown of the pipeline. A typical utilisation will be to connect a gas pipeline from a newly developed gas field to an existing gas pipeline, which results in significant savings compared to arranging a separate infrastructure for delivery of gas from the new gas field, particularly if the installations are located sub sea.
A hot tap operation represents no disadvantage for fluid-transport through the existing pipeline, as the operation is maintained all the time. By operation sub sea, ingress of water into the pipeline is avoided, as well as a subsequent costly pigging operation to remove the water. Likewise, corrosion problems caused by water, filling of an existing sub sea pipeline are avoided.
A number of arrangements exist for hot tapping, which have been used successfully over several years. So far the commercially available arrangements for sub sea hot tapping have required assistance from divers. There is a demand for hot tapping equipment for operation without assistance by divers, particularly for water depths deeper than 180 m, which is the maximal depth for planned diving operations in Norwegian waters.
An example of hot tap equipment is found in the Patent Application Publication US 2004/0089342 A1, where a method and an arrangement are described for friction stitch welding of a branch coupling to an existing pipeline. After the welding, openings are machined through the wall of the existing pipeline to complete the hot tap coupling. Seam stitch welding has a disadvantage of relatively low mechanical strength and utilisation of relatively complicated equipment. A demand exists for simplified equipment for hot tap operations.
Other examples of equipment for hot tap operations are described in the Patent Publications NO. 3144467, WO 00/60262, EP 235917, EP 304246 and EP 235917.


In a contrast correcting apparatus 1 which divides an image into unit regions and carries out a contrast correction for each of unit regions, a gray level histogram calculation section 201 generates gray level histograms of the image, and a scene judgment section 202 makes a judgment on the state of the image. When the result of the judgment shows that the image is in a state such as overexposure, underexposure, low contrast or high contrast, a region size determining section 204 sets a greater size as the size of the unit regions. Based upon the size of the unit regions thus determined and the amount of contrast correction determined by the contrast correction amount determining section 203, gray level transformation curves are formed for the respective unit regions, and by using these, the contrast corrections are carried out on the respective unit regions. With this method, it is possible to properly reduce the occurrence of unevenness in gray levels in an image that tends to arise in the case when the size of the unit regions is small although the amount of contrast correction (the amount of emphasis) is great.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for correcting contrast of images.
2. Description of the Background Art
Conventionally, a contrast correcting operation for emphasizing contrast of images picked up by a digital camera or a scanner has been carried out. Here, in general, the contrast refers to a difference in gray levels between a background part and a main subject part in an image or a difference between the maximum gray level and the minimum gray level in an image; in this case, however, it is assumed that the contrast simply refers to the degree of differences between bright portions and dark portions distributed in an image. Therefore, in the following description, the correction of the contrast substantially corresponds to a process for correcting a gray level histogram of an image for transforming the gray levels in pixels.
For one example of contrast corrections, a method has been proposed, in which a gray level histogram is generated in a predetermined region around a pixel of interest that is to be corrected, and after the gray level histogram has been transformed, an accumulated histogram is generated, and the resulting accumulated histogram is utilized as a gray level transformation curve so as to transform the gray level of the pixel of interest.
However, in this method (hereinafter, referred to as "correction method with local histograms"), it is necessary to generate gray level histograms for respective pixels, and the resulting problem is that a great amount of calculations have to be made.
As to a modified method for the correction method with local histograms, another method has been proposed, in which an image is divided into a plurality of rectangular regions, and a gray level histogram is formed for each region, and this gray level histogram is transformed to an accumulated histogram, and by utilizing this as a gray level transformation curve, the gray levels of all the pixels within each region are transformed. With this method, the gray level transformation curves as many as the number of the divided regions are generated to correct the contrast, thereby making it possible to shorten the calculation time.
However, in the conventional contrast correction method which divides an image into a plurality of regions, and carries out a contrast correcting process on the basis of each region, the size of the region is fixed. As a result, in the case when gray level transformation curves are greatly different between the regions, the gray levels are greatly different on both of the sides of the border between the corresponding regions. Here, it is of course possible to alleviate the difference in gray levels between the regions by using linear interpolation, etc. however, in the case when gray levels are greatly different on both of the sides of the border, unevenness in gray levels become conspicuous even in an image after the correction.

Image processing apparatus for correcting contrast of image


There is disclosed a water-reducible, chromium-free coating composition for providing corrosion protection to a substrate, such as a metal substrate. The deposited coating film is corrosion-resistant and for coated articles which are threaded, e.g., steel fasteners, the coating provides a non-thread-filling coating. The coating composition contains particulate metal, such as particulate zinc or aluminum. Although substituents can be separately packaged, the composition is virtually always a one-package coating composition. The composition contains water-reducible organofunctional silane, particularly an epoxy functional silane, as a binding agent. The composition has highly desirable, extended shelf life. The composition can be easily applied in the usual manner, such as dip-drain or dip-spin technique, and readily cures at elevated temperature.

A variety of at least substantially resin-free, chromium-containing coating compositions for protecting ferrous substrates are known. Of special interest are those which contain particulate metal. Representative coating compositions of this type that were initially developed could be quite simplistic, such as compositions containing essentially chromic acid and particulate metal in an alcohol medium, as disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 3,687,738.
A later development of particular effectiveness for providing a corrosion-resistant coating on metal substrates was the more complex composition such as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,608. The composition comprised chromic acid, or equivalent, a particulate metal of mainly zinc or aluminum, wetter and a liquid medium comprising water plus high-boiling organic liquid. The composition had very desirable coating characteristics when including a viscosity modifier such as a water-soluble cellulose ether, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,280.
The coating could be especially useful as an undercoating. Thus it has been taught to use such a more complex coating composition as an undercoating over ferrous surfaces. The coating is then provided with a silicate topcoating, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,003. Another topcoating that could be utilized is a weldable primer, most notably a zinc-rich primer, which may be typically applied before electrical resistance welding of the substrate, as discussed in the hereinbefore mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 3,940,280.
It has been known that where coating compositions could contain the particulate metal as untreated aluminum flake, such flake can be unstable in water-based coating compositions. In such water-based coating compositions, standard aluminum flake will react with water in the composition to form hydrogen gas. One approach for avoiding this problem has been to coat the aluminum flake. One such coating is an acrylic coating formed by reacting mono-ethylenically unsaturated silane with acrylic monomers having amine hydroxyl or epoxy groups, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,886. However, these products are specialty items tailored to provide a coating of good glamour appearance and have not found a wide acceptance.
Another approach to improving the coating composition was to consider the chromic acid constituent. As taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,266,975 this constituency can be partially replaced by boric acid component. However, some chromic acid for the constituency is retained.
For coating compositions for providing corrosion-resistance to metal substrates, which compositions are of the particular type referred to as "wash primers", such have conventionally contained zinc chromate pigment. Attempts have been made with these primers to provide anti-corrosion primers free from chromium, thus reducing potential pollution problems. There has been proposed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,098,749, a coating composition containing a polyvinyl butyral resin, an organofunctional silane, a borate or polyphosphate compound and phosphoric acid. The composition may contain a metal powder as an optional ingredient and usually a phenolic resin. Such compositions, however, are not suitable as replacements for the above discussed complex compositions of pulverulent metal and chromium-providing substance, owing in part to their resin content.
As mentioned hereinabove, the corrosion-resistant coatings can be combinations of undercoatings and topcoatings. The topcoatings can be solvent-based weldable zinc-rich primers. For the topcoatings, such as these zinc-rich primers, it has been proposed, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,476,260, to enhance primer corrosion-resistance by formulating a primer to contain zinc pigment, a thermoplastic or thermosetting resin, an organosilane, and optionally aluminum trihydrate with one or more dispersing agents. Such compositions, however, are not suitable as replacements for the complex undercoating compositions, and would be useful in the combination of coatings as the zinc-rich topcoating.
It would, therefore, be desirable to provide a coating composition which could have the wide acceptance of the complex undercoating compositions. It would further be desirable to provide such compositions which would avoid the pollution problems associated with the compositions which contain hexavalent chromium, as well as avoid compositions which are solvent-based.

Water-reducible coating composition for providing corrosion protection


A mounting package includes a sunroof assembly, a roof crossbeam, and a hanger hanging the roof crossbeam underneath the sunroof assembly. The sunroof assembly includes a guiderail. The hanger includes a lower hook hooked with the roof crossbeam, and an upper hook hooked with the guiderail. The hanger is configured to flexibly accommodate multidirectional movement of the roof crossbeam relative to the guiderail. The multidirectional movement includes lifting movement of the roof crossbeam relative to the guiderail.

As part of their roofs, the bodies of some vehicles with sunroof assemblies include not only longitudinally-extending roof rails, but also laterally-extending roof crossbeams, such as side impact beams. In certain vehicles, the sunroof assemblies are mountable to the bodies from below, and the roof crossbeams are mountable into the bodies from below underneath the sunroof assemblies. For mounting purposes, both the sunroof assemblies and the roof crossbeams are securable to the roof rails. Accordingly, both the sunroof assemblies and the roof crossbeams must be lifted underneath their final locations on the roof rails.

Hanger and associated hanger-based mounting package for a sunroof assembly and a roof crossbeam

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A climbing tool operative for climbing an artificial climbing wall, simulating dry tooling, ice climbing and mixed climbing. The tool has a strap replacing the axe portion used in outdoor climbing, the strap engaging a climbing wall hold. The tool has a grip attached to an angled shaft. The grip has a grasping portion for a hand that includes a pinky rest and a finger rest. The grip has a match rest for a second hand to grasp the tool above the grip in a “match maneuver.” The grip has an inward bias toward the wall from the shaft at about 160 degrees, and the angle in the shaft portion is about 160 degrees, providing an appropriate skeletal wrist angle when the tool is grasped. Because the climbing tool does not have any sharp points or edges, it does not damage an artificial climbing wall.

Dry tooling involves climbing rock with climbing axes to traverse areas without ice or snow. It has its origins in traditional climbing, but it has developed into a relatively new and exciting kind of sport. The range of techniques created as well as the necessary skill required allowed dry-tooling to become a sport of its own, rather than a mere extension of other types of climbing.
Specific types of dry tooling axes have been developed so that the tips of the axe picks stay in the smallest of holds. The tip of the pick does most of the load bearing. The axe must be placed in the same direction as the load and the climber must maintain the same direction of loading on the shaft during the movement.
Many dry tool climbers, as well as ice climbers, use artificial climbing walls to improve techniques. However, generally artificial climbing walls are designed to simulate rock climbing and are not designed for use with any type of axe, particularly those used in other types of climbing.
While conventional tools may be suitable for the particular purpose employed, or for general use, they would not be as suitable for the purposes of the present disclosure as disclosed hereafter.
In the present disclosure, where a document, act or item of knowledge is referred to or discussed, this reference or discussion is not an admission that the document, act or item of knowledge or any combination thereof was at the priority date, publicly available, known to the public, part of common general knowledge or otherwise constitutes prior art under the applicable statutory provisions; or is known to be relevant to an attempt to solve any problem with which the present disclosure is concerned.
While certain aspects of conventional technologies have been discussed to facilitate the present disclosure, no technical aspects are disclaimed and it is contemplated that the claims may encompass one or more of the conventional technical aspects discussed herein.


A method of testing, polling and trimming memory pages in different memory banks simultaneously is presented, using a cache memory located in each one of the memory banks. The cache memory is at least as large as the individual memory pages and is used to record the programming voltage required to obtain the specified programming speed as well as the location of defective memory elements. A local on chip state machine may be used to accelerate the programming rate, and there may be a state machine per memory bank. With such an arrangement, the amount of testing time at wafer probe and final packaged device test may be reduced up to 40%, depending upon the number of memory pages tested in parallel.

The semiconductor device industry has a market driven need to reduce the time required for function and speed testing of integrated circuits (ICs), in particular the high number of relatively low cost memory chips used in virtually every electronic device. Since each individual memory chip may be priced below that of the logic chips and microprocessors, and because of the large number of individual memory chips that may be used in a single electronic device, even a small reduction in overall chip cost has a large impact on the economics of both the chip manufacturer and the electronic device manufacturer. One method of reducing IC cost is to reduce the amount of time required to test each of the individual memory chips, both at wafer probe and at the finished packaged device stage at the back end of the line (BEOL).
Typically, memory chips such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), content addressable memory (CAM), and flash memory, are function tested by writing an array of binary one values (i.e., "1"), or writing an array of binary zero values (i.e., "0"), or writing alternating ones and zeros (i.e., a checkerboard), or a combination of these patterns. This is known as a single level cell, and there may also be multi-level memory cell arrays that may each store four or more different values (i.e., 0, 1, 2, 3) per cell, but the principle for testing these cells is similar.
In increase testing speed, memory chips may include "on chip" state machines (that is logic that can perform electrical operations on portions of the IC) that can write these test patterns into the memory sections of the chip as a self test and to reduce the testing time. A memory chip may have the total number of memory cells broken into groups in various ways. For example, a memory chip may have two or more banks of memory, where each bank may be broken into 2,048 blocks of memory, typically with 16 extra blocks of memory available for use as redundant memory blocks to replace defective blocks. Each block of memory may be broken down into 64 pages of memory, and each page may be formed of 1048 words, again typically with a number of redundant words to be used to replace defective words. Each word may, for example, have 32 individual bits of memory. In a function test, each of these bits must be tested to determine if the bits can be programmed to take the desired value in the allowable amount of time, at an allowable voltage level, and retain the programmed value.
In addition to simple function testing, the speed of the memory in writing and reading the data needs to be measured. For persistent memory types such as EEPROM or flash memory, the programming operation requires relatively high voltages for what is known as Fowler-Nordheim tunneling across the tunnel oxide to occur, and thus set the individual bits to either binary one or zero. After the speed of programming the memory bits is measured, the devices may be sorted into various groups, such as those that program much more rapidly than the specified rate at the normal programming voltage, those that program faster than the specified rate, and those that fail to program within the allowed time period at the normal programming voltage. It may be possible to improve the programming speed of the failed chip by increasing the programming voltage. This process may be known as trimming. All of the functional testing, the speed testing and sorting, may result in a cost of the IC chip that may reach 25% or more of the eventual IC cost. Thus, there is an industry wide problem in testing memory chips at a faster rate to reduce the cost per chip.

Independent polling for multi-page programming


Disclosed is an operational amplifier having a positive input terminal, a negative input terminal, an output terminal, a positive power supply input and a negative power supply input. The operational amplifier includes a transistor input pair being coupled to the positive input terminal and the negative input terminal. A first charge pump being coupled to positive supply circuitry contained within the operational amplifier. The first charge pump being configured to operate the positive supply circuitry contained within the operational amplifier at an enhanced positive power supply. The operational amplifier further includes a second charge pump being coupled to negative supply circuitry contained within the operational amplifier. The second charge pump being configured to operate the negative circuitry contained within the operational amplifier at an enhanced negative power supply. Accordingly, the transistor output pair provides an essentially full rail-to-rail output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to integrated circuits, and more particularly to rail-to-rail operational amplifier circuits.
2. Description of the Related Art
Classical operational amplifiers (OP AMPs) are well known versatile electronic devices that are used in designing many types of electronic circuits. By way of example, when the terminals of a classical OP AMP are electrically interconnected with other components, the OP AMP may be used to make differentiating circuits, integrating circuits, gain-up circuits, gain-down circuits, etc. Typically, classical OP AMPs are powered-up with a negative power supply voltage (i.e., -5 V) and an upper rail power supply voltage (e.g., +5 V). In operation, a signal input voltage having a dominant common mode voltage and a differential voltage is typically input at the positive terminal of the classical OP AMP. In the classical OP AMP, the positive terminal (as well as the negative node) is typically connected to an internal single input transistor pair.
In this manner, the signal input voltage may range somewhere between the negative power supply voltage and the positive power supply voltage. In addition, the classical OP AMP has a pair of output transistors that typically have their sources (or emitters) tied together at an output node. In this manner, the output node of the classical OP AMP will be capable of producing output signals ranging from 1 volt to 2 volts above the negative power supply voltage and from 1 volt to 2 volts below the positive power supply voltage.
Although classical OP AMPs work well for circuits that only require operation between a negative power supply voltage and a positive power supply voltage, many circuits now demand that operational amplifiers provide rail-to-rail inputs and outputs. For example, rail-to-rail OP AMPs are ideally designed to receive signal input voltages ranging between the negative power supply and the positive power supply, including both. Circuit designers were therefore forced to modify the classical OP AMP design to enable inputs ranging between the negative rail and the positive rail, as well as providing outputs ranging between the same negative and positive rails. Unfortunately, current rail-to-rail circuit designs fall short of delivering "true" rail-to-rail performance.
FIG. 1A shows a conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 that uses a cross-over circuit 20 to achieve input signal swings from rail-to-rail. In this example, "V" represents a positive rail, and "G" represents a negative rail. Conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 is shown having an NPN differential pair 12 that is used for input voltages near a positive rail. NPN differential pair 12 generally includes an NPN transistor 28 and an NPN transistor 30 having their respective emitters coupled to a node that leads to cross-over circuit 20. Also shown is a PNP differential pair 14 that includes a PNP transistor 32 and a PNP transistor 34 that are used for input voltages near a negative rail. In this example, the emitters of PNP transistors 32 and 34 are shown coupled to cross-over circuit 20. The base terminals of NPN transistor 30 and PNP transistor 34 are coupled to a positive terminal 16, and the base terminals of NPN transistor 28 and PNP transistor 32 are coupled to a negative terminal 15.
The collector terminals of NPN differential pair 12 and PNP differential pair 14 are shown coupled to a folded cascode circuit 18. In general, folded cascode circuit 18 is used for combining output signals received from differential pairs 12 and 14, and for outputting the combined signals to an output stage 40. As shown, folded cascode circuit 18 and output stage 40 are coupled to a positive voltage supply (V) and a negative voltage supply (G). As described above, "G" represents a negative rail voltage, and "V" represents a positive rail voltage. Output stage 40 typically includes a PNP transistor 52 and an NPN 54 that are electrically coupled to a level shifter 56 at their base terminals. In general, when output stage 40 receives a HIGH, PNP transistor 52 is turned off and NPN transistor 54 is turned on. Conversely, when output stage 40 receives a LOW, NPN transistor 54 is turned off and PNP transistor 52 is turned on. Accordingly, the output is passed out through a common collector. As will be described below, the common collector output arrangement has the drawback that performance is strongly affected by the load. Thus, bandwidth, and stability tend to be affected by output loading.
FIG. 1B is a current and voltage plot illustrating the response of a current I.sub.1 and a current I.sub.2 of FIG. 1A with respect to signal input voltage. Because most signal input voltages tend to utilize the negative voltage levels and lower-positive voltage levels, cross-over circuit 20 is often configured to transition between current I.sub.1 and I.sub.2 at a transition location 62 that is about 1 volt away from a positive voltage supply (V). That is, current I.sub.2 will be ON (i.e., PNP differential pair 14 is active) for signal input voltages ranging between the negative voltage supply (G) and up to the end of a cross-over range (V.sub.CO). Conversely, current I.sub.1 will be ON (i.e., NPN differential pair 12 is active) from the positive voltage supply (V) and down to the other end of the cross-over range (V.sub.CO).
Although conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 is capable of producing swings between positive and negative voltages, various errors are introduced which unfortunately handicap its rail-to-rail performance. It is important to realize that the input of conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 is usually operating while either NPN differential pair 12 or PNP differential pair 14 is ON (except in V.sub.CO, where both are ON). Unfortunately, the differential output current from differential pair 12 and the differential output current from PNP differential pair 14 have a tendency to vary due to well known voltage offset errors.
Because one transistor is rarely identical to another, the base-emitter voltages (V.sub.BE) of NPN transistors 28 and 30 will likewise rarely match. Accordingly, the difference between the base-emitter voltage (V.sub.BE) of NPN transistors 28 and 30 define an input offset voltage. The input offset voltage of NPN differential pair 12 will therefore produce an error current I.sub.01 (i.e., leading to folded cascode circuit 18) that takes into account the resulting offset voltage. Even if the offset errors are reduced (i.e., by trimming or the like) for NPN differential pair 12, PNP differential pair 14 will also have its associated offset voltage that produces its own unique current I.sub.02 (i.e., leading to folded cascode circuit 18). Although the difference between currents I.sub.01 and I.sub.02 may be small when viewed alone, at high gains, this difference is unfortunately magnified producing substantial gain nonlinearities.
The input of conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 is also subject to input bias current errors. As is well known, the current gain (.beta.) of the NPN transistors 28 and 30 tends to be larger than that of the PNP transistors 32 and 34. Accordingly, because the bias current is approximately (I.sub.E /.beta.), the bias current for the NPN's will differ from the PNP's because their betas (.beta.) differ. To further complicate matters, the input bias current for NPN differential pair 12 and PNP differential pair 14 flow in opposite directions. That is, the input bias current flows into the bases for NPN transistors 28 and 30, and flows out of the bases for the PNP transistors 32 and 34. As an example, 10 nano amps may be flowing in one direction, and 20 nano amps may be flowing in the other direction. As can be appreciated, the changes in magnitude and direction of the input currents produce input bias current errors that unfortunately introduce errors at the output.
Of course, the NPN differential pair 12 and PNP differential pair 14 may be replaced with MOSFETs. When MOSFETs are used, N-channel transistors are used in place of NPN transistors 28 and 30, and P-channel transistors are used in place of PNP transistors 32 and 34. Although input bias current errors described above are insignificant, the input voltage offset errors produced by MOSFETs may be an order of magnitude greater than with bipolar transistors. In addition, it is generally well known that transition location 62 (of FIG. 1B) is substantially less uniform when MOSFETs are used. As a result, the bipolar transistors of FIG. 1A and their associated drawbacks are preferred over their MOSFET counterparts. In addition, the transconductance of the input stage tends to change during cross-over. As a result of transconductance changes, a change in bandwidth may be caused, which may lead to instability in some applications having capacitive loads.
As described above, the collectors of PNP transistor 52 and NPN transistor 54 must be tied together in order to achieve an output that swings rail-to-rail. However, the rail-to-rail swings never truly extend all the way to the positive rail and the negative rail. In optimum operation, the positive and negative rail swing is about a collector-emitter saturation voltage (V.sub.CE SAT) away. By way of example, at lower currents, V.sub.CE SAT may be as small as 0.1 volts, and at higher currents as large as 0.5 volts. Accordingly, the output swing will never be a true rail-to-rail swing. The limited rail-to-rail swing is sometimes referred to as "headroom," which refers to voltage difference between a limited rail-to-rail voltage swing and a "full-ideal" rail-to-rail voltage swing.
In addition, the common collector output stage requirement of conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 suffers from being very load dependent, because the common collector output stage has a high output impedance. As a result, conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 has a tendency to oscillate with capacitive loads which makes it difficult to stabilize. Further yet, more power is consumed in order to provide conventional rail-to-rail OP AMP 10 sufficient drive capacity.
In view of the foregoing, there is a needed for operational amplifiers that substantially eliminate input voltage offset errors, input bias current errors as well as provide a true rail-to-rail output while reducing output loading sensitivity.

Rail-to-rail operational amplifier and method for making same


A dispenser for use in dispensing a selected volume of a granulated, dry product. The dispenser includes a main body having an open interior that receives the supply of granulated products to be dispensed. A loading and dispensing member is positioned to receive the granulated product within a receiving cavity formed as part of the loading and dispensing member. A portion control member is selectively positioned within the receiving cavity. The position of the portion control member can be adjusted to vary the portion volume received within the receiving cavity between the portion control member and an open end of the receiving cavity. Once the portion volume has been received within the receiving cavity, the loading and dispensing member is moved to the dispensing position to dispense the portion volume. In this manner, a known, selected portion volume can be dispensed from the dispenser.

The present invention relates to a device for dispensing dry, granulated products or powders. More specifically, the present invention relates to a product dispenser that dispenses a user-selectable, measured portion of the granulated product.
In many restaurants and food establishments, many frozen food menu items, such as shakes, smoothies and blended ice cream drinks are made with different types of granulated dry products, such as chocolate candies, candy bar pieces and other small, granulated products. It is desirable to use the same amount of the granulated product in the creation of the menu item.
Not only is there a need to dispense a known volume of the granulated product, it is also desirable to allow the adjustability of the amount of product dispensed based upon the requirement of the restaurant or food service facility where the dispenser is located.

Dry product dispenser with portion control


A method and apparatus are disclosed for forming an image from millimeter waves. A field of view scanned using two geometrically orthogonal, intersecting copolarized fan beams (110, 120) to receive millimeter wave radiation. The received millimeter wave radiation from said fan beams are then cross-correlated (250, 650). Also, a method and antenna (400, 610) for receiving millimeter wave radiation are disclosed. The antenna includes first and second fan beam antennas (410, 420) for receiving millimeter wave radiation and a filter (430, 440) for rotating polarization of incident millimeter wave radiation through 90 degrees received by the second fan beam antenna (410). The respective first and second beams (110, 120) intersect and are co-polarized and geometrically orthogonal to each other. Still further, a millimeter wave imaging system (600) and method are also disclosed, which utilise an antenna (610) for receiving millimeter wave radiation, process the received millimeter wave radiation from the antenna (610), and build up the image (682) using a filtered, cross-correlated signal.

Millimeter-wave imaging systems produce a picture of a scene by detecting thermally generated radiation in the 30-300 GHz range, which is emitted or reflected by objects in the field of view of the instrument. Such systems offer advantages over equivalent instruments detecting infrared and visible light, because the millimeter-wave radiation can penetrate low visibility and obscuring conditions (e.g., caused by clothing, walls, clouds, fog, haze, rain, dust, smoke, sandstorms) without the high level of attenuation that occurs at the other noted wavelengths. This is particularly the case in specific "windows" for atmospheric transmission of radio waves that occur between 90 and 110 GHz and between 210 and 250 GHz.
Millimeter-wave imaging systems may be used in a range of important applications such as: aids to aircraft landing; collision warning in air, land and sea transport; detection and tracking of ground based vehicular traffic; covert surveillance for intruders, contraband and weapons. In such applications, the availability of real-time, "movie-camera" like imaging is highly desirable. However, for such systems to find wide acceptance in the commercial market-place, the sensing instrumentation must be light in weight, small in size, and affordable in cost.
A range of millimeter-wave imaging systems have been reported, but fail to meet the size, weight, and cost requirements for wide commercial acceptance of the technology, while at the same time offering real-time moving images. Such systems use two distinct technologies: mechanical scanning of the beam of a single antenna, and two-dimensional arrays.
Mechanical scanning of the beam of a single antenna connected to a single receiving system is performed in a raster pattern over a scene to detect the emitted radiation and produce a map or image of the brightness. The angular resolution of the resultant image is determined by the width of the antenna beam, whereas the scan angle determines the field of view. Rapid real-time imaging is difficult or inadequate, because physically large and cumbersome antenna elements (required to achieve high angular resolution) must be moved quickly at high rates.
Two-dimensional arrays of electrically-small antennas and integrated receivers sample the magnitude of the received millimeter-wave signal at the focal plane of an antenna system. This information is then used to produce a snap-shot of the brightness in the field of view of the instrument. In any given plane, the angular resolution of the resultant image is determined by the number of elements across the array and the outer dimensions of the array. In contrast, the field of view is determined by the beam-width of the individual antenna-array elements. Rapid real-time imaging can be achieved with these systems. However, this occurs at the expense of large numbers (1000's) of millimeter-wave receiving sub-systems and complex electronic phase shifting and amplitude weighting networks. Because of the large number of receivers required, heterodyne systems are avoided (in view of the local oscillator distribution problems) in favour of direct detection systems, with the attendant problems of gain stability and poorer sensitivity. Coherent local oscillator distribution to such a large number of millimeter-wave heterodyne receivers presents significant difficulties.
Thus, a need clearly exists for an improved real-time millimeter-wave imaging system capable of producing real-time, movie-like imaging, in which the system is more compact, less complex, and less expensive to produce.

Real-time, cross-correlating millimeter wave imaging system using dual pill-box antennas

Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation


A removable sleeve that encloses and protects the neck of a fretted musical instrument is provided. The bottom edge of the sleeve can be tightened about the neck of the fretted musical instrument with a closure to form a discrete environment inside the sleeve. The sleeve has one or more chutes on the inside of the sleeve into which a humidifying device can be inserted to impart and regulate the humidity level inside the sleeve. The control of humidity prevents damage to the neck of the musical instrument, such as cracking or warping, as well as loosening of the frets. A method for using the sleeve to protect and to control humidity levels around the neck of a fretted musical instrument or of other wood structures is also provided.

1. Field of Disclosure
This disclosure relates to a removable sleeve with a chute secured inside that holds a humidifying device to enclose, protect and impart/control humidity about the neck of a fretted musical instrument.
2. Description of Related Art
The stock and neck of a fretted musical instrument, such as a guitar, ukulele, sitar, lute, banjo, mandolin, and electric guitar, are generally made of wood. The neck has a flat surface, sometimes called a fingerboard, into which small pieces of metal wire, formed as frets, are partially embedded, so that a portion of each fret (also called "frett" in this application) protrudes above the fingerboard at intervals corresponding to the notes of the chromatic scale. One or more vibrating strings fixed at two end points on the instrument and held under tension produce a musical sound that is transmitted by the musical instrument when the strings are struck or bowed by the player. By pressing a string down to the fingerboard, the player causes the string to contact a fret, shortening the length of the string that can vibrate when struck, and so can produce a variety of musical pitches.
While all wood musical instruments are affected to some degree by exposure to water vapor (also referred to as "humidity" or "moisture" in this application), those musical instruments that have "fretted" necks are particularly vulnerable to damage from exposure to extremes of humidity. Generally, high humidity causes the wood in the neck to expand, if it can; but if some portion of the neck is limited because it is braced by a supporting metal bar, or if the force from the vibrating strings held under tension is not uniform (because of different string thicknesses, for example), the wood in the neck may be unable to expand uniformly, and over time will cause the wood in the neck to warp. Conversely, when the ambient humidity is too low (i.e., too dry), the wood in the neck tends to contract, if it can; again, if there is some brace or exterior force on the neck that prevents the wood from contracting uniformly over a period of time, the result may be a neck that warps or cracks.
Fretted instruments have the additional problem that the wood in the neck can expand or contract at a different rate (and to a different extent) than the metal frets embedded in the neck. Over time, these different expansion/contraction rates may cause the frets to loosen, or separate from the wood fingerboard in which they are embedded. Loose frets can interfere with the pitch or quality of the sound, or cause the string to "buzz." Since frets are often made of a piece of metal alloy, and are sharp, a loose fret that extends out beyond the width of the fingerboard can cut the fingers of a player sliding a hand along the side of the neck as he or she plays. Repair of the neck and frets in such instances is inevitable and expensive. Obviously, this particular issue is not a problem for non-fretted instruments, such as the violin, cello, or (acoustic) bass.
While humidifying devices (for example, guitar and super guitar DAMPITS®) have long been recognized as valuable tools for protecting the hollow bodies of musical instruments, protecting the neck of a fretted musical instrument presents a different and challenging problem. Placing a humidifying device in the instrument's carrying case is generally not efficient to protect the neck of a fretted instrument, since the imparted humidity is not localized near the neck of the instrument, and much of the humidity from the humidifying device is absorbed in the padding of the case itself. In addition, conventional humidifying devices rely on a reservoir of water that is contained (in part, by gravity) at the bottom of the humidifying device in a portion that is free of pores or other holes that would otherwise allow water to leak out and possibly damage the instrument. And since the neck of the fretted instrument protrudes upwardly from the body of the instrument when the instrument is propped upright on a musical stand or in a carrying case, the structure of a conventional humidifying device may be oriented upside down when placed over the neck of the instrument, and so allow water to leak out where it might contact the neck, frets or strings, causing damage or rust that defeats its purpose. Also, as a practical matter, the neck of a fretted instrument does not have a hollow space into which a humidifying device can be suspended, as contrasted with the body of the instrument, which does.


A diaphragm dosing pump (1) has a rotary driving motor (3) electrically connected to control electronics (4). The motor is controlled in such a way that at the beginning and end of each dosing operation the driven diaphragm preferably always takes the same starting position, in particular a bottom dead center position. In order to achieve a reliable sealing behavior of the inlet and outlet valves even during slow working strokes and when the pressure difference between suction and compression sides is small, the valves are designed with elastic valve disks mounted without stress between their valve seat and an opposite rib-like stop.

The invention relates to a diaphragm dosing pump with a rotary driving motor for the working diaphragm and a pump head with an inlet valve and an outlet valve.
Dosing pumps are already known which operate with a lifting magnet drive and accordingly perform very rapid working strokes, so that a correspondingly high dosing speed is obtained. The product to be dosed is then ejected with high speed. In many instances of use, however, slow delivery of the medium is desired. If a dosing pump is used which is capable of delivering continuously at very slow speeds, such impulsive delivery is indeed avoided, but sealing problems are encountered at the inlet valve and outlet valve, as arise in slow-running dosing pumps as a result of the small pressure differences.


A circulating first-in-first-out (FIFO) buffer with a downstream input and output, an upstream input and output, a circulating staging and staging marker and output marker storage with the same storage capacity; a circulating primary, begin marker, and end marker storage with the same storage capacity; and a control means where the primary, begin marker, and end marker storage are used to implement a circulating FIFO where the control means manages the transfer of data from the downstream input to the staging storage, manages the FIFO, enqueues the data from the staging storage to the FIFO, and dequeues data from the FIFO to upstream output; where the input is decoupled from the circulating FIFO; where the input is decoupled from the output; and where the circulating staging storage, circulating primary storage, and control means are all either analog electronic, digital electronic, or optical.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to ultrafast first-in first-out (FIFO) optical buffers for optical communication networks.
2. Prior Art
One of the drawbacks with optical digital technology has been the absence of a random access optical memory element. One approach around this problem has been the use of optical delays.
There are several problems with using optical delays. One problem has been the slow electronic switching of the optical packets in and out of the delay lines. Another problem is that when more delay lines are used, the more difficult it becomes to keep the packets in the same order.
Optical digital storage loops have been demonstrated. One problem is how to organize the circulating storage into useful data structure. Another problem is how to synchronize the input data with such a circulating data structure.


A method, system, and computer program product for social collaboration in probabilistic prediction are provided in the illustrative embodiments. A set of predictions is sent to a user device. A prediction in the set of predictions is a probability of an outcome of an event. The probability is computed using a prediction model trained with training data corresponding to the event. An input is received from the user device. The input comprises a new prediction made at the user device using a new prediction model executing on the user device. A difference is determined between the prediction and the new prediction. The prediction model is revised to produce a revised prediction. A revised difference between the revised prediction and the new prediction is smaller than the difference.

Forecasting or making a prediction is an attempt to go beyond the current time horizon to provide an assertion about the future. Predicting an outcome that occurs in the future of an event is probabilistic in nature. In other words, a prediction that an event will occur, or not occur, is only indicative of a probability of the occurrence or non-occurrence of that event. The closer that probability is to 1 or one hundred percent, the more likely that event is to occur or not occur. However, whether that event actually occurs or does not occur cannot be known with certainly until the time of occurrence has passed.
Regression is a probabilistic classification model that attempts to fit probabilistic values to a graph plot, such as a line. The model plots a predictor variable and a dependent variable on the graph, and uses the graph to predict an outcome or a value of the dependent variable based on projected values of the predictor variable. An error is a value by which a forecasted outcome of a model differs from the actual outcome of the event being forecasted. A percentage error is a percentage value by which a forecasted outcome of a model differs from the actual outcome of the event being forecasted. Mean percentage error is a computed average of several measurements of a percentage error. Mean squared error is a computed average of the square of several error value measurements.
A model for predicting an outcome is called a prediction model. A prediction model (model) includes computational logic to compute the predicted outcome based on a set of inputs. Such logic includes rules, heuristics, statistical and other analytical algorithms, or a combination thereof.
A variety of prediction models are presently in use to make various types of predictions. For example, cyclical model predicts an outcome of an event based on the past outcomes of the same event that have a seasonal or periodic pattern. The cyclical model factors in the circumstances under which the event occurred in the past and the circumstances under which the event is expected to occur during the prediction period to make the prediction.
Simulation model is another example model for making predictions. The simulation model simulates in the present time the conditions under which the event will transpire in the future to reach an outcome in the present time. The outcome reached in the present time under simulated conditions forms the prediction for the event at the future time.
Extrapolation model draws educated conclusions about future conditions of the future event based on presently available information about the conditions. The extrapolation model then bases the prediction on those conclusions. Many other types of prediction models are presently in use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Social collaboration in probabilistic prediction


This disclosure discloses a printer comprises a roll storage part, a platen roller, a printing head, a separation plate, a first discharging exit, a pinch roller, a second discharging exit, and a first rib member. The platen roller contacts and feeds a print-receiving tape. The printing head is provided above the platen roller. The separation plate is provided on the other side than the platen roller and loops back a separation material layer toward a downward side and peel the print-receiving layer and the adhesive layer from the separation material layer. The first rib member is provided to a first section of a feeding path of the print-receiving tape and contacts the print-receiving tape from above, the first section being between a sandwiching position by the platen roller and the printing head and a support position of an end part of the separation plate.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a printer that performs printing on a print-receiving tape.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are known printers (label printers) configured to form desired print on a print-receiving tape (strip-shaped mount) comprising a print-receiving layer (label), adhesive layer, and a separation material layer. According to this printer, the feeding path of the print-receiving tape after print formation loops back downward, thereby peeling the print-receiving layer and the adhesive layer from the separation material layer, utilizing the fact that the firm print-receiving layer cannot follow the looped back path.
When the peeling is performed, the peeling can be most favorably and effectively achieved when the actual feeding path of the print-receiving tape is substantially linear from a sandwiching position by a platen roller and a printing head to a separation position. According to this prior art, a pressing roller is provided above the section between the sandwiching position by the platen roller and the printing head and the separation position, and this pressing roller presses the print-receiving tape fed through that section from above. With this arrangement, it is possible to perform peeling favorably and effectively with the feeding path of the print-receiving tape substantially linear.
Nevertheless, according to the prior art, when the feeding path of the print-receiving tape is made substantially linear as previously described, the pressing roller contacts the print-receiving tape from above, possibly causing the feeding resistance to increase and feeding obstruction to occur due to such contact.


In a device engineering method, data of a plant network hierarchy (PNH) and registered devices (RD) in a device management server are synchronized to a device simulation server (SS). In a simulation mode, at least one function of device management system is executed via communicating with simulated devices (SD), while the device management system being not communicatively coupled to any physical control station configured to control physical field devices in a real plant. Virtual parameters are introduced into the SD. For device configuration, simulation is made of configurable device parameters; non-configurable device parameters; and device status, with SD generated from DD files in the PNH for the RD in the FDCS. Parallel communications including sending communication requests from a CRH component to the SD in the PNH from the CRH component in the FDCS to the SD in the PNH are executed simultaneously.

In an industrial plant, device engineering has to be performed with a large amount of works by engineers because it is hard for engineers to carry out functions of device management system, for example, carry out system configurations, behavior check-up even in the absence of physical devices, and some functions might not be able to be launched. For the purpose of device engineering, simulation of device communication to vast number of field device with different types are needed. Hardware simulator has been available for supporting limited functions and limited devices which are currently available on the market. However, hardware simulator is normally used for simulation functions of particular devices.

System and method for simulating field device in industrial plant


An adapter piece may be employed to connect a damper tube and an air spring piston in a non-positive manner. The adapter piece may comprise a spring region. The adapter piece may also include a first ring region and a second ring region, and the spring region may be positioned between the first ring region and the second ring region. Further, an air spring damper system may utilize the spring region of such an adapter piece to connect a damper tube and an air spring piston in a non-positive connection. The damper tube may include a bulge with a supporting element positioned on the bulge. The adapter piece may lie on the supporting element.

Air spring dampers are used in suspension and in the course of damping of vibrations/jolts which act on vehicles, and are distinguished, inter alia, by a high flexibility of the setting of the prestress. In this way, the height of the vehicle body can be adjusted or set, for example, with the aid of an air suspension system.
Arrangements are known from the prior art, in the case of which arrangements the rolling piston or air spring piston is fixed directly on the damper tube, for example by way of welding. Here, however, the components are connected irreversibly and expensively. Furthermore, air spring damper systems which are known from the prior art have the disadvantage, inter alia, that there is not sufficient security for suppressing relative rotations of the damper tube and the air spring.

Adapter piece for connecting a damper tube and an air spring piston in a non-positive manner, air spring damper system, and method for producing an air spring damper system


An improved balloon catheter with an inferior vena cava blood shunt or bypass is provided. Posterior and anterior ports in the wall of the catheter connect to a common lumen within the catheter, forming a shunt or bypass for blood flowing in the blood vessel. The blood shunt or bypass spans the blockage in the blood vessel generated by enlargement of the balloons of the balloon catheter. Bypass port closure apparatus is provided which is operated at the external end of the catheter. The bypass port closure device functions to open and close at least one of the ports of the bypass, effectively opening and closing the bypass.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a catheter, used in medical procedures, which has one or more balloons. The catheter may be inserted into a body, particularly into a blood vessel of the body, for example. The balloon of the balloon catheter may then be enlarged, as by inflation, for example, for controlling the flow of blood in the blood vessel in which the balloon catheter is inserted. In particular the present invention is an improved balloon catheter which includes one or more inflatable balloons which are individually and separately operated, and a blood bypass or shunt for retaining blood flow through a vessel while the blood flow to and/or from a predetermined part or area of the body is shut-off or isolated by the balloons of the catheter.
2. Prior Art
The use of apparatus, in medical procedures, for controlling blood flow in a blood vessel and/or for isolating an organ or area of the body from blood flowing in a blood vessel is known and apparatus used for isolating an organ of the body or an area of the body from the blood carried in the blood vessel is taught in the prior art. One such apparatus is known as a catheter, specifically a balloon catheter. An example of some U.S. patents that teach apparatus for controlling blood flow in selected parts or areas of the body are:
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,662 to Bodden 1991 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,459 to Calderon 1989 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,820,261 to Schmoll, et al 1989 PA1 U.S. Pat. No. 4,708,718 to Daniels 1987.
These prior art patents and some others which teach related apparatus and medical practices, teach isolation of predetermined or selected body organs and/or body areas by use of at least two spaced balloons on a catheter. The balloon catheter, such as taught in the prior art, may be used to achieve isolation of a body part from its blood supply. However, one of the problems attendant such a procedure is that although control of the blood flow through a portion of the blood vessel is achieved, including blockage of the blood supply to the selected body organ or body area, blood flow through the section of the blood vessel where the blockage is generated, is completely interrupted. This condition has been tolerated because when one blood vessel becomes blocked, for one reason or another, the body normally increases the blood flow through other, essentially paralleling blood vessels. However, the increase in blood flow in essentially paralleling vessels, under such circumstances may, at times, overload the blood vessels and should be avoided. The present invention addresses the problem of achieving isolation of a body part or body area from its normal blood supply through the use of a balloon catheter in the blood vessel, without generating complete blockage of the blood flow through the blood vessel.

Balloon catheter with occluded segment bypass


A computer having a plurality of plug-in modules is provided with a holding circuit for transmitting an interrupt signal over an interrupt signal line. The holding circuit conducts the interrupt signal in the appropriate manner regardless of whether or not a given module is plugged in. At the same time it ensures that a plugged-in module responds to the interrupt signal in the appropriate manner.

The invention relates to computers with a plurality of plug-in modules which can transmit or interrupt the transmission of interrupt signals from one module to the next.
Known computers of this type conduct an interrupt signal over a bus which is galvanically connected to each of a plurality of modules. Interrupt signals are sent over the bus and each module detects whether or not the signal is intended for it. To accomplish this each module has a decoding circuit which allows that module to ascertain whether the corresponding interrupt signal is intended for it and, upon receipt of the signal, to perform the appropriate operation.
To enable each of the remaining modules to process interrupt signals specifically intended for it, each module must relay signals not intended for it as rapidly as possible. This is best done within an especially narrow time frame when real-time processing is desired, because a worst-case-analysis must then be performed. In the most extreme case the interrupt signal must be conducted through every module, which for example, could involve addressing as many as 20 plug-in modules.
On the other hand, it is known to direct an interrupt signal simultaneously to all modules so that the intended module can accept the interrupt signal and generate an appropriate acknowledgement. It is, however, frequently desired to prioritize the signal on the basis of location. In such a case it is no longer possible to simultaneously direct the signal to all galvanically coupled modules.
A special problem arises when the modules are frequently changed to make use of the plug-in feature for adapting computers to desired system configurations. Such frequent module changes, though common in conjunction with computers that operate independently of their plug-in location, are not generally used with computers that employ plug-in locations having different addresses and capable of location prioritization. For remote modules, steps would be required to avoid an interference with the interrupt processing.
In many cases these would be complicated and nullify the advantages attained with the plug-in feature of the modules. Conceivable alternatives might be to short circuit the corresponding interrupt signal intended for a module that is missing, by employing a solder bridge, a jumper or a micro-switch that is responsive to the presence or absence of a given module, or the like. Even these alternatives are difficult to operate, are often forgotten and necessitate structural changes at considerable costs, as, for example, from additional protective shielding that may be required.

Circuit with predetermined delay for selectively relaying interrupt signals through a daisy-chain of linked modules upon removal of a module from a slot


A method for remote approval of lenticular images and an apparatus which can execute the method. In the method, a centralized hub station receives a series of images. A user then views at a terminal remote from the centralized hub station, a simulated lenticular image using at least some images of the series displayed to simulate viewing an actual lenticular image formed from the images of the series. Following such viewing, an approval is transmitted from the remote terminal to the centralized hub station, for a plurality of the images of the series to be printed as the actual lenticular image. The actual lenticular image is then printed at the hub station based on the approval.

Integral image elements which use a lenticular lens sheet or a fly's eye lens sheet, and a three-dimensional integral image aligned with the sheet, so that a user can view the three-dimensional image without any special glasses or other equipment, are known. Such imaging elements and their construction, are described in "Three-Dimensional Imaging Techniques" by Takanori Okoshi, Academic Press, Inc., New York, 1976. Integral image elements having a lenticular lens sheet (that is, a sheet with a plurality of adjacent, parallel, elongated, and partially cylindrical lenses) are also described in the following United States patents: U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,254; U.S. Pat No. 5,424,533; U.S. 5,241,608; U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,689;U.S. Pat No. 5,276,478; U.S. Pat No. 5,391,254; U.S. Pat No. 424,533 and others; as well as allowed U.S. Patent application Ser. No. 07/931,734. Use of barrier viewing sheets having alternating opaque and transparent lines, instead of a lenticular lens sheet, is also well known.
Integral image elements with lenticular lens sheets use interlaced vertical image slices which, in the case of a three-dimensional integral image, are aligned with the lenticules so that a three-dimensional image is viewable when the lenticules are vertically oriented with respect to a viewer's eyes. Similar integral image elements, such as described in U.S. Pat No. 3,268,238 and U.S. Pat No. 3,538,632, can be used to convey a number of individual two-dimensional scenes (such as unrelated scenes or a sequence of scenes depicting motion) rather than one or more three-dimensional images. Such elements then, when tilted through a range of angles with respect to a viewer's eyes (by moving the element and/or the viewer's eyes), can display different images (whether different perspectives of the same scene) and/or unrelated images, and/or a sequence of images depicting a motion sequence of events. Alternatively, a lenticular image and lens can be slid (either manually or my a motorized arrangement) with respect to one another in a direction orthogonal to the lenticule direction. This can provide for convenient display of a motion or other lenticular image, without changing the angle between the viewer and the lenticular image element. With improvements in technology, the effects obtained can be startling.
Integral image elements using reflective layers behind the integral image to enhance viewing of the integral image by reflected light, are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,258, U.S. Pat. No. 2,500,511, U.S. Pat. No. 2,039,648, U.S. Pat. No. 1,918,705 and GB 492,186.
In a typical method of assembling a lenticular type of integral image element, an original negative is exposed from stored digitized data of a composite lenticular image on a film writer. A suitable film writer is the Symbolic Sciences International Fire 1000 and the LVT Model 1620B, available from Light Valve Technology, a subsidiary of Eastman Kodak Company, Rochester, N.Y. A suitable negative exposure technique is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,478. After photographic processing, the negative is printed, typically by a projection enlarger, onto a suitable film- or paper-based photographic print stock. After processing, the lenticular composite print is coated with adhesive, aligned with a lenticular lens sheet, and pressed against the lens sheet to permanently adhere to it in proper registration with the printed lenticular composite image. However, it is also known to write the lenticular image directly onto a back side of a lenticular lens sheet which is coated with a suitable receiving layer, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,419 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,912. Furthermore, such "writing" of the lenticular image can be temporary, as in a display produced on a CRT or Liquid Crystal Display ("LCD") screen immediately adjacent the back side.
In forming a lenticular image, the various images from which a lenticular image is formed are decomposed into strips or lines (which may be one or more pixels in width) and these are interleaved and aligned behind a corresponding lenticule at its focal point, in a known manner. Such interleaving is, for example, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,506,296, U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,608, U.S. Pat. No. 5,276,478, U.S. Pat. No. 5,455,689, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,534,164. This process is computationally intensive and requires considerable time for lenticular images of high resolution. Furthermore, since different lenticular lens sheets have different physical parameters, such as lenticular pitch, the required calculations can change for a lenticular image of given content for different lenticular lens sheets.
Often however, in the preparation of a desired lenticular image, the customer for the final lenticular image is remote from a lenticular image production facility which has lenticular lens sheets of different parameters, the required high computer power, and the necessary high resolution printers, and also alignment devices (which may or may not be part of the printer). Further, creative personnel may be present at such sites to aid in subjective judgements as to variations in lenticular image characteristics in order to obtain a final lenticular element of good quality. However, in most cases a customer's approval is necessary before the job can proceed to its next step. Conventionally, this required actually producing a rough lenticular image element based on oral discussions with the customer. This would then be delivered to the customer for review. Based on customer input, one or more such rough lenticular image elements might be required. Such a procedure is exceedingly costly, time consuming, and tedious.
It would be desirable then, to provide a means by which lenticular image elements can be created at a central facility, but which still allow a remote customer to provide approval prior to production of the final lenticular image, without having go through the foregoing tedious procedure.


A shifter for a bicycle transmission that includes a spring element that functions as a preloaded spring for cable-release operations and a detent pawl. The shifter also includes a housing having a detent contour, a cable spool for winding and unwinding a control cable thereon, and an actuator. The actuator includes a release element, a spring seat and a driver. The spring element includes a detent pawl, a base and a spool driver. The detent pawl is engageable with the detent contour to maintain the shifter in a current detent position. The base is supported by the spring seat and the spool driver is operatively engages and rotates the spool.

The present invention relates to bicycle shifters, and more particularly, to a bicycle shifter including a spring element that functions as a preload spring for cable-release operations and a detent pawl.
Typically, a rider selects a desired bicycle gear by actuating a shifter that pulls or releases a tensioned control cable connected to a gear change device such as a derailleur or an internal gear hub. Once a gear is selected, the bicycle shifter maintains the current selected gear. Shifters of this type are disclosed in German patents DE 103 58 438 and DE 100 43 612 A1.
These shifters generally include an actuator, a cable spool and a retaining device for maintaining the selected gear. The actuator rotates the cable spool and the retaining device prevents the cable spool from unwinding under the force of the tensioned control cable.
DE 103 58 438 A1 discloses a twist-shifter that generally includes a housing, a cable spool and an actuator in the form of a rotatable grip. The shifter further includes a detent pawl and a discrete preloaded spring. The detent pawl is supported by the housing and engages separate locking and releasing contours. The preloaded spring is arranged between the actuator and the cable spool to assist the cable-release operation.
DE 100 43 612 A1 also discloses a shifter that generally includes a housing, a cable spool, and a rotatable grip. The shifter further includes a pawl and a preloaded spring. The pawl is disposed on the cable spool and engages a plurality of teeth in the shifter housing. The preloaded spring, shown integral with the spool, assists in the cable-release operation. Alternatively, the pawl, preloaded spring and the cable spool may be configured as a single piece.
These shifters generally function in the same manner. During a cable-pull operation, the actuator is rotated in a first direction to wind the control cable as the detent pawl ratchets over the detent contour. Once the desired gear is selected, the detent pawl engages one of the teeth of the contour to maintain the current gear position. During a cable-release operation, the actuator is rotated in a second direction, opposite the first, to unwind the control cable. Upon initial rotation of the actuator, the spring is preloaded. Upon further rotation, the detent pawl is released from a current detent position by a release element. As the detent pawl displaces toward the next detent position, the spool is rotated, or accelerated, by the preloaded spring to boost or assist the cable unwind operation in addition to the tensile loading of the control cable.


A laser light projector includes a housing having a plurality of apertures, a number of laser diodes and drivers mounted on said housing and aligned to direct laser light beams through the apertures, a controller connected to each driver for controlling the timing and sequence of laser light beams from the laser diodes, and a plurality of mirrors aligned to receive the laser light beams and deflect the beams in desired directions. A second embodiment includes connectors connected to the controller and utilizes plug-in modules, each including a laser diode and a driver to permit various types and numbers of laser modules to be operated by the controller.

There is a significant demand for systems using laser beams to create light shows for nightclubs and the like. One type of system used for this purpose consists of a laser generating device in combination with a plurality of motor actuated mirrors which are carefully aligned with each other and with the laser beam and timed to deflect the laser beam through several apertures as separate spots or beams of light which are deflected in many directions. Each mirror is fastened to a shaft which is attached to the motor output shaft. To achieve the desired light effect, the mirror support must be exactly perpendicular to the motor output shaft. The desired deflection of the mirror requires only a limited rotation of the motor and the mirror support operates between two spaced stops. Such light show systems have been in use for a number of years but have represented a fairly significant investment. They also have been somewhat heavy and cumbersome so that, while they can be moved from place to place, moving them requires a substantial effort.
Applicant""s U.S. Pat. No, 5,576,901, describes how reductions in the weight and cost of such systems have been attained by reducing the size, weight and cost of the motors. There have, however, been disadvantages in even the latest such systems because the motor-driven mirror actuators are relatively delicate and can be knocked out of adjustment if subjected to careless handling. Also, there is a significant labor cost in initial assembly and adjustment of the motor-driven mirror actuators.
Because of the substantial labor cost in getting the mirror actuators mounted and properly adjusted, applicant began to consider alternative ways of producing the desired light shows. Existing systems used one laser diode and driver to create a single. laser beam, which was deflected in various directions by causing mirrors to move in and out of the beam to deflect the beam through several apertures. This necessarily limits the display to one beam at a time, although the actuators move the mirrors quite rapidly to create a visual effect of many beams. Even with the use of a beam splitter to make more beams available, the power output per aperture is reduced, so this option is not always satisfactory.
In analyzing all cost factors, applicant concluded that although using one laser diode and driver per aperture would be expensive, it would be only slightly more expensive and probably less expensive in volume to make the system with, for example, eight laser diodes and drivers as compared with using one laser diode and driver with eight electromechanical mirror actuators, once the higher labor costs were factored in. The separate lasers and drivers can each be driven by the same commercially available DMX controller which was used to drive the mirror actuators in the prior art device described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,576,901. By using a separate laser diode and driver for each of the desired number of apertures, greater flexibility is afforded because more than one laser diode can be operating at a time and lasers of varying colors can be turned on at the same time. In addition to using lasers of different colors, other optical devices, such as color filters and diffraction grating means, can be used with any or any number of the laser beams. This makes it possible to display colors, which are a mix of the colors directly available from the individual laser diodes.


An insulating sheet is manufactured by attaching a buffer layer and a resin film using an adhesive layer that is not adhesive at a normal ambient temperature. Since there is no need to use a release liner when manufacturing the insulating sheet, there is no release of a silicone component. Accordingly, when installing a hard disk printed wiring board, the printed wiring board and electronic circuits inside the hard disk will not be damaged by the released silicone.

The present invention relates to insulating sheets, and particularly to an insulating sheet suitable for a hard disk device.
A hard disk device (HDD) has disks with a recording layer formed on a surface, and comprises a head for writing to these disks, an arm for supporting the head, and an actuator for causing movement of the arm.
These disks are housed inside a case, and a printed wiring board for carrying out control of the actuator and input and output of data to and from the disks is located outside the case. FIG. 5 is a schematic cross sectional view of a HDD, with reference numeral 110 representing the actual HDD, reference numeral 111 representing the case of the HDD 110, and reference numeral 112 representing the printed wiring board. Electronic components are mounted on the printed wiring board 112 and an electronic circuit made up of these electronic components is connected to the bottom 117 of the actuator using a flexible wiring board 114.
An insulating sheet 113 is located between the printed wiring board 112 and the case 111, and the printed wiring board 112 is screwed to the case 111 in this state. The electronic circuit formed on the printed wiring board 112 is insulated from the case 111 by this insulating sheet 113.
The insulating sheet 113 has a buffer layer 121, an adhesive layer 122 and a resin film 123. The buffer layer 121 and the resin film 123 are glued together using the adhesive layer 122.
The adhesive layer 122 conventionally uses adhesive, and in order to maintain its characteristics, this film is supplied interposed between release liners 131 and 132, as shown in FIG. 6.
When this type of adhesive layer 122 is used, the release liner 131 is first torn off to expose one surface of the adhesive layer 122, and this exposed surface is pressed against the resin film 123. The adhesive layer 122 is a pressure sensitive resin and it will attach to the resin film 123 when the adhesive layer is pressed. Next, the other release liner 132 is torn off to expose the opposite surface of the adhesive layer 122. The adhesive layer 122 is pressed against the buffer layer 121. The resin film 123 and the buffer layer 121 will attach together by the adhesive layer 122, thus resulting in an insulating sheet 113.
Once the insulating sheet 113 is interposed between the printed wiring board 112 and the case 111, screw fastened, and the flexible wiring board 114 attached, the HDD 110 shown in FIG. 5 is completed.
As described above, with the HDD 110 of the related art, since the adhesive layer 122 is pressure sensitive and has adhesive properties at a normal temperature, the release liners 131 and 132 are indispensable when the adhesive layer 122 is rolled up for transportation or storage.
Since the release liners 131 and 132 are required to have a non-adhesive property, a material having silicone oil coated on the resin films as the base material of the release liners 131 and 132 is used. Therefore, a silicone component is attached to the adhesive layer 122, and if the silicone component is released from the insulating sheet 113 by generation of heat during driving of the HDD 110, this is likely to have a detrimental effect of the electronic circuit of the printed wiring board 112 and the electronic components inside the case 111.
Non-silicone type release liners are expensive and have poor applicability. Even if a non-silicone type release liner is adopted, it is necessary to dispose of the release liner, and this is not desirable from the point of view of reducing waste.
The present invention has been created in order to solve the above described drawbacks in the related art, and the object of the present invention is to provide an insulating sheet that does not release a silicone component.

Method of manufacturing hard disc device with a printed wiring board fixed thereto

Sony Chemical & Information Device Corporation


A lane detection apparatus includes a capture means, a vehicle detection means, a subject lane detection means, and an additional lane detection means. The capture means captures an image around a subject vehicle. The vehicle detection means detects an object vehicle around the subject vehicle. The subject lane detection means detects a subject lane. The additional lane detection means detects an additional lane different from the subject lane based on a positional relationship between the object vehicle detected by the vehicle detection means and the subject lane detected by the subject lane detection means.

In recent years, vehicle detection apparatuses for detecting a vehicle traveling in the same lane as a subject vehicle based on a captured image of a surrounding road have been developed. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,487,116 discloses a conventional vehicle detection apparatus that first extracts white boundary lines of a vehicular lane where the subject vehicle is traveling (a subject lane) from an image captured by a CCD camera to create an edge image by differential calculus processing for detecting lane width. The apparatus then determines if there is a preceding vehicle in the same lane as the subject vehicle by extrapolating image data based on the lane width of the subject lane.
However, as the vehicle detection apparatus described above uses a CCD captured image to determine the subject lane and an adjacent lane, it is impossible to detect an adjacent lane when the white boundary line between the subject lane and the adjacent lane is hidden by another vehicle. It is also a problem of the conventional lane detection apparatus that it cannot determine if the adjacent lane is an oncoming lane, a passing lane or the like. That is, a traveling direction of the adjacent lane cannot be detected by the conventional apparatus.