An optical reader having an array of differing-color light sources and a controller for controlling the light sources and acquisition of optical data. The light sources are arranged, and the controller is configured, to allow rapid acquisition of optical data regarding individual sample wells of a cluster of such wells. In some embodiments, multiple ones of the differing-color light sources are illuminated simultaneously for acquiring optical data on a corresponding number of sample wells. Depending on the configuration of the array and number of differing-color light sources illuminated simultaneously, the optical reader can acquire optical data for several wavelengths in a fraction of the time of conventional optical readers. Other embodiments include one or more non-contact temperature sensors for acquiring temperature data substantially simultaneously with the optical data. The temperature data can be used, for example, to adjust the optical data or warn a user of out-of-specification temperature conditions.

Measuring the light absorption of a chemical solution is a useful means for detecting and measuring chemicals of interest in the fields of biochemistry, medical diagnostics, and other fields of scientific research. Scientists commonly use the "microplate" as a vessel for holding an array of samples while measuring, or "reading," their absorption. Microplates typically meet the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standards developed by The Society for Biomolecular Sciences (SBS) (Danbury, Conn.). These standards describe microplate dimensions in detail including the common 3.3″ by 5″ microplate of 96 sample wells arranged in an 8 by 12 array with an on-center separation of 9.0 millimeters (mm). SBS has formalized ANSI standards for a 384-well microplate (on-center well separation of 4.5 mm) and 24-well microplates (on-center well separation of 18 mm) while other geometries such as 12-well and 48-well plates exist that may not have ANSI standards.
Scientists find it desirable to be able to perform multiple tests on a sample in the same microplate or in the same well of a microplate, for example, in screening blood samples for multiple drugs of abuse. By combining tests on the microplate, the scientist requires a smaller sample volume, consumes less chemical reagents and fewer microplates, and generates less waste. In addition, the scientist may benefit from an overall reduction in preparation time compared to the time required to prepare multiple single-test microplates. Tests can only be combined in the same well if they utilize different reading wavelengths; otherwise, different test results are indistinguishable from one another.
While microplates provide a convenient method of holding a large number of samples, generally, conventional microplate readers and methods for measuring the optical absorption of these samples have one or more shortcomings. For example, several known readers can read at only a single wavelength. Other known microplate readers can read at multiple wavelengths but they cannot perform multiple wavelength-reads simultaneously, increasing the time for each wavelength reading by approximately 100%. Further exacerbating the problem, kinetic assays, i.e., assay tests that require rapid repeated measurements, often exceed the speed capabilities of many current readers. As a result of this speed limitation, known readers are poorly suited to combine kinetic assays within the same microplate. In addition, all multi-wavelength microplate readers of which the present inventor is aware are bulky stationary units that take up large amounts of space, for example, on worktops, and are not easily movable between multiple testing locations and are not easily stored out of the way when not in use.
While many microplate readers offer the capability of thermal control of the microplates, existing readers do not offer a suitable means of testing their ability to maintain a consistent temperature across the microplate. This is particularly a problem for microplate tests such as Endotoxin tests, which are used to measure contaminants in injectable drugs, and which are highly sensitive to temperature variations. Innovative Instruments, Inc. (Wake Forest, N.C.) created their Pyro Pak test device to test for temperature control problems common to microplate readers. Their Pyro Pak device tests for temperature inconsistency across a microplate carrier area but their device is limited to an area representing a few wells of a microplate. Further, the Pyro Pak device is not made of the same material as a microplate which results in a different thermal mass which does not have the same thermal properties as a microplate filled partially or completely with samples. Even if a microplate reader is validated with this test device, there still exists no ability to test if the temperature of an actual microplate with test samples is stable and consistent. For example, a microplate of samples placed on a warm or cool countertop may quickly change temperature unevenly across the microplate, causing an unpredictable shift in the optical results, and no existing microplate reader has the capability of measuring or correcting optical errors resulting from this deviation.

Compact multi-wavelength optical reader and method of acquiring optical data on clustered assay samples using differing-wavelength light sources


System and methods are provided for analyzing and displaying digital content and advertisements over electronic networks. In accordance with one implementation, a method is provided that calculates, using at least one processor, an engagement metric (including, for example, click probability) for a specific combination of time, promotion slot, and user segment, for an individual promotion of a set of promotions, and calculates a value of a landing page associated with the promotion. The method then can multiply the engagement metric and the value to determine the valuation of the promotion. The method can operate recursively by using previous calculations in later runs of the same method.

Many publishers of content on the Internet tend to be dependent upon advertising for revenue. For example, various types of websites, blogs, social networks, and web-based service sites use advertising as a significant source of income to offset the costs associated with offering content and/or services to their users. When a user requests a specific web page, a corresponding web server—either alone or in conjunction with other servers—may identify advertisements (or other content) to be displayed as part of the web page. For example, a server may attach instructions for a client computer to request an appropriate advertisement from an ad server. Additionally, or alternatively, instructions may be provided to insert an image or other content associated with the ad into the web page.
News websites are one type of website that rely on advertisements for generating revenue. Such sites may provide various pieces of electronic content for users, including articles, editorials, and/or videos, for example. The content may be independently generated by staff writers and/or compiled from other sources. On news websites and other content-rich sites, care is often taken to deliver relevant advertisements to users who are reading or viewing the content on the website. Additionally, with the variety of advertisements used on the Internet, it is important to determine the most profitable types of advertisements to present to users that visit the website, and to quickly and reliably determine the content that will be the most attractive to such users.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for improved systems and methods for analyzing and optimizing online advertisements and content for a website. Moreover, there is a need for improved systems and methods for selecting combinations of advertisements and content based on numerous criteria to maximize, for example, ad revenue or unique user visits to a website. There is also a need for such systems and methods that can address the needs or goals of ad promotions and/or budget constraints.

Systems and methods for displaying digital content and advertisements over electronic networks


A new cultivar of Dasiphora plant, ‘Hachliss’, that is characterized by its compact, bushy, and dwarf plant habit, its very floriferous blooming habit; blooming from July to September in Germany, it flowers that are deep red-pink in color, and its resistance to powdery mildew and red spider mites.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Dasiphora fruticosa subsp. fruiticosa. The new cultivar will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, 'Hachliss'. 'Hachliss' is a new cultivar of shrubby cinquefoil grown for use as a landscape shrub.
The new cultivar is the result of a controlled breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Barmstedt, Germany. The intent of the breeding program is to develop new cultivars of Dasiphora with brightly colored flowers. The new cultivar arose from a cross made by the Inventor in Barmstedt, Germany in summer of 2003 between the cultivars 'Rosiflor' (not patented) as the female parent and 'Red Ace' (not patented) as the male parent. The Inventor selected 'Hachliss' as a single unique plant amongst the seedlings that resulted from the above cross in July of 2006.
Asexual propagation of the new cultivar was first accomplished by the Inventor by softwood stem cuttings in Barmstedt, Germany in 2012. Asexual propagation by softwood stem cuttings has determined that the characteristics of the new cultivar are stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.


This invention generally relates to a method for measuring the effectiveness of an advertising method that facilitates purchases involving or assisted by a website. More particularly the method discloses how to measure the advertising effectiveness of widely distributed resealable packets of liquid that bear website addresses to prompt or facilitate direct access to websites. Data derived from the packet's manufacturing, distribution and website access is used in measuring the advertising effectiveness disclosed in this method.

By 2007 there were an estimated 110 million distinct websites and some 30 billion web pages on the World Wide Web (web) accessible through the Internet; these numbers continue to grow rapidly with each day. Every website has a unique web address technically known as a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) which appears as a string of routing numbers (e.g., 184.108.40.206). But such strings are difficult to recall so Internet users quickly developed a more mnemonic device known as domain names (e.g., www.example.com); such catchy domain name website addresses have become the public face of the URL so as to ease e-mail correspondence and general access to websites. In the past decade entrepreneurs and other business-oriented individuals discovered and began development of the incredible commercial opportunities residing in Internet accessed websites where barriers to and costs for transacting business are virtually non-existent for the motivated buyer. Once connected, it often becomes only a matter of choice or travel as to what to buy online or at a referred place of business. Entering an e-commerce website has become the virtual equivalent of going into a hardware store or restaurant; rarely does the buyer leave with nothing. This is particularly true if the website engages the buyer on a personal level with incentive or reward offerings in the form of effective, albeit virtual, marketeering. The real challenge facing business owners who have embraced e-commerce is getting the buyer to and through their virtual doorway, to their place of business by way of their web address. Essentially, for the business owner, getting their needle of a website found in the haystack of the web. A marketing method which aids buyers and sellers in circumventing this haystack problem is disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/215,015 entitled "Method for Packet Facilitated E-commerce".
However, another problem remains for the business owner who chooses to engage in e-commerce by direct packet marketeering. It is a problem not unique to direct packets but shared by all forms of advertising: how to measure the effectiveness of any advertising campaign and do so with minimal effort and at an affordable price. What advertising content, timing, audience, inducements, and a myriad of other factors work best together or are superior to another comparable campaign? The finest products and services go unnoticed, and worst, unsold, if the business owner fails to effectively advertise. Yet, measuring the effectiveness of an advertising campaign is very complex and very costly, easily taking more time, resources and monies than the advertising campaign itself. The skill level and effort required soon convinces the business owner any effort at effective advertising measurement is largely unknowable, undoable, and unprofitable. Left with no alternative, the requisite advertising budget is thus spent on traditional venues such as newspaper ads, radio spots, direct mailers, and the like where hoary statistical generalities and even vaguer surmises are substituted for any true measurements of effectiveness. The nature of e-commerce has the means to effectively measure advertising if a technique existed for gauging the effectiveness of a specific means that fishes out a buyer from the crowd and bring that buyer to and through the business owner's virtual shop door as a website.
Accordingly, a method for measuring comparative means that leads to and bridges the disconnect between buyer and website is required. Specifically, with regards to resealable packets of useful liquids distributed with advertising messages to foster the connect between buyer and website, a method is required whereby the business owner can at low-cost and minimal effort evaluate the effectiveness of any direct packet marketing strategy individually or comparatively. Further, the owner as vendor, armed with insight, can make important changes to better spend an always limited advertising budget. There is a significant need for such a straightforward method for measuring packet advertising effectiveness.

Method for measuring packet advertising effectiveness


Improved database structure is described in which the fields of each database record are divided into two classes, navigational and informational data. The data in the navigational fields is stored in a topological map which may be viewed as a tree structure or the merger of two or more such tree structures. The informational data is preferably stored in a conventional relational database. Each leaf node in the topological map specifies a unique record in the relational database.

A database generally comprises a plurality of records for storing information on some topic. For example, a database may have records for each city in the United States. Each record of a database generally comprises a predetermined number of fields. In general, each record has the same distribution of fields as other records. Each field contains information on a particular aspect of the objects of the database. For example, the database of cities in the United States may have a field containing the population of each city. Additionally, the database may have a field for indicating the state which contains the city in question. Some fields in a database may have values that range in a continuum of values, e.g., the population of the city. Other fields in a database may have values which range in a set of predetermined values, e.g., the state in which the city is located.
One common form for representing the records in a database is the relational database format. The relational database comprises a table having rows and columns. Each row represent a particular record, and each column row represents a data field. All rows share the same columns and type of information. The above example database of cities may be formulated into a relational database. In such a database, each row might represent a city and the relational database would have a row for every city of interest. The relational database might include columns for storing the name of the city, the county in which it is located, the state in which the county is located, and the population of the city.
Data is added to the database by adding rows at the end of the database to represent added records. Information is extracted from the database in the form of queries. A query typically consists of a set of requirements which the data in one or more of the columns must satisfy for the record to be returned. A simple query takes the form of finding all rows in the relational table which have the same value in a given field, e.g., all records having the county field equal to a particular value. More complex queries to the database involve examining a plurality of columns, e.g., all rows in which the county has a particular value and the city has a particular value. For example, one might wish to view the population data for all cities in a particular county of a particular state.
If the number of records in the database is N, N examinations will have to be performed. While this is a relatively simple task for a small database, the examination of each record in the database for a large database constitutes a great expense of time. First, the search time for a simple query is related to N numbers of records in a database. Second, large databases often exceed the memory capacity of the computer and require the storage of records on some secondary medium such as disks and tapes. The access time for secondary medium are often orders of magnitude greater than access times in computer memory. The use of secondary storage in this manner leads a dramatic increase in time for simple queries.
One prior art method for reducing search times in such large databases is to optimize the order of the records in the database for one particular type of query. The optimization is accomplished by ordering the rows of the database according to the value of some variable calculated from the query. For example, suppose one often wishes to search the database for the data on a particular city by giving the name of the city. The rows would then be ordered based on the alphabetical order of the city names. A particular name could then be found by performing a binary search on the names in city column.
Consider a database having N records. Without ordering the records, the maximum time needed to search the database for a record having a particular value in a particular column is proportional to N. If the records are known to ordered, maximum number of records that need to be searched is reduced to approximately Log.sub.2 N. If N were approximately one million, the ordering of the database would reduce the maximum number of records to be searched from approximately one million to 20.
Although the ordering of the database bestows significant advantages, there is a limit to the benefit obtained. First, the database must be ordered. The work to perform the initial ordering is roughly equal to N Log.sub.2 N. In addition, each time new data is added to the database, the entire database must be reordered. Finally, the method only improves the search time for records having a specified value or range of values of the variable used to order the records.
In principle, one could maintain multiple copies of the database, each copy being ordered by different search variables. However, the additional storage space renders this approach unworkable.
A second prior art method addresses the limitation of one optimized search variable while avoiding the unacceptably large memory requirements of storing multiple copies of the database. In this method, a separate table is constructed for each search variable. This table will be referred to as a search table in the following discussion. Each search table includes a plurality of records, one such record corresponding to each record in the database. Each record has two fields. Hence, the search table has two columns. The first column is a pointer which specifies the physical location of the corresponding database record. The second column contains a value which is monotonically related to the search variable in question. The search table is then ordered by the search variable. That is, the records of the search table are rearranged such that the values in the second column appear in a monotonically increasing or decreasing order.
For example, consider the case in which three columns in the database consisted of the year, month, and day, respectively, of a date. To setup a search table for searching the database by specifying a range of dates, a search variable might be constructed by multiplying the year by 10000, adding the result to the month by 100 and then adding in the day of the month. This value would then be stored in the second field of the search record corresponding to each database record. After ordering the search the table, all records having a date between two values could be found by calculating the search variable value of the first date and performing a binary search on the second column of the search table. The search would return the first instance in which two records in the search table have second column values in which one of the values equals the search variable value, or the search variable value lies between the two variables. The records in question could then be identified by searching the records on each side of the pair of records in question.
In this second prior art method, a search table is constructed for each search variable on which searches are to be performed. Typically, the search tables require less memory space than the entire database and usually may be kept entirely in main memory. This allows for faster access with respect to the first prior art method. It should be noted that the computational effort to construct a search table is significantly greater than that needed to search the entire database once for a record satisfying some criterion based on the search variable in question. Hence, this approach represents a savings only when multiple searches are anticipated on the search variable in question.
This method has several other disadvantages. First, a large amount of redundant information is still maintained in the search table. The search table for each search variable comprises redundant information that must be maintained in addition to the database. Second, it requires storing and maintaining a search table for each possible search variable. All desirable search variables are seldom known at the time the database is being constructed. In addition, even if all search variables were known, the storage required by the corresponding search tables is often too large.
As a result, most systems utilizing search tables store a few search variable tables and utilize complex queries which reference more than one search variable. A complex query usually comprises a selection criterion based on a first variable AND a second variable. For example, assume that the geographic database discussed above included three columns for the month, day, and year on which the population data was valid, i.e., the census date.
Consider a request for all records for a given state in which the census date was after some predetermined date. A search table system might have two search tables, one for a date variable as described above and one for the state in which each city was located. The request in question would then be processed by finding all entries in the first search table which had a date after the predetermined date to obtain a first "result list" which is stored in a temporary memory buffer. The second search table would then be searched for all entries having the state variable equal to the state to produce a second result list which is stored in a second temporary memory buffer. The entries in the two result lists would then be compared against one another to find all entries that were present in both lists. If the results lists had L and M entries, respectively, this last comparison would require approximately L times M compare operations. If either L or M is large, the computational workload may actually exceed the workload needed to sequentially search the original database.
In addition to the above described problems, the relational databases itself tends to be inefficient as a mechanism for storing information. As noted above, the records must all contain the same fields. This leads to a significant amount of redundant information being stored. Consider the geographical database described above in which each record includes fields for state, county, and city. For each city in a given county, the field information for state must be repeated even though the combination of county and city uniquely defines the state.
The problem of this type of redundant information storage is addressed by a third prior art method of database system storing information which will be referred to as hierarchical databases, or tree-structure databases. A hierarchical database consists of a series of sets and subsets which store information. For storing geographical information in such a database, a country comprises a set of states. Each state includes a set of counties, and each county includes a set of cities.
The above example consist of four levels, or classes: country, states, counties, and cities. The example further comprises three relationships, or links: country to state, state to county, and county to city. The hierarchical database makes use of the observation that there is a natural progression from one level to the next level in the above relationships. The data relationships can be structured as a "tree" with the top, e.g., country in the above example, at the root node and the bottom level, e.g. city, at the "leaf" node level.
Due to the hierarchical or set-subset nature of the data in such a database, less space is required to store the information in a database. In progressing from the root node to the leaves, each successive level "inherits" the information of all levels above it. Hence, there is no need to repeat this information. The information is contained in the information which links the node in question to the node above it in the tree. The node from which a given node inherits is often referred to as its "parent".
In addition to providing more efficient storage for hierarchically ordered data, queries based on this database often may be answered without searching through all of the leaf nodes or keeping separate search tables. For example, all the cities contained within a state may be easily found by tracing from the entry in the state set for the state in question, through the county sets linked to that state, and then collecting all the cities linked to the counties found.
The advantages of the hierarchical database, however, are realized only when the information within the records of the database lends itself to a natural hierarchical ordering. Although some of the information in a typical database is hierarchical in nature, it is rarely found that all of the information may be organized into a single tree structure. If multiple trees are needed to represent the data, then complex queries must be processed in a manner analogous to that described above and the multiple result lists be combined. The combining of the results requires approximately the same computational workload as that obtained in search table ordered databases.

Hybrid database structure linking navigational fields having a hierarchial database structure to informational fields having a relational database structure


Access control lists (ACLs) permit network administrators to manage network traffic flowing through a networking element to optimize network security, performance, quality of service (QoS), and the like. If a networking element has multiple ACLs directed towards different types of network optimization, each ACL may return a separate action set that identifies one or more actions the networking element should perform based on a received frame. In some cases, these action sets may conflict. To resolve the conflicts, a networking element may include resolution logic that selects one of the conflicting actions based on a predefined precedence value assigned to each action in an action set. By comparing the different precedence values, the resolution logic generates a new action set based on the actions with the highest precedence value.

Computer systems often include multiple computers and/or servers configured to communicate over a network. In Ethernet networks, for example, packets of data are sent from computer to computer according to one or more communication protocols, such as Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) and Internet Protocol (IP). Each computer in the network may include a host Ethernet adapter configured to facilitate communications that terminate at an operating system (OS) running on the respective computer. The operating system running on each computer may include a device driver configured to interact with the host Ethernet adapter of the respective computer.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Priority resolution for access control list policies in a networking device

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A hybrid drive system is for a vehicle and includes an intermediate circuit and an energy accumulator. The energy accumulator is connected to the intermediate circuit by way of a diode, whereby a transistor enabling current to flow in an opposite direction is connected parallel thereto. The transistor is placed in a blocking position in order to discharge the energy accumulator and the diode enables current to pass. If the energy accumulator is not used, the diode is also blocked by increasing the voltage of the intermediate circuit with the aid of the voltage on the energy accumulator. In order to charge the energy accumulator, the transistor is conductingly switched. The diode does not allow the current to pass in this direction.

A known hybrid drive system is used both for road vehicles, for example passenger cars and buses, and for rail vehicles. It is distinguished by the fact that an internal combustion engine with a generator, for example a diesel engine with a generator, and an electric motor are present. The internal combustion engine is connected to the electric motor via the generator and an intermediate circuit. The intermediate circuit is assigned a battery or a capacitor as the energy accumulator. In comparison with a battery, a capacitor has a higher power density, a longer service life and is also maintenance-free. To be able to store an adequate amount of energy, special capacitors, known as ultracapacitors, are used.
In the case of the vehicle, a distinction is made between stationary mode, starting mode, driving mode and braking mode. In stationary mode and during starting, energy is taken from the energy accumulator. In the case of urban buses, starting advantageously takes place exclusively electrically, in order that the energy stored in the energy accumulator is efficiently used and no exhaust gases are emitted, for example at a bus stop. During driving mode, the energy accumulator is neither discharged further nor charged. Only during braking mode is the kinetic energy of the vehicle to be stored in the energy accumulator.
Owing to a relatively low energy density, in the case of a capacitor the voltage drops relatively quickly when discharging occurs. If the capacitor is operated directly on the intermediate circuit of the drive system, the voltage of the intermediate circuit, which is then also low, has a disadvantageous effect on the performance of the drive system, i.e. the drive components must be operated with low voltage.
It is known to counteract this disadvantage of low voltage by generating a high current flow, which is possible only by way of overdimensioned components. It is also already known to connect the capacitor to the intermediate circuit via a converter, for example via a step-up/step-down converter. However, this converter includes complex and expensive electronics and also causes an appreciable additional weight.
Both the overdimensioning of the components and the converter lead to a greater weight and higher costs.

Hybrid drive system and method for adjusting a hybrid drive system


A self-cleanable hairbrush comprising three components including a central body portion which has a front major face and a rear major face and with a plurality of apertures extending between the major faces and a handle located at one end thereof. A back member lies adjacent to the rear major face with a plurality of bristles extending from the back member through the apertures in the central body portion while a front member lies in juxtaposition to the front major face of the central body portion and has a plurality of apertures in registry with the apertures in the central body portion. The arrangement provides for a brush which may be readily cleaned and accessorized.

The present invention relates to a cleanable hairbrush and more particularly, relates to a cleanable hairbrush having interchangeable components.
Hair brushes having a self-cleaning mechanism are known in the art and thus, one may refer to patents illustrating such arrangements including U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,577,580; 5,600,865; and 5,519,912, among others.
While many such structures have been proposed in the art, they do not always provide for easy interchangeability of the components such that different types of accessory brushes may be utilized with the basic structure.


A secondary display may be integrated into a form factor of an information handling system having a primary display in a manner that synchronizes movement of the secondary display with the primary display. The secondary display may move from a closed position to an open position along with moving of a primary display from a closed to an open position. A rack and pinion mechanism may synchronize the secondary display with the primary display through a first and second primary pinion coupling a primary shaft of the primary display to a rack. A secondary pinion may couple a secondary shaft of the secondary display to the rack. Movement of the secondary display may be synchronized with movement of the primary display through the rack and pinions.

As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems may be constructed in a form factor with an integrated display, such as a laptop computer or tablet computer. However, as individuals seek additional ways to process and store information, there is a need to display more information to a user of the information handling system. Some information handling systems may include an additional display. That additional display may allow the user to view and interact with additional information. However, integration of the additional display into the form factor of the information handling system while maintaining user accessibility and portability presents challenges due to the shrinking size of some information handling systems.
Shortcomings mentioned here are only representative and are included to highlight problems that the inventors have identified with respect to existing information handling systems and sought to improve upon. Aspects of the information handling systems described below may address some or all of the shortcomings as well as others known in the art. Aspects of the improved information handling systems described below may present other benefits than, and be used in other applications than, those described above.

Secondary component synchronized with primary display in an information handling system


Tape device paths, library slots and drive information are automatically collected by agents at nodes in a library cluster. The information is reported to a central server database. The central server accesses the information and maps tape devices to path information so an administrator may easily have access to configuration information for the tape device cluster. When a tape device cluster is updated, for example through changes to a device, an added device, device failure or some other reason, the change is detected and the cluster configuration is automatically updated.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storage device management. In particular, the present invention relates to tracking node paths and devices in a storage cluster.
2. Description of the Related Art
A cluster management service uses tape libraries in a tiered hierarchical storage system to provide low cost storage to customers. The tape libraries may contain a hundred or more tape drives connected to multiple hosts in a storage cluster. There could be a thousand or more data paths amongst these drives within the cluster. The paths appear and disappear over time as the fabric changes and drives can be added, deleted, replaced and sometimes even fail.
When customers have to configure a large tape library for use with a data storage management system in a mover-node cluster, it can take considerable time to configure all of the possible paths to all of the devices on the nodes in the cluster. If changes are made to the fiber channel storage area network (SAN), all those paths can change, requiring reconfiguration. Configuration of tape drive clusters can cost large amounts of time and resources.
What is needed is an improved method for configuring clusters of tape drive libraries.


A mobile device having first and second modes of operation is operated responsive to detection of a predefined localized movement of a housing of the mobile device using a sensor associated therewith. The detected predefined localized movement is associated with first and second functions of the mobile device responsive to a user input assigning the detected predefined localized movement thereto. A first device function is performed responsive to detection of the predefined localized movement in the first mode of operation, and a second device function is performed responsive to detection of the predefined localized movement in the second mode of operation. A predetermined delay time may also be associated with the predefined localized movement, and the first and/or second functions may be performed at the predetermined delay time after detecting the predefined localized movement.

The present invention relates to electronic devices and methods of operating the same, and, more particularly, to mobile device user input and methods thereof.
Mobile electronic devices, such as mobile terminals, increasingly provide a variety of communications, multimedia, and/or data processing capabilities. For example, mobile terminals, such as cellphones, personal digital assistants, and/or laptop computers, may provide storage and/or access to data in a wide variety of multimedia formats, including text, pictures, music, and/or video.
However, data and/or applications stored on a mobile device can be difficult to manage, for example, due to the relatively small size of the device and the limited input devices provided. For example, many mobile terminals, such as cellphones, may be equipped with digital camera functionality. Yet, when an image captured using the digital camera is displayed on the mobile terminal, it may be difficult to select and/or manipulate the displayed image using the keypad. As such, mobile devices may include alternative input devices, such as sensor devices responsive to touch, light and/or motion.
In particular, mobile devices may include motion sensors, such as tilt sensors and/or accelerometers. As such, applications may be included in mobile devices that take advantage of these capabilities for operation and/or for manipulation of data. For example, it is known to provide menu navigation and selection on a mobile device via tilting and/or shaking the housing of the device. Similarly, it is known to provide video games on a mobile device that utilize predefined motions of the device housing for manipulation of one or more on-screen characters or the like. More specifically, by tilting the device housing, a user can move an on-screen character in one of eight directions. In both cases, the motion sensor may assess the movement of the device housing and execute a desired action associated with the movement.

Methods, devices and computer program products for operating mobile devices responsive to user input through movement thereof


Embodiments for simulating timing-related error conditions in a distributed system, by allowing a user to define a fault map specifying one or more faults to be committed by components in the distributed system. These generated fault events are to be executed in different components of the distributed system in a serialized distributed order. An event injection process delivers the fault map messages to the nodes in the distributed system, and the nodes then execute an operation sequence containing the fault events in the proper order as coordinated by the event injection process. The faults are then committed by the associated components in the nodes. Execution of these fault events occurs before, after or during a regular component procedure or action to simulate the desired timing-related error.

Clustered network systems represent a scale-out solution to single node systems by providing networked computers that work together so that they essentially form a single system. Each computer forms a node in the system and runs its own instance of an operating system. The cluster itself has each node set to perform the same task that is controlled and scheduled by software.
A distributed file system is a type of file system in which data may be spread across multiple storage devices. The distributed file system can present a global namespace to clients in a cluster accessing the data so that files appear to be in the same central location. Distributed file systems are typically very large and may contain many hundreds of thousands or even many millions of files.
Any distributed system that involves complex coordination of processing and data between its various components is hard to implement and test. Testing for error conditions is particularly challenging when an error involves multiple components acting in a certain predetermined order. Most of these types of timing-based error conditions are nearly impossible to manually reproduce. However, such error conditions are the ones that are typically most expected to be reproduced in real-life deployments of the distributed system. Therefore, it is imperative that such error conditions are simulated as much as possible so that design challenges and defects in the underlying code can be identified. The ability to simulate such hard timing-based error conditions is needed not only during software development when simulating such error conditions can potentially catch improper system designs, but also during software deployment when a real-life error condition in deployment of the distributed system is needed to identify and fix defects in the code. Such timing-based error conditions almost always require a sequence of individual errors to occur in the distributed system in a predetermined timing-based order.
The subject matter discussed in the background section should not be assumed to be prior art merely as a result of its mention in the background section. Similarly, a problem mentioned in the background section or associated with the subject matter of the background section should not be assumed to have been previously recognized in the prior art. The subject matter in the background section merely represents different approaches, which in and of themselves may also be inventions. Dell and EMC are trademarks of Dell/EMC Corporation.

Fault definition and injection process to simulate timing based errors in a distributed system


A light wave guiding apparatus comprising an offset detector for detecting an offset from a predetermined axis is disclosed. A laser beam irradiator irradiates a laser beam having a maximum irradiation intensity in a predetermined orientation and the irradiation intensity decreasing progressively with the increase in the distance away from the orientation while being conically inclined from a predetermined axis. A photo-detector is located in an area irradiated by the laser beam and outputs a received light signal S corresponding to the irradiation intensity. A memory unit stores the relation between the amount of offset of the photo-detector from the predetermined axis and the received light signal S. The received light signal S of the photo-detector is compared with the data stored in the memory unit and the offset amount of the photo-detector is detected.

The present invention relates to an offset detection apparatus for detecting the amount or direction of offset from a predetermined axis, or more in particular to a flying object guiding system for guiding a flying object in a predetermined direction using the offset detection apparatus.
A conventional flying object guiding system comprises a navigation calculator mounted on the flying object for calculating the information such as the attitude angle and the position of the flying object and an external guiding means for transmitting to the flying object by radio the information on the direction of movement on a reference coordinate system (the combined information on the azimuth and elevation or the information on the target position). The flying object calculates the attitude angle and positional information of the flying object using the navigation calculator and determines the direction and amount of steering on the basis of the information on the direction of movement sent from the guiding means.

Offset detection apparatus and flying object guiding system using the apparatus


A safety logic for vehicle rollover detection systems comprising a main rollover detection logic and at least one protection device for the occupant or occupants of the vehicle, including a vehicle lateral acceleration sensor (11), which generates an output signal indicating a near rollover event, when a lateral acceleration of a vehicle exceeds the first predefined threshold value (15) or, when a lateral acceleration of vehicle exceeds the second predefined threshold value (16) that is lower than the first predefined threshold value (15) and simultaneously at least one additional safety logic activation signal is present (1, 1′, 1″, 1′″).

The purpose of the rollover detection system is activation of protection devices such as seat belts pretensioners, pop-up roll bars or air bags, especially air bags protecting occupants' heads during rollover accident.
In many systems for detecting dangerous situations, in particular in rollover detection systems there are two paths of signal processing: a main path being the main logic and an independent arming path, being a separate safety logic. An essential purpose of safety logic is to decrease the probability of inadvertent deployment in an event of failure or error in main rollover detection logic, wherein an activation signal of the main logic is summed with an activation signal of the safety logic by means of AND function at the last stage of processing, directly before an activation of protection devices.
Examples of logics of this kind are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,535,800, 6,600,414 or WIPO publication WO 03/010034. Publication WO 03/010034 discloses a rollover determination system comprising a first roll rate sensor, a lateral acceleration sensor and a main controller that determines, whether there is a possibility of rollover of the vehicle on the basis of the roll rate and lateral acceleration of the vehicle. The system comprises also a safety logic for confirming a rollover accident, whose output is summed with an output signal of a main rollover detection logic by means of AND gate.

Safety logic for vehicle rollover detection systems and a method for detecting near rollover situations


A lint retention apparatus for a laundry drying appliance has a lint separator, upstream of which a lint wetter is connected. A laundry drying appliance has a laundry drum and a process air condenser, which are connected by way of a process air channel conducting process air. It also has a lint separator disposed in the process air channel for flow purposes downstream of the laundry drum and upstream of the process air condenser, wherein a lint wetter is disposed for flow purposes downstream of the laundry drum and upstream of the lint separator.

The invention relates to a lint retention apparatus for a laundry drying appliance (in particular a tumble dryer or washer/dryer), the lint retention apparatus having a lint separator. The invention also relates to a laundry drying appliance, having a laundry drum and a process air condenser, which are connected by way of a process air-conducting process air channel, and having a lint separator disposed in the process air channel for flow purposes downstream of the laundry drum and upstream of the condenser.
Lint is typically emitted by the laundry to be dried into the process air flowing along during a drying process and includes, for example, fiber particles produced during washing or drying. If such particles are not eliminated from the process air, they can settle on a process air condenser, where hot and moist process air exiting from the laundry drum is typically cooled and as a result stripped from moisture contained therein by condensation. The settling of the lint reduces the efficiency of the process air condenser. Cleaning off the lint that has settled on the process air condenser is a complex operation and must normally be performed by a user between drying processes, or even by service personnel only.
To prevent lint settling on the process air condenser, it is known to dispose a lint separator in the form of a mesh filter in a process air channel between the laundry drum and the process air condenser for through flow by process air. Generally small dimensions of lint particles of only around one micrometer mean that the particles can pass through most mesh filters, which generally have larger mesh sizes. Mesh filters with smaller mesh sizes disadvantageously demonstrate high flow resistances for the process air passing through. Also the mesh filters have to be cleaned from time to time to remove lint formed by larger particles, etc., which has to be done manually by a user and is time consuming.
The use of a lint separator in the form of a cyclone separator is known from EP 1 380 683 A2 or DE 197 39 378 A1. This has the disadvantage that the separation effect is relatively poor, as the effective density of the lint present in the process air flow is similar to the density of air.
EP 0 535 348 A1 discloses a lint separator in the form of a process air washer, in which the process air is sprayed with condensate to form a condensate curtain, and lint which adheres to the condensate curtain is eliminated from the process air. However such a lint separator is relatively ineffective and also complex in structure.

Lint retention for a laundry drying appliance


A situation-based monitoring system monitors various activities of persons in rooms of a home or residential care facility, determines when the person is in distress and communicates that fact to appropriate personnel. The system includes a programmable processor connected with sensors in the monitored area. The sensors detect various physical parameters associated with the monitored persons, such as motion or the identity of the persons themselves. From the sensed conditions, the processor determines when a distress situation or condition exists (e.g., a person has fallen) and communicates information about the distress condition to a notification device. Various situations may be configured differently for different people. The communication can either be an alarm indicating a condition requiring immediate attention, or may be information-only. The notification can be transmitted to a notification device, such as a computer or digital dialer via a modem or direct data exchange, which is accessed by emergency response personnel.

This invention generally relates to a system for monitoring the activities of a person within a defined area, and more particularly to such a monitoring system which senses when a person is in distress and needs assistance and the system then notifies appropriate personnel, wherein the person in distress is not required to take any action to indicate the distress situation to the monitoring system.
The consequences of falling have a significant impact on the quality of life enjoyed by older persons. According to Dr. Michael L. Freedman, Director of Geriatrics at New York University Medical Center, one of every three persons 65 and older suffers a fall each year. As of 1996, two of every five admissions to nursing homes are the result of falls. Falls are now the sixth leading cause of death for persons over 70.
Although the consequences of falling can be significant, many older adults are reluctant to report falls for various reasons. For example, in residential care facilities, the person may fear being transferred away from friends and social life to a more managed environment. Sometimes falls go unreported because persons with cognitive dysfunction are unable to communicate coherently to family, friends or care givers. Falls may also go unreported by staff for fear of administrative issues or reprisals directed at them or the residents.
For many years and through many permutations of technology, people have wrestled with the problems and solutions involving an increasingly older elderly population. According to a 1996 report from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the group of persons 85 and over is projected to be the fastest growing segment of the elderly population. It is expected that by the year 1999, the number of persons 65 and older will be over 35 million. Of those, over 4 million will be 85 and older.
As direct customers (i.e., persons living in their homes), elderly persons have been intimidated by the sophistication and cost of the devices available to assist them in managing their homes and achieving and maintaining independent lifestyles. As indirect customers (i.e., persons living in residential care facilities), their level of exposure to various technologies to better assist them has been dependent on the administrators' comfort with such technologies and the financial costs. Historically, residential care facilities have tended to shy away from using such monitoring technologies. Only recently has there been some increased utilization of modern technology in various aspects of such facilities, including resident emergency recognition and response.
One of the first areas of general acceptance and usage of technology for both homes and residential care facilities is that of personal emergency response. In the past, this was an area where little or no technology was utilized. Monitoring devices that did exist were limited in coverage area to a single room of a home or a resident's living area. Newer products have expanded their coverage area to encompass an entire home or a facility's perimeter through use of transmitters worn or easily accessed by the person. These transmitters often take the form of bulky pendants, wrist watches or pull cords. Each product requires the person to have quick and ready access to the transmitter and be able to activate the transmitter to initiate the call for help, even if the person has fallen and is immobile.
These requirements have proven to be an impediment to customers. Many people feel the transmitters are a badge that declares them to be less than capable adults. Most find the instruments unattractive. As a result, transmitters arc often left in pockets or drawers and pull cords are tucked behind pictures, rendering them unreachable and of little or no assistance in times of distress.
Prior art monitoring systems can be generally grouped into two types: active and passive. To generate an alarm condition in an active monitoring system, some affirmative act by the person being monitored is required to indicate the person is in distress and needs assistance. The required act may comprise clapping, pushing a button, calling for help, or otherwise activating a transmitter.
On the other hand, passive monitoring systems may rely on the failure of the person to perform an act within a prescribed period of time or at a certain time of day; for example, the person does not use the phone or toilet for 24 hours, does not get out of bed by a certain time of day, or does not take medication at prescribed time intervals or at particular times of day. However, these systems are often complex to program, implement and utilize. As a result, they have achieved little or no commercial success. An example of such a passive system is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,801.
Generally, these passive monitoring systems evaluate the activities of a person and generate an alarm if warranted. Based upon sensors, clocks and timers, these systems monitor a person's activities and trigger an alarm when the timer or clock indicates the monitored device was unused beyond its programmed time limit or was unused at a certain time of day. The system described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,801 monitors a plethora of devices, as well as the bathroom. However, its reliance on the resident to initiate an emergency process through inactivity can be a drawback, especially in facilities that deal with dementia patients.
People with dementia generally are not monitored with either active or passive monitoring systems because these people cannot consistently distinguish and recognize times of appropriate usage of certain items. As a result, residential care facilities are forced to rely on staff personnel to patrol resident rooms, bathrooms and common areas. This is both expensive and intrusive.
The percentage of the population who suffer from Alzheimer's disease is growing with the increasing number of persons over 85. Alzheimer's is one form of senile dementia. The American Medical Association reports that nearly one in two people over 85 suffers from some stage of Alzheimer's. Since the disease attacks the mind rather than the body, it often lasts for a long time. On average, those afflicted with Alzheimer's live eight more years after diagnosis, often needing round-the-clock care. To date, there is no cure in sight.
The usage of monitoring systems is not limited to the elderly. Younger persons may either be chronically or occasionally in need of monitoring. For example, hospice patients, patients newly released from the hospital, individuals with disabilities living independently, persons with permanent disabilities living at home, and others can all benefit from nonintrusive, situation-based monitoring systems.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a situation-based monitoring system that monitors the activities of a person within an area or location and automatically notifies appropriate parties when an actual or potential emergency situation occurs involving the monitored person.
A general object of the present invention is to provide a situation-based monitoring system that allows a person to live independently and safely in a home or residential care setting.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a situation-based monitoring system that does not require either initiation or inactivity by persons being monitored to indicate a distress situation to appropriate personnel.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a situation-based monitoring system such that anyone who falls down within a predetermined area creates a distress condition recognized by the system as one requiring an alarm.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a situation-based monitoring system that recognizes a various number of actual or potential situations involving persons requiring assistance.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a situation-based monitoring system that evaluates a location for the existence of various conditions of distress and generates an alarm, whether or not a person within that location (and responsible for creating that situation) is able to indicate the distress situation to the system.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a situation-based monitoring system that monitors the activities of a person in a non-intrusive manner.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a situation-based monitoring system that can configure situations differently for different persons.
The above and other objects and advantages of this invention will become more readily apparent when the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


The present invention relates to a TF-BGA method for manufacturing a packaging substrate, and includes steps of forming a single-sided circuit on a copper plate by electroplating, removing a layer of photoresist and sequentially laminating a dielectric layer and a metal plate on the copper plate, etching the copper plate, selectively applying a layer of solder resist, defining a cavity opening by punching, routing or etching, attaching a heat sink, forming dam rings and protecting the laminate by mold compound, attaching a die and bonding gold wires and encapsulating the cavity opening by encapsulate and attaching solder balls. In particular, a metal plate substitutes for a BT resin material to achieve low packaging cost and increasing the heat dissipating efficiency. A transfer flat type ball grid array method is employed to achieve an effect of fine circuitry and each single substrate is processed and tested individually. After the defective substrate units have been removed, the substrate units proved to be good are arranged in a long strip form and the borders thereof are molded to link in a latitudinal extension shape. A problem of the conventional entire strip of substrate set becoming useless when part of the substrate units are defective can be eliminated.

The present invention relates to a transfer flat type ball grid array (TF-BGA) method for manufacturing a packaging substrate, which is totally different from a conventional BGA method for manufacturing a packaging substrate. This method has advantages of: forming fine circuitry; improving electrical performance; reducing a waste material and therefore reducing the ultimate cost as well, reducing harm to the environment, improving the heat dissipation efficiency; and improving the yield due to salvaging some reusable substrate units from semi-scraped strip of substrate set.
A conventional BGA method for manufacturing a packaging substrate comprises sequential steps shown in FIG. 3A through FIG. 3H. First, FIG. 3A shows a step of drilling a double-sided laminate 70 with two layers of copper foils 71 on opposite sides thereof to form via holes 711. Next, FIG. 3B shows a step of plating the via holes 711 with copper 72 to form a connection between the two layers of copper foils 71. Then, FIG. 3C shows a step of applying a layer of etching resist (dry film) 73 on the copper foils 71 layers for forming circuit patterns. Subsequently, FIG. 3D shows a step of applying a layer of solder resist 75 on predetermined areas on both sides after the circuit patterns 74 having been formed on the laminate 70. Thereafter, FIG. 3E shows a step of filling up the via holes 711 with conductive paste 76 and attaching a die 77 thereon for performing functions of heat dissipation and die attachment. Then, FIGS. 3F, 3G and 3H sequentially proceed steps of bonding gold wires 78 between the die 77 and the circuit patterns 74, providing a mold tool for covering a bonding area with molding compound 79 and attaching solder balls 80 on ball pads defined by solder resist 75 through soldering.
Based on a conventional operating process, a plurality of packaging substrate units in a long strip form as shown in FIG. 2 for use in automatic machinery is produced through a commonly used packaging operation.
However, the packaging substrate units being made in a long strip form by using the conventional BGA method described above have several drawbacks which are as follows:
(1) Since the conventional BGA method adopts a double-sided circuit design, a complicate drilling step has to be taken and insufficient accuracy in via holes filling may create concern about reliability. PA1 (2) The efficiency of heat dissipation through via holes is not effective and the step of filling up the via holes with conductive paste still has a potential reliability problem. PA1 (3) In the conventional BGA method, since the die is attached on the conductive paste and covered by molding compound, a mold tool has to be provided for filling in the molding compound. Therefore, this assembly process lacks flexibility. PA1 (4) The electrical performance is hard to improve since a grounding layer can not be easily added. PA1 (5) A high-density circuitry is hard to achieve since via holes occupy some space in accordance with the drilling process. PA1 (6) When one or two packaging substrate units in a long strip are scraped, the entire strip has to be scraped. This will lead to wasting material and lowering the yield, and doing harm to the environment.
In view of employing a double-sided circuit board and the conventional BGA method described above, there are several defects such as the complicated manufacturing, the electrical performance, etc., of the packaging process as well as a poor yield and poor usage of material due to the design in a long strip form, all of which have to be overcome.

Transfer flat type ball grid array method for manufacturing packaging substrate


An SRAM having an input address bus, a memory array and coupled sense amplifiers, internal sense amp enable and output data bus enable nodes further includes a circuit for generating an asynchronous address transition signal from a series of address signals received on the input address bus, and a timing and control circuit. The timing and control circuit selects a single address signal and suppresses the other address signals within a predetermined period of time such as the normal cycle time of the SRAM. If the address transition signal includes a pulse train of two or more pulses spaced apart by less than the predetermined time interval, the timing and control circuit generates fixed pulse width sense amp enable and output data bus enable signals corresponding to the last pulse in the pulse train. If the pulses are spaced apart by more than the predetermined time interval, the timing and control circuit generates fixed pulse width sense amp enable and output data bus enable signals corresponding to each pulse in the pulse train of the address transition signal. If the address transition signal is a single pulse having a variable pulse width related to the number of different address signals received on the address bus, the timing and control circuit generates fixed pulse width sense amp enable and output data bus enable signals corresponding to the single pulse of the address transition signal.

This invention relates generally to memory circuits and more particularly to a timing and control circuit for generating output data bus enable and sense amp enable signals for a static random access memory circuit ("SRAM").
The basic structure of an SRAM is well known in the art to include an input address bus, a memory array constructed of rows and columns of static memory cells having inputs and outputs coupled to corresponding row and column lines. Individual memory cells are addressed by energizing appropriate row and columns line for either reading data into the selected memory cell or for reading data out onto a column line. Sense amplifiers are coupled to the column lines for sensing the small changes in charge developed on the column lines. The sense amplifiers are not always active and consuming power, but are activated by a sense amp enable signal at an appropriate time in a sequence of events necessary for reading data out of the memory. Typically, many sense amplifiers are coupled to an internal output data bus, which is also activated by a bus enable signal. The bus enable signal is usually activated slightly after the sense amp enable signal.
A basic feature of most SRAM memory circuits is an input latch to provide two modes of addressing. In a first, synchronous address mode, an input latch is activated and latches a single address signal. Subsequent received address signals are ignored and only the registered address is further processed to either write data into or read data out of a memory cell. In a second, asynchronous address mode, the input latch is transparent to the address signals. Each new address signal is processed as it is received on the input address bus. Further details of the internal structure and operation of an SRAM are set forth in the 1991 MOS DATA BOOK of MICRON TECHNOLOGY, INC. of Boise, Id. The description at pp. 4-151 through 4-164 of the data book is especially pertinent and is hereby incorporated by reference.
While the asynchronous address mode is a useful feature in many applications, where a clock edge is not available when the address is valid, for example, repeatedly changing the address signal within the normal cycle time of the memory can create problems. The memory circuit, in responding to each address signal, initiates a sequence of events such as enabling the sense amplifiers and internal output data bus, as well as precharging and equalizing internal busses, decoding row and column addresses, releasing precharge and equalization levels, and other steps necessary to read or write data into or out of the memory array. If a subsequent address signal is received too soon after an initial address is received, the sequence of events is aborted and restarted in response to the new address signal. While the subsequent address signal is processed, doing so increases noise at the output due to the unnecessary switching of internal nodes and busses, increases power dissipation due to sense amplifiers and busses being unnecessarily activated, and reduces operating speed by requiring full logic swings on the internal nodes.
Therefore, what is desired is a control and timing circuit for an SRAM placed in an asynchronous address mode to select a single address amongst several addresses received within the normal cycle time interval of the SRAM.

Timing and control circuit for a static RAM responsive to an address transition pulse


A method for detecting solid components in ground glass nodules (GGNs) in medical images, includes: performing an intensity-based segmentation on a segmented GGN to identify a high intensity region; and performing a shape analysis to determine whether the high intensity region is a solid component or a vessel, wherein the shape analysis comprises: computing a compactness of the high intensity region; and determining whether the high intensity region is a solid component or a vessel by using an area, a maximum distance on a distance transform map and the compactness of the region; or determining whether the high intensity region is a solid component or a vessel by scaling and normalizing the region and computing a compactness for the scaled and normalized region.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to the detection and evaluation of ground glass nodules (GGNs) in medical images, and more particularly, to a system and method for detecting solid components of GGNs in pulmonary computed tomography (CT) images.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
With the widespread availability of multi-slice computed tomography (CT) scanners for lung cancer screening and the ever-improving resolution offered by these scanners, an increasing number of small pulmonary nodules are being detected at their early stages for cancer diagnosis.
Lung nodules can be classified into solid nodules and ground glass nodules (GGNs). GGNs can be further grouped into pure GGNs that contain only non-solid (e.g., low-density) elements and mixed GGNs that contain both solid and non-solid components. Solid nodules, pure GGNs and mixed GGNs have different appearances in pulmonary CT images as shown in FIG. 1.
In Feng Li, Shusuke Sone, Hiroyuki Abe, Heber MacMahon and Kunio Doi, "Malignant versus Benign Nodules at CT Screening for Lung Cancer: Comparison of Thin Section CT Findings", Radiology 2004 233: 793-798, it was shown that GGNs are more likely to be associated with malignancy than solid nodules. The ratio of a solid component to an entire GGN is an important indicator for nodule characterization.
Accordingly, there is a need for a solid component detection method that is capable of providing fast and consistent measures for cancer diagnosis and treatment.

System and method for detecting solid components of ground glass nodules in pulmonary computed tomography images


The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a method and/or system for generating a dynamic image based, at least in part, on attributes associated with one or more individuals.

1. Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to combining images to be viewed by an observer.
2. Information
Visual illusions are typically employed in theaters, magic shows and theme parks to provide patrons and/or an audience the appearance of the presence of an object, when such an object is in fact not present. Such illusions are typically generated using, for example, mirrors and other optical devices. However, such illusions typically created in a predetermined manner and are not tailored to audience members and/or patrons.

System and/or method for combining images


The multiplexing device is for insertion of digital packets, supplied by several different sources, in a same transmission channel having an average data rate at least equal to the sum of the average data rates supplied by the sources. It comprising a packet call input unit connected to the transmission channel. The sources are cascaded and the downstream source constitutes an interface towards the input unit. Each source comprises a generator of an insertion priority order for each packet as a function of the type of packet, of the number of stored packets, and of insertion rules associated with the type of packets to be transmitted. Each cascaded source, with the exception of the most upstream source, has a routing circuit supplying at its output the highest priority among the two priorities applied to its input, and of which one corresponds to the source itself and the second to the upstream unit.

The present invention concerns a device for the insertion of digital packets supplied by different sources in a transmission channel having an available average flow rate at least equal to the sum of the average flow rates supplied by the sources. It has a particularly important application in the insertion of packets to form the digital multiplex of a television signal belong into the X-MAC/PACKET family.
In a X-MAC/PACKET signal, the flow of bits intended for sound and data transmission and broadcasting is distributed in packets of fixed length, each having an address of 23 bits, serving to identify the origin of the packet, and a useful part of 728 bits. The channel has a data rate with a constant average value (ranging, depending on each case, from 2,050 to 24,600 packets per second) but with a variable instantaneous value. The input unit of the output channel, consisting for example of the time division multiplexer for deformation of the multiplex intended to be addressed to the modulator, make the request for packets in accordance with its availabilities.
Each source displays data rate characteristics and insertion rules in the output channel which are specific to it. The order of insertion of the packets in the out channel must take this factors into account.
In the case, for example, of a D2-MAC/PACKET system with conditional access according to the "EUROCRYPT" standard, the digital channel may have to transmit one or more sound channels each demanding a capacity of 250 to 1778 packets per second, and whose phase shift with respect to the image must remain small (original sound and dubbing, for example), one or more high fidelity sound channels demanding a higher data rate than the above, an identification channel for the services consisting of packets having address "zero", and of packets representing the entitlement checking messages ECM and the entitlement management messages EMM. Further more, the digital channel must transmit any teletext signals in packets.
It is clear that the sources have data rates which vary from source to source and insertion rules which may also vary.
Several insertion techniques already exist.
The one described in the document called "The EBU-MAC/PACKET system for direct broadcasting by satellite", by Mertens et al, IEEE International Conference on Communications, ICC 84, vol. 1, p. 1-9 North-Holland, New-York, consists in presenting data from various sources to a multiplexer comprising a number of input buffer memories equal to the number of sources. Whenever the multiplexer is ready to form a packet, it examines the buffer memories in an order of priority which depends on the needs of service continuity, and it selects the data in a memory which contains sufficient information to make up a whole packet.
Document FR-A-2 629 972 describes a priority management device having two cascaded FIFOs. The output from the second is connected to an input of a multiplexer. The input of the first is connected to a comparator and to the other input of the multiplexer.

Device for insertion of digital packets in a transmission channel


A receiving system and a receiving device are provided for receiving and processing broadcast digital and analog signals such as video and audio programs. The system and device are capable of determining whether a received program is subject to copy prohibition. If the program is subject to copy prohibition, the system prevents copying of the program. The system and device are capable of performing timed recording of received programs, including checking the status of the device and/or the recording medium to determine whether timed recording is permitted. Timed recording may be permitted if a selected broadcast receiving device is a registered device.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a digital broadcast receiving system for receiving an MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2 format broadcast transport stream of video data and audio data and transmitting the received stream to a digital signal processing device through an IEEE (Institute of Electrical Electronic Engineers) 1394 interface. The present invention also relates to a receiving device using such a system.
2. Related Art
In recent years, the IEEE 1394 interface that allows video data and audio data to be transferred between digital video devices and digital audio devices at high speed are becoming common. The IEEE 1394 interface supports both the isochronous transfer mode and the asynchronous transfer mode. The isochronous transfer mode is suitable for transferring a chronologically successive data stream of video data and audio data at high speed. On the other hand, the asynchronous transfer mode is suitable for transferring various commands.
Recently, digital broadcasts are becoming common. In a digital broadcast, a digital video signal and an audio signal are compressed corresponding to the MPEG2 format. In addition, a plurality of programs are multiplexed and transmitted. When a digital broadcast is received, an-IRD (Integrated Receiver Decoder) is connected to a television receiver. The IRD selects a signal of a program that the user desires and decodes the selected signal into a video signal and an audio signal. An output signal of the IRD is supplied to the television receiver.
A structure of which the IEEE 1394 interface is connected to the IRD that receives a digital broadcast has been proposed. When the IRD has the IEEE 1394 interface, the IRD is connected to a digital video recording/reproducing device through the IEEE 1394 interface. Thus, a digital broadcast receiving system can be structured.
As was described above, when the system of which the IRD is connected to the digital video recording/reproducing device through the IEEE 1394 interface is used, data can be easily transferred from the IRD to the digital video recording/reproducing device and recorded thereto.
In addition, the IEEE 1394 interface allows command to be transferred in addition to digital video data and digital audio data. Thus, a timer record operation can be easily performed. For example, when a program record start time is set up on the IRD side, at the program record start time, the IRD transfers a record start command to the digital video recording/reproducing device. Thus, the digital video recording/reproducing device enters the record mode and records data received from the IRD.
A program transmitted by a digital broadcast contains copyright information for protecting the copyright thereof. The copyright information is contained as two descriptors (DM_copy_control_descriptor) and (digital_copy_control_descriptor) in a PMT (Program Map Table) of a transport stream in such a manner that the copyright information of the service (program) is associated with the contents data.
The script (DM_copy_control_descriptor) contains information of an analog video output. On the other hand, the script (digital_copy_control_descriptor) contains information of CGMS (Copy Generation Management System) or M-CGMS( ) that is information of a digital video output.
Thus, in the digital broadcast receiving system of which the IRD is connected to the digital video recording/reproducing device through the IEEE 1394 interface, when a timer record operation is performed, it is necessary to notify the user whether or not a program that will be recorded with the timer record operation is copy-prohibited. In addition, in a digital broadcast, there are two prohibition modes that are a digital record prohibition mode and an analog record prohibition mode. Thus, it is necessary to notify the user whether or not a program is prohibited in the analog record prohibition mode or the digital record prohibition mode.
In addition, there are many adverse cases that when the timer record operation is performed, output data of the IRD is being recorded by another device; the digital video recording/reproducing device is operating; a tape or a disc is not loaded to the device or in record protect state. When the timer record operation is executed in such cases, data recorded on a tape may be destroyed. Alternatively, the device may malfunction. Thus, in such cases, it is desired to cancel the timer record operation and to notify the user of a cause of the cancellation of the timer record operation.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiving system and a receiving device that allow the timer record operation for a program to be prohibited so as to protect the copyright thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a digital broadcast receiving system and a receiving device that cause the timer record operation to be canceled in the case that the timer record operation cannot be executed and allow the user to be notified of a cause of the cancellation of the timer record operation.

Broadcast receiver and system for performing copy prohibition and timed recording


A wireless method, apparatus, and system provide simultaneous transacting of voice and data on adjacent timeslots through a combination of channel access rules and sacrificing small audio portions when required. This includes wirelessly operating on at least two timeslots which are adjacent to one another, operating voice on a first timeslot of the at least two timeslots and monitoring a second timeslot of the at least two timeslots for data, and, responsive to a data transmission request and receiving voice on the first timeslot, discarding a portion of the voice in the first timeslot to provide a larger guard time for programming between the first timeslot and the second timeslot and transmitting data in the second timeslot based on the data transmission request.

The present disclosure relates to wireless communication networks. For time division multiple access (TDMA), various communication protocols exist including, without limitation, Project 25 (P25), Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), Digital Mobile Radio (DMR), Public Safety Long Term Evolution (LTE), and the like. PCR (Professional and Commercial Radio) radios have difficulty receiving and transmitting voice and data on adjacent TDMA slots. For example, DMR is a TDMA system with only two time slots operating on a 12.5 kHz channel. In conventional radios, based on DMR, it is not possible to receive data while the radio is operating a voice call. These conventional radios cannot use one slot for voice and another slot for transmitting short location data (e.g., Global Positioning System (GPS)). One reason behind this limitation is that conventional radios cannot switch frequencies fast enough. Conventional systems are not able to complete a radio frequency (RF) state change (RX to TX and vice versa) in the short window of the guard time between adjacent slots, (e.g., 2.5 msec).
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and apparatus for wirelessly transacting simultaneous voice and data on adjacent timeslots in view of the aforementioned limitations.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present invention.
The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Method and apparatus for wirelessly transacting simultaneous voice and data on adjacent timeslots


Systems and methods that facilitate software development projects via employing a synchronization component, which enables synchronization among a state for a specification, a product and an associated documentation. A project manager responsible for preparing the specification can enter and/or store the definition of the specification in a specification database, in form of a Structured Query Language (SQL), for example. A differentiator component compares state of the specification with the product (e.g., build of SQL server) at desired intervals, and further identifies any discrepancies therebetween. As such, a centralized location is provided for comparison of the specification and the product, and for enabling synchronization among the specification, the product and the associated documentation.

Rapid development of information and communication systems in recent years has increased demand for quality improvement of software products and for efficiency in software development. As more efforts are directed to meeting such demands, employing software-design aid devices is increasing. In general, advantages for use of software-design aiding devices include facilitating standardization through an exclusion of individuality by providing standard formats, template figure components, and the like.
Moreover, effective management is an important objective for project managers, wherein choosing an appropriate development lifecycle process for the software project becomes crucial. For example, all other activities in software development can be derived from such lifecycle process. At the same time, continuously changing design or specification requirements of the development cycle poses difficulties and major problems. A great number of software applications fail to meet user requirements, and hence result in unacceptable maintenance costs, due to such changes.
Typically, for modern software development projects, gathering and agreeing on design requirements is fundamental to a successful project. Such does not necessarily imply that all requirements need to be fixed before any architecture, design, and coding is done—yet it is important for the development team to understand what needs to be built. Accordingly, clear communications between various team members become essential for the development team to realize the desired outcome, and proper basis for the specifications and requirements.
The cyclical interaction among team members for developing a computer software product can become a complex process that requires significant expenditure of time on part of various contributing teams. For example, software products are increasingly being developed by a plurality of teams working concurrently, and these teams are often distributed between different locations and organizations. Such teams can include project management, software development team (developer), and documentation team that work concurrently on the design of a product. In practice, the division of tasks and activities is carried out by generating documents/items that need to be timely shared among the various team members at various stages of software development.
Such items can include a specification, a product and associated documentation and help files that accompany the product. Nonetheless, maintaining synchronization among such entities has proven to be a demanding and complex task. For example, due to cyclical nature of software projects, maintaining synchronization among the project management team, the development team and the documentation team can typically become a futile exercise. Often the specification and the documentation are updated to synchronize with the product, only after the product has been developed—and not during product development.
In particular, during development it is difficult to identify what is the proper version of the specification and/or product requirement that should drive the design process. Accordingly, the teams involved can squander resources to determine a proper documentation state for a project and/or product. Without a proper and unique source for product/documentation identification, confusion and misunderstandings occur that can lead to lost productivity, and poor customer experience.


A data communications system is disclosed having at least one Legacy cloud coupled to at least one Beta cloud. The system further having at least one BOSS node and at least one border node. A method for ensuring compatibility is disclosed comprising determining when the BOSS node is idle, determining whether the last packet transmitted by any border node was an Alpha format packet if the BOSS node is idle, and unlocking the Legacy cloud if the last packet transmitted by the border node was not an Alpha format packet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to data communications. In particular, the present invention relates to ensuring compatibility on a high performance serial bus system.
2. The Prior Art
Modern electronic equipment has greatly enhanced the quality of our lives. However, as the use of such equipment has increased, so has the need to connect equipment purchased from different manufacturers. For example, while a computer and a digital camera may each be useful when used alone, the ability to connect the digital camera to the computer and exchange information between the two makes the combination even more useful. Therefore, a need was apparent for a serial bus standard that would allow for the connection and communication between such devices.
The IEEE 1394-1995 standard was developed to satisfy this need. This standard revolutionized the consumer electronics industry by providing a serial bus management system that featured high speeds and the ability to "hot" connect equipment to the bus; that is, the ability to connect equipment without first turning off the existing connected equipment. Since its adoption, the IEEE 1394-1995 standard has begun to see acceptance in the marketplace with many major electronics and computer manufacturers providing IEEE 1394-1995 connections on equipment that they sell.
However, as technologies improved, the need to update the IEEE 1394-1995 standard became apparent. Two new standards are being proposed at the time of the filing of this application, herein referred to as the proposed IEEE 1394a, or P1394a standard, and the proposed IEEE 1394b, or P1394b standard. Improvements such as higher speeds and longer connection paths will be provided.
In the discussion that follows, it will be necessary to distinguish between the various standards that are being proposed as of the date of this application. Additionally, it will be necessary to distinguish hardware and packet transmissions that are compatible with the P1394b standard and not earlier standards.
Thus, the term "Legacy" will be used herein to refer to the IEEE 1394-1995 standard and all supplements thereof prior to the P1394b standard. Thus, for example, a Legacy node refers to a node compatible with the IEEE 1394-1995 standard and all supplements thereof up to, but not including, the P1394b standard.
Additionally, packets of data will be referred to herein depending on the context the packets are in. For example, a packet of data that is compatible with the P1394b standard and is traveling through a PHY compatible with the P1394b standard will be referred to as Beta format packets. Packets of data that are compatible with the Legacy standard but are traveling through a PHY compatible with the P1394b standard will be referred to as Legacy packets. Finally, packets of data that are compatible with the Legacy format and are traveling across a data strobe link will be referred to as Alpha format packets.
Furthermore, in the discussion that follows PHYs that are compatible with the P1394b standard may be referred to in various ways, depending upon the context the PHY is operating in and the capability of the PHY. For example, a PHY that has circuitry compatible with the P1394b standard but not any previous standards will be referred to as a B only PHY. Also, a PHY that is compatible with both the P1394b standard and all predecessors and is communicating with only devices compatible with the P1394b standard will be referred to as B PHYs. Finally, a PHY that is communicating with both Legacy devices and devices compatible with the P1394b standard will be referred to as a border device, border PHY, or border node.
Finally, a communications system that has only B PHYs attached will be referred to as a B bus.

Method and apparatus for ensuring compatibility on a high performance serial bus


A semiconductor device according to the embodiments includes: a first normally-off transistor including a first source terminal, a first drain terminal, and a first gate terminal; a normally-on transistor including a second source terminal connected to the first drain terminal, a second drain terminal, and a second gate terminal connected to the first source terminal; a protection element provided between the first gate terminal and the second drain terminal, and having breakdown voltage lower than breakdown voltage of the normally-on transistor; and a first diode including a first anode connected to the second drain terminal and a first cathode connected to the protection element.

Group III nitride semiconductor, e.g., GaN (gallium nitride) semiconductor, has been expected as a material for a next-generation semiconductor device. GaN semiconductor device has wider bandgap than Si (silicon), and can attain higher breakdown voltage and lower loss than a Si semiconductor device.
A GaN semiconductor transistor generally has an HEMT (High Electron Mobility Transistor) structure using two-dimensional electron gas (2 DEG) as a carrier. A normal HEMT is a normally-on transistor that becomes conductive even if voltage is not applied to a gate. Therefore, there arises a problem in which it is difficult to implement a normally-off transistor that becomes conductive only when voltage is applied to a gate.
A power supply circuit that processes vast amounts of power such as hundreds to one thousand volts is required to have a normally-off operation with an emphasis on safety. In light of this, a circuit structure attaining a normally-off operation by a cascade connection between a normally-on GaN semiconductor transistor and a normally-off Si transistor has been proposed.
A GaN semiconductor transistor has small avalanche resistance, so that it might be broken due to serge voltage. The circuit structure using the cascade connection also has a problem of deterioration in reliability, because it has low resistance to serge voltage.