A slatwall section having a groove formed above and behind the upper most slat for providing additional structural integrity. The formed groove enables a slatwall to be manufactured having uniform thickness. A mating engagement between upper and lower slatwall sections provides a connection point that is concealed within a formed slat, and thereby eliminates the use of exteriorly disposed sink holes or fasteners.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Slatwalls. More particularly, it relates to an improved design for extruded slatwalls that is easier to manufacture and provides increased strength and quality.
2. The Prior Art
Slatwalls have a front surface formed by horizontally elongated front members separated by horizontally elongated grooves. The grooves receive supports, such as braces and hangers, which, in turn, support shelves and the merchandise that is being displayed. Slatwalls are used extensively for wall displays because of the versatility that they offer as far as placement of the supports to be mounted thereon.
Often slatwalls are formed as extruded horizontally elongated sections that are interlockingly connected with similar upper and lower slatwall sections to form a slatwall panel. Generally, the upper and lower horizontal ends of the slatwall sections have connectors which mesh with those of the vertically adjacent sections to secure the sections together. Thus, several panels are used to form a slatwall. It is important that the coupling between vertically adjacent slatwall sections be such that the finished slatwall is sturdy. Furthermore, the spacing between the front slat members of the slatwall sections should be uniform to maintain an aesthetically pleasing and even appearance. In addition, the grooves in the slatwall should be designed to promote stable engagement between the slatwall and the supports that are releasably mounted within the grooves. These prior art designs utilize plastics to form the desired slatwall configuration.

Extruded slatwall section and method for making the same


An image pickup element comprising a plurality of pixels, each including a photoelectric conversion section and a wavelength selection section for transmitting to the photoelectric conversion section light of a predetermined wavelength range, wherein the wavelength selection section has a vertex, and wherein, for a pixel located in the peripheral portion of the image pickup element, the vertex of the wavelength selection section is located closer to the center of the image pickup element than to the center of the photoelectric conversion section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image pickup element used for photographing an object.
2. Related Background Art
FIG. 27 is a center cross-sectional view showing the structure of a general image pickup element that forms a color image, i.e., pixels constituting the image pickup element. A micro lens 101 condenses external light beams to increase light acquisition efficiency. Color filters 102 are used to separate the obtained light beams in accordance with their wavelengths, a filter for one of the primary colors, R (red), G (green) and B (blue), is provided for each pixel. In addition, complementary color filters using C (cyan), M (magenta) and Y (yellow) are also used as color filters. Conventionally, an image pickup technique has been widely employed whereby these pixels are arranged like a mosaic and luminance data and color data corresponding to the number of pixels are prepared in the succeeding signal process. The color filter array conventionally used for an image pickup element tends to be a Bayer array.
In FIG. 27, further provided are a silicon wafer 104; a photoelectric conversion section 103, for converting received light into charges; a Poly wiring layer 110, serving as a gate for controlling the charges produced by the photoelectric conversion section 103; and wiring layers 111 to 113, made of a metal such as aluminum.
However, this conventional example has the following problems. Generally, the photographic processing employed to obtain a preferable image characteristic includes a first process of forming an image of an object using an optical device; a second process of adjusting the object image to reduce a high frequency component in a spatial frequency property; a third process of photoelectrically converting into an electric signal the object image for which the spatial frequency property has been adjusted; and a fourth process of employing the spatial frequency to compensate for a response to the obtained electric signal. At this time, the optical image is sampled by an image pickup element having a definite number of pixels. In order to output a high-quality image, in accordance with the sampling theory, a frequency component equal to or higher than the Nyquist frequency inherent to the image pickup element must be reduced in the spatial frequency property of the optical image. The Nyquist frequency is ½ of the sampling frequency determined by the pixel pitches. Therefore, through the optimized process sequence, the optical image to be sampled is adjusted to obtain an optical image having a characteristic corresponding to the Nyquist frequency inherent to the image pickup element, so that a high-quality image can be obtained wherein aliasing distortion, i.e., moire, is not remarkable.
A modulation transfer function (MTF), which is the spatial frequency transmission characteristic of an image, is an evaluation value that can well represent the characteristic of the sharpness of a digital still camera or a video camera. Specific elements affecting the MTF are an image forming optical system which is an optical device, an optical low-pass filter which is used to limit the bandwidth of an object image, the shape of an opening formed in the photoelectric conversion area of the image pickup element, and a digital iris correction function. An MTF that represents a final, overall image characteristic is provided as a product of the MTFs of the individual elements. That is, only the MTFs for the first to the fourth processes must be obtained to calculate the product.
It should be noted, that since the digital filter process, which is the fourth process, is performed on an image that has already been sampled by the image pickup element, no consideration need be given for a high frequency that exceeds the Nyquist frequency.
Therefore, according to the configuration, wherein a frequency component equal to or higher than the Nyquist frequency, inherent to the image pickup element, is reduced in the spatial frequency characteristic of the optical image, the frequency component at the Nyquist frequency or higher is small in the MTF product obtained for the first process, for the second process and for the third process, but not for the fourth process. On the assumption that a still image will be viewed, as is the case for a digital still camera, consideration should be given to the fact that, when a response value at a frequency slightly lower than the Nyquist frequency is high, even though the frequency component higher than the Nyquist frequency remains small, an image having a higher resolution is formed more easily than when there is no high frequency component higher than the Nyquist frequency.
In the first process for forming an object image using the image forming optical system, generally, an optical aberration in the center of the screen is more easily corrected than is one on the periphery. In order to obtain a preferable image in the peripheral portion of the screen, an especially acceptable characteristic close to the diffraction limit MTF which is determined using the F number of an photographic lens, must be obtained for the center at the screen. This need has recently been magnified as the pixel size of image pickup elements has continued to be reduced. Therefore, for the image forming optical system, it should be assumed that the image forming optical system is an ideal lens having no optical aberration to consider an MTF.
Further, in an image pickup element where light-receiving openings having a width d are laid out with no intervening gap, since the widths of the light-receiving openings match the pixel pitches, the response value of the third process at the Nyquist frequency u=d/2 is quite high. For this reason, generally, the frequency component around the Nyquist frequency is trapped in the second process in order to reduce the total MTF around the Nyquist frequency.
In the second process, normally, an optical low-pass filter made of a material, such as rock crystal, having a birefringence characteristic is employed. Or instead, a diffraction grating of a phase type, described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-066141, may be employed.
A birefringence plate is so interposed in the optical path of the optical device that the optical axis of the plate is inclined parallel to the horizontal direction of the image-forming face, and an object image produced by an ordinary ray and an object image produced by an extraordinary ray are formed while being shifted horizontally and relative to each other by at a predetermined distance. The birefringence plate is used to trap a specified spatial frequency, since when the object images are shifted, a bright band and a dark band on the fringes of the spatial frequency are overlapped. The MTF that uses the optical low-pass filter is represented by the following equation (1):R2(u)=|cos(π·u·ω)  (1).
In this equation (1), R2(u) denotes a response, u denotes a spatial frequency for an optical image, and ω denotes an object image separation width.
When a birefringence plate having an appropriate thickness is selected, a response of zero can be obtained for the image pickup element at the Nyquist frequency. And when the diffraction grating is employed, an optical image need only be separated into a plurality of images by diffraction, and these images are overlapped at predetermined locations to obtain the same effects.
However, in order to fabricate a birefringence plate, a crystal such as rock crystal or lithium niobate must be grown and polished to reduce its thickness, and this greatly increases the processing costs. Further, since a very fine structure is required for the diffraction grating, this also increases the processing costs.
The usage efficiency of light will now be described. For example, for a CCD image pickup element, for which the pixels of primary color filters that are intended to provide high-quality color reproduction are arranged in a mosaic shape, R (red), G (green) and B (blue) optical filters are positioned, one by one, between the micro lens 2 and the photoelectric conversion area 3.
At this time, at a pixel for which a red optical filter is provided, only a red light is photoelectrically converted, and a blue light and a green light are absorbed by the optical filters and only produce heat. Similarly, for a pixel for which a green optical filter is provided, a blue light and a red light are not photoelectrically converted and only produce heat, and for a pixel for which a blue optical filter is provided, a green light and a red light are not photoelectrically converted and only produce heat. That is, for the individual pixels of a conventional color image pickup element, of the incident light flux, only light that can pass through a predetermined optical filter is photoelectrically converted and output as an electric signal, while light that can not pass through the predetermined optical filter and only produces heat is discarded.
FIG. 28 is a graph showing a spectral transmittance characteristic for the RGB color filters provided for the image pickup element. Actually, since for an infrared ray the transmittance is high, an infrared cut filter, for blocking wavelengths of 650 nm or higher, is additionally provided between the image pickup element and the pickup lens. And as is apparent from the graph, only about ⅓ of the visible radiation produced by a pixel is effectively employed.
The usage efficiency will now be described in more detail for the individual RGB colors. The dimension ratio for the RGB pixels of the color image pickup element in the Bayer array in FIG. 28 is ¼: 2/4:¼, when the dimension of a unit constituting a regular array is defined as 1. Therefore, the rate for a green light, used when the total light quantity is defined as 1, is ⅓× 2/4=⅙, which is a product of the term for the wavelength selection and the term for the dimension ratio. The usage rate for the red light and for blue light is ⅓×¼= 1/12. Since the total of the usage rates for three lights is ⅙+ 1/12+ 1/12=⅓, in this case, as well as in the above case, the usage efficiency is ⅓. When the total light quantity is defined as 1, ⅔× 2/4=⅓ of the green light and ⅔×¼=⅙ of the red light and of the blue light are not effectively employed.
An image pickup element that uses primary color filters has been employed; however, for an image pickup element that uses complementary color filters, about ⅓ of the visible radiation is not photoelectrically converted, and is not effectively employed. As is described above, for the conventional single-chip image pickup element that uses either primary color filters or complementary color filters, the light usage efficiency is low because the image pickup plane is divided by the color filters.

Image pickup apparatus for photographing an object


A vehicle communication device includes a plurality of transmitting and receiving sensors respectively are installed in the front and back side and the left and right side of a vehicle so as to transmit/receive driving information to/from neighboring vehicles, a left/right rotation signal detecting section detects a left or right rotation signal generated by a driver of the vehicle, a wheel angle detecting section detects a wheel rotation angle of the vehicle, a central control section transmits the driving information of the vehicle, including lane change or increase and reduction in speed, to the neighboring vehicle through the corresponding transmitting and receiving sensor, when a left or right rotation signal is detected through the left/right rotation signal detecting section, the detected wheel rotation angle of the vehicle changes more than a predetermined angle, or the detected speed of the vehicle changes more than or less than predetermined speed, and that outputs positional information of the neighboring vehicle with an alarm signal, when receiving the lane change or speed change information of the neighboring vehicle from an arbitrary transmitting and receiving sensor; and a driver information section that, when receiving the positional information of the neighboring vehicle with the alarm signal from the central control section, inform a driver of the information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle communication device and a method of controlling the same, and more specifically, to a vehicle communication device, in which a plurality of transmitting and receiving sensors for transmitting and receiving information to and from neighboring vehicles are installed in the front and back side and the left and right side of a vehicle, so that all the vehicles can seek their safety together and a driver is provided with convenience, and a method of controlling the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As generally known, a driver of a conventional vehicle turns on a left or right signal light in order to change a lane while driving. Further, when a driver steps on the brake so as to slow down the speed, flashing lights or rear lights mounted on the back side of the vehicle are operated to inform a backward driver of the information.
However, such a method is helpless when the weather becomes worse so that a visual field of a driver cannot be secured, when a driver changes a lane without operating signal light in accordance with his/her driving habit, or when a backward vehicle is positioned in a blind spot of a forward vehicle. Accordingly, a collision and rear-end collision due to lane change or sudden braking frequently occur.
As such problems occur, a device has been recently developed, including a short-distance ultrasonic sensor which is mounted on the back side of a high-class vehicle so as to maintain a safe following distance with a backward vehicle. However, the conventional device, which simply secures a safe following distance with a neighboring vehicle by using the short-distance ultrasonic sensor, cannot transmit and receive information to and from the neighboring vehicle. Therefore, when an accident occurs due to carelessness of another person, a collision or rear-end collision cannot help occurring.

Vehicle communication device and method of controlling the same


The jukebox for casino gaming machines provides a casino gaming machine that has at least one device for playback of audio, and may include a video display for playback of multimedia files. A separate central server in operable communication with a gaming machine client has access to player account information, as well as music, graphics and themes. The client communicates with a jukebox player. The jukebox player accepts and responds to user commands via a user interface. Earphones and earphone plugs are provided. The earphones and plugs host a debit/credit and player tracking system. The earphones and plugs communicate with an enabling device in the casino to allow a user to experience a selected entertainment program in its entirety while the user is operating the gaming machine.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to casino gaming machines and to the delivery of user-selectable recorded music while playing on a casino gaming machine, and particularly to a jukebox on a casino gaming machine that provides a system and method for providing an electronic jukebox for the individualized delivery of musical entertainment to a patron of a slot machine, video poker machine, or other casino gaming machine, or to a patron of an online gambling site.
2. Description of the Related Art
Gambling casinos provide a wide variety of games of chance to attract customers. Traditionally casinos were furnished with rows of mechanically operated slot machines. Players would crank the levers and wait for the dials to stop spinning. Mechanical slot machines could be quite noisy. Most modern casinos have replaced mechanical slot machines with electrically operated slot machines, which are much quieter in operation. In addition, several new electronic gaming machines are available for the solo player, such as video poker. Instead of the traditional coin slot, electronic gaming machines may use a tracking device to charge a player's account for each game and to credit the player's account with winnings.
A player tracking device is used to provide player tracking services to a player wishing to participate in a player tracking program. Typically, up until now, a player is issued a magnetically striped player tracking card that may be fed into a card reader on the gambling machine.
Once accepted, player information contained on the card is used by the casino to track a user's play on the machine. Based on proprietary player tracking rules, a player may be awarded account credits and incentives to encourage continued play on the machine. The player tracking credits and/or debits and incentives may be stored in a database connected to the player tracking server. The card is usually updated so that the player may travel throughout the casino and play other machines, yet still be credited with historical player tracking data.
If a player does not provide the casino gambling machine with a player tracking card, the player may lose out on valuable credits and incentives, notwithstanding intensive use of the participating establishment's gambling machines. Moreover, the casino loses out on detailed marketing intelligence regarding the player's usage of their machines.
However, magnetic cards may be easily lost or misplaced, and the magnetic strip may become damaged. Moreover, the quiet operation of the machines do little to enhance the player's excitement and level of enthusiasm. It would be desirable to provide each gaming machine with an individualized music delivery system that permits the player to choose his or her musical selections, to listen to the selections without disturbing players at adjacent machines, and to deliver the music in a manner that permits the casino to charge for providing the music delivery system in a convenient manner.
Thus, a jukebox on a casino gaming machine solving the aforementioned problems is desired.


The present invention provides a system and method for processing a High Definition Television (HDTV) image. Specifically, the system and method of the present invention provides a plurality of programmable encoders connected in parallel and directly (i.e., gluelessly) attached to a HDTV video source. The system and method of the present invention allows a fall HDTV image to be received by each encoder at 74.25 MHz directly from the HDTV video source. Based on programming, each encoder will process only a portion of the full image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a system and method for processing a High Definition Television (HDTV) image. More particularly, the present invention provides a plurality of encoders connected in parallel and directly attached to a HDTV video source for processing a HDTV image.
2. Background Art
The advent of the High Definition Television (HDTV) standard, and the requirement to perform Moving Pictures Experts Group (MPEG) video compression on images in the HDTV format, has created significant video data processing demands on MPEG-2 encoder Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs). Specifically, encoders that compress video data in Standard Definition (SD) format typically process 480 active video lines (i.e., out of a total of 525 lines per video frame) consisting of 720 active luminance and chrominance pixels (i.e., out of a total of 858) at a 13.5 MHz pixel clock rate for an input rate of 30 frames per second. Conversely, a MPEG-2 encoder must typically process incoming HDTV pixel data (e.g., one luminance and one chrominance pixel data byte) 5-6 times faster to yield the same input rate of 30 frames per second. That is, 1080 or 1088 active video lines (i.e., out of a total of 1125 lines per video frame) consisting of 1920 active luminance and chrominance pixels (i.e., out of a total of 2200) per line are scanned into the encoder at a pixel clock rate of 74.25 MHz.
With present technology, it is generally not feasible to for a single MPEG-2 encoder to process/compress HDTV images at full resolution (i.e., 5-6 times faster than for Standard Definition). It is therefore necessary to have a HDTV MPEG-2 video architecture that utilizes multiple encoders to process a single HDTV image at fill resolution. With such an architecture, an image must be split horizontally or vertically into multiple portions for processing by the encoders. In splitting the HDTV image, problems arise in that a large amount of logic and memory, external to the encoders, is required. Specifically, external logic must be provided to buffer and split the HDTV image into smaller portions. The external logic would then send a particular portion of the HDTV image to each of the encoders.
An additional problem often encountered is that many encoders can accept pixel data only at the Standard Definition pixel clock rate of 13.5 MHz. As indicated above, the HDTV pixel clock rate is approximately 74.25 MHz. Thus, the external logic may be forced to accept data at 74.25 MHz, but transmit the data to the encoders at 13.5 MHz. Providing this capability adds more complexity to the external control logic as well as significantly more external memory buffers. Accordingly, the requirement for system designers to include external splitter and control logic (collectively referred to as glue logic) significantly drives up the overall system cost and complexity.
In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for a system and method for processing a HDTV image. In addition, there exists a need for a system and method for directly attaching a plurality of video encoders to a HDTV video source such that external splitter and control logic is not required. In addition, there exists a need for the encoders to be programmable so that each encoder receives an entire HDTV image from the HDTV video source, but processes only a portion thereof.

System and method for processing a high definition television (HDTV) image

International Business Machines Corporation


An engine with an inclined cylinder, including a horizontally-disposed crankshaft, and two balancer shafts arranged in parallel to the crankshaft. A drive gear for driving the balancer shafts is provided on the crankshaft, and driven gears respectively meshed with the drive gear are provided on the balancer shafts. The two balancer shafts are divided into areas on both sides of a center line of the cylinder and into upper and lower regions relative to an axis of the crankshaft, and axes of the balancer shafts are arranged so as to be placed within a range of a diameter of the drive gear.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an engine with an inclined cylinder, particularly relates to an engine with the inclined cylinder and two balancer shafts.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the engine, total height of the engine can be suppressed to be low by inclining and arranging the cylinder. In addition, by providing the two balancer shafts, inertia force generated by reciprocal motion of a piston and rotation of a crankshaft can be completely eliminated as far as possible, and vibration of the engine can be suppressed.
FIG. 21 shows an engine described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Application No. 2000-88057. The engine has a single cylinder 100, and a center line C1 of the cylinder 100 is inclined by a fixed angle relative to a vertical line M intersecting with an axis O0 of a crankshaft 103. In a crankcase 101, the crankshaft 103 is substantially horizontally-disposed, and two balancer shafts 105, 106 are arranged substantially in parallel to the crankshaft 103. In the crankcase 101, a cam shaft 111 and a governor shaft 112 are also arranged, and the cam shaft 111 is arranged on the same axis O1 as the one balancer shaft 105.
The substantially entire one balancer shaft 105 including a weight portion 105a is arranged so as to be positioned on the side of the cylinder 100 relative to the entire crankshaft 103 (including journal portions, crank arms, a crank pin, and a weight portion). The substantially entire other balancer shaft 106 including a weight portion 106a and the like is arranged so as to be positioned on the opposite side of the cylinder 100 relative to the entire crankshaft 103.
The one balancer shaft 105 is interlocked and coupled to the crankshaft 103 via a chain transmission mechanism including a driven sprocket 115, a chain 116, and a drive sprocket 117, and rotated in the same direction as the rotation direction A1 of the crankshaft 103 at the same rotation speed. The other balancer shaft 106 is interlocked and coupled to the crankshaft 103 via a gear transmission mechanism including a driven gear 118 and a drive gear 119, and rotated in the opposite direction to the rotation direction A1 of the crankshaft 103 at the same rotation speed.
In the engine with the inclined cylinder shown in FIG. 21, total height of the engine can be lowered. However, size in the front and rear direction (arrow H) of the crankcase 101, that is, size in the horizontal direction orthogonal to the crankshaft 103 is elongated. Thus, enlargement of the entire engine cannot be avoided. Particularly, in order to accommodate the other balancer shaft 106 arranged on the opposite side of the cylinder 100 and the driven gear 118, a part 101a protruding into a large arc shape on the opposite side of the cylinder is formed in an end wall 101a of the crankcase 101, and the part is a cause for the enlargement of the engine.
An object of the present invention is to completely eliminate inertia force generated by reciprocal motion of a piston and rotation of a crankshaft as far as possible in an engine with an inclined cylinder by providing two balancer shafts, and suppress vibration of the engine. Further, another object of the invention is to, although the two balancer shafts are provided, decrease size in the horizontal direction (size in the front and rear direction) of a crankcase by devising arrangement of the two balancer shafts.


A method and apparatus for successively sealing open ends of a plurality of packages being conveyed in series along an infeed lane is provided. A sealing station aligned with the infeed lane for receiving the packages to be sealed is employed. A first package is transported from the infeed lane to the sealing station, the open end of the first packaged is engaged for sealing operations, and this engagement is maintained for a minimum sealing time while a second package is transported from the infeed lane to the sealing station. The open end of the second package is engaged for sealing operations, and the engagement is maintained for the minimum desired sealing time while a subsequent package is transported to the sealing station. These steps may then be repeated for subsequent packages. A plurality of sealing rigs moveable between receiving and holding positions may be employed for sealing operations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for sealing packages, as well as an apparatus for the same. More particularly, the present invention provides a sealing apparatus and method which utilize a plurality of sealing rigs in order to increase package flow rates.
2. Description of Related Art
Most products are containerized in outer packages prior to shipment to consumers and other end users. The packaging step is usually an integral part of the production process, and can be a limiting factor in maximizing throughput. Thus, it is usually advantageous to optimize the speed and efficiency of this packaging step as much as possible, without adversely affecting the product quality.
Typically, products are inserted into a package comprising a bag, a box or other appropriately-sized container, and this container is then sealed in order to isolate the product from the ambient. These containers may be sealed by any of a number of means, including various types of adhesives and/or heat sealing. Heat sealing is accomplished by welding one portion of the container to another (e.g., heat welding opposing edges of a plastic bag to one another). This sealing step, however, is often not conducive to continuous manufacturing processes, since the sealing step requires the application of pressure and/or heat for a minimum period of time in order to effectuate proper sealing. This sealing time is significant, since the containers must either be paused at the sealing device for a minimum period of time, or the sealing device itself must be movable with the stream of packages. The former alternative can interrupt product flow within the manufacturing process, while the latter can be expensive to implement.
By way of example, consumer products such as diapers are typically packaged in an outer container comprising a flexible film (such as polyethylene or polypropylene) bag. The diapers are inserted through the open end of the bag, opposing sides of the open end portion of the bag are tucked inwardly, and the opposing top and bottom flaps at the open end of the bag are then affixed to one another in order to seal the bag of diapers. Typically, the opposing flaps are fused to one another by the application of heat, with or without the use of additional adhesives such as glues and the like. A pair of sealing jaws are closed about the opposing flaps in order to fuse the flaps to one another. These sealing jaws generally provide sufficient heat and pressure to fuse or weld the opposing film flaps to one another. The sealing jaws must be closed about the flaps for a minimum engagement time, however, to ensure sufficient energy transfer for a fusion of the materials. Therefore, in order to achieve higher sealing rates, and therefore a greater product throughput, product streams are often split into multiple lanes for delivery of the bagged products to multiple sealing devices.
Splitting of the product stream into multiple lanes is problematic in that the straight-line path from the bag loading station to the sealing device is no longer maintained, and control of the end flaps may be lost if additional control mechanisms are not employed. Taking additional steps to ensure that the product within the bags or containers will not be dislodged or for maintaining control of the end flaps, however, generally entails added expense, and splitting of the product stream into multiple lanes for package sealing requires additional floor space within the manufacturing facility. Alternatively, more expensive packaging materials can be employed wherein these materials have fusion properties which require shorter engagement times for the sealing jaws.
Thus, there is a need for an improved apparatus and method for sealing a stream of packages wherein multiple infeed lanes to the sealing devices are not needed, and conventional packaging materials may be employed.

Apparatus and method for sealing packages


An exemplary liquid crystal display (LCD) (200) includes an LCD panel (210) including a first glass substrate (212) and a second glass substrate (214) parallel to the first glass substrate; a backlight module (220) includes a frame (222) accommodating the LCD panel; and a fixing member (240) attached to the frame of the backlight module and resiliently holding an end portion of the LCD panel in position in the frame.

LCDs are commonly used as displays for compact electronic apparatuses. This is because they not only provide good quality images with little power consumption, but also they are very thin. The liquid crystal in an LCD does not emit any light itself. The liquid crystal has to be lit by a light source so as to clearly and sharply display text and images. Thus, a backlight module is generally needed for an LCD.
Referring to FIG. 6, a typical LCD 100 includes an LCD panel 110, a backlight module 120 opposite to the LCD panel 110, and a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB) 130. The LCD panel 110 includes a first glass substrate 112, and a second glass substrate 114 parallel to the first glass substrate 112.
The backlight module 120 includes a first diffusing sheet 121, a prism sheet 123, a second diffusing sheet 125, a light guide plate 127, a frame 122, and a reflective sheet 129, arranged generally in that order from top to bottom. The backlight module 120 further includes four light sources 190 disposed adjacent to an end edge of the light guide plate 127.
Referring also to FIG. 7 and FIG. 8, when the LCD 100 is assembled, the LCD panel 110, the first diffusing sheet 121, the prism sheet 123, the second diffusing sheet 125, the light guide plate 127, and the reflective sheet 129 are accommodated in the frame 122. A terminal (not labeled) of the FPCB 130 is electrically connected to an exposed side portion of the second glass substrate 114. A main printed circuit board (PCB) 151 is positioned at a side of the backlight module 120 far away from the LCD panel 110. The FPCB 130 is bent down and around, and other terminal (not labeled) of the FPCB 130 is connected to the PCB) 151. When the LCD 100 has been assembled, a second position of the FPCB 130 is that as shown in FIG. 8 in phantom with the reference numeral 131.
When the FPCB 131 is bent down and around, it exerts a pulling force on the side portion of the second glass substrate 114. Therefore that side of the LCD panel 110 is pulled up slightly away from the backlight module 120. As a result, the side of the LCD panel 110 connected to the FPCB 130 is elevated at an angle, and is higher than corresponding opposite side walls 124 of the frame 122. Because the LCD panel 110 is obliquely raised, subsequent further assembly of the LCD 100 may be faulty. Furthermore, the elastic force generated by the bent FPCB make the LCD 100 has no reliability.
What is needed, therefore, is an LCD that can overcome the above-described deficiencies.

Liquid crystal display having a fixing member comprising a pressing protrusion and a window into which the pressing protrusion extends


A gripping aid for hand held implements such as writing implements or eating utensils, which includes a bracelet portion configured and dimensioned to fit around the wrist of a person and a support band adjustably attached to the bracelet portion to provide an adjustably sized loop for engaging the hand held implement.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a gripping aid or gripping training device to teach and enable a person to properly grip a hand held implement.
2. Background of the Art
There are many persons, such as very young children and those suffering from autism, traumatic brain injury, developmental delays or cognitive impairment, or other handicapped persons such as those suffering from physical injuries or medical conditions, who find it difficult to hold an implement, such as a writing implement or eating utensil, in the proper manner.
The ability to write is an integral part of participating in modern society. It is important for performing some of the most basic tasks that a person may encounter in daily life. This is why it is the second form of communication taught after the spoken word. Whether it is simply writing one's name, performing a mathematical equation, or a composing a novel, the ability to transfer thoughts into a form that may be shared and communicated with others is undeniably valuable.
Persons, and in particular young children learning how to write, often grip hand held implements used for writing, drawing and painting improperly. Absent instruction to the contrary, a child will generally grasp a writing implement, such as a pencil, pen or crayon, in a manner that feels the most stable to him or her.
Beginning at age three, and through adulthood, the most stable grasp that still allows precision and proper pencil pressure, is a dynamic "pincer grip", or "tripod grip". To achieve such a grip, the individual pinches the implement between the distal pads of the index finger and thumb, and then rests the implement on the lateral distal interphalangeal joint of the middle finger. These three fingers together form the pincer, or tripod. With this grip, these three fingers, supported by arches in the palm of the hand, can utilize precise movements of rotation, flexion and extension to achieve the small movements needed for letter formation or other fine motor activities requiring accuracy. In addition, the space between the thumb and index finger, namely the web space, must be maintained in an open and circular manner to support the dynamic movements of the pincer fingers. The ulnar side of the hand stays in a flexed and quiet position so as to provide a stable base of support from which the pincer can move.
Many individuals develop improper grasping habits by gravitating towards seemingly more stable grasp patterns at the expense of precision. One of the most difficult struggles with teaching a person how to write is forming the correct grip on the writing implement. A natural tendency of a person, particularly one suffering from a handicap, who is handed an implement, especially a writing implement, such as a crayon, pen or pencil, is to hold it in a four finger or fist shaped grip, also known as a "gorilla grip". Another common improper grasp pattern is the thumb wrap grasp, in which the thumb overlaps the implement. The result when improperly holding a writing implement, is an inactive thumb that pulls in other muscles to compensate, with increased pressure on the writing implement, decreased control of the implement, and increased hand fatigue when writing. Other common improper grasping patterns include hyperextension at the distal interphalangeal joints of the thumb and index finger, which causes increased implement pressure and a tight grasp, resulting in hand fatigue; power grasp in which the implement is held in a fisted manner with the ulnar side of the hand toward the paper, resulting in decreased precision and increased implement pressure; four-finger digital grasp in which all four finger pads touch a writing implement on one side and the thumb pad opposes the fingers on the other side of the writing implement, resulting in decreased control and decreased implement pressure; and internal rotation and adduction of the thumb, resulting in a closed web space, increased implement pressure, increased hand fatigue and poor implement control.
As a result of compensatory grasping patterns, learning how to write properly, legibly, neatly, efficiently, and with enough endurance to complete tasks within a typical time frame, is hindered. Furthermore, efficient use of other hand held implements is impeded. In addition, thumb and finger joints can be subjected to unnecessary stress. These grips make it difficult to perform fine motor movements, which are needed to create alphanumeric shapes. Therefore, gripping a writing implement in the proper writing formation with a "pincer grip", i.e., using the thumb, index and middle fingers to control the utensil in a controlled and exacting fashion, is important.
Given the importance of a proper grip and writing technique to successful writing, numerous attempts have been made over the years to perfect a device to aid in the proper positioning of an individual's fingers upon a writing implement. Gripping aids for such persons to facilitate the grasping of hand held implements are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,602,885 to Bischoff discloses an implement holding cuff for assisting a person with poor prehensile ability to hold an implement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,662,423 to Walden is directed to a gripping aid for writing implements and discloses a conical shaped gripping aid which is slidably positioned along the barrel of a writing implement.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,210 to Robinson is directed to a pen and instrument holder for physical impaired hands and discloses a glove and a mounting attachment for holding the base of a pen, pencil or other device.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,484 to Schulken discloses a gripping aid including arched, oppositely extending thumb wrap-preventing rims.
Generally speaking, these devices have either been for writing aids which provide a "gripping surface" into which the user presses his fingers or writing aids which include a "sleeve" which encase one or more of the digits of the user. However, devices utilizing these approaches have inherent drawbacks which have prevented their general acceptance.
What is yet needed is a device which serves as a training tool to correct the grip of the individual to a proper writing formation, or pincer grip, for holding writing implements or eating utensils while providing adjustability to accommodate various levels of support and different size hands. Prior art devices do not provide such features.


Penile implant and system comprising such an implant. The penile implant comprises a number of features which improves the function of the penile implant, e.g. a certain surface structure and portions with specific functions.

As regards implants, and in particular adjustable implants and penile implants for curing erectile impotence, known from the background art, there are a number of areas or aspects where there is mom for improvement.
One problem often encountered is the formation of fibrotic tissue or accumulation of fibrotic cells on the surface of the implant. The formation of such tissue on the surface of an adjustable implant or a penile implant may negatively influence the function of the implant, e.g. if such tissue is formed on a part of the surface that is collapsible and/or expandable.
In the background art expandable/collapsible breast implants are known, see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 6,875,233. The pleats of the implant described in this document may be prone to be bridged by fibrotic tissue which may impede the function of the implant further, the technique shown in this document may be unsuitable for use in an implant e.g. a penile implant since the conditions and demands may differ between penile implants and breast implants.
See also U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,807 which shows a penile implant where the folded or overlapped portions 50 and the folded ends 44 and 46 may be prone to be bridged or covered by fibrotic tissue which may impede the function of the implant.
Another problem often encountered with previously known implants, e.g. in connection with organ or breast implants and especially in connection with penile implants, is that there is a risk that the implant breaks or gets damaged when it is subjected to bending, pressure or other influence. An adjustable implant may e.g. be subjected to such influences in its relaxed or inactivated state and/or in its expanded or activated state and this may cause breaking or other damage. A penile implant is e.g. often subjected to bending in its relaxed state and in the bended area there is an evident risk of damage or breaking of the penile implant. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,807 which shows a penile implant subjected to bending in its relaxed state.
One further problem often encountered with previously known penile implants is that the angle of the penis when activated by the penile implant is unnatural and does not correspond to the angle of an erected normally functioning penis. A normally functioning penis is bent upward to some extent, there are of course individual variations, when erected but previously known penile implants often result in an erected penis that is not bent upwards but solely stands straight out from the body under an angle of approximately 90 degrees. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,807 which shows a previously known penile implant as described.
Another problem often encountered with previously known implants, especially in connection with penile implants, is that a quite large amount of hydraulic fluid is needed to fill the implant when the implant is activated. This leads to a delay in the activation of the implant and to a relatively large reservoir for the hydraulic fluid. The larger the reservoir for the hydraulic fluid is, the more difficult it is to invasively place it in the body, e.g. in the scrotum, and potentially the more inconvenient it is for the patient to have the reservoir invasively placed in the body. To have a large amount of hydraulic fluid in the activated penile implant also makes the penile implant heavy which may be dissuitable. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,807 which shows a previously known penile implant as described. To have a large amount of hydraulic fluid in an activated adjustable implant also makes the implant unnecessarily heavy, which may be disadvantageous. See e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,807 or U.S. Pat. No. 6,875,233 which show previously known implants as described.
Another problem often encountered with previously known penile implants is that there is no radial or longitudinal expansion of the penile implant when filled with hydraulic fluid. In contrast, a natural corpus cavernosum undergoes a radial and longitudinal expansion when filled with blood. There is previously known penile implants having provisions for radial and longitudinal expansion, see e.g. U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,807, but these provisions have less favorable characteristics in certain aspect. In the case of U.S. Pat. No. 4,424,807, as mentioned before, the folded or overlapped portions 50 and the folded ends 44 and 46 may be prone to be bridged or covered by fibrotic tissue.
A further problem with previously known implants is that they do not provide any remedy for dysfunctional ejaculation.
Also other solutions than those cited above are known in this field, one known solution to achieve erection is to restrict the blood flow leaving the penis. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,990 discloses two hydraulically operated inflatable cuffs wrapped around respective crura or veins. A disadvantage of such a solution is that it involves complicated surgery.
Another known solution according to U.S. Pat. No. 4,828,544 comprises an artificial fistula system surgically implanted and providing a primary fistula between the femoral artery and the femoral vein and a secondary fistula for leading blood from the primary fistula to the penis. An inflatable balloon engages the primary fistula between the secondary fistula and the vein. The balloon is in fluid connection with a manually compressible reservoir implanted in the scrotum. Again, implantation of this artificial fistula system requires delicate surgery. Another disadvantage, to such a solution, is the fact that the venous blood vessel system is rather complex and it is difficult to restrict the vein plexa.
Yet another known solution, for example disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,855,122, 3,954,102, 4,009,711, 4,201,202, 4,235,222, 4,318,396, 5,250,020 and 4,424,807, currently practised is to replace the corpus cavernosa in the penis with a hydraulic inflatable/contractable silicone prosthesis thus implanted in the penis. In fluid connection with this prosthesis is a balloon-like reservoir implanted in the scrotum. By manual pumping action the prosthesis is filled with fluid from the reservoir to effect erect penile condition or is emptied of fluid, which returns to the reservoir, to effect flaccid penile condition.
Another problem often encountered with previously known implants is that they are not adjustable in size in a convenient or satisfactory way.
It is an aim to provide a technique that leads to improvement regarding all or at least some of the areas or aspects discussed above.

Implant comprising an expandable section


Received Ethernet MII packets are converted to T1/E1 HDSL frames and received T1/E1 HDSL frames are converted into Ethernet MII packets. When Ethernet MII format 4 bit data packets are received they are converted into 8 bit data packets, each 8 bit data packet having an associated signal bit. For T1, a series of twenty-one 8 bit data packets and associated signal bit are combined with three pass bits into a 192 bit T1 HDSL frame. The series of twenty-one multiple 8 bit packets and associated signal bit with three pass bits are transmitted in HDSL format.When T1 HDSL frames having a series of twenty-one 9 bit packets, each 9 bit packet including 8 data bits with an associated signal bit, and three pass bits, are received, the series of twenty-one 9 bit packets and three pass bits are converted into twenty-one groups of 9 bit packets, each 9 bit packet including an 8 bit data packet with an associated signal bit. Each 8 bit data packet is converted into a 4 bit data MII packet and the 4 bit data MII packet is transmitted in 10/100-Base Ethernet packet format. A similiar process occurs for E1 but with a series of twenty-seven 8 bit data packets and associated signal bit combined with five pass bits into a 256 bit E1 HDSL frame.

The Ethernet network is a well-known communication network and is considered by many as the most popular LAN system in use today. In general, the Ethernet network provides for communication of computer data amongst user nodes attached to the network. A 10-Base Ethernet system operates to transmit data packets from a source address to a destination address at a speed of 10 Mbit per second. A faster system is the 100-Base Ethernet system which similarly operates to transmit data packets from a source address to a destination address but at a speed of 100 Mbit per second. It should be noted, however, that the traditional Ethernet network is a bus type topology. As such, the Ethernet network has been traditionally confined to LAN applications. For example, the 10/100-Base Ethernet bus is typically limited to approximately 100 feet from node to node, such as for use in small buildings and the like.
In recent years there has been attempts to expand the capabilities of LANs in general to wide area network applications such as through the use of, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) system technology. However, adapting ATM for LAN use is considered complex and would involve significant software changes and complicated protocol management.
On the other hand, another generally known form of wide area network application technology is the T1/E1 High Speed Data Subscribe Line (HDSL) technology developed by AT&T. T1/E1 HDSL technology uses twisted pair transmission lines, much like that of the standard telephone line from the telephone company local central office to the subscriber, but can reach transmission speeds of up to 2 MHz.
In order to be able to interface between a 10/100-Base Ethernet system and a T1/E1 HDSL system, there have been recent attempts to develop bridging devices. Referring to FIG. 1, there is shown such a prior art bridging device which uses the known "store and forward technique".
When transmitting over the Ethernet a "frame" or "packet" is utilized. The packet is a series of bits forming a complete unit of information that is sent across a network. The typical packet has a 62 bit preamble, a 2 bit start of frame delimiter, 6 byte destination address, 6 byte source address, 64-1500 bytes data field, and 4 bytes cyclical redundancy code (CRC). There is typically a 96 bit gap between packets.
In FIG. 1 there is depicted in a simplified block diagram form is prior art bridge device 10 coupling one line Ethernet port 12 to T1/E1 HDSL line 14. Bridge device 10 includes CPU 16 coupled to main memory 18 over CPU/memory bus 20. Ethernet port 12 and memory to T1/E1 HDSL interface 22 are also coupled to CPU/memory bus 20. T1/E1 HDSL interface 24 interconnects between memory to T1/E1 HDSL interface 22 and T1/E1 HDSL line 14. Ethernet port 12 is coupled to a 10/100-Base Ethernet line 26 through respective physical layer (PHY) 28. PHY 28 translates the Ethernet wire signal to the TTL digital level in the well-known Ethernet protocol hierarchy and provides for clock recovery of the intermixed clock/data transmitted over Ethernet line 26. Ethernet port has Media Access Controller (MAC) 30, such as the Digital Equipment Corporation model DC21143, whose characteristics are set forth in the DECchip 21140A PCI Fast Ethernet LAN Controller Hardware Reference Manual dated October 1995 and is incorporated here by reference. MAC 30 processes the packets being transmitted/received by the port.
The typical Ethernet operates as follows. Using port 12 as a port receiving data from the Ethernet wire, PHY 28 filters out the clock to obtain the desired packet. MAC 30 would then receive the incoming packet and copy it to main memory 18 over bus 20 in accordance with the CPU/memory bus protocol. CPU 16 would read main memory 18. CPU 16 then initiates having the packet copied from main memory 18 to Memory to T1/E1 HDSL interface 22 which translates the packet into T1/E1 HDSL protocol frame format and sends the translated packet to T1/E1 HDSL interface 24 for transmission on T1/E1 HDSL line 14. A similar process occurs when T1/E1 HDSL line 14 has information to be received by Ethernet port 12 for transmission over Ethernet line 26.
This typical Ethernet bridge has latency problems. The store and forward approach under CPU control takes significant compute time to process the packet from Ethernet port 12, to main memory 18, and then to respective T1/E1 HDSL interfaces 22, 24 before a properly formatted frame is sent over T1/E1 HDSL line 14. Therefore, there is a still a need to be able to extend the Ethernet into wide area network applications using a simple to implement high performance device which maintains control over the data flow recognizing the speed difference between T1/E1 HDSL transmission (2 Mbit per second) and Ethernet transmission (10/100 Mbit per second). The embodiments of the present invention provide such a system.

10/100-base ethernet to T1/E1 HDSL converter and method of operation


A method and device for generating natural motion lighting patterns on the ceiling of an aircraft cabin are disclosed. The device includes at least two lighting elements, each outputting light. The device also includes a fixed common light modulation element positioned above the at least two lighting elements. Finally, the device includes a controller having outputs coupled to the at least two lighting elements and configured to separately vary an intensity of the light produced by each of the at least two lighting elements such that a light pattern produced by the light from each of the at least two lighting elements passing through the fixed common light modulation element simulates natural motion. The at least two lighting elements are preferably light emitting diodes. The fixed common light modulation element is one of a lens, mask or filter. The device may include additional light modulation elements, either common or for each lighting element.

Aircraft passenger cabins are known to have lighting fixtures designed to illuminate a specific targeted area, such as for reading, sometimes referred to as "task" lighting. Aircraft passenger cabins also are known to have lighting fixtures that direct light along the surfaces of walls and ceilings, sometimes referred to as "general" or "wash" lighting. The illumination pattern produced by the wash lighting is considered to have an effect on the mood and well-being of the passengers.
Traditionally, hidden fluorescent lamps have been used for providing wash lighting, such as along the ceiling of an aircraft passenger cabin. These fluorescent lamps provide a wide variation in surface brightness that may not be ideal for the comfort of the passengers. In addition, the light provided by fluorescent lamps tends to be artificial-looking. It is also known to use fixtures with light emitting diodes (LEDs) as a supplement or replacement for fluorescent lamps to provide wash lighting. However, in this case, although LEDs may provide an illumination pattern in which color changes over time, the pattern of the light remains static.
Digital projectors can be used to provide motion patterns in the cabin illumination, but such projectors are large, expensive and consume a great deal of power. Lower cost and lower power devices exist for producing moving projected patterns, but such devices typically operate by projecting a light source through a lens which is mechanically moved to simulate motion in the projected image. There are at least two drawbacks with this approach. First, the range of mechanical motion is small, so that the image has a pattern that is quickly repeated and does not provide the beneficial effects of motion which is random or pseudo-random. Second, the use of motors or other drive devices in multiple lighting devices mounted in an aircraft is costly and inevitably will lead to failures over time due to the numerous moving parts required.
Accordingly, there is a need for a low cost illumination device for producing illumination patterns simulating natural motion which also eliminates the need for moving parts used to generate such illumination patterns.

Lighting device to simulate natural motion


A portage system for supporting light watercraft such as a canoe or kayak includes a frame having opposed first and second upright arms, a plurality of cross-struts interconnecting the arms, a pair of shoulder straps secured to a cross strut and a hip belt secured adjacent bottom ends of the upright members to removably secure the frame to a user. First and second thwart cradles are adjustably secured to top ends of the first and second upright arms so that a center thwart of the watercraft may engage the first and second thwart cradles to support the watercraft at varying heights above the user. A balance strap is adjustably secured between a bottom end of an upright arm and a forward attachment point on the watercraft and tightened at a selected length by a slide buckle to prevent a rear end of the watercraft from descending below a selected height above a surface of the terrain the user is to portage in order to prevent the watercraft from banging into the obstructions on the surface and interrupting balance of the user, while enhancing forward visibility of the user. The thwart cradles can be adjusted to position the watercraft at one of a variety of heights above the user, the height being selected depending on the depth of the center thwart in the watercraft, and/or the length of the craft.

The present invention relates to devices for carrying light watercraft such as a canoe or kayak and for carrying camping materials associated with use of a canoe or kayak.
Users of canoes and modern touring kayaks frequently take long trips involving camping overnight in remote areas. Such adventures almost invariably require that a user carry or portage the light watercraft canoe or kayak along with adequate camping materials at least to a launch site some distance from a road, and frequently the users have to portage the watercraft and materials along uneven terrain between waterways. For example a first segment of a journey may be along a lake to a stream feeding into the lake, and a second segment may be along another lake nearby the stream, or upstream, beyond a region of rapids in the stream that the light watercraft cannot navigate. Frequently the distance that must be travelled between the first and second navigable segments is wooded, uneven terrain requiring substantial effort to portage both the watercraft and camping materials. Such portage distances most often range between 0.5 to 3 miles.
A traditional solution to that portage problem has been for one of the camping party to position a central portion of the watercraft such as a center thwart of a canoe over his or her shoulders so that the canoe is inverted and balanced on the shoulders. In that position, the user's head is within the canoe and therefore the user's visibility is severely limited. Typically the user would use at least one hand to balance the canoe in a stable position, while using the other hand for personal balance. It is well known that many modern canoes have center thwarts cut or molded to define a neck slot between flattened shoulder contact sections of the thwart to facilitate such traditional portage. While one party is carrying the watercraft in that manner, another party could carry any camping materials in a traditional back-pack or duffle bag type of arrangement, or if the user is alone, after portaging the canoe, the user could return to carry the materials to the launch site for the next segment of the trip.
Many problems are associated with this traditional solution. In particular, the entire weight of the watercraft is placed on the shoulders of the user causing rapid fatigue of shoulder musculature, and because of limitations on visibility, the user frequently causes the canoe to bang against tree trunks, protruding rocks, etc., which both damages the watercraft and may throw the user off balance. Additionally, because the user must keep one hand on the canoe, it is difficult to maintain balance especially over downhill or uphill slopes and rocky terrain, further adding to a risk of damaging the canoe through inadvertent contact, and even worse, raising a probability of the user stumbling to his or her own injury and hence causing potentially severe damage to a dropped watercraft, especially one with a fiberglass hull.
Many efforts have been made to overcome the problems associated with that traditional portage method for canoes. One proposed solution is a "Canoe Carrier" disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,367 issued to Jackson on May 22, 1973. Jackson's canoe carrier includes a frame having shoulder straps secured to upper portions of opposed upright members that are secured to a user's shoulders and a hip belt secured to lower portions of the upright members and to a user's hips. The frame may support a traditional back-pack, and includes attachments on top ends of the upright members for receiving and supporting a center thwart of a canoe. A pair of support arms are pivotally connected to lower ends of the upright members and include attachment straps that secure the pair of support arms to a forward thwart or transverse strut of the canoe. The attachment straps secure the forward thwart in a fixed relationship to the frame on the user's back when the canoe is secured to the frame so that the watercraft cannot pivot about an axis perpendicular to the frame members or user's back.
Jackson's canoe carrier has not obtained popular usage because it gives rise to further problems, even though it has provided more comfort to the user by transferring weight of the watercraft to the frame. In particular, because the canoe is in a fixed, rigid relationship to the user, the user's visibility is severely restrained as he or she walks over uneven terrain. For example, if a user has to walk up an inclined slope, in order to see the slope the user will have to tilt the canoe so its forward portion moves upward. That motion will pull the user's hips forward because the support arms rigidly extend from the forward thwart to lower ends of the frame adjacent the user's hips, thereby jeopardizing the user's balance. Even worse is a situation wherein the user has to go down a substantial slope. In such a situation, a rear end of the canoe extending away from the user's back could contact a raised, or uphill slope behind the user, thereby forcing the canoe to pivot unexpectedly, so that the user would have to bend suddenly forward, and would very likely pitch forward, falling down the slope. A final problem with Jackson confronts the user in extricating her or himself from carrying the canoe without assistance from another person. First the straps securing the rigid support arms to the forward thwart must be disengaged by the user. Next the user must lift the canoe off of the support attachments on the frame and pivot the canoe so one end contacts the ground. Normally in such a motion, the front end is easily observed by the user as it is lowered to contact the ground, and the user then backs out of the canoe while holding it overhead until able to roll it upright and then let it down to the ground. However in such a traditional motion, the Jackson support arms would be in the way of any lowering of the forward end of the canoe. Consequently, a rear end of the canoe would have to be lowered to the ground first, but then the support arms would also be in the way of the user's arms in rolling the canoe over to the ground. Hence, Jackson's forward extending, rigidly affixed support arms severely compromise safe portage of a watercraft, and make unassisted removal of the canoe from the frame exceedingly awkward, if not impossible.
A similar and more recent effort to create a working light watercraft portage device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,457 issued on Nov. 26, 1996 to Nichols, Jr. It shows a pair of pivotable support legs secured to a forward portion of a light watercraft that can be positioned to support the watercraft at an angle above the ground so that a user may get under the canoe to position a carrying yoke such as a center thwart on the user's shoulders. The support legs may then be pivoted into storage positions in the watercraft or they may be secured to a belt to help distribute the weight. While the support legs offer some flexibility in rough terrain to allow the user to move the canoe, they also require permanent fastening fixtures in the watercraft for both mounting and storing the legs, and no provision is made for assisting in moving camping materials. Consequently, the support legs of Nichols, Jr. have not gained wide-spread popularity as they are too complicated, heavy, costly to manufacture and install, and do not solve the most significant problems of watercraft portage, as they require the user to use at least one hand to balance the mounted watercraft during portage over rough terrain. The support legs only assist in mounting and disengaging a watercraft such as a canoe. Moreover, the legs could have no practical application for touring kayaks having hulls that are closed except for a user's cockpit.
Another recent attempt to provide an efficient light watercraft portage device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,547,246 issued on Aug. 20, 1996 to Lambert. Like Jackson, Lambert also shows a frame secured to a user's back, but the Lambert frame consists of two rectangular frames pivotally connected so that a carrier belt holds the two frame members sufficiently apart when on the user's back to support a central strut of a light watercraft immediately adjacent the user's shoulders. The carrier belt also holds the webbed frame members in a position of a camp chair when deployed on the ground. While the Lambert carrier eliminates the fixed positional problems of Jackson and achieves a weight distribution from the user's shoulders to the frame, Lambert still fails to resolve major problems associated with traditional canoe portage requirements. With Lambert's carrier, the user's head is still projected within the hull of a watercraft such as a canoe giving rise to visibility problems. Those problems are expected to be resolved by the user pivoting the supported canoe with one hand while balancing with the other. Lambert therefore leaves the user with most of the basic problems of traditional portage once the watercraft is mounted; namely, visibility and related balance limitations leading to risks of damage to the watercraft from banging into objects, and risks of loss of balance to the user in rough, uneven terrain resulting in falling and possible injury to the user and severe damage to the watercraft.
Accordingly, it a general object of the present invention to provide a portage system for light watercraft that overcomes the problems of the prior art.
It is a more specific object to provide a portage system for light watercraft that enables a user to use both hands while the watercraft is supported above the user's head while limiting unintended contact between the craft and foreign objects.
It is yet another specific object to provide a portage system for light watercraft that may be used on a variety of watercraft, such as canoes and single and double touring kayaks.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a portage system that may be utilized to carry either a light watercraft, camping material, or both, and to enable rapid disengagement of the camping material from the system to quickly switch to carrying the watercraft alone.
These and other advantages and objects of this invention will become more readily apparent when the following description is read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.


A temperature controlled insulated jacket construction 10 for encircling the top, bottom, and side of a refrigerant drum 100. The jacket construction 10 includes an inner panel member 40 that encircles the drum 100 in the horizontal orientation, an outer panel member 20 that encircles both the inner panel member 40 and the drum 100 in the vertical orientation, and a temperature controlled heating unit 13 disposed within the inner panel member 40.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of insulating cover devices in general, and in particular to a two piece insulated and temperature controlled jacket for refrigerant cylinders.
2. Description of Related Art
As can be seen by reference to the following U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,377,495; 5,557,940; and 5,511,387, the prior art is replete with myriad and diverse refrigerant insulating arrangements.
While all of the aforementioned prior art constructions are more than adequate for the basic purpose and function for which they have been specifically designed, they are uniformly deficient with respect to their failure to provide a simple, efficient, and practical device for both insulating the exterior of a refrigerant drum and maintaining the temperature of the refrigerant drum within a desired temperature range when charging an air conditioner refrigeration and system during low ambient temperature conditions.
As anyone in the heating and air conditioning trade is well aware, low ambient temperatures reduce the effective PSIG within a refrigerant drum to the point that the air conditioner or refrigeration system cannot be effectively charged without first elevating the temperature of the refrigerant drum to increase the PSIG within the drum to acceptable levels.
For example, when changing out a 5 ton heat pump compressor at 10.degree. F. ambient temperature, the pressure of an R22 tank is 32.8 PSIG. Therefore, in order to charge this heat pump to the correct pressure, the charge will have to be weighed in; however, the internal pressure of the R22 tank is too low to accomplish this task.
Some of the prior art methods of elevating the temperature of the refrigerant drum have involved the use of hot water, placing the drum on a heated plate and/or subjecting the exterior surface of the refrigerant drum to the flame of a torch. All of these aforementioned methods are both impractical and extremely dangerous in that all refrigerant drums have a relief disc which discharges the refrigerant to the atmosphere under high pressure usually precipitated when the temperature of the tank exceeds 120.degree. F.
The ideal conditions for charging a refrigeration and air conditioning system occur when the external temperature of the drum is 90.degree. F. which produces an internal pressure within the drum of 168 PSIG so the acceptable temperature range for accomplishing this task will fall between 80.degree. F. and 100.degree. F. under most circumstances.
As a consequence of the foregoing situation, there has existed a longstanding need in the heating and air conditioning trades for a construction for raising the temperature of refrigerant drums or cylinders and the provision of such a construction is a stated objective of the present invention.

Refrigerant cylinder jacket construction


An application-specific dictionary is provided that includes a plurality of entries, where each entry matches to one or more items that comprise one or more records of a record store. For at least some of the plurality of entries, each entry has multiple phonetic representations, including one or more phonetic representations that are at least one of (i) an abbreviation of that entry, or (ii) a null use of the entry when that entry is combined with another entry.

Previous patent disclosures have described a basic arrangement of apparatus for spoken access to large lists of items and techniques for rapid search within such lists, particularly when they can be given a hierarchical field structure, such as is the case for names and addresses. The obvious approach to handling these variations is simply to include them in additional valid sequences. However, if all the allowed sequences were listed individually, the size of the list to be searched, and hence the computational effort, would be increased enormously. Typical variations in the US names and addresses example would increase the size of the list by over 50 times.

System, method, and technique for identifying a spoken utterance as a member of a list of known items allowing for variations in the form of the utterance


A telephone privacy and alerting device for connection between a common telephone line and a telephone device. The privacy and alerting device includes a privacy circuit to prevent the telephone device from accessing the telephone line when another telephone device is already off-hook, and an alerting circuit to indicate an alarm when the telephone device is off-hook and a further telephone device is also off-hook. The privacy circuit includes a voice connecting circuit for connection between the telephone line and the telephone device, a self-latching switch means connected to the voice connecting circuit having an on and off state, and voltage breakdown means for turning the self-latching switch means on when a closed circuit is provided through the telephone device and the potential across said telephone line is above a first predetermined threshold, thereby allowing the voice connecting circuit to establish a current path between the telephone line and the telephone device. The alerting circuit includes alarm means for generating an alarm signal when the alarm means receives a first triggering signal and a second triggering signal simultaneously, current monitoring means responsive to the voice connecting circuit and operatively coupled to the alarm means for providing the first triggering signal when current is present in the voice connecting circuit, and further voltage breakdown means operatively coupled to the alarm means for providing the second triggering signal when the potential across the telephone line is below a second predetermined threshold.

The present invention relates to telephone systems and particularly to a device for providing privacy in telephone systems where multiple phones have access to a common telephone line and/or for alerting a user of a phone device connected to the common telephone line when an additional telephone device on the same telephone line is also off-hook.
In many commercial and residential telephone installations there are a number of telephone line operated devices which share a common telephone line. In such installations, various privacy concerns may arise. For example, if someone is talking on one of the telephone devices, another party can pick up a second telephone and eavesdrop on the conversation without the first person being aware. Additionally, if a telephone, modem, fax machine or other telephone device is transmitting information on the telephone line, it is possible for a further telephone, modem, fax machine or other telephone device to connect to the telephone line, thus interfering with the conversation or data transfer taking place on the telephone line. Various devices have been proposed for solving these problems; however the existing devices have various technical or cost disadvantages.
Current anti-eavesdropping and privacy protection devices can generally be broken down into two broad categories--privacy (or exclusion) devices and alerting devices. A privacy device operates by preventing the telephone device that it is connected to from accessing the common line when another telephone device is already off-hook. Privacy devices are generally connected to each telephone device sharing a common line. Alerting devices operate by providing some form of alarm when another telephone device on the common line goes off-hook in addition to the protected telephone device. Alerting devices are usually only connected to the telephone device they are intended to protect.
An example of a privacy device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,658 issued Jul. 27, 1993, to V. Eftechiou, which discloses a privacy device that can prevent the phone device that it is connected to from accessing a common telephone line if another phone device on the line is already off-hook.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,443,665 issued Apr. 17, 1984 to Alderman also discloses a privacy device which can prevent the telephone device it is connected to from accessing a common line when another telephone device is already off-hook. The Alderman privacy device also includes a hold circuit for placing callers on hold.
A problem with current privacy circuits is that because they must be connected to the telephone device that they are intended to exclude, they can easily be overridden by a potential eavesdropper without notice to the eavesdropee by disconnecting them from the telephone device that the eavesdropper intends to use.
An example of an alerting device can be seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,230,914 issued Oct. 28, 1980 to P. Korwin et al., which discloses an alerting device for installation in the hand set of a telephone which provides a visual alarm when a subsequent telephone device on the same telephone line goes off-hook. However, the device disclosed in this patent requires an external power source in the form of a battery, and must be connected to the internal circuitry of the telephone, which makes it impractical.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,726,048 and 4,941,166 issued Feb. 16, 1988 and Jul. 10, 1990, respectively, to H. H. Waldman et al. disclose an alerting device which cuts off the audio signal to a first off-hook telephone when a further telephone sharing the same telephone line is subsequently taken off-hook. The alerting device in Waldman et al. operates by cutting off the voice path to the first telephone when the voltage across the telephone line drops below a pre-determined threshold. Such a device is inconvenient as it cuts off the voice path to the first user entirely when a second telephone is off-hook, thereby isolating the first user.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,136,266 issued Jan. 23, 1979 to Cohen et al. discloses an alerting device which detects the fact that an extension telephone has been placed in the off-hook condition by detecting "click" signals which are placed on the telephone line whenever any extension telephone is placed either in the off-hook condition or, if it is already in the off-hook condition, when it is placed in the on-hook condition. The "click" signals are defined in Cohen et al. as having distinctive acoustic and electrical properties which can be detected as a function of the frequency of the signal and the voltage level thereof. The Cohen et al. patent provides complex detection circuitry for detecting these click signals and generates an alarm whenever these signals are detected. The external alarm requires that the device be located where it can be seen/heard by the user.
In order to detect these signals, the privacy circuit of Cohen et al. relies on a tuned detection circuit which must be tuned to the specific frequency of the clicks. Since this frequency will vary from telephone to telephone, it requires a manual adjustment of a variable resistor forming part of the tuned circuit. This manual adjustment must be made by the user of the alerting device for each individual installation.
In addition to the above shortcomings, the existing alerting devices do not have the dual ability to act as privacy devices in that they will not prevent a second telephone device from connecting to the common line when a first telephone device is already off-hook. This is particularly a concern when the second telephone device is a modem or fax which will not respond to the same stimulus that a human eavesdropper would. Also, the existing alerting devices are inconvenient in that they do not include a hold function for allowing an incoming call to be placed on hold.
Thus, it is desirable to provide a single device which can act as both a privacy device and an alerting device. Specifically, it is desirable to provide a privacy and alerting device which, when connected to a first telephone device will prevent that telephone device from going off-hook if another telephone device on a common-telephone line is already off-hook, and which will sound an alarm if the first telephone device alone is off-hook and another telephone device subsequently goes off-hook.
It is also desirable to provide a privacy and alerting device which will allow more than one telephone device to access the common line when desired, and to provide a privacy and alerting device which includes a hold function.
It is also desirable to have an eavesdropping alerting device for a telephone system which does not require an external source of power in addition to the telephone line, which makes use of a circuit which is easily constructed, and which makes use of an audio alarm which can be heard in the ear piece of the off-hook telephone devices without cutting off the voice path.