An automated food production work cell includes a robotic system that utilizes a food-grade robotic gripper to transfer individual food items. The robotic gripper is constructed using food-grade materials and includes finger structures that are linearly movably connected by linear bearings to parallel guide rods and are independently driven by a non-contact actuating system to grasp targeted food items disposed on a first work surface, to hold the targeted food items while the robotic system moves the gripper to a second work surface, and to release the targeted food items onto the second work surface. Encoding and external sensing systems facilitate fully automated food transfer processes. Optional sensor arrays are disposed on tip portions of the finger structures to provide feedback data (e.g., grasping force/pressure). Two or more pairs of independently controlled finger structures are provided to facilitate the transfer of multiple food items during each transfer process.

Industrial robotic systems integrate mechanical, electrical/electronic and computer science technologies to provide software programmable, autonomously controlled mechanisms capable of performing a variety of mechanical operations with high endurance, speed, and precision. Typical applications of industrial robot systems include welding, painting, assembly, disassembly, pick-and-place, packaging and labeling, palletizing, product inspection and testing. Many industrial robotic systems include an arm-type robotic mechanism and a gripper-type end effector that are controlled by a coordinated series of software commands to perform repetitive tasks. For example, to perform repetitive pick-and-place operations, the arm-type robotic mechanism is controlled by first commands to move the end effector over a first X-Y-Z coordinate location, the gripper-type end effector is then controlled by second commands to grasp the target object, the robotic mechanism is then controlled to move the grasped object to a second location, and the end effector is then controlled to release the target object.
The return-on-investment (cost-effectiveness) of today's industrial robotic systems often depends on the sophistication (versatility) of the system's end effector. That is, return-on-investment is typically directly proportional to amount of time an industrial robotic system is operated (i.e., utilized to produce saleable products). This means that the high cost of purchasing and installing an industrial robotic system (i.e., several hundred thousand dollars or more) may be justified for producing a single product when there is an unending insatiable demand. However, in most cases industrial robotic systems must be utilized to perform two or more different production processes to maximize their productive operating time, and efficient reconfiguration of the system between the different production processes requires the use of an end effector that is sophisticated (versatile) enough to perform each of the production processes. By way of example, assume an industrial robotic system is tasked to perform two pick-and-place operations associated with the production of two product types having associated different product sizes. When the system utilizes a versatile gripper-type end effector that is capable of handle both product sizes, reconfiguration of the system between the two pick-and-place processes merely involves installing/executing the associated software program. Conversely, when the system utilizes less-sophisticated end effectors that can only handle associated product types/sizes, then significant down-time is required to swap (remove/replace) the end effectors and to recalibrate the system, thereby reducing return-on-investment. In this way, the cost-effectiveness of today's industrial robotic systems often depends on utilizing an end effector that is versatile enough to facilitate a wide range of production processes.
Food-grade robotic systems are specialized robotic systems that have been developed for the automated production of food items (e.g., processed food products such as meat-filled dumplings). To qualify for use in the automated production of food products intended for human consumption, robotic systems are required to meet U.S. Department of Agriculture or other government food-grade regulations. These government food-grade regulations, for example, restrict the materials utilized to construct the external mechanism structures (i.e., arm and end effector surfaces, joints and lubricants that may be exposed to food items during the automated production process) to certain approved food-grade materials that are compatible with approved sanitation procedures. Because the approved food-grade materials are often over specified (and significantly higher cost) for non-food-related robotic system applications, a majority of commercially available robotic systems are produced using nonconforming materials, and relatively few of the existing robotic systems are classified as food-grade robotic systems.
The utilization of food-grade robotic systems by food producing companies remains low primarily due to the current lack of sophisticated and durable food-grade end effectors. That is, although commercially available food-grade robotic mechanisms are available and fully capable of performing a wide range of automated food production processes, commercially available food-grade gripper-type end effectors are unable to perform a wide range of complex food transfer processes due to various operating limitations, which often makes the return-on-investment in food-grade robotic systems too low to justify. For example, soft gripper systems, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 10,112,310, utilize finger-type soft actuators that extend from an end effector base and are caused to bend/straighten by pumping an inflation fluid into/from elastomeric bladders disposed in each actuator. A problem with robotic end effectors utilizing this soft gripper approach is that they are limited to a single food item size and lack dexterity, whereby food-grade robotic systems implementing these end effectors experience the significant down-time and corresponding reduced cost-effectiveness mentioned above. Because the lack of sophisticated food-grade end effectors limits commercially available food-grade robotic systems to relatively simple automated food production processes, food producers are forced to employ manual labor to perform repetitive complex food production processes, thereby both increasing production costs and the risk of contamination.
What is needed is a reliable and cost-effective robotic gripper that is adapted for use with existing robot mechanisms and meets all food-grade regulations. What is particularly needed is a high-speed food-grade robotic gripper capable of transferring a wide range of individual food item types/sizes between two work surfaces.

Food-grade robotic gripper for automated production work cell


Mountable trays for temperature probe hubs are disclosed. An example mountable tray includes a central portion, a peripheral portion, and a mounting arm. The central portion includes at least one drainage opening extending through the central portion. The peripheral portion is coupled to and extends upwardly from the central portion. The mounting arm is coupled to and extends upwardly from the peripheral portion. The mounting arm is configured to mount the mountable tray to a flange.

A temperature probe may be used to sense and/or measure the temperature of a food item as the food item is actively being cooked. For example, a temperature probe inserted into a piece of meat may sense and/or measure the temperature of the meat as the meat is cooked via heat generated by a cooking device (e.g., an outdoor grill, an outdoor smoker, etc.). The temperature probe may include and/or be connected to a probe cable, and the probe cable may include and/or be connected to a jack plug configured to be plugged into a jack of a temperature probe hub.
When the temperature probe is connected to the temperature probe hub, temperature data sensed and/or measured by the temperature probe may be presented on a display of the temperature probe hub for viewing by an end user. The temperature data may additionally or alternatively be wirelessly transmitted from the temperature probe hub to a remotely located computing and/or communication device (e.g., a smartphone, a tablet, a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a server, a wireless access point, etc.) which may subsequently process, display, and/or further transmit the received temperature data or some derivation thereof.
Some temperature probe hubs are equipped with a base (e.g., a base having a generally flat and/or generally planar bottom) that facilitates placing the temperature probe hub on top of a horizontally-oriented surface of a cooking device with which the temperature probe hub is to be used. For example, a temperature probe hub can include a base that facilitates placing the temperature probe hub on top of a horizontally-oriented side table of an outdoor grill with which the temperature probe hub is to be used. In such implementations, it is generally preferable that the temperature probe hub be placed on top of a horizontally-oriented surface that is not a cooking chamber surface of the cooking device, as the cooking chamber surfaces of the cooking device may reach a temperature (e.g., during use of the cooking device) to which the temperature probe hub is preferably not directly exposed.
Many cooking devices are equipped with at least one surface that is horizontally-oriented and that is not a cooking chamber surface. For example, many outdoor grills are equipped with a side table having a horizontally-oriented surface (e.g., a top surface of the side table) that is not a cooking chamber surface, thereby providing an ideal candidate for placement of the temperature probe hub. Other cooking devices, however, may be deficient in this regard. For example, a cooking device may lack a side table of any form, and the only horizontally-oriented surface of the cooking device may be a cooking chamber surface. As another example, a cooking device may lack a side table of any form, and may further lack a horizontally-oriented surface of any form.
Some temperature probe hubs are equipped with a magnet (e.g., embedded within a housing of the temperature probe hub) that is configured to removably (e.g., magnetically) couple the temperature probe hub, in any orientation, to a ferromagnetic surface of a cooking device. For example, a temperature probe hub can include a magnet configured to removably couple the temperature probe hub, in any orientation, to a ferromagnetic surface of an outdoor grill, as may be provided by a side table of the outdoor grill. In such implementations, it is generally preferable that the temperature probe hub be magnetically coupled to a flat (e.g., planar) ferromagnetic surface, as magnetically coupling the temperature probe hub to a curved (e.g., non-planar) ferromagnetic surface may reduce the effectiveness (e.g., the holding strength) of the magnetic coupling, particularly when the extent of the curvature of the curved surface is significant. It is also generally preferable that the temperature probe hub be magnetically coupled to a ferromagnetic surface that is not a cooking chamber surface of the cooking device, as the cooking chamber surfaces of the cooking device may reach a temperature (e.g., during use of the cooking device) to which the temperature probe hub is preferably not directly exposed.
Many cooking devices are equipped with at least one ferromagnetic surface that is flat and that is not a cooking chamber surface. For example, many outdoor grills are equipped with a ferromagnetic side table having at least one flat surface that is not a cooking chamber surface. In most instances, the flat surface(s) of the ferromagnetic side table is/are ideal for magnetically coupling the temperature probe hub thereto. Other cooking devices, however, may be deficient in this regard. For example, a cooking device may lack a ferromagnetic side table of any form, and the only flat ferromagnetic surface of the coking device may be a cooking chamber surface. As another example, a cooking device may lack a ferromagnetic side table of any form, and may further lack a flat ferromagnetic surface of any form.
Certain examples are shown in the above-identified figures and described in detail below. In describing these examples, like or identical reference numbers are used to identify the same or similar elements. The figures are not necessarily to scale and certain features and certain views of the figures may be shown exaggerated in scale or in schematic for clarity and/or conciseness.
Descriptors "first," "second," "third," etc. are used herein when identifying multiple elements or components which may be referred to separately. Unless otherwise specified or understood based on their context of use, such descriptors are not intended to impute any meaning of priority or ordering in time but merely as labels for referring to multiple elements or components separately for ease of understanding the disclosed examples. In some examples, the descriptor "first" may be used to refer to an element in the detailed description, while the same element may be referred to in a claim with a different descriptor such as "second" or "third." In such instances, it should be understood that such descriptors are used merely for ease of referencing multiple elements or components.


A method for automatically constructing a planogram from photographs of shelving, replacing laborious manual construction includes the following steps: a step (1) in which the images are received, a step (2) in which the images are assembled, a step (3) in which the structure is automatically constructed, a step (4) in which the products are automatically detected, and a step (5) in which the products are positioned in the structure. The product detection step (4) enhances traditional image recognition techniques, using artificial learning techniques to incorporate characteristics specific to the planograms. This product detection step (4) also includes at least two successive classification steps, namely: an initialization step (41) with detection of product categories; and a classification step (42) with the classification of the products themselves, each of these steps including a first image recognition step, followed by a statistical filtering step based on the characteristics specific to the planograms.

Currently merchandising, that is to say "all studies and application techniques, used separately or conjointly by distributors and producers, with a view to increasing the profitability of the point of sale and the flow of products, by the continuous adaptation of the assortment to the needs of the market and by the suitable presentation of merchandise" (Institut Français du Merchandising, see the document "A. Wellhoff and J. E. Masson, Le merchandising: bases, nouvelles techniques, category management. Dunod, 2005"), requires daily monitoring and a great deal of effort. The presentation and enhancement of the product at the point of sale is an important element that triggers the act of purchase. Thus mass consumption brands sign agreements with distributors in order to ensure the availability of the right product, in the right place, in the right quantity, at the right price and at the right time (the 5Rs of Keppner). This obliges manufacturers to regularly check the correct positioning of their products in shop shelvings.
Checking the placement of each product is at the present time carried out manually. Employees are sent on site in order to inspect each shop and check agreement between the planogram and the actual placement of the products in the shop. Given the large number of shops and the number of products per shop, manual checking is extremely expensive and does not represent an optimum solution.
It is therefore appropriate to propose a method for the automatic construction of a planogram from one or more photographs of shelving.
Though the prior art is rich with regard to image recognition, the way in which we use these techniques for the automatic construction of planograms is novel. The general description of a technique for the automatic extraction of a planogram has already been made in the document "Agata Opalach, Andrew Fano, Fredrik Linaker and Robert Groenevelt, Planogram Extraction Based on Image Processing, WO2009/027839.A2, 2009", showing to what extent this type of invention may arouse interest. However, our invention is innovative in specifically adapting the image recognition methods to the extraction of planograms.
The image recognition part is itself constructed on the basis of various works of the prior art, including in particular the document "David G. Lowe, Method and Apparatus for Identifying Scale Invariant Features and Use of Same for Locating an Object in an Image, 2004". The detection of the products could use such algorithms directly. However, in practice, the application thereof for detecting products in images of shelving proves insufficient, in particular when the products have variations in texture, or when different products have very similar visuals, and these algorithms return incomplete and partially erroneous results.

Method for the automated extraction of a planogram from images of shelving


The present invention relates to an image pickup apparatus, a method for capturing an image, and a method for designing the image pickup apparatus capable of realizing a fixed focal length image pickup apparatus of high resolution and fine resolution at a low cost by disposing a plurality of image pickup elements therein. An image pickup device 31 is of a focal coincidence type having a plurality of image pickup elements, such as CCD sensors 62-1 to 62-3, arranged in an array. That is, the image pickup device 31 has an optical system including a first image formation system 41 for forming an image of focal coincidence, a field lens 43 disposed in an image formation plane or in the vicinity of the image formation plane of the first image formation system, and a second image formation system group formed by a plurality of second image formation systems arranged in an array and including an image pickup element CCD sensor 62-K (K is a value between 1 and 3 in this example) for capturing the image formed on itself and a zoom lens 61-K for reforming a predetermined, part of the image formed on the image formation plane on the CCD sensor 62-K. The present invention is applicable to a digital still camera and a digital video camera including a plurality of image pickup elements.

In recent years, a variety of methods for capturing a high-resolution image have been developed. These image pickup methods fall into two categories: a method for increasing the resolution of an image pickup element, such as a charge-coupled device (CCD) sensor, and a method for using a plurality of image pickup elements so as to capture a high-resolution image.
The latter method, that is, the method for using a plurality of image pickup elements so as to capture a high-resolution image is described in, for example. Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 1.
In the method described in Patent Document 1, an image is captured by using the aperture of a CCD sensor and a so-called pixel shifting method. That is, this method is quite simple. A light beam is split in four directions by a prism. To receive each of the split light beams, CCD sensors are shifted from each other by a half pixel.
The method described in Non-Patent Document 1 is used in the Mega Vision method supported by the Mechanical Social Systems Foundation. An image is separated into three sub-images by a prism. The three sub-images are captured by three HD camcorders.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-45508
[Non-Patent Document 1] "Description of Mega Vision supported by the Mechanical Social Systems Foundation" at Machine Industry Memorial Foundation website (URL: http://www.tepia.or.jp/14th/hds.html, searched for on 17, Jan., 2005)

Image pickup apparatus including a first image formation system and a second image formation system, method for capturing image, and method for designing image pickup apparatus


An apparatus for facilitating the placement of a rod member into a remote surface, comprising: an elongated hollow tube member having a first end and a second end; the first end of the elongated hollow tube member adapted to receive and removably secure a drill bit with the drill bit projecting from the end of the tube member; the first end of the elongated hollow tube member further adapted to receive and removably secure an anchor with the rod member projecting therefrom, the rod member being of a length less than the elongated tube member and having a greatest outer diameter less than the inner diameter of the elongated tube member; and the second end of the elongated hollow tube member adapted to be mounted in a driving apparatus.

It has become more and more popular to install drop ceilings to cover mechanical trades in ceiling areas in commercial buildings and the like. In the typical installation process, a series of rods are secured to a commercial ceiling at predetermined sites. The rods are precut to a desired length to allow for the installation of tracks or hangars for suspending the ceiling tiles in place a uniform distance from the remote overhead surface. Quite often the distance from the ground to the remote surface ranges anywhere from 9 to 16 feet, even greater in commercial applications. This distance can make the installation process extremely burdensome.
In a typical installation process, the installer climbs up on a ladder and pre-drills a hole for an anchor, such as a Sammy Super Screw™ anchor. This usually involves maneuvering a power drill around a number of mechanical trades, such as duct work, steam pipes, plumbing, electrical conduits, etc., and pre-drilling a hole. Next, the installer climbs down the ladder and mounts the anchor into the drill. He then climbs back up the ladder and again manipulates the power drill in the spaces between the plumbing, duct work, etc. so that the anchor tip is lined up with the pre-drilled hole, and operates the drill to screw the anchor into the ceiling. Then, the installer steers the power drill back out through the spaces between the duct work and plumbing, gets down off of the ladder, picks up a threaded rod cut to the appropriate length, climbs back up on the ladder, and maneuvers the rod around the mechanical trades until the rod is placed within the head of the anchor. The installer then proceeds to repeat the entire process for the next rod. This continuous need to maneuver around the mechanical trades, coupled with the need to climb up and down a ladder several times, consumes a large amount of time, money and energy.

Method and apparatus for attaching a rod member to a remote surface


An application deployment architecture provides the capability to independently invoke different phases of an operation associated with an application, thereby progressively deploying the application across a network of peer nodes and providing fault tolerance. Therefore, applications are easier to deploy on the network of nodes, the deployment process is less error prone, and remediation of deployment errors is simpler than with prior approaches. Tasks constituent to phases of a deployment process are schedulable rather than completely automated and outside the control of the administrator, and are schedulable on a subset of the nodes rather than only on the entire network of nodes.

Networked computing resources are frequently configured so that processing is distributed across the resources, such as with a large set of nodes configured in a cluster environment or grid environment. As a result, related application deployment and life-cycle management activities have become more complex, cumbersome and error-prone. For example, configuring a large network of nodes to execute instances of a database server that all share a common database is typically a manual process.
With one prior approach, this manual deployment process generally involved several steps, as follows. First, an operation for an application (e.g., installing, upgrading, patching, uninstalling) is performed on a first node of the network, from the first node. Then, it is verified whether or not the operation was performed successfully on the first node. The foregoing steps are then performed for each other node of the network, in sequence, from the respective node. Finally, the nodes in the network are configured so that each node is aware of each other node (in the case of an initial network provisioning process), e.g., each node is informed that it is part of a cluster, each node is informed of each other peer node, each node is informed that it should treat each other node in the network equally, and the like.
Advances have been made relative to the manual approach, by enhancing the deployment process to include some automation of the process. One prior approach involves the following deployment process. First, the network of nodes is configured so that each node is aware of each other node. Then, one of several phases of the operation is performed on any node in the network, from that node, e.g., files are copied to the node. Next, automatic propagation of that phase of the operation to each of the other network nodes is triggered from the first node. This automatic propagation includes, for example, determining a list of files that need to be copied to each of the other nodes in the network, and automatically copying those files to the other nodes. The steps of performing a next phase of the operation and automatically propagating that phase to the other network nodes, for each of the other phases of the operation, are repeated. For example, subsequent phases of the operation may involve moving the copied files to appropriate directories, updating registries, maintaining an inventory of applications for each respective node, and the like.
The foregoing automated approach to the deployment process eliminated previously required manual steps, however, this automated approach has room for improvement. For example, in the event that a failure occurred anywhere in the process (i.e., at the first node or at any of the other nodes on which any phase of the operation is performed), then the completed portion of the process needs to be undone and the entire process started over again once the reason for the error is diagnosed and remedied. Hence, this prior automated approach to the deployment process is not very resilient or fault tolerant.
Additionally, this prior automated approach is inflexible. For example, once the deployment process is initiated, all of the tasks associated with the process are automatically performed (or at least attempted) without any management or control afforded the administrator except aborting the entire process and starting over. Furthermore, once a network of nodes has been configured as a cluster or grid, the deployment process is automatically performed on every node in the network. For example, when updating an application on the nodes in the network, it was necessary to disable all the nodes, update the application on all the nodes, and then enable all the nodes. This results in the entire system being disabled for a significant period of time while the application is updated on all the nodes and, consequently, the system is unable to service requests during that time period.
Based on the foregoing, there is room for improvement in processes for provisioning, including deploying software on, a managed network of nodes operating as peers.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section.

Performing a provisioning operation associated with a software application on a subset of the nodes on which the software application is to operate


An LED lamp control circuit directly drives an array of series or parallel connected LEDs with current directly derived from the rectified AC voltage. Electrolytic capacitors are eliminated, and the circuit is independent of forward bias voltage of the LEDs, which vary by lot and manufacturer. For example, in an embodiment, an light-emitting diode (LED) lamp control circuit includes a transistor, an LED load comprising one or more LEDs, a power storage device configured to provide power to the LED load, and a controller circuit configured to control the transistor to charge and discharge the power storage device based on sensed voltages of a first node and a second node and a current passing through the power storage device. The power storage device and the LED load are arranged in parallel between the first node and the second node. A voltage source is coupled to the first node and a first terminal of the transistor is coupled to the second node. A second terminal of the transistor is coupled to ground.

1. Field
The present invention generally relates to electrical circuitry for delivering power to a load directly from a rectified AC voltage, and more particularly relates to delivering power to LED-based lighting products.
2. Background Art
Recently, there has been great interest in reducing the energy consumption of lighting sources, as well as in reducing the size and costs of the lighting sources while also increasing the lifetime of such products. Since it is well known that conventional incandescent light bulbs waste a significant amount of energy in the form of heat, alternatives to incandescent lighting are seen as a possible means of reducing energy consumption. Fluorescent lighting and light emitting diode (LED) lighting are two alternative forms of lighting.
An LED is a well-known semiconductor device comprising a PN junction that emits light when forward-biased. Conventional control circuits for LED-based lighting products typically consist of two circuit portions. A first one of the two circuit portions is an AC-to-DC converter. In some instances these AC-to-DC converters include power factor correction circuitry. A second one of the two aforementioned circuit portions is a current controller coupled to drive a plurality of LEDs in series, in parallel, or in both series and parallel, depending on the desired wattage, voltage, and/or light output. Conventional versions of these circuits require various nodes therein to operate at relatively high voltages, and further require the presence of capacitors having high capacitance values. There are a number of different types of capacitor components; however, the only practical type of capacitors for the requirements mentioned above are electrolytic capacitors.
Unfortunately, incorporating electrolytic capacitors into these circuits limits the reliability of LED products generally. In particular, electrolytic capacitors tend to be the electrical component that is among the first to fail in an LED-based lighting product.
What is needed are low-cost, long-life circuits, without electrolytic capacitors, suitable for delivering power to an LED-based lighting product.


A utensil which provides a universal device for removing a bake pan from a hot oven and also inverting the pan to facilitate removal of the cake from the pan. The device is adaptable to a variety of pan dimensions including a tube type bake pan. The device also allows cakes to be removed from pans without damaging the cake itself and is designed to prevent bakers from burning themselves due to frequent handling of hot baking pans. The device includes a flat circular shaped base with an extended handle, which is placed over a hot baking pan top and clamped into position by a slidable spring loaded clamping block. After clamping the device to the top of a hot bake pan, the pan is easily and safely removed from a hot oven, and, while the device is still attached, the pan is then inverted to facilitate removal of the cake from the pan.

The art of baking is ancient; numerous devices have been developed for practicing the art including devices for effectively removing baking pans from a hot oven. These prior devices are extremely practical and useful, however prior to the present invention there has never existed a device which both assists a baker in removing a hot baking pan from an oven and allows the baker to then invert the baking pan in order to remove the cake from the hot baking pan.
There have been numerous Baker's Peels developed, such as Baker, U.S. Pat. No. 5,213,384, which include long handles for reaching deep into a hot oven and a streamlined design for slipping under the baking dish and quickly extracting the pan from the oven. These devices will always have their place in the bakery. The present device would not only allow for the rapid extraction of the hot baking pan by clamping to the pan top edge, but also allow the cake to be extracted while the baking pan is hot, with no hand contact.


Security level establishment for an application in a terminal equipment under a generic bootstrapping architecture offering a plurality of different bootstrapping mechanisms, the terminal equipment comprising a credential establishment entity and an application entity, comprising a request for a credential for the application from the application entity to the credential establishment entity and a response from the credential establishment entity to the application entity, wherein the response comprises the requested credential and credential quality information.

In recent years, various kinds of communication systems, in particular mobile and/or IP-based (IP: Internet Protocol) communication systems, as well as a multitude of services offered in these systems have been developed.
In such advanced communication systems, such as e.g. Third Generation mobile communication networks currently under development by the Third Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) and the Third Generation Partnership Program 2 (3GPP2), aspects relating to security and trustworthiness are playing a more and more important role.
Starting from the concept of subscriber certificates, which support services that mobile operators provide and whose provision assists mobile operators, and in consideration of a need for more generic security capabilities, 3GPP and 3 GPP2 standardization work lately concentrated on the evolution of a generic authentication architecture (GAA). GAA defines bootstrapping of a shared (symmetric) secret based on specific credentials. As can be gathered from FIG. 1 showing an overview of a generic authentication architecture environment in interrelation with a home subscriber system HSS, a user equipment UE, and a network entity NE, GAA basically consists of three sub-aspects. That is, a generic bootstrapping architecture (GBA), subscriber certificates, and an authentication proxy (AP) e.g. based on HTTPS (Secure Hypertext Transport Protocol). Thereby, the generic bootstrapping architecture (GBA) also builds a basis for both the other sub-aspects in that GBA offers generic authentication capability for various applications based on an application specific shared secret or a public/private key pair. Usually, GBA functions to bootstrap authentication and key agreement for application security, and it is based on the AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement) mechanism.
In FIG. 2, there is illustrated a network model for generic bootstrapping. A bootstrapping server function BSF and the user equipment UE, which are connected via a bidirectional link, mutually authenticate using the AKA protocol, and agree on session keys. These keys are afterwards to be used for a bootstrapping session and to be used between the user equipment and a network application function NAF which is also connected to the user equipment by means of a bidirectional link. After a bootstrapping mechanism selection procedure and a bootstrapping procedure based on a selected bootstrapping mechanism, the user equipment and the network application function can run some application-specific protocol where the security of messages will be based on those session keys generated during mutual authentication. Accordingly, GAA/GBA can in general be regarded as a 3-party authentication scenario, wherein the bootstrapping server function is further connected to a home subscriber system (HSS) or Home Location Register (HLR).
The reference points (interfaces) between the individual entities in FIG. 2 are denoted by Ub, Ua, Zn, and Zh. The interface Zh is based on Diameter and may be based on MAP (not standard), the Zn interface can be based on Diameter or Web Services (i.e., SOAP over HTTP), the interface Ub is based on a reuse of HTTP Digest AKA messages (i.e., 3G authentication with USIM or ISIM) or some variant of it (e.g., 2G GBA of 3 GPP that is based on legacy GSM authentication, and legacy GBA in 3GPP2 that is based on CDMA 1x and CDMA 1x EvDo are all based on HTTP Digest AKA but with some modifications), and the protocol used on the interface Ua depends on the application to be executed.
The utilization of the generic bootstrapping architecture is divided into two phases, i.e. the (generic) bootstrapping procedure as such and the generic bootstrapping usage procedure. The present invention is concerned with the generic bootstrapping usage.
For further details on the generic bootstrapping architecture, reference is made to the document "3GPP TS 33.220, v7.3.0" as for 3GPP standardization and to the document "3GPP2 S.P0109-0, version 0.6" as for 3GPP2 standardization, both being published in December 2005.

Security level establishment under generic bootstrapping architecture


Systems, methods, and apparatus for managing and controlling network-enabled movable barrier operators is provided. A method for managing network-enabled movable barrier operator includes receiving a user account identifier and a movable barrier operator identifier from a user device, providing an instruction to perform a specified action with a movable barrier operator associated with the movable barrier operator identifier to the user device, determining a registration condition is met upon detecting that the specified action has been performed, and, upon the registration condition being met, associating the movable barrier operator identifier with the user account identifier to allow a user account associated with the user account identifier to control the movable barrier operator over a network.

Movable barriers are known, including, but not limited to, single and segmented garage doors, pivoting and sliding doors and cross-arms, rolling shutters, and the like. In general, a moveable barrier operator system for controlling such a movable barrier includes a movable barrier operator coupled to a corresponding barrier and configured to cause the barrier to move (typically between closed and opened positions).
Conventionally, movable barrier operators are operated by wired controls and/or radio frequency (RF) remote controls. Network-enabled (or network-connected) movable barrier operators are a new type of barrier operators that can also be controlled over a network or networks, such as a wired or wireless local area network, the Internet etc., by a user device such as a smartphone or a personal computer.

Movable barrier operator registration verification


Described is a convertible item that is portable and that can be easily folded into a playing field through the use of one or more pop-up elements. For example, the convertible item is a substantially flat item that can transition between a first state, in which it is substantially flat, to a second state, in which the pop-up element is affixed in an upright position. In the second state, the convertible item operates as a playing field to allow users to play on its surface. For example, the playing field includes goals (in a soccer or hockey aspect) or can be formed to include a ramp (in a toy skateboard aspect). The convertible item is any suitably flat item, such as a folder for papers, or a greeting card. Thus, it can transition between a folder or card, to a playing field.

(1) Field of Invention
The present invention relates to a toy playing field and, more particularly, to a convertible item that can be convertibly folded into a playing field, such as a soccer field, hockey field, football field, and skateboard ramp.
(2) Description of Related Art
In sports, such as soccer, football, and hockey, the sporting events are typically played on a playing field. For children, the playing fields are often mimicked to allow for indoor and space convenient play. Thus, toy playing fields have been conceived that allow users to set up and play miniature toy sporting events. For example, foosball is a common sport in which user's play the game of table soccer on a miniature playing field.
As another example, some individuals play paper football. "Paper football (also called FIKI Football, Finger football, Chinese football, Biren football or Flick football) refers to a table-top game, loosely based on American football, in which a sheet of paper folded into a small triangle is slid back and forth across a table top by two opponents. This game is widely practiced, generally by boys of upper primary, middle school & high school age in the United States, as an informal recreation." See Wikipedia, "Paper Football." During game play, the players flick the paper football at the opponent's hands or raised fingers. Thus, game play in this aspect is largely limited to an imaginary playing field. While some actual miniature playing fields have been conceived, they are dedicated items that are preformed and bulky. Thus, aside from the imaginary playing fields, preformed items are difficult to transport and do not allow for multi-functionality.
In the skateboard realm, the playing field takes the shape of toy ramps. Such toy ramps have long been known in the art. However, as was the case above, the toy ramps are typically pre-formed and sold as hard, plastic ramps for use with a toy skateboard or bicycle. Again, the toy ramps are bulky and do not allow for easy transportation.
Thus, a continuing need exists for a convertible item that is portable and that can be easily folded into a playing field.

Convertible item for folding into a play field


The badminton racket (1) includes a frame (2), a handle (4) and a shaft (6) connecting the frame to the handle. It defines a first direction (D1) parallel to a longitudinal axis (X1) of the shaft, a second direction (D2) perpendicular to the first direction and parallel to a plane (P8) in which strings (8) extend mounted in the frame (2), and a third direction (D3) perpendicular to the first and second directions (D1, D2) and the plane (P8) of the strings. The bending rigidity of the shaft (6) in the third direction (D3) is greater than its bending rigidity in the second direction (D2).

In the field of racket sports, in particular for badminton, the flexibility of a shaft makes it possible to impart a certain power to a racket, i.e., to allow it to impact a shuttlecock to transmit relatively significant kinetic energy to it. On the contrary, rigidity of the shaft allows a precise hit, in particular in finalizing a shot.
The known rackets use both the flexibility and the rigidity of a connecting shaft between the handle and frame to try to obtain a relatively high power and precision. This compromise approach is not completely satisfactory, inasmuch as neither the power nor the precision are optimized.


An image processing system that can remove unnecessary blank parts in print data, thereby achieving sheet saving and efficient print output at the time of printing and copying. Data is inputted to an information processing apparatus of the system, and at least one object is extracted from the data. Out of the extracted object, at least one object to be reduced or enlarged is designated, and then reduced or enlarged. The data including the reduced or enlarged object is searched to find at least one blank part in the data, and the reduced or enlarged object is moved to the found blank part. After the reduced or enlarged object has been moved, a blank part generated on the data is deleted from the data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing system, an image forming apparatus that constructs the image processing system, a control method for the same, and a program for implementing the control method, and in particular, to an image processing system, image forming apparatus, control method, and program that can automatically change the layout of print data when carrying out printing or copying.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, SFPs (Single Function Printers) and MFPs (Multi Function Printers) that are image forming apparatuses with a print function have become more advanced in functionality, and various technologies relating to print layout (hereinafter simply referred to as "layout") have been incorporated in these kinds of apparatuses. Representative examples are a "2-in-1" function and a size reduction function used for printing or copying. Such functions make it possible to print out data using the lowest possible number of sheets, thus greatly contributing to sheet saving.
Aside from such technologies, a technology for adjusting the layout by reducing the interlinear space has also been proposed (see, for example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication (Kokai) No. H08-212365). This technology enables a user to print out a document with a nice layout. In this way, technologies related to layout have been realized from a variety of approaches.
However, since the "2-in-1" function and reduction function mentioned above reduce the print-out size of all of the data, there is the problem that parts of particular importance in the data are not printed out at a favorable size. Also, the technology mentioned above that adjusts the layout cannot be easily applied for the purpose of sheet saving, since it involves fine adjustment such as interlinear space adjustment.
In addition, when a Web page displayed on a monitor of a PC (Personal Computer) is printed, there is the problem that many sheets are used up in printing out the required information due to the presence of many blank parts normally included on the Web page relative to real content parts to be printed. If the conventional sheet-saving technologies mentioned above are used to print a Web page, it is not possible to change the size ratio of the blank parts to the real content parts, and therefore a large saving of sheets cannot be achieved.

Image processing system, image forming apparatus, control method for the same, and program for implementing the control method


A production method for a magnetic recording medium including forming thin films on a substrate using a sputtering method with a target, wherein the target on which an annular-shaped erosion area is formed during sputtering and a substrate holder on which a plurality of substrates are mounted are installed, opposed in parallel, in a manner such that center axes of the target and the substrate holder align with each other, and the substrates are mounted on the substrate holder in positions such that R3/R1 is 1.1 or smaller and R4 is R2 or greater to form thin films.

Recently, the packing density of hard disk drives (HDDs), which are a magnetic recorder and reproducing devices, has improved considerably, and now even the packing density of mass-produced HDDs has reached 80 Gbpsi (gigabits per square inch). Thus, even small HDDs have high capacity. For example, 80 Gbpsi can realizes a capacity of 6 GB for a 1-inch HDD.
Realizing high recording capacity for a small size of about 1 inch makes wide application to mobile applications such as mobile phones, mobile music players, and personal digital assistances (PDAs) possible. Already mobile music players on which a 1-inch HDD is mounted are being sold, and certain new markets have been developed.
For a magnetic recording medium for hard disk drives, a structure in which that metal films are laminated on a substrate for a magnetic recording medium by a sputtering method commonly known. Aluminum substrates and glass substrates are widely used as substrates for magnetic recording medium. Aluminum substrates consist of a mirror-polished base made of an Al—Mg alloy on which an alloy film consisting of a Ni—P type is formed by electroless plating, the alloy film being about 10 μm in thickness, and the surface thereof being further mirror-finished. Glass substrates are of two kinds, an amorphous glass and glass-ceramics. Glass substrates of each kind are mirror-finished.
In the hard disk drive for the magnetic recording medium now commonly used, a non-magnetic primary layer (an alloy of a Ni—Al type, Cr, an alloy of a Cr type or the like), a non-magnetic intermediate layer (an alloy of a Co—Cr or Co—Cr—Ta type or the like), a magnetic layer (an alloy of a Co—Cr—Pt—Ta or Co—Cr—Pt—B type or the like), and a protective layer (carbon or the like) are deposited in sequence on the glass substrate or the aluminum substrate, and a lubricating film which is composed of a liquid lubricant is formed thereon.
As for a method to efficiently produce the magnetic recording medium with a small diameter, for example, Patent Reference 1 discloses a method in which a plurality of small substrates are attached to a disk carrier and are formed by deposition simultaneously by sputtering, and Patent Reference 2 discloses a method in which a palette is rotated when a plurality of substrates are attached to the palette and are deposited simultaneously.
Patent Reference 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2002-280443
Patent Reference 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2000-265271
As disclosed in Patent Reference 1, a plurality of substrates are mounted on a substrate holder, and by performing film deposition on these substrates simultaneously, the productivity of a small magnetic recording medium can be enhanced; however, the properties of the produced magnetic recording medium vary with the surface. This is because a disk-like target and a center axis of a plurality of substrates do not align with each other, so that there is a distribution in film thickness deposited on the surface of the substrate. To solve these problems, the method disclosed in Patent Reference 2 rotates the substrate holder during the film deposition, however, the structure of the substrate holder becomes complex. Thus, plasma generated during sputtering becomes unstable, causing the properties of the magnetic film to decrease, and dust from a complex rotating structure causes production yields of the magnetic recording medium to decrease.

Production method for magnetic recording medium


A lighting device includes a carrier having at least one section that has a triangular cross section. The carrier includes at least one mounting portion on an edge of the triangular cross section, and a heat sink body portion adjacent to, and protruding sidewards from, the at least one mounting portion. At least one structure is mounted to the at least one mounting portion. The at least one structure includes at least one mounting face having an arrangement direction. The at least one lighting module is mounted along the arrangement direction on the at least one mounting face. The at least one light guide is optically coupled to the at least one lighting module.

Halogen lamps have been the default light source for many years for automotive head-lighting. However, current LED technology provides much better conversion efficiency and accurate beam pattern design possibilities. As a result, LED retrofit headlamps are seriously considered as a legal replacement for halogen headlamps. Besides better energy efficiency and higher luminous flux, life-time and early mortality of LED headlamps are also much better.
Although the share of new cars originally equipped with full LED headlamps increases year after year, the number of cars in use that are equipped with such halogen headlamps represents still more than 60% of the volume of headlamp bulbs in use. In terms of potential headlamp units replacement, that means a very large potential market is available for such retrofit headlamps.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


The present invention provides a method, a system, a node in a communications system and a computer program facilitating a data transmission from a push service provider that addresses data by an Internet protocol address to a receiver which is identified in a communications system by a subscriber identity different to the IP address. The subscriber identity is determined by use of a first portion of the IP address for a look-up of a first portion of the subscriber identity, and by an assignment of a second portion of the IP address to a second portion of the subscriber identity. The invention can be used for different IP address formats like IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. The invention can be used in GSM/GPRS systems, PDC/PPDC and UMTS systems.

The present invention relates generally to communications systems, and, more particularly, to techniques and structures for facilitating data transmission to a receiver which is identified in a communications system by at least two different address types.
Already known by EP 0 851 703 A2 are a method and apparatus for alerting a receiver in one network about a communication request from a second network. In the case of a packet communication request, a gateway accesses a database to translate an IP address, which is associated with a mobile station as the receiver of the intended data transmission, to a subscriber identity of the mobile station. Then, the gateway requests a mobile switching centre to send an alert to the subscriber identity.
The usage of communications equipment, particularly mobile communications equipment, for transmission of data rather than speech has become increasingly popular by consumers. So-called pull services that are generally well known like Web-Browsing in the Internet, Home Banking and Electronic Shopping experience an increasing usage. Pull services have in common, that a user or a user's network initiates the individual service session set-up. E.g., a user connects via PC, laptop or mobile phone to an access server of an Internet Service Provider, to a banking computer or to an application server in order to establish the requested service session.
Also, so-called push services are increasingly demanded. Examples of such services are the generally well known News Ticker, Stock Market Information or Traffic Jam Announcements. Push services have in common, that an application server hosting the individual service application or the service application itself initiates the individual service session set-up. E.g., if a share on the stock market reaches a predefined limit, a service session can be set-up to notify a subscriber of the service.
Furthermore, it becomes more and more common to use the above described services not only via fixed networks but also via cellular communications systems like the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) or the Personal Digital Cellular (PDC) system. Today, such systems provide a circuit switched data service, which can be used to interconnect with external data networks. The circuit switched data service is used for both circuit switched as well as packet switched data communication.
To make packet switched data communication more efficient, new packet switched data services are introduced in cellular communications systems, like General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) as a part of GSM, or Packet Personal Digital Cellular (PPDC) as a part of PDC. Such packet switched data services will allow inter alia packet switched communications supported by a connectionless protocol like the Internet Protocol (IP). GPRS is a GSM service, and parts of the GSM infrastructure will be used. The same applies to PPDC as a PDC service, where parts of the PDC infrastructure will be used.
Usually, in today's cellular communications systems a subscriber is identified for the internal business of the system by a subscriber identity, e.g. by an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) in GSM/GPRS and in PDC/PPDC. Inter alia, a system internal access to a subscriber profile and a locating of a subscriber is performed by use of such a subscriber identity. In contrast to this, in packet oriented communications networks that are based on the Internet Protocol (IP) both sender and receiver are identified by IP addresses. Therefore, in order to provide IP based packet switched data services cellular communications systems have to deal with two different address types, namely the IMSI and the IP address.
In the case of pull services applies a terminal originating scenario. The subscriber initialises a data session by sending a service request to a service provider, e.g. an application server, web server or bank computer. The service request is addressed by an IP address known by the subscriber that identifies the service provider. Alternatively and more convenient for the subscriber, the request can be addressed to a host name given in plain language. Then, a Domain Name Server (DNS) is used to lookup for a corresponding IP address that identifies the service provider, respectively the host. For details about the DNS, reference is made to Fred Halsall, 'Data Communications, Computer Networks and Open Systems', Addison-Wesley, 4th edition 1997, pp. 758, 767, 816–820.
An Internet Protocol header comprises apart from the recipient's address also the sender's address in the IP address format. This sender's IP address can be assigned either statically or dynamically in the cellular communications system. E.g., the IP address can be statically stored in a read-only memory (ROM) of the mobile terminal, or it can be assigned from a pool of addresses dynamically on demand for one data session. Therefore, in the case of the pull service scenario, the communications system knows the subscriber's IP address, particularly for a certain data session. With this knowledge, the communications system can easily transmit data packets directed to the subscriber's IP address to the subscriber that are sent during the data session from the service provider.
In the case of a push service applies a terminal terminating scenario. A solution known from the state-of-the-art for offering push services is the use of the so-called Short Message Service (SMS). E.g., today's GSM systems offer SMS as a teleservice. SMS provides a point-to-point transmission of short text messages to or from a subscriber. Furthermore, it enables short text messages to be broadcast, e.g. at regular intervals, to all subscribers in a given geographical area. On the one hand, SMS provides an easy information delivery to a subscriber. On the other hand, SMS as a bearer for push services has some limits. The amount of data that can be transmitted by a short message is limited. Furthermore, IP based packet data sessions are not supported as such. The use of a gateway that converts IP based packet data to short messages causes some overhead and additional cost.


A passive therapy device to facilitate range-of-motion in the human hand, wrist, or forearm after surgery, trauma, rehabilitative therapy, or other events that resulted in limited wrist motion or stiffness. This device facilitates wrist therapy by utilizing gravity and leverage. The therapy device includes two generally isosceles triangular rigid sides functioning as top and bottom, joined by and narrowing to a point via a sandwiched solid wedge, a hand strap and wrist strap of a strong, soft material on the outside of the top rigid side. This device provides therapy to restricted tissue in the human hand, wrist, or forearm while applying passive tension during rehabilitation. Readily converting from supination or pronation therapy to extension or flexion therapy, and radial or ulnar deviation, the device can be used on the right or left hand. This invention provides a low cost, effective and simple to use wrist rehabilitation device.

Where there is injury to the hand, wrist or forearm, often immobilization is required. After immobilization, the hand, wrist or forearm are stiff. In view of this fact, it would be desirable to bring flexibility back to the stiff joints as quickly as possible. This invention accomplishes this objective.
In recent years it has become evident that the rehabilitation and treatment of injured joints can be expedited by use of passive motion of the joint. Passive motion entails inducing movement of certain limb portions without requiring muscle coordination or control by a patient's injured hand or wrist. Studies have shown passive motion of joints accelerates healing and recovery time.
On Jan. 8, 2011, I fell 15 feet onto a hard surface. Among the numerous broken bones were multiple compound fractures in my left wrist. During the healing process my doctor suggested that I begin therapy. Initially the goal was supination and pronation, then later flexion, extension, radial and ulnar deviation. The method suggested to achieve this goal, was to hold a hammer with my injured hand, by the handle and allow the weight of the hammer to stretch the soft tissue. This did not work very well. The handle of the hammer was difficult to hold. I thought there must be a better way. The better way, which I personally invented, is the device for which I am seeking patent protection. During a USPTO search, I found numerous other inventions with similar claims to improve range of motion such as Hepburn et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,740,051, Doran U.S. Pat. No. 6,179,799, and Bennett U.S. Pat. No. 6,443,874 to name a few. Most inventions I found were complicated, cumbersome, or cost prohibitive. I believe my invention overcomes those obstacles as well as offering additional therapeutic features.


Heatsinks for microcircuit packages are formed by first mold-pressing a composite powder of free-flowing spray-dried particles of copper and at least one other denser material such as tungsten and/or molybdenum breakably agglutinated in nodules grouping sub-nodules of surface alloyed pairs of particles of each metal, the proportions of which are adjusted to match the thermal expansion characteristics of the microcircuit material. The pressed compacts are then heated in a sintering furnace at 1090.degree. C. to 1150.degree. C. in order to effect an homogeneous distribution of the melting copper throughout the structure. The process results in a readily usable component having good thermal conductivity and matched thermal expansion that requires no further machining.

The invention offers an improvement to the method for making heat-dissipating elements for microelectronic devices disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,413,751 Polese et al., which patent is incorporated herein and made part of the present disclosure by this reference.
The aforesaid patent taught a novel and non-obvious process illustrated in FIG. 1 in the manufacture of heat-dissipating components by powder metallurgy. The process began with preclustering 10 the metal particles of metal having different densities and melting points to yield a free-flowing composite powder that allowed direct pressing 11 and sintering 12 of a powder compact 13 into the near-shape of the desired component 14. The invention avoided the time-consuming and expensive processes of cutting and machining the components from a composite block made by the prior art copper-infiltration process as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,680,618 Kurada et al. However, components made according to the aforesaid method have been found to exhibit surface accumulation of copper. It appears that during the sintering process, copper bleeds out of the outer layer of the compact due to an excessive capillarity phenomenon and concentrate on the periphery of the component. The excess copper tends to cause plating blisters during the brazing process, severely affect the coefficient of thermal expansion at the surface of the heat-dissipating component.
In spite of the grinding and lapping, remaining porous surface areas from which the copper had bled away would occasionally cause pitting during the plating process.
It was found necessary to remove the excess copper by abrasion and even grind away the subcutaneous layer from which the bleeding copper had been drawn. Thus, the heat-sink element could only be pressed and sintered to a near-net shape, preferably slightly oversize. Their top and bottom surfaces must then be ground 15, their sides lapped 16 down to net shape and holes and cavities 19 machined 17 before plating 18.
The instant invention results from a search for a more efficient process that avoids the surface bleeding of the copper.

Heat-dissipating substrate for micro-electronic devices and fabrication method


A smart lead-acid battery charging/discharging management system comprised of one or a plurality of identical smart battery unit with each including a controller, a lead-acid battery, and a sensor switch device working together with a alternator and a voltage regulator to upgrade charging efficiency, achieve consistent capacity among batteries, and isolate malfunctioning or failing battery to extend service life of the battery.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a smart lead-acid charging-management system, and more particularly, to one focusing on management of multiple lead-acid batteries that upgrades charging efficiency and extends service life of the lead-acid battery by an automatically created master-slave system controlled by a primary device to charge those batteries one by one by turns to maintain activated status of plate in the course of charging each battery unit under lower source demand.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
Disregarding a very remarkable achievement reported in R&D of new types of secondary battery (including Ni-MH and Lithium-Ion batteries) during nearly a decade, primary applications of those new secondary batteries remain focusing on providing compact and portable sources needed in Notebook, cellular phone, personal digital assistance (PDA), and other communication equipments; however, starting, lighting, and ignition (SLI) systems still rely upon a lead-acid battery. As oil price soars highly and consecutive launching of hybrid vehicle, lead-acid batteries remain an only selection for the hybrid vehicle mainly due to that the already merchandised secondary battery has not yet offered advantages of cheaper price, matured technology, safe and reliable, and recyclable as found with the lead-acid battery. It is estimated that the status of the lead-acid battery remains unshakable in the coming decade. Furthermore, continuous outstanding improvements have been made to the lead-acid battery either in density of energy, density of power or life cycle thanks to inputs of new technologies and materials.
Having lead-acid battery as a standby energy source for mobile transportation carriers (e.g., long-distance trucks and yachts) to serve as source of power for internal equipments of the transportation carriers while they are not moving so to prevent oil consumption and air pollution caused by otherwise continuously running engines. At present, a framework of the lead-acid battery as a standby energy source operates on multiple batteries connected in parallel to increase capacity is and instantaneous output energy. Partial energy is induced to charge lead-acid battery while delivering power to internal equipments of the carrier through alternator and voltage regulator devices. Whereas transient surge created by changed instantaneous load and absence of management of charging/discharging result in over discharging or over charging, and the service life of lead-acid battery actually consumed usually fails to reach half of its nominal life cycle.
To maintain effective charging efficiency for the lead-acid battery plate within the framework of multiple batteries connected in parallel, conventional approaches require power supply that is sufficient for distribution to each battery and consequently output power of the alternator must be relatively upgraded. Whereas whether the battery is fully charged should be judged by terminal voltage at the battery, the conventional framework of batteries in parallel prevents judging the charging status of a battery or isolating any malfunctioning battery. The presence of any failed battery not only wastes charging energy but also generates heat that seriously affects service life of the battery. Therefore, developing a smart battery management system for providing optimal charging method, judging health status of each battery, balancing capacities among batteries, isolating failed battery, and providing information on use status of the battery is an important way to upgrade life cycle of the lead-acid battery.

Smart lead acid battery charging/discharging management system


The invention relates to a method of Dixon-type MR imaging. It is an object of the invention to provide a method that enables efficient and reliable water/fat separation using bipolar readout magnetic field gradients and avoids flow-induced leaking and swapping artifacts. According to the invention, an object (10) is subjected to an imaging sequence, which comprises at least one excitation RF pulse and switched magnetic field gradients, wherein two echo signals, a first echo signal and a second echo signal, are generated at different echo times (TE1, TE2). The echo signals are acquired from the object (10) using bipolar readout magnetic field gradients. A first single echo image is reconstructed from the first echo signals and a second single echo image is reconstructed from the second echo signals. A zero echo time image is computed by extrapolating the phase of the first single echo image at each voxel position to a zero echo time using the phase difference between the first and the second single echo image at the respective voxel position. Flow-induced phase errors are identified and estimated in the zero echo time image, and the phase of the first single echo image is corrected according to the estimated flow-induced phase errors. Finally, a water image and/or a fat image are reconstructed from the echo signals, wherein signal contributions from water and fat to the echo signals are separated using the phase-corrected first single echo image and the second single echo image. Moreover, the invention relates to a MR device (1) and to a computer program to be run on a MR device (1).

Image-forming MR methods which utilize the interaction between magnetic fields and nuclear spins in order to form two-dimensional or three-dimensional images are widely used nowadays, notably in the field of medical diagnostics, because for the imaging of soft tissue they are superior to other imaging methods in many respects, do not require ionizing radiation and are usually not invasive.
According to the MR method in general, the body of the patient to be examined is arranged in a strong, uniform magnetic field B0 whose direction at the same time defines an axis (normally the z-axis) of the co-ordinate system on which the measurement is based. The magnetic field B0 produces different energy levels for the individual nuclear spins in dependence on the magnetic field strength which can be excited (spin resonance) by application of an electromagnetic alternating field (RF field) of defined frequency (so-called Larmor frequency, or MR frequency). From a macroscopic point of view the distribution of the individual nuclear spins produces an overall magnetization which can be deflected out of the state of equilibrium by application of an electromagnetic pulse of appropriate frequency (RF pulse) perpendicular to the z-axis, so that the magnetization performs a precessional motion about the z-axis. The precessional motion describes a surface of a cone whose angle of aperture is referred to as flip angle. The magnitude of the flip angle is dependent on the strength and the duration of the applied electromagnetic pulse. In the case of a so-called 90° pulse, the spins are deflected from the z-axis to the transverse plane (flip angle 90°).
After termination of the RF pulse, the magnetization relaxes back to the original state of equilibrium, in which the magnetization in the z direction is built up again with a first time constant T1 (spin-lattice or longitudinal relaxation time), and the magnetization in the direction perpendicular to the z direction relaxes with a second time constant T2 (spin-spin or transverse relaxation time). The variation of the magnetization can be detected by means of receiving RF coils which are arranged and oriented within an examination volume of the MR device in such a manner that the variation of the magnetization is measured in the direction perpendicular to the z-axis. The decay of the transverse magnetization is accompanied, after application of, for example, a 90° pulse, by a transition of the nuclear spins (induced by local magnetic field inhomogeneities) from an ordered state with the same phase to a state in which all phase angles are uniformly distributed (dephasing). The dephasing can be compensated by means of a refocusing pulse (for example a 180° pulse). This produces an echo signal in the receiving coils.
In order to realize spatial resolution in the body, constant magnetic field gradients extending along the three main axes are superposed on the uniform magnetic field B0, leading to a linear spatial dependency of the spin resonance frequency. The signal picked up in the receiving coils then contains components of different frequencies which can be associated with different locations in the body. The signal data obtained via the receiving coils correspond to the spatial frequency domain and are called k-space data. The k-space data usually include multiple lines acquired with different phase encoding. Each k-space line is digitized by collecting a number of samples. A set of k-space data is converted to an MR image, e.g., by means of Fourier transformation.
In MR imaging, it is often desired to obtain information about the relative contribution of water and fat to the overall signal, either to suppress the contribution of one of them or to separately or jointly analyze the contribution of both of them. These contributions can be calculated if information from two or more corresponding echoes, acquired at different echo times, is combined. This may be considered as chemical shift encoding, in which an additional dimension, the chemical shift dimension, is defined and encoded by acquiring two or more MR images at slightly different echo times. For water/fat separation, these types of experiments are often referred to as Dixon-type of measurements. By means of Dixon MR imaging or Dixon water/fat MR imaging, a water/fat separation is achieved by calculating contributions of water and fat from two or more corresponding echoes, acquired at different echo times. In general such a separation is possible because there is a known precessional frequency difference of hydrogen in fat and water. In its simplest form, water and fat images are generated by either addition or subtraction of the 'in-phase' and 'out-of-phase' datasets.
Several Dixon-type MR imaging methods have been proposed in recent years. Apart from different strategies for the water/fat separation, the known techniques are mainly characterized by the specific number of echoes (or 'points') they acquire and by the constraints that they impose on the used echo times. Conventional so-called two- and three-point methods require in-phase and opposed-phase echo times at which the water and fat signals are parallel and antiparallel in the complex plane, respectively. Three-point methods have gradually been generalized to allow flexible echo times. Thus, they do not restrict the angle or phase between the water and fat signals at the echo times to certain values anymore. In this way, they provide more freedom in imaging sequence design and enable in particular a trade-off between signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) gains from the acquisition and SNR losses in the separation. On the other hand, sampling only two instead of three echoes is desirable to reduce scan time. Eggers et al. (Magn. Reson. Med., 65:96-107, 2011) have proposed a dual-echo flexible Dixon-type MR imaging method. Using such Dixon-type MR imaging methods with flexible echo times, in-phase and opposed-phase images are no longer necessarily acquired, but optionally synthesized from water and fat images.
Flow is known to be a cause of artifacts in Dixon water/fat imaging. These artifacts result when the phase of the MR signal at a given voxel position accrues by moving water molecules and is misinterpreted by the Dixon reconstruction algorithm according to the signal model used, such that a fraction of the MR signal that should appear in the water image is inappropriately allocated to the fat image for voxels that contain the moving water molecules.
Various strategies can be used in Dixon imaging for acquiring echo signals at two different echo times, including: (i) dual-pass strategies, wherein each echo signal is acquired separately after an excitation RF pulse using a positive amplitude readout magnetic field gradient, (ii) fly-back strategies, wherein both echo signals are acquired after the same excitation RF pulse using a positive amplitude readout magnetic field gradient in combination with a negative amplitude re-winder magnetic field gradient, and (iii) bipolar strategies, wherein both echo signals are acquired after the same excitation RF pulse, one echo being acquired using a positive amplitude readout magnetic field gradient and the other echo being acquired using a negative amplitude readout magnetic field gradient.
Bipolar strategies permit good sampling efficiency and allow for relatively long readout times, but they suffer from several phase errors. In particular, bipolar gradients are known to be flow sensitizing because they lead to a phase offset in the MR signals of moving spins proportional to the velocity of the spins in the direction of the readout magnetic field gradient in the first echo, or in general the odd echoes. In Dixon water/fat separation methods, flow-induced phase offsets can be a source for undesired misallocations of signals between fat and water images (see Rahimi et al., Magn. Reson. Med., 73:1926-1931, 2015). It is thus an object of the invention to provide a method that enables efficient and reliable Dixon water/fat separation using bipolar strategies and avoids flow-induced leaking and swapping artifacts.

Dual-echo dixon-type water/fat separation MR imaging


Ice in a fuel cell (1) is thawed by passing a hot gas flow in a fuel gas passage, oxidizing agent gas passage and cooling liquid passage in the fuel cell (1), and the fuel cell (1) is started from a low temperature state. When startup processing begins, a gas flow comprising dry, hot gas in which there is no water or effectively no water is passed through the fuel cell (1), and subsequently, a steam amount contained in the gas flow is increased according to the temperature rise of the fuel cell (1).

A polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) comprises a membrane known as a "MEA" comprising an anode and cathode formed by superimposing a catalyst and a gas diffusion electrode layer on both sides of a polymer electrolyte membrane, and a carbon or metal bipolar plate in which passages are formed for supplying fuel gas and oxidizing agent gas to these electrodes.
In order for the PEFC to generate power, the above polymer electrolyte membrane must contain moisture, so to ensure that the membrane retains moisture, the fuel gas and oxidizing agent gas supplied to the fuel cell are normally humidified. Pure water is also produced at the cathode when power is generated, so the oxidizing agent passage contains moisture. Normally, the fuel cell has a passage for circulating a cooling fluid to cool the heat which is generated, and pure water may be used as the cooling fluid. In a fuel cell where the gases are humidified and the water produced is recovered by interconnecting the cooling fluid passage, fuel gas passage and oxidizing agent gas passage via a porous member, the cooling fluid passage and porous member interior also contain water.
Therefore, water is contained in various parts of the fuel cell, and if the fuel cell is left for a long time in an environment below freezing point when it is not running, the water inside the fuel cell freezes. Hence, if the fuel cell is started from this state, the ice in the fuel cell must be thawed.
JP 2000-315514A published by the Japanese Patent Office in 2000 proposes a method of thawing the ice in the fuel cell by passing a hot gas into the fuel cell passages (fuel gas passage, oxidizing agent gas passage, cooling fluid passage).


Organizations may comprise a variety of resources that are assigned to various organizational units, and allocated for various projects or tasks. A user who wishes to understand the organizational structure of the resources may examine information sources, such as resource manifests and resource access logs, and interpret such information with the user's knowledge of the organization, but may fail to achieve a comprehensive, accurate, and up-to-date understanding of the organization. Instead, interactions among users and resources may be monitored to infer organizational structure; assignment of resources to organizational units; relationships among resources; and usages arising within such resource relationships. Based on such inferences, an interactive visual map may be automatically generated that depicts the arrangement of the organization and the interrelationships of the resources. A user may interact with the visualized resources, such as changing the time range or level of detail, or selecting resources to view usage information.

Within the field of computing, many scenarios involve a presentation of a set of resources of an organization, such as a manifest of servers that communicate over an organization network. The manifest of servers enables a user to review the number, arrangement, and composition of the resources, as well as details of each resource, such as its role and the context of its use. The manifest may be generated by a user (e.g., by preparing a detailed database of relevant information about each resource) or by automated techniques (e.g., by performing a network scan and storing the details reported by each device, such as its IP address, hardware and software configuration, and capabilities such as available storage and bandwidth). Further information may be determined, e.g., based upon a resource access log that indicates interactions between resources of the organization. A user may then review the resource manifest and the resource access log, in the context of the user's understanding of the organization (e.g., its hierarchical structure, the organizational units, personnel, and projects that may own, manage, utilize, or otherwise have an association with each resource), and may therefore achieve a greater understanding of the pairing of the resources with the structure and activities of the organization.

Inference-based visual map of organizational structure and resource usage


Methods and apparatus for managing a pool of I/O interfaces associated with one or more I/O devices are disclosed. The I/O bandwidth utilization of the I/O devices is ascertained and compared with an upper threshold and a lower threshold. When the I/O bandwidth utilization is greater than the upper threshold, the resources provided by the pool of I/O interfaces are increased. When the I/O bandwidth utilization is less than the lower threshold, the resources provided by the pool of I/O interfaces are decreased.

Most modern computer systems include the capability to limit power consumption by suspending or hibernating the system as a whole when the system is not in use. Some operating systems also include the capability to reduce the power levels for some system components. For instance, the power that is provided to the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer system may be reduced. As another example, the display screen may be dimmed to conserve power consumption by the computer system.
Power consumption may be similarly controlled with respect to different types of Input/Output (I/O) functionality including but certainly not limited to Ethernet, ATM, Fibre Channel, Infiniband, SCSI, etc. Data is typically transmitted and received across an I/O interconnect via an interface (i.e., I/O interface) that can either be an embedded device or a host bus adapter. For instance, the interface may be a Network Interface Card (NIC), a SCSI card, Fibre Channel, ATM, Myranet, InfiniBand, USB, Firewire (1394), etc. While some systems include a single interface for a particular I/O technology, computer systems in a server environment often include multiple interfaces. In order to reduce the power consumption associated with the interfaces, each individual interface may be powered on, powered down or powered to an intermediate state (e.g. card powered on but PHY powered off). In other words, the power consumption of each interface is individually managed.
In view of the above, it would be beneficial if power consumption associated with a pool of resources such as interfaces of a given I/O technology could be accomplished in a more effective manner.

Dynamic power management for I/O resource pools


A system for applying motion capture data to a character motion hierarchy provides a more accurate motion representation. The position of certain nodes in a motion hierarchy are modified to allow application of motion data to a character having a different physiology than that of the motion capture subject. The present invention provides the ability to modify the angular information of individual motion hierarchy nodes and segments based on translational information associated with the source hierarchy. This provides a continuity of motion in the resulting motion representation that is not available with conventional motion processing methods.

A character's motility is proscribed according to the geometry represented by the character's skeleton, which comprises a set of nodes and their interrelationships referred to as `segments`). A skeleton, whether it be associated with character motion or motion capture, can be thought of in one respect as a hierarchy, with a single root node to which the remaining nodes are related. A character is designed around a motion hierarchy which is developed in such a way as to best represent the character's structure and range of motion. In the same way, a hierarchy of inter-related nodes is implied in motion capture data (and generally correlates to the placement of the sensors). In one embodiment of the present invention, each individual segment of the respective hierarchies exists in a local coordinate system which is oriented to that segment and its associated node.
To represent the character as a single entity the position and alignment of each segment of the character's motion hierarchy (and the motion capture hierarchy) must be oriented to a single global coordinate system. This can be accomplished in several ways. One is to align each node's local coordinate system directly with the global coordinate system. This method, however, masks the interrelationship of the segments. A second method is to orient a single central segment, the root of the hierarchy, to the global coordinate system and then correlate the remaining segments in parent-child pairs by associating each segment (child) with the adjoining segment on the rootward end (parent). Segments are associated by aligning the local coordinate system of the child segment with the local coordinate system of the respective parent segment.
One method of using motion capture data to give motion to a character consists of transforming the motion capture hierarchy to align with the character's motion hierarchy, thereby transforming the motion data to apply to the character. A transformation is a mathematical description of this alignment of coordinate systems. Each node of the character motion hierarchy tree represents a transformation from the local coordinate system of one segment to the local coordinate system of the adjacent segment. A transformation is defined in terms of adjustments to rotation, translation, and scaling characteristics. Each transformation occurs in its own reference frame or context. A transformation is "local" when its reference frame is relative to the transformation of its parent node. A "global" transformation is one where its reference frame is relative to the world coordinate system. When the second method of node alignment described above is used, inner nodes of the character motion hierarchy are thus local transformations when considered individually. The root of the hierarchy is always global because it has no parent. The root node anchors the character in terms of the world coordinate system. A global position can be determined for any given node by concatenating the local transformation of that node with the local transformation of its parent, then concatenating the result with the local transformation of its parent's parent, and so on, until the root node is reached and its transformation (which is always global by definition) is concatenated.
Motion data by definition includes an inherent structure or skeleton. In order to emulate motion in a simple one-object system, the object's skeleton is defined in terms of the interrelationships of a collection of nodes. FIG. 1 shows a simple object skeleton consisting of nodes 101-110. For each point in time, each node has an (x,y,z) position and associated segment information. In some systems the (x,y,z) positions are absolute positions in a universal coordinate system 150. In other systems the skeleton is set up as a tree-like structure, with a single root node (101 in the example shown) positioned in a universal coordinate system. The locations of the remaining nodes 102-110 are offsets measured from the node next closer to the root node on that particular branch of the tree. This is also described as a parent-child relationship. For example, for one of the legs of the skeleton shown in FIG. 1, in a first-level parent-child association the position of node 102 (the child) is defined in terms of root node 101 (the parent). In a like manner, a second level parent-child relationship exists where the position of node 103 (the child) is defined in terms of node 102 (a parent in this relationship).
A character defined in this manner is made to "move" by changing the relationships between some or all of the nodes for each of a series of time slices. At each point in time (time slice), then, the position (or "translation") of any one node (the child node) may be described in terms of the translation of the node next closest to the root node (the parent node) and the node's rotation and scale relative to the parent. "Translation" identifies the node's position in an (x, y, z) coordinate system. "Rotation" refers to radial motion about a central point. Rotation data identifies the child node's alignment within a stated coordinate system at a particular point in time, the parent node serving as the rotation point. "Scale" refers to the spatial relationship between the two nodes. A change in any one or more of these aspects from one time slice to the next is what brings the perception of motion to the skeleton. Motion data can thus be described numerically as a succession of changes in the translation, rotation and scale of a set of nodes.
Data for giving motion to a character is derived in a number of ways. It may be manufactured by hand, but this is a very tedious process and is generally used for only the most simple of motions. One common method, referred to as motion capture, is to affix sensors at node locations of a movable object (such as a person) and then "capture" the motion by recording the change in sensor positions in fixed increments of time as the motion capture subject emulates the motions which the character is to embody. If the character to which the motion data is to be applied (the `target`) is based on a skeleton (the entire framework of nodes and segments) which is physiologically identical to the motion capture skeleton (the `source`) the motion data can be applied to the character more or less directly by aligning the source skeleton nodes to the corresponding target skeleton nodes with little or no transformation required.
However, where the character is based on a skeleton which only approximates the source skeleton or which has significant variances from the source skeleton, further transformation of the motion data must be performed in order to effectively assign the captured motion data to the character. One method of transforming motion capture data between disparate skeletons is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/678,670, filed Jul. 11, 1996 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. According to this method, the root node of the target skeleton is aligned with the root node of the source skeleton. All elemental position changes are then described in terms of the root node. The other nodes of either skeleton branch out from the root in a tree-like fashion. The motion for each node is defined in terms of its relationship ("child") to the next node in the direction of the root ("parent"). This method allows scaling and other techniques to be applied to any child node, thus enabling transfer of motion from one skeleton to another skeleton with different segment dimensions.
While this technique resolves some of the issues surrounding the ability to maintain the proper relationship between adjoining segments, limitations remain in conventional motion data processing techniques. One limitation is that conventional systems are ill-equipped to handle target skeletons which contain one or more segments which differ significantly from those of the source system. One example would be where the leg segments of the source system are essentially equal in length, while in the target system the upper leg length is significantly shorter than the lower leg length. FIG. 2A shows the position of the foot node 105 of the source skeleton as the lower leg moves through a sequence of angles. FIG. 2B shows how a conventional transformation of the motion data to a leg of different proportions would result in the leg segment 205 no longer attaching to the foot node 105.
A process referred to as "inverse kinematics" (IK) is one partial solution that has been developed in an attempt to address the problem of matching the motion and placement of nodes(such as end effectors) with their associated segments when the target skeleton differs physiologically from the source skeleton. IK reconstructs segment motion according to modifying the angular characteristics of a node using mathematical estimation.
There are, however, limitations in this solution. At a basic level, IK allows the user to identify a best fit for a segment at each time slice. Conventional IK, however, starts with the segment position and then recalculates the associated angles according to established mathematical models. Since there are an infinite number of solutions possible for any give point in time, it becomes a trial-and-error process to find the appropriate value for each time slice. In addition, the angles for each succeeding point in time are independently derived. As a result discontinuities are introduced into the motion representation. What is needed is a way to transfer motion data between dissimilar structures without introducing inconsistencies into the resulting motion of the target structure. In addition, there is a need to apply adjustments to the motion capture data in such a way as to make the resulting data available to a wide range of motion-oriented applications, as conventional animation systems tends to perform IK differently and generally incompatibly.

Method and apparatus for processing full motion computer animation


A composition containing a silicone-containing polymer for cleaning fabric articles, especially articles of clothing, linen and drapery, with lipophilic fluid provides improved cleaning of soils while providing excellent garment care, especially for articles sensitive to water.

For the cleaning of fabric articles consumers currently have the choice of conventional laundry cleaning or dry cleaning.
Conventional laundry cleaning is carried out with relatively large amounts of water, typically in a washing machine at the consumer's home, or in a dedicated place such as a coin laundry. Although washing machines and laundry detergents have become quite sophisticated, the conventional laundry process still exposes the fabric articles to a risk of dye transfer and shrinkage. Significant portions of fabric articles used by consumers are not suitable for cleaning in a conventional laundry process. Even fabric articles that are considered "washing machine safe" frequently come out of the laundry process badly wrinkled and require ironing.
Dry cleaning processes rely on non-aqueous solvents for cleaning. By avoiding water these processes minimize the risk of shrinkage and wrinkling, however, cleaning of soils, particularly water-based and alcohol-based soils is very limited with these processes. Typically, the dry-cleaner removes such soils by hand prior to the dry-cleaning process. These methods are complex, requiring a wide range of compositions to address the variety of stains encountered, very labor intensive and often result in some localized damage to the treated article.
Accordingly there is an unmet need, in commercial laundry, in dry-cleaning and in the home, for cleaning compositions, which simultaneously provide acceptable cleaning across a variety of soils while remaining safe for a wide range of fabric articles.
Silicone-containing polymers functionalized with hydrogen bonding substituent groups selected from the group consisting of polyols, polyamines, and/or alkanolamines aid soil removal for washing processes using lipophilic fluids, especially decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (known as "D5"), and formulation of products for use therein.

Silicone polymers for lipophilic fluid systems