Disclosed in this specification is an assembly for bending the blade of a drywall knife. In one aspect of the invention, a first and second blade bender are each attached to a drywall knife and a force is applied. This force bends the blade in such a manner that an arcuate blade is produced. The magnitude of the bend is highly adjustable.

Conventional drywall is installed in segmented pieces. Each one of these segments is placed adjacent to other segments, thereby creating seams between the pieces. A great deal of work must be done to conceal these seams. A skilled operator is often required to apply multiple coats of filler material. The first coat of such filler is carefully worked into the seam or over tape which covers the seam. On each successive coat, the user must adjust the angle, pressure, and distance the drywall knife blade is offset from the seam. This multiple-step operation has been necessitated by the fact that the conventional knife is flat, while the joint compound formation it is used to create is curved. This multiple-step operation has also been necessitated by the propensity of the conventional knife to produce air pockets in the filler and to urge filler out the sides of the blade. Multiple coats of filler are applied such that a gradual, crowned (i.e. convex) surface of filler is placed over the seam. The thickest layer of filler is disposed directly over the seam or tape, and the thickness of the filler gradually decreases until it becomes flush with the wall. This gradual change in the thickness of the filler must be subtle enough that the casual observer will not take note of the filler material itself and instead see only an apparently flat wall. Thus, the spreading of the filler over the adjacent drywall sections, and the rest of the drywall sections, has been tedious, time consuming, and requires great skill.
The same conventional knife that has been used to apply the joint compound, or the like, to the tape and adjoining wall sections has also been used to spread plastic compounds to smooth surface irregularities on other planar surfaces. This can also be a tedious, time consuming, skill-requiring task due to the aforementioned characteristics of the conventional knife.
Previous attempts to address similar drywall related issues have been attempted in the prior art, but none has proven entirely satisfactory. Reference may be had to U.S. Pat. Nos. 109,073 to Steeter (Improvement in Corner Trowel); 952,971 to Wolary et al. (Trowel); 1,067,301 to Bricker (Trowel); 1,083,099 to Howg (Adjustable Plastering Trowel); 1,999,367 to McCorkle (Trowel); 2,178,899 to Shaffer (Trowel); 2,947,017 to Dybdahl (Wallboard Joint Finishing Tool); 2,968,057 to Pratt (Adjustable Contour Knife); 3,341,878 to Hubbard (Hand Finishing Tool); 3,878,581 to Perna (Finishing Tool for Wallboard Surfaces); 4,097,951 to Hurt (Spreader having integrally molded deformable handle and bendable blade); 4,253,214 to Bushee (Finish work trowel); 4,619,013 to Yon (Wall Corner Finishing Tool); 4,631,019 to House (Combination applicator and shaper for moldable materials); 4,731,258 to Liberman (Method for applying plaster and cement to wallboard and the like); 4,784,598 to Kranz (Drywall tool); 5,351,357 to Liberman (Spreader tool for applying bonding compounds to planar surfaces; and 6,880,198 to Hazard (Adjoining Surface Device for Working Viscous Materials). The content of each of the aforementioned patents is hereby incorporated by reference into this specification.
Each of these approaches are deficient in that none of the tools teach a method for bending existing drywall blades; instead a specialized blade must be purchased. Moreover, these approaches are deficient in that such tools fail to properly steer the filler material to the center of the blade, and thus are inefficient.
It is an object of this invention to provide at least one of the following:
(1) a blade bender configured to be attached to a drywall blade which acts so as to bend the blade at an adjustable angle. Such a blade bender is adapted to fit at least one commercially available drywall blade,
(2) a kit comprised of two substantially identical blade benders configured to bend the blade of a drywall knife,
(3) an assembly comprised of a drywall knife blade and two blade benders configured to bend the blade such that the blade achieves an arcuate edge,
(4) provide an arcuate drywall knife that is significantly less costly and more easily manufactured than prior art drywall knifes, and/or
(5) provide a tool that allows a user to apply filler compounds to a section of drywall wherein a lower level of skill is required.

Apparatus for producing an arcuate blade


An integrated circuit radio transceiver and method therefor is operable to determine a transmit scheme according to an ordered manner. More specifically, the system is operable to determine a transmit scheme that defines a signaling configuration that includes number of spatial streams, antenna configuration information, code rate, quadrature modulation type, and transmission protocol modulation scheme, transmitting a packet according to the transmit scheme and collecting packet error rate success and failure information of ongoing data transmissions.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to wireless communications and, more particularly, to circuitry and logic for generating outgoing communication signals.
2. Related Art
Communication systems are known to support wireless and wire lined communications between wireless and/or wire lined communication devices. Such communication systems range from national and/or international cellular telephone systems to the Internet to point-to-point in-home wireless networks. Each type of communication system is constructed, and hence operates, in accordance with one or more communication standards. For instance, wireless communication systems may operate in accordance with one or more standards, including, but not limited to, IEEE 802.11, Bluetooth, advanced mobile phone services (AMPS), digital AMPS, global system for mobile communications (GSM), code division multiple access (CDMA), local multi-point distribution systems (LMDS), multi-channel-multi-point distribution systems (MMDS), and/or variations thereof.
Depending on the type of wireless communication system, a wireless communication device, such as a cellular telephone, two-way radio, personal digital assistant (PDA), personal computer (PC), laptop computer, home entertainment equipment, etc., communicates directly or indirectly with other wireless communication devices. For direct communications (also known as point-to-point communications), the participating wireless communication devices tune their receivers and transmitters to the same channel or channels (e.g., one of a plurality of radio frequency (RF) carriers of the wireless communication system) and communicate over that channel(s). For indirect wireless communications, each wireless communication device communicates directly with an associated base station (e.g., for cellular services) and/or an associated access point (e.g., for an in-home or in-building wireless network) via an assigned channel. To complete a communication connection between the wireless communication devices, the associated base stations and/or associated access points communicate with each other directly, via a system controller, via a public switch telephone network (PSTN), via the Internet, and/or via some other wide area network.
Each wireless communication device includes a built-in radio transceiver (i.e., receiver and transmitter) or is coupled to an associated radio transceiver (e.g., a station for in-home and/or in-building wireless communication networks, RF modem, etc.). As is known, the transmitter includes a data modulation stage, one or more intermediate frequency stages, and a power amplifier stage. The data modulation stage converts raw data into baseband signals in accordance with the particular wireless communication standard. The one or more intermediate frequency stages mix the baseband signals with one or more local oscillations to produce RF signals. The power amplifier stage amplifies the RF signals prior to transmission via an antenna.
Typically, the data modulation stage is implemented on a baseband processor chip, while the intermediate frequency (IF) stages and power amplifier stage are implemented on a separate radio processor chip. Historically, radio integrated circuits have been designed using bi-polar circuitry, allowing for large signal swings and linear transmitter component behavior. Therefore, many legacy baseband processors employ analog interfaces that communicate analog signals to and from the radio processor.
In traditional transmission protocols, a plurality of transmit schemes may be defined that correspond to different transmission rates. A number of data rates for wireless orthogonal frequency division multiplex (OFDM) may be utilized based upon channel conditions. One problem, however, is that data robustness often decreases with increased data rates. Accordingly, a trade off exists between data rates and robustness. A need exists, therefore, for determining an appropriate data rate and associated transmit scheme for current channel conditions.

Transmit scheme adaptation for wireless data transmissions


Testing a TMR element includes a step of measuring initially a resistance value of the TMR element to provide the measured resistance value as a first resistance value, a step of measuring a resistance value of the TMR element after continuously feeding a current through the TMR element from a anti-substrate side to a substrate side for a predetermined period of time, to provide the measured resistance value as a second resistance value, and a step of evaluating the TMR element by comparing the first resistance value and the second resistance value with each other.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for testing a tunnel magnetoresistive effect (TMR) element such as a TMR head element using the tunnel magnetoresistive effect or a magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM).
2. Description of the Related Art
An evaluation test is in general performed for determining whether or not a thin-film magnetic head with a magnetoresistive effect (MR) head element is a non-defective product, during or after manufacturing the magnetic head. This evaluation test includes a stability test for confirming that any random telegraph noise (RTN) such as Barkhausen noise (BHN) is not produced from the MR head element, and a reliability test for confirming that a breakdown voltage of the MR head element is sufficiently high to withstand an extended period of use.
Actually, for all the MR head elements manufactured, performed is the stability test by using for example a dynamic performance (DP) tester to confirm that no reproduced output of the head elements exceeds a threshold level due to the RTN for a predetermined period of time. However, because the RTN is a burst noise, it may not be generated during the predetermined period of time. Even if the RTN is generated, it may not be detected due to its level lower than the threshold.
Japanese patent publication No. 2000-260012 discloses a testing method of a stability of a normal MR head element but not a TMR head element. In this method, change in the reproduced output from the MR head element is evaluated by repeatedly executing a step of applying both AC record current and external DC magnetic field to the MR head element and a step of measuring the reproduced characteristics after that application.
However, this testing method not only additionally needs a magnetic field generation device for applying the external DC magnetic field to the MR head element but also adversely affects a bias magnetic field of the MR head element due to the application of the external magnetic field. On top of that, it is difficult to detect the burst noise RTN with reliability even by this testing method.
As will be noted, the conventional reliability test of measuring a breakdown voltage of the magnetic head cannot be performed for all the magnetic heads because it breaks the magnetic head during the breakdown voltage measurement.
In order to solve such problems, the applicants of this application have proposed a testing method and apparatus for evaluating whether a TMR element is non-defective product or not by feeding a current through the TMR element from the substrate side or lower side to the anti-substrate side or upper side, and by comparing a rate of change from its initial resistance to its resistance after continuously feeding the current with a threshold (Japanese patent application No. 2004-062031, filed on Mar. 5, 2004, U.S. patent Ser. No. 11/070,237 by Shunji et al., filed on Mar. 3, 2005).
However, according to this testing method and apparatus, because it is necessary to determine the threshold value of the resistance-changing ratio each time the period for feeding the current, the voltage applied to the TMR element and the material for the TMR element change, the testing procedure becomes very complicated. Therefore, it is very difficult to evaluate whether each TMR element is a non-defective product or not.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for testing tunnel magnetoresistive effect element


A system and method for authenticating a plurality of items each of which has a respective readable validation reference, in which information is read from the validation references, one or more items of the items is identified based on information read by the reading means, and the information is verified by comparison with stored data relating to location, origin or ownership of the one or more items.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a remote authentication system for monitoring and control of marked items.
2. State of the Art
Counterfeiting causes loss of profits to Brand Owners through loss of sales and loss of reputation. A major factor in dealing with the problem is that it is often very difficult for consumers to detect counterfeit items.
Faulty goods often need to be recalled. The problem here is that manufacturers can seldom trace where their goods are at the time they need to be recalled.
Theft in the form of shoplifting in particular is a well-recognised problem within all areas of commercial retail. It is difficult to discover whether a thief is leaving the premises with stolen property, and to distinguish between goods which have been paid for and those which have not.
Parallel Importing costs manufacturers by undercutting the prices they set for a local market. It may also render them legally liable when goods intended for country "A" do not meet the legal standards set in country "B" where the price is higher and being undercut by parallel imports.
Inventory Control requires manufacturers to know how much stock of their product remains unsold within the supply chain; it is often difficult to achieve such knowledge.
The present invention aims to alleviate problems in this field.
PCT patent application WO99/04364-A1, which describes a method of verifying the authenticity of goods, includes generating one or more random codes and storing the one or more random codes in a database. The goods are then marked with one of the generated random codes such that each of the goods contains their own unique random code. A reading and processing method is used to read the random code carried by a marked item and compare this code against those stored in the database. If the random code is found to be valid, the processing method can determine (from information held in a local database) whether or not that code has been read previously on another marked item, thereby verifying that the item is authentic (or otherwise).
There are a number of problems and disadvantages associated with the above described arrangement. Firstly if, for example, a set of random codes were either duplicated, or generated and obtained illegitimately, and applied to a batch of counterfeit goods, the codes would still be found by the processing method to be valid and, in many cases, not previously read, thereby verifying the authenticity of goods which are in fact counterfeit. This problem is exacerbated by the difficulties inherently associated with updating a local database with, for example, all non-local sales of branded goods in real time.
Further, PCT patent application WO99/04364-A1 describes a method of detecting diversion of goods from a desired channel or channels of distribution. This method involves the generation of encrypted codes (each having a random portion and a non-random portion), which are applied to a batch of goods so that each item has its own unique encrypted code. The encryption of the codes is effected by an encryption key, each encryption key being unique to a particular channel or channels. Subsequently, within a particular channel of distribution, the various goods are inspected and it is verified whether the decryption key used on the code successfully reproduces the non-random portion which is uniquely dedicated for the channel distribution in question. Consequently, the method identifies whether a diversion of goods has occurred if the decryption key does not match that used on the inspected goods.
In other words, if a channel should be using Public Key (PK) A and a product is intercepted with a PK code B mark on it, the use of the wrong PK indicates that the product has been diverted from its proper distribution channel. This makes it necessary to store a large number of PK's in the supply chain's computers.
Further, the requirement for treating different channels of distribution separately makes the scheme unnecessarily expensive to implement, and each implementation must be tailored separately. In addition, the reliance, of decryption at the retail end in particular implies the need for special readers or dedicated local computer technology, which takes the adoption of the proposed scheme relatively expensive.
The scheme described in PCT patent application WO99/04364-A1, may include a tracking or similar function which may be implemented by including in the non-random portion a secret encrypted portion containing tracking information. The codes may subsequently be decoded to determine tracking information, such as whether a tax has been paid.
There are, however, a number of disadvantages associated with this. Using the tobacco industry's requirements as an example, the government would have to create a large number of codes, keep them secure and issue them in advance of such payment—not to manufacturers (who might be in a position to exert true security but to those who have to pay duty (at the point of sale). This results in several weaknesses. Firstly, there are tens of thousands of retail outlets that would have to acquire the relevant equipment to adopt this scheme, and each of these outlets would have to be supplied with sufficient unforgeable codes to apply to the goods (they cannot be pre-applied because, until bought, no tax has been paid). Secondly, the routine sales areas must therefore adopt security measures which are likely to be extremely unrealistic. Thirdly, consider the case where France, Israel and South Africa (for example) want to adopt the scheme; this poses the problem of whose code to use to prove that the correct tax has been paid. Finally, the prior art proposal requires a huge number of different codes to be created in order to deal with different purposes.
PCT patent application WO99/04364-A1 mentions the use of one-way hash functions, but still requires the use of combination codes and PK's. In WO99/04364-A1, a "hash" message is reconstructed by using a readable field until a match is found. However, this is quite time consuming and laborious. In a preferred aspect of the present invention, there is included a database in which is stored the original codes alongside their "hash" values. This "field" can be indexed so that the matching of "hash" values is substantially instantaneous (less than one second in over a billion records), just as it would be if one were searching for the original code.


A ferroelectric thin film element comprises a substrate and an epitaxial ferroelectric thin film provided on the substrate. The thin film satisfies z/z0>1.003 and 0.997≦x/x0≦1.003, where a crystal face of said thin film parallel to a crystal face of a surface of the substrate is taken as a Z crystal face, a face spacing of the Z crystal face is taken as z, a face spacing of the Z crystal face of a material constituting the thin film in a bulk state is taken as z0, a crystal face of the thin film perpendicular to the Z crystal face is taken as an X crystal face, a face spacing of the X crystal face is taken as x and a face spacing of the X crystal face of the material constituting the thin film in a bulk state is taken as x0.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ferroelectric thin film element, and more particularly to an element in which a spontaneous polarization of a ferroelectric thin film is involved in an improvement in device characteristics, such as a non-volatile memory. The present invention also relates to a piezoelectric actuator utilizing a piezoelectric property of an epitaxial film and a liquid discharge head equipped with a piezoelectric actuator unit of a configuration including such a piezoelectric actuator.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a memory medium for a non-volatile memory and the like, there is recently desired a memory apparatus employing a ferroelectric thin film having a high performance (hereinafter called ferroelectric memory). For securing optimal device characteristics and reproducibility in the ferroelectric memory, the ferroelectric thin film is required to have a large spontaneous polarization (residual polarization), a small temperature dependence of the residual polarization, and a small deterioration of inversion of polarization in repeated cycles.
As the ferroelectric material, lead zirconate titanate [Pb(Zr, Ti)O3] (also represented as PZT) is principally employed. PZT is a solid solution of lead zirconate and lead titanate, and a solid solution of a molar ratio of about 1:1 is considered to have a large spontaneous polarization, capable of inversion even under a weak electric field and excellent as a memory medium. As PZT has a relatively high transition temperature (Curie temperature) between a ferroelectric phase and a paraelectric phase of about 300° C. or higher, there is little concern that the memorized content is lost by heat in a temperature range in which ordinary electronic circuits are used (120° C. or lower).
However, even with an excellent ferroelectric thin film such as a PZT thin film, it is difficult to obtain satisfactory device characteristics in a ferroelectric thin film formed by a polycrystalline member, because of a distortion of physical properties at the crystal grain boundary. Therefore, in consideration of the device characteristics of the ferroelectric element, there is desired an epitaxial thin film as close to a complete single crystal as possible.
Also for integration of the ferroelectric devices, a thinner film formation of the ferroelectric thin film is effective, but in case a film thickness of the ferroelectric thin film becomes equal to or less than 100 nm, the spontaneous polarization of the ferroelectric thin film tends to be lost even if it is an epitaxial film, and a deterioration in the residual polarization or the fatigue resistance of the ferroelectric thin film becomes conspicuous. For this reason, in order to reduce the thickness of the ferroelectric thin film, certain measures are required for maintaining the spontaneous polarization of the ferroelectric thin film at a sufficiently high level.
In order to increase the spontaneous polarization of the ferroelectric thin film, there can be employed a method of utilizing a mismatch in the thermal expansion coefficient between the substrate and the ferroelectric thin film (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-186182), or a method of utilizing a misfit in the lattices of the substrate and the ferroelectric thin film (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-139292). These methods can cause a compression stress to be applied to the ferroelectric thin film, thereby increasing the spontaneous polarization of the ferroelectric thin film.
However the prior method of increasing the spontaneous polarization by applying a compression stress to the ferroelectric thin film, though capable of increasing the spontaneous polarization, cannot improve the deterioration in the residual polarization or the fatigue resistance of the ferroelectric thin film. It is estimated that a stress applied in the ferroelectric thin film along a planar direction of the substrate is significantly involved in the aforementioned deterioration of the characteristics of the ferroelectric thin film, and, in case a large compression stress is applied to the ferroelectric thin film in the prior method, the stress applied along the planar direction of the substrate acts on the ferroelectric thin film, thereby further increasing the deterioration in the characteristics of the ferroelectric thin film.
On the other hand, a printer utilizing an ink jet recording apparatus is widely popular as a printing apparatus for a personal computer or the like, because of satisfactory printing ability, simple handling and low cost. An ink jet head employed in such ink jet recording apparatus is a liquid discharge head for discharging ink, and is available in various types such as one generating a bubble in the ink by thermal energy and discharging an ink droplet by a pressure wave caused by such bubble, one suctioning and discharging an ink droplet by an electrostatic force, and one suctioning and discharging an ink droplet utilizing a pressure wave generated by an actuator having a vibrator such as a piezoelectric element or an electrostriction element.
A liquid discharge head utilizing a piezoelectric actuator generally has a pressure chamber communicating with a liquid supply chamber, and a liquid discharge port communicating with such pressure chamber, and, in a part of the pressure chamber, there is provided a vibrating plate on which the piezoelectric actuator is adjoined or directly formed. In the liquid discharge head of such configuration, a predetermined voltage is applied to the piezoelectric actuator to cause an extension-contraction motion of the piezoelectric element, thereby inducing a bending vibration and pressurizing the liquid in the pressure chamber to discharge a liquid droplet from the liquid discharge port.
A color ink jet recording apparatus is currently becoming popular, and there is being requested an improvement in the printing performance, particularly for a higher resolution and a higher printing speed. To this end, it is attempted to achieve a high resolution and high-speed printing by a multi-nozzle head structure through a miniaturization of the liquid discharge head for liquid discharge. For miniaturizing the liquid discharge head, it is necessary to reduce the dimensions of the piezoelectric actuator for liquid discharge.
In the liquid discharge head utilizing the piezoelectric actuator, a compact piezoelectric actuator has conventionally prepared by fine working, such as grinding and polishing, of a piezoelectric member prepared by sintering, but it is separately being investigated to develop an ultra-small piezoelectric actuator having a high precision by forming a piezoelectric member as a film and utilizing a fine working technology developed in the semiconductor field. Also, in view of achieving a higher performance, such a piezoelectric film is preferably a film having a single crystal structure or a crystal orientation property, and a heteroepitaxial growing technology is being actively developed.
Also, in the case of employing a ferroelectric member as a piezoelectric member, a large spontaneous polarization is one of the characteristics desired for the ferroelectric member. However, in the case of a film, a reduction in the film thickness of the ferroelectric film tends, even if the ferroelectric film is an epitaxial film, to lose the spontaneous polarization of the ferroelectric film, and certain measures are required for maintaining the spontaneous polarization of the epitaxial ferroelectric film at a sufficiently high level.
In order to increase the spontaneous polarization of the epitaxial ferroelectric film, as stated above, there can be employed a method of utilizing a mismatch in the thermal expansion coefficient between the substrate and the ferroelectric film (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-186182), or a method of utilizing a misfit in the lattices of the substrate and the ferroelectric film (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H08-139292). These methods can form an epitaxial ferroelectric film to which a compression stress is applied, thereby obtaining an epitaxial ferroelectric film with a high spontaneous polarization.
However, the prior method of forming an epitaxial ferroelectric film involving a compression stress therein to increase the spontaneous polarization thereby improving the piezoelectric property, though capable of increasing the spontaneous polarization, cannot resolve drawbacks such as deterioration in the characteristics of the piezoelectric actuator over the course of repeated uses or destruction of the piezoelectric actuator induced by a leak current at the application of voltage. It is estimated that a stress applied in the ferroelectric thin film along a planar direction of the substrate is significantly involved in the aforementioned deterioration in the characteristics and destruction of the piezoelectric actuator, and, in an epitaxial ferroelectric film prepared by the prior method and subjected to a large compression stress, the stress applied along the planar direction of the substrate acts on the ferroelectric thin film, thereby further increasing the deterioration of the durability characteristics of the piezoelectric actuator.

Ferroelectric thin film element, piezoelectric actuator and liquid discharge head


A display panel and a display device are provided. The display panel includes sub-pixels located in a display area, first and second substrate that are oppositely arranged, a first electrode layer, an antenna layer, and a magnet isolating layer including at least one magnet isolator. The first electrode layer is located at a side of the first substrate facing the second substrate, and a first electrode of the first electrode layer covers at least two sub-pixels in a first direction. The antenna layer includes at least one antenna including a multi-turn antenna coil. One magnet isolator corresponds to at least one antenna. Along a thickness direction of the display panel, the magnet isolating layer is disposed between the first electrode layer and the antenna layer. The magnet isolator is disposed between the first electrode and the antenna coil.

Near Field Communication (NFC) is researched and developed based on non-contact radio frequency identification technology in combination with wireless interconnection technology, and has gradually become a safe and fast way to communicate using various electronic products in our daily lives. Integrating NFC in mobile terminals to realize applications such as mobile payment, electronic ticketing, access control recognition, mobile identity recognition, and anti-counterfeiting has become a favored factor when consumers choose mobile terminals.
NFC mainly uses an antenna to realize transmission and interaction of a chip and an outside world through coupling of a magnetic field. A main way in which the NFC technology is applied to the mobile terminals is to install the NFC antenna on a flexible printed circuit board, then provide the flexible printed circuit board on a battery on back of the mobile terminal, and add a piece of ferrite between the battery and the flexible printed circuit board. However, when a metal shell is used as the back casing of the mobile terminal, the metal shell will shield a magnetic field, so NFC cannot be achieved, or signal is poor.

Xiamen Tianma Micro-Electronics Co., Ltd


A display control apparatus comprises a display control unit configured to display an image in each of a plurality of areas within a display screen, and a notifying unit configured to, when identical images are displayed in the plurality of areas, give a notification which indicates that the images are identical and not to give the notification when different images are displayed in the plurality of areas.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display control apparatus and display control method which can display an image in each of a plurality of areas within the same display screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a display control apparatus capable of displaying an image in each of a plurality of areas within the same display screen, an operation is improved for selecting an image to be displayed in each area. Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-091430, for example, discloses a technique of providing two image display areas in order to compare two images and two thumbnail image display areas for selecting one of the two images, thereby comparing these images and selecting one of them.
However, in the above-mentioned technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-091430, even if images in the same file are displayed in a plurality of areas within the same display screen, the user may not be able to identify as such. As a result, an erroneous process which is not intended by the user may be executed for this image.

Display control apparatus and display control method


The present invention relates to dimensionality reduction for machine learning (ML) models. Herein are techniques that individually rank features and combine features based on their rank to achieve an optimal combination of features that may accelerate training and/or inferencing, prevent overfitting, and/or provide insights into somewhat mysterious datasets. In an embodiment, a computer calculates, for each feature of a training dataset, a relevance score based on: a relevance scoring function, and statistics of values, of the feature, that occur in the training dataset. A rank based on relevance scores of the features is calculated for each feature. A sequence of distinct subsets of the features, based on the ranks of the features, is generated. For each distinct subset of the sequence of distinct feature subsets, a fitness score is generated based on training a machine learning (ML) model that is configured for the distinct subset.

Use of machine learning (ML), such as deep learning (DL), is rapidly spreading through industries and business units and is becoming a ubiquitous tool within some corporations. ML model training may be resource intensive of time and/or space of a computer. An ML model may be configured to process all features that occur in a dataset. However, processing of each feature may cost substantial computer resources. Efficiency may be increased when the ML model does not process some features. However, not all features are logically and/or logistically equal. Indeed, a performance increase may need intelligent selection of which features to process and which features to ignore.
Feature selection may have a strong impact on model performance (e.g., accuracy, f1 score, etc.). Selecting a model's optimal feature subset is exponentially hard and can be extremely time consuming especially for intricate datasets. Because there are 2{circumflex over ( )}n possible subset combinations (n=number of features), considering all possible subsets is infeasible. For example, a dataset may have a hundred thousand features.
The following are various previous approaches, all of which have a limited ability to manage the numerosity/combinatorics of possible feature subsets for a given dataset. Filter approaches, based on statistical analysis of feature values and perhaps ignoring the ML model itself, may be prone to deleting important features such as when a filter method or a threshold is inappropriate for the given dataset or ML model involved. With embedded approaches, which leave feature selection to the learning ability of the ML model, processing many features still results in a large model training time or a tendency to overfit, thereby detracting from the two main motivations for feature selection. A serious challenge for wrapper approaches, which treat an ML model as a black box whose sensitivity to features must be empirically explored, is defining feature subsets to evaluate. The main problem with most of the above approaches is their sequential nature. Horizontally scaled parallelism is impractical due to evaluating feature subsets, including model training and testing, in a sequential order. Additionally, an ideal number of features (i.e. target subset size) is typically unknown beforehand.

Automatic feature subset selection using feature ranking and scalable automatic search


A pin or nip layer sequence, especially for use as a color sensor in electrooptical components. The bond gap of a first intrinsic (i) layer closer to the light input side is greater than the bond gap of a second i layer adjacent to the first and further removed from the light input side. The new .mu..tau. product for the i layer furthest distant from the layer is greater than the .mu..tau. product of an i layer closer is the n layer.

The components known in of the art based upon amorphous silicon or its alloys are comprised of two antiserially-arranged pin or nip diodes for forming a pinip structure or a nipin structure. The diodes are here arranged substantially perpendicular to the incident light direction.
Such an nipin structure having a photosensitive electronic component based upon amorphous silicon is known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,047. It is known to optimize such a nipin structure with reference to the spectral sensitivity dependent on the voltage applied to this structure.
The incorporation of additional intrinsically conducting layers on both sides of the p-doped layer with a band gap between 1.74 eV and 1.9 eV, can improve the blue/green sensitivity in of an nip structure in the incident light direction or the red/green separation in a following pin structure in the incident light direction. (Q. Zhu, H. Stiebig, P. Rieve, J. Giehl, M. Sommer, M. Bohm, "NEW TYPE OF THIN FILM IMAGE SENSOR" in Sensors and Control for Advanced Automation, edited by M. Becker, R. W. Daniel, O. Loffeld, Proc. SPEI 2247 (1994) 301).
It is known to absorb blue light preferentially in the first intrinsically-conducting (i) layer, to absorb green light in the front part of the intrinsically-conducting layer and rear diode and to absorb red light by reduction of the .mu..tau. product in the rear part of the second intrinsically-conducting layer. For that purpose a nipin structure is used in which one or more additional intrinsic layers are provided. (H. Stiebig, J. Giehl, D. Knipp, P. Rieve, M. Bohm, AMORPHOUS SILICON THREE COLOR DETECTOR in MRS Symp. Proc. 377 (1995) 813 or H. Stiebig, C. Ulrichs, T. Kulessa, J. Folsch, F. Finger, H. Wagner, TRANSIENT PHOTOCURRENT RESPONSE OF A-SI:H BASED THREE COLOR NIPIN DETECTORS, in ICAS 16, Kobe, Japan, Sep. 4-8 1995). Here .tau. is the lifetime of the charge carrier generated by the instant light and .mu. is its mobility.
A disadvantage of the known components described is that only up to three linear independent structural sensitivity paths can be detected with this construction of the layer system. As a result a comparatively expensive superposition of these three independent signals is required for color image processing.

Three-color sensor with a pin or nip series of layers


A fuse holder and connecting assembly for fusing a circuit and connecting two insulated wires (13, 14), comprising a pair of tubular housing members (15L, 15R), each housing member having a connection chamber, a fuse chamber and a conductive member (W1) extending between the connection chamber and the fuse chamber. The conductive member having a bullet shaped portion (23') located in the connection chamber and a fuse engaging portion (61) located in the fuse chamber. A clamp member (31') having externally threaded surface for threaded engagement with the threaded interior wall of the connection chamber. The clamp member also having a throughbore which is adapted to receive a wire end which is to be connected to the bullet shaped end of the conductive member and clamp the wire end in the connection chamber.

In my application Ser. No. 08/720,912 I disclose a quick multiple connect electrical connector in which multiple blind connection chambers are provided. In a preferred embodiment of that invention, a bullet-shaped conductive member is fixedly secured in each connection chamber of a non-conductive female coupling, there being one connection chamber for each wire end to be connected. The internal walls of the connection chambers are threaded so that each connection chamber threadedly receives a non-conductive male coupling member. Each male coupling member has a bore therethrough which is shaped and configured similar to a bore and shaping of the non-conductive male coupling member as disclosed in my U.S. Pat. No. 5,228,875 for guiding the wire ends and clamping the wire ends to a common electrical conductor. The non-conductive male coupling member has a first end having a conically-shaped annular wall which is complementary to the conically-shaped or bullet end surface of the conductive metal connector member. The conically-shaped surfaces on the male coupling member and the metal conductor connector member are spaced a distance apart to receive the wire end so that when the bare end wires inserted into the bore, it is guided to the center of the bore and then splayed by the conically-shaped end surface of the metal connector and positioned between the spaced conical surfaces. Rotation of one of the male/female members relative to each other engages threads to reduce the distance and clamp the bare ends of the wire between the conical surfaces.
According to the present invention, the common connector member includes a fuseholder. According to the present invention, a pair of tubular housing members each having a connection chamber, a fuse chamber or portion thereof and a conductive member extending between the connection and fuse chamber, respectively. The conductive members have a bullet-shaped portion in the connection chamber and the fuse-engaging portion in the fuse chamber (or portion thereof). Thus, the non-conductive housing member is made in two parts with the housing having cooperating threaded ends (or other interlocking engagements), respectively, surrounding the fuse chamber portions.
Thus, the object of the invention is to provide an improved fuseholder and connector assembly for fusing a circuit and for connecting two insulated wires with the fuse assembly therebetween which is easy to use, results in secure wire clamping without use of tools of any kind and which is relatively low in cost.


The present invention relates to a driver device (30) for driving a load (32), in particular an LED unit (32) having one or more LEDs, comprising input terminals (45) for receiving an input voltage (V14) from an external power source (12) for powering the load (32), a current path (46) including a controllable switch (50) for connecting the input terminals (45) to each other, a measurement path (48) including a resistor (56, 58, 84, 86) connecting the input terminals (45) to each other for providing an alternating voltage corresponding to the input voltage (V14) and including a measuring device (64, 70) for measuring the alternating voltage (V15) at the measurement path (48), and a controller (54, 62) for controlling the controllable switch (50) on the basis of the measured alternating voltage.

In the field of LED drivers for offline applications such as retrofit lamps, solutions are demanded to cope with efficiency, high power density, long lifetime, high power factor and low cost among other relevant features. While practically all existing solutions comprise one or another requirement, it is essential that the proposed driver circuits properly condition the form of the mains energy to the form required by the LEDs while remaining in compliance with present and future power mains regulations. In addition, it is required that the driver circuits comply with existing power adjustments, e.g. dimmers or the like, so that the drivers can be used universally as a retrofit driver device including the LED units.
Dimmable LED retrofit lamps need to be compatible with a wide range of existing dimmers. Most of those dimmers are designed for operation with incandescent light bulbs. However, the input characteristics of LED retrofit lamps can be quite different from those of incandescent light bulbs. Therefore, special driver devices are required for correct operation of the dimmers and the LED lamps.
The driver circuits should comply with all kinds of dimmers, especially phase-cut dimmers, which are preferably used to regulate the mains voltage with low power loss. Those dimmers are usually used to regulate the mains energy provided to an incandescent light bulb which needs a low load impedance path for a timing circuit operating current to adjust the phase-cut timing. The provision of this low load impedance path has to be adjusted to the zero crossing of the mains voltage, in particular at low power operation of the LEDs. In particular, during low power operation, a high impedance path has to be provided before the zero crossing and the low impedance path has to be provided after the zero crossing.
EP 2 282 608 A2 discloses a light apparatus comprising an LED assembly including a current sensor to detect the zero crossing of the supply voltage. The current sensor comprises a plurality of measurement resistors which detect the current provided by the power supply to the LED units. This current measurement unit influences the current provided to the LEDs and reduces the power factor due to the high power loss within the measurement resistors.

Driver device and driving method for driving a load, in particular a LED unit


A wheeled triple-leg walker includes an upright tube, two F-shaped armrest frames respectively turned about the upright tube, a stretcher bar having a first end pivoted to one armrest frame and a second end adjustably connected to the other armrest frame to maintain the contained angle defined between the armrest frames, three wheel assemblies respectively mounted on the armrest frames and the upright tube at a bottom side for supporting and moving the wheeled triple-leg walker on the ground, and two armrest pads respectively mounted on the armrest frames at a top side for supporting the user's forearms when the user moves the wheeled triple-leg walker and walks.

The present invention relates to walkers, and more particularly to a wheeled triple-leg walker that is folding collapsible, and stable in use.
Various walkers have been disclosed for use to help aged or disabled persons to walk and have appeared on the market. Various walking aids are known in which bubular elements are assembled in frame structures which can support the user in the armpit, similar to crutches. A number of similar wheeled structures has been suggested in various patents. However, for various reasons these have not become commercially acceptable, probable because of the complicated, and possibly expensive design. Such patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,159,110; 4,510,956; 5,378,215; 4,962,781 and 5,133,377. These conventional walkers may be equipped or not equipped with wheels. However, these conventional walkers are still not satisfactory in function. The drawbacks of these conventional walkers are outlined hereinafter.
1. These conventional walkers are unstable when moving over an uneven road surface. PA1 2. Because the user must lift the walker from the ground fore stepping forwards, the user cannot walk for long. PA1 3. The walker may fall to the ground when user tilts the body and steps forwards, because the weight of the body of the user is supported on the area grasped by the user's hands when stepping forwards. PA1 4. The swivel wheels tend to be forced to change the steering direction when moved over an uneven road surface, thereby causing the user unable to positively control the moving direction of the wheeled walker. PA1 5. These conventional walkers are commonly complicated and expensive.

3F, No. 36, Lane 105, Sec. 1, Pei Yi Rd.


A non-destructive form bracket assembly and method of using the same is provided including a bracket having a vertical supporting side and horizontal supporting side for maintaining a form vertically upright; an attachment device having a first and second foundation attachment portion. The attachment device is adapted for engaging a portion of said bracket for non-destructively affixing the bracket to a foundation. Adhesive is affixed to bottom surfaces of the first and second foundation attachment portions for adhering the attachment to the foundation. Additionally, a non-destructive form assembly utilized in tilt-up construction for a double-side pour process is provided comprising a form and a plurality of U-shaped single rail brackets installed on a bottom edge of the form in spaced intervals with pre-applied adhesive on the bottom of the brackets.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to tilt-up construction. In particular, the present invention relates to brackets used to support form sides. And in more particularity, the present invention relates to non-destructive form brackets which eliminate the use of concrete nails as a means of attaching form brackets to the floor slab or foundation.
2. Background of the Invention
Tilt-up construction is one of the fastest growing industries in the United States. At least 10,000 buildings enclosing more than 650 million square feet are constructed annually. This is due, in part, to the economics of tilt-up, which combine reasonable cost with low maintenance, durability, speed of construction, and minimal capital investment. The tilt-up process requires few forms and makes efficient use of modern mechanical equipment. Ready mixed concrete for tilt-up is locally available and special labor skills are not required. Panels are formed and cast on the jobsite, and can be quickly tilted, lifted, set in place, and braced with the aid of high capacity mobile cranes.
Simplicity is the key to tilt-up concrete construction. Panels are cast as near to their final position as possible. The most convenient casting base is most often the concrete floor slab of the building. Wood or steel edge forms are prepared and positioned on the casting base. Reinforcing steel, vapor seal, insulation, door and window frames, electric conduit, and outlet boxes are then positioned. Wall panels are cast on the horizontal base, cured, tilted into a vertical position and moved into place with a mobile crane.
The standard practice in laying out panels is to snap a chalk line on the floor slab. These lines indicate panel perimeters and the forms are placed against them. Wood 2×s are the most common material used for side forms. Often the panel depth is designed to fit the depth of standard dimension lumber, so 5½″ (a.k.a. "6×s") and 7¼″ (a.k.a. "8×s") structural panels are common. Typically, the form sides are supported and secured to the foundation by a wood or steel angle support. Any common concrete anchor can be used to attach forms to the foundation. For instance, it is most common to pneumatically drive concrete nails using a nail gun into the foundation.
Although tilt-up construction does have many advantages, there are some aspects of tilt-up construction which can still use some refinement. Most noticeable is the damage that is inflicted to the top of the foundation from the nails or concrete anchors that are driven into the foundation or floor slab. Typically, an area where the nail was embedded must be patched. Not only are the patches unsightly, but the damage inflicted into the concrete wall can be harmful to the structural integrity of the concrete structure. Also, many times a water membrane barrier is laid down in the foundation and the nails penetrate the membrane.
It would be advantageous to provide a bracketing system which is non-destructive to the foundation or floor slab of which tilt-up panels are formed. Ideally, the bracketing system would be simple to use and inexpensive. It would further be advantageous to provide an attachment plate or piece which could be retrofitted or designed to be used in conjunction with existing angles brackets, such SIMSPON "Strong Tie" brackets.

Non-destructive form brackets and methods of using the same


The invention provides the power generator includes a bias voltage generator and a voltage clamping circuit. The bias voltage generator receives a reference voltage and generates a bias voltage according to the reference voltage. The voltage clamping circuit is coupled to the bias voltage generator. The voltage clamping circuit receives a supply voltage and the bias voltage and respectively outputs a plurality of data line power to the data transporting buffers by clamping the supply voltage according to the bias voltage. Wherein, the supply voltage is varied between a voltage range, and voltage levels of the data line powers are all constant.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to a power generator of a memory apparatus, and more particularly to the power generator for data transporting buffers of the memory apparatus.
2. Description of Prior Art
Along with the rapid development of science and technology at the present, a mobile electronic apparatus is necessary for a person for regular using. In mobile application, the power consumption is the most critical factor as times goes by. For a system with memory apparatus, a memory apparatus with high bandwidth and low power consumption is necessary.
For meeting the high bandwidth demand, larger amount data lines for reading and writing operation are disposed in the memory apparatus. Therefore, when a plurality of data transporting buffers on the data lines are in transition, the biggest power consumption is happened. That is, it is an important subject for a designer of the memory apparatus for saving the power consumption in the data lines and without reducing the bandwidth of the memory apparatus.

Power generator for data line of memory apparatus


High speed multivibrator circuits operable with lower operating voltages are disclosed. A multivibrator circuit comprises an operating voltage source, first and second nonlinear amplifier components, each comprising a first and a second main electrode and a control electrode, wherein the first main electrode of the second amplifier component is connected to control the control electrode of the first amplifier component, and the first main electrode of the first amplifier component is connected to control the control electrode of the second amplifier component. A capacitor is connected between the second main electrode of the first and second amplifier components. First and second resistors connect the first main electrode of the first and second amplifier components to a first potential of the operating voltage source. A pull-down circuit is connected between the second main electrodes of the first and second amplifier components and a second potential of the operating voltage source. The pull-down circuit comprises third and fourth amplifier components, acting as active pull-down components which are cross-connected such that they are alternately in conducting and nonconducting states due to forced control by the states of the first and second amplifier components.

Current- and voltage-controlled oscillators (ICO and VCO) are important components in the structures of transmitters and receivers. When applications to portable wireless communications systems are concerned, the main requirements for VCO/ICOs are: an operational frequency range of 1 to 20 GHz, a very low phase noise and the lowest possible operating voltage and power consumption. Depending on the structure, a communications device may comprise several VCO/ICOs needed for different purposes, e.g. frequency conversion, synthetization, modulation, etc. Their performance affects strongly the performance of the whole communications unit. On the other hand, the demand to implement these oscillators for silicon technologies faces several problems.
Oscillator circuits, i.e. oscillators, can be implemented by many different circuit structures. One of them is an astable (free-running) multivibrator. FIG. 1 shows a conventional emitter-coupled multivibrator circuit, which has been used for implementing voltage-controlled oscillators (VCO). The circuit comprises two transistors Q1 and Q2, between which is provided a positive feedback by cross-coupling each transistor base to the collector of the other transistor. The positive feedback and series resonance circuits Rc1-C and Rc2-C constituted by the resistors RC1 and RC2 and a capacitance C lead to that the output of the multivibrator oscillates continuously between two states, after the oscillation once has been trigged. The oscillation frequency is determined by the component values of the RC series resonance circuits. The oscillation frequency can be controlled by changing some of these component values, typically the capacitance C.
The speed of such a multivibrator circuit (maximum resonance frequency) depends primarily on the properties of the transistors Q1 and Q2. One known way of increasing the speed of the multivibrator circuit is to provide a positive feedback from the collector of one transistor to the base of the other transistor via a buffer transistor. This enables a higher base current, which in turn discharges parasitic capacitances of the base circuit of the transistor faster and accelerates thus the switching of the transistor from one state to another.
The lowest possible operating voltage Vcc is at least 1.1V, when it is assumed that current sources 3 and 4 are ideal, i.e. no voltage loss is provided in them. When the ideal current sources are replaced by some practical circuit structure, such as current mirrors constituted by MOS transistors M11 M21 and M31 in FIG. 2, Vcc increases. The current sources M11, M21 and M31 of FIG. 2 need a direct voltage of about 0.7 V across them, the total Vcc being at least about 1.8 V. The volume resistance of the MOS transistors is the main reason for a high drain source voltage Vds, when the transistors are on. Returning to the operating principle of the circuit, it can be stated that current paths are either Q1-C-M21 or Q2-C-M11 and that the current mirrors produce a stable current through the reference capacitor C, which is the main reason for the typical low phase noise. In search of a new way of increasing the speed, the reference capacitor cannot be decreased much more, because it will be of the order of the parasitic capacitances, which leads to the fact that a controlled planning of the circuit is not possible.
Nowadays there is, however, a need of ever-increasing speeds while an operating voltage as low as possible is desired, especially in electronic equipments using battery power supplies.


Interfering signals coming at random timings from different radio stations are identified. In order to attain this, a method for storing the characterizing quantity of an interfering signal included in a received signal includes calculating the characterizing quantity of the received signal, determining a probability that a desired signal is included in the received signal, determining that the received signal is an interfering signal when determining that there is no probability that the desired signal is included in the received signal, and storing the characterizing quantity of the received signal as an interfering signal characterizing quantity when it is determined at the received signal determination step that there is no probability that the desired signal is included in the received signal.

In a radio communication system such as a wireless local area network (LAN) system, a digital cellular communication system, or the like, a plurality of radio stations shares a predetermined frequency band to perform communication. Thus, a signal which is received by a receiving station includes not only a signal (a desired signal) the destination of which is the receiving station but also a signal (an interfering signal) used for communication between radio stations which is irrelative to communication with the receiving station. These signals overlap with each other to generate a combined signal.
FIG. 78 illustrates an example of a radio communication system including a plurality of radio stations. The radio communication system in FIG. 78 includes a transmitting station 11, a receiving station 120, and interfering stations 13 and 14. The transmitting station 11 performs communication with the receiving station 120, and the interfering station 13 performs communication with the interfering station 14.
The transmitting station 11 converts into a radio signal 15 transmission data, the destination of which is the receiving station 120, and transmits the radio signal 15. The receiving station 120 receives and demodulates the radio signal 15 to obtain the transmission data from the transmitting station 11. By these operations, communication is performed between the transmitting station 11 and the receiving station 120.
On the other hand, the interfering station 13 transmits a radio signal 16, the destination of which is the interfering station 14, and the interfering station 14 receives it. Also, the interfering station 14 transmits a radio signal 17, the destination of which is the interfering station 13, and the interfering station 13 receives it.
Here, when a timing of transmitting the radio signal 15 overlaps with a timing of transmitting the radio signal 16 or 17, the receiving station 120 receives a combined signal into which the radio signal 16 or 17 overlaps with the radio signal 15, which is a desired signal.
In the case of receiving the signal into which the interfering signal overlaps with the desired signal, a probability that demodulation error of the desired signal occurs due to an effect of the interfering signal depends on an SIR (desired signal power to interfering signal power ratio) at the receiving station. For example, in the case where the transmitting timings of the transmitting station 11 and the interfering station 13 overlap with each other, if the distance between the interfering station 13 and the receiving station 120 is large in comparison with the distance between the transmitting station 11 and the receiving station 120 and if the received power of the interfering signal is sufficiently small at the receiving station 120 in comparison with the received power of the desired signal, the probability that demodulation error of the desired signal occurs is low. On the other hand, if the distance between the interfering station 13 and the receiving station 120 is small in comparison with the distance between the transmitting station 11 and the receiving station 120 and if the received power of the interfering signal is large at the receiving station 120 in comparison with the received power of the desired signal, the probability that demodulation error of the desired signal occurs is high.
The effect which the interfering signal has on the desired signal depends on channel frequencies of the desired signal and the interfering signal. In the case where the channel frequency of the radio signal 15 is the same as that of the radio signal 16 or 17, since the effect of the interfering signal is large, the probability that demodulation error of the desired signal occurs is high. On the other hand, in the case where the channel frequency of the radio signal 15 is different from that of the radio signal 16 or 17, the effect of the interfering signal is small. However, a radio signal is a broadband signal, and when a leakage power to outside the channel frequency band becomes large, such as the case where nonlinear distortion by a transmitting power amplifier occurs, or the like, the probability that demodulation error of the desired signal due to the effect of the interfering signal is high similarly as in the case of the same channel.
It is considered that the interfering station 13 and the interfering station 14 are included in a system different from that including the transmitting station 11 and the receiving station 120. For example, radio waves used by a wireless LAN system, a Bluetooth system, a cordless phone system, and the like are mixed in a 2.4 GHz band. Further, a microwave oven or the like which emits a leakage radio wave is not a radio station but exists as a generation source of a leakage radio wave, and such a leakage radio wave can be considered as an interfering signal. In a 5 GHz band, radio waves used by a wireless LAN system, a wireless access system, a radar, and the like are mixed.
In eliminating such an interfering signal from the received signal, the interfering signal is measured or presumed, and which interfering station the interfering signal overlapped with the desired signal is transmitted from is determined, thereby efficiently eliminating the interfering signal.
Patent Document 1 is provided as a conventional technique to eliminate the interfering signal from the received signal.
FIG. 79 illustrates a configuration of an interfering signal eliminator in the Patent Document 1. The interfering signal eliminator corresponds to the receiving station 120 in FIG. 78. The interfering signal eliminator comprises an interfering signal estimation section 201, an interfering signal extraction section 202, an adder 203, a memory 204, and a timing control section 205. The interfering signal eliminator assumes that a desired signal is a broadband signal while an interfering signal is a narrowband signal coming periodically. The interfering signal eliminator estimates and eliminates a narrowband signal (an interfering signal) which periodically overlaps with the desired signal. When the received power changes at constant intervals while the broadband signal is received, the interfering signal eliminator determines that the interfering signal overlaps with the broadband signal.
The interfering signal estimation section 201 estimates the interfering signal included in the received signal based on the received signal and the result of elimination of the interfering signal from the received signal. At this time, the interfering signal estimation section 201 uses a previous estimation result stored in the memory 204 as an initial value for an estimation value of this time, repeatedly performs calculation until the estimation value converges, thereby calculating a new estimation result. Interfering signal elimination means constituted of the interfering signal extraction section 202 and the adder 203 regards the estimation result calculated by the interfering signal estimation section 201 as a power level of the interfering signal, and eliminates the interfering signal from the received signal. Interfering signal estimation control means constituted of the memory 204 and the timing control section 205 stores the current estimation result of the interfering signal estimation section 201. The stored estimation result is used for estimation of the next interfering signal.
In the case where interfering signals come with a constant voltage and at known intervals as shown in FIG. 80, the interfering signal eliminator of the Patent Document 1 estimates the interfering signal based on a power difference between the received signal and the desired signal, and uses the estimation result for the next interfering signal estimation. Thus, the interfering signal eliminator can efficiently estimate and eliminate interfering signals which have constant packet lengths and come at a constant interval like a time division multiplex access (TDMA) signal.
[Patent Document 1] Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 2002-374179

Interfering signal characterizing quantity storing method and device, interfering signal characterizing quantity acquiring method and device, and interfering signal suppressing method and device


An XDSL signal distribution system is provided having a regenerator unit located a predetermined distance from a central office XTU unit for extending the distribution reach of the system. The regenerator is arranged to decode the payload of transmitted XDSL signals into base digital data before repackaging and regeneration onto a twisted pair copper cable. This allows the regenerator to selectively reformat the XDSL signals into a desired protocol format suitable for either an ATM protocol layer, or direct transmission. In addition, the regenerator can retransmit the XDSL signals at a fixed or variable transmission rate to optimize data through-put or system reach.

Generally, distribution of video signals has been carried out using a coaxial cable connected communication network. However, due to the high cost and minimal signal quality of such a distribution network, attempts have been made to provide an alternative approach to distributing video signals. For example, telephone lines have been suggested as a physical structure for implementing video signal distribution. However, systems using the public switched telephone network (PSTN) are often bandwidth limited, providing generally only still frame or video conferencing capabilities. In addition, because telephone system carriers only typically use the PSTN for connectivity between subscribers, the PSTN does not provide any capability for dynamic routing digitized video without the use of dedicated leased, wide bandwidth circuits. Telephone line based systems also fail to provide acceptable VCR type functional control over the distribution of video programming.
On the other hand, an enhanced public switched telephone network does provide the capability distributing video on demand to subscribers over the PSTN. In such an arrangement, a menu of video programming information is made accessible at a subscriber's premises. A subscriber may transmit ordering information via the PSTN to available independent video information providers. Video programming can then be accessed and transmitted to the subscriber directly from a video information provider or through a central office (CO) serving the subscriber. The video information provider is suitably arranged to transmit coded digital video data over wideband PSTN connected to the CO. The video data may be buffered at the central office for transmission over a plain old telephone service (POTS) line to the subscriber. Subscribers may use either a standard telephone or a dedicated control device located at a television set to order the video programming.
The central office can be connected to the various subscribers for transmission of video data using an asymmetrical digital subscriber line (ADSL) system. In such an arrangement, multiple ADSL interface units would be deployed to perform multiplexing of digital video information with voice information to be transmitted to the subscriber. The ADSL units would also provide support for transmission of one or more reverse control channels from the subscriber to the central office. The ADSL interface units are typically located at the central office and the subscriber location and are operative to combine video information together with bidirectional signalling and POTS for transmission over an ordinary telephone wiring plant.
However, known ADSL type transmission systems have not proven to be fully satisfactory. When environmental interference situations arise, ADSL transmission is more sensitive than POTS. As transmission distances over copper wire pairs exceed 18,000 feet, the signal quality of ADSL signals becomes seriously degraded. Thus, a need exists for a video signal distribution system which overcomes the above-noted problems.

System and method for increasing distribution distance of XDSL type signals


An image composing apparatus and method of a portable terminal are provided. The image composing method includes photographing an object when a key for photographing using a background image is input; extracting contours of the background image and the photographed image; and combining the background image and the photographed image such that the extracted contours are matched with each other. The photographed image can be correctly matched with the background image through only one-time photographing, even when the shaking of the user's hand occurs or the object to be photographed moves.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an image composing apparatus and method of a portable terminal, and in particular, to an image composing apparatus and method for combining a background image and a photographed image using contour matching.
2. Description of the Related Art
As portable terminals become miniaturized, lightweight and slim, their use is increasing because of their convenient portability. Various additional functions are embedded in the portable terminals. For example, the portable terminals provide a game function, a scheduler function, a morning call function, an MPEG layer 3 (MP3) function, a moving picture player function, a digital camera function, and so on.
In particular, the digital camera function is considered as an essential component and thus is provided to most of the portable terminals. The digital camera function of the portable terminals provides a photographing function using a background image, as well as a simple photographing function. For example, the digital camera function provides a sticker photographing function, a special background photographing function, and so on. As illustrated in FIGS. 1A and 1B, the photographing function using the background image is used to obtain a combined image by overlapping a photographed image of FIG. 1A with a preset background image of FIG. 1B, e.g., a picture frame image or a sticker image.
In photographing an object using the background image, a user moves the portable terminal to adjust an angle and distance between the digital camera mounted on the portable terminal and an object to be photographed and their respective positions, and then photographs the object while adjusting the position and size of the object to a predetermined region of the background image, i.e., an empty region where no image exists.
However, the shaking of the user's hand may occur when the user photographs the object while moving the portable terminal. In addition, due to the movement of the object to be photograph, it is difficult to correctly adjust the position and size of the object to the empty region of the background image. For example, the photographed image of the object may be offset to the left or right in the empty region of the background image as illustrated in FIGS. 2A and 2B, or may be too close or too far to the background image as illustrated in FIGS. 2C and 2D. Therefore, when the photographed image of the object is not matched with the background image, the user must try to photograph the object several times in order to obtain the photograph correctly matched with the background image.

Image composing apparatus and method of portable terminal


A communication system includes communication devices; a switch device having coaxial terminal units to which the communication device are connected, a switch unit of entirely or individually connecting the coaxial terminal units, and a switch control unit of controlling the connection status of the switch unit; and a transmittal right control device. The transmittal right control device is connected to the terminal, and manages the connection status of the switch unit, receives from the communication devices requests for time for communication with other communication devices, determines assignment of time for communications between the communication devices, notifies the communication devices of the assignment, and instructs the switch control unit not to make signals interfere among the communication devices in different combinations for communications in the same time period.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a time division multiplexing communication system, a time division multiplexing communication switch system, and a communication control method of a communication system for performing a demand assignment time division multiple access (TDMA).
For example, the present invention relates to a time division multiplexing communication system, a time division multiplexing communication switch system, and a communication control method of a communication system which are connected to a communication device via a coaxial cable to control communications between coaxial cables using a transmittal right for the communication device, and share a transmission band.
2. Related Art of the Invention
The time division multiplexing communication system having a communication device for performing the demand assignment TDMA communication and a transmittal right management device for assigning a transmittal right in the conventional technology is explained below by referring to the attached drawings.
The TDMA communication is widely known as a communication system in which a time slot for transmission of information is formed by time-dividing a transmission band, and the time slot is assigned to a communication device for transmitting information. In this communication system, a TDMA frame, which is a fundamental period in a transmission line, is time-divided into a number of time slots, and each communication device uses any of the time slots to transmit information to a corresponding communication device. Then, the corresponding communication device selects a time slot addressed to it, and receives the information.
In the TDMA communications, if a plurality of communication devices simultaneously use the same time slot, a plurality of signals conflict with one another and information cannot be correctly transmitted. Therefore, a time slot being used by any communication device must be prevented from being used by another communication device.
To solve this problem, in the demand assignment TDMA communications, each communication device issues a send request to a transmittal right management device each time information is to be transmitted, the transmittal right management device selects a free slot, and assigns a transmittal right to each communication device (for example, refer to Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2-183644). Thus, the conflict among a plurality of signals can be avoided.
The entire disclosure of Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2-183644 is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
FIG. 9 is a block diagram of the configuration of the coaxial connection device used in the demand assignment TDMA communication system according to the conventional technology.
A coaxial connection device 71 is provided with a plurality of coaxial terminal units 611 to 61n to which a coaxial cable is connected, and the coaxial terminal units 611 to 61n are all interconnected via an internal connection line 62.
FIG. 10 shows the configuration of the time division multiplexing communication system for performing the demand assignment TDMA communication according to the conventional technology.
The communication system is composed of the coaxial connection device 71, communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n, and a transmittal right control device 73. The communication device 721, the transmittal right control device 73, the communication devices 723 to 72n are connected to the coaxial terminal units 611 to 61n of the coaxial connection device 71 through coaxial transmission lines 741 to 74n.
FIG. 11 is an explanatory view of the time frame of the communication system shown in FIG. 10.
A time frame is composed of frames of a send request period 81 in which the communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n transmit a transmittal right, a transmittal right notification period 82 in which the transmittal right information assigned by the transmittal right control device 73 is transmitted, and an information transmission period 83 in which the communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n transmit information among the communication devices. The information transmission period with another communication device assigned to one communication device configures one frame, and the information transmission period 83 is composed of a plurality of frames indicating the information transmission period in each communication device. In this example, a frame indicating the information transmission period between the communication device 721 and the communication device 723 assigned to the communication device 721 is defined as an information transmission period 84.
FIG. 12 is an explanatory view of the configuration of the send request information of the communication system shown in FIG. 10.
The send request information is composed of destination information 91 (communication device ID, etc.), source information 92 (communication device ID, etc.).
FIG. 13 is an explanatory view of the assignment information of the communication device shown in FIG. 10.
The assignment information is composed of a combination of a plurality of destination information 101 (communication device ID, etc.) about an assigned transmittal right, source information 102 (communication device ID, etc.) about an assigned transmittal right, and assigned sending period information 103 for each communication device.
Described below are the operations of the coaxial connection device 71, the communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n, and the transmittal right control device 73 performed when information is transmitted from the communication device 721 to the communication device 723 in the communication system shown in FIG. 10.
The communication device 721 generates send request information from the destination information 91 (communication device ID, etc.) about the destination communication device 723 and the source information 92 about the source communication device 721. Then, in the send request period 81, the send request information is transmitted to the transmittal right control device 73 through the coaxial transmission line 741.
The transmission information sent from the communication device 721 is received by the coaxial terminal unit 611 connected to the coaxial transmission line 741 of the coaxial connection device 71. Then, it is transmitted to the coaxial terminal units 612 to 61n connected by the internal connection line 62 of the coaxial connection device 71, and transmitted to the coaxial transmission lines 742 to 74n connected to them.
The transmittal right control device 73 receives the transmission information from each communication device through the coaxial transmission line 742, and extracts send request information from the transmission information received in the send request period 81 shown in FIG. 11. Then, the process of assigning a transmittal right from the destination information 91 (relating to the communication device 723 in this example) and the source information 92 (relating to the communication device 721 in this example) to the communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n (relating to the communication device 721 in this example) is performed.
Then, the transmittal right control device 73 generates from the assigned transmittal right the transmittal right information to the communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n composed of the destination information 101, the source information 102, and the sending period information 103, and transmits the transmittal right information to the communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n through the coaxial transmission lines 741 to 74n in the transmittal right notification period 82.
The transmittal right information transmitted from the transmittal right control device 73 is received by the coaxial terminal unit 612 connected to the coaxial transmission line 742 of the coaxial connection device 71, transmitted to the coaxial terminal units 611 and 613 to 61n connected by the internal connection line 62, and transmitted to the coaxial transmission lines 741 and 743 to 74n connected to them.
The communication device 721 receives the transmittal right information from the coaxial transmission line 741 in the transmittal right notification period 82, and transmits transmission information to the communication device 723 through the coaxial transmission line 741 in the information transmission period 84 between the communication device 721 and the communication device 723 in the information transmission period 83 assigned by the destination information 101, the source information 102, and the sending period information 103.
The communication device 723 receives transmittal right information from the coaxial transmission line 743 in the transmittal right notification period 82, then receives the transmission information from the communication device 721 in the information transmission period 84 between the communication device 721 and the communication device 723 in the information transmission period 83 assigned according to the destination information 101, the source information 102, and the sending period information 103.
Thus, the communication devices 721 and 723 to 72n transmits a transmittal right to the transmittal right control device 73 through the coaxial connection device 71, and information can be transmitted between communication devices by the transmittal right control device 73 assigning a transmittal right at a transmittal right.
However, in the time division multiplexing communication system using the same frequency band, in a time period when communication occurs between a set of communication devices connected to the coaxial connection device 71, other communication devices cannot perform communications in the same time period and are kept waiting. Therefore, efficient transmission cannot be performed.
Therefore, the above situation may result in a delay in the transmission of information, or, for example, when the data requiring the immediacy such as an image data, data transfer may not be performed in a requested time period. Thus, in the worst case, the data to be transmitted in the time period sometimes cannot be transmitted.
The present invention has been developed to solve the above-mentioned problem, and aims at providing a time division multiplexing communication system, a time division multiplexing communication switch system, and a communication control method of a communication system capable of performing communications among a plurality of communication devices in the same time period using the same frequency band, thereby efficient transmitting information.

Time division multiplexing communication system, time division multiplexing communication switch system, and communication control method of a communication system


Described herein are particular embodiments relating to a microfluidic device that may be utilized for cell sensing, counting, and/or sorting. Particular aspects relate to a microfabricated device that is capable of differentiating single cell types from dense cell populations. One particular embodiment relates a device and methods of using the same for sensing, counting, and/or sorting leukocytes from whole, undiluted blood samples.

Standard cell sensors or actuators are generally based on flow cytometry and employ one or a combination of electrical impedance sensing, light scattering measurement, and chemical or immunostaining followed by optical sensing.
For differentiation of blood cells by electrical impedance sensing, red blood cells are removed by lysing in order to reduce the blood volume. Lysing is generally done through the use of saponin or surfactants. During the lysing process, the leukocyte cell volume changes depending on cell type, due to the leakage of cytoplasm contents and cell nucleus shrinkage in varying amounts. Fujimoto, Sysmex J. Int. 9 (1999). Thus, normally 2-part (lymphocytes versus granulocytes) or even 3-part (lymphocytes, neutrophils, and other leukocytes) differential can be achieved by simple electrical impedance measurement of particle volume. Hughes-Jones, et al., J. Clin. Pathol. 27; 623-625 (1974); Oberjat, et al., J. Lab. Clin. Med. 76; 518 (1970); Vandilla, et al., Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. Med. 125; 367 (1967); Maeda, et al., Clin. Pathol. 27; 1117-1200 (1979); Maeda, et al., Clin. Pathol. 9; 555-558 (1982). Combining direct current and alternating current impedance, special acidic hemolysis in basophile channel and alkali hemolysis in eosinophil channel, a 5-part leukocyte differential can be achieved. Tatsumi, et al., Sysmex J. Int. 9; 9-20 (1999).
Alternative optical methods are based on light scattering and fluorescence staining of organelles, granules, and nuclei. Generally, low-angle scattered light contains information on cell size and high-angle scattered light can be used to probe internal composition of the cell. To achieve 5-part differential, certain leukocyte populations, such as eosinophils, require special stain to change its scattering characteristics from other granulocytes, and basophils typically need to be counted separately following the differential lysis of other leukocytes. McKenzie, Clinical Laboratory Hematology, Prentice Hall, 2004; Fujimoto, Sysmex J. Int. 9 (1999).
In general, conventional automated cell analyzers are bulky, expensive, and mechanically complex, which restricts their locations to hospitals or central laboratories. Conventional cell analyzers require larger sample volumes and generate more waste than the systems developed using microdevices. Furthermore, for analysis of certain cell types, such as leukocytes, accuracy and speed of counting, differentiation, and/or sorting is important for determining disease state and treatment.


An object of the present invention is to make it possible to record information on an optical information recording medium in the form of three dimensional interference patterns so that the information is erasable in part.

Holographic recording for recording information on a recording medium through the use of holography is typically performed by superimposing light that carries image information on reference light within the recording medium and by writing a resultingly generated interference pattern onto the recording medium. For reproducing the information recorded, the recording medium is irradiated with reference light so that the image information is reproduced through diffraction derived from the interference pattern.
Recently, volume holography, or digital volume holography in particular, has been developed and is attracting attention in practical fields for ultra-high density optical recording. Volume holography is a method for writing a three-dimensional interference pattern by making positive use of a recording medium in the direction of thickness as well, and is characterized in that an increase in thickness can enhance the diffraction efficiency and a greater recording capacity can be achieved by employing multiplex recording. Digital volume holography is a computer-oriented holographic recording method which uses the same recording medium and recording method as with the volume holography, whereas the image information to be recorded is limited to binary digital patterns. In the digital volume holography, analog image information such as a picture is once digitized and developed into two-dimensional digital pattern information, and then it is recorded as image information. For reproduction, this digital pattern information is read and decoded to restore the original image information for display. Consequently, even if the SN ratio (signal-to-noise ratio) in the reproduction is somewhat poor, differential detection and/or error correction on encoded binary data enable to reproduce the original information with extremely high fidelity.
In holographic recording through the use of volume holography, various methods of multiplex recording have been proposed to improve the recording density for achieving increased recording capacity. One of those methods is angular multiplexing that is to record information with angles of the reference light varied from information to information to be recorded. Another method is phase encoding multiplexing as described in 'Heanue, J. F., et al., "Recall of linear combinations of stored data pages based on phase-code multiplexing in volume holography", Optics Letters, Vol. 19, No. 14, pp. 1079-1081, 1994' and 'Heanue, J. F., et al., "Encrypted holographic data storage based on orthogonal-phase-code multiplexing" Applied Optics, Vol. 34, No. 26, pp. 6012-6015, 1995'.
For materials of a recording medium for holographic recording, generally used are materials whose optical characteristics such as refractive index, permittivity, and reflectivity change depending on intensity of light when irradiated with light. Therefore, to erase information recorded on the recording medium, it is necessary that the areas on which the information is recorded be uniformized in the optical characteristics.
In the case where the information is recorded on the recording medium by multiplex recording, however, according to an erasing method as described above, it is not possible to erase part of the information selectively, because is erased all of the information recorded on the areas that are thus uniformized in the optical characteristics.
Moreover, in conventional holographic recording, the changes in the optical characteristics of the recording medium are often nonreversible, which makes it difficult to rewrite information.

Optical information recording apparatus, optical information reproducing apparatus, optical information recording/reproducing apparatus, and optical information recording medium

Abstract: The optical information recording medium (1) has an information recording layer (3) made of a magneto-optic recording material. A pick-up (11) of an optical information recording/reproducing apparatus generates information light by spatially modulating laser light emitted from a light source unit (20) with a spatial light modulator (22), and generates recording-specific reference light spatially modulated in phase by spatially modulating the phase of the laser light emitted from the light source (20) with a phase-spatial light modulator (16). The information recording layer (3) of the optical information recording medium (1) is irradiated with the information light and the recording-specific reference light. An electromagnetic coil (30) applies a magnetic field to the information recording layer (3). A three-dimensional distribution pattern of magnetization corresponding to the interference pattern resulting from the information light and the recording-specific reference light is formed in the information recording layer (3).


A subsea well assembly includes a wellhead housing 50 having a cylindrical inner sealing surface and a tubular hanger 10 having a tapered external sealing surface. The running tool 30 includes a central stem 40 connected to the running string. A setting piston 72 is responsive to fluid pressure in the annulus about the running string, and has a radially outer surface and a radially inner surface each for sealing with the running tool body. Fluid pressure to set the seal assembly may be applied to the setting piston through an annulus about the running string, and may also act directly on an initially set seal assembly 20.

A wellhead housing may be located on the sea floor, so that a casing string may extend downward from the wellhead housing into the well, with the casing string supported in the wellhead housing by a casing hanger. A seal assembly may be installed between the casing hanger at the upper end of the casing string and the wellhead housing. The operator may install the casing string and seal assembly remotely, and in seas of considerable depths.
Running tools have been developed for delivering forces to set and test the downhole seal assemblies, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,516. Hydraulic pressure may result in axial movement of a piston within a sealed hydraulic chamber in the running tool. Many hydraulically powered running tools are, however, complex and expensive. U.S. Pat. No. 5,044,442 discloses a hydraulic running tool which utilizes annulus pressure. Rams may be closed around a running string, creating a chamber below the rams. An elastomeric seal may be sealed to a portion of the running tool and to the wellhead. The seal and a collar enable pressure to be applied to stroke the tool. Fluid may be pumped downhole through choke and kill lines to set the casing hanger seal.
Other relevant patents include U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,757,860, 5,372,201, and 5,791,418. The '860 patent discloses a running tool for positioning a seal assembly between a casing hanger and a casing head. A first sleeve is connected to the hanger and a second sleeve is threadably connected to the first sleeve, and is movable between one position to support the seal assembly, and a second position for releasing the seal assembly to be lowered for sealing with the casing hanger. The '201 patent discloses a running tool which includes a pressure set seal, where the setting sleeve is sealed to the wellhead. The '418 patent discloses a tool designed to shift an external valve sleeve in a wellhead housing.
The disadvantage of the prior art are overcome by the present invention, and an improved annulus pressure actuated hanger seal assembly and running tool are hereinafter disclosed.

Wellhead assembly with pressure actuated seal assembly and running tool