The present invention relates to a method for manufacturing a preform for optical fibers via a vapor deposition process in which the position of the reversal point near the substrate tube's supply side shifts along the longitudinal axis of the substrate tube during at least part of the deposition process.

Methods for manufacturing optical fiber preforms are known.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,741,747, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a method of fabricating optical fibers, wherein an end of a preform (i.e., end taper) is reduced by moving a plasma in the area of at least one reversal point nonlinearly with time and/or by changing the longitudinal extent of the plasma as a function of time. The term "end taper" means the deposition regions at the ends of the substrate tube, where the optical and geometric properties of the deposited layers are insufficiently constant.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,648, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a method for reducing the geometric end taper by interrupting the reciprocating movement of the plasma at the reversal point on the supply side of the glass-forming gases during glass deposition.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,145,509, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a method for reducing the geometric taper, by placing a glass rod inside the substrate tube, such that the longitudinal axis of the glass rod coincides with that of the glass tube, and the radius of the glass rod is selected to be a maximum of 0.67 times and a minimum of 0.2 times the inner radius of the glass substrate tube. The glass rod is removed from the interior of the substrate tube upon completion of the deposition process, followed by the collapsing of the hollow substrate tube into a solid preform at an elevated temperature.
International Patent Application No. WO 2004/101458 and its counterpart U.S. Pat. No. 7,068,899, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety, discloses a method for reducing the taper in a preform, by varying the velocity of the plasma in a first "end region" near a reversal point, both as a function of time during the deposition process, and as a function of the position in the first end region. The term "end region" is defined as the region in which the velocity of the plasma is varied as a function of the position.
One of the problems of the methods according to the above-cited documents is the fact that an optimization of the geometric taper will lead to optical taper and vice versa. A Plasma Chemical Vapor Deposition (PCVD) process, for example, carries an inherent tradeoff between geometric taper and optical taper.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved method for making optical preforms by way of a vapor deposition process.

Optical fiber PCVD using shifting of a deposition reversal point


The invention aims to provide a highly accurate automatic biopolymer determination technique utilizing mass spectrometry whereby calibration prior to measurement or the addition of an internal standard to a sample can be eliminated. The biopolymer automatic identifying method of the invention comprises: retrieving a candidate molecule by matching an observed mass value X obtained by mass spectrometry with a predetermined database; selecting an arbitrary number of candidate molecules with high similarity scores; calibrating the observed mass value X using the candidate molecule as an internal standard; calculating relative error Ec between a calibrated mass value Xc and a theoretical mass value M of the candidate molecule; determining the standard deviation SEc of the relative error; determining a tolerance Tc of database search from the standard deviation SEc; and repeating a database search based on the tolerance Tc.

Mass spectrometry is an instrumental analysis technique whereby sample molecules are ionized and then separated in accordance with the mass/charge ratio (m/z) for detection. Using this technique, qualitative analysis can be performed based on the resultant mass spectrum, and quantitative analysis can be performed based on ion quantities.
The mass spectrometer ("MS") used for such a measurement of molecular mass roughly consists of an ionization unit (ion source) for ionizing a sample, an analyzer for separating ions in accordance with the mass/charge ratio m/z (m: mass, and z: charge number), a detection unit (detector) for detecting separated ions, and a data analysis unit.
When subjecting sample molecules to mass spectrometry using the aforementioned mass spectrometer, the mass spectrometer must be calibrated prior to measurement. Specifically, since errors might be introduced into the measurement by the mass spectrometer due to factors such as temperature changes, voltage accuracies, and electric circuit noise, a calibration procedure must be carried out prior to the start of measurement. In the calibration procedure, the chromatograph or the like is removed from the mass spectrometer, and a predetermined mass-calibration standard substance is introduced into the mass spectrometer so as to obtain an observed mass value. The observed mass value is compared with a known theoretical mass value, and the apparatus is adjusted such that no systematic error occurs in mass values (a calibration procedure according to the external standard method).
If an even higher accuracy of mass values is to be obtained, an additional calibration procedure must be performed, whereby a known substance is mixed in the sample and its mass is measured, and the actual measurement value is adjusted based on the mass value (a calibration procedure according to the internal standard method).
In general, identification of biopolymers, such as peptides or proteins, using a mass spectrometer (including the tandem mass spectrometer) involves a procedure referred to as a database search (or a library search). In this procedure, the observed mass value of an unknown sample molecule obtained by mass spectrometry is searched for by matching with a database (library) in which the primary structures or sequences of approximately 100,000 kinds of molecules are stored. In an expected reference (standard) spectrum calculated based on the structure information, molecules with a spectrum similar to that of the unknown molecule under investigation are allocated scores and selected. Candidate molecules are thus narrowed and listed, thereby eventually identifying the unknown sample molecule.
However, the above-described mass spectrometer calibration procedure is very troublesome work, requires much adjustment time, and is primarily responsible for the drop in work efficiency caused by the conventional mass measurement operation. Namely, it has been impossible to carry out a measurement operation with high efficiency based on a continuous operation of the mass spectrometer (without calibration). Further, in a measurement system employing a plurality of mass spectrometers, it has been extremely difficult to achieve uniform accuracy and reliability in the individual apparatuses even if they are calibrated individually according to the external standard.
In the case of the external standard calibration, it has been impossible, using the conventional process of database search as described above, to eliminate from the measurement data the influence of erroneous measurement in the mass spectrometer produced by influences of the external environment. Particularly, even those measurement errors due to subtle temperature changes (on the order of 0.2° C.) in the measurement environment could not be ignored in some cases.
Furthermore, when a complex biopolymer mixture is measured by the conventional internal standard calibration method, the internal standard substance and the ion signals from the sample are superposed, which prevents ion analysis. Thus, it has been difficult to select the type or concentration of the substance that is put into the sample as the internal standard. In order to achieve high mass accuracy for a wide range of masses, it has been necessary to introduce a number of internal standard substances.
Also, human confirmation of each identification result has been necessary, as the identification reliability has been low. Recent progress in mass spectrometry, however, has made direct analysis of increasingly more complex biopolymer mixtures possible. This has resulted in huge volumes of data that could not possibly be individually confirmed by the human eyes. Therefore, there has been a need to develop a highly reliable automatic identification technique for the analysis of complex biopolymer mixtures.

National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science & Technology


A device for feeding flat pieces of mail from a stack of mail pieces in edgewise abutment with a registration wall has a feeder for feeding pieces of mail off the stack which is located in front of the first mail piece on the stack. The feeding feeder effects translation of the pieces of mail at a speed V.sub.1 perpendicular to the stack 1. A transfer feeder transfers the piece of mail fed off the stack at a speed V.sub.2. An anti double feed device is disposed between the two feeders. The anti double feed device is a retention device acting on a face of the piece of mail as soon as such piece of mail is taken hold of by the transfer feeder and having a retentive force which is lower than the translation force of the transfer feeder. The speed V.sub.1 of the translation first feeder is lower than the speed V.sub.2 of the transfer feeder.

Such known devices comprise as the means for feeding off the stack a device for translating the mail pieces, formed for example by a rotary perforated drum in which a partial vacuum is created and which entrains the first mail piece with a speed V.sub.1. A transfer device is located downstream from the means for feeding off the stack, this transfer device acting at a speed V.sub.2 identical with V.sub.1. A device for avoiding double feeds is usually located between these two devices, being formed by a brush means or by a hinged flap.
As a general rule, anti double feed devices do not work efficiently.
This is mainly the case when the mail pieces being handled are unsealed objects, of the nature of publicity or other brochures. These brochures may be composed for example of a sheet folded into several panels or of several leaves connected together like a small booklet. Any conventional device for feeding from a stack and based on braking the mail piece coming off in a double feed, then works badly and causes buckling or tearing of the mail pieces fed off the stack.
The invention enables these problems in feeding off a stack and of double feeds of unsealed mail pieces to be overcome.

Device for feeding pieces of mail, especially unsealed pieces, from a stack and a method of operating the device

Compagnie Generale D'Automatisme CGA-HBS


A tamper monitor circuit detects voltage, temperature, and/or clock variations that may be associated with a circuit tampering technique, and triggers an appropriate tamper response. The tamper monitor circuit includes a reference oscillator, a detection oscillator, and a comparison circuit. The reference oscillator supplies a reference signal having a reference frequency. The detection oscillator operates at a circuit temperature and is energized with a supply voltage, and supplies a detection signal having a frequency that varies with variations in the circuit temperature, variations in the supply voltage, or both. The comparison circuit receives the reference signal and the detection signal and, in response to the reference signal, selectively determines the frequency of the detection signal, determines a frequency difference between two or more of the determined frequencies, and supplies a tamper detect signal if the determined frequency difference exceeds a predetermined difference threshold.

Microcontrollers and various other embedded circuit devices are used in, or used as, secure electronic devices that perform various types of secure transactions, and to store various types of secure data. For example, secure electronic devices are more and more being used to conduct secure currency transfers, secure information transfers, and secure data storage operations. As a result of the increased usage of microcontrollers, and similar circuit devices, for storing and transferring secure information and data, there has also been an increase in the number of people dedicated to, and the number of techniques developed for, reverse engineering secure electronic devices.
Various non-destructive reverse engineering techniques have been developed for attacking secure electronic devices. Many of these non-destructive techniques utilize variations in system voltages (e.g., over/under voltage), temperature variations, and/or clock frequency. As is generally known, varying one or more of these parameters can cause the device to transfer into an unanticipated operational mode or state, which may compromise the security of the device. Thus, many secure electronic devices may include a tamper monitor circuit that causes the device to reset if the supply voltage, clock frequency, or circuit temperature reaches a particular threshold.
Although present monitor circuits do provide a level of tamper monitoring and protection, these circuits also suffer certain drawbacks. For example, some monitor circuits rely, at least in part, on various device level characteristics, such as transistor switching speed, which can be sensitive to variations in the device manufacturing process. Moreover, some monitor circuits undesirably issue false tamper alarms as a result of fluctuations in clock frequency that frequently occur when a device is powered up and stabilizing. In addition, some monitor circuits either overreact or under-react to various under-voltage and over-voltage transients, which can result in the issuance of false tamper alarms or failure to detect legitimate tampering operations.
Hence, there is a need for a circuit that is capable of detecting voltage, temperature, and/or clock variations that may be associated with a circuit tampering technique, and to trigger an appropriate tamper response, and to do so without issuing an inordinate number of false tamper responses and/or failing to detect an inordinate number of actual tampering attempts and/or is not sensitive to process variations. The present invention addresses one or more of these needs.


An optical recording medium formed of a pre-grooved substrate provided with a recording layer formed on the groove, in which the groove has a shape to satisfy the condition I.sub.Gr /I.sub.0 .gtoreq.0.85, where I.sub.0 represents the reflected light quantity from the mirror surface and I.sub.Gr represents the reflected light quantity from the groove surface when the laser beam is concentrated to a spot size of approximately 1 .mu.m on the surface of the medium, and to enable three-spot tracking to be performed. According to this invention, the CN ratio as the measure of noise in an optical recording medium can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording medium and more particularly to an optical recording medium of a groove recording type in which record is made in a recording layer formed on a groove.
2. Description of Related Art
Optical disks in general (including those of a write once type and a rewritable type) are as shown in FIG. 5 provided with a spiral groove (pre-groove) 22 constituting a track made in the surface of a glass substrate 21 and with a recording layer 23 formed on the entire surface including the groove 22. Referring to FIG. 5, reference numeral 24 denotes a land surface and 25 denotes a groove surface. The optical disk has so narrow a track pitch P as 1.6 .mu.m that it has ten times or above as high a recording density as that of magnetic disks (with a track pitch of 10 .mu.m) which are frequently used today as a recording medium. Further, the optical disk having an access time of 50 msec or so provides an advantage to allow an extremely fast access thereto, and since it allows recording and reproduction of signals thereon in a noncontact manner, it has strong resistance to dust, scratch, or the like. Hence it presents an outstanding feature that the signal reproduced therefrom suffers no deterioration by mechanical causes even if it is subjected to many times of reproduction.
As the methods for recording signals in such optical disks, there are a land recording method and a groove recording method. An optical disk conventionally used for the land recording method has a width Wl of the land surface 24 of 1.0 .mu.m and a width W.sub.Gr of the groove surface 25 of 0.6 .mu.m, including the sloped surfaces 26l and 26r on the left and right, as shown in FIG. 6A. Thus, it has the groove surface 25 narrower than the land surface 24 and called a narrow-groove type. On the other hand, an optical disk conventionally used for the groove recording method has a width Wl of the land surface 24 of 0.6 .mu.m and a width W.sub.Gr of the groove surface 25 of 1.0 .mu.m as shown in FIG. 6A. Thus, it has the groove surface 25 wider than the land surface 24 and called a wide-groove type.
As a measure for evaluating noise in an optical disk, CN (carrier to noise) ratio is generally used. The CN ratio is the ratio of a carrier level to a noise level obtained as the result of a frequency spectrum analysis conducted, having data of a fixed frequency and a duty cycle of 50% recorded on an optical disk, in a 30-kHz resolution bandwidth of the entire frequency band of the reproduced waveform (refer to FIG. 7).
To improve the CN ratio of an optical disk, for example, of the groove recording type out of those for the above mentioned two recording types, it is required, when the optical disk is of a reflection type, to increase the quantity of reflected light of a laser beam l thrown on the groove surface 25 from the bottom surface of the glass substrate and bring it as close to the quantity of reflected light from the mirror surface (not shown) as possible. Representing the quantity of reflected beam from the groove surface 25 by I.sub.Gr and the quantity of reflected beam from the mirror surface by I.sub.0, I.sub.Gr /I.sub.0 =0.7-0.8 was conventionally the achievable maximum value and, then, the CN ratio was around 48 dB.


Methods, systems, and computer program for interacting with simulacrum members of a buyer simulacrum. Persistent storage is configured to store collective qualifications of the simulacrum based on the individual qualifications of the simulacrum members, while a simulacrum broker is configured to present the collective qualifications to third parties. Thus, the broker provides a dynamic representation of the collective financial information, credit, insurance, trustworthiness, knowledge, skills and experience of a simulacrum or virtual buyer. The broker further enables an entity, such as a simulacrum employer or seller, to interact with the simulacrum as if that simulacrum were a single entity, rather than a collection of individual members.

In today's fast-paced environment, it is often necessary for a group to purchase quickly or to form for the purposes of making a purchase. No individual or member of a group may alone have the proper buying credentials, purchasing power, expertise, time to oversee transactions, or credit. Thus, it is useful if there would be a way to create a "virtual buyer" or "buyer simulacrum" consisting of members that function as a single unit. Traditional methods are not well suited for collaboration among members of the buyer simulacrum. For example, financial credit-granting agencies and other financial institutions typically focus on individual performance, history, and credit rather than a buyer simulacrum's accomplishments. Financial credit is awarded to an individual rather than a group of people assembled on the fly, for the purpose of making purchases.
In some situations, however, it may be irrelevant to a seller, potential financial partner, or employer whether an individual or a group of individuals possess a required set of skills, credit, record of purchases, liability, and knowledge. For example, a buyer simulacrum may claim a certain amount of credit. A seller trying to sell a good or service to this buyer simulacrum may be unconcerned about how credit is divided among the buyer simulacrum members. The seller may just care that the buyer simulacrum possesses the proper credit rating or other relevant characteristics. A buyer simulacrum is often constituted of individuals with specific skills and financial characteristics such as financial credit and experience in financial deal making, some of which may be unique to the simulacrum. No single member of the simulacrum may have sufficient credit, insurance, and other relevant characteristics, yet all simulacrum members may need to contribute with both expertise and funds.
It is currently difficult to replace simulacrum members with others, in the event that a simulacrum member becomes unavailable for personal reasons, or because some higher-priority deal requires his or her attention or skills. Conventional buyer/seller environments are generally unsuited to deal with such responsibility apportionment to selected simulacrum members in a manner that reflects the collective knowledge, skills, experience, trustworthiness, financial characteristics, and funds of a buyer.

International Business Machines Corporation


The present disclosure is directed toward systems, methods, and computer readable media for training and utilizing an item-level importance sampling model to evaluate and execute digital content selection policies. For example, systems described herein include training and utilizing an item-level importance sampling model that accurately and efficiently predicts a performance value that indicates a probability that a target user will interact with ranked lists of digital content items provided in accordance with a target digital content selection policy. Specifically, systems described herein can perform an offline evaluation of a target policy in light of historical user interactions corresponding to a training digital content selection policy to determine item-level importance weights that account for differences in digital content item distributions between the training policy and the target policy. In addition, the systems described herein can apply the item-level importance weights to training data to train item-level importance sampling model.

Recent years have seen significant improvement in digital systems that provide dynamic web content to client devices across computer networks. Indeed, it is now common for websites or other digital assets hosted at remote servers to include personalized and adaptive content tailored to individual users of client devices. For example, conventional digital content testing and distribution systems can provide uniquely tailored lists of images, videos, documents, or other digital content to individual client devices by applying digital content selection policies.
In an effort to implement effective digital content selection policies, conventional digital content testing and distribution systems often perform testing between content selection policies to identify whether a particular content selection policy is effective or not. While conventional digital content testing and distribution systems can evaluate and deliver lists of digital content, these systems still include a variety of problems and drawbacks.
For example, conventional systems are often inaccurate. To illustrate, conventional digital content testing and distribution systems often evaluate effectiveness of content selection policies by conducting an online comparison test (e.g., an online bucket test such as A/B testing) and tracking key metrics such as clicks, downloads, and purchases to determine which of two different policies perform better. While online comparison tests provide a tool for comparing two digital content selection policies, the digital content policies utilized in such tests are often inaccurate and provide erroneous digital content to individual client devices while testing (e.g., because online comparison tests often analyze less effective digital content selection policies that yield unknown results). Accordingly, these systems often result in a poor viewer experience, particularly for those viewers who receive erroneous digital content in accordance with a less effective policy. Indeed, many viewers who receive digital content in accordance with less effective content selection policies will navigate to other websites.
In addition, conducting online comparison tests is often expensive, inefficient, and inflexible. For example, conducting an online comparison test often involves distributing (and tracking distribution) of thousands of digital content lists across any number of client devices in addition to tracking and analyzing interactions with the distributed content to determine an effectiveness of a given content selection policy. These tests, thus, require significant computing resources in applying digital content policies in response to detecting opportunities corresponding to various client devices and distributing digital content to those client devices. In addition, because viewer behavior and individual online activity change over time, content distributors cannot replicate online comparison tests to confirm testing results. Accordingly, conventional systems generally utilize rigid testing approaches that apply only to specific digital content policies.
As an alternative to online comparison testing, some conventional systems perform policy evaluation by predicting user interactions with respective lists of digital content across a distribution of lists associated with corresponding content selection policies. As lists increase in length and content variety, however, the number of possible digital content lists that a content distributor can provide to target users grows exponentially. As a result, conventional policy evaluation techniques become computationally prohibitive as the number of combinations of different digital content items in digital content lists increases (and the amount of data necessary to accurately evaluate item lists for target policies increases).
These and other problems exist with regard to evaluating distribution policies for providing lists of digital content items.

Method, medium, and system for utilizing item-level importance sampling models for digital content selection policies


A frame and sunshade assembly for a vehicle having a passenger space configured in a side-by-side seating arrangement can include a plurality of frame members connected together to define an area above the passenger space when the frame members are mounted on the vehicle, a flexible panel extending along the area, and a plurality of anchors connected to the flexible panel. Each of the anchors can be mounted onto a respective one of the frame members. The anchors can include a first flexible strap, a second elastic strap, a pair of D-ring assemblies, and a fourth elastic strap.

The disclosed subject matter relates to a sunshade for a vehicle. More particularly, the disclosed subject matter relates to methods and apparatus that can secure a sunshade to a frame assembly of a vehicle.
Vehicles configured for use on unimproved paths, such as but not limited to gravel paths, dirt trails, and unmarked paths can include an open frame assembly that includes a plurality of pipes, tubes or similar structures that are connected together to extend around and above a passenger space. This open frame assembly can provide or enhance a passenger's perception of an open passenger space. The open frame assembly can also provide protection to the passengers from various driving and environmental conditions. The open frame assembly can also be referred to as a rollover protection structure.

Sunshade for a vehicle, a vehicle including a sunshade, and a frame and sunshade assembly


An exemplary computerized method is disclosed, comprising booting a destination computer in a pre-boot mode after a disk image comprising a first operating system is downloaded to the destination computer, initiating an identification module in the pre-boot mode to identify a device of the destination computer, receiving a device identifier of the device of the destination computer, identifying, using the device identifier, a driver compatible with the device, and downloading the driver to the destination computer before the destination computer is booted into the first operating system of the disk image for the first time. The method may also comprise receiving a hardware-abstraction-layer identifier of a hardware-abstraction layer of the destination computer, identifying a hardware-abstraction-layer file compatible with the hardware-abstraction layer of the destination computer, and downloading the hardware-abstraction-layer file to the destination computer. Corresponding computer-readable mediums and systems for deploying a disk image are also disclosed.

Disk imaging is a critical information technology tool for many enterprises. Disk imaging can refer to the process of replicating the information on a source disk, resulting in the creation of a disk image. By creating and deploying a disk image, which may be a computer file that typically contains the data and structure of the source disk, network managers may avoid the timely task of individually configuring every computer in a network. Disk imaging may greatly simply network maintenance, software deployment, software migration, disaster recovery, and many other network management tasks.
Network managers often use disk imaging to deploy and update operating systems and other software on multiple computers. For example, a network manager may want to install and configure a new version of an operating system on twenty computers. Without using a disk imaging tool, a network manager may need to individually setup the operating system on each of the computers. This can be a long, tedious process. In contrast, the network manager may install the operating system on a source computer and configure the source computer as desired. Then, the network manager can create an image of the source computer and deploy the image to the other nineteen computers (known as destination computers). Typically, the configuration of each of the nineteen destination computers will be the same as the configuration of the source computer. Ideally, the network manager saves time by eliminating the need to configure each of the nineteen destination computers.
But we do not live in an ideal world. The nineteen destination computers often include many different hardware configurations. For example, some of the destination computers may be updated with newer hardware than the source computer or other destination computers. Some destination computers may also include hardware devices not installed on any of the other destination computers. In addition, one destination computer may include a dual core processor while the others include single core processors. These hardware differences present significant challenges in deploying a disk image.
When a source computer has a different hardware configuration than a destination computer, the image may not include all the files the destination computer needs to run properly. For example, if a destination computer includes a device not found on the source computer, the image might not contain the drivers required for the device to operate. In many cases, the destination computer may not be able to boot when device drivers are missing from the image. Thus, the network manager may have to fix these hardware compatibility problems on many computers after deploying a disk image. This process may take the network manager more time than it would have taken to individually install and configure the operating system on each of the destination computers.

Method and system for creating and deploying disk images


A microthruster (11) provides a small unit force. The microthruster is useful, for example, as a propellant for a microsatellite. The microthruster includes an aerospike (12) extending outwardly beyond the face of an outer wall of the chamber (14) of the microthruster in the vicinity of an outlet nozzle thereof formed by two diaphragms or burst disks (15, 16), closing the chamber on respective sides of the aerospike. The aerospike is preferably formed integrally with the chamber by batch microelectronic fabrication methods. Higher thrust efficiency and more controllable and uniform impulse characteristics are attainable with the microthruster and with an array (17) comprising a plurality of the microthrusters.

The present invention relates to a microthruster which provides a small unit of force and, more particularly, to a microthruster for use as propellant device for translating or rotating a microsatellite.
The use of extremely small thrust impulse bits in packages of sub-millimeter length scales is under consideration for a wide variety of applications. The small size has so far made it desirable to keep the construction simple by producing only a simple burst disk nozzle opening Upon opening a burst disk, the gas expels from the thrust chamber and produces an impulse. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/912,709 referred to above discloses an integrated pulsed propulsion and structural support system for a microsatellite employing a microthruster capable of being fabricated by batch processing similar to integrated microelectronics.
Aerospike thrust augmentation has been used in large scale thrusters for several applications in the aerospace community, but not in microthrusters. In particular, aerospike rocket engines have been built and tested at launch vehicle length scales, but not at microelectromechanical (MEMS) length scales. These large scale thrusters for launch vehicles provide several hundred thousand pounds or more of thrust in a continuous thrusting application. This is in contrast to the small unit of force associated with microthrusters, typically expressed in impulse units of micro to nano-pound-seconds, for example, which occurs only over an extremely short interval or blow-down time, less than or equal to 103 microseconds. The aerospikes in large scale thrusters have been formed as separate elements supported by struts attached to the thruster and are subject to a thermal management problem, e.g., heating.
There is a need for an improved microthruster that will provide higher thrust efficiency. A second need for development of thrust impulse bits is to make the magnitude of the impulse from microthrusters more uniform and controllable. This feature is valuable for design controllability when combining individual microthrusters to form arrays and for achieving minimum altitude dependence of thrust for either individual microthrusting or arrays of microthrusters. An object of the present invention is to provide an improved microthruster useful, for example, as a propellant for a microsatellite, capable of meeting these needs.
A microthruster according to the present invention comprises a closed chamber for carrying a fluid with a portion of the chamber less resistant to rupture from elevated fluid pressure than other portions of the chamber. The microthruster further includes an aerospike, which extends outwardly beyond the face of an outer wall of the closed chamber in the vicinity of the portion less resistant to rupture. The aerospike can be either axisymmetric or linear. It has been found that this microthruster of the invention improves the gas dynamics during propulsion for higher thrust efficiency and more controllable and uniform impulse characteristics. The microthruster is particularly useful as a propellant for a microsatellite.
In the disclosed embodiment of the invention, the aerospike is located between two adjacent diaphragms which close the chamber of the microthruster and form an exit section of the chamber which allows exit flow along the surface of the aerospike upon rupture of the diaphragms. It has been found that the introduction of the aerospike in the center of the exit section, opened by use of the two diaphragms in the form of two burst disks (or by an annular burst disk for an axisymmetric aerospike design), thereby allowing exit flow on each side of the aerospike, produces a higher impulse (19% more by calculation), as well as more uniform impulse performance over altitude variations, as compared with the microthrusters of application Ser. No. 08/912,709, which have no thrust augmentation. Preferably, the aerospike is formed integrally with the microthruster, Advantageously, it has been found that there is no thermal management (heating) problem with the aerospike in the microthruster of the invention.
The microthruster of the invention is preferably part of an array configuration comprising a plurality of the microthrusters stacked together, side-by-side, to provide numerous linear (or axisymmetric) impulse bits. The microthrusters of the inner array and those of the outer arrays in the array configuration can be exposed to different external pressure. However, because the bit impulse from the improved microthruster of the present invention is relatively pressure-independent, the array configuration with the microthruster of the present invention produces a more uniform thrust and hence is more controllable, as compared with an array configuration formed of microthrusters of the type disclosed in the aforementioned application Serial No. 08/912,709.

Aerospike augmentation of microthruster impulse


An image sensor according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a semiconductor substrate having a CMOS circuit formed therein; an interlayer dielectric layer formed on the semiconductor substrate and including a trench formed therein; a metal wiring and a first conductive layer formed within the trench of the interlayer dielectric layer; an intrinsic layer formed on the semiconductor substrate including the first conductive layer and the interlayer dielectric layer; and a second conductive layer formed on the intrinsic layer.

An image sensor, which is a semiconductor device that converts an optical image into an electrical signal, is largely classified as a charge coupled device (CCD) image sensor or a Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) image sensor.
The CMOS image sensor sequentially detects electrical signals of respective unit pixels in a switching scheme by utilizing photodiodes and MOS transistors in unit pixels, thereby displaying an image.
A CMOS image sensor can include a photodiode region for receiving a light signal to convert it into an electrical signal and a transistor region for processing the electrical signal.
The typical CMOS image sensor has a structure where the photodiode and the transistor are horizontally arranged.
Many disadvantages of the CCD image sensor are addressed by the horizontal type image sensor; however, there are still problems associated with the horizontal type image sensor.
In particular, the photodiode and the transistor of a horizontal type image sensor are formed to be horizontally adjacent to each other on a substrate. Accordingly, an additional region of the substrate for forming the photodiode is required for each unit pixel so that the region of a fill factor is reduced and the resolution may be limited.
In addition, according to the horizontal type image sensor, it can be very difficult to achieve the optimization for a process simultaneously manufacturing the photodiode and the transistor. For example, a shallow junction is required for a low sheet resistance in a rapid transistor process; however, such a shallow junction may not be appropriate for the photodiode.
To add additional on-chip functions to the horizontal type CMOS image sensor, the size of a unit pixel may need to be increased or decreased, depending on circumstances, in order to maintain sensitivity of the horizontal type CMOS image sensor.
However, when the size of the unit pixel is increased, the resolution of the horizontal type CMOS image sensor is decreased. In addition, when the area of the photodiode is decreased, the sensitivity of the horizontal type CMOS image sensor is decreased.

Image sensor and method for manufacturing the same


The invention is a hydrogen generator with a liquid reservoir, a reaction area, a byproduct containment area and a hydrogen containment area within a housing. A liquid from the liquid reservoir can react within the reaction area to produce hydrogen gas and byproducts, which flow to the byproduct containment area, and hydrogen gas passes into the hydrogen containment area and is released from the housing through a hydrogen outlet as needed. The liquid reservoir and the reaction area are each within a container made of a liquid impermeable material, the byproduct containment area is within a flexible container made of a hydrogen permeable, liquid impermeable material, and the hydrogen containment area is within a flexible container made of a hydrogen impermeable material. The byproduct containment area is in a volume exchanging relationship with one or both of the liquid reservoir and the reaction area.

Interest in fuel cell batteries as power sources for portable electronic devices has grown. A fuel cell is an electrochemical cell that uses materials from outside the cell as the active materials for the positive and negative electrode. Because a fuel cell does not have to contain all of the active materials used to generate electricity, the fuel cell can be made with a small volume relative to the amount of electrical energy produced compared to other types of batteries.
Fuel cells can be categorized according to the types of materials used in the positive electrode (cathode) and negative electrode (anode) reactions. One category of fuel cell is a hydrogen fuel cell using hydrogen as the negative electrode active material and oxygen as the positive electrode active material. When such a fuel cell is discharged, hydrogen is oxidized at the negative electrode to produce hydrogen ions and electrons. The hydrogen ions pass through an electrically nonconductive, ion permeable separator and the electrons pass through an external circuit to the positive electrode, where oxygen is reduced.
In some types of hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen is formed from a fuel supplied to the negative electrode side of the fuel cell. In other types of hydrogen fuel cells, hydrogen gas is supplied to the fuel cell from a source outside the fuel cell. A fuel cell system can include a fuel cell battery, including one or more fuel cells, and a hydrogen source, such as a fuel tank, a hydrogen tank or a hydrogen generator. In some fuel cell systems, the hydrogen source can be replaced after the hydrogen is depleted. Replaceable hydrogen sources can be rechargeable or disposable.
A hydrogen generator uses one or more reactants containing hydrogen that can react to produce hydrogen gas. The reaction can be initiated in various ways, such as hydrolysis and thermolysis. For example, two reactants can produce hydrogen and byproducts. An accelerator and/or a catalyst can be used to increase the rate of reaction or catalyze the reaction. When the reactants react, reaction products including hydrogen gas and byproducts are produced.
In order to minimize the volume of the hydrogen generator, volume that is initially occupied by the reactants can be used to accommodate reaction products as the reactants are consumed by arranging the components of the hydrogen generator in a volume exchanging configuration. As reactants are consumed, volume that they had occupied is simultaneously made available to contain reaction products.
The hydrogen gas is separated from byproducts and unreacted reactants, and the gas exits the hydrogen generator and is provided to the fuel cell battery. Various means for separating the hydrogen gas are known, including porous filters to separate solids from the hydrogen gas and gas permeable, liquid impermeable membranes to separate the hydrogen gas from liquids. Such means of separating the hydrogen gas can become filled or blocked by solids, thereby restricting or blocking the flow of hydrogen gas so the gas cannot exit the hydrogen generator.
It is desirable to provide a hydrogen generator capable of supplying hydrogen gas to a fuel cell stack with improved effectiveness and reliability of the separation of hydrogen gas from liquids and solids within the hydrogen generator. The hydrogen generator is advantageously less susceptible to internal restrictions or blockages that can impede the separation and release of the hydrogen gas. It is further desirable that the hydrogen generator have excellent reliability, safety, volume efficiency and a simple design that is easily manufactured at a low cost.


An engine speed command selector and method of selecting an engine speed command signal from two command signals includes a selector switch having a local and a remote position, a local low indicator, a local high indicator, a local mode indicator and a remote mode indicator; the engine speed command selector permits an operator to change between local and remote mode when a local engine speed command is within a predetermined tolerance of a remote engine speed command and the operator has moved the selector switch to the desired mode position.

In certain applications it is desirable to permit an internal combustion engine to operate while being controlled from a remote location. For such applications, prior art systems have been developed that permit a desired engine speed command to be communicated to a remotely located engine via a telephone line or other communication link. The remotely generated desired engine speed command is then used by the engine controller to control the engine speed. Such remote control is sometimes used to control equipment in isolated locations in connection with compressors and generator sets, among other applications.
Even a remotely controlled engine, however, must sometimes be controlled locally. For example, if maintenance must be performed on the engine (or on equipment associated with the engine), the maintenance technician must be able to start and stop the engine and control the engine speed while performing the maintenance. Generally, in prior art controls that permit such remote operation, there is a toggle switch on the control panel that indicates whether the control is using a local desired engine speed command or a remote desired engine speed command to control the engine. When the maintenance technician wants local control he or she simply moves the toggle switch to the local position. The engine control then uses a local desired engine speed command developed through a potentiometer or other device to control engine speed. Then, when the technician has finished performing the maintenance, he or she simply moves the switch back to the remote position and the control then passes the remote engine speed command to the engine controller. While this technique may work satisfactorily in some situations there are significant drawbacks. For example, if the remote engine speed signal is significantly greater than the local engine speed signal, abruptly shifting from local to remote mode could result in an engine speed surge. Likewise, shifting from remote operation to local operation can produce a similar surge. Such surges are undesirable and could create stress on the engine.
It would be preferable to have a speed control system that permits two engine speed command signals to be selectively used and that minimizes engine speed surges when changing from one speed command to the other. Thus, one object of the present invention to permit an operator to switch from local to remote mode without creating undue engine speed surges.

Engine command selector and method of operating same


Partially biodegradable hydrogel that changes its volume and shape in response to change in pH and/or temperature is prepared by UV irradiation of composition comprising dextran-maleic acid monoester and N-isopropylacrylamide.

Biodegradable hydrogels formed by photocrosslinking dextran-maleic acid monoester hydrogel precursor are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,476,204. These hydrogels are pH sensitive but are not temperature sensitive, i.e., their volume and structure are not affected by temperature change.
Temperature sensitive hydrogels are known. The most widely studied of these are poly(N-isopropylacrylamide) (PNIPAAm) hydrogels. These hydrogels have been indicated to exhibit a lower critical solution temperature (LCST) at about 33° C. PNIPAAm hydrogels are non-biodegradable.

Partially biodegradable temperature and pH sensitive hydrogel


A method, an apparatus, and a computer program product for wireless communication are provided in connection with reducing interference between NFC communications and other coexisting RAT based communications. In one example, a communications device may include an interface that is equipped to detect that a NFC communication and a coexisting RAT communication are to occur within a threshold time of each other, determine whether the communications will interfere with each other beyond a threshold level of interference, and align timing for the NFC communication and the RAT communication upon a determination that the communications will not interfere with each other beyond the threshold level of interference. In another example, a communications device may include an interface that is equipped to detect that a NFC subsystem has established a NFC connection, and provide a message to another RAT subsystem to establish a link or perform a handover.

The disclosed aspects relate generally to communications between and/or within devices and specifically to methods and systems for reducing interference between NFC communications and other coexisting radio access technology (RAT) based communications.
Advances in technology have resulted in smaller and more powerful personal computing devices. For example, there currently exist a variety of portable personal computing devices, including wireless computing devices, such as portable wireless telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) and paging devices that are each small, lightweight, and can be easily carried by users. More specifically, the portable wireless telephones, for example, further include cellular telephones that communicate voice and data packets over wireless networks. Many such cellular telephones are being manufactured with relatively large increases in computing capabilities, and as such, are becoming tantamount to small personal computers and hand-held PDAs. Further, such devices are being manufactured to enable communications using a variety of frequencies and applicable coverage areas, such as cellular communications, wireless local area network (WLAN) communications, near field communication (NFC), etc.
Radio level interference can occur between a Near Field Communication (NFC) based radio and other radios in close proximity (e.g., collocated on the same chip set, same board, etc.) with the NFC radio. Further, current attempts at providing coordinated coexistence are limited by overhead and latencies issues associated with communicating from a host interface (e.g., communication to/from the NFC device or subsystem), up through the application level processor, and to the driver for a coexisting radio access technology (RAT). Such RATs may include, wireless local area network (WLAN) based RATs, wide area network (WAN) based RATs, a Bluetooth (BT) RAT, frequency modulation (FM) based RATs, amplitude modulation (AM) based RATs, etc. Currently, no interface exists to establish direct device level communication and coordination between a NFC controller and other radio subsystems for the purpose of coexistence and interference avoidance. Additionally, NFC polling activities are not synchronized to other RAT activities in a device. This may result in non-optimal power consumption when shared resources such as clocks or power supplies are turned on and off asynchronously by multiple subsystems sharing the resources. Currently, no interface exists to establish direct device level communication and coordination between a NFC controller and other radio subsystems for the purpose of aligning radio activity to optimize platform power consumption.
Thus, improved apparatus and methods for reducing interference between NFC communications and other coexisting RAT based communications may be desired.

Methods and apparatus for coordinating communications between a NFC radio and other coexisting RAT radios


Sewing machine includes a tension detection section (26) for detecting tension acting on a sewn material (A) paid out from a rotary holder member, and a drive section for driving the rotary holder member, and the driving operation of the drive section (14) is controlled on the basis of the detection by the tension detection section. Once the tension acting on the sewn material has increased, the rotary holder member is driven to rotate by the drive section, so that the sewn material can be paid out smoothly from the rotary holder member. The sewing machine is particularly useful in a case where the rotary holder member is constructed into an increased size so that an increased amount of the sewn material can be wound thereon.

There have been known sewing machines of a type which includes a vertically driven needle bar, a sewing needle fixed to a lower end portion of the needle bar, a rotary member mounted concentrically with the needle bar and freely rotatable about the axis and a guide fixed to the rotary member for guiding the string material (i.e., string-shaped embroidering member, such as a tape or cord) to a sewing position of the sewing needle. The sewing machines of the type operate to sew the string material to a fabric through lock stitching, by the rotation of the rotary member being appropriately controlled in accordance with a moving direction of a fabric based on embroidery data and by the orientation of the guide being appropriately varied to optimize the direction in which the string material is guided to the sewing position of the sewing needle. One example of such sewing machines is known from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. HEI-3-286797. The No. HEI-3-286797 publication discloses a sewing machine of the above-mentioned type, where a bobbin having a string material wound thereon has an increased size by being disposed in a space above the needle bar. The bobbin having the string material wound thereon is mounted on a bobbin shaft supported at its opposite ends by a pair of support members fixed to a machine frame, and the bobbin is supported at its opposite end portions by a pair of retaining members mounted on the bobbin shaft. First guide roller for winding the string material from the bobbin to invert upwardly the feed direction of the string material is rotatably provided beneath a substantial middle region of the bobbin. Roller support frame is rotatably mounted at its proximal end portion to the pair of support members, and a second guide roller for winding thereon the string material, inverted by the first guide roller, and further inverting downward the direction of the string material is rotatably mounted to a portion of the roller support frame corresponding in position to the substantial middle region of the bobbin. Coil spring is provided on the roller support frame for normally biasing the roller support frame in the upward direction, and a brake member is also provided on the roller support frame in such a manner that it can be brought to frictional contact with the retaining members when necessary.
The string material paid out from the bobbin is guided to the sewing position via the first guide roller and second guide roller. As the second guide roller is pulled by the string material in accordance with a progression of sewing of the string material, the roller support frame is caused to pivot downward and the bobbin is rotated by being pulled by the string material so that the string material is paid out from the bobbin. As the tension of the string material decreases by the paying-out of the string material, the roller support frame is caused to pivot upward by the biasing force of the coil spring. Once the roller support frame is caused to pivot further upward by the string material being paid out sufficiently, the brake member is brought to frictional contact with the retaining members, which terminates the rotation of the bobbin and thereby inhibits inertial rotation (overrun) of the bobbin. In such a sewing machine, where the bobbin having the string material wound thereon is located above the needle bar, the bobbin can have an increased size so that an increased amount of the string material can be wound on the bobbin.
In the conventionally-known sewing machines like the one disclosed in the HEI-3-286797 publication, as the string material is paid out from the bobbin and sewn onto a fabric, the bobbin is rotated by being pulled by the string material, in accordance with a progression of the sewing operation, so that the string material is further paid out from the bobbin, as set forth above. However, because the large-size bobbin having an increased amount of the string material wound thereon would have an increased overall weight, an extremely great force would be required to rotate the bobbin in order to pay out the string material. Thus, if the bobbin is very heavy in weight, the rotation of the bobbin tends to be slow so that the paying-out of the string material is delayed behind the sewing operation, and the bobbin tends to start rotating rapidly so that the string material may be paid out more than necessary. Further, depending on the weights of the bobbin and string material, the bobbin may fail to rotate even when it is pulled by the string material being sewn, in which case the string material may not be paid out at all. Thus, the convention sewing machines would suffer from the inconveniences that the string material can not be paid out smoothly, the string material can not be sewn accurately and beautifully or aesthetically and the sewing of the string material is undesirably halted.


A method and a system for evaluation of a human disease by recording body sounds for extended periods of time by a microphone placed in contact with the body of the patient and using computer processing of body sound data to provide frequency domain and time domain sound amplitudes. A computer reads out a converted measurement of a sound taken by the microphone and places the data on the computer data bus for further processing. The method and system provide a diagnostic information on diseases, such as certain diseases of the gastro-intestinal tract and the heart, which generate abnormal body sounds and provide assessment of patient progress during treatment of such disease entities.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method and system for computer analysis of body sounds derived from the muscular activity of various body organs or systems, and to use of such method and system in diagnosing and monitoring activity of diseases and syndromes associated with abnormal sound production.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The stethoscope has been used for evaluation of human disease since the 18th Century. Auscultation is performed by placing the stethoscope on the skin overlying human structures such as heart, abdomen, lungs, or blood vessels, and allows the physician to hear body sounds in the frequency range of human hearing. However, the stethoscope does not allow evaluation of sounds in the low frequency range not heard by the human ear ("infrasound"), and only permits real-time, audible evaluation of body sounds.
Phonocardiography is an established technique for converting heart sounds within the auditory range into electrical energy using a microphone, followed by oscilloscopic or paper visual display of heart sounds within the time domain. Apex cardiography is also an established technique somewhat similar to phonocardiography except that it deals with low frequency vibrations in the infrasonic range. Some physicians or trained personnel have performed limited evaluation of computer processing of heart sound data (phonocardiography and apex cardiography) as described, for example, in "Computer Analysis Techniques for Phonocardiogram Diagnosis" published in "Computers and Biomedical Research", by Sarkady A. A. Clark R. L. and Williams R, 9, 349-363, 1976 or in "Recording of the Fourth Heart Sound by the Signal Averaging Method", by Yanaga et al, Jap. Heart J., May 1977, 340-347. However, these techniques have not been utilized for evaluation of the diagnostic utility of abnormal sound generation in other body systems, such as evaluation of abnormal bowel sounds.

Method and system for analysis of body sounds


The present invention is directed to a protective cover having a first panel superimposed over and connected to a second panel. The first panel is connected to the second panel such that the first panel is slidably moveable relative to the second panel so that the first panel will be sheared relative to the second panel upon the first panel being impacted by a force having a component which is non-perpendicular to the first panel. Each of the first panel and the second panel has a top sheet and a bottom sheet. The top sheet is connected to the bottom sheet to form an air chamber. A valve is disposed through the panels and manually operable between an open condition and a closed condition to allow air to be selectively removed from and drawn into the air chamber of the first panel. The air chamber is provided with a resilient, open-celled, foam panel to cause air to be drawn into the air chamber upon expansion of the foam panel from a collapsed condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a protective cover for protecting vehicles or structures from foreign objects, and more particularly, but not by way of limitation, to a self-inflating protective cover for protecting vehicles or structures from hail.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Protective covers for protecting vehicles from weather, such as hail, are well known in the art. Many existing protective covers require inflation to form pneumatic cushions and therefore cannot be quickly installed should emergency conditions arise. Further, many existing covers are not sufficiently durable to resist and protect a vehicle or other structure from damaging foreign objects, such as hail. That is, these covers do not provide sufficient thickness or force-absorbing properties to resist and withstand the impact of damaging foreign objects, such as hail. Also, many existing covers are bulky and awkward making them inconvenient to store.
To this end, a protective cover is needed that is easily stored, self-inflating so as to be quickly installed during emergency situations and provides the requisite thickness necessary to resist the force of impacting foreign objects, such as hail.


A projection lens unit includes: a projection lens having a first optical system for focusing incident image light and also having a second optical system for magnifying and projecting the image light focused by the first optical system; a lens barrel member for accommodating the projection lens and having a small diameter portion in which a joining portion of the first and the second optical system is formed to be the thinnest; a holding member having a first holding face on which the small diameter portion is mounted; and a presser member having a second holding face which holds the small diameter portion together with the first holding face. The holding member is fixed to a housing on which the projection lens unit is mounted. The presser member does not protrude upward from the lens barrel member arranged in a dead space of the small diameter portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projection lens unit mounted on a portable type ultra-small projector and projecting an image, which is formed by an image forming apparatus, on a screen.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, portable type electronic apparatus have come into wide use in which a light projector is incorporated into a personal computer, a mobile phone or a digital camera so that a projecting function can be added in addition to the original function of the electronic apparatus. Further, portable type ultra-small projectors, on which only the projecting function is mounted, have been on the market. There is a strong demand of reducing the sizes of the light projectors incorporated into those portable type electronic apparatus. Especially, a reduction of the thickness of the apparatus is the most important task. In general, when consideration is given to mounting a projection lens on a housing of the light projector, a size of the holding portion, on which a projection lens for projecting an image on a screen is mounted, is inevitably increased and becomes larger than the size of a lens barrel portion. Accordingly, this portion has a great influence on the size and thickness of the overall apparatus. For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the lens barrel portion is composed as follows. In an outer circumferential portion on the incident side of the projection lens barrel 50, the flange portion 53 having the mounting face 52, which is perpendicular to the lens optical axis 51, is provided so that the lens optical axis 51 of the projection lens barrel 50 can be maintained to be highly accurately perpendicular to the mounting face of the apparatus.
Since a plurality of lenses are incorporated into such a projection lens barrel, it is necessary to adjust a focus after the lenses have been incorporated. Further, such a problem may be caused that the focusing position is shifted because of rattling of the lens caused by the vibration in the process of conveyance. In preparation for the occurrence of such a problem, a structure, by which an adjustment can be easily made again, is disclosed in the following JP-A-2007-025579 and JP-A-2007-041157.


In a space platform supply system, a canister containing supply for a space platform is launched into orbit using a launch vehicle. An intermediate space vehicle rendezvous and docks with the canister while the attached launch vehicle provides the necessary orbit maintenance and stabilization to enable the docking. After docking, the intermediate space vehicle detaches the canister from the launch vehicle element or the launch vehicle element may initiate detachment from the intermediate space vehicle/canister. In either event, the intermediate space vehicle then can provide propulsion and attitude control to allow the canister to be transported to and docked with the space platform being supplied, thus eliminating the need for the canister to include propulsion and attitude control of its own.

Orbital operations are expensive and complex. One reason for this is that all the goods and supply needed for an operation needs to be supplied from somewhere else, either another orbit or from the ground. Another reason is that, in orbit, everything is in motion, including space objects and debris from prior human operations. Yet another reason is that orbital environments are harsh, with excessive radiation and vacuum present.
With everything in orbit being in motion, consideration needs to be given to rendezvous and changes in orbit. Some objects, such as space probes and some satellites might not have any propulsion systems and are left to the orbits where they are placed. Of course, some such devices might change orbits over time due to drag or other collisions or other perturbations. Other objects have their own propulsion systems, allowing them to make minor adjustments, such as needed to stay in a given orbit, or major adjustments that allow them to change orbits and/or change positions relative to other objects. For example, the Space Shuttle has a propulsion system that allows it to maneuver around other objects in orbit and change orbits (including the extreme case of a change in orbit from an orbital position above the Earth to a ground position on Earth).
One scheme for performing operations in orbit is the use of a space platform (also referred to herein as a "platform"). A space platform is launched and placed in an orbit or is constructed in orbit from parts launched from Earth, or possibly from components and/or construction materials from nonterrestrial sources. Once in place, the space platform serves as a base for the operations. Such operations might include space exploration, experimentation, satellite maintenance or construction, or other operations suited for performance in orbit. One example of a space platform is the International Space Station (ISS) being put into operation by a consortium of countries. Other examples include the Mir and Skylab-type space stations.
In some cases, space vehicles or space-bound objects might be considered space platforms, either permanently or temporarily. For example, while in orbit, the U.S. Space Shuttle serves as a temporary space platform for satellite recovery operations and research. In addition to government-funded platforms, several private companies are planning to develop and put into operation commercial space platforms. In some cases, a satellite or other orbiting object could be considered a platform, but typically a space platform provides for human occupation.
As part of the construction, repair and/or operation of a space platform, the space platform normally requires initial supply and resupply (generically referred to herein as "supply"). In some cases, such as where the platform is a temporary space platform, the mission of the platform might be fully supplied at the outset for a self-sufficient mission, but more typically, a space platform needs supply. Permanent space platforms, such as the ISS, typically require significant logistics for supply. In fact, as the ISS becomes fully operational, the amount of goods required to service the ISS might well exceed the capacity of current baselined ISS service vehicles such as the Space Shuttle.
As used herein, the term "supply" can refer to the provision of multiple kinds of goods to a platform. These includes logistical supplies needed by the platform, such as food, water, air, propellant or other consumables, or equipment to provide additional capabilities such as power or on-board computing for experiments, or platform housekeeping functions. Supply can also mean provision of additional pressurized or unpressurized storage capability. In addition, supply can also include materials needed for purposes beyond the platform, such as propellant for or parts of other spacecraft that would be assembled and/or serviced at or beyond the platform itself. In some arrangements, supply can also include crew, i.e., where a supply mission includes the transport of fresh crew as replacements for crew already at the space platform.
Much literature and prior art exists on the subject of supply.
Some actually implemented systems include canisters for carrying cargo into space, such as the Long Exposure Duration Facility (LDEF), launched Apr. 7, 1984 on Space Shuttle mission STS 41-C, and returned to Earth on Jan. 20, 1990 on Space Shuttle mission STS-32. However, LDEF remained in its initial orbit until it was picked up by the Space Shuttle and was returned to Earth, and was not transferred to another orbit to deliver cargo to a space platform.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,834,324 and 5,217,187 show a space transportation system comprising modular units that could include a payload canister. However, that disclosure only addressed the placement of the payload canister into an initial orbit, where it presumably would have remained unless it moved to another orbit with its own propulsive capability, if available.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,471,926 describes a method for a launch vehicle upper stage (space transfer vehicle), for use in connection with a satellite to be moved from a launch vehicle's orbit into another orbit, of segregating the main propulsive capability of the satellite from the satellite's payload functions by placing the function with the space transfer vehicle. However, that satellite was expensive and heavy as it carried its own housekeeping functions and subsystems, such as attitude control, so that it could function as an independent vehicle once the transfer vehicle had detached from the satellite.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,152,482 and 5,271,582 show the use of a standardized spacecraft bus for segregating various subsystem functions, such as main propulsion and attitude control, from pre-integrated payloads.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,328 shows a spacecraft payload exchange system that employs a servicing vehicle, a plurality of canisters and the exchange of material-containing canisters from the servicing vehicle to a space platform and vice versa using a docking method. However, the initial transfer of canisters occurs directly at the space platform, with the servicing vehicle using the direct transportation method from the launch vehicle to the space platform, which does not avoid the problems of direct transportation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,880,187 shows the transfer of a spacecraft from one orbit to another.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,596 shows a spacecraft payload module with a fitting at one end that is assembled on-orbit with a bus module using the Space Shuttle. However, the payload module is assembled with the bus module using a robotic arm which generally requires operator assistance and its stabilizing and propulsive ability is limited.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,149,104, 6,193,193 and 6,322,023 show provision of space platform rendezvous functions for a cargo module using a separate space tug. However, these methods all use the direct transportation method from the launch vehicle to the space platform, which is disadvantageous for the reasons described herein.
Furthermore, Waltz, Donald M., On-Orbit Servicing of Space Systems, (Krieger Publishing) illustrates a launch of an unpressurized cargo carrier carrying supplies to a space platform using a space tug with a spin-stabilized upper stage.
J Collins, John T., et. al., Small Orbit Transfer Vehicle (OTV) for On-Orbit Satellite Servicing and Resupply, 15th Annual AIAA/USU Conference on Small Satellites, Aug. 13-16, 2001, specifically describes using a space tug to retrieve a payload canister that has been placed into orbit by a launch vehicle upper stage, and transporting that canister to a space platform (specifically ISS). However, there the space tug is attached to the space platform by a robotic arm, limiting its usefulness and requiring human intervention. An additional use of the robotic arm might be required to then berth the payload canister to the space platform.
Intermodal transport of containers in a terrestrial environment is common. For example, consumer goods transported in part by ship are often packed into standardized containers, placed on ships, offloaded at a destination port onto trains, and then offloaded onto trucks for delivery to their final destination. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,027,025, 3,456,829 and 3,966,075 described such intermodal terrestrial transport. Of course, terrestrial transport, intermodal or otherwise, is much simpler that space transport.
In the typical space platform supply process, elements of which are described in the above references, the supply is part of a payload attached to a launch vehicle that is launched from Earth into the launch vehicle's orbit. Of course, what remains in orbit might only a launch vehicle element, such as the upper stage of the launch vehicle, with the payload attached thereto. The launch vehicle, or what remains of it, includes a propulsion module, means or section and a cargo module, means or section, integrated as a unit. The Russian Soyuz launch vehicle and Progress spacecraft are an example of such an integrated unit.
The integrated unit approaches the space platform and attaches to the space platform for transfer of the cargo into the platform. The attachment could be via a docking maneuver, via berthing of the entire integrated unit to the space platform using a robotic arm, via attachment of the cargo module of the integrated unit to the space platform using a robotic arm, via attachment of the cargo module to the space platform by crew performing extra-vehicular activity (EVA), or similar approaches.
The Space Shuttle/SpaceHab/Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) system is an example of one approach. In that system, the entire launch vehicle element, with the cargo module attached, directly travels to and docks with the space platform. The cargo can be stored within the launch vehicle (i.e., the Space Shuttle) and transferred by its crew into the space platform after docking, stored in a cargo module inside the Space Shuttle (e.g., a SpaceHab or SpaceLab module) or stored in a cargo module that is transferred from the Space Shuttle payload bay and berthed using a robotic arm to a port at the space platform where the cargo can be later transferred by the crew. In the history of space platforms, actual implementation of logistics supply has been via this direct transportation method using an integrated propulsion/cargo unit.
Plans to augment the ISS supply chain currently call for development of new vehicles that also use this direct transport method. Examples of such plans include the European Ariane 5 launch vehicle with an "Automated Transfer Vehicle" using direct transport and docking, and the Japanese H2A launch vehicle with a "H2 Transfer Vehicle" using direct transport and berthing, and a variety of other concepts now being developed by U.S. companies. These new developments will be very costly, with investments required in excess of $100 million for each project.
Clearly, there is a need for inexpensive supply as it is a significant cost of many missions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for supplying orbital space platforms using payload canisters via intermediate orbital rendezvous and docking

Constellation Services International, Inc.


An optical touch system includes an image sensor for detecting at least one object and a processor coupled to the image sensor. The processor is configured to determine the number of pixel clusters created by the at least one object on an image generated from the image sensor and to generate gesture information when the number of pixel clusters is greater than a predetermined pixel cluster number.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to an optical touch system, and more particularly, to a method of detecting a gesture and an optical system using the same.
2. Related Art
In an optical touch screen system, the method of calculating the position of an object is to use an image sensor to generate a picture, analyze the location of an object image in the picture, and calculate the coordinates of the object by the location of the object image in the picture and a portion of geometric dimensions of the optical touch screen system.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,782,328 discloses an optical touch screen system, which comprises two image sensors and a processor coupled with the two image sensors. The two image sensors are configured to capture the image of an object on a touch screen. The processor is configured to decide sensing paths respectively connecting the object and the two image sensors, and further to calculate the coordinates of the object using the sensing paths.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,689,381 B2 discloses another optical touch screen system, which comprises a mirror, an image sensor, and a processor. The mirror is disposed at the periphery of a touch area. The mirror generates a reflection of an object. The image sensor captures an image of the object and an image of the reflection. The processor determines a sensing path passing through the image of the object and a sensing path passing through the image of the reflection, and determines the coordinates of the object by using the two sensing paths.
Multi-touch technology can simultaneously recognize the presence of two or more objects on a touch surface. This plural-point awareness is often used to implement advanced functionality such as a pinch to zoom or activating predefined programs.
Current optical touch systems use the multi-touch technology to calculate the coordinates of plural objects at each predetermined time and send the coordinates of the objects calculated at different times to multi-touch applications. Multi-touch applications are designed with predefined gestures. Common gestures may include a pan gesture that uses a single finger or multiple fingers to perform scrolling, rotate, and zoom gestures. In addition, a single finger gesture such as a press and tap, flick, press, and drag gesture is also used frequently. Moreover, another common gesture is a double-tap gesture, which can be customized by specific software to perform a particular function: for example, to start a game.
Multi-touch applications can adopt an event driven model as their basic conceptual designs. After a computing system captures a touch event, a registered event handler is called to implement a desired functionality.
During multi-touch operations, current optical touch systems supporting a multi-touch have to calculate coordinates of multiple objects at different time points and to output the coordinates of the objects to the multi-touch applications. The calculation and output of the coordinates of the objects take much time and consume a lot of resources, resulting in slow response of the optical touch systems.


A robot finger structure includes a first joint member, a second joint member, a fluid pipe, and a third joint. The first joint member has a fluid path. The second joint member has a fluid path and is pivotally supported by the first joint member while the fluid path of the second joint member communicates with the fluid path of the first joint member, pivotal movement of the second joint member being stopped upon abutment with the first joint member. The fluid pipe supplies a fluid to the fluid path of the first joint member. The third joint member is pivotally supported by the second joint member, is pivoted upon reception of a pressure of the fluid supplied to the first and second joint members through the fluid paths, and is brought into contact with the second joint member.

The present invention relates to a robot finger structure suitable for an industrial robot finger.
In recent years, various types of robots for performing jobs instead of human workers have been developed. In a conventional robot finger, a plurality of finger pieces are articulated to be pivotal about their joints by a joint mechanism and are driven by a driving force from a servo motor through a reduction gear mechanism. Therefore, the finger pieces are pivoted in the same direction to pivot a finger.
In this robot finger, since the servo motor and the reduction gear mechanism require a large space, the size of the finger is limited to a certain degree. At the same time, the number of joints is also limited, and fine movements cannot be obtained, thus posing many problems.
In order to solve the above drawbacks, a "robot finger structure" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No. 57-54966 is proposed. In this "robot finger structure, a plurality of first joints and a plurality of second joints are stacked on each other, and peripheral portions of the first and second joints are magnetized in opposite directions to cause them to attract to each other, thereby pivoting a finger. According to this "robot finger structure", a compact robot finger can be obtained by a simple structure. In addition, a multi-articulated finger can be easily formed, and pivotal motion of the finger can be finely and smoothly performed.
Although the above "robot finger structure" can obtain a compact finger with a simple arrangement, the first and second joints must be made of a magnetic material, thus resulting in high cost. In addition, since an overall weight is increased, the response speed is reduced by an increase in weight. The above robot finger structure cannot be easily assembled or disassembled, and the finger is still structurally complicated.


Camera calibration for a particular camera is automated based on line segments derived from historical data of images passing within that camera's view. Objects having a stable history of orientation are selected for conversion to line segments. A model is derived that fits the way most of the objects behave. The model is specific for the camera supplying the historical data and is specific for the location and position of the camera in that location. The model is able to predict how an object would appear at different locations in the scene and can be applied to data collected by that camera in that location in the future. Outputs include internal camera parameters, a vertical vanishing point and horizontal vanishing line, an equation of the floor and height of objects touching the floor relative to the average person height in the calibration video data.

When a camera captures an image, light from a three-dimensional scene is focused and captured on a two dimensional image plane. Thus, each pixel on the image plane corresponds to a column of light from the original scene. While in an ideal pinhole camera, a simple projection matrix may be sufficient for this calculation, in practice, errors resulting from misaligned lenses and deformations in the structure of the lenses can result in complex distortions in the final image.
Camera calibration includes the process of determining the internal camera geometric and optical characteristics (intrinsic parameters) and/or the three-dimensional position and orientation of the camera frame relative to a certain world coordinate system (extrinsic parameters). In many cases, the overall performance of the camera system depends on the accuracy of the camera calibration.
Several methods for geometric camera calibration are known. One approach minimizes a nonlinear error function. A camera projection matrix is derived from the intrinsic and extrinsic parameters of the camera, and is often represented by a series of transformations; e.g., a matrix of camera intrinsic parameters, a rotation matrix, and a translation vector. The camera projection matrix can be used to associate points in a camera's image space with locations in three-dimensional world space.

Systems and methods for automatic camera calibration


The invention provides an image forming apparatus an image forming portion for forming an image on a sheet, a stack portion for stacking a sheet, a discharge portion for discharging the sheet, on which an image is formed by the image forming portion, to the stack portion, a sheet detection portion for detecting a conveying condition of the sheet on which an image is formed, a fully stacked condition detection portion for detecting whether the sheets stacked in the stack portion are in a fully stacked condition, and a determining portion for determining an abnormal condition of the sheet in the stack portion, based, after the detection of a sheet passing by the sheet detection portion, on a result of detection by the fully stacked condition detection portion as to whether the sheets stacked in the stack portion are in a fully stacked condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a copying machine, a printer or a facsimile apparatus, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus utilizing an electrophotographic process.
2. Description of the Related Art
A schematic constitution of a general image forming apparatus utilizing the electrophotographic process will be described with reference to FIG. 7.
An image forming apparatus 700 is equipped with a sheet cassette 50. Sheets P contained in the sheet cassette 50 are advanced by a pickup roller 8a. On thus advanced sheet P, a desired image is formed in an image forming portion 101. The image forming portion 101 includes detachable process cartridges 7a to 7d. The process cartridges 7a to 7d include photosensitive drums 1a to 1d, charging rollers 2a to 2d for charging the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d, developing devices 4a to 4d for forming toner images on the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d.
A transfer-conveyor belt 9 conveys the sheet P, advanced by the pickup roller 8a, to the image forming portion 101. Transfer rollers 5a to 5d are disposed at positions opposed to the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d. The transfer rollers 5a to 5d press the sheet P toward the photosensitive drums 1a to 1d across the transfer-conveyor belt 9 and are given a voltage of a polarity opposite to that of the toner image, whereby the toner images are transferred onto the sheet P.
At a downstream side of the image forming portion 101 in the sheet conveying direction, there is provided a fixing unit 40 for fixing the toner images, transferred onto the sheet P, to the sheet P. The sheet P having received the transfer of toner images in the image forming portion 101 is conveyed to the fixing unit 40, in which the toner images are fixed. The sheet P, on which the toner images are fixed in the fixing unit 40, is discharged onto a stacking tray 301, by a discharge roller 302 and a discharge idler 303 opposed to the discharge roller 302.
The discharged sheets P are piled up on the stacking tray 301. Usually the user recovers the discharged sheets P at each discharge or at a suitable timing. However, in the case that the sheets are not recovered, for example because the user forgets to execute the recovery, there has resulted a situation where the sheets P are stacked in excess of the capacity of the stacking tray 301. Thus, such over-stacking of the sheets P has lead to a sticking-out of the sheet P from the stacking tray 301, a dropping of the sheet P from the image forming apparatus 700, or a sheet jamming.
Therefore, in order to avoid an over-stacking of the discharged sheets on the stacking tray, there are proposed a conveying apparatus and an image forming apparatus, equipped with a sheet stack amount detection unit for detecting the stacking of sheets of a prescribed amount (for example cf. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H09-249334).
However, when the sheet P is let to stand on the stacking tray 301, sheet P may be curled (rounded up) by moisture absorption on the stacking tray 301. Under an environment of a high temperature or a high humidity, the sheet P left on the stacking tray tends to be curled more easily. Also in the case that the distance from the fixing unit 40 to the discharge portion is short, the sheet P is discharged without being cooled sufficiently, so that, particularly in a sheet of a low stiffness such as an OHT (Over Head Transparency) sheet, the sheet P may be curled up on the stacking tray 301. Also in the case that the sheet P is not sufficiently cooled before being discharged, the toner image may be discharged before being completely fixed to the sheet P. In such case, the unfixed toner image on the sheet P is stacked on and adheres to a sheet P already discharged onto the stacking tray 301, whereby the trailing end of the sheet P is not completely discharged from the discharge port but the sheet P remains in the discharge portion.
In case of such abnormal state where the sheet P is curled on the stacking tray 301 or remains in an incomplete discharge state, the detection by the sheet stacking amount detection unit is not executed property, thus leading to a sheet jamming.

Image forming apparatus capable of preventing a sheet jamming during detected abnormal situations


Disclosed is an ultra-thin HIT solar cell, including: an n- or p-type crystalline silicon substrate; an amorphous silicon emitter layer having a doping type different from that of the silicon substrate; and an intrinsic amorphous silicon passivation layer formed between the crystalline silicon substrate and the amorphous silicon emitter layer, wherein the HIT solar cell further includes a transparent conductive oxide layer made of ZnO on an upper surface thereof, and the surface of the crystalline silicon substrate is not textured but only the surface of the transparent conductive oxide layer is textured, and thereby a very thin crystalline silicon substrate can be used, ultimately achieving an ultra-thin HIT solar cell having a very low total thickness while maintaining light trapping capacity.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cell and a method of manufacturing the same and, more particularly, to an ultra-thin HIT solar cell and a method of manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
Typically, a solar cell is a key element for photovoltaic power generation to directly convert solar light into electricity, and may be referred to a p-n junction diode.
In the course of converting solar light into electricity by a solar cell, solar light is incident on the p-n junction of the solar cell to produce electron-hole pairs, and electrons are moved to an n layer and holes are moved to a p layer by an electric field, so that photovoltaic power is generated in the p-n junction. As such, when a load or system is connected to both ends of the solar cell, an electric current may flow to thus produce electric power.
A solar cell is generally configured such that a p-type semiconductor layer is formed on an n-type silicon substrate. The p-type semiconductor layer is formed by doping of a p-type impurity. Thus, an n-type semiconductor layer is provided under the silicon substrate, and a p-type semiconductor layer is provided on the substrate, thus forming a p-n junction. The front and the back side of the silicon substrate are formed with metal electrodes to collect a small number of carriers (holes) and a large number of carriers (electrons) photo-produced by the p-n junction.
To develop such a solar cell, passivation properties of the surface of a silicon substrate are improved to thereby minimize the recombination rate of the small number of carriers, ultimately maximizing photovoltaic conversion efficiency of the solar cell.
Recently, HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) solar cells are being developed, wherein an amorphous silicon (a-Si) thin film having superior passivation properties and high electrical conductivity due to tunneling of carriers is disposed between a silicon substrate and an electrode, and an intrinsic amorphous silicon thin film is added between the silicon substrate and the amorphous silicon thin film, thus drastically increasing solar cell efficiency.
The HIT solar cell developed by Sanyo, Japan includes advantages of both amorphous silicon and monocrystalline silicon. The intrinsic amorphous silicon thin film is an amorphous silicon thin film layer close to the intrinsic state where the number of electrons and the number of holes are the same, thereby preventing recombination of electrons and holes due to interfacial defects between the crystalline silicon substrate and the amorphous silicon thin film.
In the HIT solar cell, a p-n junction may be formed by a high bandgap (about 1.7 eV) of a-Si (amorphous Si:H) containing hydrogen, resulting in high voltage. Recombination of charges may be decreased due to a high passivation effect by hydrogen passivation of a-Si:H, and both the front and the back side of the cell may absorb light, thus ensuring a high-efficiency solar cell. Furthermore, this solar cell is adapted for fabrication of an ultra-thin solar cell that is recently receiving attention.
Recently, a solar cell is intended to diffuse incident light through surface texturing to increase the usage efficiency of incident solar light. A HIT solar cell is increased in light trapping capacity through surface texturing.
FIG. 11 illustrates a typical HIT solar cell.
As in a typical crystalline silicon solar cell, a currently available HIT solar cell is configured such that both surfaces of an n-type crystalline silicon substrate 10 are wet etched or dry etched so as to be textured, intrinsic a-Si:H passivation layers 21, 22 are formed on the both surfaces, a p-type a-Si:H layer 31 and an n-type a-Si:H layer 32 are formed on the passivation layers 21, 22, transparent conductive oxide (TCO) layers 41, 42 comprising indium tin oxide (ITO) are formed thereon, and then an upper electrode 50 and a lower electrode 60 are formed thereon.
The HIT solar cell is advantageous because the technically advanced surface texturing technique of crystalline silicon may be applied, and the amorphous silicon layer such as the passivation layer is a very thin film and thus a total surface texture of the HIT solar cell may be formed through surface texturing of the crystalline silicon substrate.
However, etching both surfaces of an expensive crystalline silicon substrate may increase the solar cell manufacturing cost, and environmental problems attributed to wastewater and toxic gases generated in the wet and dry etching processes may occur. The surface defects of the textured crystalline silicon substrate may cause an open voltage to decrease, and it is impossible to form a high-quality amorphous silicon thin film, thus lowering the efficiency of the solar cell.
In particular, the case where the crystalline silicon substrate is subjected to texturing is unsuitable for the fabrication of ultra-thin HIT solar cells because a thick substrate is required due to the etching of the crystalline silicon substrate in the surface texturing process.
Accordingly, many attempts have been made to reduce the degree of surface etching and surface defects using an improved technique for etching a crystalline silicon substrate, but limitations are imposed on increasing the performance of the HIT solar cell.

Ultra thin hit solar cell and fabricating method of the same