A Security Enhanced Linux (SELinux) system implementing extended policy models and method for their enforcement, is provided. Extended attributes are defined to specify extended policies. The SELinux policy model is extended to include the extended policies. The extended policies are enforced in addition to SELinux Type Enforcement. In one implementation, defining extended attributes involves defining TC-related attributes to specify TC-related policies. Further, extending the SELinux policy model includes extending the SELinux policy model to include the TC-related policies, in addition to SELinux Type Enforcement. Furthermore, enforcing the extended policies includes enforcing the TC-related policies in addition to SELinux Type Enforcement.

In computer security, Discretionary Access Control (DAC) provides an access control model in which a subject with owner permissions is capable of passing permissions to any other subject. However, the fundamental weakness in the DAC model is that the ability to grant and use access also allows malicious software to obtain control of important system resources.
SELinux is an initiative by the National Security Agency (http://www.nsa.gov/selinux/), which attempts to address such weaknesses. SELinux uses Mandatory Access Control (MAC) mechanisms that provide only those necessary accesses a program needs to perform its task (also known as the principle of least privilege). SELinux is an implementation of MAC using Linux Security Modules (LSM) in the Linux kernel, based on the principle of least privilege. A Linux kernel integrating SELinux enforces MAC policies that confine user programs/processes and system servers to the minimum amount of privilege they require for performing tasks. This is independent of the traditional Linux access control mechanisms.
To implement such confinement, SELinux provides a security context by associating access control attributes of the form user:role:type to all subjects (e.g., a medical application) and objects (e.g., files containing a medical record). Within that security context, the "type" attribute represents the type of the subject or the object (e.g., file, directory). The identification of subjects, objects and their access enforcement by means of types is formally known as Type Enforcement (TE). The "role" attribute within the security context is built upon the type attribute. This means that access control in SELinux is primarily enforced via TE. Instead of directly associating a user (e.g., Mr. XYZ—a doctor) with a type (e.g., medicalApplication_t), currently, SELinux associates a user with a role (e.g., Physician Role) and the role with a set of types. The role merely simplifies the management of users and access control is still enforced by the TE paradigm.
Because SELinux uses a policy model that is based on user (identity), roles and types, a program's permission to perform an action on an object (e.g., to open a file/directory/security key/network connection) is determined by: the user who is running the program, the role of the user, the type of the program and the target object. As such, the current SELinux security context is limited to TE only.
With the proliferation of Linux, SELinux is included in most open source and commercial Linux distributions. Further, Trusted Computing (TC), a technology developed and promoted by the Trusted Computing Group (https://www.trustedcomputinggroup.org/home), is also proliferating. There is, therefore, a need for a SELinux policy model with additional attributes.

Method and system for extending SELinux policy models and their enforcement


A liquid crystal display (400) includes a liquid crystal panel (430), a scanning driver (410), a data driver (420), and a compensator (440). The liquid crystal panel includes gate lines (401) parallel to each other, data lines (402) intersecting the gate lines, and TFTs (403) arranged at each intersection. The scanning driver is configured for providing scanning signals. The compensator is configured for compensating the scanning signals. The compensator comprises switching elements (450) connected to tail ends of the gate lines respectively. When one gate line is scanned, a high compensating voltage is applied to the tail end through a corresponding switching element to accelerate to turn on the TFTs adjacent to the tail end. And at an end of the scanning time, a low compensating voltage is applied to the tail end through the corresponding switching element to accelerate to turn off the TFTs adjacent to the tail end.

With the LCDs applied to more and more fields, the LCDs have a trend to become larger in size, which means larger viewing area and high definition. Generally, LCDs employing thin film transistors (TFTs), which are called TFT-LCDs, have a problem of gate delay due to the long gate lines. Gate delay usually results in image flicker or other problems.
Referring to FIG. 3, a typical LCD 100 includes a scanning driver 110, a data driver 120, and a liquid crystal panel 130. The scanning driver 110 is configured for providing a plurality of scanning signals to the liquid crystal panel 130, and the data driver 120 is configured for providing a plurality of gray scale voltages to the liquid crystal panel 130.
The liquid crystal panel 130 includes a plurality of gate lines 101 parallel to each other, a plurality of data lines 102 which are parallel to each other and intersect the gate lines 101, a plurality of TFTs 103 arranged at each cross of the gate line 101 and the data line 102, a plurality of pixel electrodes 104, and a plurality of common electrodes 105 opposite to the pixel electrodes 104. A minimal area constituted by two adjacent gate lines 101 and two adjacent data lines 102 is defined as a pixel area. The scanning driver 110 outputs a plurality of scanning signals to the gate lines 101 sequencially. The data driver 120 applies a plurality of gray scale voltages to the pixel electrodes 104 through corresponding TFTs 103 when a gate line 101 is scanned.
Referring also to FIG. 4, an equivalent circuit diagram of a pixel area is shown. A gate electrode 1031 of the TFT 103 is connected to the gate line 101, a source electrode 1032 is connected to the data line 102, and a drain electrode 1033 is connected to the pixel electrode 104. Because the gate line 101 has a certain resistance R itself, and a parasitic capacitance Cgd is generated between the gate electrode 1031 and drain electrode 1033, thus, an RC delay circuit is generated thereat. In one gate line 101, therefore, many such RC delay circuits are connected in series. The RC delay circuit can delay the scanning signal applied to the gate line 101, thus the waveform of the scanning signal can be distorted. That is, a square waveform of the scanning signal may not be the same square waveform when reaching a tail end of the gate line 101.
Referring also to FIG. 5, waveforms of the scanning signal adjacent to the scanning driver 110 and far from the scanning driver 110 are shown. "Vg1" denotes a waveform of the scanning signal of one gate line 101 that is at a front end adjacent to the scanning driver 110, and "Vg2" denotes a waveform of the scanning signal of the gate line 101 that is at a tail end distal from the scanning driver 110. That is, the waveform "Vg2" represents the distorted waveform of the scanning signal which is delayed by the serial RC delay circuits. "Von" denotes a turn-on voltage of the TFT 103, and "Voff" denotes a turn-off voltage of the TFT 103. Because of distortions of the waveform of the scanning signal, the TFT 103 is delayed to be turned on, for example, "t1" seconds as shown in FIG. 3. That is, an activated on-state period of time of the TFTs 103 away from the scanning driver 110 is shorter than it is supposed to be.
Because a gray scale voltage is not be applied to the pixel electrode 104 until the corresponding TFT 103 is turned on, the pixel electrode 104 which is away from the scanning driver 110 is lack of charging of the gray scale voltage. Thus, the display image is deteriorated in the corresponding pixel area. Actually, many pixel areas are affected because the corresponding TFTs 103 lack of charging of gray scale voltages. In this case, the image of the LCD 100 has flickers.
What is more, the TFTs 103 adjacent to the tail end can also be delayed to turned off by the distorted waveform of the scanning signal, for example, "t2" seconds as shown in FIG. 3. That is, when a next gate line 101 is scanned, some TFTs 130 connected to the former gate line 101 are still turned on. At this circumstance, gray scale voltages supposed to supply to the next pixel electrodes 104 are also applied to the adjacent former pixel electrodes 104 adjacent to the tail end. In this case, the image of the LCD 100 appears flickers.
What is needed, therefore, is a liquid crystal display and driving method for the liquid crystal display which can overcome the above-described deficiencies.

Liquid crystal display having gate delay compensator


A system and method for reducing resource collisions associated with memory units. Resource collisions may be reduced in part by a hash that combines the number N bits in the bank selector field with the number M bits adjacent to a region of correlation, e.g., row selector field, in an address to determine which bank in a memory unit, e.g., cache, may store the information associated with the address.

The present invention relates to the field of multi-level hierarchy memory systems, and more particularly to reducing resource collisions associated with memory units, e.g., cache memories, in a multi-level hierarchy memory system.
A conventional processing system may employ a multi-level hierarchy memory system. A multi-level memory processing system may comprise a processor having various execution units and registers, as well as branch and dispatch units which forward instructions to appropriate execution units. The processor may further comprise a level one (L1) instruction cache and a level one (L1) data cache. It is noted that those skilled in the art will recognize that a single, unified L1 cache may be implemented. The L1 instruction cache and L1 data cache may be configured to temporarily store instruction and data values, respectively, that may be repeatedly accessed by the processor. By storing instruction and data values that are repeatedly accessed, processing speed may be improved by avoiding the step of loading the values from the system memory, e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM). In order to minimize data access latency, one or more additional levels of cache memory may be implemented within the processing system, such as a level two (L2) cache and a level three (L3) cache. The lower cache levels, e.g., L2, L3, may be employed to stage data to the L1 cache and typically have progressively larger storage capacities but longer access latencies.
Typically, a cache may be organized as a collection of spatially mapped, fixed size storage region pools commonly referred to as xe2x80x9crows.xe2x80x9d Each of these storage region pools typically comprise one or more storage regions of fixed granularity. These storage regions may be freely associated with any equally granular storage region in the system as long as the storage region spacially maps to the row containing the storage region pool. The position of the storage region within the pool may be referred to as the xe2x80x9ccolumn.xe2x80x9d The intersection of each row and column contains a cache line. The size of the storage granule may be referred to as the xe2x80x9ccache line size.xe2x80x9d A unique tag may be derived from an address of a given storage granule to indicate its residency in a given row/column position.
A particular cache line within a cache may be accessed by using the following addressing scheme. A subset of the full number of address bits commonly referred to as a row selector may be used to form an index into the cache, which uniquely identifies a row within the cache. The remaining set of address bits commonly referred to as an address tag may be used to select a particular column within the cache thereby defining a physical address for the cache line. It is noted that a cache may also be represented by one or more banks where each bank may be indexed by bits within the row selector bits commonly referred to as bank selector bits. Typically, bank selector bits are the bottom bits in the row selector bits.
When a request accesses a cache structure, the address referenced by the request is mapped to determined which row in the cache is allowed to maintain the referenced granule. The tag is then derived and compared with the tag associated with each freely associative region (or column position) within the row. If a match is found, the matching column position may include a valid copy of the memory granule and the requested operation may be permitted to be carried out at this cache. This is commonly referred to as a xe2x80x9ccache hit.xe2x80x9d Otherwise, a xe2x80x9ccache missxe2x80x9d is said to have occurred. In the case of a cache miss, one or more requests may typically be spawned to other memory structures, e.g., caches, in the storage hierarchy to carry out the request for information.
The amount of concurrent request traffic through the multi-level hieararchy memory system tends to increase due to the increase in speculative instruction execution, the increase in the usage of prefetching mechanisms, and the tendency of a single operation, e.g., request, at a given level in the hierarchy to spawn multiple operations, e.g., requests, to the next level of the hieararchy such as in a cache miss.
General caching theory postulates that an ensuing temporally correlated request, i.e., a request arriving soon after a previous request, to access a granule of memory from the same requester may be spatially correlated such that it may be likely to map to a memory granule that is spatially proximate to the memory granule accessed by the previous request.
For this reason, caches are typically organized such that spatially proximate memory granules map to different rows to minimize the over utilization of any given row. Likewise, they are typically organized such that spatially proximate memory granules map to different banks to increase the likelihood that concurrent requests do not result in resource collisions.
For example, a processing system may have a contiguous memory of 1 gigabyte. A given memory unit in the multi-level memory hierarchy system may have a cache structure capable of retaining 2 megabytes. The cache structure may be organized into 1024 rows where each row may comprise 16 freely associative storage regions (or lines) where each storage region may comprise a 128-byte granule of memory, i.e., 128-byte line-size. The byte capacity of the cache may thus be calculated by multiplying the number of rows, the number of columns and the line size of the cache which equals 2 megabytes.
As stated above, in the case of a cache miss, one or more requests may typically be spawned to other memory levels in the multi-level memory hierarchy to carry out the requested operation. More specifically, in the case of a cache miss, a fetch request may be spawned to the next level of the cache hierarchy. The purpose of the fetch is to retrieve the memory granule, i.e., requested information, that was not found at the current cache. In most cases the requested memory granule may be installed, i.e., reloaded, into the cache structure at the current cache.
When the memory granule is installed into the current cache structure, it may displace another memory granule (called the xe2x80x9cvictimxe2x80x9d) currently residing in the same row. Once a victim is selected, the status of the victim may typically be assessed. Typically, the victim is selected by a hash which attempts to choose the least recently used granule since it has the lowest temporal correlation. Normally, if the victim has been locally modified, i.e., it is the only valid copy of the memory granule in the system, it must be preserved. The operation used to insure the preservation of the victim may commonly be referred to as a castout. A castout operation spawns a write request to the next level of the cache hierarchy. The purpose of the write request is to safely place the victim memory granule into the cache structure at the next level of the hierarchy.
The above two operations, e.g., fetch and castout operations, are specific examples of operations that may be temporally correlated in that they tend to be issued almost simultaneously. The fetch and castout operations are spatially correlated in that the memory granules they reference map to the same row in the cache from which they are initiated. It is noted that other operations may be temporally correlated such as fetch operations or castout operations or invalidate/kill operations or any combination thereof that occur almost simultaneously.
Referring to the fetch and castout operation example, when the fetch and castout operations arrive at cache (call it cache Y) in the next level of the cache hierarchy their temporal and spatial correlation to each other change the level of collision risk they introduce at cache Y. Since the row selection bits in the address associated with the modified information in the victim in cache X are the same as the row selection bits in the address associated with the requested information in cache Y, the bank selection bits in the address associated with the modified information in cache X must equal the bank selection bits in the address associated with the requested information in cache Y. This introduces the unfortunate property that fetches and associated castouts spawned at cache X and serviced at cache Y have a 100% likelihood of colliding upon the same bank in cache Y commonly referred to as a resource collision. That is, the information requested in the fetch request issued by cache X is stored in the same bank as the bank in cache Y that will store the modified information sent by cache X in the castout request.
A resource collision may also occur when fetch operations or castout operations or invalidate/kill operations or any combination thereof occur almost simultaneously. The probability of resource collisions when there does not exist spatial correlation is 1/N where N is the number of banks in the cache. The probability of resource collisions may be increased based upon the spatial correlation between the operations. Therefore, there exists a general problem of resource collision in hierarchial memories based upon spatial and temporal proximity.
It would therefore be desirable to develop a hash that reduces resource collisions associated with memory units, e.g., caches, in a multi-level heirarchy memory system.
The problems outlined above may at least in part be solved in some embodiments by a hash that combines the number N bits in the bank selector field with the number M bits adjacent to the row selector field in an address to determine which bank may store the information associated with the address.
In one embodiment of the present invention, a method for reducing resource collisions associated with address flows through hierarchial memory units comprises the step of receiving a first operation, e.g., fetch request, by a first memory unit where the first operation is a first request to access information identified by a first address. The first memory unit may be configured to determine a particular entry, e.g., cache line, to store the information requested that may be retrieved by a lower level memory unit if the information requested was not present within the first memory unit. If the information in the particular entry, e.g., cache line, selected by the first memory unit to store the requested information has been modified, then the first memory unit may issue a second operation, e.g., castout request, to a lower memory level, a second memory unit, to store the modified information associated with a second address in a first bank in the second memory unit. The first bank in the second memory unit that may store the modified information to be sent from the first memory unit may be determined by implementing a hash that combines the number N bits in the bank selector field with the number M bits adjacent to a region of correlation, e.g., row selector field, in the second address associated with the modified information. Furthermore, the first memory unit may issue a third operation, e.g., fetch request, to the lower memory level, the second memory unit, almost concurrently with the second operation if the information requested was not present within the first memory unit. The third operation memory unit may request to access the information identified by the first address. The information requested in the third operation may be identified in a second bank in the second memory unit by implementing the same hash that combines the number N bits in the bank selector field with the number M bits adjacent to the region of interest, e.g., row selector field, in the first address associated with the information requested. Upon identifying the requested information, the second memory unit may write back or reload the requested information to the particular entry in the first memory unit selected to store the requested information. If the value of the second number M bits in the first address differs from the value of the second number M bits in the second address, then the first bank and the second bank differ.
In another embodiment of the present invention, the hash may combine the N number bits in the bank selector field with the M number bits adjacent to a region of correlation, e.g., row selector field, using an XOR function. In another embodiment of the present invention, the hash may combine the number N bits in the bank selector field with the number M bits adjacent to a region of correlation, e.g., row selector field, by adding the number N bits in the bank selector field with the number M bits adjacent to the region of interest, e.g., row selector field, and discarding the carry bit.
The foregoing has outlined rather broadly the features and technical advantages of the present invention in order that the detailed description of the invention that follows may be better understood. Additional features and advantages of the invention will be described hereinafter which form the subject of the claims of the invention.

Reducing resource collisions associated with memory units in a multi-level hierarchy memory system

International Business Machines Corporation


A dispenser box for suture packages includes an outer casing and drawer portion slidably disposed within the outer casing. The dispenser preferably includes at least two access portals for withdrawal of the suture packages. A first access portal allows the suture packages to be withdrawn in accordance with the U.S. preferred mode, wherein the dispenser box disposed so that the suture packages are stacked in a vertical array and withdrawn horizontally. A second access portal allows the suture packages to be withdrawn in accordance with the European preferred mode, wherein the suture packages are stacked in a horizontal array and are withdrawn vertically.

1. Technical Field
The container disclosed herein relates to a dispensing box for surgical suture packages. More specifically, the suture dispensing box is configured to be used in both the U.S. preferred mode wherein the box is vertically disposed, and in the European preferred mode, wherein the box or a portion thereof is disposed horizontally.
2. Background of the Art
Modern surgical procedures draw upon a wide variety of types and sizes of surgical sutures. These sutures are usually contained in individual retainers or foil laminate envelopes wherein the suture is wound, for example, in a figure eight type pattern, or coil. Indicia indicating the size and type of the suture are typically printed on the enclosure envelopes to facilitate identification.
Dispensing boxes for such suture packages are known in the art. As shown In FIG. 1, the preferred format for dispensing boxes in the United States is to have the longer side of the box 2 disposed vertically. Suture packages 50 are retrieved horizontally from the bottom of the vertical stack of suture packages by grasping a shorter side of the generally rectangular suture package. As suture packages are withdrawn, the stack drops down to reposition other packages for retrieval.
The preferred European format, however, is with the longer side of the dispenser 2a and the stack of suture packages 50 disposed horizontally, as shown in FIG. 2. The dispenser 2a acts like a drawer, the suture packages being withdrawn vertically from the dispensing box 2a by grasping the longer side of the generally rectangular suture package. A typical operating room has suture box shelving or racks configured to accommodate either the U.S. or European boxes.
Because the U.S. and European dispensing boxes have different configurations, manufacturers currently provide separate boxes for each market. As such, two separate manufacturing, labeling and inventory systems must be maintained. What is needed is a dispensing box that can be used in both the U.S. preferred mode and the European preferred mode. Such a universal dispenser would eliminate the need for separate box constructions for different markets, providing both economy of manufacture and flexibility of use.


A ride system having a frame (6), at least one passenger carrier (8) which for altering its height is guided along the frame (6) between an upper end position II and a lower end position I, a cable or chain pull (12) which at its first end (12a) is fastened to the passenger carrier (8) and is deflected round a first roller (14) supported on the frame (6) so that the passenger carrier (8) is suspended from the first roller (14) by means of the cable (12) or chain, and a driving mechanism (24, 26, 36, 44) to drive the cable or chain pull (12) for raising the passenger carrier (8) from its lower end position, (I) up to its upper end position (II). The special feature consists in the provision of at least one second roller (16) which may be moved and driven by the driving mechanism (34, 26, 36, 44) essentially transversely to its axis of rotation, the cable (12) or chain running from the first roller (14) to the second roller (16), there becoming deflected and being fastened by the second end (12b) to a point of attachment (18) on the frame (6).

A ride system of that kind is known, for example, from the WO 96/07459. In the case of this known ride system the driving mechanism consists of a motor driven cable winch which is seated at the top end of the tower frame and over which a cable pull is led in a number of turns.
The passenger carrier is suspended from the first end of the cable pull and a counterweight from the second end. Again, a coupling is provided for carrying along and releasing the passenger carrier. By means of the driving mechanism the passenger carrier is raised by motor from its lower end position into its upper end position and released in its upper end position by the coupling so that it returns thence in free fall down the frame again into its lower end position. In the lower region of the drop there is a braking arrangement in constant readiness for braking, by which the free-fall motion of the passenger carrier is brought to rest.
A similar ride system is described in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,229,201, though here the cable carrying the passenger carrier is wound up completely to the motor driven cable winch.
The U.S. Pat. No. 3,885,503 is concerned with a similar ride system in which, however, the passenger carrier is guided along an endless rail between its lower end position and its upper end position. Here an endlessly circulating cable or chain pull is also employed to correspond, which is driven over rollers or gearwheels by a driving mechanism. The passenger carrier is engaged with the endlessly circulating motor-driven cable or chain pull and after reaching its upper end position is detached from it for only some of the way during its succeeding downwards motion for the generation of a free fall motion, before in the lower region of the drop it is braked by a brake mechanism and brought into engagement again with the circulating cable or chain pull.
But a disadvantage of the ride systems described above is that during the upwards motion of the passenger carrier no significant acceleration can be achieved by means of the driving mechanisms employed there.
From the EP 0 707 875 A1 a ride system of the kind named initially is also known in which the driving mechanism is formed by a pneumatic cable pull cylinder. Whilst the passenger carrier is attached to the first end of a cable, the second end of the cable, after deflection round the first roller, is led through a seal to the head of the compressed air cylinder and fastened to the piston supported to slide in the latter, so that the cable carrying the passenger carrier forms by its second end the cable pull of the piston of the pneumatic cable-pull cylinder. With such a driving mechanism comparatively high accelerations may be achieved during the upwards motion of the passenger carrier so that this known ride system imparts the sensation of a "blast-off".

Amusement ride system with passenger units being movable up and down


A method and apparatus for connecting framing components for windows and doors is disclosed. The method involves the use of a vibrating source, which when applied to the frame components, locally excites the surface, thereby conditioning the members to be welded.

Many technological improvements in window and door design have been made available over the last several years. For instance, the insulating properties of newer window constructions are greatly improved over older window constructions, which can provide a significant energy savings to property owners. Consequently, a significant need has developed to replacing windows and doors during remodeling of older homes and buildings with newer more efficient components.
However, most conventional windows, doors, patio doors, etc. are currently built to standardized dimensions. Since different sizes of windows and doors require differently sized components, it is common practice for manufacturers to offer only a limited number of standardized sizes of windows and doors, which reduces the overall manufacturing complexity and costs of these structures based on the efficiencies obtained through economies of scale.
Many older windows and doors do not conform to standard sizes, and is often difficult to find replacement windows which exactly fit the roughed-in dimensions of a window or a door to be replaced. Therefore, some standard sizes of windows and doors are often not acceptable substitutes as replacement windows. Often, replacement applications may require custom built windows or doors, which typically require individual components to be separately manufactured to size. Consequently, custom window construction does not obtain the benefits of economy to scale, e.g. high volume production of structures used in standardized parts. Thus, many custom windows and doors are significantly more expensive than their standardized counterparts.
Therefore, a need exists for a method of manufacturing windows and doors of custom sizes and shapes which is fast and provides an inexpensive manufacturing process.
A need also exists for improving the manufacturing of standard size windows made from new materials. Many new polymeric and composite materials are being used for the manufacture of standard sized and replacement sized windows, and thus the manufacturing needs for all styles of windows and doors needs to be modified to accommodate these new materials.
Along this line, a need has developed for improved joint structure for joining framing components made from new materials, such as window sashes, window frames, door frames, etc. For example, windows typically require joint structures for sashes which retain a window glass assembly within a frame. A window glass assembly is typically a single pane of glass, or alternatively, a self-contained, multi-paned insulated glass unit whereby two or more panes are stacked and sealed about the perimeters, with a partial vacuum and/or an insulating gas such as argon contained within the sealed space between the panes.
Generally, a sash used to retain a window glass assembly includes framing components which are generally L-shaped in cross-section. A silicone sealant is layered along the inside of the frame, and then the window glass assembly is placed in the frame against the silicone sealant. A glazing bead is then installed around the open side of the sash to retain the window glass assembly therein.
It is also known to include spacer blocks sandwiched between the edges of the window glass assembly and the L-shaped channel in the sash, which forms a condensation channel and centers the pane in the sash. Further, by constructing the sash members of a weldable plastic, it is known that custom sashes may be constructed by miter cutting individual members to size, then butt welding the ends of the sash members together.
Prior to this invention, this butt welding has occurred through heat welding or ultra-sonic welding.
Heat welding involves heating a platen of some type, placing the heated platen in contact with the surface to be welded (oftentimes a thermoplastic material of some type) heating the bonding surface until there is flow, withdrawing the heated platen, and then placing the two bonding surfaces in contact. Thereafter, the heated bonded surface must cool. Heat welding has numerous drawbacks. One drawback is the length of time necessary to heat the welding surfaces to a temperature sufficient for welding. This can take in excess of 30 seconds, which is very slow from a manufacturing point of view when often times millions of units are assembled over the course of a year. Another drawback is if the material which is being welded has good thermal properties, the transfer of heat can be slow so cooling is often slow. The heated surfaces may often experience degradation. Thus a more efficient method of creating a welded joint is needed. Another process for welding window frames is disclosed is U.S. Pat. No. 4,856,230, assigned to Slocomb Industries, which describes a method of securing vinyl window frames together with ultra-sonic welding. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,105,581, 4,224,091, and 4,090,799 all further discuss the use of ultra-sonic welding techniques in window applications. However, the use of ultra-sonic welding, which requires a horn to be positioned over the weld, whereby the horn admits ultra-sonic frequencies, has numerous drawbacks. In order for an effective weld to take place, often times it is necessary to have multiple horns, with multiple horns for each weld, in that often times with a joint having complex geometry, one horn cannot sufficiently weld the joint portion which is opposite the point farthest from the horn. Further, ultra-sonic welding, although faster than thermal welding involving a heated platen, still suffers from a somewhat slow weld time. A typical ultra-sonic weld may take approximately five or more seconds in order for the weld faces to be melted sufficient such that a weld can occur. A further disadvantage with both thermal heat or ultra-sonic welding is that anytime a thermal plastic material is heated and welded, degradation and excess flash will occur around the weld. As the two faces are bonded together, excess thermoplastic flow occurs which results in the thermoplastic material flowing outside the weld and on the surface of the members which form the weld. This degraded excess flash must be removed in that it diminishes the decorative appearance of the weld. As a general rule, the longer the weld takes to form, the more flash will occur. Thus, it is desirable to produce a weld in a very short period of time, thus minimizing the flash.
There is also a need in the art for a window assembly process whereby sash members may be assembled around a glass assembly in a faster and less expensive manner while having an improved decorative appearance. Welding sash around glass is advantageous in that the sash is ready to be incorporated in a window once the weld is completed. The alternative, which is a slower process, involves forming the sash first, inserting the glass, and sealing the glass in the sash. This results in an operation requiring two or more steps, which again increases the time for manufacture of the product. Thus, there is a need for a process which incorporates the glass and welds the sash members in one quick operation.
There is also a need to quickly weld all types of corners found in the fenestration industry, including but not limited to, mitered corners, mortis and tenon joints, compound mitered corners and non-flush corners just to name a few.
These and other problems associated with the prior art are addressed by the present invention.

Vibratory welded window and door joints, method and apparatus for manufacturing the same


Embodiments of the disclosure are drawn to apparatuses, systems, methods for performing operations associated with machine learning. Machine learning operations may include processing a data set, training a machine learning algorithm, and applying a trained algorithm to a data set. Some of the machine learning operations, such as pattern matching operations, may be performed within a memory device.

This disclosure relates generally to memory devices, including volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM). Data may be stored in individual memory cells of the DRAM. The memory cells may be organized in an array of rows and columns. Each memory cell in a row may be coupled to a word line and each memory cell in a column may be coupled to a bit line. Thus, every memory cell is coupled to a word line and a bit line. Data may be provided to and retrieved from the DRAM for performing various computations by a microprocessor, graphical processing unit, or other circuitry.
Machine learning generally encompasses a variety of methods for utilizing one or more computational models to classify or otherwise infer meaning from data. One or more models may be trained for use by machine learning algorithms (e.g., a neural network). Examples of models include, but are not limited to, an artificial neural network, a decision tree, and a support vector machine. In some cases, a model may include one or more algorithms. Typically, training the computing device includes providing a training data set. The computing device analyzes the training data set to develop the model. The trained model may then be used (by the same computing device or another computing device) to analyze new data sets to complete the one or more tasks. The training may be supervised or unsupervised.
In examples of supervised training, each piece of data in the training data set includes an input and a desired output. The training data set is analyzed by a computing device to develop a model that generates the desired outputs from the inputs. For example, a computing device may be trained to diagnose lesions in magnetic resonance (MR) images of livers. A training data set may include a variety of images of livers where some of the images are livers having lesions and other images are of healthy livers with no lesions. Each of the images may be labeled as to whether the image includes or does not include a lesion. The computing device analyzes the images and generates one or more models that can properly classify the images as either including or not including a lesion, based in part, on the labels. The trained model may then be used to diagnose liver lesions in patients based on new MR liver images.
In examples of unsupervised training, each piece of data in the training data set includes only an input and no desired output. The computing device then analyzes the training data set to determine if there are common patterns in the pieces of data or at least some of the pieces of the data. For example, sets of electroencephalogram (EEG) readings from epilepsy patients may be provided to the computing device. The computing device may analyze the EEG readings to determine if there are patterns or similarities in some or all of the EEG readings. The computing device may generate one or more models that sorts the EEG readings into different groups based on the patterns or similarities of the EEG readings in those groups. The grouping of the EEG readings by the computing device may reveal certain patterns are associated with different epilepsy types and the trained models may be deployed to determine an epilepsy type based on new EEG readings.
Many machine learning methods, including supervised and unsupervised learning, utilize pattern matching in data (e.g., learning patterns in images associated with lesions, discovering patterns that reoccur in multiple EEG readings). Currently, data to be searched for patterns by the computing device is provided from a long term data storage device to the DRAM to processing circuitry where pattern matching operations are performed.

Apparatuses, systems, and methods for machine learning using on-memory pattern matching


Various communication systems may benefit from appropriate correlation of failure reports. For example, communication systems of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) may benefit from correlating radio link failure and minimization of drive test reports, particularly with respect to self-organized networks mobility robustness optimization.

1. Field
Various communication systems may benefit from appropriate correlation of failure reports. For example, communication systems of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) may benefit from correlating radio link failure and minimization of drive test reports, particularly with respect to self-organized networks mobility robustness optimization.
2. Description of the Related Art
Radio Link Failure (RLF) reporting was introduced in third generation partnership project (3GPP) release 9 (Rel-9) under Self Organized Networks Mobility Robustness Optimization (SON MRO) feature. User equipment (UE) may experience a radio link failure either when moving from a first cell, Cell A, to a second cell, Cell B, attempting a hand off, or when experiencing a coverage hole. On experiencing radio link failure, a user equipment can log a snapshot of the last monitored radio frequency (RF) condition along with other information and stores it as a radio link failure report. Upon (re)establishing a connection to a cell, the user equipment can indicate the availability of a radio link failure report to the cell, which can retrieve the radio link failure report from the user equipment. If the cell is different from the cell where the radio link failure occurred, the new cell can forward this radio link failure report back to the cell where radio link failure occurred, as part of the X2 radio link failure indication message. The cell where radio link failure has occurred processes the radio link failure report as an input to the distributed SON MRO algorithm.
In 3GPP release 10 (Rel-10) the additional value of radio link failure reports to other features beside the distributed SON MRO were identified, which resulted in certain changes to the radio link failure reports content, such as addition of location information and various cell identifiers, and making their support mandatory on the UE. The radio link failure reports can be used in the detection of coverage holes and handover failure boundaries, as well as in assisting mobility drive tests and the like.
As of 3GPP Rel-10, two versions of the radio link failure reports exist: a release 9 version that does not contain location information and may only be interpreted by the cell where radio link failure has occurred; and a release 10 version that contains additional attributes such as location information and cell identities making it useful for centralized self-organized network (cSON).
Correlation requirement for radio link failure reporting and MDT reporting may be met, for example, by combining MDT and radio link failure to a single trace job. This approach, however, also imposes a user consent requirement on the radio link failure data.

Correlating radio link failure and minimization of drive test reports


A communication system includes a phone and a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM). The phone includes a user input interface, a first wireless transceiver and a first application program interface. The SIM is plugged into the phone and includes storage, a second wireless transceiver, and a second application program interface. The phone uses a service-subscriber key stored in the storage of the SIM to access a plurality of services provided by a wireless network using the first transceiver according to a first communication protocol. The first application program interface, in response to a user selection via the user input interface, interacts with the second application program interface. The phone communicates with a node using the second wireless transceiver according to a second communication protocol by way of the interaction between the first application program interface and the second application program interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to wireless telephony; and more particularly to Subscriber Identity Module (SIMs) contained within wireless telephones.
2. Description of the Related Art
Cellular, satellite, and other types of mobile telephony are well known. Cell phones and other subscribe devices typically include a removable Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) that stores a service-subscriber key that is used for authentication and identification of a subscriber within a cellular network or a satellite network when the subscriber accesses the cellular or satellite network. A cellular network operator typically offers voice call service, data communication service and short message service (SMS). Each mobile phone has one or more cellular network specific transceivers that service voice, data, and short message communications. For example, a transceiver that supports connection to a GSM (Global System for Mobile communication) cellular network is different from a transceiver that supports connection to a North American CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) cellular network.
Mobile phones may support a variety of additional features such as GPS (Global Positioning System) receiver operations, NFCs (Near Field Communications), Bluetooth communications, FM radio reception, Infrared communications, etc. Typically, the mobile phone must have built-in hardware and software to support these additional features. For example, when enabling communication with other Bluetooth devices, the mobile phone must have a Bluetooth compatible transceiver, i.e., a transceiver that supports the Bluetooth air interface. For enabling GPS operations, the phone must have a GPS receiver that is capable of picking up frequencies transmitted by GPS satellites. The mobile phone needs a NFC compatible radio for near field communications with a reader, smart card, or another NFC device. The phone needs an infrared transceiver, i.e., an LED (light emitting diode) and supporting electronics to support short range IR (Infrared) data communications with a computer or a PDA (personal digital assistant). Hardware that supports these additional features is costly. The subscriber has to pay for a costly phone with multiple additional features even if the subscriber desires to have only one or two of these features. Furthermore, a subscriber desiring a feature unsupported by his/her current phone must upgrade to new equipment in order to secure the additional functional features.
Further limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art through comparison of such systems with various aspects of the present invention.

Subscriber identity module with an incorporated radio


Provided is a micro heat flux sensor array having reduced heat resistance. A micro heat flux sensor array may include a substrate, a plurality of first sensors formed on a first side of the substrate, and a plurality of second sensors formed on a second side of the substrate. Each of the plurality of first and second sensors may include a first wiring pattern layer of a first conductive material, a second wiring pattern layer of a second conductive material contacting the first wiring pattern layer, and an insulating layer in contact with the first and second wiring patterns.

1. Priority Claim
A claim of priority is made to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2006-0010716 filed on Feb. 3, 2006 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
2. Field of the Example Embodiments
Example embodiments may relate to a micro heat flux sensor array. More particularly, example embodiments may relate to a micro heat flux sensor array capable of measuring heat flux in all directions.
3. Description of the Related Art
Due to the ever increasing performance level of semiconductor chips, the operating power of semiconductor chips continues to increase. In the case of microprocessors, memories, and micro-electro-devices (semiconductor chips), heat generated during operation of a semiconductor chip must be effectively radiated to reduce/prevent the deterioration of the semiconductor chip. In order to effectively radiate heat from a semiconductor package containing a semiconductor chip, temperatures of each component of the semiconductor chip should be measured.
Thus, due to an increasing need to accurately measure physical quantities that indicate heat transfer in the semiconductor chip, various heat flux sensors are being developed.
However, conventional heat flux sensors on the surface of a semiconductor chip may act as heat resistances; therefore, it may be difficult to accurately measure the heat flux. Also, it may be difficult to accurately determine the heat transfer route, because conventional heat flux sensors may measure the heat flux after the heat transfer route has been altered by the heat flux sensor.


An auxiliary system for insuring adequate water supply during peak periods from a well with a low recovery rate. A gravity storage tank is replenished at a rate equal to or slightly lower than the recovery rate of the well. A float-controlled air shutoff valve prevents overfilling and allows water to drain from the storage tank to supply a pressure-responsive pump. The pump, together with a diaphragm pressure tank, supplies normal household use at varying flow rates, drawing its peak requirements from the gravity storage tank.

This invention relates to a water supply system and more particularly to a system for supplying a user with an adequate water supply during peak demand periods from a water source with limited flow capability, such as a well with a low recovery rate.
Residential water supply systems are known which are supplied from wells having a low recovery rate. While the normal flow rate of the well may be adequate on the average for supplying the household, the actual usage of the household varies from periods of no water usage at all to peak demand periods when water is drawn at a rapid rate for washing machines, showers, water closets, etc. At such times, the necessary extra water flow is drawn both from water in the well stand pipe, as well as a water pressure tank. This water is replenished during periods of low usage. However if usage continues at high rates exceeding the recovery rate of the well, the well will run dry and the pump may continue to run when there is no water in the well, which may damage the pump.
One solution to providing an adequate supply of water is to redrill the well or drill a new well in an effort to improve the recovery rate. This is expensive and damages the property due to heavy equipment activity, resulting debris and expensive landscape repair.
Systems are known in the prior art for controlling well pump discharge to produce a flow equal to the yield of the well. Such a system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,304,526 issued Dec. 8, 1981 to Shetler. This system employs a diaphragm-type water storage tank connected in parallel with a low yield control tank (FIGS. 8 and 9 of the patent) connected to the household supply lines. In this system, the household supply pressure is necessarily determined by a mode of operation which is primarily designed to protect the pump.
It would be desirable to provide a system for accumulating and storing water at the recovery rate of the well, which could be drawn upon during peak periods without depleting the water in the well casing.
It would also be desirable to furnish an adequate supply of water to the user's household at variable rates of flow, including peak flow periods from a well whose recovery rate is adequate on the average, but inadequate during peak demand periods.

Water supply system for a water source with limited flow capability


When a current that flows into a power output element is greater than a predetermined value, pulse width-modulated signals are formed which vary in inverse proportion to the current value in order to drive the power output element. When an excess current flows into the power output element, therefore, the power output element is allowed to intermittently operate for only short periods of time, and the current can be decreased during the current-limiting operation.

The present invention relates to a power switching circuit. More specifically, the present invention relates to technology that can be effectively utilized for a power switching circuit for turning on a vehicle lamp using a power MOSFET (insulated gate field-effect transistor).
The protecting circuit for the overcurrent such as when the load is short-circuited may be of the type having a feedback which operates to turn the output element off when the output current exceeds a predetermined value or of the type wherein the current is limited to a predetermined value. The power switching circuit equipped with such a protecting circuit has been disclosed in, for example, a journal "Electronic Technology" (Smart Power MOS IC), January, 1987, pp. 22-25.
When a lamp mounted on a vehicle is driven by the power switching circuit, the filament exhibits a very small resistance at a moment when the lamp is turned on and a very large current flows. The resistance then increases with the lapse of time as the heat is generated by the filament, and the current that flows decreases. The overcurrent protecting circuit works when such a load is driven. Therefore, the lamp is kept from being turned on by the protecting system which turns the output element off in response to an overcurrent detection signal. In the system which limits the output current to a predetermined value in response to the output overcurrent detection, on the other hand, a given amount of current flows even when the lamp has a small resistance. Therefore, the electric power is consumed in large amounts by the power switching circuit (IC) leaving a problem from the standpoint of protecting the output power element. Moreover, since the current is limited, an extended period of time is required before the lamp is completely turned on.
The object of the present invention is to provide a power switching circuit which consumes reduced amount of electric power during the current-limiting operation.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a power switching circuit adapted to driving the lamp.
The above and other objects as well as novel features of the present invention will become obvious from the description of the specification and the accompanying drawings.
A representative example of the invention disclosed in the present application will now be described briefly. That is, when a current flowing into the power output element is greater than a predetermined value, pulse width-modulated signals are formed that vary in inverse proportion to the current value (magnitude), in order to drive the power output element.
According to the above-mentioned means, the power output element is allowed to intermittently operate for only short periods of time when an excess current flows, and the flow of current can be decreased during the current-limiting operation.


The present invention enables reliable shift to a fail-safe processing upon detection of failure by RAM diagnosis. To this end, the diagnosis result of the RAM diagnosis is doubly stored, as flags, into mutually different two addresses of the RAM; and a fail-safe processing is conducted based on the doubly stored diagnosis result flags when at least one of the flags indicates existence of failure. Otherwise, the diagnosis result of the RAM diagnosis is stored, as a flag, into a predetermined register; and a fail-safe processing is conduced based on the diagnosis result flag stored in the register such that the fail-safe processing is conducted when the flag indicates existence of failure.

The present invention relates to a diagnosing apparatus and method for RAM used in a control microcomputer for controlling a variety of electronic controlled devices such as in a vehicular engine.
In a control apparatus for a vehicular engine, there has been conducted hitherto diagnosis such as of ROM and RAM by a CPU of a control microcomputer, in addition to self-diagnosis of the CPU (refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 64-19401).
In RAM diagnosis, there is conducted read-write check on a diagnosis object RAM by for example 4 bytes at each of predetermined diagnosis timing, and when a failure (NG) is detected, the diagnosis result is written, as a flag, into a predetermined address of the RAM itself.
Further, the flag indicating the diagnosis result is read out, and when the flag indicates existence of failure, there is conducted a fail-safe processing such as turning OFF of power source of the control object equipment.
However, in such a conventional RAM diagnosing apparatus, the diagnosis result is written, as a flag, into the RAM as a diagnosis object. As such, it has been a problem that the processing can be hardly shifted to the fail-safe processing even when a failure has been detected by the RAM diagnosis, if the flag itself for the diagnosis result fails.
In view of the conventional problem as described above, it is an object of the present invention to enable reliable shift to a fail-safe processing upon detection of failure by RAM diagnosis.
To this end, with the present invention, there is provided a diagnosing apparatus for a RAM comprising: a RAM diagnosing device for diagnosing a RAM used in a microcomputer; a diagnosis result storing device for doubly storing the diagnosis result of the RAM diagnosing device, as flags, into mutually different two addresses of the RAM; and a fail-safe processing device for conducting a fail-safe processing based on the doubly stored diagnosis result flags when at least one of the flags indicates existence of failure.
According to this constitution, the diagnosis result of the RAM diagnosis is doubly held and the processing is shifted to the fail-safe processing based on OR of the doubly held diagnosis result, thereby obtaining such an effect that the shift to the fail-safe processing is reliably conducted when a failure is detected by the RAM diagnosis.
In the above, the bit allocation of the doubly stored flags may be separately established, so as to cope with bit-line failure. To this end, the diagnosis result storing device may doubly store the diagnosis result into the mutually different two addresses and at mutually different bit positions of the RAM.
Further, to cope with failure in word lines, the address assignments of the doubly stored flags are offset from each other by a predetermined address interval. To this end, the diagnosis result storing device may doubly store the diagnosis result into two addresses of the RAM, which are different from each other and which have an address interval therebetween other than an address interval of word lines.
Moreover, with the present invention, there is provided a diagnosing apparatus for a RAM comprising: a RAM diagnosing device for diagnosing a RAM used in a microcomputer; a diagnosis result storing device for storing the diagnosis result of the RAM diagnosing device, as a flag, into a predetermined register; and a fail-safe processing device for conducting a fail-safe processing based on the diagnosis result flag stored in the register when the flag indicates existence of failure.
According to this constitution, the diagnosis result of the RAM diagnosis is stored in the register of the CPU side and the processing is shifted directly to the fail-safe processing from the register, thereby obtaining such an effect that the shift to the fail-safe processing is reliably conducted when a failure is detected by the RAM diagnosis.
In the above, the RAM diagnosing device may diagnose the RAM in a read-write manner.
Further, concretely, the fail-safe processing device may turn OFF power source of control object equipment of the microcomputer.
Characteristic features of the present invention and the resultant operation and effects will become apparent from the embodiments described hereunder.


Various embodiment provide a method and device comprising: a display; a memory; and a control unit operatively connected to the display and the memory, wherein the control unit is configured to control the display to display an original image on the display, detect a roll generation event, identify an object from the original image according to the roll generation event, convert the original image into a roll image using the identified object, and store the same in the memory. In addition, other embodiments are also possible.

With development of the digital technology, various electronic devices that can perform communication and process personal information while moving such as a mobile communication terminal, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), an electronic notebook, a smartphone, a tablet Personal Computer (PC), and a wearable device have been put on the market. As these electronic devices are varied in sizes and improved in performance, they can display various contents with various sizes in various ways. For example, when contents cannot be not fully displayed at a time, electronic devices display only a portion of the contents. Alternatively, electronic devices set the number of contents to display at one time on the basis of the sizes of the contents and display the set number of contents.

Content display method and electronic device for implementing same


A fence post centering assembly and method includes an elongated member that has a first end and a second end. A first head member and second head member are provided. Each of the first and second ends is removably engaged with one of the first and second head members. Each of the first and second head members includes a receiving slot. A first post is positionable in the receiving slot of the first head member and a second post is positioned in the receiving slot of the second head member to ensure a proper positioned between the first and second posts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to fence post centering devices and more particularly pertains to a new fence post centering device for assisting a person in determining the location of where to position fence posts so that the fence posts are equally spaced from each other.
2. Summary of the Invention
The present invention meets the needs presented above by generally comprising an elongated member that has a first end and a second end. A first head member and second head member are provided. Each of the first and second ends is removably engaged with one of the first and second head members. Each of the first and second head members includes a receiving slot. wherein a first post is positionable in said receiving slot of said first head member, and wherein a second post is positioned in said receiving slot of said second head member to ensure a proper positioning between said first and second posts.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the invention in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the invention that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the invention, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the invention, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.

Fence post centering assembly and method


A negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery obtained by providing an active material layer containing particles of an active material and a binder on a surface of a current collector which is an electrically conductive metal foil, and sintering the layer under a non-oxidizing atmosphere; wherein the mean diameter of the particles of the active material is not smaller than 1 μm and not greater than 10 μm, and the particle size distribution of the particles is such that at least 60 volume % of the particles are in a range of not smaller than 1 μm and not greater than 10 μm.

A lithium secondary battery that comprises a nonaqueous electrolyte and utilizes the transfer of lithium ions between a positive electrode and a negative electrode for charge and discharge of the battery has recently been used as one of new type high output and high energy density batteries.
A negative electrode for a lithium secondary battery in which an active material including silicon is adhered on a current collector having an average roughness of not less than 0.03 μm with a binder has been proposed (Japanese Patent Laid-open NO. 2000-12088).
However, it is known that an active material including silicon increases and decreases its volume when lithium ions are occluded and released, and the active material is pulverized during charge and discharge cycles and separates from the current collector. This causes deterioration of current collecting characteristics (current collectability) and of charge and discharge cycle characteristics.

Negative electrode for lithium secondary battery and lithium secondary battery


A receiver (101) that receives main information (2) including 2D video content and complementary information (3) for converting the 2D video content to 3D, and an integrating unit (102) that integrates the main information (2) and the complementary information (3), received by the receiver (101), as integrated information (4) by using the main information (2) and the complementary information (3) are provided. Accordingly, 3D video can be viewed without changing the broadcasting format of the current 2D broadcasting or without degrading the image quality.

As stereoscopic video display devices (3D displays) for viewing stereoscopic video have been developed in recent years, various 3D video transmission systems have also been developed.
For example, PTL 1 discloses a transmission system that makes it possible to transmit 3D video utilizing a 2D broadcast transmission system by transmitting main video information as before and compressing complementary information necessary for 3D video display to minimum and sending the information using a frequency band gap.
Also, PTL 2 discloses a 3D video transmission system that realizes 3D broadcasting corresponding to a DFD system (Depth-Fused 3-D: 3D display system using no glasses) or the like by adding depth information to RGB information in the current broadcasting system.

Information integrating device and information integrating method which integrates stereoscopic video information using main information and complementary information


A method for liquid crystal orienting film is disclosed, comprising:. a step of preparing a thin film by laminating a monomolecular film on a substrate having an electrode formed thereon, said monomolecular film being formed by spreading on water surface an amphiphilic high molecular material having a repeating unit as represented by the following general formula (1): ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 is a tetravalent group containing at least two carbon atoms, R.sup.2 is a divalent group containing at least two carbon atoms and each of R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is an aliphatic, an alicyclic or an aromatic monovalent group having 1-30 carbon atoms or combinations thereof, which may be substituted by a halogen atom, a nitro group, an amino group, a cyano group, a methoxy group or an acetoxy group, or a hydrogen atom, and at least one of R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is an aliphatic, an alicyclic or an aromatic monovalent group having 12-30 carbon atoms or combinations thereof, which may be substituted by a halogen atom, a nitro group, an amino group, a cyano group, a methoxy group or an acetoxy group, and. a step of partially imidizing the resulting thin film to a polyimide represented by the following general formula (2): ##STR2## wherein R.sup.1 and R.sup.2 are the same as in the general formula (1), so that the monovalent group having 12-30 carbon atoms contained in the thin film remains at the ratio of 1.5-0.8 pieces per repeating unit as represented by the above general formula (1).

In watches, TV sets et cetera, flat displays using liquid crystal devices are now widely employed and a liquid crystal orientation film is used in the liquid crystal device. The liquid crystal orientation film has hitherto been formed by, for example, the so-called oblique vapor deposition method in which SiO.sub.2, Au or the like is deposited obliquely, or the so-called rubbing method comprising the step of coating a substrate with a polymer film such as a polyimide type resin and the step of rubbing the polymer film in a given direction by cloth or the like.
Although the liquid crystal orientation film formed by the oblique vapor deposition method is highly advantageous for imparting a given pretilt angle, but because of a vacuum deposition method, it requires a high vacuum of ca. 10.sup.-5 torr and also it is necessary to tilt the substrate, thus the method has a drawback of lacking in mass-producibility.
A liquid crystal orientation film formed by the rubbing method has a drawback of its producibility being affected by dust and static electricity resulting from rubbing and the quality of film being adversely affected.
Hence, a liquid crystal orientation film which can be formed without relying on such conventional methods has been expected.
Recently, a novel type of a liquid crystal orientation film by the use of Langmuir-Blodgett (hereinafter referred to as LB) film which do not require rubbing treatment (Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 209415/1987, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 23131/1988) are proposed. When the LB film is used as a liquid crystal orientation film, it is difficult to control the pretilt angle of liquid crystal and, depending on the kind of a LB film material used, the liquid crystals are sometimes completely aligned perpendicular or perfectly parallel to the substrate, this resulting in limitation of practicality as a liquid crystal element.
The present invention has been made for solving problems of such conventional arts and is aimed at provision of a liquid crystal orientation film whose liquid crystal pretilt angle is controllable and which is uniform and free from defects.

Method for manufacturing liquid crystal orientation film

Kanegafuchi Kagaku Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha


A sealant dispenser system and method for applying sealant to fasteners. The sealant dispenser system comprising a syringe that engages a dispenser head, wherein the dispenser head has a plurality of dispenser feed channels that receive sealant from an intermediate dispenser conduit, which receives sealant from the sealant distribution conduit. The sealant distribution conduit is configured to receive a needle of a syringe which, when filled with sealant, can be engaged to distribute sealant from the syringe barrel through the sealant distribution conduit, through the intermediate dispenser conduit and through the dispenser feed channels and out of the dispenser feed channel orifices. The dispenser feed channels and the dispenser feed channel orifices are positioned proportional distances apart to allow for distribution of sealant around the entire edge of a fastener.

In many applications, particularly aerospace, where a fastener will be installed in an assembly, typically, a sealant is applied around the fastener at the same time. Numerous dispensers, applicators and dispensing kits for dispensing various materials, including sealants and adhesives are known. In some manufacturing processes, such dispensers and applicators may be machine operated in applying sealants. Generally, in the aerospace industry, such sealants are applied manually. The problem with manual application is that the process is messy and time-consuming. It represents a significant portion of assembly cost and schedule in the assembly process. Generally, manual application of sealant around fasteners, such as nuts, bolts and screws, is accomplished with the use of a syringe. The syringe applicator is a thin needle like apparatus that must be guided around the edges of the fastener so that the sealant may be applied in the appropriate position. Because sealant application by syringe is manual, the level of mess and time needed for application is operator dependent. Manual application also introduces the human factor into the process of applying sealant, requiring a steady hand and substantially increasing the costs associated with this aspect of the manufacturing process. The person applying the sealant needs to be careful and make sure that sealant is applied in accordance with the specifications, which do not allow bubbles, voids or inclusions. In addition, due to the specification requirements concerning the amount of sealant required around a fastener, the sealant needs to be of sufficient height, width, and thickness to prevent the entry of moisture, or for assemblies that are also integral fuel tanks to seal any potential leak paths.
It is desirable to use a sealant applicator that removes the operator dependent factor from the application process and allows for sealant to be applied quickly and consistently in accordance with specification requirements. There is a need for a method of applying sealant and an applicator that applies sealant around fasteners and structures of similar geometry that applies sealant in accordance specification requirements. Such a method and dispenser would reduce labor costs and add consistency to the application of sealant. Such a system would need to solve the above-described problems by providing a sealant dispenser system and method for applying sealant to fasteners in a more cost effective and efficient manner while reducing the mess and waste associated with applying sealant through the use of prior systems.

Method and apparatus for applying sealant to fasteners


An apparatus that allows a musical piece to be recomposed by reflecting, for example, the mood, preference, and ambient environment of a listening user in the musical piece in real time. The apparatus includes a rhythm master unit and a rhythm slave unit. The rhythm master unit generates synchronization signals containing a signal having a period corresponding to a measure of a musical piece and a signal having a period corresponding to a beat of the musical piece and also generates musical-piece recomposition information in synchronization with the synchronization signals. The rhythm slave unit recomposes musical-piece data of input music content in accordance with the synchronization signals and the musical-piece recomposition information, generates output musical-piece data, and outputs the musical-piece data to the rhythm slave unit.

With increased storage capacities of storage media such as optical discs and hard disks, a large amount of music content can be stored in the storage media. Music-content playback apparatuses using the large-capacity storage media are also available.
In such a conventional music-content playback apparatus, a user who views/listens to music selects music content he or she desires to listen to from a large amount of music content and performs a playback operation.
Also, for example, a system for recommending playback musical-piece candidates to a user by using playback history regarding the user's previous music content is also provided (refer to, e.g., Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-173350).

Music composition data reconstruction device, music composition data reconstruction method, music content reproduction device, and music content reproduction method


In one embodiment, a search string is received from a user and the search type of the search is determined from the search string. Based on the search type, an order of repositories to search is determined and each repository is searched. The search results from each repository are displayed for the user in separate panels for each repository and the panels are ordered based on search type and the search results within each panel are ordered using that respective repository's relevancy.

The Enterprise search space presents a different search challenge than the Consumer search space because an Enterprise may include multiple different databases and systems for different organizations within a company. Current enterprise and consumer search solutions attempt to hide the repositories of data being searched and presented. To the contrary, huge benefits can be realized by focusing on the repositories with intelligent processing. Additionally, many users feel as if they have no control over the results for their specific needs. That is, engineers feel that too many results are weighted towards sales, or when searching for an IT tool they find too many IT presentations instead of the actual tool, or when their daily tasks change they have no way to adjust the relevancy. The growing use of the cloud will add to the problem.
In a consumer searching system, multiple different sources or repositories are searched. Generally, the results returned to a user from a search are a blended list of single-line results, which can include new sources, discussion groups, documents, etc. Some consumer searching systems provide containers for different types of data through the use of tabs, such as a web tab, an images tab, a maps tab, etc. However, the ordering of the tabs is static and generally includes multiple different pages. The result is that is makes it difficult for the user to maintain mental continuity when scanning results. It also takes longer to isolate the set of desired results to view as users in the enterprise do think in terms of data repositories.
Searching systems that search based on role, community and/or organizational relevancy can improve relevancy of search results within an enterprise system. However, for a role based system, each job titles would need a separate algorithm, and in a large company the number of different job title may be extremely burdensome. Additionally, when a user is looking for a tool that is not within their field or role, then a search based on their role may not be within the search results or buried on the second or third page of results. Most users don't look beyond the first page of search results.
Other search engines allows a user to search a device based on searching multiple different types of data such as documents, folders, images, contacts, etc. separately. The search results are returned in a list sorted by a simple static ordering which includes a various types of data. The static ordering does not order the types of data based on relevancy for the user. However, each type of data is searched based the same criteria. The order of different types of data searched is the same for all searches and set by the search engine. The user can completely override the search engine's ordering and/or delete types of data searched, but only in regard to one specific device at a time and changing the list of types of data searched is very cumbersome.

Repository-based enterprise search with user customizations


A dampener configured to augment the mounting of a lamp in a socket by resisting displacement of the lamp relative to the socket. The dampener is made from a material able to absorb vibrations and to reduce or prevent vibrations in the lamp. The dampener is made in one piece or more pieces, wherein each piece is interposable in whole or in part between the socket and the lamp base to insulate the lamp in whole or part against the vibration translated through the socket or surrounding air.

The following references to and descriptions of prior proposals or products are not intended to be, and are not to be construed as, statements or admissions of common general knowledge in the art. In particular, the following prior art discussion does not relate to what is commonly or well known by the person skilled in the art, but assists in the understanding of the inventive step of the present invention of which the identification of pertinent prior art proposals is but one part.
A complete lighting unit or luminaire may include a lamp bulb or tube combined with a bayonet or screw-in base to form a lamp unit, a lamp holder to receive the lamp base to electrically connect the lamp to the holder, a protective transparent or translucent cover encasing the lamp and holder and connectors to a power source. Although the prior art and the invention will generally be described with reference to street lighting, it will be appreciated that the invention has applicability in relation to other applications in the fields of heavy transport, rail, mining and industry. Street lighting typically includes a lamp comprising a high or low pressure sodium lamp tube and a screw-in base. The screw-in base is made according to standards used, whereas in the US an E39 39 mm screw-in base is used according to local standards. In Australia, the European standards are adhered to, although given the closeness in dimensions, the US E39 39 mm screw-in base is effectively interchangeable in most Australian street lamp fittings.
In street lighting, in standard arrangements the lamp unit is inserted into a porcelain lamp holder that houses a metal threaded (female) socket providing the axial and cylindrical wall electrical contacts. The axial contact is typically spring loaded to improve the reliability of the axial contact and to provide engagement of the base under tension in the holder socket. However, in the street lighting environment and other lamp applications where low frequency vibrations are part of the operating environment, there is a tendency for the screw-in base to unthread by the combined action of the low frequency vibrations and the spring loaded centre contact. The loosening and unthreading of the screw-in base by axial displacement away from the spring loaded centre contact ultimately may open up a gap between the respective axial terminals leading to a condition in which arcing and discharge can occur. Arcing may lead to failure of the luminaire as a result of damage to the lamp holder, holder mounting and metal socket, so that simple replacement of the lamp unit will not repair the luminaire. Instead, considerable man hours, optionally use of expensive equipment such as cherry pickers, repair of damage to the porcelain lamp holder mounting and replacement of both the lamp holder and the lamp unit are normally required.
High quality, long life high pressure sodium lamps are available and are preferred unit components for many applications due to the potential for long-life and the reduction in maintenance and repair costs. However, the early occurrence of the loosening of the screw-in base can and does lead to, arcing and damage to the luminaire. Such damage is often caused by welding of the metal contacts of the lamp and lamp holder together due to the heat from discharge caused by the arcing. This significantly reduces the advantages offered by the use of long-life lamp technology.
It is noted that it becomes difficult to remove lamps that have failed as a result of arcing as often the heat welds the metal contacts of the lamp and lamp holder together. Moreover, the porcelain base of the lamp holders may be irretrievably damaged and difficult to remove. What should be a routine matter of replacement of a lamp becomes a major repair job to replace the lamp holder as well as repairing any damage to the holder mount.
Accordingly, a significant issue associated with optimising the life of industrial and transport lighting is the need to ameliorate the effects of low frequency vibrations on the screw engagement of the base in the socket.
Such low frequency vibrations are wholly or partially absorbed by the dampening device. The device, when in the form of the annular ring may be mounted as a short sleeve on the shaft of the screw-in base. Preferably, the annular ring is pushed or rotated around the thread up the screw-in base until it abuts the base of the tube, so that the annular ring forms a seal or gasket at the upper end of the socket and the screw-in base. The annular ring may therefore perform as a seal or gasket and thereby protect the socket against ingress of dust, grime and moisture, further preserving the socket and base against corrosion and other deterioration.
Efforts have been made to solve the problem of the loosening of the screw-in base by providing multiple wire spring formed in the internal wall of the female threaded socket in an attempt to hold the screw-in base in place against the spring loaded centre contact. However, whilst such arrangements may delay the damage occasioned by the unthreading of the screw-in base, unthreading still inevitably occurs well before the expected expiration of the life of the lamp tube.
An object of the present invention is to ameliorate the aforementioned disadvantages of the prior art to at least provide a useful alternative thereto.


Communicating a message using a self-contained communications device includes affixing a customized visual message to the communications device, recording a customized audio message to store on the communications device, storing the customized audio message on the communications device; and playing the customized audio message stored on the communications device.

Effective and cost-efficient communications with people can be challenging because of the busy schedules that people maintain. For example, when making a sales call about a product, sales representatives are frequently unable to get their marketing message to the customer because of the customer's busy schedule and because some customers refuse to meet in-person with a sales representative.

Communications device and method for using the communications device to communicate a message


An image processing apparatus includes: a reduced image generation unit configured to obtain a reduced image; a gain data generation unit configured to obtain gain data; and a determination unit configured to determine a control gain required to amplify the input image based on the generated gain data, and letting first gain data be the gain data for an image having a relatively high frequency, and second gain data be the gain data having a relatively low frequency, the determination unit determines the control gain based on a first addition result and a second addition result.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique required to control tone characteristics by applying different gains to respective portions of an input image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a digital dodging process for controlling tone characteristics by applying different gains to respective portions of an input image has been proposed. For example, this dodging process is applied to a so-called backlight scene in which the brightness of a main object to be shot is considerably lower than that of a background. In the backlight scene, when the brightness of an entire image is controlled to an appropriate level, the main object is generally shot darkly. Therefore, using luminance-dependent gains intended to apply a relatively large gain to a dark portion, the darkly shot main object is controlled to an appropriate brightness. The aforementioned process is the basic concept of the dodging process.
Furthermore, as an input luminance upon calculation of luminance-dependent gains, a low-frequency image generated from luminance components of an input image is used. This is because when an input image is used intact as an input luminance used to calculate luminance-dependent gains, a large gain is unwantedly applied to every dark object portions and black object portions in an image, and a contrast of an image after a gain process is considerably impaired. Therefore, using the low-frequency image, the influence of local dark portions in an image is reduced, and gain sensitivity to luminance changes of an image lowers, thus executing the dodging process while maintaining a resolution of an output image.
However, when the dodging process is executed using the low-frequency image, a pseudo edge is generated near edge portions between a low-luminance region and high-luminance region, as shown in FIG. 25. In the example shown in FIG. 25, a small blur signal and large blur signal as low-frequency components of a source signal are used in addition to the source signal. When a gain table has a pattern which is decreased largely relatively at a low-luminance side, as shown in FIG. 25, a gain converted from the blur signal is largely decreased on the low-luminance region side of an edge portion. This is because a value of the blur signal of the edge portion becomes large due to the influence of the high-luminance region side. Therefore, a black-rimmed pseudo edge is generated, as shown in FIG. 25. This phenomenon occurs dominantly as a range of a gain to be multiplied (a difference between GAIN_MAX and GAIN_MIN) becomes larger.
To solve the aforementioned problems, for example, techniques described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2010-244360 and 2009-272983 have been proposed.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-244360, gains are calculated from a plurality of luminance images having different frequency bands. Then, when a gain calculated from a relatively low-frequency image exceeds that calculated from a relatively high-frequency image, the contribution of the gain calculated from the relatively low-frequency image is controlled to be reduced. More specifically, a use ratio of the gain calculated from the high-frequency image is increased.
In Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-272983, images having different frequency bands are used as in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-244360, an image is divided into regions based on luminance values of a relatively high-frequency image, and a gain value calculated from a relatively low-frequency image is corrected by a region division result.
However, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-244360 merely describes a measure against a case in which a gain calculated from a low-frequency image becomes relatively large, that is, a measure against pseudo tones like a white-rimmed high-luminance region, and cannot cope with pseudo tones of a low-luminance region. Also, when a gain to be multiplied with the low-luminance region becomes large, the method of Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2010-244360 cannot provide a sufficient effect, and pseudo tones are left unremoved.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2009-272983 does not describe a measure against a case in which gains having largely different gains are mixed in a single region, as shown in FIG. 25, and a gain to be re-calculated in that region is influenced by the largely different gains.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method