Three portable apparatus are operative sequentially to cut and shape sink holes in stone countertops, each adjustably engaging with the same prior art sink template to control reveal. A first apparatus makes linear cuts in stone using a disk-shaped saw blade while adjustable flange wheels follow the template. A lift biases the disk-shaped saw blade out of the stone when not cutting. A second apparatus cuts inside corners and curves using a contour saw blade while adjustable guide fences follow the template. The spindle shaft angle can be varied to leave a finished side vertical. A third polishing apparatus uses an abrasive drum and an adjustable rotating rub collar around the drum abrasive that operatively changes a distance between the drum abrasive and sink template to adjust for different diameter drums and adjust as the drum abrasive diameter changes due to wear.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains generally to the field of stoneworking, and more specifically to sawing, shaping and polishing of stone or similar material. Various specific manifestations of the invention include a portable tool mount which is configured to support and guide a saw, an abrading rotary disk tool, or other stoneworking equipment or tools; an edging apparatus for polishing stone edges and edges of other hard materials; and a contour rotary disk abrading tool provided with a member or a holder to facilitate the application of the tool to the workpiece, particularly in inside corners.
2. Description of the Related Art
Stoneworking is a very old art, dating back to the days of cave dwellers when man is presumed to have first taken shelter within a stone structure. However, the age of the art should not be confused with the level of technology in use today. The desirability of stone in the modern world for various monuments, markers, countertops and many other applications continues to be great owing to intrinsic hardness and resistance to the elements, a wonderful array of diverse natural and enhanced appearances, temperature resistance, thermal mass, low thermal expansion, and other desirable and unusual features. In addition to natural stone, synthetic or artificial stone, stone-containing materials, or stone-like materials are also being manufactured for desired characteristics. Consequently, much modern technology has been applied to further the provision of stone into the marketplace.
Natural stone is quarried in large blocks from mines and is normally next cut into thinner slabs. These slabs are polished on one surface and then typically sold into commercial or construction applications. Exemplary construction applications, though not by any means all-inclusive, are wall surfaces and decorations for both interior and exterior, trim, fireplaces, flooring, table tops, and counter tops. Rarely will the polished slab have the exact dimensions required for a given project. Consequently, the slab must be cut to fit the application. Depending upon the application, once the slab has been cut, the edge may additionally need to be finished, which may include leveling, shaping and polishing steps. Shaped and polished edges are typically created by grinding the surface with increasingly finer grits of abrasives. The abrasives are normally cooled with a fluid, typically water. As is known in the industry, the cutting, shaping and polishing operations release a large quantity of abrasive in the form of slurry and dust which can be quite detrimental to machines and equipment which are not designed to withstand the erosive environment.
Where large quantities of natural stone or stone-like materials are to be cut and polished, specialized equipment has been designed and constructed which facilitates the cutting and polishing operations. Many of these machines are designed to have enormous mass, which makes the tools much more rigid and also less susceptible to vibration and flexure that may otherwise occur. Most of these machines are further equipped with computer position control, such as through CNC programming or the like. Exemplary U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 4,005,552 by Hoglund et al, entitled "Apparatus for improved control of a grinding machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,228,617 by Bando, entitled "Method for grinding glass plates and the like through numerical control and beveling machine therefor"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,417 by Bando, entitled "Numerically controlled grinding machine for plate glass"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,006,735 by Schlough et al, entitled "Automated stoneworking system and method"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,073,621 by Cetrangolo, entitled "Apparatus for automatic layout and cutting corner lines in stone"; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,315,799 by Toniolo, entitled "Automatic device for replacing grinding wheels in machines for profiling and polishing works obtained from slabs of marble, granite stone, glass, stoneware, cement and the like".
Other machines utilize very specialized technologies, such as extremely high pressure water jets carrying water and abrasive. Most of these machines are also equipped with computer position control, such as through CNC programming or the like. An exemplary U.S. patent, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, is U.S. Pat. No. 6,155,245 by Zanzuri, entitled "Fluid jet cutting system and method".
While these tools are well suited for operations where stones may be readily transported to the machine, and particularly for higher volume production of identical stone geometries, they clearly have no utility for stones to be worked in situ at a construction location or the like. Furthermore, these machines tend to be extremely expensive, and so custom production on this type of machine results in undesirably large amounts of very expensive idle time. Not only do stones need to be changed for custom production, but the machine will also typically require reconfiguration and/or realignment for the custom job. Furthermore, the transport of a stone to and from a construction site to effect the custom work is not only expensive and the source of much delay, but the likelihood of an accident which destroys the stone is much greater with the additional transport. Finally, these large machines tend to be cost-prohibitive for a smaller shop that is not continuously using the machine.
In an attempt to provide a more portable machine, which may, for example, be used directly at a job site, other artisans have proposed various rail systems which are clamped or otherwise anchored to stone or other hard material, such as concrete or glass. These rails may act as guides, such as in the U.S. Pat. No. 2,014,229 by Emmons, entitled "Portable slab cutting machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,552,122 by Kelly, entitled "Portable apparatus for shaping glass by abrasion"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,960,780 by Harris, entitled "Lightweight stone cutting apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 6,062,122 by Niemczyk, entitled "Cutting guide system for portable power saws"; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,257,225 by Harris, entitled "Lightweight stone cutting apparatus"; the teachings and contents of each which are incorporated herein by reference, or may alternatively act as a track which supports a trolley or the like. Exemplary trolleys are shown in U.S. Pat. No. 2,291,058 by Pohl, entitled "Portable machine for cutting marble, ceramics, etc."; U.S. Pat. No. 2,592,001 by Bereit, entitled "Hydraulic moving, positioning, and holding mechanism"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,323,507 by Schuman, entitled "Concrete cutting machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,360,298 by Stoljarov et al, entitled "Stone-cutting machine with mobile carriage and tiltable saws"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,054,179 by Destree, entitled "Stone and concrete cutting machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,412 by Anders, entitled "Sawing machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,982,531 by Biebuyck, entitled "Method employing abrasive tools for the combined cutting and trimming of glass or crystal articles and an apparatus for carrying out the said method"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,482,026 by Russell, entitled "Precision abrasive saw"; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,588,418 by Holmes et al, entitled "Saw assembly with handle-actuated guide mechanism"; the teachings and contents of each which are incorporated herein by reference.
A number of artisans have also proposed various apparatus designed to work with a more portable disk-type circular saw blade, and have in many of these cases provided various apparatus for controlling or adjusting the height of the blade relative to the work. Exemplary U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 1,230,696 by Filotico, entitled "Stone cutting machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 2,736,311 by Coates, entitled "Track mounted cutter for concrete slabs and the like"; U.S. Pat. No. 2,783,789 by Konway, entitled "Power driven circular saw"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,164,144 by Adams, Jr., entitled "Cutting apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,722,497 by Hiestand et al, entitled "Wall saw"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,763,845 by Hiestand et al, entitled "Wall saw assembly"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,988,125 by Ulsh, entitled "Power saw holder"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,055,160 by Wilson, entitled "Table saw"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,134,459 by Hotchen, entitled "Rotary cutting equipment"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,184,719 by Ward, entitled "Machine rails and carriages"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,581 by Trentadue, entitled "Adjustable support for cutting apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,998,775 by Hollifield, entitled "Apparatus for precision cutting of concrete surfaces"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,086,750 by Chiuminatta et al, entitled "Skid plate for concrete saw"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,420 by Johnson, entitled "Pavement cutting saw"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,666,939 by Chiuminatta et al, entitled "Soft concrete saw"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,371 by Rupprecht et al, entitled "Masonry slitting apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,676,126 by Rupprecht et al, entitled "Masonry slitting apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,228 by Watson, entitled "Multi-directional, self-propelled saw for cutting concrete slabs"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,941,227 by Bearden, entitled "Portable saw with disconnectable platform for cutting concrete for controlling cracks"; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,736 by Bearden, entitled "Portable saw with improved disconnectable platform for cutting concrete for controlling cracks".
For a single cutting operation, many of these devices have found utility in the industry, and rightly so. Providing a guiding edge for an abrasive saw or other cutter such as is used to cut stone and other hard materials is of much benefit for custom applications or the like as are frequently required at a building site. When a section of flooring or wall requires custom cutting and fitting, it is not always practical or reasonable to expect a stone factory to size the stone to the needs in advance. Moreover, it may not always be possible to accurately predict the dimensions owing to variability such as spacing between adjacent stone and the like. Furthermore, the thickness of adjacent stones may vary somewhat unpredictably, and the leveling of the intersection of the two stones may be a very important finishing operation.
Unfortunately, many of these devices are designed for only very light duty. Where guides are used, they tend to lack the necessary resistance to abrasion from the stoneworking dust, and consequently have a limited life only suited for very light duty stone working. These machines also illustrate single tool applications. So, when a stone mason identifies the need for a tool to assist with the guiding of a stone cutting saw, he must purchase a guide for his saw. Later, when he elects to purchase a guide for another stone working tool such as a polisher or an edger, he must then purchase another piece of equipment. This single function tool holding and guiding is not highly desirable, and so many masons will perform all but the most complex or sizeable jobs by hand. As is all too well known, when work is completed by hand, there is much greater risk that the mason will err in the process, and this error is not readily remediated in stone. Consequently, the probability for unsightly imperfections or total loss of valuable stone, and the additional work required to remake a destroyed piece or repair an imperfection provides much incentive in the industry for better tools to reduce the dependence upon hand operations. Additionally, the freehand shaping and polishing is very strenuous and time consuming.
In addition to the limitations aforementioned, another shortcoming of the prior art apparatus is the ability to guide and form inside openings and corners such as are typically found in the installation of a kitchen or bar sink within a stone counter top. In order to cut this type of hole with inside corners, it is most desirable to drop the saw vertically onto the stone to begin the cut in a predetermined place. Where the design of the cutting guide requires the saw to traverse from an end or edge of the stone, such a guide will have no applicability to the holes created for sinks. Moreover, adjacent to the sink the stone will frequently be rather narrow. Where this is the case, in the prior art a reinforcement bar has been inserted into a small groove cut into the stone. The reinforcement bar may then be pressed into the groove and typically adhesively secured therein. However, the cutting of the trough must also occur in the middle of the stone, and in this instance a wider than ordinary cutting blade is most desirable, in order to only require a single passage of the tool through the stone in the formation of the trough.
Most masons currently use a spinning type abrasive to cut a sink hole in a stone countertop. These abrasive cutters come in the shape of circular saw blades and drum shaped router bits. The two types of drum shaped router bits either cut with their abrasive grit on the side (radial) or with their bottom end (axial). A simple method of cutting a sink hole is for a mason to draw a line and use a grinder with a circular blade to follow the line to remove the waste material from the sink hole. There are two types of circular saw blades the mason can employ. First, there is a saw blade that is disc-shaped, like other traditional circular saw blades, that will lay flat on a planar surface. The mason will use this disc-shaped blade to make straight cuts. The second type of circular saw blade is a contour blade that has a concave side and a convex side. This blade will resemble the shape of a coffee cup saucer when laid on a planar surface with the concave side up. The contour blade will cut a much larger saw kerf than the thickness of the blade, which requires more power and consumes more abrasive. However, this blade shape also allows the mason to make a radius or curved cut. This contour blade was designed so that the concave side of the blade was normal to the inside radius of the cut. The blade can be mounted on a portable saw or angle grinder. The saw kerf from a concave blade on a portable saw with a horizontal shaft will leave a vertical profile on the waste side of the sink hole and create a bevel on the finished side of the countertop. Therefore the mason will use a drum type abrasive wheel to grind the bevel away to make the finished side of the stone's edge vertical. With the concave blade on an angle grinder the mason can hold the grinder at any angle to minimize the bevel on the finished side of the countertop. The mason will need to change their position to maintain a view of the cut line for each side of the sink hole and control the saw blade from over cutting or binding while keeping the cutting portion of blade vertical. This is much to accomplish and is prone for error. This is why a mason will position the blade a short distance from the waste side of the cut line. After the waste material of the sink hole is removed, they will use the drum type abrasives to grind the remaining waste material to the cut line. This freehand method will take great skill and can be very time consuming for the mason.
Another method for removing the waste material from a sink hole is for the mason to follow a template using a drum-shaped abrasive cutter called a finger bit. This finger bit is mounted on a router-type spindle motor with the shaft perpendicular to the stone surface. This spindle motor will follow the template either by utilizing a bearing or bushing attached directly to the spindle housing or using a bearing or bushing on the spindle shaft that is spinning the finger bit. The finger bits for the manual method will either cut the stone in one pass or multiple passes called incremental step cutting. The one pass method will cut the full thickness of the stone by utilizing the abrasive material on the side of the finger bit. This method will require the mason to push or pull the finger bit with great force through the stone. The incremental step cutting method will cut the stone by utilizing the bottom of the finger bit. This method will use the weight of the spindle and the force from a leadscrew to create the pressure to grind the kerf. With incremental step cutting, the finger bit is lowered into the stone with each pass around the template. This method can have an undesirable result when this groove gets deeper and less stone is available to support the down pressure. This down pressure will cause the finger bit to eventually break through the thin stone and create chips or voids on the finish side of the countertop.
Both styles of finger bits will need to have a diameter that will allow for enough abrasive material to have the proper surface speed to abrade the stone material and to have sufficient longevity to accomplish the job. The diameter of these finger bits will cut a much larger kerf than a saw blade and therefore require a larger spindle motor and more time to remove this extra waste material. Because of the nature of hard materials like stone, the mason who employs a finger bit to manually cut the stone will either need to use great force to pull the finger bit through the stone in one pass or spend substantial time and energy to incrementally step cut the stone by making 20 to 40 passes depending on the stone's thickness. The manual method of using a template allows the operator to remove the waste material of the sink hole in a method that is very consistent and error free. After the waste material is removed, the mason will grind back any areas where the finger bit paused leaving a slight gouge or in the case of incremental step cutting, removing the horizontal lines left by step cutting. This method of using a finger bit to follow a template gives the mason great control and requires much less skill. The disadvantage of using this method is the wide kerf creating the need to use a large spindle motor spinning and more rapidly consuming an expensive finger bit. Some exemplary U.S. patents and published patent applications illustrating finger bits and their use thereof, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 5,274,963 by Tsur, entitled "Flush-mount sink assembly method"; U.S. Pat. No. 7,229,342 by York, entitled "Stone cutting system and method"; and 2008/0153399 by York, entitled "Stone cutting system and method".
As may be appreciated, there are many different styles and sizes of sinks utilized in the stone industry. Each model sink will have a specific shape that the manufacturer will recommend for the countertop cut out. These countertop cut outs will have straight areas and curved areas such a commonly found in a kitchen style sink. For bathroom style lavatories, the shape can commonly be a continuous curve like in a round or oval shape. While many masons rely entirely upon finger bits to cut these diverse openings, since finger bits are able to cut any geometry, it should be apparent that these bits cut a much wider kerf than a disc-shaped circular blade and so are slower and consume more energy and abrasive when cutting straight lines.
Several additional U.S. patents, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, include U.S. Pat. No. 597,542 by Lorch, entitled "Polishing machine", which illustrates an adjustable polishing machine; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,866 by Tsao, entitled "Stone cutter" and U.S. Pat. No. 7,373,936 by Zagorouiko, entitled "Portable finishing apparatus for hard material", each which illustrate commercially available drive motors similar to that proposed in several of the present embodiments.
A number of additional U.S. patents and published applications illustrate various working tools, the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, including U.S. Pat. No. 136,432 by Gear, entitled "Machine for turning stone"; U.S. Pat. No. 561,367 by Badger, entitled "Method of and apparatus for dressing stone"; U.S. Pat. No. 1,971,297 by Donaldson, entitled "Shaping machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 2,020,709 by Walter, entitled "Grinding machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 2,075,369 by Stetler, entitled "Marble refacing machine"; U.S. Pat. No. 2,318,050 by Boynton, entitled "Cutting apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 2,787,871 by Le Clercq, entitled "Means and method of grinding polygonal articles"; U.S. Pat. No. 2,818,683 by Nieman et al, entitled "Glassware lathe"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,011,530 by Lamb, entitled "Guide for portable saw"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,396,713 by Schuman, entitled "Concrete saw guide and method of use thereof"; U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,658 by Daiuta, entitled "Mobile oscillating spot grinder with pressure control means to produce a feathering effect"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,058,280 by Clancy, entitled "Table rail"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,245 by Bieri, entitled "Concrete cutting or milling apparatus including a guide rail"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,836,494 by Johnsen, entitled "Device for mounting a rail or the like on a surface"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,986,252 by Holmes et al, entitled "Chain saw cutting assembly"; U.S. Pat. No. 4,989,372 by Avila et al, entitled "Precision radial arm saw for composite materials"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,035,061 by Bradbury et al, entitled "Guide for hand-held power tools"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,186,157 by Bieri, entitled "Guide and support structure for surface cutting apparatus"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,206,999 by Stone, entitled "Saw guide and surface protector"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,678,314 by Braunbach et al, entitled "Hand power tool"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,690 by Ogyu, entitled "Apparatus for cutting a stone member so as to have a curved surface"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,857,453 by Caven et al, entitled "Precision slot cutting machine for concrete and asphalt"; U.S. Pat. No. 5,947,103 by Saccon, entitled "Stone tile finishing system"; and 20110016720 by Plaskett, entitled "Rotary stone cutting tool and method".
The present inventor, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,061 by Kalb, entitled "Portable apparatus for working, shaping and polishing stone and other hard materials"; and U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,175 by Kalb, entitled "Portable apparatus for working, shaping and polishing stone and other hard materials", the teachings and contents which are incorporated herein by reference, discloses several portable tools, carriages and tracks that overcome many of the prior art deficiencies. Nevertheless, these apparatus fail to provide a fast and economical method and apparatus for forming a sink opening in stone.
What is desired then is a portable apparatus which enables a stone mason or worker of other hard material to purchase suitable apparatus which will perform the precise guiding of diverse tools across the hard material while allowing a mason at a job site to form precise inside holes, shapes and polished surfaces such as are found in the formation of a sink hole.
In addition to the foregoing documents, Webster's New Universal Unabridged Dictionary, Second Edition copyright 1983, is incorporated herein by reference in entirety for the definitions of words and terms used herein.

Portable adjustable cutting apparatus for cutting and shaping sink holes in stone countertops


Interlocking blocks are provided which are light in weight, and which may be assembled without use of mortar or other binding agent. Because the interlocking block is light in weight, it may be of a larger size than conventional blocks. Each interlocking block employs a number of projections and corresponding notches positioned and dimensioned to couple with adjacent interlocking block's projections and corresponding notches. A series of such interlocking blocks may then be assembled to form gravity retaining walls or any other rigid structures. The interlocking blocks are structurally strong enough to be used as form-work and may also be filled with insulating material, sound-proofing material, reinforcing material or any other advantageous material. The interlocking blocks may also be quickly assembled or disassembled in individualized constructions, may be pre-assembled into wall sections on or off a construction site.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to structural concrete building blocks. More particularly, the present invention relates to molded light weight large concrete blocks used for constructing external walls and retaining walls as well as form-work in load bearing walls and that is easily reinforced in horizontal and vertical directions.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Concrete blocks used for constructing walls generally require mortar to adhere one block to another. Consequently, walls and other structures assembled from conventional blocks are often expensive and labor intensive to build and maintain. Additionally, conventional blocks may not be used for form work.
In order to eliminate the use of mortar, self linking blocks have been constructed utilizing different systems of interconnecting tongues and grooves. Such interconnecting blocks are generally of limited size and are generally too heavy to be of practical use. Additionally, presently available interconnecting blocks often have poor thermal insulation properties, are not sufficiently strong to be used as form-work and do not have internal cavities designed to facilitate the placement of insulation, reinforcing members, pipes or conduits.
In an effort to create interconnecting blocks that are lightweight and have high thermal resistivity, some presently available interconnecting blocks are constructed from polystyrene. However, polystyrene is flammable, emits toxic vapors and is expensive to transport. Additionally, polystyrene is often not receptive to finishing with plaster or gypsum and the blocks must often be treated with bonding agents prior to finishing. These disadvantages render presently available interconnecting blocks impractical for many applications.
For example, a system marketed under trademark MEP consists of a polystyrene panel reinforced with wire mesh trusses spaced 6" on center and with wire mesh reinforcement on the two faces of the polystyrene panel. The external faces are covered by a plaster layer 7/8" thick. The MEP provides a highly insulated wall that is structurally strong and can be easily constructed. However, it has a few drawbacks. It limits the work to only external walls in building construction, and it is not a cheap alternative.
Consequently, a need exists for lightweight building blocks that have high thermal insulating properties, and strong construction, that do not give off toxic fumes, and that incorporate internal cavities.
Several U.S. patents disclose modular building blocks. These include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,764,357; 3,936,987; 4,001,988; 4,016,693; 4,098,040; 4,268,317; 4,314,431; 4,372,091; 4,490,075; and 4,905,439.


In a compression coding device having a scrambling function, a variable length coder outputs coded image data. When the image data are to be written to a memory included in a multiplexer, a controller generates a control signal for writing the image data in the order of the positions of slices constituting a single picture, and feeds it to the memory. When the image data should be scrambled on the basis of a preselected scrambling system, the controller outputs a control signal for reading the image data out of the memory in a different order with respect to the positions of slices, and feeds it to the memory. The multiplexer multiplexes the image data in a preselected position of an MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2 output data format. Further, the controller outputs information representative of the positions of the slices occurred before and after the scrambling, and causes the multiplexer to multiplex them in another preselected position of the MPEG2 output data format. An expansion reproducing device having a descrambling function is also disclosed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a compression coding device having a scrambling function, and an expansion reproducing device having a descrambling function. More particularly, the present invention is concerned with a compression coding device adaptive to the MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) 2 standard and capable of scrambling and coding data, and an expansion reproducing device also adaptive to the MPEG 2 standard and capable of descrambling and decoding the data scrambled by the coding device.
2. Description of the Background Art
In Japan, for example, scrambled broadcasting using a broadcasting satellite (BS) started in 1991 while broadcasting using a communication satellite (CS) started in 1992 and was scrambled like BS broadcasting. It is a common practice with BS or CS television broadcasting to scramble analog video signals by a line permutation (scanning line transfer) system, line rotation (intra-line signal switching) system, Skyport system, video cypher system, B-MAC system or similar system.
The line permutation system changes the order of scanning lines. The line rotation system provides a cut point or cut points in the individual scanning line and replaces the segments divided by the cut point or points. The Skyport system replaces all the scanning lines at random. The video cypher system removes synchronizing signals from a video signal, and at the same time, reverses the polarity. Further, the B-MAC system varies the length of the individual scanning line at random.
With the advent of full-scale multimedia environments handling speech, data and image (picture) totally, ISO (International Organization for Standardization) is standardizing various kinds of information compression technologies constituting the heart of multimedia. Recently, ISO has standardized MEPG1 as a moving picture coding system for storage and directed toward CD-ROMs (Compact Disk Read Only Memories) and other storage media. Later, ISO has standardized MPEG2 applicable not only to storage media but also to communication and broadcasting media.
A compression coding device adaptive to MPEG2 produces an I picture (Intra-Picture) for a preselected frame or picture of an input moving picture by using, e.g., an intra-frame/intra-field coding system. The coding system produces a P picture (Predictive-Picture) for a single preselected picture different from the I picture by using interframe/interfield forward predictive coding system. Further, the coding system produces a B picture (Bidirectionally Predictive-Picture) for preselected two pictures different from the I and P pictures by using a bidirectionally predictive coding system. The I, P and B pictures, or coded or compressed data, are repeatedly output in the order of, e.g., GOPs (Group-Of-Pictures) shown in FIG. 13B. The coded data output in such an order are, e.g., digitally modulated and broadcast via a BS.
To reproduced the BS broadcast coded data on a monitor, use is made of an expansion reproducing device adaptive to MPEG2. The reproducing device decodes the coded data received from a satellite and transforms the decoded data to a signal which can be displayed by the monitor.
However the problem with the conventional coding device adaptive to MPEG2 is that the coded data are not scrambled despite that the broadcast is chargeable. As a result, any person can decoded the coded data and enjoy a moving picture based on the decoded data on, e.g., a monitor for free only if the person has the expansion reproducing device at hand.

Compression coding device with scrambling function and expansion reproducing device with descrambling function


A wireless monitoring system for receiving, processing, wirelessly communicating and displaying bio-signal information is provided, inclusive of an analog front-end detection circuit with CHS (Chopper Stabilization) and sigma-delta modulation techniques, a digital signal processor (DSP) with disease identification capability, a digital controller with functions of encoding/decoding (CODEC), modulation/demodulation (MODEM) and data loss prevention in communication, and a wireless radio frequency (RF) transceiver with super-regenerative technique. The system can detect the real-time bio-signal and transmit the bio-signal data to the server by wireless communication. If the wireless communication is disconnected, the system would immediately store the data until the communication is reconnected. Therefore, the stored data will not be lost and can be transmitted with the real-time data as the communication is re-established. Moreover, the invention provides a bio-signal analysis end device and a bio-signal detection end device.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a wireless monitoring chip system for detecting bio-signal in real time.
2. Descriptions of the Related Art
With the development of biomedical IC (Integrated Circuit), various circuits related to bio-signal detection and disease identification play an important role. Conventional bio-signal detection systems include basically analog front-end circuits and wireless transmission circuits, wherein the analog front-end circuits usually include preamplifiers, filters and analog to digital converters.
The bio-signal, such as heartbeat, in the biomedical field usually belongs to a low frequency signal. However, in low frequency application, because of the impact of flicker noise, the entire analog front-end circuit usually cannot achieve high resolution, such that the accuracy of the detection result is influenced and thereby the determination of medical personnel is misled, and the reliability is insufficient in diagnosis.
Additionally, the entire performance is often limited to specific elements because of there are a large amount of elements used.
Furthermore, the wireless RF (Radio Frequency) circuit usually plays a key role with respect to the entire power consumption. The use of conventional I/Q structure for RF circuit design increases power consumption considerably and reduces the service life.
Moreover, conventional systems do not process the detected bio-signal in advance prior to transmission to medical personnel. Therefore, signal transmission security and data loss are also important issues of bio-signal wireless transmission.
In conclusion, conventional bio-signal detection systems suffer from shortages such as insufficient reliability, poor performance, large power consumption, and/or low security. It is the goal of those skilled in the art to eliminate or mitigate these shortages to provide people with better user experience.

Wireless monitoring system for detecting bio-signal analysis end device and bio-signal detection end device


A system and method for producing a document formatted according to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) from an electronically stored original document while preserving the visual presentation properties of the original document as characterized by the document-authoring application used to create the original document. The system comprises a document converter, which includes a conversion engine and an interface for a document-authoring application. The document-authoring application interface generates a set of raw conversion data from the original document. The conversion engine assembles the raw conversion data into the HTML document. The raw conversion data may comprise a set of files formatted according to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML).

This invention relates generally to the field of computer systems. More particularly, a system and methods are provided for producing a document formatted according to Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), or another portable format, from an electronically stored original document, while preserving the visual presentation properties of the original document. Thus, the document that is produced retains visual presentation properties instilled by the document-authoring application used to create the original document.
As a result of the expanding mobile workforce, the proliferation of the Internet, the popularity of the World Wide Web, corporate and home based local area networks (LANs), and wide area networks (WANs), server and network based collaboration is increasingly being used to support collaboration within work groups as well as non-work-related groups.
Server and web-based collaboration can provide an individual a convenient and cost-effective means of sharing a document simultaneously with a group of people who may not be available for an in-person meeting. Often, attendees of a "virtual" collaboration meeting utilize wired and wireless network-capable browser devices, such as thin-client terminals, to display a shared document from a server.
Thin-client browser devices can be advantageous in a collaboration system. They tend to provide lower technology costs, more reliable computing devices, easier to use interfaces, and lower maintenance requirements than a more complex client device such as a personal computer or a workstation.
Online document storage systems and many server based collaboration systems allow an individual to upload documents to a server or a secure DBMS (Database Management System) such as Oracle® Server by Oracle Corporation, where others can access them. Frequently, individuals create these documents to be shared using document-authoring applications such as Microsoft® Corporation's PowerPoint, Word, Excel, Project, Visio, etc.
Many document-authoring applications can generate documents with complex design, layout and visual presentation schemes. Individuals often expend a great deal of time and energy polishing the appearance of a document by adjusting the text arrangement, the background colors, the graphics and other visual presentation attributes of the document.
Unfortunately, some collaboration systems discard or alter visual presentation properties of an original document when preparing the document for collaboration. In particular, the original document may need to be presented on multiple types of devices having a range of presentation interfaces or display capabilities. The shared document may end up much less attractive and/or understandable in comparison to the original document as viewed in the document-authoring application that created the original document.
Also, some collaboration systems rely on client-side document conversion or document presentation methods to allow a shared document to be viewed by the attendees of a collaboration meeting. This approach to collaboration necessitates a meeting attendee's use of a client-side personal computer or workstation rather than a thin-client device. Often, the necessary client-side software is only available for a specific computing platform or computer operating system, and, as a further inconvenience, each meeting attendee must install the software on the computer or workstation in order to view a shared document.
As a result, potential attendees of a collaboration meeting may not be able to participate if they do not have access to a personal computer or the required client-side software.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an automated method of producing a document formatted according to Hypertext Markup Language (or other transportable format), from an original document created with a document-authoring application that preserves visual presentation properties of the original document, without requiring specialized client-side tools.

System and method for converting an electronically stored document


A method of transmitting control information for a relay node (RN) from an eNode B in a wireless communication system includes transmitting information on a resource region of at least one relay-physical downlink control channel (R-PDCCH) including the control information for the RN and interleaving mode information on an interleaving mode applied to the at least one R-PDCCH to the RN, wherein the resource region of the at least one R-PDCCH is RN-specifically configured.

In the following description, 3GPP LTE (3rd generation partnership projecting long term evolution, hereinafter abbreviated LTE) communication system and 3GPP LTE-Advanced (hereinafter abbreviated LTE-A) communication system are schematically explained for example of a mobile communication system to which the present invention is applicable.
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of E-UMTS network structure for example of a mobile communication system.
Referring to FIG. 1, E-UMTS (evolved universal mobile telecommunications system) is the system evolved from a conventional UMTS (universal mobile telecommunications system) and its basic standardization is currently in progress by 3GPP. Generally, E-UMTS can be called LTE (long term evolution) system. Details of the technical specifications of UMTS and E-UMTS may refer to Release 7 and Release 8 of '3rd generation partnership project: technical specification group radio access network'.
Referring to FIG. 1, E-UMTS consists of a user equipment (UE), an eNode B (eNB) and an access gateway (AG) provided to an end terminal of a network (E-UTRAN) to be connected to an external network. The eNode B is able to simultaneously transmit multi-data streams for a broadcast service, a multicast service and/or a unicast service.
At least one or more cells exist in one eNode B. The cell is set to one of bandwidths including 1.25 MHz, 2.5 MHz, 5 MHz, 10 MHz, 15 MHz, 20 MHz and the like and then provides an uplink or downlink transmission service to a plurality of user equipments. Different cells can be set to provide different bandwidths, respectively. The eNode B controls data transmissions and receptions for a plurality of user equipments. The eNode B sends downlink scheduling information on downlink (DL) data to inform a corresponding user equipment of time/frequency region for transmitting data to the corresponding user equipment, coding, data size, HARQ (hybrid automatic repeat and request) relevant information and the like. And, the eNode B sends uplink scheduling information on uplink (UL) data to a corresponding user equipment to inform the corresponding user equipment of time/frequency region available for the corresponding user equipment, coding, data size, HARQ relevant information and the like. An interface for user or control traffic transmission is usable between eNode Bs. A core network (CN) may consist of an AG, a network node for user registration of a user equipment and the like. The AG manages mobility of the user equipment by a unit of TA (tracking area) including a plurality of cells.
The wireless communication technology has been developed up to LTE based on WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access) but the demands and expectations of users and service providers are continuously rising. Since other radio access technologies keep being developed, new technological evolution is requested to become competitive in the future. For this, reduction of cost per bit, service availability increase, flexible frequency band use, simple-structure and open interface, reasonable power consumption of user equipment and the like are required.
Recently, 3GPP is working on the standardization of the next technology for LTE. In the present specification of the present invention, the next technology shall be named 'LTE-Advanced' or 'LTE-A'. Major differences between the LTE system and the LTE-A system lie in a system bandwidth difference and a relay introduction. The LTE-A system has a goal to support a broadband of maximum 100 MHz. For this, the LTE-A system uses carrier aggregation or bandwidth aggregation to achieve a broadband using a plurality of frequency blocks. The carrier aggregation enables a plurality of frequency blocks to be used as one large logic frequency band to use a wider frequency band. A bandwidth of each frequency block can be defined based on a system block used by the LTE system. And, each frequency block is transmitted using a component carrier.
However, as mentioned in the foregoing description, the LTE-A system having introduced the relay node does not have any study for resource allocation to transmit control information for the relay node and resource allocation to transmit system information (or broadcast information) for the relay node. And, any method for an eNode B to signal the control information for the relay node, the resource allocation information on a broadcast information carrying resource and the like has not been proposed in detail yet.

Apparatus for transmitting and receiving control information and system information for repeaters and method thereof


Designing garments that include brassiere cups can be challenging due to the natural fluctuation of a woman's breast size, as well as a possible disconnect between the size of her breasts and the size of the rest of her body. The high range of size variability places pressure on stores to stock inventories that include great ranges of sizes. This places an inventory risk to the store, since rarer sizes may never sell. The disclosed garment addresses these issues by including a fit-adjustable brassiere portion. The cups of the fit-adjustable brassiere portion include fit-modifying panels that increase their flexibility and elasticity. The rear side of the fit-adjustable brassiere portion includes a back adjuster with highly elastic regions that enables the brassiere portion to fit a broader range of chest sizes. Each of these features give the garment a more universal fit and enable stores to carry fewer sizes.

Special occasions often lead to the purchase of unique apparel that may only be used once or a few times. These garments can have interesting necklines, back lines, breast padding, and long, embellished skirts and underskirts that add weight. Shaping garments can be worn under the special occasion garment to smoothen and shape the wearer's overall silhouette. Designing shaping garments for special occasions can be especially challenging because they must be versatile enough to adapt to the many types of unique features that special occasion apparel can include.

Shaping garment with fit-adjustable brassiere portion


An organic electroluminescent device comprising a light-emitting layer between a pair of electrodes, the light-emitting layer comprising a mixture of a hole-transporting material consisting of a tertiary amine compound, an electron-transporting material and a light-emitting additive material, in which the tertiary amine compound has two or more oxidation potentials determined by a cyclic voltammetry wherein a potential difference between the first oxidation potential and the second oxidation potential in the oxidation potentials is 0.22V or more, and a glass transition temperature of at least 100° C., and the electron-transporting material has a glass transition temperature of at least 100° C.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organic electroluminescent (EL) device and a production process thereof. More particularly, the present invention relates to an organic EL device, in which a mixed host comprising a mixture of a hole-transporting material and an electron-transporting material is used as a host material of the light-emitting layer, and a production process of such an organic EL device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The organic EL device can exhibit an excellent visibility because light is emitted based on a self-emission mechanism, and also its weight inclusive of the driving circuits can be reduced because the device can be operated at a low driving voltage of from several volts to several ten volts. Accordingly, it is expected to advantageously use the EL device in various applications such as flat-type display devices, illumination devices, backlight devices and others. Furthermore, the EL device is characterized by a variation of colors of the emitted light.
Specifically, the specific characteristics such as high viewing angle, high contrast and low temperature operability of the organic EL device are desirably useful in the application of the device to in-vehicle display devices. However, hitherto, it was very difficult to practice the application of the organic EL device in the production of the in-vehicle display devices, because the EL device has to satisfy the highly increased standards of the qualities for the in-vehicle devices, and also it suffers from the inherent problems due to use of the organic EL materials such as reduction of the luminescence and low heat resistance.
To improve the luminescence durability of the organic EL device, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 8-48656 teaches formation of the light-emitting layer of the EL device from a mixture of the hole-transporting material and the electron-transporting material as a host material with the light-emitting additive material as a dopant. However, the inventors of this application have found as a result of the study and examination of the proposed EL devices that some of the hole-transporting materials as the host material have a poor heat resistance and thus, if the EL device is used under the conditions of an increased temperature such as 100° C., dark spots and related drawbacks can be remarkably caused in the EL device, thereby resulting in a reduction of the luminescence in the device.
On the other hand, as is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (Kokai) No. 2000-156290 and Gazette of International Patent Publication WO98/8360, there have been suggested to use a variety of hole-injecting and hole-transporting materials as a host material of the light-emitting layer in the organic EL device. The hole-injecting and hole-transporting materials disclosed therein include the materials having an increased glass transition temperature, thereby enabling to show a good durability at the elevated temperature. Specifically, there have been suggested the specific material containing at least three triphenylamines in a molecule thereof to thereby increase a glass transition temperature of the material to 100° C. or more. However, as a result of the study and examination of the proposed EL devices, the inventors of this application have found that a luminescence durability of the devices cannot be improved as a result of use of such specific material containing triphenylamines, though the generation of dark spots can be inhibited.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Organic EL devices and production process thereof


Methods and compositions for delivering macromolecules to or via the respiratory tract, such that the macromolecules exhibit improved local and/or systemic bioavailability are provided. Such methods utilize lipid-based microstructures formed in combination with at least one bioactive macromolecule, which have a superior ability to rapidly release the bioactive macromolecule(s) thereby resulting in improved local and/or systemic bioavailability of the bioactive macromolecule(s). Such improved bioavailability is believed to be due, in part, to reduction of scavenging by bronchoalveolar macrophages and/or mucociliary clearance. Compositions with improved bioavailability are provided comprising a plurality of lipid-based microstructures formed in combination with at least one bioactive macromolecule, wherein the bioavailability of the bioactive macromolecule is improved by modifying the rate of release of the bioactive macromolecule from the microstructure thereby reducing scavenging by bronchoalveolar macrophages and/or mucociliary clearance.

The respiratory tract encompasses the upper airways, including the oropharynx and larynx, followed by the lower airways, which include the trachea followed by bifurcations into the bronchi and bronchioli. The upper and lower airways are called the conducting airways. The terminal bronchioli then divide into respiratory bronchioli which then lead to the ultimate respiratory zone, the alveoli, or deep lung (Critical Reviews in Therapeutic Drug Carrier Systems, 6: 273–313 (1990)).
Delivery of bioactive macromolecules to or via the respiratory tract may be useful for the purposes of prophylaxis and therapy of diseases and disorders of the respiratory tract or pulmonary system. For example, local diseases of the pulmonary system may be associated with local antigens such as microbial antigens (respiratory syncytial virus, influenza virus, Streptococcus), tumor antigens (melanoma associated antigens, Neu-2), and inflammation-associated antigens (CD4, IgE). Further, systemic delivery of bioactive macromolecules via the respiratory tract may be useful for prophylaxis or treatment of certain disorders that affect organs other than the lungs. Such systemic diseases may, for example, be associated with tumor antigens (CD20, CEA) or inflammation related antigens (TNFα).
Drug delivery to or via the respiratory tract is an attractive alternative to oral, transdermal, and parenteral administration because self-administration is simple, the lungs provide a large mucosal surface for drug absorption, there is no first-pass liver effect of absorbed drugs, and there is reduced enzymatic activity and pH mediated drug degradation compared with the oral route. Limited bioavailability of many molecules, including macromolecules, can be achieved via inhalation. As a result, several aerosol formulations of therapeutic drugs are in use or are being tested for delivery to the lung (J. Controlled Release, 28: 79–85 (1994); Pharm. Res., 12(9): 1343–1349 (1995); and Pharm. Res., 13(1): 80–83 (1996)).
Drugs currently administered by inhalation come primarily as liquid aerosol formulations. However, many drugs and excipients, especially macromolecules such as proteins and peptides, are unstable in aqueous environments for extended periods of time (Biotechnol. Bioeng., 37: 177–184 (1991)). This can make storage as a liquid formulation problematic. In addition, protein denaturation can occur during aerosolization with liquid formulations (Pharm. Res., 11: 12–20 (1994)). Considering these and other limitations, dry powder formulations (DPF's) are gaining increased interest as formulations for respiratory delivery (EP 0 611 567 A1). However, among the disadvantages of conventional DPF's is that powders of ultrafine particulates usually have poor flowability and aerosolization properties, leading to relatively low respirable fractions of aerosol, i.e., the fractions of inhaled aerosol that escape deposition in the mouth and throat. Another concern with many aerosols is particulate aggregation caused by particle-particle interactions, such as hydrophobic, electrostatic, and capillary interactions. An effective dry-powder inhalation therapy for both short and long term release of macromolecules, either for local or systemic delivery, requires a powder that displays minimum aggregation, as well as a means of avoiding or suspending the lung's natural clearance mechanisms until drugs have been effectively delivered. However, mere engineering of aerosols for optimal aerodynamic and stability characteristics may not necessarily result in desired drug release profiles.
The human lungs can remove or rapidly degrade hydrolytically cleavable deposited particles over periods ranging from minutes to hours. In the upper airways, ciliated epithelia contribute to "mucociliary clearance," by which particles are swept from the airways toward the mouth. In the deep lungs, alveolar macrophages are capable of phagocytosing particles soon after their deposition. In fact, some references clearly show that a substantial fraction of macromolecule-loaded particles are scavenged by airway macrophages within 10–60 minutes upon delivery to the respiratory tract (Pharma. Res., 17: 275 (2000)). As the diameter of particles exceeds 3 μm, there is increasingly less phagocytosis by macrophages. However, increasing the particle size also has been found to minimize the probability of particles (possessing standard mass density) entering the airways and penetrating the alveoli due to excessive deposition in the oropharyngeal or nasal regions (J. Aerosol Sci., 17: 811–825 (1986)). These particles that do not penetrate into alveoli are then cleared by the mucociliary system within 10–30 minutes after delivery.
In sum, conventional respiratory tract drug delivery strategies present many difficulties for the delivery of macromolecules, including macromolecule denaturation, excessive loss of inhaled drug in the oropharyngeal cavity through mucociliary clearance, and phagocytosis by lung macrophages. In addition, in contrast to small hydrosoluble drugs, macromolecules have a tendency to interact with certain excipients, resulting in retentive structure that thereby limits bioavailability. Thus, there remains a need for improved respiratory tract drug delivery strategies for delivering macromolecules. More particularly, there is a need for the development of methods and compositions which are capable of delivering bioactive macromolecules in an effective amount into the airways or the alveolar zone of the lung for local and/or systemic delivery of the bioactive macromolecule.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide improved methods and compositions for the delivery of macromolecules to or via the respiratory tract. It is a further object of the invention to provide inhaled pharmaceutical formulations which effectively deliver macromolecules to the deep lung. It is another object of the invention to provide methods and compositions for delivering macromolecules to or via the respiratory tract such that the macromolecules exhibit improved local and/or systemic bioavailability. It is yet another object of the invention to provide methods and compositions for delivering macromolecules to or via the respiratory tract such that mucociliary clearance and/or macrophage scavenging are reduced.


A fault position identification system for a semiconductor device includes: a storage unit storing test data of the semiconductor device; a test result analyzer generating test parameters of the semiconductor device, based on failure information of a failure occurred in the semiconductor device; an emission controller controlling the semiconductor device to perform a circuit operation in which the failure occurs, by transmitting the test data corresponding to the test parameters to the semiconductor device; and an observation apparatus observing light emitted from a fault position and identifying the fault position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fault position identification system for a semiconductor device and a method of identifying a fault position of a semiconductor device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a fault position identification system for a semiconductor device, layout information including visual information specifying the location of a fault position candidate node is input to a fault position identification unit using a navigation tool. The visual information is provided on a layout display of a semiconductor device based, on a fault position candidate node list. Then, using an observation apparatus, an emission image having an area with a possible physical fault position in the semiconductor device is input to a fault position identification unit. A fault position is identified by combining the layout information and the emission image. Then, fault position information is output.

Fault position identification system for a semiconductor device and method of identifying a fault position of a semiconductor device


A noise reduction system for a digital receiver reduces noise in signals received at the digital receiver. The digital receiver includes an input for receiving an analogue signal, analogue signal processing circuitry for processing an analogue signal, and an output for providing the processed signal to a digital signal processor. The noise reduction system is located between the input and the analogue signal processing circuitry, and includes a first component that outputs results of a noise signal identification and a second component that applies one or more counter-measures to the received analogue signal to produce a modified analogue signal. The modified analogue signal has a reduced level of noise compared to the received analogue signal, wherein the noise reduction system is arranged to assess the effectiveness of the one or more counter-measures applied by the second component to determine whether any further counter-measures are required.

The reception of electronic signals is now a part of our everyday life, and we have become highly reliant upon having good reception and decoding of data transmitted or sent through cables. The use of such electronic signals ranges from the prevalent use of mobile phones and other mobile electronic devices; to the use of Wi-Fi at home, in the office or in public areas; to broadband connections via cables and satellite communications; as well as a whole host of unseen control signals for automation. An example of a control system may be found within driverless vehicles which require reliable data connections to their remote-control systems.
Unfortunately, users frequently experience difficulties when using their electronic devices, as the reception of a good signal capable of supporting specific functionality is easily affected by various issues which result in either a loss of signal or at least significantly reduced bandwidth. In particular, bandwidth can significantly reduce when the system in question encounters errors when decoding weak signals (also referred to as bit rate errors). When such bit rate errors become too large, the system may restrict the services available to that application or user in order to preserve capacity for other users.
Large bit rate errors tend to occur when the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the incoming electronic signals is low due to the presence of interfering noise signals within or adjacent to the signal band or channel of the wanted signal (i.e. the modulated signal containing the data to be decoded). Such in-band or near-band interfering noise signals can originate from a variety of sources, both man-made and environmental; the noise signals can also originate from sources with similar applications.
For example, when considering mobile phone signal reception, interfering signals may originate in other mobile handsets, mobile phone masts, other radio or non-radio interference sources, or simply from static or electromagnetic interference from other electrical apparatus. Considering other application areas of electronic signals, interfering signals can be created as a result of planet-wide interference or space atmospherics. Cable signals may suffer from electrical noise signals and reflected standing waves from poorly balanced signals, and signal interference may penetrate the cable to produce electrical noise signals on the conductor carrying the wanted signal. In addition, over long distances, both radio and cable signals will attenuate and eventually become too weak to be received above the noise at the aerial and the internal electronic noise of the amplifiers and radio receiver circuits where the signal is eventually received and decoded.
The present invention has been devised to mitigate or overcome at least some of the above-mentioned problems.


In order to facilitate the shipping and display of products for selection and purchase by a consumer, the product shipping and display carton includes a display box, a shipping sleeve, and a removable fastener. The display box is defined by a bottom panel and an upwardly extending wall panel together forming a product carrying enclosure. The display box has an open top defined by a top wall panel edge opposite the bottom panel. The wall panel has a removable panel portion below the open top defining a product viewing window in the display box. The shipping sleeve is defined by a top panel and a downwardly extending wall panel together forming a telescoping enclosure. The shipping sleeve has an open bottom defined by a bottom wall panel edge opposite the top panel. The display box is positioned in the telescoping enclosure such that the open top is covered by the shipping sleeve. With this arrangement, the removable fastener secures the shipping sleeve to the display box during shipment and permits removal of the shipping sleeve from the display box after shipment to display product disposed within the product carrying enclosure of the display box.

For many products, a carton is used to ship them from the point of manufacture to the destination at which they will be sold. This is especially true of many smaller consumer goods which are suitable for shipping in a relatively large quantity within a single carton. Typically, when the carton arrives at the sales destination, the products are removed from the carton and placed on a shelf for selection and purchase by a consumer.
As is known, there are a number of problems that are inherent in the shipping of products in this manner. First, there is the problem of in-store labor that is required to remove the product from the carton and place the products on a shelf. This is obviously a tedious and time-consuming process which must be repeated as the product is depleted from the store shelf. Second, the carton in which the product is shipped has no other function than transporting the products to the store. This means that there is considerable waste inherent in having to dispose of the carton while utilizing it for only a single function. Third, the placement of the products on a store shelf requires store personnel to print out and apply signage at the product display area. This adds to the overall cost of operation in a business that is notorious for slim profit margins. For all of these reasons, there has been a need for combining the shipment and display of products in a single carton.


The device is based on a tilt-sensing switch of the mercury-bridges-gap type. The device measures the tilt angle of the bottom slat of a roll-down door. If the slat becomes tilted, due for example to one end of the slat becoming snagged in the guideway at the side of the door, the sensor detects the tilt, and arrests the downwards movement of the door, before the slats can spill out and escape from the guideway.

Roll-up/roll-down doors are well-known, in many configurations. The invention is concerned with the type of door which comprises horizontal slats or segments, the ends of which run in tracks or guideways. The door is operable, generally, by means of an electric motor. The door is counterbalanced by a spring coiled around an actuation spindle, or by counterweights, etc.
A problem that can arise with such doors is that the slats may snag in the guideways. If one end of a slat becomes snagged in the guideway, while the door is descending, the slat will tilt. The other end of the slat continues descending, and, because of the tilt, reaches an angle at which the end of the slat is no longer contained within the guideway. From then on, the slats tend to spill out of the guideways.
When that happens, inevitably some of the slats will become twisted, and some of the hinges between the slats will be strained. Even if the slats can be put back in the guideways, after such an occurrence, the door is likely never to operate smoothly, and also to become increasingly prone to become snagged again in the guideways.
The invention is aimed at providing a tilt-detecting device, which may be attached to the door, and which is effective to detect the onset of the slat-snagged condition, and to arrest the motion of the door before any damage is done, and especially before the slats can spill out of the guideways.
1. General Features of the Invention
The invention provides a tilt-detecting device, which is attached preferably to the bottom slat of a hinged-slat type, raisable/lowerable door. The device includes means for detecting when a slat of the door undergoes a tilt of more than a predetermined angle Q, in the left/right sense of the door, the angle Q lying in the plane of the door. The device also includes a means for arresting motion of the door upon detecting, and in response to, the said tilt.
The device of the invention permits the door to be used in the normal way, in which the degree of attention paid to the door itself, by the users, is extremely casual, and servicing of the door is, as is all too often the case, neglected.
2. The Invention in Relation to the Prior Art
There have been many examples of various arrangements of detectors for detecting the position of a door. These have concentrated on the degree of the door's opening and closing, for many purposes, including: control of the powered open/close motor of the door of a factory; detecting unauthorised entry; fire control; automatic ventilation; and so on. Often, these sensors have detected changes in the angular position of the door (or window).
The invention, by contrast, detects the angle of tilt of the door, i.e the tilt in the left/right sense, in the plane of the door.


Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, training a decision scoring model for an e-sport based on historical data for the e-sport. In various embodiments, the decision scoring model may be trained based on the historical data and on metadata associated with the e-sport. Some embodiments can include identifying a plurality of candidate in-game decision sequences based on decision parameters for a gameplay decision of an ongoing gaming session and a gaming session history for the ongoing gaming session. Various embodiments can include applying the decision scoring model to rank the plurality of candidate in-game decision sequences. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Electronic sports (e-sports) has developed into a billion-dollar industry in the past few years, and is expected to grow more in the near future. Such sports are often based on video games that are multiplayer and real-time strategy based. During the course of such competitive games, split-second decisions are constantly made in the hopes of achieving victory. Analysis of the gameplay, either real time by commentators or post-hoc by players/teams/analysts often involves reactions and commentary to "gut feelings" and decisions perceived to be correct and incorrect.

Sequential decision analysis techniques for e-sports


An arrangement is provided for using a phoneme lattice for speech recognition and/or keyword spotting. The phoneme lattice may be constructed for an input speech signal and searched to produce a textual representation for the input speech signal and/or to determine if the input speech signal contains targeted keywords. An expectation maximization (EM) trained phoneme confusion matrix may be used when searching the phoneme lattice. The phoneme lattice may be constructed in a client and sent to a server, which may search the phoneme lattice to produce a result.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to speech processing and, more specifically, to phoneme lattice construction and its application to speech recognition and keyword spotting.                2. Description
Automatic speech recognition (ASR) or automatic keyword spotting (AKS) is a process of transforming an audio input into a textual representation. This process may comprise two phases: transforming the audio input into a sequence of phonemes, and transforming the sequence of phonemes into a sequence of words or detecting keywords in the sequence of phonemes. These two phases, however, are mathematically coupled and usually must be performed jointly in a single process. A typical ASR system uses hidden Markov models (HMMs) and dynamic programming search to perform the two phases jointly. Similar techniques are used for a typical AKS system.
Recently, the concept of distributed speech recognition (DSR) was introduced and the speech processing research community has invested considerable efforts in this approach. The main idea in DSR is to distribute the computation of a speech recognition application between a client and a server. The current standard defined by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) is very limited because only a small fraction of computation is performed by a client. Such a limitation is largely due to the fact that it is hard to separate the two phases of the computing process in a typical ASR or AKS system. The portion of computation performed by a client, as specified by the ETSI, is parameterization of a speech signal, specifically, extracting Mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCC) for each short segment of the speech signal. Nowadays even a small handheld device (e.g., Intel Xscale Architecture based personal digital assistants (PDAs)) can have much more computing power than that required by parameterization of a speech signal. Thus, it is desirable for a DSR system to distribute more jobs to a client device without sacrificing recognition accuracy.
For an AKS application, on one hand, audio data to be searched may be large and might not be able to be stored in a client device. On the other hand, a user may want to submit a search request from a mobile device. Therefore, it also is desirable to distribute AKS processing between a client and a server.

Phoneme lattice construction and its application to speech recognition and keyword spotting


Methods are provided for fabricating a stress enhanced MOS circuit. One method comprises the steps of depositing a stressed material overlying a semiconductor substrate and patterning the stressed material to form a stressed dummy gate electrode overlying a channel region in the semiconductor substrate so that the stressed dummy gate induces a stress in the channel region. Regions of the semiconductor substrate adjacent the channel are processed to maintain the stress to the channel region and the stressed dummy gate electrode is replaced with a permanent gate electrode.

The majority of present day integrated circuits (ICs) are implemented by using a plurality of interconnected field effect transistors (FETs), also called metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistors (MOSFETs), or simply MOS transistors. An MOS transistor includes a gate electrode as a control electrode and spaced apart source and drain regions between which a current can flow. A control voltage applied to the gate electrode controls the flow of current through a channel between the source and drain regions.
The gain of an MOS transistor, usually defined by the transconductance (gm), is proportional to the mobility (μ) of the majority carrier in the transistor channel. The current carrying capability and hence the performance of an MOS transistor is proportional to the mobility of the majority carrier in the channel. The mobility of holes, the majority carrier in a P-channel MOS (PMOS) transistor, and the mobility of electrons, the majority carrier in an N-channel MOS (NMOS) transistor, can be increased by applying an appropriate stress to the channel. The known stress engineering methods greatly enhance circuit performance by increasing device drive current without increasing device size and device capacitance. However, as technology is scaled down and as each device in the IC and each element of each device is reduced in size, the volume of stress sources becomes smaller and smaller, which makes using strain engineering to enhance device performance more and more challenging.
Accordingly, it is desirable provide a method for fabricating a stress enhanced MOS transistor. In addition, it is desirable to provide a method for fabricating a stress enhanced MOS transistor by a process of memorizing or maintaining the stress introduced into the transistor channel by a stressed dummy gate electrode. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the foregoing technical field and background.

Methods for fabricating a stress enhanced MOS circuit


An apparatus, system, and method for upgrading to a new codec used in a digital broadcasting environment are provided. The apparatus includes a first transceiver that receives a transport stream; a first parser that parses the transport stream to determine a codec packet, and decodes codec information contained therein; and a codec-comparison unit that compares the decoded codec information with existing codec information, and determines whether a codec should be downloaded. The system includes a device manufacturer that manufactures a codec packet; a broadcaster that transmits a transport stream containing the codec packet; and a rendering device that parses the transport stream, compares existing codec information with new codec information, and upgrades a codec based on the comparison. The method includes receiving a transport stream; parsing the stream; decoding new codec information; comparing the new codec information with existing information; and upgrading the codec based on the new codec information.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses, systems, and methods consistent with the present invention relate to upgrading a codec, and more particularly, to upgrading to a new codec used in a digital broadcasting environment, and providing codec information for content information such as an electronic program guide (EPG).
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent introduction of new digital broadcasting environments, such as Internet Protocol (IP) televisions (TVs) and satellite broadcasting, services are now provided using a variety of codecs.
In addition, TV stations are making efforts to transmit higher quality pictures. However, commercial TVs have a built-in MPEG-2 codec, and thus do not support various additional formats.
Broadcasting systems that execute related art software upgrades include device manufacturers, broadcasters (e.g., MBC, KBS, and SBS), and source devices receiving broadcasting signals such as set-top boxes (STBs) or personal computers (PCs). A related art software upgrade procedure will now be described.
First, the device manufacturers provide the broadcasters with new software. The broadcasters include the provided software in service information (SI) or program service information (PSI), and send the provided software to the set-top box or PC via broadcasting channels.
Next, the set-top box compares the version of the new software to that of the existing software. If it is determined that an upgrade is needed, the set-top box replaces the existing software with the new software, modifies the version number, and reboots in order to execute the new software.
Thus, upgraded software may be periodically downloaded. However, in order to play a predetermined program, codecs must be downloaded prior to the broadcast time.
In addition, since only the software with respect to a predetermined device or devices is downloaded, it is impossible for devices without a remote access interface (e.g., a tuner and the Internet) to upgrade the software.
FIG. 1A illustrates structures of a program association tale (PAT) or a program map table (PMT) included in the PSI received from broadcasters according to the related art.
As illustrated in FIG. 1A, a transport stream (hereinafter, referred to as "MPEG2-TS") consists of a transport packet having a fixed size of 188 bytes. The transport packet consists of a 4-byte packet header and a 184-byte data area (i.e., a payload). The packet header includes 8-bit sync information and a 13-bit binary packet identifier (PID).
SI data is service information on programs that includes additional service information such as channel information, and currently aired service and event information.
PSI data is used for easy selection of the program in a receiver. The PSI includes the transport packet containing a PAT, a PMT, or a network information table (NIT)
In the new digital system (NDS)-satellite broadcasting system, software can be upgraded by defining a code download table (CDT) within the PMP and receiving a corresponding table. In a CDT software descriptor, software types (e.g., application software (SW), codecs, and firmware) can be defined and codecs can be received. In an advanced television system committee (ATSC) and the cable broadcasting system, the software may be downloaded based on a digital storage command and control (DSMCC) protocol. The codecs may be downloaded using the same.
In the PAT, PID=0 is fixedly allocated according to the MPEG-2 standard. In addition, all programs that have been time-division multiplexed have their own program number as program-identifying information. The program number may be randomly selected by broadcasters.
For example, a receiver parses a packet header of a transmitted transport stream and if PID=0, PAT information is included in the data area. The number of a program to be played (e.g., program 3) and the corresponding PID can be identified via the PAT.
When playing program 3, the program 3 PID (e.g., 1127) is checked and a transport stream having a PID of 1127 is read from the received transport stream.
When a stream having a PID of 1127 is received, PMT information included in the data area is read, the PID in the PMT is checked, and desired data (e.g., video and audio data) is downloaded. The PMP of each program contains the program number of the program and the PID of the transport packet containing the program's video and audio information.
Furthermore, a stream type in the PMT is checked and a codec used by the corresponding stream type can be identified. For example, referring to FIG. 1A, the video in program 3 is in MPEG-2 format (ISO/IEC 13818-2).
FIG. 1B illustrates an EPG in a related art broadcasting system.
A set-top box receives program and system information protocol (PSIP) from broadcasters, and creates an EPG by mapping information such as a system time table (STT), a master guide table (MGT), a virtual channel table (VCT), a rating region table (RRT), an event information table (EIT), and an extended text table (ETT).
That is, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, information on programs is provided in columns, and information on broadcast time and program titles is provided in rows. For example, "One Life to Live" is highlighted in the EPG.
Japanese Unexamined Publication No. 2002-149536 (Communication Terminal Device, Program Updating Method, and Storage Medium) discloses an apparatus for upgrading the firmware of a video codec or an audio codec, wherein a user makes a request to a firmware upgrade server and ensures that the connection with the server has been established, video channels, audio channels, and data channels are opened, and new firmware is received from the server and stored in a random access memory (RAM). A system controller closes the video and audio channels, updates the firmware area for the video codec and the audio codec of a flash memory, uses the updated video and audio codecs, opens the video and audio channels, and displays them. That is, for example, a client has a video conference with someone in a service center receiving information on an upgrade, and makes a request for the upgrade by selecting a video-codec-upgrade menu. However, the none of the above systems, apparatuses, or methods disclose a technique to guarantee quality of service (QoS) by receiving new codecs via the broadcasting channels, and to update the codecs without menu selections.

Apparatus and method for upgrading codec


A resistance random access memory device according to an embodiment includes a first electrode, a second electrode and a variable resistance film provided between the first electrode and the second electrode. The second electrode includes material selected from the group consisting of silver, copper, zinc, gold, titanium, nickel, cobalt, tantalum, aluminum, and bismuth, alloys thereof, and silicides thereof. The variable resistance film includes silicon oxynitride. The variable resistance film includes a first resistance change layer having a first nitrogen concentration and a second resistance change layer having a second nitrogen concentration lower than the first nitrogen concentration.

As in the past, extensive research of nonvolatile memory such as flash memory, etc., was performed; and one such nonvolatile memory that utilizes the change of an electrical resistance value has been proposed. In such memory, a structure is formed in which the resistance value inside a memory element is changed by an electric field; and different logical values are retained.
A method in which ion movement is used has been proposed as a method for changing the electrical resistance value. In such memory, a variable resistance film made of an insulating material is disposed between an opposing electrode and a metal electrode that supplies metal ions; the metal ions from the metal electrode are generated by an electric field; conductive filaments are formed inside the variable resistance film; and the memory element is switched to a low resistance state. On the other hand, the memory element is switched to a high resistance state by causing the filaments to disappear by returning the metal ions to the metal electrode by an electric field having a reverse orientation.


Disclosed are nucleic acid molecules which encode heat-stable plant resistance polypeptides having NB-LRR structural motifs, where the polypeptide confers heat-stability to a plant defense response. The invention further involves transgenic plants and transformed host cells that express these nucleic acid molecules and exhibit enhanced disease resistance over a wide range of temperatures.

The invention relates to plant disease resistance.
Plant diseases cause crop losses that are devastating to world food supply and human well being. Plants have evolved defense mechanisms to ward off diverse biotic attacks to ensure their survival and fitness. This plant immunity occurs at multiple levels and can be largely divided into two branches (1, 31). One is a general resistance responding to molecules common to many pathogens and the other is a 'cultivar-specific' resistance responding to pathogen virulent factors. The latter resistance is induced upon a specific recognition of the pathogen race-specific avirulence (Avr) gene by the disease resistance (R) gene of the host plant (32). This 'gene-for-gene' interaction leads to rapid and efficient defense responses including a form of programmed cell death named hypersensitive response (HR) to restrict the growth of pathogens (33). A number of R genes have been molecularly cloned in many species and the largest class of R proteins contains 'nucleotide-binding' (NB) and leucine-rich repeat (LRR) domains (8, 9). A direct or indirect interaction between Avr proteins and the R proteins activates downstream signaling events leading to local HR and systemic acquired resistance throughout plants.
Plant defense responses are modulated by a number of environmental factors including light, humidity, and temperature. Temperature variations influence disease resistance to bacteria, fungi, virus, and insects (34). A high temperature often suppresses disease resistance in plants, and this phenomenon is named 'heat masking'. This heat sensitivity has been reported in a number of disease resistance responses mediated by R genes such as the N gene in tobacco (35), Mi in tomato (6), RPW8 in Arabidopsis (36), and SNC1 in Arabidopsis (7).
There is accordingly a need in the art for plants having increased tolerance to temperature thereby avoiding high temperature-suppression of a resistance response. Genes conferring temperature insensitivity are consequently needed for disease resistance management at high temperatures. The present invention provides such genes and includes methods for conferring disease resistance to plants at temperatures at which defense responses are typically diminished or masked due to heat sensitivity.

Engineering heat-stable disease resistance in plants


A piano hinge can include a first hinge portion configured to attach to a first door edge, the first portion having a first front face, a first jamb face extending rearward from the first front face, and one or more first hinge knuckles extending from either or both of the first front face and the first jamb face. The first front face can be configured to extend over the one or more first hinge knuckles in a lateral direction such that the first front face hides the one or more first hinge knuckles behind first front face.

Piano hinges are very strong hinge types. However, usually the interlocking portions of the hinge members are visible, presenting aesthetic and contamination issues.
Such conventional methods and systems have generally been considered satisfactory for their intended purpose. However, there is still a need in the art for improved piano hinges. The present disclosure provides a solution for this need.


An animal watering apparatus (10) includes a dish (12) covered with a lid (20). The lid (20) includes an opening (22). A wheel (24) is rotatably mounted to the lid (20) in an upright orientation and extends above the lid (20) through the opening (22) and into the dish (12) to a position near the bottom surface (18) of the dish (12). The outer circumferential surface (40) of the wheel (24) is covered with projections or ridges (42) which efficiently bring water out of the dish (12) as the wheel (24) rotates as a result of being licked by the animal. A ridge opening (48) down a central region (50) of the outer circumferential surface (40) of the wheel (24) guides water back into the opening (22) where the water (21) falls into the dish (12).

An open container, such as a dish, bowl, bucket, tank, and the like, can serve as a simple and inexpensive animal watering device. While the simplicity and inexpensiveness are highly desirable features, open containers often pose problems to persons wishing to provide water for animals, such as pet dogs. An open water container promotes messes which may be particularly undesirable when they occur inside a house, and an open water container promotes water waste through contamination, dripping, evaporation, and the like.
When animals are particularly hot and thirsty, they may drink too much water too fast from an open container and get sick. Often times, animals like to put their feet, if not their entire bodies, in an open water container. This activity dirties the water from contaminants on the animal's feet, legs, and body. Then, after the animal withdraws from the open container it generally makes a mess as water drips or is shaken off the animal. Even if the animal does not step in its water, it often enjoys gulping water in a manner which leads to a mess from excessive drooling and water dripping off hair around the animal's mouth. Moreover, open water containers provide an opportunity for other animals to foul the water or other contaminants to be blown or otherwise fall into the water.
Feeding devices which are intended to dispense liquid feed or feed supplements from covered containers are known in the art. While such devices adequately attend to the needs of feed and supplement dispensing, they do not solve the problems associated with watering animals. For example, such devices typically dispense highly viscous liquid feeds or feed supplements in very limited quantities. The liquid feed or feed supplement is dispensed using a wheel with a smooth surface which rotates as an animal licks it. The wheel rotates down into a covered container where a small quantity of feed or feed supplement adheres to the wheel's surface. Continued rotation causes the wheel to elevate the small quantity of feed or feed supplement that adheres to the wheel's surface above the container's cover where it may be consumed by the animal.
Liquid feed and liquid feed supplement dispensers of this type fail to meet the needs of an animal waterer. Since water is a low viscosity liquid, only trace amounts of water can be elevated above a container's cover using these feeders. Consequently, an animal needing or wishing to get a drink must spend a considerable amount of time licking the wheel in order to obtain refreshment. Excessive licking of a wheel is highly undesirable. It is desirable to treat animals humanely, but allowing an animal to obtain only trace amounts of water with each lick induces frustration in the animal. In addition, excessive licking of a wheel generates excessive noise, which is a nuisance particularly when the watering device is located in a house. Moreover, excessive licking imposes excessive wear and tear on the moving parts of the feeder and limits the useful life of the feeder. Furthermore, the difficulty associated with obtaining refreshment as caused by allowing an animal to obtain only trace amounts of water with each lick encourages the animal to seek easier sources of water. When an animal is in a house, such other sources of water are often open toilets, which suffer from the drawbacks of open water containers plus an additional element of disgust on the part of human house occupants.


This device is exercise equipment. It is a vehicle that is driven by arm and leg power. The device is a three wheeled vehicle that driven by the movement of the handlebars and the seat. The rider moves the handlebars and the seat back and forth. The handlebars are attached to the wheels by a set of pulleys. When the handlebars are moved back and forth they drive the wheels. The handle bars and the seat are attached to each other so that both the legs and the arm are exercised. Thus, an individual can ride around the town in his vehicle exercising his whole body.

People today are living longer. This is somewhat due to the fact that we as a people are exercising more. This is shown on by the fact that there are a great number of patents dealing with exercise equipment. The number of exercise equipment patent has expanded greatly within the last few years. One of the objectives of all exercise equipment is to make exercising fun. Most of us find exercising dull and boring. It is a lot of hard work. Exercise equipment has been designed to make this work more pleasurable. Also individuals use TV iPods, radio, and other devices to help make exercising less tedious. One of the objectives of this invention is to create exercise equipment that makes exercise more pleasurable. To achieve this objective applicant has designed a vehicle that can be ridden outdoors. Although almost all exercise equipment can be used outdoors there are only a few specific pieces that are designed to be used out doors. These include many sports such as tennis basketball baseball and badminton. But for the individual only calisthenics, running or cycling are exercises it done out side. Of all these, the only true piece of exercise equipment is the bicycle. All outdoor exercise for individuals only exercises the legs. One of the objectives of this invention is to create a piece of exercise equipment that exercises the whole body.
The feature that allows this invention to accomplish the objectives is that it is a vehicle that exercises both the arms and no legs. The arms are use to drive the vehicle. The movement of the arms back and forth causes wheels to turn on the vehicle. The legs are exercised by the seat moving back and forth.