Hot-insertion/removal, herein used interchangeably with hot-docking/undocking, would enable the connection or disconnection of a fully powered bus to an expansion device with no damage or data loss to either device. Previous docking solutions typically require the docking bus to be placed into a power-off or power-managed state, which means the user would have to consciously place the system into a power-off or power-managed state before an insertion or removal could occur. The hot-docking/undocking invention is completely transparent to the end user, so it would provide tremendous flexibility and seamless insertions and removals. Hot-docking/undocking is composed of three elements: a detection of a docking/undocking situation; a placement of the docking bus into a static state; and a system reconfiguration. The present invention places the docking bus into an static state through the use of a special handshaking protocol and clock and reset signals on the expansion device. The entire mechanism can be applied in both the insertion and removal of a power-on bus to and from an expansion device.

Portable computers enable users to perform computing tasks and to carry the computer from one location to another with few constraints. Although portable computers give users tremendous flexibility, such machines may only run a limited number of external devices without compromising portability. The need to run external devices gave rise to the expansion device, typically referred to as a docking station. A docking station allows a portable computer to be connected to numerous peripherals, such as CD-ROMs, modems, SCSI devices, monitors, local networks and ISDN lines.
For several years now, AT-compatible systems and chipset vendors have offered options to insert and remove a portable computer to and from an expansion device. These previous methods are typically grouped into "cold-docking" and "warm-docking" solutions. Cold-docking is insertion or removal of the portable computer while both the portable and expansion device are completely powered off. Warm-docking is insertion or removal during a power-managed state, including suspend-to-disk (0V) and suspend-to-RAM (5V/3V) suspend modes.
Both cold-docking and warm-docking methods of insertion and removal were designed to prevent data loss and system damage. However, one difficulty with using previous methods is that a user must manually place the docking bus into a power-off or power-managed state before insertion or removal may occur. If a user inserted or removed a fully-powered portable to or from an expansion device, complete data loss and serious damage may occur. Therefore, if a user erroneously inserted a fully-powered portable into an expansion device, the systems may hang or serious, permanent damage may occur to both devices. Thus, previous methods of inserting or removing a fully-powered portable to or from an expansion device have imposed severe performance and user limitations.

Method and apparatus to enable docking/undocking of a powered-on bus to a docking station


An ergonomic crutch comprising an armpit pad assembly, a top tube, a middle tube, a bottom tube, a hand grip, a shock absorber, and a footpad assembly. The armpit pad assembly comprises an armpit pad and means for allowing the armpit pad to tilt vertically and swivel horizontally. In an alternate embodiment, the crutch does not have a shock absorber.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of medical devices, and more specifically, to an ergonomic crutch.
2. Description of the Related Art
Traditional crutches have stationary armpit pads, a hand grip that is vertically aligned with the armpit pad, and no way of adjusting the angle of the hand grip relative to the armpit pad. In an attempt to make crutches more ergonomic, shock absorbers have been incorporated into crutches to generate a more horizontal plane of travel (as opposed to an arc) of the armpit pad when the crutch is in use. Some prior art designs for crutches have incorporated a vertical tilt to the armpit pad itself to provide for a more comfortable fit between the patient's underarm and the armpit pad of the crutch.
In some crutches currently available on the market, the hand grip has been moved from its traditional location inside of the crutch frame to a position outside of the crutch frame and further away from the body. Various accessories, such as crutch pockets and pouch bags, have been added to crutches to make it more convenient for the patient to carry items while using crutches. All of these innovations in crutch design are intended to make crutches easier and more comfortable to use.
None of these prior art crutch designs, however, has solved the particular problem that is addressed by the present invention, and that is, that the angle of a person's palm in relation to the rest of his or her body when the person's arm is allowed to hang freely varies from individual to individual. This problem is solved in the present invention by allowing the armpit pad to swivel horizontally so that the patient can achieve the most comfortable position of the hand grip in relation to the armpit pad.
The present invention also offers the advantage of being collapsible into three pieces, which can be held together with a strap and carried in a stuff bag for easy portability. These and other advantages of the present invention are discussed more fully below.


A local plating apparatus includes a fiber, a laser beam penetrating nozzle or a laser beam penetrating mask through which a laser beam can be directly irradiated on a portion to be plated when plating is conducted on the portion to be plated using a jet of plating solution. The apparatus enables a laser beam to reach the portion to be plated in a stable state, and ensures a high plating speed and uniform plating quality.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a local plating apparatus, and more particularly, to a local plating apparatus for forming by plating contacts or electrodes, such as bumps for connecting inner leads to a semiconductor chip in tape automated bonding (TAB), on part of a component of an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view illustrating a conventional local plating method of forming an electric terminal which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 60-45278.
As can be seen in FIG. 7, a material 2 to be plated, such as an electric terminal, is provided on a cathode 1. A mask 3 is provided around the material 2 to be plated. A nozzle 5 for forming a jet 4a of plating solution is disposed in opposed relation to the material 2 to be plated.
In such a conventional jet type local plating technique, a jet 4a of plating solution is ejected to a desired site to be plated by application of a voltage between the cathode 1 and an anode (not shown). Therefore, a high-speed local plating can be performed without performing masking for each material 2 to be plated.
FIG. 8 illustrates a conventional laser-enhanced local plating method which is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 59-1797.
As shown in FIG. 8, a plating solution 4 is filled in a container 7 made of a material which passes through a laser beam 6, such as quartz. A material 8 to be plated which is made of glass, serving as a cathode, and an anode 9 are immersed in the plating solution 4 in such a manner that they oppose each other. The material 8 to be plated has a metal layer 10 formed on the surface thereof. The material 8 to be plated and the anode 9 are respectively connected to a power source 11 and a voltage modulater 12.
Outside of the container 7 are provided an energy source 13, such as a laser beam oscillator, a laser modulater 14, a lens 15 and a scanning mirror 16.
The laser beam 6 generated by the energy source 13 is passed through the laser modulater 14, and is then converged by the lens 15. After being positioned by the scanning mirror 16, the laser beam 6 passes through the container 7 and then reaches the material 8 to be plated. The laser beam 6 passes through the material 8 to be plated which is made of glass also, and is focused on the metal layer 10. The material 8 to be plated is charged to a negative polarity by the power source 11, by which electrolytic plating is conducted. At that time, since the metal layer 10 formed on the material 8 to be plated is locally heated to a high temperature by irradiation of the laser beam 6, the speed of plating is increased. Furthermore, fine local plating on the order of a micron is possible without performing masking on the material 8 to be plated.
In the aforementioned conventional jet type plating method which does not employ a laser, a particulate film is readily formed, and cracks are readily generated in an interface between the plated film and the material 2 to be plated. In the aforementioned conventional laser-enhanced plating method, although the position of the portion to be plated is determined by the scanning mirror 16, positioning accuracy of scanning is not high. Consequently, the laser beam 6 may be unfocused or the angle of incidence of the laser beam 6 relative to the metal layer 10 may be varied, thus varying the power density of the laser beam which irradiates the metal layer 10 or the laser absorption coefficient of the metal layer 10. These may generate variations in the quality of plating.
A conventional laser-enhanced jet plating method proposed to improve the jet plating method will be described below. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the conventional laser-enhanced jet plating method which has been proposed in "Electrochemical Science and Technology" by J. Electrochem. Soc. Vol. 132, from pp 575 to 2581 published in November 1985.
As shown in FIG. 9, a plating tank 17 having a nozzle 5 is made of quartz which passes through a laser beam 6. An anode 9 is provided in the plating tank 17. The plating tank 17 also has an air blender 18 and a plating solution feeding portion 19. Outside of the plating tank 17 is provided a lens 15 which focuses the laser beam 6 to the vicinity of the nozzle 5 in the plating solution 4.
In this method, the jet 4a of plating solution 4 is ejected to the portion to be plated by application of a voltage between the anode 9 and the cathode 1 while the laser beam 6 is focused into the plating solution 4. Due to a difference in the refractivity between the plating solution 4 and the ambient atmosphere, the irradiated laser beam 6 is totally reflected within the jet 4a and thereby reaches the portion of the material 2 to be plated. Since the material 2 to be plated which is irradiated with the laser beam 6 is partially heated to a high temperature, the speed of plating is increased, and a fine film can be plated.
In the aforementioned laser enhanced jet plating method, when the jet 4a is turbulent, total reflection of the laser beam 6 within the jet 4a does not occur, varying the laser output which reaches the portion to be plated. Consequently, variations in the plating quality are generated.


Systems and methods for provisioning QoS paths with restoration in a network. In one embodiment, one system includes: (1) a primary path generator configured to identify a suitable primary path between source and destination nodes in a network, (2) an auxiliary graph generator, associated with the primary path generator, configured to construct a directed auxiliary graph from an undirected graph representing the network by reversing each link in a primary QoS path of the undirected graph and replacing each other link in the undirected graph by two directed links, (3) a walk identifier, associated with the auxiliary graph generator, configured to identify a walk in the auxiliary directed graph corresponding to a set of bridges in the network and (4) a bridge identifier, associated with the walk identifier, configured to identify a set of bridges in the network such that at least one link of the primary path is protected by a bridge.

A growing interest exists among service providers to offer their customers new revenue-generating services with Quality of Service (QoS) guarantees. This is facilitated by current efforts to provide resource reservations and explicit path routing, e.g., MultiProtocol Label Switching (MPLS).
On the other hand, physical network infrastructures may be prone to failures. For example, in optical networks, a single link failure is frequent enough in order to warrant consideration (see, e.g., Iraschko, et al., "A Highly Efficient Path-Restoration Protocol for Management of Optical Network Transport Integrity," IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communications, 18(5):779-793, May 2000).
Therefore, a key requirement for such services is that they also be resilient to failures. This goal, namely, providing QoS paths with failure resilience, can be achieved by provisioning primary and restoration paths that satisfy the QoS constraints. The primary QoS path is used during normal network operation; upon failure of a network element (node or link) in the primary path, the traffic is immediately switched to a restoration path. To facilitate this seamless recovery to a restoration path in the event of a failure, it is necessary to reserve network resources (e.g., bandwidth) on both the primary and restoration QoS paths. Such resources should be consumed in a network-wide efficient manner.
A common way for modeling the impact of such resource consumption on each link is by associating "costs" with the links. Accordingly, a major problem is to find primary and restoration paths that satisfy end-to-end QoS constraints at minimum cost. This problem is the subject of this study.
QoS constraints occur naturally in a number of practical settings involving bandwidth and delay sensitive applications such as voice over IP, audio and video conferencing, multimedia streaming etc. QoS constraints can be divided into bottleneck constraints, such as bandwidth and additive constraints, such as delay or jitter.
QoS routing has been the subject of several recent studies and proposals (see, e.g., Crawley, et al., "A Framework for QoS-based Routing in the Internet—RFC No. 2386," Internet RFC, August 1998; Ma, et al., "Quality of Service Routing for Traffic with Performance Guarantees," in Proceedings of International Workshop on Quality of Service (IWQoS '97), Columbia University, New York, N.Y., May 1997; Orda, "Routing With End to End QoS Guarantees in Broadband Networks," IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, 7(3):365-374, June 1999; Sobrinho, "Algebra and Algorithms for QoS Path Computation and Hop-by-Hop Routing in the Internet," in Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2001, Anchorage, AK, April 2001; and references therein). However, none of the prior studies on QoS routing consider the problem of provisioning QoS paths with restoration.
Similarly, path restoration and routing over alternate paths has also attracted a large body of research (see, e.g., Italiano, et al., "Restoration Algorithms for Virtual Private Networks in the Hose Model," in Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2002, New York, N.Y., June 2002; Kar, et al., "Routing Restorable Bandwidth Guaranteed Connections using Maximum 2-Route Flows," in Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2002, New York, N.Y., June 2002; Kodialam, et al., "Dynamic Routing of Bandwidth Guaranteed Tunnels with Restoration," in Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2000, Tel-Aviv, Israel, March 2000; Krishna, et al., "A Segmented Backup Scheme for Dependable Real Time Communication in Multihop Networks," in Proceedings of Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Real-Time Systems (WPDRTS 2000), Cancun, Mexico, May 2000; and Li, et al., "Efficient Distributed Path Selection for Shared Restoration Connections," In Proceedings of IEEE INFOCOM 2002, New York, N.Y., June 2002, all incorporated herein by reference). Most of the proposed solutions, however, consider only bottleneck QoS constraints. The few studies that do consider additive constraints, focus on heuristic approaches and do not provide proven performance guarantees.
Bottleneck QoS constraints can be efficiently handled by pruning infeasible links. However, additive QoS constraints are more difficult to handle. Indeed, the basic problem of finding an optimal path that satisfies an additive QoS constraint is NP-hard (see, e.g., Garey, et al., Computers and Intractability, Freeman, San Francisco, Calif. 1979). Moreover, it turns out that, in the presence of additive QoS constraints, the widely used approach of disjoint primary and restoration paths is not an optimal strategy.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art are systems and methods for provisioning Quality of Service (QoS) paths with restoration for use in networks that handle both bottleneck and additive QoS constraints and that are most preferably computationally efficient, so paths can be computed and recovered in real-time.

System and method for provisioning QoS paths with restoration in a network


A video amplifier includes three amplifier circuits (TR, TG, TB) for the red, the green and the blue signals which are each provided with a different feedback signal which changes value when the signal exceeds a certain threshold, by a feedback resistor circuit having two cascade-arranged resistors (R4R in cascade with R1+R2+R3!), with their central junction being connected by a diode (Tth) to a fixed voltage (DZ). The ratio value between the two cascade-arranged resistors is different between the amplifier circuits, and moreover, a part (R1 or R1+R2!) of the resistor at the base of a cascade arrangement of resistors may be common for several amplifier circuits.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a video amplifier for an image display device, which images are defmed by color signals, comprising, for each color signal, an amplifier circuit having a gain which is limited by a feedback assuming a higher value when the signal voltage exceeds a given threshold value, and a circuit called definition circuit, which is common for the assembly of colors, for establishing a threshold reference value.
The invention also relates to an image display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method, referred to as "soft clipping", in which the gain is progressively (soft) limited (clipping) in a video amplifier, is used, inter alia, for preventing contrast variations between images when the contents show sudden variations (for example, when sub-titles appear or disappear). The soft clipping attenuates the intensity of white and the modulation in the white areas, and precludes saturation of the video amplifier circuits.
A video processor comprising, for three colors, three amplifier circuits having a gain which is limited by a feedback assuming a higher value when the signal voltage exceeds a given threshold is known from the document U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,000. The processor described in this document comprises a threshold detection circuit which is common for the three colors and applies the same feedback simultaneously to the three amplifier circuits. Such a processor has the drawback that the same clipping threshold for the three amplifier circuits leads to a coloration of the white areas in certain circumstances.
To obviate this drawback, it has been proposed to use three circuits for defining distinct thresholds, one for each color. Nevertheless, this method is not always satisfactory because in the case of a relatively saturated color, i.e., when there is one strong color signal and the other two signals are weak color signals, the strong signal undergoes a feedback and is decreased, while the two other signals are not, which leads to a desaturation of the color. Moreover, as the cut-off voltages of the three cathodes of a display tube are fairly dispersed from tube to tube, and as it is common practice to control the three amplifier circuits one by one for adapting each of them to the cut-off voltage of the corresponding cathode, this will involve unforeseeable deviations from apparatus to apparatus between the feedback triggering point and the cut-off point.

Video amplifier circuit having multiple amplifier circuits with different amounts of feedback


In a hydraulic drilling machine with a boom, arm and bucket as working parts, one or more of the working parts can be vibrated automatically to perform effective drilling with reduced resistance in various types of operations when the soil changes. Adequate vibration can be automatically generated by setting the working mode (Bo, A, Bu, Sk) and vibration mode (L, M, S) according to the soil or operation form beforehand and by setting the automatic vibration mode. Furthermore, since the control input of the working part lever can be added to the automatic vibration, simple and minute repeated operations, such as pressure-shifting, sifting or drilling conducted while the bucket is vibrated, can be performed readily and uniformly without exhausting the operator, and workability can thus be greatly improved.

Recent progress of the electronic technologies is remarkable. In the operation of hydraulic cylinders for the working parts of construction equipment, electronic hydraulic control has replaced mechanical control. In the structure shown in, for example, FIG. 5, a converter 52 converts the control input of a lever 51 operated by the operator into an electric signal, and inputs it to a controller 53. The controller 53 outputs an electric signal, proportional to the control input to a solenoid 55 or 56 of an electro-magnetic proportional valve 54. The electro-magnetic proportional valve 54 is opened proportionally to the electric signal, and an amount of oil proportional to the amount of the opening is supplied to a working part cylinder 61 via pipe 58 and either pipe 59 or pipe 60. The discharged oil from the working part cylinder 61 is returned to a tank 63 via a pipe 62.
However, the above-described conventional technique is performed manually, and therefore simple and minute repeated operations of the hydraulic drilling machine, such as pressure-shifting or sifting work, make the operator exhausted. Also, in pressure-shifting, sifting or drilling carried out while the bucket is vibrated in order to increase the drilling force, the electro-magnetic proportional valve 54 must be activated at a very high speed. However, in an electro-magnetic proportional valve having a large capacity, the force of inertia is large and there is a limit to increasing the switching speed. Consequently, it is impossible to apply adequate vibration to the bucket to cope with changes in the operation form or the soil.
In view of the aforementioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide an automatic vibration method and device for a hydraulic drilling machine which are capable of effective drilling by reducing the resistance to coping with various types of operations or changes in the soil.

Automatic vibration method and device for hydraulic drilling machine


In an imaging apparatus, a two-dimensional surface on which imaging elements are arranged has a first region that includes one or more lines, and a second region other than the first region that includes a plurality of lines, each line including a light shielded region that is shielded from light and an effective region other than the light shielded region. The imaging apparatus determines a correction value for use in offset correction for each line in the first region according to the representative value derived with respect to the first region and a first determination method, and determines correction value for use in the offset correction for each line in the second region according to the representative value derived with respect to the second region and a second determination method that is independent from the first determination method.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, method for controlling imaging apparatus and computer-readable storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In solid-state image sensing devices such as CCD sensors or CMOS sensors, there is a dark current signal that is output even while not emitting light. The effect of this dark current signal on a captured image can be corrected by removing, from the captured image, an image captured while no light is being emitted. Such a dark current includes a component that varies depending on the time, and thus more appropriate correction is possible by obtaining the dark current signal and an image signal while light is being emitted at the same time. In order to do so, a real-time dark current correction method is used in which a part of the solid-state image sensing device is shielded from light to provide a region that is not irradiated with light (optical black region (hereinafter, referred to as a "light shielded region")), and a dark current signal and an image signal are obtained at the same time.
In the light shielded region, however, a dark current of pixels having a small pixel value is generally read, and thus this region is significantly affected by noise. Also, in a CCD or CMOS sensor, a system-on-chip in a lamination structure can be formed such that a scanning circuit such as a shift register is formed on a solid-state image sensing device, and thus the scanning circuit can be formed directly below or above pixels. In such a case, however, pixels in a predetermined line above or below the scanning circuit may be affected by the heat of the scanning circuit, and the dark current may significantly vary.
In order to eliminate or reduce the effect of noise from the dark current signal, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-41935) discloses a method using a smoothing processing, a median processing, or the like. Patent Document 2 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-15712) discloses a method for reducing noise in a dark current by obtaining an average of light shielded regions for each line.
However, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 1, values of dark currents of pixels including a specific line (the specific line is assumed to be a vertical line for the sake of explanation) that significantly differs from other light shielded pixel lines due to the effect of the heat are smoothed in a lateral direction by an averaging processing or a median processing. Therefore, the dark current value of the specific line collapses, and it is not possible to correctly assume the dark current in the specific line, which may cause the situation in which appropriate dark current correction is not possible with respect to the pixel value in the specific line. Also, in the method disclosed in Patent Document 2, since smoothing is not performed in a lateral direction, variation due to noise in the lateral direction may directly be added to the dark current value.

Imaging apparatus, method for controlling imaging apparatus and computer-readable storage medium for determining a correction value for an offset correction


Embodiments generally provide techniques for managing data security. One embodiment includes providing, at a client system, an encrypted private key that can be decrypted using a locker key. Encrypted data is received from a remote system, and embodiment determine that the received encrypted data can be decrypted using a private key recovered by decrypting the encrypted private key. A request is transmitted to the remote system for the locker key corresponding to the encrypted private key, and the requested locker key is received from the remote system. Embodiments decrypt the encrypted private key using the received locker key to recover the private key, and decrypt the encrypted data, using the private key.

The data storage requirements faced by many businesses continue to increase. For example, computer hardware manufactures frequently use computer database systems to track service requests from customers. If such a database allows customers to supply data files (e.g., screenshots, configuration files) related to a particular service request, then the storage requirements for such a database simply grow over time. Cloud computing allows users to perform computing tasks where data, applications, and even complete virtualized computing systems are accessed over computer networks (frequently, e.g., the Internet). The network of servers and connections used to provide a computing service is generally referred to as "the cloud." Cloud storage provides an abstraction for physical storage devices to facilitate delivering data storage as a service, often billed on a usage basis. That is, cloud storage allows users to store and access data files somewhere in "the cloud," without knowing the details of where files are stored or having to manage physical storage devices. In cloud storage, capacity can be available on demand and files can be made available on a global basis.
Additionally, data (e.g., data stored in the cloud computing environment, data transmitted to the cloud computing environment, etc.) is frequently encrypted, so as to restrict access to the data from unauthorized parties (i.e., parties without a particular credential or key). For instance, by encrypting the data, hosts (e.g., cloud providers) can more securely transmit and receive data to remote systems (e.g., over a computer network), as the data cannot be decrypted without the proper security credential(s). Thus, even if the data is received by a third party, the third party could not decrypt and access the data, unless the third party has the proper security credential.


Methods and systems are disclosed for analyzing and treating a fluid containing a peroxyacid and/or peroxide. A method of analyzing the fluid includes introducing into the fluid a decomposition agent that catalyzes decomposition of the peroxyacid and/or peroxide into decomposition products including oxygen, then directly or indirectly measuring an amount of oxygen produced after introduction of the decomposition agent, and determining an amount of the peroxyacid and/or peroxide present in the fluid. The amount of peroxyacid and/or peroxide in the fluid can also be monitored and controlled by further adjusting the amount of the peroxyacid and/or peroxide in the fluid based on the determined amount thereof. A system for performing the methods includes a decomposition agent infusion device for introducing the decomposition agent into a fluid sample, and a sensor for directly or indirectly measuring an amount of oxygen produced after introduction of the decomposition agent.

Peroxyacids, such as peracetic acid, are strong oxidizing agents that can be used as disinfectants in industrial systems, in particular as a sanitizer in food production plants. Peracetic acid can be used as an alternative to quaternary ammonium complexes to disinfect water streams because it is EPA approved and has a less detrimental effect on microbes in downstream waste processing. Peroxyacids are typically added to systems in a solution that contains peroxide.
Peracetic acid is a very corrosive substance. It can be challenging to measure amounts of peracetic acid in industrial systems because available methods often suffer from interferences. While on-line methods for measuring the amount of peracetic acid are generally less common, peracetic acid can be measured by collecting a sample and performing redox titration methods. Iodometry/iodimetry is one such class of titration method, where iodine can be used to quantify organic and inorganic substances, such as peracetic acid. Iodometric titrations can be difficult to implement on-line and can require amperometric titration.
Amperometric titration is a class of titration in which the equivalence point is determined through measurement of the electric current produced by the titration reaction. It can be challenging to accurately calibrate amperometric titrations in on-line systems. Colorimetric methods for measuring peracetic acid can also be used, but can be subject to interference from turbidity and color in water systems.

Methods and systems for detecting and quantifying peroxy acid and peroxide in fluids


A bifurcated stent graft implantable in branched internal passageways includes an open-frame stent latticework formed of helically wound structural strands, and a graft sleeve formed of interwoven textile strands. The sleeve is substantially impervious to fluids and is adjustable along with the graft between a nominal state and radially-reduced axially-elongated state, according to substantially the same relationship of radial reduction versus axial elongation. The sleeve and stent are bonded to one another at least at proximal and distal end regions of the stent graft. The sleeve preferably is surrounded by the stent, and incorporates a flow dividing feature in the form of an axially extending seam. The seam brings together portions of the sleeve that otherwise would be circumferentially spaced apart in the tubular sleeve shape. The stent latticework and graft sleeve can be coextensive, the sleeve can extend distally beyond the latticework, or the latticework can extend proximally beyond the sleeve, depending on the intended use. In other alternative embodiments, the sleeve can surround the latticework.

The present invention relates to body implantable devices, and more particularly to the prostheses incorporating the characteristics of stents and grafts, and having a flow dividing capability useful for implantation in branched blood vessels.
A variety of treatment and diagnostic procedures involve devices intraluminally implanted into the body of a patient. Among these devices are stents, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,771 (Wallsten). The Wallsten devices are tubular, braided structures formed of helically wound thread elements. The stents are deployed using a delivery catheter With the stent positioned at the intended treatment site, an outer tube of the delivery catheter is withdrawn, allowing the stent to radially expand into a substantially conforming surface contact with a blood vessel wall or other tissue.
Thread elements or strands formed of metal are generally favored for applications requiring flexibility and effective resistance to radial compression after implantation. Metal strands can be thermally formed by a moderately high temperature age-hardening process while mounted on a mandrel in the desired configuration. The strands, due to their high modules of elasticity, cooperate to provide the needed strength. Strand flexibility also permits a radial compression and axial elongation of the stent that facilitates intraluminal delivery of the stent to the treatment site. Because the self-expanding stent generally remains at least slightly radially compressed after fixation, its elastic restoring force can provide acute fixation.
The favorable combination of strength and flexibility is due largely to the properties of the strands after they have been age-hardened or otherwise thermally treated. The braid angle of the helical strands and the axial spacing between adjacent strands also influence strength and stability. Age-hardening processes are described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,628,787 (Mayer) and U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,559 (Hachtman, et al.).
An alternative stent construction features plastically deformable metallic structures, which also can be composed of helically wound metallic strands. Such stent does not require an outer tube or other feature to maintain it in a reduced-radius state during delivery. However, radial expansion requires a dilatation balloon or other expansion means.
Regardless of whether stents are self-expanding or plastically deformable, they characteristically have an open mesh or open frame construction, or otherwise are formed with multiple openings to facilitate radial enlargements, and to allow tissue ingrowth. Such stents typically expand axially or longitudinally as they radially contract, and in the case of resilient stents, also axially contract as they radially expand.
Prostheses with more tightly woven strands are known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,681,110 (Wiktor) discloses a flexible tubular liner insertable into the aorta to treat an aneurysm. The liner is a tight weave of flexible plastic strands, designed to elastically expand against the aneurysm to direct blood flow past the aneurysm. The tight weave is intended to minimize leakage, so that the liner can effectively shunt blood through to eliminate the aneurysmal sac from the blood path.
The Wiktor device and others like it notwithstanding, those of skill in the art have continued to encounter difficulty in providing a device that simultaneously accommodates the competing needs of low permeability, strength and flexibility for radial compression and expansion. One known response to this difficulty is a combination stent graft, in which a compliant but substantially fixed-radius and tightly woven graft is sutured or otherwise coupled to a radially expandable stent. Upon release, the stent is intended to radially expand to the graft diameter. This requires a careful matching of the graft diameter with the lumen diameter at the treatment site. Otherwise, either an oversized graft is compressed between the stent and body tissue with undesirable folding or gathering of the graft material, or an undersized graft prevents the stent from radially expanding sufficiently to anchor the device.
Another difficulty arises from the fact that the stent layer and graft layer, even when they are constructed to undergo combined radial contraction and axial elongation, behave according to different relationships governing the amount of radial reduction for a given axial increase. When the stent framework elongates a greater amount for a given radial reduction, elongation of the composite structure tends to tear the bond joining the graft and the stent. Conversely, if the graft layer undergoes greater axial expansion, an unwanted increase in bending stiffness causes localized reductions in diameter when the stent graft is bent around tight radii. Negotiation through tortuous vascular passageways becomes more difficult, and in some instances impossible.
Several prosthesis constructions have been suggested for composite braided structures that combine different types of strands, e.g., multi filament yarns, monofilaments, fusible materials and collagens. Examples are found in International Patent Publications No. WO 91/10766, No. WO 92/16166, No. WO 94/06372, and No. WO 94/06373. A highly favorable combination of strength, resistance, range of treatable lumen diameters and low permeability has been achieved by woven composite devices featuring textile strands interbraided with either cold-worked or thermally set structural strands, as disclosed in U.S. patent applications Ser. No. 08/640,062 and Ser. No. 08/640,091, both filed Apr. 30, 1996 and assigned to the assignee of this application. Although such devices are well suited for a wide range of procedures, there are costs and complexities inherent in interweaving different types of strands.
The application of stent grafts to branched vessels is known, for example as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,522,880 (Barone, et al.), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,507,769 (Marin, et al.). The foregoing problems apply to stent grafts in general, and thus confront designers of bifurcated stent grafts as well.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide a bifurcated prosthesis structure that affords the advantages of stents and grafts, yet does not require an interbraiding of structural strands and textile strands.
Another object is to provide a process for manufacturing a bifurcated stent graft in a manner that better ensures that the open-frame structural layer and the low-permeability fabric layer remain securely fixed to one another as they undergo radial and axial enlargements and reductions.
A further object is to provide a bifurcated prosthesis that incorporates highly permeable open areas and low permeability covered areas, and thus is adapted for selective axial positioning to shunt blood flow where required while remaining open to branches of the vessel under treatment.
Yet another object is to provide a system, incorporating a bifurcated stent graft, that is less costly to manufacture and easier to implant.


A device for treating an effluent composed of liquid and of solid particles to obtain a treated effluent includes a filtration device using gravity separation on a rotating cloth having an inlet intended to receive the effluent to be treated and a first and a second outlet, the filtration device being designed to separate the effluent into a first flow and a second flow, the second flow comprising sludges comprising solid particles, the first flow leaving the filtration device through the first outlet, the second flow leaving the filtration device through the second outlet, and at least one recirculation device designed to recirculate at least a part of the sludges of the second flow to the inlet of the filtration device, the second outlet being linked to the at least one recirculation device. A method for treating an effluent is also provided.

The purification of wastewater comprises several steps including a primary treatment step. The primary treatment has for a long time mostly used the physical principle of decantation to separate the solids from the treated water, and, sometimes, flotation for certain types of industrial waters. Recently, new separation techniques employing the physical principle of filtration have emerged on the market.
In particular, two filtration techniques are employed.
First of all, there is direct filtration on cloth. Filtration on cloth is performed on a cloth made of synthetic cloth composed of openings of a size less than or equal to approximately 55 μm. This type of filtration does not lie within the scope of the invention.
Then, there is also primary filtration by gravity separation on endless rotary cloth with cake formation. This filtration works on a cloth of rough mesh that can be between 90 and 800 μm on which there is formed a cake of accumulated solid, through which the filtration takes place. In other words, depending on the size of the particles in the water to be treated, some particles of small size pass through the meshes of the cloth and other particles, of larger size, are accumulated on the cloth. By being accumulated, the particles can form one or more additional layers on the cloth, that comes to be called cake.
The cloth is mounted on a rotation system. When the level of water to be treated becomes high, the cloth is rotated so that the part filled with sludge is cleaned, by scraping, by air blade and, if necessary, by pressurized water jets. A clean cloth is subsequently presented to the raw water to be filtered therein.
A part of the particulate pollution contained in the wastewaters offers a granule size distribution with a greater or lesser percentage of particles whose diameter is greater than or equal to 350 μm. Because of this, the first layer of solid forming the base of the cake is constructed very rapidly with coarse particles, in turn creating a new layer offering a much smaller water porosity than the first layer. The cake filtration system is capable of filtering to cutoff thresholds at less than 30 μm, for an initial cloth mesh of 350 μm.
Contrary to direct filtration offering a fairly brittle cloth, the filtration on cake uses a very strong coarse mesh, with solid fibers. The risk of tearing is minimal, despite exposure to a water matrix that can be highly abrasive. The result thereof is that it is necessary to have a fraction of particles of size greater than the mesh of the cloth to constitute the first cake layer.
Now, the granule size analysis of the particulate pollution can vary substantially from one wastewater to another and therefore, in some cases, be unfavorable in that it offers very few particles of a diameter greater than 350 μm. Because of this, a significant risk emerges of having a very low pollution elimination efficiency, the particles being too small to be retained on the cloth. They therefore pass through the system without being retained and without forming cake.
The granule size analysis of the wastewaters is a field with very little documentation, and it is difficult to know in advance and without prior operations, the effectiveness of the primary filtration. Because of this, the estimation of the efficiencies to be expected is fairly random, necessarily relying on available charts without any guarantee of corresponding to the reality in the field.
Moreover, the real efficiency of the machine is solely dependently on the quality of the raw water. The operator does not have the possibility of acting on the mechanism to increase or reduce the rate of capture of the particulate pollution.
One existing solution used to improve the effectiveness of the primary treatment is chemically preconditioning the wastewaters using a coagulation and flocculation step. This treatment makes it possible, on the one hand, to destabilize the fine colloid particles in the water, then to aggregate them using polymer in the form of flocs of a diameter of the order of a millimeter, allowing their filtration without problems on a 350 μm cloth. This technique, widely employed in the case of primary decantation, makes it possible to secure elimination efficiencies with very much higher values than would be expected from the separating techniques without conditioning. There are however many major drawbacks to this conditioning. Indeed, in the case of a primary filtration without the addition of reagents, the purifying performance levels are realized and uncontrolled in that they depend only on the characteristics of the particles present in the water to be treated. Furthermore, such a solution requires the arrangement of reaction vessels dedicated to the coagulation and the flocculation, with minimum dwell times to be observed and the equipment necessary to the stirring thereof. It is also necessary to provide additional equipment for the dosing of the reagents. Furthermore, the consumption of reagents can be significant since 5 to 15 mg of pure iron is necessary for each treated liter, as well as a polymer consumption of 1 to 2 mg per liter of treated water. The result of this is higher usage costs and longer filtration times. Finally, an excess production of primary mineral sludges can occur, an excess production which cannot be monetized in digestion, the sludges being stripped of any methane production capacity.

Device for treating an effluent and method for treating an effluent


An information handling system includes a central processor, a read only memory for storing microcode, a random access memory for storing instructions and data processed by the central processor, an I/O adapter for transferring data to and from peripheral devices, a user interface adapter for communicating with user devices such as a keyboard and a cursor control device, and a display adapter for converting data to be displayed to a form suitable for presentation on a display device, the display adapter including a video frame buffer architecture which allows a page mode to be used for fast screen update using commercially available chips wherein independently addressable islands on the chips are individually addressed to increase data transmission bandwidth.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information handling systems, and more particularly to information handling systems for processing graphics data for display on a display device.
2. Prior Art
There are many data processing systems in the prior art having graphics display capability. Some of the systems include graphics display subsystems such as the IBM 6095 graphics system which includes a frame buffer having two interleaved portions, wherein one portion is being loaded with new data while a second portion is being read to a display device.
An example of an attempt to improve performance of an interleaved dual frame buffer in a data processing system having a graphics display subsystem is described in an article entitled "Dual Frame Buffer Interleaving", Aranda and Henderson, IBM Technical Disclosure Bulletin, Vol. 36, No. 4, April 1993, pp. 53-58, inclusive.
In graphics display systems, pixels of a display are each represented by a value in a storage device referred to as a frame buffer. For a common high resolution display there are 1280 pixels in the horizontal direction by 1024 lines of pixels for a total of 1,310,720 pixels per display screen. Each pixels can be represented by from 1 to 24 bits for color or base plane data and 1 to 4 bits for overlay or attribute data. The frame buffer actually may have twice the number of bits to support the technique of interleaved buffering. Interleaved buffering is the technique of rendering to one set of locations in the buffer, for example, designated as frame buffer A while the other set of locations, designated as frame buffer B is being read to the display device.
The Aranda and Henderson article presents an architecture including a frame buffer organization which includes bandwidth for storing data to the video RAMs while supporting independent frame buffer selection on a per window basis.
A one megabit VRAM may be organized as 512 rows.times.512 columns.times.4 bits deep. Therefore, the number of VRAMs required to map a 1280.times.1024 screen is 5. Five VRAMs yield a single buffered 4 bit deep 1280.times.1024 frame buffer. To store 8 bit pixels, VRAMs are stacked 5 wide.times.2 deep. For a double buffer interleaved frame buffer, a second group of 5.times.2 VRAMs is added. If separate frame buffers are stored in separate VRAMs, the maximum number of pixels that can be stored in parallel is 5. If, however, 2 frame buffers are interleaved across both groups of VRAMs, the number of pixels that can be written simultaneously is increased to 10.
For non-windowed systems, either all of frame buffer A or frame buffer B is displayed to the display screen. The mapping of both frame buffers into VRAM is straight forward because data from both frame buffers is not required simultaneously at the output for transmission to the display device. For a typical graphics subsystem, frame buffers are mapped to VRAMs on an alternate column basis wherein each VRAM would contain half of its data assigned to frame buffer A and half of its data assigned to frame buffer B.
Although the article describes an improvement over other prior art video frame buffer architectures, the structure proposed in the article has several disadvantages. For example, the frame buffer requires five levels of logic and two separate clocks which are expensive in hardware and circuit complexity. Further, rendering of frame buffers A and B is staggered such that there is a delay between presentation of data from the two interleaved buffers.
Another prior art data processing system including efficient frame buffer architecture is described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/330,294, filed Oct. 27, 1994 and now abandoned. The patent application describes a data processing system which has a frame buffer architecture for storing pixel data for display including a number of independently addressable storage units, the storage units being organized in a matrix having a number of rows and a number of columns wherein pixel data is spread across units in a row so that pixel data is distributed through a large number of independently addressable units in the frame buffer. The described system increases the effective bandwidth of the data bus carrying pixel data to the frame buffer by allowing a larger number of memory modules to be addressed concurrently.
Another frame buffer architecture includes mapping of pixels (or pels) to a VRAM to allow the buffer to be used for fast updating of blocks of 32.times.64 pixels. Eight VRAM chips each storing 1 megabit, with 4 bit input/output per chip is in common use in VRAMs. Many of the 1 megabit VRAM chips commercially available have four addressable islands on each chip. Thus, 8 bits of a pixel may be mapped on two such chips with one bit in each of the four islands on each chip.
For updating the screen, the buffer is accessed by applying the same address to all islands on a chip. Rows so accessed contain pixels of a 32.times.64 block on the screen. These bits are held in a page mode buffer and can be changed at the rate of 4 pixels (8 chips.times.4 bits per chip=32 bit) per page mode cycle. The page mode cycle is typically 3 to 5 times faster than the full access cycle so updating of the screen can proceed at a faster rate.
For accessing a line to refresh the screen, a diagonal section of bits must be accessed. This requires that each island on each chip be capable of accessing 32 separate rows each with a different stepped address. Thus, each island needs to be composed of 32 subislands for a total of 128 total subislands on the chip. With current VRAM chip layouts, there are far too few islands to make this mapping possible. A 1 megabit chip typically has 4 independent islands with no subislands. A 4 megabit chip typically has 16 independent islands, still far less than the required 128, and further only two such chips would be needed to produce a 1K.times.1K screen having 8 bits per pixel. If larger chips, with more islands having fewer bits per island, were to be available, such a mapping might be suitable. However, higher density chips typically use the previous generation chip image as an island and place multiples of such islands on the new chip to get the higher density. For example, a typical 1 megabit VRAM has 4 independent islands. The next generation of 4 megabit chips would map four of this 1 megabit macro as four islands to get the 4 times density. In order to get the kind of mapping required, it would be necessary to break the current island size into 32 smaller islands. While such a redesign is possible, it compromises the design optimization and is contrary to the evolutionary trend.
Therefore, this proposed mapping scheme is not practical with the current status and trend of chip designs.

Information handling system including mapping of graphics display data to a video buffer for fast updation of graphic primitives

International Business Machines Corporation


A numerical controller includes an activation unit that builds a memory map according to settings when the power is on; a change detection unit that detects an operation requiring reconstructing of the memory map; a task control unit that, when the operation is detected, performs a stopping process of a task being operated; and a memory map control unit that, after the task has stopped, acquires a backed up memory, reconstructs the memory map according to the setting, and compares the reconstructed memory map and the backed-up memory map, and resets information required for operating the task again such as a program counter.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a numerical controller, and more particularly to a numerical controller having a function of safely reconstructing a memory map.
2. Description of the Related Art
At the time of power-on, most information processing apparatuses in which embedded software is installed determine a software configuration, a code area, sizes and addresses of a work area according to preset parameters and options. These memory locations are referred to as a memory map. It is designed to improve reliability and stability by fixing the memory map.
Similarly to the above information processing apparatuses, improvement of reliability and stability is improved by fixing the numerical controller that controls an industrial machine including a machine tool (hereinafter simply referred to as a machine) is achieved by fixing the memory map such as a code area and a work area. (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 08-137513). In the method of acquiring memory dynamically without fixing the memory map, for example, a lot of memory is secured by one function, and even if you an attempt is made to acquire the memory by another function, acquisition of memory fails or the like depending on the state of the numerical controller, and consequently, unintended behavior may occur. In addition, when the operation becomes unstable, the same result is not always obtained even if the same processing program is operated, and the reproducibility is reduced.
However, when the memory map is fixed, it is necessary to restart the numerical controller in order to reconstruct the memory map each time the parameter or option setting is changed during the operation of the numerical controller. For example, since the setting needs to be changed frequently when the machine tool is started, the numerical controller is repeatedly restarted, which places a burden on the operator. Furthermore, when restarting the numerical controller, it is also necessary to restart the peripheral devices connected to the numerical controller or the machine tool at the same time. At this time, it often takes much time for all peripheral devices to start up.
Currently, it is common to determine the memory map when the numerical controller is powered on, but in order to avoid the problems described above, it is sufficient to reflect changes in parameters and options without restarting the numerical controller. In order to reconstruct the memory map during operation of the numerical controller, it is necessary to stop the memory access of a CPU. If the memory map is reconstructed without stopping the memory access by the CPU, the program counter (FIG. 4(a)) to which the CPU points immediately before the repartition becomes an abnormal value at the next moment (FIG. 4(b)), which may cause a failure.
It takes a considerable amount of time to stop the memory access of the CPU and perform the same processing as when the power is on during operation of the numerical controller. During that time, processing that requires a response in real time and responses to connected peripheral devices cannot be performed at all (FIG. 5). If there is no response from the numerical controller, for example, there is a possibility that the peripheral devices may view the numerical controller to have an abnormality or the like and stop the operation (FIG. 6).


A deflectable device (100) comprising an elongate body (110) and a folded elongate member (120) is configured to change an orientation of the distal portion (114) of the elongate body (110) with respect to the proximal portion (112) of the elongate body (110) upon an electrical current flowing through the folded elongate member (120) causing a change of a length of the folded elongate member (120).

Minimally Invasive Vascular Surgery (MIVS) is widely adopted and often preferred above open surgery for its smaller incisions, less blood loss, reduced risk of infection, decreased pain and quicker recovery. Within this field, various surgeries are performed using minimally invasive instruments such as catheters, sheaths, and guidewires, under fluoroscopic guidance.
Device maneuverability has a strong influence on both the procedure time (and therefore also X-ray doses and cost) as well as the risk of complications such as perforation. However, conventional devices are often difficult to maneuver and control, for the following reasons:
The contact friction between the device and vessels may cause stick-slip phenomena, leading to hysteresis and sudden jumps in tip movement, with reduced control of the tip as a consequence. Hence, some locations are unreachable or are only reached after a lengthy procedure.
Conventional devices have a fixed stiffness and fixed distal shape. Therefore, in order to reach the desired location, surgeons often have to use trial-and-error to choose the device with the correct stiffness and distal shape. Again, such device replacements lead to extended operating times, with accompanying increase of X-ray and contrast agent doses. In addition, the repeated extraction and insertion can do serious harm to the patient and increase the risk of infection.
Steerable catheters may overcome the above limitations by the ability to vary their distal shape and distal bending stiffness to improve maneuverability by their flexibility in shape to adapt to patient anatomy. Currently available manually operated steerable catheters are all based on pull-wire steering. Typical examples are steerable radiofrequency (RF) ablation catheters, mapping catheters used in electrophysiology.
A pull-wire based steerable catheter has one or more pull-wires running along the length of the catheter. At the distal end, the pull-wires are fixed to the catheter tip offset from the neutral line to be able to apply a bending moment, whereas at the proximal end they are mounted to an actuation mechanism in the catheter handle for manual control of the pulling force. Since the catheter tip is designed such that it is much more flexible than the shaft, the tip bends whereas the shaft remains nearly unbent upon pulling one of the pull-wires.
To increase the flexibility and maneuverability of the catheters, shape memory alloy (SMA) actuators are being developed. Steerable catheters based on shape memory alloy steering have potentially lower shaft stiffness.
US 2006/0064055 discloses a steerable device comprising a plurality of SMA wires having a graded, essentially non-constant cross sectional area that increases between the distal and proximal ends of the steerable device. The SMA wire having a first cross sectional area at least of smaller diameter or cross sectional area, will heat up faster, due to higher resistance. As current increases, the end with smaller cross sectional area will reach the transformation temperature first and change to its predetermined shape before the end of the larger diameter.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,930,494 discloses an insertion section of an endoscope comprising pair of SMA coils arranged symmetrically along and with respect to the axis of the segment of the insertion section of the endoscope. The SMA coils are supplied with current from a supply unit through lead wires. As result, the heated SMA coils are displaced so as to be restored to the memorized close-winding state. The insertion section of an endoscope is bent toward the energized coil form the pair of coils.
However, integration of shape memory alloy actuators in catheters (or guidewires) is complex.

Deflectable device with elongate actuator


A system and methods for retrieving and presenting data in a tag-based component environment. The disclosed system provides an efficient mechanism for associating point and non-point data using highly configurable data acquisition strategies. The data acquisition strategies incorporate customized retrieval routines to perform data acquisition at desired intervals so as to reduce unnecessary bandwidth consumption and computational overhead.

Information retrieval and management within a business or organizational enterprise typically presents numerous technical issues associated with data integration and interpretation, especially when the data originates from multiple sources. For example, difficulties frequently arise when attempting to unify and/or format large amounts of data for user visualization in terms of incurred administrative burden and complex programmatic logic. Additionally, integration of information from one or more sources configured to provide real-time data with other desired information presents accessibility, bandwidth, and latency problems limiting the flexibility and scalability of these systems as a whole.
A conventional computerized system associated with monitoring and controlling various operational parameters for components and sub-components of a manufacturing plant may be required to process large amounts of real-time and/or near real-time data. This data, referred to as point data, may arise from independent sources with each source configured to provide substantially "raw" or "native" information at pre-defined intervals such as numerical values associated with various gauge/monitor readings. Taken alone, this data may provide little or no context for its interpretation and require additional information to be associated with it to subsequently permit meaningful processing and analysis. It also may be desirable to capture, store and distribute the point data to other processing components requiring some degree of context be ascribed to the point data.
Modern industrial automation systems, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems, general data acquisition systems and plant data historians represent but a few of the classes or categories of systems that may store and distribute real-time and/or near real-time information in the form of point data. In such systems, a Tag represents a structural data element associated with point data arising from various components of the system which are made accessible to other components, systems, applications and/or users. In general, point data is subject to dynamic change and is monitored, and reported through various operations and functions associated with processing the point data obtained from selected sources. In industrial automation and control systems, decision support and reporting capabilities may be provided based on Tag associated point data that is monitored over very short timeframes ranging in the sub-second to sub-minute range.
A limitation found in many conventional systems is that they provide only limited capabilities to access, interpret, and/or manipulate tag-based point data collectively or in connection with other non-point data. Non-point data relates to a broad category of context-providing information associated with point data that, in one sense, extend the functionality and meaning of the point data. Non-point data may include descriptive and/or attribute information characterizing the point data, as well as, other information such as limits, ranges, etc. In conventional systems, integral and flexible manipulation of tag-based point data and non-point data is restricted due to their inherent differences and properties.
A further difficulty encountered in conventional systems is the limited ability to integrate and relate tag-based data and non-tag-based data. Non-tag-based data may originate from numerous sources and relate to disparate aspects of an enterprise environment. For example, non-tag-based data may comprise data associated with conventional database applications/environments and include transactional information, production data, business data, etc. Conventionally, attempts to integrate non-tag-based data with tag-based information may be hindered or prevented completely as a consequence of the underlying differences in structure and content between these data types. As a result, generating and implementing logical constructions or schema in which both tag-based data and non-tag-based data are integrally used is problematic in conventional systems. Such limitations limit the overall flexibility of the system and increase the difficulty of scaling such systems to complex, enterprise-level environments.
Another important consideration to the integral management of point data and non-point data relates to the recognition of differences in desirable update or acquisition frequencies. The dynamic properties of point data give rise to time critical retrieval restrictions on systems designed to acquire and evaluate point data. Rapidly changing point data is generally acquired or refreshed at a high frequency (e.g. short retrieval time interval) to insure that the information is up-to-date. Other point data and non-point data information may be more static in nature and not require a similar short acquisition interval. Developing efficient and customizable data acquisition strategies for information retrieval which take into account data characteristics and optimal acquisition rates is important to insure accuracy and timeliness in the data without imparting undue computational or transmission load.
Conventional systems are not well suited to provide integration of customizable data-dependent acquisition strategies or associated acquisition rates. As a result, these systems experience reduced performance, especially in complex environments where data or values to be retrieved possess different optimal or desired refresh rates. Furthermore, these conventional systems fail to provide the ability to easily customize or configure differential acquisition strategies for point data and non-point data in such a manner so as to improve overall system performance. Consequently, there is a need to overcome these limitations integrating and managing tag-based information to provide improved mechanisms to associate and work with point data and non-point data within the same programmatic or logical environment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Tag management within a decision, support, and reporting environment


Presence/absence of a failure in a feedback control system of a motor is monitored. When a failure is detected in the feedback control system, the motor is driven by switching to an open-loop control. During the open-loop control, the motor is rotated by sequentially switching the motor current supply phase without feeding back encoder count information. The position count is incremented or decremented every time the current supply phase is switched. When the position count has reached a target count, it is determined that the rotor has reached a target position, whereupon the open-loop control is finished.

Brushless motors such as switched reluctance motors are increasingly demanded recently because they are inexpensive and simple in structure. Those motors incorporate an encoder for outputting a pulse signal in synchronism with the rotation of the rotor, which is rotated by sequentially switching the current supply phase by counting pulses of a pulse signal of the encoder and detecting the rotation position of the rotor on the basis of the count. Enabling detection of the rotation position of the rotor on the basis of the encoder count after starting, motors of this type having an encoder are used as drive sources of various position switching devices in which a position switching control (positioning control) for rotating the rotor to a target position by means of a feedback control system (i.e., a closed-loop control system) is performed.
During a feedback control for rotating the rotor to a target position on the basis of the encoder count, if, for example, a pulse signal of the encoder is lost temporarily for a certain reason or a noise pulse occurring on a signal line of the encoder is erroneously recognized as a regular pulse, the synchronization between the current supply phase (encoder count) and the rotation phase of the rotor is lost and the rotor can no longer be driven normally. As a result, the rotor may stop or rotate in reverse to cause a state that the feedback control cannot be continued normally. In such a case, the motor becomes uncontrollable.
Further, if a disconnection occurs in the drive coil of a motor or their drive circuit fails, the motor cannot be driven normally. In view of this, JP-A-2001-271917 proposes a fail-safe circuit in which the stator core of a motor is equipped with two independent systems of drive coils and two systems of drive circuits for driving the respective systems of drive coils separately are provided. When a failure occurs in the drive coil or drive circuit of one system, the rotation position of the rotor is feedback-controlled by using the drive coil of the other system and the drive circuit of the other system that are free from failure.
However, when a failure occurs in the drive coil or drive circuit of one system and the rotation position of the rotor is feedback-controlled by using only the drive coil of the other system, the driving torque becomes a half of that in a normal state. Because of insufficient driving torque, the rotation position of the rotor may not be feedback-controlled. However, to secure sufficient driving torque that enables a normal feedback control only with the drive coil of a single system, a large drive coil is needed and hence the motor becomes unduly large.


Provided is a method for rendering image signals, which represent a predetermined number of colors, in an apparatus used for rendering an image signal that has a plurality of pixels composed of three different sub-pixels among four or more different sub-pixels. The method for rendering image signals comprises (a) selecting three-color signals out of the four or more color signals to be outputted according to a type of sub-pixel, which forms a predetermined pixel, (b) obtaining values of the selected three-color signals in peripheral pixels of the pixels, (c) calculating brightness values of each sub-pixel of the pixel by using the values of the selected three-color signals and corresponding color signal values of the peripheral pixels, and (d) driving a display, which controls brightness of an image that is represented in the display according to the calculated brightness values of sub-pixels.

This application claims the priority of Korean Patent Application Nos. 2002-47358, filed on Aug. 10, 2002 and 2003-16016, filed on Mar. 14, 2003, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for rendering an image signal, and more particularly, to a method for rendering an inputted image while minimizing degradation of image quality when the resolution of an inputted image signal is higher than the resolution of a display, and an apparatus for rendering an image signal using the method.
2. Description of the Related Art
When the number of actual pixels of a display is smaller than the number of pixels of an inputted image signal, or when the spatial resolution of the inputted signal is higher than that of the display, the image signal has to be down-sampled so that the entire area of the inputted signal can be presented on the display. However, due to down-sampling of the image signal, a jagged pattern occurs in the portions (for example, text, line, and edge, etc.) of an image with a high spatial frequency (hereinafter, referred to as aliasing), resulting in degraded quality of the image presented on the display.
As a conventional method for solving the above problem, an anti-aliasing method performed on a per-pixel basis has been introduced in "Computer Graphics: Principles and Practice" by Foley et al., Addison Wesley Publishers (2nd edition, 1996). In the method, an image signal is low-pass filtered, smoothened, and is then sampled to reduce the difference in brightness values between neighboring pixels, and to prevent rough image rendering phenomena, such as a jagged pattern. In the method, due to the reduction of the difference in brightness values between pixels, caused by low-pass filtering, blurring that the contrast effect of an image is reduced and the resolution of the image is greatly lowered, occurs.
A method for controlling a boundary between an object and a character on a per-sub-pixel (RGB component) basis is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,384,839 by Agfa Monotype Corporation. When processing for each sub-pixel, a sudden color transition at a boundary between objects can cause a color fringe error. In the method, the color fringe error is reduced by boundary processing for each sub-pixel, improving the resolution of an image and reducing the difference in brightness between adjacent pixels. In the method, in order to obtain a weight for reducing the brightness difference between adjacent pixels at a boundary between objects, an image is discriminated from a foreground and a background, the foreground and the background are binarized, and the image binarized to a 5-pixel wide window is low-pass filtered, thereby obtaining a weight for the an entire area of the image.
However, the method uses only a horizontal low-pass filter for an RGB-striped structure in a horizontal direction, and performs one-to-one conversion for each pixel, thus the same channel (sub-pixel having the same primary color) must be arranged in a vertical direction. Accordingly, the method is not suitable for adoption in a four-channel display and does not disclose processing, i.e., scaling required in a case where the image resolution is different from the display resolution.

Method and apparatus for rendering image signal


A computer utility for reducing downtime required for applying patches to a UNIX system, and for allowing changes to the system to be rolled back in the event of problems with a patch.

Many critical UNIX systems have the highest availability requirements. These systems have the requirement of being constantly patched to the current level for operating systems to minimize the potential service outage due to a known issue. Patches are often released daily. Unfortunately, these two requirements are contradictory. Patching introduces downtime, often excessive downtime. Current patching state of the art also has weaknesses in the patch removal process, again introducing more downtime on systems that cannot tolerate it.
Eliminating downtime required for applying patches would be ideal but unobtainable due to the nature of the underlying UNIX based operating system and the fact that that many patches require downtime for a reboot. There is a need to minimize downtime to simply the boot time required for this most intrusive of operations.


A queue structure is functionally equivalent to individual FIFO bank queues but requires only slightly more hardware than the single BSM queue approach. The queue structure uses "self-advancing" WAITING queues (one per BSM) in which there is a one-to-one correspondence between a (valid) queue position and a busy bank within a given BSM. However, the position/bank relationship is dynamically managed such that positions only exist for busy banks, thereby essentially providing a FIFO queue per bank while maintaining one queue per BSM.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to data processor memory architectures and, more particularly, to a queue structure which provides the performance of individual bank queues at the approximate cost of a single basic storage module queue.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In most large data processing systems, the processor speed is many times faster than the memory cycle time. To decrease the average memory latency, the memory is typically partitioned into basic storage modules (BSMs) which are further subdivided into many banks. The effective number of BSMs limits the number of storage accesses allowed per processor cycle. The degree of banking within a BSM is determined by the ratio of memory to processor cycle times. As one example, there might be 64 BSMs with 128 banks each.
In most high-performance designs, the address bits are divided into the following fields:
______________________________________ chip select bank select BSM select byte index and address within chip ______________________________________
The first three of these fields select a memory word, while the lowest-order bits select bytes within the word. In an effort to achieve a uniform distribution of storage requests across BSM units, the BSM selection field is usually the lowest-order bits which select words. The bank selection bits are the next higher-order set of bits. The remaining bits select locations within a chip and chips within a bank. For purposes of illustration, a base memory design which uses four-byte words and 64 BSMs and 128 banks in each BSM is assumed.
Since many distinct banks exist, a given request is quite likely to be destined for a "ready" bank. Queues are maintained to buffer memory requests for banks which are still busy (or active) from previous requests. IBM S/370 architectural requirements, regarding the sequence of storage references, could be satisfied by placing individual First-In-First-Out (FIFO) queues in front of each bank. In systems with a large number of banks (e.g., 128 banks in each of 64 BSMs), hardware costs make individual bank queues impractical. Therefore, a single FIFO queue per BSM is usually implemented, thus greatly reducing hardware cost at the expense of performance. When the head entry has to wait due to its required bank being active, all subsequent memory requests in the queue are also forced to wait. In a system which has many banks per BSM, most of the waiting requests are to banks which are ready. However, due to the trend of increasing memory access times, in terms of processor cycles, a single blocked entry at the head of the queue may delay many requests for many cycles.

Dynamically repositioned memory bank queues


A computer-implemented method to manage a device is described. Communications with an endpoint device are established. A management profile for the endpoint device is received. Information about the endpoint device is acquired based at least in part on the management profile. At least a portion of the acquired information is provided to an upper layer server.

The use of computer devices and computer-related technologies continues to increase at a rapid pace. This increased use of computer devices has influenced the advances made to computer-related technologies. Indeed, computer devices have increasingly become an integral part of the business world and the activities of individual consumers. Computer devices may be used to carry out several business, industry, and academic endeavors. The wide-spread use of these devices has been accelerated by the increased use of communication networks, and computer networks, including the Internet.
Many businesses and individuals use one or more communication and/or computer networks to communicate and share data between the various devices connected to the networks. Often portions of these networks are sectioned into network environments that are managed to help protect the various devices and resources that are connected to the network environment. The widespread use of computer devices and increased mobility of computer devices serves to increase the need for computing devices to connect to different network environments. However, traveling between different network environments and connecting with the different network environments may be cumbersome and possibly problematic.

Systems and methods for managing devices across disconnected environments


A method of taking a plurality of measurements of the magnetic field using the plurality of sensors; includes assessing the inductive magnetic excitation; and determining the likely distribution of magnetic sources on the surface of the hull by resolving a system of equations derived from modeling the physical phenomena at play, on the basis of the plurality of measurements taken and the assessed inductive magnetic excitation. The model describes the induced magnetic sources as a distribution of dipolar sources and the remanent magnetic sources as a distribution of monopolar sources. A device (6) for determining the magnetization of the hull of a ship for implementing the method is also described.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the technical field of methods for regulating the magnetic signature of a ship.
Description of the Related Art
The signature of a ship is the set of values of the magnetic field created by the ship, evaluated in a reference plane. When it is a surface ship, this reference plane is generally horizontal, situated under the hull of the ship approximately at one times the width of the ship, or typically 10 to 30 m.
FR 2 825 803 discloses a method for regulating the magnetic signature of a ship.
In its portion for determining the signature of the ship, this method provides for acquiring a plurality of measurements of the magnetic field, using a plurality of sensors located inside the hull of the ship.
Then, from this plurality of measurements and the value of the local terrestrial magnetic field, it provides for calculating the most likely magnetization distribution on the surface of the hull using a first model that associates a magnetization distribution with a plurality of measurements of the magnetic field, and a second model that couples the magnetization at one point of the hull with the magnetization at another point of the hull.
The magnetization in question is then the total magnetization at one point of the hull, corresponding to the addition of the permanent magnetization and the magnetization caused at that point.
Lastly, the magnetization distribution thus calculated is used to estimate the value of the magnetic field created by the whole of the reference plane, i.e. the signature of the ship.
In its regulation portion, this method provides for minimizing the signature of the ship thus determined. To that end, the hull of the ship is equipped with several so-called "magnetic immunization" loops, made from a material conducting the electrical current, and the ship stores electrical power means making it possible to circulate suitable electrical currents in each of the loops independently. The circulation of a current in a loop generates a magnetic field that is superimposed on the local terrestrial magnetic field and on the field created by the magnetization distribution on the hull, knowing that the latter is modified by the magnetic field generated by the loops. Thus, by regulating the electrical currents circulating in the different loops, the signature of the ship is minimized.
The precision of this method rests on the representativeness of the plurality of measurements of the magnetic field using the plurality of sensors situated inside the hull and on the aptitude of the first and second models to precisely determine the magnetization of the hull from the measurements resulting from the sensors.
When the sensors are located inside the hull, far from it, the method allows a satisfactory determination of the magnetization of the hull corresponding to the measurements done.
However, the measurement in the air of the magnetic field created by the hull is disrupted. In fact, a ship contains secondary magnetic sources, such as the ferromagnetic masses that make up its engines. These secondary magnetic sources produce secondary magnetic fields that are superimposed on the magnetic field created by the hull. The secondary magnetic fields represent a strong disruption for the information one seeks to obtain by using the sensors. Also, the measurements are not very representative of the magnetic field resulting from the magnetization of the hull. As a result, the magnetization of the hull calculated from the measurements done inside the ship is not precisely representative of the actual magnetization of the hull. As a result, the signature of the ship thus calculated may be very different from the actual signature of the ship.
To improve the ratio of the relevant signal to the disruption, it has been considered to bring the sensors closer to the hull, to position them in the immediate vicinity thereof, and to move them away from the secondary magnetic sources as much as possible.
However, when the sensors are brought closer to the hull, the signature determined by the implementation of the method described in document FR 2 825 803 no longer corresponds to the actual signature of the ship.

Method for determining the magnetisation of the hull of a ship, and associated device


Disclosed is a semiconductor memory device comprising a memory cell array block, and a circuit region arranged with the memory cell array block along a first direction. The circuit region comprises a first region and a second region arranged with the first region along the first direction. The first region is provided with a first circuit and a second circuit which are aligned in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. The second region is provided with a plurality of third circuits which are aligned in the second direction.

The present invention generally relates to a semiconductor memory device. More particularly, the present invention relates to a semiconductor memory device comprising a memory cell array and a circuit region in which a plurality of circuits are arranged.
JP-A 2000-243085 discloses a semiconductor memory device provided with a memory array and a circuit region, such as a sense amplifier region.
The disclosed semiconductor memory device further comprises a plurality pairs of complementary bit lines extending along a BL direction, a plurality of word lines extending along a WL direction perpendicular to the BL direction, a first line for supplying a first voltage, a second line for supplying a second voltage, a first common source line and a second common source line.
The memory array and the sense amplifier region are arranged in the BL direction. The sense amplifier region includes a plurality of sense amplifier aligned in the WL direction. The sense amplifier has sense nodes which are in contact with the complementary bit lines, respectively. Moreover, the sense amplifier has a first node and a second node which are in contact with the first and the second common source lines, respectively.
The sense amplifier region further includes a first region and a second region. The first region is provided with a plurality of first switches for connecting the first line to the first common source line. The second region is provided with a plurality of second switches for connecting the second line to the second common source line. The first switches and the second switches are aligned along the WL direction, respectively.
In the disclosed semiconductor memory device, the first and the second regions arranged along the BL direction are required for arranging the first and the second circuits along the WL direction.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a semiconductor memory device comprising an effectively utilized circuit region compared with conventional techniques.


Disclosed are novel techniques for high-precision sex determination and age estimation using facial images. The disclosed age estimation method includes: a step in which facial image data of a subject is acquired; a step in which spatial frequency intensities are calculated from the acquired facial image data; and a step in which the estimated age of the subject is calculated by applying the calculated spatial frequency intensities obtained from the facial image data.

Not only women but also all the people desire to remain young. For this reason, there are various cosmetic means, such as esthetic treatments, basic skin care products, makeup products, special makeup, health foods, or cosmetic surgeries.
Objective evaluation of the youth, especially the youth of a face, in other words, objective evaluation of the gap between an actual age and an "impression age by appearance" is extremely important in evaluating the effect of various cosmetic means such as esthetic treatments and cosmetic materials.
However, for example, in order to evaluate the effect of esthetic treatments or cosmetic materials, when an impression age by appearance is used, the impression age by appearance may be influenced by the difference among evaluators or between sexes, so there is a problem in that the reproducibility of the evaluation may not be obtained.
The technique of estimating an age with good reproducibility is greatly needed in a wide variety of fields starting from the evaluation of the effect on the various cosmetic means such as esthetic treatments and cosmetic materials as described above to verification of age or marketing for liquor, cigarettes, and the like, security system for confirming the characteristic of the face for security, and the like.
In view of the circumstances, as an example of the technique, an age estimation method by using actual measurement value or sensory evaluation value of the size or the length of the eyes, the mouth, the nose, and the chin as a characteristic value has been known (Patent Literatures 1 and 2). In addition, an age estimation method that uses scores of the wrinkles or the flabbiness has been known (Patent Literature 3). In addition, a technique of estimating the age change based on the physical amounts (the size and the distance) of the portions or the component parts of the face (Patent Literature 4).
In recent years, according to the advance of image processing and statistical analysis processing in addition to the advance of imaging devices, there has been a dramatic advance in a system for monitoring and recognition by storing facial images on a computer quickly and accurately, recognizing an age group, a sex, and characteristics of the face, and estimating the person.
As examples of the technology, there have been known an age estimation system by using values from an image process such as an edge process or a binary process which is a characteristic amount contained in images (for example, Patent Literatures 5 and 6), a person attribution estimation technology by using characteristic values (the position, the shading, and the number of wrinkles) of characteristic points such as eyes, a nose, and a mouth (for example, Patent Literature 7), an age estimation technology for selecting a discriminator and a method for applying dimension compression to an image based on a perception age distance of a person as an evaluation standard (for example, Patent Literature 8). In addition, an age and sex determination technology by using similarity of characteristic information of a facial image (shading information per portion of the image, the size of the portion and the like) is disclosed (for example, Patent Literature 11).
Meanwhile, recently, a technology focusing on spatial frequencies, that is, a technology focusing on the change of the texture characteristics of an image by spatial cycles is developed. For example, a method of preparing a simulation image of skins presenting various textures according to the changes of spatial frequencies is disclosed (for example, Patent Literature 9).
The applicant of the invention discloses a technology of evaluating the effect on the "three dimensional effect of a face" that a makeup has, by performing spatial frequency pattern analysis at the time of the makeup by using the technology of using the spatial frequencies (for example, Patent Literature 10).

Age estimation method and sex determination method


The invention relates to more accurate rotative and linear positional measurement for a rotary-linear drive. A measuring system comprising a linear sensor (12) and a rotary sensor (20) is disclosed. A decoupling unit (11,14,17) decouples the rotary displacement from the linear displacement of a shaft (10). The decoupling unit (11,14,17) has either a first measuring section (11), which is coupled in a fixed manner to the shaft to be measured (10) and tapped by the linear sensor (12) and a second measuring section (17), which is exclusively non-rotatably coupled to the shaft to be measured (10) and is tapped by the rotary sensor (20), or a first measuring section, which is coupled in a fixed manner exclusively linearly to the shaft to be measured and is tapped by the linear sensor and a second measuring section, which is non-rotatably coupled to the shaft to be measured and is tapped by the rotary sensor. In each case, the linear displacement is decoupled from the rotary displacement for the measuring process, permitting high-resolution standard measuring sensors to be used.

The present invention relates to a measuring system for detecting a rotary-linear displacement of a shaft comprising a linear sensor and a rotary sensor. In particular, the present invention relates to a rotary-linear drive which is equipped with such a measuring system.
A drive, particularly an injector and metering unit in a plastic injection molding machine or similar machine applications requires the implementation of a rotary displacement and a linear displacement on the drive shaft. It must be possible to generate these displacements independently of one another, on the one hand, but also superimposed. Control of the combined drive requires implementation of a rotary and linear positional measurement with the aid of a measuring system.
Hitherto, rotary-linear drives were available which have, for example, the structure reproduced in FIG. 1. The drive consists of a rotary drive 1 and a linear drive 2 which are arranged axially behind one another and linearly and rotationally move a common shaft 3. The combined displacement is measured or detected with two sensors 4 and 5. The rotary sensor 4 detects an angular position of the magnetic field of magnets 6 which are arranged in a hollow shaft 7 which is permanently connected to the shaft 3. The linear sensor 5 in a tube section 8 which protrudes into the hollow shaft 7 and at which the rotary sensor 4 is mounted registers changes in inductance which are caused by magnets 9 which are arranged at the hollow shaft 7.
The rotary sensor 4 and the linear sensor 5 are in each case invariant with respect to the displacement which is not to be measured. However, the accuracy of this measuring system is not suitable for all applications.

Measuring system for detecting a rotary-linear displacement and corresponding rotary-linear drive


A sealing device for mounting a monument on a structural element of an aircraft and for providing a seal between the sealing device and the floor of the aircraft is provided. The sealing device comprises a cylindrical element with a pin for attaching the sealing device to the structural element and a recess for receiving another pin of a mounting device to which the monument is attached. The sealing device may have a smaller diameter than a mounting block of the mounting device such that the seal cannot be damaged by trolley wheels.

Monuments, such as galleys, toilet modules, separation walls or stair houses, may be mounted on a structural element of a means of transport by using mounting devices to which the monument is connected and which are, in turn, mounted on the structural elements. Such mounting devices may comprise a pin protruding downwards, which can be screwed into a corresponding hole in the structural element.
DE 10 2004 012 262 A1 and WO 2005/095209 A1 describes a mounting device for cabin elements in an airplane. The device comprises a threaded bushing which can be screwed into a fastening element in order to adjust the distance between monument and floor. For sealing purposes, a sealing ring is arranged in a recess of a floor plate on which the device is installed.
DE 31 22 366 A1 describes a connection device for mounting of monuments to structural elements of an aircraft. A sealing ring is arranged between the floor plate and a bushing of the connection device. The bushing is attached to the structural element by means of a screw which runs through the bushing.
Other objects, desirable features and characteristics will become apparent from the subsequent summary and detailed description, and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background.