Described herein are approaches to the measurement of gene expression for chosen genes in a biological sample. The methods permit the quantitation of target nucleic acids, e.g., DNAs or RNAs in a nucleic acid sample, both singly and in a multiplex format that permits the determination of levels (e.g., expression levels or copy numbers) for two or more target nucleic acids in a single reaction.

The introduction of genomics has been instrumental in accelerating the pace of drug discovery. The genomic technologies have proved their value in finding novel drug targets. Further improvement in this area will provide more efficient tools resulting in faster and more cost efficient development of potential drugs.
The drug discovery process includes several steps: the identification of a potential biochemical target associated with disease, screening for active compounds and further chemical design, preclinical tests, and finally clinical trials. The efficiency of this process is still far from perfect: it is estimated that about 75% of money spent in the R&D process went to fund failed projects. Moreover, the later in the product development a failure occurs, the bigger are losses associated with this project. Thus it is important to eliminate early in the process future failures in order to reduce costs of the whole drug development process. Thus, the quality of the original molecular target becomes a decisive factor for cost-effective drug development.
One approach that promises to impact on the process of target identification and validation is transcription profiling. This method compares expression of genes in a specific situation: for example, between disease and normal cells, between control and drug-treated cells or between cells responding to treatment and those resistant to it. The information generated by this approach can directly identify specific genes to be targeted by a therapy, and, importantly, reveals biochemical pathways involved in disease and treatment. In brief, it not only provides biochemical targets, but at the same time, a way to assess the quality of these targets. Moreover, in combination with cell-based screening, transcription profiling is positioned to dramatically change the field of drug discovery. Historically, screening for a potential drug was successfully performed using phenotypic change as a marker in functional cellular system. For example, growth of tumor cells in culture was monitored to identify anticancer drugs. Similarly, bacterial viability was used in assays aimed at identifying antibiotic compounds. Such screens were typically conducted without prior knowledge of the targeted biochemical pathway. In fact, the identified effective compounds often revealed such pathways and pointed out the true molecular target, enabling subsequent rational design of the next generations of drugs.
Modern tools of transcription profiling can be used to design novel screening methods that will utilize gene expression in place of phenotypic changes to assess effectiveness of a drug. For example, some methods are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,262,311; 5,665,547; 5,599,672; 5,580,726; 6,045,988 and 5,994,076, as well as Luehrsen et al. (1997, Biotechniques, 22:168-74; Liang and Pardee (1998, Mol Biotechnol. 10:261-7). Such approaches will be invaluable, for example, for drug discovery in the field of central nervous system (CNS) disorders such as dementia, mild cognitive impairment, depression, etc., where phenotypic screening is inapplicable, but where a transcription profile can be established and linked to particular disorders. Once again, the identified effective compounds will likely reveal the underlying molecular processes. This approach can also be instrumental for the development of improved versions of existent drugs, which act at several biochemical targets at the same time to generate a desired pharmacological effect. In such case the change in the transcriptional response may be a better marker for drug action than selection based on optimization of binding to multiple targets.
In addition to uses in drug development, transcriptional profiling and other measurements of nucleic acid presence or abundance can be used for diagnosis, for example, where expression, overexpression or lack of expression of a particular gene or set of genes correlates with a given disease state or predisposition. Similarly, where copy number (amplification, deletion or disruption) of a gene sequence at the chromosomal level correlates with a disease or disease predisposition, determination of DNA copy number in an individual or in a tissue or cell type can predict or diagnose that disease.
Common methods of transcription profiling are based on technology using DNA microarrays, for example, as reviewed in Greenberg, 2001 Neurology 57:755-61; Wu, 2001, J Pathol. 195:53-65; Dhiman et al., 2001, Vaccine 20:22-30; Bier et al., 2001 Fresenius J Anal Chem. 371:151-6; Mills et al., 2001, Nat Cell Biol. 3:E175-8; and as described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,593,839; 5,837,832; 5,856,101; 6,203,989; 6,271,957; and 6,287,778. The DNA microarray approach performs simultaneous comparison of the expression of several thousand genes in a given sample by assessing hybridization of the labeled polynucleotide samples, obtained by reverse transcription of mRNAs, to the DNA molecules attached to the surface of the test array.
The microarray approach screens the pool of genes presented in the microarray. The current printing methods allows placement of 10,000-15,000 genes on a single chip, which is essentially a number of genes expressed in a particular cell type. Given the diversity of cell types, it requires development of specific arrays for specific cell types. Microarrays tend to provide qualitative, rather than quantitative results.
The number of transcripts in a tissue sample is even higher than in a cellular sample and can exceed the capacity of a microarray.
Exogenous control involves the use of an artificially introduced nucleic acid molecule that is added, either to the extraction step or to the PCR step, in a known concentration. The concept of adding an exogenous nucleic acid at a known concentration in order to act as an internal standard for quantitation was introduced by Chelly et al. (1988) Nature 333: 858-860, which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. Therefore, utilizing a control fragment that is amplified with the same primers as the target sequence more accurately reflects target sequence amplification efficiency relative to the internal standard (see, for example, WO 93/02215; WO 92/11273.; U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,213,961 and 5,219,727, all of which are incorporated herein by reference). Similar strategies have proven effective for quantitative measurement of nucleic acids utilizing isothermal amplification reactions such as NASBA (Kievits et al., 1991, J. Virol. Methods 35: 273-86) or SDA (Walker, 1994, Nucleic Acids Res. 22: 2670-7).
Capillary electrophoresis has been used to quantitatively detect gene expression. Rajevic at el. (2001, Pflugers Arch. 442(6 Suppl 1):R190-2) discloses a method for detecting differential expression of oncogenes by using seven pairs of primers for detecting the differences in expression of a number of oncogenes simultaneously. Sense primers were 5′ end-labelled with a fluorescent dye. Multiplex fluorescent RT-PCR results were analyzed by capillary electrophoresis on ABI-PRISM 310 Genetic Analyzer. Borson et al. (1998, Biotechniques 25:130-7) describes a strategy for dependable quantitation of low-abundance mRNA transcripts based on quantitative competitive reverse transcription PCR (QC-RT-PCR) coupled to capillary electrophoresis (CE) for rapid separation and detection of products. George et al., (1997, J Chromatogr B BIOMED Sci Appl 695:93-102) describes the application of a capillary electrophoresis system (ABI 310) to the identification of fluorescent differential display generated EST patterns. Odin et al. (1999, J Chromatogr B Biomed Sci Appl 734:47-53) describes an automated capillary gel electrophoresis with multicolor detection for separation and quantification of PCR-amplified cDNA.
Omori et al. (2000, Genomics 67:140-5) measures and compares the amount of commercially purchased α-globin mRNA by competitive PCR in two independently reverse transcribed cDNA samples using oligo(dT) or oligo(dU) primers. The oligo(dT) or oligo(dU) primers share a 3′ oligo(dT) or oligo(dU) sequence and a 5′ common sequence. In addition the oligo(dT) or oligo(dU) primer for each sample also contains a unique 29 nucleotide sequence between the 3′ oligo(dT) or oligo(dU) sequence and the 5′ common sequence. After the synthesis of first strand cDNA, PCR is performed to amplify the cDNA using a gene-specific primer and a primer complementary to the common sequence which is labeled with a unique label. The amplified PCR products are then analyzed by spotting onto a detection plate of a fluorescence scanner.


The invention relates to an optical coupling unit for an arrangement for sending optical signals, including a base unit, a light path formed between a light input and a light output of the base unit and configured to transmit light received via the light input to the light output, an outer light path section included in the light path, which section extends outside the base unit and into which the light transmitted along the light path emerges from the base unit via a light exit and from which the light after passing through the outer light path section enters again into the base unit via a light entry, and a light decoupling element, which is formed in the light path by means of at least one beamsplitting surface coating and configured to decouple a portion of the light transmitted along the light path. Furthermore the invention relates to an arrangement for sending optical signals and to an optical transceiver.

Transmitter arrangements are utilised to generate optical signals by means of a transmitter and to couple the optical signals provided in the form of light signals into an optical waveguide, in particular into an optical fibre. Transmitting light from the transmitter to the optical fibre connection may be effected using an optical coupling unit, for example, which guides the light emitted by the transmitter. To this end the optical coupling unit normally comprises optical elements such as in the form of optical lenses.
The document US 2009/0016733 A1 discloses an optical transceiver, where the optical coupling unit is arranged on a circuit board. The optical coupling unit is used by several channels to transmit light signals between optical fibres and photo-electric elements. The photo-electric elements are designed to receive light signals and convert them into electrical signals. In addition they may also be configured to convert received electrical signals into light signals in order to then guide the generated light to optical fibres via an optical coupling unit. Such arrangements which can convert both light signals into electrical signals (receiver) and electrical signals into light signals (transmitter) are also referred to as transceivers.
In conjunction with arrangements for sending optical signals it is also known to transfer part of the light generated by the transmitter to a monitor diode, which makes it possible to monitor the transmitter's light signal emissions. If required control signals may be derived from the signals at the monitor diode, which are fed back to the transmitter control in order, for example, to achieve an essentially constant intensity of the emitted light signals.

Optical coupling unit for an arrangement for sending optical signals, an arrangement for sending optical signals and an optical transceiver


Disclosed is a method for determining the location of a terminal in an AGPS system in a wireless LAN using AGPS data provided from a PDE (position determination entity) and time information provided from a NTP (network time protocol) server.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System), and more particularly to an AGPS system using an NTP (Network Time Protocol) server for providing synchronized time information in a wireless LAN, and a method for determining the location of a terminal using the AGPS system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Many companies are racing to develop new wireless technologies that can be used to provide communication services, such as wireless Internet access, regardless of location. Wireless networking is on the rise with the ever-increasing need for wireless Internet access. Wireless LANs (Local Area Networks) use radio or infrared waves, instead of network cables or telephone wires, to communicate information between networked devices such as computers, minimizing the need for wired connections and thereby reducing the time and cost associated with network installations. Wireless LANs provide users with mobile access to the network in a specified radio coverage area. The user mobility and flexibility of wireless LANs enable mobile networks, or networks that can be accessed while on the move. Due to the rapidly evolving mobile communication technologies and the explosive increase in the use of mobile phones, wireless LAN technologies have developed rapidly.
Users can access a wireless LAN through portable devices such as PDAs or notebook computers to use Internet services within a specified distance from an access point ("AP"). Although no cables or wires are required, the portable devices should be fitted with wireless LAN cards for network access using radio frequency signals.
A conventional wireless LAN is installed as illustrated in FIG. 1. General network and data communication in a system using wireless LAN technology will be explained with reference to FIG. 1. A wireless LAN, as shown in FIG. 1, consists of terminals 100 capable of wireless Internet access, an access point 110 and a network 120. The terminals 100 can be PDAs or notebook computers with a wireless LAN card to access the wireless LAN and use the Internet services. The access point 110 functions as a repeater that enables wireless Internet access. Each terminal can use services such as Internet access via the access point 110. The terminals 100 may communicate with the access point 110 using infrared light or radio frequency.
Among a variety of wireless Internet services available on mobile terminals, such as cell phones or PDAs, location-based services ("LBS") are becoming more and more popular due to its many practical applications and wide availability. LBS can be used in various applications and conditions, such as traffic information and car navigation. To use LBS, the mobile terminal location needs to be known. GPS is widely used to track the exact location of a mobile terminal.
Two methods are commonly used to receive GPS signals from GPS satellites. One method, generally used in conventional terminals, is a stand-alone GPS that calculates GPS satellite orbits and pseudo distances to the satellites using a GPS chipset or module mounted on a terminal circuit and determines the location of the object terminal without any information exchange with an external assistance server. The other is an assisted GPS ("AGPS") method that has recently become popular as an attractive option for providing accurate location. AGPS uses a mobile network to reduce the initialization time that a normal GPS receiver needs to receive navigation data. In AGPS, information about satellite orbits and errors previously measured by a base station is provided to the terminal through a communication means. The GPS chipset or module mounted in the terminal determines the location of the terminal in a short time using the data received from the base station and the calculated pseudo distance from the GPS satellites.
Since satellite orbit information and correction information are transmitted from a position determination entity ("PDE"), installed in the base station, to a mobile station, AGPS ensures faster response times than stand-alone GPS and can track GPS signals even in weak signal conditions such as downtown areas or indoors.
When location or time information is not provided, a mobile terminal has to track search spaces with frequencies and codes of all GPS satellites to acquire GPS signals and calculate its location. AGPS combines rough location and time information from the mobile network with satellite orbit information to predict the GPS satellites currently in view with the Doppler shifts for the visible satellites to reduce the number of searchable satellites and speed up the response. Knowledge of currently operating satellites reduces the number of satellites to search for and reduces response times.
For data exchange with a system providing location determination services using a GPS in a wireless LAN, synchronized accurate time information is used. When the synchronized time information is obtained, a GPS receiver can determine its location using the AGPS data and time information provided by the network, thereby reducing the time-to-first-fix ("TTFF") and improving sensitivity. However, it is difficult to implement an AGPS system in a wireless LAN unless there is a solution to obtain synchronized time.
In a conventional system providing location services, a terminal having a wireless LAN function can obtain AGPS data necessary to determine its location from a position determination entity by accessing the network through an access point, but cannot obtain synchronized time information. To implement an AGPS system in a wireless LAN, a solution to obtain synchronized time is required.

AGPS system using NTP server and method for determining the location of a terminal using a NTP server


A read head optical system capable of reading either CD or DVD disks is provided. A monolithic molded hollow plastic block includes three lenses integrally molded into its exterior surfaces. A 780 nm laser diode is aligned with the first lens for reading CD disks, a 655 nm laser is aligned with the second lens for reading DVD disks and a detector for providing signal, focus and tracking data is aligned with the third molded lens. The hollow plastic block has an interior cavity adapted to support optical elements to receive and transmit the output of the laser diodes to the disks and to the detector. The three lenses are formed in the hollow plastic block in various embodiments.

This invention relates generally to a CD and DVD read head optical system. The invention includes various configurations that combine CD and DVD reader optics into a monolithic moldable plastic assembly including a hollow plastic block which can be made better, faster and cheaper than current discrete component technology designs. The resultant read head optical system will be capable of reading either CD or DVD disks, and capable of writing CD-R disks.
The basic philosophy of the present invention is that optical coatings on plastic substrates (e.g. the dichroic combiner and the output/input beamsplitter) are difficult to produce and drive the cost to a level equivalent to independent component designs. Optical coatings in a solid plastic block would require bonding two plastic blocks together and this is as bad as the coating itself in terms of cost and labor investment. Therefore, square glass plates with the necessary optical coatings can be captured in a hollow plastic block with high alignment precision with low cost. Coating plastic surfaces is considered too risky and costly so coatings have been deposited on glass plates that. are inserted into molded plastic blocks which have integral molded lens surfaces and (in some cases) Total Internal Reflection (TIR) prism surfaces.
Four monolithic embodiments are disclosed. The first embodiment includes a 780 nm laser diode and a 655 nm laser diode with their output beams perpendicular to each other. Two entry surfaces are therefore required to be formed on the hollow plastic block. In the second embodiment, the output beams are parallel, with the 655 nm and 780 nm lasers side-by-side. Only one planar entry surface is required. The third embodiment is a system for use on laptop installations and having a low profile of 6 mm and a single planar entry surface. The fourth embodiment uses a multi-faceted diffractive combiner to merge two laser diode beams, which can be utilized in a low profile (6 mm) configuration for use on laptop installations.


A real-time customized promotion channel may be provided according to at least one attribute of digital contents displayed on a user device. Such a user device may include a communication circuit configured to receive channel service information from the server, an Input/Output (I/O) circuit configured to reproduce digital contents and output the reproduced digital contents to a display, and a controller configured to determine a promotion channel related to at least one attribute of the digital contents and request the determined promotion channel to the server. The communication circuit may be configured to receive the requested promotion channel from the server, and the I/O circuit is configured to reproduce the promotion channel and output the reproduced promotion channel through the display after the outputted digital contents ends.

The present disclosure relates to dynamically providing a promotion channel customized in real-time according to at least one attribute of digital contents that a viewer is watching.
Since a digital video broadcasting system has introduced, many service providers began to provide various types of digital contents according to a viewer's request through a typical TV broadcasting system. For example, a Video-On-Demand (VOD) service is one of representative services for providing digital contents, such as movies and music, according to a viewer or audience's request. In order to provide such a VOD service through a typical TV broadcasting system and enable a viewer to use a typical TV system for such a VOD service, a VOD service channel has been introduced. That is, the VOD service channel is one dedicated channel for a TV broadcasting system. Through such a VOD service channel, a VOD service provider transmits VOD service information. The VOD service information includes information for introducing and promoting available digital contents and information on a user interface for enabling a viewer to interact with a related server of the VOD service provider. When a viewer tunes his/her TV on the VOD service channel, a viewer is able to see information on available digital contents, and the viewer is provided with a user interface for purchasing the selected digital contents and watching the selected digital contents.
Such a VOD service channel may be referred to as a digital contents service channel or a promotion channel. When a user device (e.g., set-top box) is initially turned on (e.g. booting), promotion information may be shown on the VOD service channel in order to promote VOD services to viewers. However, such promotion information is not customized according to viewers' preferences.


A sound enhancement technique that uses transfer functions ai,g of sounds that come from each of one or more positions/directions that are assumed to be sound sources arriving at each microphone to obtain a filter for a position that is a target of sound enhancement, where i denotes a direction and g denotes a distance for identifying each of the positions. Each of the transfer functions ai,g is represented by sum of a transmission characteristic of a direct sound that directly arrives from the position determined by the direction i and the distance g and a transmission characteristic of one or more reflected sounds produced by reflection of the direct sound off an reflective object. A filter that corresponds to the position that is the target of sound enhancement is applied to frequency-domain signals transformed from M picked-up sounds picked up with M microphones to obtain a frequency-domain output signal.

When a movie shooting device (video camera or camcorder), for example, equipped with a microphone is zoomed in on a subject to shoot the subject, it is preferable for video recording that only sounds from around the subject should be enhanced in synchronization with the zoom-in shooting. Techniques (sharp directive sound enhancement techniques) to enhance sounds in a narrow range including a desired direction (a target direction) have been studied and developed. The sensitivity of a microphone pertinent to directions around the microphone is called directivity. When the directivity in a particular direction is sharp, sounds arriving from a narrow range including the particular direction are enhanced and sounds outside the range are suppressed. Three conventional techniques relating to the sharp directive sound enhancement technique will be described here first. The term "sound(s)" as used herein is not limited to human voice but refers to "sound(s)" in general such as music and ambient noise as well as calls of animals and human voice.
[1] Sharp Directive Sound Enhancement Technique Using Physical Properties
Typical examples of this category include shotgun microphones and parabolic microphones. The principle of an acoustic tube microphone 900 will be described first with reference to FIG. 1. The acoustic tube microphone 900 uses sound interference to enhance sounds arriving from a target direction. FIG. 1A illustrates enhancement of sounds arriving from a target direction by the acoustic tube microphone 900. The opening of the acoustic tube 901 of the acoustic tube microphone 900 is pointed at the target direction. Sounds arriving from the front (the target direction) of the opening of the acoustic tube 901 straightly travel through inside the acoustic tube 901 and reach a microphone 902 of the acoustic tube microphone 900 with low energy-loss. On the other hand, sounds arriving from directions other than the target direction enter the tube 901 through many slits 903 provided in the sides of the tube as illustrated in FIG. 1B. The sounds that entered through the slits 903 interfere with one another, which lowers the sound pressure levels of the sounds that came from the directions other than the target direction and reached the microphone 902.
The principle of a parabolic microphone 910 will be described next with reference to FIG. 2. The parabolic microphone 910 uses reflection of sounds to enhance the sounds arriving from a target direction. FIG. 2A is a diagram illustrating enhancement of sounds arriving from the target direction by the parabolic microphone 910. A parabolic reflector (paraboloidal surface) 911 of the parabolic microphone 910 is pointed at the target direction so that the line that links between the vertex of the parabolic reflector 911 and the focal point of the parabolic reflector 911 coincides with the target direction. Sounds arriving from the target direction are reflected by the parabolic reflector 911 and are focused on the focal point. Accordingly, a microphone 912 placed at the focal point can enhance and pick up sound signals even with low energy. On the other hand, sounds arriving from the directions other than the target direction and reflected by the parabolic reflector 911 are not focused on the focal point, as illustrated in FIG. 2B. Accordingly, the sound pressure levels of the sounds that came from the direction other than the target direction and arrived at the microphone 912 are lowered.
[2] Sharp Directive Sound Enhancement Technique Using Signal Processing
Typical examples of this category include phased microphone arrays (see non-patent literature 1). FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating that a phased microphone array including multiple microphones is used to enhance sounds from a target direction and suppress sounds from the other directions other than the target direction. The phased microphone array performs signal processing to apply a filter including information about differences of phase and/or amplitude between the microphones to signals picked up with the microphones and superimposes the resultant signals to enhance sounds from the target direction. Unlike the acoustic tube microphone and the parabolic microphone described in category [1], the phased microphone array can enhance sounds arriving from any directions because it enhances sounds by the signal processing.
[3] Sharp Directive Sound Enhancement Technique by Selective Pickup of Reflected Sounds
Typical examples of this category include multi-beam forming (see non-patent literature 2). The multi-beam forming is a sharp directive sound enhancement technique that collects individual sounds, including direct sounds and reflected sounds, together to pick up sounds arriving from a target direction with a high signal-to-noise ratio and has been studied more intensively in the field of wireless rather than acoustics.
Processing of the multi-beam forming in a frequency domain will be described below. Symbols will be defined prior to the description. The index of a frequency is denoted by a and the index of a frame-time number is denoted by k. Frequency domain representations of analog signals received at M microphones are denoted by X→ (ω, k)=[X1(ω, k), . . . , XM(ω, k)]T, the direction from which a direct sound from a sound source located in a direction θs to be enhanced is denoted by θs1, the directions from which reflected sounds arrive is denoted by θs2, . . . , θsR. Here, T represents transpose and R−1 is the total number of reflected sounds. A filter that enhances a sound from a direction θsr is denoted by W→(ω, θsr). Here, r is an integer that satisfies 1≦r≦R.
A precondition for the multi-beam forming is that the directions from which direct and reflected sounds arrive and their arrival times are known. That is, the number of objects, such as walls, floors, reflectors, that are obviously expected to reflect sounds is equal to R−1. The number of reflected sounds, R−1, is often set at a relatively small value such as 3 or 4. This is based on the fact that there is a high correlation between a direct sound and a low-order reflected sound. Since the multi-beam forming enhances individually sounds and synchronously adds the enhanced signals, an output signal Y(ω, k, θs) can be given by equation (1). Here, H represents Hermitian transpose.
                              Y                                (                          ω              ,              k              ,                              θ                s                                      )                          =                              ∑                          r              =              1                        R                                                                                W                  →                                H                                                          (                                  ω                  ,                                      θ                    sr                                                  )                                                                                X                →                                                          (                                  ω                  ,                  k                                )                                                                        (        1        )
Delay-and-sum beam forming will be described as a method for designing a filter W→(ω, θsr). Assuming that direct and reflected sounds arrive as plane waves, then filter W→(ω, θsr) can be given by equation (2).
                                          W            →                                          (                          ω              ,                              θ                sr                                      )                          =                                            h              →                                                  (                              ω                ,                                  θ                  sr                                            )                                                                                h                  →                                H                                                          (                                  ω                  ,                                      θ                    sr                                                  )                                                                                h                →                                                          (                                  ω                  ,                                      θ                    sr                                                  )                                                                        (        2        )            where, h→(ω, θsr)=[h1(ω, θsr), . . . , hM(ω, θsr)]T is a propagation vector of a sound arriving from a direction θsr.
Assuming that plane waves arrive at a linear microphone array (a microphone array in which M microphones are linearly arranged), then the elements hm(ω, θsr) that make up h→(ω, θsr) can be given by equation (3).
                                          h            m                                          (                          ω              ,                              θ                sr                                      )                          =                              exp                                      [                                                -                                                            j                                                                                ω                                                                                u                                        c                                                                                (                                      m                    -                                                                  M                        +                        1                                            2                                                        )                                                cos                                                                                θ                  sr                                            ]                                ·                      exp                                      [                                                -                  j                                                                                ωτ                                                        (                                          θ                      sr                                        )                                                              ]                                                          (        3        )            where m is an integer that satisfies 1≦m≦M, c is the speed of sound, u represents the distance between adjacent microphones, j is an imaginary unit, and τ(θsr) represents a time delay between a direct sound and a reflected sound arriving from the direction θsr.
Lastly, an output signal Y(ω, k, θs) is transformed to a time domain to obtain a signal in which a sound from the sound source located in the target direction θs is enhanced.
FIG. 4 illustrates a functional configuration of the sharp directive sound enhancement technique using the multi-beam forming.
Step 1
An AD converter 110 converts analog signals output from M microphones 100-1, . . . , 100-M to digital signals x→(t)=[x1(t), . . . , xM(t)]T. Here, t represents the index of a discrete time.
Step 2
A frequency-domain transform section 120 transforms the digital signal of each channel to a frequency-domain signal by a method such as fast discrete Fourier transform. For example, for the m-th (1≦m≦M) microphone, signals xm((k−1) N+1), . . . , xm(kN) at N sampling points are stored in a buffer. Here, N is approximately 512 in the case of sampling at 16 KHz. Fast discrete Fourier transform of the analog signals of M channels stored in the buffer is performed to obtain frequency-domain signals X→(ω, k)=[X1(ω, k), . . . , XM(ω, k)]T.
Step 3
Each of enhancement filtering sections 130-r (1≦r≦R) applies a filter W→H(ω, θsr) for a direction θsr to the frequency-domain signals X→(ω, k)=[X1(ω, k), . . . , XM(ω, k)]T and outputs a signal Zr(ω, k) in which a sound from the direction θsr is enhanced. That is, each enhancement filtering section 130-r (1≦r≦R) performs processing given by equation (4):Zr(ω, k)={right arrow over (W)}H(ω, θsr){right arrow over (X)}(ω,k)  (4)
An adder 140 takes inputs of the signals Z1(ω, k), . . . , ZR(ω, k) and outputs a sum signal Y(ω, k). The addition can be given by equation (5):
                              Y                                (                          ω              ,              k                        )                          =                              ∑                          r              =              1                        R                                                        Z              r                                                  (                              ω                ,                k                            )                                                          (        5        )            Step 5
A time-domain transform section 150 transforms the sum signal Y(ω, k) to a time domain and outputs a time-domain signal y(t) in which the sound from the direction θs is enhanced.
In some situations, for example in a situation where there are multiple sound sources in about the same direction at different distances from a microphone, it may be desired that sounds arriving from the sound sources be selectively enhanced by the sharp directive sound enhancement technique. Consider a situation where a movie shooting device equipped with microphone is zoomed in on a subject to shoot the subject as in the example described earlier. If there is a sound source (referred to as the "rear sound source) in the rear of the focused subject (referred to as the "focused sound source") in the range of the directivity of the microphone, a sound from the focused sound source and a sound from the rear sound source are mixed and enhanced, giving viewers an unnatural listening experience. Therefore, a technique capable of enhancing sounds in a narrow range including a desired direction according to distances from a microphone (a sound spot enhancement technique) is desired. Three conventional techniques relating to the sound spot enhancement technique will be described by way of illustration.    (1) The technique disclosed in non-patent literature 3 is an optimum design method for a delay-and-sum array in a near sound field where sound waves are spherical. The array is designed so that the SN ratio between a target signal from a sound source position and unwanted sounds (background noise and reverberation) is maximized.    (2) The technique disclosed in non-patent literature 4 requires two small microphone arrays and enables spot sound pickup according to distances without needing a large microphone array.    (3) The technique disclosed in non-patent literature 5 distinguish between distances to a sound source with a single microphone array and enhances or suppress sounds from only the sound source in a particular distance range, thereby eliminating interference noise. This technique takes advantage of the fact that the power of a sound arriving directly from a sound source and the power of an incoming reflected sound vary according to distances to enhance sounds according to distances from the sound sources.

Sound enhancement method, device, program and recording medium

NIPPON TELGRAPH AND TELEPHONE CORPORATION


An automatic profiling system and method determines an algorithm profile including performance predictability and pricing of a parallel processing algorithm.

Parallel processing systems of the art have only one processing speed for any particular application running a particular dataset. This is because the number of processing elements that are used to process the application are fixed at compile time. For a parallel processing system whose number of processing elements is not fixed at compile time, but instead can vary at execution time, there remains only one processing element selection criteria—CPU Hours. However, CPU Hours, the amount of time consumed by some number of processing elements, does not give an indication of performance because in order to indicate performance one must be able to predict the performance for some application processing some dataset with some number of processing elements.

Automatic parallel performance profiling systems and methods


A computing platform may be configured to (i) cause a first client station to present a first interface of a SaaS application, (ii) receive, from the first client station, a given video that was recorded at the first client station utilizing the first interface, (iii) transmit a request for the given video to be stored at a third-party cloud storage platform, (iv) receive from a second client station, a communication indicating a request to watch the given video, and (v) after receiving the communication: (a) cause the second client station to present a second interface of the SaaS application, (b) transmit a request to obtain the given video from the third-party cloud storage platform, (c) receive the given video from the third-party cloud storage platform, (d) divide the given video into a sequence of video segments, and (e) stream the sequence of video segments to the second client station.

One category of software applications that exists today are software applications that allow a user to record and manage videos on the user's client station. Typically, a software application for recording and managing videos may take the form of a software as a service (SaaS) application that is hosted by a back-end platform operated by the provider of the SaaS application and delivered to users over a data network such as the Internet. In such a SaaS application, a user may be able to access an interface for recording a video and subsequently record a video. When the video recording is completed, the video may then be stored on the back-end platform for future access by the user. Additionally, in some SaaS applications, the user can also choose the allow other users of the SaaS application to access the video.

Computer system and method for recording, managing, and watching videos


A flight-of-time mass spectrometer is offered which can provide a variable range of collisional energies that can be made wider than heretofore. Also, a method of controlling this spectrometer is offered. The spectrometer has an ion source, a first mass analyzer, an ion gate, a potential lift, a collisional cell, a second mass analyzer, a detector, and a potential control portion for controlling the potential on the potential lift. When the precursor ions selected by the ion gate enter the potential lift, the potential control portion sets the potential on the conductive box at V1. When the potential on the potential lift is varied, the potential control portion varies the potential on the potential lift from V1 to V2 while precursor ions are traveling through the potential lift.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer used in quantitative analysis and simultaneous qualitative analysis of trace compounds and also in structural analysis of sample ions. The invention also relates to a method of controlling this spectrometer.
Description of the Related Art
A mass spectrometer (MS) ionizes a sample in an ion source, separates the resulting ions in a mass analyzer at each value of m/z obtained by dividing the mass (m) by the charge number (z), and detects the separated ions by a detector. The results are represented in the form of a mass spectrum. On the horizontal axis of the spectrum, m/z values are plotted, while on the vertical axis, relative intensities are plotted. In this way, m/z values and relative intensities of compounds contained in the sample are obtained. Consequently, qualitative and quantitative information about the sample can be derived. Various methods are available as ionization method, mass separation method, and ion detection method for mass spectrometers.
A time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer is an instrument that finds the mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) of each ion by accelerating ions with a given accelerating voltage, causing them to fly, and calculating the m/z from the time taken for each ion to reach a detector. In the TOF mass spectrometer, ions are accelerated by a constant pulsed voltage Va. At this time, from the law of conservation of energy, the following Eq. (1) holds.
                                          mv            2                    2                =                  zeV          a                                    (        1        )            where v is the velocity of the ion, m is the mass of the ion, z is the valence number of the ion, and e is the elementary charge.
From Eq. (1), the velocity v of the ion is given by
                    v        =                                            2                                                                                zeV                a                                      m                                              (        2        )
Therefore, the flight time T required for the ion to reach a detector, placed behind at a given distance of L, is given by
                    T        =                              L            v                    =                      L                                                      m                                  2                                                                                zeV                    a                                                                                (        3        )
As can be seen from Eq. (3), the flight time T differs according to m/z of each ion. TOFMS is an instrument for separating ions employing this principle.
A linear TOF mass spectrometer in which ions are made to fly linearly from an ion source to a detector and a reflectron TOF mass spectrometer in which a reflectron field is placed between an ion source and a detector to improve energy focusing and to prolong the flight distance have enjoyed wide acceptance. It is known that reflectron TOF mass spectrometers are used to estimate the compositions of unknown substances, because they can measure the m/z values of unknown substances with errors on the order of ppm with respect to m/z values computationally found from composition formulas.
The mass resolution R of a TOF mass spectrometer is defined as follows:
                    R        =                  T                      2                                                                          Δ                                                                          T                                              (        4        )            where T is the total flight time and ΔT is a peak width.
That is, if the peak width ΔT is made constant and the total flight time T can be lengthened, the mass resolution can be improved. However, in the related art linear or reflectron type TOFMS, increasing the total flight time T (i.e., increasing the total flight distance) will lead directly to an increase in instrumental size. A multi-pass time-of-flight mass spectrometer has been developed to realize high mass resolution while avoiding an increase in instrumental size (non-patent document 1). This instrument uses four toroidal electric fields each consisting of a combination of a cylindrical electric field and a Matsuda plate. The total flight time T can be lengthened by accomplishing multiple turns in an 8-shaped circulating orbit. In this apparatus, the spatial and temporal spread at the detection surface has been successfully converged up to the first-order term using the initial position, initial angle, and initial kinetic energy.
However, the TOFMS in which ions revolve many times in a closed trajectory suffers from the problem of "overtaking". That is, because ions revolve multiple times in a closed trajectory, lighter ions moving at higher speeds overtake heavier ions moving at smaller speeds. Consequently, the fundamental concept of TOFMS that ions arrive at the detection surface in turn first from the lightest one does not hold.
The spiral-trajectory TOFMS has been devised to solve this problem. The spiral-trajectory TOFMS is characterized in that the starting and ending points of a closed trajectory are shifted from the closed trajectory plane in the vertical direction. To achieve this, in one method, ions are made to impinge obliquely from the beginning (patent document 1). In another method, the starting and ending points of the closed trajectory are shifted in the vertical direction using a deflector (patent document 2). In a further method, laminated toroidal electric fields are used (patent document 3).
Another TOFMS has been devised which is based on a similar concept but in which the trajectory of the multi-pass TOF-MS (patent document 4) where overtaking occurs is zigzagged (patent document 5).
As described previously, in a mass spectrometer, ions generated in an ion source are separated according to m/z value in a mass analyzer and detected. The results are expressed in the form of a mass spectrum in which the m/z values of ions and their relative intensities are graphed. This measurement may hereinafter be referred to as an MS measurement in contrast with an MS/MS measurement. In the MS/MS measurement, certain ions generated in an ion source are selected by a first stage of mass analyzer (hereinafter referred to as MS1). The selected ions are referred to precursor ions. These ions spontaneously fragment or are caused to fragment, and the generated, fragmented ions (referred to as product ions) are mass analyzed by a subsequent stage of mass analyzer (referred to as MS2). An instrument enabling this is referred to as an MS/MS instrument. In MS/MS measurements, the m/z values of precursor ions, the m/z values of product ions generated in plural fragmentation paths, and information about relative intensities are obtained and so structural information about the precursor ions can be obtained. Various types of MS/MS instrument exist which can perform MS/MS measurements and in which two of the aforementioned mass spectrometers are combined. Furthermore, various fragmentation methods exist such as collision induced dissociation (CID) using collision with gas, photodissociation, and electron capture dissociation.
Dissociation information about an MS/MS instrument utilizing CID differs according to collisional energy, i.e., the magnitude of kinetic energy of ions impinging on a collisional cell. In the case of currently available MS/MS instruments, CIDs are classified into two types: CIDs of low energies on the order of tens of eV and CIDs of high energies from several kV to tens of keV. The difference depends on the configuration of the instrument. High-energy CID has the advantage that, when a peptide having tens of amino acids chained together is fragmented, side chain information may be obtained. It is possible to distinguish between leucine and isoleucine having the same molecular weight.

Time-of-flight mass spectrometer and method of controlling same


In the heat treatment in the field of a thermite weld between rail ends, the rail ends and the weld are enclosed within a containment filled with an aluminothermic material mixture. The mixture is ignited and the rail ends and the thermite weld are heat-treated for a given period. After the given period, the aluminothermic reaction products and the containment are removed, and an air quench unit is placed about the weld and rail ends and compressed air is directed at the weld and rail ends for a given time period. After the removal of the air quench unit, the weld is allowed to cool to ambient temperature.

The present invention is directed to improving the service life of thermite welds for rails, and involves a special heat treatment of the existing thermite welds for improving their mechanical properties and thereby increasing their service life.
Thermite welding of rails is used throughout the world to join lengths of rails into continuous track work. There are other methods of welding rails, however, the thermite process has experienced wide utilization, due to its relative simplicity, portability of the equipment used, and its low cost. Throughout this century, thermite welds have afforded satisfactory service performance, relative to the service life of other types of welds and of the rail. The advent of increased axle loads in some localities and/or programs intended to extend the life of the rails have placed increased demand on thermite rail welds, which warrants programs aimed at improving the service life of the welds.
Since thermite welds are essentially steel castings, it has been proposed that the mechanical properties of the weld and, consequently, their service life, should be improved by a post-weld heat treatment. In heat treating experiments using samples sectioned from thermite welds, it has been found that the mechanical properties of the welds can be significantly improved by heating the weld into the austenite range and then air cooling, which is a conventional heat treatment known as normalizing. In normalizing, the main benefit is a refinement of the grain size. The weld metal in the rail head, however, may become softened during normalizing and this is undesirable for wear resistance. Further, it is known that thermite weld metal can be heat-treated without softening by heating it into the austenite range and then utilizing enhanced cooling to force the transformation from austenite to pearlite to occur at a lower temperature.
Therefore, it is known that samples sectioned from aluminothermic welds can be heat-treated under controlled conditions for producing weld metal with improved mechanical properties and required hardness by utilizing well-known metallurgical principles. The transfer of the known metallurgical principles from weld samples to the actual treatment of full size welds in existing track work is difficult to achieve and, at the present time, there are no known effective methods.

Method for improving service life of rail welds by aluminothermic heat treatment


A two degree of freedom gyroscope having a drive motor (20), with a permanent magnet rotor (22), which comprises a sensing coil (32) looped around the permanent magnet rotor (22) and disposed in a plane orthogonal to a null spin axis, a torquer coil looped around the permanent magnet rotor (22) and disposed in a plane orthogonal to the null spin axis, and torque drive elements (62, 64, 65) responsive to the signal induced in the sensing coil (32) when the actual rotor (22) spin axis is displaced from the null spin axis (28) for providing current to said torquer coil (34) to urge the axes to coincide. Demodulators (70, 72) can be provided for providing output information in an X-Y coordinate format which is indicative of the actual input angular rates about corresponding axes.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to gyroscopes and more particularly to a permanent magnet, two degree of freedom gyroscope which utilizes sensors and a z-axis torquer for closing the rotor positioning servo loop around the two degree of freedom gyroscope.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art to use permanent magnet motors for driving inertial gyroscope sensing instruments. U.S. Pat. No. 4,818,922 describes a prior art permanent magnet motor drive for a gyro rotor. Permanent magnet motors are utilized in inertial gyroscope sensing instruments where optimum efficiency, rate stability and low run up time are required. The drive motors include a two phase stator, permanent magnet rotor and suitable drive circuitry to start, run up and maintain synchronous speed. The rotor is supported by a hydrodynamic bearing wherein the spinning rotor supplies the pressurized fluid for the bearing.
In conventional two degree of freedom gyros, two separate control paths are utilized using an angle sensor on each axis and a torque transducer acting about each axis. The conventional cartesian or rectangular coordinate means of closing the X-Y loops in a two degree of freedom instrument are described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,862,050. In conventional two degree of freedom gyro loop implementations two separate control paths are utilized using an angle sensor on each axis and a torque transducer acting about each axis. The separate angular sensors are used for sensing tilt about stationary X and Y axes and two separate torquers are used for implementing two stationary servo loops to urge the actual rotor spin axis to the nominal or null spin axis. The output signals from the two sensors serve as inputs to the torquer servo control electronics. The servo control electronics extracts and processes the angular displacement information and provides the drive currents to the two torquers to obtain two axes control.
The present invention eliminates the use of two torquers and two sensors and utilizes a single sensor and a single torquer to obtain two axis control of the gyro rotor.

Polar loop implementation for a two degree of freedom gyro


A method for use in laparoscopic surgery comprises the steps of disposing a laparoscopic trocar sleeve in an abdominal wall of a patient so that the sleeve traverses an opening in an abdominal skin surface of the patient and also traverses an underlying aperture in a peritoneum of the patient and providing a closure device having an elongate shaft and a distal end portion made of bioabsorbable material. The trocar sleeve is removed from the abdominal wall of the patient and at least part of the closure device is inserted through the skin surface opening so that the distal end portion of the closure device is partially disposed proximately to the aperture in the peritoneum. The skin surface opening is at least partially closed subsequently to the removal of the trocar sleeve and the insertion of the closure device. The closure device is maintained in a position at least partially traversing the abdominal wall of the patient so that the distal end portion of the closure device remains partially disposed proximately to the aperture so as to block entry of an abdominal organ into the aperture subsequently to the closure of the opening in the skin surface.

This invention relates to a method for use during a laparoscopic surgical procedure. More particularly, this invention relates to a closure technique for use during a laparoscopic surgical procedure.
Laparoscopy involves the piercing of a patient's abdominal wall and the insertion of a cannula through the perforation. Generally, the cannula is a trocar sleeve which surrounds a trocar during an abdomen piercing operation. Upon the formation of the abdominal perforation, the trocar is withdrawn while the sleeve remains traversing the abdominal wall. A laparoscopic instrument, such as a laparoscope or a forceps, is inserted through the cannula so that a distal end of the instrument projects into the abdominal cavity.
Generally, in a laparoscopic surgical procedure, three or four perforations are formed in the abdomen to enable deployment of a sufficient number of laparoscopic instruments to perform the particular surgery being undertaken. Each perforation is formed by a trocar which is surrounded by a sleeve, the sleeves or cannulas all remaining in the abdominal wall during the surgical procedure.
Prior to insertion of the first trocar and its sleeve, a hollow needle is inserted through the abdominal wall to enable pressurization of the abdominal cavity with carbon dioxide. This insufflation procedure distends the abdominal wall, thereby producing a safety space above the patient's abdominal organs.
Laparoscopic surgery provides several advantages over conventional incision-based surgery. The laparoscopic perforations, in being substantially smaller than the incisions made during conventional operations, are less traumatic to the patient and provide for an accelerated recovery and convalescence. Hospital stays are minimized. Concomitantly, laparoscopic surgery is less time consuming and less expensive than conventional surgery for correcting the same problems.
Laparoscopic surgery is frequently performed to remove a malfunctioning organ such as a gall bladder filled with stones. Generally, a severed bladder is removed from the patient's abdomen by drawing the organ against the distal end of the trocar sleeve and then withdrawing the trocar sleeve with the bladder entrained thereto.
Occasionaly, a complication resulting from laparoscopic surgery is a hernia. A portion of bowel becomes wedged in an aperture left in the peritoneum of the patient upon withdrawal of the trocar sleeve. A need exists for a method to prevent or obviate hernias resulting from laparoscopic surgery.

Closure method for use in laparoscopic surgery


Methods, apparatus, computer applications, and systems are provided for enabling identification of content to be compiled into a shopping application at a user device. In one embodiment, a general layout for a number of content modules to be displayed and identifying information for content to be inserted are provided from a network server to a user device, the user device then calls the appropriate content and utilizes the layout to generate a page for display to the user natively. One specific variant, activity and profile data collected at the user device via a separate application may be stored at the network and used to select content by the server.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Unless otherwise indicated herein, the materials described in this or any section of the disclosure are not prior art to the claims in this application and are not admitted to be prior art by inclusion herein.
Recent advancements in electronics technology has led to the widespread use of portable devices which are able to run computer applications thereon. Accordingly, a wide variety of applications have been developed for mobile devices which take advantage of the advanced processing power of the current devices. One specific application type includes a shopping feature, whereby users may identify and purchase goods. A user may open a so-called shopping app, and review items for purchase such as by searching for particular items or types of items. Such applications are generally developed and compiled at a network server then downloaded to the device for execution as a searchable list of available items. The resultant display is therefore merely a display of the web based content in its original format and layout.
Hence, what is needed is a means for providing native page generation for mobile applications. Ideally, such methods and apparatus would utilize content selected based on previously collected activity and profile data relating to the user and enable delivery of additional content types. Apparatus and methods for accomplishing the foregoing are provided in the present disclosure.

Medium, method and apparatus for native page generation


A gearbox attachment of a wheel drive unit A-shield assembly for an electric vehicle four motor powertrain system is disclosed. The gearbox attachment includes a housing, a gear reduction assembly, and an actuator assembly. The housing is adapted to fasten to an A-shield of the wheel drive unit A-shield assembly. The housing includes an outer ring. The gear reduction assembly is at least partially received in the outer ring. The gear reduction assembly is adapted to receive an output of a gearbox of the wheel drive unit A-shield assembly that is adapted to provide an output of a motor to a single wheel of the electric vehicle. The gear reduction assembly is adapted to provide a gear reduction for a higher torque and slower speed in a gear reduction mode. The actuator assembly adapted to actuate the gear reduction assembly output between the gear reduction mode and a standard mode.

Drive systems for electric vehicles are capable of operating in a variety of conditions, including operating at a high torque output while at low speeds. However, motors outputting high torques often struggle to maintain these torque outputs for long durations due to thermal overload, and in particular, due to the thermal limits of the motor's stator and inverter's insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs). These high torque output scenarios are common in off roading, rock crawling, heavy duty towing, and while operating an electric vehicle in extreme weather conditions.
The present background is provided by way of illustrative environmental context only. It will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that the principles of the present disclosure may be implemented in other environmental contexts equally.

Modular high-low range gearbox attachment


Disclosed are an articulating bed and methods of using the bed. The articulating bed includes a top frame and one or two underlying frames. The top frame includes a first side section and a second side section. One of the side sections is configured to slide in a lateral direction of the bed so as to vary a width of the bed. Further, the sections are configured to hingedly rotate. Various methods include sliding and hingedly rotating the side sections. Further, the methods includes sitting up a person lying on the bed and changing liners while the person is staying on the bed, using the sliding and hinged rotation features.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a bed, and more particularly, pertains to an articulating bed.
2. Discussion of Related Technology
A typical bed includes a frame and a mattress placed over the mattress. Some beds have two or more sections that are bendable relative to each other. Some of these bendable beds are powered by electric motors and change between the flat (lying) configuration and the bent (sitting) configuration. These powered bending beds are typically used in hospitals and nursing homes.

Articulating bed and method of using the same


A fuel pump module for a fuel tank providing improved rigidity includes a first module and a second module. The first module includes a first tank having a first tank room, a direct injection (DI) fuel pump and filter, a port injection (PI) fuel pump and filter, a subtank, and a first flange supporting the filter, the pump, and the like. The second module includes a second tank having a second tank room where fuel is stored separately from the first tank room, a PI filter, a second jet pump, a second flange supporting the filter, the pump, and the like. As a result, a size of two flanges supporting two fuel pumps and two filters is reduced, thereby, reducing a size of two openings of the fuel tank.

Conventionally, a pump module may utilize a plurality of pumps with each pump having respectively different discharge pressures according to an engine operation state, for achieving a high output of the engine and/or for an improvement of the fuel mileage. That is, a patent document 1 (i.e., Japanese Patent No. JP-A-2005-315174) discloses a pump module that includes a direct injection (DI) fuel pump for discharging fuel directly into a combustion chamber of an engine, a DI filter for removing foreign substance from the fuel that is discharged from the DI fuel pump, a port injection (PI) fuel pump for discharging fuel into an air-intake system of the engine, and a PI filter for removing foreign substance from the fuel that is discharged from the PI fuel pump.
In the fuel pump module of the patent document 1, the DI fuel pump, the DI filter, the PI fuel pump, and the PI filter are structurally supported by only a single flange for organizing and housing the components in an inside of a fuel tank. As a result, the flange disposed at an opening of the fuel tank may have a relatively large size for providing support for the two pumps and two filters (i.e., for serving as a base of those parts), which causes the opening of the fuel tank to be relatively large. As a result, the rigidity of the fuel tank having a relatively large opening is low. Further, even when two relatively small fuel tanks are used for the fitting of the fuel pump module according to a certain layout of vehicle components, the relatively small fuel tanks cannot be accommodated by the relatively large flange.


A roundabout having a substantially vertical mast, means forming a support for a gondola mounted to move in a straight line along the mast, driving means for moving the means forming a support along the mast between a low position and a high position and vice-versa, a gondola mounted such that it is mobile with respect to said means forming a support, and wherein there is provided a hub-shaft pair of which one end is integral with the means forming a support and of which the other end is integral with the side surface of a cylindrical drum, the shaft being mounted such that it rotates about a substantially horizontal axis, driving means to rotate the shaft about its substantially horizontal axis, and wherein the gondola includes at least one cylindrical part housed inside the drum, and guiding in rotation to the drum about a substantially vertical axis, and in that the driving means is provided to rotate the cylindrical part of the gondola in the drum, which makes it possible to subject the passengers seated in the gondola to a complete revolution about a substantially vertical axis and to a complete revolution about a substantially horizontal axis.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to fun fair roundabouts and more particularly to roundabouts with tubular or cylindrical gondolas.
Description of the Related Art
Some fun fair roundabouts are already known which comprise:
a substantially vertical mast; PA1 means forming a support for a gondola mounted to move in a straight line along the mast; PA1 driving means for moving the means forming a support along the mast between a low position and a high position and vice-versa; and PA1 at least one gondola integral with the means forming a support and mounted in such a way that it is mobile with respect to said means forming a support. PA1 a substantially vertical mast; PA1 means forming a support for a gondola mounted to move in a straight line along the mast; PA1 driving means for moving the means forming a support along a mast between a low position and a high position and vice-versa; PA1 at least one gondola mounted such that it is mobile with respect to said means forming a support. PA1 a hub-shaft pair of which one of the ends is integral with the means forming a support and of which the other end is integral with the side surface of a cylindrical drum, the shaft being mounted such that it rotates about a substantially horizontal axis; PA1 driving means to rotate the shaft about its substantially horizontal axis; and PA1 the gondola comprising at least one cylindrical part housed inside the drum, and guided in rotation in said drum about a substantially vertical axis, and driving means to rotate the cylindrical part of the gondola in the drum, which makes it possible to subject the passengers to a complete revolution about a substantially vertical axis and to a complete revolution about a substantially horizontal axis. PA1 an additional hub-shaft pair of which one of the ends is integral with the means forming a support and diametrically opposite to the hub-shaft pair, the additional shaft being mounted such that it rotates about a substantially horizontal axis; PA1 driving means to rotate the additional shaft about its substantially horizontal axis; and PA1 an additional gondola integral with the other end of the additional hub-shaft pair. PA1 an additional substantially vertical mast; PA1 additional means forming a support, mounted to move in a straight line along the additional mast; PA1 driving means for moving the additional means forming a support along the additional mast between a low position and a high position and vice-versa, in synchronism with the driving means for moving the means forming a support; PA1 an additional hub-shaft pair of which one of the ends is integral with the means forming an additional (sic) support), the additional shaft being guided in rotation about a substantially horizontal axis; PA1 driving means for rotating the additional shaft in synchronism with the means of driving the shaft in rotation, the other end of the additional hub-shaft pair being assembled to the side surface of the drum in a way which is diametrically opposite to the assembly of the other end of the hub-shaft pair and of the drum.
Most often, the means forming a support for a gondola are also mounted such that they rotate about the mast while driving means are provided to rotate said means forming a support about a substantially horizontal axis.
In general, the gondolas are of ovoid shape. Each gondola is suspended from the end of an arm about which the gondola pivots about a substantially vertical axis.
The passengers firstly take their seats in one of the gondolas when the means forming a support are in the low position.
Then, according to a predetermined sequence, the means forming a support rise up along the mast to a high position and rotate about the mast.
Then the gondola is subjected to a rotary movement about its vertical axis.
Finally the passengers get out of the gondola when the means forming a support have returned to the low position.
The Applicant was faced with the problem of making such roundabouts even more attractive.


A heat exchanger which has a base plate and several carrier plates projecting from the base plate. At least one cooling element is located on each carrier plate. The cooling elements have a substrate with an underside and an upper side. Webs project from the upper side of the substrate and lie one behind the other, the height of which is less than the distance between adjacent webs. The substrate has a plurality of regularly arranged channels that extend through the substrate.

German Patent Application DE 102 33 736.5, which was not previously published, discloses a heat-exchanging device which has a substrate formed as a thin plate with an underside and an upper side and a device to produce an oriented fluid flow, where the underside and the upper side of the substrate are tangentially crossed by the flow. Webs lying one behind the other in the flow direction project from the upper side of the substrate, where the height of said webs is less than the distance between adjacent webs in the flow direction. The webs are arranged transverse to the flow direction. The substrate also has a plurality of channels which are regularly arranged between the webs and which extend through the substrate.
DE 39 29 004 A1 discloses a heat-exchanging device with double plates, which have partitions on their inside and/or outside surfaces, which are shaped as beads or webs, lying transverse to the flow direction. These webs lie one behind the other in the flow direction, where the height of said webs is less than the distance between adjacent webs. The webs create turbulence in the flowing medium and thus effect an improved heat transfer.
DE 38 22 890 A1 shows a cooling arrangement with a blower and a plurality of cooling elements arranged parallel to one another, which are formed from elongated cooling webs and intervening gap openings, where the cooling webs of two adjacent cooling elements are staggered so that, in the flow direction, the cooling webs of one cooling element cover the gap opening of the adjacent cooling element.
DE 198 13 119 A1 shows a turbulence heat recovery device with profile plates, whose profiles in the plate plane are placed alternatingly opposed at the same angle, inclined with respect to the longitudinal extension of the pressure gradient. This is intended to create a turbulent flow, which improves the heat exchange performance.
Cooling devices with a substrate through which channels extend are also known from DE 196 19 060 A1 and EP 0 308 576 A2. The channels can be rectangular or circular.
DE 92 14 061 U1 describes a cooling body, whose heat introduction surface has ribs and furrows to increase the surface.
Heat-exchanging devices of the type described above are used, for example, to cool electronic components, such as microprocessors or chips. Generally, one distinguishes between active and passive cooling devices. With active cooling devices, units such as blowers or ventilators are used either to support or effect heat transport with the aid of a fluid flow. The fluid flow created flows over a cooling body, which is coupled to a heat source and absorbs waste heat from it. Known cooling bodies have a ribbed or columnar structure, e.g., with partially roughened surfaces. The fluid flowing through or around the cooling body thereby absorbs the heat. Air is generally used as the fluid during the cooling of processors. Since air is a poor heat conductor, the cooling bodies must be designed to be relatively large, so as to have heat-liberating surfaces which are large in proportion to the heat introduction surface. For this purpose, the proposal is made in DE 100 41 829 A1 that the heat-liberating surface be substantially larger than the heat introduction surface, which is realized by a prespecified structuring in the form of channels and in the form of furrows, which have a flow connection with the channels.
In addition to the large dimensions, a problem with active heat-exchanging devices is the energy required to create the fluid flow. An effective heat transfer is associated with a relatively high power consumption and spatial requirements for the corresponding device, such as a blower. Also, a good heat transfer takes place from the heat-liberating surface to the fluid, if the heat-liberating surface has a relatively high flow resistance toward the fluid flow, which, however, requires a stronger blower and thus a higher power consumption.
The initially mentioned heat-exchanging device in accordance with DE 102 33 736, which was not previously published, solves the problem of a high heat exchanger performance with low flow resistance and small spatial requirements and also makes possible a good heat transfer using air as a fluid.
In many application purposes, however, the heat source—that is, for example, an electronic component, such as a microchip—is substantially smaller with respect to its heat-liberating surface than an initially described cooling element, so that the cooling element cannot be directly coupled to the heat-liberating surface of the object to be cooled. Thus, the problem arises of transporting the heat energy as rapidly and completely as possible to the cooling elements from where it can then be removed to the surroundings by the fluid.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


In a pool lighting system, each illuminator (10) comprises a color wheel 26, a driver mechanism (24) for rotating the color wheel, and a synchronization circuit (42). The synchronization circuit is responsive to an alternating-current source of power applied to the illuminator to control the driver mechanism to place the color wheel at a predetermined position after a predetermined time subsequent to the alternating-current source of power being initially applied to the illuminator.

Pool lights illuminate the water at night for the safety of swimmers and for aesthetic purposes. The illumination emanates from underwater lights affixed to the wall of the pool. As used herein, a pool is used generically to refer to a container for holding water or other liquids. Examples of such containers are recreational swimming pools, spas, and aquariums.
To enhance the aesthetics, current underwater pool lights use a transparent color filter or shade affixed to the front of the lens of the pool light to filter the light emanating from the lens of the pool light and thus add color to the pool. The color filters come in a variety of colors but only one of these color filters can be affixed to the pool light at a given time. Thus, the color of the pool stays at that particular color that the color filter passes. In order to change the color of the pool, the color filter must be removed from the pool light and a different color filter installed across the lens of the pool light.
An alternate form of adding color to the pool is through the use of fiber optics. A remote source of color light, referred to as an illuminator, illuminates an end of the fiber-optic cable, and the fiber-optic cable conducts the color light to a fiber optic lens assembly that is installed in the pool light. The source of color light from the illuminator is a bulb and a rotating color wheel that has pie-slice segments that are different color filters. The color wheel, driven by a motor, rotates between the end of the fiber-optic cable and a light bulb. As the different color filters rotate past the bulb, the light passing through the color wheel changes color.
Although an improvement over the color-filter-across-the-lens method of providing color, the fiber-optic cable dissipates the light, and, consequently, multiple illuminators are necessary to provide an acceptable intensity of light at the pool. When more than one illuminator is used, the color wheels of the illuminators must be synchronized to provide the same accent color throughout the water.
To achieve synchronization, known fiber-optic pool lighting systems designate one illuminator as a master unit and the other light sources are referred to as slave units. The master unit generates a master reference signal to which the slave units synchronize their color wheels.
To transmit the master reference signal to each slave unit, a three-wire cable is connected from the master unit to the slave units. Because electrical conduit and wires must installed between the master unit and the slave units, costs are incurred.
A need therefore exists for a synchronization circuit for a pool lighting system, illuminator, and method therefore that can synchronize the color wheels of the illuminators without the additional cost of installing electrical conduit and wires between the master unit and the slave units.

Pool lighting system, illuminator, and method therefore


The position of an eye is detectable with high precision from a face image of a person taken under near infrared illumination or the like. After pre-processing, the face image is subjected to brightness correction to increase the contrast between the sclera portion and iris portion of the eye. Brightness gradient vectors are calculated for the brightness-corrected image, and matching is performed between a brightness gradient image generated using the calculated brightness gradient vectors and an eye template. Further, matching with a pupil template is performed to correct the eye center position. Final positions of both eyes are then determined.

The present invention relates to an image processing technology of detecting the position of an eye from a human face image for iris authentication and the like used for entrance/exit control and the like.
In recent years, the technology of personal authentication using iris recognition has been gradually brought into commercial use in association with entrance/exit control, automatic teller machine (ATM), and the like. As an example of such commercial use, conceived is a system of detecting the position of an eye from a human face image taken and performing iris recognition using an enlarged image of the detected eye position.
Techniques for detecting an eye from an image are disclosed in: (1) "Facial Feature Point Extraction Method Based on Combination of Shape Extraction and Pattern Matching", The Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers, Transactions D-II, Vol. J80-D-II, No. 8, pp. 2170–2177, (2) Japanese Patent No. 2973676, (3) Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-63850, (4) Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 12-123148, (5) Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 8-185503, (6) Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-154220, for example.
(1) and (2) above disclose techniques for detecting an eye from an image taken under visible light. Specifically, the technique in (1) extracts features of an eye and the like from a gray-scale image of a face using a separability filter, a filter capable of locating a portion the center of which has a small brightness value while the periphery having a large brightness value. The technique in (2) extracts features of an eye and the like by subjecting a gray-scale image of a face to edge extraction filtering and matching the resultant edge image with templates of face components made of edges.
(3) to (6) disclose techniques for detecting an eye from an image taken by near infrared photography. Specifically, the techniques in (3) and (4) locate an eye by focusing attention on a change in the brightness of the eye in the vertical direction (upper eyelid→iris→lower eyelid). The techniques in (5) and (6) locate an eye by use of reflection of illumination light. More specifically, the technique in (5) utilizes the fact that in the case of co-axial lightning (in which the optical axis of an illuminator coincides with that of a camera), the brightness of reflection from the retina is different from that of reflection from the surface of the cornea, the rim and lenses of eyeglasses, and the like. That is, the eye position is determined from the reflection from the retina by appropriately setting two types of binary threshold values. The technique in (6) focuses attention on a plurality of kinds of reflection including reflection from the cornea of an eye. A kind of reflection exhibiting a large change in brightness with time is recognized as disappearance of reflection from the cornea due to blinking, and based on this recognition, the position of the eye is determined.
In iris recognition systems using the techniques described above, the illumination used is preferably near infrared light rather than visible light. The reason is that, in near infrared illumination, the subject of a photograph, who does not recognize the near infrared light, is prevented from being dazzled with the light and thus less feels a psychological repulsion against being photographed.
However, in an eye image taken under near infrared light, unlike an eye image taken under visible light, the iris has high reflectance and therefore only the pupil looks dark. In this case, therefore, the brightness becomes higher as the position shifts in the order of the pupil, the iris, the sclera, and the skin. This means that the difference in brightness between the iris and the sclera of the eye image is small compared with that of the image taken under visible light. Therefore, detection of an eye will not be successful when the technique of using gray-scale values as disclosed in (1) and the technique of using edge information obtained from gray-scale values as disclosed in (2) are directly applied to an eye image taken under near infrared light. This has been confirmed by experiments performed by the present inventors.
In the techniques in (3) and (4), attention is focused on a change in the brightness of an eye in the vertical direction because the change in the brightness of the eye in the lateral direction is small in an image taken under near infrared light. However, the brightness change of light→dark→light in the vertical direction also occurs at positions of the face other than the eyes, such as the eyebrows, the nostrils, and spots. There is therefore a great possibility of detecting a position other than the eyes by mistake.
The technique in (5) requires a special illuminator for co-axial lightning. In addition, this technique will not work well when the position of reflection from the lens or the like overlaps the position of reflection from the retina. In the technique in (6), it is necessary to wait for the subject blinking to observe a change with time. Therefore, it takes a certain amount of time to detect the eye position. Moreover, if the subject moves during this waiting time, detection of the eye may fail.

Eye position detection method and device

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Charging details are produced for customers in response to their use of telecommunications services. Details of call items for a customer are compiled and a plurality of call types (73, 75, 77) are defined. Each call item is identified as belonging to one of these call types and a notional charge is calculated for each item. Notional charges for each item are accumulated and call categories are defined, wherein at least one of said call categories has a discount rate associated therewith. Accumulated call type values are then mapped onto category accumulators in response to customer reference data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present Application relates to a method of, and an apparatus for, producing charging details for charging customers for use of telecommunications services, of the type in which details of call items are compiled.
2. Related Art
The majority of telecommunications services are provided by the public switched telephone network (PSTN) in which the fundamental element of charging is that derived from the actual use made by the network. Thus, a customer may have access to literally millions of other customers connected to the network but, except for a modest standing charge, charges are only made when the customer establishes communication with another customer connected to the network.
In determining charges for a switched call, components which can affect the charge are (a) the geographical location of the customer being called, (b) the duration of the call and (c) the way in which the call is established. In particular, calls which are established by the direct dialling method are usually charges at a lower rate than charged calls connected by a manual operator.
Under a conventional billing environment, it is a relatively straightforward procedure to develop systems and apparatus for converting these parameters into actual billable amounts. Thus, after all of the necessary information has been collected from local exchanges, where it is stored as calls are being made, it is possible to supply this information to a procedure, whereupon charges are generated automatically and bills dispatched in a highly automated and efficient manner.
Problems can arise, firstly, when it becomes desirable to make modifications to the way in which physical usage of a network is translated into billable amounts. Particularly as telecommunications environments are becoming more competitive, it is desirable to implement more sophisticated marketing tools, so as to provide a competitive edge and so as to maximise revenue from a client base, which is itself becoming more and more sophisticated.
Secondly, technical advances are made which increase the variety of types of call available, such as new exchange systems which may allow a call made on one telephone to be charged to another telephone account, possibly using charge cards or similar account procedures. Furthermore, charge cards may also be used for connecting a customer in a first country to a customer in a second country, while the bill is actually supplied to the originating customer in a third country.
Thirdly, problems can arise due to external charging or legislative constraints, such as variations being made to value added tax or similar taxes added to telephony charges.
It can be appreciated that it would be desirable to provide a more sophisticated system for the charging of usage within a telecommunications network, if only to take account of fiscal and technological constraints with minimal effort. However, having made progress towards overcoming many of the problems associated with changes of this type occurring, it would also be desirable to take full advantage of such a system, so as to be able to implement new marketing tools quickly and efficiently, preferably ahead of competitors, while at the same time minimising the risk of errors being introduced into the system.
A marketing tool which has particular advantage is that of providing discounts for particular types of call. As new marketing opportunities arise, it is advantageous to facilitate the incorporation of new discounting schemes, for instance so as to encourage increased use of the network during off-peak periods. Furthermore, in addition to providing such services, it is also necessary to provide mechanisms by which customers may be selectively given access to these new services. Thus, with the inclusion of sophisticated discounting schemes, environments would exist in which, for a given collection of call usage data, the actual amount billed to a customer will depend upon whether the customer is signed up for a particular type of service.

Charging for usage of a telecommunications network

British Telecommunications Public Limited Company


An actuator that uses electrothermal energy to switch between a first latching position and a second latching position. The actuator contains a leaf spring capable of latching into two distinct positions and two shape-memory wires. The shape-memory wires contract when heated and direct the leaf spring toward the two latching states. Once positioned in a latching state, the leaf spring will remain latched in that position until directed toward a different latching state by one of the shape-memory wires.

(a). Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to actuator technology. More particularly, it relates to an apparatus and method for latching an actuator using thermally reactive shape-memory wires.
(b). Description of Related Art
Current actuators are based primarily on electromagnetics. These actuators convert electrical energy into magnetic energy which is then converted into mechanical energy. The most common types of these actuators are the rocker, the latching solenoid, and the rotary magnet.
In the rocker and the latching solenoids, electric current is passed through a wire coil at one end of an actuator to create a magnetic field. The magnetic field pulls a soft iron rocker (or armature) towards the wire coil. Once in position at the end of the actuator, the soft iron rocker serves as an electrical connection between two terminals. A permanent magnet near the wire coil at the end of the actuator secures the soft iron rocker in position even when the electric current is removed from the wire coil.
When it is desired to open the circuit between the two terminals, an electric current is passed through a second wire coil located on the opposite end of the actuator. This creates a magnetic field that overcomes the magnetic force of the permanent magnet and attracts the rocker toward the other side of the actuator. As the rocker breaks contact with the two terminals, the electrical connection between the terminals is removed. A second permanent magnet is typically used to help secure the rocker near the second wire coil. These actuators require a soft iron moving piece, one or two permanent magnets to provide latching force, two coils, and soft iron pole pieces.
The rotary magnet actuator has two permanent magnets attached to opposite ends of a rotating lever. The permanent magnets are positioned on the lever such that the polarity of one magnet is opposite of the other. A movable permanent magnet is positioned below the rotating lever and provides the mechanical actuating force for the circuit. When it is desired to actuate the circuit, the lever is rotated to bring one of the permanent magnets near the movable magnet. Depending on the polarity of the closest permanent magnet, the movable magnet will either be attracted or repelled. This magnetic force will drive the movable magnet to one end of the rotating actuator. To move the magnet to the other end of the actuator, the lever is rotated to bring the opposite permanent magnet near the movable magnet. This type of actuator requires a moving magnet, a lever, permanent magnets for the disk, and an actuating device to provide rotary motion to the level, which is typically an electromagnetic actuator consisting of a magnet, coils, bearings, and soft iron laminations.
The above-described actuators are relatively bulky, complex, and require a relatively large number of components. Accordingly, these actuators are not well suited for use where space and weight is at a premium, such as spaceships and satellites. There is, therefore, a need for an actuator that is small and light weight, and, therefore, useful in applications such as spaceships and satellites.


A sun visor for vehicles with a sun visor body, a support shaft and a bracket is described, which is distinguished in that the sun visor body consists of a thin plate body and a peripheral frame strip supporting the plate body.

The sun visors for vehicles which presently are customarily used, have a relatively large-dimensioned sun visor body of great weight and of a complicated design. In connection with a first conventional type of embodiment, a support body for the support shaft is initially welded to an insert body, frequently consisting of a wire frame. Cut-to-size pieces made of plastic foam are then placed on both sides of the insert body, and on top of that cut-to-size plastic pieces, which are welded together along their circumference. With another conventional type of embodiment, a wire frame equipped with a support body is placed into the mold depression of a foam mold, and PU, but lately also EPP, is foamed around it. This blank is then covered with plastic foil or cut-to-size textile materials.