An example system causes a computer of an information processing device including a restriction unit for restricting use of functions and a handwritten input receiving unit to carry out functions of requesting an input of a handwritten signature, sending, to a server, a result of a handwritten input which has been input in response to the request of the signature input, and receiving the input of authorization information which has been issued by the server that has received the handwritten input result and which shows that the use of the functions is authorized, and moreover cancelling the restriction by the restriction unit when the input of the authorization information is received.

An example of an information processing program according to the present disclosure is an information processing program for causing a computer of an information processing device including a restriction unit for restricting use of functions of the information processing device and a handwritten input receiving unit to function as a signature input request unit for requesting an input of a handwritten signature, an input result sending unit for sending, to a server, a result of a handwritten input which has been input in response to the request from the signature input request unit and received by the handwritten input receiving unit, an authorization information input receiving unit for receiving an input of authorization information which has been issued by the server that received the result of the handwritten input and which shows that the use of the functions of the information processing device is authorized, and a restriction cancellation unit for cancelling the restriction by the restriction unit, wherein the restriction cancellation unit cancels the restriction by the restriction unit when the input of the authorization information is received.
With the present disclosure, in the information processing device comprising the handwritten input receiving unit, the handwritten signature received by the handwritten input receiving unit is sent to the server, and the authorization information issued by the server is input in response.
In addition, when the input of the authorization information is received, the restriction by the restriction unit is cancelled.
According to the present disclosure, by comprising this kind of configuration, procedures for obtaining the approval for authorizing the user to use a predetermined function can be efficiently performed.
Moreover, the signature input request unit may request the input of the handwritten signature when the input of the authorization information has not been received upon executing software operation in the information processing device, and the restriction cancellation unit may cancel the restriction by the restriction unit when the input of the authorization information has been received upon executing software operation in the information processing device.
Moreover, the restriction unit may impose restriction of the use of the function on a user of the information processing device, and the signature input request unit may request an input of the handwritten signature by an administrator of the user who is different from the user.
Moreover, the information processing program according to the present disclosure may also cause the computer to function further as a transmission destination input receiving unit for receiving from the administrator an input which designates a transmission destination of the authorization information issued by the server, and a transmission destination notifying unit for notifying the server of the transmission destination of the authorization information that has been received by the transmission destination input receiving unit, wherein the authorization information input receiving unit may receive the input of the authorization information issued by the server and received by a termination designated as the transmission destination.
As a result of causing the transmission destination of the authorization information to be the transmission destination designated by the administrator, the issued authorization information can be sent to a terminal that is convenient for the administrator.
Moreover, the transmission destination input receiving unit may receive an input which designates a terminal that is different from the information processing device used by the user as the transmission destination of the authorization information.
As a result of causing the transmission destination of the authorization information to be a terminal that is different from the information processing device that is being used by the user, it is possible to inhibit the unauthorized acquisition of the authorization information by a user who has not obtained the approval of the administrator.
Here, the transmission destination input receiving unit may receive an input which designates an email address of emails to be received by a terminal that is different from the information processing device used by the user as the transmission destination of the authorization information.
Moreover, the authorization information input receiving unit may receive an input of the authorization information based on an operation by the administrator.
As a result of inputting the authorization information sent from the server via the administrator's operation, it is possible to inhibit the authorization information from being input without going through the administrator.
Moreover, the information processing program according to the present disclosure causes the computer to function further as an association unit for associating the authorization information, the input of which has been received by the authorization information input receiving unit, with a password set by the administrator, a password input receiving unit for receiving an input of the password set by the administrator upon executing software operation in the information processing device, and a password determination unit for determining whether the input password, the input of which has been received by the password input receiving unit, coincides with the set password set by the administrator, wherein the restriction cancellation unit may cancel the restriction by the restriction unit when the password determination unit determines that the input password and the set password coincide.
As a result of associating the authorization information, the input of which has been received, with the password set in the information processing device and thereby once associating the password and the authorization information, the restriction by the restriction unit can thereafter be efficiently cancelled by using the password.
Moreover, the information processing program according to the present disclosure causes the computer to function further as a user age determination unit for determining whether the user of the information processing device is under a predetermined age, wherein the signature input request unit may request an input of the handwritten signature by the administrator when the user age determination unit determines that the age of the user is under the predetermined age.
Moreover, the information processing program according to the present disclosure causes the computer to function further as an estimation unit for estimating whether the administrator is a guardian of the user by determining whether the administrator is at or above a predetermined age, wherein the input result sending unit may send the result of the handwritten input to the server when the estimation unit estimates that the administrator is the guardian of the user.
Moreover, the authorization information may be sent from the server by using a communication method that is different from a communication method which enables reception of the authorization information by the information processing device.
As a result of using, for sending the authorization information from the server, a communication method that is different from a communication method which enables reception of the authorization information by the information processing device, it is possible to inhibit a user who has not obtained the administrator's from wrongfully inputting the authorization information, without going through the administrator, by using the information processing device.
Moreover, the information processing program according to the present disclosure causes the computer to function further as an information sharing unit for sharing predetermining information with the server that has received the result of the handwritten input, and an authorization information determination unit for determining whether the authorization information, the input of which has been received by the authorization information input receiving unit, has been issued by the server by using the predetermined information, wherein the restriction cancellation unit may cancel the restriction by the restriction unit when the authorization information determination unit determines that the authorization information, the input of which has been received, has been issued by the server.
As a result of confirming whether the input authorization information is authentic by using the predetermined information shared between the information processing device and the server, it is possible to inhibit the restriction by the restriction unit from being cancelled based on the input of wrongful authorization information.
Moreover, the information processing program according to the present disclosure causes the computer to function further as an input result determination unit for determining whether attribute information pertaining to the handwritten input result satisfies predetermined conditions in the handwritten input result received by the handwritten input receiving unit, wherein the input result sending unit may send the handwritten input result to the server when the input result determination unit determines that the attribute information satisfies the predetermined conditions.
Moreover, the input result determination unit may determine whether a ratio of a handwritten portion relative to a handwritable area is within a predetermined range in the handwritten input result received by the handwritten input receiving unit, and the input result sending unit may send the handwritten input result to the server when the input result determination unit determines that the ratio of the handwritten portion relative to the handwritable area is within the predetermined range.
By determining whether the ratio of the handwritten portion relative to the handwritable area in the handwritten input result is within a predetermined range, it is possible to efficiently determine whether the handwritten signature is appropriate.
Moreover, the present disclosure can also be understood to be a method that is executed by a computer, or a program to be executed by a computer.
Moreover, the present disclosure may also be an item in which the foregoing program is recorded in a recording medium that can be read by a computer or other devices and machines.
Here, a recording medium that can be read by a computer and the like refers to a recording medium which electrically, magnetically, optically, mechanically or chemically accumulates information such as data and programs, and which can be read by a computer and the like.

Computer-readable medium, information processing device, information processing method and information processing system


A method for parameterization of data distributions for efficient information sharing in distributed sensor networks including a plurality of sensors, comprising the steps of performing Bayesian multi-source data fusion and sharing probalistic data information.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to data fusion and more particularly to parameterization of non-linear/non-Gaussian data distributions for efficient information sharing in distributed sensor networks.
2. Brief Description of Prior Developments
In the field of multi-sensor data fusion, decentralized data fusion has become an attractive alternative to centralized data fusion primarily due to the inherent robustness and scalability features that decentralized architectures offer. In its most primitive form, a decentralized sensor network involves processing capability at each sensor—eliminating the need and subsequent vulnerability of a central processing node—along with the capacity for each sensor to efficiently communicate its information to neighboring sensors without requiring any knowledge of the network topology, as disclosed in H. Durrant-Whyte and M. Stevens, "Data Fusion in Decentralized Sensing Networks," Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Information Fusion, 7-10 Aug. 2001, Montreal, Canada, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. To date, the majority of fielded implementations utilizing decentralized data fusion have relied on linear/Gaussian assumptions and the Kalman/information filter. The foregoing is disclosed in E. Nettleton, "Decentralised Architectures for Tracking and Navigation with Multiple Flight Vehicles," PhD Thesis, University of Sydney, February 2003; J. McClellan, G. Edelson and R. Chellappa, "The Listening Eye," Proceedings of the 2004 Collaborative Technology Alliance Conference, 5-7 May 2004, Washington D.C.; R. Alexander, J. Anderson, J. Leal, D. Mullin, D. Nicholson and G. Watson, "Distributed Picture Compilation Demonstration," Proceedings of SPIE (Signal Processing, Sensor Fusion and Target Recognition XIII), Vol. 5429, 12-14 Apr. 2004; D. Dudgeon, G. Edelson, J. McClellan and R. Chellappa, "Listening Eye II," Proceedings of the 2005 Collaborative Technology Alliance Conference, 31 May-3 Jun. 2005, Crystal City, Va.; J. Broussard and M. Richman, "Decentralized Common Operating Picture Compilation in Support of Autonomous Cooperative Behaviors," Proceedings of the 2005 Collaborative Technology Alliance Conference, 31 May-3 Jun. 2005, Crystal City, Va., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Even though such systems have produced impressive results, the natural desire to utilize a wider mixture of more complex sensor types—potentially exhibiting observation and/or process non-linearities along with non-Gaussian distributions—has generated a need for more generalized information fusion techniques. A variety of methods have been applied to the problem of non-linear/non-Gaussian decentralized data fusion in which the majority of such methods have been focused on particle filters, Gaussian mixture models or Parzen density estimators, or some combination of the two. The foregoing is disclosed in M. Rosencrantz, G. Gordon and S. Thrun, "Decentralized Sensor Fusion with Distributed Particle Filters," Proceedings of the 19th Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence, 7-10 Aug. 2003, Acapulco, Mexico; M. Borkar, V. Cevher and J. H. McClellan, "A Monte-Carlo Method for Initializing Distributed Tracking Algorithms" Proceedings of the 2006 International Conference on Acoustics, Speech and Signal Processing, 14-19 May 2006, Toulouse, France; M. Ridley, B. Upcroft, L. L. Ong, S. Kumar and S. Sukkarieh, "Decentralised Data Fusion with Parzen Density Estimates," Proceedings of the 2004 Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks and Information Processing Conference, 14-17 Dec. 2004, Melbourne, Australia; B. Upcroft, L. L. Ong, S. Kumar, T. Bailey, S. Sukkarieh, and H. Durrant-Whyte, "Rich Probabilistic Representations for Bearing Only Decentralized Data Fusion," Proceedings of the 8th International Conference on Information Fusion, 25-29 Jul. 2005, Philadelphia, Pa; L. L. Ong, M. Ridley, B. Upcroft, S. Kumar, T. Bailey, S. Sukkarieh and H. Durrant-Whyte, "A Comparison of Probabilistic Representations for Decentralised Data Fusion," Proceedings of the 2005 Intelligent Sensors, Sensor Networks, and Information Processing Conference, 5-8 Dec. 2005, Melbourne, Australia; L. L. Ong, B. Upcroft, M. Ridley, T. Bailey, S. Sukkarieh and H. Durrant-Whyte, "Decentralized Data Fusion with Particles," Proceedings of the 2005 Australasian Conference on Robotics and Automation, 5-7 Dec. 2005, Sydney, Australia; X. Sheng, Y. Y. Hu and P. Ramanathan, "Distributed particle filter with GMM approximation for multiple targets localization and tracking in wireless sensor network," Proceedings of the Fourth International Symposium on Information Processing in Sensor Networks, pp. 181-188, 25-27 Apr. 2005, Los Angeles, Calif., the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. All of the aforementioned techniques are capable of performing generalized estimation, however, not all techniques lend themselves well to decentralized applications as a result of the scalability concerns they inherently generate.
A need still exists, however, for a highly-scalable, Bayesian approach to the problem of performing generalized, multi-source data fusion and target tracking in decentralized sensor networks.

Parameterization of non-linear/non-Gaussian data distributions for efficient information sharing in distributed sensor networks


An iron powder for decomposition of organic chlorinated compounds, comprising from 0.03 to 0.5% by weight of Ni and from 0.005 to 5% by weight of carbon, wherein particles having a particle size of less than 53 μm occupies less than 40% by weight, is used. It is particularly preferable that Ni, carbon and iron are partially alloyed. When the iron powder for decomposition is used by mixing with, for example, an Ni-free iron powder, the total Ni content can be reduced without deterioration of decomposition performance to organic chlorinated compounds. The iron powder has high decomposition performance in the treatment of a solid such as soil.

In recent years, environmental pollution problem by organic chlorinated compounds such as TCE (trichloroethylene), PCE (tetrachloroethylene), dichloro-methane, PCS (polychlorinated biphenyl) and dioxins is a big problem, and a treating agent for detoxification to soils, wastewater, groundwater and the like polluted by those organic chlorinated compounds, and its treatment method is investigated.
For example, a technique of reduction dechlorinating polluted wastewater and service water with an Fe powder or an Fe powder chemically plated with Ni or Cu is reported (for example, Non-Patent Document 1). However, dissolved oxygen in polluted wastewater and service water is required to remove in order to suppress performance deterioration with the lapse of time of such treating agents themselves. Further, the effect was not obtained unless the range of nickel plating amount showing activity is large.
In the case of a treatment method of polluted soils, sludge, sewage and the like, a method of treatment by adding an iron series treating agent containing carbon to polluted soils of a limited range (for example, Patent Document 1), and a treatment method of using an metal series treating agent comprising a combination of Fe with Ni, Cu and carbon (for example, Patent Documents 2 and 3) are reported particularly as a chemical treatment. However, it was not said that decomposition ability is sufficient.
Other than the above, decomposition of organic chlorinated compounds by a metal series treating agent comprising a combination of Fe with a different kind of elements is reported (for example, Patent Documents 4 and 5). However, in a high-active iron powder having a large proportion of fine particles of 50 μm or less by the method of strong pulverization, there was the problem in safety such as ignition. Further, in fine and high-active iron powder, it is difficult to uniformly mix the same with a solid material such as a soil, and sufficient decomposition performance was not exhibited.
Heretofore, an iron powder for decomposition of organic chlorinated compounds, containing Ni and carbon has been known. However, decomposition rate in soils was low, and a long time was required for the decomposition of sparingly-decomposable PCE. In order to improve those performances, it was necessary to increase the Ni content (Patent Documents 6 to 12).
[Non-Patent Document 1] Senzaki et al., Kogyo Yosui, Vol. 391, (1991), 29
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-11-235577
[Patent Document 2] JP-A-2000-5740
[Patent Document 3] JP-A-2002-20806
[Patent Document 4] JP-A-2003-80220
[Patent Document 5] JP-A-2003-136051
[Patent Document 6] JP-A-2003-105313
[Patent Document 7] JP-A-2004-57881
[Patent Document 8] JP-A-2004-305235
[Patent Document 9] JP-A-2004-305792
[Patent Document 10] JP-A-2005-95750
[Patent Document 11] JP-A-2005-34696
[Patent Document 12] JP-A-2005-118755
As the conventional agent which detoxifies soils, industrial wastes, sewage, sludge, wastewater, groundwater and the like polluted by organic chlorinated compounds, iron series decomposing agents containing different kinds of elements such as Ni and carbon are known. However, iron series decomposing agents that can decompose and clean the organic chlorinated compound faster than those decomposing agents were required. Particularly, in the conventional agents having activity increased by fine particles, it is difficult to disperse in the case of using the same in solid materials such as soils, and as a result, sufficient decomposition properties are not obtained. Further, there was the danger of ignition.
Further, in the conventional iron powder for decomposition of organic chlorinated compounds, it is necessary to increase Ni content in order to improve decomposition ability. Thus, an iron powder for decomposition of organic chlorinated compounds, having high treatment ability for cleaning soils and containing less Ni content was demanded.

Iron powder for organic chlorinated compound decomposition and detoxifying treatment method using the same


A method of pitching rotor blades by interrupting torque applied to the hub.

Pitch, or blade angle on a rotor or propeller should be optimized for its intended application. For example, a shallow, or low-pitch, blade angle is optimized to generate high thrust when the aircraft is stationary or at low translational velocity. With increasing relative speed, however, a low-pitch blade must turn faster, and can become velocity limited by motor RPM and blade-tip speed limits. Conversely, a steep, or high-pitch, blade angle is optimized to generate high thrust at high translational velocity. And at low translational velocities a high-pitch blade requires escalating torque to turn and generates less thrust due to motor torque limitations.
In order to overcome this dilemma, aircraft that operate over a broad range of airspeeds may include a mechanism to vary the pitch of the blades. However, these mechanisms are generally tailored to large aircraft. Because these mechanisms are generally complex, and require an actuator and numerous moving parts, they are not well suited for use on small aircraft. Therefore, small aircraft that operate over a broad range of airspeeds generally utilize blades with a fixed moderate pitch. However, this compromise between the two optimal pitches results in a blade angle that provides inferior low and high translational velocity performance.

Pitch-change apparatus and method of pitching rotor blades


A mounting apparatus for a hard disk drive (HDD) which does not require screw fixings includes a bracket defining a first locating hole and a carrier. The HDD includes a pin. The carrier includes a shell receiving the HDD, a resilient connecting member, an unlocking member installed on a side of the shell, and an operating assembly. The unlocking member includes a resilient abutting plate. The operation member includes a connecting rack with rotating latching member mounted to a front end of the shell. A front end of the connecting member is mounted to the shell, a rear end of the connecting member is detachably connected the bracket. The abutting plate abuts against the pin. A block of the latching member latches in the first locating hole, and a second end of the latching member is detachably latched to the connecting rack.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to electronic devices, and more particularly, to an electronic device with a mounting apparatus for mounting a hard disk drive (HDD).
2. Description of Related Art
The HDDs of computers are mounted in a bracket of the computer. The HDD is directly inserted into the bracket, and a large number of screws extend through sidewalls of the bracket to fix the HDD to the bracket. However, the mounting or removal of the HDD to or from the bracket requires a tool to fasten or release the screws. Thus, the assembly and disassembly of the HDD are not only time-consuming but also laborious.

Mounting apparatus for hard disk drive and electronic device with the mounting apparatus

HONG FU JIN PRECISION INDUSTRY (ShenZhen) CO., LTD.


A softbit speech decoder includes a speech loss concealment circuit receiving bit information, bit error probability data, and a speech information flag from an equivalent channel based on a received signal provided to the equivalent channel. The speech loss concealment circuit also contains a speech data judging circuit for judging whether the speech information flag indicates that the received signal contains speech data, a parameter generating circuit for generating output information, including a speech-parameter error probability vector when the speech information flag indicates that the received signal does not contain speech data. When the received signal does not contain speech data, the speech-parameter error probability vector generated by the parameter generating circuit allows the softbit speech decoder to continue operating.

The present invention relates to a softbit speech decoder, and more specifically, to a softbit speech decoder capable of executing when the received signal contains no speech data.
In digital speech communication, bit errors in noisy channels cause a reduction in quality. To help eliminate bit errors that still remain, a process called error concealment is performed.
In the article entitled "Softbit Speech Decoding: A New Approach to Error Concealment" by Tim Fingscheidt and Peter Vary, published in the "IEEE Transactions on Speech and Audio Processing", Vol. 9, No. 3, March 2001, the authors describe an error concealment approach using a softbit speech decoder. This article is herein incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a functional block diagram of a speech decoding system 10 utilizing a softbit speech decoder 50 according to the related art. In the speech decoding system 10, an equivalent channel 12 provides speech parameters X(t) and bit error probability data P(t) to a parameter transition probability circuit 14 of the softbit speech decoder 50. The parameter transition probability circuit 14 takes this data and thereby calculates speech-parameter error probability data W(t), which is sent to an a posteriori probability circuit 16. The a posteriori probability circuit 16 receives prior knowledge from an a priori knowledge circuit 18 and thereby provides probability information about any possibly transmitted bit combination. All of this data is output from the a posteriori probability circuit 16 to a parameter estimation circuit 20, which generates estimated speech parameters V(t) accordingly.
As long as the equivalent channel 12 is receiving speech data, the equivalent channel 12 provides this speech data to the softbit speech decoder 50, and the softbit speech decoder 50 will operate normally. However, if the equivalent channel 12 receives control signals instead of speech data, the parameter transition probability circuit 14 will not be able to produce the speech-parameter error probability data W(t), and the softbit speech decoder 50 will cease operation. Therefore, the softbit speech decoder 50 will not be able to reduce the subjective effects of bit errors that have not been eliminated by channel decoding when no speech data are transmitted.

Softbit speech decoder and related method for performing speech loss concealment


A fingerprint image is processed from its original gray tone image to a binary (black and white) image. The "ridge" skeletal image is formed of the black portions of the binary image, being derived from the ridges of the fingerprint. A separate "valley" skeletal image is formed of the white portions of the binary image, being derived from the valleys interposed between the ridges. Ridge minutiae are detected from the ridge skeletal image and processed to eliminate apparently inappropriate minutiae. Separately, valley minutiae are detected from the valley skeletal image and processed to eliminate apparently inappropriate minutia. Then the ridge and valley minutiae are processed together. Only those ridge minutiae that can be correlated locally with individual valley minutiae survive to be passed to a fingerprint matcher.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention generally relates to the methods and apparatus for determining the true minutia within a fingerprint for the purpose of the subsequent matching or comparing fingerprint minutia data sets, and more specifically relates to a minutia detector which determines a minutiae list from the association of a ridge skeletal image and a valley skeletal image and their independently determined minutiae.
2. Description of the Related Art
The appearance of fingerprints is well known. Closely spaced, generally parallel ridges of friction skin appear black on an inked fingerprint (or "print"). The ridges exhibit usually a generally circular flow around the center, or "core" of the print. Asai (U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,352, col.5, line 68) observes that, in general, one can tell where is the tip of the finger by looking at the ridge flow. People have a maximum ridge density of about 32 ridges/cm (Bunn, 4,641,350 column 4, line 44).
At specific points a ridge may terminate at a "ridge end" or may divide into two ridges at a "bifurcation". Other morphological events, such as "bridges", "islands" and "trifurcations" (McMahon, 4,208,651 col. 3, line 20; Riganati et al., 4,135,147 col. 4, line 67; Schiller, 4,752,966 col. 1, line 36), are known as well. These points are known as minutiae (singular, "minutia" ), and they number typically 50-200 on people's fingers (Riganati et al., 4,135,147 col. 5, line 36). Their disposition across the fingerprint, unique to the individual and to the finger, form a basis for using fingerprints to identify people.
In order to compare fingerprints, an automated system may implement typically, and very broadly speaking, processing in four steps on a digitized grey-level image of each given print. These are:
i) Preliminary Image Processing. This is a sequence of directional smoothing, filtration and contrast enhancement. Processing will include establishing a "direction map" of the apparent ridge flow. The direction map is an image whose values are circular, corresponding to traversing .pi. radians. Processing may include detection of areas which are blurred or unclear. The resultant grey-level image presumably has smaller local variations in image intensity and is clearer than the original.
ii) Binarization. Roughly, this turns all dark pixels black and all light pixels white. The process will usually take into account a direction map, similar to that used in Preliminary Image Processing, but applied now to the image input to this second step. The process may fit a directional filter matched to the average local ridge and valley structure. Ideally the resultant binary image will show thick, smooth black ridges.
iii) Skeletonization. The thick black ridges in the binary image are "thinned" down to one-pixel thickness. The result should be a skeletal image where long thin ridges are interrupted by locations which are obvious ridge ends or bifurcations.
iv) Minutia Identification. Given the skeletal image, all candidate ridge ends and bifurcations are identified. Repairs are made to the skeletal image where there are obvious problems with detail, and corresponding updates are performed on the corpus of candidate minutiae.
The last step, Minutia Identification, typically cannot resolve all problems with detail in the skeletal image. Hence, at the end of the processing outlined above, the resultant corpus of candidate minutiae usually contains "false" minutiae, ones that properly should not be used to match the print against others. These false minutiae are a serious problem for a fingerprint matcher that consumes minutiae, slowing down its processing while providing greater opportunity for false matching between prints. A matcher that depends on local relationships among minutiae has the further problem that these false minutiae will interrupt the true relationships. For instance, if the matcher needs the closest minutia to another, an interposed false minutia will mask the truly closest one.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to reduce the number of these false minutiae.
False minutiae occur in areas of the skeletal image where the ridge morphology has been interpreted incorrectly. Many times a false "bridge" will connect two otherwise well behaved neighboring ridges. This failure derives often from a very dark local area of the acquired grey-level image, wherein the Binarizer does not interpose white valley pixels through the area. The Skeletonizer then, not having a continuous thin row of white pixels from which to start eroding the black, renders an interpretation of the local area as "H" instead of as "II".
Other failures, where the ridge structure has been thinned inappropriately, are often easy to see. In extremely untoward cases areas with poor morphology may look more like a "honeycomb" than like parallel ridges. Such problems can arise from several causes, including:
i) The direction maps of either Preliminary Image Processing or Binarization may fail to characterize properly the ridge flow, particularly in areas with high ridge curvature.
ii) Blur detection in Preliminary Image Processing may fail, leading to a failure properly to mask scarred or otherwise truly unclear areas of the print.
iii) The Binarizer may fail to characterize the local ridge and valley profile, especially when ridges are too thick near the crease of the first finger joint.
iv) Given the exigencies of connectivity of black areas in the binary image, some small local areas may reveal various anomalies in the Skeletonizer. These anomalies may tend to be subtle. Sometimes their interpretation of connectivity in places, while not wrong, may be unexpected.
Minutia Identification performs most of the requisite repairs. Each such repair involves a reduction in the number of apparent minutiae that reside on the skeletal image. Among such repairs are: repairing small breaks in ridges, eliminating small islands and ridge spurs, and eliminating small apparent "bubbles" in ridges. Many of these examples may derive from true conditions on the finger itself. Ridge spurs and other noted conditions are certainly known. Apparent bubbles often represent pores in the skin. But these true details cannot be distinguished easily from false details with similar skeletal morphology. In particular, apparent bubbles occur where the ridge thickness is much greater than average. Each such repair involves a reduction in the number of apparent minutiae that reside on the skeletal image.
Minutia Identification cannot resolve all problems with detail in the skeletal image. There is a limit to what can be done to repair a ridge skeleton without then beginning to destroy the structure about true minutiae. We would like another source of knowledge, in addition to the ridge skeleton itself. The natural dark-light symmetry of the fingerprint provides us additional information which can be used by the Minutia Detector.
For a normal, high-quality minutia to be derived from a clear ridge on the binary image, one would expect that the "inverse" part of the binary image about the ridge would be similarly clear. The white space interposed about the black ridges correspond to "valleys" between the ridges. A clear ridge end should be nestled in the "Y" of a "bifurcation" of the surrounding valley. Conversely, a clear ridge bifurcation should surround a valley "end". Hence, at least for minutiae limited to "endings" and "bifurcations", ridges and valleys "mirror" each other. Schiller (4,227,805 col. 1, line 10 and 4,752,966 col. 1, line 20) refers to minutiae of both ridges and valleys. Bowles et al. (4,525,859 col. 2, line 27) note that the terminations of valleys are ridge bifurcations. Also Davis (5,420,937) makes similar observations (see below).
It is in fact true, minutiae can be determined by either the processing of a ridge image or the processing of a valley image. It is also true that certain false minutiae can be detected using specific editing criteria embedded within either process. Either process used individually, however, retains a number of false minutiae which may be undesirable in a subsequent match process.
With the above background in mind, the inventors have recognized a need to provide a minutia detector that is more accurate in the elimination of false minutiae.

Ridge-valley minutia associator for fingerprints


Data transfer over an IP network is effected in a manner that improves the use of available communications channels and makes possible enhanced data routing control and monitoring. According to an example embodiment of the present invention, data is transferred over an IP network having a plurality of communication links. An origin node coupled to the network supplies data to the network, and system nodes coupled to the network are adapted to store at least a portion of the data supplied by the origin node. Two or more servers are adapted to route data between at least one of the system nodes and the network. A network-distributed application routing controller is implemented throughout the network and ascertains location information of the data supplied by the origin node. A data request from one of the system nodes is received at the application routing controller. In response to the request, the supplied data is routed from a node on the network over at least one of the servers and via one or more communication links to the node at which the request has been made.

Network data communications over Internet protocol (IP) and other networks have increased at an astonishing rate over recent years. The affordability and availability of computers, IP telephones, wireless IP devices and other network access appliances has made their use prevalent in a variety of applications. In addition, as access to the Internet and other networks becomes easier, these mediums are increasingly used for data transfer applications. For example, data for computer software, music, video, news services, games and other applications is being requested and delivered via the Internet. Today, the number of network subscribers, data providers, and requests by those subscribers for data transfer are growing exponentially faster than the capability of current data transfer systems are expanding to meet the demand. In addition, the limitations of current systems restrict the ability to meet the demand in an efficient and affordable manner.
For many communication applications, the increase in use and lack of availability of data transfer requires the creative use of communications channels. To meet these and other data transfer needs, networks have been enhanced both in the ability to process larger quantities of data and in the ability to process data at a higher rate of speed. In addition, network access appliances have been improved to increase the speed at which data can be transferred. However, as the demand for high quantity and quality data transfer increases, these needs become more difficult to meet.
One challenge to data transfer on the Internet stems from the inflexibility of data transfer channels. For example, if a data supplier sells data to an end user via the Internet, the end user typically downloads the data using one of only a handful of download locations operated at the control of the supplier. This type of operation can be cumbersome and expensive because the data may have to travel a significant distance and thus take up more time and space in the communications network. In addition, the transfer of data is limited by the location of the download locations.
Another challenge to effective network data transfer has been the inability to effectively use communications channels to manage the transfer of data. For example, various communications channels have sufficient bandwidth to transfer a variety of data simultaneously. However, the nature of data transfer in the past has often left excess data transfer capability in some communications channels unused, while other channels are overloaded and unable to meet transfer needs. In addition, network data transfer typically has high and low periods of traffic that are related to the time of day that the data is being transferred. For instance, business users often move data during daytime hours and consumers often move data during nighttime hours.
Still another challenge to network data transfer is to track the location and transfer of data for purposes including billing and data management. Tracking of data transfer is useful to subscription and other content providers to generate billing for users of the content. For instance, music, movies and other content delivered via the Internet need to be tracked to accurately bill a user requesting the content.
The inability to effectively and efficiently manage large quantities of data transfer via communication networks and the Internet is a hindrance to the advancement of technologies and trade channels that use or could use network-based data transfer.


Methods and apparatuses are provided for facilitating determination of a state of a receiver buffer. A method may include receiving, at a first time, a data packet of a data stream transmitted by a sending apparatus. The method may further include generating, at a second time, a periodically generated receiver reporting message. The method may additionally include determining an interval time defining an interval between the first time and the second time. The method may also comprise causing an indication of the interval time to be sent to the sending apparatus. Corresponding apparatuses are also provided.

The modern communications era has brought about a tremendous expansion of wireline and wireless networks. Wireless and mobile networking technologies have addressed related consumer demands, while providing more flexibility and immediacy of information transfer. Concurrent with the expansion of networking technologies, an expansion in computing power has resulted in development of affordable computing devices capable of taking advantage of services made possible by modern networking technologies. This expansion in computing power has led to a reduction in the size of computing devices and given rise to a new generation of mobile devices that are capable of performing functionality that only a few years ago required processing power that could be provided only by the most advanced desktop computers. Consequently, mobile computing devices having a small form factor have become ubiquitous and are used to access network applications and services by consumers of all socioeconomic backgrounds.
The expansion of networks and concurrent evolution of mobile computing devices and other networked computing devices has resulted in a large base of devices having sufficient processing power, storage space, and network bandwidth to enable the transfer and playback of increasingly complex digital media files. Accordingly, Internet television, video sharing, other video streaming, and audio streaming are gaining widespread popularity.

Methods and apparatuses for facilitating determination of a state of a receiver buffer


A retaining clip for constraining a heat shield for use with an aircraft wheel assembly. The retaining clip includes a first end and a second end axially opposite the first end, the first end being opposite the second end along a longitudinal axis. The retaining clip further includes a first side and a second side each having a curvature forming a U-shaped cross section such that an outer edge of each of the first side and the second side extends back towards the longitudinal axis. The retaining clip further includes a migration stop defined by the first side at the first end, the migration stop extending past the outer edge of the second side and configured to interface with hooks of the heat shield to resist axial movement of the retaining clip relative to the heat shield.

Some aircraft include one or more landing gear having wheels for supporting the aircraft while the aircraft is not airborne. Many wheels can include a braking system positioned within the wheel to aid in reducing forward velocity of the aircraft during taxi and landing. The braking system can generate relatively large amounts of heat due to the relatively large mass of the aircraft and due to the relatively high velocity of the aircraft upon landing. A heat shield may be positioned between an inner surface of the wheel and the braking system in order to reduce an amount of heat transfer from the braking system to the wheel and a corresponding tire.


A new high resolution confocal and non-confocal scanning laser macroscope is disclosed which achieves fine focus and control of focus position by moving a lens in the intermediate optics. This arrangement is particularly useful for imaging specimens where it is difficult to focus by changing the distance between the scan lens and the specimen, for example for in-vivo imaging, photodynamic therapy, and image-guided surgery. It is also important to keep the lens-to-specimen distance constant when a liquid-immersion scan lens is used, in order to maintain a constant thickness of liquid between the lens and the specimen. In addition to being useful for confocal slicing, motion of the intermediate lens under computer control also enables dynamic focus and the ability to move the focal spot along a general path inside the specimen. Several applications of the imaging system are described. The macroscope images macroscopic specimens in reflected light, transmitted light, fluorescence, photoluminescence and multi-photon fluorescence.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the fields of confocal and non-confocal imaging of microscopic and macroscopic samples with particular emphasis on scanning beam fluorescence and photoluminescence imaging systems, including multi-photon fluorescence imaging and spectrally-resolved fluorescence imaging. Applications include imaging tissue specimens, genetic microarrays, protein arrays, tissue arrays, cells and cell populations, biochips, arrays of biomolecules, and many others. Other applications of this optical system include photodynamic therapy, image-guided microsurgery, and many others.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 1 shows one embodiment of a prior art confocal scanning laser macroscope, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,760,951. In this embodiment, the incoming laser beam 101 from laser 100 passes through a spatial filter and beam expander (comprised of lens 102, pinhole 104 and lens 106), and is expanded to match the diameter of the entrance pupil 112 of laser scan lens 118 (note—entrance pupil 112 as indicated on the figure simply indicates the position of the entrance pupil. A real stop if not usually placed at this position). Scanning mirrors 110 and 116 deflect the beam in a raster scan, and rotate about axes that are perpendicular to each other. These mirrors are placed close together, on either side of the entrance pupil of the laser scan lens. Laser scan lens 118 focuses the beam to a spot on the sample 120, and reflected light is collected by laser scan lens 118, descanned by scanning mirrors 116 and 110, and partially reflected by beamsplitter 108 into a confocal detection arm comprised of lens 128 and pinhole 130. A detector 132 is located behind the pinhole 130. Light reflected back from the focused spot on the sample passes through pinhole 130 and is detected, but light from any other point in the sample runs into the edges of the pinhole and is not detected. The scan mirrors are computer-controlled to raster the focused spot across the sample. A computer, represented by computer screen 134, is connected to the detector 132 to store and display a signal from detector 132. The computer provides means for displaying the signal from the detector. This confocal macroscope has properties similar to those of a confocal scanning laser microscope, except that the field of view of the microscope is much smaller.
Several other embodiments of the macroscope are presently in use. These include instruments for fluorescence and photoluminescence (including spectrally-resolved) imaging (several other contrast mechanisms are also possible), instruments in which a stage scan in one direction is combined with a beam scan in the perpendicular direction, non-confocal versions, and other embodiments. The combination of a scanning laser macroscope with a scanning laser microscope to provide an imaging system with a wide field of view and the high resolution capability of a microscope was described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,532,873.
The prior art macroscopes described herein and in the literature have some limitations. When focusing the instrument on a specimen, either to achieve best focus or for confocal slicing, focus position is achieved by changing the distance between the specimen and the laser scan lens. This is usually accomplished by raising or lowering the specimen on an adjustable or motorized specimen stage, or by raising or lowering the laser scan lens (or the macroscope itself) relative to the specimen. Some specimens are difficult to move, or too large to be placed on a specimen stage (one example is the human body, when the instrument is used for in-vivo imaging). This makes fine focus motion difficult to accomplish, and in the case of a macroscope using a liquid-immersion laser scan lens, changes the distance between the scan lens and the specimen, making it difficult to maintain a uniform layer of immersion fluid between the scan lens and specimen.


This invention relates to a phonics and reading teaching device which depicts an arrangement of indicia representing letters of the alphabet and their associated phonemes. Selection of individual indicia causes the device to generate an audio signal or other response. The audio signal is generated by an output in the form of a speaker, and a processor is provided for controlling the operation of the device. In one mode of operation, the processor causes the speaker to produce a prompting signal indicating a word, and in response to each sequentially correct selection of a letter in the word, to produce a signal representative of a phoneme associated with the letter. The phoneme produced is dependent on the position of the letter in the word. When all of the letters in the word have been selected in correct order, the processor causes the speaker to produce a signal representing a pronunciation of the word or other affirmative acknowledgement. In another mode of operation, the processor operates in a "Make a word" mode. The processor responds to a selection of a letter by causing the speaker to produce a signal representative of the name or phoneme of the letter, and waits for another letter to be selected. After a predetermined number of letters have been selected, the processor causes the speaker to produce a signal representative of phonemes associated with each of the letters and a signal representative of a pronunciation of the sequence of letters.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to children's education toys and more particularly, to an interactive phonic teaching device.
2. Background
Children learn letters, numbers and the names of various objects by audible repetition accompanied by visualization of the object. Often, a parent or teacher will read a book aloud while pointing to the object depicted by the word which is read. In this way, the child is able to visually associate the object with its name. This method of teaching is generally passive, i.e., there may be little interaction between the child and subject matter. Interactive teaching methods using multiple sensory perceptions are more effective than mere memorization, and kinesthetic engagement has been shown to enhance learning.
Voice synthesizers are used in a number of devices and children's toys. These devices are advantageous in that a child may use them interactively alone, without close supervision. Other devices use voice synthesis devices for various purposes. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,357,489 to Henderson and 4,689,811 to Kroon each disclose an integrated circuit for synthesizing speech. U.S. Pat. No. 4,646,350 to Batra employs such an integrated circuit in a child's shoe to provide an audible message when opening or closing the shoe. Often, however, the devices of the kind mentioned above fail to provide meaningful learning when incorporating voice synthesis devices. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,533 to Michael C. Wood, there is a significant advance made in the art to overcome some of the deficiencies noted above.
This invention further builds and improves on the advances made in the Wood '533 patent. The device described herein provides many advantages over prior art devices in such a way as to invite interaction with children and facilitate the learning process for speaking, reading and memorization.


A system for three-dimensional visualization of object in a scattering medium includes a sensor for receiving light from the object in the scattering medium and a computing device coupled to the sensor and receiving a plurality of elemental images of the object from the sensor. The computing device causes the elemental images to be magnified through a virtual pin-hole array to create an overlapping pattern of magnified elemental images. The computing device also averages overlapping portions of the element images to form an integrated image.

The present invention relates generally to the field of systems and methods for three-dimensional (3D) imaging including, but not limited to, systems and methods for 3D image processing and for 3D visualization of objects and targets in a scattering medium.
Integral imaging and digital holography techniques have been studied for real-time sensing, visualization and recognition of real-world objects. Integral imaging is a passive three dimensional (3D) imaging technique that utilizes multi-perspective information to extract the depth information of a 3D object. In such a system, a lenslet array or an imaging device with a synthetic aperture captures a set of 2D elemental images from slightly different perspectives that together contain the 3D information of an object. The computational modeling of integral imaging for 3D visualization of the object can be performed by using a virtual ray propagation algorithm.
In digital holography, a digital hologram, i.e. the diffraction pattern of the object illuminated by coherent light, is recorded on an image sensor. The original 3D field of the object is computationally reconstructed from the digital hologram of the object by using a virtual Fresnel propagation algorithm.
These two 3D optical imaging systems have found a variety of applications including 3D image recognition, occluded 3D object visualization, automatic analysis of 3D microscopic image data, holographic tomography, and 3D display.
Current technologies used in the field to address visualization of objects in scattering media comprise the use of Laser Radar (LADAR). LADAR suffers from being expensive, complex, and limitations of photon counting sensors. Also, it cannot be used for persistent surveillance.

System and methods for three-dimensional imaging of objects in a scattering medium


The present invention addresses the problem of providing: a polishing pad that is long-lasting, has a high polish rate, and is capable of producing a high degree of flatness on polished articles; and a method for manufacturing the polishing pad. The solution provided is to eliminate a sea component from a non-woven fabric that includes a binder fabric and a sea-island type composite fiber composed of the sea component and an island component, the island component having a diameter of 10-2500 nm, and to add a polymer elastic body to the non-woven fabric.

In recent years, in addition to the high integration and multilayer wiring of integrated circuits, there is a need for semiconductor wafers on which integrated circuits are formed to have high flatness. Chemical mechanical polishing (CMP) is known as a polishing method for polishing such semiconductor wafers. Chemical mechanical polishing is a method for polishing the surface of a workpiece with a polishing pad while a slurry of abrasive particles is applied dropwise thereon. Furthermore, the drawbacks thereof are when polishing semiconductor wafers, since processing is difficult, the polishing time becomes long and the processing cost becomes large.
For this reason, there is a need for a polishing pad capable of achieving excellent workpiece flatness and a high polishing rate. At the same time, it is necessary that the polishing pad have a long life.
However, excellent workpiece flatness and high polishing rate are contradictory requirements and it is extremely difficult to achieve both at the same time. Specifically, in order to achieve workpiece excellent flatness, a polishing pad having a soft and smooth surface is advantageous. Conversely, in order to achieve a high polishing rate, a polishing pad having a hard, uneven surface is advantageous.
For example, Patent Literature 1 proposes a polishing pad using ultra-fine fibers and an elastomer. However, since sea-island-type composite fibers become ultra-fine fibers after the base material has been impregnated with an elastomer, many gaps form in the polishing pad and there is a problem in that the polishing pad is too soft. Since it is difficult to achieve a high hardness in such a polishing pad, it is difficult to achieve excellent workpiece flatness and long life.
Furthermore, Patent Literature 2 proposes a polishing pad comprising a dense non-woven fabric using ultra-fine fibers and an elastomer. In such a polishing pad, a high rigidity is maintained by a fiber bundle comprising ultra-fine long fibers. However, since the polishing pad is densified and the porosity thereof is low, it is difficult for abrasive polishing particles to sufficiently accumulate therein, and there is a problem that it is difficult to achieve a high polishing rate.

Polishing pad and method for manufacturing same


Compositions and methods are provided for preparation of concentrated stock solutions of AAV virions without aggregation. Formulations for AAV preparation and storage are high ionic strength solutions (e.g. μ˜500 mM) that are nonetheless isotonic with the intended target tissue. This combination of high ionic strength and modest osmolarity is achieved using salts of high valency, such as sodium citrate. AAV stock solutions up to 6.4×1013 vg/mL are possible using the formulations of the invention, with no aggregation being observed even after ten freeze-thaw cycles. The surfactant Pluronic® F68 may be added at 0.001% to prevent losses of virions to surfaces during handling. Virion preparations can also be treated with nucleases to eliminate small nucleic acid strands on virions surfaces that exacerbate aggregation.

Recombinant adeno-associated virus (rAAV) is a promising vector for human gene transfer. Grimm, D., and Kleinschmidt, J. A. (1999) Hum Gene Ther. 10: 2445-2450; High, K. A. (2001) Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 953: 64-67; Pfeifer, A., and Verma, I. M. (2001) Ann. Rev. Genomics Hum. Genet. 2: 177-211. AAV is a member of the Dependovirus genus of the parvoviruses. AAV serotype 2 (AAV2) is composed of a single-strand DNA molecule of 4680 nucleotides encoding replication (rep) and encapsidation (cap) genes flanked by inverted terminal repeat (ITR) sequences. Berns, K. I. (1996) in Fields Virology (B. N. Fields et. al. Eds.), pp. 2173-2197. Lippincott-Raven Publishers, Philadelphia. The genome is packaged by three capsid proteins (VP1, VP2 and VP3), which are amino-terminal variants of the cap gene product. The resulting icosahedral virus particle has a diameter of ˜26 nm. A high resolution crystal structure of AAV2 has been reported. Xie, Q. et al. (2002) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 99: 10405-10410.
The solubility of purified AAV2 virus particles is limited, and aggregation of AAV2 particles has been described as a problem. Croyle, M. A. et al. (2001) Gene Therapy 8: 1281-1290; Huang, J. et al. (2000) Mol. Therapy 1: S286; Wright, J. F. et al. (2003) Curr. Opin. Drug Disc. Dev. 6: 174-178; Xie, Q. et al. (2004) J. Virol. Methods 122: 17-27. In commonly used buffered-saline solutions, significant aggregation occurs at concentrations of 1013 particles/mL, and aggregation increases at higher concentrations. Huang and co-workers reported that AAV vectors undergo concentration-dependent aggregation. Huang, J. et al. (2000) Mol. Therapy 1: S286. Xie and coworkers (Xie, Q. et al. (2004) J. Virol. Methods 122: 17-27) similarly reported that at concentrations exceeding 0.1 mg/mL, AAV2 vectors require elevated concentrations of salt to prevent aggregation. Aggregation of AAV2 vectors occurs at particle concentrations exceeding 1013 particles/mL in commonly used neutral-buffered solutions such as phosphate- and Tris-buffered saline. This corresponds to a protein concentration of ˜0.06 mg/mL, and emphasizes the low solubility of AAV2 under these conditions. The effective vector concentration limit may be even lower for vectors purified using column chromatography techniques because excess empty capsids are co-purified and contribute to particle concentration.
Particle aggregation is a significant and not fully resolved issue for adenovirus vectors as well. Stability of a recently established adenovirus reference material (ARM) was recently reported. Adadevoh, K. et al. (2002) BioProcessing 1(2): 62-69. Aggregation of the reference material, formulated in 20 mM Tris, 25 mM NaCl, and 2.5% glycerol at pH 8.0, was assessed by dynamic light scattering, photon correlation spectroscopy and visual appearance. A variable level of vector aggregation following either freeze-thaw cycling or non-frozen storage was observed, resulting in restrictive protocols for the use of the ARM.
Aggregation can lead to losses during purification and inconsistencies in testing of purified vector preparations. The in vivo administration of AAV2 vectors to certain sites, such as the central nervous system, may require small volumes of highly concentrated vector, and the maximum achievable dose may be limited by low vector solubility.
Vector aggregation is also likely to influence biodistribution following in vivo administration, and cause adverse immune responses to vectors following their administration. As has been reported for proteins (Braun, A. et al. (1997) Pharm. Res. 14: 1472-1478), aggregation of vector may increase immunogenicity by targeting the vector to antigen presenting cells, and inducing enhanced immune responses to the capsid proteins and transgene product. The reports of immune responses to AAV vectors in pre-clinical (Chenuaud, P. et al. (2004) Blood 103: 3303-3304; Flotte, T. R. (2004) Human Gene Ther. 15: 716-717; Gao, G. et al. (2004) Blood 103: 3300-3302) and clinical (High, K. A. et al. (2004) Blood 104: 121a) studies illustrate the need to address all factors that may contribute to vector immunogenicity.
Testing protocols to characterize purified vectors are also likely to be affected by vector aggregation. Determination of the infectivity titer of vector was reported to be highly sensitive to vector aggregation. Zhen, Z. et al. (2004) Human Gene Ther. 15: 709-715. An important concern is that vector aggregates may have deleterious consequences following their in vivo administration because their transduction efficiency, biodistribution and immunogenicity may differ from monomeric particles. For example, intravascular delivery of AAV vectors to hepatocytes requires that the vectors pass through the fenestrated endothelial cell lining of hepatic sinusoids. These fenestrations have a radius ranging from 50 to 150 nm (Meijer, K. D. F., and Molema, G. (1995) Sem. Liver Dis. 15: 206) that is predicted to allow the passage of monomeric AAV vectors (diameter˜26 nm), but prevent the passage of larger vector aggregates. In biodistribution studies in mice, aggregated AAV2 vectors labeled with the fluorescent molecule Cy3 were sequestered in liver macrophages following vascular delivery. Huang, J. et al. (2000) Mol. Therapy 1: S286.
Formulation development for virus-based gene transfer vectors is a relatively recent area of investigation, and only a few studies have been reported describing systematic efforts to optimize AAV vector formulation and stability. Croyle, M. A. et al. (2001) Gene Therapy 8: 1281-1290; Wright, J. F. et al. (2003) Curr. Opin. Drug Disc. Dev. 6: 174-178; Xie, Q. et al. (2004) J. Virol. Methods 122: 17-27. Defining formulations compatible with pre-clinical and clinical applications that minimize changes in vector preparations is an important requirement to achieve consistently high vector safety and functional characteristics. As is well established for protein therapeutics (Chen, B. et al. (1994) J. Pharm. Sci. 83: 1657-1661; Shire, S. J. et al. (2004) J. Pharm. Sci. 93: 1390-1402; Wang, W. (1999) Int. J. Pharm. 185: 129-188; Won, C. M. et al. (1998) Int. J. Pharm. 167: 25-36), an important aspect of vector stability is solubility during preparation and storage, and vector aggregation is a problem that needs to be fully addressed. Vector aggregation leads to losses during vector purification, and while aggregates can be removed by filtration, the loss in yield results in higher costs and capacity limitations when producing vector for pre-clinical and clinical studies. Even after filtration to remove aggregates, new aggregates can form in concentrated preparations of AAV2 vector in buffered-saline solutions.
The need exists for improved formulations and methods for purification and storage of AAV vectors, such as rAAV2, that prevent aggregation of virus particles.

Compositions and methods to prevent AAV vector aggregation


In an automatic film developer, measurements are taken of internal temperature parameters during a warm up phase. Based on measured temperature values a time for completing the warm up phase is calculated. The calculated time for warm up is displayed so that it can be read by an operator. When the calculated time for warm up completion has elapsed, an indication is displayed that the film developer is operational. During the warm up phase, film is not allowed to advance through the automatic film developer. When the calculated time for warm up completion has elapsed, advance of film through the film developer is automatically started.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an automatic developing apparatus and a method in which a photosensitive material can be appropriately processed when a processing solution or a drying section is maintained at a predetermined set temperature.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an automatic developing apparatus in which a photosensitive material on which an image is exposed is processed in such a manner as to be immersed in processing solutions such as a developing solution, a fixing solution, and washing water, a drying section and these processing solutions are maintained within respective predetermined temperature ranges by heating means or cooling means so that the photosensitive material can be efficiently processed at the optimum quality. It is to be noted that hereinafter "processing solution" may be used to refer to any of these solutions.
In the automatic developing apparatus like the above, when an operating switch of the apparatus is turned on, a heater for heating the processing solution is actuated so that the temperature of the processing solution is set at a predetermined temperature (start-up processing). When the start-up processing is completed, the photosensitive material can be processed at the optimum quality. Further, the automatic developing apparatus is provided with the drying section for drying the photosensitive material after having been subjected to the processing by the processing solutions. In this drying section as well, the temperature of dry air is controlled so that the photosensitive material is brought into an appropriate dried state having no insufficient or over-dried state, and during the start-up processing an interior of the drying section is heated so that the photosensitive material can be appropriately dried by components within the drying section.
On the other hand, when the start-up processing begins with the operating switch of the automatic developing apparatus being turned on, the processing solution and the components within the drying section are in a cooled state in accordance with an environmental temperature at which the automatic developing apparatus is installed, and therefore, a lot of time is required for heating the processing solution and the components within the drying section up to the temperature which allows the photosensitive material to be appropriately processed. Further, in the automatic developing apparatus, when the temperature of the processing solution is detected and it is confirmed that the start-up processing has been completed, an indication is usually given, which informs that the apparatus has been brought into a state of allowing processing of the photosensitive material. In fact, an apparatus which cannot start processing of the photosensitive material until this indication is given is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,994,837.
Accordingly, for example, even in a case in which start-up of the automatic developing apparatus is effected for the reason that there arises a need of urgently processing the photosensitive material, since a timing at which start-up of the automatic developing apparatus is completed and processing of the photosensitive material can be started is not clearly determined, an operator should be constantly in the vicinity of the automatic developing apparatus until the start-up processing is completed and other operations may be affected thereby. As a result, operating efficiency may deteriorate. Further, when the photosensitive material is mistakenly inserted in the automatic developing apparatus before the start-up processing is completed, a finished quality of the photosensitive material may be dissatisfactory.

Automatic developing apparatus and method


A linear compressor driving device for linear compressor driving a piston in a cylinder by means of a linear motor to generate a compressed gas, has an inverter for outputting an alternating current to be supplied to the linear motor; current detecting means for detecting an output current from the inverter; voltage detecting means for detecting an output voltage from the inverter; current amplitude value determining means for determining a current amplitude value of the output current; output power calculating means for calculating an output power from the inverter based on the detected output current and the detected output voltage; frequency determining means for determining a frequency of the output current such that the output power is maximum; and inverter controller for controlling the inverter based on the determined current amplitude value and the determined frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driving device for linear compressor which, for example, reciprocates a piston in a cylinder by means of a linear motor to generate a compressed gas in a compression chamber formed of the cylinder and the piston.
2. Related Art of the Invention
A linear compressor for generating a compressed gas using the elasticity of a mechanical elastic member or the compressed gas has been known.
Thus, the configuration and operation of a conventional linear compressor using a spring as an elastic member will be described with reference to FIG. 7, which is a view showing the configuration of a conventional linear compressor.
A cylinder 60 supports a piston 61 in such a manner that the piston 61 can slide along an axial direction thereof. The piston 61 has magnets 62 fixed thereto. Stator coils 64 embedded in an outer yoke 63 are disposed opposite to the magnets 62.
A compression chamber 65 formed of the cylinder 60 and the piston 61 has a suction pipe 66 and an discharge pipe 67 connected thereto. The suction pipe 66 has a suction valve 68, and the discharge pipe 67 has an discharge valve 69. Additionally, the piston 61 is elastically supported by a resonance spring 70.
When power is continuously supplied via a motor driver (not shown) to a linear motor 71 comprising the outer yoke 63, the stator coils 64, and the magnets 62, the piston 61 reciprocates in its axial direction to suck and compress a refrigerant in the compression-chamber 65.
For efficient driving, the linear compressor must be driven with a resonance frequency. The resonance frequency of the linear compressor is determined by (1) the elasticity of a mechanically installed elastic member and a compressed gas if the compressor includes this elastic member or by (2) only the elasticity of the compressed gas if the compressor uses only this elasticity of the compressed gas.
In either case, however, the elasticity of the compressed gas varies significantly with variations in loads, so that the resonance frequency of the linear compressor cannot be uniquely determined. A method has thus been used which attempts to calculate the varying resonance frequency using a phenomenon where a resonant state is established when an input current and a piston speed have an equal phase (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-26083).
Then, an example of such a method will thus be explained in brief with reference to FIG. 8, which is a flow chart useful in explaining a resonance following operation of a conventional linear compressor with a position sensor.
When resonance frequency detection control is started, a sine wave current command value Iref input to the linear compressor is created from a driving frequency f in step S20. In step S21, positional information on the piston from the position sensor installed in the linear compressor is used to determine the current velocity Vnow of the piston.
In step S22, a difference in phase between the determined value Iref and the velocity Vnow is determined. If the phase of the value Iref is faster than that of the velocity Vnow, the process proceeds to step S23. If the phases are equal, the process proceeds to step S24. If the phase of the value Iref is slower, the process proceeds to step S25.
Since in step S22, the current drive frequency is lower than the resonance frequency, the drive frequency f is increased and the process then returns to step S20. Since in step S23, the current drive frequency and the resonance frequency are equal, the process returns to step S20 without changing any drive frequency f. Since in step S24, the current drive frequency is higher than the resonance frequency, the drive frequency f is reduced and the process then returns to step S20.
In this manner, the positional information on the piston obtained from the position sensor has been used to control the drive frequency so as to equal the resonance frequency.
Using this method, however, requires the displacement of the piston in the cylinder to be measured as described above, thereby requiring a displacement measuring device to be integrated into the linear compressor. Consequently, only the volume of the linear compressor not only increases by an amount corresponding to the volume of the displacement measuring device, but also the displacement measuring device itself must be enclosed in a shell of the linear compressor, and there is a problem that an operating reliability of the displacement measuring device must be ensured under hard operational conditions for temperature, pressure or the like.
In view of the above conventional problems, it is an object of the present invention to provide a linear compressor driving device that efficiently drives a linear compressor without using the displacement of a piston, medium and information assembly.
One aspect of the present invention is a linear compressor driving device for linear compressor driving a piston in a cylinder by means of a linear motor to generate a compressed gas, comprising:
an inverter for outputting an alternating current to be supplied to said linear motor;
current detecting means for detecting an output current from said inverter;
voltage detecting means for detecting an output voltage from said inverter;
current amplitude value determining means for determining a current amplitude value of said output current;
output power calculating means for calculating an output power from said inverter based on said detected output current and said detected output voltage;
frequency determining means for determining a frequency of said output current such that said output power is maximum; and
inverter controller for controlling said inverter based on said determined current amplitude value and said determined frequency.
another aspect invention of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device
wherein said voltage detecting means has:
DC voltage detecting means for detecting a DC voltage input to said inverter; and
output voltage calculating means for calculating the output voltage from said inverter based on a control signal transmitted from said inverter controller to said inverter and on said detected DC voltage.
Still another aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device,
wherein said frequency determining means has two variables including a frequency control period and a frequency variation to compare said output power obtained through an operation with a frequency determined during said frequency control period before last with said output power obtained through an operation with a frequency determined during the last frequency control period, in order to determine a present frequency
(1) by varying said frequency in the same direction as that during said last frequency control period, by an amount corresponding to said frequency variation if said output power has increased, and
(2) by varying said frequency in a direction opposite to that during said last frequency control period, by said amount corresponding to said frequency variation if said output power has decreased.
Yet another aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said frequency determining means varies said frequency in said same direction a predetermined number of times or more, and maintains the frequency determined during said last frequency control period if said output power has varied by a predetermined amount or more.
Still yet another aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said frequency determining means changes said frequency control period based on a variation in said output power.
A further aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said frequency determining means changes said frequency variation based on a variation in said output power.
A still further aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said frequency determining means maintains said determined frequency if said determined current amplitude value has varied.
A yet further aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said current amplitude value determining means maintains said determined current amplitude value if said output power has varied by a predetermined amount.
A still yet further aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said linear compressor is used as part of a refrigerating cycle apparatus, and said current amplitude value determining means determines said current amplitude value based on an ambient temperature of said refrigerating cycle apparatus and a corresponding set temperature.
An additional aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said current amplitude value determining means determines said current amplitude value so as to reduce a difference between said ambient temperature and said set temperature.
A still additional aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said current amplitude value determining means determines said current amplitude value in a manner such that said calculated output power equals a set power to be input to said linear compressor, the power being set based on said ambient temperature and said set temperature.
A yet additional aspect of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device wherein said current amplitude value determining means gradually increases said current amplitude value when said linear compressor is actuated.
A still yet of the present invention is the linear compressor driving device, wherein said current amplitude value determining means gradually reduces said current amplitude value when said linear compressor is stopped.
A supplementary aspect of the present invention is a linear compressor driving device for linear compressor driving a piston in a cylinder by means of a linear motor to generate a compressed gas, comprising:
an inverter for outputting an alternating current to be supplied to said linear motor;
input current detecting means for detecting an input current to said inverter;
current amplitude value determining means for determining a current amplitude value of an output current of said inverter;
input power calculating means for calculating an input power to said inverter based on (1) said detected input current and (2) a predetermined or detected input voltage to said inverter;
frequency determining means for determining a frequency of the output current of said inverter such that said input power is maximum; and
inverter controller for controlling said inverter based on said determined current amplitude value and said determined frequency.
A still supplementary aspect of the present invention is a medium which can be processed by a computer to carry programs and/or data for causing the computer to execute all or some of functions of all or some of the means of the present invention.
A yet supplementary aspect of the present invention is an information assembly comprising programs and/or data for causing a computer to execute all or some of functions of all or some of the means of the present invention.

Linear compressor driving device, medium and information assembly

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


Disclosed herein is a stacked gate type non-volatile semiconductor memory cell including source/drain regions having a first portion covered with a tunnel oxide film and a second portion covered with an insulator film. The memory cell further includes a gate insulating film formed on a channel region, wherein the tunnel insulating film is thinner than the gate oxide film and the insulator film is thicker than the gate insulating film. A floating gate is formed on the respective insulating films and a control gate is formed over the floating gate with an intervention of a second gate insulating film.

The present invention relates to a non-volatile semiconductor memory device and, more particularly, to a non-volatile semiconductor memory element having floating and control gates.
In general, E.sup.2 PROM (Electrically Erasable and programmable Read Only Memory) has been known as a non-volatile semiconductor memory element which can be programmable and erased electrically. One bit of an E.sup.2 PROM is generally constituted with one select transistor and one memory cell transistor, and the memory cell transistor has floating and control gates.
Referring to FIG. 22, such a memory cell of the E.sup.2 PROM is shown, in which a reference numeral 301 depicts a P-type silicon substrate, 302-1 to 302-3 an N-type impurity diffusion layer of a source/drain region, 303 a gate electrode of the select transistor, 304 a floating gate electrode of the memory cell transistor, 305 a control gate electrode of the memory cell transistor, 306 a tunnel insulating film formed between the floating gate electrode and the N-type impurity diffusion layer region 302, 306 a first gate insulating film between each of the gates 303 and 304 and the corresponding portion or channel portion of the substrate, and 307 a gate insulating film.
Programming of data into this memory cell is performed as follows: A high voltage such as 20V is applied to the control gate electrode 305 and the drain region 302-2 is grounded. At this time, an intense electric field is applied to the tunnel insulating film 306 by capacitive coupling among the diffusion layer 302-2, the floating gate 304 and the control gate 305, so electrons are injected from the diffusion layer 302-2 to the floating gate 304 by F-N (Fowler-Nordheim) tunneling to negatively charge the floating gate 304. A threshold voltage of the memory cell transistor is thereby pushed up to 7V or higher. The memory cell transistor thus programmed maintains an OFF state even when being supplied at the control gate 305 with a read voltage such as 5V.
In contrast, the control gate electrode 305 is grounded and a high voltage such as 20V is applied to the gate 303 of the select transistor and the drain region 302-2 in order to erase the data. In this case, an intense electric field is applied to the gate 303 of the select transistor and the drain region 302-2 in a reverse direction to that in the case of the programming operation, so that the electrons are discharged from the floating gate electrode 304 to the diffusion layer 302-2 by F-N tunneling to positively charge the floating gate 304. Thus, the memory cell transistor is changed to a depletion state to take the threshold voltage of -3V to -5V. Therefore, the memory transistor thus becomes conductive in response to the read voltage.
Since a relatively high voltage is needed to program and erase the memory transistor as described above, transistors which are used in peripheral circuits for data programming and erasing control circuits are required to have structures durable against such a high voltage. In general, such a high voltage durable transistor needs a large area.
It is therefore desirable to perform data programming and erasing operation with a lowered voltage.

Method of making non-volatile semiconductor memory devices having large capacitance between floating and control gates


A portable computer is described that contains a circuit for receiving pages and performing security functions based on the received page. Once a page has been received by the portable computer, the computer's hard drive can be automatically reformatted, or the portable computer can be prevented from booting. In addition, the portable computer can be programmed to use a modem to automatically dial a security center and transmit security information such as the Caller ID Tag of the current telephone number.

Over the past several years, personal communication devices such as pagers and cellular telephones have become widely used in both business and personal environments. Fast and reliable communication has made it much easier for people to travel from their home or office without becoming unavailable to co-workers or others. The advent of portable computers has also encouraged this trend, as many people perform a large amount of their duties using computing devices, and the portable or "laptop" computer further enhances the ability of people to remain productive while traveling.
More recently, pagers have been introduced into the market with increased data handling capabilities. As one example, the PageWriter™ 2000 manufactured by Motorola is a two-way pager with a keyboard and graphical display which sends Internet e-mail and has automated message handling capability. In addition, computing devices have been enhanced with additional communication capabilities. U.S. Pat. No. 5,550,861 to Chan et al. for example, describes a PCMCIA format card for laptop computing applications which includes an onboard modem and pager unit.
Despite these trends in combining communication and data processing capabilities, little progress has been made in taking advantage of the available benefits of the combined implementation of such devices. The current state of the art consists essentially of conventional communication functions coupled to conventional data processing functions, thereby producing one device which may combine previously available features but which does nothing to provide additional functionality. In addition, advantageous hardware implementations of such combinations have not been explored.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Portable computer supporting paging instructions