A system that uses two character positions on a display area of an oscilloscope to indicate the progress being made toward achieving a target number of waveform acquisitions. The system displays the percentage of waveform acquisitions taken within this two character percentage display area by first displaying two symbols as white dots on a dark background. As the percentage of waveform acquisitions taken increases, the dots within the symbols are inverted starting at the bottom of the display area and progressing toward the top. When the target number of waveform acquisitions have been taken, all the dots within the symbols are inverted to display dark on white. As the percentage increases, the dots forming the first character of the display are inverted prior to the dots forming the second character. Therefore, higher resolution of the display is obtained.

Signal averaging is often used in oscilloscopes to reduce the effects of random noise on the input signal. This is done by acquiring the signal several times, averaging the acquired data, and displaying the average. The amount of noise reduction is determined by the number of acquisitions of the input signal that are averaged. That is, as more acquisitions are taken of the input signal and these acquisitions averaged, more noise will be reduced by the averaging process and therefore not be visible on a display of the averaged signal. Prior art oscilloscopes that average the input signal over time often do not graphically indicate their progress toward a target average count. That is, a user of the oscilloscope must know the number of acquisitions the user has requested, the number of the current acquisition being taken, and perform a calculation to derive the progress that is currently being made toward the target number of acquisitions that will be averaged.
One prior art method of displaying the information needed to make this calculation is to display, on one line of the CRT display screen, the current acquisition number being taken and the maximum number of acquisitions that will be taken. This method suffers from two disadvantages, 1) the user must perform a mental calculation to determine the progress, and 2) and entire line of information is used on the screen, thus taking up valuable screen display space.
A second method used in prior art oscilloscopes is to display the current acquisition number on the screen along with the waveform, but to make the target number of acquisitions to be taken available only through a pull down or pop up menu. This method forces the user of the oscilloscope to remember the target number of acquisitions while performing the calculation to determine progress. Furthermore, when the pull down menu is being used, a significant portion of the screen is occupied by the menu.
There is need in the art then for a system to conveniently display the progress being made toward the target number of acquisitions to be averaged. There is a further need for this display method to occupy a minimal portion of the CRT screen display area. Still another need is for the display to provide a visual indication of the percentage of completion toward the target number of acquisitions. The present invention satisfies these needs.

Iconic method of showing progress toward an oscilloscope's target number of waveform averages


Bag toss game target assemblies that include a deck and a base unit. The deck includes at least one through-aperture dimensioned to allow a bag to pass entirely therethrough. The base unit has a bottom portion that is configured to rest on a generally horizontal surface and a top portion that is configured to support the deck during game play. In one preferred embodiment, the base unit further includes an open-top storage receptacle that is covered by the deck during game play, but can be accessed by moving the deck independent of the base unit. In another preferred embodiment, the deck from at least target assembly can be removed from its corresponding base unit, and the corresponding base unit can be nested beneath and partially within the base unit of another target assembly.

Bag toss games have been played in the United States for many years. In most bag toss games, players take alternating turns attempting to toss a plurality of sealed bags (typically four bags for each player) containing particulate matter (e.g., dried corn, beans, rice, sand, plastic beads, etc.), one at a time, through an opening or hole in a fixed target assembly that is resting on the ground a predetermined distance away from the player. Typically, two spaced apart target assemblies are used, and each features a deck that is angled slightly toward the player with respect to the ground on which the target assembly is resting.
Bag toss games can be played using a variety of rules. Most rules award players a plurality of points for every bag that is tossed or knocked entirely through the hole in the deck of the target assembly, a lesser amount of points for bags that remain on the deck but do not pass entirely through the hole in the deck, and no points for bags that do not pass through the hole in the deck or remain on the deck after all of the bags have been tossed. Games are usually played until one of the players or a team of two players accumulates sufficient points to reach a predetermined goal.
Traditional bag toss game target assemblies constitute unitary, rigid structures constructed from ½″ to ¾″ plywood. A bag toss game that is popular in the Cincinnati, Ohio area, which is known as "Cornhole" or "Corn Toss", features target assemblies constructed of painted plywood that consist of a deck that is permanently attached to wooden support structure such as plywood and/or 2″×4″ studs. An organization known as the American Cornhole Association ("ACA") has adopted standards that specify that the target assemblies (which are sometimes referred to as "platforms") used in that particular bag toss game should have a flat deck that is 24″ wide, 48″ long and have a single 6″ circular hole or opening through the deck centered between the sides of the deck approximately 9″ from a raised rear portion of the deck. Due to the dimensions and the materials used, bag toss game target assemblies of this type tend to be very heavy and bulky, which makes them difficult to transport, store and expensive to ship.
In recent years, bag toss game target assemblies have appeared on the market that feature folding rear legs. When extended, the rear legs support the rear of the deck at higher elevation than the front of the deck, which is resting on the ground. When folded, the rear legs are disposed against the underside of the deck, which minimizes the thickness dimension of the target assembly. In some instances, two bag toss game target assemblies of this type can be joined together when the rear legs are folded against the underside of the deck and carried like a very large briefcase. Bag toss game target assemblies of this type can be formed of wood or plastic. The configuration of these bag toss game target assemblies makes them more transportable than other types of target assemblies, but it also makes them less stable. Furthermore, since the front portion of the deck rests on or very close to the ground, tossed bags that land on the ground in front of the target assemblies can bounce onto the decks, which is a violation of most bag toss game rules.


This invention concerns methods for prophylactic and therapeutic treatment of diseases responsive to the opening of potassium channels, peptides having potassium channel opener activities, and pharmaceutical compositions and kits comprising such peptides.

Potassium (K.sup.+) channels are important regulators of numerous biological processes, including secretory processes, muscle contraction, and post-ischemic cardioprotection. Electrophysiological studies have disclosed the existence of potassium channels in nearly all cell types. Gopalakrishnan et al., Drug Dev. Res. 28: 95-127 (1993). Such channels are present in various forms that are generally distinguishable by their respective structural, biophysical, and pharmacological characteristics. Id. It is generally well known that the opening of potassium channels in a electrically excitable cell having such channels results in an increased flow of potassium ions from inside the cell to outside the cell. This flow of potassium ions causes a measurable change in the resting membrane potential of the cell and leads to membrane hyperpolarization and relaxation of the cell. Activation of potassium channels stabilizes cell membrane potential and generally reduces cell excitability.
Potassium channels have been implicated in a large number of diseases, including cardiovascular disease, asthma, hypertension, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, epilepsy, high blood pressure, and feeding and appetite disorders. It is generally believed that the malfunctioning of these potassium channels or the existence of regulation defects in processes that activate such potassium channels may play a significant role in the pathogenesis of such diseases and illnesses. As a result, compounds that are of assistance in opening potassium channels and, consequently, in modulating electrophysiological functioning of the cells may have significant therapeutic and prophylactic potential for treating or alleviating such conditions.
Potassium channel opener compounds exhibit a diverse array of biological and pharmacological activities. Presently known potassium channel openers include cromakalim, pinacidil (U.S. Pat. No. 4,057,636), and nicorandil (U.S. Pat. No. 4,200,640). These compounds are believed to exert their effects primarily via the ATP-sensitive potassium channels. They have a high affinity for vascular smooth muscle cells and are characterized by their ability to relax vascular smooth muscle. Escande et al., Trends in Pharm. Sci. 23: 269-272 (1992). Cromakalim, for instance, has been observed to induce hyperpolarization of vascular smooth muscle tissue, relax vessels, and reduce the effects of ischemic damage on the myocardium. Grover et al., J. Phaimac. & Expt'l Therapeutics 257: 156-162 (1991). Cromakalin also appears to be an effective chemotherapeutic agent for cardiac dysrhythmias and irritable bowel, both of which are associated with potassium channel activation. In addition, cromakalim has been found to inhibit premature uterine contractions when used in combination with estrogen and relaxin. Downing et al., J. Endocrinol. 135: 29 (1992). Pinacidil has been shown to dilate precapillary vessels and relax smooth muscle. Nielsen-Kudsk et al., Europ. J. Pharmac. 157: 221-226 (1988). Cromakalim and pinacidil have been found to reduce the extent of myocardial ischemic injury. Grover et al., J. Pharmac. & Expt'l Therapeutics 251: 98-104 (1989). Certain potassium channel openers, including cromakalim, have been observed to act on tracheal smooth muscle cells and to produce anti-asthmatic effects. Dilly, "Cromakalim/lemakalim, Experience in Hypertension and Nocturnal Asthma" in Conference Documentation, Potassium Channels '90, The Royal College of Physicians, Dec. 6-7, 1990. See also Small et al., Braz. J. Med. Biol. Res. 25(10): 983-998. This action is associated with membrane hyperpolarization towards the potassium equilibrium potential and with the promotion of the efflux of potassium ions from the muscle cells. Id. Furthermore, some potassium channel openers have been found to hyperpolarize neuronal cells and to possess anti-epileptic and anticonvulsant effects. See, e.g., Gandolfo et al., Europ. J. Pharmac. 167: 181-83 (1989); Abele et al., Neuroscience Letters 115: 195-200 (1990).
Unfortunately, presently known potassium channel openers typically produce serious side effects (including severe headaches, fluid retention, and reflex tachycardia) in subjects to whom they are administered. Additionally, many of the known potassium channel openers are unstable and their pharmacological effects are variable and difficult to reproduce. Kidney et al., Thorax 48: 130-133 (1993). Consequently, the therapeutic and prophylactic use of presently known potassium channel openers is limited.
A need exists for compounds having potassium channel opener activity that exert their respective therapeutic and prophylactic effects with little or no toxic side effects. The present invention fulfills this and other needs.

Peptides having potassium channel opener activity


The present invention is directed to a method of inhibiting cholesterol transport through the intestinal lumen of a subject. The method comprises administering an intestinal alkaline phosphatase inhibitor to the subject. The inhibition of intestinal alkaline phosphatase prevents transport of exogenous cholesterol through the intestinal lumen and therefore decreases plasma levels of cholesterol. The invention further provides a method of screening for agents which inhibit cholesterol transport. This method comprises expressing intestinal alkaline phosphatase in a host cell, exposing the host cell to an agent and cholesterol, and determining whether the cholesterol is transported into the host cell. Since intestinal alkaline phosphatase mediates cholesterol transport into the cell, an agent that inhibits the expressed intestinal alkaline phosphatase (or inhibits the expression of intestinal alkaline phosphatase), will inhibit cholesterol transport.

Throughout this application various publications are referenced, many in parenthesis. Full citations for these publications are provided at the end of the Detailed Description. The disclosures of these publications in their entireties are hereby incorporated by reference in this application.
The cholesterol content of the plasma is important in the development of atherosclerotic disease, both with respect to the coronary arteries and heart attacks and the cerebral arteries and strokes. Plasma cholesterol is the result of both endogenous production of cholesterol in the liver and other tissues, and exogenous absorption of cholesterol from the intestine. Intestinal cholesterol is derived both from the diet and from entero-hepatic recirculation of cholesterol.
The cellular uptake of cholesterol from the plasma utilizes a pathway which is understood in broad outline. Cholesterol and cholesterol esters are present in lipoproteins circulating in the plasma. A receptor on the cell surface recognizes protein motifs in the lipoproteins, binds the lipoprotein, and internalizes the complex in a clathrin coated pit (Havel & Kane 1995).
In contrast, cholesterol transport from the intestinal lumen is poorly understood (Wilson & Rudel 1994). Exogenous cholesterol from the diet and enteric-hepatic recirculation is important in maintaining plasma cholesterol levels (Gylling & Miettinen 1995). The intestinal lumen does not contain lipoproteins, and so the pathway for the uptake of exogenous cholesterol in the intestine must be radically different from the pathway utilized for plasma cholesterol (Tso 1985).
Early models suggested that cholesterol was incorporated into the mucosal membrane by a physical process (Tso 1985) or a cholesterol exchange. Several more recent lines of data have implicated a receptor-like protein molecule on the intestinal surface that can mediate cholesterol absorption (Thurmhofer et al. 1991; Thurmhofer & Hauser 1990). The presence of a receptor explained the specificity of the uptake, since the enterocytes transported cholesterol eight to ten fold better than the chemically very similar plant steroid, sitosterol (Ikeda et al. 1988). Cholesterol is present in the gut lumen in mixed micelles with bile salts, so that the sterol can cross the unstirred water layer in a soluble form (Thomson 1980; Westergarde & Dietschy 1976). Cholesterol esters in the diet are hydrolyzed to the free alcohol by pancreatic esterase before absorption (Gallo et al. 1977). After crossing the membrane, the cholesterol is eventually localized in a nascent chylomicron in the smooth endoplasmic reticulum (Christensen et al. 1983) where the lipids combine with apolipoprotein B to begin the assembly of the chylomicron for export into the lymphatics (Hamilton 1983).
A protein possibly involved in the absorption of cholesterol ester from rabbit intestine has been reported (Compassi et al. 1995). The protein produced by autolysis was soluble without detergents and had polypeptides of 96 and 57k daltons.
Intestinal alkaline phosphatase (Fermby 1971) is a membrane bound, glycan inositol phosphate anchored protein (Hoffman-Blume et al. 1991) of unknown physiologic function. It is bound with the anchor as well as in a form without the anchor. It is anchored to the microvillus membrane via a glycosylphosphatidylinositol linkage and is found both intracellularly and intralumenally (Brasitos et al. 1988). The enzyme is released in combination with triglycerides in the form of "surfactant-like particles" associated with the enterocyte surface and in the Golgi regions (Blume-Hoffmann et al. 1991). These particles increase during fat feeding (Mahmood et al. 1994) and are believed to be precursors of nascent chylomicrons. At alkaline pH, intestinal alkaline phosphatase can hydrolyze a number of phosphorylated substrates. The phosphatase activity of the enzyme can be inhibited by levamisole (VanBelle 1976; Metaye et al. 1988). This anthelmintic and immune response modulating drug has been used for a number of medical indications, but its mode of action is not well understood (Metaye et al. 1988; Wavwe & Janssen 1991).
A need continues to exist for an effective method to control absorption of exogenous cholesterol, in order to reduce plasma levels of cholesterol thereby reducing the risk of atherosclerotic disease.

Method of inhibiting cholesterol transport


An electrical socket terminal includes a socket housing defining a cavity. The socket housing includes a first set of walls, a second set of rigid walls connected to the first set of wall and spacing the first set of walls apart, and at least one resilient socket contact inwardly depending from the first set of walls into the cavity. The socket contact(s) include at least one inwardly depending stabilizer adapted to laterally restrain a plug contact.

Electrical terminals are well known for connecting various types of electrical elements to one another. Electrical terminals include socket terminals and plug terminals for insertion into the socket terminals. A typical plug terminal includes an elongated plug contact, and a typical socket terminal includes a socket housing defining a cavity for sliding receipt of the plug contact. The typical socket housing includes rigid sidewalls and oppositely disposed resilient socket contacts biased toward one another. The plug contact is disposed between the sidewalls and is releasably secured in electrical contact between the socket contacts to form a readily separable electrical joint. While such terminals are suitable for many applications, the plug contact laterally moves between and vibrates against the socket housing sidewalls. Vibration leads to localized fretting of the terminals, which leads to plating wear and, eventually, oxidation and concomitant failure of the terminals. To reduce vibration, the plug contact is interference fit between the rigid sidewalls of the socket housing. But this tight configuration results in unacceptably high terminal-to-terminal engagement and disengagement forces.

Electrical socket terminal having a contact stabilizer


A method of producing a tone scale function which can operate on a source digital image to improve tonal characteristics, includes generating the tone scale function having a highlight tone scale segment and a shadow tone scale segment defined relative to a reference point on the tone scale function, and that is adapted to operate on the source digital image to improve its tonal characteristics by: using a first function with a monotonically decreasing slope characteristic to produce the highlight tone scale segment that includes points that are equal to or greater than the reference point; and using a second function with a monotonically increasing slope characteristic to produce the shadow tone scale segment that includes points that are equal to or less than the reference point.

Many digital imaging systems enhance the contrast and lightness characteristics of digital images through the application of a tone scale curve. For a generalized tone scale curve ƒ( ), the input pixel value x is transformed to an output pixel value ƒ(x). The shape of the tone scale curve determines the visual effect imparted to the processed digital image. Some tone scale curves applied to digital image are independent of the pixel values in the digital image to be processed. Such image independent tone scale curves are useful for establishing a photographic look to the processed digital images. While image independent tone scale curves can be used to enhance many digital images, digital images that are either too high or low in contrast can benefit from the application of a tone scale curve that is responsive to the distribution of pixel values in the digital image to be processed. For image dependent tone scale curves, the mathematical formula used to generate the function ƒ(x) determines the degree and nature of the image enhancement.
One class of tone scale function generation methods is derived from histogram equalization. A histogram function H(x), i.e. a function of the frequency of occurrence, is calculated from the pixel values x of a digital image. Next the function ƒ(x) is determined for which the histogram function of the processed pixels H(ƒ(x)) will have a particular aim functional W(x). The function ƒ(x) that satisfies this constraint can be calculated given the expression ƒ(x)=kC(W 1(H(x))) where the variable k is a normalizing constant. For the special case where the aim functional W(x) is a constant, the expression for the tone scale curve ƒ(x) is given by the expression ƒ(x)=kC(H(x)).
There are many prior art examples of histogram equalization based methods: In commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,731,671 Alkofer discloses a method of using a Gaussian function as the aim function W(x). In commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 4,745,465 Kwon discloses a method of generating a tone scale curve also employing a histogram equalization derived method wherein a Gaussian function is used as the aim function W(x). In Kwon's method, the image histogram is calculated by sampling pixels within the image that have been classified as spatially active. An edge detection spatial filter is used to determine the degree of local spatial activity for each image pixel. The local spatial activity measure is compared with a threshold to determine if the pixel value will contribute to the histogram function used to generate the tone scale curve. As with less sophisticated histogram equalization based methods, the methods disclosed by Alkofer and Kwon suffer from inconsistent image enhancement performance. This is principally due to the fact that histogram equalization methods tend to optimize the visualization of image content based on the frequency of occurrence of the corresponding pixel values. As a consequence, extremely bright or dark image areas that are represented by a small percentage of image area can be overwhelmed by more prevalent image areas resulting in tone scale adjusted images that have specular highlights that are rendered too dark and deep shadows that are rendered too light. Therefore, histogram equalization based methods are more suited to image exploitation applications requiring the visualization of image detail than to applications involving the tone reproduction of natural scenes.
In commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,798 Lee discloses a method of generating a tone scale curve for the purposes of reducing the dynamic range of a digital image. The tone scale curve construction method establishes six constraints and then performs a successive integration procedure to satisfy the constraints. In Lee's method, a dark point determined by the 0.5% image cumulative histogram function value is mapped to a white paper density, a bright point determined by the 99.5% image cumulative histogram function value is mapped to a black paper density, and a mid-point is mapped to itself. Next a shadow slope constraint of greater than 1.0 is imposed at the 0.5% shadow point, a highlight slope constraint of 1.0 is imposed at the 99.5% highlight point, and a mid-tone slope constraint of 1.0 is imposed at the mid-point. Lee states that there are an infinite number of tone scale curves that can satisfy the six constraints. Lee's method constructs a tone scale curve that satisfies the six constraints by assuming an arbitrary initial shape for the tone scale curve and successively convolving the tone scale curve with a Gaussian smoothing function until, upon examination, the tone scale curve satisfies the six constraints to within some acceptable tolerance. Lee's method does not discuss a closed form solution, i.e. a mathematical function that can be evaluated for each point, to the six constraints and therefore must rely the complicated integration procedure. The tone scale curves so constructed are smoothly varying achieving a high slope value at the extremes and at the mid-point with an inflection point between the mid-point ant the highlight point and an inflection point between the mid-point and the shadow point. While Lee's method disclosed in commonly-assigned U.S. Pat. No. 6,285,798 can produce smoothly varying tone scale curves, the method does not always converge to a curve that satisfies the six constraints. Furthermore, the Lee's method does not account for the possibility that some digital images require an expansion of the dynamic range of the digital image to achieve enhancement. In addition, the high slope constraints imposed at the extremes and at the mid point of the pixel intensity domain can sometimes lead to a sacrifice of quality for image content corresponding to pixel values that lie between the shadow point and the mid-point, and the mid-point and the highlight point.
In the journal article entitled "Image lightness rescaling using sigmoidal contrast enhancement functions" published in the Journal of Electronic Images Vol. 8(4), p380–393 (October 1999), authors Braun et al. discuss a method of using a single sigmoidal function, e.g. as the integral-of a-Gaussian function, as a method of generating a tone scale curve that can be used for contrast enhancement of digital images. The sigmoidal function presented by Braun et al. is controlled with a standard deviation and offset parameter which determine the shape of the function. The offset parameter is used to impart lightness changes to digital images while the standard deviation parameter is used to impart contrast changes. While the sigmoidal shaped tone scale curve generation method presented by Braun et al. provides photographically acceptable results, the shape of the function corresponding to shadow and highlight regions of images is not independently controllable. Consequently, for a given digital image, it can be difficult to achieve the desired degree of contrast enhancement while simultaneously achieving the optimum image lightness rendition.

Enhancing the tonal characteristics of digital images


A method for analyzing a turbulent fluid flow field includes the steps of: creating a mathematical model of a physical object; simulating a flow field around the model, wherein the flow field is at least partially turbulent; generating time series flow data output data representative of the flow field; and identifying repeating turbulent flow patterns in the flow data. These features are identified by selecting at least one frequency range of interest; filtering the flow data based on the frequency range; and observing coherent structure in the filtered data. The method may be implemented as a software program running on a computer.

This invention relates generally to computer analysis and more particularly to CFD analysis of aeroacoustic properties. Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid dynamics in which the physics of motion of particles of gases or liquids are simulated using computers. The physical volume of fluid and bounding surfaces are represented using a finite set of discrete elements, and mathematical equations relating the motion of particles are computed at each element. Commercial CFD software is currently used in industry for a broad range of applications, including internal flow of liquids and gases in pipes, machinery, ventilation ducts, etc., as well as external flow of air or water for application to land, air and sea vehicles.
A common thread to uses of CFD in applications is the presence of turbulence in the results. Turbulence occurs naturally in fluids as a result of the complex non-linearities in the physical relationship between inertia of moving fluid particles, and the resistance to motion provided by friction (also called viscosity or viscous force). A fluid dynamic parameter called the Reynolds number is the ratio between inertial and viscous force. Every flow configuration has a critical Reynolds number above which the flow becomes turbulent, and below which the flow is smooth and ordered, or laminar. One definition of turbulence is flow that contains a range of spatial and temporal scales extending from the largest physical scales of the problem, represented by the size of the geometry and time scale of any forcing or motion, to the smallest possible scale allowed by fluid dynamics, which is called the Komolgorov scale, and is determined by the viscosity of the fluid. In physical applications, one sees large-scale fluid dynamic variations, superimposed by "eddies" of various sizes down to the smallest measurable scale. One representation of this superposition is a spectrum, computed from the kinetic energy of the flow at a single point in space as a function of time. This spectrum shows high energy contributions at some low frequency related to the scale of the physical problem, and then a "cascade" of energy to smaller and smaller scales (higher frequencies on the spectrum), with lower and lower energy levels.
Some prior art CFD software attempts to represent turbulence in terms of its mean contribution to the flow using an aggregate "turbulence model". In these software programs, the actual turbulence phenomenon is not visible in the results, and the results typically only show the flow time-averaged over long segments of time relative to the temporal scale of turbulence. However, modern commercial software is moving toward more intensive simulations of the physical phenomena involved in fluid dynamics, and including a significant portion of the turbulent energy spectrum in the resulting data. This means that the flow data contains spatial and temporal scales extending down to the smallest scales that can be resolved using the computational model of the fluid particles, while smaller scales yet beyond that level are considered only using a mathematical average effect.
While current CFD software can produce this enormous wealth of data, tools to understand this data are lacking. In fact, the CFD software is still relatively young and improvements to the physical models are still underway to simply improve the aggregate predictions using these software tools. Meanwhile, users have available to them this turbulent data, and have interest in understanding the important flow features which have some bearing on performance of their products. Some particular areas of interest in which turbulent flow features at various scales are important are wakes, mixing, combustion, vibration and noise. Examples are the turbulent wake of an aircraft, vibration of rotating disk drives, and wind noise on an automobile. Accordingly, there is a need for software which provides analysis and visualization of turbulent CFD computational results.

Software and method for turbulent flow analysis


A linear predictive speech encoding method combines vector quantization with the search for roots of LSP polynomials. At Under this method, a code book searchable using line spectral pair (LSP) values is created from a line spectral frequency (LSF) code book, thus ensuring linear distortion performance without the costly run-time complexity of finding roots to high-order LSP polynomials in the LSF domain.

b 1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to speech processing. In particular, the present invention relates to an enhanced method for performing speech modeling and vector quantization in speech encoding applications.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Linear Predictive Coding (LPC) techniques are widely used in speech encoding applications. In the prior art, to efficiently code LPC parameters into as few bits as possible, and to maintain a linear distortion performance over a wide range of values of LPC parameters, LPC parameters are sometimes represented in the frequency domain as line spectral frequencies (LPFs) using, for example, any of the methods disclosed in Chapter 4, entitled xe2x80x9cLPC PARAMETER QUANTIZATION USING LSFSxe2x80x9d, in Digital Speech Coding for Low Bit Rate Communication Systems by A. M. Kondoz, published by Wiley and Sons (1994) (xe2x80x9cDigital Speech Codingxe2x80x9d). The principle steps of one such method are illustrated by process 100 of FIG. 1. Under this method, at step 101, a set of coefficients is first estimated using linear prediction represented by a linear predictor model LP(n) of order l given by:       LP              (      n      )        =            ∑              i        =        1            l                          α        i                          s                          (                      n            -            i                    )
where s(n) is value of the speech signal at time n, xcex1i is ith LPC coefficient such that the error e(n)=s(n)xe2x88x92LP(n) is minimized. In one instance, l is 10. Typically, in the encoding process, the LPC coefficients are extracted every update period, which can be a time period 20-30 milliseconds long.
Then, at step 102, from the xcex1i""s, two xc2xd-degree polynomials P(x) and Q(x) are constructed. Polynomials P(x) and Q(x) are given by the following:             P                    (        x        )              =                  ∑                  i          =          0                          l          /          2                                            a          i                                  x          i                                Q                    (        x        )              =                  ∑                  i          =          0                          l          /          2                                            b          i                                  x          i
The coefficients ai and bi are each a function of the LPC coefficients xcex1i. The l roots of polynomials P(x) and Q(x) are a set of values ki (1xe2x89xa7kixe2x89xa7xe2x88x921), in which the odd indices ki""s (i.e., i=1, 3, 5, . . . ) are roots of polynomial P(x) and the even indices ki""s (i.e., i=2, 4, 6. . . ) are roots of polynomial Q(x), and ordered such that ki greater than ki+1. and are typically grouped into xc2xd xe2x80x9cline spectral pairsxe2x80x9d (LSPs), each LSP consisting of a pair (ki, ki+1). FIG. 3 shows an example of a 5th order polynomial P (x) having roots k1, k3, k5, k7 and k9.
LSPs are, however, non-linear parameters, which are not suitable for efficient quantization. In particular, if linear quantization steps are used, requisite resolution may not attained over some range of values, and wasteful for unnecessary resolution over some other range of values. Thus, at step 103, the LSPs are transformed into the frequency domain by taking the arc-cosine (i.e., cosxe2x88x921 ki) of each root ki. The resulting values of the transformation are referred to as xe2x80x9cline spectral frequenciesxe2x80x9d (xe2x80x9cLSFsxe2x80x9d).
At step 104, the LSFs are then quantized. In one instance, the LSFs are xe2x80x9cvector quantizedxe2x80x9d by using the LSF values to search a xe2x80x9ccode bookxe2x80x9d for an index which represents the set of quantized LSF values. For example, the 2-vector (cosxe2x88x921 k1, cosxe2x88x921 k3) can be used to search a 2-dimensional table in the code book. If 6 bits are allocated to represent such a pair, the 2-dimensional table has 64 entry corresponding to 64 pairs of selected possible values for (cosxe2x88x921 k1, cosxe2x88x921 k3). In one implementation, the index of the entry (xi, xj) for which the mean squared error (xixe2x88x92cosxe2x88x921 k1)2+(xj xe2x88x92cosxe2x88x921 k3)2 is minimum is selected to represent the 2-vector (cosxe2x88x921k1, cosxe2x88x921 k3). Higher dimensional tables are possible for vector quantizing a larger number of LSF values. For example, at three bits per root, a 3-dimensional table searchable by a 3-vector (cosxe2x88x921 k1, cosxe2x88x921 k3, cosxe2x88x921 k5) has 9-bit indices, or 512 entries. Of course, for the same per-root bit allocation (e.g., 3 bits per root), the storage requirements grow exponentially with the number of dimensions. In communication or storage applications, for example, the indices are transmitted or saved. At a later time, speech is synthesized or reconstructed (e.g., at the receiver side, or when replaying from storage) using a process that is substantially the reverse of process 100 discussed above.
In the method described above, finding the l roots of polynomials P(x) and Q(x) at step 102 is typically performed using numerical methods (e.g., Newton""s method) which can be computationally intensive. In one method, each root ki is found by evaluating P(k) or Q(k) for the trial values k between xe2x88x921 and 1, at increments of 0.0005. Such a method requires substantial amount computation which is undesirable in real-time applications.
The present invention provides a linear predictive speech encoding method which combines the quantization step with the search of roots of line spectral pair (LSP) polynomials. In one embodiment, according to one embodiment of the present invention, an indexed table having as entries quantized line spectral pair (LSP) values is created from a table of quantized line spectral frequencies (LSFs). Under a method of the present invention, during each update period, a set of LPC coefficients is computed to derive LSP polynomials P(x) and Q(x). However, instead of finding the roots of the polynomials P(x) and Q(x), polynomials P(x) and Q(x) are evaluated using the quantized LSP values of the indexed table. The approximate roots of the polynomials P(x) and Q(x) are selected from the entry of the indexed table whose quantized LSP values give the least error when used to evaluate polynomials P(x) and Q(x). The index of the selected entry of the table can be used to representing the approximate roots in the speech encoding application.
In one embodiment, the method selects the approximate roots by selecting such quantized LSP values that provide a least mean squared error in evaluating polynomials P(x) and Q(x). Further, under one method of the present invention, a step is taken to ensure that each selected LSP value corresponds to a designated root of the polynomials P(x) and Q(x). In one instance, the ensuring step is achieved by examining the direction of change in value of polynomial P(x) when successively decreasing LSP values for x are substituted into polynomial P(x). In one implementation, each of said polynomials P(x) and Q(x) is 5th-order.
According to another aspect of the present invention, a code book used in conjunction with the present invention can be organized as a number of multi-dimensional tables each representing vectors of quantized LSP values corresponding to multiple roots of the LSP polynomials. In one embodiment, the entries of each table of LSP values are arranged in a decreasing order of proposed LSP values in a designated root of the LSP polynomials.
Under the present invention, during run time, complex operations for searching the roots of the polynomials are avoided. Further, because the code book is prepared from an LSF code book, the desirable linear distortion performance of quantization in the LSF domain is preserved.
The present invention is better understood upon consideration of the detailed description below and the accompanying drawings.

Enhanced quantization method for spectral frequency coding


A tire and wheel rim assembly includes a tire supporting rim having an outward facing mounting surface and at least one tire body mounted to the rim and positioning an internal tire cavity over the rim mounting surface. A tire pressure monitoring module assembly mounts to the rim mounting surface and includes a housing having an internal pressure chamber; a pressure sensing device and/or a temperature measuring sensor within the housing pressure chamber; and an elongate connecting member extending through the housing and the rim mounting surface. A crossover pipe connects the housing pressure chamber with a remote portion of the rim. The inflation pressure in the tire cavity is transferred through the axial passageway of the crossover pipe to the pressure chamber within the module housing.

Typical commercially available tire pressure monitoring system units are mounted to the inside of a tire in a position from which the air pressure within the tire cavity may be measured. Data representing pressure within the tire is then communicated by a transmitted signal to a reader external to the tire. For example, certain available units integrate a pressure sensing module with the valve stem of a tire. Electronics within the sensor unit measure the air pressure at the valve stem and transmit an appropriate signal to an external receiver. The receiver may be located proximally located to the sensor unit or in a remote location such as the passenger compartment.
While working well, such systems are not useful in meeting the industry's needs in certain applications. For example, in some applications such as in NASCAR race tires, there is a need for a tire pressure-measuring device that may be used conveniently in a two tire system by officials to check start inflation pressure. Such a system should functionally measure inflation pressure without requiring an official to touch the tire. A suitable pressure measuring system will give a positive indication of specific tire read and, for competition reasons, preclude one team from reading another team's tire information. In addition, the pressure measuring system and device must be capable of validation with a mechanical pressure gauge if necessary. In such applications, the tire pressure measuring device should be hardy and capable of surviving multiple races. Ideally, the device will be a standard supported component of the tire/wheel assembly. The operation of the device should further be capable of operational verification before the tire/wheel assemblies are released for control purposes and function without requiring an electromagnetic radiation shield.
An additional hurdle in the development of a suitable pressure measuring device for NASCAR or racing applications is that the tire employed in such applications is typically a dual tire system. The system uses an inner and outer tire, both seated at respective locations on a common rim. When properly seated the inner tire (which has higher inflation than the outer tire) pushes the beads of both tires against the rim flange. The inner tire has molded grooves to allow the inflation pressure in the outer chamber to reach the area adjacent to the flange between the two beads. The pressure measuring device is intended to measure the outer tire pressure and must be capable of accessing and measuring air pressure within the region between the inner and outer tires in a manner that does not interfere with tire performance or conflict with the accomplishment of the other objectives summarized above.
A further obstacle to achieving a satisfactory tire pressure measuring system is the need for such a system to communicate reliably with a remote receiver mounted on the vehicle. The tire pressure monitoring module may include a passive device that communicates with a remote receiver by means of RF signal. The RF signal from a passive device may not be strong enough to reach the receiver antenna mounted on the vehicle if subjected to interference from the tire rim. Accordingly, there is a need for a tire pressure monitoring system that allows for measurement of air pressure within one or more tires mounted on a rim while facilitating reliable communication of tire pressure data between the module and a receiver antenna mounted on the vehicle.

Rim mounted pressure monitoring system for a tire with protected monitoring module


First and second conductor layers are formed on a main surface of a base layer. A tapered slot is formed between the first and second conductive layers. A first slit is formed at the first conductor layer, and a second slit is formed at the second conductor layer. Thus, the first conductor layer is divided into a first device connection portion and a first antenna portion, and the second conductor layer is divided into a second device connection portion and a second antenna portion. A semiconductor device is connected to the first and second device connection portions.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna module that transmits or receives an electromagnetic wave of a frequency in a terahertz band not less than 0.05 THz and not more than 10 THz, for example, and a method for manufacturing the antenna module.
Description of Related Art
Terahertz transmission using an electromagnetic wave in the terahertz band is expected to be applied to various purposes such as short-range super high speed communication and uncompressed delayless super high-definition video transmission.
A terahertz oscillation detection device using a semiconductor substrate is described in JP 2013-5115 A. In the terahertz oscillation detection device described in JP 2013-5115 A, first and second electrodes, an MIM (Metal Insulator Metal) reflector, a resonator and an active element are formed on the semiconductor substrate. A horn opening is arranged between the first electrode and the second electrode. A resonant tunneling diode, for example, is used as an active element, and it is possible to use the terahertz oscillation detection device as an oscillation device or as a detection device by changing the applied voltage to the active element.

Antenna module and method for manufacturing the same


A linear fish catching device having an elongated barrel and a coaxially disposed internal elastic spring humanely allows hooked fish to remain in the water until harvesting. Preferably the elastic tube spring extends between a pair of spaced apart guiding elements coaxially centered within the device. The device is cocked by stretching the spring tube, that functions as a linear spring. The line from the open end of the barrel is secured when a captivated stop registers with a slot defined in the barrel end. When a fish strikes, line is dislodged from the slot, freeing the stop which is thereafter drawn into the tubular barrel by contraction of the elastic spring. Alternative couplings for centering spring movement are disclosed. Each coupling comprises a cylindrical body having a penetrable eyelet and a pair of aligned relief slots that provide clearance when line is tied to the eyelet.

My invention relates generally to automatic fish catching, hooking and retrieval devices. More particularly, my invention relates to automatic hooking devices that humanely catch fish.
In the prior art a variety of fish catching devices are well known. Especially in the American south, rotary fish catching devices known as "Yo-Yo's" have been used for several years. Yo-Yo's generally comprise a metallic, casing in which a spring activated spool contains line to be unwound. The line may terminate in a baited hook, and when a fish strikes, the spring within the Yo-Yo tightens the line to hook the fish. Conventional round, metallic fishing Yo-Yo's have a number of disadvantages well known to fishermen.
Prior art rotary Yo-Yo's can rust and deform. They are difficult to employ because of their internal spring, and once subjected to water, dirt and the elements, Yo-Yo's tend to corrode and jam over time. On the other hand, their metallic construction and relatively precise tolerances means that the cost of production is relatively high. While I am personally familiar with conventional Yo-Yo's, I feel that a much better approach needs to be developed.
Prior art Yo-Yo's tend to drag the hooked fish out of the water, resulting in a slow death. Many states have outlawed conventional Yo-Yo's because of this reason. To be humane and effective, a fish hooking and retrieval device must allow the captured fish to remain in the water until harvested.
Others have suggested fish retrieving and catching devices previously. U.S. Pat. No. 4,121,367, issued to Lopez on Oct. 24, 1978 discloses art that is relevant to my invention. This fishing rod encloses a coaxially centered elastic line that, when triggered, can hook a fish. However, numerous differences exist, most importantly in the matter or mode in which the elastic trigger is deployed.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,924,617, issued May 15, 1990 to Parent discloses a hook setting device having a frame in which a lever is sprung for actuation. A line extends from a ball locked within a trigger seat, and when a fish bites the device triggers.
Adams U.S. Pat. No. 3,605,315 issued Sep. 20, 1971 discloses a relatively complex metallic line tensioner that is triggered when the fish initially bites. Some variations of this theme involve a holder wherein a conventional fishing rod is simply held in a mechanical device. An example of this is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,264 issued Jul. 22, 1980.
Other examples of fish catching devices are seen in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,471,553, 4,944,106, and 3,766,680.
However, no prior art retrieval device of which I am aware discloses a self contained, virtually fool-proof elasticized trigger system that can be readily employed from either a boat, tree or similar support or stationary object, or embodied within a flotation device. More particularly, known prior art devices do not precisely control or center the spring properly, so as to continually present a coaxial pathway when the spring retracts. Stated another way, I have cured the known problems in the prior art by combining an elastic spring centered within a coaxial tube that protects the mechanism, while accomplishing fastening through unique couplings that function as guides to prevent jamming of the apparatus. Moreover, I have proposed a fish hooking mechanism that allows the fish to remain in the water.


A distributed blade server system, a management server and a switching method are provided. The method includes: determining a standby blade of a first blade when it is determined that the first blade is in abnormal operation; delivering, based on an access relationship between a startup card of the first blade and a first storage partition, a first configuration command to a storage system, the first configuration command including information of an access relationship between a startup card of the standby blade and the first storage partition, so that the storage system configures the access relationship between the startup card of the standby blade and the first storage partition; and delivering a startup command to the standby blade.

A blade server subsystem is characterized by high computing capability, space saving, centralized management and being easy to extend. Compared with a conventional rack system and a tower server system, the blade server subsystem may help enterprises to reduce the costs of power supply, heat dissipation and storage space, and as a result, a blade server has been used due to advantages with respect to cost efficiency.
The blade server subsystem includes a large number of hot-swappable devices, referred to as blades, accommodated in a chassis. The blade mentioned here is an independent server, and the blade includes one or more processors and related memories, storage disks and network controllers, and runs its own operating system (OS) and application program. The blade server subsystem shares common infrastructure components, such as power sources, fans, Compact Disk Read-Only Memories (CD-ROMs) and floppy disk drives, Ethernet and Fibre Channel (FC) switches and system ports, and thereby the complexity of many rack systems is avoided. The most significant difference lies in that the blade server subsystem is installed on a horizontal bottom plate in a perpendicular manner, while a typical rack system is formed by horizontal arrangement of vertically stacked servers.
In the implementation of the present invention, the inventor finds that though the blade server subsystem requires low power consumption, the density of blades is high, and in a high-density deployment environment, the reliability of blades is lower than that of tower and rack servers, and spare blades may not be replaced quickly; and in a distributed system, the reliability of nodes deployed on the blade server is lower than that of nodes deployed on a minicomputer, as a result, a system reliability is low.

Distributed blade server system, management server and switching method


A method of forming a circular knit fabric includes feeding a multi-filament non-elastomeric yarn from a first spool into an aperture defined in a yarn carrier plate that guides the non-elastomeric yarn sequentially to a series of knitting needles spaced about a circular needle array; while feeding an elastomeric yarn from a second spool to the yarn carrier plate, such that a fabric is knit to have a ground comprising both the non-elastomeric yarn and the elastomeric yarn. The non-elastomeric yarn and the elastomeric yarn are fed together into the carrier plate aperture in an untwisted, unwrapped relation, such that the fabric ground is knit to have a technical face in which portions of the non-elastomeric yarn are exposed in some areas and portions of the elastomeric yarn are exposed in some areas.

Single-knit jersey fabrics are generally inexpensive and found in such things as underwear and T-shirts. Due to their interconnected loop structure, knit materials in general can be deformed or stretched by elongating individual stitches, even when the fabric is knit of yarns made of non-elastomeric fiber materials. To provide a greater degree of stretch and stretch recovery, elastomeric yarns may be knit into a fabric. One type of elastomeric yarn in common use is spandex. Spandex, sometimes sold under the trade name LYCRA®, is a manufactured fiber of a long-chain synthetic polymer containing at least 85 percent segmented polyurethane. The polyurethane is prepared from a polyether glycol, a mixture of diisocyanates, and a chain extender and then melt-spun, dry-spun or wet-spun to form the spandex fiber. Another type of elastomeric yarn is polybutylene-terephtalate (PBT) yarn, a highly elastic, friction-texturized polyester yarn available from Swicofil AG Textile Services of Emmenbruecke, Switzerland.
Knitting spandex yarns together with non-elastomeric yarns in a jersey knitting process is sometimes referred to as "plaiting" or "plating," in which the non-elastomeric yarn and the bare spandex yarn are kept in a parallel, side-by-side relation throughout the knit, with the relation between the two yarns controlled such that the spandex material is always kept on one side of the non-elastomeric yarn. In plush or pile materials, the spandex yarn is generally kept away from the technical face of the fabric (i.e., the side opposite the raised pile), so as to present the typically more attractive and comfortable non-elastomeric yarn material at the technical face and to protect the spandex yarn fibers from snagging. Spandex yarns may also accept dye differently than other yarn materials, resulting in unacceptable color variations if exposed on the fabric surface. Stretchable pile fabrics may be made in a three end knitting process, meaning that three separate yarns are brought into the machine and knit together to form the fabric: a non-elastomeric ground yarn, an elastomeric ground yarn, and a pile yarn. As knit, the non-elastomeric and elastomeric ground yarns are generally limited to the ground of the fabric, and the pile yarns extend out of the fabric to form discrete loops, which in some cases are cut or shaved after processing to form a bed of fiber ends. The non-elastomeric and elastomeric ground yarns may be plated to keep the elastomeric yarns away from the technical fabric face while being knit into the fabric, or may be "laid in" or tucked into the knit structure using needle selection cams, to trap the elastomeric yarns between the non-elastomeric ground and pile yarns.
Some knit materials are formed as circular knit materials, meaning that they are initially knit as a tube on a machine in which the knitting needles are organized into a circular knitting bed. The needles are sequentially activated about the circular bed, such as by a cam surface acting against butt ends of the rotating set of needles, to lift and accept a yarn fed from a spool into a yarn carrier plate, to form a spiral row of stitches about the end of the tube. Such a process is also referred to as circular weft knitting. To circular knit a three end stretchable plush or pile fabric, the non-elastomeric ground yarn, the elastomeric ground yarn and the pile yarn are each fed separately to respective holes or slots in the carrier plate. In particular, the elastomeric yarn is kept separate from the non-elastomeric ground yarn until the point of introduction to the needles, so as to maintain the strict positional relation of non-elastomeric and elastomeric yarns, in order to keep the spandex material from being exposed, or "grinning through" the technical face of the fabric. In some cases, such as on some Orizio machines made by Orizio SRL, Brescia, Italy, the elastomeric yarn is run outside of the carrier plate, and guided into the needle before it closes by an outside guide roll. Circular knitting machines are also available from Vanguard Supreme, a division of the Monarch Knitting Machinery Corporation, in Monroe, N.C.
Improvements in stretchable laminate constructions and methods of making them will hopefully result in further advances in comfort and usefulness, as well as in reductions in costs.

Knitting with yarns of differing stretch properties


A gaming station that includes a plurality of player gaming units is provided. Each player gaming unit may include a betting area on a surface of a trapdoor. Such a trapdoor may support one or more chips in the betting area when the trapdoor is closed. When the trapdoor opens, the chips fall into an internal chip collection area. The player gaming unit may further include an adjustable screen. When the screen is in the closed position, the screen serves to block a player at the player gaming unit from accessing the betting area. When the screen is in the open position, the player is allowed to access the betting area. The gaming station may further include a sliding float for holding a plurality of chips. Such a sliding float may be movable past the plurality of player stations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to gaming tables.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, many games involving gambling are played in casinos. Such games may include cards, dice, buttons, and balls. Many of these games are also available for play in a fully virtual environment (e.g., gambling machines). The translation of games involving physical cards, dice, buttons, balls, chips, etc. into a virtual environment has advantages and disadvantages. Virtual game play may allow for game play scenarios that are difficult, if not impossible, at a physical table. For example, electronic games allow for large numbers of game players located at remote distances to be able to play together. While efficiency and speed of the game may also improve based on faster (computer-executed) dealing, bet calculations, etc., some players may miss the enjoyment of competing face-to-face and handling physical cards and chips.
Baccarat, for example, is a type of card game that allows for gambling. Generally, in Baccarat, cards 2-9 are worth face value; 10, J, Q, and K are worth zero; and Aces are worth 1 point. Hands are valued according to the rightmost digit of the sum of their constituent cards: for example, a hand consisting of 2 and 3 is worth 5, but a hand consisting of 6 and 7 is worth 3 (the rightmost digit of the total, 13). As such, the highest possible hand value is 9. Electronic gaming stations for baccarat have not, however, been as popular as other types of electronic gaming stations.
There is, therefore, a need for improved systems and methods of optimizing the electronic gambling experience.


Super-user privileges are virtualized by designating a virtual super-user for each of a plurality of virtual processes and intercepting system calls for which actual super-user privileges are required, which are nevertheless desirable for a virtual super-user to perform in the context of his or her own virtual process. In one embodiment, a computer operating system includes multiple virtual processes, such as virtual private servers. Each virtual process can be associated with one or more virtual super-users. When an actual process makes a system call that requires actual super-user privileges, the call is intercepted by a system call wrapper.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to computer operating systems, and more particularly, to techniques for virtualizing super-user privileges in a computer operating system including multiple virtual processes, such as virtual private servers.
2. Description of the Background Art
With the popularity and success of the Internet, server technologies are of great commercial importance today. An individual server application typically executes on a single physical host computer, servicing client requests. However, providing a unique physical host for each server application is expensive and inefficient.
For example, commercial hosting services are often provided by an Internet Service Provider (ISP), which generally provides a separate physical host computer for each customer on which to execute a server application. However, a customer purchasing hosting services will often neither require nor be amenable to paying for use of an entire host computer. In general, an individual customer will only require a fraction of the processing power, storage, and other resources of a host computer.
Accordingly, hosting multiple server applications on a single physical computer would be desirable. In order to be commercially viable, however, every server application would need to be isolated from every other server application running on the same physical host. Clearly, it would be unacceptable to customers of an ISP to purchase hosting services, only to have another server application program (perhaps belonging to a competitor) access the customer's data and client requests. Thus, each server application program needs to be isolated, receiving requests only from its own clients, transmitting data only to its own clients, and being prevented from accessing data associated with other server applications.
Furthermore, it is desirable to allocate varying specific levels of system resources to different server applications, depending upon the needs of, and amounts paid by, the various customers of the ISP. In effect, each server application needs to be a "virtual private server," simulating a server application executing on a dedicated physical host computer.
Such functionality is unavailable on traditional server technology because, rather than comprising a single, discrete process, a virtual private server must include a plurality of seemingly unrelated processes, each performing various elements of the sum total of the functionality required by the customer. Because each virtual private server includes a plurality of processes, it has been impossible using traditional server technology for an ISP to isolate the processes associated with one virtual private server from those processes associated with other virtual private servers.
Accordingly, what is needed is a technique for associating a plurality of processes with a virtual process. What is also needed is a technique for associating an identifier with a virtual process.
One of the difficulties in providing isolation between virtual private servers within a single host computer involves resource ownership. In UNIX® and related operating systems, certain system resources, such as processes and files, are owned by users or groups of users. Each user is assigned a user identifier (UID) by which the user is identified in the operating system. In some cases, a group of users may be assigned a group identifier (GID).
Resource ownership is typically used to implement access control. For example, a user can generally only kill a process or access a file that he or she owns (or for which permission has been granted by the owner). Thus, if a user attempts, for instance, to kill a process that he or she does not own, the attempt fails and an error is generated.
An exception to the above is a special user, known as a "super-" or "root-" user. The super-user has access to all system resources and is typically a system administrator or the like. For example, the super-user can open, modify, or delete any system file and can terminate any system process.
Implementing resource ownership in the context of multiple virtual private servers presents a number of difficulties. Each virtual private server should be free to assign to an individual or group any UID or GID, respectively. Indeed, some applications require certain files or processes to be associated with a particular UID or GID in order to properly function.
Unfortunately, if two users of different virtual private servers share the same UID, one user could potentially kill the other user's processes and read, modify, or delete the other user's files. The same possibility is true for two groups sharing the same GID.
For example, one user could execute a "kill −1" command, which terminates all of =the processes associated with the user's UID. Unfortunately, if another user on the same computer shares the same UID, all of that user's processes will be terminated as well. Clearly, this is unacceptable in the context of a virtual private server, where each server should appear to be running on a dedicated host machine.
Accordingly, what is needed is a technique for virtualizing resource ownership in a computer operating system including multiple virtual private servers. Indeed, what is needed is a technique for allowing a virtual private server to assign any UID or GID to a user or group, without creating an unacceptable security risk or removing the appearance that the virtual private server is running on a dedicated host.
As noted above, in UNIX® and related operating systems, the super-user is granted special privileges not available to other users. For example, the super-user can open, modify, or delete the files of other users, as well as terminate other users' processes. Indeed, the super-user can add and delete users, assign and change passwords, and insert modules into the operating system kernel.
Implementing super-user privileges in a computer operating system including multiple virtual processes presents numerous difficulties. For example, each virtual process should be allowed to have a system administrator who has many of the privileges of a super-user, e.g., the ability to add and delete users of the virtual process, access files of any user of the virtual process, terminate processes associated with the virtual process, and the like.
However, if a user of each virtual process were given full super-user privileges, a super-user of one virtual process could access the files of a user of another virtual process. Similarly, a super-user of one virtual process could terminate the processes associated with a user of another virtual process. Indeed, a super-user of one virtual process could obtain exclusive access to all system resources, effectively disabling the other virtual processes. Clearly, allowing a user of each virtual process full super-user privileges would seriously compromise system security, entirely removing the illusion that the virtual processes are running on dedicated host computers.
Accordingly, what is needed is a technique for virtualizing super-user privileges in a computer operating system including multiple virtual processes. Moreover, what is needed is a technique for virtualizing super-user privileges, such that a virtual super-user has the power to perform traditional system administrator functions with respect to his or her own virtual process, but is unable to interfere with other virtual processes or the underlying operating system.

Virtualizing super-user privileges for multiple virtual processes


A method of manufacturing a laminated vehicle trim panel includes initially positioning a flexible first material within a mold cavity of a first mold portion. A second mold portion for closing the cavity of the first mold portion is then provided. A second material is introduced into the mold cavity to form a substrate, such that the substrate and the first material form a laminated vehicle trim panel. A portion of the substrate between the outer peripheral edge of the substrate and a second portion of the substrate defines a brim. The brim has a mounting feature for attaching the laminated vehicle trim panel to a second panel.

It is known to provide an interior trim panel for a vehicle which is aesthetically and/or tactilely pleasing to the vehicle occupants. Such trim panels commonly have cushioned soft-touch aesthetic features. In particular, interior vehicle door panels often include a bolster area having such cushioned soft-touch aesthetic features. Such localized softness in a bolster area may be provided by a cover, such as flexible fabric or vinyl material of varying thickness typically mounted to a rigid structural substrate to form a bolster panel.
It is also known to form bolster panels using in-mold lamination. However, such bolster panels often require several post-molding assembly operations, including trimming excess cover material or folding and securing excess cover material to a back side of the bolster panel. Holes for receiving components, such as armrests, door latches, and thermoplastic stakes, must then be provided, such as by punching. Such known methods of manufacturing vehicle bolster panels therefore typically require a series of separate molding and assembly steps which can add significant cost to each part produced. It would therefore be desirable to provide an improved method of manufacturing an interior bolster panel for a vehicle.

Method of forming a vehicle panel assembly


An analogue to digital converter (ADC) is provided which comprises an signal sampling device, a signal comparison device, and a digital signal generator. An analogue signal to be converted to a digital signal is input into the ADC, the signal sampling device produces samples of the analogue signal, the signal comparison device receives the analogue signal and the analogue signal samples, performs a comparison between them and outputs comparison signals, and the digital signal generator receives the comparison signals and uses them to generate a digital signal.

ADCs are a common component of many electronic devices. Conventional ADCs are based on time sampling of the analogue input signal, the converted digital signal being dependent on the value of the analogue signal at each time instant at which the analogue input signal is sampled. This results in a number of drawbacks of conventional ADCs. As analogue to digital conversion takes place at a number of discrete, spaced time instants, it is not possible to determine the analogue input signal value between two sampling time instants. For time-varying analogue input signals, unnecessary conversions to digital signals are performed when the analogue input signals are, temporarily, nearly constant. At each sampling time instant, the digital signal is produced from scratch by conversion of the value of the analogue input signal at the time instant, and the resultant digital signal cannot be predicted. The consequence of this is that it is necessary to carry out a sophisticated set of operations to convert the analogue input signal, each time this signal is sampled, regardless of what operations have been performed in conversions of the analogue input signal at previous time instants. This necessitates the use of complex ADC architecture, to perform complex analogue/digital operations. Such ADCs have undesirably high power consumption and large size. Optimisation of ADC operational characteristics (power consumption, size, resolution, speed, etc.) and also cost, is therefore of great importance.
One example where such ADC optimisation is particularly desirable is in portable devices, such as cellular phones, laptops and heart pacemakers, where it is important to conserve the power of the usually lifetime-limited power source, e.g. a battery. In cellular phone and laptop portable devices, there is a need to continuously monitor the voltage of the battery of the device, preferably both during an operational mode and a stand-by mode of the device. This is desired by many functions of the power management integrated circuit (PMIC) of the device. Monitoring of the battery voltage requires an ADC which is sufficiently fast to track rapid changes of the voltage, and which can avoid reaction to unwanted voltage spikes. Such an ADC function may be provided by running software conversions through the high resolution, general purpose ADC found on the PMIC of the device. However, this ADC uses conventional time-sampling of the battery voltage analogue signal, which requires use of a clock. Such use by the ADC, results in a not inconsequential power consumption by the ADC function. In addition, during the stand-by mode of the device, the only available clock is provided by a low frequency crystal oscillator. Such a low frequency clock cannot be used in the ADC function, so monitoring of the voltage of the battery is interrupted. Thus there is a need for an ADC which addresses these problems.
In pacemakers, the power source (battery) is not readily accessible for recharging or replacing. It is therefore of critical importance to limit, as much as possible, the power consumption of the battery. This is not entirely achievable by use of conventional ADCs and associated clocks.

Abstract: The signal sampling device may produce voltage samples or current samples of the analogue signal.


This invention relates to the field of diesel engines operating on two-stroke cycles. This invention further relates to said diesel engines having piston compressors.

Two-stroke diesel engines are well known and used excessively in various applications. The main application belongs to the transportation means like cars, bikes, locomotives, boats etc. Great advantages of two-stroke diesel engines are their simplicity, low coast and high power to weight ratio. During long and successful use of said engines numerous efficiency problems became apparent. It is common knowledge of those skilled in the art that said engines are less efficient than four-stroke engines of various types. It is believed that deficiencies are caused by incomplete air charge and incomplete exhaust. Four-stroke engines have separate dedicated pistons' movements for each of these functions.
Though attempts have been made to remedy the deficiencies, still to the best of our knowledge, two-stroke engines remain inferior to those four-stroke ones. The presented invention discloses a novel design of engines which significantly increases efficiency of two-stroke diesel engines. There are two principal goals of this invention that in turn allow for a number of further improvements and advantages. The first goal is to significantly increase the pressure of an air charge above the pressure of exhaust gases at the end of the expansion phase. This excessive pressure is instrumental for pushing-out of the exhaust gases, or, alternatively, for squeezing those exhaust gases into insignificant part of the combustion cylinder. In any case, having the air charge at a pressure multiple times higher than that of the exhaust gases will eliminate scavenging deficiency of the engine. The second goal of this invention is to lower the residual or return volume of the air charge to limit a choke effect. We define residual or return volume as a part of the air charge which is compressed and therefore heated, but does not make it into the combustion cylinder. At the following intake phase that return portion of the charge expends reaching the pressure of the intake air and consequently occupies large portion of the pumping cylinder. This repeatable effect reduces effective intake volume and partially chokes the engine. Our invention discloses the apparatus minimizing return volume and therefore greatly reducing said choke effect.
Important consequence of said two goals is a double compression cycle. Due to the pumping cylinder being necessarily many times larger than the combustion cylinder, the resulting total compression ratio for the air charge, by the moment of the fuel injection, will be the result of multiplication of the compression ratio of the combustion cylinder by the volume ratio of the pumping cylinder and the combustion cylinder. It is quite conceivable that said total compression ratio could be more than a hundred. There is a significant increase in thermal efficiency of the engine due to said outstanding compression ratio.

Highly efficient two-stroke double compression combustion engine

Abstract: Our invention has disclosed a double compression diesel engine featuring outstanding compression ratio, high thermal efficiency and large power to weight ratio. This engine is more efficient and more powerful than conventional four-stroke engines, having lesser weight and volume. This engine will operate on gasoline, as well as on diesel fuel, because of its large compression ratio.


According to one embodiment, a wireless device includes a circuit board, a semiconductor chip, a nonconductive layer, and a conductive film. The semiconductor chip includes a transmitting/receiving circuit and is mounted on the circuit board. The nonconductive layer is to seal the semiconductor chip. The conductive film is to cover a surface of the nonconductive layer, the conductive film being provided with a plurality of apertures serving as radiating elements. At least one aperture of the plurality of apertures is fed with power.

As the frequency and circuit density of an electronic device become higher and its size becomes smaller, a problem related to interference due to radiation of an undesired electromagnetic wave arises. It is therefore required to suppress leakage of an undesired electromagnetic wave to the outside. There is known a method of covering, with a conductive resin film, the surface of a nonconductive resin layer for sealing a semiconductor chip in order to impart a shielding function to a semiconductor package. There is also proposed a technique of realizing a module which includes a transmission/reception antenna and has a shielding function by forming apertures in a portion, of a conductive resin film and a nonconductive resin layer for sealing a semiconductor chip, which covers the upper surface of the semiconductor chip.
In the conventional techniques, the surface of the semiconductor package with the antenna is covered with a conductive resin film, and apertures for enabling radiation and reception of a desired electromagnetic wave to be used for communication are formed in the conductive resin film. In this case, a diffraction wave occurring in an edge portion of the conductive resin film degrades an antenna gain in a desired radiation direction depending on the package size and the frequency of the desired electromagnetic wave.

Wireless device, and information processing apparatus and storage device including the wireless device


Composite particle comprised of composite particles in which edible core particles are encapsulated with a coating comprising a material that forms a propellant gas when contacted with an edible acid in a solution such that the composite particles independently move in the solution sufficient to create a visual effect. The movement of the composite particles creates an interesting and enjoyable optical effect. In one embodiment, these composite particles are included in powdered beverage mixes including an edible acid which are reconstituted into drinking beverages having the optical effect imparted by the movement of the composite particles in solution.

Powdered beverage mixes, such as KOOL-AID® and TANG®, have been commercially available for many years. They are relatively long shelf life, stable products that are reconstituted from the dry mixes when desired without the need to handle and transport the bulk fluid carrier. Powdered beverage products generally are an alternative product choice for consumers with so-called ready-to-drink (RTD) beverage products. RTD beverages offer a consumer a different form of convenience because the consumer does not need to formulate the drink from powder and water before consuming it. Beyond these differences, the conventional reconstituted powdered beverages and RTD beverages are often very similar to consumers. The food and beverage industry would be interested in novelties that can be introduced in powdered beverage mixes to help differentiate these product lines and spark consumer interest in powdered beverage mixes.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535 describes an edible confection with a recognizable shape that repeatedly rises and sinks in a transparent carbonated beverage due to its changing buoyancy resulting from physical attachment of carbonation bubbles derived from the beverage onto the surface of the confection until it becomes buoyant enough to cause it to rise to the surface of the beverage where the attached bubbles escape to the atmosphere causing the confection to become less buoyant such that it descends back towards the bottom of the drink; the attachment of carbonation bubbles begins again, and the confection's motion cycle repeats itself. U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535 describes a preference for low solubility gelatin-based confections that do not muddy the beverage and provide a suitable surface for nucleation of carbonation bubbles. According to U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535, it also has been known that raisins or small clay balls undergo the phenomenon of ascending and descending in carbonated fluids by the attachment and surface-release of carbonation bubbles. U.S. Pat. No. 6,319,535 also describes toy submarines having an interior chamber holding a charge of baking powder, whereby the toy ascends and descends in water. The motion in this case is a result of bubbles from the carbonated beverage collecting and releasing from particles of a specific density and surface area.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,760,138 describes dry carbonating agents comprised of a carbohydrate/metal bicarbonate complex prepared by reacting a carbohydrate in aqueous solution with metal hydroxide or oxide at a temperature not exceeding 25° C. to form a carbohydrate/metal hydroxide adduct to which carbon dioxide is then introduced to form the complex, which is dried for use in beverage powders. Upon rehydration, the complex releases carbon dioxide and carbonates the beverage. The carbohydrates are described as mono-,di-, and polysaccharides and polyols.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,106,883 and 5,562,939 describe inclusions suspended within a liquid, in which the inclusions are pieces of a jelly-like substance described as fruit pulp cells, fruit pulp particles, fruit pieces, gold particles, droplets of flavoring, or clouding agents. A pre-gel solution containing gellan gum is incorporated into a liquid composition with the inclusions. The resulting suspending solution is then agitated to suspend the inclusions such that they do not float or sink.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,187,326 describes a fruit flavored dry beverage mix which comprises sugar, food acid, flavor, color, and a clouding agent obtained by co-drying an aqueous dispersion comprising a major amount of solubilized maltodextrin and a minor amount of xantham gum and titanium dioxide.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,365,209 describes an encapsulated product in the form of a caplet containing an active ingredient that can be incorporated into a food item, soft confectionary product, hard confectionary product, jelly gum confectionary product, dry beverage, or chewing gum product.
There remains a need for improved approaches for introducing movable components in beverages that provide a more stimulating visual impact upon the consumer to increase the consumer's enjoyment of the beverage. The present invention fulfills these, as well as other needs and objectives, as will be apparent from the following description of embodiments of the present invention.

Composite particles for beverage mixes imparting optical effect in beverages and methods of making same


An image processing apparatus includes an image acquisition unit configured to acquire a first image and a second image taken at a different focus position from the first image, an image magnification calculator configured to calculate a first image magnification of an object in the first image and a second image magnification of the object in the second image, an image size changer configured to change an image size of at least one of the first and second images so as to reduce a difference between the first and second image magnifications that are calculated by the image magnification calculator, according to the difference between the first and second image magnifications, and a processor configured to perform a calculation using the first and second images after the image size is changed by the image size changer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for separating images taken at different in-focus positions into an object and a backdrop and, in particular, to an image processing apparatus configured to separate into the object and the backdrop by considering the difference in the image magnification of the object between images taken serially.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a technique for taking a picture, there is a method of taking an image in a state of blurring a backdrop that is a part other than a focused object image by reducing the depth of field to narrow a focused image. In order to take an image where the depth of field is reduced, it is required that an aperture stop of a camera is opened to make the focus length longer. Generally, a single reflex camera that has an image pickup lens of large diameter and is capable of selecting variety of combinations of the aperture stop and a shutter speed can take an image using the above technique.
On the other hand, a compact digital still camera and a camera-equipped cell-phone capable of taking an image that are popular in late years employ an image pickup lens having a small lens aperture and a very short focal length to reduce the size, and therefore the depth of field is very deep. Accordingly, it is difficult to take an image where the backdrop is blurred while the above technique is used.
A method of generating an image having a blur emphasized more than that of an image taken by driving a real aperture or lens is proposed. Hereinafter, the method is referred to as "backdrop blur".
In order to achieve the backdrop blurring, a processing for separating an area of a main object, such as a person, from areas of other objects, such a backdrop, is required. As one of the processing methods, two images are taken at different focus positions, and an area of a main object and an area of the backdrop are separated depending on the change of an edge amount between both of the images.
In case where a user takes images at different focus positions in a stage of having the camera in hand, a relative position shift is caused due to a camera shake or the like in each taken image. Therefore, in order to apply the above method, it is necessary to calculate the change of the edge amount after positions of the images are matched by correcting the relative positional shift.
However, when the position shift amount for the position adjustment is calculated, a relative calculation is performed between images where the level of the blur is different from each other, and therefore the accuracy of the calculation result of the position shift is reduced.
Further, as a method for achieving the backdrop blur by the position adjustment between images taken at different focus positions, for example, Japanese patent Laid-Open No. 2002-112095 proposes a method of acquiring two sampling images between main images and of calculating a position shift amount between the main images by using the sampling images. In particular, firstly, in a single shutter operation, two continuous image pickup operations are performed at different focus positions. Secondly, in a main image A where an obtained main object is focused and a main image B where a backdrop of a main object is focused, two sampling images are taken in between when the main image A is taken and when the main image B is taken. Thirdly, the position shift amount of the main image B from the main image A is calculated using the two sampling images. Further, the main image A and the main image B where the position shift is corrected based on the calculated position shift amount are synthesized, and an image having a desired level of the blur is obtained.
However, a conventional technique described in the above-mentioned Japanese patent Laid-Open 2002-112095 takes a temporal difference between the main image and the sampling image. For example, if a camera shake is caused between when the main image is taken and when the sampling image is taken, a calculated position shift amount between the sampling images is affected by the effect of the camera shake. Therefore, an error is caused when the position shift amount between the sampling images is used as a position shift amount between the main images.
Furthermore, since the position shift amount is calculated using the sampling image which has a smaller size than the main image, the accuracy of the calculated position shift amount is low. In particular, in case where the position shift amount for the main image is calculated using ⅛ sampling images as embodiment in Japanese patent Laid-Open 2002-112095 and the calculated result is converted to the position shift amount in the main image to be eventually obtained, the position shift amount can detect the position shift amount only at each eight pixels.
The case does not consider the change of the image magnification of an object depending on the change of the focus position, and cannot perform a processing of improving the accuracy of the position adjustment.

Image processing apparatus, image pickup apparatus including image processing apparatus, image processing method, and storage medium in which program is stored for acquiring and processing images taken at different focus positions


To provide an inorganic fiber that suppresses adverse effects on a human body and living environments, exhibits high biosolubility, and also exhibits excellent heat resistance as a constituent material for a filter material, a sealing material, or the like. The inorganic fiber comprises 30 mass % or more and less than 81 mass % of Al2O3, more than 19 mass % and 65 mass % or less of MgO and 0 mass % to 40 mass % of SiO2, wherein the total content of Al2O3, MgO and SiO2 relative to the entire fiber is 98 mass % or more.

An inorganic fiber is composed mainly of a fiber of an inorganic compound, and is expected to be used as a material constituting an insulating material or a refractory material or the like. In particular, an inorganic fiber having an average fiber diameter of 1 μm or less is expected to be used as a filter material or a sealing material.
As the inorganic fiber having a small fiber diameter, asbestos has conventionally been known. Since asbestos has a small fiber diameter and has a high chemical resistance to body fluids, it reaches the inside of a lung by breathing and exerts a long-term effect on the cells in the alveolus, and as a result, adversely affects a human body. Further, as for an inorganic fiber other than asbestos, an inorganic fiber composed mainly of SiO2 having excellent heat resistance is thought to adversely affect a human body if SiO2 is crystallized at high temperatures to generate cristobalite.
Therefore, as an inorganic fiber having biosolubility and having low chemical resistance to body fluids, an inorganic fiber composed of 65 wt % to 99 wt % of Al2O3 and 1 wt % to 35 wt % of SiO2 obtained by a process in which a spinning solution comprising a solution that contains aluminum oxychloride, colloidal silica and a thickener is withdrawn from a plurality of spinning nozzles to form a fiber precursor, followed by quick heating and rapid quenching (Patent Document 1 (see Japanese Patent No. 3979494) is proposed.

Inorganic fiber and method for manufacturing the same


Embodiments described herein generally relate to a dual-purpose, or dual-function, card that provides functionality as a key card to access rooms or other locations within a hospitality venue as well as functionality as a payment card to purchase products or services using a stored value account associated with the dual-function card. Thus, rather than providing a key card and a gift card or stored value card separately, a single card may be provided or used that combines the functionality of the key card and stored value card.

Guests at hotels or other hospitality venues are often given a keycard to be used to access a room or suite for lodging. The keycard is activated by hotel personnel upon check-in by the guest and deactivated upon check-out to prevent further access by the guest.
Guests may also be provided with vouchers or coupons during their stay to be used at in-house dining or retail locations. Hotels or other hospitality venues sometimes have business relationships with off-site entities that allow the guests to bill expenditures to their hotel account by providing room and user identification.
Throughout the drawings, reference numbers are re-used to indicate correspondence between referenced elements. The drawings are provided to illustrate embodiments described herein and not to limit the scope thereof.

Dual-function card with key card functionality and stored value card functionality