This invention is intended to provide a continuous parts feeder capable of continuously feeding parts to a metal mold installed in a pressure machine such as a press.. An actual example of this invention consists of a parts transport pipe (40) that uses compressed air to feed parts, magazines (42, 44) that feed parts sequentially to this parts transfer pipe (40) with compressed air, and a coupling device (46) that can selectively switch the entrance of the parts transport pipe (40) between the outlets of at least two magazines (42, 44). It will also be equipped with an auxiliary compressed air supply device (57) that supplies auxiliary compressed air to the inside of the parts transport pipe according to information from the parts detector (56) which determines whether there are or are not parts inside the parts transport pipe (40), so that the transport of parts inside the parts transport pipe is performed smoothly. The coupling device (46) is automatically controlled by the automatic control device (48).

Connecting parts such as pierce and clinch nuts and pierce form studs are used to fasten screws and bolts to parts made from steel plate or aluminum plate. The end faces of these connecting parts themselves may act like a punch piercing the steel or aluminum plate, and at the same time, the end face of each connecting part is sealed by the hole which it has punched out, and in this way the connecting part is fixed to the steel plate.
The popular method of driving connecting parts such as a pierce nuts into a steel plate is to supply pierce nuts between the top and bottom platens of a metal die set in a press machine, and drive the pierce nuts into the steel plate with a drive punch as the press ram is lowered.
The machine used to supply pierce nuts to the mold during this pierce nuts insertion process is a machine recorded as Japanese Patent Opening 1981-102437. This machine and the way it inserts pierce nuts are explained with reference to FIG. 11 of this application. The machine is composed of a magazine wound in a coil shape 1 and a pipe 2 linked by a metal clamp 4. The other end of the pipe 2 is connected to the mold by a metal clamp 6. The pierce nuts slide smoothly inside the magazine 1 and the pipe 2, and air pressure applied from the other end of magazine 1 transports the pierce nuts through magazine 1 and pipe 2 in the direction of metal clamp 6 and supplies them to the metal mold. The supply of pierce nuts to the metal mold is performed continuously, synchronized with the vertical motion of the press ram K.
When pierce nuts are transported in the magazine 10 by the pressure of compressed air commonly available in factories (5 to 6 kilograms per square centimeter), a maximum of 2,000 pierce nuts can be placed in the magazine 10. This means that when an existing pierce nut feeder is used, after every 2,000 shots, the press is stopped while the operator real aces the empty magazine with one filled with pierce nuts.
When, for example, pierce nuts are inserted on a transfer press equipped with metal molds for 10 processes, every minute, the press machine produces 40 products which have undergone the 10 processes, which means that the 2,000 pierce nuts in a single magazine are exhausted in 50 minutes. Therefore, every 50 minutes, the transfer press must be shut down and an operator has to stop his other work to quickly replace the empty magazine. Transfer presses, now larger, faster, and more expensive than in the past, must be shut off frequently, further reducing their operating rates.
This invention is intended to provide a continuous parts feeder that permits continuous transfer press operation by automatically switching from an empty magazine to a new magazine filled with parts. It is also intended to provide a continuous parts feeder that guarantees smooth parts transport when the magazines are switched over.


Disclosed are a method and apparatus for producing sounds in a virtual world, as well as a sound card. The method comprises the steps of determining a spring mass model of an object in the virtual world based on a 3D model of the object; analyzing force components produced on the 3D model by a collision in the virtual world; and generating sounds produced by the collision according to the spring mass model and the force components. By considering sound material of the object in the virtual world, the method, apparatus, and sound card may produce sounds in the virtual world more vividly and in real time.

In the field of virtual world, there are various methods of simulating sounds that were produced based on collision. For example, the technical solution of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0196801 can calculate and generate a sound wave according to the physical movement collision between objects, and then synthesize a plurality of sound waves to simulate sounds produced by the collision. For another example, the technical solution of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0197401 describes collecting sounds at a plurality of points in a three-dimensional scenario and calculating a sound source in real time according to the collected sounds in the process of three-dimensional scenario simulation. In addition, the technical solution of U.S. Pat. No. 7,330,769 discloses that sounds may be synthesized and simulated in application scenarios of the virtual world such as games according to a set of preset sound wave models, wherein the pitches and volumes of the set of sound wave models are controllable.
With increasingly prevalent application of the virtual world, it is desirable to obtain more vivid and real-time sounds in the virtual world. However, existing solutions for producing sounds in the virtual world are more or less unsatisfactory. For example, the technical solution of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0196801 does not consider the impact of sound material of an object on sound simulation and hence fails to produce sounds in the virtual world more vividly. The technical solution of U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2010/0197401 collects fixed sounds and hence fails to accomplish real-time sound synthesis. Furthermore, the technical solution disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,730,769 performs simulation by synthesizing preset sounds, instead of by using attributes of objects in the virtual world.

Producing sounds in a virtual world and related sound card

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


The invention is directed to antibacterial compositions comprising bacteria modified to comprise phasmids engineered to deliver of CRISPR RNAs and methods for their use.

Antibiotic-resistance combined with the lack of alternative treatment strategies has become a worldwide threat. Despite decades of high-throughput screening approaches, in both industrial and academic settings, the results have been limited with no new antibiotics having been identified, and the number of synthetic derivatives that have been developed being relatively limited.
Increased understanding of the pathogenic nature of select microbes, combined with a key role for the gastrointestinal (GI) microbiota as a whole to maintain human health, has created a conundrum in health care. As of today, antibiotics are the primary line of treatment to eradicate bacterial pathogens. Yet, application of antibiotics results in major perturbations of the GI microbiota. These perturbations, especially in early life, have been correlated with long-lasting metabolic changes leading to obesity and allergic asthma (Oox et al. Nature Reviews Endocrinology 2014, 11, 182-190 DOI: 10.1038/nrendo.2014.210; Russell et al. EMBO Rep 2012, 13, 440-447), while antibiotic treatment in immune-compromised and elderly patients can result in antibiotic-associated diarrhea (Slimings et al. J Antimicrob Chemother 2014, 69, 881-891 DOI: 10.1093/jac/dkt477). In addition, historical over-use of antibiotics in both agriculture and health-care has led to the emergence of microbial antibiotic resistance, a major health threat in 21st century medicine (World Health Organization. Antimicrobial resistance: global report on surveillance; World Health Organization, 2014). Efforts to identify novel antimicrobials, in both industrial and academic settings, have been mostly futile. A major hurdle in the identification and development of novel antimicrobials is the requirement of the molecule to effectively penetrate the bacterial cell wall for subsequent activity (Lewis, K. Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 2013, 12, 371-387 DOI: 10.1038/nrd3975). Thus, there is an urgent need to develop novel antimicrobial therapeutics that can be delivered in-situ to modify the microbiota in a user-defined manner.
Accordingly, the present invention overcomes previous shortcomings in the art by providing compositions and methods of use that can alter the microbiome as well as circumvent commonly transmitted modes of drug resistance and treat bacterial infections.

Methods and compositions for delivery of CRISPR based antimicrobials


Apparatuses and methods for determining the perspective of a receiver of a transmission from the transmitting station are disclosed. The receiver may determine an angle of arrival of the transmission. The angle of arrival may be used to generate perspective information, which may then be transmitted to the transmitting station for use in enhancing recognition and detection of the receiver. In embodiments, the perspective information may comprise an image or images of the receiver generated from a model of the receiver. In embodiments, the transmission may be a millimeter wave transmission.

Modern vehicles, such as automobiles, may be equipped with various safety systems, such as blind spot detection, adaptive cruise control, and automatic emergency braking. These systems may be part of a computer assisted or fully autonomous driving (CA/AD) vehicle. A CA/AD vehicle may be configured with systems that assist a driver (such as lane keeping and automatic emergency braking), and/or partially or fully allow the vehicle to navigate autonomously (e.g. self driving vehicles). Assist and safety systems, as well as navigation and/or driving systems for fully autonomous vehicles, may use object detection and recognition to help ensure safe navigation and obstacle avoidance. To accomplish object detection and recognition, CA/AD vehicles may be equipped with a variety of sensors that provide data to various vehicle navigation systems. CA/AD vehicles may also include other vehicle types such as unmanned aerial vehicles (commonly referred to as "drones"), which likewise may use object detection and recognition as part of navigation and obstacle avoidance.
Along with various sensors, CA/AD vehicles may be configured for vehicle to vehicle (V2V) and/or vehicle to any (V2X) communications, to allow CA/AD vehicles to coordinate movements to help ensure safety. Such communications may be accomplished via radio links of various types, which allows the exchange of data between vehicles.

Object detection enhancement using receiver perspective


A method for cleaning a cache of a processor includes: generating a specific command according to a request, wherein the specific command includes an operation command, a first field and a second field; obtaining an offset and a starting address according to the first field and the second field; selecting a specific segment from the cache according to the starting address and the offset; and cleaning data stored in the specific segment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for cleaning cache, and more particularly, to a method for cleaning cache of a specific segment of a processor.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A cache is memory whose access speed is faster than an access speed of general random access memory. Generally, the cache is made of high-speed and expensive static random access memory (SRAM) instead of the slower and cheaper dynamic random access memory (DRAM) used for system main memory. Referring to FIG. 1, because the operating speed of a central processing unit (CPU) 10 is faster than a reading speed of a main memory 12, if the CPU 10 requires to access data stored in the main memory 12, the CPU 10 needs several clock periods to complete the access operation, causing low-efficient implementation. Therefore, when the CPU 10 accesses data, a core 102 first checks whether the required data is in a cache 104. When the required data has been temporally stored in the cache 104 due to the previous operation, the CPU 10 can directly access the required data from the cache 104 instead of accessing the data from the main memory 12. Therefore, the access speed of the CPU 10 can be faster, and the operations of the CPU 10 are more efficient.
Once, the CPU cache was an advanced technique used in supercomputers, but now an instruction cache and a data cache are integrated into a microprocessor used by a computer, and such internal caches are often called L1 caches (Level 1 On-die Cache). In addition, a L2 cache, whose size is greater than L1 cache, was positioned outside the CPU such as a main board or a CPU interface, however, now the L2 cache is a standard component inside the CPU. In addition, the advanced or a workstation CPU may have a L3 cache (Level 3 On-die Cache).
The cache is used to speed up the access speed of the CPU. To fully exert functions of the cache, the cache are not only used to temporally store the data that was accessed before, but also used to move the data, which is to be used in the further, from the main memory with an instruction prediction and a data pre-access technique implemented by hardware. Therefore, the opportunity the CPU can access the required data in the cache can be increased. In addition, because the size/capacity of the cache is limited, how to clean the data stored in the cache is an important topic. In addition, the CPU may provide a write-back command or an invalidate command according to requirements of the system and software. Referring to FIG. 1, when the core 102 performs the write-back operation upon the cache 104, the data stored in the cache 104 is written back to the main memory 12; and when the core 102 performs the invalidate operation upon the cache 104, the core 102 cleans the data stored in the cache 104. Generally, the write-back command is sent with the invalidate command to make the cache be cleaned after the data is written back to the main memory 12. In addition, because the size of the early cache is very small (several kilobytes, KB), there is no need to consider how to clean only a portion of the cache, however, the current cache is expanded to be several megabytes (MB), how to clean a specific segment of the cache becomes a new topic.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,978,357, Hacking et al. provide a solution to solve this problem. However, Hacking' method has two restrictions; one is that the selected segment must be a multiple of two, and the other one is that the size of the segment to be cleaned is fixed.

Method for cleaning cache of processor and associated processor


Disclosed is a method for producing tertiary butyl alcohol through hydration reaction of isobutylene and water in the presence of a cation exchange resin by using a reactor having at least two reactor vessels provided in series. The method is characterized in that a fluid in a reactor vessel at the most downstream side forms a two-liquid phase and the reaction temperature of the reactor vessel is kept at 70° C. or lower, and a fluid in at least one reactor vessel other than the one at the most downstream side forms a homogeneous phase.

As a conventional method for producing tertiary butyl alcohol, a hydration reaction of isobutylene (2-methylpropene) and water using a catalyst has been known.
In Patent Document 1, tertiary butyl alcohol is described as an assistant for carrying out a hydration reaction by making a hydrocarbon and water into a homogeneous liquid phase.
Further, a method is described in Patent Document 2, in which all of the region of hydration reaction is made into a homogeneous liquid phase and further, a step of separating tertiary butyl alcohol is included in the middle of the process.
In Patent Documents 3, 4, 5 and 6, methods for carrying out reactions in heterogeneous liquid phases are described.    Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 56-10,124    Patent Document 2: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 60-233,024    Patent Document 3: International Publication No. WO 99/33,775    Patent Document 4: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 54-27,507    Patent Document 5: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 54-30,104    Patent Document 6: Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. Sho 54-30,105

Method for producing tertiary butyl alcohol


A light-emitting element is demonstrated which has a mixed layer between a pair of electrodes. The mixed layer comprises a first region and a second region each of which comprises both a metal oxide and a compound that exhibits an electron donating property to the metal oxide. The light-emitting element is characterized in that the first region and the second region are provided alternately and repeatedly in a thickness direction of the mixed layer and have a thickness of 0.1 nm to 10 nm, and that a concentration of the metal oxide in the first region is different from that in the second region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light-emitting element that emits light by current excitation, and more particularly relates to the structure of a layer thereof. Further, the present invention relates to a light-emitting device and an electronic device using the light-emitting element.
2. Description of the Related Art
A light-emitting element that has a layer including a luminescent material between a pair of electrodes is used for a pixel, a light source, or the like, and is provided in a light-emitting device such as a display device or a lighting device. In this light-emitting device, the reliability of the light-emitting element is closely related to the performance of the light-emitting device. For example, when a short circuit is caused between the electrodes of the light-emitting element, a display image is distorted, or light of insufficient intensity can emitted.
Therefore, the development of a light-emitting element that is less defective and is able to emit light with stability for a long period of time has been developed recently. For example, Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 9-63771) discloses a technique of manufacturing a light-emitting element that operates at a lower driving voltage by using a metal oxide having a higher work function, such as molybdenum oxide, for an anode. In addition, the-light-emitting element has an improved lifetime.

Light emitting element, light emitting device, and electronic device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A method for axle measurement of a motor vehicle, including the steps of initiating a first axle measurement operation, using a first selection signal; outputting a first control signal to an electronic brake control system of the motor vehicle as a function of the first selection signal; activating a first brake configuration of electronically operable brakes of the motor vehicle as a function of the first control signal, using the electronic brake control system; and carrying out the first axle measurement operation while the first brake configuration is activated.

For axle measurement and/or steering angle calibration of motor vehicles on an axle test bench, it is necessary to lock up the brakes of the motor vehicle, in order to prevent it from rolling away and to be able to execute the measuring and testing procedures correctly. Locking the brakes, that is, protecting the motor vehicle from rolling motions of individual wheels or all wheels, may be carried out manually, for example, by holding the brake pedal of the motor vehicle in an activated position, using a pedal clamp.
German Published Patent Appln. No. 201 05 929 describes a chassis test bench for motor vehicles, having wheel holding fixtures, in which the wheels of the motor vehicle may be positioned and protected from rolling away.
German Published Patent Appln. No. 10 2004 001 439 describes a test bench for motor vehicles, in which a rolling surface of a wheel rolling device may be locked or fixed in position, in order to be able to carry out an axle measurement during a rotation of the wheel rolling device.
Thus, there is a need for systems and methods of axle measurement in motor vehicles, which may be implemented more simply, rapidly and reliably.

System and method for axle measurement of a motor vehicle


A method for securing the chronological integrity of files prior to archiving of the files, involving an exchange between a client and a Time Source Provider, the method comprising the steps of: the client generating a Public and a Private Key pair; the client generating attributes of the to be archived files; encrypting the client's files utilizing the client's Public Key; transmitting the encrypted data attributes and key signature to said Time Source Provider; the Time Source Provider creating a TimeMap containing the current time, time calibration data, file attributes and client encryption key signature; and the Time Source Provider providing the client data and time map back to the client.

In the arts organizations interested in protecting intellectual property or investigatory bodies, e.g. local and state police, FBI, private investigators, and the like, it is important to be able to verify ownership and time/date of creation of electronic papers and other electronic recordations thereby legally establishing what has happened, when something happened, and by whom. Since electronic media is alterable, establishing the accuracy of ownership and the date/time of creation can be difficult because computer system clocks can be set to inaccurate dates and/or times and electronic documents or files can be readily altered.
Much work has been done to date in the electronic document security and verification area in regards to the "what" and "by whom" (called non-repudiation) but typically time is not included in electronic non-repudiation because it is easy to set and change on computers. To overcome this, time of creation of electronic documents is established by other means such as sequencing of events. Emails are a good example of this. The order of emails sent and received can help investigators narrow down the time and date of creation by their order in the sequence. But, for other documents or files this sequencing for time and date of creation is not viable and, as the world quickly progresses to an electronic "paperless" environment, solid techniques for establishing originality and time and date of origin are increasingly needed.
In order to secure passwords, system executables and high value data secure hash algorithms often are used to produce a "signature" that can later be verified as originating from the owner. To secure data transmission integrity, several steps are typically employed. For instance, files are frequently combined into a "folder" or some other archive format and a data signature is generated of the archive file. Afterwards, the original archived file and its signature is placed in another archive file which is then encrypted with a private key. The use of a certification authority or certificate authority can be additionally employed to ensure integrity of originality. For example, to support digital signatures, a trusted third party verifies the identity of that person or entity and then issues a digital certificate to the user that they sign digitally. The receiving person then verifies the digital signature as coming from a certified party.
There are cryptographic two signature algorithms in popular use, MD5 by RSA Data Security Inc and SHA1 by National Institute of Standards and Technology. Snefru was a signature algorithm developed by Xerox Corp, but is not used extensively. MD5 is the most common, but is also regarded as being likely to be compromised in the not too distant future. SHA1 was basically designed as an open standard signature algorithm, but some trust the cryptographic strength behind it less than MD5 because of the general reputation of RSA.
At this point all of the focus on compromise of signature algorithms has been on the prevention replacement of an existing file with a substitute file with the same signature. What will also be needed is to prevent the creation of a file with the same signature which can be associated with a previously generated time. Associating a signature with a file, its file size, and potentially with the signature of an encrypted transform of the file, and the signature of the encryption key is what this invention will use to prevent this type of forgery.
In cryptography, there are various techniques of enhancing the "cryptographic" strength of a solution. Such techniques often involve the use of multiple encryptions or the use of encryptions where keys are of limited use (e.g. session keys). In mathematics there is a whole field of study in error correcting codes. Applications in the computer field include parity bits. But error correcting codes extend to where errors can be both detected and corrected. For recoverability of a reliable time of existence, and the attributes of the files associated with the time, error detection and correction will be employed. Use of error correcting codes in itself is a mathematical transformation of the electronic data. This invention will utilize error correcting codes to increase integrity, but also to increase cryptographic strength.
What is needed in the art and what is provided by this invention, is a method for securing the integrity of the time of existence of documents or files in preparation archiving such that the files' origin and authenticity can be subsequently verified.

Method for verifying chronological integrity of an electronic time stamp


A new fish scaling net for removing scales from fish with ease and without mess. The inventive device includes a frame member including a lower frame member and an upper frame member. The lower frame member has a generally rectangular configuration. The lower frame member includes opposed long side segments and opposed short end segments. Free ends of the side and end segments are adjoined by corner brackets. The upper frame member includes a pair of inverted U-shaped segments. The inverted U-shaped segments each have free ends secured to the corner brackets and generally extend a length of the opposed long side segments. A cover member is coupled over the frame member. The cover member is fabricated of a transparent canvas material. The cover member extends over the inverted U-shaped segments and is tied around the lower frame member leaving an open lower end exposed whereby the frame member can be placed over a sink. The cover member includes a front panel, a back panel, a top panel and opposed side panels. The front panel has a pair of apertures therethrough dimensioned for receiving arms of a user therethrough.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to restraining nets and more particularly pertains to a new fish scaling net for removing scales from fish with ease and without mess.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of restraining nets is known in the prior art. More specifically, restraining nets heretofore devised and utilized are known to consist basically of familiar, expected and obvious structural configurations, notwithstanding the myriad of designs encompassed by the crowded prior art which have been developed for the fulfillment of countless objectives and requirements.
Known prior art restraining nets include U.S. Pat. No. 5,121,843 to Elder; U.S. Pat. No. 4,747,392 to Rogers; U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,472 to Johnson; U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,298 to Ris et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,008,510 to Laffin; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,945,608 to Majure et al.
While these devices fulfill their respective, particular objectives and requirements, the aforementioned patents do not disclose a new fish scaling net. The inventive device includes a frame member including a lower frame member and an upper frame member. The lower frame member has a generally rectangular configuration. The lower frame member includes opposed long side segments and opposed short end segments. Free ends of the side and end segments are adjoined by corner brackets. The upper frame member includes a pair of inverted U-shaped segments. The inverted U-shaped segments each have free ends secured to the corner brackets and generally extend a length of the opposed long side segments. A cover member is coupled over the frame member. The cover member is fabricated of a transparent canvas material. The cover member extends over the inverted U-shaped segments and is tied around the lower frame member leaving an open lower end exposed whereby the frame member can be placed over a sink. The cover member includes a front panel, a back panel, a top panel and opposed side panels. The front panel has a pair of apertures therethrough dimensioned for receiving arms of a user therethrough.
In these respects, the fish scaling net according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts and designs of the prior art, and in so doing provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of removing scales from fish with ease and without mess.


An image forming apparatus is provided with a rotary image bearing member; a charging roller for charging the outer circumferential surface of the image bearing member by rotating in contact with the image bearing member; a brush roller for cleaning adhered matters on the outer circumferential surface of the charging roller by being held in contact with the charging roller due to its own weight and rotating; a driving mechanism for drivingly rotating the brush roller to have a linear velocity difference to the charging roller; and a moving mechanism for reciprocating the brush roller along the longitudinal direction thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a copier, a facsimile machine or a composite apparatus having functions of these apparatuses.
2. Description of the Background Art
An image forming apparatus has been known which is provided with a charging device including a charging roller for charging the outer circumferential surface of a photoconductive drum by synchronously rotating with the photoconductive drum and a brush roller for cleaning toner particles, additives and the like attached to the charging roller by coming into contact with this charging roller substantially from right above. Here, the brush roller comes into contact with the charging roller due to its own weight and is rotated by the charging roller (see, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2005-4065).
However, since the brush roller is rotated by the charging roller according to the above background art, it has a weak cleaning force and cannot be expected to have a long life of enduring about several hundred thousands image forming operations. Accordingly, it may be thought to make the brush roller heavier in order to strengthen the cleaning force. However, according to such a measure, there are problems that charging performance is reduced because additives are fixed to the charging roller and jitter images (line images) are likely to be formed because the rotation of the charging roller becomes unstable.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Image forming apparatus with a brush roller that rotates and reciprocates


The present disclosure is drawn toward compositions, systems, and methods for printing of three-dimensional objects. In one embodiment, a liquid inkjettable material for 3-dimensional printing can comprise from 0.1 wt % to 10 wt % of a pigment, from 10 wt % to 90 wt % of a UV-curable polymer, and from 0.1 wt % to 70 wt % of a polymeric filler. Additionally, the liquid inkjettable material can be jettable from piezo electric inkjet printer nozzles and has acceptable decap performance measured by jetting a normal 50 picoliter ink drop within 10 electric firing pulses after the piezo electric inkjet printer nozzles have been fired and have been subsequently rested for 24 hours.

Printing technologies can be used to create three-dimensional objects from data output of a computerized modeling source. For example, one can design a three-dimensional object using a computer program, and the computer can output the data of the design to a printing system capable of forming solid three-dimensional objects. More specifically, solid free-form fabrication (or layer manufacturing) can be defined generally as a fabrication technology used to build a three-dimensional object using layer by layer or point by point fabrication. With this fabrication process, complex shapes can be formed without the use of a pre-shaped die or mold.
Essentially, with such a system, an object can be designed using a computer program, such as a Computer Aided Design (CAD) application. Once the object has been designed three-dimensionally, solid free-form fabrication technology enables the translation of the computer generated model into a three-dimensional object. This technology is useful in areas such as verifying a CAD model, evaluating design feasibility, testing part functionality, assessing aesthetics, checking ergonomics of design, aiding in tool and fixture design, creating conceptual models and sales/marketing tools, generating patterns for investment casting, reducing or eliminating engineering changes in production, prototyping, and providing production runs, to name a few.
However, such systems can have limited material choices as well as provide slower than desired manufacturing. As such, ongoing research and developmental efforts continue in the field of three-dimensional object printing.

Liquid inkjettable materials for three-dimensional printing

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A manual vehicle seat reclining mechanism and seat assembly incorporating the reclining mechanism is disclosed. A guide plate and a pivotal plate are assembled together and disposed between the seat base and seat back. A cam is biased by a spring to hold locking elements in engagement with the pivotal plate. A control plate is manually rotated with the cam to release the locking elements by drawing pins on one side of the locking plates radially inwardly with slots provided in the control plate. Ribs are provided on the pivotal plate that prevent the locking elements from returning to the locked position in certain radial alignments of the pivotal plate relative to the guide plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to reclining mechanisms for vehicle seating assemblies, more specifically to heavy duty manually operated reclining mechanisms.
2. Background Art
Vehicle seats generally include a seat base and a seat back. Reclining mechanisms for vehicle seats allow the seats to be positioned to accommodate different body types and the personal comfort of seat occupants. Reclining mechanisms for vehicle seats permit the seat back to pivot to allow a passenger to recline or incline the seat.
Manually operated reclining mechanisms establish a locked position in which the seat back does not pivot and an unlocked position in which the seat back can pivot. The mechanism is switched between a locked position and an unlocked position when a user manually operates the reclining mechanism. The mechanism is returned to the normally locked position after the user adjusts the reclining mechanism. Full engagement of the reclining mechanism must be assured in the locked position.
Reclining mechanisms must meet or exceed performance specifications and must be simple for customers to use. Some seat manufacturing specifications have higher load specifications that may require the seat back hinge to withstand more than 4,000 Nm in the event of a collision. The components of prior art reclining mechanisms are not easily assembled into a compact package. The axial thickness of prior art reclining mechanisms in some instances exceeded the space available between the seat base and seat back.
Assembly of the reclining mechanism can be complicated and labor intensive. The need to assemble spring biased parts together may tend to complicate assembly processes because of the need to compress the spring as parts are assembled together in some designs.
The present invention is directed to overcoming the above problems and other problems that are addressed by the embodiments that are summarized below.

Heavy duty reclining mechanism for vehicle seats


The present invention aims to provide a means by which a cured product to be obtained has a low dielectric loss tangent and higher heat resistance. Specifically, provided is an active ester resin that is a reaction product of a first aromatic compound having two or more phenolic hydroxy groups, a second aromatic compound having a phenolic hydroxy group, and a third aromatic compound having two or more carboxy groups and/or an acid halide thereof or an esterified compound thereof, in which at least one of the first aromatic compound, the second aromatic compound, and the third aromatic compound and/or the acid halide thereof or the esterified compound thereof has an unsaturated bond-containing substituent.

In recent years, electronic devices have been reduced in size and increased in performance, and accordingly, various materials used have been required to have higher performance. For example, in semiconductor package substrates, higher speeds and higher frequencies of signals are used, and materials having low electrical energy losses, i.e., low dielectric loss tangents, are required.
As such a material having a low dielectric loss tangent, for example, PTL 1 describes an invention relating to a resin composition containing (A) an epoxy resin, (B) an active ester compound, (C) a smear-suppressing component, and (D) an inorganic filler. In this case, the resin composition is characterized in that predetermined amounts of the active ester compound (B), the smear-suppressing component (C), and the inorganic filler (D) are contained based on 100% by mass of a non-volatile component in the resin composition and that the smear-suppressing component (C) is formed of rubber particles.
PTL 1 states that a cured product obtained from the resin composition can achieve a low dielectric loss tangent. It is also stated that a smear (resin residue) in a via hole can be suppressed after the cured product is subjected to drilling processing and then roughing treatment.
It is also stated that the active ester compound (B) described in PTL 1 is a compound having one or more active ester groups in one molecule and can reduce the dielectric loss tangent of the cured product of the resin composition.

Active ester resin and composition and cured product using the same


A stent which has a cylindrical tubular shape in which wires cross each other and are woven includes first regions each including a horizontal folding crossing portion in which the wires are folded in an axial direction and cross each other and a vertical folding crossing portion in which the wires are folded in a circumferential direction and cross each other. The first region is a region in which the horizontal folding crossing portion and the vertical folding crossing portion are arranged in the circumferential direction, and the first regions are arranged at intervals in the axial direction.

The stent (self-expandable stent) having self-expandability is delivered by a delivery system to the diseased part in which stenosis or obstruction has occurred in a reduced diameter state. The stent released from the delivery system expands the diameter by self-expandability to expand the stenosis and obstruction.
In many cases, the lumen in which such a stent is placed is bent, and thus the stent needs to have a function of maintaining the shape corresponding to the shape of the bent lumen (pipeline shape-maintaining function). In a case where the stent having the pipeline shape-maintaining function is placed in the bent lumen, the stent can maintain the shape corresponding to the shape of the bent lumen without returning to the original shape of the stent due to reaction force.
The expansion mechanism using the shape memory alloy disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3708923 can expand the stenosis part of the body. The expansion mechanism disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3708923 has a "meshing portion" that is extendible and contractible in the axial direction, and can maintain the shape corresponding to the shape of the lumen regardless of the lumen shape of the stenosis part.


In a method and apparatus for controlling the power of a laser beam in an optical recording system that includes a laser light source, an optical detector detects a reflected write pulse that is a reflection of an incident recording light signal from the optical recording medium, and a signal generating device generates a mark formation effectiveness (MFE) signal according to the reflected write pulse. A laser power compensation circuit includes a filter for filtering the MFE signal so as to result in a first component, and a combiner for combining the first component and the MFE signal so as to result in a second component. The laser power compensation circuit controls laser beam power of the laser light source according to the first and second components for optimum information recording.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and apparatus for controlling laser beam power in an optical recording system, more particularly to a method and apparatus for optimal control of the power of a recording laser beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
To record information on an optical recording medium, a light source of an optical recording system, such as a laser read/write head that is driven by a laser driver circuit according to a write control signal, generates an incident recording light signal on the optical recording medium. To assure that data is correctly recorded, it is important that the laser output must be maintained at an appropriate power level. The optimal power control (OPC) technique is widely employed in determining the initial laser power of incident recording light signals. First, an optical recording medium, usually having a section reserved for laser power testing and control adjustment, is provided. Then, a series of laser light signals of different power outputs is irradiated on this section for writing practice records. Afterwards, the practice records are read and analyzed, and the recording power level that yielded the best recording quality is selected as the optimum power level of incident recording light signals for recording on other sections of the optical recording medium. In practice, for most optical recording systems, due to various factors affecting optical recording systems and optical recording media, such as changes in the thickness of recording dye layer and substrate characteristics of optical recording media, changes in recording points due to shifting in laser wavelength, the spatial position relationship of recording media with respect to the optical recording system, changes in recording characteristics of recording media due to temperature variations, etc., the optimum power level for generating the best incident recording light signal is prone to vary as well. There is thus an urgent need for a method and apparatus for the optimal control of the power of a recording laser beam in an optical recording system that can compensate the adverse effects of the aforesaid various factors.

Method and apparatus for controlling laser beam power in an optical recording system


A digital signal exchange equipment is disclosed which is constructed of a combination of selector modules each constituted by a plurality of gate arrays as a parallel unit in a column direction. The respective gate array comprises a first gate for selecting one line from an n number of first input lines and connecting it to an output line, a second gate for selecting one line from an output line of the first gate and one second input line and connecting it to the second gate and a flip-flop for wave-shaping an output of the second gate and, at the same time, taking synchronization among the respective gate array. The selector module as set forth above is constructed of a semiconductor circuit device. When, in particular, a plurality of selector modules are combined together, they are arranged as a k-column/l-row array in which input bus lines are each connected to each common row and an n number of output lines are connected for each row to an n number of second input lines of the next-row selector module.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital signal exchange equipment for connecting a plurality of digital signal input circuit lines to an arbitory circuit line of a plurality of output circuit lines and to a circuit line selection control apparatus for selectively controlling a circuit line connection and for preventing a connection error at an exchange time.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a digital signal exchange equipment for performing an exchange of a fast and continuous digital signal, such as an image PCM signal used, for example, at a broadcasting station comprises a matrix array of switching elements each provided at a crosspoint of each input line with a corresponding output line, or at a crosspoint of each output line with a corresponding input line, with the input and output lines connected to input and output circuit lines, respectively, as a lattice-like structure. In this matrix array, any input circuit line can be connected to any output circuit line by making a selective, switching connection to a predetermined switching element.
A matrix type unit for controlling a crosspoint connection by the switching element requires a very large number of switching elements with an increase in the circuit lines and, furthermore, the switching of the switching elements is very complex to control. Since, in this case, an input digital signal has to be passed through a great many of switching elements until it is output from the exchange equipment, it is not possible to, due to a high-speed requirement for a digital signal to be transferred, disregard a delay of that signal when it passes through the switching elements. As the switching elements, use may be made of electronic switches (semiconductor switches) in which case the signal passage characteristics of this type of switches are generally not equal in terms of the delay of a signal at a time of a rise and a fall. For this reason, the input digital signal suffers a deformation with respect to time, each time it passes through the switching element, so that it has a very great deformation. This causes a difficulty in a signal identification.
As a general countermeasure against this situation, a method may be adopted which achieves the synchronization and waveform-shaping of such digital signal by a flip-flop each time that signal passes through the switching element at the crosspoint. If, however, this method is applied to an exchange equipment having a simple matrix array as set forth above, a great number of flip-flops are required in the case where many circuit lines are involved. This system dissipates more electric power and is difficult to implement because of many flip-flops involved, failing to offer any practical countermeasure.
On the other hand, a circuit line selection control apparatus used in the conventional exchange equipment performs a selective switching among the many circuit lines in a time-division fashion and dynamically monitors the switching elements so that a connection error may be prevented. In the time-division exchange system, however, the select signal is multiplexed in a time-division fashion to conform to the characteristic of the digital signal transmitted and then input to the exchange equipment. In the treatment of a fast, continuous digital signal, such as an image PCM signal, the bit rate of the select signal after being multiplexed becomes an extremely high level. It is, therefore, not easy to implement such a system. The error connection preventing means works under dynamical control of the switching element, only after a switch connection has been achieved, and it is not preferable that it be employed for such a purpose.
As set forth above, the conventional digital signal exchange equipment involves a high-speed requirement for transmitted digital signals as well as an increase in a signal delay among the circuit lines resulting from a large increase in the number of circuit lines. It is thus difficult to meet the high-speed requirement for digital signals as well as an increase in the number of circuit lines. Since the conventional circuit selection switching apparatus performs a selective switching among circuit lines, it is not easy to achieve it as a practical apparatus due to an extremely high bit rate of the select signal. Indeed in spite of the dynamic monitoring of the switches, the apparatus works only after a switch connection is achieved, failing to be manufactured as a fully practical apparatus.


A cell structure is disclosed. The cell structure includes a first unit comprising a first group of transistors and a first data latch, a second unit comprising a second group of transistors and a second data latch a read port unit comprising a plurality of p-type transistors, a search line and a complementary search line, the search line and the complementary search line function as input of the cell structure, and a master line, the master line functions as an output of the cell structure, the first unit is coupled to the second unit, both the first and the second units are coupled to the read port unit. According to some embodiments, the first data latch comprises a first and a second p-type transistors, a first and a second n-type transistors.

The Integrated Circuit (IC) design industry is facing unprecedented challenges as CMOS technology approaches its fundamental physics limit. Process viability, leakage power and device reliability issues have emerged as serious concerns that nullify the performance benefits gained by traditional device scaling.
A major concern in IC designs (e.g., three-dimensional (3D) IC designs) is ensuring reliability and quality. Failure caused by aging and degradation affects the reliability and quality of IC components. Examples of known failure mechanisms include: (1) Electromigration (EM): a directional transport of electrons and metal atoms in interconnect wires leads to degradation and eventual failure; (2) Time-dependent dielectric breakdown (TDDB): wear-out of gate oxide caused by continued application of electric fields, which can lead to an electric short between the gate oxide and substrate; (3) Hot carrier injection (HCI): electrons that capture sufficient kinetic energy to overcome the barrier to gate oxide layer and cause a threshold voltage shift and performance degradation; (4) Negative bias temperature instability (NBTI): holes trapped in the gate oxide layer cause the threshold voltage to shift. The switching between negative and positive gate voltages causes performance degradation and recovery from the NBTI degradation; (5) Stress migration (SM): mechanical stress due to the differences between the expansion rates of metals causes the failure; and (6) Thermal cycling (TC): fatigue accumulates in the silicon oxide layer with temperature cycles with respect to the ambient temperature.
A ring oscillator is a device that includes an odd number of logic gates whose output oscillates between two voltage levels, representing true and false. The logic gates are typically attached in a chain and the output of the last logic gate is fed back into the first logic gate in the chain. High temperature is one cause of premature transistor aging and degradation. Ring oscillators are used as temperature sensors at the wafer level to monitor transistor aging by exploiting the linear relationship between oscillation frequency and temperature. In addition, aging and degradation resulting from various AC stress and DC stresses, such as PMOS HCI, PMOS BTI, NMOS HCI and NMOS BTI, can be tested and measured using ring oscillators.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Ltd.


A computer system having resistance to timing attacks based on measuring processing times by encrypting or decrypting a plain text or ciphertext by converting the partial data related to the plain text or the encrypted text into conversion data. In the system, a conversion table includes one piece of conversion data corresponding to the partial data at a start position of a line table area and includes data not associated with the conversion in the other position. In the system, a computer program includes an operation instruction for calculating a predetermined position of the conversion data in the conversion table by using acquired partial data and a read instruction for reading out the conversion data from the calculated position.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to encryption and decryption technologies for handling information in a confidential manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Along with the dissemination of services that provide contents such as digitized music and videos via high-speed communication channels as represented by ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) and fiber optics, there is an increasing need for preventing illegal copying and other unauthorized use of such contents.
In general, encryption technologies are applied to copyright protection systems for preventing unauthorized use of contents. For example, digital contents are encrypted with an encryption key, and then the encrypted contents are distributed via communication channels. Only user having provided with a decryption key corresponding to the encryption key are able to decrypt the encrypted contents to thereby play the original digital contents.
On the other hand, digital contents are now increasingly played on computers through the spread of personal computers. It has become progressively more common that an encryption process required for a copyright protection system is provided as an encryption program on a personal computer, and a decryption key used for decrypting encrypted contents is embedded within the encryption program beforehand.
In recent years, side channel attacks are proposed. One of the side channel attacks uses extra information leaked, during the execution of an encryption program on a computer, from the execution environment—i.e. the computer—to obtain secret information stored inside the encryption program in a confidential manner, for example, a decryption key. Processing times and power consumption are examples of such extra information used for side channel attacks.
According to Non-Patent References 1 and 2, there is a type of side channel attack known as a timing attack that focuses attention on a cache memory, which is built in a computer and used for enhancing a processing speed. Here, a cache memory (see Non-Patent Reference 3) is a memory that realizes high-speed processing. Specifically speaking, the high-speed processing is realized by storing data that the computation unit (e.g. the CPU) has obtained from the main memory once in the cache memory offering a high-speed access, and obtaining data from the cache memory thereafter when an access is made to the same data again.
A timing attack successfully determines secret information by focusing on a difference in processing times required for data acquisition from the cache memory and from the main memory.
Timing attacks are effective for encryption programs executed on CPUs having a cache memory, and target especially the AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) (described in Non-Patent Reference 4), which is an iterative block cipher using table reference operations (generally called "SBOX reference"), and the DES (Data Encryption Standard). Commonly used personal computers (e.g. PC/AT compatible machines) and smart cards having a cache memory are examples of such execution environments to which timing attacks are applicable.
The following is an outline of timing attacks.
In the AES, an EXCLUSIVE-OR operation is performed on input data and a private key (extended key), and then using the results of the operation, table reference operations are performed. Here, it is based on the assumption that, prior to the start of the encryption process, a table data array (SBOX) used in the table reference operations of the encryption process is not stored in the cache memory. Under this assumption, whether a table element of the table data array will be obtained from the cache memory or from the main memory in each table reference operation is uniquely determined depending on the input data and private key.
This means that, when values of the input data are varied, a specific table element is obtained from the cache memory in some table reference operations, and also obtained from the main memory in other table reference operations. That is to say, changing the input data results in change in the total encryption processing time.
Given this factor, a timing attack measures the total encryption processing time, and infers, based on the measured processing time, whether a table element was obtained from the cache memory or the main memory in a table reference operation of the process. Then, the timing attack analyzes the private key (extended key) based on the inference and the input data.
Such timing attacks mainly have two approaches: one is to measure the encryption processing time of each block (128 bits in the case of the AES) as described in Non-Patent Reference 1; and the other is to measure the encryption processing time of every two blocks (128 bits×2 in the case of the AES) as described in Non-Patent Reference 2. Timing attacks discussed in Non-Patent References 1 and 2 are outlined next.
The timing attack of Non-Patent Reference 1 exploits the fact that, when the same table element is accessed twice, the second access takes a shorter processing time than the first access since the table element for the second access is obtained from the cache memory. The general flow of the timing attack of Non-Patent Reference 1 is as follows.
First, contents of the cache memory are cleared each time one block is encrypted. Then, two table reference operations are focused, and a given value is assumed as to be key information having an influence on values of the input data for the two table reference operations. Under this assumption, input data whose value becomes the same in these two table reference operations is selected, and then their processing times are measured. These steps are performed on all possible values for the key information. Ultimately, a key with the shortest processing time is output as a correct key. Another two table reference operations are then focused again and the inference of the key is carried out in a similar manner.
On the other hand, the timing attack of Non-Patent Reference 2 exploits the characteristic that, with a single access to a table element in the encryption program on the main memory, actually multiple table elements are copied to the cache memory from the main memory. The general flow of the timing attack of Non-Patent Reference 2 is as follows.
First, contents of the cache memory are cleared each time two blocks are encrypted. Then, one table reference operation is focused, and a given value is assumed as to be key information having an influence on the values of the input data for the table reference operation. In the focused table reference operation for the first block, multiple table elements are copied from the main memory to the cache memory. Then, in the focused table reference operation for the second block, a value of the input data which refers to the same multiple table elements as those referred to by a value of the input data in the first block is selected (n.b. the selected value in the second block should be other than values of the input data in the first block), and the processing times are measured. These steps are performed on all possible values for the key information. Ultimately, a key with the shortest processing time is output as a correct key. Another table reference operation is then focused again and the inference of the key is carried out in a similar manner.
The encryption processing times of one/two blocks depend on input data, and timing attacks which measure processing times take advantage of this, as described above. Given this factor, a known defense against timing attacks is to cause these encryption processing times to become constant with no variation even if the input data is changed. The conventional technology described in Section 4.2 of Non-Patent Reference 5 is one example of such a defense. The outline of the conventional technology is explained next. Here, the AES is adopted as a specific applicable example of the encryption process.
The conventional technology disclosed in Non-Patent Reference 5 is characterized by adding a process independent of the input data before the execution of the AES encryption process. In the process (which is called "Cache Warming" in Non-Patent Reference 5), an access is made to each element in a table data array for table reference operations, which is used in the AES SubBytes operation. Herewith, all table elements used in the table reference operations of the AES SubBytes operation can be stored in the cache memory prior to the start of the AES encryption process, and consequently all the table elements can be obtained from the cache memory in the table reference operations of the AES SubBytes operation. As a result, the total processing time becomes consistently constant, not varying with the input data. That is, it is possible to increase resistance against timing attacks measuring processing times.
Patent Reference 1, which aims at offering an encryption apparatus having a defense function against cache-based attack cryptanalyses, and discloses means for, as to cache misses incurred during accesses to a conversion table in encryption/decryption processing, substantially equalizing the number of cache misses made in encryption/decryption of one plain text/ciphertext with that of any plain text/ciphertext.    <Non-Patent Reference 1> Y. Tsunoo, E. Tsujihara, K. Minematsu, and H. Miyauchi, "Cryptanalysis of Block Ciphers Implemented on Computers with Cache", International Symposium on Information Theory and Its Applications (ISITA), October 2002.    <Non-Patent Reference 2> Toyohiro Tsurumaru et al., "Timing Attacks on 64-bit Block Ciphers", The 2003 Symposium on Cryptography and Information Security (SCIS2003), 2003.    <Non-Patent Reference 3> D. A. Patterson and J. L. Hennesy, "Computer Organization and Design", ISBN4-8222-8056-X, Published by Nikkei BP.    <Non-Patent Reference 4> Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) Publication 197, Nov. 26, 2001.    <Non-Patent Reference 5> D. Page, "Defending Against Cache-Based Side-Channel Attacks", Information Security Technical Report, Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 30-44, 2003.    <Patent Reference 1> Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 2004-120307.

Computer system and computer program executing encryption or decryption


A prepaid communications system includes a wireless call handling device for receiving wireless calls from wireless customers, a packet data serving node for receiving wireless packet data calls from the wireless call handling device and transmitting the calls to a communications network and an administration system in communication with the packet data serving node. Upon a wireless customer originating a wireless call, the wireless call handling device receives the wireless call and transmits the wireless call to the packet data serving node. The packet data serving node accesses the administration system with identification information input by the customer to obtain a call access authorization for the customer. The administration system transmits the call access authorization to the packet data serving node, the call access authorization including a prepaid volume record indicating an amount of prepaid units available for use by the customer and processing instructions. The packet data serving node then enables the wireless call to proceed on the communications network while monitoring the wireless call and decrementing the available prepaid units from the prepaid volume record associated with the customer. Upon the available prepaid units reaching a predetermined level, as indicated in the processing instructions, the packet data serving node notifies the administration system that the predetermined level has been reached, and the processing instructions are executed.

Prepaid wireless communications systems, in which a customer or subscriber prepays for usage of a communications system, has become increasingly popular in recent times. In such systems, the customer may purchase blocks of time for making voice telephone calls. For example, a customer can purchase 1000 minutes of air time with which to conduct wireless telephone calls. Upon connecting to the wireless communications system, the customer's account is authorized and authenticated and the call is allowed to proceed. The network monitors the customer's usage time and decrements from the customer's account. If the account becomes depleted, the system can either prompt the customer to purchase more time or the system can terminate the call. Prepaid wireless communications system enable the customer to budget an amount of airtime that will be used during a certain period of time, and to insure that the budget will not be exceeded unless the customer purchases more airtime.
However, current wireless prepay systems are limited to voice calls, in which blocks of time are purchased for use in making wireless voice telephone calls. With the increasing popularity and demand for wireless data transmission systems, including SMS, MMS, BREW and 802.11 systems for wireless LAN, a need for a prepaid wireless data transmission system which offers the same benefits as the prepaid wireless voice transmission systems exists.

Method of and system for processing prepaid wireless data communications


Retrieval software and add-on collection software are integrated to provide a computer user information on add-ons attempting to instantiate, or alternatively, install, on the user's computer system. The retrieval software, i.e., software for locating and retrieving information from networked information services, uses information from data the collection software, i.e., software capable of collecting information about add-ons that exist via the World Wide Web, can retrieve on an add-on to create a record of status information on the add-on. The retrieval software displays this record of status information to the computer user. The retrieval software can also use information collected on an add-on to generate a recommendation identification for the add-on. The recommendation identification is an indication of what the retrieval software suggests the computer user should do with the add-on, e.g., allow its instantiation or deny its instantiation, or, alternatively, allow or block its installation.

In a general computer scenario, a user may install software on a computer via a software program for locating and retrieving information from networked services, such as, but not limited to, a browser. A browser is a software utility program that allows a user to locate and retrieve information such as programs from the World Wide Web ("www"), i.e., the Internet. MICROSOFT INTERNET EXPLORER® and NETSCAPE NAVIGATOR® are examples of World Wide Web browsers.
Currently when software is installed on a computer, additional add-ons, i.e., additional software programs, utilities, applications, etc., may also try to concurrently install and begin running, i.e., instantiate. An add-on may be a virus, meant to do the user's computer harm. Alternatively, the add-on may be in the form of spyware, whose intent is to monitor the user's use of the computer for the spyware creator's own purposes. Or, an add-on may be adware, which produces a form of advertising on the user's computer, in for example, a pop-up menu. The add-ons may also be more beneficial software, such as program toolbars or program extensions, which if installed and instantiated, could increase the user's enjoyment of and productivity with the computer.
In any of these cases however, the computer user generally has no information or understanding as to what any particular add-on is or does. With no information of understanding of any particular add-on, the computer user is unequipped to make an informed decision about what to do with any particular add-on, such as, for example, allow or block the add-on from installing, or allow or deny the add-on's instantiation.

Integrated software for managing add-ons


A system for detecting accretion of frazil ice on underwater gratings inces a housing for disposition beneath a water surface and spaced from but proximate an underwater intake grating. A pair of parallel electrically conductive bars are mounted side-by-side in the housing and extend therefrom. The bars are in communication with an electromagnetic wave generator in the housing. A coaxial transmission line is connected at a first end to the housing and in communication with the pair of bars for extension from the housing upwardly above the water surface. A monitoring station is disposed above the water surface for receiving signals from the bars, the monitoring station having a second end of the transmission line fixed thereto. The wave generator propagates electromagnetic waves to the bars for further travel to distal ends of the bars, and back to the housing and thence to the monitoring station. The monitoring station is adapted to compute wave round trip travel time in the bars and to compute changes in the round trip travel time, from which is determined absence, presence, and build-up of frazil ice on the bars, thereby providing an indication of same on the grating.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the icing up of underwater intake gratings in cold water, and is directed more particularly to a reliable and economical system and method for monitoring ice build-up from a convenient remote location.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Industrial, commercial and municipal facilities located in regions subject to seasonal freezing, and which are required to draw quantities of water from rivers during the freezing seasons, are subject to the deleterious effects of buildup of frazil ice on gratings protecting water intakes from ingestion of foreign objects and aquatic life. The effects can include, depending on the nature of the facility in question, lower operating efficiencies, loss of cooling water, damage to pumps and other components, and loss of revenues because of down time.
"Frazil ice" is formed when turbulent water is cooled. Once the water is supercooled a few hundredths of a degree, minute ice crystals form in the water and conglomerate, resulting in flocks of frazil ice. Frazil ice forms mainly in rivers, but has been experienced in lakes, cooling ponds, and even in the ocean. Many water intakes for power generation plants and other industrial and commercial processing plants have waterway approaches that are subject to turbulent flow, a prime condition for the formation of frazil ice. As long as the water temperature is at, or below, freezing, it is possible for frazil ice to form. Once formed, frazil ice adheres to, and continues to accrete on, virtually any natural or man-made object in the water, including rocks, wood, and metal structures, and including protective gratings over water intakes. Water intakes have been known to completely occlude in a matter of a few hours.
Currently, the only detection and alarm systems in implementation consist of complex mechanical systems with moving components, having low reliability and requiring significant maintenance. There is thus a need for a simple, economical, reliable, and low maintenance system for detection and monitoring of growth of frazil ice on water intake gratings.

System and method for detection of frazil ice on underwater grating

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Army


A method for altering a coffee source component profile of an aged coffee source to mimic a target coffee component profile of a non-aged coffee source, wherein the aged coffee source and the non-aged coffee each comprise multiple taste contributing acids.

High quality coffee food and beverage products enjoy considerable popularity and make up an increasingly significant proportion of the diets of many people. However, these high quality coffee products are both expensive to purchase and to produce. One such reason is the cost of the raw materials. Due to the nature of coffee production (e.g., growing cycle, season, location, and the like) it is difficult to offset an increased demand for consumer preferred coffees with additional levels of supply. This supply shortage results in higher production costs for high quality coffee food and beverage products that must eventually be borne by the consumer.
One approach to reducing cost has been the use of blends of high cost and low cost coffee varieties. Expensive coffees having consumer preferred taste characteristics are blended with less expensive, less taste preferred coffees varieties. However, this solution is not without shortcomings. Most notably, the inverse relationship that exists between the use of less preferred coffee varieties and the consumer's positive taste perception of the finished coffee product. As the proportion of "cheaper" coffees used increases, the consumer's positive flavor perception of the finished coffee product decreases.
Additionally, coffee products made from blends of high cost and low cost coffees frequently impose additional processing and production complexities, which in turn can also increase production and consumer purchase cost.
Examples of this approach can be found in European Patent Application No. 0282762, to Varsanyl et al.; European Patent Application No. 0861596A1, to Bradbury et al. Additional examples can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,993,877 to Ohtake et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,853,787 to Tamer et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,155 to Weisemann et al.; and U.S. Pat. No. 2,853,387 to Nutting.
Another approach has been to try and maximize the yield obtained from a given supply of high cost coffee by decreasing the frequency with which the high value, high cost coffees is discarded. Typically, this is accomplished by extending the time which a brewed or extracted coffee is held prior to either serving or disposing. However, as coffee hold-time increases a coffee's flavor is marked by a dramatic degradation in quality resulting from aging reactions. The longer the coffee is held, and the higher the temperature, the more pronounced the degradation. The flavor degradation is especially pronounced in liquid coffees such as brews and extracts. It is not uncommon for the flavor of coffee to become unstable (e.g., suffer from aging) prior to the point at which the expense of producing the coffee has been recovered.
Considerable effort, therefore, has been expended in an attempt to address the consumer acceptance limitations of using low cost coffees in the production of high quality coffee products, and the extended use of high quality coffees. There remains a need in the art for compositions and methods for flavoring coffee that ensures consistent, stable, high product quality, which are easily adaptable to a variety of less costly coffee materials, and are economical and easy to use. Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide compositions and methods which address these needs and provide further related advantages.

Method of making coffee compositions with stable flavor characteristics


An adhesive composition is described which has improved initial tack, long-term adhesion, water uptake and translucency characteristics and may be prepared by melt extrusion. Uses of these compositions are also described, for example, their use as blister pads and wound dressings.

Various types of bandages and wound dressings are known and used to protect wounds, burns and blisters. Typically, wound dressings are fabricated with an absorbent material so that wound exudate is removed and the wound dries, facilitating healing. Wound dressings may also contain one or more pharmacologically active agents such as antibiotics, local anesthetics, or the like. Commonly used wound dressings include fibrous materials such as gauze and cotton pads, which are advantageous in that they are absorbent but problematic in that fibers may adhere to the wound or newly forming tissue, causing wound injury upon removal. Other wound dressings have been prepared with foams and sponges, but the absorbance of these materials is often limited. Furthermore, such wound dressings require the use of adhesive tape, as they are not themselves adhesive. Finally, many of these wound dressings are not translucent or transparent, thus rendering it difficult to monitor healing without removal of the dressing.
To improve the absorbance of conventional fibrous wound dressings, water-swellable polymers or "hydrogels" have been incorporated into gauze or other fibrous materials for application to a wound. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,527,271 to Shah, et al. describes a composite material made from a fibrous material, such as cotton gauze, impregnated with a thermoplastic hydrogel-forming copolymer containing both hydrophilic and hydrophobic segments. While the wound dressings are described as having increased absorptive capacity, the adhesion of fibers to the wound or newly forming tissue remains a significant disadvantage.
Another approach has been to use water-swellable polymeric materials instead of gauze, cotton, and the like. Wound-contacting surfaces made of such materials are not only more absorbent than conventional fibrous materials, they are also advantageous in that there is no risk of fiber adhesion during wound healing and upon removal of the wound dressing. Such wound dressings are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,867,748 to Samuelsen, which describes the use of an absorbent wound-contacting composition made from a water-soluble or water-swellable hydrocolloid blended with or dispersed in a water-insoluble, viscous, elastomeric binder. U.S. Pat. No. 4,231,369 to Sorensen et al. describes "hydrocolloid plasters" as sealing materials for ostomy devices, the materials consisting of a continuous hydrophobic phase made from a hydrophobic pressure-sensitive adhesive, an elastomeric plasticizer, and a tackifying resin, with a discontinuous phase dispersed therein consisting of a water-soluble or water-swellable polymer. Such plasters are also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,643,187 to Naestoft et al. U.S. Pat. No. 6,201,164 to Wulff et al. describes a somewhat different type of hydrocolloid wound gel, consisting of a water-insoluble, water-swellable, crosslinked cellulose derivative, an alginate, and water.
Hydrogel bandages have also been employed in wound dressings, as described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,093,673 to Chang et al. Hydrogel bandages are made from a liquid absorbing crosslinked polymer and have a high water content prior to use. The high water content causes the hydrogel to exhibit very little or no adhesion, requiring the use of adhesive tape or a plaster such as 2nd Skin® dressing available from Spenco Medical Ltd., U.K.
However, in spite of the advances in the art, numerous problems continue to be encountered with gel-based wound dressings made with hydrocolloids and hydrogels. The reason for this is, in part, that there are conflicting requirements for an ideal material. The material should not be so adhesive that it tends to adhere to a wound and thus cause pain or further injury upon removal. However a wound dressing should adhere sufficiently to a body surface so that separate adhesive tapes and adhesive plasters are not necessary. Peripheral adhesives can be used, but require an additional manufacturing step. In addition, a wound dressing should conform to the contours of the skin or other body surface, both during motion and at rest. For wound dressings that also serve as a cushioning pad, higher cohesive strength materials should be used, without any loss in adhesion.
Many of these problems are addressed by the adhesive compositions described in U.S. patent application Publication No. 2003/0170308 to Cleary et al. and U.S. patent application Publication No. 2003/0225356 to Kulichikhin et al. However, in spite of these advances in the art, there remains a need for self adhering dressings which provide instant tack and prolonged skin adhesion, greater fluid handling capability, higher cohesive strength, decreased cold flow, less erosion, controlled active delivery, ease of manufacturability, and translucency. The present invention addresses those needs, and provides for formulations having increased resistance to cold flow and better tackiness to dry skin, as compared to the formulations described in U.S. patent application Publication No. 2003/0170308. The formulations described in U.S. patent application Publication No. 2003/0225356 also have such properties, but the instant formulations provide for higher moisture uptake without the loss of adhesion.

A.V. Topchiev Institute of Petrochemical Synthesis, Russian Academy of Sciences


A vehicle system is disclosed. The system include a engine capable of disabling and enabling at least one cylinder; a motor coupled to said engine capable of absorbing torque and providing torque; and a controller for disabling and enabling said at least one cylinder, and during at least one of disabling and enabling, varying torque of said motor to compensate for transient changes in engine output torque caused by said one of disabling and enabling.

Variable displacement engine have been used where one or more cylinder is deactivated (e.g., by closing intake and exhaust valves). In this way, increased fuel economy can be obtained during engine operating conditions that do not require full cylinder operation.
Vehicle system with variable displacement capabilities have also been described having hybrid powertrains. For example, US 2004/0035113 describes an approach where cylinder deactivation operation can be extended by providing additional torque from an electric motor. Further, activation/deactivation transitions are described using changes in throttle position with motor assist require before, during, and after the transition.
The inventors herein have recognized a disadvantage with such an approach. In particular, US 2004/0035113 generally requires consistent application of torque from the motor during cylinder deactivation conditions; however, this can continually drain the battery, especially during vehicle towing conditions or during long vehicle climbs. Furthermore, the inventors herein have also recognized that the transitions according to US 2004/0035113 may also result in degraded vehicle feel since a substantially constant motor torque is used, relying on rapid throttle changes to handle the torque disturbance. Specifically, even rapid throttle changes may be inadequate to provide acceptable vibration and drive feel during the transition.
In one example, at least some of the above disadvantages may be overcome by a vehicle system, comprising: a engine capable of disabling and enabling at least one cylinder; a motor coupled to said engine capable of absorbing torque and providing torque; and a controller for disabling and enabling said at least one cylinder, and during at least one of disabling and enabling, varying torque of said motor to compensate for transient changes in engine output torque caused by said one of disabling and enabling.
In this way, it may be possible to provide improved torque control during variation in the number of cylinders carrying out combustion. Further, such transitions may be performed with less energy loss due to spark retard. Further still, such transitions may be performed to increase stored energy. Finally, such transitions may be performed based on battery status to provide improved hybrid vehicle performance.
Note that there may be various approaches to disabling cylinders, including disabling intake and exhaust valves, disabling fuel injection (without disabling valves), or others.

System and method to control transitions in the number of cylinders in a hybrid vehicle


A liquid crystal display capable of freely changing between the state of having a large viewing angle and the state of having a small viewing angle according to one's need, and an electronic apparatus using the liquid crystal display. A pair of substrates having respective surfaces opposed to each other are provided and a liquid crystal is provided between the substrates. A common electrode and an alignment film are successively formed on the opposed surface of one of the pair of substrates. A multiplicity of pixel electrodes are provided on the opposed surface of the other substrate so as to cover display regions of the liquid crystal. An electroconductive black matrix is provided on the other substrate while being electrically insulated from the pixel electrodes, the black matrix being formed at peripheral portions of the pixel electrodes and over non-display regions of the liquid crystal. Another alignment film is provided over the pixel electrodes and the black matrix. A switch is provided to divide a pixel region formed corresponding to each pixel electrode into two by applying a potential to the black matrix. The switch changes the two pixel regions formed corresponding to each pixel electrode into one when no potential is applied to the black matrix.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus capable of selectively increasing or reducing the viewing angle, and an electronic apparatus using the image display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 16 shows the structure of an example of a liquid crystal display, designated by H. The liquid crystal display H has a liquid crystal 3 in a twisted nematic (TN) mode interposed between a pair of substrates 1 and 2 facing each other, and polarizing plates 4 and 5 disposed outside the substrates 1 and 2. If the liquid crystal display H is of a thin film transistor type, it is arranged to enable orientation control of the liquid crystal 3 as described below. A source wiring 6 and a gate wiring 7 are provided in a matrix form on one substrate 1. A thin film transistor 8 and a pixel electrodes are provided in a region corresponding to each of intersections of the source wiring 6 and the gate wiring 7. A color filter 10 and a common electrode 11 are provided on the other substrate 2. A potential difference is created between the pixel electrode 9 in each region and the common electrode 11 opposed to the pixel electrode 9 to apply the desired electric field to the liquid crystal 3 between the two electrodes.
In this type of liquid crystal display H, for orientation control of liquid crystal molecules when no electric field is applied, alignment films (not shown) are respectively provided on the pair of substrates 1 and 2 on the liquid crystal sides of the same. The alignment film on the substrate 1 placed under the substrate 2 as viewed in FIG. 16 is rubbed in the direction of arrow B shown in FIG. 17 while the alignment film on the substrate 2 is rubbed in the direction of arrow A shown in FIG. 17.
In the liquid crystal display H having the structure shown in FIG. 16, therefore, liquid crystal molecules homogeneously oriented parallel to the upper and lower substrates 1 and 2 have a twist of 90.degree. between the substrates 1 and 2 when no electric field is applied to the liquid crystal 3. When an electric field is applied to the liquid crystal 3, the liquid crystal molecules are oriented along the direction of the electric field perpendicularly to the substrates. Passage or stoppage of light from a backlight provided under the lower substrate 1 is selected by changing the liquid crystal in this manner, thus enabling the display to be changed between a bright state and a dark state.
Recently, viewing angle dependence of TN liquid crystal display devices of this kind has been taken into consideration. FIG. 18 shows an ordinary viewing angle dependence of a TN mode liquid crystal display. The hatched area in FIG. 18 represents a display area where the contrast ratio (CR) is 10 or higher. As can be clearly understood from FIG. 18, the visibility of the TN mode liquid crystal display is not low when the display is viewed at an angle along the horizontal direction but the visibility is considerably low when the display is viewed at an angle along the vertical direction, particularly at an angle from a higher position.
Under these circumstances, various structures for increasing the liquid crystal viewing angle have been proposed.
As a conventional technique for increasing the viewing angle of a liquid crystal display device of the above-described kind, an orientation division structure for divided orientation of the pixel unit is known. In this orientation division structure, domains where liquid crystal molecules rise in different directions when a voltage is applied are formed in each of pixel regions. Ordinarily, in this kind of structure, each pixel is divided into two and orientation is performed in different manners with respect to the divided two pixel regions. This orientation division structure has reduced and symmetrized steep changes in contrast in TN mode liquid crystal displays, which are considerably large and are exhibited asymmetrically about an angle along the vertical direction. An effect of increasing the area free from half tone gradation reversal has been achieved thereby, which substantiates the possibility that a liquid crystal display having a sufficiently wide viewing angle will be provided.
The inventors of the present invention have achieved the present invention noticing that, in some case, it is preferable to reduce the viewing angle of a liquid crystal display, and that, in some other case, it is preferable to increase the viewing angle of the liquid crystal display.

Liquid crystal display and electronic apparatus


An inflated elastic balloon has a tube passing completely therethrough. The tube is used to connect a plurality of balloons in a display pattern and to introduces a string of lights into the balloon interiors for display purposes. A disk having a bore is depressed into a deflated balloon wall and the wall covering the bore has a small hole or orifice in it. The tube passes through the disk bore and the wall orifice. A collar secures the balloon wall to the disk such that the wall material surrounding the wall orifice remains elastic and forms a sliding seal against the tube upon passage therethrough. In an alternate embodiment, the disk bore includes constriction rings that form a sliding seal against the tube and the balloon wall is secured and sealed against the disk. The method of passing a tube in sealed relationship through a wall of an inflatable balloon comprises the steps of inserting the disk into a deflated balloon through the balloon neck, depressing the disk first side into the deflated balloon elastic wall, securing the wall to the disk such that the balloon wall portion covering the disk bore essentially will not be expanded upon balloon inflation, making an orifice in the balloon wall portion covering the disk bore, and inserting the tube through the balloon wall orifice and disk bore.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to a balloon display device and more specifically involves an elastic inflatable balloon having a tube passing completely therethrough. The transit tube may join a multitude of balloons and functions as a conduit, for example for a string of display lights.
2. Background of the Invention
Inflatable balloons have long been used as display devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,934,986 of Wallace titled "Balloons Connected Together" describes a device for connecting a multiplicity of balloons together into a display.
A balloon lighted from the inside produces a very attractive display, particularly when seen in low light conditions. My previous patent, U.S. Pat. No. 4,997,403, describes a balloon lighting device for positioning a light at any position inside of an inflated balloon.


A caulking gun which is similar to a conventional caulking gun in all respects except that it is reduced in length, and accepts a caulking compound cartridge with a tube length preferably approximately one-half the length of a conventional cartridge tube. The caulking gun can fit into tight spaces such as cupboards, closets, behind doors, etc.

In the application of caulking compounds and other viscous materials, widespread use is made of caulking guns. Caulking guns as such are well known in the art and widely used. The most common caulking guns fall into one of two general classifications.
The first type is a B-D gun or a bulk dispensing gun which is a complete unit unto itself, containing a closed cylindrical chamber or shell with nozzle and actuating means.
The second type of commonly used caulking gun is one that has an open framed supporting structure with an actuating mechanism, and is designed to accept a separate disposable cartridge that has its own nozzle. The open framed cartridge gun (C-gun) essentially comprises two separate elements, i.e., the caulking gun being the first element, and the cartridge and its nozzle being a second separate and disposable element. The present invention is concerned primarily with the C-gun type caulking gun, and in the following discussion the term "caulking gun" should be understood as referring to the second or C-gun type.
Typically, caulking guns are constructed to provide a cradle to receive a cartridge containing caulking compound. The cartridge has a dispensing nozzle at one end and a piston within it which can be urged against the compound via displacement of a push rod and thrust disk associated with the caulking gun. These cartridges are approximately 2-3 inches in diameter and about 8-12 inches in length.
The caulking gun has an open framed or cradle into which the caulk cartridge can be introduced, and a reciprocating stem or push rod having a thrust disk at the front end. The thrust disk can be urged against the caulk cartridge piston which in turn acts to force caulking compound out of the cartridge nozzle. Typically, the push rod is actuatable by a manual lever or trigger which actuates a driving pawl or dog which reciprocates in step as the trigger is manipulated.
Many attempts have been made to improve caulking guns. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 1,986,166 which discloses a caulking gun with an outboard rearwardly mounted plunger release and a forward trigger pivoted below the plunger shaft drive grip. U.S. Pat. No 2,530,359 discloses a caulking gun with forward trigger pivoted below the plunger shaft drive grip and forward release.
U.S. Pat. No 2,561,825 discloses a caulking gun with forward trigger pivoted below the plunger shaft drive grip and plunger shaft release having a substantially horizontal control lever above the plunger shaft. U.S. Pat. No. 4,213,546 shows a caulking gun with an improved cap for the cartridge nozzle, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,135,644 shows such a caulking gun having a cartridge nozzle cutting hole in its handle and also having a cartridge puncturing tool retractably mounted in its handle.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,440 teaches a caulking gun with a telescopic tubular casing for holding a caulk cartridge. The caulking gun can be provided with an extension member and be telescoped out to a greater length so as to reach distant areas.
Further reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 5,137,184; U.S. Pat. No. 4,258,884; U.S. Pat. No. 3,726,440; U.S. Pat. No. 5,017,113; U.S. Pat. No. 3,651,994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,188,259; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,774,816.
A readily apparent common feature in all these devices is the requirement for a push rod which is hand jacked to push the movable piston within the essentially rigid and round caulk cartridge. Obviously, in order for the push rod to be able to urge the thrust disk along the entire length of the cartridge, the push rod must be at least as long as the cartridge, plus the length of the path through the pistol grip which the push rod must travel. In addition, a small segment of the push rod must remain exposed after the cartridge has been depleted, so that the exposed segment of the push rod can be grasped by hand, rotated to disengage from the ratcheting pawls, and retracted to the starting position.
It can thus be readily calculated that, for a cartridge length of 8 inches, the push rod may be 12 inches in length. Assuming a further two inches of nozzle length, it becomes apparent that the total length of the caulking gun, at the time the caulking tube is full, is approximately 23 inches. Such caulking guns are awkward and cannot fit into tight spaces such as cupboards, closets, behind doors, in attics, in boats, etc.
While a wide variety of improvements have been proposed for caulking guns, no improvements have been proposed which would solve the problem of access to tight spaces.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a caulking gun which is makes use of conventional cartridges, yet permits access to tight spaces.