A CRT display apparatus including a CRT having an electron gun is disclosed. The electron gun includes a cathode, and a G1 electrode, a G2 electrode and a G3 electrode disposed in that order for drawing electrons from the cathode. The electron gun further includes a modulating electrode disposed between the G2 electrode and the G3 electrode. The CRT display apparatus is provided with a controller for controlling a value of a voltage applied to the modulating electrode in order to suppress or interrupt an electron beam flowing from the cathode to a screen of the CRT.

The present invention relates to a CRT display apparatus.
A display apparatus with a CRT is usually provided with various protection circuits for preventing burning of a fluorescent screen or an aperture grille in a case where an excessive electron beam flows towards the screen from an electron gun, or deflection or sweep of an electron beam is stopped under fault conditions, and thereby the beam concentrates at one point on the screen.
Generally, a muting circuit is used as such a protection circuit. There are various types of muting circuit, including the one that interrupts a video signal when an abnormal condition is detected, the one that shuts off the power for a video amplifier, the one that shuts off a high-tension of an anode, and the one that shuts off the power for a heater.
In the case of muting a video signal for protection, in order to interrupt the video signal when abnormality is detected, a muting circuit is disposed for each of three channels of R, G, and B at any of a receiving unit, a preamplifier, or a cathode-amplifier in a final stage within a video circuit.
On the other hand, the demand for improving resolution of CRT display apparatuses is growing in recent years. Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 11-224618 discloses a high resolution CRT (referred to as xe2x80x9cHi-Gm tubexe2x80x9d hereinafter) that addresses such a demand.
An electron gun provided within a CRT has three electrodes of a cylinder form for drawing electrons from a cathode and prefocusing them, which are generally called xe2x80x9cG1 electrodexe2x80x9d, xe2x80x9cG2 electrodexe2x80x9d, and xe2x80x9cG3 electrodexe2x80x9d respectively, whereas an electron gun provided within the above-described Hi-Gm tube has, in addition to the G1, G2 and G3 electrodes, an electrode called xe2x80x9cGm electrodexe2x80x9d disposed between the G2 electrode and the G3 electrode for modulating an electron beam.
FIG. 5 shows a structure of such an electron gun used for the Hi-Gm tube. In this drawing, 17 denotes a G1 electrode, 18 denotes a G2 electrode, 20 denotes a cathode, 21 denotes an electron-emitting substance formed on the surface of the cathode 20, and 22 denotes a Gm electrode. The electron gun has, for the part following the G3 electrode in which other focusing electrodes are disposed, the same structure as the conventional electron gun.
FIG. 6 is a graph showing potential distribution near the cathode of the electron gun within the Hi-Gm tube. In this graph, the horizontal axis represents the distance (mm) from the cathode surface, the vertical axis represents the potential (V), and the curve marked by 23 shows the potential distribution symmetrical with the axis of revolution near the cathode. Furthermore, the arrow marked by 24 shows the range within which the Gm electrode 22 exists, which is about 0.5 mm from the cathode surface.
The potential of the Gm electrode 22 is set to about 80 VDC, so there is a position 25 within the range at which the level of the spatial potential is minimum. If the potential of the cathode 20 shown by the dashed line is lower than the potential at this position 25, electrons pass through the position 25 and flow towards a screen. If not, electrons do not flow towards the screen since they cannot pass through the position 25.
As seen from the graph of FIG. 6, between the cathode and the position 25, electrons always exist abundantly, and the slope of the potential behind the Gm electrode 22 is of the order of 106 (V/m). Compared with the potential slope between the cathode and the G1 electrode, it is greater by an order of magnitude. Therefore, after electrons pass through the Gm electrode 22, most of them can move towards the screen without being affected by spatial charges, so the intensity of the electron beam flowing to the screen is determined by the quantity of the electrons that pass through the position 25 where the spatial potential is minimum.
For this reason, variation of the intensity of the electron beam when the cathode potential is varied by a certain value in the Hi-Gm tube is about twice as much as that in the conventional CRT. That is, the variation of the cathode potential required to vary the intensity of the electron beam by a certain value in the Hi-Gm tube is less than half the variation required in the conventional CRT. In other words, with the Hi-Gm tube, the variation of the intensity of the electron beam can be doubled for the same variation of the cathode potential. Consequently, with the Hi-Gm tube it is possible to easily adapt to video signals of high frequency.
However, in the above-described Hi-Gm tube, an electron beam flowing to the screen when the cathode voltage falls abnormally in the event of failure will be much greater, and a spot beam which occurs if deflection or sweep of an electron beam is stopped abnormally will be much greater compared with those in the conventional CRT. Accordingly, a spot burning of a fluorescent screen or a burning of an aperture grille can occur more easily than ever before.
In the case of carrying out the protection by muting a video signal, a muting circuit is provided for each of R, G, and B channels individually. However, since there is variation in operation timings and signal attenuation levels among such muting circuits, it is not necessarily possible to obtain desired protection by such muting circuits in the case of using the Hi-Gm tube.
An object of the present invention is to prevent occurrence of a spot burning of a fluorescent screen and a burning of an aperture grille of the Hi-Gm tube provided with an electron gun having a Gm electrode.
This object is achieved by a CRT display apparatus including a CRT having an electron gun; the electron gun including:
a cathode;
a G1 electrode, a G2 electrode, and a G3 electrode disposed in that order for drawing electrons from the cathode; and
a modulating electrode disposed between the G2 electrode and the G3 electrode;
wherein the CRT display apparatus is provided with a controller for controlling a value of a voltage applied to the modulating electrode in order to control intensity of an electron beam flowing from the cathode to a screen of the CRT.
The controller may include:
a generator generating a protection signal when at least one of an excessive electron beam, an overvoltage of an anode of the CRT and a stoppage of deflection of the electron beam is detected; and
a voltage source which, upon receiving the protection signal, alters a value of an output voltage of the voltage source being applied to the modulating electrode in order to suppress or interrupt the electron beam flowing from the cathode to the screen.
The controller may include a voltage source which is powered by a power supply of a deflection circuit for generating a signal used for deflecting the electron beam flowing from the cathode to the screen, and generates the voltage applied to the modulating electrode.
The controller may include a voltage source which is powered by a power supply of a video circuit for applying a voltage according to a video signal to said cathode, and generates the voltage applied to the modulating electrode.
The controller may include a voltage source which, upon receiving an image-muting signal from outside, alters a value of its output voltage being applied to the modulating electrode in order to blank out the screen.


Stayrod arrangement for enhancing removal of sludge from nuclear heat exchangers. The stayrod arrangement includes a rod disposed adjacent a plurality of heat exchange tubes defining a tube lancing lane therebetween, the tube lane having sludge deposits therein. The rod has planer side portions oriented parallel to the direction of a fluid stream intended to flush the sludge deposits from the tube lane. An anti-rotation connector is connected to the rod for fixing the orientation of the rod with respect to the fluid stream.

This invention generally relates to stayrods, and more particularly relates to a stayrod arrangement for enhancing removal of sludge from nuclear heat exchangers.
Although stayrods for use in nuclear heat exchangers are known in the prior art, these stayrods have a number of problems associated with them that interfere with sludge removal operations. However, before these problems can be appreciated, some background is desirable as to the structure and operation of a typical nuclear heat exchanger and its associated stayrods.
In this regard, a typical nuclear heat exchanger or steam generator generates steam when heat is transferred from a heated and radioactive primary fluid to a non-radioactive secondary fluid of lower temperature. The primary fluid flows through a plurality of U-shaped tubes, which are received through holes in a plurality of spaced-apart support plates and also through holes in a tubesheet disposed in the heat exchanger. The secondary fluid is caused to surround the exterior surfaces of the tubes as the primary fluid flows through the tubes. The walls of the tubes function as heat conductors for transferring heat from the heated primary fluid to the secondary fluid. Thus, as the primary fluid flows through the tubes, it gives up its heat to the secondary fluid surrounding the exterior surfaces of the tubes to produce steam that is used to generate electricity in a manner well known in the art.
Because the primary fluid is radioactive, the nuclear heat exchanger is designed such that the radioactive primary fluid flowing through the tubes does not commingle with and radioactively contaminate the nonradioactive secondary fluid surrounding the exterior surfaces of the tubes. Radioactive contamination of the secondary fluid is undesirable for safety reasons. Therefore, the tubes are designed to be leak-tight so that the radioactive primary fluid remains separated from the nonradioactive secondary fluid to avoid commingling the primary fluid with the secondary fluid. However, the previously mentioned support plates are subject to deflection or bowing during postulated accident scenarios (e.g., main streamline break). Although highly unlikely, such deflection or bowing conceivably may cause the support plates to wear against and conceivably breach the walls of the tubes extending through the holes of support plates, which breach in turn may cause the radioactive primary fluid to commingle with the nonradioactive secondary fluid. Therefore, a plurality of elongate stayrods interconnect the support plates with the tubesheet to prevent deflection or bowing of the support plates. In addition, each stayrod is surrounded by a tubular spacer interposed between adjacent support plates to assist in maintaining the support plates in their nondeflected spaced-apart relationship.
Moreover, the secondary fluid entering the heat exchanger may contain suspended particles that precipitate-out of the secondary fluid and accumulate on the surface of the tubesheet as sludge. This accumulation of sludge is undesirable because it can lead to thinning of the walls of the tubes, which thinning conceivably may ultimately cause a breach of the tube walls allowing the primary fluid to commingle with the secondary fluid, a highly undesirable result. Such thinning may preferentially occur near the elevation of the tubesheet at a height corresponding to the height of sludge that has accumulated on the tubesheet. The sludge itself is primarily a combination of iron oxides and copper compounds together with trace amounts of other metals that have settled-out of the secondary fluid and onto the tubesheet. It is believed by applicant that such sludge deposits on the tubesheet may provide sites for concentration of phosphates or other corrosive agents at the tube wall in amounts sufficient to cause the previously mentioned tube wall thinning.
Therefore, such nuclear heat exchangers are typically serviced during shutdown periods to remove the sludge deposits on the tubesheet. Servicing of the heat exchanger involves opening inspection port covers located near the elevation of the tubesheet and inserting a fluid lancing tool therethrough, which fluid lancing tool emits at least one jet of high pressure fluid into the respective lanes defined between the tubes for dislodging the sludge from the tubesheet surface. In this regard, the fluid lancing tool is moved along the tubesheet while the jet of high pressure fluid is directed perpendicularly with respect to the movement of the fluid lancing tool. The high pressure fluid entrains the sludge in a flow of fluid which is then suctioned from the tubesheet. Such a sludge removal system is more fully described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,701 titled "Steam Generator Sludge Removal System" issued Mar. 21, 1978 in the name of Robert A. Hickman, et al. and assigned to the assignee of the present invention.
However, the previously mentioned prior art stayrods with their surrounding spacers may impede lancing some areas of the tubesheet because the spacers have a diameter larger than the tubes and therefore effectively block some of the fluid lancing lanes. Blocking of the fluid lancing lanes interferes with removing a portion of sludge from the heat exchanger. This is undesirable because leaving sludge residue in the heat exchanger after servicing may ultimately lead to the previously mentioned tube wall thinning, which thinning in turn may ultimately lead to the radioactive primary fluid commingling with the nonradioactive secondary fluid. Consequently, a problem in the art is to remove as much sludge as possible from the tubesheet even in the presence of stayrods and spacers.
Stayrods facilitating sludge removal are known. Such a stayrod is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,777,911 titled "Stayrod Configuration For Facilitating Steam Generator Sludge Lancing" issued Oct. 18, 1988 in the name of Robert M. Wepfer and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. This patent discloses a stayrod configuration which facilitates fluid lancing of the tubesheet, the stayrod configuration including a plurality of stayrods, each having the same diameter as the tubing and being threaded into the tubesheet at spaced positions which match the tube pattern. Although the stayrod configuration disclosed in this patent allows the removal of a relatively large amount of sludge from the lanes defined by the tubes, its use is nonetheless less than completely satisfactory. That is, although the plurality of stayrods disclosed in this patent each has the same diameter as the tubes, each group of stayrods appear to present a relatively large cumulative transverse profile to the fluid emitted from the lance, which profile may undesirably interfere with the ability of the fluid lance to completely remove the sludge from the lanes.
Hence, although stayrods for facilitating sludge removal are known in the art, the prior art does not appear to disclose a stayrod arrangement for suitably enhancing removal of sludge from nuclear heat exchangers.
Therefore, what is needed is a stayrod arrangement for enhancing removal of sludge from nuclear heat exchangers.


Avatar cloning in a virtual world may include receiving an input indicating that a user desires to access a cloning feature and allowing a cloned avatar to be cloned from the user's avatar.

The present invention relates to simulations, virtual world simulations of the real-world or real-life or a virtual world and the like, and more particularly to a system and method for avatar cloning in a virtual world.
Computer based simulations are becoming more ubiquitous. Simulations may be used for training purposes, for entertainment or for other purposes. Computer simulations such as Second Life™ or similar simulations present a virtual world which allows users or players to be represented by characters known as avatars. Second Life is a trademark of Linden Research, Inc. in the United States, other countries or both. Second Life is an Internet-based virtual world launched in 2003 by Linden Research, Inc. A downloadable client program called the Second Life Viewer enables users, called "Residents", to interact with others in the virtual world through motional avatars. The virtual world basically simulates the real world or environment. The users or residents via their avatar can explore the virtual world, meet other users or residents, socialize, participate in individual and group activities, create and trade items (virtual property) and services from one another.
Currently, an avatar in a virtual world controlled by a user may be in only one location at a time. If a user wanted his avatar to be in more than one location in the virtual world at a specific time, the user would have to choose only one of the locations, possibly missing out on one or more opportunities. Currently known virtual world systems limit a user to having only a single avatar within an account running on a computer system. Accordingly, the user would be required to set up multiple accounts each running on a separate system in order to develop and control multiple avatars within the virtual world. Additionally, this approach can have significant drawbacks. For example, maintaining all of the characteristics, identity and profiles across multiple avatars may be an overwhelming challenge. Also, maintaining the different virtual world actions of each avatar may be difficult and cumbersome, especially if they are on different computer systems.

International Business Machines Corporation


A multivalue dynamic random access memory cell and method therefor are provided. Sense circuitry for sensing a most significant bit (MSB) and a least significant bit (LSB) of a binary data value are coupled to an unsegmented complementary bitline pair. The binary data is represented by a multilevel voltage stored on a storage element in the DRAM cell. A reference signal is provided to the sense circuitry, wherein the reference signal is independent of a precharge on the bitline pair. Cross-coupling elements offset the reference signal in response to the sensing of the MSB, whereby the voltage levels corresponding to the LSB are sensed. Following a read, the multilevel data value is restored on the storage element by a restore/write unit including a programmable voltage supply. The detected MSB/LSB pair are input to the restore/write unit which outputs the corresponding voltage level to the DRAM cell. A write is effected using the same restore/write unit with the binary datum to be stored input to the restore/write unit.

Current computer processing systems operate on binary data wherein a logic 1 is represented by a high voltage level (approximately Vcc, typically 3.3 or 5V) and a logic 0 is represented by a low voltage level (approximately Vss, typically 0V or ground). Consequently, conventional random access memory cells, dynamic (DRAM) or static (SRAM) charge a cell capacitor to the high voltage level to store a logic 1 and discharge the capacitor to the low voltage level to store a logic 0. During a read in DRAM's, the voltage on the cell capacitor (which may have drifted due to leakage) is differentially sensed against a reference voltage set between Vcc and Vss and then, depending on the result, restored by latching to the full Vcc or Vss level. Data from the cell is similarly output to the periphery and ultimately outside the DRAM device itself by driving various input/output (I/O) lines to approximately Vcc or Vss.
One of the main thrusts of current DRAM development efforts is to provide for the storage of more bits per DRAM chip (storage capacity). One means for accomplishing this goal is to increase DRAM cell density (i.e., the number of cells per given chip area). This requires the development of advanced circuit design and fabrication techniques to pack smaller cells into denser arrays, which is a time consuming and expensive process. Further, as DRAM cells become smaller and the arrays more dense, device physics increasingly become a limiting factor in the pace of progress in the development of new DRAMs. In any event, the development of new high cell-density DRAMs may take years to advance the design from theory to a commercially viable product.
Proposals have been made to increase memory capacity (for both volatile memory, such as DRAM, and non-volatile memory such as flash memory) by storing multiple bits per cell. In one approach, more than the traditional two voltage levels can be impressed on the storage mechanism of a cell, with each voltage level representing a different data value. For example, assume that for a given cell, data can be stored as one of four allowed voltage levels. A voltage of 0V can then be used to represent a two bit logic word "00", a voltage of approximately 1V to represent a logic "01", a voltage of approximately 2V to represent a logic "10" and a voltage of approximately 3V to represent a logic"11". In this fashion, an MSB and an LSB can be stored in a single cell. The exact voltages and the number of voltage levels used vary from scheme to scheme.
The actual implementation of these multivalued memories presents a number of problems. For instance, Murotani et al. (1997 IEEE International Solid State Circuit Conference, Digest of Technical Papers, pp 74-75, 1997) have proposed a 4-level storage device in which both a most significant bit (MSB) and an least significant bit (LSB) can be stored in a single cell as a function of capacitor voltage. The MSB is detected by sensing the stored voltage against a reference voltage that is substantially one-half of Vcc. After sensing, the LSB is then sensed against one-half of Vcc of offset by approximately one-third Vcc. The sign of the offset, (+, -), depends on the MSB (1,0).
Obtaining an adequate sense signal disadvantageously requires that the storage capacitor has a large capacitance, which in turn implies a chip area occupied by the storage element or a use of a high dielectric constant material in constructing the capacitor, or possibly a combination of both.
Moreover, the sense scheme in the prior art requires a specific bitline structure to effect proper sense and restore operation. The bitline pairs are segmented into two sections. The sections are unequal with one section disadvantageously required to have a bitline capacitance twice that of the other bitline section.
A need has therefore arisen for new circuitry and methods for implementing multivalued storage. The problem of efficient use of chip area must be addressed. A reduction in the density of storage elements on a chip vitiates the advantage offered by multilevel storage. To this end, the task of minimizing the size and complexity of the necessary circuitry cannot be ignored.

Methods and circuits for single-memory dynamic cell multivalue data storage


A method for controlling a radio unit in a radio system which has at least a first radio unit and a second radio unit in which at least one of the radio units communicates on a direct mode channel. In order either to stop the entire operation of the second radio unit or to stop it from operating on the direct mode channel, the first radio unit transmits a direct mode channel leaving request message to the second radio unit on the direct mode channel, this message commanding the second radio unit to cease from communicating on one or more direct mode channels.

The invention relates to a method for controlling a radio unit in a radio system comprising at least a first radio unit and a second radio unit, in which method at least one of the radio units communicates on a direct mode channel.
The invention relates to the field of mobile telephone systems. A subscriber in a mobile telephone system, i.e. a subscriber station, such as a radio telephone or other mobile unit, may be connected to a radio network or radio system via system and traffic channels maintained by base stations of the radio network.
In addition to system channels provided by mobile telephone networks, the radio system may employ what are known as direct mode channels. In other words, the communication mode is direct. When operating in direct mode, the subscriber stations do not communicate directly with the radio network or its base stations. Direct mode channels are frequencies at which radio telephones or other mobile stations can communicate independently of the system directly with one another.
Direct mode channels are typically employed in situations where, for example, a number of hand-held mobile telephones communicate with one another at such a distance from a base station that system channels cannot be used.
Another important utility for direct mode channels consists in increasing system capacity when the traffic load on the system increases rapidly in some part, for instance a spotlike part, of the system coverage area.
The term direct or simplex channel or simplex connection is used for a direct mode channel. A direct mode channel is a channel that is typically not available to the system. It is not a frequency pair, but a single channel having the breadth of one of the system channels, e.g. 12.5 kHz or 25 kHz. Of the radio telephones operating on a direct mode channel, the sender has tuned his or her transmitter to a channel and transmits speech or data information. The other radio telephones set in a mode of using direct mode channels have tuned their receivers to the same channel and thus hear the transmission directly.
On a direct mode channel, it is possible to operate by analog modulation or digital modulation. A radio telephone transmitting on the channel may also transmit signalling information, such as information on user access rights and priorities or on a given group communicating on the channel. Encryption may be employed on the direct mode channel or plain speech may be transmitted.
Subscriber stations, i.e. radio units, operating in the direct mode, i.e. on a direct mode channel, communicate with other subscriber stations on a direct mode channel without being in direct communication with base stations of the radio network. However, subscriber stations in the direct mode can communicate with the radio network via repeater stations.
Prior art solutions typically operate in such a manner that the system does not check the access rights of radio units communicating on a direct mode channel, since typically subscriber stations communicating on a direct mode channel do not communicate with the mobile telephone system and its subscriber authentication units. Thus, in the prior art systems, radio units unauthorized to communicate in the mobile telephone system can communicate on direct mode channels alongside the authorized radio units. Such unauthorized radio units may be, for example, stolen mobiles or units prohibited from use for some other reason, for instance on account of the fact that the holder of the radio telephone has not paid his her or its bill to the telephone company.
Thus the problem with the prior art solutions is that subscriber stations, i.e. radio units, not authorized to communicate in the system can nevertheless communicate on a direct mode channel.


A method and system for context sensing is described herein. The method includes determining if sensor data obtained via a number of sensors exceed a predetermined threshold. The method also includes increasing a sampling rate of any of the sensors to obtain context data corresponding to a computing device if the sensor data exceed the threshold. The method further includes analyzing the context data to classify a context of the computing device.

Typical context algorithms are used to provide context information to mobile computing devices. However, such context algorithms rely on nonstop sensing capabilities so that the mobile computing device may always be aware of the latest ambient environment or device status. Having such context algorithms running nonstop on the main host processor of the mobile computing device may consume a large amount of power, causing the battery to drain very quickly.
The same numbers are used throughout the disclosure and the figures to reference like components and features. Numbers in the 100 series refer to features originally found in FIG. 1; numbers in the 200 series refer to features originally found in FIG. 2; and so on.


An abrasive tool insert is formed from a substrate having an inner face that has a center. The inner face slopes outwardly and downwardly from the center. An annular face slopes downwardly and outwardly from the inner face. An abrasive layer, having a center and a periphery forming a cutting edge, is integrally formed on the substrate.

The present invention relates to the field of abrasive tool inserts and, more particularly, to such inserts having a support with a central downwardly sloping profile and an outer steeper sloping profile, which reduces the surface axial residual stresses by 83% compared to a flat, planar interface and by 23% compared to a substrate with a single sloped rim. The reduction of the surface axial residual stress increases the impact performance and extends the working lifetime of the cutting tool.
Abrasive compacts are used extensively in cutting, milling, grinding, drilling and other abrasive operations. An abrasive particle compact is a polycrystalline mass of abrasive particles, such as diamond and/or cubic boron nitride (CBN), bonded together to form an integral, tough, high-strength mass. Such components can be bonded together in a particle-to-particle self-bonded relationship, by means of a bonding medium disposed between the particles, or by combinations thereof. The abrasive particle content of the abrasive compact is high and there is an extensive amount of direct particle-to-particle bonding. Abrasive compacts are made under elevated or high pressure and temperature (HP/HT) conditions at which the particles, diamond or CBN, are crystallographically stable. For example, see U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,136,615, 3,141,746, and 3,233,988.
A supported abrasive particle compact, herein termed a composite compact, is an abrasive particle compact, which is bonded to a substrate material, such as cemented tungsten carbide.
Abrasive compacts tend to be brittle and, in use, they frequently are supported by being bonded to a cemented carbide substrate. Such supported abrasive compacts are known in the art as composite abrasive compacts. Compacts of this type are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,743,489, 3,745,623, and 3,767,371. The bond to the support can be formed either during or subsequent to the formation of the abrasive particle compact. Composite abrasive compacts may be used as such in the working surface of an abrasive tool.
Composite compacts have found special utility as cutting elements in drill bits. Drill bits for use in rock drilling, machining of wear resistant materials, and other operations which require high abrasion resistance or wear resistance generally consist of a plurality of polycrystalline abrasive cutting elements fixed in a holder. Particularly, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,109,737 and 5,374,854, describe drill bits with a tungsten carbide stud (substrate) having a polycrystalline diamond compact on the outer surface of the cutting element. A plurality of these cutting elements then are mounted generally by interference fit into recesses into the crown of a drill bit, such as a rotary drill bit. These drill bits generally have means for providing water-cooling or other cooling fluids to the interface between the drill crown and the substance being drilled during drilling operations. Generally, the cutting element comprises an elongated pin of a metal carbide (stud) which may be either sintered or cemented carbide (such as tungsten carbide) with an abrasive particle compact (e.g., polycrystalline diamond) at one end of the pin for form a composite compact.
Fabrication of the composite compact typically is achieved by placing a cemented carbide substrate into the container of a press. A mixture of diamond grains or diamond grains and catalyst binder is placed atop the substrate and compressed under HP/HT conditions. In so doing, metal binder migrates from the substrate and "sweeps" through the diamond grains to promote a sintering of the diamond grains. As a result, the diamond grains become bonded to each other to form a diamond layer, which concomitantly is bonded to the substrate along a conventionally planar interface. Metal binder can remain disposed in the diamond layer within pores defined between the diamond grains.
A composite compact formed in the above-described manner may be subject to a number of shortcomings. For example, the coefficients of thermal expansion and elastic constants of cemented carbide and diamond are close, but not exactly the same. Thus, during heating or cooling of the polycrystalline diamond compact (PDC), thermally induced stresses occur at the interface between the diamond layer and the cemented carbide substrate, the magnitude of these stresses being dependent, for example, on the disparity in thermal expansion coefficients and elastic constants.
Another potential shortcoming, which should be considered, relates to the creation of internal stresses within the diamond layer, which can result in a fracturing of that layer. Such stresses also result from the presence of the cemented carbide substrate and are distributed according to the size, geometry, and physical properties of the cemented carbide substrate and the polycrystalline diamond layer.
Recently, various PDC structures have been proposed in which the diamond/carbide interface contains a number of non-planar features designed to increase the mechanical bond and reduce thermally induced residual stresses. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,772 presents various interface designs containing radial raised lands on the substrate. However, high tensile residual stresses still exist at the diamond surface and near the interface in those designs. U.S. Pat. No. 5,484,330 suggests a sawtooth shaped cross-sectional profile and U.S. Pat. No. 5,494,777 proposes an outward sloping profile in the interface design. U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,346 proposes an interface having an inner surface and an outer  chamfer that forms a 5° to 85° angle to the vertical, wherein the inner surface is other than the chamfer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,137 also proposes a tool insert having an outer downwardly sloped interface surface. U.S. Pat. No. 6,949,477 proposes a tool insert having an outer downwardly sloping interface. U.S. Pat. No. 5,971,087 also proposes various dual and triple slope interface profiles.
However, these patents do not propose the incorporation of a sloped profile in the interior of the cutter. Such a sloped profile combined with a steeper slope on the outer edge of the cutter, further reduces the surface residual stresses. Accordingly, it would be highly desirable to provide a polycrystalline diamond compact having reduced axial, radial, and hoop stresses. It is to such cutters that the present invention is addressed.


A ventilation device for a photocopier draws ozone mixed air from a developing unit and image transfer unit and forwards it to ventilate a fusion unit where the subsequent heating of the air reduces the ozone content. The air flow evacuates the condensed water issued by the sheets of paper during the fixing.

Electrically powered photocopiers, laser printers and the like contain operating units and/or elements which work at high temperatures, which causes them to heat the photocopier during operation. Such units/elements include the fusion unit, lighting bulbs, motors, transformers, etc., which generate a quantity of heat which needs to be evacuated.
Moreover, the photocopier generally comprises at least two corona effect devices, one of which charges the photoconductor with electrostatic charges of appropriate polarity before the image is printed and the other of which discharges residual charges after cleaning of the photoconductor. The transfer of the developed image may also be performed by a corona device.
During their operation, these corona devices generate a certain quantity of ozone, which must be evacuated and/or reduced both for ecological reasons and because it can damage the photoconductor. To accomplish this photocopiers employ air flows actuated by suitable ventilators situated in different parts of the photocopier to individually ventilate the various units and/or elements generating heat and ozone. Each of these air flows issues from the photocopier by its own separate route.
This scattered configuration of ventilators and their relative air routes renders machines very bulky and costly.

Ventilation and cooling device for a photocopier


A new compact floribunda rose which has abundant, yellow flowers and attractive foliage. This new and distinct variety has shown to be uniform and stable in the resulting generations from asexual propagation.

Rosa hybrida xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99.
The present invention constitutes a new and distinct variety of a compact floribunda rose plant which originated from a controlled crossing between two unnamed, non-patented seedlings created by the same inventor. The two parents were crossed during the summer of 1995 and the resulting seeds were planted in a controlled environment in Fredensborg, Denmark. The new variety is named xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99.
The new rose may be distinguished from its seed parent, an unnamed seedling (non-patented), by the following combination of characteristics:
1. xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 has deep yellow flowers, while the seed parent has soft yellow flowers.
2. xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 is lower, compact and more bushy in growth when compared to the seed parent.
The new variety may be distinguished from its pollen parent (non-patented), an unnamed seedling by the following combination of characteristics:
1. xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 flowers are a deep yellow flower color, whereas the pollen parent has soft yellow flowers.
2. xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 when grown as a pot plant has a longer shelf life than the pollen parent.
The objective of the hybridization of this rose variety was to create a new and distinct variety for garden use with unique qualities, such as:
1. Uniform and abundant yellow flowers;
2. Vigorous, but compact growth when propagated both as a budded rose and on its own roots;
3. Disease resistance.
4. Suitable characteristics for a pot plant cultivation.
This combination of qualities is not present in previously available commercial cultivars of this type and distinguish xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 from all other varieties of which we are aware.
As part of their rose development program, L. Pernille Olesen and Mogens N. Olesen germinated the seeds from the aforementioned hybridization during winter 1995 and conducted evaluations on the resulting seedlings in a controlled environment in Fredensborg, Denmark.
xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 was selected in the spring 1996 by the inventors as a single plant from the progeny of the aforementioned hybridization. Asexual reproduction of xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 by traditional budding and rooted cuttings was first done by L. Pernille and Mogens N. Olesen in their nursery in Fredensborg, Denmark in July 1996. This initial and other subsequent asexual propagations conducted in controlled environments have demonstrated that the characteristics of xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99 are true to type and are transmitted from one generation to the next.

Compact floribunda rose plant named xe2x80x98POULac003xe2x80x99


A power supply system having a transistor, a linear regulator, a DC-DC converter, and a control circuit. The transistor has an input, a substrate, a first node, and a second node. The first node is operably coupled to a non-battery power source. A linear regulator is operably coupled to the second node to produce a regulated output voltage based on the non-battery power source, when enabled. A DC-DC converter is operably coupled to produce the regulated output voltage based on a battery power source, when enabled. A control circuit is operably coupled to the input node and the substrate of the transistor wherein when the DC-DC converter is enabled, the control circuit controls a reverse leakage current of the transistor, and when the linear regulator is enabled in a zero load-state, the control circuit controls a forward leakage current of the transistor, and when the linear regulator is enabled in a non-zero load-state, the control circuit provides a current limit for the linear regulator.

As is known, integrated circuits are used in a wide variety of electronic equipment, including portable, or handheld, devices. Such handheld devices include personal digital assistants (PDA), CD players, MP3 players, DVD players, AM/FM radio, a pager, cellular telephones, computer memory extension (commonly referred to as a thumb drive), etc.
These handheld devices include one or more integrated circuits to provide the functionality of the device. For example, a thumb drive may include an integrated circuit for interfacing with a computer (for example, personal computer, laptop, server, workstation, etc.) via one of the ports of the computer (for example, Universal Serial Bus, parallel port, etc.) and at least one other memory integrated circuit (for example, flash memory). As such, when the thumb drive is coupled to a computer, data can be read from and written to the memory of the thumb drive. Accordingly, a user may store personalized information (for example, presentations, Internet access account information, etc.) on his/her thumb drive and use any computer to access the information.
Standards interface specifications provide additional device functionally by facilitating interoperability of handheld devices with host or peripheral devices. For instance, devices may be interoperably coupled as host-to-host, as host-to-peripheral, and/or as peripheral-to-peripheral.
Apart from communication interoperability, some standards interface specifications allow peripheral or handheld devices to draw at least a standby current from a host when connected thereto. For example, when a handheld MP3 player is coupled to a host computer via a USB (Universal Serial Bus) connection, the MP3 may be powered via a 5-volt source of the USB connection instead of using its battery power source. In a normal power mode, a peripheral device (for example, an MP3 player) may draw up to a 100 mA current from the 5-volt source for power. At least one version of a USB specification, however, has general interface parameters that call for limiting the current that a peripheral device may draw to a very small amount (for example, a standby current of less than 1 mA). Accordingly, a peripheral device, such as an MP3 player, should be capable of being self powered (that is, from a battery power source), being powered from a USB connection in a normal power mode, and being powered from a USB connection in a standby current mode.
Therefore, a need exists for power circuitry that accommodates multiple states for battery and non-battery power sources of a dual-power capable device such that the functionality of a peripheral or handheld device is maintained.

Method and apparatus for bi-directional current limit in a dual-power source capable device


The present invention provides a human selenoprotein (HSEL) and polynucleotides which identify and encode HSEL. The invention also provides genetically engineered expression vectors and host cells comprising the nucleic acid sequences encoding HSEL and a method for producing HSEL. The invention also provides for agonists, antibodies, or antagonists specifically binding HSEL, and their use, in the prevention and treatment of diseases associated with expression of HSEL. Additionally, the invention provides for the use of antisense molecules to polynucleotides encoding HSEL for the treatment of diseases associated with the expression of HSEL. The invention also provides diagnostic assays which utilize the polynucleotide, or fragments or the complement thereof, and antibodies specifically binding HSEL.

Selenium is a trace element which is necessary for normal cellular growth and development in vivo and in vitro. In large amounts, it is a highly toxic substance; but at lower levels, it is an essential trace element in eukaryotes and a potent anticarcinogenic agent in a variety of animal models. Selenium deficiency in livestock results in degeneration of skeletal and cardiac muscle, while in humans it is associated with the development of cardiomyopathy. Dietary selenium affords protection against both the initiation and promotion of carcinogensis, and there is increasing epidemiological evidence to support its anticarcinogenic role in humans. (Medina, D. et al. (1988) Pathol. Immunopathol. Res. 7:187-199; Morris, J. G. (1984) Science 223:491-493; Batist, G. (1985) Cancer Res. 45:5900-5903; Ip, C. (1986) Adv. Exp. Med. 206:431-447; Holmberg, S. B. and Bertram, J. S. (1991) Nord Med 106:86-89).
Selenium is incorporated directly into proteins such as glutathione peroxidase, type I iodothyronine deiodinase, and selenoprotein P during translation. Incorporation of selenium into these proteins is via the selenocysteinyl-tRNA which recognizes the specific UGA codons in mRNAs to insert selenocysteine into the primary structure of selenoproteins. The biological role of selenium was established following the discovery that it is a structural component of the active center of the enzyme glutathione peroxidase.
Cellular glutathione peroxidase was the first enzyme recognized as a selenoprotein. This enzyme is composed of four apparently identical subunits, each containing one atom of selenium, and it acts as a catalyst in the reduction of hydrogen peroxide and a variety of organic hydroperoxides by glutathione. The selenium-dependent glutathione peroxidase (GSHPx) family has at least four members that protect against the deleterious effects of peroxides and hyperperoxides in tissues. These include the cellular GSHPx glutathione: H.sub.2 O.sub.2 oxidoreductase, the plasma GSHPx, the phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase, and the gastrointestinal tract associated GSHPx-GI. Several other selenoproteins have been characterized, including type I iodothyronine 5'-deiodinase which catalyzes the deiodination of L-thyroxine to the biologically active hormone 3,3',5-triiodothyronine, and the T-cell thioredoxin reductase, a member of the thioredoxin-thioredoxin reductase antioxidant enzyme system. The selenocysteine component of these molecules is an integral part of their catalytic or active sites (Vendeland, S. C. (1995) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 92:8749-8753; Zachara, B. A. (1992) J. Trace Elem. Electrolytes Health Dis. 6; 137-151; Mandel, S. J. et al. (1992) J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. 75:1133-1139; and Gladyshev, V. N. et al (1996) Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 93:6146-6151).
Levels of dietary selenium are found to regulate the enzymatic activities and the expression of the mRNAs of cellular GSHPx, phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase, and type I iodothyronine 5'-deiodinase. The recently isolated rat skeletal muscle selenoprotein W similarly responds to dietary selenium, although the levels of mRNA and protein do not respond in parallel. Selenoprotein W mRNA levels are relatively constant at 0.1 to 4.0 ppm selenium, but there is an 8-fold increase in the protein content which suggests additional regulation at the translational level. Like selenium-dependent GSHPx, rat skeletal muscle selenoprotein W can be isolated from muscle tissue by its binding to reduced glutathione which may imply a role in oxidation/reduction catalysis (Vendeland, S. C., supra).
Selenium-binding proteins have been implicated in cellular growth control and the protection from carcinogenesis and cancer. Antiproliferative effects of selenium have been demonstrated in brain tumor cell lines, and inhibition of DNA synthesis has been correlated with the level of selenium bound to proteins in cultured mouse mammary epithelial cells (Zhu, Z. et al. (1995) Biol. Trace Elem. Res. 49:1-7; Morrison, D. G. et al. (1988); Carcinogenesis 9:1801-1810).
The discovery of proteins related to rat skeletal muscle selenoprotein W, and the polynucleotides encoding them, satisfies a need in the art by providing new compositions useful in diagnosis and treatment of cancer and disorders of cell growth.


An arrangement and method for transferring a paper web in high-speed paper machines having a press section arranged between a web former and a dryer section. In the press section, there is one or more press nip zones dewatering the web, at least the last one of which is an extended nip through which at least two press fabrics that receive water are passed. The web is passed between the press fabrics through the last extended-nip zone so that the draining of water out of the web takes place through both faces of the web. After the last extended-nip zone, the web follows one of the fabrics passing through the last extended-nip zone by the effect of a difference in pressure avoiding rewetting of the web. The fabric carrying the web is passed through a gently loaded transfer nip zone in which the web is transferred onto a transfer surface more adhesive than the face of the fabric. The web is transferred on this transfer surface as a closed draw onto the drying wire or equivalent in the dryer section following after the press section.

One of the most important quality requirements of all paper and board grades is uniformity of the structure both on the micro scale and on the macro scale. The structure of paper, in particular of printing paper, must also be symmetric. The desired printing properties required from printing paper mean good smoothness, evenness, and certain absorption properties of both faces. The properties of paper, in particular the symmetry of density, are affected to a considerable extent by the operation of the press section of the paper machine, which operation also has a decisive significance for the uniformity of the profiles of the paper in the cross direction and in the machine direction.
Increased running speeds of paper machines create new problems to be solved, which problems are mostly related to the runnability of the machine. Currently, running speeds of up to about 1500 meters per minute are employed. At these speeds, so-called closed press sections, which comprise a compact combination of press rolls positioned around a smooth-faced center roll, usually operate satisfactorily. As examples of such compact press sections, reference is made to the current assignee's Sym-Press II.TM. and Sym-Press O.TM. press sections.
From the point of view of energy economy, dewatering taking place by pressing is preferable to dewatering taking place by evaporation. For this reason, attempts should be made to remove a maximum amount of water out of the paper web by pressing in order that the proportion of water to be removed out of the paper web by evaporation may be made as small as possible.
Increased running speeds of paper machines, however, create new, so far unsolved problems expressly for the dewatering taking place by pressing, because the press impulse applied when dewatering by pressing cannot be increased sufficiently by the means known from the prior art, above all because at high web running speeds, the nip times remain inadequately short and, on the other hand, the peak pressure of pressing cannot be increased beyond a certain limit without destruction of the structure of the web.
With increasing running speeds of paper machines, the problems of runnability of a paper machine are also manifested with further emphasis, because a web with a high water content and low strength does not withstand an excessively high and sudden impulse of compression pressure or the dynamic forces produced by high speeds, but web breaks and other operational disturbances arise which result in standstills and in considerable economic losses.
Further problems which are manifested with increased emphasis at high web running speeds of paper machines and for which satisfactory solutions have not been found so far, at least not for all of the problems, include problems of quality related to the requirements of uniformity of the machine-direction and cross-direction property profiles of the paper web. The uniformity of the web that is being produced also affects the runnability of the whole paper machine, and it is also an important quality factor in finished paper, which factor is emphasized with respect to copying and printing papers with higher speeds of copying and printing machines and with increased requirements concerning the uniformity of the printing quality.
The machine-direction property profiles of the paper produced are also affected significantly by oscillations in the press sections, and the variations of properties in the cross direction are affected by the cross-direction profiles of the nip pressures in the press nips. These profile problems tend to be increased considerably with increasing running speeds of the machine.
In recent years, speeds even as high as about 40 meters per second (about 2400 meters per minute) have been contemplated as running speeds of paper machines. The achievement of speeds as high as this, in particular in wide machines, results in ever more difficult problems to be solved, of which problems the most important ones are the runnability of the machine and an adequate dewatering capacity at a high web speed.
With respect to the patent literature most closely related to and connected with the present invention, reference is made to the following publications:
______________________________________ Finnish Patent Nos. 81,854 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,526,655), 82,500, 85,044 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,861,430), and 93,563 (corres- ponding to International Publi- cation No. WO 88/08051); Finnish Patent Application Nos. 842115 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,931,143), 950451 (filed February 2, 1995), and 951934 (filed April 24, 1995); U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,483,745, 4,561,939, 4,648,942, 4,915,790, 4,943,351, 4,988,410, 5,087,325, 5,169,501, and 5,368,697; European Patent Publication Nos. 0 159 280 B1, 0 344 088 A2, and 0 496 965 B1; German Patent Publication Nos. 36 04 522 A1 (corresponding to Finnish Patent No. 82,500), 37 42 848 A1 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,790), 42 27 000 A1, 44 02 629 A1; International Publication Nos. WO 88/08051 (corresponding to Finnish Patent No. 93,563) and 95/16821; and Canadian Patent Application No. 2,034,829. ______________________________________
Further, reference is made to the constructions illustrated in the accompanying FIGS. 8A and 8B, mainly included in the prior art and available at least to the current assignee.
In the prior art press sections, in particular in press sections meant for producing printing papers, the last press nip is generally a single-felt nip, and the transfer of the web after the last nip has taken place so that the web is separated from the press felt of the last nip and is transferred on a smooth face of the press roll, from which roll face the web is separated and transferred as an open and unsupported draw onto the drying wire. The free draw is advantageous in view of the difference in speed needed in order to maintain a web tension, but the open draw causes a considerable risk of web breaks, in particular at higher speeds, so that free draws can, as a rule, not be employed at speeds higher than about 1700 meters per minute. The use of a single-felt last nip may also cause the drawback that the web becomes asymmetric in respect of the smoothness properties of its opposite faces because the face of the web that is pressed against the smooth press roll in the last nip receives a higher smoothness than the opposite web face, which was placed against the water-receiving felt. The unequalsided draining of water taking place in the last nip can also distort the distribution of fillers and fines in the web. Thus, the single-felt last press nip in the prior art press sections tends to produce a poor symmetry of roughness in particular with fine paper and with LWC and MWC base paper.
This problem is exacerbated when the press impulse is high, as is the case in an extended-nip press in the last press position. For example, with MWC base paper, in the current assignee's test paper machine, a non-calendered ratio of 0.52 was obtained for Bendtsen roughness of top side to bottom side when the press load was, in a "Sym-Belt S".TM. press, about 800 kN per meter, when the length of the press shoe was about 152 mm, and when the smooth press roll was placed in the upper position in the single-felt press nip. The extensive asymmetry of roughness constitutes a limitation for the magnitude of the press loading, for the dry solids content that can be attained, and for the wet strength.
It is known from the prior art to use what are called equalizing presses in connection with various press sections, also extended-nip press sections, by means of which equalizing presses attempts are made to equalize the above asymmetry of roughness. With respect to these prior art equalizing presses, reference is made, for example, to the current assignee's Finnish Patent No. 64,823 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 4,566,946), to published German Patent Application No. 43 21 406 A1 in the name of Messrs. J. M. Voith GmbH (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,349), and to German Utility Model No. G 92 06 340.3 in the name of Messrs. Sulzer-Escher Wyss GmbH. By means of the equalizing presses known from the above publications, it has, however, not been possible to provide satisfactory solutions for the problems related to asymmetry of roughness, in particular not in connection with supported transfer and closed draw of the web.
The prior art includes a number of arrangements in which the transfer of the web from one fabric onto another fabric, or further along the web formation path, or ensuring that the web follows exactly the press fabric that is supposed to carry the web further has been accomplished by means of a transfer suction roll or some other suction device. However, it is a drawback of the use of these suction devices that they cause rewetting of the web because of their suction effect. This rewetting is particularly detrimental in particular after the last nip in the press section, in which nip the web is already relatively dry and capable of absorption and, thus, particularly susceptible to rewetting. The risk of rewetting has imposed considerable restrictions for the use of transfer suction devices and for the application of vacuums sufficiently high in view of the transfer of the web.
In the press section of a paper machine, for the transfer of the web, various transfer belts are also employed, which do not substantially receive water and which are substantially impenetrable, the operation of these transfer belts being based mainly on their surface properties, because a suction effect that promotes or guarantees the transfer of the web cannot be applied to the web through such belts.

Transfer of a web in a paper machine from a two-felt press nip to a dryer section


An apparatus for ink-jet recording includes: (a) ink tanks installed removably in the apparatus, and configured to store ink; (b) a reservoir tank configured to temporarily store waste ink generated by a printing head for jetting ink supplied from the ink tanks onto the printing paper; (c) waste ink tanks formed in one piece with the ink tanks, and configured to store waste ink; (d) a discharging unit configured to discharge waste ink from the reservoir tank into the waste ink tanks; and (e) a control unit configured to discriminate whether or not the waste ink tanks are empty, and to control the discharging unit to discharge waste ink of a predetermined quantity stored in the reservoir tank into the empty waste ink tank.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an ink-jet recording apparatus, such as a printer, facsimile, or the like of an ink-jet system, and method for controlling the ink-jet recording apparatus. In particular, the present invention pertains to the management technology for waste ink generated by a printing head.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, in an ink-jet recording apparatus, such as an ink-jet printer, waste ink that is not used in printing is generated by a head cleaning operation performed to prevent clogging of an ink-jet printing head or to remove foreign substances adhered around a nozzle of the ink-jet printing head.
Against such a background, the art of installing a waste ink tank for storing the waste ink in an ink-jet printer is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication (Kokai) No. H11-268303 and No. H11-334110. Further, the art of an ink-jet printer having an absorbent for absorbing waste ink is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication (Kokai) No. H06-210875. Furthermore, the art of an ink cartridge having the ink tank with the addition of a waste ink absorption function is disclosed in the Japanese Patent Laid Open Publication (Kokai) No. H11-157098 and No. 2000-141703.
However, in the case of the waste ink collection unit, such as the waste ink tank, the waste ink absorbent, or the waste ink absorption function, being installed in the ink-jet printer, besides exchanging the ink tank of the ink for printing, when the waste ink collection unit is full of the waste ink, exchange of the waste ink collection unit must also be performed, and therefore maintenance of the ink-j et printer becomes very cumbersome. Furthermore, if a quantity of waste ink more than or equal to a predetermined quantity is produced, all the waste ink may not be able to be collected in the waste ink collection unit, and therefore waste ink could overflow from the waste ink collection unit.
Moreover, in the case of collecting waste ink to the waste ink tank whenever waste ink occurs, detection of space availability in the waste ink tank and control of the discharge of the waste ink becomes complicated. For example, in the case of an ink cartridge in which each of the colors of Cyan (C), Magenta (M), Yellow (Y), and blacK (K) are united and combined in a single waste ink tank, since what is necessary is just to manage the capacity of the single waste ink tank, the discharge control for preventing the overflow of the waste ink is relatively easy. However, in the case of an ink cartridge having independent ink tanks for each ink color and waste ink tanks provided to each of the ink tanks respectively, since it would be necessary to discriminate between each waste ink tank, managing the available capacity of each waste ink tank, the discharge control of the waste ink becomes complicated.

Apparatus for ink-jet recording, and method for controlling ink-jet recording apparatus


An anatomical shaped oxygen face mask with ports allows medical procedures to take place while the mask remains affixed to patient's face covering both mouth and nose. The mask is specially designed to allow the patient to ventilate spontaneously while at the same time allowing access for instruments by means of ports located at the front of the mask. One port may be used for procedures while another port can be used for suctioning of secretion and blood or for providing oxygen.

Bronchoscopy, esophagogastroduodenoscopy and transesophageal echocardiogram are widely used for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes by different specialists everyday. Patients undergoing those procedures require intravenous anesthetics to maintain deep sedation with spontaneous ventilation. Currently nasal cannula is used for this purpose. However, nasal cannula does not generally provide adequate oxygen levels, especially in the case of patients who are prone to be mouth breathers, when instruments are inserted in the mouth. Such patients often experience oxygen desaturation during this and similar procedures.
On the other hand, currently used oxygen face masks would provide oxygen retention to reach adequate oxygen level inside the mask by completely covering both mouth and nose, but such face masks do not provide access for instruments to enter through the mask into airways, trachea, the esophagus and gastrointestinal (GI) tracts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,431,158, issued to Tirotta on Jul. 11, 1995, provide an endoscopy breathing mask having a hollow bite block to accommodate introduction of an endoscope. However, the elongated bite block significantly increases friction of the instrument and interferes with the endoscopist's performance. It doesn't allow multifunction access to mouth and nose: that is, for the introduction of several different instruments for different purposes, such as fiber optic bundles for viewing, cutters, clamps, etc., and for procedures requiring the suctioning of secretion or blood at the same time. Furthermore the bite block isn't practical for use after the procedure, when the patient is conscious, due to the patient's discomfort with oral bite block in place.
However, nothing in the design of the present device would prevent the use of a bite block if desired, and a bite block is included in an alternative embodiment.
In sum, none of the currently existing devices discloses or suggest all of the features provided and claimed by present device and method.


The multi chip module cooling apparatus of the present invention includes a cold plate having a sealed housing formed with a first side member, a second side member and an interior space, and a metal block having a refrigerant vapor flow passage and a cooling water flow passage formed in opposite to the refrigerant vapor flow passage so as to condense the refrigerant vapor discharged from the housing by using a cooling water flowed in the cooling water passage. A pair of circulating tubes connect the cold plate and the block as a circulation loop shape, the circulating tubes are consisted of a refrigerant vapor flow tube for discharging a hot refrigerant vapor from the housing of the cold plate to the refrigerant vapor flow passage in the blocks and a refrigerant flow tube for supplying a refrigerant condensed in the block to the housing of the cold plate. Thermosyphon action due to boiling of the refrigerant in the vertical channel of the cold plate eliminate the significant temperature rise at the multi chip module, which occurs in the horizontal channel in the cold plate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi chip module cooling apparatus and, more particularly, to a multi chip module cooling apparatus which can maximize cooling efficiency of a multi chip module and which is composed of simple constitution.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known that construction of a high speed broadband asynchronous transfer mode (hereinafter referred to as "ATM") exchange network is economical for realization of a broadband integrated service digital network, and development of an ATM switching system is in progress. The ATM switching system is in the trend of high speed, large capacity, and miniaturization and high density of system according to the progress of semiconductor technology, material and parts technology and system packaging technology, and especially, the system packaging technology related to interconnection technology and cooling technology serves as the most important factor of deciding the performance of the system according to the increase of transmission speed of system to several hundreds Mbps (mega bit per second) to several tens Gbps (giga bit per second) due to the development of high speed device technology using a large scale integration (LSI) chip and a very large scale integration (VLSI) chip.
In a narrowband integrated service digital network using COB (card on board) method in which a card is mounted on a board, the heat flow rate value per unit area of chip module is no more than 0.01 to 0.1 W/cm.sup.2, therefore, a natural convection cooling method or low flow rate forced convection cooling method using air is used in cooling of system. However, the broadband integrated service digital network to realize picture transmission has information processing rate of several hundreds Gbps and uses a multi chip module other than a single chip module used in the narrowband integrated service digital network. The multi chip module can minimize signal propagation delay between chips due to high degree of circuit and can reduce dispersion of electromagnetic wave, thereby improving the performance of switching system. However, in case of using the multi chip module, the heat flow rate value per unit area is expected to be about 2 W/cm.sup.2.
That is, a plurality of LSI and VLSI chips are mounted in the multi chip module used to promote the high density, high integration and high speed of system, therefore, a lot of heat is produced in each chip at the time of operation of system. If the chips, which generate a lot of heat, are left in the system, the inside of the system becomes high temperature condition so as to be a cause of failure of parts. Also, such increase of generated heat increases the temperature of the inside of the system so as to delay the signal transmission time between the parts in the system, and incorrectly transmit the signal. Therefore, the reliability of the system is abruptly deteriorated, so that cooling apparatus different from conventional one is required.
Especially, since the heat flow rate value per unit area in the multi chip module used in global integrated services digital network which will use three dimensional mounting technology is expected to be more than 10 W/cm.sup.2, a cooling apparatus of high efficiency is needed.

Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute


In a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, a plasma annealing and supplying a threshold voltage control gas onto a portion of a substrate is performed to form a fixed charge region including a fixed charge at a surface of the substrate. A MOS transistor is formed on the substrate including the fixed charge region. By the above processes, the threshold voltage of the MOS transistor may be easily controlled.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices. More particularly, example embodiments relate to methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices including transistors.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is continuous pressure to improve the operation characteristics of transistors formed in semiconductor devices. In particular, the threshold voltage of transistors and methods for controlling the threshold voltage of a transistor are being researched.

Methods of manufacturing semiconductor devices


A mount designed to be integrated into a noise suppressor. The proposed apparatus encompasses an acme thread and two springs which serve as secondary latches. Offsetting the secondary spring latches in such a manner as to ensure one always fully seats into the indexing points of a flash hider mount limits the rotational movement of an installed noise suppressor which incorporates my proposed mount. Further, this method is more cost efficient than timing each flash hider with each noise suppressor mount.

1. Field of Invention
This invention generally relates to firearms, specifically to noise suppressors and devices which are used to rotationally restrain the noise suppressor on the muzzle of a firearm and prevent it from backing off due to the incidental vibrations resulting from the discharge of the host firearm.
2. Prior Art
Previous systems exist for attaching noise suppressors to a firearm, and specifically for removing or attaching a noise suppressor to a flash suppressor affixed to the muzzle of a firearm. Systems such as the one presented in Advanced Armaments Corp, Inc's M4-2000 fall short in several areas such as secondary latch engagement between the teeth present about the rear of the preferred embodiment flash hider once the silencer is completely threaded on. There is a need for a secure attachment system for mounting noise suppressors to a firearm particularly a flash suppressor which will withstand the vibrations incidental to firing an automatic rifle or other small arm, provide for an secondary spring latch which will reliably engage the teeth located about the flash hider once the host noise suppressor is threadedly secure without requiring the noise suppressor to be backed off to ensure proper engagement of the secondary spring latch.
Designs such as the one present in Surefire U.S. Pat. No. 6,948,415 fail to provide several features which are novel to my design. The mounting system referenced requires two hands to mount. When a solider or police officer is manipulating a firearm with one hand it is not possible to fully attach a noise suppressor which utilizes the referenced mount. The mounting ring may also become stuck making it difficult to remove the attach noise suppressor should it become damaged.
Designs where the mount is located within the interior of the noise suppressor are flawed. Exposing the spring of a noise surprise mount to the heat of a discharging firearm anneals the metal causing it to fatigue and ultimately rendering the mount ineffective at retaining the noise suppressor on the host firearm. Materials generally selected for springs are not well suited to the high heat environment present inside of a noise suppressor during use. An example of a noise suppressor utilizing this style of mount is the GemTech G5.
Minimizing the use of secondary latches, rings and other devices simplifies my apparatus making it easy to use. Proper material selection creates a more robust spring while using two springs creates system redundancy which lessons the chance of failure. My design is also backwards compatible with currently produced Advanced Armament noise suppressor flash hider mounts.


An electronic device may have wireless circuitry with antennas. An antenna may have an inverted-F antenna resonating element, an antenna ground, and other resonating element structures. A tip of the antenna resonating element and the antenna ground may be separated by a peripheral housing gap filled with plastic. The antenna may be sensitive to capacitance changes induced by the presence of a user's hand overlapping the gap or other portions of the antenna. A hand capacitance sensing electrode may be mounted in the plastic of the gap or elsewhere in the vicinity of the antenna. A transmission line may couple the hand capacitance sensing electrode to the antenna to retune the antenna in the event that the user's hand overlaps the antenna.

This relates generally to electronic devices and, more particularly, to electronic devices with antennas and other wireless circuitry.
Electronic devices often include wireless circuitry with antennas. For example, cellular telephones, computers, and other devices often contain antennas for supporting wireless communications.
It can be challenging to form electronic device antenna structures with desired attributes. In large electronic devices, antennas can sometimes be isolated from the surrounding environment. This makes the antennas relatively immune to environmental effects, but is not feasible in smaller devices. In a compact electronic device, antenna structures may be formed on or near the external surfaces of the device. This may make antenna performance subject to environmental influence. If, for example, a portion of an antenna is touched by a user's hand, the antenna can be detuned. Antenna detuning has the potential to adversely impact wireless communications performance.
It would therefore be desirable to be able to provide wireless circuitry and electrical components for electronic devices that exhibit enhanced immunity to environmental detuning.

Electronic device with passive antenna retuning circuitry


A method for the continuous gravimetric metering of flowing materials for burner systems, in which the instantaneous mass flow is determined and metering occurs by means of a metering unit can be achieved by means of determination of the type of flowing material. The instantaneous heat output for the flowing material is determined from the type of flowing material and the heat capacity thereof and the mass flow determination. The output from the metering device is regulated to match the set feed rate, depending on the instantaneous heat output. In addition, a device for the continuous gravimetric metering of flowing materials for burner systems comprises a metering unit by means of which the flowing material can be metered. Also provided is a material recognition system for determining the type of the flowing material, an arithmetic unit for determining the instantaneous heat output of the flowing material and a metering controller by means of which the output from the metering unit is regulated to match the set feed rate, depending on the instantaneous heat output.

Numerous apparatuses and methods for the continuous gravimetric metering of flowing materials for burner systems are known from the state of the art. Flowing materials are understood as being all materials which can be used for fuelling burner systems. Coal dust and waste of all kinds, and in particular plastic waste, are hereby mentioned as examples. The flowing materials can be present both in the form of particles as well as in coarse form. The plastic waste can be shredded, e.g. shreds of waste tires or carpets, or it can be used in an unchanged way, e.g. in the form of plastic containers and packaging. The flowing materials are usually stored in a silo or bunker and supplied with the help of metering and transport apparatuses to the burner system, e.g. a rotary kiln in the production of cement.
Such systems for continuous gravimetric conveyance and/or mixing of pourable material are known for example from DE 40 23 948 A1, with a rotary metering weigher according to DE 32 17 406 A1 or EP-A-0 198 956 being used, because such a metering apparatus can be used in an enclosed pneumatic conveying path to continuously determine the flow of pourable material situated therein and the throughput of pourable material can be influenced by varying the supplied quantity of air per unit of time or by changing the speed. A computer-controlled central metering control system is used for the respective control of the desired mixture ratio or the desired conveyed quantity per unit of time (conveying rate), as is described for example in DE 32 17 406. The weighing signal of the bunker weighing cells is used as an input signal and especially the speed of the metering rotor is controlled for the supply of the pourable material.
Such an apparatus is further known from DE 44 43 053. The apparatus described therein for the continuous gravimetric metering and determination of mass flow of flowing materials comprises a flow meter, especially a Coriolis metering wheel for determining the instantaneous mass flow, and a metering device connected downstream of the flow meter. The flow meter is connected with the metering device via a metering control unit and the delivery of the metering device can be controlled in a time-shifted manner on the flow meter depending on the deviations in the mass flow.
It is becoming increasingly more important to govern the supply in such a way that the combustion process can occur in an optimal manner where the supply of flowing materials to burner systems is concerned, especially in cases where different types of flowing materials are to be supplied, as a result of environmental and economical considerations. This means that the supply of flowing materials as a fuel and the supply of air must be controlled in such a way that the combustion processes can run optimally and the desired temperature can be kept constant at the same time. The problem arises in connection with different fuels that the calorific value of the individual goods or the flowing materials cannot be determined in their entirety until the present day. For this reason, only a part of the usually employed fuels, e.g. coal dust for rotary kilns for the production of cement, are currently partly replaced by alternative fuels such as plastic waste. It is also often tried to add merely one single type of plastic material, because the calorific values of the individual types of plastic are differently high. Plastic material of a "pure assortment" has a calorific value which lies in the magnitude of crude oil, whereas fractions of mixed plastic materials as are obtained especially in waste management have a calorific value which is close to that of wood or coal.

Method and device for the continuous gravimetric metering of flowing materials for burner systems


The wafer scanning device causes a wafer to scan in a vacuum area and includes a holder 10 to hold a wafer, a ball screw 20 to move the holder 10 to scan, a motor 50 to drive the ball screw 20 and an integrally formed support frame 60. While the holder 10 and the ball screw 20 are installed in the vacuum area, a transmission mechanism offset from the line of travel of the ball screw 20 and the motor 50 are installed in the atmosphere. Thus the wafer scanning device improves responsiveness with respect to the scanning speed control, enhances the uniformity of the scanning speed, has the motor or the like arranged properly and achieves the tilt of a wafer in a most preferable manner.

In an ion implanter, it is general to cause a wafer to scan (translate) in a reciprocating motion in the particular straight direction so that the every portion of the wafer surface can be uniformly implanted by ions.
One of the conventional, general wafer scanning devices which makes a wafer scan in a reciprocating motion is described as follows referring to FIG. 13. FIG. 13 shows the inner structure of the vacuum chamber where a wafer holder and other components are placed. In the device of FIG. 13, a drive shaft 81a is connected to an arm 81 and another arm 82, which are used to cause a wafer holder 85 to linearly reciprocate.
Following are the details of the device. The first arm 81 is hollow and has both a drive shaft 81a and a driven shaft 81b in it. The shafts 81a and 81b are connected with a belt 81c. The second arm 82 has a bar-shape and is connected to the driven shaft 81b at its base portion. When the drive shaft 81a in the first arm 81 is rotated by means of a drive source such as a motor (not illustrated), the driven shaft 81b rotates while revolving together with the first arm 81 to change the position and angle of the second arm 82. The top portion of the second arm 82 is connected to the slide member 83 which moves along the guide member 84. The slide member 83 is fixed with a wafer holder 85. Accordingly the wafer holder 85 can linearly move by the rotation of the drive shaft 81a.
A similar device is also seen in the disclosure of Japanese publication of unexamined patent application No. H10-326590 (see FIG. 4 in the concerned gazette).


An ambidextrous charging handle for a Stoner-type firearm. The charging handle comprises two separate assemblies, these being an oblong handle that contains a latch assembly and a central shaft member. The parts are joined together by a compound pivoting arrangement in which a combination of the latch assembly and alignment grooves in the central shaft member interacting with slidingly engage a locating flange on the oblong handle, and a pair of pivoting connectors that secure the latch assembly to the oblong handle and the central shaft member independently from one another. The latch assembly includes cam activation via a retention relief cut acting against a fixed minor pivot connector. The second point of retention for the assembly is via a major pivoting connector the combination of which transmits the retraction force applied to the oblong handle on one end of the latch assembly and to the central shaft member through the interconnection of the minor pivot connector located at the proximal end of the latch body.

1. Field of the Invention
This application relates broadly to ambidextrous charging handles for firearms. More particularly, it concerns an improved form of an ambidextrous charging handle for military and semi-automatic firearms, particularly the Stoner-type firearm systems including the AR-10, AR-15, M16, M4 series and all subsequent AR-10 type, AR-15 type, M16 type, M4 type firearms, their clones, and derivatives.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Charging handles for this type of firearm system have been described since the very first version of Eugene Stoner's original firearm design universally first known as the AR-15 type rifle, and later adopted by various militaries as the "M16" series.
There were several iterations of the basic charging handle designed, tested, and proposed for military adoption, and later on for commercial sales. The earliest Stoner-inspired design had a semi-triangular shape where the base of the triangle form was the rear face of the handle and the other two sides were alternately formed on the right by an extension of the base, and on the left side by the receiver retaining latch itself. When activated, the operator was required to simultaneously grasp the right side face of the handle while also grasping and restraining the left side latch and retracting the entire charging handle assembly in order to charge the firearm. Rearward pressure was intended to be applied only upon the two "forward" sides of the triangle form. The irregular geometric shape of this early design when grasped to open the latch, combined with the physically small triangular surfaces available made rapid or off-side charging of the firearm extremely difficult, if not entirely impossible under certain operational conditions.
It has been recognized then, since the very earliest stages of development of this firearm system, that rapid, effective, charging of the firearm is largely dependant upon the available dexterous grasping surfaces of the charging handle and the ability of the operator to grasp and manually depress/squeeze the receiver retaining latch prior to withdrawing the handle assembly. The entire series of these charging handles in the art was designed solely around right-handed operators and has never been easy, sure, or efficient for left-handed operators to function, or even right-handed operators using the handle in the off-side, or slung positions.
When it was realized that the original triangular plan form was inefficient and difficult to use the charging handle's external grasping surface shape was redesigned. The resulting finalized compromise shape was described as being approximately in the shape of a capital letter "T" form, with the transverse member of the "T" acting now as the grasping handle. Rather than pulling exclusively on the heavily slanted sides of the triangular form as with the original design, the operator now was trained to grasp both the front and rear surfaces of the left side of the transverse member between the forefinger and thumb. With this grip, this meant that the left side receiver retention latch had to be squeezed before the charging handle could be retracted to cock or charge the firearm. In this basic form the charging handle assembly has been standardized, adopted for service use and commercial sale, and has remained essentially unchanged since the early 1960's. This basic form is still the standard issue form for all service and commercial variations of this family of firearms. Despite the standardization of this later design, little has been done in the ensuing years to improve upon the inherent problems and defects of effective grasping of the less than ideal shape of the handle, combined with the need to manually function the left side receiver retention latch, exclusively. This was already a significant enough difficulty for right-handed operators of the firearm system but when left handed or even off-side charging was contemplated, the tactile problems become nearly insurmountable, thus contributing significantly to the operator's loss of effectiveness or rapidity in charging the firearm, especially under immediate action requirements, such as during military combat or police enforcement operations. As understood in the art, under such critical circumstances it may be vital to keep one's finger on the trigger for self-defensive purposes while recharging the weapon with the opposing hand.
Several attempts have been made to resolve this problem of charging such firearm systems by the provision of ambidextrous charging handles. U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,225,653 (Packard), 7,240,600 (Bordson) and WIPO application WO2007/090611 (Fluhr, et al.) all disclose prior art versions of ambidextrous charging handles. However, in all of these charging handles multiple separate latch grasping surfaces are used. Packard required both latches to be grasped and squeezed simultaneously to allow operation of the charging handle. Bordson and Fluhr, et al. requires either one or both of the latches to be grasped and squeezed to allow operation of the charging handle. What is needed instead is a charging handle that allows for truly ambidextrous operation from either side of the charging handle while at the same time allowing for efficient operation from any available angle or contact point so long as a simple straight line retraction can be made, and at the same time eliminating the requirement to depress a separate latch before commencing the firearm charging operation.

Ambidextrous charging handle for firearm


The present invention relates to three dimension (3D) scene representations and in particular to a method and a processor for providing improved 3D scene representations. An objective of the embodiments of the present invention is to improve the determination of consistency among a plurality of projections at a virtual view denoted vF. When determining the consistency, entries of a distance matrix, indicative of distance differences of 3D components between different views for a corresponding segment k when projected to the predefined view (vF) for each segment k, are compared with entries of a threshold matrix. The objective is achieved by assigning each segment k of a 3D component to a cluster based on individual rules for each cluster and one threshold matrix and by determining one threshold matrix for each cluster based on the segments of that cluster.

The research in 3D has gained considerable momentum in recent years, and there is a lot of interest from industry, academy and consumer society. Several 3D movies are being produced every year, providing compelling stereoscopic effects to its audience. It is however already possible to enjoy 3D experience at home, and in the very near future, mobile phones will be 3D-enabled.
The term 3D is usually connected to stereoscopic experience, where user's eyes are provided with slightly different images of a scene which are fused by the brain to create depth impression. However, there is much more to 3D. For example, free viewpoint television (FTV) is a TV system that allows users to have a 3D visual experience while freely changing their position in front of a 3D display. Unlike the typical stereoscopic television, which enables a 3D experience to users that are sitting at a fixed position in front of a screen, FTV allows to observe the scene from many different angles, as if we were there.
The FTV functionality is enabled by multiple components. The 3D scene is captured by many cameras and from different views or angles—the so-called multiview video. Different camera arrangements are possible, depending on the application. For example, it may be as simple as a parallel camera arrangement on a 1D line, whereas in more complex scenarios it may include 2D camera arrays forming an arc structure.
Multiview video can be relatively efficiently encoded by exploiting both temporal and spatial similarities that exist in different views. The first version of multiview video coding (MVC) was standardized in July 2008. (MVC is an extension to H.264/AVC.) However, even with MVC, the transmission cost remains prohibitively high. This is why only a subset of the captured multiple views is actually being transmitted. To compensate for the missing information, depth and disparity maps can be used instead. A depth map is a simple greyscale image, wherein each pixel of the map indicates the distance between the corresponding pixel from a video object and the capturing camera. Disparity, on the other hand, is the apparent shift of a pixel which is a consequence of moving from one viewpoint to another. Depth and disparity are mathematically related. The main property of depth/disparity maps is that they contain large smooth surfaces of constant grey levels. This makes them much easier to compress with current video coding technology.
From the multiview video and depth/disparity information it is possible to generate virtual views at an arbitrary viewing position. This can be done by e.g. projection. A view synthesized from texture and depth usually has some pixels unassigned which usually are called holes. This can happen due to rounding errors, and in that case the holes can usually be easily fixed by e.g. median filtering. Another reason is that some pixels/regions in the virtual view may not be visible in the existing view(s) and vice versa. These pixels/regions are called either occluded or disoccluded regions respectively. They can be used in addition to texture and depth, to improve the quality of the synthesized view.
Hence, texture, depth maps, disparity maps and occlusions referred herein as to 3D components, are used to enable the FTV functionality. Alternatively, they can be used to build a 3D model of a scene etc. The main problem that arises in practice is that these 3D components are rarely perfectly consistent. For example, the colors in multiview textures can be slightly unbalanced, which may create an annoying stereo impression.
The problem gets even more evident for depth/disparity/occlusion maps, which are usually estimated rather than measured, due to the cost of the measuring equipment. Thus, in addition to inconsistency, these 3D components often suffer from a poor or at least unacceptable quality. There is a wealth of depth/disparity estimation algorithms in the literature, but they still suffer from many problems such as noise, temporal or spatial inconsistency and incapability to estimate depth/disparity for uniform texture regions etc. Even the measured depth maps can be noisy or may fail on dark objects in the scene. This is the problem with infrared cameras for example, where the dark regions absorb most of the light.
It is clear that inconsistent and poor quality 3D components create many artifacts in rendered views of a 3D scene, leading to unacceptable quality in 3D experience. For example, using inconsistent depth maps in view synthesis creates ghost images, which are especially visible at object boundaries. This is called ghosting. On the other hand, depth map(s) may be temporally unstable, which leads to flickering in the synthesized view. These are only some of the examples which make the stereo impression annoying.
In WO2011/129735, a method for improving 3D representation was proposed. That was achieved by combining multiple available 3D components, captured at different views.
The available 3D components which are denoted s1, . . . , sN, N≧3, are captured at positions v1, . . . , vN in a common (or global) coordinate system, were projected to a virtual position vF in a given common coordinate system, resulting in p1, . . . , pN. This is depicted in FIG. 1 for N=4. The 3D components are exemplified as texture (image/video), depth (range) data, disparity map, occlusion data or any other form which can describe a 3D scene. Projection can be done, for example, with an image warping algorithm. Then the projections p1-pN are segmented. The segments can be single pixels, groups of pixels, regular square or rectangular blocks, irregular areas, foreground/background objects etc. The projected components can also be transformed to another space, before a distance function is applied to pairs of projected components. For each segment k, a distance matrix Dk=[Dk]ij was defined reflecting the similarity of the projected values of each segment at the virtual position vF. I.e. segment k captured at view i is compared with segment k captured at view j, which implies that segments from the captured views are compared and inserted in the distance matrix Dk. The calculated distances [Dk]ij may be compared to a set of given threshold values, Tk=[Tij]k, where k,i,j ε {1,2, . . . , N}. Based on the level of consistencies of the 3D components as well as which and how many 3D components are consistent, a unique 3D representation at the virtual position can be determined which will be used when representing the 3D scene. Instructions on how to calculate this unique representation, based on e.g. the consistency are described in WO2011/129735.

Method and processor for 3D scene representation