An urging device includes: an urging actuator (7); and an urging mechanism actuatable by the urging actuator in an urging direction for effecting a translational movement of a member (3), the urging mechanism being configured such that, upon actuation thereof, at least a first portion (11a) thereof moves in a first direction, and a second portion thereof moves in a second direction different from the first direction, and a second portion thereof moves in a second direction different from the first direction. Additionally, a dispensing kit (5) implements the above urging device. The dispensing kit comprise a dispensing cartridge (15) which includes a cartridge body. A cartridge actuator (21) is disposed at the head portion of the cartridge body. The kit further includes a dispensing device having a dispensing device body (5) for receiving the cartridge body therein and defining an opening at one end thereof such that, when the cartridge body (17) is within the dispensing device body, the opening of the dispensing body (57) is in registration with the opening of the cartridge body. A dispensing actuator is disposed at another end of the dispensing device body, and the above-described urging mechanism is disposed in the dispensing device body for being actuatable by the dispensing actuator to urge the cartridge actuator in the dispensing direction when the cartridge body is received within the dispensing device for effecting a dispensing of a content of the cartridge body therefrom.

The instant application claims priority to application number DE 19855764.7, filed in Germany on Dec. 3, 1998, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The instant invention relates to an urging device for transferring force in a linear fashion, the urging device including an urging mechanism having intermeshing parts for transferring this force. The invention further relates to dispensing kits have a reservoir body and incorporating the urging device for effecting a dispensing of a content of the reservoir body. The content may be solid in the form of tablets or capsules, or fluid, such as a liquid or paste, and is adapted to be pushed out of the reservoir body by a plunger subjected to translation controlled by the user and moving within the reservoir body.
Urging devices of the above type are known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,320, which discloses a linear actuator as a drum 4, a stiff flexible ribbon 1 wound on the drum, a device for rotating the drum at least to partially unwind the ribbon thereon, a guide funnel 5 for gradually forming the ribbon into a tubular configuration, and an attachment device 11 at a free end of the ribbon for connection to an object to be moved in a linear path. The actuator thus converts rotary motion to linear motion.
Additionally, German laid open patent application, DE 2162938 discloses a thrust and traction element of variable length made of two spoolable parts wound about two rotatable drums 3 and 4 respectively. Each spoolable part includes a number of protrusions and corresponding recesses for intermeshingly and formfittingly receiving the other spoolable part upon being wound by the drums 3 and 4, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. Each spoolable element further includes a toothed portion at one face thereof adapted to be driven by a correspondingly toothed rotatable gear member 15. The intermeshing of the two spoolable parts results in the formation of a rigid member or rod.
Urging devices of the prior art have as a disadvantage that they make inefficient use of space, requiring either a single bulky region for housing a portion of the urging device, as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,320, or requiring complex, multi-parts and cooperating mechanisms, as disclosed in DE 2162938.
Additionally, dispensers of the above type are used for holding and dispensing dosed amounts of fluids, or even for holding and dispensing tablets or capsules. In some instances, the volume to be dispensed or dosed is in the range of milliliters. Dropper bottles such as these may also be used for the purpose of dispensing oral or topical applications, where, if a fluid is involved, the fluid is dispensed drop-wise according to a predetermined prescription.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,330,721 discloses a step pipette having a dosing rack 5 and therein a dosing toothing 14, a strike S meshing with the dosing toothing, a filling rack 13 connected with the dosing rack by a gear 16, a striker spring 12 as well as a release member for releasing the tension of the striker spring after the last full-length stroke. The solution according to this patent ensures that the last liquid dose is dispensed from the pipette.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,954,000 discloses a dispenser of a compact product 3 contained in a cylindrical reservoir 1. The product is ejected via a plunger 4 that is displaceable in translation in the reservoir and is mounted at the end of a threaded rod 5 which cooperates with a nut 9. The rod is driven in rotation incrementally via a pushbutton 8. The support 7 of the mechanism and of the nut is movable with respect to the reservoir by means of a thread. The nut which cooperates with the rod 5 is slit along a diametrical plane, to allow the re-pressing of the rod when the half nuts are capable of spreading apart. The reservoir includes a frustoconical surface, which assures the pinching of the half-screws when the mechanism is put into place at the base of the full reservoir.
Dispensers of the prior art disadvantageously use urging mechanisms which extend along a length of the reservoir the content of which is to be dispensed, thus making inefficient use of space, especially where the dispenser is to be used as a lifestyle article apt to be carried in one""s pocket or handbag, such as, for example, a liquid drop dispenser for drops to be taken regularly during the day. Were the dispensers of the prior art to be used, they would be impractically long, complicating transport for the user. Additionally, in order to effect dosing of the content of the reservoir body, these dispensers typically involve complicated mechanisms. Moreover, the delivery mechanisms in dispensers of the prior art often result in the fluid content of the dispensers dripping, especially after delivery, thus causing unnecessary waste and possible soiling of the means carrying the dispenser.
It is an object of the invention to provide a simplified urging device for transferring force in a linear fashion which provides a space saving alternative to urging devices of the prior art. It is a further object of the invention to provide an dispensing kit using the urging device according to the invention, the kit being compact in its longitudinal direction with respect to dispensers of the prior art, thereby allowing easy transport and handling.
The above objects, and other objects to become apparent as the description progresses, are fulfilled by providing an urging device comprising: an urging actuator; and an urging mechanism disposed to be actuatable by the urging actuator in an urging direction for effecting a translational movement of a member to be moved in the urging direction, the urging mechanism being configured such that, upon actuation thereof by the urging actuator, at least a first portion thereof moves in a first direction, and a second portion thereof moves in a second direction that is different from the first direction.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the urging mechanism comprises a flexible portion forming the first portion and the second portion upon actuation of the urging mechanism, the urging device further including a transition mechanism coupled to the flexible portion for guiding a direction change of the flexible portion from the first direction to the second direction. The transition mechanism may comprise the urging actuator.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the flexible portion is a first flexible portion and the transition mechanism is a first transition mechanism, the urging mechanism further comprising a second flexible portion and a second transition mechanism coupled to the second flexible portion for guiding a direction change of the flexible portion from the first direction to the second direction, the first flexible portion and the second flexible portion being adapted to engage one another at an engaging zone after having been guided by the first transition mechanism and the second transition mechanism thereby forming a consolidated longitudinal member corresponding to the second portion of each of the first flexible portion and the second flexible portion, the consolidated longitudinal member being effective for effecting the translational movement of the member to be moved in the urging direction.
According to a further embodiment of the invention, the first flexible portion and second flexible portion are configured to engage one another at the engaging zone by friction.
According to yet another embodiment of the invention, each of the first flexible portion and second flexible portion has teeth disposed thereon which respectively engage one another at the engaging zone for forming a rigid member or rod corresponding to the consolidated longitudinal member.
Advantageously, the second direction may differ from the first direction by an angle of 180 degrees, and the urging device may further include a first biased member connected to the first transition mechanism and a second biased member connected to the second transition mechanism, the first biased member and the second biased member being respectively effective for biasing the first transition mechanism and the second transition mechanism in the first direction, such that, upon an actuation of the urging actuator, the first biasing member and the second biasing member are compressed for respectively allowing the first transition mechanism and the second transition mechanism to move in the second direction, and that, upon a release of the urging actuator, the first transition mechanism and the second transition mechanism move in the first direction thereby effecting an engagement of the first flexible portion and the second flexible portion with one another without actuation by the urging actuator.
According to one embodiment of the invention, the urging actuator comprises a rod biased in a direction opposite the urging direction, the teeth on each of the first flexible portion and the second flexible portion further comprising repeated sets of shaped teeth, each set including a plurality of grooved teeth and a solid tooth such that, upon, actuation of the urging actuator, the rod presses upon the solid tooth of a nearest flexible portion for intermeshing the teeth with one another in the urging direction, and further such that, upon release of the urging actuator, the rod is biased in a direction opposite the urging direction through the grooved teeth, the biasing members connected to the transition mechanisms thereafter being effective for causing a further intermeshing of the teeth for further engagement of a solid tooth by the rod.
According to one aspect of the invention, the urging device may further include a microprocessor coupled to the urging actuator for controlling an actuation thereof thereby effecting a controlled movement of the member to be moved in the urging direction.
The object of the invention, and other objects to become apparent as the description progresses, is further fulfilled by providing a dispensing kit comprising a dispensing cartridge which includes a cartridge body defining an opening at one end thereof and a head portion at another end thereof. A cartridge actuator is disposed at the head portion. The kit further includes a dispensing device having a dispensing device body for receiving the cartridge body therein and defining an opening at one end thereof such that, when the cartridge body is within the dispensing device body, the opening of the dispensing device body is in registration with the opening of the cartridge body. A dispensing actuator, such as, for example, a biased button, is disposed at another end of the dispensing device body, and an urging mechanism is disposed in the dispensing device body for being actuatable by the dispensing actuator to urge the cartridge actuator in a dispensing direction when the cartridge body is received within the dispensing device for effecting a dispensing of a content of the cartridge body therefrom, the urging mechanism being configured such that, upon actuation thereof by the dispensing actuator, at least a first portion thereof moves in a first direction and a second portion thereof moves in a second direction that is different from the first direction
The content of the cartridge body may either be made of a fluid or a solid, that is, a plurality of solid parts such as tablets or capsules, including gel capsules. The dispensing kit according to the invention is especially suited for the delivery of pharmaceuticals, foodstuff including herbs, herbal preparations, vitamins and minerals and cosmetics, thereby being advantageously useful as a lifestyle article which may be conveniently carried in one""s pocket or handbag, and conveniently handled. The volume to be filled in such cases is generally in the range of milliliters. The dispensing device and cartridge assembly according to the invention allows simplified handling by allowing a direct oral or topical administration. Advantageously, the content of the cartridge may be applied as a medium to be mixed after it is dispensed with dissolving or carrier media or with another substance for creating a further preparation.
According to one aspect of the invention, the urging mechanism is configured for a stepwise dispensing of the substance contained in the cartridge body therefrom for effecting a portion-wise dispensing of a content of the cartridge body. This feature of the invention allows a simplified monitoring of the amount to be dispensed.
According to another aspect of the invention, the urging mechanism comprises a plurality of flexible portions adapted to engage one another for urging the cartridge actuator in the dispensing direction.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, each of the flexible portions includes teeth thereon adapted to engage the teeth of other flexible portions for urging the cartridge actuator in the dispensing direction. The teeth of the flexible portions may engage one another successively above the cartridge actuator upon actuation by the dispensing actuator.
According to a further aspect of the invention, the flexible portions are configured to engage one another to form a rigid longitudinal member above the cartridge actuator These flexible portions may be disposed between the dispensing device body and the cartridge body when the cartridge is received therein. Additionally, each of the flexible portions may change a direction of movement thereof upon actuation by the dispensing actuator at a transition region above the cartridge body for defining the first portion and the second portion.
According to yet a further aspect of the invention, the first portion moves in a direction opposite the second portion upon actuation of the urging mechanism by the dispensing actuator.
According to one aspect of the invention, the dispensing kit may further include a microprocessor coupled to the dispensing actuator for controlling an actuation thereof thereby effecting a controlled movement of the urging mechanism.
The invention advantageously allows the transfer of force in a linear direction by providing a multi-part urging mechanism which, when its different urging parts come together, allows force transfer, and where these different parts move in different directions with respect to the urging direction, thus affording a space saving alternative to urging mechanisms of the prior art. Such a solution is especially desirable for use in dispensers, such as dosing dispensers, apt to be transported.
Additionally, the dispensing cartridge according to the invention may be interchangeable with similar such dispensing cartridges when desired, such as when the content of the cartridge body has been fully dispensed. Thus, the actuating portion of the dispensing kit can be reused with refills, thereby providing a cost efficient alternative to non-refillable dispensers of the prior art.
Moreover, while, in dispensers of the prior art, the release of drops must be optically tracked and controlled in a careful manner in order to dispense the amount according to the prescription, the dispensing kit according to one aspect of the present invention advantageously allows a more accurate dispensing of drops from the cartridge.

Flexible urging mechanism and dispensing kit incorporating same


Magnetic coils are provided around a plasma generation chamber. To the plasma generation chamber is supplied a microwave which is generated by a microwave generator. Electron cyclotron resonance is caused by the interaction between a magnetic field produced by the magnetic coils and the microwave generated by the microwave generator, so as to accelerate electrons in the plasma generation chamber. The electrons thus accelerated generates a plasma. A reaction chamber is provided underneath the plasma generation chamber. The plasma generated in the plasma generation chamber is introduced to the reaction chamber to be used for etching a material on a sample stage. A reflex klystron is used as the microwave generator. By changing the cavity length of the reflex klystron, the resonance frequency of the cavity resonator is varied, thus modulating the frequency of the microwave supplied to the plasma generation chamber by the microwave generator.

The present invention relates to a dry etching method which utilizes a plasma produced by electron cyclotron resonance and to a dry etching apparatus which is used in the method.
The attainment of higher density in a semiconductor integrated circuit is closely related to the line width of its transistors, wires, and the like. By reducing the line width of these components, it becomes possible to produce a semiconductor integrated circuit with a micropattern having the line width of 1 .mu.m or less. The realization of such a micropattern is largely attributed to the development of two types of techniques: photolithography and dry etching.
Plasma-assisted dry etching methods utilize the phenomenon that when a material to be etched is placed in a reactive plasma or a radical, each produced by applying a radio-frequency (RF) electric field to an appropriate gas, the material is subjected to etching. To form a micropattern, a photoresist pattern is typically used as a mask material.
As an embodiment of the dry etching methods mentioned above, an ECR dry etching apparatus which utilizes a plasma produced by electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) has recently been disclosed and manufactured on an industrial basis.
FIG. 6 is a view diagrammatically showing the ECR dry etching apparatus which utilizes electron cyclotron resonance generated by the interaction between a microwave and a magnetic field. In FIG. 6, 1 denotes a plasma generation chamber in which the pressure is regulated at an appropriate value (several mTorr). A reactive gas is supplied to the plasma generation chamber 1 through a supplying line 2 and exhausted therefrom through an exhaust line 3. To the plasma generation chamber 1 is connected a microwave generator 5 via a waveguide 4 with a rectangular section. The microwave energy generated by the microwave generator 5 is supplied to the reactive gas which has been introduced to the plasma generation chamber 1.
Around the plasma generation chamber 1 is provided magnetic coils 6, which generate a magnetic field in the plasma generation chamber. Electrons in the plasma generation chamber 1 are accelerated by electron cyclotron resonance which results from the interaction between the microwave generated by the microwave generator 5 and the magnetic field applied to the plasma generation chamber 1 by the magnetic coils 6. The accelerated electrons then produce a plasma.
Underneath the plasma generation chamber 1 is provided a reaction chamber 7 which is connected to the plasma generation chamber 1. The plasma generated in the plasma generation chamber 1 is introduced to the reaction chamber 7. In the lower part of the reaction chamber 7 is provided a sample stage 8 on which a semiconductor substrate 9 with a resist pattern is placed as a material to be etched.
The operation of the ECR dry etching apparatus of the above-mentioned structure will be described below.
When the microwave energy at the frequency of 2.45 GHz is supplied to the plasma generation chamber 1 by the microwave generator 5, the reactive gas in the plasma generation chamber 1 is ionized to produce electrons and ions. An magnetic field of 875 G is also supplied to the plasma generation chamber 1 by the magnetic coils 6 provided around the plasma generation chamber 1. The interaction between the microwave and the magnetic field causes electron cyclotron resonance in the plasma generation chamber 1, which allows the electrons therein to absorb the electromagnetic energy of the microwave and to be accelerated. The electrons thus accelerated exhibit a circular motion at high speeds in the plasma generation chamber 1.
The acceleration of the electrons is carried out most efficiently by electron cyclotron resonance when the strength of the magnetic field applied to the plasma generation chamber 1 by the magnetic coils 6 is 875 G and the frequency of the microwave is 2.45 GHz in the plasma generation chamber 1. The electrons in a high-speed circular motion collide with the reactive gas, which generates a plasma with a high density in the plasma generation chamber 1. By diffusion and by an electric field, the resulting plasma is transferred from the plasma generation chamber 1 to the reaction chamber 7 along the magnetic lines formed by the magnetic coils 6, so as to be used in the thin-film formation or the etching treatment on the surface of the semiconductor substrate 9 placed in the reaction chamber 7.
In the above-mentioned ECR dry etching apparatus utilizing electron cyclotron resonance, the plasma is produced by causing electron cyclotron resonance in the plasma generation chamber through the interaction between the microwave energy and the magnetic field, causing a high-speed circular motion of the electrons due to the electron cyclotron resonance in the plasma generation chamber, and then causing collisions of the electrons in a high-speed circular motion with the reactive gas.
The microwave energy is supplied to the electrons most efficiently when the frequency f of the microwave and the strength B of the applied magnetic field fulfill the following condition of electronic cyclotron resonance (hereinafter referred to as the ECR condition): EQU f=q.times.B/2.pi.m (1)
wherein q (=1.602.times.10.sup.-19 C) denotes the unit charge and m (=9.110.times.10.sup.-31 kg) denotes the mass of the electrons. The optimum value of the microwave frequency f is 2.45 GHz when the strength B of the magnetic field produced by the magnetic coils is 875 G.
However, it is practically difficult to obtain a uniform strength of magnetic field which is applied by the magnetic coils to the plasma generation chamber. The strength of the magnetic field is relatively strong in the central portion of the plasma generation chamber while it is relatively weak in the marginal portion thereof. Consequently, the plasma density is relatively high in the central portion of the plasma generation chamber because the electrons in the central portion absorb the microwave energy efficiently, while it is relatively low in the marginal portion of the plasma generation chamber because the electrons in the marginal portion cannot absorb the microwave energy efficiently.
As described above, the distribution of the plasma density in the plasma generation chamber is not uniform in the conventional ECR dry etching apparatus, so that the amount of reactive ions which reach the surface of the semiconductor substrate placed in the reaction chamber is not uniform, either, which makes it difficult to treat the surface of the semiconductor substrate uniformly.
To overcome the difficulty, Japanese Laid-open Patent Publication No. 63-251026 discloses a plasma treatment apparatus in which the waveform of an electric current supplied to the magnetic coils is varied with the passage of time to form a rotary magnetic field which rotates the plasma current in the plasma generation chamber, thereby intending to realize a uniform plasma density.
However, it is extremely difficult in the abovementioned plasma treatment apparatus to control the distribution of the magnetic field so that the whole plasma can efficiently absorb the electromagnetic energy of the microwave, because the magnetic field is formed in the plasma in the plasma generation chamber. Hence, the realization of the uniform plasma density in the above-mentioned plasma treatment apparatus has its own limitations.
Moreover, though the plasma density is relatively high in the central portion of the plasma generation chamber because of the stronger magnetic field there, it is relatively low in the marginal portion of the plasma generation chamber because of the weaker magnetic field there, so that the overall plasma density throughout the plasma generation chamber is not increased.

Dry etching method and dry etching apparatus

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A spark-ignition direct injection engine is provided. The engine includes an engine body, a fuel injection valve, a fuel pressure setting mechanism, an ignition plug, and a controller. Within a low engine speed operating range of a predetermined high engine load range, the fuel pressure setting mechanism sets a fuel pressure to 30 MPa or above, the fuel injection valve injects fuel between late stage of compression stroke and early stage of expansion stroke, and the ignition plug performs spark-ignition after the fuel injection completes. Within a high engine speed operating range of the high engine load range, the fuel injection valve injects fuel between intake stroke to mid-stage of compression stroke, and the ignition plug performs the spark-ignition. The ignition timing is changed according to an octane number, the changing width of the ignition timing is shorter within the low engine speed range than the high engine speed range.

The present invention relates to a spark-ignition direct injection engine.
In view of improving the theoretical thermal efficiency in spark-ignition gasoline engines, it is effective to improve the geometric compression ratio thereof. For example, JP2007-292050A discloses a spark-ignition direct injection engine with a high compression ratio where its geometric compression ratio is set to 14:1 or above.
JP2009-091994A discloses an art of avoiding knock in a spark-ignition direct injection engine where compression-ignition combustion and spark-ignition combustion are switched therebetween according to an operating state of the engine, by implementing EGR and enriching an air-fuel ratio when transiting from the compression-ignition combustion to the spark-ignition combustion.
Meanwhile, such a spark-ignition gasoline engine with a high compression ratio disclosed in JP2007-292050A is advantageous in improving the thermal efficiency; however, it has a problem of easily causing knock (end gas knock) when the operating state of the engine is within a middle or high engine load range. As disclosed in JP2007-292050A, it is generally known to retard an ignition timing as a countermeasure against knock; however, the retarded ignition timing will cause a reduction of the torque.
Further, in vehicles which are set to use fuel with a high octane number (e.g., high-octane gasoline or premium gasoline) (i.e., a vehicle specified for high octane fuel), since the fuel has a high anti-knock quality, the ignition timing is set to advance so as to increase the torque. However, if fuel with a low octane number (e.g., regular gasoline) is supplied to the high octane vehicle, knock will occur more easily, and therefore, a knock control of retarding the ignition timing to avoid knock will intervene, but when the knock control intervenes, the torque decreases.


Surging is reliably prevented from occurring even when an engine with a turbocharger is operated with reduced number of cylinders and at a low speed range.

Generally, an engine for an automobile or the like is designed such that fuel consumption rate is best in an operation with load percentage of about 70-80% and at revolution speed of about 40-60% to maximum. It turns out therefore that, in a normal running, the engine is operated at an inferior fuel consumption rate with load lower than design value.
Conventionally proposed countermeasure thereto is an operation with reduced number of cylinders where the number of cylinders ignited in an engine is reduced depending upon output required; the engine is driven only with the reduced number of cylinders and with enhanced load condition so as to improve the fuel consumption rate and the like.
As a countermeasure to a nowadays problem that exhaust purifying catalyst incorporated in an exhaust pipe hardly attains its active temperature during low load running, an operation with reduced number of cylinders during the low load condition has been proposed so as to keep the exhaust temperature at higher level.
This kind of operation with reduced number of cylinders has been disclosed, for example, in the following References 1 and 2.                [Reference 1] JP 2004-137932A        [Reference 2] JP 2004-360577A

Method for controlling actuation of valves in engine with turbocharger

Abstract: Concerned is a method for controlling actuation of valves in an engine with a turbocharger, a variable valve mechanism 18 being arranged for controlling opening/closing timing and lifts of suction and exhaust valves (only exhaust valves 17 being shown in the figure) of each of cylinders 8, an operation with reduced number of cylinders being made possible by the variable valve mechanism 18 such that valve-opening action of suction and exhaust valves in part of the cylinders 8 is disabled to conduct the operation with the remaining cylinders 8. The exhaust valves 17 are opened substantially when a suction pressure is higher than an exhaust pressure in a suction stroke during the operation with the reduced number of cylinders at a low speed range, so that blown out amount of fresh air (suction air 4) to the exhaust side is increased to increase apparent exhaust flow rate and raise the level of the suction characteristic of the engine.


A device for detecting mis-fed or missing sheets in a printing press having a storage drum includes a plurality of holding suction devices disposed on the storage drum and connected fluidically with one another via a first connecting line, a plurality of detecting suction devices disposed on the storage drum and connected fluidically with one another via a second connecting line, the holding suction devices and the detecting suction devices being formed with respective suction openings coverable at least partly by a sheet properly fed thereto, and a pressure monitoring device fluidically connected to the second connecting line for controlling the operation of the printing press in accordance with pressure prevailing in the second connecting line, the holding suction devices and the detecting suction devices being formed primarily of suction devices of the same type, the second connecting line having a cross section smaller than that of the first connecting line, and being connected fluidically with the first connecting line, and the first connecting line being connected fluidically with a negative pressure source.

Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for detecting mis-fed or missing sheets in a turning device of a printing press.
Devices for detecting mis-fed or missing sheets in turning devices of printing presses have become known heretofore and serve to detect defects in sheet position which occur when a sheet is turned, and any other disruptions in sheet travel, respectively, and to interrupt the printing process if a mis-fed or missing sheet, such as a short sheet, appears, in order thereby to avert damage to the printing press or parts thereof. Short sheets are produced, for example, due to tolerances in length of the sheets being processed, which for uncut papers can be in the range of several millimeters and, as a result of these tolerances, during the turning operation, the sheets are not correctly gripped by the grippers which grip the trailing edge of the sheet and are therefore lost.
Because of the high printing speed at which sheet-fed rotary offset printing presses are currently run, even in recto/verso or first-form and perfector printing, it is of major importance that the timespan within which a mis-fed or missing sheet is detected and the printing press is shutoff be very short, so that damage to the printing press can be reliably precluded even at the highest printing speeds.
From the published German Patent Document DE-AS 26 21 250, a sheet detecting device of this general type has become known wherein, on the storage drum of a turning device of a sheet-fed rotary offset printing press, a first row of suction grippers is provided in the vicinity of the trailing edge of the sheet for catching and holding the trailing edge of the sheet by suction as the sheet is being turned. The suction grippers are connected to a first negative pressure generator via a first connecting line.
As viewed in the rotary direction of the storage drum, upstream of the row of suction grippers, there is arranged a further row of detecting nozzles connected to a second negative pressure generator via a second connecting line and a pressure switch fluidically connected to the connecting line. Because a separate negative pressure generator is provided, the detecting nozzles can operate at a low constant pressure. The detecting nozzles are covered by the trailing edge of the sheet, when a sheet of normal length is being transported properly; consequently, the negative pressure in the second connecting line is maintained, and the pressure switch is not actuated. In the case of a mis-fed or a missing or short sheet, caused by some problem in the sheet travel, the openings of the detecting nozzles are covered only partially, if at all, by the trailing edge of the sheet; consequently, a change in pressure occurs in the second connecting line and is detected by the pressure switch which causes the immediate discontinuation of the printing process or shutoff of the printing press. A disadvantage of the hereinaforedescribed device is that two separate negative pressure sources with different pressures are required in order to permit safe and reliable operation of the device.

Device for detecting mis-fed or missing sheets in a turning device of a printing press


A spectrum analyzer includes a synchronizing signal input terminal (27A) and a sweep control signal generator (32) inserted between the synchronizing signal input terminal (27A) and a ramp address generator (23). In the case of making a frequency analysis of an input signal Sx which is a burst wave, a synchronizing signal SY, synchronized with the burst wave, is applied to the synchronizing signal input terminal (27A) from the outside and a sweep control signal SC which rises an arbitrary period of time after the synchronizing signal SY and has an arbitrary width is generated by the sweep control signal generator (32). The sweep control signal SC is applied to the ramp address generator (32), which sweeps, in each burst, a ramp voltage VR for controlling a local oscillator (16) and an address AD for effecting a write into a signal loading memory (19), and in the other periods the sweep is stopped.

As is well-known in the art, a spectrum analyzer continuously sweeps the local signal frequency which is mixed in the measuring frequency band of an input signal to sequentially convert respective frequency components in the measuring frequency band into intermediate-frequency signals of certain frequencies (difference frequencies) and displays their levels on a display screen with the abscissa representing frequency. Moreover, such a spectrum analyzer is usually designed to permit the observation of the waveform of a desired frequency component of the input signal in the time domain, and in such a waveform observation, the local signal frequency is fixed at a value so that the frequency component desired to observe may be detected as an intermediate-frequency signal, and the amplitude envelope of the intermediate-frequency signal thus obtained is displayed on the display screen with the abscissa representing the time axis.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing the basic construction of such a conventional spectrum analyzer. In the case where this device is used in a frequency analysis mode (a frequency sweep mode), a select switch 17 selects an output ramp voltage VR of a ramp address generator 23 and provides it to a local oscillator 16, and a select switch 29 selects, for example, the output of a trigger signal generator 26 to supply the ramp address generator 23 with a trigger signal Tr generated by the trigger signal generator 26 on the basis of a demodulated signal of a signal to be measured Sx applied to an input terminal 11. A sweep control signal SC is provided to an input terminal 27. The signal Sx applied to the input terminal 11 is frequency mixed by a mixer 12 with a local signal SL from the local oscillator 16, and the difference frequency component is extracted by an intermediate-frequency filter (which is a band-pass filter and will hereinafter be referred to as an IF filter) 13.
In the frequency analysis mode, the oscillation frequency of the local oscillator 16 is swept over a certain range by the ramp voltage VR from the ramp voltage generator 23, and consequently, respective frequency components in the measuring frequency band of the input signal are sequentially obtained as intermediate-frequency signals at the output of the IF filter 13. The output of the IF filter 13 is logarithmically amplified by a logarithmic amplifier 14 and the amplitude of its output is envelope detected by a detector 15. The detected output level is converted by an A/D converter 18 into a digital value upon each application of a high-speed clock CK and is stored in a memory 19 by an address AD which is generated by the ramp address generator 23 upon each application of the clock CK. The signal data thus stored in the memory 19 is transferred therefrom to a memory for image display use 20 by a read/write address for transfer use TAD supplied from a controller 31. Upon completion of the transfer, an image signal generator 21 repeatedly reads out the signal data from a series of addresses in a data storage area of the memory 20 for each horizontal scanning line corresponding to each height (corresponding to the signal level) on the display screen. When the value (the level value) of signal data is present which agrees with the level corresponding to respective horizontal scanning line number, the image signal generator generates an image signal which goes high at that position (corresponding to the time position) on the horizontal scanning line corresponding to the address value of the signal data but remains low at other positions. The image signal is applied to a raster scanning display 22 for display thereon. The abscissa of the display screen represents frequency and the ordinate represents level.
To perform the above-described operation, the ramp address generator 23 is initialized by a reset signal RST from the controller 31, and while the sweep control signal SC applied to the input terminal 27 is at the H-logic level, it counts the high-speed clock pulses CK from predetermined minimum to maximum value which are provided as data DATA from the controller 31 and sequentially outputs the count values as addresses AD and, at the same time, it converts each count value into an analog value for output as the ramp voltage VR. When the maximum value of the address AD is reached, the ramp address generator yields and applies an interrupt signal INT to the controller 31. When supplied with the interrupt signal INT, the controller 31 supplies the read/write address for data transfer used TAD to the memory 19, from which the signal data is transferred to the memory 20. Upon completion of the data transfer, the controller generates a trigger enable signal TE, putting the ramp address generator 23 in the state in which it is ready for counting again the clock pulses CK from the minimum value.
In the case of observing the waveform of a desired frequency component of the input signal in the time domain (This mode of observation will hereinafter be referred to as a zero-span mode.), a variable voltage source 24 is selected by the select switch 17 and a desired fixed voltage is supplied to the local oscillator 16, from which the local signal SL of a fixed frequency is applied to the mixer 12. Hence, in this instance, the output of the detector 15 becomes an envelope waveform of the amplitude of the specified frequency component in the input signal which corresponds to the lapse of time. On the other hand, the select switch 29 is connected to, for example, the output of the trigger signal generator 26. For example, when the signal to be measured Sx is a burst wave, the output level of the detector 15 is compared by a comparator 25 with a predetermined level to detect the rise of each burst and the detected output is applied to the trigger signal generator 26 to generate therefrom the trigger pulse signal Tr of a fixed width. Thus the trigger signal Tr which is synchronized with each burst can be obtained.
Upon each application of the trigger signal Tr, the ramp address generator 23 counts the clock pulses CK from predetermined minimum to maximum value and provides each count value, as the address AD, to the memory 19. In consequence, the detected outputs of the detector 15 are sequentially converted into digital values as in the above and they are stored in those areas of the memory 19 specified by a sequence of addresses AD from the ramp address generator 23, after which the signal data thus stored is transferred to the memory 20. The signal data read out of the memory 20 is converted by the image signal generator 21 into image signals, which are displayed on the display screen of the display 22. The abscissa of the display screen represents time and the ordinate represents level.
In the above it is described that the fixed voltage which is applied to the local oscillator 16 in the zero-span mode is obtained from the variable voltage source 24 via the select switch 17, but in the actual spectrum analyzer such a variable voltage source 24 is not provided but instead provision is made merely for stopping the sweep of the ramp voltage VR at a desired voltage value and for applying the fixed voltage to the local oscillator 16. To facilitate a better understanding of operations in the frequency analysis mode and the zero-span mode, however, the above description has been given on the assumption that the select switch 17 and the variable voltage source 24 are used.
The spectrum analyzer has sweep control terminals 27 and 28, in addition to the input terminal 11 for the input of the signal Sx as described above. While the sweep control signal SC (shown in FIG. 2, Row B, for instance) which is applied to the sweep control terminal 27 is at the H-logic level, the ramp address generator 23 linearly increases its output voltage VR toward a predetermined maximum value at a fixed gradient as shown in FIG. 2, Row C, and hence in this while the oscillation frequency of the local oscillator 16 linearly increases. When the sweep control signal SC goes down to the L-logic level, the ramp address generator 23 stops the sweep of its output voltage VR, and consequently, the frequency sweep of the local oscillator 16 is stopped. Thus, the use of the sweep control terminal 27 permits control of the local oscillator 16 from the outside to continue or stop its frequency sweep operation. On the other hand, upon each application of an external trigger pulse EXTr to the sweep control terminal 28, the ramp address generator 23 once sweep the output voltage VR from the minimum to the maximum value.
The sweep control terminal 27 is used in the case of analyzing frequency components contained in a carrier CY of a burst wave such as depicted in FIG. 2, Row A. That is, in the case where the burst wave, which is the signal to be measured Sx, is input into the spectrum analyzer and its frequency components are analyzed over one continuous range of time containing a plurality of bursts, frequency spectra SP.sub.PU of pulses of a burst modulation wave as well as a frequency spectrum SP.sub.CY of the carrier CY are displayed as shown in FIG. 3. This gives rise to a disadvantage that the presence or absence of harmonics of the carrier CY cannot be observed.
To avoid this, it is customary in the prior art to generate, outside the spectrum analyzer, the sweep control signal SC synchronized with the burst wave as shown in FIG. 2, Row B and input the sweep control signal SC to the sweep control terminal 27 of the spectrum analyzer, effecting control to sweep the oscillation frequency of the local oscillator 16 during the existence of the carrier CY of the burst wave and stop the frequency sweep when the carrier CY does not exist. By this control, only the frequency spectrum SP.sub.CY of the carrier CY is displayed on the display 22 of the spectrum analyzer as depicted in FIG. 4. Incidentally, this control state is referred to as gated sweep.
Thus the prior art has the disadvantage of involving the use of a circuit for generating the sweep control signal SC synchronized with the burst wave, because the sweep control signal must be produced outside the spectrum analyzer. Further, since signals to be measured range from low-frequency to ultrahigh-frequency signals of the gigahertz band, it is difficult to obtain the sweep control signal SC by direct waveform shaping of the burst wave.
In the mode in which to display the time-domain waveform of the input signal (i.e. in the zero-span mode), since the ramp address generator 23 generates a sequence of addresses AD (and consequently the ramp voltage VR shown in FIG. 5, Row C) upon each application of the trigger signal Tr (or EXTr), the loading of data into the memory 19 starts in synchronization with the external trigger signal EXTr which is applied to the sweep control terminal 27 or the trigger signal Tr which is provided from the trigger signal generator 26 as referred to above. Hence, if the signal to be measured Sx is a burst wave as shown in FIG. 5, Row A, the trigger signal Tr is not always generated in the duration of the burst as depicted in FIG. 5, Row B and, according to the temporal relation between the trigger signal Tr and the burst wave CY, a no-signal period Ts may sometimes exist from the timing of the trigger signal Tr to the period in which the carrier CY of the burst wave is present. When the generation of the ramp voltage VR (and consequently the address AD) is initiated in response to each trigger signal Tr as shown in FIG. 5, Row C, the A-D converted output obtained in the no-signal period Ts is also loaded in the memory 19 and then transferred therefrom to the memory 10, resulting in a disadvantage that the carrier CY desired to observe primarily cannot be displayed all over the display screen.
A first object of the present invention is to provide a spectrum analyzer which is equipped with a function of generating the sweep control signal and adapted to execute the gate sweep mode when supplied, from the outside, with a burst-like signal to be measured and a synchronizing signal synchronized therewith.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a spectrum analyzer which is capable of displaying, in the zero-span mode (i.e. in the time-domain waveform display mode), the waveform of the signal to be measured on a display, starting at a desired timing of the signal.


Systems and methods are provided for depth map estimation using three-dimensional epipolar data structures. The image manipulation application receives image data depicting an image space from a multiple perspectives. The image manipulation application generates at least one three-dimensional epipolar data structure from the image data. The at least one three-dimensional epipolar data structure includes data describing the difference in position of at least one object between the perspectives. The at least one three-dimensional epipolar data structure corresponds to at least one region of the image space. The image manipulation application generates a depth map based on the at least one three-dimensional epipolar data structure.

Image manipulation programs are used to modify or otherwise use image content captured using a camera. For example, an image manipulation program can generate a depth map that includes information that describes distances of the surfaces of different objects in image content from a given viewpoint. A depth map can be used to generate three-dimensional image content from two or more images captured from one or more viewpoints and depicting at least some of the same objects.
For example, FIG. 1 is a modeling diagram depicting an image manipulation algorithm 20 generating a depth map 22 from input images 10a, 10b. The images 10a, 10b can include image content obtained by a camera imaging an image space from two perspectives. The difference in perspectives between images 10a, 10b causes a horizontal distance 16a between objects 12, 14 in image 10a to change to a horizontal distance 16b between objects 12, 14 in image 10b. The difference in perspectives between images 10a, 10b also causes a vertical distance 18a between objects 12, 14 in image 10a to change to a vertical distance 18b between objects 12, 14 in image 10b. The image manipulation application 20 can generate a depth map 22 using the difference between horizontal distances 16a, 16b and the difference between vertical distances 18a, 18b. The depth map 22 can describe a distance between the objects 12, 14 and a camera used to capture images 10a, 10b. The depth map 22 can be used to, for example, generate three-dimensional content using images 10a, 10b.
One existing solution for generating a depth map involves using a stereo algorithm to perform depth estimation. Stereo algorithms take two images and estimate the apparent displacement (or "disparity") of each pixel only along an x axis rather than on both an x axis and a y axis. Among other deficiencies, stereo-algorithms require epipolar geometric correction to generate depth-maps. Epipolar geometric correction involves two or more images being captured such that the two or more images are aligned in one dimension (i.e., a y axis) such that displacement occurs only in another dimension (i.e., the x axis). Manufacturing limitations of consumer light-field cameras limit the feasibility of making such calibrations.
Another existing solution for generating a depth map involves using an optical flow algorithm to perform depth estimation. An optical flow algorithm receives two images as inputs. The optical flow algorithm estimates the displacement between the two images of each pixel on both an x axis and a y axis. Among other deficiencies, the expanded search space used by optical flow algorithms (i.e., both the x and y) result in poor quality of depth estimation.
Accordingly, systems and methods are desirable for improving the accuracy of depth estimation.

Depth estimation using three-dimensional epipolar data structures


An eyeglass lens processing apparatus for processing an eyeglass lens includes: a lens chuck that holds the lens; a regular-grooving tool; a first moving unit that moves the lens held by the lens chuck; a grooving data input unit that inputs grooving data including a width and depth of the groove to be formed in the lens; a controller that controls the first moving unit to perform regular-grooving on the basis of the grooving data; a fine-grooving tool; a second moving unit that moves the lens held by the lens chuck; and a selector that selects whether fine-grooving is to be performed. When performance of fine-grooving is selected, the controller performs the regular-grooving on the lens so that a bottom and side surfaces of the groove have a fine-grooving margin, and controls the second moving unit to perform the fine-grooving on the basis of the grooving data.

The present invention relates to an eyeglass lens processing apparatus for processing an eyeglass lens.
When an eyeglass lens is fixed to an eyeglass frame by wires made of nylon or the like, grooving is performed to form a groove, into which the wire is fitted, on a peripheral surface (an edge surface) of the lens on which roughing and flat-finishing are performed. For this purpose, an eyeglass lens processing apparatus including a grooving unit has been proposed in recent years.
However, according to the grooving in the related art, processing speed has been prior to other conditions and the appearance (quality in shape) of the groove to be formed has not been regarded as an important factor. Accordingly, a grooving grindstone having a granularity of about #400 has been used as a grooving tool. However, in this case, even though polishing (mirror-finishing) is performed on the peripheral surface of the lens, the groove to be formed becomes whitish, so that the appearance is poor. Further, variation in use of grooves, that is, the use not for the purpose of fitting of the wires but decoration of the eyeglass has been regarded.


A point of sale battery distribution system includes a cabinet in which batteries may be stored, a user interface for facilitating selection and purchase of batteries, and doors which may be secured and freed to be opened based upon purchase transactions. Batteries stored in the cabinet may be charged by a charging system until purchase. The charging system may provide one or more charging voltages and regimes, and output of the charging system may be disabled by a control system when a door is open or freed to be open. An inventory management system may detect batteries stored in the cabinet and convey inventory information to remote systems for replenishment of the cabinet based upon purchases.

The present invention relates generally to the field of vehicle battery distribution, and more particularly to techniques for allowing consumer-driven transactions and access to batteries through automated, self-contained vending systems.
Vehicle batteries are typically installed into vehicles as original equipment, and are replaced from time to time as the original batteries become aged. Conventional techniques for identifying, selecting, and obtaining replacement batteries have focused on visits to retail establishments where clerks or mechanics can identify the battery to be replaced, counsel the consumer regarding a replacement, sell the replacement, and install it in the vehicle. Increasingly, vehicle owners would like the option to replace the batteries themselves, and may turn to various retail establishments where they can either purchase a replacement battery based on known information, or bring their old battery in for comparison and identification of an appropriate replacement. The vehicle owner then may perform the replacement themselves and return the old battery for disposal. Such approaches are beginning to appear, but still in conventional retail settings (e.g., where batteries may be found on store shelves or requested from clerks).
While such systems generally function adequately, they are not with drawbacks. For example, retail establishments in which mechanics and clerks are relied upon for battery replacement may lead to delays, particularly where the vehicle owner must wait for the qualified personnel to become available and service their vehicle. Moreover, the vehicle owner must generally visit such establishments during regular business hours, which may be quite inconvenient for many people. Where more automated systems are provided, or where consumers may help themselves to store stocks, time constraints nevertheless are imposed at least to the extent that the vehicle owners must visit these establishments during the hours in which they are open.
While certain automated systems have been developed for a range of consumer goods, these are not easily adapted to the offer, sale, and delivery of vehicle batteries. For example, while batteries may be offered without a fresh charge, most consumers would prefer to buy batteries that are "topped off" and ready for service. To the extent that retail establishments do not perform this type of operation for battery stocks, systems that would allow for the sale of freshly charged batteries would represent a significant improvement. Moreover, a technique that would free the vehicle owner of particular time and location constraints would also be significantly advantageous.

Vehicle battery point of sale system and method


A method for writing a servopattern comprises writing a first burst at a first radial position, writing a second burst at a second radial position, wherein an edge of the first burst and an edge of the second burst have a substantially similar common radial position, and defining a portion of the edge of the first burst on a different revolution than defining a portion of the edge of the second burst.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to information storage devices, and more particularly to an improved servopattern for implementation in a storage device wherein errors introduced into the servopattern are reduced.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Increased levels of storage capacity in storage devices such as removable disk-drives, hard disk drives, and tape drives are a direct result of higher track densities possible with voice-coil and other types of servo positioners as well as the ability to read and write narrower tracks by using, for example, magnetoresistive (MR) head technology. Head positioning is accurately controlled using positional information stored on the disk itself known as embedded servo architectures.
Conventional servopatterns in an "embedded servo" disk drive architecture as shown in FIG. 1a comprise short servo bursts of constant frequency signal that precede data regions of the track and are used to align a head with respect to the track center. Although FIG. 1a shows 8 servo bursts, disk drives can have 200 or more servo bursts on a track, or one roughly every 2 degrees.
A typical servopattern used in DASD products, commonly referred to as half track servo patterns, deploys a servo pattern track pitch equal to one half of the product track pitch. The servo bursts are precisely offset to either side of a data track's center line (112 and 114) as shown in FIG. 1a. The track pitch comprises the write element width, which determines the width of the data track, plus the desired radial distance or separation between adjacent data tracks. The standard method of servowriting these patterns comprises two half tracks servo burst writes performed on separate revolutions which are joined together with a seam. As the width of the product write head is wider than the servo track pitch, each write results in a half track write, which is greater than the servo track pitch. As a result, the second half of the servo burst overhangs the track boundary. In a subsequent step the servoburst is trimmed such that the servoburst width is equal to twice the servo track pitch. This trimming step in which the write head trims the A burst, and writes the first half of the B and the second half of the D burst, occurs in the same revolution.
A commonly used servopattern, known as quad burst is shown in FIG. 1A. The servowrite process to write the quad burst pattern is described with respect to FIGS. 1B and 1C. As shown in FIG. 1B, with the recording write head on servo track 1 an A burst 101 and C burst 102 are written. The burst radial length is determined by the width of the write head and is typically wider than a servo track, which in the case described is half of the data track pitch.
The write head is then stepped forward one servo track. On servo track 2, servo bursts A 103 and D 204 are written. Servo burst A 103 is a second burst in slot A and overlaps a first burst in slot A 101 on servo track 1.
The write head is stepped forward to servo track 3. As shown in FIG. 1C, the write head trims the second burst in slot A 103 such that the A bursts, 101 and 103, are equal to two servotracks or one datatrack. Immediately after the trim operation, burst 105 is written in slot B and a second burst 106 is written in slot D, overlapping a first burst 104. The step of trimming burst 103 and writing burst 105 results in a correlation of an edge of burst 103 and an edge of burst 105 along a boundary formed between servo track 2 and servo track 3. As the location of the data track is determined by the edges of the A and B burst slots for that sector, any error in the position of the write head due to mechanical motion during the writing of that sector are written into the servopattern and become a permanent error that is commonly referred to as repeatable runout term. That is, because the A burst and B burst edges are defined during the same revolution, then non-repeatable mechanical motion of the head during the servowrite, or non-repeatable runout (NRRO), is written directly into the servo pattern track and becomes repeatable runout (RRO).
In disk drive servowriting, the NRRO and therefore written in RRO, is typically uncorrelated between adjacent tracks. The result is an error between adjacent track centers, referred to as AC squeeze, which is the square root of two (2) multiplied by the RRO. AC squeeze is a significant contributor to a track mis-registration budget that ultimately determines the drive track density and is an important limitation in determining the drive track density.
Seamless servo patterns in which servo bursts are comprised of a single write reduce RRO. However, the radial length of the servo burst for a seamless pattern is determined by the write element which varies significantly from the data track width. This variation in servo burst radial length results in large non-linearities of the position signal derived from the servo pattern by taking the normalized amplitudes of the A and B bursts and determining the difference A−B. As each recording medium has a recording transducer with a write element, the servo burst radial length and non-linearity will vary between recording surfaces.
Therefore, a need exists for a method of improving servopattern errors due to non-repeatable runout.

Radial self-propagation pattern generation for disk file servowriting

Hitachi Global Technologies Netherlands, B.V.


An automobile communication system which can ensure fast hand-over without putting unnecessary burden on mobile stations and can adequately handle changes in road condition is disclosed. For each of the radio zones formed by roadside transceivers arranged along a road, a plurality of transmission and reception frequencies ft1/fr1 and ft2/fr2 are provided. The in-use transmission/reception frequencies in adjoining radio zones are switched at predetermined timing such that they are not permitted to be overlapped. By switching a time slot allocated to the vehicle-mounted transceiver, the vehicle-mounted transceiver can continuously communicate with the roadside transceivers at the same communication frequency over the radio zones.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile communications system, and, more particularly, to a communication system and method for mobile units moving on a road.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, studies have been made on various ITSs (Intelligent Transport Systems) to aim at improving the traffic safety and efficiency, traffic environment, etc. To realize such an ITS, it is essential to implement information transmission means, which is the functional core of the system. i.e., an automobile communications system which connects between vehicle-mounted mobile communication devices and roadside transceivers by radio.
Such an automobile communications system may be realized based on the existing mobile telephone system. One example of this automobile communications system is provided with roadside transceivers deployed along a road to segment the road into consecutive radio zones. Such a configuration allows continuous communication with an on-board transceiver of a vehicle running on the road while performing so-called hand-over. Each roadside transceiver is connected to a central station, which gathers information from vehicles and up-links it to a host station or gives information and instructions necessary for road travel to the vehicles. The hand-over command is usually sent from the central station.
A transmission center frequency ft1 and a reception center frequency fr1 are assigned to odd zones in the consecutive radio zones, and a transmission center frequency ft2 and a reception center frequency fr2 are assigned to even zones. The switching of the frequencies is performed to prevent interference between adjoining radio zones. For areas which geographically suffers intense radio wave interference, such as those where radio waves can reach very far, it is necessary to repeatedly assign three or more radio waves.
According to such an automobile communications system, when a vehicle moves from an odd radio zone 1 into an adjoining even radio zone 2, for example, the on-board transceiver should perform so-called hand-over by switching the opposite party from the roadside transceiver of the radio zone 1 to that of the radio zone 2. At this time, the transmission center frequency of the roadside transceiver changes from ft1 to ft2, so that the reception center frequency of the on-board transceiver also changes from ft1 to ft2. This requires that the oscillation frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator of the on-board transceiver should be switched to the center frequency necessary for synchronous detection and demodulation. At the same time, since the reception center frequency of the roadside transceiver changes from fr1 to fr2, the transmission center frequency of the on-board transceiver must also be switched from fr1 to fr2. When the vehicle enters an odd radio zone 3 from the even radio zone 2, likewise, the oscillation frequency of the voltage controlled oscillator of the on-board transceiver should be switched from fr2 to ft1 and the transmission center frequency should be switched from fr2 to fr1.
As apparent from the above, the conventional automobile communications system necessitates switching of the oscillation frequencies of the voltage controlled oscillator of an on-board transceiver and a transmission local oscillator for every hand-over operation of changing the radio zones. In particular, accomplishing fast hand-over requires fast frequency switching, which increases the technical burden on an on-board transceiver. This results in an increased cost for the automobile communication system.

Automobile communications method and system


A mass spectrometry system and a working method and an application thereof, and a sampling device. The mass spectrometry system includes an ion source, a sampling device and a mass spectrometer. The sampling device includes: a guide rail; a support adapted to move on the guide rail; a bearing member made from a hydrophobic material with two ends being fixed to the support; a plurality of containers for containing samples arranged on the support; a plurality of transport members made from a hydrophilic material and including a first portion provided on the bearing member and a second portion connected to the first portion and extending into each container; adjacent transport members being not in contact; and a drive module configured to drive the support to move on the guide rail such that a central axis of an exit port of the ion source passes through the first portion.

An open-type ion source for mass spectrometer is a new ion source which is used in an open atmospheric environment. Such ion source enables in-situ, real-time and fast ionization of samples within a very short time without complicated sample pretreatment. In addition, this ion source also has the advantages of small size and portability, low cost and wide range of application, etc. Therefore, it can be widely used in various fields such as food detection, pharmaceutical analysis, environment monitoring, public safety and clinical diagnosis.
Currently, when liquid samples are analyzed by a mass spectrometer with an open-type ion source (DBDI, LTP, etc.), the samples are generally introduced with a capillary tube or a glass rod. In this way, however, there is a relatively high background noise, and it is difficult to analyze bio-macromolecular samples such as polypeptides, proteins, since a large number of high-energy particles are present in the ejected plasma. Paper-based sampling can eliminate some high-energy particles in plasma to weaken ionization energy, reducing the background noise and thus improving the analytical sensitivity.
However, this method has many disadvantages.
1. Manual sampling only introduces human factors, and automatic and high-throughput analysis of samples is not available.
2. During the test, the paper-based hydrophilic region (a dropping region) remains wet, which is good for the ionization of samples, allowing for higher analytical sensitivity. However, liquid sample drops added in the paper-based hydrophilic region is usually 3-10 μL which is too volatile to keep each hydrophilic region wet during array analysis. That is, it is difficult to ensure the analytical sensitivity and reproducibility and to perform a high-throughput analysis.

Mass spectrometry system and working method and application thereof, and sampling device used therein


Techniques and sensor networks based on distributed wavelet transform algorithms for efficient sensor networks. Wireless multihop sensor networks can implement the described techniques to exploit the data flow direction in the network to perform partial computations to approximate the wavelet coefficients using the available data that arrives at each sensor. Non-multihop sensor networks may use inter-sensor communications and the distributed wavelet transform algorithms to decorrelate the data and thus improve the energy efficiency.

This application relates to data communications in sensor networks and digital signal processing using a discrete wavelet transform.
A sensor network may include a set of sensors or sensing nodes that are capable of sensing, communicating, and processing. An early example of sensor networks is a network of acoustic sensors deployed at the ocean bottom to detect and keep track of submarines. In other examples, sensors may be used to perform various measurements (e.g., temperature or a presence of a target substance) or capture images for various applications. Disposable sensors with processing capabilities may be deployed in a number of environments to perform tasks such as target tracking (e.g. vehicles, chemical agents, or personnel), traffic control, environment monitoring and surveillance. Such sensors may be, for example, wireless sensors to wirelessly transmit or receive signals.

Efficient communications and data compression algorithms in sensor networks using discrete wavelet transform


One embodiment of the present invention provides a system for multi-domain clustering. During operation, the system collects domain data for at least two domains associated with users, wherein a domain is a source of data describing observable activities of a user. Next, the system estimates a probability distribution for a domain associated with the user. The system also estimates a probability distribution for a second domain associated with the user. Then, the system analyzes the domain data with a multi-domain probability model that includes variables for two or more domains to determine a probability distribution of each domain associated with the probability model and to assign users to clusters associated with user roles.

1. Field
This disclosure is generally related to detecting malicious insider activities. More specifically, this disclosure is related to a probability model for detecting malicious activity performed by insiders within an organization.
2. Related Art
Malicious insiders are an increasing threat to many organizations. People authorized to access internal information may disrupt the organization's operations or leak sensitive information to outside parties. As a result, collecting and monitoring work practice data within organizations is becoming prevalent. This work practice data includes many typical activities of PC users, such as logging on/off, accessing web sites, sending and receiving emails, and accessing external devices or files. Each activity is called a "domain" or a "modality." For example, domains may include logon domain and email domain. One may detect malicious intent within an organization before the malicious activity occurs by analyzing this data and detecting anomalies. Currently, this analysis is limited to a single domain at a time. Typically, one detects anomalies or outliers separately within each domain. Some approaches combine anomaly scores in an ad hoc manner (for example, by ignoring users who are outliers in only one domain). Users who are not outliers in any of the domains may never be labeled as outliers by these analysis methods.

Detecting anomalies in work practice data by combining multiple domains of information


A tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins includes a timing signal generator and a test signal generator for outputting a test signal to an input pin of a semiconductor IC circuit. The timing signal generating device can supply timing signals to one or more of the test signal generating devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins.
2. Description of the Prior Art
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins, in the prior art. A timing signal generator 1 generates a test period signal, which commands to generate a test pattern. The timing signal generator 1 generates also six timing signals TS1-TS6. When a pattern address controller 2 receives the test period signals from the timing signal generator 1, the pattern address controller 2 outputs a reading-out address, which is used when a test pattern is read out.
When a pattern memory 3 receives the reading-out address from the pattern address controller 2, it outputs a test pattern having a leading address corresponding to the received reading-out address. When a formatter 4 receives the timing signals from the timing signal generator 1, it generates a test signal on the basis of the test pattern supplied from the pattern memory 3, according to the timing signals. A pin electronic circuit 5 amplifies and processes the test signal generated by the formatter 4 and outputs the test signal to an input pin of a semiconductor IC circuit. A controller 6 controls the timing of the generation of the test period signal in the timing signal generator 1, and the selection of the timing signals to be used in the formatter 4.
The function of the tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins in the prior art is explained below.
A great many of test patterns are stored in the pattern memory 3 of a tester, and the timing signal generator 1 can output many sort of timing signals, so that the tester can estimate the functions of many sort of LSIs, for example, MPU or ASIC, namely the tester is assured to be a general purpose tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins.
Recently, semiconductor IC circuits tend to have multiple pins, because the structure and function of ICs become more and more complex. As a result, a tester for testing such a semiconductor IC circuit must have a circuit shown in FIG. 2 in a form of a hard ware circuit for each of the input/output pins of a semiconductor IC circuit. The hard ware circuit of FIG. 2 is shown as a circuit for sending test signals to a pin 1 of a semiconductor IC circuit. Of course, a circuit having a structure same as FIG. 2 is prepared for each of the pins of a semiconductor IC circuit.
When the hardware circuit estimates a semiconductor IC circuit, at first, the timing signal generator 1 generates, under the control of the control device 6, a test period signal to send to the pattern address controller 2. The test period signal commands to generate a test pattern. At the same time, the timing signal generator 1 outputs six timing signals TS1-TS6 to the formatter 4.
The pattern address controller 2 has a counter for counting the number of receiving times of the test period signal from the timing signal generator 1. When the pattern address controller 2 receives the test period signal from the timing signal generator 1, the pattern address controller 2 is triggered to output the counted value of the counter as a reading-out address, which is used when a test pattern is read out.
When the pattern memory 3 receives the reading-out address from the pattern address controller 2, it outputs a test pattern having a leading address identical to the reading-out address. For example, when the pattern address controller 2 receives an address xe2x80x9c1000xe2x80x9d as a reading-out address, the test pattern stored at the address xe2x80x9c1000xe2x80x9d is outputted. In general, a test pattern is a signal pattern comprised of an appropriately combined xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d.
When the formatter 4 receives six timing signals TS1-TS6 from the timing signal generator 1, it selects timing signals, under the control of the control device 6, so as to generate a test signal on the basis of the test pattern sent from the pattern memory 3, according to the selected timing signals. For example, when the logical value of the test pattern is xe2x80x9c1xe2x80x9d, a test signal at HIGH level is outputted, and when the logical value of the test pattern is xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d, a test signal at LOW level is outputted, as shown in FIG. 3. The standing-up edge and the standing-down edge of each pulse constituting the test signal are controlled by the selected timing signals.
The pin electronic circuit 5 amplifies and processes the test signal generated by the formatter 4 and outputs the signal to an input pin of a semiconductor IC circuit.
The tester in the prior art can generate test signals having a complex wave form, using all the timing signals TS1-TS6. However, such a tester has drawbacks that it is necessary to prepare a timing signal generator, etc, for each of the input/output pins of a semiconductor IC circuit. Therefore, the size of the circuit of the tester increases according to the number of the input/output pins of a semiconductor IC circuit, hence, the price of a tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins increases accordingly.
Japanese patent application JP 5-150005-A discloses a tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins, in which timing signals generated by a timing signal generator are commonly used by a formatter for a pin 1 and another formatter for a pin 2. This tester has the drawback that when all the timing signals are supplied to the formatter for a pin 1, the other formatter for a pin 2 can not receive any timing signal and can not provide any test signal to the pin 2.
An object of the present invention is to eliminate these problems of the testers for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins as in the prior art.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a tester for common use, which can be fabricated cheaply, by suppressing the augmentation of the size of the tester circuit for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins, which may increase according to the number of the pins of a semiconductor IC circuit.
The object of the present invention is attained by a tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins.
More precisely, the object is attained by a tester having a timing signal generating means, which can send timing signals to one of the test signal generating means and to more than one test signal generating means.
The timing signal generating means can be controlled to send timing signals to all of the test signal generating means or to send to at least one of the test signal generating means.
In an embodiment of the tester for testing a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins according to the present invention, the timing signal generating means supplies the timing signals to at least one of the test signal generating means.
In an embodiment of the tester according to the present invention, the timing signal generating means supplies the timing signal to one of the test signal generating means, and the test signal generating means generates a test signal, using all the timing signal outputted from the timing signal generating means.
In an embodiment of the tester according to the present invention, the timing signal generating means supplies the timing signals to both the test signal generating means, and the test signal generating means generate a test signal, using all the timing signal outputted from the timing signal generating means, so that identical wave form test signals are generated for two input pins of a semiconductor IC circuit.
In an embodiment of the tester according to the present invention, the timing signal generating means supplies the timing signal to both the test signal generating means, and the test signal generating means generate a test signal, using different set of the timing signals outputted from the timing signal generating means, so that different wave form test signals are generated for two input pins of a semiconductor IC circuit.
In an embodiment of the tester according to the present invention, the pattern generating means are comprised of a plurality of memories, and when the timing signal generating means output timing signals to one of the test signal generating means, the memories are used as one sequential memory, and when the timing signal generating means output timing signals to both of the test signal generating means, the memories are used as two separated memories.
In an embodiment of the tester according to the present invention, delay circuits are inserted in the timing signal transmission lines connecting the timing signal generating means and one of the test signal generating means.

Tester for a semiconductor IC circuit having multiple pins


A binarizing unit binarizes a multilevel image. A region specifying unit A specifies the position of a character region in the binary image, and determines whether or not the specified character region is an inverted character region. A region specifying unit B specifies the position of a unit character region. A reducing unit reduces the multilevel image. A representative color extracting unit extracts the representative color of a unit character region on the basis of region type information indicating whether or not a character region is an inverted character region, position information of a unit character region, and a reduced multilevel image. A character region padding unit pads a character region of a reduced multilevel image with its neighboring color on the basis of position information of the character region. A JPEG compressing unit compresses a padded reduced multilevel image. An MMR compressing unit compresses a partial binary image corresponding to a character region. Compressed data containing position information, the compressed code created by each compressing unit, and the representative color information of a unit character region is output.

Recently, with the proliferation of scanners, the digitization of documents has been showing progress. When a digitized document, e.g., an A4-size document, is stored in a full-color bitmap form, the resultant data becomes about 24 Mbytes with a read resolution of 300 dpi, requiring a large-capacity memory. Such large-volume data is not suitable to be attached to mail and transmitted.
In general, therefore, full-color images are compressed. As a compression method for such data, JPEG is known. JPEG is very effective in compressing natural images such as photographs. When, however, a character portion is JPEG-compressed, image deterioration called mosquito noise occurs. According to a conventional method available, therefore, an input image is segmented into a character region and a photographic region, and the character region is MMR-compressed upon binarization while the photographic region is JPEG-compressed, thereby expressing even a full-color image with a small data size while maintaining the quality of the character region.
This method is wherein at the time of decompression, the white portion of a binary image is expressed by making a JPEG image transparent, and the black portion is expressed by a character in its representative color. Another characteristic feature of this method is that one color is assigned to a unit character. This makes it possible to eliminate variations in character images originally expressed in monochrome due to scanner reading. In addition, using this method for a compression system can realize high-image-quality compression.
In addition, as an enhance technique, for example, a method of further increasing the compression ratio by padding a character region with the color of a portion near the character before JPEG compression has been proposed. A color extraction technique of extracting the representative color of a character in a character region portion is also indispensable, and has been proposed before. This color extraction technique is a technique of inputting a binary image of a character region, the coordinates of the character region, and a color image, and extracting a desired color in a character region portion from the color image.
According to the conventional technique, however, a color-inverted character region portion cannot be specified, and hence the inverted character region is JPEG-compressed, resulting in a deterioration in the inverted character portion.
Recently, a technique of specifying an inverted character region portion has been proposed. This makes it necessary to develop a technique of extracting a color from an inverted character region. When the conventional color extraction technique is used without any modification, the color of an inverted character region of an input image which is blurred by variations due to scanner reading or a compression effect is directly reproduced (extracted).


A positional measuring device has a reference laser pointer and at least one measurement laser pointer. These laser pointers are positioned at a first end and a second end of a variable-length defining mechanism, a common example being a tape measure. The lasers are oriented in a direction which is perpendicular to the measurement axis of a user-specified length of the variable-length defining mechanism. The emission axis of each laser is thus parallel with each other. The lasers project onto a remote object. The laser pointers provide visual reference points that help a user ensure they are correctly measuring dimensions of an object. The distance between the laser pointers can easily be read via the variable-length defining mechanism. Because the lasers need to be parallel to each other and perpendicular to the user-specified length, a dual-axis liquid level is provided to ensure proper orientation of the positional measuring device.

Currently, on the market there are many different types of measuring devices. The available measuring devices provide a number of different constructions and accessories that may be desirable to various customer bases. The present invention concerns itself with a subset of measuring devices, those utilizing lasers as a measurement tool. However, currently available laser measuring devices are limited to measuring distance from the laser source to a point; as a result, said laser points are no better equipped to remotely measure the dimensions of objects than traditional devices such as tape measures. Though traditional measuring devices are capable of measuring dimensions of an object, doing so requires a person using the measuring device to be proximal to the object being measured. Furthermore, to obtain the most accurate measurements the user must place part of the measuring device against the object; while direct contact is fine in many situations, there are other situations in which it is undesirable to directly contact the object being measured. Potentially, there may be situations where direct contact is impossible or greatly hampered due to physical or other obstructions. In such situations traditional measuring devices would be of little use.
The shortcomings of current measuring devices results in a need on the market for the unique functionality of the present invention. It is therefore an object of the present invention to introduce a new method and apparatus that allows for an easy and quick measurement to be taken without contacting the object or surface intended to be measured and removes the risk of thereby physically contacting and disturbing the object or surface.