The present invention is an optical device for small spot analysis by diffuse reflectance using fiber optic interfaced spectrometers. The device comprises a source of electromagnetic radiation and a set of mirrors designed to project most of the radiation from the said source onto a less than 1 mm diameter spot on the sample, collect a portion of the radiation reflected by the sample and refocus this reflected radiation into an optical fiber. The said optical fiber then brings the said reflected radiation into a fiber optic interfaced spectrometer for spectral analysis. A means for the magnified viewing of the sample and the precise selection of the sampling spot for analysis is integrated into the invented device. Adding a digital camera and a laser module to the said device enables nearly simultaneous multimodal analysis of the same sampling spot by diffuse reflectance, Raman, and fluorescence spectroscopy and by image analysis.

1. Field of Invention
The field of the present invention relates to the multimodal analysis of a small spot on a sample by spectroscopy and sample image analysis. Specifically, it relates to the spectroscopic analysis of the sample using a fiber optic interfaced spectrometer.
2. Prior Art
There has always been an impetus to build spectrometric equipment that would bring radiation to the sample outside the sample compartment of a spectrometer. Dedicated analyzers were and still are being developed that integrate the functions of a spectrometer and a probe in a single package, for example U.S. Pat. No. 6,181,427 B1 (2001) issued to Yarussi, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,659,397A (1997) issued to Miller.
Recent advances in opto-electronics enabled the construction of small hand held full-featured UV-VIS-NIR spectrometers that spectrally analyze radiation brought in by standard fiber optics cables. Two types of fiber optic diffuse reflectance probes exist for use with fiber optic spectrometers: wand like fiber optic probes and integrating spheres.
The most common method for making the wand like fiber optics probes is to use one or more fibers in a bundle to bring light to the sample. The reflected light is collected by other fibers in the bundle and returned to the spectrometer for analysis.
A huge variety of different probes of this general type exists. The basic parameters, such as the number of fibers used to bring light to the sample, the number and position of fibers used to collect the reflected light, fiber packing, diameters, positions, end shapes, are all varied in order to optimize a particular aspect of the analysis. An example is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,571,118 B1 (2003) issued to Utzinger. These wand-like probes are relatively simple and generally don't require any mirrors. Another variation of the wand like probes that uses light guides and lenses for the interface with a sample is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,818,996 (1998) issued to Doyle.
The shortcomings of wand like probes are that they obscure the exact sampling spot. This makes sampling spot selection difficult and hence the precise position of the sampled area is somewhat uncertain. Another shortcoming of these probes is that they are subject to a numerical aperture restriction due to optical fibers that limits the amount of light that can be carried to and from the sample. Also, their spectral range is limited by the fibers used.
Wand-like fiber optics probes work well for certain applications and for spectral regions for which suitable optical fibers exist, such as the visible and near infrared spectral regions. In the infrared region no such fibers exist and, in some extreme cases, such as U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,821 (1992) issued to Milosevic, elaborate light pipe systems were built to bring light to sampling stations several meters away from the spectrometer. Several of the sampling stations had integral detectors and returned the electrical signal back to the spectrometer.
Fiber optics limits the numerical aperture of the light that it carries. Only the portion of the diffusely reflected light that can be carried by a fiber back to the spectrometer can be utilized for detection. Following the concept disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,821 (1992) issued to Milosevic, one diffuse reflectance probe (M. Milosevic and V. Milosevic, "The Video Barrelino", Proc. IRUG6, 284-287, 2004) sought to overcome this limitation by incorporating the detector directly into the probe. An integral detector eliminates the need to return the diffusely reflected light back to the spectrometer. By eliminating the need to carry the light to the detector via an optical fiber a much larger amount of diffusely reflected light could be brought to the detector. However, this probe is not usable with fiber optics spectrometers since it returns an electrical signal, not radiation, back to the spectrometer.
Diffuse reflection probes, based on the well known integrating sphere concept, were developed for use with fiber optics spectrometers and are commercially available. Some of these probes employ an integrated radiation source to illuminate the sample. The reflected radiation is returned via fiber optics back to the spectrometer. These probes are made for a very specific purpose. They are constructed to enable the measurement of the total reflectance of a diffusely reflecting sample. They analyze large sample spots—typically around 25 mm in diameter. They provide spatially and directionally uniform irradiation of the sampling area, and are designed to integrate the reflectance from large uneven samples where local unevenness is not of interest and the average value of the reflectance is all that matters. Samples such as grain are analyzed for water, fat, fiber, protein, etc. content since grain to grain variation is not important. Smaller spots can generally be analyzed by aperturing the sampled area. This sample size reduction however is achieved at the expense of the amount of radiation collected from the sample. These probes are thus not adequate for use with small (less than 1 mm in diameter) sample spots.

Device for small spot analysis using fiber optic interfaced spectrometers


This hydraulic damping device comprises a cylinder for containing oil; a reservoir chamber R which is provided in the outer part of the cylinder and in which liquid accumulates; a piston provided so as to be axially movable within the cylinder and dividing the space within the cylinder into a first oil chamber and a second oil chamber, which contain oil; a baffle member provided as a separate element from the cylinder, the baffle member having a body which is provided in the reservoir chamber R, and also having a protrusion which protrudes from the body, the baffle member preventing the waving of the surface of oil in the reservoir chamber R; and a limiting section (first section to be held) provided to the baffle member and limiting the movement of the baffle member on both one side and the other side in the axial direction.

For example, the hydraulic damping device disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2014-029201 includes a protrusion in a reservoir chamber or a protrusion on an outer cylinder projecting from its inner surface toward an inner cylinder, in order to prevent ruffle of the liquid surface and formation of bubbles. The protrusion is formed over the entire or almost entire circumference of the outer surface of the inner cylinder or the inner surface of the outer cylinder. When viewed from the direction perpendicular to the outer surface or the inner surface, the protrusion assumes a wave-like shape.


Disclosed herein is an apparatus and method for hygienic disposal of a sanitary product. The apparatus comprises a biodegradable bag for disposal of the sanitary product. The biodegradable bag comprises a catch clip, a pull stick, and an adhesive strip. The catch clip, affixed at the closed end of the biodegradable bag, seizes the sanitary product into the biodegradable bag. The pull stick holds the biodegradable bag in a predefined position over the seized sanitary product during inversion of the biodegradable bag over the seized sanitary product. The inverted biodegradable bag with the seized sanitary product is then twisted and sealed airtight using the adhesive strip affixed towards the open end of the biodegradable bag. The biodegradable bag prevents the user from coming in contact with the sanitary product, thereby providing hygienic disposal of the sanitary product.

This invention, in general, relates to collection and disposal of sanitary products that have been used to collect waste. More particularly, this invention relates to collecting a used sanitary product and disposing the sanitary product in a hygienic manner.
Used sanitary products are required to be disposed in a proper and safe manner. Often, used sanitary waste is inappropriately disposed. For example, sanitary products are often disposed by wrapping the sanitary product in the original wrapper or rolling the sanitary product in toilet paper and then discarding the sanitary product through a waste system. Due to the unsanitary conditions created by the manual handling of the sanitary product, there is a need for an apparatus that provides aseptic disposal of the sanitary product and protects a user from contact with and potential contamination by germs, bacteria, or viruses from the waste product leading to diseases such as Hepatitis B, genital warts, etc.
Sanitary products are some times disposed directly through a sewage system leading to blockage of the sewage system. The used sanitary product containing different types of bacteria and viruses find their way into water bodies and eventually cause environmental and health hazards. Moreover, there is a need for a biodegradable waste collection apparatus to prevent the accumulation of non-biodegradable material and the consequent hazardous effect on the environment.
Hence, there is a need for a biodegradable apparatus that allows removal and disposal of the used sanitary product in a hygienic manner.


A geometric-transformation motion compensation prediction unit calculates, for each of a plurality of prediction modes, a motion vector and a prediction signal between a target block in a target image and a reference block in a reference image obtained by performing geometric transformation on the target block, selects pixels located at vertices constituting the target block, pixels located near the vertices, or interpolation pixels located near the vertices as representative pixels corresponding to the vertices in each prediction mode, calculates the respective motion vectors of these representative pixels, and calculates the respective motion vectors of pixels other than the representative pixels by interpolation using the motion vectors of the representative pixels so as to calculate the prediction signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image coding apparatus, an image coding method, and an image coding program that allow for the encoding of images using motion compensation prediction and to an image decoding apparatus, an image decoding method, and an image decoding program that allow for the decoding of images using motion compensation prediction.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a representative example of a video compression coding method, the MPEG series standard is used. In the MPEG series standard, motion compensation is used where a frame is divided into a plurality of blocks and motion from another frame is predicted. In MPEG-4 and AVC/H.264, a mechanism is introduced where the best size among a plurality of motion compensation block sizes is interchangeably used.
In motion compensation prediction in units of blocks, a method for compensating parallel translation between a target block and a reference block is generally used. In addition, a method for compensating transformation of blocks (e.g., enlargement, reduction, and rotation) is under consideration. For example, in Patent document 1, prediction efficiency is improved by adaptively switching between a mode for obtaining a prediction image by parallel translation and a mode for obtaining a prediction image by geometric transformation as an image coding method in which inter-frame prediction is used. It is stated that a motion vector of parallel translation and a motion vector of a lattice point (i.e., a motion vector used in geometric transformation) are coded in this method.    [Patent document 1] JP H8-65680
Under these circumstances, the inventors of the present invention have found a technique for further compressing the entire coding amount by compressing motion vector information using an image coding method in which motion compensation prediction by geometric transformation is used.

Image coding apparatus including a geometric-transformation motion compensation prediction unit utilizing at least two prediction modes out of four prediction modes


Techniques are generally described for correcting computation errors via input compensation and/or input overcompensation. In various examples, errors of a computation may be detected, and input compensation and/or overcompensation to correct the errors may be created. The disclosed techniques may be used for power and/or energy minimization/reduction, and debugging, among other applications. Other embodiments and/or applications may be disclosed and/or claimed.

Computational errors are pervasive in computational, communication, and storage systems. There may be a wide variety of errors ranging from transitive to permanent, from design to manufacturing, from ones with no or negligible impact to ones that drastically may alter a large percentage of results and/or data. A wide consensus may exist that quantity and impact of errors may increase with each new generation of silicon and other implementation technologies. The increase in quantity and impact of errors may be due to exponential feature size shrinking, operation at low voltages, and exponentially increasing level of integration.
Computational errors may have the greatest impact in low power design, and/or low power device operation and debugging, for example, mobile and wireless systems. Mobile and wireless systems may have operational and environmental conditions that may be harsh and may require a low operating voltage to save energy. Mobile and wireless systems may also be subject to cost sensitivity and short opportunity windows that may have an additional amplification impact on computational errors.

Input compensated and/or overcompensated computing


A method of playing at a gaming table a player-versus-paytable five-card stud poker game for up to seven players utilizing the 20 royal cards of a standard 52-card poker deck as a royal deck of cards with player awards based upon predetermined amounts related to a paytable of winning five-card hands. Bet wagers are initially accepted from each player at the gaming table Up to three cards are dealt face-down to each of the occupied player positions at the table and up to three cards from the royal deck of cards are dealt face-down to a dealer position at the table Each player, after viewing the dealt cards, is permitted to stand on the bet wager or double the bet wager after which one of the face-down cards at the dealer position is up-turned for use as a community card by the players. Each player is then permitted to stand on the hand and bets or triple the bet wager after which the remaining face-down card or cards at the dealer position are up-turned for use as a community card by the players. Each player hand is up-turned and the hand, incorporating the community cards at the dealer position, is evaluated to determine whether or not such hand is a winning hand with respect to the paytable of winning hands with each winning hand paid off in accordance with the paytable

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to five-card stud poker games and, more particularly, to multiple player five-card stud poker games in which each player plays against the dealer (not against the other players) and in which each player places an initial "bet" wager before being dealt (face-down) a partial poker hand or a five-card poker hand. In such games the dealer also deals to himself or herself a number of dealer's cards with at least several of such cards dealt face-up. Each player thereupon compares his or her cards with the dealer's face-up cards providing the player with opportunity to decide whether or not to surrender the hand (and the player's original "bet" wager) or to place an "additional" wager on the hand as dealt or in anticipation of receiving the remainder of a five-card poker hand or exchanging one or more of the original cards of a five-card hand with replacement dealer dealt cards.
In some "player-versus-dealer" five-card stud poker games the dealer may add face-up cards in sequence to his or her partial hand with player "additional" wagering upon each addition of a card to the dealer's hand. Further, where the dealer's hand (as originally dealt) comprises five cards, the dealer may turn one or more cards face-up in sequence with player "additional" wagering upon each dealer card turn-up. In either of the foregoing (or other) variations of "player-versus-dealer" five-card stud poker games, the individual player may surrender his or her hand (with any and all wagers) after any wagering round. In such games each player having a higher value hand with respect to the dealer's hand wins the amount of his or her wagers from the dealer.
Where the dealer merely deals cards in turn to each player, with the players competing against one-another and not the dealer, a uniform pre-deal "ante" wager is usually made by each player and a post-deal "additional" wager ensues. Each player thereafter may in turn request substitute cards, i.e. draw cards, for his or her hand discarding the cards for which substitute cards are dealt. Thus, this form of poker is termed "draw poker" and further "additional" wagering ensues for one or more player-raise rounds. The highest value player hand wins the amount of all "ante" wagers and "additional" wagers (the "pot") from all of the players.
2. Description of Related Prior Art
Poker is one of the most exciting gambling games because it includes for each individual player a mix of skill, luck, and psychology. Throughout the world millions of players try their luck each year at the game of poker at card tables in gaming rooms and casinos.
Five-card draw poker is typically played in two basic formats, i.e., between players or between individual players and a house dealer. Many players prefer a player-versus-player game because it involves the elements of inter-player skill and psychology, the latter element including a player's ability to bluff the strength of his or her hand versus the assumed strength of the hands of the other players. Many other players prefer to play a "stud" form of poker against at a standard gaming table against a house dealer or against a paytable of hands because such a table game play tends to minimize the elements of skill and psychology with each player relying principally on luck.
There remains a need in the gaming room and casino businesses for stud poker type games which can be played at a standard gaming table and which provide an appropriate mix of the elements of player skill, psychology and luck along with a speed-up of game play time and the excitement of involving royal card hands.

Method of playing a royal card stud poker game at a casino gaming table


Apparatus for removing fluid from the body of a patient, such as in paracentesis and thoracentesis. Fluid may be withdrawn via a retractable needle assembly, including a sharp introducing needle and a retractile blunt needle. The needle assembly is housed in a housing having a chamber with two oriented grommets that prevent fluid flow through the chamber (other than through the needle assembly) both when the needle assembly is inserted through the chamber and when it is withdrawn. A beam spring blocks the chamber after the needle assembly is withdrawn so that the device cannot be reused.

Body fluids may need to be withdrawn from a patient in the course of medical treatment. Two common medical procedures requiring fluid removal are thoracentesis and paracentesis.
In paracentesis, peritoneal fluid is aspirated from the abdomen. Typical patients have tense ascites resulting from liver disease and portal hypertension, which may cause discomfort, respiratory distress, and the formation and rupture of umbilical hernias. Paracentesis has been observed to provide quick and effective relief with few adverse side effects. Other treatment options, such as the use of diuretics, are available, but may not provide as effective relief as paracentesis. Additionally, many patients with ascites have renal impairment and cannot use the high doses of diuretics necessary to effectively treat the ascites. See "Large-Volume Paracentesis in Nonedematous Patients with Tense-Ascites: Its Effect on Intravascular Volume," Pinto et al., Hepatology, Vol.8, No. 2, pp. 207-210, 1988. Relatively large volumes of fluid, such as five liters, may be withdrawn from a patient during one paracentesis procedure.
Many existing devices are capable of performing paracentesis. At its simplest, a paracentesis device need only include a hollow needle with one end inserted into the patient and the other end attached to a negative pressure device, such as a syringe or vacuum bottle. However, more specialized devices have been developed to allow safer, more comfortable, and more sanitary paracentesis. These devices may allow for body fluid to be dispensed into at least two containers, so that one container may be filled with fluid for diagnostic purposes and the other container may be filled with waste fluid. Another development has been the use of Kuss or Verres type needle assemblies, where a blunt drainage needle is attached to a retractile sharp introducer needle. This reduces the likelihood of the sharp needle damaging internal tissue during paracentesis. A further development is to drain body fluid through a blunt-tipped catheter introduced by a sharp introducing needle, which allows the sharp needle to be removed from the patient after a relatively quick introduction process and avoids the prolonged presence of a sharp needle in the body of the patient.
Problems may arise when drainage is diverted from one container to another if the drainage system is not airtight. Air could contaminate a sample or enter the body of the patient and cause injury. Known devices that are meant to be airtight have tubes and multiple containers attached to the devices which make the devices cumbersome and somewhat difficult to insert into the patient. Also, known devices require manipulation of a manual valve, such as a stopcock to work effectively. If the stopcock is not set at the proper setting, the device may admit air into the patient or otherwise malfunction. Problems also may arise in devices which allow a needle assembly to be withdrawn. Air must be prevented from entering the patient when the fluid is withdrawn. Also, body fluid must be prevented from leaking out of the device through the space formerly occupied by the needle assembly.
Thoracentesis is a procedure similar to paracentesis, except that effusion fluid is withdrawn from the pleural region instead of the abdomen. Normally, the pleural space contains approximately 5 to 20 ml of fluid. The fluid is the result of the hydrostatic-onctotic pressure of the capillaries of the parietal pleura. The turnover of the fluid in the pleural space is normally quite rapid, so that 5 to 10 liters of fluid move through the pleural space each day. A disruption in the balance between the movement of fluid into the pleural space and the movement of fluid out of the pleural space may produce excessive fluid accumulation in the pleural space. Pleural effusion is particularly common in patients with disseminated breast cancer, lung cancer or lymphatic cancer and patients with congestive heart failure, but also occurs in patients with many other forms of malignancy.
Pleural effusion may cause dyspnea, coughing, and chest pain, which diminish a patient's quality of life. Although pleural effusion typically occurs toward the end of terminal malignancies, such as breast cancer, it occurs earlier in other diseases. Therefore, relieving the clinical manifestations of pleural effusion is of real and extended advantage to the patient. For example, non-breast cancer patients with pleural effusion have been known to survive for years. See "Pleural Effusion in Cancer Patients," Izbicki et al., Cancer, October 1975, p. 1511.
There are several treatments for pleural effusion. If the patient is asymptomatic and the effusion is known to be malignant or paramalignant, no treatment may be required. Pleurectomy and pleural abrasion are generally effective in obliterating the pleural space, thus controlling the malignant pleural effusion. However, pleurectomy is a major surgical procedure associated with substantial morbidity and some mortality. Chemotherapy is generally disappointing; however, it may produce good responses for patients with lymphoma, breast cancer, or small-cell carcinoma. Another approach is to surgically implant a chest tube. However, such a tube is painful to the patient, both when it is inserted and during the time that it remains in the pleural space. Improvements on the traditional chest tube are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/251,692, commonly owned with the present application.
Despite other treatment options, thoracentesis remains the most common approach to removing pleural fluid. However, thoracentesis poses the danger of causing pneumothorax, a collapsed lung. Pneumothorax can be caused directly by puncturing a lung with a needle assembly or catheter tip or indirectly by allowing air to enter the pleural space. Normally, the pleural space is at negative pressure relative to the atmosphere, which helps keep the lungs expanded. If the atmosphere is allowed to communicate with the pleural space, the pleural space may no longer be at negative pressure and pneumothorax may result.
Thoracentesis devices have been developed to reduce the risk of pneumothorax and other similar problems that may result from the procedure. In general, these devices incorporate similar protections as do paracentesis devices. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,447,235 by Clarke discloses a thoracentesis device with a catheter introduced by a removable needle assembly, with a valve that closes upon removal of the needle assembly. The purpose of the valve is to prevent air from entering the body of the patient. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,784,156, 4,832,044, 4,840,184, and 4,844,087 by Garg disclose similar devices with a manual valve that may be closed after withdrawal of the needle assembly. However, none of the previous devices allow for a truly fail-safe operation, as various valves must be properly set by the operator when changing from one drain port to another or when withdrawing the introducing needle assembly from the patient. Also, care must be taken to avoid accidental withdrawal of the introducing needle assembly, as in the disclosed devices where the needle assembly is not firmly attached to the remainder of the device. Further, the disclosed valves that allow for catheter drainage after removal of an introducing needle assembly rely on a single contact point. Due to the possibly dire consequences of a valve failure, such valves may not produce acceptably safe thoracentesis.
A Verres-type needle assembly that may be used for thoracentesis is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,334,159 by Turkel. While this reduces the risk of pneumothorax due to lung puncture, the Turkel device does not improve the safety of thoracentesis when the introducing needle assembly is withdrawn or solve the problems associated with multiple drainage ports. Thus there is a need for a safer and more reliable device that may be used for paracentesis and thoracentesis.
A device for accomplishing broadly the same purposes of the present invention is described in U.S. patent application No. 08/583,813, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,725,906, issued Mar. 10, 1998. It is believed that the sealing arrangement among other features of the present invention may represent an improvement or an alternative to the device of said application.
The contents of each document referred to herein is hereby incorporated by reference, although it is noted that such documents are not admitted to be prior art and are only referenced as they may be helpful to an understanding and appreciation of the present invention.

Device for paracentisis and thoracentisis


The techniques described herein relate to methods, apparatus, and computer readable media configured to process asset change point locations. A processor or encoder is configured to operate according to a set of constraints that constrain the encoding process for asset changes, wherein the set of constraints configures a set of allowable asset change point locations from a set of possible asset change point locations, wherein the set of allowable asset change point locations is a subset of the set of possible asset change point locations, and configures a set of allowable data access types from a set of possible data access types, wherein the set of allowable data access types is a subset of the set of possible data access types. Video data is encoded based on the set of constraints to generate encoded first video data, such that the encoded first video data comprises a set of asset change point locations and associated data access types in compliance with the set of constraints.

MPEG-H is a group of standards being developed by the ISO/IED Motion Picture Experts Group (MPEG), and is often referred to as ISO/IEC 23008. MPEG-H includes a number of different parts. MPEG-H standards include a digital format/container standard, a video compression standard, and an audio compression standard. Part 1 (MPEG-H Part 1 (ISO/IEC 23008-1)) is the MPEG media transport (MMT)) part. The MMT technology is for the transport and delivery of coded media data for multimedia services over heterogeneous packet-switched networks. MMT deployments can include, for example, traditional broadcast TV service and internet streaming. To support desired business models for such services, advanced splicing features are needed beyond those supported by MPEG-H, such as to support advertisement (Ad) insertion (e.g., pre-roll and mid-roll ad insertion), program editing, and program switching. However, existing techniques may not provide and/or support sufficient splicing capabilities needed by encoding devices to support these services. For example, encoding devices may need to perform compression encoding, FEC encoding, and/or MMTP packetizing.

Methods and apparatus for media content asset changes


The present invention provides an apparatus and method for obtaining data to determine one or more characteristics of a wind flow field using one or more radars. Data is collected from the one or more radars, and analyzed to determine the one or more characteristics of the wind flow field. The one or more radars are positioned to have a portion of the wind flow field within a scanning sector of the one or more radars.

Understanding the structure and evolution of flow fields within wind farms is essential to properly plan wind farms and estimate wind turbine and farm efficiency. Turbine wakes maintain wind speed deficits relative to the free stream flow and enhanced turbulence capable of providing higher dynamic loads to downwind turbines. Although only a few observational studies on the impact of turbine wakes exist, initial findings suggest power output decreases for individual wake-influenced turbines can reach 40%. Total power output loss due to wake influences across a large wind farm can be as large as 20%. [1] The character of turbine wakes directly relates to appropriate turbine spacing and associated infrastructure costs. Accurately forecasting the expected total power output of a large wind park on short temporal scales requires a full understanding of the complex modulated flow fields within the wind farm itself.
A multitude of numeric simulations (LES, CFD, etc.) has been conducted in an attempt to quantify the structure and effect of turbine wakes. Reference [1] (Barthelmie et. al.) listed below provides a detailed list of concerns when applying these simulation results to the real atmosphere and full-scale turbine systems. Among other limitations, current numeric simulations are not yet capable of accurately handling the natural variability of atmospheric stability and turbulence as well as complex underlying terrain. The net result is a systematic underprediction of wake losses within a large wind farm. Additionally, the computational expense of accurately incorporating turbine and blade geometry into simulations remains large, requiring the employment of simplified approaches that do not exactly represent reality. [3] Despite these limitations, wake modeling efforts are necessary as current observational capabilities are not yet able to provide the spatial and temporal resolution needed to document the full range of scales within a turbine wake in the real atmosphere. However, to validate the simulation results, expansion of existing observational capabilities and coverage is vital.
To date, observational studies of the horizontal influence of turbine wakes are limited to sparse tower, sodar, and/or LIDAR measurements. Fixed meteorological tower measurements provide valuable "ground truth" data but are inherently limited in their horizontal and vertical coverage. Sodar is limited in its ability to document flow fields beyond time averaged vertical wind profiles of horizontal wind speeds. Scanning and staring LIDAR systems can provide for quantification of the flow fields (including inflow and wake flow) but are limited with respect to range, range resolution and temporal revisit times relative to radar technology. Existing LIDAR technologies also do not provide information during periods of precipitation, and have exhibited less reliability for long-term field deployments.
Existing published wake studies indicate that current LIDAR technology is handcuffed by the inverse relationship between maximum range and along-beam range resolution. This limitation precludes the ability to fully observe wakes of significant length or wake interaction over the footprint of a large wind farm using current LIDAR technology. The maximum presented along-beam range gate spacing from scanning LIDAR wake studies is 30 m [4] using the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) High-Resolution Doppler LIDAR [5].
Accordingly there is a need for an apparatus and method to more accurately evaluate wind flow upstream, downstream and/or within wind farms to provide better optimization of wind farm layouts and operations.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Apparatus and method for using radar to evaluate wind flow fields for wind energy applications


A method and apparatus to provide redundancy in a network is described.

A network typically comprises a number of network nodes connected together by communications media. Information is passed from one network node to another from a source until it arrives at an intended destination. The series of nodes and communications media between a source and destination may be collectively referred to as a "path." From time to time, a node may go down in a given path, and an alternate or redundant path is required to communicate the information. Conventional solutions, however, may require expensive hardware or software to provide the alternate path. Furthermore, conventional solutions may be relatively complex thereby increasing difficulty and cost in implementing the technology for a particular network. Consequently, there may exist a substantial need for a method and apparatus to provide redundancy in a network while reducing the cost and/or complexity of the network.

Method and apparatus to provide redundancy in a network


A method and device for highly accurate corneal topographical mapping and a device for effecting the mapping for use in effecting vision correction by removal of corneal tissue. The method and device involve use of a modified optical interferometer with directing of a coherent light beam, such as from a laser, to the anterior surface of a cornea; splitting the beam so that half the beam is directed to a reference object having a predetermined shape; capturing the reflected light from the cornea and the reference object so as to form an interference pattern; and using the interference pattern to determine deviations or displacements of the corneal surface from the known reference shape. The deviations are then utilized in corneal tissue removing procedures, such as RK, PRK and RLK, by determination of the extent and position of tissue removal. With a modified RLK procedure, the deviations are used in preparing an appropriate corneal template for use with a keratome using a high speed water jet as the cutting means.

Various methods have been developed to reshape the refractive window of the human eye, the cornea, in order to correct for the typical vision defects. Among these are nearsightedness (myopia), with the unaccommodated nominal focusing plane falling before the retina; farsightedness (hyperopia), with focusing plane beyond the retina and the combination of defects known as astigmatism, in which the cornea has a toroidal shape and there is no plane of best focus. The most common methods for vision correction for these defects are spectacles, and contact lenses (hard, soft and gas permeable types) which provide the correct amount of refractive power to shift the unaccommodated focusing plane to its optimum position on the retina. Glasses and contact lenses, when made to a proper prescription, provide vision correction to an accuracy of about .+-.0.25 diopter and best visual acuity. However, glasses are worn externally and are sometimes perceived to be uncomfortable, inconvenient, or detracting from personal appearance. They may actually impede certain activities such as sports, photography (or other view finder activities), aircraft flying and the like. Spectacles are sometimes misplaced and can be difficult to find if the natural error is large, i.e., the misplacer can't see them to find them. Contact lenses sometimes are utilized where use of glasses has been considered to be undesirable, mostly for cosmetic reasons. Contact lenses however, entail problems of their own in terms of possible eye infection with misuse and the necessity for specialized and time consuming procedures required to maintain sterility and minimize contamination. More importantly, many people cannot tolerate the insertion of foreign objects on or in their eyes. Whereas spectacles can be taken off and put on again as necessary, contacts are much less convenient in this respect. Contact lenses also tend to be expensive compared to spectacles.
In response to a need for safe permanent correction of vision, without recourse to glasses or contact lenses, two major surgical methods of vision correction have evolved. The first, radial keratotomy (RK), involves surgical incision of the cornea, with deep radial cuts outside the vision zone which cause a roughly predictable flattening of the cornea and a reduction in refractive power thereof, suitable for correcting low levels of myopia. This is however, a major surgical procedure requiring considerable skill in order to achieve the desired refractive correction. Though undercorrection errors are correctable, overcorrections are not. Additionally, the refraction unpredictably progresses toward hyperopia over long periods of time, i.e., about ten years.
The second procedure is photo-chemical and thermal corneal ablation with an excimer laser (photo refractive keratectomy-PRK) which can be achieved by selectively ablating corneal tissue from the anterior surface of the cornea. This procedure is also predicated upon the characteristics of the cornea wherein refractive correction of vision deficiencies can be achieved by varying the front surface curvature of the cornea. These methods are effectively based on the fact that the anterior surface of the cornea provides 80% of the total refractive power of the human vision system, and the rest is provided by the posterior surface of the cornea (negative lens) and the internal crystalline lens. Accordingly, relatively small changes in corneal curvature can significantly affect the focusing ability of the eye. Because of the manner in which shaping has been produced to date, this method has been used only in flattening out the surface of the cornea (decrease of curvature) by selective removal of the corneal tissue closer to the beam axis, i.e., suitable only for correction of low or medium myopia and mild astigmatism. Increase of curvature, for correction of hyperopia, with peripheral ablation is possible but is more difficult, and is not yet approved by the FDA.
The cornea comprises a thin protective epithelial layer on top of the Bowman's membrane or layer, which in turn covers the corneal stroma which is the thickest layer. While the epithelium is regenerative, the Bowman's membrane and stroma are not. With ablative corneal tissue removal procedures such as PRK, the epithelium and Bowman's membrane are removed together with a portion of the stroma. Subsequently, the epithelium regenerates on the exposed outer surface of the cornea but directly on the stroma, since the Bowman's layer is not regenerated. Direct regrowth of the epithelium on the stroma can however cause an undesirable corneal haze which gradually dissipates over time. Haze is also produced by the healing of the endpoint stromal surface layers which are badly mutilated by the ablation process. The resulting corneal curvature increases with time, i.e., regresses unpredictably.
Both RK and PRK, because of inherent instabilities and error factors, are also usually not suitable for correction of myopia of more than -6 diopters and PRK is not currently approved for corrections other than myopia.
A third surgical procedure known medically as Keratomileusis in situ (KIS) and also as Refractive Lamellar Keratoplasty (RLK) preserves the epithelium and Bowman membrane and has been used for corrections of up to -20 diopters. In such procedure there is an initial surgical removal, with a micro-keratome, of a uniform thickness button or lenticule of corneal tissue of a thickness containing the epithelium layer (intact), Bowman's membrane (intact) and a portion of the stroma. The button or lenticule preferably remains hingedly attached at one point to the cornea. The lenticule is moved out of the way, the stroma bed is then surgically reshaped, as required, and the lenticule is replaced, usually with adequate adherence and healing of the stroma-stroma surfaces and with the epithelium and Bowman's membrane being preserved, leaving the cornea clear. It appears that the stroma-stroma healing of lenticule-stromal bed interfaces of the RLK procedure reduces wound healing instabilities, making this procedure the most suitable for large refractive corrections. It also minimizes haze.
However, despite the advantage of retention of visual acuity and healing stability, the procedure is not very favored since it is complex, requiring high intra-ocular pressure, is expensive, is usually inaccurate, with high dependency on the surgeon's skill, and it can cause irregular astigmatism. These factors can be attributed to the high sectility and relatively generally unsupported character of a cornea, which makes use of a scalpel, or even a conventional micro-keratome, difficult and highly subject to inaccuracies and irregularities.
In a procedure described in co-pending application Ser. No. 08/304,245, filed Sep. 12, 1994, a device is described for use in shaped removal procedures with or without a flap with greater ease and accuracy in effecting corneal vision corrections. The device, in one embodiment, comprises a shaped template member as a deformation means (with the template being adapted in shape for specific corneas and desired final shape), wherein the template is placed and centered on the anterior portion of the corneal tissue to be removed, whereby it comprises a shaped surface therein to which the anterior portion, to be removed, is adapted to be fitted and deformed by such fitting.
The deformation is predeterminately controlled, such that the surface to be cut, at the base of this anterior portion, assumes a planar configuration, which is accessible for the cutting thereof. The shaped surface of the template has a height relative to a plane at the base of the template equal to the computed difference, point by point, of the difference in height between the anterior and posterior surfaces of the portion of the corneal tissue which is to be removed. The computed difference takes into account geometrical distortion and tissue compression/or extension. As a result, the posterior surface of the lenticule to be removed (i.e. the surface to be cut) assumes the planar configuration.
For different surgical requirements of refractive corrections, a series or catalog (standard) set of templates of appropriately differing shape and dimensions may be used, though specifically adapted custom templates based on the topographic mapping, may be readily constructed, and are preferred.
The shape of the template for a given desired correction depends on the relative position of the cutting plane and it is necessary that these portions be well established. Typical circular template dimensions are 6 mm in diameter, with deviations of the surface from planarity of 150 microns or less conforming to normal corneal corrections or irregularities. Preferably the surface of the template which comes in contact with the cornea is micro-roughened to prevent corneal slippage and lateral movement during subsequent cutting and to enhance suction.
The cutting means, is described as being a round, high speed rectilinear water (or sterile saline solution) jet produced by a water pressure of between 3000 to about 20000 psi and typically between 15000 to 20000 psi. It has been shown that a small diameter water jet beam of this character provides a very smooth transverse cut in corneal tissue, with a smoothness and integrity similar to that of the original tissue surface. In addition, since the cut is transverse, with little or no force vector directly into the cornea, no hydration of the cornea is detected with this procedure. The diameter of the jet is typically 30 .mu.m but even 75 .mu.m jets are suitable. The scanning speed is 5-40 millimeters per second and the cut occurs in one second or less. It has been demonstrated that no blade produces a cut that is less damaging to the tissue and generally it is much more damaging. The total water usage is about one drop.
Corneas are never perfectly spherical and it is important that the deviations therefrom be accurately, topographically pre-determined for effecting appropriate refractive and therapeutic corrections, in any of the aforementioned procedures. With the modified lamellar keratoplasty procedure the determination is also necessary in forming the template.
In order to effect the requisite topographical measurements, and in view of the only 3% reflectivity of a typical cornea, it has been the practice to use various ultrasonic and modified optical methods in mapping the irregular topography of the anterior of the cornea, as a guide for effecting the reshaping of the cornea. The common methods of topographical mapping, such as use of ultrasonic-ranging even when computer aided (as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,721,379) have however generally entailed problems in providing the very accurate mapping required (changes on the micron level are required for effective reshaping and ultrasonic mapping does not always provide such degree of accuracy). Other methods, such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,116,115, involve the more accurate optical reflective mapping, but, because of the inherent transparency of the cornea, the method disclosed therein requires use of invasive reflective cover materials which must be placed on and exactly conformed to the anterior surface of the cornea to provide reflectivity, to provide a modicum degree of accuracy. In these techniques the number of data points, or resolution, is substantially limited.
At present, in view of deficiencies in very accurate individual topographic mapping, as well as in inherent deficiencies in the corneal reshaping laser instrument, utilization of the excimer laser to provide refractive vision corrections has resulted in refraction corrections of myopia with an accuracy of only about .+-.1 diopter, far less than that obtainable with corrective external lenses.
Most of the corneal topography machines provide a map of local corneal curvature which directly relates to refractive power at the point where the curvature is determined. For accurate reshaping of the cornea it is necessary to have an elevation map. The curvature map can be derived from the elevation map but the reverse is not true. The basis for this is imbedded in the mathematics of curve fitting.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an extremely accurate non-invasive reflective topographic mapping method and device, suitable for use with a nearly transparent cornea, in corneal reshaping.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide such topographic mapping device and method for use in shaping a corneal template for reshaping the cornea by means of a keratome such as formed from a water jet.
These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more evident from the following discussion and drawings in which:

Topographical cornea mapping for corneal vision correction


A system and method in which read information is calculated with additional information as a coefficient and has superior in quality to basic information. The read information contains a larger amount of information than the basic information. So, even if an attempt is made to record the read information as it is to any other recording medium, the recording medium having a sufficiently large capacity for storage of the read information. Thus, copy of recorded data in the recording medium to any other recording medium is difficult.

Heretofore, there have been proposed various types of recording media for recording various kinds of information signals such as video signals, music signals, computer programs or the like. Such recording media are used in the form of a so-called magnetic disk, optical disk or semiconductor memory. Also, information signals to be recorded to these recording medium are digital and analog.
For example, an optical disk having digital data recorded therein includes a disc substrate formed from a transparent material and on which there are formed very tiny holes corresponding to information signals as digital data, that is, pits, and a reflective layer formed on the pits. In this optical disk, a light beam is irradiated to the pits through the disk substrate and a reflected light from the pits is detected, to thereby read information signals recorded by the pits.
Information signals recorded on the recording medium such as the above-mentioned optical disk can easily be copied as they are, namely, in the digital form, to another recording medium. For example, use of the method and apparatus for forming pits on an original optical disk permits to form the same bits as those on the original optical disk onto another optical disk on the basis of digital data read from the original optical disk. Also, the digital data read from the optical disk can be recorded to a recording medium of any other type such as a magneto-optical disk or the like.
Different from analog data, the digital data thus copied are quite the same in quality of images and sounds demodulated from the copied digital data and in computer operation based on the digital data as the original digital data. That is, the copied digital data can be said to have the same value and quality as the original digital data.
However, if data can be copied as above without any degradation in value and quality, the copyright for the digital data will not possibly be protected adequately.
More specifically, a price of a recoding medium having digital data normally recorded therein and which is to be normally sold includes a so-called copyright royalty as a charge for use of the digital data recorded in the recording medium. Payment of the charge for use to the copyrighter for the digital data is the protection of the copyright. If the digital data copied without permission of the copyrighter is the same in value and quality as the original digital data, however, a person going to use the digital data will not use a low-price recording medium having the digital data copied thereto without buying the regular recording medium at the regular price including the royalty. Thus, the copyrighter for the digital data will not be paid appropriately for a number of persons actually having the digital data as well as for a number of times the digital data has been used.
Recently, to prevent digital data of a copyrighter from being illegally copied, there has been demanded a recording medium from which data cannot easily be copied.

Record medium and its reproducer, reproducing method, record medium manufacturing apparatus, record medium manufacturing method, and recorder


A system and method for handling complex instructions are provided. The process includes generating a jump instruction from an address which may be embedded in a computer instruction and selecting the original instruction if it was not complex or the jump instruction if it was.

Computers routinely perform complex tasks by breaking a single, complex task into a series of simpler instructions that the computer understands. These instructions are commonly referred to as "machine instructions," meaning that they are instructions which a computer processor chip can understand. In fact, even the simplest task for a human may involve a complex set of many different machine instructions. For example, a typical computer-processing chip will need to perform a number of different steps just to count from 2 to 10. A processor may: convert the number 2 into a binary-based value of one's and zero's and store the result in an area of memory known as a register; convert the number to increment by, i.e., the value of 1, to a binary-based value and store the result in another register; convert and store the value of 10 in yet another register; pass the binary values contained in the first two registers to circuits for adding two numbers together; store the sum back in the first register; check the new value in the first register against the value in the second register; and depending on the result of the comparison, repeat the process of adding and storing.
In fact, machine instructions may be broken down into even smaller machine instructions. For example, many chips are based on the CISC architecture (Complex Instruction Set Computer). In CISC, machine instructions can range from relatively simple to rather complex. During operation, each machine instruction is first converted into one or more "microinstructions" and the computer chip then executes the individual microinstructions. The conversion of machine instructions into microinstructions takes up processing time.
Accordingly, in order to increase processing speed, many computer chips now eliminate the conversion step. For example, as its name implies, RISC-based computer systems (Reduced Instruction Set Computer) tend to limit the machine instructions to a set of those instructions that can be immediately executed by the processor in a single time cycle throughput (A RISC processor needs multiple cycles to execute a instruction through a pipeline, but the throughput of the execution is one clock cycle). Thus, the delay in converting the machine instruction is avoided.
However, despite the limited and simplified instructions, many processor chips need to emulate more complex instructions. In some systems, when the chip sees a complex instruction which it cannot execute in a single step, it jumps to an area of the chip which breaks the complex instruction down into individual machine instructions. For example, programs are typically stored as a list of machine instructions, and each machine instruction is stored at its own unique address. The processor generally executes the instructions in sequence unless instructed to jump to a different address. So, when the processor encounters a complex instruction, it may implement a Jump and Link instruction to the area of the chip containing machine instructions that emulate the complex instruction. Specifically, the Jump and Link instruction causes the processor to store the address of the current instruction and then jump to a new address. The processor then executes the machine instruction at the new address. The processor continues executing those instructions until it encounters an instruction to return to the place of the jump. Upon returning, the processor picks up where it left off, i.e., the instruction at the address following the original Jump and Link instruction.
Complex instructions can be emulated using software or hardware. For example, some systems use no special hardware to implement complex instructions; their opcodes are treated as reserved instruction opcodes, which generate exception interrupts. In the interrupt procedure, the complex instruction opcode is examined to check if it is an illegal instruction code or to be emulated as a complex instruction. In other systems, the CPU has hardware to convert a complex instruction to multiple implemented simple instructions, such as microcodes. In these systems, the converting hardware may become quite complex.
There is a need for a system and method which is capable of quickly emulating complex instructions.

System and method for processing complex computer instructions


Provided is a method, system and program for storing data for later retrieval and for transfer within a storage hierarchy. A data storage subsystem stores both individual user files and also managed files, each managed file comprising an aggregation of multiple user files. After receiving user files from a client station, the subsystem stores user files in a retrieval storage pool to facilitate file retrieval. Criteria are subsequently applied to the user files stored in the retrieval storage pool to delete low or lower priority files from the retrieval storage pool. In addition, user files are aggregated in managed files for transfer to another location within the storage hierarchy.

1. Field
The present description relates to a method, system, and program for storing data in a manner which facilitates data retrieval and transfer.
2. Description of Related Art
There are various known techniques for backing up data. These backup techniques are often implemented using a storage-management server which can store data objects such as user files in one or more locations often referred to as storage pools. The storage-management server frequently uses a database for tracking information about the stored objects, including the attributes and locations of the objects in the storage pools.
One backup technique typically includes a "tape rotation" procedure, in which full, differential and incremental backups are made from a machine at a client node to a storage such as tape storage. A full backup of all of the objects stored on a client node is usually made on a periodic basis (e.g., weekly). During each cycle from one full backup to the next full backup, differential backups may be made in which objects which have changed since the last full backup are backed up. Also incremental backups may be made in which objects which have changed since the last backup operation are backed up. These differential or incremental backups are typically performed on a more frequent basis than full backups. For example, differential or incremental backups may be performed daily. After some number of cycles of full, differential and incremental backups, tapes from the earliest cycle are often reused.
In this approach, every object on the client machine is typically backed up every time a full backup is made, which can result in substantial network traffic and demands for storage on the storage-management server. Another approach which is used by some storage-management servers, such as the Tivoli Storage Manager™ (TSM™) product marketed by International Business Machines Corporation (IBM), utilizes a "progressive incremental" methodology, in which objects are backed up once from a client node and thereafter are typically not backed up again unless the object changes. In combination with the progressive incremental procedures, object-level policy rules may be used to control the retention time and the number of versions which are maintained for stored objects. For example, the storage-management server can be configured to retain an "active" version, that is, an object currently residing on the client node, and a specified number of inactive versions, that is, objects that once resided on the client node but have since been deleted or modified.
Still further, a storage pool hierarchy may be implemented which allows data to be stored on a range of devices having varying characteristics such as cost and performance. Certain policies for managing data can be applied at the storage pool level to determine the appropriate device upon which objects are to be stored.
After being stored on the storage-management server, data objects can be moved and copied using data-transfer operations such as migration in which objects are moved from one storage pool to another storage pool. For example, an object may be migrated from relatively fast and expensive storage such as a disk to relatively slow and inexpensive storage such as tape. Additional data transfer operations include storage pool backups in which objects in one storage pool are duplicated or copied to another pool for availability and recovery purposes.
Various techniques have been applied or proposed to increase operational efficiency. For example, storage pools for sequential-access media such as magnetic tape can be configured for "collocation" which causes the storage-management server to group data for the same client node on the same tape or tapes. Also, small objects on the storage-management server can be aggregated together into a single entity as they are received by the storage-management server. U.S. Pat. No. 6,098,074 describes an aggregation technique in which objects being stored are aggregated into a "managed file." The objects may thereafter be tracked and moved as a single managed file within the storage hierarchy. When appropriate, individual objects can be processed individually such as for deletion or retrieval operations.
Further improvements in data storage may be useful in a variety of applications.

Method, system, and program for storing data for retrieval and transfer


A stand for removably securing a housing of an electrical instrument to another structure. The stand has a support arm connected to the housing, with a free end movable with respect to the housing. A grip element is connected to the arm and is movable over a range of positions along the arm. The grip element has a resilient spring portion biased toward a neutral position near the arm, and the spring portion is movable to a flexed position away from the arm. Thus, the instrument may be secured to a structure by biasing the spring portion against a portion of the structure, often by capturing part of the structure between the spring and the housing, or between the spring and the arm.

A portable hand held electronic instrument such as a digital multimeter may be used in a wide variety of environments. Often, devices under test are located away from conventional table or bench surfaces on which an instrument might normally rest. Because it is often necessary for a technician to have both hands free while using the instrument, a suitable resting or hanging place for the instrument must be found near the circuit under test.
Accordingly, existing instruments have been provided with hinged stands connected to the back of an instrument, so that the instrument may be propped at an angle for viewing on a table top. One such stand also permits the instrument to be suspended by the stand from a variety of structures when a table surface is not available. As disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,940,204 to Nelson et al., a flexible instrument stand may be bent to a variety of shapes for propping the instrument at various angles, and for hanging the instrument on various objects such as a pipe, conduit, nail or stud. The described stand is a planar elastomeric sheet stiffened by a pair of heavy brass wires. These wires permit the stand to be bent into a variety of shapes, and help the stand to retain its shape, in the manner of a wire-reinforced rubber "GUMBY" doll.
While providing some versatility, this existing flexible stand is suitable for connection only to a limited variety of structures, with large pipes or thick walls being particularly difficult. Also, the stand must be straightened for compact stowage against the back of the instrument. It is difficult to avoid residual bends or ripples, which give the instrument an untidy, imprecise aesthetic appearance. Further, a bendable wire has a limited life, and is susceptible to breakage after repeated flexing, particularly at the sharper angles that may be needed to provide increased versatility of connections. When a reinforcing wire breaks, the stand may be rendered useless to support the instrument.
The embodiments disclosed herein overcome these limitations by providing a stand for removably securing a housing of an electrical instrument to another structure. The stand has a support arm connected to the housing, with a free end movable with respect to the housing. A grip element is connected to the arm and is movable over a range of positions along the arm. The grip element has a resilient spring portion biased toward a neutral position near the arm, and the spring portion is movable to a flexed position away from the arm. Thus, the instrument may be secured to a structure by biasing the spring portion against a portion of the structure, often by capturing part of the structure between the spring and the housing, or between the spring and the arm.


A surgical drill alignment guide is disclosed that can provide an accurate trajectory for placement of a bone screw along a longitudinal axis of a bone.

A successful treatment of bone fractures often depend on accurate placement of k-wires or bone screws for reducing or compressing the fracture. Often, a surgeon must visually estimate the trajectory of a drill bit for drilling a hole along a long axis of a bone to prepare for a k-wire or a bone screw. When these bones are inside the patient's body such as a hand or a foot, visually estimating the trajectory is difficult. Thus, a drill alignment or a targeting guide that can facilitate such procedure is desired.


An apparatus and method for mounting various audio devices to a flat panel display employing mounting holes disposed on a rearward face of the panel of the flat panel display that are otherwise normally employed to couple a support of the flat panel display to the panel of the flat panel display, wherein a hub supporting rods that in turn support the audio devices is coupled to the rearward face of the panel with the aid of those holes, and wherein the hub and rods together convey electrical signals between at least one of the audio devices and at least one cable.

Microphones, speakers, audio controls and other audio devices have been provided with numerous ways in which to be mounted in both residential and commercial settings over many years. As computers have recently acquired more advanced audio capabilities, and as home televisions employing only built-in speakers have recently been supplanted by home entertainment systems incorporating numerous distinct speakers (i.e., speakers that are physically separate from a display) to provide higher quality sound, ever more ways of mounting multimedia devices, especially audio devices, have been devised.
However, with the growing prevalence of flat panel displays in both computer systems and home entertainment systems, the opportunity to provide the visual display function in a more compact and less visually objectionable form has spurred on a desire to implement audio components in ways that are also less visually objectionable. As a result, more compact forms of speakers and other audio components are being created.
In this transition to thinner displays and more compact audio devices, finding ways to conceal the plethora of cables interconnecting these devices has now become a more prominent issue. Before this transition, the sheer size of tube-based and rear-projection televisions and computer displays tended to have the effect of relegating the unsightly nature of numerous cables draped between devices to being a largely insubstantial issue. Indeed, the bulkier cabinetry of these displays was often relied upon to conceal such cables. However, with this present day transition to thinner displays, there is now at least a perceived opportunity to "clean up" the overall appearance of computer and home entertainment installations, and a decreasing willingness to tolerate the unsightly and cluttered appearance of so many cables.
However, although ever greater attention has been given to the design of flat panel displays and compact speakers to increasingly mitigate their visual impact on a home or office interior, solutions for the routing and concealment of cables to achieve the same effect have been somewhat lacking. In particular, the installation of compact speakers and microphones alongside flat panel displays, including flat panel computer displays and flat panel televisions, continues to be accompanied by an unsightly tangle of cabling conveying both power and various audio/visual signals. This is expected to become ever more of an issue as the distinction between computer and entertainment functions becomes ever more blurred, and as still other devices incorporating both audio and visual functionality (e.g., video phone systems) begin to become commonplace. As such convergences of functionality take hold, the tangle of cabling accompanying such devices is only expected to become worse.


Backup rings are disposed on opposed sides of a sealing element. The backup rings are initially bow shaped in the run in position. Opposed ends of the bow shape are brought together to extend the extrusion barriers and compress the sealing element. The relative axial movement that brings the opposed ends of the bow shape together results in radially extending the bow shape. The bow shape is reformed into a teardrop shape that extends radially beyond a pinch location created by relative axial movement of adjacent support members coming closer together. A sealing element extends radially during the deployment of the extrusion barriers and is contained between them. The extension of the extrusion barriers allows conformance to surface irregularities in the surrounding tubular or wellbore wall.

When packers are set to isolate zones in a subterranean location the differential pressure across the sealing element can force that element to extrude axially in the direction of the pressure differential. Backup ring structures have been used to address the tendency to extrude under differential pressure loading. A collection of segments that overlap and can be forced out by relative axial component movement have been tried such as in US Publication 2011/0036561 and US Publication 2010/0071908. Despite the use of many segments to make an annular backup assembly the nature of the way the parts fit together and move radially does not always allow the components to adequately conform to out of roundness or surface irregularities of the surrounding tubular or the wellbore wall.
Some designs provided cup shaped backup ring stacks that has staggered slots as between layers as an extrusion barrier in expansion ranges up to 25%. U.S. Pat. No. 6,827,150 is an illustration of one such design. Others are U.S. Pat. No. 7,128,145; US Publication 2004/0149429 and 2005/0115720. Other high expansion packer designs are US Re 32,831; U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,311,778; 6,318,461 and 6,164,375.
Despite the variation of designs for backup rings as extrusion barriers the issue of gaps around the periphery remained and is addressed by the present invention.
In the field of metal to metal seals a design has been developed that features a bow shaped sealing element that is axially compressed at opposed base locations and then pinched between two relatively movable members as the element extends to make metal to metal contact with the opposing tubular as illustrated in US Publication 2009/0071641. In one embodiment soft metals or elastomers can be added at the opposing wall contact location to address the wall imperfections of the surrounding tubular to enhance the performance of the seal. A variation of this design for seals uses a flimsy metal annular shape filled with rubber and compressed on opposed ends so that the metal outer shape obtains structure from the interior fill material to seal against the surrounding tubular. This design is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,775,429 with many variations including an application as an extrusion barrier in FIGS. 8 and 9.
The present invention focuses on improving performance of backup rings where conformance to irregular surfaces is a feature. Axial relative movement results in collapsing a bow shaped backup ring on either side of a sealing element when the backup rings are converted to a teardrop shape by pinching along a length of the radially extending shape with relative axial movement between compressing members that support the ends of the bow shape. These and other aspects of the present invention will be more readily apparent to those skilled in the art from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and associated drawings while recognizing that the full scope of the invention is to be found in the appended claims.

Backup system for packer sealing element


The invention relates to detection of epileptiform activity. In order to accomplish a mechanism with improved specificity to epileptiform activity and with the capability to detect specific type of epileptic patterns, brain wave signal data obtained from a subject is decomposed into at least one predetermined subband, each subband being indicative of a specific type of epileptiform activity. The subband-specific output data obtained represents a time series of a quantitative characteristic of the brain wave signal data. At least one measure is determined for any one or more of the at least one predetermined subband, the at least one measure belonging to a measure set comprising a first measure indicative of the entropy of the subband-specific output data and a second measure indicative of a normalized form of k:th order central moment of the subband-specific output data, where k is an integer higher than three. The presence of a specific type of epileptiform activity may be detected based on the at least one measure of the respective subband.

Electroencephalography (EEG) is a well-established method for assessing brain activity. When measurement electrodes are attached on the skin of the skull surface, the weak biopotential signals generated in brain cortex may be recorded and analyzed. The EEG has been in wide use for decades in basic research of the neural systems of the brain as well as in the clinical diagnosis of various central nervous system diseases and disorders.
The EEG signal represents the sum of excitatory and inhibitory potentials of large numbers of cortical pyramidal neurons, which are organized in columns. Each EEG electrode senses the average activity of several thousands of cortical pyramidal neurons.
The EEG signal is often divided into four different frequency bands: Delta (0.5-3.5 Hz), Theta (3.5-7.0 Hz), Alpha (7.0-13.0 Hz), and Beta (13.0-32.0 Hz). In an adult, Alpha waves are found during periods of wakefulness, and they may disappear entirely during sleep. Beta waves are recorded during periods of intense activation of the central nervous system. The lower frequency Theta and Delta waves reflect drowsiness and periods of deep sleep.
Different derangements of internal system homeostasis disturb the environment in which the brain operates, and therefore the function of the brain and the resulting EEG are disturbed. The EEG signal is a very sensitive measure of these neuronal derangements, which might be reflected in the EEG signal either as changes in membrane potentials or as changes in synaptic transmission. A change in synaptic transmission occurs whenever there is an imbalance between consumption and supply of energy in the brain. This means that the EEG signal serves as an early warning of a developing injury in the brain.
According to the present state of knowledge, the EEG signal is regarded as an effective tool for monitoring changes in the cerebral state of a patient. Diagnostically, the EEG is not specific, since many systemic disorders of the brain produce similar EEG manifestations. In Intensive Care Units, an EEG signal may be of critical value, as it may differentiate between broad categories of psychogenic, epileptic, metabolic-toxic, encephalopatic and focal conditions.
Epilepsy is the most common neurological disorder, affecting about one percent of the population at some time in their life. One proposed mechanism for the onset of an epileptic seizure is that neurons in a particular region of the brain become synchronized, leading to a reduction of EEG signal complexity in that area. The theory is proved correct by intracranial EEG recordings, cf. McSharry et al.: Comparison of Predictability of Epileptic Seizures by a Linear and Nonlinear Method, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 50, No. 5, May 2003, pp. 628-633. However, when brain activity is recorded from the scalp, the measured signal is a composition originating from multiple sources and methods indicative of the complexity of the signal show an increase during a seizure, cf. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,743,860 and 5,857,978.
Just as there are numerous seizure types, any type of seizure may manifest as status epilepticus (SE). SE is usually defined as more than 30 minutes of (1) continuous seizure activity, or (2) two or more sequential seizures without full recovery of consciousness between the seizures. Status epilepticus is often divided into convulsive and nonconvulsive types. The EEG, which demonstrates ongoing ictal activity, can be used to further subdivide SE into either generalized (abnormal activity in the whole brain) or partial SE (abnormal activity in a particular region of the brain). Convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) is the most serious, frequent, and most easily recognized type of SE. It may occur either in primary generalized epilepsy or be secondarily generalized. It is characterized by loss of consciousness and recurrent or continuous convulsions. CSE is a medical emergency and is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Nonconvulsive status epilepticus is often defined as an epileptic state of more than 30 minutes with some clinically evident change in mental status or behaviour from baseline and ictal activity in the EEG.
In status epilepticus, the epileptiform spikes typically last only for a fraction of seconds, but the use of the EEG leans towards the fact that by using long lasting recordings, the EEG signal can reflect slow trend changes. Also, if a seizure occurs during measurements, the EEG signal helps to categorize the epileptiform patterns and seizure activity as a specific type of epilepsy, as well as identify the non-convulsive forms of status epilepticus. In addition, the EEG signal may be used as a control tool for inducing a barbiturate sleep to a level where there are no visible seizures.
Encephalopathy commonly refers to central nervous system dysfunction of any cause, and it can be classified further as either an epileptic encephalopathy or epileptiform encephalopathy. While epileptic encephalopathies are characterized by frequent seizures, epileptiform encephalopathies refer to disorders with epileptiform activity without marked clinical seizure activity. As mentioned above, epileptiform activity commonly refers to signal waveforms or patterns which are typical in epilepsy and which may also be associated with an increased risk of seizures. However, due to the relationship between epilepsy and encephalopathy, similar waveforms or patterns may also appear in other states than in epilepsy, such as in encephalopathy. It is also to be noted in this context that detected epileptiform activity does not alone confirm a diagnosis, but the patient needs to be further examined.
Most of the metabolic and systemic disorders have EEG correlates, and if there is a disturbance of conscious level, the EEG is never normal. However, the EEG findings in encephalopathy have many similarities to those during sedation and anesthesia, which makes the detection of encephalopathy in sedated patients difficult. Generally, when a patient loses consciousness, a shift of spectral power towards lower frequencies appears. Generalized slowing apply also in the case of encephalopathy, however additive periodical and miscellaneous patters often appear in the EEG. Periodical patterns can be, for example, periodic lateralizing epileptiform discharge (PLED) or burst suppression. Miscellaneous patterns are, for example, triphasic waves. Triphasic waves occur about 20-25% of the hepatic encephalopathy patients being, however, not a specific feature for this disease only. They can occur also in other metabolic diseases and noncolvulsive status epilepticus.
In epilepsy, the EEG may include spiky waveforms. While the frequency contents of the spikes may reach up to about 70 Hz, the epileptiform EEG activity is typically below 30 Hz. Periodical patterns of lower frequencies are also typical to epileptiform activity. These patterns include, for example, periodic epileptiform discharges and spike-wave-complexes.
Numerous automatic techniques have been described for the detection and prediction of epileptiform activity. Most of the known methods utilize the whole spectra of an EEG signal. Therefore, the methods are not enough specific to the epileptiform activity only. For example, a spectral entropy has been utilized for investigating the relationships between epileptiform discharges and background EEG activity, cf. T. Inouye et al.: Abnormality of background EEG determined by the entropy of power spectra in epileptic patients, Electroencephalography and clinical Neurophysiology, 82 (1992), pp. 203-207. Epileptiform activity increases the spectral entropy values of the EEG signal data, but the values still remain below the baseline of a conscious patient. The above-mentioned U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,743,860 and 5,857,978 in turn describe analysis methods in which the detection of epilectic seizures is based on non-linear measures of the signal data, such as Kolmogorov entropy. The signal data may be EEG signal data or magnetoencephalographic (MEG) signal data. MEG is indicative of the magnetic component of brain activity, i.e. it is the magnetic counterpart of EEG.
Methods based on wavelet transformation of the EEG signal data have also been proposed for analyzing brain signals, cf. Rosso O A, Blanco S, Yordanova J, Kolev V, Figliola A, Schurmann M, Basar E: Wavelet entropy: a new tool for analysis of short duration brain electrical signals. Journal of Neuroscience Methods 105 (2001), pp. 65-75. In this method, entropy is calculated from the power distribution between the decomposition levels of the transform. In that sense, the technique is thus related to the determination of spectral entropy. However, spectral information is now derived by means of a wavelet transform instead of a Fourier transform.
The article Rosso O A, Blanco S., Rabinowitz A. Wavelet analysis of generalized tonic-clonic epileptic seizures, Signal Processing 2003; 83(6): 1275-1289, describes a wavelet-based method for the analysis of generalized tonic-clonic epileptic seizures. The identification of these seizures is aggravated by the simultaneous muscle activity disturbing the EEG signal. The article describes that wavelet entropy corresponding to a frequency band of 0.8 to 12.8 Hz is lower during seizures than during pre- and post-seizure periods. When a wider frequency band of 0.8 to 51.2 Hz is used, the wavelet entropy first increases at the beginning of seizure, which might be caused by muscle activity.
A further wavelet-based method for analyzing an EEG is described in Geva A B, Kerem D H: Forecasting Generalized Epileptic Seizures from EEG Signal by Wavelet Analysis and Dynamic Unsupervised Fuzzy Clustering, IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering, vol. 45, October 1998, pp. 1205-1216. The method, which is intended for forecasting a generalized epileptic seizure, relies on the existence in the EEG of a preseizure state and utilizes fuzzy clustering for classifying temporal EEG patterns.
One drawback related to the above techniques for automatic detection of epileptiform activity is the weak specificity to epileptiform activity. Therefore, epileptiform activity cannot be distinguished from changes in the level of consciousness of the patient. For example, in the above-described methods based on wavelet entropy the entropy values obtained during an epileptic seizure are typically between the wavelet entropies of the conscious and unconscious states of a patient. Therefore, the methods cannot distinguish, for example, whether an increase in the wavelet entropy is caused by an epileptiform EEG of anesthetized patient or the arousal of the patient.
A further drawback of the prior art detection techniques is that they cannot indicate when a specific type of epileptiform activity is present in the EEG or which type of epileptiform waveforms are present in the EEG signal. Many of the algorithms are also rather complex and require high computation power, which makes them unsuitable for ambulatory devices.
The present invention seeks to eliminate the above-mentioned drawbacks and to bring about a mechanism for detecting epileptiform activity with improved specificity and with the capability to detect specific type of epileptiform signal patterns in the brain wave data obtained from a patient.


When a test mode signal is rendered active by a signal given from an external terminal, a CPU reads and runs various self-testing programs stored in a ROM. When any of the test programs comes to a process of testing a security circuit, a security test signal is rendered active and when a predetermined address is accessed then, a selector is switched to a register side by the output signal of an AND circuit of a test circuit. An illegitimate instruction, for example, is set in the register and is given to the CPU. Whether the security circuit has failure is determined by checking if an illegitimate access detection signal is output when the CPU executes the illegitimate instruction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a microcomputer having a security function, such as an IC card, and, more particularly, to a microcomputer having a test circuit for testing the security function and a test method therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, LSIs (Large Scale Integration circuits) suffer operational defects originated from productional defects at a certain probability in the fabrication process of making fine processes on silicon wafers or assembling the LSIs into packages. At the time of fabrication, therefore, a supply voltage and a signal are applied to completed LSIs to test if the LSIs operate as expected and a defective LSI, if any, is then removed. To improve the controllability and observability, a test facilitating design to preinstall a test circuit, such as a circuit with a scan capability, is taken at the time of designing logics of each LSI.
The "controllability" means the capability to set an arbitrary signal in an LSI to any level ("H" or "L") and the "observability" means the capability to detect the level of an arbitrary signal in an LSI. Because it is not possible to output the levels of all the signals from an LSI and directly detect them, the scan capability employs such a structure as to output the levels of the internal signals as variations in output patterns of specific terminals.
To increase the controllability and observability is to be able to control and detect internal signals, and therefore means lowering the security level in case of an LSI associated with security. In other words, an improvement on the controllability and observability makes it easier to read data which should not be known by an unauthorized person, such as a password or a private key.
For a microcomputer for an IC card, particularly, the ISO 7816 standards define terminal shapes and the electric characteristics of signals and limit the number of external connection terminals to five, namely, power supply terminals (VDD and GND), clock terminal (CLK), reset terminal (RST) and a serial data terminal (SIO) for half duplex communication. Because of its security usage and fewer terminals for external connection, such a microcomputer has various restrictions on testing.
Further, a microcomputer for advanced security, which can download an application program from outside and run the program, requires an advanced security function to execute a specific instruction in an application program and inhibit an access and jump or the like to a specific area in order to protect against a process of downloading an illegitimate program and reading and writing data, such as a password and a private key.
FIG. 2 is structural diagram showing one example of a conventional microcomputer having the aforementioned function.
This microcomputer has a CPU (Central Processing Unit) 1, ROMs (Read Only Memories: non-volatile memories) 2 and 3, a RAM (Random Access Memory) 4, a peripheral circuit 5, a bus (or bridge) 6, a security circuit 7, a test circuit 8 and a test mode detection circuit 9.
The CPU 1 executes instructions stored in memories, such as the ROMs 2 and 3, one after another. The ROM 2 is a memory where a program, such as an OS (Operating System), which determines the main operations of the microcomputer, is stored. The ROM 3 is a memory where a program for a chip production test, a minimum library for security, sub routines for function calls and the like are stored.
The RAM 4 is a memory to store data and temporarily store a program, and includes a non-volatile memory which is electrically reprogrammable. The peripheral circuit 5 performs encryption and communication with an external circuit. The bus 6 connects the CPU 1 to other circuits, such as the ROMs 2 and 3, and is a bridge circuit which makes a bus connection, such as a tristate bus or OR bus, and adjusts logics and a timing between blocks.
The security circuit 7 monitors addresses or instructions, read by the CPU 1, one after another and sends an illegitimate access detection signal IL to the CPU 1 to cause the CPU 1 to perform an adequate process when there has been an access to a program area or a data area an access to which to execute a instruction or write or read data is not permitted.
The test circuit 8 has a plurality of test signal input terminals 8a provided on the chip but connected to no external circuit and a selector 8b whose switching is controlled by a test mode signal TM. The test circuit 8 gives test instructions to the CPU 1 from the test signal input terminals 8a through the probe of a testing apparatus at the time of carrying out a production test and causes the CPU 1 to execute a sequence of arbitrary instructions to test if the CPU 1 can properly execute the application program or if the peripheral circuit 5 operates properly.
The test mode detection circuit 9 detects the pattern of a specific sequence of signals given to the terminals CLK, RST and SIO and enables the test mode signal TM for the test circuit 8 to indicate that the microcomputer has been set to the test mode.
In the testing operation that is executed at the time of manufacturing such a microcomputer, a specific signal pattern for setting the test mode is given to the terminals CLK, RST and SIO. This enables the test mode signal TM output from the test mode detection circuit 9, thus connecting the test signal input terminals 8a of the test circuit 8 to the CPU 1. Further, test instructions are given to the test signal input terminals 8a of the test circuit 8 and the CPU 1 is allowed to execute a sequence of arbitrary instructions to test if the CPU 1 can properly execute the application program or if the peripheral circuit 5 operates properly.
In the normal operation mode, the security circuit 7 always monitors an address ADR output from the CPU 1 and determines whether or not an access is directed to within an allowed area. If the access is directed to an allowed area, the instructions read from the memory, such as the ROM 2 or ROM 3, are directly executed by the CPU 1. If the access is directed to an unauthorized area, the security circuit 7 outputs the illegitimate access detection signal IL and the CPU 1 performs a process such as interruption of the execution of the program or invalidation of the access.
The conventional microcomputer however has the following problems.
(a) The test circuit 8 has the test signal input terminals 8a to provide test instructions supplied from an external testing apparatus. Because the test signal input terminals 8a, though not connected to external input/output pins, are formed on the chip as test pads, there is a danger that a malignant third party performs security violation, such as reading data through the pads or downloading an illegitimate program.
(b) In case where the wire pattern for the illegitimate access detection signal IL is short-circuited with the power supply GND or VDD or the transistor which outputs the illegitimate access detection signal IL from the security circuit 7 has an operational failure, it is not possible to detect that the illegitimate access detection signal IL is not output properly. The reason for this shortcoming is as follows.
The CPU 1 should self-test the security function based on the test program stored in the ROM 3 and output data indicating the presence/absence of a failure from the terminals CLK, RST and SIO. To achieve it, the user application stored in, for example, the RAM 4 should cause an exceptional state (a state where execution of an illegitimate instruction has been detected) and the CPU 1 should detect the exceptional state and detect that the exceptional state does not occur in the proper operation mode as the flow of execution of the test program or a change in read data, without executing a program at the jumping destination. The reason why the program at the jumping destination cannot be run is that the OS is stored in the ROM 2 and it is not possible to specify which instruction is stored at which address, so that if the program at the jumping destination is run, the subsequent operation of the CPU 1 cannot be specified and the flow cannot return to the test program. Therefore, the structure of the microcomputer in FIG. 2 cannot carry out such a process.


A work function setting metal stack includes a configuration of layers including a high dielectric constant layer and a diffusion prevention layer formed on the high dielectric constant layer. An aluminum doped TiC layer has a thickness greater than 5 nm wherein the configuration of layers is employed between two regions as a diffusion barrier to prevent mass diffusion between the two regions.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to semiconductor devices, and more particularly to devices and methods for fabricating such devices with work function setting metal layers, which are more compatible with narrower spaces between semiconductor regions.
Description of the Related Art
In nanometer scale devices, gate structures are often disposed between fin structures or other conducting structures, such as nanosheets. In many instances, the conducting or semiconducting structures are formed closer together due to scaling to smaller node technology sizes. This can be a limiting factor in the reduction of the device size scaling. With narrower gaps, it becomes more important to prevent oxygen diffusion between and into these narrow structures. In one example, a gate structure that permits oxygen diffusion into the gate dielectric can experience detrimental threshold voltage changes.
While finFETs and/or nanosheets can benefit from tight device-device spacing, these dimensions may limit scaling of these devices. Further, devices requiring thicker dielectric for higher voltage operation are even more severely limited in the allowable dimensions.

Stable work function for narrow-pitch devices

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