A process for removing residues from the microstructure of an object is provided, which comprises steps of preparing a remover including carbon dioxide, an additive for removing the residues and a co-solvent dissolving the additive in said carbon dioxide at a pressurized fluid condition; and bringing the object into contact with the remover so as to remove the residues from the object. A composition for removing residues from the microstructure of an object is also provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process and a composition for removing residues from the microstructure of an object. The present invention specifically relates to a process and a composition for removing residues such as resists, generated during a semiconductor manufacturing process from a semiconductor wafer surface having a fine structure of convex and concave portions.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is required as one step in manufacturing a semiconductor wafer to remove residues, such as photoresists, UV-hardened resists, X-ray hardened resists, ashed resists, carbon-fluorine containing polymer, plasma etch residues, and organic or inorganic contaminants from the other steps of the manufacturing process. The dry and wet removal methods are commonly used. In the wet removal method, the semiconductor wafer is dipped in an agent, such as a water solution, including a remover to remove residues from the surface of semiconductor wafer.
Recently, super critical carbon dioxide is used as such an agent because of its low viscosity and high diffusivity. According to such properties, cleaning with super critical carbon dioxide provide several advances in the treatment of microstructures, such as high penetration into small areas between microstructures and successfully drying microstructures because of non liquid-liquid interface in the super critical phase.
However, super critical carbon dioxide is not enough by itself to remove several residues from the surface of the semiconductor wafer. To resolve this problem, several additives to super critical carbon dioxide are proposed. As described in the Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 10-125644, methane or surfactant having CFx group is used as an additive to super critical carbon dioxide. In Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 8-191063, dimethylsulfoxide or dimethyl-formamide is used as such an additive. However, based on the inventors' studies, these additives are not always effective for removing residues. Especially, when the cleaning object is like a wafer which consist of low dielectric constant materials, the quality of such wafer decreased after treatments by such process using alkaline compounds and water. This might be occurred because basic compounds and water caused damages on low dielectric constant materials, especially on materials having dielectric constant lower than 4. (hereinafter referred to as low-k materials) Thus, the present invention is objected to provide a novel and effective cleaning without significant damage to the low-k materials.

Process and composition for removing residues from the microstructure of an object


A hardware/software system and method that collectively enables virtualization of the host computer's native I/O system architecture via the Internet and LANs. The invention includes a solution to the problems of the relatively narrow focus of iSCSI, the direct connect limitation of PCI Express, and the inaccessibility of PCI Express for expansion in blade architectures.

There is growing acceptance of techniques that leverage networked connectivity for extending and centralizing the resources of host computer systems. In particular, networked connectivity is being widely utilized for specialized applications such as attaching storage to computers. iSCSI makes use of TCP/IP as a transport for the SCSI parallel bus to enable low cost remote centralization of storage. The problem with iSCSI is it has a relatively narrow (storage) focus and capability.
Another trend is the move towards definition and virtualization of multiple computing machines within one host system. Virtualization is particularly well suited for blade server installations where the architecture is optimized for high density compute resources and pooled storage. The virtualization of CPU cycles, memory resources, storage, and network bandwidth allows for unprecedented mobility, flexibility, and adaptability of computing tasks.
PCI Express, as the successor to PCI bus, has moved to the forefront as the predominant local host bus for computer system motherboard architectures. A cabled version of PCI Express allows for high performance directly attached bus expansion via docks or expansion chassis. These docks and expansion chassis may be populated with any of the myriad of widely available PCI Express or PCI/PCI-X bus adapter cards. The adapter cards may be storage oriented (i.e. Fibre Channel, SCSI), video processing, audio processing, or any number of application specific I/O functions. A limitation of PCI Express is that it is limited to direct attach expansion. A problem with certain blade server architectures is PCI Express is not easily accessible, thus expansion is awkward, difficult, or costly.
Gbps Ethernet is beginning to give way to 10 Gbps Ethernet. This significant increase in bandwidth enables unprecedented high performance applications via IP.

Virtualization of a host computer's native I/O system architecture via the internet and LANs

Arizona Board of Regents for and on behalf of Arizona State University


A hand-held power tool is provided with a housing, an attachment member, and an object sensor that is removable from the attachment member. The attachment member may be removable from the tool. The object sensor, which can be used to detect studs hidden behind walls, electrical lines, and other materials, is readily accessible to tradesmen.

Hand-held tools powered by electricity (corded (AC) or battery pack (DC)) or compressed air, such as drills, reciprocating saws, screwdrivers, and nailers are extensively used by electricians, plumbers, carpenters, and others. Common tasks for such devices generally include drilling holes, driving fasteners such as screws, and cutting various materials. Some of these tasks require the use of drill bits and tool bits that are typically stored separately from the hand-held drill.
Frequently, building tradesmen are confronted with the task of finding some suitable structure, such as a stud, hidden behind a visible wall surface to securely hold a nail or screw. Various stud sensors have been developed to locate studs. These sensors can also be used to locate conduit, exhaust vents, rebar, plumbing and other hidden material a tradesman may wish to avoid drilling or cutting into. More importantly, building tradesmen have to drill holes or cut materials in the vicinity of "live" electrical lines. Various sensors have been developed to locate electrical wires, especially "live" wires. Further, other types of sensors have been developed to help tradesmen locate and distinguish different materials hidden behind walls. Collectively, these sensors are defined as object sensors.
While highly effective, one problem with such object sensors is that they are a separate piece of equipment that the tradesman may lose or merely not carry on him when he needs it. Prior art solutions have been to provide the workers with pouches and the like that can be worn about the waist. While these pouches eliminate the need for the operator to leave the workplace to get the object sensor, the workman must remember to first place the object sensor in the pocket and then search the myriad of pockets to find the object sensor. Thus, a significant savings of time may not be realized.
One proposed solution is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,262,240, which shows a nail gun having an object sensor attached to the gun. One drawback of this device is that the object sensor is not readily removable from the nail gun and is therefore not easily used separate from the nail gun. Moreover, the sensor is attached to the tool by clamps that require yet another tool to loosen or remove the clamp and thus, the sensor.
Another proposed solution is shown in U.S. patent application publication Ser. No. 2001/0053313 A1, which shows a subsurface object locator that can be attached to the top of a drill housing and is shaped to provide a handrest for operating the drill. The disclosed device, however, requires a special drill housing and also requires several cooperating parts, which increases the cost and complexity of the device.
Therefore, there still exists a need for a hand-held power (AC and/or DC) or pneumatic tool with a removably attached object sensor that is simple to manufacture and that can be used separate from the tool.

Hand-held tool with a removable object sensor


A composition based on three strains of microorganisms to promote plant growth and serve as a plant protection product to protect plants from damaging influences including plant disease, pests or insects. The composition is comprised of Paenibacillus polymyxa M10, Azospirillum canadense B2, and Bacillus pumilus L13. A mineral mix is used to maintain the microorganism viable for a long time, maintaining high efficacy as a biopesticide and biofertilizer. The mineral mix combined with the fermented microorganisms is then further combined with a nutritional additive to enhance the biofertilizing and biopesticidal features of the composition. The resulting composition can be applied to plants in liquid form or to the soil in solid form.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a biofertilizer and biopesticide composition using microorganisms and a method for formulating and applying the composition.
2. Description of the Related Art
Several compositions for fertilizers have been designed in the past. None of them, however, include a composition that consists essentially of Bacillus pumilus strain M10, Azospirillum canadense strain B2, and Paenibacillus polymyxa strain L13 to simultaneously act like a biopesticide.
Applicant believes that the closest reference corresponds to U.S. patent application No. US 20130096003 filed by Ana Isabel Fernández Martinez, et al. However, it differs from the present invention because it does not include a method to formulate the composition in both liquid and solid forms. Moreover, it does not include a mineral mix to give the composition a slow release feature and promote the viability of the compositions in nutritionally depleted soils. Further the Fernandez application does not teach of a nutritional solution to provide for a high efficacy as a biofertilizer and biopesticide.
Other documents describing the closest subject matter provide for a number of more or less complicated features that fail to solve the problem in an efficient and economical way. None of these patents suggest the novel features of the present invention.

Composition and method for formulating a biofertilizer and biopesticide


A source-synchronous data receiver includes a storage device for sequentially storing data received from a data source, a data output device for sequentially outputting the data that is stored in the storage device, and a control for controlling the data output device, so that the data output device makes available particular data previously stored by the data storage device a programmable predetermined number of clock states after data is called for, e.g., a read command to the data source is initiated.

Conventional source-synchronous receivers receive input data synchronously with an input clock. A separate output clock provides the signals required for outputting the received data. Such a source synchronous receiver may be implemented using a circular FIFO queue that includes a number of data registers for holding the received data. An input pointer, advanced by an input clock, steers the data received from the bus to the proper register, e.g., first data is directed to go into a first register, second data into a second register, and so on. A multiplexer is connected to the data storage device and sends data from a selected data register at the proper time to an output latch. The multiplexer and the output latch typically receive their signals from the same output clock. The input clock signal, however, often has a varying phase and frequency relationship with respect to the output clock.
Progressively higher clock frequencies used in processors and on busses have placed greater demands on source-synchronous receivers to accommodate longer delays, up to several clock states or periods, and wider ranges of variations in clock instantaneous frequency and phase shift. The same amount of time delay encompasses more clock states at higher frequencies than at lower frequencies. Thus, the average overall delay in the system will depend on the system frequency and configuration. Short-term phase and frequency variations also occur. These variations must also be accommodated or compensated for in order to maintain a predictable or constant data availability time. In other words, the elapsed time or the number of clock states from the time data is called for to the time when that particular data is made available at the output of the source synchronous receiver should be a predictable system behavior in spite of frequency and phase variations that occur between the time that data is called for and the time that the called-for data is present at the input of the source synchronous receiver.

Source-synchronous receiver having a predetermined data receive time

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


Provided is an inputting device that is disposed in an opening of a cabinet surface. The device includes an elastic sheet having an outside surface disposed on an inside surface of the cabinet including the opening and across the opening. A sliding key is fixed on the outside surface of the elastic sheet with at least a portion in the opening of said cabinet surface. The device also includes sensors to detect movement, in a horizontal direction that is substantially parallel to said cabinet surface, of the sliding key. The device also includes guides being possible to be recognized optically that are disposed on designated positions on the elastic sheet, and the sensors detect the moved direction and the amount of the horizontal movement of the sliding key by reading the movements of said guides optically.

The present invention relates to an inputting device and a mobile terminal used this inputting device, in particular, which provides an operating key that is moved in the almost parallel and perpendicular directions to the surface of the cabinet of the mobile terminal, and which detects the movement of the operating key in the oblique direction on the almost parallel surface of the cabinet.


An information processing apparatus and method are provided. The information processing apparatus and method provides an attribute of a component which executes a process of reading data from an information recording medium is confirmed so that severe authentication corresponding to contents can be achieved. In authentication of a component which attempts to perform a process of data read from an information recording medium, it is confirmed whether or not an attribute of the component has a data process permission component attribute set in advance. For example, it is confirmed through the attribute confirmation whether the component is a hardware component or a software component, and only when the component is a hardware component, a process of the contents is permitted.

The present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information recording medium, an information processing method and a computer program. More specifically, the present invention relates to an information processing apparatus, an information recording medium, an information processing method and a computer program wherein an authentication process is executed for permitting a reliable component to execute various data processes for utilization of contents such as a decryption process for encrypted contents recorded on an information recording medium.
In recent years, various disks which can record a large amount of data such as a DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) and a blue laser disk (Blu-ray Disc) have been developed and placed into practical use to allow storage and reproduction of high definition images and high quality sound as a large amount of data. Further, as reproduction environment of such large capacity recording media, not only conventional recording and reproduction apparatus for consumers, but also personal computers (PCs) which incorporate a high performance central processing unit (CPU) or a video card and various other information reproduction apparatus have been developed and placed into practical use.
One of problems where contents are reproduced, for example, on a PC is protection of the copyright of the contents. Usually, the right of distribution or like right to most contents such as music data and image data is owned by a creator or a seller of the contents. Accordingly, such contents as mentioned above are normally configured such that, when the contents are distributed, fixed limitation to the utilization of the contents is applied such that utilization of the contents is permitted only to illegal users so that duplication or the like of the contents which is not permitted may not be performed.
Particularly, where a digital recording apparatus and recording medium are used, recording and reproduction can be repeated without any deterioration of the image and sound quality, and this gives rise to such various problems as distribution of illegally copied contents through the Internet and distribution of pirated edition disks which are recording media such as a CD-R or a DVD on which contents are copied.
A large capacity recording medium such as a DVD or a blue laser disk has various video information and music information, which make an object of protection of the copyright, recorded as digital data thereon and is distributed as such on the market. Where it is intended to distribute such a medium on which digital data is recorded as just described on the market, it is essentially required to take a countermeasure for prevention of illegal copying to achieve protection of the owner of the copyright.
Actually, however, the system for preventing illegal copying is incomplete as can be recognized from the fact that a tool which makes it possible for a PC to decrypt contents recorded on a recording medium complying, for example, with the DVD-Video standards is distributed on the Internet.
Further, where a reproduction program is executed under the control of a CPU of a PC to execute a contents reproduction process, contents, cryptographic key generation information and so forth recorded as encrypted data on a disk such as a DVD loaded in a drive of the PC are stored into a memory of the PC through an interface of the drive and a general purpose bus of the PC.
Further, a generation process of a decryption key for the encrypted contents, a decryption process of the contents with the generated key, a decoding process of MPEG compressed contents and so forth are executed in accordance with the reproduction program executed by the CPU. Key information, intermediate data and so forth generated during the processes are transferred at individual processing timings through the general purpose bus of the PC and stored into the general purpose memory.
When the PC executes the contents reproduction program to perform a contents data process in which the general purpose bus, the general purpose memory and so forth of the PC are used in this manner, digital AV stream data or cryptographic key information in a decrypted state which is generated in the data processing process comes to exist on the memory or the general purpose bus of the PC even temporarily. This gives rise to the possibility of exploitation of data in the contents processing process, resulting in a problem that illegal copying of the contents is allowed.
The following countermeasure has been proposed to solve such problems as described above.
In particular, authentication is performed between a drive in which a disk is loaded and a component (hardware apparatus, reproduction software and so forth are collectively referred to as components) which executes a contents process. Then, a temporary cryptographic key generated upon such authentication is used to encrypt contents to be transmitted between the drive and the component, and the encrypted contents is transferred. As a result, illegal acquisition of the contents by an illegal apparatus which cannot establish authentication can be prevented.
The process described makes it possible to select a component which is to execute a process of contents under the condition that the authentication results in success, and eliminates intervention of an illegal component thereby to prevent exploitation of data by an illegal apparatus.
However, an owner of the copyright or the right of distribution of contents sometimes wants a contents process only by a further limited component. For example, if a software program causes an encrypted contents process to be executed on a PC, then a decryption processing program is executed as a process of the CPU which executes processing under the control of a general purpose operating system (OS), and there is the possibility that intermediate data, key data and result data generated during the process may be stored into the general purpose memory of the PC as described hereinabove. The possibility that such data may be exploited cannot be denied.
In the authentication process described above, if a component has predetermined information necessary for the authentication, then the authentication can result in success irrespective of whether the component is a hardware component or a software component. As a result, intermediate data, key data and result data are stored into the general purpose memory of the PC and a process of contents transferred on the general purpose bus is allowed.
In order to execute a contents process more securely, it is preferable to execute a contents process within a closed particular hardware component for exclusive use which does not make use of a general purpose CPU, a memory or a general purpose bus.

Information processing apparatus, information recording medium, information processing method and computer program


A determining circuit comprises an input section having a P-channel type MOS transistor applied with a voltage VT set based on a reference voltage applied to a gate electrode and a voltage according to a voltage of a terminal applied to a source electrode, and an output section with a voltage level that changes according to an output from a drain electrode of a P-channel-type MOS transistor of a voltage level that changes according to a further voltage. With this configuration, the determining circuit for determining switching over to a prescribed mode can be implemented which is not influenced by fluctuations in process factors by using the voltage outputted from the output section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit, and more particularly relates to a semiconductor integrated circuit equipped with a circuit for sensing whether a prescribed high voltage of a voltage greater than a supply voltage is applied to a prescribed terminal in order to make it possible to select a prescribed operating mode.
2. Description of the Related Art
In the related art, technology for this field is disclosed in the following papers.
FIG. 2 in Japanese Patent Publication Laid-open No. 6-51016 shows a circuit diagram of a related semiconductor integrated circuit disclosed in this document.
This semiconductor integrated circuit has a function for determining designation of an accelerated testing mode employing a voltage higher than a normal supply voltage based on a supply voltage applied to a supply terminal and is provided with a supply voltage sensing circuit 60, a supply voltage determining circuit 70, and a switching circuit 80 for the purpose of providing this function.
The supply voltage sensing circuit 60 comprises a dividing section consisting of diode-connected P-channel MOS transistors (hereinafter, a MOS transistor is referred to as xe2x80x9cMOSxe2x80x9d and a P-channel transistor is referred to as xe2x80x9cPMOSxe2x80x9d) 61 and 62, and an N-channel MOS transistor (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cNMOSxe2x80x9d) 63, a threshold section constituted by a PMOS 64 and an NMOS 65, and an inverter 66. The supply voltage determining circuit 70 comprises a comparator having PMOS""s 71 and 72 and NMOS""s 73, 74 and 75, a voltage divider consisting of resistors 76 and 77, and an inverter 78. The switching circuit 80 comprises inverters 81 and NMOS""s 82 and 83.
With this semiconductor integrated circuit, when the supply voltage VCC exceeds a prescribed supply voltage and rises to more than a certain fixed level at the supply voltage sensing circuit 60, the voltage of the dividing portion rises, and a voltage of an output signal VO1 changes from a ground voltage level (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d) to a supply voltage level (hereinafter referred to as xe2x80x9cHxe2x80x9d). Further, when the supply voltage VCC rises to more than the certain fixed level at the supply voltage determining circuit 70, the voltage of the dividing portion becomes higher than a reference voltage VR and the voltage level of the output signal VO2 changes from xe2x80x9cLxe2x80x9d to xe2x80x9cHxe2x80x9d.
One of the output signals VO1 and VO2 is supplied to a switching circuit 80, and one of the output signals VO1 and VO2 is selected according to the level of a mode select 40 signal VM, with the selected output signal being outputted as an output voltage VO.
At the supply voltage sensing circuit 60, the voltage obtained at the voltage-dividing portion of the PMOS61 and 62, and the NMOS 63 fluctuates dramatically due to processing factors when forming the semiconductor integrated circuit.
Such fluctuations become even larger when the number of PMOS""s 61 and 62 connected in series in order to make the dividing ratio large is made large. On the other hand, at the supply voltage determining circuit 70, a comparator included within the supply voltage determining circuit 70 is comprised of a current mirror circuit. The comparison results of the comparator are therefore substantially not influenced when the balance between the threshold voltages of the NMOS transistors 73 and 74 fluctuates due to process factors.
The output signal VO2 can therefore be selected using a mode select signal VM from outside when a circuit for generating a reference voltage VR is provided internally. When there is no circuit for generating this reference voltage VR, output signal VO1 can be selected.
However, the following problems exist with this related semiconductor integrated circuit.
At the supply voltage sensing circuit 60, comparison results are influenced by fluctuations in process factors and accurate voltage detection is therefore difficult. On the other hand, at the supply voltage determining circuit 70, comparison results can be obtained that are not influenced by fluctuations in process factors, but the voltage that can be subjected to this determination is limited by the supply voltage VCC. In order to resolve the problems with the aforementioned related art, the present invention provides a semiconductor integrated circuit that is not influenced by fluctuations of process factors having a semiconductor circuit for determining whether an arbitrary input signal voltage is a prescribed voltage higher than the supply voltage VCC.
In order to achieve the aforementioned object, the semiconductor integrated circuit of the present invention comprises a terminal applied with a supply voltage or a voltage different from the supply voltage, a voltage generating circuit, applied with a reference voltage, for generating a control voltage based on the reference voltage, a comparator, for comparing a control voltage and a voltage applied to the terminal, and outputting a comparison result signal having a voltage corresponding to comparison results and an output circuit, inputted with the comparison result signal, and outputting an output signal for setting a prescribed operation mode and having a voltage level based on the voltage level of the comparison result signal.
The concept here is therefore to provide a circuit having a circuit for generating a divided voltage at the voltage generating circuit, and a circuit configuration for generating a divided voltage, and the object of the present invention is therefore achieved with this configuration.


Panoramic optical systems are disclosed comprising an ellipsoidal mirror and a lens system that reduces astigmatism. The lens systems are capable of operating at fast speeds. Simple and highly manufacturable lens systems are provided for capturing and/or projecting high quality 360-degree panoramic scenes.

Many rotationally symmetric lenses have been described over the years, and most of them are capable of imaging an azimuthal field of 360° about the axis of rotation, also called the optical axis. What distinguishes panoramic lenses is that their field of view is not measured from 0° at the optical axis to their maximum field, rather their field of view is measured with respect to a plane perpendicular to the optical axis. This plane is often referred to as the horizontal plane. For example, for a panoramic lens, the field of view may be referred to as +5°/−20°, which means that the picture includes up to five degrees above the horizontal and twenty degrees below.
Means of obtaining panoramic views such as use of multiple cameras or scanning a single camera have been proposed. However, a major problem with multiple cameras is stitching the images together to form a panorama. Carefully scanning a single camera can alleviate this difficulty, but accurately moving a camera introduces an additional set of difficulties.
Optical systems may be divided into three categories: dioptric, catoptric and catadioptric. The first of these categories, dioptric, contains all optical systems that have only transmissive elements. Similarly, catoptric optical systems have only reflective elements. Catadioptric optical systems have both transmissive and reflective elements, and may be divided into two subcategories. One of these subcategories includes all optical systems that have within them a single element that both reflects and transmits light, while the other is restricted to elements that either reflect or transmit, but not both. The latter subcategory includes optical systems that have mirrors that transmit light either around their periphery or through a hole, as long as that light is not refracted by the mirror substrate.
Dioptric wide angle lenses, such as fisheye lenses, have been known to achieve larger than hemispherical fields of view, with half field angles up to 140°, measured from the optical axis. Such lenses are frequently described by their full field angle, so a lens with the half field angle of 140° would be called a 280° fisheye. As a panoramic lens, it would be described as a +90°/−50° lens. However, fisheye lenses often have significant image compression (distortion) at the edge of the field of view, resulting in decreased resolution in the portion of the field near the horizontal plane. U.S. Pat. No. 5,185,667 to Zimmerman describes the use of a fisheye lens as a panoramic lens.
Catoptric optical systems have also been proposed as panoramic lenses. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,376 to Bruckstein et al. describes cameras that are purely catoptric, consisting only of one or more mirrors and a pinhole camera arrangement. A significant problem with this type of system is that a pinhole does not allow much light to get to the image. The pinhole is generally required to reduce aberrations to an acceptable level. Another way to express this problem is that catoptric panoramic lenses are generally restricted to large F-numbers or small numerical apertures by their aberrations.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,616,279 to Parodi and U.S. Pat. No. 2,638,033 to Buchele describe catadioptric panoramic optical systems. Although there are certain advantages to such designs, an overriding difficulty is the difficulty and complexity of fabricating the elements.
Catadioptric panoramic optical systems with only reflecting or transmitting elements are known. Multiple-catadioptric systems may be capable of high performance, but suffer the difficulty of aligning the mirrors and keeping them in alignment. One example of a complex mirror alignment is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,675 to Davis et al. Although blur sizes of less than 10 microns at F/1.5 are shown, the optical arrangement is extremely complex.
Single mirror catadioptric panoramic optical systems have been described in various patents. U.S. Pat. No. 2,244,235 to Ayres proposes a spherical mirror, with the possibility of corrected for aberrations. U.S. Pat. No. 2,299,682 to Conant discloses parabolic mirrors and others of modified conical curvature, e.g., conical and spherical forms. U.S. Pat. No. 2,371,495 to Benford deviates from simple quadric forms and prescribes a mirror that is shaped to create uniform illumination versus angle.
Aberrations, as mentioned in the Ayres U.S. Pat. No. 2,244,235 patent cited above or U.S. Pat. No. 2,430,595 to Young, are important factors in designing a panoramic optical system. They may be categorized as chromatic or monochromatic aberrations. Chromatic aberrations cause images of points to be spread out according to the wavelength of light. Such aberrations can be eliminated by using only mirrors or may be reduced by using achromatic lenses.
Monochromatic aberrations are typically divided into primary and higher order aberrations. Primary aberrations include spherical aberration, which introduces a blur to the image that is constant across the field of view. Coma and astigmatism blur the image with a magnitude that varies linearly and quadratically with field angle, respectively. Field curvature causes the best image not to lie on a plane, so that an image formed on a flat piece of film or a flat array detector is blurred. Distortion does not blur the image, but causes a magnification that varies as the cube of the field angle, so that the image of a square has curved sides.
Such aberrations adversely affect the quality of the images. The aberrations that are most significant in panoramic lenses are astigmatism and distortion because the field angle is so large. Because it does not blur the image, distortion of up to roughly ten or twenty percent is often tolerable. This leaves astigmatism as the most important aberration in panoramic lenses.
Several ways to reduce astigmatism to an acceptable level have been proposed. One way is to use an optical system with several mirrors, such as described in the Davis et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,627,675 patent. Another way is to use a very slow (high F/number) optical system, such as the pinhole camera mentioned in the Bruckstein et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,376 patent. The former method is impractical to manufacture for commercial purposes due to its complexity, and the latter can be impractical for photography because it requires the scene to be brightly illuminated. Another approach is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,242,425 to Driscoll, Jr. et al., which is incorporated herein by reference. Driscoll, Jr. et al. U.S. Pat. No. 7,242,425 proposes the use of a parabolic mirror with an astigmatism correction lens.
Specially shaped mirrors for catadioptric panoramic lenses have been proposed with a variety of design rationales. U.S. Pat. No 2,371,495 to Benford proposed a shape that corrects for cosine falloff of illumination. U.S. Pat. No. 6,304,285 to Geng proposes a hyperbolic mirror for single virtual viewpoint. U.S. Pat. No. 6,412,961 to Hicks suggests a mirror form that maps a distance in object space to a distance on the image. U.S. Pat. No. 6,856,472 to Herman discloses another type of mirror design. Such designs deal primarily with distortion, which may be described generally as the mapping of angles or distances in object space to angles or distances in image space. U.S. Pat. No. 2,244,235 to Ayres mentions that the shape of the surfaces and shells of spherical reflectors may be corrected for aberration, but provides no description of the particular type of aberration, or how to correct it.


A light fixture comprising a chamber portion is disclosed. In some embodiments, the fixture comprises a chamber portion shaped to house circuitry required for lighting elements such as light emitting diodes (LEDs) mounted elsewhere in the fixture. In some embodiments, LEDs are mounted facing a back reflector, which in turn reflects light out of a troffer to form an indirect lighting fixture. In some embodiments, light is emitted from one mixing chamber. In some embodiments, light is emitted from two or more mixing chambers. In some embodiments, LEDs are mounted on a heat sink which cooperates with a chamber portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to lighting troffers and, more particularly, to indirect lighting troffers that are well-suited for use with solid state lighting sources, such as light emitting diodes (LEDs).
2. Description of the Related Art
Troffer-style fixtures are ubiquitous in commercial office and industrial spaces throughout the world. In many instances these troffers house elongated fluorescent light bulbs that span the length of the troffer. Troffers may be mounted to or suspended from ceilings. Often the troffer may be recessed into the ceiling, with the back side of the troffer protruding into the plenum area above the ceiling. Typically, elements of the troffer on the back side dissipate heat generated by the light source into the plenum where air can be circulated to facilitate the cooling mechanism. U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,663 to Bell, et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 6,210,025 to Schmidt, et al. are examples of typical troffer-style fixtures.
More recently, with the advent of efficient solid state lighting sources, these troffers have been used with LEDs, for example. LEDs are solid state devices that convert electric energy to light and generally comprise one or more active regions of semiconductor material interposed between oppositely doped semiconductor layers. When a bias is applied across the doped layers, holes and electrons are injected into the active region where they recombine to generate light. Light is produced in the active region and emitted from surfaces of the LED.
LEDs have certain characteristics that make them desirable for many lighting applications that were previously the realm of incandescent or fluorescent lights. Incandescent lights are very energy-inefficient light sources with approximately ninety percent of the electricity they consume being released as heat rather than light. Fluorescent light bulbs are more energy efficient than incandescent light bulbs by a factor of about 10, but are still relatively inefficient. LEDs by contrast, can emit the same luminous flux as incandescent and fluorescent lights using a fraction of the energy.
In addition, LEDs can have a significantly longer operational lifetime. Incandescent light bulbs have relatively short lifetimes, with some having a lifetime in the range of about 750-1000 hours. Fluorescent bulbs can also have lifetimes longer than incandescent bulbs such as in the range of approximately 10,000-20,000 hours, but provide less desirable color reproduction. In comparison, LEDs can have lifetimes between 50,000 and 70,000 hours. The increased efficiency and extended lifetime of LEDs is attractive to many lighting suppliers and has resulted in their LED lights being used in place of conventional lighting in many different applications. It is predicted that further improvements will result in their general acceptance in more and more lighting applications. An increase in the adoption of LEDs in place of incandescent or fluorescent lighting would result in increased lighting efficiency and significant energy saving.
Other LED components or lamps have been developed that comprise an array of multiple LED packages mounted to a printed circuit board (PCB), substrate or submount. The array of LED packages can comprise groups of LED packages emitting different colors, and specular or other reflector systems to reflect light emitted by the LED chips. Some of these LED components are arranged to produce a white light combination of the light emitted by the different LED chips.
In order to generate a desired output color, it is sometimes necessary to mix colors of light which are more easily produced using common semiconductor systems. Of particular interest is the generation of white light for use in everyday lighting applications. Conventional LEDs cannot generate white light from their active layers; it must be produced from a combination of other colors. For example, blue emitting LEDs have been used to generate white light by surrounding the blue LED with a yellow phosphor, polymer or dye, with a typical phosphor being cerium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet (Ce:YAG). The surrounding phosphor material "downconverts" some of the blue light, changing it to yellow light. Some of the blue light passes through the phosphor without being changed while a substantial portion of the light is downconverted to yellow. The LED emits both blue and yellow light, which combine to yield white light.
In another known approach, light from a violet or ultraviolet emitting LED has been converted to white light by surrounding the LED with multicolor phosphors or dyes. Indeed, many other color combinations have been used to generate white light.
Because of the physical arrangement of the various source elements, multicolor sources often cast shadows with color separation and provide an output with poor color uniformity. For example, a source featuring blue and yellow sources may appear to have a blue tint when viewed head on and a yellow tint when viewed from the side. Thus, one challenge associated with multicolor light sources is good spatial color mixing over the entire range of viewing angles. One known approach to the problem of color mixing is to use a diffuser to scatter light from the various sources.
Another known method to improve color mixing is to reflect or bounce the light off of several surfaces before it is emitted from the lamp. This has the effect of disassociating the emitted light from its initial emission angle. Uniformity typically improves with an increasing number of bounces, but each bounce has an associated optical loss. Some applications use intermediate diffusion mechanisms (e.g., formed diffusers and textured lenses) to mix the various colors of light. Many of these devices are lossy and, thus, improve the color uniformity at the expense of the optical efficiency of the device.
Many current luminaire designs utilize forward-facing LED components with a specular reflector disposed behind the LEDs. One design challenge associated with multi-source luminaires is blending the light from LED sources within the luminaire so that the individual sources are not visible to an observer. Heavily diffusive elements are also used to mix the color spectra from the various sources to achieve a uniform output color profile. To blend the sources and aid in color mixing, heavily diffusive exit windows have been used. However, transmission through such heavily diffusive materials causes significant optical loss.
Some recent designs have incorporated an indirect lighting scheme in which the LEDs or other sources are aimed in a direction other than the intended emission direction. This may be done to encourage the light to interact with internal elements, such as diffusers, for example. One example of an indirect fixture can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,722,220 to Van de Ven which is commonly assigned with the present application. Many different types and designs of indirect fixtures are possible.
Modern lighting applications often demand high power LEDs for increased brightness. High power LEDs can draw large currents, generating significant amounts of heat that must be managed. Many systems utilize heat sinks which must be in good thermal contact with the heat-generating light sources. Troffer-style fixtures generally dissipate heat from the back side of the fixture that extends into the plenum. This can present challenges as plenum space decreases in modern structures. Furthermore, the temperature in the plenum area is often several degrees warmer than the room environment below the ceiling, making it more difficult for the heat to escape into the plenum ambient.


A system and method for assembling or generating content addressable video based on storing a plurality of frames of video data at addressable storage locations. Each frame of video data is stored with a tag which indicates the contents of the video image defined by the associated frame. For assembly, a processing unit assembles a content video image in response to the tags; the content video image, including positions for corresponding frames of video data. Finally, a means, such as a look up table, is provided for associating the positions in the content video image with addresses of storage location storing the corresponding frames of video data. A user input device is provided by which the user selects a particular frame of video data, by selecting a position in the content video image, such as by positioning a cursor on the selected position.. For generating content addressable video, the content video image is first generated. Positions in the content video image are then translated by a control circuit into camera positioning signals. A controllable camera, such as a robot mounted camera, then generates the frames of video in response to the position control signals derived from the content video image. A processing unit then associates each frame of video data generated by the controllable camera, with positions in the content video image.

Interactive video systems, such as described in the above cross referenced U.S. Pat. No. 4,857,902, in which a first monitor displays a virtual space which indicates the content of a library of video frames, and a second monitor displays video frames, in response to the position of a cursor on the virtual space, provide a powerful system for accessing video frames based on the content of the video frames. The content is indicated by the virtual space. To access video based on content, a user moves a cursor to a position on the virtual space. In response to the position of the cursor on the virtual space, a video frame is accessed which has a content indicated by the position of the cursor.
A problem has arisen in compiling video frames for the purposes of addressing them by content for use in such systems. In particular, the video frames are generated in such systems based on a plan organized by a human producer. The film is then shot, such as by flying a helicopter on a geographic grid while filming a center point of reference. For instance, in the one system, a helicopter flew over the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, while focusing the camera on the center of the bridge.
Once the film has been generated, it must be manually compiled into sequences of video frames which correspond to the grid flown over the city. The grid is then drawn in a bit map graphic form for display as the virtual space. A correlation of the virtual space to the video frames is done manually in a time-consuming, tedious process.
It is desirable to provide a method for compiling or generating content addressable video automatically.

Apparatus and method for assembling content addressable video


When a reset signal /RESET is “L”, a flip-flop circuit holds “1”; on the other hand, a flip-flop circuit holds “0”. When the reset signal /RESET becomes “H”, the flip-flop circuits captures data in synchronous with a clock signal. When a power supply voltage returns to the initial value after an instantaneous blackout occurs, the data of the flip-flop circuits have the same value. An output signal of an exclusive-OR gate circuit becomes “L”, the output is held in a flip-flop circuit. As a result, an instantaneous blackout detection signal becomes “H”.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-function IC card having a built-in IC chip, such as wireless cards and combination cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
(1) In recent years, the spread of IC cards such as wireless cards and combination cards is astonishing. There has been made the study of building various functions including security in the IC card.
For example, if the power supply of an IC card reader/writer becomes unstable due to the influence by noise, or if a temporarily blackout takes place, a temporarily blackout (instantaneous blackout) also takes place in the power supply of the IC card. When the above instantaneous blackout occurs, an IC built in the IC card crashes or malfunctions.
In order to prevent the occurrence of the above phenomenon, it is desirable that the IC card includes the following function. That is, when an instantaneous blackout occurs, the IC card detects it, and performs suitable processings so that the IC does not have the above crash or malfunction.
(2) The IC cards such as wireless cards and combination cards have the following problem. When data transmission/reception is carried out with respect to a wireless communication reader/writer, user can not confirm the following results with the use of the IC card. That is, the user can not confirm whether or not data transmission/reception is accurately carried out, and whether or not proper processing is carried out by the data transmission/reception.
More specifically, when making wireless communication, it is convenient if the user can confirm the result relevant to data transmission/reception with the use of a closely related IC card. However, the user has conventionally confirmed the above result using the display function of the wireless communication reader/writer or peripheral devices connected directly thereto.
In order to improve the availability of the IC card, it is desirable that the IC card includes a display function of displaying the result relevant to the data transmission/reception.
(3) In a mobile information device such as mobile phone, security information has been conventionally controlled for each device. For this reason, unless security information is registered in the mobile information device, the following problem arises. That is, if the user loses the mobile information device, a person, who picked it up, freely uses the user's mobile information device.
In order to solve the above problem, the mobile information device is provided with a function of loading an IC card, and it is most effective to collectively control the security information by the IC card. For instance, recently, there has been known an IC card called SIM card, and a mobile information device having a built-in SIM card is increasing.
Incidentally, the SIM card is a general term for IC cards having a size smaller than a credit card.
Considering the above device loading the IC card, in order to further improve the security function of the device, it is desirable that the IC card includes a function capable of registering advanced information relevant to security.
As described above, the IC card is configured to have various functions; for example, there has been proposed to collectively control all informations including security information by one IC card.
When configuring the multi-function IC card as described above, the user is now making a demand that the IC card includes the following various functions. That is, the functions are an instantaneous blackout detecting function, a display function relevant to data transmission/reception, and an advanced security function.


A composting container for holding and composting farming and stock raising waste material including a barrel, and top and bottom lids openable. The circumference of a lower half portion of the said barrel of the container is tightened by bands. This arrangement helps the container efficiently ferment and decompose a manure inside without tedious works such as providing proper moisture and ventilation, which are regularly required in conventional manure storage outdoors.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the structure of a composting container in which a good compost is produced from farming and stock raising waste material such as chaff or straw, as a starting material, which has served as a litter for livestock and which is mixed with or soaked in a great deal of manure.
2. Description of the Related Art
A need for composting farming waste material such as chaff and straw and reusing it is strongly voiced. Chaff is traditionally used as a litter for livestock, and used litter is piled up outdoors for decomposition and fermentation. To promote composting of the farming and stock raising waste material, the moisture rate of the pile should be constantly kept within a range of 40 to 80%, and ventilation should be provided to assure the activity of aerobic bacteria. For this reason, ones should attend to the pile frequently to water and stir up the pile as required and to arrange ventilation tube for providing ventilation.
With a view to resolving the above problem, the inventor of this invention disclosed "a method of promoting the composting of a high moisture content manure" in Japanese Patent Open Gazette No. 61-10093 (laid open on Jan. 17, 1986). In this disclosure, the inventor proposes the use of a large container comprising a barrel sewn of a permeable material with openably attached top and bottom lids to compost efficiently farming and stock raising waste material having a high moisture content.
This type of container typically used outdoors usually employs a top lid manufactured of non-permeable material to assure a good moisture content and thus to expedite decomposition of the manure inside. The container is sewn in a manner to be tapered wide toward the bottom side so that the clumping of the manure is prevented when it is taken out after decomposition of the manure is complete. The structure of such a container was also laid open in Japanese Utility Model Registered No. 3013789 (published on Jul. 18, 1995).
The bottom lid of this conventional composting container is designed to be entirely openable at the bottom end, and even a barrel tapered wide toward the bottom end takes about two months before the manure inside is fully decomposed. Meanwhile, the manure sinks from above, swelling at the middle height, and is compactly pressed and hardened. When the bottom lid is opened, the clumped state is not released, and taking out the manure is difficult.


A room temperature curable mildew resistant organopolysiloxane composition comprises (A) a hydroxyl or hydrolyzable group-containing organopolysiloxane, (B) a hydrolyzable organosilane such as methyltrimethoxysilane, methyltris(methylethylketoxime silane) or vinyltris(methylethylketoxime silane), a partially hydrolyzed product thereof or a mixture of the hydrolyzable organosilane with the partially hydrolyzed product thereof; and (C) a triazolyl group-containing compound such as 2-(4-chlorophenyl)ethyl-.alpha.-(1,1-dimethylethyl)-1H-1,2,4-triazole-1-yl -ethanol. Preferably, the component (B) does not contain aliphatic unsaturation in the molecule, and in this case, the component (B) free of aliphatic unsaturation is used in combination with (B') a hydrolyzable silane such as tetrakis(dimethylketoxime)silane, a partially hydrolyzed product thereof or a mixture of the hydrolyzable silane and the partially hydrolyzed product thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an organopolysiloxane composition useful as a sealant or the like, the cured product of the composition being excellent in mildew resistance, weather resistance such as resistance to ultraviolet light, and the like.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Since room temperature curable organopolysiloxane compositions capable of curing by moisture contained in the air is easy in handling and the cured product thereof is excellent in weather resistance, they are used in sealants for construction, adhesives in electric and electronic industries, and the like. Particularly, deoxime type room temperature curable organopolysiloxane compositions have a good adhesion to various adherends and also an excellent weather resistance, so that they are used as sealants for places where, for example, in houses, water is often used or a large amount of moisture exists, such as kitchens, bathes and lavatories.
On the other hand, with an improvement in construction techniques of houses in recent years, the air tight properties of houses have been also improved. Thus, said places where in houses, water is often used or a large amount of moisture exists become a suitable habitat for microbes such as mildew. Particularly, mildew inserts its hypha even into the inside of the cured product (silicone rubber) of the composition, so that it is difficult to remove mildew by means of not only wiping but also application of chemicals and the appearance of the cured product is often impaired. In order to prevent the breeding and growth of mildew in the cured products of the compositions, among the room temperature curable organopolysiloxane compositions conventionally used as sealants for places where water is often used or a large amount of moisture exists, there are known compositions in which a mildewproofing agent such as benzimidazole compounds and Zinc Pyrithione has been blended. However, the cured products of the compositions containing a mildewproofing agent have the drawback that they are turned yellow by heating or exposure to ultraviolet light. This inclination is remarkable particularly in the deoxime type compositions using an unsaturated group-containing hydrolyzable organosilane as a curing agent. When the amount of a mildewproofing agent contained in the composition is decreased to an extent in which yellowing does not occur, the mildew resistance of the composition can not be sufficiently exhibited.

Mildew resistant organopolysiloxane with hydrolyzable organosilane and triazolyl compound


A ball-exchange trailer bitch system having a post for receiving a ball where the ball is removable from the post for exchangeability with different size balls. The system includes at least a double locking feature between the ball and post. The double lock consists of a side pin lock and a ball and cage lock. The system may also include a third lock which includes threads on the post and the ball.

The present invention relates to a trailer hitch system in which trailer balls can be exchanged easily and quickly.
Since the advent of the "horseless carriage" early in this century, vehicle owners have found it useful to pull various types of trailers behind them. Early trailers were usually connected to tow vehicle draw bars with a bolt or pin. This arrangement was noisy (due to the necessary looseness of the connection which allows for ease of turning) and often unsafe. As technology pertaining to both vehicles and roads improved in the 1930's and 1940's thus causing road speeds to increase, the need for more efficient and reliable trailer couplers became evident. As a result, the use of ball type couplers became increasingly popular and, after World War II, nearly all new light and medium duty trailers were factory outfitted with ball couplers (also referred to as ball sockets).
The trailer has proven to be a convenient and very versatile piece of equipment that can be easily adapted for a wide variety of uses with an accompanying wide range of load carrying capabilities. As a result, the need for and use of various size (and strength) ball couplers has become common. This situation has generally resulted in the use of 17/8" ball couplers for lightweight trailers, 2" ball couplers for medium weight trailers and 215/16" ball couplers on heavy weight trailers.
As the availability and widespread use of specialty consumer products such as boats, riding lawn mowers, snowmobiles and all-terrain vehicles has proliferated in recent years, so has the need for, and use of, specialty trailers to transport them. Also, technological improvements in 4-wheel-drive vehicles has made it possible to routinely pull a wide variety of trailers in both on and off-road situations. This trend has been accelerated since the mid 1980's by the availability and increasing popularity of the highly versatile "sport utility" vehicles--vehicles that afford comfort and power for highway towing while still having ample road clearance and ruggedness for off-road trailer moving.
As a result, a situation has developed where vehicle owners routinely require or encounter the need to pull a wide variety of trailers. These trailers commonly have different size ball couplers. At first glance, this would not seem to present much of a problem, since different size trailer balls can be simply bolted or unbolted to vehicle bumpers and/or hitch draw bars with commonly available wrenches. However, in the real world of rust and rocks, routine installation and removal typically becomes a time-consuming exercise of frustration. Because of safety considerations, trailer balls must be semi-permanently installed to high nut torque values, which requires heavy duty wrenches. This, in turn, results in the need for extra strong wrenches (preferably with "cheater bar" or extension bar capability) for removal. It is not uncommon in severe cases, where trailer balls have been left installed for some time (and have encountered a variety of environmental hazards), to require the aid of a cutting torch to remove the ball. Of course, this renders the ball useless for reinstallation.
Given this background, a widespread need has developed for a "quick change" ball system that permits a tow vehicle to be quickly and easily converted to different ball sizes. The ball system that meets this "quick-change" need must also meet customer demands for safety, user-friendliness and durability.


The invention provides methods for producing an autoantigen-specific regulatory T cell enriched composition, and resultant compositions and methods of use.

Autoimmune diseases comprise many of the most devastating and intractable ailments today, where representative autoimmune diseases include diabetes mellitus, uveoretinitis and multiple sclerosis, among others.
The potential for Tregs to actively regulate autoimmunity and induce long term tolerance has great potential application as a strategy for inducing long-lived tolerance. Taking advantage of Tregs has been complicated by an inability to expand and characterize this minor T cell subset, a population of cells reduced even further in autoimmune-prone animals and patients. For instance, recent studies have suggested that it may be impossible to reverse ongoing autoimmune diabetes due to the autoreactive T cells becoming resistant to suppression during the active phase of the disease. Prior efforts to expand Tregs ex vivo have not achieved clinically sufficient expansion, nor demonstrable in vivo efficacy (e.g. Fu et al., 2004, Am J Transplant. 4, 65-78). The low number of CD4+CD25+ regulatory T cells (Tregs), their anergic phenotype and diverse antigen specificity present major challenges to harnessing this potent tolerogenic population to treat autoimmunity and transplant rejection.
A number of US Patent documents relate to T cell expansion, including Horwitz (e.g. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,803,036 and 6,797,267, and related patent publications); U.S. Pat. No. 6,534,055; US2003/124122A1; US2003/0082806A1; US2002/0058019A1; US2002/0119568A1; US2003/0119185A1; and US2002/0019048A1.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Regulatory T cells suppress autoimmunity

The Regents of the University of California


A terminal end shielding method of a shielded cable, including the steps of: forming a first electrically-conductive thin film, which is elastic, on a peripheral surface of an outer skin end portion at a shielded cable terminal end portion at which a shielding member is exposed by a predetermined length from the outer skin end portion of a free end side; bending the shielding member and making the shielding member contact the electrically-conductive thin film; forming a second electrically-conductive thin film, which is elastic, on the shielding member which contacts the electrically-conductive thin film; and pressing and fixing a portion at which the second electrically-conductive thin film is formed, by a shielded cable nipping means.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a terminal end processing method and a terminal end shielding structure of a shielded cable at a terminal end portion of a shield braid (shield layer), which shielded cable is used in transferring high-speed signals between electronic equipment, and to a light transmitting/receiving system using a terminal end shielding structure.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, shielded cables, in which a bundle of core wires are covered by a net-like shielding member, have been used in order to reduce the unneeded radiation of electromagnetic waves at the time of carrying out high-speed signal transfer of from several tens of MHz to several GHz between electronic equipment.
In this shielded cable, a net-like end portion of the shielding member electrically contacts and is fixed to a metal, electrically-conductive case which is formed for electromagnetic shielding of electronic equipment. In this way, there can be obtained good effects of decreasing influence of the electromagnetic waves and reducing unneeded radiation.
For example, the following is proposed as a terminal end shielding structure of a conventional shielded cable: a supporting ring, which is formed in the shape of a hollow cylindrical tube, is placed on a shielding layer which is non-tin-plated. The shielding layer is folded back at the peripheral edge of the supporting ring, and an earthing wire also is made to contact the outer peripheral wall of the supporting ring. An electrically-conductive tube, which is formed in the shape of a hollow cylinder, is placed on the earthing wire and the shielding layer on the outer peripheral wall of the supporting ring. The terminal end shielding structure is crimped and fixed by applying a uniform pressure to the outer peripheral wall of the electrically-conductive tube from the outer side (see, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2001-286025).
As another terminal end shielding structure of a shielded cable, a ferrite compound layer is interposed between a shield braid and an electric insulating layer at the terminal end portion of a shielded cable. A toroidal core is attached to a separated portion of an insulating covering layer at the terminal end of the cable. The distal end portion of a shielding layer is folded back so as to cover the outer side of the toroidal core. An insulating cable is wound around the outer surface thereof. The distal end portion of the shielding layer is connected to a shielding metal cover, and forms a coil of one turn (see, for example, JP-A No. 2004-31291).
As yet another terminal end shielding structure of a shielded cable, there is proposed a structure in which the shield braid of a shielded cable is pressure-contacted and fixed by a clamp portion of an electrically-conductive inner side case, and is pressure-contacted and fixed also by a clamp portion of an electrically-conductive outer side case. In this way, a member of the outer side case member and the inner side case are reliably connected electrically, the mechanical strength of a fit-together portion is reinforced, and the electrical connection can be made stable (see, for example, JP-A No. 2002-117937).
In the above-described terminal end shielding structures of a shielded cable, during the work of folding-back the shield braid toward the outer skin at the end portion of the shielded cable, it is easy for the free end portion of the shield braid to be scattered and become unevenly distributed. Further, the gaps between the plural core wires which are wrapped by the shield braid collapse easily. It is therefore difficult for the cross-section of the end portion to be a stable circular configuration.
In the above-described conventional terminal end shielding structures of a shielded cable, when the braiding wires of the shield braid are disjoined and are folded back toward the outer skin, as described above, it is easy for the plural braiding wires to be distributed unevenly and randomly. Accordingly, the places of contact with the electrically-conductive member for shielding, which is disposed to as to envelop the outer peripheral surfaces thereof, are dispersed.
As a result, there are relatively few portions of contact with the case, and the impedance at the portions of electrical connection between the shield braid and an electrically-conductive tape is high. Therefore, when transferring high-speed signals of from several tens of MHz to several GHz, there is the problem that the effects of the countermeasures to EMI (electromagnetic interference) are insufficient.
Thus, in the above-described conventional shielding structures of a shielded cable, it has been thought to wind an electrically-conductive adhesive tape in order to gather together the respective wires which have been dispersed and increase the portions of electrical contact at the free end portions of the braiding wires of the shield braid.
However, in this case, the adhesive surface of the electrically-conductive adhesive tape abuts the outer peripheral surfaces of the free end portions of the braiding wires of the shield braid, and the contact resistance is great. Therefore, it is difficult to achieve an electrical connection at a low impedance. At the time of carrying out high-speed signal transfer of from several tens of MHz to several GHz, there is the problem that the effects of the countermeasures to EMI (electromagnetic interference) are insufficient.
In the case of a structure of nipping the portion at which portion the electrically-conductive adhesive tape is wound on the braiding wire free end portions of the shield braid as described above, by an electrically-conductive case for shielding which is divided into two parts and to be put together, there is dispersion in the thickness of the shield braid which is dispersed, and there is the possibility of insufficient contact at the restrained portion. Accordingly, when transferring high-speed signals of from several tens of MHz to several GHz, there is the problem that the effects of the countermeasures to EMI (electromagnetic interference) are insufficient.
In particular, in the case of a structure in which electrical continuity is achieved by nipping the free end portions of the braiding wires of the shield braid by an electrically-conductive case for shielding which is divided in two, if the configurations of the nip-in portions of these two cases form a diamond-shaped space for nipping by the combination of two triangular shapes, there are four points of contact. Accordingly, there is dispersion in the states of contact at the pressed-down portions.
In such a contact state, when high-speed signal transfer of from several tens of MHz to several GHz is carried out in order to stabilize the electrical connection, there is the problem that the effects of the countermeasures to EMI (electromagnetic interference) are insufficient.

Terminal end processing method and terminal end shielding structure of shielded cable, and light transmitting/receiving system using terminal end shielding structure


A cermet including a cermet core zone in which the content of a binder amounts to at most 90% by mass in relationship to a cermet hard phase is formed with a 0.01 to 3 um deep surface layer having an increased resistance to wear compare to the cermet core zone.

IN EP 0 344 421 A1 a cermet is proposed which has either an average grain size of the hard material phase in the surface layer with respect to a core with a penetration depth of 0.05 mm, which is between 0.8 to 1.2 times the average grain size of the hard material phase in the cermet core, or at the same penetration depth relates to a binder phase which corresponds to 0.7 to 1.2 times the average binder content of the cermet core, or wherein the hardness in the mentioned penetration depth ranges between 0.95 and 1.1 times the average hardness of the cermet core. In order to produce this cermet, the starting mixture is sintered after grinding, blending and precompression, whereby in a first stage the sintering takes place at 1300 degree C or below under vacuum or in an inert gas atmosphere, while in a second stage the sintering takes place above 1300.degree. C. at a nitrogen pressure of 0.1 to 20 torr and whereby the nitrogen pressure is supposed to increase with the increasing temperature. The cooling also takes place in the presence of nitrogen.
The EP 0 368 336 B1 describes a cermet substrate with a hard surface layer, wherein the region with the maximal hardness lies at a depths between 5 .mu.m and 50 .mu.m from the substrate surface, and the substrate surface has a hardness of 20 to 90% in relation to the maximal hardness. In order to produce this cermet, the precompressed mixture is subjected to an initial temperature increase up to 1100.degree. C. in vacuum, to a subsequent temperature increase from 1100.degree. C. to a temperature range between 1400.degree. C. and 1500.degree. C. in a nitrogen atmosphere and to a final sintering in vacuum.
The EP 0 374 358 B1 describes a process for the production of a cermet with 7 to 20% by weight binder phase and a hard phase of titanium carbide, titanium nitride and/or titanium carbonitride with 35 to 59% by weight Ti, 9 to 29% by weight W, 0.4 to 3.5% by weight Mo, 4 to 24% by weight of at least one metal among Ta, Nb, V and zirconium, 5.5. to 9,5% by weight N.sub.2 and 4.5 to 12% by weight C. The formulated mass, blended, dried and precompressed, is sintered in such a manner that the temperature is increased to 1350.degree. C. in a vacuum, whereby the nitrogen atmosphere is set to 1 torr at 1350.degree. C., the partial nitrogen pressure being gradually increased together with a temperature increase from 1350.degree. C. up to the sintering temperature, whereby the nitrogen atmosphere is set at 5 torr when the sintering temperature is reached.
The EP 0 492 059 A3 describes a cermet body, whose hardness at a penetration depth of no less than 1 mm is higher than in the cermet interior, whereby the binder proportion can be reduced in a layer thickness of 0.5 to 3 .mu.m when compared to the core substrate. The cermet should have a hard material coating with a thickness of 0.5 to 20 .mu.m of carbides, nitrides, oxides and borides of titanium and Al.sub.2 O.sub.3. In order to produce this body, a green compact is preheated at first under vacuum to a temperature between 1100.degree. C. and 1400.degree. C., subsequently nitrogen gas is introduced up to a pressure wherein the partial nitrogen pressure ranges between 5 and 10 torr, so that the nitrogen is removed from the substrate surface. The sintering and the final cooling are performed in a nonoxidizing atmosphere, such as a vacuum or in an atmosphere of inert gas. Finally the body is coated by CVD or PVD.
For the production of a cermet with a high degree of toughness the EP 0 499 223 A1 proposes to set the relative concentration of the binder in layer close to the surface with a thickness of 10 .mu.m to 5 to 15% of the average content of binder in the cermet core, and in the layer underlying that of 10 .mu.m to 100 .mu.m penetration depth to set the binder content to 70 to 100% in relation to the cermet core, whereby compressive strains of 30 kgf/mm.sup.2 and more exits at the surface. In the thereby used process the sintering is performed in the presence of nitrogen with a constant pressure of 5 to 30 torr and the cooling takes place under vacuum with a cooling rate of 10.degree. to 20.degree. C. per minute.
On the other hand, the EP 0 515 340 A3 describes a cermet with zone close to the surface enriched with binder.
The EP 0 519 895 A1 discloses a cermet with a triple-layered rim zone, wherein the first layer reaches to a depth of 50 .mu.m and is rich in TiN, the next layer with a penetration depth of 50 to 150 um is built with a binder enrichment and the next layer between 150 .mu.m and 400 .mu.m is poor on binder compared with the inner cermet core. For this purpose the sintered body is treated in an atmosphere of N.sub.2 and or NH.sub.3, optionally in combination with CH.sub.4, CO, CO.sub.2 at 1100.degree. C. to 1350.degree. C. during one to 25 hours, at atmospheric pressure or a pressure above 1.1 bar.
The cermets known to the state of the art have either various binder contents at the surface, which can be recognized by their spotty appearance, or have a tendency of attachment of the binder to the sintered substrate, which leads to changes of the composition in the contact zone because of the reactions related thereto. Further disadvantages of the cermets known to the present state of the art are a partially high surface roughness, as well as poor attachment of the applied wear-resistant layers due to the increased binder content in the surface. As far as increased nickel contents appear in the surface, no CVD coating is possible. The mentioned disadvantages show particularly clearly that the cermets can not be used as cutting inserts in machining processes.


A footwear shoe structure for sports and general outdoor activity, having excellent benefits with respect to hallux vulgas, has an internal half-size tabi (Japanese sock) structure that uses a stretchable cloth and separates the big toe from the other four toes, the internal structure being interposed between an instep covering material and an upper toe part of a sole. The stretching property of the stretchable cloth forming an upper part and the stretching property of the stretchable cloth forming a lower part of the internal structure are differentiated from one another so as to be smaller in the latter than in the former. A partition member 4 formed of a soft elastic material is fitted into a crotch part between a big toe part and a part of the internal structure for the other four toes. In one embodiment, the upper part of the internal structure is formed of two sheets comprising stretchable cloth of nylon or polyester fiber, and a urethane foam 1c is interposed therebetween. The lower part is formed in a two-sheet structure in which an insole surface is formed of a stretchable nylon tricot cloth, the face thereof in contact with the inside of the sole is formed of a synthetic fiber flat weave cloth, and a urethane foam is interposed therebetween.

Although a conventional rubber-soled tabi is footwear having work performance and freedom of movement, it is not fit for general sports and ordinarily going out because the toe thereof is split. Furthermore, although some shoes have insteps with a large circumference and some shoes have soft material to prevent hallux vulgas, none of them have any effect on a person whose large toe has been already deformed. On the other hand, although some shoes having partition members inserted into crotch parts are disclosed in some laid-open patent applications, they are unsuitable for many hours of wear because the mere partition member can not deal with the degree of deformation of the big toe. Furthermore, although there are some shoes having sandal straps, they similarly can not effectively and positively prevent the deformation of the big toe. When the big toe bends outside once, it is difficult to correct the hallux vulgas, and therefore, suitable manufactured goods have not been provided yet. Furthermore, there is a safety shoe having a box toe fitted around the toe as a protection member. In this case, although an opening space is formed between the toes, the toes move laterally during walking, thereby increasing fatigue and decreasing work ability.
Known shoe structures are disclosed in: Patent Document 1—Japanese Patent No. 3484118 official gazette; Patent Document 2—Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 1997-47302 official gazette; Patent Document 3—Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 1997-206101 official gazette; Patent Document 4—Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 1997-238701 official gazette; Patent Document 5—Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 1999-32805 official gazette; and Patent Document 6—Japanese Patent Provisional Publication No. 2001-128701 official gazette.


A controllable tension force is provided on a first cable. The first cable has a terminal end wherein the terminal end is adapted to attach to an accessory. The first cable is coupled to a motor. The first cable and motor are part of a resistance unit. The resistance unit is coupled to a user support unit having a sliding seat.

Exercise machines that use cables, for example fixed-track machines and gravity-and-metal based cable machines, are useful for strength training, resistance training, and/or weight lifting, to promote the building of muscle, the burning of fat. and improvement of a number of metabolic factors including insulin sensitivity and lipid levels. In particular, cable exercise machines with a motor and an ability to control force exerted by the motor are useful for strength training. It would be useful if these capabilities could be utilized and such machines adapted to provide other forms of exercise beyond strength training.

Versatile bench and smart seat for an exercise appliance


The invention provides a method for manufacturing a 3D item (1) by means of 3D printing. The method comprises the step of depositing, during a printing stage, 3D printable material (201) to provide 3D printed material (202), wherein the 3D printable material (201) comprises a core-shell filament (320) comprising (i) a core (321) comprising a core material (1321) having one or more of a core glass temperature Tg1 and a core melting temperature Tm1 and (ii) a shell (322) comprising a shell material (1322) having one or more of a shell glass temperature Tg2 and a shell melting temperature Tm2, wherein one or more of the shell glass temperature Tg2 and the shell melting temperature Tm2 is lower than one or more of the core glass temperature Tg1 and the core melting temperature Tm1. The method further comprises the step of heating, during a finishing stage, the 3D printed material (202) to a temperature equal to or higher than one or more of the shell glass temperature Tg2 and the shell melting temperature Tm2, and equal to or lower than one or more of the core glass temperature Tg1 and the core melting temperature Tm1.

The use of extruded 3D printer inputs containing layers is known in the art. WO2015/077262, for instance, describes 3D printer inputs including filaments comprising separated layers or sections. These inputs particularly including filaments may be prepared by coextrusion, microlayer coextrusion or multicomponent/fractal coextrusion. These inputs and specifically filaments enable layering or combining different materials simultaneously through one or more nozzles during the so-called 3D printing process. These techniques facilitate smaller layer sizes (milli, micro, and nano) different layer configurations as well as the potential to incorporate materials that would otherwise not be usable in standard 3D printer methods.
EP-2676784 discloses a method of manufacturing an object, wherein the method comprises the step of feeding a filament to an extrusion head. The filament has a semi-crystalline polymeric reinforcement portion and a polymeric matrix portion. The reinforcement and matrix portions run continuously along a length of the filament. The reinforcement portion has a higher melting point and a higher crystallinity than the matrix portion. The temperature of the filament is raised in the extrusion head above the melting point of the matrix portion but below the melting point of the reinforcement portion so that the matrix portion of the filament melts within the extrusion head, thereby forming a partially molten filament within the extrusion head. The partially molten filament is extruded from the extrusion head onto a substrate, the reinforcement portion of the partially molten filament remaining in a semi-crystalline state as it is extruded from the extrusion head. Relative movement is generated between the extrusion head and the substrate as the partially molten filament is extruded onto the substrate in order to form an extruded line on the substrate. The matrix portion of the extruded line solidifies after the extruded line has been formed on the substrate.


An original image is transformed into a multi-resolution space and thereby decomposed into images, each of which is of one of a plurality of different frequency bands. An operation for multiplying by an emphasis coefficient is carried out on an image of a predetermined frequency band, which is among the plurality of the different frequency bands. The emphasis coefficient is set such that the degree of emphasis for an image portion in the image of the predetermined frequency band may become higher than the degree of emphasis for the other portions in the image of the predetermined frequency band, the image portion corresponding to a portion in an image of a frequency band lower than the predetermined frequency band, at which portion the absolute value of the signal value of the image of the lower frequency band is comparatively large. An inverse multi-resolution transform is carried out on the image of the predetermined frequency band, which has been obtained from the operation for multiplying by the emphasis coefficient, and the images of the other frequency bands. A processed image is thereby obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus for carrying out image processing on an image of a predetermined frequency band in an original image.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Techniques for obtaining an image signal, which represents an image, carrying out appropriate image processing on the image signal, and then reproducing a visible image by use of the processed image signal have heretofore been known in various fields. For example, in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 55(1980)-163772, the applicant proposed a method for carrying out frequency emphasis processing, such as unsharp mask processing, on an image signal, such that a visible radiation image may be obtained, which has good image quality and can serve as an effective tool in, particularly, the efficient and accurate diagnosis of an illness. With the frequency processing, an unsharp mask signal is subtracted from an image signal representing an original image, the resulting difference value is multiplied by an emphasis coefficient, and the thus obtained product is added to the image signal. In this manner, predetermined frequency components in the image are emphasized.
A different method for carrying out frequency processing on an image signal has also been proposed. With the proposed frequency processing method, an image is transformed into multi-resolution images by a Fourier transform, a wavelet transform, a sub-band transform, or the like, and the image signal representing the image is thereby decomposed into signals falling within a plurality of different frequency bands. Thereafter, of the decomposed signals, a signal falling within a desired frequency band is subjected to predetermined image processing, such as emphasis.
Further, recently, in the field of image processing, a novel technique for transforming an image into a multi-resolution space, which is referred to as the Laplacian pyramid technique, has been proposed in, for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6(1994)-301766. With the proposed Laplacian pyramid technique, mask processing is carried out on the original image by using a mask having characteristics such that it may be approximately represented by a Gaussian function. A sub-sampling operation is then carried out on the resulting image in order to thin out the number of the picture elements to one half along each of two-dimensional directions of the array of the picture elements in the image, and an unsharp image having a size of one-fourth of the size of the original image is thereby obtained. Thereafter, a picture element having a value of 0 is inserted into each of the points on the unsharp image, which were eliminated during the sampling operation, and the image size is thereby restored to the original size. Mask processing is then carried on the thus obtained image by using the aforesaid mask, and an unsharp image is thereby obtained. The thus obtained unsharp image is subtracted from the original image, and a detail image of a predetermined frequency band of the original image is thereby obtained. This processing is iterated with respect to the obtained unsharp image, and N number of unsharp images having sizes of 1/2.sup.2N of the size of the original image are thereby formed. As described above, the sampling operation is carried out on the image, which has been obtained from the mask processing with the mask having characteristics such that it may be approximately represented by the Gaussian function. Therefore, though the Gaussian filter is used actually, the same processed image as that obtained when a Laplacian filter is used is obtained. Also, in this manner, the images of low frequency bands, which have the sizes of 1/2.sup.2N of the size of the original image are successively obtained from the image of the original image size. Therefore, the group of the images obtained as a result of the processing is referred to as the Laplacian pyramid.
The Laplacian pyramid technique is described in detail in, for example, "Fast Filter Transforms for Image Processing" by Burt P. J., Computer Graphics and Image Processing, Vol. 16, pp. 20-51, 1981; "Fast Computation of the Difference of Low.cndot.Pass Transform" by Growley J. L., Stern R. M., IEEE Trans. on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 6, No. 2, March 1984; "A Theory for Multiresolution Signal Decomposition; The Wavelet Representation" by Mallat S. G., IEEE Trans. on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence, Vol. 11, No. 7, July 1989; "Image Compression by Gabor Expansion" by Ebrahimi T., Kunt M., Optical Engineering, Vol. 30, No. 7, pp. 873-880, July 1991; and "Multiscale Image Contrast Amplification" by Pieter Vuylsteke, Emile Schoeters, SPIE, Vol. 2167, Image Processing (1994), pp. 551-560.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6(1994)-301766 mentioned above discloses a method, wherein processing for emphasizing image values is carried out on the images of all of the frequency bands in the Laplacian pyramid, which images have been obtained in the manner described above, and the image of each frequency band, which has been obtained from the emphasis processing, is then subjected to an inverse transform, and a processed image is thereby obtained. In the disclosed method, the image emphasis is carried out on the image signal of each frequency band by using the formula shown below. EQU y=-m.times.(x/m).sup.p (x<0) EQU y=m.times.(-x/m).sup.p (x.gtoreq.0)
wherein x represents the picture element value of each picture element in the image, y represents the picture element value of each picture element in the image obtained from the emphasis processing, and m represents the range of values which the picture elements can take (for example, m=1,023 in cases where the range of values, which the picture elements can take, is 10 bits). Specifically, as the value of p becomes smaller, the degree of emphasis becomes higher. As the value of p becomes larger, the degree of emphasis becomes lower. The image emphasis is carried out with such a degree of emphasis. In the image obtained from such processing, the image has been emphasized in each frequency band. Therefore, an image is obtained such that unsharp mask processing might have been carried out substantially with masks having a plurality of sizes in the aforesaid unsharp mask processing.
However, in the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6(1994)-301766 mentioned above, when the emphasis processing is carried out on the image of a certain frequency band, unnecessary components, such as noise, are emphasized together with the image components, such as contours of the object, which it is necessary to emphasize. Therefore, as a result of the processing, an image is obtained in which the components, such as contours of the object, and noise have been emphasized. Accordingly, the image obtained from the image processing becomes difficult to view due to much noise.
Also, in the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6(1994)-301766 mentioned above, the emphasis processing is carried out with the same degree of emphasis for all of different regions in the image of each frequency band. For example, in cases where the image to be emphasized is a radiation image of the chest of a human body, an image portion having a comparatively high density, such as the lung field region, is the one which was recorded with a large amount of radiation and contains little quantum noise. However, an image portion having a comparatively low density, such as the mediastinum region, is the one which was recorded with a small amount of radiation and contains much quantum noise. Therefore, if the emphasis processing is carried out on the radiation image of the chest by using the method disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 6(1994)-301766, noise in the mediastinum region will become perceptible in the image, which is obtained from the emphasis processing, and the image will become difficult to view.

Method and apparatus for enhancing images by emphasis processing of a multiresolution frequency band


Embodiments described herein relate to designing a customizable website by using a custom design application. The custom design application generally provides a site master template, a homepage template, a plurality of sub templates, and a 404 error template. The templates may be customized with input provided by a user. The method also provides a manner of customizing a website by utilizing a hierarchical relationship between the templates in order to easily and efficiently custom design a website.

Field
Embodiments described herein generally relate to a method for designing a website. More specifically, the embodiments relate to a method of designing a customizable website.
Description of the Related Art
The Internet has gained prevalence in today's society enjoyed by few other technologies. The backbone of the Internet is the almost countless number of websites that can be accessed from the Internet by users around the world. Many users maintain a website for business or personal use. However, creating a website generally requires the knowledge of computer code such as HTML, Java, Javascript, C, C++, Perl, PHP, Ruby, SQL, etc. Many users lack the requisite knowledge required to design a functioning website using code in a cost effective and timely manner. Moreover, the evolution of websites has resulted in a demand from website viewers that the websites function properly and are aesthetically pleasing.
Generally, a user must hire a website designer or engineer with knowledge of computer code to construct and build a website to their desired specifications. Although the web designer or engineer may create a website that meets the specifications of the user, any subsequent changes required by the user would require further revision by the website designer or engineer. Each time the user wants to make any changes to the website, they must pay for the changes which can decrease the cost-effectiveness of owning and maintaining a website. Further, for a user who updates or changes their website frequently, it would be difficult to maintain a website with current information if the user was not able to change and update the website themselves.
Moreover, a user may maintain a website that has multiple web pages within the website. Some websites may have dozens or even hundreds of web pages. Individually editing and designing each web page can be a costly and time consuming process. Individual editing of web pages within a website may also result in unintended differences between related pages within a website which would reduce the aesthetic appeal of the website to a viewer.
Therefore, what is needed in the art is a customizable website design application which requires no knowledge of computer code to alter the website design and associated web pages in a timely manner and results in an aesthetically pleasing and functioning website.

Method of designing a customizable website