An intumescent composition for protecting a substrate against fire and thermal extremes includes a polymer binder containing a small amount of platinum, preferably in the form of a coordination complex. The binder is a non-silicone based polymer, and the platinum acts as a catalyst under fire conditions to protect the char and increase char life, thereby increasing the time of protection. The binder is preferably an epoxy, most preferably an epoxy polysulfide. The platinum is preferably mixed with nickel, most preferably as a nickel-platinum ammonia complex, the complex being present in an amount of less than two percent by weight of the composition. The complexes are preferably tetrafluoroborate salts. The composition also preferably includes a solvent, a carbonific, a spumific, and a polymerization catalyst.

This invention relates to thermal protective compositions which form chars when exposed to fire or other thermal extremes. The invention is particularly well suited to use in epoxy-based intumescent coatings for substrates, but its usefulness is not limited thereto.
The situations in which it is desirable to protect materials from heat and flame include, for example, protecting static structures such as petroleum storage tanks, chemical production equipment, electrical cable trays, and structural steel from fire; protecting transportation equipment such as tank cars, aircraft cabins and seat cushions from the same risks; protecting the exterior surfaces of spacecraft and high performance aircraft from heat generated by atmospheric friction; and protecting the nozzles of rocket engines from the heat of propellant gases.
Various compositions are known which provide protection against fire and other thermal extremes, such as temperatures above about 300.degree. C. Some of the compositions are foamed inorganic passive insulative compositions which protect merely by their low thermal conductivity and their thickness as applied. These include, for example, foamed cement or intumesced silicates. The present invention is not concerned with such systems, but with systems which include a polymeric binder and which form a char when exposed to fire or hyperthermal conditions. The char-forming compositions may operate by various modalities. The compositions may be used in various forms, including thick film (mastic) coatings, thin film coatings, castings, extrusions, and others. The compositions may include organic or inorganic binders and various additives. Upon exposure to heat the compositions slowly lose weight as portions of the composition are volatilized, and a char is formed which provides a measure of protection against the transfer of heat energy. Eventually, the char is consumed by physical erosion and by chemical processes, primarily oxidation by oxygen in the air and by free radicals produced by the coating or otherwise in a fire environment, and protection is lost. The length of time required for a given temperature rise across a predetermined thickness of the composition, under specified heat flux, environmental, and temperature conditions, is a measure of the effectiveness of the composition in providing thermal protection.
When subjected to fire or other hyperthermal conditions, different coatings behave differently.
Ablative coatings swell to less than twice their original thickness. They provide limited passive thermal protection, but they tend to produce dense chars having good physical and chemical resistance.
Intumescent coatings swell to produce a char more than five times the original thickness of the coating. This char provides an insulative blanket which provides superior thermal efficiency, but at the cost of some of the physical and chemical properties of the ablative coatings. The char of the intumescent materials tends to form coarse and irregular cell structures, cracks, and fissures as it expands, and the char may not expand uniformly at corners, leaving areas where the char provides far less protection than the average thermal protection of the underlying structure. Examples of the intumescent systems include silicate solutions or ammonium phosphate paints or mastic compositions such as those disclosed in Nielsen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,680,077, Kaplan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,284,216, or Ward et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,529,467.
A third type of char-forming coating is disclosed in Feldman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,178. When subjected to thermal extremes, these compositions both undergo an endothermic phase change and expand two to five times their original thickness to form a continuous porosity matrix. These coatings tend to be tougher than intumescent coatings. They provide far longer thermal protection than ablative coatings, frequently longer than intumescent coatings, in part because the gasses formed by the endothermic phase change provide active cooling as they work their way through the open-cell matrix. These coatings may also have a tendency to crack and form voids and fissures.
The present invention relates primarily to the second and third types of systems. In its broader aspects, however, it is also applicable to ablative char-forming coatings. It is not, however, intended for use in elastomeric coatings, such as silicone rubber coatings.
Various methods and structures have also been used or proposed for applying these thermal protective coating materials. The most frequent approach is to apply the materials directly to the substrate, without additional structure. For many applications, however, a reinforcing material, such as fiberglass sheet or a wire mesh, has been embedded in the coating material to strengthen the material and prevent it from cracking or falling off the substrate under conditions of flame or thermal extreme. Examples of this approach are found in Feldman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,190, Billing et al, U.S. Pat. No. 3,913,290, Kaplan, U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,777, and Billing et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,069,075. Sometimes the materials are first applied to a reinforcing structure such as a flexible tape or flexible wire mesh, and the combined structure is applied to the substrate. Examples of this approach are found in Feldman, U.S. Pat. No. 3,022,190, Pedlow, U.S. Pat. No. 4,018,962, Peterson et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,064,359, Castle, U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,332, and Fryer et al, U.S. Pat. No. 4,292,358. In these last-mentioned systems, the purpose of the reinforcing structure may be both to strengthen the resulting composite and to permit its application to a substrate without directly spraying, troweling or painting the uncured coating materials onto the substrate. In any of the foregoing methods and structures, multiple layers are frequently applied to the substrate to provide additional protection.
Presently known materials and methods, however, are not as efficient, in terms of length of protection for a given weight of protective material, as desirable. Efficiency is particularly important because in many applications weight or volume is critically limited. Moreover, heavily loading coating materials with fire retardants may seriously impair their physical characteristics and otherwise limit their suitability as coatings, for example by limiting their film-forming characteristics or their water-resisting characteristics. Presently known materials are thus frequently limited to certain types of applications.

Platinum-containing thermal protective compositions


Embodiments of the invention a signal processing method capable of realizing low decoding error ratio by using a simple configuration free from unnecessary redundant bits. In one embodiment, user data (512 bytes+additional data) input to an input terminal is RLL-encoded by a RLL encoder 1. The data from the RLL encoder—1 is entered into a symbol error correction encoder where 9-bit symbol encoding is done. Its RS code portion is RLL-encoded by a RLL encoder—2. Signal read from a magnetic disk is entered into a RLL decoder—2 where the RS code portion is RLL-decoded. The signal from the RLL decoder—2 is then entered into a symbol error correction decoder where random read/write errors, burst errors attributable to defects and other errors are corrected to produce a (user data+RLL) signal. This data is output to an output terminal after being decoded by a RLL decoder—1.

The present invention relates to a data processing method for data recording and reproducing by which data to be recorded on a recording medium is encoded and data read therefrom is decoded. More particularly, the invention relates to a high efficiency error correction encoding method for encoding data to be recorded and an error correction decoding method for decoding read signal to reproduce highly error-free data.
Magnetic disk devices (hereinafter referred to as HDDs) and other data recording and reproducing apparatus have been facing a further intensifying demand for higher recording densities. In the field of signal processing technology which supports these recording and reproducing apparatus, progress has also been made to allow higher recording densities.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a data recording and reproducing circuit in a HDD. On the recording side of FIG. 2, error correction encoding of data input to an input terminal 1 is performed by a symbol error correction encoder 20. Typically, a Reed-Solomon code (hereinafter referred to as a RS code) is used as the error correction code. In addition, RLL (Run Length Limited) encoding is performed by a RLL encoder 10 to suppress repetition of either "1" or "0" in magnetic recording and reproducing of data. Then, a recording processing circuit 30 adds synchronization signal and others before information is recorded on a recording medium 60 via a write amplifier 40 and a write head 50.
On the reproducing side, a signal read by a read head 150 is amplified by a read amplifier 140 and put to a reproducing processing circuit 130 where synchronization signal detection and others are performed. Then, RLL decoding is performed in a RLL decoder 110 and code error correction is performed by a symbol error correction decoder 120 which corrects errors including random read/write errors and burst errors attributable to a defect. The result is output to an output terminal 2.
Generally, in data processing for recording and reproducing in a HDD, error correction encoding of the input data is performed by a symbol error correction encoder. The error correction code is a Reed-Solomon code (hereinafter referred to as a RS code), a class of algebraic geometric codes. 512 bytes of input data with several bytes (some 10 bytes) of additional data are encoded and decoded by adding error correction redundant symbols.
In typical RS codes, one symbol is composed of 8 bits. To make t-byte errors correctable, a 2t-byte RS code is added to 512 bytes of input data with several additional data bytes. If an 8-bit error correction code is used, the total number of data to be corrected must be not larger than 28−1=255 in bytes (2040 in bits). In this case, 3 or 4 interleaves are therefore performed for encoding.
Further, these encoded data are RLL-encoded to suppress repetition of either "1" or "0" before being recorded on the recording medium. For reproducing, decoding of this RLL code is done before RS code-based decoding is done.
Patent Document 1 (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. Hei 11-7736) proposes a method in which input data is RLL-encoded before RS-encoding is performed (hereinafter referred to as RLL-ECC) and a method in which encoding into a 9-bit RS code is implemented through two interleaves. This RLL-ECC method has an advantage that read/write errors do not propagate in the process of RLL decoding.

Data processing method and circuit for data recording and reproducing and data recording and reproducing apparatus

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A valve construction wherein the rotor shaft of a reversible electric motor is axially displaceable between axially spaced elements of a differential-screw system for driven displacement of a valve member. Each of these spaced elements is preferably a ball screw, independently co-operative with upper and lower regions of the rotor shaft, i.e., at the respective upper and lower sides of the rotor carried by the shaft. The valve of the invention and its control and drive system are contained within a housing which fixedly mounts (a) the ball-screw nut of the upper element of the differential-screw system and (b) the stator of the motor, so that motor-driven rotation results in axial displacement of the rotor and its shaft, pursuant to the helical advance lead or pitch of the upper ball-screw nut. The ball-screw nut of the lower element of the differential-screw system is (a) engaged to the shaft and (b) axially displaceable yet effectively keyed against rotation with respect to the housing; and this lower ball-screw nut is adapted to provide axial displacement control of a poppet-valve member with respect to its coacting seat, in a valve-body passage between inlet and outlet ports of the valve. Great mechanical advantage is achieved for relatively low motor-torque delivery, when the helical leads (or pitches) of the respective ball screws are in the same direction but are slightly different.

The invention relates to a valve construction and mode of operation for controlling the flow of a pressure fluid from an upstream source of high pressure supply to an outlet for downstream storage or utilization at reduced pressure. The invention has illustrative application as a regulating valve, wherein the upstream supply pressure is, at least initially, in the order of 10,000 psi, and wherein a relatively small-volume tank is to be loaded with smoothly ramped increasing pressure to a set point in the order of 800 psi, the valve being automatically modulated as needed to maintain tank ullage pressure in an operating band of .+-.50 psi, during step-off demands for operating fluid from the tank.
For the indicated illustrative application of the invention, it was proposed to employ a motor-driven ball-screw system to develop requisite axial displacement for the valve member, with a lead of helical ball-screw advance in the order of 0.005 inch/revolution. But this was not possible, because the smallest ball screw available to carry the involved 10,000 psi unbalanced load has a lead of 1-mm/rev. (0.0394 inch/rev.). Thus, a single ball-screw design would place excessive torque and mass requirements on the motor, totally inconsistent with a design objective of minimizing bulk of the valve system.
In the present description, for convenience of reference, the central axis of the valve system will be sometimes referred to as "vertical", thus justifying use of the words "upper" and "lower" in connection with various component parts. But it will be understood that a "vertical" orientation is not necessary for operation of the invention, in that valve operation is not in any sense dependent upon any relation to the instantaneous gravity vector.


A method for generating a BD signal and identifying a reflection surface after a polygonal mirror has reached approximately constant rotation speed increases time to start image formation because the step of generating the BD signal is needed. An image forming apparatus identifies a reflection surface on which a light beam is incident by using the period of an FG signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure relates to an image forming apparatus including a rotating polygonal mirror having a plurality of reflection surfaces, and more particularly to an image forming apparatus that identifies the reflection surface on which a light beam is incident.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming apparatus has been known which deflects a light beam emitted from a light source by using a rotating polygonal mirror (hereinafter, polygonal mirror) including a plurality of reflection surfaces so that the deflected light beam scans a photosensitive member to form an electrostatic latent image on the photosensitive member. Characteristics of the polygonal mirror such as reflectance of each reflection surface and an angle (plane tilt) thereof with respect to the rotation axis vary depending on cutting accuracy during manufacturing. Variations in the manufacturing accuracy therefore need to be corrected by identifying the reflection surface on which the light beam is incident and making corrections according to the identified reflection surface.
As a method for identifying the reflection surface on which the light beam is incident, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-142716 discloses an image forming apparatus that identifies the reflection surface on which the light beam is incident by using variations in the generation period of a beam detecting signal. The BD signal is generated by a BD (Beam Detector) that receives the light beam deflected by each of the plurality of reflection surfaces during one rotation. According to the method using variations in the period of the BD signal, disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-142716, the light beam needs to be emitted in consideration of the timing at which the light beam deflected by the polygonal mirror is incident on the BD. In such an identification method, it is necessary that the polygonal mirror is rotating at approximately constant speed.
In the method disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-142716, the BD signal needs to be generated and the reflection surfaces are identified after the polygonal mirror has reached approximately constant rotation speed. According to such a method, the time to start image formation (first copy Output time (FCOT)) increases because the step of generating the BD signal is required.

Image forming apparatus that identifies a reflection surface of a rotating polygon mirror on which a light beam is incident


Embodiments of a payment card (such as a credit card), a financial-transaction system that uses the payment card, and a method are described. These embodiments may be used to protect financial information stored on the payment card, while providing ease of use to a user of the payment card when conducting a financial transaction. In particular, the payment card may include a transducer that detects a physical phenomenon. If this physical phenomenon is detected, a wireless communication circuit in or on the payment card is enabled, so that the wireless communication circuit can provide the user's financial information in response to an external signal received from an external reading device (such as an a radio-frequency identification signal from a card reader).

The present invention relates to a payment card that is activated by a user.
Fraudulent financial transactions involving stolen personal financial information are becoming increasingly common. This personal financial information is often stolen because of insufficient security associated with payment cards (such as credit cards) that are used to conduct these financial transactions. For example, if a credit card is lost or stolen, it can be used to conduct fraudulent financial transactions until a provider of the credit card is notified and no longer authorizes financial transactions conducted using the credit card.
These security problems can be significantly increased for payment cards that communicate personal financial information via wireless communication. For example, some credit cards use radio-frequency identification (RFID) to communicate personal financial information in response to an external signal generated by a card reader at a point-of-sale terminal (such as a cash register) at a business. These credit cards allow customers to conduct financial transactions with a minimal amount of effort. In particular, instead of communicating personal financial information by swiping a magnetic strip on a credit card through the card reader, the personal financial information can be communicated by placing the credit card in close proximity to the card reader.
Unfortunately, this capability allows thieves to steal customers' personal financial information without stealing their credit cards, and thus, without the customers' knowledge. For example, a thief, who is proximate to a customer, can generate the external signal and receive the customer's personal financial information while the customer's credit card is still in the customer's wallet.


A mailbox system that is sturdy and durable, easy to manufacture, assemble and customize, and is aesthetically pleasing to look at. The mailbox system preferably includes a pair of vertical posts and horizontal rails, a decorative component such as a flag or flower box, a mailbox and a newspaper receptacle. When assembled, the horizontal rails and the decorative component span between and are supported by the vertical posts, while the mailbox and newspaper receptacle are mounted to a single post. Assembly of the mailbox system is made quick and easy through the use of a series of snap-fit assembly features.

It is not uncommon to see numerous types of mailboxes installed along streets, driveways, sidewalks, etc., particularly when driving through a neighborhood or housing development. These mailboxes can vary widely in appearance, construction, functionality and purpose, but usually include a vertical post and a horizontal rail supporting some type of mail-receiving receptacle. Some mailboxes are rather plain and utilitarian, while others are highly decorative and provide aesthetic as well as functional benefits.
Various types of mailboxes, mailbox systems, signposts, etc. have been developed, including the ones disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. No. D495,110 issued to Sarich on Aug. 24, 2004; U.S. Pat. No. 1,495,741 issued to Higdon on May 27, 1924; U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,991 issued to Sasse on May 18, 1999 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,513,284 issued to Sandlin on Feb. 4, 2003.


The present invention discloses a transfer mattress, comprising a mattress which is a rectangular body encompassed with a movable tubular fabric sleeve and dimensioned for a person to lie down; and at least a pull strap having a first joint secured on the tubular fabric sleeve and encircled around the tubular fabric sleeve with some extra length and a second joint secured on the tubular fabric sleeve at a different or the same point with the first joint.

People are destined to get sick sometimes and external injury also occurs one in a while. Consequently, establishing a comprehensive medical system is important and requires constant attention. Furthermore, the peripheral equipments for patients are as important as related medical professionals and medical facilities for the establishing of a good medical system.
Moving a patient, for example, is a commonly seen in a medical treatment such as transferring a patient from a hospital bed to an operating table. For patients, unlike their healthy counterparts, it is difficult and painful for them to be moved around. Pains are likely to occur and thus medical quality may be reduced as a result of transferring them from one place to another improperly. As for caregivers, there are a lot of chances of back or other injuries which caused by an improper way to move patient. It is therefore important to have a good way of smooth transfer of patients.


A Bicycle Seat Support (14) includes a rotationally-biased centering mechanism (20) for coupling a seat mount (16) to a frame mount (18). The rotationally-biased centering mechanism has a biasing mechanism for causing the seat mount and an attached bicycle seat to rotate toward a normal angular position about a seat axis (36) while allowing the bicycle seat to be forced away from this normal angular position by pressure applied by a rider when pedaling the bicycle. The rotationally-biased centering mechanism includes bearing surfaces (48,50) having an interface which allows the seat mount and the frame mount to rotate while not allowing substantial axial movement. Stops are included for preventing excessive angular seat movement.

This invention relates broadly to the art of pedal-driven bicycles and more specifically to bicycle seats and their supports.
Bicycle riders who ride for long distances often experience friction on their thighs and buttocks with bicycle seats. Such friction is, in most cases, caused by motion of the riders when they pedal the bicycles. In this regard, when the bicycle riders pedal their bicycles, and thereby alternately apply downward pressure with their right and left legs, they shift their bodies back and forth, which causes such friction. This friction can create chafing or chapping of affected body areas. Thus, it is an object of this invention to provide a bicycle seat support which reduces friction between a seat and a rider to thereby reduce chafing of the rider.
An associated problem is that, riders are often obstructed from reaching optimum positions for applying downward pressures on bicycle pedals by bicycle seats. Thus, it is also an object of this invention to provide a bicycle seat support which allows controlled movement of a bicycle seat so that a bicycle rider can achieve more beneficial body positions for pressing bicycle pedals.
Similarly, it is an object of this invention to provide a bicycle seat support which reduces fatigue of a bicycle rider by reducing stress applied to the bicycle rider's muscles when he is pedaling.
Stated another way, it is an object of this invention to provide a stroke adjuster for a bicycle rider.

Bicycle seat support with rotationally-biased centering mechanism


A video signal copying apparatus for copying a signal recorded on a recording medium onto other recording media is provided. The video signal copying apparatus includes a first filter for blocking a color signal and passing a luminance signal of a video signal detected from a video signal recording medium, a second filter for passing only the color signal of the video signal, a burst detection signal generator for generating a burst detection signal for detecting a burst signal, a color signal determiner for generating a color killer signal when a color signal does not exist in the video signal, a peak level detector for detecting the peak level of the input signal over all frequency bands when the color killer signal is generated, or over only a burst detection signal section when the color killer signal is not generated, by receiving the filtered color signal, a voltage-controlled amplifier for automatically controlling the gain of the color signal in correspondence to the detected peak level, and a mixer for mixing the filtered luminance signal and the gain-controlled color signal to output a video signal to be recorded via a recording amplifier. Therefore, loss of a luminance signal which is part of a low-frequency component can be prevented when copying a black and white signal, thereby improving picture quality.

The present invention relates to a video signal processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a video signal copying apparatus for copying a signal which has been recorded on a recording medium onto other recording media.
Generally, a video signal recorded on a video tape can be copied onto other video tapes using two video tape recorders or a dual-deck recorder.
According to a first method using two video tape recorders, one video tape recorder picks up a signal to be copied from a tape, and then outputs a demodulated signal via a general reproducing process such as demodulation. Also, the other video tape recorder receives the demodulated video signal and then records the video signal on a tape via a recording amplifier after performing a general recording process such as modulation.
According to a second method using a dual-deck recorder, a signal to be copied is picked up from a tape by a signal processing unit of a first deck and then a modulated signal is recorded on another tape by a signal processing block of a second deck directly without demodulation.
In the above second method, the signal modulation is omitted during the tape copy process compared to the first method, and the modulated signal picked up by a reproducing deck player is directly recorded on a tape by a recording deck recorder. Accordingly, the signal-to-noise (S/N) ratio is improved.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing the structure of a conventional video signal copying apparatus, illustrating an example of the video signal copy technology related to the above second method.
The prior art will be described with reference to FIG. 2.
The conventional video signal copying apparatus includes a luminance processor composed of a high-pass filter (HPF) 2010, a phase compensator 2020, an equalizer 2030 and a limiter 2040, a color processor composed of a low-pass filter (LPF) 2100, a voltage-controlled amplifier 2110 and a switching unit 2120, an automatic color gain controller composed of a demodulator 2050, a synchronous signal separator 2060, a burst gate signal generator 2070, a color signal determiner 2080 and a peak level detector 2090, and a mixer 2130 for mixing the processed luminance and color signals.
In a color signal process, an automatic color gain control (ACC) circuit is used to control the degree of color saturation, maintaining a color level at a predetermined level.
The ACC circuit separates only a burst signal from an input color signal and then detects the level thereof to thereby maintain a constant level, so that the gain of the color signal is controlled to a predetermined level.
The ACC circuit performing the above operation normally operates even when a black and white signal is input. The ACC circuit amplifies a black and white signal corresponding to a frequency band of a color signal to the maximum gain, resulting in a saturated signal.
When the black and white signal is input as above, a color signal determiner 2080 for determining whether a color signal exists or not outputs a color killer signal to a switching unit 2120 to prevent the output of the signal ("color band signal") corresponding to the frequency band of the color signal after the color band signal is amplified to the maximum gain.
When a black and white signal is input, the conventional ACC circuit amplifies the color band signal to the maximum level and then blocks the output thereof. As a result, a luminance signal corresponding to the frequency band of the color signal is also prevented from being output, so that the frequency band of the luminance signal decreases as shown in FIG. 4C, thereby lowering picture quality.


A computer-implemented adaptive experimentation method and system is described that automatically selects and executes information gathering actions. The adaptive experimentation method and system integrates value of information considerations, experimental design, and inferences from experimental results. The experimental results may include behaviors of users of a computer-based system. The process enables an automatic, adaptive process for attaining additional information and applying the attained information in making subsequent experiment decisions.

Many decisions are influenced by some element of uncertainty. It is often valuable to take actions to gather information that may, at least in part, resolve uncertainties associated with a decision. Some calculation methods associated with determining the value of perfect or imperfect information are known from prior art. For example, the application of decision tree techniques may enable the derivation of expected values of information associated with an information gathering action. These methods typically require significant manual modeling efforts.
Experimental design or "design of experiment" methods are also known from prior art. These are methods of organizing experiments, or more broadly, any type of information gathering actions, in a manner so as to maximize the expected value of the resulting information, typically in accordance with constraints, such as an action budgetary constraint. For example, factorial matrix methods are a well established approach to scientific experimental design. These types of design of experiment methods typically require a statistician or other human expert to manually establish the experimental design parameters, and the proper sequencing of the experiments.
Making inferences from information attained as a result of experiments or, more broadly, information gathering actions, is well known from prior art. For example, in the prior art, a wide variety or statistical techniques are known and may be applied. These statistical techniques generally require some degree of interpretation by a statistician or other expert to be applied to decisions. And, in the prior art, a limited ability to automatically conduct experimental or information gather actions is known, but the application is invariably constrained by the requirement of human intervention to interpret interim results and adjust the experimentation accordingly.
Thus, in the prior art, each of the steps of determining expected value of information, of experimental design, of conducting experimentation, and of performing statistical or probabilistic inferencing from new information generated by experimentation, requires significant human intervention. Furthermore, in prior art processes, there does not exist an automatic feedback loop from the inferencing from new information step to the value of information and experimental design steps. This introduces significant bottlenecks in addressing and resolving uncertainties associated with decisions efficiently and effectively. This deficiency of the prior art processes and systems represents a particularly significant economic penalty in situations in which large amounts of relevant information is already available, or can be gathered rapidly. For example, high throughput experimentation methods can enable rapid acquisition of new information. However, manual bottlenecks may effectively limit the actually attainable throughput of such experimental infrastructure, and, more generally, limit the most effective use of available historical information.
The economic penalties associated with prior art decision processes are particularly acute in business processes such as product and/or service research and development, for which the manual interventions required in decision processes diminish both the efficiency and the effectiveness (measured in both quality and timeliness) of the decision making.
Hence, there is a need for an improved process, method, and system to resolve uncertainties associated with decisions.

Adaptive experimentation method and system


A semiconductor device including a gate stack located over a substrate and a spacer located over the substrate and adjacent the gate stack. The spacer includes a plurality of layers, wherein at least one of the plurality of layers is a batch layer and at least one of the plurality of layers is a non-batch layer.

The present disclosure relates generally to semiconductor devices and, more specifically, to a semiconductor device comprising a spacer having at least one batch layer and at least one non-batch layer.
The present disclosure is related to U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/614,388, which is assigned to the same assignee as the present invention, and which is hereby incorporated by reference.
The relentless demands for increased performance, decreased size and reduced manufacturing costs of semiconductor devices has increased the number of individual processes collectively performed during the fabrication of a "batch" or group of wafers. It is reported that a decrease in a characteristic dimension of a semiconductor device feature is accompanied by a proportional increase in the number of steps required to completely form the device. For example, the recent decrease of semiconductor device gate widths from 0.25 μm to 0.13 μm required a substantially proportional increase in fabrication steps from about 240 steps to about 360 steps. Therefore, individual cycle time becomes a critical consideration in the operation of a device fabrication foundry. For example, thermal processing may account for about 45% of the total time required to produce a single lot of semiconductor devices.
Consequently, semiconductor fabrication technology has experienced a trend away from batch processing and toward single wafer processing. Single wafer processes have significantly shorter thermal cycle times because they may employ rapid thermal processes (RTP), such as those employing infra-red lamps to quickly heat up a wafer to a process temperature. By replacing batch furnace processes with single wafer processes, product fabrication cycle times can be dramatically reduced. Moreover, single wafer processes allow for greater flexibility in handling complicated product combinations, thereby enabling fabrication facilities to better cater to a customer's needs. Another advantage of single wafer processing is that a much lower loss in product can occur with single wafer processing compared to batch processing, because a large plurality of wafers can be lost in the event of a catastrophic failure during batch processing, whereas only a few or a single wafers can be lost in the event of a catastrophic failure during single wafer processing. Single wafer processing also allows timely investigation for quality, reliability, research and development.
However, problems can arise when replacing batch processes with single wafer processes. For example, employing single wafer processing during the fabrication of spacers conventionally formed on opposing sides of a semiconductor device gate stack can result in excessive current between the gate stack and the device well. Single wafer processing of the spacers can also be deleterious to hot carrier injection performance as compared to batch processing.
Accordingly, what is needed in the art is a semiconductor device and method of manufacturing thereof that addresses the above-discussed issues.

Semiconductor device with spacer having batch and non-batch layers

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Ltd.


A double-decker cloth rack including a base, at least two vertical tubes, one middle horizontal tube, top horizontal tube, two tri-connect coupler with a screw-on locking nut, wherein the tri-connect coupler connects the vertical tubes to the middle horizontal tube. There are also two tri-connect horn coupler to which two extension pieces are respectively connected.

Currently known adjustable double-decker cloth racks are not sufficiently strong such that when the cloth rack is bearing near its maximum load, the rack can become shaky when a user pushes it to move it about on its wheels. This may cause damage to its plastic base, as well as causing separation of its couplers from its middle horizontal tube, thereby collapsing the entire cloth rack.
There is a continuing need for structurally sound cloth racks.
All referenced patents, applications and literatures are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Furthermore, where a definition or use of a term in a reference, which is incorporated by reference herein, is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply. The disclosed embodiments may seek to satisfy one or more of the above-mentioned needs. Although the present embodiments may obviate one or more of the above-mentioned needs, it should be understood that some aspects of the embodiments might not necessarily obviate them.


Provided are a double-stranded nucleic acid and use thereof in ribonuclease detection, and a ribonuclease detection method and use thereof in tumor detection and/or diagnosis. Specifically, a double-stranded nucleic acid substrate comprises at least one ribonuclease sensitive site. The activity and content of the ribonuclease in a sample are detected by analyzing the degradation of the double-stranded nucleic acid substrate by the ribonuclease. Also provided are a ribonuclease detection kit and a tumor detection kit.

Ribonuclease (RNase, also known as RNA enzyme) is a large category of enzyme which includes dozens of types of enzymes capable of hydrolyzing RNA substrates into small molecular nucleic acids. According to the location of the cleavage site, these enzymes can be divided into two classes: endoribonuclease and exoribonuclease, belonging to a plurality of subclasses within EC 2.7 (phosphorylase) and EC 3.1 (hydrolase), respectively. RNases of different sources have different specificities and modes of action. For example, the catalysate of RNase T1 is mononucleotide, and oligonucleotide consisting of 3′-guanylic acid or carrying an end of 3′-guanylic acid, while the catalysate of RNase T2 is mononucleotide, and oligonucleotide consisting of 3′-adenylic acid or carrying an end of 3′-adenylic acid. Most RNases need divalent cations as cofactors (such as: Ca2+, Mg2+, and the like), so the activities thereof may be blocked by ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (EDTA).
In laboratory studies, two main kinds of RNases are RNase A and RNase H. RNase H is an endoribonuclease which can specifically hydrolyze the phosphodiester bond on an RNA strand backbone complementary to a DNA strand, i.e., decompose the RNA strand in an RNA/DNA hybrid. However, this enzyme cannot digest single-stranded or double-stranded DNA. RNase A is another endonuclease which has been researched in details and has extensive applications. RNase A can hydrolyze RNA, whereas it does not function on DNA. RNase A effectively and specifically catalyzes the cleavage of phosphodiester bond on RNA strand backbone at 3′-end of pyrimidine nucleotide residues C and U to form oligonucleotides with 2′,3′-cyclic phosphate derivatives, thus it can be used to remove RNA contaminant in DNA preparations.
In order to detect the activity or content of RNase in a sample, the researchers have established many technical solutions on the basis of analyzing substrate degradation. These solutions can be roughly classified into two categories: one uses heterogeneous RNA molecules as substrates, and the other uses artificially synthesized RNA molecules as substrates, oligoribonucleotides for example. Normally, the detection technique using artificially synthesized oligoribonuclec acids as substrates has higher sensitivity and higher specificity. Among these solutions, numerous detection techniques are artfully applied, including direct staining method, spectrophotometric method, colorimetric detection, cascade chromogenic method, isotope tracer technique, fluorescence polarization technique and fluorescence quenching technique.
The selection of detection means to a large extent decides the sensitivity and application scope of analytical techniques. For example, in order to detect whether an experimental reagent is contaminated by RNase, a very sensitive detection technique is needed to determine the existence of a minute amount of RNase in the experimental reagent, thereby avoiding degradation of the experimental sample. If the detection means is not sensitive enough, it will be unable to detect the existence of RNase with a minute amount but is sufficient to influence the experimental result and will directly result in failure of the experiment. On the contrary, if the detection means is too sensitive, it will exclude the reagents containing an extremely minute amount of RNase which does not suffice to influence the experimental result. Although such high sensitivity can guarantee accuracy of the experimental result, it meanwhile will raise difficulty and cost of the experiment. In actual practice, it is ideal that the detection sensitivity is in a range of 1-100 picogram/ml (pg/ml) RNase A, but the sensitivity of commercial detection reagents is in a range of 10-100 pg/ml RNase A at present. On the other hand, as the monitoring of RNase is a routine laboratory operation, the detection technique is required to have relatively high stability and be easy to operate.
Earlier RNase activity detection was established on Kunitz technique (Kunitz M., A spectrophotometric method for the measurement of ribonuclease activity. J. Biol. Chem., 1946, 164:563-568). In this technique, a heterogeneous RNA sample was added into a test sample, the change in absorbance value of the RNA sample at 300 nm was detected by spectrophotometric method, and the activity of RNase in the sample was calculated. Shortly afterwards, Oshima optimized this technique (Oshima T, Uenishi N and Imahori K. Simple assay methods for ribonuclease T1, T2, and nuclease PI. Anal. Biochem., 1976, 71:632-634). Generally, the sensitivity of this detection solution is not high and does not meet the requirements for RNase activity detection.
In another RNase activity detection solution, firstly polyacrylamide gel was used to separate the sample (Wilson C W. A rapid staining technique for detection of RNase after polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Anal. Biochem., 1969, 31:506-511). By bringing the RNase sample separated by the gel into contact with a heterogeneous RNA substrate followed by RNA staining, the degradation condition of the RNA substrate was analyzed, and then RNase activity was detected. Although this solution is simple in terms of concept, the implementation thereof is rather time-consuming, and its sensitivity is not high (only RNase I of one unit or more can be detected). In the modified version of this solution, by improving the gel separation technique, Karpetsky raised the detection sensitivity to a degree capable of detecting RNase A with an amount of no more than 100 pg (Karpetsky T P, Davie G E, Shriven K K and Levy C C. Use of polynucleotide/polyacrylamide-gel electrophoresis as a sensitive technique for the detection and comparison of ribonuclease activities. Biochem. J., 1980, 189: 277-284). Even so, the modified solution does not effectively shorten the detection time. As a result, the solution still does not meet the need of experimental tests.
Another RNase activity detection solution was established by Egly and Kempf (Egly J M and Kempf J. Detection and estimation of very low ribonuclease activities in biological fluids. FEBS Letters, 1976, 63:250-254). By using RNase to degrade insoluble substrate and analyzing the nucleotides labeled by 125Iodine generated from degradation, the detection sensitivity of this solution may reach 0.01 pg/ml, which is suitable for applied in routine quality control and detection. However, as this technique adopts hazardous radioisotope, it is not suitable for routine use of ordinary laboratories or industries and its applicable scope is greatly restricted.
Another RNase activity detection technique was established by Wagner (Wagner A P, Iordachel M C and Wagner L P. A simple spectrophotometric method for the measurement of ribonuclease activity in biological fluids. J. Biochem. Biophys. Methods, 1983, 8:291-297). Through binding RNA with Pyronine-Y, the maximum absorbance peak value of RNA was raised to 572 nm, and the degradation of RNA by RNase in the sample resulted in linear reduction of this absorbance. The sensitivity of this detection technique is around 2 ng/ml RNase A, not suitable for the detection of RNase activity.
Another RNase detection technique was established by Greiner-Stoeffele (Greiner-Stoeffele T, Grunow M and Hahn U. A general ribonuclease assay using methylene blue. Anal. Biochem., 1996, 240:24-28). The dye methylene blue was intercalated into high-molecular-weight RNA substrate to form a dye-RNA complex, and the degradation of the RNA substrate by RNase in the sample released the dye from the complex, resulting in reduction of the absorbance at 688 nm. This solution also has the problem of low sensitivity, with a lower detection limit of 25 ng/ml only, not meeting the need of detecting RNase activity in conventional samples.
Another RNase detection technique was established by Karn (Karn R C, Crisp M, Yount E A and Hodes M E. A positive zymogram method for ribonuclease. Anal. Biochem., 1979, 96:464-468). In this solution, upon utilizing the degradation of a synthesized substrate by RNase A, a series of cascade reactions occurred and finally a detectable blue substance was formed. This detection solution may detect 0.066 unit of RNase A (˜100 ng), which does not meet the need of common RNase detection, either.
Another RNase detection technique was established by Witmer (Witmer M R, Falcomer C M, Weiner M P, Kay M S, Begley T P, Ganem B and Scheraga H A. U-3′-BCIP: a chromogenic substrate for the detection of RNase A in recombinant DNA expression systems. Nucleic Acids Res., 1991, 19:1-4). The main feature of this technique was the synthesis of an RNase substrate U-3′-BCIP which would release a reporter group under the action of RNase. The release of the reporter group was detected by spectrophotometer at 650 nm, thereby calculating the activity and content of RNase in the sample. This solution is simple and convenient, but it is still not sensitive enough.
Fluorescence quenching technique is a research technique widely applied in different fields of life science. For example, it has been used to detect the activity of protease (Yaron A, Carmel A and Katchalski-Katzir E. Intramolecularly quenched fluorogenic substrates for hydrolytic enzymes. Anal. Biochem., 95:228-235, 1979), detect the activity of DNA restriction endonuclease (Ghosh S S, Eis P S, Blumeyer K, Fearon K and Millar D P. Real time kinetics of restriction endonuclease cleavage monitored by fluorescence resonance energy transfer. Nucleic Acids Res., 1994, 22:3155-3159), detect the 5′ exonuclease activity of DNA polymerase (Gelfand D H, Holland P M, Saiki R K and Watson R M. Homogeneous assay system using the nuclease activity of a nucleic acid polymerase. U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,015, 1993), detect specific nucleic acid sequences (Gelfand D H, Holland P M, Saiki R K and Watson R M. Homogeneous assay system using the nuclease activity of a nucleic acid polymerase. U.S. Pat. No. 5,210,015, 1993; Tyagi S, Kramer F R and Lizardi P M. Detectably labeled dual conformation oligonucleotide probes, assays and kits. U.S. Pat. No. 5,925,517, 1999; Livak K J, Flood S J A, Marmaro J and Mullah K B. Hybridization assay using self-quenching fluorescence probe. U.S. Pat. No. 5,876,930, 1999; Nazarenko I A, Bhatnagar S K, Winn-Deen E S and Hohman R J. Nucleic acid amplification oligonucleotides with molecular energy transfer labels and methods based thereon. U.S. Pat. No. 5,866,336, 1999; Nadeau J G, Pitner B, Linn C P and Schram J L. Detection of nucleic acids by fluorescence quenching. U.S. Pat. No. 5,958,700, 1999), and detect immunoreaction (Maggio E T. Chemically induced fluorescence immunoassay. U.S. Pat. No. 4,220,450, 1980). In a solution which applied fluorescence resonance energy transfer technique to detect the activity of hammerhead ribozyme, a synthetic oligoribonucleic acid substrate was used, wherein one end of the oligoribonucleic acid substrate was attached to a FAM fluorophore and the other end was attached to a TAMRA quencher (Hanne A, Ramanujam M V, Rucker R and Krupp G. Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) to follow ribozyme reactions in real time. Nucleosides and Nucleotides. 1998, 17:1835-1850).
In another technical solution, Zelenko et al synthesized a dinucleotide substrate, wherein one end thereof was attached to a fluorophore (O-aminobenzoic acid) and the other end was attached to a quencher (2,4-dinitroaniline) (Zelenko O, Neumann U, Brill W, Pieles U, Moser H E and Hofsteenge J. A novel fluorogenic substrate for ribonucleases: synthesis and enzymatic characterization. Nucleic Acids Res., 1994, 22:2731-2739). Cleavage of this substrate by RNase A allowed the fluorophore to be separated from the quencher, leading to an increase in the fluorescence reading of the reaction system. This solution is designed to investigate enzymatic kinetics of RNase A, which has certain limitations in detection sensitivity and is not suitable for the detection of RNase activity of conventional samples, either.
In another solution, James designed a 9-mer chimeric oligonucleotide for studying the enzymatic kinetics of RNase A. In the middle of this chimeric substrate there lied one uracil nucleotide, with deoxyribonucleotides flanking this uracil nucleotide. One end of the oligonucleotide was attached to a fluorophore and the other end was attached to a quencher (James D A and Woolley G A. A fluorescence-based assay for ribonuclease A activity. Anal. Biochem., 1998, 264:26-33). The flaw of this solution is that it can merely be used to study the activity of certain RNases that can cleave uracil nucleotide, and on the other hand, a sensitive fluorophotometer is needed.
In another solution, Kelemen et al reported another similar technique (Kelemen B R, Klink T A, Behlke M A, Eubanks S R, Leland P A and Raines R T. Hypersensitive substrate for ribonucleases. Nucleic Acids Res., 1999, 27:3696-3701). Same as the research solution of James, this solution can only detect RNases that can cleave uracil nucleotide and needs a fluorophotometer.
In another solution, Burke et al reported detecting the cleavage activity of RNase on a synthetic substrate by utilizing fluorescence polarization technique (Burke T J, Bolger R E, Checovich W J and Tompson D V. Method and kit for detecting nucleic acid cleavage utilizing a covalently attached fluorescent tag. U.S. Pat. No. 5,786,139, 1998). At present, commercial kits based on this technique are available in the market (PanVera Corporation Catalog 2000, Section 3.10. 545 Science Drive, Madison, Wis. 53711). Wilson et al further improved this technique and realized the goal of real-time detection (Wilson G M, Lu H, Sun H, Kennedy A and Brewer G. A fluorescence-based assay for 3′→5′ exoribonucleases: potential applications to the study of mRNA decay. RNA, 2000, 6:458-464). However, this technique needs to use a fluorescence polarimeter that an ordinary laboratory does not have, impacting its extensive use.
Another commercial RNase activity detection kit is supplied by PanVera Corporation (PanVera Corporation Catalog 2000, Section 3.10. 545 Science Drive, Madison, Wis. 53711). Comparing with the fluorescence polarization solution, this technique has lower sensitivity.
Another commercial RNase activity detection kit is supplied by Ambion, Inc. This solution is based on an RNA substrate labeled by biotin, and detects RNase activity through common chromogenic reaction (Ambion, Inc. Catalog 1999, p104. 2130 Woodward Street, Austin, Tex. 78744.). Without RNase, the substrate can remain intact and turns blue in the chromogenic reaction; if the substrate is degraded by RNase in a sample, no blue reaction can be formed. This solution is labor intensive and is not suitable for high-throughput applications.
Another commercial RNase activity detection kit analyzes substrate degradation through gel electrophoresis (Mo Bio, Web Catalog, 2000). This solution involves multi-step reactions with heavy workload and is not suitable for routine detection.
To summarize, although the existing detection methods described above have made some progress in increasing sensitivity and accuracy for RNase activity detection, they all have some defects and are not suitable for being used as a universal means for detecting RNase activity in samples with high sensitivity. Related technical solutions still have much room for improvement.

Double-stranded nucleic acid, use and kit thereof in ribonuclease detection


The present invention relates to a multimedia retrieval system and a method thereof which is capable of performing a multimedia data retrieval among different systems using color histograms constructed with different color spaces and color quantization methods, in particular to a content-based multimedia retrieval system and a method thereof which is capable of retrieving multimedia data among different systems, by extracting or converting a color histogram of a query image or a color histogram of an image to be retrieved into a color histogram of the same color space and color quantization method each other, and using the extracted or converted color histogram.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a system for retrieving multimedia data and a method thereof, in particular to a content-based multimedia retrieval system and a method thereof which is capable of retrieving multimedia data among different systems using color histograms constructed with different color spaces and color quantization methods.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In retrieval of content-based multimedia data in the conventional technology, color distribution of an image is displayed as a color histogram, the color histogram is defined in accordance with a color space and a color quantization method.
In addition, in retrieval of content-based multimedia data in the conventional technology, the color histogram is mainly used.
In other words, it is possible to perform an image or a video retrieval based on colors among systems using color histograms constructed with same color spaces and quantization methods on the internet circumstances. On the contrary, it is impossible to perform the image or video retrieval among systems using color histograms constructed with different color spaces and different quantization methods each other.
Herein, the color histogram displays the color distribution of the image, is easy to calculate similarity for comparing the color histograms, has a character unconcerned in position of a color pixel (Sometimes, a character concerned in position of a color pixel is needed in an image retrieval. For that, other feature display is used.), and has a better performance than the other color display method (texture histogram) for content-based image retrieval.
The content-based multimedia retrieval system using the color histogram will now be described with reference to accompanying FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the construction of the content-based multimedia retrieval system using color histograms in accordance with the conventional technology.
As depicted in FIG. 1, the content-based multimedia retrieval system using the color histogram comprises a color quantizer 100 for being inputted query image inputted by a user and extracting a color histogram as feature information of the query image, an image database 103 for storing a plurality of retrieval object image data 103-1˜103-N, a feature database 102 for storing the color histograms 102-1˜102-N as the feature information of the plurality of retrieval object images, and a retrieval unit 101 for calculating similarity between the color histogram of the query image and the color histograms of the plurality of retrieval object images and outputting an image in accordance with the similarity as a retrieval result.
The operation of the content-based multimedia retrieval system using the color histogram in accordance with the conventional technology will now be described.
First, the color quantizer 100 extracts the color histograms 102-1˜102-N in order to find the feature information of the image data 103-1˜103-N about the plurality of retrieval object images. In other words, the color quantizer 100 extracts one color histogram 102-1 per each image 103-1.
The extracted color histograms 102-1˜102-N are connected to the pertinent images 103-1˜103-N, and are stored on the feature database 102. In other words, the extracted color histograms 102-1˜102-N stored on the feature database 102 display the color distribution of the each image.
In addition, when the query image is inputted by the user, the color quantizer 100 extracts the color histogram about the query image.
In other words, the color quantizer 100 quantizes the designated color space into a plurality of subordinate spaces in accordance with the designated color space and quantization method.
Herein, the each quantized subordinate space is matched to one bin, color values of all pixels in a certain image constructs a color histogram in proportion to a frequency of occurrence corresponding to the each subordinate space.
The retrieval unit 101 calculates the similarity of the color histograms 102-1˜102-N displaying the color histogram of the extracted query image and the color distribution of the retrieval object images 103˜103-N stored in the feature database 102, and outputs the retrieval result in accordance with the similarity.
For example, the retrieval unit 101 calculates the similarity of the histograms 102-1˜102-N extracted in advance for the image retrieval based on the color and stored in the feature database 102 and the histogram of the query image by using a known method, namely, a histogram matching method such as a histogram intersection, and outputs the each image corresponding to the color histogram as a retrieval result on the basis of the magnitude of the calculated similarity value.
Herein, when the color histogram of the query image is extracted in advance and is stored in the feature database 102, the retrieval unit 101 calculates the similarity between the color histogram of the query image extracted in advance and the color histograms of the retrieval object images, and outputs an image in accordance with the similarity as a retrieval result (There is no need to extract newly the color histogram of the query image by the color quantizer.).
On the contrary, when the query image is not stored on the feature database 102 after being extracted in advance, the color quantizer 100 extracts newly the color histogram of the query image, and provides it to the retrieval unit 101.
However, in the conventional content-based multimedia retrieval system using the color histogram, it is possible to compare the color histograms among different systems only when the same color space and same color quantization are adapted to the color quantizers.
For example, when the color histograms constructed with same color space and same quantization method are used between same two systems on the internet circumstances, it is possible to perform the multimedia data retrieval based on the colors.
On the contrary, between two different systems, when color histograms constructed with color spaces and quantization method are not same, it is impossible to perform the multimedia data retrieval based on the colors. It will now be described with reference to accompanying FIG. 2.
FIG. 2 illustrates multimedia retrieval relations between different systems in accordance with the conventional technology.
As depicted in FIG. 2, because the meaning of each bin of the color histogram is changed by different color space and different color quantization, comparing a color histogram used in a local system A 200 with a color histogram used in a local system B is impossible.
For example, when color histograms 201-1˜201-N of images are stored in the feature database 201 of the local system A 200, a color histogram having 125 (5×5×5) bin number is constructed by performing 5 levels of uniform quantization about each RGB element by using a RGB (Red Green Blue) color space 202.
When color histograms 205-1˜205-N of images are stored on the feature database 205, the local system B 204 constructs and stores a color histogram having 343 (7×7×7) bin number by performing 7 levels of uniform quantization about each HSV (Hue Saturation Value) element by using a HSV (Hue Saturation Value) color space 206.
Accordingly, it is impossible to compare the color histogram of the local system A with the color system of the local system B.
As described above, in the conventional technology, it is impossible to perform the multimedia data retrieval between the systems using the color histograms constructed with the different color spaces and color quantization methods each other.
In addition, in the conventional technology, it is impossible to retrieve a retrieval object image about a query image of itself in a database of the other party between the systems using the color histograms constructed with the different color spaces and color quantization methods.
In addition, in the conventional technology, it is impossible to connect the databases which store various, different, wide range of images to a retrieval unit in a network circumstances such as the internet in order to retrieve images.

Content-based multimedia retrieval system and method thereof


Combinable and interchangeable water features used on a standard universal mounting system to create the desired color, style, jet, directional flow, filter, light, return fittings, or other water feature for a pool or spa. Some water features include removably attached and rotatable male receptor and female receiver connections to create a variety of water effects.

1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to interchangeable water features used in spas and pools.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the spa and pool building industry a variety of jets, drains, and other water features are used to filter, clean, and enhance the functionality and aesthetics of a particular spa or pool. Often many of these water features are desired as afterthoughts and may be costly to add as a result. One reason for the expense is once the initial ground spa or pool is formed from concrete, gunite, or other setting materials it becomes difficult to add additional holes in the structure without compromising the integrity of the structure. Other reasons include the complexity of the individual parts that are often comprised of multiple components and water features built on a non-uniform platform or design that lack interchangeability.
Styles, colors and new or different water features may be sought for after the completion of a pool or spa, so what is desired is a system that can anticipate and adapt to newly invented water features, color changes, and styles as the pool or spa owner desires without high costs and complex solutions. A system where the interchangeability of features is made with relative ease and at low costs. Additionally, a system that can be formed into the original formation of a pool or spa without further need to modify the shell or lining is what this application seeks to address.


A method for facilitating a search for an object in a three-dimensional simulation can be provided. The method can include receiving from a user at least one search parameter corresponding to an object and executing a search for the object based on the at least one search parameter. The method can further include generating a list of search results, wherein each search result corresponds to an object in the three-dimensional simulation and receiving from the user a selection corresponding to a first object in the list of search results. The method can further include transporting an avatar of the user to a location of the first object and displaying a visual indicator of a position of the first object in the three-dimensional simulation, wherein the visual indicator is distinct from the first object and wherein the visual indicator is not viewed by other users.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of simulations and video games and more particularly relates to the field of searching executed in simulations and video games.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, a plethora of online multiplayer games and simulations have appeared, ranging from simple combat games to complicated virtual reality worlds. A virtual world is a computer-based simulated environment intended for its users to inhabit and interact via avatars. This habitation usually is represented in the form of three-dimensional graphical representations of places, objects and humanoids (or other graphical or text-based avatars). Most, but not all, virtual worlds allow for multiple users. The world being computer-simulated typically appears similar to the real world, with real world rules such as gravity, topography, locomotion, real-time actions, and communication. Communication can be in the form of text, graphics and/or real-time voice communication using VoIP. These types of virtual worlds are common in massively multiplayer online games, particularly massively multiplayer online role-playing games. A metaverse refers to fully immersive 3D virtual worlds.
Due to the increasing size of virtual worlds, users are provided with various mechanisms for transporting their avatars and obtaining objects a user desires. For example, a user may "walk" or "run" to a desired location or a user may be able to specify a location in the virtual world and instantly teleport his avatar to that location. In another example, a user may look for a desired object in the virtual world by "walking" around and looking for the object or the user may execute a search for the object and use the search results to locate the desired object. The ability to search for items in a virtual world, however, does not come without its drawbacks.
Typically, when searching for an item, such as a car, in a virtual world, the user accesses a search window or other widget that allows the user to enter a name or keyword, such as the text string "car," that represents the desired object. In response, the search window or other widget displays a list of search results that may correspond to the specified object. The user may then click on individual items on the list, which results in the immediate transport of the user's avatar to the location of the listed item. Once the user's avatar is transported to the location of the desired item, no other indication of the desired item is provided. Thus, in cases where the desired item is small, the user may not immediately notice where the desired item is located and must therefore navigate his avatar around the virtual world in search of the desired item. Further, in cases where a location is densely populated with objects and other avatars, it can be difficult for the user to find the desired item in light of all of the distractions and objects.
Therefore, there is a need for improvements over the prior art, and more particularly, there is a need for a more efficient way to automate the searching of items in a virtual world.

Facilitating search for items in 3D simulations

International Business Machines Corporation


A magnetic disc apparatus includes a double layered perpendicular recording medium including a soft magnetic underlayer and a perpendicular recording layer, which are formed on a substrate, and a perpendicular magnetic recording head including a main pole generating a recording magnetic field in a perpendicular direction, and an auxiliary pole connected to the main pole on a trailing side to the main pole and having a multilayered structure in which a nonmagnetic layer is sandwiched between magnetic layers.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a perpendicular magnetic recording head and a magnetic disc apparatus using the perpendicular magnetic recording head.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional magnetic disc apparatus of a perpendicular recording system has a double layered perpendicular magnetic recording medium comprising a soft magnetic underlayer made of a high permeability material and a perpendicular recording layer having a magnetic anisotropy in the direction perpendicular to the film plane thereof, which are formed on a disc substrate, and a single-pole recording head including a main pole and an auxiliary pole each made of a high permeability material. The auxiliary pole serves to efficiently conduct a magnetic flux during a recording operation.
When the conventional magnetic disc apparatus of a perpendicular recording system is required to achieve a higher recording density, a serious problem is generated that signals recorded in the recording medium previously are deteriorated or erased by a weak magnetic field leaked from the auxiliary pole during a recording operation.
Incidentally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,873,599 discloses a technique that uses an auxiliary pole whose permeability progressively increases from each edge to the center thereof in the moving direction of the head, in order to overcome the increase in pulse noise generation in the edge of the auxiliary pole. In this technique, however, it is impossible to basically overcome the above-noted problem of the deterioration and erasure of the signals already recorded in the recording medium.
Also, since the conventional single-pole recording head has high sensitivity to a disturbance magnetic field, it is possible that the disturbance magnetic field brings about deterioration and erasure of previously recorded information. Thus, a structure that a write shield is arranged on the trailing side to the single-pole recording head is proposed to suppress penetration of the disturbance magnetic field (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,311,387). The particular structure makes it possible to prevent the signal deterioration in a region right under the main pole. However, the structure gives rise to a problem that a magnetic field generated from the main pole during a recording operation is introduced into the write shield to cause a weak leakage field from the write shield, which deteriorates or erases the previously recorded signals.

Perpendicular magnetic recording head and magnetic disc apparatus


A can seaming apparatus and methods of forming a seam on a can and lid assembly is disclosed. The apparatus includes one or more seaming arms pivotably attached to a shaft, a seam roller attached to one end of each seaming arm and a cam system. The cam system includes one or more cams associated with the end of each seaming arm opposite the seam roller. Force is transferred to each seaming arm through rotation of the one or more cams. The seaming arm then pivots and moves the associated roller into a seaming area of a can and lid assembly to create a seam.

A variety of can seaming apparatus are presently available for seaming lids onto metal cans in the food and beverage industries. Particularly for smaller cans with smaller lids, pneumatic sealing devices are preferable in terms of cost reduction and setup time. However, one existing difficulty in devices using air pressure to drive pivoting arms equipped with seam rollers into a can seaming area is in maintaining the high accuracy necessary to drive the roller into the correct position at the seaming area to produce a sufficient seam.
Typically, an air cylinder drives the seam roller into the seaming area. However, maintaining a consistent dimensional deformation throughout the seaming area is difficult to achieve with air cylinders in conventional designs. Existing methods use a sequence of two seam rollers to form the lips of the lid and the can into the required seal. Low pressure in the air system driving the seam rollers or an inadequate dwell time in the seaming process lead to discontinuity in the seam area. This causes dimensional variations in the seam area. Additionally, if the seam producing rollers travel too far into the seam forming area or not far enough, an inadequate seam is formed. These inaccuracies frequently lead to leakage and contamination of contents within the can. Such cans are not acceptable for further processing or sale, which leads to inefficiencies in the canning process and production of canned foods and beverages.
The repeatable seam apparatus disclosed herein is intended to overcome one or more of the problems discussed above.

Method to mechanically produce a repeatable seam in a can