A booster circuit for reducing the nominal latency of a logic gate. The booster circuit includes a charge sharing mechanism to transfer a stored charge to the output of the logic gate in response to a logic state transition on the input of the logic gate. The transfer of stored charge also reduces the charge drawn from the supply during the output transition.

Digital circuits may contain millions of devices on a single integrated circuit. The devices are generally very small to increase speed, reduce energy consumption and reduce the total area of an integrated circuit. Sometimes, an internally generated signal has to drive a very large external load as quickly as possible, such as when an internal signal has to drive an input/output pad of the integrated circuit. The internal signal is generally provided by a very small device that cannot drive a large load without incurring substantial delays due to the limited drive current available for charging/discharging the capacitive load.
The best performance in terms of minimum delay when an internal signal has to drive a large load may generally be achieved by using a chain of inverters, where each inverter is proportioned to the preceding inverter by an amount equal to the ratio of the final load divided by the input load (CL/Cin), otherwise commonly known as the electrical step-up, and this ratio is taken to the root power of the number of stages used in the chain. The number of stages in the chain is generally chosen such that this result is greater than e (about 2.7) but less than e2 (about 7.3).
In some circuits, such as a pipeline stage of a processor, use of optimally sized inverters may not be sufficient to meet timing constraints. This may be true when the pipeline stage is having trouble meeting timing constraints. Generally, latency is the time delay from when an input of a device changes state to when the output of the device changes state. Latency is generally measured from the 50% point of the input signal transition which caused the output to change, to the 50% point of output signal transition. Thus, what is needed is a circuit that boosts performance of logic gates with respect to latency and also reduces power consumed by the logic gates and/or area consumed by the logic gates.


End members are dimensioned for securement to a flexible wall of a gas spring assembly. The end members can include an end wall, and inner and outer crimp walls that extend from the end wall and are disposed in spaced relation to one another such that gap is formed therebetween. A plurality of connector walls extend between and operatively interconnect the inner and outer crimp walls. Gas spring assemblies including such an end member and suspension systems including one or more of such gas spring assemblies are also included.

The subject matter of the present disclosure broadly relates to the art of gas spring devices and, more particularly, to end members including a crimp area having improved structural integrity as well as gas spring assemblies including such an end member. Additionally, suspension systems can include one or more of such gas spring assemblies.
The subject matter of the present disclosure may find particular application and use in conjunction with components for wheeled vehicles, and will be shown and described herein with reference thereto. However, it is to be appreciated that the subject matter of the present disclosure is also amenable to use in other applications and environments, and that the specific uses shown and described herein are merely exemplary. For example, the subject matter of the present disclosure could be used in connection with gas spring assemblies of non-wheeled vehicles, support structures, height adjusting systems and actuators associated with industrial machinery, components thereof and/or other such equipment. Accordingly, the subject matter of the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to use associated with gas spring suspension systems of wheeled vehicles.
Wheeled motor vehicles of most types and kinds include a sprung mass, such as a body or chassis, for example, and an unsprung mass, such as two or more axles or other wheel-engaging members, for example, with a suspension system disposed therebetween. Typically, a suspension system will include a plurality of spring devices as well as a plurality of damping devices that together permit the sprung and unsprung masses of the vehicle to move in a somewhat controlled manner relative to one another. Movement of the sprung and unsprung masses toward one another is normally referred to in the art as jounce motion while movement of the sprung and unsprung masses away from one another is commonly referred to in the art as rebound motion.
Gas spring assemblies of various types, kinds and constructions are well known and commonly used. Additionally, known gas spring assemblies are typically available in a wide variety of sizes and load capacities. Even so, gas spring applications continue to be developed that demand greater gas spring performance, often in increasingly smaller packages. In many cases, such performance advancements include increased load capacity. One way that the load capacity of a given gas spring assembly can be improved is by increasing the gas pressure within the spring chamber thereof. In some cases, known gas spring constructions that utilize metal end members and crimped metal ring connections may be capable of operation at such increased gas pressure levels.
In addition to performance increases, there is also a continuing trend to reduce overall weight of vehicle suspension systems, and reducing the weight of gas spring assemblies can be one contributing factor to achieving targeted weight reduction goals. As such, end members for gas spring assemblies are commonly formed from polymeric materials, such as fiber-reinforced thermoplastics. However, such constructions can result in a corresponding reduction in strength and rigidity, which can be problematic in applications in which increased gas spring performance is desired.
Consequently, a need exists to meet these competing goals while still retaining comparable or improved performance, low cost of manufacture, ease of assembly and/or other desired features of gas spring assemblies.

End members and gas spring assemblies including same

Firestone Industrial Products Company, LLC


An imaging apparatus includes an imaging part that images a subject to generate image data, an image storage part that temporarily stores original image data that was imaged by the imaging part, an image data size reducing part that forms image data for display by reducing the size of image data stored in the image storage part, and an image display part that displays image data for display that was formed by the image data size reducing part; the imaging apparatus further comprising a camera shake state detection part that detects a camera shake occurrence state of the imaging part, a camera shake decision part that decides whether or not camera shake occurred for image data for display that was reduced by the image data size reducing part based on a camera shake state that was detected by the camera shake state detection part, and a camera shake correction part that, when a result decided by the camera shake decision part is that a camera shake occurrence state exists, subjects the image data for display to camera shake correction and displays corrected image data for display on the image display part.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus having an imaging part that images a subject and generates image data, and a portable device and a portable telephone that use the imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic cameras are already known that, in order to enable the recording of images without camera shake, prompt the operator to retake an image when the initial imaging was disrupted by camera shake, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-11-88810. These cameras comprise a vibration detection section that detects vibrations of the camera main unit, a shutter speed detection section that detects the shutter speed of the camera, and a warning output section that issues a camera shake warning in accordance with the output of the vibration detection section.
Further, for example as disclosed in JP-A-11-95307, image blur checking devices of cameras are also known that notify an operator when image blur occurred. In this case the camera body comprises a camera control CPU, an image-taking lens and a shutter. The camera CPU outputs information indicating the focal length and shutter speed at the time of imaging to a CPU of the image blur checking device. The CPU of the image blur checking device then starts to read angular velocity data from an H gyro sensor and a V gyro sensor in response to closing of an X contact point, and at the same time the CPU of the blur checking device periodically reads angular velocity data based on interrupt signals from an oscillator to thereby calculate an image blur amount based on the focal length and shutter speed information and the angular velocity data. The image blur checking device only lights an LED to inform the operator that image blur occurred when the image blur amount exceeded a specified value.
Furthermore, for example, as disclosed in JP-A-2004-266648, a camera shake correction apparatus is known that, when camera shake correction mode was selected, automatically increases the shutter speed by n times and also increases the sensitivity by n times. In this case, when the operator presses the shutter button once, imaging of n frames is automatically performed in succession and the amount of deviation of the digital image data that corresponds to the imaged image of each frame is detected. Next, by correcting each digital image data by the amount of the detected deviation and then synthesizing the data to generate digital image data for one frame, in the digital image data that is ultimately generated the noise amount is constant and the camera shake amount is decreased to 1/n.
However, the conventional examples disclosed in the above JP-A-11-88810 and JP-A-11-95307 merely comprise functions that simply notify the user that camera shake occurred in the camera. These conventional examples do not allow a user to check image data in which the camera shake was corrected, and the user has to perform imaging again. When the user cannot perform imaging again, the only method available to the user is to store the image data that was imaged in the camera shake state. There is thus an unsolved problem that user operability is poor.
Further, in the conventional example disclosed in the above JP-A-2004-266648, when the camera shake correction mode is set the shutter speed and the sensitivity are automatically increased and image data of a plurality of images is imaged. However, it is necessary to simultaneously process the image data of the plurality of images that were imaged, and thus the required storage amount and operation amount increases and the time until the image data after correction processing is displayed on a display part lengthens. There is thus an unsolved problem that the user is left with the impression that the correction processing time is long.
The present invention focused on the unsolved problems of the above-described conventional examples, and it is an object of this invention to provide an imaging apparatus that can quickly display an image after camera shake correction to the user, as well as a portable device and a portable telephone that use the same.

Imaging apparatus and portable device and portable telephone using same


A process train for treating a gas stream containing methane, nitrogen, and at least one of water vapor, acid gas, C.sub.3+ hydrocarbons and aromatic hydrocarbons, the gas stream typically, but not necessarily, being natural gas. The treatment train includes separation of methane from nitrogen by means of membranes that preferentially permeate methane and reject nitrogen. Preferred processes include both a dehydration step and an NGL removal step to treat the gas before it passes to the methane/nitrogen membrane separation step. The process train can also include additional steps, such as an acid gas removal step, or a cryogenic methane/nitrogen separation step.

Fourteen percent of known U.S. natural gas reserves contain more than 4% nitrogen. The bulk of these reserves cannot be exploited because no economical technology for removing the nitrogen exists.
Cryogenic distillation is the only process being used to date on any scale to remove nitrogen from methane in natural or associated gas. Twelve such plants are believed to be in operation in the U.S., for example in enhanced oil recovery, where nitrogen is used to pressurize the formation and tends to build up in the associated gases removed with the oil. The gas streams that have been treated by cryogenic separation contain relatively large amounts of nitrogen, such as more than 10 vol %. Cryogenic plants can be cost effective in these applications because all the separated products have value. The propane, butane and heavier hydrocarbons can be recovered as natural gas liquids (NGL), the methane/ethane stream can be delivered to the gas pipeline and the nitrogen can be reinjected into the formation.
Cryogenic plants are not used more widely because they are expensive and complicated. A particular complication is the need for significant pretreatment to remove water vapor, carbon dioxide, and C.sub.3+ hydrocarbons and aromatics to avoid freezing of these components in the cryogenic section of the plant, which typically operates at temperatures down to -150.degree. C. The degree of pretreatment is far more elaborate and the demands placed upon it are far more stringent than would be required to render the gas acceptable in the pipeline grid absent the excess nitrogen content. For example, pipeline specification for water vapor is generally about 120 ppm; to be fit to enter a cryogenic plant, the gas must contain no more than 1-2 ppm of water vapor at most. Similarly, 2% carbon dioxide content may pass muster in the pipeline, whereas carbon dioxide may be present only at the level of 100 ppm or less for cryogenic separation.
Other processes that have been considered for performing this separation include pressure swing adsorption and lean oil absorption; none is believed to be in regular industrial use.
Gas separation by means of membranes is known. For example, numerous patents describe membranes and processes for separating oxygen or nitrogen from air, hydrogen from various gas streams and carbon dioxide from natural gas. Such processes are in industrial use, using glassy membranes. Rubbery membranes are used to separate organic components from air or other gas mixtures, such as in resource recovery and pollution control.
It is also known to combine membrane separation with cryogenic distillation. For example, the following U.S. patents show such processes for the separation of carbon dioxide from methane: 4,529,411; 4,511,382; 4,639,257; 4,599,096; 4,793,841; 4,602,477; 4,681,612; 4,936,887 and 5,414,190. U.S. Pat. No. 4,374,657 shows a combination of cryogenic distillation and membrane separation for separating ethane from carbon dioxide. U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,063 shows cryogenic separation followed by membrane separation for separating hydrogen from other gases. U.S. Pat. No. 4,595,405 shows a similar arrangement for separation of nitrogen and oxygen from air. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,687,498 and 4,689,062 show process designs combining membrane separation and cryogenic distillation for recovery of argon from ammonia plant purge gas mixtures.
A report by SRI to the U.S. Department of Energy ("Energy Minimization of Separation Processes using Conventional Membrane/Hybrid Systems", D. E. Gottschlich et al., Final Report under Contract number DE 91-004710, 1990) suggests that separation of nitrogen from methane might be achieved by a hybrid membrane/pressure swing adsorption system. The report shows and considers several designs, assuming that a hypothetical nitrogen-selective membrane, with a selectivity for nitrogen over methane of 5 and a transmembrane methane flux of 1.times.10.sup.-6 cm.sup.3 (STP)/cm.sup.2 .multidot.s.multidot.cmHg, were to become available, which to date it has not.
In fact, there are several difficulties associated with separating nitrogen from methane by means of membranes, the main one being the absence of membranes with a useful selectivity. Both glassy and rubbery membranes have poor selectivities for nitrogen over methane or methane over nitrogen. Table 1 lists some representative values.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Permeability Selectivity (Barrer) (-) N.sub.2 CH.sub.4 N.sub.2 /CH.sub.4 CH.sub.4 /N.sub.2 Ref. ______________________________________ Polyimide (6FDA-mp'ODA) 0.26 0.13 2.1 0.5 1 Polyimide (6FDA-BAHF) 3.10 1.34 2.3 0.4 1 Polyimide (6FDA-IPDA) 1.34 0.70 1.9 0.5 2 Polyimide (6FDA-MDA) 0.20 0.10 2.0 0.5 3 Cellulose acetate 0.35 0.43 0.8 1.2 4 Polycarbonate 0.37 0.45 0.8 1.2 4 Polysulfone 0.14 0.23 0.6 1.7 4 Poly(dimethylsiloxane- 103 335 0.3 3.3 4 dimethylstyrene) Poly(dimethylsiloxane) 230 760 0.3 3.3 4 Poly(siloctylene-siloxane) 91 360 0.25 4.0 5 Poly(p-silphenylene-siloxane) 3 12 0.25 4.0 5 Polyamide-polyether copolymer 4.8 20 0.24 4.2 4 ______________________________________ 1 Barrer = 10.sup.-10 cm.sup.3 (STP) .multidot. cm/cm.sup.2 .multidot.s .multidot. cmHg References for table: 1. K. Tanaka, H. Kita, M. Okano, and K. Okamoto, "Permeability and Permselectivity of Gases in Fluorinated and Nonfluorinated Polyimides," Polymer 33, 585 (1992). 2. M. R. Coleman and W. J. Koros, "Isomeric Polyimides Based on Fluorinated Dianhydrides and Diamines for Gas Separation Applications," J Memb. Sci. 50, 285 (1990). 3. T. H. Kim, W. J. Koros, C. R. Husk, and K. C. O'Brien, "Relationship Between Gas Separation Properties and Chemical Structures in a Series of Aromatic Polyimides," J. Memb. Sci. 37, 45 (1988). 4. J. G. Wijmans, "Membrane Processes and Apparatus for Removing Vapors from Gas Streams," U.S. Pat. No. 5,071,451 (December 1991). 5. S. A. Stern, V. M. Shah, and B. J. Hardy, "Structure Permeability Relationships in Silicone Polymers," J. Polymer Sci: Polymer Physics Ed. 25, 1263, (1987).
These separation properties are not good enough to make membrane separation practical for this gas pair. With a nitrogen-selective membrane, we have calculated that a nitrogen/methane selectivity of about 15 is needed for a practical process that achieves adequate nitrogen removal and at the same time that avoids losing excessive amounts of methane into the permeate stream.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,352,272, to Dow Chemical, concerns operation of glassy membranes at subambient temperatures to improve selectivity for one gas over another. To achieve an acceptable selectivity for nitrogen over methane using known membrane materials would need an increase over the room-temperature selectivities shown in Table 1 of at least five-fold and more probably seven-fold or eight-fold. It is probable that the methane in the stream would liquefy before a low enough temperature to achieve this selectivity could be reached. Also, in glassy membranes, permeability, which is dominated by the diffusion coefficient, declines with decreasing temperature, so permeabilities, already low, would rapidly decline to an unacceptably low value.
Membrane separations are usually driven by a pressure difference between the feed and permeate sides, the feed side being at high pressure with respect to the permeate side. With a methane-selective membrane, if the bulk of the gas stream being treated has to pass to the permeate low-pressure side, then be recompressed, it is to be expected that this would make for an inefficient and hence costly process. Likewise, the membrane area that is needed to perform the separation is in proportion to the amount of gas that must cross the membrane; if most of the gas in the feed has to permeate the membrane, a much larger membrane area will be needed than if only a few percent of the feed gas has to permeate.
Thus, the separation of nitrogen from methane by means of membranes is a very difficult problem. U.S. Pat. No. 5,669,958 teaches such a separation, accomplished by operating a methane-selective membrane at a low temperature. U.S. Pat. No. 5,647,227 teaches the use of a similarly operated methane-selective membrane in conjunction with cryogenic distillation of nitrogen from methane.
Of course, most raw natural gas that is out of specification in terms of excess nitrogen content will also be out of specification with regard to at least one other component, such as water vapor, acid gas (carbon dioxide and/or hydrogen sulfide) and C.sub.3+ hydrocarbons. As a result, treatment trains are required that provide appropriate, consistent and integrated treatments for multiple contaminants.


Methods and apparatuses for muffling steam exhausted from a power plant, in one aspect, the method including flowing the steam into and through a submerged hollow pipe having a plurality of holes spaced apart along it and one or more water eduction tubes through which, due to the effect of the flowing steam, water is sucked into the hollow pipe.

1. Field Of The Invention
This invention is in the field of muffling steam exhausted during steam blows at a relatively high temperature and noise level from a power plant.
2. Description Of Related Art
During the start-up of a typical cogeneration power plant, an enormous amount of steam under pressure is released to the environment through steam piping at a very high noise level.
This steam contains solid debris that contaminates the steam system and is of such a quality that it cannot be used efficiently, nor can it be re-cycled. Consequently, it is vented to the atmosphere. Since it contains no toxic materials, the problems associated with venting the steam relate to its heat, pressure, and noise level.
The noise level of this steam can rise to 180 decibels and can be heard several miles away. In the past, this steam was simply vented without any muffling or attempts were made to muffle it with water-spray mufflers. These attempts were not practical because of the expense of the required equipment and the large amount of water that was required. The following references relate to muffling, but do not recognize or address the problems solved by the present invention:
U.S. Pat. No. 1,069,045 discloses an underwater exhaust and muffler for a boat engine, the exhaust and muffler attached to a hull of the boat and having a pipe which extends through the hull. The upper end of a vertical portion of the pipe is connected to a discharge pipe of the engine. Forward movement of the boat forces water into a plurality of passages formed by internal walls in a horizontal portion of the pipe. Engine exhaust encounters the water forced through the pipe. Also, the engine exhaust enters the water through a plurality of exit openings.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,535,660 discloses an exhaust silencer for internal combustion engines which has an outer casing with one or more inlet pipes disposed in a cooling chamber. Exhaust gases enter the casing through the pipes and pass through partition into a spent gas chamber to an outlet. One or more openings in the inlet end of the chamber permit air to enter the cooling chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 977,976 discloses an underwater exhaust and muffler for a boat's internal combustion engine. The exhaust and muffler includes a fitting with a plurality of internal tapering ports, internal baffle plates, and exhaust openings.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,360,429 discloses a silencer for gases in an internal combustion engine's exhaust with an outer shell divided into an inlet chamber and an outlet chamber by a partition. The engine exhaust gases enter the inlet chamber through one opening and liquid is conveyed in a controlled-flow fashion into the chamber through another opening. By removing a plug in the outlet chamber, liquid can be drained from the device during inactivity. The exhaust gases flow through a tilted conduit disposed between the two chambers.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,379,277 discloses a wet exhaust system for exhaust gases of marine internal combustion engines which has a sound-absorbing conduit with which a cooling fluid is introduced. The muffler is attached to an engine and is exhausted to the atmosphere at the stern of a boat.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,715,009 discloses a water-cooled jet engine noise suppression system and U.S. Pat. No. 3,899,923 discloses an apparatus for muffling and testing jet engine exhausts.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,306,636; 2,328,161; 2,238,816; and 2,516,948 disclose multi-chamber silencers for silencing the exhaust gases of submarines' engines. Water entering the silencers mingles with the engine exhaust gases.
There has long been a need for effective methods and apparatuses for muffling the steam exhausted from a cogeneration power plant. There has long been a need for such methods and apparatuses which can effectively reduce the temperature, pressure, and noise of such exhausts.

Methods and apparatuses for muffling power plant steam exhaust


A hammer comprising a hammer body. The hammer body comprises a rotor forming portion with a trailing and a leading edge and is capable of securement to a rotor, a tip support section capable of extending into a debris path, and a production pocket extending from the leading edge of the rotor portion also capable of extending into the debris path. The hammer also comprises a hammer tip secured to the tip section of the hammer body and at least partially shielded from the debris path by the production pocket of the hammer body.

The invention relates generally to a hammer attachable to a hammermill, or a tub grinder, or the like. More specifically, the invention relates to a hammer with the hammer body formed to extend the useful life of a rotatable hammer tip.
Impact crushers, like rotary hammermills or tub grinders, or the like, of the type contemplated herein, are widely used to size reduce objects into smaller fragments through rotation of a motor driven rotor. These devices typically include a plurality of hammers attached to the rotor, which strike the debris thereby causing the size reduction. The prior art describes uses of two piece hammers that comprise a hammer body and a rotatable hammer tip (see U.S. Pat. No. 5,285,974). Utilizing the rotatable hammer tip comprises a quick and convenient means for replacing an impacting working edge of the hammer tip. When the working edge of the hammer tip wears out, the hammer tip simply rotates through removal of securement bolts enabling operation to continue.
While the working edge of the hammer tip receives the brunt of the impacting force, the non-working edge of the hammer tip often comes into substantial residual contact with the debris. This can reduce the effective life of the non-working edge by anywhere from 25 to 50 percent or more. In other words, residual deflected contact with debris by the non-working edge of the hammer tip unnecessarily exposes the non-working edge of the rotatable hammer tip to wear and tear, and shortens the life of the non-working edge after rotating the rotatable hammer tip. This essentially reduces the life of a rotatable hammer tip, increases the cost of operation, and increases down time by requiring more frequent replacement of the rotatable hammer tips. Additionally, residual impact can also damage the securement bolts that attach the rotatable hammer tip to the hammer body.
Accordingly, for the foregoing reasons, a need exists for a hammer that utilizes a rotatable hammer tip that reduces premature wear and tear on the non-working edge of the hammer tip.

Production plus hammer with protective pocket


Most clinically distinguishable malignant tumors are characterized by specific mutations, specific patterns of chromosomal rearrangements and a predominant mechanism of genetic instability. It has been suggested that the internal dynamics of genomic modifications as opposed to the external evolutionary forces have a significant and complex impact on Darwinian species evolution. A similar situation can be expected for somatic cancer evolution as the key mechanisms encountered in species evolution such as duplications, rearrangements or deletions of genes also constitute prevalent mutation mechanisms in cancers with chromosomal instability. The invention is an algorithm which is based on a systems concept describing the putative constraints of the cancer genome architecture on somatic cancer evolution. The algorithm allows the identification of therapeutic target genes in individual cancer patients which do not represent oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes but have become putative therapeutic targets due to constraints of the cancer genome architecture on individual somatic cancer evolution. Target genes or regulatory elements may be identified by their designation as essential genes or regulatory elements in cancer cells of the patient but not in normal tissue cells or they may be identified by their impact on the process of somatic cancer evolution in individual patients based on phylogenetic trees of somatic cancer evolution and on the constructed multilayered cancer genome maps. The algorithm can be used for delivering personalized cancer therapy as well as for the industrial identification of novel anti-cancer drugs. The algorithm is essential for designing software programs which allow the prediction of the natural history of cancer disease in individual patients.

Field of Invention
The invention relates to the field of targeted cancer therapy. In particular, the invention relates to the identification of therapeutic target genes in individual cancer patients which do not represent oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes but have become putative therapeutic targets due to constraints of the cancer genome architecture on individual somatic cancer evolution.
Background Art
Cancer as a devastating but variable disease has always been subject of various theories, many of them sharing an explicit or implicit holistic or systems approach. Today, the scientific community has widely accepted the concept that cancer is caused by changes within the cellular genome [Knudson 1971, Fearon and Vogelstein, 1990]. This view may be regarded as a specification of Boveri's idea that somatic mutations are the basis of cancer [Boveri 1914].
Tumorigenesis and tumor progression can be considered an evolutionary process in which mutant and more tumorigenic subpopulations are sequentially selected and derived from less tumorigenic or benign progenitor cells [Foulds 1954, Nowell 1976, Gatenby and Vincent 2003]. The two main driving forces of tumorigenesis are on one hand a positive growth selection which may be mediated by external influences as well as by mutations in genes responsible for cell growth and apoptosis regulation and on the other hand an enhanced mutation rate leading to genetic instability.
Several human diseases are associated with an enhanced mutation rate and a predisposition to cancer. The mechanisms leading to genomic instability are multiple as multiple different systems exist which maintain genome integrity and which target different forms of DNA damage. The best known examples of genomic instability are post replicative mismatch repair (MMR) deficiency leading to mutations of short repetitive sequences such as microsatellite DNA (microsatellite instability=MIN) and chromosomal instability (=CIN) which induces rearrangement, loss, amplification or duplication of chromosomes or chromosome fragments resulting in aneuploidy. Besides, various other mechanisms exist such as defective nucleotide excision repair (NER), defective base excision repair (BER) and defective cell cycle checkpoint controls. It has been shown that human tumors with deficiency of MMR display different mutation patterns at target genes involved in carcinogenesis than tumors with chromosomal instability (CIN) [Zhou et al. 2002]. DNA-repair systems such as MMR and NER are constituted of multiple proteins and defects of different factors within a DNA repair system may result in differing mutation frequencies, mutation spectra and mutation hotspots within coding and non-coding DNA. This has been demonstrated in bacterial, yeast and animal models [Schaaper and Dunn et al. 1987, Habraken et al. 1996, Marti et al. 2003, Harfe and Jinks-Robertson 2000, Denver et al. 2006, Denver et al. 2005, Yao et al. 1999, Kuraguchi et al. 2001, Andrew et al. 2000]. Defects of mechanisms ensuring chromosomal stability such as lack of repair of double strand breaks, telomere loss, centrosome amplification, homologous recombination deficiency or suppression of hyperrecombination do also induce specific types of mutations [Lobachev et al. 2002, Traverso et al. 2003, Sabatier of al. 2005; Michor 2005, Deans et al. 2003; Saunders 2005, Bailey and Murnane 2006].
Most clinically distinguishable malignant tumors are characterized by specific mutations, specific patterns of chromosomal rearrangements and a predominant mechanism of genetic instability but it remains unsolved whether modifications of cancer genomes can be explained solely by mutations and positive or negative selection through the cancer microenvironment
It has been suggested that the internal dynamics of genomic modifications as opposed to the external evolutionary forces have a significant and complex impact on Darwinian species evolution [Conrad 1990, Shapiro 1999, Dover 2000, Poole et al. 2003, Brookfield 2009]. A similar situation can be expected for somatic cancer evolution as the key mechanisms encountered in species evolution such as duplications, rearrangements or deletions of genes [Demuth et a 2006] also constitute prevalent mutation mechanisms in cancers with chromosomal instability.

Algorithm for modification of somatic cancer evolution


A machine readable code on a label of a pill or imprinted directly thereon. The code may be used to track the identity of the pill for purposes of avoiding mix-up or trademark violations. The code has patterns whose resolution is too small for the unaided eye to discern.

A) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method of distribution of pills and a pill having a machine readable code.
B) Description of Related Art
Pills are packaged in containers, from single-pill containers to containers that contain thousands of pills. Pills encompass, for instance, tablets, caplets, gel-caps, and capsules, and contain either medication or a placebo. Pills come in a variety of shapes, sizes and colors to help distinguish one from the other.
Aside from possibly serving as an enticement for children, the configuration (shape, size, and color) of pills generally does not give one supplier or manufacturer a competitive edge over another due to the appeal of the particular configuration in the marketplace. If the pills of different suppliers contain different medicine, there is no reason for them to have the same configuration. If they did, one pill could easily be mistaken for the another, potentially leading to disastrous consequences.
If the pills of different suppliers contain the same medication, it makes sense for safety reasons to standardize the configuration to avoid the potential for mix-up in the event of switching between brands. Such a mix-up may lead to severe health risks and could be lethal.
On the other hand, a brand name may lose market share to a newcomer that merely copies the same pill configuration and, in a sense, passes it off as being an equivalent if not identical to the brand name version. The company owning the brand name may have spent years developing and promoting the outward appearance or product configuration of its pills to establish good will and may be unable to stop the newcomer from flooding the market with a cheaper, but identical version to capture market share. If sued for wrongful misappropriation of product configuration, the newcomer may successfully assert that for public health and safety reasons, the configurations should be the same to avoid consumer mix-up between pills containing different medications. In effect, the successful newcomer is permitted easier access to gain market share, because of the ability to profit from the consumer feeling comfortable switching brands due to the familiar configuration of the pills that the consumer was accustomed to with the brand name. Indeed, the newcomer's pill may provide the same impression of quality and efficacy as the brand name.
When a product shipped to one distributor finds its way to the territory of some other distributor in violation of the trademark rights of that other distributor, the product traveling in this manner is considered to be gray goods. The distributor who has trademark rights for the territory into which the gray goods travel may sue to stop such shipment of product between territories.
One difficulty, however, lies in determining the origin of the goods, particularly if the goods themselves are not marked in such as way as to distinguish them from one trademark territory to another. This has often been the case with pills. A problem is that although a package containing pills may include a territorial designation code, the pill itself is not assigned such a code and may therefore be easily repackaged to hide its channel of distribution. The absence of such a code fails to assist in the identification of the distributor licensee that was responsible.
Often pill containers are properly marked and sealed so that the manufacturing source can be identified by lot number. Since the container is sealed, one would expect that the pills inside the container match the lot number on the container. Regrettably, as the cost of medication rises, the temptation grows for merchants or suppliers to substitute some or all of the pills of the container with a cheaper generic version, seal the container, and pass it off as containing the pills from the original name brand. It is likely that the consumer will not suspect the switch, although may notice that the medication is less effective than expected. Regardless, the merchant profits handsomely. The manufacturer of the brand name product, however, in effect loses a sale and, worse, loses some of its good will as the consumer wrongfully blames the brand name manufacturer for the poor quality over which the manufacturer had no control. If the consumer suffers medically from the switched medication, the integrity of the brand name is damaged. In addition, the consumer did not get the brand name product for which he or she paid a premium. This problem arose because the consumer has no way of checking whether the pills in the container are the proper pills made by the labeled manufacturer.
Some medical institutions handle huge volumes of pills each day. Their employees go through the daily ritual of sorting the pills and dispensing them to the appropriate patients in accordance with each patient's specific dosage schedule. Mistakes do happen and pills get mixed up, particularly if they resemble each other in appearance. Any improperly administered medication can, of course, be life threatening to a patient. If generic versions are being used, then even the level of identification often afforded by brand name logo on the pill is absent. This problem arises because the pills may not have markings on them to correctly apprise staff of their medical content. If there is any question as to the content of a pill in the hospital environment, the pill is simply discarded. The cost of such discarded pills can only add to the ever increasing cost of medical care and insurance.
During clinical trials that test for efficacy of new medication, a select group of patients are given active medication, while another group take a placebo pill. It is preferred that these tests be conducted as single-blind or double-blind tests wherein even the doctor who administers the medication is not told which pills are active and which are placebo. However, as the doctor divides the medication consistently between the two groups, recording which patient receives which pill (as each pill is marked with a letter, number, or color code), the content of the pills for each patient becomes apparent to the doctor by observing the health of each particular patient during the trial. A doctor, following the Hippocratic Oath of medicine, may compromise the clinical trial by giving all the patients only those pills that the doctor perceives to contain the active medication. Also, the patients themselves may assess which pills are placebo and which are active by comparing the markings on the pills with the apparent effectiveness of the particular pill. Eventually, the test taker may become uncooperative and refuse to take any pill with markings that indicate a placebo, arguing that his or her health warrants taking real medication. The reliability of the clinical trial diminishes if an insufficient number of tests are conducted with the placebo.
These problems in clinical testing may lead to delays in gaining government drug regulatory approval. The problem may be especially acute with life sustaining drugs or cures for otherwise fatal diseases, because patients will become uncooperative when they know that only a placebo is being given. Here, of course, the problem is that the pills are marked in such a manner that the human eye can readily distinguish between them.
A Pharmacist generally fills all the prescriptions of a customer and thus should know the customer's medical history, which medication the customer may take and is currently taking. If a new prescription comes in, the Pharmacist is supposed to check for contra-indications regarding other medication currently prescribed to the customer. Unfortunately, the pills do not have warnings on them to let the Pharmacist know that filling the particular prescription may be dangerous if the customer is already on certain kinds of medication. Too much responsibility is placed on the Pharmacist and invariably mistakes are made, leading to life threatening consequences. The problem here is that no markings are provided either on the pill or container that the Pharmacist could readily check to avoid prescribing medically dangerous combinations of medications. In some cases, the Pharmacist has access to a computer having a software program designed to remind the Pharmacist of potential interactions of a particular drug. To activate the program, the Pharmacist must type in the National Drug Code pertaining to the particular drug or its drug name into the computer. This relatively simple task may sometimes be ignored or misused by Pharmacists.
Once a pill leaves its container, it becomes impossible to check its efficacy expiration date, its medication contents, etc. unless the container remains accessible. If the container is emptied and lost or otherwise discarded, unused pills will be unidentifiable, particularly if the pill lacks any brand name identification. It may be dangerous to take such a pill, depending upon the person's particular medical condition and the expiration date. The problem arises due to a lack of information on the pill itself.
The current distribution system requires that pills destined for off-the-shelf sales be packaged in their own sealed container to guard against tampering and contamination. The packaging is sized to contain a certain number of pills, from single-pill packaging, to bulk-size containers. This arrangement is necessary because pills are not marked in a manner that would permit the pills to be sorted from others at the place of purchase or dispensement. Only the containers are adequately marked to avoid confusion. Thus, the consumer has little choice in selecting the quantity of medication to purchase.
Persons whose vision is impaired or are blind are most susceptible to mixing up pills if different kinds of pills have the same feel and taste and such persons do not seek the assistance of others who can see. Such persons would find it beneficial to a device or system that assists in distinguishing between pills by relying upon their other senses, in particular, their hearing.
Keeping track of the efficacy of pills is a labor intensive task, requiring the patient or care giver to manually record when a pill is taken and when its effects wear off. Since the recording process is labor intensive, it is subject to human error and errors in recording the proper time. Nutrition may affect the efficacy of medication and recording information on nutrition is also a labor intensive task. Once the record is made, to be of lasting value, it must be stored in a data base. This requires some further manual effort in converting the manual entries from a journal into data entries into the computer.
Micro bar code is known. It is about one tenth the size of standard (MF=1) UPC bar code (Magnification Factor (MF)=1). Scanners for reading micro bar code are available commercially, such as from Neorex Corporation in Japan and Symbol Technologies, Inc. of Holtsville, New York. Symbol Technologies, Inc. has developed a 2D, high density bar code called PDF-417 and a corresponding scanner. The PDF-417 code is considered a high-density code capable of containing more information per area than standard UPC code.
It would be desirable to identify the source, distributor, medication contents and/or potency expiration date of a pill after the pill is dispensed, preferably through a scanner of machine readable code. Where identification of the code by reading it directly with the unaided eye poses a problem, it is preferred that the patterns within the code be too small to be resolved by an unaided eye.


The disclosure relates to an electronic memory system, and more specifically, to a system to emulate an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory, and a method to emulate an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory. According to an embodiment of the disclosure, a system to emulate an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory is provided, the system including a first memory section and a second memory section, wherein the first memory section comprises a plurality of storage locations configured to store data partitioned into a plurality of data segments and wherein the second memory section is configured to store information mapping a physical address of a data segment stored in the first memory section to a logical address of the data segment.

There is a wide variety of conventional non-volatile memory systems which are optimized for various fields of application. Based on the intended field of application, an appropriate memory system can be chosen. The properties of these conventional memory systems vary in many aspects. Two of these aspects are retention and endurance. Both are influenced by various factors such as the characteristics of individual memory cells of the memory system and by the architecture of the memory system.
Retention relates to a memory cell's ability to maintain the state it has been programmed to, i.e. to keep data stored in the memory cell intact. A memory system with high retention is able to store data over a long period of time without the need to refresh the data. In a memory system with low retention, data stored in the memory system has to be refreshed frequently.
Endurance relates to the number of times a memory cell can be erased or programmed. In a memory system with high endurance each memory cell of the memory system can be erased or programmed many times without being damaged. In contrast, in a memory system with low endurance, each memory cell can be erased or programmed only a limited number of times. Frequently erasing or programming a memory cell of a memory system with low endurance will damage the memory cell.
Generally, a conventional memory system exhibits either high retention or high endurance. When the retention of a memory system is high, the endurance of the memory system is generally low. Similarly, when the endurance of a memory system is high, the retention of the memory system is generally low. Therefore, in a situation where a memory system is employed to store data which needs to be updated only rarely, usually a memory system with high retention is employed. Correspondingly, in a situation where a memory system is employed to store data which is updated frequently, usually a memory system with high endurance is employed. Consequently, for a program memory which is used to store program data, it is convenient to use a memory system exhibiting high retention (and, consequently, low endurance), whereas for a data memory which is used to store application data, it is convenient to use a memory system exhibiting high endurance (and, consequently, low retention). An example for such a memory system with high endurance and low retention is an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM).
For many devices comprising a memory system, however, at the time the device is designed it is not known what type of data will later be stored in the memory system. Therefore, in these cases it is not possible to provide the device with the appropriate type of memory system. For example, a device comprising a memory system with high retention and low endurance is generally optimized to store program data. For a specific application of the device, however, it might be necessary to store application data in the memory system. In this case, the endurance of the memory system needs to be increased. This can be achieved by emulating a specific type of memory system using another type of memory system.
Conventional emulation schemes suffer from a number of drawbacks. Some of these schemes, for example, require an amount of memory space which is much larger than the amount of data which is to be stored in the memory system. With such a scheme it is impossible to build small and inexpensive memory systems. In other schemes the memory system has to provide several paths to access the memory for reading and programming. This again increases the space requirements of the memory system. Other schemes allow data to be programmed and erased only in big blocks and require a large number of erase operations. In most implementations this takes a lot of time.
For these or other reasons there is a need for improved systems and methods to emulate an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory.

System and method to emulate an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory


A video. source, such as a VCR, plays back a motion image which is input by an image input section. Partition of scenes and creation of images representing scenes are performed by a catalog creation section. Additionally, at this time, an image representing the movement of an object appearing in the scenes is created. A representative image and a motion description image are initially stored in a catalog storage section and then displayed in catalog form by a display section under control of a display control section. Since not only the representative image of scenes but also the movement of the object in those scenes are displayed, the contents of the scenes are easily grasped.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a representative image display method and apparatus comprising of a series of multiple images into which a motion image is formed, and which displays a representative image of each scene, and to motion image search apparatus which execute searches for a motion image using the representative image display apparatus.
2. Description of Prior Art
Generally, a motion image contains multiple scenes. Each scene has independent meaning, and is defined by a group of consecutive images. FIG. 2 shows a situation where three scenes have been recorded on a video tape. Scene A is a view of a person, scene B is of a house, and scene C is of an automobile. Each scene respectively comprises two (A1 and A2), two (B1 and B2). and three (C1-C3) images. A motion image search apparatus is used to quickly select a required scene from a motion image on recorded media, such as video tapes, when editing motion images such as those required in a multimedia presentation creation or in broadcasting. Recently, apparatus have been developed that display a representative image (hereinafter referred to as representative image) of each scene after a motion image has been partitioned into scene units, and that allow a desired scene to be selected using the representative image as an index.
FIG. 3 is a block diagram from a catalog for "Mediachef/CUT" by Hitachi, Ltd. showing a system using the product. Details of its operation are given in "Mediachef/CUT for Windows User Operation Manual" (Windows is a registered trademark).
In the figure, the system comprises a PC 2 which performs general control, a video playback apparatus 4 which provides the motion image to the PC 2, and a color printer 6 which prints the edited images. The PC 2 contains a video capture board 8 which captures and digitizes images provided from a video playback apparatus 4. This configuration performs, for example, the following steps.
(1) First the motion image to be processed is loaded, (2) a transition point in the scene is automatically identified based on the degree of color change in the images, (3) an image is decided to be a representative image that appears immediately after the transition point is observed, and (4) the representative image is stored or printed as an index for each scene. In the case of FIG. 2, a scene transition point is identified between A2 and B1, and between B2 and C1, and the leading images of each scene, B1 and C1, become the representative images.
This system helps the user in tape editing, for example, by printing out the representative images contained in one video tape cassette in a small sheet and affixing the sheet to the side of the video tape cassette. In addition, editing processes such as sorting, deletion, and trimming of the scenes are possible on the PC 2.
In the system described above, referencing the representative images allows the user to look for desired scenes and replay them, that is, to search for a motion image. However, in representative images where a ship is afloat on the ocean, for example, the direction of the ship's movement can only be determined by replaying the motion image. If several representative images of this sort exist, for example, when searching for pictures where the ship moves to the right, the user must check each scene containing the representative image one by one. This manual search is not only laborious when there are a large number of similar representative images, but inconvenient when one tries to grasp the general movement of a motion image, and leaves much room for improvement for efficient editing.

Representative image display method, representative image display apparatus, and motion image search appratus employing the representative image display apparatus


A sliding block type stepless autoshift speed changer includes a holder sleeve affixed to a main transmission shaft and holding two weights by means of two torsional members, an eccentric block radially movably coupled to the holder sleeve; a driving wheel supported on a ring round the eccentric block and having radial sliding grooves on two sides, two clutch wheels respectively fastened to a wheel hub and a secondary power output shaft, each clutch wheel having an annular sliding groove respectively facing the driving wheel, sliding blocks respectively sliding in the annular sliding grooves of the clutch wheels, each sliding block having a roller respectively coupled to and movable along the radial sliding grooves of the driving wheel, a plurality of beveled guide surface portions, and a plurality of rolling cylinders rotatably supported on and movable along the beveled guide surface portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a speed changer and more particularly, to a sliding block type stepless autoshift speed changer.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various designs of stepless autoshift speed changers are disclosed. However, conventional stepless autoshift speed changers have the drawbacks of complicated structure, big size, high manufacturing cost, and high failure rate.
Therefore, it is desirable to provide a stepless autoshift speed changer that eliminates the drawbacks of conventional designs.

Sliding block type stepless autoshift speed changer


A system for the monitoring of a patient's physiological condition, including a measuring device for measuring the mechanical activity of a patient's body, including a module for detecting mechanical vibrations and transmitting same to a sensing element for converting the mechanical movements into electric signals. A device for transmitting the electric signals for processing the electric signals and separating from them cardiac, respiration and body movement signals. A device for measuring the pulse wave propagation rate. A device for determining the characteristics and derived parameters of cardiac and respiratory cycles, as well as for storing and displaying the data. A comparator for comparing parameters of the data with predetermined parameters and a device for actuating an alarm signal when signals of the data exceed a preset range.

Methods and systems are known for monitoring the cardiac and respiratory activity of a patient and for generating an alarm in the event of cessation of breathing known as apnea, heartbeat cessation, or when the observed cardio-vascular activity surpasses a preset limit.
Such methods and systems find application in medical institutions for monitoring the condition of patients having respiratory or cardio-vascular diseases; monitoring newborn babies who may be susceptible to SIDS (Sudden Infant Death) syndrome, and in other clinical cases. As a rule, such monitoring is carried out by means of passive collection of information regarding a patient's condition, without attaching electrodes directly to the patient's body.
A method and system is known for round-the-clock monitoring of patients afflicted with OSAS (Obstructive Sleep Apnea) syndrome, which system comprises a special mattress with embedded sensors, electronic filters, a polygraph, etc. [see O. Polo, et al., "The Validity of the Static Charge Sensitive Bed in Detecting Obstructive Sleep Apneas," European Respiration Journal, Vol. 1, pp. 330-336 (1988)]. This method and system permit the recording of various movements of a sleeping patient, respiratory and cardiovascular deviations, and the like.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,884,578, entitled "Apparatus for Monitoring Respiration and Cardiac Activity," there is disclosed an apparatus including a special bed mounted on a support suspended by cords or a universal joint and a device for restoring the bed to a normal position. Vertically and horizontally oriented sensors are embedded in the bed and connected to recording devices, permitting monitoring of a wide range of respiratory and cardiac activities.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,381,788, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Detecting Apnea," there is described a monitor comprising a capacitance-type transducer pad, including two capacitor plates with resilient dielectric material between them and a special sensitive layer adapted to respond to the patient's respiratory motion. The pad is connected via an electric circuit to recording devices. A change of distance between the capacitor plates in response to the patient's movements causes a change of parameters in the sensor's electric circuit. The transduced signal is amplified, delayed for a certain, preset period of time and then, if preset parameters are exceeded, generates an alarm.
All of the above-mentioned methods and devices are complicated, expensive, require complicated instruments and can be applied only to patients confined to their beds and monitored under clinical conditions.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,657,025 and 4,738,264, entitled "A Heart and Breathing Alarm Monitor" disclose a monitor comprising a contactless sensor placed on a conventional bed away from a patient and having enhanced sensitivity in the vertical direction, a measuring transducer with electronic filters, and a recording device. The sensor detects the vertical vibrations of the bed produced by the patient's heartbeat and breathing functions, converts the detected vibrations into an electric signal and transmits the latter to the recording device. The device compares the obtained signal with preset circuits and, in the event the signals exceed a preset value, sets off an alarm. This monitor, however, can only be used on a patient confined to a bed and does not provide sufficient noise filtration. Moreover, its functional possibilities are rather limited. In particular, it cannot measure the rate of pulse wave propagation, which reflects the dynamics of the average arterial pressure.
It is an object of the present invention to provide general-purpose methods and devices for monitoring the physiological condition, not only of ill, but also of healthy, persons in clinical, ambulatory, home and working environments, which methods do not limit a person's activity in performing a job of average intensity in a sitting position. On the basis of such monitoring, the dynamics of the person's physiological condition and the necessity for its regulation or medical examination could be recognized.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a method for measuring the rate of pulse wave propagation, correlated with the dynamics of a patient's average arterial pressure.
A still further object of the present invention is to provide a small, highly sensitive device for monitoring a patient's physiological condition which provides a more satisfactory filtration of noise, and which is of moderate cost.

Method and system for monitoring the physiological condition of a patient


A camera dolly has a base on which an elevator is mounted. The elevator has a sliding shelf for mounting a camera, a counterweight to balance the weight of the camera. A fixed shelf is provided to hold accessories such as a video monitor. The base is provided with removable wheels for use on most surfaces. The base also has rollers which move along a track made of PVC pipe or hoses filled with compressed air. An alternative embodiment has the camera mounted to a sliding mount connected to the base. A tripod may also be mounted on the base.

This invention relates, in general, to a camera dolly, and, in particular, to an improved arrangement for providing a way to move a camera in multiple directions while filming a scene. Movie making involves acting out scenes in front of a camera. While a static camera is adequate for some scenes, many times it is desirable to have a camera move though a movie set to achieve a more dynamic view of the scenes being filmed. Camera movement can be side to side, up and down, and toward or away from a scene, and combinations of those directions to provide for all manner of diagonal movement.


A bar code reader has a sensor unit to be mounted on an operator's finger and a decoder unit to be mounted on an operator's wrist, the sensor and decoder units being electrically connected by a cable. The sensor unit has a light-emitting device for emitting light toward a bar code to be read, a graded-index rod lens array for focusing an entire linear optical image of the bar code at one time in substantially the same size as the bar code, and a line image sensor such as a CCD for photoelectrically converting the entire linear optical image focused by the optical means into an electric signal. The decoder unit decodes the electric signal from the line image sensor. The light-emitting device, the rod lens array, and the line image sensor are housed in a hollow casing. A movable tubular member is movably disposed in the hollow casing and has an end wall for abutment against the bar code. A switch for energizing the light-emitting device and the decoder unit is fixedly mounted in the hollow casing and triggerable by the movable tubular member when the movable tubular member is moved by abutment of the end wall thereof against the bar code.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a bar code reader, and more particularly to a portable, small-size hand-supported bar code reader.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Some portable hand-held scanning bar code readers employ a charge-coupled device (CCD) combined with an image-reducing optical system including a spherical lens. A light beam emitted by a light source is applied to a bar code, and reflected light from the bar code is reflected by a mirror and then focused by the spherical lens onto the CCD. The CCD converts the focused light into an electric signal whose intensity varies with time depending on the information represented by the bar code. The electric signal produced by the CCD is then amplified by an amplifier, converted into a binary signal by a binary signal generator, and decoded into a decoded signal by a decoder. The decoded signal is outputted from the bar code reader through an interface.
During use of such a portable hand-held scanning bar code reader, the operator is required to hold the bar code reader by hand. Since one hand of the operator is occupied by the bar code reader, the operator can only use the other hand or may have to pass the bar code reader to the other hand to do some other work. Therefore, the efficiency of the job which the operator performs while holding the bar code reader by hand is considerably low.
Attempts have been made to reduce the size of portable scanning bar code readers. One small-size portable bar code reader is disclosed in Japanese laid-open utility model publication No. 58-138157. The disclosed bar code reader is a pencil-shaped bar code reader that can be mounted on an operator's finger. The pencil-shaped bar code reader is relatively long, and suffers frequent reading errors because it is required to trace bar codes in order to read them. U.S. Pat. No. 4,766,299 discloses a hand-mounted bar code reader. The disclosed hand-mounted bar code reader is however relatively large in size as its housing accommodates a conventional laser and scanning mechanism for producing a scanning laser beam. U.S. Pat. No. 3,978,318 shows a hand-operated scanner that can be worn by an operator's finger. However, the disclosed hand-operated scanner is also relatively large in size, and must to be moved over a data bearing medium in order to read the data.
Furthermore, the optical system of the conventional scanning bar code readers has imposed certain limitations on efforts to make them smaller in size. Inasmuch as the scanning bar code readers have an image- reducing optical system including a spherical lens, as described above, if the focal length of the optical system between the bar code and the spherical lens is to be shortened to reduce the size of the bar code reader, then it is necessary to employ a smaller spherical lens with a reduced radius of curvature. The smaller spherical lens would however be unable to provide a light intensity strong enough to detect a bar code image on the CCD. Since the spherical lens is required to focus the reflected light from the bar code into a smaller bar code image on the CCD, the spherical lens should have a certain focal length that is necessary between itself and the CCD. Therefore, it has been impossible for scanning bar code readers to be greatly reduced in size because of those optical system limitations.

Small-size hand-supported bar code reader


Disclosed is a method of aiming a firearm operated by an operator, comprising: a) at a range-determining rate of at least as frequent as once a second, determining the range to an object along an aiming line of a firearm; b) generating a signal audible to the operator, wherein at least one characteristic of the audible signal is modulated as a function of said determined range; and c) discharging the firearm in response to the characteristic of the signal. Also disclosed is a device useful in helping to aim a firearm, comprising: a) a range-determining unit configured for mounting on a firearm, further configured for determining the range to an object along an aiming line at a range-determining rate of at least as frequent as once a second; and b) a reporting unit functionally associated with the range-determining unit, configured to generate a signal audible to a human operator, wherein at least one characteristic of the signal is modulated as a function of a range determined by the range-determining unit. Also disclosed is a firearm comprising: a firearm body including a barrel having a muzzle at a distal end; and mounted on the firearm body, a range-determining unit of the device useful in helping to aim a firearm.

The invention, in some embodiments, relates to methods and devices for helping to aim a firearm, especially a hand-held firearm.
To hit a desired target with a projectile fired from a firearm, an operator (shooter) must aim the barrel of the firearm at the target before discharging the firearm.
Aiming a hand-held firearm is seemingly a simple task: the operator points the barrel at a target. In reality, only experts with hundreds of hours of training are able to point to shoot and consistently hit a target at anything further than point-blank range (less than 1 meter).
For an operator of less than expert ability, the operator must use a gunsight to have a reasonable chance of hitting a target, even a static target.
Surprisingly, hitting a target at close ranges, i.e., from 1 meter to about 30 meters, using a hand-held firearm when the operator is under pressure or an urgent time limit is difficult, even with the help of the standard fixed "iron sights".
The use of advanced combat optical gunsights (ACOG, available, for example, from Trijicon, Wixom, Mich., USA) improves the chance of hitting a target with a shoulder-held weapon such as a rifle. Some such sights are too bulky to be practical for use with handguns. Further, the requirement to focus both the operator's field of view and concentration through the gunsight during aiming means that aiming and discharging the firearm may take a relatively long time and/or the operator may become oblivious to the surroundings.
It is known to use a laser placed in parallel to the barrel of a firearm as laser gunsight. The laser beam illuminates an object with a small (1 mm diameter) spot of light. Such sights are ineffective at ranges above 4 meters due to difficulty in seeing the spot of light especially during day light, while in low-light conditions the use of such a laser gunsight reveals the location of the operator. As with an ACOG, use of a laser gunsight requires that the operator focus both field of view and concentration to see the spot of light with the concomitant disadvantages.

Method and device useful for aiming a firearm


A question setting apparatus is disclosed, including a processor and a storage part. The storage part stores a problem database which maintains problem data including a problem and a correct answer and a student answer database which maintains answer data including an answer of a student for the problem and a correct/incorrect answer determination result for each of the students. The processor performs recording the answer data and the correct/incorrect answer determination result by using the problem database based on a correct answer of the problem, the answer data being received during a test from each of student terminals connected through a network; and sending a comment to the student terminals through the network in which during the test, an answer state of the students is determined by using the student answer database and the comment related to the problem is acquired from a teacher based on a determination result.

Recently, in Japan, information terminals have been installed and a empirical experiment has begun at public elementary schools. All elementary and junior high schools are scheduled to distribute digital textbooks. In the future, it is considered possible for a next generation education system using mobile information terminals to pervade nationwide. Conventionally, it is possible to send a problem to a learner and to present a next problem in response to the ability of the learner based on a mark result, through a network.
As a learning system, a technology is known in which an answer result of a learner is received, and patterns of incorrectly answered problems, and other problems which took more than a standard time to acquire a correct answer, are viewable as a learning result, so that a teacher and parents are able to recognize a weak point of the learner.
A technology is presented to acquire and output solution information, which is created beforehand for each of problems, from a storage part, after an end of a test, for the problems in which correct answers were not obtained. A technology is also presented to acquire a reason for an incorrect answer from a student from whom a mark result is received, and to provide the reason for the incorrect answer created by the student when another student also answers the same problem incorrectly.


A rapidly deployable, pressure sealed, cough and sneeze aerosol, containment apparatus and a system to virtually eradicate the cold, the flu, and Covid-19. A face mask having a rigid first section configured to hold a filter and a pliable second section configured to fit on a person's face; a face mask seal formed on an edge of the pliable second section of the face mask; a curved surface on the face mask seal configured to fold inward to form a seal on the person's face when pressed on the person's face.

The COVID-19 is devastating the world. Our approach to COVID-19 is the wrong approach for three reasons. One, vaccines have never, and will never, stop a rapidly mutating virus. Second, our approach of quarantines is against the very fiber and nature of our social society and will debilitate our world faster than COVID-19 itself. It is like treating a bee hive or an ant bed for a disease by separating all the bees and ants, effectively killing the bee hive or ant bed faster than the disease itself. Third, our approach of continuous face mask use is based on the wrong assumption that COVID-19 is transmitted by breathing and speech aerosols. COVID-19 is actually only transmitted through cough and sneeze aerosols. If you do not define the problem correctly, you will arrive at the wrong solution.
Because, for all practical purposes, COVID-19 is transmitted only through virus laden droplets and aerosols generated by coughs and sneezes, there is a need for a pressure tight mask specifically and comprehensively designed to capture sufficient droplets and aerosols to virtually eliminate the possibility of transmission, even when indoors and at close range and with low ventilation. Close range is hereby defined as when a healthy individual's face is six inches away from an infected individual, i.e., when they are standing shoulder to shoulder in an elevator, for example. When everyone in a given zone (including visitors) agree to use the Covid Cough Cleanser, all transmission within that zone virtually stops instantly. Therefore, no other COVID-19 measure is needed within that zone, i.e., no vaccines, no breathing masks, no social distancing, no business closures or limitations, and no quarantines. This is great for family reunions, the work place, cruise ships, etc. The zones can be scaled up to include towns, counties, States, Countries, or even the entire World. Universal compliance is easy to achieve because the CCM stays out of the way 99% of the time until it is needed to cover a cough or sneeze. The concept is basically like a highly advanced (space age) version of the handkerchief, when used for source control. This update, to the source control use of the handkerchief, is highly overdue, as evidenced by the problems we have encountered with COVID-19; Had this current invention been in universal use throughout the world prior to COVID-19, the COVID-19 pandemic would not have occurred.
In the history of the world, this is the first mask specifically and comprehensively designed for the protection of others. However, if by chance someone in your zone fails to cough without a CCM, your CCM can be used as an emergency (self-protective) face mask until you are safely clear of the offending cough.
Only 4% of the world has been vaccinated. As the world vaccination rollout increases, the opportunity for breakaway mutations increases proportionally. It is anticipated that by the next COVID-19 season, the world's vaccines will completely fail to work. Worldwide, the CCM will step in where vaccines leave off. The CCM is equally effective against all mutations, variants, and even COVID-23, etc.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Rapidly deployable, cough and sneeze, aerosol containment apparatus


A Read only memory (ROM) with minimum leakage includes a ROM array including a first transistor, wherein a drain, a source, a gate, and a bulk of the first transistor is electrically connected to a logic zero in the idle state for ensuring zero junction and sub-threshold leakage current. The drain of the first transistor is electrically connected to a main bit line through a second transistor. The second transistor includes a gate, electrically connected to a first decoding circuit, a drain, electrically connected to the main bit line. A first reference bit line is electrically connected to a drain of a third transistor, wherein gate of the third transistor is electrically connected to a second decoding circuit for generating a stop read signal. A second reference bit line, electrically connected to the first decoding circuit through a first sensing unit for generating a stop pre-charge signal.

Often, in a read only memory (ROM) architecture an N-MOS transistor is used. The gate of the transistor is connected to a word line, the drain of the transistor is connected to a bit line and the source of the transistor is grounded. The bit line is charged to the highest potential even in the idle state. Hence there exists a leakage current due to the voltage drop between the drain and the source of the transistor.
The leakage current is experienced even when the gate of the read only memory transistor is at a logical zero or in other words, in the idle state. In large ROMs the leakage from the ROM array is of a very high magnitude and a dominant component of the total ROM leakage.
The leakage current may be reduced by using a transistor with the source of the transistor virtually grounded. The leakage current may be reduced by using a virtual ground at the source of the transistor. However in such a method, there still exists voltage potential between the source and bulk junction and drain and bulk junction. The source and bulk and drain and bulk junctions contribute junction leakage. In very large ROMs having high number of cells the junction leakage is of large magnitude and a dominant component of the total ROM leakage.
The leakage current may be reduced using a P-MOS architecture. The solution of using P-MOS may result in either a very slow ROM because of the inherent slow nature of P-MOS or a very large ROM if the P-MOS current is increased by increasing its size. The existing ROM architecture standards may not allow the usage of P-MOS architecture.
In light of the forgoing discussion, there is an unmet need for a ROM architecture with minimum leakage drop.


To reduce number of parts and reduce cost in a multi-pin modular jack provided with a mis-insertion prevention mechanism that prevents insertion of a modular plug having number of pins different from the modular jack the mis-insertion prevention mechanism includes a mis-insertion determination unit having a mis-insertion prevention guide mounted at the front that causes a modular plug having different number of pins from the modular jack inserted into an opening in a housing of the modular jack to move traversely and an elastic support mounted at the rear and fixedly supported at the rear of the housing, and a stopper formed on a portion of the roof of the housing on a side opposite the side on which the mis-insertion determination unit. The mis-insertion determination unit is disposed on either an upper left or an upper right top part inside the opening in the housing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-pin modular jack provided with a mis-insertion prevention mechanism that prevents insertion of a modular plug having a number of pins different from a predetermined number of pins.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, there is a modular jack and a modular plug used to connect internal telephone lines, LAN (Local Area Networks) and the like, which are termed 6-pin types and 8-pin types because of the difference in the number of pins they have. Although the two types differ in the number of pins, the pins are mounted at the same pitch. Consequently, although it is physically impossible to insert an 8-pin modular plug into a 6-pin modular jack because of the difference in size, conversely it is possible for a 6-pin modular plug to be mistakenly inserted into an 8-pin modular jack. In order to prevent the mis-insertion of a plug into a different type of jack for which the plug is not suited, there is known an arrangement in which the modular jack is equipped with a stopper member that comes into play when a plug of a different number of pins in inserted into the jack (for example, JP-A-2002-313492).
However, with this type of conventional modular jack, the stopper member of the mis-insertion prevention mechanism that prevents mis-insertion of a modular plug of a different type consists of two stoppers provided left and right, which increases the number of parts and thus increases the cost of the modular jack.


A security system, method and computer program product are provided. In use, a request is received to open a file on a local computer. Thereafter, it is determined whether the request is received from a local process operating on a local computer or from a remote computer, so that such determination may be used for security purposes.

In the space of just a few years, the Internet, because it provides access to information, and the ability to publish information, in revolutionary ways, has emerged from relative obscurity to international prominence. Whereas, in general, an internet is a network of networks, the Internet is a global collection of interconnected local, mid-level, and wide-area networks that use the Internet Protocol (IP) as the network layer protocol. Whereas the Internet embraces many local- and wide-area networks, a given local- or wide-area network may or may not form part of the Internet.
As the Internet and its underlying technologies have become increasingly familiar, attention has become focused on Internet security and computer network security in general. With unprecedented access to information has also come unprecedented opportunities to gain unauthorized access to data, change data, destroy data, make unauthorized use of computer resources, interfere with the intended use of computer resources, etc. As experience has shown, the frontier of cyberspace has its share of scofflaws, resulting in increased efforts to protect the data, resources, and reputations of those embracing intranets and the Internet.
To this end, security experts are constantly inventing new ways of enhancing computer network security. For example, it is known that the name of the application process that accesses a file can be very important in determining whether the access is likely to be 'safe' or 'dangerous.'
For example, previous scanners introduced the concept of 'Per Process Configuration'. This feature allows a virus scanner to use different scanning options depending on the process that accesses a file. For example, if a file is being opened by MS Word®, it is important to scan the file for macro viruses since MS Word® will execute the macros when it opens the file. However, if the file is being opened by a backup program, it may not be necessary to scan for macro viruses because they will not be executed.
One limitation of Windows NT® is that when a file is opened by a computer on the network, the file is opened on the local system by the operating system kernel. It is therefore impossible to distinguish between files being opened by the kernel for its own use and files being opened by the kernel on behalf of computers over the network. See, for example, the prior art operation shown in Table 1.
TABLE 11.PC1 sends message to PC2 to open\\PC2\SHARE\file.exe2.PC2 receives message. Drivers in the kerneltranslate \SHARE\file.exe to c:\shared\file.exe3.Drivers in kernel of PC2 open c:\shared\file.exe
Prior art virus scanners assign all opens by the kernel to a process called 'System.' The kernel opens files for its own use (these tend to be safe operations). It also opens files for remote computers (these are suspicious operations because remote computers cannot necessarily be trusted). Unfortunately, prior art virus scanners do not know the difference because they all came from the kernel (process 'System').
There is thus a need for overcoming these and other related security problems.

System, method, and computer program product for tailoring security responses for local and remote file open requests


By using a free layer that includes a NiFe layer containing between 65 and 72 atomic percent iron, an improved CPP GMR device has been created. The resulting structure yields a higher CPP GMR ratio than prior art devices, while maintaining free layer softness and acceptable magnetostriction. A process for manufacturing the device is also described.

The principle governing the operation of most magnetic read heads is the change of resistivity of certain materials in the presence of a magnetic field (magneto-resistance or MR). Magneto-resistance can be significantly increased by means of a structure known as a spin valve where the resistance increase (known as Giant Magneto-Resistance or GMR) derives from the fact that electrons in a magnetized solid are subject to significantly less scattering by the lattice when their own magnetization vectors (due to spin) are parallel (as opposed to anti-parallel) to the direction of magnetization of their environment.
The key elements of a spin valve are illustrated in FIG. 1. They are seed layer 11 (lying on lower conductive lead 10) on which is antiferromagnetic layer 12 whose purpose is to act as a pinning agent for a magnetically pinned layer. The latter is a synthetic antiferromagnet formed by sandwiching antiferromagnetic coupling layer 14 between two antiparallel ferromagnetic layers 13 (AP2) and 15 (AP1).
Next is a non-magnetic spacer layer 16 on which is low coercivity (free) ferromagnetic layer 17. A contacting layer such as lead 18 lies atop free layer 17. When free layer 17 is exposed to an external magnetic field, the direction of its magnetization is free to rotate according to the direction of the external field. After the external field is removed, the magnetization of the free layer will stay at a direction, which is dictated by the minimum energy state, determined by the crystalline and shape anisotropy, current field, coupling field and demagnetization field.
If the direction of the pinned field is parallel to the free layer, electrons passing between the free and pinned layers suffer less scattering. Thus, the resistance in this state is lower. If, however, the magnetization of the pinned layer is anti-parallel to that of the free layer, electrons moving from one layer into the other will suffer more scattering so the resistance of the structure will increase. The change in resistance of a spin valve is typically 8-20%.
Earlier GMR devices were designed so as to measure the resistance of the free layer for current flowing parallel to its two surfaces. However, as the quest for ever greater densities has progressed, devices that measure current flowing perpendicular to the plane (CPP), as exemplified in FIG. 1, have also emerged. CPP GMR heads are considered to be promising candidates for the over 100 Gb/in2 recording density domain (see references 1-3 below).
A routine search of the prior art was performed with the following references of interest being found:
No references were found that disclosed a specific percentage of Fe in the free layer. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,686,068 (Carey et al), U.S. Pat. No. 6,562,199 (Shimazawa et al), U.S. Pat. No. 6,473,279 (Smith et al), and U.S. Pat. No. 6,469,879 (Redon et al), free layers comprising materials such as NiFe and CoFe are disclosed. U.S. 2004/0047190 (Odagawa et al) describes a Ni-rich free layer.
An improved free layer in a CPP spin valve needs to achieve three objectives:
    1) higher CPP GMR ratio;    2) low coercivity i.e., good magnetic softness; and    3) low positive magnetostriction.

Free layer for CPP GMR having iron rich NiFe


A fuel reforming system has a reformer (4) for reforming a fuel to produce a reformate gas; a shift converter (5) for reacting carbon monoxide (CO) contained in a reformate gas with water to produce hydrogen (H2); a CO oxidizer (6) which removes CO discharged from the shift converter; and a startup combustor (11) for supplying combustion gas to the reformer (4), a shift converter (5) and CO oxidizer (6) to warm up them. An NOx trap (16) is disposed downstream of the startup combustor so as to adsorb nitrogen oxides (NOx) in combustion gas. A fuel reforming system further has a controller for controlling warm-up operations. When the warm-up operation for the reformer, the shift converter and the CO oxidizer is completed, the reformate reactions are commenced in the reformer (4). The NOx trapped by the NOx trap is decomposed by the reformate gas which contains CO gas and H2 gas.

A startup combustor is sometimes used in order to warm up a reformer of a fuel reforming system. The startup combustor preferably combusts fuel at approximately a stoichiometric ratio due to the large amount of produced heat. However since the combustion temperature is high when combustion operations are performed at approximately a stoichiometric ratio, NOx is produced largely as a result of reactions between oxygen and nitrogen in the air. Consequently there is the possibility that NOx components will be present in exhaust emissions from the fuel reforming system. Furthermore when the fuel reforming system is applied to a fuel cell, entry of NOx into the fuel cell constitutes a cause of deterioration or contamination of the fuel cell. One method of preventing the production of NOx comprises control of the combustion temperature in the combustor to a temperature at which NOx is not produced.
A conventional technique disclosed in Tokkai Hei 9-063619 published by the Japanese Patent Office in 1997 sets the excess-air factor (air-fuel ratio/stoichiometric ratio) of the startup combustor to a value greater than one, for example to a value of three. Consequently the combustion temperature is suppressed because of the excess air amount introduced into the startup combustor.

Fuel reforming system and control therefor


This invention is directed to golf balls having at least two adjacent layers, wherein a coating layer of metal materials is on at least one surface of the adjacent layers. The adhesion of the adjacent layer is improved by induction heating. The invention also is directed to ink solution for golf equipment comprising metal materials that can improve adhesion of the ink to the golf equipment.

Conventional golf balls include multi-layer balls, which may have one or more wound layers. The difference in playing characteristics is significant among the three different types of balls: two-piece balls, wound balls and multi-layer balls. Two-piece balls are typically made with a single solid core encased by a cover material. These balls are generally most popular among recreational golfers, because they are durable and provide maximum distance. Typically, the solid core is made of polybutadiene chemically cross-linked with zinc diacrylate and/or similar cross-linking agents. The cover material comprises tough, cut-proof blends of one or more ionomers, such as SURLYN® sold commercially by DuPont or IOTEK® sold commercially by Exxon.
Wound balls typically have either a solid rubber or liquid-filled center, around which many yards of a stretched elastic thread or yarn are wound to form a core. The wound core is then covered with a durable ionomer cover, or a softer cover such as balata or polyurethane. Wound balls are generally softer than two-piece balls and can provide more spin, thus enabling skilled golfers to have more control over the ball's flight and placement.
Solid multi-layer golf balls may have one or more core layers, one or more intermediate layers and one or more cover layers. They are designed to overcome some of the undesirable features of conventional two-piece balls, such as hard feel, while maintaining the positive attributes of wound balls, such as increased initial velocity and distance. It is also desirable that multi-layer balls have similar "click and feel" and spin characteristics of wound balls.
Solid multi-layer golf balls can be produced using a variety of manufacturing techniques. For example, two or more cover layers may be molded around a conventional core with one or more intermediate layers interposed between the cover layers and the core. Alternatively, multi-layer balls may be formed from cores having more than one core layers and may optionally contain one or more intermediate and/or cover layers. Multi-layer balls may even comprise a conventional wound core around which at least one intermediate layer and/or at least one cover layer are formed. Typically, the outer layers of multi-layer golf balls are formed by molding them around the core or the preceding intermediate layer or cover layer. Conventional techniques for applying such layers include injection molding, compression molding and casting the layer material around the preceding core or layer.
It is desirable to obtain good adhesion between the various solid layers. If the adhesion between the layers is not acceptable, the performance or durability of the golf ball can be adversely affected. For example, poor adhesion can cause unattached areas to form between the layers that can result in separation of the layers when the ball is struck with a club. It is also known that the adhesion between the wound layer and the encasing layer can be improved when the encasing material flows into the voids among the windings during the molding process, resulting in improved adhesion.
The patent literature discloses a number of references teaching improved adhesion techniques. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,103,166, 6,342,019, and 6,648,776 to Boehm et al., which are incorporated by reference in their entireties, relate to using textured surface profile that are integrally molded to the outer surface to improve adhesion between golf ball layers. The surface profile comprises peaks having heights between about 2 mils and about 15 mils.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,440,346 to Wai et al. relates to a golf ball comprising a core having outwardly extending projections, and an interstitial space layer of relatively less resilient material applied in the interstitial space between the projections on the surface of the core. A cover is then applied over the core and the interstitial space layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,605,243 to Masatani relates to a method of producing golf ball comprising a spherical elastic inner layer having outwardly extending projections with either round or polygonal shapes, and a thermoplastic resin outer layer covering the inner layer.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,761,846 to Murphy relates to a method of making a golf ball with an interior layer having outwardly extending protrusions to facilitate adhesion to the cover materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,837,183 to Inoue et al. relates to a method of molding golf ball comprising the steps of providing a thin film layer of a magnetic material on the inside surface of a spherical cavity of a mold, embedding an induction heating coil and a cooling channel beneath the magnetic material in the mold, generating a magnetic field via a high frequency oscillator to heat the cavity, introducing a predetermined amount of a molten stock material to fill the cavity, and feeding a coolant via the cooling channel to complete the molding process.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,585,607 to Tzivanis et al. relates to a process to increase adhesion between two adjacent layers in a golf ball comprising the steps of roughening the bonding surface of one layer, chlorinating the roughened surface, treating the surface of adjacent layer with a silicone-based adhesion promoter, and joining the layers.
However, there remains a need to improve interlayer adhesion in the process of making multi-layer golf balls.

Multi-layer golf ball having improved inter-layer adhesion via induction heating