For a plurality of types of additional attribute data included in note data, a selection section selects one or more of the plurality of types of additional attribute data. For a plurality of the note data, a display section displays pictorial figures or the like representative of the contents of the additional attribute data of the types selected by the selection section, in proximity to pictorial figures or the like representative of pitches and sounding periods of the note data. The display section also displays pictorial figures or the like indicative of the contents of the additional attribute data, at positions and in sizes corresponding to periods or timing when musical expressions or the like indicated by the additional attribute data are to be applied.

The present invention relates to apparatus and programs for displaying and editing score data to be used for automatic performances.
There have been known techniques for causing an automatic performance apparatus to execute an automatic performance of a music piece using a score data set that includes a plurality of note data indicative of pitches, sounding periods of musical sounds included in the music piece. Also, score data displaying/editing apparatus have been known which display and edit a score data set to be used for an automatic performance.
Among various known score data displays employed in the score data displaying/editing apparatus is one called a "piano roll display". On the piano roll display screen, bar-shaped pictorial figures, corresponding to sounds represented by individual note data, are placed on a coordinate plane having an axis representative of sound pitches and an axis representative of the passage of time. User can know pitches and sounding periods of the individual sounds, on the basis of positions, in the pitch axis direction, of the corresponding bar-shaped pictorial figures and positions and lengths, in the time axis direction, of the same pictorial figures. The note data included in the score data set each include various types of data in addition to the data representative of the pitch and sounding period, and the score data displaying/editing apparatus can not only display but also edit these various types of data included in the note data.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2001-306067, for example, there is disclosed an apparatus which is constructed to not only display pitches and sounding periods of note data by a piano roll display but also display and edit lyric (words of a song) data to thereby associate the edited lyric data with sounds represented by the note data. Further, from Japanese Patent Application Laid-open Publication No. 2002-202790 etc., there has been known a technique which causes a singing synthesis apparatus to automatically sing a song using a singing score data set including lyric-related data.
When a user wants to edit given data included in a score data set, there is a need for the user to ascertain correspondency between the given data and other data included in the same note data as the given data. Further, in this case, the user has to ascertain correspondency between the given data to be edited and data included in note data that precede and succeed the note data including the given data.
However, generally, if contents of a plurality of types of data are simultaneously displayed for a plurality of note data in the conventionally-known score data displaying/editing apparatus, pictorial figures representative of pitches and sounding periods of note data etc. and pictorial figures representative of other information, such as vibrato information, than the pitches and sounding periods are displayed apart (i.e., at a relatively great distance) from each other. Thus, it was difficult for the user to intuitively grasp what kinds of information are attached to the individual notes.
Some of the conventionally-known score data displaying/editing apparatus have a function of displaying a plurality of types of data, included in note data, near pictorial figures representative of pitches and sounding periods of the note data. However, in such score data displaying/editing apparatus, the plurality of types of data are displayed simultaneously only for one note data at a time, not for a plurality of note data. Therefore, it was difficult for the user to readily grasp, from the display, arranged states, on the time axis, of other information than pitches and sounding periods, e.g. with a view to determining a particular type of expression to be imparted to a note or notes residing at a particular location within a phrase of a certain length.
Further, for some of the data included in the note data, relative positional relationships would become important between a time period when a process instructed by the data should be carried out or an effect instructed by the data should appear and a sounding period designated by the note data. Typical example of such data is one instructing a vibrato for imparting a tone with a vibrating expression. In sounding a certain voice, which position in the sounding period the vibrato should start at is an important factor that governs an impression of the performance given to one or more human listeners. But, the conventionally-known score data displaying/editing apparatus was not constructed to perform any display that allows the user to grasp, in relation to the note sounding period, at which timing a process or effect of a vibrato or the like, instructed by such a type of data, should take place. Therefore, it was not easy for the user to know an impression of a singing performance that would be given to the listeners.
When a singing performance is automatically executed using a singing synthesis apparatus, there can arise a slight deviation between sounding periods indicated by a singing score data set and sounding periods of voices in an actual singing performance. However, in the case where the conventionally-known score data displaying/editing apparatus is used, the user could not ascertain time (or temporal) relationship between the sounding periods indicated by the singing score data set and sounding periods of voices in the actual singing performance.

Score data display/editing apparatus and program


An information processing apparatus acquires a first metadata value of first metadata from a content to be assigned metadata, performs a first search from contents by the first metadata using the first metadata value as a search condition, acquires a second metadata value of second metadata different from the first metadata from one or more contents included in a set of a result of the first search, performs a second search from the contents by the second metadata using the second metadata value as a search condition, finds a degree of similarity between the set of the result of the first search and a set of a result of the second search, and assigns, according to the degree of similarity, the second metadata value as metadata of the content to be assigned metadata.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a metadata assignment method and a metadata assignment apparatus, and more particularly, to a technique that is adapted to be used for assignment of metadata, such as the name of a location and the name of an object, to a photograph.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method for assigning metadata, such as the name of a location and the name of an object, to a photograph for management of the photograph has started to be generalized. For example, photographs with metadata assigned thereto by users are published on a photograph sharing site on the web. If a user assigns metadata only to a small number of photographs, such as photographs to publish on the web, manual assignment of metadata is possible. However, for example, if a user tries to manually assign metadata to all of a large number of travel photos, this becomes a heavy burden to the user.
Under this circumstance, there has been proposed a method of utilizing metadata assigned to a similar image. For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2002-024265 discusses a method of searching similar images on a photograph sharing site with use of a photograph to which a user wants to assign metadata as a query, extracting a plurality of metadata from photographs of the search result, and allowing the user to select which metadata is assigned to the target photograph.
Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 11-134344 discusses a method of searching similar images with use of a photograph which a user wants to assign metadata as a query, and assigning the same metadata as the metadata of the search result if the user determines that the image of the search result is actually similar to the target photograph.
The metadata assigned to photographs on, for example, a photograph sharing site, are basically assigned by users manually, and selected based on the users' subjective views. As such, it is inevitable that some photos are assigned metadata that fail to indicate the name of a location or the name of an object, and other photos are assigned metadata having poor representataiveness of the location or the object. Therefore, in conventional methods of assigning metadata based on similarity of an image, even if an image having extremely high similarity is found, assignment of appropriate metadata as the name of a location or the name of an object may not be able to be expected.
The same problem arises in a method of determining the location of a photograph based on the global positioning system (GPS) data, and utilizing metadata assigned to a photograph which was taken at a nearby place. In this case, the problem is that accurate determination of the location where the photograph was taken according to the GPS does not necessarily results in assignment of appropriate metadata.

Information processing apparatus and information processing method


A switch apparatus, comprising an operating knob having a knob-leg with a bifurcation formed in the knob-leg, the operating knob being supported so that the operating knob can be operated to rock; and a slide switch having an engagement portion insertable in the bifurcation formed in the knob-leg so as to engage the bifurcation; wherein when the operating knob is operated to rock, the engagement portion receives a force from the bifurcation through the rocking movement to operate the slide switch; and wherein the slide switch has a limiting element that maintains the knob-leg in engagement with the engagement portion so that the knob-leg is prevented from disengaging from the engagement portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to switches. In particular, the present invention relates to a switch apparatus used as, for example, a power window switch for an automobile.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIGS. 10 and 11 illustrate a conventional switch apparatus as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 9-167543. FIG. 10(a) is an exploded perspective view of the conventional switch apparatus with some parts omitted. FIG. 10(b) is a side view. FIG. 10(c) is a cross-sectional view with some parts omitted, taken along line SA—SA of FIG. 10(b).
As shown in FIG. 10, a switch apparatus 201 has a knob-mounting portion 205 formed on the top of a case 203. An operating knob 209 is supported so that it rocks back and forth on a support pin 207 of the knob-mounting portion 205. The operating knob 209 has a knob-leg 211 that is inserted into the case 203. The lower end of the knob-leg 211 engages an engagement portion 215 of the slide switch 213 disposed in the case 203. A light source 217 is provided in the case 203 as shown, for example, in FIG. 10(c). The operating knob 209 has an indicator through which the light of the light source 217 transmits, so that the indicator can be visually recognized easily even at night.
For example, FIG. 11 illustrates the relation between the slide switch 213 and the knob-leg 211. FIG. 11(a) is an exploded perspective view of a pertinent portion, illustrating the relation between the slide switch and the knob-leg when they engage each other. FIG. 11(b) is a side view of the pertinent portion, illustrating the slide switch and the knob-leg. FIG. 11(c) is a front view of the pertinent portion, illustrating the slide switch and the knob-leg.
The knob-leg 211 is provided with a bifurcation 219 for engaging a later described element. The slide switch 213 has an operating boss 221 that is supported by the case 203 and serves as an engagement portion with which the bifurcation 219 of the knob-leg 211 is engaged.
When the operating knob 209 is operated in a rocking manner, the operating boss 221 receives a force from the bifurcation 219 through the rocking movement, the force being oriented in one of directions shown by arrow A in FIG. 11(b). Thus, the operating boss 221 operatively slides in one of directions shown by arrow B in FIG. 11(a) so that the slide switch 213 is switched. Thus, the operation of the operating knob 209 in a rocking manner allows easy switching of the slide switch 213 through the knob-leg 211.
However, with the aforementioned construction, there is a possibility of the knob-leg 211 disengaging from the operating boss 221 as shown in FIG. 11(c) due to warning of the knob-leg 211, so that the slide switch 213 cannot be properly operated.
To solve this problem, the rigidity of the knob-leg 211 may be increased by increasing the thickness of the knob-leg 211, thereby restricting the warning of the knob-leg 211 to prevent the knob-leg 211 from disengaging from the operating boss 221.
When the light source 217 disposed in the case 203 illuminates the operating knob 209 as shown in FIG. 10(c), an increased thickness of the knob-leg 211 may block the light emitted from the light source 217. Therefore, there is a possibility of the operating knob 209 not being illuminated sufficiently.

Switch apparatus with operating knob with limiting element for continued engagement


Improved dental flosses are provided, including multicomponent coextruded filaments and/or filaments having a multilobal cross-section. Some preferred flosses of the invention are capable of bulking.

Tooth decay and dental disease can be caused by bacterial action resulting from the formation of plaque about the teeth and/or the entrapment of food particles in interstices between the teeth. Removal of plaque and entrapped food particles reduces the incidence of caries, gingivitis, and mouth odors as well as generally improving oral hygiene. Conventional brushing has been found to be inadequate for removing all entrapped food particles and plaque. To supplement brushing dental flosses and tapes have been recommended.
Dental flosses including a thickened "brush" portion have been developed. These flosses may also include a thin "floss" portion and a threader. The brush portion, when drawn between tooth surfaces, provides good cleaning action which removes materials left by a standard thin floss used alone.
To form a brush floss, it is necessary to provide bulked filaments in a strand of floss, i.e., filaments which are separated and have a somewhat sinuous, random orientation.
Dental flosses, both in brush and thin floss form, often include additives such as flavors or colors. These flavors have been conventionally applied by coating the additive onto the surface of the floss.


Disclosed is an epoxy resin composition which is excellent in thermal stability without being cured in a cylinder of an injection molding machine and is extremely suppressed in the formation of flux on molding.. This epoxy resin composition has an important feature residing in the use of a specific silica of the following characteristics as an inorganic filler to be incorporated thereinto whereby excellent technical effects can be achieved such as the composition being injection-moldable and the formation of flux on molding being suppressed extremely:. (a) an average particle diameter of not more than 30 .mu.m, PA1 (b) 5-30% by weight of a molten or crystalline silica powder having an average particle diameter of not more than 7 .mu.m and a specific surface area of at least 5 m.sup.2 /g in the total silica content, PA1 (c) 15-45% by weight of silica having an average particle diameter of not more than 5 .mu.m in the total silica content, PA1 (d) the maximum particle diameter of the total silica content of not more than 150 .mu.m, and PA1 (e) a silica content of 70-82% by weight in the total composition.. An alkylurea derivative is preferably used as the curing accelerator among which dimethylamine adduct of 2,4-tolylene diisocyanate is more preferably used.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an epoxy resin composition, and more particularly, to an injection-moldable epoxy resin composition which is excellent in thermal stability without being cured in a cylinder of an injection-molding machine and is extremely suppressed in the formation of flux on molding.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well known that epoxy resins are excellent in various physical properties such as heat-resisting property, chemicals-resisting property and insulating property and are employed for various uses.
From the past, a transfer molding method is known as a means for molding epoxy resin materials which is appropriate in the aspect of productivity. In transfer molding, it is ordinary that an epoxy resin composition is cast in a pot of a metal mold prior to molding and the composition is then pressed by a plunger and cured under fluidization within the metal mold.
In this molding method, however, a material for molding has initially to be shaped into tablets and a preheating step is needed so that shortening of the molding cycle becomes naturally limitative, thus making producibility and economization of cost difficult to be attained. In transfer molding, moreover, there remains such a problem in the course of molding that a cull part remaining in the pot in addition to a runner part becomes a waste portion after curing.
The cured cull part is normally discarded as a waste without being recycled, but the waste is not decomposed by biodegradation and thus causes an environmental pollution.
In an injection-molding method, on the other hand, a thermoplastic resin powder for molding is only charged into a hopper whereby the subsequent preheating and weighing operations of the powder are automatically operated in a cylinder and the fluidized resin is injected into a metal mold where curing of the resin is effected. In this case, therefore, steps for shaping the molding material into tablets and preheating them are not required and furthermore a continuous production of the moldings becomes possible, thus making shortening of the molding cycle possible as compared with the transfer molding operation. The injection-molding method can thus be said to be superior in the aspect of production efficiency.
However, epoxy resin molding materials employed heretofore in transfer molding are inferior in thermal stability in the cylinder so that melt viscosity of the materials increases extremely to make injection-molding impossible.


A method and an related apparatus for performing a white balance operation on an image with pixels, wherein global colour gain values common for substantially all pixels of the image are first determined. Then local colour gain values for individual pixels of the image are determined based on analyses of a local window comprising said individual pixel and a number of adjacent pixels. Thereafter, final colour gain values for individual pixels of the image are determined as a weighted average of the global and the local colour gain values, and a white balance operation is performed on the image using the final colour gain values.

One of the challenging problems in colour image processing is adjusting the colour gains of the captured image in order to compensate for the variations in the imaging sensor's ability to reproduce the colours reliably when imaging is performed in the presence of a light source with certain spectral properties. These spectral properties also imply the colour temperature of the illuminating light source. Imaging sensors can have significant differences in their spectral response when exposed to different types of common sources of illumination. The sensor response is also typically non-linear and, therefore, depends on the amount of the incoming light and on several other ambient conditions. For these reasons, it is necessary to correct for this problem in imaging systems, and operations related to this are broadly referred to as white balancing. In order to compensate for changes in illumination spectra, the gains of the colour processing systems and/or imager should be adjusted. This adjustment is usually performed to correct for the overall luminance (brightness) of the image and to approach an acceptable reproduction of the perceived colours in the imaged scene. For this purpose, various methods of automatic white balancing (AWB) have been developed. In most camera systems, AWB is an integral part of the image reconstruction chain and is used to ensure that colours of an imaged scene will be reproduced correctly, even if the image has been recorded in varying lightning conditions, for example, in sunshine or in artificial lightning conditions. AWB defines the offset and gain values that will be associated with each colour component, red (R), green (G) and blue (B). The result defines the colour balance of the image.
When the spectra of the illumination source are unknown to the image reconstruction device, then the AWB adjustment is performed based on an analysis of the captured image itself. These AWB algorithms are typically based on histogram measures that will ultimately define a unique, global offset and gain value associated with each colour component. This approach is based on the premise that in complex images all colours are represented rather equally in all parts of the image. Thus, the gain values associated with all RGB colour components in the image can be defined as constants across the entire image area. In this approach, the auto white balance correction is made globally over the whole image.
If an imaged scene contains a large set of objects of varied and different colours or even large gray areas, the colours of the image will be reproduced substantially correctly. However, if the image contains any large substantially monochromatic region, e.g. a landscape with large portions of blue sky, or if the image is taken in uneven illuminating conditions, the conventional approach fails. Herein, uneven illumination refers to situations, wherein different parts of the image have been illuminated by light sources having different spectral and/or intensity properties.
In order to enhance the analysis of the differences in the illumination spectra of an image, US20030222992 proposes to divide the image into subframes and utilize only those parts of the image, which can be recognized clearly as non-monochromatic, for white balance correction calculations. Then the overall white-balance of the image can be shifted, if a change in the colour average is due to a change in the spectra of illumination, and not due to a presence of large monochromatic areas in the image.
However, a problem associated with the above arrangement is that the sub-frame division is only used to include or exclude certain parts of the image for global AWB correction analyses. Said method still determines a global AWB correction for the whole image after the sub-frame analysis has been performed. As a result, if an image includes areas with differences in relative illumination, these global AWB correction parameters applied for the whole image cannot compensate for these differences.

Automatic white balancing of colour gain values


An amusement device that is added to a new or existing bumper boat attraction, consisting of a singular or plurality of targets, lights, water effect devices, and a control system or module. The target may be comprised of a mechanical switch, pressure switch, sensor, optical beam, or any other device for detecting a participant signal. When a participant operating a bumper boat, bumps (or sprays if equipped with onboard squirt guns), or enters into the sensor area of pool, a signal is sent to a control module or control system. The control module or system will in turn send a signal to a water effect device, actuating a singular or plurality of valves. The water effect device will be directed over the pool or arena area such that there is a possibility of other participants getting wet. A water effect device may consist of a water cannon, water blast, mist, air assisted mist, dumping of water or water spray.

Amusement park attractions have included bumper boats as a participatory ride allowing participants to steer their vehicles in a pool of water and bump into one another at a safe speed. Some bumper boats are also equipped with a water sprayer such that participants can spray at one another, increasing the level of interaction between participants of the ride. The present invention improves the entertainment value over prior art bumper boat attractions by adding an interactive target system that takes the ride to an even higher level of participation and interaction.
A brief summary of prior art patents relating to the general field of water-based amusement is provided as follows.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,179,173 for a water control system teaches that the combination of a control system and water effects can be a fun way to have people in a water park or water play area interact with targets or sensors triggering water effects. However, it does not in any way teach or suggest incorporation of any such arrangement into a bumper boat attraction.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,382,026 shows a moving vehicle shooting gallery where participants riding in boats on a track can spray targets as they pass to activate water effects and score points. Participants cannot control their boat nor can the boats contact other boats.
U.S. Patent Application Publication Number 2007/0087850 adds competition to water play areas and tube rides. The amusement attraction involves participants actively competing in certain events or on a tube ride, but does not apply to bumper boat areas where participants can steer their boats.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,786,830; 5,149,048; and 5,820,471 all relate to water effects being generated in participatory water play structures.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,702,687 describe control systems for water amusement devices relating to water play areas
Tornado Company in the UK (www.tornado-uk.com) has a remote control boat game where participants drive remote control boats and try to dock them or maneuver through obstacles which may produce an effect, but participants do no ride in the boats and water effects are not directed at other participants.
A similar system is installed at Disneyland in 1999 by Thola Productions (www.thola.com).
In addition, Tornado offers a bumper car system in which participants can shoot an infrared beam at other participants, and a hit will cause the other participant to spin. It does not have a target to bump nor water effects to spray participants or observers. Furthermore, this is not a bumper boat attraction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,561,914 describes a bumper boat system where boats can be steered by participants and participants can spray one another with water guns. It uses water pulses to power these boats but does not use a target on the side of the pool to trigger water effects.

Bumper boat amusement attractions, methods and systems and water effect device usable in same


An ultrasonic probe in which cable wiring between transducers within the ultrasonic probe and connector terminals can be simplified. The ultrasonic probe includes: plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting ultrasonic waves according to supplied drive signals, and receiving ultrasonic echoes to output detection signals; plural terminals provided in a connector to be used for connecting the plural ultrasonic transducers to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus main body; plural cables for electrically connecting the plural ultrasonic transducers and the plural terminals to one another; and a storage unit for storing connection relationship data representing connection relationships between the plural ultrasonic transducers and the plural terminals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ultrasonic probe to be used for scanning an object to be inspected with ultrasonic waves, and a method of manufacturing the ultrasonic probe. Further, the present invention relates to an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus using the ultrasonic probe.
2. Description of a Related Art
An ultrasonic probe to be used in an ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus includes an arrayed transducer in which plural ultrasonic transducers for transmitting and receiving ultrasonic waves are one-dimensionally or two-dimensionally arranged. The arrayed transducer and the ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus are connected via a probe cable containing plural thin coaxial cables by using a dedicated connector connected to the arrayed transducer.
The wiring process of the coaxial cables for connecting the arrayed transducer to plural terminals provided on the dedicated connector had required a lot of effort and time because they are connected while correspondences between numbers on the ultrasonic transducers and numbers on the terminals are confirmed by measurement with a tester. Accordingly, the wiring process has been improved by color coding of coaxial cables as disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Publication JP-P2003-61954A.
Recent years, with enhancement of ultrasonic diagnostic technology, the arranged number of arrayed transducers has become increasingly higher, coaxial cables have become thinner, and a number thereof contained in the probe cable has increased. In this regard, even when the color coding of coaxial cables as disclosed in JP-P2003-61954A is applied, the wiring process of the coaxial cables while correspondences between numbers on the ultrasonic transducers and numbers on the terminals are confirmed still requires a lot of effort and time, and therefore, the wiring process problem needs to be solved.

Ultrasonic probe, method of manufacturing the same, and ultrasonic diagnostic apparatus


Adhesive proteins isolated from mature plants selected from the group consisting of macroalgae and microalgae, said proteins being characterized by the presence of at least one RGD or RGD-like or other adhesive recognition sequence, the absence of DOPA and hydroxyproline units, and by the fact that the proteins may be used by the plants in their natural state, for the purpose of adhesion to substrates.

The present invention relates to adhesive proteins which have been isolated from mature plants such as algae. The isolated proteins may be but are not necessarily, those utilized by the plants for adhesion to substrates. The invention also relates to a process for isolating such proteins.
Algae are known as commercial sources of food and polysaccharides such as agar, alginates, carrageenan and furcellaran. Many such polysaccharides possess adhesive properties and are therefore used as gums and adhesives, and in wound dressings.
Apart from the existing industrial practice of extracting polysaccharide gums from algae, interest has been shown in algae and other plants as a source for pharmaceuticals or compounds which are otherwise bioactive, as well as in the means and adhesive substances by which algae and other plants, including certain bacteria and fungi, adhere to substrates in nature.
Walker, G. in Chapter 5 of "Synthetic Adhesives and Sealants", ed. Wake, W. C., publ. Society of Chemical Industry, 1987, page 117, mentions that in macroalgae the adhesives used by spores and the rhizoid disc adhesives are polysaccharide-protein complexes, while filamentous rhizoid adhesive is a complex polysaccharide only. This reference also mentions (page 117) that in Laminaria digitata, mucilage with a high phenolic content --apparently contained in tannins--plays a role in cementing the rhizoid to the substrate, the presence of phenolic compounds possibly leading to hardening of the cement (c.f. barnacle and mussel adhesion, and see below) and renders the cement/substrate bond immune to growth of microorganisms; and at page 118, in connection with microalgae, it is reporter that the adhesive of A. veneta is composed of a complex polysaccharide and that no protein or lipid was detected.
It is known that proteins which appear to serve chiefly as waterproof adhesives and varnishes in nature, are widely distributed throughout the animal kingdom. In particular, the chemical and physical stability of such materials is believed to be imparted thereto by quinone tanning of polyphenolic proteins, implying that their desirable waterproof/adhesive properties is due to catechol oxidase-catalyzed oxidation of a structural unit in the protein derived from 3,4-dihydroxyphenyl-L-alanine (DOPA) to a corresponding 2-(3,4-dioxo-3,4-dihydrobenzyl)glycine unit, which is then capable of undergoing numerous reactions, such that the potential adhesives and varnishes would be cured. (See, e.g., "The Phylogeny and Chemical Diversity of Quinone-Tanned Glues and Varnishes", Waite, J. H., Comp. Biochem. Physiol., 97B(1): 19-29 (1990)). In this connection, it has been noted, e.g., in an article by Saez, C. et al, Comp. Biochem, Physiol., 98B(4): 569-72 (1991) that polyphenolic adhesive proteins extracted from three species of marine mussels contain 7.9-17.4% DOPA; two of the three species contain 13.1-17.4% DOPA and 17.8-18.8% of the basic aminoacid lysine.
However, the general differences between the animal and plant kingdoms are fairly well known. Plant cell walls are usually polysaccharidic in nature and plants are usually non-motile, feed by absorption and/or photosynthesis, and can synthesize aminoacids, and thus proteins. Animal cell membranes are by contrast not polysaccharidic, and animals feed by digestion and do not generally photosynthesize.
Wagner, V. T., et al, in P.N.A.S. (USA) 89: 3644-3648 (1992), described a vitronectin-like glycoprotein (Vn-F) isolated from zygotes and two-celled embryos, which were in turn propagated from material obtained from reproductive fronds of Fucus distichus. Vn-F is said to be exclusively localized in the cell wall of the rhizoid tip, at the site of contact between the Fucus embryo and its substrate. This article appears to imply a parallelism between the structure and function of Vn-F in Fucus embryos, and that of vitronectin (Vn) in mammals which together with other extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins are linked structurally and functionally through the plasma membrane to the cytoskeleton via a family of transmembrane proteins. This article also mentions briefly that a Vn-like protein was isolated from the acellular slime mold Physarum, but this mention does not refer to adhesion. The authors indicate that their data suggest evolutionary conservation of structure and function of Vn between brown algae and mammals. However, this suggestion has not found ready acceptance in the field, because, inter alia, similarity of functions between "Vn-like" proteins and animal vitronectins has not been confirmed. For example, Zhu, J.-K. et al in The Plant Cell. 6: 393-404 (1994) posit the possibility that plant Vn-like proteins have little or no primary sequence identity with animal vitronectin. It may also be noted in passing that although vitronectins and vitronectin-like proteins are referred to as "adhesion proteins", the adhesion in question so far as proteins of animal origin are concerned, appears to be principally adhesion within an organism, whereas such proteins of plant origin may exhibit additionally adhesion to substrates, e.g. in the case of algae.


A method for forming a grain-based cereal paste that includes preparing a mixture of the paste and water at a target first cereal-to-water weight ratio, boiling the mixture for a target boiling duration of time, cooling the mixture to a prescribed temperature for a target cooling duration of time, adding enzymes to the mixture, the amount of enzymes calculated based on a dry weight of the paste in the mixture, maintaining the mixture with added enzymes for a specified duration of time at a specified temperature, preparing a dehydrated mixture by removing water from the mixture to result in a prescribed moisture content for the dehydrated mixture, admixing a plant based oil to the dehydrated mixture at a prescribed oil-to-mixture weight ratio, and milling the dehydrated mixture containing the admixed plant based oil to prepare a paste with a particle size in a range of 1 to 120 microns.

The beneficial health effects of dietary fibers are well-known. In this context, there has been a growing interest in food products made from grains, such as oats and barley. In many respects, oats are different than other grains. They have higher protein and fat content than comparable cereals as well as a high β-glucan content. In recent years, there has been a growing interest in food products made from oats. The main reason for this is that oat fibers have been found to have a wholesome effect by lowering the serum cholesterol level of hypercholesteremic individuals. Another reason is that oats contain protein of high food value as well as a considerable proportion of mono and polyunsaturated fats. In addition, oats contain many essential amino acids and minerals.
A great advantage of oats is that the whole grain can be used for making various products once the hull has been removed. In oats, the most nutritious substances are distributed fairly evenly in the whole grain. In other grains, the nutritious substances are frequently concentrated in specific parts of the grain.
Oats (also referred to as cereal) paste can be used in forming a milky product which can be used as an alternative to milk, especially for lactose-intolerant people. It may also be used as the basis of or an additive in the manufacture of ice-cream, gruel, yogurt, milkshakes, health drinks, and snacks. However, this process is time-consuming and may result in a product that may not have consistency and/or taste of milk. For example, the overall viscosity and/or sugar content of the cereal suspension may be difficult to control.
Accordingly, there is a need for providing systems and methods that improve the production of cereal paste. The disclosed system and methods address the problems set forth above as well as other deficiencies in existing systems and methods.
The disclosed system and methods further describe ways to form a milky product from the cereal paste and to dispense the milky product to a consumer


At least one plug is selectively fit into the plug-fitting portions 12A1 to 12A8, and then a plurality of kinds of data consisting of five bits configuration are obtainable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data setter capable of setting data consisting of a plurality of binary data.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a plurality of printed wiring boards to be mounted within an electronic equipment, there is a proposal, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-061009, for the purpose of reducing the number of parts by sharing the use of substrates, wherein a second substrate on which are mounted components in the circuit such as an audio-driver or a video driver in correspondence to the use of the respective receiving equipment and a first substrate on which are mounted the components in the circuit such as CPU (central processing unit) mounted on the second substrate common to the plurality of receiving devices having different uses are electrically connected to each other so that the first substrate is commoditized.
Also, in a set data storage section provided in the first substrate in relation to the above-mentioned CPU or others, the respective control data is set in the set data storage section of a control unit by a data setter having a data storage section as disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 11-233275 (1999).


Disclosed are various embodiments for automating the prediction of workload tenures in datacenter environments. In some embodiments, parameters are identified for a plurality of workloads of a software defined data center. A machine learning model is trained to determine a predicted tenure based on parameters of the workloads. A workload for the software defined data center is configured to include at least one workload parameter. The workload is processed using the trained machine learning model to determine the predicted tenure. An input to the machine learning model includes the at least one workload parameter.

Enterprises can employ software defined datacenters in order to provide compute, memory, storage, network, and other resources for enterprise workloads. The workloads, which can be embodied in applications or virtual machines, can represent demands for the software defined datacenter. Capacity for the software defined datacenter is based on the physical hosts that provide resources. The hosts can include compute, memory, storage, network, and other resources that are utilized for the enterprise workloads.
Capacity planning is a challenging problem that datacenter administrators or managers face in their day to day jobs. The administrator can add and remove demands as well as add and remove capacity for the datacenter. When an administrator adds demand, resource requirements for the currently running and upcoming workloads or applications can be computed. However, the resource requirement calculations are predictive and can be inaccurate or misleading based on the assumptions made in resource calculations. Existing solutions can utilize the current capacity and current workloads to identify whether the capacity is sufficient for current workloads.
However, this manner of capacity planning does not provide for workloads that are implemented in the future. In addition, where capacity planning considers workloads to be implemented in the future, they can fail to consider the actual life cycle of individual workloads. Accordingly, more accurate capacity planning technologies are needed. More accurate capacity planning technologies are more efficient for administrators to use, as they will not have to update capacity as frequently when predicted capacity is accurate.

Workload tenure prediction for capacity planning


A semi-supervised machine learning model can provide for classifying an input data point as associated with a particular target location or a particular action. Each data point comprises one or more sensor values from one or more signals emitted by one or more signal sources located within a physical area. A tagged sample set and an untagged sample set are combined to train the machine learning model. Each tagged sample includes a respective data point and a label representing a respective location/action. Each untagged sample includes a data point, but is unlabeled. Once trained, given a current data point, the machine learning model can classify the current data point as associated with a particular location/action, after which a target object (e.g., other device or application to be used) can be predicted.

Modern mobile devices (e.g., smartphones) may contain many applications. Each application may be designed to perform one or more specific functions. For instance, an application may be designed to connect a user with friends, control a television set, or inform a user of current events. As modern mobile devices become more integrated with modern day life, the number of applications stored on the mobile devices increases. It is not uncommon for modern mobile phones to have hundreds of applications. Having numerous applications may allow the mobile device to be particularly useful to the user; however, it may be difficult and time consuming for the user to find and run a desired application amongst all of the available applications.
Some modern mobile devices are capable of suggesting or recommending an application to a user to minimize the time it takes for the user to find a desired application to run. For instance, some modern devices can suggest an application when the device is positioned at a location according to the device's GPS coordinates. However, using GPS coordinates to determine a location of the device limits the resolution at which the device can determine its position. Furthermore, GPS service requires an established communication line with GPS satellites. If the connection between the device and the GPS satellites is severed, the device will be unable to receive GPS coordinates and thus be unable to determine its location to predict an application to the user.
Thus, improvements to determining position in indoor locations and identifying an application for a user based upon the determined position are desired.


In setting where a number of entities share a common resource and where those entities wish to exclude unauthorized individuals yet desire partitioned access for a set of individuals from each entity, a system integrates a plurality of sets of authorized credentials from a plurality of entities using networking techniques to allow partitioned access to common resources shared by those entities.

Access control systems have been used to impede unauthorized personnel from using the elevators to gain access to entire floors for over thirty years. Upon entering the elevator cab in an access controlled elevator, a person finds all the floor select buttons unresponsive.
A person is allowed to make floor selections after presenting an authorized credential to a credential reader within the elevator cab. The access control system, upon receiving the indicium from the credential reader, responds by releasing the floor exclusions on the set of authorized floor select buttons for that credential. The person makes their selection from this authorized set and the elevator then responds by delivering the occupants to the selected floor.
In many real estate settings, common areas and resources may be shared among several different entities. These common resources must be used to comfortably utilize the entities' private areas. For example, in an office tower, tenants share the lobby, parking areas, high volume air conditioning (HVAC), and elevators. During off hours, these common resources are restricted to authorized individuals. In the case of elevators or HVAC, only parts (partitions) of the entire building's resource may be utilized by a tenant's authorized employee. Each entity may wish access for thousands of individuals to these resources in order to comfortably access their private space. Consider a high rise office tower housing several large corporations. Those corporations could desire access for all their employees to employee amenities like an automated teller machine (ATM) or a cafeteria on an upper floor. It is common practice for each entity to equip their personnel with electronically readable credentials (coded indicia), which serve as a key to access the entities' private areas. These credentials, when used in conjunction with electrically controlled locks on the portals and computer databases, are known as card access systems. The advantages of card access systems, as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 2,714,201 Identification Selector at Column 1 lines 33-52, are well known to the owners and managers of these properties.
As these systems have proliferated, it has become common for each entity within the building to purchase their own proprietary access control systems. The owners and managers of these properties desire to accommodate each entity's desire to grant access to authorized individuals, yet deny access to all others. The property managers have essentially four choices. They could issue their own credentials to all authorized people, or allow each entity to mount their own credential reader and controls at the building portals. Other techniques require each entity to periodically share their list of authorized credentials with the property management or the entities could expose their credential databases on a common network. Each of these four techniques has significant disadvantages as described below.
Issuing everyone their own building management credential has several disadvantages. First, it requires the purchase and distribution of credentials for everyone authorized to use the common spaces afterhours. Typically, the common area credentials are incompatible with the entity's proprietary standards for credentials. Therefore, this technique often requires the individuals to carry multiple credentials. Additionally, the building management must synchronize their credential list with changes from each entity's roster. The typical implementation is a manual system of faxed or emailed paper work. A common problem with a manual system is the building's database becoming "stale" with outdated information. The result can be terminated individuals still having access to the building and newly hired individuals being denied access because the system which transmits the changes from the tenant to the building management has broken down. The results can range from inconvenience for the newly hired to a potentially dangerous situation where an aggressive terminated employee has afterhours access to the common areas.
Allowing each entity to mount their own credential reader and control system on the building portals results in an aesthetically disagreeable and confusing collage of credential readers at each of the building resource portals. It is difficult and expensive to integrate more that one access control system with partitioned resources, like elevators or HVAC systems. The expense and large number of interconnections required make ordinary integration techniques impractical. Additionally, if one of the controlling systems should fail, often the buildings resources are either locked or unlocked at the wrong times. With the portal controlled by multiple entities, the problem requires diagnostics to pinpoint the trouble source. Even knowing the source of the problem, multiple vendors must frequently be coordinated to resolve the problem. The diagnostic procedure and subsequent vendor coordination slows the repair process when compared to a single portal, single vendor solution.
If the tenant and the management can agree upon a specific credential technology, then building management can update their database of valid access credentials based on a database extraction of the tenant's system. The issue of choosing a specific credential technology has been eased by the introduction of credential readers capable of reading multiple technologies. An example of a multi-technology credential reader is taught by U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2007/0057057 Synchronization Techniques In Multi-Technology/Multi-Frequency RFID Reader Arrays Page 1 Paragraph [0011], and embodied by the HID Model RP40 multiCLASS Reader 6125.
An example implementation of this technique was demonstrated by George Mallard's article "Future of access control tied to integration" in Access Control Magazine Volume 34, Number 10, September 1991, page one. This solution works well and addresses the aesthetic and service problems of multiple credential readers at the building portals. This technique partially addresses the "stale" database problems because the download and processing cycles are typically a batch process. The typical system has the batch run once a day, first by the entity, then by the property management. Entity credential changes done after their batch wait a full day before becoming active in the building's system. Additionally, the maintenance of the database transfer can be problematic and requires customization of both the entity's and the building management's access control systems software to accommodate the extraction and importing of each entity's authorized credential list. Finally, many companies have become reluctant to share a list of their credential holders with outside entities.
The Federal Government has addressed this same problem of authentication of credentials where several agencies need access to a shared portal. Their method of cross agency authentication is documented by the Backend Authentication Work Group prepared for the Federal Smart Card Interagency Advisory Board (IAB), "Framework for Interagency Authentication of Federal Personal Identity Verification (PIV) Cards", August 2006. This method defines a protocol where one agency can query another agency's security database over a network. Where this method addresses the problem of multiple entity authentications, it does require each entity to expose their security database on a common network and all entities to conform to a standard protocol. On page seven of the report, the authors note that "A secure means of transporting these messages must be devised". Further on page 12, the authors state "The most important aspect of this security (since the message payload will be encrypted) is that a gateway can trust that the message was sent by another trusted gateway". The Federal Government has the resources to implement the security required by this technique. However, in a commercial environment, cost is a factor. Therefore, as is known to those skilled in the art, the cohabitation of databases on a common network both opens the possibility of unauthorized access to sensitive information and is expensive to implement and maintain. The standard protocol for exchange of information may not be supported by all entities, and therefore requires expensive modifications to their access control systems. These factors make the common protocol choice unattractive for commercial users.
The reader communicates the alphanumeric code read from the individual's credentials to the control panel utilizing serial data, clock plus data, or the Weigand interface well known to those skilled in the art. Serial data is sent using an interface standard such as defined by the RS485, RS232, RS422 or other standard. The Weigand interface was defined by Sensor Engineering in the early 1980's and is documented in the HID application note AN004.DOC prepared by Eric Sprik Sep. 21, 1998 page 9.
Tech Tip #5 within Mr. Sprik's AN004.DOC page 11 discusses the structure of a common indicia coding. A coding example is shown in FIG. 3A and FIG. 3B. A credential with an indicium facility code of 159 and a personal identification number of 2199 are illustrated in both Figures. This coding has 26 binary digits, or bits, formed from the two parity bits (301, 304), the eight facility code bits (302), and the sixteen personal identification number bits (303).
Refer to FIG. 3A to understand the error checking. The first parity bit (301), is set so that the count of bits with a value of 1 in the combined set of the parity bit (301), and the first twelve significant bits (307) is an even number, in this case six. This scheme is known as "even parity".
The second parity bit (304), is set so that the count of bits with a value of 1 in the combined set of the parity (304), and the last twelve significant bits (306) is an odd number, in this case seven. This scheme is known as "odd parity". Parity is used to insure the coding was correctly read from the credential.
Refer to FIG. 3B to understand the structure of the indicia coding. The eight bits used for the facility code (302) defines a set of two hundred and fifty-six unique facility codes. In FIG. 3B (302), the facility code shown is 159. The sixteen bits of the personal identification number (303), defines a set of sixty five thousand, five hundred and thirty-six unique personal identification numbers. In FIG. 3B (303), the personal identification number is 2199.
An entity's facility code distinguishes their credentials from those belonging to other entities. Consider telephone numbers. A person in Houston could have the same seven digit phone number as someone in New York. But, the area codes make the phone number unique. In the same manner, a twenty six bit credential from entity A may have the same personal identification number as someone from entity B. The facility codes make the credentials unique. Since this twenty-six bit coding scheme was devised by Sensor Engineering in the late 1970's, the success of access control equipment has outdated the twenty-six bit coding scheme.
Schemes with many more bits, both for the facility codes and the personal identification number, have been devised which allows the manufacturer to enter into agreements that allow the entities to "own" their facility codes. This practice is documented in the 2005 HID white paper "Understanding the Corporate 1000" page 1. It should also be noted that some of these newer schemes have more parity bits and/or error checking and correction bits known to those skilled in the art. Essentially, any of the techniques used for error checking and/or correction in serial data transmission can be employed for the credential indicia, for example Cyclic Redundancy Checking.
Elevators are a portal through which tenants pass to access their private spaces. Security methods have been devised to limit use to preauthorized sets of floors. One method simply treats the ground lobby "Hall Call" button that summons an elevator to the floor as a control point. A card reader is associated with the button preventing its use without an authorized credential. Elevators frequently service more than one tenant. This method does not prevent one tenant from accessing another tenant's floor serviced by that same elevator.
A better method for implementing securing elevators is to view them as a partitioned resource, each floor being a partition element. The addition of access control system relays, one for each floor select button, implements the partitioning system. When inactive, the associated floor select button is unresponsive. Upon reception of an authorized indicium, the access control system activates the set of relays corresponding to the floors authorized for that credential. This allows the credential holder to register his request to the elevator control machinery by pressing one of the now responsive floor select buttons. Pressing a floor selection associated with an inactive button will not register with the elevator control machinery.
Referring to FIG. 2A, the individual (200) approaches resource portal (elevator cab) (209) and presents his credentials to reader (201). The electrically encoded identification is transmitted to control panel (202) via connection (106). The panel (202) then formats this identification into a message and transmits it to the monitoring computer (204) via communication line (203). This message is received by the computer (204) which processes the message. The computer (204) consults a database of authorized users returning a message that authorizes access to the appropriate portions of the resource. The resource partitioning panel (208) receives the message from communication line (105), activating appropriate relays FIG. 2C (211a through 211n) within resource partitioning panel (208). Each relay FIG. 2C (211a through 211n) corresponds to a partition of the resource. In the example of an elevator control system, the resource partitions correspond to floors. A floor selection will only be registered as a floor call by the elevator machinery if the associated relay FIG. 2C (211a through 211n) is active.
Referring to FIG. 2B, the resource selection panel (214) is illustrated for an elevator. The floor select buttons (210a through 210n) are mounted on the resource selection panel (214). The credential holder FIG. 2A (200) closes the associated electrical contact FIG. 2C (210a through 210n) by pressing the button.
Referring to FIG. 2C, the resource partitioning panel (208) circuitry is illustrated controlling access to the resource, elevator floor selections. The floor select buttons (210a through 210n) are normally open pushbuttons. The partitioning relays (211a through 211n) normally open contacts are wired in series with the floor select buttons (210a though 210n). The elevator machinery control (212) registers a closure on the floor select inputs (213a through 213n) as a floor call and responds by delivering the occupant (200) to the corresponding floor. When secure, closure of the floor select button (210a through 210n) is not seen by the elevator machinery control inputs (213a through 213n), because the circuit is open at the inactive partitioning relays (211a through 211n). Thus, the partitioning panel (208) prevents floor requests from being registered. When the occupant (200), who is a credential holder, presents a valid credential to the credential reader (201), the access system responds by activating only those partitioning relays (211a through 211n) corresponding to the subset of floors the credential holder is authorized to access. The selected partitioning relays (211a through 211n) are active for the period of time deemed sufficient for the credential holder to make his selection. The partitioning relays (211a through 211n) outside of the subset are not active. Thus, the floor select buttons not included in the subset are not responsive. Some of the newer elevator machinery controls provide specific partitioning relay inputs. Software within the elevator machinery controls effectively places the partitioning relays (211a through 211n) in series with the floor selection buttons (210a though 210n).
The number of floor select buttons in high rise elevators frequently exceed the relay capacity of common access control panels. Often, the resource partitioning panel (208) is implemented as independent controller. The Optomux controller, manufactured by Opto22 of Temecula, Calif., has the capacity for an array of up to sixteen relays. Should an elevator require more than sixteen control relays, multiple Optomux panels may be grouped implementing a larger resource partitioning panel (208). A string of ASCII characters controls the Optomux. Received from an RS-485 or Ethernet circuit, the string indicates which relays are to be active and for how long. When an indicium is presented to the reader (201), the access control system computer (204) responds with a string appropriate for that credential. This string is directed to the resource partitioning panel (208). The resource partitioning panel (208) activates the predefined subset of floor select relays (211a through 211n), as directed by the aforementioned string. Only then is the credential holder is free to make their floor selection. Because only the predefined set of floor selection buttons are active, the credential holder selection is limited to that set. After a short period of time, a typical value being 15 seconds, the floor select relays (211a through 211n) are de-activated, securing the floor select buttons.
It should be noted that U.S. Pat. No. 4,644,484 Stand-alone access control system clock control at Column 2 lines 38-41 teaches that the cardholder database can be incorporated within the control panel (202). By extension, cardholder's authorized resource partition control strings are also included in some control panels.
The Laredo interface, as produced by KMS Systems, Inc., which was demonstrated to the public at TechSec in Dallas February 2007, incorporated certain features used in the present invention. However, the Laredo system presented did not incorporate the "Virtual Card Read" described below.
A method to extend credential reader signals point to point over a network is illustrated by the Cypress Computer Systems, Inc. single reader extender model SIO-7200. As described on page one of the Cypress Computer System user manual, the 7200 series is a paired central and remote point to point network devices. The Nov. 18, 2004 setup document further illustrates this with the central device's IP address requiring the remote device's IP to be entered in the setup, page 8. Similarly, the remote device's IP is required when setting up the central device. In contrast to a point to point system, the invention described herein is a multipoint network system.
The DataBender™ series of manufactured by Cypress Computer Systems, Inc. mutate a credential indicium from one bit structure and/or electrical format to another, preserving the indicium personal identification number as best it can. The CVX-1201 and the CVX-1200 offers test modes where predefined indicia are output. However, the DataBender™ output is not under the control of an external input. Instead, it simply reformats the input indicium into the same indicium represented in a different format. The DataBender™ output is not a network message routed to the originating panel from a plurality of potential panels. Nor can the DataBender™ test indicium output be adjusted. The present invention described below uses an external contact's active state to control the generation of a predefined pseudo-credential message within a sequential framework of outputting the original credential and waiting for a response within a certain time frame. That pseudo-credential message is reflected back into the originating panel from a plurality of possible originating panels. The pseudo-credential message, in certain cases, retains the Facility Code of the original indicium.
This invention differs from a distributed database system, as taught by U.S. Pat. No. 5,721,909 Distributed Database Architecture and Distributed Database Management System for Open Evolution at Column 1 lines 32-40. Specifically, this invention lacks point 3 ("true database not a collection of files that are stored at each node") and point 4 ("the full functionality of a database management system"). In the present system, each entity manages their own list of credentials, the system is a collection of independently managed files. No relationship or linkage exists between the entities' lists of credential holders. In the present systems by design, there is no mechanism or administrator feature that would allow a single entity to manage all the access control system's databases.

System for integrating a plurality of access control systems having partitionable resources


A method for transmitting control information includes: when a condition of sending the control information is met, interleaving common control information of each user equipment (UE) working on a target bandwidth part (BWP) and interleaving specific control information of each UE; and sending the interleaved common control information by means of a first time-frequency resource, and sending the interleaved specific control information by means of a second time-frequency resource.

Similar to LTE (Long-Term Evolution) technology in 4G (Fourth-generation of Wireless Mobile Telecommunications Technology), NR (New Radio) technology in 5G (Fifth-generation of Wireless Mobile Telecommunications Technology) is also an air interface technology with a time-frequency structure, where time-frequency resources are used, a time dimension is divided into different OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) symbols, and a frequency dimension is divided into different sub-carriers.
In the 5G, the frequency deployed for the NR is mostly in a high-frequency range and may be deployed from 3.3 GHz to 24 GHz, and thus, a working carrier frequency range of the NR in the 5G may be much larger than the working carrier frequency range of the LTE in the 4G. In this way, for one UE (User Equipment) and from the perspective of radio frequency capability and power consumption, a working carrier of the NR in the 5G is divided into a plurality of BWPs (Band Width Part), and one BWP thus is a set of some frequency resources on one working carrier, and the UE is configured to work on at least one BWP at the same time.
There is one CORESET (Control Resource Set) present in each BWP correspondingly, and the CORESET is a set of all the control information in the BWP to which it belongs. The CORESET may be divided into a Common CORESET and a UE Specific CORESET. The Common CORESET includes the common control information of the UE working on the BWP, and the Specific CORESET includes the specific control information of the UE working on the BWP. In order to acquire a frequency diversity gain for the CORESET, a base station generally interleave the common control information in the Common CORESET and the specific control information in the UE Specific CORESET every preset period, for example, by dividing the common control of each UE working on the BWP into multiple parts; dividing the specific control information of each UE working on the BWP into multiple parts; scrambling the order; and arranging the multiple parts of common control information and the multiple parts of specific control information in a staggered pattern, so that the multiple parts of the specific control information of each UE are not adjacent, and the multiple parts of the common control information are not adjacent. Then, the interleaved Common CORESET and UE Specific CORESET are sent to the UE by means of preset time-frequency resources in the BWP; and the UE working on the BWP may perform de-interleaving on the preset time-frequency resources to obtain the common control information and specific control information belonging thereto; and in this way, for certain UE, the common control information and the specific control information are not sent on the adjacent resources, and may not lost completely even if they are lost.
During the implementation of the present disclosure, the inventor has found that the prior art has at least the following problems:
to acquire the common control information and specific control information of the UE, the UE needs to perform de-interleaving on the interleaved Common CORESET and UE Specific CORESET. In this way, each UE has to perform de-interleaving on all the interleaved Common CORESET and UE Specific CORESET to acquire the common control information and specific control information corresponding thereto, leading to low speed of the UE for acquiring the control information.

Method and apparatus for transmitting control information

BEIJING XIAOMI MOBILE SOFTWARE CO., LTD.


Provided are a skin-stimulation unit and a skin-massage apparatus having same. The skin-stimulation unit includes a striking member for applying an impact to the skin; a cap part into which the striking member is slidably inserted; and a connecting rod having a front end connected to the striking member and a rear end connected to an external source of motive power. The connecting rod linearly reciprocates the striking member.

Generally, a skin-massage apparatus applies a predetermined stimulation on skin using, mainly, vibration, for the cosmetic purpose. The vibration-type skin-massage apparatus includes a massage probe which includes therein a small-sized vibration motor or a piezoelectric ceramic vibrator. The micro vibration or ultrasonic waves generated by the massage probe cause the skin in contact with the massage probe to vibrate several hundred times per second, to thus stimulate the skin surface and subcutaneous tissue and facilitate blood circulation of the skin and tissues.
However, the conventional vibration type skin-massage apparatus has severely deteriorated skin-massage effect particularly when vibration is weak or, when the vibration is too strong, excessive vibration of the skin-massage apparatus is directly transmitted to the hand of a massager who is at a massaging work, causing inconvenience and thus hindering working for long hours.
Meanwhile, in addition to the conventional vibration type skin-massage apparatus, a needle type skin-massage apparatus is also in use, which pricks skin to destruct the subcutaneous tissues, and thus brings in skin improvement effect as a result of natural regeneration of the destructed subcutaneous tissues. Compared to the vibration type massage apparatus, the conventional needle type skin-massage apparatus can provide higher cosmetic effect. However, the needle type gives a subject of treatment discomfort due to bleeding from the pricking and also pains that are accompanied when the skin is pricked with the needle. Accordingly, customers generally do not prefer the needle type massage apparatus.

Skin-stimulation unit and skin-massage apparatus having same


In one embodiment, a system and a method pertain to monitoring on the computing device resource consumption, storing resource consumption data obtained from the monitoring, receiving a request from the user for information regarding resource consumption or environmental impact associated with the user's operation of the computing device, and presenting to the user information regarding resource consumption or environmental impact.

In the last several years, people have become more concerned with their resource consumption and its impact on the environment. Such concerns have reached new heights recently with a backdrop of spiking energy costs and seemingly endless discussions of global warming.
While most persons have a general appreciation of the impact that their actions have on resource consumption and the environment, many such persons do not appreciate the impact of their computer usage. Therefore, while a person may consider himself to be relatively environmentally conscious because he adheres to "green" practices, such as lowering the thermostat in winter and raising it in summer, he may still unknowingly consume unnecessary amounts of energy and other resources with his computer and its peripheral devices. In addition to lacking knowledge of the impact of their computer usage, such persons often do not know how to change their computer usage practices to reduce their consumption and the environmental impact associated with that usage.

Systems and methods for providing information regarding resource consumption or environmental impact associated with usage of a computer

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A push nut including a base plate formed with a bolt passing hole at a center of the base plate and four engaging pieces. Pairs of engaging pieces extend respectively from a pair of opposing sides of the base plate, base portions of the four engaging pieces are folded back to have a U-shape, and tip end portions of the engaging pieces extend to a surrounding of the bolt passing hole. The tip end portions of the four engaging pieces surround a periphery of the bolt passing hole. The four engaging pieces incline toward an insertion direction of a bolt and elastically abut against an outer circumference of the bolt, which is inserted into the bolt passing hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a push nut which is caused to engage with a thread groove of a bolt simply by being pushed onto the bolt, and which functions as a nut.
2. Description of the Related Art
A push nut which can be fixed simply by pushing onto a bolt does not require a tool such as a wrench, and has good attachment workability. Therefore, a push nut is used as means for attaching a part of an automobile or the like, and particularly suitable for use in the case where a work of attaching a part must be gropingly conducted while inserting a hand into a narrow space.
EP 0750122A1 discloses a push nut including: a base plate in which a bolt passing hole is disposed in a center portion; and two engaging pieces which extend from a pair of opposing sides of the base plate, respectively. In the engaging pieces, base portions are folded back into a U-shape, and tip end portions extend to a surrounding of the bolt passing hole. The push nut is configured so that, when a bolt is pushed into the bolt passing hole, the two engaging pieces are fitted into a thread groove of the bolt, thereby performing locking.
EP1182369A2 discloses a push nut including: a base plate which is substantially circular, and in which a bolt passing hole is disposed in a middle portion; and three engaging pieces which extend from three circumferential positions of the base plate, respectively. In the engaging pieces, base portions are folded back into a U-like shape, and tip end portions extend to a surrounding of the bolt passing hole. The push nut is configured so that, when a bolt is pushed into the bolt passing hole, the three engaging pieces are fitted into a thread groove of the bolt, thereby performing locking.


A method of playing Pai Gow Poker or Asian Poker where players successively become the "player-bank," i.e., wager against each of the other game players, is disclosed. The method offers the player-bank a plurality of wagering options to enhance player interest and involvement. A first option concerns a first process which involves the player-bank with only those successive players whose combined wagers are less than or equal to the player-bank's wager, while a second option concerns a second process which continues to involve the player-bank with successive players as long as his wager plus his winnings is not exceeded by his losses. In determining winners, players set cards dealt to them into first and second hands which are ranked by poker rules. The player whose first and second hands each respectively outrank the other player's first and second hands is deemed the winner. In one preferred embodiment, the second process is canceled and replaced by the first process if the player-bank's cards include a Joker.

Games having players successively designated as the player-bank are often played in cardrooms. The player-bank is a player who wagers against each of the other players for a number of game rounds, e.g., one or two rounds, after which the designation of the player-bank passes to the succeeding player (other common cardroom terms for this player are bank, banker, dealer bank, dealer banker, player bank and player banker). To facilitate play, the player-bank and the other players are generally arranged in successive order (e.g., clockwise in some cardrooms--counterclockwise in others) about a game table, with a house supervisor situated in view of the players. If the game is one played with cards, the house supervisor typically deals the cards to the players. In exchange for the cardroom supplying the playing facilities, it is customary for the house supervisor to collect a fee from each player which may be a flat amount for each game play or, possibly, an amount based on elapsed time of play. Additionally, the house supervisor typically explains and administers the rules of the game in play.


To provide a semiconductor storage unit that has a simple structure requiring only a small number of processes to produce, and is provided with a gate insulating film having a memory function. The semiconductor storage unit has a semiconductor layer, two diffusion layer regions forming a source region and a drain region, which are formed on the semiconductor layer, a channel region fixed between the two diffusion layer regions, a gate insulating film that is formed on the channel region, and made of a silicon oxide film containing carbon atoms of 0.1 to 5.0 atomic percent, and a gate electrode formed on the gate insulating film.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a semiconductor storage unit, a semiconductor device and a display device as well as to a liquid crystal display and an image receiving apparatus. More specifically, the present invention concerns a semiconductor storage unit that accumulates a charge in an insulating material having a level capable of trapping a charge, a semiconductor device and a display device provided with such a semiconductor storage unit, as well as a liquid crystal display and an image receiving apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a non-volatile memory using a silicon nitride film has been proposed as a non-volatile memory to be formed on an insulating substrate such as a glass substrate. Examples of such a non-volatile memory include a semiconductor non-volatile storage unit disclosed in JP-A No. 11-87545. FIG. 22 shows the semiconductor storage unit disclosed in JP-A No. 11-87545, and in this drawing, reference numeral 901 represents an insulating substrate, 902 is a base insulating film, 911 is a semiconductor layer, 921 is a bottom insulating film, 922 is a charge trap insulating film (silicon nitride), 923 is a top insulating film, and 931 is a control gate. In this structure, a gate insulating film functioning as a memory storage unit has an ONO (Oxide-Nitride-Oxide) structure. A rewriting process of stored information is carried out by injecting a charge from the semiconductor layer 911 to the charge trap insulating film 922. Depending on the quantity of charge accumulated in the charge trap insulating film 922, the threshold value of a memory element serving as a field effect transistor changes. By detecting this change in the threshold value, the reading process of the stored information is carried out.
Moreover, JP-A No. 2000-294662 has disclosed a non-volatile semiconductor memory element in which a gate insulating film and a gate electrode are formed on a semiconductor layer having a channel region, and source and drain regions to construct a transistor so that a charge is injected into the gate insulating film. This memory element is characterized in that an oxide of a gate electrode material is formed on the surface of the gate electrode so that a compression stress is applied to the interface of the gate insulating film.
However, the semiconductor non-volatile storage unit disclosed in JP-A No. 11-87545 is designed so that the gate insulating film has a three-layer structure (ONO structure) in which upper and lower insulating films (the bottom insulating film 921 and the top insulating film 923) sandwich the charge trap insulating film 922, and this structure causes a problem in that the number of processes increases so as to form the gate insulating film. Moreover, the non-volatile semiconductor memory element described in JP-A No. 2000-294662 needs to form an oxide of the gate electrode material on the surface of the gate so as to apply a compression stress to the interface of the gate insulating film.

Semiconductor storage unit, semiconductor device and display device as well as liquid crystal display and image receiving apparatus


An internal fixation device used in surgical procedures to the internal fixation of femoral hip fractures, especially prevalent in elderly persons suffering from osteoporosis. This device includes a femoral shaft side plate, an internally threaded sleeve pivotally mounted on said side plate, an elongated screw member insertable in the sleeve to fasten the sleeve in the femoral head, and wedge-shaped washer means for fixing the pivot angle between the sleeve and the femoral side plate at the natural angle between the axis of the femoral neck the femoral shaft of the hip being treated.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to fixation devices used in surgical procedures to the internal fixation of femoral neck fractures. Femoral neck fractures are the most common, and they are especially prevalent in elderly persons suffering from osteoporosis. Many internal fixation devices have been proposed for treating femoral neck fractures, but until now, none of these have included a simple means to make such devices universally applicable to all patients, even though they have a wide variation in their respective femoral neck angles.
2. Description of the Related Art
The following patents are related to fixation devices for the internal fixation of femoral neck fractures:
______________________________________ Patent Number Inventor Date ______________________________________ 2,441,765 Hopkins 1948 2,500.993 Mason 1948 2,801,631 Charnley 1957 3,256,877 Haboush 1966 3,554,193 Konstantinou 1971 5,127,914 Calderale, et al 1992 5,462,547 Weigum 1995. ______________________________________
Hopkins '765 is directed to a surgical device for internal fixation of intertrochanteric fractures of the femur which provides an adjustable angle between the fixation nail and the extension arm to hold the nail in position. The hemispherical end of the fixation nail fits into a socket on the end of the extension arm, the outer surface of which is provided with cooperating serrations or teeth which mesh with matching teeth of a partially spherical washer to secure the nail and the washer at a predetermined angle when a cap screw is tightened into the nail over the washer. Even a small loosening the cap screw which can happen during the fixation period can permit shifting between the nail and the extension arm. Also, the Hopkins device is complex, and relatively expensive to manufacture.
Charnley '631 shows a later device which has a fixed angle between an extension arm and a tubular part which surrounds a fixation screw. A number of fixed angle devices having different angles must be available to the surgeon during the operation so that the optimum angle selection can be made. If the fixation device selected is incorrect, it cannot be adjusted in situ, but must be completely removed, with very serious consequences to the patient.
Haboush '877 is a later development which is somewhat similar to Hopkins in that Haboush also interconnects his fixation nail and plate (extension arm) by means of a ratchet joint (serrations or teeth). Haboush's joint is fastened from the side by screws. Both screws must remained securely fastened during the healing process for this device to work. As with Hopkins, even a slight loosening of either screw could permit a shifting of the angle between the fixation nail and plate. The Haboush device is also complex, and, therefore, expensive to manufacture.
Calderale, et al '914 describe an elongated plate which is secured to the shaft of the femur, and which has a angle joint in its upper end. This plate is disposed at the upper end of the femur just below the greater trochanter, and opposite the femoral head. Adjustable elements 15 receive a pair of screws 8, which extend through the fractured femoral neck and rigidly anchor the shaft of the femur to the femoral head. The elements 15 are spherical, and fit into spherical seats 19. A plate 21 holds the elements in place by tightening connecting member 22. The device is complex, and, therefore, expensive to manufacture. Only slight loosening of member 22 would allow the angle to shift during the healing period.
Weigum '547 is directed to a similar device which comprises a sleeve strap and a trochanter stabilization plate. The sleeve strap includes an integral sleeve which has a fixed angle. The sleeve extends into the trochanter towards the femoral head, and provides a passage for a bone screw. The Weigum apparatus is expensive to use, because a plurality of sleeve straps must be provided with every unit shipped to be sure that one is available having the correct angle for the sleeve. A wide variation between femoral neck angles exists in different patients. As with Charnley, selecting the wrong angle can have very serious consequences because the device cannot be adjusted in situ, but must be removed and replaced if the selected sleeve strap does not have the correct angle.
None of the above patents show a combination of a femoral plate which provides a pivotal mount for an adjustable angle sleeve, and a pivotable sleeve for insertion into a femoral neck at an optimum angle. The sleeve is then held at that angle by means of a wedge-shaped washer and retaining nut, which are tightly fit onto the outer end of the sleeve.

Device for internal fixation of femoral neck fractures


A convective food steamer includes at least one chamber for steaming food and the like in which the steam is dispersed into the chamber through a number of variously oriented and configured nozzles which promote the convective flow of steam within the chamber for more complete and even steaming of the food. Various sets of the nozzles are arranged and configured in combination with baffles in the chamber to generate the convective flow of steam therein. The steam is delivered to the various nozzles through a feed pipe which is in communication with a remotely located steam boiler. The steam boiler may provide steam to a number of remotely located discrete steaming chambers.

This invention relates generally to a food steamer and the associated method for steaming food and, more particularly, to a novel convection food steaming apparatus and the method which is particularly suitable for commercial, restaurant and institutional use.
The preparation and processing of foods, including frozen foods, in large quantities for schools, restaurants, hospitals and other institutions presents very distinct problems. With respect to frozen foods, a large component of the preparation time is waiting for the frozen foods to defrost and then subsequently cook. This time and labor can be minimized if the frozen food, along with other food items to be cooked, can go directly from the freezer to the cooker without an intermediate defrosting step. Food preparation of this type would eliminate the need for determining in advance the quantity of food required while still being ably to readily and promptly prepare and serve the food.
Several possibilities for cooking and/or defrosting food are available, including conventional ovens. However, conventional ovens have a low rate of heat transfer and, thus, are too slow for many applications, particularly the preparation of frozen food in very large quantities. Furthermore, conventional ovens often extract moisture and flavor from the food being prepared. Microwave ovens are an alternative to conventional ovens but offer limited capacity, often do not uniformly heat or defrost the food and do not significantly enhance or retain the flavor of the food being prepared.
Another alternative in the art of cooking is a steam oven to heat food items placed within a cooking chamber or compartment of the steamer. The art of steam cooking was developed as an alternative to cooking food in a free or forced convection hot air environment. Surface heat transfer coefficients associated with condensing saturated steam are typically greater than those of circulating hot air. As a result, foods cooked in a steam environment cook more quickly, retain more moisture, maintain nutritional values and are generally more pleasing in appearance and taste than food cooked in other environments.
However, known steam cooking devices and methods are not without problems. For example, the thermal efficiency of conventional steam cookers is relatively low, the flow of steam into the oven is often continuous so regardless of the quantity of food being steamed in the steamer or the various steaming requirements for the food, whether frozen or not, thermal energy of the steam is wasted. Known steam cookers do not take into account the varying demand for steam cooking times and environments for various food products. Kitchens, restaurants and other institutions often have varying demands for the types of food being steamed, but only have a single or limited number of steamers for preparing the food. As such, the food must be continually monitored or transferred into and out of the steamer thereby requiring a significant amount of attention, labor and time by the kitchen personnel for steaming a variety of different foods. Moreover, the steaming is inefficient because each time the steamer is opened the steam environment must be re-generated.
Another problem associated with known food steamers is the localized nature of the steam. Typically, the steam is released into the cooking chamber and, particularly in the case of large steaming chambers, becomes localized or focused in certain areas of the steamer. As a result, certain portions or items of foods in one location in the steamer become overcooked or excessively heated whereas other items require additional time because of the localized absence of cooking steam in that area of the steamer.
Another significant drawback with known food steamers, particularly pressure steamers is the potential injury to kitchen workers during operation of the steamer. In a conventional steamer in which steam is supplied to the oven by a boiler or the like. The oven has an access door which is typically manually sealed and must be manually opened. Prior to removing the steamed food, the pressurized steam must be released thereby adding another step to the cooking process. This rush of steam upon opening the door may cause severe burns particularly on the hands and face of the operator unless extreme care and caution is exercised when opening the food steamer door. High pressure devices are always a danger, particularly with the use of steam. Inattention to precautionary measures, which is particularly likely during extremely busy times, can cause severe injury. Moreover, pressure steamers cannot typically be opened quickly to add food as required and the cooking space of such pressure steamers is typically limited.
Furthermore, food steamers adequately sized for large institutions, restaurants, hospitals, schools or the like require a significant amount of floor space in the kitchen for the food steamer itself, steam boiler and other associated components. In many instances, floor space in food preparation areas, such as kitchens or the like, is at a premium and is often difficult to safely and conveniently accommodate the required components for an adequately sized food steaming system.

Convection food steamer and associated method


A flow metering system includes a flow meter coupled to a plurality of sensors and configured to measure volume of fluid flowing through the flow meter. The system also includes a metrology computer coupled to the flow meter and the sensors. The metrology computer is configured to receive live values from a plurality of sensors during a first time period, train an artificial intelligence engine based on the live values received during the first time period, and detect a sensor failure based on a deviation between a live value from the sensor and a predicted value for the sensor. The predicted value is based on live values from other of the plurality of sensors and the artificial intelligence engine.

Hydrocarbon fluids are transported from place-to-place via pipelines. It is desirable to know with accuracy the amount of fluid flowing in the pipeline, and particular accuracy is demanded when the fluid is changing hands, or "custody transfer." Custody transfer can occur at a fluid fiscal transfer measurement station or skid, which may include key transfer components such as a measurement device or flow meter, a proving device, associated pipes and valves, and electrical controls. Even where custody transfer is not taking place, however, measurement accuracy is desirable, and in these situations, flow meters may be used.
Ultrasonic, Coriolis, and orifice flow meters are examples of flow meters that may be used to measure the amount of fluid flowing in a pipeline. These flow meters have sufficient accuracy to be used in custody transfer. Ancillary devices used in the calculation of custody transfer totals include temperature, pressure and density sensors and gas chromatographs.
Flow metering systems are subject to various conditions that affect the calibration, accuracy, and/or operation of the metering system. For example, accumulation of contaminants in the pipeline, flow restrictions, and/or differences or changes in operating environment with respect to calibration environment may affect flow meter accuracy. Accordingly, effective techniques for monitoring conditions related to flow meter operation and accuracy are desirable.

Flow metering system condition-based monitoring and failure to predictive mode

Emerson Automation Solutions Measurement Systems & Services LLC


The bandwidth of a virtual circuit is changed when the aggregate bandwidth available on path(s) to an adjacent ATM device (through which the VC is provided) changes. The change of bandwidth may be implemented by changing the QoS parameters associated with the virtual circuits. Thus, for example, when one of the paths becomes non-operational, the bandwidth of a virtual circuit may be reduced in a fair manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to ATM devices (e.g., switches and edge routers) used in telecommunication networks, and more specifically to a method and apparatus for managing the bandwidths of virtual circuits when the aggregate bandwidth to an adjacent device changes.
2. Related Art
Virtual circuits are often provisioned using asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) technology/standards as is well known in the relevant arts. In general, each of several pairs of ATM devices (switches, edge routers, etc.) are connected by corresponding one or more physical paths, and virtual circuits are provided using such connected pairs of ATM devices.
The aggregate bandwidth available from an ATM device to an adjacent ATM is typically shared by several virtual circuits. The bandwidths of virtual circuits generally determine the specific time points at which the cells related to respective virtual circuits are transmitted on the paths. Typically, cells related to virtual circuits with higher allocated bandwidths are provided turns for transmission with a correspondingly higher frequency.
In a prior embodiment, the bandwidth of a virtual circuit may remain unchanged even if the aggregate bandwidth to an adjacent ATM device changes. For example, the aggregate available bandwidth may be reduced as one of the paths becomes non-operational, but the bandwidth of various virtual circuits may remain unchanged. The bandwidth of the virtual circuits may not be similarly increased automatically if the aggregate bandwidth increases.
One problem with such an approach is that at least some of the virtual circuits may not get a fair share of available bandwidth when the aggregate bandwidth to the adjacent ATM device decreases. For example, some of the virtual circuits may hog (use all the available bandwidth) while the rest of the virtual circuits may have limited/no bandwidth to use. As a result, such rest of the virtual circuits may become unusable.
In the drawings, like reference numbers generally indicate identical, functionally similar, and/or structurally similar elements. The drawing in which an element first appears is indicated by the leftmost digit(s) in the corresponding reference number.

Managing the bandwidths of virtual circuits when the aggregate bandwidth to an adjacent device changes