A DVD audio disk having information areas in which corresponding audio title information management tables are stored, and corresponding data areas in which audio packs of a linear PCM mode are stored, wherein a first, second or third number of quantization bits, a corresponding first, second or third sampling frequency, and information relative to the number of audio channels are all recorded on each audio title information management table. The audio pack includes audio packets made up with the number of quantization bits, the sampling frequency and the information relative to the number of channels all recorded on the title management table, the audio packets further containing audio data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an audio disk, a device and method for reproducing audio data recorded thereon, and more particularly, to a disk on which high-quality audio data is recorded and a device and method for reproducing audio data recorded on the disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally speaking, audio data recorded on a compact disk (CD) is sampled at 44.1 KHz, and each of the samples is audio data quantized by 16 bits. Such a CD is advantageous in usage and storage, as compared with a phonograph record (LP), while it has often been stated that the CD has a decreased sound quality. For instance, in the case that audio data sampled at 44.1 KHz and quantized by 16 bits is reproduced, it is difficult to reproduce the original sound and it may be deteriorated as compared with the disk used in the generation prior to CD. Actually, human beings' audible range may be over 20 KHz, and the dynamic range should be 120 dB. With the CD, it is impossible to record or reproduce audio data related to multi-channel music which has increasingly concentrated interest, because it can record only an audio signal of a maximum of two channels.
Coping with those problems, there have been suggested methods of improving the sound quality which is reproduced, by increasing the sampling frequency of the audio data and the number of recording channels.
Currently, one kind of disk reproducing device is designed to reproduce a variety of disks. One of those disks is a digital versatile disk (DVD). With the DVD, video and audio data is recorded at a high density, and the video data is recorded in the MPEG format. The audio data is recorded in the linear pulse code modulation (PCM), Dolby AC-3, or MPEG format. The device for reproducing the DVD video disk has a configuration of reproducing video/audio data so as to retrieve the video/audio data recorded on the DVD video disk.
In each of information areas of the DVD video disk, a video title set information management table (VTSI.sub.-- MAT) is recorded, and in the data areas sequential thereto, the audio/video data are recorded. The audio data recorded on the data areas of the DVD video disk have the structure of an audio pack. Here, first, the VTSI.sub.-- MAT and then the structure of the audio pack will be discussed.
As mentioned above, the DVD video disk has the VTSI.sub.-- MAT which contains information for reproducing video data and audio data. This is shown in the following tables 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b.
TABLE 1a __________________________________________________________________________ RBP Contents Number of Bytes __________________________________________________________________________ 0 to 11 VTS.sub.-- ID VTS Identifier l2 bytes 12 to 15 VTS.sub.-- EA END address of VTS 4 bytes 16 to 27 Reserved Reserved l2 bytes 28 to 31 VTSI.sub.-- EA End address of VTSI 4 bytes 32 to 33 VERN Version number of DVD 2 bytes Video Specification 34 to 37 VTS.sub.-- CAT VTS Category 4 bytes 38 to 127 Reserved Reserved 90 bytes 128 to 131 VTSI.sub.-- MAT.sub.-- EA End address of VTSI.sub.-- MAT 4 bytes __________________________________________________________________________
TABLE lb __________________________________________________________________________ 132 to 191 Reserved Reserved 6O bytes 192 to 195 VTSM.sub.-- VOBS.sub.-- SA Start address of VTSM.sub.-- VOBS 4 bytes 196 to 199 VTS.sub.-- VOBS.sub.-- SA Start address of VTSTT.sub.-- VOBS 4 bytes 200 to 203 VTS.sub.-- PTT.sub.-- SR.PPT.sub.-- SA Start address of VTS.sub.-- PTT.sub.-- SRPT 4 bytes 204 to 207 VTS.sub.-- PGCIT.sub.-- SA Start address of VTS.sub.-- PFCIT 4 bytes 208 to 211 VTSM.sub.-- PGCI.sub.-- UT.sub.-- SA Start address of VTSM.sub.-- PGCI.sub.-- UT 4 bytes 212 to 215 VTS.sub.-- TMAPT.sub.-- SA Start address of VTS.sub.-- TMAPT 4 bytes 216 to 219 VTSM.sub.-- C.sub.-- ADT.sub.-- SA Start address of VTSM.sub.-- C.sub.-- ADT 4 bytes 220 to 223 VTSM.sub.-- VOBU.sub.-- ADMAP.sub.-- SA Start address of VTSM.sub.-- VOBU.sub.-- ADMAP 4 bytes 224 to 227 VTS.sub.-- C.sub.-- AST.sub.-- SA Start address of VTS.sub.-- C.sub.-- ADT 4 bytes 228 to 231 VTS.sub.-- VOBU.sub.-- ADMAP.sub.-- SA Start address of VTS.sub.-- VOBU.sub.-- ADMAP 4 bytes __________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 2a __________________________________________________________________________ RBP Contents Number of Bytes __________________________________________________________________________ 232 to 255 Reserved Reserved 24 bytes 256 to 257 VTSM.sub.-- V.sub.-- ATR Video attribute of VTSM 2 bytes 258 to 259 VTSM.sub.-- AST.sub.-- Ns Number of Audio streams of VTSM 2 bytes 260 to 267 VTSM.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATR Audio stream attribute of VTSM 8 bytes 268 to 323 Reserved Reserved 56 bytes 324 to 339 Reserved Reserved l6 bytes 340 to 341 VTSM.sub.-- SPST.sub.-- Ns Number of Sub-picture streams of 2 bytes VTSM 342 to 347 VTSM.sub.-- SPST.sub.-- ATR Sub-picture stream attribute of 6 bytes VTSM __________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 2b __________________________________________________________________________ 348 to 511 Reserved Reserved 164 bytes 512 to 513 VTS.sub.-- V.sub.-- ATR Video attribute of VTS 2 bytes 514 to 515 VTSM.sub.-- AST.sub.-- Ns Number of Audio streams of VTS 2 bytes 516 to 579 VTS.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATRT Audio stream attribute table of VTS 6.4 bytes 580 to 595 Reserved Reserved 16 bytes 596 to 597 VTS.sub.-- SPST.sub.-- Ns Number of Sub-Picture streams of VTS 2 bytes 598 to 789 VTS.sub.-- SPST.sub.-- ATRT Sub-picture stream attribute table of l92 bytes 790 to 791 Reserved Reserved 2 bytes 792 to 983 VTS.sub.-- MU.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATRT Multichannel Audio stream attribute table l92 bytes of VTS 984 to 1023 Reserved Reserved 40 bytes 1024 to 2047 Reserved Reserved 1024 bytes __________________________________________________________________________
In the VTSI.sub.-- MAT of tables 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b, VTSM.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATR of RBP 260-267 indicates the audio stream attribute of VTSM.sub.-- VOBS, which is shown in FIG. 1. The respective fields' values become the internal information of the audio stream of VTSM.sub.-- VOBS. Referring to FIG. 1, the information of the audio coding mode recorded on b63-b61 is stored as in the following table 3.
TABLE 3 ______________________________________ b63-b61 Audio Coding Mode ______________________________________ 000b Dolby AC-3 010b MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 where no extension bit stream exists 011b MPEG-1 where extension bit stream exists 100b Linear PCM Audio others Reserved ______________________________________
In b55-b54, quantization/DRC information is stored as follows. If the audio coding mode is "000b", 11b is recorded. If the audio coding mode is 010b or 011b, the quantization information is defined as follows.
00b: the dynamic range control data is not present in the MPEG audio stream. PA1 01b: the dynamic range control data is present in the MPEG audio stream. PA1 10b: reserved PA1 11b: reserved
If the audio coding mode is 100b, the quantization information is stored as shown in table 4.
TABLE 4 ______________________________________ b55-b54 Quantization DRC ______________________________________ 00b 16 bits 01b 20 bits 10b 24 bits 11b Reserved ______________________________________
b53-b52, indicative of sampling frequency fs in FIG. 1, is shown in table 5.
TABLE 5 ______________________________________ b53-b52 fs ______________________________________ 00b 48 KHz 01b 96 KHz 10b Reserved 11b Reserved ______________________________________
b50-b28, indicative of the number of audio channels in FIG. 1, is shown in table 6.
TABLE 6 ______________________________________ b50-b28 Number of Audio Channels ______________________________________ 000b 1ch (mono) 001b 2ch (stereo) 010b 3ch (nultichannel) 011b 4ch (multichannel) 100b 5ch (multichannel) 101b 6ch (multichannel) 110b 7ch (multichannel) 111b 8ch (multichannel) others Reserved ______________________________________
In the VTSI.sub.-- MAT of the tables 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b, VTS.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATRT of RBP 516-579 indicates the audio stream attribute of VTS, which is shown in FIG. 2. The respective fields' values become the internal information of the audio stream of VTSM.sub.-- VOBS. Referring to FIG. 2, the information of the audio coding mode recorded on b63-b61 is stored as in the following table 7.
TABLE 7 ______________________________________ b63-b61 Audio Coding Mode ______________________________________ 000b Dolby AC-3 010b MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 where no extension bit stream exists 011b MPEG-2 where extension bit stream exists 100b Linear PCM Audio 110b DTS (option) 111b SDDS (option) others Reserved ______________________________________
The multi-channel extension of b60 is an area which stores information indicative of whether the multi-channel extension is executed or not. If 0b is recorded, this means that the multi-channel extension is not selected. If 1b is recorded, this means that the multi-channel extension is performed according to the information of VTS.sub.-- MU.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATRT recorded on RBP 792-983.
The audio type of b59-b58 is shown as in the following table 8.
TABLE 8 ______________________________________ b59-b59 Audio Type ______________________________________ 00b Not Specified 01b Language Included others Reserved ______________________________________
The audio application mode of b57-56 is shown in the following table 9.
TABLE 9 ______________________________________ b57-b56 Audio Application Mode ______________________________________ 00b Not Specified 01b Karaoke Mode 10b Surround Mode 11b Reserved ______________________________________
The quantization/DRC, sampling frequency fs, and the number of audio channels are shown in tables 4, 5, and 6, respectively.
In the VTSI.sub.-- MAT of tables 1a, 1b, 2a and 2b, the VTS.sub.-- MU.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATRT of RBP 792-983 indicates the multi-channel audio stream attribute table of VTS, which is shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. This VTS.sub.-- MU.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATRT has two types, that is, VTS.sub.-- MU.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATR (1) shown in FIG. 3A and VTS.sub.-- MU.sub.-- AST.sub.-- ATR (2) shown in FIG. 3B.
The DVD reproducing device analyzes the information written in the VTSI management table recorded on the DVD video disk, and reproduces the video/audio data written on the disk. Here, the audio data and video data written on the DVD video disk are made in units of packs. FIG. 4 shows the structure of a pack having no padding packet in the DVD. Referring to FIG. 4, one pack has a size of 2048 bytes, with 14 bytes of pack header and 2034 bytes of packet for video, audio, sub-picture, DSI or PCI. The packet header of 14 bytes contains 4 bytes of pack start code, 6 bytes of SCR, 3 bytes of program.sub.-- mux.sub.-- rate, and one byte of stuffing.sub.-- length.
FIGS. 5A-5E show the structure of an audio pack used in the DVD video. Specifically referring to FIG. 5A which depicts the structure of the linear PCM audio pack, it is made up of 14 bytes of pack header and 2034 bytes of linear audio packet. Here, the audio packet has one byte of packet header, one byte of sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id, 3 bytes of audio frame information, 3 bytes of audio data information, and one byte to 2013 bytes of linear PCM audio data.
FIG. 5B shows the structure of a Dolby AC-3 audio pack. Referring to FIG. 5B, the pack has 14 bytes of pack header and 2034 bytes of Dolby AC-3 audio packet. The audio packet has one byte of packet header, one byte of sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id, 3 bytes of audio frame information, and one byte to 2016 bytes of AC-3 audio data.
FIG. 5C shows the structure of an MPEG-1 audio or MPEG-2 audio pack having no extension bitstream. FIGS. 5D and 5E show the structure of an MPEG-2 audio pack having an extension stream. The audio packs shown in FIGS. 5A-5E have the same structure as in tables 10a and 10b, respectively, and private data areas corresponding to the respective formats separately.
TABLE l0a __________________________________________________________________________ Field Number of Bits Number of Bytes Value Comment __________________________________________________________________________ packet.sub.-- start.sub.-- code.sub.-- prefix 24 3 00 0001b stream.sub.-- id 8 1 1011 1101b private.sub.-- stream.sub.-- 1 PES.sub.-- packet.sub.-- length 16 2 `10` 2 3 10b PES.sub.-- scrambling.sub.-- control 2 00b not scrambled PES.sub.-- priority 1 0 no priority data.sub.-- alignment.sub.-- indicator 1 0 not defined by discriptor copyright 1 0 not defined by discriptor original.sub.-- or.sub.-- copy 1 1 or 0 origina:1, copy:0 PTS.sub.-- DTS.sub.-- flags 2 10b or 00b ESCR.sub.-- flag 1 0 no ESCR field ES.sub.-- rate.sub.-- flag 1 0 no ES rate field DSM.sub.-- trick.sub.-- mode.sub.-- flag 1 0 no trick mode field additional.sub.-- copy.sub.-- info.sub.-- flag 1 0 no copy info field PES.sub.-- CRC.sub.-- flag 1 0 no CRC field PES.sub.-- extension.sub.-- flag 1 0 or 1 PES.sub.-- header.sub.-- data.sub.-- length 8 0 to 15 __________________________________________________________________________
TABLE 10b __________________________________________________________________________ `0010` 4 5 provider defined Note 1 PTS[32 . . . 30] 3 marker.sub.-- bit 1 PTS[29 . . . 15] 15 marker.sub.-- bit PTS[14 . . . 0] 15 marker.sub.-- bit 1 PES.sub.-- private.sub.-- data.sub.-- flag 1 1 0 Note 2 pack.sub.-- header.sub.-- field.sub.-- flag 1 0 program.sub.-- packet.sub.-- sequence.sub.-- counter.sub.-- flag 1 0 P.sub.-- STD.sub.-- buffer.sub.-- flag 1 1 Reserved 3 lllb PES.sub.-- extension.sub.-- flag.sub.-- 2 1 0 `01` 2 2 0lb Note 2 P.sub.-- STD.sub.-- buffer.sub.-- scale 1 1 P.sub.-- STD.sub.-- buffer.sub.-- size 13 58 stuffing.sub.-- byte -- 0-7 __________________________________________________________________________ Note 1 and Note 2 are expressed as follows in tables 10a and 10b. Note 1: PTS[32 . . . 0] is put into every audio packet containing the first sample of the audio frame. Note 2: This value is contained only in the first audio packet of each VOB, but not in the succeeding audio packets.
In the audio packet of the linear PCM data having the structure of FIG. 5A, the data written in the individual data areas other than the common data shown in tables 10a and 10b is indicated as in the table 11.
TABLE 11 __________________________________________________________________________ Field Number of Bits Number of Bytes Value Comment __________________________________________________________________________ sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id 8 1 10100***b Note 1 number.sub.-- of.sub.-- frame.sub.-- headers 8 3 Provider Defined Note 2 first.sub.-- access.sub.-- unit.sub.-- pointer 16 Provider Defined Note 3 audio.sub.-- emphasis.sub.-- flag 1 3 Provider Defined Note 4 audio.sub.-- mute.sub.-- flag 1 Provider Defined Note 5 reserved 1 0 audio.sub.-- frame.sub.-- number 5 Provider Defined Note 6 Quantization.sub.-- word.sub.-- length 2 Provider Defined Note 7 Audio.sub.-- sampling.sub.-- frequency 2 Provider Defined Note 8 Reserved 1 0 number.sub.-- of.sub.-- audio.sub.-- channels 3 Provider Defined Note 9 Dynamic.sub.-- range.sub.-- control 8 Provider Defined Note 10 Audio Date Area (Linear PCM) __________________________________________________________________________ In table 11, Note 1-Note 10 are as follows. Note 1:*** indicates the decoding audio data stream number. Note 2: "number.sub.-- of.sub.-- frame headers" indicates the number of audio frames containing the first byte in the corresponding audio packet. Note 3: The access unit is an audio frame. The first.sub.-- access.sub.-- unit indicates the first audio frame containing the first byte in the corresponding audio packet. Note 4: "audio.sub.-- emphasis.sub.-- flag" indicates the state of emphasis. If the audio.sub.-- sampling.sub.-- frequency is 96KHz, "emphasis off" is recorded in this area. The emphasis is applied from the sample of the first access unit. 0b: emphasis off 1b: emphasis on Note 5: "audio mute flag" indicates the state of mute if all the data within the audio frame is zero. Mute is applied from the first sample of the first access unit. 0b: mute off 1b: mute on Note 6: "audio frame number" is the number within the group of audio frames (GOF) of the first access unit of the audio packet. This number includes "0" to "19". Note 7: "quantization.sub.-- word.sub.-- length" is the number of bits used in the quantization of the audio sample. 00b: 16 bits 01b: 20 bits 10b: 24 bits 11b: reserved Note 8: "audio.sub.-- sampling.sub.-- frequency" is the sampling frequency used in the sampling of the audio sample. 00b: 48 KHz 01b: 96 KHz others: reserved Note 9: "number.sub.-- of.sub.-- channels" indicates the number of audio channels. 000b: 1ch (mono) 001b: 2ch (stereo) 010b: 3ch (multi-channel) 011b: 4ch (multi-channe1) 100b: 5ch (multi-channel) 101b: 6ch (multi-channel) 110b: 7ch (multi-channel) 111b: 8ch (multi-channel) Note 10: "dynamic range control" indicates the dynamic range control word for compressing the dynamic range from the first access unit.
The stream id in the audio packets shown in FIGS. 5A-5E is determined as follows. First of all, the stream id of the linear PCM audio packet becomes 1011 1101b (private.sub.-- stream.sub.-- 1), its sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id being 1010 0***b. Second, the stream id of the AC-3 audio packet becomes 1011 1101b (private.sub.-- stream.sub.-- 1), its sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id being 1000 0***b. Third, the stream id of the MPEG audio packet becomes 1100 0***b or 1101 0***b, having no sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id. In the stream id or sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id, "***" indicates the decoding audio stream number having a value between 0 and 7. The decoding audio stream number is not allocated with the same number, regardless of the audio compression mode.
FIG. 6 is a diagram for explaining the structure of an audio pack and the audio stream. The audio data used in the DVD can be linear PCM data, Dolby AC-3 data, or MPEG audio data. Such audio stream is divided into a plurality of audio packs, as shown in FIG. 6. These audio packs are controlled in units of 2048 bytes. Here, the coding format of the linear PCM audio data is as shown in table 12.
TABLE 12 ______________________________________ Sampling frequency (fs) 48 KHz 96 KHz Sampling Phase Shall be simultaneous for all channels in a stream Quantization over 16 bits, 2's complementary code Emphasis applied (zero point: 50 .mu.s, not applied pole: 15 .mu.s) ______________________________________
In Table 12, the linear PCM audio stream data is made up with adjacent GOFs, each GOF having 20 audio frames except the final GOF. The final GOF is made to be equal to or smaller than 20 audio frames.
FIG. 7 shows the structure of an audio frame. Referring to FIG. 7, one audio frame has sample data in accordance with 1/600 seconds. If the sampling frequency fs=48 KHz, one audio frame contains 80 audio sample data. If the sampling frequency fs=96 KHz, one audio frame contains 160 audio sample data. One GOF coincides with 1/30 seconds.
FIGS. 8A-8C show sample data alignments for linear PCM. The sample data includes pieces of the respective channel data sampled at the same time. The size of the sample data varies with the audio stream attribute, each sample data being arranged continuously. FIGS. 8A, 8B and 8C show two formats of sample data at the respective modes. Here, FIG. 8A shows the alignment of sample data of a 16-bit mode. FIG. 8B shows the alignment of sample data of a 20-bit mode. FIG. 8C shows the alignment of sample data of a 24-bit mode.
The structure of the packet data of the linear PCM audio is shown in table 13.
TABLE 13 __________________________________________________________________________ Stream Mode Data in a packet Number Quanti- Maximum number Packet stuffing of Padding packet of zation of samples in a size first/other PES for first/other Channels fs(KHz) (bits) packet packet (byte) PES packet (byte) __________________________________________________________________________ 1(mono) 48/96 16 1004 2008 2/5 0/0 20 0/3 0/0 24 0/3 0/0 2(stereo) 48196 16 2/5 0/0 20 0/3 0/0 24 6/0 0/9 3 16 48/96 6/0 0/9 20 0/3 0/0 2448 0/0 12/15 4 16 48/96 0/0 10/13 2048 0/0 10/13 2448 0/0 18/21 5 168 0/0 10/13 2048 0/3 10/13 2448 0/3 0/0 6 168 0/0 18/21 2048 0/3 0/0 7 168 0/0 22/25 8 168 0/0 26/29 __________________________________________________________________________
If the number of samples is smaller than the values of table 13, the length of the padding packet increases to control the pack size. The samples are assigned to the packet boundary. In other words, the sample data of all the audio packets for the linear PCM audio always start with the first byte of S.sub.2n, as shown in table 13.
Explaining the channel assignment of the linear PCM, ACHO and ACHI channels correspond to L channel and R channel in the stereo mode, respectively. The multi-channel mode is coded to be compatible with the stereo mode.
As the audio option of the DVD, there is a digital theater system (DTS). The audio pack of the DTS has the pack header and audio packets, as shown in FIG. 9. The audio pack is aligned to the boundary between LBs within the audio frame units. Referring to FIG. 9, one audio pack includes 14 bytes of pack header and 2021 bytes of DTS audio packet. The DTS audio packet has one byte of packet header, one byte of sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id, 3 bytes of audio frame information, and one byte to 2016 bytes of DTS audio data. The stream id of the DTS audio packet is 1011 1101b (private.sub.-- 1), its sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id being 1000 1***b. Here, *** of the sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id indicates the decoding audio stream number having a value of 0 to 7. The decoding audio stream numbers are not assigned with the same number, regardless of the audio compression mode.
The structure of the DTS audio packet is shown in table 10, the private data area being in table 14.
TABLE 14 ______________________________________ Num- Num- ber of ber of Com- Field Bits Bytes Value ment ______________________________________ sub.sub.-- stream.sub.-- id 8 1 1000 1***b Note 1 number.sub.-- of.sub.-- frame.sub.-- headers 8 Note 2der defined First-access.sub.-- unit.sub.-- pointer 16 2 Note 3 provider defined DTS audio data area ______________________________________ In table 14, Note 1-Note 3 are shown in the fo11owing. Note 1: "***" indicates the decoding audio stream number. Note 2: "number.sub.-- of.sub.-- frame.sub.-- headers" indicates the audi frame number where the first byte exists in the DTS audio packet. Note 3: The access unit is an audio frame. The first access unit is the audio frame having the first byte within the corresponding audio packet, defined as the PTS of the audio pack. "first.sub.-- access.sub.-- unit.sub.-- pointer" indicates the first byte address of the first access unit with RBN from the final byte of the information area. If the first byte of the first access unit does not exist, 0000 0000h is recorded.
The DTS is provided with the DTS standards for the multi-channel sound of high quality. The DTS standards are shown in table 15.
TABLE 15 ______________________________________ Bit Rate mono(1ch) 64k to 384k bps 96k to 769k bpstereo(2ch) 256k to 1536k bps channel Sampling Frequency 48 KHz Only Audio Coding Mode 1/0, 2/0, 3/0, 2/1, 2/2, 3/2, *1 Protection CRC disabled Multilingual Channels 0 ______________________________________ In table 15, *1 is useful to the low frequency effects channels in the respective audio modes. The DTS audio having such a packet structure can be defined as the multichannel sound of high quality.
The number of channels available of linear PCM in the DVD video is shown in FIG. 10. In FIG. 10, of maximum bit rate is 6.75 Mbps, and the number of channels is determined as in table 16.
TABLE 16 ______________________________________ Sampling Frequency Number of Quantization Bits Number of Channels ______________________________________ 48 KHz 16 bit 8 channel 20 bit 6 channel 24 bit 5 channel 96 KHz 4 channel 3 channel 2 channel ______________________________________
The audio data recorded on the DVD video disk has a far better sound quality than that on the CD audio disk. The audio data recorded on the DVD disk has a sampling frequency, and the number of quantization bits and the number of channels greater than those on the CD audio disk. Therefore, the DVD reproducing device can reproduce high sound quality of audio data with multiple channels.
The DVD video disk enables a maximum of 10.08 Mbps of data transmission. With reference to this, it is noted that data sampled at 192 KHz can be reproduced with two channels. These values approximate the maximum sampling frequency designated as the requirements necessary in the next-generation audio in the advanced digital audio conference held in April, 1996 in Japan. If the pure audio data is recorded on the DVD disk, and the DVD reproducing device plays back the DVD audio disk, a better sound quality of the audio signal is obtained.

DVD audio disk reproducing device and method thereof


A system for adjusting the angular position of a first toothed wheel set relative to a support on which the first toothed wheel set is mounted such that it can pivot. The adjusting system includes an adjusting member allowing an action to be applied to an angular position of the first toothed wheel set so as to adjust the angular position of the first toothed wheel set relative to the support. A timepiece can include such an adjusting system.

A conventional date display mechanism for a timepiece such as a wristwatch essentially comprises a date ring on the circumference whereof the date indications from "1" to "31" are placed. This date ring advances by one step per day. At the end of the months having less than 31 days, the owner of the watch must advance the date ring from the date indication "28" or from the date indication "29" in the event of a leap year, to the date indication "1" when in February, and from the date indication "30" to the date indication "1" for the other months of the year having less than 31 days.
Date display mechanisms requiring intervention by the owner at the end of each month having less than 31 days are referred to as simple date display mechanisms. Date display mechanisms that only require one intervention by the owner per year, when passing from the month of February to the month of March, are referred to as semi-perpetual date display mechanisms. Finally, date display mechanisms that spontaneously pass from the date indication of the last day of a month having less than 31 days to the date indication of the first day of the following month, including on leap years, are referred to as perpetual date display mechanisms.
Date display mechanisms comprising a single ring around the circumference whereof the date indications from "1" to "31" are distributed have the advantage of comprising a limited number of parts. They are therefore more cost-effective and easier to incorporate into a horological movement of a mechanical or electromechanical watch. However, only an angular sector of a little less than 12° is available for reproducing each of the 31 date indications on the date ring. The size of the date indications is thus inevitably limited by the dimensions of the date ring, which can make these date indications hard to read.
Alongside date display mechanisms wherein the display member is a ring on which the thirty-one date indications are placed, so-called "large date" calendar display mechanisms are also known, which are also intended to equip mechanical or electromechanical timepieces. These large date calendar display mechanisms are thus named because they allow the date indication to be displayed on a larger scale, which eases reading of the date and constitutes an undeniable advantage in terms of the aesthetics of the timepiece equipped with such a mechanism.
Large date calendar display mechanisms conventionally comprise a first date indicator on which the indications of the units component of the date from "0" to "9" are placed. These 10 digits are reproduced on the first date indicator according to sequences which depend on the operating mode of the large date display mechanism considered. These date display mechanisms are complemented by a second date indicator on which the indications of the tens component of the date from "0" to "3" are reproduced. Thus, by suitably adjusting the position of the first date indicator relative to the second date indicator, all of the date indications from "01" to "31" can be constituted by combining the indications of the units component of the date borne by the first date indicator with the indications of the tens component of the date borne by the second date indicator. Since the first date indicator only bears the indications of the units component of the date and since the second date indicator only bears the indications of the tens component of the date, additional space is available for reproducing these indications which can thus be larger in size. The reading of a large date calendar indicator device is thus made easier and the aesthetics of a timepiece equipped with such a date indicator device are significantly improved.
Date display mechanisms of the "large date" type nonetheless pose problems when passing from "31" of a given month to "01" of the following month. More specifically, the indication of the units component "1" of the date which is used to form the date indication "31" is the same as the indication of the units component "1" of the date with which the date indication "01" is formed. As a result, during the passage from the date indication "31" to the date indication "01", the indication of the units component "1" of the date must remain unchanged, whereas the indication of the tens component of the date passes from the value "3" to the value "0". In other words, when passing from the end of a month having 31 days to the first day of the following month, the first date indicator on which the indications of the units component of the date are placed, must remain still. In order to reach this objective, the horological movement which, under normal circumstances, allows the large date display mechanism to advance daily, must be prevented from driving the first date indicator when passing from the last day of a month having 31 days to the first day of the following month.
The solution often proposed to overcome this problem consists of depriving one of the wheels located in the kinematic chain between the output of the horological movement and the date indicator bearing the indications of the units component of the date of at least one tooth such that, when passing from "31" to the "01", this wheel, although driven by the horological movement, does not, in turn, drive the pinion with which it is engaged and which also contributes to driving the indicator of the units component of the date. Given that the pinion remains still during this period, the kinematic linkage between the horological movement and the first date indicator bearing the indications of the units component of the date is interrupted, and the indication of the units component "1" of the date remains unchanged.
However, this solution is not perfect since, during the 24 hours that separate the passage from the last day of a month having 31 days to the end of the first day of the following month and during which the pinion is no longer engaged with the wheel which the rest of the time ensures the driving thereof, the maintenance of the position of the pinion, and thus of the first date indicator bearing the indications of the units component of the date, is no longer ensured, which is not acceptable since no guarantee can be given regarding the suitable positioning of the indication of the units component of the date in an aperture made in a dial of the timepiece and through which the date indication can be seen. Moreover, when the wheel revolves and is found in a position wherein it is capable of meshing again with the pinion, the pinion may not be appropriately positioned and the wheel may not be able to re-engage with this pinion, which results in the mechanism becoming obstructed. It is therefore essential that the correct indexing of the pinion is constantly guaranteed, in particular during the period wherein this pinion is not engaged with the wheel that usually drives it.
For the aforementioned reasons, all necessary provisions must be taken to ensure the precise angular positioning between the wheel and the pinion.

System for adjusting the position of a first toothed wheel set relative to a support on which the first toothed wheel set is pivotably mounted and timepiece comprising such a system


A vacuum breaker valve assembly includes valve body defining a hollow main chamber, which communicates with a plenum opening, an inlet opening, and an outlet opening. A valve cap is attached to the valve body and defines a plenum, which communicates with the plenum opening, and a vent opening communicating with atmosphere. A drainage plug is connected to the vent opening, and an overflow conduit defines an elongated flexible hollow tube having one end connected to the drainage plug. A cap fixture is connected to the valve cap and defines a countersunk shallow recess that receives therein a thin label that is adhesively attached to the cap fixture.

U.S. Pat. No. 8,297,300 to Bejerano, which patent is hereby incorporated herein by this reference for all purposes, schematically discloses in its Prior Art FIG. 1 an example of a vacuum breaker valve 10 that is configured to discharge backflow spillage into the environment immediately surrounding the valve 10 via an atmospheric vent 16. Normal inflow enters the valve via inlet 12, pushes the disc valve 22 (also known as the "float" for reasons shortly to become apparent) upward on a vertical valve stem 24 until the upper vent seal 28, which is carried on the disc valve 22, engages the corresponding vent seat to seal off the inflow from escaping via the atmospheric vent 16. The inflow then proceeds during normal operation of the valve 10 to exit via the outlet 14. Without the incoming pressure of the inflow, the disc valve 22 drops downward on the vertical valve stem 24 until the valve seal 26 engages the valve seat 18 to prevent backflow through the outlet 14 from entering the inlet 12. However, the backflow can escape from the valve 10 via the atmospheric vent 16 and thence into the environment surrounding the valve 10.
Recreational vehicles have a black water tank that receives liquid from toilets. Referring to Bejerano FIG. 1 mentioned above, these black water tanks would be connected to the outlet 14 of the vacuum breaker valve 10 and must be emptied periodically before they become full and might overflow and cause backflow into the toilet that would be connected to the outlet 14. It also is necessary to flush out the black water tank with clean water supplied under pressure to the black water tank. The recreational vehicle typically will have an external connector accessible from outside the vehicle, and the connector can be connected to a hose that supplies the clean water to flush out the black water tank. Inside the recreation vehicle, a hose leads from the external connector to the inlet conduit of a standard vacuum breaker valve such as the inlet 12 of Bejerano FIG. 1 mentioned above. The outlet 14 of the standard vacuum breaker valve is connected to a hose that is connected to the black water tank, thus completing the fluid circuit to supply clean flushing water from the clean water source into the black water tank via the standard vacuum breaker valve 10.
A typical vacuum breaker valve has one or more seals such as the vent seal 28 and the valve seal 26 of Bejerano FIG. 1 mentioned above. Such seals often are made of rubber or the like and prevent leakage of fluid around certain valve parts, some parts moving during operation of the vacuum breaker valve and some remaining stationary. U.S. Pat. No. 10,273,670 to Yontz, which is hereby incorporated herein by this reference for all purposes, discloses another example of a vacuum breaker valve. U.S. Pat. No. 9,719,606 to Yang, which is hereby incorporated herein by this reference for all purposes, also discloses one example of a vacuum breaker valve with a seal in the form of a water stop gasket. However, these seals or gaskets are prone to degrade over time due to wear from repeated operation of the valve and due to environmental conditions such as temperature changes. Once a seal fails, then black water can leak out of the valve and into the interior of the recreational vehicle or back into the toilet.
Unfortunately, there is no advance warning that precedes failure of one of these seals. The owner of the recreational vehicle first learns of a probable seal failure by noticing a visible accumulation of moisture inside the vehicle or by detecting invisible but malodorous smells emanating from inside the vehicle or both. Once the seal has failed, the vacuum breaker valve must be removed and replaced with a new vacuum breaker valve. Because of the typical location of a vacuum breaker valve in an inconspicuous part of the interior of the vehicle that normally is hidden from the occupant's view, removal of a leaking valve and replacement with a new and sealed valve requires fair amounts of time, trouble and effort. Thus, leaking vacuum breaker valves have been a longstanding bane of owners of recreational vehicles, and a solution to this problem is long overdue.
The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate at least one presently preferred embodiment of the invention as well as features applicable to some alternative embodiments. These drawings, together with the written description, explain the principles of the invention but by no means are intended to be exhaustive of every possible embodiment of the invention.

Vacuum breaker valve with leak protection


A collapsible hunting stand for multi-terrain vehicles includes racks having connected tubes and support plates attached thereto and a frame having leg members with bottom ends disposed adjacent to the racks. The stand further includes a first plurality of cross braces defining steps and a second plurality of cross braces to maintain the frame at a stable position when adapted to a raised position. Locking flange portions are selectively spaced along the second plurality of cross braces and the leg members. A seat section is attached to the frame and an elastic strap traverses across the width of the frame for assisting to maintain the stand at a stable position during non-operating conditions. The stand further includes an elongated support rod attached to a tow ball of a vehicle.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to a hunting stand and, more particularly, to a collapsible hunting stand for multi-terrain vehicles.
2. Prior Art
When hunting in flatlands or in areas where timber has previously been cut, trees are not available for standard hunting stands. Elevated observation stands, providing secure seating and a wide visual range for hunters, are desirable when hunting deer and other game in forested areas, fields, and reforesting areas.
The relatively easy access to these areas now provided by all terrain vehicles (ATVs) has encouraged the development of such stands to be used while mounted on ATVs. The seating platforms of such stands have heretofore been fixed and not adjustable as to their angularity, limiting their functionality.
Furthermore, hunting stands for all terrain vehicles are well-known in the patented prior art that have portable stands partially supported by the vehicle and which abut against a tree for further support. These devices are unsuitable for use in flatlands or in areas where a forest has been harvested since no trees are available to support the stand. Yet another hunting stand in the prior art is partially supported by the vehicle and partially supported by the ground. A major drawback of this stand is that its height is limited. Moreover, like the other prior stands, it is rather cumbersome and difficult to erect and strike.
Accordingly, a need remains for a collapsible hunting stand for multi-terrain vehicles to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a versatile hunting stand that is useable in all hunting locations and easy to set up. Such a stand has appeal to hunters who like to change locations often or those who have many hunting areas.

Collapsible hunting stand for multi-terrain vehicles


An output driver circuit provided with a pull-up pMOS transistor and a pull-down nMOS transistor also includes an nMOS transistor connected between the pMOS transistor and an output. A step-up unit is provided for stepping up a gate voltage of the nMOS transistor when high data is to be output.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to output driver circuits in a semiconductor device and, more particularly, to an output driver circuit provided in a 3V device and enabling connection between a 3V device and a 5V device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, 3V devices and 5V devices coexist in some semiconductor devices. In such a case, an output driver connectable with both types of devices is used.
An output driver circuit for a 3V device may be composed of a pMOS transistor and an nMOS transistor. The drain of the pMOS transistor and the drain of the nMOS transistor are both connected to an input/output terminal. The input/output terminal is connected to a data bus. In such a construction, when a 5V signal arrives via the data bus, the 5V signal applies a forward voltage to a PN junction between the drain of the pull-up pMOS transistor and the n-well thereof, resulting in a leak current flowing in the junction.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show examples according to the related art for resolving the problem of leak current.
An output driver circuit of FIG. 1 comprises an output buffer 1, a step-up circuit 2, a pull-up nMOS transistor 3 and a pull-down nMOS transistor 4 connected in series. The source of the nMOS transistor 3 and the drain of the nMOS transistor 4 are connected to an input/output (I/O) terminal 5. The I/O terminal 5 is connected to a data bus.
The output buffer 1 receives an output enable signal /OE and data. The output buffer 1 outputs a signal for driving the step-up circuit 2 to a DPU node and supplies a voltage to be applied to the gate of the nMOS transistor 4, to a DPD node. The step-up circuit 2 controls the nMOS transistor 3 by outputting a voltage to be applied to the gate of the pull-up nMOS transistor 3, to a VPUMP node. More specifically, in a stand-by mode, a prime voltage VSS is applied to the gate of the pull-up nMOS transistor 3 and the gate of the pull-down nMOS transistor 4. When high data is to be output, the voltage VSS is raised to VCC and further stepped up to a voltage sufficiently high to turn on the nMOS transistor 3. In this way, a voltage drop in the nMOS transistor 3 is prevented so that the voltage VCC is properly output via the data bus.
When low data is to be output, the voltage output to the DPD node causes the pull-down nMOS transistor 4 to be turned on so that the voltage on the data bus is pulled down to the ground potential. In this state, the pull-up nMOS transistor 3 is turned off.
When high data is to be output, the pull-up nMOS transistor 3 is turned on by receiving the step-up voltage via the VPUMP. As a result, the I/O terminal 5 is connected to the predetermined voltage VCC. Accordingly, the voltage of the data bus is pulled up to VCC. In this state, the pull-down nMOS transistor 4 is turned off.
Since the nMOS transistor 3 in FIG. 1 is an nMOS transistor, it has a p-well instead of an n-well. Accordingly, the problem of leak current is avoided.
FIG. 2 shows another construction according to the related art for implementing 3V/5V tolerant input/output.
An nMOS transistor 14 is provided between a pull-up pMOS transistor 13 and a input/output terminal 16 of an output driver. An output buffer 11 receives an output enable signal /OE and data. The output buffer 11 controls the pull-up pMOS transistor 13 by outputting a voltage to be applied to the gate of the pull-up pMOS transistor 13, to a DPU node, and also controls the pull-down nMOS transistor 15 by outputting a voltage to be applied to the gate of the pull-down nMOS transistor 15. The step-up circuit 12 continually applies a sum of the voltage VCC and a threshold voltage Vth to the gate of the nMOS transistor 14. With this, when a 5V signal arrives via the data bus in a stand-by mode, the voltages at the gate and the drain of the nMOS transistor 14 cancel each other. Accordingly, the drain of the pull-up pMOS transistor 13 is not supplied with a voltage high enough to cause a leak current to flow.
In the construction of FIG. 1, 3V/5V tolerant I/O is implemented by preventing a leak current from flowing when a 5V signal arrives in a 3V device and by stepping up the gate voltage of the pull-up nMOS transistor when high data is to be read out. However, such an arrangement for reading out high data requires raising the gate voltage of the pull-up nMOS transistor 3 to VCC and then to the step-up voltage. As a result, a step-like output waveform is produced and access is slowed down. If an operation of raising the voltage from VSS to VCC and then raising the voltage VCC to a step-up voltage is performed in a short period of time in an attempt to prevent access from being slowed down, an excessive variation in the current results so that noise may be produced.
In the construction of FIG. 2, since the gate of the nMOS transistor 14 is continually maintained at VCC+Vth current consumption in a stand-by mode is relatively large. Further, since the gate of the nMOS transistor 14 is pulled up only to the level of VCC+Vth, the size of the nMOS transistor 14 should be relatively large in order to obtain a reduced access time.

Semiconductor device with 3V/5V tolerant output driver


A pattern defect inspection method includes generating electron beam irradiation point track data on the basis of first data on an inspection target pattern, irradiating the electron beam to the inspection target pattern in accordance with the electron beam irradiation point track data, detecting secondary electrons generated from the inspection target pattern due to the irradiation of the electron beam, acquiring second data regarding a signal intensity of the secondary electrons from a signal of the detected secondary electrons, and detecting an abnormal point from the second data and outputting the abnormal point as a defect of the inspection target pattern. The electron beam irradiation point track data includes data on a track of irradiation points of an electron beam to the inspection target pattern and is intended to control over scanning with the electron beam, the electron beam irradiation point track data.

A defect inspection of a micropattern formed in a semiconductor device manufacturing process such as a lithography process or etching process is described as an example of a conventional pattern defect inspection.
In response to recent increasing miniaturization of semiconductor patterns, defects that affect the performance of a semiconductor product have been decreasing in size. It has become increasingly difficult to defect such small-sized defects by conventional inspection apparatuses.
An inspection apparatus that has hitherto been in wide use acquires optical images or SEM images, and compares these inspection images with a reference pattern to defect defects. There are principles used for general defect inspection apparatuses; for example, a die-to-die method that uses, as a reference pattern, a die adjacent to an inspection pattern, and die-to-database method that uses design data as a reference pattern.
These inspection techniques vary in advantages and disadvantages depending on whether the inspection images are optical images or SEM images. The inspection based on the optical images allows a high throughput, but has the disadvantage of insufficient resolution for the detection of micro defects. On the other hand, the inspection based on the SEM images provides sufficient resolution but a low throughput. Therefore, the inspection based on the SEM images is not practically used for the inspection of the entire surface of a wafer at present, and is generally used for the inspection of an area that accounts for several percent of the entire wafer surface.
However, in order to predict an accurate product yield, it is desirable to increase the inspection area of a wafer to several ten percent which is equal to that in the optical inspection. Accordingly, various attempts have been made to increase the speed of the inspection based on the SEM images. While the SEM images are acquired by raster scans with an electron beam, the problem is that simply reducing the image acquiring time does not allow for an S/N of an image sufficient for a reliable inspection.
In the meantime, the inspection based on the SEM images allows the acquiring time of the SEM image to be reduced if an electron beam current amount is increased. However, the problem is that a charging phenomenon is induced and a desired image is not obtained when the electron beam current amount is simply increased. There has been suggested a technique that uses a mapping projection optical system to acquire the inspection images instead of using the raster scan for the image acquisition. However, this technique provides low image resolution and is disadvantageous to the detection of micro defects.

Pattern defect inspection using data based on secondary electron from pattern


An illumination waveguide that includes: a core having a cross-section in which the shortest dimension of the cross-section is at least one millimeter; and a cladding surrounding the core that includes a polymer having an optically smooth inner surface.

The invention relates to producing illumination waveguides.
Illumination waveguides are used in decorative and functional lighting applications. Illumination waveguides typically feature a core through which light is transmitted. The core has a cross-section in which the shortest cross-sectional dimension (e.g., the diameter in the case of waveguides having circular cross-sections) is about one millimeter or larger. Light from a source is coupled into an illumination waveguide and transmitted through the waveguide. The light may be transmitted to an end of the waveguide, providing a point light source, or the light may be transmitted to one or more pre-selected segments of the waveguide where the light is re-directed out of the waveguide in a controlled manner.
An annular cladding surrounds the core and serves to maintain the transmission of light through the core to the preselected location(s) along the waveguide. This property is partially achieved by selecting a cladding having a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the core. However, light may still be scattered from the core (and through the cladding) due to imperfections in the core, cladding, and core/cladding interface. For example, an optically rough inner surface of the cladding, adjacent the core, may cause undesired random scattering of light out of the waveguide.

Illumination waveguide and method for producing same

Minnesota Mining and Manufacturing Company


Each of the communications satellites going around the earth is equipped with a plurality of transmitters and receivers including receiving antennas in order to be able to transmit and receive signals in a plurality of directions, and a transmitter and a receiver in order to be able to transmit and receive signals between the closest terrestrial communications equipment. Each communications satellite is equipped with a cross-connect equipment, and has a function of transmitting signals that are received from each of the receivers toward other directions by utilizing the cross-connect equipment. Moreover, the communications satellites and the terrestrial communications equipment have respectively a function of transmitting and receiving signals consisting of communications frames having at their head address signals that indicate to which terrestrial communications equipment of the transmission destination they are intended for every time slot. Each communications satellite is equipped with four or more receivers to receive signals, and a cross-connect equipment which distributes the signals received by these receivers into four or more groups according to the transmitting terrestrial communications equipment based on the address signal for every time slot.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications systems for performing communications among a plurality of communications satellites as well as communications among these communications satellites and a plurality of terrestrial communications equipment.
2. Description of the Related Art
It has been known that at least three communications satellites are required in order to cover the entire surface of the earth by satellite communications. A system by which radio communications are established among a plurality of terrestrial communications equipment via either one of the three geostationary communications satellities is known widely as a conventional satellite communications system. In the conventional satellite communications system of this kind, it is necessary that each one of these satellites has to be placed on a geostationary orbit. Moreover, because of the requirement to cover the surface of the earth with a small number of satellites, it is necessary that these satellites be placed on orbits of relatively high altitude of about 40 thousand kilo-meters above the surface of the earth. Because of this, it takes time for radio waves to make a round trip between a terrestrial equipment and a satellite, which increases the communication time. Moreover, there is a problem in that communication signals are apt to be interfered by noise making it difficult to obtain communications of high quality. Further, there is another problem that the transmission power of the terrestrial communications equipment has to be large accordingly.
In order to resolve these problems in the conventional satellite communications, a new satellite communications system, such as IRIDIUM Program, has been proposed in recent years. This is a system in which a large number of satellites are made to revolve around the earth at altitudes lower than the altitudes of the conventional communications satellites, and establish communications between the satellite and the terrestrial equipment. Since the altitudes of the satellites are reduced, it is possible to solve the problem of communication delay and the problem of noises mentioned above. According to this system, however, the altitude of the satellite is to be set low so that it is not possible to make the satellite geostationary. In addition, since it is not possible for a single satellite to cover a wide area, it is required to let a larger number of satellites than in the conventional system revolve around the earth.
The system according to the IRIDIUM Program has a significant feature in that it can resolve the problem related to the quality of communications existing in the conventional systems. However, the utility of the system is limited strictly to the communications from one point to another point on the earth. In spite of the large number of satellites involved, this system is not capable of handling at one's convenience the case of transmitting different data to different receiving destinations from one terrestrial station. In addition, communications among a plurality of ground points of three or more by providing them with a switching function are not feasible by this system, and in that sense the system cannot add a function which supersedes the conventional satellite communication functions.

Satellite communications systems using a cross-connect switch


The present disclose generally relates to systems and methods for active titration of one or more cranial or peripheral nerve stimulators to treat obstructive sleep apnea. The active titration can be accomplished in an automated fashion by a closed-loop process. The closed-loop process can be executed by a computing device that includes a non-transitory memory storing instructions and a processor to execute the instructions to perform operations. The operations can include defining initial parameters for the one or more cranial or peripheral nerve stimulators for a patient; receiving sensor data from sensors associated with the patient based on a stimulation with the one or more cranial or peripheral stimulators programmed according to the initial parameters; and adjusting the initial parameters based on the sensor data.

Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts during sleep, leading to daytime sleepiness, as well as cardiac and neural complications. The most common type of sleep apnea is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), affecting 29 million patients in the United States alone. OSA is characterized by recurrent airway obstructions, caused by the collapse of soft tissue structures surrounding the upper airway into the airway when the throat and tongue muscles relax during sleep. These airway obstructions are dangerous, leading to pauses in breathing or instances of shallow or infrequent breathing, negatively impacting a sufferer's health and quality of life.
While no FDA-approved drug therapies currently exist to treat OSA, several mechanical therapies exist, such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy or mandibular advancement device (MAD) treatment. These mechanical devices suffer from resistance to use and inconsistent treatment. The FDA has recently approved the first implantable cranial nerve stimulator for the treatment of OSA. The cranial nerve stimulator functions by stimulating the hypoglossal nerve, causing tongue stiffening and protrusion to prevent obstruction of the airway. Configuration of these devices requires manual titration based on a polysomnography study during an overnight stay at a sleep laboratory. In other words, the technician monitors the polysomnography data and makes adjustments to therapy on-the-fly as airway collapse is observed via flow limitation observed from respiratory airflow data and other biologic sensors. However, this method of titration is, by its very nature, often inexact, leading to subtherapeutic levels that allow airway collapse to continue or supratherapeutic levels that lead to uncomfortable stimulation that may arouse the patient from sleep.

Active titration of one or more nerve stimulators to treat obstructive sleep apnea


An elevator control system is equipped with an evacuation operation control portion. In the event of a fire, the evacuation operation control portion determines, based on information on the fire and an elevator, whether or not the evacuation operation of the elevator can be performed. When it is determined that the evacuation operation can be performed, the evacuation operation control portion outputs a command to perform the evacuation operation to an elevator control device. Further, a condition for determining whether or not the evacuation operation can be performed is set in the evacuation operation control portion.

In a conventional elevator control system, when a fire occurs in a building, the operation of an elevator is stopped after a car thereof has been moved to an evacuation floor. In recent buildings, however, fire-preventing separation technologies and the like have been improved. Therefore, floors other than a fire occurrence floor and a floor immediately thereabove are virtually immune to the fire, so the operation of the elevator can be continued. Thus, an elevator for evacuation has been proposed to perform rescue operation between a fire occurrence floor and an evacuation floor in the event of a fire (e.g., see JP 06-16357).
Patent Document 1: JP 06-16357 A

Elevator control system which operates an elevator in an event of a fire


An automated interactive cytology system provides expedited handling of samples, minimizing false negatives, while not substantially increasing the number false positives. A computerized system identifies and displays the cells which are of greatest interest to the cytologist. The system then processes this information on all cells identified to classify the slide as normal, abnormal, or questionable based on a statistical analysis of cells meeting given criteria. Before displaying the results of the statistical analysis, a cytologist reviews the cells which the computer has determined to be most significant. It is only then after the cytologist has determined whether the cells are positive, negative, or questionable, that the determination is inputted into the automated system. The automated system then compares the cytologist's analysis with its own statistical analysis. Based on the two opinions, the cytologist determines how to advise a doctor regarding the sample.

1. Field
The invention relates to the field of automated cytology, and in particular to an interactive system of automated cytology in which a cytotechnologist or cytopathologist interacts with an automated cytology screening system to markedly increase accuracy.
2. Description
Cytotechnologists and cytopathologists are human, and thus subject to human frailties. Among these frailties are drowsiness, inattentiveness, illness, stress, boredom, and fatigue. Moreover, current cytology practice involves a certain amount of subjectivity. By contrast, a computer is devoid of human frailties and totally objective. Accordingly, there has long been sought an automated, computerized system for cytological analysis.
Presently, several computerized cytology systems are being introduced into the market place. Cytyc Corporation has been developing its CDS-1000.TM. cytology workstation in which a computer system identifies cells having the highest potential for being abnormal, representative normal cells for the comparison, and clusters of cells which may be of interest to the system operator. Such a system provides the cytotechnologist or cytopathologist ("cytologist") with a narrowed field of cells for review, but generates no machine interpretation as to specimen normality or abnormality.
NeoPath, Inc. has been developing its AutoPap.TM. 300 system for automatic screening of conventional Papanicolaou slide smears. This automatic analysis system scans multiple smears and classifies each smear either as normal or requiring review. Only samples classified as needing further review are to be reviewed by a cytologist and no cell images are selected for display.
On the other hand, automated computer systems also have their drawback. Although a computer system adds uniformity based on its statistical analysis approach, there is no practical way for the computer to interpret abnormality based on the presence of only a few abnormal cells. Thus, many systems do not rely on the computer to interpret the normality or abnormality of the cells. Neuromedical Systems, Inc. has been developing its Papnet.RTM. system designed with the philosophy that the actual evaluation of the cells and interpretation of the case are left to the cytologist reviewing the case, since the task is both highly complex and subjective. The cytologist reviews each case on a high-resolution, full-color monitor having images displayed in a grid-like manner. Here again there is no computer interpretation of the specific cases.
Moreover, automated cytological specimen classification systems and methods, have been described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,965,725, issued Oct. 23, 1990 to Rutenberg, international publication number WO 91/15826, published Oct. 17, 1991 (claiming priority of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 179,060, filed Apr. 8, 1988, Ser. No. 420,105, filed Oct. 11, 1989, and Ser. No. 425,665, filed Oct. 23, 1989), and international publication number WO 92/13308, published Aug. 6, 1992, and European Patent Publication No. 0 557 871, published Sep. 1. 1993. The contents of each of the above-identified applications, publications and patents, are incorporated herein by reference. Additionally, European Patent Publication No. 0 014 857, published May 2, 1985, describes a method for automatically marking cells and displaying them on a television screen. The contents of this publication are also herein incorporated by reference.
Systems currently under development have sought either to totally automate the cytology system, and thus eliminate the role of the cytologist, or to generate a system merely for preselecting representative cells to be viewed by a cytologist. Until development of the present invention, no attempt has been made to combine cell preselection and cytotechnologist review with an independent machine interpretation, an interactive system in which the cytologist and automated system interact to minimize false negatives, without substantially increasing the occurrence of false positives.

Interactive automated cytology method incorporating both manual and automatic determinations


In-band, on the fly allocation of tokens to a token bucket that limits the rate at which input/output operations are performed on a storage resource according to a maximum rate limit, while also supporting a user-configurable burst size limit that allows for a temporary spike in the rate input/output operations are received for the storage resource. An input/output time parameter is adjusted in response to receipt of input/output operations, based on the arrival times of the input/output operations, the maximum rate limit, and the burst size limit, in order to automatically allocate and consume tokens for the token bucket without requiring a separate token allocation thread.

As it is generally known, a token bucket is a mechanism that may be used to limit storage input/output (I/O) requests to a maximum rate set by a user. In a system in which a token bucket mechanism is used, when an I/O request is received, it can only be performed if there are sufficient tokens in the token bucket for the resource associated with the request. Otherwise, the request must either be rejected, or queued until the bucket contains a sufficient number of tokens for the request to be performed. For example, in systems in which the maximum rate limit is set by the user in terms of input/output operations per second (IOPS), each token may represent a single input/output operation, and accordingly a received input/output operation will only be performed if there is at least one token in the token bucket. Tokens may also sometimes be referred to as "credits".
In order to maintain a token bucket system, tokens must be allocated to the token bucket in a way that reflects the maximum rate set by the user.

Adjusting input/output operation arrival times to represent a token bucket that enforces maximum rate and burst size limits


A computer system includes a chassis and a rigid support member mounted therein. A heat sink is connected to the support member by a resilient retainer which is movably mounted on the heat sink. The retainer is movable between a first position out of engagement with the support member, and a second position engaged with the support member. The retainer is formed of a continuous strip of resilient material and includes a handle for facilitating manual access to move the retainer between the first and second positions. The retainer is captive to the heat sink in either of the first and second positions.

The disclosures herein relate generally to heat sinks used in a computer chassis and more particularly to a quick connect, quick disconnect retainer for mounting the heat sink in the chassis.
The many electrical components in a computer chassis create a lot of heat which must be removed to keep the system functioning. Many heat removal schemes are used in this environment including fans, heat sinks and combinations thereof. Heat sinks, due to their mass, must be properly supported within the chassis so as to withstand shock and vibration loads.
Heat sinks are often mounted in an abutting relationship with a thermal plate which conducts heat from a heat producing component to the heat sink. Due to the crowded confines of computer chassis and the crowding and stacking of components therein, sufficient support is sometimes difficult to achieve. This problem is compounded by the desirability for non-threaded connectors and supports which provide for the quick attachment and release of components for the purposes of manufacturing and maintenance. Threaded connectors, such as screws, bolts, etc., are undesirable due to the extended time required to attach and remove them and also due to the lack of room available for the manipulation of tools needed to attach and remove such connectors.
One example of a non-threaded connector discloses a spring steel bayonet type retainer for securing encapsulated semiconductor devices to circuit boards either directly or through an intermediate heat dissipator. This device includes spring fingers and bayonet arms. The retainer is installed by urging the bayonet arms through a hole in a mounting tab of the semiconductor device and through the circuit board where barbs on the terminal ends of the bayonet arms lock the arms into the hole. The length of the arms is such that the body portion of the retainer is flexed to compliantly exert a force on the semiconductor device to hold it to the circuit board. This device, however, is not easily removed and is not captive to the device it secures.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and apparatus whereby a resilient retainer can be movably mounted on a heat sink and snapped into and out of engagement with a support on the chassis, for ease of installation and removal of the heat sink during manufacturing and maintenance.

Heat sink retention apparatus and method for computer systems


There is provided a radar apparatus capable of emitting a transmission wave relating to a transmitting signal which is frequency-modulated, and receiving a reflection wave coming from a target at which the transmission wave is reflected as a receiving signal, to derive at least position information of the target based on the receiving signal. A deriving unit derives a fluctuation value of a signal level relating to the receiving signal for a stationary target among the targets. A calculating unit calculates a fluctuation integrated value integrated by the fluctuation value. A judging unit judges the stationary target as a target other than a control subject if the fluctuation integrated value is below a predetermined threshold.

In the past, a radar apparatus provided in a vehicle derives moving targets corresponding to other vehicles (hereinafter referred to as a preceding vehicle) traveling in the same traffic lane as a traveling subject vehicle ahead of the subject vehicle, and stationary targets (hereinafter referred to as a stationary target) corresponding to other vehicles (hereinafter referred to as a stopped vehicle) stopped in the same traffic lane as the traveling subject vehicle ahead of the vehicle. Further, the radar apparatus derives stationary targets (hereinafter referred to as an on-road object) corresponding to objects (hereinafter referred to as an on-road object) installed on a road surface of the traffic lane, such as a manhole or a joint member for jointing a road and a road, ahead of the subject vehicle traveling in the same traffic lane.
In a case where the stationary target is derived from the moving target and the stationary target, the radar apparatus derives target information including position information, such as a distance of these targets, and relative speed information to output the vehicle information to a vehicle control device capable of controlling a behavior of the vehicle. The reason why the radar apparatus outputs the target information about the moving target or the stationary target to the vehicle control device is that the vehicle control device executes, for example, the control of ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control) or PCS (Pre-Crash Safety System) based on the target information. That is, the radar apparatus outputs the target information about the moving target to the vehicle control device to execute the control of the ACC follow-up traveling in a state in which inter-vehicular distance between the vehicle and the preceding vehicle is constantly maintained. In addition, the radar apparatus outputs the target information about the moving target to the vehicle control device to execute the control of the PCS capable of preventing collision between the stationary target and the vehicle or alleviate the effect of the collision.
Since the vehicle cannot cross over the on-road target, contrary to the stationary target, the on-road target is one which is not necessary to be output to the vehicle control device from the radar apparatus. That is, in the case where the vehicle control device executes the control of the ACC or the PCS, the on-road target is the stationary target other than the control subject.
For this reason, to correctly determine whether the derived stationary target is the stationary target or the on-road target, the radar apparatus judges a kind of the target, for example, based on a signal level relating to a receiving signal of the stationary target and a signal level relating to a receiving signal of the on-road target.
Specifically, since the stationary target has a height of a vehicular body to a certain extent, a reception antenna of the radar apparatus receives a reflection wave (hereinafter referred to as a direct wave) outputted from the transmission antenna and then directly reflected from the stationary target, or receives a reflection wave of multi-path (hereinafter referred as a multi-path wave) reflected from the road surface at which the reflection wave from the stationary wave is reflected.
Since the multi-path wave is received by the reception antenna in delayed timing relative to the direct wave, a frequency and phase of the multi-path wave are different from those of the direct wave. In a case where the receiving signal (hereinafter referred to as a direct signal) of the direct wave and a receiving signal (hereinafter referred to as a multi-path signal) of the multi-path signal which have the frequency difference and the phase difference are synthesized, a receiving signal having a given amplification variation is generated. As the vehicle approaches the stationary target and thus a distance between the vehicle and the stationary target becomes short, the signal levels of the direct signal and the signal level of the multi-path signal are increased. For this reason, the amplification variation of the receiving signal of the stationary target is characterized by being increased as the distance between the vehicle and the stationary target becomes short.
Meanwhile, since the on-road target hardly has any height in a height direction of the vehicle, the radar apparatus does not receive the multi-path wave, but receives the direct wave. for this reason, the receiving signal of the on-road target becomes a value of a substantially constant signal level with almost no amplitude variation. Further, as the distance between the vehicle and the on-road target becomes short, the value of the signal level of the receiving signal is increased, but in a case where the distance between the vehicle and the on-road target is below a predetermined distance, the on-road target has hardly a height relative to the height of the vehicular body, so that the on-road target is out of a transmission region of the transmission wave of the radar apparatus. As a result, the value of the signal level of the receiving signal is characterized by being abruptly decreased if the distance of the on-road target is below the predetermined distance. That is, the receiving signal of the on-road target is characterized in that the amplitude variation is hardly generated, and if the distance between the vehicle and the on-road target is below the predetermined distance, the value of the signal level is abruptly decreased. A technology for interrupting the control of the vehicle to the on-road target is disclosed in the case where the stationary target is judged as the on-road target based on the above-described features of the receiving signal levels of the stationary target and the on-road target (e.g., see Patent Document 1)
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2001-191876A
However, in a case where a slope of the road surface on which the vehicle exists is different from that of the road surface on which the on-road target exists, the feature of the receiving signal of the on-road target may be changed. Specifically, the road surface on which the on-road target exists has a slope such as an ascent, contrary to the road surface on which the vehicle exists, since the on-road target exists at a high position to a certain extent in a height direction (hereinafter referred to as a reference direction) on the basis of the road surface on which the vehicle exists (i.e., flat road surface with respect to the road surface of the ascent on which the on-road target exists), the on-road target has a certain height with respect to the position on which the vehicle exists. In the case where the on-road target exists on the road surface of the ascent, the direct wave and the multi-path wave are generated from the transmission wave of the on-road target, similar to the stationary wave, and are synthesized to generate a receiving signal having an amplitude variation.
As the vehicle comes close to the on-road target and thus the distance between the vehicle and the on-road target becomes short, the signal levels of the direct signal and the multi-path signal are increased. Therefore, there is a feature in that as the distance becomes short, the amplitude variation of the receiving signal resulted by synthesizing the direct signal and the multi-path signal is relatively increased. That is, the feature of the signal level relating to the receiving signal of the on-road signal existing on the road surface having the slope of the ascent is identical to the feature of the signal level relating to the signal level relating to the receiving signal of the stationary target. For this reason, the radar apparatus may judge the receiving signal as the stationary target other than the control subject of the vehicle control device, and judges the target information about the stationary target which is not output to the vehicle control device, as the stationary target of the control subject to output it to the vehicle control device.

Radar apparatus and signal processing method


A method and apparatus for providing a vehicle camera calibration includes choosing overlap images from among the image information captured by a camera mounted on a vehicle, and filtering images having the same vehicle attitude from among the chosen overlap images on a basis of a map coordinate system and status information of the vehicle, picking out objects in the filtered images, separating stationary objects from the picked out objects, and predicting an angular misalignment with respect to the separated stationary objects.

In recent years, there has been increasing an interest on a technology in which a single or multiple cameras are mounted on a vehicle to obtain information related to a safety driving such as vehicles, pedestrians, and traffic lanes around the vehicle through an image recognition.
The current technology level merely highlights to display the safety driving information extracted from an image onto the image itself used to pull out the information on a basis of augmented reality concept, however, in the future. However, in order to exhibit real-time dynamic information onto a driver's eye location through a HUD (Head-Up-Display) device, space coordinates of the safety driving information, which is obtained by the camera coordinate system, should be precisely converted to a vehicle coordinate system. In other words, it is possible to express information through the matching when the driver's eye position and the information around the vehicle acquired from the camera are accurately referenced through a common coordinate system.
Moreover, if a number of cameras are mounted in a vehicle, the integration of coordinate systems is more important in order to integrate a lot of video information. For example, when real-time space information, which is acquired from a full 360 degree around the vehicle, is converted into a vehicle coordinate system in unity, it is possible to generate a map for safe driving information around the vehicle moving in real time.
When a camera is mounted on a vehicle, correcting coordinate axes is realistically impossible in order to perfectly match a vehicle coordinate system with a camera coordinate system. The distance between the origins, that is, the distance from an origin of the vehicle coordinate system to an origin of a camera can be calculated precisely using a measuring instrument at the mount of the camera on the vehicle, but an angular misalignment is difficult to measure directly. Further, because a mounted angle always varies due to the impact on the vehicle when driving, a twist, etc., the angle needs the calibration cyclically or whenever an event occurs.
Typically, an angular misalignment calibration is also called as an angular boresight calibration, angular misalignment calibration, or the like, which is a technique widely used in a mapping equipments for acquiring images such as an aerial photogrammetry, LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging), street views. Because these applications require a high accuracy calibration, the calibration destination precisely surveyed/measured in 3-dimensional is prepared in advance and data for the site of the calibration destination is acquired to strictly and accurately obtain a coordinate axis angular misalignment between an inertial navigation system and a camera or an inertial navigation system and LiDAR, before utilization thereof.
The pre-precision calibration process cannot be done in general vehicles every time, and the angular misalignment cannot be kept stable in the long term due to a rolling of the vehicle as described above, so there is a need to perform the calibration automatically at a time interval or when an event such as a shock occurs.

Apparatus and method for providing vehicle camera calibration

ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE


Catalyst regenerators and methods of their use are provided. A catalyst regenerator includes a combustion chamber with a combustion chamber diameter and a combustion chamber bottom. A mixing chamber is fluidly coupled to the combustion chamber at the combustion chamber bottom, where the mixing chamber has an exterior wall and a mixing chamber diameter less than the combustion chamber diameter. A first and second catalyst inlet are fluidly coupled to the mixing chamber, and a mixing cylinder is within the mixing chamber. The mixing cylinder and the exterior wall define an annular space there-between, and the mixing cylinder includes a cylinder opening.

Fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) is primarily used to convert high boiling, high molecular weight hydrocarbons into lower boiling, lower molecular weight compounds. The lower molecular weight compounds include gasoline, olefinic compounds, liquid petroleum gas (LPG), diesel fuel, etc. An FCC unit typically uses a catalyst that is repeatedly deactivated and regenerated in a riser and a catalyst regenerator. Air is used to combust (burn off) coke from the deactivated catalyst in the regeneration process, and produces combustion gases such as carbon dioxide and water. Many FCC units use the energy generated from burning the coke from the catalyst to drive the endothermic reaction in the riser.
In a typical FCC units, a hydrocarbon feed stream is contacted with the catalyst at reaction conditions in the riser, and a layer of coke is deposited on the catalyst as the hydrocarbons are cracked into smaller molecules. The deposited coke shields the deactivated catalyst (often referred to as spent catalyst), and the coke is oxidized in the catalyst regenerator so the catalyst can be used again. In many FCC units, the catalyst feed to the catalyst regenerator includes some spent catalyst from the riser combined with some recovered catalyst that has passed through the catalyst regenerator. The spent catalyst produces more heat and combustion gases than the recovered catalyst because it has more coke, so the recovered catalyst is combined with the spent catalyst to better control the temperature in the catalyst regenerator. The spent catalyst and the recovered catalyst are typically combined near the bottom of a combustion chamber of the catalyst regenerator, and the two different catalyst streams normally do not mix well during the prescribed residence time. When the two streams of catalyst are fed into the chamber, they tend to rise straight up or otherwise move side by side without mixing so the spent catalyst distribution in the combustor remains uneven. The side of the combustor that has the spent catalyst tends to operate hotter than the side with the recovered catalyst, as well as producing more combustion gases. The uneven coke loading results in nonuniform combustion, although most combustors are designed for consistent operating conditions. The uneven heat and gas flow rates in the combustor can result in some carbon monoxide or other combustible gas rising into a catalyst separator of the catalyst regenerator, where it can further oxidize and produce undesired heat.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide catalyst regenerators and methods for regenerating catalyst that mix spent catalyst with recovered catalyst before the mixed catalyst is introduced into the combustor. In addition, it is desirable to provide catalyst regenerators and methods for regenerating catalysts that reduce combustible gases in the catalyst separator of the catalyst regenerator. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present embodiment will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing and this background.

Catalyst regenerators and methods for regenerating catalysts


Rapid determination of placement for code and data for optimal access of the code and data during execution of software applications. An application that is to be efficiently arranged in a software carrier medium is instrumented such that the status of whether a particular unit of code or data has been accessed during a time interval is recorded in a time-ordered bit sequence for each such unit. A sort routine is used to sort the order of time-ordered bit sequences within an array of such sequences. The sort routine invokes a comparison function that operates upon the temporal information stored in the two time-ordered bit sequences that are being compared for the routine. The order of the code and data in the software application is reordered in accordance with the results of the sort routine.

The amount of memory available to a computer (and the relative speeds of the types of such memory) influences the speed at which a computer is able to execute a software application. Additionally, the organization of stored data and code within a computer's memory is important to the relative speed in which a computer is able to access and manipulate the stored data and code. Randomly or incoherently organized stored data and code often results in inefficient accesses of the stored data and code. Such inefficient accesses may include cache misses and virtual memory page swapping, which may slow the execution of a software application by a computer. Increasing the amount of fast memory available to the computer often increases the speed at which a computer is able to execute a software application. Additional gains in processing efficiency may be gained by arranging the stored data and code so that the stored data and code may be efficiently accessed.

System and method for using data address sequences of a program in a software development tool


A controller for controlling communications between a system and a transport medium includes a receiving circuit to receive data and associated security control information. A first cryptographic engine cryptographically processes the data received from the transport medium based on the security control information. The controller also includes a second cryptographic engine to process data generated in the system according to a security protocol before transmission to the transport medium.

The invention relates to protection of information communicated over a transport medium such as a network.
With the increasing use of networks and other transport media for communications, security has become an increasing concern. Various security protocols have been utilized to protect data entering or leaving a device that is coupled to a transport medium such as a network (e.g. local area network, wide area network, the Internet). A security protocol may include cryptographic algorithms (including encryption, decryption, and authentication) to maintain the confidentiality of transmitted information as well as authentication of the information origin.
Cryptographic operations typically involve data intensive arithmetic operations that take up substantial amounts of processing in a system. To reduce the load on a main processor in a system in performing cryptographic operations, some systems include a coprocessor to perform some of the data intensive processing. In a conventional coprocessor architecture, a main processor (under control of an application program) loads data to be processed (encrypted, hashed, and so forth) into a system memory, which may be accessed by a coprocessor over a system bus. After processing, the coprocessor may then copy the processed data back to the memory for access by the main processor, which may then transmit the data out onto a transport medium (e.g., a network, telephone line, etc.). This process is inefficient as data is copied twice over the bus into system memory prior to it being transmitted over a transport medium. Similarly, at the receive end, the data also is copied twice to and from a coprocessor before it is decrypted and validated.
Running cryptographic operations in a conventional coprocessor architecture may use up valuable shared systems resources, including the main processor, bus, and system memory, making them unavailable to other devices in a system. This may reduce overall system performance. Thus, a need arises for a technique and apparatus that reduces use of system resources in performing operations associated with a security protocol when communicating information to a transport medium.

Technique and apparatus for processing cryptographic services of data in a network system


An image forming apparatus includes: a primary transfer section which executes a first transfer by superimposing respective color toner images formed on a plurality of photoreceptors onto an intermediate transfer member; a secondary transfer section including a transfer roller, which concurrently transfers a plurality of toner images superimposed and formed on the intermediate transfer member onto a sheet conveyed from a sheet feed tray, which is in contact with the intermediate transfer member, and a high voltage power source which applies voltage to the transfer roller; and a controller which judges whether there is residual toner, which is a toner image formed onto the intermediate transfer member but not transferred onto the sheet when a sheet sensor detects the sheet exhaustion, and executes a cleaning mode in which the transfer roller is cleaned when there is the residual toner.

The present invention relates to image forming apparatuses, such as a copier, a facsimile machine and a printer of electro-photographic system, particularly relates to an image forming apparatus for transferring a toner image on a photoreceptor onto an intermediate transfer member and concurrently transferring the toner image having a plurality colors superimposed on the intermediate transfer member onto a sheet by a secondary transfer section.
There has been provided a tandem system color image forming apparatus among color image forming apparatuses of an electro-photographic system to realize a high-speed requirements in a high-speed trend in recent years. The tandem system color image forming apparatus forms toner images onto a plurality of photoreceptors, superimposes the toner images onto the intermediate transfer belt and concurrently transfers the superimposed toner images of a plurality of colors onto a sheet by a secondary transfer section.
In the tandem system color image forming apparatus having a certain type of mechanical structural disposal, there is a case that the distance from the place where starting image formation with the first toner color, for example, starting image formation with a Yellow color to the secondary transfer section, is longer than the distance from a sheet feed tray to the secondary transfer section.
In case of this mechanical structural disposal, at the time when the sheet is fed from the sheet feed tray, image formation has already started. At that time, even though the image formation is stopped after detecting the sheet exhaustion of the sheet feed tray, since the image formation has already started, the toner carried on the intermediate transfer member is not transferred to the sheet and resides on the intermediate transfer member as a residual toner. Further, the residual toner on the intermediate transfer member was transferred onto a secondary transfer roller and the transferred toner was re-transferred onto the rear surface of sheets, which generates inconvenience, such as rear surface dirt.
If the number of sheet left in the sheet feed tray is accurately detected and the timing of sheet exhaustion is accurately determined, the occurrence of the residual toner can be avoided by stopping the image formation with that timing. However, accurately detecting the number of sheet left is practically difficult to achieve.
Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 61-277536 disclosed a copier, which is arranged to start sheet feeding and image formation by delaying the sheet feeding timing and after confirming that sheet is not exhausted in case when the sheet left in the sheet tray becomes equal to less than a prescribed value as a countermeasure for those problems. Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-323839 discloses an image forming apparatus, which is arranged to prolong the sheet interval distance in case of continuous sheet feeding comparing with the normal situation so as to recognize the sheet exhaustion before starting exposure to the photoreceptor when having detected that the sheet left in the sheet tray becomes equal to less than a prescribed value.
However, according to the inventions of Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 61-277536 and 2002-323839, since the distance between sheets widens when the sheet left in the tray is equal to less than a prescribed value, there is a problem that the productivity deteriorates after that until the sheet left becomes zero.

Image forming apparatus having intermediate transfer member

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


Provided is a display device, including: a light shielding film including a plurality of fixed apertures, each allowing passage of light; a lens arranged above the plurality of fixed apertures; a plurality of shutters, which are arranged between the light shielding film and the lens and correspond to the plurality of fixed apertures, respectively, for controlling passage and blocking of the light; and a drive portion for driving each of the plurality of shutters to move between a position above each of the plurality of fixed apertures and a position retracted from each of the plurality of fixed apertures. The plurality of fixed apertures each have an elongated shape including a long-side direction and a short-side direction. The lens has a light refractive power that is larger in the short-side direction than in the long-side direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device.
2. Description of the Related Art
A micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) display is a display expected to replace a liquid crystal display (see Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-197668). This display differs from a liquid crystal shutter type display utilizing polarization, and performs light-dark display by mechanically opening and closing a light transmissive window by a shutter unit including a fixed aperture and a shutter. Specifically, the shutter is arranged above the fixed aperture to block light, and the shutter is retracted from the position above the fixed aperture to allow light passage.
The fixed aperture is defined by an opening formed in a light shielding film, and the shutter is arranged at an interval from the light shielding film to enable driving thereof. Therefore, when the shutter is retracted from the position above the fixed aperture, light traveling perpendicularly to a screen passes through the fixed aperture, but light traveling obliquely in a direction of the retracted shutter is blocked by the shutter. Therefore, there has been a problem in viewing angle characteristics that brightness differs depending on viewing directions.