A package dispenser that can be used in an automated system for filling orders, such as prescriptions for patients. The dispenser includes a magazine for holding a plurality of packages. The magazine includes a loading end and a dispensing end which has a releasable retainer to keep the loaded packages in the magazine until they are released. Several dispensers may be combined with an automated storage system in which a robot selects packages from storage racks. Then, packages can be simultaneously delivered by the dispensers and the robot. The dispensers may be filled by the robot. The robot and releasable retainer in the dispenser are computer controlled.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to automated systems for selecting and restocking stored articles and specifically to an automated system for filling prescriptions and restocking medicines in a pharmacy.
2. Description of Related Art
Many industries store products or parts in a storeroom or storage area and repeatedly select some of the stored items to fill orders or for other uses. Such items may range from small electronic components used by a manufacturer of electronic devices to automotive parts, which vary in size, used by service departments of automobile dealerships. Usually one or more people are employed to retrieve the requested items and to restock new and returned items. These individuals may also be required to confirm that the requested items are compatible with one another and with previously supplied items. If the supplied items are to be billed to a customer or charged to particular internal accounts, the list of items is first written by the requester, and rewritten or entered into a computer database by the storeroom attendant to create an invoice, supply list or other document. In some instances, further generations of the list are made by installers, users or billing clerks. Such methods have built-in opportunities for mistakes every time a list is rewritten and are less efficient than automated systems. Moreover, as labor costs rise and the size of inventory needed to be stored expands, the conventional storeroom and parts department become more and more expensive.
Blister packages are commonly used as containers for a wide variety of products. This type of package consists of a rectangular piece of cardboard on which the product is placed and a plastic blister which surrounds all exposed sides of the product and is affixed to the front face of the cardboard. Most blister cards have a hole for hanging the package on a storage rack. Blister packages are often used as containers for a single item that is used at one time. Single doses of medicine are individually packaged for hospital use on blister cards creating a unit dose package.
Currently, in large hospital environments, doctors visit patients in nursing modules and write out medication orders for each patient. Most patients are placed on medication which must be administered several times over a period of a day. Some patients are given several different medicines which are administered at different time intervals during the day. Patients may also request certain medications on an elective basis for disorders such as headaches. Furthermore, some medicines are taken more frequently than other medicines, and some medicines are prescribed more frequently. All of the prescribed medication for all of the patients are supplied by the hospital pharmacy in accordance with the doctor's orders.
Once an order is received by the pharmacy, it is checked by registered pharmacists and input into the pharmacy information system. The pharmacy information system combines this information with the patient's existing medication schedule and develops a patient medication profile. A list is generated for each patient which contains all the medications that must be given to that patient during each day or other selected time period. This information is sent to the pharmacy printer where a hard copy is generated. In most hospitals the drugs for a particular patient are hand-picked by either a pharmacist or a pharmacy technician and placed in the particular patient's designated box. A registered pharmacist must then check the accuracy of the patient order before it leaves the pharmacy. Individual patient boxes are then loaded into a medicine cart and delivered to the nursing unit.
Several companies have tried to automate this process through various approaches to the problem. Meditrol utilized a vending machine approach to dispense the unit dose medications. Each nursing unit must have its own stock of prescription drugs. Nurses key in a patient ID and the drugs for that patient are then dispensed from the vending machine. This system is very expensive because of the necessity of purchasing a machine for each nursing unit. Also, restocking each machine is a very time-consuming task. Implementation of this system requires a complete modification of the current drug dispensing process which many hospitals are reticent to undertake. Consequently, the Meditrol system provides no labor-saving advantages over the conventional manual approach. This system is described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,917,045 titled "Drug Dispensing Apparatus" and dated Nov. 11, 1975.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,468,110, assigned to the assignee hereof, discloses an "Automated System For Selecting Packages From A Storage Area." This system is particularly useful for filling patient medication orders in a hospital pharmacy. In this system unit dose packages are held on storage racks. Preferably, the storage racks contain a vertical array of storage rods, each storage rod having a unique x, y, z coordinate position. The items are arranged so that each storage rod contains like items. Additionally, a supply rack or a designated portion of the main storage rack is provided for receipt of new or returned items to be restocked. An automated picker selects individual unit dose packages from the storage rods as well as restocks the storage rack from replacement packages that have been placed in a supply rack. The automated picker includes a gripper assembly mounted on a transport vehicle which moves along a column and a track. The automated picker has a movable rod or other carrier for holding selected items, at least one vacuum head, and associated controls for gripping and moving selected items. To fill orders the picker selects the prescribed unit dose packages one at a time from the storage rods and deposits them in a patient box that has been placed on a conveyor by a technician or pharmacist. The contents of the patient box are checked and the box is then delivered to the nursing unit, typically in a nursing cart which contains patient boxes for all the patients in the nursing unit. In this system all packages are individually selected in the same manner.
More unit doses of some medications are prescribed for individual patients and many of those medicines are requested on a far more frequent basis than others. An automated pharmacy of the type described in the '110 patent would be more efficient if these medicines were dispensed into the patient boxes more rapidly than the picker operates. This is especially true in a hospital pharmacy where particular medications are frequently prescribed to a high percentage of patients. Thus, there is a need for a dispensing device that can rapidly dispense frequently prescribed unit dose packages into patient boxes. This device should be suitable for use in combination with the automated package selecting and storing system of the type described in the '110 patent. Preferably, the dispenser will handle blister packages of the type used for unit dose packs.

Automated system for selecting packages from a storage area


A color electrophotographic image forming apparatus including: an opening in a main body; a door opening and closing the opening; a first tray movable between an inside position and an outside position through the opening while removably supporting drum cartridges having photosensitive drums; a second tray movable between the inside position and the outside position through the opening while removably supporting developing cartridges having developing rollers; a transfer member to which toner images are transferred from the photosensitive drums; and a positioning member, which releases, when the door is opened, an engagement between engaging portions of the developing cartridges and engaged portions of the drum cartridges to hold the developing cartridges so that the second tray can be pulled out, and which engages, when the door is closed, the engaging portion with the engaged portion to position the developing cartridges for image formation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a color electrophotographic image forming apparatus, in which a plurality of process cartridges are removably mounted to an apparatus main body to form an image on a recording medium.
2. Related Background Art
With regard to a mounting and dismounting mechanism of the process cartridges with respect to the apparatus main body, the below-mentioned structures are known as the related art. First, the process cartridge is supported by a raising and lowering plate through a guide member capable of expansion and contraction in two stages. The raising and lowering is moved upward or downward while being forwarded and retracted interlocking with a side cover. With this structure, when the side cover is opened, the process cartridge can be directly pulled out after being moved from an image forming position (I) to a pullout position (II) while being raised. Through this pullout operation, when the process cartridge is pulled out to the pullout position, the mounting and dismounting of the process cartridge, and the jam-paper clearing can be conducted (refer to U.S. Pat. No. 5,608,498).
Further, a first cartridge supporting member and a second cartridge supporting member are removably mounted in the apparatus main body. The first cartridge supporting member is constructed so that an intermediate transfer belt unit and a plurality of process cartridges are removably mounted to the first cartridge supporting member. The second cartridge supporting member is constructed so that a plurality of developing cartridges are removably mounted to the second cartridge supporting member (refer to Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2002-108050).

Color electrophotographic image forming apparatus


The present invention relates to methods for inducing an immune response to influenza in a subject comprising administering a nanoemulsion vaccine composition comprising an influenza immunogen or protein.

Influenza is a serious public health threat, routinely killing hundreds of thousands of people worldwide each year, and millions during pandemics. Approximately 36,000 people die in the U.S. each year from influenza, primarily the elderly, young children and immune-compromised patients. The disease is caused by RNA viruses of the family Orthomyxoviridae, which includes three species that cause disease in vertebrates, including birds and mammals, such as humans. Of these three species, influenza A virus and influenza B virus are the most common disease agents in humans.
Influenza A virus is the pathogen associated with all known flu pandemics and is currently the most virulent form of the virus. A number of distinct serotypes have been isolated, including H1N1, H1N2, H2N2, H3N1, H3N2, H3N8, H5N1, H5N2, H5N3, H5N8, H5N9, H7N1, H7N2, H7N3, H7N4, H7N7, H9N2 and H10N7. These serotypes are classified according to two viral surface proteins, hemagglutinin (H or HA) and neuroaminidase (N or NA). Within these serotypes, isolates are further characterized by a standard nomenclature specifying virus type, geographical location where first isolated, sequential number of isolation, year of isolation, and HA and NA subtype. For instance, one such isolate is A/Wisconsin/67/2005 (H3N2).
Due to the highly variable and mutable nature of influenza antigens, developing a vaccine has proven difficult. However, no reliable treatment is available for influenza, and vaccination is the most proven method for protecting against the disease and its serious complications. The vaccine must be reformulated and readministered each year in anticipation of the serotypes of the virus predicted to be prevalent in a population each flu season, and is therefore considered a "seasonal" vaccine. Typically, the most common human vaccine is a combination of two influenza A subtypes and one influenza B strain.
Despite vigorous campaigns to promote vaccination, vaccination rates in most U.S. populations remain low, far below the U.S. government's target of 60%, with higher target percentages of high risk populations, such as the target of 90% of nursing home patients. High risk populations include the elderly, children, both juvenile and infant, pregnant women and immunocompromised patients. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control reported that only 9% to 10% children with asthma received the vaccine in 2000, and less than 10% of pregnant women. ("Prevention and Control of Influenza", Centers for Disease Control, Apr. 12, 2002.) Predictably, the rate of vaccination in less developed countries is much lower.
Presently, the most common influenza vaccines are administered by injection, these include Fluvirin®, Afluria®, FluLaval®, Fluarix®, Agrippal®, Influvac®, Mastaflu®, and Fluzone®. FluMist® is an intranasal influenza vaccine currently approved in the U.S. for use in patients between the ages of 2 and 50 years of age. For children between the ages of 2 and 8 years of age, two doses are required for vaccination, which requires two visits to a health care provider and incurs more costs. Further, no influenza vaccine is available for elderly patients that is not administered by injection. Finally, storage requirements can greatly affect both the cost and availability of influenza vaccines, as the recall of Fluvirin® in 2006 due to improper storage temperatures created shortages of the vaccine in New England.
As with most vaccines, greater immunogenicity is also sought as it correlates with greater efficacy in humans. The prior art has typically disclosed the use of recombinant proteins (e.g., U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,192,595; 6,194,546; 5,962,298), as well as the addition of adjuvants such as aluminum (U.S. Pat. No. 6,861,244) and muramyldipeptide (U.S. Pat. No. 4,826,687) to compositions to increase the immunogenicity. However, there still exists a need to develop highly effective influenza vaccines with improved storage stability and ease of administration, which are characteristics of the nanoemulsion vaccines of the present invention.
Prior teachings related to nanoemulsions are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,015,832, which is directed to methods of inactivating Gram-positive bacteria, a bacterial spore, or Gram-negative bacteria. The methods comprise contacting the Gram-positive bacteria, bacterial spore, or Gram-negative bacteria with a bacteria-inactivating (or bacterial-spore inactivating) emulsion. U.S. Pat. No. 6,506,803 is directed to methods of killing or neutralizing microbial agents (e.g., bacterial, virus, spores, fungus, on or in humans using an emulsion. U.S. Pat. No. 6,559,189 is directed to methods for decontaminating a sample (human, animal, food, medical device, etc.) comprising contacting the sample with a nanoemulsion. The nanoemulsion, when contacted with bacteria, virus, fungi, protozoa or spores, kills or disables the pathogens. The antimicrobial nanoemulsion comprises a quaternary ammonium compound, one of ethanol/glycerol/PEG, and a surfactant. U.S. Pat. No. 6,635,676 is directed to two different compositions and methods of decontaminating samples by treating a sample with either of the compositions. Composition 1 comprises an emulsion that is antimicrobial against bacteria, virus, fungi, protozoa, and spores. The emulsions comprise an oil and a quaternary ammonium compound. U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,624 is directed to methods of inducing an immune response to an immunogen comprising treating a subject via a mucosal surface with a combination of an immunogen and a nanoemulsion. The nanoemulsion comprises oil, ethanol, a surfactant, a quaternary ammonium compound, and distilled water. US-2005-0208083-A1 and US-2006-0251684-A1 are directed to nanoemulsions having droplets with preferred sizes. US-2007-0054834-A1 is directed to compositions comprising quaternary ammonium halides and methods of using the same to treat infectious conditions. The quaternary ammonium compound may be provided as part of an emulsion. Finally, US-2007-0036831-A1 is directed to nanoemulsions comprising an anti-inflammatory agent. However, none of these references teach the methods, compositions and kits of the present invention.
In particular, U.S. Pat. No. 7,314,624 describes nanoemulsion vaccines. However, this reference does not teach the ability to induce a protective immune response to influenza with a single dose of nanoemulsion.
Thus, to increase influenza vaccination, particularly in high risk populations, there is a need for influenza vaccines that are not administered by injection for elderly patients, as well as single dose vaccines for children. The nanoemulsion composition of the present invention provides such a vaccine, which further shows improved immunogenicity and greater stability during storage.


A planar, partition-forming insert member, when disposed in a tube, e.g., a toothpaste tube, divides the tube into two compartments for storage of two components which are to be prevented from reacting until the product is ready for use. A dual-compartment assembly contains the two separate compartments in which the two components are stored until the compartments are opened for use. The assembly contains a dispensing tube and the planar partition-forming insert member disposed in the tube, the insert member causing the tube to be divided into the two compartments. The assembly is capable of separately storing the components in the two compartments and simultaneously dispensing the components from the two compartments.

The present invention relates to plural compartment assemblies in which materials are stored in at least two separate compartments until the compartments are opened for use. More particularly, the invention relates to dispensing means whereby the use of a novel insert allows a conventional dispensing tube to be divided into separate and discrete compartments at a low cost. The resulting dispensing assembly provides for the dispensing of more than one material from the same tube and even more particularly the co-dispensing of predetermined proportions of incompatible materials simultaneously and effectively.
There are many products on the market today and many more waiting to be marketed wherein the components of the products must be kept separate from each other because of their instability or the release of actives therefrom but also must or desirably be dispensed simultaneously from the products.
Some of the dual-dispensed products on the market today are peroxide toothpastes, hair coloring, epoxy adhesives, and the like. Many of these products require costly dispensers and fabricating and packaging equipment to produce dispensing means which deliver the separate components simultaneously. Besides the high cost, most of the dual-dispensers available today are not reliable and require a change in the target consumers' normal use habits with the product. These restrictions also keep out of the market many products which can bring major benefits to consumers but which require dual-dispensing.
Products consisting of two flowable components such as pastes, gels, or liquids which must be stored separately are desirably packaged in containers having two compartments. Tubular bodies having chordal partitions are useful in providing two-compartment containers for two-component products which must have predetermined proportions of their components mixed at the time or point of use.
A number of longitudinally partitioned tubular bodies and dispensing containers having chordal partitions have been disclosed in the art. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 3,290,422, issued Dec. 6, 1966 to Michel, discloses a method of producing a dispensing container by injection molding a head fitment and a longitudinally extending partition onto and inside of, respectively, a tubular body. Tubular containers having asymmetrically disposed chordal partitions are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,506,157, issued Apr. 14, 1970 to Dukess. Tubular bodies formed from sheet material are also disclosed in the prior art in, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,307,738, issued Mar. 7, 1967 to Scheindel.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,076,464, issued Dec. 31, 1991 to Simon discloses a deformable tubular container which includes at least one longitudinal corrugated partition-forming wall which defines distinct compartments and which lends itself to a flattened seal at the end of the tube body. Here too, however, the body and wall are produced by injection molding in a mold and the wall is permanently molded to the body. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,244,120 and 5,269,411, issued to O'Meara on Sep. 14, 1993 and Dec. 31, 1993, respectively, are similar in the scope of disclosure to the above-mentioned earlier patent.
None of the above-referenced prior art has, however, solved all the problems associated with providing longitudinally partitioned tubular bodies such as, for example, simplicity of manufacture, at a low cost and without changing consumers' habits in the manner of, nor to the degree of, the present invention.
There are many cleaning, drug and personal products which are marketed today in single dispensing packages which could be dramatically improved if an inexpensive dual-dispensing device were available. For example, products containing oxidizing agents, reducing agents, solvents, or materials with high or low pH's can be improved aesthetically by separating the flavor, fragrance or other components that normally would not withstand shelf life.
Many of the dually-dispensed products which are currently on the market and those which are not yet on the market can be dispensed from a tube rather than from more costly dispensing means. A tube is a dispensing device that is readily available, familiar to most consumers, is comparatively less expensive and does not require elaborate filling equipment. If commercially available tubes can be easily and cheaply converted into dual-dispensing devices, it would be a great advantage to those either currently marketing or planning to market dually-dispensed products.

Plural chambered squeezable dispensing tube


A positioning locator mobile communication apparatus securely attached to a person or a subject to be monitored, wherein said apparatus utilizes two internal batteries to provide power to the mobile communication device electronic circuitry, and a detachable battery is used to charge the internal batteries. Wherein when the first internal battery is being charged by the detachable battery, the mobile communication device is operative by the second internal battery power. And when the second internal battery is being charged by the detachable battery, the mobile communication device becomes operative by the first internal battery power. The positioning locator mobile communication apparatus may utilize the first internal battery, to provide power to the mobile communication apparatus certain components electronic circuitry, and the apparatus may contain a second rechargeable or non-rechargeable internal battery designed to provide power to the mobile communication apparatus at least one other electronic circuitry.

There are many battery charging methods used in to-days portable or user carry on electronic communication devices. Such one commonly known system found in mobile phones or note book PC, note pads, tracking apparatuses or other portable electronic devices, wherein the mobile communication device contains an internal battery and when the battery goes low the user plug's the communication device to an A/C outlet or car cigarette lighter plug to charge the battery or operate the device. Unfortunately this method is not practical in use primarily when the mobile communication device battery goes low and the user has no access to an A/C outlet neither to a car cigarette lighter adaptor to charge the battery, in such conditions the mobile communication device becomes useless.
And even if such mobile communication devices were use in applications wherein the communication device required to be securely attached to a person such as an offender, in this case when the communication device battery goes low the offender will be stranded at least for 3 hours to an A/C outlet or to a vehicle cigarette lighter adapter to charge the mobile communication device battery, and if happens to be the offender is located in an area where there is no A/C outlet or car cigarette lighter adaptor to charge the tracking device battery, the offender's mobile communication device becomes un operative and the offender falsely will be in a violation condition.
Recently there have been new improved methods used to overcome this problem, such that when a mobile communication device internal battery goes low, the user can plug an external battery to operate and charge the mobile communication internal battery, the external battery during charging the internal battery additionally have to provide power to the wireless communication electronic circuitry, thus putting the external battery under hi current discharge condition, by supplying power to charge the internal battery and simultaneously supplying power to the communication device electronic circuitry, specifically when the mobile communication initiates an outgoing call wherein hi current is consumed from the battery, as common knowledge this higher current discharge condition will shorten the battery cell life. In addition such teaching use cannot provide secure mobile communication device operation all the time, such that if the mobile communication device internal battery becomes exhausted and does not hold charge, then the mobile communication device becomes un-operative and useless wherein when the external battery is disconnected for the purpose of charging.
One such teaching is found in prior at U.S. Pat. No. 7,804,412 to Derrick, wherein teaches use of a tracking communication device securely attached to the user, wherein the internal battery is within the housing, and a detachable battery re-movably secured to the housing, which provides power to the tracking device and simultaneously charges a single internal battery upon being secured to the tamper resistant housing, whereas the internal battery is adapted to provide power to the tracking device only when the detachable battery is disconnected or depleted.
Contrary to the present invention wherein the communication apparatus contains two internal batteries, and the external detachable battery is used for the purpose of to charge only the 1st and 2nd internal batteries. The present invention detachable battery does not provide power to the tracking device electronic circuitry as illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 7,804,412 to Derrick which indeed it does. And the present invention battery condition detection circuitry is configured to control power switching circuitry to provide power from the communication apparatus 1st and 2nd internal battery one at a time to the communication apparatus electronic circuitry.
Therefore it is the primary objective of the present invention mobile communication apparatus, designed to utilizes two internal batteries to provide power to the mobile communication device electronic circuitry, and uses a detachable battery or other attachable wireless power source to charge the internal batteries. Wherein when the detachable battery is charging the first internal battery, the detachable battery does not supply power to the communication apparatus electronic circuitry, contrary to the prior art teaching found in U.S. Pat. No. 7,804,412 to Derrick the detachable battery does. Thus the present invention detachable battery is discharging at lower current rate compared to the prior art teaching detachable battery, while the present invention mobile communication device second internal battery providing power to the apparatus electronic circuitry. And when the second internal battery is been charged by the detachable battery, the mobile communication device first internal battery is providing power to the apparatus electronic circuitry, there for the present invention teaching prolongs the detachable battery cell life.
And it is another objective of the present invention wherein when the first internal battery or the second internal battery becomes exhausted and does not hold battery charge. The present invention mobile communication apparatus will alert the user the presence of example; a defective first battery condition, while the mobile communication device is operative with the secondary internal battery power, thus giving ample time for the user to replace the internal defective battery, which provides definite improvement in the art since the prior art teaching does not teach the use of a secondary internal battery, to be used as a secondary power source when the first internal battery becomes exhausted.
And it is another objective of the present invention to have 3 level low battery detection and charging circuitry, which upon 1st level low battery detection, using a detachable battery power it automatically charges the mobile communication apparatus first internal battery while the apparatus is powered by the secondary internal battery, and the detachable battery automatically charges the internal secondary battery while the apparatus is powered by the first internal battery. And the present invention apparatus is configured to generate alert signal(s) to the user upon detection of 2nd level low battery condition, for the user to attach or insert a detachable battery, or use an external wireless power source to charge the low internal battery. And the present invention mobile communication apparatus is configured to broadcast a signal to a monitoring station when 3rd level low battery condition is detected, such that apparatus internal battery condition is nearing to become exhausted. In addition the present invention mobile communication apparatus may generate alerting signal to the user when the detachable battery or external wireless power source becomes low or disconnected.
It is another objective of the present invention utilizes a user carry on mobile communication apparatus securely attached to a person to be monitored, which comprises;
a housing containing at least two internal batteries, each one of the batteries used one at a time to provide power to the apparatus electronic circuitry, and a detachable battery attached or inserted into the housing. Wherein the detachable battery is used to charge the either internal low battery, when it is attached or inserted to the apparatus housing. The present invention apparatus contains a processor having a first, second and third level low internal battery detection circuitry, and a detachable low battery detection circuitry, a battery charging circuitry, a battery switching circuitry, the processor is configured to switch the power switching circuitry to supply power from example: the second internal battery to the apparatus electronic circuitry, while charging the first battery using power supply from the detachable battery, and a low battery detection signaling device used to produce distinctive alert signals to the user to insert the detachable battery to charge at least one of the internal low battery.
It is another objective of the present invention utilizes a mobile communication apparatus having an electronic circuitry powered by the first internal battery, and when the first internal battery condition becomes low to a first level, the processor detects the low battery condition and the processor accordingly adapts the detachable battery to charge the first internal battery, and the processor battery switching circuitry adapts the second internal battery to provide power to the mobile communication apparatus electronic circuitry.
And wherein the second internal battery condition becomes low to a first level, the processor detects the low battery condition and the processor accordingly adapts the detachable battery to automatically charge the second internal battery, and the processor battery switching circuitry adapts the first internal battery to provide power to the mobile communication apparatus electronic circuitry.
It is another objective of the present invention wherein the mobile communication apparatus electronic circuitry is powered by the first internal battery, and when the first internal battery becomes low to a second level, the processor detects the second level low battery condition and the processor initiates the signaling device to produce an alert signal to notify the user to attach or insert a charged up detachable battery to charge the internal first battery.
And wherein when the second internal battery becomes low to a second level, the processor detects the second level low battery condition and the processor initiates the signaling device to produce an alert signal to notify the user to attach or insert a charged up detachable battery to charge the second internal battery.
And further objective of the present invention to utilize a mobile communication apparatus having a processor in conjunction with a signaling device, which is configured to initiate an alert signal to notify the user that the apparatus detachable battery has reached a predetermined low power level, for the user to remove the detachable battery and charge the detachable battery with an external battery charger. The processor alerting circuitry may initiate alert signal for the user to re-attach or insert the charged detachable battery to the housing. If the user fail to attach a charged up detachable battery wherein 3rd level low internal battery condition is detected, the mobile communication apparatus broadcasts a warning signal to a monitoring station indicating at least one or both internal batteries reached a third low level battery condition.
And another objective of the present invention wherein it utilizes a positioning locator mobile communication apparatus, which is securely attached to an person to be monitored, utilizes a detachable battery to charge the positioning locator mobile communication device first internal battery, and the first internal battery is configures to provide power to the mobile communication apparatus certain components electronic circuitry, and the apparatus may contain a second non rechargeable or chargeable internal battery designed to provide power to the mobile communication apparatus at least one other electronic circuitry.
And another objective of the present invention wherein it utilizes a positioning locator mobile communication apparatus, which is securely attached to an person to be monitored, utilizes a detachable battery to charge the positioning locator mobile communication device first internal battery at a duty cycle, and the first internal battery is configures to provide power at a duty cycle to the mobile communication apparatus certain components electronic circuitry, and the apparatus may contain a second non rechargeable battery to provide power to the mobile communication apparatus at least one other electronic circuitry. There after the use of small amount of duty cycle charge and discharge teaching of present invention is used to prolong the internal battery charging cycle.
And another objective of the present invention wherein it utilizes a positioning locator mobile communication apparatus, which is securely attached to an person to be monitored, utilizes a detachable battery to charge the positioning locator mobile communication device first internal battery at a duty cycle, and the first internal battery is configures to provide power at a duty cycle to the mobile communication apparatus certain components electronic circuitry, and the apparatus may contain a second rechargeable battery which is charged by the detachable battery at different duty cycle timing then the first battery, and provide power at least to the apparatus one other electronic circuitry, at a different prolonged duty cycle timing then compare to the mobile communication apparatus first internal battery power providing duty cycle.
It is further objective of the present invention to utilize a detachable battery used to charge dual internal batteries, which is designed to be used in applications wherein mobile communication apparatus operation is required all the time without having any battery power supply interruption, such as mobile phones, mobile PC, note pads will be useful at all time for emergency calls, receipt or transmit emergency data information, GPS data logging/tracking applications, and specifically the art becomes useful in tracking offenders, providing the offender the comfort to charge the securely attached tracking devices in any location with prolong battery life usage.
And further objective of the present invention is to provide an apparatus containing a positioning locator such as a GPS receiver, or cellular, or RF radio transceiver used to coordinate the apparatus location, and it utilizes the cellular, satellite or radio frequency communication module to communicate with a monitoring station, and the apparatus may have a tamper detection housing attached to a person or an object, with a removal or tamper detection circuitry, or a tamper detection strap may be used to attached the apparatus to a person or an object, to securely locate individuals or objects under surveillance. The present invention teaching provides the user the ability to charge the mobile communication apparatus internal batteries at remote locations, and provides a first or second internal battery to supply power to the mobile communication apparatus electronic circuitry, when the first or second internal battery is in charge mode, or when the first or second internal battery becomes exhausted and not hold charge.

Dual battery charger mobile communication apparatus


A vehicle navigation system 10 utilizing a wireless communications medium 74 for transmitting present position 77 and destination position 75 data to a central processing means 14 for generating a route. The central processing means generates a series of turn-by-turn routing vectors 82-87 comprising the route. The wireless communications medium transmits the turn-by-turn routing vectors to the vehicle for display either audibly or visually or both to the vehicle operator 34. A vehicle identification means can be used for updating the routing vectors upon subsequent transmissions.

There are fundamentally two different types of vehicle navigational systems. The first system makes use of stored map displays wherein the maps of a predetermined area are stored in the invehicle computer and displayed to the vehicle operator or driver. The maps, knowing the location where the vehicle started and where it is to go, will highlight the direction and the driver will have to read the display and follow the route. One such stored map display system offered by General Motors on their 1994 Oldsmobile, uses Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites and advanced dead reckoning techniques to determine a precise location. The driver enters details of the desired destination into an on-board or invehicle, computer, in the form of specific address, a road intersection, etc. The stored map is displayed and the operator then pinpoints the desired destination. The on-board computer then calculates the most efficient route. The on-board computer then displays on a display unit, the distance to and the direction of each turning maneuver in easy-to-read graphics and also includes a voice prompt.
The second system, such as the Siemens Ali-Scout.TM. system, requires that the driver key-in the destination address, in geodetic coordinates, into the invehicle computer. A compass means located in the vehicle then gives a "compass" direction to the destination address. Such a "compass" direction is shown in easy-to-read graphics as an arrow on a display unit indicating the direction the driver should go. Along the side of the road are several infrared beacon sites which transmit data information to the properly equipped vehicle relative to the preferred routing to the next adjacent beacon sites. From all of the data the invehicle computer receives, the invehicle computer selects the desired beacon data information to the next beacon along the route direction to the final destination and displays a graphic symbol for the vehicle operator to follow and the distance to the desired destination. There is no map to read, only a simple graphic symbol and a voice prompt telling the vehicle operator where to turn and when to continue in the same direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,350,970, assigned to Siemens AG and issued on Sep. 21, 1982 to von Tomkewitsch and entitled "Method for Traffic Determination in a Routing and Information System for Individual Motor Vehicle Traffic" describes a method for traffic management in a routing and information system for motor vehicle traffic. The system has a network of stationary routing stations, each located in the vicinity of the roadway, which transmit route information and local information concerning its position to passing vehicles. The route information which is transmitted is the preferred routing to all beacons and zones adjacent to the beacon site. The vehicle navigation system then selects a route from all the routes transmitted by the beacon.
The trip destination address, via geodetic coordinates, is loaded by the vehicle operator into an onboard device, a navigation processor, in the vehicle and by dead reckoning techniques a distance and direction graphic is displayed. The first routing station which the vehicle passes transmits a message to the vehicle with route data to all of the adjacent beacons one of which is the next routing station. The vehicle receives the message and selects one of the recommended routes which will guide the vehicle towards its final destination. As it executes the travel to the next beacon, it accumulates time and distance traveled which it transmits to the second routing station when it is interrogated by passing the second routing station. In this manner, traffic management is updated in real time and the vehicles are always routed the "best way". Of course the best way may be the shortest way, the less traveled way, the cheapest way or any combination of these plus other criteria.
In Japanese publication JP6208698, from Sumitomo Electric Ind. LTD. dated Jul. 26, 1994, a controller in a motor vehicle operates an automotive telephone device through a modem and a line connection with an information center is performed. When the line is connected, the telephone number of the destination inputted by an operator is transmitted to the information center. The information center transmits a position coordinate corresponding to the received telephone number which is then retransmitted and stored in the controller. The controller reads a map corresponding to the position coordinate from a road map memory by a memory device. A road map is displayed on a display device in the destination facility.

Vehicle navigation and route guidance system


A system for analyzing linear data is provided. The system comprises a datastore of linear data correlated by distance; a library of functions that may be performed on the linear data; computer executable code stored on a computer readable medium for performing an analysis of the sets of linear data based on the functions in the library.

Linear assets, such as railroads, roads, pipelines and the like are integral infrastructure for transporting information, goods and people. The maintenance and improvement of these linear assets is critical to the economy and security of this country. Any improvement in management maintenance of linear assets and the technology involved in maintenance tasks can have a substantial influence on the revenue, safety, and reliability of the linear asset. In today's environment with fewer resources and shrinking budgets, having a proper maintenance management system in place to assist managers and engineers with getting the most out of their existing infrastructure assets is essential.
For example, for a linear asset such as a railway, much information needs to be captured and analyzed to assess the overall condition, maintenance, capital spending, and inspection guidance of the railroad tracks. Examples of information that can be collected include track availability, use of track time, track condition, performance history, and the worked performed. Measurements of the condition of a linear asset such as track typically include continuous and spot measurements from automatic inspection vehicles, visual inspections from daily walking inspections, and records of in-services failures. Examples of conditions measured by automatic inspection vehicles include geometry car measurements (deviation from design curves, geometry exceptions to railroad standards, vehicle ride quality exceptions), rail measurements, gage restraint measurements, track deflection and stiffness measurements, clearance measurements, and substructure measurements (ground penetrating radar, cone penotrometer).
The information regarding a linear asset is usually collected and maintained, for example, in a set of track charts or line books. A track chart is the linear representation of all infrastructure assets along a linear asset based upon a maker posts (e.g., mile post, kilometer post, engineering station marker) and offset (e.g., footage, yard, meter) measurement system. Updating the track charts generally occurs on an ad hoc basis, so discrepancies, missing facilities, and incorrect location information are common. Other maps of the linear asset corridor may exist to further define the infrastructure layout, for example, property evaluation maps and topographic maps. These maps are rarely updated on a regular basis and are not always complete.
Even with a complete accurate map of the corridor, rail, ties, and other corridor assets do not bear any physical characteristics that lead to easy identification. Furthermore, problem areas for targeted maintenance often times do not obey discrete physical boundaries such as beginning and end of a rail section. Additionally, the development of a variety of track condition indicators such as geometry cars, rail defect detection equipment and gage restraint management systems have resulted in a significant amount of new and useful information for track maintenance. A large amount of information provided over a large area quickly leads to information overload.
Moreover, much of the data that is collected about the linear asset is dispersed across independent systems that are difficult to access and are not correlated. If the data from each of these independent systems is combined into a common correlated data system, this system could provide a rich new set of information that greatly adds to the value of the individuals systems. A simple example is that it is common for facilities like railroads to collect work records of where work has been done. Railroads also typically measure the quality of their tracks to see where work needs to be done. However, these two data sets remain in separate and individual systems. By combining the data into a location correlated data set, the quality and/or the effectiveness of the work being performed can be analyzed by comparing the track quality from before and after the work at the location where the work was completed.
However, even facilities that have recognized the value of combining data sets in order to mine useful information must implement expensive and usually inflexible custom software to extract the knowledge that they need. Consequently, it is difficult to experiment with new ideas. A new project must be started to implement new analysis tools. The cost and effort involved introducing new analysis tools is often prohibitive and results in the tools never being built.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved system and method for analyzing data about linear assets. It is only with a unified perspective on all the relevant data within a single, accurate format that the people that work with linear information can begin to analyze linear data. The system should answer the questions like what should be worked on and why? Such a system should equip the user with the knowledge and understanding of infrastructure's condition and configuration, so maintenance resources could be targeted to only those areas needing work. The system should also provided the information needed to plan and evaluate opportunities for such things as facility upgrades and expansions. An effective maintenance management system results in direct savings on both maintenance programs and capital expenditures.

Method and system for analyzing linear engineering information


In a control device (11), the strip conductors (29) are applied to the interior wall (28) of the housing (15), consisting of plastic, with integrated plugs (16) with the aid of novel deposition processes. In this case the laser-assisted deposition process or the Ivonding.RTM. process can be used in a particularly advantageous manner. It is possible by means of these types of manufacture to dispose the plug connectors (24) in a simple manner in a through-bore (23) in the housing (15) and to connect them directly with the strip conductors (29) on the interior wall (28). Bonded connections (31) for connecting hybrid circuits (13), for example, can be attached in a simple manner at the other end of the strip conductors (29). Because of this, it is possible to automate the manufacturing process to a large degree and to make it inexpensive.

In a known control device in practical use, the housing consisting of plastic with injection-molded plugs is placed on an aluminum base plate. A hybrid circuit is disposed on the base plate. A pressed screen is injection-molded into the housing of the plug strip for connecting this hybrid circuit with the plugs. One end of this pressed screen is soldered or riveted to the plug pins. The other end of the pressed screen extends out of the body of the plug strip and is connected with the hybrid circuit by means of bonded connections. Warping of the plastic body of the plug can be caused by the injection-molded pressed screen. Furthermore, manufacture of the housing is relatively expensive because of the injection-molded pressed elements and the soldered connection.

Electrical control device with metal-coated plastic housing


Methods and devices for generating a cubic Bézier curve between a first point and a second point from a sequence of ordered points. One embodiment provides a method that includes selecting a third point from the sequence of ordered points; determining a first control point based on the first point, the second point, and the third point; selecting a fourth point from the sequence of ordered points; determining a second control point based on the first point, the second point, and the fourth point; and generating a cubic Bézier curve between the first point and the second point using the first control point and the second control point.

Modern operating systems use cubic Bézier curves extensively to represent many user interface components. For example, the individual glyphs of a font are typically represented as a sequence of cubic Bézier curves. Operating system must therefore contain functionality for generating cubic Bézier curves in order to display textual interfaces and graphical interfaces.
Generally, a cubic Bézier curve is defined by a start point (x0, y0), an end point (x3, y3), and two control points (x1, y1) and (x2, y2). The two control points determine the shape of the curve. Two cubic equations define the points on the curve. Both equations are evaluated for an arbitrary number of values of t between 0 and 1. One equation provides values for x, and the other provides values for y. As values for t are supplied to the equations, the points (x(t), y(t)) define the line between the start point and the end point. Exemplary cubic Bézier curve equations are illustrated below.x(t)=axt3+bxt2+cxt+x0y(t)=ayt3+byt2+cyt+y0The values of the coefficients ax, bx, cx, ay, by, and cy can be determined using the four known points.

Methods for generating control points for cubic bezier curves


When performing authenticated printing, an administrator must minutely grasp the consistency between account registered information held by a printer and account information input by each user, and this complicates an updating work. In addition, the user cannot perform printing if this updating work is not performed. In an embodiment of the present invention, therefore, the administrator sets a secondary identifier group updatable by a user, and the account registered information is automatically updated based on the account information input by the user.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing system, a printing apparatus, and a control method of the printing apparatus, and particularly to a printing system which includes an authentication database and performs authenticated printing, and a printing apparatus included in the system and a control method of the printing apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, there is a printing system which performs authentication when performing printing for the purposes of, for example, accounting management, security management, and billing management of a printer. Such a system generally checks the consistency between account information input by the user and account registered information of a printer/authentication server. In this system, only a system administrator is responsible for updating the account registered information of the printer/authentication server from the viewpoint of security.
Accordingly, the system administrator must minutely check and grasp the consistency between each user and the account information, and this complicates the updating work by the system administrator. In addition, the user cannot perform printing unless the system administrator performs the updating work.
To eliminate the complicated work performed by the system administrator, techniques which allow users to update the account registered information have been proposed as described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-252709 and 2007-286957.
In these techniques proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-252709 and 2007-286957, the system administrator is released from the complexity of the account registered information updating work. Since, however, users can freely change the account registered information without intervention by the system administrator, the security problem remains unsolved.
In the conventional system, therefore, only the system administrator is responsible for updating the account registered information, or all users can freely update the account registered information as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2004-252709 and 2007-286957, that is, there is a choice between the two alternatives. Accordingly, demands have arisen for a system which maintains a balance between the degree of freedom of the update of the account registered information and the assurance of security.

Printing system including a host apparatus, and a printing apparatus which is connected to the host apparatus for performing secure printing with mismatched authentication data


This invention provides a process for growing Ge epitaxial layers on Si substrate by using ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition (UHVCVD), and subsequently growing a GaAs layer on Ge film of the surface of said Ge epitaxial layers by using metal organic chemical vapor deposition (MOCVD).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for manufacturing semiconductor structure or devices, more particular for growing a high quality Ge film on Si substrate using a novel GeSi buffer method and additionally growing a high quality Group III-V, such as GaAs epitaxial layer on the grown Ge/SiGe/Si substrate.
2. Description of Related Art
The growth of high quality GaAs or other III-V compound semiconductors on silicon substrate is recognized as a desirable goal for the fabrication of advanced semiconductor devices. Specific advantages of this combination of materials include the availability of GaAs with high electron mobility and optical activity on a silicon substrate with improved mechanical strength and thermal conductivity over that obtainable with GaAs substrate. In addition, the growth of high quality GaAs on silicon offers the possibility of monolithically integrating GaAs and silicon devices for advanced electronic components.
However, one of the key limitations in the implementation of device structure based on heteroepitaxial GaAs on silicon has a 4.0% difference in lattice constant and additional intrinsic thermal conductivity difference between the two different materials. This lattice mismatch leads to the formation of a network of misfit dislocation at the heterointerface and high density threading dislocation in the epitaxial layers.
Presently public techniques to overcome the defects produced from the growth of GaAs on Si substrate include varying epitaxial growth conditions for directly growing GaAs epitaxy on Si, applying strained supper lattices buffer to filter threading dislocation and using Ge composition graded SiGe layers as buffer.
For example, the techniques for directly growing GaAs epitaixial layer on Si, for the purpose of lowering the large threading dislocation due to lattice mismatch of GaAs on Si substrate, two steps of annealing methods or strained super-latticed buffer are previously applied to solve those problems. Related disclosures include U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,959,308, 5,879,962, 5,473,174, 5,308,444, 5,438,951, 5,238,869, 5,183,776 and 5,141,893, furthermore, it is reported in "Subpicosecond carrier dynamics in low-temperature grown GaAs on Si substrates" (Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 75, No. 17, 25 Oct. 1999) from A. C. Gossard et al., and in "Growth of high quality gallium arsenide on HF-etched silicon by chemical beam epitaxy" (Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 62, No. 14, 5 Apr. 1993) from P. J. Goodhew et al., and in "Integration of low-temperature GaAs on Si substrates" (Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 62, No. 3, 18 Jan. 1993) from T. F. Carruthers et al. These prior arts have less effects on lowering the threading dislocation density according to the techniques for production from the directly growing GaAs on Si, wherein the threading dislocation density is generally about 108/cm2, and further reduced to about 107/cm2 with an additional annealing. Furthermore, due to large difference between thermal expansion coefficient of GaAs and that of Si, it is difficult to remove the additional dislocation induced during annealing, thus, these arts obviously are not deemed to be used for fabricating of high performance device.
Furthermore, the technique which uses interlayer as buffer for growing GaAs on Si, that is, a structure of GaAs/interlayer/Si, as we know the interlayer can include SeS2, ZnSe or STO film. For example, an bonding technique disclosed in "High-quality GaAs on Si substrate by the epitaxial lift-off technique using SeS2" (Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 75, No. 24, 13 Dec. 1999) from M. Umeno et al., which describes that a GaAs wafer is bonded to silicon substrate using SeS2 as the interlayer and the desirable GaAs layer is acquired by applying the lift-off technique. However, these arts obviously make some problems, such as high fabricating cost and no large scale of GaAs epitaxy on Si substrate to be obtained.
And, the reference "Use of ZnSe as an interlayer for GaAs growth on Si" (Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 61, No. 2, 13 Jul. 1992) from J. C. Tramontana et al. is reported that ZnSe is used as the interlayer for growing GaAs epitaxy on Si, i.e., the interlayer has a structure of GaAs/ZnSe/Si. However, it is difficult to grow a high quality ZnSe on Si, and the small thermal conductivity of ZnSe is disadvantageous for fabricating of device, thus, the utilization of this invention is in the presence of some problems to be solved.
In addition, it is reported in "New research yield epitaxial grown GaAs on Si" (Solid State Technology, 45, 61 2002) from K. Esenbeiser et al., which discloses the use of STO film as the interlayer for growing GaAs epitaxy on Si, i.e., a structure of GaAs/STO film/Si. However, it is with high fabricating cost and low productivity for growth by applying molecule beam epitaxy (MBE), and additionally it is with small thermal conductivity of STO film, which is disadvantageous for heat diffusion of device, thus, the utilization of this invention totally is in the presence of some problems to be solved, too.
As for applying the technique in using Ge composition graded buffer for growing SiGe epitaxy, which is disclosed in "Novel dislocation structure and surface morphology effects in relaxed Ge/SiGe(graded)/Si structures" from E. A. Fitzgerald et al. mentioned above, wherein graded Si1-xGex is applied as interlayer for the growth of GaAs epitaxy on Si due to almost the same lattice constant and thermal expansion coefficient for the two different materials, this technique has comparatively wide field in application, but is also in the presence of some problems to be overcome. That is, applying the concept of gradually increasing Ge content of SiGe epitaxy, since the Ge composition starts from zero to a very high value and herein forms the crosshatch pattern, where the pattern brings a very high surface roughness. As for growing under the condition that the Ge epitaxial layer is 6 degree oriented to silicon substrate, the roughness is over 150 Å; comparatively, it gains a surface roughness of over 450 Å for growing without degrees. Wherein, high surface roughness due to thick epitaxial layer and cross hatch pattern will increase the fabrication cost of epitaxy and cause difficulties in device producing. As for removing cross hatch pattern, chemical-mechanical polishing (CMP) is subjected to solve these problems in above-mentioned references and patents, but it increases additional cost and causes difficulties in processing substantially.

Growth of GaAs epitaxial layers on Si substrate by using a novel GeSi buffer layer

Abstract: The process comprises steps of, firstly, pre-cleaning a silicon wafer in a standard cleaning procedure, dipping it with HF solution and prebaking to remove its native oxide layer. Then, growing a high Ge-composition epitaxial layer, such as Si0.1Ge0.9 in a thickness of 0.8 μm on said Si substrate by using ultra-high vacuum chemical vapor deposition under certain conditions. Thus, many dislocations are generated and located near the interface and in the low of part of Si01.Ge0.9 due to the large mismatch between this layer and Si substrate.

Abstract: Furthermore, a subsequent 0.8 μm Si0.05Ge0.95 layer, and/or optionally a further 0.8 μm Si0.02Ge0.98 layer, are grown. They form strained interfaces of said layers can bend and terminate the propagated upward dislocation very effectively. Therefore, a film of pure Ge is grown on the surface of said epitaxial layers.

Abstract: Finally, a GaAs epitaxial layer is grown on said Ge film by using MOCVD.


Systems and methods for monitoring food intake include an air pressure sensor for detecting ear canal deformation, according to some implementations. For example, the air pressure sensor detects a change in air pressure in the ear canal resulting from mandible movement. Other implementations include systems and methods for monitoring food intake that include a temporalis muscle activity sensor for detecting temporalis muscle activity, wherein at least a portion of the temporalis muscle activity sensor is coupled adjacent a temple portion of eyeglasses and disposed between the temple tip and the frame end piece. The temporalis muscle activity sensor may include an accelerometer, for example, for detecting movement of the temple portion due to mandibular movement from chewing.

The prevalence of obesity in developed countries is increasing at an alarming rate. Obesity contributes to an increased risk of heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, and some cancers and is now considered a risk factor for cardiovascular disease. Millions of people are attempting to lose weight at any time, but the rate of success at preventing weight regain remains low.
The research community devotes a significant effort toward studying effects of energy intake and expenditure on energy balance and weight gain. A fundamental baseline for each person measures how much consumed food and associated calories are required for effective weight loss or gain. Various techniques have been used to record food intake, including keeping a personal record or using a software application on a personal computer, PDA or smartphone. These techniques, however, rely on a user to record or take pictures of every meal and the portions received, which proves unlikely in practice. Other techniques have sought to automatically monitor food intake. For example, a wearable system may listen for the sound of a person swallowing or chewing to determine the rate of food consumption or count the number of hand-to-mouth gestures ("bites"). Even these wearable systems, however, are either too imprecise (such as sound-based approaches) or require input from a user (such as the hand gesture counters). A user must turn the gesture counter on or off when consuming a meal to avoid the possibility of falsely recording consumption of food throughout the day. Furthermore, many of the eyeglass-based sensors for food intake detection require direct contact of the sensors with skin and are attached using medical adhesive (e.g. EMG or strain sensors). This limits the usability of the devices and might cause discomfort to the user. These approaches are also sensitive to the placement of the sensors that require careful placement on a specific location such as temporalis muscle.
Other embodiments have attempted to incorporate accelerometers into hardware used for monitoring food consumption. Due to the limited number of activities and lack of motion from the activities of daily living, the full potential of using accelerometers on the eyeglasses was not explored. In addition, most of the published studies relying on eyeglass sensors for detection of food intake were limited to the controlled laboratory conditions and their performance was not evaluated in unconstrained free-living environment.
Another technique attempting to record food intake relies on an optical ear canal deformation sensor which receives information from three infrared proximity sensors to measure the deformation. A three-dimensional gyroscope is used to measure the motion of the body. However, in this system, the sensor blocks the ear canal and interferes with normal hearing, and the optical sensors consume a large amount of power. These limitations prevent the implementation of a truly wearable device.
At the present time there is no accurate, inexpensive, non-intrusive way to objectively quantify energy intake in free living conditions and study behavioral patterns of food consumption.

The Board of Trustees of The University of Alabama


Methods and systems are provided for determining high-dynamic range lighting parameters for input low-dynamic range images. A neural network system can be trained to estimate high-dynamic range lighting parameters for input low-dynamic range images. The high-dynamic range lighting parameters can be based on sky color, sky turbidity, sun color, sun shape, and sun position. Such input low-dynamic range images can be low-dynamic range panorama images or low-dynamic range standard images. Such a neural network system can apply the estimates high-dynamic range lighting parameters to objects added to the low-dynamic range images.

When using graphics applications, users often desire to manipulate images by compositing objects into the images or performing scene reconstruction or modeling. Creating realistic results depends on determining accurate lighting related to the original image. In particular, when compositing objects into an image, understanding the lighting conditions in the image is important to ensure that the objects added to the image are illuminated appropriately so the composite looks realistic. Determining lighting, however, is complicated by scene geometry and material properties. Further, outdoor scenes often contain additional complicating factors that affect lighting such as clouds in the sky, exposure, and tone mapping. Conventional methods of determining lighting in outdoor scenes have had limited success in attempting to solve these problems. In particular, conventional methods do not accurately determine lighting for use in scenes when such complicating factors are present (e.g., generating accurate composite images where the sky has clouds).

Learning from estimated high-dynamic range all weather lighting parameters


An apparatus for combining a display image with the field of view of a viewer. Light from either a night vision system (14) of a CRT (12) is directed into an eyepiece assembly (18). The eyepiece magnifies and focuses the image into a combiner (30). The combiner (30) consists of an elongated optical element with two parallel sides (36) and (38) and two concave reflective surfaces (32) and (34) at each end. Light entering the combiner (30) is reflected off the first reflective surface (32) and then is reflected back and forth between the sides of the combiner (36) and (38) and then onto the second reflective surface (32). Light reflected off the second reflective surface (32) is combined with light entering from the field of view of the viewer through a prism element (44). The result is that the display image is superimposed in the field of view of the viewer. The system is light in weight, does not protrude significantly from the user's head, introduces minimal distortion and offers a wide field view.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to head up displays (HUD) and more particularly to head or helmet mounted HUD systems.
2. Discussion
HUD systems are commonly used in aircraft or other vehicles to display information, such as images of instruments in the field of view of a pilot or operator. Examples of such systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,737,212 and 4,218,111. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,200 a HUD system employs holographic elements to project an image of an instrument into the viewer's field of view as the viewer looks through the forward window of a vehicle. In HUD systems the display apparatus may either be attached to the aircraft or vehicle or to the user's head or helmet.
Also related to the present invention are night vision goggle systems. These systems permit vision under very low light conditions by intensifying incoming infrared and/or visible light from a viewed object and converting it to intensified visible light. Night vision goggles transmit an electronically processed image into the viewer's field of view. Night vision goggles are normally attached to the viewer's head or helmet. This is done because when the viewer moves his head it is desirable to have the viewing axis of the night vision system correspond to the viewing axis of the viewer's eye.
Night vision goggles and viewing systems are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,563,061, 4,468,101 and 4,653,879. There are a number of problems with such systems. Typically they are heavy, cumbersome and unstable. The length and weight of such systems can make them unsuitable in applications where the viewer's head is subjected to high gravitational or centrifugal loads, such as in high performance aircraft.
Further, because such systems often protrude a considerable distance in front of the viewer's eye they can present a clearance problem during an emergency pilot ejection. Another disadvantage is that the optical components in most prior systems invert the image. This necessitates additional optical components to re-invert the image, and the result is added weight, an increase in length, and a forward shift of the system's center of gravity.
Another disadvantage with night vision systems is that they give the user a limited field of view, with little or no peripheral vision. This renders such systems essentially useless for applications requiring peripheral vision.
Finally, both HUD's and prior night vision systems frequently introduce aberrations into the image. These include coma, chromatic aberration, and astigmatism.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a head or helmet mounted display system which is light, does not protrude significantly away from the head, has a relatively wide field of view and provides a non-inverted image with minimal aberrations.
Also, it would be desirable to provide a helmet mounted display system which can be used to display information from a cathode ray tube (CRT) or can be used to display the output of a night vision system, and which would enable the user to switch from one display to the other.


According to one embodiment, a method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium includes forming a first hard mask, a second hard mask and a resist on a magnetic recording layer, imprinting a stamper to the resist to transfer patterns of protrusions and recesses to the resist, removing residues remaining in the recesses of the patterned resist, etching the second hard mask by using the patterned resist as a mask to transfer the patterns of protrusions and recesses to the second hard mask, etching the first hard mask by using the second hard mask as a mask to transfer the patterns of protrusions and recesses to the first hard mask, subjecting the magnetic recording layer exposed in the recesses to modifying treatment to change an etching rate, and deactivating the magnetic recording layer exposed in the recesses.

1. Field
One embodiment of the present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a magnetic recording medium such as a patterned medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a recoding medium wherein protrusions and recesses are formed on the surface thereof, such as a discrete track recoding (DTR) medium, in order to write and read by means of a flying head, it is necessary to reduce the protrusions and recesses on the surface to a degree which allows stable flying of the head. In a conventional DTR medium, in order to separate adjacent tracks completely from each other, for example, 20 nm of ferromagnetic recording layer and 5 nm of protecting layer, 25 nm in total, are removed. On the other hand, a flying level of the head is designed to be about 10 nm. Thus, there has been used a method to smooth the surface of the medium by filling the grooves with a nonmagnetic material, or to modify the non-recording region into nonmagnetic material without forming a construction of protrusions and recesses on the DTR medium.
In a method disclosed in Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 2005-50468 and 2006-12332, after patterns of protrusions and recesses are formed by using two-layered hard mask, grooves are filled with a nonmagnetic material to smooth the surface of a medium. However, such a method may require increased number of steps of manufacturing, and can increase the cost and decrease the yield.
Moreover, in such a process that only modifies the non-recording region into a nonmagnetic material without forming a construction of protrusions and recesses, the boundary between the non-recording region and the recording region is fluctuated, which may be a cause of noise. At the same time, there is a problem how to modify the magnetism of the non-recording region without modifying the magnetism of the recording region.
Therefore, there has been a need for providing a method of manufacturing a recording medium which efficiently inhibits the magnetism of the non-recording region with minimum deterioration of the smoothness of the surface of the recording medium.

Method of manufacturing magnetic recording medium


A microprogrammable microprocessor that stores microprogramming instruction sets in a dual ROM configuration enhancing reusability of subroutine operations common between two or more instructions. A first ROM contains a look up table identifying the subroutine(s) utilized by each instruction. The second ROM contains the subroutines needed to implement the required operations for each instruction. The dual ROM microprogrammable microprocessor is used in a Universal Serial Bus microcontroller development system having a microprocessor, control circuit, and an interface to USB bus. The microprocessor system state and I/O registers are mapped to a system bus sharing the same lines with a control circuit. The control circuit provides an RS-232 interface to an attached computing device able to write and read data words to the system bus, thereby to control the microprocessor and associated hardware by setting the system state and writing/reading data from RAM. The control circuit is also attached to a Universal Serial Bus, hence allowing 100% testing of USB compliant devices and firmware. The circuit specs can be programmed in a Hardware Description Language which is then mapped onto a family of programmable circuit devices such as ASICs or FPGAs.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to microprogrammable microprocessors, and more particularly to ROM based microprogrammable microprocessors, and a Universal Serial Bus ("USB") microcontroller development system configured to aid in the design, debug, and testing of USB compliant devices and firmware using a ROM based microprogrammable microprocessor.
2. Discussion of Background
Microprocessor instruction sets are well known in the art. The instruction set of a microprocessor consists of a set of instructions recognized by the microprocessor. Each instruction recognized by the microprocessor is defined in an instruction architectural specification which defines the useful function performed by each instruction and a sequence of actions required to be performed by the microprocessor in order to carry out the instruction. Each instruction in the instruction set is encoded to identify the specific sequence of actions defined by the instruction architectural specification for that instruction.
With the definition of an instruction architectural specification and the encoding of each instruction thereby defined, the microprocessor then has the task of identifying and performing the sequence of actions required to carry out each instruction, thereby implementing the instruction set.
Typically, instruction sets are implemented in either ROM or a set of logic gates. The tradeoff between ROM based instruction sets and gate implementations is the speed at which instructions are retrieved versus the flexibility of implementing new or modified instruction sets. Gate based instruction sets are faster than ROM implementations, but ROM based sets are microprogrammable which makes updating an instruction set as simple as changing the values stored in the ROM.
In many implementations of microprocessors, the interpretation of an instruction byte is performed by combinatorial logic to generate several output terms, each of which gate logic/hardware resources such as Arithmetic Logic Units ("ALUs") and register files. The disadvantage to this approach is that any change in hardware resources or instruction encoding will require redesign and relayout of the combinatorial logic.
FIG. 4 shows a conventional approach to this problem which is to use a read only memory ROM 21 to store the mapping from instruction to decode outputs. For 8 bits of instruction and 15 steps per instruction, mapping requires 2.sup.8 plus 2.sup.4 bits of addressing or 4K words, each of which words needs to be as wide as needed to control all the resources. For the microprocessor described herein, this width is 16 bits.
A 4K.times.16 bit memory can occupy a significant area, and in most technologies this size is larger than the hardware resources it is controlling. This same mapping if synthesized to random gates would be more area efficient, but would suffer from the previously mentioned problem. A method is needed to provide adequate storage for ROM based instructions, but reduce the bit storage requirement for those instructions, thereby making ROM based instruction decoding more size and cost efficient.
Any electronic device utilizing ROM based instruction sets needs to have adequate ROM storage for those instructions. ROM based instruction sets are more size and cost efficient if the amount of ROM storage needed to implement the instruction set can be reduced.
USB is a peripheral bus standard that allows computer peripherals to be attached to a personal computer without the need for specialized cards or other vendor specific hardware attachments. The USB standard specifies a common configuration for the connection of well known peripherals such as CD-ROM, tape and floppy disk drives, scanners, printers, keyboards, joysticks, mice, telephones, modems, etc. In addition to well known peripheral devices, the USB standard has flexibility to accommodate less known and newly developed technologies. Information about the USB standard, including the specification for building USB compliant devices, is currently available free of charge over the Internet.
Developers wishing to implement USB devices must build that device to the USB standard. Prior to fabricating IC's for USB standard devices, a developer will spend a significant amount of resources in testing and refinement of prototypes. An efficient method for testing USB compliant devices is needed to reduce the costs associated with prototype development and testing of those devices.
The design and manufacture of electronic devices such as counters, state machines, specialized registers, and microprocessors is currently aided by technologies that allow engineers to specify design characteristics of a circuit, such as storage device size, register types, connections and associated logic, in a Hardware Description Language ("HDL"). This source code or HDL is then compiled, allowing the electronic device to be simulated and debugged while implementing the specified circuit characteristics. Once the operation of a device is verified, the compiled source code can be mapped to a specific architecture such as Application Specific Integrated Circuits ("ASICs") or Field Programmable Gate Arrays ("FPGAs"). This allows the system designer to produce a device with design flexibility and portability into various architecture families.
As an example, a 3-bit shift register can be implemented in a HDL such as Register Transfer Language ("RTL") with the following RTL statements:
______________________________________ ENTITY shifter3 IS port ( clk : IN BIT; x : IN BIT; q0 : OUT BIT; q1 : OUT BIT; q2 : OUT BIT; END shifter3; ARCHITECTURE struct OF shifter3 IS SIGNAL q0.sub.-- temp, q1.sub.-- temp, q2.sub.-- temp : BIT; BEGIN d1 : DFF PORT MAP (x,clk,q0.sub.-- temp); d2 : DFF PORT MAP (q0.sub.-- temp,clk,q1.sub.-- temp); d3 : DFF PORT MAP (q1.sub.-- temp,clk,q2.sub.-- temp); q0 <= q0.sub.-- temp; q1 <= q1.sub.-- temp; q2 <= q2.sub.-- temp; END struct; ______________________________________
which defines the inputs and outputs of the shifter and then maps those bits to a series of D Flip-Flops. After compiling the source code and debugging the circuit, a netlist can be generated for a specific family of FPGA or ASIC devices to produce the circuit with the desired functionality.

Dual ROM microprogrammable microprocessor and universal serial bus microcontroller development system


The present invention concerns a novel means by which specific chosen reactions can be accelerated through the use of a new type of artificial enzyme. The invention allows specific reactions to occur at an accelerated rate, even in the presence of other non-chosen molecules, which may be very similar in structure to the chosen reactant. The reactions may be stoichiometric or catalytic.

Until now, no one has ever combined the field of artificial enzymes/antibodies with the field of dielectric chemistry. The state of the art in these two separate areas (microwave chemistry and artificial enzymes/receptors) is described as follows.
Microwave Chemistry
Microwaves (including radiofrequency or RF electromagnetic radiation) are commonly used in wireless communication devices. Advances in microwave transmission have improved along with tremendous recent technological improvements in the satellite and communications industry (for example, in cell phones and wireless internet).
Microwaves are also well known in common kitchen appliances. Microwave ovens heat water-containing food rapidly because water is efficient at converting microwave energy to thermal energy. Kitchen microwave ovens emit microwaves at a frequency of 2.45 GHz, which is well within the microwave absorption spectrum of water. Frequencies outside of the absorption spectrum of water would not heat food as well.
Another use for microwaves is in chemical reaction applications (Bose et al., 1997; Bradley, 2001). Microwave chemistry refers to the use of microwaves to accelerate chemical reactions. Reactions are usually carried out using microwave radiation to heat bulk solutions that contain the reactants (Mingos & Baghurst, 1991; Zlotorzynski, 1995). Often these reactions are carried out in non-aqueous solvents. Microwave ovens specifically designed for use in carrying out microwave chemistry of bulk reaction solutions are commercially available (CEM Corporation (Mathews, N.C.), Milestone, Inc. (Monroe, Conn.), Personal Chemistry AB (Uppsala, Sweden)).
Microwave accelerated reactions are sometimes run on solvent-free supports such as alumina and silica (Varma, 2001; Bose, 1997). The supports can be doped with reagents, for example in detoxifying waste. The supports are chosen because they are inexpensive and recyclable agents which non-specifically adsorb/extract the reagent of interest. No specific binding of (such as by antibodies) is used to capture reagents.
Microwave-enhanced catalysis has also been described (Roussy & Pearce, 1995). The term "microwave-enhanced catalysis" has been used to refer to conventional catalysis, rather than to catalysis that occurs in enzyme-like binding pockets in aqueous solution. One example of such usage of the term "microwave-enhanced catalysis" is the isomerization of liquid hexane using a metallic Pt/Al2O3 catalyst. Another example is the partial oxidation of gaseous methane using a catalyst that is an oxide of SmLiO2 doped with CaO and MgO (Roussy & Pearce, 1995).
Another example of the application of microwaves to accelerate chemical reactions is the use of microwave-absorbing particles to enhance the heating of a bulk solution (Holzwarth et al., 1998). In this case, dispersed cobalt and magnetite nanoparticles were used as microwave (2.45 GHz) absorbers to heat a bulk xylene solution. Xylene is a non-polar solvent not appreciably heated by microwaves at 2.45 GHz. In one such case, microwaves were used to accelerate the rate of an enzyme-catalyzed reaction (Kidwai et al., 1998). However, here the microwaves were not directed, but used to heat the bulk solution.
In another application, microwaves have been used to heat the bulk solvent during solid-phase combinatorial chemistry (Kappe, 2001; Bradley, 2001). In these cases, conventional resins (polystyrene, for example) as solid scaffolds for chemistry. The bulk solution was the target of the microwave heating.
In another case, microwaves were used to accelerate a chromogenic reaction between noble metals and chromogenic reagents. This analytical reaction was performed in solution by flow injection analysis (FIA) (Jin et al., 1999). The reaction depended on bulk solvent heating rather than targeted dielectric material heating.
In yet another case, microwaves were used to enhance the solution phase formation of a fluorescent complex of aluminum (Kubrakova, 2000). The fluorescence intensity could be used to measure aluminum ions in solution. Again, the reaction depended on bulk heating of solvent.
Artificial Enzymes/Receptors
Nature uses specifically folded proteins called enzymes to catalyze specific reactions necessary for the function of a living organism. Nature also uses non-catalytic proteins, such as receptors and antibodies to effect other biological processes. Both catalytic and non-catalytic proteins have remarkable pockets on their surfaces that bind to the appropriate molecule with exquisite specificity. In the case of enzymes, when the appropriate molecule is bound in the binding pocket (called an "active site"), a chemical reaction takes place that converts the molecule (substrate) into a chemically different molecule (product). The reaction product dissociates form the active site, allowing the (unaltered) enzyme to bind and catalyze another reaction "turnover".
Protein-based enzymes, receptors, and antibodies are often used in industry, medicine, and diagnostics as reagents. For example, antibodies are used as therapeutic agents for various diseases including cancer and rheumatoid arthritis. Enzymes are used to "fade" denim blue jeans and to process high fructose corn syrup. Antibodies and enzymes are used in immunoassays in medical diagnostics. Despite the widespread use of naturally occurring antibodies and enzymes, many laboratories have sought to create artificial antibodies, receptors, and enzymes. One drawback of the use of natural proteins, or modified natural proteins, for practical purposes, is that proteins are not particularly stable molecules. Artificial reagents would have greater stability to non-physiological temperatures, pH values, non-aqueous solvents, and salt concentrations. Also, natural proteins are susceptible to degradation by contaminating enzymes called proteases that hydrolytically cleave and inactivate other proteins. In addition, even under ideal storage conditions (cold storage in a suitable buffer) the shelf life of proteins can be very short. Finally, in many cases a binding or catalytic reagent is desired for which there is no known natural antibody or enzyme. For example, an antibody may be desired that binds a very small molecule such as methanol or an enzyme may be desired that carries out a chosen stereospecific reaction during preparation of a fine chemical.
Because of the above-stated drawbacks of natural proteins, many laboratories have developed non-protein bio-mimetic compounds that function in the same way as antibodies or enzymes. A wide range of classes of chemical structures has been shown to be useful as artificial proteins. In all cases, the artificial biomolecules have binding pockets that specifically bind to a molecule of choice. These include, but are not limited to; molecularly imprinted polymers (Dai, et al., 1999; Dickert & Thierer, 1996; Leonhardt & Mosbach, 1987), chiral ligands (Maugh 1983a), cavitands (Maugh 1983b, Breslow et al., 1983) and zeolites, and other low molecular weight organic synthetic receptors (Borchart & Clark, 1994). In addition, natural proteins are often sought out or modified to have enhanced stability (thermal or other) (Maugh, 1983c).
Individuals who have made artificial enzymes or antibodies/receptors have never reported the possibility that directed microwave energy could be used to promote the rate of a chemical reaction within the binding site of the biomimetic.
The present invention combines salient features of these two previously unassociated fields. By combining certain aspects of these fields it has been discovered that the rate of chemical reactions can be accelerated by the energy of microwave radiation and with the exquisite regio- and stereo-specificity of natural enzymes.
The present invention reveals a novel means of using microwave energy to specifically accelerate chosen chemical reactions. The reaction specificity comes from the fact that the microwaves are directed to lossy (see definitions below) materials that contain specific binding sites for the desired reactant. The invention describes new uses of microwave radiation. It has never before been disclosed how to direct dielectric heat to accelerate the reaction of a specific molecule in a mixture of similar and/or dissimilar molecules. In this way, the invention describes a new form of artificial enzyme. The results are obtained by using a dielectric material that has substantially better heating properties than water at the chosen microwave emission frequency. A specific reactant-binding molecule is in association with the preferentially heated dielectric material, causing the enhanced reaction of bound reactant.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Methods and compositions for directed microwave chemistry


A memory cell contains a cross-coupled pair of a first and second transistor. The voltage of the drains are operated in a range between a first and second supply voltage. The back-gates of the first and second transistor are coupled to the connection for the first supply voltage. The device contains a circuit arrangement for deriving a source lying between the voltage of the back-gates and the second supply voltage. The circuit arrangement keeps sources of the first and second transistor at the source voltage.

The invention relates to a semi-conductor device as set forth in the precharacterizing part of claim 1. Such a device is known from a publication by K. L. Anderson and L. M. Arzubi in the IBM technical disclosure bulletin Vol. 17, No. 6, November 1974 pages 1567, 1568.
This device uses a so-called 4T dynamic memory cell, that is, a dynamic memory cell which uses a cross-coupled pair of NMOS transistors for storing information and two NMOS access transistors for accessing the stored information. In the cross coupled pair, the gate of a first transistor is coupled to the drain of a second transistor and vice versa. The sources of the transistors are connected to each other.
This dynamic memory cell may be contrasted with a conventional 1T dynamic memory cell, that is, a memory cell with a storage capacitor and one access transistor for accessing information stored on the capacitor. A 4T memory cell allows a faster access and shorter cycle time than the 1T dynamic memory cell. On the other hand, a 4T memory cell requires a larger amount of substrate area for transistors than the 1T memory cell, but this is set-off by the fact that for use in a memory matrix the 1T memory cell needs a relatively large capacitor, which is not the case for a 4T memory cell. This makes it attractive to use 4T memory cells without such relatively large capacitors, especially in semi-conductor manufacturing processes that are not especially optimized for manufacturing memory capacitors, e.g. "logic" manufacturing processes designed for manufacturing signal processors, micro-controllers etc.
However, the use of a 4T memory cell without a relatively large memory capacitor has the disadvantage that leakage currents in the memory cell are more prominent, leading to a shorter retention time. The publication by Anderson et al. counters this problem by boosting the voltage that is stored in the memory cell. However, this puts special requirements on the voltage handling capability of the transistors, it complicates the circuit and provides only small gain.

Semi-conductor device with a memory cell