A method and apparatus has been developed for metal cutting machine using a cutting die tool that pivots as it cuts a metal workpiece. By pivoting the cutting tool, the orientation of the metal surface being cut in the workpiece may be varied along the cutting path. A particular application of the invention is for screw metal cutting machine, e.g., a Swiss-type screw lathe, that cuts screw threads in screw blank rods, such that the threads have a variable cant along the length of the screw. The cutting die tool is mounted in a tool holder that is pivoted by a computer controller in accordance with machining instructions for the screw or other device being machined.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for metal machining using a cutting tool die that pivots as it cuts a rotating metal work piece. By pivoting the cutting tool, the orientation of the metal surface being cut in the workpiece may be varied along the cutting path. A particular application of the invention is for Swiss lathe, e.g., a Swiss-type screw cutting machine, that cuts screw threads in screw blank rods, such that the threads have a variable cant along the length of the screw. The invention is not limited to the manufacture of screws, and has broad applicability to machining operations in which a variably canted surface in a workpiece is desired.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior Swiss-type lathes are not capable of cutting a helical groove in a metal surface, where the pitch of one or both of the groove walls is continuously varied during the cutting process. Swiss lathes of the type that preceded the present invention are used to machine metal devices from cylindrical rod stock. In a Swiss-type lathe, the chuck holds the cylindrical rod stock and moves the rod stock in a reciprocal and rotating manner. The chuck is generally behind the work area for the Swiss lathe, and near the work area the lathe has a collar to provide a steady-rest for the work area. The cutting tools of a Swiss-type lathe do not move longitudinally, but instead the lathe reciprocally moves the work piece. These Swiss lathes have a rotating chuck that turns the rod stock during the cutting process. The chuck also moves the rod stock laterally forward during the cutting process, and retracts the rod stock when the cutting tool is removed. As the lathe rotates the rod stock and/or moving the stock laterally, a cutting die mounted on the machine is brought into engagement with the rod stock to make a desired cut in the metal. A steady rest collar attached to the lathe supports the rod stock at a region of the stock proximate to the cutting operation.
The cutting tools associated with prior machines were primarily fixed dies, e.g., stick tools, that were mounted in tool brackets. These fixed dies were not moved while they are cutting into the rotating rod stock. With these fixed dies, the rod stock moved during the cutting operation, and the cutting die remained stationary. Certain specialty cutting tools have also been used with Swiss lathes, such as rotating drill bits and groove cutters, e.g. signal point carbide cutting tools. With drills, the rod stock was held stationary and the drill rotates to cuts a hole in the rod stock that is coaxial to the rotation of the drill bit. A groove cutter is similar to a drill bit, in that rapidly rotates 360.degree. about the axis of the cutter, but instead of forming a cylindrical hole as does a drill bit, the groove cutter forms a groove in the cutting stock. These prior art cutting dies, bits and cutters are not capable of making a cut in a rotating rod stock, where the pitch of the cut varies along the length of the cut.
There has been a long-felt need in the prior art for a metal cutting tool that can cut a helical groove in a rod stock, where the walls of the groove are variably canted. In 1990, a novel screw was developed having threads with variably canted surfaces. This novel screw is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,492,442, and other related patents. When the screw was first developed, it could be machined by hand or by casting. Later, one of the inventors of the present invention, Mr. Andrew Pakos, developed a pivotable guide plate to hold a conventional lathe cutting tool to cut screws having variably canted threads. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,221,234. The guide plate has a armature that is pivoted by a cam mounted on the lathe. The guide plate is limited to conventional lathe applications and is not suitable for a Swiss-type lathes, such as used with the present invention.

Method and apparatus for machining with a pivoting cutting tool


A database system is capable of performing interpolation (e.g., temporal interpolation) of data in response to receiving a database query. In one implementation, the database query contains an interpolation function. The database system in one example configuration is a parallel database system that has plural processing units that are capable of performing interpolation of data in parallel.

A database is a collection of stored data that is logically related. A popular type of database is provided by the relational database management system (RDBMS), which includes relational tables made up of rows and columns. Data stored in the relational tables are accessed or updated using database queries submitted to the database system.
Evolving database technology has enabled the storage of vast amounts of data. Data warehousing is one database application in which a large amount of data may need to be stored in a database system. For example, a business may desire to store historical data pertaining to business activities, such as sales receipts, orders, inventory levels, customer names, purchasing habits, and so forth. As time goes on, the amount of accumulated data can become quite large. Adding physical resources (in terms of additional storage capacity and processing capacity) to a database system is rather expensive.
One solution that has been proposed for reducing the amount of actual data that has to be physically maintained in a database system is the use of interpolation as a technique for compressing data. One interpolation technique is the temporal interpolation technique, in which data at some sampled time intervals are stored, with temporal interpolation used to obtain or estimate data between the time intervals. However, conventional interpolation techniques in database systems suffer from various shortcomings that reduce user convenience and/or database system performance.

Method and system for deriving data through interpolation in a database system


The present invention provides a novel pullulanase, methods of producing and isolating the pullulanase and methods of saccharifying starch using the pullulanase. The pullulanase of the invention works in a wide pH range, as large as pH 4-9. In addition, the pullulanase is heat stable and its optimum temperature is about 60.degree. C. Therefore, the pullulanase of the invention can be used in the saccharification of starch along with amylase, which is enzymatically active at pH 4-9, to increase the yield of saccharides.

Pullulanase is an enzyme that hydrolyzes .alpha.-1, 6-glucosidic bond of pullulan to eventually produce maltotriose. Recently, pullulanase has drawn a special attention due to its enzymatic ability to remarkably increase the production of various saccharides: pullulanase is used along with glucoamylase (optimum pH: 4.5, optimum temperature: 60.degree. C.) to improve the yield of glucose from starch; pullulanase is used along with soybean .beta.-amylase [optimum pH: about 6, optimum temperature: 55.degree.-60.degree. C., Enzyme and Food Processing ed. by G. G. Brich, Applied Science Publishers Ltd., London, 73-88 (1981) Japanese Patent Application Kokoku 37849/1971 etc.] or bacterial .beta.-amylase [optimum pH: about 7, optimum temperature; about 50.degree. C., Y. Takasaki, Agric. Biol, Chem., Vol. 40, No. 8, 1523 (1976) etc.] to obtain higher yield of maltose from starch; pullulanase is used along with enzymes (each of them has optimum pH: about 7-8, optimum temperature: 55.degree.-60.degree. C.) which are produced by bacteria belonging to genus Bacillus etc. to improve the yield of maltooligosaccharides such as maltotriose, [Y. Takasaki, Agric. Biol. Chem., Vol. 49, No. 4, 1091 (1985) etc.] maltotetraose [J. F. Robyt et. al., Arch. Biochem., Biophys., Vol. 145, 105 (1971), Y. Takasaki, Agric. Biol. Chem., Vol. 55, No. 7, 1715 (1991) etc.] maltopentaose [N. Saito, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., Vol. 155, No. 290 (1978) etc.] and maltohexaose [K. Kainuma et. al., J. Biochem. Biophy. Acta, Vol. 410, 333 (1975), Y. Takasaki, Agric. Biol. Chem., 46, 1589 (1982) Fermentation and Industry, Vol. 40, 477 (1983) etc.].
The working pH of these amylase used along with pullulanase is in the range of as large as 4-8 so that pullulanase is required to be enzymatically active in the same pH range for the production of saccharides. In addition, the enzyme should be heat stable, for example, at least 55.degree.-60.degree. C., during reaction to prevent the contamination of microorganisms, and should be used for a long period of time at that temperature for the industrial application of the enzyme.
It has been known that pullulanase is produced by many kinds of bacteria such as those belonging to genus Aerobacter [Aerobacter aerogenes (Klebsiella pneumoniae), H. Bender and K. Wallenfels, Biochem. Z. Vol. 334, 79(1961), M. Abdullah, Arch. Biochem. Biophys., Vol. 137, 483 (1970) etc.], Streptomyces [S. Ueda et. al., J. Ferment. Tech., Vol. 49, 552 (1971) etc.], Streptococcus [Streptococcus mitis, G. W. Walker, Biochem. J., Vol. 108, 33 (1968) etc.], Escherichia [Escherichia intermedia, S. Ueda et. al. Applied Microbiol., Vol. 15, 492 (1967), U.S. Pat. No. 3,716,455(1973) etc.], Bacillus [Japanese Patent Application Kokoku 25036/1987, 25037/1987, Agric. Biol. Chem. Vol. 40, No.8, 1523 (1976) K. Horikoshi Japanese Patent Application Kokoku 27786/1978 etc.], Flavobacterium [Flavobacterium esteromaticum, Japanese Patent Application Kokoku 18826/1973], Cytophaga [U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,446 (1974), Lactobasillus, Micrococcus, Nocardia, Staphylococcus, Azotobactger, Sarcina etc. [England Patent 11260418, U.S. Pat. No. 3,827,940 (1974)] and Actinomycetes [Norcardia, Micromonospora, Thermomonospora, U.S. Pat. No. 3,741,873 (1973)].
Most of the pullulanase known in the art are not heat stable and its optimum temperature is 40.degree.-50.degree. C. Even if pullulanase is heat stable, it has problem in pH: the working pH of a pullulanase is limited in an acidic side (optimum pH: 5) and the pullulanase does not work at neutral pH (e.g., pullulanase produced by bacteria belonging to the genus Bacillus [Japanese patent application kokoku Sho 62-25036, 62-25037]; the working pH of a pullulanase is limited at around neutral pH and the pullulanase does not work at acidic side (e.g., pullulanase produced by bacteria belonging to the genus Streptomyces [J. Ferment. Tech., Vol. 49, 552 (1971) etc.]). These pullulanase for one reason or another have characteristics which are not favorable as an all-purpose pullulanase for industrial use.

Pullulanase, methods of producing pullulanase and methods of saccharification of starch using pullulanase

Research Development Corporation of Japan


The disclosure is directed to a process that can predict and prevent an audio artifact from occurring. The process can monitor the systems, processes, and execution threads on a larger system/device, such as a mobile or in-vehicle device. Using a learning algorithm, such as deep neural network (DNN), the information collected can generate a prediction of whether an audio artifact is likely to occur. The process can use a second learning algorithm, which also can be a DNN, to generate recommended system adjustments that can attempt to prevent the audio glitch from occurring. The recommendations can be for various systems and components on the device, such as changing the processing system frequency, the memory frequency, and the audio buffer size. After the audio artifact has been prevented, the system adjustments can be reversed fully or in steps to return the system to its state prior to the system adjustments.

In audio processing systems that share processing structures with other systems or applications, the audio processing system may experience delays in producing audio requests, such as executing an audio processing thread. Such delays can be caused by other systems and applications that are running on the same hardware, the priority of the various executing threads on the system, and the state of interrupt requests (IRQ) on the system—for example, an IRQ waiting on an external flag or indicator.
The potential system delays can cause audio glitches, such as pops, crackles, and gaps, which can lessen the user's listening experience. One type of glitch can be an audio underrun condition. This can occur when the existing audio portion in an audio buffer is fully output prior to the subsequent audio portion being provided by the audio system's executing threads. A method to detect the possibility of such audio underrun conditions and to recommend how to best compensate for those conditions would be beneficial to improve a user's listening experience.


An a.c. ignition system for an engine, with an ignition transistor that switches the primary winding of an ignition coil, with a control circuit for controlling the ignition transistor and a parallel circuit including a capacitor and a diode between the emitter and collector of the ignition transistor. The control circuit can receive a measuring signal that is proportional to the collector potential of the ignition transistor, and the control circuit controls the ignition transistor depending on the measuring signal so that the ignition transistor is activated at a low voltage between the collector and emitter of the transistor.

An a.c. ignition system is known from the related art, e.g., in the form of the circuit illustrated in FIG. 3. An ignition transistor designed as an IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) is driven by a control circuit A. In addition to an operational amplifier (difference amplifier), a current detecting device and a driver circuit (referred to below simply as a driver), this control circuit includes a timing element whose output signal is sent to the difference amplifier after being AND-ed with an ignition control signal. The mode of operation of this circuit is based on the fact that the ignition transistor is switched off when the voltage drop at a shunt resistor exceeds a certain value. The ignition transistor is then activated again after a certain period of time defined by the timing element. Using a timing element should achieve the result that the starting operation of the ignition transistor falls in a certain time window in which a diode arranged between the collector and emitter of the ignition transistor is active. In this case, the activation operation has practically no effect on the properties of the circuit.
However, this yields the disadvantage that the time window can shift due to tolerance or aging of the ignition coil and spark plug, i.e., the time-critical components, due to a different oscillation characteristics of the circuit in secondary idling and during sparking. If the control signal of the ignition transistor no longer falls in the active phase of diode D, so there are starting current peaks with each switching operation, the total power loss of the circuit is increased, and the available igniting voltage is also reduced.


An exhaust valve comprising an elastomeric flap portion (e.g. of silicone) covering one or more exhaust ports in a normally closed position for a combustion driven fastener hand tool is disclosed. The elastomeric flap portion is much shorter than a comparable steel reed valve, allowing it to be disposed in small spaces. A single flat piece of elastomeric material can be configured held fixed to a housing surface along a line between one or more pairs of ports such that a flap portion of the material extends to each side of the line and covers one of the pairs of ports. The flat piece can be conveniently held in position against the housing surface by a rib or standoff on the interior surface of an exterior housing.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to combustion driven fastener hand tools. Particularly, this invention relates to exhaust reed valves for combustion driven fastener hand tools.
2. Description of the Related Art
Powered fastener driving tools, e.g. nail guns, have existed for decades. Perhaps not coincidentally, the first commercial nail gun was introduced in 1950 after World War II wherein the technology for rapidly firing projectiles was greatly advanced. The first nail guns were pneumatic, driven by compressed air. Although pneumatic power is still the most prevalent, over time fastener driving tools have been developed using other means of power, such as electric motors, solenoids, combustibles, e.g., gas or explosive powder, have also been developed. Some development of technology related to powered fastener drivers, and particularly combustion driven fastener tools has occurred. However, there is still much need for further development.
Combustion driven fastener hand tools employing combustibles, e.g. gas or powder, to force a piston driver against a fastener introduce a unique set of parameters which must be properly balanced in order to achieve a working device. Sizing of the combustion chamber and valving are critical, in addition to the fuel delivery and mixing components. Moreover, greater optimization of a given design to improve power and efficiency can be greatly affected through precise understanding of the combustion process. For example, it has been determined that using a combustion chamber divided into portions having a control plate therebetween can greatly improve the efficiency and power of a combustion driven fastener device. Improvements have also been developed concerning the exhaust systems of such combustion driven fastener hand tools.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,925,517, issued Jan. 6, 2015, by Adams, which is incorporated by reference herein, discloses a gas-powered tool motor includes a combustion chamber with an intake valve at one end, an exhaust valve at another end, and a control plate or control valve between two portions of the combustion chamber. A piston or other positive displacement device is in communication with the combustion chamber. The intake and exhaust valves have closure members that are movable along a common axis in tandem between collective open positions for recharging the combustion chamber with the fuel and air mixture and collective closed positions for detonating the fuel and air mixture in the combustion chamber and displacing the positive displacement device. The control plate or control valve supports limited air flows from a first portion of the combustion chamber to a second portion of the combustion chamber even in the closed position of the control valve for supporting two-stage combustion.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,201,301, issued Apr. 10, 2007, by Moeller et al., discloses a combustion-powered fastener-driving tool includes a combustion-powered power source including a cylinder defining a path for a reciprocating piston and an attached driver blade, the piston reciprocating between a pre-firing position achieved prior to combustion and a bottom out position. Upon combustion in the power source, the cylinder includes at least one exhaust valve configured for releasing combustion gases from the cylinder. The at least one exhaust valve is dimensioned so that sufficient gas is released to reduce post-combustion pressure in the cylinder to approximately one atmosphere in the time available for the piston to travel past the at least one exhaust valve and return to the at least one exhaust valve.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,997,145, issued Feb. 14, 2006, by Adams, discloses a recycling system for linear motors includes a dual piston within a cylinder housing that is moved from an upper position to a lower position by combustion pressure such that a first portion of the piston pumps compressed air from a first air chamber within a first bore of the cylinder housing and a second portion of the piston pumps compressed air from a second air chamber within a second larger bore of the cylinder housing. An exhaust valve is opened by the compressed air for venting the combustion chamber to atmosphere. The dual piston moves within the cylinder housing from the lower position to the upper position assisted by the compressed air such that a portion of the volume of the combustion chamber is converted into a portion of the volume of the second air chamber. A control valve is opened in response to movement of the dual piston through the upper position for allowing airflow from the second air chamber into the combustion chamber.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,591,236, issued Sep. 22, 2009, by Moeller et al., discloses a combustion nailer configured for reducing intake of contaminated air during operation, includes a combustion engine having a cylinder with a piston reciprocating between a prefiring position and a fully extended position, and at least one air port in the cylinder below the fully extended position. The at least one air port is provided with a venting check valve configured so that the discharge volume from the cylinder out the at least one air port is greater than the inflow.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,016,046, issued Sep. 13, 2011, by Zhao et al., discloses a combustion tool includes a cylinder having a lower end provided with a resilient bumper, a piston dimensioned for reciprocation within the cylinder to impact the bumper at an end of the cylinder and having a driver blade depending therefrom for impacting fasteners. At least one back pressure release opening is disposed in the cylinder to be in alignment with the piston and to be closed by the piston when the piston impacts the bumper.
Conventional exhaust valves for combustion driven fastener tools may employ one or more reed (or petal) valves of steel (e.g. spring steel). Such reed type exhaust valves also may also be employ with newer combustion driven fastener tools having a combustion chamber divided in two portions. These reed valves require relatively precise design and manufacturing to ensure reliable operation and a long service life. In addition, such valves are very sensitive and can be ruined by being inadvertently bent or deformed to even a small degree. Due to the stiffness of the material, such reed valves must employ very secure fastening, e.g. a stiffener plate held tightly over one end of the valve plate by screws. Stresses within the valve plate must never exceed the elastic limit of the material so that it does not permanently deform. In addition, steel is relatively expensive and if such valves become damaged, they must typically be replaced.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need in the art for improved exhaust valve apparatuses for combustion driven fastener hand tools. There is a need for such apparatuses to be simple to design and occupy small spaces. There is also a need for such apparatuses and methods that operate reliably and efficiently over many uses and at a reduced cost. These and other needs are met by the present invention as detailed hereafter.

Elastomeric exhaust reed valve for combustion driven fastener hand tool


A mass spectrometer is disclosed comprising a cooling cell for cooling ions so as to reduce their kinetic energy. The cooling cell comprises: a chamber for receiving the ions or for generating the ions therein, wherein said chamber is formed from walls defining a substantially enclosed region; and a cooling jacket surrounding said chamber, wherein said cooling jacket is arranged and configured to contain a cooling fluid and so as to remove heat from one or more walls of the chamber. The mass spectrometer further comprises a mass analyzer for receiving ions from the cooling cell after they have been cooled. The present invention reduced the kinetic energy of the ions prior to mass analysis and hence improves the resolution of the mass analyzer. The mass analyzer is preferably a time of flight mass analyzer.

The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for improving the resolving power of mass analysers.
It is known that the dominant aberration that limits the resolution of high performance time of flight (TOF) mass analysers is due to the ion 'turn around time'. The ultimate resolution of a TOF mass analyser is therefore fundamentally limited to a value that is inversely proportional to the orthogonal velocity spread of the ions being analysed and so it is desirable to reduce this as much as possible. Other aberrations are less difficult to correct, such as spatial focusing, mechanical tolerances and detection line width.
The aberration due to the ion turn around time in a TOF mass analyser, dTOF, may be defined as dTOFF=2u/a, where 'u' is the initial orthogonal velocity component of an ion and 'a' is the acceleration provided to the ion by the electric field generated by the pusher in the extraction region of the TOF mass analyser. The aberration due to the ion turn around time can therefore be reduced by reducing the initial velocity component of the ion 'u' or by increasing the acceleration of the ion 'a'. A known technique to reduce the initial velocity component 'u' and hence reduce the ion turn around time involves the use of an Einzel transfer lens positioned upstream of the pusher assembly of the TOF mass analyser. The lens is designed to magnify the physical size of the ion beam whilst reducing its orthogonal velocity component. However, this system has the disadvantage of requiring a relatively large region for defining the pusher electric field.
It is also possible to reduce the orthogonal velocity spread of ions by using a mechanical slit to restrict the passage of ions with high orthogonal velocity 'u' to the pusher region. The ions may be directed towards the slit along an axis through the slit. By the time that the ions reach the slit only the ions having relatively low orthogonal velocities will remain close enough to the axis to pass through the slit and be sampled by the pusher electrode of the TOF mass analyser. The other ions are blocked by the slit. This method of rejecting ions by collimating the ion beam has the advantage of increasing the TOF mass resolution of the ions transmitted through the slit, but has the disadvantage of reducing the instrument sensitivity since the ions that are blocked by the slit cannot be mass analysed. Furthermore, if the axial energy of the ions is not high enough then electrical potentials on the surfaces of the slit may affect the passage of ions that pass through the slit.
Another technique for reducing the turn around time is to use a greater electric field to increase the acceleration of the ions 'a'. This may be achieved by applying higher voltages to the pusher electrodes of the TOF mass analyser or by applying the same potential difference over a shorter length. However, higher voltage supplies use and dissipate more power and are more expensive. Also, the application of relatively high potential differences over relatively short lengths can lead to electrical breakdowns.
It is therefore desired to provide an improved mass spectrometer and improved method of mass spectrometry.


The systems and methods of this invention provide simulated images to vision inspection systems. The simulated images emulate the vision of a vision inspection system. Graphical models of objects in a virtual world and lens effects models are used to provide the simulated images.

1. Field of Invention
This invention is directed to methods and systems that simulate images produced by a vision system. More particularly, this invention is directed to methods and systems that generate a synthetic image that accurately approximates an image produced by an automated vision inspection system.
2. Description of Related Art
A wide variety of non-contact computer-vision-based systems exist that recognize or measure key features of parts or materials in a manufacturing environment. Many of these systems have a "training" or "programming" mode. In the programming mode, the system receives instructions regarding how to recognize or measure a part. This programming mode results in a set of instructions that are automatically repeated by the system. These instructions may be organized as a program in a general purpose scripting language or as a macro sequence. Stored program instruction sequences in either scripting or macro languages are known as part programs. The sequence of learning or training a part program is known as part programming.

Hardware simulation systems and methods for vision inspection systems


An air pump capable of automatic air supplements has a housing, a low-pressure blower, a high-pressure blower, a first auto-stop controller, and a second auto-stop controller. The low-pressure blower is used to inflate an inflatable article with low-pressure air and allows the air pump to stop working during inflation automatically. The high-pressure blower is used to inflate an inflatable article with adjustable high pressure air, so that the inflatable article can have a hardness suitable for a user's need, and allows the air pump to stop working automatically during inflation or to supply air automatically during inflation. The air pump can stop working automatically and can supply air automatically without manual work, and can inflate the inflatable article to the hardness suitable for the user's need conveniently.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air pump and, especially, to an air pump that supplies air automatically.
2. Description of the Prior Art(s)
Air pumps are critical to all kinds of inflatable articles, such as airbeds, inflatable bouncers, inflatable sofas, inflatable toys, and the like. The air pump is mounted on an inner surface of the inflatable article, inflates the inflatable article and holds air inside the inflatable article at a constant pressure for use, and deflates the inflatable article for storage. Currently, some conventional air pumps can inflate and deflate the inflatable articles, and hold the air inside the inflatable articles at a constant pressure. Meanwhile, other conventional air pumps further have auto-stop controllers that stop the air pumps automatically. The auto-stop controller is mounted in a housing of the conventional air pump, and has a sensing film, a micro switch, a driving rod, a button, and a compression spring. The button is operated in a single stage, so that when the button is pressed, the driving rod is driven to move upwardly to push the sensing film. Accordingly, the sensing film deforms upward to switch the micro switch on. When the button is released, the compression spring pushes the driving rod to move downwardly. Accordingly, the sensing film deforms downward to switch the micro switch off. The micro switch controls an operation of the conventional air pump. Moreover, the conventional air pump may further have a main switch. The main switch independently controls the conventional air pump. To operate the conventional air pump, the main switch must be first switched on.
The auto-stop controller allows the conventional air pump to stop working automatically, which is a great convenience to users. However, performance of the conventional air pump is still inadequate to achieve a best usage effect and a best working performance. The shortcomings of the conventional air pump are described as follows. The conventional air pump only stops working automatically, but does not supply air to the inflatable article automatically. Thus, when the inflatable article is deflated, the micro switch should be manually switched on in order to supply the air to the inflatable article. Furthermore, since the conventional air pump can only inflate the inflatable article to a specific hardness, the hardness of the inflatable article cannot be adjusted according to the user's need. Thus, the conventional air pump is inconvenient for use and operation.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides an air pump capable of automatic air supplement to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Air pump capable of automatic air supplements

Dongguan Tiger Point, Metal & Plastic Products Co. Ltd.


In a transmission line pair including a first transmission line and a second transmission line which is so placed in adjacency that a coupled line region to be coupled with the first transmission line is formed, in the coupled line region, the first transmission line includes a first signal conductor which is placed on one surface which is either a top face of a substrate formed from a dielectric or semiconductor or an inner-layer surface parallel to the top face and which has a linear shape along its transmission direction, and the second transmission line includes a second signal conductor which is placed on the one surface of the substrate and which partly includes a transmission-direction reversal region for transmitting a signal along a direction having an angle of more than 90 degrees with respect to the transmission direction within the plane of the placement, and which has a line length different from that of the first signal conductor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transmission lines for transmitting analog radio-frequency signals of microwave band, millimeter-wave band or the like, or digital signals. More specifically, the invention relates to a transmission line pair including a first transmission line and a second transmission line placed so as to allow itself to be coupled with the first transmission line, and also relates to a radio-frequency circuit including such a transmission line pair.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 17A shows a schematic cross-sectional structure of a microstrip line which has been used as a transmission line in such a conventional radio-frequency circuit as shown above. As shown in FIG. 17A, a signal conductor 103 is formed on a top face of a board 101 made of a dielectric or semiconductor, and a grounding conductor layer 105 is formed on a rear face of the board 101. Upon input of radio-frequency power to this microstrip line, an electric field arises along a direction from the signal conductor 103 to the grounding conductor layer 105, and a magnetic field arises along such a direction as to surround the signal conductor 103 perpendicular to lines of electric force. As a result, the electromagnetic field propagates the radio-frequency power in a lengthwise direction perpendicular to the widthwise direction of the signal conductor 103. In addition, in the microstrip line, the signal conductor 103 or the grounding conductor layer 105 do not necessarily need to be formed on the top face or the rear face of the board 101, but the signal conductor or the grounding conductor layer 105 may be formed within the inner-layer conductor surface of the circuit board on condition that the board 101 is provided as a multilayer circuit board.
The above description has been made on a transmission line for use of transmission of single-end signals. However, as shown in a sectional view of FIG. 17B, two microstrip line structures may be provided in parallel so as to be used as differential signal transmission line with signals of opposite phases transmitted through the lines, respectively. In this case, since paired signal conductors 103a, 103b have signals of opposite phases flow therethrough, the grounding conductor layer 105 may be omitted.
In a conventional analog circuit or high-speed-digital circuit, a cross-sectional structure of which is shown in FIG. 18A and a top view of which is shown in FIG. 18B, two or more transmission lines 102a, 102b are often placed in adjacency and parallel to each other with a high density in their adjoining distance, giving rise to a crosstalk phenomenon between the adjoining transmission lines with the issue of isolation deterioration involved, in many cases. As shown in non-patent document 1, the origin of the crosstalk phenomenon can be attributed to both mutual inductance and mutual capacitance.
Now the principle of occurrence of a crosstalk signal is explained with reference to a perspective view FIG. 19 (a perspective view corresponding to the structure of FIGS. 18A and 18B) of a transmission line pair of two lines placed in parallel and in adjacency to each other with the dielectric substrate 101 assumed as a circuit board. Two transmission lines 102a, 102b are so constructed that the grounding conductor layer 105 formed on the rear face of the dielectric substrate 101 is used as their grounding conductor portions while two signal conductors placed in adjacency and parallel to each other on a top face of the dielectric substrate 101 are used as their signal conductor portions. Assuming that both ends of these transmission lines 102a, 102b are terminated by unshown resistors, respectively, radio-frequency circuit characteristics of the two transmission lines 102a, 102b can be understood by substituting current-flowing closed current loops 293a, 293b for the two transmission lines 102a, 102b, respectively.
Also, as shown in FIG. 19, each of current loops 293a, 293b is made up of a signal conductor which makes a current flow on the top face of the dielectric substrate 101, a grounding conductor 105 on the rear face on which a return current flows, and a resistive element (not shown) which connects the two conductors to each other in a direction vertical to the dielectric substrate 101. It is noted here that the resistive element introduced in such a circuit (i.e., in a current loop) may be not a physical element but a virtual one in which its resistance components are distributed along the signal conductors, where the resistive element may be regarded as one having the same value of characteristic impedance as that of the transmission lines.
Next, the crosstalk phenomenon that would arise upon a flow of a radio-frequency signal in each current loop 293a is concretely explained with reference to FIG. 19. First, as a radio-frequency current 853 flows in the current loop 293a along a direction indicated by an arrow in the figure upon transmission of a radio-frequency signal, a radio-frequency magnetic field 855 is generated so as to intersect the current loop 293a. Since the two transmission lines 102a, 102b are placed in proximity to each other, the radio-frequency magnetic field 855 intersects even the current loop 293b of the transmission line 102b, so that an induced current 857 flows in the current loop 293b. This is the principle of development of a crosstalk signal due to mutual inductance.
Based on this principle, the induced current 857 generated in the current loop 293b flows toward a near-end side terminal (i.e., a terminal in an end portion on the front side in the figure) in a direction opposite to the direction of the radio-frequency current 853 in the current loop 293a. Since intensity of the radio-frequency magnetic field 855 depends on the loop area of the current loop 293a and since intensity of the induced current 857 depends on the intensity of the radio-frequency magnetic field 855 intersecting the current loop 293b, the crosstalk signal intensity increases more and more as a coupled line length Lcp of the transmission line pair composed of the two transmission lines 102a, 102b increases.
Further, another crosstalk signal is induced to the transmission line 102b due to the mutual capacitance occurring to between the two signal conductors as well. The crosstalk signal generated by the mutual capacitance has no directivity, and occurs to both far-end and near-end sides each at an equal intensity. The crosstalk phenomenon occurring on the far-end side can be construed as a sum of the above two phenomena. Now, current elements generated in the transmission line pair in accompaniment to the crosstalk phenomenon during transmission of high-speed signals are shown in a schematic explanatory view of FIG. 20. As shown in FIG. 20, when a voltage Vin is applied to a terminal 106a on the left side of the transmission line 102a as in the figure, a radio-frequency current element Io flows through the transmission line 102a due to a radio-frequency component contained at a pulse leading edge. A difference between a current Ic generated due to a mutual capacitance by this radio-frequency current element Io and a current Ii generated due to the mutual inductance flows as a crosstalk current into a far-end side crosstalk terminal 106d of the adjacently placed transmission line 102b. On the other hand, a crosstalk current corresponding to the sum of currents Ic and Ii flows into a near-end side crosstalk terminal 106c. Under such a condition that paired transmission lines are placed in proximity to each other at a high density, the current Ii is generally higher in intensity than the current Ic, and therefore a crosstalk voltage Vf of the negative sign, which is inverse to the sign of the voltage Vin applied to the terminal 106a is observed at the far-end side crosstalk terminal 106d. In addition, a voltage Vout is observed at a terminal 106b of the transmission line 102a.
Here is explained a typical example of crosstalk characteristics in conventional transmission lines. For example, as shown in FIGS. 18A and 18B, on a top face of a dielectric substrate 101 of resin material having a dielectric constant of 3.8, a thickness H of 250 μm and having a grounding conductor layer 105 provided over its entire rear face, is fabricated a radio-frequency circuit having a structure that two signal conductors, i.e. transmission lines 102a and 102b, with a wiring width W of 100 μm are placed in parallel with a wire-to-wire gap G set to 650 μm, where one radio-frequency circuit defined here and having a coupled line length of 50 mm is assumed as Prior Art Example 1 and another of 500 mm as Prior Art Example 2 (it is noted that Prior Art Example 2 will be mentioned later). A wiring distance D, which is a placement distance of the two transmission lines 102a, 102b, is G+(W/2)×2=750 μm. It is noted that those signal conductors are provided each by a copper wire having an electrical conductivity of 3×108 S/m and a thickness of 20 μm.
With respect to such a radio-frequency circuit of Prior Art Example 1, forward transit characteristics by four terminal measurement (terminal 106a to terminal 106b) as well as far-end directed isolation characteristics (terminal 106a to terminal 106d) are explained below with reference to a graph-form view showing the frequency dependence of the isolation characteristics about the radio-frequency circuit of Prior Art Example 1 shown in FIG. 21. It is noted that in the graph of FIG. 21, the horizontal axis represents frequency (GHz) and the vertical axis represents a transit intensity characteristic S21 (dB) and isolation characteristic S41 (dB).
As shown by the isolation characteristic S41 of FIG. 21, the crosstalk intensity monotonously increases with increasing frequency. More specifically, it can be understood that even an isolation of 11 db with the frequency band of 5 GHz or higher, or 7 db with the frequency band of 10 GHz or higher, or as small as 3 db with the frequency band of 20 GHz or higher cannot be ensured. Furthermore, as longer the coupled line length Lcp becomes, or as the placement distance D is decreased, the crosstalk intensity monotonously increases.
Also, as shown by the transit intensity characteristic S21 (indicated by thin line in the figure) of FIG. 21, as the crosstalk signal intensity increases, the transit signal intensity extremely lowers. Specifically, there occurs a decrease of as much as 9.5 db in the signal intensity at 25 GHz. In the radio-frequency circuit of Prior Art Example 1, with transit through a line length of 50 mm, a transit phase of a signal having a frequency of about 1.8 GHz corresponds to 180 degrees. The crosstalk intensity at this frequency is −21.4 db. Although depending on the placement distance D, the crosstalk phenomenon matters in frequency bands in which the coupled line length Lcp corresponds effectively to a wavelength order, i.e. an effective line length of half-wave length or more. For example, decreasing the placement distance D to 200 μm causes the crosstalk intensity to become −15.8 db, and the extending the placement distance D to 1000 μm cause the crosstalk intensity to become 26.7 db. Also, with the placement distance D equal to 200 μm, it becomes impossible to maintain a crosstalk intensity of −10 dB at a frequency of 11.6 GHz at which the coupled line length Lcp corresponds to about 2.5 times the effective wavelength. Also with the placement distance D equal to 750 μm, a crosstalk intensity of −10 db is recorded at a frequency of 25.7 GHz at which the coupled line length Lcp corresponds to about 7 times the effective wavelength. Thus, although depending on the degree of coupling between lines, influences of the crosstalk phenomenon becomes quite considerable under the condition that the coupled line length Lcp corresponds to a double or more of the effective wavelength.
As a conventional technique purposed to suppress such a crosstalk phenomenon, there has been a transmission line structure shown in patent document 1 as an example. The transmission line structure shown in patent document 1 is a structure which is effective for optimizing the electromagnetic field distribution of high frequencies during signal transmission to reduce the crosstalk about a unit line length. That is, since it is the coupling between parallel lines described above that makes the factor of the crosstalk, this is a technique intended to suppress the crosstalk phenomenon by providing a transmission line cross-sectional structure which is so designed as to reduce the degree of coupling between parallel lines. More specifically, as shown in a cross-sectional structure of a transmission line pair of FIG. 22, a second dielectric 145 which is lower in dielectric constant than a first dielectric 144 serving as the substrate is distributed at a partial site of the substrate between two signal conductors 142 and 143 of the transmission line pair. Since the radio-frequency electric field intensity of the signal traveling on the transmission lines is lowered at the distribution site of the second dielectric 145 of low dielectric constant, the degree of coupling between the transmission lines can be lowered, thus making it achievable to suppress the crosstalk phenomenon.                Patent document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2002-299917 A        Patent document 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-258394 A        Non-patent document 1: An introduction to signal integrity (CQ Publishing Co., Ltd., 2002) pp. 79

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A reflective article, such as a solar mirror, includes a highly transparent substrate having a first major surface and a second major surface. At least one reflective coating is formed over at least a portion of one of the surfaces, e.g., the second major surface (or, alternatively, the first major surface). The reflective coating includes at least one metallic layer. An encapsulation structure can be formed over at least a portion of the second reflective coating.

1. Field of the invention
This invention relates generally to coated substrates and, in one particular embodiment, to a coated glass substrate particularly useful for the reflection of electromagnetic radiation, such as electromagnetic solar radiation.
2. Technical Considerations
With the increasing costs of fossil-based fuels, solar power is becoming a more commercially acceptable and economically viable source of energy. One known application is using mirrors to concentrate solar power for electrical generation. Mirrors having high reflectance of solar radiation are used for "concentrated solar thermal power" (CSTP) installations. There are several different mirror geometries used for these applications. One conventional system uses curved parabolic solar mirrors to concentrate solar energy onto tubes positioned along a focal line. A heat transfer medium in the tubes carries the absorbed heat energy to a generator station where it is used for power generation. Another conventional system uses a solar tower in which a number of flat solar mirrors direct solar energy at a particular location on the tower. The heat generated by the focused solar energy is transferred to a working fluid, such as sodium, and the heated working fluid is used for power generation.
Another application of such mirrors is for "concentrated photovoltaics" (CPV). In this application, mirrors focus or concentrate solar energy onto high-efficiency photovoltaic (PV) devices, thereby improving the energy output per device.
In these known systems, it is desirable that the mirrors reflect as much solar energy as possible. It is also desirable that the mirrors have as long a commercial life as possible to preclude frequent changing of the mirrors.
Conventional mirror technology utilizes a wet chemical application process in which silver is precipitated onto a glass substrate from a silver nitrate solution. A problem with this known system is that the spent solution must be disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner. Moreover, such conventional systems do not permit the coated article to be processed at high temperatures (e.g., for heat-strengthening, tempering or bending) after deposition of the silver layer because this will damage the silver layer. While some conventional mirrors have a wet-chemical applied copper layer over the silver layer to retard corrosion of the silver, these conventional copper layers cannot protect the silver layer sufficiently to allow the coated glass to be heated to its softening point. Further, the deposition of copper by wet chemistry is unattractive due to environmental reasons, particularly due to disposal of the wet chemical waste stream.
Therefore, it would be advantageous to provide a reflective article and a method of making a reflective article which eliminate or reduce at least some of the problems associated with such conventional articles.

Reflective article having multiple reflective coatings


This charged particle beam device is provided with: a plurality of detectors for detecting secondary particles, the detectors being disposed in a symmetrical manner around the optical axis of a primary charged particle beam closer to the charged particle source side than an objective lens; electrodes for forming an electric field oriented in directions corresponding to each of the plurality of detectors, the electrodes being provided on the travel routes of secondary particles from a sample to the detectors; and a control power supply for applying a voltage to the electrodes. Adjusting the voltage applied to each of the electrodes makes it possible to detect, upon deflecting, the secondary particles, and to control the range of azimuths of the secondary particles to be detected.

A semiconductor device is manufactured by repeating a process of transferring a pattern formed by a photomask on a wafer by a lithography process and an etching process. In such a manufacturing process, so as to realize an early launch of yield and stable operation of the manufacturing process, it is essential to quickly analyze defects found by in-line wafer inspection and use the analyzed defects to countermeasure thereabout.
In the in-line wafer inspection, it is common to re-detect defects and foreign matters detected by an optical defect inspection device with a review device disposed at a rear stage of the defect inspection device and to observe the re-detected defects and foreign matters in detail. So as to quickly link inspection results to countermeasures against failure, in particular, automatic defect review and classification technology is key which reviews a large number of detection defects at high speed and classifies the large number of detection defects according to cause of generation. Since the defect size affecting the manufacturing, yield of semiconductors has also been miniaturized according to the miniaturization of a semiconductor pattern manufacturing process, reviewing with high resolution is becoming difficult with the optical review device. Therefore, scanning electron microscope (SEM) type review device capable of high-speed and high-resolution review can be commercialized. In this device, it is important to acquire an SEM image (hereinafter also referred to as a shadow image) equivalent to a shadow generated when light is applied from the side so as to detect minute foreign matters and irregularities such as scratches.
Hereinafter, regarding an emission direction of secondary electrons (SE) and backscattered electrons (BSE) (hereinafter collectively referred to as secondary particles) generated by scanning a charged particle beam to a sample, a direction from 0 degrees to 90 degrees from a sample surface toward a normal line of the sample is defined as an elevation angle and a rotation angle around the normal line of the sample is defined as an azimuth.
The basic principle for acquiring such a shadow image will be explained. As an example, a case of a foreign matter having a trapezoidal shape whose an upper side is shorter than a lower side is considered. Irregularities of the trapezoidal shape are scanned with electron beams from an upper side of a cross section thereof. In a case where a right side of the irregularities is irradiated with the electron beam, secondary electrons are emitted. At this time, when attention is paid to a low angle component of the elevation angle of the secondary electron, a portion of the secondary electron emitted to the left side is shielded by the irregularities. Therefore, when two left and right detectors are disposed on the foreign matter side to detect secondary electrons, the numbers of secondary electrons detected by the left and right detectors is different from each other. In other words, the electrons emitted from the right side of the foreign matter are detected more frequently by the detector on the right side than the detector on the left side. In this case, a brightness on the right side of the foreign matter in the SEM image generated by the detector on the right side is brighter than the same position in the SEM image generated by the detector on the left side. When the left side of the foreign matter is irradiated with the electron beam, the state opposite to the above description is obtained. Therefore, the SEM image obtained by the detector described above becomes an SEM image in which the right side of the foreign matter is bright in the detector on the right side and an SEM image in which the left side of the foreign matter is bright in the detector on the left side, and thus becomes an image with the enhanced shadow.
On the other hand, a case of a trapezoidal recess whose upper side is longer than the lower side is considered. In a case where the right side of the recess is irradiated with the electron beam, secondary electrons are emitted. At this time, a portion of the secondary electrons emitted to the right side is shielded by a side surface of the recess. As a result, the electrons emitted from the right side of the recess are detected more frequently by the detector on the left side than the detector on the right side. In this case, the brightness on the right side of the recess in the SEM image generated by the detector on the right side is darker than the same position in the SEM image generated by the detector on the left side. The left side of the recess is irradiated with the electron beam, a state opposite to the above description is obtained. Therefore, the SEM image obtained by the detector described above becomes an SEM image in which the right side of the recess is dark in the right side detector and an SEM image in which the left side of the recess is dark in the left side detector.
The shape of a foreign matter or the like from the acquired SEM image can be discriminated using the principle described above. Furthermore, so as to detect shallow irregularities, fine foreign matter, or the like with high sensitivity, it is important that shadow contrast is emphasized by selecting the detected azimuth and the detected elevation angle for electrons emitted from foreign matter or the like and high quality image is acquired. PTL 1 discloses that "a low angle component and a high angle component of an elevation angle viewed from the point of occurrence of secondary electrons are selected and an azimuth component is also selected and detected" by "applying an electric field that accelerates secondary particles adjacent to a wafer so as to suppress secondary particle energy dependency of rotation of the secondary particle".


A method and apparatus for sequencing computer instructions in memory (24) to provide for more instruction efficient execution by a central processing unit (CPU) (22) begins by executing the computer instructions via the CPU (22) and creating a trace file (FIG. 2) in memory (24). The trace file is then scanned using a window size greater than two (i.e., more than two instructions or basic blocks/ groups of instructions are selected as each window) and correlations are determined between several pairs of instructions in each window (FIGS. 9 and 10). The correlations obtained by the window procedure are then analyzed (FIG. 11) to determine an efficient ordering of computer instructions for subsequent execution by any target CPU.

FIG. 1 illustrates a control flow graph for a computer program. In the control flow graph of FIG. 1, there are ten computer instructions or ten segments of code (referred to also as basic blocks of computer code) represented as nodes "a"-"j" in a directed graph. The ten nodes of FIG. 1 are labeled "a" through "j" and correspond to ten different basic blocks of computer code. In the control flow graph of FIG. 1, the computer instruction(s) in basic block a are executed first in time in the execution path of the computer program. Since basic block "a" is the endpoint of a feedback path or looping path from basic block "j" back to basic block "a", basic block a may contain, for example, a while loop instruction, a for loop instruction, a repeat instruction, a do loop, or a like looping structure or basic block "j" can contain a branch instruction which has a destination address of the beginning of basic block "a".
After the basic block "a" is executed, sequential execution results in basic block "b" being executed following every execution of basic block "a" as illustrated in the control flow graph of FIG. 1. Execution flow will split in one of two directions after basic block "b" is executed depending upon a software condition. Therefore, basic block "b" contains either an if-then-else instruction, or a like flow construct which involves branching down one of two distinct and different execution flow paths. If one condition or set of constraints is detected in the basic block "b", basic block c is executed. If another condition or set of constraints are determined to exist in basic block "b", then the basic block d is executed. In either case, one of "c" or "d" is executed at a time after "b" is executed as illustrated in FIG. 1. Both basic blocks "c" and "d" converge back to basic block "e" in a manner similar to an if-then-else flow control. In other words, after executing one of either "c" or "d", the code contained in basic block "e" will be executed.
From basic block "e" or node "e" of the directed graph of FIG. 1, execution flow continues so that basic block "f" is executed. The basic blocks "f", "g", "h" and "i" of FIG. 1 are of a construct very similar to basic blocks "b", "c", "d" and "e" discussed above, and therefore these two sets of basic blocks are executed in a similar or identical execution flow manner. Once the basic block "j", which is a loop termination point as discussed above, determines that no more loops need to be made through the nodes of FIG. 1, then the execution flow of the computer program exists the construct of FIG. 1 via the exit path from node "j".
The execution flow of the computer program illustrated in FIG. 1 can be analyzed to determine efficient rearrangement of computer basic blocks in memory so that software executes in an efficient manner. In order to do so, FIG. 2 illustrates that an execution tracing routine is performed to collect data from the execution of the computer program graphically illustrated in FIG. 1. This trace process creates a trace data file in memory. The trace data file illustrated in FIG. 2 records the time-sequential execution flow of the computer program graphically illustrated as basic blocks of code in FIG. 1. The trace data stores block execution order in a time sequential manner. Spaces (" ") are used in FIG. 2 to separate different executed passes of the loop a-j from each other.
Therefore, in order to create the trace file in FIG. 2, an empty trace data file is first created and execution of the basic blocks a-j begins. The time sequential order of the basic blocks executed in a first loop through basic blocks a through "j" is {abcefgij}. Therefore, in a first loop, recorded in a left-hand side of FIG. 2, the {b-c} path is taken in FIG. 1 and the {f-g} path is taken in FIG. 1 resulting in the blocks {abcefgij} being executed in a time sequential order. The basic block "j" directs the execution flow back to basic block "a", and the second loop sequence in FIG. 2 is {abcefgij}. Therefore, the same instruction sequence {abcefgij} executed twice in a row, one right after another, a time sequential manner via the loop from block "j" to block a. This time sequential execution flow is continually recorded for a period of time and stored in the trace data file for further analysis at a subsequent time.
A computer is then able to graphically model the computer software as illustrated in FIG. 3 by analyzing the trace data of FIG. 2. It is important to note that when first executing the computer program containing blocks a-j to generate the trace data file in FIG. 2, the computer has no idea of the execution flow of the software as illustrated in FIG. 1. The trace file of FIG. 2 is analyzed to obtain the execution flow structure of FIG. 3 which also contains the same information contained in FIG. 1.
The directed graph of FIG. 3 is constructed by scanning the trace data in FIG. 2 from left to right and analyzing pairs of basic blocks that are adjacent each other in time. Initially, no data structure is present when the algorithm begins (FIG. 3 is blank in a starting state). The algorithm then takes the first pair of basic blocks in FIG. 2, which is the pair ab. In FIG. 3, a node "a" is created, a node "b" is created and an edge "ab" from node "a" to node "b" is created with a weight or count of 1. In a second access to the data of FIG. 2, the pair "bc" is next analyzed. Since the node "b" has been previously created in FIG. 3, the computer simply creates a node "c" and an edge "bc" from "b" to "c" with a weight of 1. This interconnection and/or creation of nodes and edges and the incrementing of weights of the edges between nodes as further pairs of nodes are encountered continues for the entire data segment illustrated in FIG. 2 to result in the completed data structure illustrated in FIG. 3. As illustrated in FIG. 3, the basic block b follows basic block a nine times in FIG. 2 whereas basic block c follows basic block b only five times in FIG. 2 as evident from the weights on the edges "ab" connecting nodes "a" and "b" and the edge bc connecting nodes "b" and "c" illustrated in FIG. 3.
Once the data structure of FIG. 3 is created from the trace file of FIG. 2, a method illustrated in the flowchart of FIG. 4 can be performed to analyze the data structure of FIG. 3 to determine an efficient manner of ordering basic blocks in memory so that cache performance may be improved and pipeline flushing may be minimized resulting in improved processor performance. The efficient output order of basic blocks (the output file resulting from the method of FIG. 4) is illustrated in FIG. 5. In order to discuss FIG. 4 of the prior art restructuring method, it is important to refer to FIG. 5, which is the output of the method of FIG. 4.
Initially, the method of FIG. 4 begins via an initialization step 100 which prepares for the formation of a sequence chain or reordered basic blocks of instructions. In step 102, the node in FIG. 3 that has not been so far selected with the highest exiting path/edge value is selected. In FIG. 3, the nodes "a", "e", and "i" are tied in numerical value for the highest path value where this path/edge value is 9 in FIG. 3. Nine is the greatest edge value in FIG. 3. In this case of a tie, the first node in the execution flow, which is a in this case, is selected arbitrarily. The basic block a is then placed in a restructured computer file as illustrated in step 1 of FIG. 5. An execution chain (a sequential list of basic block(s)) is then created with the beginning of the chain being set to the node determined in step 102 (which in this case is node "a"). Therefore, step 106 sets the beginning of the chain to the node a in FIG. 3. Step 108 is used to determine which nodes a-j are reachable from node "a" in FIG. 3. From node "a" only one node is reachable and that node is node b in FIG. 3. Therefore, step 108 (in a first loop) produces a single node which is node "b".
Node "b" is then analyzed in step 110, and since the set of nodes determined a latest execution of step 108 contains only the node "b", the node "b" is selected in the step 110 as being the node with the highest path value. In step 110, node "b" is then inserted into the restructured computer file of FIG. 5 as illustrated in step 2 of FIG. 5. The restructured computer file now contains the instruction chain or sequence "ab".
Step 108 then determines that node "c" and "d" are reachable from step "b" as illustrated in FIG. 3. Step 110 then analyzes "c" and "d" and determines that node "c" has a path value of 5 and node "d" has a path value of 4. Therefore, step 108 and 110 in FIG. 4 insert the basic block "c" into the restructured data file of FIG. 5 after block "b" and a step 3 of FIG. 5 illustrates that node "d" is ignored and is not inserted into the chain of FIG. 5 at this point in time since node "d" did not have the highest weight value. Continuing from node "c", basic block "e" (represented by node "e" in FIG. 3) is inserted in a step 4 of FIG. 5 using the algorithm of FIG. 4. Step "f" is then inserted in a step 5 of FIG. 5 using the process outlined in FIG. 4. Between nodes "h" and "g" in FIG. 3, steps 108-110 will determine that node "h" has a greater path value from node "f" than node "g" and insert basic block "h" after block "f" in a step 6 of FIG. 5. Code represented by node "i" is then inserted via step 7 of FIG. 5, and "j" is inserted via a step 8 in FIG. 5. Once node "j" is inserted in step 8, there are no more unselected nodes which can be reached from step "j" in FIG. 3 since node "a" has already been analyzed and inserted into FIG. 5 in step 1 of FIG. 5. Therefore, step 108 sends the control of FIG. 4 back to step 102 and step 102 finds a new unselected node which has the highest weight value. In summary, by step 8 of a left portion of FIG. 5, the chain of blocks {abcefhij} is now fully sequentially inserted into the restructured computer file as illustrated graphically via a region 90 illustrated in a left portion of FIG. 5.
Returning to steps 102-106, the only remaining unselected nodes in FIG. 3 are "d" and "g", which have equal edge weight values and therefore, by default, node "d" which is the earlier node is chosen via the process of FIG. 4. Node "d" is inserted via step 9 in FIG. 5. Since the node "e" is reachable from node "d" in FIG. 3 but has already been previously selected (see step 4 of FIG. 5) and placed into the file of FIG. 5, step 108 determines that there is nothing more to process from node "d" and step 102 is once again executed. The only node remaining is node "g" and step 10 of FIG. 5 determines that node "g" should be inserted in a step 10 of FIG. 5.
Therefore, when a compiler is ordering the basic blocks of the program flow illustrated in FIG. 3, the final ordering of instructions or basic blocks in memory is performed as illustrated in step 10 of FIG. 5 with the goal of attempting to improve processor performance.
However, the prior art method illustrated in FIGS. 1-5 is flawed. By looking at FIG. 2, one can easily determine that if the path bc is taken, it is most likely that the path {fg} is also taken in conjunction with path {bc}. One can also determine if the path {bd} is taken, then the path {fh} is also more likely to be taken. In other words, the correlation between paths bc and paths {fg} is high whereas the correlation between paths {bd} and {fh} is high. Therefore, the most efficient organization of basic blocks in step 10 of FIG. 5 would be to couple the paths {bc} with {fg} in some serial order or couple the path {bd} with {fh} in some serial order. However, the algorithm illustrated via prior art FIGS. 4 and 5 results in the path {bc} being coupled and serially positioned with the path {fh} (see this illustrated graphically in the right portion of FIG. 5). This choosing of the wrong pairs to the detriment of CPU execution performance results because the prior art algorithm of FIG. 4 does not look ahead to more distant nodes and paths in the data structure of FIG. 3 but only looks at directly adjacent pairs of basic blocks or nodes in FIG. 3. The result is that the prior art of FIG. 4 and 5 performs basic block restructuring in a limited fashion which obtains limited performance benefit. Therefore, it is more advantageous to design a basic block restructuring process which identifies these correlations between more distant paths and performs improved sequencing of instructions to result in fewer cache misses, fewer external memory accesses, fewer page misses, fewer pipeline flushes and or stalls, and increase program execution speed .

Method and apparatus for sequencing computer instruction execution in a data processing system


A system and method is provided for printing a document stored on a remote computer using an information appliance. The method includes providing a connection between an information appliance and a remote computer, wherein the remote computer stores one or more documents, and receiving synchronization information from the remote computer. The synchronization information includes one or more reference information, where each reference information identifies a document stored on the remote computer. The method also includes displaying the reference information on an information appliance display, receiving a print request for one or more documents selected from the displayed reference information, and, responsive to receiving the command to print, transmitting a print request to a nearby printer. The system includes an information appliance that is synchronized with reference information identifying the documents stored on a remote computer. The information appliance displays the reference information on a coupled display and receives a selection of one or more reference information identifying one or more documents. The information appliance also receives a request to print the selected documents. The information appliance then transmits a print request to a nearby printer.

1. Field
The present invention relates generally to computer systems and, more particularly, to a system and method for printing documents on a printer using an information appliance.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technological advances in computers, computer software, and related technologies have enabled a computer to function as a repository for enormous amounts of data. As more and more data are stored on computers, being able to access and disseminate the data becomes increasingly important. Even with the technological advances and the touting of the "paperless office," printing the data and distributing the printed data still remains a prevalent method of dissemination. Furthermore, as society becomes more mobile, there is an increasing need to be able to access, print, and disseminate the data at locations remote from where the data is stored.
One conventional method involves printing the data on a printer connected to the computer. The printed data is then carried to a remote location and appropriately disseminated. For example, a salesperson can store product documents (e.g., brochures) on a computer in his or her office. The salesperson can then print out the necessary product documents on a printer in the office that is coupled to the computer. The salesperson can then carry the printed documents to a client's facility and distribute the product documents, for example, during a sales meeting. Depending on the volume of data, the salesperson may end up carrying a large amount of printed material.
Another method involves the use of a portable or laptop computer. For example, a salesperson can load and store the product documents on a laptop computer's hard disk. The salesperson can then carry the laptop computer with him or her to a client's facility. The salesperson can print the product documents on the client's printer located at the client's facility. While this method alleviates the problem of having to carry large amounts of printed materials, there is the problem and inconvenience of having to configure the laptop computer to communicate with the printer so that the product documents can be printed.
Configuring a computer to communicate with a printer typically involves finding a cable to connect the printer to the computer. If the printer is connected to a network, such as a local area network, the computer has to be able to access the printer through the network. This likely requires the computer to be connected to the network, execute software to communicate over the network, and know the printer's network (e.g., IP) address. Finally, the computer needs to execute software (e.g., printer driver) that enables the computer to communicate with the printer.
The advent and development of data networks, such as the Internet, provide an alternative to carrying large amounts of printed material or carrying and configuring a laptop computer to properly communicate with different types of printers. For example, a salesperson can load and store the product documents on his or her company's web site on the Internet. The salesperson, at the client's facility, can use a client's computer having access to the Internet to connect to the web site. Once connected, the salesperson can download the appropriate product documents onto the computer and print the downloaded documents on a connected printer. While this alleviates the inconvenience of carrying a laptop computer to a client's facility and configuring the computer at the facility, there still exists the need to download and store the data on a computer connected to both the Internet and a printer.
Another alternative is for a salesperson to load the product documents onto a removable storage device such as a diskette or compact disk. The salesperson can then use a computer at a client's facility to access the product documents stored on the disk and print the documents on an attached printer. Here, the salesperson needs to find and have access to a computer that can properly read the product documents stored on the disk. This likely requires the software application product used in creating the product documents to be loaded and executed on the client's computer. A computer executing the same software application product may not be available at the client's facility, in which case, the product documents on the disk cannot be printed.
Accordingly, an improved system and method for printing data stored on a computer from a remote location, that alleviates the inconveniences and deficiencies commonly associated with current methods of printing, is desirable.

Mailbox printing services for information appliances

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The present invention relates to thermal transfer recording technique in which a thermal transfer sheet containing a dye is heated according to image signals.. There is provided a thermal transfer sheet with laminated in this order an ink layer containing a dye, a dye-diffusion preventive layer composed of an aqueous material and a particle-transfer layer composed of a softening transfer-material and dye acceptor particles of a dyeable thermoplastic resin dispersed therein.. Also disclosed is a thermal transfer recording method in which the softening transfer-material is softened according to image signals so that the softening transfer-material and dye acceptor particles are dyed with the dye contained in the ink layer, whereupon image transfer to an image receiving medium can take place.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a hard copy technique wherein coloring materials are arranged on an image receiving medium such as paper and the like according to image signals, and more particularly to a recording technique involved in a thermal transfer recording system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Recently, attention has been drawn to a thermal transfer recording system of sublimation type which employs a thermal transfer sheet having a heat-resistant sheet-form substrate and an ink layer containing a sublimative dye, and an image receiving medium having a dye acceptor layer for receiving the dye as it is diffused thereinto by heating from the back of the thermal transfer sheet, since the system exhibits excellent medium tone-recording performance and provides full-color image records, as described in, for example, IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. CE-28, No. 3, pp. 226-232, Aug. 1982, and Journal of Imaging Science, Vol. 35, No. 4, pp. 263-273, Aug. 1991.
With such a thermal transfer recording system of sublimation type, the process of recording is carried out in such a way that the ink layer on the thermal transfer sheet and the dye acceptor layer on the image receiving medium, as placed in superposed relation, are first heated by a thermal head from the sheet-form substrate side of the thermal transfer sheet according to a signal from a recording signal source. During this heating, dye is diffused into the dye acceptor layer from the ink layer in proportion to the quantity of heat applied so that subsequently when the thermal transfer sheet is separated from the image receiving medium, the dye acceptor layer will have a visible image formed therein by the diffusion-transferred dye.
A thermal transfer sheet for use with such thermal transfer recording system of sublimation type is constituted of a sheet-form substrate formed of a polyethylene terephthalate (PET) film or the like having a thickness of, for example, about 9 .mu.m, and an ink layer formed by a solvent coating method on the surface of the sheet-form substrate, the ink layer containing 10 parts by weight of a styrene acrylic resin as a binder and 6 parts by weight of a sublimating disperse-dye. An image receiving medium for use in such system is constituted of a base formed of, for example, polyester or wood free paper, and a dye acceptor layer of a polyester resin which is formed on the surface of the base.
However, the above described system, which is adapted for utilization of thermal diffusion of dye into the dye acceptor layer, has such disadvantage that the system is generally unable to effect recording on a pulp-based paper such as papeterie paper or postcard paper, that is, on an image receiving medium having no dye acceptor layer.

Thermal transfer sheet and thermal transfer recording method

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An amplifier arrangement has an amplifier (3) with a signal input (31), a feedback input (32) and a signal output (33). A first coupling path (FB1), which has a first impedance element (R1), connects the feedback input (32) to the signal output (33). A second coupling path (FB2) has a filter device (4), a buffer circuit (5) and a second impedance element (R2) connected in series, and connects the feedback input (32) to the signal output (33) or to the signal input (31).

For example, MEMS (micro electro mechanical systems) applications frequently require signal amplifiers having a small space requirement, low input capacitance, high input impedance, a low current requirement and low noise. A rail-to-rail AB output stage, current feedback and input signal levels up to the supply voltage, for example, an input signal referencing a negative or supply potential, are also desirable.
Typically, a sufficient gain can be provided with a differential amplifier, which comprises a voltage divider with feedback on its output side.
However, with typical applications, a voltage offset or low frequency noise is present to some extent at the input of such an amplifier. For example, with such amplifiers, a changing voltage offset of a variable input signal is also amplified. This can lead to, among others, a degradation of the signal quality in the amplified output signal. In addition, the current consumption in the amplifier is increased due to the amplification of the low frequency noise or of the voltage offset.
Low frequency components can be suppressed, for example, through capacitive decoupling. For this however, it is necessary, depending on a desired frequency suppression, to use relatively large capacitance values, which increases the cost of such an amplifier circuit, or alternatively, larger resistance values for the voltage divider, which negatively impact the noise performance of the amplifier circuit.

Amplifier arrangement and method for amplifying a signal


A method of making High Temperature Resistant Models and Tools is provided. An assembly of substrates can be formed with intermediate adhesive layer of curable paste and same curable paste can be used as topcoat or sealer. The curable paste can be machine dispensed from a mixer mixing 2 components composition. The composition can contain a resin, a filler, a chemical thixotropy agent, a latent hardener and another hardener. The method provides easy and cost-effective manufacture of models or tools.

In various industries (for example, the automotive, wind energy and aerospace industries), it is common practice to produce large, dimensionally accurate master models and tools. Models are used by engineers for the conceptual design of individual component parts of the final product. Tools are used for the creation of final parts. A model or prototype is usually used once or twice and is designated mainly on getting the external shape of an object. A tool or mould is designated to provide a negative of the external shape of the object and to allow manufacturing of the object itself, preferably several times. It follows that requirements for tools are more stringent than for making models.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,942,182 describes a resin transfer moulding (RTM) process used e.g. in the aerospace industry—comprises impregnating a fibre preform in a mould with a one component, room temperature stable, epoxy resin composition comprising a novolak resin, an epoxy diluent and a latent curing agent, typically a boron trichloride amine complex, to cure above specified temperatures.
The patent application WO 02/20261 describes making a seamless model comprising applying a mechanically frothed syntactic foam as modeling paste on the outer surface of a substructure, curing the paste and machining it.
A traditional method of making a tool, illustrated as "Traditional Process" in FIG. 1, involves making a mold from boards or SMP (Seamless Modelling Paste), applying a laminate on the backing structure, the laminate being further separated from the mold to produce a laminated tool. This method involves several different steps, it is lengthy and requires preliminary master model fabrication.
Another known method to produce large tools involves a "building block" approach in which several boards are glued together to produce a rough structure, which is then machined to form the desired shape. This approach, however, is both labour and time intensive and requires precision operations, leading to high cost, and moreover results in a model, which has visually perceivable bond-lines at the surface, an appearance which is aesthetically undesirable and may even cause surface defects on final parts.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,707,477 and 5,773,047 describe a method for making a model or tool including steps of:                fabricating a base with a top plate of aluminum,        bonding successive layers of perforated aluminum honeycomb core with a suitable adhesive until the desired height is reached,                    machining the stack of aluminum honeycomb core layers to the desired tolerance under the desired final contour,            applying a layer of syntactic epoxy to the machined aluminum core surface—this is accomplished by applying syntactic epoxy patties to the machined surface, and then forming the patties into a continuous layer by kneading the patties together and "seating" them into the core cells with moderate hand pressure,            curing the epoxy layer, machining it to the final contour desired, then seal the structure with an epoxy sealer
This method is illustrated as "Boeing process" on FIG. 1. However, this approach is again labour and time intensive, in that it involves stacking and bonding of the honeycomb core and hand application of the pliable solid patties. The method requires heating of the entire structure in order to cure the applied patties. The resulting models are also of relatively high density. Several different materials must be used, e.g. foaming adhesives and hand spread patties. The use of several materials can cause problems in matching the adhesive bond lines to the ultimate molding material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,859,096 provides patties made of a one-component epoxy resin tooling material providing cured composition having high Tg and low Coefficient of Thermal Expansion CTE. The composition contains an epoxy resin, an epoxy diluent, a boron trichloride amine complex and a silica or silicate filler. The patties are butted together and rolled out to form a layer covering the substructure which is then heat cured.
Thus, there still remains a need for a model or tool and a method of producing models or tools, where the model or tool is characterised by low production costs, fast processes and a more uniform surface having improved smoothness and free of bondlines. Easy cutting, combined with machine (lathe, CNC or other forms) cuttability are desired attributes. Furthermore, there is growing need to produce tools which can withstand high temperatures, preferably greater than 120 C, more preferred greater than 150 C. Such temperature resistant tools in turn allow production of high temperature cure-able and resistant composites or laminates. In turn these composites are finding greater use as light weight strong objects in aerospace, auto, marine, wind energy, civil construction [eg leisure facilities, exhibitions, films and theater models). Such large models would benefit of having fire retardant properties.

Method of making high temperature resistant models or tools

Huntsman Advanced Materials Americas Inc.


A coin analyzer system includes a coin detecting sensor having a body defined by a magnetic core with spaced apart sides to define there-between an air gap that is large enough to position any size coin which may be deposited. A coil that is magnetically coupled to the core generates a uniform magnetic flux through the air gap from one side to the other so that the positioning of the coin in the air gap is not critical. A return path is provided in the core for returning the magnetic flux to the one side from the other side and thereby completing the magnetic circuit. The arms surrounding the coin sensing region define facing surfaces which converge outwardly from the bite portion in order to produce a uniform magnetic circuit reluctance for all portions of the facing surfaces. The core may be divided into two core portions separated by a secondary air gap in the return path with a pair of coils provided, one magnetically coupled with each of the core portions. One coil may serve as a transmitting coil and the other as a receiving coil. Various detection circuits are disclosed for connection with the sensor coils in order to determine the denomination of the test coin.

This invention relates generally to a Coin Analyzer System for determining whether a coin is of a particular denomination and more particularly to a sensor configuration and detection circuitry for such a coin analyzer system. The invention is particularly adapted to determining whether a coin is one of a plurality of particular denominations.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,905,814 issued to the present inventor and Robert Rollins for a COIL CONFIGURATION FOR ELECTRONIC COIN TESTER AND METHOD OF MAKING, addressed the problems associated with known coils used to generate the magnetic fields in prior art coin acceptance devices. The known coil configurations generate generally doughnut shaped flux patterns. The coins' attenuation characteristics on the field as it passes through the field varies according to the coin's longitudinal and lateral position in relationship to the coil. As a result, coin paths had to be devised which caused the coin to be precisely positioned as it passed the coil. This usually resulted in significant slowing of the rate of travel of the coin and limited the range of coin sizes that could be successfully accepted with one coil.
The solution proposed in the '814 patent was to generate a magnetic flux normal to the face of a coin throughout the coin's diameter, regardless of the coins longitudinal position within the slot, by generating a magnetic flux pattern that is constant throughout the slot's longitudinal axis. This is accomplished in the '814 patent by providing coils wound in a loop on opposite sides of the coin slot generally parallel the longitudinal walls of the slot. The coils are wound in a manner that leaves a central gap and, thereby, purportedly generates magnetic flux lines that are normal to all points of the longitudinal walls.
The coil configuration of the '814 patent, however, does not operate practically in a commercial environment. The opposing coil loops are not capable of generating sufficient flux density to provide adequate detection-signal strength. Furthermore, the purportedly uniform field normal to the longitudinal walls is easily distorted by surrounding metal surfaces within the coin acceptor assembly, thus negating the intended beneficial effects of the sensor configuration. Attempts at correcting the surrounding-metal susceptibility, such as copper shielding, only tended to produce greater field distortions.
Another problem with prior art coin acceptance devices is the ability to develop adequate detection signal levels in order to provide greater discrimination between various coin denominations and between real and counterfeit coins. Various attempts have been made to improve the levels of the detection signals For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,469,213 issued to Raymond Nicholson and the present inventor for a COIN DETECTOR SYSTEM, a spiked signal source is provided, composed of a square wave voltage source and means for differentiating the square wave to produce a spiked signal containing a plurality of frequencies, ranging from the oscillator frequency of 17 kilohertz and multiples, or harmonics, thereof. While the intent of the '213 patent was to supply multiple frequencies in order to provide greater discrimination among various types of coins, the performance was marginal at best. The frequency spectrum was only sparsely populated and resulted in a resonant pulse being produced by the interaction between the primary oscillator frequency, or a low order harmonic thereof, and the reactance of the testing coils. This resonant pulse dominated the other frequencies in the spectrum and, thereby, eliminated most of the beneficial effect of the mixture of frequencies.
Other approaches to improving detection signal levels included placing the sensing coil in an oscillator circuit and measuring variation in phase angle and amplitude of oscillation output caused by the attenuation of the magnetic field as a test coin passes the sensing coil. Such an approach is suggested in U.S. Pat. No. 4,574,936, in which it is suggested that, by measuring multiple parameters, the ability to discriminate is improved. However, the difficulty experienced by inadequate detection signal levels is only marginally improved by monitoring multiple such signals. Other problems experienced by prior art detection circuits include high susceptibility to temperature variations and to changes in the component values with aging, requiring large acceptance windows to avoid repeated rejection of authentic coins.

Coin analyzer sensor configuration and system


The present specification discloses a covert mobile inspection vehicle with a backscatter X-ray scanning system that has an X-ray source and detectors for obtaining a radiographic image of an object outside the vehicle. The system is configured to also simultaneously detect passive radiation. The systems preferably include at least one sensor for determining a distance from at least one of the detectors to points on the surface of the object being scanned, a processor for processing the obtained radiographic image by using the determined distance of the object to obtain an atomic number of each material contained in the object, and one or more sensors to obtain surveillance data from a predefined area surrounding the vehicle.

To counter the threat of terrorism, there is a requirement for systems to be put in place to detect and address subversive activity. Some of such systems known in the art are purely designed to detect subversive activity; others are designed to prevent subversive activity; while still other known systems are designed purely as a deterrent. For example, some systems are primarily physical (such as barriers and security agents), some rely on networks of sensors (such as CCTV systems) while others involve dedicated installations (such as radio jamming mast or X-ray scanning machines).
What is needed, however, are covert surveillance systems that are highly mobile, can be rapidly deployed and allow the use of a plurality of surveillance data to enable more informed, robust and intelligent threat detection and prevention.
Accordingly, there is need for a covert mobile inspection vehicle that uses a plurality of prevention and detection components or sensors.
There is also need for a system that intelligently integrates and/or correlates surveillance information from the plurality of multi-modality sensors to detect and prevent subversive activities.
Further, among detection systems that provide for efficient non-invasive inspection, X-ray imaging systems are the most commonly used. Transmission based X-ray imaging systems are traditionally used to inspect trucks and cargo containers for contraband. Inspection of a certain larger structures, such as complete aircraft, however, can be challenging with a transmission-based geometry wherein, typically, the source is located on one side of the aircraft and detectors are located on the other side of the aircraft. This geometry has many challenges, and in particular, when scanning around the landing gear and engines there is difficulty in placing detectors and thus, in producing radiographic images.
In backscatter-based inspection systems, X-rays are used for irradiating a vehicle or object being inspected, and rays that are scattered back by the object are collected by one or more detectors. The resultant data is appropriately processed to provide images which help identify the presence of contraband. Since aircraft are typically made of lighter materials, a backscatter-based detection system would provide adequate penetration in most cases and thus would only require equipment to be placed on one side of the aircraft.
However, backscatter technology may not be suitable when all areas of the aircraft have to be penetrated with a high detection probability, such as is the case with nuclear materials detection. Areas of high attenuation as measured by the backscattered radiation include fuel tanks, transformers, counterweights, among other aircraft components. In addition, backscatter technology cannot effectively discriminate between typical metals and special nuclear materials.
Aircraft inspection calls for unique requirements such as the capability of inspecting large aircraft from more than one side. In addition, varying aircraft sizes would require the inspection head to scan at different heights, and several sections of the aircraft, such as the wings and tails, would require different head and detector scanning configurations. Conventional X-ray backscatter and transmission systems, however, do not have adequate scanning robustness, ability to work in various orientations, scanning range, or field of view for aircraft inspection applications.
There is also a need to detect partially shielded or un-shielded special and radiological materials using passive detection technology.
There is an even greater need to perform active and passive measurements simultaneously to prevent re-scanning the object or to avoid having two separate screening systems.
In passive radiation-based detection systems, radiation emitted from special and radiological materials is measured without active interrogation. It is challenging, however, to combine both active backscatter inspection and passive radiation detection while still ensuring that the backscatter beam signals do not interfere with passive detection techniques, because the high backscatter radiation will impinge upon passive detectors at the same time the low-intensity passive signals are measured.
Therefore, what is needed is a method and system for detection of both active backscatter and passive radiation, and in particular, simultaneous inspection.
What is also needed is an active and passive detection system that is easily transportable, mobile, and non-intrusive, that is capable of operating even in rugged outdoor conditions such as airport environments.

Covert surveillance using multi-modality sensing