An indicator control circuit includes a signal conversion circuit for converting an analog signal corresponding to a predetermined physical quantity into first digital data and a digital filter circuit for generating second digital data from the first digital data in accordance with a predetermined filter characteristic. An intermediate digital data is obtained during a process in which the second digital data is generated from the first digital data. The digital filter circuit includes operating circuit for operating the intermediate digital data so that a relationship between the first digital data and the second digital data has a hysteresis. The second digital data generated by the digital filter circuit is used for indicating the predetermined physical quantity on an indicator.

The present invention relates to an indicator control circuit that converts a measurement value of a physical quantity into digital data in order to perform display on an indicator such as a speed meter, a tachometer, a water temperature gauge and a fuel gauge, and that performs display on instruments in accordance with that digital data, and in particular, relates to an indicator control circuit that generates a hysteresis in a digital filter without the use of a hysteresis circuit.
A digital display indicator differs from analog display indicator in that the display of the speed of an automobile is given in digital values, for example.
One problem with an indicator that performs digital display is that even when an automobile is running at a constant speed, the value displayed is scattered around the value that is the indicated speed. On the other hand, it is necessary to have the prompt renewal of the displayed speed in accordance with changes in the speed when the vehicle is accelerating and decelerating but there is a poor following. One means of eliminating these problems is to provide a hysteresis circuit. However, although such hysteresis circuits enable the scattering of the display value of the instrument to be reduced, they have an overall configuration which is complex and also have a high cost.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of one example of a conventional indicator control circuit. A signal conversion circuit 21 is configured from a waveform rectifier circuit 12 and a frequency count circuit 13, and the input signals to be measured which are input from an input terminal 10 are converted into digital data, and the converted digital data is supplied to a digital filter circuit 14 so that the response characteristics can be adjusted, and then drive signals corresponding to digital data are generated in the drive circuit 19 and supplied to the display device 20 and drive the gauge of the display device 20.
A digital filter circuit 14 can be configured most simply by a primary filter but they can also be configured from secondary and later filters. FIG. 2 indicates an example of a digital filter circuit 14 that has a complex filter configuration. This digital filter circuit 14 is configured from multipliers 34 to 44, adders 45 to 52, and a delay circuits 53 to 55.
As can be seen from this configuration, in a conventional indicator control circuit, there is no circuit to prevent the flickering of the display value on the instrument when there is a constant speed. Accordingly, there is the problem of flickering of the display value on the display indicator when a hysteresis circuit is not provided.
FIG. 3 indicates a display indicator that is provided with a hysteresis circuit. The flickering of the display value is reduced by a hysteresis circuit 23. The hysteresis circuit 23 is set so that the value displayed for the speed is renewed only when the difference between a speed displayed on a display portion 25 and a speed corresponding a count value in a vehicle speed counter 27 is greater than a predetermined value.
In addition, an indicator control circuit, shown in FIG. 3, also has zero display judgment circuit 29. The zero judgment circuit 29 outputs 0km/h data when the speed is less than a predetermined value, and then the Okm/h is displayed on the display portion.


An angle β between a principal ray of incident light incident on an optical fiber via a lens system and a marginal ray of reflected light nearest to the principal ray of the incident light when the reflected light is the incident light reflected on an entrance end surface of the optical fiber is larger than an angle θ between the principal ray and a marginal ray of the incident light. A receiving surface is provided separately from an inner surface of a light-passing hole so that the reflected light is received by the receiving surface. Therefore, the reflected light from the entrance end surface of the optical fiber is prevented from returning to a semiconductor laser light source to thereby attain improvement in stability and high reliability of laser light output of the semiconductor laser light source.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor laser module for coupling light emitted from a semiconductor laser light source to an optical fiber, and a light scanning device and an image forming apparatus using the same.
A semiconductor laser module by which light emitted from a semiconductor laser light source is efficiently led into a single mode optical fiber has been heretofore widely used chiefly in the field of optical communication. The single mode optical fiber has the advantage of small core diameter and low transmission loss.
FIG. 14 is a view showing a structure of a system for coupling a semiconductor laser light source and an optical fiber to each other according to the background art. As shown in FIG. 14, laser light emitted from a semiconductor laser light source 21 passes through lenses 22 and 23 so as to be led into an optical fiber 24 held in an optical fiber holding member 25. In this case, the optical axis of the laser light coincides with the central axis of the optical fiber 24.
An entrance end surface of the optical fiber 24 is polished so as to be perpendicular to the direction of the optical axis. Generally, reflected light of about 4% is generated in an interface between the air and a glass surface which is an end surface of the optical fiber 24 not subjected to anti-reflection processing. For this reason, the reflected light from the end surface of the optical fiber 24 passes through the lenses 23 and 22 again and returns to a laser oscillation portion of the semiconductor laser light source 21. Accordingly, there is a problem that the laser light output becomes unstable.
FIGS. 15 and 16 are views showing structures of systems for coupling semiconductor laser light sources and optical fibers to each other in order to solve the problem of such unstable laser light output. The structures have been disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2 respectively.
As shown in FIG. 15, in Patent Document 1, an optical fiber 24 having an entrance end surface polished obliquely with respect to the direction of the optical axis is used so that the direction of movement of reflected light from the entrance end surface of the optical fiber 24 is deflected to a direction different from the angle of incident light. Moreover, a semiconductor laser light source 21 and a lens 22 are shifted from the optical axis of the optical fiber 24 and another lens 23 nearer to the optical fiber 24 to make laser light incident obliquely on the optical fiber 24 so that the direction of movement of light refracted at the entrance end surface and made incident on the optical fiber 24 coincides with the axis of the optical fiber 24.
As shown in FIG. 16, in Patent Document 2, an optical fiber 24 having an entrance end surface polished obliquely with respect to the direction of the optical axis is used in the same manner as in FIG. 15 so that the direction of movement of reflected light from the entrance end surface of the optical fiber 24 is deflected to a direction different from the angle of incident light. Moreover, there is provided a structure that an angle of inclination is given to a semiconductor laser light source 21 itself.
Other proposals have been described in Patent Documents 3 and 4. Patent Document 3 has disclosed a method for setting an angle of inclination of the axial center of a single mode optical fiber with respect to the optical axis of a beam emitted from a light source having an elliptic near-field pattern and setting an angle of inclination of a perpendicular line dropped from the entrance end surface with respect to the axial center of the single mode optical fiber.
Patent Document 4 has disclosed a method in which: a linearly polarized beam is used as a laser beam incident on an optical fiber; the laser beam is made incident on the optical fiber so that an angle of incidence with respect to the entrance end surface of the optical fiber is a Brewster angle; and the angle of the entrance end surface of the optical fiber is set so that the laser beam is parallel to the axis of the optical fiber.
Any of the aforementioned Patent Documents 1 to 4 employs a method in which the direction of movement of reflected light from the entrance end surface of the optical fiber is deflected to a direction different from the angle of incident light.
A method different from those in Patent Documents 1 to 4 has been disclosed in Patent Document 5. That is, Patent Document 5 has disclosed a method for an optical module having a receptacle, in which a return light preventing unit is provided in part of an inner wall surface of the receptacle.
Patent Document 1: JP-B-7-119857
Patent Document 2: JP-B-6-12367
Patent Document 3: JP-A-60-191211
Patent Document 4: JP-A-5-196845
Patent Document 5: JP-A-2007-41516
The optical system described in each of Patent Documents 1 and 2 however has a disadvantage that aberration increases because marginal rays of light incident on the optical fiber are displaced largely from the optical axes of the lenses 22 and 23.
Although means for eliminating the disadvantage of Patent Documents 1 and 2 has been described in Patent Documents 3 and 4, there is no consideration about how to prevent reflected light from returning to the laser oscillation portion.
In Patent Document 5, the optical module having the receptacle is configured so that the return light preventing unit is provided in part of the inner wall surface of the receptacle. However, there is no consideration about how to prevent reflected light from returning to the laser oscillation portion.
As another unit for preventing reflected light from returning to an oscillation portion of a semiconductor laser light source in a semiconductor laser module, there is a method using an optical isolator (i.e. an element as a combination of a Faraday rotator and a polarizer) in the semiconductor laser module. Although an RIG (Rare Earth Iron Garnet) film is used as a Faraday rotator for optical communication, the RIG film cannot be used for a short-wavelength laser because the RIG film contains iron so that the RIG film does not transmit visible light with a wavelength of 1 μm or shorter unless the RIG film is considerably thin.
Therefore, TGG (Terbium Gallium Garnet) is used as a rotator for a short-wavelength region. It is however necessary to make the optical path length longer because the rotation angle per unit thickness of TGG is small. To make TGG function as an optical isolator, a large size of several cm is required. Moreover, a powerful and large magnet is required because it is necessary to apply a uniform and intensive magnetic field to TGG in order to obtain high isolation.
In a semiconductor laser module in which an optical fiber and an incident beam have to be aligned with each other in high accuracy of the order of microns, thermal expansion of constituent members is not negligible. Lowering of reliability is therefore caused by increase in size of the semiconductor laser module and expansion of the optical path length. For the aforementioned reason, the optical isolator using TGG has a problem that increase in size of the module is not avoidable.

Semiconductor laser module and light scanning device and image forming apparatus using the same


A cutting element for an earth boring bit comprises a cutting compact of a superabrasive material layer bonded to a supporting substrate. The superabrasive material layer has a pattern of radially extending ribs, the ribs extending from the peripheral surface of the layer, and a second pattern of circular ribs radially spaced from the peripheral surface and intersecting the first pattern of radially extending ribs. The supporting substrate comprises a first pattern of radially extending grooves for mating with the first pattern of radially extending ribs. In addition, the supporting substrate comprises a second pattern of circular grooves for mating with the first pattern of circular ribs. The interface between the substrate and the superabrasive material has a dome-shaped configuration.

This invention relates to a cutting element for an earth boring bit, and more particularly to a cutting element having improved stress distribution between a substrate and a superabrasive cutting compact.
Cutting compacts used as cutting elements in rotary drill bit construction typically comprise a layer of synthetic diamonds, conventionally in the form of polycrystalline diamond. Polycrystalline diamond compact cutting elements, commonly known as PDC""s, have been commercially available for many years. Although there has been some use of PDC""s as a self-supporting layer, the more recent utilization of the polycrystalline diamond compact is in the form a substantially planar diamond layer bonded during formation to a supporting substrate.
Previous uses of the PDC have demonstrated that these compacts are resistant to abrasion and erosion, although there are several identified disadvantages. polycrystalline diamond and tungsten carbide, main components of a PDC, are brittle materials that easily fracture on impact. Another recognized disadvantage of the PDC is the different coefficient of thermal expansion between tungsten carbide and polycrystalline diamond. As a result of this different coefficient of thermal expansion, residual stresses have been identified and are a result of the greater contraction of tungsten carbide over synthetic diamond during a cooling phase. This thermally induced stress between the various components of the PDC results in a reduction in the bond strength between the two components.
During use of a PDC, it has been observed that impact forces relieve the residual sheer stresses resulting in fractures in the compact. The result of this fracturing is that the diamond layer spalls and/or delaminates resulting in a separation and loss of the diamond layer resulting in a failure of the PDC.
Heretofore, a common problem with cutting elements of superabrasive compacts bonded to a substrate is spalling and delamination of the superabrasive layer from the substrate. Spalling and delamination result from subjecting the cutting element to extreme temperatures and heavy stress load fluctuation when a drill bit is in use down a bore hole. During operation at extremely high temperatures, thermally induced stresses have been identified at the interface between the superabrasive cutting compact and the supporting substrate, the magnitude of the stresses being a function of the disparity in the thermal expansion coefficients of adjacent materials.
There are numerous patents granted directed to various attempts made to limit the effects of thermal induced stress by modifying the geometry of the interface between the diamond and the tungsten carbide. As illustrated by a review of earlier issued patents, the interface modification many times replaces a planar interface with an irregular, non-planar interface geometry. Many of the early attempts to solve the stress related disadvantages of the PDC claim as an advantage the redistribution of residual stresses. A redistribution of residual stresses does allow an increase in the diamond thickness thereby resulting in an increase in bit life. The non-linear planar interface between the diamond and the tungsten carbide substrate results in an enhanced mechanical interlocking and improved stability and performance of the cutting element and therefore translates into longer bit life.
While cutting elements utilizing the superabrasive cutting compacts employed in rotary drill bits for earth boring have achieved major advances in obtainable rate of penetration at economically viable costs, the interface between the superabrasive cutting compact and the supporting substrate leaves something to be desired. As a result, considerable activity has been directed toward attempts to improve the bond between the superabrasive cutting compact and the supporting substrate by configuring the rear face of the cutting compact so as to provide a degree of mechanical interlocking between the cutting compact and the supporting substrate. Several United States patents directed to solutions for this problem have been granted including U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,617,928; 4,784,023 and 5,351,772, to identify only a few, describe various techniques for improving the bond between the superabrasive cutting compact and the supporting substrate.
The present invention relates to improvements in the interface between the superabrasive cutting compact and the supporting substrate.
According to the invention there is provided a superabrasive cutting compact integral with a substrate to form a cutting element. The cutting compact comprises a pattern of radially extending ribs where the ribs extend from in proximity to a peripheral edge of the compact. A circular shaped pattern of circular ribs radially spaced from the peripheral edge of the compact intersect the pattern of radially extending ribs. The substrate supporting the cutting compact comprises a pattern of radially extending grooves for mating with the pattern of radially extending ribs. The substrate also comprises a pattern of circular grooves for mating with the pattern of circular ribs of the cutting compact.
The ribs of the cutting compact and the grooves of the substrate have an expanding width dimension from one circumferential segment of a peripheral edge of the cutting element to the opposite circumferential segment. Further, in accordance with this alternate embodiment, the circular pattern of ribs and the circular pattern of grooves comprise segments of concentric circles spaced from the peripheral edge. The ribs and grooves can have different widths and depths.
In another embodiment of the invention, the substrate surface comprises a convex surface and the mating surface of the cutting compact comprises a concave surface.
Alternatively, the cutting element comprises a cylinder with the cutting compact fixed perpendicular to the axis of the cylinder or the superabrasive cutting compact is affixed directly to a stud insert for use with a rotary drill bit.
A technical advantage of the present invention is a cutting element having improved stress distribution between a superabrasive material cutting compact and a supporting substrate resulting in enhanced performance of a cutting element as part of a rotary drill bit. An additional technical advantage of the present invention is providing an improved bond between the superabrasive material cutting compact and the substrate surface affixed thereto.


A method for preparing L-carnitine using a micro-reaction system. (R)-4-halo-3-hydroxybutyrate was subjected to quaternization and hydrolysis in an aqueous trimethylamine solution in the presence of an inorganic base in a micro-channel reactor to produce the L-carnitine.

As a key transmitter in the fat metabolism, levocarnitine, also known as L-carnitine or vitamin BT, mainly plays a role in promoting the oxidation and decomposition of fatty acids in mitochondria to provide energy for cells. L-carnitine is widely used in the treatment of carnitine deficiency and various ischemic heart diseases, liver disease, kidney disease and dyskinesia characterized by muscle weakness, etc. It can also be used as an additive in food and feed. With regard to the preparation of L-carnitine, International Patent No. 2007/139238, U.S. Pat. No. 4,895,979, EP Patent No. 0339764, and JP Patent No. 1989211551 all disclosed that (R)-4-halo-3-hydroxybutyrate underwent quaternization in an aqueous solution containing 27%-30% by weight of trimethylamine, and then the resultant product was hydrolyzed in the presence of hydrochloric acid to obtain L-carnitine. Though this method had shortened reaction time (3-5 hours), the yield of L-carnitine was relatively low (only 46% at most). In the method proposed by International Patent No. 00/29370 and US Patent No. 2002/0165408, (R)-4-halo-3-hydroxybutyrate underwent the above-mentioned two steps in an aqueous solution containing 45% by weight of trimethylamine to prepare L-carnitine, in which the yield of L-carnitine was greatly increased to 70-75%, but the reaction time was as long as 24-60 hours. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,710,468, a solution of (R)-4-halo-3-hydroxybutyrate in methanol or ethanol and an aqueous solution containing 25% by weight of trimethylamine were subjected to the abovementioned two-step reaction to prepare the L-carnitine. However, the yield of L-carnitine decreased significantly when the process was scaled up to a hectogram scale, and is thus not suitable for industrial production. Chinese Patent No. 100348573C and Chinese Patent Publication No. 102952028A both disclosed a method for preparing L-carnitine by reacting (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate with a trimethylamine aqueous solution in the presence of an inorganic base. This method had a relatively high yield, but the reaction needed to be completed at low temperature for 24-48 hours, bringing low efficiency and high energy consumption.
JP Patent No. 1990142758 and Chinese Patent No. 103012177B respectively disclosed a method for preparing L-carnitine through a gas-liquid reaction of a (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate organic solution and trimethylamine gas in the presence of an organic base. The total yield of L-carnitine can reach 69-76%, but the reaction conditions were harsh and the operation is complicated. Zhou et al. from University of Wisconsin-Madison (J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1983, 105: 5925-5926) has reported that octyl (R)-4-chloro-3-hydroxybutyrate reacted with a solution of trimethylamine in ethanol to prepare L-carnitine, and the total yield was not satisfactory (only 45%). In summary, the above methods all are carried out in a traditional batch stirred reactor, and have the drawbacks of complicated operation, long quaternization time, excessive side reactions and low yield.

Method for preparing L-carnitine using micro-reaction system


A holographic photographing system, a holographic display system, a stereoscopic photographing system and a display method are provided. M photographing devices are distributed on a same circumference at equal intervals, and an included angle between two adjacent photographing devices to a center of circle is 360/m. At a top end of a vertical portion of an L-shaped frame, each of the photographing devices is at equal intervals provided with: an intermediate photographing mechanism, a left photographing mechanism and a right photographing mechanism, a left driving servo motor and a right driving servo motor, a guide post and a vertical driving servo motor, and a driving lead screw connected to a driving shaft. The support plate moves up and down along the guide post to drive the left driving mechanism and the right driving mechanism to move up and down.

The technology for photographing 3D movies and playing 3D movies is to shoot a real 3D scene in a 3D method and then play and show the shot 3D scene to everyone in a 3D method.
As the most widely used prior art at present, as shown in FIG. 1, two cameras, i.e., a left camera 301 and a right camera 302, are arranged in parallel at a distance of 63 mm (the distance between human eyes), and are biased inward at a small angle of a and a′, respectively. The intersection '0' of the center lines of the lenses of the two cameras is positioned on a surface of an object to be photographed. Before photographing, an X-direction polarized lens or a red lens is mounted on the lens of the left camera 301, and a Y-direction polarized lens or a green lens is mounted on the lens of the right camera 302; and, the two cameras are simultaneously started for photographing. During displaying, the two images are simultaneously displayed on the screen. At this time, if the movie is watched by naked eyes, it is very blurry and there are ghost images, a special glasses is required when watching the movie. If the images are shot by the polarized light, it is necessary to wear a pair of polarized glasses. Since an X-direction polarized lens is worn on the left eye, only the images shot by the left camera 301 can be seen, but the images shot by the right camera 302 cannot be seen; and, since a Y-direction polarized lens is worn on the right eye, only the pictures shot by the right camera 302 can be seen, but the images shot by the left camera 301 cannot be seen. If the images are shot by red and green light, it is necessary to wear a pair of red-green glasses when watching. Since a green lens is worn on the left eye, only the red images shot by the left camera 301 can be seen, but the green images shot by the right camera 302 cannot be seen; and, since a red lens is worn on the right eye, only the green images shot by the right camera 302 can be seen, but the red images shot by the right camera 301 cannot be seen. When a viewer faces the screen, the images viewed in this way are really like stereoscopic images simultaneously viewed by two eyes. This is the 3D movie watched.
In the prior art, it is necessary to wear a pair of 3D glasses when watching the 3D movie. The images watched by the viewer are image illusions photographed at two positions, which will cause dizziness and nausea after the long-time watching.
Additionally, there are still some disadvantages: the photographing and displaying in the prior art can only be performed from a single angle of view, and it is impossible to simultaneously view scenes of a same moving object from other angles of view, such as watching side and back of a same moving object simultaneously, so it is impossible to fully satisfy the taste of all viewers.

Holographic photographing system, holographic display system, stereoscopic photographing system, and display method


Systems and methods for indicating conditions for the appropriate inflation and/or deflation of tires are disclosed. Some systems and methods include measuring a variable affecting the internal gas temperature of a tire, calculating by the processor an estimated internal gas temperature of a tire, and determining whether a tire is appropriate to inflate and/or deflate.

The inflation of tires on vehicles (e.g., aircraft) can often be a hazardous activity, which if not done properly, can result in decreased tire life, premature failure, and/or the destruction of property.
Accurate and precise estimation of the appropriate internal pressure of tires can be difficult given the heating and cooling of gas contained in a tire. The appropriate internal pressure of a tire can be difficult to predict because of the relationship between wheel temperature, tire temperature, and ambient temperature.

Tire inflate/deflate indication method and system


A bumper mounting assembly comprises a support member mountable to a vehicle front and a bumper-carrying member hingedly mounted to the support member to be movable between an upright position and a lowered position. A primary actuator is secured to the support member and the bumper-carrying member and can apply braking force against movement of the bumper-carrying member from the upright position to the lowered position and can preferably move the bumper-carrying member from the lowered position to the upright position. One of the bumper-carrying member and the support member carries a detent and the other carries a movable latch and a latch actuator for moving the latch between an engagement position and a disengagement position, with the latch biased into the engagement position so that the latch can selectively retain the bumper-carrying member in the upright position. A system to maintain pressure in a spare tire is also described.

In many conventional motor coach buses, that is, buses which are used for long distance travel, it is conventional to provide a spare tire storage compartment immediately aft of the front bumper. The front bumper is hingedly mounted to the front of the motor coach bus body so that it can pivot downwardly to expose the spare tire compartment, and is maintained in an upright position by fasteners.
To lower the bumper and expose the spare tire, an operator must position him or her self in front of the bumper to disable the fastener, potentially risking injury as the bumper pivots downward under its own weight.

Bumper mounting assemblies and vehicles incorporating same


The present invention is an exhaust gas recirculation system for a motor vehicle, having a turbocharger unit (18) which has a turbine (20) and a compressor (36), the compressor (36) having a compressor wheel (42) which rotates on an axis (66). There is also a dispersion apparatus (56) operably associated with a condensation separation apparatus (58). The condensation separation apparatus (58) separates moisture from exhaust gas flowing from the turbine (20), and the dispersion apparatus (56) reintroduces the moisture into the compressor (36) in proximity to the compressor wheel axis (66), preventing erosion of the compressor wheel (42).

Turbocharging units are a commonly used way to increase the power of an engine, both With conventional internal combustion engines, and Diesel engines. Turbochargers are comprised of a turbine, and a compressor. The turbine receives exhaust gas from the exhaust manifold of the engine, and the turbine wheel located inside the turbine rotates, powering a compressor wheel inside the compressor. The compressor forces high-pressure air into the intake manifold of the engine, increasing power output.
Due to increased environmental concerns, an emphasis has been placed on reducing the amount of exhaust gas emissions of both internal combustion engines and diesel engines. One method that has been used to reduce exhaust gas emissions has been to reintroduce the exhaust gas into the intake manifold of the engine, reducing the amount of exhaust gas released into the atmosphere. This is commonly achieved through the use of an EGR valve.
Current and future emission requirements for diesel engines in Europe, the U.S., and most foreign markets require engine concepts capable of delivering high EGR-rates at very low vehicle loads/speeds. One way of providing these EGR-rates is by using low pressure EGR. However, exhaust gas can contain a high amount of water vapor, dependent on the humidity of the air and the fuel quantity burned in the combustion chamber of the engine. The path the exhaust gas flows through, also called the EGR path, is comprised of the turbocharger, a particulate filter, an exhaust pipe, an EGR path having an EGR valve, a low-pressure EGR path having a low pressure EGR valve, and a low pressure EGR cooler. While the water vapor passes through the EGR path, at certain driving conditions such as cold ambient temperature, or low engine loads and therefore low exhaust temperatures after a cold start, the water vapor cools down below its dew point temperature and droplets are formed. These droplets of different aerodynamic radii pass through the EGR path, the low-pressure EGR path, the low pressure EGR cooler, and into the intake pipe in front of the rotating compressor wheel, also called the mixing area.
One major problem caused by the droplets coming into contact with the compressor wheel is that these droplets that are formed can lead to massive droplet erosion on the compressor wheel. One way to keep droplets from hitting the compressor wheel in a critical area is to have the droplets permanently removed from the flow of exhaust gas going into the compressor wheel under all driving conditions. It is very difficult to permanently remove the condensate from the intake side because of the negative pressure drop to atmosphere (pumping would be necessary). Also humidity in the intake air is a positively influencing parameter for in-cylinder NOx reduction.
Another way to keep droplets from hitting the compressor wheel area is to temporarily separate the condensate from the gas flow, and then re-introduce the liquid condensate into the exhaust gas in an area to avoid corrosion of the blades on the compressor wheel. This is difficult because dispersion of liquid condensate can cause damage to the compressor wheel blades.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to bring the water vapor or condensate from the exhaust gas of the engine into close contact with the compressor wheel in an area of low blade speed to prevent erosion of the compressor wheel.

Re-introduction unit for low-pressure exhaust gas recirculation condensate at or before compressor


Provided is a method for representing a graphic object in a memory. A surface of the object is partitioned into a plurality of cells having a grid resolution related to an image plane resolution. Each cell is bounded by eight grid points related to the image plane resolution. A single zero-dimensional surface element is stored in the memory for each cell located on the surface of the object. The surface elements in adjacent cells are connected by links, and attributes of the portion of the object contained in the cell are assigned to each surface element and each link.

This invention relates generally to graphics systems, and more particularly, to generating graphic objects that are represented by connected zero-dimensional points.
In computer graphics, one can represent objects in 3D space in many different ways using various primitive graphic elements. The known representations that are commonly used to represent graphic objects are implicit, geometric, volumetric, and particle.
Implicit
In an implicit representation, the graphic object can be generated from arbitrary mathematical and/or physical functions. For example, to draw the outline of a hollow sphere one simply supplies the rendering engine with the function (in Cartesian coordinates) x2+y2+z2=r, and for a solid sphere the function is x2+y2+z2xe2x89xa6r. Color and other material properties can similarly be synthetically generated. Functions can be used to describe various geometric shapes, physical objects, and real or imaginary models. Implicit functions are not suitable for synthezising complex objects, for example, a human figure.
Geometric Representation
Classically, 3D objects have been geometrically modeled as a mesh of polygonal facets. Usually the polygons are triangles. The size of each facet is made to correspond to the degree of curvature of the object in the region of the facet. Many polygons are needed where the object has a high degree of curvature, fewer for relatively flat regions. Polygon models are used in many applications, such as, virtual training environments, 3D modeling tools, and video games. As a characteristic, geometric representations only deal with the surface features of graphic objects.
However, problems arise when a polygon model is deformed because the size of the facets may no longer correspond to local degrees of curvature in the deformed object. Additionally, deformation may change the relative resolution of local regions. In either case, it becomes necessary to re-mesh the object according to the deformed curvature. Because re-meshing (polygonization) is relatively expensive in terms of computational time, it is usually done as a preprocessing step. Consequently, polygon models are not well suited for objects that need to be deformed dynamically.
Volumetric Representation
In an alternative representation, the object is sampled in 3D space to generate a volumetric data set, for example, a MRI or CT scan. Each sample is called a voxel. A typical data set may include millions of voxels. To render a volumetric data set, the object is typically segmented. Iso-surfaces can be identified to focus on specific volumetric regions. For instance, a volumetric data set of the human head may segment the voxels according to material properties, such as bone and soft tissue.
Because of the large number of voxels, physically-based modeling and the deformation of volumetric data sets is still a very computationally expensive operation. Often, one is only interested in surface features, and the interior of the object can effectively be ignored.
Particle Representation
A particle representation of objects is often used to model fluid flows, for example, in wind tunnel simulations. Certain attributes, such as orientation velocity, are given to particles in order to track individual particles through the fluid flow, or to visualize the complete flow.
Another application of particle representation is in the visualization of xe2x80x9ccloud likexe2x80x9d objects, such as smoke, dust or mist. A shading model can be applied to particles that emit light to render cloud like objects. Also, particles can be constrained to subspaces with the help of energy functions to model surfaces. An advantage of particle clouds is that the clouds are very deformable. As a disadvantage, the particles in the cloud are unconnected and behave individually when exposed to forces. Furthermore, particles are quite unsuitable to represent surface structures of solid objects or models.
Modeling Considerations
A number of techniques are known for non-physical and physical modeling of graphic objects in the various representations. Non-physically based models often use splines, Bezier curves, and the like. There, control points are manipulated to achieve the desired degree of deformation.
The physical techniques generally fall into two categories, rigid body mechanics, and dynamic deformation. Rigid body mechanics usually solve differential equations that follow from Newtonian mechanics. In computer systems, numerically integrators can be used to solve the differential equations. Dynamic deformation can be modeled by finite element methods (FEM), or mass-spring systems.
Rendering Considerations
The rendering time for these conventional primitives depends on the complexity of the objects modeled. For example, with a geometric representation of a complex object, the polygons are typically very small in size, about the size of a pixel, and the object is represented by many polygons. The polygons are usually represented with vertices that define a triangle.
To render a polygon, the projection of the triangle is scan-converted (rasterized) to calculate the intensity of each pixel that falls within the projection. This is a relatively time consuming operation when about one pixel or less is covered by the polygon. Replacing the polygons with point samples and projecting the point samples to the screen can be a more efficient technique to render objects.
A number of techniques are known for rendering volumes. In general, volume rendering is quite complex. Unless the number of voxels is limited, real-time rendering can be time consuming.
A real-time rendering system, described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,781,194 xe2x80x9cReal-time Projection of Voxel-based Object,xe2x80x9d issued to Ponomarov et al. on Jul. 14, 1998, constructs a chain of surface voxels using incremental vectors between surface voxels. That representation succeeds in modeling and displaying objects showing highly detailed surface regions. The modeling of rigid body motion is done with the aid of scripting mechanisms that lacks realism because physically-based methods are not used. This approach does not include the possibility of realistic deformation of objects. The objects act as rigid bodies in space that are unresponsive to collisions and other deforming forces.
In the prior art, discrete particles or points have been used as a meta-primitive in graphic systems, see, Levoy et al, xe2x80x9cThe Use of Points as a Display Primitive,xe2x80x9d University of North Carolina Technical Report 85-022, 1985. They described a process for converting an object to a point representation. There, each point has a position and a color. They also describe a process to render the points as a smooth surface.
The points are modeled as zero-dimensional density samples and are rendered using an object-order projection. When rendering, multiple points can project to the same pixel and the intensities of these points may need to be filtered to obtain a final intensity for the pixel under consideration. This filtering is done by weighing the intensity proportional to the distance from the projected point position on the screen to the corresponding pixel-center. The weighing is modeled with a Gaussian filter. An enhanced depth-buffer (Z-buffer) allows for depth comparisons with a tolerance that enables the blending of points in a small region of depth-values. As an advantage, their point representation allows one to render the object from any point of view.
In another technique, as described by Grossman et al. in xe2x80x9cSample Rendering,xe2x80x9d Proceedings of the Eurographics Workshop ""98, Rendering Techniques 1998, Drettakis, G., Max, N.(eds.), pages 181-192, July 1998, the point samples are obtained by sampling orthographic projections of triangle meshes on an equilateral triangle lattice. For each triangle of the lattice that is covered by the projection of the triangle mesh, a sample point is added. An equilateral triangle lattice was chosen to provide an adequate sampling which is dense enough to guarantee that each pixel is covered by at least one sample.
All of the known representations have some limitations. Therefore, what is desired is a representation that combines the best features and simplifies modeling and rendering.
Provided is a method for representing a graphic object in a memory. A surface of the object is partitioned into a plurality of cells having a grid resolution related to an image plane resolution. Each cell is bounded by eight grid points related to the image plane resolution. A single zero-dimensional surface element is stored in the memory for each cell located on the surface of the object. The surface elements in adjacent cells are connected by links, and attributes of the portion of the object contained in the cell are assigned to each surface element and each link.
The object attributes assigned to each surface element can include a position of the surface element on the surface of the object, a color and opacity of the portion of the object in the corresponding cell, a normal to the surface in the corresponding cell, and offsets to surfels in the adjacent cells.

Method for generating graphical object represented as surface elements

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


A multi-port cabling system for use in installing cable to an equipment rack or enclosure or within an equipment room or data center includes a cabling assembly comprising at least one connector head having a plurality of ports and at least one cable operatively connected to the plurality of ports. The at least one cable terminates internally within the connector head to operatively couple the cable to the plurality of ports. The system further includes a mounting bracket. The mounting bracket and the connector head are each configured for tool-less attachment of one or more cabling assemblies to the bracket. The mounting bracket is further configured to removably mount to an equipment rack or enclosure, and/or to a wall, to thereby install one or more cables. The cabling assembly and the cabling system help to eliminate on-site cable termination and testing during installation of cables to rack-mounted equipment.

1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to cable installation and management in an equipment rack or enclosure.
2. Discussion of Related Art
Configuration of equipment rooms and data and network centers to create effective IT environments presents a number of challenges. Integration of servers, networking equipment and storage devices, for instance, requires careful planning to configure an environment that can address current as well as future and varying requirements. Such requirements can include signal speeds, power densities, cooling and flexibility with respect to rack equipment architecture. Ideal solutions to meet such requirements are quick and easy to install such that new configurations, equipment, and systems can be deployed with minimal equipment downtime and without substantial cost.
Cable management systems, equipment and techniques used to configure racks and to provide service connections to rack-mounted equipment and to provide inter-rack connections are generally standard components that are universally employed by equipment manufacturers and end-users. For instance, rack-mountable patch panels are typically used for cable termination and provide a plurality of ports for connection of equipment components to cable. Commonly, patch panels facilitate connection of ports to cable conductors via one or more 110-style punch down blocks disposed along the rear of the patch panel. All incoming cable conductors are terminated to connections along the punch down block, often using a punch down tool. Cable termination is commonly conducted on-site within an equipment room or data center and thereafter requires testing to ensure compliance with applicable performance standards.
Such patch panels can have a massive number of cables such that installing and managing these cables is a significant task. Wire termination to punch down blocks requires a technician and is time-consuming, often contributing substantially to installation costs. Patch panel cable installations are typically considered "built-in" and are essentially permanent configurations as relocating such installations, for instance, during reconfiguration of racks or equipment rooms is often inconvenient and difficult.
In addition, the integrity of the cables must be maintained during cabling through and between racks and where configuring the cables with cable management hardware. Care must be taken to prevent kinking of cables and to prevent cables from being bent tighter than the allowable minimum bend radius for the type of cable. Excessive bending and kinking can cause permanent damage that adversely affects cable performance.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


There is provided an air conditioner, and more particularly, an apparatus and method for controlling a heating operation in a heat pump system, in which a continuous heating operation is provided. 1. The apparatus for controlling a heating operation in a heat pump system includes: at least one compressor for compressing a refrigerant into a high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant vapor; a passage switching unit for switching a refrigerant circulation passage depending on a heating mode or a cooling mode; an indoor heat exchanger for condensing the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant vapor for a heating operation or a defrosting/heating operation of the heating mode; an expansion unit through which the condensed refrigerant passes during the defrosting/heating operation; an outdoor heat exchanger for defrosting at least one tube region by using the condensed refrigerant discharged from the expansion unit; and a defrosting control unit for expanding and decompressing the refrigerant that flows between the tube regions, or for bypassing the refrigerant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air conditioner, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for controlling a heating operation in a heat pump system, in which a continuous heating operation is provided.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, air conditioners are equipments to circulate a refrigerant through a reiteration of compression, condensation, expansion and evaporation. A combined cooling and heating air conditioner is recently developed. The combined cooling and heating air conditioner includes at least one outdoor unit and at least one indoor unit connected each other and uses a heat pump system that can selectively performs cooling and heating operations. In the air conditioner, at least one indoor unit is disposed at every installation space and a temperature of air is individually controlled at every installation space.
In the combined heating and cooling air conditioner, the cooling and heating functions are executed using a cooling cycle of flowing a refrigerant through a forward channel and a heating cycle of flowing a refrigerant through a reverse channel.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view illustrating a cooling cycle of a heat pump system according to the related art.
Referring to FIG. 1, the air conditioner includes a compressor 10, a four-way valve 11, an outdoor heat exchanger 12, an outdoor fan 13, an expansion valve 14, an indoor heat exchanger 15, and an indoor fan 16.
In the cooling operation, the compressor 10 compresses an inhaled refrigerant and discharges the refrigerant in a high-temperature and high-pressure vapor phase. The discharged refrigerant flows to the outdoor heat exchanger 12 through the four-way valve 11.
The outdoor heat exchanger 12 performs a condensation operation of exchanging heat between the refrigerant and an outdoor air using the outdoor fan 13, thereby condensing the refrigerant from the high-temperature and high-pressure vapor phase to a room-temperature and high-pressure liquid phase.
The expansion valve 14 makes the refrigerant from the outdoor heat exchanger 12 suitable for evaporation at the indoor heat exchanger 15. For this purpose, the expansion valve 14 expands the refrigerant, while creating a pressure drop.
The indoor heat exchanger 15 performs an evaporation operation of exchanging heat between an indoor air and the low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant using the indoor fan 13. During the heat exchange, the refrigerant is expanded with reducing its pressure such that the refrigerant is evaporated into a low-temperature and low-pressure vapor phase while taking heat from the indoor air, thereby reducing a temperature of the indoor air.
The low-temperature and low-pressure refrigerant vapor from the indoor heat exchange 15 is inhaled into the compressor 10 again to complete one cycle of the cooling operation.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view illustrating a heating cycle of a heat pump system according to the related art. The heating cycle is opposite to the cooling cycle.
For the heating cycle, the four-way valve changes a flowing direction of the refrigerant in the channel (switching operation). That is, the four-way valve make a passage between the discharge side of the compressor 10 and an inlet side of the indoor heat exchanger 15.
A high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant vapor is discharged from the compressor 10 and then the refrigerant flows to the indoor heat exchanger 15 via the four-way valve. The indoor heat exchanger 15 uses the indoor fan to facilitate a heat exchange between the high-temperature and high-pressure refrigerant vapor and an indoor air, such that the indoor air is heated and the refrigerant is condensed into a liquid phase.
The expansion valve 14 expands the refrigerant condensed at the indoor heat exchanger 15, while reducing the pressure of the refrigerant, in order to make the refrigerant suitable for evaporation. The outdoor heat exchanger 12 performs an evaporation operation of exchanging heat between an outdoor air and the refrigerant using the outdoor fan 13, thereby evaporating the refrigerant into a low-temperature and low-pressure vapor phase.
The refrigerant discharged from the outdoor heat exchanger 12 flows into the compressor 10 through the four-way valve to complete one cycle of the heating operation.
When the heat pump system performs the cooling operation, the outdoor heat exchanger 15 acts as a condenser and the indoor heat exchanger 12 acts as an evaporator. While the heat pump system performs the heating operation, the outdoor heat exchanger 15 acts as an evaporator and the indoor heat exchanger 12 acts as a condenser.
During the heating operation, frost is deposited on surfaces of tubes of the outdoor heat exchanger 12. The deposited frost disturbs the heat exchange of the outdoor heat exchanger 12, thereby reducing heat exchange efficiency and increasing heat loss and power consumption as well.
In more detail, the frost is deposited on the outdoor heat exchanger 12 when outdoor temperature is lower than a specific temperature, for example lower than 4° C. Since the frost disturbs the heat exchange, the heating operation cannot be continued. To remove the frost, the heating operation is suspended and a defrosting operation is performed through a reverse cycle (cooling cycle) for a predetermined time. Herein, there occurs a problem in the control of the indoor air, since the heating operation for heating the indoor air is suspended.
Further, referring to FIG. 3, the frosting operation is repeated with a predetermined time interval. Therefore, the frost deposited on the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is removed and efficiency drop of the outdoor heat exchanger 12 is prevented. During the defrosting operation, the indoor fan 16 is stopped and an outdoor louver is closed in order not to incur displeasure of user. Nevertheless, since the heating operation is discretely performed owing to the defrosting operation, the user feels displeasure.
Furthermore, since the heating operation and the defrosting operation are repeated periodically, the compressor 10 also repeats its driving and stopping operations frequently, so that compression loss of the compressor is generated

Apparatus and method for controlling heating operation in heat pump system


A composite mode substrate voltage generation circuit for a DRAM which has a memory cell block and a peripheral circuit block formed on a single substrate. The circuit comprises a back-bias voltage generator for generating a first back-bias voltage in response to a normal refresh mode control signal or a second back-bias voltage in response to a self-refresh mode control signal and supplying the generated first or second back-bias voltage to the memory cell and peripheral circuit blocks, a first voltage level detector for detecting a level of the first back-bias voltage from the back-bias voltage generator, comparing the detected level of the first back-bias voltage with a first reference voltage level and controlling a voltage pumping operation of the back-bias voltage generator in accordance with the compared result, and a second voltage level detector for detecting a level of the second back-bias voltage from the back-bias voltage generator, comparing the detected level of the second back-bias voltage with a second reference voltage level and controlling the voltage pumping operation of the back-bias voltage generator in accordance with the compared result. A self-refresh operation can stably be performed at low power consumption, resulting in an increase in refresh efficiency of the DRAM.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to a substrate voltage generation circuit for a semiconductor memory device, and more particularly to a composite mode substrate voltage generation circuit for a dynamic random access memory (referred to hereinafter as DRAM) in which a reference voltage for the generation of a substrate voltage in a self-refresh mode is lower than that in a normal refresh mode, so that a self-refresh operation can stably be performed at low power consumption, resulting in an increase in refresh efficiency of the DRAM.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Generally, a DRAM has operating modes such as a read mode, write mode, refresh mode, etc.. The refresh mode is classified into two modes, or a normal refresh mode and a self-refresh mode. The normal refresh mode is performed when the DRAM is normally operated, and the self-refresh mode is performed by a refresh counter in the DRAM when the DRAM is not accessed.
Because a memory cell access operation is not basically performed in the self-refresh mode, a self-refresh operation requires a period longer than that of a normal refresh operation. The self-refresh period depends on an interval for allowing charge stored in a memory cell not to be lost due to a leakage current.
In the DRAM, each memory cell is composed of one transistor and one capacitor. Charge stored in the capacitor may be lost due to a leakage current, which is generally classified into a junction leakage current at a storage node and a subthreshold leakage current in a subthreshold region of the transistor. Generally, as a semiconductor chip is highly integrated, a memory device becomes smaller in size and thus has a short channel effect. As a result, the subthreshold leakage current accounts for most charge losses in the DRAM cell.

Composite mode substrate voltage generation circuit for dynamic random access memory

Hyundai Electronics Industries Co., Ltd.


A method for color correcting an original halftone bitmap image by a predefined color correction function to produce a color corrected halftone bitmap image comprising: providing an original halftone bitmap image; estimating the dot area percentage of the original halftone bitmap image in a set of sub-image blocks; calculating an aim dot area percentage, based on a predefined color correction function, for each sub-image block in the original halftone bitmap image, calculating the number of halftone bitmap image pixels to convert to on or off states to produce a modified original halftone bitmap image that has the aim dot area percentage where said value is designated by N, for each sub-image block in the original halftone bitmap image, and converting N pixels in the original halftone bitmap image to either on or off states depending on whether the aim dot area percentage is greater or less than the dot area percentage of the original halftone bitmap image respectively, for each sub-image block in the original halftone bitmap image.

Digital halftoning refers to any algorithmic process which creates the illusion of continuous-tone images from the judicious arrangement of binary picture elements (pixels).
RIPing (Raster Image Processing) is the digital image processing that takes a continuous-tone image and original graphical elements and provides a binary halftoned output image file. RIPing an image file usually can include the steps of spatial filtering, interpolation, tone and color modification, and digital halftoning
There is a need to control the size of the dots in a pre-existing halftone bitmap. This bitmap could have been generated by a digital screening system (i.e., a RIP) or it could have been generated by scanning an optical piece of film to create a digital bitmap file. In general, these bitmap files were created with some output device in mind. As such, the dot pattern was created to produce a given density to dot percentage relationship tailored to the target output device. If this bitmap file were printed on an output device that had different dot-gain characteristics than the target device the density as a function of dot-area percentage will be different Thus, in order to achieve the desired dot percentage to output density relationship of the target device, on a different device, the bitmap file for the target device must be modified according to the dot-gain differences between the target device and the given output device.
For most traditional digital-proofing scenarios this dot-gain compensation is done by re-RIPing the original art with a modified dot-gain curve. This modified dot-gain curve accounts for the dot-gain differences between the target device and the proofing system. Thus, a custom bitmap file needs to be generated for each output device. The main drawback to this paradigm is that the proofs may be made on systems that do not use the same screening technology as was used to create the target bitmap file. Thus, in order to support a RIP-once-output-many (ROOM) workflow the dot-gain compensation needs to be applied to the bitmap file directly
The present invention offers an efficient technique to adjust the dot sizes of bitmap image files such that the color and tone of the bitmap files can be adjusted prior to printing. These bitmap files can consist of single channel bitmaps such as those for a single color device (e g, a black-and-white laser printer), those for a CMYK output device (e g., a printing press or a graphic-arts proofer), or any output device that utilizes bitmap files of any number of channels (e g, a multi-ink inkjet printer). In the present invention the color and tone of the bitmap files are adjusted by growing or shrinking the size of the bitmap dots using an erosion/dilation based halftone dot-growth technique using a dot edge-detection scheme.
In short, this technique identifies the edges of the halftone dots and either selectively adds or removes binary pixels (bitmap dots) to or from these edges to control the size of the halftone dots. The edges of the halftone dots are obtained using the morphological image processing technique of boundary detection using dilation and erosion depending on whether the dot in question needs to increase in size or decrease in size respectively. The exterior boundary of a dot feature is detected using a dilation based boundary detection process. The interior boundary of a dot feature is detected using an erosion based boundary detection process. The structuring elements used in the edge detection process can be tailored depending on the dot-growth task. The amount that a given dot percentage needs to grow or shrink is defined by a dot-gain curve.
Several approaches for dot-gain modification of bitmaps have been proposed. The dot gain may be adjusted for each of the primary colors cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. A description for how to do this is disclosed by Spence in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,255,085 and 5,293,539 titled "ADAPTIVE TECHNIQUE FOR PROVIDING ACCURATE TONE REPRODUCTION CONTROL IN AN IMAGING SYSTEM" and "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CALIBRATING TONE REPRODUCTION IN A PROOFING SYSTEM". Here, percent dot area is calculated using the Murray and Davies equation from measured densities.
Denber, et. al disclose a method of shifting and ANDING a bitmap image with itself to thin the image displayed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,250,934 "METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR THINNING PRINTED IMAGES" and also teaches a method of setting a bit to an intermediate level if it is diagonally between two active bits using shifting, logical AND, and a logical OR operation.
Mailloux, et al discloses using a 4×4 input to a lookup table to determine how to operate on the central 2×2 pixels to implement halfbit or fullbit dilation and erosion in U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,351 titled "DILATION OF IMAGES WITHOUT RESOLUTION CONVERSION TO COMPENSATE FOR PRINTER CHARACTERISTICS". This requires knowing some of the surrounding pixels when deciding how to dilate or erode the pixels in the center.
Eschbach teaches in U.S. Pat. No. 5,258,854 titled "CONVERTING BETWEEN WRITE-WHITE, WRITE-BLACK, AND NEUTRAL BITMAPS", how to resize bitmap images in small amounts less than one full bit in size. Eschbach states that the erosion and dilation may be by differing amounts in the x and y directions, and that the amount of resizing may be a fraction of a full pixel.
Loce, et al teaches logically combining two morphological filter pairs and an original image to create an output image in U.S. Pat. No. 5,680,485 titled "METHOD AND APPARATUS EMPLOYING EROSION-BASED FILTER PAIRS FOR IMAGE MAPPING". The morphological filters described are erosion filters, one of which has less erosion than desired and the other having more erosion than desired Logically combining combinations of the original image with the two eroded images provides for a method of obtaining an intermediate result.
Eschbach describes a method of resizing an input bitmap in U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,871 titled "PIXEL QUANTIZATION WITH ADAPTIVE ERROR DIFFUSION" Eschbach simulates a scan of an output image from an input bitmap such that the scan resolution is different from the input bitmap. Error diffusion is utilized to quantize the output bitmap into the desired output bit resolution This example uses en-or diffusion to spread out the error in the quantization of a multilevel pixel into a reduced number of output states.
None of the afore mentioned patents address the issues associated with adjusting the halftone bitmap image dot shape up and down the tone scale. U.S. Pat. No. 6,115,140, inventors Bresler and Nosko, issued Sep. 5, 2000, is of interest. This patent teaches a method for color correcting a halftone bitmap image using a dilation and erosion based filtering process which generates a set of filtered halftone bitmap images that can be merged together to create a color corrected halftone bitmap image. The process has several limitations that limit its quality and usefulness In their process, Bresler and Nosko take an original halftone bitmap image and perform the morphological filtering process of dilation and erosion to create a series of filtered halftone bitmaps images. In their process, they teach a method where their dilation process adds a complete layer of on pixels around the original halftone dot features present in the halftone bitmap image. This process is illustrated in FIG. 9 of this patent application. Notice that in FIG. 9 three levels of dilation of the original feature are shown. Also referring to FIG. 9 the original bitmap (700) is dilated to produce a once-dilated bitmap (702). Subsequent dilation of the once-dilated bitmap (702) produces a twice-dilated bitmap (704). Subsequent dilation of the twice-dilated bitmap (704) produces a three-times dilated bitmap (706)
Their output halftone bitmap image consists of a dithered (or weighted) combination of the dilated or eroded halftone bitmap images. The dithering operation is controlled by continuous-tone estimates of the halftone bitmap images generated using a descreening process. This dithering operation can take on the form of simple fixed threshold or more complicated variable threshold techniques. Inherently, this process suffers from rounding errors that can produce unwanted texture into the resulting bitmap.

Halftone dot-growth technique using a dot edge-detection scheme


The present invention is directed to HSV-1 vectors which rely on the tetracycline repressor and operator as a means for regulating expression. The vectors utilize VP-16 responsive promoters of HSV to control expression of the tetracycline repressor. The vectors are of particular interest as vehicles for recombinantly expressing genes in vivo.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a linear double stranded DNA virus with genome size of about 152 kb. The genome of HSV-1 is encapsided by an icosadeltarhedral capsid surrounded by a viral envelope. HSV replicates in epithelial cells and establishes life-long latent infection in neuronal cell bodies within the sensory ganglia of infected individuals. The latent viral genome is maintained in an episomal state and does not ordinarily cause serious disease or interfere with normal cellular function (Rock, et al., J. Virol. 55:849-852 (1985)). These characteristics have made HSV of particular interest for use as a vehicle for gene therapy procedures designed to treat diseases of the CNS (Latchman, Curr. Gene Ther. 2:415-426 (2002); Glorioso, et al, J. Neurovirol. 9:165-172 (2003); Jacobs, et al., Neoplasia 1:402-416 (1999); Advani, et al., Clin. Microbiol. Infect. 8:551-563 (2002); Martuza, et al., Science 252:854-856 (1991)). One difficulty that has been associated with the development of such procedures has been in finding vectors that induce high expression levels of delivered genes and do so in a manner that can be tightly regulated.
During the past decade, significant progress has been made in developing genetic switches that can be used to control the expression of recombinantly delivered genes (Clackson, Gene Ther. 7:120-125 (2000); Gossen, et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 89:5547-5551 (1992); Gossen, et al., Science 268:1766-1769 (1995); No, Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci USA 93:3346-3351 (1996); Wang, et al., Proc. Nat'l Acad. Sci. USA 91:8180-8184 (1994); Rivera, et al., Nat. Med. 2:1028-1032 (1996)). In the case of prokaryotic elements associated with the tetracycline (tet) operon, systems have been developed in which the tet repressor protein is fused with polypeptides known to modulate transcription in mammalian cells. The fusion protein has then been directed to specific sites by the positioning of the tet operator sequence. For example, the tet repressor has been fused to the activation domain of transactivator (VP-16) and targeted to tet operator sequences positioned upstream from the TATA element of promoter of a selected gene (Gossen, et al., Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 89:5547-5551 (1992); Kim, et al., J. Virol. 69:2565-2573 (1995); Hennighausen, et al., J. Cell. Biochem. 59:463-473 (1995)). The tet repressor portion of the fusion protein binds to the operator thereby transporting the VP-16 activator to the specific site where the induction of transcription is desired. An alternative approach has been to fuse the tet repressor to the KRAB repressor domain and target this protein to an operator placed several hundred base pairs upstream of a gene. Using this system, it has been found that the chimeric protein, but not the tet repressor alone, is capable of producing a 10 to 15-fold suppression of CMV regulated gene expression (Deuschele, et al., Mol. Cell Biol. 15:1907-1914 (1995)). One problem with these types of systems is that a portion of fusion proteins corresponding to the mammalian transactivator or repressor trends to interact with cellular transcription factors and cause pleiotropic effects.
Recently, a tetracycline-inducible transcription switch for use in mammalian cells was developed (U.S. Pat. No. 6,444,871; Yao, et al., Hum. Gene Ther. 9:1939-1950 (1998)). This system was highly successful at regulating gene expression and has been used in developing plasmid-based vectors that are now sold commercially (T-REx™, Invitrogen, CA).

Tetracycline-regulated gene expression in HSV-1 vectors


The present disclosure relates to a multi-step method for processing peroxygen solutions for reuse or disposal. The method uses an enzyme and a reducing agent.

Peroxygen compounds are used as decontamination agents, bleaching agents or oxidizing agents in various applications, including in food and beverage processing as food surface decontamination treatments, food packaging decontamination treatments, clean-in-place treatments, food processing water decontamination treatments, food-contact surface decontamination treatments and the like. Used peroxygen solutions must either be reused or disposed of. If the peroxygen solution is disposed of, the residual peroxygen concentration may need to be decreased in order for the peroxygen solution to be compatible with biological waste treatment processes. If the residual peroxygen concentration is too high, the peroxygen compounds can inhibit or kill the beneficial microorganisms used in the wastewater treatment process. It is against this background that the present disclosure is made.

Method for processing peroxygen solutions


A cruise control system includes an input device that generates an operator input signal. A control module generates a cruise control command signal to maintain a vehicle speed at a set target speed. The control module operates in a normal mode that is associated with decreasing the set target speed, based on the operator input signal, when the vehicle speed is within a window about the set target speed. The control module overrides the normal mode and enables reset of the set target speed to a current vehicle speed, which is based on the operator input signal, when the vehicle operator input signal is greater than the cruise control command signal.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent it is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Cruise control systems are utilized on vehicles to enable the vehicle to maintain a desired vehicle speed. A controller maintains the vehicle speed through varying road and vehicle conditions. A vehicle operator may set and manipulate a cruise control target speed through depression of an accelerator pedal, a brake pedal, and/or a clutch pedal, as well as via actuation of hand controls.
When a target speed is set, cruise control systems attempt to maintain a current vehicle speed at approximately the target speed. The current vehicle speed may be different than the target vehicle speed due to various vehicle operating conditions. For example, when traveling on inclined road surfaces, the current vehicle speed may be less than or greater than the target speed.
Cruise control systems typically allow the vehicle operator to return to and/or increase a target speed by pushing a RESUME button or to set, decrease and/or reset the target speed by pushing a SET button. A calibration window is often centered about the target speed. A calibration factor is equal to half a width of the calibration window. A first target speed may be set by pushing the SET button when cruise control is active. A reset of target speed occurs when the SET button is pushed while vehicle speed is outside the calibration window.
The reset can either increase or decrease target speed. For example, the target speed is increased when the SET button is depressed and the current vehicle speed is equal to at least the target speed plus the calibration factor. Put another way, the target speed is increased when the current vehicle speed is greater than the target speed and outside the calibration window. The target speed is decreased when the current vehicle speed is greater than the target speed and inside the calibration window. Usually, the target speed is decreased by a set reduction amount through pushing of the SET button. When the SET button is depressed and the current vehicle speed is within the calibration window, the target speed is reduced.
As an example, the calibration factor may be set at 5 miles per hour (mph). When a request command signal is received to reset the target speed, the cruise control system either significantly increases or decreases the target speed, or slightly reduces the target speed such as 1 mph.
Under certain scenarios, a cruise control system may not respond to vehicle operator input as the vehicle operator intended. For instance, a vehicle operator may depress an accelerator pedal to increase the current vehicle speed to a command speed and push the SET button to reset the target speed. However, due to cruise control system operating limitations, the cruise control system may not reset the target speed at the command speed. The calibration factors are designed into cruise control systems to avoid inappropriate vehicle response, but have operating limitations.
As another example, when the calibration factor is large, a request command signal may be denied and thus a set target speed is not increased, but rather is decreased. Similarly, when the calibration factor is small, the target speed can be easily reset. A small calibration factor can result in an increase in the target speed without driver depression of an accelerator pedal, although the vehicle operator intended a decrease in the target speed.
As a further example, a vehicle when operating on a declined surface may experience a current vehicle speed that is above a target speed. The vehicle operator may attempt to reduce the target speed through depression of the SET button. However, since the current vehicle speed is greater than the target speed and outside a corresponding calibration window, the target speed may be increased.

Cruise control interaction with driver commanded speed reset


A method and apparatus for enabling anonymous communications from a first Bluetooth device to a second Bluetooth device is disclosed wherein a temporary identification number associated with the first Bluetooth device is obtained and used in transmissions from the first Bluetooth device to the second Bluetooth device. A temporary identification number provides no clear indication of the particular Bluetooth communications device transmitting messages.

The Bluetooth communications protocol (Bluetooth is a trademark of Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson) is a wireless radio short range communications protocol enabling devices such as mobile telephones, computers and other electronic devices to communicate with each other over short ranges. When communicating using this protocol, a Bluetooth radio unit transmits over the wireless link a unique identity number that enables other devices to identify and address the Bluetooth radio unit. While use of the unique identity number is necessary for operation of units using the Bluetooth communications protocol, this requirement represents a threat to the security and privacy of people that carry a Bluetooth device.
This is due to the fact that the presence of a Bluetooth device can be established through identification of its unique identity number. If someone can register the presence of a specific Bluetooth unit and has also been able to identify a particular individual using this device, this person may identify through the presence of the Bluetooth device that the specific person is present within a particular location. In some circumstances this type of identification procedure may be highly undesirable. Thus, the need has arisen for some method of interaction among Bluetooth devices that does not necessarily provide the identity of the Bluetooth device, and hence the individual using the device is not made readily available.

System and method for anonymous Bluetooth devices


Whether all pages have the same print settings is determined before print settings are changed in a print preview, and the setting change is permitted only when all pages have the same print settings. In each layer of XPS data to be processed, whether the print setting information is not added to the element of the layer or whether the print setting information added to the element of the layer is shared by all elements of the layer is determined. A change in the print setting information by the user is accepted if one of the conditions is satisfied. When the print settings are changed, the setting change is not reflected on individual print tickets. The change is reflected on the entire job by adding a print ticket reflected with the setting change on the top element.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a document processing apparatus and a document processing method having a so-called preview function, or the like, for displaying a printing image to allow the user to recognize the printing image before print processing.
Description of the Related Art
In a print system using a computer with Windows (registered trademark) of Microsoft Corporation installed as an operating system (OS), print data generated by an application program (application), and the like, is stored in a spool file in an OS-standard data format. The OS invokes a printer driver to print the print data. The printer driver reads the print data stored in the spool file, an image generation processing unit creates a printing image, and a printer further converts the data into a print command that can be interpreted. The print command is transmitted to the printer, and the printer interprets the print command and forms an image on a recording medium to execute print processing.
In the printer driver, a print preview function is realized in which print data and print settings are analyzed before the print command is transmitted to the printer to create display data indicating the print result, and the data is displayed in advance. The preview function is provided as a module of the printer driver. A function is also included in which the preview function outputs the content drawn by a rendering module of the printer driver or a drawing module of the OS on the display unit, the content serving as a print preview (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-167721 or Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-102618). The print preview function also realizes a function of displaying the print settings and making a change as necessary (see, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2006-011847).
Meanwhile, a print system different from the conventional print system has been emerged in recent years. In the new print system (will be called "XPS print system"), not a conventional EMF format (Enhanced Meta File), but an XPS format (XML Paper Specification) is used as a data format stored in the spool file. The XPS is an open-standard electronic document format developed by Microsoft Corporation.
To facilitate the user to recognize the extent of the impact of changes when the print settings are changed in the print preview, a method is used in some cases in which the target of the print setting change is limited to a job in which all pages in the job have the same print settings, and the change is reflected on the entire job. In that case, whether all pages in the job have the same print settings needs to be determined. In the XPS print system, a print ticket (PrintTicket or PT) that is XML data describing the print settings can be prepared for a part of the job such as a page. Therefore, the print tickets need to be compared to determine whether the print settings are the same in the pages of the document data in XPS format.
However, when the items described in the print tickets are individually compared, a large process load may be imposed depending on the number of pages or the number of items described in the print tickets. Furthermore, to reflect changes on the print tickets after the print settings are changed, the print tickets need to be updated to reflect the changes on all pages.

Controlling changing of print setting for structured document


Disclosed are chimeric HPV L1 proteins and virus like particles comprising the same which are capable of generating high titer neutralizing antibody responses against at least two HPV types. The disclosed chimeric HPV L1 proteins and VLPs are useful as therapeutic and prophylactic reagents, as well as reagents for diagnosing papillomavirus infection.

Papillomaviruses infect a wide variety of different species of animals including humans. Infection is typically characterized by the induction of benign epithelial and fibro-epithelial tumors, or warts at the site of infection. Each species of vertebrate is infected by a species-specific set of papillomavirus, itself comprising several different papillomavirus types. For example, more than sixty different human papillomavirus (HPV) genotypes have been isolated. Papillomaviruses are highly species-specific infective agents. For example, canine and rabbit papillomaviruses cannot induce papillomas in heterologous species such as humans. Neutralizing immunity to infection against one papillomavirus type generally does not confer immunity against another type, even when the types infect a homologous species.
In humans, papillomaviruses cause genital warts, a prevalent sexually-transmitted disease. HPV types 6 and 11 are most commonly associated with benign genital warts condylomata acuminata. Genital warts are very common, and subclinical or inapparent HPV infection is even more common than clinical infection. While most HPV-induced lesions are benign, lesions arising from certain papillo-mavirus types, e.g., HPV-16 and HPV-18, can undergo malignant progression. Moreover, infection by one of the malignancy-associated papillomavirus types is considered to be a significant risk factor in the development of cervical cancer, the second most common cancer in women worldwide. Of the HPV genotypes involved in cervical cancer, HPV-16 is the most common, being found in about 50% of cervical cancers. The prevalence of HPV-18 ranges from approximately 8-31% depending on the geographical location, and in most areas worldwide, HPV-45 is the third most frequent, oncogenic HPV type (Bosch, F. X., et al. (1995, J. Natl. Cancer Inst. 87: 796-802).
In view of the significant health risks posed by papillomavirus infection generally, and human papillomavirus infection in particular, various groups have reported the development of recombinant papillomavirus antigens and their use as diagnostic agents and as prophylactic vaccines. In general, such research has been focused toward producing prophylactic vaccines containing the major capsid protein (L1) alone or in combination with the minor capsid protein (L2). For example, Ghim et al, Virology, 190:548-552 (1992), reported the expression of HPV-1 L1 protein, using vaccinia expression in Cos cells, which displayed conformational epitopes and the use thereof as a vaccine or for serological typing or detection. This work is also the basis of a patent application, U.S. Ser. No. 07/903,109, filed Jun. 25, 1992 (abandoned in favor of U.S. Ser. No. 08/216,506, filed on Mar. 22, 1994), which has been licensed by the assignee of this application. Also, Suzich et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 92:11553-11557 (1995), report that the immunization of canines with a recombinant canine oral papillomavirus (COPV) expressed in a baculovirus/-insect cell system completely prevented the development of viral mucosal papillomas. These results are important given the significant similarities between many HPVs and COPV. For example, COPV, similar to HPVs associated with anogenital and genital cancer, infects and induces lesions at a mucosal site. Also, the L1 sequences of COPV shares structural similarities to HPV L1 sequences. Given these similarities, the COPV/beagle model is useful for investigation of L1 protein-containing vaccines, e.g., investigation of the protective immune response, protection from natural infection and optimization of vaccination protocols. (Id.)
Also, a research group from the University of Rochester reported the production of human papillomavirus major capsid protein (L1) and virus-like particles using a baculovirus/insect cell expression system (Rose et al, University of Rochester, WO 94/20137, published on Sep. 15, 1994). In particular, they reported the expression of the L1 major capsid protein of HPV-6 and HPV-11 and the production of HPV-6, HPV-11, HPV-16 and HPV-18 virus-like particles.
Further, a University of Queensland research group also purportedly disclosed the recombinant manufacture of papillomavirus L1 and/or L2 proteins and virus-like particles as well as their potential use as vaccines (Frazer et al, WO 93/02189, published Feb. 4, 1993).
Still further, a United States government research group reported recombinant papillomavirus capsid proteins purportedly capable of self-assembly into capsomere structures and viral capsids that comprise conformational antigenic epitopes (U.S. Pat. No.5,437,951, Lowy et al, issued Aug. 1, 1995). The claims of this patent are directed to a specific HPV-16 DNA sequence which encodes an L1 protein capable of self-assembly and use thereof to express recombinant HPV-16 capsids containing said HPV-16 L1 protein.
With respect to HPV capsid protein containing vaccines, it is widely accepted by those skilled in the art that a necessary prerequisite of an efficacious HPV L1 major capsid protein-based vaccine is that the L1 protein present conformational epitopes expressed by native human papillomavirus major capsid proteins (see, e.g., Hines et al, Gynecologic Oncology, 53:13-20 (1994); Suzich et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci., U.S.A., 92:11553-11557 (1995)).
Both non-particle and particle recombinant HPV L1 proteins that present native conformational HPV L1 epitopes have been reported in the literature. It is known that L1 is stable in several oligomeric configurations, e.g., (i) capsomeres which comprise pentamers of the L1 protein and (ii) capsids which are constituted of seventy-two capsomeres in a T=7 icosahedron structure. Also, it is known that the L1 protein, when expressed in eukaryotic cells by itself, or in combination with L2, is capable of efficient self-assembly into capsid-like structures generally referred to as virus-like particles (VLPs).
VLPs have been reported to be morphologically and antigenically similar to authentic virions. Moreover, immunization with VLPs has been reported to elicit the production of virus-neutralizing antibodies. More specifically, results with a variety of animal papillomaviruses (canine oral papillomavirus and bovine papillomavirus-4) have suggested that immunization with VLPs results in protection against subsequent papillomavirus infection. Consequently, VLPs composed of HPV L1 proteins have been proposed as vaccines for preventing diseases associated with human papillomavirus infections.
For example, it has been reported that the L1 protein can assemble into VLPs when expressed using recombinant baculovirus and vaccinia virus vectors and in recombinant yeast (Hagensee et al, J. Virol., 68:4503-4505 (1994); Hofmann et al, Virology, 209:506-518 (1995); Kirnbauer et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 89:12180-12184 (1992); Kirnbauer et al, J. Virol., 67:6929-6936 (1993); Rose et al, J. Virol., 67:1936-1944 (1993); Sasagawa et al, Virology, 206:126-135 (1995); Suzich et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 92:11553-11557 (1995); Volpers et al, Virology, 200:504-512 (1994); Zhou et al, J. Virol., 68:619-625 (1994)).
Most previous recombinant L1 preparations isolated from eukaryotic cells have resulted in a variable population of VLPs approaching 55 nm in diameter, which are similar in appearance to intact virions. However, VLP assembly is somewhat sensitive to cell type. For example, L1 expressed in Escherichia coli is expressed largely in the form of capsomeres or smaller, with few or no capsids apparent either in the cell or upon purification (Rose et al, J. Virol., 67:1936-1944 (1993); L1 et al, J. Virol., 71:2988-2995 (1997)). Similar results are observed when the polyoma virus VP1 protein is expressed in E. coli (Salunke et al, Biophys. J., 56:887-900 (1989)).
To date, there has been no effective method for eliciting high titered neutralizing antibody responses against two or more HPV types with a single VLP. Indeed, due to the rarity of authentic human papillomavirus stocks very little work has been conducted on cross-neutralizing antibody responses. However, the ability of HPV VLPs to elicit antisera that would cross-react with other HPV VLP types has been examined. Antisera to individual HPV VLP types have been tested by ELISA for reactivity with a variety of other HPV VLP types. In general, antibody reactivity to HPV VLPs is type-specific. The antiserum reacts with the VLP that was used in the generation of the antiserum but not with other HPV VLP types. In cases where a high degree of cross-reactivity of the antiserum with other VLP types have been reported, the amino acid sequences of the heterologous HPV type has been highly homologous to the original type. For example, strong anti-VLP antibody cross-reactions have been reported between HPV-6, HPV-11 and between HPV-18, HPV-45 (R. C. Rose, personal communication, W. White et al., in preparation, L. F. Zang (2000) Vaccine 1051-1058). The cross-neutralizing, activity of cross-reacting antisera has been assessed in the few instances where the HPV stocks are available and infectivity assays have been developed. In vitro infectivity assays for HPV-11, -16, -18 have been reported (Smith et al., 1995 J. Invest. Dermatol. 105: 1-7, White et al., 1998 J. Virol. 72: 959-964, White et. al., 17th international Papillomavirus Conference, 1999). Additionally, assays for HPV-31 and -45 have been recently developed (S. Wilson, unreported results). Results with these assays have indicated that strong cross-reactivity is indicative of cross-neutralizing activity (White, et al., 1998 J. of Virol. 72: 959-964, White et. al., 17th International Papillomavirus Conference, 1999, Wilson, et al., unpublished results). In each case, however, the cross-neutralizing titer has always been significantly lower (10-100 fold) than the reactivity against the homologous type. The level of antibody that will be needed to provide protection against HPV infection is not known. However, it is a widely held belief that higher antibody titers will provide greater levels of protection. Thus, the current restriction is that broad-based coverage against a variety of HPV types will require the inclusion of multiple VLP types. Each additional VLP type represents production and purification challenges as well as increases the complexity and cost of the vaccine. Therefore, it would be advantageous to minimize the number of VLP types and yet produce a product capable of eliciting protective or therapeutic responses against a variety of HPV types.

Chimeric human papillomavirus (HPV) L1 molecules and uses therefor