The image forming apparatus includes a rotatable image bearing member, a latent image forming device, a developing device, a transferring device, and a corona charging device having a discharge wire and a surrounding shield member and being arranged downstream of a developing position on the image bearing member with respect to its rotational. A density detecting member detects a density of the toner image on the image bearing member at a position downstream of a discharge position of the corona charging device with respect to the rotational direction and upstream of a transfer position. An air flow path is formed through the inside of the shield member and an air is sucked from the image bearing member side toward the shield member. Toner scattered from the developing device side and headed to the density detecting member can be reduced, and ozone near a post charging device can be removed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus of an electrophotographic system such as a copying machine or a printer which forms an image on a recording material by using the electrophotographic system, or an image forming apparatus of an electrostatic recording system.
2. Description of the Related Art
Today, there are available a greater number of electrophotographic image forming apparatus capable of forming color images. One among them is a color image forming apparatus of a so-called one drum intermediate transferring belt system which sequentially forms toner images of yellow, magenta, cyan and black on one photosensitive drum, sequentially superimposes and transfers the toner images on an intermediate transferring belt, transfers the toner images of the intermediate transferring belt en bloc onto a recording material, and forms color images by fixing unfixed toner images of the recording material thereon by heat. There is also a tandem type color image forming apparatus which arrays a plurality of photosensitive drums, forms toner images of yellow, magenta, cyan, black and the like on the photosensitive drums, transfers the toner images from the photosensitive drums to an intermediate transferring belt, transfers the toner images of the intermediate transferring images onto a recording material, and forms color images by fixing unfixed toner images of the recording material thereon by heat.
In these color image forming apparatus, in a secondary transfer process of transferring the toner images of plural colors formed on the intermediate transferring belt en bloc to the recording material, if a toner charge amount on the intermediate transferring belt varies from color to color, colors of low and high transferabilities are generated, causing a problem of a reduction in image quality.
To prevent the problem, a post charging device for setting toner to a predetermined charge amount on the photosensitive drum after development is disposed to face the photosensitive drum. Toner charge amounts of color toner images transferred to the intermediate transferring belt are made uniform, thereby preventing the aforementioned problem.
Meanwhile, toner density detecting means is disposed in the color image forming apparatus. This toner density detecting means detects a toner density of the toner image on the photosensitive drum, and plays the following two roles.
One of these roles is to detect how much a predetermined latent image is developed, and used for controlling developing efficiency of a developing device. In the case of 2-component development, a mixing ratio of toner and a carrier greatly affects developing efficiency. Thus, feedback is generally given for toner replenishment of the developing device. The other of the above roles is used for controlling a gradation of an output image. A plurality of latent images different in gradation are provided, toner images are formed, densities thereof are detected, and feedback is given for control factors concerning gradation control of a look-up table or the like.
Ordinarily, a toner image for density detection uses an image of a small patch-shaped area. Accordingly, a toner density detecting sensor is called a patch detecting sensor in some case. As it is an optical sensor, the toner density detecting sensor (referred to as "patch detecting sensor", hereinafter) cannot correctly measure a toner density if a sensor surface is stained with toner.
To solve this problem, a proposal of disposing a shutter between a photosensitive drum and a patch detecting sensor is described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. H01-309082. There is also known a method of preventing sensor staining by disposing a cleaning member such as a brush on a backside of a shutter to collect toner stuck to a sensor surface.
According to the conventional configuration, however, problems described below are inherent. The patch detecting sensor is arranged below the developing device to detect a density of a toner image developed by the developing device. In consequence, the shutter must be opened when the density of the toner image is detected. If development is carried out while the shutter is open, toner scattered from the developing device is stuck to a detecting unit of the patch detecting sensor to stain it.
Thus, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 05-289463 describes a configuration in which a post charging device is arranged on a downstream side of a developing device with respect to a rotational direction of a photosensitive drum, a patch detecting sensor is arranged on a downstream side of the post charging device, and a transferring unit is arranged on a downstream side of the patch detecting sensor. Such a distance set between the developing device and the patch detecting sensor enables a reduction in staining.
Additionally, an air flow must be formed around the post charging device to remove ozone generated from the post charging device. For the purpose of saving space, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-162852 describes a configuration in which an air flow for blowing toward a photosensitive drum and a flow of air sucked away from the photosensitive drum (a photosensitive drum side) are formed in a post charging device. With this configuration, ozone generated from the post charging device can be removed.
However, depending on an air flow in the post charging device, toner scattered from the developing device may be headed to the patch detecting sensor, causing a problem of sticking of the scattered toner to the patch detecting sensor even if the developing device and the patch detecting sensor are set apart from each other.


A method and apparatus for gasifying tires comprises a housing divided into a tire hopper and vaporization chamber into which air and combustible fluid are inserted through intake manifolds to initially combust and thereafter oxidize tires placed in the housing. Oxidation results in volatile gases and solid residue. The latter is removed through a hatch in the vaporization chamber and the former is shunted to a mixing chamber which comprises an outer compartment, a middle compartment, and an inner compartment. The middle compartment receives the volatile gases which are then mixed with air in the outer and inner compartments. The mixture is combusted with the aid of a combustible fluid mixed in and thereafter shunted to a combustion chamber which further mixes the combustible fluid by means of baffles to thoroughly combust the mixture.

The proper disposal of vehicle tires has long been a problem in recent years with the proliferation of motor vehicles and the subsequent increase in used tires. Even the casual observer can tell tales of seeing huge piles of tires in gas stations, junkyards, and the like. Though used tires have rapidly increased in number, the methods for their disposal have not kept pace with their increasing numbers. What is more, the usual methods of disposal occasion considerable damage to the environment. The need for proper disposal is illustrated by the many states now paying up to one dollar per tire to terminal disposers pursuant to the National Scrap Tire Act.
Open burning of tires is undesirable because of the large amounts of resulting carbon and pollutants released into the air. Methods have been developed whereby tires are incinerated in closed housings and in which resulting pollutants are minimized, but many of these methods require that the tires be shredded beforehand in order to fully combust. Shredding requires a large expenditure of time and energy and therefore minimizes or eliminates the net amount of useful energy which may result from tire incineration.
Though closed tire incineration methods are more desirable than those conducted in the open air, all methods continue to rely on simple combustion of the tires or similar processes. Such methods are inefficient, often necessitating shredding, and leave large amounts of solid waste residue and produce harmful gases such as carbon monoxide.


An optical system provides a lens cell having a generally cylindrical lens cell body and an optical lens system therein. The lens cell body has a lens cell central longitudinal axis and a lens cell optical axis, eccentrically offset from the lens cell central longitudinal axis. A sleeve has a generally cylindrical sleeve body, an outer surface with a first longitudinal axis, and an inner surface with a second longitudinal axis, eccentrically offset from the first longitudinal axis. The lens cell is inserted into the sleeve. A housing has a generally cylindrical body into which the sleeve is at least partially inserted. The lens cell and the sleeve are rotated relative to each other and to the housing such that the lens cell optical axis is aligned in a desired location. After the lens cell optical axis is aligned in the desired location, the lens cell is fixedly connected to the sleeve and the sleeve is connected to the housing to prevent rotation of the sleeve relative to the housing.

In a vision-assisting device, such as a monocular, the device is collimated when the output optical axis matches the input optical axis such that the beam of light entering the device is parallel with the beam of light exiting the device. Typical assembly procedures produce a device that is not collimated due to inconsistencies in the mounting of various optical elements within the device. A night vision device normally deviates from a collimated system due to the offset caused by the microchannel plate and twisted fiber optic within the device.
When the device is not collimated, the image produced by the system is slightly out of alignment with the input image. Such slight misalignment is typically not a problem for a monocular. However, a binocular constructed from two uncollimated monoculars results in a user's eyes needing to independently point in different directions. This is a very unnatural condition, and often causes the user to experience eyestrain and headaches.
The F5050 night vision goggle collimates one monocular to the other through the use of a mechanism that includes a single eccentric mechanical housing. The single eccentric housing allows shifting of the optical image to approximate a collimated image. However, the F5050 goggles must be aligned as a system. Neither output optical axis is necessarily aligned with the mechanical axis of the binocular, or the input optical axes. If one of the monoculars is replaced or serviced, then both monoculars again need to be collimated to make the output axes parallel.
It would be beneficial to provide a collimated binocular in which a monocular can be replaced or serviced without having to re-collimate both monoculars in the binocular.


A solar energy street lamp structure with an adjustable angle is provided. The solar energy street lamp structure includes a lamp holder, a lighting unit, a photovoltaic panel, an electric power storage portion, and an actuation portion. A frame and a holder of the lamp holder are movably coupled by pivot units. The electric power storage portion is placed inside the lamp holder. An actuation unit of the actuation portion is connected between the frame and the holder for adjusting an angle between the frame and the holder such that the lighting unit and the photovoltaic panel, both disposed on the holder, are adjustable synchronously. The photovoltaic panel and the lighting unit are rotatable according to an incident angle of sunlight by adjusting the holder. Thus, the solar energy street lamp structure generates power at enhanced efficiency and can emit light in various directions so as to have wide applicability.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to angle-adjustable solar energy street lamp structures and, more particularly, to a solar energy street lamp structure with an adjustable angle for use with street lamps.
2. Description of Related Art
With crude oil prices continuously on the rise worldwide due to the gradual depletion of petroleum fuel, and with global greenhouse gas emissions being under regulation after the Kyoto Protocol was signed, almost all major countries in the world have devoted considerable resources to the research of alternative energy sources such as electricity generated by wind power or hydraulic power, biodiesel, solar energy, and so on. Of the various technologies of alternative energy sources, solar energy technology is the most highly developed.
Solar energy is used mainly by converting light energy from the sun into electric power and is presently applicable to solar energy vehicles, indoor lighting, outdoor bulletins, and so forth. Now that street lamps are commonly seen in our daily life and are exposed to the sun for a long time, it is very suitable for street lamps to be powered by solar energy. Besides, solar energy street lamps may also solve the problem of inconvenient power cable deployment in remote areas.
Taiwan Patent No. M283111 discloses a "Solar Energy Street Lamp" comprising a lamp holder, a lighting device, a rechargeable battery, and a photovoltaic panel. The photovoltaic panel absorbs solar energy, converts the absorbed solar energy into electric power, and delivers the electric power to the rechargeable battery. The rechargeable battery then supplies necessary electric power to the lighting device and thereby drives the lighting device to emit light.
However, solar energy street lamps are mostly located along urban streets, where sunlight may be blocked by nearby buildings. In such cases, the solar energy street lamps are exposed to the sun only for part, but not all, of the daytime hours such that the solar energy absorbed by the solar energy street lamps is insufficient to generate enough electric power for sustaining light emission by lighting devices of the solar energy street lamps. Consequently, nighttime illumination on the streets is compromised.

Solar energy street lamp structure with adjustable angle


A card game with a Dealer and at least one player, the game using at least one deck of standard playing cards, including dealing a hand of a first face-up card to each player and a face-down card to the Dealer, and dealing at least one additional card to each hand unless the corresponding hand has a value of a target number achievable by one card, the objective of the card game being to achieve a hand with a value of the target number, allowing one discard, where face cards and aces each have a value of one, and where a post-discard hand value greater than the target number is a Bust. When a player's hand is a Bust, that player may be given the option to wager an additional amount, where a subsequent Dealer Bust hand results in that player winning her original wager plus the additional amount.

The gaming industry has historically provided exciting leisure activity and has been a popular source of revenue and jobs for communities that promote casinos and riverboats. Such establishments typically have card tables that may be customized for particular games such as blackjack, poker, etc. Casino type card games may be played with standard fifty-two card decks, and games such as blackjack may be played with several standard decks assembled in a shoe. Various methods may be employed for shuffling.
Poker games may or may not include a separate dealer who does not receive a hand but merely distributes cards to each active player hand. In private poker games, the deal may shift between players for each hand. By comparison, in blackjack, a "Dealer" acts as an agent of the casino or "house," and deals herself a hand in each game. Each player then plays her hand against the hand of the Dealer. Further details of standard casino type blackjack are not described herein because such details are well known to those skilled in the art. Typical variations of blackjack may include "house rules," including options for player side bets, wager increases, payoff amounts or percentage, Hit options, hand splitting, etc., and may include separate rules for how the Dealer must play her hand, such as by specifying when the Dealer is required to stand, etc. The Dealer wins, loses, or ties individually against each player's hand. House rules may permit a player to play more than one hand at a time. Each player hand is wagered against the hand of the Dealer, where the wager is collected by the Dealer if the Dealer's hand wins, and where the Dealer pays to the player an amount equal to the player's wager if the Dealer loses to that particular player.
Casino type games may be played as a social activity among live participants using actual cards, or may be played on automated machines such as those known generically as "video poker" type games or as "video slots." A casino type game may also be played on one or more cellular telephones, as an interactive internet game, as a computer software program, on a stand-alone hand-held unit such as a GAMEBOY™ unit, as a pre-installed game in a computer operating system, and in various other formats and media such as three-dimensional movie facilities, portable multi-function communication devices, and others.
There is a need for new casino type games suitable for being played in gaming establishments and in other interactive situations.


An MRI compatible communication system is disclosed. An interface module manages communications between devices within and external to the MRI scan room. The interface module also translates messages between varying wireless communication standards and protocols for retransmission to other devices. The communication system is configurable to transmit and/or receive data between physiological sensors, the MRI controller, patient monitoring devices, patient entertainment devices, and other computers. The interface module is configurable to be placed either in the control room or in the scan room.

The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system for MRI compatible communications. More specifically, a system for communication between devices within or external to an MRI scan room is disclosed.
As is known to those skilled in the art, a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system alternately generates a strong magnetic field and then detects the faint nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals given off by nuclei in the presence of the magnetic field. The NMR signals are received by antennas, also known as coils, and transmitted to the MRI scanner for reconstruction into an MRI image. In order to provide a clear image, it is desirable to minimize electromagnetic interference from outside sources.
As a result, MRI scanners are located within a shielded room, also known as the scan room. Referring to FIG. 1, an exemplary shielded room 10 containing an MRI scanner 12 is illustrated. The scan room 10 includes walls 13, or panels, which typically incorporate the RF shielding within the wall 13. A window 15 permits an operator to observe activity within the scan room 10 from an adjacent control room 11, typically connected via a door 17. The door 17 may similarly incorporate RF shielding within the solid portion of the door. The window 15 between the scan room 10 and the control room 11 and, if present, a window in the door 17 are covered in a conductive material such as a fine wire mesh or a thin gold foil to provide RF shielding on the window. The shielding is configured to prevent external RF signals that are in a spectrum that may interfere with the MRI scanner 12 from entering the scan room 10 and causing said interference.
It is further desirable to minimize electronic components contained within the scan room 10 to prevent undesirable radiated emissions being generated. Consequently, the controller 20 for the MRI scanner 12 is typically located in the adjacent control room 11. An operator interface including, for example, a monitor 22 or other display unit and an input device such as a keyboard 24 are connected to the controller 20. The controller 20 may be connected to the MRI scanner 12 by cabling extending, for example, under the floor of the scan room 10 or in a shielded conduit to the MRI scanner 12. A penetration panel 23 in the wall may also provide connections to cables 21 running from the controller 20 into the scan room 10. The penetration panel 23 may include connectors for cabling to other medical equipment present in the scan room 10. Corresponding connectors on the other side of the penetration panel 23 within the scan room 10 permit appropriately shielded cables to be connected and run to the scanner 12 or to other medical equipment. A table 16 supports the patient being scanned and typically includes a sliding platform 19 allowing the patient to be moved into and out of the bore 14 of the MRI scanner 12.
It is typically necessary to include some additional equipment within the scan room 10. This additional equipment may be used, for example, to monitor the patient, communicate with the patient, or provide entertainment to the patient during a scan. Patients often require monitoring, for example, of heart rate, respiration, or other physiological factors. Further, acquiring images may take an extended period of time. Because the MRI operator is in the adjacent room and the patient is within the bore 14 of the MRI scanner, it may be necessary to include patient monitoring equipment within the MRI scan room 10. It may also be necessary for the MRI operator to communicate with the patient during acquisition of an image. In addition, it may be desirable to provide a distraction for the patient, such as some form of entertainment, during longer scans. Additional equipment may, therefore, be provided for monitoring and/or for communication.
When providing these additional electronic devices in the scan room, consideration must be given both to emissions from the devices interfering with the MRI scanner and emissions from the MRI scanner interfering with the devices. Often the devices include multiple components. For example, a sensor is connected to an associated recording device, a video camera includes a video cable extending to a monitor in the control room, or a video display is connected to a video storage device, such as a DVD player or a computer. Each of these devices, as well as their associated cabling, requires appropriate shielding. If the device either sends data out of or receives data in to the scan room 10, the cabling may pass through the penetration panel 23. As the number of devices in the scan room increases, the various cabling may interfere with each other or with medical personnel interacting with the patient.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system to wirelessly communicate with physiological sensors, patient communication systems, and/or an entertainment system that can communicate outside the shielded room without interfering with and degrading the quality of the MRI images.

Method and apparatus for MRI compatible communications


Systems and methods for controlling wafer-breaker devices. In some embodiments, a controller for a semiconductor wafer singulation apparatus can be configured to receive an input signal having information about at least one singulation parameter. The controller can be further configured to generate an output signal based on the input signal to effectuate an operation associated with the singulation parameter. The controller can be further configured to disable manual control of the singulation parameter. In some embodiments, such a controller can be implemented, for example, in a control module, in a kit for modifying an existing singulation apparatus, as an integral part of a singulation apparatus, or any combination thereof.

Field
The present disclosure generally relates to singulation of semiconductor wafers, and more particularly, to systems and methods for controlling wafer-breaker devices.
Description of the Related Art
Integrated circuits (ICs) such as radio-frequency (RF) ICs are typically fabricated in multiple units on a semiconductor wafer. Once completed, the units are singulated from the wafer to form individual units. Such individual units can be processed further to yield, for example, packaged devices. Such a singulation process can be achieved in different manners.


Systems and methods for EMC, EMI and ESD testing are described. A probe comprises a center conductor extending along an axis of the probe, a probe tip, and a shield coaxially aligned with the center conductor and configured to provide electromagnetic screening for the probe tip. One or more actuators may change the relative positions of the probe tip and shield with respect to a device under test, thereby enabling control of sensitivity and resolution of the probe.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates generally to electromagnetic testing of devices, and in particular to a probe that may be used for electromagnetic compatibility testing.
2. Background
It is generally desirable and/or necessary to characterize electromagnetic radiation emanating from an integrated circuit (IC) device for the purpose of identifying potential sources of interference with other IC devices, whether collocated within the same IC package, carrier, circuit board, device and/or system, or located in a different device or system. For example, manufacturers of wireless communication devices typically attempt to identify sources of stray radio frequency signals generated by the wireless communication devices. Electromagnetic interference (EMI) and electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) testing may be performed during design and development of devices and systems and during certain manufacturing processes. However, conventional systems lack an ability to easily and quickly target areas of interest on a device under test (DUT).


In an apparatus for guiding surgical instruments during endoscopic surgery including a carrier on which a support member is rotatably mounted about a first axis and a housing structure is mounted on the support member so as to pivot about a second axis which is spaced from the housing structure and intersects the first axis in an invariant point and the housing slidably supports an instrument shaft having an axis also extending through the invariant point and an end which is mounted on a guide member, which is axially movably supported on a guide housing extending from the housing structure parallel to the instrument shaft, a camera is firmly supported on the guide housing in alignment with the instrument shaft so as to be axially movable but not rotatable with the instrument shaft whereby an image transmitted from a lens system at the front end of the instrument shaft to the camera at the rear end of the shaft is shown at a given top-to-bottom orientation independently the rotational position of the instrument shaft.

The invention resides in an apparatus for guiding surgical instruments for endoscopic surgery while the instruments are mounted as a shank which is supported so as to be pivotable about a so-called invariant point.
During laparoscopic surgery, the surgeon operates on the basis of a monitor picture. An endoscope with a camera and the instruments required for the operation are inserted into the body of a patient, for example, by a trocar. The endoscope and the instruments are so supported that they can be moved only about the so-called invariant point which is within the body of the patient and which represents the trocar insertion point. In this way, the endoscopic system and the instruments each can be controlled with the same positioning system. However, the camera should be oriented, for example, by the CCD chip of a camera, in a direction toward the floor, that is, the support point of the surgeon, independently of the movement of the instruments. If the monitor picture would be turned, the spatial orientation of the surgeon during endoscopic surgery may be detrimentally affected.
WO 94/21188 discloses such a mechanical guide system for endoscopic surgery wherein the instrument is inserted into a body for a surgical procedure or for observation through the sleeve of a trocar and the instrument effecter, which is mounted at the end of a shaft, is movable within the body cavity in all degrees of freedom; the invariant point however is maintained. In the system described a camera is mounted as an effecter on the free end of the laparoscope and is movable linearly with the laparoscope shaft.
Endoscopes usually have a prism arranged at their front end which is usually inclined by 30.degree. whereby rotation of the endoscope permits observing an area within the body. Upon rotation of the effecter for observing the surrounding area within the body, a camera rigidly supported on the endoscopic as shown in WO 94/21188 provides, with the respect to the position of the surgeon, that is, the floor, a proper picture orientation only for the horizontal and center position of the camera. In all other positions of the CCD chip in the camera, the spatial orientation is changed, that is, the camera and the endoscope must be especially controlled so as to prevent rotation of the monitor picture. This requires a substantial technical effort. The rotation of the endoscope consequently detrimentally affects the orientation for the surgeon, for example, in the abdominal cavity, since the "top" and "bottom" of the camera picture may be different from the actual top and bottom with respect to the position of the surgeon.
Another guide system for a surgical observation apparatus is disclosed in DE-GM 94 16 957. The system described therein is principally similar to the above described system so that the same comments apply.
It is therefore the object of the present invention to provide an apparatus for guiding surgical instruments particularly for use in endoscopic surgery wherein, during rotation of the endoscope for the spatial observation in a body cavity, the picture transmitted to the camera and consequently, to the monitor screen is always properly oriented so that the "top" and "bottom" are properly presented.

Apparatus for guiding surgical instruments for endoscopic surgery


Biodegradable and bioabsorbable block copolymers, which can be in the form of solid powder or powder wax compositions that can be easily reconstituted into an aqueous polymer solution and exhibit reverse thermal gellation properties upon exposure to elevated temperatures, are provided. Methods of making using these copolymers are also provided.

(a) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to biodegradable and bioabsorbable block copolymers in solid powder or powder wax form that can be easily formed into an aqueous polymer solution and exhibit reverse thermal gellation properties upon exposure to elevated temperatures, such as upon exposure to body temperature just prior to or upon administration. The disclosed polymers are advantageously used, for example, in the parenteral administration of drugs.
(b) Description of the Related Art
Biodegradable block copolymers exhibiting reverse thermal gellation are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,201,072; 6,117,949; and 6,004,573 to Rathi et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,702,717 to Cha et al. These polymer compositions exist as a liquid solution at low temperatures, then reversibly form gels at physiologically relevant temperatures, and provide good drug release characteristics. These compositions include biodegradable ABA- or BAB-type block copolymers having an average molecular weight of between about 2000 and 4990, and include about 51 to 83% by weight of an hydrophobic A polymer block comprising a biodegradable polyester and about 17 to 49% by weight of a hydrophilic B polymer block comprised of polyethylene glycol. U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,018,645 and 7,135,190 to Piao et al., disclose mixtures of triblock copolymers exhibiting similar reverse thermal gellation properties.
These polymeric drug delivery polymers exhibit reverse thermal gellation properties, but have been found to be especially difficult to form or reconstitute into aqueous drug delivery compositions. The difficulty in reconstituting these compositions has necessitated performing the reconstitution step in a manufacturing facility to produce an aqueous drug delivery product. After reconstitution, these aqueous drug delivery products exhibiting reverse thermal gellation would typically be stored in the form of frozen aqueous polymer solution up to the point of use. At room temperature, aqueous polymer solutions of these reverse thermal gellation polymers would begin to degrade. Therefore, these aqueous drug delivery compositions would need to be shipped and stored in a refrigerated or frozen state. Previously known reverse thermal gellation drug delivery compositions, such as those disclosed by Rathi et al., exhibit good stability if stored and shipped in frozen form. For drug delivery applications, the polymers disclosed by Rathi et al. can be stored and shipped in ready-to-inject prefilled syringes or product vial configurations (single or double vial). The syringes and vials are thawed prior to injection, which takes between 24 and 48 hours.
Other ABA triblock copolymers have incorporated caprolactone and glycolic acid into the hydrophobic blocks with a single hydrophilic polymers. See Chinese Published Application No. CN 1958074 A. However, the synthetic methods disclosed therein are inadequate to produce a triblock copolymer composition having a desirable molecular weight and polymer properties. For example, the synthetic methods disclosed therein rely on the use of a commercially available polyethylene glycol monomer of a nominal molecular weight (i.e., 1540 Daltons). Although polyethylene glycol having specific nominal molecular weights other than 1540 are available, it has been found that triblocks made from a single polyethylene glycol component with a single average molecular weight lack the most desirable combination of reconstitution, drug release, swelling and dissolution characteristics for the range of drugs utilized and in the indications essential for controlled release systems.
The present inventors have found that the drug release, degradation, swelling and dissolution characteristics depend significantly on the composition of the thermoreversible block copolymer. Specifically, it has been found that precise control of the hydrophilic polymer length as well as the hydrophobic polymer composition is critical to obtaining a desirable reconstitution, drug release, swelling and dissolution characteristics. Prior block copolymers exhibiting reverse thermal gellation properties have been found to have inadequate reconstitution, drug release, swelling, and/or dissolution characteristics. Accordingly, there is a need in the art for an aqueous biodegradable polymeric drug delivery composition exhibiting reverse thermal gellation that can be stored at room temperature and easily formed or reconstituted at the point of use in a minimal amount of time having desirable drug release, swelling and dissolution characteristics.

Reconstitutable reverse thermal gelling polymers


A system for updating and reading a data base utilizes a pair of counters ere one counter is incremented prior to an update and the other is incremented following an update. The system permits the updating to take place at any time. By keeping track of the value of the counters the system either inhibits the reading from taking place during the updating if the updating commenced prior to the commencement of the reading or provides information that an updating occurred during the reading if the reading commenced prior to the commencement of the updating. The counters and data base are located within the RAM of a computer. The system has a first application program that gives information to a second application program via these RAM based components.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the reading and writing of data in a processing system. More particularly it concerns the accessibility of the data to both the read and write portions of the system and the providing of update notification information to the read portions of the system whenever the data is being updated by the write portion of the system.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
In prior art systems, submarine combat system processes synchronize their access to shared resources by invoking synchronization primitives. These primitives are often termed "P" and "V", or "Signal" and "Wait", or "Lock" and "Unlock."When P and V, and Signal and Wait primitives are used, they are implemented as operating system (computer systems master program) services that require the process to surrender the computer system to the operating system. The process does a P/Wait when it needs the resource and a V/Signal when it wants to relinquish the resource. Each time a process invokes either a P or a V, it will call the operating system at least once per invocation. This switching to and from the operating system causes P and V primitives to introduce substantial overhead. P invocations indiscriminately cause writer(s) and reader(s) to wait serially for the resource. The P primitive may also affect the behavior of a priority based real-time system. P invocations have a tendency of creating a priority inversion when separate priority queues are not maintained for waiting processes. The absence of priority queues treats all processes as equal activities.
P and V primitives are often based on Lock and Unlock operators. Lock and Unlock operators are often directly based on some computer hardware mechanism. In practice, a successful lock allows a process to access the resource. On the other hand an unsuccessful lock requires the process to re-invoke the lock operator. Many computer systems make Lock and Unlock operators directly available to processes, i.e. they don't require P and V calls, and operating system intervention. Processing of unsuccessful lock(s) is accomplished by having the process either re-invoke the lock until success, or by having it block and continue at some later time, or by having it perform a default action. The re-invoking of the lock is often called a spin-lock and involves busy waiting and hence wastes precious computer system processor cycles. The blocking process as a strategy usually creates the same effect as the P operation, i.e., it serializes access. Unlike the P primitive, the lock operator doesn't have to result in suspended processing, but often default actions are not available when data must be processed.
Submarine combat systems' processing can conceptually be characterized as a processing pipeline with the flow being occasionally broken by human operator actions. Two generic processing structures in submarine combat systems are manifest when this conceptual model is applied. The progression from data to information usually has many processes feeding many other processes as multiple processing stages. The data bases shared to pipe data from one stage to another stage usually have one writer to each data base, or some set of records in it, and several readers accessing the data bases. This processing structure represents the first category, and the focus of the invention. The second category is the other processing structure where the computer system of a submarine combat system operates on data for, presents information to, and assists the actions of its human operators. Many of these actions often result in a break in the combat system processing pipeline. Often access to data bases is necessary, processes acting on the operators behalf may require sole access to either select data bases or sets of data base records. This often requires synchronization with processes in some stage of the processing pipeline. This latter processing scenario requires the P/V and Lock/Unlock solutions.

Method of database synchronization with consistency determined by entry and exit counters used on both update and retrieval

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


The object of the present invention is to provide a coreless rubber which ensures running stability by compensating shift (deviation) in the width direction even if prepared by combination of usual rollers, and which is easily and in low cost prepared by adoption of simple structure.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a rubber crawler used in the condition that is rotatably connected around a driving roller and a driven roller, particularly a coreless rubber crawler in the form of endless belt having main cords and bias cords embedded therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, a coreless rubber crawler is frequently used for a high-speed running vehicle because the crawler shows a reduced vibration and running resistance as compared with a core-embedded rubber crawler. However, the coreless rubber crawler has a poor transverse stiffness as compared with the core-embedded rubber crawler, and therefore main cords and further bias cords are embedded in the coreless rubber crawler.
In case the main cords (i.e., main cord layer) and bias cords (i.e., bias cord layer) are embedded in a rubber crawler in the form of endless belt, there is generated torsion (meandering) in the width direction which is caused by extension angles of cords of the cord layers and return force of twist of the cords when the rubber crawler is driven in the running direction by the driving rollers. In the worst case, there is possibility that the rubber crawler disconnects from the driving and driven rollers.
To solve the above problems, JA 1 O-59228 discloses a first conventional core-embedded rubber crawler wherein steel twist wires are extended in the peripheral direction (lengthwise direction) between the core member and the ground surface of the rubber crawler, the steel twist wires comprising an S-twist wire and a Z-twist wire arranged alternately such that the adjacent twist wires compensate torsion caused by return force of twist of each of the twist wires.
Further, FIG. 7 illustrates a second conventional rubber crawler as disclosed in JA11-301536, which was filed by the present applicant. In the crawler, cord layers 102Z, 102S, which are wound in the directions opposite to each other, are arranged so as to be adjacent to each other in the crosswise direction whereby torsion moments caused by the wound tensions are compensated each other.
Furthermore, FIGS. 8 and 9 illustrate a third conventional rubber crawler, which was similarly filed by the present applicant. In the crawler, a main cord layer 204 extended in the lengthwise direction and a bias cord layer consisting of plural cords 205, 206 superposed on the main cord layer 204 are embedded in the rubber crawler, the plural cords 205, 206 having extension angles of the cords in the directions opposite to each other on the same plane of the plural cords 205, 206.
In a rubber crawler driving device wherein the above rubber crawler 201 in the form of endless belt is rotatably connected around a driving roller 210 and a driven roller 211, the diameters of the driving roller 210 and driven roller 211 are reduced against the direction of sharing torsion force which is generated in the rubber crawler 201 by tension caused by driving of the crawler owing to the angles of the cords of the bias cords 205, 206. This reduction of the diameters compensates the sharing torsion force to ensure running stability without shift (deviation) in the crosswise direction.
However, though, in the core-embedded rubber crawler of the first conventional example, the S-twist wire and Z-twist wire arranged alternately compensate the return force of twist of the twist wires by the twist wires adjacent to each other, the crawler is not capable of compensating the shift (deviation) of the crawler generated in the width direction of the driving or driven roller owing to some cause, for example, force generated when the crawler collides with an obstacle on a road surface. Hence, it is required that a guide projection is formed on the core to prevent the crawler from disconnecting from the rollers, whereby the rubber crawler is obliged to be complicated in its structure and increased in its weight.
In the second conventional example of FIG. 7, the cord layers 102Z, 102S wound in the directions opposite to each other are embedded so as to be adjacent to each other in the width direction whereby torsion moments caused by the wound tensions can be compensated each other. Further, in case the crawler is shifted in the width direction of the driving or driven roller owing to some cause, the tractive drive in the running direction of the rubber crawler resulted from driving of the driving roller generates torsion (meandering) in the width direction depending on extension angles of cords of the cord layer, whereby the shift (deviation) in the width direction is compensated to restore to the original state. However, a complicated winding machine and complicated processes are needed for winding spirally a long cord as above.
Furthermore, in the third conventional example of FIG. 8, the good combination of the plural cords 205, 206 having extension angles of the cords in the directions opposite to each other on the same plane and the diameters of the driving roller 210 and driven roller 211 reduced in the outer direction of the axis of the rollers compensates the sharing torsion force to ensure running stability without shift (deviation) in the crosswise direction. However, it is required to combine the driving roller 210 with the driven roller 211, both the rollers having special shape, and therefore it is difficult to apply the above technique to a driving device provided with usual rollers.


Provided is a nonvolatile memory device and a method of forming the nonvolatile memory device. The nonvolatile memory device includes a floating gate formed on a first active region doped with a first-conductivity-type dopant. The floating gate is doped with the first-conductivity-type dopant. Therefore, the thickness of a tunnel insulation layer can be kept thin, and the threshold voltage of a nonvolatile memory cell including the floating gate can be increased. As a result, the endurance of the tunnel insulation layer and the data retention characteristics of the nonvolatile memory cell is improved.

The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a method of forming the semiconductor device, and more particularly, to a nonvolatile memory device and a method of forming the nonvolatile memory device.
Nonvolatile memory devices retain data when power is removed from the system. One type of nonvolatile memory device is a flash memory device used for electrically recording and erasing date. In a conventional flash memory device, a unit cell includes a tunnel oxide layer, a floating gate, an oxide-nitride-oxide (ONO) layer, and a control gate electrode that are sequentially stacked. The flash memory cell can store one-bit data (logic 0 or 1) by electrically charging or discharging the floating gate.
In the flash memory device, electrons should be kept in the floating gate for a long time for good data retention characteristics of the flash memory device, and the endurance of the tunnel oxide layer should be good for normal functioning of the flash memory device after a number of recording and erasing operations.
According to a conventional method for improving the data retention characteristics of a flash memory device, the thickness of the tunnel oxide layer is increased. In this case, the threshold voltage of the flash memory cell increases, and thus the data retention characteristics of the flash memory device can be improved. Due to iterative recording and erasing operations, traps can be present in the tunnel oxide layer. The traps can capture electrons tunneling the tunnel oxide layer during the recording or erasing operation. This can degrade the endurance of the tunnel oxide layer. The possibility of trapping in the tunnel oxide layer increases in proportion to the thickness of the tunnel oxide layer. That is, when the thickness of the tunnel oxide layer is increased for improving the data retention characteristics of the flash memory cell, the endurance of the tunnel oxide layer can be degraded since the number of traps increases. In particular, as the number of traps increases, the heat-resistive characteristics (heat stress characteristics) of the flash memory device can be degraded. The heat stress characteristics are related to an upper temperature limit above which the flash memory device cannot normally operate. For example, when the flash memory device is heated to a high temperature (thermally stressed), electrons captured by the traps are released to the outside of the tunnel oxide layer (i.e., the more traps the more released electrons), changing the threshold voltage of the flash memory cell. As a result, the characteristics of the flash memory device are degraded.

Nonvolatile memory device and method of forming the same


A contact bar and related techniques allow enhanced electrolytic refining of metals, e.g. avoiding or reducing electrical short circuits. The contact bar is adapted to rest on an insulating capping board for contacting symmetrical electrodes to provide locations for electrical contact therewith. The contact bar includes a central portion laying on the capping board and branch portions extending laterally outward from the central portion, such that the branch portions fit in between seats of the capping board. The contact bar may include a retention member enabling to reduce lateral movement of the electrodes, and may include a plurality of apertures to engage corresponding holding arms of the capping board. There may be a plurality of adjacent similar contact bar segments.

In the hydrometallurgical industry, it is of common practice to refine metal by electrolysis in electrolytic cells especially designed for this purpose. The metals to be refined are usually conventional metals such as copper, zinc, nickel or cadmium, or precious metals such as silver, platinum or gold, and others.
It is also of common practice to use metal plates as anodes or cathodes or both. These metal plates often weight several hundred pounds. Usually, the metal to be refined, or the metal used to carry the electric current, is in the form of plates of a given thickness, which are provided at their upper end with two laterally extending projections, called hanging legs. Such projections facilitate gripping, handling and hanging of the plates on lateral sidewalls of the cells. These projections also serve to electrically contact or insulate the electrode.
In use, the electrode plates which, as mentioned, can each weigh several hundred pounds, are immersed into the cells in parallel relationship and are used as anodes, cathodes or both, depending on the affinity of the metal being refined.
In order to have the electrodes positioned in a precise desired location, it is of common practice to place a component called a "capping board" or a "bus bar insulator" onto the top surface of each lateral sidewall of the cells. These capping boards are used to position the plates with respect to each other. They are also used as electric insulators between adjacent cells and/or the electrodes and/or the ground.
In practice, the capping boards are used not only as supports to position the electrodes, but also as supports to avoid damage to the masonry, concrete or polymer-concrete forming the lateral side walls of the cells during the insertion and removal of the heaving electrodes. They are also used for electrolytic refining and electrowinning of metals.
Insulating capping boards are used to hold the electrodes at very precise positions. They are also used in combination with electrically conductive "contact bars" the purpose of which is to allow electrical connection between the ends of the anodes and cathodes located in adjacent cells. Thus, the combined use of capping boards and contact bars allows both insulation and distribution of electric current.
To achieve proper electrical contact with the contact bar, the plates forming the electrodes are provided with support hanging legs externally projecting on their opposite upper ends. Only one end of the legs of each plate is in contact with a contact bar on one side of the cell where it is located. The other leg of the same plate is held onto the capping board located on the opposite side of the cell in such a way as to be insulated. Thus, the capping board per se plays the role of an insulator and is thus made of insulating material. The contact bar usually extends over the full length of the corresponding capping board in order to connect altogether all the anodes of one cell to all the cathodes of the adjacent cell and vice versa. The contact bar may interconnect all of the cathodes to the anodes on other adjacent cells or perform other electric connection function between electrodes as desired.
In hydrometallurgical refining of metals, there are two main configurations that may be used to support the electrodes: symmetrical configurations using symmetrical anodes and cathodes and asymmetrical configurations using asymmetrical anodes and cathodes. The capping boards and contact bars are provided depending on the type of electrodes to be used. Thus, different capping board and contact bar systems will be used for symmetrical and asymmetrical electrodes.
The electrolytic system using symmetrical electrodes uses an assembly of three different components. Referring to FIG. 1 (Prior Art), there is a first insulator 10 referred to as a "bus bar insulator", a machined dog bone contact bar 12 and a second insulator 14 referred to as a "coronary insulator". FIG. 2 (Prior Art) shows a perspective view of part of the machined dog bone contact bar 12. Symmetrical support systems are practical and require low level of monitoring since for the electric positioning either side of the electrodes can be used and interchanged because the hanging bars are symmetrical. However, it is inconvenient and expensive to require two insulators 10 and 14 as well as a contact bar that is rather large and thus expensive. In addition, in such known symmetrical systems, copper (or other metals) sulphate and acid mist called "sulphatation" may occur between the two insulators, which corrodes the contact bar and allows passage of electric current. Such current leakage creates significant efficiency losses and the acid mist sulphatation also results in a lower quality of refined metal such as copper and reduced overall efficiency of the refining process.
Another disadvantage is that when the contact bar or coronary insulator breaks or become unusable, replacement is very complicated, difficult and time consuming. The electrolytic system using asymmetrical electrodes uses an assembly of two different components. Referring to FIG. 3 (Prior Art), there is a contact bar 16 laying on a insulating capping board 18 having two rows of alternating staggered or "offset" insulating seats 20 in between which the contact bar 16 sits. Asymmetrical support systems require a great deal of monitoring since inverse positioning of the anodes or cathodes can cause significant problems and damage. Monitoring is thus a significant expense. Errors in installation inadvertently inversing the orientation of the electrodes is problematic and dangerous because it can cause, for example, major short circuits requiring production downtime, and can create or induce fire, making their use more onerous and dangerous.
In addition, by way of further background in the field of capping boards and/or contact bars, the following patent documents U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,645,701, 7,204,919, U.S. Ser. No. 12/528,435, U.S. Pat. No. 7,223,324 and U.S. Ser. No. 12/524,852, are hereby incorporated herein by reference.
There is indeed a need in the industry for a technology that would overcome at least some of the aforementioned disadvantages and challenges.

Contact bar and capping board for supporting symmetrical electrodes for enhanced electrolytic refining of metals


This invention prevents illegal memory address faults on speculative data loads. Circular addressing of the address pointer limits memory access to a range of addresses including all addresses used by the address pointer and not including any invalid addresses. The invention uses circular addressing hardware, if available on the data processor. If not available, this invention simulates circular addressing. This invention permits loads to be issued earlier than if predication were used and allows already predicated loads to be speculated without the overhead of a compound predicate. This invention can be used on processors without hardware supporting speculation.

Speculative data processing operations are a technique used to increase speed of operation. An instruction is issued on speculation before the input operands are confirmed. If the input operands are later found to have been correct, then the speculative execution saved any time between the issue of the speculative instruction and the time when the operands are confirmed as valid. If the operands are later found to be incorrect, then the instruction is issued with the correct operands. This results in no increase in speed, but generally there is no loss of processing due to the speculative execution. Speculative execution is generally only used in super-scalar data processors or very long instruction word (VLIW) data processors which have vacant or empty instruction issue slots that can be filled by the speculative execution. Super-scalar and VLIW data processors have the capability of issuing more than one instruction each machine cycle. The fastest processing operation occurs when these data processors issue their maximum number of instructions each cycle. However, data dependencies, resource conflicts and other issues often prevent issuing the maximum number of instructions. Speculative execution is a technique intended to permit these otherwise unused instruction slots to be profitably employed. As described above, speculative execution employing unused instruction slots has the potential for performance gain and no performance loss.
Data loads generally have the longest latency of any instructions in super-scalar or VLIW data processors. Differences in the speed of operation of high end data processors and large memories can cause length latency in data loads. Thus speculative execution of data loads may be particularly advantageous. The memory address for such a data load is often stored in a data register as an address pointer. The data in the data register is supplied to the memory to specify the address location storing the desired data. Many data processors use a base plus offset address. A base data register stores a base address and an offset data register stores an offset from the base address. The final memory address is the sum of the base address and the offset. Generally the base address is modified infrequently with most of the variability in the offset. The identity of the address register or offset address register must be known at the time of the issue of a data load instruction. A speculative load can be issued using the data in this known address register or offset register at a time before this load is confirmed valid.
There are two types of possible faults of such speculative loads. The data stored in this address register or offset register may not be proper for the intended data load. This would occur if the data in the address register or data register were changed between the time of the issue of the speculative load instruction and the issue of the actual load instruction. It is also possible that the data stored in the intended memory location is incorrect. This would occur if there were a data write to the memory address between the time of the issue of the speculative load instruction and the issue of the actual load instruction. This invention deals only with the invalid address fault.
A speculative load to an invalid address may cause problems. On many data processors, load instructions to bogus addresses can cause a memory access fault. That is, a load instruction specifying an address not implemented in the system causes an operating system fault. With 32-bit data registers capable of specifying more than 4 billion data words, it is likely that not all possible data values that can be stored in an address register or an offset register point to a valid memory address. Such memory access faults may cause the application to crash or require hundreds or thousands of machine cycles for the operating system to recover. The possibility of such memory faults prevents more frequent use of speculative loads.
If such a speculative load can be restricted to a subset of the address space which known to be accessible without faulting, it may be possible to issue a speculative load earlier in the instruction stream. In many cases, program performance could be significantly improved if a speculative load is issued before the address is confirmed valid. Such early data loading may prevent the algorithm from waiting for data following confirmation of the data address.
There are only two known solutions to this problem. The speculative load may use predication to conditionally prevent an improper load from executing. Using predication delays the load unit the predicate is known. The second known solution uses special purpose hardware. Many data processors do not include special purpose hardware for such speculative loads. Accordingly, another method enabling speculative data loads would be useful in data processors.

Speculative data loading using circular addressing or simulated circular addressing


A ladder-climbing exercise device (10) includes an inclined flight (13) along which a plurality of rungs (29) are presented in an endless manner. The marginal ends of the rungs are mounted on endless chains which are supported by a frame. The chains are coupled to a fan (43) having a squirrel cage-like rotor. The position of an operator (P) relative to the flight changes the size of a fan aperture (45) to vary the resistance afforded by the device to the climbing motion.

Numerous types of exercise devices have, of course, been heretofore developed.
Some of these simulate the action of climbing a ladder. This type of apparatus is representatively shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,822,029 and 5,112,043. In both of these devices, a plurality of rungs are mounted on a transversely-spaced pair of endless oval chains. Thus, as the operator attempts to climb an inclined flight, the rungs are presented to him in the form of an endless series. Moreover, both of these patents disclose means for varying the resistance to the climbing motion. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,822,029, the resistance is varied as a function of the tightness of a belt around a brake wheel, somewhat analogous to the resistance afforded by a mechanical dynometer. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,112,043, the resistance to the climbing motion is provided hydraulically.
Other types of exercise devices restrict the flow of air to resist the operator's motion. Examples of this type are shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,082,264, 4,961,570 and 4,943,049. Other types of exercise devices utilize variant types of fans. These are representatively shown and described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,815,951 and 4,537,396.
While these types of devices may have been suitable for their intended uses and purposes, there is believed to be a need to provide an improved exercise device which simulates the motion of climbing a ladder with a simple and alternative means for varying the resistance of the climbing motion. Thus, the amount of energy which a person must expend may be readily varied as a function of his physical ability and conditioning.


A device may include a communication interface configured to receive programming information and index data associated with the programming information from a service provider multicast over a plurality of channels. The device may also include logic configured to request address information from the service provider, receive the address information, wherein the address information includes a first multicast address, and join a first multicast group corresponding to the first multicast address, wherein the first multicast group is associated with the index data. The logic may also be configured to receive, via the communication interface, the index data, identify a second multicast address associated with at least some of the programming information, join a second multicast group corresponding to the second multicast address, and receive, via the communication interface, at least some of the programming information.

Service providers, such as telecommunication service providers, often download information to customers in a unicast manner. One drawback with distributing information in this manner is that the downloaded data consumes significant network bandwidth. When the programming service provider has thousands of customers, the service provider is also forced to expend significant processing resources in providing the information of interest to the customers.


The present invention provides a real-time three-dimensional pattern recognition imaging system having a variable focal length, a wide depth of field, a high depth resolution, a fast acquisition time, a variable magnification, a variable optical axis for tracking, and capability of compensating various optical distortions and aberrations, which enables pattern recognition systems to be more accurate as well as more robust to environmental variation. The imaging system for pattern recognition comprises one or more camera system, each of which has at least one micromirror array lens(MMAL), a two-dimensional image senor, and an image processing unit. A MMAL has unique features including a variable focal length, a variable optical axis, and a variable magnification.

Pattern recognition classifies observed or measured data into certain categories using statistical or syntactic (neural network) approaches. Applications include industrial inspection, biometrics such as fingerprint, iris, and face recognition, weather map analysis for forecasting, character recognition, speech recognition, and bar code recognition. Many of these use the spatial form of data such as pictures or video images.
Fingerprint recognition is widely used for personal identification or forensic investigation. Fingerprint is scanned by optical, silicon, or ultrasound technologies. The optical method uses the CCD (Charge Coupled Device) to convert a fingerprint image into digital form. The accuracy of optical scanning can be degraded by latent images left from previous users and wear of coating and CCD. The silicon technology provides a high resolution image using the DC capacitance between a silicon sensor and the finger, but careful scanning process and verification is required due to its inherent small sensor size, which makes capturing the center of a finger difficult. The ultrasound technology is not widely used yet but considered as a most accurate and robust fingerprint scanning method by providing a large platen size and penetrating the dirt and residue on the platen and the finger.
An iris scan is known as a most accurate biometric authentication method. The iris is the visible colored area surrounding pupil, which controls the amount of the light entering the eye. Each individual iris has hundreds of comparison features and very stable over time. The iris is scanned by a camera system with an eye safe illumination device from several inches to several feet away.
While these biometric applications provide great accuracy, these systems require user's cooperation because the finger or the iris need to be carefully positioned relative to the sensor, which can cause problems in a high-throughput application or surveillance system.
Face recognition for personal authentication or surveillance is less intrusive; in other words, need less or no subject's cooperation. A face recognition system extracts a face image from a surveillance video system, and aligns and normalizes the face image to compare with images in the facial database. There exists a plurality of fiducial points in the human face which can be used in face recognition including distance between eyes, width of nose, depth of eye sockets, jaw line, and the like. Popular face recognition algorithms include eigenface method, hidden Markov model approach, and dynamic link matching method. Majority of face recognition algorithms uses two-dimensional images and their accuracy is greatly subject to environmental factors including face pose, illumination, cosmetics, and face expression.
Many literatures including C. Hesher, A. Srivastava, and G. Erlebacher, "A Novel Technique for Face Recognition using Range Images," the Seventh International Symposium on Signal Processing and its Applications, 2003, and G. Medioni and R. Waupotitsch, "Face Modeling and Recognition in 3-D," Proceedings of the IEEE International Workshop on Analysis and Modeling of Faces and Gestures, pages 232–233, October 2003, claim that face recognition accuracy and reliability can be remarkably increased by employing three-dimensional facial geometries because three-dimensional images represent the internal anatomical structure which is less varied by environmental factors than the external appearance.
The recent survey of three-dimensional face recognition algorithms is given by Kevin W. Bowyer, Kyong Chang, and Patrick Flynn, "A Survey Of 3D and Multi-Modal 3D+2D Face Recognition," Notre Dame Department of Computer Science and Engineering Technical Report, TR-2004-22-9, 2004.
While three-dimensional face recognition approaches promise to resolve their two-dimensional counterpart problems, a major challenge on three-dimensional face recognition systems is the acquisition of three-dimensional images for both facial database and surveillance. Conventionally, three-dimensional images can be obtained from a stereoscopic imaging system or a structured-light system. Bowyer et al. described the problems related to these conventional sensors, which include a narrow depth of field, lower depth resolution, and longer acquisition time.
The aforementioned problems can be more critical to the non-intrusive approach, where a subject is unaware of surveillance or moving. In this case, the subject can not be positioned at the optimal working range of an imaging system, while most three-dimensional imaging systems have a limited range of depth of field. Further, the research suggested that effective depth resolution for successful three-dimensional face recognition is less than 1 mm (K. Chang, K. Bowyer, P. Flynn, and X. Chen, "Multimodal Biometrics Using Appearance, Shape and Temperature," The 6th IEEE International Conference on Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, May 2004), which requires 200 or more pixels in the depthwise direction of a three-dimensional image considering the size of the human head. Conventional three-dimensional imaging systems require a half to ten seconds to obtain this resolution image. In this speed, it is almost impossible to obtain usable images of the subject who is moving.
Beside face recognition, many other pattern recognition problems such as industrial inspection and medical image registration also can have benefits from the three-dimensional approach. However, three-dimensional imaging systems need to be improved to satisfy current demands for three-dimensional pattern recognition.

Three-dimensional imaging system for pattern recognition


A method of applying a coating to a conveyor belt is provided. A first layer of adhesive is applied to a first surface of the conveyor belt and allowed to cure. One or more subsequent layers of adhesive are applied to the first layer of adhesive; a final layer of the one or more subsequent layers is allowed to become tacky. In some embodiments the adhesive is a two-part cement. In particular embodiments, the two-part cement includes an isocyanate part and a curable rubber part. A layer of two-part polyurethane/polyurea is applied to the tacky layer of adhesive. The coating process may be performed on conveyor belts having worn or damaged portions in an effort to repair the conveyor belts.

Conveyor belts are well-known products used to move objects over varying distances by way of wrapping the belt around multiple rotating cylinders or drums, and turning the drums, thereby causing the belt to traverse the distance between the drums at either end of the belt. Items can then be loaded onto the belt and moved over the distance traversed by the belt. Common conveyor belt construction includes a length of high-strength fabric with a layer of rubber applied to an upper surface of the fabric. Typically, the rubber is adhered to the fabric with an adhesive. The thickness of one or more layers of rubber may vary depending on the intended application, but may generally fall in the range of approximately 5 to 750 thousandths of an inch (mil). Though, some particularly stressful or harsh environments may include one or more layers of rubber having a thickness of greater than approximately 750 mil. Once the layer of rubber cures, the conveyor belt is ready for assembly and use.
Conventional conveyor belts are prone to wear and failure resulting from high temperatures or transporting caustic substances. Once a belt has become worn, they must be discarded as the vulcanized rubber is difficult to repair, although the fabric may be usable past the point the rubber is destroyed. In some instances, conventional belts may be covered with a molded urethane cover to improve their durability. However, such molded covers have very little flexibility and may not be suitable for use in many conveyor belt applications.

Method and manufacture, refurbishment, and repair of non-moldable polyurethane/polyurea conveyor belt covers and related products


A controller (72) for a switched reluctance machine (20) implements a model of at least one active phase representing dynamic magnetic machine characteristics. The controller (72) determines machine control signals based on rotational position obtained by numerically solving the model with measured machine operating parameters. The model may be implemented as the sum of orthogonal functions relating active phase voltage and current with constants derived from phase inductance to obtain the rotor angle.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to Switched Reluctance Machines (SRMs) and, more particularly, to a system and method for inductance based position encoding for sensorless SRM drives.
2. Background Art
Switched reluctance machine (SRM) drives have been considered as a possible alternative to conventional drives in several variable speed drive applications because of the many advantages associated with SRM systems. The performance of an SRM drive can be tailored to suit several applications through appropriate control. Other advantages include constructional simplicity of the machine such as, for example, the absence of permanent magnets and windings in the rotor; fault tolerant operation of the inverter; an extended high speed operating range; and the like. Recent literature indicates that SRM drives are suitable for electric vehicles, electric traction applications, home appliances, consumer applications, automotive applications, power steering application in vehicles, aircraft starter/generator systems, and the like.
Rotor position sensing is an integral part of SRM control due to the nature of torque production. Sensorless control reduces overall cost and dimension of the drive in addition to improving reliability. Also, there are certain applications, such as in compressors, where the ambient conditions do not allow the usage of external position sensors.
A switched reluctance machine, whether functioning as a motor or a generator, is basically a doubly salient, singly-excited machine that operates on the basis of a reluctance torque generation principle. Each stator phase is excited with pulses of active currents during the positive inductance slope region in order to develop positive unidirectional torque. This requires synchronization of the stator phase excitation with rotor position. Usually, external mechanical position sensors such as resolvers or optical encoders are used. However, these sensors are expensive and experience reliability problems. Various sensorless techniques have been published in the literature which mainly use terminal measurements or diagnostic signals to infer the rotor position.
Several sensorless control methods have been reported. These methods can be broadly classified as signal injection methods, state observer methods, flux integration methods, signal power measurement methods, and the like. Each of the various methods suggested have merits and demerits depending on the principles of operation. Ideally, a sensorless scheme which uses only terminal measurements and does not require additional hardware is preferred.

System and method for inductance based position encoding sensorless SRM drives


An earphone includes a housing, a reel mechanism, a speaker, and a transmission wire. The reel mechanism is pivotally disposed in the housing and has an accommodating space defined therein for accommodating the speaker. The transmission wire is wound on the reel mechanism. When the transmission wire is pulled or released and thereby drives the reel mechanism to rotate, the speaker rotates coaxially together with the reel mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an earphone, and more particularly, to an earphone having both a speaker and a reel mechanism disposed therein.
2. Description of Related Art
An earphone, when in use, is normally distant from a corresponding electronic device (e.g., a walkman, or a mobile phone). The signal is transmitted between the earphone and the electronic device by a transmission wire or wireless/Bluetooth technology. Relatively, it is simple, cost effective and free of security concerns to use a transmission wire As a result wire transmission technology used in earphones has not yet been replaced by wireless technology, and it has become more and more important to avoid intertwining of transmission wires and ensure convenient winding of transmission wires in today's design of earphones.
Referring to FIG. 1, Taiwan patent 1270310 entitled "Headphone device, electronic apparatus, and cord winding apparatus and cord winding method" discloses an earphone 1. The earphone 1 includes a housing 10, a speaker 20, a reel mechanism 30, and a transmission wire 40. The housing 10 includes a shell 11, a back cover 12, and a front cover 13. The shell 11 has an elastic metal plate 14 and a post 15 formed thereon. The speaker 20 is disposed on a side of the shell 11 facing away from the elastic metal plate 14 and the post 15, and covered by the back cover 12. The speaker 20 is electrically connected with the elastic metal plate 14. The reel mechanism 30 is pivotally mounted on the post 15. The reel mechanism 30 includes a wire holder 31, a spring 32, and a substrate 33. The wire holder 31 is pivotally disposed on the post 15, and defines a ring-shaped wire slot 311 configured for the transmission wire 40 to be wound therein. The spring 32 is arranged on a first side of the wire holder 31, the first side of the wire holder 31 being close to the front cover 13. The spring 32 is configured for restoring the reel mechanism 30 to an initial status after the transmission wire 40 is pulled out. The substrate 33 is disposed on a second side of the wire holder 31. The substrate 33 has a plurality of terminals 331 formed thereon for electrically contacting the elastic metal plate 14.
In the above-mentioned earphone 1, when the transmission wire 40 is pulled out, the reel mechanism 30 rotates at the same time. The terminals 331 are configured for ensuring electrical contact with the elastic metal plate 14 no matter how many turns the wire holder 31 has rotated, so that the speaker 20 can receive audio signals from an electronic device that is electrically connected with the earphone 1. However, in the earphone 1, the speaker 20 and the reel mechanism 30 are respectively disposed on two opposite sides of the shell 11, which not only occupy a relatively large space, but also complicate the design of the shell 11 as well as the assembly of the speaker 20 and the reel mechanism 30. In addition, the elastic metal plate 14 for ensuring electrical contact increases the thickness of the earphone 1. Furthermore, the elastic metal plate 14 may cause bad electrical contact in the event of elastic fatigue.
It is therefore desirable to provide an earphone with simple design and assembly, small dimensions and stable connection between the speaker and the transmission wire.


Systems, methods and apparatus are presented to determine high voltage cable connectivity between an inverter module and a remote electric machine. A high frequency (HF) interlock module can be configured to inject a high frequency excitation signal that can be superimposed on inverter drive signals. High frequency current components can be determined and used to determine connectivity status. The sum and difference of positive and negative sequence component values can be compared to predetermined limitations to detect one or more open phases. An example method can include enabling a HF detection strategy under predetermined conditions. In response to an open phase detection a fault flag can be set.

1. Field of Invention
This invention relates generally to generally to methods and apparatus for high voltage cable connectivity, and more particularly to electronic methods for high voltage interlock.
2. Background Art
Electric (EV) or hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), can employ electrical energy for propulsion via an electric drive system that can include a power conversion circuit coupled to an electric machine, such as an electric motor. In this arrangement, the power conversion circuit can controllably transfer power from a power source, such as a high voltage battery, to the motor to drive a load. In many cases, the power conversion circuit is integrated with the vehicle transaxle. However, in other instances the power conversion circuit is physically separated from the transaxle, and the two are electrically coupled by a high voltage cable. In this type of system, proper cable connectivity is essential if the system is to operate as intended. For example, when a vehicle electric drive system includes a three-phase permanent magnet synchronous motor, the cable must be connected so that all three phase currents can flow between the power conversion circuit and the motor. Accordingly, vehicles having a power conversion circuit that is remote from the transaxle typically include some means for detecting an open phase. Traditionally, a mechanical means, such as a physical switch is deployed. For example, a housing can include an integrated interlock switch. When a cable connector is plugged into the housing, the interlock switch status can be changed, for example from open to closed. The change in interlock switch state can then be communicated to a system controller via interlock wires. However, the use of a mechanical switch injects a degree of risk to the system, as mechanical parts can degrade, fail, or otherwise prove unreliable.
To avoid the reliability and cost issues associated with the use of mechanical means, alternative methods for determining cable connectivity have been proposed. By way of example, a solution that compares actual stator currents to estimated stator currents to determine connectivity has been disclosed. However, this method is prone to false alarms when employed during operational modes in which motor torque is small. As a further example, a pulsed current method in which a pulsed current is injected at the d-axis of the motor has been disclosed that can indicate connectivity status during low torque operation without triggering a large number of false alarms. However, this method is plagued with undesirable noise vibration harshness (NVH) problems.

High-frequency signal injection based high voltage interlock


An aircraft piloting method and device for picking up a vertical profile of a flight plan. The device combines a manual piloting device that enables a pilot to control the start of the picking-up of a vertical profile and an automatic piloting device for automatically ending the vertical profile picking-up and following the vertical profile.

It is known that, during a flight, the crew of an aircraft, in particular of a civilian transport airplane, regularly has to fly this aircraft at an altitude that is different from the altitude defined in the flight plan. This generally occurs following an instruction originating from an air traffic controller. The crew must then make the airplane rejoin the flight plan when the controller gives the appropriate authorization, in order to continue the flight and once again follow the vertical profile defined by this flight plan.
Currently, to rejoin (or pick up) such a vertical profile, the crew has several piloting (or vertical guidance) modes. It mainly uses a descent mode, a vertical speed mode or a gradient mode.
The descent mode offers a vertical guidance enabling the crew to follow the vertical profile calculated by a Flight Management System (FMS) and defined in the flight plan. When the crew of the airplane flies at an altitude that is different to that of the vertical profile, it has the option to engage this descent mode which, in this case, completely manages the picking-up and servo-controlling of the airplane to the vertical profile. Once the mode is engaged, the crew is no longer in control of how the airplane rejoins the vertical profile. The crew totally delegates the management of the pick-up process to the automatic pilot and does not have the option to control the path of the airplane.
In the context of the present invention, the expression "picking up a vertical profile" should be understood to mean the process of approaching this vertical profile and arriving at this vertical profile.
Moreover, it is known that predictions relating to the path followed by the airplane, made by the flight management system, are calculated assuming that the crew in this case handles the descent with half of the air brakes extended. However, in reality, it is not uncommon for the crew to be in a different configuration, which the flight management system does not take into account. Consequently, the path predictions of the flight management system often differ from the actual path of the airplane. Thus, it may be that the crew does not have information concerning the path that the airplane will follow or concerning the vertical speed that the aircraft will assume, with such a descent mode.
The vertical speed and gradient modes are piloting (or vertical guidance) modes which enable the crew to choose a vertical pick-up path, by respectively selecting a vertical speed or a gradient which is defined by a climb or descent angle of FPA (Flight Path Angle) type. When one of these two modes is engaged, and when the path selected by the crew passes through an altitude selected on a Flight Control Unit (FCU), the airplane follows the path to this altitude and then levels off. These modes thus make it possible to control the path of the airplane, but they do not make it possible to pick up the vertical profile. In fact, they do not take this vertical profile into account at all.
Consequently, a crew which is located at an altitude that is different from the altitude defined in the flight plan and that wants to control the pick-up path has no solution enabling it to do so easily.
Indeed, as indicated previously, when the aircraft is not flying along the vertical profile, the crew has no direct means for controlling the picking-up of the vertical profile and servo-controlling the aircraft thereto. Since the picking-up of the vertical profile with the above-mentioned descent mode is quite vague to the crew, it often happens that the crew wants to control the picking up of the profile in order to control the point at which the vertical profile is picked up (that is, the moment when the aircraft actually rejoins the vertical profile).
Furthermore, a use of the vertical speed mode to approach the vertical profile and of the descent mode for definitively picking up and servo-controlling to said vertical profile is not a satisfactory solution. In practice, the moment of engagement of the descent mode depends only on the assessment of the crew. Now, a late engagement of this descent mode can possibly affect the safety of the airplane. For example, in the case where an altitude constraint is defined in the flight plan in order to ensure a sufficient distance between the airplane and an obstacle (notably the relief), the failure to comply with the constraint can lead the airplane to approach the obstacle, all the more so since, under the vertical profile, the descent mode makes the airplane join this vertical profile with a high vertical speed, for example of around 1000 feet/minute.
Consequently, the crew of an airplane has no simple and safe means:
for controlling the path for picking up (or rejoining) a vertical profile;
for effectively picking up this vertical profile; and
for servo-controlling thereto,
in all the cases where the airplane is not located on said vertical profile.
Moreover, document FR-2 870 610 discloses a method and a device for automatically determining a path for picking up a flight path for an aircraft.

Aircraft piloting method and device for picking up a vertical profile of a flight plan


A pulsed laser utilizing an oscillating or rotating intra cavity photon deflector means to extract a beam transverse to the long axis of the resonator from intracavity power. The moving photon deflector is supported and set into motion either mechanically or electromagnetically within the resonator and in the path of lasing photons, thereby intercepting and deflecting photons out of the resonator.. Movement of the deflector within the path of lasing photons results in the circumferential deflection of photons with the most intense concentration being deflected from that portion of the surface of the deflector which first intercepts the circulating intracavity photon stream. As lasing photons are deflected from the leading edge of the deflector, lasing action is instantaneously reestablished after the trailing edge moves through the photon stream. Wherever the deflector does not intersect the normal trajectory of photons in the laser cavity, lasing action is automatically reestablished. The invention can be incorporated with both open and closed cavity laser designs.

The present invention relates to pulsed lasers, specifically to the extraction of intense pulses using an intracavity photon deflector as a beam extractor. This invention could prove technically less difficult to manufacture and, therefore, more cost efficient than some existing pulsed laser technology. Pulsed lasers produce laser pulses having high peak power with short duration and have numerous applications in industry, education, and science.
Conventional methods of producing pulsed beams from laser cavities include Q-switching by means of acoustic-optic or electro-optic modulators and mode-locking. Such methods are relatively expensive to implement, requiring the use of special crystals and sophisticated electronics. The intracavity moving photon deflector is simple in design, produces a well-defined beam and does so with higher instantaneous output power than is possible by mechanically chopping the output beam of conventional lasers.
Where lasers are used as analytical tools, results are often limited by available optical power. In many applications, a train of laser pulses of high peak power might be preferable to a continuous beam of much lower power, even if the average power is lower. For example, biological samples are often degraded by heat, so that the intracavity photon deflector concept might allow an advantage in a particular analysis-such as Ramen spectroscopy-which would otherwise be impossible. The present invention could give rise to new analytical technology as well as being implemented to upgrade or retrofit existing equipment.
Physicists and engineers involved in developing laser technology face rapidly expanding application of lasers to meet human needs. Available laser technology tends to drive applications so that a new and useful laser concept with a particular set of beneficial characteristics would then lead to the development of suitable applications. There are probably many applications which will become apparent as we come to understand the characteristics of the deflected beam.
Further objectives and advantages of the invention will become apparent from a consideration of the drawings and ensuing description of it.

Pulsed laser using a moving intracavity photon deflector as a beam extractor