A refill package for liquid products, comprising: (a) a rigid outer container comprising an inside face, an opening, and an air intake means; wherein the opening comprises a removable closure and wherein the air intake means comprises a sealable orifice and a sealing mechanism, and (b) a flexible inner body, for containing a liquid product; wherein the flexible inner body is joined to the rigid outer container around the opening.

Refill products permit the repeated use of a container by refilling the contents, and have become a familiar part of life today. Many consumers choose to refill and reuse containers for a wide variety of products, including homecare and personal care products, for example, detergents such as shampoo and fabric conditioners. Refilling is also common in the food industry.
Refilling generally not only reduces the consumption of resources but also the amount of waste disposed after use of the product. Consumer demand for refill systems is increasing as environmental and economic considerations become ever more prevalent.
There are a number of packs known for dispensing liquids for use as refill packs, or suitable for use therefor.
EP2832658 discloses a dispensing container for viscous products comprising a containing body comprising a flexible side wall; a bag suitable for containing a viscous product, and arranged inside the containing body; and a closure head of the containing body comprising a supply hole for the product, with a product outlet valve for maintaining pressure for retaining the product towards the outside, and preventing the entrance of outer air into the container. The bag is an elastic bag hermetically attached by its opening to the area of the neck of the containing body, forming a first leak-tight chamber between the outer face of said elastic bag and the inner face of the side wall of the containing body. The head and the elastic bag form a second leak-tight chamber, and the containing body comprises a hole with an air inlet valve suitable for allowing air flow only from outside towards the inside of the first leak-tight chamber, in response to a depression in said first leak-tight chamber.
DE102008016789 discloses a capacity regulation container having an external container made of flexible plastic material. The head of the container is cylindrical and has a valve mechanism which allows a discharge of the fluid with only external mechanical pressure. A sealing cover is fitted which is screwed onto the cylindrical head for preventing discharge of fluid during transport by accidental pressure build-up on the wall of the capacity regulation container.
DE202004015177U1 discloses a container for a viscous fluid has an air cushion under pressure inside the outer wall. An inlet valve for the introduction of outside air into the air cushion is installed in the outer wall or in the proximity of the side lying opposite the outlet opening. The outer wall is elastically deformable and through external pressure is temporarily at least partially compressible, whereby the air cushion is put under pressure. A stop may be fitted inside the outer wall to limit its degree of compression.
EP1348642 discloses a package for dispensing a liquid product that includes an outer shell having a flexible resilient sidewall and a finish surrounding an outlet opening. An inner bag-shaped liner is disposed within the outer shell, and is unattached to the sidewall and the base wall of the outer shell so as to be collapsible with respect to the outer shell as product is dispensed from the liner. A dispensing structure is secured to the finish. An opening in the base wall of the outer shell vents the volume between the shell and the liner to the atmosphere. Product is dispensed when the sidewall is squeezed.
DE19917530 discloses a squeezable bottle consisting of an outer section and an inner refill bottle. The intermediate space can be filled up with air by means of a valve pump. The emptying is then carried out by the pressurized air cushion of the intermediate space.
EP1047616 discloses a self-emptying container for liquids, viscous, pasta, powder or granular products as well as solid products. It consists of rigid material and contains a closed pressure chamber in contact with a connector for emptying (and possibly filling) the container, and a pressurising device for pressurising the pressure chamber in order to exert a pressure within the container such that it empties via the connector. A control device may be included on the connector, or valve on said container, for emptying with exact metering or dosing.
WO9628353 discloses a laminated peel container that includes an outside synthetic resin layer having an air inlet and an inside synthetic resin layer so laminated inside the outside layer as to be capable of peeling, and only the portion of the inside layer in the proximity of the air inlet is, in advance, peeled from the outside layer. The air inlet can be formed by punching from outside the outside layer at a mouth portion of the laminated peel container and cutting only the outside layer in such a manner as to leave the inside layer. The inside layer peeled partially in advance from the outside layer may be left swelling inward. The inside layer is preferably shaped from a synthetic resin having a bending modulus of not greater than 10,000 kg/cm.
EP0567574 discloses a blow-molded, multilayer container and a preform having a unitary molded structure with separable inner and outer layers and vents. The container has an integral body with an inner layer which readily separates from an outer layer and collapses to dispense a product from the container by application of positive or negative pressure.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,223,289 discloses a dispensing assembly comprising a container; a deformable wall within the container defining two separate spaces therein, one of said spaces being fillable with material; a dispensing aperture connecting said one space with the exterior; means operable from the exterior of said assembly for deforming said deformable wall; first and second vents connecting the other space with the exterior; a check valve associated with the first vent to oppose outward air flow there through and a check valve associated with the second vent to oppose inward air flow there through; and means selectively operable to disable said first vent whereupon operation of said wall deforming means will permit the dispensing of material from the exterior into said one space, and to disable said second vent whereupon operation of said wall deforming means will permit the dispensing of material from said one space to the exterior.
DE18 75 025 U discloses a storage and dispensing container for whiskey or the like consisting of a wooden barrel with an inserted glass or plastic piston, which is guided by at least one full and/or dispensing nozzle through the barrel wall.
US 2011/168717 A1 discloses a container for water-based paint having a housing with an open top and a seal surface extending around the open top. The housing defines a chamber and includes a vent opening open to that chamber. A flexible bag is disposed in the chamber which includes an open top with a seal formed around the open top. This seal abuts against the seal surface on the housing. A lid is attached to the housing so that the lid covers the open top of the housing and compresses the seal against the seal surface. A dispensing opening is formed in the lid. In use, paint is contained within the flexible bag within the housing. As paint is disposed through the dispensing opening, the flexible bag collapses in an amount equal to the volume of the dispensed paint. Consequently, air is not inducted into the interior of the container to compensate for the volume of the dispensed paint and the paint does not dry out.
CH 350 598 A discloses a pack consisting of a bag made partly of a film that is impermeable to liquids, and partly of a rigid supporting body that surrounds the bag on all sides and is closed with a lid. The upper end of the bag is fixed to the supporting body. The lid has an inlet opening and the supporting body has at least one aperture. This invention aims to eliminate a disadvantage of a conventional pack by pre-attached the lid to the supporting body before filling, instead of the conventional way of filling and then attaching the lid later.
However, despite the prior art, refilling can be messy and fiddly, especially for liquid products, and it can be time consuming to carry out the refill process. There are also difficulties with residual product remaining in the refill pack itself, particularly in liquids with higher viscosities. The mode of operation can also present predicaments during a refill process, as packaging often needs to be held together, squeezed or compressed all at the same time. These issues need to be addressed.
We have now found that a pack comprising a pre-extended flexible material within a rigid outer container, under negative pressure, wherein the liquid product is held within the extended flexible material, provides an automatic refill operation such that the user doesn't need to squeeze the pack, or perform a complex mechanical operation as in a conventional refill pack. Instead, the new pack of the invention enables the user to simply open a valve to allow air pressure from outside to get inside the pack. The pre-extended flexible material then returns to its original shape, under force of air, thereby ejecting the product, quickly and efficiently from the refill pack into the primary pack. Thus, refilling is carried out smoothly with no mess and minimal wastage. It is, therefore, quicker and easier to refill the product into a primary container.

Refill device for dispensing a liquid product


A small vehicle detector for determining a size of a vehicle entering a particular area and assigning a rate of charge based on the determined size of vehicle including an entrance for a vehicle to enter the area. The small vehicle detector further includes a vehicle size detector system for determining size of the vehicle. The small vehicle detector also includes a ticket dispenser for dispensing a ticket with the assigned rate of charge based on the size determined by the vehicle size detector.

The number of cars that can be parked in a parking facility directly affects the revenue that the facility can take in. The more vehicles parked in a facility, the more revenue generated by that facility. The average parking space can accommodate one large car, but when laid out properly, can accommodate two small vehicles. A reduced rate for small vehicles would provide an incentive for people to drive smaller vehicles while still allowing the amount of revenue a site takes in to increase by allowing for more vehicle capacity.
What is needed is a system that can determine the size of a vehicle upon entering a parking facility so that the optimum amount of cars can be parked in a given parking facility. Further to encourage people to drive smaller cars, the system needs to provide parking rates based on the size of a vehicle.


Rust inhibiting compositions having improved elasticity properties are provided. The compositions contain oxime based rust converter compounds formulated with a latex based paint to provide a flexible film coating that acts as a barrier to oxygen and water vapor diffusion to the metal surface. Methods for applying the rust inhibiting compositions to metal surfaces are also provided.

Various formulations have been used by industry to provide barrier coatings for metal surfaces to protect those surfaces from corrosion and rust. Recently, formulations have included compounds called "rust converters" which are primarily based upon tannic or phosphoric acids, along with various other acids well known in the art. However, these acid compounds are susceptible to leaching and thus the protection is lost. Oxime based rust converter compounds have replaced the tannic and phosphoric acid compounds in rust inhibiting compositions due to their superior rust converting properties.
The formulations presently utilized to protect metal surfaces contain the rust coverter compounds in a base coating system. Typically this system is a latex base paint, however other resin base systems are known. These latex base paint systems are formulated with relatively high levels of "fillers", that is, compounds such as dyes, pigments, clays, carbonates, talc, phosphates, titanium dioxides, whiting agents, iron oxides, sulfates, silica, and the like. These fillers serve various functions, however they also severely restrict the elastic properties of the coating once it is applied to the metal surface. The coating is then prone to cracking and peeling upon exposure to ambient environmental conditions. Therefore, the coating will fail to protect the surface at the crack areas, and those areas proximate thereto, causing the surface to rust and corrode.
The formulations currently used to protect metal surfaces from rust and corrosion, containing high amounts of fillers, also present severe environmental and worker safety problems associated with their use. Removal of these formulations when they begin to crack and peel requires either chemical solvents or extensive amounts of labor in the form of sanding and sandblasting. The resulting waste from these processes is either toxic, volatile, or a combination of both and is therefore undesirable.
A critical need therefore exists to provide a rust inhibiting and corrosion resistant formulation that has superior elasticity properties such that it will not crack or peel upon exposure to ambient environmental conditions. Also, techniques are required for applying the coating to the surfaces to provide for ease of removal while avoiding toxicity or volatility problems.

Rust inhibiting compositions and methods for protecting metal surfaces with same


Provided are systems and techniques for playing audio/video programs (e.g., movies) using a bank of networked audio/video players (e.g., digital projectors). Initially, a first portion (e.g., the majority) of an audio/video program is stored on a first audio/video player in a bank of networked audio/video players and a second portion (e.g., the balance) of the audio/video program is stored on a second audio/video player in the bank of networked audio/video players. An instruction to play the audio/video program (or a composition that includes the audio/video program) is input in the first audio/video player and, in response to that instruction, the second portion of the audio/video program is transferred from the second audio/video player to the first audio video player and the audio/video program is played on the first audio/video player.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to storing and playing audio and/or video content, such as full-length motion pictures, and particularly concerns systems and methods utilizing distributed storage of such content in the context of a bank of networked playing devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various conventional devices exist for playing stored programs or works. that include audio and/or video content. Such devices include CD players, videocassette players, DVD players, film-based movie projectors and, more recently, digital movie projectors. Most of such devices play audio/video content directly from a portable storage medium (e.g., a CD, videocassette film reel or DVD), sometimes after a limited amount of buffering. Others utilize internal or external storage devices, such as hard disk drives, into which the content is loaded before being played. In these latter devices, the work can be played from the external storage device, once again, typically after some amount of buffering.
When used, external storage devices may be directly connected to the player or may be connected via a network. The current thinking is that the use of a central networked storage device is preferred in connection with digital projectors, particularly in the context of digital projection cinemas.
Thus, the following approach has been proposed for implementing digital cinemas. A central server stores all movies to be played throughout the cinema and the individual players are connected via a network to the central server. When a movie is to be played by a particular digital projector, it is streamed to that projector on a real-time basis. This approach typically requires a high-capacity server and network, and has the further disadvantage that any failure of the network or the central server might shut down the entire theater.

Distributed storage of audio/video content


A sliding panel configured along an edge of a GUI is associated with an application. When a panel activation event occurs, the panel slides into view, allowing the user to view the information generated by the application and to interact with the configured application. The panel automatically closes when a panel deactivation event occurs. Multiple panels can be attached to each edge of the GUI. The GUI is maintained such that the GUI representation of the sliding panel is always visible and accessible in a first portion of the GUI. A second portion of the GUI can be used to display workspace output. The content of the first portion of the GUI remains constant as a user switches from one workspace to another. The content of the first portion of the GUI therefore remains accessible from any workspace.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to accessing information and other items across multiple workspaces in a GUI.
2. Background Art
In computer systems, a GUI is used to present information to a user. In a personal computer environment, analogies are made between the items in a GUI and a person's desk. For example, the initial screen that is displayed when a computer system is booted is typically referred to as a desktop. The desktop provides a mechanism for displaying application information within the application's windows. Because a window is associated with an application, the information contained in an application window is not accessible from another application. Further, the information is not accessible across multiple desktops.
Some user environments such as the Unix Common Desktop Environment (CDE) and Hewlett Packard's HP Views provide users with multiple workspaces or desktops. The CDE and HP Views environments provide a panel displayed in the GUI that includes a set of buttons that provide access to applications such as calendar, file manager, mail, printer, etc. The user can access the panel while in one of the workspaces to invoke one of the identified applications. However, a window of the invoked application is, by default, only accessible in the workspace in which the user invoked the application. If the user subsequently switches to another workspace, the user must switch back to the workspace in which the application was invoked to access the information associated with the application.
A mechanism is available in the CDE and HP Views environments for the user to override the default to make a window accessible in multiple workspaces. However, it is a manual process. The user must identify a window and the individual workspaces in which the window is to be accessible. Thus, the user must go through a tedious, manual process to make a window accessible in another workspace.
Further, the CDE and HP Views environments do not provide any management of the GUI to ensure that the panel or the application window(s) do not become inaccessible. A desktop can easily get cluttered with open application windows and other GUI elements. For example, the user can initiate an application that opens one or more windows. The application windows overlay the information already being displayed on the desktop. In the CDE and HP Views environments, newly created application windows overlay the panel, application windows or other GUI elements already on the desktop making them inaccessible. To access the panel or other GUI element that is no longer visible on the desktop, the user must first rearrange the elements on the desktop to uncover the covered element.
Various techniques have been developed to make an element accessible. For example, in a process referred to as minimization, the size of a window can be reduced. A window can be minimized to the point that it is represented as an icon on the desktop, for example. A window can also be removed by closing it. Further, an element can be rearranged on the desktop. Windows can be dragged from one location on the desktop to another, for example. The shuffling or resizing of elements on the desktop is time consuming. It can also be frustrating to the user particularly when the user needs access to the element frequently or quickly.
Menus (such pop-up or pull-down menus) have also been used to make elements more accessible. The user clicks on a menu icon which causes the menu to be displayed. The user can click on an item in the menu to select the item. These menus are pre-configured and their entries act as pointers to such things as applications, folders or documents. In the Macintosh operating system, an apple icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen represents a menu that contains pointers to elements. To add an entry in the apple menu display, the user adds the element to an "Apple Menu Items" folder in the system's folder.
Another type of menu that is used in Windows 95 is a taskbar that exists at the bottom edge of the Windows 95 screen or desktop. The taskbar contains icons that represent open applications. To start an application, the user types in the location of the application in the system's file system, or the user selects an entry in a hierarchical menu structure (i.e., the location of the application associated with the entry has already been defined). When the application is invoked, an application window is opened on the desktop. When the application's window is minimized, an icon that represents the application remains in the taskbar. To activate the application, the user moves the cursor that is displayed on the desktop (using the mouse) to the taskbar. An option that exists in Windows 95 allows the user to hide the taskbar or remove it from sight until it is needed. The taskbar appears as a thin gray line at the bottom of the display, if this option is chosen.
The menus including the Apple menu used in the Macintosh operating system and the Windows 95 taskbar have a unitary function. In the case of the Apple menu, the menu holds pointers to an element stored in the operating system's file system. The Windows 95 taskbar holds pointers to suspended applications. It is impossible, for example, to configure the menus to run an application within the menu itself. In the prior art, a menu has a unitary function that is hardwired and cannot be configured by a user.
Thus, the menus currently available, including the Macintosh Apple Menu Items and Windows 95 taskbar, do not provide a mechanism for accessing information or other items from another application. Further, in the prior art, a menu does not manage the element on a desktop to reduce the clutter. It is still necessary for a user to manage the elements on the desktop by, for example, minimizing, maximizing or otherwise hiding windows and rearranging desktop elements.

Method and apparatus for accessing information and items across workspaces


An electronic component inspection apparatus includes a light source arranged in a mounting area where at least one electronic component is mounted to a board and a light-receiving sensor arranged outside the mounting area to detect an intensity of a light received from the light source. A computer executes a program to perform a process of determining a state of joining parts in the mounting area based on a result of comparison of the intensity of the light received by the light-receiving sensor with an intensity of distribution previously acquired.

In recent years, a circuit board forming an electronic circuit by being mounted with electronic components has been miniaturized, and densification of circuit boards has been progressed. Among electronic components to be mounted on a circuit board, densification of a large scaled integrated circuit (LSI) has been progressed. With such a progress of densification, a number of external connection terminals of the LSI has been increased. On the other hand, the LSI is required to be miniaturized and densified. Thus, a ball grid array (BGA) type LSI, which is capable of being miniaturized while having a large number of pins, is used in many cases.
The BGA type LSI generally includes many solder-ball terminals as external connection terminals arranged in matrix on a mounting surface. Such a BGA type LSI is mounted to a circuit board by joining solder ball terminals to connection pads of the circuit board.
After mounting the LSI to the circuit board, an inspection is made as to whether all of the solder-ball terminals are joined to the respective connection pads of the circuit board. Each of the solder-ball terminals is once melted and solidified during a mounting process, thereby, forming a solder-joining part. Each electrode of the LSI is joined to the corresponding connection pad of the circuit board via the solder-joining part. Thus, by visually checking a state of the solder-joining part after mounting, a determination can be made as to whether each electrode of the LSI is appropriately connected to the corresponding connection pad of the circuit board via the solder-joining part.
However, because many solder-ball terminals are provided on the mounting surface of the BGA type LSI as mentioned above, it may be difficult to visually check many solder-joining parts existing in a narrow space between the circuit board and the LSI after the BGA type LIS is mounted to the circuit board. Thus, there is suggested an optical inspection method of inspecting a connecting state of solder joining parts by using an intensity of light (an amount of light) being irradiated to the solder-joining parts after mounting and passed through a space between the solder-joining parts (for example, refer to Patent Documents 1 to 3).
The following patent documents disclose a background art.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2001-144147
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2006-41167
Patent Document 3: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2000-346622
In a case where an inspection is made by detecting an intensity of transmitted light, which is irradiated onto one side of a space, in which many solder-joining parts are densely arranged, and transmitted to an opposite side of the space, if the density of the solder-joining parts is high and intervals therebetween become small, it may be difficult to detect a change in the transmitted light because an intensity of the transmitted light becomes low. Additionally, if the light is irradiated in a direction of alignment of the solder-joining parts, some of the solder-joining parts located at positions shaded by one of the solder-joining parts do not affect the transmitted light, and, thus, an inspection of the solder-joining parts cannot be done.
As mentioned above, in the case where an inspection is made on the solder-joining parts after an electronic component, such as a BGA type LSI having many solder-ball terminals arranged close to each other, is mounted to a circuit board, it may be difficult to make a reliable inspection if the above-mentioned inspection method using an intensity of a transmitted light is used.
Thus, it is desirous to materialize an electronic component inspection method and apparatus, which can make a reliable inspection on joint parts of an electronic component.

Electronic component inspection apparatus and method


The present invention relates to a method of selectively amplifying at least one nucleic acid sequence of at least one microorganism and/or virus in a sample of a subject, wherein k-mers 3 are applied that show a difference in frequency and/or context in the genome 2 of the at least one microorganism and/or virus compared to the genome of the subject 1.

Infections by bacteria, viruses, or parasites have always been a threat to humans, and will continue to count for a high number of deaths in the world. The most widely used strategies to fight infections are:
a) prevention (e.g. by vaccination) or
b) treatment (e.g. by antibiotics or antiviral agents).
For both these strategies, diagnostic methods that detect ongoing infections (for treatment) or previous infections (to check if immunity by a previous infection or a vaccination is provided) are needed.
Detection of a pathogen infection in a subject can be done in various ways, one of which is the detection of nucleic acid sequences of the pathogen in a sample of the subject.
For this purpose, sequencing of the nucleic acid sequences in the sample can be carried out.
However, when sequencing nucleic acid sequences in a complex sample of a subject, the direct sequencing of such samples like complex biological biospecimen (e.g., blood, urine etc.) for detection of pathogens (e.g., bacteria, viruses, etc.) is often hampered by the high background level of the nucleic acid sequences of the subject itself, e.g., (human) host DNA. Especially for blood, surplus human DNA dominates extractable DNA pools by as much as 1010. For infectious disease diagnostics, regularly the nucleic acid sequences of the subject, e.g., human DNA, is not of interest. Therefore direct sequencing of highly host-contaminated samples is inefficient and subsequently not cost-effective.
Currently, several techniques for host (e.g., human) DNA removal exist, but these are usually costly and often require additional sample preparation steps.
Some techniques employ a depletion of human DNA by targeting eukaryotic DNA specialties, e.g., the presence of CpG-methylation sites and histones. These techniques involve a subsequent antibody targeting, as e.g., described for the NEBNext® Microbiome DNA Enrichment Kit of New England Biolabs® Inc. (https://www.neb.com/products/e2612-nebnext-microbiome-dna-enrichment-kit#pd-references), or in CN 104152437.
Further, also differences in the cell membrane/wall can be used, leading to a selective lysis approach, as, e.g., obtainable using MolYsis™ of Molzym GmbH & Co. KG (http://www.molzym.com/products/dna-isolation-products/pathogen-dna-molysis), or as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,893,251.
However, these techniques are not working when the host organism changes and/or the target organisms are closely related organism (eukaryotes), e.g., the human parasites Plasmodium falciparum, an organism also showing methylation and histones.
Furthermore, other enrichment techniques like microfluidic multiple displacement amplification (MDA), ultracentrifugation of DNA with histones, and selective lysis of human cells, etc., exist.
Recently, Ge et al., "Preferential Amplification of Pathogenic Sequences", Scientific Reports 5, Article number: 11047, (2015), doi:10.1038/srep11047 proposed a strategy primarily designed for transcriptomes where viral transcripts are to be expected. The principle is based on 8, 9 or 10 mers not matching the 2000 most abundant human transcripts. These "non-human" primers were subsequently used in a reverse transcription reaction to produce cDNA libraries from RNA material.
However, a need exists for a further improvement for methods of enriching nucleic acid sequences of microorganisms and/or viruses in a sample of a subject.

Amplification-integrated genetic material depletion of non-target organisms using differentially abundant k-mers


A web material exhibiting both an elastic-like and an expansive behavior in response to an applied elongation. The web material includes an elastic-like zone and an expansive zone disposed adjacent to the elastic-like zone. The expansive zone allows the elastic-like zone to extend without generating excessive tensional forces. The elastic-like zone includes a strainable network having a first region and a second region. The second region has a surface-pathlength greater than the surface-pathlength of the first region. The expansive zone has a surface-pathlength greater than the first region and different than that of the second region.

Infants and other incontinent individuals wear absorbent articles such as diapers to receive and contain urine and other body exudates. Absorbent articles function both to contain the discharged materials and to isolate these materials from the body of the wearer and from the wearer's garments and bed clothing. Disposable absorbent articles having many different basic designs are known to the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,152, entitled "Disposable Diaper", issued to Duncan and Baker on Jan. 31, 1967, describes a disposable diaper which has achieved wide acceptance and commercial success. U.S. Pat. No. 3,860,003, entitled "Contractible Side Portions For Disposable Diaper", issued to Buell on Jan. 14, 1975, describes an elasticized leg cuff disposable diaper which has achieved wide acceptance and commercial success.
However, absorbent articles have a tendency to sag or gap away from and to slide/slip down on the body of the wearer during wear. This sagging/gapping and sliding/slipping is caused by the relative motions of the wearer as the wearer breathes, moves and changes positions, by the downward forces generated when the absorbent is loaded with body exudates, and by the materials of the absorbent article itself when subjected to such wearer's motions. This sagging/gapping and sliding/slipping of the absorbent article can lead to premature leakage and poor fit of the absorbent article about the wearer in the waist regions and the leg regions of the absorbent article.
In order to more snugly fit absorbent articles about the wearer, certain commercially available absorbent articles have been provided with elastic features. An example of a disposable diaper with elastic side panels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,151,092, entitled "Absorbent Article With Dynamic Elastic Waist Feature Having Predisposed Flexural Hinge", issued to Buell, Clear, and Falcone on Sept. 22, 1992. However, elastics are costly and require a certain degree of manipulation and handling during assembly. Further, while elastics do provide a degree of stretch for the absorbent article, the components of the absorbent article to which the elastics are attached are typically not elastic such that the elastics must be prestretched prior to being secured to the absorbent article or the inelastic components must be subjected to mechanical stretching (e.g., ring rolling) to enable the added elastic to be effective. Otherwise, the added elastic is restrained by the inelastic components.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide relatively low cost, easy to manufacture, web materials which exhibit an "elastic-like" behavior in response to an applied and subsequently released elongation. As used herein, the term "elastic-like" describes the behavior of web materials which when subjected to an applied elongation, the web materials extend in the direction of applied elongation and when the applied elongation is released the web materials return, to a substantial degree, to their untensioned condition.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a relatively low cost, easy to manufacture, absorbent article having sustained dynamic fit about the wearer during use.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an absorbent article having a unique extensible waist feature, preferably without the use of elastic, that provides sustained dynamic fit and improved resistance to leakage during use due to the conformability of the materials forming the waist feature by virtue of their readily extensible nature.
These and other objects of the present invention will be more readily apparent when considered in reference to the following description and when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Web materials having elastic-like and expansive zones


Architecture for generating and maintaining a terminal services connection from an external client to an internal intranet client behind a firewall and/or router. The external user is first authenticated after which the external client is passed to a remote user portal. A listing of available internal computers is presented to the external client user, the selection of one that initiates an intranet server to create a listening socket thereon, and a socket on the selected internal client. The server creates a thread that manages the terminal services connection between the external client and the internal client by listening for traffic and forwarding the traffic between the ports.

The advent of a global communication network, e.g., the Internet, has facilitated connectivity to a wide variety of devices from most anywhere in the world. Initially, these communication devices included what is now considered to be rudimentary one-way signaling, for example, to a pager. However, portable devices are now much more sophisticated facilitating bi-directional communication not only in textual content, but with voice and image content as well. Storage and memory capabilities in such smaller mobile devices are increasing, further facilitating the exchange of full content information from almost anywhere. Thus users need not carry all of the information with them, but simply connect remotely to a home station to access the information desired. With the increasing mobility of employees and the need to access vast amounts of information, this capability provides the remote user with ready access to information to better serve the employer and customers.
However, presently, there is no mechanism for Internet users to facilitates a remote desktop connection, e.g., a terminal services connection, to access a client computer within an intranet network, behind a firewall and/or router, without first requiring virtual private network (VPN) rights or a statically configured path through the router and firewall. Connecting to the network via VPN and then using terminal services to access a client is complicated and awkward. Moreover, maintaining a static route from the Internet to an internal client is a security risk.
What is needed is a tool that enables remote desktop connections to be made from outside an intranet firewall and/or router to a client computer behind the firewall and/or router, sidestepping both negative aspects of VPN connectivity and security vulnerabilities.

Architecture for connecting a remote client to a local client desktop


A system and method for autonomic problem determination. Events and problems associated with the events are received from a computing resource and are expressed as entries in an event-problem matrix. Expert knowledge is expressed as entries in one or more multi-level structure dictionaries. The system and method enables dynamic interaction between the events in the matrix and the current dictionaries with its entries being updated continuously to maximize correlation among the events and problems. The index of each term in the dictionary is used to calculate the weight of each event in the matrix wherein events having frequent association with a specific problem will be given a higher weight in the matrix. Using singular value decomposition (SVD), the weighted events enable an accelerated and accurate convergence to a set of specific associated problems. Feedback, responsive to the output of the problem determination, is provided to trigger the recalculation of the index of each associated term in the dictionaries, resulting in gradual evolution of the dictionaries to accumulate expert knowledge.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to autonomic computing systems and, more particularly, to improved systems and methods for autonomic problem determination.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An autonomic problem determination system (PDS) can adapt to changing environments, react to existing or new error condition and predict possible problems. Traditional problem determination systems rely on static rules and patterns to recognize problems, which is insufficient in detecting new, ambiguous error conditions, and is not able to adapt to new environments. New rules and patterns must be authored to reflect new operation environments and error conditions, which is costly to maintain and slow to respond. Standard Singular Value Decomposition has been explored to solve this problem. SVD is a classical statistical method and is widely used in latent semantic analysis for information retrieval. Its use in autonomic systems has been explored recently. However, these prior studies did not consider the use of expert and learned knowledge to enhance search time and accuracy. While SVD works well in static environment, its accuracy is unpredictable and computationally expensive in new and ambiguous situations.
It would be highly desirable to provide an improved system and method for autonomic problem determination.
It would be highly desirable to provide an improved system and method for autonomic problem determination that is adaptive and implements adaptive multilevel dictionaries and single value decomposition techniques that can react to new or ambiguous error situations and predict possible problems, and adapt to new environments.

Adaptive multi-levels dictionaries and singular value decomposition techniques for autonomic problem determination

International Business Machines Corporation


A dual-band antenna has a first meandering portion, a second meandering portion and a connection portion defining two ends. The first meandering portion and the second meandering portion have different length. One end of the first meandering portion connects one end of the second meandering portion. The other end of the first meandering portion connects one end of the connection portion. The other end of the second meandering portion connects a feeding portion. The other end of the connection portion connects a ground portion. The feeding portion, the second meandering portion, the first meandering portion and the connection portion obtain an electrical resonance corresponding to a first frequency range. The second meandering portion obtains an electrical resonance corresponding to a second frequency range.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of antenna. More specifically, a dual-band antenna operates at wireless local area network.
2. The Related Art
According to the progress of the communication technology, the key development is the transfer from wired to wireless communication. A plurality of different wireless communication bands may be used by devices such as laptops. For example, the standards for wireless local area network (LAN) include the IEEE 802.11a band and the IEEE 802.11b/g.
In recent years, Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) mobile communication products under IEEE 802.11a/b/g standards, such as WLAN cards for computers are gaining popularity in wireless communication market. Wherein, IEEE 802.11b/g standard is suitable for working at 2.4 GHz frequency band covering 2.412 GHz to 2.462 GHz, while IEEE 802.11a standard is suitable for working at 5 GHz frequency band covering 4.9 GHz to 5.87 GHz. Many WLAN mobile communication products want to be used under both IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11b/g standard.
The data rate of the IEEE 802.11a/g standard is 54 Mbps which is high enough to transmit various data such as image data, video data and audio data. If the laptop would have wireless communication function using IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11b/g standards over 54 Mbps, the antennas is necessary for operating at 2.4 GHz and 5.2 GHz bands.
A conventional dual-band antenna is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,196,668. The dual band antenna has a first antenna, an antenna array and a wireless module, which is configured in the laptops. The antenna array has a plurality of second antennas and a plurality of connectors connected to the second antennas. The distance between two adjacent second antennas is identical. The first antenna and the second antennas respectively operate at 2.4 GHz band and 5.2 GHz band.
The dual band antenna has the large dimension according to the distance between two adjacent second antennas being identical. It is necessary to retain a large space in the laptops for configuring the dual-band antenna in the laptops. The process for configuring the dual-band antenna in the laptop is complex because the distance between two adjacent second antennas is identical.


An active implantable medical device having an RF telemetry circuit. The device is in particular a stimulation, resynchronization, defibrillation and/or cardioversion device. It includes a principal circuit, an RF telemetry auxiliary circuit and a supply battery for the principal and auxiliary circuits. It is envisaged to have between the supply battery and the auxiliary circuit a regulating circuit including an accumulator of electric power coupled with the auxiliary circuit to deliver a current ready to feed the auxiliary circuit, and a load circuit coupled with the supply battery to maintain the accumulator on a predetermined level of load.

The above-identified definition includes in particular devices that monitor cardiac activity and generate impulses of stimulation, resynchronization, defibrillation, and/or cardioversion in the event the device detects a disorder in heart rate. It also includes, for example, neurological devices, pumps for distribution of medical substances, cochlear implants, and implanted biological sensors, as well as devices for measurement of pH or bio-impedance (such as trans-pulmonary impedance or intracardiac impedance measurements).
With such devices, it is possible to operate a data exchange with a "programmer," which is an external instrument that can be used to check the parameter settings of the devices, to read information recorded by the devices, to register information with the devices, and to update the internal control software of the devices. This data exchange is carried out by telemetry, i.e., by a technique of remote transmission of information, without galvanic contact. Until now, telemetry has primarily been carried out by magnetic coupling between coils in the implanted device and the programmer, which is a technique known as "process by induction." This technique has certain disadvantages, however, because of the low range of an inductive coupling, which necessitates placing a "telemetry head" containing a coil in the vicinity of the implantation site of the active implantable medical device.
Implementation of a different nongalvanic coupling technique has been proposed, using the two components of an electromagnetic wave produced by emitting/receiving circuits operating in the field of radio frequencies (RF), typically at frequencies around a few hundred MHz. This technique, known as RF telemetry, makes it possible to program or interrogate implants at distances greater than 3 meters, and thus carry out information exchanges without having to use a telemetry head, and even without intervention of an external operator. U.S. Patent Application Publication Nos. US2003/0114897 and US2003/0149459 describe implants and programmers equipped with such RF telemetry circuits. These RF circuits require, however, a current supply that is greater than what is necessary for the other circuits of the implant (e.g., the stimulation and detection circuits). For example, the current consumption of an RF circuit can exceed 3 mA during emission phases.
In the case of defibrillators, taking into account the significant amount of current required by circuits used to apply shock therapy, the batteries used have low internal resistance and can supply without difficulty currents of about a few mA. On the other hand, pacemakers and similar devices, such as multisite or resynchronization devices, are generally supplied by small-size lithium-iodine batteries (or their equivalent), taking into account the low operating current required by the stimulation and detection circuits. These batteries have an internal resistance of about 100 Ω at the beginning of their life, which can increase to 1 kΩ, 2 kΩ, or more as the battery discharges. This internal resistance is not a problem for circuits with low consumption, but can prevent one from being able to provide RF circuits with the required level of current.
A first solution is to use a different type of battery, for example, a reduced size lithium-manganese (LiMnO2) weldable button battery with low impedance. There are such batteries whose characteristics are: diameter 12.2 mm, height 1.4 mm, capacity 27 mA/h, nominal voltage 3 V, self-discharge maximum 1% per annum, and which can provide currents of several mA. The current of RF circuits is exclusively provided by the button battery. When the button battery can no longer provide the current, the lithium battery of the pacemaker can provide a low current of 10 μA, which allows the transmitter-receiver to work in pulsated mode. The peak current is provided by a capacitor belonging to a supply circuit controlling the voltage of the battery.

Active implantable medical device which includes a circuit of RF telemetry


The breathing system comprises a canister carrying layered filtering material, including activated carbon granules, a dessicant, a catalyst for the catalyzation of carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide, optionally lithium peroxide, for conversion of CO.sub.2 to O.sub.2, and electrostatically charged filters between the layers of filtering material. A mouthpiece carrying a noseclip, and inhalation and exhalation check valves and a whistle is disposed within a flexible, substantially completely transparent hear-through hood, both the mouthpiece and hood being disposed in the canister between the filtering material and a cover for the canister. In use, the cover is removed, air inlet apertures are uncovered, and the hood is drawn about an individual's head and substantially sealed about the neck. With the mouthpiece in the individual's mouth, and noseclip closing off the user's nose, inhalation causes air to flow through the filtering material and the inhalation check valve and past the exhalation check valves. When exhaling, the exhalation check valves open to permit exhaled air to flow into the hood. The inhalation valve closes during exhalation to prevent backflow of air through the filtering material. By exhaling into the hood, a slight positive pressure within the hood is established to prevent noxious gases, smoke particles and the like from entering the hood through the neck opening. A chemical light is provided externally on the canister.

While conventional personal emergency breathing systems have been designed for use in fires and have addressed the problem of removing carbon monoxide and other toxic gases, i.e., cyanides, benzines and the like, they fail to provide a low-cost, one-piece system that integrates a protective hood, mouthpiece and filter in a single compact canister. In such conventional systems, the hood has been either an incidental independent feature of the filter system or has been attached in a separate package to be used or not used by choice. Such hoods have invariably been of a bulky design generally incorporating a solid heat-resistant material forming the main part of the body of the hood, severly restricting two-way communication, and provided with a transparent window of a size which substantially restricts vision and is subject, as a consequence of its limited area, to fogging. Such a design requires the hood to be packed and carried separately.
Prior art emergency breathing systems typically exhaust exhaled gases via a one-way valve to atmosphere, or back into the filter via the mouth or mouth/nose piece. Consequently, prior art systems have required a rubber/plastic face forming a nose/mouth cover or a mouthpiece and noseclip. These devices are not efficient, particularly when used on bearded or children's faces. Similarly, mouthpieces with a separate noseclip are inconvenient and, unless placed properly on the nose, are subject to being easily dislodged and lost.
Prior art systems are often bulky, sometimes require sizing for fitting particular individuals, and generally are not conducive to easy or practical day-to-day carriage or storage. Prior art systems also have employed a variety of fitting methods generally relying on multiple or single-strap arrangements requiring individual adjustment to ensure a proper airtight fit to the individual user. In an emergency or panic situation, such methods are time-consuming and sometimes confusing to use, especially in the case of multiple-strap arrangements. Certain prior art systems do not provide a protective hood or face mask and are complicated in design or use or both. Additionally, such systems are expensive to manufacture, do not lend themselves to a low retail cost, and hence are effectively precluded from a cost standpoint from prepositioning in the necessary numbers in populated areas.

Filtering canister with deployable hood and mouthpiece


A solid-state image sensing apparatus which can improve the S/N ratio without enlarging the chip area in both of the mode in which pixel signals are summed and the mode in which pixel signals are not summed is provided. The solid-state image sensing apparatus includes an image sensing region 510 in which a plurality of unit cells 500 is laid out two-dimensionally, the first vertical signal line 520, a row selection circuit 530, a column selection circuit 560, a horizontal signal line 570 and a signal processing unit 100, having a sampling capacitors which accumulate signals corresponding to amplified signals of the unit cells, which selects the case of summing the signals or the case of not summing the signals, wherein the capacitance of the sampling capacitor which accumulates a signal corresponding to an amplified signal of a unit cell for each row when the sum is performed is smaller than the capacitance required for reading out the signal from said capacitor.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a solid-state image sensing apparatus and particularly to a solid-state image sensing apparatus which can sum pixel signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, in a field of a mobile terminal such as a cellular phone, one with a function to photograph has been widespread. As for the function to photograph which a mobile terminal has, high pixel density (mega pixels) for higher picture quality of a still picture is required and a mobile terminal with the function to photograph is expected to replace a low-cost Digital Still Camera (DSC). On the other hand, the function to photograph which a mobile terminal has is required to be compliant with a picture less than QVGA (about 80,000 pixels), considering animations and communication.
To meet these requirements, in a CCD solid-state image sensing apparatus with high pixel density, so-called mega pixels, for example, removal of pixels by partial sampling of pictures called cull is executed. Additionally, a sum of pixel signals in a vertical direction is performed in an amplifying-type solid-state image sensing apparatus.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a circuit structure of "Solid-state image sensing apparatus" (refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent application No. 2000-106653) and an example of a solid-state image sensing apparatus in which a sum of pixel signals in a vertical direction is performed.
A conventional solid-state image sensing apparatus includes: a unit cell 500 which is composed of a photodiode 501 which converts light to charge, a readout transistor 502 which reads out the signal of the photodiode 501, an amplifier transistor 503 which amplifies the signal voltage of the photodiode 501, a reset transistor 504 which resets the signal voltage of the photodiode 501, a vertical selection transistor 505 which selects the row from which the amplified signal voltage is read out, a Floating Diffusion (FD) unit 506 which detects the signal voltage of the photodiode 501; an image area 510 where n×m pieces of the unit cells 500 are laid out two-dimensionally; the first vertical signal line 520 which transmits the signal voltage of the unit cell 500 to a signal process unit 550 column-by-column; a row selection circuit 530 which selects the unit cell 500 row-by-row; a group of load transistors 540; the signal process unit 550 which retains the signal voltage transmitted through the vertical signal line 520 and cuts noise; a column selection circuit 560 which selects the unit cell 500 column-by-column; a horizontal signal line 570 which transmits the signal voltage outputted from the signal process unit 550 to an output amplifier 580; and the output amplifier 580. In FIG. 5, to simplify an explanation, the unit cell 500 in the "n"th row and the "m"th column is shown.
FIG. 2 is a diagram showing a circuit structure of the signal process unit 550.
The signal process unit 550 includes: a sample hold transistor 600 connected to the first vertical signal line 520; a clamp capacitor 610 connected to the first vertical signal line 520 through the sample hold transistor 600; the second vertical signal line 620 connected to the first signal vertical line 610 through the clamp capacitor 610; sampling transistors 630a, 630b and 630c connected to the second vertical signal line 620; a clamp transistor 640; a column selection transistor 650 connected to the second vertical signal line 620; sampling capacitor 660a connected to the second vertical signal line 620 through the sampling transistor 630a; sampling capacitor 660b connected to the second vertical signal line 620 through the sampling transistor 630b; and sampling capacitor 660c connected to the second vertical signal line 620 through the sampling transistor 630c.
Corresponding to an application of a sampling pulse which makes an SP line high level, the sample holding transistor 600 becomes ON state and transmits the signal voltage transmitted from the first vertical signal line 520 to the clamp capacitor 610.
Additionally, corresponding to an application of a clamp pulse which makes a CP line high level, the clamp transistor 640 becomes ON state, CPDC voltage is provided to a terminal B of the clamp capacitor 610. By maintaining the voltage between the terminals A and B at the time of a reset, the clamp capacitor 610 removes fixed pattern noises different for each unit cell 500. Here, capacitance of the clamp capacitor is Ccp.
The second vertical signal line 620 transmits the signal voltage transmitted from the first vertical signal line 520 through the clamp capacitor 610.
Corresponding to an application of a capacitor selection pulse A which makes an SWA line high level, the sample holding transistor 630a becomes ON state and transfers the signal voltage transmitted through the second vertical signal line 620 to the sampling capacitor 660a. Additionally, corresponding to an application of a capacitor selection pulse B which makes an SWB line high level, the sample holding transistor 630b becomes ON state and transfers the signal voltage transmitted through the second vertical signal line 620 to the sampling capacitor 660b. Then, corresponding to an application of a capacitor selection pulse C which makes an SWC line high level, the sample holding transistor 630c becomes ON state and transfers the signal voltage transmitted through the second vertical signal line 620 to the sampling capacitor 660c.
Corresponding to an application of the clamp pulse which makes the CP line high level, the clamp transistor 640 becomes ON state and resets, to the electric potential of the CPDC line, the second vertial signal line 620, the clamp capacitor 610, the sampling capacitors, 660a, 660b and 660c.
Corresponding to an application of a column selection pulse which makes a CSEL line high level, the column selection transistor 650 becomes ON state and transfers charges accumulated in sampling capacitors 660a, 660b and 660c to the horizontal signal line 570.
Each of the sampling capacitors 660a, 660b and 660c accumulates signal voltage readout for each row. For example, the sampling capacitor 600a accumulates the signal voltage read out from the unit cell 500 in the "n"th row; the sampling capacitor 600b accumulates the signal voltage read out from the unit cell 500 in the "(n−1)"th row; and the sampling capacitor 600c accumulates the signal voltage read out from the unit cell 500 in the "(n−2)"th row. Here, the capacitance of the capacitor 660a is Csp; the capacitance of the capacitor 660b is Csp; and the capacitance of the capacitor 660c is Csp.
Operations of the conventional solid-state image sensing apparatus described above are explained based on a drive timing chart shown in FIG. 3.
When the unit cell 500 in the "n"th row is selected, a row selection pulse (n) which makes a LSET (n) line high level is applied to a vertical selection transistor 505 of the unit cell 500 in the "n"th row. As a result, the vertical selection transistor 505 becomes ON state; the amplifier transistor 503 and the group of load transistors 540 form a source follower circuit; and voltage which follows power supply voltage of the unit cell 500 is outputted from the source follower circuit to the first vertical signal line 520.
Next, the sampling pulse which makes the SP line high level is applied to the sample hold transistor 600. As a result, the sample hold transistor 600 becomes ON state and holds the voltage outputted from the source follower circuit to the first vertical signal line 520 in the clamp capacitor 610. At this time, the clamp pulse which makes the CP line high level is applied to the clamp transistor 640. As a result, the clamp transistor becomes ON state; the clamp capacitor 610 at the side connected to the second vertical signal line 620 is reset to electric potential of the CPDC line. Additionally, since a capacitor selection pulse A which makes the SWA line high level is applied at the same time, the sampling transistor 630a becomes ON state and the sampling capacitor 660a is reset to electric potential of the CPDC line.
Next, a reset pulse (n) which makes a RESET (n) line high level is applied to the reset transistor 504. As a result, the reset transistor 504 becomes ON state and electric potential of the FD unit 506 is reset. The gate voltage of the amplifier transistor 503 connected to the FD unit 506 becomes the electric potential of the FD unit 506 and the voltage corresponding to this voltage, concretely the voltage given by (the electric potential of the FD unit−Vt)×a is outputted to the first vertical signal line 520. Here, Vt is threshold voltage of the amplifier transistor 503; a is a voltage amplification factor.
Next, the clamp pulse which makes the CP line low level is applied to the clamp transistor 640. As a result, the clamp transistor 640 becomes OFF state and the second vertical signal line 620 becomes floating state.
Next, a readout pulse (n) which makes a READ (n) line high level is applied to the readout transistor 502. As a result, the readout transistor 502 becomes ON state and signal charge accumulated in the photodiode 501 is transferred to the FD unit 506. The gate voltage of the amplifier transistor 503 connected to the FD unit 506 becomes the electric potential of the FD unit 506 and the voltage corresponding to this voltage, concretely the voltage given by (the electric potential of the FD unit−Vt)×a is outputted to the first vertical signal line 520. At this time, since the clamp pulse which makes the CP line low level is applied to the clamp transistor 640, the clamp transistor becomes OFF state, and in the sampling capacitor 660a is accumulated, as the signal voltage of the unit cell 500 in the "n"th row, voltage change corresponding to the difference between the voltage outputted to the first vertical signal line 520 when the electric potential of the FD unit 506 is reset and the voltage outputted to the first vertical signal line 520 when the signal charge accumulated in the photodiode 501 is transferred to the FD unit 506. Then, the capacitor selection pulse A which makes the SWA line low level is applied and the sampling transistor 630 becomes OFF state.
Next, the unit cell 500 in the "(n−1)"th row is selected; the capacitor selection pulse B which makes the SWB line high level is applied; similar operations are repeated; and in the sampling capacitor 660b is accumulated the signal voltage of the unit cell 500 in the "(n−1)"th row. Then, the capacitor selection pulse B which makes the SWB line low level is applied and the sampling transistor 630b becomes OFF state.
Next, the unit cell 500 in the "(n−2)"th row is selected; the capacitor selection pulse C which makes the SWC line high level is applied; similar operations are repeated; and in the sampling capacitor 660c is accumulated the signal voltage of the unit cell 500 in the "(n−2)" row. Then, the capacitor selection pulse C which makes the SWC line low level is applied and the sampling transistor 630c becomes OFF state.
Next, the capacitor selection pulse A, the capacitor selection pulse B and the capacitor selection pulse C are applied at the same time to make the SWA line, and the SWB line and SWC line high level, respectively. As a result, sampling transistors 630a, 630b and 630c become ON state.
Next, the column selection pulse (m) which makes the CSEL (m) line high level, the column selection pulse (m−1) which makes the CSEL (m−1) line high level and so on are applied to the column selection transistor 650 in sequence. As a result, each column selection transistor 650 becomes ON state in sequence, signal voltage accumulated in the sampling capacitor 660a, the sampling capacitor 660b and the sampling capacitor 660c are summed and outputted to the horizontal signal line 570 in sequence.
In the operations described above, in order to accumulate the signal voltage of the unit cell 500 in the "n"th row in the sampling capacitor 660a, the clamp transistor 640 and the column selection transistor 650 become OFF state and the sampling transistor 630a becomes ON state. As a result, the gain of a circuit formed by the clamp capacitor 610 and the sampling capacitor 660a is calculated and expressed by the equation (1).G=Ccp/(Ccp+Csp)  (1)
Here, in order to accumulate the signal voltage of the unit cells 500 in the "(n−1)" th row and the "(n−2)" th row in the sampling capacitors 660b and 660c, the gain of a circuit formed by the clamp capacitor 610 and the sampling capacitor 660b and the gain of a circuit formed by the clamp capacitor 610 and the sampling capacitor 660c are similarly calculated by the equation (1).
By the way, in a conventional solid-sate image sensing apparatus, capacitance per unit area of the clamp capacitor 610, the sampling capacitors 660a, 660b and 660c are some fF/μm2. Therefore, in the case of forming a capacitor of some pF, the area of the signal processing unit 550 is enlarged and the circuit formed to sum pixel signals enlarges the chip area. For example, when Ccp and Csp are 5 pF and the capacitance per unit area of the sampling capacitors 660a, 660b and 660c is 5 fF/μm2, the each area of the clamp capacitor 610, the sampling capacitors 660a, 660b and 660c is 1,000 μm2, which means the total is a large area of 4,000 μm2. Consequently, the capacitor length is 1,000 μm when the capacitor width in the horizontal direction of the clamp capacitor and the sampling capacitor is formed by 4 μm.
However, when a conventional solid-state image sensing apparatus does not sum the signal voltage, but accumulates the signal voltage using any of the sampling capacitors 660a, 660b and 660c and outputs the accumulated signal voltage to the horizontal signal line 570, the smaller the sampling capacitance Csp is, the more susceptible is the outputted signal voltage to an external noise caused by ON/OFF of the column selection transistor 650. Therefore, to restrain the influence of the external noise, it is unavoidable that the sampling capacitance Csp becomes large and there is a problem that the chip area enlarges. For example, when the gate capacitor of the column selection transistor has 4 fF (it is supposed that the gate size is about W/L=5 μm/1 μm and half of the gate capacitor has influenced as the external noise to the sampling capacitor) and pulse voltage of 3V is applied to the column selection transistor, voltage of 3V×4 f/(4 f+Csp) will jump into the signal voltage accumulated in the sampling capacitor in calculation. Consequently, if the signal voltage of 500 mV is accumulated in the sampling capacitor as a saturating signal, to make an S/N ratio of the external noise to the signal voltage—40 dB or less, when the sampling capacitor is the sampling capacitor>>the gate capacitor and the pulse voltage is VIN, it is necessary to satisfy the following equation: the saturating signal voltage/100>VIN×the gate capacitor/the sampling capacitor. Therefore, large capacitance of sampling capacitor of about 2.4 pF or more, about 600 times as large as capacitance of the gate capacitor affected by the external noise, is necessary. Additionally, when about 10% of the above-mentioned external noise is generated among the column selection transistors as unevenness of the external noise, large sampling capacitor, same value of about 2.4 pF or more, is necessary to make the S/N ratio at the time −60 dB or less.
Additionally, when the signals are not summed in the conventional solid-state image sensing apparatus, if a method of using simply a plurality of sampling capacitors is employed, a problem that circuit gain significantly reduces occurs. In other words, when the signals are not summed, and the signals are accumulated using, for example, 3 sampling capacitors, the sensibility of reading out the signals to the horizontal signal line 570 through the column selection transistor 650 is 3 Csp/(3 Csp+Ccom) if the capacitance of a common signaling line is Ccom. It is improvement compared with Csp/(Csp+Ccom), the circuit gain at this part when one sampling capacitor is used. However, the gain based on the equation (1) is, on the contrary, Ccp/(Ccp+3 Csp); the circuit gain reduces compared with Ccp/(Ccp+Csp) when one sampling capacitor is used; and transmission efficiency deteriorates. At this time, it is possible to restrain the reduction of the circuit gain calculated by the equation (1) by enlarging Ccp, the capacitance of the clamp capacitor for capacitance of the sampling capacitor. However, since Ccp, the capacitance of the clamp capacitor at the time, becomes a large value of several pF to several tens of pF, the problem that the chip area enlarges occurs. For example, to equalize the gain, in the case of increasing capacitance of the clamp capacitor by 10 pF because the sampling capacitor to be used has increased, it is necessary to increase the capacitor length by further 500 μm. Additionally, it is possible to make the circuit gain when signals of three sampling capacitors are read out at the same time three times larger by making Csp>>Ccom and Ccp>>Csp than the circuit gain in the case of not making Csp>>Ccom and Ccp>>Csp. However, since the capacitance of the horizontal common signal line is several pF˜several tens of pF, capacitance of the clamp capacitor Ccp and capacitance of the sampling capacitor Csp becomes extremely large and it is not realistic that the above-mentioned conditions hold. Further, when nondestructive read of signals from a pixel is possible and the signals are not summed, by reading out each sampling capacitors plural times as if the signals are summed, the above-mentioned circuit gain becomes Ccp/(Ccp+Csp) and the gain reduction does not occur. However, to read out plural times, a problem that the readout time is three times as long as usual occurs.

Solid-state image sensing apparatus and driving method thereof

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A pet toilet that prevents scattering of litter material or tracking of litter material into the home is disclosed. The pet toilet comprises a toilet body having a box portion for containing sand or litter, a seat having a floor defining an opening so that dung and urine may pass from the animal to the sand. The seat is removably mounted on the upper opening of the box portion, and the seat may be lifted from a first position to a second position. Preferably, the seat structure defines a plurality of holes. These holes encourage sand to return to the box rather than to be tracked into the house. The toilet may be used without the seat for small pets such as kittens and still provides advantages to prevent the scattering of sand or litter during digging.

Domesticated pets are often confined to the home by their owners, and therefore some provision must be made to receive their natural excrement so that the home is not soiled. Domesticated cats in particular are often provided with litter boxes for this purpose; however, some owners object to the litter or sand being tracked into the rest of the house on the feet of the pets. As used herein, sand refers to sand, cat litter, or other material useful for pet waste collection. Some solutions to these problems have been proposed in the past. Japanese Application (Publication No. 2002-78428) discloses a pet toilet comprising an outer container having a top opening, inner container, a mesh structure at the center on its bottom to be installed inside the outer container, and a cover having a hole for excretion at the center, to be mounted on the top opening of the inner container. This 2002 Japanese application asserts that using the pet toilet disclosed, a cat's feet are not stained with sand because the cat stands on the cover for excretion.
Behaviorally, however, a cat will typically dig sand before and after excretion. Accordingly, a cat standing on the cover will extend its paw into the sand in the inner container through the hole for excretion and dig the sand. Accordingly, the cat's paw will catch sand, and the sand will also likely be transferred onto the cover. If sand is transferred onto the cover, the cat can step in it and likely track it into the room. The application therefore discloses that it is necessary not to allow any sand to remain on the cover. In order to get rid of this problem, the sand remaining on the cover is to be returned to the sandbox by tilting the cover or by using a brush (see the 2002 Application, paragraph 0032). To tilt the cover, however, the cover needs to be removed, which is troublesome. It is also troublesome if the sand needs to be brushed back into the sandbox upon each excretion.
In addition, the cover needs to be removed each time the dung and urine discharged in the inner container is cleared or sand is replaced, and the removed cover is normally placed on the floor of the room on that occasion. This, however, causes the sand collected on the cover to spill and foul the room.
Therefore, there is a need for a device which will further reduce or eliminate sand or litter from being tracked into a room after pet defecation or urination.


A signal gain determination circuit including a digital comparator, a digital controller and an arithmetic module, and a signal gain determination method are provided. A sensing integration circuit generates a first count during a first integration time according to a first sensing signal. The digital comparator compares the first count and a predetermined count to generate a comparison result. The digital controller generates a control signal for indicating a signal gain to a signal amplifier of the sensing integration circuit according to the comparison result. The signal amplifier adjusts the first sensing signal according to the signal gain to generate a second sensing signal, so that the sensing integration circuit generates a second count corresponding to the second sensing signal during a second integration time. The arithmetic module generates an output count corresponding to the first sensing signal according to the second count and the signal gain.

Among conventional sensors (e.g., sensors for sensing light, pressure, electricity, temperature, etc.), such as a light sensor, during a predetermined integration time, an accumulator is reset once an integral voltage charged by an original sensing signal is ramped up to a predetermined reference voltage, and a number of times that the integral voltage is ramped up to the reference voltage is concurrently accumulated by a counter. A count corresponding to the original sensing signal during the predetermined integration time can be obtained by reading the number of times accumulated by the counter after the predetermined integration time elapses.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a curve CN_1 showing count versus SNR (signal-to-noise ratio) of a conventional sensing integration circuit. In practice, it has been observed that a signal strength of a noise floor is usually within a certain range, and the signal strength of the noise floor is not linearly proportional to a signal strength of the original sensing signal. In detail, as shown in FIG. 1, when the conventional sensor operates with the sensing signal having a small signal strength, the signal strength of the noise floor is a higher proportion of the sensing signal to result in a poorer SNR. On the other hand, when the conventional sensor operates with the sensing signal having a great signal strength, the signal strength of the noise floor is a lower proportion of the sensing signal to result in a better SNR.
FIG. 2 is a schematic view of a curve CS_1 showing sensing signal versus count of the conventional sensing integration circuit. When change is occurring in the sensing signal, the obtained count may not be linearly proportional to the sensing signal as shown in FIG. 2, and a slope of the curve CS_1 is not constant. Consequently, a linearity of the conventional sensing integration circuit may not meet strict linearity requirements for some products.
In short, since the signal strengths of the noise floor and the original sensing signal are not linearly proportional, the SNR of the conventional sensor is not uniformly distributed among a plurality of sensing signal ranges; in addition, when change is occurring in the sensing signal, the count generated by the conventional sensing integration circuit is not linearly proportional to the sensing signal, so that the conventional sensing integration circuit may not meet the strict linearity requirements for some products.
Therefore, how to improve uniformity of the SNR and the linearity of the conventional sensor when the sensor operates within a plurality of sensing signal ranges has become one of the critical topics in the industry.

Signal gain determination circuit and signal gain determination method


A method for delivering media from a server to a client device over a network is disclosed. An application running on the server generates a virtual 3D environment containing 3D models and sounds. The server checks the status of each 3D model or sound in a predetermined order, and then, only those 3D models and sounds which are not pre-stored in the client device will all be rendered by the server into a frame of 2D video stream with sound. The server then sends to the client device the frame and meta data of the 3D models and sounds which are pre-stored in the client device via the network. The client device uses the frame as a background for rendering the 3D models and sounds which are pre-stored in the client device so as to generate a mixed frame of video stream with sound for output.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a system and a method for delivering media such like graphics and sounds over a network, especially relates to a method which provides renderings of 3D objects and sounds for 3D applications by combining 3D renderings and 3D sounds on client device with a 2D video with stereo sound of scene provided by a server.
2. Description of the Prior Art
During the past years, online games have become more and more popular all over the world. With the development of cloud computing related systems and technologies, a technology for allowing a server to stream the game contents to provide services has been introduced.
A conventional way to provide such cloud-based online game service is to let the server do almost all of the calculations. Which means, when providing the online game service, the server has to generate a virtual 3D environment containing multiple 3D objects including which can be controlled or moved by players. In some prior arts, these 3D objects might also contain sound effects. And then, based on the controlling result of the player, the server renders the virtual 3D environment together with the 3D objects into a 2D game screen with stereo sound to be shown and played on the payer's device. And then, the server transmits the rendered image together with the stereo sound to the player's device as a 2D video stream containing sounds. The player's device then only needs to "play" the 2D video stream, without the need to do the calculations of the 3D rendering. However, such conventional technology performs the rendering on a large number of players in the server, which results in increasing the load of the server for performing the 3D rendering processing. In addition, since the results of game plays are all transmitted in the form of 2D video stream containing sounds, not only the quality of graphical and audio result is not good enough to present 3D objects, but also the consumption of communication bandwidth between the server and the player's device is considerable as well.

System and method for delivering media over network


Exemplary methods, apparatuses, and systems receive input associated with a social networking system user account. The input includes content to be published to the social networking system. In response to the received input, one or more location suggestions are identified based upon the content. The one or more identified location suggestions are transmitted to a user device associated with the user account. Selection of a location suggestion is received. The content and selected location is published as a post within the social networking system.

Social networking systems enable users to interact with various objects represented within the social network. For example, a social networking system allows users to designate other users or entities as connections (or otherwise connect to, or form relationships with, other users or entities), contribute and interact with their connections, post media or commentary, share links to external content, use applications, join groups, list and confirm attendance at events, invite connections, and perform other tasks that facilitate social interaction. External applications also use the services of a social networking system to allow authenticated users to incorporate some of the above social interactions with use of the external applications. Similar interactions may also be a part of the user experience within other network services.
Users of social networking systems increasingly access the social networking systems, and other network services, via mobile devices. Mobile devices are configured to receive user input, e.g., by way of a virtual keyboard or other selectable user interface objects displayed on the mobile device's touchscreen. Given the limits of these input mechanisms, users may limit their interactions with a social networking system via a mobile device when those interactions require manual entry of words or phrases. While predictive text capabilities attempt to auto-correct typographical errors for and reduce the amount of keystrokes needed to enter common words, predictive text algorithms do not account for information that is relevant to a specific user and social networking system.

Location suggestion based upon social networking post content


The present invention provides a retainer assembly and method for securely retaining a lens in a housing such as a light fixture bezel. An exemplary retainer assembly includes a lens and lens seal within a light bezel having threads and a contact surface formed on the bezel interior, a retaining ring having external features for engaging the threads on the bezel interior, and a contact ring disposed between the retaining ring and the lens to be secured in the bezel. An exemplary method involves the steps of placing a seal around the periphery and edge of a disc shaped lens, seating the lens within the lens bezel or retaining ring, and advancing the retaining ring within the bezel with a contact ring adjacent the lens and seal to prevent wear from rotation.

Outdoor lighting fixtures are typically subjected to rain, dirt, sprinklers, and general weathering by the elements. In addition, lighting fixture lenses mounted at or near ground level may be further subjected to impact, pressure, abrasion and possibly pooling of water. It is thus, important that lenses be durable, and that lenses be readily replaceable, since some lenses may inevitably fail under certain circumstance. For example, lighting fixtures mounted flush with the ground in an area of heavy foot or automobile traffic are more prone to lens damage.
Prior art lenses are typically glued, epoxied, or otherwise permanently mounted within a bezel. Glues and epoxies often fail as a result of the different thermal expansion properties of the bezel, lens, and glue or epoxy. Failure of such glues, breakage of a lens, or compromise of a lens seal typically calls for replacement of the costly bezel-lens combination or of the entire light. Lens bezels are typically ornamental and are, therefore, relatively expensive compared to the lens or seal components. Attempted reuse of a bezel with a broken glued-in lens is problematic, where the old lens and glue must be removed before adhesion of the replacement lens to ensure proper sealing and aesthetics.
The useable life of prior lighting systems is too often limited either functionally or financially by the limited durability of lenses that are not independently or easily replaceable. Accordingly, there is a need for a lens retaining and sealing device enabling convenient and inexpensive replacement of lenses and lens seals and that overcome other limitations of the prior art.

Light fixture lens retaining device and method


Methods and systems for transmitting and receiving are disclosed. For example, a method for establishing secure communications can include measuring one or more human gestures using a sensor on a first device so as to create a first metric of the one or more human gestures, creating a strong encryption key based on the first metric, including time-based information incorporated into the first metric, and communicating to a second device using the strong encryption key to encrypt data sent to the second device.

The background description provided herein is for the purpose of generally presenting the context of the disclosure. Work of the presently named inventors, to the extent the work is described in this background section, as well as aspects of the description that may not otherwise qualify as prior art at the time of filing, are neither expressly nor impliedly admitted as prior art against the present disclosure.
Computers and processor-based systems, such as smart phones and tablets, often have a need for secure communications. Unfortunately, while there are numerous available encryption/decryption schemes available, most lack the inherent encryption strengths necessary to provide true security.

Gesture-based encryption methods and systems


The three axes thruster modulation (8) of the present invention accepts three axes of input torque commands or angular acceleration commands and generates thruster selection and thruster timing (40) information which is used to fire thrusters (48) for the purpose of spacecraft attitude control and velocity change maneuvers. The modulation logic (8) works in all three axes simultaneously and is suitable for use with an arbitrary thruster configuration, including a configuration in which individual thrusters or thruster groups do not produce torques about mutually orthogonal axes. After thruster selection and on-times have been determined, the modulation logic (8) uses this information to compute a best estimate of the actual rate change (42) which is then compared to the commanded rate change (44) to develop a residual unfired rate change. The residual unfired rate change is retained and fed forward for addition to the subsequent acceleration command in computing the commanded rate change for the subsequent sample period (10, 20, 30). As a result, all commanded rate changes will ultimately be fired even if the commanded rate change is below a minimum rate change achievable.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a three axis thruster modulation logic for control of a spacecraft.
2. Description of Related Art
Previous methods for modulating thrusters have been described in the literature and generally referred to as "derived rate controller", "pseudo rate modulator", or "pulse width/pulse frequency modulator". There are a variety of implementations but they always contain an off/on non-linearity with deadband and hysteresis. Bittner, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,567,564, refers to this as a "relay" function. Typically, there is a feedback loop, with a first order filter, wrapped around the non-linear function. The filtered signal, being fedback, serves as a derived estimate of the spacecraft rate as it responds to the thruster firing. This signal is used to shut the firing down when the rate estimate is sufficiently large. Pointing control amplitude is controlled by adjusting the width of the deadband. Pulse frequency, and hence excitation of flexible spacecraft modes, is indirectly controlled by adjusting the hysteresis value and the time constant of the feedback path. These methods are well known to those practicing three axis spacecraft control. They are all based on analog logic to modulate a set of jets for control about a single axis. Digital implementation is alluded to, but constitutes a digitalized version of the analog logic rather than an inherently digital design.
Another disadvantage of the pseudo rate modulator is that its low amplitude response is very non-linear. At some level its output is zero, for low amplitudes it simply does not fire. This characteristic has not been a significant problem when using low level thrusters, such as thrusters with a minimum impulse of approximately 0.004 lb-sec., but becomes more of a problem when using 5 lb thrusters, with a minimum impulse of approximately 0.09 lb-sec. By contrast, the approach of this invention produces a proportional thrust impulse at any non zero level of input although it does introduce some lag time as the level becomes very low. The disadvantage associated with the lag can be overcome with a fractional modulation scheme, described later.
Bittner improves on the pseudo rate modulator in a number of ways. Bittner eliminates the filtering in the feedback path around the non-linearity by feeding the derived rate information directly back to the state estimator where it alters the estimates of rate and position. Bittner also describes additional complexity in which the deadband and hysteresis are adjusted adaptively, based on observed pointing error, amplitude of low frequency oscillations and/or derived disturbance torque levels. This complexity can be used to adjust frequency of pulsing and thereby avoid excitation of certain spacecraft structural resonances. Bittner's improvements are still confined to a single axis and are based on analog logic although Bittner discusses how to digitally mimic this logic.
Garg, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,706, extends use of the same type of modulator to a spacecraft where the torques produced by thrusters are not restricted to be orthogonal but the thrusters must still be arranged in groups with some thrusters of a group producing a torque opposite of that produced by the other thrusters in the group. He divides the thrusters into three groups with torque vectors not necessarily being orthogonal, then maps the control torque commands into components along the three thruster torque axes and finally applies the same pulse width/pulse frequency modulator to each thruster group. With this approach, Garg is able to achieve a minimum set of twelve thrusters per spacecraft as compared to a minimum of ten thrusters achieved by the present invention.


A thin film forming apparatus includes a specimen holder on which a substrate for thin film formation is placed, a transfer plate opposing the specimen holder, on which a sheet film having a thin film formed on a surface is placed, a thin film forming chamber comprising the specimen holder and the transfer plate, a pressure unit for moving at least one of the specimen holder and the transfer plate and pressing the specimen holder against the transfer plate for a predetermined time while the substrate and the thin film formed on the sheet film are in contact with each other, a heating unit for heating the substrate at a predetermined temperature, and an exhausting unit for vacuum-exhausting the thin film forming chamber.

The present invention relates to a thin film forming apparatus and, more particularly, to a thin film forming apparatus and method for forming a flat thin film by transferring a thin film to a substrate.
Thin film forming methods associated with electronic components can be roughly classified into sputtering, chemical vapor deposition, deposition, coating, plating, and the like. When a substrate for thin film formation has a small area, any one of the above methods can be selected to almost cope with a desired electronic component.
In recent years, however, the wafer size is steadily increasing from, e.g., 8 inches to 12 inches. Along with the increase in size of wafers used for the manufacture of LSIs or size of liquid crystal panels, demand for a thin film forming method suitable to large-size substrates has arisen.
In the field of multilevel interconnections in LSI manufacturing technologies, the surface of a dielectric film must be precisely planarized to realize a multilevel interconnection. Accordingly, demand not only for a technique coping with a large-size substrate but also for a planarization technique in thin film formation is increasing.
The followings have been examined as representative planarization techniques.
(1) SOG (Spin-On-Glass) or PIQ method (K. Sato, S. Harada, A. Saiki, T. Kitamura, T. Okubo, and K. Mukai, "A Novel Planar Multilevel Interconnection Technology Utilizing Polyimide", IEEE Trans. Part Hybrid Package., PHP-9, 176 (1973))
(2) Etch back method (P. Elikins, K. Reinhardt, and R. Layer, "A Planarization Process for Double Metal CMOS Using Spin-on Glass as a Sacrificial Layer", Proceeding of 3rd International IEEE VMIC Conf., 100 (1986))
(3) Lift off method (K. Ehara, T. Morimoto, S. Muramoto, and S. Mastuo, "Planar Interconnection Technology for LSI Fabrication Utilizing Lift-off Process", J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 131, No. 2, 419 (1984))
However, the SOG method utilizes the fluidity of a film and therefore can hardly realize perfect planarization.
The etch back method is the most popular technique. However, dust produced upon simultaneously etching a resist and a dielectric film is difficult to manage.
The lift off method has not been put into practice yet because the controllability or yield is insufficient due to a problem that, e.g., a stencil used cannot be completely dissolved and lifted off.
As a simple planarization technique, a bias-sputter method was proposed by C. Y. Ting et al. in 1978 (C. Y. Ting, V. J. Vivalda, and H. G. Schaefer, "Study of Planarized Sputter-Deposited-SiO.sub.2 ", J. Vac. Sci. Technol. 15, 1105 (1978)).
In addition, as a method applied to an interconnection using bias application, a bias ECR method was proposed by K. Machida et al. in 1986 (K. Machida and H. Oikawa, "SiO.sub.2 Planarization Technology with Biasing and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Plasma Deposition for Submicron Interconnections", J. Vac. Sci. Technol. B4, 818 (1986)).
In these methods, a film is formed by sputtering or ECR plasma CVD. An rf bias is applied to the substrate to cause sputtering on a substrate holder. While etching a convex region using the dependency on angle, a film is formed and planarized.
The advantages of these techniques are that a high-quality thin film can be formed even at a low temperature, and the planarization process is simple and can be easily performed.
However, they also have disadvantages such as a low throughput and damage to the device.
In 1990s, chemical mechanical polishing is proposed as a method of planarizing an interlayer dielectric (W. J. Patrick, W. L. Guthrie, C. L. Standley, P. M. Schiable, "Application of Chemical Mechanical Polishing to the Fabrication of VLSI Circuit Interconnections", J. Electrochem. Soc., Vol. 138, No. 6, June 1778 (1991)).
The chemical mechanical polishing method has received a great deal of attention because it can obtain a satisfactory planarity. However, when a dielectric film has no satisfactory characteristics, no satisfactory polishing characteristics can be obtained. Accordingly, a high-quality dielectric film must be formed at a low temperature, and polishing characteristics are unstable, resulting in disadvantages.
As described above, when any one of the prior arts is applied to a large-size semiconductor substrate, the surface planarity or uniform thin film characteristics can hardly be ensured from the viewpoint of controllability. Consequently, complicated processes must be added to cope with the large-size substrate to result in an increase in cost.