A laser pointer having a laser generating loop formed of a metal barrel, a metal clip, a metal rear end cap, a series of battery cells, a laser generating unit and a signal line, and controlled by an electronic switch to emit a laser beam, the electronic switch being switched on when the user holds the metal rear end cap in hand and touching the metal clip with one finger, the electronic switch being switched off when the finger is removed from the metal clip.

A variety of laser pointers have been developed for pointing things out of a map, blackboard, etc., and have appeared on the market. FIG. 1 shows a pen-base laser pointer according to the prior art, which a combination of a laser generating apparatus and a pen. This structure of pen-base laser pointer comprises a pen 17 having an outer thread 175 at the rear end, a barrel 10 having an inner thread 151 at the front end threaded onto the outer thread 175 on the pen 17 and a radial through hole 155 at a suitable location, a clip 153 fixedly mounted on the rear barrel 10 for fastening, a laser generating unit 160 mounted inside the rear barrel 10, battery cells 170 mounted inside the rear barrel 10 and connected in series to the laser generating unit 160, and a press button 156 mounted in the radial through hole 155 and disposed above an on/off switch on the circuit board 163 of the laser generating unit 160. This structure of pen-base laser pointer is still not satisfactory in function. The drawbacks of this structure of pen-base laser pointer are outlined hereinafter.
1. The processing of the radial through hole 155 on the rear barrel 10 complicates the fabrication procedure of the pen-base laser pointer.
2. Frequently operating the press button 156 tends to damage the circuit board 163 of the laser generating unit 10.
3. Because the press button 156 protrudes from the outside wall of the rear barrel 10, the sense of beauty of the rear barrel 10 is destroyed.


The invention relates to a grid holder for an X-ray diagnostic system. The grid holder cooperates with a flexible X-ray grid, which in a flat state has a first focus distance/convergence distance of about 120 cm. A flexing means, preferably in the form of an inflatable element, which can exert a pressure on the surface of the grid, is arranged to flex the grid in a first direction to a first position in which it has a second convergence distance of about 180 cm. Another corresponding flexing means is arranged to flex the grid in the opposite direction to a second position in which it has a third convergence distance of about 80 cm. This allows variable convergence distances with minimum flexing of the grid. The invention also relates to grid devices with grid holders and grids as well as X-ray diagnostic systems comprising such grid holders/grid devices.

X-ray grids are used in X-ray diagnostic systems to reduce the noise occurring in a radiograph due to secondary radiation. An X-ray grid comprises a large number of slats of lead, which allow most of the primary radiation generated by an X-ray source to pass and which absorb most of the secondary radiation generated in an irradiated object. The grid is placed between the X-rayed object and the X-ray plate/film which is to be exposed.
To function satisfactorily, the slats of an X-ray grid are often oriented such that their planes converge in a line located at a predetermined distance from the X-ray grid. This distance may be referred to as the convergence distance (or FFD=Film Focus Distance). If an X-ray source is placed in the above-mentioned line, the X-ray grid functions optimally, i.e. a maximum portion of the primary radiation is transmitted and a maximum portion of the secondary radiation is absorbed.
It is desirable, however, to be able to use several different convergence distances in one and the same X-ray diagnostic system. For example, 80 cm may be a suitable distance for X-raying a patient's skull, 120 cm may be a suitable distance for X-ray diagnostics of internal organs of a patient in a horizontal position, and 180 cm may be suitable when X-raying the lungs of a patient in an upright position. An X-ray diagnostic system which is to be applicable to all three distances mentioned above may thus need three separate and replaceable grids to function optimally. Since the cost of an X-ray grid is very high, the system will be expensive to manufacture. Therefore, it has been suggested to use grids with variable convergence distances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,539 discloses a variable grid system in which two opposite edges of a grid structure are each fixed in a rotatable holder. In the flat state, the grid has a convergence distance of about 180 cm. By flexing the grid, this distance can be reduced.
One drawback of such a technique is that a significant reduction of the convergence distance from 180 cm to, for example, 80 cm requires considerable flexing of the grid. Considerable flexing may result in the curvature of the grid not necessarily describing the circumferential surface of a circular cylinder, which means that the convergence distance will not be unambiguous, i.e. the planes of the slats will not coincide in a distinct line.
If a grid is fixed in rotatable holders in this manner, it is also difficult or in any case time-consuming to remove the grid so that an exposure can be made without a grid. This is preferable in X-ray diagnostics of children, on the one hand, because in this case extra low radiation doses are desirable (elimination of the X-ray grid allows the radiation dose to be reduced to a third) and, on the other hand, because a child's skeleton generates relatively little secondary radiation.
DE-C1-43 05 475 discloses another example of a grid system. In this document, use is made of a grid which in the flat state has parallel slats. Different flexed states of the grid are obtained by two opposite edges being loaded to a variable degree towards each other or by the grid being fixed over a vacuum chamber with variable pressure. This system also requires considerable flexing of the grid to obtain a short convergence distance. Also in this case, the grid has to be firmly fixed in its grid holder.


A concealable rotary stand for hanging clothes. The stand includes a round top supported on a rotary table above a bottom plate by an upright post with pegs, and a shield peripherally covered between the round top and the rotary table and spaced around the upright post. The shield has an opening for access, which may be turned toward the wall and concealed from the sight.

The present invention relates to a stand and relates more particularly to a concealable rotary stand for hanging clothes.
Various clothes trees are known and widely used for hanging clothes and hats. These clothes trees may be different in shape; however, they commonly comprise an upright post-like stand with pegs or hooks around the top on which to hang clothes. Because these clothes trees do not have any shielding means to protect the clothes, the clothes may be covered with dirt easily. Furthermore, the disorderly hanging of clothes on a clothes tree may destroy the sense of beauty of the environment.

Concealable rotary stand for hanging clothes


An exterior mirror assembly for a vehicle includes a mounting portion mountable at a side of a vehicle, a mirror head portion at the mounting portion, and an actuator. The mirror head portion includes a mirror casing and a reflective element at least partially housed at the mirror casing. The actuator is operable to impart pivotal movement of the reflective element mirror relative to the mirror casing to adjust a rearward field of view of a driver of the vehicle. The actuator includes a drive post that is pivotally attached at the reflective element. The actuator also includes a motor that rotatably drives a clutch device to adjust the drive post to adjust the reflective element relative to the mirror casing. The clutch device allows for manual adjustment of the reflective element and the drive post in a non-ratcheting manner.

It is known to provide a vehicular exterior rearview mirror assembly that has a mirror head having a mirror casing with the mirror reflective element adjustable relative to the mirror casing via a mirror reflective element actuator. Examples of mirror reflective element actuators are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,722,199; 7,080,914; 7,073,914; 7,104,663; 6,916,100; 6,755,544; 6,698,905; 6,685,864; 6,467,920; 6,362,548; 6,243,218; 6,229,226; 6,213,612; 5,986,364 and 5,900,999, which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.


In a information distribution system, a control channel modem that provides independent communications channels for bi-directional message traffic between a service provider and a set-top terminal located within a subscriber's home. The modem transmits messages, control information and status information between the service provider and the subscriber's set-top terminal using an independent channel (downstream path) that is different from the channel (upstream path) used for sending requested information such as movies from the service provider to the subscriber's home.

Recent advances in digital signal processing techniques and, in particular, advancements in digital compression techniques, have lead to a plethora of proposals for providing new digital services to the customer's home via existing telephone and coaxial cable networks. For example, it has been proposed to provide hundreds of cable television channels to subscribers by compressing digital video, transmitting the compressed digital video over conventional coaxial television cables, and then decompressing the video at the subscriber's set-top terminal. Another proposed application of this technology is a movie-on-demand video system in which a subscriber communicates directly with a video service provider via telephone lines to request a particular video program from a video library, and the requested video program is routed to the subscriber's home via telephone lines or via the coaxial television cables for immediate viewing.
Within these systems, control information to facilitate operation of the set-top terminal within the subscriber's home is typically sent as control packets within the video data stream. These control packets contain certain header information which enables the set-top terminal to differentiate between video data and control data. Consequently, the use of packets for sending control data through the video data channel inherently reduces the amount of bandwidth that is available for transmitting video information to the subscriber.
Additionally, the control information that is sent from the set-top terminal to the service provider is typically sent via the telephone system. As such, the subscriber is required to have a dedicated telephone line to provide interactive functionality for the video system. Furthermore, the low data rate of the telephone system does not permit extensive communications between the set-top terminal and the service provider. As such, these systems generally provide rudimentary control commands such as selection of a service or particular information via a menu on the subscriber's television screen.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus that provides an independent control channel for carrying control information from a set-top terminal to a service provider of an information distribution system without impacting the information bandwidth carrying information to the set-top terminal from the service provider.

Method and apparatus for providing control channel communications for an information distribution system


An image display apparatus corrected for distortions, particularly, a distortion which is asymmetric with respect to the center of the image field. The apparatus includes an image display device (8), and an ocular optical system (42) having a rotationally asymmetric optical surface or a decentered optical surface having a power. The apparatus satisfies the condition of .vertline.tan .THETA..sub.1 -tan .THETA..sub.2 .vertline./tan .THETA..sub.1 <0.1, where .THETA..sub.1 is an angle made between a light ray emitted from an arbitrary point (44) on the image display device (8) and passing through the center of an exit pupil (40) and a visual axis (41), that is, a straight line connecting the center of an observer's pupil and the center of a projected image of the image display device (8), and .THETA..sub.2 is an angle made between the visual axis (41) and a light ray emitted from a point (45) which is in point symmetry with the arbitrary point (44) about the center (43) of the image display surface of the image display device (8) and passing through the center of the exit pupil (40).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image display apparatus and, more particularly, to a head- or face-mounted image display apparatus which is fitted on a user's head or face to enable the user to enjoy viewing an image.
2. Related Art
In recent years, head- or face-mounted image display apparatuses have been developed for the purpose of enabling the user to enjoy a wide-screen image personally.
These image display apparatuses have been demanded to be small in both size and weight and superior in portability or mountability, that is, capable of being favorably fitted on the user's head or face. Accordingly, an ocular optical system for projecting and leading an image to an observer's eyeball has also been demanded to be reduced in both size and weight.
In general, however, an ocular optical system produces a distortion of the virtual image. Particularly, in a case where an optical element that has a power is decentered in the ocular optical system, or the optical system has a rotationally asymmetric optical surface, e.g. an anamorphic surface or a toric surface, a distortion which is asymmetric with respect to the center of the image field occurs in general.
For example, let us consider an optical system according to Example 1 of Japanese Patent Application Unexamined Publication (KOKAI) No. 7-104209. As shown in FIG. 20, assuming that .THETA..sub.1 is an angle made between a visual axis 41 and a light ray emitted from an arbitrary point 44 on an image display surface 8 and passing through the center of an observer's pupil 40 via an ocular optical system 42, and .THETA..sub.2 is an angle made between the visual axis 41 and a light ray emitted from a point 45, which is in point symmetry with the point 44 about the center 43 of the image display surface 8, and passing through the center of the observer's pupil 40, the value obtained from the angles .THETA..sub.1 and .THETA..sub.2, i.e. EQU .vertline.tan .THETA..sub.1 -tan .THETA..sub.2 .vertline./tan .THETA..sub.1
is 0.13 at the maximum. Thus, an extremely large asymmetric distortion is produced.
It is uncertain where the observer's pupil is placed in an exit pupil in which an image is observable. The observer's pupil does not always lie in the center of the exit pupil of the ocular optical system. If the observer's pupil is not placed in the center of the exit pupil, even if an asymmetric distortion is not produced by the ocular optical system, an asymmetric distortion may be observed because the observer's pupil is decentered with respect to the ocular optical system.
Particularly, in a case where images are displayed for both of observer's eyes, respectively, so that the observer can view a composite image with both his/her eyes, if the distance between the centers of the exit pupils of the left and right optical systems of the image display apparatus, that is, the interpupillary distance, is not coincident with the interpupillary distance of the observer, the centers of the exit pupils of the ocular optical systems and the observer's pupils are displaced relative to each other. In such a case, an asymmetric distortion is likely to occur.
If a large distortion, particularly a large asymmetric distortion, occurs, it is likely that the observer will be unable to view the correct image leading to a strong sense of incongruity.
There has also been developed an image display apparatus which provides a stereoscopic image by projecting images with a disparity therebetween into an observer's left and right eyes, respectively. In this case, however, if a distortion is produced by the ocular optical system, the disparity is likely to become different from the intended one owing to the distortion, causing the three-dimensional effect to be spoiled. Particularly, in a case where each ocular optical system produces a distortion which is asymmetric with respect to the center of the image field, and there is a difference in the distortion between the images projected into the observer's left and right eyes, the disparity is likely to deviate, causing the image to appear raised or depressed undesirably.
For example, even if, as shown in FIG. 23(a), two identical images are displayed on left and right image display devices, respectively, with the intention of making the observer perceive a plane surface, if the left and right optical systems produce distortions, each of which is asymmetric with respect to the center of the image field, and the images appear as shown for example in FIG. 23(b) to the observer, the observer perceives a concave surface rather than a plane surface.
There has heretofore been known neither an ocular optical system for an image display apparatus which is corrected for the above-described distortions, particularly a distortion which is asymmetric with respect to the center of the image field, nor an ocular optical system for an image display apparatus which is corrected for distortion that is asymmetric with respect to the center of the image field, which occurs when the observer's pupil is not placed in the center of the exit pupil of the ocular optical system.

Distortion corrected image display apparatus


A self-service deposit terminal for bank notes, in the deposited notes are subjected to an acceptance procedure in which the deposited notes are passed through a note validator and a decision is made regarding the validity of the notes, so as to differentiate between: a) authentic notes; b) counterfeit notes; and c) suspect notes. Reject notes are then separated from authentic notes and diverted to a purge bin. On route to the purge bin counterfeit notes are marked, so as to render them unusable and suspect notes are marked without rendering them unusable.

A deposit apparatus for receiving bank notes may be included in an automated teller machine (ATM). It is known for an ATM of this type to dispense bank notes that have earlier been deposited at the ATM, such ATMs being known as recycling ATMs.
Known self-service deposit terminals for receiving loose bank notes (in contrast with notes contained in envelopes) subject the notes to a validation procedure. One or more of the deposited notes may be rejected on the grounds that they are damaged, dirty or forged, and the rejected notes are either captured by the ATM for further manual verification or returned to the user according to the regulations of different countries.
When bank notes are deposited in an automatic recognition and validation system, such as the GBNA or GBRU, the notes have to be categorized, if recognized, as: a) genuine; b) counterfeit; or c) suspect, if that system is to comply with the requirements of certain countries (e.g. Germany). Genuine and counterfeit categories are decisive and the result attributable to the person depositing the notes at that time. However, the suspect category requires subsequent, usually manual, re-assessment. If all notes considered suspect fall into the genuine category or they all are found to be counterfeit, then attributing the notes to the person depositing them is straight forward. If however, a number of notes of the same denomination are deposited by different people are subsequently found to be of different categories (some genuine, some counterfeit) then the process of connecting each note with a particular person is more complex. At present, images of the suspect notes are captured and where possible the serial number area is imaged in an attempt to subsequently connect each suspect with a particular transaction and therefore with a particular person so that the face value of counterfeit notes are not credited to the depositor and/or such that criminal investigation can take place. Due to the nature of banknotes (soiling, tears, folds and design (not all notes have serial numbers on both sides), differentiation between one suspect and another is not always possible. This is compounded as each note, even if re-entered to the deposit machine to try to repeat the process, will undoubtedly generate a different image even if transported in the correct orientation. Due to the limit of allocated memory size, the total amount of images can be stored is restricted, which increases the chance of ATM being out of service.

Self-service deposit method and apparatus


A mobile computing device is described. The mobile computing device includes an enclosure. A humidity sensor senses humidity inside the enclosure and generates humidity data. An internal temperature sensor senses a temperature inside the enclosure and generates internal temperature data. An external temperature sensor senses a temperature exterior to the enclosure and generates external temperature data. An environmental control apparatus adjusts at least a temperature inside the enclosure of the mobile electronic device. A processor receives the humidity data, the internal temperature data, and the external temperature data and activates the environmental control apparatus in response to the humidity data, the internal temperature data, and the external temperature data to minimize condensation from forming inside the enclosure due to rapid changes in external ambient temperature.

Mobile computers, including handheld devices, data collection devices and vehicle mount computers are used in an increasingly wide range of applications and environments. In some environments, the mobile computers can be exposed to rapid transitions in temperature and humidity ranging from (−30° C. to +60° C.) and anywhere from (10% to 100%) in relative humidity. This has a direct impact on the performance of mobile computing devices and can cause fogging and/or frosting of display windows, scanner/imager exit windows and keypad freezing, which prevents use of the devices and a build-up of moisture internal to the devices which can lead to component failure and/or corrosion. The problem can be especially acute in the area of devices for "cold" supply chain logistics (SCL) which are subject to repeated and rapid changes in temperature where, for example, the device may be repeatedly moved between sub-zero, dry environments (such as refrigerated warehouses) and hot, damp environments (such as loading docks, etc.).

Environmental controls for mobile electronic devices


External control signals are input to a semiconductor memory device via a synchronizing semiconductor circuit. An internal clock (ICLK) in the synchronizing semiconductor circuit is produced as a phase shifted version of an external clock (S11) which is input to the memory device. First latch circuits (321-324) latch external control signals in response to the external clock (S11). Decoder circuits (331.sub.0 -331.sub.n) produce internal control signals (S31.sub.0 -S331.sub.n) based upon the latched signals (S21-S24) output from the first latch circuits (321-324). Second latch circuits (341.sub.0 -341.sub.n) latch the internal control signals (S31.sub.0 14 S31.sub.n) in response to the internal clock signal (ICLK).

The present invention relates to a semiconductor memory, and in particular, to a synchronous semiconductor memory having a signal input circuit.
A signal input system of a typical synchronous semiconductor memory such as a synchronous dynamic random access memory (DRAM) is shown in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-180677 (hereinafter, referred to as conventional example 1). In such a system, an internal clock signal is generated based upon a reference clock signal, which is input from the outside, and a clock enable signal for enabling or disabling the reference clock signal. All operations of the other synchronizing circuits in the semiconductor memory are synchronized with the internal clock signal and associated clock signals which are generated from the internal clock signal.
The process of receiving a command signal from the outside and generating an internal command signal that determines the internal operation is shown, for example, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 8-17182 (hereinafter, referred to as conventional example 2).
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a semiconductor circuit, used with a semiconductor memory shown in the conventional examples 1 and 2. FIG. 2 is a timing chart showing operation of the semiconductor circuit of FIG. 1. The semiconductor circuit of FIG. 1 is generally called a timing generator (TG).
In FIGS. 1 and 2, signals CLK, CKE, CSB, RASB, CASB and WEB are input from the outside. The signal CLK is an external reference clock signal, and all the operations of the internal circuits are synchronized with the leading edge of the signal CLK. The signal CKE is an external clock enable signal. When the level of the signal CKE is a logic low (or "non-active" state), no internal operation is performed for the next cycle following the rising edge of the signal CLK. The signals CSB, RASB, CASB and WEB are external command signals, namely, a chip select signal, a row address strobe signal, a column address strobe signal and a write enable signal, respectively. Internal operation of the memory is determined by a combination of signal levels of these signals when the signal CLK rises.
Receiver circuits 11-16 act as input buffers to convert voltage levels of each external input signal, such as the levels of low-voltage transistor-transistor logic (LVTTL), into corresponding internal signal voltage levels. Since each receiver circuit converts only the level, there is no logical difference between the input and the output.
An internal clock generating circuit 1 generates an internal reference clock signal ICLK based on the signal CLK and the signal CKE. The signal ICLK contains logical components of the signal CLK and the signal CKE, and the other internal circuits are operated synchronously with the internal clock signal ICLK.
Latch circuits 21-24 execute latching processing of respective external command signals based on the signal ICLK to control setup time and hold time of the external command signals with respect to the signal CLK. Delay circuits 53-56 regulate the setup time and the hold time. Since it takes much time for the internal clock generating circuit 1 to generate the signal ICLK from the signal CLK and the signal CKE and distribute it to each latch circuit 21-24, the delay circuits 53-56 cause a delay which corresponds to the delay time of circuit 1.
Command decoders 31.sub.0 through 31.sub.n (n is a natural number) activate one of a plurality of respective internal command signals S71.sub.0 through S71.sub.n (or inactivate all of them) which are latched as the combination of signals S81.sub.0 through S81.sub.n output from respective latch circuits 41.sub.0 through 41.sub.n.
Since signals S61-S64 are input to the command decoders 31.sub.0 through 3l.sub.n through different paths, respective outputs of the command decoders 31.sub.0 through 31.sub.n contain a hazard that may cause malfunction of the internal circuits to which the hazard is input. For this reason, the hazard is eliminated by means of the latch circuits 41.sub.0 through 41.sub.n.
The latch circuits 41.sub.0 through 41.sub.n are driven by an internal clock delay signal (ICLKD). Since it takes some delay time for the command decoders 31.sub.0 through 31.sub.n to generate the respective signals S71.sub.0 through S71.sub.n from the signals S61-S64, the signal ICLKD is generated from the signal ICLK through a delay circuit 51 which provides a delay corresponding to the delay time of the command decoders 31.sub.0 through 31.sub.n.
The output signals S81.sub.0 through S81.sub.n of the latch circuits 41.sub.0 through 41.sub.n are internal command signals by which the internal operation of the synchronous DRAM is started.
The critical path for generation of the internal command signals S81.sub.0 through S81.sub.n is as follows: The critical path starts from the CLK input, and passes through the receivers 11 and 12, the internal clock generating circuit 1, the latch circuits 21-24 and the command decoders 31.sub.0 through 31.sub.n, in that order, to reach the latch circuits 41.sub.0 through 41.sub.n from which the internal command signals S81.sub.0 through S81.sub.n are output.
However, such a conventional semiconductor circuit can not latch the external command signals until the internal clock signal ICLK is generated. For this reason, all the operations to be performed after command decoding are affected by the time lag of the internal clock generating circuit 1, and as a result, the access speed of the memory is low.

Semiconductor memory having signal input circuit of synchronous type


A method of determining a trajectory of an arc motion of a wire used in the formation of a wire loop is provided. The arc motion is between a first point and a second point of the trajectory. The method includes: (1) defining a pivot point with respect to the first point and the second point; (2) determining a plurality of data points for generating the trajectory, each of the data points including a radius value and an angle value as a function of time, each of the angle values being between (a) a first angle defined by the pivot point and the first point, and (b) a second angle defined by the pivot point and the second point; and (3) converting the plurality of data points into trajectory data that may be used by a wire bonding machine.

In the processing and packaging of semiconductor devices, wire bonding continues to be the primary method of providing electrical interconnection between two locations within a package (e.g., between a die pad of a semiconductor die and a lead of a leadframe). More specifically, using a wire bonder (also known as a wire bonding machine) wire loops are formed between respective locations to be electrically interconnected.
An exemplary conventional wire bonding sequence includes: (1) forming a free air ball on an end of a wire extending from a bonding tool; (2) forming a first bond on a die pad of a semiconductor die using the free air ball; (3) extending a length of wire in a desired shape between the die pad and a lead of a leadframe; (4) stitch bonding the wire to the lead of the leadframe; and (5) severing the wire.
When extending a length of wire between a first bonding location (e.g., a die pad) and a second bonding location (e.g., a lead of a leadframe), a series of motions of a bonding tool which carries the wire are performed, where the motions are intended to provide a wire loop having a desired shape, length, etc. Included in the series of motions of the bonding tool are typically certain "arc" motions. Maintaining a proper arc between two points during loop formation is desirable, and if the arc is not properly maintained a number of problems can result including wire leaning, wire buckling, and uncontrollable location of a bend in the wire. Thus, maintaining a proper arc between two points during loop formation is desirable.
Conventional arc motions are provided to a wire bonding machine in the form of data from predefined look up tables or the like. Such predefined data may also take the form of a few predefined (i.e., fixed) time based position functions. Regardless of the actual form of the conventional methods of providing an arc motion (e.g., a look up table, a predefined function, etc.), certain deficiencies may arise. For example, a user who wants to form an arc in a wire loop selects one of the predefined look up tables that may be the closest approximation to the desired arc motion. Unfortunately, even though the closest approximation is selected, a selected predefined look up table may not provide the desired trajectory for many arc motions or the selected predefined look up table may not provide enough control over the trajectory. Thus, one or more of the aforementioned problems (e.g., wire leaning, wire buckling, uncontrollable location of a bend in the wire, amongst others) may result.
Thus, it would be desirable to provide improved methods of determining the trajectory of arc motions of a wire used in the formation of a wire loop, and related wire bonding methods.

Method of controlling the trajectory of a bonding tool during the formation of a wire loop


The thermal printing postage meter includes a base supporting a registration wall and a deck, and a thermal print head mounted to the registration wall above a portion of the deck to define a print station. A position sensing assembly is provided for sensing the presence of the envelope's leading edge in the print station and informing a microcontroller. A thermal tape cassette is mounted to the registration wall such that a portion of the thermal ribbon passing below the thermal print head. A platen roller assembly and position assembly are responsive to instruction from the microcontroller for causing the platen roller to assume either a position biasing the envelope against the thermal ribbon and thermal print head or a retracted position. An ejection roller assembly having position assembly is responsive to instruction from the microcontroller for causing the ejection roller to assume either a retracted position or a position biasing the ejection roller against the envelope and an ejection plate. A motor which is responsive to the microcontroller causes the platen roller or the ejection roller to rotate. The microcontroller is programmed such that in response to activation of the position sensing means by the envelope, the microcontroller causes the platen roller assembly to bias the envelope and to initiate print sequence instruction to the print head while synchronously causing the drive means to cause the platen roller to rotate at a first speed. Upon completion of the print sequence, the microcontroller causes the platen roller to assume a retracted position and the ejection roller assembly to assume a biasing position and causing the ejection roller to rotate at a second speed for envelope ejection.

The present invention relates to thermal printing postage meter.
It is an object of a conventional printing press type postage meters to print a postage indicia on a present envelope characterized by producing a postage indicia of consistent print contrast across the printed indicia. Additionally, it is an objective of a conventional printing press type postage meter to obtain suitable print quality in the specified printing area for envelope of varying paper grades (i.e., smoothness), porosity and envelope contour in the printing area.
Of particular note is the effect of the envelope contour in the printing area on print quality. It is a requirement, for example, by the United States Postal Service, that the postage indicia be printed in the upper right corner of the envelope. The contents of a particular envelope can cause this area to assume a variety of contour characteristic due in large part to the thickness of the contents and the particular shape of the contents.
Conventional thermal printers have required a relatively flat surface in the print area in order to insure adequate print quality. Also, sufficient time must be allowed for ink transfer which is a function of the smoothness and porosity of the printing media. Hence, the difficulty in applying thermal printing technics to postage metering mailing machine and like applications. That is, in order to obtain suitable print quality, the conventional thermal printing postage meter requires that the envelope characteristic be within a narrow range. As a result conventional thermal printing postage meters have not been able to adequately provide a printed postage indicia on an envelope having the requisite print quality over a preferred range of envelope paper smoothness, porosity and contours at desired speeds suitable for board postage metering mail applications.


In response to a conversion action associated with an online advertisement (“ad”), an advertiser associated with the ad generates a unique identifier (e.g., a pseudo random number), which is transmitted to a payment system through a user device. In some implementations, the unique identifier can be generated by a payment system in response to a request from an advertiser. The advertiser stores the unique identifier in a secure location that is accessible by the payment system. The payment system compares the received unique identifier with the stored unique identifier. If the received unique identifier matches the stored unique identifier, and if the received unique identifier was not previously generated by the advertiser, then the payment system deems the conversion action to be valid.

With cost-per-action ("CPA") online advertising systems, publishers of online advertisements ("ads") are often compensated based on the number of valid "conversions" reported by the advertiser to a payment system. In such systems, a user interacts with an ad on a publisher website and is directed to the "landing page" of an advertiser's website. A "conversion" is said to occur when the user performs a conversion action at the advertiser's website, such as purchase a product, create a new account, provide information, etc.
Conventional CPA advertising provides callback mechanisms for advertisers to report conversions to the payment system. Conversion callbacks, however, can be spoofed ("conversion fraud"), where conversion spammers report the same conversion callback to the payment system multiple times. This is particularly true for systems where the callbacks are generated by the user's browser, since such systems rely on a cookie to tie the conversion to the particular ad impression that was clicked on by the user.
Existing technology to solve conversion fraud often requires that the advertiser and the payment system share a secret key, which can be used to cryptographically sign conversion callback parameters. Without the secret key, a spammer cannot spoof the payment system by issuing invalid conversion callbacks. This conventional approach is deficient, however, in that it relies on the keys being kept secret and can require frequent re-keying and key-versioning.


A structured data retrieval apparatus stores, in a first memory, a plurality of template IDs used to identify locations of a plurality of structure elements included in a hierarchical structure, stores, in a second memory, a plurality of structured data items each of which includes a plurality of elements, each of the elements being assigned a template ID of one of the structure elements, inputs a retrieval condition which designates a first structure element of the structure elements, and a character string included in the first structure element, retrieves, from the structured data items, a structured data item including a first element which includes the character string and is assigned a first template ID of the first structure element, and outputs the structured data item retrieved.

Various methods of a structured data management system that stores and retrieves structured documents described in an Extensible markup language (XML) and the like have been proposed.
(1) A method of storing structured data intact as a text file as a simple method. With this method, when the number of data and the data size increase, the storage efficiency impairs, and a retrieval process that exploits the features of structured documents becomes harder to achieve.
(2) A method of managing structured document data in an RDB (Relational Database).
(3) A method of managing structured document data using an OODB (Object Oriented Database) which has been developed to manage the structured document data. Backbone systems prevalently use the RDB, and for example, an XML compatible RDB that expands the RDB is commercially available as a product. Since the RDB stores data in a flat table format, complicated mapping is required to determine correspondence between the hierarchical structure such as XML data and the like, and the table. If prior schema design for this mapping is insufficient, performance drop may occur.
In recent years, a new method has been proposed in addition to these methods (1) to (3).
(4) A method of natively managing structured document data. This method stores XML data having various hierarchical structures without any special mapping process. For this reason, no special overhead is required upon storage or acquisition. Also, the need for prior schema design that requires high cost can be obviated, and the XML data structure can be freely changed as needed in correspondence with a change in business environment.
Even if structured document data are efficiently stored, there is no point if no means for extracting stored data is available. As such means for extracting stored data, query languages are used. XQuery (XML Query Language) has been designed for XML as in SQL (Structured Query Language) for RDB. XQuery is a language used to handle XML data like a database. For this purpose, means for extracting a data set that matches a condition, and means for compiling and parsing data are provided. Also, since XML data have a hierarchical structure as a combination of parent elements, child elements, brother elements, and the like, means for tracing such hierarchical structure is provided.
A technique for retrieving structured document data that includes a specific element and specific structure designated by a retrieval condition while tracing the hierarchical structure of the stored structured document data has already been proposed (e.g., Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication Nos. 2002-34618 and 2000-57163).
As the structure of the structured document data has a larger scale, the number of structured document data stored in a database is larger, and a retrieval condition becomes more complicated, a longer time is required to trace elements which form the hierarchical structure of each structured document data. Also, it is impossible to expand stored structured document data onto a memory with increasing number of structured document data and their sizes, and most of structured document data are stored in a secondary storage such as a hard disk or the like.
In the method of natively managing structured document data, the hierarchical structure among elements of the structured document data is stored intact. In order to check if an element or structure designated as a retrieval condition is included, elements of structured document data stored on the secondary storage must be frequently accessed. Still more accesses are required for a complicated retrieval condition.
Conventionally, in order to retrieve structured document data having a desired element or structure from a database that stores structured document data with the hierarchical structure, a high-speed retrieval process cannot be attained since structured document data having an element or structure designated by the retrieval condition is retrieved while tracing element which form the hierarchical structure of each structured document data in the database. Especially, it becomes more difficult to attain a high-speed retrieval process with increasing size of structured document data and increasing number of structured document data to be retrieved.

Structured data retrieval apparatus, method, and computer readable medium


Systems and methods are presented to facilitate caching of programming from broadcast and/or content streaming services to a user device for local playback. In addition, metadata can be provided to guide the user in selecting, caching, or playing the cachable content. In some exemplary embodiments, a receiver or other user device can automatically select the programming to be cached based on a user's historical topic interest and listening history. In some exemplary embodiments, the metadata can also include DRM information that can limit the ability of a user to playback the content, so as to comply, if necessary, with operative legal requirements related to usage of the content.

In a radio receiver or other device capable of receiving multiple channels from a broadcast or streamed content provider, users are provided with many programming options. Such users often have a few channels which they regularly listen to, and given the vastness of offerings and specialty channels, may generally not be aware of other content available from the system. Additionally, because one can only listen to so many channels at once, even by repeatedly switching between them, such a user may not be able to listen during their usual live listening times to all programming that they may truly enjoy. In most of these instances, recording of a program is not available because of "digital rights management" (DRM) issues. In such instances, the user is unable to enjoy the programming.
What is thus needed in the art are systems and methods that can allow such users to shift programs of interest in time from their regularly scheduled broadcasts to times that are more convenient. What is further needed are systems and methods that allow such time shifting to be dynamically personalized to a given user.

Content caching services in satellite and satellite/IP content delivery systems content caching


The present invention provides a method of fabricating a light emitting diode, which comprises the steps of forming a compound semiconductor layer on a substrate, the compound semiconductor layer including a lower semiconductor layer, an active layer and an upper semiconductor layer; and scratching a surface of the substrate by rubbing the substrate with an abrasive. According to the present invention, the abrasive is used to rub and scratch the surface of the light emitting diode, thereby making it possible to cause the light emitted from the active layer to effectively exit to the outside. Therefore, the light extraction efficiency of the light emitting diode can be improved.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a light emitting diode and a method of fabricating the same, and more particularly, to a light emitting diode and a method of fabricating the same, wherein the light extraction efficiency is improved by scratching a surface of the light emitting diode by an abrasive using an ultrasonic cleaning apparatus.
2. Discussion of the Background
A light emitting diode (LED), as a representative light emitting device, is a photoelectric conversion semiconductor device having a structure, in which N-type semiconductor and P-type semiconductor are coupled with each other, and is configured to emit light through recombination of electrons and holes.
GaN based light emitting diode has been well known as the aforementioned light emitting diode. The GaN based light emitting diode is fabricated by sequentially laminating a GaN based N-type semiconductor layer, an active layer (or light emitting layer) and a P-type semiconductor layer on a substrate made of a material such as sapphire or SiC.
Recently, light emitting diodes with high efficiency have been expected to replace fluorescent lamps, and more particularly, the efficiency of a white light emitting diode is approaching a level similar to the efficiency of a conventional fluorescent lamp. However, there is room for improving the efficiency of the light emitting diode, and therefore, continuous improvement in efficiency has been more required.
In order to improve the efficiency of the light emitting diode, two principal approaches have been attempted. First, there is an approach for increasing an internal quantum efficiency which is determined depending on crystal quality and epitaxial-layered structure, and the second approach is to increase the light extraction efficiency as all the light generated from the light emitting diode does not totally exit to the outside and a large amount of light is internally lost.

Light emitting diode and method of fabricating the same


A vertical batch furnace assembly for processing wafers comprising a cassette handling space, a wafer handling space, and an internal wall separating the cassette handling space and the wafer handling space. The cassette handling space is provided with a cassette storage configured to store a plurality of wafer cassettes provided with a plurality of wafers. The cassette handling space is also provided with a cassette handler configured to transfer wafer cassettes between the cassette storage and a wafer transfer position. The wafer handling space is provided with a wafer handler configured to transfer wafers between a wafer cassette in the wafer transfer position and a wafer boat in a wafer boat transfer position. The internal wall is provided with a wafer transfer opening adjacent the wafer transfer position for a wafer cassette from or to which wafers are to be transferred. The cassette storage comprises two cassette storage carousels.

Vertical batch furnace assemblies may comprise a cassette handling space provided with a cassette storage for storing a plurality of wafer cassettes. The cassette storage may comprise a cassette storage carousel and an associated cassette handler. The cassette handler can place a cassette on a platform stage of the associated cassette storage carousel. The number of platform stages in the cassette storage carousel, and the possible amount of wafer cassettes which can be stored on a single platform stage, may vary depending on the desired storing capacity. Increasing the storing capacity of the known vertical batch furnace assembly may lead to a bigger apparatus which may be unwanted.


A method of using a Graphical User Interface (GUI) to display relationships amongst resources of a system can include illustrating at least two overlapping but separate hierarchies in the same mosaic-like graphic, each hierarchy representing one or more of the relationships amongst the resources.

An example of a simple hierarchical relationship as depicted using the standard tree display according to the Background Art is shown in FIG. 1A.
FIG. 1A shows a parent resource 102. Child A resource 104, Child B resource 110, and Child C resource 112 are one rank below and report to the parent resource 102. Grandchild 1A resource 106 is one rank below (and reports to) the Child A resource 104 and two ranks below the Parent resource 102. Similarly, Great Grandchild 11C resource 116 is one rank below (and reports to) Grandchild 1C resource 114, two ranks below the Child C resource 112 and three ranks below the Parent resource 102.
The relationships among the resources in FIG. 1A are easily understood because the relationships are simple. Each resource only occupies a rank in one hierarchical tree.

Methods of displaying resources of overlapping but separate hierarchies

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A chair with a firm structure for overlapping has a body which includes a chair frame and at least one supporting frame; the chair frame having a base, a seat frame and a back frame for supporting the body; the supporting frame being at an outer side of the chair frame; wherein the seat frame has a seat; and the back frame has a cushion; the supporting frame has a handle; supporting frame is combined with a combining unit. The combining unit serves for combining the supporting frame and the chair frame; the chair frame has a front casing and a rear casing; each of the front casing and the rear casing has a clamping surface; the front casing is coupled to the rear casing; each of two sides of the clamping surface has a positioning groove for limiting the chair frame and the supporting frame in the combining unit.

In many applications, after the use of chairs, the chairs must be overlapped for storage. Thus there are some designs of chairs which are aimed at to make a compact structure of chair so that the chairs can be overlapped firmly and safely.
One prior art, Taiwan Patent No. 160984, the end of chair leg is installed with a protruded pad which is buckled with a resisting end at an upper end of a leg of another chair so as to have a firm structure in overlapping. However, the pad will wear as it contacts the ground for a long time period. Finally, the pad will lose of function for resisting with the resisting end. As a result, the overlapping of the chairs are not firmly and steadily and the chairs easily fall down. Furthermore the pads and resisting ends only serve to prevent the chairs from falling down forwards or backwards, but it can not prevent the chairs from falling down leftwards, or rightwards. Thus, when the chairs are overlapped to a predetermined height, the stacks of the chairs easily fall down leftwards or rightwards so as to hurt people asides or destroy the chairs.
Besides, one end of the seat frame of the handle is locked a back of the chair and another end thereof is a concave supporting portion. The supporting portion is buckled to an upper side of a chair leg at a rear side. Then a half combined clamping portion is combined to a lower side of the leg. Then a pair of screw units are locked to the leg at the rear side. However, many components are used and thus the structure is complicated and the more part makes more cost.

Chair with firm structure for overlapping


A safety device for shielding a sharp tip of a tubular needle includes a shaft sized and shaped for being received into the passage of the tubular needle through a first end of the passage and extending to a second end of the passage. A shield is associated with the shaft and is constructed for receiving and substantially shielding the sharp tip of the needle. A catch is associated with the shaft. The catch prevents the withdrawal of the shaft from the passage of the needle when the shield is shielding the sharp tip of the needle.

The present invention relates generally to a safety device, and more particularly to a device for shielding a sharp tip of a tubular needle.
Needle assemblies have particular, although not exclusive application in the field of medicine and have tubular needles with sharpened ends for use in piercing the skin to withdraw materials as needed. The needle is supported by some other structure that is used to manipulate the needle. The most common example is a syringe. However, some needle assemblies require the application of substantial force in use. One example of such a needle assembly is a bone marrow needle assembly that is used to penetrate cortical bone to reach the intramedullary canal for withdrawing liquid or a biopsy sample of bore marrow, or for infusing the canal with a selected material. Typically, the needle includes a cannula and a stylet that is received in the cannula and has a hard, sharp tip that can penetrate cortical bone. The tip projects out from the distal end of the cannula. The stylet can be withdrawn from the cannula after the needle penetrates the bone so that the hollow interior of the cannula can be used as a conduit for liquid or a receptacle to collect bone marrow.
In order to penetrate cortical bone, a substantial amount of force must be applied to the needle. For this reason, bone needle assemblies conventionally mount the needle in a handle that is sized and shaped so that the technician may comfortably grip the handle and apply the force necessary to penetrate the bone. The handle may comprise two handle members that can be selectively put together and separated for inserting the stylet into the cannula and removing the stylet from the cannula. A proximal handle member mounts the stylet and a distal handle member mounts the cannula. "Proximal" and "distal" refer to the relative location of the handle members to the technician when the needle assembly is in use. The proximal handle member is in contact with the palm of the technician's hand in use, and the distal handle member is on the opposite side of the proximal handle member from the palm.
Some needle assemblies, including bone needle assemblies, have associated safety mechanisms that shield the sharp tips of the needle components when they are not needed and after they have become contaminated with potentially hazardous biological material. The safety mechanism includes a shield and usually a mechanism for locking the shield in place over the sharpened tip. As a matter of convenience, and to enhance the probability that the safety feature will be used by a medical technician, the safety feature may be secured to the needle assembly. However, the safety feature must be retained out of the way when the needle assembly is being used, for example, to collect a liquid or solid sample from the intramedullary canal. The safety feature then must be released from its stowed position and moved to an operative position in which its shield covers the sharpened tip of the needle. While effective, this safety feature adds cost to the needle assembly and requires a conscious effort to use.
In cases where a sample (e.g., a bone marrow sample) is collected by the needle assembly, the sample has to be removed from the needle assembly. An obturator is a device including a long thin shaft that can fit inside the cannula for pushing the sample of bone marrow out of the cannula. This can be done with the safety shield in position covering the sharp end of the cannula to protect the technician. In some cases it will be determined that the sample is not satisfactory and it will be necessary to obtain a second sample. It is not necessary to use a new needle assembly, because the needle assembly would be reused on the same patient. However, the shield is held in place over the tip of the needle assembly making it unusable for a collecting a second sample. Accordingly, there is a need for a needle-assembly that can be easily reset for second use, but which will not result in inadvertent release of the safety shield.

Device for shielding a sharp tip of a cannula and method of using the same


An apparatus is described. In an embodiment, the apparatus comprises a housing, wherein the housing comprises a circular cavity; and at least two longitudinal grooves placed in separate corner portions of the housing and around the circular cavity. Further, the apparatus comprises an electric contact associated with each longitudinal groove.

Many electronic devices such as cellular phones, MP3 players and miscellaneous portable audio devices require the use of external audio earphones, head phones or a head set in order to hear media sound. A consumer may need a microphone in order to talk to a caller on a mobile phone, when, for example, the head set is connected to the mobile phone.


Systems, apparatus, methods, and articles of manufacture provide for evaluation of and prediction for data queries (e.g., SQL statements). In one example implementation, a controller device trains a data model for classifying input SQL queries. The controller classifies each input SQL query by testing it against the data model, without requiring actual execution of the SQL query.

Prior art systems are known for evaluating and predicting performance efficiency of structured query language (SQL) queries in enterprise environments. Typically, performance efficiency is evaluated on the basis of execution time (how long it takes to run the SQL query against a particular database and return the selected records) and/or resource cost parameters, such as a number of machine or CPU cycles required to execute the SQL query, or the number of physical block reads required for the execution of the SQL query. Such prior art systems, however, typically require executing the SQL query to be evaluated against the actual production database and/or against a copy of or an emulated database environment. Accordingly, the prior art efficiency evaluation systems themselves are inefficient in terms of the time taken to test and/or in terms of the utilization of resources that must be expended to evaluate the queries. Prior art systems may be further limited to the availability of human participants designated to manually evaluate and make recommendations for tuning underperforming or inefficient queries. Thus, the prior art systems are not optimized for the evaluation and optimization of SQL queries. The technical drawbacks of these prior art systems lead to slower development cycles and inefficient use of computing resources.

Systems and methods for dynamic query prediction and optimization


A method of manufacturing a composite molded member, which includes the steps of: setting the main body inside an injection mold; closing the injection mold to fix the main body inside the injection mold; and forming the cushion members on the edges of the main body through heat and pressure of the injected elastic polymer material. The elastic polymer material is injected from an injection gate into one of the first and second edges at the back surface side of the main body of the molding cavities to flow the elastic polymer material into one of the molding cavities. The elastic polymer material flows into the other of the molding cavities through the connecting flow path, and fills the molding cavities with the elastic polymer material.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a composite molded article, wherein the article includes a main body member molded of a material with high hardness and cushion members molded of elastic polymer materials of which the hardness is relatively lower than the main body member, and an apparatus of manufacturing the composite molded article.
2. Description of the Related Art
As an example of a composite molded article, a pillar garnish for vehicle can be exemplified.
In this type of pillar garnish, a main body member molded of a material with stiffness such as a hard resin material and a cushion member formed of the elastic polymer materials which is softer than the main body member are integrally bonded in the edge portion where the main body member comes in contact with an automotive panel or windowpane when the pillar garnish is mounted and used in an automotive body. Then, the main body member formed of a hard material is prevented from coming in contact with the automotive panel or windowpane by the cushion member, which in turn prevents the automotive panel or windowpane from being damaged. Further, abnormal noise due to vibration during moving of a vehicle is prevented from occurring by the cushion member.
As a method of manufacturing a composite molded article such as a pillar garnish for vehicle and an apparatus of manufacturing the composite molded article, the technology disclosed in JP-A-2003-165137 is known, for example.
In the above-noted document, a hollow portion having an inner shape with a predetermined size is first formed along the longitudinal direction of the main body member molded of a material with stiffness such as a hard resin material.
The main body member is set inside an injection mold in a state where the injection mold for molding the cushion member is opened. Then, the injection mold is closed, so that a molding cavity corresponding to the cushion member is formed between the main body member and the injection mold.
Further, the elastic polymer material melted by heating is injected from an injection gate to the molding cavity so as to be filled therein. Then, the cushion member is molded and integrally bonded in a predetermined position of the main body member.

Method of manufacturing composite molded article and manufacturing apparatus of composite molded article


A breathing apparatus has a first delivery device for adding a volume of a substance to a gas flow, the delivery device having a gas inlet and a gas outlet. A unit monitors a presence of the substance in a gas downstream the delivery device using a first sensor unit at the gas outlet that provides a first measurement value based on an acoustic property of a gas in a first conduit. A second sensor unit at the gas inlet provides a second measurement value based on an acoustic property of a gas present in the second conduit. A control unit determines the presence of the substance based on the first measurement value or based on a comparison of the first measurement value and the second measurement value.

Field of the Invention
This invention pertains in general to the field of breathing apparatuses having delivery devices for delivery of substances via a gas flow to a patient. More precisely, the invention relates to monitoring the proper function of such delivery devices for safety purposes.
Description of the Prior Art
Various delivery devices for substances to be delivered to patients connected to breathing apparatuses are known, such as anesthetic vaporizers for gasifying liquid anesthetic agents. Breathing apparatuses include for instance anesthesia machines, intensive care ventilators with added anesthesia capabilities, etc.
An erroneous function of such delivery devices may involve a safety hazard potentially exposing a connected patient to situations with dire consequences, e.g. when a non-desired amount of the substance should be delivered to the patient.
Hence, there is a need of controlling the correct or desired function of such delivery devices in the breathing apparatuses.
For instance EP-0545567-A1 discloses a method and apparatus for metering to a patient an anesthetic vaporized from anesthetic liquid held in a liquid space of a liquid container into a gas space. The anesthetic dose contained in a gas flow supplied to a patient is determined by the volume/flow of gas passing through the liquid space, i.e. a traditional by-pass vaporizer. The dose is adjusted in a manner that the dosage of anesthetic in a gas intended to be respired by a patient matches a desired dosage and the dosage adjustment of anesthetic contained in a gas supplied to a patient is effected automatically whenever the current dosage differs from a desired value.
However, the apparatus of EP-0545567-A1 needs to determine a desired dosage of anesthetic. Determining a dosage as described in EP-0545567-A1 may be regarded being complicated. Hence there is a need for a simpler system. Further, the apparatus uses either pressure drop based flow meters, or optical sidestream based measurements systems, which are expensive and have further drawbacks.
When using pressure drop flow sensors or heat wire anemometers for measuring gas flow, compensation has to be made for changes in gas composition.
Optical gas analyzers are good but expensive. Moreover, taking a sidestream gas sample from the mainstream involves a time delay for the measurement due to the transportation time from the sample point to the optical gas analyzer; the main gas flow is interfered with by drawing a sample volume, which itself raises issues where to dispose or feedback the sample gas volume after measurement from the optical analyzer; sampling is only based on a small portion of the gas conduit at the sampling point, amongst other disadvantages.
Furthermore the output of sensor units such as a pressure drop based flow meter or a heat wire based flow meter is depended on both the gas flow and physical properties of the measured gas. Particularly in a fault situation, where it is most important to ensure patient safety can both flow and gas concentration be unknown at the same time when using such sensor units. When relying on such sensor units in breathing apparatuses, the system can therefore not distinguish changes in concentrations from changes in flow. Thus, there is a need to provide alternatives avoiding the aforementioned issues and it would for instance be advantageous to be able to measure flow and/or concentration independently.
Hence, an improved or alternative system for determining the presence of a substance delivered into a gas flow would be advantageous.
Hence, an improved breathing apparatus would be advantageous and in particular allowing for increased cost-effectiveness, improved reliability, versatility, and/or patients safety would be advantageous.

Breathing apparatus with monitored delivery device


A method for producing a decorated profile body comprises the following steps. In a first step, a profile body substrate is provided. In a second step, a decoration background is applied to the profile body substrate. In a third step, by means of a digital printing process, a decoration finish is applied to the profile body substrate which decoration finish covers the decoration background of the profile body substrate at least in some sections. The decoration finish is applied to the profile body substrate after the applied decoration background, wherein the decoration background and the decoration finish together form a decoration of the profile body substrate. This creates a decorated profile body in which the decoration background has a color composition which is a substantially expanded color space compared to the decoration finish. The decoration finish is printed using a digital printing process having a comparatively limited color space applied according to the CMYK principle. The color composition of the decoration background is selected in such a way that essentially no metamerism effect occurs between the decoration of the decorated profile body and an adjacent reference decoration of a furniture panel, the reference decoration being substantially identical thereto.

The present invention relates to a method for producing a decorated profile body, comprising the steps: providing a substrate; applying a decoration background; and applying by means of the digital printing process a decoration finish which covers the decoration background at least in some sections, wherein the decoration background and the decoration finish together form a decoration of the profile body.
In the furniture industry, conventional printing processes, such as e.g. the gravure printing process, are used for decorating table tops and kitchen worktops. The characteristic appearance of this decoration (hereinafter: reference decoration) changes color when the type of light changes. The color impression of the decoration of a profile body (e.g. edgeband) attached to the panel must change in the same way as the reference decoration, since otherwise the so-called metamerism effect occurs. The term "metamerism" is defined in DIN 6172 and denotes an effect according to which two samples which look the same under one type of light exhibit a color difference under another type of light.
The decoration templates or template panels from the furniture industry exhibit a wide palette of color pigments and are usually printed using water-based inks, wherein a colored absorbent paper is used as the decoration carrier or substrate. The choice of pigment for these printing inks is limited hardly at all by the method. On the other hand, the inkjet printing process allows only a limited choice of color pigments on account of the method. However, in order to print the reference decoration also onto other substrates, in particular polymeric substrates, such as wall connection profiles and edgebands, the use of identical pigment types and sizes is primarily the basic prerequisite for a printed structure that exhibits no metamerism.
When printing substrates by means of the digital inkjet printing technique using the "drop on demand" and "continuous inkjet" methods, the color systems used are usually developed for the respective printing head and are specially adapted to the material to be printed. The color composition usually takes place according to the CMYK principle, i.e. by combining the colors cyan, magenta and yellow and black (Key). In the case of digital printing with a color composition according to the CMYK principle, therefore, only a limited color choice is available compared to conventional printing processes, such as e.g. the gravure printing process, and this color choice is not sufficient to avoid the metamerism effect.
What is needed therefore is a method of providing a decorated profile body and a method for the production thereof, according to which the entire color space of conventional printing processes, such as e.g. the gravure printing process, can be recorded also in the case of digital printing of the profile body, and thus a metamerism effect can be at least largely prevented.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for producing a decorated profile body


A method, system, and/or computer program product manages a network connection for use by a plurality of application program processes. A set of application program processes, which utilize a network connection, are categorized into a plurality of categories. An optimum network connection parameter value is identified for each category of application program processes. A network connection is established for use by the set of application program processes. A usage of the network connection is determined by each of the application program processes. A network connection parameter is set for the network connection dependent on a respective usage and optimum network connection parameters of the application program processes.

The present invention relates to managing a network connection for use by a plurality of application program processes.
Computer systems are commonly connected to a network and run application programs that communicate over the network with application programs running on other computers on the network. The processing of an application program may comprises a set of sub-processes or application program processes, such as database access processes or remote procedure call processes, that interact with the application programs running on the other computers on the network.
The capacity of a network connection can be configured to match the requirements of its expected workload. Such configuration may be performed by setting one or more parameters of the network connection. For example, given a network connection using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP) for the transport layer, the number of sockets may be set so as to provide appropriate level of connection capacity for the network connection. However some workloads may benefit from one particular configuration, which may not be best suited to that of other workloads.

Managing a network connection for use by a plurality of application program processes

International Business Machines Corporation


Rotary apparatus for a gas turbine engine comprises a rotor assembly and first and second stator assemblies mounted coaxially with respect to each other. The first stator assembly is upstream of the second stator assembly, and the second stator assembly is upstream of the rotor assembly. The rotor assembly comprises an annular array of rotor blades, and each stator assembly comprises an annular array of stator vanes. Each vane has a leading edge and a trailing edge. The stator assemblies are circumferentially translatable relative to each other between a first condition and a second condition. In the first condition, at least a part of each vane of the second stator assembly extends beyond the trailing edge of the respective vane of the first stator assembly.

In a three shaft gas turbine engine, in which the intermediate pressure compressor is driven by the intermediate pressure turbine, the design of the intermediate pressure compressor is dominated by its performance at low power. Attempts have been made to enable the capacity of the intermediate pressure turbine to vary with the power of the engine, but these generally require large numbers of working parts, making the turbines prone to maintenance problems and expensive.


A blank of sheet material for forming a polygonal container is provided. The blank includes a bottom panel, two opposing end panels each extending from an end edge of the bottom panel, two opposing outer side panels each extending from a side edge of the bottom panel, and an inner side panel extending from each top edge of one outer side panel of the two outer side panels. Each inner side panel includes a central portion, a corner portion extending from each side of the central portion, an inner end portion extending from each side of one of the corner portions, and a plurality of elongated relief cutouts. One elongated relief cutout of the plurality of elongated relief cutouts is defined between each corner portion and the central portion and between each inner end portion and an adjacent corner portion.

The embodiments described herein relate generally to blanks for forming polygonal containers and, more particularly, to blanks for forming polygonal containers with reinforced corner, end, and side walls.
Containers are frequently utilized to store and aid in transporting products. These containers can be square, hexagonal, or octagonal. The shape of the container can provide additional strength to the container. For example, octagonal-shaped containers provide greater resistance to bulge over conventional rectangular, square or even hexagonal-shaped containers. An octagonal-shaped container may also provide increased stacking strength.
In at least some known cases, a blank of sheet material is used to form a container for transporting a product. More specifically, these known containers are formed by a machine that folds a plurality of panels along fold lines and secures these panels with an adhesive. Such containers may have certain strength requirements for transporting products. These strength requirements may include a stacking strength requirement such that the containers can be stacked on one another during transport without collapsing. To meet these strength requirements, at least some known containers include reinforced corners or side walls for providing additional strength including stacking strength. In at least some known embodiments, additional panels may be placed in a face-to-face relationship with another corner panel or side wall. However, at least some of the fold lines connecting the reinforcing panels in known containers are not at a right angle to a bottom panel. As such, a stacking strength of the container may be reduced.

Reinforced polygonal containers and blanks for making the same


A computer keyboard light comprises, in a first embodiment, at least one small upright lamp unit mounted to a flat plate that is secured to the underside of the computer keyboard or PC monitor. The lamp arms are telescopeable and are rotatable by rachet connections to allow for adjustment of the lights. The arms could also be formed of an internal structure that allows them to be twisted or adjusted into different shapes and positions. In another embodiment, the computer keyboard light further comprises a small lamp unit mounted to a small rectangular plate that is adhered to the side of the PC monitor in order to illuminate either the keyboard, the monitor screen or a copy holder.

This invention relates to the field of light systems and, more particularly, to the field of lights for personal computer keyboards and other control means.
During recent years, the use of personal computers (PC's) has become prevalent. Personal computers have achieved widespread use both in the home as well as in the office environment--so much so, that even the most cramped of college dormitory rooms is rarely without at least one PC. PC's are also being increasingly found in bedrooms of high school students across the United States. In addition, many small business owners use PC's as a way of converting a part of their living space into a makeshift "home office."
A common problem associated with most non-office users of PC's is the lack of proper lighting for illuminating the PC. Until now, no single light could be used for illuminating the entire PC operation system, including the associated microprocessor, monitor, adjustment knobs, keyboard, writing area, copyholder, etc. For example, a swing arm lamp must have several adjustable lamp heads with different power outputs for illuminating each location. Thus, no traditional desk lamp can fulfill this special purpose.
Another problem in many situations of PC home use is a severe shortage of space, a result of which is the fact that PC users are often faced with cramped workstations. The presence of a large PC, including its associated microprocessor, monitor and computer keyboard, leaves precious little space for other necessary workstation devices, such as a desk lamp. Any traditional desk lamp is too large in size and power to be inserted into a cramped PC workstation. Thus, unfortunately this often leads to the absence of a proper computer and keyboard light needed to enable a PC user to see the PC components properly, thereby exacerbating the common problem of poor lighting discussed earlier. It is desirable to provide a light source that is dedicated to computer keyboard illumination and that will not impose on the space surrounding the PC workstation.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to provide a light system for illumination of the keyboard and other control means of a home-used personal computer.
It is another object of this invention to provide a PC keyboard light system that will not impose on the space surrounding the PC workstation and will be safe enough in a limited flammable environment.
It is a further object of this invention to provide a PC keyboard light system that may also illuminate a portable PC, a copy holder, a printer and a writing area and that may be powered by 12/24 volt AC, by 12/24 volt DC or by rechargeable batteries.


An endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus 1 according to the prevent invention includes an apparatus body 2 including a cleaning tank 6 for storing an endoscope retaining tray 4 in which an endoscope 5 is stored, a top cover 3 provided to the apparatus body 2 and caused by a cover body opening/closing mechanism unit to rotationally move between an open-state stop position and a closed-state stop position, a wireless tag 14 provided to either one of the endoscope retaining tray 4 and the endoscope 5 stored in the endoscope retaining tray 4 and transmitting information for identifying the type of the endoscope 5, a wireless receiver unit 22 provided to the apparatus body 2 and receiving the information of the wireless tag 14, and a control unit 10 provided to the apparatus body 2 and determining whether or not to cause an opening movement of the top cover 3 on the basis of the information obtained by the wireless receiver unit 22 to thereby control the rotational movement by the cover body opening/closing mechanism unit. Accordingly, cleaning and disinfection of the used endoscope can be hygienically and effectively performed.

In an endoscope used for such purposes as examination and treatment in a body cavity, dirt adheres not only to the outer surface of an insertion section inserted into the body cavity, but also to respective tubes, such as an air/water supply tube provided inside the insertion section and a suction tube also serving as a forceps channel. Therefore, the endoscope is cleaned and disinfected after the use thereof.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-263066 discloses an endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for cleaning and disinfecting an endoscope. According to the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, in a cleaning process, a rinsing process, and a disinfection process, which form a cleaning and disinfection process, the properties of electrolyzed water used for the cleaning and disinfection are adjusted in accordance with the extent of dirt accumulated on the endoscope, without the need for a complicated operation.
In a conventional endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, so as to be able to clean and disinfect plural types of endoscopes, i.e., endoscopes different in, for example, length, thickness, and specification of the insertion section thereof, the size of a cleaning tank provided in the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus is adjusted to an endoscope of the largest size. Further, in a facility having an upper gastrointestinal endoscope and a lower gastrointestinal endoscope, in many cases, each of the endoscopes has been cleaned and disinfected by a special cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for the endoscope.
Furthermore, according to the conventional endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, in the cleaning and disinfection of an endoscope, an operator carries the used endoscope to the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus.
However, if the cleaning and disinfection is performed on an endoscope of the smallest size in the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus having the cleaning tank adjusted to the endoscope of the largest size as described above, the amounts of cleaner and disinfectant to be used, the cleaning and disinfection time, and so forth are set to be the same as those for the endoscope of the largest size. Thus, there arises a problem in that the cleaner and the disinfectant are consumed more than necessary for the small-sized endoscope, and that the cleaning and disinfection time is increased.
Further, in the facility having the upper gastrointestinal endoscope and the lower gastrointestinal endoscope, there is a risk of occurrence of an operational error, such as setting the upper gastrointestinal endoscope in the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for the lower one due to carelessness of the operator.
Furthermore, it is conceivable that the operator grasps the used endoscope directly with a hand and carries the endoscope to the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus for the cleaning and disinfection of the endoscope. In such a case, to set the endoscope in the cleaning tank of the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus, there arises a need to grasp a cover body of the apparatus with the unclean hand to open the cover body of the apparatus or a need to operate open and close switches and so forth with the unclean hand. As a result, there arises a problem in that the hygiene of the cleaning/disinfecting apparatus is deteriorated. To solve the problem, it is conceivable to provide the endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus with a foot pedal as well as a mechanism for performing opening and closing operations of the cover body of the apparatus. However, the operation of checking the position of the foot pedal to open or close the cover body may be found bothersome by a user.
The present invention has been made in light of the above-described problems. An object of the present invention is to provide an endoscope cleaning/disinfecting apparatus capable of hygienically and effectively cleaning and disinfecting a used endoscope.


In a target processor having a non-protected pipeline, the execution code is typically provided with interruptible code portions and with non-interruptible code portions. The non-interruptible code portions prevent implementation of a real time interrupt that would corrupt the code so that execution could not be resumed. A storage unit is provided that stores a signal permitting a code execution halt even during a non-interruptible code portion. In this manner, a program developer can determine the status of the processor at any point in the code execution. When the execution halt is initiated during a non-interruptible code segment, a bit is set in a bit position of a memory-mapped register. This bit position can be transferred from the target processor to the host processing unit during a transfer of status data.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the testing of digital signal processing units and, more particularly, to the interruption of code execution to determine the status of various portions of the target processor implementing the code or initiate a new procedure. A processor can have a protected pipeline or a non-protected pipeline. When the target processor has a non-protected pipeline, the code executing on the processor can have interruptible portions and can have non-interruptible portions.
2. Description of the Related Art
As microprocessors and digital signal processors have become increasingly complex, advanced techniques have been developed to test these devices. Dedicated apparatus is available to implement the advanced techniques. Referring to FIG. 1A, a general configuration for the test and debug of a target processor 12 is shown. The test and debug procedures operate under control of a host processing unit 10. The host processing unit 10 applies control signals to the emulation unit 11 and receives (test) data signals from the emulation unit 11 by cable connector 14. The emulation unit 11 applies control signals to and receives (test) signals from the target processor 12 by connector cable 15. The emulation unit 11 can be thought of as an interface unit between the host processing unit 10 and the target processor 12. The emulation unit 11 must process the control signals from the host processor unit 10 and apply these signals to the target processor 12 in such a manner that the target processor will respond with the appropriate test signals. The test signals from the target processor 12 can be a variety types. Two of the most popular test signal types are the JTAG (Joint Test Action Group) signals and trace signals. The JTAG signal provides a standardized test procedure in wide use. Trace signals are series of signals from a multiplicity of junctions in the target processor 12. While the width of the bus interfacing to the host processing unit 10 generally have a standardized width, the bus between the emulation unit 11 and the target processor 12 can be increased to accommodate the increasing complexity of the target processing unit 12. Thus, part of the interface function between the host processing unit 10 and the target processor 12 is to store the test signals until the signals can be transmitted to the host processing unit 10.
In the test and debug of the target processor, specified internal events result in a halt of the target processor (i.e., for analysis of the configuration of the processor) or in a change of processor program execution. These specified events are monitored by dedicated apparatus. Upon detection of the occurrence of the event, the monitoring apparatus generates an event signal. The events signal or signals are applied to a trigger device. The trigger device issues a trigger signal that results in the change of operation of the target processor. Referring to FIG. 1B, the operation of the trigger generation unit 19 is shown. Monitoring apparatus 18, including event signal generation units 181 through 18N, is typically included in the target processor 12. The event generation units 181–18N each monitors some portion of the target processor to determine when a specified condition (or conditions) or event is present. When the specified condition is detected by the event signal generation unit monitoring the condition, an event signal is generated. The event signals are applied to the trigger generation unit 19. Based on the event signals applied to the trigger generation unit 19, a trigger signal is selected. Certain events and combination of events, referred to as an event front, generate a selected trigger signal that results in certain activity in the target processor, e.g. a debug halt. Combinations of different events generating trigger signals are referred to as jobs. Multiple jobs can result in the same trigger signal or combination of trigger signals. In the test and debug of the target processor, the trigger signals can provide impetus for changing state in the target processor or for performing a specified activity. The event front defines the reason for the generation of trigger signal. This information is important in understanding the operation of the target processor because, as pointed out above, several combinations of events can result in the generation of a trigger signal. In order to analyze the operation of the target processing unit, the portion of the event front resulting in the trigger signal must be identified in order to determine the reason for the generation of the trigger signal.
A development system can create a number of test and debug events. These test and debug events halt the code execution so that analysis can be made of the state of the processor. In a real-time test and debug environment, it is desirable to allow the service of interrupt signals designated as real time interrupts to continue after a debug event generates an execution halt. Because the test and debug events are generally accepted at the next instruction boundary, a test and debug event can halt the code execution at a non-interruptible point in the code execution.
In a protected pipeline, real-time interrupt procedures can occur at any instruction boundary, so it is not a problem that code execution halts in a non-interruptible point. Once the code execution is halted, real-time interrupt procedures continue even though the code was not interruptible at the point at which the code execution was halted. In other words, in a non-interruptible code portion, real time interrupt procedures can continue in a protected pipeline independent of whether code execution is halted at a non-interruptible point.
In an unprotected pipeline, the situation is much different than for a protected pipeline. In the unprotected pipeline, real time interrupts cannot occur at any arbitrary instruction boundary because of architectural problems (e.g., delayed branches in flight) or instruction-to-instruction relationships that can be disturbed (the global enable bit is disabled to indicate these code areas). Because the pipeline sequence must be preserved in an unprotected pipeline, this rule is obeyed when code execution is halted by a test and debug event.
When a test and debug event is allowed to halt code execution in an unprotected pipeline at a non-interruptible point in the code execution, real time interrupt services must be blocked because these activities would corrupt the code so that the code execution could not be resumed after the interrupt return. To preserve the ability to service real-time interrupts after code execution halts, test and debug events must be blocked until code execution reaches an interruptible point.
However, an application developer may find it desirable to halt the code execution at a non-interruptible point in the code to observe the machine state even though real-time interrupt are blocked, and other times, may find it desirable to delay code execution halts to points where the code is interruptible (i.e., allowing service of real time interrupts after execution halts). Having once determined that the halt is desirable even if non-interruptible code is being executed, the user/host processor unit must be alerted to the corruption of the procedure executing at the time of the code halt.
A need has therefore been felt for apparatus and an associated method having the feature that a program execution halt taken in a non-protected pipeline during a non-interruptible portion of the code identified. It would be another feature of the apparatus and associated method to permit the user/host processing unit to determine whether a program execution halt is implemented during a non-interruptible portion of program executing on a non-protected pipeline. It would be further feature of the apparatus and associated method to permit the implementation of a code halt during a non-interruptible code portion to be communicated to user/host processing unit.

Apparatus and method for reporting program halts in an unprotected pipeline at non-interruptible points in code execution