A battery module system includes a battery module and a control member. The battery module comprises battery units are connected in series. Each of the battery units comprises a unit cell having a voltage variation rate A (mV/% SOC) at a full charge voltage VH1 (V) is larger than 20 (mV/% SOC), which is a value obtained when the unit cell is charged at a current of 1 C at 25° C. The control member controls current to a current I1 until a maximum value Vmax (V) among the voltage of each unit cell reaches the full charge voltage VH1 (V) and then controls a voltage of the battery module to a voltage V2 (V) given by the following equation (1):V2=VH2×n  (1).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery module system, a charging type vacuum cleaner using the battery module system and a method of charging the battery module.
2. Description of the Related Art
Secondary batteries having high energy densities are developed and utilized as power sources for miniature information devices such as cellular telephones and portable personal computers (PCs). These secondary batteries are used in such a manner that the number of secondary batteries (unit cell) constituting a battery module and the way of combining series-connection and parallel-connection are varied according to voltage and current required for each device. Because the power source voltage of the above miniature portable devices is about several volts to 10 volts, a secondary battery is singly used or about 2 to 3 series of batteries are mostly used even if a battery module is used in which plural secondary batteries are connected in series. However, in recent years, the applications of secondary batteries are not confined to information devices but have been rapidly spread towards high-power and high-voltage fields such as domestic electric appliances, power tools, electric mopeds and hybrid cars. Along with this, the number of series in a battery module is increased and it is no rare case that 10 or more secondary batteries are connected in series upon use.
A problem arising when batteries are connected in series is variations between unit cells. The variation involves those observed from various viewpoints such as variations in capacity, impedance and SOC (state of charging). There are variations in voltage in a full charge state as a problem leading, particularly, to disorders. When batteries different in capacity are connected in series or in the condition that the SOCs (state of charging) of them are deviated from each other, unit cells having a voltage higher than the average and unit cells having a voltage lower than the average arise in a full-charged condition of the battery module, the unit cell having high voltage is put into a an overcharged state and is resultantly deteriorated greatly. If such charging is repeated, the unit cell that is largely deteriorated by the overcharging is reduced in capacity and is further overcharged, so that the progress of the deterioration of the unit cell is accelerated. As a result, this gives rise to the problem that the cycle life of the battery module is shortened more significantly than the unit cell.
To deal such a problem, a method is usually adopted in which charging called electrical reconditioning is carried out to eliminate variations in voltage in a charged state in a battery module of a nickel metal-hydride battery. The nickel metal-hydride battery has the performance that if it is intended to further charge a nickel metal-hydride battery in a state close to a full charge state, a charging reaction of the electrode material and a decomposition/regeneration reaction of the water in the electrolytic solution compete with each other, so that the charge reaction does not proceed. Therefore, if overcharging is carried out in such a proper charging condition as to prevent deterioration in the performance of the battery, the charging voltages of the batteries connected in series can be uniformed by utilizing an electrochemical current bypass function of the battery. There are many known examples of such an electrical reconditioning method, for example, JP-A 2001-314046 (KOKAI).
Generally, the coulomb efficiency of charging and discharging is almost 100% in secondary batteries and capacitors using a nonaqueous electrolyte and therefore, unlike the nickel metal-hydride battery, the current bypass function by the battery cannot be expected. To deal with such a case, a method is proposed in which an equalizing circuit in which each cell is bypassed is disposed as an external circuit to bypass charging current for unit cells charged to voltages exceeding a predetermined value, thereby suppressing variations in charge voltage. For example, JP-A 2002-238179 (KOKAI) discloses such technologies that in a battery module provided with plural unit cells connected in series, a Zener diode is connected to each unit cell in parallel to bypass charging current for unit cells charged to voltages exceeding the Zener voltage.
However, even if such a method is adopted, it is difficult to efficiently eliminate variations in the charged voltage of a unit cell because of the following problems. First, in the case of intending to attain the necessary function by a single element such as a Zener diode, the charge voltage of the battery is governed by variations in Zener voltage. It is difficult to suppress variations in Zener voltage like the case of producing a battery reduced in variation. The rise of Zener current when the charge voltage reaches the Zener voltage is by no means steep and therefore, bypass current starts flowing at a voltage lower than the required charge voltage. It is thus difficult to apply this method to a secondary battery for which the voltage must be controlled on the order of several tens of millivolts. To mention other problems, when the capacity of a battery module is large or the charge current is large in the case of, for example, carrying out rapid charging, power consumption in a Zener diode is increased, which makes it difficult to actually practice this method due to problems such as heat generation. In order to evade problems such as those mentioned above, the bypass circuit is constituted not by a single element such as a Zener diode but by a bypass circuit which comprises standard voltage and feedback control and to which a large-current switching element is applied, which makes it possible to put this method into practice on principle. However, actually, if the number of series of cells in the battery module is large, the circuit is complicated and also, the size and cost are made to be too large for a battery module, which makes it difficult to realize this circuit.
When the above bypass control circuit is made collectively into a compact form using ICs, this circuit may be applied to even a battery module increased in the number of series. On the other hand, such a bypass circuit does not allow large bypass currents to flow, and therefore only very slow equalizing control is permitted. When, particularly, unit cells having the large voltage variation rate with the capacity in the vicinity of full charge voltage are used, variations in voltage is rapidly increased with the progress of charging, which excessively increase the bypass current required to expect that the bypass will restrict the variation in voltage. It is therefore very difficult to restrict variations in the charge voltage of unit cells only by a bypass circuit.

Battery module system, method of charging battery module and charging type vacuum cleaner


A system and method for optical tomography including illuminating an object with pulsing stimulus light and pulsing the stimulus light at a repetition frequency having a pulse period that is greater than a dead-time of a detector. Coordinating the pulse with the dead-time of the detector allows for higher powered light source and improves early photon detection.

This invention relates generally to medical imaging using optical projection tomography and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus capable of achieving high-resolution, quantitative mapping of fluorescence targeted biological molecular concentration distributions, such as in 1-10 mm diameter tissues.
Absorption and fluorescence-based optical tomography has been heralded as a low-cost, ionizing radiation-free alternative to conventional medical imaging modalities for decades, particularly for tissue specimen and small animal imaging. However, a major limitation to optical tomography is the highly scattering nature of photon propagation in biological tissue. This scattering obfuscates the ability to predict the exact path of a detected photon, effectively setting spatial resolution limits of greater than 1 mm, even with the most sophisticated reconstruction approaches. One solution to improving spatial resolution is so-called early-photon tomography. Early photon tomography requires pulsed light sources and advanced time-resolved detection of the transmitted photons so that the earliest arriving photons, having taken the most direct path between source and detector, can be selectively isolated to improve reconstructed image spatial resolution. There is a continuing need for improvements to fluorescence tomography for biological samples.

Apparatus and method for enhanced early photon detection in optical projection tomography


A driving circuit for generating a motor driving voltage has a positive feedback loop for feeding back the motor driving voltage through a filter. The filter is arranged so as to have a transfer function given as G.sub.F (s) which (1) satisfies G.sub.F (s).apprxeq.1 in a frequency band in which disturbances should be suppressed while (2) satisfies .vertline.G.sub.F (s).vertline.<.vertline.G.sub.open .vertline. in a full range of frequencies, where G.sub.open represents an open loop transfer function of a motor control device in which a positive feedback loop is not provided. With this arrangement, it is possible to suppress disturbances, irrelevant to motor characteristics which may vary. Besides, it is possible to provide a motor control device in which computations for disturbance compensation are considerably decreased.

Motors are now used for various purposes. For example, in an information recording/reproducing apparatus such as a VTR, or a magneto-optical disk drive, a motor is used for driving a magnetic head or an information recording medium.
In an information recording/reproducing apparatus of this type, a change in a relative speed of the magnetic head with respect to the information recording medium likely causes deterioration of an image quality or a sound quality, and causes noises. Therefore, it is necessary that the motor used therein should be controlled so that changes in the rotating speed of the motor are restrained. To achieve this purpose, a motor control device described below has been proposed.
FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a usual motor control device. As illustrated in this figure, a characteristic of a motor 31 is represented as a transfer function of 1/ (Js+C), where J represents a moment of inertia of the motor 31, C represents a coefficient of viscosity which is determined with an influence of a back electromotive force on the motor 31 taken into consideration, and s represents the Laplace operator.
An output .omega. of this motor control device is a velocity signal indicating a rotating speed of the motor 31, which is detected by a velocity detector (not shown). Note that here it is premised that a velocity signal indicating an accurate rotating speed of the motor 31 can be obtained by the velocity detector.
A comparator 32 is provided on an input side of the motor control device. The comparator 32 outputs an error signal E.sub.rr as a difference between a velocity reference value .omega..sub.ref as a reference speed of the motor 31 and the velocity signal .omega..
A driving circuit 33 is connected to an output terminal of the comparator 32 so that the error signal E.sub.rr is supplied to the driving circuit 33. The driving circuit 33 conducts a control operation which is a combination of proportional compensation and integral compensation, and outputs a driving voltage V.sub.r. Note that the proportional compensation relates to speed control whereas the integral compensation relates to phase control. A characteristic of the driving circuit 33 is represented as a transfer function of K.sub.p +K.sub.i /s, where K.sub.p represents a proportional gain whereas K.sub.i represents an integral gain.
A block 34 is connected to an output terminal of the driving circuit 33. The block 34 converts the driving voltage V.sub.r into a driving torque T.sub.m. A characteristic of the block 34 is represented as a coefficient K.sub.t, and the coefficient K.sub.t is called the torque constant. Note that the torque constant is a constant found by calculating (driving torque)/(driving voltage).
A disturbance torque T.sub.g is applied to the motor 31, and a subtracter 35 is equivalently connected to an output terminal of the block 34 so that the driving torque T.sub.m and the disturbance torque T.sub.g applied to the motor 31 are supplied to the subtracter 35. Note that the subtracter 35 is shown in the figure for convenience sake so as to indicate that the disturbance torque T.sub.g is applied to the motor 31, and such a circuit as the subtracter 35 does not actually exist in this arrangement. The subtracter 35 subtracts the disturbance torque T.sub.g from the driving torque T.sub.m, and sends a net driving torque T thus obtained to the motor 31. The motor 31 rotates in accordance with the net driving torque T, and sequentially the velocity signal .omega. is detected.
The velocity signal .omega. is sent to the comparator 32 through a negative feedback loop. Thus, the control operation is carried out so that the velocity signal .omega. coincides with the velocity reference value .omega..sub.ref. Note that the negative feedback loop which feeds back the velocity signal .omega. is hereinafter referred to as loop A. An open loop transfer function G.sub.open of this control system is given as: EQU G.sub.open =(K.sub.p +K.sub.i /s).multidot.K.sub.t .multidot.{1/(J.multidot.s+C)} (1)
FIG. 3 is at graph illustrating an example of a gain characteristic of the open loop transfer function G.sub.open, which is indicated by a solid line in the graph. A frequency f.sub.c indicated on a horizontal axis of the graph is a gain crossover frequency. A response G.sub.comp of the motor 31's rotating speed to the disturbance torque T.sub.g in this control system is given as: EQU G.sub.comp ={1/(J.multidot.s+C)}/(1+G.sub.open) (2)
The response G.sub.comp has a chevron characteristic, as indicated by a broken line in the graph of FIG. 2. This characteristic is understandable, considering that the following relational expressions can be obtained using the above equation (2): ##EQU1##
In other words, a disturbance suppressing characteristic on a side of a low band stems from an effect of the feedback control which is expressed by the above equation (3), while a disturbance suppressing characteristic on a side of a high band stems from an effect of the moment of inertia of the motor 31 which is expressed by the above equation (4).
However, further advanced motor control devices are recently demanded, and the above-described disturbance suppressing characteristic obtained by the feedback control is insufficient. For example, in VTR apparatuses, jitters of low frequencies cause edge noises due to signal cross talks on magnetic tapes, or cause track curving in the case of recording with respect to narrow tracks, or the like. Therefore, in the case where a rotating speed of a capstan motor is to be controlled, to enhance efficiency in suppressing disturbances in the low and middle bands is a matter of great importance.
As a method for obtaining a sufficient efficiency in suppressing disturbances particularly in the low and middle bands, a control method using a disturbance observer is well known (for example, see the Japanese Publication for Unexamined Patent Application No. 3-155383/1991 (Tokukaihei 3-155383)). According to this method, the disturbance suppressing efficiency is enhanced by estimating the disturbance torque applied to the motor and adding the disturbance torque thus estimated to the driving voltage of the motor in accordance with a feedforward control method.
FIG. 7 is Et block diagram illustrating a motor control device using a minimum-dimensional observer disclosed in the Japanese Publication for Unexamined Patent Application 3-155383/1991. In FIG. 7, the members having the same structure (function) as those in FIG. 6 will be designated by the same reference numerals and their description will be omitted. Note that in a transfer function of the motor 31, a term of viscosity is omitted.
The motor control device of FIG. 7 differs from that of FIG. 6 in that a disturbance estimating unit 40, a disturbance compensation gain 50 (coefficient: 1/K.sub.tn), and an adder 36 are added. In FIG. 7, J.sub.n represents a nominal value of the moment of inertia of the motor 31, K.sub.tn represents a nominal value of the torque constant K.sub.t, and g represents a positive constant indicating a band for the disturbance observer 40.
The disturbance estimating unit 40, supplied with a motor driving voltage V and a velocity signal .omega., outputs a signal T.sub.g1. To be more specific, the motor driving voltage V is supplied to a block 41 so as to be multiplied by a coefficient g.multidot.K.sub.tn. The velocity signal .omega. is supplied to a block 42 so as to be multiplied by the coefficient g.sup.2 .multidot.J.sub.n, while it is supplied to a block 43 so as to be multiplied by a coefficient g.multidot.J.sub.n. Then, outputs of the blocks 41 and 42 are added by an adder 44, and the added result is supplied to a first-order lag element represented as a block 45. Sequentially, an output of the block 43 is subtracted from an output of the block 45 by a subtracter 46, thereby resulting in that the signal T.sub.g1 is outputted.
The signal T.sub.g1 thus outputted from the disturbance estimating unit 40 is supplied to the disturbance compensation gain 50, so as to be multiplied by the coefficient 1/K.sub.tn. As a result, a disturbance compensation signal VF is outputted from the disturbance compensation gain 50. The disturbance compensation signal VF is added by the adder 36 to a driving voltage V.sub.r which is outputted by the driving circuit 33, the added result being a motor driving voltage V. The motor driving voltage V is supplied to a block 34, and then, it is converted to a net driving torque which is supplied to the motor 31, as described above.
The disturbance compensation signal VF is given as: ##EQU2##
According to the equation (5), FIG. 7 can be equivalently re-drawn into FIG. 8. A transfer function indicating a characteristic of the block 47 in FIG. 8 is obtained by modeling a reverse characteristic of the motor 31, and the transfer function is hereinafter referred to as motor reverse model.
An output T.sub.g of the subtracter 48 in FIG. 8 can be given as: ##EQU3## Given that K.sub.tn =K.sub.t and J.sub.n =J, the equation (6) is reorganized as follows: EQU T.sub.g =T.sub.g (7)
As a result, an estimated value of the disturbance torque T.sub.g can be expressed using the output T.sub.g. Therefore, the output T.sub.g is hereinafter referred to as disturbance estimation signal.
In FIG. 8, a block 49 whose transfer function is given as g/(s+g) is a first-order low-pass filter having a cut-off frequency of g/(2.pi.)[Hz]. Therefore, an output T.sub.g of the block 49 is a low band component of the disturbance estimation signal T.sub.g.
In short, it is found that the control system (see FIG. 7) using the minimum-dimensional observer essentially:
(1) estimates the disturbance torque T.sub.g ;
(2) adds the low band component of the disturbance torque thus estimated to the driving voltage V in accordance with the feedforward control method; and
(3) by doing so, cancels the low band component of the disturbance torque T.sub.g.
However, with the above arrangement, a lot of calculations are necessary to obtain the disturbance compensation signal VF. To realize this system in hardware, elements in the motor control device are caused to increase, thereby making it difficult to miniaturize the device, while adding to costs. To realize this system in software, since a long period of time is required for carrying out a lot of calculations, arises a problem that performance of the device deteriorates due to the insufficient period for calculations and delay in response.
To avoid the delay in response, expensive microcomputers capable of high-speed processing are needed, and this also leads to a problem of adding to the costs of the device.
Furthermore, since nominal values of the motor characteristics are used in the foregoing arrangement when calculations are carried out, desired control performance of the motor control device cannot be achieved in the case where real values and nominal values are different due to, for example, irregularity in the motor characteristics.


An imaging apparatus includes an imaging device which is able to individually set two or more types of exposure conditions with respect to arbitrary pixel groups inside an imaging area section and which reads out an imaging signal, which is obtained from pixel groups where the exposure conditions are individually set, in units of one imaging frame, and an imaging signal processing section which performs signal separation for each exposure condition and performs association with the exposure conditions with respect to the imaging signal which is output from the imaging device.

The present disclosure relates to an imaging apparatus, an imaging signal processing circuit, and an imaging signal processing method, in addition to a display apparatus, an image signal processing circuit, and an image signal processing method.
As a High Dynamic Range (HDR) technique, there is a method for synthesizing and processing a plurality of images which are captured by changing the exposure (a bright image, a normal image, a dark image, and the like) and then displaying the images by compressing the images to an amount of information which is able to be represented on a normal monitor (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-131796 and Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 7-135599).
On the other hand, while capturing HDR video using an imaging apparatus such as a video camera, displaying the video in real time on a view monitor of a camera is important during the capturing of the film. In such a case, a method for displaying an HDR video in a simple manner by outputting a plurality of images, which divide a gradation representation range, in time series in sub-frame units and displaying the images at double speed was also proposed as one method for realizing a simple display (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-276968).

Imaging apparatus, imaging signal processing circuit, imaging signal processing method, display apparatus, image signal processing circuit, and image signal processing method


A fishing reel includes a spool which receives a fishing line and is rotale relative to the fishing reel. The fishing reel further includes a rotor which is rotatable relative to the fishing reel and the spool, wherein a bail system is hinged to the rotor, and wherein this bail system can be swung relative to the rotor between a reeling position and a casting position. A locking member which can be manually moved between a locking position and a releasing position is provided between the bail system and the rotor, wherein, in the locking position, the locking member locks the bail system in its casting position at the rotor and prevents it from swinging into the reeling position.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fishing reel with a spool which receives the fishing line and is rotatable relative to the fishing reel. The fishing reel further includes a rotor which is rotatable relative to the fishing reel and the spool, wherein a bail system is hinged to the rotor, and wherein this bail system can be swung relative to the rotor between a reeling position and a casting position and means are provided for holding the bail system in the casting position.
2. Description of the Related Art
The casting position, also called line releasing position, is to be assumed by the bail system when the fisherman casts out. In this casting position, the bail system must be folded back, so that it does not obstruct the fishing line which is wound from the spool during casting. When the spoon is reeled in by rotating the crank handle of the fishing reel, the rotary motion of the rotor automatically ensures by means of stops or the like that the bail system is moved into the reeling position which is also called the line catching position. In that position, the fishing line travels over the line roller mounted on the arm.
In fishing reels, as disclosed, for example, in DE-OS 32 18 796, there is the disadvantage that for several reasons it is possible that the bail system is prematurely swung from the casting it ion into the reeling position. Thus, when casting very strongly, the rotor may turn and, consequently, may unintentionally actuate the release for swinging the bail system into the reeling position. This may also occur when the fisherman does not pay attention and the crank handle of the fishing reel is moved. An unintentional swinging of the bail system from the casting position into the reeling position frequently also occurs when the fisherman inadvertently touches the bail system with his hand and swings the bail system into the reeling position. Since only very small forces are required for swinging the bail system, this may occur even when the bail system is touched only lightly. The fisherman then has to reel in the spoon once again, the bail system has to be returned into the casting position and the spoon is cast out once again.
A fishing reel disclosed in DE-OS 40 21 425 has the disadvantage that the bail system must be moved from the closed reeling position for winding up the fishing line into the open released position, i.e., the casting position, by actuating a lever, herein the actuating lever must be held in this position with the finger of the person operating the fishing reel during the entire casting procedure. The fisherman can remove the finger from the actuating lever only after casting is finished. This means that the casting procedure is made difficult for the fisherman because during the casting process the fisherman has to firmly grasp the fishing rod with both hands. However, this is not possible when the finger of one hand is needed for carrying out the actuation described above. Moreover, there is the disadvantage that the construction of the bail system in the casting position is relatively complicated and, thus expensive to manufacture.
EP 0 467 812 discloses a fishing reel in which the bail system is held in the casting position and the reeling position by means of a compression spring, wherein this spring support travels through a dead center position when changing over from the casting position to the reeling position and vice versa. The casting position can be secured by means of a locking lever. This means that the bail system is secured against an unintentional swinging into the reeling position when the crank handle of the fishing reel is unintentionally rotated. However, the bail system in not secured against moving from the casting position into the reeling position when being touched by the fisherman, or when a very quick and very forceful casting of the bait produces such a force that the bail system is moved into the reeling position.

D.A.M. Deutsche Angelgerate Manufaktur Hellmuth Kuntze GmbH & Co. KG


A catheter having a catheter body with a proximal and distal end. The catheter including an ultrasonic transducer proximate its distal end. An access port being provided in the catheter for delivery of a therapeutic device or the like to proximate the distal end of the catheter body. A guide wire port being further provided for insertion therethrough of a guide wire.

The present invention relates to an ultrasonic and interventional catheter and method. More particularly, the present invention relates to such a catheter which provides imaging and hemodynamic capability. Further, the invention relates to such a catheter which provides transvascular and intra cardiac imaging.
Current x-ray fluoroscopy can localize radio paque devices within the cardiovascular system and outline silhouetted anatomy. Precise localization of intracardiac anatomy is not possible; e.g., directing a catheter predictably and repetitively through the same precise point within the heart.
Ultrasound (echocardiography) can be utilized to image detailed cardiac, intracardiac, and vascular anatomy. Additionally, function, hemodynamics, and visualization of blood flow is possible. Doppler echocardiography, which utilizes the physics of ultrasound frequency to determine velocity and direction of blood flow, is used to determine pressure and flow and visualize blood movement within the cardiac chambers.
Ultrasound is increasingly utilized as a substitute for cardiac catheterization.
Currently, many interventional procedures can be performed through a catheter; e.g., balloon dilation and valvuloplasty and ablation of abnormal cardiac tissue are two frequency performed procedures.
Ultrasound has recently entered into invasive applications. Transesophageal echocardiography is the most widely utilized invasive ultrasound technique. Intravascular ultrasound utilizing miniature transducers mounted on a catheter are now undergoing vigorous clinical trails. Intracardiac imaging devices have received very limited investigation.
Increasingly, therapeutic cardiac catheterization is displacing diagnostic cardiac catheterization. Thus, there is an acceptance of catheter technology as a means of altering cardiac anatomy or conduction system. Balloon angioplasty, utilization of defect closure devices, and electrical interruption of anomalous conduction pathways are now considered accepted practice. However, most of these procedures are rather gross in nature; e.g. a large balloon splitting an obstructed valve, crude devices inserted into defects, and application of thermal or electric energy to interrupt the conduction system or produce defects in septa.

Ultrasonic and interventional catheter and method

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


A riding toy, free from maintenance work like battery replacement and able to urge a rider to take exercise while preventing the rider from getting tired thereof, has one front wheel and two rear wheels that are provided rotatably on a body, a generating motor linked with the rear wheels via a power transmission mechanism, a rectifier bridge circuit rectifying an output current from the generating motor, a storage unit storing a direct current from the rectifier bridge circuit, button switches of a button group on the body or a handlebar, an output unit on the handlebar including a sound emitting device or a light emitting device and a control unit causing the light emitting device or the sound emitting device of the output unit to perform a predetermined operation in response to operation of the button switches based on a current supplied from the storage unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a riding toy.
2. Description of the Related Art
As a riding toy, a riding toy is known on which an infant rides and which can be moved by the infant kicking on the ground with its own feet (for example, refer to Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication (KOKAI) No. 2002-35435).
A riding toy is also known in which a loud speaker, button switches and a sound generating electronic circuit using a primary battery as its power supply are mounted on a body of the riding toy. In this riding toy, when a button switch is operated, the sound generating electronic circuit causes an artificial engine sound to be emitted towards a rider from the loud speaker to enjoy the rider in moving the riding toy. Thus, this riding toy is effective in urging the rider to take exercise while enjoying itself.


A method for forming a semiconductor structure includes curing a shape memory polymer in a first shape. The shape memory polymer is coupled to a conductive layer. The method further includes folding the shape memory polymer from the first shape into a second shape. The method also includes bonding a semiconductor wafer to the conductive layer while the shape memory polymer is in the second shape. The semiconductor wafer has first and second dies. The semiconductor wafer is then singulated to separate the first die from the second die. The method further includes expanding the shape memory polymer to its first shape and singulating the shape memory polymer to separate the first and second dies.

A semiconductor the typically includes an integrated circuit formed thereon. The die then may be attached to a substrate and packaged with mold compound to form a completed semiconductor device ("chip"). Multiple (e.g., tens, hundreds, thousands) of dies are formed on a semiconductor wafer. Typically, the individual dies are singulated from the wafer and, through a pick-and-place process, each individual die is picked and placed on a corresponding substrate. The pick-and-place process is time-consuming.

Shape memory polymer for use in semiconductor device fabrication


A door is provided that has a first outer skin and a second outer skin. A first and second outer skins are separated by a frame to form a hollow core between the frame and the outer skins. The outer skins have molded potions that extend into the space between the outer skins. An expandable spacer is connected to the first and second skins to hold the first and second skins a predetermined distance apart. The expandable spacer has a plurality of elongated members having a width. The elongated members are each oriented substantially perpendicular to the first and second outer skins. The expandable spacer has a plurality of expandable core liners extending between the elongated members. The expandable core liners support the elongated members with respect to the first and second outer skins in a perpendicular direction. The elongated members and the expandable core liners have a reduced width portion formed therein that corresponds to the molded portion of the outer skins.

The present invention relates generally to hollow core doors and more specifically to a universal expandable core structure inserted within the interior of the door to provide support particularly for the skins of many types of molded doors.
Hollow core doors are commonly used in many types of buildings. The common structure of a hollow core door includes a pair of door skins which are separated by a wood frame. The wood frame has vertical wood stiles joined to upper and lower horizontal wood rails. The wood stiles and rails form the edges of the door. A lock block may also be included in the area of the door where locks and handles are attached. The lock block provides the additional support that is needed to secure a lock in the door. A hollow area is enclosed between the two door skins and within the frame. The hollow area typically requires some type of structural reinforcement.
One type of reinforcement commonly used in hollow core doors is a honeycomb core structure that is glued in place between the door skins. The honeycomb core structure may be, for example, corrugated board. The honeycomb structure is supplied in an unexpanded manner. The honeycomb core is stretched across the skin of the interior of the door. One problem with using such a honeycomb core structure is that it is difficult to stretch to achieve an even honeycomb pattern within the door. Commonly, the honeycomb core must be overstretched and then manipulated into place. This process is labor intensive and thus not a cost effective manner for manufacturing the door.
The honeycomb core fully extends between the horizontal rails and vertical stiles to completely fill the hollow interior. Consequently, more core material is inserted within the interior of the door than is actually required for support. The extra core material increases the cost of the door.
The honeycomb core has also been routed out in places to fit over the panels of molded doors. Such a honeycomb version failed because it was not possible to control the spread of members or strips since some of the members or strips would get caught or hung up on the top of the panels. Also, over expansion of the honeycomb core was hard to control.
Another type of door reinforcement includes solid blocks placed strategically between the door skins. The solid blocks are commonly formed of laminated strips of corrugated or from pieces of styrofoam. The use of multiple pieces of strips or blocks laid in the doors takes more set up time and requires a large quantity of material which is expensive. Also, these solid blocks require a significant amount of glue to be spread over their entire surface to bond to the outer skins of the door.
The outer skins of hollow core doors may be formed using a planar flush panel or they may have a contoured colonial-type molded panel configuration. In a colonial-type panel configuration, a portion of the panel extends into the hollow interior of the door. The thickness of the hollow space in that area is reduced. Inserting a honeycomb structure or core in such a door is undesirable since the honeycomb core would have to be reduced in thickness in the areas where the panel extends within the hollow interior of the door.
There are several types of molded panel doors that match various decors of homes. However, the hollow cores described above must be manipulated or reconfigured for different styles of doors. It is therefore desirable to manufacture a hollow core that may fit with a number of different doors having various styles of molded panels.
It is also desirable to provide a structural core or support for a hollow core door which requires less set-up time and is cost effective by being easy to manufacture and by using a reduced amount of core material and glue.

Universal expandable spacer cores for hollow doors and the method of making same


A device for filling a container with a sterilized filling product, preferably for filling a beverage container with a sterilized beverage in a beverage bottling installation, comprising a sterilization device for sterilizing the filling product, a sterile tank for buffered receiving of the filling product sterilized in the sterilization device, and a filling device which has a filling valve for the filling of the container to be filled, wherein the filling valve is a proportional valve for controlling and/or regulating the filling-product flow of the filling product into the container to be filled, and the proportional valve is connected in a buffer-free manner to the sterile tank.

In beverage bottling installations, it is known to sterilize beverages prior to the actual bottling in the respective containers, in order to improve the shelf life thereof or in order to make it possible for the beverage to be reliably packed in beverage containers in the first place.
Sterilization of the filling product is to be understood here as meaning that the filling product is treated such that, after the sterilization, there are no longer any bacteria capable of reproduction in the filling product. In particular, it is to be understood as meaning that, with regard to the respective filling product, product-damaging bacteria are absent or can no longer reproduce. In other words, a sterilized filling product is to be understood as meaning a filling product which has a reliable absence of pathogenic and toxin-producing microorganisms, and an absence of further microorganisms and enzymes which, under normal conditions of handling, would cause the product to deteriorate in an unreliable manner.
In part, the term "sterile" is used synonymously with aseptic in the food industry, wherein however, in terms of its pure definition, aseptic refers to the absolute absence of microorganisms and spores. In the present case, the term "sterile" is still accordingly also to be understood as meaning an aseptic manifestation of the respective filling product.
For the purpose of sterilizing the respective filling product, it is known for example to sterilize the filling product physically, in particular thermally, or chemically prior to the bottling. In the case of physical sterilization, a thermal sterilization is known in which the filling product is heated, for example through the use of a heat exchanger, and is then kept at a predefined target temperature for a defined period of time, in order to obtain the desired biological safety of the filling product by way of the corresponding heat treatment. Besides said heat treatment of the filling product, physical sterilization processes which kill bacteria by UV irradiation or plasma treatment are for example also known.
Known as a chemical sterilization process is for example treatment with chemical sterilization means, for example with hydrogen peroxide, peracetic acid, chlorine dioxide or ozone. However, it is usually the case that the chemical sterilization is used only for the treatment of installation components or of the packing means and not, on the other hand, for the sterilization of the filling product itself, so as not to change the taste properties of the filling product.
Known in the case of heat treatment is in particular short-time heating (STH), in which the filling product is treated at a temperature above a product-related reference temperature for a predefined time so as to achieve the corresponding microbiological safety. Use is made of short-time heating installations as a biosafety stage for example in breweries for the bottling of beer, wherein the short-term heating installation is adjoined by a buffer tank, which is also referred to as a sterile tank and which makes it possible for the filling product to be buffered between the short-time heating installation and the actual filling device so as to allow intermediate storage of sterilized filling product in the case of variations in the removal thereof by the filling device.
For the bottling of non-alcoholic refreshment beverages or fruit juices, the short-term heating serves for the attainment of the required biological shelf life of the respective filling products. Here, provision is likewise made of a buffer tank between the short-term heating installation and the filling device so as to allow intermediate storage of sterilized filling product in the case of variations in the removal thereof by the filling device.
The buffer tank between the short-term heating installation and the actual filling device is necessary for ensuring a continuous filling-product flow through the heat exchanger of the short-term heating installation even if a fault occurs at the filling device. Otherwise, the dwell time of the filling product within the heat exchanger of the short-term heating installation would vary in a manner dependent on the instantaneous removal by the filling device arranged downstream. This could result in the dwell time of the filling product in the short-time heating installation possibly becoming too long, which can then lead to deterioration of the filling product, for example a change in taste.
In the filling device, for example a filler carousel, the filling product is then intermediately buffered again in a filling-product boiler, which is usually operated in a pressureless manner, and is then passed via individual filling valves to the container which is to be filled in each case. Here, use is made for example of a volumetric filling system, which requires that the filling-product boiler of the filler is operated in a pressureless manner in order to ensure the filling accuracy of the volumetric filling system. Accordingly, the filling product which is under pressure in the buffer tank of the short-time heating installation has to be transferred in a pressureless manner to the filling-product boiler of the filling device. Consequently, it is necessary for the buffer tank of the short-time heating installation to be decoupled from the filling-product boiler in order then for pressureless bottling from the filling-product boiler to be possible accordingly.
Said decoupling of the buffer tank of the short-time heating installation from the filling-product boiler of the filling device leads to the corresponding media, for example compressed air, nitrogen, CO2 and steam, and cleaning, disinfection and sterilization media required for a cleaning, disinfection and sterilization process, having to be supplied twice. On the one hand, the media are supplied to the sterilization device and accordingly to the short-time heating installation and to the buffer tank arranged downstream, and on the other hand, the media are supplied to the filling device and to the filling-product boiler.

Device and method for filling a container with a sterilised filling product


A multi-wavelength surface emitting laser for emitting light having different wavelengths includes a lower reflector, an active layer and an upper reflector which are integrally formed above one substrate. The multi-wavelength surface emitting laser is manufactured by forming a first surface emitting laser, partially removing a first upper reflector, a first active layer, and a first lower reflection layer by etching. A protection film is formed on the outer surface of the first surface emitting laser. A second surface emitting laser is formed by removing a second lower reflector, a second active layer, and a second upper reflection layer formed on the protection film by etching. The protection film is removed and first and second upper electrodes are formed on upper surfaces of the first and second upper reflection layers, respectively, and a lower electrode is formed on a bottom surface of the substrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a surface emitting laser which can emit laser beams in a direction perpendicular to a substrate, and more particularly, to a multi-wavelength surface emitting laser in which different types of surface emitting lasers emitting laser beams of different wavelengths are configured on the same substrate, and a method for manufacturing the same.
The present invention is based upon Korean Patent Application No. 00-41737, filed Jul. 20, 2000, which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a surface emitting laser emits a laser beam in a direction normal to the surfaces of deposited semiconductor material layers, which is different from an edge emitting laser. Also, since the surface emitting laser emits a circular beam, unlike the edge emitting laser, an optical system is not needed to correct the cross-sectional shape of an emitted beam. Also, the surface emitting laser can be manufactured in a compact size, and a plurality of surface emitting lasers can be integrated on a single semiconductor substrate, thus enabling a two-dimensional arrangement. As a result, the surface emitting laser has a wide range of optical application fields such as electronic calculators, audio-visual apparatuses, laser printers, laser scanners, medical equipment, and communications apparatuses.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional surface emitting laser includes a substrate 10, a lower reflector 12, an active layer 14 and an upper reflector 16, which are deposited in order on the substrate 10.
The substrate 10 is formed of a semiconductor material such as gallium arsenide (GaAs) or indium phosphorous (InP) including a predetermined impurity, for example, an n-type impurity. The lower and upper reflectors 12 and 16 are distributed Bragg reflectors (DBRs) formed by alternately depositing pairs of semiconductor layers having different refractive indices. That is, the lower reflector 12 is formed on the substrate 10 and is formed of the same type of impurity as that of the substrate 10, for example, n-type AlxGa1-xAs and AlAs are alternately deposited. The upper reflector 16 is formed of the same semiconductor material as that of the lower reflector 12 and includes a semiconductor material with the opposite type of charge carriers to that of the lower reflector 12. For example, p-type AlxGa1-xAs and AlAs are alternately deposited. The active layer 14 has a single or multi-quantum well structure or a super lattice structure as an area for generating a light beam when energy transition is generated due to recombination of electrons and holes. An upper electrode 23 having a window 23a is provided on the upper surface of the upper reflector 16 and a lower electrode 21 is provided on the bottom surface of the substrate 10.
Also, to improve the output of light L emitted through the window 23a, a high resistance portion 18 is formed by injecting protons into the upper reflector 16 except for a zone under the window 23a. Accordingly, the high resistance portion 18 limits the flow of holes so that laser oscillation is generated only in the zone under the window 23a.
In the surface emitting laser having the above structure, the wavelength of a laser beam is determined by the materials of the upper and lower reflectors 16 and 12, the structure of deposition, and the structure of the active layer 14. Thus, when the surface emitting laser is manufactured in a single process with a single substrate, it is difficult to produce the surface emitting laser in an array form so as to emit laser beams of different wavelengths.
Also, in application fields of a semiconductor laser capable of emitting laser beams having different wavelengths, such as compatible optical pickups for DVD players which can also read CDs, and communications equipment in which the wavelengths for transmitting and receiving are different, a structure in which surface emitting lasers, which are manufactured to correspond to desired wavelengths, and are attached to an additional substrate, has been suggested. However, the above structure has a problem in that it generates a large optical alignment error due to an error in the combination of the respective surface emitting lasers.

Multi-wavelength surface emitting laser and method for manufacturing the same


In an optical scanning system, each of plural light beams is reflected at a point on a deflector in a sub-scanning cross section, a point of reflection on the deflector of the principal ray of each beam in the case that the principal ray is incident normally to a scanning surface in a main scanning cross section is designated as a fiducial point, distance from the fiducial point to the scanning surface is designated as L, distance from the center of curvature of the exit surface of one of the second scanning lenses for a light beam i to the scanning surface is designated as BFi, refractive powers of the first scanning lens and one of the second scanning lenses are designated as φ1si and φ2si, and then the following expressions are satisfied.0.15≦BFi/L≦0.2  (1)0.4≦φ1si/φ2si≦1  (2)

Field
The present invention relates to an optical scanning system and scanning lenses which are used for printers and the like.
Description of the Related Art
For the purpose of downsizing of printer devices, a shorter distance between a lens in the optical scanning system and the photoconductive drum or the scanning surface, that is, a shorter back focus is required.
Conventionally, optical scanning systems with a shorter back focus for tandem type color printers have been proposed (JP2004-361941A and JP2004-070190A, for example).
However, in an arrangement in which a lens is simply located in the vicinity of the photo conductor, efficiency of the optical system becomes lower, and therefore an amount of light becomes insufficient. Until now, an optical scanning system that has a shorter back focus and a higher energy efficiency and scanning lenses for realizing such an optical scanning system have not been developed.
JP2004-361941A
JP2004-070190A
Accordingly, there is a need for an optical scanning system that has a shorter back focus and a higher energy efficiency. The object of the present invention is to provide an optical scanning system that has a shorter back focus and a higher energy efficiency and scanning lenses for realizing such an optical scanning system.

Optical scanning system and scanning lens


A method and apparatus that provide for automatic speech transcription that may be used transcribe structured reports. The method and apparatus provide for speaker dependent, continuous speech recognition using a limited vocabulary. Transcription is based on recognition of a vocabulary of sounds followed by a translation to text. The translation to text matches spoken sounds to sounds contained in similar recorded text sequences. Training involves speaking a set of words with the desired sounds imbedded therein. The method and apparatus recognize phrases, not words, and works well in a radiology or similar application because of the use of a very limited vocabulary to generate reports.

The present invention relates generally to transcription methods and apparatus, and more particularly, to a continuous speech voice transcription method and apparatus for use in transcribing structured reports, such as radiology reports, and the like.
Transcription is a major bottleneck in timely radiology reporting, for example. Radiology images may be acquired, read, and dictated in a few minutes, but many days may pass until the transcription is complete. Similar problems occur in medicine, law and other areas of endeavor.
Report transcription has traditionally been a process that involves a number of people. In its most primitive form, the transcription is to a cassette that is collected and carried to the transcriptionist where the cassettes are put in an xe2x80x9cinxe2x80x9d basket. The transcriptionist sequentially processes incoming cassettes, transcribing and printing the reports, and sending them back to the radiologists for signing. If there are corrections, there is another cycle using the transcriptionist.
A more advanced form of transcription uses a communication network to record the voice report such that the transcriptionist can retrieve the recording directly at a workstation without transporting the physical cassette. The wait in a transcription queue can be several hours in an efficient hospital to several days for less efficient hospitals to generate a typical report.
Thus, if the transcription were performed automatically, the text report could be available at the end of the dictation with no waiting for several hours to several days for the transcriptionist to complete the transcription task. The computing horsepower of a computer workstation can be used to perform the automatic transcription. What is needed is an automatic transcription algorithm that can transcribe the dictated reports.
Electronic reports may be structured, such that either a fill in the blanks report or a full structured report are generated. The two variations are related. The structured report starts with a basic report for a pathology, such as mammography for example. In order to make the electronic report complete and like other reports, the American College of Radiology has established a mammography reporting form. The form is a basic report with areas that can be filled in with words that are selected from a list of words for that blank in that report. This xe2x80x9cfill in the blanksxe2x80x9d reporting makes all mammography reports very similar, using simple variations on the language for each of the individual reports.
The structured form of the fill in the blanks report is much more useful in computer processing to determine outcomes of the treatment. The processing performed by the computer can ignore filler text and process the data contained in the filled in blanks to generate the report. Some of the blanks describe the severity of the pathology. Other blanks describe the changes in the pathology as a result of whatever treatment has been performed. Over a period of time the progression of the contents of the blanks on the form show a picture of the progress of the patient. After a period of time, the outcome for the patient can be evaluated.
A yet more structured form of the electronic report is a collection of codes. The codes point to selected phrases in a dictionary of codes. The SNOMED dictionary maintained by the National Library of medicine is one such dictionary. This micro-glossary has words and phrases that are useful in describing a large number of pathologies including the location and severity of the pathology. To read the report requires converting the codes to text form. For a computer to read the codes is trivial, since the codes are an almost ideal representation of information for the computer. The outcomes must be assessed, and thus the report should be organized to make the assessment easy. As a result, structured reporting including the use of codes to describe the pathology and its progress, will be used more in the future.
The radiologist should be able to generate the report while looking at an image that is to be evaluated. With the attention on the image, the radiologist can progress through the image in an orderly fashion, making sure that all aspects of the diagnosis are properly covered in the report. The transcription should therefore be something that can be done while looking at the image that is diagnosed. The radiologist should not have to look at every word generated to make certain that the word is properly spelled, for example. While not as important a requirement, it would be beneficial if the radiologist could dictate the report without using hands. The radiologist should use his or her hands to manipulate images, change to historical images for comparison, and magnify selected areas of the images for detail.
A number of transcription devices and methods are currently available. They fall into several categories including isolated word recognition, continuous speech recognition, batch transcription after dictation, and on the fly transcription while dictating. Generally the transcription devices require a training cycle. A new user must train the system to recognize a vocabulary of words. The isolated word recognition devices use patterns of each individual word in performing the recognition. A typical training cycle requires one-half hour to several hours to say each of the words or phrases required for training.
The transcription devices are generally organized to recognize free text spoken by an individual. The transcription devices are advertised with a description of the number of tens of thousands of words that can be recognized by the system. These devices use a decision procedure that requires the recognition of isolated words from a very large vocabulary for a single individual. Many isolated words are short and easy to confuse with other words. When the vocabulary available is large, there is more possibility of confusion with other words in the vocabulary.
Isolated word recognition devices may be used to generate fill in the blanks reports. The blanks are filled with isolated words. If the words could be restricted to only the few words that are available for the particular blanks, the recognition problem would be very much easier and the performance much better. Similarly, structured reporting using codes could be performed effectively by isolated word recognition devices using small vocabularies. However, this has not been done in the past.
Batch transcription after dictation method uses dictated voice reports that are transcribed at a later time. However, this method is not desirable. The radiologist must review the transcribed text at a later time to determine that the information has been accurately transcribed. Time delays associated with the batch processing method also make the approach less desirable.
Continuous speech recognition devices are useful. When a radiologist does not have to speak each word as an isolated word, generation of the report can proceed much more quickly with less attention from the radiologist. However, while it is desirable, continuous speech recognition of free text is generally not performed. The problem is technically difficult. The usual result is transcribed text with many errors.
In view of the above, it is believed that a report transcription tool that generates reports using a limited number of sounds may be advantageously employed in a number of disciplines.
A number of patents relate to voice recognition, and the like. The patents may be grouped into those disclosing template matching, single word recognition, hidden Markov model, and subphrase recognition. Template matching is a generic approach. The cited patents typically have different measurements to match against templates of words. Single word recognition requires an easily recognized beginning and ending of a word. This technique requires the individual to use an artificial one-word-at-a-time speaking style. Hidden Markov model techniques use probabilistic techniques to determine the most probable next word in a sequence. The probabilistic model is generated by analyzing long sequences of text. Subphrase recognition operates on very short segments of sounds, generally less than one word. The hidden Markov model above could be used for such combinations of subphrases to recognize words.
The concept of a sound alphabet is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,576, for example, but others also contain the basic idea of recognizing sounds from an alphabet of sounds. Many have very complex sounds representing not only basic phoneme sounds but sequences of phonemes with transitions therebetween.
Template matching is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,329,608 issued to Bocchieri, which matches subword strings, not phrases and is believed to generally exhibit poor performance. U.S. Pat. No. 5,142,585 issued to Taylor discloses template matching of stored reference vocabulary words, single word recognition, and adaptation to the surrounding sounds and speaking peculiarities of the individual. U.S. Pat. No. 4,712,242 issued to Rajasekaran discloses speaker independent recognition of a small vocabulary which uses zero crossings and dynamic time warping, and spoken words are compared to reference templates of the individual vocabulary words. U.S. Pat. No. 4,284,846 issued to Marley discloses single word recognition using template matching, and wherein transitions and transition glides are characterized. U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,784 issued to Doddington discloses single word recognition using binary feature components and template matching to reference words.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,425,128 issued to Morrison discloses single word recognition with training on each word to be recognized. U.S. Pat. No. 4,866,778 issued to Baker discloses single word at a time recognition. U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,399 issued to Landell discloses a single word recognizer using xe2x80x9csound templatesxe2x80x9d. U.S. Pat. No. 4,336,421 issued to Welch discloses using inter-segment and inter-string boundaries for grouping speech for single sound segment recognition, which is related to single word recognition. U.S. Pat. No. 5,165,095 issued to Borcherding discloses speaker independent templates for recognizing telephone numbers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,780,906 issued to Rajasekaran discloses speaker independent limited word recognition using energy measures and zero crossing rate to generate feature vectors. U.S. Pat. No. 4,388,495 issued to Hitchcock discloses speaker independent single word at a time, and uses zero crossings to established voiced, fricative, and silence, and uses templates of zero crossings. U.S. Pat. No. 5,231,670 issued to Goldhor discloses dictation events and text events that are used in recognizing single words and commands. U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,085 issued to Meisel discloses pitch, spectrum parameters, and time measurements for speech recognition. The training process is involved, and a scheme for mapping an individual""s speech to general speech templates is disclosed. U.S. Pat. No. 5,524,169 issued to Cohen discloses location specific libraries of templates adapt to speech accents, and includes place names, proper names, and business establishments in template set. U.S. Pat. No. 4,763,278 issued to Rajasekaran discloses speaker independent recognition of a small vocabulary, and uses zero crossings rates for measurement, wherein templates of quantized zero crossing rates are used to recognize words. U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,466 issued to Takizawa discloses single word recognition using durations of speech units. U.S. Pat. No. 5,212,730 issued to Wheatley, discloses speaker independent recognition of names for access, and includes extensive training. U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,984 issued to Subrata, discloses single word recognition using adaptive training from continuous speech, which uses a method of shortening the training cycle to make the method easier.
The use of a hidden Markov models is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,509,104 issued to Lee, which discloses a hidden Markov model approach to small vocabulary, speaker independent speech recognition. U.S. Pat. No. 5,033,087 issued to Bahl discloses that Markov models are used with variations in sound structures of phonemes in various contexts to recognize words. U.S. Pat. No. 5,278,911 issued to Bickerton discloses multiple examples of individual words for training, and uses a neural network and hidden Markov model for recognition. U.S. Pat. No. 4,852,180 issued to Levinson discloses speaker independent, continuous speech recognition. and implements a continuously variable-duration hidden Markov model. U.S. Pat. No. 4,783,804 issued to Juang discloses a hidden Markov model.
Subphrase recognition is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,829,576 issued to Porter, which uses text string from recognized utterance to find same text string in other places in sample text and uses results to limit the words to be recognized and/or the probability of the words that can be next. In contrast, the present invention converts the text to a sound alphabet that can be searched for matches to the sounds that are being spoken. U.S. Pat. No. 4,181,813 issued to Marley discloses a phoneme recognizer that uses delta mod at two different rates to recognize attacks and transitions, and uses speech xe2x80x9cwaveform characteristicsxe2x80x9d in a phoneme decision tree to recognize the phonemes. U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,897 issued to Hutchens discloses a system that recognizes sub-syllables, maps collections of sub-syllables to syllables, and maps collections of syllables to words for word recognition.
Other speech-related techniques are disclosed in a number of patents. U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,777 issued to Klovstad discloses use of a grammar graph and non-speech segment recognition. U.S. Pat. No. 4,757,541 issued to Beadles discloses general analysis to identify group of phonemes followed by optical analysis of lip shape to determine member of group. U.S. Pat. No. 3,812,291 issued to Brodes discloses use of xe2x80x9cProperty Filtersxe2x80x9d, wherein matching to previous reference patterns from binary signals generated from the Property Filters. U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,548 issued to Kaufman inserts selected recognized words into canned text reports. U.S. Pat. No. 4,087,632 issued to Hafer discloses a feature extractor uses the Coker vocal tract model to extract tongue position and motion along with other variables, and uses formants in the modeling and matching to library words. U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,778 issued to Baker discloses dynamic programming with grammar graphs applied to acoustic speech sound parameters. Recognizes keywords. U.S. Pat. No. 4,718,088 issued to Baker discloses a training method for use with U.S. Pat. No. 4,713,778. U.S. Pat. No. 5,027,406 issued to Roberts discloses single word or continuous speech using xe2x80x9cword modelsxe2x80x9d. When the recognizer is confused, it presents possible words and asks the user to select. The selection is used to update the word model for that word and add the word to the vocabulary, if it is not present.
Accordingly, it is an objective of the present invention to provide for a continuous speech voice transcription method and apparatus for use in transcribing structured reports, such as radiology reports, and the like, using a limited number of sounds and requiring a very short training cycle.
To meet the above and other objectives, the present invention provides for an apparatus and method that embody a new approach for performing automatic speech transcription. The approach is based on simple recognition of a vocabulary of sounds (a sound alphabet) followed by a translation to text. The translation to text uses a novel technique based on matching spoken sounds to sounds of previous text sequences.
The system comprises a microphone that is coupled to a sound processor or computer. The sound processor is coupled to a printer or display that displays the transcribed text. A sound dictionary is created that is stored in a memory of the sound processor that represents a translation between text and sound. The sound dictionary may be formed by using a sound translation guide similar to that contained in Webster""s dictionary, for example. The sound dictionary is used for any individual that uses the system.
The system is trained for each specific individual that is to use it because of differences in each individual""s voice characteristics. The individual that is to use the system speaks a predefined set of words containing a limited number of predefined sounds into the microphone. The sound processor processes the sounds to create a sound alphabet that is specific to the individual. The sound alphabet is represented by a set of symbols, such as single and double letters, for example, and may be generated using Cepstral coefficients, for example.
The sound alphabet for the individual is used to recognize sounds spoken by the individual and which are output for comparison to sounds contained in sound strings generated by applying text to the sound dictionary. When the individual speaks a particular sound, a corresponding sound from the sound alphabet is accessed. Each sound that is accessed in the sound alphabet is compared to the sounds in the sound string. When the spoken sound string matches the sound string from the text string, the corresponding phrase, or string of text, contained in the recorded text is accessed and output for printing or display.
Thus, during transcription, the individual speaks phrases into the microphone. The phrases are processed to recognize the sounds of the individual""s sound alphabet. The sounds of the individual""s sound alphabet are then compared with sounds from the sound strings. When sound matching occurs, text phrases contained in the recorded text that match the sounds from the sound dictionary are accessed. The recorded text that corresponds to the sounds from the translated text sound string is output to the printer or display as part of a printed transcription.
The present invention only processes a limited set of text relating to a specific area, such as radiology, for example, and thus only a limited number or set of sounds is required for the translated sound string. Phrases that are spoken by the individual are processed using the individual""s sound alphabet to access matching phrases contained in the text. Thus, spoken phrase segments are matched to phrases contained in the prerecorded text, which is output as part of the transcription.
The present invention provides for speaker dependent, continuous speech recognition using a limited number of sounds, and makes the speech easier to recognize. Training for the processing requires only speaking a set of words with the desired sounds imbedded therein. The training process takes about thirty seconds. The system and method are therefore speaker dependent, in that the present approach functions only for the individual that is currently using the system and who has generated a training set of sounds.
The present invention recognizes phrases, not words. The phrases are connected speech. The only departures from continuous sounds are those that occur naturally, such as glottal stops and pauses between words. The lack of speech is treated as just another sound in the sound sequence. A natural phrasing is in terms of sentences. When a period is found in the text, a new search for a phrase that matches the continuation of the speech is initiated.
The present invention can generate long strings of text with only a few words. That is, the sound sequence for a text string can be a xe2x80x9ccode wordxe2x80x9d for the text string. A simple example is xe2x80x9cNormal Chestxe2x80x9d. Many radiologists dictate a long string of text that is used as a report when the patient has a normal chest. Many other text strings may also be triggered by a phrase. The present invention works well in generating radiology reports because radiologists use a very limited vocabulary to produce the reports.
In contrast to the prior art techniques, the present invention uses a very simple sound alphabet without transition sounds, a very short training cycle, and uses a small body of text that is translated to the sound alphabet. The present invention searches the sequence of translated sounds from the sample text for similar sound sequences representing whole phrases, not single words. The corresponding text segments are then reported as the recognized speech translated to text.
The small training cycle permits the recognition to be speaker dependent, but does not require a large investment of time to use the device. The speaker dependent recognition has much better performance than a speaker independent recognition process. The use of the sound alphabet permits translation of the voice sounds to a speaker independent representation of the sounds. The use of a body of recorded text for the matching process limits the vocabulary to a single subject. The use of the body of text also provides sequences of words in proper order without requiring an extensive analysis process to derive parameters of a hidden Markov model. The recorded body of text provides examples of the next word in sequence instead of a probabilistic model of which words might be next in a sequence as is done in Markov processing.
The present invention employs processing to recognize whole phrases without an established beginning or end. The sequence of sounds as represented in the translated text is without beginning or end. The sounds that are processed thus come from continuous speech. The use of a limited vocabulary provides fewer possibilities for errors. The present invention recognizes whole phrases, with much reduced error rates compared to conventional approaches.


An objective of the present invention is to provide an antireflection film having a fine particle layer that is formed on a transparent substrate without allowing particles to aggregate as irregular lumps, while the region having no particles is being reduced to an area that is sufficiently small so as not to impair the visibility. In order to achieve the above-mentioned objective, the present invention provides an antireflection film that is characterized by having: a transparent substrate and a fine particle layer that is placed on the surface of the transparent substrate and made from at least a single layer of fine particles, wherein the surface of the transparent substrate and fine particles are allowed to adhere to each other by at least an electrostatic interaction, while the bulk of the above-mentioned fine particle layer is set to have a refractive index lower than the refractive index of the above-mentioned transparent substrate.

With respect to a conventional manufacturing method for antireflection films, a method in which desired numbers of low refractive-index layers and high refractive-index layers are formed on a substrate with their thickness being controlled is widely used. However, this method generally requires a vacuum equipment, thereby failing to provide a method with high cost performance. For this reason, various structures without requiring a vacuum equipment or with less number of layers have been proposed.
Among these methods, with respect to a method for using a ultra-low-refractive-index layer in which holes and air voids are introduced therein as the low-refractive-index layer so as to greatly improve the antireflection property, for example, in one proposed method, a fine particle layer with voids being located between the particles is formed on the substrate by using a coating method. This method provides a low-reflectance achieved by continuous changes in the refractive index obtained by the surface shaping effect of fine particles, the low-reflectance being also achieved by bulk (the layer thickness specified by the particle size) refractive-index reduction (average refractive-index reduction) by utilizing the voids between particles (where the refractive-index of voids is 1); thus, it is possible to obtain an antireflection film having high performances by using a simple manufacturing method.
Examples of such a method include a coat film filled most closely with fine particles and a manufacturing method thereof (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-198904), a coat film with fine particles being dispersed and held in one layer by utilizing a binder layer having a thickness smaller than the particle size (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-42211), a coat film having a layer of substrate on which porous fine particles are formed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 5-13021), and an antireflection film having a structure in which a binder section of a film formed by ultra-fine particles that are dispersed and held as one layer by a binder is removed by a dry etching process and voids are introduced between particles, and a manufacturing method thereof (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-104103), etc.
Moreover, an antireflection film which is allowed to have similar functions as the above-mentioned particle layers by providing fine irregularities on a coat layer has been proposed. Examples thereof include: an antireflection film in which fine irregularities are formed by etching a layer composed of ultra-fine particles and a binder and a manufacturing method thereof (Japanese Patent No. 2858821), and an antireflection film (Ullrich Steiner, et. al. Science, volume 283, page 520, 1999) made by a method in which fine air voids and holes are formed in a polymer blend thin-film by its micro phase separation and solvent extraction of specific components from the polymer, etc.
The above-mentioned various methods are all based upon simple processes as their concept, and have respective problems. In other words, first, with respect to the various methods for forming one particle layer, the process for forming one particle layer on a substrate is carried out by a coating method that is typically represented by a slide coating method, or a dip coating method. In the coating method typically represented by a slide coating method, it is very difficult to provide a uniform coating operation without allowing particles to aggregate as irregular lumps, while the region having no particles is being reduced to an area that is sufficiently small so as not to impair the visibility, and another problem is that the coating rate is not raised so high.
Here, the dip coating method also has similar problems, and in particular, with respect to the coating speed (the substrate raising speed), this needs to be set to as small as several tens μ msec−1 in order to obtain a uniform particle most-closely filled structure (Nagayama, et al. Langmuir, vol 12, page 1303, 1999; Japanese Patent No. 2905712); therefore, this makes the method very difficult to be put into practical use from the industrial point of view.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Antireflection film and method for manufacturing the same


A process is provided for strengthening a porous substrate. The process includes providing a substrate having intersecting fibers, where the intersecting fibers cooperate in the final substrate product to form an open pore network. Pathways are opened into the fibrous substrate structure, which enable a flow of gas into the or through the substrate. The substrate is positioned in a CVD (chemical vapor deposition) station, and one or more layers of a strengthening agent is deposited. The deposited layer or layers form a strong coating around fibers and fiber intersections to provide additional strength to the substrate. The strengthened substrate may then be used in wide variety of applications and fields. Advantageously, the disclosed fiber strengthening process produces a substrate having high porosity and higher strength characteristics as compared to a non-strengthened substrate.

The present invention relates generally to processes for strengthening a porous substrate, and in one particular implementation to a process for CVD deposition of a strengthening agent into a porous ceramic substrate.
Many applications require strong materials for facilitating and supporting various processes. For example, substrates are used in filtering applications to filter particulate matter, separate different substances, or remove bacteria or germs from air. These substrates may be constructed to operate in air, exhaust gases or liquids, and may be manufactured to endure substantial environmental or chemical stresses. In another example, catalytic materials are deposited on the substrate for facilitating chemical reactions. For example, a precious metal may be deposited on an appropriate substrate, and the substrate may then act to catalytically convert dangerous exhaust gases into less noxious gases. Typically, these rigid substrates operate more effectively with a higher porosity.
Porosity is generally defined as the property of a solid material defining the percentage of the total volume of that material which is occupied by open space. For example, a substrate with 50% porosity has half the volume of the substrate occupied by open spaces. In this way, a substrate with a higher porosity has less mass per volume than a substrate with a lower porosity. Some applications benefit from a lower mass substrate. For example, if a substrate is used to support a catalytic process, and the catalytic process operates at an elevated temperature, a substrate with a lower thermal mass will more quickly heat to its operational temperature. In this way, the time for the catalyst to be heated to its operational temperature, i.e., light off time, is reduced by using a more porous and less thermally massive substrate.
Permeability is also an important characteristic for substrates, particularly filtering and catalytic substrates. Permeability is related to porosity, in that permeability is a measure of how easily a fluid, such as a liquid or gas, which may flow through the substrate. Most applications benefit from a highly permeable substrate. For example, an internal combustion engine operates more efficiently when the after-treatment filter provides lower back pressure to the engine. Low back pressure is created by using a more highly permeable substrate. Since permeability is more difficult to measure than porosity, porosity is often used as a substitute guide to the permeability of a substrate. However, this is not a particularly accurate characterization, as a substrate may be quite porous but still have limited permeability if the pores are not generally open and interconnected. For example, a Styrofoam drinking cup is formed of a highly porous foam material, but is not permeable to the flow of liquid. Therefore, in considering the importance of porosity and permeability, the pore structure of the substrate must also be examined. In the example of the Styrofoam cup, the Styrofoam material has a closed pore network. This means that the foam contains many non connected and/or closed-ended pores. In this way, there are many voids and open spaces within the foam, but since the pore are not connected, the fluid or gas cannot flow from one side of the foam to the other. As more of the pores begin to interconnect, then fluid paths begin to form from one side to the other. The more pores and passageways formed through the material, the higher the permeability becomes for the substance. In the case where every pore is connected to another pore, and all pores allow for fluid flow, the substrate would be defined as having a completely open pore network. However, such open pore network substrates are not known in the filtering or catalytic industries. Instead, even the most porous available extruded substrates are a hybrid of opened pore and closed pore porosity.
Accordingly, it is highly desirable for many applications that substrates be formed with high porosity, and with an internal pore structure that enables a similarly high permeability. Also, the substrates have to be formed with a sufficiently rigid structure to support the structural and environmental requirements for particular applications. However, because a higher porosity substrate has less structural material, it may need additional strength to operate in some environments. For example, a filter or catalytic converter that is to be attached to internal combustion engine must be able to withstand the likely environmental shock, thermal requirements, and manufacturing and use stresses.
Extrusion has proven to be an efficient and cost-effective process to manufacture rigid substrates of constant cross section. More particularly, extrusion of ceramic powder material is the most widely used process for making filter and catalytic substrates for internal combustion engines. Over the years, the process of extruding powdered ceramics has advanced such that substrates may now be extruded having porosities approaching 60%. These extruded porous substrates have had good strength characteristics, may be flexibly manufactured, may be manufactured at scale, maintain high quality levels, and are very cost-effective. However, extrusion of powdered ceramic material has reached a practical upper limit of porosity, and further increases in porosity appear to result in an unacceptably low strength. For example, as porosity is increased beyond 60%, the extruded ceramic powder substrate has not proven strong enough to operate in the harsh environment of a diesel particulate filter. In another limitation of the known extrusion processes, it has been desired to increase the surface area in a substrate to allow for more efficient catalytic conversion. In order to increase surface area, extruded ceramic powder substrates have tried to increase cell density, but the increase in cell density has resulted in an unacceptable back pressure to the engine. Thus, the extruded ceramic powder substrate does not have sufficient strength at very high porosities, and also produces unacceptable back pressure when there is a need for increased surface area. Accordingly, the extrusion of ceramic powder appears to have reached its practical utility limits.
In an effort to obtain higher porosities, filter suppliers have attempted to move to pleated ceramic papers. Using such pleated ceramic papers, porosities of about 80% are possible with very low back pressure. With such low back pressure, these filters have been used in applications, such as mining, where extremely low back pressure is a necessity. However, the use of the pleated ceramic paper filters has been sporadic, and has not been widely adopted. For example, pleated ceramic papers have not effectively been used in harsh environments. Manufacturing the pleated ceramic papers requires the use of a paper making process that creates ceramic paper structures that are relatively weak, and do not appear to be cost-effective as compared to extruded filters. Further, the formation of pleated ceramic papers allows very little flexibility in cell shape and density. For example, it is difficult to create a paper pleated filter with large inlet channels and smaller outlet channels, which may be desirable in some filtering applications. Accordingly, the use of pleated ceramic papers has not satisfied the requirement for higher porosity filter and catalytic substrates.
In another example of an effort to increase porosity and to avoid the disadvantages of pleated paper, some have built substrates by forming a mass with ceramic precursors and carefully processing the mass to grow mono-crystalline whiskers in a porous pattern. However, growing these crystals in-situ requires careful and accurate control of the curing process, making the process difficult to scale, relatively expensive, and prone to defects. Further, this difficult process only gives a few more percentage points in porosity. Finally, the process only grows a mullite type crystalline whisker, which limits the applicability of the substrate. For example, mullite is known to have a large coefficient of thermal expansion, which makes crystalline mullite whiskers undesirable in many applications needing a wide operational temperature band.
Accordingly, the industry has a need for a substrate that has high porosity and an associated high permeability, and can be strengthened to operate in a wide variety of applications. Preferably, the substrate would be formed as a highly desirable open pore network, would be cost-effective to manufacture, and could be manufactured with flexible physical, chemical, and reaction properties.

Method and apparatus for strengthening a porous substrate


A system and process uses pheromone propagation to provide direction and/or distance information to a remote destination through the use of localized decision making processes. Locally available information is exchanged and translated with global information through the use of a pheromone vocabulary and multi-layer grid systems. Self-organizing networks of sensors provide remote monitoring of a space.

The synthetic ecosystems approach applies basic principles of natural agent systems to the design of artificial multi-agent systems. H. V. D. Parunak. 'Go to the Ant': Engineering Principles from Natural Agent Systems. Annals of Operations Research, 1997; E. Bonabeau, M. Dorigo, and G. Theraulaz. Swarm Intelligence: From Natural to Artificial Systems. Santa Fe Institute Studies in the Sciences of Complexity. Oxford University Press, 1999. Natural agent systems, like social insect colonies or market economies, express system-level features that make them interesting blueprints for industrial applications. Made up of a large number of simple, locally interacting individuals, these systems are flexible to changing conditions, robust to component failure, scalable in size, adaptive to new environments, and intuitive in their structure. In natural agent systems, large numbers of individuals coordinate their activities in the fulfillment of tasks in stigmergetic interactions through the environment. P. -P. Grasse. La reconstruction du nid et les coordinations inter-individuelles chez bellicositermes natalensis et cubitermes sp. la theorie de la stigmergy: Essai d'interpretation du comportement des termites constructeurs. Insectes Sociaux, 6:41-80, 1959.
Problems associated with applying the concept of natural agent systems to create viable synthetic ecosystems have included determining a pheromone infrastructure necessary for a sensor operating in the system area to determine the spatial structure of the environment, sensor location, pheromone source location, and communicate such information with other sensors and/or system components tasked with locating synthetic pheromone sources.


A wall plug for enabling fixings to be attached to a wall, the wall plug comprising an elongate body having an inner insertion end and an outer end, a through bore extending from the outer end toward the inner end, the through bore being adapted to axially receive an elongate drill of a setting tool, and body end portion extending axially in-board from said inner insertion end, the body end portion having at least one axially extending recess communicating with an axial end region of said through bore so as to expose a side portion of the setting tool when received in said through bore.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wall plug for securing a fixing, such as a screw, to a wall.
In particular, the present invention relates to a wall plug assembly which enables the wall plug to be inserted into a wall without requiring the separate pre-drilling of an accommodating bore.
2. Description of the Related Art
'Self-tapping' wall plugs are known; for example see EP 0557292 and EP 0425358. Both EP 0557292 and 0425358 disclose a wall plug having an external screw thread which secures the plug axially within the wall once the plug has been fully inserted. The plug has a central through bore which axially accepts a blade-like drilling tool which protrudes axially beyond the terminal end of the wall plug.
In use, the blade-like tool is mounted in the chuck of a drill and a wall plug is axially slid onto the tool.
The terminal end of the tool is then presented to the surface of the wall into which the plug is to be inserted.
The tool is rotated by the drill and as it axially advances into the wall it drills out a pilot bore. When the terminal end of the wall plug reaches the pilot bore, it enters into the bore and the external threads on the wall plug bite into the bore walls to cause the wall plug to be axially advanced into the bore to its fully inserted position by a screwing action. Accordingly, with this type of wall plug, drilling of a pilot bore and insertion of the wall plug is conveniently carried out in one operation.
A problem with this type of arrangement is that initial entry of the terminal end of the wall plug into the pilot bore may prove difficult due to the screw threads on the wall plug failing to bite into the pilot bore and also due to the transition between the blade-like tool and the terminal end of the wall plug. This problem may result in the destruction of the screw-threads and/or an undesirable widening of the pilot bore entrance.


Methods, systems, and apparatus include computer programs encoded on a computer-readable storage medium, including a method for providing content. The method includes anonymously linking at least two different identifiers associated with two different requesting sources. The linking uses an identifier that does not include any personally identifiable information. A request is received from a user to create a bookmark for a resource that was presented on a first device having an associated first identifier. The bookmark or a reference to the bookmark is stored. Bookmarks associated with the user are synched across multiple requesting sources using the anonymous linking. After synching, a request to access saved bookmarks is received from a user when accessing a second different device. Based at least in part on the synched bookmarks, the bookmark is provided, or a link to the bookmark is provided, enabling presentation of a resource associated with the bookmark.

This specification relates to information presentation.
The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources. For example, video and/or audio files, as well as web pages for particular subjects or particular news articles, are accessible over the Internet. A user may access content on plural different devices, such as by way of a mobile communication device (e.g., smartphone) and also by way of another device (e.g., a desktop computer or a tablet computer).
When a user accesses content on a device, various preferences can be saved for the user and maintained on the device. For example, a browser associated with a device can access content over the Internet and include one or more stored preferences related to the user or device. One example of a stored preference is a bookmark. A bookmark can be stored by a browser as a quick reference to an Internet resource that has been accessed by an entity when using the browser. Conventionally, bookmarks and other preference information are maintained on an account level.

Bookmarking content for users associated with multiple devices