The invention relates to an optical device which can increase the spread of a beam diameter in the depthwise direction by a simple configuration in comparison with that by prior art devices. The optical device includes a substrate, an optical path formed on the substrate, and a diffraction propagation region, provided between the optical path and an end face of the substrate, for propagating light emitted from the optical path with diffraction. The diffraction propagation region includes a first groove, formed therein, adapted to block part of components of the propagated light in a depthwise direction of the substrate.

1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical device suitable for use with an optical communication system.
2) Description of the Related Art
An optical waveguide device is an optical device which implements various functions by using an optical waveguide for confining light in a region formed in a dielectric medium and having a refraction index to propagate the light therein. For example, an optical waveguide device which configures a Mach-Zehnder interferometer using a dielectric substrate such as lithium niobate (LiNbO3: hereinafter referred to as LN) has a very high electro-optic constant and has a high response speed in comparison with a device which has a thermal-optic (TO) effect. Therefore, the optical waveguide device of the type described is widely used as an optical modulator, an optical switch, a variable optical attenuator and so forth.
However, it is known that, with such an optical waveguide device for which a dielectric substrate of LN or the like is used as described above, a phenomenon called temperature drift that the operating point shifts in response to a temperature variation and another phenomenon called DC drift that the operating point shifts in response to application of a DC signal latently occur. If the operating point shifts in response to occurrence of a temperature drift or a DC drift, then the optical output characteristic of the optical waveguide device varies. Therefore, for example, in the case of an optical modulator, modulation in a normally fixed state cannot be achieved.
In particular, an optical output of a Mach-Zehnder type optical modulator varies in accordance with cos2(Δφ/2). The parameter Δφ in the expression represents a phase variation amount applied by an interacting portion of the Mach-Zehnder interferometer and is represented, in the case of a Z-cut LN substrate, by a relationship of Δφ={π·ne3·γ33·1/(λ·d)}·V, where ne is the refraction index of the optical waveguide, γ33 the electro-optic constant, l the length of electrodes provided on two parallel optical waveguides, λ the optical wavelength, d the distance between electrodes, and V the applied voltage. The optical output characteristic of the optical modulator is represented by such a curve as shown in FIG. 11 wherein the axis of abscissa represents the applied voltage V.
In such an optical modulator as described above, it is desired usually to set the operating point so as to be placed in a middle state between an on state and an off state when the applied voltage between the electrodes is 0 V. However, as seen in FIG. 11, an actual operating point is frequently displaced (shifts) from the desired operating point because of a fabrication error, various stresses and so forth. Against such displacement of the operating point, generally a DC bias is applied to carry out adjustment of the actual operating point to the desired operating point.
However, since the operating point adjusted by a DC bias shifts in response to such a DC drift as described above, in order to achieve stabilization of the operating point, it is necessary to normally monitor an optical output and control the DC bias based on a result of the monitoring. Such monitoring of an optical output as just described is used restrictively only for an optical modulator, but is required, for example, also in a Mach-Zehnder type variable optical attenuator, to adjust the optical attenuation amount in response to a temperature variation or the like.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-233047 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 1) discloses a configuration which includes, in order to obtain monitor light of an intensity suitable for use in the bias control described above, a monitoring optical waveguide for guiding part of output light as monitor light and an attenuation section for attenuating the monitor light.
Incidentally, as one of such optical waveguide devices as just described, an optical waveguide device of a butt joint type configuration is known wherein, in order to guide an emitted optical signal to an output optical fiber, an end face of an optical waveguide and the output optical fiber are directly connected to each other. In an optical waveguide device having the butt joint type configuration, for example, as shown in FIG. 12, a fiber fixing member 120 such as a V-groove fiber block or a glass ferrule is used to fix an output optical fiber 110 to an emission end face of an optical waveguide 101A which is formed on a substrate 100 together with an optical waveguide 101B and can output main signal light so that required connection strength of the output optical fiber to the end face of the optical waveguide is secured.
It may seem a possible idea to form such an optical waveguide device having a butt joint type configuration as described above with reference to FIG. 12 such that, in order to monitor the optical output from the optical waveguide 101B, for example, a light reception device 130 for optical output monitoring is disposed on the reverse side of the fiber fixing member 120 (on the opposite side to the optical waveguide device). However, interference disposition between the output optical fiber 110 and the light reception device 130 not only makes it difficult to dispose the light reception device 130 at a position at which monitor light can be sufficiently received but also makes it difficult for the light reception device 130 to sufficiently receive monitor light emitted from the optical waveguide 101B on the monitor side because the fiber fixing member 120 makes as an obstacle.
International Publication No. 2004/092792 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 2) disclosed a technique wherein a groove is formed in the proximity of an end portion of a monitoring optical waveguide on the optical output side on a substrate on which an optical waveguide is formed such that light outputted from the monitoring optical waveguide is reflected by a reflecting face provided by a side wall of the groove so that the reflection light is emitted from a side face of the substrate. Consequently, an output side end face of an output optical waveguide to which the output light is guided and the side face of the substrate to which monitor light is guided are configured as different faces from each other so that the interference disposition between the output optical fiber 110 and the light reception device 130 in the optical waveguide device described above with reference to FIG. 12 can be prevented. However, in the technique disclosed in Patent Document 2, while a light reception device such as a photodiode is disposed in the proximity of the device in order to receive monitor light, if the spread in mode diameter of monitor light at a light reception position is small, then it is necessary to adjust the incorporation position of the light reception device with high accuracy.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-345554 (hereinafter referred to as Patent Document 3) disclosed a different technique wherein a side wall of a groove for reflecting light outputted from a monitoring optical waveguide is formed in a convex shape as in the technique of Patent Document 2 described above such that the beam diameter of monitor light reflected from the side wall is spread by diffraction so as to achieve increase of the position adjustment tolerance when a light reception device for receiving monitor light emitted from the substrate side face side is incorporated. For example, in FIG. 4 of Patent Document 3, it is illustrated to increase the spread of monitor light after reflection in a horizontal direction of a substrate face, and, in FIG. 13 of Patent Document 3, a technique is illustrated wherein the shape of a side wall face of a reflection groove in a depthwise direction is formed as a convex shape toward the outside of the groove so that the spread in beam diameter in a depthwise direction by diffraction is provided more effectively than in an alternative case wherein the shape of the side wall face of the reflection groove in the depthwise direction is formed as a straight shape.
However, while, in the above-described technique disclosed in Patent Document 3, the shape of the side wall face of the reflection groove in the depthwise direction is formed as a convex shape toward the outside of the groove so that the spread of the beam diameter in the depthwise direction by the diffraction increases, in such a situation that the depth is limited from a requirement for security of required strength of a substrate, a high technique is required for such a method wherein the shape of a side wall face of a reflection groove in the depthwise direction is formed as a convex shape as described above, and it is not easy to obtain a configuration wherein an expected spread by diffraction can always be obtained.

Optical module and optical switching device


The present invention concerns methods and apparatus for enabling manual control over selection of a value for at least one operating parameter of a computer system resource. Manual control is enabled by de-coupling a pointer of a graphical indicator and control from an automated system advisor. During automated operation, the automated system advisor selects the value for the parameter of the computer system resource as indicated on a scale of the graphical indicator and control by the pointer. When the pointer of the graphical indicator is under manual control, a user can select the value of the at least one operating parameter of the computer system resource using the pointer of the graphical indicator and control. The present invention also concerns methods and apparatus for disabling manual control over selection of a value for at least one operating parameter of a computer system resource by re-coupling the pointer to an automated system advisor. The present invention further concerns hybrid control modes that permit users to exercise a degree of control over operations of an automated selection process in a graphical indicator and control.

User settings for policy-based automations are typically fairly "hard-coded" and relatively inflexible. They are composed of many individual rules, with no high-level or collective means for adjusting them. For instance, SAN File System provides automated initial file placement via a multiplicity of rules. In a system having thousands of rules which requires periodic adjustment (as an aside, mature policy-based systems such as DFSMS can have more than ten thousand rules), a user would be required to change settings in hundreds of rules at a time. This routine and necessary maintenance would be both tedious and error-prone.
Those skilled in the art have been considering adding higher-level service class rules, which would help, but even with these there will not be a single easy and high-level way for users to exercise a degree of control over operations by, for example, manually "tweaking" the overall policy optimization; enabling the manually "tweaked" policy optimization; and disabling the manually "tweaked" policy optimization. Thus, there are no current means for seeing what performance gains are available through manual optimization of ordinarily automated controls.
Other problems with automated systems concern their difficulty in establishing user trust and the need for providing means to enable users to effectively monitor the automated systems. It can take many years for users to develop trust in a system. Automated systems with a multitude of possible control settings can be very hard to monitor and maintain—such systems are often essentially neglected by software vendors and thought to be "black boxes" by users.
In addition to the problems encountered in rule-based automated systems there are also problems encountered in situations where the selection of settings for a product require tuning. For example, it is often unclear whether it is best to provide user control over the tuning of parameters (for example, for various heartbeat intervals, wait periods, retries and buffer sizes), or to automate them completely in a manner invisible to users. Weighing in on the side of user control is that users typically prefer control, especially for new products that they do not trust yet. User control also helps users to learn how the system works and therefore to truly understand the system. Weighing against surfacing user control for tuning settings is that some users might choose sub-optimal settings.
When users are polled, they overwhelmingly demand to have manual overrides to automations. They also want such overrides to be easily selected and quickly implemented. Note that in the highly-evolved user interface paradigm of automobiles that manual overrides have evolved to be easily selected and quickly implemented. For example, to disable active cruise control, a driver just taps the brakes or pushes the off button. In an automatic transmission, a driver uses the multi-function gear selector to quickly and easily shift an automobile from drive to second gear when approaching a steep downslope.
Accordingly, those skilled in the art desire the ability to exercise a measure of control over automated processes that ordinarily control selection of one or more values for one or more parameters of a computer system resource. In one aspect, those skilled in the art desire the ability to disable momentarily the automated process selecting values for the plurality of settings, so that the user can manually adjust a value indicated by a graphical advisor. By making adjustments to the value indicated by the graphical advisor, the user also effectively would be changing one or more settings for the computer system resource. A system implemented in this way would make it far easier for a user to change hundreds or perhaps thousands of settings selected for the computer system resource.
In other situations, those skilled in the art may not want direct control over the plurality of settings selected for the computer system resource. In these situations, the user may desire that the automated process ordinarily selecting the settings for the computer system resource continue to operate, but be subject to a measure of control by the user. For example, oftentimes it is costly in terms of system resources to spawn numerous small-scale changes called for by the automated process throughout a complex computer system resource like a networked database. In such situations, the user may desire that the automated process continue to make large-scale changes to the settings required by work loads that vary in a predictable manner over a daily period, but ignore small-scale changes required by minute moment-to-moment variations in load conditions. In other situations where load conditions spike and then return to a nominal value, the user may desire that the automated process respond to small-scale variations in load conditions but ignore large-scale changes.
In summary, those skilled in the art thus desire controls that enable users to exercise some measure of control over how an automated process makes changes to one or more settings of a computer system resource.

Methods and apparatus for implementing manual and hybrid control modes in automated graphical indicators and controls

International Business Machines Corporation


A new and distinct cultivar of Torenia plant named ‘Sunrekodou’, characterized by its compact and mounding to trailing plant habit; freely branching habit; freely flowering habit; yellow and violet-colored flowers; and good garden performance.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Torenia plant, botanically known as Torenia sp. and hereinafter referred to by the name 'Sunrekodou'.
The new Torenia plant is an induced mutation of a proprietary selection of Torenia sp. identified as code number 06-13-7, not patented. The new Torenia plant was discovered and selected by the Inventors as a single plant from within a population of plants of induced mutations of the parent selection in a controlled greenhouse environment in Higashiomi, Shiga, Japan in January, 2008.
Asexual reproduction of the new Torenia plant by vegetative cuttings in a controlled greenhouse environment in Higashiomi, Shiga, Japan since February, 2008, has shown that the unique features of this new Torenia plant are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.


A self-storing billiard table includes a table top with ball pockets and side cushions. A support frame is disposed below the table top to support it. A plurality of retractable support legs are also provided to support the billiard table. A first set of support legs is located near a first side of the billiard table, and a second set of support legs is located near a second side of the billiard table. The first set of support legs is retractably connected to the support frame. A plurality of wheels are also retractably connected to the support legs. At least one retractable ram pivotally supports the billiard table when moved from an upright storage position to a horizontal playing position, and from a horizontal playing position to an upright storage position.

A conventional billiard table generally requires that a large area be set aside in order to set up the table and allow the user plenty of room to play the game. For example, a conventional billiard table has a table face approximately 4.5'.times.8'. The billiard table of the conventional size is normally quite heavy, having been manufactured with a slate or other suitable stone top covered in felt, and supported by a wood base. A user cannot be expected to move the billiard table by his/herself. When installed, the billiard table is normally placed in position within a room where it is expected to remain.
During installation of the billiard table, the table top surface is leveled, generally by shimming the legs or supports of the table, and by leveling the slate itself. Once a room has been set aside for the billiard table, the area occupied by the table and the necessary perimeter set aside for the players are considered unusable or unsuitable for other purposes or activities. That is, billiard tables generally require an area that is dedicated for play.
Attempts have been made to re-use the billiard table playing area to alleviate the need for dedicating a specific area for the billiard table. For example, folding billiard tables of various designs are known in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 5,056,780 to Tsang describes a folding billiard table having a frame member with legs that support a billiard table face. A pair of legs disposed on one side of the main support legs are foldable, and another pair on the other side of the main support legs are liftable and foldable.
In Tsang, when the table is not in use, the billiard table face can be turned upward, with the liftable and foldable lateral support legs raised, so that the billiard table face can be turned from a horizontal position to a vertical position to reduce the room occupied by the table. This is accomplished by the user upwardly turning the billiard table face in a predetermined direction whereby the table rotates about fulcrums, and the joints of the foldable lateral support legs are folded. After folding, the gravitation center of the billiard table is stable. The folding and unfolding of the billiard table, as well as leveling of the billiard table top, are accomplished manually using a complex scheme of long and short linkages.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,799 to Chang describes a folding billiard table formed in two pieces. When the table is folded for storage, the table top is bisected and folded in half. While this may minimize storage space for the table top, the ideal playing surface for a billiard table incorporates one smooth table top of a unitary construction.
Accordingly, I have realized that a need exists for a billiard table with a full size table top, mounted on a conventional billiard table frame that may be vertically pivoted for storage. I have also realized that there exists the need for a self-leveling mechanism such that when the billiard table is placed back in the horizontal playing position, the billiard table top can be leveled, with accuracy and ease.

Vertically storable and self-leveling billiard table


A system is disclosed for condensation particle counting in conjunction with modifying an aerosol to enhance the formation and growth of droplets of a selected working fluid, preferably water. Before saturation with the working fluid, the aerosol is exposed to an aerosol modifying component, preferably a vapor including molecules that are adsorbed onto surfaces of the particles or other elements suspended in the aerosol. Adsorption alters the surface character of the suspended elements towards increased affinity for the vapor of the working fluid, to promote the formation and growth of working fluid droplets. The droplets are optically detected to indicate numbers and concentrations of the suspended elements.

The present invention relates to the sensing of particles in the nanometer to micrometer size range, and more particularly to instruments that facilitate droplet formation and growth on particles and other elements suspended in aerosols.
A well known technique for detecting submicrometer particles (or other suspended aerosol elements, e.g. droplets) is to "grow" the elements into larger droplets through condensation of the vapor of a working fluid, thus to enhance optical detection. For example, in one form of continuous flow condensation particle counter or CPC (sometimes referred to as a condensation nucleus counter), an aerosol stream of submicrometer particles suspended in air or another gas is directed through a saturation region, where the working fluid evaporates into the aerosol stream. Upon leaving the saturation region, the aerosol stream is cooled to supersaturate the working fluid vapor. This causes the vapor to condense onto the particles, forming aerosol droplets considerably larger than the particles. The aerosol stream including the droplets is directed past an optical detection system, usually employing a laser beam and associated optics to individually sense the droplets based on scattering or interruption of the coherent energy. The droplet or particle count can be used to determine a particulate concentration in the air or other gas. Following the detection, the droplets or particles (after evaporation) may be collected for chemical analysis. For further information regarding this type of instrument, reference is made to U.S. Pat. No. 4,790,650 (Keady).
In a similar instrument known as a mixing-type CPC, an aerosol stream saturated with a working fluid vapor is mixed with a sample gas provided at a temperature lower than the aerosol temperature. This cools the gas mixture sufficiently to achieve supersaturation. As a result, particles in the gas mixture act as heterogeneous nucleation sites for condensation of the working fluid, growing droplets large enough for optical detection. Examples of this type of CPC are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,903,338 (Mavliev, et al.).
In another alternative condensation particle counter, described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,712,881 to Hering and Stolzenburg, an aerosol stream is conditioned to a desired temperature and optionally saturated, then provided to a higher-temperature condenser whose internal walls are wetted with a working fluid, preferably water. As the aerosol stream flows along the condenser, the working fluid vapor diffuses from the walls into the stream and condenses onto the particles.
Water is the preferred working fluid because of its nontoxicity, low cost, and lack of unpleasant odor. Further, water is preferred in systems that involve post-detection chemical analysis of the particles, especially in the case of biomolecules.
In conventional laminar flow condensation particle counters, working fluids with mass diffusivities lower than their thermal diffusivities are preferred, because the aerosol is cooled rather than heated as it enters the condenser. Accordingly, preferred alternative working fluids include butanol, isopropanol, and glycerol, with butanol perhaps being the most preferred. The mass diffusivity of butanol vapor, for example, is less than one-third that of water. Attempts to use water in conventional, cooled-condenser laminar flow condensation particle counters have not succeeded, although mixing-type condensation particle counters have been designed to use water as the working fluid.
In any instrument that relies on condensation to grow particles into larger droplets, the effectiveness of the technique depends on particle size and degree of supersaturation. For a given supersaturation, there is a minimum particle diameter capable of supporting growth into a droplet, commonly known as the threshold diameter. The degree of supersaturation can be controlled by controlling aerosol flow rates and temperatures along the saturation region and condenser or growth tube.
In spite of the desirable properties of water and its suitability in the Hering/Stolzenburg and mixing-type particle counter designs, its use brings to light another problem. When the working fluid is water, another variable becomes significant: the particulate material's affinity to water. Assuming that supersaturation is constant, the threshold diameter varies, from smaller threshold diameters for hydrophilic materials to larger threshold diameters for hydrophobic materials. As a result, particle counts are variable not only as a function of particle concentration, but also as a function of the character or makeup of the particles. In situations where the particle composition is unknown, or where proportions of different known particles may vary, this imposes a significant limitation on the use of water as the condensate in particle detection instruments.
Therefore, it is an object of the present invention to provide an aerosol analyzing instrument in which the formation and growth of working fluid droplets is more uniform, despite differences among suspended particles and other elements in terms of their affinity for the working fluid.
Another object is to provide a condensation particle counter capable of employing water as the working fluid, with improved sensitivity for measuring hydrophobic aerosol elements in the nanometer to micrometer diameter range.
A further object is to provide a process for modifying an aerosol to enhance droplet formation and growth on the particles and other elements suspended in the aerosol.
Yet another object is to provide a condensation particle counter capable of generating particle counts that more accurately reflect particle concentrations while minimizing the influence of extraneous factors such as particle or element makeup and affinity to the working fluid vapor.

Particle surface treatment for promoting condensation


Polymorphic forms of tetrahydro-N,N-dimethyl-2,2-diphenyl-3-furanmethanamine hydrochloride (ANAVEX2-73) and a metabolite of tetrahydro-N,N-dimethyl-2,2-diphenyl-3-furanmethanamine hydrochloride (ANAVEX2-73) are disclosed and characterized. Compositions and method for treatment of Alzheimer's disease that includes the polymorphic forms and metabolite of tetrahydro-N,N-dimethyl-2,2-diphenyl-3-furanmethanamine hydrochloride (ANAVEX2-73).

Because improved drug formulations showing, for example, better bioavailability or better stability are consistently sought, there is an ongoing need for more fully characterized, new, polymorphic and derivative forms of drug molecules. Characterization of tetrahydro-N,N-dimethyl-2,2-diphenyl-3-furanmethanamine hydrochloride, and crystalline polymorphs and a metabolite of tetrahydro-N,N-dimethyl-2,2-diphenyl-3-furanmethanamine hydrochloride are described herein toward this end.

Crystal forms of tetrahydro-n,n-dimethyl-2,2-diphenyl-3-furanmethanamine hydrochloride, processes of making such forms, and their pharmaceutical compositions


Provide a set of first RGB (red, green, blue) brightness levels of a set of pixels in a display panel. Generate a set of saturation levels according to the set of first RGB brightness levels. Generate a set of mapping ratios according to the set of saturation levels and the set of first RGB brightness levels. Generate a set of second RGB brightness levels according to the set of first RGB brightness levels and a minimum mapping ratio of the set of mapping ratios. Generate a set of RGBW (red, green, blue, white) brightness levels according to the set of second RGB brightness levels and a set of brightness levels of white sub-pixels of the set of RGBW brightness levels. And convert the set of RGBW brightness levels to generate a set of RGBW gray levels of the set of pixels.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related an image signal processing method, and more particularly to a method of converting RGB gray levels to RGBW gray levels.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With the advancement of display panel technologies, liquid crystal display (LCD) panels are widely used in portable devices such as laptops, tablet computers, and smart phones. In general, power consumption of the portable devices should be low so that the portable devices may operate over a long period of time without being charged. However, due to RGB (red, green, blue) LCD panels having low light penetration rate such that only 5˜10% of light intensity from backlight penetrates panels, energy used for illuminating panels is not fully utilized. Thus pixels should be re-designed to increase light penetration rate so as to utilize energy more efficiently and reduce power consumption of panels.
In contrast, RGBW (red, green, blue, white) LCD panels have higher light penetration rate and lower power consumption because white sub-pixels having higher light penetration rate are introduced into pixels. However, due to each sub-pixel (respectively being red, green, blue, white) of RGBW LCD panels occupying a smaller area than that of each sub-pixel of RGB LCD panels, images displayed on RGBW LCD panels are darker when the images are single colored (saturated color), and brightness may be too bright when RGBW LCD panels display all white images. Thus image quality of RGBW LCD panels may be poorer than RGB LCD panels.


a circuit for an RFID device in one embodiment includes an operational amplifier having a first input, a second input, and an output where the first input receives an incoming signal, arid the second input is coupled to the output via a feedback loop. An operational amplifier for an RFID device according to another embodiment compares an output of the operational amplifier to an incoming baseband signal, A circuit according to another embodiment includes an operational amplifier having a first input, a second input, and an output, wherein the first input receives an incoming signal, and wherein the second input is coupled to the output via a feedback loop. A comparator having one input is coupled to the output of the operational amplifier, another input receiving the incoming signal, and an output for outputting an outgoing signal. Methods for adjusting a filtering characteristic of an operational amplifier are also disclosed.

Operational amplifiers (op amp) and comparators are widely used in integrated circuits because their high gains, two inputs, high input impendence, and many other special characteristics. FIG. 1 shows the most popular symbol for an op amp 100. There are two input terminals: inverting and non-inverting, named by their polarity comparison with the output (out) signal. The op amp compares these two inputs with each other to generate the desired output.
When an op amp or comparator performs comparisons, the references can be specified, or may be hidden in an incoming signal. In FIG. 2, fully differential inputs 200, 202 have a hidden reference, and the reference can be found by averaging both input signals. On the other hand, for single-ended signal, one of the inputs may provide fixed value reference for the other to do the comparison.
FIG. 3 shows different ways to create one reference signal for an op amp or comparator. For the fixed reference-based circuits 300, 310 shown in FIG. 3(a) and FIG. 3(b). the reference is independent of input signal strength, so these fixed reference structures are not desirable for applications having a large input dynamic range. In the circuit 320 of FIG. 3(c), the op amp or comparator 100 is configured in a closed-loop configuration. Because of the feedback loop 322, the reference is dynamically adjusted by the op amp or comparator output. However, this configuration is not suitable for open loop applications.
FIG. 4 illustrates a circuit 400 in which the input reference to an op amp 404 is set by a low pass filter 402 created by the combination of the resistor R and capacitor C. The low pass filter filters out signal AC components. The filtered-out AC components are higher frequency than the low pass filter (e.g., −3 dB) corner frequency. The DC level, and lower than low pass filter corner frequency components are retained as a reference voltage Vref for comparing with the original signal Vin. This configuration accommodates a large input dynamic range. However, the low pass filter 402 has a fixed frequency bandwidth, e.g., −3 dB. When the input signal Vin has widely varying data rates, the higher data rate input results in a longer time for the reference signal to settle. The case shown in FIG. 5(a) shows a quick settling because the input frequency is slower than the FIG. 5(b) case. Quicker settling provides an average reference signal level in real time faster, so a comparator or op amp 404 can compare more real reference signal as compared to that of a comparator or op amp using a reference signal having a slow settling time. Furthermore, if the low pass filter has a very low (e.g., −3 dB) corner frequency, the size of the resistor R and capacitor C are very large, which might not be feasible for implementation. However, because of the simplicity and prevalence of resistors and capacitors in filtering, and because most applications have heretofore used a known signal frequency, those skilled in the art have not been motivated to use other filtering schemes.
It would therefore be desirable to achieve faster settling of the reference signal at higher data rates.

Circuitry for adaptively generating and using a reference voltage


A method of counting steps of a user employs a first device, e.g. a personal activity monitor 1) and a second device, e.g. a smartphone 2) which communicate with each other. The method includes detecting and counting the steps of the user by the first device, detecting and counting the steps of the user by the second device, transferring step data from one of the two devices to the other of the two devices, and identifying at least a first time period (Tw) for which a difference in the number of steps counted by the first device and by the second device is greater than a predetermined threshold (S). The method further includes supplementing the step data recorded for the first time period in one of the two devices with the step data from the other of the two devices.

More particularly, the invention relates to a method for counting steps taken by a user, in parallel by a personal activity monitor and by the step counting function of a smartphone, which can be connected together, to compensate for a possible absence of counting by the personal activity monitor.
Conventional activity monitors which count a user's steps are known (they are also called 'pedometers'), such as those disclosed in US2013 0325399. However, if the activity monitor is forgotten for example or fails (no more batteries for example), the user loses the tracking of his or her activity and the count of the number of steps taken.
In document US2013 0325399, the portable activity monitor is combined with a remote device in order to geolocate the information collected about a user's activity, but this association between a portable activity monitor and a remote device does not compensate for a lack of counting by the monitor.
There is therefore a need for a method with parallel and complementary counting by means of a device wirelessly connected (for example by Bluetooth™) to said activity monitor.

Method for counting steps taken by a user


A data recording device and a memory cartridge of a data recording device that improve the manipulation of attaching and detaching the memory cartridge and the portability of the memory cartridge. The data recording device (A) is replaceably equipped with a memory cartridge (B) accommodating a memory card (DM) as a data recording medium. The memory cartridge (B) includes a handle (23) capable of being popped out.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data recording device that accommodates memory cards that are data recording media to thus constitute a memory cartridge and is loaded with and integrated with the memory cartridge, the data recording device for recording image information generated as digital signals in the memory cards of the memory cartridge.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data recording devices using magnetic tapes as data recording media have been developed as flight recorders (airborne video tape recorders (AVTR)) mounted in airplanes. However, since higher reliability is requested, memory cards (PCMCIA cards) that adopt semiconductor memory elements are being used. In order to solve problems caused by the generation of heat inside the sealed case of the data recording device, to and from which a memory cartridge as a single body composed of a plurality of accommodated memory cards can be attached and detached, the applicant of the present application tries to take measures (for example, the Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1]
U.S. Pat. No. 6,529,374 B2

Data recording device and memory cartridge of data recording device


A brake time measurement and brake control system measures the brake time of a subassembly, such as an upper die of a press, with the programmable controller already used to control the press. The programmable controller has a selectable time interrupt which causes an interrupt routine inside the programmable controller to be executed at regular time intervals. By varying the duration of the interval, the precision of the brake time measurement may be varied. Also, since the system is implemented with the programmable controller already present on the press, no additional equipment is needed to measure brake time. The brake time monitor and brake control system also implements a top stop control capability with improved precision. The improved precision results from dynamically determining a top stop zone which is appropriately sized given the speed of the die. The improved precision also results from limiting the number of angles at which a stop command can be issued when the top stop zone is larger than necessary.

Stamping presses are power-driven machines useful for stamping or otherwise shaping metal and other material by heavy blows. A stamping press comprises upper and lower dies disposed respectively between a slide and a bed. The slide, and therefore the upper die, is driven up and down by a motor. The motor is connected to the slide by way of a flywheel and a crankshaft. The motor continuously drives the flywheel and, when a clutch/brake mechanism is engaged, the flywheel turns the crankshaft which moves the slide up and down. When the clutch is disengaged, the brake engages to stop movement of the upper die. In use, sheet metal is placed between the upper and lower dies and the upper die descends rapidly to stamp the sheet metal.
During operation of the stamping press, it is important that the stopping of the upper die be precisely (or repeatably) measured and controlled. Two separate problems have been identified in this regard.
The first problem has been to provide a convenient way to precisely measure the brake time of the stamping press. The brake time is the amount of time that it takes the upper die to stop moving once a stop command has been issued to the brake. Safety standards (specifically, OSHA 1910.217) require that the brake time of a stamping press with an air activated clutch/brake be periodically measured in order to detect brake wear before it becomes dangerous to operate the stamping press.
Two approaches are currently used for measuring brake time. The first (more common) approach involves attaching a retractable string to the upper die using a magnet. The retractable string is on a spring loaded spool located inside a black box, and retracts back into the black box as the upper die travels downwardly. The black box is also connected to the stamping press control system. The black box calculates the brake time based on the amount of time that the flywheel continues to rotate (as indicated by the movement of the string) after a stop command is issued (as indicated by an input from the control system).
The second approach involves connecting a black box to the control system and to a resolver or an encoder which is attached to the flywheel. In this case, the black box calculates the brake time based on the amount of time that the slide, or die, continues to move (as indicated by the encoder/resolver) after a stop command is issued (as indicated by the input from the control system).
Both of these approaches suffer from several disadvantages. First, these approaches require extra equipment (the black boxes) which do nothing other than measure the brake time of the stamping press. The use of extraneous equipment in this manner is undesirable. Further, these approaches are primarily adapted for making only occasional measurements of brake time. These approaches are not intended to be used for measuring brake time every time the stamping press stops, which would enhance the ability to perform predictive maintenance. Moreover, the precision of these approaches is fixed; the black box devices currently in use do not provide the user with a way of adjusting the precision of the brake time measurement. Finally, the string approach is especially disadvantageous because the string bounces when the upper die stops, thereby making it appear as though the upper die is still moving when in fact it has stopped.
A second problem has been to provide a repeatable way of positioning the upper die of a stamping press, and especially a way of positioning the upper die at the top position in a high speed press. The top position refers to the uppermost position of the die, also referred to as the 0.degree. position. (The upper dies starts movement at 0.degree., then travels downwardly past the downward half-way position at 90.degree. and to the bottom position at 180.degree., and then travels upwardly past the upward half-way position at 270.degree. and returns to the top position at 0.degree..)
When performing a top stop, the clutch is disengaged and the brake is engaged causing the upper die to come to an eventual stop. Of course, however, the upper die does not come to an immediate stop. Thus, in order to cause the upper die to come to a stop at the top position, the stop command must be given in advance of the time at which the upper die is at the top position. More specifically, the stop command must be timed such that, once braking occurs, the upper die comes to a stop at the top position.
Typical (non-high speed) presses issue the stop command in the range 200.degree.-355.degree., depending on the speed of the press. Thus, when the upper die reaches a predetermined top stop angle (e.g., 340.degree., assuming it takes the upper die 20.degree. to stop), a stop command is issued, and the upper die comes to a stop at approximately the top position.
To determine whether the upper die has reached the top stop angle, a takeover cam mechanism is utilized. The takeover cam is a limit switch which turns on when the upper die reaches 180.degree. and turns off when the upper die reaches the top stop angle. Thus, the top stop sequence for a typical press may be as follows: First, the upper die reaches 180.degree. and the takeover cam turns on. Then, the operator removes his hand from the actuation button and a top stop input is generated. However, since the takeover cam is on, the control system recognizes that the upper die has already reached 180.degree. and thus continues to permit the upper die to move upward (since there is no threat posed to the operator once the upper die reaches 180.degree.). When the upper die reaches the top stop angle, the takeover cam turns off. The control system detects that the takeover cam has turned off, and that a top stop input has been generated, and in response the control system issues a stop command.
In a high speed press, it is necessary to issue the stop command much earlier (i.e., in the 0.degree.-180.degree. range) because it takes the upper die a longer period of time to stop. Thus, since the stop command must be issued before the upper die reaches 180.degree., the above-described sequence of events is not possible and it is not possible to use the above-described takeover cam mechanism in conjunction with a high speed press. Accordingly, an alternative top stop system for high speed presses is needed.
Efforts to provide an acceptable alternative top stop system for use with a high speed press have met with considerable difficulty. Specifically, it has been difficult to provide a way to issue the stop command when the upper die is approximately at the top stop angle. The difficulty arises because the instantaneous angle of the upper die is usually not known. The angle of the upper die is not monitored continuously but rather only at periodic intervals, and thus the control system is unlikely to know the precise instant at which the upper die is at the top stop angle for a given stroke. (It may be noted that, depending on the length of the intervals, the angle of the upper die may change as much as 30.degree., and perhaps more, between intervals.) This introduces a significant and undesirable amount of variability as to the stopping point of the upper die in a high speed press. Thus, whereas control systems for typical presses are able to stop the upper die at the top position with a .+-.2.degree. variance, conventional control systems for high speed presses are only able to stop the upper die with .+-.15.degree. variance.
Thus, what is needed is a way to measure the brake time of a stamping press which does not require any additional equipment, which can be conveniently performed each time the upper die of the stamping press stops, which can have varying degrees of precision, and/or which does not suffer from the inaccuracies associated with string bounce. What is also needed is a precise way of positioning the upper die of a stamping press, and especially a way of positioning the upper die at the top position in a high speed press.

Brake time monitor and brake control system for a press having a programmable controller


Methods, apparatus, and articles of manufacture for capturing consumer loan application data are disclosed herein. Embodiments of the invention provide mechanisms for capturing consumer loan application data corresponding to a plurality of consumer loan application types within a single software application, and for the navigation of a user through a series of linked user interface displays to facilitate the capture of relevant information. In addition, the network environment of methodologies in accordance with the teachings of the present invention provides for the storage of data in a relational database management system that enables previously entered data to pre-populate data fields of subsequent user interface displays and/or subsequent consumer loan applications without the necessity to re-enter the data.

Many financial and/or lending institutions utilize multiple systems to collect customer information for different types of consumer loan applications. In the most basic scenario, printed-paper forms, with spaces provided for the entry of typed or hand-written customer information, are used to collect any requisite information to facilitate processing of the application and consideration for approval. Different types of loans may typically require different types of information for consideration during processing. As a consequence, different forms may be used by the financial and/or lending institution for each available product (e.g., home equity loan, personal loan, auto loan, and so on).
Because at least a portion of the requisite information may be identical for each loan application (e.g., customer identifying information and/or customer financial information), a loan officer or other representative of the financial institution may be required to repeatedly enter this information into the different forms (or into the same form if the customer returns at a future time for the same product), thereby reducing productivity, and introducing additional potential for errors. Often, the information included in the forms is subsequently entered into a computer system for manipulation or storage, thereby further increasing the likelihood of data integrity errors.
Similarly, the same "forms" may be available in an electronic format accessible by the loan officer or other representative, for example, via a computer. While the potential for data entry errors may be reduced by eliminating the transfer of information from the paper-based form to the computer system, no adequate mechanism exists for populating data fields of electronic loan applications or additional electronic loan applications with previously entered customer information. As a consequence, even though the customer may have previously provided much or all of the requisite information for a consumer loan application (and the information may have been entered by a loan officer or the like for electronic storage), the information is functionally inaccessible for the purpose of completing the consumer loan application, and must be re-entered by the loan officer or other representative.
For example, a customer may open an account (e.g., a checking account) with a local branch of the financial institution and provide a variety of customer identifying information. If the customer returns two weeks later to apply for a credit card, for example, from the financial institution, the same customer identifying information will typically be required, along with additional financial information, for example, and will need to be input again for the credit card application to be processed. Similarly, if the customer is interested in another product in addition to the credit card, a separate loan application, including the same customer information and/or financial information, may require the information to be input yet again. In addition, the loan officer or other representative may have to access a series of appropriate electronic forms to facilitate the entry of information required to process the applications, thereby contributing to a decrease in productivity and an increase in the potential for errors that may delay processing of the applications and result in customer dissatisfaction.

Method and apparatus for capturing consumer loan application data


Whole blood is treated extracorporeally to remove substances contrary to health using mesoporous/microporous or macroporopus/microporous carbon in the form of beads or a channel monolith. The carbon may be the result of carbonizing a mesoporous or macroporous phenolic resin. Substances contrary to health include externally introduced toxins such as bacterially derived staphylococcus enterotoxins A, B, TSST-1 or autologous, biologically active molecules with harmful, systemic effects when their activity is excessive or unregulated. Examples include the removal of inappropriate amounts of pro- or anti-inflammatory molecules and toxic mediators of systemic inflammatory response syndrome related to sepsis, cardio-pulmonary by-pass surgery, ischaemic reperfusion injury; the removal of larger molecular weight and protein bound uremic toxins related to kidney and hepatic toxins related to liver failure and the removal of toxins relevant to biological and chemical warfare.

Purification of Blood in Dialysis Patients
End-stage renal failure (ESRF) is an increasingly prevalent and disproportionately costly condition. The majority of patients receiving renal replacement therapy (RRT) undergo haemodialysis (HD) which primarily removes small water soluble molecules. However, most protein bound and larger molecular weight uremic toxins remain in the body, impairing cardiovascular function and contributing to the morbidity and mortality of HD patients. ESRF maintains a high morbidity and mortality rate despite improved therapy options. A complex picture is emerging of the pathophysiology associated with CKD progression in which newly identified uremic toxins not removed by HD appear to play a central role. A clinically effective and cost efficient device could transform ESRF patient care. Uremic toxin retention in renal failure is a complex problem that cannot be adequately modelled by measuring simple markers like urea and creatinine Middle molecules and protein bound molecules are not very efficiently removed by current dialysis therapies and may be very important mediators of pathology associated with chronic kidney disease. The removal of currently "difficult to remove" uremic toxins may diminish complications, extending and greatly improving patient quality of life. No cost-effective and clinically efficient devices exist currently.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,169,051 Satoh is concerned with the use of activated carbon as an adsorbent for the purification of blood in dialysis patients. It discusses the use of crushed activated carbon of vegetable origin but mentions problems of carbon dust and platelet adhesion which are not overcome by coating. Furthermore the crushed activated carbon cannot adsorb materials of medium molecular weight e.g. so-called "kidney toxin". Molecular weight in this context is explained in U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,157 Ghezzi, "medium molecules" being defined as those of molecular weight 300-1500 D. Granular activated carbon was said to have superior properties with regard to dust but is poorly adsorbent. The proposed solution is to use beads of activated carbon derived from pitch and coated with a semi-permeable film-forming material selected from pyroxylin, polypropylene, vinyl chloride-vinylidene chloride copolymer, ethylene glycol polymethacrylate and collagen. In an embodiment, beads are formed from pitch softening at 205° C. which was melt-dispersed into water using benzene and aqueous polyvinyl alcohol as suspending agent to form beads which were heated in a fluidized bed to remove benzene, carbonised in nitrogen at 1000° C. and coated with pyroxylin. The resulting beads were said to be able to remove kidney toxin from blood and to exhibit only slight platelet adhesion, which could be avoided completely by coating with albumen.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,358,376 Moriuchi discloses a detoxifying column comprising non-coated particles of petroleum pitch which has been ultrasonically cleaned to remove dust.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,194,157 Ghezzi prefers to use vegetable-derived activated carbon in the form of microgranules which have "a multitude of minute channels opening in corresponding pores on its surface", a contact surface area of up to 1000 m2/g and adsorption spectrum of 100-20000 D, but to use that material only in relation to an ultrafiltrate from which blood corpuscles have been removed.
RU-C-2119351 Petrik discloses separation of plasma from blood and treatment of the plasma with expanded graphite and carbon nanotubes to remove uric acid and creatine.
US-A-2004/0141932 Umekawa et al. discloses a medical adsorbent comprising activated carbon obtained by carbonising and activating a spherical phenolic resin. However, only microporoisty is indentified and there is no disclosure or suggestion of incorporating mesoporosity into the resin. GB-A-2025385 Murakama et al. discloses a spherical active carbon made by suspension polymerization of styrene/divinylbenzene, treatment of the resulting polymer with SO3 to make it infusible, followed by carbonisation and activation. Again there is no disclosure or suggestion to incorporate mesopores or active macropores, and the pores are stated to be substantially all of size<500 Å, preferably <200 Å so as to substantially avoid adsorption of high molecular weight materials such as blood serum protein.
Removing Inappropriate Amounts of Anti-Inflammatory Mediators
WO 2005/099789 Tennison, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference, is concerned with the treatment of sepsis by removal of inappropriate amounts of pro or anti-inflammatory mediators e.g. IL-4, IL, 6, IL, 8, IL-10, IL-11, IL-13 and IL-1. It discloses passing blood through a monolithic porous carbon structure. Plasma components are allowed to pass through the walls of the monolith. Two streams are thereby formed: a plasma permeate stream that has passed through the walls of the monolith and a retentate stream containing the majority of the blood cells. Contrary substances are adsorbed in the walls of the monolith from the plasma permeate stream, after which the plasma permeate stream and the retentate stream are recombined. The monolithic porous carbon through which the blood plasma passes may have a mean pore size>500 nm and pores of size 2-500 nm within the carbon matrix for adsorption of middle and high molecular weight molecules. One embodiment of the monolith is tubular and another embodiment has rectangular channels of size 100-2000 μm, wall thickness 100-2000 μm and open area 30-60%. The monolithic porous structure may have a surface area of at least 600 m2/g. It may be made by partially curing a phenolic resin to a solid, in embodiments of particle size 10-100 μm, comminuting the partially cured resin, extruding the comminuted resin to give a form-stable sintered product and carbonising and activating that product. Preferred products are derived from resin of powder size 20-75 μm which provides for a macropore size of 4-15 μm and a macropore volume of about 40%.
WO 2007/070455 Gogotsi explains that even advanced activated carbons exhibit only partial performance in adsorption of large inflammatory proteins, mostly due to a limited surface area accessible to the adsorbate. It discloses a carbon composition produced from a carbon-containing inorganic precursor e.g. a ternary carbide such as Ti2AlC or carbonitride which was said to have a large surface area accessible to cytokines e.g. TNF and IL-6.
Much of the complexity of the existing systems for removing inappropriate amounts of anti-inflammatory mediators or otherwise treating blood arises from the requirement to separate the blood cells from the plasma prior to treating the plasma due to the interaction of the adsorbents with the blood. There is a requirement therefore for an efficient and cost effective extracorporeal device which allows a stream of whole blood to be treated with an effective adsorbent system for the removal of the inflammatory molecules. For such a device to be effective it is also essential that the materials used do not cause a further immune response, excessive platelet activation (blood coagulation) on the adsorbent or haemolysis of the red blood cells.

Carbon and its use in blood cleansing applications


A device for detecting and compensating field distortion in underground line locators by means of mapping the field-strength of the field generated by electrical currents within the buried line. Signals from the underground structure can be mapped with respect to the position of the device. From the map, distortions from the expected signals can be determined, indicating interference from other structures or errors in detected location of the structure.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure relates to the field of electronics and, in particular, to the application of devices that can be used to locate objects that are concealed or situated underground.
2. Related Art
Line locators are used to locate the position of lines buried in the ground, such as gas pipes, water pipes, telephone cables, and power cables. A line locator typically includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transmitter causes an electromagnetic field to be radiated from the line to be located. The receiver locates the line by detecting the radiated field. Line locators may be operated in one of two modes, a direct connection mode and an inductive mode.
In direct connection mode, the transmitter is physically connected to the line to be located, typically at a point in the line that is above the ground. The transmitter generates a voltage at one end of the line, causing an electrical current to flow along the conductive line. The current produces an electromagnetic field around the line, which can be detected by the receiver of a line locator.
In cases where direct connection to the line is not possible, for example if the line is completely underground, line locators typically operate in an inductive mode. In inductive mode the line locator produces current in the line by electromagnetic induction: A time-varying electromagnetic field is radiated by an antenna, which induces an electrical current in the line to be located. The current in the line then produces an electromagnetic field around the line and the electromagnetic field is detected by a receiver in the line locator.
To locate the line, an operator typically moves the receiver over the surface of the ground until the presence of an electromagnetic field is indicated and, therefore, the location of the line is determined. The receiver measures the strength of the electromagnetic field, which is proportional to the current in the buried, or target, line. According to Ohm's Law, the current in the line is inversely proportional to the impedance of the line. Because of the wide variability of the physical condition of buried lines and the wide variability of the environment of these lines, the impedance of buried lines can have virtually any value. However, in most situations a particular current can be induced so that the line can generate an electromagnetic field.
Line locators available today are effective in locating and tracing buried lines. However, there are situations in which the use of a line locator can result in the improper determination of the location of the line, which can result in damage to the line or serious injury to a person excavating near the line. Such a situation can occur when there are structures or objects in the vicinity of a target line that affect the measurements made by the receiver. An example of this effect is when there are several lines buried in the ground in close proximity to the target line. The electrical current in the target line can induce electrical currents in the adjacent lines, whereby the electromagnetic field generated by the target line is distorted. A distorted field can result in an incorrect determination of the location of the line as well as an inaccurate measurement of depth. Also, the locator may find an adjacent line other than the target line due to bleed-over of the electromagnetic field from the target line onto the adjacent line.
One method that can be utilized to deal with the effects of distorted fields is to measure and record the strength of the electromagnetic field and the spatial position at which each measurement of the electromagnetic field strength is taken. For such a system to be useful in many situations, the system would be required to have a positional accuracy of less than about one inch over a range of several hundred feet, and the system would need to operate in real-time with measurements made at a rate on the order of ten times per second.
One way to determine the position of each measurement of field strength is to use the Global Positioning System (GPS). In this approach, a GPS receiver is operated together with the line locating receiver and the data from both is recorded. The problem with the use of GPS for this purpose is that the accuracy of GPS or even Differential GPS (DGPS), is not generally sufficient. The expected accuracy of GPS is from ten to twenty feet, whereas the expected accuracy of DGPS is from three to five feet. This accuracy is not sufficient for dealing with distorted electromagnetic fields from underground lines. Although some embodiments of GPS provide an accuracy of less than one inch, these measurements cannot be made in real time as the receiver of the locator is moved at reasonable rates spatially over the area of interest.
Another problem in the field of underground line location is the need to keep track of the position of buried lines over periods that last more than a few hours or days. Presently, operators who perform underground line location often mark the location of the line by painting lines on the ground above the buried line. However, it is often necessary to locate the lines with respect to landmarks in the vicinity of the lines in the event that the paint wears away or is moved. At present line locations are maintained by using a tape measure or other external measuring devices to create lines between the landmarks or remaining painted lines. However, as stated above, the accuracy required for line location often needs to be less than one inch. Tape measures used in this fashion do not provide the required level of accuracy. Further, the length of time required to obtain accurate positional data for line locator measurements using a tape measure is generally prohibitive.
Therefore, there is a need for a line locating system capable of measuring the strength of an electromagnetic field and simultaneously and accurately measuring the spatial position associated with the measurement of field strength. There is also a need for a line locating system that can accurately maintain a determination of the location of underground lines for long periods of time so that those lines can be determined at a later date.

Buried line locator with integral position sensing


A system and method for acquiring three-dimensional (3-D) images of a scene. The system includes a projection device for projecting a locally unique pattern (LUP) onto a scene, and sensors for imaging the scene containing the LUP at two or more viewpoints. A computing device matches corresponding pixels in the images by using the local uniqueness of the pattern to produce a disparity map. A range map can then be generated by triangulating points in the imaged scene.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to systems and methods for acquiring three-dimensional images, and more particularly to systems and methods for acquiring three-dimensional images by stereo techniques.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of 3-D imaging systems plays an increasingly important role in applications such as computer graphics, medical imaging, and automated manufacturing and inspection. To acquire a 3-D image, it is necessary to determine the distance or range to points in a scene (a region to be imaged, typically containing one or more objects). While the specific requirements of 3-D imaging systems will depend in part on the application for which it is used, desirable characteristics and properties of a 3-D imaging system common to many applications include the ability to generate dense, highly accurate range maps, rapid image acquisition, robustness to variations of surface properties and illumination, and precise correlation of range with spectral information.
References in the art disclose disparate approaches to acquiring 3-D images within a scene. These approaches may be broadly categorized into two types: passive and active. Passive 3-D imaging techniques do not require the introduction of additional radiant energy into the imaged scene. A first group of passive techniques utilizes multiple cameras, each camera capturing an image of the scene from a unique viewpoint. The resultant images are analyzed by feature-based or area-based matching methods. The foregoing group of passive techniques has the disadvantage of producing inaccuracies and/or dropouts in the range map corresponding to areas of the scene where there is little texture or inadequate illumination. Another group of passive techniques involves imaging the scene from multiple focal lengths and identifying, for each point, the focal length producing the sharpest focus. The range to the point can then be calculated utilizing the monotonic relationship between range and focal length. This group of techniques (deemed "range-to-focus" techniques) suffers from the aforementioned problem of dropouts/low accuracy in the range map associated with areas of little texture or inadequate illumination; furthermore, range-to-focus techniques are slow due to the number of images that must be captured.
Active 3-D imaging techniques are based on the introduction of additional radiant energy into the imaged scene. Active 3-D imaging techniques may be organized into three groups: time-of-flight, single-camera, and multiple-camera. Time-of-flight techniques measure (typically by direct timing or phase shift) the time required for light to travel from a source to a point in the scene and thereafter to a detector. These techniques require long acquisition times (because they require scanning of the light source over objects in the scene), utilize expensive equipment, and exhibit difficulty in correlating measured range with spectral data. Single-camera techniques involve the projection of structured light onto points in a scene imaged by the single camera. The source of the projected light provides one of the positions used for calculating range by triangulation, and the structure of the light identifies the particular projection point. Examples of such techniques include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,428 to Pipitone et al., System and Method for. High Resolution Range Imaging with Split Light Source and Pattern Mask, and in U.S. Pat. No. 4,648,717 to Ross et al., Method of Three-Dimensional Measurement with Few Projected Patterns. The projected light may take one of three forms: a single dot or plane sequentially scanned over the scene; a grid of lines, or; a spatially coded pattern. While the single camera techniques may produce useful results in applications where background lighting can be carefully controlled, they suffer from lack of robustness (resulting in dropouts or regions of low accuracy) in the absence of controlled background lighting.
Active multiple-camera techniques are similar to the passive multiple-camera techniques outlined above, with the addition of a projected structured light pattern onto the scene to assist in matching corresponding pixels in the plural images. A commonly used active multiple-camera technique (described, for example in Morano et al., Structured Light Using Pseudorandom Codes) uses projection of randomly generated light patterns. A problem with the use of random patterns is that large match windows (the use of which tends to miss or distort details of imaged surfaces) are required to ensure that accurate correspondences are computed. Further, the randomized nature of the light pattern means that its properties cannot be guaranteed, leading to matching failures and consequent dropouts.
Another group of active multi-camera techniques employs light patterns having spatially varying wavelengths. In accordance with these techniques, the light incident on a point within a scene has a spectral composition different from its neighboring points, which assists in identifying corresponding points in the plural images. Examples of techniques of this general description include those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,621,529 to Gordon et al., Apparatus and Method for Projecting Laser Pattern with Reduced Speckle Noise, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,493,095 to Song et al., Optional 3D Digitizer, System and Method for Digitizing an Object. However, the degree of assistance to the matching process provided by projection of this type of light pattern is limited due to the similarity of the light projected on adjacent pixels. In addition, regions having rapid variation in illumination or surface albedo create additional ambiguity in the matching process. Taken together, these limitations work to create regions in which the matching fails, resulting in dropouts.
In view of the foregoing discussion, there is a need for a 3-D image acquisition system that that overcomes the problems or deficiencies associated with existing techniques.

Acquisition of three-dimensional images by an active stereo technique using locally unique patterns


A true random number generator including a transistor, a first voltage source, a second voltage source, and a comparator. The transistor has a first electrode, a second electrode, and a third electrode. Two of the electrodes are electrically connected by a channel of conductive nanomaterial. The first voltage source is electrically connected to the first electrode and the second voltage source is electrically connected to the second electrode. The comparator is electrically connected to the third electrode and is configured to classify a measured electrical property at the third electrode as either HIGH or LOW based on a comparison of the measured electrical property with a reference value. The measured electrical property varies over time due to random telegraph signals (RTSs) due to defects in the transistor.

Random number generators are ubiquitous in data, communication, radar, and simulation applications. Current methods of random number generation include both pseudo-random number generators and true random number generators. Pseudo-random number generators (PRNG) use a mathematical algorithm to transform an input, known as a seed, into a pseudo-random sequence. Disadvantages to this approach include that pseudo-random sequences are deterministic, periodic, and can be correlated. PRNGs can be vulnerable to brute force attacks such as: (1) where the attacker exhaustively tries all combinations to determine the key/algorithm to break encryption; (2) input-based attacks, where the attacker uses known or chosen inputs to break encryption; and (3) state compromise extension attacks, where the attacker puts the PRNG into a known state that can compromise previous, current, or future encryption. True random generators use random natural phenomenon to generate random sequences. Current approaches may include noise in electronic devices, atmospheric variations, radiation decay times, and photon detection. Disadvantages to these approaches can include large size, high power requirements, limited bit-rate compared to PRNG, and environmental vulnerabilities (e.g. radiation and high temperature). A need exists for an improved random number generator.

Nanomaterial-based true random number generator

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


A computer implemented method for a tracking platform comprises receiving a plurality of data records for the financial instrument; determining a number of units of the futures contract associated with a starting capital amount based on the near settlement price of the data record with the earliest timestamp; processing the data records in sequence based on the timestamp by setting a value for a roll indicator; updating the number of units of the financial instrument if necessary; and determining a profit and loss (“PNL”) for the data record based on the number of units of the financial instrument and a change in settlement price; calculating a tracking value for the financial instrument based on the PNLs of the processed data records; and generating at least one financial instrument having a value that is determined from the calculated tracking value.

A futures contract provides a mechanism to buy or sell a particular commodity or asset (an underlying asset) at a predetermined price at a specified time in the future. Because futures contracts specify many of the contract conditions (e.g., particular terms such as units, or the underlying asset), they are standardized contracts. Some users buy (or sell) futures contracts because they wish to obtain (or deliver) the underlying asset at the price and time specified in the standardized futures contract. However, other users buy (or sell) futures contracts with the sole intention to sell (or buy) the futures contracts to earn profits based on a price movement of the futures contracts. Others buy or sell futures contracts to hedge or offset risks. Regardless, there is a large class of users that engage in futures trading who have no intention or desire to acquire or sell the underlying asset. For these users, many aspects of futures trading represent computational, logistical and/or administrative difficulties.
For example, futures contracts are typically divided into several (e.g., four) expiry dates throughout the year. When the date for a futures contract expires, that contract cannot be traded. Holding a contract past the expiration date triggers obligations for the futures contract holder to purchase (or sell) the underlying asset. Users who do not wish to buy or sell the underlying asset roll their contracts that are close to expiring (i.e., a near month) to a different month (e.g., a deferred month) to avoid the costs and obligations associated with settlement of the contracts. Rolling futures contracts can be a computational burden on computer systems of traders who simply want to participate in futures contract trading as asset managers, e.g., traders who do not want to actually take delivery of, or deliver, an underlying asset.
Moreover, futures contracts are standardized, so traders buy and sell futures contracts in the units in which the futures contract is offered, or made available for trading by a futures exchange. For example, an exchange computing system such as the CME may offer a futures contract for crude oil that specifies 1,000 barrels of crude oil. An exchange computing system that lists futures contracts does not typically allow traders to buy or sell fractions of futures contracts. A trader accordingly cannot use the crude oil futures contract to take a position in 1,200 barrels. A trader can only buy or sell whole (non-decimal/non-fractional) units of the futures contract. If a trader has an influx of additional cash to be invested, he/she may not be able to allocate all of that cash in the futures contract. The cash may remain unused (idle cash) in the trader's account.
As the value of the futures contract varies (with the changing price), a trader may then wish to use up the unused cash. The trader would accordingly need to change his or her positions to ensure that the cash can be fully utilized. A trader may need to modify his/her positions several times, leading to the trader's computer constantly or frequently computing when idle cash can be utilized/fully allocated and submitting potentially numerous electronic data transaction request messages to the exchange computing system to effect the desired changes in position.
Many other inefficiencies which will be described in further detail below make futures contract trading difficult, inconvenient, and computationally expensive for asset managers who have no desire to buy or sell the underlying asset of a futures contract. It is desirable to be able to buy and sell a financial instrument that replicates some of the qualities of futures contract trading without the computational, administrative and logistical difficulties of futures contract trading.

Apparatuses, methods and systems for a tracking platform for standardized instruments


There is provided an image forming apparatus including: an image forming unit; a fixing unit; a motor; a transmission device configured to transmit a driving power from the motor with a speed transmission ratio selectable from a first speed transmission ratio and a second speed transmission ratio; and a control unit configured to control the transmission device to set the speed transmission ratio to one of the first speed transmission ratio and the second speed transmission ratio by controlling the transmission device to switch a connection state being set by a connection mechanism into one of a connected state and a disconnected state.

Conventionally, there has been known an image forming apparatus configured to keep an amount of slackness of a sheet conveyed through between an image forming unit and a fixing unit within a predetermined range. The image forming apparatus includes a motor configured to generate a driving power for driving a fixing unit, a sensor provided between the image forming unit and the fixing unit and configured to detect an amount of slackness of the sheet and a control unit configured to control a rotating speed of the motor based on a detection result of the sensor and to adjust a conveying speed of the fixing unit.
In order to simplify the entire control of the image forming apparatus, it would be more preferable to configure the image forming apparatus to have a capability to adjust a sheet conveying speed in the fixing unit without controlling the rotating speed of the motor.


In a crimped hose, a length of rubber tubing is crimped into a blind-ended ferrule. To determine whether the tubing has been fully inserted, a dimple is pressed into the ferrule. The force needed to produce the dimple is small or large, depending whether the rubber is inserted properly, and the difference is large enough to serve as a detector. Measuring the dimple-force provides a commercially-useful test for proper insertion.

Often, in such joints, the crimp-ferrule is blind-ended, whereby it is impossible to see whether the tubing is fully inserted into the ferrule, neither before nor after the crimping operation has been carried out. The possible consequence of improper insertion of the rubber tubing into the ferrule is that the connection is liable to premature failure, i.e to leak, or even to burst apart.
It has been the traditional practice to provide a sight-hole in the crimp-ferrule, at or near the blind end thereof, for inspection purposes. The sight-hole, or witness-hole, provides a window through which an inspector can determine whether rubber is or is not present within. The sight-hole is located at a place where, if rubber is visible through the sight-hole, that fact is an indication that the hose has been fully, i.e properly, inserted.
It is notoriously difficult for even the most conscientious inspector, upon visually checking thousands of hose connections, to pick out the tiny fraction in which the rubber is not visible through the sight-hole. However, hitherto, it has not proved practically reliable to detect the presence or absence of rubber, through the sight-hole, by the use of automatic detection equipment.
The invention is aimed at providing, in a hose connection to a pipe or other fitting, a test for detecting whether the rubber tubing has been fully inserted into the ferrule. One aim is to provide a test that is operable automatically, and is highly reliable at detecting the difference between proper and improper insertion.

Dimple test for detecting improperly inserted hose


A system that provides a bimanual user interface in which an input device is provided for each of the users hands, a left hand (LH) device and a right hand (RH) device. The input devices are used in conjunction with a large format, upright, human scale display at which the user can stand and upon which the input devices are moved. The positions of the input devices on the display are marked by displayed cursors. The system detects the position of the input devices relative to the display and draws a vector corresponding to unfastened tape between positions of cursors of the corresponding input devices and pointing from the LH device to the RH device. By changing the state of the LH input device the unfastened tape can be fastened or pinned along the vector as the user moves the LH device toward the RH device. By changing the state of the RH device, the tape can be unfastened by moving the LH device away from the RH device. Straight lines are drawn by holding the RH fixed while the LH pins the tape. Curves are drawn by moving the RH device while the LH device pins the tape. The switch between straight and curved lines occurs without an explicit mode switch simply by keeping the RH device fixed or moving it. The radius of the curvature of curved lines corresponds to the separation between the LH and RH devices. The RH device can also be used to cut the tape and remove it from the display.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to a computer tool designed to enhance and replace the physical tape drawing process used in design studios and, more particularly, is directed to tool operation on a large scale display screen, with two handheld input sensors which allows for a smooth modeless transition between creating straight lines and curves.
2. Description of the Related Art
Designers in the automobile industry have traditionally created concept sketches of cars on large scale upright surfaces (walls) that preserve a 1—1 or "full-size" scale factor between the sketch and the final physical car. The main reason for these full-size upright sketches is that designers and managers want to determine and evaluate the principle curves of a design as early as possible in the design process. Working at 1—1 scale is critical to this, if one wants to avoid the unpleasant "surprises" that might otherwise occur if work were done at a reduced scale or on a conventional CRT, for example. While these measures may seem extreme, it is important to recognize that the product being designed could cost up to $1 billion to bring to market. As such, minimizing mistakes is of utmost importance.
An interesting aspect of these concept sketches is that they are created not by using pencils and paint, but mainly by laying down black drafters tape that feels like common masking tape on the drawing surface.
This style of sketching with drafters tape, called "tape drawing", is achieved by using the everyday skills of unrolling the tape with one hand and sliding the other hand along the tape while fastening it on the surface. Even though the mechanics of this naturally two-handed technique are easily explained, the artwork created by experienced practitioners reflects a level of skill that is on a par with any other artistic medium.
Tape drawing has several fundamental advantages over free-form sketching with a pencil, given the large scale size of the sketches. Firstly, it is difficult to draw, freehand, straight lines and smooth continuous curves at this scale. Physical aids such as rulers and french curves would assist the process, however, they would have to be of similar large scale which unfortunately makes them unwieldy for upright use. Drawing with tape, on the other hand, easily facilitates the generation of perfectly straight lines and, due to the slight elasticity of the tape which allows it to be deformed, smooth continuous curves as well. The freehand nature of the interaction is maintained, and yet the tape's capabilities help regulate the user's actions to allow for creation of smooth continuous lines. In addition, tape drawing has the benefit of easily undoing actions and editing compared to drawing with pencils or markers. An undo is achieved simply by lifting the tape off the surface. Editing is performed in two ways: first, by lifting the tape off the surface and relaying it, and second, by tearing off strips of tape and replacing the strips with new tape as required.
While the advantages inherent in drawing with tape have ensured its place in the automotive design process, there are nonetheless several problems with this medium.
Firstly, of all the artists working on the initial design, the skill of the tape artist is the farthest removed from traditional computer graphics systems, and yet, the results of their work must eventually be transferred into the computer. While the resolution and fidelity of the tape from both the input and output perspectives are extremely high, there is no easy way to retain this fidelity when transferring the information to electronic formats. Currently, this transfer process is done laboriously by digitizing the key curves of the tape drawing using a hand-held position sensor and then recreating these curves in a CAD package. This transfer process invariably introduces inaccuracies in the electronic version which then have to be identified and removed. Also, since designers create multiple 2D tape drawings which represent different views (such as a front view and side view) of the under-lying 3D vehicle, these 2D drawings have to be integrated when creating the final 3D model of the vehicle. This integration requires careful alignment and matching of the primary curves of the model, a process that can also introduce errors.
The second major problem with tape drawings is the difficulty in storing and retrieving old drawings. These drawings are typically done on stretched Mylar surfaces which when untacked or removed from the wall contract and distort the drawing. Yet, this must frequently be done to accommodate changes in the engineering drawings that typically underlay the Mylar surface on which the tape drawing is done. Once the drawing is taken down, the purity and accuracy of the original drawing cannot be maintained. Also, the tape itself tends to fall off the Mylar surface after a period of time.
Finally, the physical nature of these drawings preclude easy sharing of design information between different design studios.
What is needed is a digital tape drawing system that will alleviate these disadvantages of physical tape drawing and which would reduce the errors when transferring, retrieving and storing the tape drawings. An electronic system could also provide functionality beyond what is possible using the traditional media.
However, given the aversion of most tape artists to current computer modeling software that require them to learn new skills unrelated to their art, what is needed is a system that will retain the simplicity, fluidity, and capabilities of the physical tape drawing techniques.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


This non-contact power supply system contactlessly supplies power by means of magnetic coupling between a power receiving coil (22) provided in a vehicle (200) and a power-transmission coil (12) on the power supply device (100) side. This non-contact power supply system is provided with a first communication means which wirelessly communicates between the vehicle (200) and the power supply device (100) in order to detect the distance therebetween, and a second communication means which performs wireless communication in order to detect the relative position of the power receiving coil (22) and the power transmission coil (12). The second communication means is started when the distance between the vehicle (200) and the power transmission device (100), measured by the first communication means, is shorter than a prescribed distance.

A remote control device is known which controls wirelessly a controlled section by operation of a portable, wherein the controlled section is provided at a body section (see patent document 1). The body section includes an electromagnetic wave generation section and a receiver, wherein the electromagnetic wave generation section generates an electromagnetic wave from a power feeding coil. The portable includes a direct current power generation means, a secondary battery, and a transmitter, wherein the direct current power generation means receives the electromagnetic wave by a power receiving coil and generates direct current power based on the electromagnetic wave, and wherein the secondary battery is charged by the direct current power generation means. This remote control device receives by the receiver a secret code that is outputted and sent from the transmitter by radio waves, and controls operation upon matching of the secret code.
However, in this prior art, the signal sending and receipt by radio waves between the receiver and the transmitter may cause a radio wave interference with surrounding wireless devices.

Non-contact power supply device, vehicle, and non-contact power supply system


A weight distributing and sway controlling hitch assembly for towing a trailer behind a vehicle includes a hitch bar for mounting to a vehicle. The hitch assembly also includes a ball mount head carried on the hitch bar and a hitch connector carried on the ball mount head. A pair of spring bar retaining brackets are mounted to and project outwardly from the trailer. A pair of friction pads are also provided. One friction pad is mounted to each spring bar retaining bracket. Additionally, the hitch assembly includes a pair of shoes, each of the shoes being received on one of the pair of friction pads while allowing relative sliding movement thereto. Still further, the hitch assembly includes a pair of spring bars for distributing trailer weight relative to the vehicle. Each of the spring bars includes a proximal end mounted to the ball mount head and a distal end for engaging one of the shoes. Preferably, each spring bar retaining bracket is substantially L-shaped and carries one of these friction pads on a first leg and a trailer fastener on a second leg.

Hitch assemblies for more evenly distributing the tongue weight of a trailer over the front and rear axles of a towing vehicle are well known in the art. A particularly advanced design of weight distributing hitch assembly is disclosed in the assignee's issued U.S. Pat. No. 5,375,872 to Kass et al. entitled "Weight Distributing Hitch". This hitch assembly includes a hitch bar for receipt in a receiver mounted to the vehicle and a ball mount head for mounting on the hitch bar at a selected tilt angle. A pair of spring bars are mounted at their proximal end to the ball mount head. The distal ends of these spring bars are connected by means of cooperating lift units and chains to the frame of the trailer. Such state of the art lift units are exemplified by Reese Products, Inc. product number 21160 incorporating a body that is mounted to the trailer frame, a chain hook with pivoting locking lever and a safety pin for securing the chain hook and lever in an operative position. As is known in the art, the amount of leveling or load transfer to the front axle of the vehicle is adjusted by the selection of the tilt angle of the ball mount head and the engagement of different links of the chains with the chain hooks of the lift units.
While such an arrangement is effective for its intended purpose, it should also be appreciated that the state of the art lift unit connection between the spring bars and trailer frame provides little or no effective means of resisting or controlling trailer sway: that is, undesirable lateral movement of the trailer relative to the towing vehicle. In fact, such sway may arise as a result of a number of factors often encountered during towing operation including uneven, rough and/or winding road conditions; gusty cross-wind weather conditions, uneven trailer loading conditions; and/or result from inherently incompatible trailer and towing vehicle suspension characteristics. Accordingly, a need is also identified for a weight distributing hitch assembly that provides some inherent control of trailer sway to maximize driver confidence, comfort and control during towing.

Weight distributing and sway controlling hitch assembly


According to some embodiments, a system and method for a parallel join of relational data tables may be provided by calculating, by a plurality of concurrently executing execution threads, hash values for join columns of a first input table and a second input table; storing the calculated hash values in a set of disjoint thread-local hash maps for each of the first input table and the second input table; merging the set of thread-local hash maps of the first input table, by a second plurality of execution threads operating concurrently, to produce a set of merged hash maps; comparing each entry of the merged hash maps to each entry of the set of thread-local hash maps for the second input table to determine whether there is a match, according to a join type; and generating an output table including matches as determined by the comparing.

A number of presently developed and developing computer systems include multiple processors in an attempt to provide increased computing performance. Advances in computing performance, including for example processing speed and throughput, may be provided by parallel computing systems and devices as compared to single processing systems that sequentially process programs and instructions.
For parallel join processes, a number of approaches have been proposed. However, the previous approaches each include sequential operations and/or synchronization operations such as, locking, to avoid inconsistencies or lapses in data coherency. Thus, prior proposed solutions for parallel join operations and processes in parallel computation environments with shared memory either contain a sequential step(s) and/or require some sort of synchronization on the data structures.
Accordingly, a method and mechanism for efficiently processing join processes in parallel computation environments are provided by some embodiments herein.

Hash-join in parallel computation environments


The disclosure provides a pixel driving circuit suitable for high pixel density. The pixel driving circuit includes a switching transistor, the switching transistor adopts a dual gate field effect transistors, the dual gate field effect transistors includes a first gate electrode and a second gate electrode, and the first gate and the second gate are connected to the same scan line. The present disclosure also includes a pixel structure and a manufacture method thereof suitable for high pixel density.

With the development of Virtual Reality (VR) technology, a requirement on the Pixel Per Inch (PPI) of a display panel has also gradually increased. A pixel (or a sub-pixel) is usually composed of a transistor driving circuit and a luminescent material, and the size of the transistor driving circuit needs to be further reduced in order to increase the PPI.

Pixel driving circuit, pixel structure and manufacturing method thereof

KunShan Go-Visionox Opto-Electronics Co., Ltd.