An optical disk apparatus for reproducing, or recording, information from plural types of information carriers, including: two or more light sources with different wavelengths; converging parts for converging light beams emitted from the light sources on the information carrier; movement parts for moving the converged light beam in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of the information carrier; convergence condition detection parts for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of the light beam on the information carrier; amplitude detection parts for measuring the amplitude of the convergence condition signal; and focus control parts for driving the movement parts in accordance with the convergence condition signal and performing control so that the convergence condition of the light beam on the information carrier becomes substantially constant. Upon start, or restart, the apparatus determines the type of loaded information carrier based on a signal from the amplitude detection parts.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical disk apparatus for optically recording signals to an information carrier and reproducing the recorded signals by using light beams from light sources, such as lasers.
2. Related Art of the Invention
Optical disk apparatuses for playing back CD audio and CD-ROM usually use a laser light source with a wavelength of 780 nm.
However, a laser light source with a wavelength of 650 nm is used for high-density optical discs (disks having higher density and larger capacity than CD, and simply referred to as SD).
An apparatus has been proposed, which is provided with a laser with a longer wavelength of 780 nm for CD, and a laser with a shorter wavelength of 650 nm for high-density disks, whereby the laser with the longer wavelength of 780 nm is used to play back CD and CD-R, and the laser with the shorter wavelength of 650 nm is used to play back the high-density disk, SD.
In such an apparatus, it is unknown whether the disk having been loaded in the apparatus is CD or a density disk, SD. To make distinction, each of the two lasers is turned on, and focus servo control and tracking control are carried out, thereby to check whether the disk can be played back or not.
However, in the case that CD-R has been loaded, if laser light with the shorter wavelength is cast, and focus control and tracking servo control are carried out, the light beam from the laser is usually converged and cast to an area ranging from a quarter to a half of one round on the recording film of the disk, thereby causing a problem of erasing recorded information. The erasure of the information is serious to the extent that it cannot be recovered even when error correction is attempted, and the information may not be reproduced. The erasure occurs because of the following reason. Since the organic dye layer of the CD-R has usually been designed to have an optimal reflection characteristic at 780 nm, if laser light with a 650 nm or less is cast, the light is not reflected but absorbed. Therefore, it is difficult to detect the intensity of the reflected light corresponding to information marked on the recording film and to reproduce the information. In addition, the spot of the light beam becomes small and has high power per unit area, and the recording film itself has an absorption characteristic, whereby the recorded information may be erased.
Furthermore, in the case of the above-mentioned conventional optical disk apparatus, when the CD playback speed is increased to 6xc3x97, 12xc3x97 and 24xc3x97, the wobbling acceleration and the eccentricity acceleration of the disk increase in proportion to the square of the playback speed (rotation speed) of the disk. As a result, the wobbling acceleration and the eccentricity acceleration may exceed the ranges made allowable by the gains of the focus control and tracking control depending on variations in the disk and variations in the chucking of the disk, whereby control cannot be pulled in, and a problem of disabling start may be caused.
Moreover, it is difficult for the spindle motor to have a constant torque characteristic in the range of high-speed rotation, such as 24xc3x97, to low-speed rotation, such as the standard speed. In addition, the spindle motor itself has variations. With these taken into consideration, the rotation control of the disk becomes unstable, and this unstable control causes jitter in reproduced signals, thereby causing a problem of low performance.
The present invention is intended to solve the problems encountered in the above-mentioned conventional art, and proposes a control method at the start of operation for reproduction (or recording) on CD, CD-R and novel high-density disks. In addition, the present invention also proposes a method of stably pulling in focus control and tracking control, and a method of stably carrying out rotation control, and provides an apparatus for playback and recording on novel high-density optical disks, as well as playback on CD at high performance.
In the present invention, distinction is generally made to determine the type of disk before focus control and tracking control. The converged beam of light thus strikes the recording surface of the disk for a very short time (several milliseconds). Even if one of information marks is lost as a result, the lost mark can be corrected sufficiently, whereby no problem is caused in the reproduction of information.
Furthermore, in an apparatus provided with two or more lasers with longer and shorter wavelengths in accordance with the present invention, for example, in an apparatus provided with three lasers, the light of a laser 1 with the longest wavelength is first cast, and distinction is made to determine whether a loaded disk is CD, CD-R or not in a condition without focus control and tracking control. If the disk is not CD, CD-R, the light of the laser 2 with the second longest wavelength is cast next, and distinction is made to determine whether the loaded disk is a high-density disk or not in the condition without focus control and tracking control in a similar way. If the disk is not a high-density disk, the light of the laser 3 with the shortest wavelength is cast, and distinction is made to determine whether the loaded disk is a super high-density disk or not in the condition without focus control and tracking control in a similar way. The distinction proceeds in this order. When the light of each laser is cast and when the loaded disk is determined to be the type of disk to be played back by using the laser as the result of the distinction, focus control and tracking control are carried out for the first time, whereby binary operation and error correction are carried out, and information on the disk is reproduced.
Furthermore, in the present invention, an apparatus with high reproduction power (reproduction-compatible apparatus for disks, such as CD-RW) is configured to carry out emission at low power during the above-mentioned distinction. Therefore, even if laser light with a shorter wavelength should be cast to a disk, such as CD-R or the like, because of an error in the distinction, information can be prevented completely from being erased.
Next, configurations relating to the present application will be described below.
The first configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, an amplitude detection means for measuring the amplitude of said signal of said convergence condition detection means, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when one of said light sources with a predetermined wavelength is turned on, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of a signal from said amplitude detection means; if said light source with said predetermined wavelength is not compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier having been subjected to the distinction, another light source with a different wavelength is turned on, and said apparatus eventually finds a light source compatible with the type of said located information carrier and then drives said focus control means.
With the above-mentioned first configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, a laser with a wavelength of 780 nm used as the light source with a longer wavelength for CD, CD-R is turned on, and the light beam generated from the laser passes through a converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to a loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. In addition, a focus actuator used as the movement means is driven, and the amplitude of a focus error signal (FE), which is delivered from the convergence condition detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is compared with a predetermined distinction value to make distinction to determine whether the optical disk is CD, CD-R or SD. If the loaded optical disk is CD, CD-R, focus control and tracking control are carried out immediately, information (TOC information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached. If the loaded optical disk is SD other than CD, the light source with a wavelength of 780 nm is turned off once, and another light source with a shorter wavelength (for example 650 nm) is turned on. The light beam generated from the light source passes through the converging leans used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to the loaded optical disk used as the information carrier, focus control and tracking control are carried out, information (control track information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached.
The second configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, a total light amount detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the amount of light reflected from said information carrier, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when one of said light sources with a predetermined wavelength is turned on, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of a signal from said total light amount detection means; if said light source with said predetermined wavelength is not compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier having been subjected to the distinction, another light source with a different wavelength is turned on, and said apparatus eventually finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and then drives said focus control means.
With the above-mentioned second confirmation in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, a laser with a wavelength of 780 nm used as the light source with a longer wavelength for CD, CD-R is turned on, and the light beam generated from the light source passes through a converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to a loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. In addition, a focus actuator used as the movement means is driven, and the amplitude of a total light amount signal (AS), which is delivered from the total light amount detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is compared with a predetermined distinction value to make distinction to determine whether the optical disk is CD, CD-R or SD. If the loaded optical disk is CD, CD-R, focus control and tracking control are carried out immediately, information (TOC information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached. If the loaded optical disk is SD other than CD, the light source with a wavelength of 780 NM is turned off once, and another light source with a shorter wavelength (for example 650 nm) is turned on. The light beam generated from the light source passes through the converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to the loaded optical disk used as the information carrier, focus control and tracking control are carried out, information (control track information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached.
The third configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carrier or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, a reproduction signal detection means for detecting the amplitude of an information signal recorded on said information carrier or the amplitude of a signal obtained by the envelope detection of said information signal, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when one of said light sources with a predetermined wavelength is turned on, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of a signal from said reproduction signal detection means; if said light source with said predetermined wavelength is not compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier having been subjected to the distinction, another light source with a different wavelength is turned on, and said apparatus eventually finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and then drives said focus control means.
With the above-mentioned third configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, a laser with a wavelength of 780 nm used as the light source with a longer wavelength for CD, CD-R is turned on, and the light beam generated from the light source passes through a converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to a loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. In addition, a focus actuator used as the movement means is driven, and the amplitude of an RF envelope signal (RFENV), which is delivered from the reproduction signal detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is compared with a predetermined distinction value to make distinction to determine whether the optical disk is CD, CD-R or SD. If the loaded optical disk is CD, CD-R, focus control and tracking control are carried out immediately, information (TOC information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached. If the loaded optical disk is SD other than CD, the light source with a wavelength of 780 nm is turned off once, and another light source with a shorter wavelength (for example 650 nm) is turned on. The light beam generated from the light source passes through the converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to the loaded optical disk used as the information carrier, focus control and tracking control are carried out, information (control track information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached.
The fourth configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising a rotation means for rotating said information carrier, two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, and a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, wherein at the start or restart of said apparatus and with said rotation means remained nonoperable, when each of said light sources is turned on and light with a wavelength corresponding to said light source is cast, and when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, said apparatus makes distinction between the presence or absence of said information carrier on the basis of a signal obtained from a predetermined means is: (1) a signal from said convergence condition detection means, (2) a total light amount signal corresponding to the amount of light reflected from said information carrier, (3) an information signal recorded on said information carrier or a signal obtained by the envelope detection of said information signal, or a signal obtained by combining a plurality of signals of these signals.
With the above-mentioned fourth configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, while a spindle motor used as the optical disk rotation means is stopped, a laser with a longer wavelength of 780 nm is turned on first, a converging lens used as the converging means is moved up and down (close to and away from) with respect to a disk by driving a focus actuator used as the first movement means, the amplitudes of a focus error signal, a total light amount signal, signal RF and the like generated during the movement are detected. On the basis of the detected values, the apparatus makes distinction to determine whether a disk has been loaded or not. Next, a laser with a shorter wavelength of 650 nm is turned on, the converging lens used as the converging means is moved up and down (close to and away from) with respect to a disk by driving the focus actuator used as the first movement means, and the amplitudes of the focus error signal, the total light amount signal, the signal RF and the like generated during the movement are detected. On the basis of the detected values, the apparatus makes distinction to determined whether a disk has been loaded or not. As described above, the distinction is made by using the lasers with different wavelengths. Therefore, if a disk has been loaded, the detected amplitudes become significant when either of the lasers is active, whereby the accuracy of detection and distinction can be improved. Furthermore, since the spindle motor is stopped, even if the laser light with the shorter wavelength is cast to a dye-based disk, such as CD-R, the spot of the light can be limited to an error correctable size of a few microns or less, whereby a problem of recorded data damage can be prevented. In addition, since the turntable for accommodating a disk and the clamp for holding the disk are not rotated during the distinction, it is possible to prevent noised and damage which may be caused if the turntable and the clamp are rotated while no disk is loaded.
The fifth configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, an amplitude detection means for measuring the amplitude of said signal of said convergence condition detection means, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, and when each of said light sources is turned on and light with a wavelength corresponding to said light source is cast, a signal obtained from said amplitude detection means in this emission condition is stored in a storage means, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of the data stored in said storage means, and said apparatus finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and the drives said focus control means.
With the above-mentioned fifth configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, a laser with a wavelength of 780 nm used as the light source with a longer wavelength for CD, CD-R is turned on, and the light beam generated from the light sources passes through a converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to a loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. In addition, a focus actuator used as the movement means is driven, the amplitude of a focus error signal (FE), which is delivered from the convergence condition detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is stored in a DSP, RAM in a microcomputer or the like used as the storage means. Next, the light source with a wavelength of 780 nm is turned off once, and another light source with a shorter wavelength (for example 60 nm) is turned on. The light beam generated from the light source passes through the converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to the loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. The focus actuator is driven, and the amplitude of a focus error signal (FE), which is delivered form the convergence condition detection mean and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is stored in the DSP, RAM in the microcomputer or the like used as the storage means. The stored amplitude values of the signals FE are compared with each other and subjected to arithmetic operation to make distinction to determine the type of the loaded disk. Depending on the result of the distinction, predetermined starting parameters are set. Focus control and tracking control are carried out, information (TOC information, control track information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached.
The sixth configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two or more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, a total light amount detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the amount of light reflected from said information carrier, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away from said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, and when each of said light sources is turned on and light with a wavelength corresponding to said light source is cast, a signal obtained from said total light amount detection means in this emission condition is stored in a storage means, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of the data stored in said storage means, and said apparatus finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and then drives said focus control means.
With the above-mentioned sixth configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, a laser with a wavelength of 780 nm used as the light source with a longer wavelength for CD, CD-R is turned on, and the light beam generated from the light source passes through a converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to a loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. In addition, a focus actuator used as the movement means is driven, and the amplitude of a total light amount signal (AS), which is delivered from the total light amount detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is stored in a DSP, RAM in a microcomputer or the like used as the storage means. Next, the light source with a wavelength of 70 nm is turned off once, and another light source with a shorter wavelength (for example 650 nm) is turned on. The light beam generated from the light source passes through the converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to the loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. The focus actuator is driven, and the amplitude of a total light amount signal (AS), which is delivered from the total light amount detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is stored in the DSP, RAM in the microcomputer or the like used as the storage means. The stored amplitude values of the signals AS are compared with each other and subjected to arithmetic operation to make distinction to determine the type of the loaded disk. Depending on the result of the distinction, predetermined starting parameters are set. Focus control and tracking control are carried out, information (TOC information, control track information and the like) on the optical disk is red, and a standby condition is reached.
The seventh configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus for reproducing information from plural types of information carriers or for recording information to plural types of information carriers, comprising two more light sources with different wavelengths, a converging means for converging a light beam emitted from each of said light sources on said information carrier, a movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a convergence condition detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, a reproduction signal detection means for detecting the amplitude of an information signal recorded on said information carrier or the amplitude of a signal obtained by the envelope detection of said information signal, and a focus control means for driving said movement means in accordance with said output signal of said convergence condition detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, wherein at the start or restart of said apparatus, before said focus control means is driven, when said movement means is driven to move said converging means close to and then away form said information carrier or away from and then close to said information carrier, and when each of said light sources is turned on and light with a wavelength corresponding to said light source is cast, a signal obtained from said reproduction signal detection means in this emission condition is stored in a storage means, said apparatus makes distinction to determine the type of said loaded information carrier on the basis of the data stored in said storage means, and said apparatus finds a light source compatible with the type of said loaded information carrier and then drives said focus control means.
With the above-mentioned seventh configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, a laser with a wavelength of 780 nm used as the light source with a longer wavelength for CD, CD-R is turned on, and the light beam generated from the light source passes through a converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to a loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. In addition, a focus actuator used as the movement means is driven, and the amplitude of an RF envelope signal (RFENC), which is delivered from the reproduction signal detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is stored in a DSP, RAM in a microcomputer or the like used as the storage means. Next, the light source with a wavelength of 780 nm is turned off once, and another light source with a shorter wavelength is turned off once, and another light source with a shorter wavelength is turned on. The light beam generated from the light source passes through the converging lens used as the converging means, and is converged and cast to the loaded optical disk used as the information carrier. The focus actuator is driven, and the amplitude of an RF envelope signal (RFENV), which is delivered from the reproduction signal detection means and obtained when the light beam is moved close to and away from the optical disk, is measured. The measured value is stored in the DSP, RAM in the microcomputer or the like used as the storage means. The stored amplitude values of the signals RFENV are compared with each other and subjected to arithmetic operation to make distinction to determine the type of the loaded disk. Depending on the result of the distinction, predetermined starting parameters are set. Focus control and tracking control are carried out, information (TOC information, control track information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached.
The eighth configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus comprising a rotation means for rotating an information carrier at a predetermined rotation speed, a converging means for converging a light beam on said information carrier, a first movement means for moving the converged spot of the said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a focus error detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, a focus control means for driving said first movement means in accordance with said output signal of said focus error detection means and for performing control so on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, a second movement means for moving said converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the track on said information carrier, a track error detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the relationship between said light beam and said track, and a tracking control means for driving said second movement means in accordance with said output signal of said track error detection means and for performing control so that said converged spot of said light beam on said information carrier properly scans along said track, wherein said focus control means or said tracking control means is activated at the start of said apparatus immediately after said rotation means is driven and before said information carrier reaches a predetermined rotation speed.
With the above-mentioned eighth configuration in accordance with the eighth optical disk apparatus of the present invention, before the rotation speed of an optical disk used as the information carrier reaches a predetermined value, that is, before eccentricity acceleration and wobbling acceleration become large, focus control and tracking control are carried out, and information (TOC, control track information and the like) on the optical disk is read. After the rotation speed reaches the predetermined value, a standby condition is reached.
The ninth configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus comprising a rotation means for rotating an information carrier at a predetermined rotation speed, a converging means for converging a light beam on said information carrier, a first movement means for moving the converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the surface of said information carrier, a focus error detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier, a focus control means for driving said first movement means in accordance with said output signal of said focus error detection means and for performing control so that the convergence condition of said light beam on said information carrier becomes substantially constant, a second movement means for moving said converged spot of said light beam converged by said converging means in a direction substantially perpendicular to the track on said information carrier, a track error detection means for outputting a signal corresponding to the relationship between said light beam and said track, and a tracking control means for driving said second movement means in accordance with said output signal of said track error detection means for performing control so that said converged spot of said light beam on said information carrier properly scans along said track, wherein if said focus control means or said tracking control means is unable to operate at the start of said apparatus after said information carrier has reached a predetermined rotation speed by using said rotation means, the rotation speed of said rotation means is reduced, and said focus control means or said tracking control means is activated again.
With the above-mentioned ninth configuration in accordance with the ninth optical disk apparatus of the present invention, an optical disk used as the information carrier is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed. At the rotation speed, focus control and tracking control are pulled in. If the pull-in ends in failure, and the focus control and tracking control are not activated, the rotation speed of the disk is lowered, and focus control and tracking control are pulled in again. If the focus control and tracking control are activated at the rotation speed, information (TOC, control track information and the like) on the optical disk is read, and a standby condition is reached.
The tenth configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus comprising a rotation means for rotating an information carrier, a rotation control means for performing control so that said rotation means is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed, a gain switching means for switching the gain of said rotation control means, a rotation speed measurement means for measuring the rotation speed of said rotation means, and a rotation speed switching time measurement means for measuring the time required until a predetermined first rotation speed is raised to a predetermined second rotation speed on the basis of the measured value of said rotation speed measurement means, wherein said gain is switched by said gain switching means on the basis of the measured value of said rotation speed switching time measurement means.
With the above-mentioned tenth configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, when an optical disk used as the information carrier is rotated at a predetermined rotation speed, the time required until a first rotation speed is raised to a second rotation speed is measured. The control gain for a spindle motor used as the rotation means is switched depending on the measured time.
The eleventh configuration of the present invention is an optical disk apparatus comprising rotation means for rotating a information carrier, rotation control means for making a rotation speed of said rotation means at a predetermined value, gain switching means for changing a gain of said rotation control means, rotation speed measurement means for measuring the rotation speed of said rotation means, rotation changing period measurement means for measuring such a period that said measured rotation speed becomes a second predetermined speed form a first predetermined speed on the basis of the output of said apparatus judges the presence or absence of said information carrier on the basis of said time required until the rotation speed of said rotation changing period measurement means.
With the above-mentioned eleventh configuration in accordance with the optical disk apparatus of the present invention, when an optical disk used as the information carrier is rotated t a predetermined rotation speed, the time required until a first rotation speed is raised to a second rotation speed is measured. Whether a disk has been loaded or not is determined depending on the measured value. Therefore, the presence or absence of a disk can be determined in a period between the time when the motor is rotated and the time when the rotation speed of the motor reaches the predetermined value, whereby the time for starting can be shortened.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


According to one embodiment, a cargo inspection method includes transporting a first guideway vehicle over a guideway from a first inspection station to a second inspection station. A first non-intrusive scanning mechanism associated with the first inspection station is used to acquire a first set of data associated with cargo stored in the first guideway vehicle. The first set of data acquired by the first non-intrusive scanning mechanism associated with the first inspection station is analyzed to determine the identity of the cargo stored on the first guideway vehicle. The first set of data acquired by the first non-intrusive scanning mechanism is compared with a first manifest that describes the cargo that is declared to be stored on the first guideway vehicle. It is determined that the first guideway vehicle contains contraband cargo if the identity of the cargo does not match the first manifest.

Various transport mechanisms may be used for the transport of products from producers to consumers. Examples of such mechanisms include trucks that travel over a roadway, ships that move over bodies of water, and guideway vehicles that travel over land-based guideway systems. Whereas trucks may be efficient for transporting products relatively short distances, guideway systems may be more practical for transporting large quantities of products over relatively long distances. In contrast to typical railway systems that use a pair of rails, a guideway system include a single guideway made of a structurally rigid material. Automated transport vehicles are guided over the guideway along a predetermined path.
Regardless of the mechanism used, various difficulties, such as theft and/or inclusion of contraband materials, may be encountered during the shipment of products from one location to another. Previous solutions to the problems include the inspection of the products and/or containers before and after shipment. However, inspection is relatively difficult to implement where large quantities of products are transported and/or where multiple transport mechanisms have been used. This may be particularly true where the transport of the goods is across international borders.


Disclosed is a combined shade and backpack. The combined shade and backpack includes: a backpack frame configured to come into contact with and be supported on the back part of a user, and adapted such that an accommodation part is fastened thereto; a shade body part including a fixed frame detachably disposed on the upper side of the backpack frame, a folding frame foldably disposed on the fixed frame, and a shade frame disposed to be inclined to the folding frame; stopper members configured to fix a rotated state of the folding frame; a shade cover configured to cover spaces among the fixed frame, the folding frame, and the shade frame; and a rotating fan disposed on the shape frame, and configured to provide forced air blowing to the head part of the user.

In general, travel backpacks have a volume and size that allow carrying, unlike bulky or heavy bags, and are equipped with straps that can be worn on the shoulder or the back.
Backpacks are intended to carry various items needed by a user when hiking, traveling a long distance, or taking a light trip such as taking a walk in a park.
Among the items carried in these backpacks, there are an umbrella, a parasol, and a raincoat.
An umbrella and a raincoat are intended to prepare for fall, such as rain or snow, during the trip, and a parasol is intended to prevent glare from strong sunlight in summer or daytime, or to reduce travel fatigue caused by strong light.
However, when an umbrella, a parasol, or a raincoat is carried in a backpack, problems arise in that the volume and weight of the backpack are increased, the hand is not free because the umbrella or parasol is supported with one hand, and a large amount of power is consumed to support the umbrella or parasol with the hand when wind blows.
(Patent Document 1) Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2015-0102891


A flame torch can be used to clean the surface of a contact-sensitive object, such as a glass optic, extremely thin workpiece, or semiconductor wafer by providing a reactive precursor gas to the feed gases of the torch. Reactive atom plasma processing can be used to clean the surface of a contaminant that chemically combines with the atomic radicals of the precursor without affecting the surface. The torch can also be used to modify the surface after cleaning, without transferring the object or engaging in any intermediate processing, by supplying a second reactive precursor that reacts with the surface itself. The flame torch can be used to shape, polish, etch, planarize, deposit, chemically modify and/or redistribute material on the surface of the object.

Modern materials present a number of formidable challenges to the fabricators of a wide range of optical, semiconductor, and electronic components, many of which require precision shaping, smoothing, and polishing. Further, such a component often requires the cleaning of at least one surface before or after a step in the fabrication process. Other components simply require a fine cleaning separate from the fabrication process. Many current physical contact methods have the disadvantage of involving mechanical force at the microscopic scale that creates surface and possibly subsurface damage.
The basic designs and structure of a flame torch are well known, one of which contains a central tube that introduces a gas, liquid, or solid into the flame. This is the technology of flame photometry, a method by which a material can be chemically analyzed by injecting the material into a hot flame and analyzing the emission of light that results.
The use of plasma to chemically treat materials is also known. There are several known methods for using atmospheric plasmas to treat surfaces as such as rubber, plastic, and metals. The use of an oxygen plasma generated with an ICP to clean photoresist from the surface of a wafer has been described and claimed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,218,640. An ICP device can be quite complex, however, and comes with certain limitations. An ICP device can also be relatively expensive, and may not always be an optimal system for cleaning materials from a surface.
The use of an oxygen plasma to remove photoresist, a process called "ashing," is well established in the semiconductor community. Ashing is usually carried out in an reactive ion etch (RIE) chamber at reduced pressure. The need for a vacuum chamber increases cost and reduces throughput. Further, oxygen plasma processing with an RIE process can require a separate step to remove the "ash" from the wafer. RIE methods are not directional, and therefore cannot be used to simply clean a specific area of contamination from a wafer.

Method for non-contact cleaning of a surface

Abstract: This description is not intended to be a complete description of, or limit the scope of, the invention. Other features, aspects, and objects of the invention can be obtained from a review of the specification, the figures, and the claims.


The present invention relates to a method and apparatus to synchronise audio and video data. More particularly, the present invention relates to a loop-based audio-visual mixing apparatus and method for synchronising a plurality of videos and their corresponding audio streams to create audio-visual compositions. According to one aspect, there is provided a method for creating a synchronised lineal sequence from multiple inputs of audio and video data, comprising the steps of: providing a first input, comprising audio and video data; providing one or more subsequent inputs, comprising audio and video data; determining at least one rhythm metric unit for each input; queueing the or each subsequent inputs such that the or each subsequent input is triggered at a beginning of a next said rhythm metric unit of a determined input.

The combination of audio and video data can provide a more engaging multimedia experience to a user than either audio or video data alone.
It can be desirable to stream, synchronise and play multiple audio and video clips and their corresponding audio across a range of digital formats and browsers. Conventional browsers do not all support the same formats for videos and audio data.
In particular, multiple audio and video data clips can be of a range of different rhythms and durations which can obstruct synchronisation. Further, users may wish to vary the order of their audio and video clips, and swap them with other video clips with their corresponding audio. This can be both computationally expensive and prone to error, for example the clips can drift out of time with each other and/or freeze.


A method and system for building a statistical four-chamber heart model from 3D volumes is disclosed. In order to generate the four-chamber heart model, each chamber is modeled using an open mesh, with holes at the valves. Based on the image data in one or more 3D volumes, meshes are generated and edited for the left ventricle (LV), left atrium (LA), right ventricle (RV), and right atrium (RA). Resampling to enforce point correspondence is performed during mesh editing. Important anatomic landmarks in the heart are explicitly represented in the four-chamber heart model of the present invention.

The present invention relates to modeling the heart in medical images, and more particularly, to modeling the heart by automatically generating a statistical four-chamber heart model from 3D volumes.
Various 3D shape representation techniques are used to model the heart. One type of heart model is a volume-based heart model. Tetrahedrons are often used to represent a solid volume model. Such volume-based models are widely used in finite element based approaches to study the blood flow of a heart. Volume-based models are also commonly used in active appearance models (AAM), since an AAM models the appearance inside an object. A tetrahedral mesh (model) can be generated automatically from labeled volume data.
Another type of heart model is a surface-based heart model. Using surface-based representation, only the shape boundary of an object is modeled. Accordingly, no information about the region inside the object is contained in a surface-based model. There are many ways to represent a surface, such as a triangulated mesh, a simplex mesh (which is a dual of the triangulated mesh in topology), and a B-spline mesh (which is parametric). How to generate a good surface mesh (using as few vertices as possible to meet a predefined error tolerance) from volume data is a widely researched topic in computer graphics.
In 3D heart segmentation, surface representations are widely used in snake-based deformable models or active shape models (ASM). Deformable models are not learning based and little shape priori information is used. Snake-based approaches do not need point correspondence, so they have more freedom to evolve a shape. For example, during the shape evolution, dynamically re-meshing can be used to produce high-quality meshes. However, it is impossible for dynamic re-meshing to be used for a statistic shape-based approach, such as ASM, since the predefined topology (for example, the number of mesh points and the connection among the mesh points) cannot be changed.
FIGS. 1 and 2 show conventional surface-based heart models. FIG. 1 shows a heart model built by New York University, freely available at http://education.med.nyu.edu/courses/old/embryology/courseware/vheart/. As illustrated in FIG. 1, image 102 shows the whole heart, image 104 shows the left ventricle (LV), image 106 shows the left atrium (LA), image 108 shows the right ventricle (RV), and image 110 shows the right atrium (RA). The model of FIG. 1 is not accurate in anatomy. For example, the shape of the short axis of intersection of the RV is a crescent with two cusp points. The mesh (model) should have a sharp turn at each of the cusp points, but the model of FIG. 1 rounds these cusps. FIG. 2 shows a heart model commercially available from Zygote Media Group, Inc. at http://www.3dscience.com/3D_Models/Human_Anatomy/Heart/index.php. As illustrated in FIG. 2, image 202 shows the whole heart, image 204 shows the LV, image 206 shows the LA, image 208 shows the RV, and image 210 shows the RA. The model of FIG. 2 is built from real CT and MRI volumes, so it is more accurate in anatomy than the model of FIG. 1. However, a drawback of the model of FIG. 2 is that it is too detailed, and may contain irrelevant details for many tasks. Another drawback of the model of FIG. 2 is that the LV epicardial border is not modeled. Instead, the pericardial border of the whole heart is represented.
Another type of heart model is a statistical shape model. In order to build a statistical shape model from a group of shapes, each shape must have the same number of points and the points should have correspondence. Point correspondence refers to point i in shape A and point i in shape B corresponding to the same anatomical structure. For example, if the 99th point in shape A is the LV apex, the 99th point in shape B should correspond to the LV apex, as well. Pair-wise based approaches for establishing point correspondence are easy and fast. In such pair-wise based approaches, one shape is selected and all other shapes are matched (registered) to the selected shape. After this registration, the average of the aligned shapes is used as the mean shape. This process can be iterated to refine the mean shape. A surface mesh is then generated from the mean shape, and the surface mesh is warped toward each individual shape. Using this approach, pseudo-landmarks are sampled in a consistent way for all training shapes. In R. H. Davies, et al., "A Minimum Description Length Approach to Statistical Shape Modeling", IEEE Trans. Medical Imaging, 21(5):525-537, 2002, a group-wise based method is proposed, in which the selection of pseudo-landmarks is formulated as an optimization problem to minimize the Minimum Description Length (MDL). A problem with this approach is that, if a dense representation is desired, the number of variables (the positions of pseudo-landmarks on each training shape) for optimization is very large. Accordingly, the optimization process is very slow and likely to converge to a local optimum.
Another approach for establishing point correspondence is to establish correspondence among shapes during the manual labeling process. This approach is relatively easy for 2D curves. Typically, only a few landmarks need to be labeled, such as points with high curvature. Uniform sampling between two neighboring landmarks on the curve will result in a dense point representation. However, it is difficult to manually label the correspondence in 3D because many more points are involved and there is no natural ordering of mesh points. In Praun et al., "Consistent Mesh Parameterizations", In Proc. SIGGRAPH, pages 179-184, 2001, a few sparse landmarks are labeled on 3D data. Assuming that the topology (i.e., the connection between landmarks) is given, they propose a method to fit this coarse mesh to the data is a consistent way by minimizing an energy function. Since the energy function is non-linear containing multiple local optima, many heuristics are proposed to search for a good local optimum solution. However, the algorithm proposed by Praun et al., is quite complicated and the optimization step is slow.

Method and system for generating a four-chamber heart model


The present invention concerns a reel seat holding device for a movable reel and reel seat assembly for fly fishing rods. The holding device comprises a case that is arranged for releasably receiving the reel seat therein, when the reel and reel seat assembly is detached from a fly fishing rod. A device is provided for mounting the case on a fishing rod or an holder. The disclosure of the present invention also relates to a fly fishing rod with a movable reel and reel seat assembly and a waist holder for the holding device.

During most sport fishing activities such as fly casting, spin casting, bait casting and the like, an artificial lure or a live bait having a fishing line attached thereto is projected or cast into fish filled waters in hope that a fish will take the bait. Since most fishes are quite easily scared away by human presence, it is often desirable to cast the bait far away from the fisherman.
Typically, the energy which propels both the lure and the fishing line is stored and subsequently released by the fishing pole which conventionally consists of a thin elongated flexible rod. When the rod releases the potential energy contained therein, this energy is transformed into kinetic energy which is transmitted to the fishing lure and propels the latter over the surface of water away from the fisherman.
During both bait and spin casting activities, the lure or bait being relatively heavy, this causes the fishing rod to flex as the fisherman from the back cast starts the forward cast, thereby storing energy in the rod. At the end of the forward cast, as the rod straightens out, the line is released and allowed to move freely across the water away from the fisherman.
Conversely, in fly casting the artificial lures or flies used are very light weight and not capable of causing the rod to flex. In fact, the lures are so light weight that the resistance due to air friction cannot be overcome unless the fly is attached to a heavier object. Hence, a fly fisherman is really casting the fly line rather than the fly itself. A great deal of efforts has thus been extended on designing fly lines and tailoring casting methods to efficiently propel the line through the air.
Parallel to the search for fly-casting efficiency, other efforts have been made to lighten the fishing rod and reel as much as possible for the fisherman. This search for overall lightness in the fishing gear handled by the fisherman stems from the fact that each cast made to propel the lure the right distance requires constant and always well-controlled muscular efforts.
First, with each cast, the fisherman's arm has to transmit to the rod the energy required to send the line the required distance. That means the fisherman must either make many false throws in sequence to allow the line to go progressively farther or pull back the part of the line that is already in the water in a single sharp movement and then recast in another movement right after it has been pulled back. This effort is required each time the fisherman wants to return the lure to the surface of the water. Therefore a fisherman who casts his line twice a minute during a fishing day lasting eight hours will end up making close to 1,000 casts, all of them different. Furthermore, for each cast, the fisherman must have precise and firm control of the movement of the rod, which has to move through a well-defined axis to get the required propulsion.
Through years of refinement, fly casters have learned to control the loop created in the line by the casting motion. It is well known that this loop is one of the most important parameters for fly casters to control. Thus, fly casters must make subtle movement adjustments to maintain the line loop as small as possible. This is, in part, accomplished by keeping the rod tip in a substantially vertical plane with respect to the ground. These subtle movement adjustments in a somewhat non-ergonomic position may quickly lead to muscle fatigue which, in turn, may deter the overall enjoyment of the fly fishing casting activity. Furthermore, as the infrequently solicited muscles of the hand, wrist and arm become tired, the efficiency of the casting stroke will be lessened.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide a fly fishing rod that is lighter in weight than conventional fishing rods so as to lessen the risk of muscle fatigue. The prior art has recognized this need and, hence, has notably proposed various types of fishing equipment made out of lightweight material. Regarding the construction of the rod itself, the use of lighter and lighter materials, for example, graphite and graphite composites, has allowed for significant improvements. The same trend holds for reels, which are being made with ever-lighter metal alloys and with simpler and simpler mechanisms. But progress in this latter area has become less and less a factor in the search for lightness; in the end, it has provided limited improvement since a great portion of the weight resides in the reel and associated reel seat. Nowadays the fishing rods are somehow ⅓ to ⅕ the weight of the total combination of their reel and attachment.
Also, some rod holders have been proposed in order to reduce the fisherman's efforts. But rod holders have heretofore been designed for general-purpose rods almost exclusively. Prior art rod holders have been utterly unamenable to use with a fly rod, instead being configured to accommodate general-purpose rod and reel.
However, the general-purpose rod and reel is proportioned differently from a fly rod. The reel mounted on a general purpose rod is usually located some distance from the end of the rod most proximate to the reel, that is, the reel is farther up the rod, more towards the eyelets of the rod and farther from the end of the rod held in the fisherman's hand.
The fly rod and reel is proportioned quite differently. On a fly rod, the mounting for the reel is located very near the end of the pole where it would be held if it was a general-purpose rod. In fact, the fly rod is actually held by the fisherman in a different way than the general-purpose rod. When using a fly rod, the rod is griped above the reel, the hand of the fisherman being placed between the reel and the rod eyelets. Consequently, the handle end of the fly rod does not extend very far past the mounted fly rod. Essentially, the reel of a fly rod is mounted nearly at the end of the rod, while the general-purpose rod has its reel mounted about one third of the way up the rod towards the eyelets.
The prior art rod holders are constructed so that the end of the rod most proximate to the reel is inserted into the holder. These holders are usually tubular in construction, a configuration most suitable for holding the cylindrical fishing rod. This sort of holder will not work when used with a fly rod. As noted above, the fly rod has little to no handle extending below the reel. Hence, the prior art rod holder simply will not work satisfactorily with a fly rod. Furthermore, the idea of inserting the rod into a holder to take some weight off the fisherman does not work for fly fishing rods. Indeed, once the rod is in its holder, it becomes practically immobile, which is hardly compatible with a fishing style that involves repeated casts.
In order to reduce the weight of the fishing rod the prior art shows attempts at temporarily removing the fishing reel from the fishing rod. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,556,365, George Nulan inventor, issued Jan. 19, 1971, discloses a spinning reel transfer mechanism in which a mechanical holder for spinning reel is supported on a frame shaped to fit the contour of the fisherman's body and is attached to a belt for being buckled around the body of the fisherman. From a lower end of the support frame, there is a belt which is disposed for being connected with the belt at the rear of the person wearing it. It does provide means by which a reel is placed on an extension to the mechanical holder leaving the rod free in one hand to facilitate casting.
Although offering the advantage of reducing the overall weight of the fishing rod, the invention disclosed in the hereinabove mentioned patent, suffers from numerous drawbacks. One of the main disadvantages associated with this invention resided in that only the reel is separable from the rod. The intended user thus needs a reel seat which remains attached to the rod and a second reel seat attached to the belt. The intended user must therefore attach the reel to either one of the reel seats. This operation can prove to be both tedious and time consuming.
Accordingly, there exists a need for an improved fly fishing rod having a detachable reel seat and waist holder therefore.

Fly fishing rod having a detachable reel seat and waist holder therefore


A calculating apparatus includes an acquiring portion and a calculating portion. The acquiring portion acquires a center position of a wafer placed on an alignment apparatus, and a wafer angle corresponding to a marker such as an orientation flat. The calculating portion calculates by using the wafer center position and the wafer angle, a rotational angle of the wafer on the alignment apparatus, an approach angle, which is an angle of a direction in which a transfer robot approaches the wafer, and a distance between the wafer after the rotation and the transfer robot. Then, the alignment apparatus rotates the wafer by the rotational angle. The transfer robot turns by the approach angle. Subsequently, the transfer robot extends its arm according to the distance, thereby approaching the wafer, and retrieves the wafer.

Conventionally, when transferring a wafer, the center position and the angle of the wafer are calculated in order to accurately set the position and the angle of the wafer. See JP 2001-230303A, for example. Furthermore, when calculating the position and the angle of that wafer, a marker such as an orientation flat or a notch provided on the circumferential edge of the wafer is often used. After the position and the angle of the wafer are calculated, an alignment apparatus accordingly adjusts the position and the angle of the wafer, so that a transfer robot can retrieve the wafer at a predetermined position and a predetermined angle.
FIGS. 8A to 8E are views showing an exemplary conventional alignment method. In this alignment method, an alignment apparatus performs alignment by rotating a wafer 8 and moving the wafer 8 in the upper-lower direction of the drawings, which corresponds to the approach direction of a transfer robot 3. Furthermore, in FIGS. 8A and 8B, each of circles indicated by the broken lines shows the predetermined position of the wafer 8 that the transfer robot 3 approaches. Hereinafter, that position may be referred to as a "regular position". It is assumed that the center of the circle indicated by the broken line is a rotational center of the wafer 8 on the alignment apparatus. Furthermore, the predetermined angle of the wafer 8 that the transfer robot 3 approaches may be referred to as a "regular angle". That is to say, when the transfer robot 3 retrieves the wafer 8, that wafer 8 has to be placed at the regular position and the regular angle on the alignment apparatus.
FIG. 8A is a view showing an initial position of the wafer 8 placed on the alignment apparatus. At that initial position, for example, the method of JP 2001-230303A or the like is used to calculate the center position and the angle of the wafer 8. Then, as shown in FIG. 8B, the alignment apparatus rotates the wafer 8 using the center position and the like of the wafer 8, thereby eliminating a displacement between the current position and the regular position of the wafer 8 in a direction that is orthogonal to the movement direction of the wafer 8. Next, as shown in FIG. 8C, the alignment apparatus moves the wafer 8 in the movement direction, thereby setting the wafer 8 at the regular position. Furthermore, as shown in FIG. 8D, the alignment apparatus rotates the wafer 8, thereby setting the wafer 8 at the regular angle. Subsequently, as shown in FIG. 8E, the transfer robot 3 extends its arm by a predetermined length, thereby approaching the wafer 8 that has been set at the regular position and the regular angle. As a result, the transfer robot 3 can retrieve the wafer 8 at the predetermined position and the predetermined angle.
However, according to the conventional alignment method, the alignment apparatus performs operations multiple times, i.e., rotating, moving, and further rotating the wafer 8, and, thus, this method is problematic in that the time necessary for the alignment is long.
The present invention was arrived at in order to solve the above-described problem, and it is an aspect thereof to provide an apparatus and the like capable of shortening the time necessary for the alignment.

Calculating apparatus, transfer robot system, and calculating method


The invention is a terminal assembly having a casing with at least one delivery tapered-cone conductor and at least one return tapered-cone conductor routed there-through. The delivery and return tapered-cone conductors are electrically isolated from each other and positioned in the annuluses of ordered concentric cones at an off-normal angle. The tapered cone conductor service can be AC phase conductors and DC link conductors. The center core has at least one service conduit of gate signal leads, diagnostic signal wires, and refrigerant tubing routed there-through. A seal material is in direct contact with the casing inner surface, the tapered-cone conductors, and the service conduits thereby hermetically filling the interstitial space in the casing interior core and center core. The assembly provides simultaneous high-current, high-pressure, low-inductance, and high-reliability service.

There are many sealed electrical terminals currently available but none of them addresses the seals for simultaneous high-current, high-pressure, low-inductance, and high-reliability features. For example, there are millions of hermetic electrical compressors that use Kovar-clad copper terminals for relatively low current (less than 100 amperes) operations. For the high current terminals such as the Paul Clifford's "Fire-Proof Seals" of U.S. Pat. No. 5,091,605, Feb. 25, 1992 which presented "a fire proof seal for a tubular conduit (16) of thermally conductive material adapted to contain an elongated member (24) extending axially outside the conduit, the seal comprising a thermally conductive sleeve (34) surrounding the member externally of the conduit and in thermal contact with an external flange (40) of the conduit, and a thermally fusible material (30) surrounding the member within the conduit, whereby, in the event of a fire in the vicinity of the member externally of the conduit, heat is transmitted through the sleeve into the conduit so as to fuse the thermally fusible material and block the interior of the conduit". Clifford's invention does not function during normal service conditions because his seal is only formed by the heat during a fire. Furthermore, this fire-triggered seal is not suitable for high-pressure difference across the seal other than the pressure difference caused by the fire, which is very low as compared to the high-pressure that can easily reach several hundred pounds per square inch in pressure vessel seals.
Because the high-pressure liquid and vapor inside the hermetic container are not allowed to leak out through the high-pressure, high-electrical-current terminals under a wide range of temperatures, the seal must be extremely reliable at all times. Another problem with the existing sealed terminals is the high flux leakage reactance. Because of the high currents going through the terminals, the magnetic flux links the conductors. Consequently, the magnetic flux produces leakage reactance that can harm the performance of the electrical circuit connected to the terminals. Thus, there is a defined need for sealed terminal assembly technology simultaneously meeting the high-pressure, high-electric-current, low-inductance, and high-reliability requirements.

High pressure, high current, low inductance, high reliability sealed terminals


The present invention provides methods of diagnosis and prognosis of human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in a subject a patient in need thereof. The methods of the present invention involve measuring the expression profile of two known genes: LPL and ADAM29; and comparing the ratio of their expression to diagnose the presence of CLL or to prognose the likelihood of developing CLL or the symptoms consistent with CLL.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention provides methods of diagnosis and prognosis of human chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) in a subject a patient in need thereof. The methods of the present invention involve measuring the expression profile of two known genes: LPL and ADAM29; and determining the ratio of their expression to diagnose the presence of CLL or to prognose the likelihood of developing CLL, an aggressive or a stable form of the disease or the symptoms consistent with CLL.
2. Discussion of the Background
Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) displays a variable outcome. The classical Rai1 or Binet2 staging systems have allocated CLL cases into three major risk groups (low [stage 0 in Rai's and stage A in Binet's classification system], intermediate [stages I and II in Rai's and stage B in Binet's classification system], and high [stage III and IV in Rai's and stage C in Binet's classification system]), according to tumor burden and the presence of anemia and thrombocytopenia. These staging systems have provided a basis for therapeutic stratification. Asymptomatic patients with a low tumor burden (Binet stage A) do not benefit from treatment with chlorambucil. However, the disease in half of these patients will progress and both staging systems fail to initially identify such patients. The advent of new treatments such as purine analogues and monoclonal antibodies directed against CD20 and CD52 are able to induce complete remissions and may allow early treatment for asymptomatic patients whose disease is likely to progress.3 Accurate identification of these patients is therefore increasingly important.
Serologic markers such as lactic dehydrogenase, beta2-microglobulin4, soluble CD235 and thymidine kinase4,6 are essentially indicators of disease activity and/or load, although some can anticipate disease progression7. Phenotypic expression of CD38 has been associated with aggressive disease8, but the threshold level for positive cases, if it exists at all, remains a matter of debate.9-11 Genomic aberrations correlate well with either good (isolated 13q−) or poor (17p−; 11p−) prognosis in CLL10,12,13, though their occurrence as a second malignant hit cannot be definitely excluded.
The mutational status of immunoglobulin heavy chain variable (IgVH) genes has been considered as the best prognostic marker in CLL. In an initial study, the present inventors observed that at least half of CLL cases carried mutations using a cut-off of 98% germline homology.14 This was further confirmed by others,15 some of which also correlated the IgVH mutational status to clinical behavior.8,16,17 Mutated (MT) patients usually demonstrate a favorable evolution when compared to unmutated (UM) cases (≧98% germline homology), which are characterized by progressive disease, continuing treatment needs and a high proportion of CLL-related deaths. This analysis remains costly, time-consuming and inaccessible for most medical facilities. Consequently, the detection of appropriate, reliable surrogate markers for IgVH mutational status has retained worldwide attention.
CD38 was the first candidate proposed to replace IgVH sequencing,8 with positive and negative cases corresponding respectively to UM and MT patients, but finally demonstrated insufficient specificity (about 30% discordance for each group).11 In addition, its expression can vary during the course of disease.11 Surprisingly, recent reports indicated that ZAP-70 mRNA, normally expressed in T and NK lymphocytes, is also transcribed in CLL B-cells lacking IgVH mutations.18,19 Two further series have confirmed these findings at the protein level,20,21 suggesting a pivotal role for ZAP-70 in prediction of IgVH mutational status. There is however some controversy to whether ZAP-70 is really a good surrogate marker since two recent reports failed to demonstrate a significant concordance between its expression and the degree of somatic mutation in the IgVH genes.22,23
Accordingly, there remains a critical need for a safe, inexpensive and accurate means to diagnose CLL and prognostic methods involving the same.
To address this need, in a study of gene expression profiling performed on 18 CLL cases, the present inventors identified a limited set of genes (n=85), which were expressed differentially between progressive UM and stable MT CLLs (Vasconcelos, et al., manuscript submitted July 2004). These results were validated by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RQ-PCR) for 18 genes on the same cDNAs that were hybridized on the DNA chips. From these RQ-PCR experiments, 4 genes in addition to ZAP-70 appeared to provide a better segregation of the 2 groups of CLLs. They included the lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and spartin (SPG20) genes, whose expression was higher in UM patients, while a disintegrin and metalloproteinase 29 (ADAM29) and nuclear receptor-interacting protein 1 (NRIPI) genes were found at much higher levels in MT cases. These findings led the present inventors to investigate, in an independent and larger CLL series, which of these 4 genes (isolated or in combination) could represent the best surrogate marker for IgVH mutational status, and how they would compare to ZAP-70 protein expression.

Method of diagnosis/prognosis of human chronic lymphocytic leukemia comprising the profiling of


This ferrite magnet has a magnetoplumbite structure and is characterized in that, when representing the composition ratios of the total of each metal element A, R, Fe and Me with expression (1) A1-xRx(Fe12-yMey)z, the Fe2+ content (m) in the ferrite magnet is greater than 0.1 mass % and less than 5.4 mass % (in expression (1), A is at least one element selected from Sr, Ba, Ca and Pb; R is at least one element selected from the rare-earth elements (including Y) and Bi, and includes at least La, and Me is Co, or Co and Zn). The invention makes it possible to achieve a ferrite magnet with increased Br.

Hexagonal based M-type (magnetoplumbite type) Sr ferrite or Ba ferrite is known as a material of a permanent magnet made of an oxide. A ferrite magnet made of these ferrites is used as a permanent magnet in the form of a sintered magnet or a bonded magnet. Along with the miniaturization and high performance of electronic components, permanent magnets made of ferrite magnets have also been demanded to have high magnetic characteristics while being small.
Residual magnetic flux density (Br) and coercive force (HcJ) are normally used as indicators of magnetic characteristics of permanent magnets, and a permanent magnet whose Br and HcJ are high is evaluated to have high magnetic characteristics. To improve Br and HcJ of permanent magnets, consideration has conventionally been made by change in composition, such as inclusion of a predetermined element into a ferrite magnet.
For example, Japanese Patent No. 4591684 (Patent Document 1) proposes an M-type La ferrite sintered magnet having a high residual magnetic flux density and a high coercive force, which could not be achieved by conventional M-type Sr ferrite or M-type Ba ferrite sintered magnets. This ferrite sintered magnet contains at least La and Co and is thereby referred to as a La—Co ferrite sintered magnet. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-45167 (Patent Document 2) proposes a patent where a La—Co ferrite magnet contains a divalent iron ion (hereinafter referred to as Fe2+).

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method of handling scrap tires is disclosed, including providing a satellite tire collection enclosure constructed of baled tires and sized to receive at least about 2400 scrap tires, collecting scrap tires inside the tire collection enclosure until the enclosure is at or near capacity, volume reducing the scrap tires by baling the scrap tires using a mobile tire baler having a baler and a boom on a mobile platform at a minimum of about 2,400 whole tires into about 24 bales to achieve a volume reduction of about 80 percent by volume, and transporting baled scrap tires to a home base, a recycling center, or directly to an end-user. In one aspect, a mobile tire baler includes a baler and a boom on a mobile platform, a cutter for over-size tires, and a crusher for tire rims.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the collection, volume reduction, and transportation of scrap tires.
2. Background
Conventionally, scrap tire recyclers haul a tire collection trailer to a scrap tire collection site and park it there for so long as it takes for scrap tires to accumulate in an amount sufficient to fill the trailer with tires. A tractor is needed to haul the tire collection trailer from the scrap tire collection facility, to haul on to the customer, and then to haul the trailer from that location to another location and back to the recycling facility.

Scrap tire collection, volume reduction, and transportation


[Task] To provide a method that makes it possible to easily, inexpensively and accurately manufacture a machined part with a simple configuration and an excellent strength.

As a conventional art for manufacturing a machined part, as shown in FIG. 6, a machined part 100′ is generally manufactured by hot-forging a raw material 100 (S12), cold-forging this raw material 100 to introduce a dislocation into an entirety thereof and form a graphite deposition nucleus (S13), performing a graphitization treatment for depositing graphite over the entire raw material 100 by maintaining a state of being heated to a predetermined temperature for a predetermined time (S14), then machining a predetermined region 100a, such as molding a gear etc. through the formation of a tooth space by, for example, cutting or the like (S15), and heating this region to the predetermined temperature for the predetermined time to solidly re-dissolve graphite (S16). A material that allows graphite to be deposited through the graphitization treatment is preferred as a raw material for manufacturing this machined part 100′. By depositing graphite through the graphitization treatment, the concentration of carbon in the raw material becomes relatively low. Therefore, the machinability at the time of machining can be enhanced.
Besides, as another conventional art, Patent Document 1 is known. Patent Document 1 relates to a steel product for a mechanical structure that is excellent in cold workability, and to a method for manufacturing the steel product. Patent Document 1 discloses performing cold working with a suitable reduction of area after hot working, splitting layers of cementite, introducing a strained dislocation as a deposition nucleus of graphite, and homogeneously, finely and swiftly depositing graphite through a subsequent annealing treatment, etc. (0025).

Method for manufacturing machined part, and machined part

Abstract: [Means for Solution] In a method for manufacturing a machined part according to the invention, a dislocation is partially introduced (S3), through shot peening, only into a surface layer of a raw material 1 in a region 1a to be machined, graphite is partially deposited (S4), through heating, only in the surface layer of the region 1a to be machined, and then, the surface layer of the region 1a where graphite is deposited is removed, through machining (S5), only by an amount corresponding to a working margin 1c, thereby manufacturing a machined part 1′.


A system (10) for controlling stabilization of a synchro (26), which is driven from a digital to synchro converter (12), which utilizes a current sensor (14) to detect the magnitude of the synchro current drive signal and through a compare and hold circuit (20) compares the magnitude of the current with a predetermined maximum current and if exceeded provides a signal to a logic control (22) which controls a current limiter (16), disposed in series with the conductors providing load current to synchro (26). Current limiter (16) operates in a non-current limiting mode, wherein load current is passed unhindered to synchro (26), and a current limiting mode wherein current limiting resistors are inserted in series with the conductors carrying drive current to synchro (26). When the commanded drive current exceeds the reference current, compare and hold circuit (20) initiates a signal to cause current limiter (16) to operate in the current limiting mode. Compare and hold circuit (20) also includes a delay circuit which keeps current limiter (16) in the current limiting mode for a short period of time after the commanded drive current falls below the reference current level. A pulse width oscillator (24) provides an input to logic control (22) which causes logic control (22) to periodically switch current limiter (16) to the unlimited current condition for short periods of time even when the compare and hold circuit (20) is providing a signal requesting the current limiting mode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to synchro drive systems including the type which are used in cockpit display devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is known in the art that direct synchro load receivers ("synchronous drive") may exhibit uncontrolled spin, instability or other undesirable oscillatory behavior when subjected to large angle commands from an electronic digital to synchro converter ("D/S converter").
The primary reason for such instability in the synchro drive is a consequence of the saturation characteristics of the D/S converter, which typically has a saturation threshold which is equal to about 15.degree. of angular input. Such instability is unacceptable since a steady state value is never achieved.
One approach to reduce the occurrence of instability of the synchro is to decrease the power available to drive the synchro; this however results in a slower rate of response and reduced accuracy of the display device as the reduced drive power will be insufficient to allow for a rapid response to be displayed or indicated by the synchro as a function of the input signal also known as the digital angle command signal. Further, there is a loss of resolution in the output display of the synchro as the reduced power available reduces the accuracy of the indication.
An alternate method to reduce the occurrences of uncontrolled spin, instability, or other undesirable oscillation is to introduce a mechanical and/or fluid damping system into the synchro. Such a system would include the moving mechanical elements of the synchro drive and due to the viscous effects of the fluid, limits the rate of response of the synchro drive. Such a system is also undesirable as it is complex to fabricate, and further, causes a lag in the response of the synchro drive.
Accordingly, there is a continuing need in the art for improved direct synchro drive stabilization systems.


A method for using a shape memory alloy (SMA) with a non-evaporable getter (NEG) employed in a vacuum device is disclosed. The method comprises coupling a NEG component to a SMA component to form an NEG/SMA assembly pair; heating the NEG/SMA assembly pair to activate the NEG component; and packaging the activated NEG component with the SMA component to form an NEG/SMA package having a gas tight seal. The method further comprises installing the NEG/SMA package in the vacuum device; and heating the installed NEG/SMA package such that the SMA component is actuated to expose the activated NEG component to a vacuum chamber in the vacuum device.

In high vacuum electric devices, a getter is used to maintain the vacuum level over time as the high voltage electronics release gases over the device life and from gas permeation of the device container, like oxygen and nitrogen. In the case of laser devices, a getter is used to maintain the purity of excitation gas and avoid the loss of the laser signal.
Typically, a barium-based evaporable getter is used to deposit a barium film inside the device after it has been pumped to high vacuum. The deposited film is formed by flashing an installed getter pan using radio frequency (RF) induction. This heats the getter pan to a point where the material in the getter pan reacts, with barium metal evaporating and condensing on nearby cold surfaces.
In certain devices, the RF induction from the flash can also cause heating in other nearby metal components, like indium vacuum seals. Indium has a low melting temperature, so if the flash is not done quick enough, or the getter and seals are too close to the getter pan being flashed, the seals will melt and vacuum will be lost in the device. The device then needs to either be reworked or scrapped.
One option to get avoid the RF-heating is the use of a non-evaporable getter (NEG). These getters function off the oxidation of metals like titanium, zirconium, and aluminum. However, rather than being flashed, these getters must be activated. This requires heating the NEG (an in most cases the entire device) after NEG installation to several hundred degrees for an extended period of time, to reduce the active metals so they are ready to pump. Because of the temperatures required for NEG activation, other temperature sensitive components like indium seals are, again, a failure point.
There are methods available to cause local heating in a vacuum device. The simplest method is through resistive heating of an evaporable getter pan or NEG support. However, the wires used for heating need to pass through the vacuum container and present an additional area that needs to be sealed for vacuum. In other methods, lasers can be used for local heating in a vacuum device. However, the laser only activates small areas of the getter and is unable to take advantage of the highly porous surface of a typical NEG.

Shape memory alloy enclosure for non-evaporable getters


A shutter having a frame and rotatable louvres of the type having a control rod connected to the louvres for moving said louvres, and having a control rod extending normal to the louvres, spaced apart from the louvres connector members on the louvres, having hinge formations extending outwardly from respective louvres, and having connector members for the control rod, having hinge formations and in which the hinge formations provide a hinge connection between the louvres and the control rod, with hinge axes spaced between the louvres and the control rod, and locating the control rod at a distance from the louvres sufficient to permit the louvres to be fully closed by the control rod without the control rod contacting the louvres.

Shutters having horizontal louvres or blades adjustably movable, by tilting upwardly or downwardly between open and closed positions are well known in the art. Shutters utilizing a control bar attached to the louvres or blades for facilitating the opening and closing of the louvres are also well known.
In the past methods of attaching a control bar to each louver or blade have included simple wood fastenings such as screw eyelets and wire hooks, or even a pair of linked staples, in many cases. The eyelets or staples were fastened in the louvre or the control rod and were looped together. The hooks, eyelets or staples were linked together to provide a crude somewhat loose hinge link.
This staple system has been in use up to the present time. For example such a staple connector system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,923 B1 Jul. 31, 2001, H S Lee.
This staple connector system had several disadvantages. While this system allowed for some degree of simultaneous movement of the louvres, it did not move the louvres uniformly. There was a considerable amount of slack between the control rod and the louvres, which caused a staggered movement of the louvres as the slack was taken up on each louvre. There was no defined location for the pivot axis of the connectors. The degree of slack meant that, when closing the louvres, the pivot axis of each connector moved inwardly, up against the edge of the louvre. Shutters in which the control bar is loosely connected to the louvres have a further disadvantage. To accomplish complete shutting of the louvres using this system, due to the slack and the sloppy movement of the connectors, the control rod had to be pushed up against the edges of the louvres or blades to ensure complete closure. This required recesses to be routed in the frame of the shutter to accommodate the control rod. Such recesses are shown in the above noted U.S. Pat. No. 6,266,923 B1. Routing of rod receiving recesses in the top and bottom frames was a costly process in both skilled labour and equipment. It was suitable in general, only for shutters having wooden components. In addition, over time and use, the control rod fastenings would loosen in the wood and sometimes fall out.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,187,896 February 1993 issued to Ross shows a form of connection system for connecting a pull bar to hollow plastic louvres. This system was time consuming to assemble, and required maintenance if the parts failed. In addition there was some free play or slack built in to the system where the connectors nested in the interior of the louvres. There was no defined pivot axis, which was maintained at all times. The end of the single link extended loosely inside the louvre, and did not prevent the control rod from contacting the louvres. Furthermore it was not suitable for use with shutters having wooden components. U.S. Pat. No. 5,548,925, Aug. 27, 1996, issued to Shade-O-Matic Ltd, discloses a shutter formed of an extruded plastic material.
Louvres formed of hollow plastic extrusions were attached to a control rod utilizing connectors with two ends. The first end of each connector was rigidly attached to the control rod and the second end was rotatably inserted into a louvre. Thus movement of the control rod causes rotation of the louvres about the second ends of the connectors as the louvres are opened or closed. However, even in this system the control rod ends and the louvres were still in loose association with each other. Furthermore this system was not adaptable to wooden shutters, and was not entirely suitable for shutters made of aluminum.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,921,028, issued Jul. 13, 1999 issued to Shade-O-Matic Ltd. discloses a shutter formed of extruded plastic material. This system utilizes a hollow plastic louvre having end caps fitted into each end of the louvre. The end cap at one end is designed with a recess designed to be connected to the control rod. The control rod was fitted with connector stubs at intervals. The stubs could interconnect with the end cap recesses on the individual louvre blades. In this way the shutter was provided with a pull bar or control rod located along the side frame of the shutter. However although this system did eliminate the slack and did provide a defined pivot axis, the axis was located inwardly of the edges of the louvres. This system also was not adaptable to wooden shutters. It was also somewhat time consuming to assemble, and required some skill.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,041,547 issued Mar. 28, 2000 to Shade-O-Matic ltd, discloses a system somewhat similar to the '028 patent above. The louvres were hollow plastic, with end caps. One of the end caps was formed with an inwardly located recess for connection with a control bar. Connectors were rigidly attached to a control bar at intervals. The connectors linked with the recesses, inwardly of the edges of the louvres, so as to provide a pull bar controlling all the louvres, located down one edge of the side frame.
Again this system was not adaptable to wooden shutters, and was somewhat time consuming to assemble. Also since the pivot axis of each of the connectors was located inwardly of the louvres, it limited the freedom of movement of the control bar.
It would be desirable to provide a system for connecting the louvres with the control rod member that reduces the amount of free play between the control rod and the louvres and allows for smooth opening and closing of the louvres. Preferably it will not require recesses in the frame to accommodate the control rod. In addition it is desirable to provide a system that is easy to assemble, and is adaptable to shutters made of wood, or of plastic, or in some cases of metal such as aluminum.


In some examples, a method includes receiving, by a supervisor component executing at a computing device, a request to execute an application, determining a current user of the computing device, and determining a reset state of the application. The method may also include generating, based on the current user of the computing device, the reset state, and an application identifier for the application, a unique identifier that does not include personally identifiable information for the current user, sending, to an application service provider, the unique identifier and one or more requests for information, and, responsive to sending the one or more request for information, receiving, from the application service provider, state information associated with the current user and for the application.

Computing devices can perform various functions, such as executing applications, receiving user input, and outputting information for display. For instance, computing devices may execute applications, such as an email client, travel assistant, messaging client, and the like. In order to maintain state information across devices (e.g., user preferences, user interest information, historical user behavior information, etc.), the user typically is required to create user account for the application or otherwise provide personally identifiable information so that servers associated with the application may store the state information such that, when the user logs in at the different device or after an application reinstall, the servers may identify the user and send the state information for the user to the device.

Identifiers across application instances