The present invention provides a wide area protection control measurement system and method which excels in economy, reliability and expandability, in which applied arithmetic operation functions for protection, control and measurement can be freely added and changed, without adding or changing power monitoring terminals to be installed in the electric-supply station. The wide area protection control measurement system is configured from N number of power monitoring terminals 1 installed in an electric-supply station in a target range, one electric quantity aggregation device 3 connected with these power monitoring terminals 1 via a communication network 2, and M number of applied arithmetic operation devices 4 connected with the electric aggregation device 3 through an inter-device connection. Each power monitoring terminal 1 transmits electric quantity data to the electric quantity aggregation device 3 via the communication network 2. The electric quantity aggregation device 3 aggregates received electric quantity data to generate aggregated electric quantity data and outputs it to each applied arithmetic operation devices 4. Each applied arithmetic operation devices 4 performs applied arithmetic operation for protection, control or management, using the aggregated electric quantity data acquired from the electric quantity aggregation device 3.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wide area protection control measurement system and method for performing protection, control and measurement of an electric power system.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order to stably supply electric power in the power transmission and distribution field, it is indispensable to perform protection, control and measurement for an entire electric power system, including a plurality of electric-supply stations and various apparatus and equipment, targeting a wide area electric power system, and various technologies for this have been proposed.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open NO. 2001-45645 discloses a wide area protection technology, where the voltage/current of an electric power system is received by each terminal device installed in a transformer station, the received information is transmitted to a central processing unit via a wide area data network, current differential operation is executed by the central processing unit using each current information of the operation target section, and the presence of an accident in the system is determined.
Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-64974 discloses a wide area protection technology where information required to protect each electric-supply station and power transmission line is collected to a common arithmetic operation device, so as to perform overall monitoring of accidents generated in each electric-supply station and power transmission line, and perform overall protection.
In the conventional wide area protection technologies disclosed in the above-mentioned Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-45645 and 2004-64974, a power monitoring terminal installed in each electric-supply station and an applied arithmetic operation device having a protective operation function installed at the control side are directly connected via a communication network. A concrete protective operation, executed by the applied arithmetic operation device at the control side, is an electric current differential operation for a wide area disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2001-45645, and is an arithmetic operation called "overall protective operation" disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-64974. In these prior arts, a single protective operation is respectively executed after the working of the wide area protection system is started by the single protection operation function embedded in the applied arithmetic operation device at the control side in advance, when the wide area protection system is constructed.
On the other hand, implementing protection, control and measurement of an electric power system in many aspects is expected by performing diversified applied arithmetic operation, including various protective operation, control operation and measurement operation using electric quantities measured for the electric power system in a wide range. As a concrete applied arithmetic operation to be added to the above-mentioned prior art, in order to implement such protection, control and measurement in many aspects, determination of an accident point when an accident occurs to a power transmission line, using voltage and current information at both ends of the power transmission line, or calculation of a line constant of a power transmission line, and step-out relay operation, are possible.
However, in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-45645 and 2004-64974, only a single protective operation function, that is, a single applied arithmetic operation function, is assumed as the applied arithmetic operation function for protection, control and measurement that is embedded in the applied arithmetic operation device at the control side, as mentioned above, so a reconsideration of the entire wide area protection system is required in order to add new applied operation functions, and construct a wide area protection control measurement system which implements protection, control and measurement of an electric power system in many aspects. Here "reconsideration of the entire wide area protection system" means to reconsider (1) what kind of information is collected, and (2) how the transmission cycle of the electric quantity collection is determined, or the like, for each applied arithmetic operation function, and to change the configuration of the entire wide area protection system according to the reconsideration result, and to construct a wide area protection control measurement system.
The configuration of an entire wide area protection system like this is normally changed by changing the data transmission software of all the power monitoring terminals installed in each electric-supply station, and manufacturing new hardware of the applied arithmetic operation device in which the software, to implement the applied arithmetic operation function to be added, is embedded. This method for changing the data transmission software for all the power monitoring terminals, however, has problems in terms of economics, since cost increases in proportion to the number of power monitoring terminals.
In other words, in a wide area protection control measurement system, normally it is necessary to collect electric quantities by installing as many power monitoring terminals as possible in the entire electric power system, in order to advance the accuracy of the applied arithmetic operation, therefore the number of power monitoring terminals inevitably increases. If applied arithmetic operation functions need be added in this state, enormous modifications, including a change in the software of the transmission control unit, are required for all the power monitoring terminals, and existing applied arithmetic operation functions may require enormous modifications as well, according to the prior arts of Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-45645 and 2004-64974. Also when a new power monitoring terminal is installed, modifications to receive data from the new power monitoring terminal are required for the existing applied arithmetic operation device side as well.
As a method for implementing protection, control and measurement of an electric power system in many aspects while avoiding the reconsideration of the entire wide area protection system, it is possible to construct a wide area protection control measurement system by assuming all the applied arithmetic operation functions that can be implemented in an initial state of constructing the wide are protection system, and embedding a configuration to implement all the assumed functions into the system.
If this method is used, however, it is possible to generate a considerable amount of applied arithmetic operation functions which are embedded in the wide area protection control measurement system, but which are not used and wasted. As a result, this is easily expected to cause economic problems, that is, the ratio of the effective applied arithmetic operation functions which are actually used to the entire applied arithmetic operation functions that were embedded is low, while the initial cost when the wide area protection control measurement system is constructed increases remarkably in proportion to the number of electric-supply stations and the number of applied arithmetic operation functions respectively.
Another method for implementing the protection, control and measurement of an electric power system in many aspects while avoiding reconsideration of the entire wide area protection system is installing a configuration for a single applied arithmetic operation function, similar to those disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2001-45645 and 2004-64974 for each applied arithmetic operation function to be added, in other words, separately manufacturing and installing each power monitoring terminal to be installed in each electric-supply station, and the applied arithmetic operation device at the control side for performing applied arithmetic operation. However, in this case, an individual hardware is required for each applied arithmetic operation function to be added, which increases cost in proportion to the number of electric-supply stations, causing economic problems.
The above-mentioned problems resulting from the addition of a new applied computer function are problems which are also generated when a existing applied arithmetic operation function is changed, such as the case of changing the algorithm of an applied arithmetic operation function or changing the type of electric quantity to be used for applied arithmetic operation.

Wide area protection control measurement system and method


The present invention relates to a process for producing weakly acidic cation exchangers of the polymethacrylic acid type by alkaline saponification of a crosslinked copolymer of alkyl methacrylate and methacrylic acid.

From the prior art, bead-type cation exchangers of the polymethacrylic acid type are already known. This is a class of cation exchangers which can be used in numerous different applications in practice. An important field of use is water treatment technology, in which polyvalent cations, such as, for example, calcium, magnesium, lead or copper, but also carbonate anions, can be removed. A particular advantage of the methacrylate-based cation exchangers is that their regeneration can be performed not only using strong acid, such as hydrochloric acid or sulphuric acid, but also using carbon dioxide. A further field of application of cation exchangers of the polymethacrylic acid type is purification and separation of biologically active components, e.g. antibiotics, enzymes, peptides and nucleic acids, from their solutions, for example from reaction mixtures and from fermentation broths.
For the said applications, not only gel-type but also macroporous cation exchangers of the polymethacrylic acid type are required. The terms macroporous and gel-type are described in detail in the specialist literature, for example in Seidl, Malinsky, Dusek, Heitz, adv. Polymer Sci., Vol. 5 pages 113 to 213 (1967).
Cation exchangers of the polymethacrylic acid type can be produced by what is termed inverse suspension polymerization. In this process, an aqueous solution of methacrylic acid and crosslinker is dispersed in an organic solvent, such as cyclohexane, for example, as continuous phase to give spherical droplets, and these droplets are cured by polymerization at elevated temperature using a free-radical initiator.
Solvent-free production processes which are to be preferred, inter alia for ecological reasons, are also already known. In this case methacrylic acid itself is not used, but an alkyl ester of methacrylic acid in combination with a crosslinker is converted into bead-type crosslinked polyalkyl methacrylate by suspension polymerization in water which is converted into the polymethacrylic acid cation exchanger by downstream saponification. U.S. Pat. No. 2,340,111 describes, for example, insoluble copolymers having carboxyl groups for removing cations from water, with the carboxyl-containing copolymers being able to be produced by saponifying acrylic ester copolymers. DE 960 858 describes a process for producing gel-type polymers usable as cation exchangers by suspension polymerization of esters of acrylic acid and/or methacrylic acid and by subsequent saponification of the resultant polymers.
Whereas saponification of polyacrylic alkyl ester polymers to give polyacrylic acid polymers may be carried out very readily, the analogous reaction using methacrylate polymers, because of the higher stability to hydrolysis of the methacrylic esters, requires drastic reaction conditions, e.g. temperatures above 150° C. These drastic conditions are undesirable in practice, since they require increased technical resources and the resultant reaction product can change in its structure as a consequence of the temperature stress.
The object of the present invention is to provide a simple process for the production of gel-type and macroporous cation exchangers of the polymethacrylic acid type.


A remote-operation authenticating unit determines whether to permit a remote operation of the video-phone terminal apparatus by other video-phone terminal apparatus via a video phone communication. A remote operation unit receives, from the other video-phone terminal apparatus, a request for a control including at least a shutter control of the image capturing device to shoot an image, and executes the control in response to the request. An image converting unit converts the image into an image for the video phone communication. A communicating unit transmits the image for the video phone communication to the other video-phone terminal apparatus.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video-phone terminal apparatus having a function of shooting an image via a remote operation.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, most mobile phones have a built in image capturing function. The mobile phones are also provided with a large size liquid-crystal-display (LCD) screen, which enables a user to shoot oneself while confirming an image shot. This is what is called a self-photography, and is becoming common as a new trend in photography.
The self-photography is suitable for shooting a part of the body, such as face, of a few persons including the user. However, because the distance between the image capturing device and the subjects is restricted to a length of an arm of the user, the self-photography cannot be used to shoot more than several persons, entire body of a person, or a subject with a huge background.
In general, a reliable third party is necessary to take a photograph when a desired photograph cannot be taken by means of the self-photography. However, such a method is not available when there is no reliable third party nearby. A technology disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-18254 enables the user to take a photograph by means of remote operation of a mobile phone having an image capturing function using another mobile phone.
However, when taking a photograph using the conventional technology, the user cannot immediately confirm a result of shooting. In the conventional technology, the image is transmitted from the mobile phone that undergoes remote operation to the mobile phone of the user by means of a communication such as an E-mail. Transmission of the shot image via the communication can result in a time delay during transmission and reception of the image shot. In most cases there is a need for improvisation when taking a photograph. However, in the conventional technology using the remote operation of the mobile phone, the user cannot immediately confirm the result of shooting after taking a photograph.

Video-phone terminal apparatus, image-shooting method, and computer product


A mounting panel of stamped steel has the door hardware such as the window regulator and door handles fixedly mounted thereon to facilitate preassembly and shipping. The mounting panel is subsequently mounted on the vehicle door. A door latch is provided for latching the door in the closed position and a retainer means is provided acting between the mounting panel and the door latch to loosely connect the door latch to the mounting panel for convenience of preassembly and shipping. The retainer means is a molded plastic retainer having integral projections which are force fit into plurality of openings provided in a door latch. The retainer means also has an integral headed prong structure which is loosely retained within an opening in the mounting panel with the aperture being oversized with respect to the headed prong to thereby permit adjusting movement of the door latch relative to the mounting panel. Upon bolting of the mounting panel to the door, and the separate bolting of the door latch to the door, the mounting panel and the door latch are permitted to float relative one another so that each can seek its own mounting relationship on the door.

It is known in motor vehicles to preassemble various hardware elements of the vehicle door onto a stamped steel module panel which is then subsequently attached to the vehicle door in the assembly plant. The advantage of such a modular construction is that that door hardware elements such as the window regulator, door latch, door handle and other door components may be preassembled and pretested prior to shipment to the assembly line.
It would be desirable to provide such a hardware modular arrangement in which the door latch could be preassembled to the door module for convenience in testing and shipping and yet the module and door latch could be separately bolted to the vehicle door structure as necessary to perform their respective functions and in spite of any dimensional variations which might exist between the doors in which the module is to be mounted.


The present invention relates to an encoding device and method, and a decoding device and method, and a program which enable music signals to be played with higher sound quality by expanding a frequency band.

In recent years, music distribution service to distribute music data via the Internet or the like has been spreading. With this music distribution service, encoded data obtained by encoding music signals is distributed as music data. As a music signal encoding technique, an encoding technique has become the mainstream wherein a bit rate is lowered while suppressing file capacity of encoded data so as not to take time at the time of downloading.
Such a music signal encoding techniques, are roughly divided into an encoding technique such as MP3 (MPEG (Moving Picture Experts Group) Audio Layer 3) (International Standards ISO/IEC 11172-3) and so forth, and an encoding technique such as HE-AAC (High Efficiency MPEG4 AAC) (International Standards ISO/IEC 14496-3) and so forth.
With the encoding technique represented by MP3, of music signals, signal components in a high-frequency band (hereinafter, referred to as high-frequency) equal to or greater than around 15 kHz of hardly sensed by the human ear, are deleted, and signal components in the remaining low frequency band (hereinafter, referred to as low-frequency) are encoded. Such an encoding technique will be referred to as high-frequency deletion encoding technique. With this high-frequency deletion encoding technique, file capacity of encoded data may be suppressed. However, high-frequency sound may slightly be sensed by the human ear, and accordingly, at the time of generating and outputting sound from music signals after decoding obtained by decoding encoded data, there may be deterioration in sound quality such as loss of sense of presence that the original sound has, or the sound may seem to be muffled.
On the other hand, with the encoding technique represented by HE-AAC, characteristic information is extracted from high-frequency signal components, and encoded along with low-frequency signal components. Herein after, such an encoding technique will be referred to as a high-frequency characteristic encoding technique. With this high-frequency characteristic encoding technique, only characteristic information of high-frequency signal components is encoded as information relating to the high-frequency signal components, and accordingly, encoding efficiency may be improved while suppressing deterioration in sound quality.
With decoding of encoded data encoded by this high-frequency characteristic encoding technique, low-frequency signal components and characteristic information are decoded, and high-frequency signal components are generated from the low-frequency signal components and characteristic information after decoding. Thus, a technique to expand the frequency band of low-frequency signal components by generating high-frequency signal components from low-frequency signal components will hereinafter be referred to as a band expanding technique.
As one application of the band expanding technique, there is post-processing after decoding of encoded data by the above-mentioned high-frequency deletion encoding technique. With this post-processing, high-frequency signal components lost by encoding are generated from the low-frequency signal components after decoding, thereby expanding the frequency band of the low-frequency signal components (see PTL 1). Note that the frequency band expanding technique according to PTL 1 will hereinafter be referred to as the band expanding technique according to PTL 1.
With the band expanding technique according to PTL 1, a device takes low-frequency signal components after decoding as an input signal, estimates high-frequency power spectrum (hereinafter, referred to as high-frequency frequency envelopment, as appropriate) from the power spectrum of the input signals, and generates high-frequency signal components having the high-frequency frequency envelopment from the low-frequency signal components.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example of the low-frequency power spectrum after decoding, serving as the input signal, and the estimated high-frequency frequency envelopment.
In FIG. 1, the vertical axis indicates power by a logarithm, and the horizontal axis indicates frequencies.
The device determines the band of low-frequency end of high-frequency signal components (hereinafter, referred to as expanding start band) from information of the type of an encoding method relating to the input signal, sampling rate, bit rate, and so forth (hereinafter, referred to as side information). Next, the device divides the input signal serving as low-frequency signal components into multiple subband signals. The device obtains average for each group regarding a temporal direction of power (hereinafter, referred to as group power) of each of multiple subband signals following division, that is to say, the multiple subband signals on the lower frequency side than the expanding start band (hereinafter, simply referred to as low-frequency side). As illustrated in FIG. 1, the device takes a point with average of group power of each of the multiple subband signals on the low-frequency side as power, and also the frequency of the lower end of the expanding start band as the frequency, as the origin. The device performs estimation with a primary straight line having predetermined inclination passing through the origin thereof as frequency envelopment on higher frequency side than the expanding start band (hereinafter, simply referred to as high-frequency side). Note that a position regarding the power direction of the origin may be adjusted by a user. The device generates each of the multiple subband signals on the high-frequency side from the multiple subband signals on the low-frequency side so as to obtain the estimated frequency envelopment on the high-frequency side. The device adds the generated multiple subband signals on the high-frequency side to obtain high-frequency signal components, and further adds the low-frequency signal components thereto and output these. Thus, music signals after expanding the frequency band approximates to the original music signals. Accordingly, music signals with high sound quality may be played.
The above-mentioned band expanding technique according to PTL 1 has a feature wherein, with regard to various high-frequency deletion encoding techniques and encoded data with various bit rates, the frequency band regarding music signals after decoding of the encoded data thereof can be expanded.

Encoding device and method, decoding device and method, and program

Abstract: A band pass filter divides an input signal into multiple subband signals, a feature amount calculating circuit calculates feature amount using at least any one of the divided multiple subband signals and the input signal, a high-frequency subband power estimating circuit calculates an estimated value of high-frequency subband power based on the calculated feature amount, and a high-frequency signal generating circuit generates a high-frequency signal component based on the multiple subband signals divided by the band pass filter and the estimated value of the high-frequency subband power calculated by the high-frequency subband power estimating circuit. A frequency band expanding device expands the frequency band of the input signal using the high-frequency signal component generated by the high-frequency signal generating circuit. The present invention may be applied to a frequency band expanding device, encoding device, decoding device, and so forth, for example.


An apparatus for injecting an additive in a pressurized air conditioning or refrigeration system having a service valve includes a cartridge with a piston, an adapter configured to be connected to the service valve, and a bending unit interposed between the adapter and the cartridge. The bending unit includes a flexible capillary tube having a first end fitting adapted to be connected to the cartridge. The flexible capillary tube has a second end fitting adapted to be connected to the adapter. The flexible capillary tube is adapted to be bent at least at 90° without kinking.

Apparatus for injecting a predetermined amount of a fluorescent dye and/or lubricant into a pressurized system have already been proposed. These apparatus normally comprise a cartridge containing the dye to be injected in the system and having an outlet nozzle, a sealing piston slidable inserted in the cartridge to force the dye out the outlet nozzle, and a hose assembly having an end to be connected to the outlet nozzle and the other end suitable to be connected to a service valve of the pressurized air conditioning or refrigeration system. In one embodiment, known for example from U.S. Pat. No. 6,164,348, the hose assembly comprises a pipe thread to a Luer coupling thread adapter, having one end adapted to be mated with a Luer coupling of the outlet nozzle of cartridge; the other end of the adapter is threaded to a check valve fitting, preventing back flow to the syringe. The check valve fitting is in turn threaded to a hose end fitting connected to one end of a flexible high pressure hose segment. A SCHRADER valve coupling is connected to the other end of the hose segment, adapted to be threadably connected to a SCHRADER valve of the low pressure side of an air conditioning/refrigeration system compressor. A check valve is interposed between the cartridge and the hose assembly.
It is evident that such an arrangement requires the provision and the assembly of a number of components and therefore has a complicated structure, also expensive to manufacture and store for the supplier. This is a great drawback also because the market requires that the apparatus is entirely disposable.
Apparently, the length and volume of the hose is approximately the same of the cartridge. This is because in view of the above construction the hose segment must be able to withstand high pressure for safety reasons. In addition, the presence of many components, and in particular of the bulky hose segment, may cause the formation of air in the hose assembly. The user must pay attention to push out the air from the hose assembly to prevent that bubbles of air are dangerously injected into the system with the dye.
Another disadvantage of this arrangement is that, when the piston has forced all the dye out the cartridge, a large quantity of the dye remains contained in the hose assembly.
Another disadvantage of this arrangement is that it cannot be used in narrow spaces. In fact, in view of the fact that the hose of the hose assembly is a high pressure hose, it has a limited flexibility and is prone to kink if forced beyond this limit.

Apparatus for injecting a fluid in a pressurized air conditioning or refrigeration system


A meta-debugger receives a first debugging command from a debugger client to set a breakpoint in a first service in a first language and sets the breakpoint in a first native debugger. After receiving a service message invoking the first service, the breakpoint is triggered and the meta-debugger provides to the debugger client a first graphical representation of the first native debugger. The meta-debugger receives a second debugging command from the debugger client, converts the second debugging command into a third debugging command to provide to the first native debugger. After invoking a second service in a second language, the meta-debugger provides to the debugger client a second graphical representation of the second native debugger. The meta-debugger receives a fourth debugging command from the debugger client, converts the fourth debugging command into a fifth debugging command to provide to the second native debugger.

A service oriented architecture (SOA) platform facilitates the large scale deployment of services and applications in a distributed environment. As the complexity of these services and applications grow, it has become increasingly important to provide effective means of troubleshooting problems that arise in the design of the SOA platform or the services and/or applications.
Debugging in a non-deterministic system further adds to the difficulty of troubleshooting problems. In a deterministic system, given a set of input messages, the same output will always be produced. In this manner, a fault can be recreated by applying the same set of inputs that caused the fault in the first place. However, in a non-deterministic system (e.g., one that uses non-deterministic components such as multi-language services), the same input may produce many different states or outputs. Recreating and troubleshooting faults becomes significantly more problematic.

Service implementation based debugger for service oriented architecture projects


Provided herein is a method of performing surgery and the associated instruments therefor. The method includes the steps of placing a tape template onto a portion of a patient's skin, marking a plurality of access sites, making an opening to form a mid-line access site, performing liposuction, forming a plurality of openings in the skin at the access sites, inserting a skin port into each of the openings, inserting a skin port into the mid-line access site, providing a threading device having a suture tied thereto, inserting the threading device and suture through at least one skin port to form a suture matrix under the skin, pulling the ends of the suture through the skin port in the mid-line access site, tying the ends of the suture into a knot, pushing the knot through the skin port in the mid-line access site and under the skin, and removing the skin ports from the openings at the access sites.

Conventional neck rejuvenation surgeons advocate procedures that alter the anatomy of the neck to restore a more youthful neck contour. These involve platysmal manipulation such as muscle advancement and/or division, and frequently sub-platysmal fat excision. Partial resection of submandibular gland tissue may be performed as well. These techniques vary in complexity and may result in significant complications, including post-operative bleeding, nerve injury, permanent visible skin deformities caused by muscle division, or over-resection of fat.
Plastic and reconstructive surgeons have long sought to develop methods and devices to aid in the support of physical structures that have lost their natural tension and support. The most often treated areas include the face, the chest region, the buttocks and other regions that lose tension and sag. Current devices are not always adequate in providing a natural-looking structure to prevent such loss of tension in these structures.
The aging process causes gradual and predictable changes in the soft tissue layers of the lower face and neck, the anatomical basis of which has been well documented. Loss of elasticity and fragmentation of collagen results in rhytid formation and skin redundancy. Subcutaneous fat thickens and droops or is ptotic and becomes more noticeable. Stretching of the fascia and musculature results in a loss of the supporting 'sling' of the submentum, often resulting in submandibular gland ptosis. Further loss of tone and muscular atrophy results in banding of the medial platysmal borders, blunting of the cervicomental angle and loss of lateral mandibular definition.
The classical necklift's failure in adequately addressing the consequences of aging in the neck has prompted the development of a number of modifications and adjunctive procedures. These include skin excisions, various lipoplasty techniques, anterior or posteriorly based platysmal transection, resection, or plication procedures, SMAS-platysma flaps, and even suture suspension techniques. However, these modifications have their limitations.
Problems with scar contractures and hypertrophic scarring have resulted in the near abandonment of midline skin excision with subsequent Z, W or T-plasty. Liposuction or direct lipocontouring plays an important role in the aging neck.

Necklift procedure and instruments for performing same


An aperture design minimizes erosion on the surrounding casing and to the aperture itself and is particularly effective in fluid injection wells where large volumes of fluids over a long period of time with entrained solids are expected to be pumped through. The preferred design is an elongated shape with a flaring wider in the downhole direction. The downhole end of the opening features an exit that flares in the downhole direction with multiple slopes with an arc transition. Other options for the opening configuration are envisioned.

When production becomes marginal in a given zone in a field, one way to bolster production is to inject large quantities of fluid such as water or steam into an injection well at one point in the zone or zones in question and take additional production in another well or wells in the field. In the injection well pumping equipment is used to move large amounts of fluid into the well to get the desired enhanced production. The injection well can have a valve, typically of a sliding sleeve design, to allow access into a single zone at a time and in turn service multiple zones, if desired. These sliding sleeve valves have a sleeve with a port where the port can be selectively brought into alignment with the housing around it. The injection well can have a service life as long as 15 years or more. In the course of its life span, high fluid volumes and large weights of entrained solids can be forced through a single sliding sleeve valve, when it is in the open position. It would not be unusual that in the life of such a well injection rates of about 45,000 barrels per day would be used. This could result in 250 million barrels pumped during the life of the well. Additionally, with solids content of about one pound per 1000 barrels the amount of solids pumped through such an opening could reach 250,000 pounds of fine sand, generally smaller than 50 micron and having a generally sharp and angular shape, being pumped through the open port in the expected life of the well.
Maintaining these rates over long periods has raised concerns about erosion of the opening in the tool and more significantly to the surrounding casing
In the past, other work has been done relating to crossover tools used in high rate high volume frac packing, as reported in the American Association of drilling Engineers (AADE) paper 03-NTCE-18 in 2003 by a group of engineers from Halliburton Energy Services Inc. In this application there are high flow volumes with significantly more solids content than in fluid injection applications. In the design tested in this paper, both the tool body and the sliding sleeve had matching ports that were created by simply angling a drill at a predetermined angle from the axis of the tool and drilling in an uphole direction through the tool body and the sleeve. This technique results in an oval shaped opening when viewed in a line perpendicular to the tool axis. The hole appears narrower at the top and bottom because of the slant in the drilling process and having generally parallel slopes at the uphole and downhole ends, again resulting from the slant drilling technique. While positive results were reported for high flows and high solids content application of frac packing, the overall volumes of fluid pale in comparison with the volumes of fluid and solids used during the life of an injection well.
As a result of these differences simulations (such as CFD, Computational Fluid Dynamic models or simulations were run to evaluate port effectiveness) and field tests have led to an improved port design to minimize erosive effects on the surrounding casing and to the ports themselves. The resulting port designs feature elongated openings that flare in the downhole direction. It further can feature a multi-sloped downhole outlet composed of ramps or/and curves. These and other features of the invention will be more readily appreciated by those skilled in the art from a review of the description of the preferred embodiment and the claims that appear below.

Erosion resistant aperture for a downhole valve or ported flow control tool


The present invention is drawn to a gas grill or add-on component for a gas grill that provides the additional functionality of permitting grilling with either gas, charcoal briquettes, or wood chips. The additional functionality of being able to cook with charcoal or wood chips on a gas grill is achieved by positioning moveable flaps in a second position thus providing a horizontal surface above the gas burner, yet below the cooking surface, upon which to place charcoal briquettes. Spaces on either side of each pair of flaps allow the gas burners to be used to ignite the charcoal briquettes or wood chips. Once the charcoal briquettes or wood chips are ignited, use of the gas burner is discontinued. The charcoal or wood chips are permitted to burn to complete ash, then the moveable flaps are placed to a first position thus forming an apex that permits the ash to fall into an ash pan located in the bottom of the firebox. Alternatively, if cooking with gas is preferred, the movable pairs of flaps can be positioned in the first position thus forming an apex arrangement over the gas burners to protect the burners from drippings.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to an outdoor grill for cooking food that is heated with a gas burner, traditional charcoal, wood chips, or a combination thereof. More specifically, a grill that has an adjustable platform for using charcoal briquettes or wood chips as a heating source where the charcoal briquettes or wood chips can be arranged on the adjustable platform above the gas burner, the gas burner can then be ignited which in turn will ignite the charcoal briquettes or wood chips. If charcoal or wood chips are not desired, the adjustable platform can also be positioned to permit heat transfer from the gas burner to the food being cooked. The platform also provides protection for the gas burners from grease and other flammable substances by channeling them away from the direct flame of the gas burner.
2. Background Description
Prior art grills are either fueled with a gas burner or with charcoal, but generally not both in a single combination.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,314,868 to Christensen et al. discloses a barbeque grill that cooks food by providing direct or indirect heat from a heat source of the cooker to the food. The outdoor cooker has a gas or charcoal heat source that provides direct and indirect heat to foods supported on a cooking surface of the grill by operation of a plurality of parallel louvers between the heat source and grill that are moved between first, upright positions of the louvers that provide direct heating of the food and second, angled relative positions of the louvers that provide indirect heating of the food.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,260,478 to Harniet discloses a heat dissipation system that uses a pair of panels rotatably mounted in a grill, which allows a cook to equalize the heat radiated within a gas or electric grill to provide more even heat distribution and prevents wind from extinguishing the burner flame, even in the presence of a crosswind. A grease drainage system is also described for a gas or electric grill.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,422 to Clark et al. discloses a convertible drip pan that can be opened and closed between the food supporting rack and the cooking heat source. Rapid preheating can be accomplished as well as searing of desired food products, followed by closing of the drip pan to prevent unwanted flare-ups caused by juices dripping from the food being cooked. This closing of the drip pan allows the food to cook slower than over direct heat. Different types of heat sources can be used in conjunction with Clark et al. such that the problem of the bottom of the housing rusting out in the area adjacent the round burner below the heat deflecting plate is reduced.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,985,097 discloses a gas broiler with a movable louvers or dampers interposed between the gas burners and the grates so that heat reaching the grates from the burners can be readily controlled.
What would be truly useful is a gas grill or add-on component for a gas grill that includes means to protect burners from drippings when used as a gas grill, but that has additional utility by adjusting to provide a platform for using charcoal as a heat source and wherein the gas burners can be used to light the charcoal. Additionally, a means to provide for ash removal would also be desirable.


A pick-up truck tailgate is disclosed that is constructed of components made of aluminum alloys. A hinge reinforcement and hinge plate reinforce a lower corner of the tailgate. A transversely extending reinforcement, including a U-shaped body, is provided within the tailgate that reinforces the central portion of the tailgate. An access panel is provided on the inner panel of the tailgate and includes a hem and fasteners that are assembled to the inner panel through holes formed inboard of the hem.

The use of lightweight materials including aluminum body panels is increasing due to the need to meet stringent fuel economy goals. Light materials include aluminum, composite fiber reinforced parts, magnesium parts, and the like. These types of materials present challenges due to reduced ductility and formability. In addition, aluminum panels, reinforcements and brackets have reduced tensile strength and are more difficult to weld.
Tailgates for pick-up trucks are generally constructed with an outer panel and an inner panel that are assembled together and both have class-A surfaces that are visible on the vehicle. One problem with manufacturing tailgates includes the need to form surfaces of the panels without splits or wrinkles in the corners of the inner panel. Another problem is that the inner and outer panels must be adequately reinforced to avoid "oil canning," a condition where the panel deflects when pressure is applied to the inner or outer panels. Another problem is the need to provide durable mounting locations for connecting hinges and latches.
This disclosure is directed to addressing the above problems and other problems as summarized below.


A probe mechanism and a sample pick up mechanism of the invention are provided at an observing apparatus or an analyzing apparatus and characterized in including a tip member comprising a needle-like member brought into contact with a sample, including a driving electrostatic actuator and means for monitoring a change in an electrostatic capacitance between electrodes of the electrostatic actuator, and capable of sensing that the probe is brought into contact with a sample by the monitor.

The present invention relates to a probe mechanism constituted by a tip member comprising a needle-like member brought into contact with a sample, and a pick up mechanism having a handling function of separating, picking up, storing or the like of a small sample, particularly a pick up mechanism highly convenient for cutting out a defect portion of a sample of a transmission electron microscope (TEM) or a semiconductor device which are attached to an analyzing apparatus of a focusing ion beam (FIB) apparatus or a scanning probe microscope (SPM).
There is carried out an operation of bringing a probe into contact with a small sample while observing the sample by a scanning electron microscope (SEM), a scanning ion microscope (SIM), or a scanning probe microscope (SPM) and inspecting a physical property of an electric property or the like thereof. Further, there is carried out an operation of cutting out and picking up a portion of a semiconductor wafer or the like to fix to a sample base or the like in picking up a TEM sample or cutting out a failed defect portion thereof. The operation is constituted by a series of operation of making a needle-like probe approach a specific portion of a sample by operating a manipulator, bringing a probe tip portion into contact therewith and thereafter fixedly attaching the probe tip portion thereto by deposition (CVD) by FIB, further cutting to separate a sample piece from a sample main body by FIB etching, thereafter, carrying a sample piece to a predetermined position at which a sample base or the like is present to fix by operating the manipulator, and subjecting the tip portion of the probe fixedly attached with the sample piece previously by CVD to FIB etching to cut to separate the sample piece while observing in a chamber of an FIB apparatus or the like.
Patent Reference 1 discloses a technology of separating a sample piece including a region to be observed from a sample board by an ion beam sputtering method, picking up the sample piece from the sample board by using a beam member comprising a rod-like member for holding the sample piece by a force by elastically deforming a portion thereof for pressing to hold the sample and drawing to separate the sample, having a shape of a tip slenderer than a root thereof and dividing the tip portion for holding the sample piece provided by the shape, moving the sample piece to a mounting base for mounting the sample piece and separating the beam member and the sample piece to store the sample piece with an object of providing an apparatus and a method of separating, picking up and storing the small sample piece firmly and stably without contaminating the small sample piece and a peripheral region thereof. The invention adopts a mode of grabbing the sample piece in a tweezers mode by pinching the sample piece by a divided portion to press and therefore, although it is not necessary to fixedly attach the probe and the sample piece by CVD to thereby shorten an operation time period in comparison with the background art, a considerable skill is needed in the operation of pinching the sample piece by operating a manipulator while observing the sample piece by the microscope. Further, depending on a size or a shape of the sample, a size and a shape of the divided portion needs to be changed and the sample piece may be damaged by exerting an unreasonable force in pinching the sample piece.
Further, Patent Reference 2 discloses a pair of microtweezers in which as shown by FIG. 5, bimorph type piezoelectric elements 102, 403 are arranged in a direction of elongating and contracting a laminated type piezoelectric element 101, a correction amount 112 is generated by strain gage elements 103 pasted on both faces of the bimorph type piezoelectric element and a correcting circuit 105, and by elongating and contracting the laminated type piezoelectric elements, loci of moving tips of probes 104, 404 are linearly displaced with an object of providing a probe moving apparatus, a microtweezers apparatus having excellent operability applicable also to fine operation by automatically correcting a deviation in a circumferential direction centering on a fulcrum of the bimorph type piezoelectric element produced by bending the bimorph piezoelectric element. The microtweezers pick up a small body of a micrometer level by utilizing a fact that an interval between the tips of the small probes is narrowed by applying a voltage to both or one of the bimorph type piezoelectric elements. By the constitution, the interval between the tips of the small probes 104, 404 can be controlled without positional shift and therefore, there is achieved an effect of capable of accurately and easily picking up a small body. Although according to the method, it is not necessary to fixedly attach the probe and the sample piece by CVD, not only the operational time period is shortened in comparison with the background art but also the grabbing operation is simple since the tweezers drive mechanism is provided, further, the sample piece is not damaged since the unreasonable force is not exerted thereto, the piezoelectric element is used as the drive source and therefore, it is necessary to connect a high voltage power source in driving the microtweezers, which is not preferable in handling a semiconductor sample or a living body sample. Further, a state of bringing the sample and the probe into contact with each other is obliged to confirm by microscope observation.
A technology of sensing contact between the probe and the sample is disclosed in Patent Reference 3 or Patent Reference 4. The invention of Patent Reference 3 is a technology of improving Patent Reference 2, it is an object thereof to provide inexpensive contact sensing means capable of sensing the contact of the sample and the probe regardless of a kind of the sample, and a probe comprising a needle-like conductive material having a tip in an acute angle shape is fixedly attached to a free end of a warp sensing beam having a piezoelectric resistance layer a resistance value of which is changed in accordance with a deformation of its own. Although contact between the sample and the probe can be sensed by adopting such a constitution, the constitution poses a problem that the sensing is limited in a direction of laminating piezoelectric elements. Further, it is an object of the invention of Patent Reference 4 to provide a probe apparatus capable of detecting that a small sample is completely cut off when a small sample is cut off from a sample of a wafer or the like to pick up by a probe, and it is detected that the small sample is completely cut off by previously applying a probe voltage from a probe control portion to the probe and detecting a change in the probe voltage immediately after cutting off the small sample from the sample by FIB. According to the contact sensing method, it is necessary to make a current flow in the sample and therefore, the method is based on a condition that the sample is conductive and the method is not applicable to a sample damaged, or destructed or the like by conducting electricity.
[Patent Reference 1] JP-A-2002-333387 "Beam member and sample machining apparatus and sample pick up method using beam member" Publication date; Heisei-14-11-22 (Nov. 22, 2002)
[Patent Reference 2] JP-A-2000-2630 "Probe moving apparatus and sample fabricating apparatus using the same" Publication date; Heisei-12-1-7 (Jan. 7, 2000)
[Patent Reference 3] JP-A-2002-33366 "Probe unit and sample operating apparatus using the same" Publication date; Heisei-14-1-31 (Jan. 31, 2002)
[Patent Reference 4] JP-A-2001-83055 "Probe apparatus" Publication date; Heisei-13-3-30 (Mar. 30, 2001)
A problem to be resolved by the invention resides in providing a probe mechanism or a small sample pick up mechanism of analyzing apparatus overcoming the above-described drawbacks of the mechanism of the background art, that is, providing a mechanism having a function of sensing contact of a sample and a probe without damaging the sample in approaching the sample, enabling to handle swiftly and firmly a small sample as a pick up mechanism and structurally simple without selecting a material of the sample.

Probe and small sample pick up mechanism


In a drive system, a first differential mechanism transmits engine rotation, a second differential mechanism connects the first differential mechanism with drive wheels, and a switching device changes a speed ratio of the first differential mechanism. The second differential mechanism has first, second, and third rotational elements, which connect respectively to the first differential mechanism, a first rotating machine, and a second rotating machine. In a first running condition, the vehicle runs using the second rotating machine as a power source, while differentially operating the first differential mechanism. In a second running condition, the vehicle runs using the second rotating machine as a power source, without differentially operating the first differential mechanism. A region in which the vehicle runs in the second running condition in the case where the engine cannot start by itself is larger than that in the case where the engine can start by itself.

Conventionally, there are hybrid vehicles. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a technology of a drive system of a hybrid vehicle including a speed changing mechanism that changes the speed of rotation of an internal combustion engine and transmits the rotation to a power distribution mechanism, a first transmission shaft that transmits power from the internal combustion engine to the speed changing mechanism, and a second transmission shaft that transmits power delivered from the speed changing mechanism to the power distribution mechanism. In the drive system of the hybrid vehicle of Patent Document 1, the speed changing mechanism has a differential mechanism in which two sets of planetary gear units are combined, a first brake B1 that can stop rotation of a ring gear R1 of the differential mechanism, a second brake B2 that can stop rotation of a ring gear R2, and a clutch C that permits or inhibits power transmission from the first transmission shaft to the ring gear R1.


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A UE may use different modulation schemes, or different modulators, for a single data stream. The set of modulators may be based on a linear combination of a function of encoded bits to be transmitted. In some cases, the UE may use a different permutation or interleaving of the function of bits with the same linear function to generate a different set of modulators. The UE may use a combination of any one or more of the described techniques for generating a set of modulators. Different modulators may be cyclically repeated over time. The UE may apply a device-specific scrambling sequence and transmit the modulated symbols on an uplink channel. The base station may use matched filters and an element-wise estimator (ESE) to compute log-likelihood ratios (LLRs) for each bit of each UE in a received signal.

The following relates generally to wireless communication, and more specifically to modulation spreading for wireless communications.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform-spread-OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
In some wireless communications systems, a base station may serve a large number of UEs for machine type communications (MTC). The base station and the UEs may use non-orthogonal multiple access communications, such as CDMA communications, and a grant-free transmission scheme. Although the base station may serve a large number of UEs for MTC, the base station may only be able to use a limited number of resources. Some CDMA configurations may perform well for low spectrum efficiency and lower quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) size. However, higher order QAM schemes may utilize a larger signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and these CDMA configurations may experience a performance drop for high spectrum efficiency and larger QAM sizes.

Modulation spreading for wireless communications


Aberration is measured as phase information at each of a plurality of aberration measurement points, and at the time of correcting the aberration with correction pixels of an aberration correction unit of which the number is greater than the number of the plurality of aberration measurement points, correction pixels corresponding to each aberration measurement point are driven based on the phase information. Regarding correction pixels not positionally corresponding to the aberration measurement points, the aberration correction unit is driven based on phase information in the vicinity of this correction pixel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an aberration correcting method, and an aberration correcting imaging apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Studies are being advanced in the field of adaptive-optics scanning laser ophthalmoscope (AO-SLO) and adaptive-optics optical coherence tomography (AO-OCT), which incorporate adaptive optics (AO) functions in optical systems. Adaptive Optics, as applied to SLO and OCT, refers to techniques used to improve the performance optical systems which adapt to correct aberrations introduced during measuring of an eye. For example, an example of AO-OCT is described in "High-speed volumetric imaging of cone photoreceptors with adaptive optics spectral-domain optical coherence tomography" disclosed by Y. Zhang et al, Optics Express, Vol. 14, No. 10, 15 May 2006. AO-SLO and AO-OCT usually measure a wavefront of the eye using the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor. The Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor method is a method for measuring a wavefront by inputting to be measured light to the eye, and receiving reflected light thereof at a CCD camera through a microlens array. AO-SLO and AO-OCT enable imaging at high resolution by driving a deformable mirror or space phase modulator so as to correct the measured wavefront, and performing imaging of the fundus via these.
In general, when the numerical aperture (NA) of an optical irradiation system is raised to acquire high resolution imaging, an aberration level also increases due to irregularities of optical tissue of the eye, such as the cornea, the crystalline lens, and so forth. Also, the aberration shape is complicated. Although several techniques for correcting this aberration with AO are known, the correction of high levels of aberration and aberration of a complicated shape requires performing aberration measurement at high resolution, and to drive a wavefront correction device at high resolution. A space phase modulator employing liquid crystal enables wavefront correction at such high resolution. A common space phase modulator used for AO can perform correction with resolution of around 600×800 pixels.
On the other hand, the number of lenses in a lens array of the Shack-Hartmann wavefront sensor generally used for AO is around 30×40. Resolution of aberration measurement is determined by this number of lens arrays, and accordingly, there are only 30×40 measurement points.
There are principally two methods to control an aberration corrector by acquiring aberration information from the Shack-Hartmann sensor. One method is to fit aberration to a Zernike polynomial function (Zernike polynomials), and control the aberration corrector according to the coefficients thereof (Zernike coefficients). The other method is to control the aberration corrector based on the wavefront phase at a given aberration measurement point.
In the case of the method of controlling the corrector using Zernike coefficients, the wavefront is expressed by the Zernike polynomial function that yields those coefficients, and accordingly, a control value according to resolution of the corrector can be calculated even when controlling a corrector having different resolution. In the case of the method of controlling the corrector using Zernike coefficients, the wavefront is expressed by the function, and accordingly, when there is disturbance from eyelashes, the eyelid, or the like, at the time of aberration measurement, normal fitting fails, and correction of the wavefront cannot be performed correctly.
On the other hand, in the case of the method of acquiring phase information, correct data can be acquired with regard to the point that the spots on the Shack-Hartmann sensor can be measured. Accordingly, control which is robust regarding disturbance is enabled.

Aberration correcting method and aberration correcting apparatus


A method for increasing production of inositol from a nutrient medium is disclosed. The wild strain of Saccharonyces cerrevisae was modified by deleting the OPI1 gene locus. The modified strain was fermented in various media, both artificial and natural, to increase the production of inositol from the medium. Using a balanced synthetic nutrient medium, a glucose feed rate of 100 g/l and adding ammonium sulfate as a nitrogen source gave an almost 10-fold increase in inositol production, compared to production under more typical conditions. Using almond hull juice as a feedstock, batch conditions showed no measureable increase in inositol production but continuous fermentation yielded almost a 50% increase in inositol concentration.

Inositol is found in nature in a large number of plants. In yeast, and possibly higher animals, inositol appears to play an essential role in membrane phospholipid balance and is required for proper growth. Greenberg et al., Genetics, 100:19-33 (January 1982). The standard commercial source for inositol is corn steep liquor, since inositol is present as phytic acid in corn. See Artz et al., U.S. Pat. No. 2,615,053.
Greenberg et al. reported on regulatory mutations of inositol biosynthesis in yeast. They isolated several inositol excreting mutants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. In this microorganism the enzyme inositol-1-phosphate synthase (I-1-P synthase), product of the INO1 gene locus, catalyzes the first step in inositol biosynthesis, i.e., the synthesis of inositol-1-phosphate from the substrate glucose-6-phosphate. In the wild type strain the activity of this enzyme is dramatically repressed in the presence of inositol. By selecting for mutants which overproduce and excrete inositol, Greenberg and coworkers idnetified mutants constitutive for inositol-1-phosphate synthase. Genetic analysis of the mutants indicated that at least three loci, designated OPI1, OPI2 and OPI4, direct inositol-mediated repression of I-1-P synthase. Mutants of these loci synthesize I-1-P synthase constitutively. Inositol excretion in the mutant strains was identified by replicating a colony of one of the excretory mutants onto selection plates followed by incubation for 5-10 days at 30.degree. C. An inositol excreting mutant was identified as a phenotypically white colony surrounded by a red halo. The red halo signifies growth of the red indicator strain MC13 in the circular area into which the mutant is excreting inositol.
No quantitative measurement of the amount of inositol excretion by any of the mutants was made.
M. J. White, J. P. Hirsch and S. A. Henry have developed an inositol secreting strain of S. cerevisiae from which the OPI1 gene locus was removed. M. J. Hirsch, S. A. Henry, "The OPT 1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a negative regulator of phospholipid biosynthesis, encodes a protein containing polyglutamine tracts and a leucine zipper," J. Biol. Chem., 266, 863-872 (1991). For convenience, this strain is designated the YS2 strain. Removal of the OPI1 locus results in constitutively derepressed expression of inositol-1-phosphate synthase, the product of the INO1 gene. Many of the other enzymes involved in phospholipid biosynthesis are also expressed at high, derepressed levels. Therefore, the OPI1 gene is believed to encode a negative regulator that is required to repress a whole subset of structural genes encoding for phospholipid biosynthetic enzymes. Furthermore, the OPI1 gene was found to be non-essential to the organism since the YS2 strain so constructed is viable and exhibits a phenotype similar to that of previously isolated opi1 mutants. The YS 2 strain accumulates INO1 mRNA constitutively to a level two- to three-fold higher than that observed in the wild-type cells. A sample, designated S. cerevisiae, YS2, was deposited on Feb. 13, 1991 with the American Type Culture Collection located at 12301 Parklawn Drive, Rockville, Md., Accession No. ATCC-74033.
M. J. White and S. A. Henry also developed an inositol-secreting strain of S. cerevisiae from which the OPI1 gene locus was removed and into which multiple copies of the INO1 gene were inserted. Southern blot analysis of the genomic DNA revealed the diploid strain to contain 6 or more copies of the INO1 gene. For convenience, this strain is designated the YS3 strain. A sample, designated S. cerevisiae, YS3, was deposited on Feb. 13, 1991 with the American Type Culture Collection in Rockville, Md., Accession No. ATCC-74034.
Adding the YS2 strain or the YS3 strain to a suitable nutrient medium and adjusting the nutrient medium according to the method of this invention allows significantly enhanced recovery of inositol.


Methods are provided for modifying an imaging process cartridge intended for installation in one type of printer to be installed in at least one other type of printer. In one embodiment, a method of modifying the imaging process cartridge may include modifying one or more endplates of the imaging process cartridge. In another embodiment, one or more of the endplates is removed and replaced with a replacement endplate.

Printer cartridges are typically designed to provide a consumer with a certain number of print copies before the toner or ink is exhausted. The total number of print copies varies depending on the type, quality and density of the image provided by the printer. After all of the toner or ink is exhausted, the printer cartridges are either thrown away or recycled.
An industry has developed that facilitates the recycling of printer cartridges. Typically, a printer cartridge is recycled by a printer cartridge remanufacturer, who receives exhausted printer cartridges and refurbishes them. The refurbishment process entails replacing worn or nonfunctioning parts, refilling the printer cartridge with either toner or ink, and distributing the refurbished printer cartridges into the marketplace.
Toner cartridges are typically designed to fit into one type of laser printer or one family of laser printers. For example, the same toner cartridge may be used in a HP LaserJet Pro 100, HP LaserJet Pro 200, or a HP LaserJet Pro CP1025nw laser printer. As new printer models are introduced, a printer manufacturer may decide to alter physical characteristics of a respective toner cartridge that is used in older printer models. In some cases, the alteration may be an entirely new shape, or the printer manufacturer may only change a minor detail such as an indentation or a protrusion on the toner cartridge.
Additionally, different toner cartridges may be used within the same laser printer. These different toner cartridges may have very similar physical characteristics. For example, in a HP2500 color laser printer, there are four separate toner cartridges containing black and colored (magenta, cyan, and yellow) toner. The physical differences between the black, magenta, cyan, and yellow toner cartridges for the HP2500 color laser printer are relatively minor. The HP2500 color laser printer toner cartridge manufacturer has installed a protrusion in a unique location on one of the ends of each toner cartridge of a respective color to distinguish each toner cartridge of a respective color from toner cartridges of other colors. Each protrusion mates with a corresponding recess in the HP2500 color laser printer's toner cartridge space. When a respective toner cartridge is inserted into the HP2500 color laser printer, the protrusion aligns with the recess allowing only the designated toner cartridge to be installed.
A typical toner cartridge comprises an assembled plastic housing. The material of the plastic housing may be molded plastic or another plastic composite. During the remanufacturing of the toner cartridge, the toner cartridge is disassembled, cleaned, refurbished, and reassembled. The last step of the refurbishment process includes refilling the toner cartridge with toner, and the toner cartridge is then repackaged. As part of the refurbishment process, the toner cartridge may be modified in order to remove any restriction regarding usage.
Additionally, some laser printers separate a toner storage function from an image transfer function. In these laser printers, toner is stored in a toner cartridge, and an imaging drum unit performs the image transfer function. In some laser printers, the imaging drum unit may be a field replaceable unit. Typically, the imaging drum unit comprises an Organic Photo Conductor (OPC) drum as well as various image transfer components. The imaging drum unit may also have certain physical characteristics unique to a particular printer model type or family. For example, the imaging drum unit for the HP2500 color laser printer and HP2550 color laser printer may be identical except for a protrusion or recess located on the endplates of the imaging drum unit.
The systems and methods are intended for use in removing a protrusion on an endplate of a toner cartridge to allow the modified toner cartridge to be used in different locations within the same printer or other printers.

Systems and methods for remanufacturing imaging components


Keys are obtained and aggregated by storing a primary object as an entry in a parent keys storage and a child keys storage, the entry identified as unvisited in each. An object evaluation process is then performed until all unique entries in the parent keys storage and all unique entries in the child keys storage have been visited and by committing the keys of at least one related object as an entry to the hierarchical database. The object evaluation process visits each unvisited object in the parent keys storage and child keys storage by selecting, for the unvisited object, objects in the parent direction that have not already been visited and objects in the child direction that have not already been visited and by inserting the keys of the selected related objects as entries in the parent keys storage or child keys storage.

The present disclosure relates in general to relational databases and more particularly, to the aggregation of keys of dependent objects for a given primary object of a hierarchical database.
Many businesses and institutions make use of relational databases to organize data in a form that is easy to access, organize, and manipulate. Relational databases store their metadata pertaining to user objects in relational tables called catalog tables. These catalog tables have inherent hierarchical relationships between them. For example, in an illustrative implementation of a relational database, a SYSTABLES catalog table (e.g., which holds the metadata about user tables) is related to a SYSTABLESPACES catalog table (e.g., which holds the metadata about tablespaces of the user tables). In this example, the primary key of the SYSTABLES catalog table can include multiple attributes, such as the name of the table and the creator of the table. The foreign keys of the SYSTABLES catalog table can include the name of the database and the name of the tablespace. As another example, a single foreign key may include multiple attributes, including the name of the database and the name of the tablespace. Correspondingly, the primary key of the SYSTABLESPACES catalog table can include multiple attributes, such as the name of the database and the name of the tablespace.
In the above exemplary configuration, given the primary keys of SYSTABLES, which describe the user tables in a corresponding database, it is possible to obtain the tablespace in which a given user table resides by querying the SYSTABLESPACE catalog table. Given the primary keys of the SYSTABLESPACES, which describe the database and tablespaces for a relational database, it is possible to obtain all the user tables residing in a given tablespace by querying the SYSTABLES catalog table.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Aggregating keys of dependent objects for a given primary object


A method of allocating a resource in a computer system having a plurality of operating systems, and related system, are disclosed. In at least one embodiment, the method includes providing an advanced configuration and power interface (ACPI) operating to facilitate interactions between at least one of the plurality of the operating systems and one or more of the resource, a hardware device, and firmware, and determining whether the resource is allocated to a first of the plurality of operating systems. The method further includes ejecting the resource from the first operating system, and allocating the resource to a second of the plurality of operating systems.

Many modern computer systems simultaneously perform a variety of processes, each of which may have particular needs for available resources of the computer systems. For example, many modern computer systems simultaneously run multiple operating systems, each of which may have particular needs for available resources. At least some such computer systems employ interfaces termed advanced configuration and power interfaces (ACPIs) that allow for multiple operating systems to interface the hardware (and/or firmware) of the computer systems. Also for example, modern computer systems typically run multiple applications simultaneously, where each of the applications may have particular needs for available resources.
There are many different resources of computer systems that can potentially be allocated to different processes having needs for those resources. For example, most computer systems have multiple memory devices, ranging from cache memory to main memory devices including random access memory (RAM) devices (e.g., dynamic RAM or static RAM devices) as well as other types of memory such as read only memory (ROM) devices or external memory devices. In some computer systems, not only specific devices but also memory portions or locations within the various hardware devices also potentially are divisible and potentially allocable. Also for example, most computer systems have one or more processing devices (e.g., central processing units (CPUs) such as microprocessors), and the processing power of these devices can allocated to different processes.
Often the allocation of resources to the multiple processes of such conventional computer systems is rigidly fixed, either permanently when the computer systems are built or at least whenever the computer system are turned on or rebooted. Yet this rigid allocation of resources can be undesirable, since the needs of the processes can change over time during their operation, such that an allocation of resources that may be appropriate and represent an efficient usage of those resources at a given time may no longer be appropriate and efficient at a later time.
For at least these reasons, it would be advantageous if an improved method and system for resource allocation could be developed by which one or more resources available to a computer system were not so rigidly fixed in terms of their allocation to the different processes of the computer system as is the case with conventional computer systems.

Method and system for dynamically reallocating a resource among operating systems without rebooting of the computer system

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A magnetic RF tag reader is shown for reading RF tags which transmit information to the receiver when the RF tag is disposed in a low frequency magnetic field. The reader is of a size which can be hand-held and is operatively attached to a separate hand-held terminal for receiving, processing and storing information. The hand-held terminal can be used independently for other purposes when it is not operably connected to the RF tag reader. A regular bar code reader can also be attached to the hand-held terminal means if desired.

Bar codes are useful for identifying and maintaining inventory for a variety of products and goods. One of the disadvantages of a bar code system is that it may be difficult to read, depending upon the available light, the environment or the angle that the bar code can be scanned. The shapes of bar codes generally need to be somewhat uniform and of course a limitation for bar codes is that they cannot be hidden out of view, but instead must be readily available so that the light from a bar code reader can impinge directly upon the bar code.
Because of some of the limitations of bar codes and bar code readers, passive transponder systems have been developed. There are for example radio frequency electrical transponders which require contact with a reader in order to be read. There are also radio frequency tag magnetic readers in which no contact is required. These magnetic RF tags can be read by a reader which activates an antenna within the RF tag when the RF tag becomes disposed within the magnetic field generated by the RF tag reader. This causes a radio frequency signal to be transmitted which can then be received by the reader.
The magnetic RF tag readers in the prior art are somewhat bulky and have an internal computer disposed therein which is dedicated to the reader itself. The disadvantages of such a reader with a dedicated internal computer is that the computer terminal is not useful for other purposes and the size of the reader makes it very awkward to use, for example it cannot be placed in a normal sized pocket or the like.

Magnetic radio frequency tag reader for use with a hand-held terminal


A powdered laundry detergent is provided with discrete whitening agent particles that do not adversely affect the bulk appearance of the detergent during storage. The detergent includes from about 5% to about 80% of an inorganic carrier, from about 1% to about 90% of a detergent surfactant, and from 0.1% up to about 30% of the discrete whitening agent particles. The whitening agent particles include a whitening agent and a surfactant. The surfactant for the whitening agent particle includes those anionics, nonionics, zwitterionics, ampholytics, cationics, and mixtures thereof that are solids in a temperature range of from about 32.degree. F. (0.degree. C.) to about 180.degree. F. (82.degree. C.). The whitening agent particles, in a more desirably form, include a whitener and water. The particles are formed by extruding a homogenous mass into discrete particles. The homogenous mass includes either a whitening agent, a surfactant, and optionally a plasticizer or a whitening agent and water.

The present invention relates to whitening agent particle compositions, more particularly, to whitening agent compositions in the form of discrete particles, to the process for making them. In this regard, U.S. applications Ser. No. 08/616,570 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,452; Ser. No. 08/616,208 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,456; are hereby incorporated by reference in their entirety. The whitening agent particle compositions made by the process described below are suitable for admixture with powder laundry detergents, bleaching powders and other powder laundry products. Thus, the present invention also relates to a powder detergent containing discrete whitening agent particles.
It is known to add whitening agents to washing detergents in order to enhance the whiteness and brightness of the washed textiles. In particular, fluorescent whitening agents (FWAs) counteract the yellowing of cotton and synthetic fibers. FWAs are adsorbed on fabrics during the washing process. FWAs function by absorbing ultraviolet light, which is then emitted as visible light, generally in the blue wavelength ranges. The resultant light emission yields a brightening an whitening effect, which counteracts yellowing or dulling of the fabric. If, however, the whitener, particularly a fluorescent whitener, is incorporated in powdered detergents in the customary manner, they have an exceedingly undesirable drawback. Frequently, they cause a deterioration in the bulk appearance of the detergent. Unattractive, yellow or greenish-yellow powders of reduced commercial value are produced. Without being bound by any particular theory, it is believed that the whitening agents react with the detergent surfactants causing the agent to change forms and thereby cause the bulk appearance of the detergent to change. This reaction appears to be particularly prevalent when the detergent contains a substantial amount of nonionic surfactant.
One solution that has been proposed is to select a fluorescent whitening agent that may be more stable in a detergent containing a high nonionic surfactant concentration. The drawback to such whitening agents is that they lack cold water performance and they are expensive.
Another solution that has been proposed is reported in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,298,490 and 4,309,316 to Lange et al. In these patents, a fluorescent whitener such as a bis-styrylbiphenyl, a bis-triazoylstilbene or naphthotriazolylstilbene type, is dissolved or dispersed in a mixture of water and a polymer (polyvinyl alcohol or polyvinyl pyrrolidone) and then added to the detergent slurry which is then later dried. Alternatively, the whitener solution or dispersion may be spray dried, suspended in water, added to the detergent slurry and then spray dried. These methods, however, require many processing steps prior to incorporation into a detergent slurry. Therefore, there is a need for a powder detergent that contains a whitening agent and which does not suffer from discoloration of the bulk detergent upon storage.
It has now been discovered that a whitening agent composition can be formed into discrete particles so that they can advantageously be added to, for example, a powder detergent composition.

Discrete whitening agent particles method of making, and powder detergent containing same


This disclosure describes systems, methods, and devices related to security for multi-link operation. A device may determine a multi-link communication with a first multi-link device comprising two or more links associated with two or more station devices (STAs) included in the first multi-link device. The device may determine a first medium access control (MAC) address associated with a first link of the two or more links. The device may determine a second MAC address associated with a second link of the two or more links. The device may generate one or more pairwise security keys to be used in the multi-link communication on the two or more links. The device may cause to send a frame to the first multi-link device using at least one combination of the one or more pairwise security keys.

Wireless devices are becoming widely prevalent and are increasingly requesting access to wireless channels. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is developing one or more standards that utilize Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in channel allocation. For example, IEEE 802.11 is developed to facilitate wireless communications between devices such as client devices and access points. In case the security of a device is compromised, network security of other client devices and access points in a same network may be compromised. One such security issue may be a replay attack, where some frames (e.g., management frames) may be replayed. It is important to provide protection against these types of security issues.


The present invention relates to a hybridoma producing an anti-methylated DNA antibody, obtained by cell fusion of an antibody-producing cell obtained from an animal immunized with an antigen containing 5′-(5-methyl-2′-deoxycytidine-3′-phospho)-2′-deoxyguanosine 3′-phosphate with a myeloma cell. The present invention also relates to a monoclonal antibody produced by the hybridoma and a method for immunoprecipitation of a methylated DNA using the antibody.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to hybridomas producing anti-methylated DNA antibodies, monoclonal antibodies produced by the hybridomas and a method for immunoprecipitation of methylated DNA by using the antibodies.
2. Description of the Related Art
Chromosome DNAs of higher eukaryotes may sometimes undergo methylation at the 5-position of C (cytosine) among other bases constituting DNAs. Such DNA methylation in higher eukaryotes functions as a mechanism for suppression of expression of genetic information. For example, when a region containing many CpGs (also referred to as CpG islands), which is often found in promoter regions of certain genes, is methylated, transcription of these genes may be suppressed. On the other hand, when a CpG island is not methylated, a transcription factor can bind to the promoter region and the gene can be transcribed.
Accordingly, DNA methylation is one of control mechanisms of gene expression. DNA methylation plays important roles in various physiological and pathological phenomena such as early embryonic development, expression of tissue specific genes, genomic imprinting and X chromosome inactivation which are characteristic to mammals, stabilization of chromosomes, synchronization of DNA replication and the like.
Recently, it has also been revealed that DNA methylation is deeply involved in cancers or other diseases. Thus, studies have been carried out on confirmed diagnosis or prognostic prediction of cancer based on methylation analysis of various genes.
One of the known techniques for recovery of methylated DNA is Methylated DNA Immunoprecipitaion (MeDIP method). According to the MeDIP method, methylated DNA is immunoprecipitated with an antibody specifically recognizing methylated DNA or with a methylated DNA-binding protein, thereby concentrating methylated DNA in a sample. It has also been known that the MeDIP method can be combined with microarray analysis and the thus combined MeDIP-chip method can be used for exhaustive analysis of DNA methylation status.
Various anti-methylated DNA antibodies to be used in the MeDIP method have been commercially available, among which antibodies recognizing 5-methyl cytosine or 5-methyl cytidine have been frequently used, for example. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2003-125766 discloses that 5-methyl-2′-deoxycytidine is used as an antigen to generate hybridomas from which a monoclonal antibody is obtained and the antibody may be used in enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to quantify 5-methyl-2′-deoxycytidine.

Hybridoma producing anti-methylated DNA antibody and utilization of same


Exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a receiver, a generator, an error-averager, and a determiner and methods for the same. In exemplary embodiments of the present invention, cyclical characteristics of a signal may be used to obtain an improved signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). Exemplary embodiments of the generator may generate a signal output from an equalizer and may transmit the signal to a decoder, which may calculate a metric. The signal may be proportional to the reliability of a symbol.

1. Field of the Invention
Exemplary embodiments of the present invention relate to a receiver, a generator, an error-averager, and a determiner, and methods for the same.
2. Description of the Conventional Art
Viewers may buy television receivers, which may have digital television (DTV) receivers and/or digital set-top boxes to view images provided by digital broadcasting.
Conventional analog broadcasting signals may include, for example, national television system committee (NTSC) signals, phase alternation by line system (PAL) signals, and sequential couleur a memoire (SECAM) signals. DTV signals may include 8-level vestigial side band (VSB) signals, which may be defined by, for example, the advanced television system committee (ATSC). Receivers, which may have DTV receivers and digital set-top boxes may process analog and digital broadcasting signals. Digital set-top boxes alone may not receive analog broadcasting signals.
Signals, for example, DTV broadcasting signals, satellite broadcasting signals, cable TV broadcasting signals, and wireless local area network (WLAN) signals may be used for broadcasting and it may be difficult to allocate other broadcast frequency bands. Analog and digital broadcasting signals may be allocated to a co-channel, for example, an ultra high frequency (UHF) channel or a very high frequency (VHF) channel and transmitted through the co-channel. If an analog broadcasting signal, for example, an NTSC signal and a digital broadcasting signal exist in a co-channel, when an analog television receiver demodulates an analog broadcasting signal into a display signal, the digital broadcasting signal may act as a smaller noise component, and the analog broadcasting signal may be received. When a DTV receiver demodulates a digital broadcasting signal to a display signal, the level of co-channel interference with an NTSC signal may be higher and the digital broadcasting signal may not be received.
FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a conventional digital (e.g., DTV) receiver 100. Referring to FIG. 1, the DTV receiver 100 may include a tuner 101, a VSB demodulator 102, a sync and timing recovery unit 103, a 12 symbol delay comb filter 104, which may remove an NTSC signal, an equalizer 105, an 8-state trellis decoder 106, a de-interleaver 107, and a Reed-Solomon (RS) decoder 108. In the output of the 12 symbol delay comb-filter 104, deep spectral nulls may be introduced at the locations of video, chroma, and audio carriers of, for example, an NTSC signal. The power of the NTSC signal, which may pass through the 12 symbol delay comb-filter 104, may be reduced (e.g., significantly reduced). A VSB signal, which may pass through the 12 symbol comb-filter 104, may be output as a 15-level constellation, and the 8-state trellis decoder 106 may detect the 15-level constellation. The DTV receiver 100, which may cancel co-channel (e.g., NTSC co-channel) interference may improve performance when a signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a received signal may be greater than, for example, 20 dB. When the SNR of the received signal is less than 19 dB, the performance of the DTV receiver 100 may degrade (e.g., significantly degrade). The DTV receiver 100 may use a switching scheme for detecting and removing, for example, the NTSC signal.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of another conventional DTV receiver 200. Referring to FIG. 2, the DTV receiver 200 may include a tuner 201, a VSB demodulator 202, a sync and timing recovery unit 203, a decision feedback equalizer (DFE) 204, a 4-state trellis decoder 205, a de-interleaver 206, and an RS decoder 207. An output of the 4-state trellis decoder 205, a trellis-coded modulation (TCM) decoder, may feed back to the DFE 204 and the DFE 204 may equalize spectral nulls. The performance of the DFE 204 may not degrade in the additive white Gaussian noise (AWGN) channel and the DFE 204 need not detect and remove the NTSC signal using a switching scheme. The DTV receiver 200 may reduce NTSC co-channel interference using the DFE 204. The DFE 204 may partially equalize co-channel interference due to, for example, time-varying characteristics of the NTSC signal. Noise, which may be caused by co-channel interference, may need to be removed from an output signal of the DFE 204. Noise may be at rising and/or falling edges of an NTSC line synchronous signal. The NTSC line synchronous signal may be a clock signal, which may have an NTSC horizontal scan rate. According to, for example, the Advanced Television System Committee High Definition Television (ATSC-HDTV) standard, the cycle of the NTSC line synchronous signal may be equal, or substantially equal, to 684 symbols of an 8-VSB signal.

Channel state determination method and channel state generator in receiver


A method for color tone correction is disclosed. The method generally includes the steps of (A) generating a plurality of first intermediate components by scaling a plurality of first color components towards a first ideal color, wherein the first color components (i) are for a first plurality of pixels in an input video signal and (ii) fall inside a first region of a color space, (B) generating a plurality of first corrected components by adjusting the first intermediate components such that a first mapping of the first color components to the first corrected components is both (i) continuous in the color space and (ii) non-overlapping in the color space and (C) generating an output video signal by combining the first corrected components with a plurality of unaltered color components, wherein the unaltered color components (i) are for a second plurality of the pixels and (ii) fall outside the first region.

Highly saturated colors are often desirable in displayed video and images. Even unnaturally over saturated colors may often be seen as desirable by many people for video or image composition or viewing. Hence, user saturation adjustment knobs are commonly provided on display devices, even when the correct color display data is known via ancillary information.
Exceptions exist to the preference for over saturated color. For example, the color of human skin, also known as skin tone or "seashell pink", is commonly objected to when over saturated. Other exceptions are natural objects for which a range of reference saturation overrides a general preference for over saturation. Therefore, a color adjustment setting that may be pleasing for the majority of video content is often different than an ideal desirable setting for human skin. Several studies have also shown that at least in some cultures (i.e., Japanese, Korean) there exists an "ideal" skin tone color that is perceived to be the most natural and pleasing color for skin.
Common approaches to adjusting skin tones involve segmenting out spatial areas of the pictures containing skin tone. Separate hue/saturation adjustments are then provided to control the segmented areas. However, the common approaches produce unacceptable results for video. Artifacts are introduced in the segmented areas when the pictures are viewed temporarily. As such, extra contour reduction steps are commonly implemented to reduce the artifacts created by the skin tone adjustment adding complexity. Furthermore, the common approaches do not adjust the color components of the video sequentially or operate in the native color space (i.e., CrCb). Hence, the common approaches cannot be implemented with linear operations or simple lookup tables resulting in expensive custom silicon.

Contour free point operation for video skin tone correction


A multimedia file and methods of generating, distributing and using the multimedia file are described. Multimedia files in accordance with embodiments of the present invention can contain multiple video tracks, multiple audio tracks, multiple subtitle tracks, data that can be used to generate a menu interface to access the contents of the file and ‘meta data’ concerning the contents of the file. Multimedia files in accordance with several embodiments of the present invention also include references to video tracks, audio tracks, subtitle tracks and ‘meta data’ external to the file. One embodiment of a multimedia file in accordance with the present invention includes a series of encoded video frames and encoded menu information.

The present invention relates generally to encoding, transmission and decoding of multimedia files. More specifically, the invention relates to the encoding, transmission and decoding of multimedia files that can include tracks in addition to a single audio track and a single video track.
The development of the internet has prompted the development of file formats for multimedia information to enable standardized generation, distribution and display of the files. Typically, a single multimedia file includes a single video track and a single audio track. When multimedia is written to a high volume and physically transportable medium, such as a CD-R, multiple files can be used to provide a number of video tracks, audio tracks and subtitle tracks. Additional files can be provided containing information that can be used to generate an interactive menu.

Multimedia distribution system for multimedia files with interleaved media chunks of varying types