An image taking device with a lighting device includes a light irradiating portion for irradiating light to a subject and a light receiving portion for receiving reflected light from the subject that is irradiated by the light. The light irradiating portion is structured to have a plurality of light sources that are arranged so as to surround the light receiving portion. Each of the light sources is adjusted to emit light of an intensity corresponding to an arrangement position.

Conventionally, there is a technique proposed for identifying a person and authenticating the personal identification in accordance with a physical characteristic of a human body. A physical characteristic obtained by an image taking device is compared with a physical characteristic that is registered in advance for a personal identification or personal authentication.
Image taking devices can be divided broadly into a contact type in which the device touches the human body and a noncontact type in which the device does not touch the human body. A noncontact type is desired in a place where an indefinite number of people uses an image taking device, from viewpoints of resistance to soiling, a hygienic aspect and psychological inhibition.
For example, when the image taking device is used for a control of entering and leaving a facility, the image taking process should be performed ever time when a person enters or leaves the facility. In this case, a contact type device is often touched by people. Therefore, a glass face for touching with a hand may become dirty so that the image taking process cannot be performed correctly. In addition, the hygienic problem or the psychological inhibition may be caused by touching the dirty face. For this reason, a noncontact type device is desired.
A noncontact type is superior to a contact type also in the case where the image taking device is used in a place with a strict hygienic rule such as a medical institute or a research institute. In addition, needs of noncontact products are increasing recently as a social trend as understood from that various antibacterial goods and hygienic goods have becomes hit goods.
For taking an image of a physical characteristic, a lighting device is used usually so as to obtain a desired image by removing an influence of external light. However, if the subject is away from the device, it is difficult to irradiate uniform light to the subject, resulting in deterioration of image quality. Therefore, it is difficult to realize a noncontact type device.
In order to solve this problem, Japanese unexamined patent publication No. 2002-92616 discloses a technique for adjusting quantity of light of a light source in accordance with an obtained image. However, there is a problem that as it is necessary to keep the light source lighting normally for taking an image, power consumption may increase and process time increase because of plural times of taking images.
An object of the present invention is to solve this problem by providing a noncontact type image taking device that can obtain an image of good image quality.

Image taking device, method for controlling light sources and computer program


There is provided an optical navigation device including at least one light source, an image sensor and a processing unit. The light source illuminates a work surface in a first brightness value and a second brightness value. The image sensor receives reflected light from the work surface and outputs a first image frame corresponding to the first brightness value and a second image frame corresponding to the second brightness value. The processing unit calculates a differential image of the first image frame and the second image frame and identifies an operating state according to the differential image.

1. Field of the Disclosure
This disclosure generally relates to an interactive device and, more particularly, to an optical navigation device.
2. Description of the Related Art
The conventional optical mouse generally includes a light source, an image sensor and a processing unit, and is configured to be operated on a work surface by a user. The light source is configured to illuminate the work surface. The image sensor receives reflected light from the work surface to output image frames. The processing unit is configured to calculate a displacement of the optical mouse with respect to the work surface according to the image frames outputted from the image sensor, e.g. according to the correlation between the image frames.
In the above conventional optical mouse, when the processing unit identifies that an image quality of the image frames captured by the image sensor is poor, the displacement is not outputted so as to avoid cursor jitter or operating error. For example, when the optical mouse is lifted from the work surface by the user, the image quality is degraded. However, the image quality is generally degraded by the interference from noise or ambient light such that the processing unit may not be able to correctly output desired trace of the mouse and furthermore may not be able to enter a sleep mode. In other words, an expected accuracy can not be achieved by determining whether to stop outputting the displacement only according to the image quality.
According, the present disclosure further provides an optical navigation device that can effectively eliminate the interference from noise and ambient light and an operating state can be accurately calculated even thought it is operated on a work surface having a low reflectance so as to improve the operating accuracy of the optical navigation device.


A projection display apparatus is provided which offers improved contrast while smoothly controlling the amount of light, with a simple structure and without deterioration of lifetime due to the heat of the light from a light source. This projection display apparatus includes a light valve, a light source for emitting light to the light valve, an integrator lens disposed on the optical path of the light propagating from the light source to the light valve, for making uniform the illuminance distribution of the light from the light source, and a shutter mechanism disposed on the light path, for controlling the amount of light that illuminates the light valve. The shutter mechanism has a pair of light-blocking members having cuts formed in their respective protruding sides to regulate the passage of light, and the pair of light-blocking members are moved straight to protrude/retract on the optical path, perpendicularly to the optical path from both sides of the optical path, so as to control the amount of the light according to the extent of their protrusion on the optical path.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a projection display apparatus using a light valve.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, a conventional projection display apparatus mainly includes a light valve, a light source for emitting light to the light valve, a guiding optical system for guiding the light from the light source to the light valve, an integrator lens disposed on the optical path of the light from the light source to the light valve, for uniformizing the illuminance distribution of the light from the light source, and a projection lens for projecting images produced by the light valve onto a given screen.
In such a conventional projection display apparatus, various optical elements constituting the optical systems, such as the guiding optical system, the projection lens, etc., cause light leakage and stray light, and so the brightness/darkness in the image projected on the screen is not clear, and sufficient contrast cannot be obtained. The term "contrast" herein means the degree of brightness/darkness of an image.
In particular, in projection display apparatuses using liquid-crystal light valves, the contrast of images depend also on the performance of the liquid-crystal light valve, and there is a limit in improving the image contrast by image signal processing.
A method to solve this problem is to control the amount of light that illuminates the light valve according to the image signal, so as to improve the image contrast.
Then, a simplest method to control the amount of light that illuminates the light valve is to control the optical output of the light source used in the projection display apparatus to control the amount of light that illuminates the light valve. However, controlling the optical output of the light source is extremely difficult. Furthermore, in such methods of controlling the optical output of the light source, the brightness is varied in such short periods as can be perceived by human eyes, which causes flicker in the image projected on the screen.
As to techniques to solve this problem, a projection display apparatus is disclosed in which a light control means composed of a segmental liquid-crystal device, whose transmissivity can be controlled in each segment, is provided on the entrance side, or the exit side, or between, two lens arrays forming an integrator lens, and the transmissivity of each segment of the light control means is controlled on the basis of the image signal, whereby the amount of light illuminating the light valve can be controlled without controlling the optical output of the light source (i.e., without causing flicker in the image projected on the screen: for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-131322, Paragraph (0024), which is hereinafter referred to as Conventional Art 1).
A projection display apparatus according to another technique uses an amount-of-light control device in place of the light control means of Conventional Art 1, in which the amount-of-light control device uses light-blocking plates for blocking the optical path from above and below, or from right and left, or a diaphragm mechanism for blocking the optical path, whereby the amount of light illuminating the light valve can be controlled without controlling the optical output of the light source (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2003-241311, Paragraph (0034) and FIG. 2, which is hereinafter referred to as Conventional Art 2).
A projection display apparatus according to still another technique uses light-blocking plates in place of the light control means of Conventional Art 1, in which the light-blocking plates are provided like hinged double doors on both sides of the optical path between two lens arrays, and are turned to control the extent of blocking of the optical path, whereby the amount of light illuminating the light valve can be controlled without controlling the optical output of the light source (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-31103, Paragraphs (0073), (0074) and FIG. 15, which is hereinafter referred to as Conventional Art 3).
Also, a projection display apparatus according to still another technique uses light-blocking plates in place of the light control means of Conventional Art 1, in which the light-blocking plates are provided on the left and right sides and the upper and lower sides of the optical path between two lens arrays, and are slid approximately in parallel with the main surface of the lens array to block the optical path, whereby the amount of light illuminating the light valve can be controlled without controlling the optical output of the light source (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2005-31103, Paragraph (0069) and FIG. 13, which is hereinafter referred to as Conventional Art 4).
However, in Conventional Art 1, the light control means, which is composed of liquid crystal, suffers from reduced lifetime due to the heat generated by the light from the light source (particularly, ultraviolet rays affect the lifetime of the light control means). In particular, when the light control means is disposed on the entrance side of, or between, the two lens arrays, a larger amount of heat is accumulated in the light control means and so the lifetime of the light control means is more likely to be reduced, because, in these positions, the light flux is less attenuated by influences of optical elements than in other positions, and therefore the light flux from the light source is more intensive in these positions.
Also, in Conventional Art 4 using light-blocking plates, the light-blocking plates have their forward ends formed flat, and so they cannot smoothly control the amount of light directed to the light valve when they are moved continuously. Thus, the amount of light cannot be smoothly controlled according to the image signal, to improve the contrast.
Conventional Art 2 using a diaphragm mechanism involves a complicated structure.
In Conventional Art 3 using light-blocking plates turned like hinged double doors, when the light-blocking plates are turned and their forward ends pass near the lens array closer to the light source, the shape of the forward ends may be imaged to the image projected on the screen, which will then appear as illuminance non-uniformity.


A system for bi-translation of speech and writing is provided. The system can comprise one or more electronic data processors contained within one or more computing devices. The system can also include a module configured to execute on the one or more electronic data processors in order to record a spoken and written segment into the one or more computing devices, where the segments can be corroborated by selecting potential medications and processes. The module can also be configured to convert the spoken segment into a stream of text or tokens and the written segment into a stream of text or tokens. Furthermore, the module can be configured to compare the converted spoken and written streams of text or tokens to determine whether the spoken segment and the written segment match and output the results.

Society has greatly benefited from the many advances in medical knowledge, pharmaceutical drugs, and patient treatments. Despite all these advances, a significant challenge facing the medical field are prescription errors. Prescription errors, due primarily to poor handwriting, are a leading cause of medical errors which lead to injuries and/or fatalities. Currently, when a patient goes to a pharmacy to receive a prescribed drug, the pharmacist often has to read and rely on illegible prescriptions when filling out a particular patient's prescription. This significantly increases the odds that an incorrect drug will be given to the patient. The pharmacist may be able to call the physician directly to verify the prescription, however, often times the physician may be unavailable to communicate with the pharmacist.
In order to more effectively fulfill the healthcare community's obligations to a patient, it is very important to be able to ensure that a patient actually receives what a physician prescribed for the patient's health condition. When patients receive the wrong medications it leads to problems such as health-related complications resulting from taking the wrong medications, decreased trust in the medical system, increased costs, and unnecessary expenditures of healthcare resources. As a result, there is a need for a more effective, efficient, and accurate means of reducing prescription errors through the use of systems and methods for bi-translation of speech and writing so as to verify the accuracy of prescriptions.

System and method enabling bi-translation for improved prescription accuracy


A floating barrage comprising an air-containing buoyancy member (13) and a curtain suspended from the buoyancy member (13) which curtain is maintained in approximately vertical position in the water by a ballast member (9) connected to the curtain, wherein the buoyancy member and the curtain are constituted by an envelope formed by a flexible film (4) having a lower edge (7) connected to the ballast member (9) and in which the envelope contains air in a significantly smaller amount than the amount required to inflate the envelope but sufficient to keep the envelope and the ballast floating in water with part of the envelope projecting above the water surface.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a floating barrage comprising an air-containing buoyancy portion and a curtain suspended from such portion, the curtain being maintained in an approximately vertical position in the water by a ballast member connected to the curtain, the buoyancy portion having the form of an air-tight envelope formed by a flexible film having a lower edge connected to the ballast member.
2. The Prior Art
It is known to confine pollutions of lakes and seas, especially oil pollutions, by launching floating barrages on the water surface with the object of containing or encircling the pollution, thereby preventing it from spreading, and facilitating decontamination.
Floating barrages are known in which the buoyancy member consists of a tube which is inflated before launching.
Such floating barrages suffer from the drawback that they are very voluminous, hence requiring much space during transport to the site of launching, and they are difficult to handle.
Floating barrages are also known in which the buoyancy member is formed by inflation of a tubular member in connection with the launching. Floating barrages of this type are described in, e.g., SE published patent application No. 436,435, NO patent specification No. 94,595 and DE patent publication No. 2,363,500. Such an inflation is laborious and time-consuming.
Furthermore, floating barrages have been developed which comprise mechanical members, such as springs, for automatic inflation of the buoyancy member after launching of the floating barrages on the water surface. Examples of this type of floating barrages are disclosed in DE patent specification No. 2,226,725, SE published patent application No. 340,593 and DK patent specification No. 139,308.
Moreover, SE published patent application No. 438,343 discloses a floating barrage which consists of an envelope having a water absorbing porous material located in its lower end, and which has a hole through which water can flow into the envelope. In launching the known floating barrage, the inflowing of water will be absorbed in the water-absorbing material, and the amount of air contained therein will be displaced to the upper portion of the envelope, thereby causing this portion to act as a buoyancy member. The known floating barrage is heavy to maneuver and difficult to remove and dispose of after use.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,922,861 describes a floating barrage which comprises a tubular air-tight buoyancy portion having air inlet means for blowing air into the tubular buoyancy portion in connection with the launching of the barrage on the water.
SE-B-348780 describes a floating barrage consisting of a plurality of air-filled buoyancy members which are attached to a curtain and a ballast member attached to one end of said curtain.


The present disclosure relates generally to stents and methods for managing passage of material through a body lumen. In some embodiments, a medical stent may include a stent body defined by a hollow tubular elongate structure extending along a central axis, the stent body including a first portion and a second portion. The medical stent may further include a control region between the first and second portions, wherein in a first configuration the hollow tubular elongate structure of the control region is in a closed, twisted configuration, and wherein in a second configuration the hollow tubular elongate structure of the control region is in an open, expanded configuration.

Sphincter muscles in the human anatomy perform an important role of sealing and preventing leaks from organs and vessels. Examples of sphincters in the body include a lower esophageal sphincter (LES) and internal/external anal sphincters (IAS/EAS). Complications that effect sphincter function can cause discomfort and embarrassment, thus impairing a patient's quality of life.
One example of sphincter dysfunction, fecal incontinence, is recognized as the inability to control bowel movements, causing unexpected rectum leakage of stool. A challenge for people with this condition is the lack of notification of the imminent bowel movement. Due to the lack of a natural, physical urge or alert to the bowel movement, some people with the condition resort to wearing absorbent undergarments. However, this solution fails to prevent unintentional stool leakage before it occurs.
Urinary incontinence is a dysfunction that may occur, for example, during and/or after pregnancy. This unintentional leaking of urine may present a level of discomfort for patients, which may lead to self-esteem and self-confidence issues.
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) is a dysfunction that occurs when the stomach contents can pass the LES, due to muscle weakness and/or inappropriate relaxation. GELD can also be a complication from surgical procedures that effect the sphincter muscle, e.g., peroral endoscopic myotomy (POEM) and Heller myotomy procedures to treat achalasia.

Stents and methods for managing passage of material through a body lumen


Clostridium phytofermentans cells (American Type Culture Collection 700394T) and all other strains of the species can ferment materials such as biomass into useful products and coproducts, such as ethanol, hydrogen and organic acids. Compositions that include Clostridium phytofermentans are also disclosed.

There is an interest in developing methods of producing usable energy from renewable and sustainable biomass resources. Energy in the form of carbohydrates can be found in waste biomass, and in dedicated energy crops, such as grains (e.g., corn or wheat) or grasses (e.g., switchgrass). Cellulosic and lignocellulosic materials, are produced, processed, and used in large quantities in a number of applications.
A current challenge is to develop viable and economical strategies for the conversion of carbohydrates into usable energy forms. Strategies for deriving useful energy from carbohydrates include the production of ethanol ("cellulosic ethanol") and other alcohols (e.g., butanol), conversion of carbohydrates into hydrogen, and direct conversion of carbohydrates into electrical energy through fuel cells. For example, biomass ethanol strategies are described by DiPardo, Journal of Outlook for Biomass Ethanol Production and Demand (EIA Forecasts), 2002; Sheehan, Biotechnology Progress, 15:8179, 1999; Martin, Enzyme Microbes Technology, 31:274, 2002; Greer, BioCycle, 61-65, April 2005; Lynd, Microbiology and Molecular Biology Reviews, 66:3, 506-577, 2002; and Lynd et al. in "Consolidated Bioprocessing of Cellulosic Biomass: An Update," Current Opinion in Biotechnology, 16:577-583, 2005.

Systems and methods for producing biofuels and related materials


A machine and method for allowing a simulated processor environment to interact with a simulated digital environment to simulate a processor-based system. Embodiments of the present invention contemplate that interaction between the processor environment and digital environment can be implemented by providing the processor environment with a list of "significant events" (e.g., reads and writes) that are pertinent to the digital environment. Embodiments of the present invention also contemplate that the processor environment and digital environment can be synchronized by allowing operations to occur on either the processor environment or the digital environment, but not on both simultaneously.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a machine and method for simulating a processor-based digital system by interconnecting a processor simulator with a digital model of hardware. More specifically, the present invention relates to a machine and method for testing a system in a simulated environment, wherein the system being simulated is envisioned to contain a processor and digital hardware. Within the simulation environment, the processor simulator and digital model communicate with each other such that true interaction between a real processor and digital hardware is simulated. In this way, enhanced testing of the system and, in particular, the digital hardware, can be conducted prior to fabrication of the actual component.
2. Related Information
In today's high-tech environment, an increasing number of devices utilize computer processors. This includes cars, telephone systems and home appliances. In addition, the number of general purpose computers using such processors is also on the rise. In all these systems, software controls the action of the processor, and the processor then typically controls (and reacts to) the digital hardware within the system. For example, in a telephone system, the processor might write certain data to a specified address of memory (corresponding to a portion of the digital hardware) which causes a certain telephone to ring. Of course, these systems can be capable of millions of different possible types and combinations of operations that can be executed in a relatively short time span.
When developing such complex systems having one or more processors and associated digital hardware, testing is a very important and time-consuming process. In conventional development schemes, the processor is an "off-the-shelf" item that can be purchased from a number of different vendors. The software for the processor is then typically written for the specific purpose contemplated, or else it is purchased and then often modified. The digital hardware is usually custom built for the intended purpose, and then tested independently of the software used to run the processor. Once the hardware testing is complete, the hardware is fabricated, assembled and interfaced with the processor and its associated software.
Testing the processor and fabricated digital hardware together almost always results in more reworking of both the hardware and software, since flaws not detected during the separate testing stage tend to surface at that point. Although reworking the software of the processor can also be a considerable effort, refabrication of the hardware is particularly expensive and time-consuming, especially when dealing with ASIC technology. If a single refabrication can be avoided, the savings to the company is impressive, in both time and money. In addition, in conventional development schemes as described above, the software developers often find themselves waiting until the hardware is re-fabricated so that testing can begin again.
The advent of computer technology generally has enhanced the hardware engineer's ability to test digital hardware by itself. For example, computer-based products allow the engineer to construct digital models to test his or her theories before the hardware is actually fabricated. Typically, to get an accurate assessment of the hardware, virtually each signal of the hardware being tested will be simulated. Unfortunately, the testing that can be done using the digital simulator is still not nearly as thorough as having a processor attached to the fabricated digital hardware. This is because the processor is able to more faithfully and more realistically run the digital hardware through the various possible situations and permutations that can occur in the system and do so in an interactive manner.
The software can, to some degree, also be tested by itself using such devices as processor simulators. However, when a software instruction is encountered that would otherwise send or receive information to or from the digital hardware, the simulation will not be able to accurately reflect the way the real system would react.
A partial solution was discussed in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate thesis by Kenneth J. Duda, published May, 1993, entitled "Extending a Generic Hardware Simulator with a Multi-threaded Programming Language for Embedded System Software Debugging," which is incorporated by reference herein. This partial solution envisioned a process simulator communicating with a process that, in some ways, acted as a digital model. However, what was envisioned was for testing the software portion only, and was totally inadequate to test hypothetical hardware. Thus, testing the software-hardware system also was not possible using this concept.
Consequently, what is needed is a way to allow the processor-digital hardware combination to be more accurately tested prior to fabrication of the digital hardware.

Machine and method for simulating a processor-based digital system

Siemens Business Communication Systems, Inc.


The invention relates to a redispersible powder obtainable by (co)polymerization, using a polymer with cationic functionality in an aqueous medium, optionally accompanied by the use of conventional additives, the polymer with cationic functionality being obtained by (co)polymerization in an aqueous medium of olefinically unsaturated (co)monomers, wherein at least one (co)monomer has a cationic functionality, further (co)monomers are added and polymerization takes place in the presence of suitable initiators, and by drying the aqueous dispersion obtained, the (co)polymerizate having one or more reactive groups. According to another embodiment, the polymer with cationic functionality is formed in situ in the presence of a seed. According to another embodiment, the process is controlled in such a way that a (co)polymerizate particle with heterogeneous morphology is formed. The invention also relates to the aqueous dispersions, a process for the preparation of the redispersible powder and the use thereof.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a redispersible powder, its aqueous dispersion, a process for the preparation of the redispersible powder and the use of the powder and dispersion.
2. Background Information
The stabilization of aqueous polymer dispersions (latices) is known from the prior art. As opposed to polymer solutions, aqueous polymer dispersions are not thermodynamically stable systems. Therefore, generally dispersing agents having an interfacial stabilizing action are added to the dispersions. Normally they are water-soluble compounds either in the form of protective colloids or emulsifiers. Protective colloids have a stabilizing action due to a steric or electrostatic shielding action, whereas emulsifiers stabilize the polymer dispersion due to their amphiphilic structure. These stabilizers, which can also be used in emulsion polymerization, are conventional surfactants, i.e., water-soluble polymers, such as polyvinyl alcohol or polyvinyl pyrrolidone.
Besides stabilized, aqueous polymer dispersions, the powders obtainable as a result of drying these dispersions are of great significance. Due to their easy handling, easier, space-saving transportation, easier dosability and less expensive storage, redispersible powders are advantageous. Due to the fact that the dispersing medium "water" is everywhere readily available, the powder form is also desirable in this connection. The drying processes for obtaining the redispersible powder are, e.g., performed by means of freeze or spray drying using protective colloids, such as polyvinyl alcohol. A particularly advantageous process for drying aqueous dispersions is spray drying and then larger powder quantities can be produced. In this process, the aqueous dispersion is sprayed in a hot air flow and dewatered and preferably the drying air and sprayed, aqueous dispersion pass in parallel flow form through the drier and, if necessary, known drying aids can be concomitantly used.
A problem when using surfactants or protective colloids is coalescence, i.e. the undesired flowing together of the latex particles in the emulsion, so that it is no longer possible to obtain redispersible powders. This agglomeration to larger polymer secondary particles (coagulate), for a given polymerizate content of the aqueous dispersion, becomes all the more critical the more finely divided the dispersed particles, because the interface grows in super-proportional manner with decreasing particle diameter.
A corresponding powder should admittedly be completely reversibly dispersible, but on adding water generally completely satisfactory results do not occur. This is linked with the fact that on drying the highly dispersed particles in the dispersion necessarily approach one another until in the case of contact of the surfaces of the particles irreversible changes occur, such as the aforementioned coalescence or also an aggregation of the particles. As a result the surface characteristics of the disperse phase are so modified that on adding water, the affinity of the particles to one another is greater than that to water, so that there is no longer any real redispersion.
The aforementioned emulsifiers or protective colloids, such as, e.g., polyvinyl alcohol, can also give rise to a reduction in the reactivity of the redispersed polymer particles. In other words, the redispersible powder, following redispersion, partly or entirely loses its reactivity and consequently the characteristics associated therewith, so that the further reaction of the copolymerized, functional monomers, after dispersion, is greatly impaired or does not occur. One possibility for obtaining stabilized dispersions from water-insoluble latex is known from EP 441 037 A1. The latter describes anionically stabilized dispersions from latex and a quaternary, cationic polymer, preferably a polyamide epichlorohydrin resin, the two components being separately prepared and stored as soluble polymers. Both components are sprayed together onto the application surface, so as to form a dry coating which cannot be washed out, the cationic polymer serving as a flocculant. Therefore the cationic polymers do not contribute to the stabilization of the dispersion and instead destroy the latter, accompanied by the precipitation of the latex polymers (so-called demulsification) and the formation of a coating. No mention is made of redispersible powders.
EP 286 008 B1 describes the use of aqueous, cationic plastic dispersions for impregnating and priming absorbent substrates. The cationic dispersion polymerizates contain 80 to 99 wt. % ethylenically unsaturated monomers from the group vinyl esters, methacrylic esters, acrylic esters, vinyl aromatics, vinyl chloride, ethylene, acrylonitrile. diesters of maleic acid and/or fumaric acid, vinyl pyrrolidine, 1 to 20 wt. % ethylenically unsaturated, cationic, water-soluble monomers, 0 to 19 wt. % ethylenically unsaturated, hydrophilic monomers with one or more functional groups from the series COOH, —NR1R2, —CONR1R2, in which R1 and R2 stand for H or —CH2OR with R═H or (C1 to C8) alkyl and up to 19 wt. % ethylenically unsaturated monomers with one or more OH groups. The monomers are chosen in such a way that the minimum cationic activity of the dispersion is 20 to 200 μmole/g solids, measured at pH 7, and 60 to 99% of the cationic charge is on the surface of the particles and the dispersions have a minimum film formation temperature (MFT) between 0 and 40° C. The polymerizate particles of the dispersions have an average diameter of 0.02 to 0.2 μm. The cationic dispersions are used in impregnating and priming brickwork, concrete, plaster surfaces, ground plaster, gypsum surfaces or bricks. However, dispersible powders are not described.
JP 55-104 955 A describes an aqueous dispersion of a cationic, ethylenically unsaturated polymer having a glass transition temperature Tg<50° C. and containing a cationic, water-soluble or water-dispersible, ethylenically unsaturated oligomer and/or polymer and/or cationizable, ethylenically unsaturated monomers in the aqueous phase. The polymers serve as additives for improving the characteristics of cement products. As a result the water resistance, water tightness, strength, adhesion, chemical stability and durability of a cement product, such as mortar are improved. The emulsion polymerization of said monomers is either brought about by radical polymerization of alpha or beta-ethylenically unsaturated monomers in the presence of cationic, water-soluble and/or water-dispersible oligomers and/or polymers or by radical polymerization of alpha or beta-ethylenically unsaturated monomers, which are in part replaced by cationic, ethylenically unsaturated monomers, such as dimethylaminoethyl methacrylate esters of maleic acid, fumaric acid, itaconic acid, etc.
A disadvantage of this teaching is on the one hand the very restricted range of polymers which can be used, together with the very restricted field of use for cement formulations.
The polymers produced must have a glass transition temperature Tg<50° C. in order to give mortars the desired characteristics. Moreover, the cationic acrylic resin according to this Japanese patent serves as a water dispersing agent and is used as an additional additive. Thus, the use of the cationic, water-soluble or water-dispersible oligomer and/or polymer serves to prevent the coagulation of the latex in the cement. JP 55-104 955 A also fails to describe a redispersible powder, which is also not provided. For the above reasons it is much more difficult, in addition to a stable dispersion, to provide a redispersible powder obtainable therefrom.
JP 46-22922 describes a process for the preparation of cationic vinyl polymer emulsions, the monomer being a diene and/or vinyl compound, which is polymerized in the presence of a water-soluble, thermosetting, cationic resin. The resin is prepared by reacting water-soluble, unmodified or modified homopolyamide resins, which substantially only contain secondary amino groups, with epihalohydrins in water and use can also be made of a nonionic emulsifier. Emulsions prepared in this way are used for improving the strength, water resistance, thermal stability and adhesion of emulsion polymer films in paper manufacture and processing or also in cement formulations. JP 46-22922 does not describe redispersible powders. The very restricted range of starting materials used is disadvantageous here.

Redispersible powder and its aqueous dispersion, preparation, process and use


A multi-layer record carrier and method of manufacturing thereof and recording thereon, includes data written in units of blocks on tracks of at least two information layers. A first guard field is written at the start of a data block and a second guard field is written at the end of the data block. The power in the focused spot in the deepest of the at least two information layers is maintained substantially at an optimal value, by setting the length of the first and second guard fields such that the end position of the second guard field of a preceding data block is located within the area of the first guard field of the succeeding data block. Thereby, gap portions between the first and second guard fields can be prevented. Alternatively, the length of the first and second guard fields is set to be approximately equal to the sum of half the diameter of a recording beam in the upper one of the at least two information layers when focused on the lowest one of the at least two information layers and a maximum allowed misalignment between the two layers. Thereby, the area through which the beam passes in the information layer is of a uniform nature, when user data is being read or written. The at least two information layers are aligned by optically measuring and aligning alignment marks, such as header spokes, at predetermined measuring points.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multi-layer record carrier, such as, a recordable optical disk of the write-once or rewritable type, suitable to be scanned by a single scanning device and provided with at least two substantially parallel information layers, wherein data is written in units of blocks on tracks of the at least two information layers. Furthermore, the present invention relates to a method and a recording apparatus for recording data on such a record carrier, and a method of manufacturing such a record carrier.
2. Description of the Related Art
Optical data storage systems, such as optical disk drives, allow a storage of large quantities of data on an optical medium. The data is accessed by focusing a laser beam onto the recording layer of the medium and then detecting the reflected light beam. In reversible or rewritable phase-change systems, optical media with two stable phases is used. A data bit is stored on the media by converting a small local area to one stable phase. The data bit can be erased by reverting the written area back to the starting phase. The starting phase is typically a crystalline phase and the laser beam writes data by locally converting the material in the data layer to a stable amorphous phase. This can be achieved by heating the crystalline region above its melting point and then cooling it quickly so that the disordered structure gets fixed in place, resulting in an amorphous structure. The data bit can later be erased by converting the amorphous phase back to the starting crystalline phase. This is done when the amorphous region is heated and maintained at or above its crystallization temperature, or alternatively melted and slowly cooled until the region is crystallized. The data in this type of phase change system is read or detected as a change in reflectivity between a crystalline region and an amorphous region on the optical medium.
To increase the storage capacity of an optical disk, multiple recording layer systems have been proposed. An optical disk having two or more recording layers may be accessed at different spatially separated recording layers by changing the focal position of a lens. The laser beam is transmitted through the nearer recording layer to read and write data on the farther recording layer or layers. Multiple recording layer disks require that the intermediate recording layers between the disk surface onto which the laser light is incident and the last or farthest recording layer from that surface be light-transmissive. To maximize the disk storage capacity of such optical disks, the recording density is substantially constant across the entire disk surface.
In (rewritable) optical recording with random access, the data is usually written in units of ECC blocks (e.g., in CLV systems without headers), in fixed recording unit blocks of a fixed fraction of an ECC block, such as, for example, 2 Kbytes or 4 Kbytes of user data (e.g., in Zoned Constant Angular Velocity systems with headers where the distance between two headers is an integer multiple of these recording unit blocks), or in variable length fractions of an ECC block (e.g., in Digital Video Recording systems where the ECC block size is not an integer multiple of the distance between two headers, and writing is "simply" stopped before a header and restarted after a header with the inclusion of some segment run-in and segment run-out data to guarantee proper behavior of the electronics). These fractions of ECC blocks are called "Recording Frames" in DVR systems and "SYNC Frames" in DVD systems. In optical record carriers with headers, the record carrier is subdivided in sectors, each sector comprising a header containing an address uniquely identifying the sector and a recording unit block to which user data, preferably protected by an error detection and correction code (ECC), is recorded.
In DVR systems, a Zoned Constant Angular Velocity (ZCAV) system is used. In such systems, the capacity of a sector is not constant over the disk. The linear density is approximately constant and the number of tracks per zone is constant, but the length of a track (i.e., one circumference of the disc) is increasing with a factor of 2.4 from inner to outer radius of the disc, while the number of headers per revolution is constant. Thus, the number of bits between two headers is increasing. The DVR system and format is described in T. Narahara et al, "Optical Disc system for Digital Video Recording", Techn. Digest ISOM/ODS (MD1) Jul. 11–15, 1999, Kauai Hi., SPIE Vol. 3864 (1999), 50–52 and Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 39 Pt. 1 No. 2B (2000), 912–919, and in K. Schep et al, "Format description and evaluation of the 22.5 GB DVR disc", Techn. Digest ISOM 2000 (September 2000).
When data is written, the newly written data has to be linked with the data that is already present in a controlled way to guarantee the validity of both the already present data as well as the newly written data. For example, when writing a new block behind an already written block, two measures are taken. First, the new block should not be written over the user data in the already present block. This is guaranteed by introducing a gap between the end of the present data block and the start of the new data block. Second, the new block should be read correctly, i.e., the reading electronics should have the ability to resettle, for example, the amplitude (by a gain control function) and the frequency and the phase (by a Phase Locked Loop for data detection). This is guaranteed by preceding the new data with a preamble field which contains a repeated pattern long enough for the circuitry to stabilize and be well settled before the first user data is read.
FIG. 6 shows a principle recording pattern of this general method wherein a recording unit block (i.e., a physical cluster) always ends with a postamble (PoA), i.e., a specific pattern to signal the end of user data (a kind of synchronization pattern), a guard field, i.e., a field containing dummy data to overwrite possible present old data which could confuse read-back of the newly written data such as, for example, the PoA of a previous recording, and a gap or gap portion to guarantee that the data of a possible present next cluster is not overwritten. The next recording unit block (i.e., the next physical cluster) starts with a gap, again to prevent overwriting, a guard field G1 and a preamble PrA. The area comprising the postamble PoA, the guard fields G1 and G2, the gaps and the preamble PrA is called the data linking area used for linking succeeding recording unit blocks (i.e., succeeding physical clusters).
The sinusoidal waveform indicated in FIG. 6 indicates a wobble signal recorded on the optical disk and used as a timing reference for deriving the write clock and as a position reference indicating the writing position. Predetermined maximum tolerances D1, D2 and D3 are allowed with respect to the start of the postamble PoA, and the end and start of the guard fields G1 and G2, respectively.
In dual or multi-layer systems, the above linking method leads to the problem that the lower layer is read while a significant area of the laser beam passes through the gaps of the upper layer or layers. Thus, the transmission characteristic or the degree of transmissivity of the upper layer differs in dependence on the gaps since the transmissivity of the upper layer is different in the written and in the non-written state. This problem increases when the gaps are large, such as, for example, in DVR systems where the gaps may have a length of typically about 150 μm while the diameter of the beam in the upper layer is about 40 μm when reading the lower layer and when the gaps are at the same angular position in neighboring tracks, such as, for example, on the radial areas of a CLV or ZCAV system where an integer number of ECC blocks fits almost exactly on an integer multiple of one or several circumferences.
Furthermore, in dual or multi-layer phase change disks, the effective power in the deepest (second) layer differs according to the physical structure of the upper (first) layer. For example, the transmission characteristics or the transmissivity of the header area and of the rewritable land/groove area of a phase change disk are different. The effect of the header area in the upper layer on the deepest layer is the sum of two effects. First, the headers have a transmission characteristic which may differ from that of the land/groove area. When no data is recorded in the land/groove area, this difference is, in general, relatively small. However, when data is recorded in the land/groove area, the difference may be substantial. Secondly, just before and just after the header area, the groove is not yet written with phase change data due to the fact that in a DVR system, the segment run-in starts and the segment run-out ends with a gap before the data is actually written. This gap is used for, for example, the random start position shift (in the segment run-in) used for increasing the number of overwrite cycles in a phase change disk and as reserved space (in the segment run-out) when, for example, the bit length used is slightly longer than the nominal length due to inaccuracies when deriving the write clock from the wobble signal or when writing with a (non-locked) crystal clock. Moreover, after and before these gaps, a guard field and a preamble field PrA is written, e.g., to allow settlement of the electronics.
Thus, the transmission problem due to the gap portion in the upper layer occurs between data clusters and between a data cluster and a header area.
The transmission problem due to the header area is significantly increased in case of a (random) misalignment between the header spokes of the upper and of the lower information layers. Header alignment or correspondence requires a tight centering and angular alignment between the two layers. E.g., in the DVR system, less than approximately one wobble, i.e., less than 30 μm peak-to-peak, would be a preferred range for the displacement between the headers in the two information or recording layers. This displacement may result from unroundness (assumed to be small, i.e., less than a few μm), eccentricity (de-centering of the center of the spiral track with respect to the central hole) and angular difference. The de-centering of the spiral track with respect to the central hole is introduced mainly in the molding step of the disk mastering and replication process. The above-mentioned preferred allowed displacement range between the header corresponds to an allowed eccentricity of 15 μm peak-to-peak and an allowed angular misalignment of 0.015 degree.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,715,225 discloses a multi-layer optical record carrier and data storage device, wherein two separate optical heads are used to improve the alignment between the different information layers. Each optical head includes its own actuator. By using two separate actuators mechanically and electronically linked, tracking and sector information can be obtained from the appropriate recording layer of the optical storage device which was preformed or formatted. Thus, one of the optical heads is continuously focused on a recording layer which contains tracking and format information. This recording layer is not necessarily the recording layer on which user data is being recorded or read. Furthermore, U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,620 discloses a multi-layer optical record carrier in which the recording layers have sensitivity peaks in different wavelength, while allowing lights having the other wavelength to transmit therethrough. Each track on the recording layers is divided into a plurality of sectors, each of which having an identification section. The identification sections are shifted against one another in the tracking direction to thereby prevent the light beam from illuminating neighboring identification sections simultaneously. As a result, cross-talk or influences between neighboring identification sections can be reduced.

Multi-layer record carrier and method of manufacturing thereof and recording thereon, with reduced transmission differences in the upper layer


A composite particle is constituted to include: an aluminum nitride particle; a first coating layer that contains α-alumina and coats at least a part of a region of a surface of the aluminum nitride particle; and a second coating layer that contains organic matter and coats a region other than the first coating layer of the surface of the aluminum nitride particle.

In recent years, with miniaturization and technological advance of electronic devices, how to take heat dissipation measures has become an important problem. Thus, in order to achieve the high thermal conduction of a resin which constitutes a substrate on which an electronic component is implemented, a method of adding particles with a high degree of thermal conductivity as fillers to the resin has generally been used. Particles with a higher degree of thermal conductivity have been used as electrically insulative fillers added to form an insulative resin with high thermal conductivity.
For example, a method of using aluminum nitride having a high degree of thermal conductivity as a filler has been examined. However, aluminum nitride is extremely unstable against water and is easily reacted with water in atmospheric air to generate ammonia to generate aluminum hydroxide on the surface of an aluminum nitride powder.
Accordingly, it has been known that thermal conductivity is deteriorated with generation of aluminum hydroxide even when powdery aluminum nitride is stored in atmospheric air for a long term or dispersed in a resin or the like. Thus, for example, a method of improving water resistance by coating the surface of aluminum nitride with an organic matter or an inorganic matter has been known.
However, an organic matter or an inorganic matter on an aluminum nitride surface has sometimes inhibited thermal conduction to decrease the degree of the thermal conductivity of a composite material per se in the case of making composite aluminum nitride particles by coating the aluminum nitride particle surface with the organic matter or the inorganic matter (such as metal oxide, glass, or a metal salt). Further, a method of using α-transformed alumina having good thermal conductivity for a surface-coated inorganic matter in a coating layer to reduce the effect of inhibition of thermal conduction by surface coating has been known (e.g., see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 4-175209).
However, a coating layer including crystalline α-alumina has insufficient water resistance since many cracks are generally generated during sintering. Thus, a method of reducing the occurrence of cracking by controlling the amount of an oxygen gas in a sintering gas when a crystalline α-alumina layer is formed on an aluminum nitride surface has been known (e.g., see JP-A 2005-225947).

Composite particle, method for producing the same, and resin composition


A driver circuit of a liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes a drive line driving a lightbar of the LCD device. A discharge module and a switch module are in series connection between the drive line and a ground end of the LCD device driver circuit in sequence; a starting signal sent by the LCD device is coupled to the switch module. When the starting signal is an OFF signal, the switch module is turned on, and when the starting signal is an ON signal, the switch module is turned off.

A liquid crystal display (LCD) device includes a driver circuit of an LCD device. The driver circuit of the LCD device includes a lightbar providing a light source for the LCD device and a driver module driving the lightbar. The driver module is connected to the lightbar by a drive line, and an electrolytic capacitor is connected to the drive line. When the LCD device is quickly powered on or powered off, the electrolytic capacitor may not he quickly and completely discharged, resulting in a flicker when the LCD device is restarted. As shown in FIG. 1, to solve the problem mentioned above, discharge resistors (R1 and R2) are generally arranged in parallel between the drive line Vout and a ground end CiND of an entire circuit (namely arranged in parallel at two ends of the electrolytic capacitor C) in the prior art. However, to completely reduce the flicker during power-on or power-off more resistors are needed to be arranged in parallel in the technical scheme. With an increase of a number of resistors, comes an increase in power use of the resistors, resulting in efficiency reduction of the LCD device.

LCD device driver circuit, driving method, and LCD device


A system and method facilitating detection of unsolicited e-mail message(s) with challenges is provided. The invention includes an e-mail component and a challenge component. The system can receive e-mail message(s) and associated probabilities that the e-mail message(s) are spam. Based, at least in part, upon the associated probability, the system can send a challenge to a sender of an e-mail message. The challenge can be an embedded code, computational challenge, human challenge and/or micropayment request. Based, at least in part, upon a response to the challenge (or lack of response), the challenge component can modify the associated probability and/or delete the e-mail message.

Electronic messaging, particularly electronic mail ("e-mail") carried over the Internet, is rapidly becoming not only pervasive in society but also, given its informality, ease of use and low cost, a preferred mode of communication for many individuals and organizations.
Unfortunately, as has occurred with more traditional forms of communication (e.g., postal mail and telephone), e-mail recipients are increasingly being subjected to unsolicited mass mailings. With the explosion, particularly in the last few years, of Internet-based commerce, a wide and growing variety of electronic merchandisers is repeatedly sending unsolicited mail advertising their products and services to an ever expanding universe of e-mail recipients. Most consumers that order products or otherwise transact with a merchant over the Internet expect to and, in fact, regularly receive such merchant solicitations. However, electronic mailers are continually expanding their distribution lists to penetrate deeper into society in order to reach ever increasing numbers of recipients. For example, recipients who merely provide their e-mail addresses in response to perhaps innocuous appearing requests for visitor information generated by various web sites, often find, later upon receipt of unsolicited mail and much to their displeasure, that they have been included on electronic distribution lists. This occurs without the knowledge, let alone the assent, of the recipients. Moreover, as with postal direct mail lists, an electronic mailer will often disseminate its distribution list, whether by sale, lease or otherwise, to another such mailer, and so forth with subsequent mailers. Consequently, over time, e-mail recipients often find themselves barraged by unsolicited mail resulting from separate distribution lists maintained by a wide and increasing variety of mass mailers. Though certain avenues exist, based on mutual cooperation throughout the direct mail industry, through which an individual can request that his(her) name be removed from most direct mail postal lists, no such mechanism exists among electronic mailers.
Once a recipient finds him(her)self on an electronic mailing list, that individual can not readily, if at all, remove his(her) address from it, thus effectively guaranteeing that he(she) will continue to receive unsolicited mail—often in increasing amounts from that list and oftentimes other lists as well. This occurs simply because the sender either prevents a recipient of a message from identifying the sender of that message (such as by sending mail through a proxy server) and hence precludes the recipient from contacting the sender in an attempt to be excluded from a distribution list, or simply ignores any request previously received from the recipient to be so excluded.
An individual can easily receive hundreds of unsolicited postal mail messages over the course of a year, or less. By contrast, given the ease and insignificant cost through which e-distribution lists can be readily exchanged and e-mail messages disseminated across large numbers of addressees, a single e-mail addressee included on several distribution lists can expect to receive a considerably larger number of unsolicited messages over a much shorter period of time. Furthermore, while many unsolicited e-mail messages (e.g., offers for discount office or computer supplies or invitations to attend conferences of one type or another) are benign; others, such as pornographic, inflammatory and abusive material, can be highly offensive to certain recipients.
Unsolicited e-mail messages are commonly referred to as "spam". Similar to the task of handling junk postal mail, an e-mail recipient must sift through his(her) incoming mail to remove spam. Unfortunately, the choice of whether a given e-mail message is spam or not is highly dependent on the particular recipient and content of the message—what may be spam to one recipient may not be so to another. Frequently, an electronic mailer will prepare a message such that its true content is not apparent from its subject line and can only be discerned from reading the body of the message. Hence, the recipient often has the unenviable task of reading through each and every message he(she) receives on any given day, rather than just scanning its subject line, to fully remove spam messages. Needless to say, such filtering (often manually-based) can be a laborious, time-consuming task.
In an effort to automate the task of detecting abusive newsgroup messages (so-called "flames"), the art teaches an approach of classifying newsgroup messages through a rule-based text classifier. See, E. Spertus "Smokey: Automatic Recognition of Hostile Messages", Proceedings of the Conference on Innovative Applications in Artificial Intelligence (IAAI), 1997. Here, semantic and syntactic textual classification features are first determined by feeding an appropriate corpus of newsgroup messages, as a training set, through a probabilistic decision tree generator. Given handcrafted classifications of each of these messages as being a "flame" or not, the generator delineates specific textual features that, if present or not in a message, can predict whether, as a rule, the message is a flame or not. Those features that correctly predict the nature of the message with a sufficiently high probability are then selected for subsequent use. Thereafter, to classify an incoming message, each sentence in that message is processed to yield a multi-element (e.g., 47 element) feature vector, with each element simply signifying the presence or absence of a different feature in that sentence. The feature vectors of all sentences in the message are then summed to yield a message feature vector (for the entire message). The message feature vector is then evaluated through corresponding rules produced by the decision tree generator to assess, given a combination and number of features that are present or not in the entire message, whether that message is either a flame or not. For example, as one semantic feature, the author noticed that phrases having the word "you" modified by a certain noun phrase, such as "you people", "you bozos", "you flamers", tend to be insulting. An exception is the phrase "you guys" which, in use, is rarely insulting. Therefore, one feature is whether any of these former word phrases exist. The associated rule is that, if such a phrase exists, the sentence is insulting and the message is a flame. Another feature is the presence of the word "thank", "please" or phrasal constructs having the word "would" (as in: "Would you be willing to e-mail me your logo") but not the words "no thanks". If any such phrases or words are present (with the exception of "no thanks"), an associated rule, which the author refers to as the "politeness rule" categorizes the message as polite and hence not a flame. With some exceptions, the rules used in this approach are not site-specific, that is, for the most part they use the same features and operate in the same manner regardless of the addressee being mailed.
A rule based textual e-mail classifier, here specifically one involving learned "keyword-spotting rules", is described in W. W. Cohen, "Learning Rules that Classify E-mail", 1996 AAAI Spring Symposium on Machine Learning in Information Access, 1996 (hereinafter the "Cohen" publication). In this approach, a set of e-mail messages previously classified into different categories is provided as input to the system. Rules are then learned from this set in order to classify incoming e-mail messages into the various categories. While this method does involve a learning component that allows for automatic generation of rules, these rules simply make yes/no distinctions for classification of e-mail messages into different categories without providing any confidence measure for a given prediction. Moreover, in this work, the actual problem of spam detection was not addressed. In this regard, rule-based classifiers suffer various serious deficiencies which, in practice, would severely limit their use in spam detection. First, existing spam detection systems require users to manually construct appropriate rules to distinguish between legitimate mail and spam. Most recipients will not bother to undertake such laborious tasks. As noted above, an assessment of whether a particular e-mail message is spam or not can be rather subjective with its recipient. What is spam to one recipient may, for another, not be. Furthermore, non-spam mail varies significantly from person to person. Therefore, for a rule based-classifier to exhibit acceptable performance in filtering most spam from an incoming mail stream, the recipient must construct and program a set of classification rules that accurately distinguishes between what constitutes spam and what constitutes non-spam (legitimate) e-mail. Properly doing so can be an extremely complex, tedious and time-consuming task even for a highly experienced and knowledgeable computer user.
Second, the characteristics of spam and non-spam e-mail may change significantly over time; rule-based classifiers are static (unless the user is constantly willing to make changes to the rules). Accordingly, mass e-mail senders routinely modify content of their messages in a continual attempt to prevent ("outwit") recipients from initially recognizing these messages as spam and then discarding those messages without fully reading them. Thus, unless a recipient is willing to continually construct new rules or update existing rules to track changes to spam (as that recipient perceives such changes), then, over time, a rule-based classifier becomes increasingly inaccurate at distinguishing spam from desired (non-spam) e-mail for that recipient, thereby further diminishing utility of the classifier and frustrating the user/recipient.
Alternatively, a user might consider employing a method for learning rules (as in the Cohen publication) from their existing spam in order to adapt, over time, to changes in an incoming e-mail stream. Here, the problems of a rule-based approach are more clearly highlighted. Rules are based on logical expressions; hence, as noted above, rules simply yield yes/no distinctions regarding the classification for a given e-mail message. Problematically, such rules provide no level of confidence for their predictions. Inasmuch as users may have various tolerances as to how aggressive they would want to filter their e-mail to remove spam, then, in an application such as detecting spam, rule-based classification would become rather problematic. For example, a conservative user may require that the system be very confident that a message is spam before discarding it, whereas another user many not be so cautious. Such varying degrees of user precaution cannot be easily incorporated into a rule-based system such as that described in the Cohen publication.


An imaging apparatus, driving method of the imaging apparatus, and an imaging system, are provided, wherein pixels output at least two image signals with different viable signal ranges, and the pixel signal with a larger signal range is converted to a digital signal during a first period, and the pixel signal with a smaller signal range is converted to a digital signal during a second period shorter than the first period.

Field of the Invention
The present technology relates to an imaging system and an imaging apparatus including analog-to-digital conversion circuits to convert analog signals into digital signals.
Description of the Related Art
According to the related art, an imaging apparatus is known to include pixels that are arranged in a matrix, perform photoelectric conversion, and output signals based on incident light, and to include column-parallel analog-to-digital circuits (hereafter, analog-to-digital circuit is referred to as an ADC (Analog Digital Converter), and the column-parallel ADC is referred to as the column ADC), which are provisioned in each pixel column, that perform AD conversion on the signal output from the pixels. A circuit unit in each column in the column ADC performs analog-to-digital conversion (hereafter, referred to as AD conversion) to convert the analog signals output from the pixels (hereafter, the "analog signal output from the pixels" is referred to as pixel signal) into digital signals.
Also, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-134867 discloses an imaging apparatus including pixels that output a first pixel signal based on a first signal charge accumulated in at least one photoelectric conversion unit, and a second pixel signal based on a signal charge calculated from the first signal charge and a signal charge accumulated in another photoelectric conversion unit. According to this imaging apparatus, the viable signal range of signal values for the first pixel signal is narrower than the viable signal range of signal values for the second pixel signal.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-59687 discloses an imaging apparatus that includes pixels which include multiple photoelectric conversion units with different surface areas. When the same amount of light is illuminated on the multiple photoelectric conversion units, the photoelectric conversion units with larger surface areas produce larger signal charges as compared to the photoelectric conversion units with smaller surface areas. Thus, the viable signal range for pixel signals based on photoelectric conversion units with smaller surface areas is narrower than the viable signal range for pixel signals based on photoelectric conversion unit with larger surface areas.

Imaging apparatus, imaging system, and imaging apparatus driving method


According to one embodiment, a position demodulation apparatus is provided which demodulates a first demodulated signal and a second demodulated signal, based on a servo-pattern read signal read out by a head from a medium, acquires a plurality of sets of a vector length and phase angle of vectors on a phase plane denoting the first and second demodulated signals, detects a phase angle for which the vector length is greatest based on the sets acquired, and executes rotational correction using the difference between the detected phase angle and a particular reference angle as a correction amount.

In hard disk drives, a magnetic head mounted at tip portion of an actuator arm is moved using the actuator arm. The magnetic head is moved in radial directions of a magnetic disk that is a recording medium to record and read data onto and from the magnetic disk. The recording medium has data areas onto which to record user data and servo areas on which data used in head positioning control is recorded.
In the above hard disk drive, when the magnetic head passes across the servo area, position of the magnetic head is identified based on a signal read from the servo area. And in the hard disk drive, by adjusting the position of the magnetic head based on the identified position by the actuator arm, the magnetic head can be controlled to be in a desired position.
As to patterns recorded on the servo area, there are several types, for example, a NULL servo pattern, an area servo pattern, a phase servo pattern, and the like exist. For example, the NULL servo pattern comprises two blocks different in magnetization pattern. The position of the magnetic head can be identified by position signals read from the two blocks of the NULL servo pattern. It is understood that these position signals are represented as a Lissajous figure when they are plotted on a phase plane, and that as its shape becomes closer to a circle, the position can be identified more accurately.
However, various distortions occur in the actually obtained position signals. For example, the Lissajous figure may be not a circle but deformed in a rectangle shape or inclined. Thus, in the conventional art, improvement in accuracy in identifying the position of the magnetic head is attempted by correcting for the above deformation. However there is some room for improvement in the method of determining the amount of correction.

Position demodulation apparatus and position demodulation method


A catalyst having a high pore volume, high surface area porous silica support and a non-metallocene, Ziegler-Natta catalytic component incorporated on the silica support is provided for the production of polyolefins from .alpha.-olefins. The porous silica support is made up of silica gel particles having an average surface area of about 600 to about 800 m.sup.2 /g of silica and an average pore volume of about 2.5 to about 4.0 ml/g of silica. Preferably, the silica particles have an average surface area of about 650 to about 750 m.sup.2 /g of silica and an average pore volume of about 2.75 to about 3.25 ml/g of silica. Even more preferably, the silica particles have an average surface area of about 700 m.sup.2 /g of silica and an average pore volume of about 3.0 ml/g of silica. The catalytic component comprises a complex product of a transition metal halide and a metal alkyl which excludes cyclopentadienyl rings.

Chromium and Ziegler-Natta polymerization catalysts have been known since the 1950's. Thermally activated chromium catalysts were disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,825,721 and are commonly referred to as Phillips catalysts. Catalysts containing chromium may also contain additional components such as titanium, aluminum, boron, and vanadium, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,770.
Ziegler-Natta catalysts can be broadly described as consisting of combinations of strong reducing agents, such as an organometallic compound of an alkali metal or an alkaline earth metal (such as aluminum and magnesium), in combination with various reducible heavy metal compounds, such as the halides and alkoxides of the metals in Groups IVB, VB, and VIB of the Periodic Table. Ziegler-Natta catalysts are commonly supported on MgCl.sub.2, but silica-supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts are also known.
Other types of silica-supported Ziegler-Natta catalysts which are known in the prior art include:
A. The multiple site type, for example, the catalysts disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,155,079, which discloses a zirconium compound and a vanadium or titanium compound deposited on silica particles;
B. The metallocene type compounds in which the transition metal compound, a bis (cyclopentadienyl) metallocene, especially a zirconocene, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,432, or a monocyclopentadienyl compound of zirconium, hafnium, or titanium, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,057,475; and
C. Catalysts for isotactic propylene as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,950,631.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,787,384 discloses catalyst synthesis by reaction of silica with an organomagnesium compound and subsequent treatment of the product with titanium tetrachloride. The particulate catalyst that is obtained is activated with an aluminum alkyl cocatalyst. U.S. Pat. No. 3,748,539 discloses a similar use for silica in catalyst synthesis, but the silica particles are first modified by reaction with an organoaluminum compound, and the transition metal is vanadium. U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,561 discloses a silica-supported metallocene catalyst prepared by reaction of methylaluminoxane with silica, followed by treatment with a zirconocene. In all of these disclosures, the porous silica is of relatively low pore volume, surface area, and surface functionality.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,701,432 (mentioned above) discloses an olefin polymerization catalyst comprising (a) a supported transition metal containing component comprising the support treated with at least one metallocene and at least one non-metallocene transition metal compound, and (b) a cocatalyst comprising an aluminoxane and an organometallic compound of a metal of groups IA, IIA, IIB, or IIIA of the periodic table. Although the patent discloses a support of an inorganic oxide with surface areas of between 50 to 1000 m.sup.2 /g and a pore volume of between 0.5 to 3.5 ml/g, the patent mentions that the specific particle size, surface area, pore volume, and number of surface hydroxyl groups are not critical to the patent's utility.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,232,883 discloses a process for obtaining high surface area silica particles with catalysts supported thereon. The process includes the step of spraying an electrostatically charged gellable liquid material into a chamber to produce macrodrops within which gelling is produced after spraying. The process of the '883 patent is utilized only with chromium-containing catalytic components.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,089 discloses a method of preparing a high pore volume, medium surface area zirconia-titania-silica tergel useful as an olefin polymerization or co-polymerization catalyst support. In particular, this patent discloses a pore volume in the range of about 1.5 to 3.5 cc/g and a surface area in the range of about 200 to 600 m.sup.2 /g.
In olefin polymerization, it is desirable to develop a catalyst with high activity which produces polymers with high bulk density and good morphology.

Olefin polymerization catalysts with specific silica supports


A first digital signal sequence including I and Q digital signal sequences is obtained, the first digital signal sequence being obtained by multiplying each bit of an I-sequence and a Q-sequence in a digital signal sequence system by a first code among codes constituting n-th order (n is an integer) orthogonal codes. A second digital signal sequence is obtained by multiplying I and Q digital signal sequences by a first coefficient greater than 1, the I and Q digital signal sequences being obtained by multiplying each of the bits in the I-sequence and the Q-sequence in the digital signal sequence system by a first code among codes constituting 2n-th order orthogonal codes. The first digital signal sequence and the second digital signal sequence are added on a bit-by-bit basis to create one digital signal sequence, and the one digital signal sequence is transmitted from a single antenna.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a MIMO communication method that uses MIMO (multiple-input and multiple-output communication), and to a MIMO transmitting device and a MIMO receiving device.
2. Description of Related Art
A MIMO communication scheme has been put into practical use as a technology for increasing communication capacity. This technology is designed to allow different data sequences on N systems to be transmitted using a transmitter having N transmitting units and a receiver having N receiving units, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2, and reserves a communication capacity that is N times, resulting in a communication speed that is N times, that in the case of transmission on only one system.
This technology is currently used in LTE (Long Term Evolution), WiFi (Wireless Fidelity), and the like as SU-MIMO (Single User-MIMO). In the future, an extended version will be available as MU-MIMO (Multi User MIMO), and studies on improved frequency utilization efficiency with the use of orthogonality between channels, unified operation of a plurality of cells, and so forth are being intensively made.
In MIMO, currently, as described above, a transmitter and a receiver require individually N transmitting units and N receiving units. That is, a transmitter includes N transmit antennas and N transmit circuits, and a receiver includes N receive antennas and N receive circuits. The N transmit circuits have the same characteristics and the N receive circuits have the same characteristics.
The conditions under which MIMO communication is established are the ability to separate transmit signals by measuring on the receiver side the gain of communication channels of communication paths formed between transmit and receive antennas by using a reference signal transmitted from the transmitter, representing the gain as a communication path matrix (H-matrix) in the form of a matrix, and multiplying the inverse matrix of the communication path matrix on the receiver side.

MIMO communication method, MIMO transmitting device, and MIMO receiving device


A method to reduce water coning in viscous oil formations during primary oil production wherein a horizontal wellbore is heated by circulating steam therein thereby heating a radial area near the wellbore. Near wellbore heating alters a pressure profile in the radial area near the wellbore. Reduced inflow pressure gradients near the wellbore flatten out a pressure sink associated with the wellbore. This reduces substantially water coning which allows more oil to be produced before high water production begins.

The use of horizontal wells in oil reservoirs is currently of high interest within the oil industry. Horizontal wells allow more reservoir surface area to be contacted and thereby reduce inflow pressure gradients for reasonable oil production rates. Alternatively, for typical pressure gradients within the wellbore region, the productivity of a horizontal well is greater than that in a vertical well.
Several possible benefits of horizontal wells are currently being exploited in the Canadian tar sands. Reservoirs in Canada that may be categorized as immobile under reservoir conditions include the Cold Lake and Athabasca deposits. Horizontal wells are also being used to produce mobile viscous oil from a formation.
Current practices for producing the above immobile tar sands and mobile viscous oils include mining and steam stimulation by formation fracturing. However, mining is not practical below very shallow depths. Furthermore, steam stimulation by formation fracturing is not feasible in those reservoirs underlain by water aquifers. In general, fracturing in zones underlain by water aquifers or a bottom water zone results in large amounts of water production and non-uniform development of the steam zone. Large water influx is due to penetration of the fracture into the water aquifer and water coning around the wellbore.
Water coning is the phenomenon whereby water is drawn upwardly from the water-bearing portion into the oil-bearing portion about the well.
Steam stimulation below fracture pressure in a vertical well is not practical due to the very low injectivity of the formation to steam and the very small area of reservoir contact. Increased area of contact can be achieved by the use long horizontal wells (1,000 to 3,000 feet as compared to 30 to 100 feet for a vertical well). This increased area of contact allows more of the reservoir's area to be heated by steam injection. This results in more oil production due to increased volume of the heated zone. Injection of a large steam slug into a horizontal well underlain by a water aquifer may result in a fracture into the aquifer.
The length of horizontal wells permits smaller inflow pressure gradients during isothermal viscous oil production. However, the shape of the pressure profile around the wellbore remains logarithmic such that the largest pressure gradients occur in a near-wellbore region. Hence, water coning, while reduced in horizontal wells compared to vertical wells is still quite a problem in viscous oil reservoirs, since a sharp pressure sink exists in the near-wellbore region.
Therefore, what is needed is a method to reduce water coning in a horizontal well so as to obtain an increased production of hydrocarbonaceous fluids from a heavy oil reservoir.

Method for reduced water coning in a horizontal well during heavy oil production


A transmission includes first and second members which are supported for independent rotation about an axis, and a drive arrangement which effects rotation of the first member about the axis in a rotational direction. A cam is provided on one of the first and second members, and a cam follower is provided on the other thereof, the cam follower being movable between positions disengaged from and engaged with the cam and the cam follower moving along the cam in response to rotation of the first member in the rotational direction relative to the second member when the cam follower is engaged with the cam. An arrangement is provided to resist movement of the cam follower along the cam beyond a predetermined position, and causes a force in the rotational direction to be transferred from the first member to the second member through the cam follower and cam when the cam follower is at the predetermined position on the cam, so that the second member is rotated in the rotational direction synchronously with the first member.

Over the years, a variety of transmissions have been developed to transfer a driving force from a rotational drive arrangement to a rotationally driven load. While these pre-existing transmissions have been generally adequate for their intended purposes, they have not been satisfactory in all respects.
In many, the drive path from the driving device to the load is physically interrupted during a change from one ratio to another, which can waste energy both from the point of view of rotational energy output by the drive device during the interruption which is not applied to any load, as well as the energy expended to terminate the interruption, for example through heat generated and lost in a friction clutch used to effect and terminate the interruption in the drive path.
A further consideration is that the transition from one drive ratio to another is frequently not very smooth, and can involve inefficiency as a result of the fact that a continuous drive force is not applied to the load and/or a continuous resistance is not applied to the drive device during a transition from one ratio to another.
Some of these problems have been avoided by continuously variable transmissions, for example of the type in which two oppositely oriented conical members rotate about parallel axes, and a drive belt engages each and can move axially to vary the ratio. However, continuously variable transmissions of this type have not proven entirely satisfactory in practice, as evidenced by the fact that the majority of vehicles presently being sold do not include transmissions of this type.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide an improved transmission which avoids problems of the type discussed above, in particular by providing a continuous driving force to a load and a continuous resistance to a driving device while changing from one drive ratio to another drive ratio, and which is designed to experience minimal power loss during the transition from one such ratio to another.


A system for simultaneously mounting a plurality of accessories such as panniers, baskets, trailer hitch and trailer, luggage carrier, wheel fender, etc. to a bicycle frame includes an upper mounting block rigidly attachable to the frame below the bicycle seat, and two lower stirrup members rigidly attachable to the frame adjacent the wheel axle on either side of the wheel. The upper mounting block has a socket for holding a tow bar and slots for mounting a luggage carrier, both of which have legs which are lockably inserted into receiving slots in the stirrup members. A key lock locks the mounting block to the bicycle frame and the accessories to the mounting block. Accessories may be locked to the carrier.

This invention relates generally to apparatus for mounting an accessory on a bicycle. More particularly, this invention pertains to apparatus for interchangeably mounting a variety of accessories, either alone or in simultaneous combination, to a bicycle frame.
In the prior art, U.S. Pat. No. 4,883,283 of Hazelett et al. discloses a bicycle hitch for a one-wheel trailer with a horizontal tubular hitch bar.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,240,266 of Kelley et al. discloses an improvement in the Hazelett et al. hitch.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,928,985 of Nowlin shows a bicycle buggy apparatus having a tongue-and-socket pin hitch attachable to a sleeve placed on the seat support frame member.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,039,120 of Stowe teaches a bicycle towing apparatus including a horizontal member vertically pivotable about a seat support member and a pair of legs extending from the rear end of the horizontal member to the rear wheel axle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,915 of Melton, III discloses apparatus for mounting a basket or other accessory to a carrier rack of a conventional bicycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,583,550 of Dennis et al. shows a support for attaching a wire basket to the front of a bicycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,786 of Dowrick et al. discloses a device for securing a pannier bag to a bicycle frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,418,850 of Jackson et al. discloses a pannier which is attachable to the rear carrier rack of a bicycle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,440,331 of Schimmels teaches a construction of a child protective carrier mountable over a bicycle wheel.
There are many accessories which are useful to bicyclists. These include removable fenders over the front and/or rear wheels, bicycle cargo carrying racks which may be positioned over either wheel, baskets, saddlebags or panniers which are generally mounted beside or over a wheel, and even small trailers for carrying children, groceries, golf clubs or other cargo.
While all of the above-indicated accessories are known and available on the market, each accessory typically has its own mounting system by which it is attached to the bicycle. In general, the mounting system of any available accessory makes simultaneous mounting of other accessories difficult, inconvenient and often impossible. Generally, the various accessory mounts are incompatible. For example, the mounting means associated with a removable luggage rack may be connected to the bicycle frame such that a trailer hitch, saddlebags, or fender cannot be simultaneously mounted to the bicycle.
The bicycle mounting devices in the prior art have other drawbacks, among which are, non-lockability, a need for tools to mount or remove the accessory, and a general lack of versatility.
None of the references enables the simultaneous mounting of a wide variety of standard accessories to a bicycle, whereby individual accessories may be quickly and easily mounted or removed as desired.

System for simultaneously mounting a plurality of bicycle accessories to a bicycle frame


An opto-electric jack is provided which can be used as a drop-in replacement for a standard electrical jack such as an RJ-type or D-subminiature type jack. The opto-electric jack includes housing having a receptacle for receiving an optical plug which is coupled to a fiber optic cable, and a plurality of electrical terminals for connection to an electrical circuit. Preferably, the terminals are arranged in a predetermined array which corresponds to the terminal array (or footprint) of a standard electrical jack. An opto-electric conversion circuit is disposed within the housing, and is operable to convert optical signals received from the optical plug into electrical signals for transmission to the electrical circuit via the terminals, and to convert electrical signals received from the electrical circuit via the terminals into optical signals which are transmitted to the optical plug. The opto-electric conversion circuit preferably includes a light emitting diode or diode laser for converting electrical signals to optical signals for transmission along the fiber optic cable, as well as a photo diode or photo transistor for receiving optical signals sent along the optical cable and converting the same to electrical impulses for transmission to the electrical circuit.

Connections to electronic data communication equipment such as circuit boards in computers, network interfaces, routers and the like, are conventionally made using electrical connectors. In this regard, it has become common practice to utilize standard RJ-type telephone plugs and jacks, and standard telephone wiring, to interconnect data communications equipment. It has become similarly common to use other standard types of electrical connectors in data communications applications, such as 9-pin, 15-pin or 25-pin D-subminiature connectors. Consequently, manufacturers of data processing equipment have designed the circuit boards and physical layout of their products to accommodate these types of connectors.
Developments in data communications, however, have made it desirable to replace the electrical cabling with fiber optic cabling, so that signals can be sent between pieces of equipment as light on the fiber optic cabling, rather than as electrical signals on electrical conductors.


A parallel processing architecture of run length codes in an image processing system wherein the run-length codes are represented by the run-start addresses and the run-end addresses of black runs. The image data is loaded into this processing architecture by unit of words. A run detector in the parallel processing architecture detects if there are run-start or run-end bits in a word. When there are run-start bits or run-end bits present in a word, this parallel architecture employs a run-start row address generator and a run-end row address generator, which are all logic circuits and comprise a data flow hardware architecture, to generate run-start row addresses and run-end row addresses in parallel without the CPU intervening. A ripple counter is utilized to derive the crossing count parameter by counting the total number of black runs in a row of image data.

This invention relates to compression of image data, and more particularly to a novel architecture for processing run-length codes in parallel.
There is a need in image processing for compressing image data so that the information contained within the data may be stored in less memory space or transmitted at a higher rate. Image data is comprised of many rows of image data, and each row of image data is corresponding to the information on a document scanned by a scanning line of a scanner. Each row of image data comprises many bits each corresponding to a pixel on a scanning line. Usually, a bit with binary one level is corresponding to a black pixel representative of black or printed information on a document, and a bit with binary zero level is corresponding to a white pixel representative of white or background information on a document. A row of image data is divided into runs, i.e., strings of signals of the same value. Conventionally, a black run representative of printed information can be represented by a run-length code word comprising a run-start address indicating the position where a run starts in a row and, the number of signals in the run so that a row of original image data can be converted into vectorized data to accomplish the object of image data compression.
A run length code processor may be designed to process original image data bits which are inspected in blocks, called word. Then, the position of a changing bit whose signal value is different from that of the previous bit in the word is first calculated and the run-length is determined. From these input run-lengths, the processor generates the addresses of the code table memory and generates appropriate code words by looking up the code table memory. When decoding, the decoder generates the addresses of the code table memory from input code words, and generates run-lengths by looking up the code table memory. One example of this technique is HITACHI's DICEP (Document Image Compression and Expansion Processor), HD63085.
Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time for a computer to execute this algorithm based on encoding and decoding by software technology.

Parallel processing architecture of run-length codes

Industrial Technology Research Institute