A displayed image generation unit enlarges, reduces, or scrolls a displayed image in accordance with a command for change from a user. When a clip command receiving unit receives a clip command, a clipping area identification unit identifies an area to be clipped according to the clip command. A thumbnail image generation unit generates a thumbnail image corresponding to the identified area. A positional information acquisition unit acquires positional information identifying a position of the identified area in an image as a whole. A content ID acquisition unit acquires identification information identifying an image when the clipping command is received. A hard disk drive maps the identification information, the thumbnail image, and the positional information and stores the mapped information.

Home entertainment systems are proposed capable of playing back moving images as well as running game programs. In home entertainment systems, a GPU generates three-dimensional images using polygons.
[patent document No. 1] U.S. Pat. No. 6,563,999
Technologies have been proposed adapted to use tile images of a plurality of resolutions generated from a digital image such as a high-definition photo, to enlarge/reduce a displayed image or move the image upward, downward, leftward, or rightward. In this image processing technology, images of different resolutions are generated by reducing the size of a whole image (original image) in a plurality of stages, and the image in each layer is divided into one or a plurality of tile images, thereby representing the original image in a hierarchical structure. Normally, the image with the lowest resolution comprises one tile image. The original image with the highest resolution comprises the largest number of tile images. The information processing device enlarges or reduces a displayed image such that an enlarged view or a reduced view is presented efficiently by switching a currently used tile image to a tile image in a different layer. According to this image processing technology, high display resolution is maintained and a high-definition image is presented to the user when an image to be displayed is enlarged or reduced.
In association with improvement in high-speed network environments, services of delivering content data such as video and music over the Internet have become popular. A terminal device therefore need not maintain tile images in all layers to process images using tile images. An image for display (displayed image) can be generated in an almost real-time response to a change command from the user, by acquiring necessary tile images from a server as needed.

Information processing device, and information processing system


A method for authenticating a user, the method including: receiving a first value associated with an account from the user, receiving a second value associated with the account from an automated system, comparing the first value with the second value to generate a comparison, and authenticating the user based on the comparison.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronically transferring funds between accounts, and more particularly, to consumer directed funds transfer mechanisms using automated clearinghouse networks.
2. Background of the Invention
There is presently a need for a fast, low cost mechanism by which individuals can electronically transfer funds to other individuals, businesses, and financial institutions. Currently, consumers have only a few, narrowly applicable mechanisms for electronically transferring funds to others, small businesses, or financial institutions. Debit cards are useful only for transferring funds to retail merchants that have machines that can read a debit card and access the Point of Sale (POS) system. Many businesses that are not retail outlets do not have the necessary POS terminals, and thus are unable to obtain funds from consumers in this manner. Likewise, other individuals to whom a consumer would desire to transfer funds—friends, relatives, servicemen and repairmen—do not have POS terminals, and thus cannot use this system for transferring funds.
In some cases, a consumer has a need to transfer funds between accounts at different financial institutions, such as from a bank account at a bank to a brokerage account at a brokerage firm. The POS is not designed to support this type of transfer, and further, even if it were, financial institutions generally do not have POS terminals. Finally, there is a need to transfer funds remotely (e.g. over the Internet) where a debit card/POS machine system cannot be used since there is no physical presence of the sender's debit card and the receiver's POS machine available.
Electronic wire transfers are one alternative for funds transfers. Wire transfers are fast and can even be initiated over the telephone, and are typically transacted the same day. However, they are very expensive, typically $10-$25 if done by the sender's bank; retail wire transfers, such as through Western Union or MoneyGram, can be even more expensive, since they are priced at about 8-10% of the transfer amount. Retail wire transfers also inconvenience the recipient, by requiring the recipient to travel to a local to retail outlet to receive the funds in cash, and then to travel to his bank to deposit the funds in a bank account. The high cost and inconvenience essentially eliminates wire transfers as an effective and useful tool for consumers to use for small funds transfers.
Bill payment services, such as CheckFree, provide limited types of funds transfers, and generally require the sender to be previously registered with the service to provide the sender's bank account information for verifying creditworthiness. For fully electronic transfers of funds to recipients, CheckFree requires the recipient—typically only a business—to also be previously registered and to have provided its bank account information as to the accounts designated to receive funds. For recipients who are unregistered, CheckFree will mail a check, which may take several more days to arrive, which require the recipient to manually deposit into its account, and often several days to clear.
Credit cards payments are also fast, but can be used to transfer funds only to authorized merchants—not individuals, many small businesses, and financial institutions. Credit card processors also impose their own costs, typically charging the receiving merchant 2-4% for card-not-present payment and a minimum around $25 per month for servicing the merchant, along with hundreds of dollars of setup and equipment costs for the receiver—clearly making this impractical or impossible for households and many small businesses. The prevalence of credit card fraud is in part responsible for these high costs. In addition, the sender may have to pay high interest on the transferred funds—as a cash advance or a charge—which further reduces the desirability of this mechanism. Often the interest and fees equal an interest rate of 20%-40% per annum, a price so high it is repellant to many consumers. Finally, many consumers have bank accounts but do not have credit cards, making this system unavailable to them.
Between financial institutions themselves, various automated clearinghouse systems (ACH) are used to transfer funds at relatively low cost, typically $0.04 per transfer or less. However, by its very nature the ACH only services financial institutions directly, and corporate customers indirectly, but typically not individuals or small businesses. One reason for this is that by regulation, the sender ("originator" in ACH parlance) of an ACH transfer must specify the routing/transit number and the account number of the recipient ("receiver") before sending the transaction. That is, in order to transfer money to another person's bank account, the sender must know that person's bank account number and the routing/transit number of the receiver's bank. While the recipient may be willing to provide this information to some senders—for example, to the recipient's employer to receive direct payroll deposits—the typical consumer is unlikely to have this information about infrequent or casual recipients (e.g. businesses, friends, relatives). Obtaining this information may often not even be possible, since recipients may not want to release this information to potential senders. Thus, ACH transfers are typically limited to corporate customers who have pre-existing relationships with financial institutions, that is, who are registered with their financial institution ahead of time to send and receive ACH transfers, and who have received pre-authorizations from others to transfer funds to and from their accounts.
Thus, most banks and other financial institutions connected to the ACH simply are not set up to provide ACH transfers for consumers to make transfers to individuals or small businesses. First, ACH regulations inhibit this practice by requiring the account information of both the sender and the receiver of an ACH transfer to be specified in transaction, as mentioned above. In practice, an ACH transfer requires both the sender and the receiver to have previously registered with their respective financial institution to originate ACH entries. Consumers are hardly likely to so register with their financial institutions for the occasional ACH transfer to a friend, relative, or business. Another barrier is that the financial institutions typically require the sender to physically visit a branch for at least the first transfer, making this process even more inconvenient.
Another reason that financial institutions do not provide ACH transfers directly to consumers is that originating financial institutions ("ODFI's" in ACH parlance) bear the credit risk of insufficient funds. When an originating financial institution releases a credit entry (payment to another account from the originating financial institution, e.g. direct payroll deposit) on behalf of a sender, the institution is liable for the funds. Because of this, banks will often not accept originating transactions from a sender unless the sender has an account at the ODFI. This allows the ODFI to directly verify that the sender has sufficient funds before sending the credit entry; if the sender does not have sufficient funds, the credit entry is refused. However, this restriction eliminates the financial institutions from directly providing a funds transfer service to the public in general, since the average consumer is not going to open a bank account at a bank in order to do a single funds transfer.
However, the real risk to financial institutions is not the credit risk from credit entries—since the financial institution can immediately check the sender's balance. Rather, the credit risk arises when an originator requests a debit from another entity's bank account, that is, when the originator requests to withdraw money from another party's account. In this case, since the "paying" party can repudiate the debit after the fact, the originator's financial institution must be sure that the originator has sufficient credit to cover the return of the funds to the paying party. Since this return may occur well after the original debit was made, the financial institution must be sure that the originator is creditworthy.
Opening up the ACH to individual consumers would seriously expose a financial institution to increased credit risk in the absence of a means of ensuring sufficient funds for all transactions. For this reason, originating financial institutions employ careful procedures to select which corporate customers on whose behalf it will originate credit entries, typically limiting ACH transfers to reliable corporate customers with sufficient account sizes to accommodate the anticipated transfer activity.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a low cost, fast, and ubiquitously available mechanism for the electronic transfer of funds. A desirable system would allow a consumer to transfer funds to any other individual, business, or financial institution account, without previous knowledge of the recipient's account number. Other desirable features would prevent or reduce the likelihood of fraud in such funds transfers.

Consumer-directed financial transfers using automated clearinghouse networks


A method forms a semiconductor device comprising isolation structures that selectively induce strain into active regions of NMOS and PMOS devices. Form a hard mask layer over a semiconductor body. A resist layer is formed on the hard mask layer that exposes and defines isolation regions. The hard mask layer is patterned and trench regions are formed using the hard mask layer as a mask. An oxide trench liner that induces compressive strain into active regions of the PMOS region is formed within trench regions of the PMOS region. A nitride trench liner that induces tensile strain into active regions of the NMOS region is formed within the NMOS trench regions.

It can be appreciated that placing mechanical stresses or strain (e.g., tension or compression) upon a semiconductor substrate can affect the performance of devices formed in and/or on the substrate. With regard to MOS transistors, for example, stressing the substrate can change charge mobility characteristics in respective channel regions of the transistors. This may be beneficial because, for a given electric field developed across the transistors, the amount of current that flows through the channel regions is directly proportional to the mobility of carriers in the channel regions. Thus, the higher the mobility of the carriers in the channel regions, the more rapidly the carriers will pass through the channel regions and the faster the transistors can perform. Improving the mobility of the carriers in the channel regions can also lower operating voltages, which may be desirable at times.
One drawback to improving channel mobility via strain is that compressive strain, which generally improves hole mobility for silicon substrate devices, can degrade electron mobility, and that tensile strain, which improves electron mobility for silicon substrate based devices, can degrade hole mobility. As a result, introducing tensile strain can improve performance of NMOS devices but degrade performance of PMOS devices. Similarly, introducing compressive strain can improve performance of PMOS devices but degrade performance of NMOS devices. Additionally, the impact of stress on NMOS and PMOS transistor mobility depends upon the channel orientation and surface orientation and is different for different orientations.

Methods of improving drive currents by employing strain inducing STI liners


A moving handrail is provided on a railing of a passenger conveyor. A surface portion of the moving handrail is made of a thermoplastic material. A moving handrail repairing device has heating means for melting the surface portion through heating. When the surface portion is damaged, a target spot to be repaired of the surface portion is melted through heating. After that, the target spot is cured again.

In a conventional passenger conveyor, when its surface portion of a moving handrail is scratched or cracked, the damaged spot is cut out and covered with an unvulcanized rubber material, which is then vulcanized by means of a repair jig (e.g., see Patent Document 1).
Patent Document 1: JP 3283480 A

Device and method for repairing moving handrail of passenger conveyor


A method and apparatus that provides supplemental heat from a heat source based upon the operating environment of a refrigeration or freezer. The supplemental heat is automatically controlled to provide heating to a sealing area to prevent condensation from forming.

Under certain operating conditions, undesirable condensation can occur on the outside surface of freezer/refrigeration equipment. The condition may exist when the freezer/refrigeration equipment having a lower internal temperature is operated in an ambient environment of elevated temperature and elevated relative humidity. The outside surface of the freezer/refrigeration equipment generally remains cold and the air film about the surface is also cold. Since cold air can not contain as much moisture as warm air, it separates out and settles in a liquid phase on the cold surface(s). Once the phase change occurs, from vapor to liquid, changing the liquid back to vapor generally takes a long time due to additional energy requirements necessary to achieve a phase change.
The result of the phase chance, from vapor to liquid, on a freezer/refrigeration surface may be many fold. For instance, condensation may run down from the freezer/refrigeration surface to the floor area and collect to produce a puddle.
Freezer/refrigeration equipment may generally use gasket materials to seal an internal compartment. This compartment may contain specimens which require being subjected to certain operating temperatures for one of a variety of reasons. For example, it may be important to maintain the operating temperature of a specimen in order to preserve the specimen in a prescribed manner or to ensure that it doesn't spoil. Another reason may be to develop cultures within a prescribed operating temperature environment. This operating temperature may be further important for developing the culture at an optimum growth rate for example.
Should condensation develop and/or refreeze along any freezer/refrigeration sealing areas such as a gasket, the gasket may lose its ability to remain flexible in order to seal surfaces completely. Hence, with a seal unable to conform to the surface of the freezer/refrigeration equipment, potential air paths could develop along the gasket surface contact area. This effect could result in the freezer/refrigeration equipment not being able to seal properly and hence, an inability of the freezer/refrigeration equipment to maintain a prescribed operating temperature(s). Thus, a loss of energy and time may result in attempting to generate and maintain an operating temperature of the freezer/refrigeration equipment. Additionally, when the aforementioned gasket looses its flexibility as described, the integrity of the sealing capacity of the inner chamber has the potential to become compromised, and the specimen(s) may become contaminated due to the freezer/refrigeration equipment not being able to maintain a prescribed operating temperature.
Traditional freezer/refrigeration systems may attempt to prevent and/or combat undesirable condensation effects by introducing a supplemental heat source to a back side of a surface likely to form condensation. Traditionally, the heat source can be hot gas routed from the refrigeration system, electrical resistance heaters, or the like. This arrangement is typically configured to provide continuous heating to the freezer/refrigeration system.
However, in practical application, additional heat is often only necessary under certain conditions to prevent the formation of condensation, such as, when the freezer/refrigeration equipment has a lower internal temperature and is operated in an ambient environment of elevated temperature and elevated relative humidity. However, the aforementioned traditional arrangement generally requires the freezer/refrigeration arrangement to continuously overcome the constant supplemental supply of heating in an attempt to prevent condensation from forming on the surface. This kind of set-up is not necessarily the most efficient way to control condensation on freezer/refrigeration surfaces, since additional heat is generally only necessary under certain prescribed conditions. Thus, providing a continuously supply of supplemental heat, without taking into account the operating environment of the freezer/refrigeration equipment, can waste unnecessary energy and drive up the operating/maintenance costs of the freezer/refrigeration system.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a method and apparatus that provides supplemental heat from a heat source based upon the operating environment of the freezer/refrigeration equipment. It is further desirable to provide automatic control of the supplemental heat provided to the freezer/refrigeration equipment. It is also desirable to automatically control the operation of providing supplemental heat such that it is only activated under conditions that would promote surface condensation on the sealing surface of freezer/refrigeration equipment.

Supplemental heat control apparatus and method for freezer/refrigeration equipment


Alkaline metal fuel technology is applied to the design and construction of an electrolytic fuel cell. Highly exothermic chemical reactions and vigorous kinetic gaseous flows are promoted within a ferrous metal tubular structure called a tuyere which is used to generate electricity and to simultaneously produce nitrated products and commercial organic chemicals.

The invention is a chemical reaction chamber used for the hydrolysis of alkaline metals. The said chemical reaction chamber is a ferrous metal tube, hereinafter referred to as the "tuyere". The highly exothermic reactions occurring during the hydrolysis reactions of potassium and sodium within the tuyere reaction chamber dissociates the water hydrogen-oxygen bonds and other organic hydrogen-carbon bonds of organic substances in the highly exothermic reactions within the tuyere producing a free radical ion stream and free electrons. The ions are used for chemical synthesis of commercial chemicals and the remaining recovered electrons are used in electrical generation.
The close confinement of the oxidation reactions occurring in the narrow tubular structure of the tuyere direct the kinetic force of the ionic stream along a single axis toward the electron absorbing finned collector surfaces of a cathode ionic capacitor described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,831,825.
Unlike atomic particle accelerators used in research studies of nuclear structure which accelerate low mass particles of electrons and positrons, or slightly heavier protons and antiprotons to near the speed of light by magnetic pulses within a strong electric field, the tuyere reactor chamber accelerates dissociated molecular ion fragments at a much slower sonic velocity along the longitudinal axis within the tuyere.
The potassium electric generator and synthesizer presented is not a research instrument as in the case of an accelerator but instead is more directly used for the commercial simultaneous electric generation and production of industrial chemical products. The potassium electric generator is employed as a low input electrical energy source for electric locomotives, large traction farm machinery, industrial equipment, marine propulsion, and public utility electrical grid supply and augmentation. The generator effluent produced during its operation is a value-added chemical by-product formulated within the synthesizer as marketable chemical substances.
Steam pressure and other gaseous products produced by the exothermic reactions within the tuyere reaction chamber expel ions severed by organic and inorganic chemical reactions injected within the tuyere and these attain sonic velocities through the reaction chamber charged thermal field and stream out of the tuyere at supersonic velocity to impact with the intervening cathode capacitor collecting surfaces positioned within a receiver cylinder of a gas scrubber.
The electrochemical equivalent energy expended in electrolysis to produce one gram of potassium metal, about 3.21545 ampere-hrs are required in the reduction of the alkaline metal. During the hydrolysis oxidation reaction of the alkaline metal in the tuyere to its original state, an electro-equivalent amount of electrical current is released into the ion stream. The electrochemical equivalence for producing one pound of potassium metal is 311 amp-hours. However when potassium metal is alloyed with sodium metal which requires 528 amp-hrs for 1 lb, a 50/50 mixture will produce a current flow of approximately 420 amp-hrs for each pound of fuel delivered to the tuyere reaction chamber.
Given mixtures of potassium and sodium at room temperature exists in the liquid state facilitating the use of precision metering pumps for the injection of small exact gram fractions of material into the tuyere reaction chamber in controlled simultaneous coordinated injection times and magnetic pulses. The metering pump is a precision positive displacement pumping system which in the present invention is used to control the low volume delivery of alkaline metal substances in exact metered pulses between high pressure reaction fluctuation within the tuyere. The quantity of electrons produced in the highly exothermic reduction reactions during each metered pulse is facilitated and kept moving within the ionic flow (Wakefield model) by the attraction and migration of ionic charges and electrons passing to the surface of the metal tuyere wall and subsequently passing in communication with, and held active, by electrical contact, into the tuyere dielectric capacitor circuit. This depletes the population remaining electrons in the ionic stream.
The vigorous oxidation reactions occurring within the tuyere place a strongly negative charge on the inner surfaces of the metal surface of the tuyere chamber. Electric charges on a conductor reside only on the surfaces. In order to increase the capacitance of the tuyere a plurality of longitudinally aligned fin protrusions, hereinafter termed "strakes", are positioned within the center volume of the tuyere reaction chamber to increase the surface area.
Electric charge density is greatest where the curvature of the surface is greatest. Therefore, charge density on the tuyere surface is greatest at the tip of the strakes as shown in FIG. 9 of the drawings presented in the Detailed Description of the Invention. The charge potential is strengthened and maintained by a plurality of dielectric capacitors formed as torus hoops positioned about the outside surfaces of the tuyere with one lead in electrical contact with the said outside surfaces of the tuyere and the other leading to a positive terminal lead.
The greatest charge density on the tips of the said tuyere strakes is also located in the area of highest kinetic shear of the ion stream flowing at sonic velocity within the tuyere. Electrons sheared from the stakes and magnetically directed in the ionic flow are carried in the slower moving reaction particle stream and enters the receiving chamber tangentially positioned inlet and circulates in a swirling action.
Above the scrubber receiving chamber is the scrubber spray equipment comprising a plurality of ejectors, cooling panels and ultra sonic transducers described more fully in U.S. Pat. No. 7,381,378. The purpose of the scrubber is to process CO2 emissions and other carbonaceous material derived from the thermal dissociation of depolarizing elements present in the alkaline fuel mixture of from the trace amounts of this material remaining in the organic synthesis of sequestered coal flue gas emissions.

Potassium electric generator and chemical synthesizer


A method for transmitting an emergency call of a mobile phone includes the steps of: receiving position recognition information from a base station via a forward channel in roaming a mobile terminal; varying a search position on an emergency call mapping table previously stored in a memory according to the received position recognition information; and transmitting a call by a phone number set on the varied search position when an emergency call needs to be transmitted. With this method, even though the user is not aware of the emergency call number of a country or an area where he uses his mobile phone to make an emergency call or even though he or she is not aware of a one-touch dial number or a manual for making a call, the user can easily make an emergency call. Moreover, by linking the read address of the phone book, in which the emergency call number has been stored, to the key for making an emergency call, making an emergency call can be promptly performed automatically by one-time key manipulation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for transmitting an emergency call of a mobile phone.
2. Description of the Background Art
FIG. 1. illustrates a general mobile phone (mobile terminal).
As shown in the drawing, the mobile phone includes a main body 1, an LCD 2, and a key pad unit 3 provided with keys for inputting a phone number and a text data and other various function keys. In this respect, the function keys refer to keys for searching, storing, deleting and menu selection keys.
A communicating method of the mobile phone constructed as described above will now be explained.
1) General Communication
When a mobile phone is powered-up, it receives a pilot channel, a synchronous channel and a paging channel through a forward channel between the mobile phone and a base station, by which the mobile phone is ready for providing service to a user.
In this state, a user inputs a phone number of a called party by operating a key pad (3) of the mobile phone. And, the user confirms whether the phone number of a called party has been properly inputted through the LCD 2. Upon confirmation of proper inputting, the user presses a communication key (or 'SEND'). Then, a call is established between the user and the called party through a base station, a base station controller and a mobile switching center, so that the user can communication with the called party by means of the mobile phone.
At this time, the signal is transmitted from the mobile phone to the base station through a reverse channel. That is, a voice or (a data) and signal information are transmitted via a reverse communication channel, while a response to a message received via a paging channel is transmitted via an access channel.
2) Emergency Communication
A phone number for an emergency call is distinguished from general phone numbers. For example, a phone number for a crime report is 112 and a phone number for a fire or a disaster reports is 119. Accordingly, the user directly inputs a phone number for an emergency call by operating the key pad (3) of the mobile phone to communicate with a called party in the same manner as the general communication.
In detail, the user inputs a phone number, i.e., '112', for an emergency call through a normal dialing method. The inputted phone number ('112') is compared with a mapping table stored in a memory unit (not shown) of the mobile phone, to check whether there is a corresponding phone number ('112') in the mapping table. At this time, in case that the corresponding phone number ('112') exists in the mapping table, its area position is identified to check whether the corresponding phone number ('112') is identical to the emergency call number of the recognized area.
In case that the phone number ('112') is identical to the emergency call number of the recognized area, it is called as it is, while, in case that the phone number ('112') is not identical to the emergency call number of the recognized area, the phone number ('112') is replaced with an emergency phone number of the corresponding area provided by the mapping table, thereby trying to make an emergency call.
The mobile phone user may store a phone number for an emergency call in a memory region of the mobile phone by using the function keys provided to the mobile phone, so that he or she can try to make an emergency call by operating a one-touch dial.
Recently, as an agreement has been made between service providers to provide a roaming service to users by using a system of a different communication providers, a communication area of a mobile phone is gradually extended from a domestic communication area to an international communication service area. Accordingly, with the mobile phone registered in a domestic area, the user can be provided with the same communication service even in a foreign country.
Therefore, in case that the user wants to make an emergency call in a foreign country with the mobile phone registered in his or her own country, the user should be aware of the emergency phone number of the country or the area that he or she wants to stay and use his or her mobile phone, or the user should store the emergency phone number in the mobile phone in advance.
In this respect, however, in case that the user goes to a foreign country for a travel or a for a business trip, it is not easy for the user to be aware of an emergency phone number of the foreign country. Besides a special occasion, for most users, it is hardly expected for them to know the emergency phone number of the foreign country or to store the emergency phone number in a memory unit of the mobile phone.
Therefore, in the past, unless the user is aware of the emergency phone number of the foreign country where he or she stays and uses use a mobile phone, or unless the user is aware of a one-touch dial number or its manual, the user can not use the emergency call or time for calling an emergency call is delayed.

Method for transmitting emergency call of mobile phone


A roll arrangement is described with a rotatable roll jacket, a fixed carrier and a multi-part support arrangement disposed between the roll jacket and the carrier and consisting of sliding shoes which are movable in the radial direction relative to the roll jacket. In this arrangement neighboring sliding shoes in the axial direction and/or in the circumferential direction of the roll jacket are biased towards one another groupwise in gap-free manner while maintaining relative movability.

The invention relates to a roll arrangement comprising a rotatable, preferably flexible roll jacket, a stationary carrier and a multi-part support arrangement which is disposed between the roll jacket and the carrier, with the roll arrangement including sliding shoes which are movable in the radial direction relative to the roll jacket and have support surfaces facing the roll jacket.
Such roll arrangements are for example used for the treatment of paper webs. It is extremely important, in particular in the smoothing of paper webs, that the press force which is exerted onto the paper web by the support arrangements via the roll jacket is uniform over the width of the paper web. Even the smallest differences in the pressing force can lead to relatively large differences with respect to the smoothing effect. In practice this means that the paper web has been smoothed to different degrees over its width after passing through the smoothing zone. Such differences represent deficiencies in quality which can make the paper unmarketable.
A roll arrangement intended for the smoothing of a paper web is known from DE 43 22 876 A1 in which support arrangements are used in the form of sliding shoes which can be pressed against the roll jacket and which are built up from individual sections in the form of beams which follow one another in the running direction. The beams can also be subdivided into sections transverse to the running direction of the web. Use can be made of either a single large pressing element which can act on the entire shoe consisting of individual sections, or of several pressing elements which are associated with the individual sections or portions. The aim of subdividing the sliding shoe into individual sections of portions is to avoid distortion effects which can arise in a one-piece shoe and which impair the smoothing quality, and also to maintain the geometry of the smoothing zone even with changing operating temperatures.
In order to avoid the unavoidable partition gaps between the individual sections or portions leaving tracks in the paper web, provision is made in this known arrangement for the surface of the sliding shoe consisting of individual sections which faces the roll to be covered by a layer which forms the sliding surface and which is weak in bending and can consist of a foil or of a piece of sheet metal.
With such a layer, which in other respects can only be used if no hydrostatic support of the roll jacket is required, it is not however possible to avoid a loss of support at the gaps between the individual sections. A loss of support and oil in the region of the existing gaps which results from the subdivision of the unitary sliding shoe into individual sections or portions has a negative effect on the pressing force distribution transverse to the direction of running of the web and leads to deficiencies in quality of the respectively processed product.


A process for removing aluminum and other metal chlorides from liquid chlorosilanes with the steps of: introducing a source of seed into a source of impure liquid chlorosilanes, initiating the crystallization of aluminum and other metal chlorides on the seed from the liquid chlorosilanes in a first agitated vessel, passing the resulting mixture of liquid and solids through a cooler into a second agitated vessel for additional crystallization, transferring the resulting mixture of liquid and solids into a solids removal device, transferring the liquid with reduced solids content to a further process or vessel and transferring the liquid with high solids content into a waste concentration device, passing the resulting liquid with reduced solids content to a further process or vessel and passing the resultant liquid with very high solids content to a waste storage vessel with agitation.

This invention relates generally to the field of chlorosilane production and more specifically to a process for removing aluminum and other metal chlorides from chlorosilanes.
In most processes for production of high purity silicon, which is in increasing demand for photo-voltaic devices, the first step is to convert impure, approximately 99% silicon, known as metallurgical grade silicon, MGS, into a liquid chlorosilane, usually trichlorosilane, SiHCl3, which can be purified to very high levels and then converted back to very high purity solid silicon. In this first step, which typically takes place in a fluidized bed reactor, the impure solid silicon is reacted with a chlorine containing gas and many impurities are retained as solids in this reactor or in dust removal equipment such as cyclones. However, the properties of aluminum, and some other contaminants, such as antimony, boron, carbon, indium, gallium phosphorus, thallium, tin, titanium, zinc and zirconium, are such that they form volatile compounds which are carried out of the reactor with the desired chlorosilane. Thus they are present in the effluent gas from the reactor which is then cooled to form a liquid chlorosilane mixture, whose main ingredients are dichlorosilane, SiH2Cl2, trichlorosilane, SiHCl3, and silicon tetrachloride (also known as tetrachlorosilane), SiCl4, which can be purified by conventional means, primarily distillation. Aluminum is particularly important because it is present in large quantities, 2000-10000 ppma in the metallurgical grade feed stock and, like boron, acts as an electrically active dopant in high purity silicon and so must be reduced to very low levels; boron, however, is only present in the metallurgical grade feed stock at about 20-100 ppma. Furthermore, aluminum chloride, AlCl3, has unusual properties in that it does not form a liquid phase at atmospheric pressure. At close to atmospheric pressures such as would typically be used for distillation, it converts directly from a solid to a gas; it is, however, partially soluble in chlorosilanes dependent on temperature. Thus it is possible to remove aluminum chloride by distillation but very difficult as it tends to form solid deposits within the distillation system and it makes it impossible to directly generate a liquid waste with a high concentration of aluminum, thus requiring disposal of more waste with high economic and environmental impacts. As noted above there are other metals which also form volatile compounds and which are also chlorides. Of these chlorides, most, antimony, indium, gallium, thallium, tin, zinc and zirconium, behave similarly to aluminum and thus tend to be removed with it and one, titanium, does not. Of the remaining elements, boron, carbon and phosphorus, which form volatile compounds, the boron and carbon compounds do not behave like aluminum and must be removed in some other way. The phosphorus compounds also do not behave like aluminum, but certain phosphorus compounds, PH3, PH4Cl, PCl5 and POCl3, can bind with aluminum chloride to form adducts and be removed with the aluminum, and one, PCl3, does not. Adducts are weakly bound mixtures of a Lewis acid and Lewis base and so can form and dissociate readily. This capability of the solid aluminum chloride/phosphine adducts to dissociate is particularly of concern because solids trapped in filters or tanks may release gaseous or dissolved phosphine unexpectedly and cause a spike in phosphorus concentration.
Most prior art patents in chlorosilane production do not mention removing metal chlorides nor do they mention removing phosphorus by binding it to aluminum chloride. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,676,967 by Breneman "High Purity Silane and Silicon Production" the presence of metal chlorides are mentioned as being removed incidentally as part of a waste stream whose primary purpose is the removal of carryover metallurgical silicon powder. Solids are allowed to settle in the bottom of the column and the bottom contents of liquid and solids are periodically blown down to disposal. This is the "only waste stream of the overall integrated process." (Page 5 line 40)
US Patent Application US 2004/0042949 A1 by Block et al. "Method for Removing Aluminum from Chlorosilanes" and Block et al U.S. Pat. No. 6,887,448 "Method of Production of High Purity Silicon"
These inventions use distillation at a temperature greater than 160° C. and high pressure (25-40 bar).
US Patent Application 2007/0098612 A1 by Lord "A Set of Processes for Removing Impurities from a Silicon production Facility"
This application discusses various prior art processes and mentions in passing that a difference between chlorosilane and bromosilane based processes is that in the chlorosilane based process, an additional filtration step is required to remove the solid aluminum chloride.
The deficiencies of the prior art separation technology is also discussed in the prior art technology for processing the wastes that contain the aluminum.
In Ruff, U.S. Pat. No. 5,066,472 page 1 line 28 "The chlorosilanes are usually roughly separated from the solid residues by distillation, leaving as residue a suspension that requires separate processing." He further states on page 1 line 67 "The problem therefore exists of finding a method for processing the distillation residues with the recovery of chlorosilanes . . . . "
As a first step the residue is concentrated by evaporation in a screw dryer.
Similar steps are taken in Breneman U.S. Pat. No. 4,743,344 and in the Breneman patent application US 2006/0183958.
Thus it is clear that a primary deficiency of the prior technology is that the waste stream containing the aluminum contains too much valuable chlorosilanes and considerable energy must be expended to recover this material.
Block, US 2004/0042949 A1, reveals a further deficiency of the prior art distillation separation which is that the aluminum chloride spreads throughout the whole column by sublimation in the gas phase leading to failure to separate the aluminum and to deposition of solid aluminum chloride throughout the column and ultimately to shutdown of the column for cleaning. His invention of high temperature and high pressure (25-40 bar) distillation keeps the aluminum chloride liquid but also has a similar drawback of high energy consumption and high capital cost because of the high pressure. The energy consumption is known to be high because virtually the entire effluent from the reactor is boiled off overhead. Similarly, the capital cost is high because the entire plant effluent must be distilled. A further distillation is still required to separate the desired trichlorosilane from the byproduct silicon tetrachloride.
Lord, US 2007/0098612 A1, does not identify either how to filter the aluminum chloride or, more importantly, how to cause the formation of suitable solids that may be easily filtered. A filtration process also suffers by being a batch process with high capital cost.
Further deficiencies in the prior technology are that there is no mention of the fact that the metal chlorides are less soluble in trichlorosilane than in silicon tetrachloride or that trapped solids containing aluminum chloride may adsorb and release phosphine, PH3, or the other possible phosphorus compounds, PH4Cl, POCl, PCl5, which bind to aluminum chloride.

Process for removing aluminum and other metal chlorides from chlorosilanes


A radio-frequency heating balloon catheter is capable of cauterizing a target lesion in an atrial vestibule. The radio-frequency heating balloon catheter has a catheter tube including an outer tube and an inner tube slidably extended through the outer tube. An inflatable balloon is connected to an extremity of the outer tube and a part near an extremity of the inner tube, and is capable of coming into contact with a target lesion when inflated. A radio-frequency electrode serves as a counter to a surface electrode attached to a surface of a subject's body and is placed in a wall of the balloon or inside the balloon to supply radio-frequency power between the surface electrode and the radio-frequency electrode. A temperature sensor senses temperature inside the balloon, a guide shaft projects from the extremity of the inner tube and is capable of holding the balloon on the target lesion, and a guide wire extends through the catheter tube and the guide shaft.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a radio-frequency heating balloon catheter and, more particularly, to a radio-frequency balloon catheter for the radio-frequency heating treatment of cardiovascular diseases. More specifically, the present invention relates to a radio-frequency heating balloon catheter provided with a balloon to be brought into close contact with a target lesion for radio-frequency heating for the treatment of cardiac arrhythmia.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known method of electrically coagulating a source of arrhythmia (catheter ablation) uses a catheter provided with a metal tip of 4 mm in size, which serves as an electrode, brings the metal tip into contact with the source of arrhythmia and supplies a radio-frequency current to the metal tip. Although this method is effective when the source is a local, one like a source of WPW syndrome or paroxysmal tachycardia, the method is not so effective when the source is an extensive one like a source of atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter or ventricular tachycardia due to organic heart diseases.
Another method of isolating a wide target part heats the target part electrically by radio-frequency heating using an inflatable balloon. Methods of treating lesions caused by arteriosclerosis as well as sources of arrhythmia proposed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Nos. 2538375, 2510428 and 2574119 to the applicant of the present invention patent application treat a lesion by bringing an inflatable balloon internally provided with a radio-frequency electrode into contact with tissues, and creating a radio-frequency electric field to heat tissues in contact with the balloon.
The interior of the atrium needs to be cauterized linearly to treat atrial flutter or atrial fibrillation.
It has hitherto been believed that the superior pulmonary veins and the inferior pulmonary veins connected to the left atrium are separated and those four pulmonary veins open individually into the left atrium as shown in FIG. 9 or 10. In forming a block line by linearly cauterizing the interior of the atrium to treat atrial flutter or atrial fibrillation, the edges of the four ostia, i.e., the superior right, the superior left, the inferior right and the inferior left opening, of the pulmonary veins must individually be cauterized. A ablation for individually cauterizing the edges of the four ostia of the pulmonary veins takes much time. Since the thin wall of the pulmonary vein is liable to contract and, consequently, the stenosis of the pulmonary vein is liable to occur when the periphery of the pulmonary vein is cauterized.

Radio-frequency heating balloon catheter


A wind turbine is provided that minimizes the size of the drive train and nacelle while maintaining the power electronics and transformer at the top of the tower. The turbine includes a direct drive generator having an integrated disk brake positioned radially inside the stator while minimizing the potential for contamination. The turbine further includes a means for mounting a transformer below the nacelle within the tower.

The wind has historically been one of the most widely used natural resources to provide the energy necessary to power our needs. As the demand for energy has increased and the supplies of fossil dwindled, resulting there has been a renewed look by electrical utility companies at alternative methods for producing electrical power. One method of electrical production involves the harnessing of the wind by a wind turbine to drive an electrical generator.
Wind turbines typically involve using a series of blades fixed to the top of a tower to rotate about a horizontal axis. The blades have an aerodynamic shape such that when a wind blows across the surface of the blade, a lift force is generated causing the series of blade to rotate a shaft about an axis. The shaft is connected, typically via a gearing arrangement, to an electrical generator located in a structure called a nacelle which is positioned behind the blades. The gear box converts the rotation of the blades into a speed usable by the generator to produce electricity at a frequency that is proper for the electrical grid it is providing power.
The nacelle houses a number of components which are needed in modern high capacity wind turbines. In addition to the aforementioned gear box and generator, other components include a yaw drive which rotates the wind turbine, various controllers, and a brake that is used to slow the generator. Since it is desirable to keep the nacelle as small as possible, and given the number of relatively large pieces of equipment which must be located in the nacelle, space becomes very valuable. This often results in difficulties in both manufacturing the wind turbine and in conducting maintenance operations in the nacelle once the wind turbine is installed.
Accordingly, it is considered desirable to provide a wind turbine which minimizes the size of the nacelle while providing adequate accessibility to components during maintenance operations.


A seal system for a bearing compartment of a gas turbine engine includes an annular rotating seal seat in contact with the seal element to form a dry seal interface therebetween to separate am oil-wetted zone from a dry zone. The annular rotating seal seat forms a dry zone annular space adjacent to the annular seal element and the rotating component. The annular rotating seal seat having an oil return passageway through the rotating seal seat to provide a communication path from the dry zone annular space outboard of the rotating component back to the oil-wetted zone.

The present disclosure relates to a sealed bearing compartment of a gas turbine engine and, more particularly, to an oil return passageway for annular rotating seal seat.
Gas turbine engines typically contain bearing compartments, or other wetted chambers. The bearing compartments contain oil and typically include dynamic seals with an air buffered cavity to retain the oil within the bearing compartment. Typically, seal systems are positioned to prevent the high temperature and pressure air from flowing into sensitive areas.
Loss of oil from the bearing compartments, at the location of the seals in particular, can have negative consequences to engine performance, durability, or operation. Oil that weeps through the seal system may also seep into the compressor system or turbine. Oil weepage into the compressor may lead to imbalance concerns or customer bleed contamination while bleeding into the turbine may lead to thermal operational effects.

Oil return passageway for annular rotating seal seat


A hand warming having an open end for receiving a player's hand, a closed end, and a generally cylindrical interior chamber that is located between the open and closed ends. The interior chamber is insulated and surrounded by a water-proof outer covering. A flexible collar having an elastic band closure extends from the perimeter edge of the open end. A looped panel is attached to the outer covering. The panel is attached to the outer covering so as to form first and second tunnels for selectively receiving a belt for vertical mounting. First and second belt loops are attached across the panel for horizontal mounting. A flap that can be closed and the first and second belt loops can be used to retain the hand warmer in place when the hand warmer is horizontally positioned.

Baseball and softball have been and remain very popular sports. The fun, excitement, and pure exhilaration of stepping onto a ballfield with your team is hard to top. Baseball and softball represent unique blends of physical strength, skill, agility, finesse, and hand-eye coordination which cannot be matched in any other sport.
Baseball and softball are seasonable sports in most areas of the country. Usually starting in early spring and continuing through autumn, baseball and softball are often played in cooler weather. While players can and do wear additional garments to keep warm, one place that cannot be covered is a player's throwing hand. Wearing gloves or other coverings on the throwing hand can result in dramatically reduced performance. However, players with cold hands can also have dramatically reduced performance. Problems with cold hands are particularly acute with pitchers and catchers as their hands are in almost constant use.
Accordingly, there exists a need for devices which can keep the throwing hands of baseball and softball players warm without interfering with the use of those hands. Beneficially such devices would be quickly and easily used and would be highly effective. Also, beneficially such devices would be made of readily available materials and could be fabricated using well known processes to produce strong and durable devices. Such devices should allow for freely throwing a ball without impaired throwing speed, accuracy or distance. Ideally, such devices could be worn by players in all positions and should be usable by both left and right-handed players. In practice should devices should allow the use of chemical hand warmers. Preferably such devices would be suitable for being made available at relatively low cost.


An optical comb filter has polarizers placed before and after two or more birefringent elements, each having a fixed retarder and an aligned tunable liquid crystal. The birefringent elements are equal in birefringence and thickness and are tuned in unison. Wavelength-dependent polarization state changes are contributed by retardation in unequal proportions on the fast and slow axes of the successive birefringent elements. The filter is tolerant of rotational alignment errors. A two element filter uses angles of 22.5 and 67.5°; a three element version has 12.5, 45 and 77.5°; and a four element filter has 7.5, 29.5, 60.5 and 82.5°; all these angles being ±5°.

This disclosure concerns an optical interference filter wherein rotationally displaced birefringent retarders and associated polarizers discriminate light by wavelength, with a comb filter transmission characteristic.
The disclosed filter has a minimum number of birefringent retarder elements, in particular only from two to four, which can have liquid crystals for tuning. Empirical solutions for rotational orientation of the retarders are disclosed that are not integer fractions of π radians. The filters nevertheless have good in-band versus out-of-band discrimination, and are tolerant of rotational alignment errors. The filter is useful for operation in infrared wavelength bands. The minimum number of interfaces reduce the incidence of reflection and absorption. Materials are disclosed that optimize the filter for these bands.

Wavelength discrimination filter for infrared wavelengths


An apparatus for producing formate from carbon dioxide includes a reactor (115) that is configured to receive carbon dioxide from a separation device (109) and a first reagent to form a formate and a bicarbonate material. The bicarbonate material is sent to a regeneration device (123) that also receives a second reagent from a source of the second reagent to form the first reagent and a carbonate material. The first reagent is recycled back to the reactor (115). The carbonate material can be stored in a storage device (131) for subsequent sale or other use and/or sent to a process device (109) of a plant for processing flue gas to remove one or more acid gas elements from the flue gas by using the carbonate material received from the regeneration device (123). A method for producing formate from carbon dioxide can include use of the apparatus.

Utility and industrial plants such as power plants, electricity generation plants, waste-to-energy facilities, cement kilns, and other facilities firing fossil fuels such as coal or oil can be configured to capture elements related to the formation of acid gases to help ensure clean and environmentally sound power generation. Such industrial plants could also include a carbon dioxide capture system to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon dioxide capture systems can include one or more mechanisms by which the carbon dioxide is formed into a more desirable product. Examples of such carbon capture systems that can include such means for forming a product from the carbon dioxide may be appreciated from U.S. Pat. Nos. 8,365,537, 8,408,006, 8,562,811, 8,592,633, and 8,641,885 as well as U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2008/0223727.
Operating costs and capital costs associated with operation of systems configured to reduce acid gas emissions and carbon dioxide emissions can be relatively high. The relatively high costs associated with such systems can be necessary to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of such systems complies with air emission limits to ensure clean and environmentally sound power generation.

Apparatus and method for production of formate from carbon dioxide


A liquid metal rotary connector for a vehicle steering mechanism utilizes a conductive alloy comprising Gallium, Indium, Tin and Zinc to electrically couple stationary and rotary terminals of the connector. The alloy is a liquid at ambient temperatures, and has a melting point of −36° C., though testing has shown that it operates satisfactorily at temperatures as low as −40° C. In a preferred arrangement, the rotary connector provides a two-wire connection through which power is supplied from the steering column to the steering wheel, and electronic modules located in the steering column and the steering wheel support bi-directional data communication through voltage and current modulation of the supplied power.

Nearly all vehicle steering mechanisms are equipped with a rotary connector for coupling electrical power and signals between the fixed steering column and the rotatable steering wheel since the steering wheel supports air bag electronics, and in many cases, electrical switches for controlling audio, cruise control and HVAC functions. Two types of rotary connectors are commonly used in vehicles: a sliding contact or slip-ring connector, and a flexible cable or clock-spring connector. These types of connectors have various drawbacks such as generation of audible and electrical noise, a limited number of signal channels, and lack of durability due to wear and contamination.
To overcome the problems associated with the aforementioned rotary connectors, it has been proposed to use a rotary connector in which a metallic conductor (typically mercury) that is liquid at ambient temperatures electrically bridges stationary terminals in the steering column and rotary terminals in the steering wheel; see, for example, the U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,164 to Ward et al., issued Mar. 12, 1996. While the liquid metal approach is potentially advantageous in that it eliminates most noise issues, as well as durability issues due to wear, mercury is no longer approved for usage in consumer applications, and the number of signal channels that can be obtained with a liquid metal connector is quite limited as a practical matter.
The problem with mercury has been solved for many applications such as glass-tube thermometers by the development of a substitute alloy of Gallium, Indium and Tin (available under the tradename Galinstan), which at ambient pressure, remains a liquid between −28° C. and +1300° C. However, this alloy is not suitable for automotive usage because the ambient temperature in an automotive environment may be well lower than the alloy's melting point of −28° C. Accordingly, what is needed is an improved liquid metal rotary connector that is suitable for the automotive environment and that provides an adequate number of power and signal channels.

Liquid metal rotary connector apparatus for a vehicle steering wheel and column


An apparatus, system, and method provide drying procedure information through a user interface. A monitoring device transmits drying procedure data measured by sensors within a structure undergoing the drying procedure to a server. In response to requests received through a communication network from a user interface, the server transmits the drying procedure information that is presented through the user interface. A variety of information and services related to the drying procedure may be provided through the user interface.

The invention relates in general to drying procedures and more specifically to an apparatus, system and method for monitoring a drying procedure of a building structure.
Systems and devices are used to dry the walls, floors, ceilings and other parts of the inside of a building such as a home or office after the building has been exposed to unusually high amounts of moisture or water. Undesired moisture and water may enter one or more rooms of the building through any of several ways. A fire sprinkler system may be activated in response to a fire, for example. Fire fighters often use water to control fires within a building. The building may be flooded due to high water levels that have risen in the surrounding area. In addition, pipes may burst or otherwise leak exposing the building to water and moisture. Conventional systems employ a variety of equipment to dry the interior of a building structure after exposure to water. Air movers such as electric fans are used to move moist air away from building structure components that are being dried such as wet floors, walls, or ceilings. If required, one or more dehumidifiers are used to extract moisture from the air. In some situations, heaters are used to increase the ambient temperature to increase evaporation and decrease drying time. The type of equipment, equipment settings, and drying times should be precisely determined, planned, and adjusted for a drying project.
Conventional systems, however, have several limitations. For example, the drying procedure must be monitored by drying technicians that must visit the project site often. Occasionally, drying techniques must be adjusted for environmental changes such as changes in temperature and humidity. Further, building occupants may disturb equipment settings or position. For example, a home owner may unplug a fan or other equipment during the night because of noise. When visiting a project site, a technician must often reevaluate the conditions and may need to take measurements and physically inspect the site to determine the appropriate continued action to safely dry the building. Such requirements are expensive and result in relatively slow adjustments since no corrective measures can be taken until after a technician has visited the site. Also, third parties such as insurance companies are often interested in the reasons for adjustments, delays and variations in costs of the drying procedure. Due to conditions out of the control of the drying technician, a project may increase in cost giving the appearance of incompetence, or sometimes, the appearance of deceptive behavior to the third party.
Accordingly, there is need for an apparatus, system, and method for monitoring a drying procedure of a building structure.

Apparatus, system and method for monitoring a drying procedure


A defect signal detecting apparatus for an optical recording/reproducing apparatus that includes a maximum value detecting unit for detecting a highest amplitude among signals input during a maximum value detection period as a maximum value, a minimum value detecting unit for detecting a lowest amplitude among signals input during a minimum value detection period as a minimum value, an asymmetry detecting unit for calculating an amount δ of asymmetry by detecting a maximum value ILmax and a minimum value ILmin of a signal IL having a maximum periodicity among the signal input, and a maximum value ISmax and a minimum value ISmin of a signal IS having a minimum periodicity among the signal input, and a defect determining unit for determining whether there is a defect in the signal input, using the maximum value, the minimum value and the amount δ of asymmetry.

This application is based on Korean Patent Application No. 2003-5361 filed on Jan. 27, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus, and more particularly, it relates to a defect signal detecting apparatus that detects a defect signal in a signal reproduced from an optical recording medium and accordingly outputs a blank signal, and a defect signal detecting method thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, an optical recording and/or reproducing apparatus reproduces data from an optical disc such as a compact disc (CD) or a digital versatile disc (DVD) by emitting a beam of light from a light source such as a laser onto a disc surface and converts the level of the light reflected from the disc surface into an electric signal. The electric signal is called "radio frequency" (RF), and the RF signal is decoded into a binary signal and used for the desired purposes through demodulating process.
Meanwhile, there are usually scratches and dust particles on the surface of the optical disc, and because of their presence, the RF signal may not be always detected at the constant amplitude with respect to the recorded mark. Further, theoretically, the data to be reproduced are arranged in successive order. But in reality, the data may be scattered to different portions of the disc, and in order to read the scattered data, in addition to successive reading in motion from the inner to the outer circumference of the optical disc, the pickup of the optical recording/reproducing apparatus also jumps to a predetermined distance. As a result, there is no output of the RF signal when the pickup is jumping.
Describing the above in greater detail, FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D show defects in the reproduced signal, which occurs when: (A) the disc has fingerprints thereon; (B) the pickup jumps to another track during reproducing; (C) the disc has a scratch or a black dot thereon; and (D) the amplitude of the reproduced signal is lower than predetermined first threshold TH1 and predetermined second threshold TH2.
In order to detect the defects likes the ones shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D, there is provided a defect signal detecting apparatus for detecting a defect signal, i.e., detecting the abnormal RF signal in the reproduced signal. When the defect signal detecting apparatus detects the defect signal, it outputs a blank signal. The blank signal is then provided to a phase locked loop (PLL) (not shown) or to a binary data decoder, to be used to hold the PLL or temporarily stop the output of binary data.
As shown in FIG. 2, in the conventional defect signal detecting apparatus, the digitized signal output from an A/D converter 10 is input to a maximum value detector 12 and a minimum value detector 14, respectively. The maximum value detector 12 detects an upper value of the incoming RF signals, while the minimum value detector 14 detects a bottom value of the incoming RF signals. A first comparator COMP1 16 compares the upper value with a first threshold TH1, and a second comparator COMP2 18 compares the bottom value with a second threshold TH2. Accordingly, a logic circuit 20 outputs a defect signal according to the results of the comparisons at the first comparator COMP1 16 and the second comparator COMP2 18. That is, if it is determined by the comparison at the first comparator COMP1 16 that the upper value is lower than the first threshold TH1, and by the comparison at the second comparator COMP2 18 that the bottom value is higher than the second threshold TH2, the defect signal is output through the logic circuit 20.
However, the above-mentioned conventional defect signal detecting apparatus detects the normal reproduced signal to be the defect signal when:                (1) the normal reproduced signal is lower than the predetermined first and second thresholds TH1, TH2,        (2) the normal reproduced signal is higher or lower than the predetermined first and second thresholds TH1, TH2 due to deviations occurring in the amplitude of RF signal during the pickup reading according to types of disc, drive or player in use, and        (3) asymmetries are contained in the normal reproduced signal.
In the above cases, the defect signal detecting apparatus with the fixed thresholds TH1, TH2 detects a defect signal, while it is actually a normal reproduced signal, and accordingly outputs a blank signal.

Defect signal detecting apparatus for optical recording/reproducing apparatus and defect signal detecting method thereof