A switch control apparatus for electric plants includes a box-like body which is adapted to be anchored to a fixed o movable part of an electric plant and has a closing panel with at least one passage therethrough, at least one contact unit which is accommodated in the box-like body at the passage and is adapted to be electrically connected to at least one respective electric circuit of the plant for selective open/close control thereof, at least one actuator which is adapted to interact with the contact unit for the latter to ensure selective opening/closing of the respective circuits, an anchor system for anchoring the contact unit to the actuator. The anchor system includes a container member which is adapted to enclose and contain the contact unit and to be anchored to the closing panel in the box-like body for stably securing the contact unit on the actuator.

Electric switch control apparatus, such as switchboard boxes or control pushbutton stations of electric plants for handling or transportation, generally include a box-like body, which houses one or more electric switch devices designed to be connected to the electric terminals of respective electric circuits.
Particularly, switch devices include one or more switch contact units, of single- or double-contact type, each having an enclosure that contains pairs of fixed and movable contacts associated with an actuating cursor.
The latter is designed to interact with an actuator, such as a pushbutton or a selector, which is anchored to the box-like body, generally to a movable or removable part thereof.
For example, in the case of switchboards, actuators are anchored to a closing panel of the box-like body, whereas in the case of control pushbutton stations, the cover of the box is used for anchoring purposes.
As a rule, contact units are coupled to the corresponding actuators by snap fit means, allowing anchorage of one or more contact units, with the actuator portion extending from the panel into the box-like body.
Nevertheless, prior art solutions do not ensure stable anchorage of the contact units with their respective actuators, particularly if control apparatus are subjected to shocks caused by accidental falls or impacts by users.
In an attempt to at least partially obviate these drawbacks, switch control apparatus, and particularly control pushbutton stations have been proposed, which integrate additional anchor means acting upon the contact units to prevent or limit movements thereof in the box-like body.
For example, a control pushbutton station is known, which has a cage for absorbing any direct or indirect axial shock upon the contact units, by supporting such units at a bottom wall.
While a higher stability is imparted to each contact unit in this solution, only axially-directed forces may be counteracted, and no resistance is afforded to lateral stresses, whereby the risk of separation is not totally prevented.
Furthermore, as the cage is positioned, it may block the passages that are formed in the enclosure on the contact unit to allow access to the terminals of the fixed contacts and introduction of the terminals of the electric circuits, thereby adding complexity to the installation process.
A further serious drawback is that this particular type of anchor means is not adapted to pushbutton stations that allow coupling of various numbers of contact units to a single contact, which makes the entire apparatus poorly flexible.
A further prior art pushbutton station uses a protective plate located at the bottom walls of the contact units and anchored to the cover of the push-button station. The plate has such a size as to cover all the contact units at the same time, thereby preventing any separation thereof in the axial direction.
Nevertheless, once again protection is restricted, as the plate does not ensure any lateral support. Furthermore, like in the previous case, the plate covers the entire passages formed in the enclosure, and cannot accommodate any change in the number, configuration and type of contact units that can be received in the pushbutton station at the same time.

Switch control apparatus for electric plant


A coil component includes a body having one surface and the other surface facing each other, and having one end surface and the other end surface facing each other in one direction; a supporting substrate embedded in the body; a coil portion disposed on the supporting substrate; a first lead-out portion connected to one end of the coil portion and exposed from the body; and a second lead-out portion connected to the other end of the coil portion and exposed from the body. The coil portion has a first pattern region facing the one surface and a second pattern region facing the other surface, each of the first and second pattern regions extends in the one direction, and a distance of the first pattern region in the one direction is shorter than a distance of the second pattern region in the one direction.

An inductor, a coil component, may be a typical passive electronic component used in electronic devices, along with a resistor and a capacitor.
With higher performance and smaller sizes gradually implemented in electronic devices, the number of coil components used in electronic devices has been increasing and becoming smaller.
Even when the coil components are miniaturized, it is necessary to secure a volume of a magnetic body in order to ensure the characteristics of the coil components such as inductance, quality coefficient, and the like.


A goggle may include a goggle frame, a lens assembly magnetically coupled to the goggle frame, and first and second retention features securing the lens assembly to the goggle frame at first and second locations, respectively, to resist decoupling of the lens assembly from the goggle frame. The lens assembly may be removable from the goggle frame by actuating only one of the first retention feature or the second retention feature. A method of removing a lens assembly from a goggle frame may include actuating a first latch securing the lens assembly to the goggle frame; after actuating the first latch, pivoting the lens assembly away from the goggle frame about a second latch securing the lens assembly to the goggle frame; and after pivoting the lens assembly, laterally translating the lens assembly away from the second latch without actuating the second latch.

Goggles with replaceable lenses typically include a frame and one or more removable lenses. The frame may be equipped with a mechanism for attachment of the lens. In some goggles, the lens is attached to the frame with magnets. However, in existing goggles of this kind, the lens may be easily dislodged from the frame. Additionally or alternatively, in existing goggles, removal of the lens may be unduly complex or cumbersome for a user, or may have other deficiencies which result in a suboptimal user experience. For these reasons or other reasons, improvements in goggles with removable lenses may be desired.


A security device that increases the number of design options available for a machine testable security feature formed in part from a light absorbing (e.g., magnetic) material, while more effectively hiding or concealing this material, is provided. The inventive security device achieves these results by physically separating this security feature from a visually detectable or public security feature. Also provided by way of this invention is a process for preparing the inventive security device as well as a security document that employs one or more such devices.

It is known that secure documents or instruments may be rendered less susceptible to forgery or counterfeiting by including security features in various forms within the body of the document. In fact, the security or integrity of a document or instrument will increase with the number of separate and distinct security features that it employs.
Many security papers and other items of value include a security device or element, such as a security thread, disposed on or within the document. The security device typically includes one or more security features, such as metallic, magnetic and/or luminescent security features, that serve to authenticate the security paper and prevent or deter counterfeiting.
A common type of security thread includes metal-formed characters or indicia disposed on a plastic carrier substrate. Such threads, which are coated with a very thin (e.g., 100 to 500 angstrom) layer of metal, such as aluminum, and then demetallized, display either: discrete metal characters as currently used in United States currency; negative or reverse-image characters as currently used in the new Euro currency; or a repeating pattern of isolated metal blocks containing negative or reverse-image characters as described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,022 and as used in Indian and Venezuelan currencies. The characters on fully embedded portions of these threads are visually detectable in transmitted light by members of the public. Moreover, these threads may be detected by conventional thread detectors that detect the presence or absence of conductive features on the threads. The repeating patterns of the threads described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,486,022 and employed in Indian and Venezuelan currencies are machine readable as well as machine detectable.
It has long been recognized that while visually detectable or public security features are both necessary and desirable, the use of machine testable security features offer a heightened level of security.
Magnetic materials have been used as machine testable security features in security threads. Unfortunately, these materials have a degree of inherent color, which renders them visually detectable in reflected light through a surface of a security paper. Attempts have therefore been made to hide or conceal these materials.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,354,099 to Kaule et al., in an attempt to produce an improved security thread that matches the appearance of commercially established metallic threads, provides a means for concealing a magnetic ink. In particular, this reference discloses a security thread that serves to combine magnetics with negative metal-formed indicia (i.e., negative writing) on a plastic carrier film. Kaule et al. teach that a metallic coating, due to its reflective properties, constitutes the outermost layer of the negative writing. The process disclosed in Kaule et al. for forming the negative writing involves the formation of multiple layers on the carrier film and the subsequent removal or detachment of these layers to form the "negative writing". The subject process relies in part on "mechanically acting treatment methods" to bring out the "negative writing" more clearly. The ability of the process to produce clear and distinct "negative writing" is enhanced when foaming additives are used where such additives cause the ink to increase in volume thereby creating a bulge on the surface of the thread that provides the "mechanically acting treatment methods" with a good point of attack. See Column 5, lines 2 to 7, of Kaule et al.
Unfortunately, the process identified in Kaule et al. is both time-consuming and arduous. Moreover, combining magnetics with the negative writing limits the design options available for the magnetic security feature.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,549,131 to Cote et al. offers an improved method for concealing magnetic materials. By way of this reference, a laminated security device is provided that includes a carrier substrate, a first metallic layer disposed on the carrier substrate, a magnetic layer disposed on the first metallic layer, and a second metallic layer disposed on the magnetic layer. In one embodiment, these layers collectively form graphic indicia on the carrier substrate, either positively or negatively. A preferred method of making the laminated security device of Cote et al. comprises:                a. providing a carrier substrate;        b. applying a metallic layer to at least a portion of one surface of the carrier substrate;        c. applying a magnetic chemical resist containing a heat and/or pressure activatable adhesive to at least a portion of the metallic layer, where the magnetic chemical resist forms a pattern of graphic indicia on the metallic layer,        d. chemically etching the metallic layer to remove exposed portions of the metallic layer, where chemical etching is resisted by the magnetic chemical resist such that the magnetic chemical resist and a portion of the metallic layer underlying the magnetic chemical resist together form the pattern of graphic indicia on the carrier substrate; and        e. applying a foil film, which is provided on a release coated carrier film, to the pattern of graphic indicia on the carrier substrate under heat and pressure, causing the foil film to bond and cover or conceal the magnetic regions of the graphic indicia pattern.
Although the method of making the laminated security device of Cote et al. offers good process economics, integrating the metal and magnetics into a single graphics design again limits the design options available for the magnetic security feature.
The design of the security thread used in the new Euro currency departs somewhat from the teachings of the prior art references identified above in that instead of using e.g. vacuum deposited metal, these threads employ silver ink to hide the magnetic materials. Unfortunately, the magnetic materials are still visible through an overlying surface of these security papers under reflected light.
A need therefore exists for a security device that overcomes the disadvantages of these prior art security threads.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide such a security device.
It is a more particular object to provide a security device that increases the design options for such light absorbing security features.
It is another more particular object to provide a security device that serves to more effectively hide or conceal light absorbing security features, thereby improving the optical quality of security documents that employ this device.
It is yet another more particular object to provide a security device that employs a second carrier substrate, which allows for the use of additional security features or elements such as holographic and/or diffractive security features.
It is a further more particular object to provide a process for preparing such a security device, wherein the process reduces manufacturing demands by eliminating the need to register in one process step and improves process economics by allowing for a reduction in the thicknesses of the layers which make up the device.
It is yet a further more particular object to provide a security document having one or more such security devices at least partially embedded therein and/or mounted thereon, wherein the optical quality of the security document is improved in those areas in which the security device(s) is fully embedded.


Provided is electronic paper that includes an imaging sheet for displaying content, a memory for storing the content, a mode switch unit for manually setting an operation mode of the electronic paper, and a controller for performing at least one operation from a plurality of operations including encryption of the content stored in the memory, deletion of the content stored in the memory, deletion of content displayed on the imaging sheet from a screen, and display of a lock screen that requires input of a password on the imaging sheet, according to an operation mode that is set by a user using the mode switch unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic paper, and more particularly, to electronic paper having improved security.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various technologies have been developed for flexible displays, and recently, as technical completion or mass-production of flexible displays has been improved, the flexible displays have become applicable to various products. Since the flexible displays may be bent or folded like paper, they may be carried by change of shapes thereof. Moreover, the flexible displays are expected to guarantee portability because of their small volume. Meanwhile, a variety of attempts have been made to apply self-emitting techniques such as Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) to portable phones or information terminals. As a technique in another form, electronic paper, like actual paper, has been released to the market as an electronic-book reader, and techniques for implementing electronic paper in a flexible form have been developed.
In the use of information terminals that are easy to carry, especially, in the use of electronic paper, a user's access and security problems have been an increasing concern, but there is still no perfect security solution. Due to absence of a security solution suitable for use behavior and use scenario of a user, access or usability is degraded and the effectiveness of electronic paper is negatively impacted.


A pulse width modulation (PWM) wave output circuit that efficiently and accurately outputs dual PWM waves includes two comparators, an OR circuit, and an AND circuit. A voltage generator supplies the comparators with ramp voltages having the same wave height and shifted phases. The comparator compares the ramp voltages with the reference voltage and provides the comparison results to the OR circuit and the AND circuit. The OR circuit outputs a first modulation wave, and the AND circuit generates a second modulation wave. Accordingly, modulation waves having different duties are output based on ramp voltage having different phases.

The present invention relates to a pulse width modulation wave output circuit that uses a ramp voltage to output a pulse width modulation signal.
A power supply device that supplies stable direct current (DC) voltage, which is generated from alternating current (AC) voltage, normally includes a linear regulator or a switching regulator (for example, refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-68372, page 1 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-17462, page 1). A switching regulator is smaller and more efficient that a linear regulator. The switching regulator is one type of a DC stabilizing power supply that is controlled in a switching mode. The switching regulator activates and deactivates a semiconductor switch, such as a power MOSFET, to switch the input power and control the output voltage. The ratio of the ON time and OFF time (duty ratio) of the semiconductor switch is varied to control the output voltage.
In the switching regulator described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-68372, to reduce fluctuations of the voltage caused by changes in the input voltage, an input voltage differentiation circuit and a level shift circuit are added to a control circuit of the switching regulator to shift the level of a sawtooth wave in the control circuit in accordance with changes in the input voltage.
In the switching regulator described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2006-17462, to enable switching operations to be efficiently performed, the output of a triangular wave generation circuit is switched based on a potential at a subsequent stage of an inductor, which smoothes an output potential.
Further, referring to FIGS. 7 to 9, a dual pulse width modulation (PWM) wave output circuit 10, which uses two ramp voltages having the same wave height to output two PWM waves, has been proposed. As shown in FIG. 7, the dual PWM wave output circuit 10 includes two comparators 11 and 12. The comparator 11 receives a reference voltage Vc and a ramp voltage RMP11 from a voltage generator SG1 to output a modulation wave PWM1. The comparator 12 receives the reference voltage Vc and a ramp voltage RMP12 from the voltage generator SG1 to output a modulation wave PWM2.
Referring to FIG. 8A, the ramp voltages RMP11 and RMP12 of the voltage generator SG1 are voltages having sawtooth waveforms. The ramp voltage RMP12 is generated by shifting the minimum voltage level of the ramp voltage RMP11. As a result, as shown in FIG. 8B, the dual PWM wave output circuit 10 outputs the modulation waves PWM1 and PWM2. The overlapping range of the ramp voltages RMP11 and RMP12 may be controlled to control the pulse width of the modulation waves PWM11 and PWM12 with respect to the reference voltage Vc. Further, referring to FIG. 9, the ON/OFF duty ratio of the modulation waves PWM1 and PWM2 may be controlled relative to the reference voltage Vc.
However, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Nos. 5-68372 and 2006-17462 do not consider a buck boosting type structure for overlapped ramp voltage waveforms. When the minimum voltage level of one of the ramp voltages is simply shifted to generate the other ramp voltage, it would be difficult to obtain sufficient amplitude for a low power supply voltage application. Additionally, variations in the ramp voltage wave heights are independent from variations in the voltage shift amount. Thus, variations in the maximum value of the ramp voltage are increased. This limits the dynamic range when the voltage is lowered. Further, the voltage variations increase variations in the overlapped amount. As a result, a PWM wave cannot be accurately output.

Pulse width modulation wave output circuit


Methods for detecting and locating ferromagnetic objects in a security screening system. One method includes a step of acquiring magnetic data that includes magnetic field gradients detected during a period of time. Another step includes representing the magnetic data as a function of the period of time. Another step includes converting the magnetic data to being represented as a function of frequency. Another method includes a step of sensing a magnetic field for a period of time. Another step includes detecting a gradient within the magnetic field during the period of time. Another step includes identifying a peak value of the gradient detected during the period of time. Another step includes identifying a portion of time within the period of time that represents when the peak value occurs. Another step includes configuring the portion of time over the period of time to represent a ratio.

The goal of detecting and locating threatening objects or items such as weapons has increased in importance as society becomes more violent. In response to this goal, security screening systems have become more prevalent and are being used in facilities and places where the need for screening was previously not considered necessary. To increase safety while keeping public inconvenience at a minimum, the focus of the security screening industry is to increase the accuracy of distinguishing between threatening and non-threatening objects while maintaining a high throughput.
Exemplary security screening systems (also referred to as "system(s)") are configured to rely on passive magnetic sensors or magnetometers to detect threatening objects. Such configurations of security screening systems depend on the unvarying and uniformity of the Earth's magnetic field to operate effectively. That is, passive magnetic sensors (also referred to as "sensor(s)") define a sensing region that extends into a portal passageway of the systems for detecting disturbances or variances in the uniformity of the magnetic field of the Earth. The variances in the magnetic field are called gradients. Exemplary weapons and/or threatening objects are routinely formed from ferrous or ferromagnetic material (iron). As ferrous or ferromagnetic material passes through a portal passageway, the Earth's magnetic field is disturbed or varied and is registered by the passive sensors. That is, the sensors detect this change or variance in the Earth's magnetic field as a gradient and output a response that is configured as a voltage signal. The security screening system interprets the gradient (voltage signal) as the detection of a ferrous object. In this manner, the security screening system indicates the presence of a potential weapon(s) within the portal passageway of the system.
However, the Earth's magnetic field varies slowly, and randomly, over a period of time that interrupts the operation of security screening systems based on passive sensor configurations. For example, the periodic rising and setting of the Sun causes diurnal variations to the Earth's magnetic field. Additionally, unpredictable solar flares and magnetic storms produced by the Sun randomly impact and vary the uniformity of the Earth's magnetic field. These influences are referred to as "far-field disturbances." Furthermore, "local disturbances" can influence and vary the uniformity of the Earth's magnetic field. Exemplary local disturbances include man-made objects such as wheelchairs and cars, and even larger ferromagnetic objects such as airport subways.
Security screening systems are designed to compensate for these far-field and local disturbances. However, baseline responses produced by the sensors of the systems tend to wander over a period of time as a result of these far-field and local disturbances. Additionally, electronic noise and instability inherent in the sensors combine with the far-field and local disturbances to compound the detrimental effects on operational capabilities of security screening systems.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide data analysis methods and detection/location methods for security screening systems to compensate for far-field disturbances, local disturbances, electronic noise, and instability inherent in the sensors. Moreover, there is a need to improve the signal-to-noise ratio of the magnetic sensors with data analysis methods and detection/location methods that compensate for DC drift and single-point response spikes, which are induced or outputted by magnetic sensors of security screening systems.

Methods, systems and devices for detecting and locating ferromagnetic objects


The present invention provides a process and memory configuration for providing chipkill error detection in a low end server without requiring non-standard components or additional memory devices. Typically, the number of error correction bits required for chipkill functionality is dependent on the width of the memory chip to be corrected and the CRC algorithm that is used. If the required number of error correction bits is not provided by the memory system, another option according to the present invention, is to perform doubleword operation for consecutive memory locations in a single DIMM module. Reading the memory module in double words basically provides the system with double its previous number of ECC bits per data transfer. Since these low end systems would typically not have the number of error correction bits necessary to do the chipkill operation, this double word technique allows chipkill for low end systems which would normally not be able to perform the chipkill operation.

The applications entitled xe2x80x9cSelf-Healing Memory System for High Availability Serverxe2x80x9d, identified by HP Docket Number 10991629 and the inventor Michael B. Raynham and James G. Mathios, filed Oct. 28, 1999 and xe2x80x9cRadial Arm Memory Bus for a High Availability Computer Systemxe2x80x9d identified by HP Docket Number 10991678 and the inventors Michael B. Raynham and Hans Wiggers, filed Oct. 28, 1999 include subject matter related to the copending application.
Available memory systems are constantly expanding in size with time, with current server memory systems often being in the range of up to 64 Gbytes (approximately half a trillion storage bits) or larger for high end servers. Dependent on the customer requirements, the customer may choose to purchase a low end or high end server. Current low end server systems typically include one to four dual in line memory modules (DIMMs) while a high end servers typically include four or more DMMs. Typically, high end servers also include high availability features such as memory chip redundancy, hot swapping, and the ability to do chipkill error correction.
Referring to FIG. 1A shows a side view of a memory system for a low end server system 100. The memory system includes a CPU or memory controller 102 affixed to a motherboard 106 and two dual in line memory modules 108a and 108b. The two memory modules 108a-b shown each includes N memory devices 112 connected in parallel. Assuming for purposes of discussion that N is equal to eighteen, the eighteen memory devices 112a-N on each memory module 108a and 108b are connected to the memory controller 102 by a data bus 114, which includes board trace portions 116, a connectors 118 and a module trace portions 120.
FIG. 1B shows a block diagram of the memory structure of the memory modules of the low end server shown in FIG. 1A. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 1B, the data bus is 72 bits wide where 64 bits are used for data and 8 bits are used for error correction. Each of the eighteen memory devices on the memory module 108a-b is 4 bits wide and for a 256 Mbyte system each of the eighteenxc3x974 SDRAMs is 32 Mbyte. The eighteenxc3x974 memory devices are connected in parallel so that for each memory operation, the output onto the data bus 114 is 72 bits wide.
Referring to FIG. 1C shows a clock pulse for reading or writing to a memory location of the low end server shown in FIG. 1A. The memory controller reads a single word or memory location from a single memory module at a time. Assuming a single data rate (SDR) system and a read operation, the memory location in memory module 108 having the address 000000 is read at the clock edge t1. The contents of the memory location is 72 bits wide. No memory operation occurs at clock edge t2. A second memory location having the address location 000001 in memory module 108 is read at the clock edge t3.
FIG. 2A shows a side view of a memory system for a conventional high end server system 200 having eight DIMM modules. Similar to the low end server configuration shown In FIG. 1A, the memory system shown in FIG. 2A includes a CPU or memory controller 202 affixed to a motherboard 206. However, the high end configuration Includes eight dual in line memory modules 208a-h instead of the two DIMMs 108a-b shown in FIG. 1A. The eight memory modules 208a shown each includes N memory devices 212, The memory controller 202 is connected to the eight memory modules 208a-h by a data bus 214, which includes board trace portions 216, connectors 218 and module trace portions 220.
FIG. 2B shows a block diagram of the memory structure of the high end server shown in FIG. 2A. In the high end server shown, the data bus is 144 bits wide where 128 bits are used for data and 16 bits are used for error correction. Preferably each memory module Includes eighteen memory devices (N=18), each memory device being 4 bits wide. For each memory module, the eighteenxc3x974 memory devices are connected in parallel. Data is read from two memory modules simultaneously, so that for each memory operation, the output onto the data bus 214 is 144 bits wide.
Referring to FIG. 2C shows a clock pulse for reading or writing to a memory location of the high end server shown in FIG. 2A. The memory controller reads a single word or memory location from a single memory module at a time. Assuming a double data rate (DDR) system and a memory read operation, the memory location in memory module 208a having the address 000000 and the memory location in memory module 208e having the address 000000 are both read simultaneously at the clock edge t1. A second memory location in memory module 208a having the address location 000001 and a second memory location having the address 000001 in memory module 208d are both read simultaneously at the clock edge t2.
The current trend of increasing memory size is likely to continue. Microprocessor suppliers continue to supply higher speed CPUs. With increases in CPU speed come increased speed in the CPU bus and supporting I/O systems and a corresponding increase in server memory size per CPU since more users per CPU can be supported. As the size of memory systems increases, the probability of a memory bit failing, and thus the memory system failing, increases. Customers are demanding improved error correction features to deal with these increases in memory failures even for low end systems.
One error correction feature that was traditionally not supported in low servers is what is known in the industry as chipkill. The term chipkill traditionally refers to the ability to correct multiple bit errors in memory, where the multiple bit error is the width of the memory device. For example, for a 32 Mbit SDRAM that is 4 bits wide, a system that supports the chipkill function would be able to correct a 4 bit wide error in the memory device. Thus, the failure of an entire SDRAM chip organized in axc3x974 configuration in a system that supports chipkill would not cause the system to fail.
Chipkill is provided in high end chipsets, for example, by combining two DIMMs into a 144 bit bus that includes 128 data bits and 16 ECC bits where ECC stands for error correcting or error checking and correcting codes. The number of bits that can be corrected, typically depends on the number of ECC bits supported by the system. ECC or error correction code refers to a commonly used error detection and correction process that is typically based on a CRC (cyclic redundancy code) algorithm. CRC algorithms work so that when data is received, the complete data sequence (which includes CRC bits appended to the end of the data field) are read by a CRC checker. The complete data sequence should be exactly divisible by a CRC polynomial. If the complete data sequence is not divisible by a CRC polynomial, an error is deemed to have occurred.
Supporting the chipkill function based on an ECC process typically requires additional error correction bits where the number of bits corrected depends on the number of ECC bits supported by the system. For example, typically the CRC algorithm used to correct for a 4 bit wide memory organization requires more than the eight error correction bits that are provided by the low end server shown in FIG. 1A. Thus, to perform the chipkill function for axc3x974 organization, the low end server would require additional memory modules or devices to provide the additional ECC bits necessary to perform the required CRC algorithms. However, because the CRC algorithm typically used to correct for a 4 bit wide memory organization does not require more than the 16 error correction bits supported by the high end server shown in FIG. 2A, the high end server could support the chipkill function.
An alternative implementation available to low end server systems that wish to provide chip kill error correction is to provide a custom ASIC, such as that currently made commercially available from IBM Corporation, that provides specialized logic. The custom ASIC uses a specialized controller, and a memory wider than 72 bits, i.e. 80 bits to provide 16 ECC bits and uses fast SDRAM. This is twice the number of ECC memory normally required which limits the maximum memory size, since additional memory is required for ECC memory. Although the custom ASIC provides chipkill functionality, it is comparatively expensive and it would be preferable to use standard components if available. Further, currently available ASICs have limited memory sizes available and may not work at the 133 MHz speed required for next generation bus systems.
A memory system configuration and process that provides chipkill error detection in a low end server system that does not require costly custom ASIC chips or additional memory modules or devices to provide the additional ECC bits necessary to perform the required CRC algorithms is needed.
The present invention provides a process and memory configuration for providing chipkill error detection in a low end server without requiring non-standard components or additional memory devices. Typically for semiconductor memory devices, error detection and correction is performed using ECC error correction. To perform ECC correction, a predetermined number of bits in a specified memory device must be available for error correction. Typically, the number of error correction bits required for chipkill functionality is dependent on the width of the memory chip to be corrected and the CRC algorithm that is used. If the required number of error correction bits is not provided by the memory system, another option according to the present invention, is to perform doubleword operations for consecutive memory locations in a single DIMM module. Reading the memory module in double words basically provides the system with double its previous number of available ECC bits per data transfer. Since these low end systems would typically not have the number of error correction bits necessary to do the chipkill operation, this double word technique allows chipkill to be supported in low end systems which would normally not be able to perform the chipkill operation.
Using doubleword read and/or writes in combination with the described memory configuration allows the chipkill operation to be performed with minimal system performance impact and without increasing system costs for the cost sensitive low end server or workstation applications. The implementation according to the present invention does not require a custom memory module and is not limited certain memory module sizes as are today""s commercially available custom ASICs.
For server applications, the double word implementation uses the DDR extra bandwidth that would otherwise be wasted, to xe2x80x9chidexe2x80x9d the overhead for the chipkill operation. When used in the low end server applications, the performance penalty of reading double words (16 B data, 2 B ECC) is minimized by the bandwidth of the memory system being two times the system bus bandwidth. In a PC or workstation, this bandwidth is used for non-cache coherent AGP accesses to memory, not applicable in a server. Therefore the overhead for R-M-W used in byte write operation is hidden and bandwidth that would otherwise be wasted is used. Further, the present invention can provides the same chipkill functionality that it provides in a server system in a PC chipset with minor memory controller changes without requiring additional parts or custom parts.
In determining whether to implement the doubleword read, the system user implementing the system must first determine whether or not chipkill is a desired function. If the chipkill function is desired there should be a determination if the number of error correction bits need to support the target memory width of the chip is already provided by the error correction bits in a single memory address. If the number of error bits required is already provided, there is no need to a doubleword operation. Otherwise, the memory locations in a single memory module can be read or written in double words. Reading the memory module in double words basically provides the system with double its previous number of ECC per data transfer. This increased number of error correction bits may be adequate to perform a chip kill operation for the targeted chip width.

Chipkill for a low end server or workstation


A vehicle occupant restraint system includes: a lap belt that restrains a hip of a seated occupant; a shoulder belt that has a lower end portion coupled to a middle portion of the lap belt in a seat width direction and that is used to restrain an upper body of the seated occupant; a lap belt tensioner that applies tension to the lap belt; and a shoulder belt tensioner that applies tension to the shoulder belt. When a vehicle collision is predicted or detected, the lap belt tensioner is activated before the shoulder belt tensioner is activated.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a vehicle occupant restraint system that restrains an occupant, seated in a seat, to the seat at least in the event of a collision.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is known a seat belt that includes a pair of left and right lap belt retractors that retract left and right lap belts and a pair of left and right shoulder belt retractors that retract left and right shoulder belts, in which the retracting forces of the lap belt retractors are set to be larger than the retracting forces of the shoulder belt retractors (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2004-330975 (JP-A-2004-330975)). According to the JP-A-2004-330975, this configuration prevents the lap belts from being raised by the retracting forces of the shoulder belts.
However, in the above described existing technique, when the belts are forcibly retracted in the event of a vehicle collision, the lap belt retractors retract the lap belts against the retracting forces of the shoulder belt retractors. Therefore, in order to ensure readiness, the lap belt retractors each need to have a large driving source that is able to generate a large driving force.
In addition, not only when the belts are retracted by the retractors but also when a gas generator of a pretensioner provided at each anchor support portion that fixes the lap belt is activated to draw the lap belt or when an airbag provided for each lap belt is inflated to apply tension to the lap belt, the tension should be applied to each lap belt against the tension applied to each shoulder belt. Therefore, in any cases, it is necessary to generate a large gas pressure.


A broadcasting method and a broadcast receiver whereby contents are first distributed only for storage so that the stored contents are later played back in a time period predetermined by the distributing party, the contents being encrypted for protection against unauthorized reproduction in any time period other than the intended one. A content is transmitted together with a begin store command in a first time period for storage onto a storage medium at the receiving side. In a time period subsequent to the first time period, a play command is broadcast so as to get the content retrieved from storage for playback. The content should preferably be encrypted. The encrypted content is decrypted and played back using a decryption key transmitted along with the play command in the second time period. The decryption key is deleted the moment the decryption process is terminated.

The present invention relates to a method for broadcasting contents such as visual images and audio sounds, as well as to a receiver for receiving the contents broadcast by that method.
Contents such as visual images and audio sounds (i.e., net information excluding added data), to be telecast or transmitted by radio conventionally over such media as cables or radio waves, are broadcast and received simultaneously. In that setup, when to broadcast programs is determined solely by the transmitting side, and the media band width is monopolized by the contents being transmitted. If any contents are desired to be broadcast a plurality of times, the entire contents must be transmitted as many times.
If the contents are visual images that are digitally compressed, they still require a broad bandwidth for transmission. One way to ease the monopoly of the media by transmission of such huge data involves having digitally compressed and encrypted contents stored on a suitable storage medium (e.g., DVD) that may be distributed illustratively by mail while broadcasting only a decryption key for eventual decryption of the contents (as proposed by Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application, publication No. 11-213553). The decryption key may be acquired by subscribers only.
The proposed way of distributing contents requires that users as subscribers receive both encrypted contents and a decryption key to decrypt the received contents. The users may play back the contents whenever they want and however they want it. Unlike conventional broadcasting, the contents in general are not reproduced by the receiving side at any specific time dictated by the broadcasting side.
To simultaneously broadcast and receive contents requires securing a broad band width for transmission, as mentioned above. Meanwhile, digitizing contents makes it possible for the distributing party to adopt, besides the above-described use of storage media, various rational means of distribution such as dividing the contents into a plurality of narrow band widths for transmission, and transmitting the contents on a narrow band width over an extended period of time. In such cases, simultaneity is lost. Still, the distributing party (i.e., the broadcaster) has numerous contents that the broadcaster wants to be received at predetermined times by the receiving side. Conventional techniques have so far been incapable of embracing such rational means of distributing contents while meeting the requirement for the contents to be viewed and/or heard in any intended time.
Where the same contents are to be broadcast a number of times, it may be desirable to transmit the contents only once before their repeated, predetermined playback so that they may utilize a broad band width as efficiently as possible. However, broadcasting arrangements offering these features have yet to be implemented by conventional techniques.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Broadcasting method and broadcast receiver


A method for manufacturing a titanium acetabular cup shell includes obtaining a titanium powder. A three part mold having a first part with a part-spherical inner surface, a second ram part with a part-spherical outer impact surface and a third ram part with an annular impact surface are provided to compact the titanium powder. The second and third parts are aligned along an axis within the first part. The second part is aligned along a center axis within the annular impact surface of the third part. The first mold part is filled with the titanium powder. The second mold part-spherical outer surface and the third part annular surface are moved towards the part-spherical inner surface of the first part into contact with the powder. The powder is compacted with the second part part-spherical outer impact surface and the third part annular impact surface to about 50% of its initial volume.

This invention relates to a molding method for forming part-spherical acetabular cup shell or knee femoral components from powdered metal, preferably powdered Titanium (Ti).
Parts having simple geometries, such as flat plates, can easily be compression molded. Presently molding complex geometries from metal or polymer powder is typically done using either injection molding or isostatic pressing and usually not compression molding.
Injection molding can make complicated shapes with a well-designed mold, but the molds and molding equipment can be expensive. In addition, powder additives are used to allow the powder to more easily flow in the mold. These additives can interfere with obtaining a fully dense part and be difficult to remove from the part after molding. The powder feedstock also needs to be carefully selected for its flow characteristics and can be relatively expensive. Furthermore, injection molding is performed at lower pressures which cannot deform the metal powder and therefore requires a binding agent to compact a part that can be subsequently handled/post processed. Having a binder as well as a flow enhancing agent takes up space, (often up to about 20% of the compacted part mixture) and results in a large amount of dimensional change during the sintering consolidation.
Isostatic pressing typically involves a pressure-filled bladder pressing the powder against a rigid surface. Thus, tooling and equipment costs can be less than with injection molding, but additives (such as binders) are generally still necessary. A drawback to isostatic pressing is that the quality of the surface adjacent to the bladder is not as good as can be obtained with injection molding.
Compression molding one-dimensional objects, such as a hockey puck, from powder is simple because the resulting object is the same thickness in the direction of travel of the moveable ram of the compression mold. Flat multi-level parts such as gears are more difficult to mold and normally to achieve a relatively uniform density throughout, the part multi stage tooling and/or additional pressing rams need to be used. Molding a two-dimensional object, such as a hemispherical shell, from metal powder is more difficult because even if the wall thickness of the resulting object is uniform, the thickness measured in the direction of mold or ram travel or direction of compaction can vary. Thus for an acetabular shell the radial thickness between an inner and outer part-spherical surface can be constant but varies in a direction perpendicular to the equator.
What is needed is an economical method to mold two-dimensional shapes (such as a hemisphere) from powder. In order to be economical the method should be able to utilize inexpensive powder feedstock, require no binding agent to be mixed into the powder, require no additive to improve flow characteristics of the powder, require tooling and equipment that is relatively inexpensive compared to injection molding, and allows for better surface quality on all sides of the resulting part than is possible with isostatic pressing. In some cases a die wall lubricant is used to improve the life of the mold/tool and to improve the ejection of the part out of the tool. However, it is important to keep residuals out of the part when compacting Titanium due to its high reactivity during sintering. Compression molding can achieve these objectives. In the past, the problem has been that molding parts of different thicknesses, such as an acetabular cup shell, requires different amounts of compression in the direction of compression motion in different areas of the mold. This is difficult to achieve using a mold having only one moveable compression part.

Multi-part axial powder compression mold for complex parts


A method includes implementing a coupled Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) array with a number of VCOs, and arranging a number of switched capacitor elements in a geometric proportion in a tank circuit of each VCO to provide for finesse in control of a tunable frequency of the tank circuit. The method also includes utilizing a voltage control input of a varactor element of the tank circuit solely for achieving phase separation between the each VCO and another VCO of the coupled VCO array based on the provision of finesse in the control of the tunable frequency of the tank circuit, and mixing Local Oscillator (LO) signals generated through the number of VCOs of the coupled VCO array with signals from antenna elements of an antenna array to introduce differential phase shifts in signal paths coupled to the antenna elements during performing beamforming with the antenna array.

A Voltage Coupled Oscillator (VCO) utilized in a coupled Voltage Controlled Oscillator (VCO) array may include a tank circuit. Voltage control coupled to a varactor element in the tank circuit may be employed to vary a frequency of the VCO. The values of an inductance and/or a capacitance (example circuit elements) of the tank circuit may be subject to variations based on factors such as manufacturing process variation, power supply and temperature. The varactor voltage control may be utilized to calibrate the aforementioned variations. However, this may come at the price of reduced range of frequencies over which the voltage control can be used.

Extending beamforming capability of a coupled voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) array during local oscillator (LO) signal generation through fine control of a tunable frequency of a tank circuit of a VCO thereof


A method and apparatus for applications of identification of variations of propagation path to transmit diversity control. Transmit diversity parameters may be modified according to detected dynamics, which may, for example, be related to changes in actual propagation and network conditions. Such dynamics may be referred to as mobility parameters. Mobility parameters may apply to variability in a propagation path due to any conditions. Determination of a mobility parameter may be conducted using one or more of multiple parameters available to the mobile terminal. Such feedback information indication, which is related to the propagation path conditions, may be provided to the apparatus, which would attempt to find a more desired mode of operation, which may lead to reduction in power and the improvement of the quality of transmission.

Wireless transmission systems may use transmit diversity, whereby signals are transmitted to a receiver using a plurality of transmit antennas. A receiving communication device extracts the information from the transmitted signals. Multiple antenna elements may enhance spectral efficiency and capacity, allowing for more users to be simultaneously served over a given frequency band, while reducing signal degradation caused by multi-path and fading. Transmit diversity parameters may be applied to signals transmitted from two or more antennas, and may modify an effective power distribution detected by receivers, such as base stations. The transmitted signals may propagate along different paths and may reach the receiving communication device with different phases that may destructively interfere. The received signal quality may change at a receiver that may be attempting to detect a transmission from a mobile terminal, as well as a noise level created by a wireless terminal transmission in base stations attempting to detect signals from other wireless terminals. A signal-to-noise ratio perceived by base stations may change with varying parameters of transmit diversity control. There is a need for a system, method and apparatus to reduce interference of transmitted signals.

System, method and apparatus for transmit diversity control based on variations in propogation path


A vibratory power unit (10, 210) having small gasoline engine (12) coupled by a drive shaft (15) extending through a semi-rigid shaft case (16, 18, 20) to an eccentric (75) rotating with the aid of sealed bearings (74, 78) within a vibrator case (14, 514) is disclosed. The semi-rigid shaft case includes a first rigid shaft case portion (16) and a second rigid shaft case portion (20) coupled together by an isolator (18, 518, 618). A coupling (90, 790) is provided for removably coupling the vibratory power unit (10, 210) to concrete finishing tools (11, 211). The coupling includes a split ball (92) configured to be received on the vibrator case (14, 514) and a slit ring (110) configured to compress the split ball (92) onto the vibrator case (14, 514). A radio controlled throttle controller (300, 400, 500) is provided for remotely controlling the speed of engine (12). Radio controlled throttle controller (300, 400) scavenges electrical power from the magneto circuitry of the engine (12).

This invention relates generally to vibrating concrete for compaction, vibrating screed bars for screeding, vibrating tools used for smoothing the concrete, tooling construction joints and edges and more particularly to gasoline engine powered vibrator for vibrating tools for finishing concrete.
Once concrete is placed, it is typically necessary to level the surface of the concrete, compact concrete, create construction joints, apply an edge finish to the concrete and finish the centers. The advantages of vibrating tools in finishing concrete are well known. Gasoline and electric powered vibrating screeds are commonly used for screeding and consolidating the concrete. Such screeds include a gasoline powered internal combustion engine or an electric powered motor coupled to an unbalanced shaft or eccentric which vibrates a metal bar which is used to strike off (remove excess) and smooth freshly poured concrete. Recently small internal combustion engines (between one and two horsepower) have begun to replace electric motors to power concrete vibrators that consolidate freshly placed concrete in walls, form structures, foundation slabs and the like. These small internal combustion engines are self contained and more portable than electric motors previously used to power concrete vibrators.
In recent years the small hand held gas powered engines have become popular for vibrating concrete to remove the air pockets created when placing the concrete. It is believed that sealed bearings may have been used for the vibrators while screeding concrete but these vibrators were not designed to be submerged in to the cement. When the designs were altered to submerge the gas-powered vibrators in cement the designers changed to oil bath lubrication from the sealed bearings because industry practice for submersible consolidation vibrators has been to provide oil bath lubrication for bearings in a submersible vibrator. Typically, submersible consolidation vibrators were powered by an electric motor. Electric powered vibrators that have been used for many years turn approximately 10,000 to 12,000 RPM. Oil bath lubricated bearings were used in electrically powered consolidation vibrators because of the high operating RPMs.
Vibrators used for screeding concrete (and with other concrete finishing tools) only need to turn at approximately 3,000 RPM. Small handheld gasoline engine generate 300 RPM at about one half throttle. When used for consolidating concrete (not screeding) the small engines are run at full throttle, i.e. about 6,000 RPM.
It is believed that when small gas-powered engines drive vibrators using an oil bath for lubrication additional torque is required to turn the eccentric as a result of added friction compared to a vibrator using sealed bearings. This in turn may severally limit the size of the eccentric used for vibration. Testing and research has established that the small gas-powered engines do not turn enough RPM to damage sealed bearings.
A vibratory power unit in accordance with the disclosure herein will contain one or more of the following features and limitation either alone or in combination, an internal combustion engine, a vibrator coupled to the internal combustion engine, a semi-rigid shaft case extending between the internal combustion engine and the vibrator and an isolation unit disposed between the internal combustion engine and the vibrator to reduce vibrations experienced by the internal combustion engine. A coupling configured to releasably couple the vibrator to a concrete finishing tool and to transfer vibration from the vibrator to the finishing tool may be provided. A handle may be coupled to the semi-rigid shaft whereby the user can control rotation of a concrete finishing tool coupled to the vibrator. The coupling may be configured to permit adjustment of the vertical angle between the finishing face of the concrete finishing tool and the longitudinal axis of the semi-rigid shaft case. The coupling may also be configured to permit adjustment of the horizontal angle between the concrete finishing tool and the longitudinal axis of the semi-rigid shaft case. The semi-rigid shaft case may include a first rigid shaft case portion and a second rigid shaft case portion with the isolation unit coupling the first rigid shaft case portion to the second rigid shaft case portion. Preferably, the vibrator utilizes sealed bearings. A plurality of vibrators of varying lengths and diameters may be provided for attachment to the semi-rigid shaft.
According to a second embodiment of the disclosure, a vibrating concrete tool includes one or more of the following limitations, alone or in combination, an internal combustion engine, a vibrator coupled to the internal combustion engine, a concrete finishing tool, a mount for mounting the internal combustion engine to the concrete finishing tool, an elongated handle for manipulating the concrete finishing tool and internal combustion engine as a unit and an attachment for coupling the handle to the finishing tool, said attachment permitting selective alteration of the vertical angle between the concrete finishing tool and the longitudinal axis of the handle. The mount is configured to couple the vibrator to the concrete finishing tool and to transfer vibrations from the vibrator to the concrete finishing tool. The mount is preferably configured to permit coupling of the attachment and the vibrator at substantially the same position between the ends of the concrete finishing tool. The mount may be configured to provide structural support to the concrete finishing tool. A remotely actuatable throttle control may be coupled to the engine. The remotely actuatable throttle control may be configured to control actuators powered, at least in part, by power scavenged from the engine magneto circuitry.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of illustrated embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.

Universal power unit that adapts to all phases from placing to final finishing of concrete


In a folding information terminal device capable of taking a three-dimensional image and including two planes which become opposite to each other when the folding information terminal device is folded; there is provided at least one image pickup section on one plane of the two planes, and at least one image pickup section on the other plane.

Conventionally, a three-dimensional image display device for displaying a three-dimensional image has been used for various purposes, such as computer games, CAD systems, airplanes, and medical devices etc. The following explains a typical principle for providing a user with a three-dimensional image.
Display of a three-dimensional image is carried out by capturing an image at plural different angles, and then displaying the plurality of captured images with parallax with respect to both eyes of the user. Accordingly, when capturing image data for performing three-dimensional image display, a plurality of image pickup sections are placed at different positions so that shooting directions (light axes) of the respective image pickup sections intersect with each other on the object of shooting. The following describes three typical methods for offering a three-dimensional image to the user in this manner.
In the first method, with a general image display device, a red image is displayed to the right eye of the user, and a blue image is displayed to the left eye of the user. In the meantime, the user wears glasses with a blue film for the right eye and a red film for the left eye so that the right eye of the user sees only the red image while the left eye of the user sees only the blue image. While the user sees the blue image with the left eye and sees the red image with the right eye, he/she also recognizes a plurality of images with parallax. As a result, the user sees a three-dimensional image by optical deception.
In the second method, two image display devices are used respectively for the right eye and for the left eye, provided with in front thereof polarization plates whose polarizing directions intersect with each other. Then, the images from these image display devices for the right eye and for the left eye with different polarizing conditions are unified by a half mirror. Meanwhile, the user wears glasses with separate polarization plates for the right eye and the left eye, whose polarizing directions intersect with each other, so that the right eye of the user sees only the image from the image display device for the left eye while the left eye of the user sees only the image from the image display device for the right eye. As a result, the right eye and the left eye of the user individually see images different in polarizing condition, so that the user sees a three-dimensional image by optical deception.
In the third method, with a general image display device, plural images with parallax are displayed in turn at certain time intervals. Meanwhile, the user wears glasses with shutters which open and close at the time intervals identical and synchronized with the time intervals above for switching the plural images. As a result, the right eye and the left eye of the user individually see images different in parallax, so that the user sees a three-dimensional image by optical deception.
As an example of such display devices for taking and displaying a three-dimensional image, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Tokukaihei 11-55693/1999 (published on Feb. 26, 1999) discloses a still image camera including a plurality of image pickup sections. In this device, the plurality of image pickup sections simultaneously film the same object so as to take and display a three-dimensional image.
Incidentally, as with the folding image information terminal device shown in FIG. 14, a typical conventional information terminal device is made up of a display section 101 with a display 100, and an operation section 103 with an operation button 102. With this structure, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Tokukaihei 10-108152/1998 (published on Apr. 24, 1998) realizes an image information terminal device for taking and displaying a three-dimensional image, by providing, as shown in FIG. 14, a plurality of image pickup sections 104 and 105 in the display section 101 having the display 100.
However, to capture an object of three-dimensional display, it is necessary to capture a plurality of images of one object with parallax of certain extent. For this reason, the respective image pickup sections for capturing a three-dimensional image are preferably placed with a specific distance. Generally, it is preferable to determine this distance to be similar to the interval between both eyes of a human.
Here, in the structure shown in FIG. 14, the image pickup sections 104 and 105 are provided in the display section 101. However, in case of adopting such a folding information terminal device for a small-sized device such as a mobile phone, there arise some mechanical difficulties to place the image pickup sections 104 and 105 in the display section 101, while providing a specific distance between them. Further, for a conventional folding information terminal device, the arrangement of providing image pickup sections with a specific distance has not been realized in any sizes of device.


A light scanning device has a light deflector for deflecting in a scanning mode a light beam outputted by a light source; and an optical system for image-forming on a scanning medium the light beam deflected by the light deflecting means, with a convergent or divergent light beam in an optical path between the light source and the scanning medium. A plane-parallel plate is moved into and out of the optical path of the convergent or divergent light beam, so as to change a beam spot diameter on the scanning medium.

With advanced data processing techniques, there have been provided a variety of printing modes, which requires a method for expression of dots in which a print dot density can be changed with one and the same printer. For this purpose, it is necessary to provide a method of changing a record dot diameter. In the case of a laser beam printer, a method of changing a scanning laser beam power to thereby change a record dot diameter is well known in the art. For instance, Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 40742/1983 has disclosed a method in which an optical filter is disposed in the optical path of the output beam of a laser oscillator, to change the quantity of light and to thereby change the record dot diameter. However, in certain cases, specifically in a case where a suitable amount of exposure of the photosensitive drum to obtain predetermined print density is required, and where a correct amount of exposure of a print start position determining sensor are taken into consideration, the prior art optical filter method is problematic. Specifically, in order to maintain high print quality, the range is limited in which the quantity of light is allowed to change. In the case of Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 66465/1986 (the term "OPI" as used herein means an "unexamined published application"), the drive current of a semiconductor laser is adjusted to change the beam power, and to thereby change the record dot diameter. However, in this case, in addition to the above-described problem, another problem occurs. Specifically, in the adjustment of the drive current, the semiconductor laser oscillation threshold current changes with temperature, as a result of which the beam power is changed, and accordingly the record dot diameter is unstable. On the other hand, the record dot diameter changes substantially in proportion to the drive current when a heavy beam is used with low power. Therefore, the method raises another problem in that the record dot is low in sharpness. Furthermore, in the case where it is required to change the record dot diameter in a wide range, the aforementioned proportional relationship between record dot diameter and drive current is not established; that is, it is necessary to abruptly increase the drive current as the record dot diameter increases. This can be readily understood from the fact that the intensity of a laser beam assumes a Gaussian distribution.
In another example of the conventional record dot diameter changing method, a plurality of beams are combined to change the record dot diameter. For instance Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 164759/1982 employs an array laser; however, since a plurality of laser beams are employed, it is rather difficult to physically arrange the array laser.
In another example of a conventional record dot diameter changing method, a lens stop is provided in the light beam to change the beam diameter on the scanning surface. For instance, in the case of Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 31270/1988, a board having a plurality of holes different in diameter is disposed on the light source side of a rotary polygon mirror. However, the method is still disadvantageous in that the center of the beam must be in alignment with each of the holes formed in the board, a loss of power occurs because part of the beam is blocked, and a diffraction pattern is formed. Japanese Patent Application (OPI) No. 275214/1987 has disclosed a method of changing a beam diameter by using an electro-optical switch array and a polarizing plate; however, it is still disadvantageous in that the elements are expensive.
In another example of the conventional record dot diameter changing method, a plurality of optical paths are employed which provide different beam diameters on the scanning surface, and one of the optical paths is selected by a switching means (cf. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,539,478 and 4,642,701). However, the method gives rise to another problem that, because of the plurality of optical paths, it is rather difficult to physically arrange the relevant components.
Furthermore, in another example of a conventional record dot diameter changing method, the beam diameter on the scanning surface is changed (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 4,651,169). In this method, the lens must be moved with high accuracy, and the optical axis must be positioned with high precision. Accordingly, it is considerably difficult to practice the method with a simple mechanism.

Multi-diameter record dot light scanning apparatus


Methods, systems and media for controlling playback of video using a touchscreen are provided. In some embodiments, the method comprises: causing video content to be presented in a player window of a screen of a touchscreen; detecting a first tap gesture within the player window; causing presentation of the video content to be paused; detecting a second tap gesture via the touchscreen; causing presentation of the video content to continue; detecting a left to right swipe gesture; causing a first portion of the video content that is later in time to be presented; detecting a right to left swipe gesture; causing a second portion of the video content that is earlier in time the video content that is currently being presented to be presented.

Devices having touchscreens are often used to watch videos, but the controls for navigating a video on a touchscreen are often more suitable to a device having a pointing device, such as a mouse, that allows for more precise control of what is being selected. For example, to navigate to a particular point in a video, some user interfaces for touchscreens include a progress/scrubber bar with a selectable indicator showing a current portion of the video being presented. The indicator can be dragged to a particular location along the scrubber/progress bar to select a particular portion of the video to navigate to and present. However, this requires touching a particular location on the touchscreen corresponding to the indicator in the user interface and precisely dragging the indicator to the intended portion of the scrubber/progress bar. As another example, fast forward, play/pause, and rewind functions are typically selected by touching an icon representing fast forward or rewind, which can require first causing these icons to be presented, and then requires selecting a particular portion of the user interface which is not always convenient when using a device having a touchscreen.
Accordingly, new methods, systems, and media for controlling playback of video using a touchscreen are desirable.

Methods, systems, and media for controlling playback of video using a touchscreen


A cleaning system includes a supply of purified water, a supply of cleaning agent, a mixing junction, and a distributor. The mixing junction is configured to combine a flow of the purified water and a flow of the cleaning agent and output a flow of cleaning liquid comprising the flows of the purified water and the cleaning agent. The distributor includes an output through which the cleaning liquid can be discharged. In a method of cleaning a surface, flows of purified water and cleaning agent are provided. The flow of purified water and the flow of cleaning agent are mixed to form a flow of cleaning liquid. The flow of cleaning liquid is then discharged to the surface.

Surface cleaning operations are conducted daily to maintain cleanliness in industrial, commercial and public buildings, such as in restrooms. Such cleaning operations generally involve applying a cleaning liquid to various surfaces of the room.
The systems used in such cleaning operations typically apply the cleaning liquid at high volumes and high pressures. The high volume of cleaning liquid results in long drying times of the surfaces. The high pressures at which the cleaning liquid is applied makes it difficult to control where the cleaning liquid is applied due to splattering. Additionally, the high pressure spray of the cleaning liquid can damage certain surfaces.
Typical cleaning liquids include non-purified water containing hard minerals such as iron and manganese (i.e., hard water). Unless wiped clean of the cleaning liquid, the surfaces can take a long time to dry. Additionally, spots or residue often form on non-wiped surfaces due to the minerals in the water. The existence of residue following the drying of the cleaning liquid is also the result of the use of a large volume of cleaning agent in the cleaning liquid.
The discussion above is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.

Cleaning system utilizing purified water