A medical image is analyzed using an algorithm requiring input parameters. Values of the input parameters are derived from metadata, indicating properties of the medical image. For example, the metadata may indicate the type of image acquisition device or settings used to create the medical image. In another example, the metadata may relate to the patient upon whom the image is based. This allows optimum values to be selected for the parameters.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to digital medical image analysis, particularly by means of a computer-implemented algorithm.
2. Background
Medical images are a valuable tool for detection, diagnosis and evaluation of response to treatment of disease, as well as surgical planning. A variety of physical techniques or modalities have been developed for producing these images, including projection X-rays, computed tomography (CT), ultrasound (US), positron emission tomography (PET) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The images may be generated digitally (using, e.g., US, CT or MRI) or digitized from an analog image (e.g., film). Conventionally, trained radiologists or other clinicians review these images to facilitate detection of an abnormality, for example. A radiologist or clinician can review and annotate the digitized images and generate a report based on the review. All of the resultant data may be stored for later retrieval and analysis.
The task of a user (e.g., radiologist, clinician, etc.) can be made easier by reviewing the images with application software providing visualization and analysis tools to manipulate and evaluate these images in 2, 3 and 4 dimensions (for images that vary in time). However, the evaluation process can result in missed abnormalities because of normal limitations in human perception. This perception issue is worsened by the ever-increasing amount of information now available to the radiologist or clinician for review. Now, in the information-intense but resource- and time-constrained environments in which radiologists work, they are forced to make expedited decisions, potentially resulting in increased miss rate.
Computer Assisted Detection or Diagnosis (CAD) software has been designed to reduce errors of human perception, as well as to enhance the productivity of radiologists or other clinicians in an information-intense environment, by automatically performing for the user the more mundane tasks (e.g., automatic measurement) and focusing the radiologist's limited time on interpretation. CAD software can automatically or semi-automatically detect and measure abnormalities, characterize abnormalities, measure temporal progression or regression of disease and surgically plan based on CAD information. For example, the applicant's MedicHeart™, MedicLung™ and MedicColon™ diagnostic software perform semiautomatic and automatic analysis of CT scans of the heart, lung and colon, respectively.
CAD software uses algorithms to analyze a given medical image. No one algorithm is robust enough to analyze accurately all types of medical images. For example, abnormal structures in the lung have different image characteristics from those in the colon. Images acquired using different modalities or combinations of modalities (e.g., MRI, CT, US) have different resolutions and image characteristics, and hence require more specific algorithms to analyze them. Given a choice of CAD algorithms designed to more closely address the needs of a specific disease state or acquisition modality, the user of CAD software would likely opt for that algorithm designed more specifically (e.g., the clinical condition, modality or focused anatomy of the dataset) and select the appropriate algorithm for analysis of that type of image. Alternatively, the user may only be interested in analyzing one type of image and therefore only use one type of algorithm.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,235,510 to Yamada et al. describes a system for automating the selection of an appropriate algorithm for the analysis of a medical image by inspecting attribute data, identifying the image type and selecting an algorithm appropriate for that type.
Many CAD algorithms rely on a predefined set of parameter values for detection. For example, the Agatston method, as originally described in "Quantification of Coronary Artery Calcium Using Ultrafast Computed Tomography", Agatston A S, Janowitz W R, Hildner F J et al., J Am Coll Cardiol 1990 15: 827–832 (hereinafter "the Agatston article"), applies a threshold of 130 Hounsfield units (HU) to the CT image, and identifies all pixels above that threshold as containing calcium. A scoring system is then used to rate the severity of the calcification, based on the number of pixels above the threshold multiplied by a weight based on the highest intensity within the calcification. If the highest intensity is between 130 and 200 HU, then the weight is 1. If the highest intensity is between 200 and 300 HU, the weight is 2. If the highest intensity is greater than 300 RU, the weight is 3. The threshold of 130 HU works reasonably well with the types of CT scan images available at the time of publication of the Agatston article, but there is no general agreement as to how this threshold should be modified for new types of CT scan, such as data acquired with thinner collimation.
Alternatively, the CAD application software may allow the user to set the values of parameters used in the analysis. For example, CAR® software (available from Medicsight PLC, a company located in London, England), aspects of which are described in a prior patent application GB0420147.1 to Dehmeshki, provides a user interface allowing the user to interactively modify the parameters used by an algorithm. The results of any selected parameters are available to the user. While this user interaction provides great flexibility, the optimum parameter values may not be known. For example, the user may select a less optimal parameter value for analysis. In another example, the user may select the parameter value by trial and error, further impacting productivity.
Using predefined parameter values has the advantage of simplicity and consistency, but may not always provide better results, as compared to using parameter values that are not predefined. While user-defined parameter values provide greater flexibility, they may not provide better results unless the optimum parameter values are chosen. Allowing the user to set parameter values adds to the complexity of CAD software.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,058,322 describes an interactive user modification function in which the software displays detected microcalcifications, and the user may then add or delete microcalcifications. The software modifies its estimated likelihood of malignancy accordingly.
EP-A-1398722 describes a "dynamic CAD" system in which an image is processed to identify features of interest and to extract parameters from the features of interest. The image is post-processed using the extracted parameters to generate a second image. The post-processing parameters are derived from the image itself, rather than from metadata associated with the image.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,878,746 describes a computerized diagnostic system, which may process medical images to derive feature vectors. The system inputs the feature vectors together with other clinical parameters into a "fact database", which is then processed to obtain a diagnosis.


In an overcurrent protection circuit, when a control section turns on a switch in response to a signal from a microcomputer so that power is supplied from a power source to an IC card, a signal controlling section prevents the overcurrent protection circuit from functioning even if a current greater than a predetermined level is detected by a current detecting section, until a voltage of the IC card is stabilized. When the control section turns off the switch in response to a signal from the microcomputer, the power supply from the power source to the IC card is stopped, thereby preventing a malfunction of the overcurrent protection circuit, even if the microcomputer goes out of control or malfunctions.

The present invention relates to an overcurrent protection circuit and an overcurrent protection method for protecting an electric or electronic device, such as an IC (Integrated Circuit) incorporated in an IC card, from an overcurrent due to abnormality in the circuits of the device.
An electric or electronic device, such as an IC card, incorporates an overcurrent protection circuit for protecting the device from overcurrent due to abnormality in the circuits of the device.
Conventionally, a type of overcurrent protection circuit in an electric or electronic device is formed by of a microcomputer and a logical circuit for controlling operations of the circuits in the device. Such an overcurrent protection circuit having a microcomputer and a logical circuit may malfunction when the microcomputer goes out of control or malfunctions or power is supplied thereto.

Overcurrent protection circuit and overcurrent protection method of the circuit


Disclosed is an optical fiber having a core with an alkali metal oxide dopant in an peak amount greater than about 0.002 wt. % and less than about 0.1 wt. %. The alkali metal oxide concentration varies with a radius of the optical fiber. By appropriately selecting the concentration of alkali metal oxide dopant in the core and the cladding, a low loss optical fiber may be obtained. Also disclosed are several methods of making the optical fiber including the steps of forming an alkali metal oxide-doped rod, and adding additional glass to form a draw perform. Preferably, the draw preform has a final outer dimension (d2), wherein an outer dimension (d1) of the rod is less than or equal to 0.06 times the final outer dimension (d2). In a preferred embodiment, the alkali metal oxide-doped rod is inserted into the centerline hole of a preform to form an assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an optical fiber doped with an alkali metal oxide and methods and apparatus for making same.
2. Technical Background
Attenuation is a principal limiting attribute of optical fibers. Optical fiber loss, for example, plays an important role in setting the limiting distance between optical fiber amplifiers. This is particularly important in long distance and ultra-long distance networks such as, for example, undersea applications, where such amplifiers represent a significant system cost, as well as a major factor in system reliability. Consequently there is tremendous commercial interest in reducing attenuation to the lowest possible level. Summary of the Invention
One broad aspect of the present invention relates to an optical fiber having a core comprising an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, in a peak concentration greater than about 0.001 wt. % and less than about 1 wt. %; a cladding comprising the alkali metal oxide in a peak concentration less than the peak concentration in the core but greater than about 0.0005 wt. %; and wherein the concentration of alkali metal oxide varies with a radius of the optical fiber. The alkali metal oxide dopant concentration preferably decreases with increasing radius from the centerline of the optical fiber. Using the alkali metal oxide doping techniques disclosed herein, optical fibers can be made which exhibit an attenuation less than about 0.30 dB/km at 1310 nm and less than about 0.18 dB/km at 1550 nm; preferably less than about 0.17 dB/km at 1550 nm, more preferably less than about 0.16 dB/km at 1550 nm.
Preferably, both the core and the cladding of the optical fiber contain an alkali metal oxide dopant. The cladding glass of the optical fiber may comprise fluorine (F). The optical fiber has at least one core segment; in some preferred embodiments, the optical fiber comprises multiple core segments. The alkali metal oxide concentration at a radius equal to the mode field radius of the optical fiber is preferably at least about 0.001 wt. %.
The present invention proposes an optical fiber having a core comprising an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, wherein the core contains less than 20 ppb of OH.
According to another aspect of embodiments of the invention, an optical fiber is proposed having a core comprising an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, in a peak concentration greater than about 0.001 wt. % and less than about 1 wt. %, a cladding comprising the alkali metal oxide in a peak concentration less than the peak concentration in the core, but greater than about 0.0005 wt. %, and wherein the concentration of alkali metal oxide varies with a radius of the optical fiber.
According to still another aspect of embodiments of the invention, an optical fiber is proposed comprising a core containing Rb2O in a peak concentration greater than about 0.001 wt. % and less than about 1 wt. %, a cladding comprising Rb2O in a peak concentration less than the peak concentration in the core, but greater than about 0.0005 wt. % and wherein the concentration of alkali metal oxide varies with a radius of the optical fiber.
According to another broad aspect of the present invention, an optical fiber may be provided comprising a core comprising GeO2 and an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, and wherein a refractive index of the optical fiber is selected to provide a total dispersion greater than about 1 ps/nm/km at about 1550 nm, and a dispersion slope less than about 0.10 ps/nm2/km at 1550 nm. Preferably, the optical fiber has a total dispersion greater than about 6 ps/nm/km at 1550 nm. Preferably, the optical fiber has an attenuation less than about 0.18 dB/km at 1550 nm; more preferably less than about 0.17 dB/km at 1550 nm. Preferably, the optical fiber is drawn at a draw speed of at least 10 m/s.
According to another aspect of the invention, an optical fiber is disclosed herein comprising: a silica-based core comprising a first dopant selected from the group consisting of germania and fluorine and mixtures thereof, and an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, in a peak concentration between 20 and 1000 ppm; and a silica-based cladding surrounding and directly adjacent the core; wherein the attenuation at 1550 nm is less than 0.185 dB/km, preferably less than 0.18 dB/km, more preferably less than 0.17 dB/km. In some preferred embodiments, the attenuation at 1550 nm is less than or equal to 0.167 dB/km. In preferred embodiments, the concentration of alkali metal oxide in the core decreases with a radius of the optical fiber. Preferably, the peak concentration of alkali metal oxide in the core is greater than about 0.002 wt.% and less than about 0.07 wt. %. In preferred embodiments, the alkali metal oxide concentration at a radius equal to a mode field radius of the optical fiber is at least about 0.0001 wt. %. In some embodiments, the core comprises GeO2, and in other embodiments, the core comprises no GeO2. In some embodiments, the core comprises a single segment. In other embodiments, the core comprises a plurality of segments. In some preferred embodiments, the cladding comprises F, particularly in some embodiments where the core has no germania. In preferred embodiments, the peak amount of alkali metal oxide in the core is greater than about 0.002 wt % and less than about 0.05 wt. %. In various embodiments, the optical fiber comprises an exterior hermetic coating; in particular embodiments, the first dopant is germania, i.e. the fiber is germania-doped, and the optical fiber further comprises an exterior hermetic coating. In some preferred embodiments, the optical fiber is a single mode fiber, for example single-moded at 1550 nm; in other preferred embodiments, the optical fiber is a multimode fiber, which preferably has a graded refractive index profile. Some preferred embodiments are non-zero dispersion shifted optical fibers having a dispersion at 1550 nm between 1 and 6 ps/nm-km, and other embodiments have a dispersion at 1550 nm between 6 and 15 ps/nm-km.
According to yet another aspect of the invention, an optical fiber is disclosed herein comprising: a core comprising GeO2 and an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof; and a cladding surrounding the core, wherein a refractive index profile of the optical fiber is selected to provide a total dispersion greater than about 1 ps/nm/km at 1550 nm, and a dispersion slope less than about 0.10 ps/nm2/km at the zero dispersion wavelength. In preferred embodiments, the total dispersion is greater than about 6 ps/nm2/km at 1550 nm. Preferably, the attenuation at 1550 nm less than about 0.18 dB/km, more preferably less than about 0.17 dB/km.
In another broad aspect of the invention, an optical fiber is disclosed herein comprising: a core comprising an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of Rb2O and Cs2O and mixtures thereof, in a peak concentration greater than about 0.001 wt.% and less than about 1 wt. %; and a cladding surrounding and directly adjacent the core.
In still another broad aspect of the invention, an optical fiber is disclosed herein comprising: a core comprising Rb2O in a peak concentration greater than about 0.001 wt. % and less than about 1 wt. %; and a cladding surrounding and directly adjacent the core.
In another broad aspect of the invention, an optical fiber is disclosed herein comprising: a silica-based core comprising a first dopant selected from the group consisting of germania and fluorine and mixtures thereof, and an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, in a peak concentration between 20 and 1000 ppm; and a silica-based cladding surrounding and directly adjacent the core; wherein the core has a refractive index profile with a peak relative refractive index, ΔMAX, greater than 0.2%, relative to the cladding. Preferably, the optical fiber has an attenuation at 1550 nm of less than 0.185 dB/km, more preferably less than 0.18 dB/km, even more preferably less than or equal to 0.17 dB/km. In some preferred embodiments, the attenuation at 1550 nm is less than or equal to 0.167 dB/km. In some preferred embodiments, the fiber is a multimode fiber and the core comprises at least 70 wt % SiO2. In other preferred embodiments, the core comprises at least 80 wt % SiO2. In still other preferred embodiments. the core comprises at least 90 wt % SiO2. Preferably, the optical fiber is a single-mode fiber and the core comprises at least 90 wt % SiO2. Preferably, the core further comprises chlorine in a peak concentration of less than 3000 ppm. Preferably, the peak concentration of the alkali metal oxide is less than 700 ppm. Preferably, the average concentration of the alkali metal oxide is less than 350 ppm. In some preferred embodiments, the peak concentration of the alkali metal oxide is less than 500 ppm, that is the peak concentration of the alkali metal oxide is between 20 and 500 ppm. In preferred embodiments, the alkali metal oxide is K2O. In a first set of preferred embodiments, the first dopant is germania and the peak concentration of the alkali metal oxide is between 30 and 300 ppm, preferably between 30 and 150 ppm. The core preferably further comprises chlorine in a peak concentration less than 3000 ppm. Preferably, the core has a maximum concentration of fluorine of less than 0.2 wt %. In some preferred embodiments, the cladding comprises an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, in a peak concentration of less than 100 ppm. In a second set of preferred embodiments, the first dopant is fluorine and the peak concentration of the alkali metal oxide is between 200 and 500 ppm, and some preferred embodiments is between 100 and 300 ppm. Preferably, the core has a concentration of fluorine of greater than 0.02 wt %, even more preferably the core has a concentration of fluorine of greater than 0.02 wt % at the centerline. Preferably, the core has a concentration of fluorine of greater than 0.15 wt %. Preferably, the core has a maximum concentration of fluorine of between 0.5 and 1.5 wt %. In particularly preferred embodiments of the second set, the core contains essentially no germania, preferably no germania. Preferably, the cladding has a minimum concentration of fluorine of at least 1.0 wt %. In preferred embodiments, the alkali metal oxide is K2O. In some embodiments, the core further comprises chlorine in a peak concentration less than 500 ppm. Preferably, the cladding comprises an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, in a peak concentration of less than 100 ppm.
An optical fiber preform is disclosed herein having a center portion consisting essentially of solid glass, the center portion being surrounded by an outer portion comprised of glass soot, wherein the center portion contains an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof. Preferably, the alkali metal oxide is selected from the group consisting of K2O and Rb2O. Preferably, the center portion also contains GeO2. The outer portion preferably comprises GeO2. The center portion preferably contains less than 20 ppb OH.
In still another broad aspect of the present invention, a method of making an optical fiber is disclosed comprising forming a first glass rod comprising an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, and inserting the first glass rod into a centerline hole of an optical fiber preform to form a composite preform assembly. In one preferred embodiment, the glass rod comprises GeO2. Preferably, the optical fiber preform comprises GeO2. At various points in its manufacture, the optical fiber preform preferably comprises a glass soot.
Yet another broad aspect of the invention involves a method of making an optical fiber comprising providing an optical fiber preform comprising an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, and drawing the optical fiber preform into an optical fiber, wherein the draw speed and the draw tension are selected to control a concentration of alkali metal oxide in the optical fiber, and wherein the concentration varies with radius.
Another broad aspect of the invention provides for a method of making an optical fiber comprising the steps of providing an optical fiber preform comprising an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof, and heat treating the optical fiber preform for a time and at a temperature effective to obtain a pre-determined concentration of the alkali metal oxide in the optical fiber preform as a function of radius. Preferably, the method includes heat treating the optical fiber preform for at least about 6 hours. The optical fiber preform is heat treated preferably at a temperature of at least 1000° C. Preferably, a cladding glass of the optical fiber preform comprises F.
In accordance with another broad aspect, the invention provides for a method of making an optical fiber comprising the steps providing a glass article having an outer dimension (dl) and doped with an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof; and adding additional glass to the glass article to form a final consolidated draw preform having a final outer dimension (d2), wherein the outer dimension (d1) is less than or equal to 0.06 times the final outer dimension (d2) thereby concentrating the alkali metal oxide near the center of the final consolidated draw preform.
In accordance with another broad aspect, the invention provides for a method of making an optical fiber comprising the steps of depositing silica-containing soot onto a rotating mandrel to form a silica-containing soot tube, first drying the silica-containing soot tube with a chlorine-containing gas, then further drying the silica-containing soot tube with a fluorine-containing gas, consolidating the silica soot tube to form a glass tube, doping the glass tube or an intermediate article formed from the glass tube with an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof; collapsing the glass tube or intermediate article to form an alkali-doped rod, and adding additional silica-containing glass onto the alkali-doped rod.
In accordance with a further broad aspect, the invention provides for a method of making an optical fiber comprising the steps of depositing silica-containing soot onto a rotating mandrel to form a silica-containing soot tube, drying the silica-containing soot tube with a chlorine-containing gas, further drying the silica-containing soot tube with a fluorine-containing gas, consolidating the silica soot tube to form a glass tube, doping the glass tube or an intermediate glass article formed from the glass tube with an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof; collapsing the glass tube or intermediate article to form an alkali-doped rod, inserting the alkali-doped rod into a silica-containing soot tube, forming a core rod from the alkali-doped rod and silica-containing soot tube, adding fluorine-doped silica to the core rod, and consolidating the fluorine-doped silica to form a final draw perform.
Further, and in accordance with another broad aspect, the invention provides for a method of making an optical fiber comprising the steps of depositing germanium-doped silica soot onto a rotating mandrel to form a germanium-doped silica soot tube, drying the germanium-doped silica soot tube with a chlorine-containing gas, further drying the silica-containing soot tube with a fluorine-containing gas, consolidating the germanium-doped silica soot tube to form a glass tube, doping the glass tube or a intermediate article formed from the glass tube with an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof; forming an alkali-doped rod from the glass tube or the intermediate article, and inserting the alkali-doped rod into a silica-containing soot tube, the silica-containing soot tube including a inner annular portion of germanium-doped silica soot and an outer annular portion of substantially undoped silica soot.
In accordance with another broad aspect, the invention provides for a method of making an optical fiber comprising the steps of depositing silica-containing soot onto a rotating mandrel to form a silica-containing soot tube, drying the silica-containing soot tube with a chlorine-containing gas, further drying the silica-containing soot tube with a fluorine-containing gas, consolidating the silica-containing soot tube to form a glass tube, doping the glass tube or an intermediate article formed from the glass tube with an alkali metal oxide selected from the group consisting of K2O, Na2O, LiO2, Rb2O, Cs2O and mixtures thereof to form an alkali-doped article wherein the alkali metal oxide is doped in an amount of between about 20-1000 ppm of the alkali metal oxide.
In accordance with another broad aspect, the invention provides a diffusion doping apparatus, comprising a frame, a glass tube mounted for rotation relative to the frame, a source of dopant coupled to the glass tube, and an induction heater mounted proximate to the glass tube.
Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the detailed description which follows, and in part will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from that description or recognized by practicing the invention as described herein, including the detailed description which follows, the claims, as well as the appended drawings.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments of the invention, and are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the invention as it is claimed. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments of the invention, and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operations of the invention. Where appropriate, identical features have been identically numbered.

Optical fiber containing an alkali metal oxide and methods and apparatus for manufacturing same


The present invention provides such a need by utilizing a frequency offset differential pulse position modulation scheme to transmit data between computing devices within a wireless network system. The differential pulse position modulation component of the scheme enables the present invention to provide relative immunity to interference for the system. In particular, such immunity from interference is achieved by utilizing a blanking time between pulse positions, which is large enough to allow the interference between frequency offset—differential pulse position modulation pulses to subside. The frequency offset component of the scheme enables the system to utilize multiple frequency channels to enable the system to achieve higher data rates. In particular, by utilizing a time offset between the frequency channels, the blanking time can be reduced, thereby increasing the amount of data that can be transmitted with a set period of time.

1. Field of Technology
The present invention generally relates to computer networks and, more particularly, to wireless networking.
2. Description of Related Art
Throughout the 1980s, local area networks ("LANs") emerged as a new technology market. Aided by technology that allowed LANs to operate over the structured unshielded twisted pair telephone wire already installed in most buildings, the networking market has become a $7 billion a year business. Unfortunately, as organizations grow more dependent on these high speed LANs, structured wiring systems have become less palatable. Current LANs are highly dynamic, marked by constant moves, additions and configuration changes to keep the system operating at peak performance. As a result, operating and maintenance costs are growing as users attempt to keep pace with this rapidly evolving environment. Typically, more than 60 percent of conventional LAN reconfiguration costs are attributable to labor, with the percentage much higher in metropolitan areas where labor is more expensive. For example, a conventional high speed LAN (e.g. a 30 node LAN) typically requires an average of three weeks to plan and install. In addition, more than 35 percent of problems with LANs using hubs and structured wiring and 70 percent of problems with LANs without hubs and structured wiring typically are attributable to the cabling of the LAN. In particular, the costs to move an average Ethernet unshielded twisted pair ("UTP") connection of such a LAN average approximately $500 or more (in parts and labor) per node. This cost further increases in major metropolitan areas where increased labor costs and a prevalence of fiber-based LANs exist
In the early 1990s, an alternative to wired LANs was the wireless LAN ("WLAN"). The benefits of this wireless communication technique in such an environment relates to the avoidance of much of the costs associated with the cabling of the network. However, most of these WLAN products failed to meet several key criteria essential to wide-scale adoption. The system failed to be fast (e.g. at least 10 Megabits per second), was not simple (e.g. plug and play) and was not economical (e.g. less than $500 per node).
In a manner analogous to the growth of the wired LANs, initial application and market success of the WLAN was in specialized, vertical markets. Thus, applications that highly valued the mobile, untethered connectivity were the early targets of the WLAN industry. Over the last two years, however, WLANs began to emerge as an option to fill an ever-widening gap in the corporate enterprise infrastructure. Currently, there are three basic types of wireless networks: wide-area network ("WAN"), local area networks ("LAN") and campus area networks ("CAN").
These WLANs, however, exhibit one drawback or another such as being too slow, restricted to certain environments or too expensive. In an ideal environment, the optimal WLAN solution would eliminate these shortcomings and exhibit the characteristics of being easy to install, having performance of over 10 Megabits per second ("Mbps"), being cost effective and being compatible with existing Ethernet networking equipment. Unfortunately conventional WLANs do not meet more than a few of these requirements with some failing to satisfy even one.
Today's fourth generation ("4G") of WLAN technology attempts to resolve these problems as well as increase bandwidth and avoid the interference associated with the more crowded lower frequency bands by operating within the 5 GHz frequency band. This increase in frequency enables such 4G WLANs to operate at data rates of approximately 10 Mbps. Such WLANs typically operate in the 5.775-5.850 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical ("ISM") band as well as within frequency bands at 5.2 GHz and 5.3 GHz, Unlicensed-National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) bands. These three segments have been designated by the FCC as exclusively for high speed data transmission. Unlike the lower frequency bands used in prior generations of WLANs, the 5 GHz bands do not have a large number of potential interferors, such as microwave ovens or industrial heating systems. In addition, there is much more bandwidth available at 5 GHz-350 MHz as compared to the 83 MHz within the 2.4 GHz band and the 26 MHz within the 900 MHz band. This combination of greater available bandwidth and reduced sources of interference makes the 5 GHz bands a desirable frequency range in which 4G WLANs have performance comparable to that achieved by wired networks.
Unfortunately, multipath interference, or Rayleigh fading, occurs when radio waves reflect off the surface of physical objects, producing a complex pattern of interfering waves which causes signals to meet at the antenna and cancel each other out. In addition, further interference is generated by other devices, which operate in the 2.4 GHz frequency range. These forms of interference present a design challenge for conventional WLAN systems, which have resulted in many conventional 3G WLANs relying upon a spread spectrum scheme. Unfortunately, by overcoming this interference with spread spectrum technology, such as Frequency Hopping Spread Spectrum ("FHSS") and Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum ("DSSS"), these 4G WLANs are limited to data rates of up to 1 Mbps to 2 Mbps.
While FHSS and DSSS at first, may appear to be simpler to implement than other schemes, there still are some very subtle difficulties that occur when strong interfering signals exist in such a system. For example, the basis of the noise immunity within a DSSS-based system is the fact that the desired signal and interference (or noise) are uncorrelated. In complex interference environments, which are becoming more common as usage increases, particularly ones in which very strong signals may be present, non-linearities in the receiver generate intermodulation ("IM") distortion products between the desired signal and the interfering signals. These IM products now are correlated with the desired signal, thus reducing the resulting signal to noise ratio when processed in the receiver. Therefore, even though the use of spread spectrum techniques combined with more available bandwidth and more complex modulation schemes allows such WLANs to operate at higher data rates, those data rates are not as high as desired (e.g. over 10 Mbps).
Therefore, there currently is a need for a WLAN system, which can achieve higher data rates while still maintaining relative immunity to interference, such as multipath propagation interference.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Frequency offset differential pulse position modulation


A method for measuring dishing in discs, including the steps of irradiating a laser beam along a scanning line which spirals from an inner side to an outer side of a surface of a magneto-optical disc or a digital video disc; determining a tilt angle at each of a plurality of measurement points on the scanning line based on displacement of a reflected laser beam from a normal reflected position; and using a measurement point on a first circuit on the inner side of the scanning line as a reference to determine dishing amounts at corresponding measurement points on circuits after the first circuit based on the tilt angles.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the measurement of dishing and disc shape profiling of magneto-optical discs and digital video (or versatile) discs.
2. Description of the Related Art
As examples of conventional methods for measuring the tilt and dishing shape of discs having photoreflective surfaces such as magneto-optical discs and digital video discs, there are those wherein a laser beam is irradiated onto the surface being measured and the displacement of the reflected laser beam is measured by position detection means.
Conventionally, the displacement from the regular reflection position which is that for the case in which the laser beam from the light source is perpendicularly incident on the measurement surface is measured, and the tilt is calculated from the relationships between this displacement and the geometrical distance between the reflection point and the light reception point.
Hereinbelow, a tilt measurement method according to the conventional art will be explained using the drawings.
FIG. 7 shows the case wherein no mechanical deformation, such as dishing or warping, is present on the disc which is the object of measurement, that is, the condition wherein a laser beam 5 is perpendicularly incident on the irradiated surface of the disc and is regularly reflected. In FIG. 7, 1 denotes laser beam emission means, 2 denotes a beam splitter, 3 denotes a disc which is an object of measurement and 4 denotes position detection means. Additionally, the distance between the reflective surface of the beam splitter 2 and the position detection means 4 is denoted L.sub.A, and the distance between the reflective surface of the beam splitter 2 and the irradiated surface of the disc 3 is denoted L.sub.B.
FIG. 8 shows the case wherein the surface of the disc 3 irradiated by the laser beam 5 is tilted by an angle .theta. with respect to a reference plane (the plane assuming that the laser beam 5 is perpendicularly incident, illustrated by the dashed line). This tilt .theta. is caused by mechanical deformations such as dishing and warping of the disc 3. A simple geometrical analysis will show that when the tilt of the disc has an angle .theta. with respect to the reference plane, the laser beam 5 will be reflected at an angle equal to two times .theta. with respect to the reference plane.
The path of the laser beam 5 which has been reflected and returned is changed by approximately 90 degrees by the beam splitter 2 and is incident on the light receiving surface of the position detection means 4.
When the position of the incident reflected beam is displaced from the regular reflection position, the position detection means 4 outputs a voltage having a value proportional to the displacement.
When the displacement X of the reflected laser beam is specified by the output voltage of the position detection means 4, the tilt (dishing) angle of the irradiated surface is generally defined to be 2.theta., and is determined by the following equation. ##EQU1##
Generally, the value of 2.theta. is measured over the entire surface of the disc, and the maximum value is defined to be the tilt. The angle .theta. represents the actual angle by which the disc is tilted with respect to the reference plane. Alternatively, if 2.theta. in equation (1) is given in radians and (L.sub.A +L.sub.B)>>X, then there is no problem in using the approximation 2.theta.=(X/(L.sub.A +L.sub.B) for practical purposes.
In order to measure the tilt 2.theta. over the entire area of the disc 3, the relative positions of the laser beam emission means 1 and the position detection means 4 shown in FIG. 7 are fixed, and the output of the position detection means 4 is continuously read or recorded while the incident position of the laser beam 5 is moved along the radial direction of the disc 3 while rotating the disc 3.
The above-mentioned relative movement method allows the entire surface of a disc to be scanned, for example, by affixing a laser beam emission means and a position detection means and providing a mechanism for moving a disc horizontally while rotating. Alternatively, it is possible to have the disc be stationary and simply rotating, while the laser beam emission means and the position detection means are moved along the radial direction of the disc. As another method, a method for measuring the dishing of a disc based on the static electricity capacity may be considered, but this method has a drawback in that measurements must be made while precisely tracing the grooves contained in the photoreflective recording layer, so that an extremely long time is required. This drawback is apparent when in-line inspections are performed during continuous production, especially when complete inspections are performed.
As examples of methods for displaying the results obtained by these methods, there are methods wherein time is represented by a horizontal axis and the change in the output voltage from the position detection means 4 is simply displayed over time; alternatively, there are methods wherein the tilt is calculated from the dimensional constants determined by the geometrical arrangement of the disc 3 and the position detection means 4, and a variable representing the position on the disc such as the angle or the position along the circumferential direction is represented by the horizontal axis while the tilt is represented by the vertical axis.
However, even with these methods, there are problems in that the measurement results do not allow for a direct grasp on what type of shape the disc actually has and which parts are warped in which direction.
This is considered to be due to the fact that the physical quantities obtained by the measurements are the abstract quantities of "angles", and are no more than the enumeration of data for each point on the disc surface.
In consideration of these situations, the subject of the present invention is to offer a method and device for measuring the dishing of discs based on the tilt data of the discs, and further to offer a method and device which determines their approximate three-dimensional shapes by means of numerical operations and provides displays thereof.

Disc dishing measurement method and apparatus


A magnetic door sweep and magnetic threshold is disclosed which reliably aligns and seals to prevent water, air and pests from crossing the threshold of a door. Additionally, the magnetic door sweep and magnetic threshold will prevent shape loss of the door sweep. The magnetic door seal includes a primary seal and a door seal magnetic element having a first set of poles located on the bottom edge of a door. A magnetic threshold includes a threshold cap and a threshold magnetic element having a second set of poles. The door seal is positionable relative to the threshold as the door is closed such that the first set of poles is attracted to the second set of poles when said door seal is positioned proximate to the threshold allowing the primary seal to extend between the door and the threshold.

The major parts of a door sealing system consist of a door sweep, which is located at the bottom of most entry doors to assist in sealing the bottom of the door, and a threshold cap, which makes contact with the door sweep to seal and help prevent water, air and pests from passing beyond the threshold. While current door sealing systems have generally proven to be satisfactory for their applications, each is associated with its share of limitations.
One major limitation of many current door sealing systems relates to their inability to consistently form a consistent seal due to variation between the door and the threshold throughout the life of the door seal. Due to current designs, door sweeps become deformed, lose their shape and ultimately leave gaps in the seal thus compromising the integrity of the entire seal. This permits water, air and pests to pass beyond the threshold.
Another limitation of many known door sweeps is the harsh noise created by the door sweep and threshold when the doors are opened or closed. The noise is caused by the door sweep being dragged across the threshold. Additionally, this noise may be made worse by thresholds that have a grooved surface. However, door sweeps that contact thresholds upon opening have traditionally been necessary to create and maintain a seal between the door and its corresponding threshold.
Another limitation of current door sweeps and their associated thresholds is their propensity to wear through due to constant scuffing of the door sweep on the threshold. This creates a need for maintenance and as the door sweep wears, its sealing effectiveness generally diminishes.
What is needed then is a device that does not suffer from the above limitations. This in turn, will provide a device that repeatedly creates a proper seal between the door sweep and its associated threshold every time the door is opened and closed, regardless of which direction the door is opened or closed. Furthermore, a door sweep device will be provided that does not lose its shape after repeated door openings and closings. Additionally, a door sweep and its associated threshold is needed that does not make harsh noises upon every opening and closing of an associated door. Finally, a door sweep is needed that does not wear out or at least is capable of experiencing a longer life than current door sweeps. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a door sweep and threshold that achieves the above-identified advantages.

Magnetic door sweep and magnetic threshold assembly


The aqueous compositions for rendering absorbent materials oil-repellent and water-repellent consist essentially of. (A) an organosilicon compound, PA1 (B) an organofluorine compound consisting of fluorine and carbon atoms and optionally chlorine, hydrogen, oxygen sulfur, silicon, phosphorus and/ or nitrogen atoms, and containing CF bonds, PA1 (C) a surfactant and PA1 (D) water.. (A1) a C.sub.1 -C.sub.20 -alkyl-C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 -alkoxysilane, PA2 (A2) an organopolysiloxane containing C.sub.1 -C.sub.6 -alkoxy groups and optionally groups selected from hydroxyl groups and C.sub.1 -C.sub.30 hydrocarbon groups which optionally contain basic nitrogen, or mixtures of (A1) and (A2),

Organosilicon compounds have been in use for a long time for the impregnation of mineral construction materials to render them water-repellent
Organofluorine compounds are known for their oil-repellent properties. Although they also possess water-repellent properties, these are substantially less pronounced and their long-term stability is less than that of the organosilicon compounds conventionally used for rendering construction materials hydrophobic.
It was found advantageous to combine both classes of substances. U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,673 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,191 describe processes for rendering construction materials oil-repellent and water-repellent with such combination products comprising organosilicon and organofluorine compounds.
One disadvantage of the process described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,125,673 is that either ingredient requires an organic solvent as vehicle or, in the case of aqueous systems, only water-soluble silanes or siliconates can be used. In aqueous media, silanes have the disadvantage of only a very limited and short-lived solubility in water. By contrast, siliconates are highly alkaline and hence not without risk when handled, however, they are only of limited use because they are salts. U.S. Pat. No. 5,399,191 circumvents these difficulties by using special organosilicon compounds with ammonium functional groups, which are water-soluble or water-dispersible. However, these compositions have the disadvantage that they are expensive to manufacture and that the polysiloxanes with ammonium functional groups are incompatible with numerous organofluorine components or, due to polar interactions, interfere with the film formation of the organofluorine component
FR-A-2 639 353 describes compositions consisting of emulsified organosilicon and organofluorine compounds. However, as well as the water-repellent organosilicon component and the oil-repellent organofluorine component, these compositions also contain an organic polymer dispersion for stabilizing the composition. The disadvantage of this component is that it imparts coating properties to the composition, thereby greatly reducing the permeability to water vapor.

Compositions for rendering absorbent materials water-repellent and oil-repellent


A geocomposite with a geonet and a geotextile. The geotextile has a nonwoven fabric layer and a woven fabric layer, with the nonwoven fabric connected by needle-punching to the woven fabric whereby fibers of the nonwoven fabric extend through and beyond the woven fabric, and the woven fabric and fibers of the nonwoven fabric extending through the woven fabric are bonded to one side of the geonet.

Effective filtration and drainage systems has proven to be critical in geotechnical and geoenvironmental engineering of fine-grained geomaterials, such as silts or clays, coal combustion products (CCPs) including fly ash and flue gas clesuifurization (FGD) materials, and river or sea dredged sediments, etc. For instance, coal combustion products (CCPs) are regularly deposited in landfills which require a leachate collection system beneath the CCPs waste to provide sufficient drainage and reduce the hydraulic head on top of water-barrier liners.
Leachate collection systems have generally consisted of a drainage layer with in-plane lateral flow capacity, and filter layer(s) which retain solid particles in order to maintain soil structural stability while also allowing liquids to pass. Geosynthetic drainage composites, consisting of a drainage geonet core with heat-bonded nonwoven geotextile filter(s), have been widely used for this purpose in many geotechnical drainage applications including municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill leachate collection.
The fabrics used in geotextile filters must therefore have sufficiently large openings to allow the requisite flow of liquid therethrough while at the same time having openings which are sufficiently small to block the solid particles from passing therethrough. Meeting such conflicting requirements can be, and has been, difficult for systems in which a very high content of fine-grained geomaterials is present. Moreover, such fabrics can encounter serious filtration problems such as fines' migration (called "piping") or filter clogging.
Nonwoven fabrics have commonly been used as geotextile filters. However, tensile strains on such nonwoven fabrics can change the pore opening sizes over the life of the product. Moreover, manufacture of nonwoven fabrics will occasionally result in a fabric which has small light spots with larger openings than other areas of the fabric, and such spats will control the ultimate filtration performance of the material. Woven fabrics have also been used as geotextile filters. However, woven filters typically have only a limited number of the openings per unit area, and fines particles can accumulate at any individual opening and block the water flow (called "surface blinding"). In short, such geotextile filters can encounter difficulty over their useful life, particularly in environments where high contents of fine-grained geomaterials are present.
As a result, it has been common in CCPs landfills to utilize a leachate collection system made of the costly and space-consuming granular materials (e.g., several feet of a fine sand filtration layer plus an aggregate or well-graded bottom ash drainage layer).
The present invention is directed toward providing efficient and inexpensive filtration and drainage even in environments in which high contents of fine-grained geomaterials such as coal combustion product (CCPs) are present.

Geosynthetic composite for filtration and drainage of fine-grained geomaterials


Methods and apparatus are provided for providing an indication to a person external to a vehicle, of an occupant inside the vehicle. The method comprises determining whether an occupant is in a vehicle, based on a capacitance measured within the vehicle; sensing whether an ignition of the vehicle is in an off position; detecting whether a first door coupled to the vehicle has been opened and closed, if the vehicle ignition is in an off position; if the first door has been opened and closed and an occupant is sensed in the vehicle, measuring a first time (T1) beginning from the instant the first door is closed; and activating the alert, if T1 is greater than a predetermined threshold time.

Research has shown that an occupant who is left in a closed, parked vehicle for an extended amount of time on a hot or sunny day may face the possibility of suffering from a physical injury due to the heat and humidity that may be present in the automobile. Several types of products are available that provide various safety features intended to prevent injuries of these types. One common product used by drivers or adults responsible for transporting children is a child safety seat.
For the most part, child safety seats have been designed to accommodate and protect a child in the event of a vehicular collision. In recent years, child seat technology has become more sophisticated. Some child seats are now configured to detect the presence of a child in the child seat. Other child safety seats may operate in conjunction with some type of wireless transceiver, wherein the child seat sends signals to the transceiver relating to the presence of a child within the seat.
Although child seat assemblies of these types are useful, they may present certain drawbacks. For example, the wireless transceiver is typically capable of being carried from location to location. Thus, if a driver is in possession of the transceiver and fails to provide it to a subsequent driver, the subsequent driver may not receive the alert from the transceiver. Therefore, the subsequent driver will not be notified or reminded of the presence of the occupant in the vehicle. Moreover, because the wireless transceiver is transportable, it may become misplaced or may be lost.
Furthermore, child seat assemblies of this type are not useful in the protection of other occupants, such as older children or persons who do not fit into the child seat and who may be inadvertently left in an unattended, closed vehicle.
Accordingly, it is desirable to provide a system that is capable of alerting a person or driver who is outside of an automobile to an occupant inside of the automobile. In addition, it is desirable to provide an alert system that is useful for all drivers who operate the automobile. Furthermore, other desirable features and characteristics of the present invention will become apparent from the subsequent detailed description of the invention and the appended claims, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and this background of the invention.

Vehicle-based vehicle occupant reminder using capacitive field-based sensor


A radio transmitting or receiving antenna which is physically compact being typically no more than three percent of a wavelength in any dimension. The antenna comprises two electrical conducting surfaces (2) and (4) across which radio frequency electric field lines carrying half the power are arranged to cross radio frequency magnetic field lines carrying the remaining half power to thereby synthesize and propagate radio waves. The low impedance coaxial feeder (1) from the transmitter flows through a set of coils (3A) to (3D) wired in parallel and lying in a toroidal shape to create a circular RF magnetic field H and then enters a low impedance tap on a resonant autotransformer used to connect a high RF voltage and create a curving electromagnetic field E across the interaction zone in the volume between the upper metal cylinder (4) and the ground plane (1).

(1) Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to radio antennas suitable for transmitting and receiving.
(2) Description of Related Art including information disclosed under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98.
This invention relates to developments of the antennas disclosed in patent specifications GB 2 215 524B and GB 2 330 695B. In these earlier specifications, the power to be transmitted is divided into two parts and the two half powers are used to separately drive field stimulators one of which generates radio frequency electric field lines E and the other half power generates radio frequency magnetic field lines H. In order to create radio waves by analogy with the Poynting Vector theory of the radio wave the said field lines may be thought of in terms of Quantum Mechanics as the basic virtual photons of the two energies. In order to compose real photons which can fly away with the total energy as an expanding as a powerful spherical radio wavefront at the velocity of light the following criteria must be observed; the two sets of field lines must be:                a) crossed geometrically at right angles with the correct spin for outward motion;        b) applied in the same volume of space called the interaction zone;        c) scaled so that half the power is in each field        d) proportioned so that the ratio E/H equals the impedance of space;        e) synchronised in time with zero phase error;        f) of the same curvature.
When these essential criteria are fulfilled radio waves are formed all around the field stimulators which may be very small in dimensions compared with a wavelength. Dimensions of 2 or 3 percent of the wavelength have been found to be entirely suitable for creating radio antennas of this type which are highly efficient. Convention states that an antenna must have a significant physical size compared with the half-wavelength in order to be efficient and this has affected the understanding and acceptance of the crossed field antennas made according to the said earlier patent specifications.


Apparatus, systems, methods, and articles of manufacture for automatic robot perception programming by imitation learning are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a percept mapper to identify a first percept and a second percept from data gathered from a demonstration of a task and an entropy encoder to calculate a first saliency of the first percept and a second saliency of the second percept. The example apparatus also includes a trajectory mapper to map a trajectory based on the first percept and the second percept, the first percept skewed based on the first saliency, the second percept skewed based on the second saliency. In addition, the example apparatus includes a probabilistic encoder to determine a plurality of variations of the trajectory and create a collection of trajectories including the trajectory and the variations of the trajectory. The example apparatus also includes an assemble network to imitate an action based on a first simulated signal from a first neural network of a first modality and a second simulated signal from a second neural network of a second modality, the action representative of a perceptual skill.

Robot dependent industries such as car manufacturing limit robots to specific, planned, and repetitive tasks. Other robot services are constrained to a single task such as vacuuming or to non-physical interaction jobs such as personal assistance or multimedia virtual assistance. Existing robot activity requires human experts to develop algorithms to create robot perception skills.

Automatic robot perception programming by imitation learning


An image data processing device of the inventive concept includes an image data converter and a light emission amount calculator. The image data converter converts image data into modulation image data. The image data includes first to third data corresponding to the first to third colors, respectively. The modulation image data includes first to fourth modulation data corresponding to the first to fourth colors, respectively. The light emission amount calculator calculates the fourth modulation data based on the ratio between the first data and the second data. The fourth color includes a color based on mixing the first color and the second color.

An aspect of the present invention relates to an image data processing device and a display device including the same, and more particularly to, an image data processing device for image processing corresponding to four or more color pixels and a display device including the same.
An organic light emitting display displays an image using an organic light emitting diode that generates light by recombination of electrons and holes. Such an organic light emitting display device has a fast response speed, is driven with low power consumption, and has advantages of excellent luminous efficiency, luminance, and viewing angle.
When an organic light emitting display is driven for a long time, the transistor or the organic light emitting diode inside a pixel may deteriorate. In addition, when the same image is continuously displayed in a part of the display area of the organic light emitting display device, a different degree of deterioration may occur between the corresponding display area and an adjacent display area. Such a difference in the degree of deterioration may cause display quality degradation (e.g., an afterimage).

Image data processing device and display device including the same


A method for distribution of wear for a touch display, includes: providing at least one graphic at a first location on a touch display, where the display includes at least one target area corresponding to the graphic; registering a first touch within the target area; and moving the graphic to a second location on the touch display, where the target area moves in accordance with its corresponding graphic. By moving the target area in this manner, the wear of the touch display is distributed to avoid accelerated wear of particular target areas due to repeated use.

Touch input technology is well known in the art. Touch input technology has been used as a computer interface in many different applications, including personal digital assistants (PDA), mobile phones, and computers for commercial transactions.
FIG. 1 illustrates an example touch interface. The computer 100, such as PDA, comprises a touch display 102, such as a resistive touch display, within which are displayed a plurality of graphics. For example, graphics for a calculator is demonstrated. Each graphic, such as the graphic 104 for the number "6", has a corresponding target area 106. When a user touches a finger, pen, or some other object within the target area 106, the selection of the graphic 104 is registered by the computer 100. The same is true for the other graphics whose target areas may be touched by the user.
However, a target area 106 can become less responsive and/or much less transparent due to wear from repeated touches. This is especially true when objects other than a human finger are used to touch the target area 106, and when the same target area 106 is repeatedly touched. When such wear occurs, the interface becomes less effective.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a method for distribution of wear for a touch display. The method should be easy to implement and reduce the rate of wear of target areas on a touch display. The present invention addresses such a need.

Method for distribution wear for a touch entry display

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a method of treating a treatment object containing a harmful compound. The method includes: a step A of bringing a treatment object containing a harmful compound containing an element X that is As, Sb or Se into contact with titanium oxide so as to adsorb the harmful compound on the surface of the titanium oxide; a step B of separating, from the treatment object, the titanium oxide on which the harmful compound is adsorbed; and a step C of irradiating the titanium oxide separated from the treatment object with light in a treatment phase containing a radical source so as to cause a reaction between the harmful compound adsorbed on the titanium oxide and a radical generated from the radical source and detoxify the harmful compound.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of treating treatment objects containing harmful compounds. More specifically, the present invention relates to a method of treating treatment objects such as soil and water contaminated with harmful compounds containing arsenic (As), antimony (Sb) or selenium (Se).
2. Description of Related Art
The toxicity of an arsenic compound depends greatly on its type. Inorganic arsenic compounds typified by arsenious acid are highly toxic, while organic arsenic compounds are relatively less toxic. Inorganic arsenic compounds are methylated in human bodies and eliminated therefrom. This reaction is considered as a detoxification mechanism of living bodies.
Various methods have been proposed to detoxify inorganic arsenic compounds in the environment. The present inventor also has proposed a detoxification method for inorganic arsenic compounds using titanium oxide as a photocatalyst (JP 2009-112403 A). In this method, acetic acid, methanol, or the like is used as the source of radicals such as methyl radicals. Photocatalytic action of titanium oxide causes inorganic arsenic compounds to react with methyl radicals, etc. and to be converted into organic arsenic compounds such as dimethylarsonic acid (DMA) and arsenobetaine (AsB).

Method of treating treatment object containing harmful compound


An instrument cluster assembly includes a light source for emitting black light and an instrument cluster display including at least one graphic feature that is illuminable by black light. The invisible black light illuminates only the graphic features when contacted by the black light from the light source without illuminating the surrounding portions of the instrument cluster display. Preferably, the light source includes first and second light sources positioned on opposite sides of the instrument cluster display. The light sources are each a single bulb for emitting ultraviolet light. The light sources are positioned between reflectors and the instrument cluster display such that the reflectors are positioned for redirecting black light initially emitted towards the reflector onto the instrument cluster display. The graphic features are preferably made of a phosphoric material.

It is well known in the prior art to provide an instrument cluster assembly that provides information to the driver regarding speed, fuel level, and an unlimited variety of other information. Depending on the desired design effect, it is commonly known to provide this information in either a traditional analogue form, including gauges having dials with pointers, or alternately in a form having a digital appearance. Most conventional analogue instrument cluster displays include gages that are backlit with an array of incandescent bulbs or acrylic light pipes that are placed behind the cluster. These bulbs require a certain amount of air for cooling, thus driving a certain space requirement or volume requirement for packaging the incandescent bulbs in the instrument cluster panel. With the incandescent bulbs, it is difficult to completely eliminate bright spots and to get an even illumination of the instrument cluster graphics. Typically, the pointers used in analogue clusters are made of relatively costly, clear, acrylic light pipes which project light along the length of the pointers. Thus, a small amount of light can leak beneath the pointer and cause a glow beneath the pointers. In addition, the pointers are limited in shape and size since they must be wide enough to accommodate the light pipe, thus dictating the use of relatively straight pointers with relatively wide tips. Furthermore, the pointers are limited in color, based on the optical limitations of the transparency of the light pipes. Light pipes also have the limitation of requiring the graphics to remain on one plane.
Another method of lighting an analogue instrument cluster is to front-flood the instrument cluster with visible light provided by a plurality of incandescent or fluorescent bulbs placed above and below the instrument cluster. The front-flood method has the limitations of requiring a large amount of bulbs and a relatively large packaging space. In addition, the front-flooding of the instrument cluster by visible light illuminates the entire cluster, not just the informational features, giving a less attractive appearance than the backlit version.
Furthermore, instrument clusters of the prior art have many separate components that must be assembled directly to the instrument panel at the vehicle assembly location. This assembly process can be cumbersome.
As vehicle manufacturers progress in vehicle designs, new and innovative looks are desirable for the vehicle interior. In the area of instrumentation, design goals include providing economical instrumentation that is easy to read, less bulky, less heavy, easy to assembly to the vehicle, and more flexible in design. Obtaining some or all of these goals opens the opportunity for more aesthetically pleasing designs of instrument cluster displays.

by Loretta Kathryn Kalajian, legal representative


Embeddable extensions of the functionality of email and calendaring applications are described herein. An originating email and calendaring application formats meeting items to include extensible content, e.g., within the body field of the meeting item. Recipient email and calendaring applications receive the meeting items and, depending on whether they are configured to provide an extended functionality, will either deploy the extensible content item according to the extended functionality or present the extensible content item according to a standardized functionality. The body field includes the extensible content item according to the standardized functionality that is interpretable by configured clients to provide the extended functionality.

Email and calendaring applications provide users with the ability to schedule meetings and share communications, including attached documents, with one another. As users may employ several different applications to schedule meetings and stay on task, developers need to be mindful of the various standards used by the applications so that communications between users with different calendar and email applications are mutually interpretable.


A method for controlling aging compensation in an OLED display having one or more light emitting elements includes the steps of periodically measuring the change in display output to calculate a correction signal; restricting the change in the correction signal at each period; and applying the correction signal to the OLED display to effect a correction in the display output.

Solid-state organic light emitting diode (OLED) image display devices are of great interest as a superior flat-panel display technology. These displays utilize current passing through thin films of organic material to generate light. The color of light emitted and the efficiency of the energy conversion from current to light are determined by the composition of the organic thin-film material. Different organic materials emit different colors of light. However, as the display is used, the organic materials in the device age and become less efficient at emitting light. This reduces the lifetime of the display. The differing organic materials may age at different rates, causing differential color aging and a display whose white point varies as the display is used.
Referring to FIG. 2, a graph illustrating the typical light output of a prior-art OLED display device as current is passed through the OLEDs is shown. The three curves represent typical change in performance of red, green and blue light emitters over time. As can be seen by the curves, the decay in luminance between the differently colored light emitters is different. Hence, in conventional use, with no aging correction, as current is applied to each of the differently colored OLEDs, the display will become less bright and the color, in particular the white point, of the display will shift.
A variety of methods for measuring or predicting the aging of the OLED materials in displays are known in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,456,016 issued Sep. 24, 2002 to Sundahl et al., titled "Compensating Organic Light Emitting Displays" relies on a controlled reduction of current provided at an early stage of device use followed by a second stage in which the display output is gradually decreased. U.S. Pat. No. 6,414,661 entitled "Method And Apparatus For Calibrating Display Devices And Automatically Compensating For Loss In Their Efficiency Over Time" issued Jul. 2, 2002 to Shen et al, describes a method and associated system that compensates for long-term variations in the light-emitting efficiency of individual organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs) in an OLED display device, by calculating and predicting the decay in light output efficiency of each pixel based on the accumulated drive current applied to the pixel and derives a correction coefficient that is applied to the next drive current for each pixel. U.S. Published Patent Application No. 2002/0167474 "Method Of Providing Pulse Amplitude Modulation For OLED Display Drivers" published Nov. 14, 2002 by Everitt describes a pulse width modulation driver for an organic light emitting diode display. One embodiment of a video display comprises a voltage driver for providing a selected voltage to drive an organic light emitting diode in a video display. The voltage driver may receive voltage information from a correction table that accounts for aging, column resistance, row resistance, and other diode characteristics.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,504,565 titled "Light-Emitting Device, Exposure Device, And Image Forming Apparatus", issued Jan. 7, 2003 to Narita et al describes a light-emitting device which includes a light-emitting element array formed by arranging a plurality of light-emitting elements, a driving unit for driving the light-emitting element array to emit light from each of the light-emitting elements, a memory unit for storing the number of light emissions for each light-emitting element of the light-emitting element array, and a control unit for controlling the driving unit based on the information stored in the memory unit so that the amount of light emitted from each light-emitting element is held constant.
JP 2002/278514 A titled "Electro-Optical Device" and published Sep. 27, 2002 by Koji describes a method in which a prescribed voltage is applied to organic EL elements by a current-measuring circuit and the current flows are measured. A temperature measurement circuit estimates the temperature of the organic EL elements.
All of the methods described above change the output of the OLED display to compensate for changes in the OLED light emitting elements. However, it is preferable that any changes made to the display be imperceptible to a user. Since displays are typically viewed in a single-stimulus environment, slow changes over time are acceptable, but large, noticeable changes are objectionable. Since continuous, real-time corrections are usually not practical because they interfere with the operation of the OLED display, most changes in OLED display compensation are done periodically. Hence, if an OLED display output changes significantly during a single period, a noticeably objectionable correction to the appearance of the display may result.
It is also true that in any real system, measurement anomalies may occur due to environmental or system perturbations or noise that do not reflect the actual situation. Corrections in response to such anomalies are undesirable and may result in damage to the system or may degrade display performance. Manufacturing processes used to make OLED displays also exhibit variability that affects the performance of the display and this manufacturing variability needs to be accommodated in any practical aging correction method.
Referring to FIG. 3, prior art systems providing aging compensation to OLED displays typically include a display 30 for displaying images. The display 30 is controlled by a controller 32 that receives image or data signals 34 from an external device. The image or data signals 34 are converted into the appropriate control signals 36 using conversion circuitry 38 within the controller 32 and applied to the display 30. A performance attribute of the display, for example the current or voltage within the display 30, is measured and a feedback signal 40 is supplied through a measurement circuit 42 and provided to the controller 30. The controller then uses the measured feedback signal 40 to change the control signals 36 to compensate for any aging detected in the display 30.
The measurement circuit 42 may be incorporated into the display 30, into the controller 32, or may be a separate circuit 42 (as shown). Likewise, the feedback signal may be detected within the display (as shown) or measured externally by the controller 32 or some other circuit. For example, the luminance of the display 32 may be measured by an external photo-sensor or camera or be detected by photosensors on the display itself.
In some prior art embodiments, the feedback signal 40 is not produced by the display 30, but is produced by analyzing the control signals 36 input to the display 30. For example, a useful feedback signal known in the prior art is the accumulation of current provided to the display 30. Since aging depends on total current passed through a display, a measurement of the accumulated current can be used to predict the aging of the display 30. Alternatively, the luminance signal sent to the display 30 as part of the control signals 36 may be accumulated over time to provide the feedback signal 40. A knowledge of the intended luminance of the display 30 can be used to predict aging and then the effects of aging can be compensated. Although a continuous correction of aging is possible in some of these configurations, corrections are often applied periodically so as not to interfere with the use of the device.
It is also the case that some environmental factors, for example temperature of operation, length of operation, and time since previous operation all contribute to the efficiency of the display. It is difficult to accommodate all environmental factors in a correction scheme. Therefore, it is important to provide corrections that are robust in the face of unanticipated environmental variables. The methods shown in the prior art do not address these environmental variables.
There is a need therefore for an improved aging compensation method for organic light emitting diode displays.

Method of aging compensation in an OLED display


An anti-parallel pinned sensor is provided with a spacer that increases the anti-parallel coupling strength of the sensor. The anti-parallel pinned sensor is a GMR or TMR sensor having a pure ruthenium or ruthenium alloy spacer. The thickness of the spacer is less than 0.8 nm, preferably between 0.1 and 0.6 nm. The spacer is also annealed in a magnetic field that is 1.5 Tesla or higher, and preferably greater than 5 Tesla. This design yields unexpected results by more than tripling the pinning field over that of typical AP-pinned GMR and TMR sensors that utilize ruthenium spacers which are 0.8 nm thick and annealed in a relatively low magnetic field of approximately 1.3 Tesla.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to and, in particular, to an improved system, method, and apparatus for improving the pinning strength of anti-parallel (AP) pinned giant magnetoresistive (GMR) and tunneling magnetoresistive (TMR) sensors using extra thin, ruthenium (Ru) alloy spacers that are annealed in a high magnetic field.
2. Description of the Related Art
A spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin film used for a magnetic recording head of a hard disk drive has a multilayer film structure comprised of a plurality of layers or thin films. These layers include an antiferromagnetic layer, a fixed magnetization layer, a nonmagnetic conductive layer, and a free magnetization layer. In the multilayer film structure of the spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin film, the nonmagnetic conductive layer is formed between the fixed magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer so that the two are isolated by the nonmagnetic conductive layer. Further, since the antiferromagnetic layer is made to adjoin the fixed magnetization layer, the magnetic moment of the fixed magnetization layer is fixed in one direction by the exchange coupling with the antiferromagnetic layer. On the other hand, the magnetic moment of the free magnetization layer is freely rotated in accordance with the external magnetic field.
The spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin film generates the so-called "giant magnetoresistive effect," or the change of the electrical resistance due to the relative angle formed by the magnetic moment of the fixed magnetization layer and the magnetic moment of the free magnetization layer. The rate of change of the electrical resistance due to the giant magnetoresistive effect is called the "magnetoresistive ratio" (MR ratio). The MR ratio of a spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin film is far higher than that of a conventional anisotropic magnetoresistive thin film.
There are three types of spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin films. The first type is known as a "bottom type" and comprises, from a substrate side, a buffer layer, an antiferromagnetic layer, a fixed magnetization layer, a nonmagnetic conductive layer, a free magnetization layer, and a protective layer that are stacked in that order. The second type is known as a "top type" and comprises a substrate, a buffer layer, a free magnetization layer, a nonmagnetic conductive layer, a fixed magnetization layer, an antiferromagnetic layer, and a protective layer in that order. The third type is called a "dual type" and comprises a substrate, a buffer layer, a first antiferromagnetic layer, a first fixed magnetization layer, a first nonmagnetic conductive layer, a free magnetization layer, a second nonmagnetic conductive layer, a second fixed magnetization layer, a second antiferromagnetic layer, and a protective layer in that order.
There have been proposed thin films for replacing the single layers of the fixed magnetization layers with synthetic ferromagnetic structures having fixed magnetization layer elements, nonmagnetic layers, and fixed magnetization layer elements. Furthermore, the free magnetization layer also comes in single layer structures and multilayer structures. In free magnetization layers and fixed magnetization layers of multilayer structures, all the layers are magnetic films, but sometimes different magnetic films are stacked or a sandwich structure interposing a nonmagnetic film therebetween is used.
The giant magnetoresistive effect of spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin film is due to spin-dependent scattering of conductive electrons at the stacked interfaces of multilayer films. Therefore, to obtain a high MR ratio, cleanliness or flatness of the interfaces becomes important in the process of production of the spin valve film. Therefore, in the spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin film, to achieve the cleanliness or flatness of the interfaces, the films are often formed continuously in the same vacuum chamber so that the intervals between formations of one layer and another become as short as possible.
Techniques for forming a film in vacuum include magnetron sputtering, ion beam sputtering, electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) sputtering, facing target sputtering, high frequency sputtering, electron beam evaporation, resistance heating evaporation, molecular beam epitaxy (MBE), etc.
To obtain a high MR ratio, the thickness of the nonmagnetic conductive layer should be small so as to suppress the flow of conductive electrons not contributing to the giant magnetoresistive effect (shunt effect). If the thickness of the nonmagnetic conductive layer is made small, however, the fixed magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer will end up coupling ferromagnetically through the nonmagnetic conductive layer. The interlayer coupling magnetic field between the fixed magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer should be small for practical use of the magnetic recording head of a hard disk drive. In the past, to reduce the interlayer coupling magnetic field, the thickness of the nonmagnetic conductive layer was set to 2.5 to 3.5 nm.
The technique of reducing the ferromagnetic coupling occurring between the fixed magnetization layer and the free magnetization layer by inserting a nano oxide layer of a size of not more than 1 nm into the fixed magnetization layer in the bottom type of spin valve film has been proposed. As a result, a relatively small interlayer coupling magnetic field is obtained and a high MR ratio is obtained even with a thin (2.0 to 2.5 nm) nonmagnetic conductive layer. That is, in the conventional spin valve type giant magnetoresistive thin film, the thickness of the nonmagnetic conductive layer was set thick (2.5 to 3.5 nm) to reduce the interlayer coupling magnetic field, but the problem arose of a flow of conductive electrons not contributing to the giant magnetoresistive effect (shunt effect) and the MR ratio ending up being reduced. Further, in the process of production of the above nano oxide layer, an oxidation step becomes necessary in the middle of formation of the fixed magnetization layer. An oxidation step is complicated and is poor in reproducibility. Thus, an improved solution would be desirable.

Enhanced anti-parallel-pinned sensor using thin ruthenium spacer and high magnetic field annealing

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Netherlands B.V.


A rapid iris acquisition, tracking, and imaging system can be used at longer standoff distances and over larger capture volumes, without the active cooperation of subjects. The captured iris images can be used for biometric identification. Light illuminates the subjects' eyes. Reflections from the eyes are used to steer a high resolution camera to the eyes in order to capture images of the irises.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to imaging of the human iris, as may be used for biometric identification.
2. Description of the Related Art
As traditional forms of personal identification become vulnerable to advancing technology, biometric identification is increasingly seen as a viable approach to personal identification. Techniques such as voice recognition, fingerprinting, and iris imaging rely on physical personal traits that are difficult to change or duplicate.
However, biometric identification via iris imaging typically requires a high resolution image of the iris in order to resolve the fine details necessary to make a positive identification. An image of an iris with approximately 200 micron or better spatial resolution typically is required to uniquely distinguish the fine muscle structure of human irises, as may be required for identification purposes. In systems where the subject is actively cooperating, conditions such as illumination geometry, camera resolution, exposure time, and wavelength of light can be optimized in order to capture a high contrast image of the fine structure of the iris. Existing systems typically require a subject to hold his head in a specific position while staring at the iris imaging camera from close proximity and at a nearly head-on aspect. Although recent advances have been made in iris imaging, the task of capturing sufficiently high resolution images of the human iris generally still requires a fair degree of active cooperation from the subject.
For example, a system using commercial color CCD technology (e.g., 5 megapixels) would typically have a field of view of approximately 15 cm at a 1 m standoff range, yielding a spatial resolution of approximately 75 microns per pixel at the 1 m standoff range. Thus, the subject would have to be within approximately 1 m of the camera and would have to position his iris within the 15 cm field of view for a long enough period of time in order for the camera to focus and capture an adequate resolution image of the iris. This typically requires the subject's active cooperation. The situation becomes significantly worse at longer standoffs. For example, if the same camera were used at a standoff of 10 m, maintaining the same angular resolution would result in a spatial resolution of 750 μm per pixel, which is unacceptable. On the other hand, maintaining a spatial resolution of 75 μm per pixel would result in a 15 cm wide field of view at 10 m. Keeping the iris within this field of view is also very difficult.
The "capture volume" of an iris imaging system is the volume over which the iris imaging system can capture iris images of sufficiently high resolution. The CCD-based system described above and other similar traditional systems have a small capture volume—so small as to make traditional iris imaging systems unsuitable for use in uncooperative situations, such as iris imaging over large groups of people, over longer standoff distances, or for covert identification applications. For example, it may be desirable to capture iris images of subjects as they walk through a portal, such as a metal detector, or in places like airports, train stations, border crossings, secure building entrances and the like. The high-resolution and longer standoff requirements in these applications place significant challenges on iris imaging systems that cannot be met by current designs. The capture volume and standoff capabilities of current iris imaging systems are not large enough to efficiently address these types of situations.
Therefore, there is a need for iris imaging systems that have larger capture volumes and/or can be used at longer standoff distances.

Iris imaging using reflection from the eye


A provisioning server comprising at least one processor, at least one memory area, at least one communications interface for sending and receiving data, and instructions stored in the memory. The instructions, when executed by the processor, receive and store mobile device data related to at least one of a mobile device reference number and a mobile device configuration, receive and store pre-provisioning data from at least one of a customer, a buyer, an equipment manufacturer, and a wireless service provider, and store instructions related to an activation event for a mobile device, wherein the activation event occurs in response to the mobile device being powered on for the first time.

The vast increase in wireless technology and the coverage of cellular service has led to an expansion in the types of devices which use mobile radio (e.g. cellular) technology. Such devices may include mobile telephones, smart phones, wireless internet access devices, cameras, portable credit card readers, portable bar code readers, ankle bracelets for monitoring released prisoners, GPS/data displays for rental cars, identification units for tracking objects such as shipping containers and rail cars, and numerous other applications.
To use a mobile device on a cellular network, it may first be provisioned. Provisioning a mobile radio device (e.g. a mobile phone) to operate on a wireless network involves defining and/or adjusting the mobile device's settings that are stored in the device, and the settings stored on the network, so that the mobile device may properly execute one or more desired applications, and the network may recognize the mobile device as authorized to receive service for those applications.
For example, a mobile phone may be provisioned for just voice service, voice and data service, special enterprise data service, internet access, e-mail, voice-mail, GPS-related services, location monitoring, etc. Provisioning may also include preferred roaming lists, user zone lists, language settings, browser settings, display settings, operating system versions, security settings, access restrictions, geographical settings, etc. The mobile radio device and cellular network must cooperate to provide these services.
The costs of wireless equipment and wireless service have both decreased. The capabilities of wireless equipment and wireless service have both increased. This has opened up new applications, where equipment and services may be purchased in bulk quantities.

Pre-provisioning and de-provisioning functions for a mobile system


A pump life prediction system and methods for predicting pump life of a pump are disclosed. A method may include monitoring pump operating conditions. A value indicative of cavitation damage is determined based on the pump operating conditions. A pump life remaining is determined based on the value. The method may also include outputting an indication of the pump life remaining.

Fuel pumps for internal combustion engines, such as high pressure common rail pumps, may fail due to cavitation damage in the pump. The severity and accumulation rates of cavitation damage may vary based on pump operating conditions. Pumps may fail due to cavitation damage with little advance warning, which may lead to significant and unplanned engine downtime.
U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2018/0216566, published on Aug. 2, 2018 ("the '566 publication"), describes methods and systems for health assessments of a fuel system including a high pressure fuel pump. The system measures pressure pulses from the pump caused by pistons of the pump pushing fuel out of the pump towards a fuel rail. The system indicates pump degradation if one or more expected pulses are missing and/or if one or more of the pulses are weaker than expected. However, the system of the '566 publication may not adequately predict pump life remaining.
The pump life prediction system of the present disclosure may solve one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art. The scope of the current disclosure, however, is defined by the attached claims, and not by the ability to solve any specific problem.