A multispectral imaging system for generating imagery from a broad range of electromagnetic radiation. In a preferred embodiment, the system comprises an image processor unit having a plurality of dedicated inputs formed thereon, each of which connectable to a respective one of a plurality of sensors wherein each sensor is designed to detect wavelengths emanating from a specific spectral region. The image processor unit receives data from a respective sensor, processes such data, and generates an output that is fed to a multimedia controller and computer, the latter being designed to either digitally store, display or provide a printout of the imaging data. In a preferred embodiment, the multimedia controller computer is further designed to transfer such imagery data to a variety of data links to users interfacing with the imaging system. The system may further be modified to accommodate endoscopic sensors for use in procedures related thereto.

Medical imaging devices are well known to those skilled in the art. Such systems typically use the transmission and reflection of radiation to detect the internal structure underlying the skin. Thermographic techniques are also extensively utilized in the interrogation of human tissue, which detect the differences in temperature and the different tissue types in the body portions examined. Such system typically utilizes infrared radiation detectors to detect the different degrees of infrared radiation emitted by heated bodies. Images are also generated by such systems by using visible and infrared radiation. Still further, ultraviolet (UV) radiation is frequently utilized for purposes of defining an area of malignancy/anomaly for surgery, as well as detect the presence of early cancerous and pre-cancerous tissues.
Notwithstanding their utility, most imaging systems in use today are typically specific to limited spectral bands. In this respect, imaging systems are typically dedicated to a select spectral band, for example, visible or infrared, and thus can only be utilized for limited types of procedures. For example, thermographic techniques must typically be performed via infrared radiation imaging systems, whereas techniques requiring the application of UV radiation, as is frequently utilized in certain tumor screening procedures, must necessarily be performed with a dedicated UV imaging system.
While attempts have been made to develop imaging systems that are capable of using a radiation/light source having wavelengths covering a particular spectral band, such as those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,615 to Carroll entitled Apparatus and Method for Detecting Tumors and U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,493 to Giannini et al. entitled Multiple Wavelencth Light Photometer for Non-Invasive Monitoring, such systems nonetheless cover exceptionally narrow spectral bands. For example, the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,515,615 is designed to cover wavelengths ranging only from 400 nanometers to 4,000 nanometers. Similarly, the system disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,088,493 is limited to covering wavelengths ranging from approximately 750 nanometers to 900 nanometers.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a medical imaging system that is designed to accommodate an imaging spectrum that spans from the ultraviolet through visible mid and longwave infrared wavelengths. In this regard, it would be advantageous to provide an imaging system that, by virtue of its capability to accommodate and provide image processing for several spectral regions, is capable of providing diagnostic medical imaging in a multimode, multifunctional manner that eliminates the need for multiple prior art imaging systems designed to accommodate specific, narrow spectral bands. Specifically, it would be advantageous to provide a single imaging system for use in diagnostics, intraoperative procedure control and monitoring, as well as effective early detection of tumors and the like that currently must be performed by a plurality of imaging systems. There is still further a need for a multifunctional, multispectral imaging system that is capable of being utilized in a wide variety of medical applications that is readily adaptable to existing technology that further lowers the cost and provides the equivalent or greater reliability of most medical imaging systems currently in use.


There are provided an image formation device, method, and program capable of forming an image, which is appropriate for a combination of dot sizes, with high flexibility in design for optimizing halftone processing in a case of using a plurality of dot sizes. Two or more combinations are selected among combinations of a plurality of types of threshold matrix and at least one type of division information for classifying a whole range of threshold values covered by the types of threshold matrix into a plurality of divisions. Then, by respectively applying the two or more combinations, dot sizes of pixels are determined on the basis of assigned two or more code values.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image formation device, method, and program for forming an image which is formed of dots with a plurality of dot sizes.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with the rapid progress of an ink jet technique, color and large size printing, in which high speed and high image quality are compatible, has been realized by ink-jet-type image formation devices. This kind of device is used for, particularly, a wide field in application to signs and display, and is also applicable to printing of, for example, a storefront point of purchase (POP), wall poster, outdoor advertising, a signboard, and the like.
In this ink jet type, liquid droplets of a plurality of types of ink (for example, CMYK inks) are ejected onto a recording medium so as to form a plurality of dots, thereby obtaining printed matter. For example, when an image is formed using dots with different sizes, there have been proposed various halftoning techniques in which an increase in image quality and reduction in calculation processing amount are compatible.
JP4375050B (claim 1, [0152] to [0155], FIG. 26, etc.) has proposed a method of determining dot sizes for pixels turned on in accordance with sizes of threshold values at positions corresponding to the pixels from the results of binarization processing using threshold matrices. More specifically, there has been proposed a method of sequentially allocating larger dot sizes in an ascending order of threshold value (order value) when the number of large-size dots, the number of middle-size dots, and the number of small-size dots are specified.

Image formation device, method and program


Provided is a coil assembly having improved heat resistance for use in a control rod driver, in which the heat resistance of coils is improved to increase the lifespan thereof and the deterioration of the coils and the fall of a control rod are thus securely prevented from occurring due to continuous operations of the control rod driver during an automatic load follow operation, thereby improving the safety and economic feasibility of a nuclear power plant, and a method for manufacturing the same. The coil assembly includes a covered wire (110) which includes a coil wire (111) and a polyether ether ketone (PEEK) coating layer (112) covering an outer circumferential surface of the coil wire (111) and is wound in multiple layers; a coil coating layer (130) formed by filling gaps in the covered wire (110) with varnish; an insulating tape layer (120) covering external sides of a wound layer of the covered wire (110) insulated by the coil coating layer (130); and silicon molding (140) covering external sides of the insulating tape layer (120).

A nuclear reactor is a device designed to gradually discharge a large amount of energy that is instantaneously emitted due to a mass defect occurring during nuclear fission of a nuclear fuel, thereby enabling nuclear energy to be applied to real life.
FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional nuclear reactor and a control rod driver.
A fuel assembly 2 is accommodated in the nuclear reactor 1. An assembly of a control rod 3 and a control rod driver attaching nozzle 4 that are configured to adjust the number of neutrons absorbed by nuclear fuel so as to control the combustion of the nuclear fuel, and a plurality of control rod driver 5 including control rod driving motors are installed on upper part of the nuclear reactor 1. The control rod 3 is vertically driven by the control rod driver 5.
The control rod driver is operated by a current signal flowing through four control rod driving coils, i.e., an upper lift coil (UL), an upper gripper coil (UG), a lower lift coil (LL), and a lower gripper coil (LG), and are configured to control the vertical movement of the control rod 3 by controlling motor driving using an electromagnetic force generated by power supplied to cables of the control rod driving coils.
The control rod driving coils used in the control rod driver 5 are required to have heat resistance so that the control rod driving coils may be prevented from deteriorating due to continuous operations of the control rod driver 5 during an automatic load follow operation. However, since coil wires are conventionally covered with an enamel-based insulating material, the coils deteriorate at a temperature that is higher than 220° C. to stop electricity generation. Thus, power generation is stopped until the system is re-operated, electric current is conducted through the coils due to the deterioration of and damage to the coils, and insulation breakdown thus occurs, causing the fall of the control rod and thereby degrading safety and reliability.

Coil assembly for a control rod driver having improved thermal resistance, and method for manufacturing the same


This invention is about a CMH lamp arc tube seal construction where the feedthrough electrode contains a cermet in such a manner that the said cermet is either not exposed outside the ceramic capillary (which in most cases is polycrystalline alumina, PCA) or if it is exposed to the outside of the arc tube, the part that is exposed has no current carrying function. The invention provides safe ways of assembling the cermet so as to avoid breakage of the said cermet due to mechanical stresses in the electrical connections.

This invention is about Ceramic Metal Halide lamps (CMH) and the sealing technology of such lamps.
Often times one of the components in the electrode feedthrough of such lamps is made of a cermet material. Cermets have been known for a long time to provide acceptable solutions for the sealing of electrical feedthroughs to surrounding nonconductive materials. For example cermet materials have been made as early as 1979 by mixing course refractory oxide granules with fine metallic powders, such as tungsten, nickel and molybdenum to obtain electrical conductivity and yet a thermal expansion coefficients compatible with ceramic materials.
In later years, up to the early 1990's, the details of making the cermets with various particle size materials, their construction forms and their initial use in ceramic metal halide lamps were described by various lamp developers, but did not yet result in a practical ceramic metal halide lamp. Later on in the mid 1990's the first commercially viable CMH lamp was introduced and the whole field of metal halide lamps got a big boost as a result since the color characteristics, the kind of chemistries that one could use and the efficacies obtained were far superior to the quartz metal halide technology. While the initial lamps introduced had an electrode construction made out of Nb, Mo and W metals later CMH lamp introductions used cermets quite frequently. Much of the work attempted to either shorten the overall size of the extended plug construction, lower the cost of the materials used, increase reliability of the seal under high temperature conditions or provide an alternative seal that may be more manufacturable or some combination of these. In many of the cermet constructions the brittleness of the cermet is still an issue and needs to be solved.

Electrodes with cermets for ceramic metal halide lamps


A method, system and computer program product for placing data in shards on a storage device may include determining placement of a data set in one of a plurality of shards on the storage device. Each one of the shards may include a different at least one performance feature. Each different at least one performance feature may correspond to a different at least one predetermined characteristic associated with a particular set of data. The data set is cached in the one of the plurality of shards on the storage device that includes the at least one performance feature corresponding to the at least one predetermined characteristic associated with the data set being cached.

Aspects of the present invention relate to caching data on a storage device, and more particularly to a method, system and computer program product for placement of data in shards on a caching appliance or other data storage device.
Data storage devices, such as a caching appliance or other storage device may be partitioned using different types of data storage units which may have different performance characteristics for storing different types or sets of data. The different types or sets of data that may have different requirements, such as persistence, accessibility or other characteristics. Multiple copies of the same software version may be stored on the different data storage units of a caching appliance or storage device. Vertical clustering refers to the practice of defining cluster members on the same physical machine, for example an application server. Experience has shown that a single application server which is implemented by a single Java Virtual Machine (JVM) process cannot always fully utilize the processor power and random access memory (RAM) of a large multiprocessor machine. Clustering with vertical cluster members provides a straightforward mechanism to create multiple JVM processes that together can fully utilize all the processing power and memory available. One drawback to clustering solutions is that they do not account for where the placement of these JVM processes or installations persist their run time related data. With respect to caching appliances and specifically caching data, there is a need for optimization with regard to where the data is persisted, how frequently the data is accessed and what the actual throughput is when accessing the data. There may also be Service Level Agreements that specify requirements with regard to persistence of the data, access speed, throughput when accessing the data as well as other performance characteristics or requirements.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Placement of data in shards on a storage device

International Business Machines Corporation


An electrical connection system for providing electrical connection between first and second devices comprises one or more electrical connection posts and one or more electrical connection tubes. Each post has a first end and an opposite second end, where the first end is configured to electrically connect with a first device such as a photovoltaic cell. Each tube has an opening to receive and provide electrical connection with the second end of a respective post. First and second end connectors are provided at respective opposite axial ends of a connection tube to enable end to end electrical connection between adjacent tubes. The opening comprises a longitudinal slot together with a plurality of secondary slots. Each secondary slot comprises a first length that extends in a circumferential direction, and a second length that extends in the axial direction, with a circular portion that acts as an electrical contact. In order to connect the posts to a tube the tube is orientated so that the ends of the posts are in alignment with the slot. The tube is then slid axially so that the ends of the post are located within the slot and inside the tube adjacent respective first lengths of a slot. The tube is then rotated about its longitudinal axis and then slid axially so as to finally locate the ends within the circular portions.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electrical connection system for providing electrical connection between first and second devices or components.
2. Background
The present invention was developed by considering the requirement of providing electrical connection between adjacent separate photovoltaic cells or tiles as may, for example, be provided in solar electric panels or on a roof provided with or solar electric roof tiles.
Electrical connection between such separate cells or tiles may be made using traditional methods such as:                soldering of wires;        use of connection blocks that usually comprise an insulating block of material housing a conducting tube that receives a plurality of wires and a screw that can be screwed into the tube to mechanically and electrically engage the wires; and,        use of mating plugs.
However such methods of connection may be problematic when used for photovoltaic cells of tiles due to the need for the connections to be made on the side of the cell or tile that is attached to a supporting structure such as roof beams.
While the invention was initially developed with application in relation to photovoltaic cells and solar tiles, embodiments of the present invention may be applied to any application where it is required to electrically couple two or more devices or components. For example embodiments of the invention may be used to electrically couple for example one or more sensors in an array to a processor.
It is to be understood that, if any prior art publication is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the publication forms a part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.


A sealing gasket for mounting around a motor vehicle door presenting at least one corner of small radius of curvature, the gasket being mounted directly on its support without being subjected to any specific localized treatment operation in a support corner of small radius of curvature, and comprising at least a flexible or semi-rigid fixing portion fixed by adhesive to its support and an elastically-deformable tubular portion for providing sealing, wherein the elastically-deformable portion of the gasket is given a shape extending from its fixing portion that is generally triangular, being defined by two lateral pillars which between them form an angle of about 10° to 80°, and which are united by an arch, said angle being defined using two straight lines passing substantially through the middles of the two lateral pillars at ⅖ths and at ⅘ths of the total height of the gasket measured from its fixing portion.

Such a sealing gasket comprises in particular at least two portions: a rigid or semi-rigid first portion for fixing on a support; and a flexible and deformable second portion for providing sealing. At present, the sealing gaskets which are used to provide sealing between the body and the doors of a motor vehicle, for example, are positioned either on the body or else on the doors themselves. When the gaskets are positioned on vehicle doors, they are held in place by clips that are secured to the fixing portion of the gasket by means of a fixing rail mounted on the door, or by an adhesive secured to the fixing portion of the gasket, it being understood that adhesive provides the best compromise between cost, weight, and performance,
The second portion of such a gasket that provides the sealing may be tubular in shape, thus making it very tolerant in terms of door-closure energy, but not very strong in the corners of the door. To mitigate that drawback, door gaskets are generally subjected to a thermoforming operation so as to limit the extent to which they collapse in door corners of small radius of curvature.
In general, adhesive gaskets on a door are mounted on their supports by hand or by automatic systems of the static type. Such gaskets are generally delivered in looped form and are also subjected to a thermoforming operation prior to being mounted on doors. The thermoforming operation serves to compensate for gasket collapse in door corners that present a small radius of curvature.
At present, technology makes it possible to envisage putting such gaskets into place by means of robotic systems of the dynamic type. Under such circumstances, it is preferable for the gasket not to be looped in a ring, so that it can be guided continuously by the gasket-laying head of the robotic system.
Under such conditions, it is desirable to envisage supplying such gaskets in long lengths, with the gaskets being, for example, initially stored on a drum, on a pallet, or in a container.
Supplying gaskets in this way presents numerous advantages, and particular mention can be made of the following:                reducing the cycle time required to put the gasket into place;        eliminating human intervention for loading a gasket on each cycle;        considerably reducing the number of packages since a single drum can replace tens of cardboard boxes containing looped gaskets;        reducing waste and pollution;        reducing the number of references, since at present gaskets are specific to each type of door; and        eliminating the operation of bonding a handling tongue placed on the adhesive for each gasket, if the gasket is of the type using adhesive.
In spite of the above advantages, such a solution still leaves in suspension the problem of the localized thermoforming operations performed on such gaskets at door corners of small radius of curvature, it being understood that the gaskets are wound onto drums carrying long lengths of gasket.

Sealing gasket for mounting around a motor vehicle door that presents at least one corner having a small radius of curvature


The improved vehicle navigation system and method uses information from a Global Positioning System (GPS) to obtain velocity vectors, which include speed and heading components, for propagating or "dead reckoning" the vehicle position from a previous position to a current position. The improved vehicle navigation system has a GPS receiver which provides the GPS velocity information which is calculated from a full set of GPS delta range measurements. GPS position data alone is not accurate enough for certain applications, such as turn-by-turn route guidance in automobile applications, because its error may be 100 m and there is considerable position drift, even when stationary. GPS velocities are much more accurate than the position data, 1 m/s or thereabouts, and can be used to propagate a known position forward and be more accurate over time than the GPS position solution. These velocities are instantaneous and not those computed from differencing two positions. The current position is calculated by adding displacements obtained from the GPS velocities to the previous position.

The Navigation Satellite Timing and Ranging (NAVSTAR) GPS is a space-based satellite radio navigation system developed by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). GPS receivers provide land, marine, and airborne users with continuous three-dimensional position, velocity, and time data.
The GPS system consists of three major segments: Space, Control, and User as illustrated in FIG. 1. The space segment consists of a nominal constellation of 24 operational satellites which have been placed in 6 orbital planes above the Earth's surface. The satellites are in circular orbits in an orientation which normally provides a GPS user with a minimum of five satellites in view from any point on Earth at any one time.
Each satellite continuously broadcasts navigation data. This navigation data, which is computed and controlled by the GPS Control Segment, includes the satellite's time, its clock correction and ephemeris parameters, almanacs, and health status for all GPS satellites. From this information, the user computes the satellite's precise position and clock offset.
The controlling segment consists of a Master Control Station and a number of monitor stations at various locations around the world. Each monitor station tracks all the GPS satellites in view and passes the signal measurement data back to the Master Control Station. There, computations are performed to determine precise satellite ephemeris and satellite clock errors. The Master Control Station generates the upload of user navigation data from each satellite. This data is subsequently rebroadcast by the satellite as part of its navigation data message.
The user segment is the collection of all GPS receivers and their application support equipment such as antennas and processors. This equipment allows users to receive, decode, and process the information necessary to obtain accurate position, velocity, and timing measurements.
GPS based position solutions are inherently poor under low vehicle dynamics. Some current systems use a hard wired speed signal or odometer input to help correct or calibrate distance errors under low or zero speed conditions. This hard wired approach increases the overall system cost, requires specialized knowledge of the vehicle's wiring system, and requires a specialized wiring harness to interface to each individual automobile. In addition, certain systems require a calibration procedure to determine the zero offset of the motion sensor. For example, in a system using a compass or gyro, the user must press a calibration button and drive in a circle and come to a stop for a minimum period of time to determine zero offsets for those devices. Using the road network of a map database, if a vehicle is travelling on a straight path, the system can calculate the zero offset for the gyro. Odometers were previously used for zero motion but are generally ambiguous below 3 mph and also required hard wiring. Other systems require a rotational sensor to determine a vehicle's change in heading under these low dynamic or other unfavorable GPS conditions.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved vehicle navigation system which can more accurately, efficiently and cost-effectively reduce errors in the position determination at low or no speeds than current vehicle navigation systems.

Zero motion detection system for improved vehicle navigation system


LED substrate of the present invention includes: translucent substrate body-in which an LED chip is disposed on a front face; and heat dissipation path provided in substrate body to dissipate heat generated in the LED chip. Substrate body includes a through hole that penetrates through the substrate body from the front face on which the LED chip is provided to a back face. Heat dissipation path includes: heat transfer path section provided in the through hole; and heat dissipation pattern section provided on the back face of substrate body, and connected to heat transfer path section. Thus, LED substrate having superior heat dissipation is realized.

In recent years, increasingly-prevailing LED light bulbs include therein LED modules in sealed globes. An LED module is configured so that an LED substrate has thereon an LED chip and the LED chip is composed of an assembly member sealed by translucent resin.
When an LED chip is supplied with electric power and emits light, the LED chip has an increased temperature due to electric power not contributing to the light emission from the LED chip. In this case, when the LED chip has insufficient heat dissipation measures, the LED chip fails or is broken. To prevent this, an LED module (LED package) having improved LED chip heat dissipation has been suggested (see for example Patent Publication 1).
The following section will describe an LED module disclosed in Patent Publication 1 with reference to FIG. 9. FIG. 9 is a cross-sectional front view illustrating an example of a conventional LED module.
As shown in FIG. 9, the LED module disclosed in Patent Publication 1 is configured so that one face of substrate 1 consisting of silicon or ceramic for example includes concave section 1a having a bottom section and a slope face. Concave section 1a has, at the center thereof, installation pattern 3. Installation pattern 3 has thereon LED chip 2 provided via conductive paste (not shown).
The slope face of concave section 1a has thereon wiring pattern 5. Wiring pattern 5 is connected to LED chip 2 by metal thin wire 6. LED chip 2, wiring pattern 5, and metal thin wire 6 are sealed by translucent resin 4. Resin 4 is added with fluorescent substance.
Through hole 1b is formed from the center of concave section 1a of substrate 1 to an opposite face of substrate 1. Through hole 1b has connecting section 7. Heat dissipation pattern 8 is provided at an opposite face of substrate 1 to surround through hole 1b. Heat dissipation pattern 8 and installation pattern 3 are connected via connecting section 7 provided in through hole 1b. As a result, the conventional LED module is configured so that heat generated in LED chip 2 is sequentially transmitted through conductive paste, installation pattern 3, connecting section 7, and heat dissipation pattern 8 and is dissipated to the exterior via heat dissipation pattern 8.
However, since substrate 1 of the LED module uses high-cost ceramic having superior heat dissipation, an increased cost is required for an LED light bulb including an LED module.
In order to suppress the cost increase of an LED light bulb, one approach is considered to use low-cost glass for example for substrate 1 of the LED module.
However, since glass has a low thermal conductivity, when glass is used for substrate 1 of the LED module, a disadvantage has been caused in which heat generated in LED chip 2 cannot be sufficiently dissipated.
On the other hand, even when ceramic having superior heat dissipation is used to form substrate 1 of the LED module, an increase in a light emission amount of LED chip 2 causes an increase in heat generated in LED chip 2. Thus, even the use of ceramic having superior heat dissipation may fail to provide sufficient heat dissipation of heat generated in LED chip 2.
Thus, an LED substrate, an LED module, and an LED light bulb have been conventionally desired that provide superior heat dissipation with a low cost.

Substrate for LED, LED module, and LED bulb

Panasonic Intellectual Property Management Co., Ltd.


A wireless communication system including a portable device and a vehicle device configured to transmit information including a vehicle state. The portable device includes a telecommunication unit that obtains, through an information network, information including procedures that should be taken in accordance with the vehicle state or state of the portable device, a display, and a control unit that shows on the display the vehicle state based on the information transmitted from the vehicle device or the state of the portable device based on information of the portable device. When a measure should be taken in accordance with the vehicle state or the state of the portable device, the control unit shows on the display the procedures included in the information obtained by telecommunication unit.

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system.
One type of a wireless communication system known in the prior art is an electronic key system that performs wireless communication between a vehicle and an electronic key to permit the locking and unlocking of a vehicle door and the starting of the engine.
Various improvements have been made to further develop the electronic key system. For example, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-9200 describes an electric key system in which a vehicle transmits an information signal, which includes vehicle information such as a battery level or fuel level, to an electronic key through wireless communication. When the electronic key receives the information signal from the vehicle, the electronic key recognizes the vehicle information from the signal and shows the recognized vehicle information on a display of the electronic key. This allows the user to obtain vehicle information from a location remote from the vehicle.
In the electronic key system described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-9200, the vehicle information is transmitted on a wireless signal. Thus, the amount of vehicle information that can be transmitted on the wireless signal is limited. For example, an information signal including information on the level of the vehicle battery can be transmitted through wireless communication. However, it is difficult to transmit, through wireless communication, an information signal indicating the procedures that should be taken when the vehicle battery is drained. To resolve this problem, the procedures can be stored beforehand in a memory of the electronic key and shown when necessary. In this case, however, the electronic key would require a display and a memory having a large storage capacity. This would adversely affect the portability of the electronic key and is thus not preferred. Further, the same applies when the electronic key shows the procedures that should be taken in accordance with the state of the electronic key, such as when the battery of the electronic key is drained.

Wireless communication system for communication and displaying vehicle information on a portable device

KABUSHIKI KAISHA TOKAI RIKA DENKI SEISAKUSHO


The present disclosure provides a Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) cell and programming method thereof. The cell can denote at least two logic levels. The cell has a read-transistor with a floating gate, and Band-To-Band-Tunneling device (BTBT device) sharing the floating gate with the read-transistor. The BTBT device is configured as an injection device for injecting a first charge onto the floating gate when the BTBT device is biased with a first gate bias voltage such that the BTBT device is in accumulation, to set at least one of the logic levels. A first electrode is coupled to bias the BTBT device with a first bias voltage that is higher than the first threshold voltage. The first bias voltage is controlled such that the BTBT device is in accumulation during a write operation. The injected amount of charge on the floating gate is determined by the first bias voltage.

Memory devices are electronic devices arranged to store electrical signals. A plurality of memory elements can be combined in various arrangements in order to store multiple bits arranged in words or other combinations. Various electronic circuits including semiconductor devices such as transistors are used as memory elements. Memory elements may be classified in two main categories: volatile and nonvolatile. Volatile memory loses any data as soon as the system is turned off. Thus, it requires constant power to remain viable. Most types of random access memories (RAM) fall into this category. Non-volatile memory does not lose its data when the system or device is turned off.
Demand for embedded nonvolatile memory (NVM) in integrated circuits has grown steadily over the past decade. Desirable characteristics of embedded NVM include low cost, low power, high speed, and high reliability (data retention and program/erase cycling endurance). NVM may be embedded in various integrated circuit (IC) technologies such as, for example, the widely used Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology.
NVM is used to store serial number information, security information, settings, parameters, computer instructions (firmware), and the like. Reprogrammable NVM is particularly important in the field of tags, such as RFID (radio frequency identification) tags, which store information inexpensively and can be remotely sensed without the need to complete an actual circuit with the RFID tag itself.
There is an ever-growing need for NVM with a higher storage density, lower power consumption, and ease of programming.
The disclosure addresses this shortcoming of prior art by enhancing storage density, lowering power consumption during a write cycle and making programming simpler.

Multi-level non-volatile memory cell with high-VT enhanced BTBT device


A radio frequency transponder includes at least one battery, which is coupled to provide electrical power for operating the transponder and at least one antenna, which is configured to receive and backscatter RF interrogation radiation from an interrogation device. An integrated circuit is arranged to store a code including information and, powered only with energy provided by the battery, to vary a radiation characteristic of the antenna responsively to the code so as to modulate the information onto the backscattered radiation.

Radio frequency identification (RFID) systems are used in a variety of applications, ranging from warehouse inventory control and container tracking, through automatic toll payment, to automatic supermarket cashier applications. In a typical RFID system, an RF transponder is attached to, or incorporated into, a tracked object. RF transmissions between an interrogation device or a reader and the transponder are used for identifying or controlling the object, reading data, writing data or otherwise communicating with the transponder.

Battery-assisted backscatter RFID transponder


A linear motor includes a rod-like stator having a field magnet, and a movable piece having an armature coil fitted around the field magnet and arranged inside a cylindrical movable piece yoke. The movable piece is provided at its opposite ends with bearings. The armature coil is arranged between the bearings. The cylindrical movable piece yoke is provided at ends of a lower portion in the gravity direction with projections extending in the movable piece moving direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a linear motor provided with a rod-like stator having a drive field magnet extending in a uniform direction and a movable piece having an armature coil fitted around the field magnet.
2. Description of the Background Art
As shown in FIG. 12(A), conventional shaft type linear motor includes a rod-like stator 3 having a filed magnet 3M which is provided at its surface with N- and S-poles aligned alternately to each other in a uniform direction, and a movable piece 30 having an armature coil 31 arranged around a cylindrical member 33 which is made of plastics and fitted around the stator 3. The armature coil 31 is accommodated in a cylindrical movable piece yoke 32, and the plastic cylindrical member 33 is provided at its inner surface with a plurality of unillustrated guide projections which are in slidable contact with the field magnet.
The linear motor of the type, which includes the rod-like stator having the field magnet extending in a predetermined direction and the armature coil fitted around the field magnet as described above, can utilize the rod-like stator as a guide member for the movable piece, and it is not necessary to provide additionally large or complicated guide means for the movable piece, so that the structure is simple. By this and other reasons, the linear motors of the above type have been utilized in various kinds of instruments.
For example, in image forming apparatuses such as a copying machine and image reading apparatuses such as an image scanner, it has been attempted to use the linear motors of the above type as a drive source of a scanning optical system for a document image.
In the linear motors of the above type, however, when the movable piece moves relatively to the stator, change of a load, i.e., cogging generates due to change of a magnetic attraction force which is applied from the drive field magnet (i.e., field magnet for driving) to an end of the movable piece yoke. This prevents a smooth movement of the movable piece.
Meanwhile, a structure shown in FIG. 12(B) is also conventionally known. In this structure, an armature coil 21 of a movable piece 2 is opposed to a plate-like stator 1 having a field magnet 11, and rollers 23 provided at a movable piece yoke 22 roll on a stator carrying base 12. In the linear motor of the above structure, the movable piece yoke 22 is provided at its front and rear ends 221 and 222 in its moving direction with triangular projections in order to suppress change of a magnetic attraction force acting on the ends of the movable piece yoke 22.
In the linear motor of the flat type described above, however, the attraction force by the field magnet 11 acts on the movable piece yoke 22 in the same direction as the gravity, so that an excessively large load is applied to the portions movably carrying the movable piece 2. In addition to the above, the projections formed at the ends of the movable piece yoke 22 increase the whole area of the movable piece yoke 22, which further increases the attraction force acting on the yoke in the gravity direction, and thus the load further increases.
The linear motors of the shaft type also suffer from the following problem. In order to allow movement of the movable piece along the rod-like stator, there is arranged the plastic cylindrical member provided at its inner surface with a plurality of projections which are in slidable contact with the stator, and the armature coil is arranged around the cylindrical member, so that the cylindrical member operates as a kind of bearings. However, it is practically difficult to manufacture the movable piece provided with the cylindrical member having the projections in view of precision and others. Further, arrangement of the armature coil around the cylindrical member causes such disadvantages that the cylindrical member forms an obstacle, and that the cylindrical member excessively increases a distance between the armature coil and the field magnet, so that it is difficult to obtain an effective driving force from a magnetic flux of the field magnet.
In the linear motor of the flat type, a large space is required for arranging the armature coil in the movable piece, which increases the sizes of the movable piece. Also, arrangement of the movable piece guide outside the stator and movable piece requires a dedicated or additional space, so that the whole sizes are liable to be large. Further, due to the arrangement of the armature coil, it inevitably has a portion which does not contribute to the driving force.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide a linear motor, which includes a rod-like stator having a drive field magnet extending in a uniform direction, and an armature coil fitted around the field magnet and covered with a movable piece yoke (e.g., the armature coil is arranged inside a cylindrical movable piece yoke), and can operate stably and accurately.
Another object of the invention is to provide a linear motor, which includes a rod-like stator having a drive field magnet extending in a uniform direction and a movable piece being reciprocatable along the stator and having an armature coil, and allows a compact structure, a high utilizing efficiency of a magnetic energy, and stable and accurate operation.
Still another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus in which the above linear motor according to the invention allowing a compact structure, and efficient, stable and accurate operation is employed as a drive source for a member to be driven to move for achieving a compact structure and improving an accuracy.
Here, the above "member to be driven to move" is, for example, a carriage carrying a lighting lamp, mirror or the like to be moved for image scanning in an image scanning optical system of an image reading apparatus in a copying machine, image scanner or the like, or is a printing head, a writing unit or the like in a printer. The above "apparatus" is, for example, the image reading apparatus or the printer.

Linear motor apparatus employing linear motor as drive source


A system for encrypting a plaintext block using a block encryption algorithm having a block size smaller than that of the plaintext block. The plaintext block is transformed into a masked plaintext block using an invertible transformation optionally dependent on additional data and defined such that each bit of the masked plaintext block depends on every bit of the original plaintext block. A subportion of the masked plaintext block is encrypted using the encryption algorithm to generate an encrypted portion of the masked plaintext block. A ciphertext block is generated from the thus encrypted portion of the masked plaintext block and the remaining portion of the masked plaintext block. The ciphertext block is transmitted to a data recipient, who reverses the procedure to recover the original plaintext block. Since the entire masked plaintext block is necessary to reconstruct the original plaintext block and since the encrypted portion cannot be derived from the remaining portion, the remaining portion of the masked plaintext block may be transmitted to the recipient in unencrypted form. Two, three or four masking rounds are performed, depending on the location of secret data that is infeasible to exhaust and the location of the portion of the masked block that is encrypted.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a block encryption system and more particularly to a method and apparatus for encrypting a long plaintext block using an encryption procedure intended for relatively short blocks.
2. Description of the Related Art
Encryption schemes fall into two general categories: symmetric encryption systems and asymmetric encryption systems. In symmetric encryption systems, such as those conforming to the Data Encryption Standard (DES), the same key is used by the originator to encrypt data (i.e., convert plaintext to ciphertext) and by the recipient to decrypt the same data (i.e., convert ciphertext back to ciphertext). Symmetric encryption schemes can often be implemented very efficiently, but suffer the disadvantage of requiring the prior exchange of encryption keys over a secure communications channel.
Asymmetric encryption systems, or public key encryption systems as they are usually called, use one key to encrypt data while using another key to decrypt the same data. In a public key encryption system, an intended recipient of data generates a key pair consisting of an encryption key, which is made public, and a corresponding decryption key, which is kept private and not shared with others. The keys are generated in such a manner that the private key cannot be derived from knowledge of the corresponding public key; hence, only the intended recipient having the private key can decrypt a ciphertext message generated using the public key. An important advantage public key encryption systems have over symmetric systems is that they do not require the exchange of secret key information; two parties can establish a secure two-way communication by exchanging public keys that they have generated. For this reason, asymmetric encryption systems are often used for the secret key exchange required in symmetric encryption systems.
Perhaps the most well-known public key encryption system is the RSA encryption system, named after its originators and described in R. L. Rivest et al., "A Method for Obtaining Digital Signatures and Public-Key Cryptosystems", Communications of the ACM, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 120-126 (1978). RSA encryption systems typically have encryption blocks on the order of 512 bits and can be computationally quite intensive. Recently, however, so-called elliptic curve systems have been described in such references as N. Koblitz, "Elliptic Curve Cryptosystems", Mathematics of Computation, vol. 48, no. 177, pp. 203-209 (January 1987), and A. Menezes, Elliptic Curve Public Key Cryptosystems (1993). Like the RSA encryption system, elliptic curve systems are public key systems with public encryption keys and private decryption keys. Elliptic curve systems typically have relatively short key and encryption block sizes, on the order of 160 bits for each, but have a cryptographic strength that is comparable to that of longer-block RSA encryption systems. Elliptic curve systems thus represent an attractive combination of cryptographic strength and computational efficiency.
Since elliptic curve encryption systems are public key systems, one use of such systems might be to distribute keys. Thus, user A might use a public elliptic curve key to encrypt a symmetric key (e.g., a DES key) for distribution to user B. But a problem arises, since the symmetric key is normally contained in a key block (e.g., a 512-bit block) which is much longer than the elliptic curve encryption block, which, as noted above, may be on the order of only 160 bits. Although the key block can be divided into multiple encryption blocks of sufficiently small size, the additional encryption operations required for the individual encryption blocks vitiate to some extent the natural advantages of elliptic curve systems in terms of their computational efficiency. What is needed is a method of key encryption that can be used with an elliptic curve algorithm which will permit a large key block to be encrypted with a secret elliptic curve key of much shorter length.
The above-identified copending application Ser. No. 08/603,771 discloses a system for encrypting a plaintext block (such as a key block) using a block encryption algorithm (such as an elliptic curve algorithm) having a block size smaller than that of the plaintext block. As disclosed in that application, the plaintext block is transformed into a masked plaintext block using an invertible transformation optionally dependent on additional data outside the plaintext block. The additional data may comprise control information, a control vector or other information available to the recipient and not requiring encryption. The transformation is defined such that (1) the original plaintext block is recoverable from the masked key block and optional additional information and (2) each bit of the masked plaintext block depends on every bit of the original plaintext block. A subportion of the masked plaintext block is encrypted using the encryption algorithm to generate an encrypted portion of the masked plaintext block. A ciphertext block is generated from the thus encrypted portion of the masked plaintext block and the remaining portion of the masked plaintext block. The ciphertext block is transmitted to a recipient, who reverses the procedure to recover the original plaintext block.
Either the plaintext block or the additional data on which the transformation is optionally dependent is uniquely modified for each encryption of a plaintext block, using an incrementing counter, time stamp, random number or other mechanism to thwart certain cryptanalytic attacks.
Since the entire masked plaintext block is necessary to reconstruct the original plaintext block and since the encrypted portion cannot be derived from the remaining portion, the remaining portion of the masked plaintext block may be transmitted to the recipient in unencrypted form. The discloses system thus permits a long key block to be encrypted with a short encryption key. In an exemplary embodiment, an elliptic curve algorithm having a block size on the order of 160 bits is used to encrypt a 512-bit block containing a symmetric encryption key.
The copending application teaches the use of three or more rounds in a masking process prior to asymmetric encryption. However, the copending application provides no explicit guidance on determining how to achieve security with a minimum number of rounds in various scenarios. Thus, it has been suggested that the system described in the copending application that the system may expose secret information, depending on the location of that information in the input block.
It has been suggested that this exposure may be avoided by adding a masking round, for a total of four masking rounds, or by locating the secret information in the part of the input block that is first used to mask the other part. However, both of these alternatives have disadvantages. Adding another masking round increases the computational expense, while locating the secret information in a particular part of the input block may not always be possible in a particular situation.
Thus, identification of the exact number of rounds needed to achieve security in varying scenarios is important. If fewer masking rounds are performed than are required, then the system may be insecure. On the other hand, if more masking rounds are performed than are required, then the performance of the system may be unnecessarily degraded.

Method and apparatus for encrypting long blocks using a short-block encryption procedure

International Business Machines Corporation


This invention provides a board positioning method where a stopper and so on are not required when positioning a printed board in an X direction. Servo motors of a board supplying conveyer portion and a board positioning portion are driven to start carrying of a board. When a first board detection sensor detects the board before timeout of a first timer which starts timekeeping together with the carrying of the board, second and third timers start timekeeping. The servo motor starts decelerating, decelerates to an arbitrary speed, and keeps a constant speed after timeout of the second timer. When a second board detection sensor detects the board before timeout of the third timer, the servo motor is controlled to decelerate and stop the board at an arbitrary position, and a board recognition camera takes an image of a positioning mark of the board stopping at the board positioning portion to recognize a position of the printed board. The CPU controls the servo motors based on a result of the recognition in manufacturing running.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a board positioning device and a board positioning method where a printed board is carried from a board supplying conveyer portion to a board positioning portion and positioned in a carrying direction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, in a multifunctional tip mounter for mounting electronic components of various types on a printed board, a cylinder-driven stopper is used for positioning the printed board in an X direction (carrying direction), for example. Relevant arts are disclosed in the Japanese Patent Application Publication No. Hei 10-70398.
In the above conventional art, however, there have been problems that the stopper and its drive source are required when positioning the printed board in the X direction and a shock generated by the stopper when positioning the printed board sometimes makes the printed board broken.

Board positioning device and board positioning method


A dual mode filter for mobile communication may implement two disparate cellular systems such as GSM and W-CDMA. The same transceiver may be utilized to selectively receive and transmit in either of the two systems. When the system is in a GSM area, the system sends and receives GSM signals using programmable filters. Two cascaded digital decimation filters may substitute for one narrow band digital decimation filter in conventional designs. One of the filters is a multi-band digital decimation filter with N bands and the other of the digital filters is used to reject the N−1 multi-band of the system. The number of taps on each filter may selectively be set to implement either GSM or W-CDMA. In addition, the output for the system may be set to be the output of the first filter, in the case of a W-CDMA system, or the combination of the two cascaded filters in a GSM system.

This invention relates generally to digital wireless mobile communications.
Code division multiple access (CDMA) for digital wireless mobile communications involves using correlation techniques to allow a receiver to decode one signal among many that are transmitted on the same carrier at the same time. Each user's signal includes a unique code that appears to be noise to all except the correct receiver. A channel in the code domain describes a combination of a carrier frequency and a code. CDMA generally starts out with a narrow band signal, which for full speech is 9600 bps. This signal is spread with the use of specialized codes to a bandwidth of 1.23 MHz. The ratio of the spread data rate to the initial data rate is called the processing gain.
Currently available cellular technology makes use of what is called second generation or "2G" technology. Initially, cellular telephone technology was implemented with Advanced Mobile Phone Systems (AMPS) which were analog. In about 1995, digital systems, such as CDMA, were introduced.
The global system for mobile communication (GSM) uses gaussian minimum shift keying (GMSK) modulation. GSM uses time division multiple access (TDMA) technology. Multiple users operate on the same radio channel simultaneously by sharing time slots. The GSM system allows eight mobile telephones to share a single 200 kHz bandwidth radio carrier channel for voice or data communications. For duplex operations, GSM voice communications are conducted on two 200 kHz wide carrier frequency channels.
The 200 kHz wide channels are called an absolute radio frequency channel numbers (ARFCN). The ARFCN denotes a forward and reverse channel pair, separated in frequency by 45 MHz, and each channel is time shared between as many as eight subscribers. Each time slot has a duration of 156.25 bits and occupies a time interval of 0.577 ms. Therefore, the transmission bit rate on each carrier to support eight physical channels is 156.25/0.577 or 270.8333 kbps using binary (BT=0.3) GMSK modulation. The effective channel transmission rate per user is 33.854 kbps (270.833 kbps/for 8 users).
A number of competing third generation or "3G" technologies are being debated within the industry at this time. The goal of the 3G technologies is to offer higher bit rate services. Such services may include multimedia, including video, Internet and electronic mail.
One standard for 3G technologies is the IMT-2000 standard which was propounded by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). IMT stands for International Mobile Telecommunications and IMT-2000 is the name for Future Public Land Mobile Telecommunications Systems (FPLMTS). FPLMTS is targeted at developing mobile telecommunications systems to be used "anywhere-anyplace" around the year 2000 operating at approximately 2000 MHz.
In 3G technology, a "bit" is the fundamental information unit of input data. A "symbol" is a grouping of data bits based on modulation. Thus, a symbol arises after encoding but prior to spreading. A "chip" is the minimum bit period of the final spread data. "Channels" include physical channels that are transmitted in the air, defined by a frequency and code. A transport channel is defined by how the data is sent and logical channels are defined by the type of data.
The so-called wideband or W-CDMA technology has been proposed as the 3G solution by the European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI) as their proposal to the ITU for IMT-2000. ETSI's proposal is identified as UTRA (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System Terrestrial Radio Access). (The standard can be found at www.itu.int/imt/2-radio_dev/proposals/index.html.)
Due to the proliferation of telephone standards and systems, it would be desirable to have a telephone which operates with more than one standard. However, conventionally, such phones are considered to be impractical because they generally require substantial duplication of the receiver and transmitter sections. This arises mainly due to the fact that the standards in many cases are so different that it is believed that separate electronics are necessary.
Thus, there is a continuing need for a dual mode phone which operates using more than one standard and enables a user to use the same telephone in areas which operate under different standards.

Dual mode filter for mobile telecommunications


A telephone number is automatically adjusted in the context a business card or other telephone number exchange. The country code, area code, or other prefix portion is added, removed, or modified based on a location associated with the telephone number and/or a location associated with the recipient. In one example, a sending device looks up location information by contacting the service provider, using locally-stored information, or otherwise, and, based on this information, includes an appropriate prefix. The sending device can also use a location associated with the recipient in determining an appropriate prefix or adjusting a received prefix, for example, based on the recipient's own telephone number. Adjustments to telephone numbers can also be made by recipient devices, intermediary devices, and any other devices that may be involved in the exchange of telephone numbers, business card information, or related activities, and in other contexts as well.

The present disclosure relates in general to communication between electronic devices and in particular to communicating phone number and other contact information between two electronic devices, such as a between two cellular telephones.
Mobile devices, including smart phones, personal digital assistants, and tablet computers, are rapidly becoming ubiquitous. These devices are increasing being used to make voice and video calls and to store contact information useful in establishing such calls. For example, a user of a smart phone device can typically save contact information records for themselves and others on the device. The contact information records include information about home addresses, business addresses, phone numbers, e-mail addresses, etc. and can be used to initiate direct communication with the associated contacts. For example, the smart phone user may open a contact and initiate a one touch command to call that contact's cellular telephone number. As another example, a user may click on a contact name displayed in a contact's listing and select to send an e-mail or text message to the selected contact.
Contact information records contain useful information about a person's contacts and can be shared with others in various ways. Contact information records can be sent via e-mail, Short Message Service (SMS), Bluetooth, WI-FI, using specific business card and contact tracking applications, and using other options. The vCard format is a file format for storing and exchanging electronic business cards that allows the vCards to be exchanged as attachments to e-mail messages, through instant messaging, and in other ways on the Internet. A first user may, for example, sends a text message with his or her vCard to a second user so that the second user can easily contact the first user. Once the second user has the vCard, the second user can use the telephone number and other contact information from the vCard to call or otherwise contact the first user. Phone numbers and other contact information used in vCards is, however, sometimes inaccurate, for example, in that location differences are not addressed. Dialing prefixes may be missing or inaccurate. This can result in failed call attempts and require significant effort on the part of the user to identify and enter an appropriate dialing prefix.

Automatically adjusting country and area codes when doing a business card or telephone number exchange


A cover for shielding the interior of an electrical wire junction box from foreign material during wall construction. The cover is flexible and has a shape and size approximating that of the interior walls of the junction box housing so that it may be held within the housing in a snug press-fit relationship. The cover has a frangible portion that can be bent back to create a slot for ease in removal of the cover from the junction box housing.

This invention relates to cover guards for electrical wire junction boxes. In the construction of residential and commercial buildings, many tasks are performed both sequentially and simultaneously by various workers. Time is often a critical factor, and efficiency in performing the work is important. For instance, electrical work in the nature of laying down electrical wire, fuse boxes and the like is done prior to putting up interior walls, installing sheet rock, painting and the like. When the electrician finishes the first phase of the work, typically wires remain exposed and uncovered within the open electrical junction boxes. After the walls are put up, however, the electrician still must follow behind and complete the wiring to switches, appliances, lighting and so forth. It is desirable to keep the time spent on this second phase to a minimum.
A problem exists when the uncovered wires have been cut, painted, plastered, or otherwise damaged by workers putting up the walls around the junction boxes. When this is the case, the electrician must spend extra time in repairing or cleaning the wires prior to proceeding with the final phase of installation. This situation destroys the electrician's efficiency and unduly increases costs.
While certain remedies are available, such as screwing on the face plate, or crumpling up paper wads to stuff in the junction box housing, each of these methods take almost as much time as repairing or cleaning the wires anyway. A face plate would protect the wires but would itself get painted and require cleanup afterward. A paper wad would still leave parts of the junction box exposed unless it was carefully placed. It would therefore be desirable to have a device which could effectively guard the wires in the junction box housing, yet be easy and quick to install and be inexpensive to allow disposal.


Convenient, efficient, and cost-effective processing of a financial transaction. Banking customers can drop-off financial transaction requests at any of a plurality of geographically dispersed collection sites that operate on behalf of an expedited mail delivery service. Each collection site can aggregate received transaction requests into a package to be delivered to a transaction processing center via expedited mail delivery. Each transaction request can be contained within an envelope. Utilizing unique identifying insignias on each envelope and package, the location of each envelope and package can be tracked during the expedited mail delivery. Upon receipt, the transaction processing center can process each transaction request.

Not long after the development of the World Wide Web came the development of Internet banking. By offering products and services via the Internet rather than through expensive "brick and mortar" bank branches, "online banks" could successfully offer industry-leading deposit rates and low or no fees to their customers. Unfortunately for these online banks and their customers, however, there are still many basic banking transactions, which to date require banking customers to go to a branch office. Among these transactions are depositing, and making loan payments with, paper checks. Even more unfortunate is the fact that many banks, including some that are not "online," offer only a few (or no) branch offices. Customers of such banks are forced to either travel inordinate distances or work with other, less preferred, banks to complete their desired banking transactions.
Traditionally, banks have attempted to overcome the need for more convenient transaction processing by bearing the enormous expense of opening new branch offices in a variety of geographical locations. However, the expense of such an approach is generally prohibitive, especially to online and smaller-sized banks.
More recently, banks have made it possible for customers to have their transaction requests processed without requiring the customer to physically travel to a branch office. Under this approach, customers can mail their transaction requests via conventional U.S. mail delivery to a remote branch (or, if there are no branches, to another processing) location for processing. Each customer separately mails his or her transaction request to the bank. Typically, the cost for such mailing is paid by the bank. After several days in transit, the transaction request is received by the bank branch for processing. The bank expends its own resources to process each transaction request as it is received. Unfortunately, despite the great costs to the bank, and regardless of how well each transaction is processed, banking customers inevitably are disappointed and frustrated with this approach. Banking customers desire convenient and efficient transaction processing. Those desires are unmet due to the significant processing delays inherent in this approach.
Therefore, there is a present need for a more convenient and efficient approach to financial transaction processing. In addition, there is a need for such processing to be cost-effective. The present invention solves these needs.

Method and system for processing a financial transaction


A system for accessing a plurality of portals is provided. The system includes a user interface, a back office system maintaining information, and a first portal coupled to access at least a portion of the back office system. The first portal having a first portal user interface to enable a user to access at least portions of the information of the back office system. The system includes a second portal having a second portal user interface, and a metaportal in communication with the first and second portals and the user interface, the metaportal is operable to collect at least a portion of the first and second portal user interfaces for display via the user interface to enable the user to access at least a portion of the information maintained by the back office system. A method for migrating from disparate portals to the metaportal is also provided.

In a large enterprise with multiple diverse computing systems, it is sometimes desirable to have an interface through which certain application or functions of the computing systems may be accessed. This interface, or portal, to the computing systems may provide access to information stored within the computing systems to the client system. For example, a company might have different customer portals for all the provided services, such as long distance service, local service and wireless service. Each customer portal provides the customer information, such as subscription plan, current and past billing data, etc.
When a client system wants to make use of the functions of a particular set of computing systems, the client system must access the portal to that computing system. As different groups of computing systems may operate independently of one another, the client system may need to access a different portal for each computing system. For example, a client system may need to access one portal to request the activation of a new service, and then access a second portal to receive billing information on a different service. Such disparate portals and back office computing systems commonly result as a result of corporate mergers or acquisitions.


An object of the present invention is to provide a game server that can simulate the sensation of competing in a game against an actually existing specific person. The game server of the present invention offers a plurality of options for the actions that gamer A can select in game scenes that change along with the progress of a soccer game. The options include dribble (long), dribble (short), pass in front of the player, pass to the foot of the player, wait, and shoot. The action patterns of gamer A are stored for each game scene by counting the number of times each option is selected. The game server refers to the stored action patterns when playing against another gamer B. This configuration makes it possible for the gamer B to have a virtual experience as if he were competing with the gamer A.

Web page viewing, sending and receiving of email, ticket reservations, music data distribution, game program distribution, and other types of application service are recently being provided using Internet access from mobile communication terminals with Web browsing capabilities. Gamers can connect to a game server on a network from a mobile communication terminal and play online games by downloading a game screen by communication with a game server via HTTP (Hyper Text Transfer Protocol).
With conventional online games, when a gamer connects to a game server to play a soccer game or other such competitive game, the gamer competes with a computer. As with a soccer game, a game in which the progress of the game varies depending on the leadership role of the coach strongly reflects the individuality of the coach, making the game more enjoyable when the gamer competes with an actual person, as opposed to competing with the computer.
Internet discussion boards, mailing lists, and the like are used as forums to provide communication for gamers, but these discussion boards, mailing lists, and the like are supervised by site managers and are not provided by the gamers. Therefore, it can be expected that communication among the gamers can be stimulated by providing a homepage exclusively for gamers.
In the past, gamers could not know of the level of popularity of a game in a video arcade, the number of players, video arcades with competitive gamers, video arcades with many gamers at a similar level, video arcades with many skilled gamers, or the like without actually going to the video arcade, and therefore gamers could not determine the situation of the video arcade in advance.
Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a technique capable of simulating the sensation of playing with a live person. Another object of the present invention is to provide a technique for stimulating communication among gamers and for providing an incentive for gamers to participate. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a technique for providing an incentive for gamers to participate by providing information about business conditions of gaming establishments and about gamers playing at those establishments.

Game apparatus, server apparatus, program, and recording medium


An apparatus and method of use thereof for exercising on a treadmill, the apparatus includes a frame that mounts to handles of the treadmill. The frame is an arch shape having a proximal bar, a distal bar opposite the proximal bar, and a curved portion extending between adjacent ends of the proximal bar and the distal bar. The proximal bar is coupled to the handles. A protective cushioned seat extends between the proximal bar and the distal bar. To use the apparatus, an individual can unhook a proximal end of the seat from the proximal bar, position the seat behind the buttocks and between the legs, reengage the proximal end of the seat to the proximal bar, and can then walk or run on the treadmill.

A treadmill is well-known exercise equipment that is used for walking and running exercises. A treadmill is a compact device that requires lesser floor area and is a quite popular exercise equipment in gyms, offices, and residential buildings. A typical treadmill has a wide conveyor belt driven by a motor. An individual can step on the conveyor belt and can walk or run on the treadmill in an upright bodily position.
Like normal walking or running, the majority of the body weight of a person exercising on a treadmill is on the legs. Overweight people often find it difficult to walk or run because of being overweight. Similarly, people with weakness due to medical condition finds it difficult to walk or run. Using the treadmill to exercise is also not an option for overweight people as all the weight still falls on the legs. Also, it may not be recommended for overweight people to use the treadmill as this may negatively affect the joints.
Apparatuses are available that can suspend an individual in an upright position reducing the weight on the legs while walking or running. Such known apparatuses are however complex to use and require the aid of a coach and the like. Moreover, the known apparatuses are complex in construction, bulky, and costly.
Thus, a need is appreciated for an apparatus that allows overweight people or medically weak patients to exercise on the treadmill that is devoid of the aforesaid drawbacks of the known suspending apparatuses.


The present invention offers a finger feeling numerical buttons for commercial electronic remote control. The altitude of the five even number buttons 0,2,4,6 and 8 is higher than the altitude of the other buttons 1,3,7,9, * and #. On the upper, lower, right and left side of the central button 5, provides a feeling mark, so that as the user touch the central button and the higher buttons with his thumb, the position of every button can be identified. Remote control can be carried out without watching at the button. This is suitable for various remote controls such as a TV set, cellular phone and remote control of a car.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to numerical buttons for commercial electronic remote control. In particular, the present invention relates to buttons with two groups of different altitude, so that the user can control the buttons by their feeling of his finger without watching at the buttons.
2. Description of the Related Art
The 10 numerical buttons of the modern cellular phone or TV controller is used by watching at the number of the buttons before pressing the button. This is not convenient for an old man with weak sight or a car driver concentrating his attention on driving.
The 10 numerical buttons of the cellular phone or TV remote controller are arranged to form three rows, each row has three numbers, they are 1,2,3; 4,5,6; and 7,8,9. The 0 number-button is on the center of the 4th row. As shown in FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a schematic representation of the numerical buttons of the prior art. The controller 100 of a cellular phone or a TV set has all the buttons with the same altitude. The user must watch at the number before pressing the button. This is not convenient for a user who is driving or watching the TV.
The button of a car remote controller may be designed to have different shape, such as triangular, round shape star form, etc., although the shapes can be identified by his sight more easily, but still can not feel by the feeling of his finger. Moreover, too much different shapes are more difficult to identify, and error may occur more frequently.
The present invention provides a finger feeling button for electrical remote control to overcome the disadvantage of the prior art, such that controlling the controller is more convenient.

Finger feeling numerical buttons for commercial electronic remote control