Methods, apparatus, and computer-readable media for providing a device handle database in an EFI environment are disclosed. According to one method, a device handle database is created for storing data identifying the protocols that have been installed on one or more device handles. The database includes a sorted array of elements utilized to store protocol data for a family of protocols having the same GUID. Each element in the array comprises a family data structure including a field for storing the GUID for the family along with a field for storing a pointer to a linked list that stores the protocol instance data for each of the protocols in the family. Each node in the linked list is also a member of a linked list for storing protocol data for all of the protocols installed on a given device handle.

In many computing systems, low-level instruction code is used as an intermediary between the hardware components of the computing system and the operating software and other high-level software executing on the computing system. In some computer systems, this low-level instruction code is known as the Basic Input and Output System ("BIOS"). The BIOS provides a set of software routines that allow high-level software to interact with the hardware components of the computing system using standard calls.
Because of limitations of the BIOS in many PC-compatible computers, a new firmware architecture for booting the computer and for intermediating the communication between the operating system and the hardware has been created. The new architecture is defined via set of specifications. One of the specifications is called the Extensible Firmware Interface ("EFI") Specification and is available from INTEL CORPORATION. The original EFI Specification from INTEL CORPORATION is also being extended by the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface Forum ("UEFI").
The EFI Specification describes an interface between the operating system and the system firmware. In particular, the Specification defines the interface that platform firmware must implement and the interface that the operating system may use in booting. How the firmware implements the interface is left up to the manufacturer of the firmware. The EFI Specification provides mechanisms for EFI drivers to communicate with each other, and the EFI core provides functions such as allocation of memory, creating events, setting the clock, and many others. This is accomplished through a formal and complete abstract specification of the software-visible interface presented to the operating system by the platform and the firmware.
Additional details regarding the EFI and UEFI firmware architecture are defined by the group of specifications called INTEL Platform Innovation Framework for EFI ("the Framework"), which are available from INTEL CORPORATION. Unlike the EFI Specification, which focuses only on programmatic interfaces for the interactions between the operating system and system firmware, the Framework defines programmatic interfaces for performing the full range of operations that are required to initialize the platform from power on through transfer of control to the operating system.
The Framework defines two major execution phases: Pre-EFI Initialization ("PEI") and the Driver Execution Environment ("DXE"). The PEI phase includes the minimum amount of program code needed to perform basic platform initialization and is executed from non-volatile memory. When the PEI phase has completed its initialization, including the initialization of main memory, control passes to the DXE phase, which performs higher-level platform initialization and diagnostic functions.
The DXE phase is controlled by core code called the DXE foundation. The DXE foundation is a boot service image that is responsible for producing EFI boot services, EFI runtime services, and DXE services. The DXE foundation includes a DXE dispatcher that discovers DXE drivers stored in firmware volumes and executes them in the proper order. The DXE drivers are the components that actually initialize the platform and provide the services required to boot an EFI-compliant operation system or a set of EFI-compliant system utilities. The DXE drivers can also expose services, called protocols, which can be utilized by other DXE drivers.
In order to permit the discovery and utilization of protocols provided by DXE drivers, the DXE foundation maintains a device handle database that contains data regarding the installed protocols and the hardware devices with which they are associated. Other DXE drivers can utilize EFI boot services to look up the available protocols provided by other DXE drivers in the handle database. While the Framework indicates that the DXE foundation should maintain a handle database for storing data identifying the device handles and their installed protocols, the Framework does not, however, define how the device handle database should be implemented.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the various embodiments of the invention have been made.

Database for storing device handle data in an extensible firmware interface environment


A waterproof structure includes a housing, an electroacoustic transducer, a packing and an annular member. The electroacoustic transducer has a case formed with tone holes. The packing is interposed between the housing and the electroacoustic transducer and has a thin film part on a part opposed to the tone holes. The annular member is interposed between the thin film part and the case and surrounds the tone holes. A space surrounded by the thin film part, the annular member and the case is formed. The annular member is configured to bias the thin film part of the packing.

The present invention relates to a waterproof structure and electronic equipment including the waterproof structure.
As one example of a waterproof structure used when an electroacoustic transducer (for example, a microphone, a speaker or the like) is to be attached to a case panel, there is known a structure as described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication No. 2006-333076 (Patent Literature 1). This structure is configured such that a microphone is pressed and fitted into a sleeve of the case panel in a state where the microphone is embraced by a substantially cylindrical rubber shield member. Waterproofness and favorable acoustic characteristics are obtained by disposing a thin film on a part of the shield member facing a tone port formation area of the microphone and forming a space between the thin film part and the microphone.
In the waterproof structure described in Patent Literature 1, since the body of the shield member is made of rubber and hence is soft, it is liable to be deformed when pressed into the sleeve. In addition, the thin film part of the shield member is not in contact with other members. Thus, the thin film part is readily deformed together with the body of the shield member when the shield member is pressed into the sleeve of the case panel. If the thin film part is deformed, the vibration characteristic of the thin film part may be changed and it may sometimes occur that sound gathered by the microphone fails to maintain the designed quality and is deteriorated. In addition, (1) presence of deformation of the thin film part with deformation of the body of the shield member and (2) the deformation condition observed when the thin film part is deformed, differ among individual microphones. Thus, the quality of the sound gathered by the microphone also differs among the microphones and a large fluctuation occurs in the sound quality.
The quality of the sound gathered by the microphone to which the waterproof structure described in Patent Literature 1 is applied is liable to be deteriorated and to fluctuate as mentioned above and further improvement is desirable. When an object to which the above-mentioned waterproof structure is applied is a speaker, deterioration and fluctuation of the sound quality occur similarly. That is, the quality of sound reproduced by the speaker is liable to be deteriorated and to fluctuate and hence further improvement is also desirable.

Waterproof structure and electronic equipment including the same


Frame contained destination information may be used by a switch to identify an appropriate output port for a given frame without performing a table access operation. This reduces the processing requirements of the switch to enable the switch to handle frames more efficiently. The frame contained destination information may be contained in the frame's local destination MAC addresses (DA) such that a portion of the DA directly indicates, for each switch that handles the frame, an output port for that switch. Different portions of the DA may be used by different switches, depending on where they are in the network hierarchy. Large switches may also use sub-fields within their allocated portion in the DA to identify internal switching components. A location resolution server may be provided to store and distribute IP and MAC addresses and respond to local ARP requests on the local domain.

1. Field
This application relates to communication networks and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for direct frame switching using frame contained destination information.
2. Description of the Related Art
Data communication networks may include various computers, servers, hubs, switches, nodes, routers, proxies, and other devices coupled to and configured to pass data to one another. These devices will be referred to herein as "network elements." Data is communicated through the data communication network by passing protocol data units, such as frames, packets, cells or segments, between the network elements by utilizing one or more communication links. A particular protocol data unit may be handled by multiple network elements and cross multiple communication links as it travels between its source and its destination over the network.
The various network elements on the communication network communicate with each other using predefined sets of rules, referred to herein as protocols. Different protocols are used to govern different aspects of the communication, such as how signals should be formed for transmission between network elements, various aspects of what the protocol data units should look like, and how protocol data units should be handled or routed through the network by the network elements.
A communication network may be viewed using what is commonly referred to as the seven layer Open Systems Interconnect (OSI) network model. In this model, there are seven layers of abstraction, ranging from physical mediums that actually handle the traffic at Layer 1 to applications that interact with each other and with users at Layer 7. The second layer, referred to in the OSI network model as the "link layer," will be of particular interest herein. Network elements that operate at the link layer are not network aware—that is they don't know about the overall network topology and hence do not make routing decisions as that term is commonly used. Rather, layer 2 network elements are configured to match an input protocol data unit with an output port and transmit the protocol data unit over the link attached to the identified output port. Protocol data units on the data link layer are commonly referred to as "frames."
There are two basic types of network elements that operate at the link layer: hubs and switches. Hubs transmit everything they receive over an interface on all other interfaces (ports). Switches, by contrast, are designed to output traffic to a particular port depending on where the traffic is to be sent. Generally, a switch operates by examining the content of a frame to determine the destination Media Access Control (MAC) address of a frame. Using the destination MAC address it then performs a table lookup to determine the interface through which the destination address may be reached, and outputs the frame on that interface.
In a conventional layer 2 switch using common layer 2 forwarding techniques, the switch learns the MAC addresses of attached network elements and creates a table of destination MAC addresses and output port IDs so that the switch can forward frames to the proper destination ports. This table is constructed dynamically as the switch learns the MAC addresses of attached devices from the source MAC address fields of received frames. A received frame is forwarded to an appropriate port based on the frame's destination MAC address if that destination MAC address is contained in the forwarding table. If the destination MAC address is not in the forwarding table, the frame is generally sent to all ports (except the receiving port).
This leads to two drawbacks. First, proper frame forwarding can only take place once the switch's forwarding table has been populated. Before that, frames are sent to all ports thus generating excess network traffic. Second, the layer 2 switch is required to search its forwarding tables to determine whether it knows the destination port and to identify the correct destination port for each received frame. As larger switches are created and configured to connect to larger numbers of network elements, the large number of destination MAC addresses increases the size of the switch forwarding table, which generally translates into increased processing time to locate a destination port associated with a destination MAC address. At the same time, overall bandwidth on communication links is increasing, thus increasing the frequency at which frames can be expected to arrive a switch and, hence, reducing the amount of time available to the switch to process each frame. Accordingly, it would be advantageous to enable switches to handle frames using frame contained destination information.

Method and apparatus for direct frame switching using frame contained destination information


A wireless communication module of a technology asset device is operable to derive power from a power source without instruction by the technology asset device to direct power flow from the power source to the wireless communication module. The wireless communication module can connect to a wireless network and receive from an asset management system an instruction regarding a responsive action to be performed by the wireless communication device that relates to a condition.

With the growth of cellular technology, including the upcoming 5G network and beyond, the mobile networking infrastructure is expected to facilitate fulfillment of the demand for exponentially increasing data traffic for a variety of use cases, including communications by internet of things (IoT) and industrial internet of things (IIoT) devices.
The Internet of things (IoT) is a term used to describe the implementation of Internet connectivity (e.g., via a wireless communication network) in physical devices, including appliances, everyday objects, and industrial devices. IoT devices, which can be embedded with sensors and Internet connectivity, can communicate and interact with other devices over the Internet, and can also be remotely monitored and controlled. As applied to the consumer market, IoT technology is most often described with respect to "smart home" products, such as appliances (e.g., lighting fixtures, thermostats, home security systems and cameras, and other home appliances) that can be monitored remotely, or controlled by devices such as smartphones. Furthermore, the industrial internet of things (IIoT), considered a subset of IoT, is a term used to describe the various sets of hardware components that work together through IoT connectivity to facilitate various industries, such as manufacturing, industrial processes, power delivery, etc. Such devices can include connected sensors and meters. IoT and IIoT technology can bring together a variety of devices, machines, networks, and people through mobile communications and networking technologies. Intelligent networks and systems can be developed that can monitor, gather, analyze, and deliver data useful for managing such consumer devices and industrial networks.
The above-described background relating to IoT technology is merely intended to provide a contextual overview of some current issues and is not intended to be exhaustive. Other contextual information may become further apparent upon review of the following detailed description.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Communications module for technology asset connectivity


A power controller includes an inductor coupled to an input terminal to which an input voltage is input, a first switch coupled between the inductor and a first power source voltage output terminal, a second switch coupled between the inductor and a ground, a switch controller controlling a voltage output to the first power source voltage output terminal by controlling duties of the first and second switches according to a feedback voltage input to a feedback terminal corresponding to a voltage output to the first power source voltage output terminal, and a diode coupled between the first power source voltage output terminal and the feedback terminal, and preventing a voltage of the first power source voltage output terminal from increasing higher than a breakdown voltage of the first and second switches.

1. Field
Embodiments relate to a power controller and a display device including the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
A power voltage generated using a DC-DC converter may be used as a power source voltage supplying driving power. When the power source voltage cannot be constantly supplied and is unstably changed, a display device may perform erroneous operation. Accordingly, the DC-DC converter should generate a stable power source voltage.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the invention and therefore it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known in this country to a person of ordinary skill in the art.

Power control device configured to protect internal circuits and display device including the same


A log in which a series of events occurred as a result of the execution of the target program has been recorded is inputted. A plurality of partial logs are created from the inputted log. These partial logs are normalized on the basis of the master log serving as a normalization reference. The feature value representing the degree of feature of the occurrence and nonoccurrence of an event is calculated for each of the normalized logs on the basis of the normalized logs for the remaining partial logs. In a combination of a specific partial log and another partial log, the similarity between these partial logs is calculated by performing an operation on the basis of the feature values. For example, a combination of the specific partial log and the partial log with the highest similarity is displayed.

This invention relates to a computer system suitable for debugging work making use of a log in which a series of events that have occurred as a result of the execution of the target program has been recorded (traced).
When a programmer does the work of correcting errors (debugging) in a program, a debugger is used for aiding the work. According to the instructions from the debugging person, the debugger activates the target program and controls the execution of the program. In the course of debugging, it can display various pieces of information useful for debugging work.
There are several known approaches in debugging. Recently, operation logs have been used more often in checking the operation of the program or in debugging work. For instance, a log-based debugging approach has been popularized. In this approach, a history of issued system calls is recorded with an operating system (OS), a history of memory access is recorded by hardware or with an emulator, and a set of these pieces of event information (log), is displayed using a dedicated viewer. This display is a help to debugging work.
Log-based debugging may be done by not only the approach of examining one log in detail to pinpoint the cause of the bug but also the approach of comparing the log obtained in the proper operation with a log obtained in an abnormal operation, searching for the parts where they differ from each other, and examining the different parts intensively to pinpoint the cause of the bug.
In debugging on the basis of such log comparison, when an unsuitable log is selected and a comparison is made, too many different parts are found, expanding the scope of examination, which decreases the debugging efficiency seriously. To avoid this problem, the debugging person selects logs that behave as similarly as possible and uses them in comparison.
Normally, similar logs should be selected, taking into account the meaning of the operation of the program. The conventional approaches are to simply compare the structure of one log with that of another and select the most similar one. The log with the number of repetitive loops in comparison being the closest to that of the proper log may be selected, with the result that debugging is not necessarily efficient.

Computer system and method for aiding log base debugging


Techniques and tools are described for processing reconstructed audio signals. For example, a reconstructed audio signal is filtered in the time domain using filter coefficients that are calculated, at least in part, in the frequency domain. As another example, producing a set of filter coefficients for filtering a reconstructed audio signal includes clipping one or more peaks of a set of coefficient values. As yet another example, for a sub-band codec, in a frequency region near an intersection between two sub-bands, a reconstructed composite signal is enhanced.

With the emergence of digital wireless telephone networks, streaming audio over the Internet, and Internet telephony, digital processing and delivery of speech has become commonplace. Engineers use a variety of techniques to process speech efficiently while still maintaining quality. To understand these techniques, it helps to understand how audio information is represented and processed in a computer.
I. Representation of Audio Information in a Computer
A computer processes audio information as a series of numbers representing the audio. A single number can represent an audio sample, which is an amplitude value at a particular time. Several factors affect the quality of the audio, including sample depth and sampling rate.
Sample depth (or precision) indicates the range of numbers used to represent a sample. More possible values for each sample typically yields higher quality output because more subtle variations in amplitude can be represented. An eight-bit sample has 256 possible values, while a sixteen-bit sample has 65,536 possible values.
The sampling rate (usually measured as the number of samples per second) also affects quality. The higher the sampling rate, the higher the quality because more frequencies of sound can be represented. Some common sampling rates are 8,000, 11,025, 22,050, 32,000, 44,100, 48,000, and 96,000 samples/second (Hz). Table 1 shows several formats of audio with different quality levels, along with corresponding raw bit rate costs.
TABLE 1Bit rates for different quality audioSample DepthSampling RateChannelRaw Bit Rate(bits/sample)(samples/second)Mode(bits/second)88,000mono64,000811,025mono88,2001644,100stereo1,411,200
As Table 1 shows, the cost of high quality audio is high bit rate. High quality audio information consumes large amounts of computer storage and transmission capacity. Many computers and computer networks lack the resources to process raw digital audio. Compression (also called encoding or coding) decreases the cost of storing and transmitting audio information by converting the information into a lower bit rate form. Compression can be lossless (in which quality does not suffer) or lossy (in which quality suffers but bit rate reduction from subsequent lossless compression is more dramatic). Decompression (also called decoding) extracts a reconstructed version of the original information from the compressed form. A codec is an encoder/decoder system.
II. Speech Encoders and Decoders
One goal of audio compression is to digitally represent audio signals to provide maximum signal quality for a given amount of bits. Stated differently, this goal is to represent the audio signals with the least bits for a given level of quality. Other goals such as resiliency to transmission errors and limiting the overall delay due to encoding/transmission/decoding apply in some scenarios.
Different kinds of audio signals have different characteristics. Music is characterized by large ranges of frequencies and amplitudes, and often includes two or more channels. On the other hand, speech is characterized by smaller ranges of frequencies and amplitudes, and is commonly represented in a single channel. Certain codecs and processing techniques are adapted for music and general audio; other codecs and processing techniques are adapted for speech.
One type of conventional speech codec uses linear prediction ("LP") to achieve compression. The speech encoding includes several stages. The encoder finds and quantizes coefficients for a linear prediction filter, which is used to predict sample values as linear combinations of preceding sample values. A residual signal (represented as an "excitation" signal) indicates parts of the original signal not accurately predicted by the filtering. At some stages, the speech codec uses different compression techniques for voiced segments (characterized by vocal chord vibration), unvoiced segments, and silent segments, since different kinds of speech have different characteristics. Voiced segments typically exhibit highly repeating voicing patterns, even in the residual domain. For voiced segments, the encoder achieves further compression by comparing the current residual signal to previous residual cycles and encoding the current residual signal in terms of delay or lag information relative to the previous cycles. The encoder handles other discrepancies between the original signal and the predicted, encoded representation (from the linear prediction and delay information) using specially designed codebooks.
Although speech codecs as described above have good overall performance for many applications, they have several drawbacks. For example, lossy codecs typically reduce bit rate by reducing redundancy in a speech signal, which results in noise or other undesirable artifacts in decoded speech. Accordingly, some codecs filter decoded speech to improve its quality. Such post-filters have typically come in two types: time domain post-filters and frequency domain post-filters.
Given the importance of compression and decompression to representing speech signals in computer systems, it is not surprising that post-filtering of reconstructed speech has attracted research. Whatever the advantages of prior techniques for processing of reconstructed speech or other audio, they do not have the advantages of the techniques and tools described herein.


Disclosed is a rechargeable alkaline storage cell having a negative electrode, a positive electrode, and a separator disposed between the electrodes. The negative electrode has an active material layer and a conductive layer formed on the active layer, the active layer including cadmium active material, the conductive layer including polyvinylpyrrolidone as a binder and conductive powder.

(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an alkaline storage cell such as a nickel-cadmium storage cell, and particularly to the improvement of a cadmium pasted negative electrode and a separator both used for such a cell.
(2) Description of the Related Art
Cadmium negative electrodes used for alkaline storage cells such as nickel-cadmium storage cells are mainly produced by either sintering process or pasting process. In the sintering process, nickel powder is sintered to a porous substrate which holds an active material. In the pasting process, an active material is kneaded into a paste together with a synthetic fiber such as polyamide fiber and an adhesive agent, and then applied to a conductive substrate such as a punched metal. The latter process is becoming predominant because of less expense and higher energy density.
However, such nickel-cadmium storage cell using a pasted negative electrode has the following problems:

Alkaline storage cell having a negative electrode comprising a cadmium active material


A landscape edging assembly which includes first and second elongated strips of material having longitudinal top and bottom edges and being adapted for use as landscape edging. The strips are adapted for end-to-end alignment along longitudinal axes thereof with mutually adjacent ends of each of the strips having an end segment that is laterally offset with respect to a remainder segment by an amount that is equal to or just slightly greater than a thickness dimension of the strips. The end segment and the remainder segment on each strip are integrally connected by a transversely extending segment and having an edge opening slot on the top edge of one of the strips and on the bottom edge of the next mutually adjacent strip. Each slot extends generally halfway into the strip from a respective edge, leaving a remainder transversely extending segment joining the end segment and the remainder segment on each of the strips. The remainder transversely extending segment on each strip is received in a respective slot with the end segment of the strips being oriented in a parallel side-by-side relation with the remainder segments. An anchoring structure is also provided for anchoring the end-to-end connected strips to a ground surface forming a part of a landscape setting. The remainder segments of the two strips become longitudinally aligned and interconnected by the remainder transversely extending segments being received in a respective slot.

There exists a variety of landscape edging products in the marketplace, my earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,632 being a representative example of a product that is widely known. Landscape edging products are made of aluminum strips and aluminum staking, as well as plastic strips and metal staking. It is a well-recognized problem with landscape edging products, particularly in colder climatic areas, where freezing and thawing cause the ground to heave in response to temperature variations between freezing and thawing. Such ground movements have the tendency to force landscape edging out of the ground over time. It is, of course, desirable not to have the landscape edging products gradually move upwardly out of the ground as the ground heaves. One way of solving this particular problem is to allow for relative movement between joined edging strips as taught in my aforesaid earlier patent. In the arrangement, however, the top of the stake is visible and creating the end-to-end connection is not always convenient.
It is the usual practice among landscape architects to first assemble the edge strips alongside of the trench into which the edging strip is to be placed. This procedure gives the landscape architect an opportunity to visualize the arrangement and place any required bends into the edging strip before the edging strip is laid into the trench. However, there exists a problem associated with known edging strip assemblies, and this is particularly true with my earlier issued U.S. Pat. No. 4,628,632 and is also true with respect to U.S. Pat. No. 5,020,272, namely, when the edging strips are connected end-to-end and oriented alongside the trench, an effort to move the connected edging strips into the trench will oftentimes result in the edging strips becoming disconnected. Accordingly, it is desirable to provide an interconnection feature between the edging strip sections which will not become disconnected as the edging strip is moved outside of the trench therefor.
Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a landscape edging assembly which is capable of effecting a joining of a pair of elongated strips end-to-end and enabling such end-to-end connected sections to move slightly relative to each other to compensate for ground movements that may occur.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, which is easy to assemble with a minimum of instruction.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, which has structure on the edging strip which operatively cooperates with structure on a stake to facilitate an interlock between the stake and the edging strip as the stake is driven into the ground.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, wherein the relationship between the stake and the edging strip is such as to facilitate relative movement between joined ends of the elongated strip in response to heaving of the ground.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, which orients the ground engaging stake on a side of the edging strip remote from paver stones or the like so as to allow the edging strip to fit tightly against the paver stones.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, wherein the end-to-end adjoined edging strips are easily spliced together in a manner such as to eliminate stakes at the joint, thereby greatly reducing labor during installation.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, wherein the upper end of the ground engaging stake is oriented below the top edge of the edging strip to give the assembled landscape edging assembly a uniform appearance without any of the ground engaging stakes being visible.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, wherein each of the adjoined strips include longitudinally extending ribs and grooves which are forced into engagement with one another to provide an intersplined relationship thereby keeping the joined together ends in longitudinal alignment with one another.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, wherein several edging strip sections can be connected together alongside the trench into which the edging strips are to be placed, which connection is secure and will not become disconnected as the edging strips are moved from a position alongside the trench to a position within the trench.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, wherein the edging strip sections can be securely connected end-to-end without the necessity of additional fastening elements.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, wherein the edging strip sections can be connected together without the employment of additional fastening elements and while the edging strip sections are located in the trench provided therefor.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a landscape edging assembly, as aforesaid, which is of a heavy-duty construction to enable the finished product to withstand significantly high loads applied thereto during and following installation.


An optical characteristic of an eye is obtained which can not be measured through a uniform adjustment because of a large difference in the distribution of a refractive index, or the like. An arithmetic part first selects an interlock mode, and performs an alignment adjustment. Next, the arithmetic part measures refraction, and interlocks and moves a first illumination optical system and a first light receiving optical system on the basis of the refraction. The arithmetic part obtains a density distribution of point images obtained from a first light receiving part, and judges whether a measurement can be made for each area on the basis of the density. The arithmetic part makes an adjustment so that an unmeasurable area becomes measurable, and creates a composite point image from plural signals obtained in a process of the adjustment. Further, the arithmetic part uses the composite point image to perform a Zernike analysis, obtains the optical characteristic and outputs it on a display part or the like.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmic measuring apparatus, and particularly to an ophthalmic measuring apparatus for obtaining an optical characteristic of a subject eye by processing plural Hartmann images.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, an optical equipment used for medicine becomes popular, especially in ophthalmology, as an optical characteristic measuring apparatus for examining eye functions, such as eye refraction and adjustment, and the inside of the eye. For example, there exists an apparatus called a photo-refractometer for obtaining the refraction of the subject eye and the retina shape (for example, see patent document 1: Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-351796). The patent document 1 discloses an optical characteristic measuring apparatus which acquires a Hartmann image from a light receiving part, calculates Zernike coefficients on the basis of a distance between a Hartmann plate and the light receiving part, coordinates and the like, calculates the wavefront of the subject eye on the basis of the Zernike coefficients, and displays measurement data, image data corresponding to measurement results, and numerical data. Besides, there is disclosed an apparatus for measuring spherical refractivity, a degree of astigmatism, an astigmatic axial angle and the like from image data of a target image projected on the retina of the subject eye (for example, see patent document 2: Japanese Patent No. 2580215). Incidentally, in the measurement results of these various tests, for example, it becomes important that the subject eye of a patient as a test object is placed under what measurement conditions.
However, in the conventional measuring apparatus for measuring aberrations of the subject eye, in the case where there is a large difference in the distribution of an eye characteristic, such as an eye refractive index, refraction or aberration, there is a case where the measurement can not be made. The large difference like this can occur by, for example, a disease, an injury, a surgical operation or the like.


An apparatus and corresponding method for coherent hybrid electromagnetic field imaging of a target, where an energy source is used to generate a propagating electromagnetic beam, an electromagnetic beam splitting means to split the beam into two or more coherently matched beams of about equal amplitude, and where the spatial and temporal self-coherence between each two or more coherently matched beams is preserved. Two or more differential modulation means are employed to modulate each two or more coherently matched beams with a time-varying polarization, frequency, phase, and amplitude signal. An electromagnetic beam combining means is used to coherently combine said two or more coherently matched beams into a coherent electromagnetic beam. One or more electromagnetic beam controlling means are used for collimating, guiding, or focusing the coherent electromagnetic beam. One or more apertures are used for transmitting and receiving the coherent electromagnetic beam to and from the target. A receiver is used that is capable of square-law detection of the coherent electromagnetic beam. A waveform generator is used that is capable of generation and control of time-varying polarization, frequency, phase, or amplitude modulation waveforms and sequences. A means of synchronizing time varying waveform is used between the energy source and the receiver. Finally, a means of displaying the images created by the interaction of the coherent electromagnetic beam with target is employed.

The present invention is founded on electromagnetic-field scalar projection principles and optimal matched filter concepts that define a hybrid field detection process capable of coherently imaging millimeter radio-frequency (mmRF) through Ultra-Violet (UV) optical fields without optical filtering, scanning, or use of other moving components, while at the same time preserving the simplicity of conventional, direct-detection hardware.
The physics governing the conveyance of spatial information with electromagnetic fields is described by the well know Huygens-Fresnel principle. In essence, the principle treats the scattering of scalar electromagnetic fields, e.g., from an extended target's surface, as the superposition of interfering wavelets emanating from scattering centers distributed over the target. Conveyance of the resulting spatial information from a target to a detector is through transverse co-phasal surfaces oriented normal to the longitudinal direction of propagation.
Referring to FIG. 1, spatial amplitude and phase distributions comprising the transverse field are contained in the two-dimensional surface (x, y) normal to the longitudinal direction of propagation (z) with constant phase surfaces separated by a wavelength. The propagating object field conveys spatio-temporal image information to an observer or detector at z via temporal variations in the spatial amplitude and phase.
Observation of the spatio-temporal information will, in one form or another, ultimately reduce to a power measurement that requires extraction of energy from the propagating field. The basic field detection processes are generally categorized as either coherent or incoherent.
Incoherent detection subjects the field to a process referred to as squared modulus or square-law detection, for example, when imaging visible light with eyes, film, CCD camera or other photosensitive device. Ideal square-law detection of a complex scalar field consisting of the spatial amplitude and phase distribution, ψ(x,y,z,t), results in the following intensity distributionI(x,y,t)∝|ψ(x,y,z,t)|2≡ψ(x,y,z,t)·ψ(x,y,z,t)*,  (1)where "*" is the complex conjugation operator. Note that all phase information is lost in the detection process.
A coherent detection process endeavors to preserve phase information via the interferometric (homodyne or heterodyne) mixing of the object (image) field, ψ(x,y,z,t), with a known reference field, ψRef(x,y,z,t), followed by square-law detection and filtering, such that the interfering cross term is extracted
                                                                                    ψ                                                  (                                      x                    ,                    y                    ,                    z                    ,                    t                                    )                                            +                                                ψ                  Ref                                                                  (                                      x                    ,                    y                    ,                    z                    ,                    t                                    )                                                                          2                                  ⇒          Filter                                              ψ                                      (                              x                ,                y                ,                z                ,                t                            )                                ·                                                                      ψ                  Ref                                                                  (                                      x                    ,                    y                    ,                    z                    ,                    t                                    )                                            *                        .                                              (        2        )
The fundamental advantages of coherent over non-coherent detection processes include the ability of filterless separation of object field from clutter signals and background, controlled noise bandwidths, and coherent amplification. Coherent imaging will enable system designers to exploit a broad range of coherent detection processes including phase/frequency discrimination, Doppler, range, three-dimensional imaging, synthetic aperture imaging, speckle manipulation, and multi-wavelength spectroscopy and interferometry.
The highly idealized coherent detection process implied by Equation 2 is extremely difficult to achieve at shorter mm-RF through optical wavelengths in practice. This is because the implementation of Equation 2 for coherent imaging is hindered by the intrinsic difficulty in matching the spatial and temporal field components of object and reference fields at shorter wavelengths. In essence, the image- and reference-field's time-varying spatial amplitude, phase, and polarization distribution (FIG. 1) become more difficult to match when the transverse dimensions of the receiver aperture are large when compared with the field's wavelength.
As detailed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,030, Method and Apparatus for Coherent Electromagnetic Field Imaging Through Fourier Transform Heterodyne, issued on Feb. 23, 1999, to Cooke et al., the spatio-temporal matching of object field and reference field is essential for coherent field imaging. Coherent field imaging can be perceived as the scalar projection of the reference field onto the object field with the intermediate-frequency signal current conveying the amplitude and phase of the projection. In other words, only image field and reference field states that are spatio-temporal matched will contribute to image formation. Hence, a stable coherent imaging process requires the precise temporal and spatial matching of object field and reference field states. Hence, the progressive loss in spatio-temporal coherence between object and reference fields will eventually lead to the systematic phase and amplitude degradations in the detection process, resulting in the loss of conversion efficiency, corrupted image retrieval, and increased noise bandwidth.
For these reasons, state of the art in coherent imaging must address real environments where spatio-temporal mismatches are introduced by a variety of means including transceiver source drift and fluctuations, atmospheric turbulence, scattering from extended (rough) targets, and target motion. For example, unavoidable temporal mismatches between image and reference fields resulting from the finite coherence length of the laser source, and target induced Doppler shifts necessitate a receiver with large detection bandwidths (˜107-108 Hz). This prohibits the use of readily available focal plane array or CCD imaging technology, which are limited to 1000 Hz or less. The limitations imposed by large bandwidths are currently overcome by building up an image through synchronous target scanning, i.e., the rastering of a narrow laser beam across a target and building the image one sample element per unit time. With synchronous scanning, detection elements in the receiver may be limited to a single detector or to small (2×2-4×4) arrays. However, the resulting scanned image is not necessarily spatially coherent, or correlated, as the image is constructed from effectively independent samples.
Assuming the availability of high-bandwidth large-format imaging arrays, present heterodyne techniques would suffer from relatively poor and unstable detection efficiencies. Spatial mismatches between image and reference fields caused by source, atmosphere, and target-induced field fluctuations and distortion result in low coherent detection efficiencies. Compounding the low detection efficiencies are the superimposed scintillation-induced fluctuations. Scintillation is the result of time varying constructive and destructive phase fluctuations between image and reference fields and can completely dominate the image signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) statistics.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,875,030 addresses the spatial mismatches inherent in coherent imaging. The method decomposes the spatial components of the image field in terms of spatial reference functions. Selection of appropriate spatial basis functions allows image retrieval by way of classic Fourier manipulations enabling the direct imaging of the transverse amplitude, phase, and Doppler shift of coherent electromagnetic fields. However, one limitation with Fourier Transform Heterodyne (FTH) is that the image must remain stationary during the time required to build up the Fourier coefficients. This is because FTH employs a single-element detector and requires the serial scanning of basis functions for acquisition of one image coefficient at a time. Any movement or change in the target image during this period will cause an error during image retrieval.
The present invention builds on scalar projection and FTH principles, thereby enabling practical coherent imaging systems based on conventional focal plane array or CCD imaging technology, without the serial scanning of basis functions required in FTH. The present invention permits the engineering of electromagnetic fields for optimal coherent field imaging at short wavelengths. These so-called hybrid fields provide the mechanism through which the spatial and temporal matched filter conditions required for short-wavelength coherent detection are realized.
A hybrid field is the superposition of two or more matched fields, with coherent detection uniqueness introduced through the selective spatial or temporal modulation of one field relative to its identical match. Modulation formats include amplitude, phase, frequency and polarization, and are necessary because they create a uniquely detectable interferometric signature under square-law detection.
In contrast to the current practice of coherently mixing the return field, the hybrid is coherently mixed (interfered) before leaving the transmitter source, e.g., reducing transceiver and environmental spatio-temporal mismatches. Furthermore, hybrid mixing transforms the coherent detection process from one proportional to the (short) carrier wavelength, λo [m], to one proportional to a longer synthetic wavelength, λs [m]. This transformation applies to all interferometric processes, including object-to-reference field coherence, sampling requirements, spatial resolution, and range/Doppler. Hence the ability to mix before transmission, and the generation of controlled synthetic wavelengths permits efficient coherent detection of range, Doppler, and multi-channel imaging with conventional focal plane array or CCD imaging technology. This precise control over the hybrid field enables achieving the spatial and temporal matched filter condition, e.g., the precise temporal and spatial matching of all object and reference field states, for error free imaging.
Various objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Coherent hybrid electromagnetic field imaging


A pan lifting device configured to grip a pan of a balance with a positive fit has a pincer-shaped end (12) and a handle (14). A blade-shaped supporting projection (16) of the pan lifting device is configured to accommodate the bottom (28) of the pan and a bent-over beak (18) of the pan lifting device is configured to clamp the rim (30) of the pan.

A method for determining the water content using a drying balance is described in DE 38 32 726 C2.
EP 1 004 859 B1 discloses a drying balance wherein a cover is moved over the removable pan in order to close a weighing chamber. In order to remove the pan, the cover is moved back again into the housing of the drying balance. In this way, the accessibility of the pan is optimized.
However, there are also drying balances, i.e. above all, top-pan drying balances in which no movable cover is present, so that the weighing chamber is closed and is accessible via a hinged cover. Herein, the pan must be introduced into the weighing chamber laterally. As known, it is herein important that the pan is handled with a tool in order not to leave any contaminants on the pan.
A pan lifting device for gripping and conveying a pan is described in DE 202 10 500 U1. This pan lifting device is placed on the pan from above, wherein a handle extends vertically and has two limbs extending in opposing directions from its lower end. Mounted at the end of each of these limbs are U-shaped receptacles which, approaching from above, encompass the rim of the pan and extend as far as the bottom. Thus the pan is grasped from the diametrically opposite side in that the limbs press radially and against one another.
Forceps and pincers are known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,595,683 A, DE 20 2012 102 499 U1 and US 2005/0001439 A1 for entirely different purposes are not suitable for gripping a balance pan laterally, since on axial clamping, the pan would tilt in the forceps or pincers.
From U.S. Pat. No. 1,541,738 A, there is known a pincer-like kitchen lifting tool wherein two handle limbs are connected to one another via a hinge. A leaf spring presses the handle ends apart and thereby presses the gripping portions disposed before the hinge toward one another. A lower portion has a plate-shaped supporting projection. Using the universal pincers disclosed, it is intended that different pans can be lifted.
FR 784 609 A describes a clamping device for pans wherein, however, the upper handle and the lower handle transition into one another on the rear-side handle end. The lower grip limb has a plate-like projection which comes to lie under the pan, whereas the upper-side handle limb has a hook-shaped projection which, on pressing together the handle limbs, comes to lie against the inside of the pan.
Another pan lifter in the form of pincers is known from FR 788 517 A. This pan lifter is configured like a pair of shears or pincers, and formed onto the lower handle end is a plate-like projection which lies under the pan, and at the upper handle end an upwardly open U-shaped projection which is intended to grip the upper edge of the pan.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,333,564 A describes a pan lifter, the lower handle limb of which is configured as a planar part. With a pivot axis, an upper handle limb is pivotably articulated on the lower handle limb. In the region of the ends of the handle limbs, a compression spring which pre-tensions the pan lifter into a clamping position is arranged between the handle limbs. FR 2 406 985 A1 discloses a very similar pair of pincers.


For clock and data recovery (CDR), a clock processor generates sampling clock signals from original phase-shifted clock signals each having a frequency that ⅛ of a frequency of an input data signal. The sampling clock signals are used to sample the input data signal for generating error signals and reference signals that determine a voltage control signal that indicates a clock frequency of the original clock signals generated by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO).

This application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 2005-73629, filed on Aug. 11, 2005 in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety by reference.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to clock and data recovery, and more particularly to an apparatus and method for clock and data recovery using a clock frequency that is lower than an input data rate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A clock and data recovery (CDR) circuit generates a clock signal synchronized to an input data signal to recover data with the clock signal. Such a CDR circuit is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004-0240599. The CDR circuit is widely used in local area networks (LANs), wired or wireless communications, optical communications, disk drives, and so on.
The CDR circuit is a kind of a phase-locked loop (PLL) and generally includes a phase detector, a charge pump, a low-pass filter (LPF), and a voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO). The phase detector generates error signals by detecting a phase difference between the input data signal and the clock signal generated by the VCO. The charge pump generates a voltage control signal based on the error signals. The voltage control signal determines a clock frequency of the clock signal generated by the VCO.
The clock frequency is increased when the voltage control signal is increased, and is decreased when the voltage control signal is decreased. With time, the CDR circuit decreases a phase difference between the input data signal and the clock signal until synchronization is achieved when the clock frequency is substantially equivalent to a frequency of the input data signal. Such synchronization is desired for recovering valid data from the input data signal.
In the conventional CDR circuit, as the frequency of the input data signal is increased, the clock signal frequency also should be increased. However, designing the VCO to generate a clock signal with substantially higher clock frequency is difficult, and power consumption of the CDR circuit is increased for such higher clock frequency.
As a solution to these problems, one CDR circuit is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004-0240599 for using a clock signal having a half of the frequency of the input data signal. Another CDR circuit is disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004-0155687 using a clock signal having a quarter of the frequency of the input data signal.
For example, FIG. 1 is a block diagram of the conventional CDR circuit disclosed in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2004-0155687. FIG. 2 is a timing diagram of signals during operation of the CDR circuit of FIG. 1.
Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the CDR circuit includes a phase detector 14, a V/I converter 16, a low pass filter 18, and a voltage-controlled oscillator 12. Clock signals CKO, CK45, CK90 and CK1 35 have a period that is four times a period of the input data signal DIN. The input data signal DIN is sampled at every transition of the clock signals.
Because transitions of the clock signals from the VCO are used for sampling the input data signal DIN in the prior art, the clock signals are formed to have up to a quarter of the frequency of the input data signal. However, lowering the clock frequency even further may be desired as data rates are increased with advancement of technology.

Apparatus and method for clock data recovery with low lock frequency


An electromagnetic hinged-armature relay comprises a contact spring (2) which is arranged on and attached to an armature (1). The contact spring serves as a switching contact spring and has a bounce dampener which is in the form of a swing element (3) made as one piece with the contact spring which greatly reduces bounces of contacts and contact wear resulting therefrom.

This invention concerns an electromagnetic hinged-armature relay having a contact spring with a bounce retarder attached to an armature for reducing contact bounces.
Hinged-armature relays, for example for use in motor vehicles, typically bounce from one to four times upon closing of normally-open make contacts and three to ten times upon closing of normally-closed break contacts, whereby for each bounce, depending upon a load being switched, strong arcs are sometimes ignited which cause high contact wear, which, in turn, negatively affect the life of such a relay.
European Patent EP 0 281 384 B1 discloses an electromagnetic hinged-armature relay which has a miniature air cylinder dampener as a bounce dampener which, depending upon requirements, is provided to reduce noise production of the electromagnetic relay.
Aside from the facts that such a solution is quite expensive and, because electromagnetic hinged-armature relays are manufactured in such volume, represent a large costs factor, it is also questionable if such an arrangement sufficiently protects contacts against consumption by burning.
German Patent DE 26 02 362 A1 discloses an arrangement for suppressing bounces of a closing armature of flat relays, in which, a device is provided at an area of a free end of the relay for absorbing movement energy of the armature after its impact on the relay core.
One or more additional masses can be provided on the armature of the relay to serve as such a device.
Aside from the fact that the solution suggested here is also structurally quite expensive, a transfer of this solution from a flat relay, as disclosed, to a small-structured hinged armature relay is not possible without further changes because the mounting space to attach such an additional device is generally not available, at least not without a disadvantageous enlargement of the structural volume of the hinged-armature relay.
It is therefore, an object of this invention to provide an uncomplicatedly-constructed and cost effective hinged-armature relay in which contact bounce is substantially prevented by structural measures which are particularly uncomplicated.


An alignment system for accurately setting the flow rate of a flow selector device, the system includes a flow selector device having a flow rate selection mechanism rotatable between a plurality of pre-selected positions; a knob providing a grip to rotate the flow rate selection mechanism, the knob having a distal portion, a proximal portion, and at least one registering element; and a cover movable between an open position providing access to the knob and a closed position restricting access to the knob, the cover further including at least one cover element that prevents closure when the registering element is misaligned with a pre-selected position.

In the medical field, therapeutic or medicinal liquids are often administered to a patient by an infusion system. There are various types of infusion systems for delivering liquids to a catheter or needle. For example, in one system the liquid is typically contained in a reservoir (a bag or a bottle) suspended above the patient, and delivered through a tube, by the force of gravity. Alternatively, the liquid may be delivered from a reservoir by an infusion pump.
It is sometimes necessary to control the flow rate at which the liquid is delivered to the patient, particularly when the liquid is to be administered continuously over an extended period of time. The flow rate may be varied depending on, for example, the specific medical treatment, type of medicinal or therapeutic agent, or the specific needs of a particular patient. Indeed, a specific patient's need or demand for a particular drug or other agent may vary over time.
A variety of devices and techniques have been devised to control the flow rate at which liquid is delivered. An exemplary device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,318,515 for an "Intravenous Flow Regulator Device and Associated Method", issued to Wilk on Jul. 7, 1994. That device has a freely accessible slider member for selecting a desired the flow rate. Another device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,455,072 for a "Device for Selectively Regulating the Flow Rate of a Fluid" to Mabry et al., issued on Nov. 25, 2004. That device has a flow rate selection mechanism that is rotatable between positions.
One difficulty with these devices is the unauthorized or unsupervised adjustments to the flow rate delivered by the device. This problem is addressed by the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,455,072 by utilizing an optional security cover and an optional removable key. When such a cover and removable key system is used, there is risk of error in setting the flow rate if the user fails to carefully follow directions or pay attention to the selector position with respect to indicia on the housing or the rotatable selector. For example, the orientation of the key in the device can lead a user to focus on an incorrect portion of the rotatable selector. Matching the incorrect portion of the selector with the desired (i.e., correct) selection position will result in a flow rate that may appear correct but will actually be different from the flow rate indicated by the selection position. Another complication is that a user may not properly align or register the rotatable selector with the selector position that corresponds to the desired flow rate. While the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,455,072 may include detent features that provide an audible or haptic response (e.g., an audible "click" or a change in rotational resistance) when the rotatable selector reaches a flow rate setting, the rotatable selector may be left slightly off position or between positions so that it is not fully aligned or registered with the flow rate setting. The result is a flow rate that may appear correct but will actually be different from the flow rate indicated by the selection position.
While the approach described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,455,072 has shown promise, improvements have been sought that would provide more precise selection of fluid flow rates, in a device that is inexpensive to manufacture, and simple and reliable to use.
Thus, there has been a need for a device that allows the selection of any of a plurality of discrete flow rates while avoiding the user error of matching the incorrect portion of the selector with the desired (i.e., correct) selection position. There has been a further need for a device in which the rotatable selector is properly aligned or registered with the selected flow rate and which remains stable over time. In addition, such a device should be easy and inexpensive to manufacture, so that it may be economically made as a disposable item, while providing a high degree of reliability in use.


An etching method includes providing a first surface and a second surface with the second surface lying substantially vertical to the first surface. A material is provided over at least a portion of the first and second surface. The material is anisotropically etched from at least the first surface resulting in a blocking material formed over at least a portion of the material on the second surface. The blocking material is removed and the portion of the material formed over the second surface is isotropically etched. The blocking material may be a polymer material, and the removing step may include oxidizing the polymer material.

Various etching processes are utilized in the fabrication of semiconductor devices. Such etching processes are utilized to control and maintain critical dimensions of various device structures, such as, for example, transistors, capacitors, and interconnects. As semiconductor devices become more integrated and miniaturized, the maintenance and control of such critical dimensions of device structures become more important.
At least one goal of an etch process in the fabrication of devices is to be able to reproduce the features of a mask used in the etching process together with control of the etched features. For example, etches are typically highly selective to the film or layer under the material being etched. Further, for example, dry etching can provide more control of the. etched features, relative to wet etching, as dry etching can be performed in an anisotropic and/or isotropic manner as opposed to isotropic wet etching.
One or more anisotropic and isotropic etching steps can be performed to control the etching of different device features. However, when etching device features, such as, for example, the etching of conductive material on vertical or near vertical (e.g., substantially vertical) sidewalls of a device structure, problems may occur from the use of anisotropic etching steps. For example, an anisotropic etch, may be used to remove a bulk of conductive material formed over a device structure having substantially vertical sidewalls as one step in patterning the conductive material. Such an anisotropic etch of the conductive material leaves a blocking material over the vertical or near vertical sidewalls which are to be etched, such as, a carbon based polymer material formed at least in part from etching of the photoresist used for such patterning. The blocking material inhibits the later use of an isotropic etch to remove the conductive material under the blocking material from the substantially vertical sidewalls. As a result of the inhibition of the isotropic etch to remove conductive material from the substantially vertical sidewalls,. undesired conductive material, i.e. stringers, are left behind at the sidewalls.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for etching methods that allow for adequate removal of material, such as, for example, conductive material, from the substantially vertical sidewalls of a device structure during fabrication of semiconductor devices. The present invention provides such a method overcoming the problems as described above and others that will be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the description of the present invention below.

Etching method for use in fabrication semiconductor device


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide systems and methods for building a profile for a contact. In one exemplary embodiment, a computer-implemented method includes: identifying, via a computing device, missing information from a profile of a contact of a user, wherein the missing information includes a current physical location of the contact; determining whether to include the missing information in the profile based on satisfaction of a threshold; and in response to a determination to include the missing information: obtaining the missing information, wherein obtaining the current physical location of the contact includes retrieving a current physical location of a device of the contact; and adding the missing information to the profile.

Many systems and applications have been developed to allow people to communicate with each other. Such systems and applications may communicate via emails, instant messages, text messages, web/online postings, etc. Some user terminals (e.g., personal computers, PDA, and mobile phones) may support communications in multiple modes, such as email, instant messages, and text messages.
Conventional applications have been developed to organize address information for users. For example, an address application may store information about a plurality of persons. For each of the persons, the address application may store the name of the person, the email address of the person, the street address of the person, the IM address of the person, the web page address of the person, phone numbers of the person, etc.
Despite these capabilities of conventional address applications, the initial capture of the address information is often dependent on users of the applications to proactively acquire the address information from communications with others. Only then can the captured information be stored and organized by the conventional address applications. The completeness of address information stored and organized in conventional address applications thus relies heavily on the diligence exercised by the users.
A computer-implemented method according to one embodiment includes: identifying, via a computing device, missing information from a profile of a contact of a user, wherein the missing information includes a current physical location of the contact; determining whether to include the missing information in the profile based on satisfaction of a threshold; and in response to a determination to include the missing information: obtaining the missing information, wherein obtaining the current physical location of the contact includes retrieving a current physical location of a device of the contact; and adding the missing information to the profile.

Systems and methods for profile building using location information from a user device


A picture overlay system assures proper image aspect ratios for picture overlays. The system comprises a video memory and a control circuit for writing and reading information from a video signal into and out of the video memory, the information relating to video data. A reading circuit supplies information from the video memory synchronously with a display for another video signal. An interpolator selectively compresses and expands the information read from the reading circuit, independently of any other processing which might vertically compress or expand said video data. A multiplexer combines the video signals for simultaneous display. The reading circuit can comprise an asynchronous line memory for the information read from the video memory, having a write port operable synchronously with the reading of the video memory and a read port operable synchronously with the display for the other video signal.

The invention relates to the field of televisions, for example those televisions having a wide display format ratio screen, which must interpolate video data to implement various display formats. Most televisions today have a format display ratio, horizontal width to vertical height, of 4:3. A wide format display ratio corresponds more closely to the display format ratio of movies, for example 16:9. The invention is applicable to both direct view televisions and projection television.
Televisions having a format display ratio of 4:3, often referred to as 4.times.3, are limited in the ways that single and multiple video signal sources can be displayed. Television signal transmissions of commercial broadcasters, except for experimental material, are broadcast with a 4.times.3 format display ratio. Many viewers find the 4.times.3 display format less pleasing than the wider format display ratio associated with the movies. Televisions with a wide format display ratio provide not only a more pleasing display, but are capable of displaying wide display format signal sources in a corresponding wide display format. Movies "look" like movies, not cropped or distorted versions thereof. The video source need not be cropped, either when converted from film to video, for example with a telecine device, or by processors in the television.
Televisions with a wide display format ratio are also suited to a wide variety of displays for both conventional and wide display format signals, as well as combinations thereof in multiple picture displays. However, the use of a wide display ratio screen entails numerous problems. Changing the display format ratios of multiple signal sources, developing consistent timing signals from asynchronous but simultaneously displayed sources, switching between multiple sources to generate multiple picture displays, and providing high resolution pictures from compressed data signals are general categories of such problems. Such problems are solved in a wide screen television according to this invention. A wide screen television according to various inventive arrangements is capable of providing high resolution, single and multiple picture displays, from single and multiple sources having similar or different format ratios, and with selectable display format ratios.
Televisions with a wide display format ratio can be implemented in television systems displaying video signals both at basic or standard horizontal scanning rates and multiples thereof, as well as by both interlaced and on interlaced scanning. Standard NTSC video signals, for example, are displayed by interlacing the successive fields of each video frame, each field being generated by a raster scanning operation at a basic or standard horizontal scanning rate of approximately 15,734 Hz. The basic scanning rate for video signals is variously referred to as f.sub.H, 1f.sub.H, and 1H. The actual frequency of a 1f.sub.H signal will vary according to different video standards. In accordance with efforts to improve the picture quality of television apparatus, systems have been developed for displaying video signals progressively, in a noninterlaced fashion. Progressive scanning requires that each displayed frame must be scanned in the same time period allotted for scanning one of the two fields of the interlaced format. Flicker free AA-BB displays require that each field be scanned twice, consecutively. In each case, the horizontal scanning frequency must be twice that of the standard horizontal frequency. The scanning rate for such progressively scanned or flicker free displays is variously referred to as 2f.sub.H and 2H. A 2f.sub.H scanning frequency according to standards in the United States, for example, is approximately 31,468 Hz.
Picture in picture processing is a feature wherein two television signals are simultaneously displayed on one display. The main or large picture fills most of the screen while the auxiliary or small picture is overlaid onto the large picture or next to the large picture. Where both signal sources and the display have the same format display ratio, for example 4.times.3, the small picture can be reduced in size by the same integer scale factor horizontally and vertically.
If the small picture has a format display ratio different than the display format ratio of the large picture and the display, then overlaying the small picture onto the display requires that the small picture be compressed differently in the horizontal direction than in the vertical direction. This is the case, for example, when attempting to display a 4.times.3 small picture signal source on a 16.times.9 display. If the 4.times.3 source were overlaid onto the large picture in the same manner on a 16.times.99 display as it is on the 4.times.3 display, that is, with equal size reduction in both the horizontal and vertical directions, the resulting small picture size and objects inside the small picture would appear 33% wider than normal. In other words, the image aspect ratio of the small picture would be distorted by 33%.

Aspect ratio control for picture overlays


A power supply circuit for an audio power amplifier or an amplifier of similar operation such as a motor driving amplifier. The power supply circuit comprises a first coil having a first terminal connected to a terminal of a DC voltage source and a second terminal connected to an anode of a first diode, a second coil having a first terminal connected to another terminal of said DC voltage source and a second terminal connected to a cathode of a second diode, a first capacitor connected to a cathode of the first diode and the another terminal of the DC voltage, which accumulates a counter electromotive force generated in the first coil; a second capacitor connected to an anode of the second diode and the another terminal of the DC voltage source, which accumulates a counter electromotive force generated in the second coil; opening and closing device connected across the anode of the first diode and the cathode of the second diode, performing an opening and closing operation, and opening and closing control device connected to the opening and closing device, for controlling the opening and closing operation of the opening and closing device, and amplification device connected across a cathode of the first diode and an anode of the second diode.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a power supply circuit of an audio signal amplifier or an amplifier having a similar operation, such as a motor drive amplifier, and the like.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventionally, there have been proposed various power supply circuits of an audio amplifier or a motor drive power amplifier and so on, aiming at the reduction of electric power consumption, or the reduction of the size of the power supply circuit as well as its weight.
In the example of a power supply circuit of an audio amplifier, when a high level output signal is produced, the amplitude of the output signal is limited by the voltage of the power-supply being used, although the power-supply voltage is sufficient when the level of the output signal is low. This means that the magnitude of the maximum output signal obtainable from a power amplifier is determined by the power-supply voltage. If a power supply of a high voltage is used so that a sufficient output amplitude is obtained by the amplifier when a high level output signal is produced, the electric power consumption of the power-supply circuit and the power amplifier under the normal operating condition becomes large, resulting in a decrease in efficiency.
In order to eliminate this shortcoming, various systems have been proposed as illustrated in FIG. 1A though FIG. 1C.
The example shown in FIG. 1A is a system which is configured that the power supply voltage is controlled so that it follows the envelope of the peak values of the signal when the output signal is higher than a previously specified value. The example shown in FIG. 1B, on the other hand, is a system configured that the power-supply voltage is controlled to follow the amplitude of the amplifier's output signal.
The example shown in FIG. 1C is a system configured that a plurality of power-supply voltages are supplied for the output signal higher than the specified output signal.
FIG. 2 shows an example of a power-supply circuit for concretely showing the cases shown in FIGS. 1A through 1C.
Referring to FIG. 2, the operation of a power-supply circuit of a voltage control type will be generally explained.
As shown in FIG. 2, a source terminal of a p-type MOSFET (hereinafter, abbreviated as PFET) is connected to a positive terminal of a battery 1 (Vb) which is provided as a power-source. A resistor 3 and a PWM oscillator 4 are connected across the gate and source of the PFET 2, so as to constitute a switch device in which the PFET 2 is switched ON and OFF by the signal from the PWM oscillator 4.
The drain terminal of the PFET 2 is connected to a terminal of a coil 5 whose the other terminal is connected to a ground terminal, and also to a cathode terminal of a diode 6. A capacitor 7 is connected across the anode terminal of the diode 6 and the ground terminal.
To the battery 1, a terminal of a coil 8 is connected, whose the other terminal is connected to a drain terminal of an n-type MOSFET (hereinafter, abbreviated as NFET) 9 and an anode terminal of a diode 10. A resistor 11 and an PWM oscillator 12 are connected across the gate and source of the NFET 9, that is, across the gate of NFET 9 and the ground, so that a switch element in which the NFET 9 is switched ON and OFF by a signal from the PWM oscillator 12 is provided.
A capacitor 13 is connected across the cathode and anode of the diode 10. A capacitor 14 and a load (RL) 15 are connected across the cathode of the diode 10 and the anode of the diode 6.
The power-supply circuit shown in FIG. 2 is a plus-minus two powers supply circuit which is constituted by a minus-chopper circuit generating a minus voltage by the PFET 2, coil 5, diode 6 and capacitor 7, and a plus-chopper circuit generating a plus voltage by the NFET 9, coil 8, diode 10 and capacitor 13.
In the plus-chopper circuit, the current supplied from the battery 1 is accumulated in the coil 8 when the NFET 9 driven by the PWM oscillator 12, which function as a switch element, is turned ON. When the NFET 9 is switched OFF subsequently, a voltage produced by a counter electromotive force of the coil 8 is superimposed on the voltage of the battery 1, so that a positive voltage whose level is higher than the battery voltage (Vb) is produced at a terminal "c" shown in the drawing.
The magnitude of the counter electromotive force produced in this instance is controlled by the pulse width of the pulse signal supplied from the PWM oscillator 12. More particularly, if the pulse width is widened to prolong the period in which the switch element is turned ON, a large counter electromotive force will be generated. Conversely, if the period in which the switch element is turned ON is shortened, a small counter electromotive force will be generated. In the minus chopper circuit, the current supplied from the battery 1 is accumulated in the coil 5 when the PFET 2 driven by the PWM oscillator 4, which functions as a switch element, is turned ON. When the PFET 2 is turned OFF subsequently, a counter electromotive force of the coil 5 is generated with respect to ground, so that a negative voltage is produced at a terminal "d" shown in the drawing. Unlike the operation of the plus chopper circuit, the counter electromotive force is produced with respect to ground so that the battery voltage is not superimposed.
As described above, the voltages produced by two types of chopper circuits are controlled by the pulse widths of the PWM oscillators provided for the switch elements respectively. Therefore, the power-supply voltage can be varied in response to the output signal as depicted in FIGS. 1A through 1C by detecting the output signal or an input signal of the power amplifier and controlling the output pulses of the PWM oscillators by means of a control circuit which is not shown in the drawing.
For example, if the input signal of the power amplifier is within a specified signal voltage range, the operation of the PWM oscillator is stopped, and +12 volts, for example, is produced at the terminal "c" and 0V is produced at the terminal "d", so that the power-supply voltage of 12 volts is supplied to the load.
When, on the other hand, the input signal level is above the specified signal voltage range, the pulse signal is produced by a control signal from the control circuit, and supplied to each switch element. As a result, +16 volts, for example, is produced at the terminal "c" and -4 volts is produced at the terminal "d", so that a power supply voltage of 20 volts is supplied to the load.


A method is disclosed for operating a software-managed cache memory (30), and includes steps of: (a) registering with an operating system (12A), for at least one thread of a plurality of threads, a memory allocation function; in response to the execution of a first thread being halted, (b) determining if a next thread to be executed has registered a request to be allocated all or a portion of the memory; and (c) swapping-out the memory allocated to the first thread if the first thread has previously registered a memory callback function and if the next thread has made a request to be allocated an amount of memory that exceeds an amount that is not already allocated. If the first thread has not previously registered a memory callback function, or if the next thread has made a request to be allocated an amount of memory that exceeds an amount that is available to be allocated, the method instead allocates a portion of the memory to the second thread that does not overlap a portion already allocated to the first thread, and does not swap-out the portion of the memory that is allocated to the first thread.

It is well known in the art to provide a general purpose processor that is coupled to a special purpose processor through a dual ported read/write (R/W) memory. During the operation of such a system the general purpose processor loads the memory with data to be operated on by the special purpose processor, which then operates on the data independently of the special purpose processor. When the special purpose processor finishes, the general purpose processor is enabled to retrieve the processed data from the memory. The memory may be referred to as a scratchpad memory, and the special purpose processor may be optimized for performing vector operations, matrix operations, or any other processing task that would not be efficiently performed by the general purpose processor.
In some such systems the general purpose processor may be responsible for executing a plurality of tasks or threads in a time multiplexed or other fashion, which gives the external appearance that a plurality of such threads are being executed concurrently. In this case both the general purpose processor and the special purpose processor must be capable of switching between the execution of various tasks or threads. This implies that the scratchpad memory should be managed in such a manner that the switching between tasks or threads occurs in efficient manner.
In conventional systems it is often the case that when the special purpose processor is required to switch from executing one thread to executing another thread (typically referred to as a context switch), the complete processing state of the special purpose processor must be saved. This includes the register state of the special purpose processor, as well as data stored in the scratchpad memory. While registers in the special purpose processor may be saved in a relatively short period of time, it may require an appreciable amount of time to save or swap-out the content of the scratchpad memory. A like amount of time may then be required to subsequently restore or swap-in the content of the scratchpad memory when the previously operating thread is restarted.
While in some situations it is essential that the scratchpad memory be swapped-out during a context switch, the inventor has realized that in other situations it is not essential or required. However, in conventional system the memory swapping-out operation is still performed, leading to inefficiencies in the operation of the system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,812 to Bhandarkar et al. describes a method for saving the state information of a vector processor only if a new process attempts to execute a vector instruction, i.e., is about to change the current state of the vector processor. However, this patent does not suggest the application of this technique to resources other than the vector processor registers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,779 to Allegrucci et al. describes a method for saving and restoring the context (state) of processors in a multi-processor system by storing code snippets that save the state to memory and restore it from memory.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,740,893 to Buchholz et al. describes the use of flags to indicate whether vector registers in a vector processor are either all zero or have changed since the last restore operation for a given vector register. The use of such `dirty bits` is said to reduce the time required to store data.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,361,337 to Okin describes the use of shadow registers in a processor to quickly switch to another process if the active process encounters a cache miss. The process switch is accomplished by selecting another register set amongst the shadow registers.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,490,272 to Mathis et al. describes a method for subdividing a time-slice allocated to a thread into finer units, so called threadlets, that can be scheduled within a time-slice. Transition between threadlets occurs at points in the application where no state needs to be saved or restored. Such points are identified in the application by special instructions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,493,668 to Elko et al. describes a mechanism to ensure data coherency between data stored in primary memory, e.g., a cache, and secondary memory. Data is shared between processors in a multiprocessor system and each processor can change the shared data. The patent describes changes to data are preserved if those changes occur during a write-back operation to disk.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,553,305 to Gregor et al. describes the scheduling and synchronization of threads by tracking whether data are available that are required for executing a thread. The particular technique described by the patent places a thread identification into memory location where the data is expected to be found. Once the data are retrieved, the thread identification is replaced and the thread is entered into a scheduling queue.

Methods and apparatus for managing scratchpad memory in a multiprocessor data processing system

International Business Machines Corporation


A multi-dose applicator comprising a bottle locking assembly wherein a supply bottle can be quickly and easily attached or removed from the applicator by rotating a locking ring a fraction of a turn and wherein the plunger is flexible to allow for misalignment.

Drug applicators such as syringes and drenchers have long been known in the industry. Some of the prior art multi-dose applicators are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,232,459, 5,188,610, 4,738,664, 4,245,757, and 4,020,838 and in the N.J. Phillips 1986 Export Catalogue which are incorporated herein by reference.
Generally, the prior applicators employed a threaded nut screw for attaching the applicator to a drug supply. The use of threaded nut screws for attaching the drug supply to an applicator is time consuming and cumbersome, especially when entire herds of cattle or sheep are being treated.
The prior applicators such as those described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,738,664, 4,245,757 and 4,020,838 all possess plunger assemblies that comprise a shaft of a uniform diameter. The uniform diameter shafts fail to compensate for any misalignment of the plunger with the dosage tube or tolerance accumulation.

Multi-dose applicator with quick bottle attachment mechanism


A vibration generation device (200) includes a frequency information recorder (80) configured to record frequency values of inputted measurement signals such that the frequency values are associated with measurement positions of vibrations on the seat originally generated by the vibration generator (20) on the basis of the measurement signals and transmitted to the seat by the vibration transmission member and an output signal generator (70) configured to obtain a frequency value of a measurement position corresponding to a desired position from the frequency information recorder (80) and to generate an output signal having the frequency value.

There have been proposed vehicle alarm devices that include vibrators installed inside the seating portion of a vehicle seat and give an alarm to a seated person by causing the vibrators to generate vibrations (for example, see Patent Literatures 1 and 2). Typically, the vibrators of a vehicle alarm device are disposed between the cushion and surface of the seating portion or in other positions. Even if the vehicle is traveling, the seated person is able to easily determine whether an alarm has been given, on the basis of the vibrations of the vibrators.
However, in the case of the above vehicle alarm devices, the vibrators are disposed between the cushion and surface of the seating portion and therefore the sitting comfort may be impaired, or the seated person may have a strange feeling of sitting. Also, if the cushion of the vehicle seat is flattened and thus the elastic performance of the seat is reduced, the intensity of the vibration felt by the seated person, the vibration feeling position, or the like may significantly vary.
For these reasons, there has been also proposed installation of vibrators inside a cushion rather than between the cushion and surface or in other positions. However, if vibrators are installed inside a cushion, the vibrations of the vibrators may be absorbed by the cushion, resulting in a reduction in the vibration transmit efficiency. In particular, when the vibrators give vibrations to the seated person in the up-down direction of the seating portion, the seated person may have difficulty in feeling the vibrations of the vibrators due to the vertical movement of the vehicle associated with the travel thereof.
On the other hand, there have been proposed vibration generation devices that include a vibration transmission member disposed inside the seating portion of a vehicle seat so as to extend horizontally and give a notification or alarm to the seated person by transferring a vibration horizontally through the vibration transmission member (for example, see Patent Literature 3). Since these vibration generation devices horizontally transmit a vibration to the vibration transmission member, they are able to effectively vibrate the seating portion even if the seating portion moves vertically due to the travel or the like of the vehicle.
Also, by changing or adjusting the frequency of vibrations to be transmitted by the vibration transmission member, these vibration generation devices are able to resonate the seating portion. By vibrating the vibration transmission member using the resonant frequency, which allows for the resonance of the seating portion, significant vibrations can be generated, thereby allowing the seated person recognize vibrations more easily.

Vibration generation device and vibration generation method


A vehicle body structure in which load from a front of a vehicle, which load is applied to a front side member, is absorbed via a reinforcing member fixed to a floor panel and extending in a longitudinal direction of the vehicle. The reinforcing member is provided so as to be inclined, with respect to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle, toward a side sill provided at a vehicle transverse outer side of the reinforcing member, and is provided such that, when a load is applied, the reinforcing member is slidable toward a rear of the vehicle with a rear end portion of the reinforcing member contacting the side sill.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a vehicle body structure, and more specifically, it relates to a vehicle body structure such as an automobile equipped with a front side member in the front portion of the vehicle body.
2. Description of the Related Art
Heretofore, as a vehicle body structure such as an automobile equipped with a front side member in the front portion of the vehicle body, a front portion longitudinal member, in which a load applied to the front portion longitudinal member is absorbed by a plurality of arms and which is supported in a curving state on a cowl of a frame-free body of the car, has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 54-3721, and furthermore, another the vehicle body structure has been disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 63-306985. The body structure in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 63-306985 will be described hereinafter.
As shown in FIG. 17, in this vehicle body structure, a front side member (which may also be called a front side frame) 70 is connected to a front pillar (which may also be called a hinge pillar) 78 via torque boxes 74, 76 formed on the vehicle front side of a dash lower panel 72, and the rear end portion of the front side member 70 is connected to a side sill 82 via a floor frame 80. Therefore, an impact force applied onto the front side member 70 can be dispersed to skeletal members such as the front pillar 78 and the side sill 82.
However, in this vehicle body structure, the impact force applied to the front side member 70 is transmitted to the side sill 82 via the floor frame 80, but during this transmission, the impact force is scarcely absorbed, and thus the absorption amount of the impact force is small.