An endoscope restraining system for restraining motion of an endoscope tube includes an attachment portion configured to attach the endoscope restraining system to a surface, a flexible tube coupled to the attachment portion at a proximal end of the flexible tube, a base plate coupled to a distal end of the flexible tube, and an endoscope restraint removably connected to the base plate. The endoscope restraint includes a plurality of supports configured to receive the endoscope tube to prevent changes in a torque position, degree of insertion, and lateral movement of the endoscope tube.

An endoscope includes an approximately four-foot long, flexible tube about the thickness of a finger with a camera and a source of light at its tip. The tip of the endoscope is inserted into the anus and then is advanced slowly, under visual control, into the rectum and through the colon usually as far as the cecum, which is the first part of the colon. This is far from ideal as minor movements or loss of torque, often leading to adverse outcomes including incomplete polyp resection, colonic injury, and acute perforation, commonly jeopardizes scope position.
Referring to FIG. 1, an endoscope 100 generally includes a supply plug 10, an umbilical cord 20, a control head 30, an insertion shaft 40, and an endoscope tube 50. The supply plug 10 is located at one end of the umbilical cord 20 and includes a plurality of connectors 11. The connectors 11 are configured to connect the endoscope 100 to a plurality of external elements, including, but not limited to a light guide, an air supply, a water bottle and suction, and an air vent. The umbilical cord 20 connects the supply plug 10 to the control head 30, which is attached to the other end of the umbilical cord 20. The control head 30 is provided between the umbilical cord 20 and the insertion shaft 40. The control head 30 includes a plurality of controls for air insufflation, irrigation, and suction. The control head 30 may also include mechanisms for steering the endoscope tube 50 located at a distal end of the endoscope 100. The insertion shaft 40 includes air and water jets, a common port 80 (i.e., a combined suction and biopsy port), and a distal lens or video chip. As used herein, the terms "port" and "channel" are synonymous. The endoscope tube 50 extends from the insertion shaft 40, and has a tip, which houses terminal ends of an illuminating end of a light guide.
A fiber optic endoscope has an eyepiece, while a video endoscope has remote control buttons for a video control unit. In a fiber optic endoscope, light is conducted from the distal lens in the endoscope tube 50 to the eyepiece by bundles of optical glass fibers. In a video endoscope, the image is captured with the video chip in the endoscope tube 50, transmitted electronically, and displayed on a monitor.
The biopsy port 60 is located at an intersection of the insertion shaft 40 and the control head 30. The biopsy port 60 is configured for passing sampling and/or operative instruments down the insertion shaft 40 and the endoscope tube 50 to an internal site to be examined or surgically manipulated. The biopsy port 60 is covered by a biopsy valve 61 configured to close off a proximal opening of the biopsy port 60 and prevent room air from being drawn into a suction port 70 located at a distal end of the control head 30. Opening or completely removing the biopsy valve 61 from the biopsy port opening releases the suction in the biopsy port 60.
The biopsy port 60 converges with the suction port 70 to form a common port 80 that passes down the insertion shaft 40 and terminates at a distal end of the endoscope tube 50. Suction is controlled by a suction valve 31 on the control head 30. The suction valve 31 has two positions: a neutral position and a suction position. When the suction valve 31 is not activated, it automatically assumes a neutral position and blocks suction within the suction port 70 and common port 80. When the endoscopist depresses the suction valve 31, the suction port 70 is opened, creating a negative pressure that draws air or fluid into the terminal end of the common port 80 (located in the endoscope tube 50).
During the performance of upper and lower gastrointestinal endoscopy, the endoscopist faces numerous challenges with one of the most important being endoscope control. The following Table 1 lists examples of the types of procedures that are performed using an endoscope.
TABLE 1Types or procedures using endoscope.Name ofHow endoscope reachesprocedureName of toolArea or organ viewedtarget areaArthroscopyArthroscopeJointsInserted through a smallincision over the area to beviewedBronchoscopyBronchoscopeTrachea (windpipe)Inserted through the mouthand bronchiof the lungsColonoscopyColonoscopeEntire length of the colon Inserted through the anusand large intestineColposcopyColposcopeVagina and cervix A speculum is inserted intothe vagina. The colposcope isplaced at the opening of thevagina but does not enter it.CystoscopyCystoscopeInside of the bladderInserted through the urethraEsophagoscopyEsophagoscopeEsophagusInserted through the mouthGastroscopyGastroscopeStomach and duodenumInserted through the mouth(beginning of the small intestine)LaparoscopyLaparoscopeStomach, liver, or otherInserted through a smallabdominal organ, includingsurgical opening in thefemale reproductive organsabdomen(uterus, ovaries,fallopian tubes)LaryngoscopyLaryngoscopeLarynx (voice box)Inserted through the mouthNeuroendoscopyNeuroendoscopeAreas of the brainInserted through a smallincision in the skull near thearea to be viewedProctoscopyProctoscopeRectum and sigmoid colonInserted through the anusSigmoidoscopySigmoidoscopeSigmoid colon Inserted through the anus(bottom part ofthe colon)ThoracoscopyThoracoscopePleura covering the lungs andInserted through a smallstructures covering the heartsurgical opening in chest
One example of a procedure performed using an endoscope is a colonoscopy. A colonoscopy is the endoscopic examination of the large bowel and the distal part of the small bowel with a CCD or a fiber optic camera on a flexible tube passed through the anus to investigate the inside of the patient's colon. The main purpose of a colonoscopy is the removal of polyps from the colon. Colonic polypectomy is the removal of colorectal polyps in order to prevent them from turning cancerous. The number of polyps varies from one patient to other and can range from as little as 3-4 to as high as 20-25 in a single patient.
The basic procedure for performing a colonoscopy/polypectomy includes inserting the endoscope tube completely inside the colon and slowly withdrawing the endoscope tube by hand movement. While retracting the endoscope tube, locations of all the possible polyps are identified by inspection. Once a polyp is located, the endoscope tube must be held in its exact position (i.e., preventing lateral, transverse and twisting movement) while the polyp is being removed. The endoscopist often requires a nurse's assistance in holding the endoscope shaft in the exact position, while the endoscopist performs the polypectomy to remove the polyp, as the endoscopist requires both hands to perform the polypectomy. The same process is repeated for all of the polyps present inside the colon, as they are removed one by one while withdrawing the endoscope tube. When the procedure is complete, the endoscope tube is removed from the colon.
The endoscopist performs technically challenging maneuvers during a polypectomy, which require precise control and positioning of the endoscope for effective, complete, and safe resection of adenomatous or malignant tissue. Quite often, an ideal position for polypectomy requires a significant amount of maneuvering along with clockwise or counterclockwise torque of the endoscope shaft. As the endoscopist only has one free hand, he/she must rely on their nurse or technician to hold torque. During the transition of insertion shaft handling from endoscopist to nurse, it happens frequently that the exact position of the end camera is lost and thus, the location of the polyp is lost, since the torque which the nurse provides does not match that previously provided by the endoscopist to hold the insertion shaft in position. This is far from ideal as scope position is commonly jeopardized by minor movements or loss of torque pressure, often leading to adverse outcomes including incomplete polyp resection and acute colonic perforation. In addition, once the position of the polyp is lost, the scope has to be adjusted again, thus causing more discomfort to patient and it becomes tiresome for the endoscopist as well.
During the colonoscopy, it is essential to remove all the prevailing polyps in the colon so as to completely fulfill the purpose of the procedure. Despite significant advances in the field, interval colorectal cancer, cancer detected after a reportedly unremarkable colonoscopy or "complete" polypectomy, remains a significant issue. Incomplete polyp resection is the second leading cause of interval colorectal cancer behind missed polyps, accounting for up to 30% of cases. Potential contributing factors to incomplete resection include poor visibility, challenging location within the colon, and poor scope control. While colonoscopy is generally safe, acute colonic perforation can be a devastating procedural outcome occurring as a result of several factors including blunt force and trauma during tissue resection. Perforation has been reported in up to 0.3% of all screening colonoscopies. When faced with larger or "complex" polyps, generally >2 cm in size, advanced techniques including endoscopic mucosal resection and endoscopic submucosal dissection are necessary with reported perforation rates ranging from 0.2% to 5%. The higher incidence of perforation during polypectomy underscores the need for meticulous scope control to ensure complete and safe resection. As the number of endoscopic procedures continue to grow yearly, with upwards of 55 million endoscopies performed yearly (18.6 million in the USA alone), the issue of safety and efficacy becomes paramount.
A need exists for improved technology, including technology that may address the above problems, namely by providing an endoscope restraint configured to grasp an endoscope tube to prevent changes in the torque position (clockwise/counterclockwise direction), degree of insertion (forward/backwards direction), and lateral movement of the endoscope tube.


Provided is a method and system for optimizing utilization and performance of a Wi-Fi network for one or more subscriber client devices through a Wi-Fi console application by monitoring an RF environment of the Wi-Fi network to detect interference to a subscriber client device from one or more neighboring client devices that include non-subscriber client devices and other subscriber client devices and allocating a spectrum/channel for the subscriber client device to access the Wi-Fi network using an AI model based on the interference detected, throughput requirements of applications running on the subscriber client device and importance/priority of an activity on the subscriber client device. The AI model constructs a relational aggregated graph and decompose the relational aggregated graph into dynamic clusters. A heuristic deep-learning method is applied to analyze the dynamic clusters to reduce a computation time for recommendation of a suitable spectrum/channel for accessing the Wi-Fi network.

Millions of people around the globe require fast and reliable broadband for work, education, socialization, and entertainment. Managing the quality of broadband experience in the home is more than ever a priority for service providers, and Wi-Fi is at the centerstage of that effort. Therefore, a very solid Wi-Fi foundation is much required.
Wi-Fi utilizes unlicensed spectrum that is of great economic value to society, but it comes at the price of uncertain performance. Unlicensed spectrum is small sections of the radio spectrum in which anybody can transmit, up to a limit in power, without needing to apply (or usually pay) for a radio operator's license of which Wi-Fi is a classic incumbent. Two bands have been allocated at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz in which anyone can transmit at no more than 1 watt of power. Wi-Fi can operate well as long as everybody observes the rules. However, given the free and decentralized nature of unlicensed spectrum, multiple issues may arise and affect the overall performance of the system. Further, the use of unlicensed spectrum is subject to interference, coverage issues, and poor performance. Generally, operations in unlicensed bands lack visibility and is therefore hard to manage or prevent issues as users or operators do not know what to look for. As an example, neighbor interference is one of the drawbacks of operating in unlicensed mode and the mix of devices operating in this environment degrades the performance for users. Often, neighbors end up using the same channel creating an unavoidable congestion.
In erstwhile techniques, the main approach to solving the issues with indoor Wi-Fi performance has been driven by the integration of additional software in the middleware gateway to address the issues of coverage and congestion. However, this approach has fallen short of operators' needs as they must deal with a complex and diverse footprint of access points (APs). Hence, time-to-market is severely long and not scalable.
While 5G supports unlicensed and shared spectrum, Wi-Fi has been moving in the other direction, taking on many characteristics of cellular technologies such as enhanced Quality of Service (QoS), security and Automatic Frequency Selection (AFS). As the lines between licensed and unlicensed spectrum blur, Wi-Fi will evolve alongside cellular networks and be a part of the broader 5G platform, bringing 5G-like capabilities to non-spectrum owners (specifically, cable operators, city authorities, or private network providers, among others). In view of this, network operators are looking for ways to become more agile in order to compete, and as functions are becoming virtualized, consumers must be able to select their own 5G applications on demand. Further, in the near future, the industry will start locking down 6G technologies, where spectrum agility will form the basis of the standard.
Furthermore, with the proliferation of Wi-Fi devices and their usage, and with Wi-Fi 6 allowing wider channels, the Wi-Fi community is looking for ways to better manage spectrum usage to maintain high Quality of Experience (QoE), especially in increasing gigabit speeds by Fiber-To-The-Home (FTTH) or Data Over Cable Service Interface Specifications (DOCSIS) 3.1.
In the 2.4 GHz band, 1, 6, and 11 are the only non-overlapping channels. Selecting one or more of these channels is an important part of a correct set-up of a home network. Currently, many wireless routers automatically select the channel upon the initial setup where, depending on the specific wireless environment, it may lead to decrease in Wi-Fi speeds and interference. The 2.4 GHz band is divided into fourteen overlapping channels spaced 5 MHz apart and eleven overlapping channels. While older-generation access points that support only 2.4 GHz are becoming increasingly less common, they are still deployed and can cause issues for operators, that is, their residential customers can experience a high level of interference and quality issues. Specifically, the 2.4 GHz is reported to be "polluted" by noise coming from all kinds of non-Wi-Fi devices, such as, but not limited to, microwave ovens, cordless phones, and printers. Therefore, users are encouraged to upgrade to dual band 2.4 and 5 GHz access points, where 2.4 GHz would mainly be used to expand the coverage.
The 6 GHz band is currently set aside for licensed users, including carriers and Mobile Virtual Network Operators (MVNOs) who have deployed thousands of point-to-point microwave links to backhaul network traffic. Lightweight management of spectrum usage in the band through a spectrum controller is required to allow unlicensed and licensed users to co-exist, maximizing spectral efficiency.
Further, in order to protect the incumbent operators in the 6 GHz, that is, microwave links from MNOs, utilities, public safety, and transportation, as well as broadcast auxiliary service and cable television relay service, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires the use of an AFS system. Unlicensed use of the 5925-6425 MHz and 6525-6875 MHz sub-bands will be subject to control by an Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) system, while unlicensed use of the other two sub-segments tentatively is proposed to be limited to lower-power and indoor-only use without the need for database coordination. Because the incumbent services in U-NII-5 and U-NII-7 bands are fixed, the FCC proposes to allow unlicensed use at standard power outdoors and indoors subject to an AFC system. The agency "envision[s] the AFC system to be a simple database that is easy to implement." AFC exists primarily for outdoor applications but will also apply for higher power indoor usage such as in large warehouses or residential multi-dwelling units. APs will require a geolocation technology and some way to communicate to the AFC outside of the protected bands. The AFC will be required for indoor higher-power operation above Low Power Indoor (LPI) limits and indoor higher-power mobile clients.
Incumbent Point-to-Point microwave links and Flight Service Station (FSS) earth stations are fixed, highly directional, and seldom change location or operating parameters. Like the TV Bands Database, the AFC "System Operator" is simply enforcing protection zones around static incumbent links based on incumbent-provided licensing data that will be continually updated. A grant to operate a Wi-Fi access point at a location is therefore a one-to-one calculation that is easily verified based on incumbent data. The AFC system operator regularly updates information on incumbent receivers stored in databases maintained by the FCC, which it will use to automatically calculate and enforce protection contours sufficient to protect Point-to-Point links, denying requests to operate where the Radio Local Area Network's (LAN's) emissions exceed an interference threshold into any individual incumbent link. AFC allows incumbent services to add sites or modify their networks, since FCC databases continue to be updated by incumbents, and Radio LAN channel permissions expire automatically if not renewed within a period provided in the FCC's rules.
Furthermore, Wi-Fi is the most used technology to connect indoors, both in the home, the office and even in public spaces such as shopping malls. When Wi-Fi performance is compromised, users become frustrated and look for ways to fix the problem. Wi-Fi experience can vary a lot and be subject to many environmental factors, such as, but not limited to, congestion, noise, and interference. Typically, users and even the operators themselves are unable to identify the sources of poor Wi-Fi performance. Top factors affecting Wi-Fi performance may include, but are not limited to, poor Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) placement, neighbor interference, dead zones due to the layout of the home, and presence of too many legacy devices operating exclusively at 2.4 GHz. Wi-Fi experience is plagued with unknown knowns (that is, "things we understand but are not aware of,") such as, but not limited to, signal strength, neighbor interference, loads of connected devices, and interference from non-802.11 devices.
Further, when a device stops working, a user searches for the problem online or calls a helpline/call center. Most online resources are not direct and sometimes the issue is complex which requires the user to still call the helpline. However, the user often gets frustrated with the call centers' script, as technical personnel are coming in blind, to try and fix the problem. Sometimes the call center operators/technicians still cannot find the problem, either requiring the user to ship the item back for inspection or send a technician to the user's home. In most cases, issues arise due to Internet connectivity rather than device malfunctioning.
There are hundreds of gateways, access points, set-top boxes, and modems from dozens of vendors encompassing various generations of Wi-Fi, which make the job of consolidating all these devices virtually impossible for a given operator. Further, with the emergence of new technologies such as, but not limited to, Internet-of-Things (IoT), the complexity of CPE is increasing, thereby increasing the probability of software malfunction and leading to the requirement of harder testing and an increase in time-to-market. This creates a hassle for operators as they look to deploy new services and features on top of such a disparate footprint and further limits operators, who have to deal with ten and twenty models of gateways from different vendors in their broadband network, as to what speed they can scale their new deployments.
Furthermore, performance of an 802.11 network degrades when some stations use a lower data rate than the others. This is common in a network environment since there is wide variety of Wi-Fi AP generations in use and the adaptation mechanisms that clients utilize to select a data rate. If the link to the destination is under severe fading and interference, an adaptation mechanism reduces the rate by changing its modulation scheme. Data rate adaptation mechanisms are proprietary and may consider successfully received ACKs or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The reason why throughput degrades is hidden under the basic Carrier-Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) channel access method, easy to view from a Markov model. If a station acquires the transmission opportunity, the station uses it as long as it is needed. As a result, if a station operates with a lower data rate, airtime used is longer than needed with the same payload. Hence, the channel is not used optimally, reducing the overall performance of the network.
Limitations and disadvantages of conventional and traditional approaches will become apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art, through comparison of described systems with some aspects of the present disclosure, as set forth in the remainder of the present application and with reference to the drawings.

Optimizing utilization and performance of Wi-Fi networks


An energy efficient electrical power generator has a primary energy conversion mechanism, such as an internal combustion engine, and a secondary energy conversion mechanism, such as a thermoelectric device. The secondary energy conversion mechanism increases the electrical power output and efficiency of the generator.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally provides for systems and methods of converting to electrical energy the rejected thermal energy of an electrical power generator. More particularly, an embodiment of the invention utilizes a mechanism such as that of a Seebeck device or Stirling engine to convert to electricity the wasted heat of combustion from a combustion-powered electrical power generator.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, relatively small, generally portable, electrical power generators powered by petroleum-based, liquid fuel, internal combustion engines have undergone a technological evolution that has significantly increased the efficiency of power generation in situations where the generator load is less than the nominal full load of the generator. That is, traditional constant speed generators have evolved into variable speed generators. Under reduced load requirements traditional constant speed electrical power generators are particularly inefficient because they maintain an engine speed designed for nominal full load output, even though the full load output is not needed. The development of variable speed generators has allowed the engine speed to change in response to the needed electrical output, resulting in significant gains in the overall efficiency of electrical power generators.
A variable speed generator 102 of the prior art is shown in FIG. 1. In general terms, for either a traditional, constant speed generator or a variable speed generator as shown in FIG. 1, the shaft 120 of internal combustion engine 105 drives an alternator 106, which produces alternating current (AC) electrical energy 122 from the rotational motion of the engine. For a variable speed generator 102, however, efficiency is improved over that of a constant speed generator by changing the speed of the engine 105 as the load on the generator 102 changes. The engine speed adjustment is effected in a manner that achieves the maximum possible efficiency from the engine 105 for all loads. By using this variable speed technology the AC voltage produced by the alternator 106 will have varying frequency since the frequency is determined by the number of poles in the alternator and the rotational speed of the shaft. In order to provide a constant AC voltage output from the variable speed generator 102, the alternator voltage output is first converted to a direct current (DC) voltage 124 by a rectifier 107. The DC voltage is then converted to a constant frequency AC voltage output 126 by an electrical power inverter 108. Typical AC voltage frequencies are 50 Hz, 60 Hz and 400 Hz. The variable speed generator, as just described, enables a significant enhancement in generator efficiency for applications in which load levels vary over time.
An example variable speed generator that has achieved significant success is the MEP-831A 3 kW gen-set sold to the U.S. military by Fermont. This generator uses a 7-hp, one cylinder engine that runs at 3600 rpm and is coupled to a permanent magnet alternator paired with an electronic inverter to deliver 120V/60 Hz electrical power. The engine operates using either diesel or JP-8 fuel. (Fuels meeting a "JP" standard are commonly used in avionics applications and are therefore often available to a military that relies on aircraft transportation, which makes very convenient the ability to run the generator on this type of fuel.) This generator is stable against the rigorous environmental demands of military field use. A military generator may need to operate at an elevation as high as 10,000 feet to 14,000 feet or higher, and at temperatures as low as 0° F. to −20° F. or lower and as high as 90° F. to 120° F. or higher. The MEP-831A generator is packaged into a man-portable (as this term is generally used by the U.S. military) unit that weighs about 300 pounds, since portability is important in military applications.
While variable speed generators have provided increased efficiency, the conversion of the chemical energy contained, for example, in petroleum based liquid fuels to electrical energy by a generator that is powered by an internal combustion engine is a relatively low efficiency process. Internal combustion engine (ICE) driven electrical power generators operate at efficiency levels on the order of 20-30%. In operating an ICE driven generator, about 70% of the chemical energy content of the liquid fuel powering the ICE is lost to the environment as thermal energy. In any combustion process used to create electricity through mechanical connections, whether using an internal or external combustion engine based on gaseous, liquid or solid fuels, or any other combustion process, there will be significant energy losses due to the generation of thermal energy that is not captured and converted to electrical energy. Generally, only the mechanical energy that results from the expansion of the combustion product gases is harnessed by the engine 105 to produce the rotational motion that drives the alternator 106.
Whereas an ICE-powered electric energy generator is not designed to utilize thermal energy (which is in fact a waste product of the ICE), other energy conversion mechanisms can be used to produce electrical energy from the rejected thermal energy. One mechanism for generating electrical energy from thermal energy is a thermoelectric device that makes use of the Seebeck effect (a Seebeck device). The Seebeck effect occurs when two dissimilar materials are connected at two separate junctions so as to form an electrical circuit, and the two junctions are maintained at different temperatures. One junction between the two materials is maintained at a higher temperature than is the other junction between the materials. The higher temperature junction is termed the hot side; the lower temperature junction is called the cold side. Under these conditions an electrical current will naturally flow in the circuit. The Seebeck effect has been utilized to design solid state thermoelectric devices, which produce electrical power as a result of exposure to temperature differentials.
Another method of converting thermal energy to electrical energy is through the use of a Stirling engine. Stirling engines feature a system through which work is produced in a cycle of heating and cooling an enclosed fluid (usually a gas) that is connected to at least one piston. Such an engine can utilize any external heat source to convert thermal energy into mechanical energy, e.g., rotational motion, which can then be converted to electrical energy, as was described for the variable speed generator.

Method and apparatus for improving the energy conversion efficiency of electrical power generators


A control system, responsive to receiving values of one or more parameters of a battery of a vehicle for a particular time in service, generates via a machine learning determination a level of confidence at which the values of the one or more parameters of the battery match values of one or more parameters of a set of batteries for a same time in service, and responsive to the level exceeding a predefined threshold, causes a mitigation action to be implemented.

Lead-acid batteries are used in vehicles for electrical energy storage at a 12V level for starting the vehicle and for powering electrical functions while the primary power source is not active. The primary power source may be an alternator in a conventional vehicle with a combustion engine. It may be another form of electric machine or a DC/DC-converter in a hybridized or electric vehicle. It may also be a fuel cell. The primary power source may be inactive when the vehicle is parked or during stop-start operation.
A number of different types of lead-acid batteries are used for automotive applications. The types include AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat) and flooded batteries. A battery type and size is chosen for each vehicle in order to ensure that a high percentage of batteries that are installed achieve a targeted life expectancy. However, some batteries may not achieve the target, because the vehicle for example is operated in unexpected ways.


A transport arm device for carrying at least one disc includes a driving mechanism, a sway control member, and a swaying mechanism. The sway control member comprises a hole substantially in the middle of the sway control member for receiving a portion of the driving mechanism and two leaf springs extending up from two sides of the sway control member respectively. The swaying mechanism is capable of grabbing the discs. The swaying mechanism comprises a rotating connection for engaging with a suspension of the transport arm device. The two leaf springs are contacted with the swaying mechanism. The sway control member is moved by the driving mechanism so as to rotate the swaying mechanism along a rotary axis on the rotating connection, and the two leaf springs provide elasticity for the swaying mechanism rotating back.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a transport arm device and, more particularly, to a transport arm device for one or more carrying discs at one time.
2. Description of the Related Art
As more and more people become use to dealing with digital information in their daily lives, different information storage devices are being produced. Considering the low cost of discs and improvements in optical disk drives, the information storage device that most people use is a disc.
If the disc tray of the optical disk drive extends out completely, the mechanical arm can retrieve the disc. But as more and more computers are designed to be smaller, their disc trays do not extend out completely. FIG. 1A shows a disc tray 11a extending out completely. In this type of the optical disk drive 11, the disc tray 11a for placing a disc 4 not only extends out completely but also keeps a distance D with the surface panel of the optical disk drive 11. Therefore, the disc 4 can be retrieved by the mechanical arm using conventional way of horizontal retrieving without any difficulties. On the other hand, FIG. 1B shows a disc tray 11b extended incompletely. In this type of the optical disk drive 11′, the disc tray 11b for placing the disc 4 is not extended completely but remain inside a distance D′ from the surface panel of the optical disk drive 11′. Therefore, the disc 4 can't be retrieved by the mechanical arm using the conventional way of horizontal retrieving, because the mechanical arm would be blocked by the surface panel of the optical disk drive 11′.
In addition, in the prior art, the conventional transport arm device can only carry one disc at one time.

Transportation arm device for carrying discs


A personal information management apparatus electronically manages users' personal information, and includes a personal information database selection unit and a processing unit. The personal information database selection unit selects a personal information database based on predetermined rules from a personal information storage unit including a plurality of personal information databases respectively storing personal information about different situations of a user. The processing unit processes the personal information database selected by the personal information database selection unit such that the personal information can be read and written. Thus, personal information about different situations can be easily and collectively managed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a personal information management apparatus and a personal information managing method for managing personal information, and a storage medium and a program therefor, and more specifically to a personal information management apparatus and a personal information managing method for managing personal information about a person by dividing the information into plural sets of different situations, and a storage medium and a program therefor.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, efficient management of personal information has become more and more important in daily life as well as in business. Personal information refers to, for example, common information such as an address book, telephone book, schedule information, etc. that have been managed on notebooks, and also to the bookmark of a WWW browser, and the option setting information, etc. for the OS or an application program.
The personal information has been increasing in volume and variation with the development and complexity of information processing appliances. A number of information terminals and management applications are being marketed at present, and the personal information management function has been installed in a portable telephone, etc. In addition, to utilize the personal information management in various requirements, personal information has also been accumulated in a server for access through a network.
However, personal information has been managed in a distribution system in various places, and users have found difficulty in appropriately obtaining personal information. To solve the problem, there have been several practical applications to collectively manage the personal information.
For example, an information terminal device is described in Japanese patent Publication No.2000-67118. The device receives a request to set a schedule between users using a schedule database for management of the schedule of an operator, and communication means for communication between the users, and has the function of reflecting a setting result on the schedule database of each user.
However, in the personal information management apparatus (personal agent) such as the above mentioned information terminal device, there has been the following problem in processing the personal information.
Users have respective status and situations in their offices, home, etc. Especially, mixing up private information with public information causes a problem of the business security, infringement of privacy, etc. Therefore, users have no alternative but to use a plurality of personal information management apparatus (personal agent) and manage the information as different persons.
On the other hand, in the method of processing information as completely different persons, all personal information has to be separately managed as each person who has set his or her own personal information, thereby failing in collectively managing the personal information which is the first object of the personal information management apparatus (personal agent) for managing the personal information.
The users request to classify the information to be managed by a plurality of personal information management apparatuses (personal agents) into an information group to be shared and another information group not to be shared so that the information to be shared can be equally accessed by any personal information management apparatus (personal agent).
Furthermore, if the plurality of personal information management apparatuses (personal agents) are independently used, it is necessary to separately use an information terminal for each personal information management apparatus (personal agent). Thus, it is almost impossible to use the plurality of personal information management apparatuses (personal agents) through one information terminal.
Although the function of communications among a plurality of personal information management apparatuses (personal agents) can be realized as the information terminal device disclosed by Japanese Patent Publication No.2000-67118, a method of processing the personal information about the same person by dividing the information into groups for different situations has not been provided. Therefore, unless a user personally switches his or her situation, appropriate information cannot be selected from among plural pieces of personal information.

Personal information management apparatus, personal information managing method, and storage medium and program therefor


A process and apparatus are provided for detection of viable and potentially hazardous biological particles which may be dispersed in a particulate-containing airstream. The process comprises directing each of the contained particles along a linear path through air, in a sequential manner, and sampling them for determination of their size, whether they are biological and viable, and whether they are present in concentrations greater than background levels. The particle size identifies the particles as respirable or not and the particles are characterized as biological and viable by subjecting each particle in turn, to 340 nm, ultraviolet laser light and looking for the emission of fluorescence which is typically emitted from bacteria or bacterial spore. Fluorescence detected in the 400-540 nm range signals the presence of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide hydrogen, which is indicative of biological activity or viability. A more compact, and power-saving apparatus results with the preferential use of a solid state, ultraviolet laser, which is actuated only when the particle is passing the laser and only if it is deemed to be a biologically viable candidate.

There is a recognized need for the detection of undesirable concentrations of potentially harmful airborne bacteria in health care environments, laboratories and in warfare conditions. Processes for the detection of airborne particles, which may contain harmful bacteria such as anthrax (bacillus anthracis), typically comprise sizing and characterizing the particles as biological. As bacteria can clump together, the term "particle", used hereinafter, is understood to include inert particles, a single biological entity or biological (typically 1 .mu.m), or an aggregate of these small biologicals (aggregates of about 3-10 .mu.m).
Means for measuring a particle's size include analysis of light scattering, electrical mobility, or particle inertia in an accelerated fluid flow. First, a particle's size is indicative of its potential as a respiratory hazard. Secondly, whether it is biologically hazardous or not requires further determination of the particles composition. Composition or biological characteristics are typically determined using reagent-bases processes (such as the detection of biological iron) or apparatus such as a flow cytometer.
The sizing of particles is readily performed in real-time, but the determination of a particle's composition is generally performed using time consuming, off-line analysis. In events where one or more particles may pose extraordinary risks to humans, such as bacteria and their spores, off-line analysis may provide results too late to make an appropriate and safe response.
The sizing of particles using aerodynamic principles is a conventional technique used widely to obtain high resolution size distributions of particles in the range of 0.5 to 15 .mu.m. As described in the paper Performance of a TSI Aerodynamic Particle Sizer, Aerosol Science and Technology, 1985, 4:89-97 by Yeh et al., an air sample containing particles is drawn through a small nozzle that produces an abrupt acceleration in the airstream. The resulting velocity of a particle as it exits the nozzle is dependent upon its inertia and its acceleration in the fast airstream. Therefore, the end velocity of very small particles corresponds nearly with the velocity increase of the air stream, while larger, higher inertia particles resist the acceleration and have a lower end velocity.
Particle end velocities are measured very near the nozzle exit by measuring the time between the particle's sequential interruption of two, closely spaced laser beams just beyond the nozzle's exit. This technique is capable of usefully determining particle sizes in the respirable range of about 0.5 .mu.m to 15 .mu.m.
Applicant has previously employed commercial aerodynamic particle sizing (APS) instruments for rapid detection of "possible" bioaerosol events as disclosed in applicant's 1994 paper Detection of Biological Warfare Agents, Today Science Tomorrow Defence, pp.11-18, Ed. C. Boulet, Government of Canada Cat. No. D4-1/175E. As described, these possible events have heretofore only been inferred from the concentrations of particles, in particular size ranges, as being generally consistent with the presence of biologicals. The prevailing disadvantage for applying an APS apparatus for bioaerosol detection lays in its inability to unequivocally distinguish whether the particle is biological or not. Characteristics other than size are needed to distinguish harmful biological particles from inert (ie. mineral) particles.
Conventional liquid flow cytometers have grown in use over the last ten years to become an important tool for the characterization of micro-biological specimens. Flow cytometry is well understood in the art, as described in the paper, How a flow Cytometer Works, Practical Flow Cytometry, 1988, p. 84, A. R. Liss, Inc. NY, N.Y. by Shapiro et al. Basically, the flow cytometer projects a laser light at a moving stream of particles conveyed in a liquid carrier and uses the resultant light scatter or fluorescence to identify individual particle's characteristics.
In optical instruments, the presence of air interposed between the viewing optics and the particle degrades the viewing quality. Thus, in the flow cytometer, the particles are first prepared by immersion in an optically transparent fluid. Further, in some cases, particles are labelled with a fluorescent tag, such as by tagged monoclonal antibody-antigen reactions. The particle-laden liquid is passed through one or more overlapped laser-light beams. Light which scatters upon contact with the particles is measured and any fluorescence is detected in one or more emission wave bands.
By measuring the forward scatter and applying pre-determined criteria, the particle size may be determined. Using the side scatter, a particle's cellular constituents may be determined. Lastly, fluorescence of the particle indicates presence of the expected fluorescent antibody, and more particularly, the antigen it is bound to.
However, fluorescent tagging is not practical for aerosol sampling as one cannot tag all the incoming airborne particles on a real-time basis. Therefore, one must instead investigate the intrinsic characteristics of particles themselves. Further, a flow cytometer requires both pre-preparation of the particulate matter in an optically-enhancing liquid carrier, and foreknowledge of the characteristics of the particles of interest (so as to attach an appropriate fluorescent tag). Simply, the flow cytometer does not accept an atmospheric air stream sample for analysis in real-time.
In summary, the APS apparatus is not able to discern between hazardous biological and inert, respirable particles and a flow cytometer is unable to process airborne particles.
In an alternate, reagent-based biological characterization process, continuous use of consumable reagents can become problematical and prohibitively expensive.
Therefore, the present invention is directed towards correcting the deficiencies of the known apparatus so as to enable an operator to perform real time detection of bioaerosol hazards in the respirable size range, and to establish whether they are inert or biological.

Fluorescent biological particle detection system

Her Majesty the Queen in right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of National Defence


An absorbent article has a skincare composition applied on at least a portion thereof so as to be transferable to the skin of the wearer. The composition is solid at 21° C. and includes at least three constituents, being chosen according to their melting behavior, and characterized, in particular, by the presence of a crystallization accelerator.

In the preparation of hygiene articles, such as baby diapers or sanitary towels, absorbing materials are used in order to absorb aqueous fluids. In order to prevent direct contact with the absorbing material upon wearing and to increase the wear comfort, this material is covered with a thin, water-pervious nonwoven. Nonwoven materials of this type are usually prepared from synthetic fibers, such as polyolefin or polyester fibers, because these fibers can be produced at low cost, have good mechanical properties, and are thermally stable.
In the hygiene article sector, nonwoven materials of this type are increasingly provided with skin-friendly lotions in order to generally improve tolerability and wear comfort. For example, DE 33 09 530 C1 describes a hygienic absorption liner impregnated with a skincare material which consists of triglycerides and/or partial glycerides of coconut oil fatty acids having 8 to 18 carbon atoms. In order that these preparations can transfer from the nonwoven to the skin without problems while being worn, the triglyceride and partial glyceride mixtures of DE 33 09 530 are chosen such that they have a rise point in the range from 35° C. to 40° C.
Another approach to transferring skincare substances to the skin during the wearing of hygiene articles is given in WO 96/16682. This describes a diaper whose inner covering web is prepared with a lotion which is solid or semisolid at 20° C. and which transfers to the skin of the wearer while being worn. These lotions comprise from 10% to 95% of an anhydrous emollient, which has to be plastic or liquid at room temperature, and 5% to 90% of a so-called immobilizer which is to have a melting point of at least 35° C., but preferably 40° C.
However, the main problem of the known lotions is their storage stability. It is preferable that the lotions themselves are in a form at skin temperature, i.e., approximately 36° C. to 38° C., such that they transfer to the skin from the nonwoven without difficulty, i.e., at these temperatures the lotion should be sufficiently viscous to detach from the nonwoven and transfer onto the skin. This temperature-dependent process can, however, lead to problems if the hygiene products are stored at relatively high temperatures, e.g., more than 30° C. In this case, it is frequently observed that the lotions "exude" on the nonwoven materials. It was therefore an object of the present invention to provide skin-friendly lotions for application to nonwoven materials for hygiene articles, where the storage stability of said lotions is to be ensured, in particular at high temperatures.
Furthermore, it is to be noted that the nonwoven in, e.g., baby diapers must be pervious to liquids and has therefore usually been prepared to be hydrophilic. Further finishing with a usually hydrophobic skin-friendly lotion could therefore reduce or significantly impair the transportation of liquid through the web into the absorbing materials.
Furthermore, it is desired that the lotions transfer as completely as possible from the nonwoven onto the skin of the wearer and, in this connection, optionally provide further additional uses, e.g., the reduction of odor formation or the growth of bacteria, fungi, and yeasts. In principle, it should be possible to apply the lotions to the nonwoven materials easily and to apply them as far as possible using the known preparation processes. It has been found that these properties could not be achieved in totality using the products of the prior art.
The lotion composition is typically applied to the absorbent article or a material intended to be used in such an article, in a molten state. This is normally done at a temperature between 35° C. and 100° C. Once the molten lotion has been applied it is allowed to cool and solidify to form solidified coating on the surface of the article or material onto which it has been applied. Any suitable application methods such as slot coating, extrusion coating, gravure coating, and spraying methods may be used.
One main problem when applying lotion compositions to absorbent articles or a material intended to be used in such articles is that the manufacturing process often is a very rapid process and the molten lotion will not solidify sufficiently before the article or material is folded or rolled up, resulting in smearing of the lotion. The lotion may further penetrate through, e.g., the topsheet of the absorbent article, onto which it has been applied, and migrate into the absorbent core making this hydrophobic and less absorbent.

Absorbent article containing a skincare composition and method of making and using same


A tank venting device for motor vehicles having an internal combustion engine supplied from a fuel tank. The device includes a filter housing, which is connectable to a venting stub of the fuel tank and includes an adsorption filter, whose air inlet is occupied by a shutoff valve and whose air outlet communicates with an intake tube of the engine, and an air feed pump and a diagnosis device. To improve the metering capability for the regeneration mixture aspirated from the filter to the intake tube of the engine, the air feed pump is disposed with a reversible feeding direction between the air outlet of the filter housing and the intake tube of the engine. The air feed pump is controlled in its feeding direction reversal via a multiposition control valve such that the filter housing is located on the intake side of the air feed pump for the duration of filter regeneration, and on the pressure side of the air feed pump for the duration of error diagnosis.

The invention is based on a tank venting device for motor vehicles having an internal combustion engine supplied from a fuel tank.
In a known tank venting device of this type (German Patent Disclosure DE 41 24 465A1), the metering of the air stream carried via the adsorption filter for filter regeneration is effected by a tank venting device, which is disposed between the air outlet of the filter housing and the intake tube of the engine and whose opening cross section is controlled as a function of engine operating parameters. Depending on the opening cross section of the tank venting device, and as a consequence of the negative pressure prevailing in the intake tube, a certain quantity of air is aspirated via the adsorption filter, and a corresponding regeneration mixing quantity is delivered to the engine. Since after all, depending on the operating state of the engine, the negative pressure in the intake tube fluctuates severely--for instance, in the upper load range of the engine or in engines without throttle valves there is no negative pressure available--precise metering of the regeneration mixture can be accomplished only with very great difficulty, or not at all.
To make a regeneration mixing quantity available even in internal combustion engines lacking a throttle valve and at full load in the intake tube, in an also-known tank venting device (DE 196 257 02 A1), the air feed pump required by a diagnosis device for error detection in order to generate an overpressure in the tank venting device connected to the fuel tank is utilized to generate the regenerating air flow. To that end, the air feed pump is connected to the air inlet of the filter housing via a bypass and is left on for the duration of filter regeneration. Once again, however, the metering of the air flow--and hence of the regeneration mixture--is effected by the controlled tank venting device located between the air outlet of the filter housing and intake tube of the engine. However, the capacity of the air feed pump must be limited, since when the regenerating air flow is generated air is blown through the fuel tank, and for safety reasons the pressure in the fuel tank must be kept below a maximum pressure of about 50 hPa. Increasing the air quantity without exceeding the maximum allowable tank pressure is possible only by means of a very large guide cross section between the air outlet of the filter housing and the tank venting device.


The main object of the present invention is to form an even pattern. In order to achieve the object, in the present invention, patterns P1 to P6 formed on a substrate 400 are formed by liquid droplets discharged from a piezoelectric driving type head unit 300. The size of each liquid droplet discharged from each orifice 300-1 to 300-n differs depending on the mechanical and electric characteristics. The liquid droplets discharged form each orifice 300-1 to 300-n are thinned out so as to have the liquid droplet amount per unit area to be impacted on each pattern p1 to P6 equally.

A color liquid crystal display comprises color filters corresponding to a color to be displayed per pixel. As a method for manufacturing a color filter, conventionally, a pigment dispersion method of repeating a photolithography process for a plurality of times, or the like has been used. Recently, for the main purpose of cost reduction, a method of using an ink jet apparatus attracts the attention.
The pattern pitch of a color filter tends to be finer and finer according to the high definition of the color liquid crystal displays. The amount of ink discharged from the ink jet apparatus is a few pico liter, and thus it is extremely small. In order to form a pattern of a small line width, it is necessary to have a small discharging amount. Also in this regard, the ink jet apparatus is preferable for the manufacturing a color filter.
According to the ink jet apparatus, a color filter pattern is produced, in general, by using a head unit provided with a plurality of piezoelectric driving type heads.
However, due to mechanical and electric variation of each piezoelectric driving type heads, the liquid droplet amount discharged form each piezoelectric driving type head is uneven although the same driving pulse is applied. If the ink discharging amount is not even, the thickness of the coloring layer or the like constituting the color filter becomes uneven.
That is, when a color filter is manufactured by using the conventional ink jet apparatus, derived form the uneven ink discharging amount, there is a problem that unevenness of the display color of the color filter is generated.

Method for manufacturing pattern-forming body and pattern manufacturing apparatus


To mitigate some problems of the pixel color mapping being used in HDR video decoding of the type of SLHDR, a high dynamic range video encoding circuit (300) is taught, configured to encode a high dynamic range image (IM_HDR) of a first maximum pixel luminance (PB_C1), together with a second image (Im_LWRDR) of lower dynamic range and corresponding lower second maximum pixel luminance (PB_C2), the second image being functionally encoded as a luma mapping function (400) for decoders to apply to pixel lumas (Y_PQ) of the high dynamic range image to obtain corresponding pixel lumas (PO) of the second image,                the encoder comprising a data formatter (304) configured to output to a video communication medium (399) the high dynamic range image and metadata (MET) encoding the luma mapping function (400),        the functional encoding of the second image being based also on a color lookup table (CL(Y_PQ)) which encodes a multiplier constant (B) for all possible values of the pixel lumas of the high dynamic range image, and the formatter being configured to output this color lookup table in the metadata, characterized in that the high dynamic range video encoding circuit comprises: —a gain determination circuit (302) configured to determine a luma gain value (G_PQ) which quantifies a ratio of an output image luma for a luma position equal to a correct normalized luminance position divided by an output luma for the luma of the pixel of the high dynamic range image,        wherein the high dynamic range video encoding circuit comprises a color lookup table determination circuit (303) configured to determine the color lookup table (CL(Y_PQ)) based on values of the luma gain value for various lumas of pixels present in the high dynamic range image.

High dynamic range video handling (coding, display adaptation and the like) is a quite recent technical field, which still comes with several unsettled questions and problems. Although HDR televisions are being sold for a few years now (typically with a maximum displayable luminance a.k.a. peak brightness of 1000 nit or Cd/m{circumflex over ( )}2 or less), the technology that comes before the pure displaying (content making, coding, color processing) still has a number of solutions to invent/improve and deploy. There have been a number of movies which have been created and communicated, and also a few early-days broadcasts, and though in general the result is great, there are also still possibilities to further improve on certain aspect, ergo, the technology is not in a phase of being largely settled currently.
High dynamic range images are defined as images that compared to the legacy low dynamic range images a.k.a. standard dynamic range images (which were generated and displayed in the second half of the 20th century, and are still the mainstream of most video technologies, e.g. television or movie distribution over whichever technology, from terrestrial broadcasting to youtube video supply via the internet and the like), typically have more impressive colors, which means that typically they can have brighter pixels (both encoded, and displayed).
Formally, one can define the luminance dynamic range as the span of all luminances from a minimum black (MB) to a peak white or peak brightness (PB), ergo, in principle one might have HDR movies with very deep blacks. Pragmatically one may define, and handle, e.g. color process, the HDR images mainly on the basis of a sole value, namely being a higher peak brightness or more formally luminance (usually this is what users are most interested in, whether it be bright explosions or merely the more realistic specular reflection spots on metals and jewels and the like, and one may pragmatically state the minimum black to be the same for the SDR image and an HDR image).
In practice from legacy times one can state that the SDR image's 1000:1 luminance dynamic range would fall below 100 nit (and above 0.1 nit), and a HDR image would typically have at least 5× brighter PB, ergo, 500 nit or higher. More precisely, even though a legacy SDR image doesn't have a clear maximum luminance, one would display it on an end-user display of approximately 100 nit display peak brightness (PB_D). And one can re-interpret SDR images, in the novel HDR framework, as having its brightest pixel luma correspond to exactly 100 nit.
Note that, without diving into many details which may be unnecessary here, one may indicate which kind of HDR one has by associating a peak brightness number as metadata to the HDR image. This may be seen as the luminance of the brightest pixel existing in the image, or more precisely brightest codeable image pixel in a video of images, and is often formally defined by associating a reference display with the image (i.e. one associates a virtual display with the image, with its peak bright corresponding to the brightest pixel which exists in the image or video, i.e. the brightest pixel which needs displaying, and then one codes this PB_C—C for Coding—of that virtual display as metadata additional to the image pixel colors matrix). The skilled reader can understand that, whatever the coding peak brightness PB_C of a HDR image is, one can create normalized pixel luminances by dividing each pixel luminance by PB_C. Normalized lumas can also be made by dividing by the highest possible code, e.g. 1023 in 10 bit or the like.
In this manner one need not "unelegantly" code HDR images with an excessive amount of bits (e.g. 16 bits per color component), and can simply re-use existing technology with a 10 bit word length for the color components (12 or more bits already seen as rather heavy by several tech suppliers in the total video handling chain, for various reasons, at least for the near future, and usually considered for professional non-consumer use only; and the PB_C metadata allows to easily upgrade the HDR framework for future scenarios).
One aspect re-used from classic video engineering as that pixel colors are typically always communicated as YCbCr colors, with Y the so-called luma component (which is the technical coding for the luminance) and Cb and Cr a blue and red chroma component completing the trichromatic additive color definition.
The luma is defined from the non-linear R′G′B′ color components (the prime ′ indicating the difference from linear RGB components of the colors, amounts of red, green and blue photons coming out of a displayed pixel of any particular color so to speak), and via an equation which reads:Y=a1*R′+a2*G′+a3*B′.  [Eq. 1]
The three constants depend on the particular primaries defining the RGB color (obviously, if one defines a color by a mix of 50% very saturated strong red as the red primary, one will get a more reddish color than the same R=0.5; G=x; B=x color definition in a set of primaries where the red is a feeble pink).
In fact, these constants a1, a2, a3 are uniquely determined, for each triplet of color defining primaries, as such constants which yield the exact (absolute, or typically relative having 1.0 for peak white) luminance in case one fills in the linear RGB components in Eq. 1.
The non-linear (primed) components are derived from the linear ones by applying an opto-electronic transfer function. For HDR this is a function with a steeper slope for the darkest linear input components than approximately a square root (Rec. 709 OETF of SDR), e.g. the Perceptual Qunatizer function standardized in SMPTE 2084.
In the LDR era there was not much debate, because for high end video one used only the Rec. 709 primaries, but now one also has e.g. the Rec. 2020, wide gamut primaries.
Cb then follows from Cb=b1*(B′−Y) and Cr=c1*(R′−Y), with b1, and c1 again constants fixed from the elected primary system (so as to not have overflow in the normalized to 1.0 representation).
The second question one needs to ask is how the non-linear R′G′B′ are related to (in fact defined for) the linear RGB components. The linear components are easily determined for each to be additively created color (at least within the gamut of reproducible colors, e.g. inside the triangle of the three chromaticity locations of the elected primaries, in e.g. a standard CIE 1976 u′v′ color plane; n.b. the primaries can be in principle chosen at will, but it makes sense to define images in such primaries which can also be displayed by actual displays in the market, i.e. not e.g. single wavelength laser primaries), namely this follows from elementary colorimetry (for any color—e.g. CIE XYZ or hue, saturation, luminance—one can calculate a corresponding metameric RGB triplet that a particular display having such primaries should display, to show the same color to an average observer).
The definition of the coding system, i.e. the so-called Electro-Optical transfer Function, or its inverse the Opto-Electrical transfer function which calculates the non-linear components from the corresponding linear ones, e.g.:R′=OETF_PQ(R)  [Eq. 2],is a technical question.
Note that one can also mathematically demonstrate that, even though one applies the OETF to a red, green and blue pixel color component, the luma and luminance are related via the same OETF (a colorless grey has R=G=B and R′=G′=B′, so luminance L=(a1+a2+a3=1.0])*0.x and luma Y=1.0*OETF[0.x]=OETF[L]).
E.g., whilst in the LDR era there was only the Rec. 709 OETF, which OETF is (shortcutting some irrelevant details for this patent application) the inverse of the EOTF, and this was to a fairly good approximation a simple square root.
Then when the technical problem to code a large range of HDR luminances (e.g. 1/10,000th nit-10,000 nit) in only 10 bit emerged, which is not possible with the square root function, a new EOTF was invented, the so-called Perceptual Quantizer EOTF (U.S. Pat. No. 9,077,994).
So this different EOTF definition, and any input YCbCr color defined by it, will clearly have different numerical normalized components depending on whether it is an YCbCr_Rec709, or an YCbCr_PQ (in fact, one can see this by turning the R′G′B′ cube on its black tip, with the Y-axis of achromatic grey colors of different luma now forming the vertical: the various image pixel colors will then have different spreads along that vertical, depending on whether these same image object pixel colors are represented in a 709-based color cube, or a PQ-based color cube).
This given technical fact of YCbCr_PQ coding, will lead to new interesting experimental facts when being combined with the HDR codec which the present applicant has created together with Technicolor (see WO2017157977 and ETSI standard TS 103433-2 V1.1.1 "High performance Single Layer High Dynamic Range [SLHDR], Part 2"; and here in this patent application re-summarized with FIG. 1).
FIG. 1 shows our decoder which can ingest a YCbCr_PQ defined pixel color input image (Im_1), in which the pixels are being processed pixel after pixel in a scan-line.
So this image can come say e.g. from a blu-ray disk, with PQ normalized lumas corresponding to the PQ peak luminance of 10,000 nit. The shape of the functions which are needed to down-grade to e.g. an SDR image may come from a grader, human or automaton, e.g. (non-limiting) calculated when the movie of the disk is being transcoded.
The upper track of processing circuits (which are typically hardware blocks on a integrated circuit, and may be of various configuration, e.g. the whole luma processing sub-circuit 101 may in practice be embodied as a LUT, the so-called P_LUT (working in perceptually uniformized lumas), but also the sub-blocks may be embodied as separate transistor calculation engines of the integrated circuit and the like, but we need to explain it technically as what is in the blocks which generates both the technical benefits to the appearance of the image, as well as any possible technical problem, and in particular the one handled here below) concerns the luminance processing part of the pixel color. This is of course the most interesting part of the dynamic range adjustment: when e.g. calculating from an input e.g. 1000 nit PB_C HDR image, a 600 nit output image, one needs to redistribute the various image object's normalized pixel lumas along the Y-axis of the YCbCr color space, namely typically the darker pixel lumas of the image will shift upwards towards the brighter (normalized) greys of the Y axis, thereby compressing the brighter pixel lumas into a smaller sub-range of the Y-axis. The bottom part of the circuit of FIG. 1 contains the chromatic processing, in particular of the color saturation of the pixels, because we want to keep the same hue in the input and output image, which for a good quality dynamic range conversion one should also take good care of.
In this particular elucidation embodiment, the output pixel color is also defined non-linearly with the PQ OETF (or inverse EOTF to be technically accurate), yielding non-linear R″, G″ and B″ components directly transmittable to e.g. a HDR TV which expects such input (but with the correct color-mapped a.k.a. re-graded colors according to applicant's approach).
Some of the integrated circuit units are static, in the sense that they apply a fixed curve, matrix multiplication and the like, and some blocks are dynamic, in the sense that one can adapt their behavior. In particular, they may adapt the shape of their functions—e.g. how sharply a mapping function rises for the darkest input and how strongly it compresses the brightest inputs—potentially for each consecutive image of the video. Indeed, the problem with image processing is that there is always an almost infinite variability of the content (the input video may be a dark Hollywood movie of a burglary happening at nighttime, or a youtube movie where one follows the brightly colored computer graphics of somebody playing an on-line game, etc.; i.e. the input, though all encoded as YCbCr may vary considerably regarding its pixel colors and brightnesses in any image, whether the content was generated from a natural scene by any camera, professional or low quality, or was generated as graphics, etc.). So a nighttime scene may need a different mapping for the darkest luminances or in fact lumas of the input image Im_in than e.g. a sunny beach scene image.
Therefore some of the circuits (coarse dynamic range converter 112, customizable converter 113, and color lookup table 102 can apply variably-shaped functions, the shape of which is controlled by parameters from a source of image-related information 199. Typically this source is fed with images (Im_in) and metadata (MET), the latter comprising parameters which determine the shape of the various luma mapping functions which those dynamic circuits apply. This re-grading function metadata may be communicated from a content creation (encoder) side, communicated over any video communication network (cable, internet, etc.), and stored temporary in a memory in or connected to the decoder. The decoder can then apply those mappings that the creator of the video prescribed.
The pixel colors in the image come in as YCbCr_PQ, i.e. the non-linear R′, G′ and B′ component all three being encoded with the Perceptual Quantizer function. The luma component is sent through the PQ EOTF which luminance calculation circuits 129 is configured to calculate (on achromatic grey colors this can be done without a problem, since those luma codes uniquely represent the various normalized luminances).
Subsequently this normalized luminance L is physchovisually perceptually uniformized by perceptualizer 111, yielding as output perceptually uniform luminances PY. This is performed by the following equations:RHO(PB_C_HDR)=1+32*power[PB_C_HDR/10,000; 1/(2.4)]PY=log 10[1+(RHO(PB_C_HDR)−1)*power[L;1/(2.4)]]/log 10[RHO(PB_C_HDR)]  [Eqs. 3]
We see in this perceptualization a dependency on the largest value codeable in the HDR input image, i.e. the largest (absolute) pixel luminance that can occur in the image (i.e. to be displayed), PB_C_HDR, which may typically also be communicated as part of the metadata (MET). In fact this gives already a quite reasonable distribution of image pixel lumas, and ultimately, when displayed, luminances, from a particular input peak brightness to an output peak brightness, but to have better quality graded images the content creator (encoding side) can continue re-mapping lumas in further configurable circuits (namely 112 and 113).
Subsequently, coarse dynamic range converter 112 applies a roughly good dynamic range reduction function, the shape of which is symbolically shown as a square root (an actual function which was found as useful by applicant consists of two linear segments the slope of which is configurable by metadata, with in between a parabolic segment, and the interested reader can find those details in the SLHDR ETSI standard as they are irrelevant for the present discussion), and this function calculates corresponding coarse lumas CY from the input perceptually uniform luminances PY of a currently processed set of pixels along an image scan. The idea is, and this will be sufficient already for many situations, that one relatively brightens the darker pixels of the HDR compared to the brighter ones, so that the totality fits in a smaller dynamic range.
Subsequently, customizable converter 113 applies a further electable (e.g. determined under control of a color grader or shader who is encoding a RAW captured video or movie at the content creation side, who will then communicate his elected function being most appropriate for the re-grading of this particular image or run of successive images from the video as metadata) luminance mapping function to the previously obtained coarse lumas CY to obtain perceptual output lumas PO. The shape of this mapping function can be determined at will (e.g. one may boost the contrast in a sub-set of luminances, corresponding to some important object or region in the image, by raising that part of the function above the trend for the rest of the function).
We will—as drawn—assume (non-limiting) this function to be an S-shaped function, i.e. with a relatively weak slope at the upper and lower input luminance sub-range, and a steep slope in the middle. The invention is not limited to S-shape functions applied by customizable converter 113, and is particularly useful for any scenario in which there is a changing slope behavior especially in a lowest sub-range of the input lumas (e.g. starting at 0.0 input value and ending at some value 0.x, typically below 0.5), e.g. the type which has a relatively low slope or average slope for the very darkest pixels, compared to slope for the brighter pixels of the lowest sub-range of the input lumas. One can consider the slope formulated from the starting point (0.0, 0.0).
Finally the perceptual output lumas PO (i.e. which have been fully luminance re-graded as the present image content would need, i.e. giving the best re-graded image corresponding to the input master HDR image (e.g. outputted as an output SDR image with a PB_C=100 nit), e.g. making the brightnesses and contrast look as close as possible as the visual impact they have in the master HDR image as far as the reduced dynamic range allows, or alternative at least yielding a decent looking or well-watchable image, etc.) are linearized again into normalized output luminances Lout, by linearizer 114, which uses the inverse equations of eqs. 3, but now with a PB_C_OUT value. We will assume for explanation purposes that the decoder down-grades the input HDR image to an SDR image, i.e. PB_C_OUT=100 nit (as agreed by standardization), but it can also down-grade to a e.g. 650 nit HDR output image, etc. (then the functions will have a somewhat different shape, but that display adaptation detail is also not useful to understand the present application's new technical principles, and can be found in said ETSI standard).
The lower track concerns the chromatic procession, or in other words the completion of the 3D color processing which belongs to the luminance processing (because in fact any luminance processing on color images is in fact a 3D color processing, whether one carefully treats the chroma components or not). This is where things become technically more interesting than the dynamic range changing behavior for achromatic colors on the axis of greys.
Where the luma typically quantifies the brightness of a color, Cr and Cb quantify its hue (the proportion of Cb/Cr) and its saturation (the magnitude of Cb and Cr). Formally Cb and Cr are chrominances.
Thereto, our codec processing circuitry has a color lookup table 102, which specifies a function of Y_PQ having a shape as elected and again configurable by metadata. So the processing of the chrominances is defined by both chrominances being multiplied by a same constant B, and this constant is a function of the luma Y_PQ of any processed pixel, and the shape of this function, i.e. each respective value of B(Y_PQ) for any possible Y_PQ, is also configurable.
The main purpose of this LUT would be to at least correct the too high or too low amount of the Cb and Cr components for a changed (dynamic range adjusted) normalized luma Y, because actually the Cb and Cr co-evolve with the luma in this color space representation YCbCr (the saturation of the color is in fact related to Cb/Y and Cr/Y), but other colorimetric aspects of the image could be changed with it, e.g. one could adjust the saturation of the bright blue sky. In any case, given a color LUT CL(Y_PQ) is being loaded for dynamic range processing at least the present video image, the color lookup table 102 will yield a multiplier B for each running/being color-processed pixel's Y_PQ value. The pixel's input chroma components Cb_PQ and Cr_PQ will be multiplied by this value B by multiplier 121 to yield the corrected chroma components CbCr_COR. Then a matrixing operation is applied by matrixer 122, the details of which can be found in the ETSI standard, to get normalized R′G′B′_norm components. These components are not normalized in the regular sense that they lie within the non-linear color cube between 0.0 and 1.0, but in the sense that they are dynamic range-less (all clustered together, just "chromaticities", as a trio instead of the usual duo, i.e. not with any luminance or luma yet). So to obtain an actual correct 3D color, they have to be multiplied by a luma, and precisely that luma which we optimally determined in the upper luma-processing sub-circuit. For this the normalized output luminance L_out needs to be mapped by a PQ OETF, which PQ OETF circuit 115 performs. Multiplier 123 does this correct multiplicative scaling of the three normalized R′G′B_norm components being output of the chromatic sub-circuit.
Finally the perceptual-quantizer-defined red, green and blue color components R″G″B″ _PQ can be sent e.g. directly to a HDR display, which is constructed to understand such input, and it can directly display that input (e.g. the 650 nit PB_C output image may have been optimized by our technology to drive a 650 nit actual DISPLAY peak brightness PB_D display, so that this display does not need to figure out by itself how to handle differences between the luminance range encoded in the supplied images, and its displaying capabilities). Note that we elucidated a basic core technical element behavior here, to explain the present technical innovation. In the actual SLHDR decoder as standardized by ETSI there is also a black limiter circuit sub-unit, but that is not essential for the present approach ergo not essential for its explanation (the black limiter may or may not be present in various embodiments, ergo discussing about it in the introduction would produce more diffusion of the message than essential teachings, but for the interested reader we show that variant in FIG. 5). Note also that the coarse dynamic range conversion of coarse dynamic range converter 112 may in some embodiments be optional: one may set its shape control parameters so that it does an identity transform, and only apply the customizable mapping of customizable converter 113. There can be further modifications, like e.g. the output for a connected display, or storing the image, need not necessarily be in PQ YCbCr, but that complexity also deters from the core of our elucidating teachings.
This colorimetric optimization of the various images, although slightly complex because our various units were designed over the years to give the best approach for all situations and applications (e.g. off-line graded movie content versus real-time broadcasting, etc.), given various technical considerations and limitations, can now be understood, and also works quite satisfactorily on most of the many different input image situations.
However, there are a few somewhat exotic situations for which the color decoding can still be improved, as explained by means of figures FIG. 2A, FIG. 2B, FIG. 2C and FIG. 2D This problem will be handled with the new technical elements as taught.
FIG. 2A shows an ideal YCbCr color space, which one could form in case one uses instead of the luma Y as a vertical axis, the normalized luminance L. This color space is ideal in the following sense. A blue color of a certain hue lies in a triangular vertical section through this diamond shape. More saturated colors have a larger angle from the vertical, ergo color 201 is a blue of the same hue, but a less saturated pale blue, and color 202 is a more saturated blue. Both those colors may the same luminance, and this can be easily read of the vertical axis' luminance scale in the center (e.g. luminance level L1, versus L2). We can verify both differently colored pixels do have the same luminance, because the luminance of (pixel) color 201 and (pixel) color 202 is the same, namely L1.
In contrast with colorimetrically unique luminances, lumas however were never designed to be a perfect (easy to use, uniform etc.) color representation for human vision, but rather a system which makes it easy to code a triplet of colors into e.g. 3×8 bit, or nowadays for HDR typically 3×10 bit (w the reader is notified that this 3×10 bit can code HDR of not just a few times brighter than SDR, but up to 100× brighter and additionally also much darker!). So lumas and in particular YCbCr color representations were primarily designed for (reversible) coding, not for color processing.
This coding is in principle easily mathematically invertible, so one can always—as a coding system is supposed to have as its main property—re-derive the originally intended (linear) RGB components from the received YCbCr pixel color codings, and then display those. And one can also derive the luminance.
However, if one starts to do a (needed) more advanced decoding for the present HDR era videos, some inconvenient problems may occur. In fact, as shown in FIG. 3B, for chromatic colors (i.e. which are NOT pure greys, which pure greys fall on the vertical axis, having Cb=Cr=0 component values) the luma Y does not any longer correctly or uniquely code the pixel luminance (i.e. the luminance which immediately follows from applying eq. 1 on the original linear RGB components), i.e. it cannot be converted into the luminance by calculating L=EOTF(Y). In fact, for any elected fixed luminance value L of a color, the corresponding luma Y gets lower the higher the saturation S of the color is. In fact, a typical situation as illustrated with FIG. 2D is that if we have an object—say a purple flower—with more or less the same uniform illumination and hence more or less the same luminance for all pixels of the flower, but different saturations for the pixels, the tight almost single value histogram of pixel luminances 205 when mapped on the normalized horizontal axis of lumas (corresponding to vertical axis counts N(L_in)) gets a corresponding luma histogram 206 (counts N(PY)) which is not only positioned at a lower normalized (input) value, but also more spread. We can map the normalized (or absolute) luminances to a position on the luma axis defined by a given OETF, because we know that for achromatic pixels the luma Y uniquely corresponds to the normalized luminance (by remapping with the OETF shape: Y="L_in"=OETF(pixel luminance)).
This gives rise to several issues. Firstly we don't know exactly which luminance we have from only looking at the luma value Y, i.e. by applying the EOTF to Y, and this might already give problems in frameworks which do not handle the 3D colorimetry in a natural 3D manner, but for pragmatic reasons in a 1D+2D manner, like the decoder of FIG. 1. Indeed, in theory one can do everything correctly if one brings in the corrective dependency of the particular values for the pixel of Cb and Cr, but that may not be possible in some predesigned color processing topologies. Furthermore, as can be seen, we actually apply the luminance or brightness re-grading functions to the (perceptually uniformized) lumas, because already the input image is coded by pixel lumas, not luminances. So we might be doing something wrong, at least theoretically.
Nevertheless, this is normally not a (real) problem, which pragmatically looking at technology is not seen of sufficient error magnitude to be a reasonable concern, as was tested over the past years with many different kinds of image content. So one could argue that most of the time all goes well by simply doing the processing of FIG. 1, and if occasionally the output image is not perfect, then one will live with that issue.
But in a very specific conjunction of circumstances, one can see image artifacts which are significantly large to warrant an improvement solution, which is presented here below. This may happen when on the one hand one has very saturated colors (e.g. in Rec. 2020 one can make highly saturated colors; normally that wouldn't happen, since these colors hardly occur in real life, as most normal image colors will in such a saturated basis of color primaries will have more desaturated CbCr values, but at least it is possible theoretically), and on the other hand one elects not to apply only the smooth coarse luminance mapping function of coarse dynamic range converter 112, but also some more advanced function which has inconvenient bendings in it, like e.g. subsequently in customizable converter 113 also an S-curve which has low values for the output PO values corresponding to low input lumas CY (which would be incorrectly too low compared to their luminances as shown in FIG. 2D, and furthermore potentially differentially different for various points on the objects). I.e., especially changes in output color, and in particular luminance, along the object due to this total processing can be seen as problematic. Sadly the patenting system does not allow to include actual color images into a patent application specification, but FIG. 2C symbolizes what one would see e.g. in a saturated purple flower: there may be dark blotches 203 at certain places in the flower, or excessive visibility of microstructure 204, that would normally not be visible in the flower; not in the input image and not in the real world. A good looking flower would look reasonably smooth, or at least with gradually changing luminance, and not with such sharp and marked changes, which are due to some of the colors which are supposed to be color-processed equally jumping to different PY values which span over a point where such total luminance re-grading sufficiently significantly changes.
In FIG. 2D the differences between normalized (chromaticity-dependent) luma (PY) of pixels, as they would be received, and normalized luminance (or more exactly luminance-luma, i.e. the luma one would get on the achromatic axis, i.e. the correct luminance of a pixel of luma PY), L_in, are shown by there respective luma histogram 206 and luminance histogram 205 (N indicating the counts for each value). For a single pixel there would of course be one luma PY and one corresponding correct luminance L_in, but we show the spread for a number of pixels of an object of a particular average luminance and saturation, like e.g. the flower. We see that there may be only a few luminance values if e.g. a saturated purple flower is uniformly lit, but because there may be different color saturations in the flower pixels, the luma histogram may be more spread. In any case they are "incorrect"—as regards one-dimensional representatives of luminances. As will be shown below this can lead to processing errors in our SLHDR decoding approach, which will need to be counter-corrected, and specifically counter-corrected as taught and claimed.
One might theoretically consider to just build a better, different 3D-based decoding system, which might readily solve the issues, but in actual technically limited already deployed video ecosystem (with separate luminance processing and chromatic processing) this is not as easily done in practice. In any case, given we have such an encoder and corresponding decoder, to improve it also for the last minor inconveniences, specifically some incorrect luminance in saturated chromaticity objects, there are not so many things one can change, ergo trying to go for a pragmatic solution may involve quite some thinking and experimentation.
The following prior art documents have been found, and their tangential, insufficient significance is shortly discussed.
Some background teachings of interest of the present applicant are the following.
EP3496028 teaches another improvement of the basic luma processing and parallel chrominance processing encoding or decoding pixel pipeline of applicant, namely, under certain luma mappings some output colors, or in particular their lumas, may fall above the upper limit of the codeable color gamut. So a strategy is needed to keep them within the gamut, not afflicting the darker colors too much preferably. Thereto a particular mapping of the luma inwards to the highest regions inside the 3D color gamut is taught. Some of the luma downmapping may be interchanged for a saturation reduction, so that one needing down-map excessively, but one can also map towards the axis of neutral greys for a certain percentage of the needed luma downmap, thereby desaturing the brightest colors somewhat. In any case, this doesn't happen by means of a G_PQ calculation as in the present invention, and also on different color issues in another range of the color gamut.
Wo2017/157977 is concerned with particular luma processing for the darkest lumas in an image. E.g., a video content creator may wish to make the colors of the secondary image determinable from the primary master HDR image excessively deep for some dark pixels, which may affect the quality of inverse luma mapping for decoding. Thereto a parallel strategy of two alternative luma mappings is taught, in which a second, safer luma mapping can kick in for problematic desired luma mapping curves of the content creator. Beyond merely mentioning a standard means of chrominance mapping, that invention is not concerned with specific particulars of the chrominance mapping, as in the present application.
US2018/0005356 is about a particular roughly good luma mapping by means of a configurable linear slope for the darkest and brightest sub-range of HDR pixel lumas, with a parabolic smooth mapping in between. That luma mapping may or may not be applied in the luma processing track of our approach, but is not a teaching about chrominance processing with a color LUT.

HDR color processing for saturated colors

Abstract: Similarly we teach how the same principles can be embodied in a SLHDR-type video decoder.


A method is disclosed herein of detecting at least one frozen period in at least one sensor dataset associated with at least one sensor in a technical system. The method includes receiving the at least one sensor dataset in time series and computing run-lengths for the at least one sensor dataset, wherein each of the run-lengths is length of consecutive repetitions of a sensor value in the at least one sensor dataset. The method includes clustering the run-lengths into one of two clusters based on a run frequency, wherein the run frequency is a number of times the run-lengths are repeated in the at least one sensor dataset. Further, the method includes identifying a cluster from the two clusters with lower run frequency and detecting the at least one frozen period in the at least one sensor dataset based on the identified cluster.

In a technical system, a sensor error condition includes a long sequence of constant values in a given time series. This long sequence mainly occurs due to "freezing" of sensors. The freezing of sensors results in the sensors being unable to quantify actual state they are measuring. In other words, freezing is a condition when the sensors are functioning but get jammed and output the same measurement for a long period of time before it gets back to normal. Such frozen periods need to be detected as they are anomalous.
Such a method of determining frozen periods in sensors is disclosed in "Online Unsupervised State Recognition in Sensor Data," Julien Eberle et al. at the IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications (PerCom), St. Louis, Mo., USA, 2015. The method disclosed therein determines anomaly in the sensors by converting stream of sensor data into a stream of symbols. The conversion of the sensor data is performed by using run length encoding (RLE) such that anomaly detection, forecasting, or state recognition may be carried out on the transformed data with almost no loss of accuracy. The anomaly is then detected based on a predetermined threshold. A threshold for the number of consecutive repetitions is set before hand from the knowledge of sensors. All the repetitions that are greater than this preset threshold are classified as frozen periods.
However, the above method may be disadvantageous as the predetermined threshold depends on sampling periods of the sensors. Further, the method does not address the change in threshold with change in the sensor data.

System, device and method for frozen period detection in sensor datasets


An optical code scanner being operated using an algorithm is provided. The scanner may scan an optical label. The label may include machine-readable code. The scanner may derive a single set of instructions from the code or multiple sets of instructions from the code. The scanner may process the code. The processing may upload a set of instructions from the code to the scanner and store the set of instructions in an instructions library. The scanner may also derive a picture associated with the instructions and store the picture in the library. The scanner may display a plurality of pictures. Each of the pictures may correspond to a set of uploaded instructions stored on the scanner. Each of the plurality of pictures may be selectable by a user. In response to a user selection of a picture, the scanner may be configured to execute the uploaded instructions that correspond to the selected picture.

QR codes provide businesses with a fast and efficient medium for connecting with consumers. Instructions, such as Uniform Reference Locators ("URLs"), contact information and other information and computer-readable instructions may be encoded in QR codes. Businesses may leverage QR codes to guide consumers to a desired destination (real or virtual) where the customers can access products or services provided by the business. A scanning device is typically used to scan and interpret the instructions encoded in a QR code.
In 2010, 62.6 million people in the United States used smartphones. In 2020 that number is predicted to more than quadruple to 272.6 million. Commensurate with increased smartphone use is integration of technology into smartphones that scans and interprets QR codes. Today, many smartphones include a native camera application that can recognize QR codes. There is no need to download and install a separate QR reader application or use the separate QR reader to scan a QR code.
QR codes now offer an inexpensive means of providing many consumers with convenient access to products or services. Consumers are already using their smartphones to search for more information about a product/service of interest. Now, businesses can tap into this tendency by using QR codes to guide consumers to targeted content associated with a product/service. Furthermore, QR codes are inexpensive and easy to print on a variety of surfaces such as business cards, labels, product packaging, posters or marketing materials.
However, one hurdle still facing widespread adoption of QR codes is that the instructions encoded in a QR code must follow regimented protocols. The regimented protocols ensure that encoded instructions can be successfully scanned and interpreted by a smartphone. However, these protocols typically limit the amount of information that can be derived, extracted or decoded from a QR code.
Moreover, these protocols control the specifications and/or govern the operative capabilities of QR code scanners used to derive the information from the QR code. Current smartphones provide QR reader applications that potentially allow for more advanced scan responses than other readers. Current smartphones may be able to provide customized QR reader applications. Customized QR reader applications may be downloaded as a smartphone application. However, scanning responses are limited to the limited instructions provided in QR code.
It would be desirable to provide apparatus and methods for generating QR codes that promote configurable scanner specifications.
It would be even more desirable to provide a QR code that can provide a first instruction(s) to a scanner having a first configuration and a second instruction(s) to a second scanner having a second configuration.
It would be still more desirable to provide a QR code that, depending on the configuration of the scanner, provides more than one possible user experience for the same QR code—or for directly adjacent areas with instruction sets.
It would be even more desirable to provide a QR code with multiple regions, whereby each region represents a discrete instructions set.
It would also be desirable to provide a QR code that mines additional regions within a conventional QR code footprint that have, heretofore, been unused. Further to this aspect, it would be desirable to provide a discrete instruction set, or different instruction sets, that is located solely within one or more locations associated with the additional region or is located in a combination of the conventional QR code region in combination with the additional region.

Multiplexed quick response (“QR”) code experience derivation