Display control logic for a terminal controller with support for such features as windows and interlace. A display list processor (DLP) (20) communicates with a program memory (12) containing DLP instructions, a display memory (12) containing character codes and attributes for the display, and a font memory (13). As the DLP program executes, it causes accesses to the display memory and brings in character codes and attributes for ultimate display on the screen. These character codes and attributes, as well as information representative of the scan line are input to a video data queue (95). The queue entries are clocked out of the queue by a character clock (170) and are used to generate addresses to font memory. Bitmaps from font memory are read into a dot shifter (190). The DLP instruction set includes a DISPLAY STRING instruction which allows a portion of a scan line to be built up by specifying the length of the scan line segment and the starting address in memory. Thus, a scan line can be built up based on characters stored in different parts of memory. The instruction set also includes SET ROW, LOOP, and LOOPBACK instructions to specify a given row and to set up a loop so that all the scan lines in a given row of characters can be built up by repeated executions of the DISPLAY STRING instructions. It is also possible, to display the scan lines in any random scan line order.

The present invention relates generally to terminal controllers and more specifically to techniques for placing characters on a display.
One of the main functions of a terminal is to place rows of characters on a screen. Associated with the terminal is a display memory (also sometimes referred to as a screen buffer, video buffer, or coax buffer), which stores a character code and attribute for each character position on the screen. The display data are updated from the keyboard and from communications with the host computer. Font bitmaps for the characters are typically stored in a separate non-volatile font memory. In order to place a row of characters on the screen, repeated accesses are made to the display memory, appropriate locations in the font memory are accessed to build up the row of characters, a scan line at a time. This is a fairly straightforward process, since a given position on the screen corresponds to a given location in the display memory, and a given character code corresponds to a known starting address in font memory, with the particular scan line providing a known and predictable offset.
One level of sophistication is the provision of one or more windows on the screen. In this context, a window refers to a region of the display which is to contain characters typically unrelated to the characters in the surrounding region. Normally, a separate window buffer is provided for the window, and relevant portions of the display memory are overwritten with a copy of the relevant portions of the window buffer.
Sophistication is sometimes another word for complication, which is the case here. Providing windows requires extra memory and extra overhead in transferring blocks of memory from one place to another.
A further level of sophistication is supporting interlaced scanning. As is well known, an interlaced display typically provides a given level of resolution at a cheaper price. A normal CRT controller typically supports either non-interlace or single interlace scanning. Support of three-way or four-way interlace would presumably require additional circuitry.

Terminal control circuitry with display list processor that fetches instructions from a program memory, character codes from a display memory, and character segment bitmaps from a font memory


Computerized method for separating an object in a digital image and for performing color change on an object within a digital image. The steps include: obtaining a digital image; receiving a selection of an object within the digital image; selecting a plurality of representative pixels estimated to be within the object; calculating a representative color from the plurality of representative pixels; selecting pixels of the digital image and for each pixel calculating a Euclidian distance to the representative color and, if the Euclidian distance is within a set threshold, identifying the pixel as belonging to the object. For color change, the steps include: generating a plurality of masks, each mask storing different property values of the collection of pixels; selecting a new color; applying the plurality of masks to the new color to generate new image of the object.

The conventional mirror (i.e., reflective surface) is the common and most reliable tool for an individual to explore actual self-appearance, in real time. A few alternatives have been proposed around the combination of a camera and a screen to replace the conventional mirror. However, these techniques are not convincing and are not yet accepted as a reliable image of the individual as if he was looking at himself in a conventional mirror. This is mainly because the image generated by a camera is very different from an image generated by a mirror.
In U.S. application Ser. No. 13/843,001, we proposed a novel technology (computerized method) to address the challenges of converting and transforming a still image or 2D/3D video created by one or more cameras, with or without other sensors, into a mirror or video conference experience.

Methods for extracting objects from digital images and for performing color change on the object


Exercise machines for the leg muscles using separate machines for the biceps femoris and quadriceps and with the biceps femoris machines configured so that the muscle attachment below the knee is the “origin” and the muscle attachment on the upper leg and hip bone is the “insertion”.

The need for physical exercise and conditioning is well known, especially in a culture where physical exertion is not emphasized as it once may have been, and where the demand on athletes of all ages to compete at a high level is on the rise. An entire industry has developed for the purpose of affording people the opportunity to exercise so as to maintain health, appearance, and competitiveness. Gyms can be found in almost every city and town in the country. All of them have a variety of machines which one can use in their workouts. Some are quite complicated, and some are designed for special muscle groups. To understand the present invention better, a general review of the muscles of the human body should help.
All of the muscles on the exterior of the human body involve a muscle "belly" with a tendon on each end attaching each end to a respective bone. As the muscles flex and extend, they operate the bones as levers. The tendon that attaches one end of a muscle to a bone and remains fixed during flexion is termed the "origin" of the muscle and the tendon that attaches the other end of the muscle to a second bone and moves that bone during flexion is termed the "insertion" of the muscle.
The most common and easily recognized example of these relationships is the biceps brachii, located on the upper arm and attached at two points at the upper arm and scapula and a single lower point on the lower arm slightly past the elbow. The most common exercise for the biceps brachii is the barbell curl (which can be achieved by a dead weight or a machine). A barbell (dead weight) is lifted off the floor with both arms extended, and with the body fully vertical, the barbell is curled to a position below the chin as the elbows are held at the sides of the body. The "origin" of the biceps brachii in this exercise is the two-point upper attachment (fixed) while the "insertion" is the lower attachment that moves the lower arm in a pivotal motion from full extension to full flexion to the position below the chin.
Another common exercise for the biceps brachii is the chinning exercise. The arms grasp an overhead bar and the body is pulled up until the chin is positioned over the bar at full flexion. In this exercise, the "origin" and "insertion" are the reverse of the barbell curl exercise. The attachment to the lower arm is the "origin" (fixed) while the two-point attachment at the upper arm and scapula becomes the "insertion" and performs the movement of the entire body to the position where the chin is positioned over the bar.
By changing the position of muscle flexion based upon the "origin" and "insertion" of a muscle, the "belly" of the muscle becomes more developed and adaptable in strength and coordination.
One can appreciate the difficulty encountered in developing the human muscles using dead weights. It is time consuming at the minimum. Accordingly, there has been considerable development in the past fifty years of exercise machines using various body supports with pulleys and weights to position a user to isolate and exercise specific muscles in a multitude of varying positions.
The present invention is directed to a novel group of workout equipment and to a method to exercise the upper leg muscles, the biceps femoris, commonly referred to as the hamstrings, and also to the quadriceps. The biceps femoris is an upper leg muscle somewhat analogous to the biceps brachii on the upper arm. In a similar manner, the biceps femoris is attached between two points at the upper leg bone and hip bone and a single lower point on the lower leg slightly past the knee.
There are several exercise machines that are well known in which the attachment of the upper leg bone and hip bone attachment is the "origin" and the lower leg bone attachment is the "insertion". For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,499,962, discloses a sitting position in which the knees are fixed in front and the heels are imposed on a padded roller on a lever that raises a stack of weights as the biceps femoris is flexed to bring the heels close to the buttocks. U.S. Pat. No. 4,575,077, discloses a bench on which the user lies on his stomach with the knees fixed in front and the heels, again, imposed on a padded roller on a lever that raises a stack of weights as the biceps femoris is flexed to bring the heels close to the buttocks.
Additional examples of machines of this type are the following U.S. Pat. Nos.: 4,468,026; 4,725,056; 5,058,884; 5,094,450; 5,158,520; 5,334,120; 5,569,133; 5,628,714; 5,634,873; 5,711,749; 5,766,118; 6,059,698; 6,059,701; 6,106,444; 6,296,594; and 6,231,486;
None of the known equipment is specifically directed to exercising the upper leg muscles, such as the biceps femoris, and the quadriceps, and to do so in an efficient manner which maximizes muscle performance and development.
The prior art cited above has been cited in an Information Disclosure Statement filed with this application.
In view of the present state of the art, it would be desirable to have equipment available for use in specifically exercising the upper leg muscles, such as the biceps femoris and to provide a technique which one can utilize in using this equipment for efficiently exercising the upper leg muscles.


A space 4 constituted by a sound absorption panel section 1 and active sound absorption control system section 2 between the inner and outer walls of a nacelle forming an engine intake/exhaust duct is utilized as an acoustic resonance field and as a sound absorption field by sticking a porous sound absorption material 14 onto the inside wall surface of the space. The panel section 1 defines a sound absorption space by means of surface plate 6 made of a perforated plate and wire mesh materials plate, panel construction side plate 9 and back sheet plate 13 having porous sound absorption material stuck thereon; and a movement-controlled reflective plate 8, that is capable of movement/rotation control with respect to said perforated plate, is provided within this sound absorption space. Movement of the reflective plate 8 is controlled utilizing the adaptive feed forward control method by means of the output from an active sound absorption control system section 2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an actively-controlled sound absorption panel system using movement-controlled reflective plate and in particular to an actively-controlled sound absorption panel system using movement-controlled reflective plate capable of use as an acoustically lined duct for noise reduction of aircraft engines, gas turbines for power generation and emergency use, turbo machinery and blowers etc, for noise reduction in ducts of blowers or air-conditioners etc or tunnels, and for noise reduction of roads, factories, works or residences where there are severe variations of noise source character, namely sound level and spectrum.
2. Description of the Related Art
Problems of environmental availability regarding aircraft noise in particular engine noise represent serious problems that must be solved for operation of current aircrafts and for development and entry into service of new types of aircraft such as second-generation supersonic aircraft or high subsonic aircraft of ultra high bypass ratio turbofan engine. Therefore, considerable research and development aimed at aircraft noise reduction is continuing up to the present. As such noise reduction techniques, various types of acoustic panel are known in which acoustic absorption materials or acoustic panel structures are used as acoustic liner typically in the intake and exhaust ducts of engines; however, in recent years, active noise control techniques have attracted attention, in which noise is cancelled or reduced actively in response to changes of noise source character, namely noise level and spectrum.
In a currently proposed active noise control technique for aircraft engines, for example a plurality of microphones and acoustic transducers are arranged upstream and downstream of the fan rotor and fan outlet guide vane stage of the jet engine, and a control output signal is supplied from a fan reference signal and an error signal detected by the acoustic transducers and microphones, and the signal actuates an air control valve installed in fan stages, so as to provide acoustic cancellation of fan tone noise by delivering a high-pressure air into tone generation devices (ref. WO 96/12269).
However, these prior art of fan noise reduction techniques are unsatisfactory on account of the following problems.
(1) Regarding acoustic absorption materials or acoustic panel structures, although absorption spectrum has been somewhat widened and peak values have also been increased by use of various types of sound absorption material and special design of the sound absorbent structure, the reduced spectrum peak values are still insufficient. In addition, the absorptive peak frequency of the panels is practically fixed, and therefore the panels have the drawback that they are not able to cope with changes of noise source character, namely spectrum and peak frequency demanded for engine noise reduction (the B.P.F. tone frequency on landing and on take-off changes by 30 to 40%.)
Also (2) as a turbofan engine noise reduction technique, various types of acoustical panels are used as acoustic liners of engine ducts, but, due to restrictions on the honeycomb depth of these panels, they are practically incapable of sound absorption in respect of sounds of lower frequency.
Furthermore, (3) regarding the change of acoustical absorption character of the panel in response with engine noise source changes, although an acoustical panel can achieve a noise reduction amount of about 8 dB at a tuned fan rotational speed, at other rotational speeds the amount of noise reduction is reduced by about half, so that high-level noise reduction cannot be achieved, corresponding to engine operation changes.
Also, since the conventional active noise control techniques was restricted to one noise component reduction of the fan noise spectrum, even if all these were reduced, a noise reduction of only some 1 to 2 dB was obtained by the techniques in terms of the noise evaluation unit used in the aircraft noise certification (evaluation in terms of O.A.SPLdB (A), which is a unit based on the noise unit of the aircraft noise restriction value). Also, they have the drawback that an active control system aimed at reducing various acoustic modes of fan blade passing frequency tone and harmonics becomes complicated and expensive. Also, due to the limitation of acoustic output power level of the cancellation noise sound, intensive fan tones of 150 to 160 dB cannot be reduced by only active noise control system. A further problem is the failure of fan noise reduction due to occurrences of mis-tuning of the active cancellation of fan noise and of response lag of the active system. Furthermore, in the case of conventional active sound absorption panel techniques, the absorptive spectrum peak level and the peak frequency shift of the active sound absorption panel were small, so that the conventional active sound absorption panel technique could not be adapted in response to changes of fan rotational speed. Also, there were problems such as that the sound absorption level of low frequency sound below 800 Hz was extremely small and the absorptive frequency range was narrow, and the absorptive spectral level was small.

Actively-controlled sound absorption panel system using movement-controlled reflective plate


A shovel includes a plurality of hydraulic actuators including a first hydraulic actuator and a second hydraulic actuator, a main pump, a hydraulic pump-motor configured to function as a hydraulic motor by using hydraulic oil flowing out of the first hydraulic actuator and configured to function as a hydraulic pump, a control valve configured to control a flow of the hydraulic oil in the plurality of hydraulic actuators, a first oil passage to connect the main pump with the second hydraulic actuator through the control valve, and a second oil passage to connect the hydraulic pump-motor with the second hydraulic actuator. The second oil passage meets the first oil passage between the control valve and the second actuator.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a shovel including a hydraulic motor for boom regeneration and a method of controlling a shovel.
2. Description of the Related Art
A hybrid type shovel is known that includes a motor generator rotatively driven by a hydraulic motor for regeneration when a boom is lowered or an arm is closed.
The hybrid type shovel rotates the hydraulic motor for regeneration by using hydraulic oil flowing out of a bottom side oil chamber of a boom cylinder when the boom is lowered, or hydraulic oil flowing out of a rod side oil chamber of an arm cylinder when the arm is closed. As a result, the hybrid type shovel recovers positional energy of the boom or the arm as electrical energy by working the motor generator coupled with the hydraulic motor for regeneration as a generator.


A pulse height analyzer for determination of the pulse height distribution of electronic pulses includes a set of comparators with a common input for analogue to digital conversion of the electronic pulses, a set of latches wherein the inputs of the latches are connected to the outputs of respective comparators for recording passage of the corresponding threshold voltages by the rising edge of a pulse, a priority encoder connected to the latch outputs for determination of a pulse height category consisting of pulses with a pulse height within a pulse height interval defined by respective threshold voltages, and a micro controller that is adapted to count the number of pulses within each pulse height category.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a particle characterisation apparatus in which particles suspended in a liquid are passed through an orifice, in principle one by one, to enable the characterisation of the particles, for instance by Coulter counting.
2. Description of the Related Art
It is well-known that particles travelling through a small orifice can be characterised with respect to size, concentration and conductivity by the use of an electrical impedance technique, widely known as the Coulter sizing (see V. Kachel, "Electrical Resistance Pulse Sizing: Coulter Sizing", Flow Cytometry and Sorting, Second Edition, pp. 45-80, 1990 Wiley-Liss).
Counting and sizing of particles by the Coulter principle is an internationally respected method that is being used in most haematology-analysers and particle counting equipment. The method is based on measurable changes in the electrical impedance produced by non-conductive particles in an electrolyte. A small opening, called the "aperture" or "orifice", connects two electrically isolated chambers, where electrodes have been provided to contact the electrolyte. The orifice applies a restriction to the electrical path, whereby a sensing zone is established through which the particles are aspirated. In the sensing zone each particle will give rise to a displacement of the surrounding electrolyte, thus blocking part of the current-path and giving rise to a voltage pulse. By this method several thousand particles per second can be characterised with high precision.
It is also well-known that the peak amplitude of the voltage pulses generated by the particles are closely correlated to the size of the particles, and therefore it is desirable to be able to determine the peak amplitude of voltage pulses in a simple and reliable way and at a low cost.


Compounds are provided which inhibit microsomal triglyceride transfer protein and thus are useful for lowering serum lipids and treating atherosclerosis and related diseases. The compounds have the structure ##STR1## wherein R.sup.1 to R.sup.6, Q, and X are as defined herein.

The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) catalyzes the transport of triglyceride (TG), cholesteryl ester (CE), and phosphatidylcholine (PC) between small unilamellar vesicles (SUV). Wetterau & Zilversmit, Chem. Phys. Lipids 38, 205-22 (1985). When transfer rates are expressed as the percent of the donor lipid transferred per time, MTP expresses a distinct preference for neutral lipid transport (TG and CE), relative to phospholipid transport. The protein from bovine liver has been isolated and characterized. Wetterau & Zilversmit, Chem. Phys. Lipids 38, 205-22 (1985). Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) analysis of the purified protein suggests that the transfer protein is a complex of two subunits of apparent molecular weights 58,000 and 88,000, since a single band was present when purified MTP was electro-phoresed under nondenaturing condition, while two bands of apparent molecular weights 58,000 and 88,000 were identified when electrophoresis was performed in the presence of sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS). These two polypeptides are hereinafter referred to as 58 kDa and 88 kDa, respectively, or the 58 kDa and the 88 kDa component of MTP, respectively, or the low molecular weight subunit and the high molecular weight subunit of MTP, respectively.
Characterization of the 58,000 molecular weight component of bovine MTP indicates that it is the previously characterized multifunctional protein, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI). Wetterau et al., J. Biol. Chem. 265, 9800-7 (1990). The presence of PDI in the transfer protein is supported by evidence showing that (1) the amino terminal 25 amino acids of the bovine 58,000 kDa component of MTP is identical to that of bovine PDI, and (2) disulfide isomerase activity was expressed by bovine MTP following the dissociation of the 58 kDa-88 kDa protein complex. In addition, antibodies raised against bovine PDI, a protein which by itself has no TG transfer activity, were able to immunoprecipitate bovine TG transfer activity from a solution containing purified bovine MTP.
PDI normally plays a role in the folding and assembly of newly synthesized disulfide bonded proteins within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum. Bulleid & Freedman, Nature 335, 649-51 (1988). It catalyzes the proper pairing of cysteine residues into disulfide bonds, thus catalyzing the proper folding of disulfide bonded proteins. In addition, PDI has been reported to be identical to the beta subunit of human prolyl 4-hydroxylase. Koivu et al., J. Biol. Chem. 262, 6447-9 (1987). The role of PDI in the bovine transfer protein is not clear. It does appear to be an essential component of the transfer protein as dissociation of PDI from the 88 kDa component of bovine MTP by either low concentrations of a denaturant (guanidine HCl), a chaotropic agent (sodium perchlorate), or a nondenaturing detergent (octyl glucoside) results in a loss of transfer activity. Wetterau et al., Biochemistry 30, 9728-35 (1991). Isolated bovine PDI has no apparent lipid transfer activity, suggesting that either the 88 kDa polypeptide is the transfer protein or that it confers transfer activity to the protein complex.
The tissue and subcellular distribution of MTP activity in rats has been investigated. Wetterau & Zilversmit, Biochem. Biophys. Acta 875, 610-7 (1986). Lipid transfer activity was found in liver and intestine. Little or no transfer activity was found in plasma, brain, heart, or kidney. Within the liver, MTP was a soluble protein located within the lumen of the microsomal fraction. Approximately equal concentrations were found in the smooth and rough microsomes.
Abetalipoproteinemia is an autosomal recessive disease characterized by a virtual absence of plasma lipoproteins which contain apolipoprotein B (apoB). Kane & Havel in The Metabolic Basis of Inherited Disease, Sixth Edition, 1139-64 (1989). Plasma TG levels may be as low as a few mg/dL, and they fail to rise after fat ingestion. Plasma cholesterol levels are often only 20-45 mg/dL. These abnormalities are the result of a genetic defect in the assembly and/or secretion of very low density lipoproteins (VLDL) in the liver and chylomicrons in the intestine. The molecular basis for this defect has not been previously determined. In subjects examined, triglyceride, phospholipid, and cholesterol synthesis appear normal. At autopsy, subjects are free of atherosclerosis. Schaefer et al., Clin. Chem. 34, B9-12 (1988). A link between the apoB gene and abetalipoproteinemia has been excluded in several families. Talmud et al., J. Clin. Invest. 82, 1803-6 (1988) and Huang et al., Am. J. Hum. Genet. 46, 1141-8 (1990).
Subjects with abetalipoproteinemia are afflicted with numerous maladies. Kane & Havel, supra. Subjects have fat malabsorption and TG accumulation in their enterocytes and hepatocytes. Due to the absence of TG-rich plasma lipoproteins, there is a defect in the transport of fat-soluble vitamins such as vitamin E. This results in acanthocytosis of erythrocytes, spinocerebellar ataxia with degeneration of the fasciculus cuneatus and gracilis, peripheral neuropathy, degenerative pigmentary retinopathy, and ceroid myopathy. Treatment of abetalipoproteinemic subjects includes dietary restriction of fat intake and dietary supplementation with vitamins A, E and K.
In vitro, MTP catalyzes the transport of lipid molecules between phospholipid membranes. Presumably, it plays a similar role in vivo, and thus plays some role in lipid metabolism. The subcellular (lumen of the microsomal fraction) and tissue distribution (liver and intestine) of MTP have led to speculation that it plays a role in the assembly of plasma lipoproteins, as these are the sites of plasma lipoprotein assembly. Wetterau & Zilversmit, Biochem. Biophys. Acta 875, 610-7 (1986). The ability of MTP to catalyze the transport of TG between membranes is consistent with this hypothesis, and suggests that MTP may catalyze the transport of TG from its site of synthesis in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane to nascent lipoprotein particles within the lumen of the ER.
Olofsson and colleagues have studied lipoprotein assembly in HepG2 cells. Bostrom et al., J. Biol. Chem. 263, 4434-42 (1988). Their results suggest small precursor lipoproteins become larger with time. This would be consistent with the addition or transfer of lipid molecules to nascent lipoproteins as they are assembled. MTP may play a role in this process. In support of this hypothesis, Howell and Palade, J. Cell Biol. 92, 833-45 (1982), isolated nascent lipoproteins from the hepatic Golgi fraction of rat liver. There was a spectrum of sizes of particles present with varying lipid and protein compositions. Particles of high density lipoprotein (HDL) density, yet containing apoB, were found. Higgins and Hutson, J. Lipid Res. 25, 1295-1305 (1984), reported lipoproteins isolated from Golgi were consistently larger than those from the endoplasmic reticulum, again suggesting the assembly of lipoproteins is a progressive event.
Recent reports (Science, Vol. 258, page 999, 1992; D. Sharp et. al., Nature, Vol. 365, page 65, 1993) demonstrate that the defect causing abetalipoproteinemia is in the MTP gene, and as a result, the MTP protein. Individuals with abetalipoproteinemia have no MTP activity, as a result of mutations in the MTP gene, some of which have been characterized. These results indicate that MTP is required for the synthesis of apoB containing lipoproteins, such as VLDL, the precursor to LDL. It therefore follows that inhibitors of MTP would inhibit the synthesis of VLDL and LDL, thereby lowering VLDL levels, LDL levels, cholesterol levels, and triglyceride levels in animals and man.
Canadian Patent Application No. 2,091,102 published Mar. 2, 1994 (corresponding to U.S. application Ser. No. 117,362, filed Sep. 3, 1993 (file DC21b)), U.S. Pat. No. 5,595,872 reports MTP inhibitors which also block the production of apoB containing lipoproteins in a human hepatic cell line (HepG2 cells). This provides further support for the proposal that an MTP inhibitor would lower apoB containing lipoprotein and lipid levels in vivo. This Canadian patent application discloses a method for identifying the MTP inhibitors ##STR2## which has the name 2-1-(3, 3-diphenylpropyl)-4-piperidinyl!-2, 3-dihydro-3-oxo-1H-isoindole hydrochloride and ##STR3## which has the name 1-3-(6-fluoro-1-tetralanyl)methyl!-4-O-methoxyphenyl piperazine
EP 0643057A1 published Mar. 15, 1995, discloses MTP inhibitors of the structure ##STR4## where X is: ##STR5## R.sup.8, R.sup.9 and R.sup.10 are independently hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl, or cycloalkylalkyl;
Y is ##STR6## where m is 2 or 3; R.sup.1 is alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl (wherein alkyl has at least 2 carbons), diarylalkyl, arylalkenyl, diarylalkenyl, arylalkynyl, diarylalkynyl, diarylalkylaryl, heteroarylalkyl (wherein alkyl has at least 2 carbons), cycloalkyl, or cycloalkylalkyl (wherein alkyl has at least 2 carbons); all of the aforementioned R.sup.1 groups being optionally substituted through available carbon atoms with 1, 2, or 3 groups selected from halo, haloalkyl, alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, aryl, arylalkyl, alkyl-mercapto, arylmercapto, cycloalkyl, cycloalkyl-alkyl, heteroaryl, fluorenyl, heteroarylalkyl, hydroxy or oxo; or PA1 R.sup.1 is a group of the structure ##STR7## R.sup.11 is a bond, alkylene, alkenylene or alkynylene of up to 6 carbon atoms, arylene (for example ##STR8## or mixed arylene-alkylene (for example ##STR9## where n is 1 to 6; R.sup.12 is hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, heteroaryl, haloalkyl, arylalkyl, arylalkenyl, cycloalkyl, aryloxy, alkoxy, arylalkoxy, heteroarylalkyl or cycloalkylalkyl; PA1 Z is a bond, O, S, N-alkyl, N-aryl, or alkylene or alkenylene of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; PA1 R.sup.13, R.sup.14, R.sup.15, and R.sup.16 are independently hydrogen, alkyl, halo, haloalkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, hydroxy, alkoxy, nitro, amino, thio, alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylthio, arylthio, carboxy, aminocarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy, alkylcarbonyl-amino, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, or aryloxy; PA1 or R.sup.1 is ##STR10## wherein p is 1 to 8 and R.sup.17 and R.sup.18 are each independently H, alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl or cycloalkylalkyl, at least one of R.sup.17 and R.sup.18 being other than H; PA1 or R.sup.1 is ##STR11## wherein R.sup.19 is aryl or heteroaryl; R.sup.20 is aryl or heteroaryl; PA1 R.sup.21 is H, alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, arylalkyl, aryloxy, arylalkoxy, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkoxy, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl or cycloalkylalkoxy; PA1 R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4 are independently hydrogen, halo, alkyl, haloalkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, aryl, arylalkyl, alkylmercapto, arylmercapto, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, hydroxy or haloalkyl; PA1 R.sup.5 is alkyl of at least 2 carbons, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, polycycloalkyl, polycycloalkylalkyl, cycloalkenyl, cycloalkenylalkyl, polycycloalkenyl, polycycloalkenylalkyl, heteroarylcarbonyl, all of the R.sup.5 and R.sup.6 substituents being optionally substituted through available carbon atoms with 1, 2, or 3 groups selected from hydrogen, halo, alkyl, haloalkyl, alkoxy, haloalkoxy, alkenyl, alkynyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, cycloheteroalky-lalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl, arylcyclo-alkyl, arylalkynyl, aryloxy, aryloxyalkyl, aryl-alkoxy, arylazo, heteroaryloxo, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkenyl, heteroaryloxy, hydroxy, nitro, cyano, amino, substituted amino (wherein the amino includes 1 or 2 substituents which are alkyl, or aryl or any of the other aryl compounds mentioned in the definitions), thiol, alkylthio, arylthio, heteroarylthio, arylthioalkyl, alkylcarbonyl, arylcarbonyl, arylaminocarbonyl, alkoxycarbonyl, aminocarbonyl, alkynylaminocarbonyl, alkylaminocarbonyl, alkenylaminocarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy, arylcarbonyloxy, alkylcarbonylamino, arylcarbonylamino, arylsulfinyl, arylsulfinylalkyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonylamino; with the proviso that when R.sup.5 is CH.sub.3, R.sup.6 is not H; and where R.sup.5 is phenyl, the phenyl preferably includes an ortho hydrophobic substituent such as alkyl, haloalkyl, aryl, aryloxy or arylalkyl; PA1 R.sup.6 is hydrogen or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkenyl; PA1 R.sup.7 is alkyl, aryl or arylalkyl wherein alkyl or the alkyl portion is optionally substituted with oxo; and PA1 including pharmaceutically acceptable salts and anions thereof. PA1 Y is ##STR15## wherein m is 2 or 3; R.sup.1 is alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl wherein alkyl has at least 2 carbons, diarylalkyl, arylalkenyl, diarylalkenyl, arylalkynyl, diarylalkynyl, diarylalkylaryl, heteroarylalkyl wherein alkyl has at least 2 carbons, cycloalkyl, or cycloalkylalkyl wherein alkyl has at least 2 carbons, all optionally substituted through available carbon atoms with 1, 2, 3 or 4 groups selected from halo, haloalkyl, alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, aryl, arylalkyl, alkylmercapto, arylmercapto, cycloalkyl, cyclo-alkylalkyl, heteroaryl, fluorenyl, heteroarylalkyl, hydroxy or oxo; PA1 or R.sup.1 is a fluorenyl-type group of the structure ##STR16## R.sup.1 is an indenyl-type group of the structure ##STR17## Z.sup.1 and Z.sup.2 are the same or different and are independently a bond, O, S, ##STR18## with the proviso that with respect to B, at least one of Z.sup.1 and Z.sup.2 will be other than a bond; R.sup.11 is a bond, alkylene, alkenylene or alkynylene of up to 10 carbon atoms; arylene or mixed arylene-alkylene; R.sup.12 is hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, haloalkyl, trihaloalkyl, trihaloalkylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, arylalkyl, arylalkenyl, cyclo-alkyl, aryloxy, alkoxy, arylalkoxy or cycloalkyl-alkyl, with the provisos that PA1 (1) when R.sup.12 is H, aryloxy, alkoxy or ##STR19## or arylalkoxy, then Z.sup.2 is a bond and (2) when Z.sup.2 is a bond, R.sup.12 cannot be heteroaryl or heteroarylalkyl; PA1 Z is bond, O, S, N-alkyl, N-aryl, or alkylene or alkenylene from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; R.sup.13, R.sup.14, R.sup.15, and R.sup.16 are independently hydrogen, alkyl, halo, haloalkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, cyclo-heteroalkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, hydroxy, alkoxy, nitro, amino, thio, alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylthio, arylthio, aminocarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy, arylcarbonylamino, alkylcarbonylamino, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl or aryloxy; PA1 R.sup.15a and R.sup.16a are independently hydrogen, alkyl, halo, haloalkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, alkoxy, alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylthio, arylthio, aminocarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy, arylcarbonylamino, alkylcarbonylamino, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, or aryloxy; PA1 or R.sup.1 is a group of the structure ##STR20## wherein p is 1 to 8 and R.sup.17 and R.sup.18 are each independently H, alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl or cycloalkylalkyl at least one of R.sup.17 and R.sup.18 being other than H; PA1 or R.sup.1 is a group of the structure ##STR21## wherein R.sup.19 is aryl or heteroaryl; R.sup.20 is aryl or heteroaryl; PA1 R.sup.21 is H, alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, arylalkyl, aryloxy, arylalkoxy, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkoxy, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl or cycloalkylalkoxy; PA1 R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4 are independently hydrogen, halo, alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, aryl, arylalkyl, alkylmercapto, arylmercapto, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, hydroxy or haloalkyl; PA1 R.sup.5 is independently alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, alkoxy, aryloxy, arylalkoxy, heteroaryl, arylalkyl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, polycycloalkyl, polycycloalkylalkyl, cycloalkenyl, cycloheteroalkyl, heteroaryloxy, cycloalkenylalkyl, polycycloalkenyl, polycycloalkenylalkyl, heteroarylcarbonyl, amino, alkylamino, arylamino, heteroarylamino, cycloalkyloxy, cycloalkylamino, all optionally substituted through available carbon atoms with 1, 2, 3 or 4 groups selected from hydrogen, halo, alkyl, haloalkyl, alkoxy, haloalkoxy, alkenyl, alkynyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, cycloheteroalkylalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl, arylcycloalkyl, arylalkenyl, arylalkynyl, aryloxy, aryloxyalkyl, arylalkoxy, arylazo, heteroaryloxo, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkenyl, heteroaryloxy, hydroxy, nitro, cyano, amino, substituted amino, thiol, alkylthio, arylthio, heteroarylthio, arylthioalkyl, alkylcarbonyl, arylcarbonyl, arylaminocarbonyl, alkoxycarbonyl, aminocarbonyl, alkynylaminocarbonyl, alkylaminocarbonyl, alkenylaminocarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy, arylcarbonyloxy, alkylcarbonylamino, arylcarbonylamino, arylsulfinyl, arylsulfinylalkyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonylamino, heteroarylcarbonylamino, heteroarylsulfinyl, heteroarylthio, heteroarylsulfonyl, alkylsulfinyl; PA1 R.sup.6 is hydrogen or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkenyl; all optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3 or 4 groups which may independently be any of the substituents listed in the definition of R.sup.5 set out above; PA1 R.sup.7 is alkyl, aryl or arylalkyl wherein alkyl by itself or as part of arylalkyl is optionally substituted with oxo ##STR22## are the same or different and are independently selected from heteroaryl containing 5- or 6-ring members; and PA1 N-oxides ##STR23## thereof; and pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof; with the provisos that where in the first formula X is CH.sub.2, and R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are each H, then R.sup.1 will be other than 3,3-diphenylpropyl, and in the fifth formula, where one of R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is 6-fluoro, and the others are H, R.sup.7 will be other than 4-(2-methoxyphenyl). PA1 X.sup.1 and X.sup.2 are independently selected from H or halo; PA1 x is an integer from 2 to 6; PA1 R.sup.5 is heteroaryl, aryl, heterocycloalkyl or cycloalkyl, each R.sup.5 group being optionally substituted with 1, 2, 3 or 4 substituents which may be the same or different. PA1 R.sup.1 is alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl (wherein alkyl preferably has at least 2 carbons, more preferably at least 3 carbons), diarylalkyl, arylalkenyl, diarylalkenyl, arylalkynyl, diarylalkynyl, diarylalkylaryl, heteroarylalkyl (wherein alkyl preferably has at least 2 carbons, more preferably at least 3 carbons), cycloalkyl, or cycloalkylalkyl (wherein alkyl preferably has at least 2 carbons, more preferably at least 3 carbons); all of the aforementioned R.sup.1 groups being optionally substituted through available carbon atoms with 1, 2, 3 or 4 groups selected from halo, haloalkyl, alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, aryl, arylalkyl, alkyl-mercapto, arylmercapto, cycloalkyl, cycloalkyl-alkyl, heteroaryl, fluorenyl, heteroarylalkyl, hydroxy or oxo; or PA1 R.sup.1 is a fluorenyl-type group of the structure ##STR28## R.sup.1 is an indenyl-type group of the structure ##STR29## Z.sup.1 and Z.sup.2 are the same or different and are independently a bond, O, S, ##STR30## with the proviso that with respect to B, at least one of Z.sup.1 and Z.sup.2 will be other than a bond; PA1 R.sup.11 is a bond, alkylene, alkenylene or alkynylene of up to 10 carbon atoms, arylene (for example ##STR31## or mixed arylene-alkylene (for example ##STR32## where q is 1 to 6; R.sup.12 is hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, haloalkyl, trihaloalkyl, trihaloalkylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, arylalkyl, arylalkenyl, cyclo-alkyl, aryloxy, alkoxy, arylalkoxy or cycloalkyl-alkyl; with the provisos that (1) when R.sup.12 is H, aryloxy, alkoxy or arylalkoxy, then Z.sup.2 is ##STR33## or a bond; and (2) when Z.sup.2 is a bond, R.sup.12 cannot be heteroaryl or heteroarylalkyl; PA1 Z is a bond, O, S, N-alkyl, N-aryl, or alkylene or alkenylene of from 1 to 5 carbon atoms; PA1 R.sup.13, R.sup.14, R.sup.15, and R.sup.16 are independently hydrogen, alkyl, halo, haloalkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, hydroxy, alkoxy, nitro, amino, thio, alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylthio, arylthio, aminocarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy, arylcarbonylamino, alkylcarbonylamino, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, or aryloxy; PA1 R.sup.15a and R.sup.16a are independently any of the R.sup.15 or R.sup.16 groups except hydroxy, nitro, amino or thio; PA1 or R.sup.1 is ##STR34## wherein p is 1 to 8 and R.sup.17 and R.sup.18 are each independently H, alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl or cycloalkylalkyl, at least one of R.sup.17 and R.sup.18 being other than H; PA1 or R.sup.1 is ##STR35## wherein R.sup.19 is aryl or heteroaryl; R.sup.20 is aryl or heteroaryl; PA1 R.sup.21 is H, alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, arylalkyl, aryloxy, arylalkoxy, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkoxy, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl or cycloalkylalkoxy; PA1 R.sup.2, R.sup.3, R.sup.4 are independently hydrogen, halo, alkyl, alkenyl, alkoxy, aryloxy, aryl, arylalkyl, alkylmercapto, arylmercapto, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, hydroxy or haloalkyl; PA1 R.sup.5 is alkyl , alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, alkoxy, aryloxy, arylalkoxy, heteroaryl, arylalkyl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, heteroaryloxy, cycloalkylalkyl, polycycloalkyl, polycycloalkylalkyl, cycloalkenyl, cycloalkenylalkyl, polycycloalkenyl, polycycloalkenylalkyl, heteroarylcarbonyl, amino, alkylamino, arylamino, heteroarylamino, cycloalkyloxy, cycloalkylamino, all of the R.sup.5 substituents and R.sup.6 substituents (set out hereinafter) being optionally substituted through available carbon atoms with 1, 2, 3 or 4 groups selected from hydrogen, halo, alkyl, haloalkyl, alkoxy, haloalkoxy, alkenyl, alkynyl, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl, cycloheteroalkyl, cycloheteroalkylalkyl, aryl, heteroaryl, arylalkyl, arylcycloalkyl, arylalkenyl, arylalkynyl, aryloxy, aryloxyalkyl, arylalkoxy, arylazo, heteroaryloxo, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkenyl, heteroaryloxy, hydroxy, nitro, cyano, amino, substituted amino (wherein the amino includes 1 or 2 substituents which are alkyl, aryl or heteroaryl, or any of the other aryl compounds mentioned in the definitions), thiol, alkylthio, arylthio, heteroarylthio, arylthioalkyl, alkylcarbonyl, arylcarbonyl, arylaminocarbonyl, alkoxycarbonyl, aminocarbonyl, alkynylaminocarbonyl, alkylaminocarbonyl, alkenylaminocarbonyl, alkylcarbonyloxy, arylcarbonyloxy, alkylcarbonylamino, arylcarbonylamino, arylsulfinyl, arylsulfinylalkyl, arylsulfonyl, alkylsulfonyl, arylsulfonylamino, heteroarylcarbonylamino, heteroarylsulfinyl, heteroarylthio, heteroarylsulfonyl, or alkylsulfinyl. Where R.sup.5 is phenyl, aryl, heteroaryl or cycloalkyl; this group preferably includes an ortho hydrophobic substituent such as alkyl, haloalkyl (with up to 5 halo groups), alkoxy, haloalkoxy (with up to 5 halo groups), aryl, aryloxy or arylalkyl; PA1 R.sup.6 is hydrogen or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkyl or C.sub.1 -C.sub.4 alkenyl; ##STR36## are the same or different and are independently selected from heteroaryl containing 5- or 6-ring members; and PA1 including N-oxides of the formulae I and II compounds, that is ##STR37## including pharmaceutically acceptable salts thereof such as alkali metal salts such as lithium sodium or potassium, alkaline earth metal salts such as calcium or magnesium, as well as zinc or aluminum and other cations such as ammonium, choline, diethanolamine, ethylenediamine, t-butylamine, t-octylamine, dehydroabietylamine, as well as pharmaceutically acceptable anions such as chloride, bromide, iodide, tartrate, acetate, methanesulfonate, maleate, succinate, glutarate, and salts of naturally occurring amino acids such as arginine, lysine, alanine and the like, and prodrug esters thereof. PA1 R.sup.1 is arylalkyl, arylalkenyl, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkenyl, ##STR49## (including where Z.sup.1 is a bond and R.sup.11 is alkylene or alkenylene and Z.sup.2 is ##STR50## and R.sup.12 is C.sub.1 -C.sub.3 alkyl or 1,1,1-trifluoroethyl, R.sup.13 is H or F and R.sup.15 is H or F, and Z is a bond or O; and where R.sup.11 is alkylene or alkenylene or alkylene substituted with oxo, R.sup.12 is alkyl, alkenyl, aralkyl, aralkenyl, Z is O, S or a bond); or ##STR51## (wherein R.sup.17 and R.sup.18 are each independently alkyl, alkenyl, aryl, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl or cycloalkylalkyl); or ##STR52## wherein R.sup.19 is aryl or heteroaryl; R.sup.20 is aryl or heteroaryl; PA1 R.sup.21 is alkyl, aryl, alkylaryl, arylalkyl aryloxy, arylalkoxy, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, heteroarylalkoxy, cycloalkyl, cycloalkylalkyl or cycloalkylalkoxy. PA1 R.sup.33 and R.sup.34 are independently selected from any of the R.sup.1 radicals as well as aryloxy, alkoxy, arylalkoxy, heteroarylalkoxy and heteroaryloxy; PA1 R.sup.35 can be any of the R.sup.1 radicals. ##STR54## PA1 (1) bovine liver microsomes, PA1 (2) HepG.sub.2 cells (human hepatoma cells) or PA1 (3) recombinant human MTP expressed in baculovirus.
In the formula I compounds, where X is CH.sub.2 and R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 are each H, R.sup.1 will be other than 3,3-diphenylpropyl.
In the formula III compounds, where one of R.sup.2, R.sup.3 and R.sup.4 is 6-fluoro, and the others are H, R.sup.7 will be other than 4-O-methoxyphenyl.
U.S. application Ser. No. 472,067, filed Jun. 6, 1995 (file DC21e), U.S. Pat. No. 5,739,135 discloses compounds of the structure ##STR12## where Q is ##STR13## X is: ##STR14## R.sup.8, R.sup.9 and R.sup.10 are independently hydrogen, alkyl, alkenyl, alkynyl, aryl, arylalkyl, heteroaryl, heteroarylalkyl, cycloalkyl, or cycloalkylalkyl;
U.S. application Ser. No. 548,811 filed Jan. 11, 1996 (file DC21h), discloses compounds having the structure ##STR24## including the piperidine N-oxide thereof or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof, wherein Z is a bond, O or S;

Inhibitors of microsomal triglyceride transfer protein and method


A scarecrow includes a scarecrow body corresponding generally in shape to a body of a live animal and an assembled hollow scarecrow head of molded plastic construction corresponding in shape to a head of the live animal. The assembled head includes a front face portion and a separate rear head portion fixed together to form the head, the front face portion having a front receiver and the rear head portion having a rear receiver. The scarecrow includes a motor having a rotatable motor shaft; a mounting insert fixed to the motor with the motor shaft extending below the mounting insert, the mounting insert received by the front receiver and the rear receiver to fix the mounting insert to the head; and a mounting bracket fixed to the scarecrow body and having a motor shaft receiver into which the rotatable motor shaft is received. Rotation of the motor shaft rotates the assembled scarecrow head relative to the scarecrow body.

Improvement is desired in the structure and assembly of scarecrow devices and the like of the type having a head that moves relative to a body under motorized movement. In particular, it is desirable to provide a scarecrow that has movement, and especially a scarecrow that can sense motion proximate the scarecrow and move when such motion is sensed.
The present disclosure advantageously provides improved scarecrow structures for incorporating a motor into a head which simplify assembly and result in other product improvements.
In one embodiment, a scarecrow owl is provided having a motorized head that senses motion proximate the scarecrow. When such motion is sensed, the motor is operated to rotate the head back and forth for a short time duration to mimic the head movements of a live owl. The head movement is continued as long as movement proximate the scarecrow is sensed. This advantageously provides a scarecrow that more realistically mimics the presence of a live owl to provide a more effective scarecrow device.


Secure creation and management of device ownership keys. TPM ownership keys are generated by cryptographically combining manufacturer information with device specific information. Ownership keys are established in the TPM containing device. The manufacturer retains necessary information to reconstruct the ownership key if needed.

The present invention relates to device ownership keys, and to the creation and management of device ownership keys in Trusted Platform Modules.
A Trusted Platform Module (TPM) is a special purpose digital microprocessor-based module which offers facilities for the secure generation of cryptographic keys in the nonvolatile memory of the TPM, and other capabilities such as remote attestation and sealed storage. These facilities may be used, for example, to authenticate computing systems. TPMs are specified by the Trusted Computing Group (http://trustedcomputinggroup.org); the specification at the time of this application is Version 1.2 Revision 103, published Jul. 9, 2007, and incorporated herein by reference. TPMs are produced by companies such as Atmel, Broadcom, Infineon, AMT, and ST Microelectonics, among others.
Trusted Platform Modules (TPMs) require the creation and management of an "owner" key in order to provide these and other security functions. In general terms, the owner key forms the root of a cryptographic key hierarchy, but it is keys lower in this hierarchy that are typically used for day to day activities. Hence, it is entirely possible that for some use cases, an owner key, once used to create the key hierarchy that lays beneath it, may be set aside and not used for further operations.
In currently shipping laptop computers and other consumer devices containing TPMs, the purchaser of the device is typically expected to "take ownership", generating an "owner key" in the process, and to provide for the secure management and use of that key. However, this is a complex undertaking that requires significant security expertise and planning to perform correctly, and there currently are very few convenient tools available for this purpose. The net effect is that many TPMs exist in consumer devices today, but, owing to the complexities involved, few are actually being used.
In the case of an embedded device such as network controller or access node, it is not strictly necessary that the customer purchasing the device be aware of the TPM and concepts such as TPM ownership in order to reap many of the advantages it provides. That is, ownership operations can be pre-programmed at some point (e.g. during manufacturing), and the TPM can be entirely operated by the system software/firmware on the device, with no customer interaction. This model also extends quite readily to centralized management of laptop and desktop computers containing TPMs.
If in such cases the owner key were to reside on the device, there is a risk that device compromise could result in loss of legitimate TPM ownership, and this could, in turn, lead to loss of control of the device. This is potentially very serious. However, since the owner key is not typically required for day to day operations, this key may be eliminated from the device once the underlying key hierarchy has been generated, so long as it is possible to restore the owner key in those rare cases where a very advanced customer might want to reset the TPM, and derive their own owner key hierarchy.
Taking such an approach entails the following requirements:
Each device should have a unique owner key; that is, the probability of any two devices having the same owner key should be very close to zero. Owner keys should be unpredictable.
Guessing the owner key should be impractical, i.e. the probability of guessing an owner key within the useful lifetime of the device, say 20 years, should be very close to zero.
The device manufacturer should be able to derive the owner key for any given device, should this ever become necessary.
It should be highly unlikely for the device manufacturer to "lose" the owner key for any device, although the net cost of such a loss would be the cost of replacement of the affected device.
It should not be possible for an adversary to obtain a single data value that, once compromised, would permit derivation of arbitrary owner storage keys; put differently, owner keys should be derived based on multiple factors, raising the bar against a process compromise leading to exposure of all owner keys.
It should be possible to provide advanced customers with owner keys for their own devices, so that they can reset the devices and derive their own (secret) owner keys if desired.
What is needed is a process for creating and managing TPM device ownership keys which addresses these requirements.


A pseudo random number generating circuit forms uniform distribution random number noises. An insertion noise data forming unit receives the uniform distribution random number noises, center-distributes them around 0 as a center, further reads out output correction values of every recording device from an LED characteristics variation data memory, center-distributes them on the basis of the output correction values, and outputs them. A noise inserting circuit receives an output of the insertion noise data forming unit and adds it to input image data. The occurrence a stripe-shaped concentration variation on an output image is prevented, so that a good output image is obtained.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an image forming apparatus such as printer, facsimile, copying apparatus, or the like or an image forming apparatus such as an MFP (Multi Function Printer) or the like having at least two or more functions of those apparatuses or the like.
2. Description of the Related Art
Among image forming apparatuses represented by a printer, there is an apparatus having a recording head in which recording devices such as exothermic resistor elements, light emitting devices, or the like are arranged in a line or a plurality of lines. In such an image forming apparatus, an image is formed by selectively supplying a current to those recording devices. In the recording head which is used in the image forming apparatus, it is important that characteristics of the arranged recording devices are identical. This is because, for example, in an image forming apparatus using LEDs (light emitting diodes) as light emitting devices which are used in a printer of an electrophotographic system or the like, if light emitting energies of the LEDs to which the same current has been supplied are equal, a uniform image without a deviation which depends on layout positions of the LEDs is obtained. However, it is generally difficult to manufacture the recording devices whose characteristics coincide accurately. Therefore, a characteristics variation of the recording devices is corrected, for example, in the case of the light emitting devices, the energy for recording is corrected by changing a light emitting time or a drive current value (for example, refer to JP-A-1996(Heisei-8)-142406).
A problem to be solved is as follows. In the above energy correction, it is difficult to continuously and smoothly change energy distribution in the scanning direction, and discontinuous points of the energy distribution are liable to occur between the adjacent recording devices. Such discontinuous points are accumulated in dependence on human visual characteristics and appears as a stripe-shaped concentration variation which continues in the sub-scanning direction on an output image.


There is disclosed a method and apparatus for rounding numerals according to the number of significant digits or a rounding interval. The method starts with entering a numerical value x to be rounded and the number of significant digits n or a rounding interval w. The entered numerical value x is stored in a first storage portion of the apparatus. The entered number of significant digits n or rounding interval w is stored in a second storage memory. The numerical value x stored in. the first storage portion is rounded in a digit place determined by the number of significant digits n or rounding interval w stored in the. second storage portion. The numerical value x is rounded while using the number of significant digits n or rounding interval w as it is.

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method used for rounding that is necessary for analyses, measurements, investigations, and so on. More particularly, the invention relates to an apparatus and method for performing rounding processing according to significant digits or a rounding interval.
Generally, rounding processing typified by rounding off has enjoyed wide acceptance. Examples include reorganization of experimental data and accounting processes. Many rounding processes are prepared as functions in high-level languages and data-processing software. A user can obtain rounded a numerical value by specifying a numerical value and a digit place to be processed.
FIG. 14 illustrates processing performed using a conventional rounding function. First, a user enters a numerical value x to be processed and a digit place p to be processed (step 601). If the digit place p to be processed is the place of 100, for example, p is xe2x88x922. If an integer should be derived, p is 0. If the digit place is the third decimal place, p is +3. Then, the digits in the successive digit places of the given numerical value x are stored in turn in memory (step 602). A digit in the digit place immediately to the right of the specified digit place p is read from the memory (step 603). A decision is made as to whether the digit is equal to or greater than 5 (step 604). If the result of the decision is YES (i.e., the numerical value is equal to or greater than 5), rounding up is performed (step 605). If the result of the decision is NO, rounding down is performed (step 606). In this way, the conventional conditional branching processing using a function takes out only one digit from digits in plural digit places. Then, a conditional branch is effected.
The prior art technique described above has the following problems.
(1) It is impossible to specify the processed digit place by significant digits.
Spreadsheet software programs presently available on the market do not have the concept that the processed digit place is specified by significant digits. If a digit place to be processed is counted from the leftmost digit place and specified, other conditional branching processing is necessary so that the processed digit place is specified by significant digits across a decimal point, as long as the prior art conditional branching processing is performed (i.e., only one digit is taken from plural digit places and a decision is made). For example, where 0.0000234 should be rounded to two significant digits, if this numerical value is counted as it is, then the digit in the third decimal place will be taken and a rounding process will be performed. Therefore, digits are taken in turn from the leftmost digit place and counted. A decision is made as to whether each taken digit is 0 or not. If it is 0, this digit place is not counted. In this way, conditional branching processing is needed. Furthermore, where a rounding process is executed with four significant digits, if the numerical value is 30200, xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d in the fourth digit place, xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d in the second digit place, and xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d in the first digit place all need to be counted. In the case of 0.34502, xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d in the first digit place(the most significant digit) is not counted. However, xe2x80x9c0xe2x80x9d in the fourth decimal place and so on must be counted. Therefore, more conditional branches are necessary.
Where the prior art processing sequence as described above is used, if the digit to be rounded is specified by significant digits, very complicated processing inevitably takes place. For this reason, the prior art function does not make it possible to specify a digit place by significant digits. Furthermore, any spreadsheet software capable of specifying a desired digit place by a significant number is not available.
(2) Rounding processing directly using a rounding interval cannot be performed.
Rounding using a rounding interval is based on ISO (International Standards Organization) 31-0:1992(E), appendix B, xe2x80x9cGuide to the rounding of numbersxe2x80x9d. Rounding using a rounding interval is to replace a given numerical value by a numerical value selected from a sequence of integral multiples of a chosen rounding interval. For instance, where the rounding interval is 0.1, 12.849 is rounded to 12.8 and 13.451 is rounded to 13.5. Where the rounding interval is 10, 1284.9 is rounded to 1280, and 1345.1 is rounded to 1350. Accordingly, in rounding processing using a rounding interval, what is entered first is not the processed digit place but a rounding interval. However, spreadsheet software programs currently available on the market do not have the concept that rounding is performed based on a rounding interval. Hence, it has been impossible to perform a rounding process by directly entering a rounding interval. Therefore, in order to perform the prior art rounding process using a rounding interval, additional processing for converting the rounding interval to the processed digit place is necessary. This complicates the processing, and the processing time is prolonged.
(3) It is impossible to cope with JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard).
Where simple rounding off is used, the result is biased according to the numerical values contained in the data. Therefore, rounding for correcting the biased result and minimizing the round-off error is necessary. JIS stipulates a rounding method for that purpose. Many materials submitted to the public agencies have numerical values that must be rounded in accordance with JIS.
FIG. 15 illustrates a rounding method stipulated by JIS, Z8401. Fundamentally, a round-off process is performed, and the remaining 5 is sorted. Where a numerical value is rounded to a numerical value having n significant digits, a digit in the (n+1)th place and less significant digits are reorganized as follows.
(a) Where a digit in the (n+1)th digit place or a less significant digit is less than half of 1 unit in the nth digit place, the digit is dropped.
(b) Where a digit in the (n+1)th digit place or a less significant digit is in excess of half of 1 unit in the nth digit place, the digit in the nth digit place is increased by 1 unit.
(c) Where the digit in the (n+1)th place or a less significant digit is equal to half of 1 unit in the nth digit place, the following processes (i) and (ii) are carried out.
(i) If the digit in the nth digit place is 0, 2, 4, 6, or 8, the digit is dropped.
(ii) If the digit in the nth digit place is 1, 3, 5, 7, or 9, the digit in the nth place is increased by 1 unit.
Significant digits are counted from the place of the most significant digit that is nonzero. This rounding must be performed in one stage. For example, if 5.346 is rounded to two significant digits by this method, then 5.3 results. If the rounding is done in two stages, the numerical value is rounded to 5.35 in the first stage and to 5.4 in the second stage.
The processing is conducted in the sequence in the manner described below. First, the number of digits is judged (step 701). A decision is made as to whether the digit in the (n+1)th digit place is 6 or more (step 702). If the digit is 6 or more, the digit in the nth digit place is increased by 1. The digit in the (n+1)th place and less significant digits are dropped (step 706). For example, if 13.461 is rounded to three significant digits, 13.5 results.
Then, a decision is made as to whether the digit in the (n+1)th digit place is 4 or less (step 703). If it is 4 or less, the digit in the (n+1)th place and less significant digits are dropped (step 707). For example, if 12.849 is rounded to three significant digits, 12.8 is derived.
If the digit in the (n+1)th place is neither equal to or greater than 6 nor equal to or less than 4, i.e., the digit in the (n+1)th digit place is 5, a decision is made as to whether the digit in the (n+2)th place and less significant digits are all 0 (step 704). If the digit in the (n+2)th place and less significant digits contain nonzero numeral or numerals, the digit in the nth digit place is increased by 1, and the digit in the (n+1)th place and less significant digits are deleted (step 706). For example, if 13.451 is rounded to three significant digits on this principle, 13.5 results.
If the digit in the (n+2)th digit place and less significant digits are all 0, a decision is made as to whether the digit in the nth place is even or odd (step 705). If the result is that the digit is even, then the digit in the (n+1)th place and less significant digits are deleted (step 707). For example, if 11.450 is rounded to three significant digits, 11.4 results. Conversely, if the digit in the nth place is odd, the digit in the nth place is increased by 1, and the digit in the (n+1)th place and less significant digits are dropped (step 706). For instance, if 12.750 is rounded to three significant digits, 12.8 arises.
However, if digits necessary for decision are taken from all the digit places of the digits as in the conditional branching processing using the prior art round-off function, and if the taken digits are treated as one number, numerous conditional branches (steps 804-807) are necessary in the conditional branching of step 704 of FIG. 15, as illustrated in FIG. 16.
This portion is used to judge that the digit in the (n+1)th digit place is 5 and that the less significant digits are all 0. Where necessary digits are extracted from all digit places and treated as one number, the digits in all the digit places must be judged.
For example, where digits located to the right of a rounded digit are 50000001, JIS demands rounding up. If a human makes a decision by his eyes, he can immediately sense that a nonzero digit is present in some less significant digit place. Where a computer is used, the method of decision presents a problem. In the prior art processing where a decision is made for each digit place, a decision is made as to whether the digit in the (n+2)th digit place 0 or not. Then, a decision is made as to whether the digit in the (n+3)th place is 0 or not. Subsequently, a decision is made as to whether the digit in the (n+4)th place is 0 or not. In this way, decisions are made up to the rightmost digit place to judge whether 0 is not contained at all in the (n+2)th and the following places or any nonzero numeral is present in any digit place. Since the digits in the successive digit places are judged in turn, the final judgment cannot be made until a multiplicity of branching operations are carried out.
Where the number of digits capable of being calculated by the today""s computer is contemplated, it is expected that the number of the conditional branch operations will be exorbitant. Accordingly, in the conventional procedure, it is necessary to limit the number of treated digits to far below the processing capability of the computer to reduce the number of the necessary conditional branch operations. Therefore, even if the procedure is treated in terms of software, calculation is urged to be performed at a level considerably lower than the computer""s computational capability. This narrows the range that can be processed. As a result, the software would not be viable on the market. In this way, the present situation is that any software capable of performing rounding operations in accordance with JIS Z8401 has not been developed or put into practice.
In the rounding processing described above, it is impossible to directly enter a rounding interval for rounding processing. In order to perform the prior art rounding process using a rounding interval, additional processing for converting the rounding interval into a digit place is necessary. Also, in this case, the processing is complicated and the processing time is prolonged.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an apparatus and method capable of performing a rounding process by rounding a numerical value, using significant digits or a rounding interval as it is.
It is another object of the invention to provide an apparatus and method capable of rounding numbers with minimum round-off error as in accordance with JIS (Japanese Industrial Standard), using significant digits or a rounding interval as it is.
A rounding apparatus in accordance with the present invention comprises an input portion for entering a numerical value x to be rounded and the number of significant digits n or a rounding interval w, a first storage portion for storing the entered numerical value x, a second storage portion for storing the entered number of significant digits n or rounding interval w, and a rounding processing portion for rounding the numerical value x stored in the first storage portion in a digit place specified by the number of significant digits n or rounding interval w stored in the second storage portion. This apparatus can round the numerical value while using the number of significant digits or rounding interval as it is.
Other objects and features of the invention will appear in the course of the description thereof, which follows.

Apparatus and method for rounding numerical values according to significant digits or rounding interval


A system and method of optimizing the output power of a power amplifier to maintain satisfactory RF response under varying power amplifier operating conditions. The operating conditions include operating temperature, supply voltage, and operating frequency. Existing sensors monitor the aforementioned operating conditions. An application within the wireless device containing the power amplifier continuously or periodically logs the current operating conditions and finds them in a look-up table stored internally. The look-up table is comprised of empirically derived maximum sustainable power output levels for each operating condition. Once the current operating conditions are matched to a set in the table, current power amplifier power output is reset, if necessary, to the maximum sustainable power output defined in the table.

PC slot card modems are generally required to operate at 3.3 volts (dc) ±10% for a rough range of 3.0 to 3.6 Vdc. Typical Power amplifier devices on the market, however, are optimized to work using a lithium ion battery that has a nominal voltage of 3.6 Vdc and an end-of-life at 3.2 Vdc. For a given power amplifier, its maximum output power with good spectral characteristics is a function of operating temperature, operating frequency, and operating voltage.Po(max)=f{t, f, v}
The operating parameters of the power amplifier may vary with ambient conditions, supply voltage, and what part of the allocated cellular frequency band is currently being used. Typically, a wireless carrier will specify the nominal, minimum, and maximum output power they want for wireless devices on their network since the power amplifier's output directly affects the communication range between the nearest network basestation and the wireless device. RF power output is typically maintained at a nominal level of +28 dbm +/−3 dbm for instance. A problem arises when one or more of the operating conditions exceeds the power amplifier's optimal operating range while the power output is maintained at nominal or higher levels. In such cases the power amplifier RF spectral response begins to degrade in quality and, if left to continue, may degrade to the point that useful communications are compromised.
Often if the RF power output were allowed to be reduced even slightly, then the RF spectral response between the wireless device and the nearest basestation can be maintained at acceptable levels with a minimal impact to the effective range of the wireless device.
Common engineering practice today is to set the nominal RF output power lower than the power amplifier's capability at nominal operating conditions to allow for further degradation at the worst case operating condition extremes. Since the operating condition extreme exists only a small percentage of the total time a cellular terminal is in use, the RF output power is unnecessarily controlled to lower than optimal levels most of the time.
What is needed is an intelligent monitoring and adjustment system that can monitor and incrementally adjust the RF power output of the power amplifier to continuously maintain the maximum output achievable while assuring good RF spectral performance.

Intelligent RF power control for wireless modem devices


A direct current converter includes a first node, a second node, an input voltage terminal, an output voltage terminal, a bootstrap source terminal, a low-voltage terminal, a control module for generating a control signal, a driving-stage circuit coupled to the input voltage terminal, the first node, the second node, the control module, and the low-voltage terminal, an output-stage circuit coupled to the second node and the output voltage terminal, and a bootstrap circuit including a capacitor coupled between the first node and the second node, a fault detector for outputting a switch signal, and a cascade unit coupled to the bootstrap source terminal, the first node, the control module, and the fault detector for controlling connection between the bootstrap source terminal and the first node according to the switch signal and the control signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a direct current converter, and more particularly, to a direct current converter capable of preventing body diodes from conducting and accurately detecting operation faults.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electronic device includes various components, each of which may operate in a different voltage level. Therefore, a DC-DC (direct current to direct current) voltage converter is definitely required to adjust (step up or down) and stabilize the voltage level in the electronic device. Originating from a buck (or step down) converter and a boost (or step up) converter, various types of DC-DC voltage converters are accordingly customized to meet different power requirements. As implied by the names, the buck converter is utilized for stepping down a DC voltage of an input terminal to a default voltage level, and the boost converter is for stepping up the DC voltage of the input terminal. With the advancement of modern electronics technology, both of the buck converter and the boost converter are modified and customized to conform to different architectures or to meet different requirements.
For example, please refer to FIG. 1, which is a schematic diagram of a bootstrap buck converter 10 of the prior art. The bootstrap buck converter 10 comprises a driving-stage circuit 100, an output-stage circuit 102, a control module 104 and a bootstrap circuit 106. In the bootstrap buck converter 10, an input terminal provides a fixed voltage Vin. By using the control module 104 and the bootstrap circuit 106 generate control signals to the driving-stage circuit 100, in order to exchange energy via an inductor in the output-stage circuit 102, so as to acquire a stable DC voltage source Vo with a magnitude less than the voltage Vin of the input terminal. The driving-stage circuit 100 comprises power transistors Q1, Q2 and driving units DRV_1, DRV_2. Through the driving units DRV_1, DRV_2 and the bootstrap circuit 106, the bootstrap buck converter 10 can controls the power transistors Q1, Q2 according to control signals V_CTRL, V_CTRL_B generated by the control module 104, and output a switching signal from a node Y to the output-stage circuit 102. The output-stage circuit 102 comprises an inductor L, a capacitor C and feedback resistors R1, R2. Via the inductor L, the switching signal of the node Y can exchange energy with the output terminal Vo, and the capacitor C can stabilize the voltage of the output terminal Vo and alleviate voltage variations at the output terminal. The voltage of the output terminal Vo can feedback a voltage VFB through the feedback resistors R1, R2, such that the control module 104 can accordingly generate the control signals V_CTRL, V_CTRL_B. The bootstrap circuit 106 comprises a bootstrap capacitor C_BS and a diode D_BS. Operations of the bootstrap buck converter 10 are well known to those skilled in the art, i.e. the control module 104 and the bootstrap circuit 106 generate driving signals to enable the power transistor Q1 and disable the power transistor Q2, or swap over, so as to keep the inductor L operating between a charge status and a discharge status. In such a situation, through the control signal V_CTRL, the control module 104 can adjust a switching frequency between the charge status and the discharge status according to the feedback signal VFB generated by the feedback resistors R1, R2, to generate the desired output voltage Vo.
In the bootstrap buck converter 10, preferably, the driving units DRV_1, DRV_2 are inverters, driven by node voltages V_X, V_Y of nodes X and Y, the input voltage Vin and a low-potential voltage Vss. The node X is located between the bootstrap capacitor C_BS and the diode D_BS, and the node Y is located among the driving-stage circuit 100, the output-stage circuit 102 and the bootstrap circuit 106. When the power transistor Q2 is enabled, the node voltage V_Y approaches the low-potential voltage Vss, and a bootstrap voltage Vcc charges the bootstrap capacitor C_BS via the diode D_BS. On the contrary, when the power transistor Q2 is disabled, the node voltage V_Y transiently increases to approach the input voltage Vin. Meanwhile, since energy stored in the bootstrap capacitor C_BS is not exhausted, the node voltage V_X would increase to a magnitude equal to the node voltage V_Y plus the bootstrap source terminal voltage Vcc, great enough to activate the driving unit DRV_1. Thus, when the bootstrap buck converter 10 switches from the mode "Q1: disable; Q2: enable" to the mode "Q1: enable; Q2: disable", the bootstrap capacitor C_BS can transiently increase the node voltage V_X by the bootstrap circuit 106, to activate the driving unit DRV_1.
In the prior art, the bootstrap circuit 106 are preferably positioned outside a chip. Taking the voltage bearing ability of the diode D_BS into consideration, manufacturing cost and circuit complexity would accordingly increase. In order to overcome this disadvantage, the prior art has developed an architecture replacing or simulating the diode D_BS of the bootstrap circuit 106 by a metal oxide semiconductor field effect transistor (MOSFET), so as to embed the MOSFET in the chip. Even though the MOSFET functions almost the same as the diode D_BS, in some cases, a leakage current between the node X and the bootstrap voltage terminal probably follows though a parasitical body diode embedded within the MOSFET, and leads to irregularities and poorer efficiency in the bootstrap circuit 106 and thereby a negative influence on the whole functionality of the bootstrap buck converter 10. In addition, in the bootstrap buck converter 10, once the node X may be short-circuit due to component breakdown issues, the external high-voltage terminal (the voltage Vcc) would be pulled low, which negatively affects inner operations of the chip.
Therefore, enhancing the bootstrap circuit in the buck converter has been one of the objectives and the industry is focusing on.


A longitudinal laminate board of binder fixed mineral wool. The laminate board consists of adjacently disposed longitudinally directed pieces, whose fibre planes form a right angle to the plane of the laminate board. The length of the pieces is less than half of that of the laminate board and they are jointed to each other. None of the joints is immediately next to any of the ends of the laminate board or to any of the supports for the board.

Laminate boards of this type are prior known, having been used for instance in shipbuilding industry as insulating walls of various spaces.
Sandwich elements of mineral wool have been utilized to some extent in building industry. However, so far long elements have not been available, neither as roof or floor elements, nor as wall elements.
The idea of rotating cut laminates 90.degree. and of reassembling them in the turned position, thus providing a laminate board having fibres orientated perpendicularly to the plane of the board, is prior known. Such a laminate board has excellent resistance properties and is able to transmit shearing forces between its surface planes.
Finished sandwich elements of mineral wool with the fibres orientated perpendicularly to the surface plane of the element would be usable as roof, floor and wall elements, thus simplifying construction operations noticeably.


A firm banking terminal having a data inputting unit, a dismantlement monitor for outputting a detection signal when the terminal body is dismantled, a processor for stopping operation of the terminal when it receives the detection signal, and a memory for storing authorization data allowing dismantlement of the terminal without interrupting normal operations when the data received through the data inputting unit coincides with the authorization data.

The present invention relates to firm banking terminals and more particularly to improvements to a security system for preventing illegal dismantlement of or damage to the body of a firm banking terminal.
At present firm banking terminals transmit and receive data such as a sum of money, a destination bank code, and an account number between enterprises or homes and a bank host computer through a public line network.
However, the terminal body of a firm banking terminal may be illegally dismantled, so that important data such as that mentioned above is exposed and an illegal operation performed. Therefore, a security system which prevents such illegal action is required.
In a conventional proposed researched security system, internal fuses for a ROM, in which programs and other data are stored, are fused away such that the terminal does not operate when the firm banking terminal is dismantled.
In the conventional security system of this type, the banking terminal becomes inoperable when a maintenance man dismantles the terminal for ordinary maintenance or when malfunctions occur. Therefore, a process for preventing the terminal from being made inoperable for maintenance and inspection is required.

System and method of detecting authorized dismantlement of transaction machines


A data publishing system includes a design server that stores design data, a publishing server that stores published data, which is associated with the design data, and a browsing terminal. A user uses a keyboard and a mouse that are included in the browsing terminal and selects the design data stored in the design server and the published data stored in the publishing server. An arithmetic processing unit causes a monitor to display whether the selected design data and the selected published data match each other.

The data publishing system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-309034 is a known example of a data publishing system of the related art. This data publishing system enables browsing of, for example, data regarding design drawings for foundation construction of a power plant and includes a management server, a terminal to be used by a foundation designer, a terminal to be used by a constructor, and a terminal to be used by a rebar processor. These terminals are connected to the management server via the Internet.
The management server includes a drawing approval status database and a foundation rebar database. A foundation designer logs into the management server via the terminal for the foundation designer and updates approval status data and the like in the drawing approval status database. A constructor logs into the management server via the terminal for the contractor and refers to the approval status data in the drawing approval status database. Then, the constructor confirms, on the basis of foundation drawing data that has been approved, a rebar to be processed and sends an order e-mail to a rebar processor in order to place an order for the rebar to be processed.
In general, in the case of an industrial product, such as an automobile, that includes a large number of components, the design of the product is frequently changed until the design is completed, and a large number of prototypes are fabricated with the design changes. In the case of the data publishing system described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-309034, since an order for rebar processing is placed on the basis of foundation drawing data that has been approved, the data publishing system cannot be applied to an industrial product such as that mentioned above whose prototypes are fabricated with design changes. If the data publishing system is applied, reprocessing or reworking of a prototype occurs each time drawing data is changed in accordance with a design change, and this leads to an increase in the manufacturing costs.


An embolic coil comprises an elongated core element formed of a shape memory material treated to define a memorized secondary coil shape and an elongated outer element wound around the elongated core element to define a primary coil shape of the embolic coil. A method of forming an embolic coil, comprises the steps of imparting a memorized shape to a core element formed of a shape memory material, wherein the memorized shape defines a secondary coil of the embolic coil and straightening the core element in combination with the steps of winding an elongated outer element around the straightened core element to form a primary coil of the embolic coil and releasing the straightened core element when the device has been positioned at a deployment location to form the secondary coil of the embolic coil.

Many clinical situations require the reduction or complete stoppage of blood flow to some region of the patient's body. Embolic coils are one example of devices that may be used to stop undesired blood flow in situations, for example, requiring treatment of aneurysms, arteriovenous malformations, traumatic fistulae and tumor embolization. These conditions require that the blood flow through a portion of a blood vessel be stopped, for example by introducing an artificial device into the vessel to slow the flow to allow the natural clotting process form a more complete blockage.
Embolic coils are made from a bio-compatible material, such as platinum, to minimize problems associated with tissue irritation and rejection. These coils are often shaped as complex three dimensional curves that fill in portions of a blood vessel's lumen and slow blood flow therethrough. Often, polymeric fibers are added to the metallic coils to enhance the coil's thrombogenicity (i.e., its ability to cause the formation of clots).
In the treatment for an aneurysm, an embolic coil is inserted in the affected blood vessel using a catheter, and is placed within the bulging, weakened section of the blood vessel. When in place, the coil expands to its operational size and shape, and slows down the flow of blood through the weakened section. Over time, a clot forms around the embolic coil, and blood flow through the weakened section is completely blocked. Thus, failure of this weakened section is less likely and the resulting hemorrhage may be prevented.
Typical embolic coils are formed using two major steps: 1) a wire of platinum or other bio-compatible material is wound into a spring, forming what is commonly referred to as a primary coil; and 2) the primary coil is in turn wound around a mandrel having a more complex shape and is subject to high heat to yield a secondary coil. The secondary coil thus is a coiled wire of complex-shape. Subsequently, polymeric fibers may be added to the embolic coil, usually between the rings of the primary coil.


In a game machine, platen dots are provided on a traveling field. A plurality of self-propelled members are provided on the traveling field. Each self-propelled member includes a first linear motor and a second linear motor for respectively propelling the self-propelled member in a first direction and a second direction perpendicular to each other. A miniature member is coupled with a motor so as to be rotatably supported on each self-propelled member. A controller controls the motor such that a rotated angle of the miniature member is determined in accordance with a propelling direction of the self-propelled member.

The present invention relates to a game machine using self-propelled members, which facilitates travel control of the self-propelled members, significantly simplifies a mechanical structure and control system of the game machine, and significantly curtails manufacturing costs.
A travel driving mechanism of a self-propelled member used in a racing game machine basically drives wheels by a rotary drive motor and effects turning action by controlling a rotational speed differential between the left driving wheel and the right driving wheel. Japanese Patent No. 2650643 discloses an example of such a racing game machine. Further, Japanese Patent Publication No. 7-68056A describes an example of such a play game machine. In the racing game machine, a racing track is formed into a two-story structure in which self-propelled members are caused to travel on a traveling field to attractively guide miniatures which are incapable of self-propelling are caused to race with each other on a racing track by way of magnetic force originating from magnets. In the play game machine, miniatures are provided on the respective self-propelled members. The self-propelled members are caused to travel, thus causing the miniatures to play a game.
Electrical wires are arranged in the X and Y directions densely on a plane on which the self-propelled members travel (hereinafter called as traveling field). The electrical wires serve as position detecting wires to detect traveling positions of the self-propelled members. On the basis of detected position information, the self-propelled members are subjected to feedback control, thereby implementing trackless travel. A known position detecting method includes the steps of: capturing a self-propelled member by a CCD camera, subjecting the thus-captured image to image processing, and detecting a traveling position of the self-propelled member on a virtual traveling field through computation.
Nowadays, the information processing speed of a microcomputer and the information storage capacity of memory have been remarkably improved. Against this backdrop, feedback control of travel of a self-propelled member on the position detecting information is comparatively easy in terms of technique.
However, in an actual racing game machine, a self-propelled member travels through use of driving wheels. As a result of slippage, the member may be thrown into a skid and deviate from a racing track, become greatly deviated from a desired direction, or overturn. Thus, feedback control poses a problem in the accuracy of control of a traveling route, in the response of correction of a traveling direction of a self-propelled member, and in the response of correction of a track of the self-propelled member. In reality, unexpected racing is effected often. Thus, difficulty is encountered in causing self-propelled members to race with each other as planned.
On the premise that self-propelled members would cause slippage and deviate from tracks, a plurality of self-propelled members are simultaneously controlled so as to travel by effecting feedback control on the basis of position detecting information while correction is made to movement of the self-propelled members. In this case, a control system and a control program become complicated.
Even in the case of a member which travels, drives, and turns by frictional force developing between wheels and a travel face, it is theoretically conceivable that the member effects feedforward control instead of feedback control on the basis of position detecting information. It is readily predicted that a travel control program for the member and design thereof would be simple. Considerable difficulty is encountered in causing a plurality of self-propelled members in a game machine to accurately travel along predetermined traveling paths through feedforward control. Causing self-propelled members to race with each other in a racing game machine through such feedforward control as planned is almost impossible.
In relation to travel control operation based on feedback control as described the above, the traveling position of a self-propelled member is detected successively, and arithmetic operation is performed on the basis of the thus-detected position so that the traveling is controlled in accordance with a predetermined program. However, in such a configuration, a position sensor, an information processing system, and a travel control system are complicated and involve considerably high manufacturing costs.
Furthermore, conformity exists between motion of a miniature and that of a self-propelled member. Hence, the orientation of a miniature cannot be changed quickly. Consequently, it is impossible to implement a game machine involving quick changes in motions of miniatures; for example, a soccer game machine and a play game machine which effects dancing involving spinning.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Game machine using self-propelled members