A closing method for a multi-sided paperboard carton includes sealing a cover with side edge extensions to corresponding side flanges defined by fold lines on the paperboard carton during continuous feeding of the carton along the feed path. The side flanges of the carton body are bent downward during continuous feed movement with a force sufficient to cause the flanges to fold and remain free and below a plane passing through the fold line when released. The cover is placed on the carton to lie substantially in a plane and with the edge extensions overlying the flanges. A hot air stream is directed into the half-V gap presented between each flange and associated cover side edge extension to activate an adhesive coating and the flanges are pressed against the cover for sealing. The carton is carried through the bending stage in a die having an open bottom cavity and forming blades on its side edges that engage the fold line between the side flanges and the carton side panels from below. Platen members are presented for engagement with the blade edges of the die to bend and squeeze the flanges to create the downwardly bent orientation and facilitate sealing during continuous movement. The side flanges may be pre-broken and preheated to facilitate the bending and sealing operations downstream.

Many types of containers and cartons formed from folded paperboard are in widespread use today in the food industry. For packaging food items, such as frozen foods, one widespread practice is to form a multi-sided carton from plastic coated paperboard, fill the carton on a continuous food processing line and then to seal the carton closure flaps and/or flanges by automatic machinery. In the past, this closing function is most often accomplished by hot air activation of the plastic coating and then pressing the flaps and flanges against the side panels of the carton.
The use of thermosetting coatings, such as polyester resin or other heat resistant materials, is desirable since a carton of this type is safe to use for packaged foods, and can be placed directly in a microwave for cooking or reheating. These coatings also provide superior barrier qualities for preventing the paperboard from absorbing juices and/or grease during cooking. Many of these packaged foods are cooked while covered or semi-covered, so as to retain maximum moisture, flavor and aroma, as well as to prevent food splatter in the oven. Cooking or reheating packaged foods in a conventional oven where the temperature often exceeds 270.degree. C. (425.degree. F.) is a big advantage for these coated cartons.
Heat activated polyester resin can also be used as the adhesive for sealing two coated surfaces together, as with the other plastics. However, in practice the sealing process is more difficult than with the other most popular plastics, such as polyethylene resin. In fact, others have had only limited success in using the activated polyester film for closing cartons. This is where on the single-sided (inside) coated paperboard, the side edge extensions of the cover are sealed to the corresponding outwardly folded side flanges of the carton body. In past practice, the cover is either a hinged panel on the carton, or a separate lid merged with the carton just prior to the closing operation.
To provide the requisite adhesive properties or tackiness to the polyester resin, it must be heated to a temperature in the range of 225.degree. to 550.degree. F., and then firm pressure promptly applied to bond the surfaces together. The key advantage of this type of seal made with polyester resin is that good seal integrity is maintained at the elevated temperatures, for example, up to 230.degree. C. or 450.degree. F. High quality seals between the side extensions on the cover and the side flanges on the body of the carton can be attained so long as sufficient hot air can be blown against the coated surfaces, and sufficient time is available for pressing the surfaces together and cooling the film.
Experience teaches that the most important parameter in fulfilling these requirements is the careful control of the heating of the surfaces to be sealed. Since the temperature required for bringing the polyester resin to a tackiness where it can be used as an adhesive is relatively high, high speed operation usually must be sacrificed. Indeed, in many prior art approaches, the closing process must be intermittent, rather than continuous, as set forth in the Oxborrow U.S. Pat. No. 4,626,234, issued Dec. 2, 1986. In this patent, the four-sided cartons or trays are fed in an intermittent fashion past a fixed heating location; i.e. where hot air is blown against the flanges of the carton and the adjacent edge extensions of the cover or lid. Downstream at another station, the carton is again momentarily stopped to provide the requisite pressure to seal the surfaces together.
Because of the demand of the industry to increase the speed of the packaging process, and to prevent the closing operation from being the bottleneck, numerous attempts have been made to seal the cover or lid to the carton in a continuous, rather than in this intermittent fashion. An approach in this regard that has been attempted in the past for specifically attaching separate flat lids to a tray is shown in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,559,092 to Oakley, issued Dec. 17, 1985. In this approach, the lid is prepositioned on the tray with flanges on the sides of the lid facing the side flanges on the body of the tray. The two juxtaposed flanges are bent away from each other by plows situated along the feed path in order to attempt to form a V-shaped gap. Ideally, the hot air is blown into the open gap of the V, and the polyester resin coating is heated to the temperature necessary for sealing. Practice, however, shows that the narrow side flanges are difficult to open up and keep open in this manner due to the stiffness and inherent memory of the polyester film on the paperboard. This is especially true in the instance where printed material on the carton includes electron beam cured ink. The hard fact is that sufficient heating usually does not take place to provide a good, high integrity seal when these prior art approaches are used.
Also, this type of closing operation is slowed by a substantial degree due to the requirement for mechanical devices, such as the side plows, to remain in constant contact with the flanges. Because of the stiffness of the polyester film and the continuous side plow engagement, it is difficult to control the tracking of the carton along the feed path. The inherent springiness of the flanges acting against stationary plows along the side and other mechanical devices used to attempt to keep the V open, causes lateral shifting of the tray and lid from side to side. This substantially restricts the speed allowed, and due to misalignments adds to the rate of failure of the closing operation.
The prevalent thinking in the industry of providing mechanical devices for holding narrow flanges apart during application of heat for sealing is shown by the Reil et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,980,515, issued Sep. 14, 1976. The requirement for holding the flanges apart inevitably leads to a stationary, rather than continuous, sealing operation.
Accordingly, improvement in the area of sealing a multi-sided carton or container having the inside coated with heat resistant film is sorely needed. The industry is seeking a way that efficient and reliable closing of a carton with either a hinged or separate cover or lid can be accomplished in a continuous, relatively high speed fashion. It has been proposed that the best way to accomplish this result is to do away with the need for stationary side plows and other holding devices, and to in some other way assure that the two surfaces to be sealed are opened up so as to be able to be subjected to the high temperature, hot air activation in a reliable fashion. To do this, a relatively radical departure from this prior practice is indicated.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a method and related apparatus for closing a multi-sided paperboard ovenable carton through sealing of a cover to the side flanges of the body of the carton in such a manner to overcome the shortcomings and limitations of the prior art. The result of the attainment of this objective is a closure seal exhibiting excellent quality adhesive bonding, and high seal integrity that is maintained through freezing, distribution and heating even at the high temperatures found in conventional ovens.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide reliable, hot air adhesive activation for an inside coated carton by forming at least a half-V between the edge extension of the cover and the corresponding side flange of the body of the carton.
It is another and related object of the present invention to provide a method/apparatus that allows continuous adhesive activation between the edge extensions of a cover and the side flanges of the body of a carton by presenting a reliable open gap, at least a half-V, for receiving the hot air stream.
It is still another and related object of the invention to provide a method/apparatus of forming a closed carton without the need for mechanical, stationary plows and/or other devices to hold the gap open, and thereby allow the extensions/flanges to remain free during adhesive activation.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a system for high speed closing of a carton by sealing a cover to the body of the carton wherein the side flanges of the carton are bent downwardly during feed movement with sufficient force to overcome the natural stiffness and memory of the plastic coating, thus allowing the flange to remain free and below a plane passing through the fold lines of the flanges for a time sufficient to provide the adhesive activation.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide the sealing method and related apparatus that allows the carton to be moved along a continuous feed path from the standard forming machine through a flange bending station, a product filling station, a sealing/closure station, and finally to the end of the packaging line.
It is another object of the present invention to provide the method and system for sealing a cover to the carton in a simplified, continuous manner wherein a die with an open cavity carries a carton along the feed path, and forming blades on the die mate with platen members to mechanically bend the side flanges of the carton to the degree necessary to assure maintenance of an open half-V allowing hot air to contact the mating board surfaces and providing full adhesive activation.
Additional objects, advantages and other novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description that follows and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned with the practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and obtained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

Method for closing a heat-resistant carton


Techniques relating to correction of image distortion caused by movement of a camera unit during image capture. In one embodiment, an apparatus may include a camera unit and a scaling circuit. The apparatus may be configured to calculate a shift value for a line of an image captured by the camera unit, where the shift value is indicative of an amount of movement of the camera unit during at least a portion of capture of the image. The scaling circuit may be configured to operate on the line starting at a line position that is based on the calculated shift value. The calculated shift value may be based on movement information generated by a motion sensor. The scaling circuit may include a digital differential analyzer and one or more multi-tap polyphase filters. The line position may be specified as a fractional pixel value.

1. Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to image processing, and more particularly to correcting image distortion caused by camera movement.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some cameras capture images by scanning lines of pixels from top to bottom (or bottom to top, left to right, etc.), which is often referred to as a "rolling shutter." Such cameras are often included in mobile devices such as cell phones and tablet computers. Because the scanning is not instantaneous, small user hand movements can cause distortions in the captured image. For example, pixels that should be vertically aligned are actually offset from each other such that an object that should appear to be upright appears to be slanted in the captured image. Image signal processors may be able to correct this problem based on image data, but such processing is slow and expensive in terms of power consumption. Similarly, software solutions to rolling shutter distortions tend be slow.

Image distortion correction in scaling circuit


A high resolution imaging system having a wide field-of-regard. The wide field image generation system (10) of the present invention is operative to provide a composite digital representation of a scene within a field-of-regard. The invention (10) includes a sensor arrangement (12, 14, and 16) for generating first and second frames of image data. A scene correlator (18) registers the first and second frames of image data within the field-of-regard. A temporal filter (22) averages image data in the first frame with image data at a respective corresponding location in the second frame to provide a third frame of image data. When displayed, the third frame of image data provides a wide field-of-regard, high resolution image with minimal undesirable seams therein.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to systems for creating images of a scene. More specifically, this invention relates to systems operative to generate a scene image spanning a wide field-of-regard.
While the present invention is described herein with reference to a particular embodiment, it is understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those having ordinary skill in the art and access to the teachings provided herein will recognize additional embodiments within the scope thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Infrared imaging systems are used in a variety of military and commercial applications to provide either an operator or a guidance system with a view of a scene. Such imaging systems are typically characterized as having a "field-of-regard", which refers to the angular breadth of the resultant scene image. One benefit accruing from a wide field-of-regard is that a viewer of the wide-field image may observe individual objects therein within the context of a larger scene. However, increases in the field-of-regard generally come at the expense of decreases in image resolution within conventional imaging systems.
Various methods have been utilized in an attempt to avoid the necessity of compromising image resolution to achieve a wide field-of-regard. For example, in a particular optical approach the imaging system is designed to incorporate a pair of optical lenses. One of the lenses encompasses a wide field of view, while the other covers a relatively narrow field of view. The lenses are then mechanically moved in and out of the optical train of the imaging system to alternately provide a wide field-of-regard or improved resolution. One disadvantage of this approach is that the rate at which an operator may switch between the fields of view of the two lenses is limited by the response of the servo system used to alternately interpose the lenses within the optical train. In addition, it is often difficult to capture a moving object within the field of view of the high resolution lens even though the location of the object may be readily apparent within the wider field of view.
In a second approach, an imaging sensor (typically having a relatively narrow field of view) is mounted on a gimbal scan mechanism. The gimbal is rotated to direct the field of view of the sensor to various regions within the field-of-regard, with frames of image data being produced by the sensor at a known rate (e.g. 60 Hz). Although individual regions throughout the entire field-of-regard may be viewed in isolation using this method, a composite image of the entire field-of-regard is not produced. It is also generally difficult to maintain a moving object within the sensor field of view (by rotation or scanning of the gimbal) without "smearing" the resultant image. Moreover, complex processing methods are required to create images across consecutive frames of image data.
In a third approach, image data from a number of separate sensors are used to generate a real-time image of an entire field-of-regard. The field of view of a first sensor is arranged to overlap slightly the field of view of a different sensor in order to prevent seams from appearing in the composite image. However, complex and expensive image processing hardware is typically required to implement this multi-sensor scheme. In addition, multi-sensor systems offer only minimal improvement in signal-to-noise ratio relative to single sensor systems.
It follows that a need exists in the art for a single sensor, high resolution imaging system having a wide field-of-regard.

Apparatus for providing a composite digital representation of a scene within a field-of-regard


Methods, apparatuses and systems for cloud-based disaster recovery are provided. The method, for example, includes receiving, at a cloud-based computing platform, backup information associated with backup vendors used by a client machine; storing, at the cloud-based computing platform, the backup information associated with the backup vendors; periodically updating, at the cloud-based computing platform, the backup information associated with each of the backup vendors at a predetermined polling interval for each of the backup vendors; receiving, at the cloud-based computing platform from the client machine, a failure indication for a server associated with at least one of the backup vendors; and restoring the server using the stored backup information at the cloud-based computing platform.

Client workstations within an organization's work facilities use one or more servers to perform various operations associated with the organization. Data on a server can be backed up using one or more backup solutions provided by a backup vendor associated with the server, so that if that server should become inoperable, e.g., crash, become corrupted, or destroyed, the server can be restored to a point in time in a relatively quick manner. Additionally, restoring a server sometimes requires manual/user intervention, which can be quite challenging and/or time consuming for a user in view of the complexity of the backup solutions. As can be appreciated, the more servers that become inoperable, the more time it will take to restore them, as each server has its own unique backup solution.
Accordingly, there is a need for methods, apparatuses and systems for managing backup solutions for data backup and recovery of servers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


Described herein is a coated building panel having a body and a surface coating atop the body, the surface coating comprising inorganic pigment and a polymeric dispersant comprising a polymer backbone and pendant side chains extending from the polymer backbone; wherein the surface coating comprises a liquid carrier in an amount less than about 1 wt. % based on the total weight of the surface coating.

Ceiling systems are installed into room environments to help control noise as well as enhance the aesthetic appeal of those room environments. These ceiling systems may comprise one or more building panels having specific aesthetic properties that help contribute to the appeal of the room environment. Previous attempts at improving the aesthetic properties of these building panels included applying decorative coatings to the surface of the building panel. However, such decorative coatings tend to create difficulties associated with manufacturing time as well as the overall performance of the building panel at high-temperatures (i.e., increased flammability and/or blistering of the coating). Thus there exists a need for building panels comprising a decorative coating applied thereto that does not create the same difficulties with respect to manufacturing and while also not sacrificing the required aesthetic properties provided by the decorative coating

High solids color face and edge coatings for building panels


Technologies are described herein for generating and changing credentials of a service account. In one method, a credential schedule is retrieved. The credential schedule specifies when a plurality of credentials are scheduled to be changed. A determination is made whether a current credential associated with the service account is scheduled to be changed according to the credential schedule. Upon determining that the current credential is scheduled to be changed, at least part of a new credential is generated. The current credential is replaced with the new credential for the service account.

Multiple services operating on a single or multiple computer environment may access a shared resource. In order to control access to the shared resource, credentials (e.g., a username and password) may be provided to each of the services. The credentials may be used to identify a service, thereby enabling a central manager to grant and/or limit access to the shared resource. For example, a first service may be provided with credentials that enable the first service to read and modify data in a database, while a second service may be provided with different credentials that enable the second service to only read data in the database. That is, the credentials provided to the second service may prohibit the second service from modifying data in the database.
One of the larger concerns with implementing a credential-based access system is the strength of the credential. In particular, over a period of time, a credential may be discovered using brute force and other forms of attack. In order to decrease the likelihood that such attacks are successful, at least part of the credential, such as the password, may be changed before a security breach can occur. For example, if a known hacking technique typically takes three months to discover a given credential, the password may be changed every two months as a defensive mechanism in response to the hacking technique.
In a typical implementation, a human administrator manually changes the password for each of the services. However, giving an administrator the responsibility of managing and changing the passwords can raise a number of security issues. In one example, in order for an administrator to recall the password, the administrator may record the password on a piece of paper or some other medium. In this case, a nefarious party with access to the medium can obtain the password. In another example, the administrator who prefers to remember the password instead of recording it may choose a weaker password that can be more easily memorized. In this case, the weaker password can be more easily attacked than a stronger password. As a result, removing the responsibility from the administrator to manage and change the passwords can significantly improve the security of the computing environment.
It is with respect to these considerations and others that the disclosure made herein is presented.

Generating and changing credentials of a service account


Devices and method for engaging a casing member for manipulation. A hydraulic torque locking mechanism is incorporated into a casing manipulation assembly. The hydraulic torque locking mechanism includes a clutch mechanism that is actuated using surface pump pressure from tool circulation.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a torque locking mechanism used in conjunction with casing manipulation systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
A number of systems are employed wherein drilling or reaming operations are done using casing strings. In these systems, a drilling tool or reaming tool is mounted upon a casing string in order to drill a wellbore or to enlarge or smooth an existing wellbore. The casing string and mounted drilling/reaming tool is rotated by a rig top drive unit at the surface.
At times, these drilling or reaming tools can become stuck or require repositioning or manipulation from surface. In order to do this, a casing manipulation tool must be interconnected between the top drive unit and the casing string when the casing string needs manipulation. The casing manipulation tool allows the casing to be secured such that it can be pulled on, set down on and rotated. Casing manipulation tools are described in U.S. Pat. Publ. No. US 201210111556 by Palmer et al. and U.S. Pat. Publ. 2012/0125632 by Blair et al. Both of these references are owned by the assignee of the present application and are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety. Typically, right-hand rotation provided by the top drive is used to set the slips of the casing manipulation tool to cause it to grip the casing string.

Casing manipulation assembly with hydraulic torque locking mechanism


The invention describes a multi-device OLED (1) comprising a device layer stack (100) comprising a bottom electrode (11), a top electrode (14), at least one inter electrode (13) and plurality of active layers (120, 121), wherein the bottom electrode (11) is applied to a substrate (10), and each active layer (120, 121) is enclosed between two electrodes (11, 13, 14); a current distribution means (500) comprising a current distribution layer (51, 53, 54) for each electrode (11, 13, 14) of the device layer stack (100); a plurality of openings (110, 130) extending from the top electrode (14) into the device layer stack (100), wherein each opening (110, 130) exposes a contact region (111, 131) of an electrode (11, 13); and a plurality of electrical connectors (41, 42), wherein an electrical connector (41, 42) extends into an opening (110, 130) to electrically connect the electrode (11, 13) exposed by that opening (110, 130) to the current distribution layer (53, 54) for that electrode (11, 13). The invention also describes a method of manufacturing such a multi-device OLED. The invention further describes a method of driving such a multi-device OLED, which method comprises applying a voltage across at least one pair (51, 53, 53, 54) of current distribution layers (51, 53, 54) of the current distribution means (500) to stimulate the corresponding active layer (120, 121) of a device of the multi-device OLED (1).

With advances in OLED technology, allowing several OLED devices to be stacked in a multi-device configuration, 'colour-tuneable' devices are becoming interesting. In a single-unit device, an active layer is sandwiched between a top electrode and a bottom electrode. The colour of the emitted light is largely determined by the composition of the active layer, which can comprise various organic polymers such as polyfluorenes chosen for their specific chemical structure that allows the colour of the emitted light to be determined. A single-unit device emits light of a certain colour, and that colour cannot be altered dynamically. A multi-device OLED, on the other hand, comprises two or more OLED devices or units 'stacked' on top of each other such that the anode of one unit is the cathode of the other unit in the stack. This shared or 'inter' electrode is effectively sandwiched between the different active layers of the multi-device OLED. The separate active layers can have different layer composition so that each OLED device or unit can have a different colour. The colour of the light emitted by the combined OLED devices can be tuned by regulating the current supplied to the electrodes, while an 'inter' electrode is used to drive one or both of its adjacent OLED devices. Obviously, the inter electrode must be at least partially transparent. A prior art colour-tuneable multi-device OLED comprising two stacked units is made by applying at least three isolated electrically conductive regions onto a substrate, which may be glass, polyethylene naphtalate, or some other suitable material, usually transparent since most devices are 'bottom emitting', i.e. they emit through the substrate. A transparent conductor is used for these conductive regions, for example doped zinc oxide, indium tin oxide or poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate), usually referred to as Pedot:PSS. These conductive regions are applied such that a relatively large central anode region is flanked on one side by a contact pad for the inter electrode and on the other side by a contact pad for the cathode. A first active layer is applied onto the anode, and an inter electrode layer is applied to cover the first active layer, extending onto one of the contact pads. A second active layer is applied onto the inter electrode, and a third electrode is applied onto the second active layer, extending onto the other contact pad. For a bottom-emitting device, the third or top electrode can comprise a relatively thick layer of a highly reflective material such as aluminium or silver.
Because the three electrodes of such a prior art device can be addressed individually, the light emission of the two OLED units can be tuned relative to each other. With different organic materials for the two units, the light emitted by the top unit can have a slightly or even distinctly different colour from the light emitted by the bottom unit, allowing the combined colour or colour point of the combined device to be tuned simply by regulating the current applied to the electrodes.
However, the prior art design is associated with several drawbacks. The achievable device size is limited by the poor conductivity of the transparent anode. Also, since the inter electrode must be at least partially transparent, this layer must be very thin, with the result that its lateral conductivity is also inherently poor. The poor conductivity of the transparent electrodes effectively limits the device size to a maximum of about 5 cm by 5 cm. Another disadvantage is the inhomogeneous quality of the emitted light owing to the asymmetric contacting of the inter electrode and the cathode, so that the brightness of the light is uneven and drops off with increasing distance from the contact pads. Furthermore, the light-emitting area of the overall device is further restricted by the necessity for these contact pads, which occupy a significant portion of the available substrate area.
It is therefore an object of the invention to provide an improved multi-device OLED.


A new cultivar of Schizachyrium scoparium, ‘Carousel’, that is characterized by its compact and rounded form with upright culms that does not lodge in fall and winter or with exposure to rain or snow, its short stature with a height of about 30 cm, its foliage that emerges nearly horizontal and becomes upright, its coloration that is green to blue-green with streaks of pink in summer, a blend of copper, beige, orange-red, and mahogany in fall, and beige in winter.

The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Schizachyrium scoparium and will be referred to hereafter by its cultivar name, 'Carousel'. 'Carousel' represents a new cultivar of little bluestem, an ornamental grass grown for landscape use.
The Inventor discovered and selected the new cultivar, 'Carousel', in a garden plot that had been planted with 200 seedlings derived from open-pollination of unnamed plants of Schizachyrium scoparium in the summer of 1998 in Rushville, Ill. 'Carousel' was selected as a single plant amongst the seedlings for its unique characteristics and suitability as a landscape plant.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished by culm division in Rushville, Ill. in 2002 by the Inventor. The vegetative propagules of this cultivar have been determined to be stable and are reproduced true to type in successive generations.


Mixtures of nylon 6 and nylon 6,6 are separated by solubility difference in aqueous aliphatic carboxylic acid.

It has been increasingly important to recycle polymeric and other consumer waste materials. By recovery of useful polymer from scrap material such as nylon carpeting, now sent to landfills, the volume of such material can be reduced. This lessens the burden on landfills and conserves petroleum raw materials. The present invention is an important step in this direction.

Separation of nylon 6 from mixtures with nylon 6,6


Provided are an automatic continuous image engraving device capable of decreasing in size of an installing space of the device. The device comprises an unengraved medium accommodating part, an engraved medium accommodating part, a medium dispenser, a medium positioning and conveying part, and an image engraving part, wherein the medium dispenser releases the unengraved card-shaped engraving medium to cause the same to be succeeded at the succeeding position, the medium positioning and conveying part returns the engraved card-shaped engraving medium after image engraving from the engraving position to the succeeding position, and the medium dispenser adsorbs the engraved card-shaped engraving medium at the succeeding position, moves the same upward, travels above the engraved medium accommodating part, and releases the engraved card-shaped engraving medium to be accommodated.

Conventionally, devices of engraving an image on a magnetic card or synthetic paper were proposed as Patent literatures 1-3. Each device has a single function to conduct an engraving only and cannot conduct automatic continuous image engravings.
Contrary, the applicant proposed an automatic continuous image engraving device of Patent literature 4.
The automatic continuous image engraving device performs image engravings on cards such as credit cards and is provided with a card magazine, a card dispenser, a read/write unit, a card positioning part, a card mounting table, a card conveying part, an image engraving part, a card accommodating magazine, and a card conveying robot.
The card magazine is capable of accommodating a plurality of rectangular cards that allow read/write of data, and the card dispenser sequentially sends out cards accommodated in the card magazine a card long direction.
The read/write unit receives, in the sending-out direction, the card sent out from the card dispenser, conducts data reading or writing, and sends out the card in the card long direction.
The card positioning part receives and positions, in the sending-out direction, the card sent out from the read/write unit.
The card mounting table is a part to which the card is mounted by movement in a card short direction after the positioning on the card positioning part, and the card conveying part conveys the card mounted on the card mounting table in the card long direction between a mounting position and an image engraving position.
The image engraving part performs image engravings using an engraving stylus according to image signals from a controlling part to the cards conveyed to the image engraving position with the card conveying part.
The card accommodating magazine receives and accommodates the engraved cards, which are conveyed back to the mounting position after the image engravings at the image engraving part, by movement in the card short direction.
The card conveying robot linearly transfers the cards in the card short direction from the card positioning part to the card mounting table and from the card mounting table to the card accommodating magazine.
Accordingly, the image engravings to the cards are continuously and automatically performed.
The conventional automatic continuous image engraving device, however, causes a transfer path in a plane to be elongated and the device to increase in size.    PATENT LITERATURE 1: JP 1101-115676 A    PATENT LITERATURE 2: JP H05-24394 A    PATENT LITERATURE 3: JP S63-201762 U    PATENT LITERATURE 4: JP 4516669 B

Automatic continuous image engraving device


A digital imbalance correction device and method are provided including an input unit to receive first input signals. A time-to-frequency-domain-transformer performs a transformation of the first input signals from time-domain into frequency-domain. A subtractor receives second input signals and outputs a gain difference as a function of frequency at its output. A cross-correlator receives third input signals based on the input signals, and outputs a cross-correlation of the third input signals. A gain corrector receives a fourth input signal based the associated first input signal. A gain of the fourth input signal is corrected based on the power difference spectrum. A phase corrector receives a fifth input signal based the associated first input signal. A phase of the fifth input signal is corrected based on the cross-correlation output, such that the phase of the fifth input signal is in quadrature relation to the other one of the first input signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a digital imbalance correction method and device. In particular, the present invention relates to such a device adapted for use in a receiver designed for multi-carrier applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the recent progress in telecommunications, receivers tend to be designed for so-called multi-carrier applications in order to be able to receive signals composed of multiple carriers, each carrier originating from a different transmitter. For example, such applications are likely to occur in connection with e.g. frequency diversity scenarios.
This invention relates to such broadband dual (or multi-) branch receivers for such multi-carrier applications. A broadband dual (or multi-) branch converter is used to convert the complete RF band (Radio Frequency) of interest including multiple channels/carriers to a low pass limited frequency band. This low-pass limited spectrum will be converted into digital data by low-pass ADCs (Analog-to-Digital Converters) after the analog branches.
Precisely, this represents a low IF receiver (Intermediate Frequency), as each independent channel is still on an IF frequency. The term "Direct Conversion" is applied here to emphasize that a complete RF band is converted to the baseband by means of an I/Q (or multi-branch) converter, lowpass sampled and converted to a digital signal. This digital signal typically contains several independent channels, which are then separated by digital filters. Alternatively, it contains one broadband channel such as an OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) or an arbitrary signal.
FIG. 1 shows a basic analog part of an I/Q conversion receiver. An input RF signal is supplied to an input terminal 1. The input RF signal contains one or more individual channels (multi-carrier signal) and may originate from several independent transmitters. Multi-branch receiver (RX) means that there is one antenna and in principle only one receiver, but the receiver has several parallel branches to process the signal from one antenna. That is typically the direct conversion receiver. In a superhet receiver, the image frequency is suppressed by a filter. In the Direct Conversion receivers, the image is too close to be filtered. The two branches allow to separate the images, although the contents in each branch is corrupted. Adding a third or more branches with different phases would allow to correct for hardware errors (like DC offset). In short, diversity copes with path distortion, multi-branch copes with hardware distortion.
Herein below, "branch" is used for denoting a hardware branch and/or signal path, whereas "component" (such as I and Q component) is used to denote a mathematical descriptive model of a signal. Stated in other words, a signal can be mathematically described by its components (I and Q components), the two components may be processed digitally: if processed in serial, one hardware branch is needed therefor, while if processed in parallel, two (or more) hardware branches are required. Thus, the analog RF front-end shown in FIG. 1 has two independent branches (or path for a signal component), one for the Q- and one for the I-component.
A bandpass filter BPF 2 following the RF input terminal 1 selects a certain frequency band. The thus selected frequency band is amplified using a low noise amplifier LNA 3, and supplied to a power splitter 4 which splits the signal in two branches. Each respective branch of the split signal is supplied to a respective mixer 5a, 5b, respectively. At the respective mixer 5a, 5b, the split signal component (carried in the concerned branch) is subjected to a mixing using a respective signal supplied from a local oscillator 6. The local oscillator 6 generates two oscillating output signals mutually shifted by 90° such as a sine and a cosine signal, using a phase locked loop PLL 6b and a oscillator element 6a. The mixed signals are respectively subjected to a subsequent low pass filtering using low pass filters LPF 7a, 7b, amplified by amplifiers 8a, 8b, respectively, and finally output by a respective intermediate low pass filter LPF 9a, 9b. These outputs are designated as an I output 10a and a Q output 10b, respectively. The I output 10a represents the in-phase component of the signal, whereas the Q output represents the quadrature component of the signal.
The low pass filters 7a, 7b, respectively, downstream the mixers 5a, 5b select a wanted channel (or wanted channels, depending on the width of the passband of the filters) within the band remaining after the filtering by BPF 2. The dual branch or I/Q receiver as in FIG. 1 is known per se, and an example for TV applications is disclosed in the U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,315.
One of the key impairments of this architecture resides in an amplitude (gain) and phase imbalance of the two (or multiple) signal branches in the receiver. In a single carrier receiver (RX) this I/Q-imbalance reduces the signal-to-noise ratio S/N of the receiver and causes performance degradation.
Efforts are therefore made in order to correct for such an I/Q imbalance. Gain and phase correction in a dual branch receiver is for example disclosed in the European patent EP-A-0 305 603 and the U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,112. These prior art patents, however, are related to true direct conversion receivers for single carrier applications.
In the case of multi-carrier reception, however, amplitude and phase imbalance of the two branches (i.e. I and Q branch) cause interference of the channels located at equal frequency differences above and below the frequency of the local oscillator 6. Phase and amplitude differences of the I- and Q- branches limit the practical image rejection to some 30 dB, while for a GSM multi-carrier application more than 65 up to 95 dB of image rejection is required. Note that image rejection is achieved by summing the I/Q-signals with proper phase and amplitude. The achievable image rejection can be directly calculated from amplitude and phase mismatch (imbalance) of the two branches (I,Q), which in turn are directly related to component tolerances.
In prior art, in order to deal with problems in connection with multi-radio/multi-channel arrangements, there are basically two solutions:                A single conversion to a high IF and IF sub-sampling. Currently available analog-to-digital converters (ADCs) are, however, not sufficient and immense effort is spent by various manufactures to overcome this problem.        A double conversion to a low IF and low-pass sampling. This, however, requires enormous linearity of the RF stages. This solution is on the very edge of being feasible with currently available technology. Although it seems to be feasible, it is associated with rather high implementation costs. Furthermore, the double IF solution is prone to spurious responses and requires different IF frequencies for different RF bands.
Furthermore, I/Q-error correction is being investigated, and multiple methods have been published on I/Q-error correction. However, these papers concentrate on correction algorithms for single channel or OFDM applications, where the band of interest comes from one single signal source. Multi-carrier applications, however, where each carrier originates from a different transmitter (TX) have to handle a considerable higher dynamic range. In a disseration by Mikko Valkama, Tampere University of Technology, 2001, it is discussed that the task of improving the image signal attenuation of the basic quadrature down-conversion scheme, either using analog or digital techniques, has been addressed to some extent in recent literature, where several different ideas are discussed. Commonly, in the digital methods, the approach is to estimate the effective mismatches between the I and Q branch amplitudes and phases. Then, employing these estimates, some kind of a correction network is used to restore the ideal matching conditions (equal amplitudes and a phase difference of 90°). However, most of these methods share the problem of being unable to compensate for amplitude and phase mismatches which depend on frequency and/or time. Furthermore, most of the proposed estimation techniques are based on known test or calibration signals, thereby complicating their use during the normal receiver operation.
Consequently, the drawbacks of the known methods are one or a combination of the following:                Not able to compensate frequency dependent mismatches        Not able to compensate time dependent mismatches        Need for test or calibration signals.
Even though M. Valkama mentions in his thesis and further publications "Statistical Signal Processing Techniques for
Imbalance Compensation", these are based on using certain assumptions on the wanted and interfering signals, in order to be able to compensate the amplitude and phase mismatches without needing test signals and also compensating for frequency and time dependencies. However, in order to function properly, the assumed frequency dependency model has to be correct. Otherwise, the desired result can not be obtained. However, the estimation of time dependency is also a problem in case of fast varying signals, such as in the GSM system.
In summary, direct conversion of a multi-carrier signal, however, is currently not feasible for cellular applications.

Digital imbalance correction method and device in a receiver for multi-carrier applications


It is the object of the invention to integrally conform functions of devices of optical fiber types with those of SiO.sub.2 waveguides, miniaturize optical devices and provide optical waveguide devices with various optical functions. A SiO.sub.2 waveguide, which is composed of a SiO.sub.2 waveguide clad with low refractive index and a SiO.sub.2 waveguide core with high refractive index, is formed on a Si substrate. The core and the clad on an area, where the direction of the core coincides with the orientation of crystallization of a Si substrate, are removed. A V-groove is formed along the orientation of crystallization of the exposed Si substrate. Both the end surfaces of an optical fiber grating, which is fitted in the V-groove, face those of the remaining SiO.sub.2 waveguide. The cores of the SiO.sub.2 waveguides and the optical fiber grating are optically coupled with each other.

An optical fiber grating (a fiber grating, hereinafter) has a property of reflecting optical signal with a particular wavelength propagating therethrough, and serves as an optical filter.
Conventionally, when the fiber grating is used in an optical circuitry, the fiber grating is connected with individual optical devices, such as a directional coupler, a Y-branch and etc., the fiber grating is connected with them via an optical fiber in most cases. Among the aforementioned optical devices, the Y-branch and the directional coupler can be fabricated from SiO.sub.2 waveguides, but the characteristic of the fiber grating is better than that of a SiO.sub.2 waveguide grating.
Moreover, the Er (erbium)-doped optical fiber is about several tens meters long and wound round a reel in most cases. The directional coupler or the Y-branch is connected with one end of the Er-doped fiber, and a pumping light with a wavelength of 1.48 .mu.m or 0.98 .mu.m is supplied thereto. An optical signal with the wavelength in 1.55 .mu.m band is supplied from the other end of the Er-doped optical fiber. The aforementioned devices are connected with the end of the Er-doped fiber by means of arc fusion.
In the aforementioned devices, the directional coupler and the Y-branch can be fabricated from the SiO.sub.2 waveguide, but the characteristic of the Er-doped fiber is better than that of an Er-doped SiO.sub.2 waveguide.
In case that the fiber grating or the Er-doped fiber is used as an optical device, since they are connected with the directional coupler or the Y-branch by means of arc-fusion, fused portions must be reinforced after the work of arc fusion is over and become voluminous, hence miniaturization of this portion is difficult.
Moreover, the disadvantage of the optical device, such as the fiber grating, which suppresses the optical signal with a particular wavelength, is that its characteristic is changed by bending and stretching. On the other hand, in the SiO.sub.2 waveguide, functions of splitting an optical signal and demultiplexing plural optical signals have been already completed, and technology for integrally realizing these functions have been established. However, in the SiO.sub.2 waveguide, functions of amplifying and isolating the optical signal have not yet been realized.
As mentioned in the above, the devices of the fiber type and those of the SiO.sub.2 type respectively have their own advantages, and are connected with each other via an optical fiber.
Accordingly, a troublesome job concerning with dealing with the remaining optical fiber is inevitable, and miniaturization of the connected portion becomes difficult.

Optical isolator and optical amplifier waveguide device


An air-sucking vehicle tail section component or wing section component includes an outer delimitation part having microperforation including boreholes, and inner delimitation part having a plurality of suction boreholes including fluid connections to the microperforation boreholes, and connecting elements. The inner delimitation part is connected via the connecting elements to the outer delimitation part. The outer delimitation part includes a continuously curved shape. The inner delimitation part includes two or more planar inner delimitation part components, which are each connected to one another at one edge to form a connection edge, and the connection edge is configured to be attached to the outer delimitation part. A type of framework structure is thus provided, which causes increased stability and can split impacting objects in particular if two inner delimitation part components are used on the vehicle tail section component or wing section component.

Vehicles which achieve high relative velocities to the air are preferably designed as aerodynamically favorable to reduce the aerodynamic drag and thus to increase their efficiency. From certain velocity ranges, it can be observed that turbulent boundary layers are generated at higher velocities on surfaces of vehicle fuselage components which protrude directly into the airflow, because of the flow deflection, for example, on leading edges of tail units or wing units of aircraft. The design of these aerodynamic components to reduce the increased aerodynamic drag caused by the boundary layers is not entirely variable because of installation space or functional restrictions connected thereto, however. To reduce the aerodynamic drag because of the turbulent boundary layer, concepts therefore exist of sucking air from areas of tail units and wing units of aircraft which are oriented upstream to reduce the aerodynamic drag, which are currently used only in research aircraft or vehicles, however. The affected vehicle fuselage component is implemented in the form of a tail unit or wing unit front edge having suction openings, which extend from a front delimitation oriented upstream, such as a front edge, up to a front spar of the structure of the tail unit or the wing unit.
In research aircraft in which such sucking of air from a turbulent boundary layer occurs via a vehicle fuselage component having openings, the relevant vehicle fuselage component is typically implemented as a double-walled structure, which is formed by an outer plate and an inner plate. These plates have a constant spacing to one another and are connected to one another by strip-like or tape-like webs. Multiple suction chambers thus result, from which air can be suctioned via the suction openings of the outer plate by applying a partial vacuum or suction. In order to achieve sufficient stiffness of the vehicle fuselage components modified in the above-mentioned way, which must at least correspond to the stiffness of a typical and non-sucking vehicle fuselage component without such suction, a greater plate thickness is necessary or additional stiffening ribs must be introduced, which results in an increased weight of the air-sucking vehicle fuselage component.
In such vehicle fuselage components, in particular in the case of use on aircraft, a low bird strike tolerance results, since the outer plate of the vehicle fuselage component has a weakening of the material because of the suction openings, so that significant denting results upon the impact of birds or other objects, so that the configuration of suction chambers located behind it or even a front spar may be damaged.
EP 1 699 686 A1 and US 2009/0020653 A1 disclose a device for sucking a boundary layer on the surface of an aircraft, in which the suctioned air is supplied to an environmental control system.

Air sucking vehicle tail section component or wing section component, method for producing an air sucking vehicle tail section component and a wing section component and a vehicle, especially an aircraft, with an air sucking vehicle tail section component or wing section component


The invention provides a multilayer ceramic capacitor comprising a capacitor body composed by alternately layering dielectric layers and inner electrode layers. Accordingly, the multilayer ceramic capacitor has high relative permittivity and is high the temperature property and highly accelerated life test property.

In recent years, along with wide spread of mobile appliances such as cell phones and high speed and high frequency of semiconductor devices which are main parts of personal computers, a multilayer ceramic capacitor to be disposed in such electronic appliances has been required to be smaller and have higher capacities. Therefore, a dielectric layer composing the multilayer ceramic capacitor has been made thinner and to have higher lamination.
For example, with respect to a dielectric powder composing a dielectric ceramic, Patent Document No. 1 discloses that a barium titanate powder (BCT (Barium Calcium titanate) powder) in which a portion of A site is replaced with Ca and a barium titanate powder (BT powder) containing no substituent Ca are used in form of a mixture, so that the fine granulation and relative permittivity improvement of the above-mentioned barium titanate crystal particles can be accomplished in the dielectric layer after sintering and at the same time DC bias property can be improved.
In this connection, when being mixed and sintered with added components such as Mg, rare earth elements, etc., which are indispensable for controlling temperature property of the relative permittivity, the BCT crystal particles among the barium titanate crystal particles composing the dielectric ceramic disclosed in Patent Document No. 1 tend to cause grain growth along with diffusion of Ca contained in BCT powder. Therefore, severe condition control is needed for sintering and particularly in the case of using raw materials having particle diameters of sub-micron level or smaller, it has been known well that rather considerable grain growth is caused and production of a sintered body composed of fine particles of barium titanate crystal is not easy.
Therefore, in the above-mentioned Patent Document No. 1, to suppress the grain growth of BCT crystal particles at the time of sintering, MnCO3, MgO, and a rare earth oxide are added further when a BT powder coated with oxides of Mg and rare earth elements and a BCT powder are mixed and accordingly, a coating layer of a highly insulating compounded oxide can be formed approximately evenly on the surfaces of the BT type crystal particles after sintering and at the same time excess solid solution formation and grain growth of Mg and the rare earth element in the BCT crystal particles.
According to the production method described in the above-mentioned Patent Document No. 1, in the case of using a small scale experimental sintering furnace in which the sintering temperature can be precisely controlled, even if a technique of further adding MnCO3, MgO, and a rare earth oxide is employed at the time of mixing the above-mentioned BT powder coated with Mg and a rare earth oxide and a BCT powder, it is made possible to form a sample which is provided with a desired relative permittivity and temperature property and satisfactory in a highly accelerated life test.
However, in the control level of the sintering temperature in a tunnel type large-scale sintering furnace just like the one to be used for mass production of multilayer ceramic capacitors, fluctuation of the highest temperature in the sintering furnace is considerably significant at the time of sintering and therefore, the dispersion of the grain growth of BCT crystal particles becomes wide and many products whose relative permittivity, temperature property, and highly accelerated life test property are out of the satisfactory ranges are produced to result in a problem that the yield of mass production is decreased.
Patent Document No. 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-40671

Multilayer ceramic capacitor and production method of the same


Systems and methods are described for providing connectivity to portable electronic devices, such as a cordless telephone, for the purpose of upgrading software features. In a preferred embodiment, portable electronic devices can receive incoming data at the PSTN jack from a personal computer that is also connected to the PSTN via a PSTN modem. In this manner, upgrades can be accomplished without requiring users to disconnect the telephone or to connect additional cables or components. The telephone is temporarily disabled from service only during the downloading of the upgrade software from the personal computer to the telephone. Upgrade software can be received at the personal computer from downloads or from other sources.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to line connected devices, and more particularly to methods for transferring data to update features in a line connected device.
2. Background of the Invention
Modern cordless telephones are evolving to include many features in addition to standard functionality for placing telephone calls. For instance, cordless telephones are now becoming available that enable users to adjust ring tone and graphics displays, and otherwise personalize the interface of the telephone. Users can make selections from lists of options stored in telephone memory to customize the telephone to each respective user's preferences.
Since cordless telephones have a limited memory capacity, only a finite number of selections are usually made available to a user for customization. In any event, no matter how many different possible options are available for selection from the memory of a telephone, users may be interested in choosing from still more options of different tunes, designs, etc. Since many consumers may be willing to purchase different selections if they were made available, a market is created for software upgrades for cordless telephones. By producing electronic devices that are upgradeable, companies can foster consumer goodwill and loyalty while still maintaining or improving profit margins.
Unfortunately, once a digital device such as a cordless telephone is released into the consumer market, it becomes very difficult to upgrade or update the telephone with new software or firmware. One obvious method for upgrading a telephone is to manually disassemble the telephone and replace the processor or memory, or temporarily remove the memory from the telephone to add new software. Of course, this method is not practical for the vast majority of consumers, who are unlikely to have the skills necessary to perform such tasks.
Even if a portable electronic device can be especially designed to enable software updates, this might not be cost effective if the benefits from including this functionality are outweighed by the associated additional costs of design and manufacture. Adding functionality to an electronic device involves additional computer architecture design, software programming, parts and components, which may be incrementally expensive. Further, regardless of the development costs, consumers will not utilize such a feature unless the steps that are necessary to update the device are relatively uncomplicated and easy to be performed. Since many portable electronic devices, such as cellular or cordless telephones, have somewhat small GUI displays with limited interfaces, this can be particularly challenging. Finally, the additional components that are necessary to enable the device to be upgraded must not overwhelm the existing physical size of the device or the spacing of other components within the device. Since, for example, cellular and cordless telephones are designed to be lightweight and comfortably hand-held, the weight and size associated with every component is always an important design consideration.
Accordingly, there is a need for a method and system for transferring data to a cordless telephone to facilitate updating and upgrading the functionality of the device, and which is relatively easy to use and does not significantly contribute to the cost, size and weight of the device.

Method and system for transferring data to a line connected device using a computer modem


The present invention makes it possible to transmit an image, which has been captured as by a digital camera, in the form of a file by facsimile communication. To this end, if an X bit of a FIF (Facsimile Information Field) from a receiving machine is ON, the facsimile apparatus judges that the receiving machine has functions for JPEG-receiving in sYCC color space and for receiving an image that has been captured by a digital camera and stored on a memory card. If transmission of image files on a memory card has been specified, those image files are transmitted successively when the X bit of the FIF from the receiving machine is ON. Even if there is a main-scan pixel-number change or a color-monochrome change, a PPS-MPS signal is transmitted and the individual image files are transmitted.

Facsimile machines capable of communicating color information operate in accordance with ITU-T Recommendations T.30, T.4, T.81 and T.42, and the color images transmitted thereby use Lab color space.
The popularization of digital cameras in recent years has been accompanied by growing demand for the transmission of information, which has been captured by such cameras, using existing facsimile protocols.
The color space used in a digital camera is sYCC color space and not Lab. Naturally, therefore, there is desire for a protocol that will transmit JPEG-encoded information in sYCC color space as is.
However, when JPEG full-color transmission of sYCC color space is considered, this basically is not transmission of color-document information but rather of file information that has been obtained by photography using a digital camera and stored on a removable storage medium such as a compact flash card. In such case the number of pixels of the image in the main-scan direction and the number of pixels thereof in the sub-scan direction are reported to the receiving machine by the header of a JPEG file without negotiating the transmission resolution and document size, as when color-document information in Lab color space is transmitted. This makes it necessary to clarify the protocol used when transmitting images and image information that have been stored on a compact flash card.

Color facsimile apparatus and method of controlling communication thereof


Neat and filled polyphthalamide resins are improved in processability when blended with polypropylene and a carboxylated polyolefin resin. Filled polyphthalamides, particularly glass-filled polyphthalamide formulations, are significantly benefited, and glass fiber-filled molding resin formulations of this invention comprising high levels of fiber are more readily moldable than polyphthalamide formulations without the polyolefin components comprising the same and even lower levels of glass-fiber.

This invention relates to filled polyphthalamide resin compositions, more particularly to improved filled compositions comprising a filled polyphthalamide, preferably a filled crystallizable or crystalline polyphthalamide, and still more particularly to filled blends comprising filler, polyphthalamide and polypropylene having improved tensile properties and rigidity together with excellent thermal processability, and to a method for providing thermally processable filled polyphthalamide compositions and composites.
The highly desirable balance of strength, stiffness and thermal properties of polyamides has gained these resins wide acceptance in the molding arts and in the extrusion arts including fiber spinning and film extrusion. The resins are found in a great variety of applications, and may be particularly attractive for use where resistance to chemical and thermal attack is required. Further, though the flexibility of these resins makes them highly desirable for many uses, where a greater rigidity is desired the resin will be compounded with reinforcement, for example with glass fiber or the like, to provide the needed increase in rigidity.
Crystalline polyamides comprising at least about 50 mole % aliphatic terephthalamide units exhibit particularly good thermal, strength and stiffness properties, and low water absorption relative to nylon 6,6. Crystalline and crystallizable polyphthalamide resins are known in the art, and a variety of grades are readily available from commercial sources, including for example the Amodel.RTM. Polyphthalamides from Amoco Performance Products, Inc. Such resins have relatively high melting points, generally about 290.degree. C. or higher, and the temperature of onset of thermal degradation for many does not greatly exceed their melting points, making the thermal processing of these resins a more rigorous and complex task, particularly for filled and reinforced polyphthalamides, than is encountered for lower melting polyamides including nylon 6,6, melting at about 260.degree.-265.degree. C. Methods for improving the processability of these high-temperature polyphthalamide resins are clearly needed by the art.
Considerable effort has been made over the years to develop methods for improving the mechanical properties of high-temperature polyamides. For example, polyamides are deficient in impact, particularly when dry, and blends with polyolefins have been developed in efforts to improve impact. However, unmodified polyamides and polyolefins are generally incompatible, and the incompatibility may cause the blends to be generally poor in important mechanical properties, and even cause partial or complete loss of integrity for articles molded or extruded from such blends. The incompatibility of polyolefins with polyamides has been overcome in the art by modifying the polyolefin component to obtain stable dispersions of polyamide and polypropylene. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,764. However, the addition of low modulus resins such as polyolefins tends to lower the overall rigidity and reduce performance at elevated temperatures.
The addition of fillers to polyamides, particularly reinforcing fillers such as glass fiber, has long been used to increase rigidity, and glass fiber-reinforced polyamide resins are particularly well known and widely sold for uses requiring enhanced rigidity and improved dimensional stability, particularly at elevated temperatures. The addition of glass fiber or other filler to polyamides generally provides little improvement in other mechanical properties where adhesion to the filler surface is poor.
Blends comprising polyamides and polyolefins may also be subject to reduced performance because of poor adhesion between the resin and filler. Modification of the polyolefin component with unsaturated carboxylic acid compounds and treatment of the fiber with coupling agents to provide a chemical interaction between the modified polypropylene and the fiber surfaces are among the methods that have been employed for overcoming these deficiencies, though with varying degrees of success. Such modifications frequently reduce the attractiveness and visual appearance of the surfaces of molded articles, making further efforts necessary to overcome these added problems. For example, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,613,647 there is described a method for improving the compatibility of glass reinforced, carboxyl-modified polypropylene by the addition of polyamides such as nylon 6 or nylon 6,6. The inherent reactivity of the polyamide with the carboxyl-modified polypropylene is said to cause yellowing and delustering in molded products. The patent further discloses overcoming these added problems through the use of meta-xylylene adipamides as the polyamide component of such compositions; even with these modifications, the resulting glass-reinforced blends remain somewhat deficient in rigidity and tensile properties. The addition of further additives including dyes and pigments tends to further reduce impact properties. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,952, there is described an improved method for combining polyamide, olefinic rubber impact modifiers and glass fiber reinforcement to provide reinforced formulations having dyes and pigments while retaining good impact properties.
A great variety of modifiers and additives that may be found useful for overcoming one or more deficiencies have resulted from these efforts, though improvement in a single resin property is quite often accomplished only at some sacrifice in the overall balance of properties. For example, although a variety of carboxylated polyolefins are known for use in combination with glass fiber-filled polyamides, in most instances such additives effect a lowering of rigidity and increase the susceptibility to thermal oxidation. Blends comprising polyamides with crystalline polyolefins or a derivative thereof are known. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,084 there are disclosed blends of amorphous polyamides comprising aliphatic terephthalamide and isophthalamide units with up to 10 wt % crystalline polyolefin such as high- or low-density polyethylene or polypropylene having improved impact strengths. According to the teachings of U.S. Pat. No. 3,388,186, compositions comprising crystalline nylon 6 modified with ethylene copolymers having a minor amount of acrylic or methacrylic acid or an ester derivative and grafted polycaproamide side chains are improved in impact resistance, as are similar compositions with ethylene-acrylic or ethylene-methacrylic copolymers, according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,472,916.
While the art thus discloses the blending of polyamides with a variety of polyolefins and modified polyolefins to obtain improvement in selected properties, combining filled, high-temperature, crystalline polyphthalamides with selected polyolefins or modified polyolefins to achieve improved thermal processability does not appear to have been suggested or recognized in the art.
Polyphthalamide resin formulations with improved thermal processability and moldability, particularly when filled, are continually sought by the art for use in the production of molded and extruded goods. Compositions that are able to accommodate high levels of fiber reinforcement without a concomitant loss of processability could find wide acceptance in the plastics art, and such compositions would be particularly attractive for use in demanding environments where elevated temperatures and corrosive conditions may be encountered.

Filled polyphthalamide blends having improved processability and composite and filled articles therefrom


A system and process for selecting objects in an ubiquitous computing environment where various electronic devices are controlled by a computer via a network connection and the objects are selected by a user pointing to them with a wireless RF pointer. By a combination of electronic sensors onboard the pointer and external calibrated cameras, a host computer equipped with an RF transceiver decodes the orientation sensor values transmitted to it by the pointer and computes the orientation and 3D position of the pointer. This information, along with a model defining the locations of each object in the environment that is associated with a controllable electronic component, is used to determine what object a user is pointing at so as to select that object for further control actions.

1. Technical Field
The invention is related to selecting objects in a ubiquitous computing environment where various electronic devices are controlled by a computer via a network connection, and more particularly to a system and process for selecting objects within the environment by a user pointing to the object with a wireless pointing device.
2. Background Art
Increasingly our environment is populated with a multitude of intelligent devices, each specialized in function. The modern living room, for example, typically features a television, amplifier, DVD player, lights, and so on. In the near future, we can look forward to these devices becoming more inter-connected, more numerous and more specialized as part of an increasingly complex and powerful integrated intelligent environment. This presents a challenge in designing good user interfaces.
For example, today's living room coffee table is typically cluttered with multiple user interfaces in the form of infrared (IR) remote controls. Often each of these interfaces controls a single device. Tomorrow's intelligent environment presents the opportunity to present a single intelligent user interface (UI) to control many such devices when they are networked. This UI device should provide the user a natural interaction with intelligent environments. For example, people have become quite accustomed to pointing at a piece of electronic equipment that they want to control, owing to the extensive use of IR remote controls. It has become almost second nature for a person in a modern environment to point at the object he or she wants to control, even when it is not necessary. Take the small radio frequency (RF) key fobs that are used to lock and unlock most automobiles in the past few years as an example. Inevitably, a driver will point the free end of the key fob toward the car while pressing the lock or unlock button. This is done even though the driver could just have well pointed the fob away from the car, or even pressed the button while still in his or her pocket, owing to the RF nature of the device. Thus, a single UI device, which is pointed at electronic components or some extension thereof (e.g., a wall switch to control lighting in a room) to control these components, would represent an example of the aforementioned natural interaction that is desirable for such a device.
There are some so-called "universal" remote controls on the market that are preprogrammed with the known control protocols of a litany of electronic components, or which are designed to learn the command protocol of an electronic component. Typically, such devices are limited to one transmission scheme, such as IR or RF, and so can control only electronic components operating on that scheme. However, it would be desirable if the electronic components themselves were passive in that they do not have to receive and process commands from the UI device directly, but would instead rely solely on control inputs from the aforementioned network. In this way, the UI device does not have to differentiate among various electronic components, say by recognizing the component in some manner and transmitting commands using some encoding scheme applicable only to that component, as is the case with existing universal remote controls.
Of course, a common control protocol could be implemented such that all the controllable electronic components within an environment use the same control protocol and transmission scheme. However, this would require all the electronic components to be customized to the protocol and transmission scheme, or to be modified to recognize the protocol and scheme. This could add considerably to the cost of a "single UI-controlled" environment. It would be much more desirable if the UI device could be used to control any networked group of new or existing electronic components regardless of remote control protocols or transmission schemes the components were intended to operate under.
It is noted that in the preceding paragraphs, as well as in the remainder of this specification, the description refers to various individual publications identified by a numeric designator contained within a pair of brackets. For example, such a reference may be identified by reciting, "reference [1]" or simply "[1]". Multiple references will be identified by a pair of brackets containing more than one designator, for example, [2, 3]. A listing of references including the publications corresponding to each designator can be found at the end of the Detailed Description section.

System and process for selecting objects in a ubiquitous computing environment


Disclosed are a piston for a micro-volume syringe and a plunger. The micro-volume syringe has a syringe barrel with a space defined in it. The piston is slidable on and along a wall of the space. A leading member to be arranged on a side where the piston comes into contact with a solution filled in the space and a trailing member to be arranged on a side where a plunger rod is to be connected, the latter side being opposite to a solution side of the leading member, have been integrated with each other. The trailing member has a higher hardness than the leading member. With the micro-volume syringe in which a drug solution can be filled in a very small quantity, the piston makes it possible to perform smooth drawing and ejection of the drug solution without leakage. Even if the small piston connected to a tip of the plunger rod is operated in a direction that the piston is to be pulled out of the syringe, the plunger rod does not slip off from the piston accidentally. The piston and plunger are optimal for the micro-volume syringe.

In recent years, the elucidation of disease causes is proceeding on a gene level, and the advances in medical treatment have made brilliant achievements. Keeping in step with these changes, the developments of prescription products vary widely so that a need has arisen to inject an extremely small quantity of a drug solution into the body by a syringe. In such a situation, a micro-volume syringe that the quantity of a drug solution to be filled in a syringe barrel is, for example, as little as 1 mL or smaller or even 0.25 mL is used. As in the before, such a micro-volume syringe is also comprised basically of a syringe barrel, a piston slidable in the syringe barrel, and a plunger rod for pushing the piston.
In general, a piston and a plunger rod, which serves to cause the piston to slide, are connected to each other by keeping a threaded portion, which is arranged at a tip of the plunger rod, in engagement with a threaded portion in a cavity which the piston is provided with (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In view of its clinical application, the piston is required to have performance to be described hereinafter. Firstly, contamination of a drug solution from the material forming the piston needs to be avoided, and therefore, the material forming especially a forward end portion that comes into contact with the drug solution is required to have excellent chemical resistance. Further, the piston connected to the tip of the plunger rod is required to be smoothly slidable on and along a wall of a syringe barrel without causing leakage upon filling the drug solution into the syringe barrel or ejecting it from the syringe barrel. As the performance of the piston, smooth slidability is hence required in addition to sealing performance.
Concerning the piston-forming material required to have the above-described performance, it has been proposed to cover a surface of a piston, which is formed of a synthetic rubber, with a fluorinated resin (see Patent Document 2). However, a plunger rod arranged in threaded engagement with a piston may accidentally slip off from the piston when the plunger rod is handled to pull out the piston from the syringe barrel. This problem pronouncedly arises when a piston formed of such a covered synthetic rubber is used. Proposals have also been made to avoid such a problem (see, for example, Patent Document 3). It is to be noted that the manner of connection between the piston and plunger rod is not limited to their threaded engagement but includes fitting an anchor-shaped portion, which is arranged on the tip of the plunger rod, in a cavity arranged in the piston (see, for example, Patent Document 4).

Piston for syringe having very small capacity, and plunger having the piston mounted thereto


A polymer composition comprising a linear ultraviolet radiation absorbing polyether that comprises a chemically bound UV-chromophore.

Skin cancer is a significant public health concern which represents 50% of diagnosed cases of cancer in the United States. Ultraviolet radiation (UV) can cause molecular and cellular level damage, and is considered the leading environmental factor responsible for skin cancer. The prolonged exposure to UV radiation, such as from the sun, can lead to the formation of light dermatoses and erythemas, as well as increase the risk of skin cancers, such as melanoma, and accelerate skin aging processes, such as loss of skin elasticity and wrinkling.
The damaging effects of UV exposure can be suppressed by topical application of sunscreens which contain compounds that absorb, reflect or scatter UV, typically in the UVA (wavelengths from about 320 to 400 nm) or UVB (wavelengths from around 290 to 320 nm) range of the spectrum. Numerous sunscreen compounds are commercially available with varying ability to shield the body from ultraviolet light.
It has been suggested to use sunscreen molecules having high molecular weights in order to reduce the penetration of the sunscreen molecule through the epidermis. However, the inventors have recognized that it would be desirable to have entirely new polymeric sunscreen compounds (ultraviolet radiation-absorbing polymers) in order to provide any of various benefits such as improved protection from UV.

Ultraviolet radiation absorbing polyethers


A material reducing mill having a construction which operates to create a circulation of material in the mill to effect a thorough reduction of material added to the material undergoing reduction. The mill is further constructed with a rotary device which is associated with an external collection system, which device constantly samples the circulation in the mill so as to withdraw that portion which can be fed into the collection system. Furthermore, the external collection system is provided with sensors which are adapted to regulate the circulation of the material intended to be reduced to micron size portions.

This invention is directed to apparatus for grinding material to a desired fineness grade and to associated means for circulating material to effect a desired reduction of the material prior to evacuating the material after achieving desired fineness reduction.
It is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,830,290 of May 16, 1989 to provide a roller mill with means in the grinding chamber for imparting an the upward lift to the material for improving the fluidization of material to maintain a substantially constant particle size for delivery to an outlet.
It is also known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,993,647 of Feb. 19, 1991 to operate material separator for obtaining refined material subject to a first reduction which moves the material into a separate where the large and/or heavier particles are returned by gravity to fall back into the first reduction for further reduction while the finer ground material is subjected to a second separation by a rotary device which alloys passage of particles of a smaller size while larger particles are refused passage and fall back for further reduction.
Some mills, as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,134 of Jun. 16, 1987, have a high throughput rate and effect a fine division as between fines and coarse particles in the outlet. In such mills the coarse particles can be removed by a pneumatic separator in that a rejecting grid is provided to include inclined blades which will retain very coarse particles.
It is also known from the system in U.S. Pat. No. 1,517,900 of Dec. 2, 1924 that small particles of solid material to be separated and graded or classified are fed into a separating chamber and air is caused to circulate through an endless path and through the separating chamber. In such a system the fine particles or "fines" are separated from the heavier or coarse particles or "tailings" within the separating chamber. Thus the "fines" are carried by the circulating air up through and out of the separating chamber while the "tailings" settle within the chamber and pass from the bottom thereof through a suitable discharge opening without further reduction.
To a lesser extent it is known from U.S. Pat. No. 2,099,505 of Nov. 16, 1937 to provide an efficient inexpensive apparatus which will clean seeds by means of air blasts and to provide means for equalizing the air blasts so the air is equally distributed throughout the apparatus. It is also known from the before listed U.S. Pat. No. 4,673,134 of Jun. 16, 1987 that mills in general are desired to have a high throughput rate and to effect a fine division with the amount of coarse particles in the outlet minimized, and in a more pertinent apparatus refined material is subject to a reduction in which the larger and heavier particles are separated out and returned by gravity to fall back into the first grind reduction for further reduction with the finer ground material being subject to a second separation by a rotary device.

Apparatus for grinding material to a fineness grade


The present invention relates generally to nitro-1,2-dihydro-3H-benzo[e]indoles and related analogues, to their preparation, and to their use as hypoxia-selective drugs and radiosensitizers for cancer therapy, both alone or in combination with radiation and/or other anticancer drugs.

It has been established that many human tumours contain a significant proportion of hypoxic cells (Kennedy et al., Int. J. Radiat. Oncol. Biol. Phys., 1997, 37, 897-905; Vaupel et al., Semin. Oncol., 2001, 28, 25-35). The presence of hypoxic cells arises because of chaotic growth and an inefficient microvasculature system within the tumour, so that tumours often exhibit large intercapillary distances and variable blood flow. Reduction of oxygen tension in tumours leads to radioresistance. Up to a three-fold increase in radiation dose may be required to kill anoxic tumour cells. A link has been identified between the presence of tumour hypoxia and failure of local control by radiation therapy (Nordsmark et al., Radiother. Oncol., 1996, 41, 31-39; Brizel et al., Radiother. Oncol., 1999, 53, 113-117). This phenomenon of tumour hypoxia has been exploited in the development of a class of anticancer agents termed 'hypoxia-activated prodrugs' which are also sometimes referred to as 'bioreductive drugs' although the latter term also encompasses prodrugs activated by reduction under oxic conditions (Brown et al., Semin. Radiat. Oncol., 1966, 6, 22-36; Denny et al., Br. J. Cancer, 1996, 74 (Suppl XXVII) 32-38; Stratford & Workman, Anti-Cancer Drug Des., 1998, 13, 519-528).
Various nitro(hetero)aromatic compounds have been reported as hypoxia-activated prodrugs. These include                the nitroimidazole (i), which is proposed to undergo fragmentation following nitro group reduction by endogenous cellular nitroreductase enzymes (McClelland et al., Biochem. Pharmacol., 1984, 33, 303-309),        the dinitrobenzamide mustard (ii) and analogues, where similar reduction of the nitro group activates the mustard (Palmer et al., J. Med. Chem. 1996, 39, 2518; Helsby et al., Chem. Res. Toxicol., 2003, 16, 469-478; Denny et al., NZ Provisional Patent Application 529249), and        the nitrobenzindoline (iii) and analogues have been reported as potential bioreductive drugs activated by the E. coli NR enzyme (Denny et al., PCT Int. Appl. WO 98/11101 A2, 1998; Atwell et al., J. Org. Chem. 1998, 63, 9414-9420; Atwell et al., Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 1997, 7, 1493-1496.)

It is an object of the present invention to provide a specific class of nitro-1,2-dihydro-3H-benzo[e]indoles, and their corresponding phosphates, as bioreductive prodrugs for use in cancer therapy or to at least provide the public with a useful alternative.

Nitrobenzindoles and their use in cancer therapy


A method for processing a first and second message groups submitted by a user includes executing a learning operation and an estimating operation. The learning operation includes extracting a first location message having a specifiable location from the first message group, extracting a first expression message including a specific expression from the first message group; and associating the location and the expression on the basis of the date and time submitted with each message, and for generating learning data. The estimating operation includes extracting a second expression message including a predetermined expression from the second message group, accepting input of a specified date and time for estimating a location; associating the expressions with each other on the basis of the specified date and time; and estimating a location at the specified date and time using coordination filtering on the basis of the learning data and the input data.

The present invention relates to an information processing technology, and more specifically to a technology for estimating a location posted to social media such as microblogging.
As the use of social media becomes more widespread, there is a desire to know the location at which information was posted to social media by various users. For example, when disaster information is posted by a user, the location of the user can be quickly determined and the necessary countermeasures can be taken. When information is posted to social media via a mobile device such as a smart phone, it is assumed that the location of that device is constantly changing. The global positioning system (GPS) function in mobile devices has been used to address this problem, and there have been attempts to add longitude and latitude information (so-called geotags) to information posted by users (see, e.g., laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-517147). A technology has also been proposed in which the text in posted information is analyzed and the location is estimated from geographic names included in the text (see, e.g., laid-open Patent Publication No. 2010-517147 and laid-open Patent Publication No. 2008-158564).

Estimating location based on social media

International Business Machines Corporation


Disclosed is a personal fan assembly comprising a spray bottle body for storing a liquid and having a nozzle for dispensing the liquid on demand in the form of a spray; and a fan unit releasably attachable to said spray bottle body. The fan unit includes an impeller to create an air stream, and the nozzle is located downstream of the impeller and to one side thereof out of the air stream. The nozzle is oriented at an angle to the air stream so as to direct the spray into the air stream at an angle. The spray bottle body may be in the shape of a U, with the opening in the horseshoe adapted to releasably receive the fan unit. Alternatively, the spray bottle body may be in the form of a water pitcher and the fan unit is mountable in a cylindrical housing within the spray bottle body.

There are many situations where it is desirable for a person to be able to carry a portable fan for personal cooling as they move about. For example, in fair grounds, theme parks, and the like, which are generally located in warm climates, a person strolling outside can find it unpleasantly hot, especially if the sun is beating down on gravel or hot tarmac.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,752,662 describes a personal spray fan. The device includes a spray body with a fan housing mounted over top. The spray nozzle is situated behind the fan hub and blades. The problem with such an arrangement is that the rotating fan vanes interrupt the spray, causing water to be scattered out of the airflow.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,843,344 describes another personal spray fan. The device includes a fan body releasably secured to the front face of a misting device body, so that the spray is above and behind the fan blades. This arrangement, while portable, is not suitable for wearing around the user's neck as a necklace. Also, the spray is not in the airflow produced by the rotating fan blades.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,845 describes a necklace spray fan. The device includes a fan body and spray body joined side by side along a longitudinal plane. Both the spray flow and the airflow are directed upwards. The user must grip and squeeze the spray body to release a spray. The problem with such an arrangement is the device must be manually positioned so that the airflow and spray are directed toward the user's face. This device can not be mounted in a stable position against the user so that the air and spray flow are directed toward the user's face. Also, the shroud interrupts the airflow and thus reduces efficiency, which is important in the case of battery-powered devices.

VECTACOR (a division of Bonis & Company)