The present invention related to a universal joint assembly for attaching two missile sections together wherein one section is a recycled rocket motor. The joint assembly includes a plurality of attachment blocks each secured through fasteners to the outer surface of the rocket casing. Separate fasteners are employed between the attachment blocks and the adjacent section. As the fasteners are advanced, the attachment blocks are first secured to the rocket casing and then the attachment blocks are drawn toward the adjacent section until the sections are abutting one another. The attachment blocks do not abut the adjacent section.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a new and improved joint for attaching adjacently disposed missile sections together. More specifically, the present invention relates to a unique flange joint assembly adaptable for joining the cylindrical casing of a recycled rocket motor section to an adjacent section by utilizing a number of unique attachment blocks mounted on the rocket casing and bolted to the adjacent missile section.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an effort to contain missile manufacturing costs while maintaining the required level of performance and quality, it would be useful to be able to recycle certain existing missile components. For example, in manufacturing the AIM-9X tactical missile, it would be highly desirable to utilize existing rocket motor assemblies along side newly manufactured control actuator section (CAS).
Typically, when manufacturing an entirely new missile assembly, adjacent sections are attached to one another by a series of conventional fasteners such as radial screws or bolts. The machining process for creating the tight tolerance countersunk through holes in the rocket motor housing necessary to receive the screws or bolts requires drilling a large number of holes having relatively high tolerances. Relaxing the tolerances could lead to larger hole clearances, creating xe2x80x9cloose jointsxe2x80x9d. Because a newly manufactured rocket assembly has not yet been filled with xe2x80x9clive propellant,xe2x80x9d the manufacturing process is not considered to be dangerous.
However, when recycling existing rocket motor assemblies, certain factors need be considered. In particular, the need for a large number of conventional radial screw holes to achieve rigid attachment can be a dangerous undertaking when the rocket housing contains xe2x80x9clive propellant.xe2x80x9d In addition, conventional radial screw joints have been found lacking in both strength and stiffness. If the tolerances for the radial screw joints are not maintained, joint failure could occur during missile operation. Finally, it has proven difficult to properly seal such radial screw joints.
It is clear that there exists a need in the art for a universal joint assembly that can be utilized when attaching adjacent missile sections together. The joint should be easy to assemble, provide the strongest possible attachment while ensuring that attached missile sections remain in abutment during flight of the missile. Such a universal joint should avoid the need for relatively high tolerances and should be capable of easy sealing. As will become apparent, the present invention meets all of these requirements in a unique and efficient universal joint assembly.
This need in the art for utilizing recycling existing rocket motors when manufacturing new missiles assemblies is possible because of the unique, universal joint assembly of the present invention. The universal joint of the present invention includes a plurality of separate attachment blocks. To prevent disruption of the stream of air flowing past the missile during flight operation, the attachment blocks may be aligned with existing fairings extending axially along the surface of the missile. The AIM-9X, for example, has four such external fairings and would therefore utilize four (4) attachment blocks when joining a recycled rocket motor an adjacent CAS. When four fairings are present, the fairings and the four attachment blocks are positioned about the missile circumference at approximately 90xc2x0 intervals to one another.
Each attachment block has blind bore holes aligned with through holes extending completely through the outer casing of the rocket motor. Bolts or screws extending through the rocket casing and into the attachment blocks may be selectively adjusted to tighten the attachment blocks to the casing outer surface. When mounted on the rocket casing, the attachment blocks function in a manner similar to flanges. Because the rocket motor casing is joined only to the attachment blocks, the holes machined in the rocket casing do not require the higher tolerances necessary were the rocket casing to be screwed or bolted directly to the CAS.
Additional holes are machined in a substantially axial direction completely through each attachment block. The additional holes are aligned with blind bore holes machined in the end face of the CAS. When assembled, axial screws extend though the attachment block and into blind bore holes. As the axial screws are tightened, they pull the attachment blocks and connected rocket motor casing toward the CAS until the aft face of the rocket casing abuts the flat forward face of the CAS. The attachment blocks are formed such that as the cylindrical surfaces of the rocket casing and CAS make surface contact, none of the attachment blocks contacts the CAS.
Each attachment block replaces only a portion of a fairing extending along the outer surface of the rocket casing. The attachment blocks are specifically designed to have no aerodynamic envelope impact. Preferably, the attachment blocks are positioned onto an aft section of the rocket motor casing at a location between the ortman key slot and the aft end of the casing.
While the present invention employs four attachment blocks for use in manufacturing an AIM-9X missile including four fairings, it is within the scope of the present invention to have any number of such attachment blocks depending only on the number of fairings/fins extending along the outer surface of the missile. Likewise, while the preferred embodiment employs two screws or bolts to join each attachment block to the CAS and two additional screws or bolts to mount each attachment block on the rocket casing, any number of screws, bolts or other fasteners may be employed depending on the size of the missile and attachment blocks.


The invention provides a system in which, in a case where an event requiring a user operation occurs on a mobile terminal side, a printer can continue the print processing even if the terminal is moved outside the range of short distance communication by paying in advance a print fee to the printer. When the printer receives a print job from the terminal using short distance wireless communication, it charges the terminal every time one paper sheet is printed. If the terminal receives an incoming call, it transmits an advance payment request for an unprinted portion to the printer so that printing is continued even if the terminal is moved outside the range of short distance wireless communication. Upon receiving the request, the printer performs charging according to an amount indicated by the request, and continues printing of the unprinted portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a printing apparatus and an information processing terminal, which are capable of performing short distance wireless communication.
2. Description of the Related Art
A method of charging for printed materials when executing printing using a printing apparatus has been adopted from long ago. Especially a service of executing printing by installing a copying machine and the like in a store has become widespread. Therefore, various charging methods are used.
For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-207310 (to be referred to as patent literature 1 hereinafter) describes a method in which when only one side of the last paper sheet is printed in double-sided printing, a system using a printing apparatus does not charge for the back surface of the last paper sheet. This method does not charge for output of a white paper sheet at the time of charging when outputting printed materials, as described above. A method of charging for each output printed material is one of general methods.
As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-259386 (to be referred to as patent literature 2 hereinafter), there has been proposed a method of charging for an output material after printing by holding output job information and charging information in print data. Patent literature 2 also describes a method of charging for each printed material. Therefore, a charging system of a printing apparatus is built by a method of performing charging at the end of printing.
On the other hand, along with development of the communication technology, short distance wireless communication is becoming the mainstream as a communication method. There are various use cases including a use case in which, for example, authentication is performed by actually using short distance wireless communication. As a major use case, performing charging processing using electronic money or the like has begun to be widely used.
For the above-described typical method of performing charging when outputting a printed material, a case in which a charging system using short distance communication performs charging will be considered. In this case, since charging is performed every time printing is executed, a terminal to be charged needs to be able to exchange information with a printing apparatus all the time. Especially if the printing apparatus charges a mobile terminal such as a smartphone using a charging method using electronic money or the like by short distance communication every time printing is executed, the distance between the mobile terminal and the printing apparatus needs to fall within the range of the communicable distance of short distance communication. Consequently, while printing is actually executed, the use of the mobile terminal is limited.

Mobile information processing terminal and method therefor, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium for charging payment of unprinted portion of a print job


A system for driving a liquid crystal display is provided. The system receives a video signal including a first predetermined gray level signal and a second predetermined gray level signal. The system includes a memory, an impulse signal module, a first multiplexer and a detection unit. The memory stores the first predetermined gray level signal. The impulse signal module receives the first and second predetermined gray level signal to generate a plurality of impulse signals. The first multiplexer receives the plurality of impulse signals and outputs the second predetermined gray level signal or the plurality of impulse signals according to the first control signal. The detection unit generates a first control signal to be applied to the first multiplexer according to the first predetermined gray level signal and the second predetermined gray level signal.

(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a system and a method for driving a liquid crystal display, in particular to an impulse-type application of such system and method.
(2) Description of the Prior Art
Liquid crystal display's main advantages are easy to achieve high resolution and its slim size. Therefore, liquid crystal display is widely used in notebook computers. Because of constant developments in large size display, liquid crystal displays also become the main stream monitors in desktop computers.
Please refer to FIG. 1. FIG. 1 is a basic diagram of the liquid crystal display 10. Within the liquid crystal display 10, a liquid crystal panel 12 has a plurality of pixels 121. By applying different driving voltage to liquid crystal molecules of pixel 121, the tilt angle of liquid crystal molecules can be changed. The liquid crystal molecules have "light valve" function. By controlling the tilt angle of liquid crystal molecules, the light transmitted from a backlight 14, which is disposed underneath the liquid crystal panel 12, can be controlled. Each pixel 121 of the liquid crystal panel 12 has a specific predetermined penetration rate to light at a predetermined time interval, which is associated with specific gray levels for forming visual frames.
Typically, in computers (as mentioned as notebook computers and desktop computers in above), screen displays mainly display in static-state condition. The so called "static state" means that a pixel 121 display the same gray level when a previous frame refreshes to a current frame. For example, when computer is running word processing program, most of the pixel 121 within the screen frame mainly displaying in "static state", the pixel 121 of the area of currently word typing is called "dynamic state". The so called "dynamic state" means that a pixel 121 displays different gray level when a previous frame refreshes to a current frame. For instance, the television screen mainly displays in "dynamic state", or when using computer to play movie clips or animation clips, the screen also mainly displays in "dynamic state".
The displaying characteristic of liquid crystal display is more suited for static-state displaying. The video control of liquid crystal display 10 depends on applying specific electrical voltage to liquid crystal molecules. Typical liquid crystal driving voltage is shown in FIG. 2A. It maintains a specific voltage during a frame time. This kind of method for driving liquid crystal display is known as a "hold-type". The liquid crystal display 10 maintaining the "hold-type" driving mode typically uses a storage capacitor to store the voltage value of driving voltage until the driving voltage of the next frame being input to the storage capacitor.
As illustrated in FIG. 2, under the condition of maintaining a constant voltage value during a frame time, human's visional brightness perception is directly proportional to the accumulating time. Therefore, the liquid crystal display 10 using the "hold-type" will suffer dragging screen image when displaying dynamic-state frames due to the persistence of human vision. Human vision can easily perceive the remaining gray level of the previous frame when observing the current frame.
Please refer to FIG. 2B, which illustrates driving voltage of "impulse-type". Another application of image displaying driving method is called an "impulse-type". The "impulse-type" is typically used in traditional television or Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) monitor, because the electron beam of television or CRT monitor scanning speed is usually high, relatively. Typically, only one impulse is applied during one frame time. The display brightness is controlled mainly by coordinating the strength of electron beam. The brightness perceiving by human vision is the accumulation of brightness during the frame time. If the brightness accumulation value is the same during the frame time as that of a hold-type pixel, human vision identifies it as the same gray level. This means if FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B has the same brightness accumulation value during the same frame time, human vision will perceive exactly the same gray level.
As shown in FIG. 2B, the brightness of the "impulse-type" occurs at the early stage of each frame time because of the high speed scanning of electron beam. Therefore, from frame to frame, previous mentioned dragging screen image phenomena rarely happens, even under the "dynamic state". This is because each frame can be isolated under the "impulse-type", the residual brightness of the previous frame has less influence to human vision while perceiving the current frame.
Impulse-type driving is used in traditional television or CRT monitor. Currently, liquid crystal display also uses "impulse-type" driving. But it is mainly used in liquid crystal television products, very less in liquid crystal monitors for desktop or notebook computers. Although liquid crystal display with "impulse-type" can improve its drawback on dynamic-state displaying, however, it suffers flashing side-effect when displaying static-state frames. Therefore, using it in application of computer monitor products remained difficult. The flashing side-effect also is a typical problem in traditional television or CRT monitor.
According to the previous mentioned drawbacks and limits of prior liquid crystal displays, the objectives and summary of present invention are described below.

Optical module and positioning frame thereof


The drive circuit operable to output a drive pulse pattern to drive electrodes of a touch panel is arranged so that it can change the pulse frequency of the drive pulse pattern for each drive electrode. The detection circuit operable to detect signal changes arising on detection electrodes of the touch panel for each drive pulse pattern output by the drive circuit is arranged so that it can change the sampling frequency of signal change for each detection electrode. The range to make higher the pulse frequency of the drive pulse pattern for each drive electrode, and the sampling frequency of signal change for each detection electrode is variably controlled according to a touch position where a touch has been detected by use of a detection signal detected by the detection circuit.

The present invention relates to a touch panel controller operable to control a touch panel, and a semiconductor device having a touch panel controller, and a technique useful in application to a driver IC for e.g. display driving of a panel module with a touch panel incorporated in a liquid crystal display panel, and the touch detection control thereof.
For the purpose of increasing the accuracy of touch detection by a touch sensor, in the case of a mutual capacitance detection method, for example, the following are adequate to raise the frequency of a drive pulse for driving drive electrodes, and a sampling frequency of signal changes arising on detection electrodes as a result of this, and to increase the number of touch detections for each display frame. However, in case that the detection accuracy is kept high at all times, a large power will be consumed even with no touch.
Hence, by making faster the coordinate sampling cycle right after the start of touch when a flick operation can be performed and at the time when a drag operation is made faster, and setting a slow coordinate sampling cycle for other periods, the coordinate sampling can be performed at a minimum required speed. For instance, the coordinate sampling process is performed with a short (fast) coordinate sampling cycle t1 until a predetermined length of time has elapsed after the start of touch, whereas the sampling process is performed with a coordinate sampling cycle t2 which is longer (slower) than t1 after the predetermined length of time has elapsed. In case that the moving speed of a finger which touches the touch panel is increasing even after an elapse of the predetermined length of time, the sampling process is performed with the short coordinate sampling cycle t1 again.
The display control method like this is disclosed in e.g. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2011-039709.

Touch panel controller and semiconductor device


The invention is a device comprising a device for detecting and signaling a physical value when connected to a rim (1) in a position below a pneumatic tire mounted on the rim (1), and further comprising a device to discover a detachment of the device from the rim. The invention provides that the device to discover a detachment comprises a proximity sensor responsive to the rim (1).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for detecting signaling a physical value of a rim.
2. Description of Related Art
A device of that kind has been known from WO 03/011617 A1. The device described in that publication especially serves for determining and signaling an acceleration encountered at the device, the air pressure and/or the temperature prevailing in a pneumatic tire mounted on the rim. Such a device, which will be described hereafter also as wheel sensor, usually determines the air pressure, acceleration values and/or the temperature at predetermined time intervals, and transmits them at predetermined time intervals equal or greater than the time intervals between the measurements, or else immediately when given threshold values are exceeded, to a receiver and evaluation unit in a vehicle equipped with wheels that are provided with such a wheel sensor. The wheel sensor being covered by the pneumatic tire, it is not visible from the outside. It is not possible to check visually if the sensor is still fastened correctly or if it has got detached from the rim in the course of time. Although it is practically excluded for the wheel sensor to come off the tire, having been screwed to the tire valve in the known manner, screwing a wheel sensor to the tire valve presents a disadvantage insofar as a tire valve of special design is needed, which is more expensive than a conventional tire valve, and in addition a special screw with a through bore is needed, which is more expensive as well. It has, therefore, been considered to fasten wheel sensors on the rim in some different way, for example by means of an adhesive. If a suitable adhesive is selected, and if certain marginal conditions are met, for example if sufficiently large bonding surfaces are selected and carefully prepared for the bonding process, a bonding connection may be sufficiently reliable and durable under driving conditions. Still, it makes sense to consider means and ways of knowing when a wheel sensor should get detached from the rim for one reason or other. If that should happen, the sensor would be flung against the tire inside, by the centrifugal force produced by the driving motion, and would stay there as long as the vehicle continues to move rapidly, or if it reduces its speed, would roll about in an uncontrolled fashion inside the tire, which could damage or destroy the wheel sensor and/or the tire if this condition should persist for some time.
WO 03/011616 A1 therefore suggests to investigate at regular intervals the physical values anyway measured by the wheel sensor, namely the acceleration values encountered at the wheel sensor and/or the temperature, in order to determine if the values so measured contain some information suggesting that the wheel sensor may have got detached from the rim. WO 03/011617 A1 suggests to observe the temperature because that value is clearly position-dependent. WO 03/011617 proposes to observe the acceleration occurring at the wheel sensor because that value may vary atypically when the wheel sensor gets detached from the rim. This proposal is, however, connected with the disadvantage that temperature and acceleration variations occur not only when the wheel sensor gets detached from the rim, but also as a function of the driving style, the road conditions and the moving state of the vehicle, even with the wheel sensor firmly held in place. If the wheel sensor comes off the rim shortly after the vehicle has started to move, it will not be possible to detect that condition by temperature measurements. If accelerating signals are observed, it may be difficult to differentiate between atypical acceleration and acceleration changes occurring in the normal course of driving. Further, when the vehicle is moving at rapid speed, it may be difficult to recognize as atypical a stable acceleration signal provided by a wheel sensor which has got detached from the rim and which at that time is retained on the tire inside by centrifugal force. The proposals known from WO 03/011617, therefore, may lead on the one hand to a false alarm and, on the other hand, to a wheel sensor which may have got detached from the rim being detected not early enough to prevent damage.

Device for detecting and signaling a physical value when connected to a rim, and rim comprising such a device


An apparatus and method are presented for adapting a user interface of a remote desktop host. The apparatus includes a processor, a memory, a detection module and an adaptation module. The detection module detects a remote desktop connection between a remote client and a host. The remote client and the host may have different user interface characteristics. The adaptation module adapts a user interface of the host to accommodate user interface characteristics of the remote client.

Field
The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a remote desktop connection and more particularly relates adapting a user interface of a host to accommodate user interface characteristics of a remote client.
Description of the Related Art
The proliferation of portable computing devices, such as touch-sensitive devices, and split-system personal computer ("PC") architectures have led to more instances of remote desktop connections from these portable computing devices or tablet portions of split-system PCs, often with smaller screens and touch interfaces, to traditional remote PC hosts. The host PC's user interface typically employs a keyboard/mouse input paradigm with smaller on-screen objects scaled for larger PC display sizes.
Navigating a host PC using a remote desktop connection using a smaller client device may involve panning and zooming on the remote client to accommodate the host PC interface. This makes for a slow and inconvenient user experience.

Adapting a user interface of a remote desktop host


A display device (200) includes a first frame (210), a backlight module (220), a display panel (230), and a second frame (240), in that order. A groove (211) is defined at one end of the first frame. The backlight module includes a light guide plate (221) and a light source device (222). The light guide plate includes a light incident surface (2211), a light emitting surface (2212) and a bottom surface (2213). The light source device is located at one end of the light incident surface of the light guide plate and received in the groove of the first frame. The display panel is located between the backlight module and the second frame. A locking portion (241) is formed at one end of the second frame. The locking portion is engaged with the groove. The first frame is engaged with the second frame.

Most liquid crystal display (LCD) devices are passive devices in which images are displayed by controlling an amount of light input from an external light source. Thus, a separate light source (for example, backlight module) is generally employed for illuminating an LCD.
Generally, backlight modules can be classified into an edge type or a direct type based upon the arrangement of lamps within the device. The edge type backlight module has a lamp unit arranged at a side portion of a light guiding plate for guiding light. These edge type backlight modules are commonly employed in small-sized LCDs due to their lightweight, miniature and low electric consumption.
One kind of display device is illustrated in FIG. 1. The display device 100 includes a first frame 102, a backlight module 110, a display panel 160, and a second frame 104 stacked upon each other in that order. The first frame 102 is engaged with the second frame 104 so as to hold the display device 100 together.
The backlight module 110 includes a light guide plate 120, a reflective sheet 130, a light source device 140, and an optical correcting unit 150. The reflective sheet 130 is attached to the first frame 102. The light guide plate 120 includes a light incident surface 121, a light emitting surface 122 connected with the light incident surface 121, and a bottom surface 123 facing an opposite direction of the light emitting surface 122. The light guide plate 120 is located between the reflective sheet 130 and the optical correcting unit 150, with the bottom surface 123 adjacent to the reflective sheet 130 and the light emitting surface 122 adjacent to the optical correcting unit 150. The optical correcting unit 150 includes a diffusion sheet 151, a first brightness enhancement sheet 152, a second brightness enhancement sheet 153, and a hood light sheet 154, stacked in that order. The light guide plate 120, the reflective sheet 130, and the optical correcting unit 150 are all made of plastic material. The light source device 140 is located at one end of the light incident surface 121 of the light guide plate 120. The light source device 140 includes a light source 141 and a reflector 142 partially surrounding the light source 141. The reflector is configured for focusing light produced by the light source 141 so that most of the light is emitted to the light guide plate 120, and to increase utilization efficiency of light energy.
However, the backlight module 110 needs the reflector 142 for light focusing, and the cost of the reflector 142 is high and extra, thus, giving a high cost on the overall unit. On the other hand, some light may disappear through an edge of the reflector 142, thereby causing light energy loss. Furthermore, the light source 141 produces a great deal of heat that accumulates inside the display device 100. This causes plastic elements, for example, the light guide plate 120, the reflective sheet 130, and the optical correcting unit 150, to overheat and deform, resulting a lower display quality of the display device 100. Therefore, heat dissipation of the display device 100 is usually a hard nut to crack.
Therefore, a new display device is desired in order to overcome the above-described shortcomings.


A collision and conflict avoidance system for autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAVs) uses accessible on-board sensors to generate an image of the surrounding airspace. The situation thus established is analyzed for imminent conflicts (collisions, TCAS violations, airspace violations), and, if a probable conflict or collision is detected, a search for avoidance options is started, wherein the avoidance routes as far as possible comply with statutory air traffic regulations. By virtue of the on-board algorithm the system functions independently of a data link. By taking into account the TCAS zones, the remaining air traffic is not disturbed unnecessarily. The system makes it possible both to cover aspects critical for safety and to use more highly developed algorithms in order to take complicated boundary conditions into account when determining the avoidance course.

This application claims the priority of German patent document 10 2007 032 084.3, filed Jul. 9, 2007, the disclosure of which is expressly incorporated by reference herein.
The present invention relates to a collision and conflict avoidance system for autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAVs).
The operation of UAVs requires that they can be incorporated seamlessly into civil and military air traffic. Especially if there is no contact with the ground station, the UAV has to be independently capable, while observing air traffic regulations, of avoiding potential collisions without infringing its own performance limits or flying into restricted airspaces.
In conventional piloted aircraft, the TCAS (Traffic Alert Collision Avoidance System) is customarily used for this purpose. It uses its sensor components that determine the relative position of other aircraft, and based on this information, assesses the collision risk, determines reactive avoidance commands, and proposes them to the human pilot in order to avoid short-term collisions.
In the "Free flight conflict detection and resolution analysis" method (Kroyel, Mueller, Hunter), a two-stage system (tactical, strategic) for conflict avoidance in air traffic is proposed, while the article "A Hybrid A* Automaton approach to online path planning with obstacle avoidance" by N. D. Richards, M. Sharma, D. G. Ward, in AIAA 2004-6229, pp. 1-17, 2004, suggests an A* path search based on movement segments. (In the field of computer science the notation "A*", pronounced "A star", refers to a known graph search algorithm that determines a least cost path from a starting node to a goal node, out of one or more possible goals.)
The following components are known from the literature:                A* algorithm                    P. E. Hart, N. J. Nilsson, B. Raphael, "Correction to: A Formal Basis for the Heuristic Determination of Minimum Cost Paths", SIGART Newsletter, 37, pp. 28-29, 1972                        Path segments (Motion primitives)                    N. D. Richards, M. Sharma, D. G. Ward, "A Hybrid A*/Automation Approach to On-line Path Planning with Obstacle Avoidance", AIAA 2004-6229, pp. 1-17, 2004                        Two-stage method "tactical" & "strategic"                    Free Flight Conflight Detection (Kroyel, Mueller, Hunter)                        TCAS                    ICAO Annex 10, "Surveillance Radar and Collision Avoidance Systems", ICAO Annex 10 Vol. IV, 2002                        Conflict avoidance:                    Aircraft Separation Systems            Free Flight Conflight Detection (Kroyel, Mueller, Hunter)                        Collision avoidance, as such                    Multisensor based Fully Autonomous Non-Cooperative Collision Avoidance System for UAVs (Fasano et al)            Autonomous Collision Avoidance of flying Vehicles (Szu et al)            Sense And Avoid (SAA & Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) Integration for Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) (Portilla et al)            UAV TRAJECTORY DESIGN USING TOTAL FIELD COLLISION AVOIDANCE (Sigurd et al)
In contrast to the prior art, the collision and conflict avoidance system according to the invention uses available on-board sensors in order to make for itself an image of the surrounding airspace. The situation thus established is analyzed for imminent conflicts (collisions, TCAS violations, airspace violations). If a problem is detected, a search is initiated for avoidance options which, as far as possible, comply with statutory air traffic regulations. According to the invention, depending on the available time budget, either a short-term reactive algorithm by means of direct FCS (Flight Control System) commands, or a medium-term path planning algorithm (which determines a flight plan optimized under aeronautical and economical boundary conditions) may be used. After the danger has been avoided, the UAV is returned to the original route.
The two tiered method and system according to the invention (that is, reactive and/or path planning) offers the following advantages:
The introduction of an on-board system into autonomous UAVs for conflict and collision avoidance allows their use in civil and military airspace in parallel and transparently to conventional aircraft. Because it uses an on-board algorithm the system functions independently of a data link, and because the TCAS zones are taken into account the remaining air traffic is not disturbed unnecessarily. The hybrid (two tier) system makes it possible both to cover aspects critical for safety and to use more highly developed algorithms in order to take complicated boundary conditions into account when determining the avoidance course.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Collision and conflict avoidance system for autonomous unmanned air vehicles (UAVs)


Provided are video encoding device that encodes high-quality video, restricting increase of the required bandwidth, while maintaining playback compatibility with playback devices conforming to MPEG-2 standard, and video playback device. Data creation device 5401 includes: 2D compatible video encoder 2602 that generates stream conforming to MPEG-2 format by compress-encoding original video of normal quality; base-view video encoder 2605 that generates stream, composed of black images, that includes the same number of pictures as stream that is obtained by compress-encoding original video; and dependent-view video encoder 5409 that generates dependent-view video stream by compress-encoding higher-quality original video, by using, as reference pictures, pictures included in stream conforming to the MPEG-2 format that have the same time information as pictures included in the base-view video stream that correspond to pictures constituting higher-quality original video.

In recent years, the digital TV broadcasting has become popular in Japan, U.S.A, and other countries. The video images and the like to be transmitted via the broadcast waves are compress-encoded based on the MPEG-2 (Moving Picture Experts Group-2) standard. Many viewers of the digital TV broadcasting have chances to view video of higher definition or resolution (hereinafter such video is referred to as "high-grade video"), via recording media such as BD (Blu-ray Disc). Accordingly, a demand to view high-grade video via the digital TV broadcasting is increasing. The encoding formats for compress-encoding with high efficiency high-grade video include, for example, the MPEG-4 MVC (Moving Picture Experts Group-4 Multiview Video Coding) format revised from the MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 standard (see Non-Patent Literature 1). The above demand will be satisfied if video that has been compress-encoded in such encoding format is broadcast.
However, the playback devices for the digital TV broadcasting that have already spread in the market support videos that have been compress-encoded in the MPEG-2 format, and cannot receive and play back videos compress-encoded in the MPEG-4 MVC format, even if such videos are broadcast. In this way, there is a problem regarding the playback compatibility. The problem of the playback compatibility will be avoided if video, which is multiplexed with video of a normal image quality having been compress-encoded in the MPEG-2 format and a high-grade video having been compress-encoded in the MPEG-4 format, is broadcast.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Video coding device for coding videos of a plurality of qualities to generate streams and video playback device for playing back streams

PANASONIC INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY MANAGEMENT CO., LTD.


A video processing apparatus includes a first detection unit configured to detect that a tracking target moving in a video has split into a plurality of objects, and a determination unit configured to, when the first detection unit detects that the tracking target has split into the plurality of objects, determine a number of objects included in the tracking target before splitting of the tracking target based on a number of the plurality of objects after splitting of the tracking target.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a video processing apparatus for processing a video of a monitoring camera, for example, a method for managing a tracking object, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, when the number of objects or humans that have passed a specified point in a screen is counted using a video of a monitoring camera, the objects or human bodies detected in the video are tracked in the screen to detect their passing the specified point. For example, according to Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2010-50934, a face is detected based on movement information detected in relationship between a current frame and a past frame, and then the face is tracked. Whether the object has passed the specified point is determined based on a tracking result to count the object.
However, when the humans overlap each other on the screen, features required for the detection cannot be sufficiently acquired. Thus, it is difficult to keep detecting the face or the human body, and, when the face or the human body is tracked, the appropriate tracking result is not always acquired.

Video processing apparatus and method for managing tracking object


Methods, and systems, including computer programs encoded on computer-readable storage mediums, including a method for adjusting content item configurations for use as overlays for images. The method includes receiving a request for an overlay for an image; determining image parameters specifying dimensional aspects of the image including a width of the image; selecting a content item, having a first configuration specifying a first width of the content item, from content items relevant to the image; adjusting the first configuration of the content item to a second configuration to generate an adjusted content item including adjusting the first width of the content item to a second width that is a same width as the width of the image without changing a perspective of content in the content item; and providing the adjusted content item in the second configuration as an overlay for the image to satisfy the request.

This specification generally relates to information presentation.
The Internet provides access to a wide variety of resources. For example, video and/or audio files, web pages for particular subjects or particular news articles and other content are accessible over the Internet. Access to these resources presents opportunities for content items (e.g., advertisements) to be provided with the resources.
Content sponsors (e.g., advertisers) can distribute their content items to particular audiences based at least in part on keywords, topics or subject matter associated with the content items. For example, content sponsors can select keywords relevant to the subject matter of resources that their desired audiences are likely to access so that when users access such resources the content sponsor's content items are eligible to be provided to the users along with the resources. The content items can be provided in a variety of forms, for example, as banners, wall paper, interstitial or video formats to name just a few.

Content item transformations for image overlays


A method of attaching a member to the interior of a blow-molded plastic fuel tank wall. The wall is molded from a pliable parison. An inwardly directed projection is formed integral with the wall. The projection has an inner surface and an outer surface. The outer surface forms a cavity receiving a core. The core is inserted within the cavity while the parison is partially pliable and fuzes to the wall. The projection is inserted through an aperture in the member and heated. The softened projection is squashed to secure the member to the wall.

It is useful to fasten members to a plastic molded wall. Common fastening methods include bonding and welding. Mechanical fasteners are also used as exemplified by U.S. Pat. No. 5,067,575, assigned to Ford Motor Company, which teach integrally molding a socket into a blow-molded wall. A peg fastening means attaches within the socket to provide an attachment point for a member. This invention is primarily directed towards bonding items to the exterior surface of a blow-molded container. When attaching articles to the interior container, it becomes difficult to form the socket. The present invention is directed toward a method of forming an inwardly directed projection for attaching articles. This invention is especially useful in attaching articles to the interior of a blow-molded container such as a fuel tank while maintaining a leak proof structurally sound exterior wall.


A cover for a folding lawn chair is provided to allow a person to conveniently carry the folding lawn chair as well as to increase comfort when the person is using the lawn chair. The cover may include an enveloped or flapped portion on each on its ends into which each end of the lawn chair can be situated. The cover thus remains in position on the lawn regardless of wind and movement by the user. The cover further includes a strap to accommodate convenient carrying of the lawn chair. The cover may finally include a pillow positioned at the head portion of the cover, a pocket for carrying magazines and other accessories, and an insulated receptacle for carrying and holding beverages such as soda and beer.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to folding lawn chairs and, more particularly, to covers and accessories for folding lawn chairs.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Folding lawn chairs can be found in abundance along beaches, at sporting events, and within swimming pool patio areas. A wide variety of folding lawn chairs are available at most department stores, including reclining lounger-type lawn chairs and upright lawn chairs. These lawn chairs are designed to be light weight, weather resistant, and compact such that they can be carried by person or transported by automobile to a variety of outdoor locations.
Unfortunately, due in part to their compactibility and construction of weather resistant materials, lawn chairs often tend to be somewhat uncomfortable, particularly for those wearing simply swimwear garments and the like. Typical lawn chair materials do not allow one's skin to breathe, causing irritation due to perspiration. Furthermore, unsightly skin marks can be impressed upon the pressure areas of the body, frequently leading to embarrassment and ridicule. Accordingly, people often lay towels across the surface of the lawn chair to provide greater comfort and, for a similar reason, place a pillow at the head of the chair. It is not surprising, though, that as soon as the person gets out of the chair, the towel is apt to blow into the ocean, swimming pool, or other undesirable location. Similarly, the pillow is apt to slide down the elevated portion of the chair or can fall to the ground and become soiled.
Additionally, although most lawn chairs are light weight, they are still somewhat cumbersome to transport by hand. This is particularly true when a person attempts to carry more than one lawn chair at a time, or when the lawn chair is of the reclining lounger-type that includes three or more folding sections. Such difficulties worsen when the person also attempts to carry pillows, beach bags, magazines, and beverages. The endeavor initially intended for relaxation and enjoyment can thus turn to one of exhaustion and frustration.


A semiconductor device of a CSP structure is obtained by forming projection electrodes on a plurality of circuit element forming areas of a semiconductor wafer substrate, and then dividing the wafer into chips. Wiring patterns connected to connection pads for signal transmission are provided on the upper surface of an insulating film formed on the circuit element forming areas, and a conductive layer connected to a connection pad connected to a ground potential is provided on the resultant structure except for on the wiring patterns and on areas near the wiring patterns. Further, a thin film circuit element may be provided at the same layer as the conductive layer or below the conductive layer.

This application is based upon and claims the benefit of priority from the prior Japanese Patent Application No. 11-337342, filed Nov. 29, 1999, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
This invention relates to a semiconductor device of a CSP (Chip Size Package) structure, and a process for manufacturing the device.
To accelerate downsizing and thinning of electronic devices, a semiconductor device of a CSP (Chip Size Package) structure, in which the chip and the package have substantially the same size, has recently been used.
FIG. 11A is a sectional view illustrating an essential part of an example of such a conventional semiconductor device. FIG. 11B is a sectional view taken along line 11Bxe2x80x9411B of FIG. 11A, illustrating a structure not including a wiring pattern 6, and a sealing film 8 and projection electrodes 7 formed on the wiring pattern 6.
This semiconductor device comprises a semiconductor substrate 1 formed of, for example, a silicon substrate. The semiconductor substrate 1 is flat and square-shaped, and has a central circuit element forming area 2 indicated by the one-dotted chain line, as is shown in FIG. 11B. If the semiconductor device is an LSI for driving a liquid crystal display panel, multiple circuit elements such as an oscillation circuit, a regulator circuit, a liquid crystal driver circuit, etc., which are not shown, are provided in the circuit element forming area 2.
A plurality of connection pads 3 are provided on the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 outside the circuit element forming area 2. The connection pads 3 are formed of end portions of wirings 3a provided on the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate 1, and are hence connected to the circuits, such as the liquid crystal driver circuit, in the circuit element area 2. An insulating film 4 made of, for example, silicon oxide is provided on the upper surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 except for on central portions of the connection pads 3. In other words, openings 5 are formed in the insulating film 4, thereby exposing the central portions of the connection pads 3 therethrough. The wiring patterns 6 are provided on the exposed upper surfaces of the connection pads 3 and on the upper surface of the insulating film 4 located inside the connection pads 3. The wiring patterns 6 are provided to connect the connection pads 3 to the projection electrodes 7, and to appropriately locate the projection electrodes 7 on the circuit element forming area 2. The projection electrodes 7 are formed of, for example, columnar electrodes and provided on the upper surfaces of pad portions as end portions of the wiring pattern 6. The sealing film 8 made of, for example, epoxy resin is provided on the entire upper surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 except for on the projection electrodes 7. When mounting the above-described semiconductor device onto another circuit board, a mounting technique called xe2x80x9cfacedown bondingxe2x80x9d, not shown, is used. For example, solder balls (not shown) are formed on the respective projection electrodes 7, thereby electrically connecting the electrodes to, for example, another circuit board.
In the conventional semiconductor device, the wiring pattern 6 is simply provided on the upper surface of the insulating film 4. Therefore, the device is not protected from electromagnetic noise generated in the circuit element forming area 2 or entering it from the outside. Since, as described above, the semiconductor device is mounted by facedown bonding, it is possible that electromagnetic noise generated in the circuit element forming area 2 will easily leak to the outside of the device, thereby adversely affecting the operation of an external circuit, or that electromagnetic noise from the outside will easily enter, for example, a liquid crystal driver circuit provided in the circuit element forming area 2, thereby causing the device to operate erroneously.
It is the object of the invention to provide a semiconductor device of a CSP structure obtained by forming projection electrodes for connecting the semiconductor device to another circuit board on a plurality of circuit element forming areas of a semiconductor wafer, and then dividing the wafer into chips, the semiconductor device preventing noise generated in the circuit element forming area from easily leaking to the outside, and being sufficiently protected from the influence of external electromagnetic noise.
To attain the object, there is provided a semiconductor device according to one aspect of the invention, which incorporates a circuit element forming area as a central area, and a plurality of connection pads for signal transmission and a connection pad connected to the ground potential of the circuit element provided around the circuit element forming area, wiring pattern connected to the connection pads being provided on the upper surface of an insulating film formed on the circuit element forming area, a conductive layer connected to the connection pad connected to the ground potential being provided on the insulating film except for on the wiring pattern and on areas near the wiring pattern, and projection electrodes being provided on the wiring pattern and the conductive layer. Since, in this structure, a greater part of the circuit element forming area except for the wiring pattern and the areas near it is covered with the conductive layer, leakage of electromagnetic noise generated in the circuit element forming area can be suppressed, and the influence of external electromagnetic noise can be reduced. Moreover, the spread of an electric field near the wiring pattern for signal transmission can be suppressed, thereby increasing the signal transmission speed, and reducing cross talk between adjacent sections of the wiring pattern for signal transmission.
To attain the object, there is provided a semiconductor device according to another aspect of the invention, which incorporates, as in the above structure, a conductive layer provided on the insulating film in the circuit element forming area except for on the wiring pattern and on areas near the wiring pattern, and a thin film circuit element, such as a induction element or a capacitor element, provided at the same layer or below the conductive layer. Also in this structure, a greater part of the circuit element forming area is covered with the conductive layer. Accordingly, this structure provides, in addition to the aforementioned advantage, the advantage that the function of the semiconductor device can be enhanced with its size almost unchanged, or can be made compact with its function unchanged.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by 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 hereinafter.

Semiconductor device which prevents leakage of noise generated in a circuit element forming area and which shields against external electromagnetic noise


An injection syringe for injecting a fluid into the arterial, venous, muscular or cavity structures of a patient via subcutaneous, percutaneous, intravascular and other types of injections comprises a hollow syringe body, a passageway at a distal end of the syringe for passage of fluid into and out of the syringe and a substantially open proximal end for receiving a plunger assembly. The plunger assembly includes a movable plunger assembly. A moveable plunger cooperates with the syringe body and the proximal end of the syringe to define a fluid chamber of variable volume in fluid communication with the passageway. Actuating means actuates movement of the plunger. An elastomeric barrier cooperates with the plunger and the open end of the syringe to define a sterile chamber between the actuating means and the fluid chamber to prevent passage of fluids from the fluid chamber to the actuating means and the passage of contaminants from the open end of the syringe in the fluid chamber.

Syringes for injecting various fluids into the arterial, venous, muscular and cavity structures of a patient via subcutaneous, percutaneous, intravascular and other types of injections are widely known and used. As herein use, the term "patient" generally refers to any individual subject to medical treatment, study or examination, including humans and so-called lower animals. Generally stated, a molded tubular body or barrel defines these syringes having a plunger at one end and a needle or other device for subcutaneous, percutaneous or other intravascular injection-type access at an opposite end. Retraction of the plunger fills the fluid chamber within the syringe with a desired fluid of the plunger, creating a vacuum and drawing fluid therein. Once filled to the desired volume of fluid, the plunger can be advanced within the barrel to force the fluid through the needle or other device subcutaneously, percutaneously or otherwise disposed appropriately to introduce the fluid within the patient.
Such syringes have been enormously useful in promoting and maintaining the health of humankind and in treating a variety of ailments, especially as hand-held and manually manipulated syringes. Such devices have also been adapted for diagnostic purposes, such as, for example, in angiographic applications. There, contrast media is injected into a patient for diagnosis of any number of different conditions. Such latter applications are more commonly performed today using machine-driven and/or automated devices controllably to inject the contrast media. Also, in such latter applications, reusing the syringe for multiple injections of contrast media into the same patient is desirable for many reasons, for example, to reduce costs, avoid entrained air that can lead to embolisms and minimize the examination time to avoid pericatheter thrombus.
However, these devices have the disadvantage that after they advance the plunger while the needle or other device remains subcutaneously, percutaneously or otherwise disposed, any retraction of the plunger draws bodily fluids back into the syringe. While this has always been a problem, the consequence of the HIV virus and acquired autoimmunity deficiency syndrome (AIDS) has made such backfilling fraught with dire results if the contaminants withdrawn are not otherwise contained.
Also, particularly in machine-driven and/or automated devices, dust, oils and latent biological matter from previous use are usually present near the interface between the drive mechanism and the syringe and surrounding structures, such as pressure jackets that hold the syringe. Thus, an additional disadvantage of the syringes of the prior art was that such contaminants can enter the syringe body and adhere to the inner walls of the syringe, with the possible introduction of such contaminants into the fluid chamber and, ultimately, the patient. This could result in cross-contamination of certain diseases from patient to patient such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C, AIDS and other blood-borne pathogens.
Because of these drawbacks, especially bodily fluids from previous patients becoming entrained into the syringe upon withdrawal of the plunger in diagnostic uses, it is typically not recommended that the syringe be used for more than one injection of contrast material. Although this reduces contamination of the mechanisms used to drive the plunger and contaminants entering the syringe from the drive mechanism or other sources from the open end of the syringe, the safety of the patient is compromised. Each time a new syringe is used, an opportunity exists for air to enter the fluid in communication with the patient, thus leading to the potential for an embolism. Also, in especially angiographic or vascular studies, prolonging the examination can result in pericatheter thrombus.
An approach to partially addressing these drawbacks, at least regarding automated or mechanical applications, is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,980. This reference shows an angiographic injector system having two angiographic injectors situated on a turret. Each injector is provided with a releasable connector for connecting the plunger to a driving mechanism for an injection operation and disconnecting the plunger from the driving mechanism after the injection operation so as not to draw body fluids of a patient back into the syringe.
While effective when used properly, the device taught by U.S. Pat. No. 4,677,980 does not guarantee the containment of pathogens borne in bodily fluids within the syringe. Much discretion remains with the operator of the injector mechanism and is still possible that withdrawal of the plunger can occur while the injector syringe remains in fluid communication with the venous, arterial or muscular system or cavity structures of the patient, thereby allowing bodily fluids to enter the syringe. Although the syringe is usually discarded after a single use on a single patient, the risk remains that the withdrawn bodily fluids may pass past the sides of the plunger to the exposed, non-sterile base of the plunger connected to the driving mechanism. The resulting contamination of the driving mechanism creates significant problems in cleaning, such as wasted time and lost machine productivity. Also, there is no effective method of ensuring that contaminants do not enter the syringe from the drive mechanism or otherwise.
Perhaps more important, the use of a new syringe for each contrast media injection requires repeated operations of disconnecting fluid communication with the patient from the old syringe, adding fluid to the new syringe and reestablishing fluid communication with the new syringe to the patient, each operation introducing the risk of embolisms and pericatheter thrombus.
Other approaches to avoid contamination exist, although none solve the aforementioned problems. One example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,534, which shows a liquid transfer device comprising a one-piece molded pipette plate having some pipette-type barrels extending downwardly. An annular upstanding boss surrounds the upper end of each barrel and support flange extending about the perimeter of the pipette plate. An elastic membrane extends over and rests on each annular boss. A membrane retaining plate, having through passages disposed in alignment with a barrel or pipette on the pipette plate and having a downwardly protruding boss, surrounds each aperture and extends in the respective upstanding boss on the pipette plate. Connecting means maintains the retaining plate in a first position compared with the pipette plate, where the bosses engage the elastic membrane with minimal tension, and a second position, where the bosses on the retaining plate and the pipette plate clamp the elastic membrane under tension with part of the elastic membrane extending into each of the pipettes' barrels.
However, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,511,534, the membrane is not shown as applicable to a syringe application. More important, its membrane is in direct contact with the fluid, providing no intermediate volume isolating the fluid chamber from the open end of the assembly. With such an arrangement, surface treatments, such as powder often present on elastomeric membranes, would be in contact with the fluid to be injected into the patient. Also, extraneous outside contaminants are not fully isolated.
The known prior art is thus lacking a syringe with means designed to isolate a sterile inner chamber of a syringe from contamination that might otherwise enter the syringe from various sources, such as from the drive mechanism into the open rear end of the syringe. The barrier means or membrane of the present disclosure prevents such further contamination. Also, since the barrier means of the present disclosure does not come into direct contact with the contrast medium or the like, reactions of patients that may be sensitive to the barrier means, for example, a latex membrane, is eliminated.
Also, an important advantage of the present disclosure is that the syringe herein revealed can be used multiple times on a single patient. Since the possibility of cross-contamination and air emboli injection is most acute during the setup procedures used with the installation of new syringes, these dangers are largely eliminated.


A data bus for connecting information processing devices is configurable into a plurality of subbusses in order to fully utilize the data bus capacity. The size and data transfer direction of each subbus, as well as the data transfer speed of each subbus, is independent of the other subbusses. Also, the data bus can be reconfigured to meet changing system requirements. A data bus controller is thus provided to accomplish this data bus reconfiguration. The reconfiguration may be accomplished in accordance with one of a plurality of information flow templates which may be stored in a memory. A method of configuring a data bus is also provided wherein information transfer needs of a system are identified and the data bus is configured according to the identified information transfer means. The reconfiguration in accordance with the information transfer needs may be accomplished in accordance with one or more information flow templates which may be stored in a memory. The system may operate in accordance with a self arbitration scheme such that reconfiguration of the system is based on operational experience, such as utilization rates or excess capacity associated with each of the subbusses.

Present information systems with multiple devices having multiple information flows do not distinguish between types of data at a conceptual level. For example, distinctions between natural data types such as audio data and visual data are easily understood by humans, while such distinctions are not significant to machines. Machines typically transfer information in the form of bits and packets.
Transmission of information in the form of bits and packets is not aimed at achieving a particular end goal or result, but is only aimed at transferring information at a high speed. However, high speed transfer of information, even over a system with an extremely wide bandwidth, is not always helpful if a natural data flow fails to take place. From the architectural viewpoint of high level functions, it is desirable to develop an information transfer system in which buses and subbusses can be allocated to accommodate natural data flow as needed.

System for dynamically reconfiguring subbusses of data bus according to system needs based on monitoring each of the information channels that make up data bus


In order to process data by a plurality of processing methods defined for each of a plurality of users with a simple operation, MFP includes a HDD having a group BOX for storing data, related with at least two users, and creates a group table which associates at least two data processing methods respectively corresponding to at least two users with the group BOX. When data is stored into the group BOX, the stored data is processed according to each of at least two data processing methods associated with the group BOX.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a data processing apparatus, a data processing method and a data processing program embodied on a computer readable medium, and more particularly to a data processing apparatus suitable for passing data among a plurality of users, a data processing method and a data processing program embodied on a computer readable medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, one data can be transmitted to a plurality of destinations using a mailing list in emails or using a broadcast transmission function in fax transmission. In this manner, a technique is known in which one data is transmitted to a plurality of destinations in a single transmission method.
However, unfortunately, a transmission method to transmit data is determined by a sender user and cannot be determined by a recipient user. In particular, the technique as described above is not adapted to the case where a plurality of destination users desire respective different data transmission methods. A user who receives data may desire reception not via email but via facsimile or may desire reception not via facsimile but via email. Furthermore, the user may desire reception with a file transfer function such as FTP.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2000-295403 discloses a network facsimile apparatus including a notification destination table holding delivery destination information which can be received at the time of facsimile reception from a public network and mail addresses on another network in association with each other, and control means for transmitting by email a reception notification to a mail address associated with the delivery destination information by the notification destination table, when facsimile data and delivery destination information are received from the public network.
However, in the conventional network facsimile apparatus, although the received facsimile data can be transmitted by email, data different from facsimile data cannot be received and data cannot be transmitted in a transmission method other than email. Therefore, the user's demand for reception in a transmission method other than email cannot be satisfied.

Data processing apparatus, method and computer program product for passing data among plural users with different processing associated with different users in the same group

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


The present invention carries out pre-selection on many LPC codevectors stored in an LSF codebook 101 using a weighted Euclidean distortion as a measure and carries out a full-code selection on the LPC codevectors left after the pre-selection using an amount of distortion in a spectral space as a measure. This makes it possible to improve the quantization performance of the LPC parameter vector quantizer and improve the quality of synthesized speech of the speech coder/decoder.

When a speech signal is transmitted in a packet communication system represented by Internet communication or mobile communication system, a compression/coding technology is often used to enhance transmission efficiency of the speech signal. Many speech coding systems have been developed so far, and many lowbit rate speech coding systems developed in recent years separate a speech signal into a spectral envelope information and a sound source information and compress/code the separated information pieces. For example, a CELP system described in Document 1 (M. R. Schroeder, B. S. Atal, "Code Excited Linear Prediction: High Quality Speech at Low Bit Rate", IEEE proc., ICASSP'85 pp.937-940) is one of its examples.
Here, an overview of a CELP-based speech coder will be explained using FIG. 1. Suppose an input speech signal is input to a speech coder successively every processing frame delimited by a time interval of approximately 20 ms.
The input speech signal input to the speech coder for every processing frame is supplied to an LPC analysis section 11 first. The LPC analysis section 11 carries out an LPC (Linear Predictive Coding) analysis on the input speech signal, obtains an LPC vector having LPC coefficients as vector components, vector-quantizes the LPC vector obtained to obtain an LPC code, and decodes this LPC code to obtain a decoded LPC vector having decoded LPC coefficients as vector components.
An excitation vector generation section 14 reads an adaptive codevector and fixed codevector from an adaptive codebook 12 and a fixed codebook 13 respectively and sends those codevectors to an LPC synthesis filter 15. The LPC synthesis filter 15 performs synthesis filtering on the adaptive codevector and the fixed codevector supplied from the excitation vector generation section 14 using an all-pole model synthesis filter having the decoded LPC coefficients given from the LPC analysis section 11 as filter coefficients and obtains a synthesized adaptive codevector and a synthesized fixed codevector, respectively.
A comparison section 16 analyzes a relationship between the synthesized adaptive codevector, the synthesized fixed codevector output from the LPC synthesis filter 15 and the input speech signal, and calculates an adaptive codebook optimum gain to be multiplied on the synthesized adaptive codevector and a fixed codebook optimum gain to be multiplied on the synthesized fixed codevector, respectively. Furthermore, the comparison section 16 adds up the vector obtained by multiplying the synthesized adaptive codevector by the adaptive codebook optimum gain and the vector obtained by multiplying the synthesized fixed codevector by the fixed codebook optimum gain to obtain a synthesized speech vector and calculates a distortion between the synthesized speech vector obtained and input speech signal.
The comparison section 16 further calculates distortions between many synthesized speech vectors obtained by operating the excitation vector generation section 14 and LPC synthesis filter 15 on all possible combinations of adaptive codevectors stored in the adaptive codebook 12 and fixed codevectors stored in the fixed codebook 13, and the input speech signal, determines an index of an adaptive codevector and an index of a fixed codevector that minimize the distortions from among those codevectors and sends the indices of the codevectors output from the respective codebooks, codevectors corresponding to the indices and an adaptive codebook optimum gain and fixed codebook optimum gain corresponding to the indices to a parameter coding section 17.
The parameter coding section 17 codes the adaptive codebook optimum gain and fixed codebook optimum gain to obtain gain codes, and outputs the gain codes obtained, the LPC code given from the LPC analysis section 11 and the indices of the respective codebooks together for each processing frame.
The parameter coding section 17 further adds up two vectors; a vector obtained by multiplying the adaptive codevector corresponding to the index of the adaptive codebook by an adaptive codebook gain corresponding to the gain code and a vector obtained by multiplying the fixed codevector corresponding to the index of the fixed codebook by a fixed codebook gain corresponding to the gain code, thereby obtains an excitation vector and updates the old adaptive codevector in the adaptive codebook 12 with the excitation vector obtained.
For synthesis filtering by the LPC synthesis filter 15, it is a general practice that linear predictive coefficients, high-pass filter and perceptual weighting filter using a long-term predictive coefficient obtained by carrying out a long-term predictive analysis on the input speech are used together. It is also a general practice that a search for optimum indices of the adaptive codebook and fixed codebook, calculation of optimum gains and coding processing of optimum gains are carried out in units of a subframe obtained by subdividing a frame.
Next, an overview of processing of "vector quantization of LPC vector" carried out by the LPC analysis section 11 will be explained in more detail using FIG. 2. Suppose that an LPC codebook 22 stores a plural entries of typical LPC vectors acquired beforehand by applying the LBG algorithm to many LPC vectors obtained by actually carrying out an LPC analysis on input speech signals of many processing frames. With regard to the LBG algorithm, the details of its technology are disclosed in Document 2 (Y. Linde, A. Buzo, R. M. Gray, "An Algorithm for Vector Quantizer Design," IEEE trans. Comm., Vol. COM-28, No. 1, pp84-95, January, 1980).
A quantization target vector input to the vector quantizer in FIG. 2 (an LPC vector obtained by carrying out an LPC analysis on a speech signal in a processing frame section corresponds to the quantization target) is supplied to a distortion calculation section 21. Next, the distortion calculation section 21 calculates a Euclidean distortion between an LPC codevector stored in the LPC codebook 22 and the quantization target vector according to the following Expression (1):
                              d          m                =                              ∑                          i              =              1                        N                                                                                (                                                                    X                    T                                                                          (                    i                    )                                                  -                                                      C                    m                                                                          (                    i                    )                                                              )                        2                                              Expression  (1)            where in Expression (1), XT is a quantization target vector, Cm is an mth (1≦m≦M) LPC codevector in the LPC codebook, i is a component number of a vector, N is the order of a vector (corresponds to an LPC analysis order) and dm is a Euclidean distortion between XT and Cm.
The distortion calculation section 21 successively calculates Euclidean distortions between all LPC codevectors stored in the LPC codebook 22 and the quantization target vector, then successively outputs the calculation results(respective Euclidean distortions) to an LPC codebook search section 23. The LPC codebook search section 23 compares the respective Euclidean distortions supplied from the distortion calculation section 21 and outputs an index of an LPC codevector that minimizes the Euclidean distortion as an LPC code (coded expressing spectral envelope information on the processing frame).
On the other hand, it is possible to obtain decoded LPC coefficients (decode LPC coefficients) by reading out the LPC codevector corresponding to the index indicated by the LPC code from the LPC codebook. By the way, since the processing of generating decoded LPC coefficients, which are used for constituting an all-pole model LPC synthesis filter, from the LPC code is generally carried out by both the speech coder and speech decoder.
In many speech coders/decoders developed in recent years, LPC vector is not quantized as it is, and it is a general practice that an LPC vector is converted to an LSF (Line Spectral Frequency) vector having LSF parameters as vector components or an LSP (Line Spectral Pairs) vector having LSP parameters as vector components, which are one-to-one mutually convertible frequency domain vectors, and then vector-quantized. This is because vector-quantizing the LPC vector after converting it to a vector in the frequency domain rather than directly vector-quantizing the LPC vector in time domain has higher quantization efficiency and higher interpolation characteristic. By the way, features of the LSF (or LSP) vector and a method for mutual conversion with the LPC vector are disclosed in Document 3 (F. Itakura, "Line Spectrum Representation of Linear Predictive Coefficients of Speech Signals," J. Acoust. Soc. Amer., vol 57, p.S35, April 1975) or Document 4 (L. K. Paliwal and B. S. Atal, "Efficient Vector Quantization of LPC Parameter at 24 Bits/Frame," IEEE trans. on Speech and Audio Processing, vol. 1, pp. 3-14, January 1993).
For example, when the LSF vector is quantized, an LSF vector LSFT[i] (i=1, . . . , N) in the frequency domain obtained by converting the LPC vector, is input to the vector quantizer as the quantization target vector. In this case LPC codebook stores candidate LSF codevectors LSFm [i] (i=1, . . . , N) each vector having LSF parameters as vector components, it is possible to vector-quantize the target LSF vector using the same procedure as that when the target LPC vector is vector-quantized. However, when LSF (or LSP) vector is quantized, the weighted Euclidean distortion dm in Expression (2) below instead of Expression (1) above is often used as a measure for an LPC codebook search.
      d    m    =            ∑              i        =        1            N                                            [                              w                                      (              i              )                                *                      (                                                            LSF                  T                                                                  (                  i                  )                                            -                                                LSF                  m                                                                  (                  i                  )                                                      )                          ]            2
The weighted Euclidean distortion is disclosed in detail, for example, in Document 4 or Document 5 (A. Kataoka, T. Moriya and S. Hayashi, "An 8-kb/s Conjugate Structure CELP (CS-CELP) Speech Coder," IEEE trans. Speech and Audio Processing, vol. 4, No. 6, pp.401-411, November 1996) or Document 6 (R. Hagen, E. Paksoy, and A. Gersho, "Voicing-Specific LPC Quantization for Variable-Rate Speech Coding," IEEE trans. Speech and Audio Processing, vol. 7, no. 5, pp.485-494, September, 1999).
By the way, it is possible to obtain decoded LSF parameters (decode LSF parameters) by reading out the LSF codevector corresponding to the index indicated by the LPC code from the LPC codebook by using the same manner as that for obtaining decoded LPC coefficients from LPC codes, that is, reading out a decoded LPC codevector corresponding to an LPC code from a codebook. In this case, however, the decoded LSF parameters read based on the LPC code are parameters in the frequency domain. Thus, additional processing for converting the decoded LSF parameters in the frequency domain to decoded LPC coefficients in the time domain for constructing an all-pole model LPC synthesis filter is required.
With regard to a speech coder/decoder according to a CELP system, etc., LPC parameters representing short-time spectral envelope information of a speech signal (hereinafter LPC coefficients and parameters such as LSF which are mutually convertible with LPC coefficients will be generically referred to as "LPC parameters") are generally compressed/coded by a vector quantizer. However, when a vector quantizer in a simple configuration as shown in FIG. 2 is applied as is, quantization distortion generated by each processing frame will increase, failing to obtain preferable synthesized speech. For this reason, a lot of researches such as "predictive vector quantization technology", "multistage vector quantization technology" and "split vector quantization technology" have been made so far for improving the vector quantizer performance. In order to design a high performance vector quantizer, it is indispensable to use many of these technologies in combination.
By the way, when a vector quantizer of LPC vector is newly designed (or improved), an evaluation measure to compare/evaluate the performance of the quantizer is required. When evaluating the performance, it is preferable to use an evaluation measure considering that the LPC parameters are originally the parameters to express short-time spectral envelope information of a speech signal. Thus, CD (Cepstral Distortion) measure in Expression (3) below which evaluates distortion in the LPC cepstrum domain corresponding to an LPC spectrum model or SD (Spectral Distortion) measure in Expression (4) below which evaluates distortion in an FFT (Fast Fourier Transformation) spectral domain is often used as a performance evaluation measure:
                    CD        =                                            1              L                                                  {                                                ∑                                      i                    =                    1                                    L                                                                  CD                                      (                    l                    )                                                              }                                =                                    1              L                                                  {                                                ∑                                      i                    =                    1                                    L                                                                                10                                          log                      10                                                                                2                                                                                ∑                                                      i                            =                            1                                                                                N                            c                                                                                (                                                                                CEP                                  t                                                                      (                                    l                                    )                                                                                [                                  i                                  ]                                                                                -                                                                                CEP                                  q                                                                      (                                    l                                    )                                                                                [                                  i                                  ]                                                                                )                                                    2                                                                                }                                                          Expression  (3)            where in Expression (3), L is the number of data frames used for evaluation, l is a frame number, Nc is the order of an LPC cepstrum (when the LPC analysis order N is the 10th order, Nc is often on the order of the 16th order), CEPt(l)[i] is a target LPC cepstrum obtained by converting a quantization target of the first processing frame and CEPq(l)[i] is LPC cepstrum obtained by converting decoded LPC vector of the first processing frame. The technological details of the features of the LPC cepstrum and method of mutual conversion between LPC vector and LPC cepstrum are disclosed, for example, in Document 7 (M R. Shroeder, "Direct (Nonrecursive) Relations Between Cepstrum and Predictor Coefficients, "IEEE trans. on vol. ASSP-29, No.2, pp.297-301, April, 1981.).
                    SD        =                                            1              L                                                  {                                                ∑                                      i                    =                    1                                    L                                                                  SD                                      (                    l                    )                                                              }                                =                                    1              L                                                  {                                                ∑                                      i                    =                    1                                    L                                                                                10                                          log                      10                                                                                4                          K                                                                                ∑                                                          j                              =                              1                                                                                K                              /                              2                                                                                (                                                                                log                                    10                                                                                [                                                                                SP                                        t                                                                                (                                          l                                          )                                                                                (                                                                                ω                                          j                                                                                )                                                                                ]                                                                                -                                                                                log                                    10                                                                                [                                                                                SP                                        t                                                                                (                                          l                                          )                                                                                (                                                                                ω                                          j                                                                                )                                                                                ]                                                                                )                                                        2                                                                                }                                                          Expression  (4)            where in Expression (4), L is the number data frames used for evaluation, l is a frame number, K is the number of FFT points, SPt(l)(ωj) is an FFT power spectrum of a quantization target of the lth processing frame, SPq(l)(ωj) is an FFT power spectrum of a decoded LPC vector of the l-th processing frame and ωj=2πj/K. The technological details of the features of SD are disclosed, for example, in Document 4 above.
Both CD in Expression (3) and SD in Expression (4) are obtained by adding up quantization distortion generated in each processing frame throughout the evaluation data and then averaging the addition result by the number of data frames in the evaluation data, which means that the smaller the CD or SD, the higher the performance of the vector quantizer.
When an LPC vector is vector-quantized, a Euclidean distortion Expression (1) or weighted Euclidean distortion Expression (2) is used as a reference measure for a LPC codebook search. On the other hand, the performance of the LPC vector quantizer is generally evaluated using CD described in Expression (3) or SD described in Expression (4) as a performance evaluation measure. That is, in LPC vector quantizers developed so far, a reference measure used for LPC codebook search is different from a reference measure used for evaluating the vector quantizer performance. For this reason, the LPC code selected by LPC codebook search is not always an index for minimizing CD or SD measure. This causes a problem in designing a high performance vector quantizer.
As the simplest method for solving the problem above, it may be reasonable to convert candidate LPC vectors to mutually convertible LPC cepstrums (or FFT power spectrums) and store them in a codebook beforehand, then converting an target LPC vector input in every frame to a target LPC cepstrum (or a target FFT power spectrum) and selecting an LPC cepstrum codevector (or FFT power spectrum codevector) using CD (or SD) as a distortion measure. However, the above solution method causes a drastic increase of the memory capacity for storing candidate codevectors. Moreover, when a vector quantizer is conceived which uses "predictive vector quantization technology" or "multistage vector quantization technology" frequently used in a low bit rate speech coding system, it is necessary to store vectors with no mutual convertibility with an LPC cepstrum (for example, predictive residual vector or quantization error vector) in a codebook beforehand, and therefore the above solution method cannot be employed.

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation


A distal end part of an endoscope, which has an objective optical system arranged to face forwardly in a distal end block, and a solid-state imaging device disposed in the distal end block at a position where an observed image is formed by the objective optical system. The distal end part includes a light guide fiber bundle for illuminating an observation filed of view of the object optical system, and a bore that is provided in the distal end block with an angle of inclination so that the boar approaches an optical axis of the objective optical system at the forward end thereof. The distal end part further includes a straight pipe shorter than the objective optical system, which is inserted into the bore and rigidly secured thereto, with the straight pipe receiving an exit end portion of the light guide fiber bundle, and an illuminating lens that is disposed in the forward end face of the distal end block at a position facing the exit end face of the light guide fiber bundle in order to enlarge the divergence angle of illuminating light emitted from the light guide fiber bundle.

The present disclosure relates to subject matter contained in Japanese Patent applications No. 3-191339 (filed on Apr. 26, 1991) and No. 3-206618 (filed on May 14, 1991), which are expressly incorporated herein by reference in their entirety.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distal end part of an endoscope.
It is desirable that the distal end part of an endoscope should be as thin as possible because the thinner the distal end part, the more effectively it can be inserted into a hollow organ of the patient's body, so that the pain inflicted on the patient is minimized. In the case of an endoscope for inspection of the inside of a bronchial tube, for example, it is particularly necessary to minimize the outer diameter of the distal end part because it must be inserted into the inner part of the bronchial tube.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the distal end part of an endoscope, a light guide fiber bundle for illuminating the observation field of view is disposed in parallel to an objective optical system. An illuminating lens for enlarging the illuminating range is disposed at the exit end of the light guide fiber bundle. In addition, a solid-state imaging device is disposed at a position where an observed image is formed by the objective optical system. These elements are incorporated in a distal end block.
However, the light guide fiber bundle is disposed rather close to the periphery of the distal end block because it extends side by side with the solid-state imaging device, which is thicker than the objective optical system. In the meantime, the diameter of the illuminating lens must be larger than that of the light guide fiber bundle.
Accordingly, the outer edge of the illuminating lens is close to the outer edge portion of the forward end of the distal end block, so that the wall of this portion of the distal end block is exceedingly thin. Therefore, it is likely that the illuminating lens will be readily broken on impact. In addition, since the forward end outer edge portion of the distal end block cannot be rounded satisfactorily but remains edgy, it may cut a mucous membrane in a hollow organ of the patient's body.
In order to prevent such problems, the forward end portion of the distal end block must be thick to a certain extent, resulting in deterioration of the insertability of the endoscope. Thus the endoscope cannot be inserted into a hollow organ of the patient's body effectively and with minimal pains to the patient.
In the meantime, the rear end portion of the distal end block is a thinner than the other portion because it is connected to an insert tube of the endoscope.
Accordingly, if the distal end block is formed as thin as possible, the rear end portion thereof, which is thinner than the other portion, is cut at the outer periphery thereof by a bore for passing built-in parts (i.e., optical fiber bundles, tubes, codes, etc.).
To cope with this problem, it has been conventional practice to cover such a cut portion with the distal end portion of a skin tube used to cover the insert tube.
In actual practice, however, if a skin tube 91 is attached in such a manner that the distal end portion thereof just covers a cut portion 92 of a distal end block 90, as shown in FIG. 7, the mere separation of a narrow bond area 93, between the end face of the skin tube 91 and the distal end block 90, causes water or other liquid to leak in the inside of the endoscope, resulting in a failure to use it.
If the distal end portion of the skin tube 91 is extended as far as the outer peripheral surface of the end portion of the distal end block 90 and bonded to the surface thereof, as shown in FIG. 8, it is possible to cover the cut portion 92 without the likelihood of leakage of water. In FIGS. 7 and 8, reference numeral 95 denotes the foremost one of the joint rings, constituting a bendable portion that is formed at the distal end of the insert tube.
However, if the distal end portion of the skin tube 91 is extended forwardly and bonded to the outer peripheral surface of the distal end block 90, the outer diameter of this portion of the distal end block 90 increases exceedingly, resulting in deterioration of the insertability of the endoscope into a hollow organ of the patient's body.


Techniques for generating solutions from aural inputs include identifying, with one or more machine learning engines, a plurality of aural signals provided by two or more human speakers, at least some of the plurality of aural signals associated with a human-perceived problem; parsing, with the one or more machine learning engines, the plurality of aural signals to generate a plurality of terms, each of the terms associated with the human-perceived problem; deriving, with the one or more machine learning engines, a plurality of solution sentiments and a plurality of solution constraints from the plurality of terms; generating, with the one or more machine learning engines, at least one solution to the human-perceived problem based on the derived solution sentiments and solution constraints; and presenting the at least one solution of the human-perceived problem to the two or more human speakers through at least one of a graphical interface or an auditory interface.

Human conversations often involve problem solving to an end that includes one or more solutions deemed to be a best-fit by the discussion group. Often, due to, for example, overlapping conversation, memory or comprehension errors, and other human-related deficiencies, the deemed best-fit solution does not capture a true, best-fit solution to the problem.