A computer-implemented method for merging product marketing control and product inventory control, generates a segment-level consumer choice model for a plurality of competing brands, and aggregates that to a market-level consumer choice model, then generates a brand-level demand probability distribution function based on the choice models. A cost-minimized base stock level and a demand forecast for each of the plurality of brands is generated based on the market level model consumer choice model and on pricing, promotion, and other marketing data for each of the brands. An inventory control receives inventory subtraction data and inventory addition data and, using the cost-minimized base stock levels, generates orders to replenish the inventory.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a computer-based method for business management and, more particularly, to a computer implemented method for generating brand-specific inventory planning and ordering information, based on consumer characterization and segmentation data calculated from point-of-sale data and other market data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Researchers in the area of marketing have developed various sophisticated models for causal forecasting of demands. A subset of these causal models are employed by marketing managers to assist their devising of business strategies. One such causal model is the model of consumer choice, based largely on household panel data, which has enabled researchers to study choice behavior, brand preferences, and purchase. Consumer choice models underlie market share models, which have also been studied extensively. Market share models are viewed as useful in evaluating the competitive effects of price and promotions on market shares of each brand and involve using aggregate data at store, regional, or market level.
Terminology used for this description is in accordance with that used by persons of ordinary skill in the relevant arts and, where appropriate, is additionally defined herein. For example, from the well-known treatise Kotler, P., Marketing Management, 7th Edition, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs N.Y., 1991, the term marketing is defined as "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion and distribution of ideas, goods and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational objectives. Operations management can be defined as the management of the direct resources required to produce the goods and services provided by an organization.
Various studies of the dynamic interface between marketing and operations are found in: Welam. U. P., On a Simultaneous Decision Model for Marketing. Production, and Finance, Management Science, 23, 9, 1977, 1005-1009; Eliashberg, J., and R. Steinberg, Marketing-Production Decisions in an Industrial Channel of Distribution, Management Science, 33, 8, 1987, 981-1000; Porteus, E., and S. Whang, On Manufacturing/Marketing Incentives, Management Science, 37, 9, 1991, 1166-1181; Rajan, A., Rakesh, and R. Steinberg, Dynamic Pricing and Ordering Decisions by a Monopolist, Management Science, 38, 2, 1992, 240-262; and Sogomonian, A. G., and C. S. Tang, A Modeling Framework for Coordinating Promotion and Production Decisions within a Firm, Management Science, 39, 2, 1993, 191-203. However, most of the previous work has studied the dynamics of the marketing-operations interface using only one product with deterministic demands. For example, the above-cited work by Porteus and Whang has considered a single-period model with multiple end-products. The cited Porteus and Whang model focuses on developing appropriate incentives to make the efforts of "selfish" marketing and operations managers result in a global optimal. Neither that model nor the other above-cited models, however, focus on interactions between different brands and the effect of competition.
Marketing forecasts of product consumption and predictions of the success of impending marketing strategies to sell a product is extremely important to operational management which base product production schedules on marketing forecasts and predictions. However, marketing is an extremely dynamic field and, therefore, a good market model for a particular product category must consider a wide range of variables to ensure the best model possible. Heretofore none of the studies or research undertaken have sufficiently brought together or proposed an integrated system which allows for inter-firm cooperation/decision-making between marketing and operational management using a complete market model which is geared toward product production and allows for multiple competitors, marketing strategies, anticipated customer consumption, interaction with like product brands, and overall market health.
Previous researchers have identified market models combining some features of what is termed as a micro-level analysis, which is based on direct survey-type consumer choice data, with what is termed as a macro-level analysis, which is based on aggregate data-based market share information. One example is Russell, G. J., and W. A. Kamakura, Understanding Brand Competition using Micro and Macro Level Scanner Data, Journal of Marketing Research, 31, 1994, 289-303, (the Russell, et al., Understanding Brand Competition model). There are, however, shortcomings in this method. One is that it does not consider or model linkage between marketing management and the manufacturing/inventory operations of the firm. Another, as will be understood to one of ordinary skill from the description of the present invention below, is that the Russell, et al., Understand Brand Competition Model does not allow its explanatory or marketing mix variables to be selected as Multi-nominal Logit (MNL) or Multiplicative Competitive Interaction (MCI) variables. Instead, that model sets all of its explanatory or marketing mix variables as MNL variables.

Integrated marketing and operations decisions-making under multi-brand competition

International Business Machines Corporation


An injection control device controls a solenoid in a fuel injection valve. The injection control device includes a transistor on an upstream side of a first power supply path to the solenoid, and a transistor on an upstream side of a second power supply path to the solenoid. The injection control device has another transistor with a body diode arranged in parallel at a position between an upstream terminal of the solenoid and ground. The injection control device also includes a transistor on the downstream side of the first and second power supply paths. A drive controller in the injection control device drives the solenoid to an open position by switching ON the transistor on the downstream side and one of the transistors on the upstream side power supply paths.

Vehicles with internal combustion engines may use an injection control device to control the fuel injection to the internal combustion engine. The injection control device controls the opening and closing of one or more solenoids in an electromagnetic valve-type fuel injector to control the injection of fuel into the internal combustion engine. The valve may be driven to an open position by supplying a boosted voltage to the solenoid(s) to initially open the valve, and the valve may then be maintained in an open position by applying a lower battery voltage to the solenoid(s). The boosted voltage may be supplied by a power supply path that is separate from the power supply path used to supply the battery voltage.
When the boosted voltage or normal voltage to the solenoid(s) are stopped to interrupt the forward current flow to the solenoid(s), a reverse current may begin to flow from the solenoid(s) back toward the power supply paths of the boosted voltage and the battery voltage. The injection control device may use a reflux diode to control the flow of the return current.
Problems may arise in the reflux diode. As such, injection control devices are subject to improvement.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A system includes a portable transmitting unit and at least one portable receiving unit in wireless communication therewith. The receiving unit has at least one receiver positioned within a user ear and at least one microphone. A mechanism removably secures the receiving unit to the user ear, and a mechanism removably attaches the transmitting unit to a user body part. A mechanism protects the transmitting unit from damage caused by harsh environmental conditions and is removably attached to the transmitting unit.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates to radio and headphones systems and, more particularly, to a wireless radio and headphones system and associated method for allowing a user to listen to a radio while wearing a helmet and riding motorcycles and like vehicles.
2. Prior Art
The U.S. motorcycle industry has grown steadily in the past few years in large part due to spiraling gasoline costs. There are numerous advantages to riding a motorcycle and studies have shown that urban motorcyclists reach their destinations faster, park more easily, and consume fewer resources per mile than most cars. However, very few motorcycles are equipped with any type of audio system even though most motorcyclists enjoy music. This can make motorcycle trips, particularly long trips, boring and somewhat monotonous. The same is true for like vehicles such as bicycles, bipeds, mopeds, and four-wheelers. Having recognized the need for an audio sound system specially designed for use when riding a motorcycle and like vehicles, the present invention was developed.
One prior art examples shows a portable GPS/radio unit that communicates over a wireless radio network with at least one other such unit. The unit may transmit radio signals over the network indicative of the unit's location and receive similar radio signals from other such units. The unit is operable to display an indication of the distance between two or more units, an indication of the amount of time that has elapsed since location data was last received from another unit, a track log or track back information for another unit, and an indication if the unit is about to lose communications with another unit. The unit also may be operated to gather and transmit to other units location data corresponding to way points. The perspective or vantage point from which location data and other information is viewed may be selected or changed by the user of the unit. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed to worn on a user wrist during operating conditions.
Another prior art example shows a radio telephone system for use in a vehicle that is composed of an accessory mounted in the vehicle and a radio telephone that is separated from the accessory. The accessory transmits a mode switch signal indicating an operation state of the vehicle to the radio telephone by wireless means such as radio or infrared. When receiving the mode switch signal from the accessory, the radio telephone changes its operation mode depending on the mode switch signal. The operation state of the vehicle is an on/off state of an ignition key or a speed of the vehicle. Unfortunately, this prior art example is not designed to be worn by a user while riding a motorcycle and like vehicles during operating conditions.
Accordingly, a need remains for a wireless radio and headphones system and associated method in order to overcome the above-noted shortcomings. The present invention satisfies such a need by providing a system that is convenient to use, is lightweight yet durable in design, and allow a user to listen to a radio while wearing a helmet and riding motorcycles and like vehicles. The present invention is an audio entertainment system that makes riding any of the types of vehicles discussed less boring and more enjoyable. Such a system allows the user to enjoy all types of music while enjoying the freedom of the open road. The system is weatherproof and easy to attach to the user, and is simple to use, inexpensive, and designed for many years of repeated use.

Wireless radio and headphones system and associated method


An adjusting mechanism for an optical pickup head has a cam-shaped adjusting base used to optimally adjust the inclination of optical pickup head. The cam-shaped adjusting base is formed by plastics injection molding in a manner so as to be directly connected to the chassis, which simplifies the assembly process and reduces the production cost.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an optical disc drive and, more particularly, an adjusting mechanism comprising a cam-shaped adjusting base used to adjust the inclination of the optical pickup head of the optical disc drive.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an optical disc drive, an inclination between an optical pickup head 5 and an optical disc 7 usually causes a non-perpendicularity of the laser beam relative to the optical disc 7. If this inclination is excessive, it affects the correctness of the reading/writing operation on the optical disc, and more particularly digital audio-video optical discs for which the exactness is even stricter. Therefore, an adjusting mechanism is conventionally needed to adjust adequately this inclination to within an acceptable range.
As illustrated in FIG. 1 through FIG. 3, the adjusting mechanism as known in the art may be mounted on a principal guide rod 8 and a secondary guide rod 9 of the optical disc drive. The optical disc drive usually comprises a chassis 3 that supports an optical pickup head 5 for reading and writing data from an optical disc 7. A principal guide rod 8 and a secondary guide rod 9 are mounted parallel to each other on the chassis 3. The principal guide rod 8 and secondary guide rod 9 respectively lie along a lengthwise direction of the chassis 3. An end of the principal guide rod 8 is assembled with an attachment device 10 that comprises a fixing screw 11 an adjusting screw 12, a pressing plate 13, a spring 14 and an attachment base 15. One end of the principal guide rod 8 and two ends of the secondary guide rod 9 are respectively mounted between a pressing plate 13 and a spring 14 of one attachment device 10. The optical pickup head 5 is slidably mounted on the principal guide rod 8 and secondary guide rod 9 along which it is slidably driven by means of a driving motor 16a for performing reading/writing operation on the disc 7 placed on the spindle motor 16.
As illustrated in FIG. 3, the fixing screw 11, the adjusting screw 12, the pressing plate 13, the spring 14 and the attachment base 15 also conventionally form the adjusting mechanism. Each spring 14 is placed below a rod end for pushing upward the corresponding rod end. The attachment base 15 is fixedly attached via the fixing screw 11. The adjusting screw 12 engages through a pressing plate 13 over each corresponding rod end. Via the rotation of the adjusting screws 12, the respective inclination of the principal and secondary guide rods 8, 9 can be adjusted to obtain an adequate inclination of the optical pickup head 5.
However, a disadvantage of the above conventional structure is that the setting of an initial position before adjustment is not easily achieved. The adjustment therefore is too often performed blindly without any reference point. Furthermore, the amount of elements needed in the above adjusting mechanism is excessive and the assembly is relatively complex, which increase the production cost.

Optical pickup head adjusting mechanism for optical disc drive


A diagnostic tool includes a self-contained mechanism to queue, buffer, and transmit tracing information, written to a prescribed address in the address space of a computer system, to a serial port without burdening the computer system. In addition, general purpose outputs are provided for use with logic analyzers and oscilloscopes, and the prescribed address is configurable with switches.

No non-trivial software program is written the first time without errors. The process of finding and fixing the errors in a software program is known as debugging because such errors are commonly called bugs.
There are four phases in a software development program. In the first phase, the specifications for the software product are determined and the software is designed to meet those specifications. In the second phase, or coding phase, source code for the software is written in a high-level computer language, such as the "C" programming language. The source code is compiled into an executable program, consisting of low-level assembly language instructions.
During the third, or testing, phase, the program is tested by executing the program repeatedly for a variety of inputs. Finally in the fourth phase, errors in the behavior of the program must be diagnosed and fixed. This debugging phase of a software development project poses a great management challenge because it is often difficult to predict how much time and effort it may take to find a particular bug. Accordingly, there is a strong need for good tools to diagnose software bugs.
A common tool for diagnosing software errors is a source code debugger. A source code debugger allows the software developer to step through an execution of a program line-by-line in the source code. While a developer is stepping through a program, the source code debugger stops and starts the execution of the program. When the execution of the program has stopped on a line of the program, the developer can determine information about the state of the execution of the program, such as which subroutine of the program is executing and what values the program's variables are currently holding.
If the developer needs to trace through a section of code in which the source code is not or was never available, then the developer uses an assembly language debugger, which can also be a feature of a source code debugger. An assembly language debugger allows the developer to stop and restart the execution of the program at any machine level instruction and inspect the contents of machine registers and memory locations.
Both source code debuggers and assembly language debuggers are capable of diagnosing a large number of errors, but they are not so useful for finding certain kinds of bugs. In particular, they do not work well for software written for real-time systems.
In a real-time system, the timing of the events occurring in the system is critical. For example, race conditions can be a source of pernicious bugs. A race condition occurs when there are two signals occurring asynchronously around the same time in which the behavior of the program is dependent on the order in which those signals occur. However, a source level debugger or an assembly level debugger operates by stopping the execution of a program. As a result, the race condition may disappear because one of the components producing a signal is delayed by the debugger so that one signal always occurs after the other signal.
One approach to debugging race conditions is to put a probe of a logic analyzer or oscilloscope on a hardware component that carries the signal under consideration. In this manner, the developer can determine the exact timing of the signals without affecting the timing characteristics of the program, which is not feasible during a session with a source code or assembly language debugger.
A drawback to the use of logic analyzers and oscilloscopes is that they provide information only about the operating characteristics of the computer hardware, not the software. For many bugs, it is useful to know the current state of the execution of the program when signals occur. As a result, programmers embed statements in their software to output state information, usually in the form of text strings to an existing port of the computer system for transmission to a monitoring device, such as a diagnostic computer.
However, there are a number of disadvantages in using an existing port for outputting debugging information. As one example, the existing port was originally intended to provide some functionality to the computer. It may be difficult, if not impossible, to share that port for its original purpose and for debugging.
Another disadvantage with using an existing port is that the use is intrusive. This is because the port must output the debugging data in real time, stealing processing time away from the computer system. Typically, to use an existing port, the debugging information is queued to a device driver. The device driver operates under interrupt control and thus will temporarily stop the execution of the program to output the queued debugging information. However, even temporarily stopping the execution can sufficiently perturb the timing characteristics of the program to make diagnosing a race condition impossible.
Furthermore, an existing port usually operates more slowly than the main processor executing the computer program being debugged. Thus, the device driver for the port needs to store debugging information in a buffer, reducing the amount of available memory for the program. Some programs have no memory left to spare.
Therefore, there is a need for a non-intrusive diagnostic tool that can provide information about the operating characteristics of the computer software.

Method and apparatus for a real-time diagnostic tool using a non-intrusive trace technique


An inflammatory marker is calculated using a nonlinear function including, as variables, a parameter associated with an erythrocyte aggregation and another parameter associated with an erythrocyte density. The parameter associated with the erythrocyte aggregation is calculated based on a syllectogram measured from a blood specimen. The parameter associated with the erythrocyte density is measured from the blood specimen.

Screening for inflammatory diseases can be performed based on an erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR). The Westergren method is the reference method for measuring the ESR. According to the Westergren method, the ESR is measured by reading how many millimeters the interface between sedimenting erythrocytes and the plasma layer remaining on an upper side has shifted down in one hour after transferring collected blood to a sedimentation tube.
Before the erythrocyte sedimentation is observed, aggregation reaction due to erythrocyte rouleaux formation (hereinafter, "erythrocyte aggregation") is observed. This erythrocyte aggregation is facilitated when fibrinogen, which is an inflammatory protein and also a blood coagulation factor, increases in the blood. With a capillary photometry method, the ESR is calculated from an optical density change caused by the erythrocyte aggregation, enabling the ESR measurement in a short period of time of about one minute.
It is said that an ESR value measured by the Westergren method, i.e., the reference method, is relatively largely affected by the hematocrit value which indicates the volume percentage of blood cells in blood. To obtain an ESR measurement value that correctly reflects the degree of inflammation, therefore, a hematocrit-based correction formula may be used.
By contrast, it is said that an ESR value measured by the capillary photometry method is less affected by the hematocrit value, posing a relatively large discrepancy between the ESR value measured by the capillary photometry method and the ESR value measured by the reference method. One reason of this is the hindered settling, that is, the sedimentation rate of particles is lowered as the density of the particles becomes greater. Another reason is that, in the capillary photometry method, the effect of the hindered settling that depends on the hematocrit level is not considered for the sedimentation stage subsequent to the erythrocyte aggregation.
A related study compares the capillary photometry method and the Westergren method, with a correction based on a hematocrit value using the Fabry formula. See, Evaluation of the TEST 1 erythrocyte sedimentation rate system and intra- and inter-laboratory quality control using new latex control materials (Clin Chem Lab Med 2010; 48(7):1043-1048).
However, even with the correction using the Fabry formula described in the related study, there is still a large discrepancy between an ESR value measured by the capillary photometry method and an ESR value measured by the reference method.
There is a method for measuring the fibrinogen, known as the Clauss method (thrombin time method) in which a high concentration of thrombin is added to diluted citrated blood plasma, and the fibrinogen concentration is obtained based on the time until the fibrinogen is converted to fibrin.
This Clauss method requires complex operations including the separation of plasma, the dilution of plasma, and the addition of thrombin reagent.

Inflammatory marker measurement method, inflammatory marker measurement apparatus, inflammatory marker measurement program, and recording medium storing the program


A connector assembly includes: a housing having a first side at which a plurality of accommodating grooves configured to receive a plurality of terminals are formed, and having a second side open; a plurality of connection terminals extending in a direction parallel to a direction from the first side of the housing toward the second side of the housing, and fixed in the housing; a circuit board inserted into the second side of the housing that is open, fixed to the housing, and electrically connected to the plurality of connection terminals; and noise filters configured to filter out electromagnetic interference and coupled to the circuit board.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Recently, various electronic devices have been developed. Such an electronic device includes a housing formed of an insulating material, and a connector formed in the housing and including terminals formed of a conductive material, and the terminals are electrically connected by the connector to form a circuit.
In particular, information is transferred to a joint connector applied to wiring of a vehicle through controller area network (CAN) in a vehicle, and a large amount of information is transferred to a communication joint connector for a vehicle safety and convenience system.
Further, malfunction is caused by noise generated in a transmitted signal due to an increased communication speed resulting from the change into controller area network with flexible data-rate (CAN FD).
According to the related art, technologies, in which a ferrite bead is embedded in a connector to remove noise in CAN FD communication, have been developed. However, as a distance between terminals increases to mount the ferrite bead between the terminals, the volume and weight of the connector assembly increase.
The matters described as the related art have been provided only for assisting in the understanding for the background of the present disclosure and should not be considered as corresponding to the related art known to those skilled in the art.


In a compressor, a link mechanism, which allows change of the inclination angle of the swash plate, is arranged between the drive shaft and the swash plate. An actuator is arranged in a swash plate chamber, while being rotational integrally with a drive shaft. The actuator includes a rotation body, a movable body, and a control pressure chamber. The swash plate has a fulcrum, which is coupled to the link mechanism, and a point of application, which is coupled to the movable body. The drive shaft is located between the fulcrum and the point of application.

The present invention relates to a swash plate type variable displacement compressor.
Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. 5-172052 and No. 52-131204 disclose conventional swash plate type variable displacement type compressors (hereinafter, referred to as compressors). The compressors include a suction chamber, a discharge chamber, a swash plate chamber, and a plurality of cylinder bores, which are formed in a housing. A drive shaft is rotationally supported in the housing. The swash plate chamber accommodates a swash plate, which is rotatable through rotation of the drive shaft. A link mechanism, which allows change of the inclination angle of the swash plate, is arranged between the drive shaft and the swash plate. The inclination angle is defined with respect to a line perpendicular to the rotation axis of the drive shaft. Each of the cylinder bores accommodates a piston in a reciprocal manner and thus forms a compression chamber. A conversion mechanism reciprocates each of the pistons in the associated one of the cylinder bores by the stroke corresponding to the inclination angle of the swash plate through rotation of the swash plate. An actuator is capable of changing the inclination angle of the swash plate and controlled by a control mechanism.
In the compressor disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publications No. 5-172052, each cylinder bore is formed in a cylinder block, which forms part of the housing, and is formed by a front cylinder bore arranged in front of the swash plate and a rear cylinder bore arranged behind the swash plate. Each piston includes a front head, which reciprocates in the front cylinder bore, and a rear head, which is integral with the front head and reciprocates in the rear cylinder bore.
In this compressor, a pressure regulation chamber is formed in a rear housing member of the housing. In addition to the cylinder bores, a control pressure chamber is formed in a cylinder block and communicates with the pressure regulation chamber. The control pressure chamber is located on the same side as the rear cylinder bores, that is, at a position behind the swash plate. The actuator is arranged in the control pressure chamber, while being prevented from rotating integrally with the drive shaft. Specifically, the actuator has a non-rotational movable body that overlaps with a rear end portion of the drive shaft. The inner peripheral surface of the non-rotational movable body rotationally supports the rear end portion of the drive shaft. The non-rotational movable body is movable in the direction of the rotation axis of the drive shaft. The non-rotational movable body is slidable in the control pressure chamber through the outer peripheral surface of the non-rotational movable body and slides in the direction of the rotation axis of the drive shaft. The non-rotational movable body is restricted from sliding about the rotation axis of the drive shaft. A pressing spring, which urges the non-rotational movable body forward, is arranged in the control pressure chamber. The actuator has a movable body, which is joined to the swash plate and movable in the direction of the rotation axis of the drive shaft. A thrust bearing is arranged between the non-rotational movable body and the movable body. A pressure control valve, which changes the pressure in the control pressure chamber, is provided between the pressure regulation chamber and the discharge chamber. Through such change of the pressure in the control pressure chamber, the non-rotational movable body and the movable body are moved along the rotation axis.
The link mechanism has a movable body and a lug arm fixed to the drive shaft. The lug arm is located one side of the swash plate. The movable body has a first elongated hole, which extends in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the drive shaft from the side corresponding to the outer periphery toward the rotation axis. Also, the lug arm has a second elongated hole, which extends in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the drive shaft from the side corresponding to the outer periphery toward the rotation axis. The swash plate has a first arm, which is located on the rear surface and extends toward the rear cylinder bores, and a second arm, which is located on the front surface and extends toward the front cylinder bores. A first pin is passed through the first elongated hole to couple the swash plate and the movable body to each other. The first arm is supported to pivot relative to the movable body about the first pin. A second pin is passed through the second elongated hole to couple the swash plate and the lug arm to each other. The second arm is supported to pivot relative to the lug arm about the second pin. The first pin and the second pin extend to be parallel with each other. By being passed through the first and second elongated holes, respectively, the first pin and the second pin are arranged to face each other in the swash plate chamber with the drive shaft in between.
In this compressor, when a pressure regulation valve is controlled to open, communication between the discharge chamber and the pressure regulation chamber is allowed, which raises the pressure in the control pressure chamber compared to the pressure in the swash plate chamber. This causes the non-rotational movable body and the movable body to proceed. Accordingly, the movable body causes the first arm of the swash plate to pivot about the first pin, while pushing the swash plate. At the same time, the lug arm causes the second arm of the swash plate to pivot about the second pin. That is, the movable body employs as a point of application the position of the first pin, at which the swash plate and the movable body are coupled to each other, and employs as a fulcrum the position of the second pin, at which the swash plate and the lug arm are coupled to each other, thereby causing the swash plate to pivot. In the compressor, the inclination angle of the swash plate is increased to increase the stroke of each piston, thus raising the displacement of the compressor per rotation cycle.
In contrast, by controlling the pressure regulation valve to close, the communication between the discharge chamber and the pressure regulation chamber is blocked. This lowers the pressure in the control pressure chamber to a level equal to the pressure level in the swash plate chamber, thus causing the non-rotational movable body and the movable body to retreat. Accordingly, in contrast to the case in which the inclination angle of the swash plate is increased, the non-rotational movable body and the movable body are moved rearward. Accordingly, the movable body causes the first arm of the swash plate to pivot about the first pin, while pulling the swash plate. At the same time, the lug arm causes the second arm of the swash plate to pivot about the second pin. The inclination angle of the swash plate is thus decreased and the piston stroke is decreased correspondingly in this compressor. This reduces the displacement of the compressor per rotation cycle.
In the compressor disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 52-131204, an actuator is arranged in a swash plate chamber in a manner rotatable integrally with a drive shaft. Specifically, the actuator has a rotation body rotating integrally with the drive shaft. The interior of the rotation body accommodates a movable body, which moves in the direction of the rotation axis of the drive shaft and is movable relative to the rotation body. A control pressure chamber, which moves the movable body using the pressure in the control pressure chamber, is formed between the rotation body and the movable body. A communication passage, which communicates with the control pressure chamber, is formed in the drive shaft. A pressure control valve is arranged between the communication passage and a discharge chamber. The pressure control valve changes the pressure in the control pressure chamber to allow the movable body to move in the direction of the rotation axis relative to the rotation body. The rear end of the movable body is held in contact with a hinge ball. The hinge ball is arranged in a center of the swash plate and couples the swash plate to the drive shaft to allow the swash plate to pivot. A pressing spring, which urges the hinge ball in such a direction as to increase the inclination angle of the swash plate, is arranged at the rear end of the hinge ball.
A link mechanism includes the hinge ball and a link arranged between the rotation body and the swash plate. The hinge ball is urged by the pressing spring located behind the hinge ball to keep contacting the rotation body.
A first pin perpendicular to the rotation axis of the drive shaft is passed through the front end of the arm. The first pin couples the arm and the rotation body to each other, and the front end of the arm is allowed to pivot relative to the rotation body about the first pin. Also, a second pin perpendicular to the rotation axis of the drive shaft is passed through the rear end of the arm. The second pin couples the arm and the swash plate to each other, and the rear end of the arm is allowed to pivot relative to the swash plate about the second pin. In other words, the arm and the first and second pins couple the swash plate and the rotation body to each other.
In this compressor, when a pressure regulation valve is controlled to open, communication between the discharge chamber and the pressure regulation chamber is allowed, which raises the pressure in the control pressure chamber compared to the pressure in the swash plate chamber. Accordingly, the movable body retreats and pushes the hinge ball rearward against the urging force of the pressing spring. At this time, the arm pivots about the first and second pins. That is, the compressor employs as a point of application the position at which the movable body pushes the hinge ball, and employs as fulcrums the position at which the swash plate and the rotation body are coupled to each other, that is, the ends of the arm through which the first and second pins are passed through, thereby causing the swash plate to pivot. Accordingly, when the inclination angle of the swash plate is decreased, the piston stroke is decreased. This reduces the displacement of the compressor per rotation cycle.
In contrast, by controlling the pressure regulation valve to close, the communication between the discharge chamber and the pressure regulation chamber is blocked. This lowers the pressure in the control pressure chamber to a level equal to the pressure level in the swash plate chamber. Accordingly, the movable body proceeds, and the hinge ball is caused to follow the movable body by the urging force of the pressing spring. This causes the swash plate to pivot in a direction opposite to the direction in which the inclination angle of the swash plate is reduced, so that the inclination angle is increased. The stroke of the pistons is thus increased.
Swash plate type variable displacement compressors employing an actuator as described above are desired to have a higher controllability with regard to the displacement control.
In this respect, according to the compressor described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 5-172052, when the rotation body causes the movable body to proceed in the axial direction of the drive shaft via the thrust bearing, the thrust bearing may be deformed. This may result in an inefficient or slow transmission of force. As a result, the inclination angle of the swash plate may not be changed in a favorable manner, thus hampering desirable displacement control performed by selectively increasing and decreasing the piston stroke.
According to the compressor described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 52-131204, since the hinge ball is arranged in the center of the swash plate, the point of application at the time of changing the inclination angle of the swash plate is located in the vicinity of the center of the swash plate. Therefore, the point of application and the fulcrum are close to each other in this compressor. Thus, when the movable body of the compressor pushes the hinge ball, a great pressing force is required. This makes it difficult to change the inclination angle of the swash plate of the compressor in a favorable manner, thus hampering desirable displacement control.


A sortation and sequencing system for sorting a plurality of different items into discrete orders and putting the items into a predetermined sequence within each discrete order or group of orders. The system includes an induction station for accepting items in random succession, and a sensor at the induction station for sensing an identifying characteristic unique to each item and for generating tracking signals uniquely corresponding to the items for tracking the items through the system. A controller receives the tracking signals and generates sort command and sequence command signals which are in part responsive to the tracking signals. A sorter receives the items from the induction station and directs individual items to selected ones of a plurality of sort locations, each sort location corresponding to an individual order or group of orders, in response to sort command signals from the controller. A sequencer associated with each sort location receives sorted items from the sorter and discharges the items in a preselected sequence at a discharge location in response to the sequence control signals.

Systems for sorting different items into orders are known. For example, U.S. Pats. No. 4,501,528 and 5,271,703 disclose systems which automatically pick items from designated storage locations and deposit them on a moving belt in groups of items corresponding to discrete orders. These patents are concerned with grouping items into an order, but are not concerned with also putting grouped items into a preselected sequence within the order. Moreover, the systems disclosed in these patents do not address the problem of taking a random succession of different items and not only grouping the randomly arranged items into orders but also putting the items into a preselected sequence within an order.
Thus, prior to the present invention, the items sorted into orders were not put into any particular sequence within an order. It was sufficient just to assemble the various items comprising an order and collect them all in the same location. There is a need, however, for not only sorting multiple items into an order, but also for putting the sorted items in a defined sequence within the order. For example, greeting cards sold at retail outlets are typically arranged on display racks in predetermined locations. Cards are received from a supplier in bundles, with each bundle being coded for placement at a particular predetermined location in the display racks. When a retail greeting card outlet places an order for greeting cards to replenish its inventory, it is desired that the order arrive with bundles of greeting cards being already arranged in a predetermined sequence, corresponding to the sequence in which the cards are displayed on the display racks, rather than with the bundles of cards being arranged randomly within a shipping container. Arranging the bundles of cards in the shipping container in the predetermined sequence enables the retail outlet to restock its display racks very efficiently. To restock, all a clerk needs to do is open the shipping container and move along the display racks in one direction, removing the card bundles from the shipping container in sequence and placing the cards on the display racks in the defined sequence as he goes.
The present invention provides a system that not only collects a plurality of different items, such as bundles of greeting cards, into an order corresponding to a particular retail location, but also arranges the bundles in a predetermined sequence within the order.


A reduced pressure processing system includes a load lock chamber having an opening communicating with a process atmosphere in which a wafer is processed and/or the outer air atmosphere, a gate valve which is arranged at the opening to close/open the chamber with respect to the process atmosphere and/or the outer air atmosphere, a robot for loading/unloading the wafer into/from the chamber, an evacuation pump for evacuating the chamber, a heater for heating the wall of the chamber, and a controller for controlling the gate valve, the robot, the evacuation pump, and the heater.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a reduced pressure processing system and a reduced pressure processing method used for processing a semiconductor substrate, a liquid crystal substrate, and the like and, more particularly, to a system having a load lock chamber used as a preliminary chamber for a process chamber.
2. Description of the Related Art
A reduced pressure processing system is used in various types of processes, e.g., ion implantation, dry etching, and film formation with respect to a substrate serving as a basic member of a semiconductor device or a liquid crystal panel. The reduced pressure processing system controls the internal atmosphere of a chamber to a desired reduced pressure and isolates a process atmosphere from the outer air atmosphere.
When vacuum processing such as ion implantation is to be performed with respect to a semiconductor wafer, if the atmosphere is mixed in a wide vacuum processing chamber, it takes much time to evacuate the chamber to a high vacuum again. For this reason, wafers are normally loaded/unloaded into/from the process chamber through a load lock chamber.
In this case, the load lock chamber is minimized in size to minimize the time required for evacuation. If moisture, process gas components, and the like adhere to the wall constituting the load lock chamber, the time required for evacuation is prolonged, resulting in a decrease in throughput.
FIGS. 1A to 1D show conventional reduced pressure processing systems as typical examples. FIG. 1A shows a system in which a process chamber PC is singly arranged. FIG. 1B shows a system in which load lock chambers LL1 and LL2 are arranged before and after a process chamber PC. FIG. 1C shows a system in which cassette chambers CC1 and CC2 are arranged before and after a process chamber PC. FIG. 1D shows a system in which load lock chambers LL1 and LL2 and cassette chambers CC1 and CC2 are respectively arranged before and after a process chamber PC.
Gate valves G, each having an automatic switching mechanism, are respectively attached to the entrance and exit to and from each chamber. Each gate valve G is controlled by a controller backed up by a computer system to be interlocked with a convey mechanism (not shown), an evacuation mechanism (not shown), and the like.
In each of the systems shown in FIGS. 1A to 1C, the internal pressure of each chamber must be restored to the atmospheric pressure (1 atm) every time a wafer is loaded/unloaded. Therefore, it takes much time to evacuate each chamber to a high vacuum again, resulting in a decrease in throughput.
Under the circumstances, as shown in FIGS. 1D and 2, a reduced pressure processing system is proposed, in which the load lock chambers LL1 and LL2 are respectively arranged between the process chamber PC and the cassette chambers CC1 and CC2 to reduce the influence of the atmosphere on the process chamber PC. In this case, the process chamber PC, the load lock chambers LL1 and LL2, and the cassette chambers CC1 and CC2 are respectively evacuated by evacuation systems 5. A wafer stage 2 on which a wafer W is placed is arranged in the process chamber PC located in the middle of the system. Wafer cassettes 4 are respectively stored in the cassette chambers CC1 and CC2. Each cassette 4 contains a plurality of semiconductor wafers W. Wafer convey mechanisms (convey robots) 3 are respectively arranged in the load lock chambers LL1 and LL2. Each convey mechanism 3 has an articulated arm and serves to convey the semiconductor wafer W from the cassette chamber CC1 to the process chamber PC or from the process chamber PC to the cassette chamber CC2, i.e., has a handling function.
In the system shown in FIG. 2, however, the outermost chamber (LL1, LL2, CC1 or CC2) must be restored to the atmospheric pressure at a predetermined frequency with the progress of processing in the process chamber PC. Therefore, it takes much time to evacuate the chamber to a high vacuum again, resulting in a decrease in throughput. Especially, if moisture contained in the outer air adheres to the chamber wall, heat of vaporization is generated in evacuation to transform the moisture into ice particles (a large number of micro ice) which are difficult to remove, thus prolonging the time required for evacuation and decreasing the throughput.
In order to prevent this, for example, an inert gas such as nitrogen is fed into a chamber before it is restored to the atmospheric pressure, and the gas is blown out during a loading/unloading operation with respect to a substrate to be processed. However, it is difficult to satisfactorily prevent the entrance of water molecules which fly in the atmosphere at a high molecular speed, and hence the above-described countermeasure is not effective.
In addition, if film formation processing such as CVD is performed in the process chamber, small quantities of source gases used for the processing, reaction gases produced therefrom, and the like remain in the process chamber. These residual gases flow into a preliminary chamber or a storage chamber and adhere to its inner wall and the like when a substrate to be processed or a processed substrate is loaded/unloaded. As a result, the interior of the chamber is contaminated, and a defective product may be produced.
Furthermore, various molecules such as water molecules adhere to the surface of a substrate to be processed while it is exposed to the atmosphere before a loading operation. Even if such a substrate is loaded into the chamber, and evacuation is started, since the molecules adsorbed in its surface cannot be removed quickly, it takes much time to attain a high vacuum, resulting in a decrease in throughput.

Reduced pressure processing system and reduced pressure processing method


An event processing system performs quickly processing of events in a communication network. The system comprises a client process that controls the sequencing of event processing, a plurality of servers that process the events with the help of a shared object library and a dispatcher that selects an available server so that no two servers process events from the same event queue at any given time. The client time-stamps the events and organizes them into event queues per node, using a node identification. An outstanding queue tracks the current events being processed for a node based on a message ID that is returned by the dispatcher when an event is sent to a server. Also, an overflow queue tracks the sequence of nodes to be serviced after a maximum outstanding limit of events being processed at a given time has been reached.

Modern networks are comprised of heterogeneous network devices, the physical hardware connections between the network devices, and the software used to send, receive and switch/route data. The configuration of the communication network evolves as new devices and services are added, existing devices are re-located, and obsolete devices are removed.
It is known to provide the network with a network management system (NMS) for monitoring operational behavior of the network as a whole and controlling the operation of the individual network devices and the traffic flow. The monitoring objective is achieved by collecting device specification data, device connectivity data, information about the capacity and relative utilization of communications links among the devices, the extent and locations of faults or problems in the network such as traffic congestion and data loss, etc. The NMS assembles this data in a master database that provides a centralized view of the network.
On the control side, network management systems are utilized to configure the network devices in accordance with a plan of network operation, and to operate the network devices by correlating the events and conditions that span network elements and sub-networks.
Inspired by the technological and architectural advances in data communication and the need to develop and deploy highly scalable new services in a rapid and cost-effective manner, network management systems are rapidly evolving toward highly distributed, multi-vendor systems, with open interfaces, and applications that are independent from the underlying transport technologies. The modern network managers maintain in the master database a complete and up-to-date representation of the network and the technologies involved, and are equipped with advanced user-network interface, such as a GUI (graphical user interface), that enable a user to view this information and to interact with the network.
For network management systems to be effective, it is important that they maintain accurate information regarding the operation of the managed devices. In general, if the NMS has been used to configure a network device, it infers that the device's operational configuration is that resulted from the stream of configuration commands sent to the device from the network management system. To achieve this, the device acknowledges to the NMS if any change has been in fact implemented in order to ensure that device information in the node database and in the network management database is accurate and synchronized.
As a result, a major challenge for the NMS is the high volume of messages and the requirement to process the messages in sequence. It is also common today for a network management system to support large networks with over 1,000 nodes (such as e.g. Telemar, SBC, Telus, etc). As the network grows by aggregating sub-networks of different technologies and configurations, and as the network devices evolve to perform more complex tasks, the load on network management systems to process network change notifications and reflect these changes in the master database and node databases increases accordingly. It is critical that database changes be processed in the order in which they are received because otherwise the NMS database would not accurately reflect the condition of the network nodes and consequently the NMS would lose its ability to manage the network.
There is a growing need to provide solutions to improve event processing performance required by message/event processing applications, to enable the NMS to dynamically respond to changing load conditions for providing optimal performance and processing capabilities usage tradeoff.
The current event processing systems perform sequential processing of events and/or messages. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,493,756 (O'Brien et al.) "System and method for dynamically sensing an asynchronous network event within a modular framework for network event processing", issued on Dec. 10, 2002 and assigned to Networks Associates, Inc. describes a single-threaded architecture whereby a queue of network events is processed sequentially. Network event messages are received by a listener thread and placed in a holding structure. Each received message is removed from the holding structure via a handler thread. An action set mapping corresponding to each received message is retrieved for a generator process, which creates an action set. The generated action set is placed into an event queue for processing, which is done sequentially by invoking a process method on each set.
There is also a current trend towards multi-threaded (parallel) message processing architectures in an attempt to meet the high volume processing requirements. However, while parallel processing addresses well the requirement of processing a high volume of messages, it does not lend itself easily to processing the messages in sequence. Since message sequencing at the node level must be maintained, which is the characterizing queuing feature of any message processing architecture, workarounds are few, and not satisfactory.

NMS with multi-server change requests processing


A comb to be used for holding samples and defining sample lanes in an ultra-thin slab gel in vertical slab gel electrophoresis is constructed with to form tapered or wedged-shaped sample wells, with the narrowest edge of the wedge opening into the upper edge of the gel. In one embodiment, the comb has a wedge-shaped profile along the contact edge to provide an expanded well at each sample location. Notches alternating with grooves are cut into the wedge shape to form teeth which taper along orthogonal axes, the wells being defined by the space between each adjacent pair of teeth. The gel enclosure which holds the slab gel is formed by plates which are shaped along one edge to provide a complementary wedge-shaped opening leading into the gel space. The comb fits snugly into the opening with the teeth of the comb touching or extending a short distance into the upper exposed surface of the gel. In another embodiment, the comb has a rectangular profile, with grooves cut to a varying depth to form the wedge shape.

Included among the many considerations in designing apparatus for vertical slab gel electrophoresis is the need to load samples in a reliable and reproducible manner, and in such a manner that a maximum number of samples can be separated simultaneously in a single gel, each with sharp band resolution.
Slab gels are usually formed by joining two glass plates together with spacers at both vertical edges to establish a gap of preselected thickness between the plates. The plates are clamped together along the vertical edges and a seal is placed along the open bottom edge. The gap is then filled with gel solution, and the gel is allowed to set. In some slab gels, a well-forming insert, referred to in the industry as a "comb" or a "template," is placed along the open upper edge of the gel solution before the gel sets, the teeth of the comb extending into the space between the plates. After the gel sets, the comb is removed to leave a row of wells formed in the gel along its top edge for sample loading.
In other slab gels, particularly those of less than 0.016 inch (0.40 mm) in thickness, a different type of comb is used, one which is placed between the gel plates after the gel has set, and is left in place during the electrophoresis. This comb is commonly referred to as a "sharkstooth comb" since its teeth are pointed. Once the gel has been set, the comb is inserted between the plates such that the tips of the comb's teeth contact the upper edge of the gel. Between the teeth of the comb are inverted V-shaped spaces, each of which is used as a well to receive a sample which is to be subjected to an electrophoretic separation.
In structures where sharkstooth combs are used, the plates which hold the gel often differ in height, with one plate extending a short distance above the other. The upper edge of the gel is located a short distance below the upper edge of the shorter plate. The sharkstooth comb is inserted between the plates in such a manner that the inverted V-shaped spaces between the teeth extend above the shorter plate but not the taller plate, which closes them on one side. Liquid sample aliquots are then introduced into the spaces at their open sides, flowing into the area between the plates above the gel, where they form individual pools separated by the teeth. Since the teeth are narrow at their pointed ends, the samples although separated are very close together, forming essentially contiguous lanes.
Extremely thin (ultra-thin) gels, i.e., gels of 0.005 inch (0.13 mm) do not permit the use of sharkstooth combs of the type described in the last paragraph. Combs of such thinness would be extremely delicate to handle and highly prone to damage, and the wells between the teeth would be so narrow that placing samples inside would be difficult if not essentially impossible.
These and other problems of a similar nature are addressed by the present invention.

Sample well insert with wedge-shaped profile for ultra-thin slab gels in electrophoresis


A fiber distribution hub includes a cabinet having a panel with an adjustable plate disposed on the back panel. The adjustable plate is selectively moveable between a first position on the back panel and a second position on the back panel to provide space adjacent to cable openings in the cabinet.

Passive optical networks are becoming prevalent in part because service providers want to deliver high bandwidth communication capabilities to customers. Passive optical networks are a desirable choice for delivering high speed communication data because they may not employ active electronic devices, such as amplifiers and repeaters, between a central office and a subscriber termination. The absence of active electronic devices may decrease network complexity and/or cost and may increase network reliability.
FIG. 1 illustrates a network 100 deploying passive fiber optic lines. As shown in FIG. 1, the network 100 may include a central office 110 that connects a number of end subscribers 115 (also called end users 115 herein) within the network 100. The central office 110 may additionally connect to a larger network such as the Internet (not shown) and a public switched telephone network (PSTN). The network 100 may also include fiber distribution hubs (FDHs) 130 having one or more optical splitters (e.g., 1-to-8 splitters, 1-to-16 splitters, or 1-to-32 splitters) that generate a number of individual fibers that may lead to the premises of an end user 115. The various lines of the network 100 can be aerial or housed within underground conduits (e.g., see conduit 105).
A portion of the network 100 that is closest to the central office 110 is generally referred to as an F1 region, where F1 is the "feeder fiber" from the central office 110. The F1 portion of the network 100 may include a distribution cable having on the order of 12 to 48 fibers; however, alternative implementations may include fewer or more fibers. A portion of the network 100 that includes at least one of the FDHs 130 and at least one of the end users 115 may be referred to as an F2 portion of the network 100. Splitters used in the typical FDH 130 may split incoming fibers of a feeder cable into, for example, 216 to 432 individual distribution fibers that may be associated with a like number of end user 115 locations.
Referring to FIG. 1, the network 100 includes a plurality of break-out locations 125 at which branch cables 122 are separated out from main cable lines 120. The break-out locations 125 can also be referred to as tap locations, drop cable locations, splice locations or branch locations. The branch cables 122 can also be referred to as drop cables, drop lines, break-out cables or stub cables. The branch cables 122 are often connected to drop terminals 104 that include connector interfaces for facilitating coupling the fibers of the branch cables 122 to a plurality of different subscriber locations 115. The branch cables 122 can also be connected to FDHs 130.
Within the FDH 130, incoming optical fibers, from the central office 110, can be connected to outgoing optical fibers, leading to the end users 115, forming an optical signal connection. Typically, the FDH 130 includes multiple cable openings for receiving incoming fiber optic cables, each of which includes a plurality of incoming optical fibers. The multiple cable openings are often defined on multiple side panels of the FDH 130. Once the fiber optic cables are received within the FDH, the incoming fiber optic cables may be routed to splitters where each of the incoming optical fibers is split into multiple intermediate fibers. In order to protect these incoming fiber optic cables from damage (i.e., attenuation losses) as the fiber optic cables are routed from the cable openings to the splitters, space is provided adjacent to the cable openings within the FDH 130 so that the fiber optic cables can be secured to the FDH and routed from the cable openings to splitters without exceeding the minimum bend radius of the fiber optic cables. However, as cable openings are often disposed on multiple side panels of an FDH 130, the FDH 130 often includes spaces disposed adjacent to the cable openings on each of the side panels of the FDH 130. While such a configuration protects the incoming fiber optic cables from being damaged, such a configuration also makes the FDH 130 large in size. Therefore, a need exists for an FDH that provides organization and storage for incoming and intermediate fibers in a compact configuration.

Fiber distribution hub having an adjustable plate


An information processing terminal has a plurality of displays, each displaying an application screen, and control means which determines a display on which a new application is to be activated from the plurality of displays. If an application being executed competes with a first non-dependent condition that does not depend on a display requested by a new application, the control means ends the application being executed and determines a display on which the new application is to be activated by using a first dependent condition that depends on the display requested by the new application or a second non-dependent condition that does not depend on the display requested by the new application.

Information processing terminals such as mobile phones, personal digital assistants, personal computers and the like include an information processing terminal provided with two displays. Some of those information processing terminals are capable of individually displaying each of a plurality of applications in each of the displays (See Patent Literature 1). If the two applications are activated simultaneously and an application screen is displayed for each of the two displays, it is highly convenient for a user to use the two applications at the same time or alternately.
Moreover, Patent Literature 2 discloses a technology relating to a method of using a resource in parallel processing by an information processing terminal. According to the technology disclosed in Patent Literature 2, the terminal records whether or not each of its own resources is in use. If a new task is to be activated, if a resource required for the task has been already used by another task, the terminal determines by which task the resource or an alternative resource if there is one is to be used.

Information processing terminal and control method therefor


One aspect of this disclosure relates to a system for dynamic battery management in implantable medical devices. An embodiment of the system includes two or more devices for measuring battery capacity for an implantable medical device battery. The embodiment also includes a controller connected to the measuring devices. The controller is adapted to combine the measurements from the measuring devices using a weighted average to determine battery capacity consumed. According to various embodiments, at least one of the measuring devices includes a coulometer. At least one of the measuring devices includes a capacity-by-voltage device, according to an embodiment. The system further includes a display in communication with the controller in various embodiments. The display is adapted to provide a depiction of battery longevity in units of time remaining in the life of the implantable medical device battery, according to various embodiments. Other aspects and embodiments are provided herein.

Implantable medical devices include, among other things, cardiac rhythm management (CRM) devices such as pacers, cardioverters, defibrillators, cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices, as well as combination devices that provide more than one of these therapy modalities to a subject. Such implantable devices are typically powered by a battery. When the battery's useful life has been exhausted, the implanted device is typically explanted and replaced before the cessation of therapy. Therefore, it is often useful to know how much battery capacity has been used and/or how much battery capacity remains. Some battery gauges display remaining battery capacity in amp/hours (Ahr, units of charge remaining). While useful in some respects, a display in Ahr can be confusing to a clinician or laypersons who are not accustomed to working with units of charge. For clinicians, battery longevity in units of time would be preferable because patient follow-ups are scheduled on intervals related to time, i.e. 3 or 6 months. Improved systems and methods for battery management and battery longevity displays in implantable medical devices are needed.

Dynamic battery management in an implantable device


There is provided an image signal processing apparatus, comprising a demosaic processing unit receiving input of mosaic image data of each of signals obtained by a single plate imaging device having an element array composed of visible light obtaining elements obtaining visible light signals, and invisible light obtaining elements obtaining signals including invisible light components, and generating a demosaic image of each of the obtained signals; and a noise reduction processing unit receiving input of the demosaic image to execute correction of pixel values of the demosaic image obtained by the visible light obtaining elements on the basis of edge information extracted from the demosaic image of the signals obtained by the invisible light obtaining elements.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image signal processing apparatus, an imaging apparatus, an image signal processing method and a computer program, and more particularly to an image signal processing apparatus, an imaging apparatus, an image signal processing method and a computer program for performing signal processing of imaged data by a solid state imaging device of a single plate color system.
2. Description of Related Art
A general solid state imaging device of the single plate color system has a color filter stuck thereto to transmit a specific wavelength component in each pixel to a surface of an imaging device, and restores necessary color components by a set of a plurality of pixels. At this time, for example, a Bayer color array that expresses red (R), green (G) and blue (B) a set of four pixels as shown in FIG. 1 or the like is used as the color array used for the color filter. Because each pixel has only the information of a single color component like this in the solid state imaging device of the single plate color system, demosaic processing that restores necessary color components in each pixel by performing interpolation processing using the color information of surrounding pixels is performed.
The configuration of an imaging apparatus equipped with a solid state imaging device of the single plate color system is shown in FIG. 2. A solid state imaging device 13 of the single plate color system receives the light that transmits a color filter 12 among the incident light through an optical lens 11. An image signal that is photoelectrically converted by the solid state imaging device 13 to be output as an electric signal is converted into a digital signal by a not shown A/D converter. After that, the converted image signal receives clipping processing, gamma correction, white balance correction, demosaic processing and the like in a camera signal processing unit 14, and the processed signal is transmitted to an image compressing unit 15. The image compressing unit 15 reduces the amount of data of the image signal, and converts the reduced image signal into a predetermined recording image format to output the converted image signal. A recording unit 16 records the converted image data on a recording medium. Hereupon, it is not always necessary to perform the image compressing processing, the image compression is ordinarily performed because the number of pixels of an imaging device has increased in recent years and the miniaturization of an apparatus itself has been required.
With reference to FIG. 3, the demosaic processing of an image obtained by the solid state imaging device of a single plate color system is described. The solid state imaging device of a single plate color system is configured to perform imaging through a color filter having a color array such as the Bayer color array of the primary color system (see FIG. 1) or the like, and is configured to obtain only the signals having a specific wavelength to each pixel, i.e., the color component data of a specific wavelength. In a case of using the solid state imaging device of the single plate color system having the Bayer color array, an output image 20 of the solid state imaging device becomes a color mosaic image having only one piece of information of R, G and B at each pixel.
A demosaic processing unit 21 executes the processing of restoring all pieces of information of each color component data, i.e., R, G and B, by performing color interpolation processing to each pixel.
First, the restoration of a G signal which restoration is executed by the demosaic processing unit 21 is described. In the Bayer color array, the G signal is obtained in a checkered pattern. At a pixel at which no G signal exists in the output image 20 of the solid state imaging device, for example, a case of G11, the G signal is generated by interpolation processing based on surrounding G signals. To put it concretely, the G signal (G11) is restored in accordance with the following expression.G11=(¼)(G01+G21+G10G12)
Next, the restorations of an R signal and a B signal are described. In the Bayer color array, the data of both of the R and B exist every other pixel line. For example, R signals exist but no B signals exist in the pixel line of the top rung of the output image 20 of the solid state imaging device shown in FIG. 3. Moreover, B signals exist but no R signals exist in the second pixel line.
In a pixel line in which either data R or data B exists, the data R or the data B is obtained every other pixel. In the case where an R signal (B signal) exists in the same line as that of a pixel at which a certain R signal (B signal) does not exist in the output image 20 of the solid state imaging device, for example, cases of R01 and B12, interpolated pixel values in the pixels in which the R and B signals do not exist on the pixel line can be calculated by the following expressions, and the R signal (B signal) of each pixel can be restored.R01=(½)(R00+R02)B12=(½)(B11+B13)
In the case where R signals (B signals) exist in the same column, for example, cases of R10 and B21, the interpolated pixel values at the pixels where certain R and B signals do not exist can be similarly calculated in accordance with the following expressions, and the R signal (B signal) in each pixel is restored.R10=(½)(R00+R20)B21=(½)(B11+B31)
Moreover, in a case where no R signals (B signals) exist in both of the same line and the same column, for example, cases of R11 and B22, the interpolated pixel values in the pixels in which certain R and B signals exist can be calculated by the following expressions, and the R signal (B signal) at each pixel is restored.R11=(¼)(R00+R02+R20+R22)B22=(¼)(B11+B13+B31+B33)
The demosaic processing unit 21 performs the color interpolation processing as mentioned above, and outputs R signals 22r, G signals 22g and B signals 22b to all pixels. It is noted that the above interpolation processing is only one example, and any color interpolation processing using the correlations with the other color signals may be performed.
Various image processing methods for reducing noise to improve the image quality of an imaging apparatus equipped with a solid state imaging device of a single plate color system have been proposed. For example, Georg Petschnigg Et al, "Digital Photography with Flash and No-Flash Image pairs," acm Transaction on Graphics, Vol. 23, Number 3, pp. 664-672, August 2004 (a non-patent document 1) discloses a technique of photographing a plurality of images having different spectral characteristics one after another and utilizing the plurality of images having the different spectral characteristics to obtain an image in which noise is reduced. That is, the technique photographs the following two kinds of images sequentially:
(a) images that have been photographed with spectral characteristics near to a target and include much noise, and
(b) images that have been photographed with spectral characteristics that severally include an invisible light or a different color not to be near to the target and include little noise.
Then, the technique utilizes the images having the plurality of different spectral characteristics to obtain an image having a correct color and little noise.
A configuration of noise reduction processing using a solid state imaging device of a single plate color system using the algorithm shown by the related art technique is described with reference to FIG. 4. The imaging device 30 is an imaging device of the Bayer color array of a general RGB array, which has been described above with reference to FIG. 1.
A plurality of images A and B is photographed using the imaging device 30, changing light sources. That is, the images A and B are as follows:
(the image A) an image that has been photographed with a spectral characteristic near to a target and include much noise, and
(the image B) an image that has been photographed with a spectral characteristic that includes an invisible light or a different color not to be near to the target and includes little noise.
The two mosaic images A and B are obtained by the photographing processing. The mosaic image A is dark and has much noise, but the color of which is correct. The mosaic image B is bright and includes little noise, but the color of which is incorrect. Two images of a high noise image A and a low noise image B are obtained by applying white balance processing of correcting pixel values to each spectrum to the photographed images A and B in white balance processing units 31a and 31b, respectively, and by executing demosaic processing to the images having been subjected to the white balance processing that has been described with reference to FIG. 3 in demosaic processing units 32a and 32b, respectively.
Moreover, the two images of the high noise image A and the low noise image B are input into a noise reduction processing unit 33, and the noise reduction processing based on these two images is executed. Then, an output RGB image is obtained.
The configuration and the processing of the noise reduction processing unit 33 are described with reference to FIG. 5. The noise reduction processing unit 33 uses the two images of the high noise image A and the low noise image B to produce the output RGB image, which has a color equal to the high noise image A with reduced noise by synthesizing these images.
An RGB low pass filter 42 is a cross bilateral filter, which is a kind of an edge preserving filter, and reduces the noise of the high noise image A with the edges of the image A, which has much noise, being preserved on the basis of the edges detected from the respective R, G and B components of the low noise image B as an input image.
An RGB low pass filter 41 applies a general FIR low pass filter, which is not especially equipped with any edge preserving functions, to each channel of R, G and B. An RGB high pass filter 45 obtains the high frequency component of each pixel value of R, G and B of the low noise image B, which is an input image having little noise. The acquisition of the high frequency components is performed by dividing the pixel values as the result of the application of the bilateral filter to the input images by the pixel values of the images before the application of the filter.
A blend executing unit 44 applies a previously set blend function to generate the image data having the pixel values obtained by multiplying the pixel values of an output image of the RGB low pass filter 42 by the pixel values of an output image of the RGB high pass filter 45, and to output the generated image data.
A speculum detecting unit 43 extracts the differences of the highlight, the shadow and the like in each pixel of the high noise image A and the low noise image B owing to the illumination change between the two images, and evaluates the height of the possibility of the occurrence of the differences of pixel values owing to the illumination change. A blend executing unit 46 performs the weighted addition of an output of the RGB low pass filter 41 and an output of the blend executing unit 44 on the basis of an evaluation result of the speculum detecting unit 43 to generate the output RGB image.
The blend executing unit 46 performs the setting of enlarging the weight of the pixel values output from the RGB low pass filter 41 in a pixel portion to which the speculum detecting unit 43 has judged that the possibility of the occurrence of the shadow or the highlight owing to the illumination change is high, and enlarging the weight of the pixel values output from the blend executing unit 44 in a pixel portion to which the speculum detecting unit 43 has judged that the possibility of the occurrence of the shadow or the highlight owing to the illumination change is low by regarding the pixel portion as the appearance of the detailed parts of a subject owing to the difference of illuminations. Thereby, the blend executing unit 46 performs the weighted addition of the output of the RGB low pass filter 41 and the output of the blend executing unit 44 to generate the output RGB image.
However, the algorithm is realized on the assumption that a plurality of images is photographed with different spectra, and consequently has a problem of the impossibility of applying the algorithm to a general digital camera and a movie camera, which can photograph an image only once at the same instant.

Image signal processing apparatus, imaging apparatus, image signal processing method and computer program


The present invention provides a resin aqueous dispersion composition comprising water and at least one kind of resin particle, wherein when a primary average particle of each resin particle is taken as a sphere of the same volume, a nonionic surfactant is present in the composition in an amount which occupies 75 to 95% of a theoretical void among resin particles of 26% when each resin particle is arranged in a close packed structure. The nonionic surfactant is a solvent which is substantially nonvolatile in a temperature range of up to 100° C. and evaporates or thermally decomposes at a temperature lower than the thermal decomposition temperature of the resin particles. The resin aqueous dispersion composition can be coated thickly and can prevent development of mud crack.

When conventional aqueous dispersion compositions for coating are coated to the surface of an object and then dried, the coating film shrinks due to evaporation of the solvent or water and cracking occurs. That is, development of mud crack often occurs.
As suggested in WO97/40112, in order to prevent mud crack, a specific polyether urethane resin is used as an auxiliary for forming film. However, although mud crack is decreased, because thermal decomposition of the urethane groups is insufficient by the baking temperature and time suitable for a fluororesin coating film, undecomposed residue remains in the coating film, causing problems such as coloring of the obtained melted coating film.
JP-A-50-8828, JP-A-51-60243 and JP-A-52-13531 suggest using depolymerizable acrylic resin particles as an auxiliary for forming film. In the aqueous dispersion compositions for coating described therein, mud crack is prevented by using acrylic resin having a low glass transition temperature to prevent mud crack and furthermore, by using butyl carbitol together as a water-soluble high boiling point solvent for plasticizing the acrylic resin and dissolving the acrylic resin by the butyl carbitol concentrated in the drying step. When the glass transition temperature of the acrylic resin is largely decreased, decomposability becomes poor and therefore using together with an oxidant is described.
The present inventors have considered prevention of mud crack by a solution from a physical viewpoint and not a chemical formulation such as adding resin as a film forming component or adding butyl carbitol. The present inventors have found that development of mud crack can be prevented by occupying a specific proportion of void, based on the filling conditions and void ratio of the resin particles of the resin aqueous dispersion composition after drying, with a nonionic surfactant having specific thermal properties, without depending on the kind and density of resin or chemical properties of a nonionic surfactant. Thus the present invention was accomplished.


A spectrum analyzer is provided with frequency-scalable circuit architectures that extend the bandwidth of the spectrum analyzer using an array of couplers. The array of couplers is distributed along the RF signal path at one end, and interfaced to one or more frequency-translation devices such as mixers or samplers at the other. In a first architecture, a single mixer is employed with an LO signal applied to one input and coupler outputs providing RF signals to another input, with switching controlled to select one coupler's RF output to provide to the mixer. In a second architecture, a separate mixer is used, one for each coupler RF signal, with switches selecting one of the mixer IF outputs to select a desired output frequency. Both the first and second embodiments eliminate switching and its associated loss and frequency limitations from the main RF signal path to enable wideband high-dynamic-range spectrum analysis.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to components used in broadband spectrum analyzers. More particularly the present invention relates to circuitry for extending the frequency range of a spectrum analyzer into the millimeter-wave spectrum.
2. Related Art
Currently available broadband spectrum analyzer architectures make use of switched filters along the RF signal path as a means of implementing frequency-band pre-selection. FIG. 1 provides circuitry illustrating the use of switched filters to allow frequency-band pre-selection in a broadband spectrum analyzer. The circuitry includes a low-frequency spectrum analyzer (LFSA) 2. The LFSA 2 receives RF and IF signal inputs. In low-frequency mode, the RF signal input is connected directly to the LFSA 2 by means of switch 7. In high-frequency mode, switches 6 and 7 are connected to one of bandpass filters 4 to provide an RF signal to mixer 8. The IF output of mixer 8 is then provided as a second RF input to LFSA 2.
As the frequency range of the architectures using switched filters illustrated in FIG. 1 extends into the millimeter-wave spectrum, frequency-dependent RF-switch limitations occur. Switching limitations such as increased loss and reduced bandwidth begin to take their toll on spectrum analyzer performance. The direct results of these limitations are a decrease in the dynamic range of the instrument, and severe boundaries on its operating frequency bandwidth.
In order to overcome the later limitation, techniques using external mixers have been developed to extend the frequency range of the spectrum analyzer. FIG. 2 illustrates such an external mixer configuration, also known as an external frequency-range extension. The circuitry includes a LFSA 2 that receives an RF signal directly in a low-frequency mode, and receives the RF signal through an external mixer 12 in a high-frequency mode. In low-frequency mode, the RF signal input is connected directly or by means of switch 9 to a low frequency RF input of the LFSA 2. In high-frequency mode, the switch 9 directs the RF signal through a frequency range extender 10 that includes mixer 12. The mixer 12 output provides a second RF input to the LFSA 2. The LO input signal to the mixer 12 is generated inside the LFSA 2.
One drawback to using the technique illustrated in FIG. 2 is that measurement must typically be performed manually within separate high-frequency bands each requiring an external frequency range extender. Manual measurements are necessary due to the fact that typically the extension mixer 12 covers only a portion of the high-frequency band and must be replaced with different extension mixers for covering other bands. In addition, the lack of filtering on the IF port of the external mixers adds to the tediousness of the measurements.
It would be desirable to extend the operating frequency range of a LFSA without the drawbacks and the limitations of the frequency dependent RF-switch of FIG. 1, or the need to perform measurements manually within separate frequency bands as when an external mixer of FIG. 2 is used.

Apparatus for extending the bandwidth of a spectrum analyzer


A portable, hand-held endoscopic camera having all of the necessary components for performing endoscopic procedures comprises power source means, lens means, light source means, and video camera means. The portable endoscopic camera is adaptable to a wide variety of systems and includes a highly efficient means for focusing the illumination of the light source. The lens means includes a fiber bundle and the light source means includes a bulb. The bulb is positioned in an abutting relationship with the fiber bundle, thereby focusing light into the fiber bundle. The camera is selectively operable in a cordless and cord-operated mode.

1. The Field of the Invention
This invention relates to endoscopic cameras and more particularly, to a portable, hand-held endoscopic camera.
2. Background
The field of endoscopy has greatly enhanced a practitioner's ability to penetrate objects to view internal mechanisms and other features with minimal intrusion. Endoscopes have broad reaching application in the field of diagnostic and therapeutic medicine, surgery, dentistry, computer inspection, customs inspection, plumbing, mining, automobile mechanics, veterinary medicine, aviation, remote control devices, safety equipment, monitoring devices, police investigations and in a variety of other settings in which detailed inspection is desired.
A major challenge facing the field of endoscopy is the vast amount of equipment typically required. The equipment found in the prior art typically includes a large monitor, a light source, a power source and an endoscope. In addition, fiber optic and power cables are required to connect the monitor, light source, and power source to the endoscope. Typical such equipment is often permanently or semi-permanently installed in a tightly enclosed area, such as a dental office. Offices must typically be specially adapted to accommodate the cumbersome equipment, requiring expensive wiring of circuitry and the placement of plugs and cables within the room. Each individual room in a clinic is required to maintain the equipment and wiring.
Compounding the problem, the optic and power cables connecting the light source, power source and monitor to the endoscope are cumbersome to use. The cables must be dragged around the area to be viewed, wrapping them around the patient's body and objects within the room to look inside an ear or mouth, for example. Fiber optic cable is a rather stiff and inflexible glass cable which can be easily broken during such procedures. As the cables are flexed, the fiber optics may be broken. As the glass is broken, the image received is distorted and distortions known as "ghosts" appear on the monitor.
Generally, the longer the fiber optic cable employed in a particular procedure, the more light is needed. Typical light sources require high voltages, preventing use of battery operated systems.
The use of high intensity light sources also creates an inefficient use of space. The light source employed in many endoscopic systems is a large bulb, such as a halogen bulb, which generates a considerable amount of heat typically in the range of about 50 to 150 watts. When employed near a probe which is placed in a body cavity, the typical light source tends to heat the probe, which is uncomfortable or dangerous to sensitive body openings such as an ear. As a result, many light sources consist of a separate component having a large enclosure for housing the light source. A fan may be used to cool the light source or the connections thereto, creating an exhaust system, but also requiring additional energy and more space. Other systems employ a heat sink or shield to buffer the heat, which also requires increased amounts of space.
An additional drawback to endoscopic technology typically found in the prior art is the requirement that the practitioner view a monitor which is located away from the patient or object under inspection. This often requires the physician to attempt to aim the endoscope at a precise, enclosed location while looking in a completely different direction, which is often difficult and cumbersome. In addition, typically if the practitioner desires to employ a different type of probe, the practitioner must often employ a different endoscope.
In addition, typical cord operated systems are not readily used in countries foreign to the United States. For example, typical endoscopic systems fail to readily convert to 220 volt, 50 cycle power sources which are commonly used in countries foreign to the United States, requiring the practitioner to employ a cumbersome transformer when travelling to a foreign country.

Universal Technologies International, Inc.


A quick connect/disconnect system includes a first and second connecting member and a biasing member. The first connecting member includes (i) a first body defining a first fluid channel therethrough and having a first coupling portion at a first end portion, and (ii) a first ring assembly supported by the first body and extending about the first end portion and including a first mating feature on an internal surface of the ring assembly. The second connecting member includes (i) a second end portion defining a second coupling portion with a second fluid channel and configured to couple with the first coupling portion, and (ii) a second mating feature on an external surface of the second end portion configured to rotatably engage the first mating feature. The biasing member biases the first connecting member away from the second connecting member when the first and second mating features are mated.

Quick connect and quick disconnect systems, also referred to as coupler systems, are widely utilized in wide variety of industrial, household, medical, hydraulic, pneumatic, and commercial applications. One application for coupler systems are for garden and lawn use. Another application for coupler systems is for automotive nozzles and hoses for fuel delivery, such as gasoline and other petroleum-based products. Yet another application for coupler systems is for vacuum cleaners, power tools, or other devices for collecting debris or dispensing fluid. Fluids, such as beverages, fuels, liquid chemicals, fluid food products, gases, water, and air are also frequently delivered from one vessel to another through a fluid system.
Coupler systems typically include a first connector and a second connector. The first connector is typically associated with a fluid device and the second connector is typically associated with a fluid conductor. For example, a coupler system is configured for use with a fluid device provided as a water spray nozzle and a fluid conductor provided as a hose. The first connector is connected to the spray nozzle and the second connector is connected to the hose. The coupler system simplifies connecting and disconnecting the spray nozzle from the hose, as described below, with reference to a typical connection of a spray nozzle to a hose.
The typical hose includes an internally threaded end portion that is connected to a spigot and an opposite externally threaded end portion to which fluid devices are connectable. To connect a typical spray nozzle to the externally threaded end portion, first the user stops the flow of water through the hose. Next, the user aligns connection threads of the spray nozzle with threads of the externally threaded end portion of the hose. Then the user repeatedly rotates the spray nozzle relative to the hose to mechanically and to fluidly connect the spray nozzle to the hose. Some users require a separate hand tool, such as a wrench, to rotate the spray nozzle or to stabilize the hose during the rotation of the spray nozzle. Hoses available in Europe typically do not require a threaded feature or a barb feature. Instead, the connector is mechanically connected to the hose or the fluid system using a compression fitting method. Of course, other forms of fittings are possible.
The above described process is inconvenient since the supply of water through the hose is stopped before connection of the spray nozzle is made. Second, the process requires sufficient strength and dexterity to rotate the spray nozzle. Third, the connection of the spray nozzle to the hose is subject to leaking.
Coupler systems seek to simplify the above described process by making connection of the spray nozzle to the hose fast and easy. Coupler systems typically include a male connector and a female connector one of which includes a locking feature. To connect the connectors, the male connector is received by the female connector and the locking feature is engaged. To disconnect the connectors, the locking feature is disengaged and the male connector is separated from the female connector. The structure of the male connector and the female connector, as well as the method of operating the locking feature, varies between different models of coupler systems.
When using some coupler systems it is unclear to the user when the locking member has fully locked the male connector to the female connector. For example, some coupler systems enable engagement of the locking member when the male connector is only partially received by the female connector. In this situation, even though the locking member has been engaged, the male connector is not properly positioned to be connected to the female connector. This situation is problematic, since if the user supplies the fluid conductor with pressurized fluid, the male connector may undesirably separate from the female connector.
For at least the above-described reasons, further developments in the area of quick connect and quick disconnect systems for fluid systems are desirable.

Quick connect and quick disconnect system with positive feedback and method of manipulating a quick connect and quick disconnect system with positive feedback