A motor control apparatus includes a rectifier for rectifying AC power to output DC power; an inverter for performing power interconversion of DC power of a DC link and AC power being driving power or regenerative power of a motor by being connected to the DC link being a DC output side of the rectifier; and at least two resistance discharge units each for performing resistance discharge of DC power of the DC link, the resistance discharge units each being connected to the DC link, in which each resistance discharge unit starts a resistance discharge operation for performing resistance discharge of DC power of the DC link at a DC voltage value in the DC link exceeding a first threshold value and stops the resistance discharge operation at a DC voltage value in the DC link smaller than a second threshold value below the first threshold value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motor control apparatus for converting AC power supplied from an AC input side into DC power to be output and further for converting the DC power into AC power for driving a motor that is supplied to the motor, and in particular, to a motor control apparatus including at least two resistance discharge units.
2. Description of the Related Art
In motor control apparatuses for driving motors in machine tools, forging presses, injection molding machines, industrial machines, and robots, AC power input from an AC input side is temporarily converted into DC power, followed by further conversion into AC power, and this AC power is used as driving power of a motor provided in each drive axis. A motor control apparatus includes a rectifier for rectifying AC power supplied from an AC input side including a three-phase AC input power source to output DC power; and an inverter for performing power interconversion of DC power of a DC link and AC power that is driving power or regenerative power of a motor, the inverter being connected to the DC link that is a DC output side of the rectifier, in which a speed or torque of a motor connected to an AC output side of the inverter or a position of a rotor is controlled.
In recent years, from the viewpoint of a demand for saving energy, in a motor control apparatus, a regeneration-type rectifier capable of returning regenerative energy generated during deceleration of a motor to an AC input side is being frequently used.
However, in cases where a three-phase AC input power source disposed on the AC input side is a generator or power fails on the AC input side, regenerative energy is difficult to return to the AC input side. To cope with such situations, countermeasures are taken, in which a resistance discharge unit is added on a DC link between a rectifier and an inverter inside an existing motor control apparatus to consume regenerative energy generated during motor deceleration as thermal energy of a resistance (referred to also as a "discharge resistor") inside the resistance discharge unit.
FIG. 15 is a view illustrating a configuration of a general motor control apparatus including a resistance discharge unit. As illustrated in FIG. 15, a motor control apparatus 401 includes a rectifier 411 for rectifying AC power supplied from an AC input side including a three-phase AC input power source 3 to output DC power; an inverter 412 for performing power interconversion of DC power of a DC link and AC power that is driving power or regenerative power of a motor 2, the inverter 412 being connected to the DC link that is a DC output side of the rectifier 411; and a resistance discharge unit 413 for consuming regenerative energy by conversion into thermal energy in a resistance, the resistance discharge unit 413 being connected to the DC link. In accordance with motor drive commands from a control apparatus (not illustrated), the inverter 412 converts DC power in the DC link and outputs AC power of a desired frequency for motor drive. Regenerative energy generated in the motor 2 during deceleration of the motor 2 is converted into DC power by the inverter 412, followed by further conversion into AC power by the rectifier 411 to be returned to the AC power input side including the three-phase AC input power source 3.
The resistance discharge unit 413 includes a resistance discharge part 421, a voltage detection part 422, and a discharge operation determination part 423.
Of these, the resistance discharge part 421 includes a resistance R; a switching device S for connecting the resistance R to a DC link between the rectifier 411 and the inverter 412 upon reception of commands (ON signals) for starting a resistance discharge operation from the discharge operation determination part 423 and for disconnecting the resistance R and the DC link upon reception of commands (OFF signals) for stopping the resistance discharge operation from the discharge operation determination part 423; and a reflux diode D.
Further, the voltage detection part 422 detects a voltage of a DC output side of the rectifier 411 (in other words, a voltage of a smoothing capacitor C). A detected DC voltage value is transmitted to the discharge operation determination part 423. The resistance discharge unit 413 is added on the DC link between the rectifier 411 and the inverter 412 in order to cope with the case where regenerative energy is difficult to return to the AC input side as described above. As a result, there occurs a case in which it is difficult to provide a communication interface between an existing device such as the rectifier 411 and the resistance discharge unit 413 to be added on or communication rate is low even with the communication interface. Therefore, inside the resistance discharge unit 413 to be added on, the voltage detection part 422 is provided for detecting a DC voltage in the DC link.
Further, the discharge operation determination part 423 produces commands (ON/OFF signals) for on/off-controlling the switching device S inside the resistance discharge part 421 in response to a DC voltage value detected by the voltage detection part 422.
The switching device S inside the resistance discharge part 421 is switched on or off in accordance with commands received from the discharge operation determination part 423. Thereby, the resistance R and the DC link are connected or this connection is cut off. Regenerative energy generated during deceleration of the motor 2 is converted into DC power by the inverter 412, whereby a DC voltage in the DC link (in other words, a voltage of the DC output side of the rectifier 411) increases and then upon exceeding a certain threshold value, the discharge operation determination part 423 outputs ON signals to the switching device S. As a result, the switching device S is switched on and then the resistance R is connected to the DC link, whereby the regenerative energy is consumed in the resistance R by conversion into thermal energy (resistance discharge operation start). The DC voltage in the DC link (in other words, the voltage of the DC output side of the rectifier 411) drops due to the consumption of this thermal energy, and then, upon falling below a certain threshold value, the discharge operation determination part 423 outputs OFF signals to the switching device S. As a result, the switching device S is switched off and the connection between the resistance R and the DC link is cut off, whereby the consumption of the regenerative energy in the resistance R stops (resistance discharge operation stop).
When the three-phase AC input power source on the AC input side is a generator or power fails on the AC input side, regenerative energy is difficult to return to the AC input side. When this fact is neglected, a DC voltage in the DC link exceeds voltage resistances of elements of the rectifier 411 and the inverter 412, resulting in apparatus breakage. The aforementioned discharge operation unit 413 is one unit to prevent this situation.
For example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2002-120973 discloses a technique, in which as a countermeasure against the case where power has failed on an AC input side, using a hoist for lifting an elevator and an inverter apparatus including a power consumption circuit, an elevator cargo is guided to a nearest floor with continuous braking of the elevator even upon failure on the AC input side.
Further, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2003-088144 discloses a technique, in which in an inverter control apparatus including a discharge resistance, a discharge control operation is executed only in cases where an inverter operation has stopped or a main power source has been cut off due to a power failure or other reasons to lower a main circuit DC bus voltage in a short period of time.
Further, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-262616 discloses a technique, in which in an inverter apparatus for consuming regenerative power from a motor using a discharge resistor disposed in a DC link portion between a rectifier and an inverter, a pre-charge contact is off-controlled upon detecting a short-circuit failure of a switching device to protect the discharge resistor from overheat and burnout due to fusing of a pre-charge registor.
Further, for example, Unexamined Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2009-213200 discloses a technique, in which in a motor drive control system including a power regenerative unit for regenerating energy generated by a motor to a power source and a heat regenerative unit for performing conversion into heat, motor phase current is stabilized in a wide range of the number of motor rotations.
With respect to the aforementioned resistance discharge unit, it is necessary to determine a discharge capacity of the resistance discharge unit in accordance with a regenerative energy amount of a motor driven by a motor control apparatus. However, when countermeasures are intended for regenerative energy amounts of various types of motors, it is necessary to provide resistance discharge units having discharge capacities corresponding to these, resulting in that the model type of the resistance discharge units is increased and therewith, maintainability is degraded.

Motor control apparatus including at least two resistance discharge units


A method of detecting battery degradation level detects charging and discharging current flow in the battery and determines battery degradation level (state of health, SOH) from the charging and discharging current. The method detects the battery degradation level (SOH) from the root-mean-square of the charging and discharging current flow (Irms) in the battery, which is designated effective current.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of detecting battery degradation level, and in particular to a method of detecting degradation level optimally suited for a battery used in a power source apparatus that drives an electric-powered vehicle or a battery used in a solar cell power storage unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
A rechargeable battery degrades with charge-discharge cycle repetitions and the capacity to which it can be charged decreases. Since degradation increases due to over-charging and over-discharging, degradation can be reduced and battery lifetime extended by preventing over-charging and over-discharging, and by limiting charging and discharging operation in regions close to over-charging and over-discharging. To implement this type of operation and achieve reduced degradation and increased lifetime in a battery that drives a vehicle such as a hybrid vehicle (HV, hybrid car, hybrid electric vehicle, HEV), the battery is charged and discharged within a specified range of residual capacity (state-of-charge, SOC [%]). For example, battery charging and discharging can be controlled within a residual capacity (SOC [%]) range of 50%±20%. To control charging and discharging and keep the residual capacity (SOC [%]) within a specified range, it is necessary to detect the full-charge capacity. This is because residual capacity (SOC [%]) is represented by the ratio of the amount of charge (Ah) capable of being discharged to the full charge capacity (Ah). The full-charge capacity can be determined by integrating the discharge current when the battery is discharged from a fully-charged state to a completely discharged state. Or, the full-charge capacity can be determined by integrating the charging current required to fully-charge the battery from a completely discharged state. However, full-charge capacity determination by these methods requires the battery either to be charged from a fully discharged state to a fully-charged state or to be discharged from a fully-charged state to a completely discharged state. For a battery used in an operating environment that does not completely discharge or fully-charge the battery, full-charge capacity cannot be detected by simply integrating the discharge current or charging current. For example, in a hybrid vehicle application, the vehicle cannot be driven by the battery if it is completely discharged, and the battery cannot be charged by regenerative braking if it is fully-charged. Further, for a battery charged by solar cells, solar cell output depends on weather conditions and battery discharge depends on load requirements. Consequently, it can be difficult to operate in a fully-charged state or completely discharged state in a solar cell power storage application as well.
Since full-charge capacity cannot be determined by integrating current in applications that limit battery degradation by controlling charging and discharging within a given residual capacity (SOC [%]) range, an alternate method of determining full-charge capacity is required. Charging and discharging cannot be controlled within a specified range of residual capacity (SOC [%]) if the full-charge capacity is not accurately detected. Consequently, accurate detection of the full-charge capacity is necessary for this type of limited charge-capacity-range operation. Since batteries have the property that full-charge capacity changes as battery degradation proceeds, full-charge capacity can be detected by accurately detecting the degree of battery degradation. Consequently, accurate determination of the level of battery degradation is particularly important for a battery that has its charging and discharging controlled within a given residual capacity range.
A method of integrating battery charging and discharging current has been developed to detect battery degradation level.
Refer to Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication 2008-228492
According to the rechargeable battery charging method cited in JP 2008-228492 A, battery charging current is integrated and saved in a cumulative manner, each time the cumulative integrated value becomes equal to the full-charge capacity of the battery, it is counted as one cycle, and the battery degradation level is determined as the cumulative cycle count increases. This method detects battery degradation level from the integrated charging current. Specifically, the battery is assumed to degrade as the integrated charging current increases, and that relation is used to detect the degradation level.
Although the disclosed method detects degradation level from the integrated current, battery degradation level is not determined exclusively by the integrated current value, and different degradation levels can result even when the integrated current value is the same. For the case where the integrated current values are the same, degradation level is larger for varying current conditions than for constant current conditions. For example, when 10 A of current flows for 10 sec, the integrated current value is 100 Asec, and when a current peak of 100 A flows for 1 sec while no current flows for the remaining 9 sec, the integrated current value is also 100 Asec. However, the battery degradation level for a 100 A peak current flow is greater than that for constant 10 A current flow conditions. As a result, a method that detects degradation level based only on integrated current values has the drawback that an accurate battery degradation level cannot always be determined.
The present invention was developed to further resolve the drawback described above. Thus, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a method of detecting battery degradation level that can more accurately detect the degradation level from the battery current.

Method of detecting battery degradation level


A disk writing apparatus includes: a temperature sensor sensing an ambient temperature of a disk; a sync mark generator generating a sync mark having a pattern when a writing temperature indicating an ambient temperature at which data is written on the disk is sensed, wherein the pattern of the sync mark corresponds to the sensed writing temperature; a writing controller outputting the writing temperature sensed by the temperature sensor to the sync mark generator; a multiplexer adding the sync mark generated by the sync mark generator to the data; and a writing unit writing the data to which the sync mark is added on the disk. Accordingly, error rates when data is written and when data is reproduced can be improved by optimally compensating for the disk writing temperature and the disk reproducing temperature using parameters of devices of an hard disk drive.

1. Field of the Invention
Apparatuses and methods consistent with the present invention relate to writing/reproducing in a hard disk drive (HDD), and more particularly, to disk writing and reproducing which compensate for parameters of components of an HDD according to ambient temperatures when data is written on and is reproduced from a disk.
2. Description of the Related Art
The characteristics of disks and heads in an HDD change with a variation of an ambient temperature, thereby affecting data reliability due to a change of a reproducing signal. To prevent this, in the prior art, an ambient temperature in an HDD is measured using a temperature sensor such as a thermistor, and a write current or write pre-compensation signal is optimized according to the temperature in a writing operation. In a reproducing operation, a method of optimizing a filter in a read channel (RDC) according to the ambient temperature is used.
However, even if the compensation method is used in the writing operation, a perfect compensation is impossible since a reproducing signal in a case where data is written at high temperature is different from a reproducing signal in a case where data is written at low temperature. In addition, the compensation method in the reproducing operation considers only the ambient temperature in the reproducing operation without considering the ambient temperature in the writing operation. Thus, since the compensation is performed using the same parameters in both cases when data written at a high temperature is reproduced and when data written at a low temperature is reproduced, a proper compensation cannot be achieved. Thus, the reproducing quality in the reproducing operation is degraded.

Disk writing/reproducing apparatus and method


A glass-ceramic is disclosed, this glass-ceramic includes at least the following constituents (in mol % on oxide basis): SiO2 1-30, Al2O3 0-20, B2O3 0-25, TiO2 10-70, RE2O3 0-35, BaO 5-35, SiO2+Al2O3+B2O3<25, where RE is lanthanum, another lanthanoid, or yttrium, and where Ti may be replaced in part, preferably up to 10%, by Zr, Hf, Y, Nb, V, Ta. A principal phase in the glass-ceramic is BaTi4O.

The invention relates to a glass-ceramic which can be employed as a dielectric in the high-frequency range (frequency>200 MHz), more particularly in the gigahertz range (frequency f>1 GHz).
For a series of applications in the high-frequency range, specific materials are needed which combine an extremely high relative permittivity ∈ with an extremely low dielectric loss (tan δ). In order on the one hand to allow small antenna constructions and on the other to prevent close-range detuning by the body of a user (referred to as "body loading"), particular significance attaches to dielectric charging in the case of antennas, filters, and other devices. Required for this purpose are dielectrics which have a high relative permittivity, with ∈≧15, and also a low dielectric loss (tan δ) of not more than 10−2, preferably lower, in the high-frequency range. Furthermore, the temperature dependence of the resonance frequency τf is to be extremely low. Lastly, a material of this kind is to be able to be processed extremely simply and inexpensively in order to allow near net shapes at favorable cost.
Known in the prior art are a series of ceramic materials which are processed by sintering operations. Glass-ceramics are likewise known—cf., e.g., a BiNbO4 system, which is disclosed in Mirsaneh et al., "Circularly Loaded Dielectric-Loaded Antennas: Current Technology and Future Challenges", Adv. Funct. Materials 18, (2008), pp. 1-8, for application with dielectrically charged antennas for the gigahertz range. This material can be utilized for producing the three principally utilized forms of antennas: the circularly polarized DLA helix antenna (D-LQH antenna) and the square patch antenna, and also SMD antennas. For this purpose, a glass with a composition of 30 mol % Bi2O3, mol % Nb2O5, 30 mol % B2O3, and 10 mol % SiO2 is first melted conventionally at 1250° C. for two hours.
This glass was poured into cylindrical molds, relaxed at 500 to 520° C., and cooled slowly to room temperature. This was then followed by crystallization at various temperatures between 600° C. and 1000° C. Specified as an optimum value for antenna applications in the case of heat treatment at 960° C. is a relative permittivity ∈ of 15, with a quality factor Q·f0 of 15 000 GHz and a temperature coefficient of the resonance frequency τf of −80 MK−1. The crystalline phase characterized in this case was substantially orthorhombic BiNbO4.
This system, using bismuth and niobium is expensive in terms of the raw materials.
In addition there are a series of sintered ceramic materials (cf. U.S. Pat. No. 6,184,845 B1, US 2007/063902 A1). Specified therein as dielectric material for the ceramic core of a dielectrically charged D-LQH antenna is a sintered ceramic material based on zirconium titanate and, respectively, based on zirconium tin titanate, with a relative permittivity of about 36. The material is said to be produced by extrusion or pressing and subsequent sintering.
Further sintered materials are specified in the review by M. T. Sebastian et al., "Low loss dielectric materials for LTCC applications", International Materials Reviews, Vol. 53, 2008, pp. 57-90. Although these materials are in some cases identified as "glass-ceramics", they are in fact sintered materials, since they are produced by the sintering of a mixture of vitreous and crystalline powders.
US 2002/0037804 A1 and US 2004/0009863 A1 further disclose dielectric ceramics which are said to form diverse crystal phases, such as, for instance, CaTiO3, SrTiO3, Ba Ti4O9, La2Ti2O7, Nd2Ti2O, Ba2Ti9O20, Mg2TiO4, Mg2SiO4, Zn2TiO4, etc., which are said to be responsible for high quality factors. These as well are sintered ceramics.
Dielectrics produced by sintering have a series of disadvantages: Every sintering operation is always associated with a certain shrinkage, leading to geometrical inaccuracies and corresponding final machining. Furthermore, every sintering operation produces a certain residual porosity, which is disadvantageous in the context of metalizing of the surface. The metal penetrates the pores and raises the dielectric loss of the dielectric.
Moreover, the production of sintered materials is fundamentally relatively inconvenient and expensive.
JP 2006124201 A, moreover, discloses a lead-free glass which is said to be used for producing a dielectric for a printed circuit, having a high dielectric constant and a low electrical loss. The glass contains (in mol %): 25 to 45 SiO2, 5 to 25 BaO, 18 to 35 TiO2, 1 to 10 Al2O3, 0 to 15 B2O3, 0 to 15 MgO+CaO+SrO, 0 to 7 WO+ZrO2, with ZnO<1. It is said to crystallize on heat treatment as BaTi4O9.
JP 2011-195440 A, which corresponds to German patent application DE 10 2010 012 524.5, discloses, in addition, a glass-ceramic comprising the following constituents (in mol % on oxide basis):
SiO2 5-50
Al2O3 0-20
B2O3 0-25
BaO 0-25
TiO2 10-60
RE2O3 5-35
where Ba may be replaced in part by Sr, Ca, Mg, where RE is lanthanum, another lanthanoid, or yttrium, and where Ti may be replaced in part by Zr, Hf, Y, Nb, V, Ta.
This glass-ceramic can be used to produce high-quality dielectrics, which are suitable in particular for high-frequency applications, such as antennas. It has nevertheless emerged as being disadvantageous here that this glass-ceramic as well is not optimized for the production of antennas, which necessitates subsequent metalizing of the surface. The residual porosity is still relatively high for this. Moreover, the raw materials costs of the known glass-ceramic with RE-Ti system and Nb—Ti systems are fairly high.

Glass-ceramic as dielectric in the high-frequency range


Systems and methods for generating an augmented reality interface for generics activities are disclosed. The systems and methods may be directed to creating an augmented reality display for an activity performed on a surface. Given an image of the activity, an activity solver library and associated configuration information for the activity may be selected. The surface of the activity from the image may be rectified, forming a rectified image, from which activity state information may be extracted using the configuration information. The activity state information may be provided to the activity solver library to generate solution information, and elements indicating the solution information may be rendered in a perspective of the original image. By providing the configuration information associated with an activity solver library, an augmented reality interface can be generated for an activity by capturing an image of the activity.

Machine vision enables systems and computers to analyze images and extract information useful for controlling an activity. Exemplary systems may be able to recognize objects in an image in order to understand what the objects mean using pre-determined image processing techniques. Machine vision systems may also enhance images with rendered elements using, for example, augmented reality.
AR may refer to a live direct or indirect view of a physical environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input. Examples of AR include graphics superimposed on television broadcasts of sporting events, heads-up displays integrated into car windshields, and helmet mounted displays worn by pilots.

Systems and methods for activities solver development in augmented reality applications


Computer-implemented methods for generating and executing user-based standing queries are provided. In one aspect, a method includes determining whether to generate a notification based on a user-based query and geographical context. The method also includes filtering the notification through explicit or inferred filter criteria. Systems and machine-readable media are also provided.

1. Field
The present disclosure generally relates to automatically generating standing queries, and automatically executing standing queries based on triggers such as user location or user history.
2. Description of the Related Art
Applications such as trip planners, notification engines and search engines may provide information about items of interest to a user device (e.g., mobile device, personal computer, work computer). Standing queries (e.g., saved queries) may be set up by a user to provide updated information to a user or user device. The standing query may have a geographical parameter if the user requests it. For example, the user can explicitly create a standing query requesting a notification when a specific item goes on sale at a particular store location. The user can also request how often the standing query is run, e.g., daily, weekly, or as new results appear.

Automatic user-based query generation and execution


The present invention provides a radiation sensitive composition suitable for us in on-press developable printing plates. The radiation sensitive composition comprises an initiator system including an onium salt and a radiation absorber. The initiator system is combined with a polymerizable material, and a polymeric binder including polyethylene oxide segments.

The present invention relates to on-press developable negative-working printing plate precursors, which can be exposed by UV, visible, and infrared radiation. In particular, the present invention relates to on-press developable printing plates precursors having a radiation sensitive layer including an initiator system and polymeric binders containing polyethylene oxide ("PEO") segments.
Lithographic printing plate precursors typically comprise a radiation-sensitive coating applied over the hydrophilic surface of a support. Radiation-sensitive coatings generally include photosensitive components dispersed within an organic polymeric binder. After a portion of the coating is exposed to radiation (commonly referred to as imagewise exposure), the exposed portion becomes either more developable or less developable in a particular liquid than an unexposed portion of the coating. A printing plate precursor is generally considered a negative-working precursor if the exposed portions or areas become less developable in the developer and the unexposed portions or areas are removed in the developing process. After being developed in a suitable liquid, the image area accepts ink, while the revealed regions of the substrate's hydrophilic surface repel ink.
There are several potential ways of improving the properties of radiation sensitive compositions to enhance printing plate performance. One method of improvement involves optimizing the radiation sensitive components in the radiation sensitive layer. For example, a variety of references report the use of initiator systems or complexes that include various combinations of free-radical initiating compounds and radiation absorbing materials. Upon exposure of the radiation sensitive layer to radiation, the radiation absorbing compound absorbs the radiation and releases heat energy. The free-radical initiating compound promotes polymerization or hardening of a polymerizable material to produce an image area.
For example, U.S. Published Application No. 2002/0025489 to Shimada et al. reports a heat-sensitive composition including a compound that generates an acid or radical when heated (e.g. an onium salt) and a compound whose physical properties are irreversibly changed by an acid or radical. The composition may further include an IR dye. U.S. Published Application No. 2003/0054288 to Shimada et al. reports a heat sensitive composition including a cationic onium salt, a compound having a polymerizable unsaturated group and a light-heat converting agent such as an IR dye. U.S. Published Application No. 2003/0068575 reports a photosensitive layer for a printing plate including an IR absorbing agent, an onium salt, a radically polymerizable compound, a polymeric binder and an organic dye.
Additionally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,751,102 to Adair et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 4,937,159 to Gottschalk et al. report photohardenable compositions including a free-radical polymerizable or crosslinkable compound and an ionic dye-counter ion compound capable of absorbing radiation and producing free radicals to initiate polymerization or cross-linking of the polymerizable or crosslinkable compound. U.S. Pat. No. 5,368,990 to Kawabata et al. reports a photopolymerizable composition comprising an addition polymerization compound and a photopolymerization initiating compound including a specific anionic dye and a diaryliodonium salt as a polymerization initiator. U.S. Pat. No. 5,208,135 to Patel et al. reports an anionic photosensitive dye, an iodonium salt and a free-radical curable resin.
More recently, it has been determined that initiator systems or complexes may be utilized in "processless" or "on-press developable" printing plates. As used herein, the terms "processless" and/or "on-press developable" refers to printing plate precursors that do not require one or more conventional processing steps (e.g. development) prior to mounting on a printing press. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,482,571 and 6,548,222 to Teng report on-press developable printing plates having a thermosensitive layer including a free radical initiator, a radiation absorbing material and a polymerizable monomer.
Despite the recent advances in processless printing plates, it would be beneficial to prepare a processless printing plate precursor incorporating an initiator system that promotes improved manufacturing efficiency, including faster imaging speeds and improved handling and evaluation characteristics (e.g visible printout), as well as substantially increased durability and run lengths on-press.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

On-press developable IR sensitive printing plates containing an onium salt initiator system


A method and apparatus for inspection of a security article (10) is provided in which a substantially collimated light beam (15) from a point light source (14) is directed onto a diffractive optical projection element (DOE) (11). The light beam is transformed by the DOE (11) into a patterned beam (17) which is reconstructed to form a projected image at a particular position in space remote from the surface of the security article 910). An optical detection device 916) is located at which the patterned beam (17) is reconstructed to detect the projected image. The inspection method and apparatus may be used in equipment for handling, sorting, counting or otherwise processing security articles, in particular security documents such as banknotes. The apparatus may include a processor for generating a signal when the absence or poor quality of a DOE is detected and which is used to isolate or mark the security article.

This invention relates to security articles, such as banknotes or other security documents, and is particularly concerned with providing a method and an apparatus for inspecting a security device or devices in one or more security articles.
As used herein, the term "security documents" includes documents and tokens such as identity documents, value documents or entrance documents, which in turn respectively include: passports, visas, identity cards, drivers licences, and security entrance cards, banknotes, shares, bonds, certificates, cheques, lottery tickets, bank cards, charge cards and credit cards, and aeroplane tickets, bus tickets, railroad tickets, and tickets to fun parks or specific rides. These security documents or tokens typically include some form of authenticity verification to guard against copying and fraudulent alteration. It will, however, be appreciated that this invention is applicable to other types of articles which require authentication and/or protection against copying or theft. Such articles, including security documents, are referred to broadly as "security articles" in this specification.
A wide variety of security devices have been proposed for use in security documents for verification of authenticity and to make counterfeiting of the documents difficult. Some types of security devices are low security devices, printed devices or embossings, which are relatively inexpensive to produce in security documents but which only provide a relatively low degree of security. Other types of security devices are high security devices, such as diffraction gratings or holograms. These can provide a higher degree of security because they are more difficult to counterfeit, but are more expensive to produce and so are generally used in higher value security documents, such as $50 or $100 banknotes, when high security devices are provided in banknotes, it is desirable to detect their presence and quality in the production process of the banknotes before the banknotes are issued to the public. It is also desirable to provide apparatus for inspecting a high security device in a single banknote.
WO 99/37488 discloses a security document and method in which a diffractive optical projection element is provided within a transparent portion or window in the document, The diffractive optical projection element transforms a collimated beam of light, e.g. from a point light source or laser, into a patterned beam of a selected design. In the method of verifying the authenticity of the security document described in WO 99/37488, the patterned beam is projected onto a viewing surface, e.g. by folding the security document so that another part of the document laterally spaced from the window acts as the viewing surface. In another embodiment, the security document of WO 99/37488 may include a second transparent portion or window which can act as a pseudo point light source when the security document is folded.
In each embodiment described in WO 99/37488, the authenticity of the security document incorporating the diffractive optical projection element is verified visually by a person viewing the patterned beam when it impinges upon a viewing surface. However, this visual viewing method is not very suitable for inspecting the presence or quality of diffractive optical elements in banknotes or sheets of banknotes in equipment such as printing equipment, note sorting equipment or other equipment used in processing banknotes or the like.

Method and apparatus for inspection of security articles incorporating a diffractive optical projection element


A schedule management server is provided to precisely fill vacancies. A computer includes a communication network and a terminal device. The computer generates assumed schedule data indicative of schedules assumed for a plurality of staffs and starts receiving desired schedule data indicative of schedules desired by the plurality of staffs from the terminal device connected to the communication network. The computer receives and stores the desired schedules from the terminal device and generates vacancy schedule data indicative of vacancies of the plurality of staffs based on the assumed schedule data and the desired schedule data.

Conventionally, various methods have been proposed as methods of managing a duty schedule of employees. For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. 2003-167981, discloses a schedule management system, in which a requested-schedule data for operators at a call center is collected via a network, and schedule data for a predetermined period is created on the basis of the requested-schedule data collected.
The schedule management system receives the requested-schedule data from each of the intended-recruited operators via a network, predicts the number of the intended-recruited operators required in a predetermined period, and compares both data, whereby a schedule is established.
According to such a system, each of the intended-recruited operators transmits their own requested schedule via a network, and in cases where the number of the transmitted requests properly agrees with the predicted number of the required intended-recruited operators, it is possible to establish a duty schedule reflecting the requests. In a case where vacancies occur, the manager in charge of the duty schedule will newly recruit operators with respect to the vacancies.

Method of filling vacancies, and server and program for performing the same


In one embodiment, a system receives a first image captured by a capturing device of an ADV. The system applies an image transformation to the first image to generate a second image. The system applies an object detection model to the first and the second images to generate a first and a second output, respectively. The system calculates a similarity metric between the first and the second output. The system detects the first image as an adversarial sample if a temporal variation of the similarity metric between the first image and a prior image is above a threshold.

Vehicles operating in an autonomous mode (e.g., driverless) can relieve occupants, especially the driver, from some driving-related responsibilities. When operating in an autonomous mode, the vehicle can navigate to various locations using onboard sensors, allowing the vehicle to travel with minimal human interaction or in some cases without any passengers.
Motion planning and control are critical operations in autonomous driving. However, conventional motion planning operations estimate the difficulty of completing a given path mainly from its curvature and speed, without considering the differences in features for different types of vehicles. Same motion planning and control is applied to all types of vehicles, which may not be accurate and smooth under some circumstances.
Vision-based perception is one of the major tasks for autonomous vehicles and robotic systems, and deep learning based computer vision models have achieved state-of-the-art performance in this task, and have been extensively deployed. However, theses deep neural networks (DNNs) have been shown to be vulnerable to carefully crafted adversarial inputs, e.g., "adversarial samples". For examples, it has been demonstrated that by placing a carefully crafted small sticker on a stop sign, adversary can trick a vision based perception system of an autonomous vehicle into recognizing it as a speed limit sign.

Detecting adversarial samples by a vision based perception system


The present disclosure provides a battery module including: at least one cell; and a frame assembly including a lower plate configured to support a lower end surface of the cell, a side plate extending perpendicularly from any opposite edge ends of the lower plate and placed adjacent to an outermost side of the cell, and an upper plate coupled to an upper end of the side plate to cover an upper portion of the cell.

In general, battery modules are formed in a structure in which a plurality of cells are assembled by series and/or parallel connection. Such a battery module includes: a cell assembly in which a plurality of cells are arranged and stacked in one direction; and a frame having a plate capable of surrounding the cell assembly.
A battery module of the related art is manufactured in a structure in which a cell assembly 20 is surrounded by a frame 10 formed in one piece by an extrusion or die casting method as shown in FIG. 1.
However, such an extrusion or die casting method is a major cause of increasing the unit price of battery modules due to high process costs, and since the expansion of battery modules is forcibly inhibited, the lifespan of cells may be negatively affected.
Alternatively, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2015-0031861 discloses a battery module in which a side plate is placed adjacent to a side of a cell assembly. The battery module disclosed in Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2015-0031861 includes: a plurality of battery cells aligned in one direction; and a side plate placed adjacent to sides of the battery cells, wherein the side plate includes a pressing region protruding toward the battery cells to press the battery cells, and since the pressing region applies tension to the battery cells and prevents movement of the battery cells, the battery module is improved in safety.
Korean Patent Application Publication No. 2012-0051237 discloses a battery module case in which at least two pouch-type secondary batteries are stacked and arranged side by side with electrode tap sides of the pouch-type secondary batteries being arranged in the same manner, wherein each of the pouch-type secondary batteries is mounted in a vertically or horizontally sliding manner, the battery module case is coupled to outer surfaces of the pouch-type secondary batteries including the electrode tap sides, and the battery module case has an upper, lower, and side separable assembly structure.
Although techniques as described above have been proposed, technical means for stably supporting battery modules and reducing material or process costs while somewhat allowing the expansion of an end plate caused by swelling has not yet been proposed, and thus measures are needed.

Battery module with improved frame structure and frame assembly therefor


It becomes possible for a user to set a transmission or reception channel arbitrarily and easily. Each of equipment connected to an IEEE 1394 bus may include a register provided within a RAM 113 to thereby set a transmission or reception default channel. If channels used in the transmission and the reception are not set when the transmission is started, then default channel may be used. When equipment is set to a channel setting mode by operating an operation section 116, a control section 112 may display a channel setting picture on a display section 115. In this state, a user may select a set channel by operating an up-key 116a and a down-key 116b of the operation section 116. Thereafter, when a user operates a “YES” key 116c, the control section 112 may write a selected channel in the above-mentioned register, and ends a default channel setting operation. A user can set the transmission or reception channel arbitrarily and easily.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to electronic equipment for use with a communication system connected by a communication bus such as an IEEE 1394 bus, for example. More particularly, this invention relates to electronic equipment or the like including a register for setting transmission and reception channels and an operation means for setting channels to this register and in which the transmission and reception channels can be set arbitrarily and easily.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a communication system connected by a communication bus such as an IEEE 1394 bus, a channel and a band which are bus resources may be maintained and a connection may be made by a virtual plug according to the IEC 61883-1 standard, whereby a video signal, an audio signal and the like can be transferred in the isochronous mode.
However, since conventional electronic equipment comprising the above-mentioned communication system are difficult to actively discover equipment to be connected, any of electronic equipment may use the same channel in advance. Even when there are bands to spare, electronic equipment should take the channel from other electronic equipment or should wait for the available channel until the channel is opened.
The IEC 61883-1 standard has a function (1) capable of setting a channel available in transmission equipment and reception equipment when the transmission is started, and is unable to set a channel without searching equipment to be connected. Also, when the transmission is started, if the channel is not set, then transmission equipment is able to transmit data via a previously-determined channel (default channel) described in a specific transmission setting register. Although this 61883-1 standard has prepared a function (2) capable of designating another channel by rewriting this default channel, this standard is unable to set a channel of reception equipment.
Accordingly, when the above-mentioned function (1) is not in use, if some method of operating a channel is not determined, then it is not possible to execute a transmission using a plurality of channels. This situation may apply for other cases in which a signal to be transmitted is a signal of the same type and a signal of other format as well. Further, when a plurality of channels are not in use, even though different transmission rates are permitted in a bus, data should be transmitted at the lowest transmission rate in order for electronic equipment to match with performances of all sorts of reception equipment.

Electronic equipment, method of receiving data, method of transmitting data, method of setting channel and method of grouping electronic equipment into channels


A payload stabilizer suitable for use with video camera payloads. The stabilizer has a feedback system providing supplemental torques to the payload through a gimbal while remaining responsive to direct operator control.

This invention relates generally to inertial stabilizing devices and to methods therefore, and is applicable to payloads such as, for example, image capture devices including portable video and film cameras.
Mobile film or video cameras typically require angular and spatial stability in order to obtain smooth, quality results. One type of stabilizer is a passive inertial camera stabilizer. Passive inertial camera stabilizers reduce or avoid unwanted angular and spatial motion, while also benefiting from direct operator control. Passive inertial stabilizers are used to support a variety of cameras including, for example, light-weight hand-held cameras and large cameras. Most passive stabilizers require significant training time and effort to become technically proficient in their use. Passive stabilizing systems for light-weight cameras with reduced moments of inertia, may require greater skill and technique for effective use.
Although a variety of camera stabilization systems are available, challenges still remain in providing consistent stabilization control of payload platforms. Particularly, there is a need for an active stabilizer system for use with miniaturized/lightweight cameras.

Actively stabilized payload support apparatus and methods


A method of restoring a selected operational state of a circuit design implemented within a programmable integrated circuit (IC) can include pipelining a clock gating signal that selectively pauses a clock of the circuit design, and storing configuration data specifying an operational state of the circuit design at a first simulation clock cycle in non-configuration memory. At a second simulation clock cycle, the clock of the circuit design can be gated. The stored configuration data can be loaded into configuration memory of the programmable IC, wherein loading the configuration data reconfigures the circuit design and restores the operational state of the circuit design in existence at the first simulation clock cycle. The clock of the circuit design can be advanced a number of clock cycles corresponding to a difference between the second simulation clock cycle and the first simulation clock cycle.

Programmable integrated circuit (IC) devices are a well-known type of integrated circuit that can be programmed to perform specified logic functions. One type of programmable IC, the field programmable gate array (FPGA), typically includes an array of programmable tiles. These programmable tiles can include, for example, input/output blocks (IOBs), configurable logic blocks (CLBs), dedicated random access memory blocks (BRAM), multipliers, digital signal processing blocks (DSPs), processors, clock managers, delay lock loops (DLLs), and so forth.
Each programmable tile typically includes both programmable interconnect and programmable logic. The programmable interconnect typically includes a large number of interconnect lines of varying lengths interconnected by programmable interconnect points (PIPs). The programmable logic implements the logic of a user design using programmable elements that can include, for example, function generators, registers, arithmetic logic, and so forth.
The programmable interconnect and programmable logic are typically programmed by loading a stream of configuration data into internal configuration memory cells that define how the programmable elements are configured. The configuration data can be read from memory (e.g., from an external PROM) or written into the FPGA by an external device. The collective states of the individual memory cells then determine the function of the FPGA.
Other types of programmable ICs include complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs), programmable logic arrays (PLAs), and programmable array logic (PAL) devices. For all of these programmable ICs, the functionality of the device is controlled by data bits provided to the device for that purpose. The data bits can be stored in volatile memory (e.g., static memory cells, as in FPGAs and some CPLDs), in non-volatile memory (e.g., FLASH memory, as in some CPLDs), or in any other type of memory cell.
Other programmable ICs are programmed by applying a processing layer, such as a metal layer, that programmably interconnects the various elements on the device. These programmable ICs are known as mask programmable devices. Programmable ICs can also be implemented in other ways, e.g., using fuse or antifuse technology. The phrase "programmable IC" can include, but is not limited to, these devices and further can encompass devices that are only partially programmable. For example, one type of programmable IC includes a combination of hard-coded transistor logic and a programmable switch fabric that programmably interconnects the hard-coded transistor logic.
In some situations, it is desirable to be able to stop the clock of a circuit design, or a portion of a circuit design, implemented within a programmable IC. For example, during design and/or testing, a designer may wish to stop the clock of a circuit design and view the values of particular circuit components or signals. In other cases, it is desirable to allow the circuit design to continue operating albeit in a step-wise fashion in which the circuit design is permitted to advance cycle-by-cycle, where the operation of the circuit design is paused for evaluation after each clock cycle.
One technique for achieving such detailed control over the clock of a circuit design is through a technique called clock gating. One type of clock gating circuit involves a dedicated clock buffer that selectively passes a clock signal according to an enable signal applied to the clock buffer. Another type of clock gating circuit utilizes a clock multiplexer that selectively passes the clock signal or a static, unchanging signal, which is the equivalent of passing no clock signal. Depending upon the particular type of clock gating circuit used, the clock buffer, or the clock multiplexer, is coupled to a clock control module. The clock control module implements application specific logic to generate gating signals based upon pre-defined conditions detected within the circuit design being monitored in the programmable IC. The gating signals generated within the clock control module drive the enable signal of the clock buffer or the select signal of the clock multiplexer. De-asserting the enable signal of a clock buffer or selecting a signal with a steady voltage to pass through a clock multiplexer can freeze the clock supplied to downstream circuit designs in the programmable IC. For ease of illustration, the phrase "clock buffer" is used herein to refer to a clock buffer, a clock multiplexer, or any other circuit that may be used within a clock gating circuit to stop or stall a clock signal.
To ensure the proper operation of clock gating, the clock control module must meet setup and hold timing requirements of the clock buffer. When the clock control module is complex or purely combinational, meeting timing requirements may be difficult, if not infeasible, particularly at higher clock rates. In such cases, the clock control module may significantly limit the maximum achievable frequency of the clock, and thus, any circuit designs of the programmable IC utilizing that clock.
One way of ensuring that the timing requirements of the clock buffer are met is to pipeline the clock gating circuit. Pipelining can reduce the critical path delay to the clock buffer. While critical path delays are reduced, latency is incorporated into the clock gating signal, thereby delaying the arrival of the clock gating signal to the clock buffer. Therefore, the clock of the circuit design is not stopped at the exact cycle at which a decision is made to stop the clock. The clock gating signal requires time to propagate through each stage of pipelining to reach the clock buffer before the clock is actually stopped. This latency, while addressing the timing requirements of the clock buffer, is problematic when one wishes to observe the state of a circuit design at the particular clock cycle in which the condition for stopping the clock is detected. By the time the clock control signal reaches the clock buffer, the desired state of the circuit design no longer exists, as the clock has advanced by one or more clock cycles beyond the desired stopping point.

Recovering a prior state of a circuit design within a programmable integrated circuit


A utility transforms a class diagram representing an ontology, such as a UML class diagram, into a fully-described, standard representation of an ontology such as OWL file. It may be based on Rational Software Architect (RSA) and its model transformation capabilities. The RSA transformation framework uses a Visitor-like pattern for iterating over all of the UML elements in a UML diagram. The framework allows the developer to configure ‘Rule’ classes that are executed when different types of UML elements are encountered. Each UML element is visited once, which causes each rule to be fired for each element type. Rules are configured for just those UML types that are of interest to the transformation, for example classes, primitives, properties, packages and instances. Each rule in the implementation is then written to delegate to a Registrar class, which has a method for building the ontology model from the registered UML elements.

Ontologies
Business enterprises often need to create ontologies, in order for people, databases, and applications to share information within a certain domain. In these cases, an ontology is represented as a machine-readable set of terms that describe details of the domain. Having an ontology in a machine-readable format allows an enterprise to make full use of ontology methodologies and tools.
Example of an Ontology
A simple but useful ontology might describe a domain consisting of an organization's employees, employee teams, and departments. Relationships between employees and teams, employees and departments, and the set of properties that characterize employees, teams, and departments can be fully described by an ontology. This ontology could be represented in an electronic, machine-readable format—for example, in the NTriple format or one of the OWL (Web Ontology Language) dialects.
Advantages of Using an Ontology
The benefits of an organization or enterprise using such an ontology include:                Having a better conceptual and intellectual relationship to the data described in the domain;        Using established ontology tools for reading, writing, and inferring more data described in the domain;        Ease of sharing and integrating data with other parties using the same or similar domain;        Developing software applications that use and write data within the domain; and        Being able to easily modify/extend the domain description by updating the ontology.
Many of the valuable usages of ontologies require the ontology to be represented as ontology description artifacts in a standard, machine-readable ontology format, such as NTriple or one of the OWL dialects.
Prior Techniques for Creating Ontologies
Until now, ontology description artifacts have been produced in a number of ways:                Programmatically using an ontology API;        Using a GUI ontology editor; or        By hand-writing text files using XML (Extended Markup Language), in the case of producing OWL, for example, or some other description language.Programmatically Using an Ontology API
For programmatically using an ontology API, such as Jena, software has to be written, which is costly and requires programming expertise as well as expertise in the API being employed.
Using a GUI Ontology Editor
Software tools such as Protégé or Altova have been created to partially facilitate the process of generating ontologies. For example, Protégé is a well-known GUI ontology editor, and Jena is a Java based framework that facilitates processing and constructing ontologies programmatically. This method requires familiarity with the specific editor to be used.
Hand-Writing Text Files Using XML
Programmers have used simple XML codes and other description languages to create machine-readable ontologies. This is the most cumbersome prior technique of those mentioned: it requires intimate familiarity with the description language being used and is prone to typos and other mistakes.
In summary, these prior techniques are typically complicated to use and require experts that are familiar with ontologies and related concepts to perform them, making them time consuming and therefore expensive. They require a significant degree of familiarity with ontology description languages such as OWL, which makes it hard for domain experts and business analysts to contribute to ontology data without first becoming versed in new, relatively complex standards.
Therefore there is a need for a faster and more user-friendly way to go about producing such ontology descriptions without having to use special experts.

System and method for the autogeneration of ontologies

International Business Machines Corporation


Compositions and methods of using cells derived from umbilical cord tissue, to stimulate and support angiogenesis, to improve blood flow, to regenerate, repair, and improve skeletal muscle damaged by a peripheral ischemic event, and to protect skeletal muscle from ischemic damage in peripheral vascular disease patients are disclosed. In particular, methods of treating a patient having a peripheral vascular disease by systemic administration of umbilical derived cells are disclosed.

Various publications, including patents, published applications, technical articles and scholarly articles are cited throughout the specification. Each of these cited publications is incorporated by reference herein, in its entirety.
Peripheral vascular disease (PVD) can result from atherosclerotic occlusion of the blood vessels, particularly in limbs and areas distal from the heart, resulting in diminished blood flow and insufficient oxygen perfusion to tissues in the vicinity of and downstream from the occlusion. PVD is frequently manifested in the iliac blood vessels, femoral and popliteal blood vessels, and subclavian blood vessels, and its effects can be exacerbated by thrombi, emboli, or trauma. It is estimated that approximately 8 to 12 million individuals in the United States, especially among the elderly population and those with diabetes, are afflicted with PVD.
Common symptoms of PVD include cramping in the upper and lower limbs and extremities, numbness, weakness, muscle fatigue, pain in the limbs and extremities, hypothermia in the limbs and extremities, discoloration of the extremities, dry or scaly skin, and hypertension. The most common symptom is claudication or feelings of pain, tightness, and fatigue in muscles downstream of the occluded blood vessel that occurs during some form of exercise such as walking, but self-resolve after a period of rest.
In terms of pathophysiology, the occluded blood vessels cause ischemia of tissues at the site of and distal to the obstruction. This ischemia is generally referred to as peripheral ischemia, meaning that it occurs in locations distal to the heart. The severity of the ischemia is a function of the size and number of obstructions, whether the obstruction is near a muscle or organ, and whether there is sufficient redundant vasculature. In more severe cases, the ischemia results in death of the affected tissues, and can result in amputation of affected limbs, or even death of the patient.
Current methods for treatment of more severe cases of PVD include chemotherapeutic regimens, angioplasty, insertion of stents, reconstructive surgery, bypass grafts, resection of affected tissues, or amputation. Unfortunately, for many patients, such interventions show only limited success, and many patients experience a worsening of the conditions or symptoms.
Presently, there is interest in using either stem cells, which can divide and differentiate, or muscles cells from other sources, including smooth and skeletal muscles cells, to assist the in the repair or reversal of tissue damage. Transplantation of stem cells can be utilized as a clinical tool for reconstituting a target tissue, thereby restoring physiologic and anatomic functionality. The application of stem cell technology is wide-ranging, including tissue engineering, gene therapy delivery, and cell therapeutics, i.e., delivery of biotherapeutic agents to a target location via exogenously supplied living cells or cellular components that produce or contain those agents (For a review, see Tresco, P. A. et al., (2000) Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews 42:2-37). The identification of stem cells has stimulated research aimed at the selective generation of specific cell types for regenerative medicine.
One obstacle to realization of the therapeutic potential of stem cell technology has been the difficulty of obtaining sufficient numbers of stem cells. Embryonic, or fetal tissue, is one source of stem cells. Embryonic stem and progenitor cells have been isolated from a number of mammalian species, including humans, and several such cell types have been shown capable of self-renewal and expansion, as well differentiation into a number of different cell lineages. But the derivation of stem cells from embryonic or fetal sources has raised many ethical and moral issues that are desirable to avoid by identifying other sources of multipotent or pluripotent cells.
Postpartum tissues, such as the umbilical cord and placenta, have generated interest as an alternative source of stem cells. For example, methods for recovery of stem cells by perfusion of the placenta or collection from umbilical cord blood or tissue have been described. A limitation of stem cell procurement from these methods has been an inadequate volume of cord blood or quantity of cells obtained, as well as heterogeneity in, or lack of characterization of, the populations of cells obtained from those sources.
A reliable, well-characterized and plentiful supply of substantially homogeneous populations of such cells having the ability to differentiate into an array of skeletal muscle, pericyte, or vascular lineages would be an advantage in a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic applications for skeletal muscle repair, regeneration, and improvement, for the stimulation and/or support of angiogenesis, and for the improvement of blood flow subsequent to a peripheral ischemic event, particularly in PVD patients.

Treatment of peripheral vascular disease using umbilical cord tissue-derived cells


Improved techniques are provided for processing authorization requests. In some embodiments, an authorization request specifying a non-hierarchical resource can be processed without having to sequentially process the various security policies configured for a collection of resources.

Embodiments of the present invention relate to authorization systems, and more particularly to techniques that enable authorization of requests to access resources to be handled in an efficient manner.
Sensitive information requires careful and effective access control that governs who can access the information. For example, in a large enterprise, information related to the enterprise (e.g., business information) needs to be protected from unauthorized access. In such an enterprise, an authorization system is generally used to regulate access to the enterprise's information. A set of security policies is generally configured for the enterprise and the authorization system uses these configured policies to control access to the information. The set of security policies may, for example, be configured by an enterprise system administrator or a data security administrator.
In an environment where access is controlled by an authorization system, the various entities or objects that can be accessed are usually modeled in the form of resources. For example, in an enterprise environment, resources may include documents storing business information, subparts of a document (e.g., a paragraph within a document), one or more websites (e.g., a business website), one or more web pages stored by the sites, and the like. The authorization system controls access to these resources based upon one or more security policies configured for the environment. In a typical setup, all access or authorization requests to access one or more of the resources are intercepted by the authorization system and have to be authorized by the authorization system before access to the requested resource can be granted. The authorization system performs authorization, which is the process of determining if a user identified in the authorization request has a right to (or is allowed to) access a requested resource. The user is allowed to access the resource only if successfully authorized by the authorization system.
In a typical business or enterprise environment, the number of resources is usually very large. Likewise, the number of security policies for controlling access to these resources is also very large. Further, the number of users wanting to access the resources is also typically very large. As a result, the authorization system generally receives and has to process a large number of resource access requests, which may be received serially or even concurrently. Due to a combination of the very large number of resources, a large number of policies, and a large number of users, the authorization-related processing performed by an authorization system is complicated and requires a lot of computing resources (e.g., processing resources such as CPU usage, memory resources) and consequently is time consuming. For example, for each authorization request, the authorization system has to process all the security policies to determine whether or not a user identified in the access request is allowed to access the requested resource. Existing authorization systems cannot keep up with the growing number of resources, security policies, and users, and are not scalable.

Optimized policy matching and evaluation for non-hierarchical resources


The disclosed artificial insemination system comprises a cervical plug, catheter, and positioning tool. The cervical plug comprises a shield configured to cover an orifice, an arm attached to one side of the shield that is operable to be inserted into the cervical canal, and an insert member on the other side of the shield. A bore disposed within the cervical plug and extending through the insert member, shield, and arm is operable to receive the catheter used to deposit the semen sample. The positioning tool comprises a handle with a stem extending longitudinally therefrom and terminating at a bracket that is operable to receive the insert member and catheter and assist in preventing the cervical plug from becoming dislodged when the catheter is removed. A further object of this invention is the process by which the disclosed system is used to increase the efficacy of artificial insemination.

Artificial insemination aims to place sperm into the reproductive system of a patient to promote pregnancy. Typically, artificial insemination is carried out when it is difficult or impossible for sperm to enter a patient's reproductive system during sexual intercourse. Intracervical insemination, where a semen sample is inserted into a patient's cervical canal, and intrauterine insemination, where a semen sample is inserted into a patient's uterine cavity, are the two most common artificial insemination procedures currently used. Generally, during such procedures, a patient's vaginal walls are held open by a medical device, such as a speculum. A semen sample is then inserted into the patient's cervical canal or uterine cavity, depending on which procedure is being performed, typically via a catheter-syringe assembly. After insertion, the semen is left to take by the patient's reproductive system.
However, a portion of the semen sample is often lost by leaking from the cervical canal into the vaginal cavity of the patient due to reflux caused by uterine contractions. Accordingly, unless a barrier is established between the patient's cervical canal and vaginal cavity after the semen sample is inserted, the efficacy of the insemination procedure may be diminished due to such reflux.
In order to prevent such reflux, a plug may be introduced at the cervical os. Such plugs vary in size and shape, but the general configuration consists of some form of wall or barrier, with a bore usually in the center of the barrier. The catheter is then fed through bore of the plug and inserted into the cervical canal or uterine cavity where a semen sample is directed through the catheter and deposited. After insemination, the catheter is then removed as any foreign object in the cervical canal or uterine cavity can trigger a biological response that may diminish the possibility of an egg being fertilized.
However, due to frictional forces between the interior surface of the bore within the plug and the exterior surface of the catheter, the plug may become somewhat dislodged or displaced when the catheter is removed, which diminishes the utility of the plug serving as a barrier. Accordingly, there is a need for a device and comprehensive artificial insemination system that holds the cervical plug in place while simultaneously allowing the catheter to be removed.

Artificial insemination system and method of use


A control circuit of a flyback power converter according to the present invention comprises a low-side transistor, an active-clamper, a high-side drive circuit, and a controller. The low-side transistor is coupled to switch a transformer. The active-clamper is coupled in parallel with the transformer. The high-side drive circuit is coupled to drive the active-clamper. The controller generates a switching signal and an active-clamp signal. The switching signal is coupled to drive the low-side transistor. The switching signal is generated in accordance with a feedback signal for regulating an output of the flyback power converter. The active-clamp signal is coupled to control the high-side drive circuit and the active-clamper. The active-clamp signal is generated in response to a demagnetizing time of the transformer. The pulse number of the active-clamp signal is less than the pulse number of the switching signal in a light load condition.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to power converter, and more particularly, relates to the control circuit of the flyback power converter with active clamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flyback power converters have been widely used to provide power supplies for electronic products, such as home appliances, computers, battery charger etc. An active-clamp circuit has developed for the flyback power converter, that increases the efficiency of the flyback power converter. Nevertheless, the traditional active-clamp circuit can only achieve high efficiency for the heavy load. The drawback of the traditional active-clamp circuit is the higher power loss at the light load because of the high circulated current. The objective of this invention is to improve the efficiency of the flyback power converter by recycling the leakage inductance's energy of the transformer in the light load, and achieving the soft switching for the heavy load. Therefore, the flyback power converter can be operated in higher switching frequency for reducing the size of the transformer. The related prior arts can be found in "Clamped Continuous Flyback Power Converter", U.S. Pat. No. 5,570,278; "Offset Resonance Zero Voltage Switching Flyback Converter" U.S. Pat. No. 6,069,803; and "Active-clamp circuit for quasi-resonant flyback power converter", U.S. patent application 20110305048.

Adaptive active clamp of flyback power converter with high efficiency for heavy load and light load


Adjusting the maximum ventricular stimulation frequency according to the hemodynamic state of the patient in an active implantable medical device. This device provides for limiting ventricular stimulation to a maximum frequency (Fmax), the rate of delivery of the stimulation pulses, measuring an intracardiac bio-impedance (Zn, Zn+1), and adjusting the maximum frequency according to the measured intracardiac bio-impedance. The adjusting process can include evaluating a parameter representative of the cardiac flow (dn, dn+1) utilizing the intracardiac signal of bio-impedance; controlling a predetermined variation (X %) of the frequency (f) of delivery of the stimulation pulses; evaluating the correlative variation (y %) of the cardiac flow; and adjusting the value of the maximum frequency (Fmax) according to the variation of the cardiac flow thus evaluated.

In these devices, the ventricular stimulation frequency is variable, either by ensuring by the ventricle stimulation occurs in response to the atrial rate, or according to a parameter collected by a sensor. In the latter case, the known sensors are generally selected from among three types:
(1) A sensor of effort, which is a sensor measuring a parameter that is preponderantly physiological, and generally the measurement of the minute-ventilation, denominated a "sensor MV", or the oxygen saturation in blood, or the temperature, etc. Such a sensor provides an adequate representation of the metabolic needs of the patient, according to whether the patient is at rest, in exercise, in recovery after effort, etc.
(2) A sensor of activity which is generally an accelerometer integrated into the pacemaker, denominated by the common name of "sensor G", intended to quickly detect a change of the posture or of the dynamic of the patient carrying the apparatus, in particular to detect the beginnings of a phase of effort revealed by a significant increase in the patient's physical movements.
(3) A hemodynamic sensor: it is a question in this case of operating a control algorithm based upon a signal representative of the blood flow.
The effort sensor, also called a physiological sensor, delivers a signal that is well correlated to the real metabolic needs of the patient, but with a response time that is relatively long, and with a low sensitivity to low levels of effort.
Activity sensors on the other hand are sensors with a very short response time, but which measure a purely mechanical parameter (acceleration) that is non-physiological in nature, and therefore lacks specificity. Such a sensor does not allow, for example, to distinguish between a real beginning of an effort from vibrations or movements undergone in a purely passive way, for example traveling in a car, in which latter case the patient is not exerting any particular effort.
Rate responsive pacemakers are known that use one of these types of sensors to adjust permanently various parameters such as the stimulation frequency, the atrio-ventricular delay (AVD), or the inter-ventricular delay in the case of a bi-ventricular stimulation. There are also pacemakers combining two (or more) types of sensors, so as to avoid the disadvantages associated with each one.
The algorithms for controlling pacemakers in addition envisage a parameter known as the "maximum frequency" or "Fmax ", which is the maximum frequency of ventricular stimulation. This parameter is applicable in particular when it is a question of ensuring the follow-up of the atrial rate by the ventricle: Fmax is then the higher limit to which the pacemaker can synchronize a ventricular stimulation on each atrial detection in the conventional DDD pacing mode. This Fmax parameter is in particular used to set a maximum limit for the stimulation frequency that may be calculated by algorithms such as the smoothing functions of rate response functions. In a rate responsive pacemaker, Fmax is used to make the dynamics of the sensor correspond to the upper limit value that the stimulation frequency can take.
In a double-chamber pacemaker, the maximum frequency also is used as a reference value, in comparison with the detected atrial frequency in order to limit the ventricular stimulation frequency when the atrial rate exceeds Fmax, for example, by applying an operating mode known as the "Wenckebach mode".
The maximum frequency is generally programmed once at a value determined by the physician, mainly according to the age of the patient, with a possible weighting factor due to the capacity of effort of the patient and/or the presence of a cardiopathy or a cardiomyopathy.
It has been proposed to vary the maximum frequency in a way controlled over the course of time, as, for example, described in EP-A-1 059 099 and its corresponding Published U.S. Application 2000US-09589339 000607 (commonly assigned herewith to Ela Médical), where this frequency is automatically and gradually recorded over the course of time according to the hemodynamic improvement of the state of the patient.
A mechanism for the adjustment of the maximum frequency was also proposed by U.S. Pat. No. 6,119,040 (Chirife), which describes a pacemaker of the type controlled by an activity sensor (an accelerometer or similar component) included in the case of the pacemaker. To compensate for the fact that such a control sensor is not correlated with the metabolic needs for the patient, this document proposes to make variable the maximum frequency by adjusting the latter in an automatic way according to a physiological parameter. Thus, a significant increase of the stimulation frequency in response to a situation of activity detected by an accelerometer is allowed only if there is confirmation of a significant increase in the metabolic requirements. This makes it possible to make a little more specific the rate responsive function of the pacemaker, while adding to it a significant safety parameter. In this document, the physiological parameter used to regulate the maximum frequency is the ventricular pre-ejection period (PEP), namely the interval of time included between the detection of a beginning of cardiac cycle (spontaneous or stimulated) and the beginning of the ventricular ejection: during this interval of time, the ventricle contracts but its volume does not change (isovolumic contraction), only the pressure inside the ventricle increases. The PEP ends as soon as the aortic valve and the pulmonary valve open, which has as a consequence the ejection of blood in the arteries, with a correlative reduction of the volume of the ventricles, which continues until the end of the diastole.
According to this document, the PEP is evaluated utilizing an intracardiac measurement of bio-impedance: this parameter indeed gives a dynamic image of the contraction of the myocardium. The analysis of the variations of impedance makes it possible to characterize the evolution of the systolic and diastolic phases, and thus the duration of the PEP. An increase in the cardiac rate that would not be associated with a corresponding shortening of the PEP is regarded as inadequate or excessive compared to the physiological needs for the patient. This makes it possible to compensate or, at the very least, to limit the effects of the non-physiological character of the activity sensor used for the control of the pacemaker.
It has been appreciated by the present inventor that if one fixes the maximum frequency at a given value, pre-programmed, this adjustment does not take into account the general hemodynamic state of the patient, and even less his evolution over the course of time, for example, in the case of an improvement or, on the contrary, in the case of an aggravation, of this state. Indeed, if the heart rate is too high, the heart will not properly fill with blood in a satisfactory manner, and consequently the volume of ejection falls. It is thus the case in such situations of tachycardia or fibrillation, and also in the case of application of stimulation pulses at too high a frequency, due to a bad adjustment of the maximum frequency compared to the actual state of the patient.
There is thus a turning point frequency at which the benefit obtained by an increase in blood flow from an increase in the stimulation frequency is lost by the reduction in the volume of ejection. It is thus important not to exceed this turning point frequency, under a penalty of a reduction in the cardiac flow.


Method and apparatus for display image adjustment is described. More particularly, handles associated with polygon vertices of a polygon rendered image are provided as a graphical user interface (GUI). These handles may be selected and moved by a user with a cursor pointing device to adjust a displayed image for keystoning, among other types of distortion. This GUI allows a user to adjust a projected image for position of a projector with respect to imaging surface, as well as for imaging surface contour, where such contour may be at least substantially planar, cylindrical, or spherical and where such contour may comprise multiple imaging surfaces. This advantageously may be done without special optics or special equipment. An original image is used as texture for rendering polygons, where the image is applied to the rendered polygons.

Anyone who has ever viewed an image on a television set, a computer monitor, a projection screen or other projection surface, and the like, where one corner of the image was out of alignment has experienced a form distortion, namely, a geometric distortion called "keystoning" or "keystone" geometric distortion. Keystoning is where an image is out of alignment, conventionally at one or more of the corners, of the image producing a trapezoidal or trapezoidal-like shape.
Computer monitors and televisions sets conventionally come with mechanisms for manually adjusting a display screen image, not only at the corners but also top and bottom side adjustments and left and right side adjustments. However, these adjustments conventionally require using multiple adjustment modes, where an adjustment in one mode may affect another adjustment in another mode. This leads to a time consuming iterative approach to bring a display image into alignment.
Iterative adjustment for image projectors conventionally involves moving the projector itself. Thus, a projector often occupies a central point in a room, where leg adjustment screws are used to adjust to a support surface on which the projector is located. The projector lens is thus aligned to be at least substantially parallel with a projection surface. Adjusting position of a projector conventionally is an iterative approach where one adjustment affects another. An additional annoyance is having a projector in the way of a presenter and attendees, as the projector conventionally is centered to the projected image to minimize distortion. If a projector is not on-axis with respect to a projection surface (i.e., the direction of the projection is not perpendicular to the screen), keystoning may result.
Modern digital projectors have keystone correction allowing for "squaring up" a projected image when projecting off-axis. However, most of these corrections are optical adjustments and not image adjustments. Accordingly, off-axis angle is limited owing to manufacturing cost of more exotic lenses. Still others have suggested warping of an image to compensate for keystoning. However, such approaches conventionally involve addition of a camera to sense a displayed image or require data input to determine position of a displayed image. Moreover, such systems involve special circuitry and/or complex software to warp an image to correct for keystoning.
Furthermore, projecting an image off-axis to a screen or imaging surface can have effects other than keystoning, such as anisotropic or aspect ratio geometric distortion. An example of anisotropic geometric distortion is text that progressively expands vertically, namely, an unequal image display above and below a horizontal optical axis. Anisotropic distortion limits use of off-axis projection, even though it may be desirable to position a projector off-axis in order to have more distance from a projection surface to project a larger image.
Accordingly, it would be desirable and useful to provide method and apparatus for display image adjustment that is more intuitive for a user and costs less than optical adjustment or prior image warp techniques. Additionally, it would be desirable and useful if such method and apparatus enhanced ability for off-axis projection.


The present invention is directed to a launch monitor system that measures flight characteristics of an object moving in a predetermined field-of-view. The system includes a support structure, a lighting unit, a camera unit disposed on the support structure, and a calibration assembly. The calibration assembly includes a calibration fixture and at least one telescoping member. A first end of the telescoping member is coupled to the support structure and a second end is contactable with or coupled to the fixture. In an extended position of the telescoping member, the calibration fixture is in the field-of-view of the camera unit. In a retracted position, the calibration fixture out of the field-of-view. The calibration fixture further includes contrasting markings. In another embodiment, the system includes a frame and the launch monitor is pivotally suspended from the frame so that it self-levels. The present invention further includes a method of calibrating a launch monitor having a calibration fixture.

Apparatus for measuring golf ball flight characteristics and club head swing characteristics are known. The golf ball or golf club head is marked with at least one contrasting area. The apparatus uses the contrasting area(s) to determine the characteristics.
One particularly troublesome aspect of past systems for measuring golf balls and clubs is calibration of the system. Improvements related to increased ease and speed of calibration are desirable. It is further desired that the calibration not hinder the portability of the apparatus. The apparatus should be easily movable to the most desirable teaching or club fitting locations, e.g., on an outdoor driving range or golf course fairway. In addition, the apparatus should be easily movable to various locations on the range or fairway. Furthermore, it is desirable to provide a method for calibrating such an apparatus that is fast, easy and accurate.

Launch monitor system with a calibration fixture and a method for use thereof


A method for making a diaphragm is disclosed. The method includes the steps of: providing a carbon nanotube film structure; soaking the carbon nanotube film structure with a polymer; and carbonizing the carbon nanotube film structure infiltrated in the polymer, the polymer being carbonized to an amorphous carbon structure.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a diaphragm, a method making the same, and a loudspeaker using the same.
2. Description of Related Art
An electro-dynamic loudspeaker typically includes a diaphragm, a bobbin, a voice coil, a damper, a magnet, and a frame. The voice coil is an electrical conductor and is placed in the magnetic field of the magnet. By applying an electric signal to the voice coil, a mechanical vibration of the diaphragm is produced by the interaction between the electromagnetic field produced by the voice coil and the magnetic field of the magnets, thus producing sound waves by kinetically pushing the air. The diaphragm will reproduce the sound pressure waves, corresponding to the electric signals.
To evaluate the loudspeaker, a sound volume is a decisive factor. The sound volume of the loudspeaker relates to an input power of the electric signals and the conversion efficiency of the energy. However, when the input power is increased to certain levels, the diaphragm could deform or even break, thereby causing audible distortion.
What is needed, therefore, is to provide a diaphragm and a loudspeaker using the same with high strength and Young's modulus.


A game machine that displays symbols is provided. A display module of the game machine can display multiple types of symbols in multiple display regions when a game starts. An evaluation module evaluates whether or not a predetermined condition is met in a game. A display control module changes the number of symbols that can be displayed in the display regions when the condition is met. As a result, a game machine with symbols displayed in a unique manner is provided, and a game that provokes a player's curiosity can be implemented.

The present invention relates to a game machine equipped with a function for changing the number of symbols that can be displayed in a symbol display region.
Conventionally, in slot machines with video reels or physical reels, multiple types of symbols are changingly displayed in a display region for displaying symbols. Then, after a predetermined time has elapsed, symbols are statically displayed. Then, whether or not there was a win is evaluated based on whether a predetermined symbol combination is statically displayed on an activated win line or at predetermined positions. If a specific symbol combination is statically displayed on an activated win line or at predetermined positions, a payout is made to the player.
There are also slot machines in which wins involve the concept of ScatterPay, WindowPay, and AutoNudge.
Also, there are conventional slot machines in which a cover is disposed over the reels. This cover can be opened and closed. When a predetermined condition is met, the cover can close so that a section of the reels is covered or a covered symbol can be exposed. This opening and closing of the cover is accompanied by increases and decreases in the odds of winning.
However, with conventional slot machines, the sizes of the symbol display regions are uniform. Thus, restrictions are imposed on how wins are evaluated and symbols are displayed, and the game must be conducted within these restrictions. It is believed that eliminating these restrictions and developing a new method for displaying symbols not previously available will make it possible to provide a game that has novel playability and that is attractive to players.
The above, and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate the same elements.

Game machine with selectively controllable mechanical cover


This mobile sample isolation and containment system is designed to provide a chemical and biological screening and verification capability within an environmentally-controlled area while minimizing exposure of analytical instruments to contamination. Only those parts of the analytical instrument absolutely necessary for retrieving sample information are disposed within the potentially contaminated enclosure, while other electrical or optical components remain outside said enclosure. The system uses multiple technologies that target, interrogate, and describe the same sample. Therefore, an analyst will not need to remove a hazardous sample from containment before it is identified.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention is in the field of chemical analysis. More specifically, the invention is in the field of mobile chemical analysis containment equipment which can be used for analysis of hazardous and/or toxic chemicals with minimal exposure to analytical instruments.
2. Background of the Invention
Fume hoods and glove boxes are typical laboratory equipment. For safety reasons, many scientists are bringing analytical instrumentation for chemical and biological analysis into their fume hoods and glove boxes at the expense of contaminating the instruments. Having the instrumentation inside the glove boxes creates problems with space, ergonomics, cross-contamination, maintenance, and decontamination (if decontamination is even possible). With mobile laboratories becoming more prominent, this approach will pose safety issues and the movement of contaminated instruments on public roads may possibly even be illegal in certain circumstances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,730,765, herein incorporated in its entirety by reference, is directed toward a super toxic analytical glove box system. This system is also designed to keep analysis instrumentation off the work surface of the glove box; however, the system only allows for gaseous analysis and is extremely cumbersome.
Therefore, it is desirable to have an analysis and containment system that allows for an open work surface, has instruments that are accessible through the walls of the system, and is easily portable.

Mobile analytical screening, verification, and containment system

The United States of America as Represented by the Secretary of the Army