This invention relates to a removable load supporting stand for temporary attachment to a tree trunk or the like for use while hunting for example. According to the invention a stand is provided including a platform extending laterally outwardly from the tree trunk. The platform has a load supporting portion between opposing sides. Engaging means on an inward portion of the platform function to releasably engage an adjacent segment of the tree trunk. A chain at each of it's ends is secured to an opposing side of the platform. The chain releasably encompasses the tree trunk upward of the segment and defines a plane transverse an axis of the tree trunk. The chain is flexible in the plane and resistant to flexure perpendicular to the plane. Biasing means engage the chain and urge the chain in a direction of the plane to disengage the tree trunk. Preferably the chain is comprised of two parallel spaced apart rows of overlapping links transversely interconnected by pins disposed substantially normal to the plane, such that the links and pins define a longitudinal series of apertures therebetween. The biasing means preferably comprise an elongate flexible member having an inherent tendency to assume a selected configuration when unstressed.

Load supporting stands are commercially available for climbing and remaining perched at an elevation upon a tree trunk, utility pole or like structure. Of particularly wide spread use are lightweight portable stands used by hunters which include one or two tree grasping stands.
Such stands have a load supporting platform extending laterally outwardly from the tree trunk and a generally U-shaped member encircling the tree above the level of the platform. The weight of a person supported on a stand creates an eccentric load outward of and generally parallel to the axis of the tree. The eccentric loading is resisted by an equal and opposite force couple which forces the inward portion of the platform toward the tree and creates tensile forces in the U-shaped member forcing that member to grasp the tree. To increase resistance to downward sliding of the platform, engaging means such as a knife edge are conventionally provided on an inward portion of the platform, and such knife edges may also be provided on the inward portion of the U-shaped member.
Typically the stands are carried on a person's back like a knapsack. The stands may be foldable to a compact storage position, or an upper and lower stand may be nested together for ease of transport and storage.
A single stand may be positioned at an elevation by a person climbing the tree possibly with the assistance of commercially available portable ladders, climbing belts, etc. A preferred approach is to use an upper and lower stand which enables a person to climb the tree and provides a seat on the upper stand. Examples of such dual stands are described in the following U.S. patents: U.S. Pat. No. 3,960,240 to Cotton issued Jun. 1, 1976; U.S. Pat. No. 4,316,526 to Amacker issued Feb. 3, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 4,331,216 to Amacker issued May 25, 1982; U.S. Pat. No. 4,417,645 to Untz issued Nov. 29, 1983; U.S. Pat. No. 4,452,338 to Untz issued Jun. 5, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,726,447 to Gibson et al issued Feb. 23, 1984; U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,662 to Porter issued Sep. 4, 1990; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,969,538 to Amacker issued Nov. 13, 1990.
The lower stand conventionally has a generally rectangular load supporting platform, while the upper stand includes an interior opening within which the person stands at approximately waist height during climbing. The upper stand includes a seat and the lower stand often includes foot straps to secure one's feet to the lower stand to facilitate climbing.
The stands are positioned upon the tree trunk and a person stands upon the lower platform within the opening of the upper platform to commence climbing. The upper platform is tilted toward the tree and is lifted with the person's arms. The person then shifts their weight from the lower stand to the upper stand by sitting upon a seat of the upper stand. The lower stand, with all weight removed, is then tilted inwardly and raised by lifting the feet secured by the straps to the lower stand. The process is repeated until the desired elevation is attained and is reversed to the descend from the elevation.
The U-shaped member of conventional stands is commonly a rigid member bolted to brackets on opposing sides of the platform to encompass the tree. A series of bolt receiving holes or telescoping bracket arms enable adjustment to accommodate various tree trunk diameters, and to facilitate rapid installation and removal.
The telescoping bracket arms and associated tree engaging blades represent a significant proportion of the overall weight of the conventional stand. The rigid arms are difficult and awkward to engage with the tree in operation. A disadvantage of such stands is that the width of the platform effectively limits the maximum width of the tree trunk that can be grasped. Enlarging the platform width significantly would result in an undesirable increase in weight. Irregularly shaped tree trunks are not easily accommodated and if such an irregular trunk is not securely grasped by the stand, instability may result.
Since typically the diameter of a tree trunk reduces as one climbs upwardly, the position of the U-shaped member must often be adjusted to maintain the platform in a substantially level orientation. One may readily foresee the consternation of a heavily laiden hunter perched high in a tree, deep in the woods, who drops an essential wingnut, bolt or pin into the surrounding undergrowth. Clearly a high degree of safety and reliability in operation, ease of adjustment and simplicity of design are desirable in such devices.
A tree or pole may be damaged especially by a repeated use of such devices. To alleviate this problem, a stand has also been proposed which utilizes a flexible, flat steel band or strap to function as the U-shaped member encompassing the tree. Such a device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,488,620 to Gibson issued Dec. 18, 1984. Neoprene pads are also used on the inward portion of the platform by Gibson to reduce damage.
Damage to the tree is not completely eliminated using such a device since the sharp upper edge of the flexible steel band digs into the tree bark. This embedded edge may be difficult to disengage during climbing rough barked trees, and may penetrate the bark of smooth barked trees.
The steel strap must be flexible enough to allow it to encircle the tree, and to be adjustable in a manner similar to a belt. The steel strap of course must be as lightweight as possible to improve portability. Materials having such qualities would be spring steel or steel strapping, however such materials are prone to brittle fracture. The steel strap may be dented or bent during improper handling and use. Metal fatigue due to continual flexing could lead to sudden brittle fracture and failure of the flexible strap, especially in damaged areas of the strap or areas of stress concentration. Obviously, any fall while hunting in the woods may be significantly more serious than in populated areas. Use of mild steel for the strap would reduce the risk of brittle fracture. However, mild steel is not suitable since it is relatively heavy and is not sufficiently flexible to perform the function.


An antenna has a plurality of metallic patches and a feed network both being spaced apart from a ground plate at different levels to obtain better radiation pattern and gain effects. Each of the metallic patches has a body with an outer edge from which an inclined wing extends upwardly and outwardly. Furthermore, the metallic patches and the feed network are integrally formed by bending a single piece of metal plate, thus the antenna improves the design flexibility and also simplifies the production process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an antenna having patch arrays, and more particularly to an antenna having patch arrays integrally formed with a network thereof.
2. Description of Related Art
With the fast development of the wireless communication, the demands for various antennas with different properties or features are increasing. The conventional microstrip antenna is formed by mounting thin metallic patches on a substrate with a ground plate on an opposite side thereof, usually using a feed network cable or a coaxial probe to feed signals. The above metallic patches are usually thin foils with regular shapes, which maybe in shapes of a rectangle, a circle or an ellipse etc. The microstrip antenna can also utilize the metallic patches to form an array structure according to a certain regular arrangement. The pattern of a single metallic patch is difficult to control, and the gain is not high. Therefore array style is used to meet the required conditions. The technique principles of antennas are well known to the industry, so they are not described here any more.
At the present market, the microstrip antenna generally comprises a ground plate, an SIMO (single in multiple out) feed network and at least a pair of metallic patches. The feed network may be composed of multiple paths with different lengths being connected electrically with the metallic patches respectively along different transmitting directions. When electromagnetic signals are input from a signal recourse, the electromagnetic signals will be feed to each of the metallic patches through the feed network. Since the paths of the feed network have different lengths and transmitting directions, it would result in phase differences and also produce interference. The signals can be radiated out to achieve the objects and effects needed by the antenna.
Based on the fabricating and assembling techniques, the conventional array antennas may be categorized to three types.
Type A: The feed network and the metallic patches are individually manufactured and then respectively mounted on the opposite surfaces of the ground plate.
Type B: The feed network and the metallic patches are individually manufactured, mounted on the same surface of the ground plate and located at different altitudes.
Type C: The metallic patches and the feed network in the form of microstrip cable are individually manufactured and integrated on a PCB.
Since the feed network and the metallic patches are individually produced, assembling them to the ground plate respectively would result in higher complexity and obvious interference. Further, the foregoing type C also makes the microstrip increases partial loss, and deteriorates the radiation properties including the gain and the sidelobe level.
With reference to U.S. Pat. No. 6,326,920, Barnett discloses an antenna comprising a ground plate, a feed network and multiple metallic patches in pairs integrally connected to the feed network. However, the flat configuration of each metallic patch may cause the sidelobe and energy dissipation problem.

Antenna patch arrays integrally formed with a network thereof


An additive (and methods for a coating composition that includes at least one an agent for improving the performance of the coating composition, selected from a Michael addition product of siloxane further containing one or more active hydrogen containing functional moieties with two or more acrylate groups; a high molecular weight adduct having multiple alkoxysilane moieties; a compound including at least one terminal unsaturation and multiple alkoxysilyl groups; an organometallic compound that includes an element selected from silicon, titanium, zirconium, aluminum, or any combination thereof.

In the field of automotive window applications, there are a number of applications requiring a strong and durable bond to a transparent substrate. Among them are blackout applications, substrate marking and/or patterning applications, bonding applications, as well as others. Various approaches have been examined for these purposes, as is exemplified in the patent literature, e.g., PCT Application Nos. WO2005/003048A1; WO2005/040055A1; WO2005/052071A1; WO2003/062310A1; WO1993/012935A1; WO2003/106579A1; WO1999/0311191A1; WO2006/093671A2; Published U.S. Application No. 20060025496A1; Published U.S. Application No. 20060191625A1; Published U.S. Application No. 20050045103A1; JP 61-287476A; EP 1013726A1; EP 377444A3; EP 106628B1; and U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,598,426; 6,500,877; 6,126,737; 5,368,943; and 4,963,614, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
It would be attractive to have an adhesion promotion additive that can be incorporated into commercially available coating compositions (e.g., paints, inks, adhesives, primers or otherwise), in addition to or as a substitute for one or more ingredients, for improving one or more properties of the composition, such as the adhesion strength, abrasion resistance, or water resistance. It would also be attractive to employ an adhesion promotion additive in addition to or as a substitute for one or more ingredients of a two-component (e.g., a coating composition and a separate adhesion promoter, as is common with many printing compositions) coating composition for enabling the composition to be a one-component coating composition instead.

Adhesion promotion additives and methods for improving coating compositions


Improved approaches to adaptively suppress interfering noise in a multi-microphone directional system are disclosed. These approaches operate to adapt the direction null for the multi-microphone directional system in accordance with a dominant noise source.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to noise suppression and, more particularly, to noise suppression for multi-microphone sound pick-up systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Suppressing interfere noise is still a major challenge for most communication devices involving a sound pick up system such as a microphone or a multi-microphone array. The multi-microphone array can selectively enhance sounds coming from certain directions while suppressing interferes coming from other directions. The pattern of the direction selection can be fixed or adaptive. Adaptive selection is more attractive because it intends to maximize SNR depending on the sound environment. However, because the relative low frequency range of audio applications, existing adaptation techniques are effective only for microphone array with large physical dimension. For applications where physical dimension is limited, such as the case in hearing aid applications, traditional adaptation using Finite-Impulse-Response (FIR) adaptive filtering techniques is not effective. As a result, most hearing aids that have directional processing can only give a fixed directional pattern which is effective in improving Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR) in some conditions but less effective in other conditions.
FIG. 1 shows a typical directional processing system in a two-microphone hearing aid. The two microphones pick-up sounds and convert them into electronic or digital signals. The output signal from the second microphone is delayed and subtracted from the output signal of the first microphone. The result is a signal with interference from certain directions being suppressed. In other words, the output signal is dependent on which directions the input signals come from. Therefore, the system is directional. The physical distance between the two microphones and the delay are two variables that control the characteristics of the directionality. For hearing aid applications, the physical distance is limited by the physical dimension of the hearing aid. The delay can be set in a delta-sigma analog-to-digital converter (A/D) or by use of an all-pass filter.
FIGS. 2(a)-2(c) illustrate polar patterns of a directional processing system corresponding to three different delay values. The term "polar pattern" has often been used to describe the characteristics of a directional processing system. The physical distance between the two microphones of the directional processing system is fixed. When a sound source is at 0 degrees, which is the direction along the axis of the two microphones and on the side of the front microphone, the directional processing system has a maximum output. When the sound source is away from 0 degrees, the output is reduced. The direction at which the output of the directional processing system has a maximum reduction is called directional null. Ideally, the directional null occurs at the direction of an unwanted noise source. The location of the directional null is related to the value of the delay. If the noise source is in the direction of 180 degrees, the delay should be set to a value so that the polar pattern is a cardioids with the directional null at 180 degrees (see FIG. 2(a)). If the noise source is in the direction of 115 degrees, the delay should be set to a value so that the polar pattern is a hyper-cardioid with the directional null at 115 degrees (see FIG. 2(b)). If the noise source is in the direction of 90 degrees, the delay should be set to a value so that the polar pattern is a bi-directional with the directional null at 90 degrees (see FIG. 2(c)). Ideally, the delay should be set in such a way that the null is placed in the direction of the dominant noise source so that the noise can be highly suppressed. If the direction of the noise source is known, the optima delay can be calculated as:delay=d/c*cos(180°−q),where d is distance of the two microphones, c is sound propagation speed, and q is direction angle in degree of the noise source.
One problem with conventional noise suppression approaches is that the direction of a noise source to be suppressed by the directional processing is often unknown. Conventionally, the estimating of the direction of a noise source is difficult because the frequency of audio sounds is relative low. The direction of the noise source is often merely a rough estimate from which a delay is then fixed to provide directional processing. In fact, most hearing aids currently available in the market merely set the delay to a fixed value so that directional processing has a fixed polar pattern for all conditions. Unfortunately, the noise suppression of such devices is often inadequate because the noise source is often at a direction other than that corresponding to the fixed delay.
Thus, there is a need for improved approaches to directional processing by adapting a directional null according to the direction of interfering noise source.

Null adaptation in multi-microphone directional system


Provided are a liquid storage and release device and a pen comprising the device. The liquid storage and release device comprises a tube shell (1), a capsule-like liquid container (3), a piercing component (4) and a piston rod (5), wherein the tube shell (1) is open at one end and closed at the other end, and the interior thereof is a tube cavity (2); the capsule-like liquid container (3) and/or the piercing component (4) is/are slidably arranged in the tube cavity (2); one end of the piston rod (5) is slidably arranged in the tube cavity (2) of the tube shell (1), and the other end of the piston rod (5) is provided with a liquid release opening (6); and the piston rod (5) is provided with a liquid channel through which the liquid release opening (6) is in communication with the tube cavity (2). When the piston rod (5) slides towards the interior of the tube cavity (2), the capsule-like liquid container (3) and the piercing component (4) apply pressure to each other under the action of the piston rod (5), so that the piercing component (4) pierces the capsule-like liquid container (3) so as to release the liquid pre-stored in the capsule-like liquid container (3).

Liquid storage and release devices are a kind of devices that can store a certain volume of liquid under normal condition and can conveniently release the liquid during use. Ink pens, tubular perfume devices and one-component glue or two-component glue or drug release devices commonly seen in daily life are typical applications of liquid storage and release devices.
Patent literatures CN200880019646 and CN201310668512 are typical representatives of two popular two-component storage and output structures. A common problem in the conventional structures of such products is that the liquid portion will be volatilized and drain and meanwhile as liquids flow and are mixed at the outlet instantaneously, it is not suitable for complex liquid mixing operation or slow release and storage. An earlier binary reaction-type mixing and output device is shown in disclosed literature CN96219763.7. It simply conceives a binary storage structure and a ball bearing release structure. However, in practice, such structures are unable to effectively mix or release liquids. Patent CN200820109821.9 discloses a liquid output device and provides a plurality of mixing and output structures and pressure structures that propel liquids to output, solving the foregoing problems to a limited extent. In practice, the foregoing disclosed technology still has shortcomings, and the liquids are unable to be output effectively or when there are reactions, the pressure generated by the liquids will push the liquids out without control. These shortcomings need to be improved and perfected and are also manifested as inconvenience when glass ampoules are used to store liquids, and the potential safety hazard from fragments of glass after breakage.

Liquid storage and release device and pen


An agricultural baler comprising a baling chamber and a mechanism for loading successive charges of crop material into the chamber. The baler also comprises a tying mechanism for forming a plurality of loops of binding material around the packages of crop material formed in the baling chamber. The movement of the strands of binding material is monitored by sensors and compared. In case the movement of a strand deviates substantially from the movement of the other strands a mistie indication is generated. Such mistie detection system is operable to detect a wide range of mistie conditions.

Conventional agricultural balers such as large rectangular balers are designed for making bales from a multitude of crops in a wide range of circumstances. The operator tends to maximize the density of the bales thereby increasing the tension in the strands of binding material which are tied around the crop material in the baling chamber. Hence the forces on the tying mechanism increase accordingly and the system becomes more prone to failure, e.g. because one of the strands slips out of a knotter, or because the strand itself breaks. The adjustment of the various components of the tying mechanism becomes very critical and misties cannot always be precluded.
In case the operator timely detects an anomaly of the system, i.e. well before the bale is ejected out of the baler, he can intervene and restore the loop around the bale manually without substantial loss of baling time. He may also prevent that components of the knotter system from becoming damaged when a knot is not properly released from the bill hook. Hence it is paramount that misties are timely indicated to the operator.
Several systems have been developed for monitoring the tying mechanism in balers. U.S. Pat. No. 4,196,661, issued Apr. 8, 1980 in the name of George Yatcilla et al, and No. 4,765,235, Aug. 23, 1988 in the name of Thomas G. Schragg et al, describe a system in which the position of the slack take-up arms of the knotters is monitored. When broken, the strand of binding material will no longer retain the arm which rises to its upper position which will be detected by the operator. However, when a completed knot fails to fall off the bill hook or when the upper strand is caught in some knotter component, the strand will remain stretched and no upward movement of the arm will be perceived. Such misties will pass undetected.
The mistie detection system according to European Patents No. EP 0,294,075 and No. EP 0,294,078, involves monitoring the closed loop after the knotter has cycled. When no closed loop is sensed a mistie signal is generated. Such system rapidly indicates a failure of a knot in a completed bale, but will not react to a breakage of a strand which still has to be tied around the next bale. Hence the operator misses the opportunity to reinstall the twine before the next knotting cycle, which would have constituted the most efficient remedy. Now he has to wrap a complete new loop around the completed bale.
Twine breakage may be detected by a mistie detection system according to DD 208,748, but herein the switch on the trip arm prevents mistie signals from being passed on to the operator before the new bale is almost completed. A failure of the knotting system will be indicated only at a very late stage.
Therefore it is an object of the present invention to overcome the problems indicated above and to provide a mistie detector system which on the one hand detects both broken and jammed strands and on the other hand provides a warning to the operator shortly after the occurrence of the failure.

Mistie detection system for agricultural balers


A piston assembling apparatus includes a piston holding means including a guide tube portion which contains the piston and guides the piston into the cylinder bore. A guide tube support portion supports the guide tube portion to be displaceable in a radial direction thereof. A moving means moves at least one of the piston holding means and the cylinder block so as to locate them at an insertion preparation position where the guide tube portion and the cylinder bore are coaxial with each other. A pressing means presses the piston contained in the guide tube portion toward the cylinder block to insert the piston into the cylinder bore in a state in which the piston holding means and the cylinder block are located at the insertion preparation position, and the guide tube portion is supported by the guide tube support portion to be displaceable in the radial direction thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a apparatus and method for mounting a piston in a cylinder block of an engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
An insertion operation for inserting a piston into a cylinder bore formed in a cylinder block has to be executed in a state in which a diameter of a piston ring is reduced. Hence, a method for temporarily inserting the piston into a dedicated guide tube portion while the diameter of the piston ring is reduced, positioning the guide tube portion with the cylinder bore, and then pushing out the piston from the guide tube portion to insert it into the cylinder bore has been proposed (PLT 1).
When the positions of the guide tube portion and cylinder bore have a gap, the piston cannot be satisfactorily inserted into the cylinder bore. Hence, with the method described in PLT 1, the guide tube portion and cylinder bore are temporarily positioned by moving the guide tube portion or cylinder block. Then, using a chuck which contacts inner circumferential surfaces of the guide tube portion and cylinder bore, the guide tube portion and cylinder bore are coaxially positioned (centering). In this state, by pressing the guide tube portion against the upper surface of the cylinder block, the guide tube portion is fixed, and the piston is then inserted into the cylinder bore.

Piston assembling apparatus and piston assembling method


A color image processing apparatus includes at least patch image output units which output patch image data, based on patch data in a storage area, a patch data extractor which extracts read patch data by reading a patch image formed according to the patch image data, using a color scanner, a patch data processor which estimates the record gradation of patch data, based on the read patch data, and a gradation corrector which corrects a color image signal, based on the estimated record gradation and patch data. The apparatus provides gradation correction based on gradation estimated from patch data, thus making it possible to reproduce gradation and color well.

The present invention relates to a color image processing apparatus, and more particularly, to a color image processing apparatus which adjusts parameters for image processing, using a patch image.
Image forming apparatuses, such as copying machines and printers, have recently been adapted to mainly do color printing. Accordingly, print color is required to have precisely specified gradation characteristics. For example, a copying machine performs color conversion to convert RGB image data input from a scanner to CMY image data to be output on a printer using color material. To duplicate an image so that the original tone of color is faithfully reproduced, color conversion characteristics (color conversion parameters and a color conversion table) must be adjusted properly.
To duplicate a color image faithfully, gradation characteristics must also be adjusted properly. When passing through a sensor or a filter, image data input from a scanner suffers distortion for R, G, and B. When a printer is provided with the same image data, images which differ in gradation and color are output from time to time due to different environments (different temperatures and humidities), time-dependent changes, and differences between individual products. Especially because the gradation characteristics of a printer sensitively change in response to various factors, a mechanism which properly adjusts the output gradation characteristics and color conversion characteristics of the printer must be installed in the printer to keep reproducing an image well.
A method for determining color conversion parameters is known which collects multicolor patch RGB-CMY data pairs by making an apparatus to read a color patch sample output therefrom and finds by the least-square method the coefficient of each term of a polynomial for converting RGB data to CMY data. The method, which considers image processor characteristics other than color conversion to be like a black box, is based on the idea that ideally, an image can be reproduced faithfully only by color conversion, because black box inverse corrections are made using color conversion.
A method is also known in which color conversion parameter settings are fixed under an assumption and adjusts output gradation characteristics in the same way as previously described. That is, the method collects multigradation patch C′, −C, M′, −M, Y′, and −Y data pairs by making an apparatus to read a color patch sample output therefrom and finds by the least-square method the coefficient of each term of gradation correction equations for C, M, and Y.
However, it is difficult to output an image with satisfactorily reproduced gradation and color even using the above-described adjusting methods. This is because image processing performed by equipment from a scanner to a printer comprises the steps of color conversion, blackening, gradation processing (quasi intermediate gradation processing), screen processing, etc. in which image data suffers nonlinear distortion with different characteristics.
Thus, a problem with conventional image forming apparatuses it that it is difficult to generate all parameters at a time which are used for correcting nonlinear distortion due to color conversion, blackening, gradation processing, screen processing, etc.
Another problem with conventional equipment is that it is difficult to correctly estimate record gradation for characteristics of individual equipment and incorporate the estimated record gradation into parameters for processing of individual signals.

Color image processing apparatus and method and color image forming apparatus and method


A compensating device (7) for a brake system driven by brake cables (4, 10), in particular a handbrake system for motor vehicles, wherein a drive lever (1) is connected by a first brake cable (4) to a first brake (21) and wherein a tube (5) of the first brake cable (4) rests on a drive-side support (6) and against the compensating device (7). A second brake cable (10) comprises an inner rope (9) connected at one end to the compensating device (7) and at the other end to a second brake (22). The compensating device (7) comprises a step-up gearing (20) and the first brake cable (4) comprises an inner rope (3, 3a) divided in two. One inner rope (3) is connected at one end to the drive lever (1) and at the other end to the input of the step-up gearing (20) and the other inner rope (3a) is connected at one end to the output of the step-up gearing (20) and at the other end to the first brake (21).

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a compensating device for a cable-driven brake system, in particular a motor-vehicle handbrake system. A drive, for instance a drive lever, is connected by a first brake cable to a first brake and a tube of the first brake cable rests on a support located at the generator side. The system comprises a second brake cable of which the inner rope is connected at one end to the compensating device and at the other end to the second brake.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Compensating devices are known in the state of the art. However, the known systems incur a problem in that the drive lever requires being moved through a large excursion to apply the brake. The excursion being the sum of the two displacement paths. In relation to another conventional brake system, with two separate brake cables for each brake, of which the inner ropes are directly connected to the drive lever, the drive excursion of the brake system evincing the initially cited features is twice as large. Another drawback of the known compensating device is that automatic length correction to automatically adjust the brake cables, is precluded.
In the light of this state of the art, it is the object of the invention to further develop a compensating device such that applying the brake requires only a reduced excursion of the drive lever. In an associated feature, the compensating device will assure automatic length correction of the brake cables, in particular automatic adjustment and resetting of brake-cable length.

Compensation device for a cable-operated brake system


A branch pipe is formed on a metal tube using a forming tool including a milling part and a burring part adjacent the milling part. The milling part has a first diameter and is provided with a prescribed cutting edge on its outer peripheral surface. The burring part has a sloping surface with a maximum second diameter larger than the first diameter, and has a slope diameter that gradually diminishes in a direction away from the milling part. The branch pipe forming tool can be used for forming a branch pipe on a metal tube regardless of the shape of the metal tube. In a method of forming a branch pipe on a metal tube with the tool, the milling part is used to form an opening in the wall of the metal tube, the burring part is inserted through the opening into the tube, and then pulled back out of the opening while rotating and revolving along a prescribed path, so that the sloping surface of the burring part outwardly deforms the edge of the opening so as to form the flared flange or branch pipe extending from the metal tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a branch pipe forming tool and a method of forming a branch pipe on a metal tube with the tool, and more specifically, it relates to a branch pipe forming tool which can efficiently form a branch pipe on a metal tube with high shape accuracy and a method of forming a branch pipe on a metal tube with the tool.
2. Description of the Background Art
In general, metal tubes are employed as protective tubes or conduits for enclosing wiring cables which are buried under the ground. Among such metal tubes, a metal tube 20 having a branch pipe 20B shown in FIG. 15 is generally employed. The branch pipe 20B can be formed on the metal tube 20 by any of the following four methods, which are well known in the art.
The first method is adapted to form metal parts 20A and 20B shown in FIG. 16, which are half the metal tube 20 having the branch pipe 20b shown in FIG. 15 respectively, by press working, and thereafter connecting these metal parts 20A and 20B with each other by welding, thereby forming a metal tube having a branch pipe.
The second method is called "plug passing". As shown in FIG. 17, a plug 110 having a prescribed shape is drawn up from the interior to the exterior of a metal tube 20 along the direction of arrow A while its periphery is heated by high frequency induction heating, thereby outwardly raising up the tube wall and forming a branch pipe 20b.
The third method is adapted to form a branch pipe with a swinging tool 120. The swinging tool 120 of a prescribed shape is driven is with a feed f and rotation .beta. as shown in FIG. 18, thereby gradually raising up the tube wall of a metal tube 20 and forming a branch pipe 20b.
The fourth method utilizes rubber. As shown in FIG. 19, confining tools 130 and 150 are arranged around a metal tube 20 while rubber 140 is injected into the interior of the metal tube 20 and pressed by plungers 160 from both sides of the metal tube 20, thereby outwardly raising up the tube wall of the metal tube 20 along the shape of the confining tool 130 and forming a branch pipe 20b.
However, the aforementioned four methods of forming branch pipes on metal tubes have the following problems respectively.
The first method requires the steps of pressing the metal parts 20A and 20B and connecting these metal parts 20A and 20B with each other. In particular, the pressing step requires molds which are responsive or adapted to the shapes of the metal tube and the branch pipe, which disadvantageously limits the type of the metal tube that can be provided with the branch pipe.
The second method requires the steps of previously forming a prepared hole in the metal tube 20 and setting the plug 110 in this prepared hole, and these steps must be carried out independently of each other. Further, it is necessary to heat the periphery of the plug by high frequency induction heating.
The third method requires the steps of forming a prepared hole in the metal tube and setting the tool in the prepared hole, similarly to the second method.
Finally, the fourth method requires the steps of previously forming a prepared hole in the metal tube, setting the confining tools on the metal tube, injecting the rubber into the metal tube, pressing the injected rubber with the plunger, and removing the rubber and the confining tools. Similarly to the first method, further, this method requires the confining tools which are responsive or adapted to the shapes of the metal tube and the branch pipe, and hence the type of the metal tube that can be provided with the branch pipe is disadvantageously limited.

Branch pipe forming tool and method of forming branch pipe on metal tube with the tool


Methods, systems, and computer readable media for determining policy information associated with an emergency call are disclosed. According to one method, the method occurs at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) separate from an emergency services routing proxy (ESRP). The method includes receiving, from the ESRP, a request for one or more policy rules regarding an emergency call, wherein the request includes an intended destination of the emergency call and determining, using the intended destination, one or more policy rules.

911 systems in the United States allow for a known telephone number to be used for requesting emergency services. Generally, there are two ways to reach a 911 call center or public-safety answer point (PSAP); fixed line and wireless. For example, trunks to the PSAP can be provided through either a fixed line or wireless carrier.
In some 911 systems, a selective router may receive emergency calls (e.g., calls to 911) along with automatic number identification that identifies the class of service and the calling party billing telephone number. The selective router may route the call and the call data to the appropriate PSAP (based on location).
Wireless 911 systems generally support location data with an accuracy of within 300 meters. For example, calls to 911 from mobile phones may include approximate location information, e.g., provided by a mobile network or a node therein. Similarly, voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) calls to 911 may not provide location data of the actual terminal calling, so a static address may be provisioned to provide an approximate location. In this example, the static address may be stored in a global address database maintained by a telephone network operator or service provider.
Recently, a group of next generation 911 (NG911) standards has been developed. These NG911 standards are defined in the document entitled, "NENA Detailed Functional and Interface Standards for the NENA i3 Solution (TSD)", NENA 08-003 v1, Jun. 14, 2011; the disclosure of which is incorporated herein in its entirety. These NG911 standards move the 911 architecture to an Internet protocol (IP) infrastructure and provide a NG911 call center as a nationwide service, e.g., rather than a local service. By defining a nationwide service using an IP infrastructure, these NG911 standards provide various opportunities to service providers and network operators. However, some issues still remain, including various security concerns.
Accordingly, in light of these difficulties, a need exists for improved methods, systems, and computer readable media for determining policy information associated with an emergency call.


The present invention discloses compounds of formula (I) or pharmaceutically acceptable salts, esters, or prodrugs thereof:

The spectrum of activity of macrolides, including erythromycin, covers most relevant bacterial species responsible for upper and lower respiratory tract infections. 14-membered ring macrolides are well known for their overall efficacy, safety and lack of serious side effects. Erythromycin however is quickly degraded into inactive products in the acidic medium of the stomach resulting in low bioavailability and gastrointestinal side effects. Improvement of erythromycin pharmacokinetics has been achieved through the synthesis of more acid-stable derivatives, for example, roxithromycin, clarithromycin, and the 15-membered ring macrolide azithromycin. However, all these drugs, including 16-membered ring macrolides, present several drawbacks. They are inactive against MLSB-resistant streptococci (MLSB=Macrolides-Lincosamides-type B Streptogramines) and with the exception of azithromycin, weakly active against Haemophilus influenzae. Futhermore, the resistance of Streptococcus pneumoniae to erythromycin has increased significantly in recent years (5% to above 40%). There is a high percentage of cross-resistance to penicillin among these isolates, with a worldwide epidemic spread of 10-40% in some areas.
There is, therefore, a clear need for new macrolides that overcome the problem of pneumococcal resistance, have good pharmacokinetic properties and acid stability while continuing to be active against H. influenzae. These new macrolides will be ideal candidates for drug development in the first line therapy of upper respiratory tract infections ("URTI") and lower respiratory tract infections ("LRTI").
Kashimura et al. have disclosed 6-O-methylerythromycin derivatives having a tricyclic basic nuclear structure in European Application 559896, published Nov. 11, 1991. Also, Asaka et al. have disclosed 5-O-desoaminylerythronolide derivatives containing a tricyclic carbamate structure in PCT Application WO 93/21200, published Apr. 22, 1992.
Recently erythromycin derivatives containing a variety of substituents at the 6-O position have been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No's. 5,866,549 and 6,075,011 as well as PCT Application WO 00/78773. Furthermore, Ma et al. have described erythromycin derivatives with aryl groups tethered to the C-6 position in J. Med Chem., 44, pp 4137-4156 (2001). PCT application WO 97/10251, published Mar. 20, 1997, discloses intermediates useful for preparation of 6-O-methyl 3-descladinose erythromycin derivatives. U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,866,549 and 6,075,011, and PCT application WO 00/78773, published Dec. 28, 2000, disclose certain 6-O-substituted erythromycin derivatives.
PCT Application WO 03/095466 A1, published Nov. 20, 2003 and PCT Application WO 03/097659 A1, published Nov. 27, 2003 disclose a series of bicyclic erythromycin derivatives.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Abstract: which exhibit antibacterial properties. The present invention further relates to pharmaceutical compositions comprising the aforementioned compounds for administration to a subject in need of antibiotic treatment. The invention also relates to methods of treating a bacterial infection in a subject by administering a pharmaceutical composition comprising the compounds of the present invention. The invention further includes process by which to make the compounds of the present invention.


A digital computing system (30). The digital computing system includes a memory (36) and a memory controller (34). The memory comprises at least one memory bank (B0), and that bank comprises a plurality of rows (R.sub.0 -R.sub.N) and a plurality of columns (C.sub.0 -C.sub.N). The memory controller circuit is coupled to control the memory, and comprises a first bus (38) for providing an address to the memory, and three additional buses (38, 40). A first of these additional buses provides a row address strobe signal (RAS*) to the memory, where assertion of the row address strobe signal represents an indication that an address on the bus is a valid row address directed to one of the plurality of rows. A second of these additional buses provides a column address strobe signal (CAS*) to the memory, where assertion of the column address strobe signal represents an indication that an address on the bus is a valid column address directed to at least one of the plurality of columns. A third of these additional buses provides a bank close signal (BC*) to the memory, where assertion of the bank close signal represents a request to the memory to immediately de-activate an active one of the plurality of rows.

The present embodiments relate to memory control in digital computing systems, and are more particularly directed to circuits, systems, and methods in these environments for more efficiently controlling precharging of memory banks.
Memory control is typically accomplished in the computing art by a mechanism referred to as a memory controller, or often as a DRAM controller since dynamic random access memory ("DRAM") is often the type of memory being controlled. A DRAM controller may be a separate circuit or a module included within a larger circuit, and typically receives requests for accessing one or more memory locations in the corresponding memory. To respond to each request, the memory controller implements sufficient circuitry (e.g., address decoders and logic decoders) to provide the appropriate control signals to a memory so that the memory is properly controlled to enable and disable its storage circuits.
While some DRAM controllers are directed to certain improvements in memory access efficiency, it has been observed in connection with the present inventive embodiments that some limitations arise under current technology. These limitations are caused by DRAM controllers when activating or de-activating memory rows. To better illustrate these operations and the corresponding drawbacks, FIG. 1a illustrates a block diagram of a portion of a prior art computing system 10. System 10 includes a memory controller 12 which receives a REQUEST from an addressing component (not shown) either within or having access to system 10. In response to the REQUEST, memory controller 12 controls a DRAM 14 so that data is either read from, or written to, DRAM 14 in an orderly fashion. More particularly, this control is accomplished via a control bus 16, which typically includes the following six signals and corresponding conductors, where a more detailed discussion of the function of these signals is presented later: (1) an address signal ADDR on a multiple conductor line 18, where the number of conductors is selected according to the number of address bits to be communicated to DRAM 14; (2) a row address strobe signal RAS* on a conductor 20, where the superscript asterisk indicates that the signal is an active low signal (and where this same convention is used for other signals hereafter used in this document); (3) a column address strobe signal CAS* on a conductor 22; (4) an output enable signal OE* on a conductor 24; (5) a read/write R/W* signal on a conductor 26, and a DATA signal on a multiple line conductor 28, where the number of conductors is selected according to the number of data bits to be communicated to or from DRAM 14. Lastly, note that bus 16 may include still additional signals not shown in FIG. 1a but known in the art, such as a chip enable signal and a CKE signal. These and other signals, however, are not detailed here so as to simplify and focus the following discussion.
The operation of the above-introduced conductors may be appreciated further from the timing diagram of FIG. 1b, which depicts the control signals communicated from memory controller 12 to DRAM 14 to accomplish a single access of DRAM 14 along with the output of DATA from DRAM 14 in response to the control signals. For the present example, this single access is a read operation with it understood that a write operation is similar in various timing respects and in any event will be appreciated by one skilled in the art. First, before time t0, the output enable signal OE* is asserted and, as a result, the data output of DRAM 14 is permitted to occur, that is, the output is not placed in a high impedance state which is what occurs when the output enable signal OE* is de-asserted. Next, at time t0, the R/W* is asserted low, thereby indicating that the next access to occur is a read. Next, at t1, the row address for the desired read of DRAM 14 is asserted on address conductors 18. Next, at t2, RAS* is asserted low, thereby indicating that the row address on address conductors 18 is valid and, thus, thereby causing that row address to be accepted by DRAM 14 for decoding and activation of the appropriate row in DRAM 14. Next, at t3, the column address for the desired read of DRAM 14 is asserted on address conductors 18. In this regard, note therefore that address conductors 18 may carry either a row or column address and, thus, it is the assertion of either RAS* or CAS* that determines the interpretation of which type of address is being communicated. Thus, at t4, CAS* is asserted low, thereby indicating that the column address on address conductors 18 is valid and, thus, thereby providing a column address which, when decoded by DRAM 14, causes one or more columns of the activated row to be selected. In response, the data for the selected column(s) is output from the data array of DRAM 14 and coupled to multiple line conductor 28, thereby providing the DATA signal so the data is available for any circuit having access to that conductor.
The preceding illustration and example, while relatively straightforward and well known in the art, provide a background to further introduce drawbacks which arise from the current state of the art as memory systems become more complex than that shown in FIG. 1. More particularly, the above process typically repeats for each access of a row in DRAM 14. Further in this regard, FIG. 1b illustrates a time t5 at which RAS* is de-asserted. In response, the row which is currently active is de-activated, typically by pre-charging the bit lines which allow access to that row. In this regard and importantly, note that a sufficient amount of time must pass for this precharging operation to reach a satisfactory state of equilibrium, that is, to fully precharge the cell before it may be accessed another time. Thus, for each operation of a row access, there is not only the time to access the row in response to the assertion of RAS* and CAS*, but there is also the time to conclude the access and then prepare for the next access by de-asserting RAS* (i.e., precharging the cell) for a sufficient period of time. Stated in an alternative manner, before a next row may be accessed, the previous row must be de-activated (e.g., precharged), and in the prior art that is commonly achieved by the RAS* signal, either alone or in combination with yet additional signals. Thus, in a worst case scenario, both of these times aggregate to impose overhead on DRAM 14, that is, time in which no data is communicated on conductor 28. Additionally, and as improved upon by the inventive embodiments described later, note that this type of precharge operation requires that at least conductor 20 of bus 16 become available before a row may be de-activated, and often this event does not occur until some delay in time due to its relation to other signals of bus 16.
The above conditions may be further complicated where, as is becoming more frequent in contemporary systems, DRAM 14 is a multiple bank memory. For example, DRAM 14 may include two, four, or some other number of banks in excess of one bank, where each bank may be accessed independently of the other. Such multiple bank systems sometimes are implemented in a manner which permits some type of concurrency, meaning an operation may be taken with respect to one of the banks while a different operation is taken with respect to a different one of the banks. Accordingly, this concurrency may reduce overall overhead as compared to a system with a single bank having a storage capacity equal to the total storage capacity of the multiple bank system Nevertheless, the addressing scheme of FIGS. 1a and 1b, or a variant thereof, usually is imposed in such a system. Once again, therefore, there are constraints due to the time required by both activating and precharging a row in one bank before then activating the next row in the same bank. In addition, note that it is contemplated in some multiple bank systems to leave a row in a given bank active for as long as possible, where there is hope or expectation that multiple addresses to the given bank will be to the same row. In this manner, since the row is left active, the data may be communicated with respect to the row without interjecting precharge sequences of that row between each successive access. However, the present inventor recognizes that even in such approaches at some point it is still required that the row will no longer be active, such as when an address is received to the same bank and is directed to a different row. At this point, therefore, once again the type of scheme depicted by FIG. 1a will cause overhead delay due to the precharging of one row and the activation of another row through the operation of the RAS* and possibly related signals.
In view of the above, there arises a need to address the drawbacks of the prior art and provide improved memory control for reducing memory access latency.

Circuits, systems, and methods with a memory interface for augmenting precharge control


The present invention provides a sheet supply apparatus comprises a rocking sheet support plate for stacking sheets, a sheet supply, device capable of contacting with the sheets stacked on the sheet support plate for supplying them, a rotation control for controlling rotation of the sheet supply device by transmitting or not transmitting a driving force from a drive source, a cam for shifting the sheet support plate to abut or separate the sheet supply device and the sheet, and a rotation transmitting device for transmitting rotation to the cam.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a sheet supply apparatus for supplying a sheet such as an original, a recording medium and the like to an image forming apparatus such as a printer, a facsimile, a copying machine and the like.
2. Related Background Art
Among sheet supply apparatuses used with an image forming apparatus, there has been proposed a sheet supply apparatus in which a sheet support plate for supporting a sheet stack can be lifted and lowered so that, when the sheet support plate is lifted, the sheet stack is urged against a sheet supply roller and an uppermost sheet in the sheet stack is supplied by rotation of the sheet supply roller and that, after the sheet is supplied, the sheet support plate is lowered.
An example of such a conventional sheet supply apparatus will now be explained with reference to FIGS. 13 and 14. Incidentally, FIG. 13 is a sectional view of a sheet supply apparatus, and FIG. 14 is a view showing a drive system for lifting and lowering a sheet support plate.
A sheet support plate 100 for stacking sheets is pivotally mounted on a rock shaft 102 for upward and downward rocking movement and is normally biased upwardly by pressure springs 104. Cams 108 are provided on a shaft 106a for supporting a sheet supply roller 106 so that, when the sheet supply roller 106 is stopped, the cams 108 are contacted with rollers 110 provided on the sheet support plate 100 to lower and maintain the sheet support plate in a lowered position, i.e. a sheet stacking position where any sheets can be loaded on the sheet support plate.
A notched gear 112 having a non-toothed portion 112a is secured to the shaft 106a of the sheet supply roller 106, which gear is adapted to engaged by an idler gear 114 connected to a drive source (not shown). Rotation of the notched gear 112 can be regulated by a rock rod 116. When the rotation of the notched gear is regulated, the non-toothed portion 112a of the notched gear 112 is opposed to the idler gear 114, with the result that the driving force from the drive source is not transmitted to the notched gear.
Further, there is provided a release mechanism for releasing the regulation of the rod 116. The release mechanism comprises a release cam 118 for rocking the rod 116 to release the regulation of the rod 116 by rotation of the cam, a notched gear 120 disposed in coaxial with the release cam 118 and adapted to be engaged by the idler gear 114, a spring 122 for biasing the notched gear 120 toward its rotational direction, and a solenoid 124 for regulating a position of the release cam 118 in opposition to a biasing force of the spring 122.
On the other hand, a separation means for separating the sheets is disposed at a downstream side of the sheet support plate 100. The separation means comprises a main pad 126 and a sub pad 128. The main pad 126 adapted to be urged against the sheet supply roller 106 in order to separate the sheets one by one when the sheets are fed out by the sheet supply roller 106, and is contacted with and separate from the sheet supply roller 106 in response to the lifting and lowering movements of the sheet support plate 100. The sub pad 128 is advanced or protruded into a sheet path when the main pad 126 is separated from the sheet supply roller 106, with the result that tip ends of second, third and other sheets are stopped by the sub pad, thereby preventing the double-feed of sheets.
With this arrangement, when the regulation of the release cam 118 is released by activating the solenoid 124, the notched gear 120 is rotated by the biasing force of the spring 122 to engage the notched gear by the idler gear 114. As a result, the release cam 118 is rotated. When the rod 116 is rocked by the rotation of the cam 118 to release the regulation of the cams 108, the cams 108 are rotated by the biasing forces of the pressure springs 104 via the rollers 110. Consequently, the sheet support plate 100 is lifted, and, at the same time, the notched gear 112 is engaged by the idler gear 114, with the result that the driving force is transmitted to the shaft 106a of the sheect supply roller 106 to rotate the sheet supply roller 106, thereby the uppermost sheet in the sheets stacked on the sheet support plate 100 is fed out. When the sheet supply roller 106 is rotated by one revolution, the sheet support plate 100 is lowered again by the cams 108, and, in the lowered position, the rotation of the cams 108 is regulated by the rod 116.
While the sheets are being separated one by one between the sheet supply roller 106 and the main pad 126 by the rotation of the sheet supply roller, the cams 108 start to lower the sheet support plate 100 again. In this case, although the main pad 126 starts to separate from the sheet supply roller 106, before the separation of the main pad, the sub pad 128 is protruded into the sheet path. The sub pad 128 serves to prevent the second and other sheets from being fed out together with the separated sheet. In this way, back tension acting on the fed sheet can be reduced and the driving force for conveying the sheet can be set smaller, with the result that the apparatus can be made compact and cost-down can be achieved.
However, the above-mentioned conventional sheet supply apparatus has the following drawback.
Namely, in the above-mentioned conventional sheet supply apparatus, since one revolution of the sheet supply roller 106 is controlled by using the notched gear 112 and the sheet support plate 100 is lifted and lowered on the basis of one revolution of the sheet supply roller, a sheet feeding amount of the sheet supply roller 106 is limited. That is to say, since the sheet is fed only during one revolution of the sheet supply roller 106, a sheet feed amount is relatively small, and, thus, a distance between the sheet supply roller and convey rollers disposed at a downstream side of the sheet supply roller must be shortened. As a result, the number of convey rollers must be increased accordingly, which results in the cost-up of the apparatus.
Although the sheet feed amount can be increased by increasing a diameter of the sheet supply roller, the apparatus will become bulky.


Disclosed are a ceramic tile leveling bracket, pushing and clamping pliers and a ceramic tile leveling and laying system. The ceramic tile leveling and laying system comprises: a ceramic tile leveling bracket (1), an insertion block (2) and pushing and clamping pliers (3), wherein the ceramic tile leveling bracket (1) is provided at the junction between two adjacent ceramic tiles (4), one end of the insertion block (2) is inserted into an insertion block through hole (16) of the ceramic tile leveling bracket (1), and the pushing and clamping pliers (3) push and clamp the insertion block (2) into the insertion block through hole (16), so that an insertion block bottom surface (21) is tangent to upper surfaces of the two ceramic tiles (4). The ceramic tile leveling and laying system is easy to operate, and helps to improve the laying efficiency and laying quality.

Ceramic tile inlaying processes often used in the building decoration industry mainly use the traditional manual paving method. The common method for paving floor ceramic tiles is generally divided into a dry laying method and a wet laying method.
The wet laying method uses cement mortar or the like as an adhesive to directly paste the ceramic tile to a wall or a floor. The shortcomings lie in that the flatness and fullness of the paved ceramic tile are relatively poor, and the viscosity thereof is also poor, so that it can only be applied to the pasting of small ceramic tiles, and has a large limitation; and, the workload in the pasting process is relatively large, the technical requirements for the construction personnel are high, and the construction efficiency is low.
The dry laying method directly lays ceramic tiles of a larger size and area, such as floor tiles, on a flat and dried floor. The shortcomings lie in that the thickness of the required laying materials is relatively great, the requirements for the floor flatness are higher, it is necessary to use a sufficient amount of cement to level the entire floor, which requires a high technical level for the construction personnel and the phenomenon of waste of materials is more serious, and if the flatness is not enough, it is easy to produce a hollowing phenomenon, which affects the quality of the laying; and it is necessary to wait for the cement to solidify and dry before starting to lay the ceramic tile, and the ceramic tile further needs to be tamped with a rubber hammer after laying, so tat the process is complicated, the workload is large, the laying speed is slow, and the construction efficiency is low.
There is a need in the market for a device capable of assist in ceramic tile laying, which can quickly achieve ceramic tile leveling and improve the construction efficiency.

Ceramic tile leveling bracket, pushing and clamping pliers and ceramic tile leveling and laying system

HANGZHOU GREAT STAR INDUSTRIAL CO., LTD.


A pressure balancing device comprises a mounting seat, a breathable film and a drying component. The mounting seat comprises a mounting seat housing and a support portion connected to the mounting seat housing. A fluid channel is formed in the mounting seat housing, the support portion is disposed in the fluid channel, and the fluid channel is capable of fluidly communicating an interior space of a component to be depressurized with the external environment. The breathable film covers on the fluid channel. The drying component is disposed on the support portion and is located between the support portion and the breathable film, and the drying component is configured to absorb moisture entering the fluid channel. In the present disclosure, the drying component is provided inside of the breathable film of the pressure balancing device, and water vapor entering the pressure balancing device is absorbed by the drying component.

A battery pack generates heat during use, causing the temperature of the battery pack to rise. When the temperature of gas inside the battery pack increases, the pressure inside the battery pack increases. If the gas inside the battery pack is not discharged outward in time, the normal use of the battery will be affected. Therefore, it is often necessary to mount a pressure balancing device on the battery pack, and the gas inside the battery pack is discharged to the external environment through the pressure balancing device to ensure the pressure balance between the inside and the outside of the battery pack.


Disclosed herein are techniques for digital imaging. A digital pixel image sensor includes a digitizer in each pixel of a plurality of pixels, where the digitizer digitizes analog output signals from a photodiode of the pixel using a comparator, a global reference ramp signal, and a clock counter. In some embodiments, the comparator includes a pre-charging circuit, rather than a constant biasing circuit, to reduce the power consumption of each pixel. In some embodiments, each pixel includes a digital or analog correlated double sampling (CDS) circuit to reduce noise and provide a higher dynamic range.

Image sensors are used in many different applications. For example, image sensors can be found in digital imaging devices (e.g., digital cameras, smart phones, etc.) to capture digital images. As another example, in artificial reality systems, such as virtual-reality (VR) systems, augmented-reality (AR) systems, and mixed reality (MR) systems, image sensors can be used to capture images of a physical environment in which a user is located, and the captured images may then be used to control or influence the operation of an artificial reality system, such as controlling or influencing the display content of the artificial reality system. An image sensor having a high speed, high sensitivity, high dynamic range, low noise, high density, high resolution, and low power consumption may be desired for many of these applications, including the artificial reality systems.


An emergency vehicle alert system includes a first GPS receiving unit that is provided on the emergency vehicle and that determines emergency vehicle location information of the emergency vehicle. The system also includes a radio-wave transmitter unit that is provided on the emergency vehicle and that transmits the emergency vehicle location information by way of an emergency vehicle location signal. The system further includes a second GPS receiving unit that is provided on the motor vehicle and that determines vehicle location information of the motor vehicle. The system also includes a radio-wave receiver unit that is provided on the motor vehicle and that receives the emergency location signal output by the radio-wave transmitter unit of the emergency vehicle. The system further includes a map display that displays, on a map, a current location of the motor vehicle and a current location of the emergency vehicle. The emergency vehicle is shown as an icon on the map, which has a different visual characteristic depending on the position of the emergency vehicle with respect to the motor vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing GPS based vehicle warning and location information to a vehicle operator.
2. Description of the Related Art
Emergency vehicles need to travel quickly and safely through traffic in order to get to a destination. Conventional emergency vehicles use either sirens or emergency lights, or both, in order to get to the destination quickly and safely. It is often the case that a driver who is on the same road or a nearby road as the emergency vehicle is not made aware of the emergency vehicle's presence. This may be the case when the driver has poor hearing, is listening to the car radio, is on his or her car phone, etc. When this occurs, it may result in a dangerous situation when the emergency vehicle approaches the unaware driver, which may result in the driver causing an accident with the emergency vehicle or with another nearby vehicle on the road.
Also, when an emergency vehicle comes to an intersection, it is important that all vehicles approaching the intersection in different directions are made aware of the approaching emergency vehicle. Again, some drivers may not be aware of the sirens and emergency lights of the emergency vehicle, and this may result in an accident occurring with the emergency vehicle and/or other vehicles at or near the intersection.
There have been some solutions proposed to address this problem. One solution has been to use optical detectors at an intersection that detect light signals emitted from an approaching emergency vehicle, whereby the optical detectors would manipulate the traffic signal for oncoming traffic. One drawback to this solution is the lack of warning when an emergency vehicle is coming from behind a motor vehicle.
Another solution has been to use a radar detector, which would detect a signal transmitted from an emergency vehicle. One drawing to this solution is that false triggering of the radar may result in a driver turning off the radar detector out of frustration. Furthermore, the location and distance of the emergency vehicle would not be made available to the driver with this solution.
Yet another solution is to have the emergency vehicle transmit a radio frequency (RF) signal at a predetermined frequency or frequency range. In this case, each motor vehicle would be equipped with an RF receiver which would receive the RF signal output by the emergency vehicle when the emergency vehicle is traveling to its destination. A further enhancement to this solution would be to utilize GPS in order to provide information as to the location of the emergency vehicle relative to the motor vehicle, whereby that information would be used by a microcontroller in order to determine the location of the emergency vehicle with respect to the driver's vehicle. The emergency vehicle's location would be displayed at the motor vehicle by way of one of four indicator lamps that are in the driver's view area (e.g., on the dashboard). Actuation of a first lamp would indicate that the emergency vehicle was somewhere ahead of the driver's vehicle, actuation of a second lamp would indicate that the emergency vehicle was somewhere to the left of the driver's vehicle, actuation of a third lamp would indicate that the emergency vehicle was somewhere to the right of the driver's vehicle, and actuation of a fourth lamp would indicate that the emergency vehicle was somewhere behind the driver's vehicle.
The above solution using both GPS signals and an RF transmitter and RF receiver is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,339,382, issued to Donald Arbinger et al., which is incorporated in its entirety herein by reference. However, even with the Arbinger et al. solution, a driver is not provided precise information as to the exact location of the emergency vehicle, and so the driver may not choose the best streets to travel through in order to evade the emergency vehicle and to evade the snarled traffic that typically occurs on streets that the emergency vehicle travels on.

GPS-based vehicle warning and location system and method


A meat encasing machine has a looper horn, linking chain and conveyor which, prior to production, have home positions which are determined. A pulsed signal is generated as the looper horn rotates and is transmitted to an amplifier from an encoder on the servo motor for the looper horn and the conveyor. The output pulse signal is then reduced in frequency so that it can be read by a PLC. The PLC counts the pulses in the signal and can determine the relative position of the looper horn based on the count and can therefore minimize the rotation of the looper horn in the home position at the beginning of each new cycle. The meat encasing machine may also be controlled such that the linking chain, looper, and conveyor have no direct mechanical or electrical interaction between each other. By driving the components with separate servo motors, each can be precisely controlled in the desired ratios with respect to each other.

Meat encasing machines have a linker which uses a meat emulsion pump connected to a stuffing tube upon which a shirred casing is mounted. Meat emulsion is extruded from the stuffing tube into the casing and the filled casing is rotated by means of a chuck and delivered to a linker for creating a linked strand of sausages. The linked strand then passes through a rotating looping horn and loops of sausages from the strand are deposited on hooks of a conveyor located downstream from the horn. These conventional machines mechanically connect the operation of the horn and the conveyor to coordinate their respective functions. Special attention then must be given to coordinate the action of the pump with respect to the horn and the conveyor.
A cycle of the foregoing machine is completed as each "stick" of shirred casing is filled, and the pump is disengaged. The "stopped" portion of the horn needs to be assessed before a new cycle with a new shirred casing stick is implemented. While the down time between cycles is brief, in the order of 2 to 4 seconds or more of an 18 second cycle, this down time contributes to the inefficiency of the overall operation.
It is therefore a proposed object of this invention to reduce the down time between cycles in the operation of a sausage encasing machine.
It is a further object of the invention to simplify the operation of the pump clutch from cycle to cycle so as to reduce the down time between cycles.

Meat emulsion pump control system for meat encasing machine, and method of use thereof


A wireless communication system having a Node B and a plurality of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs), includes a contention-based uplink (UL) channel and at least one downlink (DL) physical channel. The UL channel supports UL transmissions from the WTRUs to the Node B. The UL channel is randomly accessed by a WTRU when the WTRU is ready to transmit data. The DL physical channel supports DL transmissions from the Node B to the WTRUs. The DL transmissions include an acquisition indicator and information regarding said acquisition indicator. The acquisition indicator confirms whether the data transmitted over said UL channel was successfully received by the Node B.

Current wireless communication systems are typically configured to include a core network, such as a Remote Network Controller (RNC), which is coupled to one or more base stations such as Node Bs, which in turn, are coupled with a plurality of WTRUs.
FIG. 1 shows the mapping of logical channels to the RACH/PRACH in a Third Generation (3G) system in the Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode. It should be understood by those of skill in the art that the mapping scheme in FIG. 1 is not the mapping scheme in TDD, as there are other mapping schemes for mapping channels to DCH/DPCH in TDD. Control information, such as that information transmitted over the common control channel (CCCH) and the dedicated control channel (DCCH) is mapped to the RACH. These logical channels are employed for radio resource control (RRC) connection requests, cell information updates, UTRAN registration area (URA) updates and radio bearer establishment and reconfiguration. In addition, non-real time (NRT) traffic from the dedicated traffic channel (DTCH) and the shared common control channel (SHCCH) are also mapped to the RACH. The RACH is then mapped to the physical channel and becomes the physical RACH (PRACH) channel.
Many current communication systems have uplink common channels (i.e., channels which handle communications transmitted from a WTRU to the Node B) which are accessible by all WTRUs. These channels are used to establish and maintain a wireless connection between the WTRU and the Node B for transmitting both control information and data. The random access channel (RACH) of a 3G system in the TDD mode is such a channel. The RACH is defined as an uplink contention-based common transport channel. When two or more WTRUs attempt to transmit their respective information over the RACH channel at the same time, a contention may occur. To alleviate the contention problem, each WTRU waits a different random amount of time before retransmitting its message to the Node B.
A WTRU having information to transmit over the RACH performs a random back-off process. When a WTRU has a block of data to transmit over the RACH, it performs the random back-off process to access the RACH. More specifically, before the start of a frame, the WTRU randomly generates a number, uniformly distributed between 0 and 1. It then compares the number to a threshold called the dynamic persistence level (DPL), which is also a value between 0 and 1 (for example, 0.5). If the generated random number is less than the DPL, then the WTRU transmits the block of data over the RACH. If the generated random number is greater than the DPL, the WTRU waits until the next frame, at which point it generates a new random number and repeats the process. The WTRU will wait to access the RACH until it has a successful comparison between the random number and the DPL.
In some current systems, the RNC acts as a central controller and controls the rate at which WTRUs access the RACH (and therefore control the duration of the back-off process and the likelihood of collisions) by varying the DPL. The central controller generally has no prior knowledge of which WTRUs, if any, have transmitted over the RACH/PRACH. To make it more difficult for WTRUs to access the RACH, the RNC reduces the dynamic persistence level, for example, from 0.5 to 0.25, making it less probable that the random number generated by the WTRU at a given frame will be smaller than the DPL. By making it more difficult to access the RACH, the probability of there being a collision between multiple WTRUs decreases.
On the other hand, the DPL may be increased (for example, from 0.5 to 0.75) in order to make it easier for WTRUs to access the RACH. By increasing the DPL, it is more probable that the random number generated by the WTRU at a given frame will be smaller than the DPL. This results in a shorter back-off process, but a higher probability of collision between WTRUs.
The RACH is mapped onto the PRACH for transmission. The detection of transmitted PRACH codes is performed at the Node B by midamble detection and code lookup. When PRACH codes are detected, a cyclic redundancy check (CRC) is performed at the Node B to detect errors within the received transmission. A transmission error can result from either a code collision, in which multiple WTRUs transmit using the same PRACH code, or from insufficient transmission power. The PRACH is typically defined as one code within a code in a timeslot. Typically, multiple PRACHs are defined within the same timeslot, or the entire timeslot is reserved for PRACH codes. The Node B monitors the energy level individually for each PRACH (i.e., for each code/timeslot combination that is a PRACH). In this manner, the Node B detects individually, for each PRACH, whether there was an attempt and whether or not it was successful. Therefore, PRACH codes for which successful and failed transmissions occurred are known at the Node B at each frame.
However, there is currently no simple and fast acknowledgment mechanism from the Node B to the WTRU for confirmation of successful or unsuccessful PRACH/RACH attempts. The WTRU must wait for higher layers to process the signal and determine whether or not a transmitted burst was successfully received. When a PRACH transmission fails, the radio link control (RLC) entity, the RRC or some other higher layer entity typically observes the absence of a response for a period of time before the data is retransmitted. In some implementations, a timer specifies the duration before retransmission. The delay incurred for a successful RACH transmission is significantly influenced by the latency incurred in the event of a transmission error. As a result, excessive delays have been observed for the successful transmission of data due to retransmissions.
It would be desirable to have a fast feedback mechanism for notifying WTRUs of the success or failure of a transmission using PRACH/RACH codes. Such a feedback mechanism should be extremely fast, have backwards compatibility and have a low complexity.

Method for providing fast feedback information for random access channel in a wireless communication system


An improvement in in vivo pretargeting methods for delivering diagnostic or therapeutic agents to a target site in a mammal uses a clearing agent that binds to the target-binding site of the targeting species, whereby non-bound primary targeting species is cleared from circulation but the clearing agent does not remove the bound primary targeting species. Anti-idiotype antibodies and antibody fragments are preferred clearing agents. Fast clearance is achieved by glycosylating the clearing agent with sugar residues that bind to the hepatic asialoglycoprotein receptor.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to improved clearing agents for use in targeting diagnostic or therapeutic agents to a target site in a mammal. The present invention also relates to improved methods for diagnosing or treating patients using improved clearing agents.
2. Description of Related Art
The detection of a target site benefits from a high signal-to-background ratio of detection agent. Therapy benefits from as high an absolute accretion of therapeutic agent at the target site as possible, as well as a reasonably long duration of uptake and binding. In order to improve the targeting ratio and amount of agent delivered to a target site, the use of targeting vectors comprising diagnostic or therapeutic agents conjugated to a targeting moiety for preferential localization has long been known.
Examples of targeting vectors include diagnostic or therapeutic agent conjugates of targeting moieties such as antibody or antibody fragments, cell- or tissue-specific peptides, and hormones and other receptor-binding molecules. For example, antibodies against different determinants associated with pathological and normal cells, as well as associated with pathogenic microorganisms, have been used for the detection and treatment of a wide variety of pathological conditions or lesions. In these methods, the targeting antibody is directly conjugated to an appropriate detecting or therapeutic agent as described, for example, in Hansen et al., U.S. Pat. No. 3,927,193 and Goldenberg, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,331,647, 4,348,376, 4,361,544, 4,468,457, 4,444,744, 4,460,459, 4,460,561, 4,624,846 and 4,818,709, the disclosures of all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
One problem encountered in direct targeting methods, i.e., in methods wherein the diagnostic or therapeutic agent (the "active agent") is conjugated directly to the targeting moiety, is that a relatively small fraction of the conjugate actually binds to the target site, while the majority of conjugate remains in circulation and compromises in one way or another the function of the targeted conjugate. In the case of a diagnostic conjugate, for example, a radioimmunoscintigraphic or magnetic resonance imaging conjugate, non-targeted conjugate which remains in circulation can increase background and decrease resolution. In the case of a therapeutic conjugate having a very toxic therapeutic agent, e.g., a radioisotope, drug or toxin, attached to a long-circulating targeting moiety such as an antibody, circulating conjugate can result in unacceptable toxicity to the host, such as marrow toxicity or systemic side effects.
Pretargeting methods have been developed to increase the target:background ratios of the detection or therapeutic agents. Examples of pre-targeting and biotin/avidin approaches are described, for example, in Goodwin et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,863,713; Goodwin et al., J. Nucl. Med. 29:226, 1988; Hnatowich et al., J. Nucl. Med. 28:1294, 1987; Oehr et al., J. Nucl. Med. 29:728, 1988; Klibanov et al., J. Nucl. Med. 29:1951, 1988; Sinitsyn et al., J. Nucl. Med. 30:66, 1989; Kalofonos et al., J. Nucl. Med. 31:1791, 1990; Schechter et al., Int. J. Cancer 48:167, 1991; Paganelli et al., Cancer Res. 51:5960, 1991; Paganelli et al., Nucl. Med. Commun. 12:211, 1991; Stickney et al., Cancer Res. 51:6650, 1991; and Yuan et al., Cancer Res. 51:3119, 1991; all of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
In pretargeting methods, a primary targeting species (which is not bound to a diagnostic or therapeutic agent) comprising a first targeting moiety which binds to the target site and a binding site that is available for binding by a subsequently administered second targeting species is targeted to an in vivo target site. Once sufficient accretion of the primary targeting species is achieved, a second targeting species comprising a diagnostic or therapeutic agent and a second targeting moiety, which recognizes the available binding site of the primary targeting species, is administered.
An illustrative example of pretargeting methodology is the use of the biotin-avidin system to administer a cytotoxic radioantibody to a tumor. In a typical procedure, a monoclonal antibody targeted against a tumor-associated antigen is conjugated to avidin (or biotin) and administered to a patient who has a tumor recognized by the antibody. Then the therapeutic agent, e.g., a chelated radionuclide covalently bound to biotin (or avidin), is administered. The radionuclide, via its attached biotin (or avidin), is taken up by the antibody-avidin (or -biotin) conjugate pretargeted to the tumor.
Pretargeting is an approach which offers certain advantages over the use of direct targeting methods. For example, use of the pretargeting approach for the in vivo delivery of radionuclides to a target for therapy, e.g., radioimmunotherapy, reduces the marrow toxicity caused by prolonged circulation of a radioimmunoconjugate. This is because the radioisotope is delivered as a rapidly clearing, low molecular weight chelate rather than directly conjugated to a primary targeting molecule, which is often a long-circulating species.
One problem encountered with two-step pretargeting methods is that circulating primary targeting species (antibody-avidin or -biotin conjugate, for example) interferes with the targeting of active agent species (biotin- or avidin-active agent conjugate) at the target site by competing for the binding sites on the active agent-conjugate. This problem typically is avoided or minimized by the use of a three-step approach wherein a clearing agent is administered as an intermediate step of the above two-step approach. The clearing agent binds and removes circulating primary conjugate which is not bound at the target site.
Paganelli et al. (J. Nucl. Med. 31:735, 1990 and Cancer Res. 51:5960, 1991) disclose a 3-step approach wherein a biotinylated antibody is administered, followed by cold, i.e., non-labeled and non-conjugated, avidin to clear nontargeted antibody. Radiolabeled biotin is then administered which binds to the avidin retained in the body, presumably where the avidin has complexed to the biotinylated antibody.
When antibody-avidin is used as the primary targeting moiety, excess circulating conjugate is cleared by injecting a biotinylated polymer such as biotinylated human serum albumin. This type of agent forms a high molecular weight species with the circulating avidin-antibody conjugate which is quickly recognized by the hepatobiliary system and deposited primarily in the liver.
To speed up this hepatobiliary recognition process, the clearing agent may be substituted with sugar residues, primarily galactose, such that the galactosylated complex is recognized by the asialoglycoprotein receptors in the liver. By using a galactosylated biotin-protein, substantially all circulating streptavidin-antibody and galactosylated biotin-protein is deposited into the liver on the first pass through, making the clearing process very fast and efficient. With circulating avidin conjugate removed, excess biotinchelate-radionuclide is rapidly eliminated, preferably renally. Because the radionuclide spends a very short time in circulation, considerably less marrow toxicity to the patient is seen compared to when the radionuclide is attached directly to the antibody.
Examples of this methodology are disclosed, e. g ., in Axworthy et al., PCT Application No. WO 93/25240; Paganelli et al., "Monoclonal Antibody Pretargeting Techniques For Tumour Localization: The Avidin-Biotin System", Nucl. Med. Comm., Vol. 12:211-234, (1991); Oehr et al., "Streptavidin And Biotin As Potential Tumor Imaging Agents", J. Nucl. Med., Vol. 29:728-729, (1988); Kalofonos et al., "Imaging Of Tumor In Patients With Indium-111-Labeled Biotin And Streptavidin-Conjugated Antibodies: Preliminary Communication", J. Nucl. Med., Vol 31:1791-1796, (1990); Goodwin et al., "Pre-Targeted Immunoscintigraphy Of Murine Tumors With Indium-111-Labeled Bifunctional Haptens", J. Nucl. Med., Vol. 29:226-234, (1988). Improved pretargeting methods using the biotin-avidin system are disclosed, e.g., in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,525,338 and 5,482,698 and co-pending U.S. patent applications Ser. Nos. 08/062,662, 08,486,166, 08/687,626 and 08/688,781, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.
Pretargeting as it has been practiced to date suffers from certain drawbacks. First among these is the very low amount of radionuclide delivered to the target site compared to when the radionuclide is directly attached to an antibody. Using the above example, the problem of low target accretion is exacerbated by the choice of the clearing agent used for the avidin-antibody conjugate. In that approach, it has been found that the clearing agent also removes antibody-avidin conjugate previously bound to the target site. This substantially reduces the amount of antibody-avidin at the target, typically by 50% or more. Further, the use of a biotinylated clearing agent tends to partially block remaining antibody-avidin sites at the target, thereby reducing the number of sites available for binding by the biotinylated diagnostic or therapeutic agent.
A need exists, therefore, for improved clearing agents which work efficiently and rapidly, but do not block the binding sites at the target site, and which do not remove primary conjugate localized at the target site.

Delivery of diagnostic and therapeutic agents to a target site


A method for processing a silver halide photosensitive material comprises the steps of developing an exposed silver halide photosensitive material and treating it with a bath having a fixing function containing an N-oxide compound having a mercapto group in the molecule. When the bath having a fixing function is used, a stable fixing power and excellent desilverization effect can be obtained by processing a color photosensitive material with only a small amount of replenisher.

The present invention relates to a method for processing a silver halide photosensitive material, characterized by conducting the process in the presence of an N-oxide compound having at least one mercapto group in the molecule.
The processing of the silver halide color photosensitive material usually comprises a color developing step and a desilverization step. Silver formed by the development is oxidized with a bleaching agent and then dissolved with a fixing agent. An iron (III) ion complex salt such as an aminopolycarboxylic acid/iron (III) complex salt is mainly used as the bleaching agent and a thiosulfate is usually used as the fixing agent.
On the other hand, the processing of a black-and-white photosensitive material comprises a development step and a step for removing an unexposed silver halide. In this process, the photosensitive material is fixed without bleaching after the development unlike the processing of the color photosensitive material. Also in this case, a thiosulfate is usually used as the fixing agent.
As replenishers are recently being reduced in amount, a stable composition is required of each replenisher. As for a fixing bath, a sulfite is added as an antioxidative preservative to this bath in most cases, since the thiosulfate usually used is oxidized, deteriorated and sulfided to form a precipitate. Although further improvement in the stability of the liquids is desired as the reduction in amount of the replenishers is accelerated, the problems of the solubility and the formation of sodium sulfate precipitate formed by the oxidation of a sulfite are posed by increasing the amount of the sulfite to be added.
In addition, finding of a compound having a fixability higher than that of the thiosulfate is demanded from the viewpoint of acceleration. Under these circumstances, development of a fixing agent having excellent resistance to oxidation and fixability and usable as a substitute for the thiosulfates is demanded. However, no compound usable as an excellent substitute has been found yet.
As for the N-oxide compounds used in the present invention, for example, Japanese Patent Unexamined Published Application (hereinafter referred to as "J.P. KOKAI") No. Sho 61-32845 discloses that when an N-oxide compound is added to a developer, release of a photographic reagent is accelerated, U.S. Pat. No. 3,330,658 discloses that they are used as a color tone improver in diffusion transfer, and French patent No. 2,015,455 discloses that when an N-oxide compound is added to a silver halide emulsion, it exhibits an antifogging effect. However, the use of the N-oxide compounds as a solvent for silver halides and the use thereof in a fixing bath according to the present invention are novel and cannot be easily inferred from the above-described prior art.

Method for processing silver halide photosensitive material


According to an embodiment, a medical image processing apparatus includes an extraction unit, a calculation unit, and a selection unit. The extraction unit extracts an image region having an image element value larger than a predetermined value from a first image of at least one time phase and second images of a plurality of time phases. The calculation unit calculates a feature quantity that fluctuates in accordance with motion of the image region for the first image of at least the one time phase and the second images of the time phases. The selection unit selects the first image and the second image having similar image features of the image region based on the feature quantity from among the first image of at least the one time phase and the second images of the time phases.

X-ray computed tomography apparatuses are frequently used for evaluation of the coronary lumen of the heart. A method of removing a calcification region and a stent region by subtracting a non-contrast CT image from a contrast CT image to reduce the influence of the calcification region and stent on the evaluation of lumen is known. In subtraction processing for a heart region, motions of the calcification region and the stent region accompanying pulsation of the heart exert an enormous influence on the image quality of subtraction images. Further, the combination of volume images intended for subtraction processing has an enormous influence on the image quality of subtraction images. If, for example, geometrical features such as the position, shape, or CT value of the calcification region and stent region are different between a non-contrast CT image and a contrast CT image, the image quality of a subtraction image is degraded. An observer judges the combination of a non-contrast CT image and a contrast CT image by visual inspection. Thus, the work flow related to subtraction processing is prolonged. In addition, empirical knowledge is needed for the selection of the optimum combination by visual inspection and thus, the combination and subtraction images vary among individuals.