A method and apparatus for local advertising. Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or proxies owned by an ISP insert advertisements transmitted from a web host to a client. The advertisement may be stored in the proxy""s cache or may be retrieved from a web server for an advertiser. By providing the ISP with the ability to insert the advertisement, advertisements appear on small web sites that do not normally attract advertisers. Additionally, due to the number of advertisements placed by an ISP, small advertisers may have their advertisement appear in connection with frequently used web sites. One or more embodiments of the invention provide for an ISP to collect and store demographic information such as the user""s age, residence, credit history, etc. Additionally, stored information may include web sites the user has accessed, time spent on each web site, and any searches performed by the user. The profile information may be utilized by the proxy to conduct targeted advertising and to associate a cost with certain demographic information. The profile information may be evaluated by the ISP for advertisement insertion. Alternatively, the profile information may be forwarded to an advertiser or advertising agency that evaluates and forwards back an advertisement for the proxy to transmit to the user.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of computer software, and, more specifically, to advertising on the internet.
Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever. Sun, Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, JavaOS, JavaStation, HotJava Views and all Java-based trademarks and logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
2. Background Art
In a computer network environment and the internet, advertising is increasingly utilized by owners of web sites (referred to as web hosts) as a revenue source and for the advertisers to gain publicity and web site access. Web hosts sell advertising space on their web site and distribute web pages including the advertisements to internet users or clients. It is desirable for advertisements to target specific audiences and persons that may be interested in the specific good or service being advertised. Prior art advertising schemes poorly target audiences and create excessive internet traffic when retrieving and transmitting advertisements. These problems can be understood by reviewing networks, internets, advertising and how they work.
Networks
In modern computing environments, it is commonplace to employ multiple computers or workstations linked together in a network to communicate between, and share data with, network users. A network also may include resources, such as printers, modems, file servers, etc., and may also include services, such as electronic mail.
A network can be a small system that is physically connected by cables (a local area network or xe2x80x9cLANxe2x80x9d), or several separate networks can be connected together to form a larger network (a wide area network or xe2x80x9cWANxe2x80x9d). Other types of networks include the internet, tel-com networks, the World Wide Web, intranets, extranets, wireless networks, and other networks over which electronic, digital, and/or analog data may be communicated.
Computer systems sometimes rely on a server computer system to provide information to requesting computers on a network. When there are a large number of requesting computers, it may be necessary to have more than one server computer system to handle the requests.
The Internet
The Internet is a worldwide network of interconnected computers. An Internet client accesses a computer on the network via an Internet provider. An Internet provider is an organization that provides a client (e.g., an individual or other organization) with access to the Internet (via analog telephone line or Integrated Services Digital Network line, for example). A client can, for example, read information from, download a file from or send an electronic mail message to another computer/client using the Internet.
To retrieve a file or service on the Internet, a client must search for the file or service, make a connection to the computer on which the file or service is stored, and download the file or service. Each of these steps may involve a separate application and access to multiple, dissimilar computer systems. The World Wide Web (WWW) was developed to provide a simpler, more uniform means for accessing information on the Internet.
The components of the WWW include browser software, network links, servers. and WWW protocols. The browser software, or browser, is a user-friendly interface (i.e., front-end) that simplifies access to the Internet. A browser allows a client to communicate a request without having to learn a complicated command syntax, for example. A browser typically provides a graphical user interface (GUI) for displaying information and receiving input. Examples of browsers currently available include Mosaic, Netscape Navigator and Communicator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and Cello.
Information servers maintain the information on the WWW and are capable of processing a client request. Hypertext Transport Protocol (HTTP) is the standard protocol for communication with an information server on the WWW. HTTP has communication methods that allow clients to request data from a server and send information to the server.
To submit a request, the client contacts the HTTP server and transmits the request to the HTTP server. The request contains the communication method requested for the transaction (e.g., GET an object from the server or POST data to an object on the server). The HTTP server responds to the client by sending a status of the request and the requested information. The connection is then terminated between the client and the HTTP server.
A client request therefore, consists of establishing a connection between the client and the HTTP server, performing the request, and terminating the connection. The HTTP server does not retain any information about the request after the connection has been terminated. HTTP is, therefore, a stateless protocol. That is, a client can make several requests of an HTTP server, but each individual request is treated independent of any other request. The server has no recollection of any previous request.
Instead of transmitting the information from the server that maintains the information, some systems utilize what is referred to as a proxy. Referring to FIG. 1, a proxy 102 is a server that carries out requests transmitted to it (i.e., from client 100), keeping copies of fetched documents or information for some time so that they can be accessed more quickly in the future, speeding up access for commonly requested information. This maintaining of information and fetched documents by the proxy 102 is referred to as caching and the information maintained in the proxy 102 is referred to as a cache or proxy cache.
To protect information in internal computer networks from external access, a firewall is utilized. A firewall is a mechanism that blocks access between the client and the server. To provide limited access to information, a proxy or proxy server may sit atop a firewall and act as a conduit, providing a specific connection for each network connection. Proxy software retains the ability to communicate with external sources, yet is trusted to communicate with the internal network. For example, proxy software may require a username and password to access certain sections of the internal network and completely block other sections from any external access.
An addressing scheme is employed to identify Internet resources (e.g., HTTP server, file or program). This addressing scheme is called Uniform Resource Locator (URL). A URL contains the protocol to use when accessing the server (e.g., HTTP), the Internet domain name of the site on which the server is running, the port number of the server, and the location of the resource in the file structure of the server.
The WWW uses a concept known as hypertext. Hypertext provides the ability to create links within a document to move directly to other information. To activate the link, it is only necessary to click on the hypertext link (e.g., a word or phrase). The hypertext link can be to information stored on a different site than the one that supplied the current information. A URL is associated with the link to identify the location of the additional information. When the link is activated, the client""s browser uses the link to access the data at the site specified in the URL.
If the client request is for a file, the HTTP server locates the file and sends it to the client. An HTTP server also has the ability to delegate work to gateway programs. The Common Gateway Interface (CGI) specification defines a mechanism by which HTTP servers communicate with gateway programs. A gateway program is referenced using a URL. The HTTP server activates the program specified in the URL and uses CGI mechanisms to pass program data sent by the client to the gateway program. Data is passed from the server to the gateway program via command-line arguments, standard input, or environment variables. The gateway program processes the data and returns its response to the server using CGI (via standard input, for example). The server forwards the data to the client using the HTTP.
A browser displays information to a client/user as pages or documents (referred to as xe2x80x9cweb pagesxe2x80x9d or xe2x80x9cweb sitesxe2x80x9d). A language is used to define the format for a page to be displayed in the WWW. The language is called Hypertext Markup Language (HTML). A WWW page is transmitted to a client as an HTML document. The browser executing at the client parses the document and displays a page based on the information in the HTML document.
HTML is a structural language that is comprised of HTML elements that are nested within each other. An HTML document is a text file in which certain strings of characters, called tags, mark regions of the document and assign special meaning to them. These regions are called HTML elements. Each element has a name, or tag. An element can have attributes that specify properties of the element. Blocks or components include unordered list, text boxes, check boxes, and radio buttons, for example. Each block has properties such as name, type, and value. The following provides an example of the structure of an HTML document:
 less than HTML greater than
 less than HEAD greater than
. . . element(s) valid in the document head
 less than /HEAD greater than
 less than BODY greater than
. . . element(s) valid in the document body
 less than /BODY greater than
 less than /HTML greater than
Each HTML element is delimited by the pair of characters xe2x80x9c less than xe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9c greater than xe2x80x9d. The name of the HTML element is contained within the delimiting characters. The combination of the name and delimiting characters is referred to as a marker, or tag. Each element is identified by its marker. In most cases, each element has a start and ending marker. The ending marker is identified by the inclusion of an another character, xe2x80x9c/xe2x80x9d that follows the xe2x80x9c less than xe2x80x9d character.
HTML is a hierarchical language. With the exception of the HTML element, all other elements are contained within another element. The HTML element encompasses the entire document. It identifies the enclosed text as an HTML document. The HEAD element is contained within the HTML element and includes information about the HTML document. The BODY element is contained within the HTML. The BODY element contains all of the text and other information to be displayed. Other HTML elements are described in HTML reference manuals.
Advertising
In traditional media (e.g., television, radio, and newspaper), local advertising is provided by radio stations, television stations, the different newspaper editions, and different newspaper distributors. The local advertisers target a sub-group, often defined geographically, of the audience for that media outlet. For example, a local newspaper distributor for a metropolitan city newspaper (e.g., the Houston Chronicle or Los Angeles Times) may include advertising inserts and coupons from local grocers and shopkeepers with the newspaper.
Online advertising on the internet has followed the advertising approach in traditional media. Advertising space on the internet is sold by web hosts to third parties (advertisers). Additionally, an advertising agency may be hired by the advertiser to conduct internet advertising.
Advertising space on the internet often appears as a banner or icon on a web page. Banners often range from xc2xd-4  inches high and 4-8xc2xd inches wide. The banner or icon may be an image, text, or an image with text. Additionally, the banner or icon may have a hyperlink to the advertiser""s web page. Thus, if a user clicks on an advertiser""s banner, the user""s browser will load the advertiser""s web page.
Payment schemes for online advertising vary. For example, an advertiser may pay based on the number of times different users access a web site (referred to as hits or page impressions). Alternatively, an advertiser may only pay if a user clicks on the advertiser""s banner or icon and views the advertiser""s web page (referred to as a click-through). Further, a web host may also receive payment based on any completed transactions that result from a click through (e.g., the web host receives a percentage of the payment received by the advertiser from the user) (referred to as referral commissions).
Advertising schemes attempt to target audiences that would most likely be interested in the product or service being advertised. For example, the commercials aired in connection with cartoons on television often relate to children""s toys, cereal, or other items that children would utilize. Consequently, the more information known about a viewer or user of a particular web site, the more targeted an advertisement may be.
In existing internet advertising schemes, a web host often provides one advertisement that all clients or users view. Consequently, there is one global advertisement that all users of the web site see. Such a global advertisement assumes a homogeneous interest by all users and does not provide different advertisements based on different interests or characteristics of users.
Prior Art Advertising Schemes
One internet advertising scheme attempts to target specific audiences based on demographics. For example, a web site that provides information about a specific city (e.g., San Francisco) may attempt to capture local audiences by placing advertisements for businesses located in or near San Francisco. Thus, advertising on a Yahoo-San Francisco bay web site would attempt to target a local San Francisco bay area audience.
Another advertising scheme bases the advertisement on input from the user. For example, if a search for baby books were made on a search engine such as Yahoo, the web host for Yahoo may display advertisements relating to baby merchandise such as strollers and high chairs.
Another advertising scheme accesses cookies stored on individual""s browsers to determine the types of web sites that have been accessed. Cookies are small pieces of information that can later be read back from a browser. When a web site is accessed, a cookie is sent by the web site identifying itself to the web browser. Cookies are stored by the browser and may be read back by any server that desires to access the cookies at a later date. Based on the information retrieved from the cookies, a local advertisement targeted to the specific user""s interests (based on the web sites that user has accessed or retrieved a cookie from) is provided. Alternatively, the advertising scheme may evaluate the HTTP referring page information. To prevent this information from being distributed or used in any manner, software is available that enables users to strip off cookies or HTTP referring page information. Further, the information collected only pertains to the small set of sites which the advertiser has a business relationship, either directly or indirectly through an advertisement network.
Another advertising scheme attempts to guess the geographic location of a user based on the client""s internet protocol (IP) address. When accessing the internet, individual clients are differentiated from each other by a unique number referred to as an IP address. In this advertising scheme, a database is maintained by the web host that contains a mapping that provides a correspondence between each IP address to a modem phone number. The mappings are created by retrieving the modem phone numbers and the different IP addresses that the modem phone numbers correspond to from internet service providers (ISP) (ISPs are companies that provide internet access to users). By searching the database for the IP address, the web host or advertising company can deduce which modem phone number the user called in from. Based on the modem phone number and area code, the web host or advertising company can deduce where geographically the user is from or what telephone exchange the user is closest to. Consequently, the user is provided advertisements based on the estimated geographic location of the user.
Each of the above advertising schemes relies on the insertion and transmission of the advertisement by the web host. Additionally, each advertising scheme relies on information retrieved from the user (which may be modified by the user) or attempts to guess information about the user. Consequently, advertising is not precisely targeted and the premiums paid for xe2x80x9cgood demographicsxe2x80x9d and xe2x80x9cprecise targetingxe2x80x9d are lower.
The above advertising schemes also create additional processing overhead for the web host (for implementing an advertising scheme), require extra bandwidth to transmit the advertisement across the network to the user, and poorly target specific audiences. Further, due to the increased overhead and low hit count for small web sites, advertisers are reluctant to advertise on the smaller web sites. Additionally, due to the high advertising costs for large and frequently used web sites, small businesses cannot afford to conduct advertising.
Advertising payment schemes do not provide for payment to the ISPs. Since ISPs do not benefit from the advertising, ISPs often do not cache the advertisements (resulting in increased transmission time) and software to strip off advertisements from web pages have appeared. Further, since payment schemes may be based on the number of hits, the hit count and number of page impressions must be determined. Techniques for checking and auditing the hit counts and number of page impressions are primitive and primarily based on trusting the web host who may inflate the numbers.
A method and apparatus for local advertising on the internet. Advertising is increasingly utilized by owners of web sites (referred to as web hosts) as a revenue source and for the advertisers to gain publicity and web site access. Web hosts sell advertising space on their web site and distribute web pages including the advertisements to internet users or clients. It is desirable for advertisements to target specific audiences and persons that may be interested in the specific good or service being advertised. Prior art advertising schemes poorly target audiences and create excessive internet traffic when retrieving and transmitting advertisements.
According to one ore more embodiments of the invention, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) or proxies owned by an ISP insert advertisements that are transmitted from a web host to a client. Additionally, any entity may insert or replace an advertisement that is transmitted to a client. The inserted advertisement may be an advertisement that is stored in the proxy""s cache or may be retrieved from a web server for an advertiser. By providing the ISP with the ability to insert the advertisement, advertisements appear on small web sites that do not normally attract advertisers. Additionally, due to the number of advertisements placed by an ISP, small advertisers may have their advertisement appear in connection with frequently used web sites.
In addition to inserting advertisements, one or more embodiments of the invention provide for an ISP to collect and store information regarding particular users in a user profile. The information may include demographic information such as the user""s age, residence, credit history, etc. Additionally, the information may include the web sites that the user has accessed, the time spent on each web site, and any internet searches performed by the user.
The profile information may be utilized by the proxy to conduct targeted advertising or the information may be provided to a web host so that the web host may conduct targeted advertising. The profile information may also be utilized to associate a cost with certain demographic information. For example, if the profile information indicates that the user is interested in automobiles, a premium may be charged to an automobile advertiser. The profile information may be evaluated by the ISP for advertisement insertion. Alternatively, the profile information may be forwarded to an advertiser or advertising agency that evaluates and forwards back an advertisement for the proxy to transmit to the user. Thus, the profile and demographic information is utilized to precisely target advertisements to specific users.

Method and apparatus for local advertising


A door locking device including: a door being mounted to an object to be capable of opening and closing a storage space of the object; a door handle being provided on a external surface of the door; a rotating bracket being mounted inside of the door to combine with a shaft of the door handle and thereby rotate together with the shaft; a rotating latch being provided between the door and the rotating bracket to rotate with the door handle, and detachably coupled with the rotating bracket along an axial direction of the shaft; a lock assembly being provided inside of the door to selectively restrain a rotation of the rotating latch; and a locking pin member being provided inside of the door to interoperate with the rotating latch, and selectively bind the door to the object according to a rotation manipulation of the door handle is provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a door lock structure, and more particularly, to a door locking device which can safely secure an object needing a protection, such as a safe and a financial Automatic Teller Machine (ATM).
2. Description of Related Art
A safe is utilized to secure cash, securities, jewelry, confidential documents, and the like. Specifically, the safe is utilized to protect an object from an unauthorized user's access. However, along with developments in safe manufacturing technologies, skills to illegally open the safe are also being improved. Accordingly, there is a need for a safe which is safer and can thwart theft. Particularly, a financial Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) is generally installed in a public location with great amounts of cash, and thus a necessity of safe safety becomes an issue.
A first objective of the safe is to prevent an unauthorized user from opening the safe even though the unauthorized user may utilize any instrument and method. A secondary objective of the safe is to stall for time to allow the police or a private security force to take an appropriate measure by making it difficult to open the safe when the unauthorized user attempts to force open the safe. Currently, various types of cutting tools and welding tools are developed and thus it may be almost impossible to manufacture a safe that an unauthorized user can never open. Accordingly, the most appropriate countermeasure is to manufacture a safe in which it takes time to open the safe when an unauthorized user attempts to force open the safe.
An article, associated with Underwriters Laboratory (UL) certification for safety regulations in the United States, specifies that a corresponding safe should not be opened by a safe specialist for about thirty minutes to be evaluated as a level one of the safety regulation. Specifically, when the entire device, such as an ATM, may not be moved, the device needs to be secured for a maximum possible time.


A vehicle control apparatus to be applied to a vehicle includes an abnormality detection unit, a notification control unit, and an automatic stop control unit. The abnormality detection unit detects an abnormal condition of a driver who drives the vehicle while the vehicle is traveling. The notification control unit performs notification control to make a notification of the abnormal condition detected by the abnormality detection unit. The automatic stop control unit starts first vehicle stop control of the vehicle when detecting no operation to cancel the notification control within a predetermined period of time after the notification control unit starts the notification control. The automatic stop control unit starts second vehicle stop control of the vehicle without waiting for an elapse of the predetermined period of time when detecting a vehicle stop request operation performed by a passenger in the vehicle within the predetermined period of time.

The technology relates to a vehicle control apparatus for a vehicle configured to perform automated driving control.
A technique is known that stops a vehicle from traveling when an abnormal condition, such as loss of consciousness, of a driver is detected, in order to prevent a subsequent accident.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2017-144808 discloses a technique that sounds an alarm when an abnormal condition of the driver is detected. If any operation to cancel the alarm is not performed by the driver within a predetermined period of time, the vehicle is stopped from traveling.


A tankless water heater comprising a bare wire heating element is disclosed which is connected to an electronic temperature control system. At least one sensor is furthermore connected to the electronic temperature control system. A fluid heating chamber is made of insulating non conductive material wherein the heating element is located. At least one switch is connected to at least one bare wire heating element and to a phase of an AC line. An electrode system and an electronic detecting circuit are interconnected. The electrode system is arranged in a fluid channel, in a short distance from the bare wire heating element which acts like electrode 1. The electrode 2 of the electrode system is made from a conductive tube material hydraulically connected to a throttle valve made from non conductive material to insulate the electrode 2 from the grounded collector. The electrode 2 is electrically connected to a electronic control system via a conductive material.

The present invention relates to a tankless water heater and a method of controlling a tankless water heater.
It is noted that citation or identification of any document in this application is not an admission that such document is available as prior art to the present invention.
Tankless water heaters supply domestic hot water without any standby losses, because they heat water only when hot water is on demand. Tankless electric water heaters are state-of-the-art, equipped with an electronic temperature control system using sensor information from at least one temperature sensor and/or a flow proportional sensor which provide information to the electronic control system on a printed circuit board. Such tankless water heater systems, also referred to as "on demand water heater systems", can often provide a more energy efficient way to produce domestic hot water than storage tank systems. Tankless water heaters save energy because they do not need to constantly heat water in a large storage tank which avoids thermal losses. To achieve this, tankless water heaters can instantaneously heat water as it is passing from the consumer's water supply to the outlet (e.g. faucet or showerhead). The tankless water heater, therefore, needs to "notice" when hot water is on demand in order to heat the incoming cold water properly. Flow switches can be used in tankless water heaters to detect a tapping event if the consumer desires hot water. Briefly, when a consumer turns on a faucet or a dishwasher, any hot-water-requiring device, water flows from the water supply through the tankless water heater system. This flow of water causes the flow switch to activate the electric heating element of the tankless water heater. This has already been described, for instance, in DE 20 2013 002 277 or DE 38 40 210 A1.
In order to be able to control the outcoming water temperature of a tankless water heater can be equipped with different modular devices like flow sensors, check valves, a heat exchanger assembly, incoming and outgoing tube sections which can be plugged into the main circuit board like it is described in DE 20 2004 012263 U1.
Modern tankless water heating devices are equipped with either a bare wire heating element or with a metal sheathed heat element. For a bare wire heating element system in particular there is a risk of overheating the element wire if air bubbles are coming into the unit with the cold water supplied to the heating chamber where the element heats the water. It is also known to monitor the electric conductivity of the water in order to avoid an electric shock if the conductivity of the water is more than a permitted threshold value.
CN 104897969 describes a method and device for detecting conductivity in an instant electric water heater. The measurement device comprises at least two sensing electrodes for being arranged in a water guiding channel separately; a measurement electronic device for providing and analyzing electrical signals influenced by the conductivity of the water; and a transformer, wherein the measurement electronic device is connected to a primary side of the transformer, and the two sensing electrodes are connected to a secondary side of the transformer, so that the measurement electronic device is allowed to be coupled with the sensing electrodes through the transformer. The measurement electronic device provides a primary-side alternating voltage signal on the primary side of the transformer according to rules, so that a secondary-side alternating current passing through the sensing electrodes and the water is set on the secondary side of the transformer according to the conductivity of the water, and the secondary-side alternating current influences the current of the primary side on the primary side of the transformer; and the measurement electronic device measures the current of the primary side for determining the conductivity of the water.
WO 2014/098943 A1 describes a tankless water heater with a bare wire element wherein the heating chamber contains an optical sensor to detect the overheating and glowing of the element wire.
If the water supplied to the unit contains air bubbles, the amount of heat transferred from the element to the water is reduced immediately. This is because the thermal heat conduction of air is 20-25 times lower than the thermal heat conduction of the water flow. If air bubbles pass through the heating chamber, the cooling of the element is reduced, which reduces the durability of the element dramatically.
Another disadvantage of a single optical sensor type dry fire protection is the fact that the overheating of the wire may happen in multiple locations, making the damage worse in some locations that cannot be directly observed.

Tankless water heater and method of controlling a tankless water heater


A method and a device for controlling the level of a pulsed high-frequency signal amplify or respectively attenuate an un-pulsed high-frequency signal with an amplification or attenuation element adjustable with regard to its amplification or attenuation factor. A pulsed high-frequency signal is generated by a pulse modulator controlled by a pulse signal from the un-pulsed high-frequency signal. At the output of the pulse modulator, a signal level of the pulsed high-frequency signal is measured by a high-frequency detector. The amplification or attenuation factor of the amplification or attenuation element is adjusted with a level controller controlled by the measured signal level. To control the level controller, the measured signal level of the pulsed high-frequency signal is linked to the measured signal level of the pulse signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method and a device for controlling the level of a pulsed high-frequency signal.
2. Discussion of the Background
Pulsed high-frequency signals can be generated in signal generators. In this context, a high-frequency signal generated by a frequency synthesiser is supplied to a pulse modulator which is controlled by a pulse signal. For the duration of a single pulse of the pulse signal, the high-frequency signal is conducted from the input to the output of the pulse modulator. By contrast, for the duration of the single pulse pauses of the pulse signal, the high-frequency signal is not conducted from the input to the output of the pulse modulator.
In controlling a level of a pulsed high-frequency signal, the signal level of the pulsed high-frequency signal is registered at the output of the pulse modulator with a detector and compared with a reference value. Dependent upon this control difference, an adjustment signal is generated with a level controller, with which the amplification or respectively attenuation factor of an amplification or attenuation element disposed upstream of the pulse modulator is adjusted. In this manner, the signal level of the pulsed high-frequency signal is controlled to the desired reference value. Because of the time dynamic of the detector, the level controller and the amplification or attenuation element, such a level control provides a limited control bandwidth, which typically extends up to a few megahertz.
During the pulse pauses of the pulse signal, the signal level of the pulsed high-frequency signal provides a value of zero, or approximately zero, and can therefore not be registered by the detector. Accordingly, the level control cannot meaningfully operate during the pulse pauses of the pulse signal. Opening the pulse control during the pulse pauses of the pulse signal is known from U.S. Pat. No. 5,054,116.
Conversely, because of its limited control bandwidth, it is not possible for the level control to complete the control process fully to its conclusion in short pulse pauses of the pulse signal. Accordingly, in the case of pulsed high-frequency signals, a level control in pulse mode often takes place only in comparatively long pulses of the pulse signal or not at all. For example, if the signal level of the pulsed high-frequency signal changes, for example, because of temperature drift or another influence, the pulse mode is cancelled, and the level control for the un-pulsed high-frequency signal is activated. If the level control of the un-pulsed high-frequency signal reaches the specified reference value, the level control is switched off, the value of the present adjustment signal is held constant in the level controller, and the pulse mode is reactivated. However, level changes of the pulsed high-frequency signal disadvantageously remain in existence until the next level control is activated. Moreover, supplying a device under test with an un-pulsed high-frequency signal during a level control of relatively long duration can cause undesirable damage to the device under test.

Method and a device for controlling the level of a pulsed high-frequency signal


A trading screen may include a plurality of next trade quantity regions that comprise a plurality of locations, each location being associated a price on a price axis. The quantities can be entered into the various locations in the next trade quantity regions and the entered quantities can be used as a parameter of a future trade order at the associated price level. The trading screen may also include a plurality of quantity entry regions that are displayed with respect to the price axis. The quantity entry columns may each include plurality of sub-regions or locations corresponding to different price levels in the price axis. The quantity entry columns may be used to specify next traded quantities that may be used in placing orders for tradeable objects.

Many exchanges throughout the world now support electronic trading. Generally, an electronic exchange provides a matching process between traders, or simply buyers and sellers. Some well known exchanges include Eurex, London International Financial Futures Exchange ("LIFFE"), Euronext, Chicago Mercantile Exchange ("CME"), Chicago Board of Trade ("CBOT"), Xetra, and Island. Traders are typically connected to an electronic exchange by way of a communication link to facilitate electronic messaging between the trader and the exchange. For instance, the trader might submit buy or sell orders to an electronic exchange and later obtain status or fill information from the exchange. Among other things, ease of submitting buy or sell orders has made electronic exchanges a successful venue for trading. Accordingly, an increasing number of people across the world are actively participating in a market at any given time. The increase in the number of potential market participants has advantageously led to, among other things, a more competitive market and greater liquidity.
A trader can connect to an exchange, for example, using a client device, and the exchange can serve as a host. Once connected, software running on the client allows the trader to log onto one or more exchanges and participate in one or more markets. Some clients run software that creates specialized interactive trading screens. In general, the trading screens enable traders to enter orders into the market, obtain market quotes, and monitor positions. The range and quality of features available varies according to the specific trading application.
Using the trading application, a trader may place orders within the markets supported by the exchange. In placing an order, the trader typically specifies a price and a quantity for the order. Some trading application programs, however, allow a trader to pre-configure the trading application with a default order quantity. Then, the trader may place an order by simply selecting a price level, and the trading application automatically uses the default order quantity without requiring the trader to enter a quantity for that order.
The trader, however, may wish to place successive orders for varying quantities. In that case, the trader may have to manually clear the default quantity, enter a different quantity for the order and then place the order. For successive orders, this can be a time consuming process, and it can limit the speed with which the trader can place the orders.
In the following detailed description, a trading application and trading interface for order quantity entry are described. These tools provide advantages, as described below, to a trader in an electronic trading environment.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Trading Technologies International, Inc.


A device and method for estimating a frequency offset of a received signal is provided. The device comprises: a plurality of phase estimation units, each of the plurality of phase estimation units adapted for receiving one of a plurality of data parts of the received signal and estimating a phase caused by the frequency offset from the received data part, wherein the plurality of data parts comprises payload data and known symbols in the received signal. A method for estimating the frequency offset is also provided; and a frequency offset estimation unit for estimating the frequency offset from a plurality of phases estimated by the plurality of phase estimation units.

A base station is the core component in a telecommunication system. Ideally, both the base station and a mobile terminal should transmit or receive signal using a perfect crystal whose frequency accuracy is perfectly good. Due to cost, temperature, and other affects, however, there is some bias between the crystal frequencies of the base station and the mobile terminal. Furthermore, there are Doppler effects and the mobile terminal has temperature drift. As a result, there is a frequency difference between the carrier frequency of the received signal and the frequency of local crystal. Without compensation, the frequency difference will degrade the performance of the mobile terminal greatly. So the frequency offset estimation followed by frequency offset compensation is very important in the mobile terminal in order to maintain good performance of the mobile terminal. A need exists to improve the accuracy and stability of frequency offset estimation in telecommunication systems.

Device and method for frequency offset estimation


A gas storage and dispensing system is described for the substantially reversible storage of a gas. The system comprises a material (4) having open voids occupied by a liquid. The liquid is a solvent of the gas and such occupation of the open voids by the liquid, with the gas dissolved therein, forms a reversible sorption gas storage system. The system tends to sorb increasing quantities of gas in increasing ambient gas pressure and desorb previously sorbed gas with decreases in ambient gas pressure. The system may be used in a pressure pack dispenser for dispensing a product (11) under pressure of a propellent gas, where the system provides the source of pressurised propellent gas.

There are innumerable situations in which a gas requires to be stored for subsequent release under substantially controlled conditions for practical use to be made of the physical and/or chemical properties of the gas. By way of example, stored and released gas may be employed for pressurised dispensing of a substance from a container using the gas as a propellent.
A number of practical considerations limit the substances which can be used as propellent gases and/or the circumstances in which a given substance can be used as a propellent gas. By way of non-limiting examples, such considerations include the ability to sustain pressure within acceptable limits during use, safety factors which include flammability and toxicity of the propellent, and chemical reactivity of the propellent with the container and, mainly in the case of non-barrier dispensers, reactivity of the propellent with the product to be dispensed. By way of a non-limiting example of the circumstances affecting use of a substance as a propellent gas in a non-barrier dispenser, the substance may be substantially inert with respect to one product but react unfavourably with another product (unless isolated by a barrier).
For many years the substances collectively known as CFC's (chlorofluorocarbons) were popular for use as propellents in pressure pack dispensers owing to favourable pressure characteristics combined with non-flammability and apparent non-toxicity, but CFC's are now perceived as extreme environmental hazards and are the subject of international sanctions; CFC's are no longer acceptable as propellent substances in pressure pack dispensers. Although some readily available gases are free of hazards and are substantially unreactive (for example, nitrogen), gases per se are generally unsuitable for use as propellents in pressure pack dispensers because of unacceptably rapid fall-off of propellent pressure during use of the pressure pack dispenser. Elaborations of construction and use may reduce the unwanted effects of these adverse pressure characteristics, but at the expense of increased complexity and cost, and possibly an increased hazard arising from increased initial internal pressure in the pressure pack dispenser.
Two-phase gas/liquid pressure pack propellent systems may give more acceptable pressure characteristics in terms of an acceptably low fall-off of propellent pressure during use of the pressure pack dispenser, in comparison to a single-phase gas-only system, where the liquid in a two-phase gas/liquid pressure pack propellent system is a pressure-liquefied form of the propellent gas. However the requisite pressure at ambient temperature may be unacceptably high in the context of conventional pressure pack dispensers; additional or alternative disadvantages of two-phase gas/liquefied-gas propellent systems are that they tend to employ gases which are flammable and potential substances of abuse, such as propane, butane and propane/butane mixtures. (It should be noted that such two-phase gas/liquefied gas propellent systems are essentially single-material propellent systems, where the single propellent material is present in both gas and liquid phases; this single material nature is not altered by the propellent being a mixture such as butane and propane, since the components of such mixtures change phase together, and a chemically distinct liquid is not present in such systems.)
To summarise the main considerations for the adoption of a given propellent system in a pressure pack dispenser, the propellent system should be:
(a) free of toxicity over any length of time and in any feasible concentration;
(b) free of environmental hazard over any length of time;
(c) free of other hazards, including but not restricted to hazards of fire and explosion;
(d) maintain adequate dispensing pressure on the product throughout use of the pressure pack dispenser, without excessive pressure at any time;
(e) at least in non-barrier dispensers, be compatible, and preferably non-reactive, with the product to be dispensed; and
(f) be reasonably economic.
The above list of desiderata for a propellent system is only a general indication and is in no way definitive to the exclusion of any other factors; further, the desiderata are not mutually exclusive in the sense that a characteristic of a selected propellent may satisfy two or more desiderata simultaneously (for example, a hypothetical inert substance may be both non-toxic and non-flammable, as in the case of nitrogen).


This invention relates to a novel ionic compound being low in a risk of combustion, and more particularly to an ionic compound represented by the following formula (I):(NPR12)n   (I)[wherein R1s are each independently a halogen element or a monovalent substituent, provided that at least one of R1s is an ionic substituent represented by the following general formula (II):—N+R23X−  (II)(wherein R2s are independently a monovalent substituent or hydrogen, provided that at least one of R2s is not hydrogen and R2s may be bonded with each other to form a ring; and X− is a monovalent anion); and n is 3 to 15].

Since a report of Wilkes et al. in 1992, an ionic liquid attracts attention as a substance which is a liquid at normal temperature and excellent in an ion conductivity. In the ionic liquid, a cation is bonded with an anion via an electrostatic attraction, the number of the ion carrier is very large, a viscosity is relatively low and thereby an ion mobility is high even at normal temperature, so that the ionic liquid has a very high ion conductivity. Further, the ionic liquid has a high boiling point and a very wide temperature range in which it can remain in a liquid state, because it consists of the cation and anion. Furthermore, the ionic liquid is low in a flammability and very excellent in a thermal stability, because it has little vapor pressure (see J. Electrochem. Soc., 144 (1997) 3881 and "Function Creation and Application of Ionic Liquid", N. T. S, (2004)).
The ionic liquid has these various merits, so that it is recently studied to apply to electrolytes for a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery and an electric double layer capacitor (see JP-A-2004-111294 and JP-A-2004-146346). In particular, when the ionic liquid is used in the electrolyte for the electric double layer capacitor, it also serves as an ion source for forming an electric double layer, so that there is also a merit that it is not necessary to add an additional supporting electrolyte.


A dispensing apparatus is provided for application of a viscous sauce to a pizza shell. The apparatus includes a distribution roller system in combination with a waterfall dispensing device to form a thin sheet of the sauce that is discharged onto the roller which then throws the received sauce in droplet form onto the pizza shell in a uniform thickness layer. The distribution roller system in one embodiment of the apparatus includes a single roller formed with a plurality of conical projections arranged in angularly spaced axially extending rows for receiving the sauce from the waterfall dispensing device and revolved at a speed to throw the sauce in a generally downward direction in a shower of droplets. Another embodiment of the apparatus includes a pair of these rollers revolved in opposite directions and disposed in a generally horizontal plane with the second roller intercepting sauce thrown horizontally and upwardly from the first roller and then throwing the collected sauce in a downward direction resulting in confinement of the band of dispersion. A shield is provided in combination with the second roller to aid in the confinement process. In a further embodiment of the apparatus, a mask mechanism is provided in association with the dual roller dispenser to confine the application of sauce to a predetermined surface area of a pizza shell.

The dispensing apparatus of this invention has initial utility in the field of food product manufacturing and, in particular, has utility with respect to the preparation and forming of pizza. Pizza comprises a base shell of pastry material onto which various ingredients are placed and which include not only the meat and cheese products customarily applied, but invariably includes a tomato sauce that is first applied to the pizza shell prior to application of the other solid food ingredients. It is highly desirable that the tomato sauce be applied in a uniform thickness layer to obtain consistency in the quality of the product and in particular to obtain uniformity in the taste of a pizza throughout its entire extent.
Manufacturing of pizza on an assembly line basis such as in preparing large quantities for wholesaling as a frozen food product has resulted in development of various types of machines for application of the ingredients to the pastry shell forming the basic component of a pizza. Attempts have also been made to provide mechanized applicators for the tomato sauce that is initially applied to a pizza shell. One such mechanism that has been used is generally designated as a waterfall type dispenser. Such a dispenser comprises a feedplate having a surface which is oriented in a relatively steep incline and positioned above a conveyor along which the pizza shells will be transported in serial sequence. A roller device is provided to pick up the viscous tomato sauce from a reservoir and apply it to an upper end of the inclined feedplate. The feedplate has a transverse width which is substantially equal to the diameter of the pizza shells to which the sauce is to be applied. The sauce gravitates downwardy over the surface of the feedplate in a thin sheet toward the lower end from which it is discharged and deposited by gravity onto the pizza shell traversing the space beneath the feedplate. While a waterfall-type dispensing apparatus does perform the general objective of applying a viscous tomato sauce in a layer on the pizza shell, such apparatus has not been found fully satisfactory as it is incapable of applying the sauce in a uniform thickness layer. A primary reason for the waterfall-type dispensing apparatus failing to obtain the uniform thickness distribution is an inherent characteristic of viscous fluids. Tomato sauce is relatively viscous and as a consequence, even though it may be in a relatively uniform thickness sheet when flowing downwardly over the inclined surface of the feedplate, it tends to coagulate and form streams or rivulets as it flows off the discharge end which tend to concentrate the sauce and prevent it from flowing in a uniform thickness layer onto the pizza shell. Those streams are not of a continuous nature nor do they form at some fixed points across the transversely extending discharge end edge of the feedplate. The streams are of an intermittent nature resulting in indeterminate and varied lengths as well as variations in transverse spacing and cross-sectional size. Because of the viscous nature of the sauce, there is a cohesive characteristic exhibited with the sauce tending to hang onto the feedplate, thereby accentuating the irregularity of the conformations of the streams of sauce discharged with relatively large globules being formed at times. Consequently, the sauce is deposited on the pizza shell in dispersed concentrations which, even though they will tend to spread transversely over the shell's surface, will produce an uneven layer of non-uniform thickness.
Further complications in the mechanized application of tomato sauce to pizza shells is a result of the sauce products that are available. Different manufacturers produce sauces that have different viscosity characteristics, and thus, a manufacturer of pizza must continually monitor the operation of a sauce dispensing machine to assure that changes in the viscosity of the sauce do not seriously affect the deposit of the sauce onto the pizza. Even a same manufacturer may have variations in the viscosity of its own product as between different containers or batches of the sauce. Also, tomato sauces invariably include small particles of solid food products which may be from the tomatoes of which the sauce is manufactured or other food products incorporated in the sauce such as spices. Such solid food particles may also affect the flow characteristics of the sauce in an adverse manner and further destroy the uniformity in thickness of the layer of sauce from the feedplate onto the pizza shell.


A wrist meter-mount system having a meter mount configured to attach to a meter, and a wrist mount configured to attach a meter mount to a person's wrist is described. The meter mount and wrist mount are configured to be detachably attachable to each other by at least one magnet. The meter mount has a first set of engagement teeth that interface with a second set of engagement teeth on the wrist mount. The engagement teeth allow the meter to be rotationally positioned as desired on the wrist mount. The wrist meter-mount system allows a user to attach a meter to their wrist and use one or both hands to connect a probe or probes to a measurement location. In one embodiment, a wrist mount comprises a cantilevered base allowing an attached meter to be inclined up to a desired reading location.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a wrist meter-mount system.
2. Background
Meters, such as multi-meters, having one or more probes that have to contact a measurement surface to obtain a reading are cumbersome and difficult to manipulate in many situations. Technicians are often in cramped locations when trying to take a reading with a meter. For example, a technician may have to contact one, or in some cases two probes, to different locations in order to obtain a reading. Finding a suitable location to rest the meter, whereby the probes can reach the measurement locations, and the meter can be seen; can be problematic. In some cases, a technician may have to touch the probes to contacts within a ceiling where there is no suitable location to rest the meter.


A method and system for identifying telemarketer communications directed to a subscriber of a call screening service is provided. A link monitoring system monitors all inbound and outbound calls of a carrier network collecting data such as calling and called telephone directory numbers, and a termination status for at least each inbound call to a calling number. The data is analyzed at a telemarketer detection module to determine calling patterns of calling numbers. If a calling pattern of a calling telephone number matches a profile of telemarketer communications, the calling number is stored in a database of telephone directory numbers associated with telemarketer communications. A call is received from a calling party directed to a subscriber of the call screening service. Then a determination is made as to whether a telephone directory number of the calling party is known. If the telephone number of the calling party is known, a determination is made as to whether the telephone number of the calling party matches a telephone number stored in the database of telephone numbers associated with telemarketer communications. If a match exists, the call is intercepted from reaching the subscriber of the call screening service.

Since the advent of modem telephony users of telephones have been burdened by unwanted and unsolicited telephone calls. In recent times telephone based commercial solicitations have exasperated this problem because telephone solicitors, also known as telemarketers, place calls to unsuspecting users at all hours of the day.
Systems have been developed for blocking or intercepting calls from telephone solicitors where the solicitor does not provide a telephone directory number or where the solicitor blocks caller identification for solicitor communication attempts. For example the caller identification for such telephone solicitors is often rendered as 'Private', 'Out of Area', 'Unavailable' or 'Blocked' etc. However such systems are ineffective at intercepting calls from undesired calling parties when the calling party does allow caller identification because the undesired call is allowed to come through to the called party. The called party then has no means of notifying the calling party not to call again unless the called party answers the phone and hears an initial marketing pitch. If a machine is utilized to make the call, the called party may experience another ringing telephone interruption only to answer to silence on the calling end with no opportunity to tell the caller not to call again. Although caller identification technology reveals who the caller is and undesired calls may be ignored, the caller is likely to call again unless told not to call again. Thus, the interruption of a ringing telephone from the same undesired telemarketers is not permanently resolved.
Accordingly there is an unaddressed need in the industry to address the aforementioned deficiencies and inadequacies.

Method and system for identifying telemarketer communications


The partial crown portion member comprises: the edge frame made from metal; and the shell body provided inside the edge frame and made from resin enveloping the inner edge of the edge frame. Inside the edge frame, the plural through-holes penetrating the front surface of the edge frame to the rear surface thereof are provided, while the shell body is inserted in the through-holes by casting manner. Since the front and rear surfaces of the inner edge of the edge frame, the through-holes are enveloped by casting manner, the adhesiveness thereof can be enhanced.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a golf club and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Description of the Related Art
As conventional known techniques of joining a metallic outer shell and a fiber-reinforced-plastic-made outer shell in order to configure a head body employing a hollow structure, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2003-205055 discloses ones such that: bonding a joining portion of the fiber-reinforced-plastic-made outer shell to both surfaces of a joining portion of the metallic outer shell; or forming a through-hole on the joining portion of the metallic outer shell so as to obtain joining strength of the metallic outer shell relative to the fiber-reinforced-plastic-made outer shell.
In those techniques, however, there is a problem that great adhesion can not be obtained when bonding them, and thus sufficient joining strength can not be obtained.

Golf club and method for manufacturing the same


A method of executing a loop computer program comprising receiving at an execution unit a set of state variables which define an entry state, wherein one of the state variables defines a sequence of loop options; recording the entry state in a storage unit; in the execution unit, executing a first loop option in the ordered sequence of loop options in the entry state, using as parameters at least one of the other state variables in the set of state variables, wherein executing the first loop option comprises cancelling the first loop option from the ordered sequence, carrying out processing steps using at least one state variable, and determining if any of the state variables have altered as a result of the processing steps, wherein if none of the state variables have altered, entering a next loop iteration with an entry state in which the first loop option is cancelled from the ordered sequence, revealing a new first loop option, and; if at least one of the state variables has altered, reinstating the cancelled first loop option in the ordered sequence and entering a next loop iteration with an entry state defined by the altered state variable(s) and the original ordered sequence, whereby each next loop iteration receives a new entry state.

Computer networks form the basis for IT (Information Technology) infrastructure in a wide variety of contexts. Such computer networks comprise interconnected devices of various types. The purpose of the network is to support the flow of messages between those devices so as to deliver information, applications and services, etc., over the network. A number of techniques are available for managing a network. In this context, managing a network includes monitoring the network to identify failure points and other problematic areas, such as hotspots, and providing information to administrators and users of the network to allow the problems to be fixed. There are a number of tools available for providing a network topology. The topology of a network identifies how devices in the network are physically or logically connected to each other. Thus, any particular single device may have one or more connections to a neighbour device. Computerised tools which "discover" a network are available, and they create network topologies which define the interconnection of the devices in the network, and the nature of those devices.
Determining network topology can be done in many ways. Techniques that can all be utilised separately or in combination to give a good representation of network connectivity include, for example:                Cisco Discovery Protocol (CDP)        Link Layer Discovery Protocol (LLDP)        SynOptics Network Management Protocol (SoNMP)        Spanning Tree Protocol (STP)        IP Traceroute        IPv6 Neighbour Discovery        user additions/modifications/deletions
Knowing the topology of a network is extremely useful, but it does not provide a solution to all of the problems which can occur. Networks are increasingly used to provide the infrastructure for supporting the delivery of applications and services between remote geographical locations, either over long distances or in extremely complex networks with a large number of interconnected devices. Increasingly, network administrators and users are interested to know not necessarily the full details of the network, but to understand the performance of the delivery of applications and services over a network. Thus, so-called "end to end" monitoring is becoming increasingly popular. With "end to end" monitoring, applications involving message flow from a source device to a destination device have their performance monitored as they are delivered between that source and destination device. The performance parameters can be used to estimate or guess at possible failures in the network, although they do not provide any specific information about the location of those failures and therefore do not point directly to a solution.
Often a source device is a server providing a particular service, and the destination device is a client terminal which is connected to the server via the network and which requires to use that service. The term "device" used herein is intended to cover any devices which can be connected in a network. The term "server" is used to denote a device which is responsible for delivering a service or application, and the term "client" is used to denote a device (either user-based or another dependent machine or server) which depends on that application or service.
A significant difficulty in guessing where a problem might lie when it can be seen that an application's performance is deteriorating is a lack of understanding about the path through the network that message flow for that application might have taken. Networks depend on many types of network devices (e.g. routers, switches, firewalls, load balancers, etc.) to connect their endpoint devices, such that it is extremely difficult to say for any given source endpoint how the message from that endpoint will be routed through the network to a given destination endpoint. The complexity of such path determination is exacerbated by the usage of multiple alternating paths, redundant paths, load balancing, etc.
Attempts have been made to predict how a particular packet will be routed through a network. Such predictions are based on a complex model of the network topology together with indications on a per device basis as to how a particular device will behave in the network. Network devices can be highly sophisticated, and there have been developed a large number of complex algorithms to determine a routing strategy at any particular device. Moreover, that routing strategy can depend on traffic and other environmental considerations which affect the network (such as failure of other devices, etc.). Complex algorithms which can be applied by a device to determine a routing strategy can include for example:                Ingress interface and ingress interface technology        Packet headers (L2, L3, MPLS, ATM, etc)        Static and directly connected routes        Shared routing tables (full knowledge of BGP, OSPF, RIP, EIGRP, etc—active neighbours, link states, route costs, route weights, etc.)        Learned MAC forwarding tables        Access control lists        Network overlay technologies (e.g. MPLS, 802.1q VLANs), etc.        Loop avoidance technologies—e.g. PVSTP        Tunnelling protocols (MPLS, IPSEC, SSL, GRE)        Load balanced/redundant links        Default gateways
However, even if it is in principle possible to predict where a given packet will be forwarded to next at a particular device, this requires a vast amount of data which is slow to gather, and can be out of date within seconds due to the real time nature of the operation of the routing devices. Furthermore, the mere acquisition of this data can place a significant load on both network devices and networks.
In addition, models required to simulate modern routing devices are extremely complex and, without the full model, their behaviour cannot be correctly predicted. To keep the model complete, it is necessary for such solutions to be regularly and rapidly updated to include developments in routing technologies.


A method and apparatus for implementing a sampling performance analysis for a selected application within a multi-thread operating system having a high degree of isolation between applications within the operating system. A trace function, such as the well known DosPtrace application program interface is established and utilized to control the execution of the selected application. The trace function is then utilized to insert a running thread program into the selected application which continuously generates breakpoint interrupts on a periodic basis. Each time a breakpoint interrupt is generated by the running thread program execution of the selected application is suspended and the current state of the selected application, including its location counter, is examined and stored. These stored indications of the state of the selected application are then utilized to automatically generate a report including a distribution of the execution times for the selected application. Thereafter, the performance of the selected application may be examined and areas of the application requiring excessive execution time may be identified.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates in general to the field of software application analysis and in particular to a method and apparatus for implementing a sampling performance analysis within a software application. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a method and apparatus for implementing a sampling performance analysis within a multi-thread operating system having a high degree of isolation between applications.
2. Description of the Related Art
Performance analysis of software applications within a data processing system is a well known technique in the prior art. Two basic techniques are generally utilized for such analysis. Firstly, a timing strategy may be utilized to analyze a software application. A system clock may be utilized to time selected events within the application by placing so-called "hooks" within the code of the application and then storing the time at which each of these "hooks" occurs.
This technique works well; however, it is necessary to be able to modify the application within the operating system in order to insert the software "hooks." Selected operating systems, such as the OS/2 Operating System distributed by International Business Machines Corporation of Armonk, N.Y., include a high degree of isolation between applications within the operating system and are not easily modifiable. In such an operating system the user may not be aware of the internal workings of an application within the operating system and may not be able to easily modify the code within an application.
A second technique for analyzing a software application to locate hot spots or areas which may take excessive amounts of execution time is the so-called "Monte Carlo" sampling performance analysis wherein a the execution location of the code within an application is periodically captured and utilized to perform a statistical analysis of the execution of that application. As above, a Monte Carlo analysis technique may not be utilized for a software application within a multi-thread operating system which includes a high degree of isolation between applications, due to the protective nature of the operating system. Thus, the information necessary to perform a Monte Carol analysis is not readily available.
It should therefore be apparent that a need exists for a method and apparatus for performing an execution analysis of a selected application within a multi-thread operating system having a high degree of isolation between applications within the operating system.

Performance analysis of program in multithread OS by creating concurrently running thread generating breakpoint interrupts to active tracing monitor


A system for providing a local computer user with detailed activity information regarding remote users, in order to assist the local user in determining whether to initiate a communication session with a remote user. The system provides activity information that may describe the number of instant messaging sessions one or more remote users are currently involved in, the identities of participants in those sessions, activity levels, time period information, and other information. The system further provides detailed activity information describing recent instant messaging sessions of one or more remote users.

In existing computer software systems, a category of software applications sometimes referred to as "presence technology" enables users to view or obtain indications of the on-line status of other users. The on-line status indications provided by existing systems indicate the current availability of remote users for real-time communication sessions. Instant messaging (IM) systems are a popular example of presence technology. Instant messaging systems are typically client-server software, in which a client application program executes on a local user's hardware system, in cooperation with one or more associated server programs, typically executing on one or more remote server computer systems. Many instant messaging systems enable a user to define a "buddy list", consisting of a list of colleagues, workgroup members, friends, etc., that the user wishes to communicate with via the instant messaging application. An instant messaging communication session or dialog involving two or more users is sometimes referred to as a "chat" session.
Existing instant messaging client software enables a local user to determine if one or more remote users in his or her buddy list are currently engaged in any instant messaging chat sessions. For example, an interface described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,793,365 of Tang et al. provides a local user with activity information regarding another user, such as a user in the local user's workgroup. However, such existing systems are limited in their specific capabilities. Significantly, existing systems do not enable a local user to determine the number of chat sessions another user is currently engaged in, or the other user's activity level in any such current chat sessions. It would be desirable to have access to such detailed current activity information, since knowing that a person is currently highly active in a relatively large number of active chat sessions may be a good indication that it may not be an appropriate time to initiate an instant messaging dialog or discussion with the remote user until their activity level decreases significantly. Additionally, existing systems include no way for a local user to determine whether a remote user has been involved in any chat sessions in the recent past, or with whom the remote user has been chatting with. Such information would also be useful to the local user while using instant messaging or other types of communication systems to contact remote users.
For these reasons and others, it would be desirable to have a system that provides information to a local user regarding the number of chat sessions a remote user is involved in, and indications of the activity levels within such current chat sessions. It would further be desirable for the system to conveniently provide indications of the identities of persons that a remote user has been chatting with, and detailed information regarding chat sessions of that remote user in the recent past.

Receiving and presenting detailed activity information regarding current and recent instant messaging sessions of remote users


An engine of a hybrid electric vehicle is started following a determination that the vehicle is not moving, the ignition system is in a run state, a door is open, and the engine is not running to alert a driver that the vehicle is in a drive state.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to systems and methods for alerting a driver of a hybrid electric vehicle that the vehicle is in a drive state.
2. Discussion
When a key is left in an ignition in the OFF or ACCESSORY positions of a conventional vehicle, and a door is opened, a chime may be activated. If, however, the key is in the RUN position when the door is opened, the engine may also be heard and/or felt. Hearing the engine running may be a definitive reminder that the key was left in the RUN position.

System and method for alerting a driver of a hybrid electric vehicle that the vehicle is in a drive state


A video processing method for a three-dimensional (3D) display is based on a multi-cue process. The method may include acquiring a cut boundary of a shot by performing a shot boundary detection with respect to each frame of an input video, computing a texture saliency with respect to each pixel of the input video, computing a motion saliency with respect to each pixel of the input video, computing an object saliency with respect to each pixel of the input video based on the acquired cut boundary of the shot, acquiring a universal saliency with respect to each pixel of the input video by combining the texture saliency, the motion saliency, and the object saliency, and smoothening the universal saliency of each pixel using a space-time technology.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to a video processing method, and more particularly, to a video processing method for a three-dimensional (3D) display based on a multi-cue process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, a three-dimensional (3D) display market has been rapidly expanding in various fields including the medical business, education, the entertainment business, the manufacturing business, and the like. Consumers may use a great number of 3D documents, in particular, 3D films. Thus, the 3D display market is expected to expand more rapidly in the years to come.
In the movie industry, numerous 3D films have been produced each year. However, most of the produced 3D films may correspond to image documents taken by a single camera and stored in a two-dimensional (2D) format. Since a monocular 2D video may not have depth information corresponding to an object photographed by a camera, a 3D image may not be directly displayed.
Thus, a huge potential of the 3D display market may enable a technology of converting a 2D image to a 3D image, to command attention from people in a related field.
Existing processes and technologies of converting a 2D image to a 3D image, for example, TRIDEF 3D EXPERIENCE of Dynamic Digital Depth (DDD) Inc., may comply with a similar process. After a likelihood depth map is estimated from an input video sequence, a 3D vision may be composed by combining a video with the likelihood depth map. To recover depth information of a video scene, the video may be analyzed using various depth cues, for example, a shadow, a motion estimation, a texture pattern, a focus/defocus, a geometric perspective, and a statistical model. Even though a conventional converting process may have an obvious effect, a practical application has not been prepared for the following reasons. A first reason may be based on an extreme assumption that a depth cue may have a favorable effect only with respect to a predetermined visual scene, and the predetermined visual scene may correspond to a video document having general interference. Secondly, it may be difficult to generate a consistent depth result by combining various cues. Thirdly, it may be inappropriate to recover a depth from a monocular image or a video. On some occasions, a visual depth may not be measured without multi-angle information to be used.
A saliency image may visually indicate an intensity of a visual scene. The saliency image has been studied for over a couple of decades in a brain and visual science field.
FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary visual scene and a related saliency image. As illustrated in FIG. 1, a brightness region of the saliency image may indicate an object for commanding attention from an observer. Since the saliency image may provide relatively valuable information in a scene having a low level, the saliency image is being widely used in a great number of mechanical version processes, for example an automatic target detection and a video compression.
However, an existing technology using a saliency may not be applied to a conversion from a 2D image to a 3D image. Even though a saliency image generated through an existing process may sufficiently express an important object in a scene, the saliency image may have the following drawbacks.
A block shape may appear, saliency information may not accurately conform to a boundary of an object, a relatively large object may appear significantly brightly, and an overall object may not be filled.
A further drawback may be only a static characteristic, for example, an intense/saturation, a brightness, and a location may be processed, and a dynamic cue, for example, an object in motion and a person, providing importance visual information in a video document may not be processed.

Video processing method for 3D display based on multi-cue process


A method is described for monitoring a data memory in which an error detection method is used to detect and/or correct incorrect data words stored in memory lines of the data memory, an address of the data memory at which a data word evaluated as incorrect by the error detection method is stored being written to an auxiliary memory and being made available to a checking program.

Modern microcontrollers require data memories having a capacity of several hundred kilobytes, for example for static data memory (RAM, or Random Access Memory), or several megabytes, for example for the permanent storage of programs in so-called flash memories. Corresponding to the large memory volumes, or the technical realization thereof, data errors are comparatively frequent or at least probable. There are two fundamental types of error occurrences: the first are permanent errors, in the case of which repeated write and read cycles do not yield improvement. Secondly, in RAM memories individual data errors that disappear after a write-read cycle may occur, caused for example by alpha radiation.
Therefore, in order to improve data security error-securing methods (ECC, or Error Correction Code) are often used. For example, one-bit errors can always be corrected, two-bit errors can always be detected, and multi-bit errors can usually, but not always, be detected. However, the ECC method evaluates many data words having multiple errors as, in some cases, a data word differing from the original content and having a bit error, and correspondingly corrects these words wrongly.
Application of a sample ECC method to randomly produced data words has shown that this ECC method for example evaluates 28% of a sequence of data words as valid data words having an individual error, and evaluates the remaining 72% of the data words as invalid, relative to a respective formation rule of the ECC method. In security-critical applications, however, the requirements of international standards are very high. For example, the norm ISO 26262, ASIL-D requires that more than 99% of such randomly produced data words must be recognized as invalid.
Therefore, conventional expanded measures provide the increasing of a number of check bits added by the data words (so-called redundant bits) in order to improve the correction or detection of data errors even in the case of multi-bit errors. This requires an additional outlay of memory elements of the data memory, and correspondingly makes this memory more expensive.
In addition, the ECC method can be carried out in two steps, by applying, in succession, a so-called inner coding (ECC) and an outer coding (EDC, CRC) to the data words. However, this method is also connected with a high outlay and is expensive.


A method and system for providing an indoor map representation are provided herein. Aspects of this disclosure provide a representation of an indoor map environment whereby navigable areas are represented by a series of convex polygons in adjacency relationships with one another. Image analysis may be performed on a floor plan image to identify navigable areas and to determine the boundaries of the polygons, such as by assigning one or more colors to navigable space and one or more colors to non-navigable space. Route-finding operations may be performed using the adjacency relationships to find a path from a source area to a destination area.

The proliferation of smart phones and other mobile devices has placed more processing power in the hands of consumers than ever before. These mobile devices are capable of executing a variety of applications, including applications that assist with navigation and route-finding. Traditional global positioning system (GPS) navigation devices are used to assist automobile owners with driving operations from a source to a destination, and navigation software is generally developed with the use-case of driving directions in mind. These devices may provide map data in the form of a road graph, with valid driving paths represented by line segments which intersect at various points, and which have a directionality element indicating valid directions of travel along the line segments. Such a design is efficient for use in situations where the user is travelling via a vehicle, as the vehicle is limited to particular pathways of travel.
However, as mobile devices increasingly contain route finding software, various solutions that provide for walking and indoor navigation have also been developed. The road graph as described above is not suitable for a walking or indoor environment because it may be overly complicated for a mobile device to process, and because users generally travel within open space, rather than along set pathways. When finding the path between two points on a map in a road graph model, if an end point is not located on the road, the end point may be approximated by a point on a road using a metric such as the shortest distance to the point. For this reason, such representations may not be optimal for areas with open space or other navigable space that cannot be efficiently represented by line segments. For example, an indoor map using a road graph representation might represent hallways and corridors as line segments. Such a representation may incorrectly identify a user as located within a hallway when in fact they are present in a room connected to that hallway. Thus, navigation map data provided by a road graph may be overly complicated and inefficient for the purposes of providing a representation of an indoor navigation environment.

Navigating using an indoor map representation


An antenna and antenna feed assembly for a communication handset is constructed as a unitary assembly in which each of the antenna and antenna feed, suitably a balun, conform to a cylindrical geometry and is small enough in size for handset applications.

A key factor to the growth of present cellular telephone systems is the portable telephone's convenient small size and light weight. That allows the person to carry the portable telephone in a coat pocket, which is most convenient. As a consequence of that convenience and its recognized utility, the number of portable telephone subscribers continues to grow.
Various communications satellite systems under development, such as that system referred to as Odessey, are intended to provide improved wireless digital telephone communications for ground based mobile telephone subscribers, a term encompassing those who transport the telephone on their person. In those systems, a sufficient number of satellites in medium earth orbit MEO), suitably twelve in Odessey, are to provide communication coverage over a major portion of the earth. Using a self contained battery operated digital wireless portable telephone handset to communicate with those satellite communications systems, the telephone subscriber is expected to be able to contact or be contacted by others anywhere on earth.
Because the distance from the user's handset to the RF repeating equipment in the communications satellite is much greater than the analogous distance between a cellular user's handset to the telephone cellular repeater equipment, typically found nearby atop tall buildings, and because the transmission frequencies employed in the satellite system is significantly higher, the handset equipment used in the existing cellular system, specifically the antennas, cannot retain their structure and be scaled in size for use in such satellite systems. Among other things, the change requires different antenna technology.
Due to its superior performance compared to other types of antennas, the known stacked quadrifilar helix antenna (QHA), used earlier in the INMARSAT satellite system, has been proposed by others for use in the Odessey system. The quadrifilar helix antenna is composed of four identical helixes wound, equally spaced, on a cylindrical surface. For transmitting, the helices are fed with signals equal in amplitude and 0, -90, -180, and -270 degrees in relative phase to produce circularly polarized electromagnetic radiation (RF). That antenna provides a generally hemispherical radiation pattern.
A stacked quadrifilar helix antenna incorporates two such antennas, one located over the other along the same cylindrical axis. The upper antenna serves for transmitting RF energy at one frequency and the lower antenna for receiving RF energy at another frequency, which, for Odessey, are suitably of 1.618 GHz and 2.483 GHz, respectively, in the microwave frequency range.
Owing to the possible small size, light weight and circular polarization properties, apart from its feed network, that quadrifilar helix antenna appears attractive. However the antenna's helices are fed microwave energy by either a quadrature coupler or by a balun. A balun is a passive RF matching device that converts a transmission line carrying the transmit and/or receive signals, such as a coaxial cable, strip line or microstrip and the like, into a balanced feeder. At microwave frequencies, resonant transmission lengths in baluns act as wave traps and incorporated feed phase inverters. It is an equal power divider, in the case of transmitted microwaves, and an equal power combiner in the case of received microwaves, having perfect return loss at the input, no matter what kind of electrical impedance appears at the outputs. Although the foregoing balun feed network properly functions in the antenna combination, proving the technology's worth, a significant practical disadvantage to the present is that the feed system is large in physical size, larger than the size of the electronic equipment in the handset. The quadrature coupler also has that disadvantage.
Consequently, if used on a handset communicator, the handset unit could not be conveniently stowed in ones coat pocket, and, as a consequence, the commercial viability of the communication system appears implicitly threatened by a foreseeable inability to attract the interest of sufficient numbers of consumers to carry about an awkward device. That concern provides incentive for an antenna system that is small enough or an antenna feed that is small enough in size that makes practical a communicator package or handset that may be carried within ones coat pocket.
An object of the present invention, therefore, is to realize an antenna package for a handheld portable battery operated communication transceiver, a wireless telephone, into a small size, small enough to be "consumer friendly", allowing the consumer to conveniently carry the telephone on the person. An ancillary object is to provide the foregoing at low manufacturing cost while maintaining acceptable levels of RF performance. An additional object of the invention is to provide a new geometry for a microstrip balun structure. The present invention realizes those objectives.

Feed network for quadrifilar helix antenna


A lifting assembly for raising and supporting a load includes a removable and reusable lifting bracket. The lifting bracket is designed to fit around and support a support bracket that supports a load. The support bracket is installed on the pole of the pier and engages the edge of the load. The lifting bracket is removably attached to a jacking apparatus for pushing or pulling the piering pole through the support bracket and raising the load on the support bracket. After the lifting operation, the lifting bracket is removed from the jacking apparatus and the support bracket attached to the piering pole for use on adjacent piers and on other lifting assemblies.

The present invention relates generally to piering systems for raising and supporting building foundations and the like, and more particularly to a lifting assembly comprising a removable and reusable lifting bracket and a support bracket for raising and supporting a load.
Many types of building structures are supported by foundations that in turn are supported by soil rather than by more stable bedrock or other supporting strata. Shifting of the supporting soil over time can cause the foundation to sink, which can lead to various problems including structural damage. Unless the foundation is supported, further shifting can occur and worsen the structural damage. Furthermore, it is frequently desirable to raise the foundation to its original level in order to facilitate restoration of the structure to a proper condition.
In foundation piering systems, the foundation of a structure is excavated down to the footings at each pier location, pilings are driven into the ground through unstable soils to rock or load bearing strata by hydraulic rams for lifting and stabilizing the foundation and preventing future settlement. A support bracket is attached to the foundation footings from below and raised by hydraulic rams for vertical adjustment of the foundation.
Many devices and methods have been developed for raising and supporting a foundation. Many such devices and methods employ piers that are driven into the ground adjacent an edge of the foundation until the piers encounter bedrock or other relatively firm supporting strata. Jacking devices are used for jacking up the edge of the foundation, using the piers for support. When the foundation is raised to the desired level, the foundation is affixed to the piers and the jacking equipment is removed.
In some such lifting devices, brackets are affixed to the foundation and are slidably engaged with the piers, and the jacking devices engage the brackets for raising the foundation. A bracket typically includes a pier-receiving portion such as a collar or sleeve that surrounds the pier in close-fitting fashion, and a support plate rigidly affixed to the pier-receiving portion and configured to engage a lower surface of a foundation. The pier-receiving portion is sized to fit closely about the pier so that the bracket is able to slide upward and downward along the pier but is substantially prevented from moving in any other direction.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,142,710 to Holland Jr. discloses a lifting assembly for raising and supporting an edge of a foundation that includes a lifting saddle slidably received over a pier that is driven into the ground adjacent the edge of the foundation, a bracket supported by the lifting saddle and adapted to be affixed to and to support the foundation, and a jacking apparatus configured to be supported atop an upper end of the pier. The lifting saddle is connected to the jacking apparatus by threaded rods slidably received through the jacking apparatus. The bracket is pivotally connected to the lifting saddle such that the bracket can rock side-to-side, thus self-aligning and remaining aligned with the foundation during a lifting operation. The bracket can also pivot about a vertical axis and can slide in a forward or rearward direction relative to the lifting saddle. The lifting saddle can pivot relative to the pier about a horizontal axis.
The prior art discloses lifting assemblies including a support bracket and a lifting bracket that are attached to a jacking apparatus for lifting a supporting a foundation. The support bracket and lifting bracket are fixed components of a piering system that are not removable or reusable. The present invention provides a lifting bracket that is removable from the support bracket, piering pole and jacking apparatus and can be reused on other lifting assemblies.