Performing communications between numerical control apparatus 1a and peripheral devices (composed of at least one of a servo amplifier 2a, a spindle amplifier 3a and a remote I/O unit 4a) by connecting a numerical control apparatus 1a and peripheral devices using a communication cable composed of a pair of data transmission cables 7 for transmission and a pair of data transmission cables 8, in a numerical control system having numerical control apparatus 1a and peripheral devices composed of at least one of a servo amplifier 2a, a spindle amplifier 3a and a remote I/O unit 4a.

FIG. 18 shows a configuration of NC apparatus as a related art example, where components in the NC apparatus are interconnected via a network. In the figure, a numeral 50 represents a numerical controller (hereinafter referred to as an NC section), 51 numerical control means (hereinafter referred to as NC means) for controlling the entire NC apparatus, 52 PMC control means for controlling a machine tool, 53 a first network controller for controlling a network 60, 54a, 54b shaft controllers, 55a, 55b shaft control means for controlling a servo driving system, 56a, 56b second network controllers for controlling the network 60, 57 a screen controller, 58 screen control means for controlling I/O apparatus such as a CRT/MDI, and 59 a third network controller for controlling the network 60. The NC apparatus is composed of an NC section 50, shaft controllers 54a, 54b, and a screen controller 57. These components are interconnected via the network 60.
FIG. 19 shows a connection between NC apparatus, driving amplifiers and remote I/O units as a related art example. In the figure, a numeral 61 represents NC apparatus, 62 (62a, 62b) servo amplifiers for driving a servo motor (not shown), 63 (63a, 63b) spindle amplifiers for driving a spindle motor (not shown), 64 (64a, 64b) remote I/O units as external I/Os of the NC apparatus 61, and 65 (65a, 65b) line terminals. A numeral 66 (66a–66f) represents ID setup switches mounted on the servo amplifiers 62, spindle amplifiers 63 and remote I/O units 64 connected to the NC apparatus 61 in order to assign a station address and a communication time. A numeral 67 (67a, 67b) represents a communication hardware setup switches mounted on the remote I/O units.
A numeral 70 represents a data transmission cable for communications from the NC apparatus 61 to the servo amplifiers 62 and the spindle amplifiers 63 (hereinafter referred to as driving amplifiers), 71 a data transmission cable for communications from the driving amplifiers to the NC apparatus 61, 72 a data transmission cable for an emergency stop signal, and 73 a data transmission cable for a servo alarm. A servo communication line 74 is composed of four pairs of the aforementioned data transmission cables 70 through 73. A remote I/O communication line 76 is composed of a data transmission cable 75 for communications between the NC apparatus and the remote I/O units.
The NC apparatus 61 is connected to the driving amplifiers (servo amplifiers 62, spindle amplifiers 63) and the servo communication lines 74 and the connection is terminated by the line terminal 65a. The NC apparatus is connected to the remote I/O units 64 and the remote I/O communication line 76 and the connection is terminated by the line terminal 65b.
FIG. 20 shows a serial connection between NC apparatus and driving amplifiers as a related art example. In the figure, a numeral 61 represents NC apparatus, 62 (62a, 62b) servo amplifiers 63 (63a, 63b) spindle amplifiers, 77 a transmission controller, and 78 a receiving controller. As shown in the figure, the NC apparatus 61, the servo amplifiers 62 (62a, 62b) and the spindle amplifiers 63 (63a, 63b) each has a transmission controller 77 and a receiving controller 78 used as a pair.
FIG. 21 shows communications in the NC system (one communication cycle) as a related art example. FIG. 21(a) shows communications between NC apparatus and driving amplifiers (one communication cycle). FIG. 21(b) shows communications between NC apparatus and remote I/O units (one communication cycle).
In FIG. 21(a), a numeral 80 (80a, 80b) represents communication frames transmitted from NC apparatus to driving amplifiers, and 81 (81a–81g) communication frames transmitted from a driving amplifier to NC apparatus. Communications between NC apparatus and driving amplifiers use a bidirectional full-duplex communication system via a pair of data transmission cables 70 and a pair of data transmission cables 71, as shown in FIG. 19.
In the communications from NC apparatus to driving amplifiers using the data transmission cable 70, the NC apparatus 61 as a master station transmits an arbitrary number of communication frames 80 to destination driving amplifiers in an arbitrary time during a communication cycle. A driving amplifier as a slave station constantly supervises the communication frames 80 transmitted from the NC apparatus 61 via the receiving controller 78 shown in FIG. 20 and receives the communication frames destined for the driving amplifier.
In the communications from a driving amplifier to NC apparatus using the data transmission cable 71, any one of a plurality of driving amplifiers may serve as a master station. Thus, the communication cycle undergoes time-division via a plurality of driving amplifiers and shared by the driving amplifiers and a driving amplifier as a master station transmits communication frames 81 (81a–81g) in a split communication time assigned. The NC apparatus 61 as a slave station receives the communication frames 81 transmitted from the other master stations on a per split communication time basis.
In FIG. 21(b), a numeral 82 (82a–82e) represents communication frames transmitted from the NC apparatus 61 to the remote I/O units 64, and 83 (83a–83e) communication frames transmitted from the remote I/O units 64 to the NC apparatus 61. As shown in FIG. 19, communications between NC apparatus and remote I/O units use a half-duplex communications system where the data transmission cable 75 for communications between NC apparatus and remote I/O units is shared by the NC apparatus 61 as a master station and a plurality of remote I/O units 64 and data is transmitted based on time division of a communication cycle.
One of the NC apparatus 61 and a plurality of remote I/O units 64 acts as a mater station and transmits communication frames 82 or communication frame 83. Devices other than the master station supervise the transmitted communication frames 82 as slave stations and receive communication frames 82 destined therefor.
In the aforementioned FIG. 21(a) and FIG. 21(b), in communications from a driving amplifier or remote I/O unit to NC apparatus, any one of a plurality of driving amplifiers and remote I/O units may serve as a master station. Thus, in order to perform time-division-based communications from a remote I/O unit to NC apparatus, communication time must be assigned so that the remote I/O units will not use time-division-based communication time in a overlapped fashion. Assignment of a station addresses and communication times is made by specifying ID numbers by using the ID setup switches 66.
FIG. 22 shows a configuration of a communication frame as a related art example. In case a plurality of slave stations exist, slave stations each is given its own station address. The master station specifies a specific slave station to perform communications with the slave station alone. In the figure, a numeral 84 represents a start flag, 85 a station address, 86 data, 87 a CRC (cyclic redundancy check), and 88 an end flag. The slave station supervises the station address 85 in the transmitted communication frame. The slave station receives the communication frame in case the station address has matched the pre-allocated station address or the station address specifies all the slave stations.
As mentioned earlier, in a related art NC system, communications between NC apparatus and driving amplifiers use a communications method including a communication cycle different from that communications between NC apparatus and remote I/O units, as shown in FIGS. 21(a) and 21(b). Thus the driving amplifiers and remote I/O units are connected to the NC apparatus via separate transmission lines as shown in FIG. 19. This leads to a problem of increased number of cables and more complicated wiring.
FIG. 23 shows communications (one communication cycle) as a related art example. By executing time-division of a communication cycle using a plurality of peripheral devices composed of driving amplifiers and remote I/O units, communications are performed while driving amplifiers and remote I/O units having different communication cycles are connected to the same transmission line. This configuration uses a single communication line, unlike a plurality of separate communication lines used as communication cables for driving amplifiers and communication cables for remote I/O units.
FIG. 23 shows the use state of the communication time of communication frames used in communications from NC apparatus to peripheral devices (servo amplifiers, spindle amplifiers, remote I/O units) and communications from peripheral devices to NC apparatus. In the figure, a numeral 89 (89a–89f) represents communication frames from NC apparatus to peripheral devices, 90 (90a–90f) communication frames from peripheral devices to NC apparatus. In communications from numerical control to peripherals devices, numerical control may serve as a master station. As shown in the figure, communication frames 89 are output by NC apparatus as a master station at an arbitrary time within the communication cycles.
In communications from peripherals devices to numerical control, any one of a plurality of peripheral devices may serve as a master station. Thus, the communication cycle undergoes time division and split communication times are assigned to peripheral devices without overlapping. A peripheral device acts as a master station only in the assigned time and communicates to NC apparatus as a slave station. As shown in the figure, communication frames 90 destined for NC apparatus are output from the peripheral device as a master station in the time assigned to the master station.
As mentioned earlier, it is possible to perform communications by connecting peripheral devices having different communication cycles to the same transmission line. In case time division is made in the peripheral device acting as a master station, it is necessary to perform communications in the shortest communication cycle. Thus the communication time is also assigned to devices that do not require a short communication cycle thereby worsening the communication efficiency.
In a related art NC system, as sow in FIG. 19, communications between NC apparatus and driving amplifiers use two pairs of data transmission cables for reporting an emergency stop signal that is not used in ordinary communications, on top of two pairs of data transmission cables for data communications. This leads to higher costs with respect to features and use frequency. These cables also complicates the wiring.
An approach is envisaged that two pairs of data transmission cables for reporting an emergency stop signal are omitted by providing a communication frame dedicated to an emergency stop signal and communicating an emergency stop signal in a communication cycle by using two pairs of data transmission cables for data communications. However, in case an emergency stop signal is transmitted in a dedicated communication frame, it is necessary to assign a time to accommodate a communication frame dedicated to an emergency stop signal in a communication cycle, thus requiring sufficient time. Further, in order to assure real-time conveyance of emergency stop information, it is necessary to insert a plurality of communication frames dedicated to an emergency stop signal in a communication cycle. When sufficient time is not available to follow such a procedure, quick conveyance of emergency stop information is disabled.
In case a communication frame dedicated to an emergency stop signal is not provided but emergency stop information is appended in a communication frame for transmission used in ordinary communications, it is necessary to check for emergency stop information on a per communication frame basis in order to detect emergency stop information in real time. This leads to a longer wait time in CPU processing caused by data retrieval from all the communication frames transmitted, thereby degrading the CPU performance.
An approach is envisaged that optical transmission module supporting high-speed data transmission are used in order to assure real-time conveyance of emergency stop information.
However, in case data transmission is performed via serial connection using optical transmission modules as a plurality of driving amplifiers composed of servo amplifiers and spindle amplifiers, high-speed data transmission is effected via a lightwave signal in a fiber-optic cable but transmission delay is generated in a driving amplifier, because it is necessary to convert a received lightwave signal to an electric signal, extract a data component and a clock component from the electric signal, store the components in a buffer, then transmit the components in synchronization with a transmit clock. This transmission delay accumulates as often as the number of connected driving amplifiers so that a time lag occurs in a synchronization signal receiving time depending on the location of connection (in which ordinal rank from the NC apparatus the target driving amplifier is connected) even when a synchronization signal is transmitted from NC apparatus to a driving amplifier on a per communication cycle basis. This causes dislocation of the synchronization timing between driving amplifiers even if the driving amplifier performs synchronization at the moment it has received a synchronization signal.
FIG. 24 shows the operation of a communication control buffer in communications using optical transmission modules as a related art example. In the figure, a numeral 91 represents a communication control buffer composed of a 32-bit FIFO (first-in, first-out), 92 a write pointer, and 93 a read pointer.
The write pointer 92 writes 1-bit receive data in synchronization with the clock component of the receive data and shifts the pointer by one bit. The read pointer 93 reads 1-bit data from the communication control buffer in synchronization with the clock component of the transmit data and shifts the pointer by one bit. Moving speed of the write pointer 92 does not match the moving speed of the read pointer 93. In case the transmit clock component is faster than the receive clock component, the read pointer 93 passes the write pointer 92 thus causing the bit pattern of a flag to be generated inadvertently. In order to prevent the bit pattern of a flag from being generated inadvertently while processing effective data, the number of data pieces in one-round transmit frame is limited so as to prevent the pointer passing phenomenon and the write pointer 92 is placed 16 bits apart from the read pointer 93 each time the flag of a frame is received.
In the aforementioned optical transmission module supporting high-speed transmission, restriction on the structure of bits in data is provided, such as "The number of successive 1s or 0s in transmission data shall be seven or below," and "The incidence of 1 and 0 in transmission data is 50 percent," in order to normally extract the data component and the clock component of receive data. In general a flag is appended at each of the head and tail of a transmit frame. When a bit structure such as "01111110" is selected for a bit pattern as a flag and the bit pattern is transmitted more than once, the incidence of "1" is excessively higher than that of "0" thus considerably degrading the communication performance in the optical transmission module thus preventing successful extraction of data component and clock component.
The method to set ID numbers using switches and to specify station addresses and communication times (transmit timing) for time-division-based communications leads to higher costs due to increased number of parts including switches, cumbersome setting work, increased set time, and human setting errors.
Communications in a related art NC system has a transmission controller and a receiving controller used as a pair. In this configuration, data communications between driving amplifiers are disabled, for example, data transmitted by the servo amplifier 62a to the NC apparatus 61 cannot be received by the servo amplifier 62b or the spindle amplifier 63b. Thus, data must be communicated by way of NC apparatus and high-speed inter-shaft correction is disabled.
The invention has been proposed to solve the foregoing problems. The first object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system that allows efficient communications wherein numerical control apparatus and peripheral devices composed of at least one of a servo amplifier, a spindle amplifier and a remote I/O unit are serially connected by using a communication cable composed of a data transmission cable for transmission and a data transmission cable for reception in order to perform time-division-based communications between the numerical control apparatus and the peripheral devices.
The second object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system that can transmit information related to emergency stop such as an alarm, gating off, and emergency stop in real time without using two pairs of twisted-pair cables dedicated to reporting of an emergency stop signal.
The third object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system that can set station addresses and communication times (transmit timing) for time-division-based communications without setting ID numbers via switch operation.
Another object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system that can perform synchronous control of a plurality of peripheral devices.
Another object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system that can communicate between peripheral devices.
Another object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system that can transmit information related to emergency stop such as an alarm, gating off, and emergency stop to devices connected upstream (hereinafter referred to as upstream nodes) as well as devices connected downstream (hereinafter referred to as downstream nodes).
Another object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system wherein, during data transmission using optical transmission modules, even in case the write pointer is out of synchronization with the read pointer in the communication control buffer or in case the communication control buffer is reset, a bit pattern obtained after the read pointer has moved is not a specific bit pattern serving as a flag.
Another object of the invention is to provide a numerical control system that maintains communication performance by bring the number of 1s and the number of 0s in balance for a start flag that is frequently used.

Numerical control system, and method of establishing communication timing in numerical control system


A small-sized uni-directional optical power monitor with an excellent directional characteristic is disclosed. The monitor comprises: a GRIN lens having a tap film for transmitting and reflecting an optical signal from an input and an output optical fiber with a predetermined ratio; and a photodiode having a lens for detecting and measuring part of the optical signal that has transmitted through the tap film. The tap film of the GRIN lens is connected to the photodiode by an opaque black sleeve having two continuous circular holes serving as an internal optical path between them. The two circular holes are parallel to each other, their center axes are shifted from each other, and the two circular holes communicate each other through a through-hole at the sleeve intermediate position. The portion of the optical signal coming from one of the optical fibers and transmitting through the tap film passes through the two circular holes and the through-hole and is detected by the photodiode. Since one of the circular holes has a vertical wall at the sleeve intermediate position, an optical signal coming from the other optical fiber and transmitting through the tap film is obstructed by the wall and is not measured by the photodiode.

Information and communication technology (ICT) innovation has recently had remarkable growth and development and is shifting toward optical signal communications from electric signal communications in order to accommodate needs of higher communication speed and increasing amount of information with proliferation of the Internet. Many trunk cables, collecting much information from various relay points, are being replaced with optical cables, thus having remarkably improved processing speed. Because communications between the optical cables and users' terminals will be reviewed from this time forward, the demand for more inexpensive and comfortable environmental arrangement of information and communication technologies is increasingly intensifying.
With the enhancement of optical communication networks, delivery and receipt of much information have been possible to make at higher speeds. Accordingly, development of new applications is on the rise and the amount of information being exchanged through optical communication networks has been further increased. To increase the amount of information to be processed by optical fibers, there has been presently used a technology for increasing quantity of signals per unit time by using high-frequency signals and simultaneously transmitting signals having various wavelengths about different types of information through one optical fiber, which is called a wavelength multiplexing system. For formation of a precise and highly reliable communication network, it is necessary to ensure multidirectional connection to a plurality of paths and use of a plurality of optical fibers is essential from the viewpoint of maintenance.
For formation of an optical communication circuit for transmitting a great many signals through an optical fiber, a Wavelength Division Multiplex (hereinafter referred to as "WDM") system is essential which divides optical signals subjected to wavelength multiplexing into respective wavelengths, and instead multiplexes optical signals of different types of wavelengths, and further branches or inserts optical signals. Accordingly, the amount of information has been increased and the importance of information to be handled has been more significant. If an optical signal has some fault, it is necessary to promptly grasp where and which optical signal has the fault and to verify optical signal intensity as needed in addition to presence of optical signal connection. Moreover, if a transfer distance is long, the optical signal intensity attenuates, which requires an Erbium Doped Fiber Amplifier, hereinafter referred to as "EDFA" for amplifying the optical signal. EDFA needs to exactly grasp the intensity of an optical signal inputted from the outside for evaluation of an amplification ratio and the intensity of an optical signal outputted to the outside after the amplification. Consequently, to develop an optical communication system with high reliability, such a precise monitoring function is indispensable.
The WDM system has fixed input and output directions of optical signals. Monitoring of the optical signals has required no particular directivity. On the other hand, the EDFA receives pump laser and propagates it in a special fiber for amplification of the optical signals. Accordingly, the amplified optical signals sometimes have their backflows and, to exactly determine the amplification level of the optical signals, a function is essential which detects only the optical signal from input fiber and will not detect the light returned from an output fiber.
A conventional monitoring method for general optical signals uses a technology which branches part of the optical signals with a photocoupler and detects the branched optical signals with a photodiode. Accordingly, fused connection of each component is required, which causes interference with reduction in mounting manpower. Moreover, the photocoupler has a structure which branches optical signals by approaching cores serving as optical signal propagating sections of optical fibers and the length of the approaching section is one of key parameters of a branching amount. This makes it difficult to miniaturize each of products, thus impairing reduction in component sizes. Recently, there are strong needs for downsizing the EDFA apparatus and no reduction of component size leads to restrictions on the miniaturization and high package density of the EDFA apparatus.
Patent Document 1 discloses an example of a bi-directional optical power monitor miniaturized for easy handling. FIG. 6 is a structure of the disclosed monitor. A multi-capillary glass ferrule 53 (equivalent to a pig tail fiber) having two optical fibers 51, 52, respectively (an input optical fiber 51 and an output optical fiber 52, respectively) and GRIN (Gradient Index) lens 54 are made to face each other through an air gap 55 with a predetermined length. On an end surface of the GRIN lens, a filter 56 (equivalent to a tap film) is provided to permit the light passing through the GRIN lens to reflect and penetrate. The light transmitting through the filter passes through an air gap 57 and is converted into an electric signal by a photon detector 58 (corresponding to a photodiode) to measure the intensity of the light inputted into the optical fiber. The multi-capillary glass ferrule 53 and the GRIN lens 54 are retained with glass tubes 60, 61. Because both the two optical fibers 51, 52 permits light inputs and outputs, this apparatus may be called a bi-directional optical power monitor. The GRIN lens is a glass column of which refraction factor varies radially and continuously toward the outer-periphery direction from the center line. The refraction factor becomes larger as it is nearer to the outer periphery, and as the light expands widely to the outer periphery, the traveling direction of the light is biased in the center line direction, so that the penetrating light gathers around the filter center.
The light incident into the air gap 55 from the input optical fiber 51, passing through the GRIN lens 54, reaches the filter 56 on the end surface of the GRIN lens. Most of the light which has reached the filter 56 reflects, passes through the GRIN lens 54 and the air gap 55 and enters the output optical fiber 52 to produce output light. Part of the light which has reached the filter 56 transmits through the filter 56, passes through the air gap 57, enters the photon detector 58 and is converted into an electric signal for output. Such a series of optical paths are indicated by solid-line arrows. On the contrary, when the light is entered from the output optical fiber 52, it has the same passage as the above-described optical path, so that the light can be removed from the input optical fiber 51. The light which has penetrated through the filter 56 passes through the air gap 57, enters the photon detector 58 and is converted into an electric signal for output. Such a series of optical paths are indicated by broken-line arrows.
Non-patent Document 1 discloses an example of an optical power monitor having uni-directionality. FIG. 7 illustrates a structure of the disclosed power monitor. The names of parts use those used in Non-patent Document 1. A two-core ferrule 80 (equivalent to a pig tail fiber) having two of an input optical fiber 81 and an output optical fiber 82 called as a port 1 and a port 2 respectively is butted against a GRIN lens 83. On an end surface of the GRIN lens 83, a dielectric mirror 84 (equivalent to a tap film) is formed to conduct reflection and transmission of light. The center line of the GRIN lens is disposed, shifted from that of the photo-detector 85 (equivalent to a photodiode).
The following is an explanation of an optical flow. The light (input light) incident from the input optical fiber 81 (port 1) passes through GRIN lens 83 and reflects and penetrates using the dielectric mirror 84. The reflected light passes through the GRIN lens and enters the output optical fiber 82 (port 2) to produce output light. The light, which has transmitted through the dielectric mirror, enters a photo-detector 85, is converted into an electric signal and outputted as an electric signal. Such a series of optical paths are indicated by solid-line arrows. Next, the light coming from the output optical fiber 92 (port 2) will be described below. The light coming from the output optical fiber 82 passes through the GRIN lens 83 and is reflected by and is made to transmit through the dielectric mirror 84. The reflected light passes through the GRIN lens again and enters the input optical fiber 81 (port 1) to become the output light. The light, which has transmitted through the dielectric mirror, does not enter the photo-detector 85 but is discharged to the outside because the optical axis (center line) of GRIN lens is shifted from the optical axis (center line) of the photo-detector 85. Accordingly, the intensity of the incoming light from the output optical fiber 82 (port 2) is impossible to measure. Such a series of optical paths are indicated by broken-line arrows. In other words, there is used an optical power monitor which has uni-directionality, that is, the following phenomenon: the intensity of the incoming light from the input optical fiber 81 (port 1) is possible to measure and the intensity of the incoming light from the output optical fiber 82 (port 2) is not possible to measure.
In the directional characteristic of the uni-directional optical power monitor, a ratio of the optical sensitivity A (μA/w) of an photodiode obtained when light is inputted from the input optical fiber to the optical sensitivity B (μA/w) of an photodiode obtained when the same light is inputted from the output optical fiber is expressed as a unit of dB and determined from the directional characteristic=10 log10(A/B). The uni-directional optical power monitor requires a directional characteristic of at least 25 dB.
For the uni-directional optical power monitor illustrated in FIG. 7, a positional relationship between the optical axis of the GRIN lens and the optical axis of the photodiode is described, however, a detailed structure of the optical path between the GRIN lens and the photodiode is not described. The uni-directional optical power monitor requires to position and fix the GRIN lens and the photodiode with a sleeve or the like. If the GRIN lens approaches the photodiode too much, even the light transmitted from any optical fiber is detected, therefore the GRIN lens should be distant from the photodiode by at least a certain distance.
Patent Document 1: U.S. Pat. No. 6,603,906
Non-patent Document 1: Preprint, Lecture No. C-3-51, page 183, FIG. 3, for the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers in Japan held on Mar. 28, 2002


An oscillator or a sensor comprising a unit including two frequency determining elements each of which comprises at least one interdigital converter for acoustic surface waves and a back-coupling circuit comprising an amplifier, wherein the frequency determining elements are distinguished by a temperature dependence of a synchronous frequency. The frequency determining elements are embodied in the form of acoustic surface wave resonators, and the temperature coefficients of n-th order of the synchronous frequency of the two acoustic surface wave resonators have different sings if they are not equal to zero and the temperature coefficients of (n+1st) order of the synchronous frequency of the two acoustic surface wave resonators have the same sign and the temperature coefficients from the first order to (n-1st) order of the synchronous frequency of the two acoustic surface wave resonators are equal to zero if n is greater than 1, wherein n being equal to or greater than 1, c) the ratio between the converter openings and the ratio between the lengths in the direction perpendicular to the edge teeth of the converter and to strips of the object reflectors having different frequency determining elements which are assembled in one unit are selected in such a way that the oscillator frequency variation is minimum within the range of given temperatures.

The invention relates to the field of electrical engineering and electronics. Objects, for which the application is possible and appropriate, are components based on acoustic surface waves, such as oscillators and sensors, especially those sensors, for which the variation in the temperature of the oscillator frequency can be adjusted.
Oscillators are known, which comprise a composite of two frequency-determining elements, of which each element contains at least one interdigital converter for acoustic surface waves and a feedback from the output to the input of the composite containing an amplifier, the frequency-determining elements differing from one another due to the temperature dependence of the synchronous frequency.
In the case of a special embodiment, the composite of two frequency-determining elements contains two delay leads, the substrates of which belong to one and the same crystalline section, but use different splitting directions (T. J. Browning and M. F. Lewis, "A novel technique for improving the temperature stability of SAW/SSBW devices" in Proc. 1978 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pages 474 to 474 (1)). The ST section of quartz serves as crystalline section. In the case of the ST section, the section normal is inclined at an angle of 42.75° to the crystallographic Y axis of quartz. The substrate of the main delay lead has the X axis of quartz as the spreading direction, while the spreading direction of the auxiliary delay lead is inclined at an angle of 41° thereto. Accordingly, in the case of the main delay lead, the temperature coefficient of the synchronous frequency of the first order disappears. On the other hand, the temperature coefficient of the synchronous frequency of the first order of the auxiliary delay lead is not equal to zero. In spite of the different orders of the temperature coefficients, it is possible to compensate for the temperature coefficient of the synchronous frequency of second order of the main delay lead. The temperature coefficient of the synchronous frequency of first order of the auxiliary delay lead, required for compensating for the temperature coefficient of the synchronous frequency of second order of the main delay lead, is given as a function of the temperature coefficient of second order, which is to be compensated, of the amplitude of the auxiliary delay lead and of the spreading segment, which is the same for the two delay leads.
In connection with sensors, which can be polled remotely and contain, in the special case, single gate resonators based on acoustic surface waves, it is known that, for temperature, compensation, two single gate resonators may be combined, the substrates of which represent different splitting directions of one and the same crystalline section (A differential measurement SAW device for passive remove sensoring, W. Buff, M. Rusko, T. Vandahl, M. Goroll and F. Möller, Proc. 1996 IEEE Ultrasonics Symposium, pages 343 to 346 (2)). In this connection, it is a prerequisite for the temperature compensation that the spreading directions have different phase velocities and almost the same temperature coefficients of the synchronous frequency.
The solution, described in the publication (1), has the following disadvantages:                1) The phase slope of the delay leads of specified substrate length may be too small, so that the oscillators are insufficiently stable.        2) The size |S21| at the oscillator frequency, which sets in as a function of temperature, depends too much on the temperature, so that the amplifier in the feedback, as a result of an excessively large amplification range, causes undesirable, nonlinear effects or, as a controlled amplifier, excessively high costs.        3) The method of temperature compensation from (1) can be used only for broadband frequency-determining elements.        4) The model for describing the composite of two delay leads, used in (1), is an approximation for the case that the input and output impedance of the composite of the delay leads is very large in comparison to the source or load resistance and all converters are reflection-free. The teachings, obtained with the help of this model, for example, the above-mentioned function for the temperature coefficient of the synchronous frequency of first order of the auxiliary delay lead, is therefore in many cases not applicable and cannot be transferred to those frequency-determining elements, for which reflections play an important role.

Oscillator with acoustic surface wave resonators


A trip controller for a wafer processing system provides for adjustable hysteresis and autocalibration. Adjustable hysteresis implements different trip points for upward pressure changes and downward pressure changes in the wafer processing chamber. Autocalibration is implemented using a digital potentiometer with on-chip storage. The trip controller provides more reliable operation than conventional single trip-point indicators. Yet, the inventive trip controller is readily inserted as a replacement in systems formerly using conventional trip controllers. Further advantages include a single-rail power supply and flexibility to adapt to different systems requiring trip controllers.

The present invention relates to control systems and, more particularly, to trip controllers. A major objective of the present invention is a trip controller that provides reliable interlocking in response to pressure changes in a integrated circuit wafer processor.
Certain wafer processors involve processing at subatmospheric pressures. The seals that allow the reduced pressures to be achieved must be released to insert wafers before processing into a chamber and to withdraw the processed wafers from the chamber after processing.
Highly automated wafer processors require a sophisticated interlock system to prevent damaging errors. For example, chamber opening should be precluded during vacuum, while purge gas flow should be prohibited once atmospheric pressure is achieved. Accordingly, a trip controller can be used to prohibit or allow certain operations to occur, depending on whether pressure within the chamber is at or below atmosphere.
A conventional trip controller includes a pressure transducer that outputs a voltage as a function of sensed differential pressure between the interior and exterior of a processing chamber. A comparator compares the transducer output voltage with a reference voltage corresponding to atmospheric pressure. The output of the comparator is used to enable/disable the functions associated with the pressure interlock.
Reliability can be a problem with such a trip controller. The signal output by the transducer at a given pressure differential can drift over time, causing a trip to occur above or below the desired pressure. If, for example, the trip controller indicates atmospheric pressure has been reached while the chamber is actually under vacuum, the chamber may be opened prematurely. In this case, the pressure differential can cause turbulence that can stir up contamination, adversely affecting wafer quality. If the trip controller is set too high, the interlock can prevent chamber opening even at atmosphere.
This problem can be addressed by frequent recalibration. The trigger point can be tested by comparison with a digital pressure meter. The trip controller transducer can be adjusted so that its indication of atmosphere matches that of the external pressure meter. However, the calibration can be inconvenient, interrupting processing and requiring skills quite different from those required merely to run the wafer processing equipment.
Furthermore, even a properly calibrated system can have reliability problems. As the pressure of a chamber is increased toward atmosphere, a purge gas can be applied to remove residual reactant gases. The purge gas provides a slightly positive pressure, causing an early indication of atmospheric pressure. If the chamber is thus prematurely opened, the internal pressure can drop as the purge gas is released, causing the interlock to reverse. Thus, there can be oscillating indications, resulting in minor interlock instabilities. What is needed is a trip controller that provides for reliable operation with minimal requirements for calibration.

Autocalibrating trip controller with dual adjustable trip points


Co-feeding sulfolane into a transalkylation reactor along with the aromatic hydrocarbon feed(s) can improve benzene purity of the benzene product stream produced from the transalkylation product mixture, especially at the beginning phase of a catalyst cycle.

Refineries have focused on the production of benzene and xylene by transalkylation of C9+ aromatics and toluene over noble metal-containing zeolite catalysts. During the transalkylation of C9+ aromatics and toluene to higher value petrochemical products, such as benzene and xylene, over catalysts containing noble metals, by-product saturate compounds are typically produced during the first several months on stream. These by-product saturate compounds, referred to as co-boilers, can boil in the same temperature range as a high value petrochemical product, making separation of the high value petrochemical product at high purity levels difficult. Particularly with respect to the benzene product, the presence of co-boilers such as methylcyclopentane, cyclohexane, 2,3-dimethylpentane, dimethylcyclopentane and 3-methylhexane at high concentrations can significantly reduce its quality. Therefore, an additional solvent extraction step may be required in order to produce a benzene product with a high purity.
Solvent extraction of benzene adds to the complexity to the production process and increases costs to the benzene product. It would be highly desirable to have a transalkylation process in which the formation of co-boilers of C6-C7 aromatic hydrocarbons are minimized, such that a high-purity benzene product may be produced from the transalkylation effluent without the need of an intermediate solvent extraction of benzene and/or toluene.
This disclosure satisfies this and other needs.

Transalkyation processes in the presence of sulfolane


The present invention concerns the use of hepcidin as a marker for detecting inflammatory chronic diseases and especially for a differential diagnosis to detect inflammatory chronic diseases and/or non-inflammatory chronic diseases. The present invention also concerns a method for detecting inflammatory chronic diseases, non-inflammatory chronic diseases and/or acute phase reactions comprising the determination of hepcidin.

Chronic diseases are widespread and include numerous inflammatory and non-inflammatory diseases of a wide variety of organs. Chronic diseases often considerably limit the quality of life of the affected patients. Hence it is desirable to provide more rapid and reliable diagnostic methods in order to optimize the treatment and care of patients with chronic diseases.
Certain physiological parameters such as gammaglobulins, blood sugar level, or other blood values are often determined in order to diagnose diseases. However, it is difficult to distinguish between or determine non-inflammatory chronic diseases, inflammatory chronic diseases and/or acute phase reactions. There are still no specific markers for many chronic diseases. For example general inflammatory markers are used in the prior art to diagnose chronic inflammatory diseases. However, a problem with this is that many of these parameters are not only increased or changed in a patient with a chronic inflammation but also in an acute phase reaction such as an infection or injury.
Thus there is a major need for new markers that are suitable for the diagnostic problems in connection with chronic diseases. In particular there is a need for markers which enable a differentiation between non-inflammatory chronic diseases, inflammatory chronic diseases and/or acute phase reactions.


A transport system comprising a cable traveling subsystem movable along a cable that is attached to and extends from a mounting subsystem. The cable traveling subsystem comprises a wheel that rotates along a length of the cable. The cable traveling subsystem further comprises a movable gate which keeps the cable traveling subsystem in physical communication with the cable even should the wheel become disengaged from the cable, and which further allows the cable traveling subsystem to travel though the mounting subsystem thereby resulting in the cable traveling subsystem's uninterrupted flow of motion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a system for transporting a load along a cable. More particularly, the invention relates to a transport system comprising a cable in spaced relation to an anchoring member, and a cable traveling element to which a load can be coupled and which is displaceable along the cable.
2. Background
Many applications could be made easier and would benefit from a multiple cable-support system that allows passage of a cable traveling element past the cable supports unaided by human intervention and unimpeded by undue frictional orientation of passing components. Among these applications would be fall-arrest systems, animal-tethering systems, conveyor systems, and guidance systems.


Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an Ethernet ring protection switching method, network device and system. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, a node obtains bandwidth information of a first link on an Ethernet ring on which the node is located, and determines that bandwidth of the first link changes, where there is at least one Ethernet ring protection instance on the Ethernet ring, and then the node determines ports of the node, where the at least one Ethernet ring protection instance passes through the ports, so that the node can query pre-configured correspondence between bandwidth information and switching information of each link on the Ethernet ring, and execute, through the ports of the node, a switching operation corresponding to the bandwidth information of the first link.

To ensure the reliability of a network link, a ring automatic protection switching (Ring Automatic Protection Switching, R-APS) protocol is generally used to perform switching on a failed link in an Ethernet ring, and therefore, the protection for an Ethernet service is implemented. One or more Ethernet ring protection (Ethernet Ring Protection, ERP) instances may be configured on one Ethernet ring. In each ERP instance, at least one link is set as a backup link, that is, a ring protection link (Ring Protection Link, RPL). When the ERP instance is in a normal working status, the RPL is in a blocked status, that is, ports that are on a node at any end of the RPL and participate in the ERP instance are blocked. When a certain segment of a link or a certain node that participates in the ERP instance is failed, the blocked ports may be opened and service transmission may be performed through the RPL.
However, in a conventional ring protection switching method, ring protection switching can only be triggered in a case of link failure or manual forced switching, and the ring protection switching is not flexible.


Facilitating assessment of a test suite of a software product. In an embodiment, an inventory is maintained containing the features of the software product and one or more execution flows operative when a feature is provided by the software product. Information related to execution flows for which test scripts are present (in the test suite) is also indicated in the inventory. Various test metrics and views are provided to a user facilitating the user to assess the test suite of the software product.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to software testing, and more specifically to facilitating assessment of a test suite of a software product.
2. Related Art
A software product generally refers to a set of computer programs designed to provide desired features to users. It is often required to test a software product (before making the software product available to users) to ensure that the features are provided as desired in the software product.
Generally, the testing of a software product is performed using a test suite, which may contain a collection of test scripts used to validate the behavior of the various functionalities of the software product.
There is a general need to assess a test suite. For example, a manager of (development/testing of) a software product may wish to know to what extent a test suite tests a software product.


An optical electrical device comprises a base and a transparent conductive structure on the base is disclosed. The base further comprises a light-emitting device and the transparent conductive structure comprises a transparent conductive oxide layer and a passivation layer on the transparent conductive oxide layer. The material of the transparent conductive oxide layer comprises transparent conductive metal oxide, such as ZnO. Furthermore, the transparent conductive metal oxide also comprises impurities, such as a carrier e.g. gallium.

An optical electrical device such as light-emitting diode (LED) of the solid-state lighting elements have the characteristics of low heat generation, long operational life and the light emitted by the LEDs has a stable wavelength range so the LEDs have been widely used in various applications. Efforts have been devoted to the luminance of the LED in order to apply the device to the lighting domain and further achieve the goal of energy conservation and carbon reduction.
Many improvements on structures or materials to enhance the light emitting efficiency of an LED have been realized. One of those improvements is to add an enhanced film to increase light extraction, optic-electrical transition efficiency, contact resistance, forward voltage, or the like. However, the high temperature during manufacturing damages the electrical and/or light properties of the enhanced film, and induces the resistances of the enhanced films increasing and the wavelength of maximum transmittance shifting.

Transparent conductive structure, device comprising the same, and the manufacturing method thereof


An imaging apparatus includes an imaging unit, a position detection unit configured to detect position information of the imaging apparatus, an acquisition unit configured to acquire candidate object information indicating an object which a photographer may desire to capture an image thereof within a search range of position information based on the position information detected by the position detection unit, and a presenting unit configured to present the candidate object information to the photographer.

1 . Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging apparatus, a display method, and a storage medium.
2 . Description of the Related Art
A photo-sharing service in which photographers are allowed to register images captured by using camera-equipped mobile phones and digital cameras on a Web service on an internet and the general public can view the registered images therefrom, has been widely spread (see, Y. Zheng, Z. Zha and T. Chua "Research and applications on georeferenced multimedia: a survey", Multimedia Tools and Applications, Volume 51, Number 1, January 2011). Some of the photo-sharing services have a function of displaying a thumbnail of an image on a map with reference to position information embedded in the image.
As described above, by allowing a viewer to view the images of an unspecified number of photographers who posted the images on the map, the viewer can know at which point on the map images are frequently captured and thus can know, for example, what kinds of photo spots exist around the viewer himself.
In many photo-sharing services, text information, e.g., tags and memos, can be related to an image. Therefore, the photographers and the viewers can write what is captured in the image by using the text information.
The viewers can know which position on the map is popular among the photographers according to the Web service in which the viewers can see the images posted on the map. However, a spot popular in the service is often a typical noted place and historic scene in which everybody tends to be interested. For example, in a case where a photographer has a special preference in capturing images of, for example, railways and specific animals such as kingfishers, the photographer cannot find out an image-capturing spot which matches the photographer's preference even when the photographer uses the above described Web service.

Imaging apparatus, display method, and storage medium for presenting a candidate object information to a photographer


A chuck has a chuck body rotatable about an axis, a plurality of jaws radially displaceable on the body for gripping a workpiece, a chuck drive for rotating the chuck about the axis, and a center point axially shiftable in the body and axially engageable with the workpiece gripped by the jaws. An electric drive is coupled to the center point for axially shifting same.

A typical chuck has a chuck body rotatable about an axis, a plurality of jaws radially displaceable on the body for gripping a workpiece, a chuck drive for rotating the chuck about the axis, and a center point axially shiftable in the body and axially engageable with the workpiece gripped by the jaws. As described in DE 91 13 879 the jaws are moved by a hydraulically powered piston. A piston chamber can be provided to move the center point in the piston in order to actuate the jaws, thereby creating a space-saving double-acting piston configuration.
When crankshafts are produced, the crankshaft workpieces are face-milled at their end faces. Then a center hole is formed in each end face whose function is to allow precise axial centering of the crankshaft for subsequent radial machining. The crankshaft is typically clamped between two center points—one being fixed and the other being axially moveable. Using a hydraulic arrangement for moving the center point makes it very difficult to meet the requirements for environmentally friendly energy-efficient technologies. With this in mind, it becomes necessary to seek new approaches for its axial actuation.


Stream data has a recording data structure formed in units of stream blocks (or stream object units SOBU) which are segmented to have a predetermined data size. Data are recorded (or encoded) and partially erased (or temporarily erased) in units of the stream blocks (SOBUs).

The present invention relates to a method of generating (or encoding) bitstream information of digital broadcast, etc., a method of generating (or encoding) stream data sent with a packet structure, a method of recording the encoded stream data on an information medium, a method of decoding the encoded stream data, or a method of partially erasing (including temporarily erasing/actually erasing) the recorded stream data.
In recent years, TV broadcast has come into the era of digital broadcast. Accordingly, an apparatus for saving digital data of digital TV broadcast as it is irrespective of their contents, i.e., a so-called streamer, has been demanded.
The current digital TV broadcast uses an MPEG transport stream. An MPEG transport stream will be used as a standard one in the field of digital broadcast using moving picture.
As a streamer for recording digital broadcast data, a home digital VCR such as D-VHS (digital VHS) or the like is currently commercially available. A streamer using D-VHS directly records a broadcasted bitstream on a tape. For this reason, a plurality of programs are multiplexed and recorded on a video tape.
Upon playback, all data are output from the VCR to a set-top box (digital TV receiver unit; to be abbreviated as an STB hereinafter) either when they are played back from the beginning or the middle of the tape. In this STB, a desired program is selected from the output data by user operation or the like. The selected program information is transferred from the STB to a digital TV receiver, and is played back (playback of video plus audio, etc).
Since the D-VHS streamer uses a tape as a recording medium, it cannot attain quick random access, and it is difficult to quickly jump to a desired position of a required program so as to play it back.
As a promising candidate that can combat such shortcoming (difficulty of random access) of the tape, a streamer that uses a large-capacity disc medium such as a DVD-RAM or the like has been proposed. In this case, management data must be inevitably recorded together with broadcast data in consideration of random access, special playback, and the like.
In general, when a DVD-RAM disc is used as an information storage medium, ECC blocks are formed in units of 16 sectors, and data in each ECC block are interleaved (re-arranged) and appended with an error correction code. For this reason, in order to erase, rewrite or additionally write only a specific sector in an ECC block, the following complicated process are required.
Namely, a process so-called "read-modify-write" is required. In this process, after all contents of data in an ECC block are read (READ) and are re-arranged in a buffer memory (deinterleaved), part of data for a specific sector(s) is erased or rewritten, and new data is additionally written (MODIFY). Then, the modified data is interleaved (re-arranged) again while appending a new error correction code, and the resultant data is recorded.
This is a very time-consuming process, and recording or partial erase of stream data cannot be done in real time.
The present invention has been made to solve the aforementioned problem, and has as its object to provide a method that can easily record (or encode) and partially erase (temporarily erase/actually erase) stream data within a short period of time.

Stream data generation method and partial erase processing method


A thrombolysis catheter system having a fixed length infusion zone is disclosed. The invention contemplates apparatus, method and kit aspects. The apparatus, which has the capability to track a guidewire, uses a multilumen catheter to deliver radially thrombolytic agent to an infusion zone defined by one or more balloon means. In one aspect, with an occluder means, a primary lumen of the catheter is used both for catheter placement and delivery of fluid. The method discloses utilization of radiopaque indicia to place the catheter in proximity to the occlusion or diseased tissue to be treated. The kit includes a catheter of the invention in conjunction with a steerable guidewire and a tip occluder wire, either or both of the tip occluder wire and the guidewire having an enlargement on their distal tip which cooperates with a reduced diameter portion of the catheter lumen.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to devices used to clear obstructions in body passageways, more particularly, this invention relates to apparatuses and methods of treating such obstructions by the infusion of chemical thrombolytic agents. Yet more particularly, this invention relates to catheters and to catheter systems for exposing vascular obstructions to therapeutic agents, generally to effectuate their removal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The use of catheter systems to treat various medical conditions has been known for some time. In treating a particular area within a body passageway, it is often desirable to isolate the area to be treated from the rest of the body. One approach to isolating a treatment area is the placement of one or more inflatable balloons proximal or distal (or both) to the treatment area. Inflating the balloon or balloons serves to isolate the vascular structure to be treated and permits control of the length of time of exposure. U.S. Pat. No. 2,936,760 issued to Gants, U.S. Pat. No. 4,022,216 issued to Stevens, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,502 issued to Patel describe catheters designed for use in the urinary tract.
Catheter systems are also used in other applications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,696,668 issued to Wilcox, for example, describes a catheter system for treatment of nasobiliary occlusions. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,198,981 issued to Sinnreich is used in intrauterine applications. U.S. Pat. No. 4,453,545 issued to Inoue discloses an endotracheal tube.
One of the most common applications for catheter systems is the treatment of occlusions within the cardiovascular system. A catheter system for venous applications is seen in U.S. Pat. No. 4,795,427 issued to Helzel. U.S. Pat. No. 4,636,195 issued to Wollinsky, U.S. Pat. No. 4,705,507 issued to Boyles, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,573,966 issued to Welkl et al., all describe catheter systems designed to infuse a liquid for the treatment of an arterial occlusion. Each of these devices has one or more balloons which can be inflated to occlude the artery during the treatment process.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,655,746 issued to Daniels et al. discloses the use of two concentric catheters defining an interlumenal space therebetween. Each of the catheters has its own balloon to isolate (adjustably) a portion of the body passageway. The Daniels et al. design, however,. requires the use of the interlumenal space as a fluid passageway, thereby complicating the construction and operation of the device.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,927,418 to Dake et al. discloses a catheter for uniform distribution of therapeutic fluids. The Dake et al. catheter utilizes a relatively thick-walled tubular body having a plurality of smaller lumens therein in conjunction with a larger central lumen discharging fluid from the catheter.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,059,178 to Ya uses balloons to subtend a blood vessel upstream and downstream of a thrombus. Thrombus dissolving agent is supplied to the zone between the balloons. An expansion catheter having a third balloon is used to expand a location of structure remaining after removal of the dissolved thrombus.
The present invention provides an apparatus, a method, and a kit for treating an obstruction in a body passageway, such as a vein or an artery, through the infusion of a fluid. In one aspect the present invention is a catheter for administering therapeutic agent to an obstruction within a vascular system. A catheter of this invention has a fixed length infusion zone generally defined by one or more inflatable balloons and a series of infusion orifices located therebetween. A catheter of this invention comprises a cylindrical catheter body. The cylindrical catheter body comprises a wall, the wall having distal and proximal ends. One of the distal or proximal segment ends of the catheter wall body has a balloon means located thereon. The wall further includes or defines a plurality of radial orifices.
The catheter body also interiorly defines a primary lumen, the primary lumen extending through the catheter body to couple, fluidically, the orifices and its distal and proximal ends. The primary lumen has a larger diameter segment beginning adjacent the proximal end of the catheter and extending the majority of the length of said catheter body, and a smaller diameter segment located interiorly adjacent the distal end of the catheter body and distal to the orifices. The reduced diameter segment of the primary lumen is adapted to cooperate with a separate occluder means (described below) to restrict fluid flow out the distal end of the first lumen and to force such fluid to flow radially from the orifices.
The diameter of the primary lumen, with the exception of the extreme distal portion, is in the range of about 0.16 inches to about 0.065 inches while the diameter of the smaller diameter segment is in the range of about 0.014 inches to about 0.060 inches.
The catheter body of a catheter of this invention, preferably, also defines at least a second lumen, the second lumen being in fluid communication with the balloon means and the proximal end of the catheter body so as to permit said balloon means to be inflated therefrom.
The diameter of said plurality of second lumens is in the range of about 0.009 inches to about 0.025 inches.
In a preferred practice of this invention, two balloons are used to isolate the treatment area from the remainder of the body so that therapeutic agent may be infused therearound. One of each of the balloons is located on the catheter wall upstream and downstream of the infusion ports.
In another aspect, the present invention is a method of treating an obstruction, such as thrombus, within a vascular structure. (The location of the obstruction has been previously identified by methods well known to this art.) A method according to this invention comprises the steps of first advancing a steerable guidewire through the vasculature until the distal tip thereof is adjacent i.e., in the vicinity or proximate to, the previously located obstruction or diseased segment to be treated. Next, a catheter having a structure as described above is advanced or slid over the guidewire until the infusion zone is located at the treatment site. At this juncture, the spatial relationship between the obstruction and the catheter/guidewire structure will determine the next step. If the steerable guidewire/catheter combination/structure cannot be positioned through the obstructed segment, then the guidewire is removed from the catheter and an occlusion means, occlusion wire, or tip occluder wire, is advanced through the primary lumen thereof. If the catheter/guidewire combination structure can be passed through the vascular obstruction, utilization of the steerable catheter guidewire/conbination continues. While utilization of the steerable wire is preferred, a non-steerable tip occluder wire permits the extreme distal portion of the catheter to be positioned more closely to, for example, thrombus which cannot be crossed with a steerable wire. Withdrawing a steerable guidewire into the catheter body, which would permit the catheter to be positioned more closely to the treatment site, tends to restrict radial fluid delivery due to restriction of diameter of the primary lumen. Both the steerable guidewire and the occlusion means or tip occluder wire have an enlargement adjacent their distal ends which cooperate with the reduced diameter portion of the primary lumen substantially to prevent fluid from passing distally from the catheter.
Whether the tip occluder or steerable guidewire is used, the next step is to inflate the balloon means to define the treatment area. Lastly, thrombolytic agent is introduced into the primary lumen and subsequently exits or infuses from the radial passages to the infusion zone to treat the obstruction.
In a preferred practice of this method, the catheter includes a plurality of balloons located distally and proximally with respect to the orifices. The balloons are fluidically coupled to the proximal end of the catheter by means of secondary lumens which permit the balloons thereby to be inflated and deflated. Thrombolytic agents may include urokinase, streptokinase, tissue plasminogen activator (TPA), or a similar therapeutic species. As the lesion within the treatment area is exposed to the thrombolytic agent, some of the material is dissolved and is removed therefrom.
In a preferred practice of the above method, a radiopaque structure on the catheter, usually on its distal segment, is monitored while the catheter is positioned within the vasculature. A plurality of radiopaque structures, such as platinum rings or bands, may be disposed along the length of the catheter, and on the steerable guidewire and on the occluder wire. These structures appear more intense than adjacent, non-radiopaque materials under fluoroscopic examination. Generally, a steerable guidewire will have a radiopaque distal tip and possibly additional proximally-located radiopaque structures. By observation of these radiopaque structures, the progress of the catheter into the vasculature can be observed, the location of the balloon or balloons (and therefore the infusion zone) relative to the treatment site can be determined, and the relationship between the catheter and the guidewire or occluder wire can be monitored. Utilization of the cooperatively located radiopaque structures in catheter placement and in therapeutic application is a particularly advantageous aspect of the present methods.
Yet a further aspect of this invention comprises a kit. A kit of this invention comprises an occluder means such as a tip occluder wire having an enlargement adjacent its distal end and a steerable guidewire. The guidewire preferably has an enlargement adjacent its distal end, thereby incorporating the features of both a steerable guidewire and a non-steerable occluder wire. The diameter of the enlargement of either or both of the guidewire or occluder wire is determined by the interior diameter of the reduced diameter segment of the primary lumen of the catheter. A kit having at least the above three components offers medical personnel employing a catheter of this invention the ability to maximize their options with respect to patient treatment. Kit components may include other necessary or desirable equipment such as stopcocks, syringes and gloves.

Thrombolysis catheter system with fixed length infusion zone


Embodiments of the present invention provide a visual interlock system for providing product information by displaying video content annotated with virtual information (stored as metadata) such as advertisement information or a social network service (SNS) message from a friend. Specifically, among other things, embodiments of the present invention provide a system that allows a video playing on a television to be simultaneously played on a mobile device. The system searches for virtual information related to a visual object in the video. The virtual information is stored as metadata. The virtual object in the video is annotated with the virtual information. The annotated video is displayed on the user terminal.

Advertising has become a pervasive part of our society. Since the 1950's when television (TV) was introduced on a mass scale to television viewing households, advertisers have had the ability to address and deliver advertising content to TV audiences. However, by the mid-2000's, as the Internet grew to hundreds of millions of users worldwide, and technology became faster and more efficient, a new smart client devices industry began to emerge with devices being connected (sometimes wirelessly) to the Internet, changing how many people view video content.
Advertisers seek to capitalize on this new industry by looking for ways to incorporate advertisements into a user's interaction with a smart client device. In the past, advertisements were strictly one-way communication. For example, if a user is interacting with a smart client device while viewing video content (either a television broadcast or via the Internet), there exists the opportunity to provide an advertisement to the user that is coordinated with the presentation and the video content. Traditionally, in direct marketing schemes using advertising content, a seller would register and maintain product metadata on a separate platform. Due to space-time constraints, the seller may not freely register and maintain such metadata. A way to purchase a product related to a television (TV) advertisement may be offered. However, a user searching for or purchasing a product during the content viewing experience may interfere with another user viewing the same content. Also, since current TV environments lack structural flexibility for users to search for information on the Internet or confirm an information search, offering a user interactive experience where users search for information or visit a shopping site to purchase the product may be limited and inconvenient.

Annotating an object in a video with virtual information on a mobile terminal


Methods for modifying shapes represented as non-self-intersecting, simply connected, triangulated polyhedra of genus-0, defined as a plurality of triangular faces, each triangular face defined as a set of three coordinate points, determine an ordering of concave edge elimination procedures which are required to smoothly convert a concave shape to its convex hull. The ordering technique attempts to avoid self-intersections and degeneracies in the metamorphs produced between the starting concave shape and its convex hull.

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains material which 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 patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
With the advent of three-dimensional computer graphics, it has become attractive to many animators and scientists to create computer-generated animation. Such animations are used in the entertainment and advertising industries, for fine art, and increasingly for scientific visualization. The transformation of one shape to another, is generally known as metamorphosis. Traditional two-dimensional and three-dimensional animators have long exploited metamorphosis for its story telling possibilities. The technique of metamorphosis is powerful for conveying symbolic or actual correspondences between apparently different objects. Metamorphosis can also be used in computer aided design, for example, to combine a car body with a tear drop to form a more aerodynamic car body.
A problem with existing metamorphosis techniques is that they can produce unsatisfactory intermediate shapes unless user guidance is provided. However, once shapes become complicated, the amount of user guidance required can become extremely labor intensive.
Thus, it is desirable to provide an automatic process that transforms one shape to another while providing intermediate shapes meeting certain desiderata. For purposes of description, the initial object will be referred to as the "start shape" and the final object the "goal shape". The start and goal shapes together will be called the boundary shapes (or boundaries), and any shape produced along the way will be called a metamorph with respect to its boundaries. Any particular metamorph may be identified by a parameter .mu.: when .mu.=0 and .mu.=1, the metamorph is geometrically identical to the start and goal shapes respectively; intermediate values of .mu. generate intermediate (or proper) metamorphs.
It is desirable that the changes between shapes be geometrically, visually, and temporally smooth. Without these constraints one could simply show the start shape for a moment and then abruptly cut to the goal shape. Further criteria may be motivated by considering potential procedures, and deciding what features should be preserved or avoided. To start, consider a procedure which displays the start shape, shrinks it to a point by uniform scaling, and then runs the process in reverse, growing the goal shape from that point to its final form. The procedure is smooth, but degenerate. The nature of the degeneracy may be generalized by considering a complementary procedure, which enlarges the start shape to infinity in all directions, and then shrinks the infinite shape down to the goal shape. The infinite shape can be considered degenerate in the same sense as the point shape: all geometric information about the shape has been lost.
These two procedures demonstrate that one should avoid degeneracy. It is possible that a stronger size condition is desirable: metamorphs should grow no larger or smaller than the sizes of the boundary shapes. One example of a rule motivated by this condition is that the radius of the bounding sphere of each metamorph should always lie in the range defined by the radii of the bounding spheres of the boundary shapes.
Another criterion is illustrated by the following smooth, non-degenerate procedure. Assume for the moment that each boundary shape is made up of a collection of polygons or patches. First shrink each individual patch inwards towards its center, while simultaneously thickening it non-uniformly into a sphere. Once the shape has become a collection of spheres, some are split or joined until the number of spheres is equivalent to the number of patches in the goal shape. The process is then repeated in reverse, flattening each sphere in place until it forms a patch, which eventually all join together to form the goal shape. Like the previous procedure, this technique is not preferable for transforming shapes. The problem here is disconnection. The start and goal shapes are connected surfaces, and it is preferred that the metamorphs be connected in the same way. A stronger statement of this principle is that if the boundary shapes share the same topological genus, then all metamorphs should also be of that genus.
Another problem may be demonstrated by considering the transformation in FIG. 1. It shows two cones CS and CG as the start and goal shapes, respectively, and some metamorphs CM1, CM2, CM3, CM4 created by a possible procedure. In this example the apex of the start cone is moved to the apex of the goal cone, but not all the pieces of the cone move at the same speed. The metamorphs look odd, because they self-intersect, even though neither of the boundary shapes (CS, CG) does. This suggests another principle: If the start and goal shapes do not self-intersect, then neither should the metamorphs.
Thus, a metamorphosis should produce a temporally and geometrically continuous sequence of metamorphs that are non-degenerate, do not self-intersect, and are of constant genus if the boundary shapes are of the same genus.

Sequencing and scheduling moves for converting concave polyhedra to their convex hulls


Storing a voicemail message in a communication environment includes receiving a voicemail message at a first endpoint. The voicemail message is separated into a plurality of segments. The segments of the voicemail message, which comprise media bits, are distributed to a plurality of second endpoints.

Recent improvements in communication technology have provided endpoints with many different features. For example, endpoints may receive a voicemail message if a user is not currently available. The voicemail message is stored on a central server. The central server provides the voicemail to the user after receiving a request for the voicemail message.

System and method for storing a voicemail message in a communication environment


An isolation bar is provided across the center of an air filtration unit for a laminar flow clean room. When a panel for partitioning the clean room is installed across the center of a filter of the air filtration unit, the isolation bar is used for fixing the panel thereon, thereby dividing the filter into two sub-filters, instead of using two conventional half sized air filtration units that require respective fans for smooth downstream flow of air. As a result, the air filtration unit including the isolation bar according to the present invention is capable of reducing cost and power consumption without any efficiency loss.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an air filtration unit for a clean room, more particularly, to an air filtration unit for a laminar flow clean room, which includes an isolation bar inserted into a filtering member thereof at a position corresponding to a partition panel installed in the clean room, so as to permit easy and rapid change in the layout of the clean room when moving or installing partition panels. The use of the isolation bars permits panels to be installed in positions crossing filtering members, while preventing turbulence downstream of the areas where the panels would otherwise block air flow through the filtering members.
2. Background of the Related Art
With increasingly precise manufacturing requirements, many industries are now demanding far greater purity and cleanliness standards to ensure high product efficiency and high production yields.
In particular, in the semiconductor, pharmaceutical, genetic engineering and material development fields, even a small number of microscopic contaminants such as dust particles contained in the air may cause poor quality products or failure to meet critical test parameters. Accordingly, contaminant control of the air is an important and growing concern, and as such, developments are continuing in an effort to achieve clean room systems that are capable of tightly controlling the contaminants in the air.
A clean room system typically comprises air supply and air exhaust areas that are in flow communication with a clean area. In the clean area, various pieces of equipment for fabricating or testing predetermined products are disposed. Air is supplied from the air supply area into the clean area through the ceiling of the clean area. The air in the clean area is then exhausted through the floor of the clean area and into the air exhaust area. Thereafter, the air supply area intakes air from the air exhaust area and supplies the air into the clean area. In such a manner, air is re-circulated in the clean room system.
The re-circulated exhaust air is filtered by air filtration units that are mounted on the ceiling of the clean area prior to flowing into the clean area. Each of the air filtration units is connected to a fan. The air filtration unit also includes a filter, which is generally 1200 mm.times.600 mm in size. The cleanliness level of the clean area depends on the performance of the filters.
In semiconductor fabrication, high efficiency particulate air (HEPA) filters or ultra low penetration air (ULPA) filters have been used for filtering the air. HEPA filters can filter over 99.97 percent of particles of 0.3 .mu.m or larger. ULPA filters can filter over 99.99 percent of particles of 0.12 .mu.m or larger.
The clean area is divided into three sub-areas: a work area in which operators work; a process area in which semiconductor fabricating equipment is disposed; and a service area in which the fabricating equipment is disassembled and checked. Panels having a predetermined thickness are used to partition the clean area into the sub-areas. The panels are fixedly and perpendicularly mounted along connections between the air filtration units.
However, when the layout of the clean room needs to be changed due to rearrangement of the fabricating equipment, or due to upgrades of the fabricating equipment, the panels must be rearranged and mounted according to a new layout. In some cases, the panels may have to be mounted across the center of a filter, rather than along the connection between the air filtration units as described above. However, when a panel is mounted across the center of a filter, the panel acts as an obstruction that disrupts the smooth downstream air flow. In addition, particles may be generated due to turbulence occurring at the boundary portion where the panel crosses the filter.
To overcome such disadvantages, half-sized filters, i.e., filters of 600 mm.times.600 mm in size, have been provided. Thus, two 600 mm.times.600 mm filters are used instead of one 1200 mm.times.600 mm filter. When the 600 mm.times.600 mm filters are used, the panels are not mounted across the center of the filters. However, the 600 mm.times.600 mm filters have disadvantages in that additional work is required for installation, and costs are increased because the smaller filters require additional mold bars for holding and supporting them.
Furthermore, each of the 600 mm.times.600 mm filters requires a separate fan in order to prevent turbulence from being generated at the gap between the mold bars holding and supporting the filters. As a result, compared with the 1200 mm.times.600 mm filters, the 600 mm.times.600 mm filters need twice as many fans, thereby increasing both costs and power consumption.

Air filtration unit equipped with isolation bars to prevent turbulence downstream of partition panels in a clean room


An image processing method is provided for obtaining a non-deteriorated pixel value as a pixel value of a pixel free from a defect such as a scar or dust from non-visible beam image information obtained from a defective recording medium having the scar or dust. The method includes the steps of:                obtaining a calculated value: Y for each pair of samples of corresponding pixels of visible beam image information and said non-visible beam image information both obtained from the recording medium,Y=Mean[IR]−IR+X,        where, Mean [IR] is an average pixel value of the non-visible beam image information, IR is a pixel value of the non-visible beam image information and X is a pixel value of the visible beam image information;        obtaining a regression equation with the pixel value: X of the visible beam image information as an independent variable and the calculated value: Y as a dependent variable;        deriving the non-deteriorated image pixel value from the regression equation; and        obtaining a corrected pixel value: Z for a deteriorated pixel in the visible beam image information by a following equation;corrected pixel value: Z=CF−IR+X,        where CF is the non-deteriorated pixel value, IR is the pixel value of the non-visible beam image information and X is the pixel value of the visible beam image information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique of effecting an image processing on image information (image data) obtained by an image reader such as a scanner from an image recorded on a recording medium such as a photographic film. More particularly, the invention relates to a technique of effecting such processing on the image data for eliminating therefrom effect from a defect such as scratch or dust present on the recording medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
As printers for outputting to a print paper an image recorded on a photographic film such as a positive or a negative (to be referred to as "film" hereinafter), there are known an analog printer and a digital printer. The analog printer exposes the print paper with an optical beam transmitted through the film image. With the digital printer, the optical beam transmitted through the film image is subjected to a photoelectric conversion through a CCD (Charged Coupled Device) or the like and then digitized into image data and then the print paper is exposed with an optical beam modulated according to the image data.
With both types of printers above, if a defect such as scar or dust (to be generically referred to as "defect" hereinafter) is present on the film surface, this can result in such inconvenience as a unwanted local density variation or local deletion in the image printed on the print paper. For this reason, both types have employed a diffusion optical beam as the beam to be transmitted through the film.
In the case of the digital printer, the effect from a defect can be effectively eliminated by effecting an image processing on the digitized image data. Examples of such image processing method are disclosed in e.g. Japanese Patent Application "Kokai" No: Hei. 6-28468 (laid-open on Feb. 4, 1994, corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 5,266,805), Japanese Patent Application "Kokai" No.: 2000-341473 (laid open on Dec. 8, 2000), and Japanese Patent Application "Kokai" No.: 2001-157003 (laid open on Jun. 8, 2001, corresponding to EP1100254A1).
With the image processing methods disclosed by the above publications, an infrared is transmitted through a film to obtain infrared image information. The infrared, when transmitted through the film, is diffusion by a defect on the film, but basically is not affected by pixels constituting the image of the film. Therefore, the infrared image information obtained from the infrared transmitted through the film will contain information of the defect only with high accuracy. Hence, from this infrared image information, it is possible to obtain the amount of the portion of the transmitted beam which was lost due to the presence of the defect. Then, by using this amount of loss due to the effect from the defect, the effect from the defect can be effectively eliminated from visible image information of the film.
In order to obtain such loss amount due to a defect, in the infrared image information, distinction needs to be made between a "non-defective" pixel (to be referred to a "non-deteriorated pixel" hereinafter) and a "defective" pixel (to be referred to as "deteriorated pixel" hereinafter). A non-defective portion of the film allows transmission of a greater amount of the beam than a defective portion, so that the non-deteriorated pixel in the infrared image information has a greater pixel value (density value) than the deteriorated pixel in the same. Therefore, the distinction between the non-deteriorated pixel and the deteriorated pixel is possible by setting a threshold value for pixel values of an infrared image information and then judging a pixel having a pixel value higher than the threshold value as a non-deteriorated pixel while judging a pixel having a pixel value smaller than the threshold value as a deteriorated pixel.
However, as films have differing transmission amounts for an infrared depending on the film type, the maker, sensitivity, etc., it is not possible to make the above distinction with a single threshold value. As a solution to this problem, the above-cited Japanese Patent Application "Kokai" No.: 2000-341473 discloses a method in which film characteristics information relating to e.g. positive/negative, presence/absence of a magnetic layer is obtained for each particular film and then the threshold value is adjusted based on this information.
Incidentally, if a pixel value of a non-deteriorated pixel (to be referred to as "non-deteriorated pixel value" hereinafter) can be obtained from the infrared image information for each film, the above problem can be solved by setting this non-deteriorated pixel value as the threshold.
Ideally, the non-deteriorated pixel value can be considered as a maximum value of pixel values of the infrared image information. As a matter of fact, even such non-deteriorated pixel value can vary, due to noise, sensitivity of each image pickup element of a CCD camera, density irregularity in the film, etc. Namely, it will be problematic to simply interpret a maximum pixel value as the non-deteriorated pixel value for its use as the threshold value.
On the other hand, as a value approximating the non-deteriorated pixel value, an average value of pixel values of the infrared image information (to be referred to as an "average pixel value" hereinafter) can be cited for example. Yet, since deteriorated pixels have smaller pixel values than non-deteriorated pixels as described hereinbefore, such average pixel value will be lower if a large amount of defect is present on the film, thus resulting in a significant difference between the non-deteriorated pixel value and the average pixel value.
This phenomenon will be described in greater details with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. FIGS. 8A and 8B show infrared image information (image data) obtained from a film having a small amount of defect and frequency distribution of pixel values of this infrared image information, respectively. Similarly, FIGS. 9A and 9B show infrared image information (image data) obtained from a film having a large amount of defect and frequency distribution of pixel values of this infrared image information, respectively.
In the case of the film having a small amount of defect as shown in FIG. 8A, there is observed a conspicuous concentration of the frequency distribution of the pixel values of the infrared image information obtained therefrom in the vicinity of the non-deteriorated pixel value: CF as shown in FIG. 8B. In this case, though not shown, the average pixel value: Mean [IR] of the infrared image is approximate to the non-deteriorated image value: CF.
On the other hand, in the case of the film having a large amount of defect as shown in FIG. 9A, the frequency distribution of the pixel values of the infrared image information obtained therefrom is shifted from the non-deteriorated pixel value: CF to the lower pixel value side (to the left in the graph). In this case, the average pixel value: Mean [IR] (denoted as: Ave in the graph of FIG. 9B) of the infrared image information is smaller than the non-deteriorated pixel value: CF. Then, if the distinction of deteriorated pixels is made with using this average value: Mean [IR] as the threshold value, those pixels having pixel values between the average pixel value: Mean [IR] and the non-deteriorated pixel value: CF will not be judged as deteriorated pixels although they are really so.

Image processing method, image processing program and image processing apparatus


In blood pressure monitoring apparatus which continuously estimates and monitors blood pressure by using the pulse wave propagation time, blood pressure fluctuation can be accurately estimated. If both blood pressure estimated from the pulse wave propagation time and a waveform parameter obtained from the accelerated pulse wave have abnormal values, it is determined that the blood pressure is truly fluctuating, and blood pressure measurement by another method, e.g., blood pressure measurement using a cuff is performed.

In an operating room, ICU, or the like, it is sometimes necessary to continuously monitor the blood pressure of a patient. As a conventional technique of noninvasively and continuously monitoring the blood pressure, blood pressure estimation based on the pulse wave propagation time is known.
This technique uses the fact that the time (pulse wave propagation time) required for a pulse wave to propagate between two points in a living body or the pulse wave propagation velocity obtained by dividing the blood vessel length between the two points by the pulse wave propagation time has a correlation with the blood pressure. For example, the pulse wave propagation time is continuously measured and applied to an expression having a precalibrated coefficient, thereby continuously calculating and monitoring an estimated blood pressure (e.g., Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-66681).
To measure the pulse wave propagation time, however, pulse waves must be measured in different locations, so the measurement requires a long time. Also, it is sometimes difficult to attach sensors or cuffs for measuring pulse waves to two locations. As described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 10-66681, therefore, a general approach is to calculate the pulse wave propagation time by using an electrocardiogram (ECG) normally measured by a biological information monitoring apparatus and a pulse wave measured in one predetermined location (e.g., a fingertip) of a living body.
Unfortunately, the use of an ECG in the calculation of the pulse wave propagation time has a problem of the measurement accuracy. That is, an ECG is a signal which represents not a pulse wave but the electrical state change of the heart. There is a time difference (preejection period) between the timing at which the electrical state change occurs and the timing at which the heart actually contracts to generate a pulse wave. Accordingly, the pulse wave propagation time calculated by using the observation timing of the feature point of an ECG as a starting point contains an error caused by the preejection period.
If the preelection period is constant, this error is easy to correct. However, the preejection period changes from one person to another, and can change occasionally even in the same person. Therefore, an improvement of the accuracy by correction is limited.
Blood pressure monitoring apparatus normally performs control such that if blood pressure continuously measured on the basis of the pulse wave propagation time is abnormal, more accurate blood pressure measurement is performed by using a cuff or the like, and an alarm is output if an abnormal value is detected by this measurement.
Blood pressure measurement using a cuff is established as a method of noninvasively measuring the blood pressure, and effective to automatically obtain a well reliable blood pressure. However, this method requires avascularization, so the frequent use of the method is undesirable because the load on a patient increases. Therefore, accurate determination of the need for cuff blood pressure measurement is important not only to perform an appropriate therapy but also to reduce the load on a patient.
To increase the determination accuracy as described above, it is also important to increase the accuracy of the estimated blood pressure based on the pulse wave propagation time calculated from an ECG and a pulse wave observed at one point.