Transgenic plants, plant material, plant cells, and genetic constructs for synthesis of biopolymers, for example polyhydroxyalkanoates (“PHA”) are provided. In one embodiment, the transgenic plants synthesize polyhydroxybutyrate (“PHB”). In one embodiment the transgenic plant encodes siRNA for one or more of the genes encoding enzymes for producing PHA. In a more preferred embodiment, the siRNA expression is under the control of an inducible regulatory element. In another embodiment, the transgenic plant contains transgenes that encode expression enzymes that will degrade the polymer. In a preferred embodiment, the expression of these enzymes is under the control of a germination specific, inducible, or minimal promoter. In another embodiment, the transgenic plant contains transgenes encoding enzymes that increase carbon flow for polymer synthesis. In a preferred embodiment, these transgenes encode enzymes that increase carbon flow in the Calvin Cycle.

Production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs), a family of naturally occurring renewable and biodegradable plastics, in crops has the potential of providing a renewable source of polymers, chemical intermediates and bio-energy from one crop if plant residues remaining after polymer isolation are converted to liquid fuels and/or energy. PHAs can provide an additional revenue stream that would make bioenergy crops more economically viable.
PHAs are a natural component of numerous organisms in multiple ecosystems and accumulate in a wide range of bacteria as a granular storage material when the microbes are faced with an unfavorable growth environment, such as a limitation in an essential nutrient (Madison et al., Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev., 1999, 63, 21-53; Suriyamongkol et al., Biotechnol Adv, 2007, 25, 148-175). The monomer unit composition of these polymers is largely dictated by available carbon source as well as the native biochemical pathways present in the organism. Today PHAs are produced industrially from renewable resources in bacterial fermentations providing an alternative to plastics derived from fossil fuels. PHAs possess properties enabling their use in a variety of applications currently served by petroleum-based plastics and are capable of matching or exceeding the perfounance characteristics of fossil fuel derived plastics with a broad spectrum of properties that can be obtained by varying the monomer composition of homo- and co-polymers, or by manipulating properties such as molecular weight (Sudesh et al., Prog. Polym. Sci., 2000, 25, 1503-1555; Sudesh et al., CLEAN—Soil, Air, Water, 2008, 36, 433-442).
Industrial production of PHAs in crop plants would provide a low cost, renewable source of plastics. Production of PHAs in plants has been an as yet unsolved goal for plant scientists and has previously been demonstrated in a number of crops unsuitable for industrial production or in industrially useful crops at levels to low to be commercially attractive [for review, see (Suriyamongkol et al., Biotechnol Adv, 2007, 25, 148-175); (van Beilen et al., The Plant Journal, 2008, 54, 684-701) and references within] including maize (Poirier et al., 2002, Polyhydroxyalkanoate production in transgenic plants, in Biopolymers, Vol 3a, Steinbuchel, A. (ed), Wiley-VHC Verlag GmbH, pgs 401-435), sugarcane (Purnell et al., Plant Biotechnol. J., 2007, 5, 173-184), switchgrass (Somleva et al., Plant Biotechnol J, 2008, 6, 663-678), flax (Wrobel et al., J. Biotechnol., 2004, 107, 41-54; Wrobel-Kwiatkowsk et al., Biotechnol Prog, 2007, 23, 269-277), cotton (John et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1996, 93, 12768-12773), alfalfa (Small et al., Crop Set., 2002, 42, 919-927), tobacco (Arai et al., Plant Biotechnol., 2001, 18, 289-293; Bohmert et al., Plant Physiol., 2002, 128, 1282-1290; Lossl et al., Plant Cell Reports, 2003, 21, 891-899; Lössl et al., Plant Cell Physiol, 2005, 46, 1462-1471), potato (Bohmert et al., Plant Physiol., 2002, 128, 1282-1290), and oilseed rape (Valentin et al., Int. J. Biol. Macromol., 1999, 25, 303-306; Slater et al., Nat. Biotechnol., 1999, 17, 1011-1016.). Most of the efforts to produce PHAs in plants have focused on production of the homopolymer P3HB or the copolymer poly-3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate (P3HBV). While there have been some efforts to produce medium chain length PHAs in plants, these studies have yielded barely detectable levels of polymer (Romano et al., Planta, 2005, 220, 455-464; Mittendorf et al., Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 1998, 95, 13397-13402; Poirier et al., Plant Physiol., 1999, 121, 1359-1366; Matsumoto, Journal of Polymers and the Environment, 2006, 14, 369-374; Wang et al., Chinese Science Bulletin, 2005, 50, 1113-1120).
To date, the highest levels of polymer have been obtained when the homopolymer poly-3-hydroxybutyrate (P3HB or PHB) is produced in plastids (Suriyamongkol et al., Biotechnol Adv, 2007, 25, 148-175; van Beilen et al., The Plant Journal, 2008, 54, 684-701; Bohmert et al., Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of Plant Organelles, 2004, 559-585). This is likely due to the high flux of acetyl-CoA, the precursor for PHB in these organelles during fatty acid biosynthesis (Bohmert et al., Molecular Biology and Biotechnology of Plant Organelles, 2004, 559-585). Expression of three genes encoding β-ketothiolase, acetoacetyl CoA reductase, and PHA synthase, allows the conversion of acetyl-CoA within the plastid to PHB. Previous work has reported producing levels of PHB in Brassica napus up to a maximum of 7.7% of seed weight, a level too low for commercial production
Therefore, it is an object of the invention to provide methods and compositions for producing transgenic oilseeds having commercially viable levels of polyhydroxyalkanoates in the seed, for example greater than 7%, 10%, 15%, or 19% polyhydroxyalkanoate or more of the total dry seed weight and capable of germinating.

Generation of high polyhydroxybutyrate producing oilseeds


Threshold current may be determined and one or more bias sources may be programmed in a laser drive circuit. For example, a laser diode emits light along first and second optical paths. A polarizer is positioned in the first optical path between the laser diode and a first detector, which outputs a first detector signal corresponding to the measured optical power of polarized light. A second detector monitors light along the second optical path and provides a second detector signal. A bias compensation circuit receives the first and second detector signals and provides a bias current control signal, which is utilized to program a bias current source supplied to the laser diode. Additionally, multiple polarizer devices may be utilized e.g., a first polarizer in a first optical path aligned with the laser beam and a second polarizer in a second optical path aligned substantially orthogonal to the polarization of the laser beam.

The present invention relates to electrophotographic devices, and in particular, to systems and methods for setting laser diode bias current,
In electrophotography, an imaging system forms a latent image by exposing select portions of an electrostatically charged photoconductive surface to laser light. For example, the imaging system may sweep a laser beam across the photoconductive surface in a scan direction as the photoconductive surface advances in a process direction that is substantially orthogonal to the scan direction. For each sweep of the beam, a corresponding laser is modulated to write a plurality of print elements (Pels). The density of the electrostatic charge on the photoconductive surface is altered in areas exposed to the laser beam relative to those areas unexposed to the laser beam, thus forcing a latent image on the photoconductive surface in a manner that corresponds with associated image data. The latent electrostatic image thus created is developed into a visible image by exposing the photoconductive surface to toner, which contains pigment components and thermoplastic components. When so exposed, the toner is attracted to the photoconductive surface in a manner that corresponds to the electrostatic density altered by the laser beam.
The toner pattern is subsequently transferred from the photoconductive surface to the surface of a print substrate, such as paper, which has been given an electrostatic charge opposite that of the toner. A fuser assembly then applies heat and pressure to the toned substrate before the substrate is discharged from the apparatus. The applied heat causes constituents including the thermoplastic components of the toner to flow into the interstices between the fibers of the medium and the applied pressure promotes settling of the toner constituents in these voids. The toner solidifies as it cools adhering the image to the substrate.
Electrophotographic imaging systems typically utilize a semiconductor laser diode as the source of the laser beam. Semiconductor laser diodes operate with a characteristic relationship between a forward current supplied through the diode and light output from the diode. In particular, the laser diode exhibits a low current region of operation where the laser diode behaves as a light emitting diode (LED), producing primarily spontaneous emission over a relatively broad wavelength band. However, as the forward current is increased, a threshold current level is reached where stimulated emission in the device begins to dominate and the laser diode starts to behave as a laser, producing narrow-band laser light. The threshold current level for a laser diode can vary significantly from device to device, even among similar devices. Moreover, the threshold current level can vary over the normal range of operating conditions for a given device.
Imaging system electronics provided to control the laser diode typically deliver a fixed bias current level to idle the laser diode below the threshold current levels and a second switched current that is selectively applied to the laser diode to modulate the laser beam on and off. However, in many applications for which off-state power is to be minimized, the fixed bias current level must be sufficiently low that it is guaranteed not to rise above the laser diode threshold under all operating conditions and for all laser diodes that are to be utilized in a corresponding application. Because typical laser diode designs exhibit a wide range of threshold current across production units, and since the threshold current level changes as a function of laser diode temperature and age, fixed bias current sources are typically set to a current level that is generally far below the threshold current level for most laser diodes operating under nominal conditions. Thus, the fixed bias current source may be a limiting factor to the speed and flexibility of a corresponding imaging system.

Automatic setting of laser diode bias current


An alignment apparatus includes a first stator, located in a stator of a piece of rotating equipment, and a second stator couplingly connected to the first stator and able to be angularly rotated relative to the first stator. The second stator can seal an interface between a shaft and housing in the piece of rotating equipment. The alignment apparatus permits angular misalignment between a stator, a housing and a rotor shaft, and may be used, for example, in a bearing protector or an isolator installed on a Pillow Box.

The purpose of a bearing protector is to prevent the ingress of fluid, solids and/or debris from entering a bearing chamber. Equally, bearing protectors are employed to prevent the egress of fluid or solids from a bearing chamber. Essentially, their purpose is to prevent the premature failure of the bearing.
Bearing protectors generally fall into two main categories: contacting or non-contacting.
Non-contacting bearing protectors can be of repeller or labyrinth configuration. Reference is made to our co-pending labyrinth seal bearing protection application GB0415548.7 which defines a substantially non-contacting bearing protector with static shut off device.
In a non-contacting bearing protector, the rotating component typically has a complex outer profile which is located adjacent and in close radial and axial proximity to a complex inner profile of the stationary component. Together these complex profiles, in theory, provide a tortuous path preventing the passage of the unwanted materials or fluids.
Conventional labyrinth seal technology indicates the said close radial counter rotational members are substantially parallel to each other and run parallel to the centreline of the shaft. Unfortunately, labyrinth seal technology has limited effectiveness at discouraging fluid, specifically in applications such as Pillow Blocks where angular displacement is expected between the shaft and the housing.
Contacting bearing protectors can be as basic as a lip seal, or more technical such as a face/mechanical seal. Reference is also made to our co-pending mechanical seal bearing protection application GB0215750.1, which defines a substantially contacting bearing protector with an axially floating seal face against axially static seal face.
Conventional mechanical seal technology suggests that the counter rotational seal faces attached to the rotor and stator need to be both flat, substantially parallel to each other, and substantially perpendicular to the shaft axis.
Again, unfortunately, said substantially parallel and perpendicular surfaces have limited effectiveness at sealing fluid, in applications such as Pillow Blocks where angular displacement is expected between the shaft and the housing.
Pillow Blocks are commonly employed in all types of industries, as they have the advantage of being able to accommodate angular misalignment of the installed equipment. Pillow blocks typically contain one or more centrally disposed bearings contained within a split housing. Two or more said bearing(s) and Pillow Block assemblies are employed to support a longitudinal and substantially rotatable shaft. It is preferable, that the bearing is lubricated during operation, therefore a seal is required, at either side of each split Pillow Block housing, to seal the bearing lubricant. As the two Pillow Blocks are axially spaced, the respective radial distance between the two can often vary from the ideal alignment. It is this radial distance variation that results in a shaft misalignment situation.
It is therefore deemed advantageous if a mechanism is created which permits both contacting and non-contacting bearing protector types to accommodate angular shaft to housing misalignment whilst permitting the effective sealing of the bearing lubricant fluid.
Several attempts have made to satisfy this basic sealing requirement, from Schickling U.S. Pat. No. 3,971,565, Lampart U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,845 and Orlowski, U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,921 and WO 98/02669.
Orlowski U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,921, teaches a two elastomeric members located either side of a projection from a carrier, and frictionally fitted to the sides of the split pillar block. Orlowski relies on the relative elasticity of said elastomer members to accommodate angular misalignment between the carrier and pillar block housing.
Orlowski, further uses frictional wear rings connected from the carrier to the shaft to force the stationary carrier to align to the rotating shaft.
The experience reader should note several technical drawbacks with Orlowski U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,921, as follows;                the frictional rings wear between the rotating shaft and stationary carrier. The worn particles dispersed adjacent and into the sealed bearing lubrication fluid. Said contaminates deteriorate the lubrication media leading to premature bearing failure.        as the elastomeric members are resiliently mounted between the carrier and pillar block housing when the equipment is aligned, given a misalignment situation, one of the two elastomeric members will compress over part of its circumference, whilst the compression on the second elastomer is relieved over part of its circumference. Likewise, the compressive forces at the other part of both elastomers circumferences changes. This irregular circumferential compression force is transmitted through to the frictional rings, accelerating the wear.        all frictional contacting members positioned between two counter rotating surfaces wear both the member and often the surface of the rotor/stator. Such frictional rings thus wear grooves in the shaft, leading to expensive equipment refurbishment costs.        the equipment shaft to housing is angularly rotated about the centreline of the bearing. Often double spherical roller/ball bearings are employed in spilt pillar blocks. Said spherical roller bearings angularly rotate about the radius of the bearing race. Any sealing member which does not also rotate about this bearing race radius is thus resisting the angular rotation, leading to further wear, rapid deterioration of both the bearing and the equipment and failure of the equipment.
It is thus deemed to be further advantageous if said angularly accommodating mechanism, adjacent to the sealing member, does not angularly conflict with the natural angular movement of the bearing.
Furthermore, it is deemed to be advantageous to avoid the use of frictional alignment wear rings particularly adjacent to the sealed bearing lubricant fluid and not to create uneven circumferential forces around the seal member in a misaligned equipment configuration.

Bearing alignment device and seal arrangement


Disclosed are various embodiments for optimizing a hopping sequence for a network. A network device generates sequences of channel numbers based at least in part upon a seed value. The network device concatenates the sequences into the hopping sequence, wherein each of the sequences is a segment of the hopping sequence. The network device adjusts the position of any adjacent repeating channel numbers within the hopping sequence to separate the channel numbers. The network device configures its network interface using the hopping sequence in order to communicate via the network.

Mesh networks, such as a time synchronous channel hopping (TSCH) network, periodically change the frequency channel on which devices that are active on the network transmit or receive data. The devices that are active on a given network are each configured with a predefined channel hopping sequence (or simply "hopping sequence") that specifies the sequence of channels to be used for network communications. Once the end of the hopping sequence has been reached, the devices of the network may repeat the hopping sequence from the beginning. Using short and/or predictable channel hopping sequences may make it difficult for nodes to discover neighboring networks, as well as result in an increased likelihood of radio interference. Using longer channel hopping sequences may improve the likelihood of discovering a neighboring network, but may include adjacent channels that repeat, which may increase the likelihood of radio interference.

Techniques for generating an optimized channel hopping sequence


An apparatus for communicating data is provided that includes a cell site element associated with a base transceiver station and comprising a compression module that is operable to receive a plurality of bits associated with a communications flow, to inspect the bits, to determine whether one or more samples included in the flow should be suppressed, and to compress the samples. The cell site element is coupled to a back-up device that is operable to assume responsibility for active flows in a case where a primary device fails. Data is exchanged between the primary device and the back-up device, the data guiding the back-up device in how to process the active flows.

Communication systems and architectures have become increasingly important in today's society. One aspect of communications relates to maximizing bandwidth and minimizing delays associated with data and information exchanges. Many architectures for effectuating proper data exchanges can add significant overhead and cost in order to accommodate a large number of end-users or data streams. For example, a large number of T1/E1 lines may be used to accommodate heavy traffic, but such lines are generally expensive and, thus, usage of each one should be maximized (to the extent that it is possible) in order to achieve a system benefit per-unit of cost.
Compression techniques can be used by network operators to produce high percentages of bandwidth savings. In certain scenarios, network operators may consider compressing certain communication patterns that appear on a given communication link. However, many of the existing compression/suppression protocols are problematic in the case of failover. During a failover situation, full-headers can flood either the cell site location or the aggregation node location. This overwhelms any device residing at these locations. This flooding causes oversubscription of the communication link [e.g. a T1 link] and results in a substantial number of packets and/or calls being dropped.
Accordingly, the ability to provide a communications system that consumes few resources, optimizes bandwidth, and properly addresses failover scenarios presents a significant challenge for network operators, service providers, and system administrators.

System and method for synchronizing a back-up device in a communications environment


An imaging lens substantially consists of a negative first lens group and a positive second lens group in this order from the object side. The first lens group substantially consists of only a first lens, which is one biconcave lens. The second lens group substantially consists of, in the following order from the object side: a cemented lens, which is formed by bonding a second lens, i.e., a biconvex lens, and a third lens, i.e., a negative meniscus lens, in this order from the object side, and which has a positive refractive power as a whole; an aperture stop; and a cemented lens that is formed by bonding a fourth lens, i.e., a biconvex lens and a fifth lens, i.e., a negative meniscus lens in this order from the object side and that has a positive refractive power as a whole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an imaging lens and an imaging lens apparatus, and more particularly to an imaging lens used for surveillance cameras, portable terminal cameras, in-vehicle cameras and the like including imaging devices such as a CCD (Charge Coupled Device) and a CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), and an imaging apparatus including this imaging lens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Recently, devices that have been miniaturized greatly and have an increased number of pixels are known as imaging devices such as CCD's and CMOS's. Along with this, the main body of imaging instruments including these imaging devices has also been miniaturized, and imaging lenses to be mounted on the devices, which are miniaturized and improved to have favorable optical performance, have been applied. As imaging instruments for use as surveillance cameras, in-vehicle cameras and the like, those equipped with lenses, which have a wide angle of view, and yet which are compact and capable of high performance, are known.
For example, the imaging lenses as disclosed in the following Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 1 (1989)-134324, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 7 (1995)-253542, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2001-356265, and Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2010-191019 are known as imaging lenses having comparatively small numbers of lenses in the technical field described above.

Imaging lens, and imaging apparatus including the imaging lens


A video image processing apparatus for processing compressed video image signals received at a speed of n for display on a video image display device. The apparatus comprises signal selecting circuits for selecting and passing components of a compressed video image signal from a specific frame or field, video image information memories for storing the components selected by the signal selecting circuits, a video image information control circuit for dividing the display screen of a video image display device into a plurality of regions, and controlling the video image information memories so that the components of the video image signal may be read in a sequence suitable for display, and a video image processing circuit for processing the video image information from the video image information memories for display on the video image display apparatus.

(a) Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a video image processing apparatus and the method of the same for reducing plural compressed video images, and displaying the plural reduced images simultaneously in divided portion on a same screen.
(b) Description of the Prior Art
At the present, when editing video materials taken, for example, by a video camera or the like in a broadcasting station or post-production, digitized video image is once stored and saved in a hard disk (HDD) of video editor or video server, and the so-called nonlinear editing is widely employed, that is, while monitoring the contents of video materials in the HDD, cuts are exchanged, inserted or deleted, and editing or transmission is done. In such editing work, for example, the video material recorded in a video cassette is read at high speed by a VTR, and the transfer time to the HDD is shortened.
FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of such editing application of video material.
In FIG. 3, reference numeral 301 is a video camera, 302 is a video cassette in which a video material is recorded by the video camera 301, and 303 is an n-times speed video player, which is a VTR capable of reading the video cassette 302 at a speed of n times of the normal speed. Reference numeral 305 is a video image processing apparatus. Reference numeral 306 is a video monitor. Reference numeral 304 is a nonlinear video editor having an HDD.
The video material taken by the video camera 301 is recorded in the video cassette 302. This video camera is read by the n-times speed video player 303, and is transferred at high speed into the HDD in the nonlinear video editor 304.
For transfer to the HDD, in order to shorten the transfer time, the n-times speed video player 303 capable of reading the video cassette 302 at a speed of n times of the normal read/write speed is employed. In the n-times speed video player, video image signals of n frames are read in an ordinary period of one frame. Such n-times speed video player 303 is easily realized by mounting n times of head of the number of ordinary reading magnetic heads on the cylinder of the VTR, and running the tape at n times of normal speed.
The operator of editing work, in order to monitor the content of the video material recorded in the video cassette 302 in the process of transfer of video image signal of the video material into the HDD in the nonlinear video editor 304 from the n-times speed video player 303, manipulates to display the content of the video image signal in the process of transfer of video image signal from the n-times speed video player 303 into the nonlinear video editor 304, on the video monitor 306 through the video image signal processing apparatus 305.
In the case of n-times speed reading, n times of video image signals of the normal reading data are obtained from the VTR. That is, video image signals of n frames are read in an ordinary period of one frame. Therefore, in order to display all frames of the video image signals being read on the video monitor 306, it is necessary to reduce the video image, and display the plural reduced images simultaneously in divided portions on one screen.
As the video image processing apparatus for reducing plural video images and displaying the plural reduced images simultaneously in divided portions on one screen (corresponding to the video image processing apparatus 305 in FIG. 3), for example, U. S. Pat. No. 5,434,624, Jul. 18, 1995 ("Apparatus for producing a multi-scene video signal" Tsuneaki Ishimura) is disclosed.
According to this publication, delay circuits for delaying an input video image signal and the address corresponding to this video image signal are provided, and their outputs are selectively passed and written into the memory, so that the video image is reduced and displayed.
Such prior art, however, involved the following problems.
When the plural input video images arc compressed video image signals, for example, if compressed by using a DCT transform (Discrete Cosine Transform), the sample of the video image is the concept of the frequency, and when recorded in a VTR, VLC encoding or the like is employed, and therefore the concept of the address signal in the prior art is lost, and the method of the prior art cannot be employed.
If it is dared to apply the method of the prior art in the compressed video image, in the stage before input in the prior art, a circuit for expanding the compressed video image until becoming completely uncompressed is required, and the expander circuits are required as many as the number of input images, so that the circuit size becomes very large.

Video image processing apparatus and the method of the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


An educational game that aids in the development of the fundamentals of freehand drawing and assists players of the game in learning the relationship between all of the parts that comprise a whole. According to the present invention, there is provided a drawing area, such as a sheet of paper, erasable form board, etc., having imprinted thereon a single image which, when combined with several other images drawn by a player, results in a fully completed picture. In conjunction with the drawing area, a die or other selectiion device is used to determine each players' opportunity to complete the picture. Each side of the die presents the player with a different option for proceeding.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an educational game that aids in the development of the fundamentals of freehand drawing and assists players of the game in learning the relationship between all of the parts that comprise a whole.
2. Description of the Related Art
There are many games used for amusement or educational purposes that employ cubes, more commonly called dice. Frequently such games are used in conjunction with game boards, with the dice having assorted images or symbols on each of their sides. The players roll the dice, or a single die, and the symbol(s) that faces up is utilized by the player to determine where on the board to move or what step to take.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,207 to Jones discloses and educational game in which a spinner is used to indicate a particular "predetermined characteristic." Pieces corresponding to the predetermined characteristic are selected when indicated by the spinner and placed upon a game board having an outline of a character that is made up of the predetermined characteristics. Nothing in the Jones patent discloses the freehand drawing of characteristics by a player.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,858,333 to Kopp teaches an educational game apparatus for teaching sign language. The game disclosed in Kopp is played similarly to the game "SCRABBLE", and dice bearing the various letters of the sign language alphabet are used to determine which letters the player may use in an attempt to spell words.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,754,738 to Calle teaches another dice game in which a card, bearing a "connect-the-dots" or "dot-to-dot" drawing along with a table listing particular coordinates representing a line to be drawn, is used. Dice are used to determines which of the coordinates should be used by a player, which, therefore, determines which line will be drawn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,158,921 to Stolpen teaches an educational teaching and self-correcting apparatus used for teaching relationships, similarities and differences in a number of subject matters. Depending on the roll of several different dice, the user learns to match similarities, differences and related items.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,568,356 to Berman teaches a game that is used, interactively, with a television set. The player puts a plastic film "panel" over the television screen and places various items on the screen to help tell a story. The player can also use special markers to draw on the screen and is directed to do so by instructions delivered by the television program announcer.

Educational game for teaching freehand drawing


One aspect of the invention includes a method of address expression optimization of source-level code. The source-level code describes the functionality of an application to be executed on a digital device. The method comprises first inputting first source-level code that describes the functionality of the application into optimization system. The optimization system then transforms the first source-level into a second source level that has fewer nonlinear operations than the first source-level code.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention relates to digital devices. More particularly, the field of the invention relates to optimizing high-level source code for digital devices comprising programmable processors.
2. Description of the Related Technology
As is known in the art, a software application can be described by a high-level programming language or code, e.g., Pascal, Fortran, C++. Although there has been some research in the field of high-level programming language optimization, there has been little work done in the field of optimizing code that is targeted for programmable processors. For example, the article, Miranda M., Catthoor F., Janssen M. and De Man H., "High-level address optimization and synthesis techniques for data-transfer intensive applications", IEEE Transactions on VLSI systems, Vol. 6, No. 4, pp. 677-686, December 1998, describes a system for optimizing source code that is targeted for custom processors design or synthesis. However, this article fails to describe how address optimization can be applied in a context wherein resources are fixed or are predetermined.
Furthermore, the article, Liem C., Paulin P., Jerraya A., "Address calculation of retargetable compilation and exploration of instruction-set architectures", Proceedings 33rd Design Automation Conference, describes an approach for rewriting code for instruction-set architectures which uses detailed knowledge of a particular target architecture. Disadvantageously, this approach optimizes instruction-level code which is machine specific.
For example, in Liem, address expression optimization is performed on pointer types, which masks the actual address expression. Since instruction level code is typically longer than source code, pointer type optimization is typically limited to smaller blocks of the code. In instruction level optimization, a block of code typically relates to a branch of the code that is induced by a conditional statement. In Lien, since only parts of the code are examined in the optimization and due to the masking of the address expression, global optimization opportunities are overlooked. Furthermore, this approach does not describe how to provide optimization methods for partly programmable processors wherein the optimization method is processor-independent.
Thus, there is a need for examining address expression optimization for source code as opposed to instruction code. There is also a need for a system and method of optimizing high-level source code wherein the optimization is machine-independent.

System and method for optimizing source code


An object shooting condition judging device for an image shooting apparatus of the present invention includes: an ultraviolet light detecting element for detecting received ultraviolet light; comparing means for comparing ultraviolet light intensity detected by the ultraviolet light detecting element with predetermined intensity that has been determined in advance; and judging means for judging shooting conditions of an object based on the comparison result of the comparing means. This object shooting condition judging device enables quick response and is capable of adjusting white balance of images between indoors and outdoors in a simple and easy manner.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object shooting condition judging device, an image quality adjustment device, and an image shooting apparatus, and specifically, to an object shooting condition judging device for judging object shooting conditions such as light source types by an ultraviolet light receiving element (i.e., an ultraviolet light detecting element) as an external sensor and an image quality adjustment device for adjusting image quality based on the judged object shooting condition in an image shooting apparatus such as a digital camera and video camera, and an image shooting apparatus including the object shooting condition judging device and the image quality adjustment device.
2. Description of a Related Art
Recently, a digital camera and a portable phone equipped with a digital camera are becoming remarkably widespread. These digital cameras, differently from a silver halide film camera, often shoot an object as a subject of shooting while referring to the image of the object in real time by a liquid crystal display device, and the shot image is viewed on the scene.
Further, since the equipment is made compact and lightweight, it is desired that the processing of white balance adjustment according to the difference in light source types in the shooting location is simplified as much as possible.
Generally, in a digital camera and video camera, white balance is adjusted by auto white balance. As the auto white balance, there are the external sensor system and the image detection type. The external sensor system analyzes the color of ambient light cast on the camera, as values, by a color measuring sensor and calculates white balance gain based on the measured color values, thereby adjusting white balance.
On the other hand, the image detection type calculates white balance gain by estimating illumination light source color from the output of the imaging device, and uses RGB signals obtained from the output of the imaging device as criteria.
As the external sensor system, conventionally, a system of measuring light on the scene in four wavebands including ultraviolet light, judging the light source by comparing the ultraviolet light intensity with the light intensity of other three wavebands, and using the result as white balance compensation data has been proposed (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 2002-71458).
However, in the conventional technology, since the ultraviolet light intensity and the light intensity of other three wavebands are compared, the technology is complicated and quick response can not be obtained. Further, in the case where the ambient illumination light of the camera and the illumination light of the object are different, when shooting outdoors from indoors and the like is attempted, there arises a problem in that white balance can not be adjusted because some of ultraviolet light is absorbed by windowpanes.

Comparative object shooting condition judging device, image quality adjustment device, and image shooting apparatus


A system for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object comprises a measurement module and an astigmatic optical path mechanism. The optical path mechanism makes a laser beam pass a lens assembly and focus on an object. The reflected light passes the lens assembly and an astigmatic lens, arriving at the photo sensor assembly, forming a light spot thereon. The translational displacements of the object are measured by the variations in shape of the light spot on the photo sensors. The angular displacements of the object are measured accordingly by the movement of the light spot on the photo sensors.

The interferometer and the beam deflection method (or the optical lever method) are two most popular techniques for the non-contact and precise displacement measurement of objects. The interferometer measures the translational displacement of the object. It is, however, not useful in the measurement of the angular displacement of the object at the same time. The beam deflection method is useful in measuring the angular displacement of the object. An atomic force microscope (AFM) may use the beam deflection method to detect the angular displacement of its cantilever during the measurement of the object to be measured. The deformation of the cantilever will contain the information in the translational displacement and the information in the angular displacement of the cantilever. It is almost impossible to separate the information of the pure translational displacement and the information of the angular displacement from the information obtained from the deformation of the cantilever. The translational displacement of the cantilever may only be obtained indirectly based on certain geometric formulas relating to the bending cantilever. Therefore, the accuracy of the conventional AFM depends not only on the measurement system itself, but also by the accuracy of the calculation, which further depends on the physical and geometric characteristics of the cantilever. These characteristics vary depending on the material of the cantilevers being used. No universal data of these characteristics are available.
It is thus necessary to provide a system for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object that measures the translational displacement and the angular displacement of the cantilever of an atomic force microscope at the same time.
It is also necessary to provide a novel system for the precise measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object.
It is also necessary to provide a system for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object that may be prepared in low costs.
It is also necessary to provide a system for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object that is easy to operate.

System for measurement of the height, angle and their variations of the surface of an object


An apparatus for acquiring a modified baseband video signal from a CRT of a receiver includes a capacitive pick-up disposed on an external surface of a housing of the receiver and adjacent to a socket of the CRT, and two inductive pick ups having substantially mutually perpendicular axes disposed on the external surface of the housing and spaced apart from the capacitive pickup. The capacitive pick up senses a video signal of the receiver, and the inductive pick ups sense horizontal and vertical sync signals of the receiver. A horizontal sync component of the video signal is replaced in response to the horizontal sync signal sensed by the inductive pick ups. A filter is arranged to filter out a band of frequencies centered about an integral multiple of a power line frequency. The capacitive pick up has a capacitive pick up plate and a capacitive shield plate which is located farther from the socket than the capacitive pick-up plate. An axis of one of the two inductive pick ups is parallel to an axis of the CRT.

Many methods have been used in audience measurement systems for determining the channels or programs to which television receivers, located in statistically sampled households, are tuned. These methods generally involve sensing signals in the video portions of the monitored television receivers. For example, because the local oscillator frequency of a monitored television receiver is dependent upon the channel to which the monitored television receiver is tuned, the output of the local oscillator may be sensed in order to determine the tuned channel. As another example, signal injection systems sequentially inject a signal on the various carrier frequencies to which a monitored television receiver may be tuned. The injection signal is then sensed in order to identify the tuned channel.
In order to sense a video signal, most audience measurement systems, particularly those which have proven reliable enough for practical use, require at least partial disassembly of the monitored television receiver and a direct connection (such as by soldering) to a point in the video circuitry. Such invasive methods are believed to decrease the likelihood that a sampled household will agree to co-operate in a television audience survey. This loss of cooperation, in turn, both increases the costs of operating the survey and decreases the reliability of the data obtained. Hence, there has been a longstanding need in the television audience field for a reliable non-invasive sensor which does not require physical access by an installing technician to the inside of a cabinet or housing of a monitored television receiver.
Non-invasive sensors, which are located adjacent a sampled television receiver and which measure the frequency and phase of vertical and horizontal synchronization signals that are part of the transmitted television program, are known. For example, Leonard, U.S. Pat. No. 3,130,265, discloses an audience measurement method which requires each transmitter in the surveyed broadcast area to have a unique sync phase. However, the control of the phase of all the transmitters is a condition that has proven impossible to establish.
Gall, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,685, discloses a system which (i) detects the phase of both vertical and horizontal synchronization signals for all broadcast stations in a monitored broadcast market, (ii) measures the phase of these signals at a sampled receiver, and (iii) compensates for the distances through which the signals travel from the broadcast stations to both a central monitoring site and a sampled receiver. Solar, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,764,808, discloses a system for determining, from a non-invasive measurement of the horizontal sync frequency of a sampled receiver, the color burst frequency of the station being viewed. This measured frequency is compared with a centrally maintained tabulation of the deviation of each station's actual color burst frequency from a standard value in order to determine the station being viewed. However, neither the Solar system nor the Gall system can discriminate among multiple programs originating from a single location. For example, two channels of satellite-distributed programming that originate at the same uplink facility could have the same color burst frequency and therefore be indistinguishable to the systems disclosed in the Solar and Gall patents. Also, the Solar and Gall systems would be unwieldy if a large number of programming sources were to be measured.
Other systems are content-based systems and identify the programs to which television receivers are tuned either by reading ancillary codes embedded in the programs or by extracting patterns from the programs for comparison to a library of reference patterns. Systems which sense embedded ancillary codes are taught, inter alia, in Haselwood, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,025,851, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference, and in Keene, U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,122. The use of pattern recognition is disclosed, inter alia, in Kiewit, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,697,209, the disclosure of which is herein incorporated by reference.
Content-based systems typically measure alternating currents and are, therefore, more vulnerable to noise as the measurement bandwidth increases. In order to maximize the signal-to-noise ratio, most of these content-based systems use invasive direct connections to audio or video circuitry within a monitored television receiver. By contrast, there are known content-based systems which non-invasively sense embedded ancillary codes where the ancillary codes (or pattern signatures) vary slowly. For example, a system which non-invasively senses an ancillary code embedded in an audio signal is disclosed in Jensen, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,450,490 (this system uses a microphone to pick up the audio in which the ancillary code is embedded). Another system, which switches the luminance of sequential lines of a video signal in order to insert an ancillary code and which senses the ancillary code non-invasively, is disclosed in Schober, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,160. Although the system disclosed in this Schober, et al. patent operates on a video signal, it does so at data rates that would more conventionally be labeled "audio"--for example, at the 15.6 kHz horizontal line frequency of an NTSC signal.
The present invention is directed to a non-invasive sensor which solves one or more of the above noted problems.

Television receiver use metering with separate program and sync detectors


A system for mounting a member such as a rail to a support surface such as a floor, made of a precast concrete material, without penetrating the floor. The rail mounting system includes a base plate secured to the upper surface of the floor via an adhesive, with one or more connectors extending upwardly from the base plate. An anchor plate is secured to the rail, and adjustment screws are interconnected with the rail for adjusting the elevation of the rail relative to the base plate. When the desired elevation of the rail is attained, engagement members such as nuts are secured to the threaded connectors extending upwardly from the base plate, to fix the height of the anchor plate, and thereby the rail. A grout layer is then applied between the base plate and the anchor plate. After the grout layer is set, the leveling screws are removed and a topping layer of concrete is applied over the components of the mounting system so as to encapsulate the base plate, the anchor plate and the engagement members.

This invention relates to a system for mounting a member to a support surface such as a floor, for an application such as a rail associated with a mobile file or storage system, and more particularly to a mounting system in which the member is mounted to the support surface without penetrating the support surface.
In a mobile file or storage system, a series of parallel rails are mounted to a support surface such as a floor. The rails support a number of mobile carriages to which files, shelves or other storage units are mounted. The carriages are movable on the rails so as to provide high density storage in which aisles between the storage units are eliminated, in a known manner.
In a prior art construction, the rails are secured to the floor by means of a series of spaced anchors that extend into the floor. Typically, each anchor includes an upwardly extending threaded shank, which extends through an opening in one of a series of mounting plates secured to the rail. A threaded nut is engaged with each shank, and functions to clamp the plate to the floor so as to secure the rail in position on the floor. The typical prior art construction includes the use of one or more shims to level the rail at the location of each mounting plate. This type of rail mounting system is suitable for mounting a rail to a conventional concrete floor to which conventional anchors can be secured.
In some applications, a site for a mobile storage system has a floor constructed of a series of precast concrete members, which are typically low profile concrete beams with tensioned reinforcing rods or cables. Conventional anchor bolts cannot be used to mount rails to this type of floor, in that penetration of the precast member weakens its strength and runs the risk of striking the tensioned reinforcing cables or rods contained within the precast members.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system for mounting a member such as a rail to a support surface such as a floor, without penetration of the floor. It is a further object of the invention to provide such a system which includes a feature for adjusting the elevation of the rail, so as to provide the ability to level the rail. It is a further object of the invention to provide such a system which is relatively simple in its components and which enables a rail to be mounted to a support surface in an efficient manner and with a minimal number of steps.
In accordance with the present invention, a system for mounting a member such as a rail to a support surface includes a base member, such as a base plate, which is secured to the support surface by use of an adhesive. An intermediate mounting member is secured to the rail, and the mounting member in turn is secured to the base member. The mounting member, which may be in the form of an anchor plate, is preferably secured to the base plate such that a space is defined between the base plate and the anchor plate. The mounting system includes an adjustment feature by which the dimension of the space can be varied, so as to enable the rail to be leveled. When the rail is in a desired position, a fluidic cementitious material, such as grout, is injected into the space between the base plate and the anchor plate, so as to fix the height of the anchor plate and thereby the elevation of the rail. In one form, the adjustment feature includes one or more threaded leveling screws that bear against the base plate and which are operable to vary the elevation of the anchor plate, and thereby the rail, relative to the base plate. The leveling screws are threadedly engaged with any satisfactory component, e.g. a leveling plate located between the rail and the anchor plate. To maintain the desired elevation of the rail prior to application of the grout, the anchor plate is secured in position by a retainer arrangement, e.g. retainer screws and associated engagement members such as nuts, which extends between and interconnects the base plate and the anchor plate. The retainer arrangement functions to apply downward pressure on the anchor plate, while engagement of the leveling screws with the base plate maintains the desired space between the anchor plate and the base plate. The leveling screws can then be removed after the grout is injected between the anchor plate and the base plate, and has set. A topping layer of concrete may then be applied between the rails so as to encapsulate the base plate and the anchor plate while leaving the upwardly facing portion of the rail exposed, to embed the rails within the floor.
The invention contemplates a method of mounting a member such as a rail to a support surface, as well as a mounting assembly for mounting a member such as a rail to a support surface, substantially in accordance with the foregoing summary.
Various other features, objects and advantages of the invention will be made apparent from the following description taken together with the drawings.

Floor-mounted rail for a mobile storage system


A parabola generator for providing dynamic correction includes a capacitor source of a parabolic input signal at a frequency related to a horizontal deflection frequency coupled to a first terminal of the capacitor. A diode switch is coupled to a voltage at a reference level and to a second terminal of the capacitor for periodically clamping a peak level of a signal developed at the second terminal. A transistor switch is responsive to a periodic switch control signal and coupled to the second terminal of the capacitor for periodically clamping a signal applied from the second terminal, during retrace, for removing a parasitic parabolic voltage portion to generate a dynamic correction signal. The dynamic correction signal is coupled to the cathode ray tube to vary a field in a beam path of an electron beam of the cathode ray tube for providing dynamic correction.

It is known to generate a dynamic focus voltage that is applied to a focus electrode of a cathode-ray tube (CRT) for changing the focus of the CRT as the length of the beam path changes during horizontal and vertical scanning. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,300,731, entitled DYNAMIC FOCUS VOLTAGE AMPLITUDE CONTROLLER, in the name of John Barrett George, describes such an arrangement. There, a parabolic horizontal rate voltage is applied to a focus voltage amplifier.
A data sheet of a deflection processor integrated circuit (IC) TA1317AN published by Toshiba Corporation describes generation of a parabola waveform for horizontal dynamic focus. The peak-to-peak amplitude of the parabola waveform is selectable such that the level of the parabola at the center of horizontal trace remains the same at the different selections of the peak-to-peak amplitude. Whereas, at the end of trace, the peak level of the parabola is different at the different selections of the peak-to-peak amplitude.
Also, between the end of one trace and the beginning of the next trace, a parasitic or undesirable waveform portion is generated in IC TA1317AN. When applied to the focus voltage amplifier, this parasitic waveform portion, that occurs, during retrace, may produce an undesirable distortion in a portion of the dynamic focus voltage that occurs outside retrace, in a visible portion of the horizontal scan line, near the end of trace. It may be desirable to eliminate the parasitic waveform portion without disturbing the portion of the dynamic focus voltage that occurs in the vicinity of the end of trace. It may also be desirable to do so in a manner that preserves the ability to adjust the peak-to-peak amplitude of the parabola waveform.
In carrying out an aspect of the invention, a first parabola waveform is capacitively coupled via a capacitor to a first semiconductor switch responsive to a first reference voltage and forming a clamp. The clamp generates a second parabola waveform having a peak level, at the end of trace, that is determined by the first reference voltage. The clamping operation of the first semiconductor switch causes the capacitor to charge in a manner to provide level shifting. Advantageously, at selectively different peak-to-peak amplitudes of the first parabola waveform, the peak amplitude of the second parabola waveform remains the same. Thus, the level shifting, advantageously, preserves the ability to select different peak-to-peak amplitudes of the second parabola waveform. A second semiconductor switch, responsive to a periodic switch control signal and to a second reference voltage, replaces in the second parabola waveform an undesirable waveform portion of the first parabola waveform that occurs between the end of trace and the beginning of the immediately following trace of the second parabola waveform with a constant level. The constant level is determined in accordance with the second reference voltage. Thereby, the undesirable waveform portion is, advantageously, removed.

Waveform generator for controlling an electron beam in a cathode ray tube


This invention provides a non-invasive diagnosis system that is not only capable of producing high-resolution, three-dimensional images of abnormalities of tissue growth inside the body but, it can also detect the type of abnormalities and their location using multispectral imaging techniques. It is possible to provide a portable, non-invasive device that is handheld and with which a person may use to screen themselves for early detection of skin cancer without the need to visit a physician. As the present invention uses broadband sources and/or multiple coherent sources, secondary factors such as oxygen metabolism or blood volume associated with the cancer tissues could also be detected to provide further verification of the type. This invention would raise the accuracy of diagnosis and reduce the rate of false positives and false negatives.

The human skin is a multifunctional organ of the body that provides protection, temperature regulation, sensory perception, excretion, and vitamin production. It is made of two major layers: the epidermis and the dermis (with the hypodermis under that). The epidermis is the outermost layer of the skin. The topmost layer of the epidermis is composed of dead cells that are continually being worn off. The epidermis has some nerve cells but no blood vessels. Cells in the deepest layers are nourished by diffusion from blood capillaries extending to the upper layers of the dermis, the layer underneath the epidermis. The dermis provides cushion to the body and flexibility to the skin. It includes nerve endings, blood vessels, sweat glands, and hair follicles. The hypodermis (subcutaneous tissue) lies underneath the dermis and is not part of the skin. It contains much fat and connects the skin to other parts of the body, such as bone and muscle.
Skin cancer is the uncontrolled growth of abnormal skin cells resulting in malignant tumors. It is most often caused by ultraviolet radiation or genetic defects. It is the most common form of cancer in the United States, where over 3.5 million cases of skin cancers are diagnosed each year and increasing over time. The most common type, basal cell carcinoma, is rarely fatal but can be disfiguring. The second-most common type, squamous cell carcinoma, is more fatal, killing about 2% in 2012.
Malignant melanoma is a rarer type of skin cancer mostly caused by UV radiation, but it is the most dangerous type. It is a tumor of melanocytes, which are found in the epidermis. One person dies of melanoma every 57 minutes. The number of melanoma cases and the rate of mortality from melanoma have been increasing over the years. Even if a patient survives melanoma, the likelihood of developing new melanoma is nine times greater than for the general population. Concern for skin cancer generally increases as one grows older and accumulates sun exposure over one's lifetime. More than 90 percent of the visible changes commonly attributed to skin aging are caused by the sun. Melanoma is thus a type of skin cancer that merits treatment as soon as it is detected.
When allowed to advance and spread to other parts of the body, skin cancer can result in disfigurement or death. Treatment is possible, but societal costs are high. About 40% of the annual cost for melanoma in patients 65 or older ($249 million) goes to treating advanced, stage IV cancers. The total cost for treating melanoma was $2.36 billion in 2010. The overall 5-year survival rate for patients whose melanoma is detected early is about 98 percent in the U.S. But the survival rate falls to 62 percent when the disease reaches the lymph nodes and 15 percent when the disease metastasizes to distant organs. Thus, early detection is paramount to extended survival and prevention of further damage. The earlier skin cancer is detected, the easier it is to treat successfully. It is important to have a means to screen oneself often or investigate suspicious areas of the skin to catch the cancer early and increase their chances of survival. Unfortunately, there exists no device on the market that one may inexpensively use to regularly screen for skin cancer at home.
Currently, there are recommended methods for detection of skin cancers, including skin self-examination and physician's full-body skin examination. Self-examination involves a head-to-toe examination of the skin for lesions that might be cancerous or precancerous. However, it is often difficult to tell whether a lesion is merely a mole or developing skin cancer. Melanomas often look like ordinary moles, and some melanomas do develop from ordinary moles. Moreover, mere self-examination of the surface of the skin cannot determine how far a potential case of skin cancer has spread under the skin and into the body. Dermatologists can look for signs of skin cancer, but a lesion on the skin that the physician suspects is cancerous will be biopsied-some skin is removed for evaluation by a pathologist. This is a multi-step, invasive process that requires a waiting period for results. The process may be more challenging if a lesion is located in a sensitive or delicate area. Thus, it is difficult to determine if and when a lesion is cancerous or is transforming into a case of melanoma.
Most suspected melanomas detected during screening programs are not actually melanoma, leading to false-positive results. These results lead to biopsies or surgery, possibly resulting in unnecessary overtreatment. One study found that sufficient proof does not yet exist to prove that self-examination or whole-body skin exams reduce deaths from skin cancer. However, it is contemplated that routine self-screening combined with the accuracy of a biopsy may contribute to preventing deaths from skin cancer.
It would be useful and desirable to have a portable, non-hazardous and non-invasive device that anyone can use to screen themselves for skin cancer without the need to rely on purely surface symptoms and physician visits. The present invention provides for a device that uses multispectral imaging using broadband sources and/or multiple coherent sources to produce high-resolution, three-dimensional images of cutaneous tissue and to detect potential skin cancers on and underneath the surface of the skin with high accuracy. Quick delivery of images and results in the privacy of one's home allows the user to interpret the results and decide whether to invest further time and energy by visiting a dermatologist, who can determine whether a biopsy is needed to answer questions on the penetration stage of the cancerous lesion.

System for screening and diagnosis of skin cancer


Techniques for providing a hybrid platform for video games are disclosed. To enjoy the video and audio quality a TV could provide, all game actions with a video game are provided via a TV. However, the video game itself is running on a generic personal computer (PC). In one embodiment, a device is provided to receive various game actions by a game player with the video game. The game hub provides an (wired or wireless) interface for transferring signals representing the game actions to the PC, in return the PC provides digital streams to the TV for display.

The present invention is generally related to the area of video games. In particular, the present invention is related to a hybrid platform for video games, wherein it includes a generic personal computer (PC) and a television (TV), thus providing a gaming environment and other useful features in addition to what a video game console could provide.
The present invention discloses a hybrid platform including a TV, a game hub and a generic PC. The game hub is provided to receive game actions from at least a game controller being used by a user and the TV is provided to display an uncompressed digital stream from the PC running a game in accordance with data representing the game actions.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for playing computer-based video games on television


An adjustable chopper shaft is disclosed including a chopper shaft (14), a gear (18) concentrically mounted on the chopper shaft, the gear being accomodated in a gearbox (40). A setup (30, 32) for selectively allowing rotation of the chopper shaft relative to the gear are provided and this setup for selectively allowing rotation of the chopper shaft relative to the gear is located externally of the gearbox.

Chopper assemblies for sugar cane harvesters include a pair of counter-rotating gear-driven chopper shafts carrying opposed and overlapping blades which cooperate to cut the elongate sugar cane stalks into shorter billets.
As wear of the blades inevitably occurs, the clearance between the opposed and overlapping counter-rotating blades increases and cutting efficiency is lost.
It is known to provide means for selectively allowing rotation of one of the chopper shafts relative to its gear so that the chopper shaft can be rotated to thereby close the clearance between the overlapping blades. In this known system these means are contained within the gearbox. Therefore, making an adjustment is a difficult exercise which also risks the introduction of contaminants to the gearbox.


There is provided a laminated film for a dye-sensitized solar cell characterized by comprising a polyester film and a transparent conductive layer formed on one side thereof, the transparent conductive layer having a surface tension of 40 mN/m or greater, and an electrode for a dye-sensitized solar cell with excellent adhesion between the transparent conductive layer and porous semiconductor layer and high photogenerating efficiency.

Since the initial report of photogenerating transforming elements using dye-sensitized semiconductor fine particles (Nature), Vol. 35, 737-740 (1991), dye-sensitized solar cells have been the object of interest as new solar cells to serve as potential alternatives for silicon-based solar cells. In particular, dye-sensitized solar cells employing plastic films as supports can be produced more flexibly and with lighter weights, and they have therefore been extensively studied.

Laminated film for dye-sensitized solar cell and electrode for dye-sensitized solar cell, and process for their production


Communications methods, collaboration session communications organizers, collaboration sessions, and articles of manufacture are described. According to one aspect, a communications method includes accessing scalable media data for communication to a plurality of participants, wherein the scalable media data is configured to convey information regarding a subject, accessing a plurality of respective configuration parameters corresponding to respective ones of the participants, first modifying the scalable media data using a configuration parameter for a first recipient of the participants, the first modifying providing a first data stream having a first quantity of data to convey information for the subject, second modifying the scalable media data using a configuration parameter for a second recipient of the participants, the second modifying providing a second data stream having a second quantity of data to convey information for the subject and different than the first quantity of data, and directing the first and the second data streams to respective ones of the first and the second recipient participants.

Collaboration or collaborative sessions, including multimedia collaboration, are being utilized in an increasing number of applications to facilitate exchange of data and information. In an exemplary collaboration scenario, a group of entities communicates over the Internet and exchanges information and media to achieve a specific goal. While initial applications of collaboration sessions included text-based "Chat" and control-based "Network Games," more recent applications provide exchange of bandwidth intensive media in collaborative sessions. The main goal of collaboration sessions includes the exchange of data (including different types of data) between the participants of a session.
Different collaborative applications have different requirements for data flow between participants. For example, a group discussion application may enable every participant to know what another participant is communicating. In contrast, a distance learning application would enable teacher(s) to talk to all or any students, but students should be allowed to talk only to teacher(s) to ask questions. Other arrangements or applications having other rules for data flow are possible.
Real-time multimedia collaboration, defined broadly as real-time multipoint communication and media exchange in dynamically created online groups, has received considerable interest in recent years. While chat, network games, and shared whiteboards have existed for some time, the more recent focus has been upon bandwidth intensive media, such as audio, video, and 3D media in various forms.
Multimedia collaboration may be implemented using the public Internet. The Internet has evolved as a heterogeneous environment with large variances in client connection bandwidths (e.g., first and second generation wireless to high speed optical connections), client processing power (e.g., personal digital assistants (PDAs) to high-end multi-processor machines), and client display capabilities (e.g., PDAs to visualization workstations). These variances between users should remain for some time despite foreseeable improvements in bandwidth, processing power and display capabilities.
In some heterogeneous environments, quality or richness of collaboration may be limited to the lowest common denominator (e.g., presence of a 56 k modem or PDA in the collaboration) where a server is used as the connectivity architecture to route data in collaborative sessions. This model may be considered advantageous inasmuch as there are no dynamic IP or leaf-end bottleneck issues. However, the presence of a relatively slow data connection (e.g., 56 k) or device with a display form factor of a PDA or similar device may limit the quality of the collaboration. For example, pushing data beyond the bandwidth or display limits by higher end machines in the session may potentially block wireless or 56 k connections rendering received data unviewable on PDAs or similar devices.
Some collaboration implementations maintain multiple versions of the same media, and serve one of the versions to each client based on communications capabilities of the client. In these arrangements, the number of versions to be stored may rapidly increase if all types of scalability are to be supported in a real-time collaboration scenario. The number of versions may make creation, handling and delivery impractical. For example, the sender would send multiple different versions for different clients to the management unit. Also, further complications may arise from clients dynamically joining and leaving sessions dynamically using different versions of the data.
At least some aspects of the disclosure provide improved apparatus and methods for implementing communications of media data, including communications involving collaborative sessions.

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


The invention relates to a method for determining a potential conflict situation (2) between objects within a multidimensional traffic area (1), with the objects each moving on predetermined trajectories (T1 to T11), having the following steps:                a) subdivision of the traffic area (1), with respect to at least one dimension (x, y, z, t) of the traffic area (1), into at least two partial traffic areas (11, 12, 13, 14, 41, 42, 51, 52, 53, 61), and        b) repetition of steps a) and b) corresponding to those partial traffic areas (11, 12, 13, 14, 41, 42, 51, 52, 53, 61) which were subdivided in step a) and are influenced by at least two trajectories (T2, T3),with a potential conflict situation (2) between at least two trajectories (T2, T3) which jointly influence a partial traffic area (113) being determined as a function of an extent with respect to at least one dimension (x, y, z, t) of the partial traffic area (113).

As a result of the major requirement for mobility and the continuously increasing number of trade goods to be transported, the traffic load and therefore the load on the infrastructure on which the respective type of traffic is based is also increasing in proportion to this. This can be observed in particular in air traffic since, in this case, long distances can be traveled in a relatively short time, as a result of which a significant increase in the amount of traffic, and therefore an increased traffic load, is predicted with respect to the globalization for the future. Similar developments are in this case also expected in the maritime field.
These traffic areas in particular, such as the maritime field or aviation, are characterized by their high freedom of movement while traveling. For example, the entire three-dimensional flight space is available to an aircraft, as a result of which the number of possible transport paths between two points is virtually infinite. These traffic areas are therefore fundamentally distinguished from other traffic areas, such as roads or rails, while the transport paths or routes are predetermined by the infrastructure itself.
In order to ensure safe flight traffic for the large number of annual flight movements, the freedom of movement which is predetermined by the air space infrastructure is highly regimented by air traffic control. Aircraft fly only within fixed predetermined corridors, with their flight route being defined and fixed. This flight route is in this case also referred to as a trajectory, which indicates the spatial position of the aircraft at different times. In other words, a trajectory contains a series of waypoints which the vehicle must reach at a specific time. If the aircraft is now guided on a four-dimensional trajectory such as this from its take-off airport to its destination airport, and it may deviate from this predetermined trajectory only in the event of danger or in response to instructions from air traffic control.
These four-dimensional predetermined trajectories on which the aircraft must move are intended to prevent aircraft from colliding with one another, with this risk being particularly high near airports. In this case, a hazard or conflict situation does not exist only when the aircraft would actually collide with one another, but even when they fly past one another, relatively close to one another. For example, vortices can contribute to aircraft crashing, even though they have not collided with one another. In order to prevent this, the aircraft must always be separated from one another by a minimum distance as they travel through the traffic area. A conflict situation arises if this minimum separation is not maintained.
By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,421,603 B1 discloses a method by means of which a conflict situation between an aircraft and the terrain over which the aircraft is flying is intended to be identified. For this purpose, a terrain database is created, and contains a maximum and a minimum altitude with respect to relatively large regions. If the trajectory to be flown by the aircraft is now within this region, then the region is further subdivided into smaller regions when the trajectory is below the maximum altitude in that region. Therefore, in the end, the only subregions which are compared with the trajectory are those which are actually also classified as being critical. Furthermore, this document describes how a conflict situation can also be identified by moving severe weather, in that every trajectory segment of the severe weather is compared with each trajectory segment of the aircraft, and a check is carried out to determine whether they overlap in space or time.
One disadvantage in this case, in particular, is the fact that the calculation complexity for trajectory comparison is very high (exponential) because every trajectory segment must be compared with every other trajectory segment of other objects. When there are a large number of objects, this easily results in a level of computation complexity which can no longer be carried out in an adequate time. This is particularly critical when the aim is to monitor air traffic globally.

Method for determining a potential conflict situation

Deutsches Zentrum fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.


A novel synthesis of N-acryloyl-tris-(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (NAT) is described. The polymerization kinetics and transparency of the poly(NAT) gels crosslinked by a crosslinker (CL) e.g. N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (Bis), i.e. poly(NAT+Bis) polymer, are shown. Poly(NAT+Bis) gradient (4-24%) gels were prepared and found to resolve native proteins according to their size. The exclusion limit of these gels is over 3.times.10.sup.6 Da. This is more than threefold higher than the exclusion limit of the polyacrylamide gradient gel of the same concentration. Therefore poly(NAT+CL) gels are better than polyacrylamide gels for the resolution of large proteins. It was demonstrated that poly(NAT+CL)-polyacrylamide composite gels could be prepared. The poly(NAT+CL) gels were found to be advantageous also for isoelectric focussing in carrier ampholytes or immobilized pH gradients. Poly(NAT+CL) gels are also very good for separation of nucleic acids. The resolution is particularly good in the range between several hundred to 4-5000 base pairs. Under the optimized conditions, DNA molecules of more than 20 kbases can be perfectly resolved.

Electrophoresis is a technique in which molecules or other units move along a support medium under the influence of an electric field. Because different kinds of molecules and units behave differently, with migration rates depending on charge and frictional resistance, the technique is widely used for separation purposes. Commonly the support medium is a gel, and is used as in the form of a flat sheet; the mixture to be separated is placed at one end of the sheet; and a suitable electric field is applied along the sheet (from one end to the other) causing differential migration of the molecules or units in the mixture, resulting in separation.
Electrophoresis may be applied for many purposes, and is typically used for the separation of mixtures of biomolecules, that is molecules found in living organisms. These are typified by cell proteins and nucleic acids e.g. DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) and fragments or denatured versions thereof, as well as many polysaccharides, polyphosphates, and proteoglycans.
It is naturally important that the gel itself should not be affected by the electric field
The most widely used anticonvective media for electrophoretic separations of bio-molecules are based on acrylamide polymers or agarose. Both of these are hydrophilic relatively stable polymers carrying practically no charge (polyacrylamide) or only a small number of charged groups (agarose) (see Johansson, B. G., Hjerten, S. (1974) Anal. Biochem. 59, 200-213.
The known acrylamide polymer gels are acrylamide crosslinked by N,N'-methylenebisacrylamide (Bis). They are referred to hereinafter as poly(acrylamide+Bis), and are excellent for the separation of molecules with molecular masses from 2 to 5 up to 1000 kDa, whether under denaturing or nondenaturing conditions (see Bothe, D., Simonis, M., and Dohren, H. V., (1985) Anal. Biochem. 151, 49-54; Campbell, W. P., Wrigley, C. M., and Margolis, J., (1983) Anal. Biochem. 129, 31-36; and Lambin, P., (1978) Anal. Biochem. 85, 114-125. Larger molecules or multimolecular complexes, however, cannot be satisfactorily resolved, due to the pronounced sieving effect-of the poly(acrylamide+Bis) gels even of the lowest workable concentration (approximately 3%). On the other hand, the more porous agarose gels are not suitable in some applications (see Bosisio, A. B., Loeherlein, C, Snyder, R. S., and Righetti, P. G., (1980) J. Chromatogr. 189, 317-330; and Righetti, P. G., (1986) Sci. Tools 33, 1-4, mostly because endo-osmosis, caused by the residual charged groups in the matrix, impairs resolution.
There have been numerous attempts to produce more porous polyacrylamide gels by increasing the concentration of Bis above 5% Rodbard, D., Levitov, C. and Chrambach, A. (1972), Sep. Sci. 7, 705-723; and Chrambach, A., and Rodbard, D., (1971) Science, 172, 440-451 or by using a new cross-linker Baumann, G., and Chrambach, A., (1976) Anal. Biochem. 70, 32-38. Moreover, composite polyacrylamide-agarose gels have also been tested as media for electrophoresis Bode, H. J. (1977) Anal. Biochem. 83, 204-210 and 364-371, and Pino, R. M. and Hart, T. K. (1984) Anal. Biochem. 139, 77-81.
In addition to electrophoretic analysis of large bio-molecules, highly porous matrices would be beneficial for other electrophoretic techniques where the extensive sieving of poly(acrylamide+Bis) gels represents a drawback. These include isoelectric focussing (IEF) in carrier ampholytes or in immobilised pH gradients (IPG) Righetti, P. G., (1983) in Isoelectric Focusing: Theory, Methodology, and Applications (Work, T. S. and Burdon, R. H. Eds.). Elsevier, Amsterdam and New York, as well as in titration curves Bosisio, A. B., Loeherlein, C, Snyder, R. S., and Righetti, P. G., (1980) J. Chromatogr. 189, 317-330. Furthermore, nonsieving media are required for stacking gels in multiphasic zone electrophoresis Jovin, T. M. (1973) Biochemistry, 12, 871-898, and Wyckoff, M., and Rodbard, D., and Chrambach, A., (1977), Anal. Biochem. 78, 459-482.
The present invention aims to provide novel polymers for use as gels suitable for use in electrophoresis.

Polymers, and their use as gels for electrophoresis


A heat roller for an electrophotographic device comprised of an internal tube inside an insulating layer wherein a heating element having a resistance member is fixed to the outer surface of the insulating layer by depositing the resistance member onto a polyimide film applied to the insulating layer, depositing the resistance member directly to insulating layer, or embedding the resistance member in the insulating layer. Alternatively, the heating element having a resistance member is fixed to the outer surface of the internal tube by depositing the resistance member onto a polyimide film applied to the internal tube, thereby eliminating the insulating layer. An elastomer layer of predetermined thickness is overmolded to the outer surface of the insulating layer or the internal tube and an outside surface is applied to the outer surface of the elastomer layer wherein a toner image is fused on paper from the outside surface by heat transferred from the heating element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to image forming devices, and more particularly, to a heat roller in a fuser of an electrophotographic image forming device.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image forming machine, such as a printer, copier, fax machine, all-in-one device or multifunctional device, typically includes a heating device, such as a fuser, to fix a developing agent, such as toner, to a media sheet. Most commonly, this is achieved with a two-roll fuser, wherein two rollers are coated with some sort of compliant material and both are coated with a release agent such as a Teflon® sleeve are brought into contact with some force, and the paper is fed between them. One roller is driven and one roller is idling, and one or both rollers is/are heated internally by means of a radiant heater, or sometimes inductive heating. Roll fusers are a well developed technology, frequently yielding good performance in terms of speed and quality of the fused image. The drawback is they have a high thermal mass, which translates to long warm-up times and higher energy consumption at startup. An alternate method of fusing is belt fusing. In a belt fusing system, a long, thin, flat heater, often made of ceramic, is supported by a rigid frame. A thin cylindrical metal tube, coated with a thin layer of compliant material and a release agent, encases the heater and frame assembly. The belt assembly is forcibly brought into contact with a driven compliant roll similar to that found in a two-roll fuser, and the paper is fed between the belt and roll. The belt slides over the heater surface by means of a lubricant. The minimal thermal circuit between the belt and the heater, and the low thermal mass of the belt cause these systems to reach operating temperature very rapidly, resulting in little energy wasted. However, the drawback in these belt fusing systems is that they inherently require high torque to drive them, due to the sliding friction between the belt and the heater.
Previous attempts have been made in the prior art to combine the best aspects of both types of fusing systems—the low thermal mass and minimal thermal circuit of a belt fuser, with the low friction and robust design of a two-roll fuser by the marriage of a resistance heater with a fusing roll. There are similar devices in industry, notably U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,940,045 to Sanpei et al., 7,026,578 to Mori et al., 7,024,146 to Kim et al., 7,046,951 to Kim et al., and 7,248,827 to Cho et. al. All consist of a metallic outer sleeve, a resistance heater, and a metallic inner core. All of these devices have a solid aluminum outer core, which carries with it increased thermal mass and correspondingly hampers warm-up time. All of these devices also focus on a common assembly process in that they are built from the outside in, by sliding the heater into the outer shell and locking the assembly together by fluid-forming the inner core resulting in the need for larger bearings which are more expensive than smaller bearings.
Thus, there is still a need for an innovation that will further reduce thermal mass and increase warm-up time and overcome problems encountered in the common assembly process.

Heat roller for electrophotographic image forming device


A method and a mobile device for limiting uplink transmission for user data at the data service level are provided. At least one least one characteristic related to uplink transmission is monitored and uplink transmission for user data is limited at the data service level based at least in part on the at least one characteristic. Battery power can potentially be saved by limiting uplink transmission for user data at the data service level when uplink transmission is unlikely to be successful.

When user equipment (UE), such as a user terminal or mobile station, attempts to communicate in the uplink (UL) the UE consumes power to do so. If a user or application running on the UE is requesting data, the UE will generally try to connect to the network as often as the user/application generates such requests. This potentially wastes a significant amount of power, particularly if an uplink transmission attempt is initially unsuccessful, as in some cases further unsuccessful attempts may be made, thus consuming even more power. If the UE operates on battery power, the power consumption of such uplink transmission attempts may require more frequent battery re-charging.

Data service level uplink data flow control


A method enables a thrust link including a clevis to be coupled to a mounting lug including a spherical bearing. The method comprises positioning the spherical bearing within the thrust link clevis, and coupling the thrust link to the mounting lug by inserting a fastener through the clevis such that the fastener extends from one side of the clevis through the spherical bearing to the other side of the clevis, and such that fuse element included with at least one of the fastener and the clevis is positioned within a structural load path defined between the clevis and the thrust link, wherein the fuse element is configured to fail when subjected to a predetermined load.

This application relates generally to coupling assemblies and, more particularly, to methods and apparatus for coupling a thrust link to a mounting lug.
At least some known coupling assemblies include a thrust link that is coupled to a mounting lug or yoke to support a secondary structure. For example, such coupling assemblies may be used to support secondary structures, such as geardrive trains, or turbomachinery. The thrust link provides the loadpath through which engine thrust is transmitted to the aircraft pylon/wing structure. More specifically, the thrust link includes a clevis end that is sized to receive a spherical bearing extending from the mounting lug.
Gas turbine engines typically include a rotor assembly, a compressor, and a turbine. The rotor assembly includes a fan that includes an array of fan blades extending radially outward from a rotor shaft. The rotor shaft transfers power and rotary motion from the turbine to the compressor and the fan and is supported longitudinally with at least one connector assembly. The thrust link also provides additional carcass "backbone" stiffening to resist bending of secondary structures due to thrust or maneuver loads. This stiffening facilitates preventing rubbing between the turbomachinery blade tips and secondary structure.
During operation of the engine, a fragment of a fan blade may become separated from the remainder of the blade. Consequently, a substantial rotary unbalance load may be created within the damaged fan and carried substantially by the fan shaft bearings, the fan bearing supports, and the connector assemblies. Accordingly, to minimize the effects of potentially damaging abnormal imbalance loads, known connector assemblies for the fan rotor support system are sized to provide additional strength for the fan support system. However, increasing the strength of such connector assemblies may undesirably increase an overall weight of the engine and/or decrease an overall efficiency of the engine when the engine is operated without substantial rotor imbalances.

Methods and apparatus for mounting a gas turbine engine