A shoulder support assembly is provided for a load carrying system having a load support structure. The shoulder support assembly includes a pair of shoulder support structures. Each shoulder support structure includes a first piece and a second piece pivotally coupled to the first piece. The first piece is adapted to extend around a user's shoulder and has a pivotal connection at a lower end. The second piece is coupled to the lower end of the first piece at the pivotal connection. Each shoulder support structure further includes pads removably connected to the first and second pieces. In addition, the suspension system has a sternum strap disposed between and mounted to the pair of shoulder support structures at the pivotal connections.

The present invention relates generally to a load carrying system for supporting and carrying loads on a user's back. More particularly, the present invention relates to a shoulder support structure for a load carrying system for adequately and comfortably supporting a load, such as a backpack or a buoyancy compensator, on a user's back and hips while providing the user with considerable freedom of movement.
Conventional backpacks and similar structures for supporting loads on a user's back typically include a load carrying compartment and shoulder straps. While small capacity packs often require no other support structure for comfortably supporting the load, larger capacity packs and carrying systems, such as buoyancy compensators for divers, often include a rigid frame structure and a hip strap designed to lend additional support to the load and to distribute the load properly on the user's back and hips, thereby removing strain from the back which, over time, may lead to fatigue and pain in the muscle and joints of the back.
One problem with larger and heavier load carrying systems is that they are carried differently on users of various sizes. For example, on a user with a small frame, the shoulder straps of the load carrying system may tend to slide off the user's shoulders, whereas on a user with a large frame, the shoulder straps may tend to cut into the user's torso. Ill-fitted load carrying systems are awkward and uncomfortable and may impede mobility.
There is a need, therefore, for an improved shoulder strap structure for a load carrying system that offers effective load support on the user's shoulders while allowing the user considerable freedom of movement.

Shoulder support structure for a load carrying system


A combine harvester comprises a threshing and separating arrangement mounted to a main frame, which includes a generally cylindrical chamber having a generally longitudinal axis, and a separating concave assembly. The arrangement further includes a rotor assembly mounted for rotation in the chamber and comprising a generally cylindrical rotor body with a separating section associated with the separating concave assembly. This separating section comprises a plurality of longitudinal elements having a leading, generally longitudinally arranged crop engaging face and a plurality of transverse elements having a generally transversely arranged crop engaging edge. The transverse elements assist in preventing the roping of crop material between the rotor and the separating concave assembly.

The present invention relates to agricultural harvesters and, more particularly, to axial flow combine harvesters having a threshing and separating unit with at least one generally longitudinally arranged rotor for advancing crop material along a generally helical path.
In conventional combine harvesters crop material is fed between a threshing cylinder and an associated threshing concave, which extend transversely to the direction of combine travel. Hereby the crop is threshed over a comparatively short distance. Axial flow machines use one or more longitudinally arranged rotors and associated concaves. Herein, crop material is subjected to a much longer threshing and separating action than in a conventional machine and therefore, the efficiency of axial flow machines is greater because a higher degree of separation is reached and the grain losses are reduced. Commonly, axial flow combines are popular in regions with a continental climate, where the crops to be harvested ripen well and contain hardly any green parts at the time of the harvest. However, when the crop contains green material, such unit is particularly prone to plugging by slugs of accumulated crop material between the rotor and the concaves.
Various means have been provided onto the rotor to optimise the crop flow along the rear portion of the threshing and separating unit and to improve the Orotor performance under adverse conditions. U.S. Pat. No. 4,936,810, for example, suggests to use thinning elements in the form of generally radially extending fingers to smoothen the layer of crop material which is advancing along the concaves. The fingers co-operate with conventional longitudinal bars on the rotor body to move the crop layer along a helical path and to loosen the same. This system is still optimal when harvesting dry crops, but too often slugs occur when handling greener material.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,376,047 discloses a rotor equipped with a multitude of rectangular blades which can be distributed along the surface of the rotor in order to optimize the crop flow. For a particular crop and a particular crop condition, a blade distribution may be found which is optimal with respect to threshing and separating efficiency and/or plugging risks, but such investigation is not within reach of the ordinary operator.
In U.S. Pat. No. 4,178,943 a rotor is shown equipped with generally transverse fins behind the threshing section. The separation capacity of this embodiment is limited because of the restrained action of the fin heads on the layer of crop material. The grain losses at the end of the separation section may raise to unacceptable levels, unless the rate of incoming material is reduced by lowering the ground speed of the combine harvester.
Accordingly there is a need for an effective threshing and separating arrangement which on the one hand has a good separation capacity and on the other hand is not prone to slugs or roping.
According to the present invention, there is provided a combine harvester comprising:
a main frame;
a threshing and separating arrangement mounted to said main frame and including:
a generally cylindrical chamber having a generally longitudinal axis and comprising a separating concave assembly; and
a rotor assembly mounted for rotation in said chamber and comprising a generally cylindrical rotor body with a separating section associated with said separating concave assembly; and
said separating section of said rotor assembly comprising a plurality of longitudinal elements having a leading, generally longitudinally arranged crop engaging face;
characterised in that said separating section further is provided with a plurality of transverse elements having a generally transversely arranged crop engaging edge.
These transverse elements assist in controlling the distribution of straw and other crop material during their passage through the separating section.
The transverse elements may have a leading portion or edge adjacent the rear end of the leading face of one of the longitudinal elements. Their trailing portion may end adjacent a leading face of the next longitudinal element. In this manner the transverse elements bridge the space between the longitudinal elements. The transverse and the longitudinal elements preferably are arranged in an axially staggered pattern.
In order to extend the lifetime of the rotor itself the crop engaging elements may be provided with wear plates which are attached to longitudinal and transverse supports which are affixed to the rotor body.
In order to improve the smoothness of the crop flow, the longitudinal elements may have an outwardly (from the rotor body) and rearwardly (in the direction of the chamber outlet) inclined front edge and/or a leading face which is inclined backwards with respect to the normal rotation of the rotor.
The transverse elements may have a leading edge which is inclined backwards, thereby matching the leading face of the longitudinal elements.
The transverse wear plates may be profiled to present a leading portion extending above its middle portion. The leading portion thereby forms a finger which assists in splitting the crop flow along the concaves.
For enhanced versatility of the separating section, the rotor body may be provided with mounts for generally radially extending thinning rods. In this manner the threshing and separating assembly may be adapted to a wider range of crop and field conditions.
Advantageously the threshing and separating arrangement may comprise a beater assembly arranged behind said concave assembly for receiving threshed and separated crop material therefrom and projecting it rearwardly, said beater assembly comprising a transverse guide means mounted behind said separating concave and below said rotor, and a transverse beater rotor. The threshing chamber may comprise a curved guide plate arranged behind said separating concave and above said guide means for distributing the separated crop material over the full width of said guide means.

Threshing and separating unit of axial flow combines


A method and device for storing and using information associated with multiple logical volumes stored on a single physical volume associated with a data storage system. The invention uses writable labels to read and write metadata associated with the multiple logical volumes. Metadata stored on a writable label associated with each physical volume is available without either reading the physical volume itself or accessing a host computer's control data set.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to information processing system organization. More particularly, the invention relates to a file management system. In still greater particularity, the invention relates to a labeling system. By way of further characterization, but not by way of limitation thereto, the invention is a method for storing multiple logical volumes of data on a single physical volume which method includes storing information on a writable label associated with the physical volume.
2. Description of the Related Art
The data processing industry stores large amounts of digital data on magnetic tapes, magnetic disks, optical tapes, optical disks, semiconductor memories, and the like. These media devices, generally referred to herein as physical volumes, may be implemented for example in the form of cassettes, cartridges, reels, modules and the like. The 3480 tape cartridge (developed by IBM Corp., Armonk N.Y.) is an example of an industry standard for magnetic tape storage media. The 3480 cartridge is a single--reel cartridge which houses a length of one--half inch wide magnetic tape.
In a typical data processing application, data is manipulated in the form of "data sets". Each data set comprises a collection of logically related information that is often termed a "logical volume". Typically, only one logical volume has been stored on a physical volume. Recently, the capacity of physical volumes has increased much faster than the size of a typical data set. For example, because of advances in media and recording technologies, the storage capacity of the 3480 form factor magnetic tape cartridge has increased by a factor of 25 since it was first introduced. This mismatch between logical volume size and physical volume capacity has prevented anticipated storage system performance improvements from being fully realized.
Potential performance improvements can be achieved in two key aspects of storage system operation. These include access time and cost of media. When a single logical volume is stored on a single physical volume, the time to access each logical volume includes the time required to exchange each physical volume between the read/write device and the storage location of the physical volume. The cost of the media used to store a single logical volume is equal to the cost of the physical volume, regardless of whether it utilizes the full capacity or only a small portion of it. If multiple logical volumes can be stored on a single physical volume, both the access time and the cost of storage can be reduced. Such a process is called "volume stacking" and the resulting physical volume is termed a "stacked volume". These logical volumes are also known as "virtual volumes" because they no longer must be associated with a single physical volume, but can be managed independently. The access time to multiple logical volumes on the stacked volume will be reduced by elimination of the time involved in the physical volume exchange. Media cost will be reduced by virtue of the efficient utilization of the full capacity of physical volumes, thereby reducing the total number of physical volumes required for storing a given number of data sets.
Unfortunately, the file management systems which manipulate the storage and retrieval of data sets were not originally designed to handle more than one logical volume per physical volume. Therefore, the potential performance advantages can be realized only if methods for managing these "virtual volumes" on stacked volume cartridges are devised. These methods must facilitate the tasks of generation, management, and distribution of information concerning relationships between logical volumes and physical volumes.
Prior art systems use a label adhered directly to the physical volume (e.g. cartridge) for identification. Serial or other identification numbers on the label can be used to distinguish the physical volumes from each other. A volume serial number (VOLSER) expressed in alpha--numeric characters and/or bar codes is traditionally used. In the traditional case of one logical volume stored on one physical volume, the VOLSER has existed in a one-to-one relationship with the data set name. Because the data set(s) stored in each physical volume is changeable, it is desirable to keep a record of its contents. Such records are frequently maintained in a computer system. Whenever specific information about the physical volume or the data stored therein is required, manual or automated apparatus read the identification label and transmit this information to the computer system. The computer system then matches a stored data record with the physical volume's VOLSER. In some systems, a summary of the contents of a cartridge is written on the media in the cartridge. In order to obtain this information, the cartridge must be accessed, loaded and read. An example utilizing such prior art labeling is StorageTek Model 4410 Automated Cartridge System (ACS) available from Storage Technology Corp., Louisville, Colo. The ACS includes automated apparatus to read identification labels on tape cartridges. The identification labels include a bar coded identification number. A look up table known as a Control Data Set (CDS) in a host computer provides a cross reference between the identification number and the contents of the tape cartridge.
While prior art systems, such as those employing the CDS referred to above could be utilized to manage stacked volume information, such prior art systems present disadvantages. A CDS can work effectively in a stacked volume situation but only if the system remains completely "closed." That is, as long as no additional physical volumes are introduced into, or removed from, the system, a CDS could be used. However, if physical volumes are entered or removed, major system performance degradation will be encountered. The performance degradation results from the time required to take the physical volume which is introduced into or removed from the system, mount it in a drive, and read and interpret its contents in order to update the CDS. Even if a range of serial numbers in a VOLSER set were dedicated to identify a stacked volume, the physical volume's contents would still have to be determined through the access, mounting, and reading processes. Corruption of the CDS is also possible which would require the reading of all tapes in the library to reconstruct the CDS. It would thus be desirable to have a method for tracking multiple data sets which, through volume stacking, are contained within a single physical volume.

Method for storing multiple logical data volumes on a single physical volume utilizing writable labels and physical volume produced thereby


Disclosed are methods and systems for calibration of an accelerometer used in a geophysical sensor while deployed in the water. An embodiment may include towing a streamer behind a survey vessel in a body of water, wherein the streamer comprises an accelerometer; causing at least a portion of the streamer to twist; receiving data from the accelerometer at a selected plurality of times during the twist; and based at least in part on the data, determining at least one calibration parameter of the accelerometer.

Embodiments relate generally to marine geophysical surveying and, more particularly, embodiments relate to calibration of an accelerometer while deployed in the water.
Techniques for geophysical surveying include marine geophysical surveying, such as seismic surveying and electromagnetic surveying, in which geophysical data may be collected from below the Earth's surface. Geophysical surveying has applications in mineral and energy exploration and production to help identify locations of hydrocarbon-bearing formations. Certain types of marine geophysical surveying, such as seismic or electromagnetic surveying, may include towing an energy source at a selected depth—typically above the seafloor—in a body of water. One or more streamers also may be towed in the water at selected depths—typically above the seafloor—by the same or a different vessel. The streamers are typically cables that include a plurality of geophysical sensors disposed thereon at spaced apart locations along the length of the cable. Some geophysical surveys locate sensors on ocean bottom cables or nodes in addition to, or instead of, streamers. The geophysical sensors may be configured to generate a signal that is related to a parameter being measured by the geophysical sensor. At selected times, the energy source may be actuated to generate, for example, seismic or electromagnetic energy that travels downwardly into the subsurface rock. Energy that interacts with interfaces, generally at the boundaries between layers of rock formations, may be returned toward the surface and detected by the geophysical sensors on the streamers. The detected energy may he used to infer certain properties of the subsurface rock, such as structure, mineral composition and fluid content, thereby providing information useful in the recovery of hydrocarbons.
The geophysical sensors employed on the streamers may be vector sensors. Vector sensors may also be deployed on the streamer as rotation sensors to determine streamer location, velocity, or orientation. Examples of suitable vector sensors include those that comprise accelerometers. In some instances, the accelerometers may be multi-axis accelerometers. In some instances, the accelerometers may utilize a microelectromechanical (MEMS) based structure. Accelerometers may typically output a DC-coupled signal proportional to the acceleration applied to the device. However, usage of accelerometers may be problematic as the accelerometers may experience a DC bias and gain drift, which can negatively impact sensor performance. In some accelerometers, axial misalignment may also be a concern. Improved accelerometers that do not exhibit these drawbacks may be cost prohibitive. Thus, there is a need for improved calibration methods able to compensate for the non-idealities of the accelerometers.


A method for determining a location of a proppant in a subterranean formation includes obtaining a first set of data in a wellbore using a downhole tool. The proppant is pumped into the wellbore after the first set of data is obtained. The proppant is pumped while or after the subterranean formation is fractured. A second set of data is obtained in the wellbore using the downhole tool after the proppant is pumped into the wellbore. The first set of data and the second set of data include a gravitational field measurement. The first and second sets of data are compared, and in response to the comparison, the location of the proppant in the subterranean formation is determined.

During or after a wellbore in an oil reservoir is hydraulically-fractured, a proppant may be introduced into the fractures. The proppant is a solid material (e.g., sand, treated sand, or man-made ceramic particles) that is designed to keep the fractures open. It may be desirable to determine the locations of the proppant and/or the fractures because their extents help determine the amount of hydrocarbon that can be produced from that wellbore. Currently, to determine the locations, a source (e.g., in a heel of the wellbore) may transmit an electromagnetic signal that may be received by one or more receivers at the surface. The received signal may be analyzed to determine the locations of the proppant, from which the locations of the fractures may be deduced.
However, the signals may travel a great distance through the subterranean formation, through many different types of materials, which may distort the signals and these distortions must be accounted for when inverting or analyzing the data. In addition, when a metallic casing is positioned in the wellbore, this may further distort the signals. Therefore, it would be desirable to have improved systems and methods for imaging a proppant in a hydraulically-fractured oil reservoir.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Systems and methods for imaging a proppant in a hydraulically-fractured oil reservoir


A data processing method processes image data including spatiotemporal locator information which is added. The spatiotemporal locator information represents a spatiotemporal area which is a temporal transition of an object region over a plurality of frames. The method sets a curved surface defined by a periphery of the spatiotemporal area based on the spatiotemporal locator information, calculates time when a reference trajectory crosses the curved surface, determines whether coordinate values of the reference trajectory are inside or outside of the object region in at least one of frames in which the object region exists, and outputs information relating to whether or not the reference trajectory passes the spatiotemporal area.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image data processing method using spatiotemporal locator information in which a position or movement of a spatiotemporal area in an image is determined.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, with a rapid development of an image processing technique, the handling of video image (a moving picture or still picture) as digital data has been generalized. By this digitization, a technique of efficiently compressing digital image data having a large data amount has been established. Moreover, with the development of network techniques such as Internet, satellite broadcast, and CATV, it has been possible to handle a large amount of image data, and an image database or a video on demand in which the image data is stored and from which the data is extracted and used to meet needs has come into a practical use stage. Additionally, an automatic monitor system from a remote site has also become major. When the image is to be used in this manner, there is a demand to recognize something in a screen, to conversely search for/extract an image including a desired object or to classify the image.
To meet this demand, the same assignee has already proposed a technique for efficiently describing a spatiotemporal locator information which is defined by a temporal trajectory of an object region over a plurality of frames (e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/612,497 and Ser. No. 09/633,231).
When the image is searched for, extracted and classified in accordance with a position or movement of the spatiotemporal area, it is necessary to determine whether or not the spatiotemporal area satisfies predetermined conditions with respect to all the frames with the object region existing therein. Therefore, when the number of frames of the spatiotemporal area is large or when the image is searched for based on a large number of spatiotemporal areas, there is a disadvantage that a calculation amount is large and efficiency is damaged.

Image data processing method and article of manufacture


An ion implanter having a source, a workpiece support and a transport system for delivering ions from the source to an ion implantation chamber that contains the workpiece support. The ion source has an arc chamber for ionizing a source material routed into the arc chamber that defines an exit aperture for routing ions to the transport system and including an arc chamber flange attached to the arc chamber and including a first surface that defines a gas inlet which accepts gas from a source and a gas outlet which opens into the arc chamber. An arc chamber support includes a support flange having a conforming surface that sealingly engages the first surface of arc chamber flange at a region of the gas inlet and further includes a throughpassage that aligns with the gas inlet. A gas supply line routes gas from a gas source through the throughpassage of the support flange and into the gas inlet of said arc chamber flange.

Ion implanters are known for use in treating workpieces such as silicon wafers. When such a wafer is bombarded with an ion beam, the silicon wafer is selectively doped with the ion impurity to create a semiconductor material from the original silicon material of the wafer. It is well known to create complex integrated circuits using such wafers. Circuit components on a small scale are created through use of masking techniques that selectively limit the exposure of the silicon to bombardment with the ions coming from an ion source.
Ion implanters generally fall into different categories that depend on their intended use. One class implanter has a support that supports multiple wafers which are moved through a suitably shaped ion beam. Other implanters treat or process one wafer at a time. In these so called serial implanters, the single wafer is mounted to a support that translates back and forth through a thin ribbon shaped beam coming from an ion source.
Both type implanters include a source of ions which typically ionize a source material such as Boron in either a gaseous or solid state and selectively accelerate and filter the resultant ion species to form a ribbon or pencil beam having a controlled dose and energy. A typical ion source is a high frequency replacement item for the ion implanter. The source includes an arc chamber in which the source material is ionized by means of a filament mounted within the arc chamber. A plasma of ions is created which are extracted from the arc chamber and then accelerated. In a chamber using a gaseous source material, the gas must be routed into the chamber from a source at atmospheric pressure to the sub atmospheric arc chamber. In the prior art when an arc chamber is replaced, a seal to atmosphere is broken between the gas source and the arc chamber.


A nickel powder exhibits superior oxidation behavior, reduction behavior and sintering behavior in a production process for a multilayer ceramic capacitor and is suitable for the capacitor; a production method therefor is also provided. The nickel powder, which may be used as a raw material, is treated with a sulfur-containing compound, and the sulfur-containing compound is coated on the surface thereof, or alternatively, a nickel-sulfur compound layer is formed on the surface thereof.

Conventionally, noble metal powders such as those of silver, palladium, platinum, and gold, or base metal powders such as those of nickel, cobalt, iron, molybdenum, and tungsten, are used in conductive pastes as electrical materials, and in particular, in internal electrodes of multilayered ceramic capacitors. Generally, a multilayer ceramic capacitor is made by alternately laminating ceramic dielectric layers and metallic layers which are used as internal electrodes, and by forming external electrodes which are connected to the metallic layer of internal electrodes on two outside faces of the ceramic dielectric layers. As a ceramic for forming a dielectric layer, materials which contain a high dielectric constant material as a main component such as barium titanate, strontium titanate, and yttrium oxide, can be used.
On the other hand, the noble metal powders or the base metal powders mentioned above may be used to form the internal electrodes; however, since more inexpensive electrical materials are required recently, multilayer ceramic capacitors in which the base metal powders are used have been greatly developed, and in particular, nickel powder has been mainly developed.
As a general production method for a multilayer ceramic capacitor, a dielectric powder such as one of barium titanate is mixed with an organic binder so as to be suspended, and then the suspension is formed into a sheet by a doctor blade method to form a dielectric green sheet. On the other hand, a metal powder for an internal electrode is mixed with organic compounds such as an organic solvent, plasticizer, or organic binder to form a metal powder paste, and this paste is coated on the green sheet mentioned above by screen printing. Next, they are dried, laminated, and pressed, and then the organic component is removed by heat treatment, and they are sintered at about 1300° C. or at more than 1300° C. Subsequently, outer electrodes are baked on both sides of the dielectric ceramic layer to obtain a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
In the production method of the multilayer ceramic capacitor described above, organic components are vaporized and driven off by heating after the metal paste is printed, laminated and pressed on the dielectric green sheet, and the heating treatment is ordinarily performed at 250 to 400° C. in air. In this way, since the heating treatment is performed under an oxidizing atmosphere, the metal powder is oxidized, and therefore, the volume of the metal powder is increased. In addition, in recent years, evaporating to remove the organic component due to the above heating is often carried out in a reducing atmosphere, and in this case, the metal powder is reduced and shrinks. Furthermore, the metal powder is sintered at a higher temperature, after the heating for removing the organic component, and this sintering is carried out in a reducing atmosphere such as a hydrogen gas atmosphere. Thus, the volume of the metal powder is reduced.
As a result, in the process for production of multilayer ceramic capacitors, volume changes occur due to expansion or shrinkage of the metal powder by oxidizing and reducing reactions. In addition, in a dielectric, volume changes also occur by sintering, and since different materials, which are the dielectric and the metal powder, are simultaneously sintered, sintering behaviors such as volume changes due to expansion and shrinkage of each material in sintering, etc., differ. Therefore, deformation may easily occur in the metal paste layer, and as a result, breaking of the layer structure, which is called delamination, such as cracking or exfoliation, may occur.
Specifically, sintering of the dielectric which, for example, comprises barium titanate as a main component, starts at 1000° C. or more, and generally at 1200 to 1300° C., whereas in contrast, sintering of the metal powder used for the inside electrode starts at a lower temperature, for example, at generally 400 to 500° C. in the case of the nickel powder. Delamination is generated by the difference in the sintering start temperatures in the sintering behavior.
Many techniques have been suggested to overcome the delamination problem. For example, Patent Publication 1 discloses nickel powder having a tap density of more than a certain limit value versus a certain particle diameter. In addition, Patent Publication 2 discloses nickel superfine powder having an average particle diameter of 0.2 to 0.5 μm and an abundance ratio of coarse grains which is twice the average particle diameter of 0.1% or less at a number standard. The nickel fine powder disclosed in the Patent Publication 1 was developed in order to prevent the generation of internal defects such as cracking or peeling when it is used as an inside electrode of a multilayer ceramic capacitor, etc. In addition, the nickel superfine powder disclosed in the Patent Publication 2 was developed in order to prevent the generation of short-circuits, cracking, or peeling in an inside electrode of a multilayer ceramic capacitor.
Patent Publication 1 is Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. Hei 08-246001. Patent Publication 2 is Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2002-252139.

Nickel powder comprising sulfur and carbon, and production method therefor


ELISA, Western Blot, and a peptide-based ELISA were applied to clinical specimens from patients with clinical symptoms of tick borne diseases, including Lyme disease. Peptides from different components of Borrelia during different cycles, including peptides from outer surface protein, leukocyte function associated antigens, immunodominant antigens, variable major proteins, and peptides from decorin-binding proteins of Borrelial subspecies (B. sensu stricto. B. afzelii, B. garinii) were used. Antibodies against specific peptides from Babesia and Ehrlichia were also measured.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to methods and kit for aid in diagnosing tick borne illnesses, including lyme. disease.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lyme disease is the most prevalent vector-borne disease of humans in the United States and is transmitted by the bite of Ixodes ticks. Infection is caused by the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi resulting in an illness affecting various organ systems of the body. The clinical implications of Lyme disease can be seen in dermatologic, neurologic and rheumatologic manifestations. (1-5)
In Lyme disease two stages of the disease, acute and chronic, are considered. These stages may occur separately or may overlap. Neurological disorders (such as Bell's palsy, meningitis, encephalitis), cardiovascular cardiac arrhythmia, and disorders of the musculoskeletal system (migrating pain in muscles, tendons or joints) are possible in Lyme disease. If left untreated, the patient may acquire chronic lyme borreliosis. (6-8)
No matter what causes the manifestation of Lyme disease, the key to avoiding serious effects is prompt diagnosis and treatment of the underlying disorder. Early detection of Lyme disease is difficult because the characteristic rash is not evident. The flu-like symptoms which can be caused by many other factors are added to the severity of the problem. Many assays used in laboratories are unreliable. Therefore, it is advantageous to combine clinical symptomatology with a sensitive technique available to diagnose lyme disease. (9-15)
Lyme ELISA
The Lyme ELISA test is intended for the qualitative detection of IgG and IgM antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi in human serum. Titers of IgG are generally low during the first weeks of illness. They peak three months to a year after infection and may remain elevated for years. Titers of IgM peak within three to six weeks after onset but are often not detectable in asymptomatic patients. (9,13,16)
Lyme Western Blot Assay.
The Western Blot Assay has been widely used to detect the presence of antibodies in human serum and plasma to various infectious disease agents. In this procedure, component proteins of purified, inactivated virus are electrophoretically separated by SDS-polyacrylamide electrophoresis followed by electrotransfer to nitrocellulose sheets. Each strip serves as the solid-phase antigen for an ELISA test.
Other Methods.
Culturing Borrelia burgdorferi from clinical samples other than erythema migrans lesions is difficult. PCR-based methods seem to be insensitive for routine lab testing due to absence or low number of bacteria in clinical samples.
The mainstay of laboratory diagnosis for Lyme disease has been Serological Assays. However due to antigenic diversity used in the assays their performance in different laboratories is highly variable (16-22).
The Western Blot Assay is more reliable since the cross-reactive antibodies are relatively excluded and peptide specific antibodies in the form of bands are observed. However, due to antigenic variations, if antibodies are not present in the blood, false negative results will be obtained (23-25).

Methods and kit for diagnosing tick borne illnesses


A heating device includes an electrode embedded near the heating surface of the ceramic base substantially in parallel to the heating surface. In the rear surface of the ceramic base, a terminal hole extending toward the electrode is formed. Between the bottom surface of the terminal hole and electrode, a conductive ceramic member is embedded and connected to the electrode. The conductive ceramic member has a thermal expansion coefficient equal to that of the ceramic base. The electrode and terminal are electrically connected through the conductive ceramic member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a heating device.
2. Description of Related Art
In semiconductor device manufacturing processes using semiconductor manufacturing apparatuses, heating is performed for the purposes of forming an oxidized film on a wafer and the like. One of heating devices used to heat wafers includes: a disk-shaped ceramic base having a heating surface on which a wafer as a heating object is placed and heated; and a resistance heating element embedded in the ceramic base. This heating device is advantageously suitable for not only a film formation apparatus used in a semiconductor manufacturing process but also a surface processing apparatus which performs dry etching for the surface of a plate-shaped material and the like.
In some cases, the wafer undergoes film formation by plasma CVD, plasma etching, or the like during heating by the heating device. A heating device which is capable of forming a plasma atmosphere around the wafer includes a plate-shaped high frequency electrode embedded near the heating surface in the ceramic base substantially in parallel to the heating surface. In the rear surface of the ceramic base opposite to the heating surface, a hole into which a terminal introducing power to the high frequency electrode is inserted is formed toward the high frequency electrode. In the bottom surface of the hole, the high frequency electrode itself or a metallic conductive member connected to the high frequency electrode is exposed and joined by brazing to the terminal inserted in the hole so as to be electrically continuous to the terminal. This terminal is connected to a power supply for supply of power to the high frequency electrode.
In one of the heating devices each including such a high frequency electrode (Japanese Patent Laid-open Publication No. 8-277173), a mesh high frequency electrode is embedded in the ceramic base of aluminum nitride. The high frequency electrode is exposed to the hole of the ceramic base and joined to a Ni terminal with a brazing material.
In another one of the heating devices each including such a high frequency electrode, koval, whose thermal expansion coefficient is intermediate between Mo and Ni, is interposed between a Mo mesh high frequency electrode and a Ni terminal. Mo, koval, and Ni are joined to one another by a brazing material. In still another type thereof (Japanese Patent, Laid-open Publication No. 2002-134590, Japanese Patent Specification No. 3790000), instead of directly joining the Mo mesh high frequency electrode and the koval material, the Mo mesh high frequency electrode is co-sintered with a Mo bulk material having a diameter of 3 mm and a thickness of 2 mm as a conductive member, and the Mo bulk material is joined to the koval material.
Each of such high frequency electrodes is configured to have a planar shape parallel to the heating surface of the ceramic base in order to equalize distribution of plasma generated on the heating object. A part between the high frequency electrode and the heating surface of the ceramic base serves as a dielectric layer or an insulating layer, for example, made of aluminum nitride, which is a material of the ceramic base, and has a thickness of about 1 mm for equalization of the plasma distribution.
Such a structure of the high frequency electrodes is employed in heaters, electrostatic chucks, and susceptors in common.
A general aluminum nitride ceramic base with a high frequency electrode mesh embedded therein has a thickness of about, 5 to 25 mm. In this thickness of the ceramic base, thickness of an aluminum nitride layer serving as the dielectric layer or insulating layer between the high frequency electrode and heating surface is about 1 mm as described above. The ceramic base has a part where the hole is formed, into which the terminal connected to the high frequency electrode is inserted. The part between the bottom of the hole and heating surface is structurally the thinnest and weakest in the ceramic base. Accordingly, cracks might occur in this part.
For example, in a part of the region between the high frequency electrode and the heating surface which faces the hole into which the terminal is inserted, push force is applied when an external conductive connector is assembled and connected to the terminal, and cracks may occur. Moreover, a part of the heating surface of the ceramic base around the top of the terminal becomes colder than the other part during heating of the object because of heat transfer to the terminal. This might produce thermal stress and cause cracks near the terminal in the heating surface of the ceramic base. In the heating device including a Mo bulk material between the hole into which the terminal is inserted and the high frequency electrode, cracks might occur near the terminal because of the difference in thermal expansion coefficient between the Mo bulk material and the aluminum nitride base. These cracks were highly likely to be induced by corrosion of the heating surface due to long-term use of the heating device.
An object of the present invention is therefore to provide a heating device with high reliability and long life by advantageously preventing cracks from occurring near the terminal in the high frequency electrode.


A switch device includes a circuit module and a pressing module. The circuit module includes a plurality of pushbuttons and a light-emitting member that emits light having different colors when the pushbuttons are pressed. The pressing module includes an operating unit, a driven member and a pressing member. The driven member is moved alternately to a retracted position and a projecting position as a result of depression of the operating unit. The pressing member is connected to the driven member to press one of the pushbuttons when the driven member is at the projecting position, such that one of the colors of the light corresponding to the one of the pushbuttons is visible through the operating unit.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The disclosure relates to a switch device, more particularly to a switch device that is used in an electronic apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional switch is used in an electronic apparatus for switching functions of the electronic apparatus. For example, the conventional switch may have a circulation including four press operations to switch two functions of the electronic apparatus. Wherein, the conventional switch turns on the first function of the electronic apparatus via the first depression, and turns off the first function via the second depression. Likewise, the conventional switch turns on the second function of the electronic apparatus via the third depression, and turns off the second function via the fourth depression.
However, the function that the electronic apparatus is performing cannot be indicated by the conventional switch, and must be shown by a display interface coupled to the electronic apparatus.


A residential sidewall sprinkler and system for a coverage area defined by a pair of parallel vertical walls. The sprinkler includes a body having a passageway defining a K-factor of about 6. The body has an inlet coupled to a fluid supply line and a distal end coupled to a deflector assembly. The deflector assembly includes a face portion with an upper canopy and a lower canopy disposed about the face portion. The sprinkler is mounted to one of the walls to define a ceiling-to-deflector distance ranging from about four inches to about twelve inches. The fluid supply at the inlet is at least at one of a substantially constant flow rate of fluid and substantially constant fluid pressure. The deflector assembly distributes the fluid over the coverage area so as to wet the vertical walls within about twenty-eight inches of the ceiling over the ceiling-to-deflector range.

An automatic sprinkler system is one of the most widely used devices for fire protection. These systems have sprinklers that are activated once the ambient temperature in an environment, such as a room or a building, exceeds a predetermined value. Once activated, the sprinklers distribute fire-extinguishing fluid, preferably water, in the room or building. A sprinkler system, depending on its specified configuration is considered effective if it controls or suppresses a fire. Failures of such systems may occur when the system has been rendered inoperative during building alteration or disuse, or the occupancy hazard has been increased beyond initial system capability.
The sprinkler system can be provided with a suitable fire fighting fluid or a water supply (e.g., a reservoir or from a municipal water supply). Such supply may be separate from that used by a fire department. Regardless of the type of supply, the sprinkler system is provided with a main that enters the building to supply a riser. Connected at the riser are valves, meters, and, preferably, an alarm to sound when water flow within the system is above or below a predetermined minimum value. At the top of a vertical riser, a horizontally disposed array of pipes extends throughout the fire compartment in the building. Other risers may feed distribution networks to systems in adjacent fire compartments. Compartmentalization can divide a large building horizontally, on a single floor, and vertically, floor to floor. Thus, several sprinkler systems may serve one building.
In a piping distribution network, branch lines carry the sprinklers. A sprinkler may extend in a pendant, upright or horizontal fashion from a branch line, placing the sprinkler relatively close to the ceiling. For a horizontal sprinkler, the sprinkler may be located, for example, between four and twelve inches below the ceiling.
Various standards exist for the design and installation of a fire protection system. For example, National Fire Protection Association ("NFPA") publishes the following standards for the design and installation of fire protection systems: (i) "NFPA 13: Installation of Sprinkler Systems" (2002) (hereinafter "NFPA 13 (2002)"); (ii) "NFPA 13D: Installation of Sprinkler Systems In One- and Two-Family Dwellings and Manufactured Homes" (2002) (hereinafter "NFPA 13D (2002)"); and (iii) "NFPA 13R: Standard For the Installation of Sprinkler Systems in Residential Occupants Up To and Including Four Stories In Height" (2002) (hereinafter "NFPA 13R (2002)") and collectively referred to herein as "NFPA 13, 13D, and 13R (2002)." NFPA 13, 13D, and 13R (2002) and any of their updated editions, such as NFPA 13 (2007), provide various design considerations and installation parameters for a fire protection system. NFPA 13, 13D, and 13R (2002) recognize the use of residential sprinklers by requiring that such a sprinkler in a residential fire protection system be installed based on certain criteria for residential occupancies, which can include commercial dwelling units (e.g., rental apartments, lodging and rooming houses, board and care facilities, hospitals, motels or hotels).
In order, however, for a residential sprinkler to be approved for installation under NFPA Standards, such as NFPA 13, 13D and 13R (2002), the sprinkler typically must pass various tests promulgated by, for example, Underwriters Laboratory Incorporated ("UL") in its standard entitled "UL 1626: Residential Fire Sprinklers For Fire-Protection Service" (October 2003) (hereinafter "UL Standard 1626 (October 2003)" and which is incorporated by reference in its entirety), in order to be listed for use as a residential sprinkler. Specifically, UL Standard 1626 (October 2003) requires a sprinkler, as described in Table 6.1 of Section 6, to deliver a minimum flow rate (gallons per minute or "GPM") for a specified coverage area (square feet or "ft2") to provide for a desired average density of 0.05 GPM/ft2. The minimum flow rate tabulated in Table 6.1 can be used to calculate a predicted minimum fluid pressure needed to operate a sprinkler by virtue of a rated K-factor of the sprinkler. A rated K-factor of a sprinkler provides a coefficient of discharge of the flow passage of the sprinkler, is defined as follow:
      K    -    factor    =      Q          p
where Q is the flow rate in GPM and p is the pressure in pounds per square inch gauge.
In order for a sprinkler to pass actual fluid distribution tests, as described in Sections 26 and 27 of UL Standard 1626 (October 2003), the actual minimum pressure of the sprinkler, may not be the same as the predicted minimum pressure, which can be calculated using the given minimum flow rate of Table 6.1 in UL Standard 1626 (October 2003) and the rated K-factor of the sprinkler. Further, the actual minimum fluid flow rate to pass these distribution tests of UL Standard 1626 (October 2003) for a specified coverage area may even be higher than the tabulated minimum flow rate given in Table 6.1 of UL Standard 1626 (October 2003). Consequently, any attempt to provide for a listed sprinkler (i.e., an operational sprinkler suitable for the protection of a dwelling unit) cannot be predicted by applications of a known formula to known residential sprinklers.
Known residential sidewall fire sprinklers have been tested to meet these performance qualifications required by UL Standard 1626 (October 2003). When these known sprinklers are designed to be installed in an actual system according to NFPA 13, 13D, and 13R (2002) for a large protection area of 324 square feet or greater, however, these existing residential fire sprinklers require a fluid pressure, based on its discharge coefficient or K-factor, that places a greater demand on the fluid pressure source than that predicted by the application of the tabulated minimum flow rate of UL Standard 1626 (October 2003) and the rated K-factor. Moreover, for some sprinklers, the range of uniform pressure and flows to satisfy the standards vary widely depending on spacing of the sprinkler from the ceiling, i.e., the ceiling-to-deflector spacing.
It would be beneficial to provide for a residential sprinkler to achieve a more uniform pressure demand independent of distance from the ceiling, while meeting the performance requirements of a listing authority, such as, for example, the tests set forth in UL Standard 1626 (October 2003), including vertical and horizontal fluid distribution tests. A uniform pressure demand for a horizontal residential fire sprinkler over a range of ceiling-to-deflector spacings would allow a fire protection system designer to have greater leeway in residential applications that are installed in accordance with the requirements of NFPA 13, 13D, and 13R (2002). Further, the more uniform pressure demand of such sprinkler would preferably provide a minimum design pressure that will allow such designer to tailor the location of sprinklers from the ceiling demanded by the design protection area for a system installed in accordance with NFPA 13, 13D, and 13R (2002).


A staging component mounting system having a suspension assembly coupled to a support surface and including a first fastener element embedded in the support surface, and at least one elongate, strong, suspension segment coupled to an exterior coupling region of the first fastener element. The system further includes a primary truss that is strong, yet fully collapsible so as to facilitate storage and transportability thereof, and is removably coupled to the suspension assembly. The primary truss includes three elongate support members disposed in a spaced apart relation from one another, a brace element removably coupled between adjacent ones of the elongate support members in order to resist increased spacing of the adjacent support members from one another when coupled thereto, while also being structured to be removed from the coupled engagement so as to provide for collapsibility therebetween, and a plurality of removable fasteners structured to removably couple the brace element to the adjacent elongate support members. The system also includes an adjustable mount harness coupled to the suspension assembly and including a plurality of support segments coupled to an article to be mounted, and an adjustment segment variably coupled to each of the support segments so as to permit selective and independent modification of a mount elevation of the support segments and therefore a mount orientation of the article to be mounted.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a staging component mounting system structured to facilitate the safe and adjustable mounting of various articles, such as speakers, lighting components, audio components and the like at a particular site. The system is structured to provide strong and secure mounting in a highly adaptable, adjustable, and cost-effective, manner that is also substantially collapsible, thereby permitting facilitated transport and storage of the staging component mounting system upon a change of venue or when full staging is not required.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of performance venues, such as theaters, arenas, concert halls and the like, as well as many other types of localities such as dance clubs and convention centers, often require the precise arrangement of lighting, speakers and other types of components. Typically, these various components are mounted to the ceiling in a variety of configurations in order to enhance the staging at the particular venue. Due, however, to the large volume of components and the often complex nature of their arrangement, in most circumstances, large hanging truss-type assemblies are pre-formed and mounted to the ceiling of the venue in a substantially permanent fashion. Accordingly, each subsequent show or performance at the venue will utilize the existing trusses for the mounting of its various components. Also, when the venue is not in use, or is in use for another purpose that does not require the assemblies, or when full staging is not required at a particular venue, the mount assemblies are generally lowered and stored at the venue, if storage space is available. Alternatively, however, some performances have very specialized set ups and/or utilize venues that do not have pre-installed mount assemblies, and as such, the large mount assemblies are owned or rented by the staging company putting on the performance such that they are merely taken down and shipped from one site to another when the particular show travels from venue to venue.
Of course, conventionally implemented mount assemblies have traditionally been designed to maximize strength, but to minimize weight. The reason for the maximization of strength relates to the heavy weight and large number of articles generally supported by the mount assembly. The desire to make the assembly light-weight, however, relates to the fact these mount assemblies must generally be transported as a solid assembly. Specifically, conventional mount assemblies are formed of aluminum tubing which has been welded together to define a preformed shape. As such, the large three dimensional shape of the formed mount assembly must be maintained during transport and storage. Naturally, this large and bulky configuration substantially increases the storage space required to contain the mount assemblies, as well as the amount of difficulties associated with transporting such a large, bulky, heavy item. Furthermore, it is noted that typically a plurality of the mount assemblies are included and must be stored and/or transported together.
As such, it would be highly beneficial to provide a staging component mounting system which is capable of supporting a large number of heavy components in an effective and adaptable manner, but which is also structured to be substantially easy to transport and store in a compact and manipulable manner. Such a system, however, should not compromise the requirements of strength and safety.
Additionally, it is often seen that in various staging situations a variety of articles, such as speakers and/or tweeters are suspended from ceiling mounted staging systems. Such systems, however, generally suspend the articles from preexisting hooks or mount points on the articles in a downward facing or side facing posture. Such mounting, however, does not take into account true positioning requirements of such components for normal or specialized uses, a particularly important consideration with audio tweeters and/or visual effects when an artistic and/or elaborate display and/or effects situation is to be generated. Indeed, most mounting systems do not provide for any adaptability or adjustability, but rather provide a single mounting position for all articles regardless of the particular nature of that article. Accordingly, it would also be highly beneficial to provide a staging component mounting system which is further configured to safely and securely mount various articles, but which is also adaptable to effectively mount those articles in an adjustable manner that appropriately orients a working face of the article in a variety of desired angles and orientations and a variety of directional postures in order to fully enhance the effect(s) sought to be generated.


An image processing apparatus configured to detect an image region indicating a poor color tone of eyes from candidate regions includes: a first determination unit configured to perform a determination relating to an evaluation amount with respect to the poor color tone based on a predetermined color component in a target candidate region, and the evaluation amount in a peripheral region of the candidate region, a second determination unit configured to update the candidate region based on the first determination result, and to perform a determination relating to the evaluation amount or a predetermined color component with reference to pixels in an updated second candidate region, and a third determination unit configured to update the second candidate region based on the second determination result, and to perform a determination relating to a characteristic amount of a peripheral region with reference to pixels in a peripheral region of an updated third candidate region. A calculation amount of the third determination is greater than a calculation amount of the first or second determination.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing apparatuses and image processing methods, and more particularly to an image processing technique for detecting an image region indicating a poor color tone of eyes.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various methods for correcting a poor color tone of eyes, which may be caused by the flash from a camera, have been proposed. In general, a poor color tone of eyes is well known as a red-eye phenomenon (or red-eye effect). The environment having an insufficient illumination may cause a red-eye phenomenon, if a human or an animal such as a dog or a cat is photographed with flash.
More specifically, the flash light enters the eye through an opened pupil and reflects off the back of the eye. At this moment, red light can be returned from the capillary on the eyeground. The red-eye phenomenon often occurs if a photographed person has bright pigments because of higher transmissivity of a pupil, i.e., a crystalline lens.
Many digital cameras have compact bodies. In such a compact body, the optical axis of a lens is positioned closely to a flash light source. When a light source position of the flash is adjacent to the optical axis of the lens, the red-eye phenomenon occurs easily.
One of the methods for reducing the red-eye phenomenon is a pre-light emission prior to photographing, so that pupils of a photographed person can be closed beforehand. However, according to this method, a large capacity of battery will be required and a photographed person may change the face by the pre-light emission.
To correct or reduce red eyes, personal computers or comparable apparatuses can process and reconstruct an image from digital data obtained by a digital camera. In general, the methods for correcting red eyes based on digital image data can be roughly classified into three types of correction: i.e., manual correction; semiautomatic correction; and automatic correction.
The manual correction requires a user's manipulating a pointing device, such as a mouse, a stylus, or a tablet, or a similar touch panel to designate a red eye region (i.e., a region to be corrected) which is displayed on a display unit.
The semiautomatic correction requires a user's rough designation about a region where a red eye is present and a computer's operation for specifying a correction range of a red eye based on the information given by the user and performing necessary corrections. For example, the user can designate a region surrounding an eye, or a point near an eye, with a pointing device. The computer specifies a correction range and executes corrections based on information on the designated region or designated point.
The automatic correction requires no special operation by a user because a computer executes fully automated operations including automatically detecting a correction region from digital image data and executing correction processing.
According to the manual or semiautomatic correction, a user has to manually designate a portion to be corrected. For example, it will be troublesome for auser if required to display an enlarged image including a region to be corrected and to designate a correction region on image data. If a large screen of a display equipped in a personal computer system is available, such a designating operation may be relatively easy. However, in the case of ordinary digital cameras or printers, which have a small display unit of several inches, unless a user enlarges an image and scrolls to the appropriate portion of the enlarged image, the user cannot find and designate a correction region.
There are conventional methods for automatically correcting the red-eye phenomenon, requiring no complicated operations and effectively applicable to a compact device equipped with a small display unit.
For example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-136498 discusses a method including the steps of detecting a skin color region from an image, searching and detecting pixels constituting a red eye within the detected region, and correcting the pixels constituting the red eye.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 11-149559 discusses a method including the steps of detecting a skin color region, detecting recessed regions having lower brightness corresponding to a pupil, and determining an eye based on a distance between two recessed regions in the detected region.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open 2000-125320 discusses a method including the steps of detecting a skin color region, determining whether the detected skin color region has characteristics of a human face, detecting a set of red-eye defects in the detected region, evaluating a distance and size of the red-eye defects, and specifying a red eye region.
Furthermore, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open 11-284874 discusses a method including the steps of automatically determining whether an image includes a red pupil, detecting a position and size of the red pupil, and automatically converting red pixels within the pupil into a predetermined color of pixels.
However, the conventional automatic red-eye correction methods have the following problems.
The human skin color detection or the face detection relying on a neural network requires searching a wide range of image data to obtain a reliable result from the detection of a red eye region. In other words, a large amount of memory is required and a huge amount of calculations will be necessary. Such processing may not be so difficult for a personal computer equipped with a high performance CPU operable with a clock of several GHz and a memory of several hundreds MB. However, digital cameras and printers may not be able to process such a great amount of image data.
Furthermore, besides the above-described automatic corrections, there are many conventional methods relying on the difference in saturation to discriminate a red eye region from a peripheral region. However, the saturation-based determination cannot be preferably applied to a person having dark pigments. As is well known, when pixel values are defined in the RGB system, a saturation S can be expressed by the following formula (1).S={max(R, G, B)−min(R, G, B)}/max(R, G, B)  (1)where, max (R, G, B) represents a maximum value among R, G and B components, and min (R, G, B) represents a minimum value among R, G and B components.
According to experimental results, the skin color region of a typical Japanese person has a unique distribution concentrated from 0 to 30 degrees in the hue (0-359 degrees) According to the hue expression in the HIS (hue-intensity-saturation) system, a region near 0 degree is red and the color gradually changes to yellow when the hue increases. The R, G and B values in the range of 0 to 30 degrees have the following relationship.R>G>B  (2)
As described above, compared with a person having bright pigments, a person having dark pigments seldom has brighter red eyes. As an example, a typical Japanese person will have the following pixel values in a red eye region and a skin color region around the eye.    Red eye region: (R, G, B)=(109, 58, 65)    Skin color region: (R, G, B)=(226, 183, 128)
In this case, the saturation of a red eye region pixel is 40, while the saturation of a skin color region pixel is 43. There is no substantial difference between two saturation values.
In other words, the method relying on the saturation may not be able to determine a red eye pixel if a photographed object (person) has dark pigments.

Image processing apparatus, image processing method, computer program, and storage medium


Interlevel gaps between closely spaced circuit elements, such as closely spaced metal interconnect lines, are filed using a biased electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) deposition process. The gaps between circuit elements may be separated by distances of less than 0.6 microns and the gaps can have aspect rations in excess of 2.0. To fill such gaps between the circuit elements on a semiconductor wafer, the wafer is mounted in an ECR reaction chamber. A continuing flow of oxygen (O.sub.2) and silane (SiH.sub.4) gas is introduced into the ECR system's plasma and reaction chambers, respectively, while applying a microwave excitation so as to generate a plasma. High deposition rates and low film stress are achieved by controlling the flow of oxygen and silane so as to maintain an oxygen to silane gas flow ratio of less than 1.5. In addition, the wafer is cooled, typically using helium, so as to maintain wafer temperature below 300 degrees Celsius, because maintaining low temperatures during ECR deposition has been found to both increase the oxide deposition rate and to reduce the deposited film's compressive stress. This method makes it possible to achieve oxide deposition rates of 6000 Angstroms and above, with film stress below 1.5.times.10.sup.9 dynes/cm.sup.2. Furthermore, these deposition rates and film stresses are obtained with a high degree of uniformity from wafer to wafer.

Dielectric planarization has become extremely important for multilevel interconnection of very large scale integrated (VLSI) circuits as device geometries have become smaller and circuit densities have become higher. See, for example, A. C. Adams and C. D. Capio, Journal of Electrochemical Society, Vol. 128, 1981, pp. 423. With smaller geometries, the planarization of dielectric layers in multilevel interconnects requires two stages: interlevel dielectric gap filling, and subsequent local or global planarization. The present invention is concerned only with gap filling, and in particular with a high throughput gap filling process.
Referring to FIG. 1, there are shown two closely spaced metal lines on a silicon substrate. The metal lines are separated by a lateral distance of .DELTA.X, and have a height of .DELTA.Y. The space between the metal lines is called a "gap", having an aspect ratio defined as .DELTA.Y/.DELTA.X. After depositing and defining the metal interconnection lines of a semiconductor circuit, it is usually necessary to fill the gaps between interconnection lines, and to cover the entire interconnect layer with silicon oxide before proceeding with the next manufacturing step. Filling such gaps, without creating voids in which no oxide is deposited, becomes increasingly difficult as the gap width becomes smaller than one micron and as the aspect ratio increases above a value of 1.0 Voids are undesirable because they can contribute to electrical shorts and long term device reliability problems.
Current techniques in plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) employ a sequence of deposition, etch and deposition steps for good quality interlevel dielectric (ILD) gap filling, without void formation, for interconnect spaces smaller than 1.0 microns and aspect ratios greater than unity. The prior art deposition/etch/deposition sequence typically requires three to four process chambers to accomplish good quality oxide ILD gap fill, and therefore has low throughput. As device geometries shrink below 0.6 micron, it has been found that the prior art deposition/etch/deposition sequence is unable to satisfactorily fill ILD gaps at sufficient water throughput.
Biased electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) plasma deposition technology has been demonstrated to gap fill and planarize small spaces at high aspect ratios (e.g., aspect ratios of 2.0 and higher). Biased ECR deposition yields high quality oxide films. The principles of ECR plasma technology are described by J. Asmussen, J. Vacuum Science Technology A, Vol. 7, No. 3, May/June 1989, p. 883, which is hereby incorporated by reference as background information. Published articles which describe prior art biased ECR deposition technology including (1) S. Matsuo and M. Kiuchi, Japan Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 22, No. 4, April 1983, p. L210, and (2) D. R. Dennison, C. Chiang, and D. Fraser, Ext. Abstracts, 175th ECS Meeting, Los Angeles, Vol. 89-1, Spring 1989, p. 261.
The major shortcomings of biased ECR deposition have been (1) low deposition rates (under about 1500 Angstroms/min), and (2) high compressive film stress (typically greater than 3.times.10.sup.9 dynes/cm.sup.2. Low deposition rates make biased ECR deposition unacceptably expensive for large scale semiconductor manufacturing, and high film stress can lead to device failures. The present invention overcomes both of these problems.

High throughput interlevel dielectric gap filling process


A switching device receives a data packet and searches for a layer 3 multicast destination address specified in a header of the received data packet in a layer 3 multicast forwarding database table. The switch searches for a corresponding port list in a layer 3 egress table if the layer 3 multicast destination address is found. However, if the layer 3 multicast destination address is not found, the switch searches for a layer 2 destination address specified in header of the received data packet in a layer 2 multicast forwarding database table, and the switch searches for a port list in a layer 2 egress table if the layer 2 destination address is found. If neither the layer 3 or layer 2 destination address is found in the searches, the switch discards or floods the received data packet out all ports of the switching device.

In data communication networks, multicast data packet routing or forwarding allows a source host to send a data packet to a group of destination hosts without requiring that the source host copy the packet and send each copy individually to each destination in the group. In OSI Model Layer 3 devices (e.g., a data networking router), multicast routing is accomplished, for example, using a group destination Internet Protocol (IP) address in the range of 224.x.x.x to 239.x.x.x for IP version 4 (IPv4), or in the range of FFxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx for IP version 6 (IPv6), as the destination IP address in the IP header of a multicast data packet. In OSI Model Layer 2 devices (e.g., a switch), multicast forwarding is accomplished using a Multicast IEEE 802.3 Media Access Control (MAC) address in the range of 01:00:5E:xx:xx:xx for IPv4, or in the range of 33:33:xx:xx:xx:xx for IPv6, as the destination MAC address in the Data Link header of the multicast data packet.
Layer 2 multicast forwarding may be achieved by configuring a layer 2 multicast Forwarding Database (FOB) table in a layer 2 switch with entries that each specify a particular multicast MAC address, a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN) identifier (VLAN ID), and a corresponding list of ports on the layer 2 device out which a multicast data packet specifying the multicast MAC address and VLAN is to be transmitted for forwarding purposes. The list of ports may be dynamically learned using the Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) (IPv4)/Multicast Listener Discovery (MLD) (IPv6) snooping protocols. The layer 2 FOB table normally includes both unicast MAC address entries and multicast MAC address entries.
Layer 3 multicast data packet forwarding or routing may achieved by configuring a layer 3 multicast FDB table in a switching device with entries that each specify a particular source IP address, a group (or multicast) destination IP address, a VLAN ID, and a corresponding list of ports (along with a list of VLAN IDs for each port) on the switching device out which a multicast data packet specifying the group destination IP address and VLAN ID is to be transmitted. The list of ports may be dynamically learned using the IGMP snooping protocol. The list of VLAN IDs per port may be learned using a layer 3 multicast routing protocol, such as Protocol Independent Multicast (PIM), or Multicast VLAN Registration (MVR).
Note, the switching device may be a layer 2 device or a layer 3 device. In particular, the switching device does not have to be a layer 3 device to utilize the layer 3 table lookups. For example, current switches utilize layer 3 table lookups even when they are performing a layer 2 device role (e.g. IGMP snooping).
Prior art switch and router architectures use either the layer 3 multicast FDB or the layer 2 MAC FDB to provide multicast forwarding to provide both layer 2 multicast data packet forwarding and layer 3 multicast data packet routing. In the prior art, even though a layer 2 FDB table may have sufficient space for storing multicast MAC address entries, the layer 2 FDB table is used only for storing unicast MAC address entries for unicast data packet forwarding.
What is needed is a method and apparatus utilizing both the layer 2 multicast FDB table and the layer 3 multicast FDB table for multicast forwarding and thereby significantly increase the number of available FDB table entries.

Apparatus and method for multicast data packet forwarding


A magnetic recording medium is disclosed which comprises a first magnetic layer on a nonmagnetic support and a second magnetic layer on the first magnetic layer.. The first magnetic layer contains A parts by weight of at least one of Si and Al per 100 parts by weight of magnetic materials, and the second magnetic layer contains B parts by weight of at least one of Si and Al per 100 parts by weight of magnetic materials, wherein A is smaller than B.. This magnetic recording medium is characterized in that: the magnetic recording medium does not stain the conveyance rollers in the manufacturing process; problems which tend to occur when running conventional tapes are greatly reduced; and it is suitable for use as a video tape.

Conventionally, a magnetic recording medium is manufactured by coating magnetic material to a support and then dried, wherein ferromagnetic particles, a hardening agent, a dispersion agent, an abrasive, a lubricant, a matting agent, an antistatic additive, and other additives are added into a binder of the magnetic coating material and an adequate solvent is also added if necessary.
In order to improve the chemical stability of magnetic material, the following conventional method is widely known: a small amount of nickel, cobalt, titanium, silicon, and aluminum is added into the magnetic material in the form of a metal, a salt or an oxide; or the surface of the magnetic material is treated by the elements described above.
Conventionally, identical magnetic materials have been used for both the upper and lower layers of a multilayer magnetic recording medium in which magnetic materials treated by silicon, aluminum, and the like are used. For that reason, the content of silicon, aluminum and the like of magnetic materials in the upper and lower layers are equal.
However, this type of magnetic recording medium has the following disadvantages: after drying in the manufacturing process, the conveyance rollers (the conveyance rollers will be called the rollers hereafter in this specification) to convey the magnetic recording medium are stained by the magnetic recording medium; and the running efficiency of the magnetic recording medium is lowered when the temperature and humidity are high.
The objects of the present invention are to provide a magnetic recording medium characterized in that: the magnetic recording medium does not stain the conveyance rollers to convey the magnetic recording medium after the drying process during manufacture; and the running efficiency of the magnetic recording medium is high even when the temperature and humidity are high.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a magnetic recording medium characterized in that: the electromagnetic conversion characteristics are excellent; both sliding noise and dropout (D/O) are low; and the magnetic recording medium is suited for video tape use.


The precision of up-sampling operations in a layered coding system is preserved when operating on video data with high bit-depth. In response to bit-depth requirements of the video coding or decoding system, scaling and rounding parameters are determined for a separable up-scaling filter. Input data are first filtered across a first spatial direction using a first rounding parameter to generate first up-sampled data. First intermediate data are generated by scaling the first up-sampled data using a first shift parameter. The intermediate data are then filtered across a second spatial direction using a second rounding parameter to generate second up-sampled data. Second intermediate data are generated by scaling the second up-sampled data using a second shift parameter. Final up-sampled data may be generated by clipping the second intermediate data.

Audio and video compression is a key component in the development, storage, distribution, and consumption of multimedia content. The choice of a compression method involves tradeoffs among coding efficiency, coding complexity, and delay. As the ratio of processing power over computing cost increases, it allows for the development of more complex compression techniques that allow for more efficient compression. As an example, in video compression, the Motion Pictures Expert Group (MPEG) from the International Standards Organization (ISO) has continued improving upon the original MPEG-1 video standard by releasing the MPEG-2, MPEG-4 (part 2), and H.264/AVC (or MPEG-4, part 10) coding standards.
Despite the compression efficiency and success of H.264, a new generation of video compression technology, known as High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), in now under development. HEVC, for which a draft is available in "High efficiency video coding (HEVC) text specification draft 9," ITU-T/ISO/IEC Joint Collaborative Team on Video Coding (JCT-VC) document JCTVC-K1003, October 2012, by B. Bross, W.-J. Han, G. J. Sullivan, J.-R. Ohm, and T. Wiegand, which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, is expected to provide improved compression capability over the existing H.264 (also known as AVC) standard, published as, "Advanced Video Coding for generic audio-visual services," ITU T Rec. H.264 and ISO/IEC 14496-10, which is incorporated herein in its entirety.
Video signals may be characterized by multiple parameters, such as bit-depth, color space, color gamut, and resolution. Modern televisions and video playback devices (e.g., Blu-ray players) support a variety of resolutions, including standard-definition (e.g., 720×480i) and high-definition (HD) (e.g., 1090×1080p). Ultra high-definition (UHD) is a next generation resolution format with at least a 3,840×2,160 resolution. Ultra high-definition may also be referred to as Ultra HD, UHDTV, or super high-vision. As used herein, UHD denotes any resolution higher than HD resolution.
Another aspect of a video signal's characteristic is it dynamic range. Dynamic range (DR) is a range of intensity (e.g., luminance, luma) in an image, e.g., from darkest darks to brightest brights. As used herein, the term 'dynamic range' (DR) may relate to a capability of the human psychovisual system (HVS) to perceive a range of intensity (e.g., luminance, luma) in an image, e.g., from darkest darks to brightest brights. In this sense, DR relates to a 'scene-referred' intensity. DR may also relate to the ability of a display device to adequately or approximately render an intensity range of a particular breadth. In this sense, DR relates to a 'display-referred' intensity. Unless a particular sense is explicitly specified to have particular significance at any point in the description herein, it should be inferred that the term may be used in either sense, e.g. interchangeably.
As used herein, the term high dynamic range (HDR) relates to a DR breadth that spans the some 14-15 orders of magnitude of the human visual system (HVS). For example, well adapted humans with essentially normal (e.g., in one or more of a statistical, biometric or ophthalmological sense) have an intensity range that spans about 15 orders of magnitude. Adapted humans may perceive dim light sources of as few as a mere handful of photons. Yet, these same humans may perceive the near painfully brilliant intensity of the noonday sun in desert, sea or snow (or even glance into the sun, however briefly to prevent damage). This span though is available to 'adapted' humans, e.g., those whose HVS has a time period in which to reset and adjust.
In contrast, the DR over which a human may simultaneously perceive an extensive breadth in intensity range may be somewhat truncated, in relation to HDR. As used herein, the terms 'enhanced dynamic range' (EDR), 'visual dynamic range,' or 'variable dynamic range' (VDR) may individually or interchangeably relate to the DR that is simultaneously perceivable by a HVS. As used herein, EDR may relate to a DR that spans 5-6 orders of magnitude. Thus while perhaps somewhat narrower in relation to true scene referred HDR, EDR nonetheless represents a wide DR breadth. As used herein, the term 'simultaneous dynamic range' may relate to EDR.
As used herein, the term image or video "bit-depth" denotes the number of bits used to represent or store pixel values of a color component of an image or video signal. For example, the term N-bit video (e.g., N=8) denotes that pixel values of a color component (e.g., R, G, or B) in that video signal may take values within the range 0 to 2N−1.
As used herein, the term "high bit-depth" denotes any bit-depth values larger than 8 bits (e.g., N=10 bits). Note that while HDR image and video signals are typically associated with high bit-depth, a high bit-depth image may not necessarily have a high dynamic range. Hence, as used herein, high bit-depth imaging may be associated with both HDR and SDR images.
To support backwards compatibility with legacy playback devices as well as new display technologies, multiple layers may be used to deliver UHD and HDR (or SDR) video data from an upstream device to downstream devices. Given such a multi-layer stream, legacy decoders may use the base layer to reconstruct an HD SDR version of the content. Advanced decoders may use both the base layer and the enhancement layers to reconstruct an UHD EDR version of the content to render it on more capable displays. As appreciated by the inventors here, improved techniques for the coding of high bit-depth video using scalable codecs are desirable.
The approaches described in this section are approaches that could be pursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in this section. Similarly, issues identified with respect to one or more approaches should not assume to have been recognized in any prior art on the basis of this section, unless otherwise indicated.

High precision up-sampling in scalable coding of high bit-depth video

Dolby Laboratories Licensing Corporation


A stripping station for stripping hollow plastic articles from a holding means is disclosed and includes a nest for receiving neck portions of the articles, and a cutout bar for admitting, trapping and ejecting the articles in the nest, the cutout bar being slidably mounted to the nest and being displaceable between an admitting position, wherein the articles can be admitted into the nest, a trapping position wherein the articles are trapped in the nest for transport, and an ejecting position wherein the articles are ejected from the nest.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of injection or compression molding (collectively referred to as pressure molding) of workpieces such as hollow plastic articles and formation of hollow blow molded articles therefrom and, more particularly, to a stripping station for stripping finished articles from pallets and transferring the finished articles to a discharge station.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system for preparing and conveying pressure molded plastic articles, or workpieces, is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,793,960 to Schad et al and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The '960 patent discloses a process wherein parisons are carried on pallets between various treatment stations. Pallets on which these parisons are transported are recycled in a continuous manner by conveying the pallets on a continuous belt wherein parisons are disposed on the pallets, transferred to a subsequent station for the formation of blow molded hollow articles, and the hollow articles are removed or stripped from the pallets, at which point the pallets return on the continuous belt to receive a new batch of parisons.
The present invention is drawn to the method by which workpieces or parisons, or preferably the blow molded hollow articles, are stripped from the pallets.
According to the prior art, articles are stripped from the pallets through suction or vacuum. Such a procedure is also disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,522,581 to Schad et al, also assigned to the assignee of the present invention. Methods involving the application of suction or a vacuum, however, prove difficult to carry out and require expensive locating means to place articles into guide tubes through which suction or vacuum is applied.
Attempts have been made to improve upon this stripping method by mechanically grasping workpieces with a pair of arms and stripping the workpieces from the pallets. Such attempts are generally unsuccessful, however, because the workpieces tend to stick to one of the arms, thus preventing the discharge of workpieces from the arms.
The principal object of the present invention is, therefore, to provide a stripping station for hollow blow molded articles wherein the articles can be stripped from a holding means, such as pallets, without sticking.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a stripping station which is simple, reliable and efficient in operation.
Other objects and advantages Will become apparent to one skilled in the art upon a consideration of the following disclosure.


Foundation is applied to a preselected area of the face that is centered therewithin and encompasses the eyes, nose and mouth thereof, the process for its application comprising the steps of: (a) placing a sizable first dot of foundation at a first position on each side of the nose near the nostrils; (b) stroking upward from the first position to meet the bridge of the nose; (c) blending the foundation of the first dot to cover the entire front and sides of the nose, whereby the nostrils retain enough of the foundation to cover red skin thereabout; (d) placing a sizable dot of the foundation on each side of the nose at a second position, the second position being under the corner of each eye immediately adjacent to the nose; (e) spreading the foundation of the second dot away from the nose while maintaining heaviest coverage at the second position, thereby covering the skin very close to the lower eyelashes; (f) blending the foundation downward; (g) applying more of the foundation in a back and forth motion at a third position, the third position being above and below the mouth including the bottom of the nose; and (h) stroking the foundation from the outer boundary of the preselected area toward the center of the face, thereby blending the foundation into surrounding skin along substantially the entire length of the outer boundary to define the preselected area. Products appointed for make-up use are correlated and their usage is quantified and controlled. The process is readily repeatable and works for women of all ages and abilities.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a the field of cosmetics; and, more particularly to a method for applying make-up and foundation to a preselected, uniquely shaped area of the human face.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the '60s and early '70s nearly 50% of American women wore little or no cosmetics, in addition to lipstick, primarily because of the uncomfortable feeling produced when foundation covered the entire face and the difficulty of controlling color during application. As women began to enter the work force at increased levels of professionalism they felt the need to follow the lead of their female peers. Even so, cosmetic sales figures did not rise, but declined instead. Wall Street analysts, mindful of the poor performance of cosmetic industry stocks during the early 1980's concluded that with increasing business exposure professional women had less time to experiment with cosmetics, and had begun to purchase only those cosmetic products they needed to use. Thus, for many women who had previously enjoyed wearing a wider variety of cosmetics, the "guaranteed users," the purchase rate had dropped. Women who had never liked make-up to begin with approached it in a practical manner. Those women who preferred to stay at home raising their families were strongly influenced by cultural changes affecting use of make-up products by their professional counterparts, and the fact that application of make-up continued to be a difficult and time consuming process.
Despite the plethora of secret ingredients and formulas utilized in cosmetic products, there is very little, if any, information available concerning a systematic approach to make-up application. No guidance is provided for clarifying or simplifying make-up usage; and no system has been proposed wherein make-up application is controlled through correlation and quantification of make-up products. Although use of cosmetics is age-old, having begun sometime before the reign of Cleopatra, there still exists no unified, comprehensive approach to make-up application. As a result, application of make-up remains a mystery. It is viewed by the consumer as an art form involving an undefined aggregation of time consuming, inefficient measures that are devoid of scientific underpinnings. An art form involving measures which are not readily repeated and which are generally inapplicable to women of any age or ability.


A rotor system for a bicycle (1), for the purpose of bearing a fork (8) and transmitting the actuations of Bowden cables (31, 32), which each having a core (31a; 32a) includes first and second transmission elements (36, 37), that rotate relative to one another and are arranged in the area of the bearing (21, 23, 25) of the fork (8). The transmission elements include an annular region, mounted on a fork steerer (12) and surrounded by a head tube (21), and connection areas (36b; 37b) for the direct or indirect attachment of the rotor-side ends of the cores (31a 32a). At least one of the transmission elements (37) includes a connection area (37b) with a connecting element, which (32b) can be form-fittingly attached, interacting with, or being integrally connected to, the rotor side end of the core (32a) that is assigned with said at least one transmission elements (37).

From the DE 199 29 093 C2 a rotor system for a bicycle for bearing, rotatably by 360°, a fork and for the transmission of actuations of brake cables is known, with a rotor unit, arranged in the area of the bearing of the fork, which is movable on the whole relatively to the fork in axial direction and which comprises at least two transmission elements that are rotatable relative to one another, wherein the transmission elements at least in radial direction are surrounded by a housing.
Another rotor system, which also makes possible a 360° turn of the fork, is known from WO 2012/005610 A2. A first Bowden control cable is guided from the handlebar into the fork steerer. At the end of its core a bar is fixed, which protrudes out of the fork steerer through fork steerer openings, where it is taken up by the first transmission element. The arrangement of the core of the second Bowden cable leading to the back wheel at the upper ring-shaped second transmission element is done by means of a fixture bent at a right angle screwed onto the transmission element, in whose radially outwards extending area, which is provided with a slotted receiving opening for introducing the core, the thickened end of the core is suspended. At the housing a comparable overturned brake arm is screwed, which with its area extending outwards in radial direction, that is formed according to the above mentioned fixture, adheres to the first fixture from the bottom and supports it. This kind of arrangement also corresponds to the technical realization of DE 199 29 093 C2, in which the arrangement of the cores of the Bowden mechanisms serving as brake cables is only illustrated schematically.
In FR 571 408 a transmission mechanism is known, which uses bars and levers. In the stem a crank is mounted, at which a bar introduced into the fork steerer is articulated, which in the area of the lower end carries a bar that protrudes out of the fork steerer through fork steerer openings. A first transmission element sits on the bar. The second transmission element is formed bifurcated, with the shaft articulated at the transition from the head tube to the lower tube and resting with the fork peaks on the first transmission element. At the shaft of the second transmission element a Bowden control cable is fixed, which is guided further through the lower tube. The transmission elements do not form a unit, but perform different movements when a braking is executed.