A shielded jack assembly is shown having a front cylindrical tube, and a rear ground shell portion. The rear ground shell is stamped and formed from pre-plated metal, and includes a partial cylindrical portion, plate portions extending downwardly therefrom, and printed circuit board portions depending from the plate portions. A rear wall portion is integral with the partial cylindrical portion, and depends therefrom via a hinge. The rear wall portion is bent to cover the end opening in the partial cylindrical portion.

The subject invention relates to shielded jacks, and more particularly to a stamped and formed jack for mounting on a printed circuit board.
It is common to provide a shielded cable connection to a printed circuit board. Normally these connectors have a pin terminal configured in a right-angle configuration, where a right-angle portion is provided for connection to a printed circuit board. The pin is insulated within a conductive outer shell, where the shell typically comprises a drawn tube of metal, where the drawn tube is plated after the drawing process. The metal from which the tube is drawn cannot be pre-plated, because the drawing process would damage the plating providing ineffective shielding and grounding qualities. The combination of the drawing process and post-plating is an expensive cost adder in the manufacturing process for electrical connectors, and therefore it would be desirable to eliminate this step.
It would be advantageous to provide a right-angle shielded jack assembly, where at least a portion of the grounding shell is stamped and formed from pre-plated metals to lower the expense of the manufacturing process.
One application of a stamped and formed right-angle connector is shown in GB Patent Application Publication Number 2 248 730 A, where two stamped and formed ground shells encapsulate a pin terminal and an insulator therein, which provides a board mountable connector. This connector, however, provides longitudinal seams in the ground shell along its entire length.


A touch panel having a piezoelectric sensor and an electrostatic sensor that are integrally formed. The piezoelectric sensor is connected to a displacement detector and a sound emission amplifier through a relay switch. A controller performs switch control on the relay switch. The piezoelectric sensor emits sound while the sound emission amplifier and the piezoelectric sensor are connected to each other by the relay switch. When the operation input is detected through the electrostatic sensor and the touch position detector, the controller performs the switch control on the relay switch to connect the piezoelectric sensor to the displacement detector. A detection voltage is input from the piezoelectric sensor to the displacement detector to also detect the pressing amount.

Conventionally, there have been devised various touch type input devices that can detect a touch position when an operator touches a planar operation surface with a finger or the like.
For example, in a touch type input device described in PTL 1, electrodes are formed on both surfaces of a piezoelectric film, and a voltage generated by pressing the piezoelectric film is detected by the electrodes on both the surfaces, thereby detecting a pressing position, namely, an operation input position is detected.
In the touch type input device of PTL 1, the voltage is applied to the electrodes on both the surfaces to bend the piezoelectric film, thereby emitting the sound.
In the touch type input device of PTL 1, an operation input detecting circuit and a sound emission signal applying circuit are switched by a relay circuit and connected to a touch panel. Therefore, the operation input detection and the sound emission are switched by one touch panel.
PTL 1: WO2011/125048

Touch type input device having a piezoelectric sensor connected to a displacement detector and a sound emission controller by a switch


Provided are a non-halogen flame-retardant resin composition that contains a base polymer mainly containing a polyolefin-based resin, that passes a flame test, and that has good heat resistance and good heat-aging resistance which can satisfy a 150° C. rating, and an insulated electric wire and a tube using the non-halogen flame-retardant resin composition. The non-halogen flame-retardant resin composition contains (A) a base polymer containing 90% by mass or more of a mixture of a polyolefin-based resin and a styrene-based elastomer; (B) a metal phosphinate; and (C) a nitrogen-based flame retardant, and is used as an insulating coating layer. The insulating coating layer and the tube are preferably cross-linked by irradiation with ionizing radiation.

Insulating coatings and tubes of insulated electric wires and insulated cables that are used in wiring arranged inside electronic equipment and automobiles require high flame retardancy, high tensile properties, and a property that good tensile properties can be maintained even after exposure to high temperatures (heat resistance and heat-aging resistance).
In general, UL (Underwriters Laboratories Inc.) standards are used for evaluating the flame retardancy, heat resistance, and heat-aging resistance of electric wires. Regarding the flame retardancy, it is necessary to satisfy the Vertical-Specimen-Flame test (VW-1). Regarding heat resistance and heat-aging resistance, in UL standards, the heat resistance and heat-aging resistance are determined in terms of tensile strength retention and elongation retention after a heat-aging test. The heat-aging test is performed as follows. For example, in the case of a 150° C. rating, the test is performed in a Geer oven at 180° C. for seven days. In the case of a 125° C. rating, the test is performed in a Geer oven at 158° C. for seven days. In the case of a 105° C. rating, the test is performed in a Geer oven at 136° C. for seven days. In the 150° C. rating specified in UL 1581, the following characteristics are required: Regarding initial tensile properties, the elongation is 300% or more and the tensile strength is 13.79 MPa or more. In addition, even after the heat-aging test in a Geer oven at 180° C. for seven days, the tensile strength retention and the elongation retention are each 80% or more.
Hitherto, soft polyvinyl chloride compositions and halogen-based flame-retardant resin compositions prepared by incorporating a bromine-based or chlorine-based flame retardant in a polyolefin-based resin such as polyethylene, an ethylene-ethyl acrylate copolymer, or an ethylene-vinyl acetate copolymer have been used as materials that satisfy the above mechanical/physical properties and flame retardancy.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-81930 (PTL 1) discloses a resin composition containing, as a base polymer, a mixture of polyethylene having a melting point of 125° C. or higher and an ethylene-α-olefin copolymer and, as flame retardants, a metal hydroxide, a halogen-based flame retardant, and an organosilicon compound such as methacryloxypropyltrimethoxysilane. It is disclosed that an insulating coating layer produced by cross-linking a coating layer composed of this resin composition satisfies the flame retardancy specified by the Vertical-Specimen-Flame test and the requirements for the 125° C. rating (after the heat-aging test in a Geer oven at 158° C. for seven days) specified in UL standards.
Japanese Patent No. 3279206 (Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-168248: PTL 2) discloses that a cross-linked insulating coating using a flame-retardant resin composition prepared by incorporating a halogen-based flame retardant and flowers of zinc (zinc oxide) in a polyolefin-based resin which is an ethylene-α-olefin copolymer and which has a density of less than 0.89 satisfies the 150° C. rating.
As described above, it is known that, in the case where a halogen-based flame retardant is used, a cross-linked insulating coating containing a polyolefin-based resin as a main component can satisfy the requirements for the 125° C. rating, and furthermore, the requirements for the 150° C. rating.
However, electric wires and cables produced by using any of these flame-retardant resin compositions cause a problem in that a hydrogen halide gas is generated during an incineration treatment. Therefore, recently, so-called non-halogen flame-retardant resin compositions, which contain no halogen-based flame retardant, have been desired.
Typical examples of non-halogen flame retardants include metal hydroxides such as aluminum hydroxide and magnesium hydroxide. However, in order to pass the Vertical-Specimen-Flame test VW-1 specified in UL standards using a metal hydroxide-based flame retardant, it is necessary to add the metal hydroxide-based flame retardant in a large amount. The addition of the metal hydroxide-based flame retardant in such an amount that the flame test can be passed causes a problem of a significant decrease in the tensile strength and the elongation.
Besides metal hydroxides, organic phosphorus-based flame retardants such as phosphoric acid esters, and nitrogen-based flame retardants are known as the non-halogen flame retardants. However, the flame-retardant effect of these non-halogen flame retardants is not as high as that of halogen-based flame retardants. Accordingly, in reality, satisfactory flame retardancy is not obtained unless such a non-halogen flame retardant is added in a large amount, or the flame retardancy is not improved even if such a non-halogen flame retardant is added in a large amount.
In order to reduce the content of a flame retardant, non-halogen flame-retardant materials containing a flame-retardant resin as a base polymer have been developed.
For example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-249552 (PTL 3) discloses a cross-linked insulating coating produced by using a resin composition containing a mixture of a polyphenylene ether-based resin and a styrene-based elastomer as a base polymer, a phosphorus-based flame retardant, a nitrogen-based flame retardant, and a multifunctional monomer. In this resin composition, an ester or ammonium salt of condensed phosphoric acid is used as the phosphorus-based flame retardant.
In the resin composition disclosed in PTL 3, a flame-retardant polyphenylene ether-based resin is used instead of a polyolefin-based resin. Therefore, even when the content of the flame retardant is reduced, the resin composition can pass the flame test and satisfy the requirements of the mechanical strength (tensile properties) at room temperature. However, regarding a heat-aging test, an insulating coating merely satisfies a retention of 75% or more after being left to stand at 136° C. for seven days. Thus, the insulating coating cannot be used as an electric wire that satisfies the 150° C. rating.
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-118207 (PTL 4) discloses a cross-linked insulated electric wire including an insulating coating having a two-layer structure. The cross-linked insulated electric wire includes a conductor, a first insulating layer (inner layer) formed on the conductor, and a second insulating layer (outer layer) formed on the first insulating layer. The first insulating layer is composed of a resin composition containing, as a base polymer, a resin prepared by mixing a styrene-based elastomer, a polyolefin-based resin, and a polyphenylene ether-based resin, and, as flame retardants, a phosphorus-based flame retardant (a condensed phosphoric acid ester such as triphenyl phosphate) and a nitrogen-based flame retardant. The second insulting layer is composed of a resin composition containing a metal hydroxide as a flame retardant.
Examples of PTL 4 disclose an insulated electric wire including an inner layer composed of a cross-linked product of a resin composition containing, as a base polymer, a polyphenylene ether-based resin and a styrene-based elastomer, and a condensed phosphoric acid ester and melamine cyanurate, and an outer layer composed of a cross-linked product of a resin composition prepared by adding 180% by mass of magnesium hydroxide to a base polymer. Regarding heat-aging resistance of this insulated electric wire, although the 125° C. rating (heat-aging test at 158° C. for seven days) is satisfied, in the 150° C. rating (heat-aging test at 180° C. for seven days), the retention is about 20% to 30%. Thus, the insulated electric wire cannot be used in applications of the 150° C. rating.    PTL 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 5-81930    PTL 2: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 10-168248    PTL 3: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2009-249552    PTL 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2010-118207

Non-halogen flame-retardant resin composition, and insulated electric wire and tube using the same


This projector includes a lamp unit and a lamp unit housing unit. The lamp unit housing unit includes a substantially U-shaped insertion frame. And the lamp unit includes a lamp and a frame. Furthermore, the lamp unit includes an edge and a plate on the outside of the frame. The edge is a member which contacts against the end portion of the insertion frame in the exhaust direction, in the installed state in which the lamp unit is installed to the lamp unit housing unit. And the plate is a member which, in the installed state, contacts in the exhaust direction with its end edge portion against an installation surface formed upon the insertion frame. Moreover, in the installed state, the plate contacts in the engagement direction with its end edge portion against the aperture line which connects the two ends of the insertion frame.

The present invention relates to a projector in which a cover for lamp unit exchange, which is fixed to a chassis of the projector, may be removed for exchange of the lamp unit.
Projectors are per se known in the prior art, and are widespread, which irradiate light from a lamp upon an image display device, thus projecting an image displayed on this image display device upon a screen. This image display device may be a digital micro mirror device (DMD) or a liquid crystal display device.
This type of prior art projector comprises a projector chassis, a lamp door which can be fitted to the chassis and removed therefrom, a lamp unit which comprises a lamp, a fan which blows air into the lamp unit, and a lamp housing unit for installation of the lamp unit. This lamp unit housing unit is formed within the chassis of the projector, as a partitioned off storage space.
The lamp becomes hot due to emission of light. Due to this, in the above described projector according to the prior art, the lamp has been cooled by blowing air into the lamp unit with the fan. And the air which is to be exhausted after having air cooled the lamp is discharged to the exterior of the lamp unit housing unit from an exhaust aperture. This exhaust which is discharged from the exhaust aperture to the exterior of the lamp unit housing unit is then discharged to the exterior of the chassis by another fan.
It should be understood that, as a heat dissipation mechanism for such a projector, a mechanism in which fans are provided both before and after the light source is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication Heisei 7-295097.
With a prior art type projector, in the state in which the lamp unit is installed to the lamp unit housing unit, sometimes air at high temperature leaks out from a gap at the junction portion between the lamp unit and the lamp unit housing unit. Due to this, sometimes heat has become trapped within the lamp unit housing unit described above, because of this escape of air at high temperature. As a result, sometimes the temperature within the lamp unit housing unit has become undesirably elevated. When the temperature within the lamp unit housing unit becomes high, the cooling efficiency of the lamp is deteriorated, which is not desirable.
Accordingly, there have been the problems of decrease of the light emission efficiency of the lamp, and of the life of the lamp becoming shorter. Furthermore, due to application of this undue heat to a lamp door made from resin provided in the neighborhood of the lamp unit, there has also been a fear that this lamp door may be softened and deformed.
The object of the present invention is to provide a projector which has a structure in which it is ensured that air at high temperature does not leak out from any gap at the joining portion between the lamp unit and the lamp housing unit.

Projector with lamp unit having a U-shaped insertion frame


The present invention relates to systems and methods for processing acoustic signals, such as music and speech. The method involves nonlinear frequency analysis of an incoming acoustic signal. In one aspect, a network of nonlinear oscillators, each with a distinct frequency, is applied to process the signal. The frequency, amplitude, and phase of each signal component are identified. In addition, nonlinearities in the network recover components that are not present or not fully resolvable in the input signal. In another aspect, a modification of the nonlinear oscillator network is used to track changing frequency components of an input signal.

1. Statement of the Technical Field
The present application relates generally to the perception and recognition of signals input and, more particularly, to a signal processing method and apparatus for providing a nonlinear frequency analysis of structured signals.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, there are many well-known signal processing techniques that are utilized in signal processing applications for extracting spectral features, separating signals from background sounds, and finding periodicities at the time scale of music and speech rhythms. Generally, features are extracted and used to generate reference patterns (models) for certain identifiable sound structures. For example, these sound structures can include phonemes, musical pitches, or rhythmic meters.
Referring now to FIG. 1, a general signal processing system in accordance with the prior art is shown. The processing system will be described relative to acoustic signal processing, but it should be understood that the same concepts can be applied to processing of other types of signals. The processing system 100 receives an input signal 101. The input signal can be any type of structured signal such as music, speech or sonar returns.
Typically, an acoustic front end (not shown) includes a microphone or some other similar device to convert acoustic signals into analog electric signals having a voltage which varies over time in correspondence to the variation in air pressure caused by the input sounds. The acoustic front end also includes an analog-to-digital (A/D) converter for digitizing the analog signal by sampling the voltage of the analog waveform at a desired sampling rate and converting the sampled voltage to a corresponding digital value. The sampling rate is typically selected to be twice the highest frequency component in the input signal.
In processing system 100, spectral features can be extracted in a transform module 102 by computing a wavelet transform of the acoustic signal. Alternatively, a sliding window Fourier transform may be used for providing a time-frequency analysis of the acoustic signals. Following the initial frequency analysis performed by transform module 102, one or more analytic transforms may be applied in an analytic transform module 103. For example, a "squashing" function (such as square root) may be applied to modify the amplitude of the result. Alternatively, a synchro-squeeze transform may be applied to improve the frequency resolution of the output. Transforms of this type are described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,253,175 to Basu et al. Next, a cepstrum may be applied in a cepstral analysis module 104 to recover or enhance structural features (such as pitch) that may not be present or resolvable in the input signal. Finally, a feature extraction module 105 extracts from the fully transformed signal those features which are relevant to the structure(s) to be identified. The output of this system may then be passed to a recognition system that identifies specific structures (e.g. phonemes) given the features thus extracted from the input signal. Processes for the implementation of each of the aforementioned modules are well-known in the art of signal processing.
Referring next to FIG. 2, a general beat detection system in accordance with the prior art is shown. As in FIG. 1, an acoustic signal 201 is digitally sampled, and (optionally) submitted to a frequency analysis module 202 as described previously. The resulting signal is then submitted to an onset detection module 203, which examines the time derivatives of the signal envelope to determine the initiation points of individual acoustic events, in a manner that is well known in the art of signal processing. The resulting onset signal is then submitted to an autocorrelation module 204, which determines the main time lag(s) at which event onsets are correlated in a manner that is well known in the art of signal processing. The foregoing technique is described in more detail in J. C. Brown, Determination of the meter of musical scores by autocorrelation, 94 JOURNAL OF THE ACOUSTICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA, 1953-57 (1993). Alternatively, cross-correlation with a predetermined pulse train can produce a similar result as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,316,712 to Laroche. Finally, a structure identification module 205 determines the frequency and phase of the basic beat of the event sequence. Significantly, the foregoing system is mainly applicable to sequences whose tempo is steady, because a single frequency and phase is determined for an entire sequence.
Referring next to FIG. 3, a general beat tracking system is shown. An input signal 301 is presented as input to the system. The signal consists of onsets that can be determined in a manner described in the previous paragraph, or they can be extracted directly from a MIDI input signal, as is well known in the art. The onset signal is presented as input to a sparse bank of nonlinear oscillators 302, each of which has a distinct frequency. The relative oscillator frequencies are assumed to be known in advance, as is the base frequency. The frequency of the signal may change. The oscillator bank tracks changes in the phase and frequency of input signal, by adapting the phase and frequency of the oscillators in the oscillator bank. U.S. Pat. No. 5,751,899 to Large et al. describes a conventional beat tracking system of the prior art. An output signal 303 is then generated, either in the form of discrete beats (pulses) corresponding to the beat and metrical structure of the sequence or in the form of tempo change messages that describe changes in the tempo (frequency in beats per minute) of the sequence. The output signal can also be directly compared to the input signal (discrete events) to determine the correct musical notation (i.e. note durations) of the input events. Significantly, the applicability of this approach is limited to signals whose initial tempo and main frequency components are known in advance.
The foregoing audio processing techniques have proven useful in many applications. However, they have not addressed some important problems. For example, these conventional approaches are not always effective for determining the structure of a time varying input signal because they do not effectively recover components that are not present or not fully resolvable in the input signal.

Method and apparatus for nonlinear frequency analysis of structured signals


A monochromic image processing system and method for background removal according to dynamic data firstly obtain pixel histogram data in part of an image during a photo/text separation process. Afterwards, look-up tables for executing a background removal process are generated immediately to remove background noise of all images simultaneously. This method can solve the problem that in the multi-source document copy mode the background noise of all images cannot be removed at the same time in the prior art. It also increases the flexibility in the background removal process in various copy modes.

1. Field of Invention
An image processing system and method and, in particular, to a monochromatic image processing system and method of generating look-up tables in real time according to dynamically obtained image pixel data for executing a background removal process.
2. Related Art
In the copy function of a multi-function peripheral (MFP), an image input device such as a scanner first captures the original image for various subsequent images processing before making copies.
Since the retrieval of the original image has some intrinsic problems, e.g., the source document paper is too thin, double side printed, too dirty, etc. or the source document may be extrinsically interfered during the process of capturing the original image; therefore, there may have a problem of smudge noises in the image data obtained by the scanner. If the smudge noises cannot be effectively removed, the image output quality will be seriously affected. Therefore, almost all of MFPs involve similar image processing, i.e., the so-called "background removal process" to remove undesired smudge noises.
The background removal process disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,298 is completely implemented by hardware. In the implementation process, histogram data of pixel values obtained by scanning the first source document is used for executing subsequent background removal processes. However, this implementation process has the following drawbacks and problems:
1. The first source document is unable to go through the background removal process. However, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,298, the histogram data of pixel values are generated by reading the complete first source document. Therefore, only source documents other than the first source document can be processed with background removal. As a result, the output quality of the source document apparently cannot satisfy the desired standard. This method is of almost useless for a single source document copy mode.
2. It lacks of flexibility in the background removal process for multiple copy modes. Usually, according to the types of source documents, there are several different copy modes, including the text mode, the photo mode, and the auto mode.
In the text mode, all blocks are considered as text blocks for copying. In the photo mode, all blocks are considered as photo blocks for copying. In the auto mode, the blocks are classified into the categories of text, photo, and border blocks for copying.
Different copy modes require different parameters for the background removal process. However, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,298, there is no related parameter adjusting mechanism for the background removal process in different copy modes. It does not provide different look-up tables for different copy modes, either. Therefore, in the copy process with multiple source documents, the background removal process effect is very limited if the source documents differ very much in properties.
3. The background removal process structure using completely hardware lacks of flexibility. U.S. Pat. No. 5,850,298 uses purely hardware to implement the background removal process. Since the process of adjusting parameters for different copy modes cannot be very dynamical and the required cost is higher, the flexibility is thus lower, which can't meet the need for future products.
In summary, the existing background removal mechanisms still have many drawbacks. In view of recent progress in hardware and software technologies, it is necessary to provide a new structure to solve the above-mentioned problems and handle processes that cannot be handled by the conventional method. Therefore, the output quality, applications, and flexibility of the background removal process can be greatly improved to satisfy the requirements of product designs.

Monochromic image processing system and method for background removal according to dynamic data


The present invention provides a facsimile apparatus and controlling method, in which a confidential box number for PC transmission function for sending received information to a personal computer (15) is preliminarily registered. When a facsimile correspondence accompanying the confidential box number for PC transmission function is received, a control section (1) sends out the received information to an interface (10). Thus, the facsimile apparatus can distinguish information to be destined for the personal computer (15) from other received information to automatically send the information to the personal computer (15) by utilizing a confidential communication function thereof.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile apparatus capable of performing data communications with information processing apparatus such as a personal computer, and controlling methods thereof.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A function of carrying out a direct facsimile transmission of a document prepared by means of a personal computer and receiving image data transmitted from a facsimile apparatus via a telephone line is referred to as PC-FAX. To realize the PC-FAX function, a personal computer is connected through a fax modem having a facsimile communication function to a telephone line or, alternatively, connected to a facsimile apparatus having a data communication interface such as RS-232C.
An operation of taking information received by a facsimile apparatus into a personal computer is as follows. First, the operation mode of the facsimile apparatus is switched from an ordinary operation mode to a PC-FAX mode. The PC-FAX mode can be set by sending an instruction in a form of a control command called AT command from the personal computer. In the PC-FAX mode, information received in accordance with a facsimile communication procedure is sent to the personal computer. On the other hand, information received in the ordinary operation mode is printed out in a printer section of the facsimile apparatus.
In the aforementioned conventional facsimile apparatus having the PC-FAX function, whether received image data is printed out by the printer section of the facsimile apparatus or is sent to the personal computer is determined based on the operation mode of the facsimile apparatus, i.e., whether the operation mode is the ordinary operation mode or the PC-FAX mode. That is, the facsimile apparatus does not have a function of judging, when receiving information, whether the received information is to be sent to the personal computer or printed out in the printer section. Therefore, if a facsimile correspondence is to be received by a recipient facsimile apparatus in the PC-FAX mode, a transmitter has to tell a receiver to switch the operation mode of a recipient facsimile apparatus to the PC-FAX mode before carrying out a transmission operation.
Conventionally, such a situation makes the facsimile receiving operation through the PC-FAX function extremely inconvenient.

Facsimile apparatus capable of performing data communications with computer and controlling method thereof


A coded voice signal format converting apparatus is provided which is capable of converting a signal format of a coded voice signal by computations in reduced amounts. In the coded voice signal format converting apparatus, in a second coding device is employed a quantizing accuracy information converting section to which a first quantizing accuracy information output from a quantizing accuracy information decoding section in a first decoding device is input. Second mapping signal is quantized by a mapped signal coding section to produce a coded voice signal and the first quantizing accuracy information is converted so that it can be used by mapped signal coding section to determine a second quantizing accuracy information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a coded voice signal format converting apparatus and more particularly to the coded voice signal format converting apparatus to convert a format of a voice signal coded by compression or a like between two different voice coding/decoding systems.
The present application claims priority of Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-052037 filed on Feb. 28, 2000, which is hereby incorporated by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
As communications technology progresses in recent years, voice signals are generally handled in a coded manner by using a compression method or a like, which requires a coded voice signal format converting apparatus to convert a signal format of voice signals coded by the compression method or the like. When format of the coded voice signal is converted using such a coded voice signal format converting apparatus, it is desired that conversion of signal format can be made by computations in reduced amounts. Moreover, signal format converting technology of this kind is applied not only to voice signals but also to image signals.
One example of a conventional coded signal format converting apparatus adapted to convert, by computations in reduced amounts, a format of an image signal coded by compression method or a like is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei10-336672. The conventional coded signal format converting apparatus, as shown in FIG. 6, is made up of a decoding section 51, a motion vector memory 52, a resolution converting section 53 and a coding section 54 having a motion compensating section 55 and a coding processing section 56.
In the configurations described above, a coded moving picture (image signal) made up of an MPEG-2 (Motion Picture Experts Group-2) video input through an input terminal 61 is decoded into its original moving picture by the decoding section 51 and, at the same time, a motion vector existing at a time of coding and being contained in each coded data is stored in the motion vector memory 52. Decoded moving picture is input to the resolution converting section 53 and, after being sized so as to be handled by a method in which the input moving picture is re-coded by the resolution converting section 53, is further input to the coding section 54. In the coding section 54, the moving picture is re-coded based on the motion vector detected by the motion compensating section 55 from the motion vector memory 52 and is then output to outside communication devices or a like through an output terminal 62.
However, the conventional coded signal format converting apparatus disclosed in the above Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. Hei 10-336672 has a problem in that, since this apparatus is intended for conversion of format of image signals made up of moving pictures, it cannot be applied to voice signals having no information about motion vectors. Therefore, it is not expected that a coded voice signal format converting apparatus capable of converting a format of a voice signal by computations in reduced amounts can be implemented.
In the conventional coded voice signal format converting apparatus, generally, a decoding device is connected, in serial, to a coding device. For example, when a format of a coded voice signal compressed by a coding device operating in accordance with a first coding/decoding system (voice coding/decoding system) is converted into a format which can be decoded by a decoding device operating in accordance with a second coding/decoding system (voice coding/decoding system), first, a coded voice signal whose format has not been converted is decoded by the decoding device operating in accordance with the first coding/decoding system and a voice signal is obtained. Then, the obtained voice signal is coded by using the coding device operating in accordance with the second coding/decoding system and a coded voice signal that can be decoded by the decoding device operating in accordance with the second coding/decoding system is obtained. As the decoding device and the coding device making up the conventional coded voice signal format converting device, existing available decoding and coding devices may be used in general.
The above first coding/decoding system is adapted to operate in accordance with, for example, any one of MPEG Audio, MPEG-2AAC and Dolby AC-3 systems. The above second coding/decoding system is also adapted to operate in accordance with any one of MPEG Audio, MPEG-2AAC and Dolby AC-3 systems, however, though both the first and second coding/decoding methods are operated in accordance with any one of these three systems, configurations of the first coding/decoding system are different from those of the second coding/decoding system.
The MPEG Audio system is described in detail in, for example, "ISO/IEC/11172-3, Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio for Digital Storage Media at up to about 1.5 Mb/s" (hereinafter referred to as "Reference 1"). The MPEG-2AAC system is described in detail in, for example, "ISO/IEC/13818-7, Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio Information, 1993" (hereinafter referred to as "Reference 2"). The Dolby AC-3 system is described in detail in, for example, "Advanced Television Systems Committee A/52, Digital Audio Compression Standard (AC-3), 1995 (hereinafter referred to as "Reference 3").
Next, configurations of a conventional coded voice signal format converting device will be described by referring to FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 5, in the conventional coded voice signal format converting device, a first decoding device 310 adapted to operate in accordance with a first coding/decoding system is connected, in serial, to a second coding device 320 adapted to operate in accordance with a second coding/decoding system. A voice signal which has been coded in advance with the first coding/decoding system, after being decoded by the first decoding device 310, is coded by the second coding device 320 that can be decoded by a decoding device adapted to operate in accordance with the second coding/decoding method.
The first decoding device 310 includes a mapped signal generating section 311, a inverse mapping converting section 312 and a quantizing accuracy information decoding section 313. Even if any one of the MPEG Audio, MPEG-2AAC and Dolby AC-3 systems is employed by the first decoding device 310, configurations of the first decoding device 310 are common to any one of the three systems. However, configurations of the mapped signal generating section 311, inverse mapping converting section 312 and quantizing accuracy information decoding section 313 vary depending on each of the three systems and details of these three systems are provided in the above Reference 1 to Reference 3.
The second coding device 320 includes a mapping converting section 321, a mapped signal coding section 322 and a quantizing accuracy calculating section 323. Similarly, even if any one of the MPEG Audio, MPEG-2AAC and Dolby AC-3 is employed, configurations of the first decoding device 310 are common to any one of the three systems. However, configurations of the mapping converting section 321, mapped signal coding section 322 and quantizing accuracy calculating section 323 vary depending on each of the three systems and details of each of the three systems are provided in the Reference 1 to Reference 3 as described above.
Next, operations of the coded voice signal format converting apparatus will be described by referring to FIG. 5. A coded voice signal input through an input terminal 300 which has been in advance coded in accordance with the first coding/decoding system and whose format has to be converted is input to both the mapped signal generating section 311 and the quantizing accuracy information decoding section 313 in the first decoding device 310. The quantizing accuracy information decoding section 313 obtains, by decoding a part of the input coded voice signal, information about quantizing accuracy indicating how finely each of frequency components of the voice signal has been quantizied. The mapped signal generating section 311 first obtains, by decoding a part of the coded voice signal, a quantized value of a mapped signal. Then, the mapped signal generating section 311, by quantizing, in reverse, the obtained quantized value of the mapped signal based on quantizing accuracy designated by the quantizing accuracy information output from the quantizing accuracy information decoding section 313, obtains a first mapped signal.
The inverse mapping converting section 312, by making inverse mapping conversions of the first mapped signal output from the mapped signal generating section 311, obtains a first voice signal. The inverse mapping conversion is equivalent to a sub-band synthetic filter processing described in the Reference 1 and to inverse modified discrete cosine transform processing described in the Reference 2 and Reference 3.
The first voice signal output from the inverse mapping converting section 312 in the first decoding device 310 is input to the mapping converting section 321 and quantizing accuracy calculating section 323 in the second coding device 320. The mapping converting section 321, by making mapping conversions of the input voice signal, obtains a second mapped signal. The mapping conversion is equivalent to a sub-band analysis filter processing described in the Reference 1 and to a modified discrete cosine transform processing described in the Reference 2 and Reference 3. The mapped signal indicates a frequency component of the input voice signal.
The quantizing accuracy calculating section 323 analyzes the input voice signal and determines how finely the mapped signal indicating each of the frequency component of the voice signal is quantized. That is, more finer quantizing is performed on the frequency component that can be easily perceived by a human ear and less fine quantizing is performed on the frequency component that cannot be easily perceived by the human ear. Whether the frequency component can be easily perceived by the human ear or not is determined by an analysis on the input voice signal using a method in which a perception model of the human ear is imitated. The analysis method is described in detail in the Reference 1 Reference and 2 and its explanation is omitted accordingly. The method in which the perception model of the human ear is imitated is called a "psychological auditory sense analysis", however, processing of the method is very complicated and, in general, the method requires very large amounts of computational processes.
The mapped signal coding section 322 quantizes the mapped signal output from the mapping converting section 321 based on quantizing accuracy calculated by the quantizing accuracy calculating section 323 to obtain a quantized value. Then, the quantizing accuracy calculating section 323 converts the obtained quantized value into coded strings to obtain a coded voice signal. The coded voice signal whose format has been thus converted is output from an output terminal 301.
However, the above conventional coded voice signal format converting apparatus has a problem in that it includes configuration elements requiring large amounts of computational processes, thus making it difficult to perform the voice signal format conversion by computations in reduced amounts. That is, in the conventional coded voice signal format converting apparatus, as shown in FIG. 5, the first decoding device 310 adapted to operate in the first coding/decoding system is connected, in series, to the second coding device 320 adapted to operate in accordance with the second coding/decoding system, however, since the second coding device 320 includes the quantizing accuracy calculating section 323 which requires large amounts of computational processes.
The quantizing accuracy calculating section 323 determines, based on the psychological auditory sense analysis described above, the quantizing accuracy defining how finely the mapped signal indicating each of frequency components of the input voice signal is quantized. However, its processing is very complicated and requires large amounts of computational processes, thus causing amounts of computational processes required for the conversion of voice signal formats to be made large.

Coded voice signal format converting apparatus


A spark plug including an insulator having an axial hole in an axial direction of the spark plug; a center electrode disposed in a tip end side of the axial hole of the insulator; a metal shell surrounding the insulator; a first ground electrode including a first ground electrode body having one end joined to the metal shell, and a noble metal tip joined to an inner side face of another end portion of the first ground electrode body and disposed opposite a tip end face of the center electrode across a first discharge gap. One end of the second ground electrode is bonded to the metal shell, and the another end is disposed opposite a side peripheral face of said center electrode or a side peripheral face of said insulator across a second discharge gap. Furthermore, the spark plug is characterized as having a distance t and an included angle θ as defined herein.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spark plug used for providing ignition of an internal combustion engine.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known spark plug for providing ignition of an internal combustion engine such as an automotive engine, comprises: an insulator having an axial hole in the axial direction of the spark plug, a center electrode disposed in a tip end side of the axial hole of the insulator; a metal shell surrounding the insulator; a first ground electrode in which one end is bonded to the metal shell and another end portion opposes a tip end face of the center electrode; and a second ground electrode in which one end is bonded to the metal shell, and another end opposes a side peripheral face of the center electrode or that of the insulator. In such a spark plug, spark discharge is caused in a first discharge gap formed by the center electrode and the first ground electrode to ignite an air-fuel mixture. On the other hand, carbon or the like may adhere to the tip end face of the insulator to result in so-called "fouling." In this case, spark discharge creeping on the surface of the insulator occurs in a second discharge gap which is formed by the second ground electrode and the side peripheral face of the center electrode. Therefore, the contaminant is burned out, so that an anti-contamination property can be attained (for example, see JP-A-2001-237045).
Recently, the demand for further enhancing the performance of an engine is increasing, and there is a need to further improve the ignitability of a spark plug. In a spark plug in which only a first ground electrode is disposed (a second ground electrode is not disposed), the method described below is effective in improving the ignitability. A method in which, in a noble metal tip (precious metal tip) joined to an inner side face of the another end portion of a first ground electrode body, the distance in the axial direction between a face opposing the center electrode and the inner side face (hereinafter, also referred to as protrusion amount) is increased, is also effective. The reason is as follows. A flame kernel produced in a first discharge gap which is formed by the center electrode and the first ground electrode is caused to grow by swirling or the like. When the protrusion amount of the noble metal tip is small, however, the distance between the first discharge gap and the first ground electrode body is so small that, in an early stage of the growing process of the flame kernel, the flame kernel makes contact with the first ground electrode body. As a result, the growth of the flame kernel may be impeded (hereinafter, this is also referred to as a flame quenching effect). Therefore, a structure in which the protrusion amount of a noble metal tip is made as large as possible so as to expedite growth of a flame kernel is often employed.
In order to further improve the ignitability, the inventors have studied a configuration in which a noble metal tip having a larger protrusion amount is joined to the first ground electrode body of the spark plug of JP-A-2001-237045. However, the spark plug of JP-A-2001-237045 has a structure in which, although having a second ground electrode, a flame kernel makes contact with the second ground electrode when the flame kernel grows. Therefore, there is a possibility that the flame quenching effect will impede the growth of the flame kernel. Also in the first ground electrode body in which the noble metal tip protrudes by a large amount, moreover, there is a possibility that, when the flame kernel further grows to exceed the above-mentioned state, the growth of the flame kernel is impeded. As a result, a problem arises in that ignitability cannot be sufficiently ensured.


Disclosed is a process for the preparation of abiraterone and abiraterone acetate with high yields and purity. A key element of the method is the isolation of a crystalline intermediate that makes the process particularly suitable for implementation on an industrial scale. There is also provided a process for the production of abiraterone acetate by acetylation of abiraterone in the absence of bases or acetylation catalysts.

Abiraterone acetate, the chemical name of which is (3β)-17-(3-pyridinyl)androsta-5,16-dien-3-yl acetate of formula (1), is the prodrug of the active metabolite abiraterone (2), a selective inhibitor of enzyme CYP17.

Abiraterone acetate forms the basis of the novel medicament Zytiga®, a tablet formulation containing 250 mg of active ingredient, which is administered orally at a single daily dose. When combined with prednisone or prednisolone it is indicated for the treatment of metastatic, castration-resistant prostate cancer in adult males in whom the disorder appears during or after a chemotherapy regimen based on docetaxel.
Numerous processes are reported in the literature for the preparation of abiraterone or derivatives thereof. In most cases the starting product is prasterone (dehydroepiandrosterone).
The preparation of abiraterone acetate was originally disclosed in EP0633893. Its synthesis involves conversion of the carbonyl at the 17 position of dehydroepiandrosterone-3-acetate (prasterone acetate, 3) to the corresponding enol triflate (4) by treatment with trifluoromethanesulphonic anhydride and 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylpyridine (Scheme 1).

The triflate intermediate is purified by chromatography on silica and then precipitated by crystallisation from hexane. The pyridine ring is introduced by Suzuki reaction between said triflate and diethyl(3-pyridyl)borane to obtain crude abiraterone acetate (1), which is purified by chromatography on silica, eluting with a mixture of ethyl ether and petroleum ether, and finally crystallised from hexane.
The use of bases which are more common and cheaper than 2,6-di-tert-butyl-4-methylpyridine is claimed in patent application WO2006/021777. The use of said bases also limits the formation of an impurity deriving from the elimination of the ester group at the 3 position, although the formation reaction of intermediate (4) is incomplete, and the crude abiraterone acetate obtained after the Suzuki reaction contains appreciable amounts of dehydroepiandrosterone-3-acetate (3). Said crude product can be purified by salification of (1) with acids, in particular with methanesulphonic acid, in tert-butyl methyl ether, as claimed in WO2006/021776; however, the purity of the methanesulphonate salt thus obtained is not very high, even after recrystallisation from isopropyl alcohol (purity of crude product <90%, purity of purified product about 96%), and yields are globally modest. Similar purifications by salification have formed the object of publications and/or patent applications, e.g. via sulphate (IPCOM000211139D), phosphate (CN102731605), oxalate (CN103059090) or trifluoroacetate (WO2013/123878).
Patent application WO2013/053691 claims the preparation of abiraterone (2) using, instead of prasterone acetate (3), the corresponding formate (5). Similarly to the sequence described above for (3), formate (5) is converted to triflate (6) and then to abiraterone formate (7), which is hydrolysed under basic conditions to obtain abiraterone (2). The latter can then be acetylated to abiraterone acetate (1) (Scheme 2).

An alternative process for the preparation of abiraterone acetate is disclosed in EP0721461 (Scheme 3).

The key intermediate of said process is 17-iodo-androsta-5,16-dien-3β-ol (10), obtained in two steps from dehydroepiandrosterone (prasterone, 8) through hydrazone (9). The Suzuki reaction between vinyl iodide (10) and diethyl(3-pyridyl)borane leads to the formation of abiraterone (2), which is then acetylated to give abiraterone acetate (1).
Evaluation of the methods used to synthesise abiraterone (2) and abiraterone acetate (1) as described in the prior art demonstrates that none of said methods seem to have optimum characteristics in terms of yield, purity, workability, cost, and implementability on an industrial scale.
In many cases, impurities are formed which are difficult to remove, such as those listed below; triene (11) and the 3,5-cyclo derivative (12) are specific to synthesis via triflate, and due to impurities that accompany triflates (4) and (6), which are typically used as crude products instead of carrying out expensive chromatographic purifications on silica.

Moreover, the limited stability of said crude triflates 4 and 6 or the solutions thereof strongly influences the possibility of storage, and has an adverse impact on the planning and output of the manufacturing facility.
Preparation of abiraterone acetate (1) can also require an acetylation step, which is necessary in cases wherein the synthesis uses abiraterone (2) as precursor, such as in WO2013/053691 and WO95/09178, and also in syntheses that use prasterone acetate (3) as starting material, for example as reported in IPCOM000211139D. The acetylation processes described are unsatisfactory in terms of the complexity of the operations and/or the yields.
When the purification methods described in the prior art are used, it is very difficult to eliminate the impurities present completely; moreover the procedures are laborious, and losses are very high.
The discovery of a process that obviates the drawbacks illustrated above would therefore be highly desirable.

Procedure for the preparation of abiraterone acetate and intermediates thereof


Disclosed are a semiconductor device and a method of fabricating the same. The semiconductor device can include a transistor structure including a gate electrode and a first channel region and source/drain regions on a substrate, and a second channel region and source/drain regions provided on the transistor structure. Accordingly, transistor operations can utilize the current path above and below the gate electrode.

In general, a metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) field effect transistor (hereinafter, referred to as 'MOSFET') has higher input impedance than a bipolar transistor so that the MOSFET has large power gain and includes a very simple gate driving circuit.
Also, since the MOSFET is a unipolar device, it has an advantage of having no time delay caused by accumulation and recombination due to minority carriers while the device is turned-off.
Also, the MOSFET has a structure including an oxide film and a gate poly formed on a semiconductor substrate and source/drain regions formed in the semiconductor substrate to the sides of the gate poly.

Transistor and method of fabricating the same


An angular position detection device has a rotor that comprises two magnets and a primary yoke, and a stator that comprises a pair of auxiliary yokes and a magnetism detection element. The rotor is fixed to a rotary shaft of an object to be detected. The primary yoke forms a magnetic circuit in a ring, and the magnets are configured so that the intensity distribution of the magnetic field is asymmetric with respect to the center of rotation of the rotor. The magnetism detection element is placed in a gap between the auxiliary yokes. This stator is disposed in the inside of the rotor so that an air gap between the rotor and the stator varies gradually in the circumferential direction. Thus, the magnetism detection element is enabled to produce a linear output over a range wider than 180xc2x0.

The present application relates to and incorporates herein by reference Japanese Patent Application No. 2000-102385 filed Apr. 4, 2000.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an angular position detection device which detects an angular position of an object by use of a magnetism detection element.
2. Related Art
An angular position detector [is] has been proposed in JP-A-61-75213. This angular position detector is constructed so that a cylindrical magnet is magnetized in the radial direction, and a magnetism detection element is disposed in the middle of the magnet, and the magnet (or the magnetism detection element) rotates with rotation of an object to be detected. In this construction, when the magnet rotates, the amount of magnetic flux passing through the magnetism detection element varies and an output signal from the magnetism detection element varies with the amount of the magnetic flux. Thus the angular position of the object can be detected by means of the output signal.
When detecting the angular position of the object, by means of the output signal in this way, in order to expand the range of angular position detection, characteristics of the output variation in the magnetism detection element against the angular position should be made linear over as wide a range as possible.
However, in the above prior art, since the parallel magnetic field is rotated about the magnetism detection element, the magnetism detection directional component of the magnetic flux passing through the magnetism detection element decreases in trigonometric function as the angular position advances. As a result, the characteristics of the output variation in the magnetism detection element against the angular position deviates from the straight line and curves in trigonometric function. Therefore the prior art has a problem that it provides only a pseudo-linear output over a narrow range of the angular position.
In contrast to this, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,861,745, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9D, an angular position sensor which is constructed so that semicircular auxiliary stators 110 are installed on both sides of a magnetism detection element 100 so that the air gap between a cylindrical magnet 120 and the auxiliary stators 110 is uniform. In this angular position sensor, the direction of the magnetic flux passing through the magnetism detection element is always perpendicular to the direction of magnetism detection by the auxiliary stators, and the amount of the magnetic flux passing between the auxiliary stators 110 changes with rotation. Thus it provides a linear output over a wider range of the angular position.
However, in the above angular position sensor, since a magnetic circuit is formed in point symmetry, the positional relation is the same except that the poles of the magnet 120 are reversed when it is rotated 180xc2x0. Accordingly, as shown in FIGS. 9A to 9D, the maximum or minimum points (peak points) appear at every 180xc2x0. That is, a range in which the output is linear is a maximum of 180xc2x0 (between xe2x88x9290xc2x0 and 90xc2x0), and it is impossible to provide a linear output over a wider range than this. Practically speaking, since the characteristics in the vicinity of the peak points) are not perfectly linear, the actual linear range is more limited to 160xc2x0.
The present invention overcomes the above drawbacks, and has as an object to provide an angular position detection device which is capable of establishing linear characteristics of an output of a magnetism detection element over a range wider than 180xc2x0, thereby improving characteristics of angular position detection.
The angular position detection device according to the present invention comprises one or two magnets for generating a magnetic field and one or more magnetism detection elements disposed in the magnetic field for detecting magnetism. The magnets are installed in a rotor and the magnetism detection elements are installed in a stator, or vice versa. The stator is disposed in the inside of the rotor, which is fixed to a rotary shaft of an object to be detected. The stator or rotor in which the magnets are installed has a primary yoke that forms a magnetic circuit of the magnets, and is configured so that the intensity distribution of the magnetic field is asymmetric with respect to the center of rotation of the rotor. On the other hand, the stator or rotor in which the magnetic detection elements are installed has a pair of auxiliary yokes, and the magnetic detection elements are disposed in the gap provided between the pair. The stator and the rotor are configured so that the air gap between them varies gradually in the circumferential direction.
According to this construction, since the point symmetry in the magnetic circuit does not hold, the angular interval between the peak points in output characteristics of a magnetism detection element is larger than 180xc2x0 and thus a linear range wider than 90xc2x0 can be provided. As a result, characteristics of detection of the angular position can be improved.

Angular position detection device having linear output characteristics


A multi-modal user interface is described that hides response latency delays. A graphical user interface (GUI) supports different user input modalities including low delay inputs which respond to user inputs without significant delay, and high latency inputs which have a significant response latency after receiving a user input before providing a corresponding completed response. The GUI accepts user inputs in a sequence of mixed input modalities independently of response latencies without waiting for responses to high latency inputs, and responds to each user input in the sequence as if each preceding user input in the sequence had been performed without response latencies.

Multi-modal user input systems support multiple different user input modalities with different response delays, even though user interaction occurs in real time and response delays are undesirable. Low delay inputs such as keyboard, mouse, pointing device, touch screen etc. respond to user inputs without significant delay. On the other hand, high latency inputs have a significant response latency after receiving a user input before providing a corresponding completed response.
For example, high latency inputs such as an automatic speech recognition input reflect a response latency that is inherent in the speech recognition process which requires some significant amount of audio (corresponding to several words) before being able to produce recognition text that matches the input speech with high degree of probability. In addition, a user input may also be associated with a remote server having a response latency that reflects data transfer delays occurring over a computer network. For example, a speech recognition process may need to send the input speech audio over a computer network to a remote server where the speech recognition engine resides, and the corresponding recognition text output may need to be sent back to the local client that displays the user interface to the user. The responsiveness of a multi-modal user input system is usually controlled by the input with the highest response latency.
The effects of response latencies can be minimized to some degree, but they cannot be entirely eliminated due to algorithmic limitations in the speech recognition process and physical limitations on computer network speed. Still, it is very desirable to minimize the effects of response latencies for the user.
In a real time speech recognition arrangement, the user effects associated with response latencies are two-fold. First, the user has no clear picture of the current state of the system. If an utterance has been spoken, but the recognized text has not yet appeared on the user interface, the system presents an undefined state to the user. For all the user knows, the system may have failed to record the audio, the network connection may have been interrupted in a server-based speech recognition system, the speech recognition engine may have failed to produce output text, or there may be a delay and results may be produced eventually.
In addition, the user speaker cannot continue with workflow tasks until the results from the pending input utterance have been completely processed and the user interface has been updated. For example, if a user has dictated text for a specific location in a document or form, and wants to dictate more additional text at a different location or form field, this is usually not possible until the recognition text from the first dictation has been inserted into the document.
In some cases, the waiting time caused by response latency simply must be accepted. For example, if the speaker dictates into a search field and wants to act on the search results, no action is possible until the results have been presented. On the other hand, maximizing the duration of a single workflow task can minimize some response latency effects. For example, response latency effects are reduced if the user can dictate a long document in one extended passage rather than waiting for each individual sentence to be displayed before dictating the next sentence. This suggests a "batch processing" work style that may not be desirable in highly interactive multi-modal applications that allow a mix of latency-encumbered input modes such as speech recognition, and low delay input modes that can be processed immediately in real time such as touch, mouse, or keyboard input.

Latency hiding techniques for multi-modal user interfaces


Embodiments provide electronic methods and systems for performing recurring payments to the merchants. The method performed by an aggregator server includes receiving a standing instruction (SI) request including a plurality of unique data fields from an acquirer server. The unique data fields represent setting up of a recurring payment transaction from a payment instrument of a user to a merchant account of the merchant. The method includes generating and storing a unique identifier corresponding to the SI request. The method includes transmitting the SI request along with the unique identifier to an issuer server associated with the payment instrument to authorize the SI request for processing the recurring payment. The method further includes receiving an authorization response message in response to successful authorization of SI request by issuer server. Further, method includes transmitting authorization response message along with unique identifier to acquirer server for setup of SI for recurring payment.

Customers purchase goods or avail services from merchants, and the customers make payments to the merchant for such purchases. Many times, the merchants offer options to the purchasers (i.e. customers) to make payment either at one instance (i.e., single payment) and/or through multiple payment transactions (i.e., recurring payment transaction) at periodic intervals. For instance, a customer may use a payment account to perform recurring payment transactions through digital payment channels (e.g., at the merchant site, or app) available with the merchants associated with utility bill payments, television subscriptions, internet service providers, etc. The customers generally perform payment transactions with the merchants on a periodic basis (e.g., monthly, weekly, yearly, etc.) by using their payment cards. If a customer fails to pay a merchant on a timely basis, the merchant may revoke the subscriptions and/or services to the customer, or in a worse scenario, the customer can be tagged as a defaulter.
Existing systems face issues in processing the recurring payment transactions associated with the customers on a timely basis and in an automatic manner. This is due to the fact that the bank, in which the customer is holding the payment account, may categorize the payment request received for the recurring payment transaction as a mail order or telephone order transactions. As a result, the bank may not identify the payment transaction initiated by the customer as a recurring payment transaction. Therefore, the bank associated with the customer may decline the payment transaction, considering the payment transaction to be a fraudulent transaction because of the absence of express authentication from the customer and/or cardholder (i.e., the customer) who is not present for performing the recurring payment transactions. Thus, the customer may have to do multiple payment transactions to the merchant till the end of the recurring payment transaction between the customer and the merchant. Such handling of the recurring transaction by the current payment systems leads to a cumbersome process for the customers as well as the merchants.
Presently, there are a few techniques in which the above drawbacks are addressed. Majority of such conventional systems of handling standing instruction transactions are managed by the issuing entities. The customers (e.g., cardholders or account holders) can directly register with an issuing entity (e.g., an issuing bank of a payment card) for setting up of the standing instructions. The issuing entity initiates the standing order at a set frequency and transfers the payment to the merchant account as per the periodicity. Alternatively, the issuing entity performs a one-time authentication while performing a payment of a small amount from the customer account to the merchant account, generates an identifier for future payments i.e. the standing instruction, and provides the identifier to the merchant. The merchant may need to include the identifier in the payment transaction message, which is further processed by the issuing entity. However, such inclusion of identifier in the payment transaction message is an additional overhead and adds to the complexity when the merchant has to deal with multiple issuing entities having issued numerous payment cards and multiple payment interchange networks involved in the transactions, and local jurisdictional rules applicable on the payment transactions with regard to the authentication requirements of the customers in the payment transactions. Further, the security of such standing instructions based transactions may have a risk of compromise when they have to be performed based on a mere presence of the identifier included within the payment transaction request.
Thus, there exists a need for techniques offered by an entity other than the issuers or acquirers, which obviates the complexity faced by the merchants, issuers and acquirers in handling standing instruction transactions, and the techniques should operate invariant of the types of merchants and issuers, and even payment interchange networks.

Aggregator server and method for generating unique identifiers for processing payments from different payment instruments


The present invention provides an apparatus for locking a gear train in high and low gear modes. A printed circuit board has first, second and third conductive pads, each of which are in electrical communication with a main circuit. A conductive clip having first and second contact portions is in slidable contact with the conductive pads, and is adapted to shift between a high gear position and a low gear position in response to actuation by an actuator. The low gear position is defined when the first contact portion contacts the first conductive pad and the second contact portion contacts the second conductive pad, and the high gear position is defined when the first contact portion contacts the second conductive pad and the second contact portion contacts the third conductive pad. The actuator is adapted to actuate the clip into the respective high and low gear positions in response to a signal from the main circuit and to cease actuation when the clip is at the respective high and low gear positions. The signal may, if desired, originate from a radio frequency transmitter. A gear selector is in mechanical communication with the gear train and the actuator, and is adapted to lock the gear train into the high gear mode when the clip is actuated into the high gear position and to lock the gear train into the low gear mode when the clip is actuated into the low gear position. Preferably, the clip is mounted to the gear selector and disposed between the gear selector and the printed circuit board. A method for locking a transmission into respective high and low gear modes is also disclosed.

Transmission systems are used in a wide variety of vehicles to transmit power generated by an engine or motor to torque at the vehicle's axle and wheels. Transmissions often include combinations of differently-sized gears to provide varied or shiftable gear ratios, which reflect the relationship between the turning speed of the axle and the turning speed of the shaft of the motor. Depending on the nature of the motor, the motor's power or efficiency may vary over the range of possible turning speeds. Variable speed transmissions with shiftable gear ratios enable the vehicle to realize optimal motor power over a broader range of axle speeds, and thus vehicle speeds, than is possible when only a single gear ratio is available.
In the design of miniature, remote radio frequency controlled vehicles used by children and hobbyists, a variable speed transmission is desirable in order to increase the range of speeds at which the vehicle may be operated. However, in most cases a primary goal is to reduce cost and complexity in the design of such vehicles without sacrificing utility. We have found that a two-speed transmission having a low gear and a high gear works well in toy cars and other such vehicles. The gear ratio for low gear is selected to enable the vehicle to climb grades, obstacles and rough terrain at low speed and under substantially peak motor power. The gear ratio for high gear is selected to enable the vehicle to reach high speeds at a relatively low motor revolution rate.
The present invention provides a method and apparatus for shifting a transmission between high and low gear modes and locking the transmission in either mode.

Controllable gear shifter with lock-in system


A controller of the cross sectional area and shape of an X-ray beam includes two or more disks disposed in the center of the path of the beam, each disk being radio-opaque except for a window centered on the beam. One or more of the disks has a tracks at each side of the window in which shutters can slide between positions in which they close or open the window and select the size and shape of the X-ray beam passed through the controller and a subject to an image intensifier or other X-ray utilization device. One of the disks has a cam track which is engaged by a cam following element attached to a shutter on the other disk. The disks are mounted for relative rotation by drive motors which causes the shutter with the cam follower to change position and alter the size or shape of the transmitted beam cross section. With the shutter in desired position the disks can be rotated together to reorient the shaped beam around its central axis.

A conventional X-ray tube emits a cone-shaped beam far wider than necessary to expose a limited area of a patient. It is therefore usual to control the cross sectional area of the beam radiated through the patient position by use of an X-ray attenuating mask or controller. Such controllers are sometimes called collimators although they do not collimate a beam into parallel rays. Masks of lead will substantially attenuate all X-radiation except through an X-ray transmissive window located on the central axis of the X-ray beam; a mask of aluminum will only partially attenutate the intensity of an X-ray, but is useful in subduing overly bright areas of an X-ray image. The more usual lead masks controllers are necessarily heavy and difficult to incorporate into a simple mechanism, accurately and repeatably adjusting the cross sectional size and shape of the transmitted beam. Prior controller mechanism are also bulky obstructing operations around the patient.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a simplified X-ray controller mechanism, with a minimal weight, which can define X-ray openings of variable shapes, sizes and orientation of a shaped opening with regard to the patient.


A supporting stand for a portable device includes a base portion, a supporting portion, at least one heat dissipation device and a platform. The supporting portion extends upwardly from the base portion. The at least one heat dissipation device is fastened on the supporting portion. The platform obliquely connects between the supporting portion and the base portion for supporting the portable device.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to portable devices, and more particularly to a supporting stand for a portable device.
2. Description of Related Art
Nowadays, portable devices, such as laptop computers, are popular. As the portable devices succumb to miniaturization and more functionality, the integrated circuits (ICs), such as CPUs, have become more complex.
However, with this complexity more heat is produced and the compact internal spaces of the portable device are not enough to maintain sufficient airflow by conventional convection means.
Therefore, a heat dissipation device for a portable device is desired.

Supporting stand with heat dissipation device

Hong Fu Jin Precision Industry (ShenZhen) Co., Ltd.


A substrate processing system allows to reduce the number of works that should be done by a software engineer. The system 100 includes a substrate processing apparatus 101; a substrate processing controller 102 for controlling the substrate processing apparatus 101; and a server 103 for storing therein commands, i.e., instructional statements, for defining an operation of each device. The substrate processing controller 102 has a RAM 105 serving as a work space for creating a macro file corresponding to each of processes divided from the whole substrate processing or for changing the content of a macro file; and an executor 108 composed of, e.g., CPU for executing a process sequence macro obtained by a combination of the created macro files. The user creates a macro file describing a sequential operation of each process or changes the content of a macro file by arranging the stored commands.

Conventionally, a magnetron parallel plate type substrate processing apparatus shown in FIG. 10 is known as a substrate processing apparatus for processing a semiconductor wafer W as a substrate.
This magnetron parallel plate type substrate processing apparatus 500 has a cylindrical processing-chamber vessel 501, which has an upper electrode 513 disposed at a top portion thereof and a cylindrical lower electrode 504 disposed at a lower portion thereof. For clamping a semiconductor wafer W, an ESC (electrostatic chuck) 502, which is surrounded by a focus ring 503 is mounted on the lower electrode 504. An isolation plate 507 is disposed adjacent to a top portion of the lower electrode 504 to separate the interior of the processing-chamber vessel 501 into a processing region 505 and a gas exhaust region 506. A gas exhaust port 508 is disposed at the lower portion of the processing-chamber vessel 501 to evacuate the processing region 505 under negative pressure through the gas exhaust region 506. Further, a loading/unloading opening 509 for the semiconductor wafer W is disposed on a wall facing the processing region 505.
Further, while the upper electrode 513 is grounded, the lower electrode 504 is connected to at least one high frequency power supply 511 via a matching circuit 510, and an annular permanent magnet 512 is disposed around an upper part of the processing-chamber vessel 501.
Regarding the substrate processing apparatus 500, the processing region 505, into which a processing gas is introduced through gas outlet holes disposed in the upper electrode 513, is controlled to a predetermined pressure level through negative pressure evacuation. Further, the high frequency power supply 511 excites a high frequency electric field in the processing region 505 located between the upper electrode 513 and the lower electrode 504 while the permanent magnet 512 generates a parallel magnetic field perpendicular to the high frequency electric field. A high density plasma is generated from the processing gas by the high frequency electric field and the parallel magnetic field perpendicular thereto, and the plasma performs a desired processing on the semiconductor wafer W.
In the substrate processing apparatus 500, maintenance of expendable parts such as the focus ring 503 is important; and in order to reduce the number of steps required for programming a maintenance program that conducts an operation test, which is one of the confirmation items during maintenance, a method that pre-registers the operation of components such as the focus ring 503, whereby each registered operation is combined at will to set up sequential and/or parallel operations thereof to write a maintenance macro file, has been known (e.g., see Patent Publication 1).
Meanwhile, in the substrate processing apparatus 500, a process executing unit (not shown), which has a CPU and other components that are installed in pertinent substrate the processing apparatus 500, executes a loading/unloading sequence of the semiconductor wafer W or an execution control sequence of a recipe, i.e., an individual processing program of the substrate processing apparatus, on control parameters (control target values of temperature, pressure, gas type and flow rate, time and the like) for the substrate processing (process) by way of operating various devices such as the above-described upper electrode 513 based on a program generated from compiled source codes that express sequences of various processes in a predetermined programming language. Recently, however, since a precise reproducibility is required in a process as etching patterns of a semiconductor wafer W are getting finer, parameter items need to be prescribed in further detail while an execution of a recipe appropriate for an individual substrate processing apparatus is necessary.
As a result, since recipes for a process should be customized to the substrate processing apparatus 500, although process experiments need to be conducted repeatedly with respect to the substrate processing apparatus 500, parameter items, however, are prescribed in the pertinent recipes in further detail as mentioned above, so that continual updating of the change in contents of the sequences including the executed recipes results from the increase of the kinds of recipes to be executed in the process experiments. Further, the changes in the content of the sequences refer to changes in the order of device operations, contents of the operations, waiting time, and the like.
Moreover, with respect to a source code, in addition to the execution control sequence of recipes as previously mentioned, a sequence of an interlock process about the operation of the substrate processing apparatus 500 and a sequence of a recovery process related to the interlock process are described.
By the sequences of the interlock and the recovery process, the operation of each device of the substrate processing apparatus 500 is controlled based on a predetermined condition when the sequence of the loading/unloading of a semiconductor wafer W or the execution control sequence of the recipe is executed; and, further, for example, an alarm is activated to warn the user when the operation of each device based on the predetermined condition is controlled. In addition, accompanying the frequent changes in the contents of sequences including the recipes recently executed, content changes of the sequence of an interlock and recovery process concerning the interlock are frequently made as well.
Further, the substrate processing apparatus such as a magnetron parallel plate type substrate processing apparatus is usually placed in a clean room in order to prevent contaminants from sticking to a semiconductor wafer W. The substrate processing apparatus has an operation panel, which displays a list made of multiple operation items. Further, the user needs to go to the clean room, when controlling the substrate processing apparatus, in order to select a desired operation item from the list on the operation panel for operating the apparatus. Therefore, the user can operate the substrate processing apparatus while watching it on the spot.
However, since cases exist where the user need not observe firsthand the substrate processing apparatus depending on the content of operations, for example, releasing a stoppage caused by a minor trouble. It is undesirable for the user to go to the clean room for such a type of operation from the perspective of an operation efficiency. Therefore, a substrate processing system capable of remote-controlling the substrate processing apparatus from a remote location such as an office, without a need for the user to be present in the clean room, has been proposed (hereinafter referred to as a "remote control system").
As such a remote control system, a substrate processing system including a substrate processing apparatus and a remote terminal provided at a place away from the substrate processing apparatus is well known in the art. The remote terminal has a display device and software for displaying contents similar to those displayed by the operation panel on the display device. Specifically, an industrial apparatus management system, as shown in FIG. 11, which includes a factory 700, a vendor 800 located at a place remote from the factory 700 and a data communication network 900 for connecting the factory 700 and the vendor 800 is known in the art (for example, Patent Publication 2).
With respect to the management system, the factory 700 has an industrial apparatus 710, a management apparatus 720 for managing the industrial apparatus, and a factory-side controller 730 for controlling the industrial apparatus 710 through the management apparatus 720 while the vendor 800 has a vendor-side controller 810.
The management apparatus 720 has a management program 722 for controlling the management system; the factory-side controller 730 has a control program for controlling the controller's operation; and the vendor-side controller 810 has a control program 813 for controlling the operation thereof.
The management program 722 assigns an authority for the operation of the industrial apparatus 710 to either the factory-side controller 730 or the vendor-side controller 810. When the authority is assigned to the vendor-side controller 810, the vendor-side controller 810 can remotely control the industrial apparatus 710 through the management apparatus 720. Accordingly, the vendor 800 can optimize parameters of the industrial apparatus 710, and resolve troubling symptoms thereof.
As described above, in the conventional remote control systems, each of the substrate processing apparatus and the remote terminal has operation control software for controlling the operation of the corresponding apparatus, and the remote control of the substrate processing apparatus is achieved through communications among the softwares.
[Patent Publication 1] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-43290 (FIG. 3)
[Patent Publication 2] Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-163016 (FIG. 1)
However, in the invention disclosed in Patent Publication 1, it is required to rewrite source codes every time the content of the sequence is changed, which is difficult for a person other than a software engineer to carry out. Further, after rewriting the source codes, executable software needs to be created in order to execute the sequence, by linking programs that are generated by compiling the source codes. Accordingly, a problem exists such that frequent changes of the sequence contents require increased number of works by the software engineer. Further, such changes in the contents the sequence accompany content changes in the sequence of the interlock and the recovery process, which may extensively affect parts other than the element subjected to the change, so that the number of the works of the software engineer is further increased. As a result, the number of processes required for the creation of a program concerning sequences needs to be reduced as in the case of the maintenance program described before.
Further, since there exist two different kinds of operation control software in the remote control system of Patent Publication 2, the number of processes demanded for the creation of the software is considerably large. Moreover, if software of one side is upgraded, the other ones should also be upgraded, thereby creating the problem of expanding the number of processes for managing the software.

System and method for processing a substrate and program therefor


The present disclosure describes methods and systems, including computer-implemented methods, computer program products, and computer systems, for generating a velocity model for a subsurface structure. One computer-implemented method for determining velocity model for a subsurface structure includes generating, by at least one hardware processor, a first velocity model for the subsurface structure by performing a refraction traveltime tomography procedure based on an initial velocity model; and generating, by the at least one hardware processor, a first refined velocity model based on the first velocity model and a structure skeleton model, wherein the structure skeleton model is determined based on reflection seismic data of the subsurface structure.

In a geophysics analysis, a velocity model is an important factor in understanding the subsurface structure of a region. In a subsurface region, sedimentary rock forms through deposition over time. Layers of rock are created from different materials under varying conditions. Therefore, each layer of rock has different properties. A velocity model maps out the layers of rock in a monitoring region and the expected speed seismic waves travel in each layer. A velocity model can be used to interpret seismic signals observed in the monitoring region and to generate images of the subsurface area. Therefore, a good velocity model can provide better understanding of the subsurface structure and improve the efficiency of a hydrocarbon exploration or production operation in the geographic area.

Generating a velocity model for a subsurface structure using refraction travel time tomography