The disclosure relates to an image processing apparatus for compressing or decompressing a segment of an image, the segment being non-rectangular and comprising a plurality of pixels, each pixel comprising a pixel value, the pixel values of the plurality of pixels forming a pixel value vector, the apparatus comprising: a processor configured to compress the segment or configured to decompress the segment, wherein compressing the segment comprises computing a plurality of expansion coefficients by expanding the pixel value vector into a plurality of basis vectors, wherein the basis vectors are discrete approximations of solutions of a boundary value problem of the Helmholtz equation on the segment of the image; and wherein decompressing the segment comprises computing the pixel value vector by forming a linear combination of the basis vectors according to the plurality of expansion coefficients.

The two-dimensional discrete cosine transform (herein also referred to as 2D-DCT or simply DCT) is the most widely used unitary transform for image and video coding applications. The 2D-DCT is based on an orthogonal, complete and separable basis set of cosine functions, and is used to represent the image information of a rectangular image or image block by spatial frequency coefficients. Generally, the energy of smooth signals is concentrated in the low frequency DCT coefficients. Continuity at the interval boundaries has made DCT-II more attractive and the most preferred transform in image and video coding standards. For practical purposes DCT coefficients are computed by fast and efficient algorithm schemes.
Occasionally, a rectangular bock contains image content parts of arbitrary shapes or polygons. However, when 2D-DCT (or variants thereof, such as 2D-DST, i.e. the two-dimensional discrete sine transform) is used to represent such arbitrary shapes within a rectangular image block, discontinuities and inhomogeneity in the image content increase the number of non-zero coefficients of high frequencies as a result of the Gibbs phenomenon at the boundary edges. In the state-of the-art standard HEVC smaller rectangular blocks are recursively applied to such non-rectangular blocks using quad-tree partitioning. However, the representation for such rectangular blocks may not be efficient.
Therefore, there is a need for improved image and video processing apparatuses and methods allowing, in particular, for a more efficient encoding and decoding of images or image blocks having a non-rectangular shape, such as images or image blocks having a polygonal shape.

Image and video processing apparatuses and methods


When an image is formed by imparting aqueous ink discharged from a recording head onto a recording medium P, water content contained in the aqueous ink is evaporated by a heater to suppress curl generated in the recording medium P after the image formation. The aqueous ink contains at least 15% by weight of curl control agent, and the viscosity of the aqueous ink is lower than 4 cp. The viscosity is increased to suppress the curl generation by evaporating the water content contained in the aqueous ink imparted on the recording medium P after the image formation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ink jet recording apparatus, and particularly to an ink jet recording apparatus provided with a function of suppressing curl generated in a recording medium after image formation.
2. Related Background Art
Recently, the ink jet recording apparatus is rapidly becoming widespread because of merits such as high image quality and low running cost. In a sheet material that is of the recording medium, not only plain paper but also dedicated paper for obtaining a photograph or a print having the same image quality as a printing technology is generally used. However, when the high-quality image is obtained by the ink jet technology, since solid printing is performed on the substantially whole surface of the sheet material, the ink discharge amount is remarkably increased, which results in problems such as cockling and curl.The cockling is a phenomenon in which the print is undulated after the image formation, and the curl is a phenomenon in which the print curls up. Particularly, in the high-speed printing or both-side printing, the generation of the curl becomes remarkable. Conventionally there is a method of suppressing the generation of the curl by adding a curl inhibitor into the ink to increase a viscosity of ink (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Nos. 2004-217930 and H09-176538).
According to the study results of the present inventors, the increase in viscosity of the ink by the addition of the curl inhibitor causes ink clogging to be generated in a discharge nozzle. When the ink having the high viscosity is used, ink jet discharge performance is decreased to lower the image quality after the image formation, and it is confirmed that apparatus performance and reliability are lost.


A heat exchanger tube having enhanced corrosion resistance and improved resistance to high burst pressures. The heat exchanger tube comprises an aluminum alloy that consists essentially of about 0.01-1.5% silicon, up to about 1.2% copper, up to about 2.0% manganese, about 0.01-1.0% iron, about 0.01-5.0% zinc, up to about 0.02% titanium and the balance substantially aluminum and incidental elements and impurities.

Aluminum heat exchangers are used widely in the automotive industry. Applications include engine cooling systems where heat exchangers such as radiators, oil coolers, charge air coolers and the like are employed. Additionally, passenger climate control systems also utilize heat exchangers as evaporators and condensers. Air conditioning systems typically have two heat exchangers: condensers and evaporators. Condensers typically operate at elevated pressures (>500 psi) and most typically are made with extruded tubes. These tubes are produced via traditional methods of extrusion. Most radiators use tubes made from welded or folded sheet (in part, due to the elevated costs per unit length of extruded tubes versus tubes made from sheet and in part as a result of the lower system pressure requirements of radiators (typically 20 psi or less)). However, some radiator tubes are also manufactured by extrusion processes depending on the design and specific durability requirements of the radiator in the field.
Typical extrusion based heat exchangers come essentially in two designs. The first design uses round tubing and bare (i.e. uncladed) fins that are mechanically attached to the round tubes by first lacing the tubes into holes punched in the fins, and then expanding the tubes to ensure that the tube's outer surface is in close mechanical contact with the fins.
The second typical design uses flat tubing having a plurality of channels in the tubing, commonly referred to as multi void tubing or micro multi void tubing. This type of heat exchanger tubing is attached to the fins using a brazing process. The cross section of the flow channels can vary, e.g., circular, oval, square, rectangular, of other regular or irregular shapes. Typically, micro multi void and multi void tubing are about 10-60 mm in width and about 1-2 mm in height.
Most aluminum extruded tubing products made for heat exchanger systems are produced by using traditional billet extrusion methods, such as press extrusion. As the alloy strength increases, the ability to use these traditional methods of extrusion becomes less feasible due to the difficulty of extruding the high strength alloy into a small tube. This difficulty occurs because as the dimensions of the heat exchanger tube decreases, the extrusion ratio, which is defined by a ratio of container bore area and the total cross sectional area of extrusion, increases thereby increasing the extrusion pressure needed to extrude the heat exchanger tube. The end result is that it is difficult (or sometimes not possible) and at the least, very expensive to produce fine dimensioned tubing from high strength materials using traditional extrusion methods. This is becoming a barrier to the introduction of newer heat exchanger designs that utilize fine dimensioned tubing, particularly for next generation designs where tubing must withstand very high pressures, for example CO2 refrigerant systems. In addition, as the heat exchanger manufacturers continue to work on next generation designs there is an increasing need for thin walled tubing with finer features that has high strength and high corrosion resistance, and in some instance high strength at elevated service temperature. Therefore, heat exchanger tubing might soon be required to operate at significantly higher pressures while at the same time becoming smaller in size as compared to current heat exchanger designs with tubes that use R-134a as the refrigerant. In order to meet these increasing demands in a cost effective manner, it is critical that the heat exchanger tubes be extruded from higher strength alloys.
Therefore, there exists a need for an improved high strength heat exchanger tube that can withstand high burst pressures, exhibit good corrosion resistance, have small dimensions (e.g. 10 mm by 1 mm MMV tubing with micro void width less than 1 mm), and have fine internal features. Additionally, there exists a need for a process to economically fabricate such a tube.
A continuous rotary extrusion process, known as the Conform™ Process, was developed and patented (U.S. Pat. No. 3,765,216) by the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority. In the Conform™ Process a rod or particulate feedstock replaces the extrusion billet and thereby making the extrusion process continuous. The equipment used in the Conform™ Process includes a grooved wheel, a coining roll, an abutment, a close fitting shoe, and an extrusion die. During the extrusion process the feedstock is fed into a space formed by the grooved wheel, close fitting shoe, and abutment, and is heated and pressurized by the friction between the rotating wheel and metal. When the metal temperature is sufficiently high the pressure extrudes the metal through the extrusion die.
For high volume aluminum tubing production requiring high productivity (lbs/hr), capital investment generally has not particularly favored the Conform™ process (vs. the traditional billet extrusion process) because of developed multi-out capabilities of billet extruders (sometimes up to 8 out) and differences in market pricing for feedstock rod vs. billet (i.e. billet is generally cheaper per pound for a specific alloy). Furthermore, it is a general perception in the industry that the Conform™ process is more appropriate for simple, larger tolerance, less demanding shapes made from easy to extrude alloys like AA1060 for products such as spacer bars and the like. Hence the overwhelming majority of tubing is produced today via traditional billet based extrusion processes.
However, the Conform™ process can make certain shapes with certain metallurgical structures that billet based process cannot make due to the process differences between the two processes, namely due to the differences in metallurgical structure of the rodstock and the reduced extrusion ratios (and resulting constancy of the die face pressure) of the Conform™ process.
Thus, there is a problem in the art, associated with the difficulty in extruding a small tube having a relatively complex structure, such as a micro multi void tubing, from a material with a high flow stress because the small tubing size increases the extrusion ratio, i.e. the cross sectional area ratio between the billet and the extruded product. This in turn increases the tonnage of pressure needed to extrude the alloy into the desired shape and dimension, and effectively limits the alloy chemistries that can be chosen as well as the allowable base microstructure of the metal being extruded to microstructures that have low flow stresses. Hence billets are generally homogenized prior to extrusion, solute contents are generally low, and the billets are generally DC cast and preheated immediately prior to extrusion process.

Heat exchanger tubing by continuous extrusion


A computer implemented instruction is executed. One or more translation table entry locations (TLB) are specified by the instruction. Based on a local-clearing (LC) control specified by the instruction being a first value, the processor selectively clears TLBs in a plurality of the CPUs in a configuration of entries corresponding to the determined translation table entry location. Based on the local-clearing (LC) being a second value, the processor selectively clears only the TLBs of the CPU executing the instruction of entries corresponding to the determined translation table entry location. A computer program product, computer system and computer implemented method are provided.

1. Technical Field
This invention relates, in general, to processing within a computing environment, and in particular, to selectively clearing a local Translation Lookaside Buffer (TLB) of a processor or a plurality of Translation Lookaside Buffers of a plurality of processors.
2. Description of Related Art
As described in U.S. Pat. No. 7,284,100, INVALIDATING STORAGE, CLEARING BUFFER ENTRIES, AND AN INSTRUCTION THEREFORE, filed May 12, 2003, which is hereby incorporated by reference, selected units of storage, such as segments of storage or regions of storage, are invalidated. The invalidation is facilitated by the setting of invalidation indicators located in data structure entries corresponding to the units of storage to be invalidated. Additionally, buffer entries associated with the invalidated units of storage or other chosen units of storage are cleared. An instruction is provided to perform the invalidation and/or clearing. Moreover, buffer entries associated with a particular address space are cleared, without any invalidation. This is also performed by the instruction. The instruction can be implemented in software, hardware, firmware or some combination thereof, or it can be emulated.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A medical image display apparatus includes: a medical image obtaining section for obtaining a three dimensional medical image of a subject; a display control section for displaying the three dimensional medical image obtained by the medical image obtaining section and an additional information image that represents information added to the three dimensional medical image; and an additional information display command receiving section for receiving a command to display the additional information image along with the three dimensional medical image. The display control section displays the additional information image along with the three dimensional medical image and changing the color of the displayed three dimensional medical image to a color which can be discriminated from the color of the additional information image, when the command to display the additional information image is received.

Conventionally, three dimensional medical images of subjects are obtained by imaging the subjects with a CT (Computed Tomography) apparatus, an MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) apparatus, or the like. These three dimensional medical images are displayed to users on display devices by display methods such as MPR (Multi Planar Reconstruction) and volume rendering.
When explanations are given while showing the three dimensional medical images to third parties for reports, at conferences, and at research presentations, arrows that indicate regions of interest within the three dimensional medical images were added as annotations and displayed.

Medical image display apparatus, medical image display method, and medical image display program


A vacuum tube circuit is capable of amplifying an input signal with use of a low source voltage. Ordinarily, the amount of electrons released from a cathode which is heated by a heater is small since a voltage supplied to the heater is low. In the vacuum tube circuit disclosed here, a positive voltage is supplied to a grid terminal, which more effectively attracts the emitted electrons, thereby increasing the amount of electrons arriving at the plate terminal passing through the grid. As a result, a grid current and a plate current flow in the vacuum tube circuit, which achieves an operation for amplifying an input signal from a signal source.

Various circuits using an amplifying effect of a vacuum tube are proposed in various fields. Traditionally, in order to fulfill the amplifying effect of the vacuum tube, a rated voltage is supplied to a heater to flow a large current therethrough to emit electrons from the cathode of the vacuum tube. An amount of current flowing toward the plate of the vacuum tube caused by the emitted electrons is controlled by a negative voltage supplied to the grid terminal. In addition, in order to extract a large amount of controllable plate current, unlike the conventional controlling method of the vacuum tube, a method of supplying a positive voltage to the grid terminal has been proposed. Such a technology is disclosed, for example, by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 59-66210, at pages 1-2 and FIG. 1.
According to the proposed technology, a larger amount of controllable plate current can be extracted by supplying a positive voltage to the grid terminal than the conventional method where a negative voltage is supplied to the grid terminal. However, in the proposed technology, in order to achieve an electron emission action, a rated voltage has to be supplied to the heater and a high voltage has to be supplied to the plate terminal. Thus, the vacuum tube circuit in the proposed technology consumes a relatively large amount of power.


Preparing device for preparing a beverage from a powdery substance and a hot liquid, the device comprising: at least one mixing chamber for mixing a quantity of the powdery substance and a quantity of the hot liquid; an inlet into the mixing chamber for the quantity of hot liquid; an inlet into the mixing chamber for the quantity of powdery substance; an extractor hood placed on the mixing chamber; an extraction duct connected to the extractor hood and provided with a suction device, such as a ventilating fan, for extracting vapor and dust particles from the mixing chamber via the extraction duct and the extractor hood; a first housing accommodating further components of the preparing device, such as electrical components and pipework, in which the extraction duct extends entirely along the exterior of the first housing.

Such a preparing device is known from the prior art. This known preparing device is often used in practice for preparing hot beverages, such as coffee or tea.
Devices of this type prepare a hot beverage from hot water and powder. This powder is supplied to a mixing chamber from a reservoir. Hot water is then added to the mixing chamber in order to dissolve the powder in the former by mixing. The hot water is accompanied by vapour. If this vapour reaches the powder inlet, lumps will form in the latter and lead to clogging. In addition, the powder supplied also causes some fine powder particles to fly up and spread together with the vapour. The latter makes it necessary to extract the vapour and the swirling powder particles. Said extraction is effected by means of an extraction duct.
However, it is a drawback of the known device that the extraction duct is difficult to (un)install. In the known preparing devices, the extraction duct extends through the housing of the preparing device. In this case, the extraction duct winds itself through the spaces between the components accommodated in the housing, including electrical components and pipework. As a result, removal and fitting of the extraction duct involves complicated operations, such as disassembling the first housing. These operations are cumbersome and take up a relatively large amount of time. One of the results is that, in practice, the extraction duct is not cleaned or replaced sufficiently often. During use, the extraction duct tends to become soiled quickly, as the combination of air, moisture and powdery particles travelling through the extraction duct has the tendency to stick against the inner wall of the latter. This subsequently forms an encrusted substance on the inside walls of the extraction duct. As a result, the extraction duct initially becomes partially blocked and subsequently completely blocked. This has an adverse effect on the operation of the preparing device and on the flavour of the beverages prepared with the latter. If the extraction is poor, the preparing device will soil quickly. This has to be prevented due to food safety and hygiene standards for the preparing device. Furthermore, a partially or completely blocked extraction duct increases the risk of causing the extraction duct to leak, which may in turn lead to failures and malfunctions of the components accommodated in the housing, such as electrical components.
As the extraction duct extends through the housing, there is a great risk of failures and malfunctions of the components which are inside the housing when the extraction duct starts to leak. Another drawback is the fact that the housing has openings leading to the interior thereof. These openings increase the risk of pollution and moisture entering the housing, which will result in failures and malfunctions of the components housed in the housing.
A preparing device is disclosed in EP 1,088,505. In FIGS. 3, 4 and 5, this publication illustrates, in a highly diagrammatical form, a mixing chamber (9) provided with a mixing member (14) which is driven around a vertical shaft (13) by means of a mixing motor (10) placed vertically above the mixing chamber (9). Five of these mixing chambers are connected to an extraction duct 15 via connecting apertures (16A-E). This extraction duct (15) consists of a top section (16) and a bottom section 20. On the underside of the bottom section (20), a ventilating fan (23) is provided. In order to detach the top section (16) from the bottom section (20), vertical screws 24 have to be removed, which are accessible from below. This publication does not describe how this assembly is accommodated in the preparing device. However, as the mixing motors (10) have to be screened off by the housing when replacing the reservoirs (1A-G) for powder, and are in a slightly higher position than the upper side of the extraction duct (15), and because the reservoirs in FIG. 1 are at a relatively large distance above the mixing motors, it is clear that the mixing motors and the extraction duct will jointly be screened off with respect to the reservoirs, probably by means of a closed housing. The extraction duct in accordance with EP 1,088,505 can thus not be removed in a simple manner, something which is confirmed by the fact that the screws (24) are difficult to access from below.

Preparing device with a suction duct for preparing a beverage from a powdery substance and a hot liquid


A system may include a conductive substrate, a plurality of conductive nanostructures disposed on a first side of the conductive substrate, an insulating substrate, and a plurality of electrodes disposed on a first side of the insulating substrate. The first side of the conductive substrate faces the first side of the insulating substrate, and each of the plurality of electrodes is electrically connected to the conductive substrate. In other aspects, a system may include a first insulating substrate and a second insulating substrate, where a first side of the first insulating substrate faces a first side of the second insulating substrate, and each of a first plurality of electrodes is electrically connected to a respective one of a second plurality of electrodes.

1. Field
The embodiments described herein relate generally to systems for sending radiation. More particularly, the described embodiments relate to radiation dosimetry using nanostructure-based devices.
2. Description
Many medical and industrial scenarios benefit from the measurement and/or imaging of delivered radiation dose. In the case of radiation therapy, such measurement/imaging may ensure accurate dose delivery to appropriate structures within a patient, may enable accurate quality assurance (QA) of a radiation delivery device and its collimation mechanism, may provide dose-related feedback to a servo system of the radiation delivery device, and may establish a record of treatment including delivered radiation dose measurements and delivered radiation field shapes. Radiation dose measurement/imaging may also be employed to capture internal structural details of an imaged object, to determine the concentration of radioactive substances within an object, to investigate particle physics, to detect the presence (or determine the dose) of a particle or photon beam traversing a volume of interest, and to detect radiological contamination.
Conventional systems to measure dose include ionization chambers, radiographic and radiochromic films, thermoluminescent detectors, silicon diodes and MOSFET transistors. Radiation field shapes may be obtained using two-dimensional arrays of ionization chambers, photodiodes, photoactive transistors, MOSFETs or diodes, or gas-electron multiplier elements. Two-dimensional arrays of ionization chambers are most commonly used for imaging purposes. The spatial resolution of the chambers and, consequently, of the arrays, is not suitable for many applications.

Radiation sensor array using conductive nanostructures


A wireless device capable of producing an emergency beacon signal is disclosed. The wireless device has a radio portion and may include a beacon transmitter and a controller in signal communication with the radio portion and beacon transmitter. The controller is capable of instructing the beacon transmitter to transmit a beacon location signal in response to the radio portion receiving a beacon activation signal. The wireless device may further include a satellite position system (“SPS”) receiver in signal communication with the controller.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of wireless communications. In particular, the invention relates to wireless communication systems capable of providing an emergency beacon.
2. Related Art
Disasters and emergency situations are unpleasant events that have affected humanity throughout history. They range from natural disasters to individual emergencies. Occasionally, they involve individuals being trapped underneath materials such as sand, rubble, snow and mud in situations involving sand storms, crumbling structures, avalanches or mudslides, respectively. Typically, these are examples of life threatening situations and any device capable of providing quick and accurate location of a person trapped in these types of situations will greatly improve the chances of rescue and survival of the person.
Past attempts to satisfy this need have included utilizing an emergency beacon device. However, emergency beacon devices are very specialized devices that are typically found only in military and commercial equipment such airplanes and marine vessels. Emergency beacon devices are not readily available for utilization by individuals. Therefore there is a need for a device capable of providing this type of information that is available to individuals.
The worldwide utilization of wireless devices such as two-way radios, pagers, portable televisions, personal communication system ("PCS"), personal digital assistants ("PDAs") cellular telephones (also known a "mobile phones"), Bluetooth, satellite radio receivers and Satellite Positioning Systems ("SPS") such as Global Positioning Systems ("GPS"), also known as NAVSTAR, is growing at a rapid pace. As the number of people employing wireless devices increases, the number of features offered by wireless service providers also increases, as does the integration of these wireless devices in other products.
The number of features offered by wireless service providers is increasingly matching the features offered by traditional land-line telephone service providers. Features such as call waiting, call forwarding, caller identification ("caller I.D."), three-way calling, data transmission and others are commonly offered by both land-line and wireless service providers. These features generally operate in the same manner on both wireless devices and land-line telephones.
Presently, emergency beacons are not available in wireless devices but an attempt at providing location information of a wireless device user in an emergency situation is the Enhanced 911 (also known as E911) service. E911 is an example of an approach of providing a location of a person utilizing a cellular telephone in an emergency situation in, a similar fashion that a 911 service call (normally referred to as a "911" call) does on a land-line telephone. However, E911 operate differently on wireless devices than a 911 service call does on land-line telephones.
When a 911 call is placed from a land-line telephone, the 911 reception center receives the call and determines the origin of the call. In case the caller fails, or forgets, to identify his or her location, the 911 reception center is able to obtain the location from which the call was made from the land-line telephone switching network and send emergency personnel to the location of the call.
If instead, an E911 call is placed from a wireless device such as a cellular telephone, the E911 reception center receives the call but cannot determine the origin of the call. If the caller fails, or forgets, to identify his or her location, the E911 reception center is unable to obtain the location of the call because the mobile switching network is different than the land-line telephone switching network. At present, the best that the E911 reception center may possibly do is determine the location of the basestation corresponding to the cell from which the call was placed. Unfortunately, typical cells in a cellular network system may cover an area with approximately a 30 mile diameter.
However, the United States Congress, through the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), has enacted a requirement that cellular telephones be locatable to within 50 feet once an emergency call, such as an E911, is placed by a given cellular telephone. This type of position data would assist police, paramedics, and other law enforcement and public service personnel, as well as other agencies that may need to have legal rights to determine the position of specific cellular telephone. Therefore, there is a need for a system that determines the location of a wireless device within 50 feet once an emergency call such as an E911 is placed by a given wireless device such as a cellular telephone.
A proposed solution to this problem has been to utilize a wireless positioning system that includes satellites and/or pseudolites (such as basestations) to triangulate the position of a wireless device such as a cellular telephone. GPS is an example of a SPS that may be utilized by a wireless device in combination with an appropriate GPS receiver to pinpoint the location of the wireless device on earth. The array of GPS satellites transmits highly accurate, time coded information that permits a receiver to calculate its exact location in terms of latitude and longitude on earth as well as the altitude above sea level. The GPS system is designed to provide a base navigation system with accuracy to within 100 meters for non-military use and greater precision for the military (with Selective Availability ON).
The space segment of the GPS system is a constellation of satellites orbiting above the earth that contain transmitters, which send highly accurate timing information to GPS receivers on earth. The fully implemented GPS system consists of 21 main operational satellites plus three active spare satellites. These satellites are arranged in six orbits, each orbit containing three or four satellites. The orbital planes form a 55° angle with the equator. The satellites orbit at a height of 10,898 nautical miles (20,200 kilometers) above earth with orbital periods for each satellite of approximately 12 hours.
Each of the orbiting satellites contains four highly accurate atomic clocks. These provide precision timing pulses used to generate a unique binary code (also known as a pseudo random or pseudo noise "PN" code) that is transmitted to earth. The PN code identifies the specific satellite in the constellation. The satellite also transmits a set of digitally coded ephemeris data that completely defines the precise orbit of the satellite. The ephemeris data indicates where the satellite is at any given time, and its location may be specified in terms of the satellite ground track in precise latitude and longitude measurements. The information in the ephemeris data is coded and transmitted from the satellite providing an accurate indication of the exact position of the satellite above the earth at any given time. A ground control station updates the ephemeris data of the satellite once per day to ensure accuracy.
A GPS receiver configured in a wireless device is designed to pick up signals from three, four, or more satellites simultaneously. The GPS receiver decodes the information and, utilizing the time and ephemeris data, calculates the approximate position of the wireless device. The GPS receiver contains a floating-point processor that performs the necessary calculations and may output a decimal display of latitude and longitude as well as altitude on the handset. Readings from three satellites are necessary for latitude and longitude information. A fourth satellite reading is required in order to compute altitude.
However, while E911 approaches are a beginning in the attempt of determining the location of a wireless device user, the 50 foot accuracy required by the FCC is not accurate enough for an emergency beacon application because a person may be trapped beneath a type of life threatening material such as sand, rubble, earth, snow or mud that requires immediate rescue. Additionally, E911 solutions require the wireless device user to actively select the E911 service. However, in many emergency situations the wireless device user may be trapped or injured in a way that the wireless device user will not be able to actively activate any type of service including E911.
Therefore, there is a need for a system capable of producing an emergency beacon signal in a wireless device that is accurate and capable of being activated even if the wireless device user is incapacitated. Moreover, there is a need for system capable of producing an emergency beacon signal in a wireless device for an extended period of time on a typically wireless device power source such as a battery.

Wireless device capable of producing an emergency beacon


The solution provides a method for separating a Chinese traditional medicine composition. To explain a pharmacological effect mechanism of a medicine made of two or more components and scientific content in rules of compatibility among components of a compound medicine, systematic researches on the material basis is very necessary. Accordingly, deep researches are done on chemical components of the pharmaceutical composition in the solution, and eight compounds are separated, which are 10-O-(p-hydroxycinnamoyl)-adoxosidic acid, aloe-emodin-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, quercitrin, matairesinol-4′-O-glucoside, liquiritin apioside, epi-vogeloside, vogeloside and ethyl caffeate, which provides a new quality control method for the composition in the solution.

The Chinese traditional medicine compound prescription is the main form of Chinese traditional medicine, after thousands of years of clinical use, the compound prescription can obtain a stronger therapeutic effect than a single medicine, which has fully proved the scientific nature of the compound prescription. The medicinal composition of the solution is composed of 13 Chinese traditional medicines such as fructus Forsythiae, honeysuckle, herbaephedrae (processed) and the like, has the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, removing lung hotness, and is used for treating epidemic influenza. Clinical studies prove that the medicinal composition of the solution has definite therapeutic effect and remarkable effect on treating influenza and acute upper respiratory tract infection. To explain a pharmacological effect mechanism of a medicine made of two or more components and scientific content in rules of compatibility among components of a compound medicine, systematic researches on the material basis is very necessary. Accordingly, deep researches are done on chemical components of the pharmaceutical composition in the solution, and eight compounds are separated, which are 10-O-(p-hydroxycinnamoyl)-adoxosidic acid, aloe-emodin-8-O-β-D-glucopyranoside, quercitrin, matairesinol-4′-O-glucoside, liquiritin apioside, epi-vogeloside, vogeloside and ethyl caffeate, which provides a new quality control method for the composition in the solution.

Method for separating eight components in Chinese traditional medicine composition

Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.


The present invention discloses a method for forming a porous bio-mimicking scaffold. At first, at least two types of solutions are provided where at least one of the solutions is a bio-mimicking scaffold solution comprising a bio-mimicking scaffold and at least one of the solutions is a pore forming solution comprising a pore forming material having at least one corresponding specific solvent. Then, a filling process is performed to fill the solutions into different needles of a blending injection device. Following that, an electrospinning process is performed to form a composite material. Each material type for forming the composite material is selected from the group consisting of the following: fiber, particle, and combination of fiber and particle. Finally, a removing process using the solvent to dissolve the pore forming material is performed to thereby form a porous bio-mimicking scaffold.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is generally related to a method for forming a bio-mimicking scaffold, and more particularly to a method for forming a porous bio-mimicking scaffold.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electrospinning is one of techniques to produce nanofibers. The principle of electrospinning is to utilize a material solution under high voltage. When the charge repulsion force generated by the charges accumulated on the surface of the solution is larger than the surface tension, a Taylor cone is formed on the surface of the solution. The cone tip exceeds the tension to emit nanofibers toward a collecting plate with an opposite electric property. Different collecting plates can be used to collect nanofibers in different directions.
Generally, the diameter of nanofibers is about 0.01 times the diameter of common fibers. In one gram of fibers with a diameter of 50 nm, the total surface area is about 1,000 m2. Since nanofibers have tremendous surface area and high porosity, they have many special applications. Traditionally, the material of nanofibers is carbon fibrils, man-made polymeric fiber, or alumina fiber, etc.
Electrospinning nanofibers having high strength and high surface area can be utilized to fabricate cloth with special functions, such as chemical resistant, water-proof and breathable, anti-staining, and so forth. In textile industry, nanofibers have great market. Nano-Tex Co. has developed and commercialized products made of nanofibers. Nanofibers are also considered as scaffolds for filtration and medical tissue engineering. In addition, they have potential in the applications of transporting media for medicine, sensors, nano-electronics, etc.
Besides, in the biotechnology application of nanofibers, there are reports in discussing the interaction between nanofibers and cells. Elias et al implant human osteoblasts into scaffolds comprised by nanofibers with different dimensions to perform culture in vitro. After performing culture for 3 weeks, cell growth is in a good condition and alkaline phosphatase activity and calcium concentration secreted by the osteoblasts are increased with the increase of the culture time.
Yoshimoto et al implant mesenchymal stem cells into scaffolds comprised by poly caprolactone (PCl) nanofibers to perform culture by a dynamic bio-reactor. After performing culture for 4 weeks, it is found that not only cell-polymer constructs maintain the original dimension and shape but also cell laminated proliferation and the growth of cell matrix for the cells in the constructs are observed by SEM. In addition, it is found from the immunohistochemical staining method that type I collagen is formed. Therefore, in light of the above results, it shows that nanofibers can aid cell growth.
However, if nanofibers are piled up tightly and have low porosity, cell growth and differentiation will be affected. Christopher et al have found that cow endothelial cells grow on bio-matrix with a small pore diameter (<100 μm) and have higher apoptosis probability. Thus, a novel method for preparing a porous bio-mimicking scaffold is needed to provide a bio-mimicking scaffold with a proper pore diameter and appropriate porosity.

Method for forming porous bio-mimicking scaffold


An adjustable steering column assembly includes a column jacket extending along a longitudinal axis. The column jacket includes a compression bracket mounted thereto, and is supported by a mounting bracket. A pawl engages a telescope slot defined by the compression bracket in interlocking engagement to mechanically lock the longitudinal position of the column jacket relative to the mounting bracket. A transverse cam mechanism moves the pawl generally vertically into and out of engagement with the telescope slot. An axial cam mechanism compresses the compression bracket against the mounting bracket. The transverse cam mechanism and the axial cam mechanism are operated by shaft extending along a shaft axis intersecting the column jacket. The transverse cam mechanism and the axial cam mechanism each include first and second cam mechanism disposed on opposing sides of the column jacket and simultaneously operable by a lever.

1. Field of the Invention
The subject invention generally relates to a steering column assembly for a vehicle. More specifically, the subject invention relates to an adjustable steering column assembly adjustable in at least one of a longitudinal direction along a longitudinal axis and a pivotable direction transverse to the longitudinal axis.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Adjustable steering column assemblies include a locking mechanism to secure the position of a column jacket relative to a mounting bracket. The locking mechanism often employs a friction/compression locking device that applies a compressive force to compress the mounting bracket against the column jacket to hold the column jacket in place. The locking mechanism may additionally employ a positive locking device, such as interlocking teeth between members. The positive locking device holds the position of the column jacket relative to the mounting bracket in place during collapse of the steering column assembly during an impact event, such as during a vehicular collision.
Typically, the locking mechanism includes a bolt or shaft extending across the column jacket, transverse to the longitudinal axis, to operate the friction locking device and/or the positive locking device. The bolt or shaft is disposed above or below the column jacket. However, this configuration of the bolt and the various locking devices arranged above or below the column jacket require a significant amount of space.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,097,205 discloses a steering column assembly having a locking mechanism disposed along an axis that intersects the column jacket. However, the locking mechanism is not capable of applying a compressive force or actuating other locking devices on both sides of the column jacket, i.e., the locking mechanism is configured to only operate on one side of the column jacket.


A method and circuit design for enabling both shift path and scan path functionality with a single port LSSD latch designed for scan path functionality only, without increasing the device's internal real estate and without substantial increase in overall device real estate. The circuit design eliminates the need for additional logic components to be built into the internal circuitry of the device and also eliminates the cost of providing dual port LSSD latches within the device. Implementation of the invention involves providing a unique configuration of low level logic components as input circuitry that is coupled to a pair of single port LSSD latches that operate as the input latches for the device. The low level logic components accomplishes the splitting of scan chain inputs and shift chain inputs to the input latches and thus enables the single ported LSSD latches to operate with similar functionality as dual ported LSSD latches.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to semiconductor devices and in particular to routing signals through serially connected circuits of semiconductor devices. Still more particularly the present invention relates to a method and circuit design for enabling both shift path and scan path functionality with a single port LSSD latch designed for scan path functionality only.
2. Description of the Related Art
Operation of semiconductor devices entails the passing of one or more input signals through a series of circuit components that are interconnected in a particular design configuration to generate a response (or output signal) within the device. The path through which the input signal propagates is determined by the type of connectivity among the various logic components within the device, and the value of the signal, as well as the accompanying clock signal.
To ensure proper operation of the semiconductor device, current design and fabrication procedures involves some amounts of post-fabrication testing on all or specific portions of the device to ensure that the components are functioning as desired and yield the correct (or expected) outputs at each stage of the device. For example, semiconductors and other similar devices manufactured with a large number of fuse elements are usually tested post-fabrication. Testing of the device may involve selectively blowing fuses within the device by passing an electrical current through the fuse link, depending on the design of the fuse/device. The fuses that are blown are selected via one or more programming methods, which are generally known to those skilled in the art.
The path utilized for post-fabrication testing is often times different from that utilized during normal signal propagation. In semi-conductor terminology, the normal routing path is referred to as the shift path (from the "shifting" of a propagating "1" or "0" signal in a serial manner from one component to another through the device), while the test path is referred to as the scan path.
Present designs provide a separate scan path along with the shift path for completing the testing of the device. The scan paths are utilized to verify the function of the logic and for any scan preconditioning of the latches done at test. The shift path is utilized for functional operation during fuse blow and fuse readout from the fuse sense latches.
FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art schematic of a portion of the input circuit for a device 100 comprising two levels of serially connected latches. For simplicity of description, the upper level (or register) latch and lower level latch are referred to herein as a latch pair. Also, the first pair of latches, are referred to as the input latches and the second (and subsequent) pair of latches, labeled "Repeatable Scan Latch," are referred to as internal device latches. Only two pairs of sequential latch pairs are illustrated; However, a complete device may comprise a much larger number of sequentially connected latch pairs similar to the second pair of latches.
As labeled in FIG. 1, the first pair of latches 102A, 102B are full LSSD latches and have dual input ports for both shift and scan chain operations. The second pair of latches, 112A, 112B, however, are scan only latches and thus accommodate only one (scan) path at a time. The two chains of latches (fuse latches 103 and pattern latches 113) are connected in serial fashion, with each latch receiving it's shift input from the previous latch and sending it's shift output to the next latch in the chain.
On the standard full LSSD latch 102A, 102B, two clock ports and two data input ports are provided. One port is used for functional operation (serial shifting in this case) and the other is used for scan operations, a test requirement. Each serial register of latches (LSSD scan latches) comprises a dual-phase latch. The first phase in an LSSD scan latch is called the L1 and is loaded with clock signal ACLK 114. The second phase in the LSSD scan latch is called the L2 and is loaded with signal BCLK 118.
Each latch is configured with an L1 and an L2. Both ports load the L1 of the latch. Only one port may be utilized at a time. The input signals include SCANIN0 104, SHIFTIN 106, SCANIN1 108, and SHIFT 120. Clock signals include CCLK signal 116, ACLK signal 114, and BCLK signal 118. A set of logic gates, AND gate 103 and OR gate 105 are provided to select when the shift input 120 would be allowed to load the L1 during operation.
According to FIG. 1, both the upper level and lower level latches are full LSSD (level sensitive scan design) dual port latches designed to enable separate scan and shift paths as illustrated. A first scan pattern, SCANIN0, is loaded into the upper latch, while a second scan pattern, SCANIN1, is loaded into the lower latch. From the perspective of a scan path, particular types of latches are provided to enable a scan chain evaluation for the device. The upper latch receives a SHIFTIN signal, which triggers the beginning of a shift path. Three clock inputs are also provided to transition the scan and/or shift signal along the device. Each path includes separate clocking domain. The shift/scan path are separated by providing separate shift clock (CCLK) and scan clock (ACLK) signal.
With designs where the functional path matches the scan path, it is possible to use a single data port latch along with OR logic and OR the shift clock (CCLK) and scan clock (ACLK) signals together. However, it may also be required that a long shift path be separated into multiple scan paths. At locations where splitting of the paths is desired, typically a full LSSD latch would be inserted between scan only LSSD latch pairs to provide separate shift and scan ports to the L1.
Particular types of devices, such as electrical fuse (eFuse) devices, for example, are typically designed with separate scan and shift paths, from the perspective of the latch circuitry. In eFuse circuit terminology, the upper level latch 102A is referred to as the fuse sense latch (or fuse latch) and is utilized to read the state of the fuse. Upper level latch is also utilized during the fusing process to enable/disable the blowing of the associated fuse. The lower level latch is referred to as the pattern latch and is utilized to store the redundancy solution calculated for the device. The upper (fuse) latches 103 and lower (pattern) latches 113 are serially connected and may be wired into additional circuitry (e.g., fuse and transistor) in the device.
According to the current art, and as illustrated by FIG. 1, the shift and scan paths were normally split with the addition of a full LSSD latch where the paths had to be split. This addition of a full LSSD latch at each split is difficult to manage in a hierarchical design where the first latch has to be nested completely differently from subsequent latches.
In a next implementation, the shift and scan paths are combined on a scan-only latch by logically ORing the shift clock (CCLK) and scan clock (ACLK) to the latches. This can be done wherever the scan path and functional path share the same serial path through the latches. Removal of the above mentioned requirement was critical for the eFuse design since the electrical design of all the fuse sense latches needed to be the same with the same layout for matching purposes. It was also difficult to do the physical design on a tight pitch with a different latch up front.
One primary concern with current designs is the additional area overhead required because of the need to provide OR gates and other logic within the device for each scan path when a single port latch configuration is utilized. With the dual port LSSD latch configuration, the concern involves additional cost as well as real estate in providing the larger dual port LSSD latches rather than the single port LSSD latches. The current method of providing both scan path and shift path operations for a device also presents problems with embedding particular types of circuitry within an ASIC design. LSSD methodology issues have to be solved to allow for all fuse latches to exist on a single shift register but be broken into multiple scan chains or scan paths. This requires "splitting" the scan and shift paths where required to facilitate ASIC design and test methodology. Using scan only latches and full LSSD latches in the fuse latch chain creates a problem because the electrical characteristic of the internal sense node for fuse are not the same in the two different latch designs, and still requires additional real estate within/on the device.
The present invention recognizes the above inefficiencies that exist in the current design and testing of devices that require both scan path and shift path operations. The invention further recognizes that a method and device that enables efficient combination of scan path and shift path functionality in a single port latch without incurring additional internal overhead costs would be a welcomed improvement. Also desirable is a method and device that enables reduced area overhead along within the device's internal circuitry. These and other benefits are provided by the invention described below.

Method for separating shift and scan paths on scan-only, single port LSSD latches

International Business Machines Corporation


The object of the present invention is to achieve a high frequency heating apparatus having a steam generating function that can implement simplification and miniaturization of the construction of a steam supply mechanism by omitting dedicated pump means for supplying water of a water tank.

A high frequency heating apparatus having a high frequency wave generating means for outputting a high frequency wave into a heating chamber in which a heating target to be heated is accommodated can efficiently heat the heating target in the heating chamber in a short time, and thus it has become rapidly widespread as a microwave oven which is a cooling instrument for foodstuff.
However, only the heating based on the high frequency heating limits the range of cooling or the like, and thus it has been inconvenient.
Therefore, there has been proposed a high frequency heating apparatus with which oven heating can be performed by adding an electric heater heating in the heating chamber, and further there has been also recently proposed a high frequency heating apparatus having a steam generating function with which cooking with high-temperature steam can be also performed by further adding a steam supply mechanism for supplying heating steam to the heating chamber (for example, see patent document 1).
(Patent Document 1) JP-A-54-115448
The steam supply mechanism of the conventional high frequency heating apparatus is designed to be equipped with a water tank detachably secured to the main body of the apparatus, a water supply tray mounted in the heating chamber, heating means for heating the water supply tray and vaporizing water on the water supply tray, and dedicated pump means for supplying water in the water tank to the water supply tray, and the equipment of the pump means causes a problem that the construction of the apparatus is complicated and large in size.
Furthermore, in the conventional steam supply mechanism using the dedicated pump means, in order to control the supply amount of steam to the heating chamber, it is required to control the supply amount based on the pump means simultaneously with temperature control of the heating means, and thus there is a problem that the control treatment needed for the supply amount control of steam is complicated.
Furthermore, water stocked in the water tank is fed to the water supply tray by the dedicated pump means, and during this feeding operation, the water is fed without being subjected to preliminary heating or the like (in order to avoid occurrence of a pump trouble due to hot water). Therefore, there is also a problem that the temperature of the water supplied to the water supply tray is low and it takes a long time to heat the water supply tray and generate steam by the heating means.
The present invention has been implemented in view of the foregoing problem, and has an object to provide a high frequency heating apparatus having a steam generating function with which there is required no dedicated pump means for supplying water in a water tank to a water supply tray, simplification and miniaturization of the construction of a steam supply mechanism can be implemented by omitting the pump means, control processing needed to control the supply amount of steam can be simplified, and steam-heating can be rapidly performed by shortening a time required to generate steam.

High frequency heating device with steam generating function

Abstract: In a high frequency heating apparatus having a steam generating function (100), a steam supply mechanism (7) for supplying heating steam into a heating chamber (3) is constructed by a water tank (21) detachably equipped to the main body of the apparatus, water supply trays 825), (25) mounted in the heating chamber (3), heating means (27), (27) for vaporizing water on the water supply trays (25), (25) by heating the water supply trays (25), (25), and water supply paths (29), (29) for leading water in the water tank (21) through heating areas based on the heating means (27), (27) to the water supply trays (25), (25), and the water in the water tank (21) is supplied to the water supply trays (25), (25) by using thermal expansion of water in the water supply paths (29), (29) which is caused by the heat generated in the heating means (27), (27).

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A flip-flop circuit is provided. A driver circuit is provided. The flip-flop circuit includes first to fifth input terminals and first to third output terminals, the first input terminal is supplied with a first trigger signal, the second input terminal is supplied with a second trigger signal, the third input terminal is supplied with a batch selection signal, the fourth input terminal is supplied with a first pulse width modulation signal, and the fifth input terminal is supplied with a second pulse width modulation signal. The first output terminal supplies a first selection signal in response to the first pulse width modulation signal in a period from supply of the first trigger signal to supply of the second trigger signal, the first output terminal supplies the first selection signal in a period during which the batch selection signal is supplied, the second output terminal supplies a second selection signal in response to the second pulse width modulation signal in the period from the supply of the first trigger signal to the supply of the second trigger signal, and the third output terminal supplies a third trigger signal.

A display device in which a shift of a selection signal in a shift register included in a scan line driver circuit and supply of a selection signal to scan lines are controlled independently of each other is known (Patent Document 1). The display device thus enables rewriting of only a given section of an image. In addition, the above-described operation is realized by providing a wiring for supplying a clock signal or a signal representing a fixed potential. Thus, in the display device including the wiring, the configuration of the circuit including the wiring can be simplified while partial driving can be performed.

Flip-flop circuit, driver circuit, display panel, display device, input/output device, and data processing device

Semiconductor Energy Laboratory Co., Ltd.


A hydraulic transaxle comprises a transaxle casing for supporting left and right axles, a pair of hydraulic motors disposed in the transaxle casing so as to drive the respective left and right axles, hydraulic ports provided in the transaxle casing so as to fluidly connect the pair of hydraulic motors in parallel to a common hydraulic pump, and a system for restricting or canceling differential rotation of the pair of hydraulic motors.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a hydraulic transaxle incorporating a pair of hydraulic motors for respective left and right wheels. The invention also relates to a four-wheel driving vehicle equipped with the hydraulic transaxle incorporating the pair of hydraulic motors and another hydraulic transaxle incorporating a hydraulic motor for driving corresponding left and right wheels, wherein all the hydraulic motors of the two transaxles are driven by a common hydraulic pump.
2. Related Art
Conventionally, there is a conventional well-known transaxle such as disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Gazette No. 2004-210215. The transaxle incorporates a pair of hydraulic motors for driving respective axles (drive wheels), and the hydraulic motors are fluidly connected in parallel to a hydraulic pump out of the transaxle, whereby the wheels driven by the respective hydraulic motors can rotate differentially.
The transaxle incorporating the pair of hydraulic motors instead of a conventional mechanical differential gearing assembly is compact vertically and widthwise so that the vertical position of the transaxle can be optionally lowered so as to stabilize a vehicle or raised so as to ensure a large ground clearance.
The problem of the pair of hydraulic motors fluidly connected in parallel to the hydraulic pump is that, when a vehicle is stuck because one of the wheels driven by the pair of hydraulic motors is caught in a ditch or mud and intends to run idle, fluid from the hydraulic pump is concentrated to the hydraulic motor for driving the idling wheel and the other hydraulic motor is insufficiently supplied with fluid to drive the corresponding wheel. A conventional differential locking system for a conventional mechanical differential gearing assembly, such as disclosed in Japanese Laid Open Gazette No. 2002-22007, does not solve the above problem for the hydraulic transaxle.

Hydraulic transaxle and vehicle comprising it


A system and related methods for characterizing and improving optical drive read performance is presented. The system includes an innovative audio file stored on optical media (characterization file), and an optical drive characterization agent, implemented on a computing system. The optical drive characterization agent iteratively controls the optical drive to perform incremental reads of at least a subset of the characterization file, analyzes at least the subset of the characterization file read from the optical media, and generates one or more performance scores on an associated one or more performance attributes of the optical drive. In this regard, optical drive characterization agent quantifiably characterizes an optical drive's ability to accurately read individual sectors from optical media comprising audio content.

Computing technology continues to evolve at an ever-increasing rate. Once the domain of only high-end computer systems, optical drives such as the compact disk (CD) read-only memory (ROM) drives, digital versatile disk (DVD) drives, and the like are now standard equipment on even the lower-cost, entry-level computers. Indeed, because of their low cost, high storage capacity and access time attributes, some systems are now foregoing inclusion of the once preeminent floppy drives in favor of optical drive technology.
Once these optical drives began appearing in computing systems, having the same generic name (CD player) as their favorite audio component, many computing system users wanted to use these optical drive systems to play their favorite audio (music) discs. What the basic user does not realize, however, is that audio discs and data discs utilize separate and distinct formatting standards that make it very difficult for an optical drive in a computer system to accurately read and render audio data.
The compact disc digital audio standard (CD-DA) (also commonly referred to as the Red Book standard), was defined in early 1980 by Philips, N. V. and Sony Corporation. Under the Red Book standard, audio information is digitized at 44.1 kHz in a range of 65,536 possible values (i.e., 16-bit audio). While the CD-DA disc is organized into frames (24 bytes/frame), the audio data itself is not arranged in any particular units, but rather is interlaced in and among frames to improve tolerance to physical flaws or damage to the media (e.g., a scratch).
The compact disk, read-only memory standard (CD-ROM) (also commonly referred to as the Yellow Book standard), was defined by Philips and Sony in 1983 as an extension to the Red Book standard. The CD-ROM standard differs from the CD-DA standard in a number of respects, perhaps the most notorious of which for purposes of rendering audio data is the manner in which the data is organized on the optical media (disc). Under the CD-ROM standard, data tracks are organized into uniquely identifiable sectors facilitating random access search and retrieval applications. More specifically, data tracks are segmented into 2352 byte sectors, 2048 bytes of which are devoted to data, while 304 bytes are dedicated to header information (e.g., block address information, synchronization information, error correction codes (ECC), and the like). This header information enables the optical drive system to accurately seek out sectors on an individual basis (i.e., by reading the header information). When viewing an audio track under the sectorized CD-ROM paradigm, however, the audio information consumes the entire 2352 bytes of the sector, i.e., an audio disc track does not include this 304-byte header block. Consequently, an accurate seek to a specific location within an audio track is very difficult. Indeed, the Red Book standard considers a deviation of ±75 sectors (or ±7350 frames, or ±176,400 bytes, or ±0.5 seconds), which would be perceptible to the human ear. Indeed, an offset of even 0.25 seconds is perceptible to the human ear. One of the reasons for this seemingly "lax" standard is that it is quite rare for an end user to need to be able to instantly jump to a particular point within an audio track.
The typical errors that arise when trying to make such a precise (or accurate) read of audio tracks with a CD-ROM optical drive include: not reading audio data on sector boundaries (i.e., 2352 byte boundaries) (i.e., inaccurate reads), reading different data for the same request at different times (i.e., reading sector 2 then re-reading sector 2 and getting different audio data), overlapping or skipping a small subset of bytes for reads that should have continuous bytes (contiguous reads), and other accuracy problems. These limitations of the optical drive systems in accurately rendering audio media often resulted in undesirable user-perceptible audio artifacts, e.g., pops, holes, etc.
To overcome these limitations, and to attempt to ensure user-acceptable audio, many optical drive systems utilize a stitching technique when rendering audio content. That is, the optical drive system would perform multiple reads of a sector, or groups of sectors, and load the information into a buffer, analyze the buffered data to identify overlapping data between the read samples, and statistically reconstruct the sectors by fusing the overlapping data. Stitching has a number of drawbacks, however, including the storage capacity required to handle the multiple samples, the number of reads that must be performed to stitch together the resultant audio track, and the overall processing complexity required to analyze the samples and piece together the audio tracks.
The need for accurate reads of digital audio content from optical media has increased, as more applications require accurate digital audio (i.e., MP3 applications, Digital Audio Playback under Windows® 98 and Windows® 2000). Given the prior art techniques employed by the various optical drive manufacturers, there was no way to know a priori what to expect from a READ command, especially since a drive's firmware may have implemented a caching algorithm that would prevent simple re-reads of the same sector as test of accuracy.
Thus, a method and apparatus of quantifiably characterizing and improving optical drive performance for rendering digital audio is required, unencumbered by the inherent limitations commonly associated with the prior art. Just such a solution is provided in the description to follow.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and apparatus for characterizing and improving optical drive performance


Metadata for splicing of an encoded digital motion video stream (such as an MPEG Transport Stream) is prepared in real time while recording at the encoding bit rate and faster than encoded bit rate for off line encoding independent of the bit rate and mechanisms for ingestion of the data stream into data storage. Preprocessing is performed during a metered file transfer protocol (FTP) and includes pseudo real-time encoding. The preprocessing includes Group of Pictures (GOP) level pre-processing of splicing In Points and results in an intimate linkage between metadata and the file system in which the video data is stored. The preferred file system enables access to metadata in parallel to writing the data on disk. The pre-processing is performed simultaneous to writing the data to the disk using a carousel type buffer mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to processing of compressed audio/visual data, and more particularly to splicing of streams of audio/visual data.
2. Background Art
It has become common practice to compress audio/visual data in order to reduce the capacity and bandwidth requirements for storage and transmission. One of the most popular audio/video compression techniques is MPEG. MPEG is an acronym for the Moving Picture Experts Group, which was set up by the International Standards Organization (ISO) to work on compression. MPEG provides a number of different variations (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, etc.) to suit different bandwidth and quality constraints. MPEG-2, for example, is especially suited to the storage and transmission of broadcast quality television programs.
For the video data, MPEG provides a high degree of compression (up to 200:1) by encoding 8×8 blocks of pixels into a set of discrete cosine transform (DCT) coefficients, quantizing and encoding the coefficients, and using motion compensation techniques to encode most video frames as predictions from or between other frames. In particular, the encoded MPEG video stream is comprised of a series of groups of pictures (GOPs), and each GOP begins with an independently encoded (intra) I frame and may include one or more following P-frames and B-frames. Each I frame can be decoded without information from any preceding and/or following frame. Decoding of a P frame requires information from a preceding frame in the GOP. Decoding of a B frame requires information from a preceding and following frame in the GOP. To minimize decoder buffer requirements, each B frame is transmitted in reverse of its presentation order, so that all the information of the other frames required for decoding the B frame will arrive at the decoder before the B frame.
In addition to the motion compensation techniques for video compression, the MPEG standard provides a generic framework for combining one or more elementary streams of digital video and audio, as well as system data, into single or multiple program transport streams (TS) which are suitable for storage or transmission. The system data includes information about synchronization, random access, management of buffers to prevent overflow and underflow, and time stamps for video frames and audio packetized elementary stream packets. The standard specifies the organization of the elementary streams and the transport streams, and imposes constraints to enable synchronized decoding from the audio and video decoding buffers under various conditions.
The MPEG 2 standard is documented in ISO/IEC International Standard (IS) 13818-1, "Information Technology-Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio Information: Systems," ISO/IEC IS 13818-2, "Information Technology-Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Information: Video," and ISO/IEC IS 13818-3, "Information Technology-Generic Coding of Moving Pictures and Associated Audio Information: Audio," incorporated herein by reference. A concise introduction to MPEG is given in "A guide to MPEG Fundamentals and Protocol Analysis (Including DVB and ATSC)," Tektronix Inc., 1997, incorporated herein by reference.
Splicing of audio/visual programs is a common operation performed, for example, whenever one encoded television program is switched to another. Splicing may be done for commercial insertion, studio routing, camera switching, and program editing. The splicing of MPEG encoded audio/visual streams, however, is considerably more difficult than splicing of the uncompressed audio and video. The P and B frames cannot be decoded without a preceding I frame, so that cutting into a stream after an I frame renders the P and B frames meaningless. The P and B frames are considerably smaller than the I frames, so that the frame boundaries are not evenly spaced and must be dynamically synchronized between the two streams at the time of the splice. Moreover, because a video decoder buffer is required to compensate for the uneven spacing of the frame boundaries in the encoded streams, splicing may cause underflow or overflow of the video decoder buffer.
The problems of splicing MPEG encoded audio/visual streams are addressed to some extent in Appendix K, entitled "Splicing Transport Streams," to the MPEG-2 standard ISO/IEC 13818-1 1996. Appendix K recognizes that a splice can be "seamless" when it does not result in a decoding discontinuity, or a splice can be "non-seamless" when it results in a decoding discontinuity. In either case, however, it is possible that the spliced stream will cause buffer overflow.
The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE) apparently thought that the ISO MPEG-2 standard was inadequate with respect to splicing. They promulgated their own SMPTE Standard 312M, entitled "Splice Points for MPEG-2 Transport Streams," incorporated herein by reference. The SMPTE standard defines constraints on the encoding of and syntax for MPEG-2 transport streams such that they may be spliced without modifying the packetized elementary stream (PES) packet payload. The SMPTE standard includes some constraints applicable to both seamless and non-seamless splicing, and other constraints that are applicable only to seamless splicing. For example, for seamless and non-seamless splicing, a splice occurs from an Out Point on a first stream to an In Point on a second stream. The Out Point is immediately after an I frame or P frame (in presentation order). The In Point is just before a sequence header and I frame in a "closed" GOP (i.e., no prediction is allowed back before the In Point).
As further discussed in Norm Hurst and Katie Cornog, "MPEG Splicing: A New Standard for Television—SMPTE 312M," SMPTE Journal, November 1998, there are two buffering constraints for seamless splicing. The startup delay at the In Point must be a particular value, and the ending delay at the Out Point must be one frame less than that. Also, the old stream must be constructed so that the video decoder buffer (VBV buffer) would not overflow if the bit rate were suddenly increased to a maximum splice rate for a period of a splice decoding delay before each Out Point.

Preparation of metadata for splicing of encoded MPEG video and audio


An oil pump includes pump chambers each having a volume varied by engine drive and for pressurizing oil inhaled through an inlet port and discharge it through an outlet port, and a branch passage connected between upstream and downstream sides of the outlet port at branch and confluent points, wherein the branch passage in the vicinity of the confluent point is shifted in pulse-pressure phase with respect to the outlet port.

The present invention relates to an engine drive oil pump, and more particularly, to an oil pump having function of reducing the pulse pressure within an outlet port.
Japanese document JP-U 2-43482 discloses a trochoid oil pump wherein a plurality of pump chambers defined between inner and outer rotors continuously increase or decrease in volume under an engine driving force to pressurize oil inhaled therein through an inlet port and discharge it to an outlet port. A closed groove is arranged above the outlet port, having an upper portion serving as an air chamber for accumulating air.
Since this oil pump has air chamber formed at the outlet port, the pulse pressure produced by the pump chambers which open successively into the outlet port to discharge oil can be absorbed by the damping action provided by the air chamber.


A portable device for cervical inspection, comprising a plurality of light-emitting diodes comprising a first light-emitting diode group and a second light-emitting diode group, wherein the first light-emitting diode group emits light within a first wavelength range upon operation, and the second light-emitting diode group emits light within a second wavelength range upon operation, wherein the first wavelength range comprises a sub-range of wavelengths shorter than the wavelengths of the second wavelength range, and the second wavelength range comprises a sub-range of wavelengths longer than the wavelengths of the first wavelength range, the portable device further comprising a controller provided for a control of the luminous intensity of the second light-emitting diode group from a first intensity to a second intensity, lower than the first intensity, such that a preferred color rendering for the visual examination of the cervix may be provided.

Cervical cancer is one of the most common types of cancer affecting women, the disease being the cause of approximately a quarter of a million deaths every year. Furthermore, for women in the developing countries, it is the leading cause of cancer related mortality.
In the developed countries, there has been a 75% decrease in incidence and mortality from cervical cancer over the past 50 years. Most of this decrease is attributed to cervical cytology screening which helps keep cervical cancer rates relatively low. The screening programs are often effective as women in the developed countries may easily access health facilities for regular Pap tests, i.e. tests for the detection of pre-malignant and malignant processes in the cervix. If a cancer is found, it may be successfully treated while still in the early stages. Thus, early detection and diagnosis can save lives and moreover reduce the burden on the national healthcare system.
In the developing countries, however, the cervical cytology screening is not applicable in low-resource settings. Hospitals in many of the poor countries do not have the resources for this kind of gynecological examination of women. Furthermore, women in some developing countries do not even have access to gynecological investigation whatsoever, due to inferior transportation facilities, wars, or similar obstacles that makes it difficult, or impossible, to get adequate gynecological examinations.
Thus, there is a need to further develop colposcopes or devices of the kind such that more women, especially in the third world, may have access to visual cervical-screening for early detection of cervical pathologies.
For a visual examination of a cervix via colposcopy, the experience of the examiner, e.g. a doctor or a nurse, performing the examination is of vital importance. The experience is gained through numerous examinations using a conventional colposcope which is, therefore, the conventional training tool for gynecologist for visual detection of cervical lesions. For this reason, a reproduction of the lighting of the conventional colposcope is important for the purpose of cervical inspection. For an examiner examining the cervix, the detection of healthy and unhealthy cervical tissue therefore puts high demands on the lighting and the appropriate color rendering.
In patent document U.S. Pat. No. 6,217,512, a portable visual cervical inspection apparatus for visual inspection of a cervix is disclosed. A light source is attached to the housing of the apparatus, adapted to illuminate the cervix with light such to enhance the definition between cancerous and healthy cervical tissue. To provide the illumination of the cervix, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) are used.
However, there are problems related to this invention. The lighting as disclosed in the mentioned patent document is not adequate for these purposes, as the light emitted by the combination of the LEDs does not provide a suitable color rendering.

Portable device for cervical inspection comprising groups of light-emitting diodes


Variable motion control devices and methods of use. The devices and methods relate to providing an output, such as a rotational shaft output, transmitted from a rotational shaft input, with the output varying based on a control input. The devices and methods are used, for example, to provide a variable output for use with a compressor, power take off, or transmission or differential application. To provide the variable output, the devices and methods include use of mechanical component systems, such as spur gear planetary systems, ring gear planetary systems, bevel gear arrangements, or combinations of such features. The control input is implemented, for example, by arrangements of bindably meshed gears, tension between pulleys joined by belts or similar arrangements of sprockets and chains, use of magnetic clutches, hydraulic or pneumatic controls, or braking devices.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a variable motion control device, and in particular to a variable differential or transmission type device that allows infinitely variable and selectable rotational output at an output shaft, given a fixed or variable input shaft rotation, the variation being controllable via one or more additional inputs.
2. Background of the Technology
There remains an unmet need for providing an easy to use variable rotational shaft output device, given an fixed or variable input shaft rotation, the control occurring via a second input.

Variable motion control device and method of use


An energy management system comprising a longitudinally extending beam including a first beam portion and a second beam portion. A first one of the first beam portion and the second beam portion has a first face, a first side wall and a second side wall. A second one of the first beam portion and the second beam portion has a second face. The first side wall has a first U-shaped section spaced from the first face and the second side wall has a second U-shaped section spaced from the first face. The first side wall rolls to enlarge the first U-shaped section and the second side wall rolls to enlarge the second U-shaped section during an impact force directed against the first face of the first beam portion or the second face of the second beam portion.

The present invention relates to a beam design that absorbs energy efficiently while deforming. Applications for this invention could include vehicle bumper systems, side impact bars, and sill plates.
Modern impact beams are designed to absorb a maximum of impact energy over a given stroke. At the same time, they are designed to minimize load spikes, and to distribute energy in a manner promoting uniform and predictable collapse upon undergoing loading from impact. Every millimeter of space is important to energy absorption. Further, the individual components of an energy absorbing system must combine well with other energy absorbing components.
Accordingly, an energy management beam which maximizes the aforementioned desired features has long been desired.


A safety brake system for a trailer comprises a brake end having a brake unit adapted to be secured to a trailer and positioned to block movement of the trailer when actuated and an actuation end adapted to be secured to a front end of the trailer. The actuation end comprises a hitch ball coupler having a hand portion defining a concavity adapted to receive a hitch ball of a vehicle. It also comprises a mechanism operatively connected to the hitch coupler and displaceable with respect thereto. The mechanism comprises a probe plunger and a hitched position. The mechanism is connected to the brake unit for actuation of said brake unit. The safety brake system also comprises a biasing unit. A trailer assembly is also provided.

Large trailers, such as those used in the freight industries, are equipped with braking systems in order to ensure that the tractor and trailer combination has enough braking power to safely transit on roads. Some trailers are commonly equipped with air brakes that are actuated from the tractor, which air brakes automatically lock the wheels of the trailer when the latter is unhitched.
Smaller trailers, for instance domestic trailers or trailers used to tow recreational vehicles (e.g., boat, motorcycle, ATV, etc.), are seldom provided with a braking system in order to keep their costs low. Accordingly, the braking power is fully supplied by the vehicle towing the trailer. When the trailer is unhitched, random masses (e.g., log, plank, rock) are often wedged behind the wheels of the trailer so as to block movement of the trailer. This action of wedging is hazardous. Moreover, if the operator forgets to wedge a mass behind the wheels, the trailer might start moving if it is on a slope. With the inertia of the trailer and its contents, a moving trailer is hard to stop and may cause severe damages and/or injuries.
Also, some types of smaller trailers may have brake systems. The brake systems may operate with electric, pneumatic, hydraulic networks, among other possibilities. In most cases, the brake systems can only be actuated by actions from the vehicle towing the trailer.


The present invention refers to an mowing equipment (100) for cutting, collecting and dynamic processing of grass used for grass mowing, which, as well as mowing, innovates on gathering the mowed grass and proceeding on its dynamic processing, in order to transform the mowed and gathered grass amount in a disaggregated mass, similar to powder that is returned to the soil, thus being exempted from any subsequent steps on combing, sweeping, or picking.

1. Field of Invention
The present invention refers to an mowing equipment for cutting, collecting and dynamic processing of grass that innovates on gathering the mowed grass and proceeding on its processing needing, thus, no subsequent steps on combing, sweeping, or picking.
2. Description of Related Art
As it is common known, maintenance of grassy areas, whether private or even in public areas, demands a set of frequent proceedings, among which mowing and gathering the mowed grass afterwards, whether by means of combing, sweeping, or even picking.
Thus, depending on the size of the grassy area, there are several types of equipments, from mechanic mowers activated by human force to electric mowers, or activated by internal combustion engines (two-stroke engine), or even small vehicles shaped like micro tractors which are driven by the operator.
As to the type of mowing, the current mowers comprise: a) helical blades mounted on a horizontal oblong rotor (normally used in mechanic mowers activated by human force); b) plastic wire disposed in a rotary coil (used in small electric mowers, wherein the wire makes the mowing and is set apart when wasted); and c) metallic rotary blades on several embodiments (employed in the several types of mowers).
Generally, conventional mowers, having rare exceptions, simply make the grass mowing, wherein the recently mowed material must be gathered, otherwise it may be spread by wind, rain, possibly causing damages like obstruction of water outflow galleries, etc.
Some few sophisticated models of mowers comprise some kind of recently mowed grass suction, which is directed to a bag-shaped compartment, which must be periodically emptied.
This latter type of mower, besides does not require the gathering of the recently mowed grass, is not capable of gathering small sticks and other wastes eventually present on the area to be worked on, and invariably still implies on the operation in which the amount of the suctioned and gathered grass must be later put away in a suitable way.
Regarding this context, was developed the present equipment for cutting, collecting and dynamic processing of grass, which promotes grass mowing in a previously defined level, immediately performing the gathering of the mowed grass, and continuously performing the dynamic grass processing, as well, by means of an effect analogous to the grating.

Equipment for cutting, collecting and dynamic processing of grass


An optical disc drive reads identification information from an optical disc inserted in the drive in a label orientation having a label side presented to the optical disc drive laser by reading codes marked at the opposing storage side in a transparent region or marked on the label side oriented to be read from the storage side. The identification information is used to determine the ability and authority of the optical disc to have a label written on the label surface. For instance, label authorization is determined from authorization information embedded on the storage side of the optical disc when the optical disc is in a storage orientation and the label authorization is saved on an associated information handling system with reference to the identification information to allow authorization to be determined when the optical disc is in the label orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates in general to the field of information handling system media labeling, and more particularly to a system and method for optical disc media labeling based on disc type.
2. Description of the Related Art
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems often interact through internal or external peripherals to store information on portable media, such as optical discs. Optical disc storage media are available in a variety of types including CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD-RAM, with each media having data written by a laser applying a format associated with the media type. Typically, information handling system users will purchase optical media in mass quantities that come on spindles. Although a spindle of optical discs provides a user with a substantial storage capacity, each optical disc on a spindle is generally identical in appearance so that users often have difficulty distinguishing discs from each other after data is stored. A common solution has been to write a label on the disc itself with a non-erasable ink marker. However, recently introduced optical disc labeling methods offer an automated alternative by using the laser to write a label on the non-storage side of a disc. The non-storage side of a disc is treated with a special chemical coating that changes its appearance upon application of a laser to support writing of visually readable labels. Typically, after a user records information on the data storage side of a disc, the user flips the disc over to expose the labeling coating of the non-storage side to the laser and reinserts the disc into the drive for the label to be written with the same drive's optical system.
One difficulty that arises with optical disc labeling is that each laser writes on each disc with a specific set of parameters. Optical disc type identification information embedded on the storage side of each disc is accessed upon initial insertion of a disc so that the optical drive identifies the inserted disc and selects appropriated parameters for writing information. However, once the optical disc is flipped over to write the label on the non-storage side, there is no direct way to read the identification information embedded on the storage side. In some circumstances, disc labeling is undesirable, such as where a disc does not support labeling or a disc is not authorized to use labeling technology. As an example, if a user creates a label for writing on the non-storage side of an optical disc but the drive fails to write the label, the user may believe the drive inoperative, resulting in service calls to the manufacturer of the information handling system. As another example, a user may attempt to create labels before inserting the disc to write data so that the optical drive is unable to determine the type of optical disc involved. Generally, optical drives determine the type of optical disc by reading specific information embedded in the optical disc's data storage side. Often, a bar code circumferentially aligned at the inner diameter of the disc is used to include a unique identifier, such as a serial number, for identifying the disc. The bar code is relatively large in size and ink-written on the transparent outer coating of the optical disc on either the storage side or label side of the disc. The optical drive's pick-up reads the bar code, either directly if on the storage side or through the transparent coating if on the label side, to determine the disc's unique identity and other information such as the type of disc. The optical drive then determines more precise parameters of the disc read from the information embedded in the data storage portion of the optical disc.