A calculation is facilitated for y[i]=q[i]×mod(p−1) which is required as an intermediate value when calculating intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j], which is a parameter for use by an interleaver for on a turbo code defined in a standard 3GPP TS25.212 of IMT 2000, from prime number p, base sequence s[j], inter-row permutation pattern T[i], and prime number sequence q[i]. First, index i and variable div are initialized to zero. When q[i]≧div+p−1, p−1 is added to the value of div. When q[i]<div+p−1, y[i] is calculated in accordance with y[i]=q[i]−div. Index i is incremented and the foregoing processing is repeated until i reaches R.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an internal interleaver for turbo coding, referred to as a prime number interleaver, which has been normalized in wideband DS-CDMA (W-CDMA) that has been standardized as one of radio access networks (RAN) for a third-generation mobile communication system (IMT2000).
2. Description of the Related Art
Wideband DS-CDMA (W-CDMA) has been standardized as one of radio access networks (RAN) for the third-generation mobile communication system (IMT2000), and a turbo code internal interleaver, referred to as the "prime number interleaver," has been normalized in the standard. Detailed description thereof is disclosed in "3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Radio Access Network; Multiplexing And Channel Coding (FDD)" (Release 1999), 3GPP TS25. 213 V3.10.0 (2002-06), Section 126.96.36.199.3, Turbo Code Internal Interleaver, pp. 16-19. The following description is based on this document.
In an interleaver for the turbo code normalized in Standard 3GPP TS25.212 of IMT2000 (W-CDMA), intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j], which is indispensable for encoding data to be transmitted, is defined as follows using r[i] which is defined later:U[i][j]=s[(j*r[i])*mod(p−1)]=s[x[i][j]]  (1)
where x[i][j]=(j*r[i])*mod(p−1)
Herein, r[i] is defined as follows using inter-row permutation pattern T[i], and prime number sequence q[i] which is defined later:r[T[i]]=q[i]  (2)
Prime number sequence q[i] is defined as follows using the number of rows R and prime number p of the interleaver:q[0]=1                where q[i] for i=1, 2, . . . , R−1, is a minimum prime number which satisfiesg.c.d(q[i],p−1)=1 and q[i]>6, and q[i]>q[i−1]  (3)        where g. c. d(x,y) is the greatest common divisor of x and y.
Referring to FIGS. 1A and 1B, values for prime number sequence q[i] are exemplified for each value of prime number p when the number of rows R in the interleaver is equal to 20 (R=20).
As described above, intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j] is calculated using prime number p, base sequence s[j], inter-row permutation pattern T[i], and prime number sequence q[i].
In a mobile telephone and the like in IMT2000, a data length is first calculated for data to be transmitted. Then, prime number p, base sequence s[j], inter-row permutation pattern T[i], and prime number sequence q[i] are determined based on the calculated data length (or the size of a matrix for storing the data to be transmitted). Then, intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j] is calculated based on these values. Next, transmission data is encoded based on the calculated intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j] and inter-row permutation pattern T[i], and the encoded transmission data is transmitted to a mobile telephone network. Another mobile telephone which has received the encoded data, decodes the received encoded data based on intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j] and inter-row permutation pattern T[i] which have been calculated in a similar manner.
Prime number p, base sequence s[j], and prime number sequence q[i] can be uniquely determined from the length of data to be transmitted (or the size of a matrix which stores the data to be transmitted). Prime number sequence q[i] has been shown in Equation (3) and FIGS. 1A, 1B. Also, the present applicant has already filed a method of efficiently calculating base sequence s[j] (Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-298493). For inter-row permutation pattern T[i], there are four fixed patterns, any one of which is selected.
As described above, intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j] is calculated using prime number p, base sequence s[j], inter-row permutation pattern T[i], and prime number sequence q[i]. However, for simplifying the calculation, intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j] is typically calculated after y[i], defined as follows, is determined as an intermediate value to calculate intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j]:y[i]=w[i][1]=q[i]*mod(p−1)  (4)
where w[i][j] is defined as follows:
                                                                                w                                                        [                    i                    ]                                                                                [                  j                  ]                                            =                                                                    x                                                              [                                              T                                                                          [                          i                          ]                                                                    ]                                                                                [                    j                    ]                                                  =                                                      (                                          j                      *                                              r                                                                          [                                                      T                                                                                [                              i                              ]                                                                                ]                                                                                )                                    *                                      mod                    (                                          p                      -                      1                                        )                                                                                =                                                (                                      j                    *                                          q                                                                    [                        i                        ]                                                                              )                                *                                  mod                                                        (                                          p                      -                      1                                        )                                                                                (        5        )
In the following, description will be made of a method of calculating intra-row permutation pattern U[i][j] according to the prior art, using a specific example.
First, prime number p, base sequence s[j], inter-row permutation pattern T[i], and prime number sequence q[i] are determined from the data length of data to be transmitted. Assume for example that p, s[j], T[i], q[i] have been determined as follows:
Setting Parametersp=7s[i]=[1,3,2,6,4,5](j=0-5)T[i]=[4,3,2,1,0] (i=0-4)(R=5)q[i]=[1,7,11,13,17] (i=0-4)(R=5)
First, intermediate value y[i] is calculated as follows based on Equation (4), p, q[i]. FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of the procedure to find y[i].
Calculation Process 1y[0]=q[0]*mod(7−1)=1*mod 6=1y[1]=q[1]*mod(7−1)=7*mod 6=1y[2]=q[2]*mod(7−1)=11*mod 6=5y[3]=q[3]*mod(7−1)=13*mod 6=1y[4]=q[4]*mod(7−1)=17*mod 6=5
Next, x[i][1] is calculated as follows based on y[i] calculated in Calculation Process 1, T[i], and Equations (4), (5):
Calculation Process 2y[i]=w[i][1]=x[T[i]][1]y[0]=w[0][1]=[T[0]][1]=x[4][1]=1y[1]=w[1][1]=[T[1]][1]=x[3][1]=1y[2]=w[2][1]=[T[2]][1]=x[2][1]=5y[3]=w[3][1]=[T[3]][1]=x[1][1]=1y[4]=w[4][1]=[T[4]][1]=x[0][1]=5Therefore, x[i][1]=[5, 1, 5, 1, 1] (I=0 to 4) (R=5)
Next, x[i][j] is calculated based on x[i][1] calculated in Calculation Process 2 and prime number p with reference to Equation (1), without performing a remainder calculation, as follows:
Calculation Process 3x[0][0]=0x[0][1]=5x[0][2]=x[0][1]+x[0][1]−(p−1)=5+5−6=4x[0][3]=x[0][2]+x[0][1]−(p−1)=4+5−6=3x[0][4]=x[0][3]+x[0][1]−(p−1)=3+5−6=2x[0][5]=x[0][4]+x[0][1]−(p−1)=2+5−6=1
(Since each of x[0][1]+x[0][1], x[0][2]+x[0][1], x[0][3]+x[0][1], x[0][4]+x[0][1] is larger than p−1, p−1 is subtracted from the value.)x[1][0]=0x[1][1]=1x[1][2]=x[1][1]+x[1][1]=1+1=2x[1][3]=x[1][2]+x[1][1]=2+1=3x[1][4]=x[1][3]+x[1][1]=3+1=4x[1][5]=x[1][4]+x[1][1]=4+1=5
(Since each of x[0][1]+x[0][1], x[0][2]+x[0][1], x[0][3]+x[0][1], x[0][4]+x[0][1] is smaller than p−1, the value is output as is.)x[2][0]=0x[2][1]=5x[2][2]=x[2][1]+x[2][1]−(p−1)=5+5−6=4x[2][3]=x[2][2]+x[2][1]−(p−1)=4+5−6=3x[2][4]=x[2][3]+x[2][1]−(p−1)=3+5−6=2x[2][5]=x[2][4]+x[2][1]−(p−1)=2+5−6=1
(Since each of x[0][1]+x[0][1], x[0][2]+x[0][1], x[0][3]+x[0][1], x[0][4]+x[0][1] is larger than p−1, p−1 is subtracted from the value.)x[3][0]=0x[3][1]=1x[3][2]=x[3][1]+x[3][1]=1+1=2x[3][3]=x[3][2]+x[3][1]=2+1=3x[3][4]=x[3][3]+x[3][1]=3+1=4x[3][5]=x[3][4]+x[3][1]=4+1=5
(Since each of x[0][1]+x[0][1], x[0][2]+x[0][1], x[0][3]+x[0][1], x[0][4]+x[0][1] is smaller than p−1, the value is output as is.)x[4][0]=0x[4][1]=5x[4][2]=x[4][1]+x[4][1]−(p−1)=5+5−6=4x[4][3]=x[4][2]+x[4][1]−(p−1)=4+5−6=3x[4][4]=x[4][3]+x[4][1]−(p−1)=3+5−6=2x[4][5]=x[4][4]+x[4][1]−(p−1)=2+5−6=1
(Since each of x[0][1]+x[0][1], x[0][2]+x[0][1], x[0][3]+x[0][1], x[0][4]+x[0][1] is larger than p−1, p−1 is subtracted from the value.)
Finally, U[i] [j] is calculated based on x[i][j], s[i], and Equation (1).
Calculation Process 4U[0][0]=s[x[0][0]]=s[0]=1U[0][1]=s[x[0][1]]=s[5]=5U[0][2]=s[x[0][2]]=s[4]=4U[0][3]=s[x[0][3]]=s[3]=6U[0][4]=s[x[0][4]]=s[2]=2U[0][5]=s[x[0][5]]=s[1]=3U[1][0]=s[x[1][0]]=s[0]=1U[1][1]=s[x[1][1]]=s[1]=3U[1][2]=s[x[1][2]]=s[2]=2U[1][3]=s[x[1][3]]=s[3]=6U[1][4]=s[x[1][4]]=s[4]=4U[1][5]=s[x[1][5]]=s[5]=5U[2][0]=s[x[2][0]]=s[0]=1U[2][1]=s[x[2][1]]=s[5]=5U[2][2]=s[x[2][2]]=s[4]=4U[2][3]=s[x[2][3]]=s[3]=6U[2][4]=s[x[2][4]]=s[2]=2U[2][5]=s[x[2][5]]=s[1]=3U[3][0]=s[x[3][0]]=s[0]=1U[3][1]=s[x[3][1]]=s[1]=3U[3][2]=s[x[3][2]]=s[2]=2U[3][3]=s[x[3][3]]=s[3]=6U[3][4]=s[x[3][4]]=s[4]=4U[3][5]=s[x[3][5]]=s[5]=5U[4][0]=s[x[4][0]]=s[0]=1U[4][1]=s[x[4][1]]=s[5]=5U[4][2]=s[x[4][2]]=s[4]=4U[4][3]=s[x[4][3]]=s[3]=6U[4][4]=s[x[4][4]]=s[2]=2U[4][5]=s[x[4][5]]=s[1]=3
In processors used in mobile telephones and the like, limitations in their circuit size often force them to perform the remainder calculations digit by digit. When a processor has a data width of 16 bits, 16 clocks are required for the calculation of each row of y[i] (step 43 in FIG. 2) in Calculation Process 1. Further, assuming that two clocks are required for a conditional branch (step 45) in FIG. 2, and one clock is required for other processing (step 44) in FIG. 2, 19 clocks are required for each execution of step 43 to step 45 in FIG. 2. As a result, Calculation Process 1 requires a total of 19*R clocks (since the maximum value of R is 20, 380 clocks are required at maximum).


A method for delivering person to person services to a telephone subscriber. An embodiment of the present invention may be implemented on an Advanced Intelligent Network (AIN). A telephone number of a buddy of the subscriber is associated with a buddy rule on a buddy list. The buddy list is accessible by a service control point. When a call intended the subscriber is received by a service switching point from a calling party, a query is launched by the service switching point to the service control point. The query comprises the calling number of the calling party and the called number of the subscriber. Using the called number, the service control point retrieves and reviews the buddy list. If the calling number matches the telephone number on the buddy list, the service control point instructs the service switching point to terminate the call using the buddy rule. If the calling number does not match the telephone number on the buddy list, the service control point instructs the service switching point to terminate the call using a default rule.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to telecommunications, and more particularly, to a system and method for providing person to person (PTP) telephone services.
2. Background of the Invention
Using the telephone to communicate has become an important aspect of our lives. As a result, almost every family in an industrialized nation has a telephone line. On a daily basis, a typical family may receive a large number of telephone calls. The number of incoming calls could be even larger if the family has become a target customer of a telemarketing campaign. A telephone user may find it annoying to have answered a call not intended for him or her, especially when the call is from an unknown person such as a telemarketing representative.
In addition to avoiding calls from calling parties who are unknown to any member of the family, a telephone user may prefer not to answer a call unless he or she knows specifically that the call is intended for him or her. For example, in a multi-member family comprising a father, a mother, and a son, friends and relatives the father may want to answer calls from only a small of number of his "buddies". He does not even want to answer calls intended for the wife or the son.
The annoyance of answering calls from unknown calling parties could be aggravated in a call waiting situation. For example, the father could be extremely annoyed when he must temporary put a first call on hold to answer a second call, only to find out the second call is from a telemarketing company.
To avoid answering telephone unwanted or unwelcome calls, a number of solutions have been used. The first solution involves the use of an answering machine. A person using this method decides whether to answer a call when the calling party identifies himself or herself following a greeting played by the answering machine. This solution is effective in screening out undesirable calls. However, the solution also creates a new problem when many calling parties, especially those from whom the person wishes to receive calls, simply hang up as soon as the greeting is played by the answering machine, resulting in fewer communication opportunities between the calling parties and the person. In addition, this solution does not solve the call waiting problem.
A second solution requires the subscription of a service commonly known as the Caller ID service. A telephone service subscriber with the Caller ID service subscription has a device that displays the identity of the calling party. The identity may be the name and/or the telephone number of the calling party. The identity of the calling party may be displayed on the device in alphanumeric characters. Although this solution is arguably better than the first solution, a number of disadvantages exist. For example, the solution still requires the subscriber to review what is displayed on the Caller ID device before deciding whether to answer the incoming call. Like the first solution, the second solution does not solve the call waiting problem.
A third solution involves the installation of multiple telephone lines. For example, each member of a multi-member family has his or her own telephone line. The multiple telephone lines must be adapted to alert associated telephone sets with distinctive ringing tones to enable the members to know whose line is ringing. Although this solution can, to some extent, solve the problems described above, the solution can be expensive. Having multiple telephone lines for one family may not be an affordable luxury for most people.

AT&T Delaware Intellectual Property, Inc.


A method for generating a representation of multimedia content by first segmenting the multimedia content spatially and temporally to extract objects. Feature extraction is applied to the objects to produce semantic and syntactic attributes, relations, and a containment set of content entities. The content entities are coded to produce directed acyclic graphs of the content entities, where each directed acyclic graph represents a particular interpretation of the multimedia content. Attributes of each content entity are measured and the measured attributes are assigned to each corresponding content entity in the directed acyclic graphs to rank order the multimedia content.

There exist many standards for encoding and decoding multimedia content. The content can include audio signals in one dimension, images with two dimensions in space, video sequences with a third dimension in time, text, or combinations thereof. Numerous standards exist for audio and text.
For images, the best known standard is JPEG, and for video sequences, the most widely used standards include MPEG-1, MPEG-2 and H.263. These standards are relatively low-level specifications that primarily deal with the spatial compression in the case of images, and spatial and temporal compression for video sequences. As a common feature, these standards perform compression on a frame basis. With these standards, one can achieve high compression ratios for a wide range of applications.
Newer video coding standards, such as MPEG-4, see "Information Technology—Generic coding of audio/visual objects," ISO/IEC FDIS 14496-2 (MPEG4 Visual), November 1998, allow arbitrary-shaped objects to be encoded and decoded as separate video object planes (VOP). This emerging standard is intended to enable multimedia applications, such as interactive video, where natural and synthetic materials are integrated, and where access is universal. For example, one might want to "cut-and-paste" a moving figure or object from one video to another. In this type of scenario, it is assumed that the objects in the multimedia content have been identified through some type of segmentation algorithm, see for example, U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/326,750 "Method for Ordering Image Spaces to Search for Object Surfaces" filed on Jun. 4, 1999 by Lin et al.
The most recent standardization effort taken on by the MPEG committee is that of MPEG-7, formally called "Multimedia Content Description Interface," see "MPEG-7 Context, Objectives and Technical Roadmap," ISO/IEC N2729, March 1999. Essentially, this standard plans to incorporate a set of descriptors and description schemes that can be used to describe various types of multimedia content. The descriptor and description schemes are associated with the content itself and allow for fast and efficient searching of material that is of interest to a particular user. It is important to note that this standard is not meant to replace previous coding standards. Rather, it builds on other standard representations, especially MPEG-4, because the multimedia content can be decomposed into different objects and each object can be assigned a unique set of descriptors. Also, the standard is independent of the format in which the content is stored. MPEG-7 descriptors can be attached to compressed or uncompressed data.
Descriptors for multimedia content can be used in a number of ways, see for example "MPEG-7 Applications," ISO/IEC N2728, March 1999. Most interesting, for the purpose of the description below, are database search and retrieval applications. In a simple application environment, a user may specify some attributes of a particular object. At this low-level of representation, these attributes may include descriptors that describe the texture, motion and shape of the particular object. A method of representing and comparing shapes has been described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/326,759 "Method for Ordering Image Spaces to Represent Object Shapes" filed on Jun. 4, 1999 by Lin et al. One of the drawbacks of this type of descriptor is that it is not straightforward to effectively combine this feature of the object with other low-level features. Another problem with such low-level descriptors, in general, is that a high-level interpretation of the object or multimedia content is difficult to obtain. Hence, there is a limitation in the level of representation.
To overcome the drawbacks mentioned above and obtain a higher-level of representation, one may consider more elaborate description schemes that combine several low-level descriptors. In fact, these description schemes may even contain other description schemes, see "MPEG-7 Description Schemes (V0.5)," ISO/IEC N2844, July 1999.
As shown in FIG. 1a, a generic description scheme (DS) has been proposed to represent multimedia content. This generic audio-visual DS 100 includes a separate syntactic DS 101, and a separate semantic DS 102. The semantic structure refers to the physical and logical signal aspects of the content, while the semantic structure refers to the conceptual meaning of the content. For a video sequence, the syntactic elements may be related to the color, shape and motion of a particular object. On the other hand, the semantic elements may refer to information that cannot be extracted from low-level descriptors, such as the time and place of an event or the name of a person in the multimedia content. In addition to the separate syntactic and semantic DSs, a syntactic-semantic relation graph DS 103 has been proposed to link the syntactic and semantic DSs.
The major problem with such a scheme is that the relations and attributes specified by the syntactic and semantic DS are independent, and it is the burden of the relation graph DS to create a coherent and meaningful interpretation of the multimedia content. Furthermore, the DSs mentioned above are either tree-based or graph-based. Tree-based representations provide an efficient means of searching and comparing, but are limited in their expressive ability; the independent syntactic and semantic DSs are tree-based. In contrast, graph-based representations provide a great deal of expressive ability, but are notoriously complex and prone to error for search and comparison.
For the task at hand, it is crucial that a representation scheme is not limited to how multimedia content is interpreted. The scheme should also provide an efficient means of comparison. From a human perspective, it is possible to interpret multimedia content in many ways; therefore, it is essential that any representation scheme allows multiple interpretations of the multimedia content. Although the independent syntactic and semantic DS, in conjunction with the relation graph DS, may allow multiple interpretations of multimedia content, it would not be efficient to perform comparisons.
As stated above, it is possible for a DS to contain other DSs. In the same way that the generic DS includes a syntactic DS, a semantic DS, and a syntactic/semantic relation graph DS. It has been proposed that the syntactic DS 101 includes a segment DS 105, a region DS 106, and a segment/region relation graph DS 107. As shown in FIG. 1b, the segment and region DSs may be used to define the temporal and spatial tree structure of multimedia content, respectively, and the segment/region relation graph DS may be used to describe the spatio-temporal relationships between segments and regions. Similarly, as shown in FIG. 1c, the semantic DS 102 includes an event DS 108, an object DS 109, and an event/object relation graph DS 110. The event and object DSs may be used to define event and object trees that define semantic index tables for temporal events and spatial objects, respectively. The event/object relation graph DS may be used to describe any type of spatio-temporal relationship between events and objects. As with the higher level DSs, namely the semantic and syntactic DSs, these lower-level DSs suffer the same problems with expressiveness and computational complexity.
Therefore, there is a need for representing syntactic and semantic attributes of multimedia content that balances the complexities of data structures and the methods that operate on the structures. In addition, there is a need to compare multimedia content according to content attributes.

Method for representing and comparing multimedia content according to rank


A display apparatus includes an active layer that overlaps a substrate and comprises a channel region. The display apparatus further includes an insulating layer disposed on the substrate and the active layer. The display apparatus further includes a gate electrode disposed on the insulating layer, overlapping the channel region, and comprising a first gate electrode layer and a second gate electrode layer, wherein the first gate electrode layer is formed of a first material and is disposed between the insulating layer and the second electrode layer, and wherein the second gate electrode layer is formed of a second material that is different from the first material. The display apparatus further includes a contact portion disposed on the insulating layer and comprising a first contact layer that is formed of the first material. The display apparatus further includes a pixel electrode that contacts the first contact layer.

1. Field
The present disclosure relates to a flat panel display apparatus and a method for manufacturing the flat panel display apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Flat panel display apparatuses may include organic light emitting display apparatuses, liquid crystal display (LCD) apparatuses, and so on. Typically, manufacturing of a flat panel display apparatus may involve forming a plurality of components on a substrate. The components may include thin film transistors, capacitors, and wirings that are electrically connected to the thin film transistors and/or the capacitors. In general, patterns that include thin film transistors, capacitors, and/or wiring may be transferred onto a substrate using masks. Manufacturing of a large-size and/or high-resolution display apparatus may require many masks and/or many mask process steps. Therefore, the manufacturing cost for the display apparatus may be undesirably high.

Flat panel display apparatus and method for manufacturing the flat panel display apparatus


The invention provides an electron-impact ion source device having high brightness as compared to known Nier-type ion sources, while providing similar advantages in terms of flexibility of the generated ion species, for example. The ionization chamber of the device operates at high pressures and provides for a large number of interactions between the electron beam and the gas molecules.

Focused Ion Beam, FIB, technology finds its application in three major activities, all three of which rely on the availability and use of finely focused ion beams.
FIB machining allows the manufacture of small nano-scale devices, for example through milling of materials. It further allows functionalizing surfaces with specific properties or creating nano-materials. FIB machining is further used as a sample preparation tool, e.g. for Transmission Electron Microscopy, TEM.
FIBs are also used in nano-imaging in order to perform three-dimensional sample investigations at the nanoscale. A well-established tool in this application field is the ORION™ Helium Ion Microscope, HIM. It uses He+ and Ne+ beams to perform high resolution ion-microscopy by detecting secondary electrons emitted from the sample surface.
For analytical purposes, Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry, SIMS, represents a widely used and extremely powerful technique in order to perform chemical analysis of specimens. In SIMS, a focused primary ion beam is used to sputter material from a specimen and create localised secondary ion emissions, which can be analysed by different kinds of spectrometers. Cs+, O2+ or O− ions represent typical reactive primary ion species used by SIMS as they enhance the emission of negative or positive secondary ions, respectively.
A common aspect of all of these afore mentioned FIB nano-applications is that they require high-brightness ion sources to provide finely focused ion beams for a high lateral resolution, while producing sufficiently high ion beam currents to obtain reasonable erosion rates as well as acceptable secondary electron/ion yields.
Brightness is an important figure of merit of an ion source. It is a conserved quantity, i.e., a high brightness ion source implies a high brightness beam and thus a small high current ion probe on the sample. Brightness is given by the following formula, wherein dsource is the ion source diameter, and αIon-beam is the opening angle of the solid ion emission angle Ω:
  B  =                    I                  Ion                                -                              beam                                      A          Source                ·        Ω              ≈                  4        ·                  I                      Ion                                      -                                    beam                                                π          2                ·                  d          Source          2                ·                  α                      Ion                                      -                                    beam                    2
The normalised or reduced brightness Br is defined as follows, wherein VBeam is the beam potential:
      B    r    =            B              V        Beam              ≈                  4        ·                  I                      Ion                                      -                                    beam                                                π          2                ·                  d          Source          2                ·                  α                      Ion                                      -                                    Beam                    2                ·                  V          Beam
The reduced brightness is used in order to compare the performance of ion sources to each other. It is most commonly expressed in Am−2 sr−1 V−1.
Furthermore, the energy spread of the generated ions should be kept as small as possible in order to minimise possible chromatic aberrations within the ion focussing column. The achievable ion probe size would be considerably increased by such chromatic aberrations. Another important fact is that the used ion species has a strong impact on many different parameters in all three afore mentioned application areas. For example, in ion beam machining applications, the ion species has a strong influence on etching effects, on the generation of surface roughness, as well as on milling rates which are related to the achieved sputtering yields. By implanting a given ion species into a substrate, a local modification of that substrate material can be achieved. In ion nano-imaging the produced secondary electron yields as well as the resolution of the image, which is closely related to the generated collision cascades within the sample, are influenced by the chosen ion species. Moreover, for analytical applications such as SIMS, the ionisation efficiency of the sputtered matter and therefore the sensitivity of the performed analysis is strongly related to the choice of the used primary ion species. Light ions are advantageous for imaging purposes as they result in small interaction volumes, heavy ions are advantageous for machining as they result in higher sputter yields, reactive ions are advantageous for analysis and they result in higher ion yields. The ability to rapidly switch between ion species depending on the desired application would be a significant advantage.
The most used high-brightness ion source for FIB-applications is the Liquid Metal Ion Source, LMIS. For high-resolution imaging, such as for HIM, the Gas Field Ion Source, GFIS, is primarily used to provide high-brightness ion beams. Both sources can provide ion beams with reasonable lifetimes but unfortunately they are limited in the commonly available choice of ion species. Ion sources with more versatility regarding the choice of ion species are Electron Impact, EI, or plasma ion sources. Unfortunately, so far these sources do not provide high-brightness ion beams comparable to the LMIS or GFIS.
EI ion sources are based on the simple principle of using an electron beam to remove atomic electrons from target gas particles and create in this way positively charged ions. Many known EI ion sources are based on the Nier-type EI ion source architecture, wherein a heated filament is used to generate an electron beam by thermionic emission. The electron beam then passes through an ionization chamber into which the gas that is to be ionized is fed at low gas pressure (≤10−6 mbar) and the created ions are extracted perpendicular to the electron beam axis by applying a positive voltage to a repeller. In such known designs two permanent magnets are generally used to create an external magnetic field confining the electrons into a narrow beam with spiral trajectories directed towards an electron trap located at an opposed end of the ionization chamber, on the electron beam's axis. In some cases, instead of an electron trap, a reflector is used so that in addition the electron beam oscillates between filament and reflector. In this way, the electron path length is considerably increased and a higher ionization efficiency is obtained.
Due to the large ionization volume and the extraction mechanism, the reduced brightness as defined here above of such known EI source devices is limited, and typically of the order of 1 A m−2 sr−1 V−1. In general terms, the brightness of an ion source is a function growing with the intensity of the generated ion current, and with the inverse of the source's ion emission area.
Axial electron impact ion source devices providing the mentioned limited brightness are known for example from patent documents US 2012/012746 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 5,391,962 A, US 2016/172146 A1 or US 2014/034844 A1. Ion carpets are disclosed in the context of ion sources in patent documents US 2013/120894 A1 and US 2005/258364 A1. The disclosed devices are structurally and functionally different from embodiments in accordance with the present invention.

LUXEMBOURG INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (LIST)


Provided are a motor control method and a device, applicable in the technical field of motor control, and particularly applicable to a controller in a motor control system. The system comprises one controller and at least two motors, and each of the motors drives one drive entity. The method comprises: acquiring a control instruction at a current time, a positional relationship of drive entities, and a system state after a previous program cycle has ended; on the basis of the acquired information, and in combination with a pre-established mapping of transition relationships and transition conditions between all system states, determining, from the control instruction at the current time, a target system state corresponding to the system state after the previous program cycle has ended, determining, according to the target system state, a target control instruction, and controlling actions of all of the motors.

In the conventional motor control method, a controller controls a motor to operate based on a preset control logic. For example, in a car electric sunroof control system, two controllers are arranged in the system for controlling a sunshade curtain and a glass in a sunroof to move. The two controllers respectively send a control command to the sunshade curtain and the glass in the sunroof to control the sunshade curtain and the glass in the sunroof to move.
However, according to the conventional motor control method, one controller generally corresponds to one motor. In a case of controlling multiple motors, it is required to provide the same number of controllers as the motors and design an independent control logic for each of the controllers, resulting in a high hardware cost and a high software development cost of the control system.


A pivot mechanism for pivotally attaching two members about a pivot axis comprises a first member defining a first pivot hole, and having first and second bearing surfaces oriented perpendicular to the pivot axis. A second member defines a second pivot hole aligned with the first pivot hole, and a pivot plate defines a plate pivot hole aligned with the first and second pivot holes such that inner surfaces of the second member and pivot plate are parallel to the bearing surfaces. Wear pads are located between the inner and bearing surfaces. A pivot pin extends through the pivot holes. The pivot plate and second member are squeezed against the wear pads, and the second member and the pivot plate rotate together with respect to the first member. A residue deflector deflects residue clumps falling off a front seeder leg away from the path of a rear seeder leg.

Agricultural air seeders generally comprise a furrow opener arm pivotally attached to the frame. A furrow opener such as a disc, knife or hoe can be attached to a bottom end of the arm to engage the soil. The arm is maintained in a generally downward operating position by a bias element, and the mounting is such that the arm can move rearward and upward from the operating position, against the bias force, to clear obstacles or follow terrain.
Alternatively, on some air seeders an arm extends rearward and the operating position is dictated by a wheel attached to the rear end of the arm. The arm moves up and down against a downward force exerted by a bias element, following changes in terrain as the wheel moves up and down relative to the frame. Typically one or two further arms, or legs, extend downward from the arm and a furrow opener is attached to the bottom of each leg. In some air seeders as well, the bias element is a hydraulic cylinder operative to provide the necessary bias force, as well as to raise the furrow opener from the operating position. Such an air seeder is generally disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,396,851 to the present inventor Beaujot.
In any event the furrow opener arm must move freely about its pivotal attachment to the frame. It is desirable to have the furrow opener held in a fixed lateral position to maintain seeding accuracy so the pivotal attachment must be substantially rigid laterally. While moving along a field in a straight line, the lateral forces on the arm are minimal, but during operations the arm is subjected to increased lateral forces when turning and/or when the furrow opener hits the edge of a rock, or like obstruction. The arm, generally made of steel, has some inherent resilience that allows it to flex sideways when subjected to high lateral forces, and then spring back to the properly aligned position.
These high lateral forces cause substantial stress on the pivot mechanism attaching the arm to the frame. The furrow opener is often a considerable distance from the pivot mechanism, such that considerable torque is applied, multiplying the lateral force exerted on the mechanism.
Typically, the pivot mechanism is provided by a bracket fixed to the frame with arm members on each side of the bracket, or alternatively a pair of brackets fixed to the frame, with the arm located between the brackets. A pivot pin through the bracket and the end of the arm provides the pivotal attachment of the arm to the frame. In addition to providing the required pivotal movement of the arm, the pin also exerts the forces required to resist the lateral forces exerted on the arm, and the pin is thus subjected to considerable lateral or bending forces.
Sometimes the brackets are quite widely separated, and the arm includes a lateral brace such that the arm and brace are attached by separate pins, one to each bracket. The wider spacing of the brackets provides at least some degree of torque on the arm to resist the lateral forces exerted on the arm.
A major problem with such conventional pivot mechanisms is that the lateral bending forces cause the pins and brackets wear. In normal operation the arm pivots about the pin, the pin experiences minimal bending forces, and wear is relatively even. Where lateral forces must be resisted, as in rocky fields or where sharp turns are frequent, the lateral force exerted by the pin on the bracket increases, increasing the friction force exerted between the pin and the bracket. This causes increased resistance to the required pivotal movement between the pin and brackets, and wear increases significantly.
In certain air seeders, such as the air seeder of the '851 patent to Beaujot, and that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,762,075 to Halford, the air seeder comprises two generally downward oriented legs attached to the pivoting arm, which is supported by a wheel. The legs are located one behind the other, and separated laterally. A furrow opener is attached to the bottom of each leg such that seed and fertilizer can be placed in separate furrows that that are laterally, and possibly also vertically, spaced so that the fertilizer does not damage the seed.
One of the difficulties this two leg type of seeder has to overcome is that of residue clearance. In no-till seeding, the residue from the previous year's crop is present on the surface of the field, and this residue must pass between the downward extending legs that carry the furrow openers. Where the residue is heavy, or where straws are long, the residue can be gathered by the furrow opener legs, and create a clump that is carried along, pushing soil and eventually plugging the seeder. Where there are two legs for each seed row, these residue clearance problems are multiplied.
The rear leg is commonly slightly offset to the side by 1 to 2 inches and is 8 to 15 inches behind the front leg. Where the furrow opener on the first leg is a knife or hoe type opener, the residue often builds up on this front opener from its raking action. This residue build-up tends to release in small or not so small clumps as the seeder travels through the previous year's residue. The bigger clumps of residue that build up on the front leg tend to ride up on the front leg due to the lifting and rolling effect of the soil movement at the bottom of the leg caused by the knife engaging the soil. As their mass and volume increase, or as they get nudged off balance, these clumps tend to roll off the front leg to one side or the other. When they roll off in the direction that the rear leg is offset, they tend to be caught by the rear leg and so must also clear this rear leg before passing out under the machine.


A long-length industry camera image sensor (LICIS) is proposed for, expressed in X-Y-Z coordinates, converting a pixel line image (PLI) of length LPL along X-direction into a line image signal (LIS). The LICIS includes a full-width linear image sensor (FLIS) of length LIS along X-direction and displaced from the PLI along Z-direction by an imaging distance DIMG for converting an incident line image (ILI) impinging upon its FLIS top surface into the LIS. Where LIS is about equal to LPL. The LICIS also has a full-width linear rod lens (FLRL) of length LRL along X-direction and displaced from the PLI in Z-direction by a working distance DWKG. Where LRL is about equal to LPL and DWKG is selected such that the PLI gets focused by the FLRL into the ILI at the FLIS top surface with an imaging magnification factor of about 1:1.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to electronic imaging. More particularly, the present invention is related to an I-CIS (Industrial Camera Image Scanner) such as used for large flat panel inspection.
2. Related Background Art
A prior art camera image scanner configuration for industrial application is illustrated in FIG. A. Such industrial application includes, for example, the real-time inspection of large liquid crystal display (LCD) production panels, thin film solar panels and textile production webs. Here, an object surface located in an object plane is, while being illuminated by an Illumination Source, imaged by a charge coupled device (CCD) Image Sensor located at an "Imaging Distance" away from the object plane (along Z-direction). While not specifically illustrated here, to those skilled in the art a real inspection of the object surface can be accomplished by imaging the object surface on a scan-line by scan-line basis, with each scan line width labeled "Object Image Width" (X-direction), while providing a controlled relative motion (along Y-direction) between the object surface and the CCD Image Sensor. In an industrial application, the Object Image Width can be easily as large as 36″ to 72″. As the "Image sensor Width" of a single CCD Image Sensor is only in the range of 1″ to 2″ that is substantially smaller than the Object Image Width, an intervening focusing optical path with a Focusing Lens effecting a tiny magnification factor (1:72 to 1:18) is required between the object plane and the imaging surface of the CCD Image Sensor. Given the large Object Image Width and tiny magnification factor, the resulting Imaging Distance lies typically in the range of 10-30 cm.
FIG. B is a basic lens ray diagram for the focusing optical path of the prior art camera image scanner configuration of FIG. A. In addition to a Normal Imaging Light Ray along the Z-axis, a large number of Oblique Imaging Light Rays, each at an Oblique Angle θ from the Normal Imaging Light Ray, need to be focused between the CCD Imaging surface and the Object Plane as well. As the Oblique Angle θ becomes progressively larger toward the edge of the object plane, in the absence of any so-called f-θ compensation in the Focusing Lens design the Oblique Imaging Light Rays would become progressively out of focus as illustrated by the dashed arc tangential to the object plane. Given the imaging geometric parameters involved the Oblique Angle θ can become as large as 60 to 70 degrees where the degree of f-θ compensation can become unacceptable even with an expensive f-θ Focusing Lens. Additionally, it is known in the art that the imaging light intensity falls off toward the edge of the object plane following the cosine-law below:Intensity(θ)=I0×cos4(θ)Where I0 is the imaging light intensity at θ=0 degree. Thus, for example, at θ=60 degree Intensity (60 degree)=6.25%×I0. Such a loss of imaging light intensity near the edge of the object plane is most likely unacceptable in that its associated image signal level and signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) would be too low.
FIG. C illustrates another prior art wherein multiple line cameras (Camera-1, Camera-2, Camera-3, etc.) are juxtaposed with a camera pitch along the object image width for large flat panel inspection. Thus, for each camera, the magnification factor is proportionally increased while the Oblique Angle α, is proportionally reduced with the total number of cameras. With the reduction of Oblique Angle α, the problems of f-α compensation and image signal level fall-off at the edges are correspondingly reduced. However, accompanying the increasing number of cameras are disadvantages of bigger overall camera image scanner size, complication of required precision inter camera alignment for image stitching and inter camera imaging parallax error.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide an Industrial Camera Image Scanner that is compact, having a short Imaging Distance and requiring only simple intervening focusing optical path and simple imaging signal processing.

Long-length industry camera image sensor for flat surface inspection application


The present invention is directed to an apparatus for carrying in-line skates and accessories. The in-line skates have blades that have at least two adjacent wheels and at least one substantially enclosed opening. The apparatus comprising a continuous plastic molded body consisting of a support structure with an extending member forming a handle. The support structure has a pair of outwardly extending flexible tabs sized to secure a hockey puck or ball between them. On the opposite side of the handle are two outwardly extending flexible extensions that are opposed to each other forming a channel that is sized to tightly fit the shaft of a hockey stick allowing the user to secure a hockey stick to the apparatus. In addition, the support structure includes a first and second vertical member appropriately spaced apart that extend downward from the main body of the support structure and are opposed to each other. A rod is permanently attached to the first vertical member and extends toward the second vertical member on a slightly downward angle ending slightly beyond the second vertical member. The second vertical member's end that is closest to the rod has a cutout shape to allow the diameter of the rod to be snap fit into a cutout in the end of this second vertical member. While in the unsnapped position, the end of the rod can be slid through a substantially enclosed opening on an in-line skate such as the opening between the blade and the boot. The procedure can be repeated with a second in-line skate and then the rod's free end can be snap fit into the second vertical members notched end to securely retain the skates on the rod.

1. Field Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for carrying skates, and more particularly to an apparatus for carrying in-line skates.
2. Description of Prior Art
In-line skating is an extremely popular sport for all ages. Skating is usually done on hard concrete or asphalt surfaces in local parks, cities, or recreational areas. This requires the skates to be transported to locations suitable for this sports activity. The difficult is that in-line skates are bulky and difficult to handle when the user is trying to carry them by hand.
There have been various types of carriers designed in an attempt to make transporting in-line skates more manageable. For example, one device for carrying in-line skates has a main body that has two slots cut out of it that accept either in-line or ice skate blades. Straps are connected to the main body that wrap around the boot of each skate and hold the skate in the described slots. An additional strap is connected to the top of the body to allow the assembly to be carried by one hand of the user. The device further contains hockey stick slots in the main body of the unit that are lined with rubber type material. The rubber material is attached to the sidewalls of the slots in order to interference fit with the hockey stick handles and retain the stick handles in the slots.
The difficulty with such a device is that it is bulky and requires a number or components (three straps, two rubber type liners, and at least five strap connection devices). These components must be assembled onto the main body of the device or onto the ends of the straps or both. This significantly adds to the cost of the unit, making it undesirable for the average skater. Also, the device does not have any ability to hold a hockey puck or street hockey ball. These items are frequently transported at the same time as the skates.
There are also carriers that are configured to transport ice skates. However, ice-skate carriers are typically long and define slots that receive the entire length of the skate blade. Such ice skate carriers are not appropriate for in-line skates since in-line skates have large and bulky blades containing wheels and bearings. A corresponding carrier that is configured to receive the length and width of an in-line skate blade also would be large and bulky. Such a carrier would be heavy, difficult to manage, and defeat the purpose of having a carrier.
Therefore, a compact, lightweight, inexpensive, in-line skate carrier that will also carry a hockey puck or street hockey ball is desired. The present carriers that will accommodate in-line skates do not contain all of these qualities.


The pruning-cloth is a heavy duty fabric supported by two light weight poles which can be guided under any type or size shrub with very little effort. Once the cloth has been positioned under the shrub, the pruning is ready to begin. The clippings will fall onto the cloth, saving valuable time and energy, as there is virtually no clean-up or raking. After the shrub is totally pruned, carefully shift the clippings toward the center of the cloth, bringing the poles or guides together, holding them horizontally until they are held vertically over a container, such as a 30 or 40 gallon trash can. The clippings will fall with ease neatly into the container. You are now ready to begin your next shrub with no clean-up behind you.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to trimming shrubs and refers more specifically to a Pruning Cloth which includes a flexible mat supported by light weight poles. At one end of the Pruning Cloth an extension flap is provided for greater coverage of the surface area around the shrub, this will ensure that all clippings from the shrub will fall onto the Pruning Cloth for easy disposal.
2. Description of the Prior Art
For years shrub pruning has been a tedious and undesirable job due to the fact that nothing prevented the shrub's pruned clippings from falling in and among decorative woodchips, gravel, stones, or ground cover, which induce many exasperating hours of difficult clean up.
Many types of tools had been used unsuccessfully to catch shrub clippings. These tools, by there design, caused muscle strains by forcing the person to bend over the shrub to install and remove the tool in an unnatural lifting position thereby causing damage to the surrounding area of the shrub, and to one's body. The Fast and Easy Pruning Cloth can be used with minimal effort, has no impact on back muscles, and can be placed without bending over the shrub for installation or removal. The clippings are securely contained until transported to a suitable container for disposal. The Fast and Easy Pruning Cloth when used, will become an indispensable garden tool, it will eliminate hours of tedious clean up, and keep all decorative materials used around shrubs well groomed with minimal work.


An improved development system for an electrophotographic system includes a reload defect detector for generating a signal corresponding to a potential for reload defect detected in an image to be developed by an electrophotographic system; and a magnetic roll speed selector for selecting a rotational speed for a magnetic roll in a development system of the electrophotographic system, the selected rotational speed corresponding to the generated reload defect potential signal. The speed of the magnetic roll is selected to be a lower speed in response to the potential for reload defect being relatively low. The slower rotation of the magnetic roll prolongs the life of the developer and extends the operational life of the development system before corrective action is needed.

Generally, the process of electrophotographic printing includes charging a photoconductive member to a substantially uniform potential to sensitize its surface. The charged portion of the photoconductive surface is exposed to a light image from a scanning laser beam or an LED source that corresponds to an original document being reproduced. The effect of the light on the charged surface produces an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive surface. After the electrostatic latent image is recorded on the photoconductive surface, the latent image is developed. Two-component and single-component developer materials are commonly used for development. A typical two-component developer comprises a mixture of magnetic carrier granules and toner particles that adhere triboelectrically to the latent image. A single-component developer material is typically comprised of toner particles without carrier particles. Toner particles are attracted to the latent image, forming a toner powder image on the latent image of the photoconductive surface. The toner powder image is subsequently transferred to a copy sheet. Finally, the toner powder image is heated to permanently fuse it to the copy sheet to form the hard copy image.
One common type of development system uses one or more donor rolls to convey toner to the latent image on the photoconductive member. A donor roll is loaded with toner either from a two-component mixture of toner and carrier particles or from a single-component supply of toner. The toner is charged either from its triboelectric interaction with carrier beads or from suitable charging devices such as frictional or biased blades or from other charging devices. As the donor roll rotates it carries toner from the loading zone to the latent image on the photoconductive member. There, suitable electric fields can be applied with a combination of DC and AC biases to the donor roll to cause the toner to develop to the latent image. Additional electrodes, such as those used in the Hybrid Scavengeless Development (HSD) technology may also be employed to excite the toner into a cloud from which it can be harvested more easily by the latent image. The process of conveying toner, sometimes called developer, to the latent image on the photoreceptor is known as "development."
A problem with donor roll developer systems is a defect known as ghosting or reload, which appears as a lightened ghost image of a previously developed image in a halftone or solid on a print. Reload defect occurs when insufficient toner has been loaded onto the donor roll within one revolution of the donor roll after an image has been printed. The donor roll retains the memory of the image, and a ghost image shows up, if another image is printed at that time.
One way of improving the ability of the toner supply to provide an adequate amount of toner to reduce or prevent ghost images is to increase the peripheral speed of the magnetic brush or roll that transfers toner from the supply reservoir to the donor roll. As the relative difference in the speed of the magnetic and donor rolls increases so do the collisions of the carrier or toner granules as well. The toner particles also impinge on the blade mounted proximate to the magnetic brush to regulate, or trim, the height of the magnetic brush so that a controlled amount of toner is transported to the developer roll. The collisions of the toner with the carrier and the trim blade tend to smooth the surface of the toner particles and cause the particles to exhibit increased adhesion. This increased adhesion causes the toner particles to adhere more strongly to the donor roll, and less toner is transferred to the photoreceptor to develop the latent image at a given development voltage. The reduction in the developability of the toner particles is sometimes known as toner abuse.
The stability of the toner may be monitored by maintaining a historical log of the development voltage necessary to provide adequate toner density. As the development system loses the ability to develop toner on the latent image, the absolute value of the development voltage is increased. As the development voltage absolute value approaches the maximum of the development system, corrective action is required to restore the ability of the development system to develop the toner.
What is needed is a way of reducing the abuse of the toner without causing the reload or ghosting defect.

Method and system for reducing toner abuse in development systems of electrophotographic systems


A computer-implemented system that can be implemented in human and machine societies to control resources, services, and policy includes issuing tokens to originators in exchange for commissions to be performed by the originators. A commission can be a particular function in the society or it can represent a resource that an originator will make available to the society in exchange for the tokens. The originators may exchange their tokens for services performed by other participants in the society, in which case the performing participant obtains possession of the exchanged tokens. Auctions can be periodically declared to settle a point of policy, such as allocating one of the society's resources. The participants of the society may bid tokens (both as originators and possessors of tokens) in favor of one of several possible auction preferences. At the end of the term of the auction, tokens that have been bid in the auction are recycled to their respective originators, regardless of the who (originator or possessor) bid the tokens.

Present socio-economic systems are based on two general forms of representation. The most popular economic system, capitalism, is based on representative pricing that seeks to efficiently allocate scarce resources. And, among the developed countries, the most popular political form is the republic, also known as representative democracy, which seeks to allocate political control through elected representatives.
First focussing on economic forms to understand one of the motivations of the present invention, history has repeatedly taught that market-based allocation of resources results in more productive use of resources than does centrally-planned resource allocation. Not surprisingly, economies that have embraced market-based principles have in general flourished, and economies that have embraced Leninism or other state-directed resource allocation have in general failed.
Nevertheless, capitalism is characterized by several shortcomings. First, it is possible through contemporary marketing techniques to distort market perceptions, thereby creating demand for potentially inferior products at prices that are higher than perfect capitalism would dictate. In other words, one of the disadvantages of capitalism in practice is that one of Adam Smith's most important assumptions, namely, that market participants have instant access to perfect market information, has been virtually impossible to achieve, thereby causing distortions in the efficient allocation of resources.
Moreover, varying degrees of accuracy and currency of market information for different market participants can result in further market distortions, such as speculation by insiders. These market distortions tend to further disrupt the productive utilization of resources.
Additionally, irrevocability and exclusivity of resource control, whether among private controllers as in capitalism or state controllers as in communism, can result in irresponsible resource allocation. This problem is exacerbated in communism, which typically exists in a totalitarian political environment that is unresponsive to the demands of market participants. However, the problem remains, although in a less severe form, in capitalism. This is because capitalism typically exists in a political environment that, while comparatively responsive to its citizens, is loosely coupled to the free market and thus relatively sluggish and ineffectual in dealing with irresponsible resource controllers. Indeed, in a representative system, only governments and lending institutions are able to create tokens of exchange, and many worthy endeavors consequently can be cash-starved while undeserving endeavors are over-capitalized due to social preferences peculiar to political and economic representatives.
Still further, modern economic systems, as mentioned above, are based on the premise of resource scarcity. Resource scarcity, however, is not always an economic fact of life. For example, so-called nanotechnology (in one conception, the digital replication, molecule by molecule, of physical objects) has been postulated, a concept spawned by the ever-increasing capabilities and capacities of digital computers. Indeed, although digital nanotechnology may not be imminent, the economic principles highlighted by the prospect of nanotechnology already apply to many forms of digital media. Should nanotechnology ever become a reality as presently envisioned, resource scarcity and, hence, the underpinning of contemporary economic systems, could cease to be problematic. Stated differently, the entire basis of contemporary economic systems the allocation of scarce resources--is undermined by the existence of digital media and might evaporate entirely in the presence of future technologies. Accordingly, the present invention is premised on the evaluation of opportunity instead of the evaluation of scarcity.
Next focussing on contemporary political forms to understand the motivation for the present invention, as stated above in most advanced countries democratic will is exercised through elected representatives. Elected representatives, however, generally advance the causes of their parties, not necessarily those of the electorate, because party support is necessary to be elected in the first place and marketing techniques can to a large extent obviate public dissatisfaction with this. When the goals of a political party become oriented toward preservation of party power, they can diverge from the basic goal of popular government, namely, the implementation of the will of the majority within constricts that ensure the protection of the minority.
Direct representation, however, has heretofore not been feasible. It simply has not been practical to obtain the individual advice and consent of each and every citizen of a polis to resolve every political matter, and for this reason representative democracy has been regarded by some (although not by all, including not by Plato) to be the next best thing to a true democracy in which every political matter is put to a popular vote.
As recognized by the present invention, however, with the advent and likely progress of computer technology, direct representation can indeed be practicable and feasible. Moreover, the present invention recognizes that more closely coupling a market-based economic system with a direct representation political system can alleviate if not eliminate the above-noted shortcomings of contemporary economic and political forms. As further recognized by the present invention, such a coupling can be achieved without necessarily displacing more traditional socioeconomic forms in a manner that would not have been feasible to implement prior to the advent of digital computers and communications. As still further understood by the present invention, such an effective socio-economic form, properly scaled, can be useful whether the individual members of the society are individual people, or corporate groups, or nations, or indeed whether the individual members are humans or automata.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a system and method for allocating resources in a society and for distributing political control among members of a society. Another object of the present invention is to provide a system and method for allocating resources and administering policy in a computer network. Still another object of the present invention is to provide a socio-economic system in which control is decentralized and in which capital and authority are directly originated by members of the society. Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a socioeconomic system in which resource ownership and policy determination are united in a single market-based mechanism.

Computer-implemented system for controlling resources and policies


Wiring substrates 11 and 12 are positioned on a fixed base 10 in a manner such that there is a step between the wiring substrates, and radiation imaging elements 2 and 3, respectively having scintillators 25 and 35 deposited on photosensitive portions 21 and 31, are respectively mounted on the wiring substrates 11 and 12. The radiation imaging element 2 is positioned so that its setting surface protrudes beyond a radiation incident surface of the radiation imaging element 3, and the photosensitive portion 21 of the radiation imaging element 2 and the photosensitive portion 31 of the radiation imaging element 3 are juxtaposed to a degree to which the portions do not overlap. The photosensitive portion 21 of the radiation imaging element 2 extends close to an edge at the radiation imaging element 3 side and the scintillator 25 of substantially uniform thickness is formed up to this position.

In the field of X-ray photography for medical and industrial purposes, radiation imaging systems using radiation detecting elements in place of X-ray sensitive films are coming to be used widely in recent years. Such a radiation imaging system is highly convenient in that there is no need for development as in the case of X-ray sensitive films and radiation images can be checked in real time, etc., and also provides advantages in terms of data storability and ease of handling.
With a general radiation imaging system, an incident radiation image is converted to visible light, etc. (including ultraviolet rays and infrared rays) by a scintillator, and the converted light image is detected by photodetecting elements arrayed in one dimension or two dimensions and output electrical signals corresponding to image data. In particular, radiation detecting elements of a structure, in which a scintillator is directly deposited onto a photodetecting surface of a solid-state imaging element, provide a merit of being easy to handle.
A solid-state imaging element becomes lower in manufacturing yield as its screen size becomes larger. There is thus a limit to making each individual imaging element large in screen size. Meanwhile, with radiation, because, unlike with visible light, etc., an image cannot be reduced by an optical system, an imaging element of a size that covers real images is required. For example, among chest X-ray photography devices, mammography devices for breast cancer screening, panorama photography devices for jaw portions, etc., there is known an art, in which a large-screen imaging element is formed from a buttable array of small imaging elements aligned in a tile-like manner (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
There is also known an art for reducing dead areas at boundary portions between respective imaging elements in a buttable array by shifting a plurality of detectors to the front and rear as viewed from a direction of incidence of radiation so that imaging regions of the detectors overlap (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. H9-153606
Patent Document 2: Japanese Published Unexamined Patent Application No. 2000-292546


A vehicle carrier with wheel lifting apparatus for a truck having an underframe and consisting of a channel 21 having ledges 22 along an opening of the channel for partially enclosing the channel, the channel mounted to the underframe of the truck between a forward mount and a tail mount, a base 23 being slidably received within the channel and being movably carried on the ledges, subtending arm 40 pivotally mounted to the base 23 at one end and secured at the other end to a rearwardly disposed housing 47, telescoping member assembly 45 mounted within the housing 47 for retracting or extending the telescoping member assembly 45, the end member of which terminates at a pivot, transverse member 61 extending laterally in opposite directions from the pivot, wheel supports mounted on the transverse member for selectively engaging and disengaging vehicular wheels from the wheel supports, first hydraulic means connectively extending between the tail mount 19 and the base 23, second hydraulic means connectively extending between the tail mount and the housing, third hydraulic means connectively extending between the housing and the pivot of the telescopic member assembly, fourth hydraulic means on the lateral or transverse member connectively extending between the pivot to each of the ends thereof for enabling selective engagement and disengagement of the wheel supports with the behicular wheels, and each of the first to the fourth hydraulic means cooperatively operable to effect the wheel lifting apparatus. An obtuse angle of greater than 163.degree. is distended between a longitudinal axis of the arm and the horizontal surface of the housing.

Description of the Prior Art
Various prior art wheel lift and vehicle carrier apparatus, and the like, as well as apparatus and method of their construction in general, are found to be known; and exemplary of the U.S. prior art are the following:
______________________________________ Moore 3,797,675 LoCodo 4,264,262 Stage 4,563,018 Russ 4,564,207 Hamman 4,634,337 Capers 4,678,392 Bubik 4,793,763 Crupi 4,815,915 Bubik 4,874,286 Nespor 4,929,142 Alm 4,968,052 Holmes 5,039,272 Nespor 5,061,147 Bell 5,123,802 ______________________________________
Capers and the patents to Nespor disclose wheel lift systems; Nespor shows a hydraulically lifted frame having the vehicle lifting apparatus thereon and in which is a hydraulic motor to swing inwardly and downwardly a wheel lift assembly in a vertical arc and Capers shows a hydraulic cylinder in an inclined disposed for probable elevation of wheel supports; all of these patents are seen disclosing entirely different and distinctive concepts other than the concept of the present invention.
These patents or known prior uses teach and disclose various types of wheel lifting apparatus of various sorts and of various manufactures and the like as well as methods of their construction, but none of them whether taken singly or in combination disclose the specific details of the combination of the invention in such a way as to bear upon the claims of the present invention.


An apparatus for determining the angle between two adjacent objects such as the corner of a wall or the pitch of a roof, and the appropriate angle of a corresponding miter cut. The apparatus includes a base member that is configured in a substantially planar manner. The base member includes a channel for slidably receiving the ends of two support members. The support members are pivotally mounted to opposing angle arms that extend laterally in opposing directions from the base member and function to movably connect the angle arms to the base member and form a pointer thereon. The base member further includes numeric indicia that indicate the angle of the angle arms and the corresponding miter angle cut adjacent to the channel on the base member.

Individuals engage in numerous activities where the measuring of angles of two adjacent pieces of material is necessary. Professional contractors and those involved in construction tasks such as applying decorative molding to a house or building the trusses to create a roof support structure often have to join to pieces of suitable material together to form a desired angle.
Individuals must determine the angle needed or measure an existing angle and then calculate the appropriate miter cut needed to create the desired angle. For example, if a desired angle of one hundred and thirty-five degrees is necessary, an individual will need to calculate the inside miter cut necessary whereby upon engagement of the desired material that the outside angle is one hundred and thirty-five degrees. This is usually accomplished by attempting to measure the inside angle as that will be the miter cut needed. A miter cut is typically performed by a miter saw or other suitable device and ranges from zero to ninety degrees.
One problem that currently exists is that while there are many devices and methods available for determining the degree of a certain angle, these methods and devices do not identify without calculation the necessary corresponding miter cut needed to create the measured angle. Users must often engage in calculations to determine the angle required for the miter cut, a task that can often be time consuming for those who do not regularly engage in this type of activity.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device that can measure the degree of an angle of two adjacent objects and simultaneously identify the degree of the miter cut needed to create the measured angle. Furthermore, the device should be adjustable to measure angles between but not limited to zero and one hundred and eighty degrees.


A cloth-like microporous laminate of a nonwoven fibrous web and thermoplastic film is made by lamination of a microporous-formable film composition and a nonwoven fibrous web followed by incremental stretching to form the cloth-like microporous laminate. The cloth-like microporous laminate has air and moisture vapor permeabilities, but acts as a barrier to the passage of liquids. The cloth-like laminates are especially useful in fabricating garments in order to provide the breathable qualities of air and moisture vapor transmission with liquid-barrier properties. Such garments include baby diapers, baby training pants, catamenial pads and garments, and the like where moisture vapor and air transmission properties, as well as fluid barrier properties, are needed.

Processes of bonding nonwoven fibrous webs to thermoplastic films have been known for some time. Additionally, methods for extrusion laminating thermoplastic films to unstretched nonwoven webs are well known in the art.
Relevant patents regarding extrusion lamination of unstretched nonwoven webs include U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,714,571; 3,058,868; 4,522,203; 4,614,679; 4,692,368; 4,753,840 and 5,035,941. The above '863 and '368 patents disclose stretching extruded polymeric films prior to laminating with unstretched nonwoven fibrous webs at pressure roller nips. The '203 and '941 patents are directed to co-extruding multiple polymeric films with unstretched nonwoven webs at pressure roller nips. The '840 patent discloses preforming nonwoven polymeric fiber materials prior to extrusion laminating with films to improve bonding between the nonwoven fibers and films. More specifically, the '840 patent discloses conventional embossing techniques to form densified and undensified areas in nonwoven base plies prior to extrusion lamination to improve bonding between nonwoven fibrous webs and films by means of the densified fiber areas. The '941 patent also teaches that unstretched nonwoven webs that are extrusion laminated to single ply polymeric films are susceptible to pinholes caused by fibers extending generally vertically from the plane of the fiber substrate and, accordingly, this patent discloses using multiple co-extruded film plies to prevent pinhole problems. Furthermore, methods for bonding loose nonwoven fibers to polymeric film are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,622,422; 4,379,197 and 4,725,473.
It has also been known to stretch nonwoven fibrous webs using intermeshing rollers to reduce basis weight and examples of patents in this area are U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,153,664 and 4,517,714. The '664 patent discloses a method of incremental cross direction (CD) or machine direction (MD) stretching nonwoven fibrous webs using a pair of interdigitating rollers to strengthen and soften nonwoven webs. The '664 patent also discloses an alternative embodiment wherein the nonwoven fibrous web is laminated to the thermoplastic film prior to intermesh stretching.
Efforts have also been made to make breathable nonwoven composite barrier fabrics which are impervious to liquids, but which are permeable to water vapor. U.S. Pat. No. 5,409,761 is an example of a fabrication process from the patent art. According to this '761 patent, a nonwoven composite fabric is made by ultrasonically bonding a microporous thermoplastic film to a layer of nonwoven fibrous thermoplastic material. These methods and other methods of making breathable laminates of nonwoven and thermoplastic materials tend to involve expensive manufacturing techniques and/or expensive raw materials.
There is a continuing need for improved breathable laminates of nonwoven fibrous substrates and thermoplastic films that provide air and moisture vapor permeabilities with liquid-barrier properties. It would be very desirable to further improve methods of making such breathable laminates and to expand their utilities in articles of clothing and other useful products. Improvements are also desirable in methods of producing laminates on high-speed production machinery.

Method of making a cloth-like microporous laminate of a nonwoven fibrous web and thermoplastic film having air and moisture vapor permeabilities with liquid-barrier properties


A multiport communications adapter which permits communication links with an electronic control unit from either a desktop/laptop personal computer or palmtop personal computer.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a multiport communications adapter, and more particularly, to a communications adapter capable of supporting different connector types of different communication protocols. Although the present invention is suitable for a wide scope of applications, it is particularly suitable for providing electrical communications between on-board electronic control units and external computers such as desktop/laptop or palmtop personal computers.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most modem vehicle systems, including both automobile and motorcycle systems, include multiple electronic control units (ECU""s) for uploading and down-loading various data. For example, ECU""s may be accessed to monitor and evaluated data representative of engine performance parameters, checking calibration data and serial number identification using an ISO-9141 protocol for uploading and down-loading data to a communications port of a laptop/desktop/palmtop personal computer. Currently, personal computers (PC""s) are used for uploading and down-loaded data to provide both monitoring and control capabilities of the ECU""s.
Since the late 1990""s, handheld electronic devices, such as palmtop PC""s, have become increasingly common. Palmtop PC""s may be used for storing and analyzing data received from communication interfaces. Palmtop PC""s typically have RS232 DCE interfaces with 9-pin female port connectors (often used for xe2x80x9csyncingxe2x80x9d with the desktop/laptop computer) so that male connectors must be provided to accommodate a communications interface port connector. Desktop/laptop PC""s typically have 9-pin male RS232 DTE interfaces so that female connectors must be provided to accommodate certain interface port connectors. For example, with respect to the ISO-9141 communications protocol, because palmtop PC""s and desktop/laptop PC""s differ with respect to DTE versus DCE configurations, it is not possible to interchangeably connect a palmtop PC and a desktop/laptop PC to receive data from an ISO-9141 interface without using additional connectors and/or cables to accommodate the different connector and interface configurations.
Currently, there is a need to provide a multiport communications adaptor which accommodates both desktop/laptop and palmtop PC""s without the need for any additional connectors and/or interconnecting cables when uploading or downloading data using specific communication protocols.
Accordingly, the present invention is directed to a multiport communications adapter having both DCE/female and DTE/male connector ports to overcome the problems associated with using multiple connectors and/or interconnecting cables due to incompatibilities between the different connector configurations of the different communication protocols.
One aspect of the present invention is to provide a communications adapter which allows a user to efficiently switch between a desktop/laptop PC and a palmtop PC when uploading or down-loading data using a specific protocol interface.
Another aspect of the present invention is to provide communication protocol conversion using a communications adapter.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory and are intended to provide further explanation of the invention as claimed.


In one embodiment, a method for providing a debugging functionality embedded in an application supporting an n-tiered architecture includes determining that the debugging functionality embedded in the application is requested, and causing current state information to be presented to a user at each break point in the production environment.

A debugger is a computer program that is used to test and debug other programs. When the program crashes, the debugger shows the position in the original code if it is a source-level debugger or symbolic debugger, commonly seen in integrated development environments. If it is a low-level debugger or a machine-language debugger, it shows the line in the disassembly that occurs if a "crash" happens when the program cannot continue because of a programming bug. Conventional debuggers also offer more sophisticated functions such as running a program step by step (single-stepping), stopping (breaking or pausing the program to examine the current state) at some kind of event by means of breakpoint, and tracking the values of some variables. Some debuggers have the ability to modify the state of the program while it is running, rather than merely observe it.
Debuggers make the debugging process much easier and faster, to the point where the availability of a good debugger for a particular language and platform can sway the decision to use that language rather than another language that is superior in other respects but lacks such tools.
A significant limitation of existing debuggers is that software running under a debugger typically behaves differently than software running normally, because a debugger changes the internal timing of a software program. That makes it often very difficult to track down runtime problems in complex multi-threaded or distributed systems.
In a multi-tiered environment (e.g., a client-server environment), conventional debuggers typically operate using a window on the client side and a window on the server side. The problem with this approach is that it requires the user to keep the two windows open and in-sync during the entire debugging process. Another common scheme is to build the debugger into the design-time tooling environment. However, this makes tracking debugging problems occurring in the production environment more difficult. In addition, design-time debuggers usually connect to the runtime engine, and have the problem of synchronized display of the debugger and end-user user interfaces.

Debugging functionality embedded in an application


A cyclonic processing system accepts unprocessed fragmentary material of a predetermined aerodynamic buoyancy range, keeps it suspended in a vortex and discharges it when it reaches a finished material aerodynamic buoyancy range. The cyclonic processing apparatus and method dries, mills, separates and/or mixes fragmentary material. The waste air from the apparatus is reduced in particle content. The apparatus and method may be used to process post consumer waste for recycling. Additionally, it may be used to harness waste heat from industrial processes.

The present invention is a cyclonic system for processing fragmentary material to produce one or more end products having substantially uniform fragment size and/or aerodynamic buoyancy. Because aerodynamic buoyancy is related to moisture content, the cyclonic processing system may be used for drying moisture bearing fragmentary material.
Many industrial and agricultural processes yield fragments that are either too wet, too large or too varied in size, density, or composition to be of great utility. Of particular interest are post-consumer fragmentary materials gathered in recycling efforts, which are typically formed of more than one substance. Separating out the constituent substances from a mass of multi-substance fragments permits the separate collection and reuse of the substances.
An interesting example of a fragmentary material having nonuniformities that reduce its utility is provided by "hog fuel," as that term is used in the lumber industry. In this instance "hog fuel" is actually a mixture of wooden chips and bark that is typically a waste product of lumber mills. Hog fuel is typically fed into a "hog fuel boiler," to produce steam for use in various lumber and paper mill operations
Although the hog fuel is typically predried in a continuous feed rotary drum dryer, hog fuel boilers are nevertheless plagued by hog fuel moisture and fragment size inconsistency. A wetter than usual mass of hog fuel or a large clump of saw dust mixed into the hog fuel can extinguish the boiler fire.
An example of multi-substance fragments is provided by plastic one quart oil containers gathered for recycling. Typically the exterior of a plastic oil container bears a heat set polymer label. The label is made of a different type of polymer from the container so that the label must be separated from the container in order for an apparatus to separately collect the two different polymers for reuse. The containers must also be washed of oil residue and dried in order to avoid contaminating either polymer end product with oil or water.
Unfortunately, the above described tasks present a great challenge to one using the current technology. The drying potentially could be performed by a continuous feed rotary drum dryer. Rotary drum dryers, however, generate waste air that typically contains particles that should be removed before discharge into the atmosphere. This necessitates the use of pollution control equipment and the acquisition of a permit from the local pollution control agency. The particles also hamper efforts to recirculate the air back into the dryer as they tend to jam the recirculating air blower and contaminate the fragments being dried.
The separation of the constituent substances of the plastic oil containers is typically performed by cutting up the fragments and forcing the resultant subfragments against a wire mesh that catches the larger size subfragments, which are typically composed of the container polymer, and passes the smaller label subfragments. Unfortunately, the wire mesh frequently becomes clogged, thereby requiring replacement, which causes great expense and difficulty.
A patent search found no references to the use of cyclonic equipment that could be practically used to address the above noted problems in the processing of hog feed or plastic oil containers despite the fact that cyclonic equipment is fairly common in the pollution control field. A number of references describe cyclonic devices in which the fragmentary material falls through an air vortex and exits from the bottom of the device. None of the bottom exit device references, however, appear to teach the suspension of fragments in the vortex of the bottom-exit device.
Fragmentary materials that are lighter than water, such as plastic, however, become lighter still as they dry. Consequently, a bottom exit cyclonic device cannot dry lighter-than-water material to a uniform dryness because lighter-than-water material will rise in the vortex as its progressively reduced moisture content translates into increased aerodynamic buoyancy thereby avoiding a bottom exit. A bottom exit cyclonic device could be configured so that lighter-than-water material would fall quickly out of the device. This would, however, not permit much drying time and would not create a uniform aerodynamic buoyancy (i.e. dryness) in its product.
In another prior art device fragments are driven upwards and guided in a helical path by a helical baffle before entering a chamber in which they descend and exit. There is no indication, however, that any uniformity of dryness is introduced into the fragmentary mass or that the fragments are ever suspended in a vortex.
An additional reference found in the search teaches a columnar separator device in which fragments are lofted in a column by an upward draft of air and separated according to their buoyancy by a vertically spaced sequence of exit hoods and chutes. A columnar separator has only a limited precision, however, due to the jostling of the fragments in the upward draft of air. Moreover, because this device is not cyclonic it would be difficult to adapt it to effect physical changes to fragments because without suspending fragments in a vortex there is not much processing time.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,565,164, which shares co-inventor John C. Goehner with the present application, describes a cyclonic densifyer in which fragments of thermoplastic polymer are introduced into a vortex where they are softened by heat and broken and re-agglomerated until they form into fairly uniform pellets that are compact enough to precipitate from the vortex.
What is therefore needed but not yet available is a fragmentary material processing apparatus and method in which the fragments remain suspended in a vortex until reaching a predetermined aerodynamic buoyancy and/or fragment size. Among other purposes this apparatus and method is needed for drying moisture bearing fragments until a predetermined moisture results. An apparatus and method is also needed for milling, separating and mixing fragmentary material.