Techniques and mechanisms for managing a delivery of power to a resource of an input/output (I/O) interface. In an embodiment, a first link of a plurality of communication links is monitored. Of the plurality of links, a first set of resources of the I/O interface is to support communication only via the first link. One or more other resources of the I/O interface are for supporting communications of another link of the plurality of links. In another embodiment, a resource of the first set of resources is decoupled from a power supply in response to detecting a total number of active lanes of the first link, decoupling.

1. Technical Field
One or more embodiments of the invention relate generally to the field of computer systems. More particularly, certain embodiments relate to power delivery in a computer system.
2. Background Art
Energy efficient performance is an increasingly important requirement for many computing applications. In servers and other computer platforms, operation of input/output (I/O) interface hardware is a significant contributor to overall power consumption. Performance analysis for various computer platforms has shown that the bandwidth of I/O links can be generally quite low even when such computer platforms are operating near peak system power load. Even when no transaction is processed over an I/O link of a platform, associated I/O interface resources consume close to their peak power. Power wastage during such low bandwidth utilization periods results in poor energy efficiency.
Power consumption by such I/O hardware has traditionally been reduced by scaling link speed and/or link width. Some link power reduction schemes use dynamic link width modulation (DLW), which adjusts link width dynamically based on bandwidth requirements, and gates a clock otherwise used to operate the currently inactive hardware for the link. Current I/O link power management (LPM) policies such as L0s, L0p, L1 rely on clock gating. However, as successive generations of computer systems continue to scale in terms of size and speed, the performance of such computer systems are increasingly sensitive to incremental improvements in energy efficiency.

Apparatus, system and method for gated power delivery to an I/O interface


A novel method of magnetic resonance imaging is disclosed, in which a single high-frequency magnetic field signal synthesized from a plurality of high-frequency components associated with a plurality of slice sections respectively is applied to a subject to excite the slice sections at the same time, and a phase encode pulse is applied in the direction perpendicular to a slice section. Information corresponding to the position of a slice section is applied to the phase of an excited spin and a measurement signal is subjected to Fourier transformation thereby to produce a data corresponding to each slice section. The phases of a plurality of high-frequency components of a high-frequency magnetic field signal are controlled to be in a predetermined relationship to each other at a predetermined timing.

The present invention relates to a method of magnetic resonance imaging, or more in particular to a method of magnetic resonance imaging which makes it possible to prepare tomographic images of a plurality of faults in a subject at a time.
The operating principle of a magnetic resonance imaging apparatus will be generally explained. The magnetic resonance imaging apparatus is for exciting the phenomenon of magnetic resonance in a specific fault selected in a subject or specimen and imaging the resulting resonance signal as a fault plane information. The condition for generating a magnetic resonance is given as EQU f=.gamma..multidot.H (1)
where f is the frequency of a high-frequency magnetic field applied for exciting a magnetic resonance, .gamma. the gyromagnetic ratio (a constant determined by nuclear species) and H the intensity of the magnetic field.
In order to excite the phenomenon of magnetic resonance in a subject, a high-frequency magnetic field having a frequency meeting the above-mentioned condition is applied. Conversely, as far as the above-mentioned condition fails to be met, no magnetic resonance is attained even when a high-frequency magnetic field is applied.
An imaging technique is well-known and mainly utilizes the two-dimensional Fourier method.
If an imaging is to be conducted successfully, it is necessary to generate a magnetic resonance in the spin of the fault intended for imaging. Generation of a magnetic resonance in the fault is called "slicing".
The principle of slicing will be explained with reference to FIG. 1. In FIG. 1, an example for slicing along a cross section of the head of human being, i.e., a plane crossing at right angle to the axon (Z axis) is illustrated. According to a method of magnetic resonance imaging, the subject is placed in a static magnetic field of uniform intensity, and a magnetic field different in intensity with the position along the axon crossing at right angle to the fault plane intended for slicing is superimposed on the uniform static magnetic field. The magnetic field to be superimposed on is generally the one of which the intensity of the magnetic field changes linearly with the positional coordinate. A magnetic field such as this is called "an inclined magnetic field". In FIG. 1, reference numeral 101 designates a head, and numeral 102 a fault to be imaged. The graph 3 plotted under the head shows a change characteristic of an inclined magnetic field. In the coordinate of the graph, the abscissa represents the position along the direction of axon (Z axis), and the ordinate the intensity of the magnetic field. A position in the head 101 corresponds to the one along the abscissa of the graph 103. In FIG. 1, the intensity of the magnetic field corresponding to the central position 102a of the fault 102 is expressed as H'. Substituting this intensity of magnetic field H' into the equation (1) representing the resonance condition, EQU f'=.gamma..multidot.H'
This shows that the frequency of a high-frequency magnetic field required for generating a magnetic resonance in the fault 102 is give as f'. Actually, however, the fault 102 has a predetermined thickness as shown and the value f' has an expansion corresponding to the thickness. Therefore, the frequency component of the high-frequency magnetic field is required to have a uniform intensity within the bandwidth of EQU f'-.DELTA.f.about.f'+.DELTA.f
In order to apply a high-frequency magnetic field as described above to the subject, the subject is impressed with a high-frequency magnetic field obtained by subjecting a carrier wave 105 of frequency f' to amplitude modulation in a waveform based on a sinc function 104 as shown in FIG. 2.
Completion of slicing also ends the application of an inclined magnetic field. At the end of slicing, therefore, the subject is placed again in a uniform static magnetic field. As a result, the resonance frequency in the subject changes from f' to f.sub.0. This value f.sub.0 represents a resonance frequency corresponding to the intensity of a uniform static magnetic field H.sub.0.
In other words, all the spins excited tend to return to the original state while rotating at the resonance frequency f.sub.0.
Then, in order to identify each resonance signal from the fault 102 in accordance with the position thereof, two coordinate axes intersecting each other at the end of the fault are set, and a signal is taken in with the frequency and phase of the resonance signal set in correspondence with each other along the direction of each coordinate axis. The signal thus taken in is subjected to Fourier transformation, separated by spatial position and is arranged on a screen corresponding to each position thereby to obtain a fault image. Setting a positional coordinate in correspondence with the phase and frequency of a resonance signal is called "the phase encoding" and "the frequency encoding" respectively.
The above-mentioned imaging technique is called the two-dimensional Fourier transformation imaging. A general timing chart for this technique is shown in FIG. 3. In FIG. 3, the abscissa represents a time axis, Gs an inclined magnetic field for slicing used to select a fault wherefrom a resonance signal is to be taken out, Gp an inclined magnetic field for phase encoding which is maintained at a predetermined magnitude during a series of operations for taking in a resonance signal, and Gf an inclined magnetic field for frequency encoding applied when taking in a resonance signal. The ordinate of each graph represents the magnitude of inclination. The inclined magnetic field Gp for phase encoding is changed in magnitude by a predetermined value for each series of operation. The resonance signal 106 taken in is subjected to homodyne detection by a reference signal having a reference frequency so that the resonance signal is changed to a signal having a frequency equivalent to the difference with the reference frequency. Further, the signal data 107 thus obtained is subjected to two-dimensional Fourier transformation thereby to prepare a fault image.
Another method of producing a fault image is called the three-dimensional Fourier transformation imaging. According to this method, a plurality of successive faults at predetermined intervals along the direction of slicing (direction of axon) are excited by a high-frequency magnetic field of the same frequency at a time as shown in FIG. 4A. A related pulse sequence is shown in FIG. 4B.
In order to discriminate a plurality of slice sections from each other, a phase encoding pulse is applied also along the direction of slicing thereby to differentiate the rotational phase of spin for each slice section. The three-dimensional imaging, though superior in photographing successive adjacent faults, requires a measurement time and data processing more than necessary when it is desired to obtain only images of a plurality of faults distant from each other in a three-dimensional photographic block, thereby leading to the disadvantage of considerable waste. This problem is illustrated in FIG. 5. In FIG. 5, in the case where it is desired to obtain fault images of four faults A to D distant from each other, a slicing operation is required as specified by the minimum slice width and position. It is, therefore, necessary to produce images of the four faults and also the remaining two successive faults adjacent to the respective faults. This poses the problem of necessity for taking measurements four times as much as is originally necessary for the faults A to D.
A technical reference on the prior art related to the present invention includes "POMP (Phase Offset Multi-Planar) ", by G. H. Glover and A. Shimakawa General Electric Medical Systems, Collection of Texts Vol. 1, 1988, for The Seventh Annual Conference of Society of Magnetic Resonance in Medicine. According to the cited reference, in preparing a plurality of fault images, a high-frequency magnetic field irradiated on a subject for selecting a fault is synthesized by a plurality of high-frequency magnetic fields different in frequency corresponding to each slice section. When the high-frequency magnetic field is removed, the spins of the excited slice sections are rotated with the same frequency. In order to obtain information along the direction of axon in each slice section, the conventional method described in the cited reference discloses a technique in which the phases of the synthesized high-frequency magnetic field are displaced by a predetermined interval without applying a phase encode pulse along the direction of slicing, so that the rotational phase of the spin of each slice section is differentiated simultaneously with the excitement of the slice section thereby to select a plurality of faults. This technique requires a technologically complicated, sophisticated phase control.
An example of a high-frequency magnetic field synthesized as above is shown in FIG. 6. As seen from FIG. 6, the phases .theta..sub.1 to .theta..sub.4 are required to be changed by a predetermined amount each time a high-frequency magnetic field is applied.
The difference in phase change is detected as a frequency difference by Fourier transformation thereby to produce a signal associated with each slice section.


Provided is a semiconductor and method of manufacturing the same, and a method of forming even doping concentration of respective semiconductor device when manufacturing multiple semiconductor devices. When a concentration balance is disrupted due to an increase in doping region size, doping concentration is still controllable in example by using ion injected blocking pattern. Thus, the examples relate to a semiconductor and manufacture device with even doping, and high breakdown voltage obtainable as a result of such doping.

1. Field
The following description relates to a semiconductor device and a method for manufacturing the semiconductor device. The following description further relates to a semiconductor and a method of fabricating the same, wherein the semiconductor is configured so as to obtain an even and high breakdown voltage.
2. Description of Related Art
In an example of a N-type Lateral Double diffused Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor (LDMOS), a body region that includes a source region is connected to a ground power and, a breakdown voltage is limited from a high concentration N-type (N+) source region to a body region.
Various approaches have been suggested to address concerns related to a low breakdown voltage of said LDMOS element. For example, approaches have been suggested such as a deep well that is extended and situated from a drain region to a P-type body region, so as to surround the P-type body region, such that the surrounding source region forms a low concentration N-type diffusion region wherein such a region is situated to surround a high concentration N-type source region. Although it is possible to improve a breakdown voltage above a certain level to some extent through said methods, a breakdown voltage of over approximately 100 V for such an LDMOS has not been obtainable.
Furthermore, a method of fully isolating a P-type body region from a substrate by forming an N-type high concentration N+ buried layer between the substrate and a deep well region and forming a thick epi-layer on a substrate has been suggested. However, such a technology that uses such an approach to configure a buried layer and thick epi-layer has not only a problem of requiring a high unit cost, but also many applications that are not compatible with such an approach of fully isolating the P-type body region exist.

Semiconductor and method of fabricating the same


A fixed wing drone comprises an air channel embedded therein. The air channel has an upstream an air inlet. A microcontroller mounted within the drone is configured to control navigation of the drone. An air scoop having a section positioned adjacent the inlet to the air channel is adjustable between a first position to capture and divert air into the inlet and thereby to air channel and a second position to block air flow into the air inlet. The air scoop is positioned to divert air flow into the air channel and to the gas sensor during forward flight of the drone. In one embodiment, the fixed wing drone comprises an aircraft having a fuselage and at least two wings. In another embodiment, the fixed wing drone has a flying wing construction, that is, is a tailless design.

Drones can be usefully applied to monitoring tasks such as detection of hazardous particulates and gases as they can autonomously travel to desired locations, such as industrial facilities, at which monitoring is desired. Such drones can be equipped with detectors and sensors that enable the drones to detect gasses at very low concentrations. The sensors generate data which can be transmitted electronically to a drone operator or other station. The data can provide useful indicators. For instance, the data can concern current plant conditions and safety. Safety monitoring is particularly relevant in oil and gas installations having environments with corrosive and/or flammable gases. Even at low concentrations, such hazardous gas can represent risk of explosion or other safety accidents, and, at a minimum, provide important inspection-related information.
Drones have typically been equipped with gas sensors by appending the sensors from booms or fixtures supported by the body or wings of the drone. However, appending the gas sensors in this external manner can leave the drone sensors exposed to uneven and uncontrollable air flow which distorts the detection profile and which can reduce detection sensitivity. In particular, the external sensor placements do not harness the capabilities of the drone flight characteristics to increase gas detection sensitivity.

Gas sensing for fixed wing drones using scoops


In an anti-lock brake control system, an actuator is controlled based on at least a slip rate determined in a slip rate calculating device and an output from a low-pass filter for filtering a wheel acceleration determined in a wheel acceleration calculating device, thereby switching-over the braking-pressure reducing, maintaining and increasing modes from one to another. The braking pressure-reduction control provided by an operation control device is terminated in response to the wheel acceleration determined in the wheel acceleration calculating device becoming equal to or larger than a preset value. Thus, it is possible to prevent an excessive pressure reduction during an anti-lock brake control on a road surface having a high coefficient of friction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an anti-lock brake control system for a vehicle, comprising: an actuator for regulating the braking pressure for a wheel brake; a wheel speed detecting means for detecting a wheel speed; a wheel acceleration calculating means for differentiating the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed detecting means to provide a wheel acceleration; a vehicle speed calculating means for calculating a presumed vehicle speed based on the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed detecting means; a slip rate calculating means for calculating a slip rate based on the wheel speed detected by the wheel speed detecting means and the presumed vehicle speed determined in the vehicle speed calculating means; a low-pass filter for filtering the wheel acceleration determined in the wheel acceleration calculating means; and an operation control means for controlling the actuator based on at least the slip rate determined in the slip rate calculating means and an output from the low-pass filter during a braking operation to switch-over the reduction, the maintaining and the increasing of the braking pressure from one to another.
2. Description of the Related Art
A system is conventionally constructed as shown in FIG. 4. The actuator 1 for regulating the braking pressure for the wheel brake is driven by an actuator driving means 2, and a control signal from the operation control means 3 is input to the actuator driving means 2. A presumed vehicle speed VR is calculated by the vehicle speed calculating means 5 based on the wheel speed VW detected by the wheel speed detecting means 4, and a slip rate .lambda. is calculated in the slip rate calculating means 6 based on the wheel speed VW and the presumed vehicle speed VR. The wheel speed VW is differentiated in the wheel acceleration calculating means 7, and the wheel acceleration .omega. is filtered in the low-pass filter 8. An output .omega.F from the low-pass filter 8 and the slip rate .lambda. are input to the operation control means 3. A signal indicative of a command to control the operation of the actuation 1 based on the output .omega.F from the low-pass filter 8 and the slip rate .lambda. is output from the operation control means 3.
In such an anti-lock brake control system, the actual vehicle speed V, the wheel speed VW and the presumed vehicle speed VR are varied as shown in FIG. 5A and the slip rate .lambda., the low-pass filter output .omega.F and the braking pressure P.sub.B are varied as shown in FIGS. 5B, 5C and 5D, depending upon the operation of the wheel brake, thereby the wheel avoids falling into a locked state. Specifically, when the slip rate .lambda. becomes larger than a first preset slip rate S0 and the low-pass filter output .omega.F becomes smaller than a first preset acceleration .alpha.0 which is a negative value, pressure-reduction control is started. When the low-pass filter output .omega.F exceeds the first preset acceleration .alpha.0, pressure-reduction control is terminated, a braking-pressure maintaining control is started. Further, when the wheel speed VW starts to be restored, and the slip rate A becomes smaller than a second preset slip rate S1 (( S0) and the low-pass filter output .omega.F becomes smaller than a second preset acceleration .alpha.1, pressure-increase control is started.
The main reason why the low-pass filter output .omega.F is used rather than the wheel acceleration .omega. itself for switching-over the control mode in the operation control means 3 is to avoid a hunting of pressure-increasing.fwdarw.pressure-reduction.fwdarw.pressure-maintaining due to a fine variation in wheel speed due to a road surface condition or a pressure-increase or pressure-reduction pulse. However, there is a possibility that a retard of the termination time point of the pressure reduction and an excessive pressure reduction may be produced, particularly on a road surface having a high coefficient of friction, due to a phase lag of a renewing cycle of the wheel speed or the low-pass filter output .omega.F. If excessive pressure reduction is produced, variation in fluid pressure throughout the anti-lock brake control cycle is increased to bring about a degradation in feeling of the braking operation and a degradation in riding comfort.

Anti-lock brake control system for vehicle


An example embodiment includes an optical connector. The optical connector includes a printed circuit board (PCB), multiple optical components, multiple optical fibers, and a lens assembly. The optical components are mounted to the PCB. Additionally, each of the optical components includes an aperture. The lens assembly is positioned on the PCB. The lens assembly defines a cavity in which the optical components are positioned. Additionally, the lens assembly defines optical fiber seats that are configured to receive the optical fibers. The lens assembly includes an angled surface that is configured to reflect optical signals between the optical components and the optical fibers.

An optical cable may be implemented in applications in which data is communicated between host systems. For example, a first host system may transmit data to a second host system via the optical cable. Optical connectors may be attached to one or more of the ends of the optical cable to provide a mechanical coupling between the optical cable and one of the host systems.
To effectively communicate optical signals, components included in the optical connectors are sometimes aligned following construction of the optical connector. In the alignment process, there may be a trade-off between quality of the components and the precision with which the components are positioned relative to one another. For example, increasing the quality of an optical transmitter may allow an optical fiber to be more crudely positioned relative to the optical transmitter. The positioning of components and inclusion of high-quality components may impose significant expenses to the manufacturing of optical connectors.
Additionally, dimensions of optical connectors are decreasing while data rates at which data is communicated via the optical connectors are increasing. Thus, the ability to design an optical connector with some alignment tolerance while manufacturing economically viable optical connectors is becoming increasingly difficult.
The subject matter claimed herein is not limited to embodiments that solve any disadvantages or that operate only in environments such as those described above. Rather, this background is only provided to illustrate one exemplary technology area where some embodiments described herein may be practiced.

Optical component arrays in optical connectors


A laundry net for holding a brassiere while the brassiere is being laundered has a dome-shaped bag having a substantially circular bottom member and a substantially conical upper member joined thereto for covering cups of the brassiere. Each of the bottom and upper members comprises first, second, and second nets each made of a water-permeable material, the first and second nets having a relatively coarse mesh and being spaced from each other, the first and second nets being joined to each other by a plurality of elastic threads, the third net having a relatively fine mesh and being positioned inwardly of the first and second nets, the third net being spaced from the second net. The bag has an opening defined along a ridge of the upper member for taking the brassiere into and out of the bag. The opening can selectively be opened and closed by a slide fastener.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a laundry net for holding a brassiere while it is being laundered, and more particularly to a laundry net for protecting the brassiere placed therein from being deformed out of shape when it is laundered in a washing machine, thereby allowing the brassiere to be laundered neatly.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various garments, including pants, shirts, and underwear, are laundered in washing machines. There have been proposed various laundry nets for holding such garments to protect them while they are being machined-washed, and such laundry nets differ in size, shape, and design depending on the garments to be held therein. While different laundry nets have also been proposed for brassieres, laundry nets which are of a shape suitable for holding brassieres have not been proposed in the art so far.
FIG. 10 of the accompanying drawings shows, in perspective, a conventional laundry net disclosed in Japanese Utility Model publication No. 3-49667 which has been proposed by the applicant. The disclosed laundry net is used to hold an undergarment made of fine-quality fibers.
As shown in FIG. 10, the conventional laundry net has a bag 10 comprising net components 11, 12 sewn to each other along their edges. The net components 11, 12 are made of a fabric material selected not to damage the undergarment placed in the bag 10 while the undergarment is being washed.
The bag 10 also includes bias tapes 20 wrapped around the stitched edges of the net components 11, 12 and positioned outside of the bag 10. The bag 10 has an opening for taking the undergarment into and out of the bag 10, the opening being openably closed by a slide fastener or zipper 30.
To launder an undergarment using the laundry net, the slide fastener 30 is opened, the undergarment is placed into the bag 10, the slide fastener 30 is closed, and thereafter the bag 10 is placed into a washing machine in which the undergarment is laundered.
Since the known laundry net is designed to hold an undergarment made of fine-quality fibers, the net components 11, 12 are also made of fine-quality fibers so that they will not damage the undergarment when in contact therewith.
However, when a brassiere with dome-shaped cups is laundered together with stockings or other underwear in the laundry net, or a plurality of such brassieres are laundered in the laundry net, the brassiere or brassieres may be deformed out of shape under pressure from the other undergarments laundered together.


An on-line technique which allows the monitoring and adjustment of switching node control parameters within an optical network. More specifically, a technique wherein a low-frequency modulation is induced upon an optical signal as it passes through a node within a switch or sub-system by varying the control voltage applied to that node about what is assumed to be the optimum control voltage level, the optical signal at position downstream from the node is analyzed to ascertain the amplitude, frequency, and phase characteristics of the induced low-frequency modulation, and a determination is made, on the basis of the amplitude, frequency, and phase information, as to the whether the control voltage which was assumed to be optimal is indeed at the correct level to insure proper operation of the node. The amplitude of the induced low-frequency modulation may be maintained at low level so as not to interfere with the transmission of the primary information and data carried by the optical signal. Analysis of the amplitude, frequency, and phase of the modulated signal may be performed at a single fixed location within the network. Furthermore, multiple switching nodes may be monitored simultaneously from a single location within the network by modulating each node at a unique frequency. This allows each modulated signal received to be differentiated from all others, and readily identified as having originated at a particular node.

Within large photonic networks, such as those used to facilitate optical communications, it is necessary to monitor the performance of individual switching nodes to determine if the control parameters (i.e., control voltages) associated with each node require adjustment. It is critical that such control parameters be maintained within prescribed limits to insure the proper operation of the overall network. This monitoring is particularly important for switching and sub-systems which exhibit an analog switching response (a continuous switching curve with a finite slope between the "on" and "off" switching states). Solid-state guided-wave voltage-controlled directional couplers, such as those based upon lithium-niobate and indium-phosphide architectures, are one type of sub-system with this type of switching response. In addition, such solid-state devices are particularly susceptible to performance fluctuations resulting from thermal variations, aging, etc., increasing the need for performance monitoring.
Previously, the monitoring of control parameters for such optical switches and sub-systems was performed manually on a node-by-node basis using methods which caused an interruption in signals passing through the particular node being tested. This method is impractical for maintaining a large network. Ideally, in a large network it would be desirable to effect such performance monitoring on an automatic basis, and in a fashion which does not interfere with the transmission of the primary optical signals carried over the network.

Automatic on-line monitoring and optimization of optical network switching nodes


A novel imaging system is provided for capturing imaging data. According to the disclosed embodiments, the imaging system comprises one or more cameras configured to capture the same scene within each camera's field of view. The imaging system also includes a plurality of bandpass filters that may be positioned in front of one or more cameras. Each bandpass filter may allow the transmission of incident electromagnetic signals between different pairs of first and second wavelengths. Accordingly, when the bandpass filters are positioned in front of the one or more cameras, each camera captures a different spectral image, i.e., containing only certain frequency components of the same scene being imaged in the cameras. The bandpass filters may be selectively aligned with one or more cameras by rotating and/or translating the filters relative to the cameras' positions in the imaging system.

Red-Green-Blue (RGB) multi-band imaging systems have been used to accurately capture color images. The typical RGB imaging system includes three separate image sensors, each matched with a corresponding red, green, or blue optical filter. When a scene is captured by an RGB camera, e.g., corresponding to an image in the camera's field of view, the image of the scene is separately filtered by the red, green, and blue filters and captured by the camera's image sensors. The resulting R, G, and B filtered images on the three color channels may be weighted and combined to more closely resemble the color spectra that would be detected by the human eye. Because computer vision systems do not have the spectral limitations of the human eye, there is a need for new types of imaging systems that can accurately capture spectrums (e.g., frequencies and frequency bands) outside of human vision.
Hyperspectral imaging systems provide more spectral information for an imaged scene than is possible using conventional RGB cameras. The spectral response range of a camera is generally the entire spectrum that can be detected by the camera's image sensor, e.g., which may be a Charge Coupled Device (CCD) or Complementary Metal-On-Semiconductor (CMOS) sensor. Unlike RGB cameras, hyperspectral imaging systems capture image data across the entire spectral response range of a camera and provide better spectral resolution and more well-defined and isolated spectral bands than are possible using RGB cameras. Hyperspectral imaging systems are typically categorized as either point scan or line scan systems or pixelated coating systems. As used herein, a hyperspectral imaging system is not limited to any particular numbers or distributions of spectral bands and includes any imaging system that captures spectral data for an image across a plurality of different spectral bands (e.g., measured in frequencies or wavelengths) not limited to conventional RGB bands.
Existing hyperspectral imaging systems suffer several disadvantages that make them undesirable to use in many machine-vision applications. For example, these hyperspectral systems are bulky, complicated, and costly because of their many optical spectroscopic components and their complicated operating principles. As a result, the current hyperspectral systems are not suitable for consumer use.
Further, a typical point-scan or line-scan imaging system has a very high spectral resolution (e.g., around 3 nm) and takes an exorbitant amount of time to scan a camera's entire spectral response range (e.g., 400 nm to 1000 nm) because of this high spectral resolution. Objects in a camera's captured image normally have features and variations on the order of 50 nm or above, which do not need processing at the much higher spectral resolution of around 3 nm. In addition, because spatial resolutions of image sensors are typically inversely proportional to their spectral resolutions, the spatial resolutions of the point-scan and line-scan imaging systems are insufficient for many machine vision applications. The conventional pixelated coating systems similarly sacrifice spatial resolution and further suffer the disadvantage of requiring complicated optics for imaging, for example, because they use a single optical lens system to image different areas within the same scene.
There is a need for an improved hyperspectral imaging system that is cost effective and suitable for use in imaging systems of consumer products, such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The hyperspectral system should be suitable for use in a multitude of machine vision applications, including but not limited to UAVs, object and pattern recognition, machine learning, material analysis, agriculture analysis, food analysis, robotics, autonomous driving, and any other systems that stand to benefit from cheaper, smaller, and less complicated alternatives for using hyperspectral camera systems.

Low-profile multi-band hyperspectral imaging for machine vision


Foreground object matting uses flash/no-flash images pairs to obtain a flash-only image. A trimap is obtained from the flash-only image. A joint Bayesian algorithm uses the flash-only image, the trimap and one of the image of the scene taken without the flash or the image of the scene taken with the flash to generate a high quality matte that can be used to extract the foreground from the background.

The discussion below is merely provided for general background information and is not intended to be used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subject matter.
Image processing or manipulation is growing in popularity. With the increased power and decrease cost of computers, home users would like to manipulate images for scrapbooks and the like. Likewise, professional editing studios have a need to manipulate images for a wide variety of commercial needs such as advertising and marketing.
One particular need is to have the ability to separate the foreground object(s) (hereinafter referred to as "foreground object" or "foreground") from the background object(s) (hereinafter referred to as "background object" or "background") of an image. In this manner for example, the foreground object can be removed from the original image and transferred to a second image, thus making it appear that the second image was taken with the foreground object extracted from the first image.
In order to separate the foreground object from the background, a matte is typically required. The most common approach for obtaining a matte is blue screen matting, in which a foreground object is captured in front of a known solid-colored background, usually blue or green. Blue screen matting is the standard technique employed in the movie and TV industries because a known background greatly simplifies the matting problem. However, blue screen matting requires an expensive well-controlled studio environment to reduce artifacts such as blue spill, backing shadows, and backing impurities. Such a system is not available to the typical consumer. In addition, blue screen matting is less suitable for outdoor scenes.
Other techniques include using a single natural image to obtain the matte. First, the input image is manually partitioned into three regions by the user: definitely foreground, definitely background, and unknown regions. These three regions are collectively referred to as the "trimap". Then, the matte, foreground color, and background color are estimated for all pixels in the unknown region.
Although these methods and others have produced results, accurately separating the foreground object from the background object is difficult. This is particularly true when the foreground and the background are alike, or when highly textured foreground or background objects are present in the image, for example, the windblown hair of a person taken against a complex background.

Object matting using flash and no-flash images


A signal processing method and apparatus reducing distortion using divided signals differing in only amplitude by weighting an input signal by first weights ki (i=1 to 4) to obtain divided signals, performing the same signal processing f(x) on the divided signals, weighting the signal processed divided signals by second weights l1 (i=1 to 4), and adding the divided signals Vout1 to Vout4 weighted by the second weights. The first weights are k1=t, k2=−t, k3=1, k4=−1, while the second weights are l1=−1, l2=1, l3=t3, l4=−t3. Here, t=b/a (where a and b are different positive integers).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a signal processing method and signal processing apparatus able to reduce signal distortion.
2. Description of the Related Art
For example, an analog-digital mixed integrated circuit is promising as a system possessing both the high speed of an analog circuit and the flexibility of a digital circuit. In current analog circuits, high speed signal processing over 1 GHz or approaching 10 GHz is being sought. On the other hand, the power supply voltage has been steadily falling with each year and in the near future reportedly should become 1.0V or less. In an analog-digital mixed integrated circuit, the propagation of voltage fluctuations occurring due to the switching operations of a digital circuit through the semiconductor substrate to the analog circuit, that is, so-called "substrate noise", has been considered a problem. However, if the signal amplification is large, the substrate noise is not that much of a problem. Rather, the effect of signal distortion due to the low power voltage has become remarkable.
To reduce the distortion of the output signal, it has been proposed to provide a plurality of copied signals offset from the given input signal by exactly a phase, separately perform the same processing, return the offset phases to their original states, then add them to obtain the output (see Eisse Mensink et al., "Distortion Cancellation by Polyphase Multipath Circuits" IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CIRCUITS AND SYSTEMS—I: REGULAR PAPERS, Vol. 52, No. 9, September 2005). According to this method, it has been reported that distortion of the output due to the signal processing circuit of the mixer can be reduced. However, with this configuration, a circuit for offsetting a signal by exactly the phase is required. Realization of a circuit for precisely offsetting a signal by exactly the phase over a broad signal frequency band is difficult. Further, its application is limited to a mixer.

Signal processing method and signal processing apparatus

Semiconductor Technology Academic Research Center


Methods and systems for memory monitoring. A triggering access is detected at one or more monitored memory regions. When a triggering access is detected, a function is accessed for determining a monitoring function, and a monitoring function associated with a particular triggered memory location address is automatically determined.

The invention relates generally to the fields of computers, hardware architecture, and software.
Software bugs and viruses are a major impediment to the operation of computers. Workflow problems are caused. Data is lost. Expenditures are made to address computer failures. These problems lead to significant expenses. The expenses incurred for software debugging with the widespread use of computers are a billion dollar economic problem, with businesses, schools, and government carrying a large load of the economic expenditures related to software debugging and computer operation.
Recent impressive improvements in computer architecture have not led to significant gains in ease of debugging and security. Software debugging and attack detection often rely on inserting run-time software checks. However, program execution typically slows down significantly, often by 10-100 times.
Despite costly efforts to improve software-development methodologies, software bugs in deployed codes continue to thrive, often accounting for as much as 40% of computer system failures, and 50-70% of security vulnerabilities. Software bugs can crash systems, making services unavailable or, in the form of "silent" bugs, corrupt information or generate wrong outputs. This lapse represents a major shortcoming in state-of-the-art microprocessors. Software bugs, especially memory-related bugs, are often exploited by malicious users to launch security attacks.
There are several approaches to debug codes to improve software robustness and security. One approach is to perform checks statically. Examples of this approach include explicit model checking and program analysis. Most static tools require significant involvement of the programmer to write specifications or annotate programs. In addition, most static tools are limited by aliasing problems and other compile-time limitations. This is especially the case for programs written in unsafe languages such as C or C++, the predominant programming languages in the art. As a result, many bugs often remain in programs even after aggressive static checking and are exploited for security attacks.
Another approach is to monitor execution dynamically. Many methods have been proposed for dynamic code monitoring. Dynamic monitoring can be generally classified into two categories: code-controlled monitoring (CCM) and location-controlled monitoring (LCM).
With CCM, monitoring is performed only at special points in the program. Two types of CCM are assertions and (most) dynamic checkers. Assertions are inserted by programmers to perform sanity checks at certain places. If the condition specified in an assertion is false, the program aborts. Assertions are one of the most commonly used methods for debugging. However, they can add significant overhead to program execution. Moreover, it is often hard to identify all the places where assertions should be placed.
Dynamic checkers are automated tools that detect common bugs at run time, with instrumentation inserted in the code that monitors invariants and reports violations as errors or alerts for attacks. The strength of this approach is that the analysis is based on actual execution paths and accurate values of variables and aliasing information.
For example, DIDUCE automatically infers likely program invariants, and uses them to detect program bugs. Others, such as Purify and Valgrind, monitor memory accesses to detect memory leaks and some simple instances of memory corruption, such as freeing a buffer twice or reading an uninitialized memory location. StackGuard can detect some buffer overflow bugs, which have been a major cause of security attacks. Another dynamic checker, Eraser, can detect data races by dynamically tracking the set of locks held during program execution. Such dynamic checker tools usually use compilers or code-rewriting tools such as ATOM, EEL, and Dyninst to instrument programs with checks.
Unfortunately, most dynamic checkers suffer from two general limitations. First, they are often computationally expensive. One major reason is their large instrumentation cost. Another reason is that dynamic checkers may instrument more places than necessary due to lack of accurate information at instrumentation time. As a result, some dynamic checkers slow down a program, e.g., by 6-30 times, which makes such tools undesirable for production runs. Moreover, some timing-sensitive bugs may never occur with these slowdowns. Additionally, such high overhead is not practical to use during production runs to detect security attacks.
Second, most dynamic checkers rely on compilers or pre-processing tools to insert instrumentation and, therefore, are limited by imperfect variable disambiguation. Consequently, particular accesses to a monitored location may be missed by these tools. Because of this, some bugs are caught much later than when they actually occur, which makes it hard to find the root cause of the bug. The following C code gives a simple example.
int x, *p;/* assume invariant : x = 1 */. . .p = foo( );/* a bug: p points to x incorrectly */*p = 5;/* line A: corruption of x */. . .InvariantCheck (x == 1);  /* line B */z = Array(x);. . .
While x is corrupted at line A, the bug is not detected until the invariant check at line B. This is because it may be hard for a dynamic checker to know that it needs to insert an invariant check after line A, due to the difficulty of performing perfect pointer disambiguation. Generally, dynamic checkers often suffer from hard-coded bug detection functionality, language specificity, and difficulty to work with low-level code.
With LCM, on the other hand, monitoring is associated directly with memory locations, and therefore all accesses to such memory locations are monitored. LCM has two advantages over CCM. First, LCM monitors all accesses to a watched memory location using all possible variable names or pointers, whereas CCM may miss some accesses because of pointer aliasing. Second, LCM monitors only those memory locations that truly access a watched memory location, while CCM may need to instrument at many unnecessary points due to the lack of accurate information at instrumentation time. Therefore, LCM can be used to detect both invariant violations and illegal accesses to a memory location, whereas it may be difficult and too expensive for CCM to check for illegal accesses.
Hardware-assisted watchpoints fall into the LCM category. For example, to assist software debugging, several state-of-the-art processor architectures such as Intel and Sun SPARC provide hardware support for watchpoints to monitor several programmer-specified memory locations. The hardware support is provided through a few special debug registers. When a watched memory location is accessed, the hardware triggers an exception that is handled by the debugger (such as gdb). It is then up to the programmer to manually check the program state using the debugger.

Architecture support system and method for memory monitoring

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois


A process is provided for the production of a porous retainer for use in a rolling bearing for holding rolling elements. The process comprises the following steps:. (1) blending a polyimide resin, which serves as a porous matrix material for the porous retainer, with another heat-resistant resin which has a forming temperature range close to the polyimide resin and, when treated with a solvent in the presence of the polyimide resin, is solely dissolved out; PA1 (2) forming the resulting resin blend into a retainer of a desired shape; and PA1 (3) treating the thus-formed retainer with the solvent, whereby the another heat-resistant resin is solely dissolved out.

a) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a production process of a rolling bearing for a high-speed rotating equipment employed in a field where high speed and high safety are required, such as a medical, food-processing or aerospace equipment.
More specifically, the present invention is concerned with an efficient and economical production process of a porous retainer of the type that as a principal element of a rolling bearing, it is used in a form impregnated with a lubricating oil.
b) Description of the Related Art
Conventional examples of a retainer for holding rolling elements (balls) in a rolling bearing include those made of a self-lubricating molding material, for example, a synthetic resin such as polytetrafluoroethylene.
Further, as examples of an inner ring, an outer ring, rolling elements and a retainer in a bearing, there are those obtained by plating, coating or sputtering these members with a solid lubricant, for example, a metal such as gold or silver, or molybdenum disulfide.
It is however the current situation that a bearing element, for example, a retainer making use of the above-described self-lubricating synthetic resin or the above-described solid lubricant such as gold or silver is generally poor in the durability of a lubricant film and cannot stably exhibit sliding properties over a long time.
Especially in a lubrication system of a high-speed rotating equipment such as a high-speed cutter, it is strongly required to stably and continuously supply a lubricating oil onto a friction surface in a bearing for many hours and also to provide the friction surface with wear resistance. To the best of the inventors' knowledge, there is no retainer which can meet such needs.
A high-speed rotating equipment, especially a high-speed cutter for rotating a cutting tool at high speeds is generally constructed of a rotary shaft for fixedly holding various cutting tools thereon, a drive unit for rotating the rotary shaft, and a bearing unit rotatably supporting the rotary shaft.
As a high-speed cutter of this type, an odonto-therapeutic high-speed cutter (i.e., air turbine hand piece) can be mentioned by way of example.
Bearing units for the above-mentioned odonto-therapeutic high-speed cutters (i.e., air turbine hand pieces) are known to include those having a ball bearing system making use o f balls (rolling elements) and those equipped with a (non-contact) air bearing system making use of an air bearing.
Paying attention, for example, to the bearing mechanisms of dental air turbine hand pieces, two types of air turbine hand pieces are known, one being of the ball bearing turbine type and the other of the air bearing turbine type.
The former type, i.e., the ball bearing turbine type can be considered to be a high-speed rotation type for approximately 200,000 to 400,000 rpm, while the latter type, that is, the ball bearing turbine type can be considered to be a super high-speed rotation type for approximately 300,000 to 500,000 rpm.
It is however to be noted that the above-described revolution speeds of the ball bearing turbine type and the air bearing turbine type are general values. For example, the dental air turbine hand piece already proposed by the present inventors (U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,446) is of the ball bearing turbine type. Nonetheless, it has high performance so that super high-speed rotation can be achieved.
To facilitate the understanding of the conventional art and this invention, a description will now be made about the construction of an equipment to which a bearing making use of a porous retainer produced by the production process of this invention and a lubricating oil, is applied, namely, of a dental high-speed cutter (i.e., a dental air turbine hand piece).
FIG. 1 to FIG. 2 show the construction of the dental air turbine hand piece, in which FIG. 1 is a perspective view illustrating the overall construction and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view illustrating the internal construction of a head portion and a neck portion in particular.
As is depicted in FIG. 1, the dental air turbine hand piece designated generally by letter A is composed of a head portion H, which carries a cutting tool B(5) fixedly held on a rotor shaft (drive shaft) of an air turbine, and a grip portion G.
A neck portion N of the grip portion G is connected to the head H, and is internally provided with means for supplying compressed air to the air turbine arranged within the head portion H and also for discharging compressed air from the air turbine.
FIG. 2 illustrates the internal construction of the head portion H and the neck portion N of the dental air turbine hand piece A.
As is illustrated in the figure, in the head portion H, a turbine rotor shaft 3 with turbine blades 2 disposed at a peripheral edge portion thereof is arranged within a chamber 11 of a head 1, and the turbine rotor shaft 3 is rotatably supported within the head 1 by way of a bearing unit 4.
The head 1 is composed of a head main part 12 and a cap part 13. Within the head main part 12, the bearing unit 4 is arranged to rotatably support the turbine rotor shaft 3. To perform treatment, the cutting tool 5 is fixedly held in a bore which is formed through the turbine rotor shaft 3 along a central axis thereof. Incidentally, the cutting tool 5 is provided on a peripheral side wall thereof with a chuck 51 for holding the cutting tool 5 in place within the bore.
The bearing unit 4 is of the ball bearing type and is constructed of an inner ring 41, an outer ring 42, rolling elements 43 and a retainer 44. The bearing unit 4 may be provided on an outer periphery or side wall thereof with O-rings for providing the bearing unit with self-centering function and/or with known wave washers for enhancing the rigidity of the shaft.
A main part 6 of the neck portion N is provided with an air supply passage 7 and an air inlet 71 for supplying compressed air t o the turbine blades 2 arranged within the chamber 11 and also with air discharge passages 8,9 and air outlets 81,91 for discharging compressed air from the chamber 11.
In the above-described internal construction of the dental air turbine hand piece A as illustrated in FIG. 2, the means for supplying and discharging compressed air is the one already proposed by the present inventors (U.S. Pat. No. 5,562,446) and is of a new construction totally unseen in the conventional art.
Accordingly, FIG. 2 contains other reference symbols in addition to those referred to in the above to describe the individual elements (members). Although a description of these additional symbols is omitted herein, the construction of the conventional dental air turbine hand piece can be easily understood on the basis of FIG. 2.
The dental air turbine hand piece A--which is equipped with the air supply and discharge means shown in FIG. 2 and already proposed by the present inventors--belongs to the category of conventional hand pieces with a rolling bearing built therein, but makes it possible to obtain rotation of an extremely high speed and hence a large torque.
In the above-described dental air turbine hand piece of the ball bearing type, its bearing unit is in the form of a miniature bearing unit. Since the turbine rotor shaft rotates at a high speed of approximately 200,000 to 400,000 revolutions per minute, the temperature inside the bearing unit becomes high and further, the bearing unit is exposed to a large stress. For a lubricating oil to be applied to a bearing which is used under the above-described severe conditions, it is therefore extremely important to control its quality and properties.
Further, the above-described dental air turbine hand piece of the ball bearing type is used in the oral cavity. Accordingly, the dental air turbine hand piece is used by spraying or dropping a lubricating oil to the bearing unit, in other words, is used under an environment of minimum lubrication, and is subjected to high-pressure and high-temperature treatment for sterilization and disinfection (which is also called "autoclaving", which is applied under the following conditions: steam pressure, 2.4 kg/cm.sup.2 ; temperature, 135.degree. C.; time, 5 minutes).
As a rolling bearing for use in the above-described dental air turbine hand piece, one capable of meeting conditions similar to those mentioned above is therefore required. In particular, as a retainer which acts as an important element in a lubrication system, one capable of satisfying conditions similar to those mentioned above is required.
Further, without needing mentioning, the lubricating oil for use in the above bearing is also required to have properties sufficient to withstand such severe use conditions, such as oxidation resistance.
Conventional examples of the above-described retainer for rolling elements (balls) include those made of polyimide resins or fiber-layer-containing phenol resins from the viewpoint of the above-described property requirements. These conventional retainers are however not considered to be sufficient.
In view of the above-described severe use conditions for dental air turbine hand pieces, dental air turbine hand pieces equipped with retainers impregnated with fluorinated oils, which have excellent heat resistance, permit sterilization and disinfection (autoclaving) and have superb lubricity, have been proposed recently in Japanese Patent Publication (Kokoku) No. HEI 5-43884 and Japanese Utility Model Application Laid-Open (Kokai) No. HEI 7-10553.
Incidentally, the retainers are in the form of porous members obtained by sintering powder of a polyimide resin.
The fluorinated oils have properties such that they are inactive, are excellent in heat resistance, chemical resistance and solvent resistance and, even when exposed to high temperatures, do not form a solid deterioration material. It is therefore possible to consider that the above-described proposed dental air turbine hand pieces have used these properties for the retainers.
Concerning a rolling bearing for a high-speed rotating equipment, for example, for a dental air turbine hand piece of the ball bearing type, especially a retainer as a principal element of the rolling bearing, a variety of examples of different materials and structures have been developed in the light of required characteristics as described above.
For example, as a rolling bearing for a dental air turbine hand piece of the high-speed rotation system, especially as its retainer, a porous product obtained by sintering powder of a polyimide resin from the viewpoint of heat resistance (autoclaving resistance), durability and the like as mentioned above has been proposed.
As the above-mentioned porous retainer made of the polyimide resin is produced by compressing and sintering powder of a polyimide resin of a desired particle size (for example, 15 to 50 .mu.m) under desired conditions, it is however difficult to form a porous portion of a uniform communicated structure in the matrix material.
Needless to say, a failure in forming a porous portion of a uniform communicated structure in a matrix material (polyimide resin) means that the matrix material cannot be impregnated evenly with a lubricating oil. This uneven impregnation will then give serious adverse effects on lubrication characteristics in a high-speed rotation system.
In the production of a porous retainer by the above-described sintering of power of a polyimide resin, it is extremely difficult especially in providing the porous retainer with uniform quality. The production must therefore be performed under stringent conditions.

Production process of porous retainer for rolling bearing

28-44 , Tenjugaoka-cho, Hanazono, Ukyo-ku


A product dispenser includes a cartridge containing a product; a housing having a base member and a cartridge receiving member movably mounted to the base member between a shipping position wherein the cartridge receiving member is substantially extended from the base member, and a use position wherein the cartridge receiving member is at least partially retracted relative to the base member from the shipping position, the cartridge receiving member having a sidewall defining an interior space for receiving the cartridge; an access defined by the sidewall for installing and removing the cartridge in the interior space; structure associated with the housing for dispensing the product from the cartridge; and structure for resisting dispensing motion of the cartridge receiving member relative to the base member from the shipping position toward the use position.

The invention relates to a product dispenser and, more specifically, to a dispenser having a separable refill cartridge.
A number of products and containers are on the market in connection with products, specifically dental preparations, wherein a combination of two substances or ingredients are provided. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,687,663 is drawn to an article for storage and delivery of baking soda and peroxide preparations. As pointed out in this patent, hydrogen peroxide and sodium bicarbonate may not normally be premixed, as they immediately react and are thereby rendered ineffective for subsequent use. The '663 patent, as well as U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,964,539, D315,496, 5,020,694, 5,038,963 and 5,289,949 are drawn to dispensing containers addressing the problem of keeping sodium bicarbonate and hydrogen peroxide separate until use.
Containers such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,949 mentioned above include a base portion and a housing/cartridge structure which slidably moves over the base portion. The product is contained in two cylinders which are an integral portion of the upper housing structure. When product from the cylinders is exhausted, the entire upper portion of the package must be discarded and replaced, leaving only the base as a reusable element.
The container of the above-mentioned U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,949 and others are successful at providing product in a form wherein the hydrogen peroxide and sodium bicarbonate are maintained in separate sections of a container. However, consumers recognize the waste in discarding the entire upper housing/cartridge structure, and the need remains for a solution to this problem.
Frequently, dispensers for dentifrice and the like are shipped in a fully assembled condition so as to eliminate the need for assembly at the destination of the dispenser. However, this can easily lead to dispensers which can be inadvertently compressed or otherwise actuated so as to dispense product, or to pressurize product, during shipping. This is undesirable.
It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide a product dispenser having a readily interchangeable refill cartridge wherein the entire housing is reusable.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a product dispenser wherein removal and installation of replacement cartridges is readily accomplished.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a product dispenser having a separable refill cartridge wherein product portions or components are readily provided through a product outlet or nozzle.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a product dispenser having staging and locking structure for resisting inadvertent and undesirable compressing or other motion and dispensing during shipping of the dispenser.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide a product dispenser having a separable refill cartridge and including locking structure for holding the housing together during removal of the cartridge.
Other objects and advantages will appear hereinbelow.

Product dispenser having separable refill cartridge and staging and locking structure


A method for the treatment of acne is provided which results in the reduction of vestibular side effects following administration of oral tetracycline antibiotics.

Oral tetracycline antibiotics are frequently used in the treatment of acne. One of the most effective oral tetracycline antibiotics used in the treatment of acne it is minocycline. All tetracycline antibiotics are known to have some side effects. These side effects include vestibular symptoms such as vertigo, dizziness or blurred vision. These effects are sometimes disabling. See, Gould & Brookler, Arch. Otolarang. Vol. 96, p. 291 (1972); Williams et al., Lancet, Sep. 28, 1974, p. 144-45; Fanning & Gump, Arch. Intern. Med., Vol. 136, pp. 761-62 (1976). Headache and general malaise, along with gastro-intestinal symptoms such as the diarrhea, nausea, gas, or cramps also occur. Dry nose and dry mouth are also occasionally encountered.
Dosage forms of oral tetracycline antibiotics are typically constructed with a view towards achieving rapid dissolution rates. Rapid dissolution is believed to be essential to the effectiveness of these drugs. The driving force behind this practice is the understanding that rapid dissolution leads to rapid assimilation through the gut lining, where the antibiotics are then transmitted through the blood stream to the skin, where they are active against bacteria associated with acne. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has established standards for dissolution rates for various oral antibiotics. These standards set minimum dissolution rates. For example, the FDA standard for oral minocycline is that 75 percent of the stated dosage must have dissolved within 45 minutes, under standard U.S. Pharmacopea test conditions. Commercial products are typically engineered to have a dissolution rates which are substantially faster than that required by the FDA. All of this is based upon the generally accepted belief in the art that, while dissolution rates enhance the effectiveness of the antibiotic, once the FDA minimum dissolution rate is achieved, all products have equivalent safety and efficacy.


The subject matter disclosed herein includes methods, systems, and computer program products for selecting among different global title translation modes based on a message originator and performing global title translation based on the selected mode. According to one method, a global title translation mode is selected based on a message originator. A global title translation lookup is performed in accordance with the selected mode. If the global title translation according to the selected mode fails, a lookup may be performed according to at least one additional mode in a global title translation mode hierarchy.

Within a signaling system 7 (SS7) network, the signaling connection control part (SCCP) protocol is used for accessing databases and other entities within the network. The SCCP protocol also provides an advanced addressing capability where a subsystem is represented as an array of digits known as a global title address. By utilizing global title translation, the SS7 point code (PC) and subsystem number (SSN) of a final destination are not required to be known by the message originator. All the originator is required to know is the called party dialed digits and the address of a node that can perform the global title translation. Global title translation is commonly employed to locate databases that provide 800 number toll free and caller ID services within telecommunications networks. Depending on network topology, global title translation processing is typically performed at a signal transfer point (STP), a signaling gateway (SG), or a service control point (SCP) where one network makes an inter-connection to an adjacent network.
The addressing information used to facilitate message routing at the SCCP level commonly includes a destination point code, a subsystem number, and optionally a global title. If a destination PC and SSN are not specified in the SCCP portion of an SS7 message, global title translation may be used to resolve a global title address (GTA), translation type (TT), and/or global title indicator (GTI) contained in the message to a destination point code and subsystem number.
In addition to called party global title translation where global title translation is based on the SCCP called party address, methods for calling party global title translation have been developed. For example, in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/397,774, filed Mar. 26, 2003, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety, methods for performing calling party global title translation are described. In addition to performing called or calling party global title translation, there may be a need to combine these methods. However, there is currently no implementation known that combines calling and called party global title translation. Moreover, there may be a need to perform different types of global title translation based on the originator of a message. However, conventional global title translation requires that the same type of global title translation be performed for all signaling messages that require global title translation. Accordingly, there exists a long felt need for selecting a global title translation mode based on an originator of a signaling message and performing global title translation according to the selected mode.

Methods, systems, and computer program products for selecting a global title translation mode based on an originator of a signaling message and performing global title translation according to the selected mode


A coupling arrangement connects a container of concentrated cleaning fluid to a dispensing apparatus in a carpet cleaning machine. To facilitate the required fluid connection, the container is fitted with a plug having one port at its center and a second port radially disposed from the center port and positioned within an annular groove concentric with the center port. The distance from the center port to the second port in the plug is equal to the distance between corresponding central and radial ports in the dispenser. When the container is rotated to engage the dispenser and advance it into position, the center port of the plug and central port of the dispenser align since they are on the same axis. The radial port of the dispenser is aligned with the annular groove in the plug, enabling fluid communication with the second port in the plug irrespective of the rotational orientation.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to carpet cleaning machines and, more specifically, to an associated coupling arrangement for providing a fluid tight connection with a disposable container of concentrated cleaning solution.
2. Description of Related Art
Carpet cleaning machines, often referred to as extractors, are used to perform a "wet" cleaning process. Generally, they apply a water based cleaning solution to the carpet; as a result, dirt is washed away from the carpet fibers and becomes suspended in the cleaning solution. The solution and suspended dirt are then removed from the carpet by a vacuum apparatus in the extractor. The cleaning solution used in these machines is generally a mixture of hot water and a concentrated cleaning fluid. In prior art extractors, it is often necessary for the user to premix a quantity of the concentrate with water and fill a tank or other chamber of the extractor with the dilute solution. This procedure can result in poor cleaning performance or even damage to the carpet if the user does not follow the mixing instructions carefully.
An alternate approach for supplying a properly mixed solution has been to provide means within the extractor to dispense the proper dosage of concentrate and mix it with water from a separate container within the machine in preparation for application to the carpet. Although this approach is simpler for the user and has the potential for more accurate solution mixing, prior art devices have not been entirely successful in its implementation. One drawback relates to the need for the cleaning concentrate container to be disposable, so that the desired user convenience is achieved. Prior art containers have had a complex construction with multiple parts, making them more expensive and increasing the cost to the consumer. In addition, there are problems associated with attaching the container to the machine that make it difficult to create a fluid tight seal and achieve the proper connection with the associated ports in the dispensing apparatus of the extractor. Improper alignment of the ports, as shown in some prior art devices, results in leakage and/or improper mixing of the concentrate with the water, causing the performance of the extractor to be unsatisfactory.


A new method for boundary layer energization and boundary layer propulsion or use on vehicles moving through fluids, which comprises mounting small airfoils parallel or perpendicular to the vehicle's surface, said airfoils being embedded within the said vehicle's boundary layer and juxtaposed the surface of said vehicle, said airfoils being approximately the height of the boundary layer thickness and exciting said airfoils into flapping oscillation parallel to the chord plane of said airfoils, said oscillation at a frequency up to 100 cycles per second at an amplitude up to 20 percent of the chord length of said airfoil, whereby flow separation is delayed or suppressed which enables the redesign of said vehicle.

1. Filed of the Invention
This invention relates to aircraft and ship boundary layer propulsion (thrust generation) mechanisms employing flapping foils. It further relates to aerodynamic or hydrodynamic lift systems employing flapping foils. This invention also relates to aerodynamic and hydrodynamic drag generated on aircraft and ships. More precisely, it relates to aerodynamic/hydrodynamic control systems employing flapping foils, including the delay or prevention of flow separation in general fluid flow systems.
2. Background of the Invention
It is firmly established that fluid flow over most air and marine vehicles occurs at such large Reynolds numbers that the viscous forces acting on the fluid particles are of importance only in a very thin layer surrounding the vehicle. The remainder of the fluid flow field can be regarded as inviscid (frictionless). The Reynolds number signifies the ratio of the fluid particle's inertia force to the viscous force. Typically, the inertia force is several hundred thousand or million times larger than the viscous force. As a result, the thin fluid particle layer (which is usually referred to as "boundary layer") developing on an aircraft wing typically has a thickness of only one or two percent of the aircraft wing's chord length.
Over the years, it has also been recognized that the type of fluid flow which develops in the boundary layer has a decisive effect on the air or marine vehicle's drag. One distinguishes between the two types of fluid flow, namely "laminar flow" and "turbulent flow". The laminar fluid flow is a well-ordered steady flow, whereas the turbulent fluid flow is characterized by small irregular fluctuations about a steady mean flow. The friction force exerted by a laminar flow's boundary layer on the vehicle's outer surface exposed to the laminar flow is significantly smaller than the friction force generated by a turbulent flow's boundary layer. On the other hand, a laminar flow boundary layer has a much greater proclivity to separate (detach) from the vehicle's surface than a turbulent flow boundary layer. Separated flow produces a different type of drag, which is usually referred to as "pressure drag". Large regions of flow separation may produce huge increases in pressure drag. Hence efficient air or marine vehicle design requires the minimization of both skin friction and pressure drag.

Integrated propulsion/lift/control system for aircraft and ship applications

The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Navy


A battery exchange method is implemented in a control device communicatively coupled to a work machine and a battery exchange device. The method includes receiving a battery exchange request from the work machine, calculating a synchronization location and a synchronization time of the work machine and the battery exchange device, generating pre-judgment information, sending the pre judgment information and a synchronization command to the battery exchange device to control the battery exchange device to move toward the work machine according to the pre-judgment information and the synchronization command, continually receiving the first status information from the work machine and second status information from the battery exchange device, determining whether synchronization of the work machine and the battery exchange device is complete, and sending a battery exchange command to the battery exchange device to control the battery exchange device to exchange the battery of the work machine.

Automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) are increasingly used in automated logistics systems. In use, the AGV needs to return to a fixed AGV battery exchange base when the battery power of the AGV reaches 30-40% to exchange a battery of the AGV. However, it takes time for the AGV to return to the base, which reduces efficiency of the AGV.

Control device and battery exchange method

Fu Tai Hua Industry (Shenzhen) Co., Ltd.


Systems and methods in accordance with embodiments of the invention implement flexible members that include integrated tools made from metallic glass-based materials. In one embodiment, a structure includes: a flexible member characterized by an elongated geometry and an integrated tool disposed at one end of the elongated geometry; where the flexible member includes a metallic glass-based material.

Engineered mechanisms often rely on a variety of components characterized by intentionally distinct geometries and/or mechanical properties. Thus, for instance, U.S. Pat. No. 8,789,629 (the '629 patent) discloses terrain traversing devices having wheels with included microhooks. More specifically, the abstract of the '629 patent reads:                A terrain traversing device includes an annular rotor element with a plurality of co-planar microspine hooks arranged on the periphery of the annular rotor element. Each microspine hook has an independently flexible suspension configuration that permits the microspine hook to initially engage an irregularity in a terrain surface at a preset initial engagement angle and subsequently engage the irregularity with a continuously varying engagement angle when the annular rotor element is rotated for urging the terrain traversing device to traverse a terrain surface.
The '629 patent proposes that the referenced microspine wheel assembly can be made out of any of a variety of suitable materials including, for example steel and/or a hard plastic. The disclosure of the '629 patent is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

Systems and methods for implementing flexible members including integrated tools made from metallic glass-based materials


A method for determining a property of formations surrounding an earth borehole being drilled with a drill bit at the end of a drill string, using drilling fluid that flows downward through the drill string, exits through the drill bit, and returns toward the earth's surface in the annulus between the drill string and the periphery of the borehole, including the following steps: obtaining, downhole near the drill bit, a pre-bit sample of the mud in the drill string as it approaches the drill bit; obtaining, downhole near the drill bit, a post-bit sample of the mud in the annulus, entrained with drilled earth formation, after its egression from the drill bit; implementing pre-bit measurements on the pre-bit sample; implementing post-bit measurements on the post-bit sample; and determining a property of the formations from the post-bit measurements and the pre-bit measurements.

Prior to the introduction of Logging While Drilling (LWD) tools and measurements, analysis of cuttings and mud-gas logging were the primary formation evaluation techniques used during drilling. With the advent of LWD, mud-gas logging lost some of its luster and was viewed as a "low technology" discipline. Recently, however, it has come back in favor; as operators have been able to extract valuable reservoir information that they have not been able to obtain by other relatively inexpensive methods.
The present-day approach to mud-gas logging is fundamentally the same as it has traditionally been: extract and capture a surface sample of gas or hydrocarbon liquid vapor from the returning mud line and analyze the fluid for its composition by means of chromatography, e.g. gas chromatography (GC). The fluid, because of the extraction methods most commonly used, comprises essentially the hydrocarbon components C1 to C5. A well site measurement of the total organic (combustible) gas (TG) was also, in general, available immediately at the well site. Using the history of the circulation rate and the record of the rate of bit penetration, the depth at which the surface sample was acquired could be roughly estimated.
A difference between present-day and past surface analysis techniques has been the introduction of more precise means for determining the composition output by the GC and to extend the scope of the gas analysis to include carbon isotopic analysis for geochemical purposes. Typically, this is done by the use of a mass spectrometer (MS). To this point, this type of analysis has necessitated the use of specialized, bulky equipment and has required access to a suitably equipped laboratory. The turn-around time for a full analysis by a laboratory has been said to be from two to four weeks from the gathering of the sample to the delivery of the final report. (See, for example, Ellis, L, A Brown, M Schoell and A Uchytil: "Mud gas Isotope Logging (MGIL) Assists in Oil and Gas Drilling operations", Oil and Gas Journal, May 26, 2003, pp 32-41.) With the miniaturization of both GC and MS equipment such analysis is becoming available at the well site, with results available in a matter of hours or less.
The applications claimed for present-day surface mud-gas analysis include at least the following:
1. Identification of productive hydrocarbon bearing intervals, fluid types and fluid contacts;
2. Ability to identify and assess compartmentalization, both vertical and areal;
3. Identification of by-passed/low-resistivity pay;
4. Identification of changes in lithology;
5. The ability to assess the effectiveness of reservoir seals;
6. Identification of the charge history of an accumulation;
7. Determining the thermal maturity of the hydrocarbon identified; and,
8. Geosteering using-gas-while drilling.
The methodology used in going from the simple C1-C5 hydrocarbon component analysis to the capabilities listed above relies on constructing empirically-motivated ratios of combinations of the various hydrocarbon components, plotting these ratios as functions of depth and associating these profiles with the capabilities listed. Examples of these ratios are:
      W    =                                        C                                                                          2                    +                      C                                                                          3                    +                      C                                                                          4                    +                      C                                                                          5                                                C                                                                          1                    +                      C                                                                          2                    +                      C                                                                          3                    +                      C                                                                          4                    +                      C                                                                          5                              =                        Σ          -                      C                                                                          1                          Σ                  B    =                                        C                                                                          1                    +                      C                                                                          2                                                C                                                                          3                    +                      C                                                                          4                    +                      C                                                                          5                              =                                    C                                                                          1                    +                      C                                                                          2                                    Σ          -                      (                                          C                                                                                1                            +                              C                                                                                2                                      )                                    C    =                            C                                                              4                +                  C                                                              5                            C                                                  3            where W, B and C are called, respectively, the "wetness", "balance" and "character" ratios. Other ratios have also been used for both the hydrocarbon species, for example,C1/C3,C2/C3,TG/Σ,(C4+C5)/(C1+C2);the non-hydrocarbon species and combinations of the two.
Notwithstanding advances in equipment, techniques, and turnaround time for surface analysis of mud gas and cuttings, certain drawbacks remain. One problem is depth control; that is, the ability to be able to accurately place the location of an acquired sample. In the presently used method, the depth of the origin of the sample is inferred from the circulation rate and the time between when the sample was extracted at surface and when the bit first passed the sampled depth. Given that pump rates are quite inaccurate and the mud properties vary significantly from surface to bottom hole, the depth determination is often unreliable. Moreover, in general, no allowances are made for the diffusion of the gas within the mud or the inhomogeneity in the mixing as the mud travels along the well bore. This becomes particularly important for thin, stacked reservoirs. As the gas concentration in the mud that reaches the surface is lower than it was originally downhole, highly sensitive instrumentation is needed for the uphole analysis.
A further difficulty is that surface samples tend to be diluted with air and this has to be accounted for in the analysis. Not only do the natural gas "reference samples" against which the extracted sample are compared have to be similarly diluted to obtain reliable results—this requires that the concentration of the mud gas be known a priori—but this dilution makes inaccurate or may even nullify the quantification of non-hydrocarbon gases such as nitrogen, helium and carbon dioxide. This drawback involves, more generally, processes which alter the composition of the gas as it travels to surface and, when applicable, as it travels from wellsite to laboratory. Also, one of the uncertainties that arises when performing mud-gas analysis at the surface is determining the true "background" level of the gas. It is known, for example, that not all the gas may be extracted when the mud is recycled through the mud pits and pumped down the drill pipe. This trace of gas can give a false "background" reading.
To somewhat improve on surface and laboratory analysis of mud gas and cuttings, there has been proposed, for example, downhole analysis for carbon dioxide gas, but with limited capability.
It is among the objects of the present invention to provide techniques which address or solve the aforementioned and other drawbacks of prior art techniques.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Downhole measurement of formation characteristics while drilling


A system and method for resolving ambiguities in multi-tap text input resulting from successive keystrokes of the same key. The keystroke timing is evaluated to assess whether a default understanding of the keystrokes should be rejected in favour of an alternative interpretation. The timing between successive keystrokes is compared to a timing value to determine if the successive keystrokes are part of the same character input or constitute separate character inputs. The system and method assist in resolving ambiguities inherent in receiving multi-tap input through a reduced-key input device.

The layout of the universal QWERTY keyboard is familiar to all typists and computer users. In this configuration, each alphanumeric symbol is assigned a unique key. This configuration has dominated text input systems (including typewriters and computers) for over a century. In recent years, however, the development of new technologies like mobile telephones, personal digital assistants (PDAs), and wireless two-way messaging devices has lead to a reconsideration of the configuration of keypads or keyboards. For example, in the case of mobile telephones, three or more letters have been assigned or associated with each numeric key. In the case of some two-way wireless messaging devices, to conserve space the devices have been designed with a two-symbol-per-key keyboard. For example, such a device may feature a reduced-key QWERTY keyboard, wherein the conventional QWERTY layout is maintained, but two adjacent letters are associated with each key, e.g. one key is used for entering both the letters "E" and "R".
In a reduced-key input device, the keys have an associated sequence of alphanumeric symbols or characters. For example, a key may be associated with the letters JKL, as is the case with the "5" key on a telephone keypad. Devices that use a reduced-key input interface for receiving text input typically operate in one of two modes. The first mode is a "multi-tap" mode. In multi-tap mode, the user selects one of the alphanumeric symbols or characters associated with a key by hitting the key a number of times in succession corresponding to the position of the symbol in the sequence. For example, to enter the letter "J", the user hits the "5" key once. To enter the letter "L", the user hits the "5" key three times.
Another mode of operation is a predictive mode in which the user only hits the key associated with the desired symbol once, without specifying which of two or more symbols the user actually wants. Once the user has pressed a number of keys, the device uses predictive algorithms to attempt to guess which of various possible combinations of symbols the user was most likely attempting to define. The user may be provided with a pick-list of candidates for selection. In this mode, the user only enters one keystroke for each desired symbol or character.
When operating in the multi-tap mode, a difficulty arises in entering two successive symbols when those two symbols are associated with the same key. For example, in a two-symbol-per-key context a key may be associated with the letters ER. When a user strikes this key three times in succession it creates an ambiguity in determining the desired input. Three keystrokes may mean the user wants to enter RE, or ER, or EEE.
To resolve this ambiguity, devices operating in multi-tap mode typically employ a default rule, whereby the first two keystrokes will be interpreted as a multi-tap selection of the letter R. Because the user has reached the end of the sequence associated with the key, the next keystroke is interpreted as being associated with the input of a new character, i.e. the letter E. Accordingly, the default understanding of three keystrokes is an output of RE.
To overcome this default rule and obtain an alternative output, like ER or EEE, the device may provide the user with a "next" key to indicate that the user is done selecting a character and that the cursor should be advanced to the next location. Subsequent keystrokes will be interpreted as the input of a new character. Accordingly, to input ER, the user would strike the "ER" key once, hit the "next" key, and then strike the "ER" key twice.
Another method of overriding the default rule is to wait for a timeout to occur. Typically, multi-tap input devices will provide a "timeout" feature, wherein the device presumes that a user is finished inputting a character if a sufficiently long period of time elapses following a keystroke. If a timeout occurs, then the device may advance the cursor to the next location in a text field on the presumption that any subsequent keystrokes will relate to a new character. Accordingly, to input ER, the user would strike the "ER" key once, wait until the cursor advances, and then strike the "ER" key twice.
It will be appreciated that using the "next" key to manually advance the cursor to the next location, or waiting for a timeout to automatically advance the cursor, results in a text input system that interferes with a user's keystroke cadence or rhythm. Accordingly, a need exists for another method of resolving multi-tap text input ambiguities.


A vehicle card key, includes: a mainboard part on which an electronic element for wireless transmitting/receiving with a vehicle is mounted; a connector part formed on the mainboard part; a housing part which covers the mainboard part avoiding the connector part; and a switchboard part which has at least one among a switch and light-emitting diode mounted thereon, and which is layered on the mainboard part and is connected to the connector part.

In general, vehicle keys are used when locking or unlocking the vehicle doors or starting the vehicle, and in recent years, rather than a method in which a user locks or unlocks a door by directly coupling the blade of a vehicle key to a keyhole of the door, smart keys operated at long range using a radio frequency identification (RFID) method are mainly used.
Among such smart keys, card keys having an easy-to-carry card shape are widely used. Such a vehicle card key is a device which is easy to store since a transceiver, a board, a battery, and the like are installed inside a card-shaped housing part, and which is capable of remotely controlling the vehicle. Button card keys have a tact switch mounted on their circuit board to realize a button function.
Normally, a plurality of tact switches and light-emitting elements such as LEDs are provided on a vehicle card key, such electronic elements are arranged scattered across a substantial portion including the central part on the front surface part of the vehicle card key, in order to provide convenience, aesthetics and the like. In addition, the housing part is injection molded with the circuit board inserted therein, in order to guarantee stiffness, form the exterior and the like.
In the prior art, in order to prevent the injected material for molding of the housing part from interfering with the tact switch(es) and light-emitting element(s), relative to the circuit board, the housing part is molded only on the rear surface part and edges of the circuit board and a plurality of sheet members are layered in multiple stages on the front surface part of the circuit board on which the tact switch(es) and light-emitting element(s) are arranged.
In order to achieve a predetermined stiffness, the housing part must have a predetermined thickness, and since such a vehicle card key of the prior art has a thickness that is the housing part thickness, the circuit board thickness, the tact switch thickness, and the sheet thickness all added together, there are limitations on making the card key slim. Furthermore, since the separate sheets having a thickness capable of compensating for the tact switch must be coupled to the front surface part of the circuit board, there are limitations on the simplification of the sheet structure.
Furthermore, there is a problem in that if overflow of the injected material toward the front surface part of the circuit board occurs when molding the housing part, there is still the risk that faults will occur in the tact switch(es) and the light-emitting element(s), and thus particular care is required so that the overflow of injected material covering the entire front surface part of the circuit board does not occur.
Korean Unexamined Patent Publication KR 2018-0019944 A (Laid-open 27 Feb. 2018, Title of the Invention: CARD-TYPE SMART KEY FOR VEHICLE), and incorporated herein by reference, discloses background art of an aspect of the present invention.