A small broadband monopole antenna including a shorted patch and a probe with a strip line that are electromagnetically coupled with each other. The probe with a strip line has a length of about λ/4, where λ is a wavelength. The strip line may be one of a spiral type, a folded type and a helix type. A resonance frequency of the antenna can be adjusted by varying the inductance and the capacitance of the resonance circuits. In addition, a double-band antenna or a single-band antenna having a broad bandwidth can be designed in accordance with application purpose of the antenna.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to an antenna, and more particularly to a small broadband monopole antenna including a shorted patch and a probe with a strip line that are electromagnetically coupled with each other. The probe with the strip line has a length of about λ/4, where λ is a wavelength.
2. Description of Prior Art
Recently, the wireless communication system has been diversely and rapidly developed into a cellular phone, a personal communication service (PCS), an international mobile telecommunication-2000 (IMT-2000), and a personal digital assistant (PDA) and its market also has been enlarged to provide services at a high speed. In the IMT-2000, which is also called a third generation mobile communication system, and to which a great deal of research and development have been done, diverse communication services are available not only for voice and low speed data but also for high speed multimedia data. Together with the developments of such a variety of mobile communication systems, many efforts have been also made to develop small personal portable communication terminals with a high performance. For the miniaturization of the communication terminals, it is commonly regarded that the embedded type small antenna is essential.
Commonly, the prior communication terminals widely used an external type retractable antenna such as a helical antenna or a monopole antenna. However, the external type retractable antenna is disadvantageous for the miniaturization of the communication terminals. A planar inverted F antenna (PIFA) and a short-circuit microstrip antenna are suggested as a small embedded antenna to replace the external type retractable antenna.
These antenna structures have a benefit of a simple design, but unfortunately have a narrow bandwidth. In order to improve the narrow bandwidth problem of the PIFA and the short-circuit microstrip antenna, several types of antennas are suggested such as a 2-lines type normal mode helical antenna (NMHA), a meander line antenna consisting of two strips, a double line PIFA antenna, and a PIFA with stacked parasitic elements. These antennas are detailed in the following: 1) K. Noguchi, M. Misusawa, T. Yamaguchi, and Y. Okumura, "Increasing the Bandwidth of a Meander Line Antenna Consisting of Two Strips," IEEE AP-S Int Symp. Digest, pp. 2198-2201, vol. 4, Montreal, Canada, July 1997; 2) K. Noguchi, M. Misusawa, M. Nkahama, T. Yamaguchi, Y. Okumura, and S. Betsudan, "Increasing the Bandwidth of a Normal Mode Helical Antenna Consisting of Two Strips," IEEE AP-S Int Symp., pp. 782–785, vol. 2, Atlanta, USA, June 1998; 3) M. Olmos, H. D. Hristov, and R. Feick, "Inverted-F Antennas with Wideband Match Performance," Electron. Lett., vol. 16, no. 38, pp. 845–847, August 2002; and 4) S. Sakai and H. Arai, "Directivity Gain Enhancement of Small Antenna by Parasitic Patch," IEEE AP-S Int. Symp., pp. 320–323, vol. 1, Atlanta, USA, June 1998. Among these antennas, the meander line antenna can have wider bandwidth than that of the 2-lines type NMHA or the PIFA by offsetting a balanced mode (transmission line mode) with an unbalanced mode (radiation mode).
Other solutions for obtaining a wide bandwidth include a method of attaching a patch with a shorting wall to an L-strip feed or an L-prove feed and a method of electromagnetically coupling the PIFA with the shorted parasitic patch. These solutions are detailed in the following: 1) C. L. Lee, B. L. Ooi, M. S. Leong, P. S. Kooi, and T. S. Yeo, "A Novel Coupled Fed Small Antenna," Asia-Pacific Microwave Conf., pp. 1044–1047, vol. 3, Taipei, Taiwan, December 2001; 2) Y. X. Gou, K. M. Luk, and, K. F. Lee, "L-Probe Proximity-Fed Short-Circuited Patch Antennas," Electron. Lett., vol. 24, no. 35, pp. 2069–2070, November 1999; and 3) Y. J. Wang, C. K. Lee, W. J. Koh, and Y. B. Gan, "Design of Small and Broad-Band Internal Antennas for IMT-2000 Mobile Handsets," IEEE Trans. Microwave Theory Tech., vol. 49, no. 8, August 2001. These antenna structures can satisfy with a bandwidth of 30% or more, but has have some restrictions in reducing antenna size since because the L-strip structure and a shorted patch should have a resonance length of about λ/4.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,452,558 entitled "Antenna Apparatus and a Portable Wireless Communication Apparatus" discloses a diversity antenna constructed by contacting a planar inverted F antenna (PIFA) with a monopole antenna. The diversity antenna uses two receiving antennas to create two paths for receiving electromagnetic waves in order reduce a fading phenomenon.
As another example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,289,198 entitled "Double-Folded Monopole Antenna" discloses an antenna that is constructed by folding a wire monopole antenna. This antenna has a total length equal to 1.0 λ of a resonance frequency and uses a traveling wave for its operation. The antenna does not use electromagnetic coupling with the shorted patch.
In addition, Korean Patent Application No. 10-2001-7000246 (with a U.S. counterpart application Ser. No. 09/112,366 filed on Jul. 9, 1998), entitled "Small Printed Spiral Type Antenna for Mobile Communication Terminals", discloses an antenna structure of a spiral type monopole antenna and uses a method of directly connecting a grounding post to the spiral type monopole antenna to achieve an impedance matching. However, these antennas have different structures and characteristics from the antenna according to the present invention as will be described below.

Electromagnetically coupled small broadband monopole antenna

Ajou University Industry Cooperation Foundation


A geographic database represents roads including an altitudinal component of the geometry of the roads. The altitudinal component of the geometry of roads is represented using data that indicate straight line segments and vertical curves, in particular parabolic vertical curves. The straight lines and vertical curves are determined by providing data, indicating the altitude at a plurality of locations along portions of roads, as an input to a Hough transform to determine the straight line segments and vertical curves that coincide with the portions of the roads vertically. Then, data that define the straight line segments and vertical curves are stored to represent the altitudinal component of the geometry of the portions of the roads in the geographic database. The altitudinal variation of roads is thus expressed in closed form. From this closed form representation, the slope or grade at any point along the road can be easily computed.

The present invention relates generally to geographic databases and, more particularly, the present invention relates to a way to represent the altitudinal component of road geometry in a geographic database and a method for forming the representation.
Geographic databases have many uses. Geographic databases are used in navigation systems to display maps and provide route calculation and guidance. Geographic databases are also used by Internet sites to provide navigation-related features and services.
In many conventional geographic databases, a linearly extending geographic feature, such as a road, a river, or a state or municipal boundary, is represented using a series of discrete points. For example, in the case of roads, each road segment is represented by two nodes that represent the end points of the road segment, and optionally by one or more shape points that represent points along the road segment between the two nodes. Data that define each of these points (e.g., latitude, longitude, and altitude) are stored in a geographic database to represent this road segment.
Although this way of representing roads and other linearly extending geographic features works well for many applications, there is room for improvement. One area in which there exists a need for improvement relates to the representation of altitude (or altitude changes) along a road. A large number of shape points may be needed to accurately represent the actual shape of the road that has many vertical changes. Storing large numbers of shape points increases the overall size of the geographic database thereby increasing the cost of the data storage medium. Increasing the overall size of the geographic database may also require that systems that use the geographic database have faster and more powerful processors or more memory.
Accordingly, there is a need for a space efficient model for representing and storing altitude information relating to roads.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method for representing the vertical component of road geometry and computing grade or slope


Disclosed herein is a fire suppression composition including CF3I, an anti-freeze compound, and an odorant compound, wherein the anti-freeze compound and the odorant compound are radical scavengers.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure pertain to the art of fire suppression compositions.
Halon 1301 has frequently been employed as a fire suppression agent but there is currently a desire to replace Halon 1301 with more environmentally friendly fire suppression agents or blends of agents. Some of the proposed alternatives to Halon 1301 are less stable than Halon 1301 so solutions must be found that will improve the stability of the alternative fire suppression agents and allow the alternative fire suppression agents to be stored in the fire extinguisher system for extended periods of time.


A method, for fabricating a heat dissipation substrate, includes the steps of: providing a substrate, with the substrate including a metal layer, an insulation layer, and a first conductive layer, with the insulation layer positioned between the metal layer and the first conductive layer, and with the metal layer thicker than the first conductive layer; removing part of the metal layer for forming a metal bulk; providing an adhesive layer including an opening, with the opening corresponding to the metal bulk; providing a second conductive layer; laminating the second conductive layer, the adhesive layer and the substrate; forming a hole in the insulation layer and the first conductive layer, with the hole positioned under the metal bulk; and forming a third conductive layer in the hole.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for fabricating a circuit board. More particularly, the present invention relates to a method for fabricating a heat dissipation substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A chip generates heat in operation, and a chip with better performance generates more heat. However, excessive heat may cause overheating. If the heat cannot be dissipated quickly, the chip will not be able to work normally, or be damaged permanently. Furthermore, overheating may cause the packaging material and the circuit board to have different degrees of thermal expansion, such that the interface of different material will be broken, or the intensity of electrical connections of the elements and the circuit board will be impacted, allowing the product to crash.
To solve the abovementioned problem, a chip package carrier with a heat dissipation structure is developed to prevent overheating. In one of the prior art for heat dissipation, a heat dissipation lump (such as a copper block or a ceramics block) is first placed on a copper substrate, then, the insulation substrate (such as a polypropylene substrate), which includes a hole corresponding to the heat dissipation lump, is combined with the copper substrate which includes the heat dissipation lump, and, finally, another copper substrate is pasted on the other face of the insulation substrate. The heat dissipation lump is connected to the other copper substrate through the hole, and a follow-up process (such as the lithography and the etching) is executed. When the chip is placed on the copper substrate, the heat generated by the chip can be delivered to the other copper substrate for heat dissipation via the heat dissipation lump. However, in the abovementioned method, every step must be executed in alignment, and that may cause errors in alignment. The copper or ceramic block is formed by a mechanical treatment, but the mechanical treatment is difficult, and the yield rate is low. In addition, the thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic block is quite different from those of the copper and the insulation. If the ceramic block, copper, and the insulation substrate undergo thermal expansion, the difference in degree of expansion will seriously distort the heat dissipation structure and make it stratified.
In another prior art for heat dissipation, a laser drilling process is used to form a plurality of laser holes on the substrate, and the holes are filled with thermally conductive material. When the chip is placed on the copper substrate, the heat generated by the chip can be delivered to the other face (such as the copper substrate) for heat dissipation via the thermally conductive material in the plurality of laser holes. However, the diameter of the laser hole is very small, and the heat dissipation performance is worse than the heat dissipation lump. Increasing the diameter of the laser holes to enhance the heat dissipation performance would greatly increase the cost in money and time.
Therefore, there is a need to provide a method for fabricating a heat dissipation substrate to solve the abovementioned problems.

Method for fabricating heat dissipation substrate


A coordinate input apparatus is provided. A photo transmission/reception unit includes a phototransmitter which projects light along a plane of an input region, and a photoreceptor which detects incoming light. A reflector is arranged on a rim portion of the input region, and reflects incident light from the phototransmitter toward the photoreceptor. A detection unit detects a shade formed by the pointing operation of a pointing device using the photo transmission/reception unit. And an output unit calculates a coordinate value of the position based on a state of the detected shade, and outputs information of the coordinate value. The pointing device includes a transmission unit configured to transmit a control signal including information of a unique identifier based on the pointing operation, and the output unit extracts the information of the identifier from the control signal transmitted based on the pointing operation associated with the shade, and appends the information of the coordinate value when that information is output.

Conventionally, as an apparatus of this type, touch panels of various methods have been proposed or are commercially available. Such touch panels are prevalently used since they allow easy operation of a personal computer (PC) on the screen without using any special tool or the like.
Various methods such as a method using a resistor membrane or an ultrasonic wave, and the like are available. As an apparatus using light, as disclosed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2001-84107, 2003-186616, and the like, there are provided apparatuses which detect the angle of a region which is shielded by a finger or the like in the input region, and detect the coordinates of the light-shielded position, i.e., input position in the arrangement in which a recurrent reflector is arranged around a coordinate input region, light coming from photo transmission means is reflected by the recurrent reflector, and a light amount distribution is detected by photo reception means.
These apparatuses aim at providing a coordinate input apparatus that allow a plurality of operators to make inputs. For example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2001-84107 describes the following contents. That is, an apparatus has angle detectors each of which cyclically detects a point designated on an input region by pointing means as an angle, and comprises an angle memory for storing an angle detected in the previous cycle, an angle selector for, when the number of detected angles in the current detection is larger than that in the previous detection, selecting an angle closest to the angle stored in the angle memory from the angles detected in the current detection, and a coordinate calculator for detecting coordinates on the basis of the selected angle. When the number of currently detected angles is larger by one than the number of previous detected angles for each angle detector, coordinates input by another pointing means are detected from the angle which is not selected by the angle selector. This apparatus also has identifier assignment means which can assign an identifier of the pointing means to coordinates to be output. When coordinates are to be output to a computer or the like, two coordinate positions designated by two pointing means can be identified from each other.
Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2003-186616 describes the following contents. That is, when two predetermined objects are simultaneously inserted onto an information input region, four two-dimensional position coordinate values are calculated except for a special case. The angles of light beams coming from photo transmission means, which are shielded or reflected by the predetermined objects that pointed the information input region, are calculated, and two two-dimensional position coordinate values actually pointed by the two predetermined objects are determined from the four calculated two-dimensional position coordinate values on the basis of the calculated angles. Furthermore, the arrangement has means for assigning different identification numbers to the two-dimensional position coordinate values calculated first. It is determined to which of the previously calculated two-dimensional position coordinate values each of the two two-dimensional position coordinate values which are kept calculated is closer, and the identification number of the previously calculated two-dimensional position coordinate value which is determined to be closer is kept assigned.
In the aforementioned apparatus, the pointing means is a finger or a pen-shaped pointing device. The coordinate input apparatus of this type is configured to control an application by pointing (touching) the screen. The pen which forms the above apparatus cannot transmit any commands for controlling a computer by itself, and has many restrictions upon operation of an application on the computer, thus causing problems in terms of functions. Hence, such pointing means is not always convenient.
On the other hand, upon operation of an application on the computer, functions corresponding to left clicking, right clicking, and the like as mouse functions are indispensable. An apparatus that allows various operations depending on how to touch so as to implement these functions is known. For example, this apparatus implements functions by so-called gesture input operations or the like by means of touch intervals and input traces. However, it is troublesome for the operator if he or she must learn gesture commands, and cannot operate intuitively. Hence, the operability is not so good as in the above case.
In order to allow inputs by a plurality of operators, attributes corresponding in number to input pointing means must be appended to coordinate values to be output to the computer side when the coordinate values are output. More specifically, in order to display the coordinate values input by each pointing means as a continuous input trace for that pointing means, the computer must recognize the pointing device that input the coordinate values.
As the apparatus corresponding to the above description, each of Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2001-84107 and 2003-186616 described above discloses the arrangement of a coordinate input apparatus which allows inputs by a plurality of operators. As identification numbers to be assigned to coordinate values input by the plurality of operators, different identification numbers are assigned in turn to those which are input earlier, and the same identification numbers are kept assigned to coordinate values which have closer distances to immediately preceding coordinate values. The identification number is kept assigned to the coordinate values of each pointing device until all inputs disappear.
However, with this arrangement, while the continuity of the trace after input can be assured, the attribute of the coordinate value input first cannot be determined.
Therefore, it is impossible to assign the attribute of the pen itself to the coordinate values to be output. A trace can be drawn during continuous input. However, since the identification number is cleared once the touch operation is completed, the functions of an application cannot be fully used. For example, problems are posed in operations when the operator wants to change a mode by pressing once an icon used to change a color, thickness, graphic, or the like as an operation for changing the line type or shape of drawing during input. That is, inputs using a plurality of pens are allowed, but combinations of pointing devices used to input and commands cannot be determined. Hence, processes corresponding to the attributes of pointing devices cannot be done.
Therefore, in order to use an application on the computer by a plurality of operators with high operability, unique attributes of pointing devices of the operators must be assigned to a plurality of input coordinate values.

Coordinate input apparatus and its control method


A method and apparatus to post process decompressed image data to minimize blocking effects without affecting the sharpness of the image.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the removal of blocking effects in mages previously compressed and decompressed. More particularly, the present invention relates to the removal of blocking effects in images compressed in accordance with MPEG, JPEG and other DCT based formats.
2. Art Background
The need to compress digital image data, whether static or dynamic (i.e., video images) images has dramatically increased. One reason is the dramatic popularity of multimedia computer systems and software. Another reason is switch to digital broadcasts of station programming. One example of the latter is direct satellite broadcasts, such as DSS.TM.. In order to minimize the bandwidth required to transmit broadcasts of programs or to minimize the amount of storage space required to store certain images, compression techniques are utilized. Thus, the image data is transmitted or stored in a compressed format and prior to the display of the image, the image data is decompressed. Examples of widely utilized compression algorithms are those that comply with the MPEG (Moving Pictures Experts Group) and JPEG (Joint Picture Experts Group) standards.
Many compression processes, including those that comply with MPEG or JPEG standards, utilize transform coding. In a transform coding process, an image is divided into small blocks. The transform of each block is taken, the coefficients of which are quantized in accordance with a determined quantization factor q. The most popular transform is the discrete cosine transform (DCT).
However, one negative effect of the process is referred to as the "blocking effect". By dividing the image into blocks prior to encoding, discontinuities (referred to as blocking effects) between adjacent blocks occurs through the encoding and decoding process. This is represented in a displayed decompressed image by clear jumps between colors or greyscales as opposed to a smooth change.
Pre-processing and post-processing techniques are utilized to minimize blocking effects. Pre-processing techniques dictate that the originator of the image data must perform certain steps to minimize blocking effects. Post-processing techniques, although logistically better as the correction is performed after decompression, has its problems. For example, one of the simplest techniques is to process the decompressed image data through a low pass filter. Although the blocking effects are decreased, the sharpness of the displayed image is negatively affected.

Method and apparatus for the reduction of blocking effects in images


A process for fixing several textile thicknesses along a line, and particularly an edge of a textile article, of the type by which two stitched sewing threads are used, namely the lower and the upper is provided. One of the threads changes state at a first predetermined temperature. A glue for thermogluing the thicknesses is provided. The glue acts at a second predetermined temperature. The state changing thread melts at a first temperature that is lower than the second temperature. The other thread is eliminated after the state changing thread has melted. This results in a perfectly placed seamless assembly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a process for fixing several textile thicknesses along a line, and particularly an edge of a textile article, particularly but not exclusively underwear, and particularly an article such as underpants or bra with edges for which a tying is necessary.
2. Description of Related Art
It is known how to make a tying on the edge of openings of underwear articles, in other words to cover the edge by a textile ribbon folded in two overlapping the edge, this ribbon traditionally being sewn to fix it in place.
The objective nowadays is increasingly to avoid the use of sewn seams in underwear, both for the discomfort that sometimes results from sewing thread, and for aesthetic reasons.
It has already been proposed to fix several textile thicknesses along an edge by ultrasound using thermoplastic fibres (see WO 0228210) or thermogluing (see EP 1033084) or by processes using a combination of sewing and thermogluing (see U.S. Pat. No. 2,048,343). With the first two processes, there is a problem with precise positioning of the ribbon and the ribbon has the disadvantages of visible seams; an ordinary upper thread, for example made of cotton, is used for the seam with a thermoadhesive lower thread, for example made of cellulose acetate. The upper thread remains in place and is visible after the hotmelt operation.

Method for fixing several layers of textile along a line, particularly along the edge of a textile item and item produced thus


An auxiliary light projection system employed by a camera having an auto-focus detection unit, comprises a light pattern generator configured to generate an auto-focus detection pattern. The auto-focus detection pattern comprises a first pattern region and a second pattern region that is denser than the first pattern region, and a center of the first pattern region and a center of the second pattern region are separated by a distance determined in response to difference in visual characteristics of the auto-focus detection pattern between when viewed from (i) from an axis through the lens of a camera and (ii) from an axis through a focus pattern projection source. A light pattern projection source configured to project the generated auto-focus detection pattern onto a subject enabling auto-focus detection.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to an auxiliary light projection apparatus, a flash apparatus, and a photographing system.
2. Description of the Related Art
A known auxiliary light projection system is mounted to or built in a camera having an auto-focus detection device, projects a focus detection pattern as an auxiliary light on a subject, and allows the auto-focus detection device to detect the focus detection pattern reflected from the subject. The focus detection pattern is compact in a region near the center of a photographing screen, and is sparse in the remaining region of the photographing screen. Accordingly, even if a wide-angle lens or a telephoto lens is used, the relationship between an auto-focusing area and the focus detection pattern can be adjusted so that the auto-focus detection may be performed accurately. However, since the auxiliary light projection apparatus is placed away from a photographing lens, movement of the auto-focusing area to be within the focus detection pattern depends on a focus distance. In the known system, when the focus distance is large, the center of the auto-focusing area deviates from the compact region of the focus detection pattern. As a result, sufficient accuracy of the auto-focus detection by the auxiliary light projection may not be obtainable.

Auxiliary light projection apparatus, flash apparatus, and photographing apparatus


In order to improve a surgical holder for surgical instruments and/or implants for a surgical container, in particular, a sterile container or perforated basket, comprising a storage device for holding and/or storing surgical instruments and/or implants and an attachment device for attaching the holder to the container, such that it can be attached to the container more easily it is suggested that the attachment device be transferable from an attaching position, in which it can be brought into engagement with and connected to the container, into a position of abutment, in which it can be brought out of engagement with the container, and that the attachment device comprise at least two attachment members, which are connected to one another via the storage device, for attaching the holding to the container. Furthermore, an improved surgical container is suggested.

A surgical instrument and/or an implant can be held and/or stored in a defined manner, for example, at a specific position in the receiving space of a surgical container with the aid of a surgical holder of the type described at the outset. A plurality of surgical instruments and/or implants can be neatly arranged in the container. They can also be held at their respective positions when the container is moved and are, therefore, better protected against damage, for example, any impacting on one another.
One example for such a surgical holder is described in the Utility Model No. DE 20 2005 015 415 U1. It comprises, in the form of individual parts, a profiled element for holding and storing instruments as well as attachment elements. The attachment elements abut on the outer wall of a container for attaching this holder to a sterile container, wherein holding arms provided on the attachment elements are each guided through an opening in the container and brought into engagement with the profiled element abutting on the inner wall of the container. The disadvantage of such a holder is the fact that several individual parts have to be handled in order to attach it to the container and that handling, in particular, must occur outside and inside the container.
An object of the present invention is, therefore, to improve a surgical holder for a surgical container and a surgical container of the type described at the outset in that the holder can be attached to the container more easily.

Surgical holder for a surgical container and surgical container


Disclosed is a while-in-use cover assembly for an electric wire box, having: a base having a front surface and a bottom surface; a lid that selectively covers the base front surface, wherein a first geometric shape is formed by a top profile of the lid, and the while-in-use cover assembly is confined to the first geometric shape when closed; and a ball-joint connecting the lid and the base, wherein the lid can pivot relative to the base, about the ball-joint, for positioning the lid against the base and away from the base, wherein: when the lid is positioned against the base the while-in-use cover assembly is closed; and when the lid is positioned away from the base, the while-in-use cover assembly is opened.

Wire boxes for containing electrical outlet connections are known and typically include a housing with one or more plug receptacles for insertion of standard electrical plugs based upon either the country and/or the voltage. Wiring entering an outlet box is typically connected to a particular electrical fixture or receptacle such as a lighting fixture, electrical outlet, or switch.
The National Electric Code (NEC), followed by most state and city governments in the United States, mandates the use of while-in-use covers for electrical boxes used outdoors. Exterior wire boxes often have covers seeking to shield the electrical boxes from weather-related contaminants such as dust and water while connected to various electrical devices or not. These covers are generally designated while-in-use covers and have a profile that protrudes outward in an arc (having a convex lid) from the electrical box (also known as a bubble cover).
There remains a need for while-in-use covers that can be utilized with the lid closed, and can open in both the horizontal and vertical directions, and preferably that do not have a bubble lid, yet can be closed while in use.

While-in-use cover assembly for wire box

SIGMA ELECTRIC MANUFACTURING CORPORATION


A method for generating compressed correlation key values for use in correlating alarms generated by network elements in a telecommunications network is disclosed. An alarm message generated by a network element is received. A context value in the alarm message is identified. A table that associates context values to correlation key value formulas is maintained. A formula specifying how to generate the correlation key value is retrieved from the table. Each formula may specify, for an associated context value, one or more ordinal positions of fields in the alarm message, a concatenation of which yields the correlation key value. The correlation key value is created based on the formula. A unique ordinal number is generated to represent the correlation key value, which acts as a context key. The alarm message and correlation key value are sent to an external system for use in correlating alarms.

The data networks that are deployed by service providers or large enterprises often comprise hundreds or thousands of network devices. A network device may comprise one or more network elements, which are entities like modules, ports, slots etc. The network devices and their corresponding network elements may be managed by one or more network management systems, such as an operational support system (OSS), which are implemented using computer application programs that can communicate with the network devices. OSS applications are either obtained from commercially available sources or developed internally by telecommunications service providers.
When a network device detects a fault or error within itself or relating to one of its elements or relating to links to another device or elements, the network device generates an alarm message ("alarm" herein) and sends it to the network management system. To enable the network management system to detect fault conditions as they occur ("in real time"), some network elements are even designed and configured to generate and send such alarms repeatedly, until the fault or other causative condition is resolved or acknowledged. Such network devices may include routers, LAN switches, WAN switches, edge devices such as access routers, or other network elements, and system elements such as UNIX servers, etc.
Although this approach has the benefit of ensuring that alarms are known until they are resolved, it also creates certain management problems. In particular, isolating new alarms is difficult, because the processing required to uniquely identify an alarm is generally equal to the total alarm frequency multiplied by the number of network elements and multiplied by the length of the time period of observation. For example, one empirical study conducted by the inventor hereof identified, in a one-month observation period involving 9,000 network elements, over two million alarms representing only 129 unique alarm conditions.
Identifying the unique alarms requires extensive processing power and specialized knowledge of the syntax and semantics of the alarm messages. Further, these processing requirements, and the associated cost of analyzing the alarm messages, multiplied by the number of different software versions or revisions running on each network element or system element, adds significantly to the total cost of maintaining an OSS for a network. The initial investment of a service provider in an OSS and the cost of upgrading or modifying an OSS are huge, and therefore it is less desirable to upgrade an OSS to read or parse new alarm types that are introduced from time to time.
Still another problem involves propagation of alarms among different network elements. A large network may have network devices from many different vendors. Each vendor may define a unique fault or alarm type and structure for its network devices when standard alarm types are deemed inadequate. When one device fails and generates an alarm, the device may communicate the alarm to a device from a different vendor, which generates a new alarm that is semantically identical to the original alarm but that has a different syntax. As a result, in existing networks, many different fault management processing modules have been deployed as accessory products or external systems. These approaches have been taken because the structure and internal details of the alarms or fault events are not well understood. The owner or operator of the network may have difficulty in identifying the fault because the structure of the event or alarm is not well understood.
One approach to addressing the foregoing problems is correlating alarms based on a correlation key label. However, current alarm correlation approaches that use correlation labels have significant limitations. The key size is generally large and un-compressed. In a worst-case scenario, an uncompressed correlation key could be as large as the original correlated message, effectively doubling the size of alarm traffic. Also, the way each vendor generates the labels might not be unique across the heterogeneous network.
A related problem is that the different network devices from different vendors may communicate semantically identical alarms using different protocols such as SNMP, Log, XML, etc. Moreover, within a given protocol, different network devices may report alarms using different protocol messages. For example, two devices that both use SNMP to report alarms may use different SNMP traps to report alarms that are semantically identical.
Still another problem is that an OSS may receive thousands of the same kind of alarm messages that are semantically identical but reference different network devices or links. To determine which messages are semantically identical and reference the same fault condition, the OSS must parse and interpret the messages using extensive processing resources. Using a consistent trap type does not solve the problem. For example, assume that a fault condition is "Link Down" (a very common kind of fault) and that all SNMP devices of all vendors use the same kind of SNMP trap to report Link Down. Due to propagation of alarms along interconnected links, each Link Down trap message may include, nevertheless, different values for Node Name, IP Address, Link ID, etc., even when only one device is at fault. Therefore, extensive parsing and correlation is required at the OSS to isolate the source of the fault.
Furthermore, for the SNMP protocol, there is no way to formally define a correlation key value or index value in a MIB, making the fault management task less organized, which is undesirable. For example, the same 'INDEX' constructs used to represent key scalar or tabular attributes in an SNMP MIB cannot be used to represent the key value of Trap in the MIB.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need in this field for an improved method of generating correlating alarm labels for the alarms generated by network management systems.
There is a specific need for a way to uniquely identify semantically identical alarms that are generated from different devices or devices' elements in a manner that is consistent across devices from different vendors.
There is also a need for a way to uniquely identify semantically identical alarms that are generated from different devices using different protocols or different message types within a given protocol.
There is also a need to provide a way to identify alarms without adversely impacting the speed of an OSS or similar system that is carrying out fault correlation.
There is also a need for an approach that provides a compressible correlation key to preserve network bandwidth and provide better performance than uncompressed one.

Method of labeling alarms to facilitate correlating alarms in a telecommunications network


A signal processing arrangement for a Hall sensor comprises a signal path, a feedback path and a converter path. The signal path comprises a Hall element and a front-end amplifier which are connected in series and arranged to generate an output signal depending on a magnetic field. The feedback path comprises a compensation circuit and is coupled to the signal path. The converter path comprises an analog-to-digital converter and an offset compensation circuit and is coupled to the signal path. A switch network is coupled between the signal path, the feedback path and the converter path. In a compensation phase, the switch network electrically connects the feedback path to the signal path such that the compensation circuit generates a compensation signal which is coupled into the signal path. In a sampling phase, the switch network connects the signal path to the converter path such that the output signal is reduced by the compensation signal is provided at the converter path.

In Hall sensor applications an output signal is prone to offset of a Hall element which itself can be much larger than a desired signal the application is supposed to convert. Typically, a low noise amplifier, LNA, is also implemented and adds to the offset. Therefore the Hall sensor application usually employs offset compensation techniques to reduce this effect and make it possible to convert the output signal using an analog-to-digital converter, ADC. At the moment current spinning and chopping are routinely used to adaptively compensate for the input offset by dividing up the desired signal and the error in the frequency domain and feeding back the offset into the system. Current schemes use an auto zero approach to eliminate the offset or enlarge the ADC dynamic range to cope with both signal and offset thus increasing the quantization noise of the sensor interphase.
FIG. 7 shows a prior art offset compensation arrangement for a Hall sensor. The arrangement comprises a signal path, a converter path and a feedback path. The signal path includes a series connection of a Hall element and a low noise amplifier as front-end amplifier. The Hall element is connected to a chopping circuit. An output of the front-end amplifier is connected to a first circuit node. The converter path comprises a series connection of an analog-to-digital converter, a first de-chopping circuit and a digital signal processor having an output terminal. Typically, a low pass filter is connected between the first circuit node and the analog-to-digital converter. The analog-to-digital converter is connected to the first de-chopping circuit via a second circuit node. The feedback path comprises a series connection of a second de-chopping circuit and a feedback digital-to-analog converter which connects the first circuit node to the second circuit node.
During operation the chopping circuit receives a chopping signal fchop which implements a spinning current in the Hall element. As a consequence the Hall element outputs two output signals S1, S2 which are provided at inputs V+, V− of the front-end amplifier. The front-end amplifier amplifies these signals S1, S2 which are then filtered and provides as output signal of the signal path when input into the converter path. The analog-to-digital converter converts the output signal into digital values. The first de-chopping circuit determines a digital offset corrected output value, e.g. as the difference of the digital values. The digital offset corrected output value may then be further processed by the digital signal processor, e.g. a cordic, to determine linear or angular position information related to the Hall element. If implemented as a cordic, the digital signal processor is arranged to digitally process signals from two or more channels in order to determine position and/or angle information, for example.
Current spinning and chopping by the chopping circuit are used to adaptively compensate for the input offset. As a consequence the desired sensor signals and their error due to offset of the Hall element and the front-end amplifier are divided in the frequency domain. Furthermore, the offset is negatively fed back into the signal path by means of the feedback path. The second de-chopping circuit determines a digital feedback offset output value, e.g. as the sum of the digital values. The digital feedback offset output value is converted into an analog feedback signal by means of the feedback digital-to-analog converter. The analog feedback signal then is injected into the signal path via the first circuit node and thereby subtracted from the output signal.
FIG. 8 shows another prior art offset compensation arrangement for a Hall sensor. The arrangement is a further development of the arrangement of FIG. 7. The signal path comprises a series connection of hall element, represented by two consecutive amplifiers, a mixer followed by an adder, the front-end amplifier, another adder and a buffer. The converter path is represented by the analog-to-digital, a first filter, another mixer and a second filter. The feedback path comprises a third filter and the feedback digital-to-analog converter.
The implementations shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 have some disadvantages. The analog-to-digital converters, ADC, are designed to cope with a maximum input in order to allow for a small quantization step. But with the offset added to the signal the ADCs may saturate and the signal is masked. The loop implemented by the feedback paths starts to decrease the offset based on the sampling frequency of the system but has also to maintain a stable loop therefore the maximum step the loop can do each step is limited. Until the loop is settled the resulting signal value is not valid because the ADCs may or may not have clipped due to a too high offset value. This fact limits the start-up time in low power applications. In order to create one sample the device first has to go through the complete offset compensation phase before the desired sample can be generated.

Signal processing arrangement for a hall sensor and signal processing method for a hall sensor


A dustproof suit for a clean room is provided. The dustproof suit includes a garment, a pair of inner pants disposed inside the garment, a hood detachably mounted on the garment and a suction unit attached to the garment for decompressing an interior of the garment. The suction unit consists of a suction belt arranged inside the garment and an air cleaner arranged outside the garment so as to associate with the suction belt. The suction belt is provided with a hollow passage and a plurality of suction holes communicating with the hollow passage. In operation, owing to sucking operation of the air cleaner, air in the garment is firstly sucked into the suction belt through the suction holes. Then, dust contained in the air is then filtrated by the air cleaner and sequentially discharged to an outside of the garment.

The present invention relates to a high-functional dustproof suit which is suitable for working in a clean room having high cleanliness.
Hitherto, with the increased precision for a variety of industrial products (e.g. computers, semiconductors etc.), there were many requirements for a dustproof suit used in the clean room: an improvement of cloths as filtering members; a reduction of ducts separated from the cloths; an improvement of sealing capability of hems and sleeves and so on. In order to cope with such requirements, there has been generally provided a dustproof suit which can enhance its sealing capability by adopting cloth of low-dustiness while squeezing its sleeves and hems.
In the above-mentioned dustproof suit, however, an air pressure inside the suit varies up and down with respect to an air pressure in the clean room due to various motions of a worker, so that air containing dust in the dustproof suit is discharged from fine clearance about the sleeves and the hems into the clean room. Thus, there is a limit to prevent an occurrence of dust in the above-mentioned dustproof suit.
Recently, with the remarkable developments in industrial fields using the clean room, such as a recent increase in integration density of an integrated circuit in semiconductor industry, it has been required a dustproof suit which is suitable for the clean room having a higher cleanliness. Under such a situation, it has been proposed to suck air in the dustproof suit in order to maintain the interior of dustproof suit under its decompressed condition in comparison with an air pressure of the clean room, thereby preventing air containing dust in the dustproof suit from diffusing.
Meanwhile, as one example of the above-mentioned dustproof suit, Japanese Patent Publication (kokoku) No. 6-11923 and Japanese Patent Publication (kokai) No. 62-33806 disclose a dustproof suit in which a suction hose having a number of suction ports is spread. In this dustproof suit, one end of the suction hose is connected with an air cleaner in order to such and filtrate the air in the dustproof suit, whereby cleaned air with no dust can be discharged into the clean room. In this dustproof suit, however, it is not only uncomfortable for a worker to wear it but troublesome to undress it because a structure of a suction part installed therein is complicated and relatively large. From these reasons, such a dustproof suit has never been put to practical use in the present circumstances.


An airbag cushion having a main airbag cushion panel that includes a pair of major body fabric portions continuously formed together with a pair of inner valve fabric portions extending therebetween. The pair of inner valve fabric portions are foldable to form an inner valve for at least in part containing an inflation gas supplying inflator device. The pair of major body fabric portions are joinable together at a peripheral joint portion to at least in part form an airbag cushion body. The airbag cushion body has or forms an interior to receive inflation gas and is deployable on a side of an occupant seated in a vehicle seat. Also provided are corresponding or associated methods of or for manufacturing a side airbag cushion.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to inflatable vehicular safety restraints such as airbag installations for automotive vehicles and, more particularly, to inflatable vehicular safety restraint assemblies such as particularly suited in or for the protection of a seated vehicle occupant in the event of the occurrence of a side impact or collision.
Discussion of Related Art
The use of side airbag cushions is widespread in present day automotive technology. Typically, a side airbag cushion is stored or located in an inner side structure or in a backrest of a seat of a vehicle and, in the event of an impact or collision helps to protect an occupant, especially the thorax of an occupant, during a side impact or collision.
In at least selected applications, it may be desirable to incorporate a feature or features that desirably facilitates direction of inflation gas from an inflator or other inflation gas supplying device into an airbag cushion to effect the desired inflation of the airbag cushion. Further, it is known to incorporate or include one or more tethers within an airbag cushion such as to more specifically control or direct deployment of the airbag cushion. As will be appreciated, the inclusion of such features can desirably improve either or both side airbag cushion operation and performance.
Thus, with the more widespread usage and incorporation of side airbag cushions there is a growing need and demand for improved side airbag cushion designs and manufacture such as can desirably achieve one or more of improved utilization of materials such as improved utilization of fabric materials commonly utilized in airbag cushion manufacture and/or improved manufacture or production such as by simplifying the manufacturing process and/or facilitating the incorporation of features such for improved inflation gas flow control and airbag cushion deployment control.

Side airbag cushion and method of manufacture


A multifunctional structural cross vehicular beam assembly extending across substantially the entire width of the vehicular compartment between a cowl and a instrument panel. The beam supports the steering column of the vehicle so that the first bending mode frequency of the combination of the steering wheel and the beam is greater than the first bending mode frequency of the body and is different from the idle excitation frequency of an engine employed in the vehicle. A plastic cover is connected to the beam for defining channels of an air distribution system for the passenger compartment.

Cross vehicular assemblies incorporating ducts for a vehicular air distribution system suitable for fabrication from thermal plastic material have been disclosed in the past. Such ducts are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,791,964 (Van Kirk-issued Dec. 20, 1988) and U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,760 (Van Kirk et al.-issued Mar. 14, 1989).
Vehicular knee bolsters also have been disclosed in the past. For example, a knee bolster for a glove compartment incorporating some plastic parts is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,649 (Ikeda et al.-issued May 5, 1987).
Vehicular beams extending over substantially the entire width of a passenger compartment for defining air supply channels and for supporting an instrument panel and an airbag also have been disclosed in the past. One such beam is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,759,568 (Paefgen et al.-issued Jul. 26, 1988).
In spite of the improvements described in the foregoing patents, there is a need for a cross vehicular assembly with sufficient strength and reliability to support a steering column in order to improve the structural feel of the steering column, to reduce weight and to reduce assembly time. In the past, such a multifunctional assembly required the use of steel reinforcements or frames to provide structure for passive restraint of a vehicular occupant's lower torso. The use of steel reinforcements or frames increases weight, the difficulty of assembly and the probability of squeaks and rattles.
Accordingly, there is a need for an improved cross vehicular assembly for reinforcing knee bolsters, defining ducts for an air distribution system and supporting an instrument panel that decreases weight, costs and the probability of squeaks and rattles, while increasing reliability and ease of assembly. There is also a need for an improved cross vehicular assembly that can support a steering column in order to improve the structural feel of the steering column.

Two piece multifunctional composite structural cross vehicular beam


A system and method processes object oriented image data by initially parsing the object oriented image data into non-neutral image data and neutral image data. A second parser circuit parses the neutral image data into black image data, grey image data, and white image data. A neutral processing circuit processes the black image data, grey image data, and the white image data. The system also classifies object oriented image data to be rendered by an object oriented rendering system. To perform the classification, the object oriented image data to be rendered is received and classified and assigned as one of a plurality of possible first level object types. The process further classifies and assigns, to the object oriented image data to be rendered, one of a plurality of possible second level object types related to the first level object type assigned to the object to be rendered.

The use of color in the digital environment has created problems for color printers trying to produce satisfactory results. One problem facing color printers stems from the proliferation of desktop publishing software programs or applications.
The problem with these desktop publishing systems is that the systems allow the user to combine different types of objects into a composite document. For example, a user can combine photographic images, text, and business graphics (charts) into a single document wherein these images may be either color or black/white.
To achieve satisfactory results each of these objects need to processed differently so that the high quality document can be produced. For example, let assume that a digital color system is trying to render a composite document with a photographic image and a business graphic. In order to achieve high quality rendering of a photographic image, the color system may have to skew the color attributes in a certain way, but this skewing may cause the business graphics in the same composite document to appear washed out. On the other hand, if the color printing system is skewed to ensure saturated vivid colors for the business graphics, the photographic image in the composite document may lose its life-like appearance.
To resolve this problem, object oriented rendering systems have been developed. In such conventional systems, the objects which make up a composite document are rendered (processed) uniquely. In other words, a photographic object or bitmap will be processed one way, while business graphics will be processed another way. In this way, an object can be rendered to optimize its quality.
Furthermore, the neutral rendering requirements for different object types may vary. More specifically, neutral rendering refers to the appearance of black, greys, and white on a printed page or output device. This rendering may be understood in terms of process (multicolor) or true (single component) neutrals. Table 1 below provides an illustration as to how neutral rendering may vary from object to object.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ OBJECT BLACKS GREYS WHITES ______________________________________ Bitmap Process Black Process black Does not have to be Paper White Graphic Single Single Paper White Component Component Black Black Text Single Single Paper White Component Component Black Black Photographic Process Black Process Black Does not have to be Paper ______________________________________
As illustrated in Table 1, process blacks and greys may be acceptable for bitmap objects since true blacks or greys may introduce unwanted gloss differences. On the other hand, true blacks or greys are desired for black lines within a graphic object so as to reduce misregistration and imperfect color balance artifacts. Thus, an object may need to have its neutral image rendered in a manner different from the rendering of the non-neutral image. These diverse requirements cause problems when rendering objects in a composite image.
One example of this problem is the presence of an appreciable gloss differential when black text is to be rendered within a business graphic object. One conventional solution is to have the object rendered utilizing all of the primary colors resulting in the black text being rendered using process black (cyan, magenta, and yellow). By rendering the text with process black, the text will have the appearance of having a high gloss which is not necessarily desirable from a user's standpoint. Most user prefer a low gloss for text which cannot be realized with process black. Another possible conventional solution, from the standpoint of the obtaining neutrals, is the utilization of a 100% under color removal (UCR) strategy. However, this strategy may reduce the chroma of shadow regions and suffer from other color fidelity problems.
Another example of this problem is white point shifts caused by expert color control color adjustments, which allow for user control of various color attributes, such as lightness, contrast, chroma, and color balance. White point shifts are desirable for bitmap objects since these types of shifts occur in natural scenes; however, in graphic and text objects, it is desirable to have the expert color control adjustment leave the white points unaltered and unshifted since white points shifting in graphic and text objects create undesirable artifacts.
Not only do various objects require different neutral rendering processes, but the neutral items within an object may each require unique rendering processes. For example, an object may be classified as a graphic object. Moreover, this graphic object type may include a black line and/or fill. Although black lines and fills share many common rendering characteristics as members of the graphic object, black lines and fills differ with respect to neutral rendering. More specifically, black lines should be rendered as single component black rather than process black to reduce misregistration and imperfect color balance artifacts. On the other hand, black fills should be rendered as process black rather than single component black in order to reduce differential gloss effects that may be evident in color and black sweeps and to reduce black fill dropouts due to gloss differences with filled color areas.
Therefore, it is desirable to utilize an object oriented processing and rendering system which allows for object oriented neutral rendering and provide a framework for features that effect neutral rendering. Moreover, it is desirable to have an object oriented neutral processing and rendering system which optimizes the rendering of neutral colors based upon partitioning of objects and of types which can be further optimized by partitioning each object type into object sub-types. In other words, it is desirable to have a processing and rendering system which allows for common rendering characteristics to be identified by the object type and rendering fine tuning to be performed based upon the object sub-type.

Method and system for processing and rendering object oriented neutral image data


The present disclosure provides example methods and apparatuses of data processing based on a two-dimensional code. The two-dimensional code is generated upon receiving a data processing request from a user of a first communication device. Information relating to the data processing request obtained through scanning the two-dimensional code by a second communication device is received. A user interface for data processing is generated at the second communication device based on the information relating to the data processing request. The present techniques for data processing based on the two-dimensional code use the two-dimensional code to complete logging-in and avoid the tedious logging-in process, thereby conveniently, efficiently, and securely implements data output processing.

A communication network can provide various data transmission services, such as data transfer and data exchange, to users. Sometimes, however, during data processing, a user needs to log in prior to conducting an output processing through the communication network. Sometimes, a log-in history is not recorded due to a security concern. Each time before the user conducts data processing, the user needs to input an account name, an account password, a verification code, and even a special password for data processing. Due to the use of the special password for data processing, the log-in often fails as the user habitually uses the account password as the special password for data processing. In addition, after the log-in is successful, a security product may need to be verified. Thus, it is almost impossible for a digital certificate user to successfully conduct data processing under an environment without the certificate.
By using the above methods, it is a difficult and tedious procedure to input log-in information when the user needs to conduct data processing, which has a high error rate and is easily interfered with by the security product.
Thus, there is a need for a technique or method in this field wherein the user may conveniently, efficiently, and securely implement the required data processing without experiencing the tedious log-in process.

Data processing based on two-dimensional code


A drum is formed using a drum shell having openings at both ends thereof, across which drumheads are stretched under tension. At least one air hole is formed at a prescribed position of the exterior surface of the drum shell, allowing air flow to occur between the inside and the outside of the drum shell. At least one tone color change member, which is composed of cloth and rubber sheets, is attached to the interior wall of the drum shell in connection with the air hole; hence, the air hole is closed by the tone color change member. Thus, it is possible to appropriately change the tone color of drum sound without substantially changing the size of the drum, which can be designed similar to any types of conventionally known drums.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to drums such as bass drums, snare drums, and marching drums.
The present application claims priority on Japanese Patent Application No. 2007-138995, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
Drums such as bass drums, snare drums, and marching drums are each formed using a drum shell having a cylindrical shape having openings at both ends, across which drumheads are stretched under tension. When a drum is struck with a drumstick, primary sound is produced due to an impact between the drumstick and the drumhead. In a drum shell having opposite openings, across which first and second drumheads are stretched under tension, when the first drumhead is struck with a drumstick, vibration occurs by the first drumhead and is transmitted to the second drumhead by way of air inside of the internal hollow space of the drum shell, whereby the second drumhead vibrates so as to cause further vibration, which is then transmitted to the first drumhead. Therefore, the first and second drumheads repeatedly vibrate via air in the internal hollow space, thus producing secondary sound. For this reason, drum playing is realized by way of the primary sound due to an impact between the drumstick and drumhead and the secondary sound due to vibrations repeatedly transmitted between the first and second drumheads.
Conventionally, various types of drums have been developed and disclosed in various documents such as Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 4.                Patent Document 1: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H08-6547        Patent Document 2: U.S. Pat. No. 4,300,437        Patent Document 3: U.S. Pat. No. 4,060,019        Patent Document 4: Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2001-318667
FIG. 5 shows a conventional example of a snare drum 1, which includes a drum shell 2 having a cylindrical shape (having openings at both ends) and drumheads 3 that are stretched under tension uniformly applied thereto at the openings of the drum shell 2 and are supported by a drumhead support device 4.
The drum shell 2 can be composed of wooden materials, fiber-reinforced plastics (FRP), and metals, for example. It is required that the shape of the drum shell 2 be stably maintained irrespective of weather conditions and variations of tensions applied to the drumheads 3, it be formed to prevent bad tuning, and it be formed to prevent self-vibrations or self-sound-absorption.
The drumhead 3 can be formed using natural leather and synthetic resin films (composed of polyester resin, polycarbonate resin, etc.).
The drumhead support device 4 includes hoops 5 (see FIG. 2), which hold the peripheral portions of the drumheads 3 and which are engaged with the exterior surface of the drum shell 2 in proximity to its openings, clamp frames 6 engaged with the circumferential peripheries of the hoops 5, lugs 7 fixed to prescribed positions of the exterior surface of the drum shell 2, and tuning bolts 8 for interconnecting the clamp frames 6 and the lugs 7 together. When the user (or a player) rotates the tuning bolts 8 using tuning keys (not shown) so as to move the clamp frames 6 in axial directions, depressions of the clamp frames 6 applied to the hoops 5 vary so as to adjust tensions of the drumhead 3, i.e., to adjust the tone color of the snare drum 1. Reference numeral 9 designates a snappy member consisting of snares; and reference numeral 10 designates strainers for moving the snappy member 9 to come in contact with or separate from the drumhead 3.
There are two types of snare drums each having two drumheads, i.e., a first type of snare drum that has an air hole 11, i.e., a vent hole allowing the exterior surface and the interior wall of the drum shell 2 to communicate with each other, and a second type of snare drum that does not have the air hole 11. In the second type of snare drum not having the air hole 11, air pressure inside of the drum shell 2 may rapidly increase when the drumhead 3 is struck with a drumstick, so that acoustic waves occur due to the displacement of the drumhead 3 and intensely interfere with acoustic waves that are reflected at the backside of the drumhead 3, thus decreasing the volume of drum sound. The second type of snare drum suffers from slow damping of vibration; hence, it cannot produce a sharp drum sound.
In the first type of snare drum (i.e., the snare drum 1 having the air hole 11), it is possible to prevent air pressure inside of the drum shell 2 from rapidly increasing due to the air hole 11, thus weakening interference between acoustic waves; and it is possible to reduce resonating sound while securing an adequate volume of drum sound. In particular, the air hole 11 may prevent the sharpness of tone color from being degraded during a soft playing mode, in which the user softly strikes the drumhead 3 with a drumstick; and it may prevent the drumhead 3 from being accidentally destroyed in a hard playing mode, in which the user intensely strikes the drumhead 3 with a drumstick.
When the drumhead 3 of the snare drum 1 having the air hole 11 is struck with a drumstick, the drumhead 3 vibrates about the inside position of the drum shell 2 rather than the normal position of the drumhead 3 not being struck. This is because the displacement of the drumhead 3 due to striking occurs inwardly in the drum shell 2 so that air is discharged outside via the air hole 11, wherein the drumhead 3 vibrates based on the air pressure inside of the drum shell 2 below the atmospheric pressure. However, the vibration of the drumhead 3 cannot last stably, and loss of vibration energy is relatively high; hence, the vibration will be rapidly damped. This improves the sharpness of the drum sound compared with the drum sound produced by the first type of snare drum not having the air hole 11.
When air flow occurs from the outside to the inside via the air hole 11 of the drum shell 2, a rapid state transition occurs in a short time period with respect to the drumhead 3 from an unstable vibrating state to a stable vibrating state, offering a small energy loss (in which the drumhead 3 vibrates about the normal position thereof), wherein the vibration of the drumhead 3 is damped slowly; hence, it is difficult to produce an adequately sharp drum sound.
Patent Document 1 teaches a drum that is designed to solve the aforementioned drawback, wherein a check valve is attached to an air hole so as to restrict air flow from occurring only in a direction from the inside to the outside in a drum shell. The check valve blocks air flow in a direction from the outside to the inside in the drum shell; hence, it is possible to rapidly damp vibration of a drumhead, thus producing a sharp drum sound.
Patent Documents 2 to 4 teach drums whose tone colors can be varied. Patent Document 2 teaches a drum in which the depth of a drum shell is varied so as to vary air load in the drum shell, thus varying the tone color. Specifically, the drum shell is constituted of a top shell and a bottom shell that are divided in an axial direction and that are interconnected together to move close to or distant from each other. A gap is formed between the joint surfaces of the top shell and bottom shell as necessary so as to serve as an air hole. It also teaches another embodiment in which an intermediate shell is inserted between the top shell and the bottom shell, wherein gaps are formed among the top shell, intermediate shell, and bottom shell, and wherein screens for damping sound or for changing tone color are inserted into the gaps.
Patent Document 3 teaches a drum whose drum shell is constituted of two shells having different diameters, which are interconnected together via bolts so as to gradually adjust the lengths thereof, thus varying the depth of the drum shell.
Patent Document 4 teaches a drum whose drum shell is divided into first, second, and third shells that are divided in an axial direction, wherein the third shell is sandwiched between the first and second shells, and wherein drumheads are stretched across the openings of the first and second shells positioned relative to the third shell. Various sets of the first, second, and third shells are provided in terms of materials, structures, and depths and are selectively combined together so as to vary tone colors, tone pitches, low-frequency characteristics, and damping times.
The aforementioned drums disclosed in Patent Document 1 to Patent Document 4 have merits and demerits; hence, it is necessary to introduce further improvements on drums. In the drum disclosed in Patent Document 1, the check valve and a spring (for pressing the check valve to close the air hole) form a resonating system during play. In order to efficiently make air flow outside of the drum shell, it is necessary to precisely design the resonating system such that vibration pitches of the resonating system substantially match vibration pitches of the drumhead with respect to each type of drum. Hence, it is very troublesome in designing the check valve; this increases the number of check valves for use in different types of drums. The check value is provided outside of the drum shell; hence, it greatly degrades the exterior appearance of a drum.
In the drum disclosed in Patent Document 2, the top shell and the bottom shell are relatively interconnected to move close to or distant from each other by means of a slide mechanism. Similar to the drum of Patent Document 1, this drum is disadvantageous in that the slide mechanism, which is exposed outside of the drum shell, greatly degrades the exterior appearance thereof. When the top shell and bottom shell are moved close to or distant from each other so as to vary air load or air flow therein, the overall depth thereof is varied. In particular, the depth of a drum shell greatly affects performance of a drum; hence, it is inconvenient for the user to experience unexpected variations of the depth of a drum shell. In the foregoing drum in which a screen offering a damping effect or a screen for varying tone color is attached to the intermediate shell, it is very difficult to stably maintain the prescribed shape when the screen does not have a satisfactory degree of hardness; hence, there is a restriction in selecting materials for use in the screen. This drum is designed using two or three shells, which are interconnected together to move close to or distant from each other. That is, this drum structure may be suited to drums whose drum shells have relatively large depths, such as marching drums, whose drum shells generally have depths of about 12 inches. But it is not suited to other drums whose drum shells have relatively small depths, such as snare drums, whose drum shells generally have depths of about 5.5 inches.
Similar to the drum of Patent Document 2, the drum of Patent Document 3 is disadvantageous in that the depth of the drum shell thereof gradually varies.
The drum of Patent Document 4 suffers from drawbacks in custody, maintenance, and transportation because various types of shell members having different materials and structures must be provided therefor.


A method of initiating a reset sequence for a MEMS capacitive microphone. The method includes monitoring an output of a microphone and detecting a mute condition in the output of the microphone indicative of a fault condition. The method also includes activating a timing circuit. The timing circuit is configured to indicate when a certain time period since the initiation of the timing circuit has elapsed. Upon expiration of the time period indicated by the timing circuit, a microphone reset sequence is initiated.

The present invention relates to MEMS capacitive microphones and processing systems for the same. MEMS capacitive microphones operate utilizing conservation of charge. A high impedance switch network, usually consisting of two anti-parallel diodes with a MOS transistor in parallel with the diodes, is used to apply a fixed charge across two plates of a capacitor. When the microphone is initially turned on the MOS transistor is switched on allowing a DC voltage to be put on one plate of the capacitor while the other plate is held at a different electrical potential. When the capacitor is fully charged (typically within 10's of milliseconds) the MOS transistor is switched off and the capacitor is left with a fixed charge across the two plates. When sound pressure waves impinge on the moveable plate of the capacitor, the capacitance changes and, because the charge is fixed across the capacitor, the voltage increases or decreases proportionally to the amount of change in capacitance induced by the incident sound pressure.

Reset circuit for MEMS capacitive microphones


Methods and systems for modifying resources equipped to manage loss events and processing associated therewith based on an analysis of real-time data. An insurance provider can maintain historical data that indicates resources usage data for managing previously-occurring loss events. The insurance provider can receive real-time first-party and third-party loss event data from a variety of sources, the loss event data being associated with a recent or forecasted loss event. The insurance provider can compare the received loss event data to the historical data to determine that resources configured to manage insurance claim processing resulting from the loss event may need to be modified. In embodiments, the resources may be hardware or software resources, a workforce, physical goods or supplies, or other resources. The insurance provider can facilitate the appropriate resource modification by interfacing with various components and entities.

Customers purchase casualty insurance policies to insulate themselves from various risks posed to their property. For example, a homeowner may purchase a fire insurance policy or a driver may purchase an automobile insurance policy. Various "loss events" can result in damage to this property which can lead to customers filing insurance claims for the damage to collect any monies owed according to the casualty insurance policy. For example, loss events can result from hurricanes, earthquakes, severe storms, tornados, hail storms, wildfires, and other causes. Generally, insurance providers have access to historical data that can comprise information such as the costs of property damage, the number of claims filed and percentages associated therewith, the amount of resources (e.g., claim representatives, computing resources) needed to manage insurance processing resulting from the loss events, amounts of specific parts or supplies that were required to repair damage, and other data. This historical data can assist insurance providers to adequately plan for a certain amount of resources to respond to insurance claims resulting from loss events.
However, each loss event results in varying or different amounts of damages and associated costs. For example, a "category 3" hurricane that hits a densely populated area on the East coast may cause more damage than a similar-scale "category 3" hurricane that impacts a sparsely populated area on the Gulf of Mexico. In the case of an approaching, currently-occurring, or recently-occurred storm or other loss event trigger, the historical data may not accurately account for an actual amount of damage or expected amount of damage. Therefore, the amount or level of resources that insurance providers plan for can often be insufficient or, in some cases, more than necessary.
Accordingly, there is an opportunity for systems and methods to more effectively and efficiently allocate or schedule resources used in managing insurance processing associated with loss events.

Systems and methods for modifying resources to manage loss events

STATE FARM MUTUAL AUTOMOBILE INSURANCE COMPANY


The present invention provides a photothermographic material including a support having disposed thereon an image-forming layer that contains at least a non-photosensitive organic silver salt, a photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent and a binder, and further including a compound represented by the following formula (I):A-(W)n-P  (I)                wherein A represents an atomic group having at least two mercapto groups as the substituent; W represents a divalent linking group; n represents 0 or 1; and P represents a pyrazolidone group.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a photothermographic material, and particularly, to a photothermographic material containing a novel chemical sensitizer. Further, the present invention relates to a photothermographic material that is produced using a silver halide emulsion having a high silver iodide content, and exhibits considerably improved sensitivity, has low Dmin and high Dmax, and excellent storability before being subjected to a developing treatment, and further has excellent image storability after being subjected to the developing treatment.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, photographic development processing conducted in a dry state is strongly desired in the fields of medical and printing plate making from the standpoints of environmental protection and space saving. In these fields, digitalization is progressing, and accordingly a system in which image information is taken in a computer, stored, optionally processed, transmitted, outputted to a photosensitive material by a laser image setter or a laser imager, and developed to form an image is rapidly spreading.
As for the photosensitive materials, capability of recording by laser exposure of high illuminance and forming a clear black image having high resolution and sharpness is required. As for digital imaging recording materials, various types of hard copy systems utilizing a pigment or a dye, such as an ink-jet printer and an electronic photographic system, are distributed as an ordinary image-forming system. However, none of the hard copy systems are satisfactory with regard to image quality (sharpness, graininess, gradation, and color tone) used in the medical field for diagnosis and recording speed (sensitivity) for the purpose of replacing conventional wet-development-type silver salt film for medical use.
On the other hand, thermally developable image-forming systems utilizing an organic silver salt are described in, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,152,904 and 3,457,075 and D. H. Klosterboer, "Thermally Processed Silver Systems" (see Imaging Processes and Materials, Neblette, 8th Ed. compiled by J. Sturge, V. Walworth and A. Shepp, Chap. 9, page 279, 1989). In particular, the photothermographic material comprises a photosensitive layer in which a photosensitive silver halide, a reducing agent, a reducible silver salt (e.g., organic silver salt), and optionally, a toning agent for controlling silver color tone are ordinarily dispersed in a binder matrix.
When the photothermographic material is heated at a high temperature (e.g., 80° C. or higher) after being imagewise exposed, a monochromatic black silver image is produced by a redox reaction between the silver halide or the reducible silver salt (functioning as an oxidizing agent) and the reducing agent. The redox reaction is accelerated by a catalytic action of a latent image of the silver halide formed by such exposure. As a result, the monochromatic silver images are formed at exposed areas of the material. Such photothermographic materials are disclosed not only in U.S. Pat. No. 2,910,377 and Japanese Patent Application Publication (JP-B) No. 43-4924, but also in many references other than those described above. Thus, Fuji Medical Dry Imager FM-DP L was launched on the market for practical use as an image-forming system for medical use utilizing the photothermographic material.
Since such an image forming system utilizing the organic silver salt includes no fixing step, it has a problem in image storability after being subjected to a developing treatment, particularly a problem of deteriorated print-out upon light exposure. As a method for improving such a printout problem, a method which utilizes silver iodide obtained by converting an organic silver salt is disclosed (see, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,488 and EP-A 0922995). However, each method of converting the organic silver salt by iodine as disclosed in these patents was incapable of obtaining sufficient sensitivity, whereupon it was difficult to construct a practical system. Other sensitive materials utilizing silver iodide which are described in some references cited in the specification of patents (see, e.g., WO97/48014, WO97/48015, U.S. Pat. No. 6,165,705, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open (JP-A) No. 8-297345, and Japanese Patent No. 2785129) have not attained sufficient sensitivity and fogging levels, and these materials are not practical to be used as materials sensitive to laser exposure.
As a measure for increasing sensitivity of a silver iodide photographic emulsion, it has been known in literatures that sensitization is performed by utilizing halogen receptors such as sodium nitrite, pyrogallol and hydroquinone, immersion in a silver nitrate aqueous solution, or sulfur sensitization at pAg 7.5 (see, e.g., P. B. Gilman, Photographic Science and Engineering, Vol. 18(5), page 475 (1974), W. L. Gardner, ibid. Vol. 18(5), page 475 (1974), or T. H. James, ibid. Vol. 5, page 216 (1961)). However, a sensitizing effect exerted by these halogen receptors in photothermographic materials is known to be very small and thus unsatisfactory. Accordingly, development of a technique which is capable of substantially enhancing sensitivity of the photothermographic material having a high silver iodide content has been desired.
On the other hand, a technique has been disclosed in which, by using a compound having an adsorptive group to a silver halide and a reducing group or a precursor thereof, sensitivity of a silver iodide emulsion having a low silver iodide content can be enhanced for use in a color negative emulsion or an X-ray emulsion usable for a liquid developing treatment (see, e.g., JP-A No. 8-272024).
However, in a case of a silver halide photosensitive material used in a liquid developing treatment, a silver image is ordinarily formed by reducing silver halide by means of a developing agent (reducing agent) contained in the developing liquid, or a color image is formed by making use of an oxidized form of the developing agent to be generated as a by-product of a fundamental reaction to reduce the silver halide by the developing agent. On the other hand, in a case of the photothermographic material, the silver halide only acts to form a latent image by light exposure and the silver halide itself is not reduced by the reducing agent. Namely, it is a silver ion supplied from a reduced non-photosensitive organic silver salt. Reducing agents in the case of the photosensitive material used in the liquid developing treatment are ionic reducing agents such as hydroquinones, 3-pyrazolidones and p-phenylene diamines, while reducing agents in the case of the photothermographic material are hindered phenol derivatives which are ordinarily known as radical reacting agents.
As described above, in the photosensitive material for the liquid developing treatment and the photothermographic material, mechanisms of developing reactions (reduction reaction) are completely different from each other in the above-described cases, and hence compound systems to be used in these cases are completely different from each other. Therefore, compounds which are effective in the liquid developing treatment are not always effective as they are when applied to the photothermographic material. Applying compounds described in the foregoing JP-A No. 8-272024 to the photothermographic material has not yet been conceived, let alone applying those compounds in the photothermographic material that has a high silver iodide emulsion. Thus, it was impossible to estimate an effect thereof.


A device for ventilating and aerating a fuel tank includes a tank shut-off valve and two tank pressure control valves. One of the tank pressure control valves opens in response to a negative pressure in the fuel tank and the other one of the tank pressure control valves opens in response to an overpressure in the fuel tank. The opening pressures of the two tank pressure control valves are adjustable flexibly and independent of the respective other valve.

The invention relates to a device for ventilating and aerating a fuel tank.
Devices of the aforementioned type are provided between the fuel tank and an activated carbon filter to prevent an undesired leaking of volatile hydrocarbons from the fuel tank into the environment of the motor vehicle. The tank shut-off valve is a controllable valve, for example an electromagnetic valve, which is normally closed and is opened during refueling of the fuel tank to conduct a gas mixture which was displaced from the fuel tank, through the activated carbon filter and to adsorb the hydrocarbons (HC) contained in the gas mixture so that only purified air is released into the environment. The two tank pressure control valves are an overpressure valve and a negative pressure valve, which are also normally closed. The overpressure valve opens automatically when for example in the case of rising ambient temperatures or during a residual heating phase after turning off the internal combustion engine a predetermined overpressure forms in the interior of the fuel tank as a result of evaporation of fuel, while the negative pressure valve opens automatically when in the case of falling ambient temperatures fuel condenses in the interior of the fuel tank and as a result a predetermined negative pressure forms in the interior of the fuel tank.
Known devices of this type are usually configured as combination valve in which the tank shut-off valve and the two tank pressure control valves which are configured as bypass valves, are combined, wherein the tank pressure control valves in praxis usually have a single membrane, which in the case of overpressure or negative pressure is deflected against the force of a spring to open the valve. The opening pressure of the valve is determined by the surface area of the membrane and the spring characteristic of the spring which acts on the membrane and can therefore be influenced only by changing the spring characteristic when a single membrane is used. For example, a harder spring can be used when the opening pressure of the valve in the case of overpressure in the tank, i.e. the positive pressure difference between the interior of the tank and the interior of the activated carbon filter, at which the valve opens, is to be set to a greater value. This has the consequence however, that the valve in the case of a negative pressure in the fuel tank also only opens in the case of a greater pressure differential between the interior of the fuel tank and the interior of the activated carbon filter, i.e. when a greater negative pressure is present in the interior of the fuel tank. This does not allow for adjusting the opening pressures for the both cases of an overpressure or a negative pressure in the fuel tank, respectively in a sufficiently flexible manner.

Device for ventilating and aerating a fuel tank