A new method and framework for re-partitioning directory servers supporting user services in a site that receives access requests from users. According to the present invention, a management server transfers groups of directory objects from original directory servers to newly added directory servers without service interruption to users of the site. The directory objects are stored in categorical groups such that the directory objects in each group share an attribute. According to the present invention, certain groups in the original directory servers are identified for migration to the newly added servers based on a load-balancing scheme. In one embodiment, the identified groups are marked for migration to limit access to the directory objects therein. After successfully being migration, the groups are unmarked and access is resumed. In another embodiment, the management server includes a table storing location information that is updated to indicate successful transfer of the identified group of directory objects from the original server to the newly added server.

In the field of computer networking, many efforts have been made to develop the most efficient and reliable way for managing the millions of users served by large-scale Internet sites. In particular, the problem of authenticating and authorizing users has been a challenge given the number and density of users attempting access to certain sites. To manage users, large outward-facing sites employ a "directory service" to store user authentication and role information that must be frequently read. Large outward-facing sites include, for example, customer-oriented Web sites such as e-mail Web sites (e.g., Microsoft Hotmail), shopping Web sites (e.g., Ebay) and banking/investing Web sites (e.g., Merrill Lynch). The directory service authenticates and authorizes users by validating certain supplied credentials such as a user ID and/or password. An implementation example of such a directory service is found in the MICROSOFT ACTIVE DIRECTORY service (a product of Microsoft Corp. of Redmond, Wash.). Directory services allow organizations to centrally manage and share information on network resources and users while acting as the central authority for network security.
A goal of directory services is to provide uninterrupted and continuous service to users attempting access to the outward-facing site. Another goal of directory services is scalability, that is, growth to meet user demand and business complexity. It is not uncommon for outward-facing sites to change over time, starting small and growing incrementally to keep up with demand. To manage the growth, outward-facing sites increase the number of servers performing authentication services. A key architectural element of highly scalable outward-facing sites is "directory partitioning." A directory partition is a set consisting of directory objects that are managed as a group such that the directory objects are backed-up, restored and served together. Each directory object belongs to only one group. Directory partitioning entails distributing directory objects across the various partitions in the outward-facing site. A single partition can start very small and grow to cover over ten million directory objects. When a more complex organization structure is required, multiple partitions are joined together for easy searching. Partitioning reduces the unit of failure such that if one partition fails, other partitions continue serving directory objects. Partitioning further increases performance of the outward-facing site in that if one machine serves N requests per second, than a directory with M partitions serves M*N requests per second without resorting to replication.
When using partitioning, there exists a mechanism by which a key for a directory object (such as a user ID submitted to the Web server) can be mapped to the partition holding the directory object. This process is called "partition location." A popular outward-facing method for partition location is referred to as "hashing." As is known in the art, hashing refers to the process of applying a hashing scheme or algorithm to yield an equal distribution of keys (e.g., user IDs) across partitions (also referred to as "hash buckets"). For purposes of partitioning user IDs, directory objects can be partitioned according to any rational hashing scheme. For example, a simplistic hashing scheme partitions all users with user IDs beginning with the letters A to C on partition 1, letters D to G on partition 2, etc. Locating the proper partition at runtime using hashing can be performed by building the hashing logic into to the application code running on the front-end Web servers.
Once a hashing solution is deployed, the amount of data held in a given partition grows linearly with respect to the total amount of data in the system. If an e-business stores user data in the partition and the user base doubles, so does the size of each of the partitions. In some cases data can grow beyond what the original partitions and original servers can service and the data must be "re-partitioned." Repartitioning entails adding new servers to the outward-facing site and re-distributing the groups of directory objects across the original and newly added servers in a way that balances the data load across the servers. One possible method to reduce the need to re-partition directory objects is simply to over partition directory objects from the outset. Over partitioning directory objects requires utilizing additional hardware (i.e., back-end servers) to manage small partitions. As the service and the partitions grow, more processors, memory, disks, etc. may be added to the hardware to increase the capacity of the partition. In some cases, the need to ever re-partition the data store can be avoided entirely.
If ample hardware is not available, however, re-partitioning must be employed in order to adequately support increased user demand. One method for re-partitioning directory services known in the prior art requires that the outward-facing site be shutdown temporarily during which time administrators re-partition the directory servers. Shutting down a site that maintains access for large numbers of users is often not a viable option. Another method for re-partitioning directory services entails creating a read/write replica on a newly added server while the directory services remain operational. This scheme, referred to as a "loose consistency model," entails reading replica information on the original server and propagating that information to the new partition. Because of the inherent latency in propagating the information, there is no guarantee that the information on the new server will be consistent with the information on the original server.
In view of the foregoing, it can be seen that there is a need for a method for re-partitioning directories according to a model that ensures reliability of information without service interruption.


A solution for formatting document objects by visual suggestions is proposed. For a document including multiple editing units each of which contains multiple objects, a first editing rule is generated, the first editing rule indicating an edit performed on a first object in a document. Then, an editing suggestion is generated based on the first editing rule, the editing suggestion describing a candidate edit to be performed on a second object within a suggestion scope. The editing suggestion is then presented in a visual form to a user for selection.

In environments like document editing applications, a document often contains multiple editing units such as pages or slides. In some cases, different editing units may not be visible at the same time. Therefore, a user may have a problem to maintain visual consistency across objects of the multiple editing units after making changes on some of the objects. Typically, a user needs to navigate through each editing unit, formatting all the objects necessary for maintaining consistency. Therefore, making changes to a great number of document objects may be a time-consuming and error-prone task.

Formatting document objects by visual suggestions


Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, identifying a region of interest included in a plurality of candidate regions of interest associated with a presentation of a first content item on a user equipment, wherein the first content item includes a panoramic video, comparing first metadata associated with the region of interest to a plurality of metadata associated with a plurality of secondary content items, responsive to the comparing, identifying a second content item included in the plurality of secondary content items, wherein the identifying of the second content item is based on a distance between the first metadata and second metadata associated with the second content item being less than a threshold, and transmitting the second content item to the user equipment responsive to the identifying of the second content item. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Panoramic content can provide users with a unique, immersive experience that is otherwise unavailable with more conventional/traditional content. A user can control the content she consumes/observes by changing her viewing direction, for example. As a result, even for the same panoramic content, two different users may observe different portions of the same item of content, creating a unique immersive experience for each of the users.

Method and apparatus for provisioning secondary content based on primary content


System and method are disclosed for supplying downhole power using a high-impedance alternator. The system includes a high-impedance alternator coupled with a rectifier at its output terminals, and a current fed power converter coupled with the rectifier providing a regulated voltage to a downhole load.

Many operations require a downhole electric power source during the course of drilling an oil or gas well. For example, a downhole power source is required to operate instruments that measure various drilling parameters, formation properties, bore geometry, and the like. Research and development efforts in the area continue to focus on downhole alternators as the preferred means for producing significant levels of local electrical power. The advantage of an alternator for local power generation has long been recognized, for example, in wireline, measurement while drilling (MWD), slickline, well completion, and similar applications. Both open-hole and cased-hole solutions normally require advanced downhole compatible alternators to convert mechanical energy to electric power, while MWD applications currently utilize mud-flow driven turbines for the energy conversion.
Conventional downhole alternator power systems involve a mud turbine that is coupled to an alternator that converts mechanical energy into electrical energy. Conventional downhole alternators are intentionally designed to provide minimum source impedance at their electrical terminals. This is considered advantageous because source resistance results in undesirable resistive heating and loss of efficiency. Source reactance also results in reduced voltage regulation for widely varying load conditions, as is often the case in downhole applications. Such low-impedance designs are a carryover from electric utility applications where machines are precisely controlled, producing the desired output voltage and frequency. Such precise control, however, is not feasible in downhole alternator power systems, which are powered from a mud flow or engine operating remotely in an uncontrolled and unpredictable downhole environment. MWD applications are further impacted by a wide range of mud flow rates and mud densities. As a result, conventional low-impedance alternators not only must be overdesigned to meet low current demands when operating at low speed, but also must be able to quickly accommodate high revolutions-per-minute (RPM) conditions as well.
Accordingly, a need exists for an improved downhole alternator power system and method therefor that can overcome the shortcomings and drawbacks of conventional downhole alternators.


A communication system includes: a first storage unit configured to receive relevant information by entering a region of interest; a first control unit, coupled to the first storage unit, configured to parse the relevant information; and a display, coupled to the first control unit, configured to display the relevant information, a target object, and a suggested path.

Mobile devices of today can perform multiple functions. They are communication devices, cameras, global positioning systems, day planners, contact organizers, and information sources. Most personal communication devices or smart phones possess more computing power than was available from the first mid-sized computer mainframes. Our personal communication devices can provide driving directions, access to the Internet, schedule alerts, or just a way to call home.
While the network power of the modern communication system can be tapped by the personal communication devices they do have limitations. When a user of a personal communication device enters enclosed shopping structures, such as a shopping mall, most of the functions of the personal communication device become useless. The structure of the shopping mall can disrupt signaling to cell towers or satellites that provide the all-important link between the personal communication device and the communication network.
In order to extend the communication to which we have become accustomed, these enclosed structures have added micro-towers laid-out within their structure in order to provide continued access to the communication network. While this continued access can be enjoyed by the patrons of the enclosed shopping mall, they don't provide any business benefit to the operators of the enclosed shopping structures.
Thus, a need still remains for a communication system with indoor navigation mechanism for providing extended communication capabilities within enclosed structures. In view of the ever increasing reliance on our personal communication devices, it is increasingly critical that answers be found to these problems. In view of the ever-increasing commercial competitive pressures, along with growing consumer expectations and the diminishing opportunities for meaningful product differentiation in the marketplace, it is critical that answers be found for these problems. Additionally, the need to reduce costs, improve efficiencies and performance, and meet competitive pressures adds an even greater urgency to the critical necessity for finding answers to these problems.
Solutions to these problems have been long sought but prior developments have not taught or suggested any solutions and, thus, solutions to these problems have long eluded those skilled in the art.

Communication system with indoor navigation mechanism and method of operation thereof


A bier having a base including a base top surface. A first side is attached to the base top surface. The first side has a first side inside surface. A second side is attached to the base top surface. The second side has a second side inside surface. A cross member extends between the first side inside surface and the second side inside surface. The cross member has a front surface. A top is attached to the first side and the second side. The base top surface, the first side inside surface, the second side inside surface and the cross member inside surface form a display area.

Caskets are used for the interment of the bodies of deceased persons. Prior to interment, the body of the deceased is typically displayed in a casket for the benefit of loved ones at a funeral. The use of a bier to support the casket at the funeral is known in the art. Typically, the displayed casket, supported by the bier, is flanked by floral arrangements and personal effects of the deceased. A bier should have a high quality finished furniture appearance. Further, the bier should have a display shelf for displaying the personal effects of the deceased in a tasteful and meaningful manner. The invention provides such a bier.


An exemplary wafer level device includes a first wafer and a second wafer. The first wafer has a concave modeling, and the second wafer has a convex modeling, wherein the first wafer and the second wafer are combined together by the concave modeling being engaged with the convex modeling. An exemplary wafer level lens includes a first wafer level lens and a second wafer level lens. The first wafer level lens has a concave modeling, and the second wafer level lens has a convex modeling, wherein the first wafer level lens and the second wafer level lens are combined together by the concave modeling being engaged with the convex modeling.

1. Field of the Invention
The disclosed embodiments of the present invention relate to a wafer level device having two wafers engaged together, and more particularly, to a wafer level lens having two lenses combined together through a concave modeling engaged with a convex modeling.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wafer level camera module is a very attractive technique for apparatuses like handheld mobile devices. It results in the smaller occupied camera module size, especially compared with the conventional camera lens. A wafer level lens is an important component of the wafer level camera module, and the complexity raises along with the demand for high pixel resolution and some other special requirements, for instance, a wide angle lens. Generally, optical glasses and glues are stacked up layer by layer to form a wafer level lens module. In theory, the performance of the lens module upgrades as the number of optical glasses rises. Conventionally, two wafer level lenses would be glued to each other and then be cut, thus defects are easy to happen.
That is to say, the alignment of glass elements is a troublesome issue. Especially high accuracy is an extreme requirement in an optical system. The de-centered lens would result in symptoms including "glowing" highlights, or an uneven distribution of sharpness. Thus, there is a need for an innovative wafer level lens design which is capable of avoiding the de-centering issue for improving the accuracy of the wafer level lens.

Wafer level device and wafer level lens with concave and convex modeling


A video processing method and an apparatus using the same are disclosed. The method includes steps of performing a brightness-reducing treatment on all pixels in a displayed image; performing a brightness-enhancing treatment on all first pixels in the displayed image; performing a brightness-smoothing treatment on pixels having a brightness value being between a higher smooth-treatment brightness value and a lower smooth-treatment brightness value. The video processing method keeps the brightness value of the pixels from being out of grayscale range.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal display technology, and more particularly to a video processing method and a video processing apparatus utilizing the video process method.
Description of the Related Art
Currently, the demand for improving image quality is increasing, and therefore many video processing methods have been developed to increase the contrast of a display apparatus. One of the most common methods is to perform an enhancing treatment on pixel images whose brightness value is not within a certain range in an inputting video signal, and then perform a compressing treatment on all pixel images of the displayed image. However, the pixel images obtained by such method may exceed the grayscale range that the display apparatus could display, and therefore those who exceed the grayscale range will need to be abandoned. Thus, the saturation degree of the displayed image will be reduced, thereby causing color shift and then affecting visual quality.
Therefore, it is necessary to provide a video processing method and a video processing apparatus utilizing the video process method to overcome the problems existing in the conventional technology.

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A roller drive mechanism for an automotive HVAC film valve belt includes a single motor type drive that automatically compensates for continually differing belt wind up and wind off rates, while maintaining at least a minimal belt tension, and without the necessity for precise adjustment. A central motor drive shaft is split between a fixed end and a yieldable, slidable end. The two ends can turn at the same rate from the single motor, but the ability of the second end to slide back and forth allows one roller to match its belt handling rate to the other roller automatically, while the always stretched spring maintains a certain minimum belt tension, while also accommodating adjustment tolerances.

Automotive ventilation and air conditioning systems have historically used air duct opening and closing valves that were swinging doors or flaps. Besides the volume inevitably occupied by such a valve just to accommodate its swinging motion, they present problems in their lack of ability to gradually apportion air flow into or through an opening. By their very nature, such valves tend to be completely open or closed, rather than progressively moving between open and closed, in a predictable fashion. This is generally referred to as lack of linearity.
A newer, as yet not widely used, valve design uses a moving film belt that is shifted back and forth by winding it back and forth between a pair of parallel rollers. As the belt moves in one direction, it winds up on one roller and concurrently winds off of the other roller, and vice versa. An opening in the belt progressively covers and uncovers matching openings within the air flow housing, so as to give a predictable fractional flow, in addition to full on and full off. A thin, shifting belt is also potentially more compact than a series of swinging flaps. An inherent problem with a belt is that it is most convenient to turn both rollers with a single motor, which would generally turn both rollers at the same rate of rotation. However, except for an instant at the midpoint, one roller, either the roller that is winding up, or the roller that is winding off, will have a thicker layer of the belt wound around it than the opposite roller has. The instantaneous rate at which the belt is winding onto a rotating roller depends on the effective radius of the roller at the point where the belt is entering or the wound layer. This, in turn, depends on the thickness of the wound belt layer on the roller at that point in time, and is always changing. Maintaining a constant tension force in the belt depends, in turn, on the winding off roller matching its rate of belt wind out to the other roller's rate of wind up. Unless some means is provided to allow the rollers to match their wind up and wind off rates relative to one another, the belt will inevitably alternately slacken and tighten as it shifts back and forth between the two rollers. It would be possible, of course, to provide a complex control system, similar to tape recording machines, in which each roller can be independently driven when it serves as the wind up roller, and allowed to pull the other roller passively along with the tape, while providing an independently engageable drag mechanism on the wind off roller. However, a simple, single drive motor system would be much more desirable and economical.
This problem has been recognized, and at least one single motor drive mechanism to allow a tension compensating differential rate of rotation between the wind up and wind off rollers has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,830. There, each roller is paired with a co axial, co rotating conical pulley located at one end, which is oppositely oriented relative to the conical pulley on the other roller. One roller and pulley pair is directly motor driven, while the other is indirectly driven by the first, either through the film or the wire. In one direction, the film is in tension and serves as the opposite roller driving means, while the wire is slack, and vice versa. Within each rollerpulley pair, as the belt winds up more thickly, the wire moves to a smaller pulley radius, and vice versa. Since the conical pulleys are oppositely directed, as the effective radius of one is growing, the other is contracting, and vice versa. The belt winds in the opposite direction of the wire, so that the winding up roller with its thickening wound layer of belt can rotate more slowly as the winding off roller with its thinning wound layer of belt compensates by rotating more quickly. While the mechanism does work with only one motor, it is somewhat complex, with its extra wires and pulleys. Moreover, the mechanism is very sensitive to misadjustment. Unless the counter rotating rollers and pulleys are timed and registered to one another precisely, the wire will not finish winding up simultaneously with the belt winding off, and vice versa. Repair and adjustment within the small, confined spaces available is very difficult. As a consequence, in actual production, the opposed tapers on the pulleys were eliminated in favor of non tapered pulleys. The non tapered pulleys were still used in order to allow one motor to run both rollers, but a conventional window shade type torsion spring was used to provide for wind up--wind off rate matching between the rollers.

Compensating tensioning mechanism for film valve


This disclosure relates to an apparatus and methods for applying X-ray reflectometry (XRR) in characterizing three dimensional nanostructures supported on a flat substrate with a miniscule sampling area and a thickness in nanometers. In particular, this disclosure is targeted for addressing the difficulties encountered when XRR is applied to samples with intricate nanostructures along all three directions, e.g. arrays of nanostructured poles or shafts. Convergent X-ray with long wavelength, greater than that from a copper anode of 0.154 nm and less than twice of the characteristic dimensions along the film thickness direction, is preferably used with appropriate collimations on both incident and detection arms to enable the XRR for measurements of samples with limited sample area and scattering volumes.

XRR is a powerful technique to investigate surfaces and interfaces including their roughness, diffuseness across buried layers and thickness of single layer and multilayer stacks by depth profiling the electron density in the direction normal to the sample surface with a sub-nanometer resolution. It has also been shown that XRR is capable of quantifying the cross section profile of surface patterns, for example, the cross section of line gratings fabricated by nanoimprint as well as the molds used to imprint the patterns. The efficacy and the limit of the application of XRR to nanoscale surface patterns are based on the effective medium approximation (EMA) as illustrated previously. It should be noted that the equivalent concept of EMA has been used in estimating effective refractive index of porous material for ellipsometry or scatterometry. The validity of EMA for nanostructures depends on the coherence length of the incident X-ray; EMA becomes applicable when the coherence length is greater than the lateral characteristic length of the nanostructure along the direction of interest. In such cases, the structure space ratio at any given depth along the surface normal can be deduced from the XRR results. In summary, XRR can be used to measure film thickness as well as the cross sectional shape of arrays of line gratings when the incidence X-ray possesses sufficient effective coherence length along the direction of interest. For this reason the line grating is placed with the line along the incident slit width direction or the x-axis, the x-axis is also the detector slit width direction. The slit opening size is typically smaller than the slit width by a few orders of magnitude. In specular XRR geometry, the effective coherence length along the y-axis can be in micrometers whereas in nanometer along the x-axis. For line gratings there is little, if any, structure variations along the x-axis, the above is not true for 3D nanostructures, i.e. a preferred azimuthal orientation does not exist for 3D nanostructured samples. In addition to the challenge in terms of the lateral coherence length on the XRR measurements of nanostructures on a flat substrate, there is also an issue of spill-over of the off-specular scattering intensity into the measured specular reflectivity using convergent beam geometry with a large slit width. Off-specular intensities can reach a magnitude comparable to the specular component in the high Qz regions in samples with significant lateral structures such as the 3D nanostructures discussed herein.
The patents from the NOVA and KLA also discuss the art of reflective X-ray scattering. The one published in 2018 by NOVA (U.S. patent Ser. No. 10/119,925 B2) is using the conical light source, and its scattering angle is 20 to 40 degrees. It is different from the light source used in present application. The method developed by NOVA can only obtain a scatter pattern on the entire 2D detector screen. A lot of off-specular information will overlap on the screen and it will be very difficult to analyze and distinguish. One solution of NOVA try to propose is using different azimuthal angles to separate the chaotic multi-angle scatter pattern. But there is still lack of results and practical method to obtain the light intensity information in each xyz direction which makes it impossible to analyze the complex 3D structure.
The patent published by KLA in 2019 (US patent 2019/0017946 A1) proposes that different focusing optical elements can be used to produce focus beams with different wavelengths, for example, using a multi-layer coating on a focusing optical lens to focus beams of different wavelengths on the sample. However, the focus beam will still encounter multiple scatterings in the xyz directions at the same time, and it will not be able to analyze and calculate. It also does not describe how to accurately strike the light on the sample at different wavelengths in KLA patent. On the contrary, the long-wavelength light source described in previous invention (US patent 2016/0341674 A1) can be effectively focused on a sample through a monochomator and a slit in the z direction.
In addition, The KLA patent mentions that a response function model can be used to calculate and fit a 3D structure. But due to the multi-combined scattering pattern of 3D pattern is extremely complicated, it is difficult to construct 3D model before this.

X-ray reflectometry apparatus and method thereof for measuring three dimensional nanostructures on flat substrate

INDUSTRIAL TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH INSTITUTE


A method and a system for compensating a delay mismatch between a first measurement channel and a second measurement channel is disclosed. A method for compensating a delay mismatch between a first measurement channel and a second measurement channel includes providing a reference point for starting the first and second measurement channel, and starting the first measurement channel after expiration of a first delay period which begins at the reference point. The method further includes starting the second measurement channel after expiry of a second delay period which begins at the reference point, wherein a difference between a length of the first delay period and a length of the second delay period is substantially equal to the delay mismatch between the first measurement channel and the second measurement channel.

In many applications (such as AC motor control with current measurement in the phase nodes), sigma-delta analog digital converters (ADCs) are often used because they allow a cost effective isolation of the data streams (they do not refer to the same ground potential).
Although in such applications similar sensors (shunts) are used, a later analog treatment and filtering (e.g. by amplifiers or passive components with tolerances) can lead to a mismatch in the delay between the measurement channels. This leads to the effect that the conversion results do not relate to the same point in time.
If the input signals are converted and the results are used in combination with other signals (e.g. another input signal or a reference signal), the mismatch in the delay leads to an undesired reduction of the ENOB value of the converters (ENOB=effective numbers of bits which can be considered as resolution of the converter).
In the case that different sensor types are used (e.g. voltage and current sensors for power meters), it is also very important to take conversion values that correspond to the same point in time. However, using different sensor types may already lead to a significant delay mismatch.
In telecommunication, such effects are solved by later numeric treatment of the conversion results, because in this field, equivalent computation is done anyhow.
In AC motor control and other applications, especially for low-cost consumer markets, the computing power to solve this problem in a numerical way is not available. As a result, a simple mechanism to minimize the delay mismatch before using the results is advantageous. Furthermore (and contrary to telecommunication applications), in AC motor control, each conversion result is not necessarily taken into account, but only those values are of interest that are located in a defined measurement window (e.g. synchronized to a PWM signal).
Therefore, there exists a need for a method and a system for minimizing delay mismatch between two measurement channels that is simple and cost effective.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Method and system for compensating a delay mismatch between a first measurement channel and a second measurement channel


A method and apparatus is described for receiving a first data stream comprising a graphic image having an aspect ratio of 16:9 into a computer system, capturing the image within a storage device of the computer system, and displaying the image on a graphical user interface of the computer system in a 16:9 aspect ratio format.

Standard NTSC (National Television System Committee) and PAL (Phase Alternation Line) televisions have a picture aspect ratio of 4:3. This means that the ratio of the width of the visible area to the height of the visible area is 4/3, or 1.33. HDTV (High Definition Television) specifies several formats that have a picture aspect ratio of 16:9, or 1.78.
If a program recorded with an aspect ratio of 16:9 is displayed on a device with an aspect ratio of 4:3 such that the entire width is visible, black bars are seen at the top and bottom of the picture. This is known as letterboxing.
If the original program material had 480 active lines (as in NTSC-Digital Video), then the area which contains the active image for a letterboxed program is only 360 lines, or 75% of the total viewable area. If this letterboxed program is recorded into a format that has an inherent resolution of 480 lines, then 25% of the recorded material is empty.
To improve this situation, a technique called anamorphic transfer was developed. In this process, the active area of the 16:9 program is stretched vertically to fill all 480 lines of the recorded material. To view this type of material, the display device needs to 'squish' the vertical dimension by 25%; exactly canceling out the stretch which was performed during recording. This has the benefit of putting 480 lines into a smaller vertical space, reducing the appearance of scan lines. If the source material is film, which has no inherent 'line count', the vertical stretch is accomplished optically, giving an increase in vertical resolution.
This process was originally developed and used on Laserdiscs and DVDs (Digital Video Discs), and many high end television sets have the capability of performing the 16:9 'squish' to properly view this type of material.
The popularity of the 'letterboxed look' prompted several consumer DV (Digital Video) camcorder manufacturers to add a '16:9' or 'HDTV' mode to their cameras. In order to do this correctly, the camera needs either an anamorphic element in the optical path in front of the CCD (Charged Couple Device) or photo sensitive sensor, or the elements in the CCD or sensor need to be shaped in an anamorphic fashion. This turns out to be very expensive to do, so most cameras 'cheat' to get this effect.
By taking the center 360 lines of the image and digitally stretching them to 480 lines, a result which is similar to having an anamorphic lens element is achieved. The drawback here is that all of the lines in the recorded material are actually manufactured lines, each one being a mix of two consecutive scan lines on the CCD. This does not give the increase in resolution that using an anamorphic lens adapter does.
In order to preserve the proper aspect ratio on the camera's viewfinder, the camera will perform a vertical 'squish' when displaying 16:9 material. This is detected in a DV camcorder by inspecting a bit in each frame in the DV stream. This 'squish' operation requires some amount of hardware to do on the NTSC or PAL output signal, so most consumer camcorders only modify the data displayed in their viewfinder. Some higher end decks, however, can also perform this 'squish' on the NTSC or PAL output, giving a letterboxed image on a television without the capability to do a 16:9 squish by themselves.
With a camera which has an anamorphic lens adapter attached, recording can be done as usual. The noticeable effect will be that in the viewfinder the image will appear stretched vertically, and the recorded image will only look correct on a monitor with a vertical 'squish' function.
For a DV camcorder set to 16:9 mode the material in the viewfinder will look correct, but the output of the camera will need to be displayed on a monitor with a 16:9 'squish'.
Editing can be performed on this material, as the anamorphic nature of the picture content does not affect access to the material. Some rendered effects will be fine, such as cross dissolves. However, any effects that generate shapes, or motion effects involving rotation will produce noticeable distortion in the image. Also, any composited graphics are likely to be distorted without careful aspect distortion. (All of these effects are distorted due to the change in the shape of each pixel that an anamorphic lens creates).

16:9 Aspect ratio and anamorphic image processing


A method constructs a variable multilinear model representing a class of deformable surfaces. First, meshes of deformable surfaces are acquired. The meshes include vertices. The meshes have different identities and different expressions. The meshes can be obtained from images of human faces, where facial features, such as eyes, eyebrows, cheeks, nose, mouth and chin, form the deformable surfaces. The meshes are stored in a memory as elements of a data tensor. The data tensor is selectively flattened to matrices composed of column vectors. An imputative incremental singular value decomposition is applied to each matrix to generate a set of orthogonal bases. Then, the orthogonal bases are applied to the data tensor, via tensor multiplication, to construct a core tensor, which is the variable multilinear model representing the class of surfaces.

If there is one thing that instantly characterizes humans, it is their faces. Hereinafter, faces of the same person are said to have identical 'identities' or 'appearances', no matter what the pose, age, or health of the face is. That is, the overall appearance of the face uniquely makes that face recognizable as being a certain person, even as the person ages over the years. Similarly, faces of different appearances, i.e., different individuals, can have the same 'expression', for example, smiling, angry, laughing, sad, tense, sneering, serious, quizzical, frowning, scowling, snarling, etc. That is, even though faces of different persons have distinctly different overall appearances, humans can easily recognize when a person is smiling or crying.
Even though, we, as humans, can readily distinguish the subtle differences between faces having different appearances and expressions, generating realistic and convincing facial animation is an extremely difficult and time intensive process, requiring highly detailed models and skillful animators.
The dominant approach is to vary a three-dimensional geometrical model with a basic set of deformations. Generating these models, adapting the models to target characters, and controlling the models are all major bottlenecks in the production process.
It is well known that variation in faces can be approximated by linear subspaces of low dimensions, whether a source of variation is an appearance (or "identity" of a person's face), a pose, an expression, or a shading pattern, Sirovich et al., "Low dimensional procedure for the characterization of human faces," Journal of the Optical Society of America A 4, pp. 519–524, 1987, and Penev et al., "The global dimensionality of face space," Proc. 4th Int'l Conf. Automatic Face and Gesture Recognition, IEEE CS, pp. 264–270, 2000.
The estimation and exploitation of these linear subspaces accounts for a large part of the prior art, notably Li et al. "3-D motion estimation in model-based facial image coding," IEEE Trans. PAMI 15, 6, pp. 545–555, Jun. 1993, DeCarlo et al., "The integration of optical flow and deformable models with applications to human face shape and motion estimation," Proceedings, CVPR96, pp. 231–238, 1996, Bascle et al., "Separability of pose and expression in facial tracking and animation," Proc. ICCV, p. 323–328, 1998, and Bregler et al., "Recovering non-rigid 3D shape from image streams," Proc. CVPR, 2000.
In computer graphics, these subspaces, known as morphable models, are a mainstay of character animation and video rewrite, Blanz et al., "A morphable model for the synthesis of 3D faces," Proc. SIGGRAPH99, 1999, and Pighin et al. "Synthesizing realistic facial expressions from photographs," Proceedings of the 25th annual conference on Computer graphics and interactive techniques, ACM Press, pp. 75–84, 1998.
Morphable appearance models are well suited for adding 3D shape and texture information to 2D images, while morphable expression models can be used for tracking and performance animation.
In consideration of the needs of animators, there have been many attempts to combine identity and expression spaces by adapting a morphable expression model to a new person.
However, such models can produce unnatural or insufficiently varied results because the models graft the expressions of the original subject, modeled as deformations of a neutral facial geometry, onto the geometry of another face.
As stated by Blanz et al. 2003, "We ignore the slight variations across individuals that depend on the size and shape of faces, characteristic patterns of muscle activation, and mechanical properties of skin and tissue."
It is well known in computer vision that variation in facial images is better modeled as being multilinear in pose and expression, identity, lighting, or any combination thereof. Put simply, whatever the function that generates face images, a multilinear model will capture more terms of its first-order Taylor approximation than a linear model, thus multilinear models can offer better approximations.
Most important for animation, multilinear models offer separability of attributes so that the models can be controlled independently. In general, separability is not compatible with statistical efficiency in linear subspace models, except in the vastly improbable case that all variations between people are orthogonal to all variations between expressions. This is not possible in a world where gravity endows older faces with a natural frown.
As with linear models, the main empirical observation is that the data approximation offered by multilinear models is quite good, in particular, the efficacy of multilinear models for recognition and synthesis of image and motion capture data, Vasilescu et al., "Multilinear analysis of image ensembles: Tensorfaces," 7th European Conference on Computer Vision(ECCV2002)(Part I), pp. 447–460, 2002, and Vasilescu, "Human motion signatures: Analysis, synthesis, recognition," Proc. ICPR, 2002.
Another appeal of those methods is their simplicity of use. A linear morphable model is easily estimated from a matrix of example faces via a singular value decomposition (SVD), and connected to vision or rendering through simple linear algebra.
Similarly, a multilinear model can be estimated from a tensor of example images via higher-order singular value decomposition (HOSVD), a generalization of SVD, Tucker, "The extension to factor analysis to three-dimensional matrices," Contributions to mathematical psychology, Gulliksen et al., Eds, Holt, Rinehard & Winston, N.Y., pp. 109–127, 1964, Lathauwer et al., "A multilinear singular value decomposition," SIAM J. Matrix Analysis and Applications 21, 4, pp. 1253–1278, 1994, and Lathauwer, "Signal Processing based on Multilinear Algebra," Ph.D. Thesis, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium, 2000.

Variable multilinear models for facial synthesis

Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, Inc.


An improved pressure-actuated door access bar is disclosed which may be located on a door to control access or egress through the door, whereby the door access bar is used to trigger unlocking or opening, or both unlocking and opening, of the door following pressure being exerted on the door access bar by an individual desiring access or egress through the door. Two electromechanical force transducer assemblies having no moving parts are mounted within a rigid base member which may in turn be mounted on a door or in another desired location, and a cover member mounted over the base member exerts pressure on the electromechanical force transducer assemblies when pressure is placed on it. When a given amount of pressure is detected by either or both of the electromechanical force transducer assemblies, the door will be unlocked or opened, or both unlocked and opened. A redundant emergency switch is also located in the door access bar of the present invention, and will operate in a fail-safe manner to unlock the door in the event of a failure of one or both of the electromechanical force transducer assemblies upon detection of a greater amount of force being exerted upon the cover member.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electrically operated door access systems in which the door is either unlocked or opened, or both unlocked and opened, by accessing an electronic control system, and more particularly to an improved pressure-actuated door access bar which may be located on a door through which access is controlled by the electrically operated door access system, whereby the pressure-actuated door access bar is used to trigger unlocking or opening, or both unlocking and opening, of the door following pressure being exerted on the pressure-actuated door access bar by an individual desiring access or egress through the door.
Hardware and systems for controlling egress and access through doors may predominantly be classified into one of two categories. The first category is that of hardware and systems which are designed to limit and control egress and access through doors. Devices falling into this classification are generally utilized for theft-prevention or to establish a secured area into which (or from which) entry is limited. The second category is that of hardware and systems which are designed to facilitate access through doors by opening the doors in a manner not requiring great strength or facility by the person desiring access. Devices falling into this second classification are used to automate the opening of a door in an easy, yet controlled, manner suitable for use by handicapped individuals, for example.
The first of these two categories includes controlled access security doors and operating systems for such doors. Such doors and systems have evolved over the years from simple doors having heavy duty mechanical locks thereon to sophisticated egress and access control devices. In bygone times, heavy duty chains and locks were the norm on security doors which were not generally used, or which were used to prevent theft or vandalism. However, fire codes have made such relatively simple door locking systems obsolete, at least in most developed countries. Emergency exit doors are required by law to be provided in all commercial buildings, and such doors must be operative in the event of a fire, earthquake, or other emergency.
These exit doors are typically provided with heavy horizontal push bars, which unlock the door upon actuation and which may provide an alarm of some sort. The early alarms on such doors were either mechanical in nature, such as wind-up alarms contained on the push bar mechanism, or completely separate electrical circuits actuated by a switch opened as the door was opened. Accordingly, egress from such doors was immediate, and, although egress was accompanied by an alarm, typically the person leaving through the door was long gone by the time security personnel arrived.
Many stores suffer great losses through emergency doors, with thieves escaping cleanly through the emergency doors with valuable merchandise. In addition, industrial companies also suffer pilferage of valuable equipment and merchandise through such emergency exit doors. While one solution is to have a greater number of security personnel patrolling the emergency exit doors, to do so is also an expensive solution.
As might be expected, the art reflects a number of emergency exit access activation devices which attempt to solve this problem. A first type of device is found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,631, to Logan, Jr., which describes a system activated by a push bar which, upon depression, moves a switch carried by the door to sound an alarm and start a timer delay. After the delay, the door is unlocked.
This type of device in which a push bar containing an electrical switch therein is used to initiate a request for access or egress is by far the most common. It has not always been viewed as the optimum solution, however, due to the difficulty in making it durable and long lasting in addition to being relatively simple and inexpensive. Several other types of systems have been proposed, and, although none of these systems has found great acceptance, a brief discussion of them is in order.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,328,985 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,354,699, both also to Logan, teach a hydraulic system for accomplishing the delay prior to unlocking the door, and a retrofit locking device of the same type which is usable with any door latching system, respectively. These two systems are thus mechanical rather than electrical in nature.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,652,028 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,720,128, to Logan et al. and to Logan, Jr., et al., respectively, teach an electromagnet mounted on a door jamb, an armature on the door held by the electromagnet to retain the door in the closed position, and a switch mounted near the electromagnet which is used to indicate when the door is being opened or tampered with. The Logan, Jr. et al. '128 patent also adds a set of contacts to confirm that the armature properly contacts the electromagnet. These systems have no switch located in a door access bar.
As mentioned above, the second category of hardware and systems includes devices and systems which are designed to facilitate access through doors by opening the doors in a manner not requiring great strength or facility by the person desiring access. One example of such a device is the type of door commonly found in supermarkets, which is typically radar controlled. Another example is a power actuated door in a hospital corridor, wherein when a wall switch is depressed the door automatically opens.
Both of the two categories of devices discussed above are beneficial, yet both categories of devices still possess several disadvantages and are illustrative of problems inherent in the art. For example, the preferred type of door access bar, the type containing an electrical switch therein, has several disadvantages. First, in order for the switching mechanism to operate, there must be a minimal amount of free movement in the bar. The use of a limit switch in the bar requires the switch to be precisely adjusted to operate properly. In addition, one or more springs must be utilized in order to keep the switches in the open position when the door access bar is not being depressed. In addition, typical electrical switch type door access bars are mechanically fairly complex, and are not inexpensive to manufacture.
A substantially improved door access bar is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,228, to Geringer et al. The improved door access bar of the Geringer et al. '228 patent contains an electromechanical mechanism through which mechanical contact by a user with the door access bar is translated into an electrical output, which may be utilized to initiate the process of unlocking the door on which the door access bar is mounted. The transducer used by the door access bar of the Geringer et al. '228 patent is a force sensing resistor (FSR), which has a resistance which drops when a compressive force exerted across the force sensing resistor increases.
The FSR transducer is placed in series with a reference resistor having a fixed resistance, with a constant voltage being placed across the FSR and the reference resistor. As an increasing amount of force is applied to the FSR, its resistance drops, leaving a larger portion of the voltage across the reference resistor. A comparator having a predetermined reference voltage provides an electrical output when a predetermined amount of force is applied to the door access bar, with the electrical output from the comparator being used to open the door. The amount of force needed to be applied to the sensor bar to trigger an output from the comparator may be adjusted by varying the reference voltage.
The door access bar of the Geringer et al. '228 patent contained two FSR's, one mounted in the door mounting hardware located at each end of the door access bar. When the predetermined pressure was exerted on either FSR, the circuitry of the Geringer et al. '228 patent caused the door to be opened. The door access bar of the Geringer et al. '228 patent represented a substantial improvement over the prior art, and has met with considerable commercial success, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,564,228, to Geringer et al., is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
The use of the door access bar of the Geringer et al. '228 patent on a large number of doors has presented a rather unusual problem which may cause unintended switching operation of the door access bar. When the door access bar of the Geringer et al. '228 patent is mounted on a door which is warped, or which becomes warped after the door access bar is mounted thereon, a slight twisting in one of the mounting members of the door access bar may exert pressure on one of the FSR's, causing the door to unlock. This results in a service call in which the door access bar must be recalibrated to compensate for the increased pressure on the FSR. In some extreme situations, the door will become warped to such an extent that the door access bar will no longer properly operate. The same problem presents itself in the case of sagging doors, as well as in tweaked glass stiles.
Accordingly, it is accordingly the primary objective of the present invention that it present a door access bar having an improved mounting arrangement for electromechanical force transducers through which mechanical contact by a user with the door access bar is translated into an electrical output which may be utilized to initiate the process of unlocking the door on which the door access bar is located. It is a directly related objective of the door access bar of the present invention that it contain the electromechanical force transducers entirely within the door access bar itself, and not between the door access bar and its mounting mechanism, thereby obviating inappropriate force sensing problems associated with warping or sagging of the door the door access bar is mounted on. It is another objective of the door access bar of the present invention that it have redundant electromechanical force transducers to ensure that pressure exerted on the door access bar is reliably sensed, with either force sensor being sufficient to trigger operation of the door access bar to cause the door to be unlocked and/or opened.
It is a further objective of the door access bar of the present invention that it require only a slight degree of force and minimal movement of the door access bar to initiate the electrical output indicating a desire for access or egress, and that the minimum amount of force required to initiate opening of the door be fully adjustable over an appreciable range. It is still another objective of the door access bar of the present invention that it include an emergency override switch which will operate to open the door even if both of the electromechanical force transducers or the control circuitry were to fail. It is a related objective of the door access bar of the present invention that the emergency override switch be operated by the same motion exerted on the door access bar that normally causes the electromechanical force transducers to unlock and/or open the door. It is yet another objective of the door access bar of the present invention that it be both easy and quick to mount on any door or other desired location.
The door access bar of the present invention must be of a construction which is both durable and long lasting, and it should also require little or no maintenance to be provided by the user throughout its operating lifetime. In order to enhance the market appeal of the door access bar of the present invention, it should also be of inexpensive construction to thereby afford it the broadest possible market. Finally, it is also an objective that all of the aforesaid advantages and objectives of the apparatus of the door access bar of the present invention be achieved without incurring any substantial relative disadvantage.

Push bar with redundant pressure sensors and fail safe mechanical switch


A syringe device includes a first chamber defined by a cylindrical barrel, a plunger head within the barrel and a hollow needle sealed to an administering end of the barrel but open to an environment outside of the first chamber. A second chamber is defined by the barrel, the plunger head and a seal that seals around a plunger shaft leading to the plunger head and that seals an actuation end of the barrel. A receiving container having a second hollow needle attached and sealed at one end is also attached and sealed to the syringe, to thereby define a receiving chamber in fluid communication with the second chamber of the syringe and, via the second needle, with an environment outside of the receiving chamber. Depressing the plunger will infuse a substance through the first needle while simultaneously withdrawing a substance through the second needle. Reverse action is possible.

This invention relates generally to syringe devices and more particularly, but without limitation thereto, to a multiple needled syringe device that permits a simultaneous infusion and withdrawal of one or more substances through a single action.
The prior art contains a variety of devices wherein it is known to use dual needles with either a single or multiple chambered device so as to dispense one or more substances simultaneously through the hollow needles. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,150,669 and 6,065,371 are illustrative of such designs.
There are however circumstances where it is desirable to inject a substance into an environment while simultaneously permitting a withdrawal of a substance from the environment. Such a scenario exists, for example, in the testing of substances known to pose considerable adverse health effects to human beings and perhaps other life forms. Two such substances may be chemical or biological hazards, wherein leakage of only a very minute amount can wreak deadly havoc.
In laboratory testing or other use of such substances, the substances themselves may be housed within a glass vial having a self-sealing lid or septum over the open end of the glass container. The lid is designed to permit perforation by, for example, a hypodermic needle so that substances can be injected and withdrawn through the safety of the self-sealing lid.
In the aforementioned chemical and biological hazard research field, it has been learned that injection into a vial containing such hazards can produce an undesirable increase in pressure or volume within the vial.
To offset this undesirable pressure or volume increase, injection and withdrawal from the vial has been performed through the use of two separate syringes used at the same time. Such a technique has produced several negative consequences. For one, several syringes are contaminated in the process. In addition, it is challenging to produce substantially equal infusion and withdrawal during this process.
As a consequence, there is a need in the art for a single syringe device that permits simultaneous infusion and withdrawal while preferably being performed via a single action.

Syringe device for simultaneous infusion and withdrawal

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


The spread spectrum communication system of the present invention is intended to equalize link capacity by taking deterioration of link quality so as to enable reliable communication which enhances the frequency diversity effect even if it is affected by the frequency selective fading or the like. Then, between a base station and a mobile station in a code division multiple access communication system which multiplexes the hopping frequencies by varying them with hopping series different for each channel, a same frequency band is used for a forward-link and a reverse-link, and the number of hopping frequencies and/or the number of hops per one data symbol being assigned is varied according to line quality. There is provided means for performing communication by multiplexing the forward- and reverse-links using the different hopping frequencies for transmission and receiving, so that the link capacity is equalized for the forward- and reverse-links.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for a frequency hopping-spread spectrum wireless communication system, and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for a frequency hopping-spread spectrum communication system suitably applied to CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) communication between communication stations having forward-links and reverse-links with different wireless link qualities each other.
Spread modulation systems in a spread spectrum communication system include a direct sequence (DS) system which spreads the spectrum over a wide band by directly multiplying pseudo-random noise (PN) series on information modulated signals, and a frequency hopping (FH) system which uniformly spreads the spectrum by driving a frequency synthesizer in correspondence to hopping series to change (hop) the transmit frequencies of information modulated signals. The FH method in particular has an advantage that transmit power is not required to be controlled because there is no near-far problem, and that it is insusceptible to the frequency selective fading because there is a frequency diversity effect.
In addition, in a mobile communication, communication is performed between a base station and a mobile station by using a forward-link and a reverse-link for transmission and receiving. For its multiplexing, the spectrum spread communication system with the FH system is generally employed to particularly separate and multiplex frequency bands on the forward-link and the reverse-link.
For example, as shown in the time-frequency matrix of FIG. 1, eight hopping frequencies in total (f.sub.0, f.sub.1, f.sub.2, f.sub.3, f.sub.4, f.sub.5, f.sub.6, f.sub.7) are assigned to the forward- and reverse-links. In this case, the frequency bands on the forward- and reverse-links are separated into a high frequency band and a low frequency band, and multiplexed by using four hopping frequencies (f.sub.4, f.sub.5, f.sub.6, f.sub.7) for the reverse-link and four hopping frequencies (f.sub.0, f.sub.1, f.sub.2, f.sub.3) for the forward-link. Particularly, in FIG. 1, the hopping frequencies are used between the base station and one mobile station in temporal sequence of (f.sub.3, f.sub.1, f.sub.2, f.sub.0, f.sub.3) for the forward-link and (f.sub.5, f.sub.6, f.sub.4, f.sub.7, f.sub.5) for the reverse-link.
Moreover, various other systems are proposed for setting frequency bands for the forward- and reverse-links. For example, a system described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 8-181680 is shown in FIG. 2. This system performs transmission and receiving by using a same frequency band of (f.sub.0, f.sub.1, f.sub.2, f.sub.3, f.sub.4, f.sub.5, f.sub.6, f.sub.7) for the forward- and reverse-links, and by multiplexing using different hopping frequencies such as a frequency band of (f.sub.1, f.sub.3, f.sub.5, f.sub.7) for the forward-link and a frequency band of (f.sub.0, f.sub.2, f.sub.4, f.sub.6) for the reverse-link. Particularly, in FIG. 2, the hopping frequencies are used in a temporal sequence of (f.sub.7, f.sub.3, f.sub.5, f.sub.1, f.sub.7) for the forward-link and (f.sub.2, f.sub.4, f.sub.0, f.sub.6, f.sub.2). With such method, since the hopping frequencies for the forward- and reverse-links are mixed, the frequency diversity effect can be expected even if a frequency band over a wide band is affected by frequency selective fading or the like.
In addition, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-104865 describes a CDMA system in which transmission power control with high accuracy even against fading is attained by using same carrier wave frequencies for the forward- and reverse-links, and performing communication with time division multiplexing. A technique is also disclosed, when link capacity is different for the forward-link and the reverse-link, to accommodate such difference by changing the transmission time of the same carrier wave frequencies.
The conventional frequency hopping-spread spectrum communication system has advantages that the transmission power control imposes less restriction, and there is the frequency diversity effect. However, there is a possibility that there arises difference in link quality for the forward- and reverse links by, for example, difference in the size of antennae between the base station and the mobile station. That is, while the base station uses a large antenna providing sufficient gain, the mobile station is forced to use a small antenna because of necessity for smaller device size. Thus, the reverse-link from the base station to the mobile station is susceptible to radio propagation, so that the bit error rate (BER) of the receive signal tends to be deteriorated. On the other hand, BER is less deteriorated from the mobile station to the base station. The bit error rate (BER) is differently deteriorated by the frequency selective fading or the like due to difference of the frequency band used by the forward-link and the reverse-link.
The conventional system has a disadvantage that it cannot sufficiently accommodate such difference of line quality on the forward- and reverse-links. Particularly, when it is intended to attain the CDMA communication system in the mobile communication or the like, the frequency selective fading causes a considerable problem. The frequency hopping system is said to be inherently insusceptible to the frequency selective fading because it provides the frequency diversity effect. However, in the above-mentioned system to separate and multiplex the frequency bands for the forward- and reverse links, there is such a problem that, if either one of the frequency bands is affected by the frequency selective fading or the like, reliability of the affected link is lowered.
When the code division multiple access is applied to a cellular system, inter-cell interference on the forward-link is an average of interference from the mobile stations uniformly distributed in adjacent cells. However, the inter-cell interference on the reverse-link is required to be evaluated for a case where the mobile station subject to interference is at the worst location such as one end of a cell. Thus, the number of channels available for communication on the reverse-link is less than those on the up-link. Since the number of channels should be generally equal to the forward- and reverse-links, the upper limit of the number of channels is restricted by the number of channels for the reverse-link.
Furthermore, the technique disclosed in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 6-104865 is intended to attain transmission power control with high accuracy, so that the device becomes complicated because it performs time division multiplexing (TDM) in addition to the code division multiplexing.
The present invention is invented in view of the above problems, and intended to provide a method and apparatus for a frequency hopping-spread spectrum communication system which enables it to improves a link with poor link quality, and to equalize link quality by adequately distributing the number of hopping frequencies and the number of hops per data symbol in a transmission system with different link quality for a forward-link and a reverse-link.
In addition, the present invention is also intended to provide a method and apparatus for a frequency hopping-spread spectrum communication system which, in a transmission system with different link quality for an forward-link and a reverse-link, enables it to perform reliable communication with high frequency diversity effect even if it is affected by frequency selective fading by making the number of hopping frequencies being assigned different from the number of hops, and to equalize link capacity by taking deterioration of wireless link into account.

Method and apparatus for a frequency hopping-spread spectrum communication system


An electronic device is disclosed that generates an interface identifier to determine an IP address to use. The electronic device comprises an interface identifier generating unit to generate the interface identifier, a temporary IP address determining unit to determine a temporary IP address containing the interface identifier and a prefix, a duplication determining unit to determine whether the temporary IP address is the same as an IP address of another electronic device, and an IP address determining unit to specify the temporary IP address as the IP address to use, when the duplication determining unit determines that the temporary IP address is not the same as the IP address of another electronic device, wherein the interface identifier generating unit generates another interface identifier when the duplication determining unit determines that the temporary IP address is the same as the IP address of another electronic device.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an electronic device that communicates using an IP address, an IP address determining method for use in the electronic device, and a recording medium having an IP address determining program stored therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
Transition of IP (Internet Protocol) address from 32-bit IPv4 address to 128-bit IPv6 address is underway. According to IPv6, as a unique link local address is assigned to each electronic device, users can communicate with other electronic devices right away by only connecting a cable without doing any configuration. Each link local address has a prefix and an interface identifier that is generated based on a MAC address (RFC2373).
<Patent Document 1> Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2003-258825
<Patent Document 2> Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2002-9823
<Patent Document 3> Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-213067
However, if an electronic device with a manually assigned IP address or an electronic device with a fake MAC address is in the same segment as a user's device, the link local address of the user's device might be the same as the link local address of such a device. If there is such duplication of address, the user's device cannot communicate with other electronic devices.

Electronic device, IP address determining method, and recording medium having IP address determining program stored therein


The repair member includes an inner platform, an outer platform portion, and an airfoil portion connecting the inner and outer platform portions; the inner platform portion is configured so to reach an edge of a first ring or sector of ring of a vane assembly of the damaged vane, and the outer platform portion is configured so to reach an edge of a second ring or sector of ring of the a vane assembly of the damaged vane; the inner platform portion, the outer platform portion, and the airfoil portion are configured so to allow insertion of the repair member into the vane assembly by a pure translation movement being along an insertion direction and having a movement component parallel to an axes of the first and second rings or sectors of ring.

Vanes (i.e. statory aerodynamic components) of gas turbines are subject to damages during operation of the gas turbines. Damages are generally due to mechanical stresses and/or thermal stresses.
This is particularly true in the field of Oil & Gas as the machines used in this field are heavy-duty.
The trailing edges of the vanes are particularly vulnerable to damages as they are thin.
Furthermore, the trailing edges are particularly vulnerable to damages when multiple holes, for example cooling holes, are located in these regions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,697 discloses a solution for repairing the leading edges of vanes of gas turbines (i.e. statory components of the turbines).
According to this solution, the vanes are comprised in a vane assembly, the vane assembly comprises an inner platform in the form of a first sector of ring and an outer platform in the form of a second sector of ring and a plurality of vanes. As it is apparent from the figures, according to this solution, a repair member may only be inserted in the vane assembly along a radial direction.
According to this solution, inserting the repair member requires very precise horizontal ("horizontal" considering the figures of U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,697—"tangential" considering the axis of the rotary machine) movements of the repair member with respect to the vane assembly; in fact, the repair member should be positioned in perfect horizontal alignment with a small upper hole.
According to this solution, positioning the repair member require very precise vertical ("vertical" considering the figures of U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,697—"radial" considering the axis of the rotary machine) movements of the repair member with respect to the vane assembly; in fact, the repair member should be positioned in perfect horizontal alignment with the surfaces of the vane to be repaired. If the solution of U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,697 would be used for repairing trailing edges of vanes with multiple holes (instead of leading edges), vertical positioning precision would be even more critical as any hole should be perfectly aligned with the end of the corresponding feeding conduit.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,305,697 discloses a solution for repairing the leading edges or trailing edges of blades of gas turbines (i.e. rotary components of the turbines).
According to this solution, the blades are presumably comprised in a blade assembly (not shown in the figures); the bases of the blades are used for fixing the blades while the tips of the blades are loose. As it is apparent from the figures, in particular FIG. 2, the repair member does not comprise any platform portion of the assembly either at the base region of the blade and, even less, at the tip region of the blade; the repair member simply consists in an airfoil portion (see FIG. 2). Furthermore, the repair member may be taken to the blade to be repaired along any direction; therefore, positioning the repair member require very precise vertical and horizontal movements of the repair member with respect to the blade.

Repair member for a vane assembly of a gas turbine and method for repairing a damaged vane of a vane assembly of a gas turbine


A non-stick material coated glass slip layer for use in insulating tapes for electrical conductors. A conductive glass tape is interwoven with a non-stick material coated glass tape to form the slip layer. The slip layer is sandwiched between and inner conductive layer that is in contact with and electrical conductor, and an cater conductive layer that is in contact with machinery, such as a generator. The slip layer allows for a difference of movement between the inner conductive layer and the outer conductive layer without damage to the insulating tape.

With the use of any form of electrical appliance, there is a need to electrically insulate conductors. Conductors need to be wrapped in a insulating tape to prevent electric discharge. An example of this is shown in FIG. 1. Illustrated here is a coil 13, comprising a plurality of turns of conductors 14. Each turn of the conductor 14 consists essentially of a copper bar or wire wrapped with a turn insulation 15. The turn insulation 15 is prepared preferably from a fibrous sheet or strip which is typically impregnated with a resin. The turn insulation 15 may be not adequate alone to withstand the severe voltage gradients that will be present between the conductor and ground when the coil is installed in a high-voltage generator. Therefore, ground insulation for the coil is provided by wrapping one or more layers of composite mica tape 16 about the turn 14.
Such a mica-tape 16 comprises a pliable backing sheet 18 of, for example, poly-ethylene glycol terephthalate or glass fabric mat, having a layer of mica flakes 20 bonded to a resin. The tape 16 may be applied half lapped, abutted or in any other suitable manner. Generally, multiple layers of the mica tape 16 are wrapped about the coil with sixteen or more layers generally being used for high voltage coils. The number of layers may be decreased depending on the power of the generator and the effectiveness of the insulator in both its abilities to insulate electrically and conduct heat. To impart better abrasion resistance and to secure a tighter insulation, a wrapping of an outer tape 21 of a tough fibrous material, for example, glass fiber, asbestos or the like may be applied to the coil.
Therefore, what is referred to as insulating tape is actually composed of multiple layers of tape that have different properties. The inner most layer is referred to as the groundwall insulation. Wrapped around this is the conductive layer. The conductive layer provides a low resistance and doesn't allow voltage to be present between the outer coil surface and the core. As will be discussed below, in order to function properly as a conducting electrode, the conductive layer needs to be in firm contact with both the groundwall insulation and the generator assembly in which the wrapped conductor (coil) is inserted.
As mentioned, the insulating tape is generally impregnated with a resin to improve many of its overall properties. There are many methods of coating materials with epoxy resins and then curing the product. One such method is vacuum pressure impregnation (VPI). This method is used on devices such as stator conductor coils. A mica/glass insulating tape is applied to the coils, then the coils are placed in a vacuum vessel and a vacuum is applied. After a period of time, resin is admitted to impregnate the coils. Pressure is applied to force the resin in and minimize voids, which will affect conductivity. After this is completed, the coils are heated to cure the resin. The resin may contain an accelerator or the tape may have one in it. A variation of this, global VPI involves the process where dry insulated coils are wound, and the then whole stator is vacuum pressure impregnated rather than the individual coils.
The wrapped conductor is then placed into machinery such as a generator. FIG. 2 shows one embodiment of a generator in cross section. The generator comprises a metal armature or rotor 28 having slots 22 therein, containing insulated coils 23, surrounded by a metal stator 24 having slots 25 therein about the stator circumference at 26. The stator slots contain insulated coils 27.
If the conductor is not secure against the generator assembly, electric discharge will result. This adversely affects the performance of the machinery, and also causes cumulative damage to the generator, conductor and insulation tape.
In order to prevent such a discharge, the conductive layer of the insulating tape itself needs to be made of at least two layers, which are referred to as the outer conductive layer and the inner conductive layer. Note that both of these sub layers may themselves be composed of multiple layer depending on need. The outer layer of conductive tape will be in firm contact with the generator assembly, while the inner conductive layer will be in firm contact with the groundwall insulation. This, however, creates a problem, since the conductor and the generator assembly often have minor movements independent of one another due to such things as heating and vibration. This is referred to as a difference of movement. If the outer conductive layer of the insulating tape is in firm contact with the generator assembly, and the conductor moves independently of the assembly, stresses are created on the insulating tape.
These stresses cause the tape to tear, ruining the insulation around the conductor coil. To prevent this, machinery is run at below desired level to prevent movements due to vibration and temperature.
An alternate solution is to provide a slip layer in the insulating tape. This slip layer is sandwiched between an inner conductive layer, which is in contact with the conductor, and the outer conductive layer, which is in contact with the generator assembly. The slip layer consists of a mica-filled tape that is interwoven with a conductive tape, as shown in FIG. 3. The mica-filled slip layer consist primarily of large mica flakes, generally larger than those used in other insulating layers. Therefore they are not well bonded together and can slip relative to each other. A conductor 13 is wrapped with a groundwall insulation layer 43 and then a inner conductive layer 44 followed by a mica-filled tape 41 that has a conductive interweave 42 woven horizontally along one side. This slip layer allows for a minor difference of movement between the inner 44 and outer 46 conductive layers, without causing any tears or damage to the tape.
This solution, however, is not with out its own problems. One concern is that the slip layer, because of being a mica-filled tape, is extremely delicate. This means that the slip layer, and often the entire insulating layer, has to be wound around the conductor by hand, rather than using more efficient machinery. Because the mica-filled tape has large flakes, it is delicate and there for is more susceptible to handling damage. Also, the amount of slip that the slip layer allows for is only moderate. Therefore the difference of movement between the conductor and generator assembly cannot be too significant. Further, the mica-filled tape is on average 11.5 mils thick (0.3 mm). Since the assembly needs to produce an overlap of the tape, this increases the overall insulating tape thickness to 25 mils (0.65 mm) per side of the conductor coil. This added thickness not only adds to the overall size of related machinery, but also reduces efficiency in properties such as thermal conductivity.
The mica-filled tape, however, has not been able to be replaced because of the nature of the mica-flakes. They provide the needed dielectric strength. They are also porous to the resins used in impregnating the insulating tape. Without proper porosity, the inner conductive layer will not saturate properly, thus ruining the properties of the insulating tape.
What is needed is a slip layer that is thinner, more resilient and that allows a greater slip tolerance, while maintaining or improving upon the dielectric properties and porosity of the prior art.


This process allows for the automatic production of an electrical wiring diagram on which are located boxes, each representing a component used in an electrical device, connecting lines, each representing an interconnecting cable and connecting terminals corresponding to a possible connection point between a connecting line and a box, the boxes being arranged along an axis of abscissas and an axis of ordinates. The process includes the following steps: input of the components and cables to be represented on the wiring diagram, each component being of a predetermined type; generation and resolution of a first system of equations to optimize the relative positioning of the boxes on the axis of abscissas and their orientation; generation and resolution of a second system of equations to optimize the relative placement of the boxes and of the terminals in terms of the axis of ordinates; generation and resolution of a third system of equations to place the boxes and the cables in an absolute manner, and production of the wiring diagram corresponding to the numerical data obtained by the resolution of the systems of equations.

1. Field of the Invention
The current invention concerns a procedure for the production of a wiring diagram.
The current invention is more specifically intended for the field of aeronautics. However, it can find applications in other sectors, whether it be in the field of transport (automotive, space, etc.) or in other industrial fields (production of industrial machines, computerized home electronic systems, etc.). More specifically, it concerns electrical cabling, but it also applies to the fields of hydraulics, pneumatics, etc. . . .
2. Discussion of the Background
In a modern aircraft, the electrical circuits utilize a significant number of components and are relatively complex. In order to represent them, so that they may first of all be manufactured, then subsequently attended to during service maintenance of the aircraft, basic plans are produced on the one hand, and wiring diagrams, on the other.
An aircraft is composed of different electrical systems (engines, electrical generation, flight controls, braking system, etc.). Each one of these systems is segmented into different chapters, also called functions pursuant to the ATA100 standard (Air Transport Association). The basic plans schematically describe the electrical interconnections between the different elements which compose one function within the system. They allow for a good comprehension of the function described and facilitate troubleshooting during failures. The diagrams (or plans) for the wiring layout, also referred to as WD in abbreviated form which stands for Wiring Diagram (that is to say, the diagram for the wiring layout in English) are designed based on the information contained in the basic plans and they integrate all of the information required for manufacturing the corresponding function in the system. A wiring diagram also makes it possible to provide the department in charge of producing the electrical system with a list of the cables.
Currently, the basic plans as well as the wiring diagrams are produced by hand. Of course, CAD software applications (computer aided design) are used to produce these plans and diagrams. The design of the drawing in and of itself however, remains the responsibility of the draftsman who must position the components and produce routing for the cables which connect said components.

Process for the production of an electrical wiring diagram


A thin film transistor substrate may include a gate electrode on a base substrate, a gate insulation layer covering the gate electrode on the base substrate, an active pattern on the gate insulation layer, an etch-stop layer pattern partially exposing the active pattern, a source electrode and a drain electrode in contact with a portion of the exposed active pattern, and an inorganic barrier layer on the source electrode, the drain electrode, and the etch-stop layer pattern. The active pattern may be superimposed over the gate electrode. The source electrode and the drain electrode may be superimposed over both ends of the gate electrode. The inorganic barrier layer may be in contact with a remaining portion of the exposed active pattern.

1. Field
Example embodiments relate to thin film transistor substrates, display devices and methods of manufacturing display devices. More particularly, example embodiments relate to thin film transistor substrates having a bottom gate structure, display devices including the thin film transistor substrate and methods of manufacturing display devices including the thin film transistor substrate.
2. Description of the Related Art
A thin film transistor (TFT) having a bottom gate structure may include a gate electrode formed on a substrate, a gate insulation layer formed on the gate electrode, an active layer formed on the gate insulation layer and overlapping with the gate electrode, and source and drain electrodes contacting the active layer.

Thin film transistor substrates, display devices and methods of manufacturing display devices


A method for oxidatively breaking down organic compounds that have low biodegradability and are difficult to oxidize chemically in aqueous effluents, by using a water-soluble peroxide oxidant in the presence of a water-soluble iron or manganese metallophthalocyanine immobilized on an ionic resin consisting of a cross-linked insoluble copolymer derived from a vinylaromatic monomer comprising cationic or anionic groups. The method is particularly suitable for oxidatively decomposing polyhalogenophenols and halogenated hydrocarbons.

Protection of the environment, a major preoccupation of our age, involves the decontamination of aqueous effluents from the chemical and related industries which contain organic compounds which are, to a greater or lesser extent, toxic to flora and fauna and to man.
For a long time, reliance has been placed on the natural degradation of chemical compounds under the effect of microorganisms to solve the problem posed by the presence of these compounds. Biodegradation often proves to be insufficient when the amount of effluent becomes too large and/or when aqueous discharges contain compounds which are not or only slightly biodegradable, by oxidation in particular. This is the reason why it has become essential to make available to industry processes which make possible the removal or degradation of the toxic compounds present in aqueous effluents to compounds which are non-toxic and/or readily biodegradable, before discharging the said effluents into water courses.
Many processes have been provided for this purpose. Thus, the oxidative degradation of organic compounds is a means which is often recommended for the treatment of aqueous effluents. A description has been given, in French Patent No. 88 09169, published under No. 2,633,925, of a process for the oxidative degradation of benzyl alcohols and of organic compounds related to benzyl alcohols, which comprises the treatment of the said compounds with a water-soluble peroxide oxidizing agent, such as hydrogen peroxide and alkali metal persulphates, in the presence of an iron or manganese chelate derived from a porphyrin and, if appropriate, of a nitrogenous base, such as pyridine or imidazole or their derivatives.
A description has been given, in French Patent No. 89 16690, published under No. 2,655,774, of an analogous process for the oxidative degradation of aromatic compounds which are difficult to oxidize, in particular of chlorinated derivatives, such as 2,4,6-trichlorophenol, by means of water-soluble peroxides in the presence of water-soluble metallomesotetraphenylporphyrins derived more particularly from iron and manganese. Recourse to metalloporphyrins which have been rendered water-soluble by the presence of ionic substituents (sulpho or quaternary ammonium groups) makes it possible to increase the effectiveness of the catalyst but has the disadvantage of complicating, indeed of rendering impossible, the recovery of the catalyst, which contributes to increasing the cost of the process and to adding a pollutant to the treated effluent. In order to retain the advantage of the homogeneous-phase catalyst without having the disadvantages thereof, the suggestion has been made to attach the metalloporphyrins to ionic resins and in particular to resins containing guaternary ammonium groups, in the case of metalloporphyrins containing sulpho substituents. In this way, the supported metalloporphyrins can be easily recovered by simple filtration and recycled or else the effluents can simply be treated continuously on a supported catalyst bed. Provision has been made for the use, as catalytic resin, of polyvinylpyridinium or of copolymers of styrene containing quaternary ammonium groups, such as styrene/chloromethylstyrene copolymers quaternized by a trialkylamine and crosslinked. However, the best catalytic activities were obtained with potassium monopersulphate as oxidizing agent and by using metalloporphyrins attached to resins of polyvinylpyridinium type (cf. G. Labat and B. Meunier, C. R. Acad. Sci. Paris, vol. 311 (1990), p. 625). Oxidation of trichlorophenol is slower with hydrogen peroxide than with an alkali metal monopersulphate (cf. G. Labat et al., Angew, Chem. Int. Ed. Engl., vol. 29 (1990), p. 1471).
Provision has also been made for the replacement of metalloporphyrins, products which are particularly expensive, by less expensive water-soluble metallophthalocyanines, for the oxidation of 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol by hydrogen peroxide (cf. W. Zhu et al., J. Molecular Catalysis, vol. 78 (1993), p. 367-378). The metallophthalocyanines derived from iron and manganese have proved to be the most active; the use of cationic latexes composed of insoluble colloid particles of crosslinked styrene/chloromethylstyrene copolymers quaternized by triethylamine with a mean diameter of 50 nm has not had a noticeable effect on the kinetics of the oxidation.

Process for the oxidative decomposition of organic compounds present in aqueous effluents


A method and apparatus for dynamically estimating the ST segment of a rate varying electrocardiogram by comparing the result yielded from a mathematical relationship between calculated beat averages and a predetermined standard. Typically a table of known heartbeats is made from which means for estimating are created. An average of beat to beat intervals is compared with the means for estimating and the length of the ST segment for any particular beat is derived making it possible to dynamically alter ST segment length for any given heartrate.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to analyzing electrocardiographic signals within stress testing systems, and more specifically, to estimating the length of ST segments within electrocardiographic signals as the rate at which the heart beats change as a result of exercise.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Numerous stress test systems exist that test electrocardiographic signals. These systems perform many functions that need to be performed within a stress test system including the construction of a digital representation of the ECG to be analyzed. Conventional stress test systems use a previously defined length for the ST segments in analysis of the digital representation of ECG signals. While this standard length gives some value for an ST segment, it does not provide a realistic estimate of the dynamically changing value of the ST segment. Changes that occur in the ST segment as a result of varying rates of heartbeats will go unnoticed without some method or apparatus for dynamically altering the ST segment to provide a realistic estimate of the length of the ST segment.
Is should be apparent from the foregoing discussion that there is a need for a system in which the ST segment is dynamically altered in response to varying rates of heartbeats. The present invention provides such a system.

Dynamic ST segment estimation and adjustment