A rescue-facilitating, preferably water resistant communicating wrist watch. A housing is attachable to a user's wrist by a wristband with a microprocessor is disposed therein. A display is provided in communication with the microprocessor and has at least one visible data field. A communication module for transmitting at least one message is provided and connected to the microprocessor and has at least one antenna and a transceiver. A user-activated interface allows the user to select at least one message for transmission, preferably an emergency call for help on at least one preselected frequency. The interface preferably allows the user to control the display and the data displayed thereon. The watch may include a memory module in communication with the microprocessor, adapted to store a plurality of pre-recorded messages for selection of one or more and transmission by the communication module upon selection via the user-activated interface.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to communication devices and more specifically to communication devices capable of sending and receiving text messages and the like.
Specifically, the invention is a water-proof electronic watch that is capable of sending and receiving text messages via wireless telephony technology and also provides emergency location assistance via Global Positioning System (GPS) technology.
2. Description of Related Art
People have come to rely on personal communication devices and personal data assistants (PDAs) for communication and for obtaining information while on the go. Many people carry a mobile/cellular telephone or PDA that not only makes and receives calls but also can send and receive text messages, download information from the internet, and the like. Many of these devices have built-in GPS locating devices, useful both for enabling police or rescue personnel to locate the user in an emergency and for enabling the user to find herself on a map and obtain directions to another location. There are water-proof cell phones and GPS devices that are available in the marketplace; however, these are too large and cumbersome for active sports enthusiasts and outdoorsmen, such as surfers, fishermen, skiers, sailors, kayakers, hikers, and hunters. There is a long-felt need to provide a device that a surfer or other outdoorsman can wear like a watch but that also provides wireless communication and GPS positioning.

Rescue-facilitating communicating wrist watch


A quality of service management system includes a rules engine that receives information associated with a communication path having an assigned quality of service (QoS) to be provided for a customer communication device, and identifies one or more network elements assigned to provide the communication path. Each network element having a plurality of queues configured to provide varying QoS levels relative to one another. For each of the network elements, the rules engine determines at least one queue that is configured to provide the communication path at the assigned quality of service, and transmits queue information associated with the determined queue to its respective network element, the network element conveying the communication path through the determined queue.

Although traditional communication services have been typically limited to voice communication, today's communication services have expanded to also include data communication (e.g., Internet, e-mail messaging, etc.) and video communication services (e.g., multimedia messaging services (MMS), digital video broadcast services (DVB), etc.). Nevertheless, each of these differing types of communication services have characteristics that vary widely from one another. For example, although data services often require larger throughput rates than the traditional voice communication services, they can also handle relatively higher levels of burstiness without adversely affecting overall quality of service.
There are numerous qualities of communication services that are collectively referred to as a quality of service (QoS). The quality of service of any communication service generally refers to its overall perceived quality. In many cases it would be advantageous to schedule and independently manage communication services, and particularly for those communication services, such as voice, data, and video communication services having characteristics that vary widely from one another. It is with these issues in mind, among others, that various aspects of the present disclosure were developed.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Quality of service management system for a communication network


A transmission weight vector computing unit computes transmission weight vectors. A transmission weight vector correcting unit obtains a corrected transmission weight vector W′(t). A predicted receiving power computing unit computes a predicted receiving power value Y(t). If a difference between the predicted receiving power value Y(t) and a predicted receiving power value in the past Y(t-T) is less than a threshold value, an update unit selects the corrected transmission weight vector W′(t). If, on the other hand, the difference is greater or equal to the threshold value, the update unit selects a corrected weight vector in the past W′(t-xT). If the modulation method is QPSK, a setting unit selects the transmission weight vector W(t). If the modulation method is 16 QAM, the setting unit selects the corrected transmission weight vector W′(t) or W′(t-xT) and outputs it as a final transmission weight vector signal.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to transmission method and radio apparatus utilizing said method, and it particularly relates to a transmission method in which a control is performed so that the transmitted signals are received with nearly constant power, and a radio apparatus utilizing said method.
2. Description of the Related Art
The adaptive array antenna changes successively the directivity of antenna in accordance with the position of an apparatus, which is targeted party to the communication, and the propagation environment so as to improve the communication quality and increase the number of users that can be handled. When the transmission power control is applied to the adaptive array antenna, the increased error in the control may result from the fluctuation of directional gain, which cannot be controlled by merely raising or reducing the transmission power. That is, although the targeted communication apparatus can receive signals with the sufficiently large power if the directional gain is large, there is a possibility that interference is caused in other communication apparatuses. On the other hand, if the directional gain is small, the targeted communication apparatus cannot receive the sufficient power, so that the communication quality deteriorates.
According to the conventional transmission power control technology applied to the adaptive array antennas, the directional gain is calculated from the received weight and the transmission array response vector, which is information on the position of antenna normalized by the transmission carrier frequency. Then, the correction value of amplitude in the transmission weight is computed so that the directional gain becomes a desired value. And when transmitting signals, the transmission power control is carried out using the correction value of amplitude in the transmission weight (for example, see Reference (1) in the following Related Art List).

Transmission method and radio apparatus for substantially constant receiving power level at a remote terminal


A spread illuminating apparatus for illuminating two objects includes: at least one light source; a light conductive plate having the at least one light source at an end surface thereof and defining first and second major surfaces from which light emitted from the at least one light source and introduced in the light conductive plate exits out respectively toward two objects to be illuminated; an optical sheet unit consisting of a diffuser sheet and condenser sheets, and disposed on at least the second major surface so as to cover an entire area thereof; and a reflecting means having a smaller surface area than the second major surface, and disposed directly on top of the optical sheet unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a spread illuminating apparatus, and more particularly to a spread illuminating apparatus in which light exits out from both major surfaces of a light conductive plate.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been a demand for a display device which has two viewing screens disposed in parallel with each other so as to sandwich an illuminating apparatus, and which is convenient for a situation where an electronics device, such as a notebook personal computer, is operated by a teacher, an instructor or a sales person while pupils, students or customers view images displayed. FIG. 10 is a schematic cross sectional view of a conventional display device for a notebook personal computer, introduced to answer the aforementioned demand. Such a display device is disclosed in, for example, Japanese Patent Application Laid Open No. H10-90678.
Referring to FIG. 10, a display device is foldably attached to a notebook personal computer. The display device comprises: a backlight system which comprises a cold-cathode fluorescent lamp 14 as a light source, a light conductive plate 11, and a reflector sheet 6 surrounding the cold-cathode fluorescent lamp 14; and two liquid crystal display (LCD) panels which each comprise a liquid crystal element 7, two glass plates 5 sandwiching the liquid crystal element 7, and two polarizer sheets 8 placed respectively on the two glass plates 5, and which are bonded respectively to both major surfaces of the light conductive plate 1 of the backlight system. Light emitted from the cold-cathode fluorescent lamp 14 is introduced into the light conductive plate 11 directly and indirectly via the reflector sheet 6 disposed surrounding the cold-cathode fluorescent lamp 14, and exits out entirely from the light conductive plate 11 through the both major surfaces thereby enabling images to be viewed at the both sides of the display device.
Under the circumstances, in recent years, more and more portable telephones are coming out with a built-in camera, and a person to be photographed, as well as a person to photograph, may want to monitor an image to be photographed from a side opposite to a side of the person to photograph. To meet this request, a display device comprises two LCD panels provided respectively at both sides of the portable telephone. In such a case, the two LCD panels may be different in display screen size, which raises a problem with the display device described above with reference to FIG. 12. Referring to FIG. 11, a person to photograph views one LCD panel (liquid crystal element 7A) from a direction P and a person to be photographed views the other LCD panel (liquid crystal element 7B) from a direction T. Here, the one LCD panel 7A has a larger display screen size than the LCD panel 7B. FIG. 11 also shows a light conductive plate 11, well-known polarizer plates 8, 8A and 8B, and a cold-cathode fluorescent lamp 14. Since the LCD panel 7A is larger than the LCD panel 7B, the light conductive plate 11 defines, on a side toward the LCD panel 7B, an area Y (hereinafter referred to as non-display area) which is not covered by the LCD panel 7B, and an area Z (hereinafter referred to as display area) which is covered by the LCD panel 7B. As shown in FIG. 11, light PR exiting out from the light conductive plate 11 toward the person to be photographed is not utilized at the non-display area Y and gone uselessly, which means wasted electric power of the light source thus having a critical impact on an electronics device, such as a portable telephone, which strongly demands low power consumption.
While light exiting out from the light conductive plate 11 at the non-display area Y is gone uselessly, light exiting out at the display area Z is incident on the LCD panel 7B and partly reflected thereby to be brought back into the light conductive plate 11, and then introduced in the LCD panel 7A to illuminate the LCD panel 7A. As a result, the person to photograph notices difference in brightness over the LCD panel 7A such that an area corresponding to the display area Z is brighter than an area corresponding to the non-display area Y.
In a 1.8 inch LCD used in a typical portable telephone, which is structured as shown in FIG. 11, for example, four light emitting diodes (LEDs) are disposed as light sources 1 as shown in FIG. 12B which, together with FIG. 12A, explains spot-by-spot brightness over the LCD panel 7A, where brightness of the LCD panel 7A measured at each spot indicated in FIG. 12A is shown in FIG. 12B (figures are relative values of actual measurement). Here, it is to be noted that the LCD panel 7B with a smaller display screen size is disposed away from the light sources 1 unlike shown in FIG. 11. FIG. 12B indicates that brightness is higher at spots located corresponding to the display area Z than at spots located corresponding to the non-display area Y, rendering a maximum difference of 1.4 times. That is, light emitted from the light sources 1 is wasted at the non-display area Y thereby causing uneven brightness over the LCD panel 7A.

Spread illuminating apparatus adapted to allow light to exit out from both surfaces of light conductive plate


Methods and systems for identifying conditional actions in a business process are disclosed. In accordance with one such method, text fragments are extracted from input documents. In addition, a plurality of pairs of the text fragments that respectively include text fragments that are similar according to a pre-defined similarity standard are determined. For each pair of at least a subset of the pairs, at least one difference between the text fragments of the corresponding pair is determined. Further, at least two particular pairs of the subset of the pairs are merged in response to determining that the particular pairs have at least one of the determined differences in common. Additionally, the merged particular pairs are output to indicate the conditional actions in the business process.

Technical Field
The present invention relates to analyzing business processes, and more particularly, to systems, devices and methods for compiling and conveying behaviors and associated conditions of business processes.
Description of the Related Art
When automating a business process, building a business process model or changing an existing automated system or business model, a substantially comprehensive understanding of the business process or the behavior of the system is needed. Typically, this understanding is achieved manually by reading specifications, reading business manuals and creating business flow diagrams. Further, knowledge of behaviors in the business process as well as conditions leading to those behaviors and variations of the behaviors should be acquired to generate accurate business flow diagrams.
Extensive knowledge of business process behaviors and associated conditions is also needed when creating test cases for a developed business process system or model. Here, test cases are generally created from specifications and manuals of the business. For enhanced testing, complicated portions of the business process in which many conditions are considered in the system or model should be tested. Thus, to enable enhanced testing, such complicated portions need to be identified from the documents and compiled in a facilitative manner.
In general, for each actor in a business process, his or her actions or behaviors can be described in a multitude of different documents. Thus, when they are identified manually, there is a relatively high risk that some important descriptions may be overlooked. If search engines and systems are used to collect this information, then the function or action descriptors need to be known in advance for insertion into the query. However, comprehensive search queries can lead to a retrieval of a very large number of descriptions as results, leading to tedious and time consuming review of these results to identify relevant descriptions and determine the complex conditional behaviors of a business process.

Identifying and amalgamating conditional actions in business processes

International Business Machines Corporation


A digital image quality enhancing method that enhances a quality of a document image comprising pixels with a predetermined resolution and obtained by scanning a script comprising a combination of a background, a text, and an image. The method includes: updating history information regarding color data and a pixel type of a concerned pixel using previous history information of the concerned pixel; determining a block feature type of the concerned pixel using the pixel type and the updated history information of the concerned pixel; determining a type of an area to which the concerned pixel belongs based on a second type of a second area to which a first neighboring pixel in a left direction of the concerned pixel belongs, a third type of a third area to which a second neighboring pixel in a line above the concerned pixel belongs, the pixel type of the concerned pixel, and the determined block feature type; and performing different image quality enhancing processes based on the determined area type.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus to enhance digital image quality, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus to enhance digital image quality by which a document image obtained by scanning a document including a combination of a text and an image is segmented into a text area, a background area, a halftone image area, and a continuous tone image area and then an image quality of each of the areas is properly enhanced to obtain an improved image quality print.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, interest in a technique to effectively express an original document using only black and white binary information has increased with the advancement of copying machines, facsimiles, or multi-function peripherals. The technique can be greatly classified into a dithering technique to express actual continuous brightness as pseudo brightness using the spatial black and white distribution of an image document and a bi-level segmentation technique to properly segment a text document into a text and a background to easily read the text from the text document.
However, these techniques are not effective for a document including a combination of a text and an image. In other words, in the bi-level segmentation technique, problems, such as false contours, occur in an image, and in the dithering technique, the pseudo brightness smoothes the edge of an image, which deteriorates the reading of a text portion. In order to solve these problems, a variety of studies on the enhancement of the image quality of a document including a text and an image are in progress.
FIG. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a conventional method of enhancing the image quality of a document including a combination of a text and an image, the method being disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,175,425, entitled "Document Imaging System for Autodiscrimination of Text and Images," issued to Ramin Khorram on Jan. 16, 2001. Referring to FIG. 1, the method includes: receiving a multi-valued signal to represent a document image input from a scanner or another input device in operation 100, using a high-pass filter (HPF) to create a template, which defines a high contrast area in a document in operation 102, segmenting the document image into a text area and an image area in operation 104, enhancing an image in the text area by using the HPF in the text area in operation 106, enhancing an image in the image area by using a low-pass filer (LPF) in the image area in operation 108, creating an image to be printed by connecting the image in the text area to the image in the image area in operation 110, halftone-processing the image to be printed in operation 112, and printing a halftone image in operation 114.
In the above-mentioned method, an input document image is segmented into blocks, and then the HPF is used in each of the blocks to classify the blocks into the text area containing a large number of high-band components and the image area containing a small number of high-band components. Thus, if two adjacent blocks belong to different areas, one block may be blocked from the other block. Also, a block has to be very small so that all pixels in the block belong to the same area. However, as the block is small, feature extraction using frequency components becomes difficult, which results in difficulty in determining a proper size of the block.
In U.S. Pat. No. 6,078,697, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Segmenting Image Data into Contone, Text, and Halftone Classifications," issued to Yee Seung Ng on Jun. 20, 2000, windows of predetermined sizes are set around all pixels of an input document image and then gradients of pixels in a corresponding window are calculated. Fuzzy probabilities to represent the probabilities that a central pixel will belong to a text area, a halftone image area, or a continuous tone area are calculated using the sizes and directions of the calculated gradients according to Fuzzy rules. Three Fuzzy probability values are compared, an area having the greatest Fuzzy probability value is determined as a class of the central pixel, and falsely-classified pixels are reclassified to fix (determine) a class of the central pixel. In this method, since the class of the central pixel is determined using only neighboring information, many errors may be made. In addition, when adjacent pixels belong to different classes, different image quality improvement methods should be applied to the adjacent pixels. As a result, a final print may be unpleasant to a viewer's eyes.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,956,468, entitled "Document Segmentation System" and issued to Hakan Ancin on Sep. 21, 1999, an input document image is converted into a low resolution image, wide text and image areas are found from the low resolution image, and a dark text area on a bright background is found from the remaining area of the low resolution image to perform an image quality enhancement process to enhance the readability of the dark text area. In this method, only the dark text area on the bright background is emphasized, while an image area is hardly emphasized.

Method and apparatus to enhance digital image quality


A new class of poly(beta-amino alcohols) (PBAAs) has been prepared using combinatorial polymerization. The inventive PBAAs may be used in biotechnology and biomedical applications as coatings (such as coatings of films or multilayer films for medical devices or implants), additives, materials, excipients, non-biofouling agents, micropatterning agents, and cellular encapsulation agents. When used as surface coatings, these PBAAs elicited different levels of inflammation, both in vitro and in vivo, depending on their chemical structures. The large chemical diversity of this class of materials allowed us to identify polymer coatings that inhibit macrophage activation in vitro. Furthermore, these coatings reduce the recruitment of inflammatory cells, and reduce fibrosis, following the subcutaneous implantation of carboxylated polystyrene microparticles. These polymers may be used to form polyelectrolyte complex capsules for cell encapsulation. The invention may also have many other biological applications such as antimicrobial coatings, DNA or siRNA delivery, and stem cell tissue engineering.

In many biomedical applications such as cell encapsulation and implantations (R. Langer, Adv. Mater. 2009, 21, 3235,) the biological response of the body to the implanted medical device and biomaterial play a critical role in determining the long term success of the implant (J. M. Anderson, Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 2001, 31, 81; M. T. Novak, J. D. Bryers, W. M. Reichert, Biomaterials 2009, 30, 1989; D. F. Williams, Biomaterials 2008, 29, 2941.) Often, the acute and chronic inflammatory response caused by foreign material and the formation of fibrotic tissue around the device lead to compromised function, device failure, or medical complications. The so-called foreign body response consists of a series of complex reactions involving various types of cells, chemokines, and cytokines. In the simplest view, the recruitment of inflammatory cells such as neutrophils and macrophages to the implantation site is characteristic of the early response, i.e., acute inflammation, while fibrosis is typically considered the end result of chronic inflammation. Both the physical and chemical properties of the biomaterial influence the intensity and/or duration of the foreign body response. Significant research efforts have thus been devoted to controlling the foreign body response by tuning material properties and surface chemistries (B. D. Ratner, S. J. Bryant, Annu. Rev. Biomed. Eng. 2004, 6, 41; W. K. Ward, J. Diabetes Sci. Technol. 2008, 2, 768; Y. Onuki, U. Bhardwaj, F. Papadimitrakopoulos, D. J. Burgess, J. Diabetes Sci. Technol. 2008, 2, 1003.)
Cationic polymers are an important class of polymers that have been used extensively in biomedical applications. For example, in cell encapsulation applications, a polycation is often used as a component to form a semi-permeable polyelectrolyte complex capsule, which protects the encapsulated cells from the attack of host immune systems but allows the facile diffusion of nutrients (T. M. S. Chang, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery 2005, 4, 221.) Poly(L-lysine) (PLL) was the first polycation used in alginate-based islet encapsulation system. It has since been widely used, but recently it was shown to have biocompatibility issues (G. Orive et al., Nature Medicine 2003, 9, 104.) Discovery of alternative, more biocompatible polycations therefore represents a critical step towards the final clinical success for cell encapsulation. Another example where polycations are used is in layer-by-layer (LBL) coatings, which has become one of the most versatile and robust surface modification approaches for various biomedical applications (T. Boudou, T. Crouzier, K. Ren, G. Blin, C. Picart, Adv. Mater. 2010, 22, 441.) The LBL coating involves alternating adsorption of complementary materials from solution, for example, positively and negatively charged species or polymers with hydrogen bond donor and acceptor groups (G. Decher, Science 1997, 277, 1232.) The diversity of cationic polymers used in LBL coatings have been relatively limited, with poly(allylamine hydrochloride) (PAH) being commonly used. Thus, development of new polycations, in particular, those with improved immuno-compatibility, will have a tremendous impact in biomedical applications.

Poly(beta-amino alcohols), their preparation, and uses thereof


A steering wheel includes: a cylindrical slider which is disposed on an outer side of a support member so as to slide in a front-to-rear direction and which is biased to the rear; a cap member which covers at least respective rear end portions of the support member and the slider from the rear; a movable-side contact portion which is provided inside the cap member; an annular damper holder which is mounted inside the cap member; an annular elastic member which is interposed between the slider and the damper holder; a transmitting portion which is provided in an inner circumferential portion of the damper holder; and a movement catch portion which is provided on an outer circumferential portion of the slider so as to be positioned immediately before the transmitting portion and to which a forward movement of the damper holder is transmitted through the transmitting portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a steering wheel of a vehicle such as a motor vehicle which is operated to be turned in changing a traveling direction or a reversing direction of the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one mode of a steering wheel, there is a steering wheel which includes an air bag module for protecting the driver of a vehicle such as a motor vehicle from impact that would be exerted on the driver when the impact is applied to the vehicle from the front thereof (for example, refer to JP-A-2013-71626). As shown in FIG. 10, this steering wheel also includes a horn switch mechanism which activates a horn module 60 to operate in addition to an air bag module 50.
The horn switch mechanism includes an elastic member 51, a support member 52, a slider 53, a spring 54, a cap member 55 and a movable-side contact portion 56. The elastic member 51 has an annular shape and is mounted on a bag holder 57 of the air bag module 50. The support member 52 is supported in a metal core 59 of the steering wheel in such a state that the support member 52 is inserted through the elastic member 51. A rear end portion of the support member 52 constitutes a fixed-side contact portion 52a. The slider 53 is disposed so as to slide in a front-to-rear direction relative to the support member 52 between the elastic member 51 and the support member 52 and is biased to the rear by the spring 54. The cap member 55 contacts a rear end portion of the slider 53 and covers at least the end portions of the support member 52 and the slider 53 from the rear. The movable-side contact portion 56 is installed inside the cap member 55 and is connected electrically to the horn module 60 by way of the bag holder 57 and the like.
In the steering wheel having the horn switch mechanism which is configured in the way described above, the movable-side contact portion 56 is spaced away to the rear from the fixed-side contact portion 52a when the air bag module 50 is not depressed. This cuts off an electrical communication between the contact portions 52a, 56, and hence, the horn module 60 is not activated. In this situation, the air bag module 50 functions as the mass of a dynamic damper, and the elastic member 51 functions as a spring of the dynamic damper. Because of this, when the steering wheel vibrates, the elastic member 51 vibrates together with the air bag module 50 at a resonant frequency of the same as or near a frequency at which the steering wheel vibrates while being elastically deformed to thereby absorb vibration energy of the steering wheel. This absorption of the vibration energy restricts (dampens) the vibration of the steering wheel.
On the other hand, when the air bag module 50 is depressed, the force exerted on the air bag module 50 is transmitted to the movable-side contact portion 56 and the slider 53 via the cap member 55. Then, the slider 53 is pressed by the cap member 55 and is then caused to slide to the front against the spring 54. Additionally, when the movable-side contact portion 56 moves to the front together with the cap member 55 to be brought into contact with the fixed-side contact portion 52a of the support member 52 to thereby establish an electrical communication therebetween, the horn module 60 is activated to operate.
The steering wheel is constructed, as has been described above, so that the force applied to the air bag module 50 is transmitted directly to the slider 53 via the cap member 55. Because of this, when the air bag module 50 is depressed to activate the horn module 60, the slider 53 which is pressed by the cap member 55 is caused to slide to the front while compressing the spring 54. This increases the operation load of the air bag module 50 according to the operation or depression amount thereof when the air bag module 50 is depressed to thereby improve the operation feeling of the air bag module 50.
However, the steering wheel is constructed so that the rear end portion of the slider 53 rubs against the cap member 55 at all times while the weight of the air bag module 50 being exerted thereon. Thus, in attempting to restrict (dampen) the vibration of the steering wheel by the air bag module 50 (the damper mass) and the elastic member 51 (the spring), the resonant frequency is not stabilized depending upon how the rear end portion of the slider 53 rubs against the cap member 55. Additionally, the resonant frequency tends to fluctuate as the vibration which is inputted from the vehicle (the motor vehicle) side fluctuates. For example, when a small magnitude of vibration is inputted, the sliding resistance of the slider 53 against the camp member 55 becomes dominant in relation to the resonant frequency, resulting in a tendency for the resonant frequency to become high relatively.


A method (400) for automatically checking proposed adjustments by an individual to at least one parameter at a manufacturing plant includes (401) creating a proposed vector including at least one proposed entry from the individual. The proposed vector represents a proposed adjustment to the parameter. A database of historical vectors including the parameter is searched relative to the proposed vector, wherein a number ≧0 of similar stored vectors is identified in the searching based on respective distances (d) relative to the proposed vector (402). If the number ≧1, a distance measure R is calculated from the (d) for the similar stored vector(s) to indicate of how far or close the said proposed vector is to the similar stored vector (403). An alert is provided if the number=0 or R is above a predetermined threshold value (405). The method can be used for validation of proposed production planning parameters or process control parameters.

In the operation of manufacturing plants, human operator errors can cause significant problems. Although the operation of individual process units, such as a crude distillation unit, is usually controlled by an automated control system, such as a distributed control system (DCS), which interacts with the process via sensors and actuators, the human operator generally remains ultimate responsibility for meeting production targets, and complying with safety, environmental and other various constraints. The operator interacts with the automated control system by manually adjusting set points (target values) of controlled variables (CVs), and adjusting control high/low limits of manipulated variables (MVs) and/or CVs.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional individual support system 100. In FIG. 1, plant 101 is a monitor and control object run by a computer program. A plant data collecting unit 102 collects monitoring data from the plant 101. A data processing unit 103 processes the collected monitoring data. A running operation guide processing unit 104 provides running operation guide data on the basis of the data processed by the data processing unit 103. A human-machine interface processing unit 105 displays the guide data provided by the running operation guide processing unit 104 on CRTs 107 and 108, and provides necessary data for the responsible individual, such as an operator, production supervisor, technician or process engineer by retrieving it from a database 106 corresponding to an input from the CRT for dialog with the individual.
The operation guide processing unit 104 is optional. It determines the state of the plant 101 on the basis of the plant monitoring data input through the data processing unit 103, and displays the contents to be performed by the operator in predetermined procedures on the CRTs 107 and 108 through the human-machine interface processing unit 105 as guidance to the operator. In response to that guidance display, the operator selects the contents to be executed from a touch panel provided on the CRTs 107 and 108. The selected contents are output to the plant 101 through the human-machine interface processing unit 105 and through the automated control system 109, such as a distributed control system (DCS). In configurations without the operation guide processing unit 104, the data processing unit 103 passes all process-related information directly to the human-machine interface processing unit 105. Particularly, current values of key process variables (CVs, MVs, DVs) are displayed together with settings (set points, limits) that are being applied to the process by the automated control system 109.
The operation contents to be performed by the operator are displayed merely as guidance and are thus provided to the operator in order to assist the operator in making a decision. However, since the system lacks a function for guarding the plant from operations which the operator may select erroneously, there is a risk that the operations which the operator has selected, such as by careless mistake, will be transmitted to the plant 101, thereby causing a serious accident in the plant.
Such erroneous operations may be suppressed when all functions of the automated control system are switched on. But the operator can always switch off some of the automation functions, and manually control the plant units or pieces of equipment by adjusting related set points and limits. In general, such flexibility can be seen as an advantageous in certain situations, such as when the process needs to be quickly transitioned from one operation mode to another. The responsive individual (e.g. operator) can apply his/her experience and cognitive skills that the control system generally cannot. However, decisions that are implemented manually may lead to errors, and the risk that an erroneous operation will be made on operations cannot be eliminated completely. Therefore, there is a need to help prevent erroneous or unusual human operator entries.

Automated system for checking proposed human adjustments to operational or planning parameters at a plant


A positive-pressure packaging system is provided to seal a product within an open package. The system includes a pressure chamber which encloses the product and package and is configured to expel atmosphere gases initially present within the package. The system includes a seal assembly for straitening the opening of the package so as to prevent the passage of particulate and other matter from within the open package. The system also includes a pressure source configured to increase pressure within the pressure chamber so as to expel the atmosphere gases by compression of the open package. A method of using the positive-pressure packaging system is also disclosed.

Vacuum packagers have been used to seal a variety of products. Typical examples include stand-alone clamshell vacuum bag sealers, linear clamshell vacuum bag sealers and rotary clamshell vacuum bag sealers. Such vacuum packages generate a negative pressure within a bagged product that is inside, for example, a clamshell or platen with a dome chamber. The bag is then heat-sealed closed while under the generated vacuum.
Producing vacuum energy with conventional vacuum packagers is very expensive and evacuation of the bag-sealing chamber is very time consuming even with relatively large vacuum pumps. This leads to slower throughput capabilities per machine. In addition, vacuum packagers are currently very large and slow and are not generally cost effective for many packaging applications. Finally, the vacuum packagers generally do not efficiently compress the packaging tightly around the packaged product.
Thus, there is a need in the art for an improved packager and sealer that efficiently and securely packages various products. There is a further need for a packager adapted for sealing fresh meat products.

Positive pressure fresh meat packaging system


A semiconductor integrated circuit to provide a low distortion, large swing intermediate frequency wherein the circuit includes the function of mixing, filtering, and amplification on a single chip. A pair of differential currents are obtained from the mixer, the differential currents are filtered and conditioned, converted to a pair of differential voltages and amplified to obtain the low distortion, large swing intermediate frequency.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to high frequency demodulating circuits used in communications applications and, more particularly, to a high frequency demodulating circuit in which the necessary signal processing functions of mixing, filtering, and amplification are combined to minimize cost.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Frequency down-conversion mixers are generally implemented using a prior art circuit called a "Gilbert cell" shown in FIG. 1. The Gilbert cell is a fully differential architecture whose input is a set of differential voltages V.sub.LO.+-. and V.sub.RF.+-. that generates a differential voltage output V.sub.IF.+-.. The voltage output may be tuned or filtered to remove unwanted by-products generated by the mixing process. In a demodulator the wanted output is generally referred to as the baseband output. Its frequency is the difference of the frequencies at the LO (local oscillator) and RF (radio frequency) inputs.
One of the limitations of the basic Gilbert cell is that it is difficult to achieve a large voltage swing for a given supply voltage. Since the wanted and unwanted components are present in equal measure the available swing range is wasted. The same criterion also limits the voltage gain available in the mixing process. Larger voltage gain implies larger voltage swing at the outputs. If the voltage swing is limited the practical voltage gain is also limited. Another condition limiting the voltage gain comes from the DC biasing considerations. The gain is set by the ratio of resistors R.sub.L /R.sub.IN. In order to achieve a specific distortion performance level, the resistor R.sub.IN is chosen to be a minimum value for a given bias current I.sub.B. Choosing large gain values implies a large value for the resistor R.sub.L. For practical operation, the DC values at the V.sub.IF.+-. nodes cannot be lower than the DC values at the V.sub.LO.+-. nodes.
The above limitations are generally overcome by keeping the gain low in the mixers and using filters situated externally to the integrated circuit for removing the unwanted high frequency components. This means that the signals must first be routed out of the integrated circuit, filtered, then routed back to the integrated circuit for further amplification. This solution requires more pins for taking the signals out of the integrated circuit and back into the integrated circuit. The requirement to take the signals out and back in to the integrated circuit degrades the signals. In addition, it is difficult to maintain the balanced differential nature of the signals once they are taken out of the integrated circuit and then reinserted into the integrated circuit. If the differential nature of the signals is not fully maintained the succeeding amplifiers will amplify not only the desired baseband signal but will amplify the extra distortion introduced externally as well.
What is needed is a differential amplifier circuit that maintains the fully differential nature of the signals, minimizes distortion, and provides the required high gain.

Low distortion large swing frequency down coverter filter amplifier circuit


To provide an endoscope apparatus in which the observation image can be varied continuously as the observation magnification is varied by a zoom magnification varying manipulation so that an observation image suitable for an endoscope diagnosis is obtained at each observation magnification, and to thereby prevent the operator from feeling uncomfortable and increase the accuracy of a diagnosis. An endoscope apparatus is equipped with illuminating unit having plural light sources which generate light beams having different spectra, for illuminating an observation subject; imaging unit for imaging the observation subject; observation magnification varying unit for varying observation magnification of the imaging of the imaging unit; and light quantity ratio varying unit for continuously varying an emission light quantity ratio between the plural light sources according to the observation magnification that is set by the observation magnification varying unit.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an endoscope apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
Usually, a white light source is used in endoscope apparatus. However, in recent years, endoscope apparatus that enable special light observation such as narrow-band light observation in which a fine structure of a surface layer of mucosa tissue is emphasized with illumination by light in a particular narrow wavelength band (narrow-band light) and fluorescence observation in which fluorescence emitted from a fluorescent substance given in advance or living body tissue have come to be used (refer to JP-B-3,583,731, for example). By virtue of special light observation, endoscope apparatus of this kind can easily visualize living body information that cannot be obtained from an ordinary observation image. For example, they can emphasize a lesion and a fine structure of new blood vessels formed in a mucosa layer or a mucosa lower layer.
In diagnoses using an endoscope apparatus, to find a lesion, it is effective to examine a distant-view image covering a wide range that is taken by wide-angle shooting. And to observe the thus-found lesion, it is effective to examine a short-range-view image taken by enlarged shooting. White light is mainly used for the distant-view observation and narrow-band special light is used for the short-range-view observation to emphasize a fine structure or a lesion. The light source type used is switched in synchronism with an observation magnification change which is caused by a zoom magnification varying manipulation (refer to JP-A-2007-20728, for example).
However, where switching is merely made between white light and special light depending on whether short-range-view shooting or distant-view shooting is being performed, the manner of image display is not varied continuously in link with a zoom magnification varying manipulation. Instead, the illumination light is switched from white light to special light at a particular observation magnification value and the content of the observation image is changed suddenly, which is uncomfortable to the operator. Furthermore, the illumination light cannot be adjusted finely to attain optimum illumination according to the observation magnification.


Master alloys and methods of producing same are disclosed, wherein an intermetallic compound, for example Al.sub.3 Cb is first prepared via thermite processing, then size reduced, then mixed with other components in amounts yielding a mixture in the desired proportion for the master alloy. The mixture is compacted, then heated to produce the master alloy by fusion.

Titanium-containing alloys find a broad range of applications in areas where low weight and strength are required, such as aerospace and military uses, as well as corrosion resistance and heat applications, including use in turbine blade jet engine parts, high speed cutting tools, and so on. Molybdenum is known to be difficult to diffuse uniformly in titanium, because of its higher melting point and higher density, which causes molybdenum-rich particles to drop to the bottom of a molten titanium pool where they sinter into agglomerates and form inclusions in the ingot produced. See, e.g., U.S. Pat. No. 3,508,910. The same problems of getting molybdenum to homogenize with titanium are also experienced with columbium, which like molybdenum, is also highly refractory.
Matters are further complicated in that titanium alloys require relatively tight chemistries, and often the chemistry of the desired master alloy is poorly compatible with the homogenous alloying of the various components, due to differences in component solubility, melting point, density, etc. Furthermore, the chemistry of the alloy is frequently dictated by the alloying process used.
Accordingly, it is an object of the invention to provide molybdenum/titanium alloys which may be readily formulated to be substantially free of high molybdenum inclusions.
Another object of the invention is to provide columbium/molybdenum/titanium alloys which may be readily formulated to be substantially free of columbium inclusions.
Still another object of the invention is to produce an alloy having relatively low aluminum.

Master alloys for beta 21S titanium-based alloys


A swing-arm rack for storing and/or displaying hanging articles, the rack comprises a swing-arm that is pivotally attached by its upper terminus to a vertical support such that the swing-arm hangs substantially vertically in a folded configuration. The fixed terminus of a drop arm is pivotally attached to the lower end of the swing-arm. A flexible restraint is connected to the free end of the drop-arm. The opposing end of the flexible restraint passes through an aperture in the swing-arm and is secured against the outward surface of the swing-arm by a keeper. In a deployed configuration of the swing-arm rack, the drop arm is oriented substantially horizontally with its free end abutting the vertical support, thereby locking the bottom of the swing-arm away from the vertical support so that the hanging articles are more easily accessed. In a folded configuration of the swing-arm rack, the free end of the drop-arm is juxtaposed against the inward surface of the upper end of the swing-arm.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of this invention is swing-arm racks for storing and/or displaying clothes, jewelry, accessories, ties, linen, and other articles that are amenable to being hung from a rack.
2. Scope and Usage of Certain Terms
The following lexicon sets forth the intended scope and meaning of certain terms and concepts used herein. The definitions set forth here include the plural and grammatical variations of the terms defined. Examples used in the definitions are intended to illustrate and clarify, and not to limit, the definitions. Unless otherwise noted, meanings of terms not included in this lexicon are to be determined by reference to the American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Third Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1973.
Swing-arm rack—a rack of the type in which the upper terminus of an elongate swing-arm is pivotally fixed to a support so that the lower end of the swing-arm is free to swing up and down in an arc.
Upper end and lower end—with respect to an elongate swing-arm of the type having an upper terminus and an opposing lower terminus, as disclosed below, "upper end" refers to the portion of the swing-arm from approximately its midpoint to and including its upper terminus, and "lower end" refers to the portion of the swing-arm from approximately its midpoint to and including its lower terminus.
Free end and fixed end—with respect to an elongate drop-arm of the type having a free terminus and an opposing fixed terminus, as disclosed below, "free end" refers to the portion of the drop-arm from approximately its midpoint to and including its free terminus and "fixed end" refers to the portion of the drop-arm from its midpoint to and including its fixed terminus.
Inward surface and outward surface—with respect to an elongate swing-arm as described below, the inward surface of the swing-arm is the surface facing the vertical support to which the swing-arm is connected. The outward surface of the swing-arm is the surface facing away from the vertical support.
Hanging articles—items that are amenable to being stored and/or displayed by being hung from a swing-arm rack. By way of illustration, such hanging articles include scarves, ties, clothing, accessories, jewelry, towels, linens, cooking implements, and tools.
Lateral projection—the element of a swing-arm rack projecting laterally from the swing-arm for the purpose of receiving and holding one or more hanging articles. Such lateral projections may take the form of, by way of example, rods, hooks, dogs, pegs, or fingers.

Swing-arm rack with drop-arm locking mechanism


A fire detector with a maximum average response time of less than 1.5 minutes is obtained by combining a smoke detector with a CO.sub.2 detector that uses NDIR sensor technology. The smoke detector is used to detect smoldering fires and to help prevent false alarms attributable to the CO.sub.2 detector. The CO.sub.2 detector is used to rapidly detect fires by measuring the rate of change of CO.sub.2 concentration. A signal processor generates an alarm signal when a smoldering fire is detected or alarm logic indicates that a fire has been detected.

Fire detectors that are available commercially today can generally be classified within three basic classifications--flame sensing, thermal and smoke detectors. This classification is designed to respond to three principal types of energy and matter characteristics of a fire environment: flame, heat and smoke.
The flame sensing detector is designed to respond to the optical radiant energy generated by the diffusion flame combustion process--the illumination intensity and the frequency of flame modulation. Two types of flame detectors are commonly in use: the ultraviolet (UV) detectors which operate beyond the visible at wavelengths below 4,000 A and the infrared detectors which operate in the wavelengths above 7,000 A. To prevent false signals from the many sources of ultraviolet and infrared optical radiation present in most hazard areas, the detectors are programmed to respond only to radiation with frequency modulation within the flicker frequency range for flame (5-30 Hz).
Flame detectors generally work well and seldom generate false alarms. However, they are relatively complex and expensive fire detectors which are not amenable to low-cost and mass-oriented usage. Instead they are mostly utilized in specialized high-value and unique protection areas such as aircraft flight simulators, aircraft hangars, nuclear reactor control rooms, etc.
Thermal detectors are designed to operate from thermal energy output--the heat--of a fire. This heat is dissipated throughout the area by laminar and turbulent convection flow. The latter is induced and regulated by the fire plume thermal column effect of rising heated air and gases above the fire surface. There are two basic types of thermal detectors: the fixed temperature type and the rate-of-rise detector type. The fixed temperature type further divides into the spot type and the line type. The spot detector involves a relatively small fixed unit with a heat-responsive element contained within the unit or spot location of the detector. With the line detector the thermal reactive element is located along a line consisting of thermal-sensitive wiring or tubing. Line detectors can cover a greater portion of the hazard area than can spot detectors.
Fixed temperature thermal fire detectors rate high on reliability but low on sensitivity. In modem buildings with high air flow ventilation and air conditioning systems, placing the fixed temperature detector is a difficult engineering problem. Consequently, this type of thermal fire detector is not widely used outside of very specialized applications.
A rate-of-rise detector type thermal fire detector is usually installed where a relatively fast-burning fire is expected. The detector operates when the fire plume raises the air temperature within a chamber at a rate above a certain threshold of operation--usually 15.degree. F. per minute. However, if a fire develops very slowly and the rate of temperature rise never exceeds the detector's threshold for operation, the detector may not sense the fire.
A newer type of fire detector is called rate-compensated detector which is sensitive to the rate of temperature rise as well as to a fixed temperature level which is designed into the detector's temperature rating. Even with this dual approach, the most critical problem for effective operation of thermal fire detectors is the proper placement of detectors relative to the hazard area and the occupancy environment. Consequently, this type of fire detector is seldom found in everyday households.
By far the most popular fire detector in use in everyday life today is the smoke detector. Smoke detectors respond to the visible and invisible products of combustion. Visible products of combustion consist primarily of unconsumed carbon and carbon-rich particles; invisible products of combustion consist of solid particles smaller than approximately five (5) microns, various gases, and ions. All smoke detectors can be classified into two basic types: Photoelectric type which responds to visible products of combustion and ionization type which responds to both visible and invisible products of combustion.
The photoelectric type is further divided into 1) projected beam and 2) reflected beam. The projected beam type of smoke detectors generally contain a series of sampling piping connected to the photoelectric detector. The air sample is drawn into the piping system by an electric exhaust pump. The photoelectric detector is usually enclosed in a metal tube with the light source mounted at one end and the photoelectric cell at the other end. This type of detector is rather effective due to the length of the light beam. When visible smoke is drawn into the tube, the light intensity of the beam received in the photoelectric cell is reduced because it is obscured by the smoke particles. The reduced level of light intensity causes an unbalanced condition in the electrical circuit to the photocell which activates the alarm. The projected beam or smoke obscuration detector is one of the most established types of smoke detectors. In addition to use on ships, these detectors are commonly used to protect high-value compartments of other storage areas, and to provide smoke detection for plenum areas and air ducts.
The reflected light beam smoke detector has the advantage of a very short light beam length, making it adaptable to incorporation in the spot type smoke detector. The projected beam smoke detector discussed earlier becomes more sensitive as the length of the light beam increases, and often a light beam of 5 or 10 feet long is required. However, the reflected light beam type of a photoelectric smoke detector is designed to operate with a light beam only 2 or 3 inches in length. A reflected beam visible light smoke detector contains a light source, a photoelectric cell mounted at right angles to the light source, and a light catcher mounted opposite to the light source.
Ionization type smoke detectors detect both the visible and invisible particle matter generated by the diffusion flame combustion. As indicated previously, visible particulate matter ranges from 4 to 5 microns in size, although smaller particles can be seen as a haze when present in a high mass density. The ionization detector operates most effectively on particles from 1.0 to 0.01 microns in size. There are two basic types of ionization detectors. The first type has a bipolar ionized sampling chamber which is the area formed between two electrodes. A radioactive alpha particle source is also located in this area. The oxygen and nitrogen molecules of air in the chamber are ionized by alpha particles from the radioactive source. The ionized pairs move towards the electrodes of the opposite signs when electrical voltage is applied, and a minute electrical current flow is established across the sampling chamber. when combustion particles enter the chamber they attach themselves to the ions. Since the combustion particles have a greater mass, the mobility of the ions now decreases, leading to a reduction of electrical current flow across the sampling chamber. This reduction in electrical current flow initiates the detector alarm.
The second type of ionization smoke detector has a unipolar ionized sampling chamber instead of a bipolar one. The only difference between the two types is the location of the area inside the sampling chamber that is exposed to the alpha source. In the case of the bipolar type the entire chamber is exposed leading to both positive and negative ions (hence the name bipolar). In the case of the unipolar type only the immediate area adjacent the positive electrode (anode) is exposed to the alpha source. This results in only one predominant type of ions (negative ions) in the electrical current flow between the electrodes (hence the name unipolar).
Although unipolar and bipolar sampling chambers use different principles of detector design, they both operate by the combustion products creating a reduced current flow and thus activating the detector. In general, the unipolar design is superior in giving the ionization smoke detectors a greater level of sensitivity and stability, with fewer fluctuations of current flow to cause false signals from variations in temperature, pressure and humidity. Most ionization smoke detectors available commercially today are of the unipolar type.
For the past two decades the ionization smoke detectors have dominated the fire detector market. One of the reasons is that the other two classes of fire detectors, namely the flame sensing detectors and the thermal detectors, are appreciably more complex and costlier than the ionization smoke detectors. They are therefore mainly used only in specialized high-value and unique protection areas. In recent years, because of their relatively high cost, even the photoelectric smoke detectors have significantly fallen behind in sales to the ionization type. The ionization types are generally less expensive, easier to use and can usually operate for a full year with just one 9-volt battery. Today over 90 percent of households that are equipped with fire detectors use the ionization type smoke detectors.
Despite their low cost, relatively maintenance-free operation and wide acceptance by the buying public, the smoke detectors are not without problems and certainly far from being ideal. There are a number of significant drawbacks for the ionization smoke detectors to operate successfully as early warning fire detectors.
One drawback to smoke detectors is the importance of placement of the detector with respect to the spot where fire breaks out. Unlike ordinary gases, smoke is actually a complex sooty molecular cluster that consists mostly of carbon. It is much heavier than air and thus diffuses much slower than the gases we encounter everyday. Therefore, if the detector happens to be at some distance from the location of the fire, it will be a while before enough smoke gets into the sampling chamber of the smoke detector to trigger the alarm. Another drawback is the nature or type of fire itself. Although smoke usually accompanies fire, the amount produced can vary significantly depending upon the composition of the material that catches fire. For example oxygenated fuel such as ethyl alcohol and acetone give less smoke than the hydrocarbons from which they are derived. Thus under free burning conditions oxygenated fuels such as wood and polymethylmethacrylate give substantially less smoke than hydrocarbon polymers such as polyethylene and polystyrene. As a matter of fact, a small number of pure fuels, namely carbon monoxide, formaldehyde, metaldehyde, formic acid and methyl alcohol, burn with non-luminous flames and do not produce smoke at all.
However, one of the biggest problems with ionization smoke detectors is their frequent false-alarms. By the nature of its operational principle, any micron-size particulate matter other than the smoke from an actual fire can set off the alarm. Kitchen grease particles generated by a hot stove is one classic example. Over-zealous dusting of objects and/or furniture near the detector is another. Frequent false-alarms are not just a harmless nuisance; people may disarm their smoke detectors by temporarily removing the battery in order to escape from such annoying episodes. This latter situation could be outright dangerous especially when such people forget to re-arm their smoke detectors by replacing the battery.
In order to lessen the problems associated with false alarms in ionization smoke detectors, such detectors are normally set to sound an alarm at a smoke detection threshold level that is higher than that which is required to detect a fire. By increasing the detection threshold, fewer false alarms will be triggered. Unfortunately, this reduction in false alarms does not come without cost. Because the detection threshold is increased, it takes longer for the smoke detector to sound an alarm during an actual fire. In other words, the response time of the device is increased in order to decrease false alarms. The competing considerations of preventing false alarms and minimizing the response time of ionization smoke detectors are balanced in industry standards that have been adopted to promote safety and establish reliability and performance characteristics for smoke detectors.
The present standard for common household fire detectors in the United States is UL217 Standard for Single and Multiple Station Smoke Detectors (Third Edition) that has been approved as an American National Standard and is hereinafter referred to as ANSI/UL 217--1985, Mar. 22, 1985, the disclosure of which is specifically incorporated herein by reference. ANSI/UL 217--1985, Mar. 22, 1985 covers (1) electrically operated single and multiple station smoke detectors intended for open area protection in ordinary indoor locations of residential units in accordance with the Standard for Household Fire Warning Equipment, NFPA 74, (2) smoke detectors intended for use in recreational vehicles in accordance with Standard for Recreational Vehicles, NFPA 501C, and (3) portable smoke detectors used as "travel" alarms.
Recognizing that different types of fires have different characteristics, ANSI/UL 217--1985, Mar. 22, 1985 contains four different fire tests--tests for paper fires, wood fires, gasoline fires and polystyrene fires. The procedure for performing tests characteristic of each of these fires is set forth in paragraph 42 of ANSI/UL 217--1985, Mar. 22, 1985. According to paragraph 42.1 of ANSI/UL 217--1985, Mar. 22, 1985, the maximum response time for an approved fire detector is four minutes for paper and wood fire tests, three minutes for a gasoline fire test and two minutes for a polystyrene fire test. Because the highest maximum response time is four minutes, it is common to refer to a maximum response time for a household fire detector of four minutes without reference to the paper or wood fire tests. Although ionization flame detectors sold for household use could be set to have a lower response time than four minutes, most household detectors have a maximum response time of four minutes or just under four minutes to minimize the risk of false alarms.
Thus, an inherent limitation of commercially available ionization smoke detectors is a response time that is not optimized. Because the response time of a fire detector can be critical to saving lives and fighting fires, any improvement in response time, assuming that it does not increase the risk of false alarms or come at a prohibitive cost, would represent a significant advance in the art of fire detection and help satisfy a long-felt need for improved fire detectors that save additional lives and property.
In an attempt to provide such an advance, efforts have been made to develop a new type of fire detector. In this regard, it has been known for a long time that as a process, fire can take many forms, all of which however involve chemical reaction between combustible species and oxygen from the air. In other words, fire initiation is necessarily an oxidation process since it invariably involves the consumption of oxygen at the beginning. The most effective way to detect fire initiation, therefore, is to look for and detect end products of the oxidation process. With the exception of a few very specialized chemical fires (i.e., fires involving chemicals other than the commonly encountered hydrocarbons), there are three elemental entities (carbon, oxygen and hydrogen) and three compounds (carbon dioxide ("CO.sub.2 "), carbon monoxide and water vapor) that are invariably involved in the ensuing chemical reactions or combustion of a fire.
Of the three effluent gases that are generated at the onset of a fire, CO.sub.2 is the best candidate for detection by a fire detector. This is because water vapor is a very difficult gas to measure since it tends to condense easily on every available surface causing its concentration to fluctuate wildly dependent upon the environment. Carbon monoxide, on the other hand, is invariably generated in a lesser quantity than CO.sub.2, especially at the beginning of a fire. It is only when the fire temperature gets to 600.degree. C. or above that more of it is produced at the expense of CO.sub.2 and carbon. Even then more CO.sub.2 is produced than carbon monoxide according to numerous studies of fire atmospheres in the past. In addition to being generated abundantly right from the start of the fire, CO.sub.2 is a very stable gas.
Although it has been known in theory for many years that detection of CO.sub.2 should provide an alternative way to detect fires, CO.sub.2 detectors have not yet found wide use as fire detectors due to their cost and general unsuitability for use as fire detectors. In the past, CO.sub.2 detectors have traditionally been infrared detectors that have suffered drawbacks related to cost, moving parts or false alarms. However, recent advances in the field of Non-Dispersive Infrared (NDIR) techniques have opened up the possibility of a viable CO.sub.2 detector that can be used to detect fires.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,053,754 by Jacob Y. Wong entitled Simple Fire Detector, a fire detector using NDIR techniques is proposed. 4.26.mu. light is directed through a sample of room air to measure the concentration of CO.sub.2 in this air, because CO.sub.2 has a strong absorption peak at this wavelength. Both the concentration and the rate of change of concentration of the CO.sub.2 are measured, enabling an alarm to be generated whenever either of these measured values exceeds a respective threshold value. Preferably, an alarm is sounded only if both of these values exceeds its respective threshold value.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,079,422 by Jacob Y. Wong entitled Fire Detection System using Spatially Cooperative Multi-Sensor input Technique, a set of N sensors are spaced throughout a large room or unpartitioned building. Comparison of data from different sensors provides information that is unavailable from only a single sensor. The data from each of these sensors and/or the rate of change of such data is used to determine whether a fire has occurred. The use of data from more than one sensor reduces the likelihood of a false alarm.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,103,096 by Jacob Y. Wong entitled Rapid Fire Detector, a black body source produces a light that is directed through a filter that transmits light in two narrow bands at the 4.26 micron absorption band of CO.sub.2 and at 2.20 microns at which none of the atmospheric gases has an absorption band. A blackbody source is alternated between two fixed temperatures to produce light directed through ambient gas and through a filter that passes only these two wavelengths of light. In order to avoid false alarms, an alarm is generated only when both the magnitude of the ratio of the measured intensities of these two wavelengths of light and the rate of change of this ratio are both exceeded.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,369,397 by Jacob Y. Wong entitled Adaptive Fire Detector, a fire detector that includes a CO.sub.2 sensor and a microcomputer is disclosed that can alter the threshold detection level for CO.sub.2 before an alarm is sounded to compensate for variations in the background concentration of CO.sub.2.
Since virtually all fires generate CO.sub.2, CO.sub.2 detectors should be able to be used as fire detectors. However, there are two practical limitations that have to be dealt with in designing a fire detector that uses a CO.sub.2 detector.
First, although fires generate copious amount of CO.sub.2, there is one other commonly encountered source, albeit relatively weaker, namely from people, that also has to be taken into account. Because of this, the concentration level and rate of increase thresholds for alarm for CO.sub.2 sensors used as fire detectors cannot be set arbitrarily low. Otherwise CO.sub.2 generation by the presence of people in an enclosed space might be misinterpreted as a real fire. In practice, the rate of CO.sub.2 generation by a typical fire can exceed that of human presence by several orders of magnitude. Thus this limitation does not impair in any significant way the speed of response to the onset of real fires by CO.sub.2 fire detectors.
Second, because of the fact that CO.sub.2 concentration level and rate of increase thresholds cannot be set arbitrarily low because of human presence, as discussed above, fires that generate very small amounts of CO.sub.2, such as some types of smoldering fires, cannot be optimally detected in terms of speed of response by CO.sub.2 fire detectors.
The deficiencies of present day smoke detectors can be substantially and effectively overcome in accordance with the present invention by the union of a smoke detector and a CO.sub.2 sensor. By combining a conventional smoke detector (photoelectric or ionization) with a CO.sub.2 detector into a new "dual" fire detector, it is possible to eliminate most commonly encountered false alarms. Furthermore, this "dual" fire detector is also significantly faster for detecting all types of fires, from the slow moving smoldering kinds to the almost smoke-free fast moving varieties.
Contrary to the common practice of increasing the sensitivity, or lowering the obscuration detection threshold, of a smoke detector, in order to speed up its fire detection response, but invariably decreasing its false alarm immunity, the new "dual" fire detector uses CO.sub.2 as an additional input to minimize false alarms.
This additional input functions as a "flag" or a status switch for the new "dual" fire detector. When the CO.sub.2 detector of this "dual" fire detector senses a pre-selected high level of CO.sub.2 (e.g. 3,000 ppm) and/or a pre-selected high rate of increase CO.sub.2, (e.g. 200 ppm/min.) the status switch is set positive or "Ready to Go". Once this "flag" is set ready to go, the "dual" fire detector can use its low light obscuration alarm threshold for smoke (which theoretically could be as low as the smoke detector would allow, typically a few tenths of a percent) to enunciate the onset of a fire with minimum delay, while still minimizing the possibility of false alarms.
On the other hand, if the "flag" has not been set, the "dual" fire detector will not sound an alarm even if the normal light obscuration alarm threshold is reached or exceeded. During this normal alarm-sounding smoke condition, it waits for the "flag" to go positive before it enunciates the onset of the fire. This explains how most of the false alarm conditions, whose obscuration time period is usually much shorter than real fires such as the smoldering types, can be neutralized and thereby render the "dual" fire detector virtually false alarm resistant.
In order to safeguard against the occurrence of smoldering fires, the "dual" fire detector will sound an alarm if the smoke obscuration reaches a normal preset threshold such as that mandated by ANSI/UL 217--1985, Mar. 22, 1985 for a predetermined period of time of up to an hour. Since most common household false alarm episodes such as blowing dust or debris, bathroom steam or kitchen oil vapors etc. last at best a few minutes, this provision of alarm sounding ability by the "dual" fire detector will at least equal that for the conventional smoke detector. However, it is faster than the conventional smoke detector to enunciate a smoldering fire since it also detects the CO.sub.2 level and/or rate of increase thresholds. Once the CO.sub.2 "flag" is detected to be set or ready to go, it will immediately sound the alarm and does not have to wait for the maximum period of up to an hour to do so.
Another aspect of the "dual" fire detector takes full advantage of the fact that certain types of fast moving fires generate a tremendous amount of CO.sub.2 but a relatively small amount of smoke. Thus for these types of fires, the "dual" fire detector will quickly sound the alarm when the rate of CO.sub.2 increase exceeds an abnormally high threshold such as 1,000 ppm/min. irrespective of whether or not any smoke obscuration had been reached. This particular fire enunciation capability of the "dual" detector for fast moving fires is new and unique of the present invention and has never been realized nor implemented by presently available fire detectors to date.
While the CO.sub.2 detector side of the "dual" fire detector could either use the concentration level and/or the rate of increase as a threshold condition to set the "flag", the rate of increase alone suffices and such a carbon dioxide detector can be implemented in the simplest and lowest cost fashion. Accordingly, detecting all types of fires including the smoldering kind with shorter response time, virtually false alarm resistant and without prohibitively increasing cost, would represent a significant advance in the art of fire detectors that could save lives and reduce property damage caused by fires.


A computer program embodied in a computer readable medium in a mobile station MS includes instructions to display a first identifier, such as a song title, associated with a first media (music or video) file and a second identifier identified with a second media file. The first identifier indicates that the first media file is stored in the MS and the second identifier indicates that the file is not stored within the MS. Five such identifiers are disclosed, with functionality to up/download the media files one or more at a time from a PC or a networked server. Playlists and albums may be similarly indicated in their identifiers. The user is enabled to create and edit playlists on the MS without regard to what media files are stored on the MS. The MS may store file identifiers for the database maintained on the PC, a large-scale database maintained at a media service server, or a portion thereof. A mobile station is also described.

The owners of popular music have only recently embraced downloading digital copies of their copyrighted works over electronic networks such as the internet. One popular website for doing so is http://www.apple.com/itunes/, wherein users visit the website of a music service via a personal computer (PC) or the like, manually select a song title, and download a digital version of the selected song to the PC they used to visit the website. The user then plays the songs on the PC or transfers or uploads them to a portable device such as a Rio®, iPod® or other such dedicated portable digital music player.
Dedicated portable digital music players now have the capacity to store ten thousand or more digital song files and indexing information about those songs. While users can carry essentially their entire digital song collection with them and create and edit playlists on the go, the resulting playlists are limited to only those songs stored on the dedicated portable device; such dedicated devices do not have the capability to download songs directly from the music service. That function remains with the PC or similar device having a network connection. A portable device having such a network download capability, such as a mobile stations MS having an internet browsing capability, cannot currently dedicate enough of its limited memory only to storing and indexing many thousands of songs (though technological advances may soon overcome that limitation).
Furthermore, synchronization software for at least some popular dedicated portable music devices (such as iPod® and Nomad®) delete song files from one device (e.g., the dedicated portable device) upon being synchronized with a companion device (e.g., the Mac PC) from which the song file was deleted. In other words, deleting a song file from either device leads to deleting all remaining copies of the song on either device during the next synchronization, despite the fact that the user already purchased the song. In that instance, the PC cannot serve as a viable library from which to re-upload songs to the portable device. To the inventors' knowledge, the synchronization software does not prompt a user that the only remaining copy of a particular song file is about to be deleted, and therefore constricts the user's library of song files insidiously. Each of these aspects further drives the user to maintain his/her entire library of digital music files on a portable device; the PC being used only to download songs and possibly to create and edit playlists, but not as a music file repository.
Where a mobile station is used to store and play music, the user gains the advantage of downloading new songs on the go, but loses the advantage of having his/her entire music collection with him/her. In that instance, the user must dedicate more effort to managing the songs uploaded to and stored on the MS. Specifically, the user must select the music he intends to hear over the MS, create and/or edit playlists, delete unwanted songs from the MS, and upload from the PC to the MS any songs within the new playlists (and the new playlists themselves) that are not already stored in the MS. Generally, when a user wishes to upload songs to a MS, he/she creates new playlists or selects new songs on the PC, and all songs on the MS are automatically deleted and the newly selected songs and playlists are uploaded when initiated by the user. This is so that the songs most recently selected by the user (at the PC) may be stored on the memory within the MS that remains available for music files. Synchronization software as described above would require a use to maintain a song on a playlist continuously once it was uploaded to the MS, else lose all copies of that song.
One alternative is for a user to carry two disparate devices: a MS for mobile telephony and downloading songs on the go from a music service; and a dedicated portable music player for storing and playing a larger variety of songs than would be available on the MS alone. This appears the dominant preference of consumers given the current state of available hardware and software.
The inventors surmise that neither of the above options are optimal for users who desire both personalized music and mobile telephony capability while on the go. The present invention is therefore directed at streamlining a user's ability to manage the songs and playlists stored on and played by a MS, while still retaining the advantages a MS offers in downloading new songs directly from a networked music service.

System and method for music synchronization in a mobile device


The present invention provides a method for interpreting shear-wave seismic data to detect fractures in the subsurface of the earths crust. Seismic shear waves are acquired along medium symmetry planes and their corresponding AVO intercepts and gradients are estimated. The resulting AVO attributes are combined using a weighted least squares solution to estimate the change in splitting parameter and fast shear velocity, which are diagnostic of the presence of fractures. The method is also useful in assessing the porosity of the subsurface. Knowledge of subsurface fracturing and porosity is useful in locating, for example, oil and gas wells.

The present invention relates to the field of geophysical exploration and more specifically to the detection of sub-surface fractures with surface seismic data. The detection of fractures is of paramount importance in so-called "tight" petroleum reservoirs in which the primary determinant of well producibility is the presence of a connected network of fractures to convey fluid into the borehole. As is well known in the prior art, seismic shear waves are among the most sensitive tools available for detecting fractures in hydrocarbon reservoirs.
Previous shear-wave seismic acquisition and processing techniques have often relied on measurements of shear-wave splitting ("birefringence") to detect sub-surface fractures. To elaborate, aligned fractures induce horizontally-transverse anisotropy in the subsurface such that a vertically-incident shear wave splits into a fast mode polarized along the fracture direction and a slow mode polarized perpendicularly to the fractures. Shear waves are seismic vibrations that are polarized perpendicularly (or nearly perpendicularly in the case of an isotropic material) to their propagation direction, i.e., waves for which the vibrations occur perpendicularly to the direction of the wave's propagation. By measuring the shear-wave splitting (which is proportional to the velocity anisotropy), the location and density (the number of fractures per unit volume) of subsurface fracturing may be determined, because higher fracture densities cause a greater amount of shear-wave splitting. The use of four-component seismic acquisition (two orthogonal sources and two orthogonal receivers active during acquisition by both sources) is described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,803,666 to Alford, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Alford's technique entails the acquisition of a four-component data matrix to determine the symmetry planes of the medium. Alford describes the use of rotation algorithms to transform the seismic data into a symmetry-plane coordinate system which provides useful information about the orientation of the symmetry planes of the medium while also improving data quality. Knowledge of the orientation of the medium symmetry planes provided, e.g., by Alford rotation, is useful because the direction of open fracturing and that of the symmetry planes usually coincide. Measuring the symmetry plane orientation is therefore usually tantamount to measuring the fracture orientation, a parameter frequently difficult to determine from geological data and useful in reservoir management decisions.
A second consequence of horizontally transverse anisotropy caused by aligned vertical fracturing is a variation in seismic reflection amplitude at boundaries (such as a reservoir) as a function of profile azimuth caused by changes in the intensity of fracturing at the reflecting interface. This physical phenomenon enables fracture intensity to be ascertained with a relatively high vertical resolution by comparing the reflection amplitudes of the fast and slow shear-wave seismic sections. Both of these methods for fracture detection using shear-wave seismic data are described in detail in U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,061 to Alford et al., which is hereby incorporated by reference herein. Alford et al. describes the use of at least one source polarization along each source-receiver azimuth and receivers having matched polarizations.
However, these techniques may produce unsatisfactory results if the fracturing in the reservoir is relatively weak or if more than a single direction of open fracturing is present. Consequently, a method of seismic exploration which is able to characterize fracture intensity in the subsurface in even subtly fractured reservoirs would be advantageous.
Andreas Ruger, in his Ph.D. thesis, "Reflection Coefficients and Azimuthal AVO Analysis in Anisotropic Media", extended the theoretical treatment of split shear waves in the symmetry planes of a horizontally transversely isotropic ("HTI") medium or an orthorhombically anisotropic medium to the case of non-vertical incidence, deriving equations for the plane-wave reflection coefficients as a function of the waves' incident phase angle. This thesis is hereby incorporated by reference herein. AVO stands for amplitude variation with offset. At non-vertical incidence, i.e., by using offset seismic sources and receivers, it is possible to measure two additional amplitude attributes (reflection amplitude refers to the strength of the reflected signal observed at the receivers) in a seismic waveform, its reflection amplitude intercept and slope. The intercept is the projected zero-angle amplitude of the signal and provides information about the change in acoustic impedance and fracture density across the reflecting interface for shear waves. The reflection slope is the slope of a line fitted through the observed amplitudes as a function of the incidence angle of the waves and gives important information about the change in shear wave velocity and fracture intensity at the reflecting interface. This analytical insight into shear-wave reflection at non-normal incidence offers the possibility of obtaining more information about the elastic parameters (which are related to the fracture density) of the subsurface than previously possible if the numerous practical problems associated with the acquisition, processing, and interpretation of non-vertically-incident shear waves can be overcome.

Method for fracture detection using multicomponent seismic data


Systems, methods, and instructions encoded in a computer-readable medium can perform operations related to refining information on characteristics of natural fractures of a subterranean formation. Fracture pattern models are generated based on sampling an initial distribution of values for a fracture parameter. Each fracture pattern model may include, for example, a model of natural fractures in a subterranean formation. Each fracture pattern model is compared to microseismic event data for a subterranean region. A refined distribution for the fracture parameter is generated based on the comparison. Generating the refined distribution may include, for example, selecting values of the fracture parameter from fracture pattern models that correlate with the microseismic event data. In some implementations, an injection treatment may be simulated and/or designed based on the refined distribution.

Oil and gas wells produce oil, gas and/or byproducts from subterranean petroleum reservoirs. Petroleum reservoirs, such as those containing oil and gas, typically include finite-dimensional, discontinuous, inhomogeneous, anisotropic, non-elastic (DIANE) rock formations. Such formations, in their natural state (prior to any fracture treatment), typically include natural fracture networks. Natural fracture networks can include fractures of various sizes and shapes, as well as sets of fractures having different orientations.
During a fracture treatment, fluids are pumped under high pressure into a rock formation through a well bore to artificially fracture the formations and increase permeability and production from the formation. Fracture treatments (as well as production and other activities) can cause complex fracture patterns to develop within the natural fracture pattern in the formation. Complex-fracture patterns can include complex networks of fractures that extend to the well bore, along multiple azimuths, in multiple different planes and directions, along discontinuities in rock, and in multiple regions of a reservoir.

Refining information on subterranean fractures


On the basis                of single-ended signals based on logic levels, and        of differential, in particular common-mode-based, signals,a circuit arrangement and a corresponding method are proposed, in which it is possible to further reduce the size of tools, which are associated with said type of circuit arrangement and said type of method.

The bit transmission layer or physical layer (PHY) is the bottom layer in the O[pen]S[ystems]I[nterconnection] layer model, also called OSI reference model and denotes a layer model of the International Standards Organisation (ISO) which in turn serves as a design basis for communication protocols in computer networks.
The physical layer (PHY) is responsible for Combining, F[orward]E[rror]C[orrection], modulation, power control, spreading (C[ode]D[ivision]M[ultiple]A[ccess]) and the like PHY makes logical channels (transport channels for U[niversal]M[obile]T[elecommunications]S[ystem]) available to the security layer (D[ata]L[ink]L[ayer]) above it, in particular to a partial layer called M[edia]A[ccess]C[ontrol] Layer.
In principle D-PHY provides a flexible, low-cost and quick serial interface for communication links between components within a mobile device.
As illustrated in FIG. 3A, in modern mobile phones a data source, for example an application processor, provides image data as D-PHY signals to the M[obile]I[ndustry]P[rocessor]I[nterface]-D[isplay]S[erial]I[nterface] for display on a connected data sink, for example on a connected display. Also, a data sink such as an application processor, can receive, via a MIPI-C[amera]S[erial]I[nterface], image data in D-PHY format from a connected data source, such as from a connected camera.
A DSI or DSI-2 or CSI or CSI-2 or CSI-3 based on the D-PHY protocol comprises up to four differential data lines and a differential clock line, which electrically connect the application processor by means of a copper cable with the display and/or with the camera. The data rate per differential data line is up to 1.5 Gbps (Gigabit per second).
This conventional sending and receiving of the D-PHY-DSI signals or the D-PHY-CSI signals via one to four differential data signals and a differential clock line is illustrated by way of example in the D-PHY interface configuration of FIG. 3B by way of two data channels (=so called data lanes CH0+, CH0− and CH1+, CH1−) and a clock line (=so called clock lane CLK+, CLK−) between the modules of the master side (=data source, for example camera and/or application processor) and the modules of the slave side (=data sink, for example application processor and/or display unit).
In this context, as can be seen in FIG. 3A, up to ten copper lines are required for data transmission for each connected display or for each connected camera (for example four times two data lines and one time two clock lines).
As the resolution of displays and cameras increases the data rates from the application processor to the display/the camera also increase. The high-frequency electrical fields created during data transmission interfere with the sensitive adjacent receivers of high-frequency useful signals, such as, for example, with Bluetooth, G[lobal]P[ositioning]S[ystem], U[niversal]M[obile]T[elecommunications]S[ystem] or Wi-Fi-receivers and thus considerably impair their function.
Comprehensive and thus costly screening measures are required in order to ensure interference-free operation of the above mentioned receivers.
As the number of displays and cameras in modern mobile phones or comparable devices increases the sizes of cable harnesses in such devices can easily rise to up to sixty lines, just for the transmission of image data. Disadvantageously these cable harness sizes prevent further miniaturisation of such devices.

Circuit arrangement and method for transmitting signals


Managing and monitoring multiple complex data feeds is a major challenge for data mining tasks in large corporations and scientific endeavors alike. The invention describes an effective method for flagging abnormalities in data feeds using an ensemble of statistical tests that may be used on complex data feeds. The tests in the ensemble are chosen such that the speed and ability to deliver real time decisions are not compromised.

As the ability to collect, transmit and store data grows, the challenges of managing, cleaning and mining this data grows. Typical data mining applications draw from multiple, inter-dependent feeds, originating from multiple and varied sources. Some applications log well over a terabyte of incoming data a month from hundreds of source feeds containing thousands of files. Most known solutions for managing data feeds rely on either ad hoc methods tailored to a particular application or address the problem superficially using limited functionality offered by commercial database systems or hastily marshaled in-house scripts.
Manual monitoring of feeds and tasks of this size is quite untenable as well as undesirable due to the potential for introducing human errors. Also, it is important to respond quickly as there is a short window during which feed files that have failed in transmission or otherwise may be retransmitted. Therefore, if an abnormality is noticed that is outside expectations, it needs to be flagged immediately for further investigation and remediation. For example, it may be known that a particular data feed should send a particular quantity of files at a particular time. If less than what is expected is received, a timely request may be made to retransmit the files to ensure that all files expected are received.
The use of statistical tests to monitor the quality of the data feeds is known in the art but current applications do not provide for use of a flexible and efficient method or system that can cover a wide variety of statistical distributions and anomalies. Current data mining applications use tests based on a single attribute (univariate) rather than multiple attributes and are only capable of flagging very particular types of abnormalities. These univariate tests may not provide the user with an abundance of confidence as individual tests may be limited in scope and application. Such known tests include Hampel bounds and trimmed means and the three-sigma limit types tests.
In addition, one current drawback to current data monitoring and mining applications is that users have found it difficult to visualize the results or indications of discovered abnormalities in the data feeds. A mechanism for displaying the results of various statistical tests to users who interpret such results would be beneficial.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method of managing and monitoring multiple complex data feeds in a computational light weight manner to discover abnormalities. The method should provide a user with an efficient way to alert users to the abnormalities so that a response can be rapidly deployed.

Monitoring complex data feeds through ensemble testing