A vehicle includes a controller, in communication with a remote server, that is configured to access, from the remote server, historical climate system and window data associated with a location and route of the vehicle. The controller is further configured to identify a geofence according to the historical climate system and window data, and responsive to the vehicle crossing the geofence, command cabin air recirculation.

Automotive vehicles have the ability to protect passengers from the elements, for example, the doors, windows, and roof shelter a passenger compartment from wind, rain, and snow, while a climate control system (e.g., a heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) system) may be used to change a passenger compartment temperature to a desirable temperature and humidity. Climate control systems commonly include a blower or ventilation fan (typically powered by an electric motor) operative to force air through ducting into the vehicle passenger compartment, also known as the cabin. The air supplied to the passenger compartment may be either ambient air from outside the vehicle (fresh air) or air that is recirculated from inside the passenger compartment (recirculated air).
Typically, vehicle occupants may select between fresh air and recirculated air using a manual, two-position switch. Some climate control systems also include one or more modes where the selection between fresh and recirculated air is made automatically, without the occupant actuating a switch. An example of such an automatic setting may include when the HIGH or MAX setting of air conditioning is selected the system may switch from fresh air to recirculated air in order to speed cooling of the passenger compartment, or when a front window defrost mode is selected.
Systems have been proposed for closing powered vehicle windows (windows including, but not limited to, for example, front and rear door windows, window side vents, sunroofs, moon-roofs, and convertible roofs) in the event of rain. These systems typically use dedicated rain sensors, and perform automatic window close actions based on detected precipitation.


The apparatus for assessing the risk of cerebrovascular diseases comprises a sensor part 1, a circuit part 2, a computation part 3 and an output part 4, where the circuit part 2 is a functional part for driving the sensor part 1 and transmitting a signal detected at the sensor part 1 to the computation part 3 and comprises a transmission circuit 21, a first receiving circuit 22, a second receiving circuit 23 and the like. The transmission circuit 21 is in connection with a transmission device 111 and a transmission device 121, for driving these devices to generate a continuous wave. A rate wave form computation part 31 is in connection with the first receiving circuit 22 and the second receiving circuit 23 to obtain the frequency of the reflected continuous wave as detected with the receiving units 112 and 122. Comparing the frequency with the frequency from the transmission circuit 21, the variation of the frequency is detected. Based on these values, blood flow rate “v” can be determined. In such manner, an apparatus for assessing the risk of cerebrovascular diseases with fewer burdens to persons to be examined and with simple measurement units can be provided.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus for assessing the risk of cerebrovascular diseases, particularly an apparatus for assessing the risk of cerebrovascular diseases by measuring the state of blood flow in a non-invasive manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
Attention has been focused on the metabolic syndrome recently. The metabolic syndrome increases the incidence of various thrombotic diseases such as cardiovascular diseases and cerebral infarction and has therefore been a social issue.
It has been known that lesions in cerebral white matter and non-symptomatic cerebral infarction caused by chronic ischemia following the consolidation of brain arteriolae are powerful risk factors of the occurrence of cerebral infarction as one of diseases in relation with cerebrovascular diseases (namely, the risk of cerebrovascular diseases). Findings about the risk of cerebrovascular diseases can be discovered by head MRI examinations (Patent Reference 1).
However, disadvantageously, MRI examinations are costly with a long scanning time and are sensitive to motions. Furthermore, disadvantageously, MRI apparatuses are not transportable or cannot make images when persons to be examined put on metal-made materials, life maintenance apparatuses, aspirators or other similar apparatuses.

Apparatus for assessing risk of cerebrovascular diseases


The present disclosure relates to a display mode controlling device, a controlling method thereof and a display device. The display mode controlling device includes: a first substrate including a plurality of lens units arranged in an array, each of the lens units is provided with an annular diffractive phase grating; a second substrate aligned with the first substrate; a liquid crystal (LC) layer located between the first substrate and the second substrate; and a control electrode configured to generate a predetermined electric field to control a deflection state of a LC molecule.

A conventional flat-panel display device is advantageous in smaller thickness and weight and a saved physical space, and has been widely used in the field of display. However, a light distribution property of the flat-panel display device leads to that a light intensity is progressively weakened with the increase of a viewing distance, from a position directly facing human eyes towards both sides of the displayer, which results in a poor visual experience of a user. Such situation is especially worse for large-scaled flat-panel display devices.
A surrounding-like effect of a curved display can enhance a visual effect experienced by the user so as to provide the user with better visual experience. However, a defect of the curved display lies in that, physically bending a curved display device involves relatively greater engineering difficulty, and easily results in a display anomaly due to uneven thickness. Moreover, the device is usually thicker and heavy.
Therefore, a display device with improved user experience will be provided, if the advantages of smaller thickness and weight of the flat-panel display device could be effectively combined with the visual effect of the curved display device.
It should be understood that, the information disclosed in the background part above is only provided to facilitate understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and may include information which doesn't constitute existing technology well-known for those ordinary skilled in the art.

Display mode controlling device, controlling method thereof and display device


A side seamed plastic produce bag includes a front wall and a taller back wall, first and second side edges sealed together and a seamless bag bottom. The taller back wall provides means for finding the bag opening. The bag is joined at the side edges to additional bags by a perforation. The bag is corona treated on at least one of the front and back walls and advertising or promotional material is printed on the corona treated surface. The invention includes means for manufacturing the bags and winding them onto cores or forming the bags into coreless rolls. Dispensers are provided for both the cored and coreless rolls. The dispensers include a vertical container with an open top that is mounted on a planar base. The container includes a vertical slit for dispensing the bags. The dispenser for cored rolls includes a vertical rod on which the core revolves.

Various designs have been developed for plastic produce bags as well as for methods for making and dispensing the bags.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,611,627 issued to Belias et al. is directed to an easy open thermoplastic bag. The bag is manufactured from a flattened tube of thermoplastic material with transverse heat seals. The transverse heat seals along with the sinusoidally oscillating paths form the tube into two halves or bags. The result of the transverse heat-seals and the cutting paths, is that two bags are formed with seamless bottoms. The sinusoidal cuts in the front and back portions of the tube respectively give rise to a mouth or opening for the bags with tabs that allow for the bags to be more easily opened.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,164,170 issued to Nordin, discloses a method of making bags. The patent describes the manufacturing of a string of bags from a hose-like blank. Since a hose-like blank is used, the bottoms of the resultant bags are continuous in nature and the sides of a bag are formed by welds with separation lines in order to separate one set of bags from another. The hose-like blank is cut into two substantially equal parts along a center line while the cutting lines are offset to form the handles of the finished bag.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,811,418, issued to Reifenhauser is directed to a method for the manufacture of plastic bags with welded side seams. The patent describes the production of two bags side-by-side in parallel from tubular film that is fed in a first direction. The tubular film is cut in a sinusoidal configuration in the center of the film, thus forming two semitubes to form two side seam bags with welded side seams and handle opening portions.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,444,685 issued to Waters is directed to the multiple fabrication method and apparatus for forming liquid-type envelope bags. A supply roll of material with defined edges is passed through feed rolls and around a former plate in order to bring the edges together along a line with a defined space between them. The edges ultimately form the opening of the envelope after having been cut by a cutter into separate envelopes. A pair of transverse welds are formed in the process and the paired envelopes are cut by means of cross-cut knife.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,663 issued to Vaquero et al. is directed to a thermoplastic bag structure. The thermoplastic tube is cut into two portions by means of cutting instruments that form sinusoidal paths and hence sinusoidal cuts. Transverse heat seals and transverse perforations separate the tube into pairs of bags such that the folded bottom edge does not require heat sealing and the openings of the resultant bags have "tabs" so that they may be more easily opened.
While other variations exist, the above-described designs for plastic produce bags are typical of those encountered in the prior art. It is an objective of the present invention to provide a produce bag without a bottom seam for additional strength in the bag bottom. It is a further objective to provide a produce bag that provides means to easily identify and open the bag. It is a still further objective of the invention to provide the above-described capabilities in a produce bag that can be easily dispensed from a roll using a compact and inexpensive dispenser. It is yet a further objective to provide a means to manufacture such produce bags using economical and reliable high-speed methods. While some of the objectives of the present invention are disclosed in the prior art, none of the inventions found include all of the requirements identified.

Side seamed plastic produce bag, method of making and dispenser for same


System and method for extending the use of a VAT telephony application to originate calls into a PSTN as well as a computer network are disclosed. In a preferred embodiment, an adjunct application, referred to as a VAT signaling program ("VSP") running on the same host computer as a conventional VAT-based telephony application prompts a user to enter a destination telephone number and uses the entered number to generate a Q.931 SETUP message, which is encapsulated in a nonstandard, undefined, VAT control message (the "VAT Q.931 message") created to enable additional signaling information to be sent. A signaling interface to the PSTN serving the designated telephone number signals to the VAT application software exactly as if the signaling interface were actually another VAT application software originating a call to the naive VAT application. The signaling interface waits until the user at the computer "answers," and then originates the call into the PSTN network.

Applications currently exist for enabling computer-to-computer telephony applications using a protocol know as Video Audio Tool or "VAT", which is a product of the Network Research group of Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. Particulars of the VAT protocol are well known in the art and are therefore not further described herein. Examples of such applications include "DigiPhone for Mac," available from Third Planet Publishing of Dallas, Tex., and designed for use with Macintosh computers, and "Internet Phone," available from Vocaltec of Northvale, N.J., and designed for use with IBM-compatible PCs. Typically, such communication between computers occurs over a wide area network ("WAN"), such as the Internet.
As described above, there are various applications for enabling telephonic communication between two computers; however, it will be recognized that there are many situations in which it would be useful to enable a computer to communicate directly with a telephone via a public switched telephone network ("PSTN"). For example, in a situation where a user has only a single telephone line, is using his computer to access the Internet and needs to make a telephone call to a third party who does not have computer or whose computer is not logged on to the Internet at the present time, it would be advantageous for the user to be able to call the third party's telephone from his or her computer via the Internet.
Presently, VAT-based TCP/IP telephony applications use signaling protocols designed exclusively for signaling on a computer network, such as the Internet. These signaling protocols are minimal and are inadequate to originate telephone call into a PSTN.
Because VAT is a telephony protocol designed to enable computer-to-computer telephony applications via a computer network, such as the Internet, it does not enable the originator of a call to send adequate information into the network to originate a call into a PSTN. At least some VAT applications do support a minimal text description of the caller to be included in the info field of the VAT ID message, which is the message VAT uses to originate a call. Accordingly, it would be possible for a system to be designed that requires the user to place the PSTN destination telephone number in the info field to originate a call to a PSTN endpoint. However, the amount and nature of the information that may be sent in this manner is limited. Furthermore, applications that implement the VAT signaling protocol typically do not enable a user to modify the info field, and, since this field is intended to be used to provide information about the originator, it is common for a vendor of the application to hard code the name of the registered user of the software into this field as a means of copy protection.
Accordingly, what is needed is a system for extending the use of a VAT TCP/IP telephony application to originate calls into a PSTN, as well as a computer network, by extending the VAT signaling protocol.


Provided is a method of coding a robot control device according to a standardized coding format, the method including displaying a format of a syntax to be input in unit of components; with respect to each component in the syntax, displaying one or more candidate component values that are to be input as a value of each component; and completing the syntax based on a user selection on the candidate component values with respect to each component.

As technology has developed rapidly, robots perform an important role as tools executing various works instead of human beings. Robots are mainly used in automation of various kinds of works including distribution, assembling, welding, and painting, instead of arms of a person, to contribute to improvement of productivity.
A user codes each operation of a robot in a predetermined language in order for the robot to perform an operation according to the purpose, and coding is generally made through typing.
However, the coding based on the typing increases a possibility of generating errors in inputting a syntax, while enabling a user to freely correct the syntax. For example, when a user enters a variable that is not defined as a variable to be compared, a different variable, or an inappropriate operator, an error occurs.
When such an error occurs as a malfunction of a robot during actual performance, without being detected during a compile process or a debugging process, the error may cause a severe accident or a great loss considering unique characteristics of the robot.

Method for coding robot control device, program, and robot control device


Disclosed is pump for circulating a liquid coolant between a heat generating device and a radiator. The pump includes a casing forming an upper chamber in which a blade assembly comprised of a plurality of blades and a permanent magnet coaxially attached to the blades is rotatably received and a lower chamber accommodating an electrical magnet comprised of silicon steel plates surrounding the permanent magnet. The permanent magnet includes first and second magnet elements coaxially aligned with and stacked to each other. The magnetic poles of the first and second magnet elements are arranged in a non-symmetric alternating manner. In other words, the magnetic poles of the first and second magnet element are angularly shifting an angle that does not correspond to 90 or 180 degrees.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a cooling device using a liquid, such as water, as coolant, for cooling particularly a computer system, and in particular to a pump of the cooling device that circulates the liquid coolant through the cooling device wherein the pump comprises a permanent magnet rotor comprising upper and lower sections having magnetic poles arranged in a non-symmetric alternating manner in order to ensure smooth starting of the pump and to enhance performance of the cooling device.
2. The Related Art
A conventional water pump comprises a single permanent magnet to interact with an electrical magnet that is formed of silicon steel plates inducing a time-variable magnetic field to drive a blade assembly for drawing and expelling water. The permanent magnet is arranged to have north and south poles thereof opposing the magnetic poles of the electric magnet so that the repulsive force between magnetic poles of the magnets rotates the permanent magnet about a constant axis. However, when the permanent magnet is not in rotation, at least one of the magnetic poles of the permanent magnet becomes attractive with an opposite pole of the electric magnet whereby when the pump is started again, such an attraction forces becomes a resistance against the initial rotation of the rotor, and causes vibration or shake when the rotor eventually gets moved. This often results in un-smooth starting of the pump and deteriorates the performance of the cooling system.
Such a problem may get even severer when the cooling device is used to control temperature of high-speed electronic devices, such as a central processing unit of a computer. Due to the fast development of the computer industry, the central processing unit or other electronic devices must process data and instructions in an extreme high speed, which means a great amount of heat is generated in a very short period. Such a fast accumulation of excessive heat must be properly removed. When a conventional cooling device, such as that just described, is employed to cool the electronic devices, the poor performance of the cooling device, even occurring only in a short period at the starting thereof, may probably cause heat damage to the electronic devices due to not timely removing the excessive heat.
Thus, it is desired to provide a liquid based cooling device that eliminates the drawback of non-smooth starting of pump often observed in the conventional designs.


In a current control driver that drives an active matrix device, a write current can be set larger and unevenness in currents can be reduced between elements receiving the currents. In the current control driver having an element circuit for each of the elements comprising a converting unit for converting an applied current into a voltage, a retaining unit for retaining the voltage converted by the converting unit, and a driving unit that converts the voltage retained by the retaining unit into an output current and supplies the output current, the converting unit is shared between two or more of the element circuits and a switch located between the shared converting units connects two or more of the converting units to one of the elements during a current supply period for the element.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a display device comprising current control light emitting elements such as organic EL (Electro-Luminescence) elements laid out in the form of a matrix, wherein luminance of the elements is controlled in accordance with currents applied thereto.
The present invention also relates to a current control driver for driving current control elements in a device, wherein the elements are laid out in the form of a matrix.
2. Description of the Related Art
In an active matrix image display device, a plurality of pixels are laid out in the form of a matrix and an image is displayed by controlling intensity of light for each of the pixels according to luminance information supplied thereto. Liquid crystal display devices and organic EL display devices are known as specific examples of image display devices of this type. Liquid crystals are used as display elements that constitute each pixel in a liquid crystal display device, while organic EL elements are used in an organic EL display device. Organic EL elements that constitute each pixel of an organic EL display device are so-called self-luminous elements, and organic EL display devices are more advantageous than liquid crystal display devices with regard to higher image visibility, non-necessity of backlight, and higher response speed. The luminance of each light emitting element in an organic EL display device is controlled by an amount of current.
In an active matrix method, an active element inside each pixel, which is generally a TFT (Thin Film Transistor) as a type of FET (Field Effect Transistor), controls the amount of current flowing through a light emitting element of the pixel. U.S. Pat. No. 5,684,365 describes an example of an active matrix organic EL display device, and FIG. 31 shows an equivalent circuit thereof for one pixel (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Example 1). Each pixel in this circuit comprises an organic EL element OLED as a light emitting element, a first thin film transistor TFT1, a second thin film transistor TFT2, and a capacitor C. Since organic EL elements provide current rectification in many cases, organic EL elements are called organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs). Therefore, a symbol for a diode is used for the light emitting element OLED in FIG. 31. However, the light emitting element in this case is not necessarily this OLED, and any element whose luminance is controlled by the amount of current flowing therein may be used. In addition, the light emitting element does not necessarily carry out current rectification. In the example shown in FIG. 31, the source of P-channel TFT2 is connected to VDD (a power supply voltage), and the cathode of the light emitting element OLED is connected to a ground voltage. The anode of OLED is connected to the drain of TFT2. The gate of N-channel TFT1 is connected to a scanning line Scan while the source thereof is connected to a data line Data. The drain of TFT1 is connected to the capacitor C and the gate of TFT2.
In order to cause the pixel to operate in the above configuration, the scanning line Scan is firstly changed to a selected state and a voltage Vdata representing luminance information is applied to the data line Data. The transistor TFT1 then becomes conductive, and the capacitor C is either charged or discharged, to match a gate voltage of TFT2 with the data voltage Vdata. When the scanning line Scan is changed to a non-selected state, the transistor TFT1 becomes OFF. The transistor TFT2 is electrically disconnected from the data line Data, but the gate voltage of TFT2 is stably maintained by the capacitor C. A current flowing through OLED via TFT2 takes a value corresponding to a gate-source voltage Vgs of TFT2, and the light emitting element OLED continues to emit light at luminance according to the amount of current supplied via the transistor TFT2.
If Ids denotes a current flowing between the source and the drain of TFT2, Ids is the drive current flowing through OLED. If TFT2 operates in a saturation region, Ids is expressed by the following equation:
                              I          ds                =                                            1              2                                    μ                                                                                C              ox                                                  W              L                                                                  (                                                      V                    gs                                    -                                      V                    th                                                  )                            2                                =                                    1              2                                    μ                                                                                C              ox                                                  W              L                                                                  (                                                      V                    data                                    -                                      V                    th                                                  )                            2                                                          (        1        )            where Cox is a gate capacitance per unit area and represented by the following equation:
                              C          ox                =                                            ɛ              0                                                  ɛ              r                                d                                    (        2        )            In the above equations, Vth, μ, W, L, ∈0, ∈r, and d respectively refer to a threshold value of TFT2, the mobility of carriers, a channel width, a channel length, a vacuum dielectric constant, the relative permittivity of a gate insulator, and the thickness of a gate insulator.
According to Equation (1) above, Ids is controlled by the voltage Vgs written into each pixel, and the luminance of the light emitting element OLED is controlled as a result. The reason why TFT2 is made to operate in the saturation region is that Ids is controlled only by Vgs in the saturation region and is not dependent on a drain-source voltage Vds. Therefore, the drive current Ids of a predetermined amount can be supplied to OLED even in the case where Vds fluctuates due to variations in the characteristics of OLED.
As has been described above, OLED in the circuit configuration shown in FIG. 31 continues to emit light at constant luminance once Vgs has been supplied thereto during one scanning period (one frame) until Vgs is supplied next time. By arranging a plurality of pixels 3 of such a type in the form of a matrix as shown in FIG. 32, an active matrix display device can be configured. As shown in FIG. 32, scanning lines Scan1 to ScanN for pixel selection during a predetermined scanning period (such as a frame period according to the NTSC standard) and data lines Data that feed luminance information (data voltage Vdata) for driving the pixels are laid out in the form of a matrix in a conventional display device. The scanning lines Scan1 to ScanN are connected to a scanning line driver 1 while the data lines Data are connected to a data line driver 2. A desired image can be displayed by repeating application of Vgs from the data lines Data by use of the data line driver 2 while sequentially selecting the scanning lines Scan1 to ScanN by use of the scanning line driver 1.
In a simple matrix display device, a light emitting element of each pixel emits light only at the instant that it is selected while the light emitting element of each pixel in the active matrix display device shown in FIG. 31 continues to emit light after writing has been completed. Therefore, instantaneous luminance can be lower than in a simple matrix display device and the amount of current for driving each light emitting element can be smaller, which are advantageous especially for large high-definition display devices.
As has been described above, TFTs that can be easily formed on glass substrates are generally used as active elements in an active matrix organic EL display device. Amorphous silicon and polysilicon used to form TFTs are not as crystalline as single crystal silicon, and the electric current conduction mechanism thereof is difficult to control. Therefore, TFTs formed by amorphous silicon or polysilicon show larger characteristic variations. Especially, in the case where polysilicon TFTs are formed on a comparatively large glass substrate, a laser annealing method is generally adopted in order to avoid problems such as deformation of the glass substrate caused by heat. However, uniform irradiation of laser energy on glass substrates of such a size is difficult, and variations in crystallization of polysilicon cannot be prevented from occurring, depending on positions in the substrate.
As a result, the threshold value (Vth) varies from pixel to pixel even among TFTs formed on the same substrate, and variation exceeding 1V is not rare in some cases. In such a case, Vth varies among pixels even if the signal voltage Vdata applied thereto is the same. Therefore, as shown by Equation (1) above, the current Ids flowing through OLED varies greatly from pixel to pixel, becoming far from a desired value. Consequently, high image quality, which is expected from a display device, cannot be achieved. The same phenomenon is observed not only in the voltage Vth but also in variations in carrier mobility μ. In addition, variations in each of the parameters cannot be avoided not only among pixels but also among production lots and products. In such a case, the data line voltage Vdata corresponding to the desired current Ids to flow through OLED needs to be set for each product according to resultant variations of the respective parameters in Equation (1). However, this process is unrealistic in mass production processes of display devices, and changes in the TFT characteristics caused by operating temperature, as well as temporal changes in the TFT characteristics caused by long term use, are extremely difficult to deal with.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,501,466 describes a configuration combining a power source and a current mirror circuit (hereinafter referred to as Conventional Example 2), in order to solve the problems of Conventional Example 1. The configuration is shown in FIG. 33. In Conventional Example 2, a current Iw corresponding to luminance is supplied between the source and the drain of TFT1 via TFT3, and TFT4 is in a conductive state at this time. A gate-source voltage of TFT1 becomes a value corresponding to the current Iw, and a capacitor C is set to the voltage. Thereafter, TFT4 becomes nonconductive and the voltage of the capacitor C, that is, a gate-source voltage of TFT2 is retained. Therefore, a current in accordance with the gate-source voltage flows between the source and the drain of TFT2 and to an organic EL element.
In the circuit of Conventional Example 2, the write current Iw to be applied from a data line needs to be set large in many cases compared to a current Idrv to flow through the light emitting element OLED. This is because the current to flow to OLED is generally up to several μA or the like at a maximum luminance but the current is approximately a dozen nA or slightly more for tones close to a minimal value of a 256-tone display, for example. Therefore, it is generally difficult for such a small current to be supplied accurately to the pixel circuit via the data line having a large capacitance.
In order to solve this problem, the current Iw can be increased by setting a value of (W2/W1)/(L2/L1) to be small where W1, W2, L1, and L2 respectively denote channel widths of TFT1 and TFT2, and channel lengths of TFT1 and TFT2 in the circuit shown in FIG. 33. However, in order to cause the large current Iw to flow, the value of W1/L1 needs to be increased for TFT1. In this case, the channel width W1 needs to be increased inevitably, since various limitations apply in decreasing the channel length L1. As a result, TFT1 occupies a large portion of a pixel area.
This fact usually means that the area that emits light becomes smaller in an organic EL display device in the case where pixels are uniform in size. As a result, reliability is lowered due to increase in current density, and power consumption increases due to increase in drive voltage. In addition, graininess is worsened due to the decrease in the light emitting area. Furthermore, this fact leads to reduction in the pixel size, which prevents the display from having higher resolution.
In order to solve these problems, U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0107560 proposes a driver (herein after referred to as Conventional Example 3) wherein a TFT is shared between pixels and a large size TFT is used to allow a large current to flow while a TFT area per pixel can be reduced. Hereinafter, the driver of Conventional Example 3 will be described with reference to FIG. 34. For the sake of simplification, circuits for two neighboring pixels in a column (pixels 1 and 2) are shown in FIG. 34.
In FIG. 34, a circuit P1 for the pixel 1 has an OLED (organic EL element) 11-1, a TFT 12-1, a capacitor 13-1, a TFT 14-1, and a TFT 15-1. The anode of OLED11-1 is connected to a positive power supply VDD. The drain of TFT12-1 is connected to the cathode of OLED11-1 while the source thereof is grounded. The capacitor 13-1 is connected between the gate of TFT12-1 and the ground (reference voltage point). The drain of TFT14-1 is connected to a data line 17 while the gate thereof is connected to a first scanning line 18A-1. The drain of TFT15-1 is connected to the source of TFT14-1 while the source thereof is connected to the gate of TFT12-1. The gate of TFT15-1 is connected to a second scanning line 18B-1.
Likewise, a circuit P2 of the pixel 2 has an OLED 11-2, a TFT 12-2, a capacitor 13-2, a TFT 14-2, and a TFT 15-2. The anode of OLED11-2 is connected to a positive power supply VDD. The drain of TFT12-2 is connected to the cathode of OLED11-2 while the source thereof is grounded. The capacitor 13-2 is connected between the gate of TFT12-2 and the ground. The drain of TFT14-2 is connected to the data line 17 while the gate thereof is connected to a first scanning line 18A-2. The drain of TFT15-2 is connected to the source of TFT14-2 while the source thereof is connected to the gate of TFT12-2. The gate of TFT15-2 is connected to a second scanning line 18B-2.
A so-called diode connection transistor TFT 16, whose gate and drain are electrically short-circuited, is shared between the circuits P1 and P2 for the two pixels. In other words, the drain and the gate of TFT16 are connected to the source of TFT14-1 and to the drain of TFT15-1 in the circuit P1 while the drain and the gate of TFT16 are also connected to the source of TFT14-2 and the drain of TFT15-2 in the circuit P2. The source of TFT16 is grounded.
In the example shown in FIG. 34, N-channel MOS transistors are used for TFT12-1 and TFT12-2 as well as for TFT16 while P-channel MOS transistors are used for TFT14-1 and TFT14-2 as well as TFT15-1 and TFT15-2.
In the pixel circuits P1 and P2 having the above configuration, TFTs 14-1 and 14-2 function as first scanning switches for selectively supplying a current Iw from the data line 17 to TFT16 while TFT16 functions as a converting unit that converts the current Iw applied from the data line 17 via TFT14-1 or TFT14-2 into a voltage. At the same time, TFT16 forms a current mirror circuit together with TFTs 12-1 and 12-2 that will be described later. The transistor TFT16 can be shared between the circuits P1 and P2 because TFT16 is used only at the time of applying the write current Iw.
The transistors TFT15-1 and TFT15-2 function as second scanning switches for selectively supplying the voltage converted by TFT16 to the capacitor 13-1 or 13-2. The capacitors 13-1 and 13-2 function as retaining units that retain the voltage converted from the current by TFT16 and supplied via TFT15-1 or TFT15-2. The transistors TFT12-1 and TFT12-2 function as driving units that cause OLEDs 11-1 or 11-2 to emit light by converting the voltage retained by the capacitor 13-1 or 13-2 into a current and by supplying the current to OLEDs 11-1 or 11-2. The elements OLED11-1 and OLED11-2 are electric optical elements whose luminance changes according to the current flowing therethrough.
The operation of luminance data writing in the driver having the above configuration will be described next. How luminance data are written in the pixel 1 will be described first. A current Iw in accordance with the luminance data is supplied to the data line 17 while the scanning lines 18A-1 and 18B-1 are both selected (that is, scanning signals ScanA1 and ScanB1 are both at a low level in this case). The current Iw is supplied to TFT16 via TFT14-1 that is in a conductive state. A voltage corresponding to the current Iw occurs at the gate of TFT16, by the current Iw flowing through TFT16. The voltage is retained by the capacitor 13-1.
The current corresponding to the voltage retained by the capacitor 13-1 is supplied to OLED11-1 via TFT12-1. In response, OLED11-1 starts to emit light. When the scanning lines 18A-1 and 18B-1 are set to non-selected states (that is, the scanning signals ScanA1 and ScanB1 are both at a high level), the writing operation of the luminance data to the pixel 1 is completed. The scanning line 18B-2 is in a non-selected state during this operation. Therefore, OLED11-2 of the pixel 2 is emitting light according to a voltage retained by the capacitor 13-2, and the state of light emission from OLED11-2 is not affected by the writing operation to the pixel 1.
The operation of luminance data writing to the pixel 2 will be described next. A current Iw corresponding to luminance data is supplied to the data line 17 while the scanning lines 18A-2 and 18B-2 are both in selected states (that is, scanning signals Scan A2 and B2 are at low level). A voltage corresponding to the current Iw is generated at the gate of TFT16 by the current Iw flowing through TFT16 via TFT14-2. The voltage is retained by the capacitor 13-2.
A current corresponding to the voltage retained by the capacitor 13-2 is supplied to OLED11-2 via TFT12-2. In response, OLED11-2 starts to emit light. The scanning line 18B-1 is in a non-selected state during this operation. Therefore, OLED11-1 of the pixel 1 is emitting light according to the voltage retained by the capacitor 13-1, and the state of light emission from OLED11-1 is not affected by the writing operation to the pixel 2.
As has been described above, TFT16 that carries out current-voltage conversion is shared between the two pixels in the driver of Conventional Example 3. Therefore, one transistor can be omitted for every two pixels. The current Iw flowing through the data line 17 is extremely large compared to currents flowing through OLEDs (organic EL elements), and the current-voltage converting TFT16 that directly deals with the large current Iw has a large size which occupies a large area. However, the current-voltage converting TFT16 is shared by the two pixels in this example, which enables TFT area reduction.
However, the combinations of TFTs which are shared between pixels are fixed in the driver in Conventional Example 3 described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2003/0107560. Therefore, uneven display caused by differences in FET characteristics among the pixels cannot be avoided.
Although examples that use TFTs as active elements for controlling currents flowing through light emitting elements have been described above, the same problem occurs even if other active elements are used. In addition, the same problem also occurs not only in display devices but also optical scanning reading apparatuses or optical scanning recording apparatuses that adopt light emitting elements laid out in the form of a matrix and generate reading light or recording light of constant luminance whose value can be changed through sequential scanning of the elements.

Current control driver and display device


A method and system for changing content of a window of an application program is provided. A contextual window system displays a window with content based on a current context of the window. The contextual window system receives from a user a context string for a new context for the window. When the context string includes a command, the contextual window system performs a function of the application program that implements the command to change from the current context of the window to the new context of the window. When the context string does not specify a command, the contextual window system submits the context string as a query for data of the application program to change from the current context of the window to the new context of the window. The contextual window system then modifies the content of the window to reflect the new context of the window.

Many application programs provide users with a wide range of sophisticated functions for processing its data. For example, a word processing program may provide functions for formatting text of a document, performing grammatical analysis, laying out pages of the document, creating tables of content for a document, importing images into a document, defining equations for the document, updating metadata of the document, and so on. The user interfaces of such application programs can be quite complex. For example, a word processing program may provide many menus that may have sub-menus and various tool bars. It can be difficult for a user to navigate through such a complex user interface to find needed functions. Moreover, many users may not even know of the existence of some functions that may be particularly useful to the task that the user is currently performing.
The user interfaces of such application programs provide a variety of pop-up windows, dialog boxes, and other user interface elements that overlay the current content of a window to support the performing of a specific task. For example, when a user wants to search for email messages in a particular folder and then compose a new email message based on the search results, an email application program may display a new window that overlays the current window covering the search results. Thus, the user will not be able to see the search results while composing the email message. To overcome this problem, the users of such application programs may need to navigate through several different windows opening and moving various windows resulting in a high degree of window switches. In the case of devices with small screens such as smart phones, the problem of window switching presents additional problems as the screens are too small to display multiple windows simultaneously. For example, when a user is composing an email message, the user is not able to view a list of related email messages. In other words, the window of the application is tied to a particular user action.

Contextual windows for application programs


A method and apparatus is disclosed for fast access to any logical block on a media not containing logical block addressing. Categorizing marks such as filemarks or setmarks are provided on the tape medium at various points along the medium. The medium is divided up into a plurality of physical blocks. To permit fast access to a logical block on the tape, a connection table in the form of a block map is provided which establishes a relationship between logical blocks and the tapemarks, and defines physical positions of at least some of the tapemarks.

The invention relates to a method and apparatus for accessing a logical block on a tape storage medium.
Today many devices like tape streamers do not support any means of fast access to logical blocks of positions on the tape. The reason is that the tape format does not contain any direct logical block count information. A logical block on those formats are only detected by special start or end information that does not contain a number or count. A positioning to any logical position is therefore only possible by reading all blocks from the start to the end while counting logical blocks. This method is extremely time consuming. For a standard QIC 525 cartridge in reverse direction, a worst case time will be many hours.
The QIC 525 is a well known type of standardized tape which is used in a tape drive known as a "tape streamer". QIC stands for "quarter inch cartridge" and "525" stands for the tape storage--namely 525 megabytes. Typically such tapes have 26 tracks.
Such tapes together with the tape streamer has as their main function the back-up of hard disk drives for archival storage. They are also useful for various types of software distribution and in some cases replace floppy disks.
Such tapes typically have a plurality of physical blocks located thereon, most of which contain data. Logical blocks corresponding to the data from the host computer may correspond to less than one physical block, or a plurality of physical blocks may be used for a single logical block.
The logical blocks are grouped or categorized under what are known as files separated with filemarks, and the files may be grouped or categorized under what are known as sets separated with setmarks.
A typical logical data block might, for example, be 1000 bytes whereas a typical physical data block might be 1024 bytes.
Other types of standardized back-up tapes used in tape streamers are known as the QIC 120 or the QIC 150 (120 or 150 megabytes, respectively). Those formats support only fixed blocks, but some vendors for those formats also provide logical blocks of variable size.
The QIC format tapes (QIC 120/150/525) may also contain what are known as either control blocks or filler blocks, such as in a trailer field at the end of the tape. Such tapes are also typically appended with data when additional data is to be added.
To enable a host system to position on a media such as a tape medium without having to read data, so called Space and Locate commands are known. Space commands are used to position the tape logically forward or reverse a certain number of blocks, filemarks or setmarks relative to a present logical position. The Locate command is used to position the tape to an absolute logical block address counting from Beginning Of Media (BOM). The difference between these commands from a drive point of view is how blocks should be counted, and if tape should be moved in a logical forward or reverse direction. Normal space foward and normal space reverse will now be described hereafter.
Normal space forward is done by skipping one datablock or tapemark block at a time while decrementing a desired count value until all blocks or tapemarks are found, or until a stop condition is detected. A stop condition may arise when a tapemark is detected while spacing blocks, a setmark is found while spacing filemarks, a bad block is found, or an error condition is detected. When skipping blocks or tapemarks, the logical block and tapemark counters will be updated.
Normal space reverse is more difficult to execute than normal space forward. The reason is that the drive is not able to read in reverse direction. The drive will therefore have to position the tape so that it can read data to fill the buffer with data logical in front of the present position. It will then have to test the buffer in reverse order until the end condition is met, or until the front of the buffer is met. If the front is met (buffer empty situation) the drive will have to calculate the address of the first block in the next buffer logical in front of the last, and start reading those blocks. The sequence will repeat until the stop condition is met. Each time a new buffer is read, the tape will have to stop and move logical reverse to position in front of the first block in the previous buffer, and then start logical forward again to read the blocks. This means a lot of start stop operation is necessary and very low performance results.

Method and apparatus for enabling fast access to a logical block on a tape medium


A methodology determines the offset distance between a threat missile plume and its hardbody during boost phase to aid in guiding a kinetic weapon (KW) or interceptor missile to the threat missile hardbody using the KW infrared sensor of the interceptor missile in conjunction with a radar sensor.

Antimissile efforts may use directed-beam weapons, in which the future target missile or target location is not of particular interest, as the speed of the beam is so great that the missile motion is irrelevant. In those cases in which antimissile interceptors with explosive warheads are used, the interceptor speed is of the same order as that of the target missile, and the estimated future location of the target missile is of great importance. The estimated future location of the target missile can be determined by the use of radar. A great deal of effort has been put into antimissile interceptor guidance schemes which predict the future location of the target missile, the interceptor missile, or both, so as to attempt to cause the interceptor to get within a given range of the target missile such that the explosive warhead destroys the target missile. These guidance systems require measurements of the target missile so as to determine its current location, and also require estimates of its projected trajectory.
It is known that rocket engine or rocket motor plumes are hot, and radiate energy across the entire electromagnetic spectrum, including the infrared (IR) portion of the spectrum. The radiated energy constitutes a signature which may allow the rocket engine to be identified or characterized. Different missile systems using either liquid or solid propellant display different infrared (IR) signatures at various altitudes, mach numbers, and aspect angles. These IR signatures have been used for many years to warn of Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM) launches or to characterize tactical threat systems.
Kinetic weapons (KW) are known for use against threat missiles. Such weapons do not use an explosive charge for destroying the threat missile, but rather rely upon the kinetic energy of a moving object impacting on the hard body of the threat missile. Such schemes have been tested and can be effective. Some antimissile weapons use infrared (IR) schemes for terminal guidance, so as to result in the desired impact between the antimissile weapon and the missile to be destroyed. One of the problems associated with the use of infrared guidance of a kinetic weapon against a boosting missile lies in the inability of the kinetic weapon's infrared seeker to accurately determine the location of the hard body of the target missile in the presence of a hot IR plume from the boost engine.
A proposed solution to the problem of inability of the infrared seeker to distinguish between the hard body of the target missile and the hot plume lies in the use of multiple IR sensors, which respond to different portions of the IR signature, and can distinguish between the hard body and the plume. This solution may be effective, but requires that two or more IR seekers with different characteristics be used. Terminal guidance of a kinetic weapon is facilitated when the sensing and the signal processing are performed on-board the kinetic weapon so as to avoid delays associated with ground-based detection and processing, and data transmission delays. On-board IR sensing with different signatures requires that the kinetic weapon carry two or more different IR sensors, which undesirably adds weight, complexity, and cost to the weapon.

Plume-to-hardbody offset compensation in boosting missiles


An aircraft including an airframe and a plurality of propulsion assemblies coupled to the airframe, wherein each propulsion assembly includes an electric motor, a propeller coupled to the electric motor, and a tilt mechanism that connects the propulsion assembly to the airframe and transforms the propulsion assembly between a forward configuration and a hover configuration; wherein the plurality of propulsion assemblies is transformable between a forward arrangement and a hover arrangement, wherein each of the plurality of propulsion assemblies is in the forward configuration in the forward arrangement, wherein each of the plurality of propulsion assemblies is in the hover configuration in the hover arrangement, wherein the spacing between at least two of the propellers of the plurality of propulsion assemblies changes between the forward arrangement and the hover arrangement.

Tradeoffs exist between rotary-wing aircraft (e.g., helicopters) and fixed-wing aircraft. While helicopters are capable of vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) and hover, fixed-wing aircraft can operate more efficiently over longer distance travel and can often travel at higher speeds. Tiltrotor aircraft (i.e., aircraft that can transition between operating primarily as a rotary-wing aircraft and primarily as a fixed-wing aircraft using the same propulsion system) can advantageously combine certain aspects of rotary-wing operation (e.g., VTOL and hover capability) and fixed-wing operation; however, conventional approaches to tiltrotor configurations suffer from several disadvantages. For example, tiltrotor aircraft with mechanical powertrains often require complex mechanical power transmission between the powerplant (e.g., located within the fuselage of the aircraft) and the propulsion system (e.g., rotors or propellers located distal to the powerplant at the exterior of the aircraft); this can increase the weight and complexity of the aircraft. Due to the increased complexity, conventional approaches to tiltrotor aircraft often restrict the number of propulsion units (e.g., rotors, propellers, turbomachinery, etc.), which in turn increases the risk of loss of vehicle control (LoC) in a one-engine-inoperative (OEI) or other emergency propulsion-related condition during flight. Conventional tiltrotor aircraft can also be susceptible to other disadvantages.
Thus, there is a need in the aviation field to create a new and useful tiltrotor aircraft. This invention provides such a new and useful tiltrotor aircraft.


A structurally supporting pallet article including a rectangular shaped body having a specified thickness and a plurality of downwardly extending support locations. A processor controlled receiver is incorporated into the body for providing at least one of tracking and identification of cargo supported upon said body. Visual identification of a selected pallet article is facilitated by the inclusion of illuminating elements. A second embodiment discloses a pallet having a three dimensional shaped body. A sensor is integrated into the body for determining when the body is immersed in a body of water. A plurality of bladders are supported within the body in first retracted positions and which, upon being triggered by the sensor, are deployed in outwardly expanded fashion through openings along the body. A propulsion and steerage mechanism is integrated into an underside of the body.

The prior art is documented with examples of pallet support assemblies and structures. A first example of this is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 8,418,631, issued to Linares, which teaches a body having a buoyant inducing element for supporting upon a body of water. The buoyant inducing element includes a plurality of bladders deployable into an end-to-end perimeter extending arrangement relative to the body. In a further design, a pressurized tank is contained within the body and holds a volume of a compressed gas and in communication with the deployable bladders. The body may also include upper and lower vertically displaceable halves, with the elevation of the upper half causing one way air inlet valves disposed within a bottom surface of the lower halve to fill an expanded interior defined between the halves, via vacuum inlet pressure acting upon the one way valves.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,418,632, also to Linares, teaches a structurally reinforcing pallet having an insert exhibiting a three dimensional shape with a top, sides and bottom. A plasticized material is applied over the insert according to a selected thickness and in order to encapsulate the insert. A first plurality of upper edge projecting and positional locating rim portions are exhibited about a periphery of an insert incorporated into a first pallet and, in combination with a second mating plurality of recessed underside edge extending locations exhibited about a periphery of a further insert incorporated into a second pallet, enable multiple stacking of pallets in laterally stabilized fashion.
The prior art also documents various examples of pallet constructions, such as which are capable of being stacked in multiple fashion when not in use. A first example of this is depicted by the pallet construction of Palmer, U.S. Pat. No. 8,356,562, and having a first portion and a second portion that may be arranged in a use or nesting positions to help facilitate more efficient storage of the portions. The portions may also include one or more magnets that may be used to help secure the portions in the use position and/or the nested positions. The portions may include one or more interlocking and/or engaging features that may be used to help secure the portions in the use position and/or the nested positions. If desired, the first and second portions may be sized and configured to be independently used as pallets.
A further example of a magnetic pallet is depicted in U.S. Pat. No. 4,361,822, to Adler, which teaches a plurality of individual, flexible polymer magnetic strips in a double layer thickness between metallic front and back enclosure plates to provide a substantially continuous magnetic field across both of front and back planar surfaces. Other examples drawn from the prior art include the all in one multifunction pallet of Liu et al, US 2011/0061572, which teaches a main part of the pallet, collapsible supporting legs, belts, joint shafts coupled by nuts, and RFID tags.

Multi-functional pallet with locating support structure and buoyancy characteristics and including RFID-GPS tracking and light (sound) locating features in combination with magnetic stackability during non-use


A transfer device includes a first sheet portion having an outer side and an inner side and a second sheet portion having an outer side and an inner side, with the inner sides arranged so that they are facing each other. The outer sides each have a high coefficient of friction surface. The first sheet portion and the second sheet portion are releasably coupled together to thereby limit relative movement of the first sheet portion to the second sheet portion. When the coupling is released, the first sheet portion and the second sheet portion can move relative to each other.

The present invention generally relates to a transfer device for moving an object or a person, such as a patient, and, more specifically, to a transfer device that is particularly suitable for moving a patient, including transferring a patient from one surface to another surface, which may reduce strain or stress on the attendant who is charged with moving the patient.
When a patient is delivered to a healthcare facility on a stretcher, for example, the patient is typically transferred from the stretcher to another support surface, such as a surgical table or emergency room bed for treatment. Further, following treatment, the patient then must be transferred from the surgical table or bed to a stretcher, which then transports the patient to a hospital room or ICU where the patient is then again transferred back onto a bed. A patient can go through a number of transfers during his or her stay at a healthcare facility, all of which are typically done manually.
When dealing with a heavy patient or a patient who is non-ambulatory, the manipulation of the person may be difficult. With an obese patient, the transfer can be quite difficult even with two attendants and may have the potential to cause back stress or strain to the attendant or attendants. Non-ambulatory patients, including unconscious patients, especially patients suffering from a back or neck injury, must be handled with particular care and in a manner that will not adversely effect or worsen the patient's condition. Further, patients that are unconscious or too frail to move themselves may simply need to be repositioned on a surface, such as a bed. An unconscious patient or a frail patient may have a tendency to slide down a bed due to the angle of the bed, which is typically tilted to some degree to avoid fluid build up in the patient's lungs.
Current solutions for moving a patient include placing a device that has a low coefficient of friction, such as sheet or board, under the patient and then moving the patient on the device, for example to the next surface, and then removing the device. However, on heavy patients this may cause tissue trauma or injury. More recently, inflatable air pallets have been used. One problem faced with any of these devices is locating the device under the patient. The other concern is that the device may cause safety concerns in that it may allow the patient to move when the patient is not intended to be moved.
Accordingly, there is a need for a transfer device that will facilitate movement of a patient when a transfer or repositioning is desired, which can reduce stress and strain on the back of the attendants who move the patient, but will minimize or reduce the likelihood of unintended movement of the patient when no transfer or repositioning of the patient is desired.


An electrical connector includes a dielectric housing having a terminal-receiving passage for insertion thereinto of a terminal in a given insertion direction. The terminal includes a spring contact arm at least in part projecting into the passage for engagement by an appropriate mating contact element. The terminal further includes an engagement arm projecting into the passage behind the spring contact arm at a location to provide an engagement shoulder for an insertion tool which forces the terminal into the terminal-receiving passage of the housing.

Generally, electrical connectors include a dielectric housing mounting a plurality of conductive terminals for making electrical connection between a pair of electrical devices. For instance, an electrical connector may interconnect a conductor of an electrical wire to a circuit trace on a printed circuit board. Electrical connectors have been provided in a myriad of designs and constructions.
The electrical terminals of such connectors also are provided in a myriad of different configurations. For instance, every terminal must have a contact portion or portions for engaging the electrical device or devices to which the terminal is terminated or between which the terminal is interconnected. For instance, the contact portion may be a flexible spring contact arm. The terminal most often includes a base portion which is provided for mounting the terminal in the connector housing. The terminal may include a latching portion for retaining the terminal in the housing. The terminal may include a tail portion projecting from the housing. Quite often, the terminal includes a portion that is engageable by an insertion tool for inserting the terminal into the housing. All of these various components of electrical terminals must be considered in designing a particular electrical connector, and the sheer number of such components or portions of the terminal constantly create problems in electrical connector design.
For instance, in the ever-increasing miniaturization of electrical connectors for compact design of electronic apparatus, the connectors and, in turn, the terminals must be provided in smaller and smaller design envelopes. One area in which this miniaturization causes problems is in providing a portion of the terminal for engagement by an insertion tool for inserting the terminal into the housing. Heretofore, some insertion systems employ tools for contacting an edge of the terminal base either at its lateral edge or, as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,338,230, dated Aug. 16, 1994 and assigned the assignee of the present invention, at its central edge between a flexible contact arm and a solder tail. Such a system is quite adequate in certain applications, but the width of the terminal base must be wider to receive the insertion tool at its edge, and this requires a wider housing to receive the wider terminal base. Such a system causes problems in miniaturizing the overall connector.
Another example of an insertion system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,244,414, dated Sep. 14, 1993 and again assigned to the assignee of the present invention. That patent discloses a boardlock with a slot at one end which slidably engages an insertion tool. The insertion tool has a lip designed to contact the rear surface of the boardlock, and the lip requires additional depth and an enlarged housing thickness which, again, inhibits miniaturization of the overall connector.
The present invention is directed to solving some of these problems by providing a unique terminal configuration having a portion to facilitate insertion of the terminal without in any way enlarging the terminal or the terminal housing.


A video camera including a stopped down lens diameter. An opaque material with a small aperture size is placed over the camera lens. The small aperture allows the user to vary the image size of the object to be viewed by moving the camera toward or away from the object. At the same time the blur circle diameter is maintained within acceptable user limits.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of optics. More particularly, the invention relates to video cameras. In still greater particularity, the invention relates to variable magnification video cameras. By way of further characterization, but not by way of limitation thereto, the invention relates to a variable magnification video camera achieved by mechanically stopping down the aperture size of the lens to allow variable magnification.
2. Description of the Related Art
Individuals with vision impairment have long sought aids to assist them in reading and performing other functions necessary in daily life. Many types of visual impairment caused by retinal deterioration are present in these individuals. One form of visual impairment is known as macular degeneration. Macular degeneration primarily occurs in elderly people and prohibits them from reading books or newspapers, etc. as well as labels, prescriptions, or other items which by necessity are desirable for a comfortable standard of living. Optical magnifying devices of many types have been used by these individuals to assist in these necessary functions. However, as retinal deterioration progresses, the limitations on magnifying capability limit the usefulness of these devices.
Video reading systems have become available in recent years. That is, the introduction of video cameras has made closed-circuit television devices useful to enable individuals with visual impairment such as macular degeneration to function normally. These devices magnify and enhance text or even photographs by displaying them greatly magnified on a video screen. This enables vision impaired individuals to more easily read text or view images. Available equipment ranges from small hand-held portable-type devices to large, fixed devices with variable magnification into which the object or text to be viewed is placed. For many of these individuals, the small hand-held portable devices are more desirable. However, these devices tend to be more limited in the functions which they are capable of performing. In particular, the ability to change magnification in the hand held devices is accomplished only through physically changing lenses or changing to a camera with a different lens. The ability to quickly change magnification is important for ease of use and because the text or image to be viewed may vary in size from word-to-word or line-to-line.
An example of a small hand-held video reading device is presently being marketed under the trademark Easy-Reader. This device is available in three fixed focused lens/camera options of 10 power, 20 power or 30 power. The device uses a video camera with a clear plastic extension which is placed against the text or image to be read. The clear plastic extension allows ambient light to fall upon the object to be magnified and allows the user to keep the camera the correct distance from the text or image to maintain correct focus of the text or image. Such a device is less expensive than a device such as the Chroma CCD offered by Telesensory, Inc. of Mountain View, California. The Chroma CCD model includes a fixed viewing system into which the item to be read is placed. The device then displays the image on a video monitor. Variable magnification is accomplished by adjusting a knob which controls a zoom lens in the viewing system. Each change of magnification generally requires refocusing unless the device is first very carefully focused at the highest magnification level, a practice which low vision users find difficult. This device offers the advantage of variable magnification as opposed to the Easy Reader-type device. However, while suited for its intended purpose, this device requires refocusing, is more cumbersome to use, and is significantly more expensive. That is, the unit is not hand-held or as portable as the Easy Reader device and is two or three times as costly. It would be desirable to have a relatively inexpensive, hand-held device which allows variable magnification for the visually impaired user.

Method and apparatus for variable video magnification


Paint detackifiers and/or sedimentation agents are provided which contain amorphous alumina and/or alumina in pseudoboehmite or boehmite form having an average crystallite size of from 0.1 to 15 nm and/or the hydrates and hydroxyalkylpolysaccharides thereof.

This invention relates to a paint detackifier and sedimentation agent based on nanocrystalline or amorphous aluminas and/or alumina hydrates.
When applying lacquers, waxes, or similar coating materials containing organic substances which are not soluble in water, it sometimes happens that not all of the material reaches the intended article to be coated. Especially when painting automobile bodies, oversprayed paint deposits in the paint spray booths. The lacquer or paint mist formed in these booths when spray painting goods, such as automobile bodies, is scrubbed by an air-flow which makes the overspray contact recirculated water or a water curtain, or it is removed by other paint mist wet separators. In order that no tacky paint residues agglomerate in the scrubbing system and plug the mist eliminators, spray heads, and recirculating pumps, detackifiers and sedimentation agents are employed to make the paint particles coagulate in the wash water and precipitate. It is desirable to obtain in a single work cycle a non-tacky and easily removable sludge.
Up to the present, many different additives have been tried as flocculants, detackifiers, or coagulants. For instance, it is known to use inorganic additives containing aluminium, such as aluminium silicates, aluminium sulfates, aluminium chlorides, aluminium oxides, aluminium hydroxides, or montmorillonites. In addition, a large number of organic auxiliaries are known which can be employed alone or in combination with the aforementioned inorganic additives, for example polyacrylamides, polymethacrylates, polyvinyl alcohols, polyalkylene oxides, starch, or cellulose.
The use of montmorillonites or smectite in combination with marble lime hydrate and cellulose as a paint detackifier is disclosed in DE A-34 21 270. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,564,464 and 4,504,395 disclose detackifiers for high-solids paints which contain bentonite, particularly hectorite, as a main component and are blended for economic reasons with montmorillonite clays or alumina and which also contain the usual additives, such as foam depressants and coagulants.
The disadvantages of all prior art paint detackifiers are their different effects on the different types of lacquers, such as NC, polyacrylate, polyester, or PU lacquers, and waxes. Furthermore, when employed for the widely used high-solids lacquers, said detackifiers are inefficient because quantities of up to 50 wt. %, based on the weight of the sprayed paint, are required to perform the detackification.
DE 38 17 251 (EP 0 342 339) suggests the use of paint detackifiers based on alumina (Al2O3) of the pseudoboehmite or boehmite type either in the X-ray amorphous form or with 2 to 15 nm size crystallites. It is reported in said patent that much smaller quantities are required in contrast to bentonite-containing detackifiers and that said system can be used as a one-component system or in combination with customary defoamers or polymeric deflocculants. The polymeric deflocculant Praestol 2415 (acrylamide/acrylate copolymer) manufactured by Stockhausen is disclosed in said patent.

Agents for unsticking paint, and sedimentation agents


A method for manipulating color values in a computer graphics system. Colors are mapped into a color space referred to as "HSY space," which provides independent control over the orthogonal parameters of hue, saturation and luminance. The intuitive color description qualities of hue and saturation are retained in combination with the luminance parameter, which is specifically tuned to the response of the human eye and a specific display system. The present invention thus provides ease of use for the graphic artist without the hue and saturation dependent luminance response of prior art methods. Color image data in HSY format is manipulated by a color graphics editing or rendering process by altering hue, saturation and luminance individually. The graphic artist is thus able to select the appropriate color by using tints, shades and tones. In one embodiment, HSY color data is converted into a second color data format, such as RGB, for display or storage purposes to meet the physical requirements of display devices. A reverse transformation is used to convert scanned image data in RGB format into HSY data for manipulation in HSY space by the editing process. In addition, two hue preserving transformations are described which map the unit HSY color space into the unit RGB color space.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of color editing and display systems.
Portions of the disclosure of this patent document contain material that is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or the patent disclosure as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Office file or records, but otherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.
2. Background
Computer graphics and imaging systems often use color displays as output devices or as a means to view work in progress before generating a color print output. In either case, the color display should provide accurate representation of desired colors. Often, color images are "scanned" into a computer graphics system for manipulation or editing. In other cases, color images are generated or rendered in a computer graphics systems for display.
For display purposes, hardware constraints may dictate how colors are represented in the display memory. For instance, a three phosphor display system may store color data as a combination of three phosphor intensity values, such as in a RGB display system. However, for color image editing and manipulation, color representation should be more intuitive to the graphic artist, allowing manipulation of tints, shades and tones. Therefore, in computer graphics and imaging systems, color representation is subject to constraints imposed by the display hardware and by the graphic artist.
RGB color is a commonly used color format for graphic display systems. RGB color is based on a "color model" system. A color model allows convenient specification of colors within a color range, such as the RGB (red, green, blue) primary colors. A color model is a specification of a three-dimensional color coordinate system and a three-dimensional subspace or "color space" in the coordinate system within which each displayable color is represented by a point in space. Typically, computer and graphic display systems are three phosphor systems with a red, green and blue phosphor at each pixel location. The intensities of the red, green and blue phosphors are varied so that the combination of the three primary colors results in a desired output color.
The RGB color model uses a Cartesian coordinate system. The subspace of interest in this coordinate system is known as the "RGB color cube" and is illustrated in FIG. 1. Each corner of the cube represents a color that is theoretically one-hundred percent pure--that is, the color at that location contains only the color specified, and contains no amount of other colors. In the RGB color cube, the corners are defined to be black, white, red, green, blue, magenta, cyan, and yellow. Red, green and blue are the primary colors, black is the absence of color, white is the combination of all colors, and cyan, magenta and yellow are the complements of red, green and blue.
Still referring to FIG. 1, the origin of the coordinate system corresponds to the black corner of the color cube. The cube is a unit cube so that the distance between the origin and adjacent corners is 1. The red corner is thus at location, (1,0,0). The axis between the origin (black) and the red corner is referred to as the red axis 110.
The green corner is at location (0,1,0) and the axis 120 between the black origin and the green corner is referred to as the green axis. The blue corner is at location (0,0,1) and the blue axis 130 is the axis between the blue corner and the origin.
Cyan is at corner (0,1,1), magenta is at corner (1,0,1) and yellow is at corner (1,1,0). The corner opposite the origin on the cube's diagonal at location (1,1,1) is the white corner.
A color is defined in the color cube by a vector having red, green and blue components. For example, vector 180 is the resultant of vectors 180R, (along the red axis), vector 180G (along the green axis) and vector 180B (along the blue axis). The end point of vector 180 can be described mathematically by 0.25 R+0.50 G+0.75 B. The end of this vector defines a point in color space represented mathematically by sum of its red, green and blue components.
An example of a system for displaying RGB color is illustrated in FIG. 2. A refresh buffer 140, also known as a video RAM, or VRAM, is used to store color information for each pixel on a video display, such as CRT display 160. A DRAM can also be used as buffer 140. The VRAM 140 contains one memory location for each pixel location on the display 160. For example, pixel 190 at screen location X.sub.0 Y.sub.0 corresponds to memory location 150 in the VRAM 140. The number of bits stored at each memory location for each display pixel varies depending on the amount of color resolution required. For example, for word processing applications or display of text, two intensity values are acceptable so that only a single bit need be stored at each memory location (since the screen pixel is either "on" or "off"). For color images, however, a plurality of intensities must be definable. For certain high end color graphics applications, it has been found that 24 bits per pixel produces acceptable images.
Consider, for example, that in the system of FIG. 2, 24 bits are stored for each display pixel. At memory location 150, there are then 8 bits each for the red, green and blue components of the display pixel. The eight most significant bits of the VRAM memory location could be used to represent the red value, the next 8 bits represent the green value and the 8 least significant bits represent the blue value. Thus, 256 shades each of red, green and blue can be defined in a 24 bit per pixel system. When displaying the pixel at X0, Y0, the bit values at memory location 150 are provided to video driver 170. The bits corresponding to the R component are provided to the R driver, the bits representing the green component are provided to the G driver, and the bits representing the blue component are provided to the blue driver. These drivers activate the red, green and blue phosphors at the pixel location 190. The bit values for each color, red, green and blue, determine the intensity of that color in the display pixel. By varying the intensities of the red, green and blue components, different colors may be produced at that pixel location.
Many of the colors that can be defined in the color cube cannot actually be displayed or have differences perceived because of limitations on the responsiveness of the red, green and blue phosphors. One prior art attempt to provide a solution to this problem is to define a color space within the color cube that is optimized for human perception. One such color space is known as the YIQ color space which is used in the commercial color TV broadcasting system known as NTSC (National Television Standards Committee). The YIQ color space is a recoding of the RGB color space for transmission efficiency and also to provide compatibility with black and white television. The YIQ model is a 3D Cartesian coordinate system mapped into the RGB color cube. Transmission efficiency is achieved by reducing bandwidth in I and Q. The RGB to YIQ conversion that performs the mapping is defined by the following matrix equation: ##EQU1##
The inverse of the matrix is used for the reverse conversion. The Y axis of the YIQ color model represents the luminance of the display pixel, and matches the luminosity response curve for the human eye. In a black and white receiver, only the Y value is used. In a color receiver, all three axes are used to provide display information.
In operation, an image may be recorded with a color camera, which is an RGB system, and converted to YIQ for transmission. At the receiver, the YIQ information is then retransformed into RGB information to drive the color display.
Whereas the RGB and YIQ color spaces are defined to meet hardware constraints, a more user-intuitive model is desired that reflects a graphic artist's feel for tint, shade, and tone. One such color space definition is the HSV color space, which is described along with YIQ color space on pages 613-616 of "Fundamentals of Interactive Computer Graphics," by J. D. Foley and A. Van Dam, published by Addison-Wesley Publishing Company in 1984.
The HSV color space has three parameters (or components): hue, saturation, and value. The HSV color space can be represented by hexagonal cone, as illustrated in FIG. 3, wherein the central axis is the V (value) axis. The apex of the cone is at V=0, and represents black, or (0,0,0) on the RGB cube. The base of the cone is at V=1. The cone may be separated into hexagonal planes (or hexagons) of constant V, e.g., hexagon 300 of FIG. 3. The value for V is calculated from the RGB components by simply taking the maximum value of the RGB components.
The saturation parameter S is a ratio, ranging from S=0 at the center of the hexagons (i.e., along the V axis), to S=1 at the edges. The point (S=0, V=1) represents white, and corresponds to (1,1,1) on the RGB cube. Intermediate values of V at S=0 correspond to grays. The value for S is calculated by subtracting the minimum RGB value from the maximum RGB value, and then dividing by the maximum RGB value (or V value): EQU S=max(R,G,B)-min(R,G,B)!/max(R,G,B) 2!
The hue parameter H determines the pigment content of the color. Hue is measured as the angular rotation about the V axis. Each apex of the hexagons represents either a primary color or a complement of one of the primary colors. To maintain the unitary range of the color model, a full rotation of 360.degree. is equal to one, and a rotation of 180.degree. is equal to one-half. The locations of the primary and complementary colors around the hue arc are red at H=0 (1), yellow at H=1/6, green at H=2/6, cyan at H=3/6, blue at H=4/6 and magenta at H=5/6. Pure pigments are located at the appropriate H value, where V=S=1. The hue value is determined from the RGB components based on which component is the greatest and which is the least.
FIG. 5 shows a hue line from H=0 to H=1, delineating the maximum and minimum RGB contributors over the hue range. The range is divided into regions I-VI for calculation of the hue value from the RGB components. These hue regions are bounded on either side by hue values representing the primary and complementary colors. These hue values also represent RGB values wherein two of the three RGB components are equal. (No hue value is indicated for R=G=B, because the associated saturation value is zero, indicating a color along the V-axis where hue is irrelevant.) The minimum and maximum components for the respective regions are outlined in the following table:
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ HUE CHARACTERISTICS REGION HUE RANGE MINIMUM, MAXIMUM RGB ______________________________________ I 0-1/6 BLUE, RED II 1/6-2/6 BLUE, GREEN III 2/6-3/6 RED, GREEN IV 3/6-4/6 RED, BLUE V 4/6-5/6 GREEN, BLUE VI 5/6-6/6 GREEN, RED ______________________________________
One method for calculating hue is to determine the hue region containing the color based on the minimum and maximum RGB component values, and then to perform a calculation for the appropriate regional case. At the point where two of the three RGB components are equal, both equations for the adjoining regions will provide the same hue value. One possible set of calculations is given below: EQU Region I: H=1-(R-G)/(R-B)!(1/6) 3! EQU Region II: H=1+(G-R)/(G-B)!(1/6) 4! EQU Region III: H=3-(G-B)/(G-R)!(1/6) 5! EQU Region IV: H=3+(B-G)/(B-R)!(1/6) 6! EQU Region V: H=5-(B-R)/(B-G)!(1/6) 7! EQU Region VI: H=5+(R-B)/(R-G)!(1/6) 8!
Under the HSV model, for constant value (V) at constant saturation, the RGB values over the hue range are simply defined. Each R, G and B value is equal to V for the one-third of the hue range centered on its pure pigment hue value (e.g., H=0 for R), equal to the minimum value for the one-third of the hue range centered around the pure complement pigment hue value, and transitioning linearly between the minimum value and V in the remaining portions of the hue range.
FIGS. 4A-4C are graphs of the individual RGB component values versus hue at saturation S=1 and value V=1. As shown in FIG. 4A, the red component (R) of the RGB value has a constant value of R=1 from H=0 to H=1/6, and from H=5/6 to H=1. At H=1/6, the red component ramps down to R=0 at H=2/6. R remains constant at R=0 from H=2/6 to H=4/6, then ramps up to R=1 at H=5/6.
In FIG. 4B, the green component (G) of the RGB value is G=0 at H=0, but ramps up to G=1 at H=1/6. From H=1/6 to H=3/6, the green component is constant at G=1. Between H=3/6 and H=4/6, the green component ramps down from G=1 to G=0, and from H=4/6 to H=1, the green component remains constant at G=0.
In FIG. 4C, the blue component (B) of the RGB value is B=0 from H=0 to H=2/6, then ramps up to B=1 at H=3/6. The blue component remains constant at B=1 from H=3/6 to H=5/6, then ramps down to B=0 at H=1.
With the HSV color model, color description and manipulation are user intuitive. For instance, adding black pigment corresponds to decreasing value without changing saturation. Adding white pigment corresponds to decreasing saturation without changing value. Tones can be created by decreasing both saturation and value. Selecting hue corresponds to selecting the pure pigment from which to start.
Unfortunately, the prior art intuitive color models, such as HSV, do not account for the luminosity response curve of the human eye. The human eye is far more responsive to light at wavelengths corresponding to green than to light at wavelengths corresponding to red or blue. Because of this, colors with equal value (V) appear more luminous if they are in the green hue region, than if they are in the blue or red region. Value is easily understood from a mathematical standpoint, but far from intuitive for the graphic artist. For instance, on the hue wheel, certain regions of the wheel will appear brighter, despite having a constant value (V). This is undesired from a graphic artist's standpoint.
In general, luminance can be calculated from RGB values as follows: EQU Y=k.sub.R (R)+k.sub.G (G)+k.sub.B (B) 9!
where k.sub.R, k.sub.G and k.sub.B are constants determined by the specific intensities generated by the luminance response of the human eye (called the luminous efficiency function) and the characteristics of a given display system.
One definition of k is that used for commercial National Television Standards Committee (NTSC) broadcast video. Here, luminance is defined by the YIQ color space and was based on the display devices currently in use when the standard was written. The coefficient values can be taken from the RGB to YIQ color space transformation: k.sub.(RGB) =(0.298939 0.586625 0.114436). These values are commonly rounded to k.sub.(RGB) =(0.299 0.587 0.114).
The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) Recommendation BT. 709, "Basic Parameter Values for the HDTV (High Definition Standard) Standard for the Studio and for International Program Exchange" defines luminance with k.sub.(RGB) =(0.212671 0.715160 0.072169). In any case, the primary driving force in determining the coefficients is the non-uniform response of the human eye to the light in the red, green and blue parts of the spectrum. As a result, the green coefficient, k.sub.G, will always be the largest, k.sub.R will be intermediate, and k.sub.B will be the smallest.
Applying the NTSC luminosity equation to the RGB values of FIGS. 4A-4C for S=V=1 illustrates the disparity between value (V) and luminance (Y) over the hue range. Table 2 below provides approximate luminance values for the primary and complementary pigment points around the hue wheel.
TABLE 2 ______________________________________ HSV LUMINANCE VALUES HUE (H) LUMINANCE (Y) (@ S=V=1) ______________________________________ 0 k.sub.R 1/6 k.sub.R + k.sub.G 2/6 k.sub.G 3/6 k.sub.G + k.sub.B 4/6 k.sub.B 5/6 k.sub.B + k.sub.R ______________________________________
The resulting NTSC luminance versus hue response is shown in FIG. 6. Luminosity is at a maximum around H=1/6 (yellow), and at a minimum around H=4/6 (blue), with luminosity at the maximum being roughly eight times that at the minimum. Further, the waveform is nonlinear, providing difficulty for the graphic artist in predicting luminance behavior.
Similarly, luminance is also a function of saturation in HSV space. For instance, at H=0 and V=1, the luminance value at S=0 (R=G=B=1) is k.sub.R +k.sub.G +k.sub.B =1.0, and the luminance value at S=1 (R=1, G=B=0) is k.sub.R. The relationship between saturation (S) and luminance (Y) at H=0 and V=1 can be expressed as: EQU Y=1-(1-k.sub.R)S 10!
Therefore, for constant hue and value, as saturation is increased, the luminance decreases and the color appears visibly darker. Conversely, as the saturation decreases, the luminance increases and the color appears visibly brighter.
Thus, though HSV provides for independent manipulation of hue, saturation and value, the eye of the graphic artist registers an unwanted and non-intuitive dependence between hue and luminance, and saturation and luminance.

Method and apparatus for manipulating color values in a computer graphics system


Platelet substitutes, comprising fibrinogen, or analogous products useful in therapy, which further comprise an insoluble carrier to which is bound an essentially non-degraded active protein including the sequence Arg-Gly-Asp. Such conjugates can be made by a conjugation process comprising 0.01 to 2.5% by weight active fibrinogen, and no more that 50% inactive fibrinogen.

Covalently-bound conjugates, comprising an active drug and a carrier, are useful as a means of delivering the drug, e.g. to a specific site of action. Albumin has been proposed as a carrier for this purpose. Microparticles of albumin, their production and use as a carrier, are described in WO-A-9618388.
The covalent attachment of large peptides and proteins to human serum albumin (HSA) microcapsules can generate a number of problems. Sufficient binding sites may not be available for cross-linking due to poor contact between the protein and the microcapsule surface. Also, intra-rather than intermolecular cross-linking is difficult to control when using short or zero length cross-linkers such as glycolaldehyde or EDC, respectively. This can lead to low loading of microcapsules and inactivation of the protein.
Agam and Livne, in a series of papers, Blood 55:186-191 (1983), Thromb. Haemostasis 51:145-9 (1984) and 59:504-6 (1988), and Eur. J. Clin. Invest. (1991), showed that fibrinogen coated on fixed platelets augmented platelet aggregation, and that fibrinogen-coated erythrocytes reduced bleeding times in thrombocytopenic rats. Fixation involved the use of formaldehyde.
Coller et al, J. Clin. Invest. 89:546-555 (1992), describe "Thromboerythrocytes", an autologous, semi-artificial alternative to platelet transfusions. In order to avoid the limitations and drawbacks of using fresh platelets, erythrocytes were coupled to peptides containing the RGD cell recognition sequence, using a bifunctional cross-linker.
In an abstract presented to the XVth Congress of the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis, Jerusalem, Israel, on Jun. 11-16, 1995, Yen et al reported the haemostatic potential of "Thrombospheres", i.e. cross-linked HSA microspheres, mean diam. 1.1-1.3 .mu.m, with human fibrinogen covalently bound to their surfaces. In a thrombocytopenic rabbit model, ear bleeding times were reduced. The HSA microspheres were reportedly prepared by the procedure described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,936, i.e. a solution/desolvation process using glutaraldehyde as a cross-linking agent, ethanol to cause precipitation, and a surfactant to modify the surface of the cross-linked protein molecules. These steps do not provide size control of the microspheres, may cause bound protein to be degraded, and are unsuitable for large-scale manufacture of platelet substitutes.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,069,936 describes the covalent bonding of various biological molecules, but not fibrinogen. A polyaldehyde is proposed as a covalent linking agent. Examples 12 and 14 use glutaraldehyde to bind antibody and enzyme (alkaline phosphatase), respectively.
WO-A-9639128 (published Dec. 12, 1996) also describes "Thrombospheres". Again, no specific preparation is given.
Fibrinogen is an adhesive glycoprotein containing the sequence RGD(S). It and other such glycoproteins (including fibronectin and collagen, among others) may mediate the adhesion of tumour cells to sub-endothelial layers. These glycoproteins interact with integrins found in tumour cells, e.g. the fibronectin receptor, and the GPIIb/IIIa receptor on platelets; see Dardik et al, Int. J. Cancer 70:201-7 (1997).
One of the major problems in the surgical treatment of cancers is the increased risk of tumour cells being released into the circulatory system. This is one reason for increased morbidity in patients with prostate cancer, after surgery. It would be desirable to remove circulating metastatic tumour cells, or inhibit their deposition on vascular surfaces.

Platelet substitutes and conjugation methods suitable for their preparation