An electronic method and apparatus for signal encoding and decoding to provide ultra low distortion reproduction of analog signals, while remaining compatible with industry standardized signal playback apparatus not incorporating the decoding features of the invention, and wherein the improved system provides an interplay of gain, slew rate and wave synthesis operations to reduce signal distortions and improve apparent resolution, all under the control of concealed control codes for triggering appropriate decoding signal reconstruction compensation complementing the signal analysis made during encoding. In addition, signals lacking the encoding process features of the invention are likewise compatible with playback decoders which do embody the invention, to provide some overall restoration enhancement.

This invention relates generally to improvements in signal encoding/decoding methods and apparatus and, more particularly, to a new and improved digital encoding and decoding system for lower distortion, higher resolution, and increased dynamic range reproduction of analog signals while remaining compatible with industry standardized signal playback apparatus and standards not incorporating the decoding features of the present invention. In addition, recordings lacking the encoding process features of the invention are likewise compatible with playback decoders which do embody the invention, and are provided some enhancement.
Quite often a recording or communications system is standardized and its format cannot be readily altered without affecting a substantial quantity of equipment already in existence. Hence, adding information with supplemental codes may not always be practical unless provisions have been standardized for such insertions. Unfortunately, modern digital systems are not very expandable since data bandwidth, resolution, error correction, synchronization, ancillary data and other "housekeeping" information essentially occupy the entire digital capacity of the storage or transmission medium.
However, electronic equipment manufacturers and users of such devices continue to seek enhanced performance and more features from such standardized systems. An important example is the need to make a compatible recording well suited simultaneously for portable, automotive, television and audiophile markets. Today, many recordings are made for the most profitable market while other users suffer compromised sonics. The obvious conflicting performance requirements of different listening environments and the need for sonic improvement should desirably be implemented by a new system which is compatible with older systems and recordings.
Automobile and portable equipment are usually low cost and must operate in noisy environments. Hence, in such situations, a slightly restricted dynamic range playback is beneficial. Audiophile systems require utmost accuracy, dynamic range, and resolution beyond that which is available in the current standards. Thus, in any new compatible system, as provided by the present invention, encoded dynamics and slew rate modifications which achieve lowest distortion and best resolution for the audiophile when decoded, should also provide improved sonics for portable and automotive playback when not decoded.
Compact Disc pulse code modulation and other digital audio encoding schemes are good examples of highly developed and standardized systems which push signal conditioning and digital information limits. Most such digital systems originally evolved around then practical 2.5 to 3.5 mHz rotary head video recorder bandwidths. In such standards, the data bits with error correction and housekeeping entirely fill the available bandwidth. Accordingly, the need for a "smart" optimization technique, which does not rely upon increased bandwidth for its implementation, becomes apparent.
By way of background, let us consider a typical digital audio record-play system, its most frequently encountered components, operation, and difficulties. In its simplest form, the recorder includes a sampling switch and an analog to digital converter. The switch breaks the continuous analog signal into a series of voltage steps, each of which is converted to number groups or digital words. Digital level meters and simple communication systems often operate with just these functions in a single IC chip. Practical high performance record and playback systems require many added operations to prevent undesired internal and external analog-digital signal interactions, as well as beats and non-linear feedthrough between digital and analog frequencies. Well-known technologies to deal with these problems include sharp cut-off or "brick wall" low-pass filters, fast sample and hold circuits, and high common mode rejection amplifiers. Unfortunately, although these components and subsystems solve many problems, they also create others.
Briefly, in typical digital recording systems, low-pass filters ring, and if of analog construction, have pre-echo, are subject to sudden phase shifts near band edge, and have capacitors which often cause troublesome dielectric hysteresis effects. Sample and hold circuits have unpredictable timing and capture errors for different signal slew rates and also suffer from capacitor problems. Fast digital signals and the high speed amplifiers needed to handle them often create and are sensitive to ground currents which can cause audible strobe-beat effects. Digital reproducing systems have similar problems, along with spike or glitch generation caused by digital to analog conversion, and digital filter word length round off problems. Usually the recorder is designed to have state of the art performance while that of the reproducer degrades depending on the economies of "consumer" construction. These and other problems continue to plague modern high performance digital audio systems.
Unfortunately, such technical difficulties usually create jarring non-harmonic distortions, typically centered in the most sensitive and perceptive human hearing range. Often these distortions are caused by the highest, almost inaudible frequencies contained within the program material. Taking the ratio of high and low frequency hearing acuity into account, and the fact that sounds unrelated to the program material stand out, the presence of even an extraordinarily small amount of these distortions can be quite objectionable to the listener. Fortunately, often only very small corrections are needed to minimize some of these distortions. However, left as is, these distortion errors can combine to yield the equivalent of 13 to 14 bit performance accuracy from systems originally designed for 16 bit resolution. In practice, while some feel the advantages of current digital recordings outweigh the disadvantages of their distortion errors, many sophisticated listeners and audiophiles are not so tolerant.
Accordingly, those concerned with the development and use of digital signal encoding and decoding systems for analog signals have long recognized the need for a higher quality, lower distortion digital system for reproduction of such analog signals, which for all practical purposes is also compatible with existing equipment standards. The present invention fulfills all of these needs.


The present invention provides a method to calibrate an on-board remote sensing system using a self-locking travel pattern and target remote sensing data. The self-locking travel pattern includes a number of parallel travel lines having overlapping swath widths between adjacent travel lines. The overlapping swath widths are used to determine the boresight angles and range offset of the remote sensor device. In addition, the method can be used to generate estimated horizontal and vertical displacement errors. These estimated errors can be used as correction factors for the range offset and boresight angles.

Remote sensing involves the acquisition of information or data around a distant object or system without being in physical contact with it. Most remote sensing instruments are designed to analyze the characteristics of the electromagnetic spectra reflected by objects (their spectral signatures) to allow one to determine some of the objects' properties. Human vision uses the same principle when using color (the sensation produced when light of different wavelengths falls on the human eye) to identify objects. The sensors used in remote sensing, however, make it possible to broaden the field of analysis to include parts of the electromagnetic spectrum that are well beyond visible light such as ultraviolet (<0.3 μm), visible (0.4–0.7 μm), near-infrared (0.7–1.5 μm) and thermal infrared (up to 1000 μm or 1 mm) ranges.
Today, remote sensing technology is used in a variety of applications in fields such as hydrology, geology, environment, transportation, ecology, and earthquake engineering. One particular application involves airborne imaging where remote sensors are placed on-board aircraft to make observations and images of the Earth. These airborne remote sensor systems generally use either a mechanical scanning technique or a linear array, along with aircraft motion, to acquire terrestrial imagery.
One drawback to using current airborne imaging techniques is the inferior geometric fidelity in image quality since the two-dimensional spatial images captured by the remote sensors are not acquired at the same instant. During airborne imaging, each image scene that is collected from a target area consists of a two-dimensional grid of discrete cells, each of which is referred to as a pixel. For scanning sensors, adjacent pixels are acquired at different times, while for linear array sensors, adjacent rows of pixels are acquired at different times. Attitude data meanwhile are sampled once per scan revolution. Consequently, any changes in the direction of the aircraft's velocity or attitude results in geometric distortions for different regions within the two-dimensional image. Also, sufficient information is not available to obtain accurate records of the sensor's location or its attitude parameters at the appropriate instant. Therefore, the collected data requires sophisticated and expensive post-mission processing to improve upon the geometric fidelity and to achieve a positioning accuracy that meet the user's requirement.
Another drawback to current airborne imaging is that the remote sensors mounted to the aircraft have to be calibrated in order to accurately obtain the absolute geophysical coordinates of the remote sensing data. During normal operation, the remote sensing data acquired during the flight must be transferred from the original mission medium to a working medium. The remote sensing data is then processed in a centrally located data processing center before it is distributed to end users. To obtain the desired level of accuracy on the absolute geophysical coordinates, each user has to perform additional image processing. This includes sophisticated and extensive ground processing and, in many cases, collecting supporting data on ground control points before the absolute geophysical coordinates on any feature in the terrestrial imagery can be obtained. No accurate absolute geophysical coordinate information, suitable for medium and large scale mapping applications, of any terrestrial features in an image scene is available on the original mission medium.
One method of calibrating a remote sensor is to place calibration targets on the target area that is to be sensed. Panels made of cloth have been used as calibration targets but are expensive, difficult to handle, require intensive effort to lay out in a field, are easily damaged, and usually must be gathered up after the calibration exposure is completed. In addition, deploying calibration targets requires significant labor costs when sites are remote or when images must be acquired frequently. Another calibration target is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,191,851 (Kirkham et al.). Kirkham et al. discloses a calibration target that can be left in place adjacent to or in the field of interest to permit automatic calibration of the remote sensing system. However, the calibration target must still be deployed in or near the area to be imaged to provide the imagery characteristics of the target area in order to calibrate the data received by the remote sensor.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art of remote sensor technology to provide an inexpensive calibration method that can provide optical and thermal imagery characteristics without having to perform multiple calibration flights or travel during airborne or vehicular imaging applications. The aspects for cost reduction include equipment and material cost, mission execution and verification process, reduction of ground support tasks, efficiency and accessibility of deriving accurate position information from remotely sensed images.

Method of using a self-locking travel pattern to achieve calibration of remote sensors using conventionally collected data


Techniques for generating a dataflow graph include generating a first dataflow graph with a plurality of first nodes representing first computer operations in processing data, with at least one of the first computer operations being a declarative operation that specifies one or more characteristics of one or more results of processing of data, and transforming the first dataflow graph into a second dataflow graph for processing data in accordance with the first computer operations, the second dataflow graph including a plurality of second nodes representing second computer operations, with at least one of the second nodes representing one or more imperative operations that implement the logic specified by the declarative operation, where the one or more imperative operations are unrepresented by the first nodes in the first dataflow graph.

This disclosure relates to generating computational graphs.
Complex computations can often be expressed as a data flow through a directed graph, with components of the computation being associated with the vertices of the graph and data flows between the components corresponding to links (arcs, edges) of the graph. A system that implements such graph-based computations is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,966,072, titled "Executing Computations Expressed as Graphs," the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. In some cases, the computations associated with a vertex is described in human-readable form referred to as "business rules."
One technique for generating data flow graphs uses a business rule editor. An example of a business rule editor is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,069,129, titled "Editing and Compiling Business Rules," the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

Editor for generating computational graphs


An article for texturing an electrode having a tip hardness and a tip contour is disclosed. The article includes a plate having an upper surface and a lower surface, and an indentation in at least one of the upper and the lower surface. The indentation includes a textured surface having a plurality of asperities. The textured surface has a hardness greater than the tip hardness of the electrode. The texture of the textured surface is imprinted into the tip of the electrode in response to the tip of the electrode and the textured surface being pressed against each other.

The present disclosure relates generally to an electrode-texturing tool and a method of use thereof, and particularly to an electrode-texturing tool for creating a textured surface at the tip of an electrode.
In resistance spot welding, pressure is applied to two or more contacting metal sheets by means of copper or copper alloy electrodes, while simultaneously passing a high electric current between the electrodes. Electrical heating causes a molten nugget to form at the sheet interface at the point of pressure. Resistance spot welding is one of the most useful and economical methods to join sheet metal components. For mass production, such as in the manufacture of automotive bodies, electrode life and equipment downtime to replace worn out electrodes is a consideration.
An aspect of resistance spot welding is the electrical resistance between the electrodes and the workpiece (electrode resistance), and between the contacting metal sheets that make up the workpiece (faying surface resistance). In the resulting series arrangement of resistances, it is desirable for the faying surface resistance to be a substantial part of the total resistance (electrode plus faying surface resistance). However, variations at the electrode-to-workpiece interface may cause the electrode resistance to vary, and in some instances to exceed a preferred level. Such variations may result from an oxide layer being present on the workpiece surface that increases the contact resistance at the electrode-to-workpiece interface. As the electrode-to-workpiece contact resistance increases, so does the heat generation in that vicinity, which may result in electrode wear at the electrode tip over time, and variations in the quality of the weld. Furthermore, the inconsistency in the nature of the surface oxide films, particularly with aluminum and magnesium alloys, can make the electrode resistance variable, resulting in erratic weld quality.
Low electrode resistance on aluminum alloy surfaces may be obtainable with abrasion or arc cleaning of the outer surfaces of the workpiece. Alternatively, the surface of the spot welding electrode may be roughened by sand-blasting or shot-peening. The sharp asperities on the roughened electrode surface can break through the insulating layers on the surface of workpiece and make direct contact with the underlying fresh metal, thus reduce the contact resistance between the electrode and the workpiece (electrode resistance) and increase the service life of the welding electrode. An added benefit of roughened electrodes is the elimination or reduction of electrode skidding.
A spot welding electrode will deteriorate over time with use, and especially quickly for welding aluminum or magnesium due to the high currents used and the metallurgical interactions between aluminum or magnesium sheet and the copper electrodes. A worn electrode must be either dressed by re-cutting the welding surface, or exchanged with a new electrode to maintain weld quality. For aluminum or magnesium alloys, this redressing is often done after only a few tens of welds. Textured or roughened electrodes improve the spot welding process significantly as mentioned above. However, the textured surface will be lost after electrode dressing.
If surface roughening is done by a method like sand-or grit-blasting, the electrode must be removed from the welding machine and the electrode tip surface roughened at a separate location, which may significantly and negatively impact the productivity. Accordingly, there is a need for an electrode texturing or roughening tool and method of use thereof that overcomes these drawbacks.

Electrode texturing tool and method of use thereof


A debris collector and associated systems and methods are disclosed. The debris collector is configured to receive and process debris, such as lawn debris, by way of a variety of intake systems, such as a basket and vacuum tube. After intake, the debris collector is configured to process the debris by way of an auger and agitators, so as to be passed through a blower fan for disposal.

Particularly in the fall, large amounts of debris, such as leaves, fall on lawns. There is a need in the art for improved apparatus, systems and methods for efficient, high volume collection and removal of lawn debris.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
As discussed herein, the "debris collector" relates to various apparatus and methods relating to the collection and removal of debris by way of a collection reservoir specially adapted to receive and process the debris before blowing it into a truck for removal.
While multiple embodiments are disclosed, still other embodiments of the debris collector will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description, which shows and describes illustrative embodiments. As will be realized, the invention is capable of modifications in various obvious aspects, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the debris collector. Accordingly, the drawings and detailed description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive.


A heating member includes a weight supporter having an outer circumference, and a resistive heating disposed on the outer circumference of the weight supporter. The resistive heating layer includes a conductive filler dispersed in a base material. A pair of electrodes extends along a length direction of a rotational axis of the weight supporter and is arranged along a circumference of the weight supporter for supplying electric power to the resistive heating layer.

1. Field
Disclosed herein is a heating member, which includes a resistive heating layer and a fusing device, which fuses toner onto a printing medium by using the heating member.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electrophotography type image forming apparatus generally supply a toner to an electrostatic latent image disposed on an image receiving body to form a visible toner image on the image receiving body, transfer the toner image onto a printing medium, and fuse the transferred toner image onto the printing medium. The toner is fabricated by adding various functional additives to a base resin. The fusing process includes heating and compressing the toner. A large amount of energy is consumed during the fusing process, which is undesirable.
A fusing device includes a heating roller and a compressing roller that are opposedly disposed to each other and engaged with each other to form a fusing nip. The heating roller may be heated by a heating source such as a halogen lamp. During printing, a medium on which the toner image is transferred is transmitted through the fusing nip, where heat and pressure are then applied to the toner image.

Heating member including resistive heating layer and fusing device comprising the heating member


An apparatus comprising a native device coupled to an input of an amplifier. The native device is configured to provide a high voltage protection in response to an enable signal.

The present invention relates to a method and/or architecture for implementing differential amplifiers generally and, more particularly, to a method and/or architecture for implementing a low voltage differential amplifier with high voltage protection.
Integrated circuits (ICs) can be required to operate with secondary devices that can have a variety of supply voltages. If the IC is implemented using low voltage, thin oxide devices, but needs to operate with devices that use higher voltages, some sort of protection needs to be provided for the low voltage devices. FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional circuit 10 that uses thick oxide devices for high voltage protection. Such conventional approaches use high voltage devices HV1, HV2, HV3 and HV4 to implement an input differential amplifier.
Such an approach has the disadvantage of a reduced input common mode range due to a high threshold voltage Vt of the thick oxide devices HV1, HV2, HV3 and HV4. Also, such an approach requires a larger silicon area to implement and has slower performance. The high voltage devices HV1, HV2, HV3 and HV4 are larger, which impacts the size and the parasitic capacitance of the circuit 10.
FIG. 2 illustrates a conventional circuit 30 implementing high voltage complementary switches HV1 and HV2 (each comprising a p-channel and an n-channel device) to protect the input devices LV1 and LV2 of the low voltage input differential amplifier 32. The circuit 30 has the disadvantage of implementing a combination of high voltage thresholds and a low voltage gate bias, which causes an input voltage region in which signals can not be passed to the low voltage amplifier 32. This region is referred to as the dead zone, as shown in FIG. 3, where Vin is an input voltage. For example, if the n-channel device threshold voltage Vtn is 1.0V, the p-channel device threshold voltage Vtp is xe2x88x921.0V, and the control voltages LV13 COMP13 EN and LV13 COMP13 ENb are 1.8V and 0.0V respectively, neither device of the complementary switches HV1 and HV2 will be turned on when the input level is between 0.8V and 1V. The dead zone region will be exaggerated as the control voltage LV13 COMP13 EN is reduced.
Both the circuit 10 and the circuit 30 do not meet the speed objective for the input paths of modern integrated circuits. Also, the circuit 30 fails to pass (or propagate) input levels residing within the dead zone, which is undesirable.
It would be desirable to implement a low voltage differential amplifier with high voltage protection that does not have a dead zone and does not sacrifice other performance specifications, such as speed, die size, input common mode range, etc.
The present invention concerns an apparatus comprising a native device coupled to an input of an amplifier. The native device is configured to provide high voltage protection in response to an enable signal.
The objects, features and advantages of the present invention include implementing a low voltage differential amplifier that may (i) implement fast signal propagation through the differential amplifier; (ii) implement a simple high voltage protection scheme without requiring a voltage pump or voltage reference circuit; (iii) avoid input level dead zone regions that may be associated with conventional approaches; and/or (iv) allow the differential amplifier to be implemented with low voltage devices, which may yield a wide input common mode range and lower parasitic capacitance.

Low voltage differential amplifier with high voltage protection


A steering force assisting device that includes an electric motor and includes independent two sets of motor driving circuit and control unit, and the electric motor includes coils having the same polarity and different motor characteristics, the coils being wound around each of teeth of a stator of the electric motor. The motor characteristics are a high speed/low torque characteristic and a low speed/high torque characteristic, and may be selected on the basis of the running condition of a vehicle.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an electric power steering.
2. Description of Related Art
In an existing art, an electric power steering (EPS) controls an electric motor so that steering assist force has an assist characteristic based on the running condition of a vehicle.
For example, a method of controlling the electric motor includes field-weakening control. Field-weakening control is executed only when the vehicle speed is lower than a predetermined value, and is not executed when the vehicle speed is higher than or equal to the predetermined value (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2008-068769 (JP-A-2008-068769)). By so doing, the linearity of the motor characteristic is maintained against steering during running of the vehicle, and motor output according to a command value may be obtained. Therefore, a steering feeling during running improves. On the other hand, field-weakening control works when the vehicle is stopped or the vehicle is running at a low speed and, as a result, required torque may be obtained, so it is possible to ensure appropriate assist force.
In another related art, two electric motors having different output characteristics are arranged at different portions of a steering system from a steering wheel of a vehicle to steered wheels, and the electric motors each are individually controlled on the basis of the running condition of the vehicle to thereby, for example, assist in steering only with the low-power electric motor during running at a high speed and assist in steering only with the high-power electric motor during running at a relatively low speed (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2005-247214 (JP-A-2005-247214)). By so doing, it is possible to easily control steering assist force on the basis of the running condition of the vehicle.
However, as in the case of the above related examples, when the output characteristic of a single electric motor is frequently varied on the basis of the running condition of a vehicle, components may be degraded because of heat and vibrations of the motor due to a steep torque variation to thereby lead to a decrease in the reliability of the system, and, in some cases, it is conceivable that a steering feeling deteriorates. In addition, because a single electric motor is controlled, there is a problem that, when there occurs poor energization in any one of the phases (any one of U, V and W phases) of the electric motor due to a break in a power supply line, a contact failure of a driving circuit, or the like, the system should be immediately stopped.
On the other hand, when two electric motors having different output characteristics are arranged at different portions of a steering system from a steering wheel of a vehicle to steered wheels, the portions at which the two electric motors are installed are different, so a steering feeling may include a feeling of strangeness at the time of changing between the two electric motors. Other than the above, space for installing the two electric motors is required, so the flexibility of installation problematically reduces. Thus, there is still room for improvement in the above points.


A tissue-adhesive formulation consists of a naturally occurring or synthetic polymerisable and/or cross-linkable material in particulate form, the polymerisable and/or cross-linkable material being in admixture with particulate material comprising tissue-reactive functional groups. The formulation may be used in the preparation of a tissue-adhesive sheet, by applying the formulation to at least one side of a core of a naturally occurring or synthetic polymeric material.

There is considerable interest in the use, for a number of surgical or other therapeutic applications, of materials that adhere to biological tissues eg as an alternative to the use of mechanical fasteners such as sutures, staples etc. Formulations of such materials that have hitherto been proposed include viscous solutions or gels that are either manufactured in that form or are prepared immediately prior to use by mixing of the ingredients. Such formulations are then applied to the tissue surface using a suitable applicator device such as a syringe.
Formulations of the type described above suffer from a number of disadvantages. If the formulation is of low viscosity, it may spread from the area of application and hence be difficult to apply precisely to the desired area of tissue. If the formulation is more viscous, on the other hand, it may be difficult to dispense. In either case, the formulation, being prepared in hydrated form, may have a limited lifetime and may be subject to premature curing. It may therefore be necessary for the whole of the formulation to be used at once or discarded. Also, the preparation of formulations immediately prior to use by mixing of ingredients is obviously laborious and time-consuming. In addition to these drawbacks, the degree of adhesion between tissue surfaces that is provided by such formulations may be less than would be desired.
Formulations of tissue adhesive materials have also been applied to a suitable support for application to the tissue surface. The use of therapeutic materials in the form of a sheet, patch or film, for topical administration to either internal or external organs of the body, is well documented for a wide range of medical applications. A disadvantage of products proposed hitherto, however, is that the degree of adhesion to the underlying tissue, particularly in the longer term, may be inadequate. While the initial adhesion may be satisfactory, the sheet may subsequently become detached from the tissue, often after only a few seconds or minutes, eg as a result of hydration of the sheet following its application. In addition, the flexibility of the product may be insufficient for it to conform readily to the surface to which it is applied, which may also have an adverse effect on its adhesion.
As a result of the inadequate adhesion of these products, it may be necessary to provide further reinforcement, eg through mechanical attachment using sutures, staples or the like. Alternatively, energy (eg light or heat energy) may be applied in order to initiate chemical bonding of the adhesive formulation to the underlying tissue, and hence bonding of the tissue surfaces to each other. Clearly, such approaches introduce further drawbacks. The use of mechanical fastenings such as sutures or staples is often the very thing that the use of such products is intended to replace or avoid. In many instances, the use of such fastenings is either not wholly effective (eg on the lung) or undesirable, as their introduction gives rise to further areas of tissue weakness. The use of external energy requires the provision and operation of a source of such energy. Such energy sources may be expensive and difficult to operate, particularly in the confines of an operating theatre or similar environment. Also, the use of external energy for attachment can be both time-consuming and (in some cases) requires significant careful judgement on the part of the surgeon, to evaluate when sufficient energy has been delivered to effect attachment without damaging the underlying tissue.
There have now been devised improved formulations of tissue-adhesive materials and sheets or the like of the general type described above that overcome or substantially mitigate the above-mentioned and/or other disadvantages of the prior art.


A signal cable for transmitting a plurality of signals is applied to a video endoscope having a solid state image pick-up device. Signal lines for transmitting substantially the same signals of the plurality of signals are combined and stranded into a stranded line. The stranding pitch of the stranding line is different from that of a stranding line for transmitting other signals.

In the medical field, a medical video endoscope has been broadly used. The medical video endoscope has an inserting portion to be inserted in a body cavity for observing an organ from the inside of the body cavity, and/or a treating instrument inserting channel through which a treating instrument is inserted to perform various types of treatments for the organ.
In the industrial field, an industrial video endoscope has also been broadly used. The industrial video endoscope can observe and inspect a scratch or a corrosion inside an object, such as a boiler, a turbine, an engine, a chemical plant, or the like.
Particularly, an inserting portion of a video endoscope used for inspecting a jet engine of an aircraft is desired to be thin, so that the inserting portion can easily be inserted in the engine which has a complicated structure.
Generally, the video endoscope is provided at the distal end of its inserting portion with a solid state image pick-up device which functions as an image pick-up means and includes, for example, a charge-coupled device (CCD). A signal cable for transmitting a driving signal of the charge-coupled device is inserted through the inserting portion of the video endoscope.
The signal cable usually includes a bundle of ten-odd signal lines. Namely, the charge-coupled device is connected to the ten-odd signal lines in order to drive the charge-coupled device and to output the image signal of the charge-coupled device. The ten-odd wires constitute the signal cable for transmitting the driving signal and the like of the charge-coupled device. Signals having different frequencies are transmitted respectively to the ten-odd signal lines constituting the signal cable.
Since the signal cable is inserted through a long inserting portion of the video endoscope, the signal cable has a long length proportional to the length of the inserting portion.
When the signal cable is long, it is necessary to stabilize the signal transmitted via the signal cable. Therefore, it has been common to use as the signal line a coaxial cable having a shield structure for preventing the influence of electrical interference and outside noise.
However, since the coaxial cable has the shield structure, the outer size of the coaxial cable is larger than that of a non-shielded signal line which has no shield structure.
When a plurality of coaxial cables are bundled and used as a signal cable of a video endoscope, it is a problem that the outer size of the signal cable becomes considerably large, thereby thickening the inserting portion of the video endoscope through which the signal cable is inserted.
In order to solve this problem, Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 7-184854 describes a video endoscope whose inserting portion can be thin.
In this video endoscope, a coaxial cable which can avoid noise influence is used for transmitting a high-frequency signal, and a non-shielded signal line is used for transmitting a direct current signal. In this way, depending on what kind of signal is transmitted, different types of signal lines are used, thereby minimizing the outer size of the signal cable which includes a bundle of a plurality of signal lines.
However, in the video endoscope disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 7-184854, the outer size of the signal cable is limited, depending on the number of the coaxial cables. That is, unless the number of the coaxial cables used is decreased, the signal cable cannot be thinner.
In order to reduce the outer size of the signal cable, all coaxial cables used for the signal cable may merely be replaced with non-shielded signal lines.
However, because signals having various frequencies are transmitted through the signal lines, electrical interference between signals in the signal cable may occur and noise from a signal line may affect another signal line. As a result, the transmission characteristics of the signal cable are deteriorated so that the charge-coupled device will operate erroneously or cannot be driven sufficiently. Thus, the quality of the image picked up by the charge-coupled device will be deteriorated.
Therefore, in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application Publication No. 7-184854, the minimization of the outer diameter of the inserting portion of the video endoscope has a limit. Consequently, this cannot provide a video endoscope having a thinner inserting portion.

Signal cable of a video endoscope provided with a solid state image pick-up device


A counter light fixture has a fixture housing with a downward facing reflector and lamp sockets under the reflector, and a window panel hinged to the housing for access to the lamp sockets. The fixture housing is formed as a continuous extrusion including a wiring compartment which extends the length of the housing. The extrusion has a downwardly facing concave top section joined to an upwardly facing concave rear section. The reflector is under the downwardly facing concave top section, one or more lamp sockets are mounted under the reflector, the window panel is supported between opposite end caps of the housing under the downwardly facing concave top section, and the electrical wiring is contained in the upwardly facing concave rear section. The window panel slides away from a closed condition and then swings down to an open condition.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to the field of interior lighting and in particular relates to light fixtures suitable for mounting under wall hung cabinets for illuminating an underlying counter surface.
2. State of the Prior Art
Counter light fixtures are available in various designs. Continued improvement remains desirable.


A winding unit is formed in an annular pattern along the outer circumferential surface of a rotary body rotatable about a shaft. The winding unit has multiple alignment grooves in which a wire is wound and turns of the wire are aligned. The winding unit is provided with an ungrooved part formed to straddle the alignment grooves.

A bead ring winding machine of this type is disclosed, for example, in Patent Document 1. In this conventional structure, an annular recessed part used for winding a wire in rows and in tiers is formed in the outer circumferential surface of a circular bead former rotatable about a shaft. The inner bottom portion of the recessed part is provided with multiple alignment grooves in which turns of the wire in the innermost circumference are guided and aligned at regular intervals.
The alignment grooves described in Patent Document 1 include a circumferential groove in which the wire is wound substantially one turn in the circumferential direction of the bead former and an oblique groove formed between adjacent circumferential grooves. The oblique groove is used to guide the wire wound in one circumferential groove to a next circumferential groove. Patent Document 1 further discloses an alignment groove formed in a spiral pattern. In this structure, the wire is wound in a spiral pattern on the bead former.
The alignment grooves of the bead ring winding machine of Patent Document 1 include the circumferential groove and the oblique groove. Thus, a winding orbit of the wire in the innermost circumference is changed forcibly in a short turning region of the oblique groove. However, the high stiffness of the wire makes it difficult to shift the wire to a next circumferential groove smoothly along the oblique groove. This may unfortunately result in an irregular winding condition. The structure of forming the alignment groove in a spiral pattern forms each of a side edge portion of the alignment groove where winding starts and a side edge portion of the alignment groove where the winding ends into a narrow width. This makes it impossible to align turns of the wire in the innermost circumference in a position where winding starts and in a position where the winding ends. This may unfortunately result in an irregular winding condition, so that the wire wound outside the wire in the innermost circumference may collapse easily. Such collapse of winding of the wire in the innermost circumference causes an unstable inner circumferential length of a bead ring. Further, winding the entire wire in a spiral pattern places the wire in a direction tilted to the axis line of the bead ring. This may cause an unstable inner circumferential length of the bead ring or place the wire at a tilt. This may unfortunately damage the grasping function of a tire bead part as a function inherent to the bead ring.


A method of encapsulating a long instruction in a set of short instructions for execution on a processor, the long instruction having k bits and each short instruction having l bits where l<k, includes assembling a first portion of the long instruction and a first identifier to form a first instruction of the set of short instructions; and assembling a second portion of the long instruction and a second identifier to form a second instruction of the set of short instructions; wherein at least one of the first and second identifiers is for identifying to the processor that the set of short instructions encapsulates the long instruction.

This invention relates generally to instruction set extensions for increased code density. In particular the invention relates to encapsulating long instructions from a full instruction set into a set of short instructions.
Reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors typically have a fixed bit-width instruction size. Common sizes are 16-bits and 32-bits. 32-bits give flexibility in expressing instructions and operands but at the expense of typically larger code size than the 16-bit instruction sets.
Known reduced instruction sets consist of a subset of the full instruction set. In particular often these reduced instruction sets exclude any instructions which are longer than 16 bits. Reduced instruction sets therefore consist of the more simple (low level) instructions of the full instruction sets.
A problem with reduced instruction sets is that some specific (high level) instructions for which the hardware of a processor might be optimised cannot be expressed in short instructions because they are longer than the length of a short instruction. An example of such a specific instruction is a Fast Fourier Transform instruction which the hardware of a digital signal processor (DSP) might be optimised to execute. In such cases a combination of low level, fundamental instructions may be able to produce the same result as the specific instruction. However, because many low level instructions will need to be executed to achieve the same result as the specific instruction, the operation will be much slower than if long instructions had been used.
Another problem with the use of reduced instruction sets is that a separate compiler must be designed and manufactured for the reduced instruction set as compared to the compiler that is used for the corresponding long instruction set. This delays the time in between developing the reduced instruction set and being able to make chips available to the market which use the reduced instruction set.
Some existing processors (for example those developed by ARM and MIPS) are able to execute both (i) full instruction sets which use long instructions, and (ii) reduced instruction sets which use short instructions. This functionality enables long instructions to be used for specific high-level instructions, and otherwise short instructions to be used. However, these processors are complex because they must be able to receive and process both full instruction sets and reduced instruction sets.
There is a need for a method of assembling instruction sets which enables fast processing of both low-level fundamental instructions and high-level specific instructions whilst not significantly increasing complexity.

Assembling long instruction encapsulated in short instructions according to method identified by format bits


The present invention provides a temperature sensitive transport container (20) for packaging and shipping cell-based products such as cultured cells intended for transplantation. In particular, the present disclosure provides a thermally insulated transport container system (10) for storing and transporting cells for transplantation which is capable of maintaining the cells at a desirable temperature range for a sufficient period of time to ensure adequate cell viability and therapeutic properties.

Current advances in biotechnology have introduced a variety of new therapeutic products to the market. Nowhere is this more true than in the medical industry. Instead of traditional drugs taken orally or intravenously, many of the new therapies involve the delivery of biological or cellular products directly to the patient. For example, cellular transplantation has recently emerged as a potential new treatment for many diseases or physical defects due to injury that could result in the loss of specialized cells within organ systems, eventually leading to organ system failure. The potential to treat these conditions with cell-based therapies holds promise for tissue/organ repair with the ultimate goal to regenerate and restore normal function.
The field of regenerative biology as it applies to regenerative medicine is an increasingly expanding area of research with hopes of providing therapeutic treatments for diseases and/or injuries that conventional medicines and even new biologic drug therapies cannot effectively treat. Extensive research in the area of regenerative medicine is focused on the development of cells, tissues and organs for the purpose of restoring function through transplantation. Replacement, repair and restoration of function is best accomplished by cells, tissues or organs that can perform the appropriate physiologic/metabolic duties. Several strategies are currently being investigated and include cell therapies derived from a variety of stem cells, including bone marrow, mesenchymal stem cells, cord blood stem cells, embryonic stem cells, as well as cells, tissues and organs from genetically modified animals.
A number of pre-clinical models as well as clinical applications involving cell therapy currently exist or are being explored. For example, cell therapies have been used to rebuild damaged cartilage in joints, repair spinal cord injuries, strengthen a weakened immune system, treat autoimmune diseases such as AIDS, and help patients with neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and epilepsy. Further uses have included the treatment of a wide range of chronic conditions such as arteriosclerosis, congenital defects, and sexual dysfunction. Cell therapy has also been explored as a cancer treatment.
Another application of autologous cell transplantation involves the use of cell therapy to treat heart tissue damaged by myocardial infarction (MI). In one particular application, myoblasts harvested from a muscle biopsy can be transplanted as an adjunct to coronary artery bypass surgery, such as for example, by injecting the myoblast cells directly into a scarred or damaged heart, i.e., into the scar tissue or pre-infarct zone of damaged myocardium. Such a treatment technique would address acute injuries of the myocardium while also slowing or preventing the progression of congestive heart failure or scar formation.
With the clinical promise of novel therapeutic strategies comes new challenges. Because these cellular therapeutic products are living cells and delivered to the surgeon or care provider, it is desirable to understand not only how to reliably produce these products but also how to deliver them to the surgeon or care provider while preserving their viability and therapeutic properties. Accordingly, the need for temperature-sensitive packaging becomes critical as these cell therapies are brought to market. There is thus a need for storage and container systems that take into account the biological and physical requirements of transporting live cells, and in particular the effects of temperature constraints of the shipping process on the biological products. Specifically, there is a need for a storage and container system that can maintain the viability and therapeutic properties of the cells for a sufficient period of time during shipping or transport.

Thermally insulated transport container for cell-based products and related methods


An ultra-short pulse laser physically and/or chemically modifies a substrate surface. A laser ablation process is configured to form raised surface features on the substrate. The laser also functions as the energy source in a chemical vapor deposition (CVD) process. The laser delivers energy to the substrate with parameters such as pulse energy, size, duration, and spacing sufficient to simultaneously vaporize substrate material and cause the substrate material to react with a controlled environment that includes constituents of a desired coating composition. A battery electrode having a face with microneedle features coated with an active metal compound can be produced by the process. The active metal compound is a lithium-containing compound in a lithium-ion battery.

Short pulse laser ablation processes have been investigated and/or used in a variety of applications, such as material removal processes where it is desired to remove very thin layers of materials or coatings. Nanosecond, picosecond, and femtosecond lasers combine the advantages of the high-density energy delivery capability of laser light with a reduced heat-affected zone, making them useful for processing temperature sensitive or otherwise delicate materials with a high degree of precision and/or for localized material surface treatments.

Pulsed laser chemical vapor deposition and surface modification

The Regents of the University of Michigan


A mounting structure for vehicle interior parts includes a console member and a shift panel having an upper panel and a lower panel. An insertion portion that is inserted into a dent formed in a rear end of the console member is provided on a rear end of the lower panel. Left and right outer side surfaces of the insertion portion of the lower panel and left and right inner side surfaces of the dent of the console member are configured to be engageable by inserting engaging projections into engaging recesses. The engaging recesses are provided so as to restrict movements of the engaging projections in their longitudinal direction, and to allow positional deviation of the engaging projections in the vertical direction.

Devices such as a shift device, and interior parts such as a console box are disposed in a console between a driver's seat and a passenger seat of a vehicle.
For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a structure for assembling a console box disposed such as to cover a shift device.
In development of design for a structure around a console of a vehicle of recent years, there is proposed, for example, a structure in which large interior parts having entire lengths of about 450 to 500 mm are assembled to each other.
For example, as for a console of a vehicle, there is a structure that one ends of two long interior parts are fixed to a reference part (such as an instrument panel), the other ends are assembled to each other, and both of them are vertically connected to each other to be disposed.
However, such a structure causes the following problems. That is, in the manufacture of large-size interior parts, such large-size parts is difficult to manufacture with high dimensional accuracy in length. Therefore, if, after one ends of such interior parts are fixed to a reference part, the other ends are assembled to each other, an assembled shape can not constantly be secured due to variation in lengths of both the parts, and appearance design is degraded.
It seems to be possible to solve the above problem by carrying out operation such as positioning for adjusting a position of a part, but in this case, another problem such as deterioration of assembling workability occurs.
Therefore, there has been a need for an assembling structure capable of easily assembling even large interior parts to each other, and capable of keeping a gap and the like in their assembled state within a given range to secure quality such as appearance design.
Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2008-74224

Mounting structure for vehicle interior parts


This invention is a device or module with a LED-type lamp of compact dimensions in order to be used in different illumination industries, such as the automobile, signaling or architectonic industries. The module includes elements for its easy and fast attachment, an efficient manufacturing as from a single plate and structures for the structural support and for heat diffusion. It can be directly attached in an application or in an insulation material support. Likewise, it has two different types of connections that may be used independently or jointly depending on the application.

With the appearance of the light emitting diodes, also known as LEDS, it has been sought to replace the traditional illumination systems such as incandescent or fluorescent lamps.
The LED type lamps offer superior qualities to the other types of luminaries. Among these is a considerably higher useful life time than the incandescent or fluorescent illumination systems. Likewise, their operation is more efficient in energetic terms and due to the nature of its construction, the light emission is more expedite than the traditional systems.
For these and other reasons, the LED type illumination systems are being adopted as a base for the illumination in different industrial, residential and commercial applications. Among others, the automobile industry plays an important role in the adoption of LED illumination for the inner illumination of vehicles, in the luminaries and external lamps such as in the main lights.
The light emission diodes or LEDS contain of two electrical terminals for the energy feeding. Through these terminals, the LED is provided with the voltage necessary for its activation and with this the light emission is obtained.
There are several forms of joining these terminals to electrical circuits. Among the most common forms is the welding of the terminals to an electrical plate. The welding physically anchors the LED to the circuit, allowing the flow of electricity of the circuit to the diode.
Other form of union is the mechanical union, in which the LED is mechanically attached to conductor elements. In the current state of the art there are techniques to staple the LED to conductor plates, which permanently join the anode and cathode to the plate's arrays for specific applications.
In addition to the rigid arrays, there are flexible unions (flexboards) and by conductor cables, however, these present some limitations such as high cost for efficient heat dissipation.
Among the most common techniques in the automobile industry is the stapling of the LED to conductor plates. Document EP 0653586 offers a technique of a multiple-LEDS arrays mechanically joined to a distribution plate or bar. In automobile applications, these bars are formed and are adequate to the form of the lamp or luminary in which it is going to be placed.
This type of rigid attachment and as the one illustrated in patent CA 2562357 offer an adequate attachment and conduction for the LED, but their construction is unpractical and difficult to change once the distribution bar has been designed.
In low-potency applications, there are modules in which the LED has been attached in supports for a fast fixing. These modules, illustrated in patents such as application JP19990197790 19990712 and EP 2 177 823 A1 offer some practicity but little flexibility in the connections. Application US2005/0063181A1 offers a form of fast connection to cables by the displacement of the insulation, but, as the other two, it has a limited capacity with regard to the connections and in all cases present a very limited heat dissipation capacity.
This invention presents the integration of the LED in a full module, in which the LED diode is fixed to an anode and cathode with specific forms that allow two types of connections in addition to a sufficient heat dissipation capacity. The LED, along with the anode and cathode, form an integrated module that can be assembled in an independent plastic insulation support or directly assembled in a multi-modular support with the form of the lamp.
The invention comprise one module (1) created with an anode (9), a cathode (10) and LED diode (11), in which the LED is anchored by means of a conventional method, preferably by mechanical stapling (2) to the anode and cathode.
The Anode (9) and the Cathode (10) in the invention comprise two different electrical connection forms; being these the insulation displacement route (3) and connection by terminals (4). Likewise, the anode and cathode incorporate a clasp mechanism (5) for the anchoring and attachment in a multi-modular base (6) or over an individual insulation base (7).
The anode also incorporates a series of bending in the conductor material for the placement of the connection terminals and the packaging and structural rigidity of the module (8). The cathode also incorporates a series of bending in the conductor material for the placement of the connection terminals, the packaging and structural rigidity of the module and surfaces for heat dissipation.

Module for an LED lamp that allows for two different types of connections to power with sufficient heat dissipation capacity


Silicon carbide layers are often used as hardmask layers in semiconductor processing. The photoresist used to pattern the silicon carbide layers during the hardmask patterning process can become poisoned by the silicon carbide layer and remain attached to the silicon carbide surface. According to the method of the instant invention a trimethylsilane and oxygen treatment of the silicon carbide growth chamber prior to layer growth will reduce the photoresist poisoning.

The invention is generally related to the field of semiconductor devices and fabrication and more specifically to a method for reducing photoresist contamination from silicon carbide films.
To increase the operating speed, high performance integrated circuits use copper interconnect technology along with low dielectric constant dielectrics. Currently the damascene method is the most widely used method for forming copper interconnects. In the damascene method trenches are first formed in dielectric layers above the silicon wafer. The trenches are then filled with copper which form the electrical interconnects between the electronic devices which comprise the integrated circuit. In most instances it is beneficial to use a hardmask when etching the trenches required for the damascene method. This is illustrated in FIGS. 1(a)-1(b).
Shown in FIG. 1(a) is a dielectric layer 10 on which a hardmask layer 20 was formed. A photoresist layer 30 was formed and patterned on the hardmask layer 20 and used as a mask to etch an opening 35 in the hardmask layer 20 as shown in FIG. 1(a). Following the removal of the photoresist layer 30, the hardmask layer 20 is used as a mask to etch a trench in the dielectric layer 10 as shown in FIG. 1(b). A major drawback to the use of hardmasks however is resist contamination or resist poisoning (hereafter referred to as resist poisoning). An example of resisting poisoning is shown in FIGS. 2(a) and 2(b).
As shown in FIG. 2(a) a patterned photoresist layer 50 is formed over a hardmask layer 40 and a dielectric layer 10. Due to resist poisoning, the width of the exposed pattern in the photoresist layer 52 is greater that the width of the pattern transferred to the hardmask 54. This difference is due to the poisoning of the photoresist close to the hardmask layer. As a result of the resist poisoning effect, the width of the trench in the dielectric layer 54 will be less than the desired trench width 52. This distortion of trench width can result in a degradation in the performance of the integrated circuit. There is therefore a need for a method that reduces and/or eliminates photoresist poisoning.
The instant invention describes a method to reduce photoresist poisoning from silicon carbide layers. In particular the method comprises performing a deposition chamber pre-coat process comprising trimethylsilane and oxygen prior to silicon carbide layer formation. The silicon carbide layer is formed on a dielectric layer using a deposition process comprising trimethylsilane. Following the formation of the silicon carbide hardmask layer, a patterned photoresist layer is formed on the silicon carbide layer; and the silicon carbide layer is patterned using the patterned photoresist layer as a mask.

Method to reduce photoresist contamination from silicon carbide films


Manufacturing procedures and compositions for soil enhancers and the like are disclosed. A solution is formed from adding humate to water under constant agitation. Sodium Bicarbonate is added to the solution, resulting in a reaction allowing silica to precipitate out of the solution. The resulting solution is about 12% humic acid. Additional water is added to the solution along with a series of crude protein sources, including fish protein, blood extract, and feather meal. Following the addition of each protein source to the humic acid solution, citric acid is added to increase the protein solubility. Sarsaponins (Yucca extract) is then added to stabilize microbial activity. Additional water is added to the resulting mix, followed by the addition of sugar beet waste lime (calcium carbonate). The calcium carbonate brings the mixture to a pH of about the range of 6.8 to 7.2, which has been found to be encouraging for microbial activity. Seaweed is then added to the mix. Then, an additional amount of water is added to the mixture. The complete mixture is then aged for about 10 days to breakdown proteins, increase the microbial count and to solubilize the micro and macro nutrients. The solution is then applied to soil by spraying, injection, sprinkler or drip irrigation methods.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the manufacture and composition of soil enhancers, and more particularly, to a liquid soil enhancer derived from humate especially adapted to effect a general improvement in soil and plant productivity.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fertilizers, soil enhancers and agricultural nutrients including humic acid combined with other ingredients are known in the art.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,398,186 discloses extracting humic acid from humate by precipitation at concentrations of humate salts at 20% by weight compared to a maximum of 8% by simple extraction. The pH of the extracting solution may be regulated by adding sodium carbonate and by being kept free of any ions forming an insoluble salt of humic acid.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,991 discloses the formation of plant stimulants within humus material by the addition of protein materials such as blood, bran, casein, blood serum, buttermilk, and leather. Water is added to the humus material. The protein materials may be added before, during or after the fermentation of the humus material.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,158,918 discloses the digestion or fermentation of moss (humus producing) used for fertilizer. The digestion is caused by the action of anaerobic and aerobic thermophile bacteria. The fertilizer base includes hydrolyzing oils, fats, fish, and lime.
Thus, while the foregoing body of prior art indicates it to be well known to use humic acid in combination with other ingredients, the provision of a liquid soil enhancer including the ingredients of the instant invention has not been taught. Nor does the prior art contemplate a method of manufacture of the instant soil enhancer which combines the ingredients under agitation to produce the same. The differences between the instant invention and the prior art will be made apparent from the following description thereof. Other advantages of the present invention over the prior art also will be rendered evident.

Composition and method of manufacturing a liquid humic acid based soil enhancer


The present invention provides an acoustical firewall attenuating assembly. The assembly includes a first frame assembly having a first plate, a second plate and a first plurality of elongate members spaced from one another and extending between the first plate and the second plate. A structure is spaced from the first frame assembly and has an outer surface. A cement wall is positioned between the first frame and the structure and is attached to at least the first frame assembly by a first vibration dampener.

1. Technical Field
The present invention pertains to acoustical and firewall barrier assemblies particularly suitable for frame construction.
2. Background
Stud wall construction of walls and other structures is in widespread use in the United States. Typically, stud wall construction has wood or metal studs. Wood framing includes, for example, a series of 2 by 4 wood studs, generally 1½ by 3½ inches in cross-sectional size. The studs extend vertically between, and are secured to, a lower stud plate on the floor and double upper stud plates at the ceiling. In metal stud construction, the studs are made of sheet metal having a generally C-shaped cross-section.
In conventional stud wall construction the walls are finished by securing to the studs gypsum board, plywood, plaster or the like (called "wall board" for convenience); and sometimes insulation of various types is installed between the studs and the wall boards. Such stud wall construction provides little barrier to fire or sound transfer.

Acoustical and firewall barrier assembly


A transparent vessel is filled with a mixture solution containing a first photo-curable resin of a low refractive index and a second photo-curable resin of a high refractive index different in curing mechanism. When light at a wavelength capable of curing the first photo-curable resin but incapable of curing the second photo-curable resin is applied to the mixture solution through an optical fiber, the first photo-curable resin can be cured in a state in which the second photo-curable resin is enclosed in the cured first photo-curable resin. Because the refractive index increases according to curing, a self-condensing phenomenon can be generated so that an optical path portion is formed. The optical path portion emits leakage light to its surroundings to thereby form an outer circumferential portion. Then, all uncured resins in the mixture solution are cured. The outer circumferential portion containing a high percentage of the cured first photo-curable resin serves as a clad because the refractive index of the outer circumferential portion is lower than that of the optical path portion.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for producing an optical waveguide, including the step of forming a polymer having a refractive index difference or distribution from a composition mainly containing two kinds of polymerizable monomers and/or oligomers different in polymerizing mechanism and refractive index by selective polymerization induced by the difference in polymerizing mechanism between the polymerizable monomers and/or oligomers. The invention relates to a method for producing an optical transmission path easily and inexpensively, and a material composition preferably used for the production method. The material composition for producing an optical waveguide and the method for producing an optical waveguide according to the invention can be applied to production of inexpensive low-loss optical waveguide components such as an optical interconnection, an optical demultiplexer and an optical multiplexer in the field of optical fiber communications.
2. Field of the Invention
A technique for forming an optical waveguide device by using a self-condensing phenomenon generated by introduction of beam-like light at a predetermined wavelength into a photo-curable resin mixture solution has attracted public attention.
According to the above production method, first, a predetermined vessel is filled with a mixture solution containing a photo-curable resin of a high refractive index and a photo-curable resin of a low refractive index. Then, in the condition that an end of an optical fiber is immersed in the mixture solution, light in a specific wavelength band capable of curing only the photo-curable resin of the high refractive index is introduced into the other end of the optical fiber. As a result, light is emitted from the immersed end of the optical fiber so that a cured portion of a high refractive index having a diameter equal to the core diameter of the optical fiber can be formed gradually so as to start from the immersed end of the optical fiber by use of a self-condensing phenomenon. Then, light in a predetermined wavelength band is applied on the whole mixture solution so that the two resins in the mixture solution of high and low refractive index photo-curable resins remaining in the vessel are entirely cured. In this manner, a cured portion of a low refractive index is formed around the cured portion of a high refractive index which has been already formed. That is, there is provided a technique for producing an optical waveguide having a stepwise refractive index distribution.
In the above technique, the refractive index is substantially distributed stepwise. To increase the refractive index difference between the core (high refractive index portion) and the clad (low refractive index portion), the core-forming time needs to be elongated to polymerize only the high refractive index material selectively. Hence, production efficiency is not improved. The refractive index in a section of the core is not flat accurately but slightly increases from the center to the periphery. For this reason, the near field pattern of transmission light at an end surface of the optical waveguide exhibits a doughnut-like intensity distribution. Hence, there is a problem that coupling efficiency of such an optical waveguide to a graded index optical fiber having the highest refractive index at the center portion of the core is not good.

Material composition for producing optical waveguide and method for producing optical waveguide


An interactive control system is disclosed with which the recognition rate and the responsiveness when operating a plurality of interactive services in parallel can be improved. A recognition lexicon and consolidated and reorganized information are generated for each individual interaction. Thus, excessive growth of the recognition lexicon can be avoided and a lowering of the recognition rate can be prevented. Moreover, based on the consolidated and reorganized information, it is possible to specify interactive services that may respond to the same input information, so that responses that are unexpected for the user can be prevented.

With steady advances in the processing speed of computers, voice recognition technology for recognizing a user's utterances with a computer has come to be widely adopted. Moreover, voice interaction technology allowing acoustic interaction between computer and user through voice recognition technology and voice synthesis technology is garnering attention in many fields as one possible interface for making use of a computer without using a keyboard or a mouse. These technologies are used in a variety of fields, such as voice portals with which relevant information such as stock quotes or news can be obtained through a telephone line, car navigation systems that can be operated by voice while driving, mobile phones that can be operated by voice, or ticket reservation systems with which flight reservations can be placed by voice.
In conventional voice interaction technology, it is usually assumed that the user interacts by following one scenario of the interaction system. Moreover, in the case of voice portals providing a plurality of interactive services, the service structure is branched like a tree, and is not laid out for using a plurality of interactive services in parallel. Such interactive services are relatively effective for pursuing a single task, such as providing specific information or realizing a specific task.
However, the way that voice interaction services are used by the user is not necessarily limited to pursuing a single task, and it is also conceivable that a plurality of tasks are executed in parallel. For example, if the user finds an entry for a business trip while using an interactive service for schedule management, the user might want to confirm the weather at the locale of the business trip, and then return to the schedule management. Thus, it is desirable that the user can use interactive services in parallel, that is, to switch at any time between a plurality of interactive services that are running concurrently, and to return to a previously performed task.
Japanese Patent Application No. 2003-81136 proposes a context-sensitive complex voice interactive service, with which a plurality of voice interactive services are operated in parallel, and the user can switch the interactive service at any time, or the interactive service spontaneously addresses the user. In this system, in order for the user to freely switch between a plurality of voice interactive systems, the recognition lexicon needs to include not only the recognition terms accepted by the interactive service that is directly interacting with the user at a given time, but also the recognition terms that can be recognized by interactive services that are on stand-by in the background.


A method and apparatus for synchronizing time information in a mobile communication terminal. The terminal stores region-by-region time offset information, information about decoding schemes used for radio time signal stations for broadcasting Universal Time Coordinated (UTC) information, and information about carrier frequency bands for transmitting standard time information from the radio time signal stations. When moving to a region of a different time zone, the terminal detects its movement and receives location information from a base station of a mobile communication network in the current region. The terminal retrieves information about a carrier frequency from information relative to an associated radio time signal station, and receives a radio time signal from the radio time signal station. The terminal's Real Time Clock (RTC) is initialized according to the radio time signal and time information of the RTC is updated using time information of an associated region.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a mobile communication terminal, and in particular, to an apparatus and method the technology for time setting in a mobile communication terminal.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, mobile communication terminals based on a synchronous system as in a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system receive time information from base stations in which they have been registered and then synchronize their time information, such that the time information is synchronized to a local time of an associated region at any time. However, unlike the synchronous system some mobile communication networks based on an asynchronous system do not provide time and date information (hereinafter, time information) in a region where a mobile communication terminal is currently located. When the mobile communication terminals using the asynchronous system (hereinafter, mobile communication terminals) move to a region of a different time zone, the users are not provided the correct time information of the current region. Thus, the users of the mobile communication terminals must manually correct internal times according to a time zone of an associated region.
There is a problem in that the users must manually perform a time synchronization process. Furthermore, there is another problem in that the manually performed time synchronization process can be incorrect, for instance when a reference clock is incorrect or the users are unfamiliar with a time information setting process.
Various methods have been provided for addressing these problems. A typical method receives a Short Message Service (SMS) message including time information from a Base Station (BS) to update internal time information of the mobile communication terminal, or updates internal time information of the mobile communication terminal according to location information received from the base station.
In the method using the SMS message, when the mobile communication terminal of the user moves to a region of a different time zone, the BS of the region in which the terminal is currently located automatically detects the movement to the different time zone and either transmits time information according to a time zone of the current region or provides the mobile communication terminal with time information in response to a request of the terminal. In another time synchronization method, the mobile communication terminal is provided with a time information Database (DB) containing time offset information relative to a time zone of each region. When moving to a region of a different time zone, the mobile communication terminal receives location information from the base station in the current region, retrieves time offset information relative to the received location information from the time information DB, and updates time information therein.
The method using the SMS message significantly relies on a mobile communication network. In order to fully utilize this method, the mobile communication network must be provided with additional functions such as a function for detecting that a particular mobile communication terminal enters a region of a different time zone when a BS transmits time information through automatic detection and a loop back function for providing time information relative to a time zone of the current region as a response to a request of the mobile communication terminal, as well as additional structures for performing the additional functions.
In the method using the SMS message, the SMS message is not exchanged in real time, and therefore, a predetermined time taken to completely exchange the SMS message corresponds to delay. Thus, there is a decrease in accuracy of newly set time information.
Alternatively, whether the time information of the mobile communication terminal is updated after the time information of a time zone of an associated region is detected using location information provided from the base station, there is still a decrease in the accuracy of time information. This is because the time information is updated on the basis of time information output from a Real Time Clock (RTC) for generating the time information inside the mobile communication terminal. This method updates the time information of the mobile communication terminal by incrementing or decrementing a value of the time information output from the RTC according to a time zone of a region in which the terminal is currently located. In this case, when the time information output from the RTC is incorrect, the time information provided from the mobile communication terminal is also incorrect.
In the mobile communication terminal based on the asynchronous system, the user directly provides time information and therefore the RTC maintains the time information. In this case, the user is to manually input initial time information. Thus, the accuracy of time information in the mobile communication terminal depends on the user's skill level or the accuracy of the user's reference clock.

Method and apparatus for synchronizing time information in a mobile communication terminal