Improvements in ingestible electronics with the capacity to sense physiologic and pathophysiologic states have transformed the standard of care for patients. Yet despite advances in device development, significant risks associated with solid, non-flexible gastrointestinal transiting systems remain. Here, we disclose an ingestible, flexible piezoelectric device that senses mechanical deformation within the gastric cavity. We demonstrate the capabilities of the sensor in both in vitro and ex vivo simulated gastric models, quantified its key behaviors in the GI tract by using computational modeling, and validated its functionality in awake and ambulating swine. Our piezoelectric devices can safely sense mechanical variations and harvest mechanical energy inside the gastrointestinal tract for diagnosing and treating motility disorders and for monitoring ingestion in bariatric applications.

Systems for sensing of the gastrointestinal (GI) lumen have significantly extended the ability to diagnose and treat patients. Specifically, ingestible electronics have been developed to monitor pH, manometric pressure, temperature, dosage from ingestion to facilitate adherence monitoring and even vital signs, and for optical imaging in wireless endoscopy. Although these systems have had a significant impact on clinical practice, they are associated with complications including GI obstruction and limited battery lifespan, which may impact the completion rates of the evaluation.

Flexible piezoelectric devices for gastrointestinal motility sensing


Techniques for suppressing large echo due to nonlinearity, instable adaptive filter, and so on. An echo cancellation system includes an echo canceller unit, a nonlinear echo detection unit, and a nonlinear echo suppression unit. The echo canceller unit (e.g., an adaptive filter) receives a reference signal and a near-end signal, derives an echo estimate signal based on the reference and near-end signals, cancels a portion of echo in the near-end signal based on the echo estimate signal, and provides an intermediate signal having residual echo. The nonlinear echo detection unit detects for large nonlinear echo in the echo estimate signal. The nonlinear echo suppression unit suppresses large nonlinear echo in the first intermediate signal based on a variable gain, which may be adjusted lower if large nonlinear echo is detected and higher otherwise.

The present invention relates generally to signal processing, and more specifically to techniques for suppressing acoustic echo due to serious nonlinearity.
Full-duplex hands-free communication systems are commonly used for many applications, such as speakerphone, hands-free car kit, teleconferencing system, cellular phone, and so on. For each of these systems, one or more microphones in the system are used to pick up an acoustic signal emitted by a speaking user, which is then processed and transmitted to a remote user. However, the microphones may also pick up undesirable reflections of the acoustic signal from the borders of an enclosure, such as a room or a car compartment. The propagation paths for the reflections may change due to various factors such as, for example, movement of the microphones, the loudspeaker, and/or the speaking user, volume changes on the loudspeaker, and environment changes. As a result, the electro-acoustic circuit in the system may become unstable and produce howling, which is highly undesirable.
In the case of a telecommunication system, a speech signal from a remote speaking user is outputted from a loudspeaker, and portions of this speech signal may be reflected to the microphones and transmitted back to the remote user. This acoustic disturbance is referred to as echo. Echo may also be caused by signal reflections generated by a hybrid circuit that converts between 4-wire circuit and 2-wire circuit. Regardless of the cause of echo, users are generally annoyed of hearing their own voice delayed, for example, by the path of the system.
Echo suppression or cancellation is often required in many communication systems to suppress or eliminate echo as well as to avoid howling effects. For example, echo cancellation is typically used in full-duplex communication environments where the speaker and microphone may be located some distance away from a user. Examples of such environments include hands-free speakerphone (e.g., in a vehicle or a room), Internet/Intranet Protocol phone, and so on.
Conventionally, echo cancellation is achieved by a circuit that employs an adaptive filter. The adaptive filter performs echo cancellation by deriving an estimate of the echo based on a reference signal, which may be a line output from a communication or telematics device such as a cellular phone or some other device. The adaptive filter is typically able to remove the portion of the echo that is correlated to the reference signal.
However, conventional echo cancellation techniques are not able to remove certain portions of the echo. For example, nonlinearity of the circuitry in the system (e.g., the speaker, analog-to-digital (A/D) converter, digital-to-analog (D/A) converter, and so on) generates echo that is not correlated to the reference signal. This type of echo cannot be canceled by conventional echo cancellation techniques that employ only an adaptive filter. Moreover, user movement, position changes in the microphones and loudspeakers, and volume changes can cause the echo path to vary. This results in time-varying echo that typically cannot be canceled very well, particularly if the echo path changes faster than the convergence rate of the adaptive filter.
Nonlinear echo cancellation techniques may be used to attempt to cancel the residual echo that is not canceled by the adaptive filter in the echo canceller. However, these techniques typically cannot cancel echo due to serious nonlinearity. Nonlinear echo may be caused by various conditions such as an overdriven speaker, a microphone in saturation, mechanical vibration, and so on. These techniques also cannot handle high volume echo. Moreover, some conventional nonlinear echo cancellation techniques, such as a center clipper, can cause voice distortion by cutting off low power voice signal. Conventional center clippers are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,031,338, 4,679,230 and 5,475,731, and European Patent Nos. EP-0164159-A1 and EP-0164159-B1. Other conventional nonlinear echo cancellation techniques, such as conventional post filters, also cannot deal with large echo and serious nonlinearity.
As can be seen, techniques that can effectively cancel large echo and/or echo due to serious nonlinearity in communication systems are highly desirable.

Method and system for nonlinear echo suppression


Tile buffers in a graphics processing system are managed using “copy-on-write” semantics, in which tile data stored in a memory location is not transferred to another location until the tile data for one of the buffers is modified, thereby providing copy on flip behavior to support incremental updating of the data. Tile data for a new frame is written to one of the two memory spaces by reference to a first logical buffer that associates each tile with one of the memory spaces. Concurrently, tile data for a current frame is read from the two memory spaces by reference to a second logical buffer that also associates each tile with one of the memory spaces. In response to a frame flip signal, the tile associations of the second logical buffer are modified to match those of the first logical buffer. Subsequent tile data updates are written to the memory spaces by reference to the second logical buffer after modifying one of the first and second tile associations such that they no longer match.

The present invention relates in general to computer image processing and in particular to systems and methods for providing double-buffering for image data using copy-on-write semantics.
Computer display devices typically display images by coloring each of a number of independent pixels (picture elements) that cover the display area. The computer system determines a color value for each pixel using various well-known graphics processing techniques. Once color values are generated, pixel data representing the color values is written to a "frame buffer," an area of memory with sufficient capacity to store color data for each pixel of the display device. To display an image, scanout control logic reads the pixel values sequentially from the frame buffer and converts them to analog signals that produce the desired pixel colors on the display device. Scanout is generally performed at a constant frame rate, e.g., 80 Hz.
The demand for access to the frame buffer memory can be quite large. For instance, scanout at 80 Hz for a 1024×768 pixel display with 32-bit color requires the ability to read 2 Gbits per second. At the same time, data for the next frame is also being written to the frame buffer, often at high rates. Thus, memory bandwidth is generally a scarce resource in image processing systems.
To improve memory access times and to prevent undesirable visual artifacts that can result if pixel data in the frame buffer is updated during scanout of a frame, many graphics processing systems (or other image generation systems) provide a double-buffered frame buffer, as shown in FIG. 1. Frame buffer 100 includes two memory spaces 102, 104, each of which has sufficient capacity to store pixel data for a complete display frame. At a given time, one memory space (e.g., space 102) is designated as the "back" buffer while the other (e.g., space 104) is designated as the "front" buffer. Applications 106, 108 write pixel data to respective sections 110, 112 of the back buffer (memory space 102) while the front buffer (memory space 104) is read and displayed by scanout control logic 114. Memory spaces 102, 104 are generally designed to be accessed in parallel, to reduce conflicts between updating and scanout operations. At the end of each scanout frame, the buffers are swapped, i.e., the memory space 102 designated as the front buffer becomes the back buffer and vice versa. The next frame is written to the new back buffer (e.g., memory space 104) while the new front buffer (memory space 102) is scanned out.
To avoid redrawing the entire frame in the back buffer, some existing systems also copy the content of the back buffer to the front buffer at the time of swapping, so that the back buffer can be updated rather than being completely rewritten. That is, at the end of a scanout frame, data from the back buffer (memory space 102) is copied (e.g., by a block transfer) to the front buffer (memory space 104). Memory references (e.g., pointers or base addresses) used by applications 106, 108 and scanout control logic 114 are typically also swapped at this point so that during the next scanout pass, the memory space 102 that was used as the back buffer is scanned out while the other memory space 104 receives pixel data updates. This procedure, which is referred to as a "copy on flip," can reduce demand for write access during the frame interval, but the peak demand for memory bandwidth can be quite high due to the need to copy an entire frame of pixel data at each frame flip.
It is often the case that some or all of the pixel values do not change during a particular frame interval. Nevertheless, at the end of the frame, data for every pixel is copied, regardless of whether a particular pixel value was updated or not. The copying of unmodified pixel data results in a waste of memory bandwidth.
This problem can be compounded in proposed desktop compositor systems. In general, such systems differ from the system of FIG. 1 in that pixel data generated by applications or other data sources is not written directly to the frame buffer. Instead, for each application, a dedicated area of "drawing" memory is provided as a buffer for storing pixel data generated by that application. A desktop compositor combines data from the drawing memories of various applications to generate a desktop pixel value, which is stored in a desktop frame buffer. The desktop frame buffer is then scanned out to produce the display image. The drawing memories can be double-buffered, with applications writing to a "back" drawing buffer and the desktop compositor reading from a "front" drawing buffer. Likewise, the desktop frame buffer can also be double-buffered, with the desktop compositor writing to a "back" desktop buffer and the scanout control logic reading from a "front" desktop buffer. Such systems are desirable because visual effects such as transparent or translucent windows are more easily implemented. In addition, providing each application with a separate drawing memory reduces contention among applications for write access to the frame buffer.
Such systems, however, do not reduce the copying of unmodified pixel data between the various buffers. In implementations where application data is copied between two drawing buffers to support incremental updating of the application image, the amount of data that has to be moved can become prohibitive.
It would therefore be desirable to provide a double-buffering system that avoided copying of unmodified pixel data, thereby reducing the demand for memory bandwidth.

Incremental updating of animated displays using copy-on-write semantics


The disclosure is directed to a device for fluid sampling. The device may have two panels that are or may be adhered, attached or otherwise connected to opposite sides of a sampling bag having flexible walls. The panels may be used for conveniently inflating or deflating the sampling bag and obtaining fluid samples.

Conventional containers for fluids may have rigid walls or flexible walls. Containers with rigid walls have a defined permanent volume for containing fluids and containers with flexible walls have variable or changeable volumes. Conventional containers include, but are not limited to, bottles, canisters and bags. Such containers may be used for a variety of purposes, including obtaining and holding fluid samples and containing standard gas mixtures that may be used for calibration of analytical instruments. As used herein, the term "fluid" includes gases and/or liquids. There are many configurations of such containers that have been developed and specialized for particular uses.
Gas mixtures under pressure are effective for preparing standard fluid mixtures in industrial quantities and preferably with comparably high concentration of one (or more) components in a carrier fluid. Gas mixtures under high pressure are typically stored in containers with rigid walls. For laboratory use, such gas mixtures may be diluted with additional carrier fluid to a desired concentration of a specific component in order to prepare a standard mixture. Conventional containers for transporting, preserving and use of such standard mixtures may be containers having flexible walls comprised of an inert, low-permeability material. Materials having low sorption on the walls for the components contained are preferred to increase the integrity of the mixture. Containers with flexible walls, also referred to as sampling bags, are widely used for fluid sampling, air sampling and liquid sampling. Materials such as Kynar and Tedlar are widely used for making such containers.
In order to obtain a representative sample or prepare an accurate standard, the containers must be properly prepared prior to filling. Typically, the bags are flushed with neutral gas and subjected to high vacuum to substantially remove all the fluid from the container with strong vacuum pumps. The bags should be purged and flushed to cause desorption of any residue and their volume should reduced to substantially zero. Any adsorbed residue or residual gas may contaminate any prepared fluid mixture or sample of fluid put in a poorly prepared bag.
Containers with rigid walls and flexible walls both have their own advantages and disadvantages. The disadvantages of containers with rigid walls include their extremely high price and expensive maintenance; they are bulky and, thus, their storage, transportation, and mailing costs are expensive; they have to be over pressurized when delivery of gas vapors or mixtures is needed; and completely vacuumed before used for fluid sampling.
Another drawback of sampling with containers with rigid walls is that after removing a portion of the sample from the container, the pressure in the canister may be reduced below atmospheric pressure and additional carrier gas (noble gas for example) may be added to increase the pressure back to atmospheric pressure. This process dilutes the sample or standard and analysis requires compensation for the additional carrier gas.
One method of filling container with rigid walls is to create a vacuum within the container. The driving force to get fluid into the container is provided by this vacuum. A small sampling pump cannot create a sufficient vacuum within the container; therefore, strong specialized vacuum pumps are needed.
An alternative to the containers with rigid walls are containers with flexible walls or bags. For containers with flexible walls, two methods of filling are known and widely used: (OSHA Technical Manual—Directive Number: 08-05 (TED 01), Effective Jun. 24, 2008)
The first method comprises delivering the fluid or fluid sample, e.g. industrial ambient air, into the bag with an external pump. A schematic of this method is depicted in FIG. 8. The sampling method includes a bag 40, a pump 50 powered by a battery 52, and tubing 44 connecting pump 50 to bag 40. Typical personal sampling pumps are suitable for this sampling method.
Bags may be used for preparing standard fluid mixtures or for sampling. When preparing standard fluid mixtures, first the bag is filled with an appropriate measured volume of carrier fluid. The clean carrier gas is dosed with a quantity of fluid, typically, added by pump or syringe as shown in FIG. 8. When used for sampling, a sample of an environment is delivered through the pump and tubing into the bag. The bag is then sealed and sent to a laboratory for analysis.
There are advantages and disadvantages to using this method with sampling bags. The disadvantages include the cost, inaccuracy, and potential contamination from using an external pump to deliver and withdraw the fluid mix. The contamination or inaccuracy can occur from sorption and desorption of some chemicals or components of gas mixture or sample on the walls of the tubes, internal part of the pumps, filters, tubing and connectors. The same problem is caused by sorption of chemical components on the walls of the sampling bag. Even with cleaned walls, active adsorbing sites on the walls can reduce the concentration of certain chemicals when the sample gas is subsequently removed and analyzed. This adsorption may decrease the recovery of certain chemical compounds up to 15%. The recovery rates of this method can be improved with the use of expensive stationary pumps and connection tubes, especially for sampling of trace components.
These methods may also be improved by using a different configuration of pump and the sampling bag. In this configuration shown in FIG. 10, the flexible sampling bag 40 is hermetically sealed within an outer container 60 with rigid walls. The air from the outer container is evacuated through tubing 44 by a pump 50. The pump may be powered by battery 52. As the pressure in the outer container 60 is reduced and bag 40 expands and air from the surrounding environment enters the bag 40. Thus the vacuum outside of the bag 40 and within the container 60 is a driving force for fluid sampling. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 10, the inlet of a sampling bag is connected directly with the ambient fluid. This method does not suffer from one of the major drawbacks of the configuration shown in FIG. 10. The sample taken in the configuration of FIG. 10 does not contact the pump 50 or tubing 44, therefore, there is no sorption or cross-contamination from the walls of the tubing 44, connectors, filter or parts of the sampling pump 50. The other drawbacks of the configuration of FIG. 8 are, however, still persisting in the alternative configuration of FIG. 10, for example, the components is bulky and heavy; the equipment is expensive; the pump requires a battery and frequent maintenance; the sorption on the walls of the bag is the same as described above.
Various embodiments of these methods are described United States patents. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,866,474 to Hasselman describes a system in which a sample and an inert gas are drawn into a sample bag within a hermetically sealed container. U.S. Pat. No. 3,965,946 to D'Alo describes improvements in the construction of the outer container. U.S. Pat. No. 5,437,201 to Krueger describes a method of repeatedly purging the sampling bag within the outer container. More sophisticated devices are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,714,696 to Yemans. The devices attempt to overcome the disadvantages of the system to obtain samples with very low contamination levels. U.S. Pat. No. 6,338,282 to Gilbert describes an apparatus for collection of liquids proves the versatility of this approach. More recently U.S. Pat. No. 6,993,985 to Srebro describes using the apparatus combined in single device yet connected to external vacuum source. Despite of cleanliness suggested by this method, it is using comparably heavy, bulky and expensive equipment requiring calibration and battery maintenance.
An attempt to avoid using pumps in the sampling process is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,546,659 to Gill et al. This patent discloses a small (10 ml) envelope for the collection of atmospheric air samples for subsequent analysis. The envelope is formed of first and second opposed panels of flexible, gas impermeable material which are peripherally sealed to define a collection chamber. The envelope contains expandable means such as a spiral spring or foam. The expandable means transfer force to the walls via guard plate and large septum. These envelopes have several disadvantages. For example, the expandable means in contact with the sampled fluid increases the potential for adsorption by the inner elements, i.e. the spring or, especially, any foam. Further, the expandable means prevents full evacuation of the contents of the envelope. This large surface area for absorption allows only high concentrations of chemical compounds to be sampled with acceptable recovery and accuracy. Further, the envelope cannot be reused, because the sampling volume would need to be purged several times to clean the envelope, however, the self sealing septum of the envelope does not allow such a procedure.
Accordingly, there is a need for a device that allows use of sampling bags without external hand or electric pumps and without connecting tubes. There is also a need for a device capable of fast grab sampling and fast consecutive strokes/flushes of the sampling bag, thereby to allow sorption equilibrium on the bag's walls. There is a further need for a device that simplifies sampling such that personnel with minimal training may properly use and perform industrial hygiene sampling. There is a further need for such a device that is inexpensive, easy to manufacture, designed for multiple use, may be used with both sampling bags specially designed and conventional sampling bags, light, not bulky, hand or self operated and easy to transport, and/or intrinsically safe in use.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


A method and an apparatus for data transmission between a contactless front element and a security element are provided. The method includes: the contactless front element transparently transmits first data obtained from a contactless identification device to the security element through a single wire connection; the security element processes the first data to generate second data; the contactless front element transparently transmits the second data obtained from the security element through the single wire connection to the contactless identification device. Compared with the prior art, the method can transmit the contactless data in real time between the contactless front element and the security element. Thus the security element can directly respond instructions sent by a proximity coupling device during simulating Proximity Integrated Circuit Card, so that the contactless front element becomes a transparent transport channel, the time order compatibility problem can be avoided, and the safety problem can be surmounted.

Mobile contactless application based on a mobile communication device is currently an active application field on both technology and market, among which Near Field Communication (NFC) technology is a typical representative. NFC technology has developed for several generations, and relative technical standards and application specifications (such as ISO18092 or ISO21481) are becoming more and more mature. However, relative products land on the market much more slowly than expectation. The reasons for the slow entry include complicated application and business models caused by a long industrial chain in NFC technology. Additionally, Single Wire Protocol (SWP) used in the conventional solutions has a bad compatibility with technologies in existing contactless application systems, which becomes a main obstacle in technical level. Technical details about SWP have been described in Chinese patent publication No. CN 101103582A.
Electronic payment service has gone deep into our life and brought us much convenience. In fixed business sites, electronic payment service based on Proximity Integrated Circuit Card (PICC) has developed mature solutions and stable markets. Along with the development of applications, it is desired that PICC is applied in mobile communication devices. For example, it is expected to have display functions to inquire data inside PICC and to have communication functions for communicating with a backend server to realize some functions like remote recharging of an electronic wallet. In other words, a cell phone is expected to be a kind of PICC. Therefore, a new product combining a PICC, a Proximity Coupling Device (PCD) and a cell phone terminal together based on NFC appeared in 2004.
As a result of technological development and standardization, technical standards and application specifications relative to NFC are more mature than ever. However, products based on NFC have not landed on the market yet. One major limitation lies in that characteristics of a PICC can not be reflected completely, although a NFC device has realized an emulation of a PICC in function. Especially, the requirement that the NFC device should be compatible with characteristics of the PICC used in legacy application systems causes a stricter condition to land on the market for some tremendously influential contactless applications already in use. For example, public transportation systems and micropayment systems need to modify installed equipment, such as Point-Of-Sale (POS) machine, which thereby bring about high change costs and business costs. Therefore, terminal device manufacturers are not motivated to provide cell phone terminals supporting NFC, brand new designed products, because of a lack of a mature application environment, which thereby slows progresses of practical application popularization of NFC.
In substance, NFC is an application of PICC, with a carrier of a PICC changed. From the view of structures, NFC is realized by employing a dual element architecture, e.g., a combination of a ContactLess Front (CLF) element and a Security Element (SE) as shown in FIG. 1. The contactless front element is configured to process a contactless Radio Frequency (RF) interface and a communication protocol. The security element is configured to process applications and data management of PICC. Advantages of the architecture are as follows.
1) Separated card and station may be realized easily by employing a dual element architecture of contactless front element and security element. The contactless front element is integrated in a NFC terminal to realize a complete contactless RF interface. PICC applications deal with many security requirements. Before entering an application step, a PICC needs to be issued and managed. The security element, separated from the NFC terminal, can be independently issued and is easily compatible with existing systems in management.
2) The PICC is always a closed application environment. A same type of PICC in different regions or different applications may have different initial configuration. Under an architecture of contactless front element and security element, a general NFC terminal can be arranged with different security element to realize different application demands.
3) The contactless front element and its RF antennas are integrated on the NFC terminal, thereby facilitating a consistent contactless RF interface.
The NFC terminal realizes an emulation of a PICC through a combination of the contactless front element and the security element, where a connection interface needs to be defined between the contactless front element and the security element. As shown in FIG. 2, for a NFC terminal scheme, the security element is generally realized by a SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card and an interface therein is a Single Wire Protocol (SWP) interface. A SIM card security element supporting a SWP interface is called SWP SIM, which communicates with the contactless front element through the C6 pin of the SIM card to realize a NFC function.
The NFC standard ISO18092, supporting the emulation of a PICC, is built on the standard ISO14443. Since the SWP interface has defined a complete set of communication protocols, when ISO14443 protocol data packets are transmitted between the security element and the contactless front element, the ISO14443 data packets need to be converted into packets satisfying the SWP protocol, and a Logical Link Control (LLC) layer and a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer need to be added. The converted data packets, the LLC layer and the MAC layer form a SWP data frame, as shown in FIG. 3.
When frame data following ISO18092 or ISO14443 is converted into Contactless Tunnelling (CLT) frames, five bytes are added, including Start-Of-Frame (SOF), LLC control field, Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC) 16 and End-Of-Frame (EOF). Under a speed of SWP 848 Kbps, the smallest delay of an ideal reception and sending is still more than 113 μs. The more the application data is, the more the delay is.
A contactless application layer protocol defined by ISO14443-4 has no strict requirement on response time. Therefore, the SWP interface can realize an emulation of a PICC while the overtime of a proximity coupling device waiting for responses should be set relatively longer to avoid a problem of compatibility, which is a first problem that the SWP interface needs to face.
According to requirement of ISO14443-3, the command sets of request, wake-up, anticollision, and select have been defined that the minimum response time of a PICC to a proximity coupling device is 1172/Fc (Fc being an external field clock frequency, 13.56 MHz), namely, 86 μs in time. Even if using a standard limit speed of the SWP interface in addition to data processing time in elements, the time required is far greater than 86 μs. Therefore, these commands can not be realized through the SWP interface in time. In existing NFC solutions, commands of ISO14443-3 are responded directly by the contactless front element; when it comes to ISO14443-4 protocol, the proximity coupling device is responded by the security element through the SWP interface.
An emulation of a PICC realized in this manner is similar to a general PICC in function except for a little increment of delay. However, there is a relatively serious problems underlying. Commands defined in ISO14443-3 may process UID of a PICC. In many legacy systems, UID is a very important factor to be used to disperse the key, which realize the one-card-one-key management. When protocol ISO14443-3 is completed by the contactless front element, it is the contactless front element that informs the UID to the proximity coupling device. Therefore, when the SWP SIM card is put into the NFC terminal, the UID of the SWP SIM card needs to be transmitted to the contactless front element and saved therein through a synchronous operation. UID of a common Integrated Circuit (IC) card is not allowed to be modified after leaving the factory, and IC manufacturers and operating agencies have drafted various regulations to ensure the uniqueness of UID. Due to an architecture of separated card and station, different SWP SIM cards may be put into a same NFC terminal, which means that UID of the contactless front element should be modifiable. Once the UID is modified, UID's uniqueness management will face a major challenge, which will lead to confusing account management of some application systems, lower security of the system, such as lowering the difficulty in cloning the card.
In conclusion, although SWP SIM has become a main solution in NFC communication and corresponding technical standards have also been drafted, problems of delay in a SWP interface and a UID management deriving therefrom may have some influences on further development of NFC. Therefore, a more effective solution is desired.

Method and apparatus for data transmission

Shanghai Fudan Microelectronics Group Company Limited


A waterproof sound-transmitting membrane (1) of the present invention includes a porous membrane (11) containing polytetrafluoroethylene as a main component and a supporting member (12) that supports the porous membrane (11). The supporting member (12) is joined to the porous membrane (11) placed thereon and is not subjected to stretching after the porous membrane (11) is placed thereon. The supporting member (12) is a mesh or a net having a fiber diameter of 45 to 60 μm and an opening size of 700 to 1100 μm across the supporting member (12). The waterproof sound-transmitting membrane (1) has a water entry pressure of 20 kPa or more as measured according to the method B (high hydraulic pressure method) of JIS L 1092.

In recent years, electrical devices, such as mobile phones, laptop computers, electronic notebooks, digital cameras, and game machines, generally have audio capabilities. A sound emitter such as a speaker or a buzzer, or a sound receiver such as a microphone, is disposed inside a housing of an electrical device with audio capabilities. An opening is provided in the housing of the electrical device at a position corresponding to the sound emitter or the sound receiver. Sounds are transmitted through the opening. In addition, these electrical devices are required to have waterproofness. To meet this requirement, it is known to use a waterproof sound-transmitting membrane to cover the opening of a housing of an electrical device with audio capabilities.
Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 propose the use of a plastic membrane, such as a porous polytetrafluoroethylene (hereinafter sometimes referred to as "PTFE") membrane, as a waterproof sound-transmitting membrane. Patent Literature 1 and Patent Literature 2 also propose a waterproof sound-transmitting membrane including a plastic membrane and further a support placed on the membrane to provide adequate strength and good workability to the waterproof sound-transmitting membrane. As examples of the support, nets of thermoplastic resins such as polyolefin and polyester are mentioned.
Patent Literature 3 discloses a porous PTFE membrane (waterproof sound-transmitting membrane) obtained by fusing a thermoplastic resin net to a longitudinally-stretched PTFE sheet and then stretching the PTFE sheet with the net attached thereto in the transverse direction. This production method is intended to improve the sound-transmitting characteristics and water resistance of the waterproof sound-transmitting membrane.

Waterproof sound-transmitting membrane, sound-transmitting member, and electrical device


A speaker rigging system that features a modular speaker cabinet that incorporates an internal load bearing frame and an internal speaker to speaker coupling mechanism. Speaker to speaker coupling is accomplished by means of a plurality of small, easy to handle coupling pins that allow for the creation of vertical speaker arrays with a minimal gap between speakers in the array.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of speaker rigging systems and more particularly to a system to be used for large venue touring.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A large venue touring sound system comprises a number of high output loudspeakers and a method of rigging the speakers into suspended vertical columns known as "sound columns" or vertical arrays. In a typical venue, multiple arrays of speakers are required to achieve adequate sound coverage, intensity, and quality.
Large venue touring sound systems are typically used by "rock and roll" bands on nationwide and worldwide tours. On a typical nationwide tour a band will play in twenty or thirty cities. The number of nights a concert is performed varies and may be as few as one night in smaller cities and is typically fewer than five nights even in large cities. Venues where concerts take place also vary from large outdoor stadiums capable of holding 80,000 or more people to smaller indoor arenas which may seat as few as 15,000 people.
Thus, a touring sound system must be capable of being quickly assembled and suspended in vertical arrays prior to a performance. Of equal importance is the ability to quickly disassemble the sound system, load it onto trucks, and transport it to the next venue subsequent to the performance. In addition, a touring sound system must possess a high degree of flexibility as the requirements in terms of the number of arrays required and the complexity of the rigging hardware may vary considerably between an outdoor stadium and a comparatively smaller indoor arena.
From a practical standpoint, factors that must be considered in setting up a sound stage include the number of speakers required; the corresponding complexity of the suspension apparatus; the number of man-hours required to set up and tear down the system; as well as the truck space required to transport the system. Safety is also a significant concern as high capacity loudspeakers are of substantial weight and the complexity of the rigging system creates significant potential for accidents.
Acoustical factors are also important to the success of a large venue touring sound system. Acoustics engineers have learned that superior music reproduction occurs when a series of speakers are arranged in a spaced vertical relationship to form a "sound column" or vertical array. Experience has shown that vertical arrays increase sound intensity in the horizontal plane of an audience and lose substantially less sound intensity through vertical dispersion than other speaker arrangements. Recent research has shown that the performance of vertical arrays can be further improved by carefully controlling gap size and minimizing gaps between high frequency elements. Ultimately, the success of a large venue touring sound system depends to a large extent on its ability to adequately address each of the practical and acoustical concerns in a cost effective manner.
The traditional approach to rigging a sound system for a large venue involves the construction of an elaborate multilevel space frame. In large stadiums such frames are often two or three stories high and in excess of 100 feet in width. Vertical arrays are constructed by suspending speakers in long columns from the frame. The suspension apparatus typically consists of chains or cables to which the speakers are attached. Various means of connecting the speakers to the chains or cables are in widespread use. These include belt and buckle type fittings, clevis and shackle arrangements, as well as claw type devices where a claw interfaces with a fixed stud, ring, or hook mounted on the speaker case. The prior art methods have long been plagued by numerous drawbacks. Vertical arrays suspended from either chains or cables are flexible and tend to sway in even a light breeze. Thus, the speakers must be spaced sufficiently apart horizontally to account for this motion. In addition, the space frame supporting the vertical array must be designed to provide stability to the swaying columns and is therefore more elaborate and heavier than would otherwise be required. Further, the means of attaching the speakers to the chains or cables, whether of the belt and buckle type, clevis and shackle type, or of the claw type, are inherently slow and therefore substantial man-hours are required to assemble and suspend multiple arrays. The prior art methods typically require the installer to use both hands to couple the speaker to the chain or cable which can be a serious safety concern given the weight of the speakers and the height at which they are commonly suspended. The prior art methods also require the transport of large quantities of bulky hardware in addition to the speakers themselves. Such hardware consumes substantial truck space and is relatively heavy and therefore incurs significant transportation costs. Finally, none of the prior art methods are able to maintain the close vertical spacing between speaker cabinets that recent acoustics research indicates is desirable to increase the efficiency of a vertical array.
An example of the chain style of suspension is U.S. Pat. No. 4,660,728, entitled "Flying Sound Systems", issued to Martin, Apr. 28, 1987. Martin discloses a method of attaching speakers to a pair of suspended chains. Martin places a coupling device on the sides of the speaker cabinets that interfaces with a mating device which can be attached to hanging chains. The back panels of the speakers are connected by straps in an effort to provide some degree of stability to the chain suspended speaker array. Although the coupling device taught in Martin demonstrates creativity in design, it is complex and not demonstrably faster than a conventional shackle and ring arrangement. Further, the straps Martin places on the backs of the speaker cabinets are themselves flexible and thus do not significantly increase the rigidity of the speaker column. Nor can the system disclosed in Martin maintain close vertical spacing between speaker cabinets.
An example of a space frame approach is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,366, entitled "Space Frame With Array Element Positioning" issued to Whelan et al, Feb. 11, 1997. This patent discloses a variation of the traditional space frame used to stack a vertical column of speakers. Although effective, the patent demonstrates the complexity of connections and the bulk of structure associated with even a relatively small space frame.
What is needed therefore is a modular rigging system expressly designed for the creation of "sound columns" for use in large venues. Ideally, the system should be able to create a rigid vertical "sound column" and should possess the capability to quickly couple and just as quickly uncouple the vertical array of speakers. Further, the system should require a minimum of hardware. Ideally the means for vertical suspension would be contained within the speaker cabinet itself, thereby eliminating the need for chains or cables and their associated rigging hardware. In addition, the mechanism used to couple the individual loudspeakers should be designed to provide for a minimal gap between each loudspeaker in the vertical array.

Modular speaker cabinet including an integral rigging system


A recycling method which enables recycling of a high-quality regenerated styrene resin. A waste styrene resin material is dissolved in an organic solvent boiling at a temperature lower than 200xc2x0 C. and having solubility not less than 15 wt % at room temperature to prepare a solution of the waste styrene resin material. The resulting solution is freed of volatile components on heating in vacuum to remove the organic solvent to set the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin to 0.4 wt % or less to recycle the resulting styrene resin as a regenerated styrene resin.

The present application claims priority to Japanese Application No. P11-152931 filed May 31, 1999, which application is incorporated herein by reference to the extent permitted by law.
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a method for recycling a high-quality regenerated styrene resin from a waste styrene resin, such as expanded styrene or styrene cabinets, or waste styrene resin doped with a combustion-retardant agent, such as expanded styrene or styrene cabinets doped with a combustion-retardant agent.
2. Description of Related Art
The styrene resins, doped or not doped with a combustion-retardant agent, is used extensively as a cabinet material for a variety of electric equipment or as a building material. In addition, expanded styrene is used in large quantities as a variety of packaging materials.
Recently, attempts have been made to recover and re-use the waste materials, for environmental maintenance and economic merits. For example, a proposal has been made for dissolving the waste styrene material, such as expanded styrene or styrene cabinets, in an organic solvent for reducing the volume of the waste material, the resulting solution is transported to a recycling plant where it is heated in vacuum to remove volatile components to remove the organic solvent to recycle the residual product as regenerated styrene.
The above-described recycling system suffers a problem that the solvent which has dissolved the expanded styrene or styrene cabinets in the regenerated styrene be left over in the regenerated styrene. If the organic solvent is left over in the regenerated styrene, its heat resistance or tensile strength is appreciably lowered to degrade the quality of the regenerated styrene. In particular, ester-based solvents are high boiling such that the solvent is liable to be left over even on heating in vacuum for removing volatile components. If the heating temperature is raised to lower the amount of the residual solvent, the styrene resin tends to be thermally decomposed to lower the strength of the styrene material.
Moreover, a heating step is included in the recycling process, such that, if the recycling process is carried out in vacuum, oxidation is produced under the effect of residual oxygen, such that the molecular weight of the regenerated styrene resin is decreased. If the molecular weight is decreased, the regenerated materia is lowered in tensile strength and impact strength, thus appreciably lowering its quality.
On the other hand, expanded styrene doped with a combustion-retardant agent, used as a building material, or expanded styrene doped with a combustion-retardant agent, used as a cabinet for a television receiver, contains a halogen-based combustion-retardant agent in an amount approximately 1 to 10 wt %. If the styrene resin containing the combustion-retardant agent is heated to a temperature of 200xc2x0 C. or higher, the combustion-retardant agent is thermally decomposed to yield an acid which leads to significantly lowered strength of the styrene resin and hence to significantly lowered quality of the regenerated styrene. On the other hand, the processing equipment is attacked by acids yielded on thermal decomposition of the combustion-retardant agent. Thus, no effective recycling method has so far been established, such that the major portions of the waste styrene resin doped with the combustion-retardant agent are used as a land-filling material or a starting material for high-furnaces or incinerated for disposal. As the combustion-retardant agent, halogen-based combustion-retardant agents are used as a rule, so that dioxins are feared to be produced in the course of incineration for disposal.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a method for disposal for effectively decreasing the amount of residual solvents in the regenerated styrene resin and for preventing oxidation of the styrene resin in the course of the recycling, and therewith a recycling method which allows for recycling of the high-quality regenerated styrene resin.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a method for disposal for effectively decreasing the residual amount of the combustion-retardant agent in the regenerated styrene resin and therewith a recycling method which allows for recycling of the high-quality regenerated styrene resin.
In one aspect, the present invention provides a method for recycling a waste styrene resin material including dissolving the waste styrene resin material in an organic solvent boiling at a temperature lower than 200xc2x0 C. and having solubility not less than 15 wt % at room temperature to prepare a solution of the waste styrene resin material, removing impurities from the solution of the waste styrene resin material; and vacuum heating the solution of the waste styrene resin material freed of the impurities to remove volatile components and the organic solvent to reduce the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin to not larger than 0.4 wt % to recycle the resulting styrene resin as a regenerated styrene resin.
According to the present invention, since the waste styrene resin material is dissolved in an organic solvent boiling at a temperature lower than 200xc2x0 C. and having solubility not less than 15 wt % at room temperature, the amount of the organic solvent used is diminished to improve the operating efficiency. By setting the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin to 4 wt % or less, characteristics of the material of the regenerated styrene resin, such as the thermal resistance or tensile strength, may be maintained at optimum values.
In another aspect, the present invention provides a method for recycling a waste styrene resin material doped with a combustion-retardant agent including dissolving the waste styrene resin material doped with the combustion-retardant agent in an organic solvent boiling at a temperature lower than 200xc2x0 C. and having solubility not less than 15 wt % at room temperature to prepare a solution of the waste styrene resin material, removing the combustion-retardant agent from the solution of the waste styrene resin material to give an amount of the residual combustion-retardant agent in the styrene resin to not larger than 1% and vacuum heating the solution of the waste styrene resin material freed of the combustion-retardant agent to remove the volatile components and the organic solvent to reduce the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin to not larger than 0.4 wt % to recycle the resulting styrene resin as a regenerated styrene resin.
According to the present invention, since the waste styrene resin material doped with the combustion-retardant agent is dissolved in an organic solvent boiling at a temperature lower than 200xc2x0 C. and having solubility not less than 15 wt % at room temperature, the amount of the organic solvent used is diminished to improve the operating efficiency. By setting the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin to 4 wt % or less, characteristics of the material of the regenerated styrene resin, such as the thermal resistance or tensile strength, may be maintained at optimum values. Moreover, by setting the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin to 4 wt % or less, the amount of the acid yielded on thermal decomposition of the combustion-retardant agent may be diminished to affect the strength of the material of the regenerated styrene resin only to a lesser extent to evade attacking the processing equipment.
According to the present invention, as described above, in which the waste styrene resin material is dissolved in an organic solvent boiling at a temperature lower than 200xc2x0 C. and having solubility not less than 15 wt % at room temperature, the amount of the organic solvent used may be diminished to improve the operating efficiency. By setting the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin, characteristics of the material of the regenerated styrene resin, such as thermal resistance or tensile strength, may be maintained at optimum values. This renders it possible to recycle the high-quality regenerated styrene resin.
Moreover, according to the present invention, as described above, in which the waste styrene resin material doped with the combustion-retardant agent is dissolved in an organic solvent boiling at a temperature lower than 200xc2x0 C. and having solubility not less than 15 wt % at room temperature, the amount of the organic solvent used may be diminished to improve the operating efficiency. By setting the amount of the residual solvent in the styrene resin to not higher than 0.4 wt %, characteristics of the material of the regenerated styrene resin, such as thermal resistance or tensile strength, may be maintained at optimum values. Moreover, by setting the amount of the residual combustion-retardant agent to not larger than 1%, the amount of the acid yielded on thermal decomposition of the combustion-retardant agent may be diminished to eliminate adverse effects of the regenerated styrene resin on the strength of the resin material or on the processing equipment.
Thus, the added value of the regenerated styrene resin doped or not doped with the combustion-retardant agent and the application may be raised to reduce the waste material to save natural resources and energy.

Method for recycling waste styrene resin


A nitride LED having improved light extraction efficiency and/or axial luminous intensity is provided. The nitride LED contains a nitride semiconductor substrate having, on a front face thereof, a light-emitting structure made of a nitride semiconductor, wherein a roughened region is provided on a back face of the substrate, the roughened region has a plurality of protrusions, each of the plurality of protrusions has a top point or top plane and has a horizontal cross-section which is circular, except in areas where the protrusion is tangent to other neighboring protrusions, and which has a surface area that decreases on approaching the top point or top plane, the plurality of protrusions are arranged such that any one protrusion is in contact with six other protrusions, and light generated in the light-emitting structure is output to the exterior through the roughened region.

Semiconductor devices that use nitride semiconductors such as GaN, GaInN, AlGaN and AlGaInN are being put to practical use. Typical devices are light-emitting devices such as light-emitting diodes and laser diodes in which a double hetero p-n junction-type light-emitting structure is constructed of a nitride semiconductor. In particular, nitride-type LEDs having a light-emitting structure that has been heteroepitaxially grown on a c-plane sapphire substrate are mass-produced as a light source for backlighting and illumination.
The nitride semiconductor crystals which are used in light-emitting devices have a hexagonal wurtzite structure. It has been reported that because the above-described nitride LEDs which employ a c-plane sapphire substrate have a light-emitting structure wherein the n-type layer, the active layer and the p-type layer making up the light-emitting structure are stacked in the c-axis direction, a piezoelectric field that lowers the light-emitting efficiency forms at the interior of the active layer. One approach that has been proposed for resolving this problem is a non-polar or semi-polar nitride LED obtained by homoepitaxially growing a light-emitting structure on a non-polar or semi-polar GaN substrate (Non-Patent Documents 1, 2, 3 and 4).
As used herein, "non-polar GaN substrate" refers to a GaN substrate whose principal plane is a plane that is tilted 90° to the c plane (such as an m plane or a plane, which plane is called a "non-polar face"). Also, "half-polar GaN substrate" refers to a GaN substrate whose principal plane is a plane having a slope with respect to the c plane which is smaller or larger than a non-polar face (which plane is called a "semi-polar face"). However, a GaN substrate in which the principal plane has a slight slope to the c plane is generally treated as a misoriented c-plane substrate. Nitride semiconductor substrates typically have a misorientation of within 10 degrees.
In nitride LEDs having a light-emitting structure on the Ga-polar face (c+ plane) of a c-plane GaN substrate, attempts are being carried out to improve the light extraction efficiency by using wet etching treatment such as photoelectrochemical (PEC) etching to roughen the substrate back face (N-polar face; c− plane) utilized as the light extraction plane. On the other hand, in nitride LEDs which use a non-polar or half-polar GaN substrate, it has been pointed out that the back face of the substrate cannot be roughened by wet etching (Non-Patent Document 5). Hence, methods that employ dry etching to roughen the back face of the substrate are being investigated for such nitride LEDs (Patent Document 1, Non-Patent Documents 5 and 6).    Patent Document 1: WO 2009/070809    Non-Patent Document 1: A. Chakraborty, B. A. Haskell, S. Keller, J. S. Speck, S. P. DenBaars, S. Nakamura and U. K. Mishra: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 44 (2005), L173    Non-Patent Document 2: K. Okamoto, H. Ohta, D. Nakagawa, M. Sonobe, J. Ichihara and H. Takasu: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 45 (2006), L1197    Non-Patent Document 3: R. B. Chung, Y-D. Lin, I. Koslow, N. Pfaff, H. Ohta, J. Ha, S. P. DenBaars and S. Nakamura: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 49 (2010), 07020    Non-Patent Document 4: I. L. Koslow, J. Sonoda, R. B. Chung, C-C. Pan, S. Brinkley, H. Ohta, S. Nakamura and S. P. DenBaars: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 49 (2010), 080203    Non-Patent Document 5: H. Zhong, A. Tyagi, N. Pfaff, M. Saito, K. Fujito, J. S. Speck, S. P. DenBaars and S. Nakamura: Japanese Journal of Applied Physics 48 (2009), 030201    Non-Patent Document 6: Y. Zhao, J. Sonoda, C-C. Pan, S. Brinkley, I. Koslow, K. Fujito, H. Ohta, S. P. DenBaars and S. Nakamura: Applied Physics Express 3 (2010) 102101

Nitride light-emitting diode element and method of manufacturing same


A valve of a piston pump for a vehicle brake system having a closing body which is resiliently preloaded against a sealing seat. The closing body is formed in two parts with a damping piston and a closing element inserted therein. The damping piston is axially displaceably guided in a cylindrical piston guide. At least one flow channel is provided between the damping piston and the piston guide. The at least one flow channel is configured such that fluid can flow around the damping piston in the longitudinal direction thereof through the at least one flow channel.

The disclosure relates to a valve of a piston pump, in particular for a hydraulic vehicle brake system, having a closing body which is resiliently preloaded against a sealing seat, and in which the closing body is formed in two parts with a damping piston and a closing element inserted therein, wherein the damping piston is axially displaceably guided in a cylindrical piston guide. The disclosure further relates to a use of such a valve according to the disclosure on a piston pump of a vehicle brake system.
A valve of the type in question is known from DE 10 2010 039 501 A1. In such a valve, the spring-loaded valve body or closing body is configured in two parts for selectively closing an associated valve opening. Here, in particular a damping piston as one part of the two-part closing body is guided in a cylindrical piston guide. The two-part closing body affords a particularly favorable construction in terms of assembly which furthermore is also particularly well suited to compensating for manufacturing size tolerances and for achieving the leak tightness required over the service life. There results a favorable assembly sequence for the components to be assembled which can be achieved in a readily automatable manner with a displaceable work piece carrier.

Valve of a piston pump having a two-part closing body


An automated driving system and methods are disclosed. The automated driving system includes a perception system disposed on an autonomous vehicle. The automated driving system can detect an intersection including a yield scenario and identify a check point between the autonomous vehicle and the yield scenario. Prior to the autonomous vehicle reaching the check point, the automated driving system can send a command to one or more vehicle systems to control the autonomous vehicle to stop at the yield scenario. After the autonomous vehicle reaches the check point, the automated driving system can detect, using the perception system, information for the intersection. If the information indicates clear passage through the intersection for the autonomous vehicle, the automated driving system can send a command to the one or more vehicle systems to drive the autonomous vehicle through the intersection.

Fully or highly automated driving systems are designed to operate a vehicle on the road without driver interaction or other external control, for example, self-driving vehicles or autonomous vehicles. Autonomous vehicles are thus configured to make driving decisions in a manner consistent with manual control. These driving decisions can become complicated, consuming processing power in complex situations such as at intersections. This is especially true for driving decisions at yield scenarios, that is, where the autonomous vehicle must determine whether to proceed into an intersection with caution to avoid neighboring vehicles or to stop and wait, i.e. yield, until any neighboring vehicles have cleared the intersection.
Prior art driving systems include means for dynamically generating trajectories to navigate an intersection and for sectioning an intersection into a grid of segments to determine when vehicles should occupy specific segments of the intersection. In order to provide more stable driving behavior at an intersection while taking into account both the complexity of the traffic environment and the accuracy of information captured by the automated driving system about the traffic environment, the autonomous vehicle should be configured to differentiate between instances where minimum environment information is needed and where detailed environment information is needed to safely implement autonomous decision making at the intersection.

Autonomous vehicle detection of and response to yield scenarios

Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America, Inc.


A treated silica fine powder and a toner having this powder to be used as a toner for developing an electrostatic image. The treated silica fine powder is formed of treated fine silica particles obtained by treating fine silica particles with (a) a first silane coupling agent in which at least one of a substituted secondary alkyl group, an unsubstituted secondary alkyl group, a substituted tertiary alkyl group, an unsubstituted tertiary alkyl group, a substituted cyclic hydrocarbon group and an unsubstituted cyclic hydrocarbon group is bonded to a silicon atom of the silane coupling agent, and by thereafter treating the resultant fine particles of silica with a second silane coupling agent having the formula ##STR1## wherein R1 represents a methyl group, a halomethyl group, a saturated straight chain hydrocarbon group or an unsaturated straight chain hydrocarbon group; Y represents an alkoxy group or a halogen group; m represents an integer of 1 to 3; n represents an integer of 1 to 3; and m and n are 4.

Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a treated fine powder of silica constituting a toner for developing an electrostatic latent image in a process of image forming, such as electrophotography, electrostatic recording, electrostatic printing or the like, and to an electrostatic image development toner having such a treated fine powder of silica.
Hitherto, various electrophotography methods are known, including those disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 2,297,691, and in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 42-23910 and 43-24748.
Generally, development methods applicable to these electrophotography methods ar grouped into dry development methods and wet development methods. The former are further grouped into methods using a two-component type developer and methods using one-component type developer.
Conventionally, in these dry development methods, a fine powder formed by dispersing a dye and/or a pigment in a natural resin or a synthetic resin is used. For example, a fine powder having a particle size of 1 to 30 .mu.m, which has been and formed by pulverizing a binder such as polystyrene having a colorant disposed therein is typically used as a toner. As magnetic toners, powders containing particles of a magnetic material such as magnetite are used. In the case of a method using a two-component type developer, a toner is ordinarily used by being mixed with carrier particles, such as glass beads or iron particles.
It is necessary for each type of toner to have positive or negative charge according to the polarity of an electrostatic latent image to be developed. For this effect, a compound called a charge control agent is ordinarily added to the toner.
Various chemical substances are added to a toner according to image fixation performance and other characteristics required.
In particular, a method of adding a fine silica powder to the outer surface of a toner particle to achieve a desired fluidity of the toner is widely used for the purpose of improving image characteristics such as resolution, density uniformity and fog level.
This method addresses the problem of the increased degree of dependence of these image qualities upon the environment. The use of a toner prepared in this manner is presently enabled by a special means, e.g., a heater provided in a copier or other additives. However, remodeling a main unit of a copier to improve image characteristics also results in an increase in price. Further the addition of other additives may cause different problems. This problem is particularly serious in the case of a full-color copier which must be capable reproducing a half-tone image with high fidelity. In this technical field, therefore, there is a strong need to develop a fine silica powder which, when added to the outer surface of a toner, can significantly reduce changes in the performance of the toner under environmental influences.

Treated silica fine powder and toner for developing electrostatic images


A buffer amplifier is inserted out the input of a D/A converter circuit having an R/2R ladder circuit configuration to provide a D/A converter which, when the D/A output is in an unused state, has reduced current consumption and, at the same time, can stabilize the reference voltage. When the buffer amplifier is placed in a stand-by state, it sets the output of the D/A converter at a high impedance value.

Among conventional D/A converters that use the R-2R system is a D/A converter disclosed, for example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 324139/1993. This D/A converter comprises a plurality of functional sections accommodated in MCU and performs various functions and operations. It has a register section for stopping the supply of a power into each of the plurality of functional sections including the CPU, and a switch is used to stop the supply of current into an internal circuit.
According to the conventional D/A converter, addition of a switch serves to suppress the current consumption during the unused condition of the D/A converter. However, a variation in impedance of the reference voltage disadvantageously results in a variation in the current value fed. To address this problem generally requires the use of an exterior type current feed buffer for use during operation of the D/A converter.


The invention is a new and distinct ornamental dwarf grapevine variety denominated ‘VDG001’. The new grapevine is characterized by light to medium green leaf color, reddish petiole, smooth mature leaf surface, petiole sinus with closed lobes, circular mature leaf, some veins with anthocyanin coloration and green berries.

The new and distinct dwarf ornamental grapevine described and claimed herein originated from a cross between 'Pixie'™×'Riesling'.
The female parent 'Pixie'™ is a natural dwarf ornamental grapevine (Vitis vinifera) derived from periclinal L1/L2 chimera 'Pinot Meunier' with dark purple berry skin. 'Pixie'™ is the only known naturally dwarf grapevine in the public domain.
The pollen parent 'Riesling' is an early 15th century Vitis vinifera variety from Germany.
The present variety of dwarf grapevine was first produced by controlled hybridization. The original cross was done at Vineland Research and Innovations Centre, Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada on Oct. 20, 2010.
'VDG001' was first successfully asexually propagated by single node softwood cuttings at the Vineland Research and Innovations Centre, Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada on Jun. 8, 2012. It is being maintained on its own roots in a container in a Canadian Food Inspection Agency certified greenhouse facility at Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, Vineland Station, Ontario, Canada.

Vineland Research and Innovations Centre Inc.


A device for positioning an elongate gravity-actuated measuring instrument, such as a goniometer, adjacent two three-dimensional objects to measure an angle between the two objects includes first and second members. The first member is joined to, and extends away from, such instrument, and positionable against a surface of one of such objects. The second member is joined to, and extends away from, such instrument, is spaced from the first member a preselected distance, and is positionable against a surface of the other of such objects. Preferably, the first member is formed as a frame that is coupled to such instrument, and the second member is formed as an elongate positioning probe that is coupled to the frame. The device may also be formed with rotational-attachment structure, both to allow attachment of the second end of the probe to the frame and, when attached, to allow rotation of the probe about an axis defined by the long axis of the probe. In addition, the device may be formed with probe-positioning structure that allows a user to place the probe in a preselected number of positions for ultimate desired placement against such surface of the other of such objects.

The present invention relates generally to gravity-actuated measuring devices and instruments such as goniometers and, more particularly, to a novel frame for such instruments and method for using the same.
Gravity-actuated measuring devices such as levels and goniometers are known. When using a goniometer to measure an angle between two objects, it is often difficult to place the goniometer in such a way to ensure an accurate measurement. Such difficulty may arise for several reasons.
First, the objects may be covered by other items or otherwise obstructed so that the goniometer cannot easily be placed in the desired position to make the desired measurement. Second, the user may not have the ability to hold the goniometer in the desired position in a sufficiently steady manner to produce an accurate measurement. Such inability on the part of the user may be due to a physical disability, but could also be caused by the desired position for the goniometer. That is, the user may have to assume a difficult position to place the goniometer in the desired position so that even without a physical disability, the user cannot hold the goniometer in a sufficiently steady manner.
One representative application for goniometers that presents the above problems is in orthopedic surgery, and particularly veterinary orthopedic surgery. In that context, the surgeon will place the goniometer in a desired position to measure an angle between two bone regions. The two bone regions may each be separate bones, or may be part of the same bone.
In veterinary orthopedic surgery, bone regions are often obstructed by musculature that makes it difficult to place the goniometer in the desired position. In addition, the surgeon will often have to place their own body and hands in a difficult position to place the goniometer in the desired position. The result is that it is difficult for the surgeon to hold the goniometer in a sufficiently steady manner, ultimately to achieve the desired angular measurement.
Conventional gravity-actuated measuring instruments such as goniometers do not provide solutions to the above problems.
Accordingly, it is a principal object of the present invention to provide a system for positioning a gravity-actuated measuring instrument such as a goniometer.
Another object is to provide such a system that allows positioning of such instrument in a sufficiently steady manner to allow accurate measurement of an angle between two objects.
Yet another object is to provide such a system that provides an enclosure for such instrument to protect it during use.
Another important object of the invention is to provide such a system that includes a placement mechanism that accommodates placement of the instrument in the desired position when that position is obstructed by other material.
Yet another object is to provide a method of using such a system.
It is also an object of the invention to provide such a system that can be cost-effectively manufactured.
In brief summary, one aspect of the invention includes a device for positioning an elongate gravity-actuated measuring instrument, such as a goniometer, adjacent two three-dimensional objects to measure an angle between the two objects includes first and second members. The first member is joined to, and extends away from, such instrument, and positionable against a surface of one of such objects. The second member is joined to, and extends away from, such instrument, is spaced from the first member a preselected distance, and is positionable against a surface of the other of such objects.
Preferably, the first member is formed as a frame that is coupled to such instrument, and the second member is formed as an elongate positioning probe that is coupled to the frame. The device may also be formed with rotational-attachment structure, both to allow attachment of the second end of the probe to the frame and, when attached, to allow rotation of the probe about an axis defined by the long axis of the probe. In addition, the device may be formed with probe-positioning structure that allows a user to place the probe in a preselected number of positions for ultimate desired placement against such surface of the other of such objects.
Yet another aspect of the invention is to provide a method of positioning a goniometer adjacent two bone regions to measure an angle between the two regions. The method includes the steps of selecting an elongate goniometer-positioning device and coupling the same to such goniometer, and first placing one end of the device against a surface of one of such regions. The method also includes the steps of next placing another end of the device against a surface of the other of such regions, and using the goniometer to measure such an angle between the two regions after performing the first and next placing steps.
These and other objects and advantages of the invention will be more clearly understood from a consideration of the accompanying drawings and the following description of the preferred embodiment.

Frame for gravity-related measurement device


An exposure apparatus includes a plurality of chambers which respectively have openings and are connected to each other to be able to communicate with each other through the openings, and a suppressing system which suppresses a gas from flowing into at least one of the plurality of chambers through the openings after disconnection of the plurality of chambers. The one of the plurality of chambers has a projection, another one of the plurality of chambers has a recess, and the one chamber and the other chamber are connected to each other as the projection is fitted in the recess.

Conventionally, various types of exposure apparatuses have been developed to increase the integration density and decrease the feature size of the patterns of a semiconductor integrated circuit, or the like (see Japanese Patent Laid-Open Nos. 2000-012412, 09-246140, and 2002-203771 and Japanese Patent No. 02821795). FIGS. 16, 17A, and 17B are views showing the structure of a conventional exposure apparatus. Referring to FIG. 16, the interior of a light source 101 is maintained at a vacuum. Full-spherical light from the light source 101 is aligned in the light-emitting direction by a light source mirror and focused and reflected to form an EUV light-emitting point. A light source mount surface plate 102 anti-vibrates and positions the light source 101. A light source mount 103 supports and anti-vibrates the light source mount surface plate 102. An illumination system 104 is an exposure light introducing portion which introduces exposure light 107 from the light source 101. The illumination system 104 is formed of mirrors and shapes the exposure light 107 by uniforming. An illumination system mount surface plate 105 anti-vibrates and positions the illumination system 104. An illumination system mount 106 supports and anti-vibrates the illumination system mount surface plate 105. The exposure light 107 emerges as it is transmitted through the illumination system 104.
A reticle 108 is a master having a reflection pattern to be projected and exposed. A reduction projection mirror optical system 109 reduces and projects an exposed pattern reflected on the reticle 108. The reduction projection mirror optical system 109 projects and reflects light by a plurality of mirrors to finally reduce and project light with a specific reduction ratio.
A wafer 110 is a substrate on which the reflected, reduced, and projected pattern of the reticle 108 is to be exposed. A wafer stage 111 aligns the wafer 110 at a predetermined exposure position. The wafer stage 111 is alignment-controlled to be capable of driving in the six axis directions, i.e., the X-axis direction, Y-axis direction, Z-axis direction, tilt about the X-axis, tilt about the Y-axis, and rotation about the Z-axis. A wafer stage mount surface plate 115 is supported by a wafer stage mount 116 serving as anti-vibrating means, and supports and anti-vibrates the wafer stage 111 with respect to the apparatus installation floor.
A reticle stage 112 mounts on it the reticle 108 as an exposure pattern reflecting master. A reticle stage mount surface plate 113 is supported by a reticle stage mount 114 serving as an anti-vibrating means, and supports and anti-vibrates the reticle stage 112 with respect to the apparatus installation floor. A projection system mount surface plate 117 is supported by a projection system mount 118 serving as an anti-vibrating means, and supports the projection optical system 109 with respect to the apparatus installation floor.
A vacuum pump 119, vacuum pump 120, and vacuum pump 121 are supported by a main body structure 122 (see FIGS. 17A and 17B). The vacuum pump 119, vacuum pump 120, and vacuum pump 121 respectively maintain the space around the reticle stage 112, space around the projection optical system 109, and space around the wafer stage 111, where a vacuum chamber 123 forms vacuum partitions, to vacuum states of about 10−3 Pa to 10−4 Pa.
Conventionally, in the exposure apparatus having the above structure, when accessing the space around the reticle stage 112, space around the projection optical system 109, and space around the wafer stage 111 for the purpose of maintenance, or the like, the respective modules are separated, as shown in FIGS. 17A and 17B.
More specifically, as shown in FIG. 17A, when accessing the reticle stage 112 and its peripheral portion, the main body structure 122 is separated and a vacuum chamber 123A is separated from the vacuum chamber 123, so that the module of the reticle stage 112 retreats and separates upward.
As shown in FIG. 17B, when accessing the projection optical system 109, wafer stage 111, and their peripheral portions, the main body structure 122 is further separated and a vacuum chamber 123B and vacuum chamber 123C are separated from each other, so that the module of the projection optical system 109 retreats and separates upward.
In this manner, conventionally, when accessing modules and components in a vacuum chamber or dividing and transporting the apparatus, the respective modules are separated and divided.
Conventionally, however, when opening and dividing the chamber, a chamber including a module or component, which is not an access target, must also be opened. Therefore, a contaminant, moisture, or the like, attaches not only to the module or component as the access target, but also, a module or component, which is not an access target, thus, contaminating the interiors of the chambers.

Exposure apparatus and device manufacturing method


One embodiment of the present invention sets forth a technique for generating a status update message. The method involves defining one or more status update criteria and monitoring user activity in a software application for the one or more status update criteria. The method further involves determining, based on the user activity, that the one or more status update criteria have been met and generating, via a processing unit, a status update message. The status update message includes multimedia content related to a project associated with the software application.

Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to computer software and, more specifically, to an approach for in-product micro-blogging for design sharing.
Description of the Related Art
A wide variety of software applications are currently available to end-users, including computer-aided design (CAD) applications, computer graphics applications, animation applications, word processing applications, and computer programming applications, among others. Many of these software applications allow an end-user to interact with the software application via a graphical end-user interface (GUI). Conventional GUIs often provide the end-user with access to a set of tools that can be used to perform various operations within a workspace generated by the software application. For example, a CAD application could provide a set of drawing tools that could be used to create complex designs within a drawing workspace generated by the CAD application. In such a case, each tool in the set of tools would be represented within the GUI with an icon that the end-user could select in order to use the tool.
Despite advances in application designs that allow end-users to more easily operate complex applications, learning how to use such applications can still be problematic. More complex applications, for example, like the CAD application described above, often include thousands of commands or functions from which to choose and many ways for an end-user to combine these functions into workflows. Consequently, with unfamiliar aspects of complex applications, even expert end-users may require assistance.
In an effort to share knowledge and experiences related to using different software applications, end-users sometimes post their designs and related instructional materials on websites, such as discussion forums or blogs. Such websites attempt to provide guidance to other users regarding how to use a particular application tool or simply function to update others on the progress of a specific project on which another user is working. While such technologies enable users to distribute designs and instructional materials to a wide audience, these technologies have several limitations. For example, forum- and blogging-related websites and applications are typically external to the software application from which a user wishes to share content. Consequently, a user must interrupt his or her workflow to manually prepare content to be shared, which can be a laborious task. Due to the loss in productivity associated with sharing content, many users who would otherwise be willing to provide exemplary designs and guidance to others may choose not to do so. Moreover, users who do choose to share content may provide infrequent updates. For instance, tutorials and discussion forum threads are typically posted only after a project or large discreet aspects of a project are complete.
As the foregoing illustrates, there is a need in the art for a more effective way for users to share application content and instructional information with other users.

In-product micro-blogging for design sharing