A scooter (10) is provided comprising a deck portion (12) mounted on a pair of front wheels (14); at least one tail portion (16) foldably coupled to the deck portion (12) and being narrower than the deck portion (12) and mounted on at least one rear wheel (18) thereby providing the deck portion (12) with stability. The scooter (10) further includes a steering post (20) coupled to the front wheels (14) and being foldable with respect to the deck portion (12).

Urban vehicles such as scooters are well known and are vastly in use in densely populated cities where transportation is involved heavy traffic and pollution. Scooters and other motorized mini vehicles are configured to allow a single or two riders to travel short distances within the city, usually through paths which are normally are not used by other vehicles.
As for mini vehicles, such as scooters, the typically small dimensions thereof, allows the rider to carry it by hand, when not in use. However, the small dimensions of the vehicle can render it unsafe to ride. Larger vehicles, on the other hand, are hard to store and carry around when not in use.
WO0236419 discloses an electrically driven and collapsible vehicle for local transportation. When collapsed and while being folded up the vehicle remains in vertical position and thus requires little storage space. Folding up and opening are performed either electrically or manually. The device has replaceable modular platforms, and different user profiles for different purposes of use and users can be programmed in a trip computer. The device can be driven by a person who is either sitting, standing up or walking beside it.
WO03055737 discloses an apparatus and a method for collapsing a means of transport from running position into storage position or vice versa. Collapsing is preferably performed using an electric motor or by hand, the mutual movements of the front part frame, the rear part frame and the reversible rod being preferably synchronised using cogged belt pulleys and the reversible rod. Owing to synchronisation, the centre of gravity of the transport means is stable and remains within an area defined by the wheels during the entire collapsing operation, so that collapsing takes place completely without any external support.


Method to control a clutch device within a transmission selectively coupling an internal combustion engine to a driveline includes controlling slip of the clutch device in response to an engine autostart event. Controlling slip includes adjusting a commanded fill pressure to the clutch device to a first predetermined magnitude that exceeds a pressure threshold until the clutch device is filled, decreasing the commanded fill pressure from the first predetermined magnitude to a second predetermined magnitude below the pressure threshold, and adjusting the commanded fill pressure in accordance with a first ramping profile and in accordance with a subsequent second ramping profile when a transmission input speed achieves a desired first transmission input speed.

The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure. Accordingly, such statements are not intended to constitute an admission of prior art.
Known powertrain architectures include torque-generative devices that generate and transfer torque via a torque transmission device to a driveline including one or more drive wheels for traction to propel a vehicle. Torque-generative devices may include, e.g., an internal combustion engine and/or torque machine(s) powered by non-fossil fuel. The torque machine(s) use non-fossil fuels including, e.g., stored electric energy, stored hydraulic energy, and stored pneumatic energy to generate tractive torque. The torque machine(s) may transform vehicle kinetic energy that is transmitted through the drive wheels to energy that is storable in an energy storage device.
It is known to transition an engine from an OFF state to an ON state, e.g., fueled and spinning, when power provided from the engine is required. For instance, power from the engine may be required to charge the energy storage device of a hybrid powertrain. Additionally, the engine can be required to power auxiliary components of the vehicle, such as a compressor of an air conditioning system. Accordingly, autostart events of the engine can be performed that are non-driver induced, e.g., occurring not as a result of an operator input. In some instances, the autostart events can create lash perceivable to the operator of the vehicle when the engine turns on and is connected to the driveline.

Driveline clutch variable clutch capacity reapply, shaping and lash management


An electronic data processing circuit is disclosed having at least an instruction memory, an instruction decoder; and a slot structure. The slot structure is characterized by a plurality of slots. Each slot has at least: (1) an address register (2) a data register, (4) a function register, and (3) a monitoring circuit. Each slot asynchronously performs operations defined by the information content of their respective address register, data register and function register when complete information is present.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of electronics. More particularly, the invention relates to an asynchronous computer architecture that does not rely on a central clock for timing and control of data processing operations.
2. Related Art
Several proposals are known for making asynchronous circuits that potentially relate to executing program instructions, as reflected in the documents listed below.
1. S. B. Furber, P. Day, J. D. Garside, N. C. Paver and J. V. Woods, AMULET1: A Micropipelined ARM, Department of Computer Science, The University, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK, Undated. PA1 2. Mark Edward Dean, STRIP: A Self-Timed Risc Processor, Technical Report No. CSL-TR-92-543, Stanford University Computer Systems Laboratory, July 1992. PA1 3. Jens Sparso and Jorgen Staunstrup, Delay-Insensitive Multi-Ring Structures, Integration, the VLSI Journal 15, 1993. PA1 4. J. D. Garside, A CMOS VLSI Implementation of an Asynchronous ALU, Department of Computer Science, Manchester University, Oxford Road, Manchester, M13 9PL, UK, Undated. PA1 5. S. B. Furber, P. Day, J. D. Garside, N. C. Paver, S. Temple and J. V. Woods, The Design and Evaluation of an Asynchronous Microprocessor, Department of Computer Science, The University, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PL, England, Undated. PA1 6. Jens Sparso, Jorgen Staunstrup, Michael Dantzer-Sorensen, Design of Delay Insensitive Circuits Using Multi-Ring Structures, European Design Automation Conference, EURO-VHDL '92, 1992 IEEE 0-8186-2780, pp. 15-20, August 1992. PA1 7. David E. Mueller, Asynchronous Logics and Application to Information Processing, Switching Theory in Space Technology, Stanford University Press, pp. 289-297, 1963. PA1 8. J. Staunstrup and M. R. Greenstreet, Designing Delay Insensitive Circuits using "Synchronized Transitions", Elsevier Science Publishers B. V. (North-Holland), IFIP, 1990. PA1 9. Teresa H. Y. Meng, Robert W. Brodersen, David G. Messerschmitt, Automatic Synthesis of Asynchronous Circuits from High-Level Specifications, IEEE Transactions on Computer-Aided Design, Vol. 8, No. 11, pp. 1185-1205, November 1989. PA1 10. Ivan E. Sutherland, MICROPIPELINES, Communications Of The Acm, Vol. 32, No. 6, PP. 720-738, June 1989.
Despite these proposals, the dominant processors commercially available today are based on boolean clocked logic, and have centrally controlled architectures optimized for characteristics of boolean clocked logic.

Autonomously cycling data processing architecture


An article that includes: a substrate having a glass, glass-ceramic or a ceramic composition and comprising a primary surface; and a protective film disposed on the primary surface. The protective film comprises a thickness of greater than 1.5 microns and a maximum hardness of greater than 15 GPa at a depth of 500 nanometers, as measured on the film disposed on the substrate. Further, the protective film comprises a metal oxynitride that is graded such that an oxygen concentration in the film varies by 1.3 or more atomic %. In addition, the substrate comprises an elastic modulus less than an elastic modulus of the film.

Glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic materials, many of which are configured or otherwise processed with various strength-enhancing features, are prevalent in various displays and display devices of many consumer electronic products. For example, chemically strengthened glass is favored for many touch-screen products, including cell phones, music players, e-book readers, notepads, tablets, laptop computers, automatic teller machines, and other similar devices. Many of these glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic materials are also employed in displays and display devices of consumer electronic products that do not have touch-screen capability, but are prone to mechanical contact, including desktop computers, laptop computers, elevator screens, equipment displays, and others.
Glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic materials, as processed in some cases with strength-enhancing features, are also prevalent in various applications desiring display- and/or optic-related functionality and demanding mechanical property considerations. For example, these materials can be employed as cover lenses, substrates and housings for watches, smartphones, retail scanners, eyeglasses, eyeglass-based displays, outdoor displays, automotive displays and other related applications. These materials can also be employed in vehicular windshields, vehicular windows, vehicular moon-roof, sun-roof and panoramic roof elements, architectural glass, residential and commercial windows, and other similar applications.
As used in these display and related applications, these glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic materials are often coated with transparent and semi-transparent, scratch-resistant films to increase wear resistance and resist the development of mechanically-induced defects that can otherwise lead to premature failure. These conventional scratch-resistant coatings and films, however, are often prone to low strain-to-failure. As a result, the articles employing these films can be characterized by good wear resistance, but often at the expense of reductions in other mechanical properties, including strength and impact resistance.
In view of these considerations, there is a need for scratch-resistant articles with glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic substrates and protective films that retain other mechanical properties, including article strength, with no significant increase in cost and/or article dimensions.

Glass, glass-ceramic and ceramic articles with graded protective coatings having hardness and strength


The invention provides a process for enantioselective hydrocyanation of aromatic vinyl compounds which produces nonracemic mixtures of chiral, arylpropionitriles; novel carbohydrate phosphorus and nickel catalyst compositions; and optically pure (S)-(-)-2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthalene)propionitrile.

Arylpropionitriles are useful precursors to an important class of chiral arylpropionic acids that are nonsteroidal, antiinflammatory drugs, Tetrahedron, 1986, 42 (15), 4095, J. Org. Chem., 1985, 50, 5370. In most cases, the beneficial properties of these drugs are believed to arise from only one enantiomer and, in some cases, the properties of the other enantiomer are harmful. Thus selective, synthetic routes to nonracemic mixtures of arylpropionitriles or arylpropionic acids are highly desirable.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,496,215; 3,496,217; 3,496,218; 3,631,191; 3,655,723; 3,798,256; 3,846,461; 3,847,959; and 3,903,120 describe nonenantioselective alkene hydrocyanation in the presence of low valent, organophosphorous Ni catalysts and, in some cases, Lewis acid promoters. The nickel-catalyzed hydrocyanation of styrene and vinylnapthalene derivatives occurs in a predominantly Markovnikov fashion to generate racemic mixtures of chiral, arylpropionitriles (J. Org. Chem., 1985, 50, 5370; Adv. Catal., 1985, 33, 25-31).
Very few examples of enantioselective, transition-metal-catalyzed alkene hydrocyanations have been documented. Reported enantioselective inductions pertain primarily to the enantioselective hydrocyanation of norbornene derivatives, and only modest product e.e.'s (enantiomeric excesses) have been obtained. The highest e.e. reported for any transition-metal-catalyzed enantioselective alkene hydrocyanation is 40% for a Pd catalyzed hydrocyanation of norbornene (6% product yield; Organometallics 1988, 7,, 1761).
To achieve the enantioselective alkene hydrocyanation of the instant invention, Applicants have used a class of nickel hydrocyanation catalyst compositions comprised of zero-valent nickel and chiral, nonracemic bidentate organophosphorus ligands. Such catalysts are not known to have been used previously in enantioselective hydrocyanation of aromatic vinyl compounds.
The use of catalyst compositions of zero-valent nickel and chiral, nonracemic O-substituted, bidentate diolphosphorus ligands derived from chiral diols for the enantioselective hydrocyanation of norbornene have been reported in Aust. J. Chem., 19082, 35, 2069; J. Chem. Soc. Commun., 1991, 1292). However, use of such catalysts on aromatic vinyl substrates is not disclosed.
Nonracemic mixtures of chiral, O-substituted diolphosphorus ligands derived from carbohydrates, such as D-glucose, have been used previously as ligands in the catalytic, enantioselective hydrogenation of .alpha.,.beta.-unsaturated acid derivatives. The catalyst compositions of the instant invention, however, which comprise nickel, are not known in the enantioselective hydrocyanation of alkenes.
In addition, the preparation of racemic 2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthalene)propionitrile has been previously reported in Synthetic Commun. 1984, 14, 1365; J. Org. Chem. 1985, 50, 5370, but the preparation of the pure S enantiomer is not disclosed. Using a preferred embodiment of the process of the invention Applicants have achieved the preparation of optically pure (S)-(-)-2-(6-methoxy-2-naphthalene)propionitrile.

Enantioselective hydrocyanation of aromatic vinyl compounds


A method and system for testing a multi-port memory cell are described. According to one embodiment of the invention, a multi-port memory device comprises an array of multi-port memory cells. Accordingly, each multi-port memory cell is connected to one word-line and two bit-lines per read/write port. The memory device includes memory testing logic to perform a first memory access operation (e.g., read/write) at a first port of the multi-port memory cell while the memory cell is in a stressed condition. For example, the first memory access operation occurs while a second memory access operation is emulated on a second port. Moreover, the memory access operations occur at a frequency that is substantially equivalent to a maximum operating frequency of the dual-port memory device.

As fabrication methods have improved and smaller geometry technologies, such as 90-nanometer design, have been developed, the area of silicon required to produce a memory device having a given data storage capacity has continued to decrease. Generally, these technological advances have led to a greater number of memory devices per silicon wafer, and consequently, a lower cost per memory device. Meanwhile, the overall storage capacity of memory devices has been continuously increasing. Unfortunately, this trend has resulted in significantly increasing the complexity involved in the testing of some memory devices. In particular, it has become increasingly challenging to rapidly and cost-effectively identify manufacturing defects in volatile memory devices, such as CMOS SRAM devices (i.e., complimentary metal oxide semiconductor, static random access memory devices).
One type of CMOS SRAM device that is particularly challenging to accurately and effectively test is a multi-port memory device having an array of multi-port memory cells. FIG. 1 illustrates a typical (prior art) multi-port memory cell 10 that is commonly used in multi-port memory devices. Similar to a single-port memory cell, the multi-port memory cell 10 shown in FIG. 1 includes a storage element comprised of two N-channel field effect transistors (FETs) (e.g., T1 and T2) interconnected with two cross-coupled P-channel transistors (e.g., T3 and T4). However, in contrast to a single-port memory cell, the multi-port memory cell 10 is connected to two word-lines and two pairs of bit-lines—one word-line and one pair of bit-lines per read/write port. Accordingly, the storage element of the multi-port memory cell can be independently and simultaneously accessed from each port during a single clock cycle.
Because the storage element of the multi-port memory cell is connected to multiple ports, a multi-port memory cell may be subject to certain states and stress conditions that are difficult to emulate in a testing mode. For example, one particular stress condition that a multi-port memory cell may encounter during normal operation is when both word-lines (e.g., WORD-LINE A and WORD-LINE B in FIG. 1) are asserted, or enabled, at the same time. This may occur, for example, when WORD-LINE A is asserted during a write cycle in which data is being written to the memory cell via PORT A, while WORD-LINE B is being asserted in connection with a read operation to read data from the memory cell via PORT B. It is during these stress conditions that the memory cell is most likely to fail, if the memory cell or the circuit of which the memory cell is a part, has a manufacturing defect.
Traditional testing logic generally tests each memory cell by simply performing a write operation to write a logical data value to the memory cell, followed by a read operation. If the logical data value read from the memory cell matches the logical data value written, then the memory cell, and the circuit of which the memory cell is a part, are assumed not to be defective. During both the read and write operation, the port that is not in use is disabled. For example, the word-line associated with the port that is not in use is kept at a low voltage state, thereby isolating the bit-lines connected to that particular word-line from the data storage element. Consequently, traditional approaches to testing multi-port memory devices fail to test the memory cells in the stressed conditions that the memory cells may encounter during normal operation.
Another problem with traditional multi-port memory testing methods is that often the testing logic used to test the individual memory cells of the array does not operate at the clock frequency at which the device will operate under normal conditions. For example, one common technique used for memory testing is to implement testing logic, sometimes referred to as built-in self-test and repair (BISTR) logic that is physically remote from the memory core (e.g., the array of dual port memory cells). The BISTR logic may generate control and testing signals including data and address signals for testing one or more memory devices. If multiple memory devices are connected to the BISTR, the control and test signals may be heavily loaded, thereby affecting the maximum frequency at which the memory device can be clocked. Moreover, because the BISTR logic is often implemented to be physically separated from the memory core, the testing and control signals may experience a propagation delay in reaching the memory core. Furthermore, it may take more than one clock cycle to generate and set-up the control and testing signals. Consequently, errors that may occur when the memory device is operated at its normal operating frequency may not be detected if the memory device is tested at a frequency other than the normal operating frequency.

Method and system for testing a dual-port memory at speed in a stressed environment


Disclosed is an unmanned aerial vehicle adapted to be positioned against a substantially vertical wall while hovering in the air, including a body and rotors, an arm end, a first leg end and a second leg end intersected by a front plane and adapted for together contacting the wall at three spaced apart positions, the front plane intersecting a vertical axis of the UAV at an upper side of a first plane spanned by a lateral and longitudinal axis of the UAV, the front plane extending at a first angle of between 45 to 85 degrees to the first plane; wherein the UAV is adapted for tilting upon contact of the first and second leg ends with the wall while the arm end approaches the wall, about the first and second leg ends and towards the wall, until the arm end contacts the wall.

WO 2015/162613 shows a wall-drawing hovering device comprising an unmanned helicopter with a drawing system for drawing on a vertical surface.
WO 2012/013878 describes a UAV comprising a measurement probe for measuring a wall thickness upon contact of the probe with a vertical wall during hovering of the UAV. The known device is particularly suitable to be used in hard to reach locations. However, during hovering of the UAV, contact between the UAV and the wall may become unstable, reducing the accuracy of measurements carried out with the probe.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a UAV adapted for providing a more stable contact between a substantially vertical wall and a UAV during hovering of the UAV. It is a further object of the invention to provide a method for stably positioning a UAV against a substantially vertical wall.
It is a further object of the invention to provide a UAV suitable for use in dangerous environments, such as indoor environments where explosive or corrosive materials are stored, and which may be controlled remotely from said environment.

Unmanned aerial vehicle for positioning against a wall


A three-dimensional, panoramic diver down flag visible having increased visibility is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a diver down flag includes a first indicator and a second indicator positioned obliquely to the first indicator. A separation member is disposed between the first and the second indicator, the separation member configured to maintain an angular separation between the first and the second indicator.

Oceans, and other bodies of water, serve as major attractions for individuals by providing mediums in which a wide variety of sports and activities may be performed, such as snorkeling, scuba diving, and free diving. During such activities, individuals may descend beneath the surface of a body of water, becoming increasingly difficult to see as their depths increase. Caution thus must be taken to protect the individuals and increase their visibility. As such, indicators such as diver down flags may be used and even required by law to indicate the presence of a diver to other water-goers and vessels, and to signal to such vessels to reduce speed and maintain a predetermined separation distance.
The inventor herein has recognized that although such diver down flags increase the visibility of individuals and signal their presence to others, the flags may not be visible in certain situations. Due to their flat, two-dimensional shape, diver down flags may be substantially invisible when viewed along their edge as opposed to face. Vessels approaching from certain perspectives, for example, may be unable to locate the diver down flag and may thus be unaware of a diver's presence.
A three-dimensional, panoramic diver down flag visible having increased visibility is disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a diver down flag includes a first indicator and a second indicator positioned obliquely to the first indicator. A separation member is disposed between the first and the second indicator, the separation member configured to maintain an angular separation between the first and the second indicator.
In this way, a three-dimensional, panoramic diver down flag may be provided which may be visible and observed from each sightline in a 360° range along a surface of a body of water.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.


Embodiments of a system for searching text indices for suffixes are disclosed. Embodiments may include a suffix searching module at a computer configured to receive a query and identify the query as a suffix query, extract a suffix from an identified suffix query and reverse an order of characters in the suffix, and search a secondary index for terms corresponding to the reverse-ordered suffix, the secondary index comprising one or more lists of reverse-ordered terms from a primary index; a search reconfiguration module operably coupled to the suffix searching module and configured to receive from the suffix searching module found terms corresponding to the reverse-ordered suffix and reverse an order of the characters of the found terms; and a search module configured to implement a search of a primary index using reverse-ordered found terms received from the search reconfiguration module.

Full text indexing and searching are useful capabilities in many applications today, such as in Internet search engines or local or single-site searching. For example, Apache Lucene is an open source full text indexing engine that creates an inverted index by reading documents and tokenizing them. The index is thus the result of extracting terms and identifying various metadata associated with the terms, such as which documents the terms are from and the placement of the terms in the particular documents. Thus, an index comprises a list of terms. Each instance of the occurrence of a term in a document may be associated with the term in the index. For example, an identifier of the document and the location of the occurrence in that document may be associated with the term for each instance of the occurrence of the term.
Search engines may utilize such indices to search the documents. For example, Apache Solr is a search framework that uses such an index for full-text searching. In general, Solr receives a query and tokenizes the search terms, identifying Boolean operators and implementing a search of documents using the index created from those documents.
To illustrate, if a query was "Victor Frankenstein," the search engine might identify "Victor" and "Frankenstein" and build a binary search "Victor AND Frankenstein," and search for documents that contain both terms using the index created from those documents. Similarly, wildcard operators may be employed in certain search engines. These wildcard operators may be used to perform prefix searches, which comprise a prefix followed by a wildcard, and suffix searches, which comprise a wildcard followed by a suffix. If a wildcard prefix operator was employed in a search query for a prefix search, the search engine would generate a search for all documents that contained the prefix. For example, suppose the search was "Frank*," where "*" is the wildcard operator. In this case, the search engine would generate a search for documents which contain terms which begin the prefix "Frank." Such a prefix search may be relatively straightforward to implement, as the index created from the documents being searched may be sorted alphabetically by term. Thus, when searching using the documents, the index may be relatively quickly processed to determine which terms begin with "Frank" and the documents associated with these terms determined.
However, a similar search for a suffix may be quite a bit more complicated. For example, suppose a suffix search of the nature of "*ing," where "*" is a wildcard operator is desired.
In this case the search engine may perform a search for all documents containing a term ending in "ing". As the structure of the index created from the documents being searched may comprise an alphabetically sorted list of terms this search may entail, for example, a string comparison with every term in the index beginning with the last letter of the term and the last letter of the suffix (e.g., a reverse string comparison), to locate each term in the index which ends in the suffix of interest. The documents associated with those terms can then be determined. Since indices can include tens, if not hundreds of thousands of terms, performing such searches can be relatively time-consuming.

International Business Machines Corporation


A liquid carrier recovery apparatus for a liquid electrophotographic printer includes a drying unit for evaporating a liquid carrier, a condensing vessel in which a condensed carrier is stored, a circulating tube for reciprocally circulating the liquid carrier in the condensing vessel between the drying unit and the condensing vessel so that heat exchange occurs between the liquid carrier and the gas carrier within the drying unit, and a carrier reservoir for receiving and storing the gas carrier condensed in the drying unit and the condensing vessel.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a liquid electrophotographic printer, and more particularly, to a carrier recovery apparatus for recovering a liquid carrier of a developer liquid adsorbed onto a photoreceptor.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, in a liquid electrophotographic printer employed in a laser printer or a copier, an image formed on a photoreceptor such as a photoreceptor belt is developed using a developer liquid which is a mixture of a toner powder having a predetermined color and a liquid carrier. The developed image is transferred to and printed onto a sheet of paper after the liquid carrier is removed therefrom.
The liquid carrier, made of carbon hydroxide, is a pollutant and harmful to humans. Thus, it is desirable to recover the liquid carrier for recycling.
Referring to FIG. 1 showing a conventional liquid carrier recovery apparatus, a liquid carrier in the developer liquid supplied to an electrostatic latent image formed on a traveling photoreceptor belt 11 is evaporated by a drying roller 122 installed in a drying unit 12, and a heating roller 123 for heating the drying roller 122.
Part of the evaporated carrier contacts a heat transmission fin 121a formed in a housing 121, thereby being cooled and liquefied. The liquefied carrier is recovered through a first recovery tube 124 and stored in a carrier reservoir 15. Any evaporated carrier remaining in the housing 121 is sent to a condenser 14 by a fan 13a driven by a driving motor 13b. The gas carrier introduced into the condenser 14 contacts a condensed carrier maintained at a constant temperature, thereby being cooled and liquefied. The liquefied carrier is recovered through a second recovery tube 141 and stored in the carrier reservoir 15.
Part of the evaporated carrier introduced into the condenser 14 remains in a gaseous state. This gas carrier is filtered by a filter 161 installed in an exhaust unit 16 to prevent the carrier from effusing into the outside environment.
In the conventional carrier recovery apparatus, the cooling capacity of the heat transmission fin 121a is small. Thus, a negligible amount of carrier is liquefied within the drying unit 12, and most of the gas carrier is condensed in the condenser 14. Consequently, the time required for recovering the carrier is long, and the carrier recovery efficiency is low.

Liquid carrier recovery apparatus for liquid electrophotographic printer


An assembly for pivotally mounting a touch screen subassembly (39) to a housing (21). An enclosure (4) containing the touch screen (40) is pivotally mounted to hinge plates (30, 32). Washers (70, 72, 74, 130) and fasteners (76, 131) hold the enclosure to the hinges and apply an intermediate braking force that inhibits movement of the subassembly will the touch screen is normally depressed to actuate one of its buttons and that allows movement when a force is applied to deliberately move the assembly. A lock assembly with a moving latch (84) holds the touch screen subassembly in either the fully inclined or full upright positions when the subassembly is so positioned until a user manually actuates the latch.

The ability to perform modern surgical procedures is made possible, in part, by the development of increasing advanced electrically controlled and operated surgical equipment. Today, modern electrically operated surgical and medical equipment are able to perform such functions as: precisely regulate mechanically, acoustically, electrically and/or optically actuated surgical instruments; apply and remove both liquid and gaseous state fluids contained within a surgical site; identify where a surgical instrument is within a patient even though the instrument is concealed to the human eye; and/or display and/or record images of the surgical site
A common component in each of the foregoing types of surgical equipment is the control console. This control console is typically in the form of a housing in which is contained the circuitry that either controls another component and/or that performs the signal processing function of the equipment. Often, these control consoles are provided with touch screen displays that perform two functions. First, these displays serve as monitors on which information regarding the state of the equipment and/or information gathered by the equipment is presented. Secondly, these displays function as data entry devices through which the surgeon and other medical personnel enter commands and/or data to the equipment. Typically, images of buttons are presented on these displays. The portions of these displays on which the buttons are presented are depressed by the medical personnel to enter the command and/or data. An advantage of these control consoles is that they can be configured so that their touch screens, at any given instant, only present information and/or buttons that are immediate of concern the medical personnel. This prevents the personnel from having to perceive visually presented information that is not relevant to the surgical procedure at hand and that can be potentially distracting.
A disadvantage of present control consoles for surgical/medical devices is that their touch screens are statically mounted to the rest of the console. Consequently, depending where a console is positioned, the medical personnel may have to strain to view the touch screen and/or to depress the buttons presented on it. Sometimes this strain is caused by the physical position of the control console relative to the medical personnel. At other times, this strain, particularly the eyestrain, is due to the fact that light present in the operating room places a glare on the touch screen that may make it difficult to view some of the images presented on the screen.
The above problems may occur with some control consoles because these consoles are often located and relocated in different positions in an operating room. For example, some consoles are seated on carts in the operating room. The position of the console on the cart or the position of the cart itself may change from surgical procedure-to-surgical procedure in order to accommodate for different types of equipment used to perform different surgical procedures and/or the individual equipment placement preferences of the surgeons performing the various procedures. Alternatively, these consoles are sometimes mounted on adjustably positioned booms in an operating room. These booms allow the equipment they hold to be moved both horizontally and vertically. Thus, when the control console is in one position, it may be relatively easy to view and depress its touch screen. However, if it is necessary or desirable to move the control console to an alternative position, the images presented on their touch screens may be difficult to discern and their buttons difficult to depress.

Video image capture system with adjustable control screen


A brake lining wear indicator is attached to a drum brake shoe backing plate adjacent the brake lining. The indicator provides a visual gage dimension that assists in the determination of when the brake linings should be replaced. This determination can be made in a very short period of time without requiring a physical measurement of the thickness of the brake lining on each brake shoe.

This invention relates to a unique brake lining wear indicator to be supported on a brake shoe backing plate of a drum brake assembly.
Drum brakes are widely used in vehicle braking systems. In a typical drum brake, two arcuate brake shoe assemblies are located inside a rotating cylindrical brake drum. Each brake shoe assembly includes a backing plate which carries brake lining friction material. A brake actuator moves the brake shoe assemblies toward the rotating brake drum such that the brake lining friction material contacts the inner surfaces of the drum, thus retarding the rotation of the drum. Over a period of time, the contact between the lining and the drum causes the lining to wear. If the lining becomes too thin, ineffective braking can occur. Thus, it is desirable to provide an indication when brake lining thickness is such that the brake shoes should be changed.
Several problems arise when trying to determine whether the brake linings have sufficiently worn such that they need to be changed. Often the wheel and the brake drum have to be removed from the vehicle for the brake lining thickness to be measured. This is cumbersome and time consuming. Thus, it is desirable to have an efficient way to visually inspect the lining thickness to determine whether the brake linings need to be replaced without having to physically measure the linings.
Brake lining wear indicators have been used as visual inspection tools in the prior art. Typically, these indicators have been incorporated into the lining material itself Notches have been put into the sides of the lining material to visually signal when the linings need to be changed. Also, colored material has been inserted into the brake lining material at a predetermined height to serve as a visual indication to change the brake linings. These prior art systems have required modification of the lining material, which is undesirable. Thus, it is desirable to have a visually detectable brake lining indicator which can be easily attached to the brake shoe assembly and which is not incorporated into the lining material.


A mobile terminal comprises: a body having a front surface, a rear surface and side surfaces; a window disposed on the front surface, and having its edge portion bent so as to form at least part of the side surfaces; a display disposed to face the window, and configured to output visual information; and a touch sensor disposed between the window and the display, configured to sense a touch input applied to the window, and covering a rear surface of the display as at least part thereof is folded.

1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates to a mobile terminal, and particularly, to a mobile terminal having a display and a touch sensor.
2. Background of the Disclosure
In general, a terminal may be classified into a mobile (portable) terminal and a stationary terminal according to a moveable state. The mobile terminal may be also classified into a handheld terminal and a vehicle mount terminal according to a user's carriage method.
As functions of the terminal become more diversified, the terminal can support more complicated functions such as capturing images or video, reproducing music or video files, playing games, receiving broadcast signals, and the like. By comprehensively and collectively implementing such functions, the mobile terminal may be embodied in the form of a multimedia player or a device.
Various attempts have been made to implement complicated functions in such a multimedia device by means of hardware or software. As one example, a user interface for allowing a user to easily and conveniently search for or select a function is being provided.
As the mobile terminal is regarded as a personal belonging to express a user's personality, various designs are required. The designs include structural changes and improvements for allowing a user to more conveniently use the mobile terminal. As one of such structural changes and improvements, a structure, where a side touch as well as a front touch is implemented and the mobile terminal is easily fabricated, may be considered.


A torsional-vibration damper includes a primary element operatively connected for rotation with a prime mover and a secondary element operatively connected with the input to a transmission. A spring mechanism is operatively disposed between and adapted to control the primary element and the secondary element in damped torque translational relationship. The torsional-vibration damper also includes a friction device having a plurality of fiction blocks that frictionally join the primary element with the secondary element. The secondary element includes an output-side member having a first axial ridge and a drive-side member having a second axial ridge. The output-side member and the drive-side member operatively encompass the primary element and the first axial ridge overlaps the second axial ridge. The first and the second axial ridges thereby cooperate to provide a double layer of radial support for the spring mechanism.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, generally, to a torsional-vibration damper for the vehicle.
2. Description of the Related Art
A torsional-vibration damper is, generally, a type of elastic coupling disposed between two components of a drive train of a vehicle, for example, between an internal-combustion engine and a transmission. Such devices generally reduce or otherwise prevent vibrations from being transmitted from the engine to other parts of the drive train.
The basic embodiment of a torsional-vibration damper includes a primary element and a secondary element that can be coupled to each other by a spring device and are limited in movement in relation to each other about a rotational axis. The spring device advantageously includes a plurality of springs disposed on a radial arc spaced relative to the rotational axis and, preferably, at a certain uniform distance from each other. The springs, or a sequence of multiple springs, if applicable, are then connected to the primary element on one side of the springs and to the secondary element on the other side of the springs. Torque is transmitted through the spring coupling, and, as a result of the spring characteristic, a certain additional damping effect is achieved.
When torsional-vibration dampers are used in the drive train, however, it is necessary to have a high moment of friction in the drive train to decrease the vibration amplitudes in the resonance range. Unfortunately, this causes the transmission characteristic to deteriorate in higher speed range.
In response to this problem, a torsional-vibration damper has been developed in the related art that includes primary and secondary elements coupled not only by the spring device, but additionally via a friction device whose damping effect can be controlled and adjusted by a special force-generating device. The friction device can also be engaged and disengaged in the manner of a clutch.
Although torsional-vibration dampers known in the related art are basically effective in solving this problem, they still have certain disadvantages. In particular, they are often physically complex and also require a separate control system. The control system operatively controls the friction device to selectively provide the desired controlled moment of friction given the specific operating conditions at the time. The inherent complexity of both the friction device and its control system generally leads to increased costs associated with torsional dampers of this type. Often, the manufacturing costs of such torsional dampers are considered too high for many applications. Furthermore, these types of systems suffer from having secondary elements with insufficient radial strength to properly support the centrifugal forces generated as the spring device operates. This causes deflection of the elements during operation that results in a power loss and possible damage to the torsional damper.
Thus, there remains a need in the art for a torsional-vibration damper having a friction device that provides a controlled moment of friction and that is not too expensive to manufacture. In particular, there remains a need in the art for torsional-vibration damper that employs a simple friction device that provides a damping effect that does not need a separate control system and can be produced in a cost-effective manner. There is also a need in the art for a torsional-vibration damper of this type that has secondary elements that are stronger than those typically employed in the related art so that they are capable of withstanding the centrifugal forces generated at the spring damping mechanism.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.


An ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus comprises: a main unit in which an illumination and observation optical system for illuminating a patient's eye and allowing observation of the patient's eye under illumination, and an irradiation optical system for irradiating a treatment laser beam and an aiming beam to the patient's eye; a joystick including a grip to be grasped by an operator, the joystick being configured to move the main unit with respect to the patient's eye; and a switch placed in an opening formed in a side of the joystick, the switch being configured to input a plurality of switch signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus for treating an affected part of a patient's eye by irradiating a treatment laser beam to the affected part.
2. Description of Related Art
An ophthalmic laser treatment apparatus is arranged to perform alignment (positioning) by moving a main unit housing an illumination and observation optical system and an irradiation optical system for a treatment laser beam relative to a patient's eye. The main unit is normally moved by tilting operation of a joystick. After completion of the alignment, irradiation conditions of the treatment beam are set by operation of a switch section in accordance with a treatment purpose, the current status of the patient's eye, and others.
The joystick and the switch section are provided in separate positions. In the case that the switch section is to be operated after completion of the alignment, an operator has to first take his/her hand off the joystick. At this time, the alignment may become off. It is therefore conceivable that the switch section is provided in the joystick. However, the switch section merely provided in such a manner may be erroneously operated at the time of operation of the joystick. Further, there are limits to the number of switches incorporable in a narrow area of the joystick. On the contrary, such configuration may cause difficulty in operating.


An apparatus and methods for determining the position of an elongate structure. A number of magnetic field sensors arranged at fixed spacing, each sensor being arranged to sense a magnetic field of a remote structure induced by the Earth's magnetic field in at least two orthogonal directions. In use, the magnetic field sensors are arranged remotely of an elongate structure having a longitudinal axis, such that the magnetic field sensors are spaced in a lateral direction relative to said longitudinal axis. An angular spacing for the magnetic field sensors about the longitudinal axis is determined according to the magnetic field readings in the two orthogonal directions and a distance between one or more of said magnetic field sensors and said elongate structure is determined based on said angular spacing determination.

Structural problems with existing pipelines are of significant concern to a pipeline operator. An aging pipeline infrastructure means that such problems are generally becoming more prevalent over time. The cost of excavating and replacing or repairing existing pipeline is considerable, not only due to the cost of the engineering works but also due to the potential need to shut down a pipeline whilst works are carried out.
This problem has been documented in the past and there have been proposed methods to allow pipelines to be inspected such that faults can be detected and maintenance or overhaul work to be scheduled in a manner which minimises the impact for the pipeline operator.
However there exists a problem that the precise location of pipelines beneath the ground may not be accurately recorded. This may be due to inaccurate or incomplete information at the time of pipeline installation, or else due to later ground movement with the pipeline in situ. There exists a real risk for many pipelines that undertaking excavation at an estimated, rather than precise, pipeline location could risk missing the pipeline altogether or else damaging the pipeline during excavation to an inaccurate depth.
WO 2013/128212 and WO 2013/128210 (both in the name of Speir Hunter Limited) disclose the use of a magnetometer array to determine stress concentrations in buried structures and thereby determine potential faults in the structure. However any magnetic field disturbance dissipate in three dimensions with distance from the source, i.e. over the surface of a sphere having a radius equal to the distance from the anomaly. A correction factor can be applied to the disturbances recorded in the magnetic field at a distance from the anomaly in order to more closely identify the anomaly. The accuracy of a known or estimated depth of the pipeline has been found to contribute assessment of the anomaly. It has been found by the inventors that the proximity of the depth determination to the anomaly can be a significant factor in remote pipeline surveying f this type.
It is known in the art that the depth of buried pipelines can be determined at individual locations using a conventional pipe locator. The principle is to apply a signal to the buried pipeline using a transmitter and measure the induced signal of the pipeline using a hand held receiver. This method gives a single depth measurement. Mapping measurement locations is possible using such pipe locators but it will be slow for a long survey. The use of the geomagnetic field or ground penetrating radar (GPR) to calculate the position of buried structures has been previously proposed.
Further disclosures of technology for detecting buried objects include:                Darilek, Glenn T., and Edward H. Cooper Jr. "Detecting buried pipeline depth and location with electromagnetic triangulation." U.S. Pat. No. 4,542,344. 17 Sep. 1985.        Goodman, William L. "Magnetic signature detector for detection of magnetic buried targets." U.S. Pat. No. 6,586,937. 1 Jul. 2003.        Lewis, Andrew B., John R. Cottle, and Graham R. Cooper. "Device for locating objects that emit electromagnetic signals." U.S. Pat. No. 5,920,194. 6 Jul. 1999.        Gard, Michael F., and Jian Jin. "System and method for detecting an underground object using magnetic field sensing." U.S. Pat. No. 7,038,454. 2 May 2006
It is disclosed that the passive magnetic field of a pipeline induced from power-frequency sources can be utilised to locate a pipe in P. Fedde and C. Patterson, "Locator continuously records pipeline depth readings," Oil Gas J.; (United States), vol. 86, no. 35, 1988.
It is an aim of the present invention to provide a method and system for determining the position of remote structures, such as pipelines, which is better suited to survey use.


There is provided an image processing apparatus including an image processing unit which performs image processing on each of a plurality of images of a same subject having different resolutions, and an image combining unit which combines an image processing result of each of the plurality of images obtained by the image processing unit.

In recent days, as an image sensor has a greater number of pixels, the number of pixels of a captured image obtained by an imaging apparatus increases, and a pixel size tends to be small. While details of a subject can be represented as a result of an increase in the number of pixels, noise increases when the pixel size is small and image quality deterioration becomes distinct. This image quality deterioration can be more effectively corrected by noise cancellation by a spatial filter. However, when the number of pixels of an image increases, the number of pixels to be processed by a spatial filter also increases, and therefore a hardware scale and cost for realizing the spatial filter increase.
From this point of view, it may be appropriate to reduce the number of pixels of an original image to generate a reduced image and perform image processing on the reduced image (see, for example, Patent Literature 1). Consequently, it is possible to prevent a hardware scale from increasing, and a processing time from being longer.

Image processing apparatus and image processing method


A projection television system which adapts automatically between from screen projection and rear screen projection upon insertion of the projector into a rear screen cabinet. A compact projection unit has a quick-disconnect electric connector and optical aligner which mate with connection elements in a projection cabinet upon insertion of the projector into an opening in the front of the cabinet. The cabinet has a two-mirror optical relay which inverts the projected picture. Upon completion of insertion, the electric connections automatically invert the image being projected by the projector. In another embodiment, insertion also automatically connects to audio equipment in the rear screen cabinet.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to the field of projection television; and more particularly to the use of small portable TV projectors having a liquid crystal light valve to modulate light from a fixed light source. Such projectors are often referred to as LCD projectors, to distinguish them from earlier types having one or more high brightness cathode ray tubes. LCD projectors offer convenience to the user because the projector may be little larger than a 35 mm photographic slide projector, and is therefore portable.
2. Description of the Prior Art
LCD TV projectors are now commercially available, but as a practical matter are limited either to portable use for front projection against a screen or wall, or non-portable use when installed in a rear screen projection TV arrangement.
Particularly in a private home, front projection has the advantage that the picture size can be adjusted to the audience requirements, by using a zoom projection lens or moving the projector closer to or farther from a wall or screen. However, this technique requires that the general room lighting level be undesirably low, so that sufficient picture contrast can be obtained. Further, if reasonable audio fidelity is desired, the projector must use an external loudspeaker system. To cause the sound to seem to come from the vicinity of the picture, the loudspeakers must be placed or moved to a position which may be undesired for other room activity.
Because of the disadvantages of front projection described above, most home TV projection systems use rear projection. This enables easy integration of the TV sound system with the cabinet or wall in which the screen is placed, and provides maximum screen brightness and picture contrast for a given size and power of the light source/valve assembly. However, this system lacks the flexibility of providing a much larger image, even if not so bright, when viewing by a relatively large group is desired.

Dockable LCD TV projector convertable between front and rear projection


A system is provided for transmitting data to a plurality of devices. A data source receives data from a video broadcasting source, such as a digital television provides, through a data cable. The data source identifies devices to receive particular sets of data, such as particular programs, from the data cable. The data source identifies particular settings for transmitting to particular devices. The data source adjusts a transmission power to a first device to efficiently provide data reliably to the first device. The data source can assign more or less power for transmitting data to the first device. The data source provides data to the source device using a first data channel. The data source provides data to a second device using a second data channel. The data source receives acknowledgements and control information from the first device and the second device using the second data channel.

The market for wireless communications has achieved tremendous growth. Wireless communications offers the potential of reaching virtually every location on the face of the earth. The use of pagers and cellular phones is now commonplace. Wireless communications is also used in personal and business computing. Wireless communications offers networked devices flexibility unavailable using a physically connected network. Untethered from conventional network connections, network users can move almost without restriction. Medical professionals can obtain patient records, real-time vital signs and other reference data at the patient bedside without relying on paper handling or reams of paper charts. Factory floor workers can access part and process specifications without wired network connections, which may be impractical on the factory floor. Warehouse inventories may be carried out and verified using wireless scanners linked to a main database. Multimedia data may be served to various home entertainment devices within a home without a need to install cabling between all of the various home entertainment devices.
Standards for conducting wireless communications between networked devices, such as in a local area network (LAN), are known. The Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) offers a standard for multiple carrier communications over wireless LAN systems, IEEE 802.11. IEEE 802.11 includes standard proposals for wireless LAN architectures. Supported architectures include an ad-hoc LAN architecture in which every communicating device on the network is allowed to directly communicate with every other node. In the ad-hoc LAN architecture, there are no fixed nodes on the network and devices may be brought together to form the network "on the fly". One method of maintaining an ad-hoc network includes defining one device as being a network master with other devices representing network slaves. Another supported architecture is the infrastructure in which the network includes fixed network access points. Mobile devices access the network through the network access points, which may be connected to a wired local network.
IEEE 802.11 also imposes several specifications on parameters of both physical (PHY) and medium access control (MAC) layers of the network. The PHY layer handles the transmission of data between network nodes or devices and is limited by IEEE 802.11a to orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). IEEE 802.11a utilizes the bandwidth allocated in the 5 GHz Unlicensed National Information Infrastructure (U-NII) band. Using OFDM, lower-speed subcarriers are combined to create a single high-speed channel. IEEE 802.11a defines a total of 12 non-overlapping 20 MHz channels. Each of the channels is divided into 64 subcarriers, each approximately 312.5 KHz wide. The subcarriers are transmitted in parallel. Receiving devices process individual signals of the subcarriers, each individual signal representing a fraction of the total data.
Other standards also exist within IEEE 802.11. For example, IEEE 802.11b limits the PHY layer to either direct sequence spread spectrum (DSSS), frequency-hopping spread spectrum, or infrared (IR) pulse position modulation. Spread spectrum is a method of transmitting data through radio frequency (RF) communications. Spread spectrum is a means of RF transmission in which the data sequence occupies a bandwidth in excess of the minimum bandwidth necessary to send it. Spectrum spreading is accomplished before transmission through the use of a code that is independent of the data sequence. The same code is used in the receiver (operating in synchronism with a transmitter) to despread the received signal so that an original data sequence may be recovered. In direct sequence spread spectrum modulation, the original data sequence is used to modulate a wide-band code. The wide-band code transforms the narrow band, original data sequence into a noise-like wide-band signal. The wide-band signal then undergoes a form of phase-shift keying (PSK) modulation. In frequency-hopping spread spectrum, the spectrum associated with a data-modulated carrier is widened by changing the carrier frequency in a pseudo-random manner.
Devices are linked through data channels. A data channel is a frequency band used for transmitting data. Multiple carriers within a data channel may be utilized for transmitting data. Carriers are specific frequencies used to provide a set of data. Each carrier is assigned a constellation. The constellation is a map including various points identifying particular symbols used for transmitting a particular set of bits. The number of bits assigned to a point indicates a number of bits transferred per symbol received. Different carriers may be assigned unique constellations.
IEEE 802.11a and IEEE 802.11b specify a specific MAC layer technology, carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA-CA). CSMA is a protocol used to avoid signals colliding and canceling each other out. When a device or node on the network receives data to be transmitted, the node first "listens" to ensure no other node is transmitting. If the communications channel is clear, the node transmits the data. Otherwise, the node chooses a random "back-off factor" that determines an amount of time the node must wait until it is allowed to access the communications channel. The node decrements a "back-off" counter during periods in which the communications channel is clear. Once the "back-off" counter reaches zero, the node is allowed to attempt a channel access.
While communications standards, such as IEEE 802.11a, allow a single transmitting device to provide data to multiple receiving devices, the quality of data received by some receiving devices may be degraded. One quality of a signal is commonly measured using the signal-to-noise ratio of the signal at the receiving device. Another metric to measure the quality of received data is the bit error rate (BER). As the signal-to-noise ratio becomes too low for a particular data signal, the BER associated with a receiving device may be too high for the receiving device. The signal-to-noise ratio of a signal can be affected by the distance the signal must travel. A receiving device may be located too far from a data transmitter. A signal-to-noise ratio can be dependent on the power of the transmitted signal, assuming a sufficient signal to noise ratio may be output by the data transmitter. The transmission power associated with a data signal transmitted to a particular receiving device may be too low. A signal may also be degraded due to interference from other data transmitters or other radio frequency (RF) radiators. A receiving device with a low signal to noise ratio may request data at a lower bit rate from the data transmitter. More transmission time on the data channel can become reserved for transmitting data to the receiving device with the low signal to noise ratio. Accordingly, other devices may not be able to access the data channel as needed. Furthermore, a transmission data rate for a particular data channel may be inadequate for a high-bandwidth receiving device. The data channel can be configured to transmit data at a maximum data rate, such as according to IEEE 802.11 standard or due to a maximum data rate acceptable by a particular receiving device. A high-bandwidth receiving device may require a large amount of data; however, due to limitations configured into the data channel, the required amount of data may not be accessible to the high-bandwidth receiving device using the data channel. From the above discussion, it should become apparent that an improved method of transmitting data to multiple devices is needed.

System for providing data to multiple devices and method thereof


A method for designing a new prunable S-random interleaver class to be used as a constituent part of turbo codes. With respect to previously proposed solutions the method has the advantage of being prunable to different block sizes while exhibiting at the same time, for any considered block size, performance comparable with the optimized “ad hoc” S-random interleavers. Another advantage is that, as for every S-random interleaver, the design rules are independent of the constituent codes and of the puncturing rate applied to the turbo code. Therefore, these interleavers potentially can find applications in any turbo code scheme that requires interleaver size flexibility and code rate versatility, thanks to the advantage of requiring a single law storage (i e., one ROM storage instead of several ROMs) from which all the others are obtained by pruning, without compromising the overall error rate performance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of digital transmission systems. More specifically, it relates to the design of interleavers to be used in conjunction with error correcting codes in communication systems.
2. Description of the Related Art
Signal transmission in digital communication systems invariably occurs through noisy channels where errors are introduced. Normally, the information bits are coded (i.e., redundant bits are added with the specific code law) before transmission in order to detect and correct errors at the receiver. An interleaver device is widely adopted in coding schemes in case of burst error channels in order to randomize (ie., to spread) the location of errors thereby improving their performance. Basically, interleavers are devices taking a set of symbols and producing at their output the same set of symbols in a different order. For that reason interleavers are also introduced when the need exists of decorrelating the burst errors out of a Viterbi decoder in a concatenated codes scheme (e.g., Convolutional Codes concatenated with Reed-Solomon Codes). Interleavers find another important application as a fundamental constituent part of Turbo Codes (see, for instance, C. Berrou, A. Glavieux, P. Thitimajshima, "Near Shannon limit error-correcting coding and decoding: Turbo-codes (1)", in Proceedings 1993 Int. Conf. on Communications, (Geneva Switzerland, May 1993), pp. 1064–1070), which consist of the concatenation of two constituent convolutional codes through an interleaver. This application is of particular significance for an embodiment of the invention.
Interleavers are usually classed as block interleavers or convolutional interleavers depending on their input-output symbol flow (block wise or continuous). Several randomization or spreading laws have been developed; a concise review of most of these approaches is provided in Heegard C. and Wicker S. B., "Turbo Coding", Kluwer Academic Publisher, Boston, 1999 (Chapter 3). Since the appearance of Turbo Codes in coding theory it has been recognized that interleaver strategy plays a critical role in determining code performance. This is true for both Turbo Code classes, i.e., Parallel Concatenated Convolutional Code (PCCC) originally proposed in the above-referenced article by Berrou et al. and U.S. Pat. No. 5,446,747 as well as for Serially Concatenated Convolutional Code (SCCC) (see, for instance, S. Benedetto, D. Divsalar, G. Montorsi and F. Pollara, "Serial concatenation of interleaved codes: performance analysis, design and iterative decoding", IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, pp. 909–926, May 1998). In any case such interleavers must be block interleavers, as the data stream must be divided into blocks of finite size before performing the decoding operations. Their role is fundamental, in association with recursive constituent convolutional encoders, to optimize the properties of the overall code in terms of free distance and related codeword multiplicities.
According to literature, bare random interleavers on the one hand guarantee a low multiplicity for the minimum distance terms but neglect the optimization of the minimum distance itself, thus yielding asymptotically a low, though flat, error-floor (see, for instance, Dolinar S. and Divsalar D., "Weight distributions for turbo codes using random and nonrandom permutations," JPL TDA Progress Report 42–122, August 1995).
On the other hand, bare structured (deterministic) interleavers allow control of the minimum distance of the code but not of the multiplicity of the related codewords, thus providing an error floor region occurring for BER values higher with respect to the former case, but slightly decreasing vs. SNR.
Lately, pseudo-random interleavers such as S-random interleavers (see, for instance, D. Divsalar and F. Pollara, "Multiple Turbo Codes for deep-space applications", JPL TDA Progr. Rep., vol. 42–121, May 1995 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,783) or dithered-Golden interleavers (see, for instance, S. Crozier, J. Lodge, P. Guinand, A. Hunt, "Performance of Turbo Codes with relative prime and golden interleaving strategies", IMSC '99, Ottawa, Canada, June 1999), combining randomness properties and design criteria, have shown the best performance.
Some authors have also proposed techniques for interleaver design based on cost functions related to the component codes. Exemplary of such an approach are the works F. Daneshgaran and M. Mondin, "Design of interleavers for turbo codes based on a cost function", International Symposium on Turbo Codes & Related Topics—Brest 1997 and J. Hokfelt, O. Edfors, T. Maseng, "Interleaver design for Turbo Codes based on the performance of iterative decoding", in Proc. IEEE Int. Conf. on Communications, Vancouver, BC, June 1999. The drawback is that these solutions lead to very specific permutations, whose performance is quite sensitive to component codes and also to puncturing.
Unfortunately, these interleavers are designed for specific sizes, and several different interleaving laws need in principle to be stored for those applications that require size flexibility. A typical case is represented by flexible rate SCCCs (see, for instance, S. Benedetto and G. Montorsi, "Versatile Bandwidth-efficient Parallel and Serial Turbo-trellis-coded Modulation", 2nd International Symposium on Turbo Codes & Related Topics—Brest 2000), where a versatile pruning algorithm applied to the inner code makes it necessary to permute blocks of different sizes. Another important case is the PCCC standardized for UMTS, where turbo interleaver design requires many different block sizes to be supported according to variable input data requirements (see, for instance, Eroz, M.; Hammons, A. R., Jr., "On the design of prunable interleavers for turbo codes" 1999 IEEE 49th Vehicular Technology Conference, Vol. 2, Page(s): 1669–1673).
One way to overcome the need of storing several interleavers is to obtain shorter block interleavers by "pruning" a "mother" interleaver with higher block size; basically, while permuting the symbols, the oversized positions are dropped (i.e., unused) as disclosed e.g., in the captioned work by S. Benedetto and G. Montorsi. This kind of operation may often destroy the interleaver properties, and hence a dramatic degradation of the performances can be expected. Conversely, for UMTS standard a new class of deterministic prunable interleavers has been proposed with the specific property of being robust under pruning as shown, e.g., in the article by Eroz et al. already referred to in the foregoing. Due to their recursive design algorithm, also interleavers as proposed in the article by F. Daneshgaran et al. referred to in the foregoing seem to maintain their properties when pruned, although this is not explicitly mentioned.

Prunable S-random block interleaver method and corresponding interleaver


A memory module includes a substrate having a common address line and first and second separate voltage lines. The substrate additionally has first and second voltage terminals which are maintained at a first predetermined potential and which are respectively connected to the first and second separate voltage lines. First and second memory devices are mounted on the substrate. The first memory device has a first data lead terminal, a first control input lead terminal, a first address input lead terminal and a first voltage lead terminal, the first address input lead terminal being connected to the common address line and the first voltage lead terminal being connected to the first separate voltage line. The second memory device has a second data lead terminal, a second control input lead terminal, a second address input lead terminal and a second voltage lead terminal, the second address input lead terminal being connected to the common address line and the second voltage lead terminal being connected to the second separate voltage line.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory module comprising a printed circuit board formed by printing voltage terminals, ground terminals and various signal terminals (data terminals, control signal input terminals, address signal input terminals, etc.) on a substrate, the terminals being electrically connected to an external mother printed circuit board, and a plurality of memory devices (DRAM, SRAM, etc.) mounted on the printed circuit board.
2. Description of the Related Art
An example of a memory module is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,656,605, of which the entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference.
An OKI Data Book entitled "MEMORY MODULE (FIRST EDITION)" issued in July, 1990 (of which the entire disclosure is incorporated herein by reference) also describes various kinds of memory modules. There have been known, for example, a 1 Mega-word by 9 bit DRAM module (Model No. MSC2312A manufactured by Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.) having a printed circuit board with nine 1 Mb DRAMs mounted thereon, a 1 Mega-word by 9 bit DRAM module (Model No. MSC2359 manufactured by Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.) referred to as a "three chip pack", which has a printed circuit board with two 4 Mb DRAMs and a 1 Mb DRAM mounted thereon, and a 256 Kiloword by 36 bit DRAM module (Model No. MSM2320A manufactured by Oki Electric Industry Co., Ltd.) called a "multi-nine", which has eight 1 Mb DRAMs and four 256 Kb DRAMs mounted thereon.
The mounting of all kinds of memory devices (such as those different in maximum access time from each other, or those whose makers are different from one another) on these memory modules is not necessarily allowed even if these memory modules are identical in capacity to each other. It is desirable to mount memory devices of Model Nos. compatible in temperament or characteristics, preferably, memory devices identical in Model No. to each other. However, memory devices which are different in Model No. from each other are needed in some memory modules, including 4MDRAMs and a 1MDRAM in a "three chip pack" and 1MDRAMs and 256KDRAMs in a "multi-nine". It has thus been desired from the standpoint of memory module design to enable memory devices to be combined in a memory module without considering whether or not the memory devices are compatible in temperament.


Memory is serviced. In response to an input indicating a serious condition, a service is invoked that is unaffected by the serious condition. By the service, it is determined whether other instructions are available to be executed that are not being affected by the serious condition. By the other instructions, data is copied from a write cache to a nonvolatile memory before the data is lost from the write cache.

One conventional data storage system includes a storage processor, an array of magnetic disk drives and a backup power supply. The storage processor carries out a variety of data storage operations on behalf of an external host device (or simply host). In particular, the storage processor temporarily caches host data within its storage cache and, at certain times, de-stages that cached data onto the array of magnetic disk drives. If the data storage system is set up so that it acknowledges write requests from the host once the data reaches the storage cache rather than once the data reaches the array of magnetic disk drives, the host will enjoy shorter transaction latency.
In a typical computing system including a typical data storage system, different types of serious failures may occur, such as power failures, software crashes, or critical hardware failures in components such as disk drives, a fan, a power supply, a central processing unit (CPU) or memory boards, or an I/O bus.
Some data storage systems employ backup power supplies to prevent the loss of data from the storage caches in the event of power failures. For example, suppose that such a data storage system loses its steady state source of electrical power (e.g., power from the street) during operation. In such a situation, a set of backup power supplies provides reserve power to the storage processor and to a persistent storage device (e.g., the array of magnetic disk drives) for a short period of time (e.g., 30 seconds). During this time, the storage processor writes the data from its storage cache onto the persistent storage device so that any data which has not yet been properly de-staged is not lost. Once power from the main power feed returns, the storage processor loads the data from the persistent storage device back into the storage cache. At this point, the data storage system is capable of continuing normal operation.
Typically in a computing system a non-maskable interrupt (NMI) or system management interrupt (SMI) can be generated to handle a serious failure. When an SMI or NMI is asserted, the CPU is aware that a catastrophic failure has occurred which necessitates the shut-down of the system. Other types of failures such as an address parity error may cause the NMI to be asserted to the CPU.
When the CPU receives the SMI signal, the CPU operation mode shifts to a system management mode (to be referred to as an SMM hereinafter) to start an interrupt control process stored in the system's BIOS-ROM. The interrupt control process executes an interrupt control process corresponding to the interrupt signal requested from the CPU.
In a CPU available from Intel Corp., U.S.A., the SMM means a CPU operation mode set in shift of the CPU to the interrupt control process in the BIOS-ROM when an SMI# signal is input from the computer system to the CPU.
While the CPU is in the SMM, no computer system can request a new interrupt (e.g., IRQ, INTR, or SMI) from the CPU. The interrupt control process must directly execute a series of processes.

Servicing memory in response to system failure


An apparatus having a support post rotatably mounting a tube member, having a first end in engagement with an abutment flange of the support post, with the rotation of the mounting tube relative to the support post, wherein the mounting tube is pivotally mounted within a bifurcated support, wherein the mounting tube receiving a fishing rod therewithin is engaged to a position plate, whereupon a fish strike is released therefrom and retracted by cooperation of a spring member secured to a spring leg mounted to the mounting tube.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to fishing apparatus, and more particularly pertains to a new and improved fish hooking apparatus wherein the same is directed to the hooking of a fish by a whip-like action upon a fish strike.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Fish hooking apparatus of various types are indicated in the prior art and exemplified by the U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,651,460; 3,475,847; 5,050,332; 5,063,373; and 3,881,269.
The instant invention attempts to overcome deficiencies of the prior art by providing for a compact organization arranged to engage a hook within a fish upon a fish strike and in this respect, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.


An eyeglass lens material can be used to make an eyeglass lens and at least includes a mixture of Ag/SiOx composite nanoparticles and at least one type of monomer. The eyeglass lens is capable of blocking blue light. The monomer undergoes a material curing procedure to form a main body that contains and is mixed with the Ag/SiOx composite nanoparticles. As the Ag/SiOx composite nanoparticles in the eyeglass lens material can absorb relatively high-energy blue light, a contact lens made of the eyeglass lens material can block blue light.

With the increasing prevalence of 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) products such as liquid crystal displays, smartphones, and tablet computers, and with the public spending more and more time using 3C products (in particular watching the contents displayed by such products), the issue that "blue light is injurious to the eyes" has gradually attracted serious attention. Currently, the three common theories of "blue light injuring the eyes" are: (1) blue light tends to be scattered by the object it falls on such that one who views the object may not obtain a clear visual image of the object but experience eye fatigue as a result; (2) blue light increases the risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD) and retinopathy; and (3) blue light hinders sleep by delaying or stopping the brain from secreting melatonin.
Generally, light of a wavelength ranging from 400 nm to 700 nm is referred to as visible light, in which blue light whose wavelength ranges from 465 nm to 495 nm (also known as greenish blue light) can regulate biological rhythms, while blue light whose wavelength ranges from 415 nm to 455 nm (also known as purplish blue light) can easily penetrate the cornea and the lens of the human eye due to its relatively short wavelength and hence relatively high energy, generating oxides and free radicals that may damage the photoreceptor cells in the retina (i.e., the rod cells, the cone cells, and the pigment epithelium of the retina). The latter blue light is the "blue light" mentioned above that is injurious to the eyes. As the backlight of a 3C product is typically a mixture of light emitted by red, green, and blue light-emitting diodes (LEDs), in which the blue LEDs are generally designed to generate high-energy blue light (purplish blue light), the aforesaid injury to the eyes is likely to occur if the contents displayed by such a 3C product are watched continuously over a long time.
In view of the above, more and more people begin to wear blue light-blocking eyeglasses in order to reduce the damage that blue light (purplish blue light) may cause to the eyes. Blue light-blocking eyeglasses nowadays mainly include a yellow dye added to the lenses or a coating on the lens surface to change the lens color and thereby enable the lenses to filter out blue light. When it comes to contact lenses, however, the blue light blocking rate achieved by this dyeing or coating approach is only about 15%˜25%, which is lower than required by most users. The issue to be addressed by the present disclosure is to provide eyeglass lens users with better blue light-blocking products.

Eyeglass lens material and eyeglass lens capable of blocking blue light and method for making the same

Tianchen Innovative Materials Technology Co., Ltd.


A driver with a reverse-rotation preventer for an inflatable rotating exhibit is mounted inside an inflatable rotating exhibit having a transparent inflatable body and a rotating body and has a rotating assembly and a reverse-rotation preventer. The rotating assembly connects to and rotates the rotating body and has a synchronous motor that rotates in a direction and has a shaft. The shaft is driven by the synchronous motor and rotates the rotating body. However, the synchronous motor will reverse its rotation when the rotating body encounters even temporary resistance while rotating. The reverse-rotation preventer applies a resistance when the rotating body rotates in the wrong direction to make the synchronous motor reverse rotation. Consequently, the reverse-rotation preventer ensures that the rotating inflatable exhibit rotates in the desired direction.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a driver, and more particularly to a driver with a reverse-rotation preventer for an inflatable rotating exhibit to ensure that the inflatable rotating exhibit rotates in a desired direction.
2. Description of the Prior Arts
Conventional inflatable rotating exhibits are usually displayed on shelves or at an entrance to an exhibition to indicate the theme of the exhibition or to function as an attractive advertisement. The inflatable rotating exhibit usually includes a transparent inflatable body, a driver and a rotating body. The transparent inflatable body has a top and a bottom. The driver is mounted inside the inflatable body at the top and has a shaft. The rotating body is mounted inside the inflatable body on the shaft and rotates when the driver operates.
The driver in the conventional inflatable rotating exhibit often uses a conventional synchronous motor as a prime mover. However, the conventional synchronous motor reverses when excessive resistance is applied to rotation during operation. Thus, the rotating body will rotate in an unpredictable direction when no reverse-rotation preventer is mounted in the inflatable rotating exhibit.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a drive with a reverse-rotation preventer for an inflatable rotating exhibit product to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.

Driver with a reverse-rotation preventer for an inflatable rotating exhibit


Certain elements of a shelf and transportation system, in particular for gastronomic purposes, are described. Said system is based on a bearing structure with four vertical square columns (6) which are arranged in a square, onto which square columns different inserts (11) can be hooked, e.g. for plates (23). Said inserts (11) are frame structures with four feet and with retaining devices (10), for example in the form of horizontal rings. However, retaining devices for bottles, drinking glasses or other objects may also be mounted on the same frame structure. An expansion of the system consists in the fact that inserts are also provided which have horizontal bars seated at intervals above one another and serve in pairs as bearing shelves for trays or troughs. Furthermore, a wall holder is described, with the aid of which the inserts (11) can be hooked onto a wall in a sturdy manner.

The invention relates to a shelf and transportation system, in particular for gastronomic purposes, which comprises a mobile bearing structure including four vertical square columns which are arranged in a square, the columns having lateral surfaces which are parallel to the diagonals of the square and are connected to one another at the top and at the bottom. A transportable bearing structure, which is intended for plates and can be considered an important element of a system of this type, is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,911,308. It serves for accommodating a multiplicity of plates which are arranged above one another resting on retaining members without contacting one another. Meals, in particular cold hors d'oeuvres, may be prepared on the plates. With the aid of a structure of this type for plates, the work surface in a large kitchen remains free. The prepared plates can be transported on the structure into a cooling area and later moved to a dining room for serving.
In the known bearing structure, the retaining members are fixedly attached to the square columns. The structure cannot be dismantled or used for other objects than plates of a particular size. Additionally, these plates can only be inserted into and removed from the bearing structure individually.
In order to prevent the deposited plates from rocking and slipping and dropping out of the fastener when jolted, e.g. when passing over a door threshold, the retaining members rise slightly away from the square columns. However, the oblique position of the plates thus caused has the disadvantage that the liquid constituents of the food prepared thereon run to one side. This inevitably leads to only plates with correspondingly solid food being deposited thereupon.

Shelf and transportation system, in particular for gastronomic purposes


A method of preparing hydrophobic silica particles includes the step of reacting together in a single step a mixture of silane ether monomers and organically modified silane ether monomers with a hydrolyzing agent. The method also includes producing hydrophobic silica microparticles and nanoparticles that can include dyes and/or magnetizable components. The silica nanoparticles can be used in the detection, visualization and/or analysis of latent fingerprints.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of synthesizing blank and doped hydrophobic silica particles and the use of these particles in, for example, fingerprinting and other applications.
2. Background Information
The development of latent fingerprints generally involves either the use of a dusting agent that adheres to the "sticky" material deposited on the surface following contact, or a chemical developer that produces a visual coloration due to chemical interaction of the applied developer with chemicals commonly found within the deposited materials on the surface, as described in, for example, Champod, C., Lennard, C., Margot, P. and Stoilovic, M., in Fingerprints and Other Ridge Skin Impressions, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2004 (ISBN 0-415-27175-4) (hereinafter, the "Champod et al. reference"). The size and shape of the powder particles have a large influence on the amount of adhesion they have to the fingerprint, and fine particles tend to adhere better than larger particles, thus resulting in most particles being based on particle sizes of 1-10M, as described in, for example, G. S. Sodhi and J. Kaur, "Powder Method for Detecting Latent Fingerprints: A Review," Forensic Sci. Int., 120 (2001), pages 172-176 (hereinafter, the "Sodhi et al. reference"). A range of dusting agents are commercially available that are based on a variety of particles, both naturally occurring and synthetic, that show affinity for the hydrophobic materials within the deposited print.
With recent innovations in nanotechnology, potential alternative approaches have been studied. Cadmium sulphide and Europium (III) oxide based powders have been used to visualize latent fingerprints, as described in, for example: E. R. Menzel, S. M Savoy, S. J. Ulvick, K. H. Cheng, R. H. Murdock and M. R. Sudduth, "Photoluminescent Semiconductor Nanocrystals for Fingerprint Detection," Journal of Forensic Sciences (1999), pages 545-551 (hereinafter, the "first Menzel et al. reference"); E. R. Menzel, M. Takatsu, R. H. Murdock, K. Bouldin and K. H. Cheng, "Photoluminescent CdS/Dendrimer Nanocomposites for Fingerprint Detection," Journal of Forensic Sciences (2000), pages 770-773 (hereinafter, the "second Menzel et al. reference"); and E. R. Menzel, "Functionalized Europium Oxide Nanoparticles for Fingerprint Detection—A Preliminary Study," J. Forensic Ident. (hereinafter, the "Menzel reference"). However, these methods are complex and require specialist technical development and expensive instruments, and, hence, are unsuitable to be used in situ, for example, at scenes of crime.
Two reports describe the use of combinations of tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) and phenyltriethoxysilane (PTEOS) to produce relatively hydrophobic silica aerogels (see the first Menzel et al. reference) and the corresponding nanoparticles (see the second Menzel et al. reference) for use in bioanalysis and biosensor applications. The former report demonstrated that as the proportion of PTEOS increased, the hydrophobicity of the resulting sol gel also increased, while the latter report used the particles' hydrophobicity to incorporate the hydrophobic dye, rhodamine 6G, into the resulting particles. The nanoparticles were highly fluorescent with the dye being strongly retained within the particles under aqueous conditions. However, these particles are synthesized using a multi-step route.

Hydrophobic silica particles and methods of making same