Techniques for segmenting data include receiving reference segmentation data and target data. The reference segmentation data defines a mesh indicating a boundary of a physical component in a reference body. The target data includes measured values at coordinates within a target body. Coordinates for vertices of the mesh are moved toward nearby edges in values of the target data. The adjustment also may be based on deviations from adjacent vertices or from a three dimensional generalized gradient vector field. The mesh may be initially transformed by a particular transformation that automatically maximizes a similarity measure between the target data and reference data. The reference data includes measured values within the reference body. The reference segmentation also may define a second mesh that indicates a second boundary in the reference body, and the adjustment is also based on an adjusted distance between the mesh and the second mesh.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to spatially segmenting measured values of a body, such as a patient, to interpret structural or functional components of the body; and, in particular to automatically segmenting three dimensional scan data such as Computer Tomography X-Ray (CT) scan data and echogram data.
2. Description of the Related Art
Different sensing systems are widely known and used for non-invasively probing the interior structure of bodies. For example, X-rays and X-ray-based computer-aided tomography (CT), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and NMR-based magnetic resonance imagery (MRI), acoustic waves and acoustics-based ultrasound imagery (USI), positron emissions and positron emission tomography (PET), and optical waves have all been used to probe the human body and bodies of other animals. Some have been used to probe non-living bodies such as machinery, buildings, and geological features. Full and partial body scans can be constructed by assembling sequences of images and other output produced by these systems. Each body scan produced by a sensing system is herein called a measurement mode of the target body. In general, a measurement mode produces a two-dimensional (2D) image, a three dimensional (3D) volume based on a set of images with the third dimension being either a spatial dimension or time, or a full four dimensional (4D) volume based on three spatial dimensions and time. In the following, two dimensional as well as higher dimensional data sets are called images and two dimensional and higher dimensional portions of images are called volumes and regions.
Various sensing systems respond to different physical phenomena, and hence provide different information about structures and functions within the target body. However, many systems give relative intensities of measured values within the target body but do not automatically identify a particular intensity boundary with the edge of a particular structural component. For example, some human tissues of different organs have similar intensities and do not provide a sharp contrast edge in the measured values. In addition, the boundary between two structures may not correspond to a particular value of measured intensity. Therefore, it is common for one or more sets of measured values to be interpreted by a human expert or expert assisted automatic system in order to segment measured intensities into structurally or functionally significant regions (hereinafter called significant regions).
In general, the segmentation process to determine the significant regions in a set of measured values is tedious and time consuming with substantial input from a human expert. While suitable in many circumstances, there are deficiencies for some circumstances.
One deficiency is that such segmentation can not handle large data sets. Real-time three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography, an emerging trend in ultrasound imaging, allows fast convenient acquisition of volumetric images of the heart with temporal resolution sufficient to follow the evolution of each beat of a heart. The structure and motion of the left ventricle (LV) is of particular interest from the standpoint of diagnosing cardiovascular diseases. Real-time 3D echocardiography allows the capture of instantaneous motion of the entire LV for a complete cardiac cycle. For quantitative evaluation of the global and local function necessary for diagnosing various cardiovascular diseases, one must retrieve and track the shape of LV throughout the cardiac cycle. Manual segmentation for large data sets, such as those produced by real-time 3D echocardiography, remains excessively cumbersome, and thus unsuitable for routine clinical use. To realize the full potential offered by the spatiotemporal (3D space+time) data sets of real-time 3D and 4D echocardiography, a robust and accurate automatic segmentation tool for tracking the dynamic shape of the wall of the LV is not just desirable, but essential. The same deficiency affects cardiac CT segmentation as well.
Another deficiency is that segmentation with manual steps can not keep pace with body operations. For example, a CT scan may be segmented to identify a tumor in the thoracic cavity; but during treatment of the tumor, the tumor moves with the breathing of the patient. The movement can be monitored with near real time CT scans or real time ultrasound scans, but the resulting measurements would not be segmented in a timely fashion using manual approaches, and the tumor may be hard to identify and treat effectively without collateral damage to healthy surrounding tissue.
Based on the foregoing, there is a clear need for techniques to perform segmentation of real time or large numbers of images that do not suffer one or more of the deficiencies of prior art approaches.

Segmentation of regions in measurements of a body based on a deformable model


This method enables two components (1, 3) to be joined by soldering using heat generated by a laser beam, without the use of flux. A layer (5) of a material which has a lower melting point than the material of one of the components (3) is formed on that component and forms a bond therewith on resolidifying after melting. Solder (7) is interposed between the layer (5) and the other component (1) to form, on resolidification after melting, bonds with the material of the layer (5) and the other component (1). A coating (11) of a further material between the layer (5) and the solder (7) is dispersed when the adjacent layer material becomes molten and is not wetted by the solder (7) when molten. On applying heat to a region (15) of the layer using a laser beam, the layer is melted in this region (15) as is the adjacent solder (7) to form, on resolidification of the solder (7) and molten layer material (15 ), bonds between the solder (7) and the two components (1, 3).

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to methods of joining components, and, in particular, to methods of joining components by laser soldering.
2. Description of Related Art
In laser soldering techniques, a solder material is interposed between surfaces of two components to be joined and is melted by heat from a laser beam. If the solder material has a lower melting point than the components to be joined and the surfaces of the components are such that the molten solder can wet them, a good metallurgical bond is formed as the solder solidifies thus joining the components together.
The formation of a good metallurgical bond is not possible if oxide layers or contaminants on the surfaces to be joined prevent the molten solder from wetting those surfaces.
Additionally, the solder material often has a high reflectivity when solid so that heat transfer from a laser beam directed onto the solder takes place slowly.
The use of flux applied to the surfaces to be joined overcomes these problems since the flux removes oxide layers and contaminants and also has a much lower reflectivity than the solid solder material so that laser energy is transferred quickly to the flux and the solder is melted by conduction.
However, the flux residues remaining after the flux has been melted themselves give rise to contamination around the joint between the components. This is a problem where a highly reliable clean joint is required.
One solution to this problem is to coat the components to be joined with a material which is readily wetted by solder. Noble metals, such as gold, are suitable for this purpose since they do not oxidise in air so that flux is not required to remove any oxide layers. However, where laser soldering techniques are to be used, coupling of laser energy to gold is erratic and difficult to control. In addition, when the gold is wetted by solder, wetting continues to take place until all the solder is consumed, or the temperature drops too low to maintain a fluid metal.
Additionally, if the solder spreads beyond the area of the joint, this results in a weakened joint.


The present disclosure provides a system and method for motion field generation and image correction. The method may include obtaining a plurality of first sets of magnetic resonance (MR) image data of an object generated based on a plurality of first sets of imaging sequences. The method may include obtaining a motion curve of the object. The method may include obtaining position emission tomography (PET) image data of the object generated in a scanning time period. The method may include generating one or more target motion fields corresponding to the scanning time period based on the plurality of first sets of MR image data and the motion curve. The method may include generating one or more corrected PET images by correcting, based on the one or more target motion fields, the PET image data.

With the development of imaging technology, various techniques are combined for disease diagnoses. For example, a multi-modality system (e.g., a positron emission tomography (PET) system combined with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) system) can be used to exam soft tissue. However, the image quality of images (e.g., images of chest and/or abdomen) generated by the PET-MRI system is generally affected by a motion (e.g., respiratory motion, heartbeat, etc.) of a scanned object. Exemplary motion artifact correction techniques may include a reconstruction technique guided by a motion waveform generated from a respiratory belt or a navigator, a correction technique based on a motion field that is generated based on special MRI sequence(s), or the like. However, the reconstruction technique guided by the motion waveform can only reconstruct a corrected image corresponding to a specific respiratory phase or state, without using image data of other respiratory phases or states, thereby resulting in a relatively low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of the corrected image. The correction technique based on special MRI sequence(s) may make full use of the image data generated in different respiratory phases or states, and achieve motion artifact correction between different respiratory phases or states, thereby ensuring the image quality. However, the correction technique based on special MRI sequence(s) relies on the special MRI sequence(s), and can only perform motion artifact correction for image data acquired during a period in which the special MRI sequence(s) are used. Accordingly, other image data acquired during other periods in which the special MRI sequence(s) are not used may not be efficiently corrected. If the motion field generated based on the special MRI sequence(s) is used to correct the other image data acquired during the other periods, the other image data may not be efficiently corrected as the motion of the scanned object may be unstable. Therefore, it is desirable to provide systems and methods for generating motion field(s) and correcting images efficiently.

Systems and methods for image correction


A control method and apparatus for reducing transformer core volume in a power converter of the type having a switching circuit coupled to a primary winding of the transformer for selectively coupling the primary winding to a dc voltage source, a secondary winding of the transformer being coupled to an output rectifier circuit for developing a relatively high dc voltage across an output capacitor. The apparatus includes a high voltage zener diode clamp for limiting the maximum voltage on the capacitor, and the rectifier circuit includes at least a pair of zener diodes connected for blocking reverse current flow through the rectifier circuit. The method includes the steps of coupling the transformer primary winding to the dc voltage source to establish a relatively short resonant charging pulse for developing an initial charging current to the output capacitor, disconnecting the dc voltage source from the transformer primary winding for a time interval which is relatively long with respect to the charging interval to allow the transformer reactances and resonant capacitor to reset to zero energy conditions, and repeating the steps of coupling and disconnecting until the output capacitor is charged to the zener clamp voltage. A reverse process is used to step-wise discharge the output capacitor.

The present invention relates to dc-to-dc power converters and, more particularly, to a control method and apparatus for a high voltage, reduced size converter.
Voltage converters are commonly used to convert direct current (dc) voltage at one level to voltage at another level. In many instances, the voltage converter is used to step up a relatively low voltage, e.g., 115-230 volts, to a relatively high voltage, e.g., several thousand volts. By way of example, a voltage converter for x-ray diagnostic machines may use rectified utility line voltage at about 115 volts to produce an x-ray tube grid voltage of about 3600 volts. An exemplary converter circuit for such purpose includes a rectifier to convert 115 volt ac voltage to dc voltage, a voltage doubler to raise the dc voltage to about 320 volts and a half-bridge dc-to-dc converter to raise the 320 volts to 3600 volts. The half-bridge converter typically uses a series pair of switching devices to connect a resonant capacitor and a primary winding of a transformer to the 320 volt source. This comprises a series resonant circuit, where the resonant inductor is the transformer leakage inductance. The transformer secondary winding is coupled to an output rectifier. One of the disadvantages of this type of converter using single resonant pulse control to transfer sufficient energy to the output capacitor to produce the regulated 3600 volt dc output is the large transformer magnetic core flux which increases the weight, volume, and cost of the converter circuit.

Bi-directional energy diode converter using multipulse control


A lithographic apparatus includes an illumination system configured to provide a beam of radiation, a first support structure configured to support a patterning device, a second support that includes a substrate holder for holding a substrate, a projection system configured to project the patterned beam of radiation onto the substrate, and a servo unit configured to position the substrate holder. The apparatus further includes a sensor unit configured to determine a distance of at least one location point on the surface of the substrate relative to a reference plane, a memory unit configured to store surface information of the substrate based on respective distances of corresponding location points on the substrate surface, and a calculating unit configured to determine a feed-forward set-point signal based on the stored surface information, such that the feed-forward set-point signal is forwardly fed to the servo unit in order to position the substrate holder.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to lithographic apparatus with improved focus control.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lithographic apparatus can be used, for example, in the manufacture of integrated circuits (ICs). In such a case, a patterning device may be used to generate a desired circuit pattern corresponding to an individual layer of the IC, and this pattern can be imaged onto a target portion (e.g. comprising one or more dies) on a substrate (silicon wafer) that has been coated with a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist).
Generally, such apparatus include an illumination system for supplying a beam of radiation, a support for supporting the patterning device, a substrate holder for holding a substrate, and a projection system for projecting the patterned beam onto a target portion of the substrate. More information with regard to lithographic devices as here described can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,792, incorporated herein by reference.
The term "patterning device" as employed herein should be broadly interpreted as referring to a mechanism that can be used to endow an incoming radiation beam with a patterned cross-section, corresponding to a pattern that is to be created in a target portion of the substrate; the term "light valve" can also be used in this context. Generally, the pattern will correspond to a particular functional layer in a device being created in the target portion, such as an integrated circuit or other device (see below). Examples of such a patterning device include:
mask: the concept of a mask is well known in lithography, and it includes mask types such as binary, alternating phase-shift, and attenuated phase-shift, as well as various hybrid mask types. Placement of such a mask in the radiation beam causes selective transmission (in the case of a transmissive mask) or reflection (in the case of a reflective mask) of the radiation impinging on the mask, according to the pattern on the mask. In the case of a mask, the support will generally be a mask table, which ensures that the mask can be held at a desired position in the incoming radiation beam, and that it can be moved relative to the beam if so desired;
programmable mirror array: an example of such a device is a matrix-addressable surface having a visco-elastic control layer and a reflective surface. The basic principle behind such an apparatus is that (for example) addressed areas of the reflective surface reflect incident light as diffracted light, whereas unaddressed areas reflect incident light as undiffracted light. Using an appropriate filter, the said undiffracted light can be filtered out of the reflected beam, leaving only the diffracted light behind; in this manner, the beam becomes patterned according to the addressing pattern of the matrix-addressable surface. The required matrix addressing can be performed using suitable electronics. More information on such mirror arrays can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,296,891 and 5,523,193, which are incorporated herein by reference. In the case of a programmable mirror array, the said support structure may be embodied as a frame or table, for example, which may be fixed or movable as required; and
programmable LCD array: an example of such a construction is given in U.S. Pat. No. 5,229,872, which is incorporated herein by reference. As above, the support in this case may be embodied as a frame or table, for example, which may be fixed or movable as required.
For purposes of simplicity, the rest of this text may, at certain location point points, specifically direct itself to examples involving a mask and mask table; however, the general principles discussed in such instances should be seen in the broader context of the patterning device as set forth above.
In general, a single wafer will contain a whole network of adjacent target portions that are successively irradiated via the projection system, one at a time. In current apparatus, employing patterning by a mask on a mask table, a distinction can be made between two different types of machine. In one type of lithographic apparatus—commonly referred to as a wafer stepper—each target portion is irradiated by exposing the entire mask pattern onto the target portion in one go. In an alternative apparatus—commonly referred to as a step-and-scan apparatus—each target portion is irradiated by progressively scanning the mask pattern under the projection beam in a given reference direction (the "scanning" direction) while synchronously scanning the substrate table parallel or anti-parallel to this direction. Because, typically, the projection system will have a magnification factor M (generally <1), the speed V at which the substrate table is scanned will be a factor M times that at which the mask table is scanned. More information with regard to lithographic devices as here described can be gleaned, for example, from U.S. Pat. No. 6,046,792, incorporated herein by reference.
In a manufacturing process using a lithographic apparatus, the pattern is imaged onto a substrate that is at least partially covered by a layer of radiation-sensitive material (resist). Prior to this imaging step, the substrate may undergo various procedures, such as priming, resist coating and a soft bake. After exposure, the substrate may be subjected to other procedures, such as a post-exposure bake (PEB), development, a hard bake and measurement/inspection of the imaged features. This array of procedures is used as a basis to pattern an individual layer of a device, e.g. an IC. Such a patterned layer may then undergo various processes such as etching, ion-implantation (doping), metallization, oxidation, chemo-mechanical polishing, etc., all intended to finish off an individual layer.
If several layers are required, then the whole procedure, or a variant thereof, will have to be repeated for each new layer. Eventually, an array of devices will be present on the substrate (wafer). These devices are then separated from one another by a technique such as dicing or sawing, whence the individual devices can be mounted on a carrier, connected to pins, etc. Further information regarding such processes can be obtained, for example, from the book "Microchip Fabrication: A Practical Guide to Semiconductor Processing", Third Edition, by Peter van Zant, McGraw Hill Publishing Co., 1997, ISBN 0-07-067250-4, incorporated herein by reference.
For the sake of simplicity, the projection system may hereinafter be referred to as the "lens"; however, this term should be broadly interpreted as encompassing various types of projection system, including refractive optics, reflective optics, and catadioptric systems, for example. The radiation system may also include components operating according to any of these design types for directing, shaping or controlling the beam of radiation, and such components may also be referred to below, collectively or singularly, as a "lens". Further, the lithographic apparatus may be of a type having two or more substrate tables (and/or two or more mask tables). In such "multiple stage" devices the additional tables may be used in parallel, or preparatory steps may be carried out on one or more tables while one or more other tables are being used for exposures. Twin stage lithographic apparatus are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,969,441 and 6,262,796, incorporated herein by reference.
Further, the lithographic apparatus may be of a type having two or more substrate tables (and/or two or more mask tables). In such "multiple stage" devices the additional tables may be used in parallel, or preparatory steps may be carried out on one or more tables while one or more other tables are being used for exposures. Dual stage lithographic apparatus are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,969,441 and 6,262,796, both incorporated herein by reference.
Conventionally, lithographic apparatus employ controllers to position the surface of the substrate in the focal plane of the projection system. The controller utilizes feedback servo information to position the substrate table. In so doing, the controller only starts acting when first a servo error is created. Such a configuration results in limited performance and a non-optimal focusing.

Lithographic apparatus and device manufacturing method with feed-forward focus control


A cross-corrugated structured packing element is provided for use in mass transfer or heat exchange columns. The packing element has a plurality of packing layers positioned in an upright, parallel relationship to each other and including corrugations formed of alternating peaks and valleys and corrugation sidewalls extending between the peaks and valleys. The packing element also includes a plurality of apertures each presenting an open area. The apertures are distributed such that the corrugation sidewalls have a greater density of open areas than any density of the open areas that may be present in the peaks and valleys. Some of the apertures may be present in the peaks and the valleys to facilitate liquid distribution. The apertures may also be placed in rows or other patterns that are aligned in a direction along a longitudinal length of the corrugations. Regions with a larger apex radius may be formed in the peaks, such as by depressing spaced-apart segments of the peaks to form spacers in the undepressed portions of the peaks. Some of the apertures may be positioned in the transitions from the depressed portions of the peaks to the unmodified apex sections.

The present invention relates generally to mass transfer columns and, more particularly, to structured packing used to facilitate mass and heat transfer between fluids in such columns.
Mass transfer columns are configured to contact at least two fluid streams in order to provide product streams of specific composition and/or temperature. The term "mass transfer column," as used herein is intended to encompass columns in which mass and/or heat transfer is the primary objective. Some mass transfer columns, such as those utilized in multicomponent distillation and absorption applications, contact a gas-phase stream with a liquid-phase stream, while others, such as extraction columns, may be designed to facilitate contact between two liquid phases of different densities. Oftentimes, mass transfer columns are configured to contact an ascending vapor or liquid stream with a descending liquid stream, usually along multiple mass transfer surfaces disposed within the column. Commonly, these transfer surfaces are defined by structures placed in the interior volume of the column that are configured to facilitate intimate contact between the two fluid phases. As a result of these transfer surfaces, the rate and/or degree of mass and heat transferred between the two phases is enhanced.
Structured packing is commonly used to provide heat and/or mass transfer surfaces within a column. Many different types of structured packing exist, and most include a plurality of corrugated structured packing sheets that are positioned in an upright, parallel relationship and are joined together to form a structured packing module with fluid passages formed along the crisscrossing corrugations of adjacent sheets. The structured packing module may itself form a structured packing layer that fills a horizontal internal cross section of the column or the packing module may be in the form of individual bricks that are positioned end-to-end and side-by-side to form the structured packing layer. Multiple structured packing layers are normally stacked on top of each other with the orientation of the sheets in one layer rotated with respect to the sheets in adjacent structured packing layers.
It is generally desirable to maximize mass and energy transfer between the vapor and liquid phases as they flow through the structured packing layer; this is typically achieved by increasing the specific surface area available for mass and energy transfer. However, fluids passing through a structured packing layer having a higher specific surface area will normally experience a higher pressure drop, which is undesirable from an operational standpoint.
A need thus exists for an improved structured packing that is able to achieve a reduction in pressure drop without a significant decrease in mass and energy transfer efficiency. This allows one to either produce a packing with a lower pressure drop and the same efficiency, or to increase the packing's specific surface area, thereby increasing efficiency, without significantly increasing the pressure drop of the packing.

Structured packing module for mass transfer columns


Methods and processes for synthesizing high quality carbon single-walled nanotubes (SWNTs) are provided. A carbon precursor gas at reduced concentration (pressure) is contacted with a catalyst deposited on a support and at temperature about 10° C. above the SWNT synthesis onset temperature, but below the thermal decomposition temperature of the carbon precursor gas for given growth conditions. The concentration (pressure) of the carbon precursor gas can be controlled by reducing the total pressure of the gas, or by diluting with an inert carrier gas, or both. The methods produce SWNTs with the ratio of G-band to D-band in Raman spectra (IG:ID) of about 5 to about 200.

Carbon nanotubes are hexagonal networks of carbon atoms forming seamless tubes with each end capped with half of a fullerene molecule. Presently, there are three main approaches for the synthesis of single- and multi-walled carbon nanotubes. These include the electric arc discharge of graphite rod (Journet et al. Nature 388: 756 (1997)), the laser ablation of carbon (Thess et al. Science 273: 483 (1996)), and the chemical vapor deposition of hydrocarbons (Ivanov et al. Chem. Phys. Lett 223: 329 (1994); Li et al. Science 274: 1701 (1996)). Multi-walled carbon nanotubes can be produced on a commercial scale by catalytic hydrocarbon cracking while single-walled carbon nanotubes are still produced on a gram scale. Present methods produce both single-walled and multi-walled carbon nanotubes, as well as other contaminants, and purification of SWNTs can be time consuming and expensive.
Generally, single-walled carbon nanotubes are preferred over multi-walled carbon nanotubes because they have unique mechanical and electronic properties. Defects are less likely to occur in single-walled carbon nanotubes because multi-walled carbon nanotubes can survive occasional defects by forming bridges between unsaturated carbon valances, while single-walled carbon nanotubes have no neighboring walls to compensate for defects. Defect-free single-walled nanotubes are expected to have remarkable mechanical, electronic and magnetic properties that could be tunable by varying the diameter, and chirality of the tube.
A method for the production of SWNTs is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,764,874 to Ruth Zhang et al. using thin nickel film, Fe/Co or Fe/Ni as the catalyst. In addition, PCT Publication No. WO 06/050903 to Sigurd Buchholz et al. discloses the use of Fe:Mo catalyst and the use of hydrogen gas in order to generate the catalyst. These method can not produce SWNTs on a commercial scale, and the quality of the SWNTs can be low.
The methods described above still produce significant by-products and/or low yields of SWNTs. Thus, there is a need for methods and processes for controllable synthesis of high quality carbon single walled nanotubes. Accordingly, the present invention provides novel methods and processes for the synthesis of high quality SWNTs.

Synthesis of high quality carbon single-walled nanotubes


An image pickup apparatus includes a capturing unit configured to capture a subject; a generating unit configured to generate a request packet to request information of an image stored in an external apparatus, wherein the request packet includes a parameter of the capturing; a request packet transmitting unit configured to transmit the request packet to the external apparatus, a response packet receiving unit configured to receive a response packet corresponding to the request packet, wherein the response packet includes the information of the image stored in the external apparatus; and an image acquiring unit configured to acquire the image from the external apparatus based on the information included in the response packet, wherein the generating unit generates the request packet in response to instructions to allow the capturing unit to perform capturing.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for smoothly exchanging image files of users among a plurality of image pickup apparatuses.
2. Description of the Related Art
The widespread use of digital cameras in recent years has been amazing, and it has become popular to store information of picked up images as a digital data file in a recording medium in a camera, such as a memory card. The images picked up by such an apparatus can be easily transmitted/received in the form of an image data file by using a communication medium or a network medium.
For example, a service of uploading images to a server on the Internet so that members can browse and exchange the images (hereinafter referred to as "photo sharing service") has been widely used. By using this service, a user can easily receive an image captured by another user who participated in the same event or give an image captured by him/her to another user. In this way, images can be relatively easily exchanged among acquaintances or specific members.
On the other hand, owing to recent integration in devices for use in wireless communication, not only mobile personal computers (so-called notebook PCs) but also printers, mobile information apparatuses (PDA: personal digital assistance), digital cameras, and mobile phones are provided with a communication function using a wireless LAN. Accordingly, apparatuses that have conventionally had a function of communicating with a specific apparatus only via wired connection, such as a USB (universal serial bus) connection, can perform wireless data communication with various apparatuses.
The following method is an example of a method for acquiring an image file performed between image pickup apparatuses having a wireless communication function. That is, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-223814 discloses a method for performing wireless communication between one's camera and a nearby user's camera in a capturing site and automatically exchanging information for accessing each other's camera later, such as an e-mail address.
According to the method described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2005-223814, the user needs to start up an e-mail software in accordance with the access information or access a server providing the photo sharing service from his/her PC so as to select a desired image and to store the image in his/her PC, which is complicated.
When users who participated in the same event exchange images, they exchange images of that event. If the above-described technique is applied to this case, a receiver of images needs to select images of the event one by one from among images of various events so as to obtain the images, which is complicated. The user who captures images can group or narrow down the images in units of events in advance. In that case, however, the user needs to perform an operation for the grouping each time, which is complicated.

Image pickup apparatus having communication function, method for controlling the same, and computer-readable storage medium


A system and method for Reverse Error Correction Coding. The system includes a Constraint encoder, an Error Correction Code encoder, and a uniform interleaver. The Constraint encoder receives a source data stream and generates a first intermediate encoded data stream satisfying a first predetermined timing data constraint. The Error Correction Code encoder receives the first intermediate encoded data stream and generates a second intermediate encoded data stream having one or more Error Correction Code based elements. The uniform interleaver receives the second intermediate encoded data stream and generates a channel data stream having the one or more Error Correction Code based elements and satisfying a second predetermined timing data constraint.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to Error Correction and Constraint Coding and, in particular, to a system and method for Reverse Error Correction Coding.
2. Background Art
Error Correction coding/decoding (ECC) and Constraint encoding/decoding, such as Run Length Limited encoding/decoding (i.e., RLL) and Variable Rate Randomizer encoding/decoding (VR2), are generally implemented in conventional data communication systems to provide increased data reliability during data transfer over a noise inducing medium (e.g., to/from a magnetic media, etc.).
ECC encoding generally involves appending data, such as one or more parity bits, to a source data stream presented to an ECC encoder. The appended data may provide data redundancy such that the source data may be recovered in the event the noise inducing medium introduces one or more errors into the source data.
In contrast, Constraint encoding is generally implemented to insure, inter alia, that adequate timing information is present in a data stream. The timing information may be used by a tracking mechanism, such as a clock, to synchronize one or more data handling elements (e.g., a read and/or write element) with the data stream such that intersymbol interference may be reduced. In general, timing information may be deemed adequate when the resulting data stream (i.e., Constraint encoded data stream) satisfies a predetermined k-constraint. For example, when the predetermined k-constraint is (0,9), the timing information may be deemed adequate when the resulting data stream has no more than nine 0-bits between consecutive 1-bits. Satisfying a predetermined k-constraint generally provides adequate timing information in systems wherein a timing mark is generally coincident with a high signal state (e.g., coincident with a 1-bit). An example of such a system may be a magnetic media drive wherein a write mechanism of the drive generates a new magnetic mark coincident with the occurrence of a high signal state in the written data stream. The magnetic marks may synchronize a clock of the drive such that a subsequent read element may be synchronized with the written data stream.
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional system 10 for communicating data. Because an ECC encoder generally appends (i.e., adds, inserts) additional data bits to a data stream, the system 10 generally implements an ECC encoder 12 prior to a Constraint encoder 14. Accordingly, the data bits inserted by the ECC encoder 12 are available at the subsequent Constraint encoder 14 for processing such that the resulting (i.e., processed) data stream, as a whole, satisfies a predetermined k-constraint. As illustrated in FIG. 1, the decoding process is generally the reverse of the encoding process and may include a Constraint decoder 16 receiving a previously encoded data stream and passing a Constraint decoded data stream to a subsequent ECC decoder 18.
Due to the non-linear nature of RLL, VR2 and other Constraint encoding/decoding algorithms, an error introduced into an encoded data stream may be propagated upon subsequent Constraint decoding (e.g., via Constraint decoder 16). Such propagation may increase the quantity and/or severity of errors such that the subsequent ECC decoder 18 is unable to successfully correct the errors.
Furthermore, many Constraint coding algorithms, such as RLL and VR2, are unable to output "soft information" (i.e., probability information having a value between 0 and 1). Accordingly, the system 10 is not suitable for implementing soft ECC decoding, such as a Low-Density Parity-Check decoder (i.e., LDPC).
One attempt to address the shortfalls of the system 10 may be referred to as Reverse ECC. In Reverse ECC, a data stream is generally subjected to Constraint encoding prior to ECC encoding. Accordingly, the encoded data stream is generally subjected to ECC decoding prior to Constraint decoding. Such a system may reduce error propagation and/or allow for implementation of soft ECC decoding. However, additional Constraint encoding (e.g., a second RLL encoding) must be performed on the data bits amended by the ECC encoder as the amended bits may otherwise cause the resulting (i.e., encoded) data stream to violate the predetermined k-constraint.
An attempt to address the shortfalls of Reverse ECC is disclosed in United States Patent Publication no. 2005/01385522 to Silvus (i.e., Silvus). Silvus teaches a system and method for implementing Reverse ECC without requiring a second RLL code. Silvus appends a "seed" to the RLL encoded data. The "seed" alters the parity values of the ECC so that they meet an RLL constraint. However, Silvus requires the determination and insertion of an appropriate "seed" (i.e., any symbol, bit, word or other data inserted in to the channel data which is selected to meet a desired RLL constant). Determination of an appropriate seed may require several iterations.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to have a system and a method for implementing Reverse ECC to reduce error propagation and/or provide "soft information" Error Correction Coding wherein the output of the ECC encoder may be made to satisfy a predetermined k-constraint without requiring a second Constraint encoding and/or the use of an iterative seeding process.

System and method for reverse error correction coding


A method and apparatus for direct-conversion transmission generates a first frequency signal that is non-harmonically related to a transmit frequency signal, divides the first frequency signal to obtain a mixing frequency signal, divides the first frequency signal to obtain an intermediate frequency reference signal, generates the transmit frequency signal by using the mixing frequency signal to downconvert the transmit frequency signal into an intermediate frequency feedback signal, and phase-locks the intermediate frequency feedback signal to the intermediate frequency reference signal. The transmit frequency signal may be phase modulated, and may serve as an input to a saturated-mode power amplifier that can be configured for corresponding amplitude modulation. Alternatively, the un-modulated transmit frequency signal serves as the carrier signal input to a quadrature modulator, which imparts I/Q modulations to it, thereby producing a modulated carrier signal for input to a linear power amplifier.

The present invention is generally related to wireless communications, and is particularly related to transmit frequency signal generation.
In "direct conversion" transmitters, transmitter modulation and frequency up-conversion generally occur in the same circuit, which means that the transmitted carrier frequency signal is the same as the local oscillator (LO) frequency. While this approach offers economic advantages in terms of circuit simplification and reduced component count, it poses certain design challenges.
For example, the loop bandwidth of the direct-conversion frequency synthesizer generally should be kept relatively narrow in the interest of suppressing sideband phase noise for good Adjacent Channel Power (ACP) suppression performance. However, the relatively low power, high tuning sensitivity Voltage Control Oscillators (VCOs) used in such frequency synthesis loops are prone to frequency pulling, wherein they are disturbed by the modulations of the relatively high-power transmit signal.
Increasing the loop bandwidth of the frequency synthesizer improves its resistance to pulling, but decreases its ability to suppress sideband phase noise. As such, improving pulling resistance and ACP noise performance represent competing design challenges that are difficult to reconcile in single-loop direct-conversion architectures. "Two-step" transmitter architectures may be used to reconcile the above conflict between pulling resistance and ACP performance, by up-converting the base band information signal to be transmitted using two frequency conversion steps, so that the power amplifier output spectrum is relatively far away from the VCO operating frequencies.
However, as a general proposition, the second up-conversion step generates unwanted sidebands and spurious frequencies that must be significantly suppressed using a relatively expensive high-Q filter. Because such filters are difficult to integrate on-chip in high-density circuits, the two-step conversion process ordinarily necessitates the use of off-chip filters, adding to circuit expense and size.
Further, it is known to use a translational loop architecture to mitigate VCO injection pulling issues, wherein a main phase locked loop operates as a primary LO frequency to a frequency mixer in the translational loop and a secondary LO frequency is applied to the translational loop's phase detector to enable phase comparison with the translated signal. However, an additional VCO and phase locked loop circuitry (e.g., phase detector, programmable frequency dividers, loop filter) generally are necessary to generate the second LO frequency to obtain the necessary offset (intermediate) frequencies, which adds to the cost and size of the design.

Method and apparatus for frequency synthesis in direct-conversion transmitters


When a second mobile machine requests the communication of priority data with a base station while a first mobile machine conducts the communication of non-priority data with the base station, the base station transmits wait information to the first mobile machine by using a down link control channel to control the first mobile machine to the waiting state and allocates the down link control channel to the second mobile machine to control the second mobile machine to conduct the communication of the priority data. When the communication of the priority data with the second mobile machine is completed, the base station transmits communication resumption information to the waiting first mobile machine by using the down link control channel to resume the communication of the non-priority data.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a communication control method, and more particularly to a communication control method in a digital mobile communication apparatus of TDMA/TDD (Time Division Multiple Access/Time Division Duplex) system.
2. Description of Related Art
In accordance with a frame format used in a digital mobile communication apparatus of the TDMA/TDD system, one frame comprises as follows, as shown in FIG. 1.
(1) A down link access channel A1.sub.DOWN and an up link access channel A2.sub.UP having a function as an access channel Ach used for communication of control information to establish frame synchronization of a mobile machine to a base station and to shift from the access channel Ach to a control channel Cch.
(2) Down link control channels C1.sub.DOWN -C8.sub.DOWN and up link control channels C9.sub.UP -C16.sub.UP having a function as a control channel Cch used for communication of control information to communicate data in a user channel Uch.
The down link control channels and the up link control channels are used in a combination such as a down link control channel C1.sub.DOWN and an up link control channel C9.sub.UP, and a down link control channel C2.sub.DOWN and an up link control channel C10.sub.UP.
(3) User channels U1-U64 having a function as a user channel Uch used for communication of data.
The user channel Uch is allocated for the down link and the up link separately for each slot. The base station indicates to the mobile machine by using the control channel Cch the particular slot used for the up link and the particular slot used for the down link in accordance with the data amounts of the up link and the down link to conduct the communication with the mobile machine.
Referring to FIG. 2, a start protocol of the communication when such a frame format is used is explained. The mobile machine receives the down link access channel A1.sub.DOWN to establish the frame synchronization to the base station. Thus, the mobile machine may determine the particular slot used at the particular time in the base station. The mobile machine registers by using the up link access channel A2.sub.UP. The base station transmits a communication start request by using the down link access channel A1.sub.DOWN and the mobile machine transmits the communication start request by using the up link access channel A2.sub.UP. When the communication start request is communicated, the base station designates an available control channel Cch to the mobile machine by using the down link access channel A1.sub.DOWN. In this instance, a combination of the down link access channel C1.sub.DOWN and the up link access channel C9.sub.UP is designated as the available control channel Cch. The mobile machine sends back an acknowledgement (ACK) thereto by using the up link access channel A2.sub.UP. At this time, the access channel Ach is released. In the example shown in FIG. 2, the control channel Cch is designated by using the down link access channel A1.sub.DOWN but since there is only one set of access channel Ach in one slot, an N-channel super frame structure is adopted and a plurality of mobile machines are accommodated without conflict. Thereafter, the user channel Uch designation is indicated from the base station to the mobile machine by using the down link control channel C1.sub.DOWN. In this instance, three user channel U1-U3 are allocated for the down link and two user channels U4 and U5 are allocated for the up link. The mobile machine sends back the acknowledgement (ACK) to the base station by using the up link control channel C9.sub.UP. Thereafter, the communication is conducted by using the user channel Uch. Thereafter, the procedure of communication by designating the user channel Uch to be used by the control channel Cch and communicating by using the user channel Uch is repeated, and the communication is terminated by the control channel Cch, the access channel Ach of the super frame structure is received and the start of next communication is waited. The communication is conducted in such a protocol.
In the above communication control method, since there are eight sets of communication channel Cch, concurrent communication may be conducted for eight mobile machines. When all slots are busy, the information to be communicated are classified to priority data and non-priority data and the mobile machine which communicates only the non-priority data is controlled to the waiting state, and the mobile machine which communicates the priority data is controlled to be allocated with the control channel Cch. This control method is described below.
The mobile machine which communicates the priority data (referred to as a second mobile machine #2) issues a communication request to the base station by using the up link access channel A2.sub.UP. The base station transmits wait information to the mobile machine which communicates the non-priority data (referred to as a first mobile machine #1). When the first mobile machine #1 receives the wait information, it releases the control channel Cch and reacquires the access channel (Ach) synchronization to receive the super frame, and waits for the start of communication. The base station notifies the allocation of the control channel Cch by using the down link access channel A1.sub.DOWN. For this notice, the second mobile machine #2 sends back the acknowledgement (ACK) to the base station. Thereafter, it communicates the allocation information of the user channel Uch by using the control channel Cch to conduct the communication of information by the user channel Uch.
As described above, in the prior art communication control method, the mobile machine which communicates the non-priority data is controlled to the waiting state and the control channel Cch is allocated to the mobile machine which communicates the priority data so that the number of secured mobile machines which communicate the priority data is increased. Further, the waiting mobile machine receives the access channel Ach of the super frame structure so that the power consumption during the waiting is reduced. However, the waiting mobile machine must wait until it receives the access channel Ach of the super frame structure even if the control channel Cch becomes available, and the utilization efficiency of the control channel Cch is lowered.

Communication control method for requesting priority data

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


A magnetic memory device includes a first write wiring which runs in a first direction, a second write wiring which runs in a second direction different from the first direction, and a magnetoresistive element which is arranged at an intersection between the first and second write wirings, has a fixed layer, a recording layer, and a magnetoresistive layer sandwiched between the fixed layer and the recording layer, and has an axis of easy magnetization obliquely with respect to the first and second directions, the recording layer including a first ferromagnetic layer, a second ferromagnetic layer, and a first nonmagnetic layer sandwiched between the first and second ferromagnetic layers, in which first magnetization of the first ferromagnetic layer and second magnetization of the second ferromagnetic layer are ferromagnetically coupled, and a ferro-coupling constant C of a ferromagnetic coupling is 0.0001 erg/cm2≦C≦0.2 erg/cm2.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnetic memory device and a write method of the magnetic memory device and, more particularly, to a magnetic random access memory (MRAM) and a write method of it.
2. Description of the Related Art
Magnetic random access memories (MRAMs) are expected as ultimate memories with nonvolatility, high speed, large capacity, and low voltage driving and developed.
For conventional magnetic random access memories, however, it is becoming clear that the capacity can hardly be increased because the write current value increases as the circuit is micropatterned, and the write margin which is small inherently further decreases as the circuit is micropatterned.
To increase the write margin, a magnetic random access memory using toggle switching is proposed (e.g., M. Durlam, et al M,. IEDM Tech. Dig., pp. 995–997, 2003). In this toggle switching method, a synthetic recording layer which almost always has an anti-parallel magnetization arrangement is used as the recording layer of a magnetic tunnel junction (MTJ) element. The write margin is increased by using the spin flop phenomenon (A and B in FIG. 21).
However, according to the toggle switching method, when the short length of the MTJ element is 400 nm, the write current value increases by about 10 mA even when an efficient yoke wiring coated with a magnetic thin film is used.
In micropatterning, to ensure nonvolatility, the decrease in volume of memory cells must be compensated for by increasing the memory energy per unit volume. This results in an increase in reversal field of the recording layer of the MTJ element. As a result, the write current value further increases. When the short length of the MTJ element is about 150 nm, the necessary write current value exceeds the limit of electromigration of the wiring. Hence, a breakthrough is necessary for more advanced micropatterning. Assume that the variation in reversal field largely decreases, and the write current value can be reduced to 4 mA. Even in this case, when the write wiring width is reduced to about 140 nm as the MTJ element is micropatterned, the current density is about 107 A/cm2. This exceeds 106 A/cm2, e.g., the migration tolerance of a Cu wiring. Even in pulse driving, the current density reaches the allowable value limit (the wiring thickness is estimated 280 nm because the aspect ratio is about 2 at maximum in the normal wiring process). Generally, the short length of the MTJ element is set to be almost the same as the write wiring width. Hence, the limit of the short length of the MTJ element is also about 140 nm.
As described above, the most important challenges in the conventional magnetic random access memories are to maintain nonvolatility, reduce the reversal field of the recording layer of the MTJ element, and reduce the write current value to achieve high integration.

Magnetic memory device and write method of magnetic memory device


A non-directional tap coupler for use in high power operation over a wide bandwidth is provided. The tap coupler has an input line electrically connectable to a transmission line of a distributed transmission line system, a tap line coupled to the input line and an output line coupled to the input line. The input line, tap line and output line include sections having different characteristic impedances, with all of the different characteristic impedances falling within a practical characteristic impedance range. An electrical junction where the input line electrically joins the tap line and the output line is provided with a predetermined impedance value to ensure that the sections of the tap line and the output line all fall within the practical characteristic impedance range.

As the need for distributed information becomes greater and greater, there is likewise a need for distributed, high power transmission line systems to handle this increasing communication traffic. A typical distributed transmission line system comprises a main transmission line and one or more tap lines coupled to the main transmission line for receiving signals from the main transmission line. A familiar distributed transmission line system is the coaxial cable system which brings cable TV to television sets. More sophisticated distribution systems are bi-directional, transmitting and receiving signals of many services located at various frequencies throughout the radio frequency spectrum. These signals include FM radio, PCS and cellular phone services. A typical distributed communications application employs radiating coaxial cables in underground subway systems. To add branch lines to the main coaxial cable, non-directional taps or couplers are required. The operational frequency range of the taps must span the range of these various services, which are located between 88 and 2000 MHz.
Some of the difficulties associated with providing non-directional tap couplers over a broad frequency bandwidth are as follows. First, it is difficult to provide a non-directional tap coupler which can maintain a relatively constant coupling ratio (power transmitted by tap line/power transmitted by main transmission line) over the broad frequency spectrum. Second, it is difficult to provide a non-directional tap coupler in which the voltage standing wave ratio (VSWR) is kept close to the minimum value of 1. VSWR is the ratio of the maximum voltage to the minimum voltage on a line. As known, when a load (R.sub.L) matches the characteristic impedance (Z.sub.0) of a line, there is no reflected wave so that V.sub.max equals V.sub.min and the VSWR is 1. It is important to minimize the VSWR to keep losses low.
Finally, even if the difficulties associated with providing non-directional tap couplers over a broad frequency bandwidth discussed above are overcome, it must be done in a manner which provides a tap line within a "practical characteristic impedance range". As known, the greater the characteristic impedance of a line, the narrower the width of the line, and vice versa. Thus, if the characteristic impedance of the tap line is a high value, this will require an ultra thin (describable in terms of hair-width or thinner) tap line; thereby making the manufacture of the non-directional tap coupler very difficult and expensive. Furthermore, an ultra thin tap line is limited in terms of its power handling capability. Therefore, the characteristic impedance of the tap line must fall within the "practical characteristic impedance range," which is defined herein as the range of characteristic impedances which provide tap lines with sufficient power handling capability to transmit signals throughout the radio frequency spectrum and which do not require an ultra thin tap line that is practically unfeasible to manufacture due to the difficulty and expense involved.
What is desired, therefore, is a non-directional tap coupler for use in high power operation over a wide bandwidth which minimizes losses while providing a tap line within a practical characteristic impedance range.


A hat and phone mount system include a hat having a hat body to secure to a head of a wearer; and a phone mount, having a first portion and a second portion connected to a front of the hat body and extending therefrom, the phone mount to receive and hold a phone in front of the hat; the phone mount is to facilitate holding of the phone with the hat as needed by the user.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to cell phones and cell phone holding systems, and more specifically, to a hat and phone mount system for using a phone with a hat handsfree.
2. Description of Related Art
Using cell phones is well known in the art. One popular means for using a cell phone is for video chatting or conferencing. For example, FIG. 1 depicts a conventional cell phone system 101 having a phone 103 being held by a user 105. During use, the user is limited to the use of their other hand for activities while using the phone for video chatting or the like.
One of the problems commonly associated with system 101 is this limited availability of a user's hands. For example, the user may be video conferencing for the purpose of receiving direction from the other party for the completion of a task. In such an example, the user may have to hold the phone to show the other party the task they are working on, which limits the user to one hand to perform the task. This limitation can be difficult and annoying for both parties.
Accordingly, although great strides have been made in the area of cell phone systems, many shortcomings remain.
While the system and method of use of the present application is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof have been shown by way of example in the drawings and are herein described in detail. It should be understood, however, that the description herein of specific embodiments is not intended to limit the invention to the particular embodiment disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present application as defined by the appended claims.

Hat and phone mount system and method of use


An electrical connector (10) having a body (20), a switch assembly (30) for slideable disposition in the body (20), and discriminators (60,70,80) for terminating large and/or small gauge wires. The switch subassembly includes a conventional dummy-load test circuit. Insulation displacement contacts (40,50) are disposed in the body and in the discriminators (60,70 80) for termination with the wires. The switch assembly (20) is slidably disposed within the body (20) in a sealed cavity (27), and contacts (32) of the subassembly slidably but electrically interface with contacts (40,50), the switch assembly (20) is thereby suspended in the cavity and its motion is guided along contacts (40,50) which act as tracks as the switch assembly is displaced between normal and test mode positions.

Telecommunications circuits entering a building in the form of a twisted pair cable are often terminated to electrical connectors in an enclosure mounted in or adjacent to the building. Such connectors are often subjected to the harsh conditions associated with use in an indoor/outdoor telecommunications environment, e.g. extremes of heat, cold, and moisture. A typical indoor/outdoor telecommunications connector, once installed, defines an interface between sub-circuit sides of the telecommunications circuit, namely, central office and subscriber side sub-circuits. Installation of the connector requires that the respective wires of the central office and subscriber sides be reliably terminated with electrical contacts in the connector. It is then necessary for the operator to test one or both of the sub-circuits. For subscriber side testing purposes a manual switching operation must be performed, i.e. the operator must disconnect the subscriber side circuit from the electrical connector, connect an electrical dummy-load across the subscriber side twisted pair, test the subscriber side circuit, and then remove the dummy-load and reconnect the subscriber side to the electrical connector. Manually switching the subscriber side to a dummy-load and back to the electrical connector is a time consuming operation. Moreover, twisted pair cables of differing nominal sizes often populate a given enclosure, and the installation operation may be further complicated because different sized connectors or adapters must be used to adapt the connection between wires and electrical connectors of differing nominal sizes.
However, prior electrical connectors comprising a switch are not suitable for use in telecommunications circuits. For example, an electrical connector incorporating a switch is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4356361, which discloses a modular electrical switch for use in programming electrical equipment. The electrical connector comprises an electrically insulating housing, and a pair of elongated electrical terminals secured to the base of the housing. The switch comprises an electrically conductive contact bearing disposed within the housing which is moveable between on/off modes. The electrical terminals protrude from the bottom of the housing for being soldered to a printed circuit board, and the housing is adapted for use with dual in-line package electrical components. The known electrical connector is directed toward use with a printed circuit board for programming electronic circuits, and it is not suitable for use in indoor/outdoor telecommunications circuits. This is because the known switch is not adapted for use with twisted pair cable, and the switching configuration thereof is not adapted to disconnect one pair of wires while another pair is connected to a dummy-load. Moreover, terminations are often made in enclosures, which does not leave enough room for time consuming soldering operations Additionally, the overall structure of the known electrical connector does not admit of use in the harsh conditions associated with the indoor/outdoor telecommunications environment

Electrical connector with switch subassembly


The present utility model discloses a hand-held chargeable optoelectronic illuminating lamp which comprises: a hollow lamp body; a battery frame, which is accommodated within the hollow lamp body and a plurality of rechargeable batteries mounted thereon; a light emitting unit, which is provided at front ends of the lamp body and the battery frame, for emitting visible light; a power supply plug, which is movably provided at a rear end of the lamp body, for fitting with a outside socket of commercial power; and a handle, which is pivotally connected to the lamp body, has an accommodating space therein, said handle may locate on a first position or a second position relative to the lamp body, wherein: the handle is parallel to the lamp body and the power supply plug is contained in the accommodating space when the handle locates on the first position; the handle is perpendicular to the lamp body and the power supply plug is exposed out of the rear end of the lamp so as to implement charging operation when the handle locates on the second position.

Lamps are applied to various fields of daily life and industrial manufacture. These lamps which range from the simplest electric torch to the searchlight for industrial application provide human beings with weapons of conquering the darkness. However, the conventional hand-held lamps such as the electric torch are generally of the type of using dry battery or rechargeable battery. In general, for charging the hand-held rechargeable illuminating lamps, a fixed charging plug is disposed at the rear end of the lamp, which would make the structure of the lamp become bulky. In addition, sometimes, it is difficult for the fixed plug to be inserted into a socket disposed within a relatively small space, and thereby it is difficult to accomplish the charging operation.
Contents of the Utility Model
In view of the above problems of the prior art, an object of the utility model is to provide a hand-held chargeable optoelectronic illuminating lamp, which has compact structure and is convenient for charging operation.
According to the utility model, a hand-held chargeable optoelectronic illuminating lamp comprises: a hollow lamp body; a battery frame accommodated within the hollow lamp body, a plurality of rechargeable battery are mounted thereon; a light emitting unit, which is provided at front ends of the lamp body and the battery frame, for emitting visible light; a power supply plug, which is movably provided at a rear end of the lamp body and can fit with a socket of commercial power supply outside; and a handle, which is pivotally connected to the lamp body, and has an accommodating space therein, said handle may be in a first position and a second position relative to the lamp body, the handle is parallel to the lamp body and the power supply plug is contained in the accommodating space when the handle locates on the first position; the handle is perpendicular to the lamp body and the power supply plug is exposed out of the rear end of the lamp so as to implement charging operation when the handle locates on the second position.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, the light emitting unit comprises a light seat, a light source, a reflective mirror generally in a paraboloid shape, a front plate member and a front annular cap in order, wherein: said light seat is movably mounted at the front end of the battery frame; said light source is mounted on the light seat; said reflective mirror is disposed at the periphery of the light source so as to converge the light emitted from the light source; inner face of the front plate member is sealed with end face of the reflective mirror; and the annular cap is detachably fixed to the front end of the lamp body so as to encapsulate the light emitting unit.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, a driving circuit device is fixedly mounted at the rear end of the battery frame, and is provided with a plurality of state indicating lights for displaying work states of the illuminating lamp.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, two pins and two guiding slots are provided at the rear end of the lamp body; the power supply plug is pivotally connected with said two pins via two holes formed on the sidewall of the power supply plug; two conductive pins of the power supply plug pass through said two guiding slots and protrude out of the lamp body so that the power supply plug can insert into the socket of the commercial power.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, the handle is of cuboid shape; a hole for rotation is formed on each side of the front end of the handle; a hole for rotation is formed at the corresponding position of the lamp body; the handle is movably connected to the lamp body by passing a rotation lock through the holes of the handle and the holes of the lamp body.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, the inner surface of the rotation lock is provided with protruding fasteners which tightly fastens the inner surface of the sidewall of the lamp body so that the handle is fastened on the sidewall of the lamp body without separating from the lamp body while the handle is pivotally connected with the lamp body by the rotation lock.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, a switch button is provided at the centre of the battery frame so as to turn on and turn off the lamp.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, the rotation lock is formed with a rectangular hole; the position of the rectangular hole corresponds to the position of the switch button; a switch button covering member is provided on the rectangular hole; the inner surface of the switch button covering member passes through the rectangular hole of the rotation lock and thereby tightly engage with the switch button.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, a plurality of state indicating lights is provided on the driving circuit device.
In the illuminating lamp mentioned above, a hole is also provided on the front end of the lamp body; and an indicating light glass made of transparent material is fixed on the hole so that states of said state indicating lights would be observed through the indicating light glass.
The advantageous effects of the utility model are as follows: the novel hand-held chargeable optoelectronic illuminating lamp of the utility model provides the user with a convenient charging manner for the lamp by rotating the handle into the second position such that the handle is perpendicular to the lamp body and the power supply plug is exposed out of the rear end of the lamp body. For implement of charging the lamp, the user can directly insert the power supply plug of the lamp body into the socket of the commercial power. After the charging operation of the hand-held chargeable optoelectronic illuminating lamp is completed, the lamp can continuously illuminate for a relatively long time and can be applied to various fields such as police, fire protection, emergency lifesaving, discipline army and civil use as an important light source.
Hereinafter, the utility model will be further explained with reference to the drawings and the embodiments.

Hand-held chargeable optoelectronic illuminating lamp


A system and method for assisting a customer in choosing among commodities based on a business profile of the customer that includes asking the customer for a definition of its business; searching a decision rules database and applying decision rules to the business definition; creating a set of business requirement questions based upon the applied decision rules database; answering the set of business requirement questions by the customer; implementing a business rule filter to the answers of the set of business requirement questions; recommending to the customer commodity types based upon the business rule implementation; and optimizing the recommended commodity types to find the best value commodity, which can be a product or service.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the sale of commodities, such as products and services, and more particularly, to a system and method for assisting business customers in selecting products and services as well as optimizing the choices for those products and services.
2. Description of the Related Art
In current practice, the average customer has a difficult time sifting through the enormous number of options for commodities, such as products and services, in order to find the best selection. Moreover, the increasing number of vendors that sell similar products and/or services adds to the difficulty. For example, in one state alone, customers may face a choice between hundreds of vendors with thousands of different plans for telecommunication, power, and cable/satellite services.
As an additional complicating factor, many customers, especially business customers, may not really know exactly which products and services they need when starting a business or a new office.
As a result of these numerous options, customers face various challenges. First, customers lack perfect information and are unaware of available choices. Second, customers are barraged with cryptic information from vendors that is difficult to decipher. The perpetual flood of new options that are offered for the purpose of attracting new customers exacerbates this problem. Third, many customers do not make optimum choices of the deals offered by the various vendors because they do not understand the choices in general, the impact the choices may have, and the cost of the choices. Fourth, significant time investment is required for customers to find all of the information they need to compare offerings from different vendors. Usually, it takes more time and effort than the average customer wants to exert.
These problems are compounded in the case of business customers, especially small business and start-up business customers. Business customers generally require a greater number and variety of services than a consumer customer. Additionally, the person responsible for acquiring needed services for a small or start-up business may not know exactly which types of services will be required. For example, a small business customer might move into office space for the first time. This customer may need various types of phone, power, computer, network and Internet services that cover current requirements and any expected future growth. The business will have difficulty selecting which categories of service it requires, as well as selections within each category.
Many vendors rely on conducting their own internal research studies in order to better understand their potential target audience. The marketplace is changing so rapidly that it is difficult for vendors to keep pace. Vendors need to remain current with their customer base and anticipate new services and products based on the changing needs of the customer.
Several systems and methods have been developed over the years to solve the above problems, but these systems and methods have many disadvantages. For example, many merchants or third-party resellers have web sites that offer side-by-side comparisons of products and/or services. One disadvantage of such a web site is that the customers have to spend a significant amount of time determining what is best based on their own subjective assessment of the value associated with the various options. Another disadvantage is that these web sites do not provide any type of assistance in determining the types of products and services that are needed by a business customer, as in the case of a business start-up or customers without the necessary expertise.
Therefore, an integrated system and method are needed to assist customers in selecting the best value option from a set of commodities based on the customers' preferences, to assist vendors in acquiring and retaining customers, and to assist businesses without the required expertise in determining which product and service types they need to purchase.

Method and computer readable medium for assisting a customer in choosing among commodities


A method is disclosed for automatically adding a received phone number and name of an incoming caller to a list of existing contact phone numbers on a smartphone of a called party. More particularly, the smartphone of the called party (1) receives the phone number and name of the incoming caller from a cell site or base station at a fixed location of a cellular carrier while the called party may or may not be engaged in an existing phone call with another party; (2) searches the list of existing contact phone numbers to find a phone number that is an exact match to the received phone number of the incoming caller; (3) determines whether an exact match to the received phone number of the incoming caller was found on the list of existing contact phone numbers; (4) automatically adds the received phone number and name of the incoming caller to the list of existing contact phone numbers after it has been determined that the received phone number of the incoming caller was not found on the list of existing contact phone numbers; (5) generates an identifier, e.g., a number, and assigns the generated identifier to the received phone number and name of the incoming caller that have been automatically added to the list of existing contact phone numbers; and (6) conventional cellular service continues after it has been determined that the received phone number of the incoming caller was found on the list of existing contact phone numbers.

A prior art smartphone, i.e. the Apple iPhone, is a portable device that combine mobile telephone and computing functions into one unit. The Apple iPhone lets users manually add a contact through a variety of methods, including the time-saving and convenient method of turning a received call into a contact. By turning the received call into a contact, the Apple iPhone will auto-populate the phone number field with the phone number from the received call. Not only can you turn a received call into a brand new contact, but you can also manually add the received phone number to an already existing contact phone list. The iPhone operating system is an ios, a modified version of the Machintosh osx operating system used on Apple desktop and laptop computers. ios 14 is the fourteen and current major release of the ios mobile operating system developed by Apple, Inc. for their iPhone and iPod touch lines. It was released to the public on Sep. 16, 2020.
It is therefore an object of this invention to provide a method for automatically adding a received phone number and name of an incoming caller to a list of existing contact phone numbers on a smartphone of a called party while the called party may or may not be engaged in an existing phone call with another party.

Method for a cellular mobile phone and a smartphone


Device for detecting an error from a digital data during decoding the digital data, is disclosed, including a storage means for temporary storage of received arbitrary bytes of data (a parallel data) in response to a control signal and producing the data in byte units separately; logical operation means for subjecting each of the byte unit data from the storage means to an operation according to a preset logical operation equation in response to a control signal for producing a data separately; error detecting means for comparing the data from the logical operation means in determining an occurrence of error; and, controlling means for providing the control signals.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a decoder in a CD ROM driver and, more particularly, to a device for detecting an error from a digital data during decoding the digital data.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
In general, the CD ROM decoder has an error corrected in case the error is occurred in a data and determines final correction of the error in the data using an EDC (Error Detection Code).
FIG. 1 illustrates a data recording format on the CD ROM, in which the error detection code is shown.
Referring to FIG. 1, the error detection code is a 4 bytes parity calculated with the following equation for a total 2046 bytes including 12 bytes sync, 4 bytes header and 2048 bytes information data. ##EQU1##
That is, the CD ROM determines that there is an error in data if a remainder after making a dividing operation of the 2068 bytes including the sync, header, information data and error detection code with the above equation (1) is not "0". The process for decoding a signal recorded on a digital signal recording medium, such as the CD ROM includes a step for correcting errors, in which cases when a regular signal could not be read-in due to defects in the disc, mistakes in manufacturing, and errors in a servo or synchronizing signal are corrected. It also includes an error detection step, in which the error corrected data is once again inspected to confirm the state of the regular error correction.
A conventional device for detecting an error from within digital data in a CD ROM will be explained with reference to the attached drawings. FIG. 2 illustrates a block diagram showing the conventional device for detecting an error from a digital data in a CD ROM, and FIG. 3 illustrates a circuit diagram showing a detail of the dividing operation part shown in FIG. 2.
Referring to FIG. 2, the conventional device for detecting an error from within digital data in a CD ROM includes a data converting part 100 for converting a received byte unit parallel data into a bit unit series data in response to an operation clock signal, and an operation part 110 for subjecting the converted series data in bit unit series data to an operation according to the equation (1) in response to an operational clock signal, for producing final error(s).
Referring to FIG. 3, the operation part 110 includes a plurality of D-flipflops D1.about.D32 connected in series for temporarily storing the bit unit series data from the data converting part 100 in response to an operational clock signal for and producing the stored data after shifted, a first exclusive OR gate E1 for receiving and subjecting the bit unit series data from the data converting part 100 and an output from the flipflop D32 to an exclusive OR operation and for applying the exclusive OR operation result to the flipflop D1, a second exclusive OR gate E2 for receiving and subjecting the output from the flipflop D32 and an output from the flipflop D1 to an exclusive OR operation and applying the exclusive OR operation result to the flipflop D2, a third exclusive OR gate E3 for receiving and subjecting the output from the flipflop D32 and an output from the flipflop D3 to an exclusive OR operation and applying the exclusive OR operation result to the flipflop D4, a fourth exclusive OR gate E4 for receiving and subjecting the output from the flipflop D32 and an output from the flipflop D4 to an exclusive OR operation and applying the exclusive OR operation result to the flipflop D5, a fifth exclusive OR gate E5 for receiving and subjecting the output from the flipflop D32 and an output from the flipflop D15 to an exclusive OR operation and applying the exclusive OR operation result to the flipflop D16, a sixth exclusive OR gate E6 for receiving and subjecting the output from the flipflop D32 and an output from the flipflop D16 to an exclusive OR operation and applying the exclusive OR operation result to the flipflop D17, a seventh exclusive OR gate E7 for receiving and subjecting the output from the flipflop D32 and an output from the flipflop D31 to an exclusive OR operation and applying the exclusive OR operation result to the flipflop D32 again, and a NOR gate N1 for receiving each of the outputs from the flipflops D1.about.D32 and subjecting those outputs to an NOR operation.
The operation of the aforementioned system will be explained.
FIG. 4 illustrates a sequence of data reception for detecting an error. Byte unit parallel data stored in a memory (not shown), such as an SRAM or DRAM, i.e., the 2068 bytes including the sync, header, information data, error detection code shown in FIG. 1 are received at the data converting part 100. The received byte unit parallel data are converted into bit unit series data in response to a provided operation clock and applied to the operation part 110. The applied series data are 2068 bytes.times.8 bits=16544 bits of series data. An operation clock is required for each bit of the applied series data, i.e., 16544 operation clocks are required. In the application of data to the operation part 110, the 16544 bits of data are applied from the least significant bit (LSB) to the most significant bit (MSB) in an order as shown in FIG. 4.
The operation of the operation part 110 will be explained with reference to FIG. 3.
As explained, the operation part 110 has 32 flipflops D1.about.D32 connected in series, and, of the 32 flipflops D1.about.D32, one of the exclusive OR gates E1.about.E7 is connected to an input terminal of the first flipflop D1, the second flipflop D2, the fourth flipflop D4, the fifth flipflop D5, 16th flipflop D16, 17th flipflop D17 and 32nd flipflop D32. All the exclusive OR gates E1.about.E7 receive the output Q31 from the 32nd flipflop D32, and 16544 number of operation clocks are applied to each of the flipflops D1.about.D32. The NOR gate N1 receives each of the outputs Q0.about.Q31 from the flipflops D1.about.D32 and conducts an NOR operation to determine occurrence of error data finally. That is, when each of the data obtained in each of the flipflops D1.about.D32 according to the equation (1) is applied to the NOR gate N1, if all these applied data are "0", i.e., a low signal is produced, to determine that no error has occurred. And, of each of the data applied from each of the flipflops D1.about.D32 to the NOR gate N1, if a data of "1" is applied from any one of the data, a data of "1" is produced, to determine that an error has occurred and that the data correction has not been properly performed, finally.
The processing time for operations of digital data storage, error correction, error detection and data transmission in a conventional CD ROM drive will be examined with reference to FIG. 5. FIG. 5 illustrates time basis operations of the CD ROM decoder, wherein it can be seen that the CD ROM decoder processes one block data of 2352 bytes for the data storage, error correction, error detection and data transmission in time sharing.
In case of 1X CD ROM, the processing time for a process like that shown in FIG. 5 takes about 13.33 msec, and in case of 8X CD ROM, it takes 13.33 msec/8, i.e., about 1.67 msec. And, in case of 10X CD ROM, it takes 13.33 msec/10, i.e., about 1.333 msec. As can be know from this process, since reduction in the time required for the error detection allows allocation of more time to the data transmission and the like, a higher speed CD ROM drive could be realized.
Since the conventional device for detecting an error from within recorded digital data for the CD ROM driver converts bit unit parallel data stored in a memory into bit unit series data and applies an operation clock to every converted data bit, the lengthy error detection time causes a problem of hindering the CD ROM driver from being provided with a higher speed.

Device for detecting error from digital data


A system, method, and computer program product are provided for evaluating an integral utilizing a low discrepancy sequence. In use, a low discrepancy sequence that includes at least one component that is a (0,1)-sequence in base b is determined. Additionally, an integral is evaluated, utilizing the low discrepancy sequence.

Traditionally, light transport simulation has been used to enhance a visual realism of generated images. For example, light transport simulation may be used to generate realistic images by tracing paths of light through the pixels of the image plane. However, current techniques for performing light transport simulation have been associated with various limitations.
For example, current methods for performing general motion blur simulation in the context of light transport simulation may be costly and inefficient. Alternately, approximations may need to be used to increase efficiency, but such approximations may not be feasible for simulation of non-linear motion. There is thus a need for addressing these and/or other issues associated with the prior art.

System, method, and computer program product for evaluating an integral utilizing a low discrepancy sequence


[Object] To provide a method for producing a water-absorbent resin in powder form or particle form, which has excellent physical properties such as water absorption performance and the like, at high productivity.

A water-absorbent resin is a water-swellable and water-insoluble crosslinked polymer that absorbs a large amount of an aqueous liquid and gelates, and a common form thereof is particle form. Methods for industrially producing the water-absorbent resin are generally classified into two types, aqueous solution polymerization in which water is used as a solvent, and reverse phase suspension polymerization in which an organic solvent is used as a dispersion medium (Non-Patent Literature 1).
In the reverse phase suspension polymerization, a large amount of an organic solvent is required in order to disperse droplets of a monomer aqueous solution. Therefore, separation of the organic solvent and a hydrous gel crosslinked polymer obtained by polymerization is troublesome, so that there was a disadvantage in terms of cost and there were also problems about odor and safety due to the organic solvent remaining in the water-absorbent resin. Accordingly, as means for separating the organic solvent, a method of evaporating an organic solvent in dispersant of a water-absorbent resin or a hydrous gel thereof, whereby the water-absorbent resin or the hydrous gel thereof is isolated (dried) (Patent Literature 1 to 3), and a method in which a water-absorbent resin or a hydrous gel thereof is filtered out from an organic solvent, have been known.
Specifically, as the above filtration method, separation by decantation, a thickener, or the like has been known, but removal of the solvent by such a method is not sufficient. Therefore, as a solid-liquid separator, a gravity filtration type, a vacuum filtration type, a pressure filtration type, a centrifugal filtration type, and a centrifugal sedimentation type have been proposed (Patent Literature 4 and 5). In addition, a separation method using a centrifuge has been proposed (Patent Literature 6).
Furthermore, in the reverse phase suspension polymerization, an expensive surfactant and a dispersing agent are generally used in order to disperse the monomer aqueous solution. As described above, in the conventional reverse phase suspension polymerization, separation between the hydrous gel crosslinked polymer and the organic solvent is troublesome, and the same applies to the surfactant and the dispersing agent. Therefore, there is a disadvantage in terms of cost and there are also problems such as a decrease in surface tension and a decrease in water absorption speed due to the surfactant or the dispersing agent remaining in the water-absorbent resin. Accordingly, a technique to wash away the surfactant from the water-absorbent resin obtained by the reverse phase suspension polymerization (Patent Literature 7 and 8) has been proposed. However, the cost for washing is large, and recovery of the surfactant is also insufficient.
In addition, a solution for the odor problem caused by the remaining organic solvent (Patent Literature 9) has also been proposed, but this solution adds a new step and thus is disadvantageous in terms of cost.

Method for producing water absorbent resin

Abstract: [Solution] A method for producing a water-absorbent resin includes: a polymerization step of polymerizing a monomer, which is a raw material of the water-absorbent resin, to obtain a hydrous gel crosslinked polymer dispersed in an organic solvent; and a separation step of separating the organic solvent and the hydrous gel crosslinked polymer. The separation step includes transfer, compression, and discharge of the hydrous gel crosslinked polymer.


A pneumatic tire 1 according to the present invention has turbulence generating protrusions on a tire surface, each of the turbulence generating protrusions having a sharp edge part. In the pneumatic tire, the following relationships are satisfied: 0.015≦H/√R≦0.64; 1.0≦p/H≦50.0; 0.1≦H/e≦3.0; 1.0≦L/H≦50.0; and 1.0≦(p−w)/w≦100.0, where “R” is a tire radius, “H” is a protrusion maximum height, “p” is a protrusion circumferential-direction interval, “e” is a protrusion radial-direction interval, “L” is a protrusion radial-direction length, and “w” is a protrusion circumferential-direction length.

Generally, an increase in a tire temperature of a pneumatic tire is considered to be undesirable in terms of durability because such temperature increase promotes a time-dependent change, which is a change in the physical properties of a material, or contributes to damages in a tread part and the like in high-speed driving. A reduction in the tire temperature for durability improvement is now an important task to be accomplished especially for tires used under heavy load, including off-the-road radial tires (ORR), truck-and-bus radial tires (TBR), and run-flat tires being driven while punctured (driven under an internal pressure of 0 kPa).
For example, when a run-flat tire having crescent-shaped sidewall reinforcing layers is driven while punctured, deformation in the tire radial direction concentrates on the sidewall reinforcing layers. Consequently, the temperature in the sidewall reinforcing layers rises so high as to affect durability considerably.
A technique has been disclosed for reducing the tire temperature in such a pneumatic tire (Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2006-76431). In the technique, a reinforcing member is provided to mitigate or suppress deformation of components of the pneumatic tire (such as, particularly, a carcass layer at a part located at a sidewall part and a bead part).
However, the conventional pneumatic tire described above has a problem of degrading general driving performance, such as handling stability and ride comfort. This is because provision of the reinforcing member leads to an increase in the tire weight and to an occurrence of new unintended breakage such as separation at the reinforcing member. Particularly, in the run-flat tire, there is a concern that the reinforcing member increases vertical springing (elasticity in the tire vertical direction) of the tire driven at a normal internal pressure, resulting in degradation in general driving performance. A measure not impairing the general driving performance has therefore been sought.
The present invention has been made in consideration of such circumstances, and has an objective of providing a pneumatic tire capable of reducing the tire temperature efficiently while maintaining general driving performance.

Pneumatic tire having turbulence generating protrusions provided inside a groove