In an information recording medium according to the present invention, a recording layer, a first layer, and a second layer are formed so that a thermal conductivity of the first layer that contacts one surface of the recording layer and a thermal conductivity of the second layer that contacts another surface of the recording layer are both lower than a thermal conductivity of the recording layer and a track pitch is in a range of 0.1 μm to 0.5 μm, inclusive.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an information recording medium on which recording data is recorded by irradiating a laser beam.
2. Description of the Related Art
An optical information recording medium disclosed by Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. H09-138972 is known as this type of information recording medium. In this optical information recording medium, an intermediate layer, a light absorbing layer, a light reflective layer, and a protective layer (hereinafter, collectively referred to as "functional layers" when no distinction is required) are formed in that order by sputtering or spin coating on a substrate in which grooves have been formed with a track pitch of around 1.6 μm. Here, with this optical information recording medium, by irradiating a laser beam from the substrate side, regions of the light absorbing layer irradiated with the laser beam heat up and expand, causing partial deformation of the intermediate layer and/or the substrate. By doing so, the deformed parts in the intermediate layer and/or the substrate are recorded as recording marks, resulting in recording data being recorded.
However, by investigating the conventional optical information recording medium, the present inventors discovered the following problems. That is, in the conventional optical information recording medium, a reflective layer for reflecting the laser beam irradiated from the substrate (base member) side is formed so as to contact the light absorbing layer. Here, in the optical information recording medium, the reflective layer is formed of a metal film of gold, silver, copper, aluminum, or the like (i.e., a thin film with high thermal conductivity). Here, when the light absorbing layer heats up due to the irradiation of a laser beam during the recording of recording data, such heat is rapidly conducted to the reflective layer. Accordingly, with a conventional optical information recording medium, it is necessary to sufficiently irradiate a laser beam onto the light absorbing layer so that the temperature of the regions of the light absorbing layer that are irradiated with the laser beam rises sufficiently to cause expansion. This means that with the conventional optical information recording medium, there is the problem that if the irradiated amount of the laser beam is too low (i.e., the irradiation time is short) when recording marks are formed, there is the risk of recording errors occurring, so that the high speed recording of recording data is difficult. The conventional optical information recording medium is also constructed with a large number of functional layers that are formed by sputtering or spin coating. Accordingly, since a large number of sputtering or spin coating processes are required to form the large number of functional layers, there is a further problem in that it is difficult to reduce the manufacturing cost of the conventional optical information recording medium due to the large number of manufacturing processes.

Optical recording medium having multiple layers of different thermal conductivities


Device coordinated robotic control technology is described. A network of robotic devices is established. An anthropomorphic motion is sensed from an operator. One or more signals are generated that are representative of at least a portion of the anthropomorphic motion. The one or more signals are converted into a collective set of commands to actuate the network of robotic devices. The collective set of commands is functionally equivalent to the anthropomorphic motion.

Robots are electro-mechanical machines that are controlled by one or more computer programs and/or electronic circuitry. Autonomous robots are robots that can perform desired tasks in unstructured environments without continuous human guidance. Semi-autonomous robots and non-autonomous robots, in contrast, often require human guidance.
Robots are used in a variety of fields, including for example, manufacturing, space exploration, and medicine. Specialized robots are generally designed to perform a single task or a single set of tasks like painting a body of a car.
Humanoid robots are a category of robots that attempt to emulate some human tasks including dirty or dangerous jobs. A humanoid robot is a robot with its body shape built to resemble that of the human body. A humanoid might be designed for functional purposes, such as interacting with human tools and environments. In general, humanoid robots have a torso, a head, two arms, and two legs. Some humanoid robots may also have heads designed to replicate human sensory features such as eyes or ears.


The present invention sets forth a method for supporting enhanced audio on a graphics processing unit (GPU) in a computing device having a graphics subsystem. In one embodiment, the method includes the steps of determining whether an option of a GPU audio output is enabled and the graphics subsystem and a first external output device is connected, and routing a first audio stream to the GPU of the graphics subsystem for processing when the option of the GPU audio output is enabled and the graphics subsystem and the first external output device is in connection and causing the processed first audio stream to be transferred along a first transmission path to the first external output device, or otherwise causing a second audio stream to be transferred along a second transmission path to a second external output device.

1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to graphics processing unit (GPU), and, more specifically, to a method and a system for supporting a GPU audio output on graphics processing unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
High definition (HD) video and audio enhances user experiences by incorporating HD graphics and audio signals in media such as Blue-Ray discs. Although some computing devices may support both HD graphics signals and HD audio signals, these computing devices typically rely on a dedicated audio subsystem to handle the HD audio signals. The HD audio signals may be presented through audio output devices such as amplifiers. To achieve even better sound quality than the HD audio signals, the computing devices may need to include additional audio processing hardware, which increases the overall cost for such computing devices.
Many graphics systems have more computational resources than required for the preparation and processing of HD graphics signals. As the foregoing illustrates, what is needed in the art is thus a method and a system for supporting an audio output that is processed by the GPU in a cost effective manner, so that the computational resources of a graphics system may be utilized and address at least the foregoing issues.

Method and system for supporting GPU audio output on graphics processing unit


An actuation grip for a microsurgical instrument, with an inner shaft, which is surrounded coaxially and cylindrically by an outer shaft, wherein the shafts are axially movable relative to each other. Two pivotable grip parts, each with two ends, are coupled pivotably at a proximal end of the actuation grip. On each grip part, a first lever is articulated rotatably via an attachment point between the ends of the grip part, wherein the two first levers are coupled rotatably to each other at an intersection point between their ends. The first levers are each connected rotatably to a second lever at their ends directed away from the grip parts, such that the first levers form, with the second levers, a double scissor hinge which serves to move the two shafts axially relative to each other, in order to use this movement to actuate a surgical tool.

Microsurgical instruments for minimally invasive surgery have to meet particular demands specifically as regards a high degree of precision and the ability to control them ergonomically (i.e. with optimized control forces and kinematics) and using one hand. Minimally invasive surgery is increasingly being used for interventions which hitherto required opening the body of the patient at the appropriate locations, since with this surgery it is possible largely to avoid the negative effects of trauma.
The prior art discloses the use of microsurgical instruments in microsurgery, e.g. in endoscopic cardiovascular surgery. These microsurgical instruments comprise a tool which is arranged distally on a guide shank and which is in most cases composed of two jaws, of which at least one is movable, and an actuation grip which is mounted proximally on the guide shank and which is operated by the surgeon. The microsurgical instrument, along with its actuation grip, can be designed such that it can be actuated ergonomically by the surgeon; the control displacements performed on the actuation grip by the surgeon should be translated into the shortest possible working displacements of the tool. Such an actuation grip is often designed as a "forceps handle", i.e. the surgeon holds and actuates the actuation grip like forceps or scissors.
DE 695 32 918 T2 discloses a microsurgical instrument having a known one with a forceps grip. It has an outer shank and an inner shank, which are movable relative to each other. A surgical tool, which can be controlled by the relative movement of the shanks, is mounted on a distal end. An adjustment member with two symmetrical levers is arranged at the proximal end of the outer shank for the purpose of manipulating the tool. At a pivot point, which lies closer to the proximal end than to the distal end of the levers, the levers are coupled to one of the two shanks, the outer shank or the inner shank, wherein the proximal ends of the levers are connected pivotably to the respective other shank. One end of an elongate connection member is mounted pivotably at the pivot point of the levers, wherein the respective other ends of the connection members of the two levers are mounted rotatably on a common pin on one of the two shanks. During a pivoting movement of the levers, this pin moves in an axial direction, as a result of which the tool can be actuated, i.e. it is a simple scissor hinge which is controlled directly by the levers. In a lever excursion by a fixed amount, a mechanism of this kind for converting a pivoting movement of the levers into an axial movement leads to a much greater axial excursion when the levers are positioned closely than when the levers are positioned wide open, and the maximum possible transmission ratio is greatly limited.
DE 10 2010 013 916 A1 also discloses such an instrument which is actuated by means of a forceps grip which is present at the proximal end of a hollow shank, and at the distal end it has a surgical tool which is actuated by means of the grip via an actuating rod that is mounted so as to be axially movable in the shank. The levers are operatively connected to the actuation rod via a pin-and-slot control system, at the proximal end of which arms are arranged which protrude outward at right angles and at whose ends control pins are present. These are guided in guide tracks or guide grooves in the grip parts of the handle, wherein the guide tracks are at an acute angle with respect to the longitudinal axis of the hollow shank in a rest position and, during a pivoting movement of the levers, convert this movement into an axial movement of the actuation rod. This mechanism too has a not entirely homogeneous transmission ratio, which reduces the control precision. In addition, the maximum possible transmission ratio is relatively small, and the mechanism is expensive to produce and susceptible to production fluctuations. The partially open mechanism is susceptible to contamination and, during an operation, can become jammed on a trocar sleeve or an incision opening, which greatly restricts the freedom of movement of the operating surgeon.

Actuation grip for a microsurgical instrument, and microsurgical instrument


A carpet putting surface having a longitudinal length longer than its lateral width and comprising a predetermined putting location marking, and a plurality of substantially “V” shaped markings placed apart from the predetermined putting location marking, with each substantially “V” shaped marking having the open end of the “V” closer to the predetermined putting location marking than the closed end of the “V.” An apparatus for practicing golf ball putting comprising a carriage having a spool of carpet putting surface and a golf ball retriever is also disclosed and adapted for use on a bowling alley lane.

Golf is played by millions of Americans each year. There are more than 16,000 golf courses in the United States. Millions of people also enjoy bowling by rolling bowling balls down gleaming wooden lanes each year. Both sports have top performance professionals and societies that issue specific rules, standards for equipment, and foster competition for playing the game. Each sport also has participants who simply enjoy recreation provided by the sport, as well as modifications of the sport, such as playing golf or bowling at arcades, miniature golf or miniature bowling. Players thus range in grade from more serious players to recreational players in both sports.
Beginners in these sports are coached and/or learn from trial and error. Learning fundamentals and attempting perfection leads to a range of frustration to a sense of accomplishment. Experience and skills are sometimes developed to the point that results in the "ranking" of the player. Associations have been formed to monitor and promote these sports. The best players may be seen on television playing in competition.
Half of golf strokes are on the greens. Usually courses require 2 putts per green for 18 holes. Putting typically involves a relatively gentle tap to roll the golf ball. Successful putting to minimize the number of putting strokes to sink the ball in the golf hole requires extreme effort of concentration and skill. Skills develop by practice. Four elements in putting concern addressing the ball, developing consistent stroke, learning aim, and applying the correct amount of tap or putt to the ball to achieve desired movement and stoppage of the putted golf ball. Practice putting greens at golf courses are not sufficiently fitting for repetitive practice needed for learning or for sharpened honing of successful putting technique to be applied on greens on a golf course. For example, practice putting greens do not provide for mechanized retrieval of putted balls. Practice putting greens rarely provide a range distance references so a person practicing putts knows how exactly how far the putt will be to the practice hole. Practice greens have drainage slope and irregular surface undulations. In addition, practice putting greens are limited in that they are only available for use when weather is permitting.
Conventional apparatus include portable or permanent practice putting surfaces. See e.g., the U.S. Pat. No. 6,056,645 (Servatisus), U.S. Pat. No. 5,655,971 (Wayne), U.S. Pat. No. 5,441,265 (Codlin), U.S. Pat. No. 3,892,412 (Koo), and U.S. Pat. No. 3,690,673 (Occhipinti). For other conventional apparatus for practice putting, see U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,667 (Wan-Chu Tu), U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,101 (Postula), U.S. Pat. No. 4,877,250 (Centafanti), U.S. Pat. No. 2,057,504 (Schafer), U.S. Pat. No. 1,952,187 (Wade), U.S. Pat. No. 4,215,865 (Pilati), U.S. Pat. No. 3,184,239 (Heuser), U.S. Pat. No. 4,988,106 (Coonrod), U.S. Pat. No. 5,390,926 (Hanson), U.S. Pat. No. 6,001,033 (Tucker), U.S. Pat. No. 5,860,648 (Petermeier). Despite the benefits provided by these conventional practice putting surfaces and apparatus, there is still a need for improved putting surfaces and apparatus.

Apparatus and method for practicing golf ball putting


A torque transmitting device in a drive train of a motor vehicle to transmit torque between an internal combustion engine having a drive shaft and a transmission having coaxial input shafts. The transmission input shafts are non-rotatably connected with a respective clutch disc having friction linings. An intermediate pressure plate is positioned between the friction linings of the clutch discs and is non-rotatably connected to the engine drive shaft. The friction linings of the clutch discs are between the intermediate pressure plate and respective axially movable clutch pressure plates that are actuated by an actuation device. To provide support for the double clutch unit the intermediate pressure plate is radially mounted on one of the two transmission input shafts.

The present invention relates to a torque transmission device in the drive train of a motor vehicle to transmit torque between a drive unit, especially an internal combustion engine having a drive shaft, especially a crankshaft, and a transmission with at least two transmission input shafts that are tightly connected to a clutch disc having a friction lining. An intermediate pressure plate is positioned between the friction linings of one clutch disc and the friction linings of the other clutch disc and is tightly connected to the drive shaft of the drive unit. The friction linings of the clutch discs are between the intermediate pressure plate and outer pressure plates that move axially with the assistance of an actuation device, relative to the intermediate pressure plate, in reference to the transmission input shafts in order to hold the friction linings between the intermediate pressure plate and the outer pressure plates.
The two clutch disks and the interacting pressure plates form a double clutch. In conventional torque transmission devices with a double clutch, the double clutch bearing system is frequently complicated.
An object of the invention is to provide a torque transmission device by means of which the double clutch bearing system is improved.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

LuK Lamellen und Kupplungsbau Beteiligungs KG


A swallowing function evaluating apparatus capable of quantitatively evaluating a swallowing function safely and repeatedly, which comprises a height variation detecting unit 10 for detecting a variation in the height of the surface of a throat from a predetermined reference position in the height direction in which a thyroid protrudes and an analyzing unit 21 for time-serially analyzing the variation to calculate an index for evaluating a swallowing function. The swallowing function evaluating apparatus can repeatedly detect the variation safely without radiating X-rays and can quantitatively evaluate the swallowing function using a calculated index.

1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a swallowing function evaluating apparatus, and in particular a swallowing function evaluating apparatus capable of quantitatively evaluating a swallowing function safely and repeatedly.
2. Related Art
In recent years, a swallowing disorder appearing in a patient suffering from muscular dystrophy or myasthenia has also attracted considerable attention as a disease caused by weak muscular strength due to aging. This suggests that the next aging society will cause patients suffering from the swallowing disorder to increase. In general, for example, a video fluorography (VF (Video Fluorography)) examination for swallowing, a method of examining the movement of a throat by touch, or a drink test is used to diagnose the swallowing disorder.
In the video fluorography (VF) examination for swallowing, the swallowing disorder of an examinee is diagnosed by letting the examinee drink liquid containing a contrast medium and continuously radiating X-rays onto the front and side of the throat of the examinee to capture the image of the swallowing motion of the examinee (for example, see Non-Patent Document 1). This method enables to see the image of the inside of the larynx and thus improve the accuracy of diagnosis. In the examination by touch, needless to say, the doctor touches a patient on body by hand and diagnoses the disease. The drink test is a diagnostic method of letting an examinee drink water and observing the swallowing motion with naked eyes at the time from the outside. The examination by touch and the drink test can be easily performed. A monitoring apparatus has been used to detect the displacement of the body of a sleeping examinee in the height direction (the displacement of the abdomen), not the movement of the throat, and the monitoring apparatus includes an illumination pattern emitting unit that emits a predetermined illumination pattern (bright spot) to the sleeping examinee, an image capturing device that continuously captures the image of the light with wave length emitted, and a shift calculating unit that calculates the shift of the illumination pattern between two frames of images captured by the image capturing device at different times (for example, see Patent Document 1).
[Patent Document 1] JP-A-2002-175582
[Non-Patent Document 1] 'The Japanese Journal of Dysphagia Rehabilitation', Volume 8, Number 1, pp. 71-86, 2004
However, in the video fluorography (VF) examination, X-rays are continuously radiated to a body of the examinee to be examined, and thus it is necessary to pay special attention to exposure to radiation, and it is not allowed to repeatedly perform the video fluorography (VF) examination on the same person. On the other hand, in the examination by touch and the drink test, since diagnosis is mainly performed by examining the appearance of the examinee, the diagnosis result generally depends on the subjectivity of the doctor, which makes it difficult to get quantitative evaluation.
The invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the invention to provide a swallowing function evaluating apparatus capable of quantitatively evaluating a swallowing function safely and repeatedly.

Swallowing function evaluating apparatus


A system and method is provided for generating subscription recommendations suggesting ways that one or more creators of content may increase subscribership and/or prominence of the one or more creators. Subscription recommendations can involve changing and/or updating subscription levels offered by a content creator to potential, existing, or previous subscribers of the content creator. Current and/or historical performance data associated with the content creator, other content creators, and/or the consumers making up a community of subscribers may be analyzed in order to generate subscription recommendations.

Different platforms can be utilized by entities seeking contributions from the general public to obtain a needed service(s) and/or resource(s). Some of these platforms facilitate raising resources (i.e., funds) from the general public through monetary contributions or donations to support a project. Oftentimes, supporters of a project are given rewards or special perks, where the size and/or exclusivity of the rewards or special perks can depend on the amount contributed.

Generation of subscription recommendations for content creators


The present invention relates to a control method for the operation modes of an oscillator and the apparatus thereof, for which the method and the apparatus can be applied to the electronic circuits with multi-operation modes of the oscillator so as to correctly choose the desirable oscillator operation mode. Furthermore, an oscillator checking circuit sets up the oscillation mode automatically and judges if the oscillator operates properly. Hence, there is no need for the user to set up the oscillator operation mode manually.

1. Field of the invention
The present invention relates to a control method for the operation modes of an oscillator and the apparatus thereof, more particularly to, an automatic control method for the operation modes of an oscillator and the apparatus thereof.
2. Description of the Related Art
Refer to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional logic circuit 10, and said circuit 10 comprising: an oscillator operation mode control circuit 101; an oscillator circuit 102; and an oscillating clock signal 103, wherein said oscillator circuit 102 is for receiving the control signal from said circuit 101, and the connection between said circuit 101 and said circuit 102 is built as an open loop.
FIGS. 1a, 1b, and 1c relates to a diagram for conventional oscillator operation mode control circuit and external oscillating signals, wherein for FIG. 1a, a quartz oscillator is connected onto the oscillator, for FIG. 1b, an external RC network is connected to the oscillator, and for FIG. 1c, an external square wave is inputted to the oscillator directly.
The user providing the desirable oscillator operation mode to said circuit 101, and via said circuit 101 the oscillator operation mode control signal was passed to said oscillator control circuit 102 so as to enable said oscillator 102 to start oscillating correctly and to output said signal 103.
Conventionally, there exists a demand for the multi-mode oscillator to setting the parameter by user to choose the desirable oscillator operation mode, wherein the parameter setting must be restored in the electronic circuit. Hereby we make examples to explain the parameter settings restored in different positions as follows:
If the setting parameters for the oscillator operation mode were restored in the electronic circuit device for which the memory cannot be modified right after manufacturing such as ROM (Read-Only Memory), then under this circumstance the inventory must be kept separately for the products with identical circuit function but merely different in oscillator operation modes, and the user cannot arbitrarily change the operation mode of said oscillator.
If the setting parameters for oscillator operation mode were restored in the EPROM (Erasable Programmable ROM) when the user write the oscillator operation mode into said EPROM and other program codes remain unchanged, then the oscillator operation mode for unpackaged chips is usually changed by the application of the ultraviolet light to erase the information restored in the EPROM and to write new oscillator operation mode into EPROM again; however, if the chips were already packaged then the packages outside the chips must be taken away, then the ultraviolet light is inevitably applied to erase the information in the EPROM. Such a process is a waste of time and not economic.
If the setting parameters for oscillator operation mode were restored in the EEPROM or Flash Memory, the user can burn the program on said memory to modify the setting parameters, however, if there is exceeding quantity of the parameters, then much additional effort will be needed.
If the setting parameters for oscillator operation mode were restored in the register inside the chip, then the users need to know how to choose the desirable setting parameters via the firmware or other approach.
Accordingly, in view of the above drawbacks, it is an imperative that an improved oscillator, particularly a control method for automatically choosing multi-mode oscillator and the apparatus is designed so as to solve the drawbacks as the aforementioned process to set up the parameters. By the disclosures of the present invention, the user can set up the operation mode of an oscillator rather than manually, for which not only the user's inconvenience can be saved but the manufacturing cost can be saved as well.

Control method for operation modes of oscillator and the apparatus thereof


A printing method and apparatus includes fingerprinting a sheet of printable media such as paper to obtain a fingerprint. The fingerprint is encrypted using an encryption key known only to the user wanting to print the document. The encrypted fingerprint is then encoded and transferred to the document as machine readable information.

The present invention relates generally to printing techniques and in particular to verifiable printing.
Secured paper is commonly associated with currency, stocks, and other financial instruments. The production of conventional secured paper is costly in terms of the paper stock (because specialized paper having security features is required) and the printing equipment (because special inks and printing machinery is required). Many businesses could benefit if secured paper document capability was cost-effectively available.
Various techniques are known for uniquely signaturizing a paper document based on inherent characteristics of the paper. This allows a recipient to verify the originality of a document by obtaining a signature of the paper document in question and comparing it against a data store of signatures of documents.

Techniques for printing with integrated paper sheet identification


A communication device locates a wireless service provider in a multi-service provider environment using a stored list of preferred service providers, the list has a plurality of uniquely identified sublists, each sublist is associated with a different geographic area and identifies a more preferred service provider and a less preferred service provider. Information received from an initial service provider is used to select a sublist from the plurality of sublists. A preferred service provider is selected by registering with an available service provider having a highest preference of available service providers as specified in the selected sublist.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communications; more specifically, communications in a multi-service provider environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a portion of the radio frequency spectrum. Frequency range 210 centered around 800 MHz has historically been known as the cellular frequency range and frequency range 212 centered about 1900 MHz is a newer defined frequency range associated with personal communication services (PCS). Each range of frequencies, i.e., the cellular and PCS, are broken into two portions. In cellular frequency range 210, there is uplink portion 14 which is used for communications from a mobile communication device to a base station such as a cellular base station. Portion 216 of cellular frequency range 210 is used for downlink communications, that is, communications from a cellular base station to a mobile communication device. In a similar fashion, Portion 218 of PCS frequency range 212 is used for uplink communications, that is, communications from a mobile communication device to a base station. Portion 220 of PCS frequency range 212 is used for downlink communications, i.e., communications from a base station to a mobile communication device.
Each of the frequency ranges are broken into bands which are typically associated with different service providers. In the case of cellular frequency range 210, frequency bands 230 and 232 are designated band "a" for uplink and downlink communications, respectively. In a particular geographic area, a cellular service provider is assigned frequency band "a" in order to carry out mobile communications. Likewise, in the same geographic area another cellular service provider is assigned frequency bands 234 (uplink) and 236 (downlink) which are designated band "b". The frequency spectrums assigned to the service providers are separated so as to not interfere with each other's communications and thereby enable two separate service providers to provide service in the same geographic area. Recently, the US Government auctioned the PCS frequency spectrum to service providers. As with the cellular frequency range, the PCS frequency range is broken into several bands where a different service provider may use a particular frequency band for which it is licensed within a particular geographical area. The PCS bands are referred to as A, B, C, D, E and F. The A band includes uplink band 250 and downlink band 252. The B band includes uplink band 254 and downlink band 256. Band C includes uplink band 258 and downlink band 260. Each uplink and downlink band of the A, B and C bands are approximately 30 MHz wide. The D band includes uplink band 262 and downlink band 264. The E band includes uplink band 266 and downlink band 268. Likewise, band F includes uplink band 270 and downlink band 272. The uplink and downlink bands of bands D, E and F are approximately 10 MHz wide each. It should be noted that with the cellular and PCS frequency bands, it is possible to have as many as eight different wireless communication service providers in a particular area.
Each of the different cellular and PCS bands consist of control channels and communication channels in both the uplink and downlink direction. In the case of analog cellular bands, there are 21 control channels for both the "a" and "b" bands. Each of the control channels include an uplink and a downlink portion. The control channels transmit information such as an SOC (System Operator Code), an SID (System Identifier Code), paging information call setup information and other overhead information such as information relating to registering with the mobile communication system. The portion of the cellular band's spectrum not occupied by the control channels is used for communication channels. Communication channels carry voice or data communications, where each channel consists of an uplink and downlink communications link. Presently there are several cellular communication standards. An analog standard known as EIA/TIA 553 was built upon the AMPS (Advanced Mobile Phone Service) standard. This standard supports 21 analog control channels (ACC) and several hundred analog voice or traffic channels (AVC). A newer standard is the EIA/TIA IS54B standard which supports dual mode operation. Dual mode operation refers to having an analog control channel, and either an analog voice/traffic channel or a digital traffic channel (DTC). The AVC or DTC are used for actual communications, and the ACC is used to transfer information relating to, for example, call set-ups, service provider identification, and the other overhead or system information.
A newer standard, the EIA/TIA IS136 standard supports communications covered by both analog and dual mode cellular, and also includes a totally digital communication scheme which was designed for the PCS frequency bands A-F and cellular frequency bands "a" and "b". This standard allows for a digital traffic channel (DTC) and a digital control channel (DCCH). In the case of the DTC, not only is the voice or data communicated, but in addition, a digital channel locator (DL) is transmitted in the DTC. The DL enables a mobile communication device that locks onto the DTC to use the information in the DL to locate a DCCH for purposes of obtaining information such as the SOC, SID, paging information, and other system overhead information carried on the digital control channel.
When a mobile communication device such as a mobile telephone attempts to register with the service provider, it locks onto a control channel and reads information such as the SOC and SID. If the SOC and/or SID correspond to a service provider with which the user has a communication services agreement, the telephone may register with the service provider's mobile communication system via the up-link control channel.
FIG. 2 illustrates a map of the United States illustrating cities such as Seattle, Chicago and Washington, DC. For example, in Seattle frequency band A has been licensed to SOC (Service Operator Code) 001 with a SID of 43 and band C has been licensed to SOC 003 with a SID of 37. In Chicago, suppose that frequency band C has been licensed to SOC 001 with a SID equal to 57, and that band B has been licensed to SOC 003 with a SID of 51. In Washington, DC suppose that frequency band "a" has been licensed to a SOC 001 with a SID of 21, and that band A has been licensed to SOC 003 with a SID of 17. It should be noted that the same SOC may be found in several different locations although on different frequency bands. It should also be noted that the same SOC will be associated with different SIDs in each geographical area and that in the same geographic area different service providers have different SIDs. If a particular subscriber to a wireless telecommunication service has an agreement with a service provider having a SOC of 001, that subscriber would prefer to use systems with a SOC of 001 because the subscriber is likely to receive a less expensive rate. When the subscriber is in Seattle he/she would prefer to be on band A, and if in Chicago on band C, and if in Washington, DC on band "a". The above described situation presents a problem for a wireless communication service subscriber. As a subscriber moves from one area of the country to another, the telephone when turned on, searches for the "home" service provider, or the service provider with which the subscriber has a pre-arranged agreement. If for example, the subscriber travels from Seattle to Chicago, when turning the phone on in Chicago, the phone will search through the different bands of the spectrum to identify the service operator with the code 001 in order to find the desired service provider.
In order to find a particular service provider, the phone may have to search through both the "a" and "b" cellular bands, and through the eight PCS bands. It should be recalled that there are up to 21 different ACCs in each of the "a" and "b" cellular bands. It may be necessary to check 42 ACCS in order to find an ACC from which a SOC or SID may be obtained. Additionally, searching for a particular SOC or SID in PCS bands A through F is particularly time consuming. The digital control channels (DCCHs), which contain the SOC and SID, are not assigned to specific frequencies within a particular PCS band. As a result, the mobile communication device may find it necessary to search through the spectrum of each PCS band looking for a DCCH, or an active DTC that has a digital channel locator (DL) which will direct the mobile communication device to the DCCH. As illustrated above, the process of searching for a particular service provider is laborious and may require a period of time on the order of several minutes.
This problem has been addressed by storing a search list in the phone. The list typically starts with an optimal service provider and its frequency band followed by preferred service providers and each of their associated frequency bands. The list is ordered such that more preferred service providers precede less preferred service providers. The list may also contain service providers that are only used for emergency calls. The service providers are identified by their SOCs and/or SIDs. As a result, the phone attempts to locate and register with the optimal or more preferred service providers before attempting to obtain service from a less desirable service provider. This technique reduced the amount of time required for a phone to locate a desirable service provider; however, it did not provide a list that was optimized for different geographic locations.
As a result of this drawback, lists based on geographic location have been created. This technique involves storing a larger list in the phone. This larger list is broken into sublists where each sublist is associated with a different geographic area. The sublists are delimited by a single bit that indicates the first entry of a new sublist. When a phone attempts to register with a service provider, the phone checks the entire list for a SID that matches the SID being received. Once a match is located, the phone goes to the top of the sublist in which the SID is located by locating the delimiter bit. The optimal service provider's SID and/or SOC and frequency band are then obtained from the top of the sublist, and are used to attempt to locate and register with the service provider. If the phone is unsuccessful, the information relating to the next most preferred service provider is obtained and the phone attempts to locate and register with that service provider. This process continues until the phone successfully registers with a service provider. Over time, relationships between service providers change and therefore the sublist associated with a particular geographic area may change. These changes may be entered using the keyboard or over the air programming. Unfortunately, in order to change one sublist, the entire collection of sublists must be reprogrammed into the phone's memory. This is a time consuming and error prone process because of the large amount of data being transferred.

Geographic based method for selecting a wireless communications service provider


Implementations of the present invention extend to sanitary systems, methods, and devices configured to package food items with an even coating of an accurate amount of sanitizing agent, such as an antimicrobial agent. In one implementation, an exemplary system comprises a combination of air nozzles, anti-bacterial spray nozzles or spray headers, metering valves, and timers to achieve uniform distribution of an antimicrobial solution into a product package, and subsequently provide a uniform distribution of the antimicrobial solution to the food item.

1. Technical Field
The present disclosure represents devices, systems and methods for sanitary packaging of food items.
2. Background and Relevant Art
Recently, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expanded its interpretation of products subject to recall in the event of a pathogenic contamination event. Prior to this time, a recall event in raw or ground beef trimmings would be limited to just those trimmings and grinds produced at the same time the contaminated product was also being produced. For example, the product that would be affected under the prior USDA interpretation would include only those trimmings and grinds produced between one complete sanitation event, and the next complete sanitation event, with no trimmings or grinds being allowed to carry over from one sanitation period to the next.
More recently, and with the USDA's expanded interpretation, the products subject to recall would include not only trimmings and grinds, but also all primal cuts (whole muscle cuts). This expansion in interpretation greatly increases the costs, and therefore, increases the loss in profits that may be associated with a recall event.
Under the current USDA interpretation, there is a consideration that may give meat producers the ability to use additional microbial interventions on primal cuts as a further process step that would differentiate primal cuts from trim and ground beef in an event of a recall: apply a scientifically proven pathogen reduction process uniformly to all beef primal cuts immediately prior to packaging. In order to satisfy the USDA standards for this consideration, a meat producer must demonstrate that the pathogen reduction process does indeed uniformly apply an accurate amount of an antimicrobial agent to the primal cuts immediately prior to packaging.
There are several conventional antimicrobial agents that have been documented and acknowledged by the USDA as providing the necessary pathogen reduction step. Some antimicrobial agents that have been acknowledged include lactic acid, peracetic acid, ammonia hydroxide, and chlorine dioxide/sodium hypochlorite.
Although several antimicrobial agents may have been approved, the application of the antimicrobial agent to the primal cuts presents various challenges. A primary difficulty in the application process deals with obtaining complete product coverage, i.e., coverage on all surfaces of the primal cut. A second concern is that the antimicrobial agent must be applied at a carefully metered rate so that any individual primal cut does not gain more than 0.49% by weight with the addition of the antimicrobial solution (another USDA requirement). Additionally, application of a antimicrobial agent that provides full coverage and accurate amounts may be cost prohibitive and subject to human error in product handling and application rate.
For example, conventional methods of applying an antimicrobial agent may employ multiple spray nozzles that aim at all sides of the product as it passes along a moving conveyor. The conventional method may employ a split in the conveyor, or a transition between two consecutive conveyors, to spray the underside of the primal cut. Frequently, however, multiple primal cuts may enter the spraying area simultaneously and may be touching, overlapping, or otherwise obstructing the spray nozzles ability to coat all surfaces of any given piece of product. Therefore, such an application method requires constant oversight to ensure proper pacing, spacing, and antimicrobial solution coverage, which in turn increases costs and decreases efficiency.
Other conventional methods may also have difficulty applying the correct amount of the antimicrobial agent, thus causing the weight of the food product to increase over the USDA standard set at 0.49%. For example, in a typical method that employs several spray nozzles, it is may be difficult to meter the actual amount of antimicrobial solution that is applied to an individual piece of product. For instance, although the amount of antimicrobial solution may be metered through a spray nozzle, many times there is over-spray and/or under-spray that unpredictably affects the total amount of antimicrobial solution deposited on the piece of product. Thus, in many conventional processes, it is difficult to apply the correct amount of antimicrobial solution.
Moreover, in an effort to provide an even application and correct amount of antimicrobial agent, other convention methods may use labor intensive processes that increase the cost of packaging the meat, and decrease the efficiency of the packaging process. For example, some conventional processes employ workers that individually apply the antimicrobial solution to each piece of product. This process, however, may be time consuming, produce non-uniform results, and be rather expensive when compared to automated processes. Accordingly, there are a number of disadvantages in the conventional art of sanitary packaging of food items.


A memory system including a nonvolatile semiconductor storage device includes: a nonvolatile memory unit that includes a first data area in which data is frequently rewritten and a second data area in which data is hardly rewritten; and a control unit. The control unit sequentially selects logical block addresses in the second data area in which data is hardly rewritten and updates physical block addresses at new rewriting destinations in the first data area in which data is frequently rewritten to physical block addresses corresponding to the logical block addresses selected.

1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a memory system including a nonvolatile semiconductor storage device, and, more particularly to a technique for improving a Wear-leveling control system in a memory system having a data area in which data is frequently rewritten and a data area hardly written mixed therein.
2. Description of the Related Art
As one of semiconductor storage devices, a flash memory. that can be electrically written is known. Above all, a NAND flash memory in which plural memory cells are connected in series to constitute a NAND cell block attracts attention as a flash memory that can be highly integrated.
One memory cell of the NAND flash memory has a FETMOS structure in which a floating gate (a charge storage layer) and a control gate are stacked on a semiconductor substrate via an insulating film. The plural memory cells are connected and constitute NAND cells in series such that sources and drains are shared among the memory cells adjacent to one another. Such NAND cells are arrayed in matrix to constitute a memory cell array.
The drains at one end side of the NAND cells arranged in a column direction of the memory cell array are commonly connected to a bit line via selection gate transistors, respectively. The sources on the other end side are also commonly connected to a source line via selection gate transistors. Word lines of memory cell transistors and gate electrodes of the selection gate transistors are commonly connected in a row direction of the memory cell array as a word line (a control gate line) and a selection gate line, respectively.
Such a NAND flash memory is disclosed in, for example, K.-D. Suh et al., "A 3.3V 32Mb NAND Flash Memory with Incremental Step Pulse Programming Scheme," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 30, pp. 1149-1156, November 1995 and Y. Iwata et al., "A 35ns Cycle Time 3.3V Only 32 Mb NAND Flash EEPROM," IEEE J. Solid-State Circuits, vol. 30, pp. 1157-1164, November 1995.
FIG. 1 is a diagram showing a block and page arrangement of a binary 2-Gbit NAND flash memory.
As shown in FIG. 1, a 2-Gbit chip includes 2048 blocks BLK of 128 KB and is constituted by 2 Gb=256 MB=128 KB×2048. Each of blocks BLK0 to BLK2047 includes 64 pages of 2 KB and is constituted by 128 KB=2 KB×64.
As a system including the NAND flash memory described above, for example, systems disclosed in E. Harari et al.,"Flash EEPROM System," U.S. Pat. No. 5,602,987, Feb. 11, 1997, P. Estakhri et al., "Moving Sectors Within A Block OF Information In A Flash Memory Mass Storage Architecture," U.S. Pat. No. 5, 907,856, May 25, 1999, and D. Moran et al., "Flash Memory System Providing Both Bios and User Storage Capability," U.S. Pat. No. 5,519,843, May 21, 1996 are known.
In a memory system including a flash memory, Wear-leveling control is performed to prevent rewriting from being concentrated in a specific physical address block.
In the flash memory, in rewriting stored data, the stored data has to be erased before writing. An old block that has already become unnecessary is erased in advance, new data is written in the block erased, and a logical block address of the block is updated.
On the other hand, it is said that a life in terms of the number of times of rewriting of the NAND flash memory is 0.3 to 1×106 times for a binary product that stores 1-bit data in one memory cell.
Therefore, it is an object of the Wear-leveling control to perform control to prevent rewriting from being concentrated in a block of a specific physical address.
There are roughly two kinds of systems in the Wear-leveling control: Passive-wear-leveling and Active-wear-leveling.
In the Passive-wear-leveling, a block of a physical address not to be rewritten is left as it is and, in rewriting only a block of a physical address to be rewritten, the block is replaced with a block of an arbitrary physical address erased such that the Wear-leveling control can be automatically performed. In the Active-wear-leveling, rewriting is performed in blocks of all physical addresses including a block of a physical address not to be rewritten such that numbers of times of rewriting are averaged.
The Active-wear-leveling is disclosed in, for example, K. M. J. Lofgren et al., "Wear Leveling Techniques for Flash EEPROM Systems," U.S. Pat. No. 6,594,183 B1, Jul. 15, 2003.

Nonvolatile memory with active and passive wear leveling


An apparatus and process are provided for separating one or more endless streams of pages into corresponding staggered stacks of reports for further processing. Each page of a first report is taken from the endless stream and moved into a first position on a first stack of reports, and each page of the next subsequent report is moved onto a second stack staggered from the first. This process is continued indefinitely. Alternatively, more than two stacks can be provided for. Also, numerous endless streams of pages, in side-by-side relation, can be stacked into a plurality of stacks of reports in side-by-side relation so as to be conveniently assembled for further processing.

This invention relates generally to forming discrete bundles of documents from a continuous stream of documents. It relates more particularly to a method and apparatus for forming stacks of documents of a predetermined number from a stream of documents.
Modern paper processing lines provide printing on large numbers of documents on a high speed printer in short times. Whether printed from a paper web and subsequently cut into individual pages, or printed on precut sheets, the individual pages are outputted in a continuous stream along a conveyor system. These pages are cut, both transversely and longitudinally in modern high speed sheet cutting units, providing side-by-side streams of paper sheets or pages that must be merged and sorted into books, reports, multi-page invoices, and the like. For brevity, any such discrete group of documents is herein referred to as a report. A problem arises in sorting these pages into discrete ready-to-ship reports, and keeping each report separate from every other report.
The prior art has typically resolved this problem by staggering the stream of documents between reports. Specifically, each page of a report in the prior art is made to overlap another page of the same report, and each report is separated by a gap in the document stream. See U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,604 and DE-A-1 436 485 for some examples of this technique. But simultaneously overlapping individual pages while imposing gaps between other pages, without curtailing printer speed and efficiency, necessarily imposes other problems that must be overcome by ever more complicated arrangements. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,604 includes rollers to force the individual pages of a report to overlap each other, but which also restrict forward movement of the first few pages of a report to create a gap between reports. These opposing manipulations of the document stream must occur without slowing the overall document stream.
From the broadest perspective then, the prior art takes an endless stream of documents in succession, compresses a portion of the stream by overlapping pages, and subsequently expands another portion of the stream to create a gap between reports. While this method may be effective, it is unnecessarily complicated and imposes certain deficiencies. A single torn or mis-aligned page in the prior art will interrupt the flow and separation of numerous reports, rather than limit the discrepancy to a single report. Multiple unconnected mechanical systems must work in synchronous high speed. The machinery takes up space that is at a premium in commercial print shops. And since most print jobs are multiple printings of reports having the same number of pages, such as books, reports, mass mailings, and the like, the additional capabilities of prior art devices to handle reports of varying page numbers is unused throughout most of the industry.
What is needed in the art is a cost effective and space saving apparatus that separates multi-page reports of a predetermined page number, and a method to do the same. It is an object of the present invention to provide such an apparatus and method, one that overcomes some of the above listed deficiencies in the prior art. As with any invention, simpler solutions tend to be less expensive, more reliable, and more adaptable to varied applications, so it is a further object of this invention to provide an apparatus and method that are simpler than the prior art.
In accordance with the present invention, a machine is provided to separate a continuous stream of pages into discrete reports. This machine comprises a conveyor means to provide a continuous stream of pages seriatim in a first direction, means to determine which page in the continuous stream is a last page of a report, means for moving each page of a report from the continuous stream onto a first location of a holding area, and means for shifting each page immediately following a last page of a report, until and including the last page of the next subsequent report, onto a second location of the holding area, said second location being shifted either laterally or longitudinally from said first location. The conventions xe2x80x98last pagexe2x80x99 and xe2x80x98reportxe2x80x99 used herein are explicitly specified in other sections of this disclosure.
The present invention also includes the method for separating one or more endless stream of pages into one or more corresponding stacks of reports. This method comprises the steps of moving each page of a report from the endless stream into a first position on a holding area, determining which page in the endless stream of pages is a last page of a report, and moving each page immediately following said last page of a report, until and including the last page of the next subsequent report, to a second position on a holding area, said second position being staggered from said first position.
The present invention thereby takes an endless stream of individual pages and divides them into discrete reports, said reports formed into a staggered stack such that each discrete report only partially overlaps adjacent reports.
The present invention includes forming a single staggered stack of reports from a single endless stream of pages, and multiple staggered stacks of reports from multiple endless streams of documents, each staggered stack of reports corresponding to one endless stream of pages.
The preferred embodiment employs an overhead conveyor system to move each page from the endless stream into one of the two positions that make up the staggered stack of reports. This embodiment uses a fixed driven shaft located nearest the endless stream of documents and two opposing idling shafts, each connected to the driven shaft by rubber conveyor belts or bands.
A variable speed motor powers the driven shaft so that the shaft""s speed moves each page faster than the incoming stream of documents, thus xe2x80x98pullingxe2x80x99 each individual page from the stream. A single speed motor driving the shaft faster than the incoming stream of pages is sufficient for simple applications where the variety of print jobs does not greatly vary. Where the upstream printing and cutting devices are capable of delivering streams of documents over a very wide variety of speeds into the present invention, such as in highly flexible commercial printing operations, a variable speed motor that can more closely match the speed of the incoming document stream may alternatively be provided.
The belts connecting one idling shaft direct pages toward a first position on the staggered stack of reports and the belts connecting the other idling shaft direct pages toward a second position. The idling shafts are alternately raised or lowered so that only one set of belts contacts the incoming page, directing it to one or the other position. These idling shafts may either be horizontal, or may be canted downward and away from the centerline of the staggered stack. When horizontal, the conveyor belts or bands angle away from the longitudinal centerline of the staggered stack so as to direct each page to one side or the other of the stack of reports. When canted, the conveyor belts may be parallel to the longitudinal centerline, and the cant of the successive belts drives each page to one side or the other of the staggered stack of reports.
An alternative embodiment comprises a single idling shaft that is laterally shiftable, or two idling shafts operating in unison, thus directing each incoming page toward the first or second position on the holding area. Multiple such overhead conveyor systems may be employed in side-by-side relation to each other in order to handle multiple endless streams of documents.
Another alternative embodiment staggers the stacks of reports longitudinally rather than laterally, to better enable the handling of more than two endless streams of documents considering space restraints imposed by lateral staggering of stacks of reports. This embodiment also employs overhead conveyor systems, but wherein the speed of the conveyor system varies to move any individual page to either of the longitudinally staggered positions. The idling shaft of this embodiment is not laterally shiftable as above.
Further details regarding specific embodiments are expounded in the following sections.

Method and apparatus for separating a stream of documents into discrete groups

Energy Saving Products and Sales Corporation


Polymeric nanofibers have been developed which are useful in a variety of medical and other applications, such as filtration devices, medical prosthesis, scaffolds for tissue engineering, wound dressings, controlled drug delivery systems, cosmetic skin masks, and protective clothing. These can be formed of any of a variety of different polymers, either non-degradable or degradable. In a preferred embodiment demonstrated in the following examples, nanofibers are formed of biodegradable and non biodegradable polyphosphazenes, their blends with other polyphosphazenes or with organic, inorganic/organometallic polymers as well as composite nanofibers of polyphosphazenes with nanosized particles such as hydroxyapatites.

This invention is generally in the field of medical applications of polymer fibers and particularly the use of polymeric nanofibers in tissue engineering, medical devices and drug delivery.
Polymer fibers have been used in numerous medical applications. For example, sutures are made of polymer fibers, either non-biodegradable polymers or biodegradable polymers such as poly(lactide-co-glycolide). Fibers are also woven or meshed to form wound dressings, tissue engineering matrices, gauzes and bandages, and drug delivery devices (where the drug is encapsulated within the polymers, and released by diffusion and/or degradation).
These polymeric fibers typically have diameters of 50 microns or greater, many in the range of 100 to 300 microns. They are limited by virtue of the inflexibility of the materials they are formed from. It would be desirable to vary the properties of these materials without having to modify the composition of the polymeric materials.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide new forms of polymeric fibers for use in medical applications, especially tissue engineering, medical devices, and drug delivery.

Polymeric nanofibers for tissue engineering and drug delivery


A transmultiplexer is connected between digital facilities and analog facilities for translating information between TDM and FDM formats on the digital and analog facilities, respectively. Information in the TDM format is representative of a plurality of digital telephone signal channels and information in the FDM format is representative of a plurality of analog telephone signal channels. The total capacity of the digital facilities is smaller than the total capacity of the analog facilities. Any one of the digital channels can be selectively coupled to any one of the analog channels. The transmultiplexer is installed at a telephone central office facility as an interface between a cable telephony transmission system and a digital telephone switch. A host computer controls both the transmultiplexer and the digital telephone switch.

This invention relates to telephone systems in which shared analog signal facilities are interfaced to shared digital signal facilities.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,351,234, which has the same inventors as the present application, discloses a system in which video signals are distributed, and switched telephone service is provided, over a common broadband cable network. The disclosure of Pat. No. 5,351,234 is incorporated herein by reference.
FIG. 1 of this application presents a high level block diagram of the shared video and telephone cable system disclosed in the '234 patent. Reference numeral 10 generally refers to the video/telephone cable system. Major components of the system 10 include a cable transmission system 12, a transmultiplexer 14 and a digital 20 telephone switch 16.
Connections are provided between the cable transmission system 12 and n telephone subscriber locations. As indicated in the '234 patent, but not shown in FIG. 1, means are also provided to couple a plurality of video channel signals to the cable transmission system 12. The cable transmission system 12 carries n two-way analog telephone signal channels in a frequency division multiplexed (FDM) format within a frequency band assigned for telephone usage. The width of the frequency band containing the n channels is the same as the bandwidth provided for a video channel. The frequency band which carries the n FDM telephone channels in the cable system 12 is coupled via a modulator/demodulator (not shown) to an analog transmission facility 18 which interconnects the cable system 12 and the transmultiplexer 14.
The transmultiplexer 14 provides translation between the n two-way FDM channels carried on the analog transmission facility 18 and a like number of two-way digital telephone signal channels provided in a time division multiplexed (TDM) format in a digital transmission facility 20. The digital transmission facility 20 is connected between the transmultiplexer 14 and the digital switch 16. The digital switch 16 operates so that any one of the n telephone subscriber locations connected to the cable system 12 can be selectively connected for telephone communication with any other of the n subscriber locations. Also, the n subscriber locations can be connected through the digital switch 16 to subscriber locations maintained in an external telephone network.
The shared video/telephone cable system of the '234 patent provides for efficient use of the bandwidth allocated within the cable transmission system to telephone use. However, it would be desirable to reduce the cost of providing interfacing between the digital switch 16 and the two-way analog telephone channels provided to the subscriber locations.
It is therefore a primary object of the invention to provide an improvement in a system in which a broadband cable network is used to distribute telephone service to plural subscriber locations.
It is a further object of the invention to achieve a reduction in the hardware cost encountered in constructing a telephone system distributed over a broadband cable network.
It is yet another object to achieve concentration of telephone transmission facilities while having all switching and routing take place at a centralized location such as a telco central office.

Concentrating transmultiplexer for cable telephony


A computer system that assists the user of computer drawing programs to accurately place new objects on a drawing is described. The system establishes and displays dynamic gridlines according to objects already placed on the drawing. As a new object is dragged for placement on the drawing, the system analyzes the areas around the new object for already-placed objects. The system then determines the spacing between the already-placed objects and indicates to the user where the dragged object should be placed to maintain the same spacing as the objects already placed on the drawing.

Computer drawing programs assist a computer user in producing and editing such drawings as block diagrams, flowcharts, maps, office layouts, organizational charts, project schedules, and other types of drawings.
Within each drawing can be a multitude of shapes and symbols. For instance, simple geometric shapes or objects, such as squares, rectangles, triangles and circles can indicate people, places and things. It is often desirable and aesthetically pleasing for shapes to be aligned in some manner. For instance, in an office layout diagram including several squares indicating workers' cubicles, it is desirable to have all of the squares line up in a straight line so that one edge will look like an aisle or hallway. This alignment proves difficult when objects are manually dragged and placed in a diagram.
To assist users align objects in drawings, some drawing programs support a static gridline feature. Static gridlines, generally, act as electronic graph paper, providing straight lines to assist the user align several individual shapes. An additional feature, called "snap", automatically aligns the shapes that the computer determines are proximately located to one of the static gridlines. When proximity to a static gridline is sensed during placement of a shape, the computer automatically aligns the shape to the proximal static gridline. The snap feature allows the users to quickly and accurately align the individual shapes, and produce an aesthetically pleasing drawing.
One difficulty brought on by snap gridlines is that the user must conform the placement of the shapes to the gridlines already on the screen. When the user wants to place shapes at areas other than where the grids are placed, the user is again forced to place these shapes by freehand.
In view of the need by many users for assistance in placing objects in a drawing program, a system that dynamically changes the gridlines according to objects already placed on the drawing screen and additionally providing snapping to the dynamically placed gridlines would have significant utility.

Establishing and displaying dynamic grids


The embodiments of the disclosure provides a capacitive in-cell touch panel, a driving method thereof and a display apparatus, wherein touch sensing electrodes are set on a color filter substrate, a common electrode layer connected as a whole plane on a TFT array substrate is divided into strips to be used as touch driving electrodes; touch driving signal lines are set in a display area of the touch panel by adopting a dual gate structure, which is helpful for a narrow frame design of the touch panel; each of the touch driving electrodes is electrically connected to at least one touch driving signal line and is supplied with a driving signal by a plurality of touch driving signal lines simultaneously, such that transmission efficiency of the driving signal can be improved to the maximum extent and delay of the driving signal can be reduced.

With fast development of display technology, touch panels have been widely used in human life. At present, touch panels can be divided, in terms of structure, into Add-on mode touch panel, On-Cell touch panel and In-Cell touch panel. The Add-on mode touch panel is formed by manufacturing a touch panel and a liquid crystal display (LCD) screen separately and bonding them together to be a liquid crystal display screen with a touch function, so the Add-on mode touch panel has disadvantages of higher cost, lower light transmission rate, thicker modules, etc. The In-Cell touch panel is formed by embedding touch electrodes of a touch panel inside a liquid crystal display screen, so in the in-cell touch panel, the thickness of module can be reduced and the production cost of the touch panel can also be largely reduced, and thus the in-cell touch panel is a favorite choice for various panel manufactories.
In order to improve aperture ratio of a touch display screen to the maximum extent, a dual gate structure can be adopted in design of a pixel structure in a TFT array substrate of the touch panel. As shown in FIG. 1, in the dual gate structure, two gate signal lines are arranged between two adjacent rows of pixel units on the TFT array substrate, for example, (Gate 1 and Gate 2), (Gate 3 and Gate 4), (Gate 5 and Gate 6); in addition, two adjacent columns of pixel units constitute a group and commonly use a same data signal line located between the two adjacent columns of pixel units, for example, Data 1, Data 2, Data 3. In the dual gate structure, the number of the data signal lines and the number of source driver ICs can be reduced at the cost of doubling the number of the gate signal lines, thereby reducing the cost of the display as a whole. However, design of a capacitive In-Cell touch panel based on a dual gate structure does not exist at present.

Capacitive in-cell touch screen, driving method for the same, and display apparatus

BEIJING BOE OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A novel method is disclosed for the hydroconversion of a heavy hydrocarbon feedstock wherein the feed is partially hydroconverted and demetalized in the presence of a catalytic additive and then the hydroconversion is completed in an ebullent bed reactor system.

In recent years, with the shrinking supply of more valuable light hydrocarbon feedstocks, it has become increasingly important to employ heavy hydrocarbon feedstocks in the production of petrochemicals. This is especially the case due to the demand for light hydrocarbons, i.e. gaseous olefins such as ethylene, propylene, butadiene etc., monocyclic aromatics such as benzene, toluene and xylene etc. and naptha. Accordingly, methods for the production of these lighter petrochemicals form heavy feedstocks have been developed in the art.
However, in all of these processes, the thermal cracking of the heavy hydrocarbons results in significant amounts of coking which leads to a stoppage in production due to fouling of the process equipment. Further, in catalytic cracking, the heavy hydrocarbons often contain a large amount of metals which poison the catalyst, thus requiring expensive catalyst regeneration or replacement of the catalyst.
Recently, the production of lighter hydrocarbons has been reported with some success in a process which employs the addition of a transition metal catalyst complex and very fine particulates to the heavy hydrocarbon feedstock. See, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,770,764 and 4,863,887. These processes have proved to be relatively insensitive to feed metals. See, FIG. 1, which shows in graphic form the percentage of demetalation as a function of conversion by these processes.
However, in these processes, as the conversion level is increased to above about 60%, a marked increase in coking is observed. See, FIG. 2, which shows, in graphic form, the percentage of coke yield as a function of percent conversion by these processes. Thus, there remains in the art a need for a process which can operate at high conversion without significant coke formation, yet have a reduced need for catalyst replacement due to poisoning.
To this end, the present Applicants have surprisingly found a novel process combination which satisfies these long felt needs in the art.

Combination process for the pretreatment and hydroconversion of heavy residual oils


In an assembly type crankshaft, a press-in plug member for assembly of its crank pin is set to be shorter than the width of the crank web, allowing the press-in force of the plug member to be reduced and the weight of the crank pin into which the plug member is pressed to be reduced. The crank pin of the crankshaft and the crank web, that have been fabricated as separate members, are made integral with each other by pressing the crank pin into a pin hole formed in the crank web. As a result, the crankshaft is assembled. Thus, after the assembly, the plug member whose length is shorter than the width of the crank web is pressed in, a firm crankshaft can be obtained. Further, since the plug member employed has a cross-sectional shape that is elliptical or oval-shaped, the above-described press-in can be performed more firmly.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an assembly type crankshaft, and more particularly to the assembly type crankshaft to be assembled by pressing a crank pin of a crankshaft and into a crank web of the crankshaft.
2. Description of Background Art
In a conventional assembly type crankshaft to be assembled by pressing a hollow crank pin into a pair of crankshafts (crankshaft webs) held to oppose to each other, the hollow crank pin has been incorporated in advance with a part such as a connecting rod. The above-described both crankshafts (crankshaft webs) are moved to be closer to each other to thereby press the hollow crank pin comparatively lightly into a pin hole in the crankshaft. Thereafter, a cylindrical column-shaped piece member (plug member) having a slightly larger diameter than an inner diameter of a hollow hole of the hollow crank pin is caused to be pressed in from both sides of the hollow crank pin (See, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-37411 (1st page and 2nd page, FIG. 2)
The above-described conventional assembly type crankshaft described in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 60-37411 has a structure in which as shown in FIG. 6. Between a pair of crankshafts 02, 02 (crankshaft webs) held to oppose to each other, there is arranged a hollow crank pin 01 incorporated with a part such as a connecting rod 04 in advance. The above-described both crankshafts 02, 02 are moved to be closer to each other to thereby press both ends of the hollow crank pin 01 comparatively lightly into pin holes 02a, 02a in the crankshafts 02, 02. Then, after the pressing-in has been completed, a cylindrical column-shaped piece member 03, 03 having a slightly larger diameter than an inner diameter of a hollow hole 01a of the crank pin 01 is pressed in from both sides of the hollow crank pin 01.
In the conventional assembly type crankshaft to be assembled by the above-described press-in, the pressing of the hollow crank pin into a pin hole in the crankshaft has been performed by means of comparatively light fitting. As such, a press-in allowance has been made to become relatively small, whereby in an assembly stage due to the press-in, the arrangement has been made in such a manner that a deformation of the crankshaft due to the assembly is confined to a minimum. After the assembly, the piece member (plug member) is pressed into the hollow hole in the hollow crank pin from its both ends, whereby the outer diameter of the hollow crank pin is bulged out to impart required surface pressure to the inner peripheral surface of the pin hole in the crankshaft, resulting in a crankshaft having a firm fixed state.
According to the above-described assembly structure, since substantial fixing of the assembly type crankshaft due to pressing-in depends on surface pressure to an inner peripheral surface of a pin hole in the crankshaft to be imparted by the piece member (plug member) which is pressed into the hollow portion of the hollow crank pin, it is necessary that the piece member (plug member) has a predetermined length in order to impart the sufficient surface pressure.
In large-sized types of engines, however, the rigidity of their crank pins is generally high, and in such a state, pressing of the piece member (plug member) into the hollow hole of the hollow crank pin in the assembly, that is, pressing of the long piece member into the hollow hole becomes considerably difficult because of excessive press-in load. Thus, since the excessive press-in load brings about press-in deformation of the assembly type crankshaft, a process of correcting the deformation is generally required, thus deteriorating the productivity.
Further in a four-stroke cycle engine, since the pin hole in the crankshaft is to be used as a passage of lubricating oil, the use of the long piece member causes a problem in setting the passage for the lubricating oil.
Also, the use of the long piece member increases the weight of the crank pin, and the increase in the weight of the crank pin increases the counterweight, resulting in an increase in stress in the engine during the engine driving, and an increase in vibrations during high-speed rotation of the engine.
Thus, appropriate measures for solving the above-described problems in the conventional assembly type crankshaft are desired, but in fact, until the development of the present invention, a good plan had not been found.


An electronic game system is provided. The system may include a base station operable to communicate with an electronic system and one or more character units operable to communicate with the base station. The one or more character units store data associated with one or more characters. The data are utilized to play a game using the electronic system. The character units may have substantially similar appearances to characters in the game. The base station also may have a character appearance. The character units may be removably attachable to the base station, alone or simultaneously, at an exterior or interior portion of a body part of the character appearance such as a head, a limb and a torso.

Several types of electronic game systems exist. Games can be played on dedicated game consoles or on general purpose computers. Further, games can have one or more players and can be played using a single game system or a network of game systems, such as massively multiple player online role playing games. Games can be loaded onto an electronic system from a portable storage device such as a CD, or games can be downloaded from a computer network such as the Internet. However, different electronic game systems are desirable.

Electronic game system with character units


According to the present invention, a roll forming method includes a first roll forming process for forming a trapezoidal projecting portion at a center portion, a second roll forming process for gradually narrowing an upper side of the trapezoidal projecting portion to form a turnup projecting portion, a third roll forming process for forming perpendicularly folded portions at both sides, and a fourth roll forming process for folding a middle portion between the perpendicularly folded portion and the turnup projecting portion in a semi-circular shape. In this way, it is possible to form a turnup projecting portion, insides of which are closely contacted to each other with a curvature which is larger than the conventional curvature, with high speed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a roll forming method for forming a flat tube having a reinforced portion at a center thereof, which is used for a heat exchanger or the like.
2. Description of Related Art
In a radiator for a vehicle, a heat exchanger of a hot water type heating apparatus, or the like, there is used a flat tube through which a fluid for heat exchange flows. The flat tube is brazed to a container (such as a tank) of the heat exchanger.
As a flat tube employed for a heat exchanger having a large width, as shown in FIG. 33, there has been proposed a flat tube 90 having a .theta.-shaped cross section, in which a reinforced portion 91 is provided at a center thereof (as disclosed in JP-A-6-123571). The reinforced portion 91 is composed of edge portions 911 bent perpendicularly at each end of a plate material and a projecting portion 912 folded into a mountain shape at a center portion of the plate material, and both of the edge portions and the projecting portion are connected to each other by brazing.
Further, as a method for continuously cold-forming a long member such as a flat tube on mass production, there has been known a roll forming method.
For example, as disclosed in JP-B2-7-41331, as a method for bending both ends of a belt plate perpendicularly by a roll forming, there has been proposed a forming method composed of separate three processes including a process for bending both ends by approximately 45.degree. a process for bending both ends by approximately 70.degree., and a process for bending both ends by approximately 90.degree..
As described above, because the reinforced portion 91 of the flat tube 90 is, as shown in FIG. 33, composed of the edge portions 911 bent perpendicularly and the projecting portion 912 folded in a mountain shape, those portions should be formed not to create a large gap (depression 925) therebetween, and should be fixedly connected to each other.
If the depression 925 between the edge portion 911 and the projecting portion 912 is large, when the flat tube 90 is brazed to a container 99 such as a tank, the gap which cannot be filled up by brazing still remains, and there occurs a problem of leakage or the like. Therefore, it is necessary to reduce both of an outer curvature radius 921 of the edge portion 911 and a curvature radius 922 at a top portion of the projecting portion 912.
However, it is extremely difficult to perform a roll forming with high accuracy and with high speed while reducing the curvature radii of the above-described edge portion 911 and the projecting portion 912.
For example, when the above-described projecting portion 912 is roll-formed, as shown in FIG. 30, a transverse width of a belt-shaped plate 94 is drawn in (narrowed), and then, as shown in FIG. 31, a projecting portion 95 is formed in a triangular mountain shape. An angle a of the mountain of the projecting portion 95 is gradually made acuter every step of the roll-forming.
However, while being formed, a tensile stress is applied to the top portion of the mountain of the projecting portion 95, and if being formed larger, the top portion is constricted to have a thin thickness. Further, if the curvature of the top portion is made larger, there may occur a problem of fracture or the like. That is, as shown in FIG. 30, the belt-shaped plate is held between rollers and is drawn in from a width direction to form a mountain-shaped projecting portion, a tensile stress T is applied to the top portion of the mountain of the projecting portion 95, as described below.
A first factor constituting the above-described tensile stress T is caused by a deformation resistance when the material is drawn in, and the deforming resistance is due to a shearing resistance of a flat portion (non-mountain portion). That is, a tensile force R (FIG. 31) applied to the top portion per length in a longitudinal direction is expressed as the following formula. EQU R=Sa.times..sigma.a (1)
wherein Sa is a transverse cross section of the flat portion (non-mountain portion), i.e., the transverse width w of the non-mountain portion.times.the plate thickness t, and .sigma.a is a deformation resistance (stress) of the material.
A second factor constituting the above-described tensile stress T is caused by a bending stress .sigma.v of the top portion of the mountain (similarly, per length in the longitudinal direction as shown in FIG. 31), and the tensile stress T is expressed as the following formula with the above-described R. EQU T=(R/t)+.sigma.v=(Sa.times..sigma.a)/t+.sigma.v (2)
When the above-described stress T is larger than the tensile strength of the material, as shown in FIG. 32, a constriction 951 is caused on the top portion (the plate thickness is changed from t to t' by the constriction).
Therefore, it is necessary to roll-form the projecting portion while restricting a drawing amount of the material and a bending amount (curvature). Accordingly, the curvature of the top portion of the mountain cannot be increased excessively, and it is necessary to form by multi-stages, with the result that the number of the processes of the roll forming is increased.

Roll forming method for forming flat tube and roll forming apparatus using the same


A computer-implemented system and method are described for real-time portfolio balancing and/or optimization of portfolio holdings, preferably in Alternative Trading Systems (ATSs), that reduces execution risk and legging risk. The computer-implemented system and method also incorporate cash constraints to assist in reducing execution risks. A computer-implemented system and method include advantages such as exposure to broad market liquidity throughout the trading day, being dynamic so that a strategy can be adjusted depending on market conditions, the reduction of execution and legging risks, optimal fills, and limited market impact.

It is commonplace for broker/dealers and institutional investors (collectively "Traders") to desire to trade large blocks of securities. This provides the ability to take advantage of market realities and hopefully maximize profits for their clients. Whether the Trader is acting for a buyer or seller, there is a strong desire to be able to trade anonymously so that his/her identity or trading intentions as a buyer or seller will not affect transaction pricing. Anonymity is also very important in the large block trading environment because there may not be a single entity with which to transact such large block trades and it may have to be split up among a number of buying or selling entities.
It has been known in a number of trading environments to periodically rebalance portfolio holdings to meet desired investing strategies. In many cases, this rebalancing would be based on weighting factors for the portfolio holding or in the case of a stock index, the proportional value of each stock with respect to the whole index. This periodic rebalancing of a portfolio can take place, for example, on a daily, weekly, monthly semiannual or annual basis.
Whenever there is rebalancing, there is always high execution risk in transitioning from desired old portfolio holdings to desired new portfolio holdings. This high execution risk dictates a desire to buy and sell the securities to effect such a transition within a relatively short time period. This execution risk may be in the form of price changes between the time the order is made and executed. Further, if the transaction is not executed in a relatively short period of time, there also can be considerable risk by the portfolio manager in the form of "legging risk," which is that one of the "legs" in an investing strategy will not be filled. Therefore, it is highly preferred to reduce or eliminate these risks through simultaneous buys and sells for transitioning from desired old to new portfolio holding in the rebalancing process.
At present, there are two main forms of "portfolio rebalancing" also referred to as "portfolio balancing". The first type is crossing systems that are deployed in periodic call auctions. Examples of a crossing systems are NYSE MatchPoint™ and NASDAQ Crossing Network™. The second type is algorithms operating in real-time throughout the trading day that effect portfolio balancing. These algorithms may be in the form of toolkits provided to broker/dealers for executing rebalancing strategies.
Strengths of crossing networks include (i) the seeming elimination of execution risk by pooling all orders into a single netting process; (ii) permitting optimal fills such that every trade that can be done, will be done within the call auction; (iii) and limiting market impact. Some weaknesses of crossing networks are they have (i) only limited market exposure by only accessing liquidity during the cross itself and (ii) limited location exposure such that there is no access to other liquidity sources during the cross. These weaknesses outweigh the strengths such that crossing systems do not provide a very attractive solution for portfolio balancing in the ATS environment.
Strengths of algorithms or "algos" include (i) exposure to broad market liquidity throughout the trading day and (ii) being dynamic, such that they can adjust their strategies depending in market conditions. Weaknesses of algos include (i) severe constraints on execution size, which means that they cannot exploit every market opportunity for fear of violating cash limits and/or risk limits and (ii) some market impact because certain transaction patterns may be visible. Again, the weaknesses outweigh the strengths such that algos also do not provide an attractive solution for portfolio balancing in the ATS environment.
The prior art systems and methods do not provide attractive methods for carrying out portfolio balancing in an ATS environment. The present invention overcomes the problems of the prior art systems as will be described subsequently.

Real-time portfolio balancing and/or optimization system and method


A receiver including a frequency converter which converts a frequency of a received signal according to a control signal to obtain a frequency-converted received signal, and an AFC (automatic frequency controller) which converts the frequency-converted received signal into a data converted signal, which compares respective phases of the data converted signal and a previous data converted signal to generate a first phase difference value, which compares respective phases of the data converted signal and the previous data converted signal to generate a second phase difference value, which generates a loop gain value according to the first and second phase difference values, and which generates the control signal according to the first phase difference value and the loop gain value.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to a frequency control circuit, and, more particularly, to a receiver and circuit for generating a frequency control signal and method of generating a frequency control signal.
This is a counterpart of and claims priority to Japanese patent application Ser. No. 173857/2002, filed on Jun. 14, 2002, the subject matter of which is incorporated herein by reference.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional receiver has only one phase difference operation circuit and an integration circuit. By the way, the conventional receiver must satisfy the following two requirements to generate a signal having a stable frequency. The first is that when a carrier difference (phase difference is larger than a threshold value, the integration circuit is supplied with a large value causing the carrier difference to be converged. The second is that when the carrier difference approaches the convergence, the integration circuit is supplied with a small value. To satisfy the above requirements, the integration circuit in the conventional receiver is supplied with a phase difference which is generated by the phase difference operation circuit, multiplied by a loop gain value.
However, the conventional loop gain value is merely generated by an unreliable control, for example, time control. Therefore, the conventional receiver lacks stability.

Method and apparatus for generating a frequency control signal


A hearing enhancement includes an audio processor that generates an electrical audio signal and transmits the signal to a coil. The coil is implanted into a patient in a position that results in transmission of mechanical stimulation to the inner ear when the coil is spatially displaced. A permanent magnet is placed in proximity to the coil so that when the coil receives the electrical audio signal form the processor, the induced coil magnetic field in the coil interacts with the magnetic field from the permanent magnet to spatially displace the coil and, as a result, transmit the mechanical stimulation to the inner ear.

FIG. 1 shows the anatomy of a normal human ear. A normal ear transmits sounds through the outer ear 101 to the eardrum 102, which moves the bones of the middle ear 103, which in turn excites the cochlea 104. The cochlea (or inner ear) 104 includes an upper channel known as the scala vestibuli 105 and a lower channel known as the scala tympani 106, which are connected by the cochlear duct 107. In response to received sounds the stapes, a bone of the middle ear 103, transmits vibrations via the fenestra ovalis (oval window), to the perilymph of the cochlea 104. As a result, the hair cells of the organ of Corti are excited to initiate chemi-electric pulses that are transmitted to the cochlear nerve 113, and ultimately to the brain.
Some patients may have partially or completely impaired hearing for reasons including: long term exposure to environmental noise, congenital defects, damage due to disease or illness, use of certain medications such as aminoglycosides, or physical trauma. Hearing impairment may be of the conductive, sensineural, or combination types.
Implants often include various electro-magnetic transducers that may function as an actuator, a sensor, and/or a switch. An example of an implant with an electro-magnetic actuator is a middle ear implant which mechanically drives the ossicular chain. Such a middle ear implant that includes a floating mass transducer was developed by Geoffrey Ball et al. (see U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,913,815; 5,897,486; 5,624,376; 5,554,096; 5,456,654; 5,800,336; 5,857,958; and 6,475,134, each of which is incorporated herein by reference).
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) examination may be contraindicated for a wearer of such an auditory (cochlear or middle ear) prosthesis since potential interactions between the implanted electro-magnetic transducer and the applied external MRI magnetic field may, at higher field strength (i.e. above about 1 Tesla), produce three potentially harmful effects:                1. The implanted magnet experiences a torque (T=m×B) that may twist the electro-magnetic transducer out of its position, thereby injuring the implant wearer and/or destroying the mechanical fixation.        2. Due to the external magnetic field, the implanted magnet becomes partly demagnetized and this may lead to damage or at least to a reduced power efficiency of the electro-magnetic transducer after exposure to the MRI field.        3. Radio frequency (RF) pulses (magnetic field B1 in MRI) emitted by the MRI unit can induce voltages in the coil(s) of the electro-magnetic transducer and this may destroy the transducer and/or may harm the patient.
Because of these risks it may be generally forbidden to undergo (at least high-field) MRI examination for patients with an implant with electro-magnetic transducer. This may exclude the patient from certain important diagnosis methods.

Moving coil actuator for middle ear implants