A symmetrization device and laser diode system using such a device is shown. The device has adjacent lens components transforming beamlets from a laser diode array. Each lens component has input and output surfaces, each having a profile in the propagation direction of the beamlets and a contour perpendicularly thereto. The profiles of the input and output surfaces and distances therebetween are selected to permute the divergence along the slow and fast axes of the beamlets. The contour of each surface matches the cross-sectional shape of the beamlets thereat.

Laser diode arrays, both linear (so-called laser diode bars) and bi-dimensional (2-D stack of laser bars) are very attractive sources of high power laser beam. Among their advantages, they have a high conversion efficiency, a high reliability, and they can be packaged to form small laser source modules. High-power laser diode linear arrays are mostly available in the form of elongated thin laser diode bars comprising several individual laser emitters set along an axis parallel to the semiconductor PN junction of the individual diodes. A schematic drawing of a laser diode bar is sketched in FIG. 1 (PRIOR ART). Common laser diode bars comprise typically 10 to 50 individual equally spaced emitters, which spread over a total width generally set to a 10 mm standard width. Each individual emitter has typical dimensions of 50–200 μm×1 μm, and they are represented by the small hachured rectangles in FIG. 1. As seen in FIG. 1, the divergence angles of the beam escaping from a laser emitter are typically 80° FW (full width at 1/e2) along the direction perpendicular to the junction plane (arbitrarily designated the Y axis on the enclosed drawings), also called the fast axis, and 10° FW along the direction parallel to the junction plane (the X axis), also called the slow axis. These laser diode bars can routinely emit tens of Watts of CW optical power. When even higher optical output powers are required from the laser source, several laser diode bars can be stacked one above the other using suitable mounting means to give a two-dimensional laser diode array. The mounting means is designed to hold the laser bars firmly in place while ensuring proper electrical biasing and cooling of each bar. The resulting total output power scales directly with the number of stacked laser diode bars.
Laser diode systems are used in various applications such as machining of materials, treatment of surfaces, illumination and pumping of solid-state lasers. These various applications have different requirements on the laser beam characteristics, such as the beam's shape and divergence. One major difficulty in using laser diode systems is that the unconditioned output laser beam is rarely adapted for applications of interest. Laser beam conditioning and/or reshaping is therefore required in order to optimize the output laser beam characteristics.
The characteristics of a laser beam outputted by a laser diode are usually quantified by a value called beam product parameters, or BPP, which represents the product of the beam's width by its divergence along a given axis. Typically, the output laser beam of a laser diode bar, taken as a whole, has BPP of 0.001 mm×1400 mrad=1.4 mm·mrad along the Y axis and a BPP of 10 mm×175 mrad=1750 mm·mrad along the X axis. The BPP value along the Y axis is close to the diffraction limit value. On the other hand, the large BPP value along the X axis is indicative of a poor laser beam quality with a M2 of the order of 1700 (the M2 factor should be of the order of 1 for a beam of the best possible quality). This strong asymmetry in the BPP's and large M2 value precludes the efficient focalisation of the laser beam to a small circular spot needed, for example, for injection to an optical fibre.
In the particular case of a laser diode bar with a relatively low fill factor (W/S ratio, see FIG. 1), several techniques have been devised to reshape the laser beam, as for example taught by J. Endriz, U.S. Pat. No. 5,168,401; S. Yamaguchi et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,513,201; K. Du et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,324,190; Kusuyana et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,639,727; and Lissotschenko et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,471,372.
These techniques share the same basic idea that each laser beamlet, i.e. the laser beam radiated by each emitter in the laser diode bar, is rotated by 90 degrees along the Z axis by the device. Either reflective (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,168,401, 5,513,201 and 6,324,190) or refractive approaches (U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,513,201, 6,639,727 and 6,471,372) have been devised to produce this rotation. This is schematized in FIG. 2 (PRIOR ART), where a laser bar with five emitters is represented. The fast axis (Y axis) of the laser beam is collimated with a cylindrical microlens. Then, the five beamlets pass through the device which rotates each beamlet by 90 degrees around the Z axis. The asymmetric nature of the BPP of each beamlet is represented by a cross-section in the form of an elongated rectangle. The laser beam cross section at two different planes, before and after the device, takes the form represented in the dotted boxes of FIG. 2. Therefore, the total (sum) BPP of the beamlets are transformed so that the new values along the X and Y axes are related to the initial values along the Y and X axes, respectively, and reduce and increase, respectively, by time the number of rotated beamlet, that is BPP(X)≧initial BPP(Y)×5, and BPP(Y)=initial BPP(X)/5. Furthermore, the outputted laser beam's brightness, given by the optical power/(BPP(X)×BPP(Y)), will be optimized (i.e. the equality will hold in the equation above) if no empty space is left between the beamlets.
The major drawback of these techniques is that the beamlets need to be well separated before entering the rotating device, in order to minimize truncation of the beamlet's edges in the device. Therefore, this requirement precludes an efficient application of these techniques to laser diode bars with a high fill factor. In addition, it results in non-optimal laser beam brightness since significant empty spaces are left between the beamlets. Ideally, the beamlet cross section should have a height equal to the separation (pitch) between them so as to leave no empty space between them once the rotation is performed, thereby leading to an optimized output laser beam radiance.
For the reflective techniques, significant empty spaces between beamlets are required to provide enough space for the two or more reflective surfaces needed to realize the beamlet rotation. It is also the case for the refraction-based devices, which in practice consist of extended cylindrical lenses disposed side by side in close contact at a 45° angle with respect to the Y and X axes. Such an arrangement leads to beamlet's input/output aperture of diamond shape, such as schematized in FIG. 3A (PRIOR ART). The beamlets, generally having a square cross-section, experience a large clipping by going through such an optical device. This is exemplified in FIG. 3B (PRIOR ART), where the upper left and bottom right corners of the square cross section are cut-off by the diamond-shaped input/output aperture. To minimize the beamlet clipping, the horizontal extent of the beamlet's cross-section needs to be limited, as schematized in FIG. 3C (PRIOR ART). This however severely limits the laser diode bar fill factor that can be used with such device, therefore limiting its domain of application and interest.
There is therefore a need for a symmetrization device which alleviates the above-mentioned drawbacks.

Symmetrization device and laser diode system provided with the same


A development maintenance (Dev-Maintain) computing system is upgraded from a release version n to a release version n+1, where a production (Prod) computing system is on the release version n, and a development preview (Dev-Preview) computing system is on the release version n+1. Changes are transported from the Dev-Preview computing system to the Dev-Maintain computing system. Inactive changes transported from the Dev-Preview computing system into the Dev-Maintain computing system are merged to generate merged changes. The merged changes are transported to the Dev-Preview computing system. A release version upgrade is performed to the Prod computing system and to the Dev-Preview computing system. Active changes are transported from the Dev-Maintain computing system to the Prod computing system.

Traditionally, software release management for a proven combination of a production computing system and a development computing system is used to create changes for transport to the production computing system. In an environment with both a vendor and associated customers developing synergistic software, and where the production computing system is continuously updated with new software version from the vendor, both software developers and users wish to see the new software versions before the new software versions are used in a production computing system. A synchronization failure between the different software development efforts can result in software failures in not only the development computing system, but also in the production computing system.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Integrating preview systems for early validation and maintenance in development-to-production landscapes provisioned by continuous delivery


In one embodiment, an air-blown optical fiber unit includes one or more optical fibers, an inner layer substantially completely embedding the one or more optical fibers, and an outer layer radially external to the inner layer. The inner layer has a tensile strength of from 0.1 MPa to 1 MPa, and an elongation at break of from 10% to 80%.

Fiber optic cables have been commonly deployed by installing them in ducts by blowing or pulling, burying them in the ground, or suspending them between above-ground poles.
Optical microcabling technology has been introduced for the deployment of fiber optic cables to increase use of the conduit space and to enhance profitability of the current (and/or future) telecommunications infrastructure. This technology involves the use of standard inner ducts in which microducts are jetted, followed by the jetting of microduct cables or microcables into the microducts when required. Although originally intended for business access networks (FTTB) and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH), this technology has been used successfully in long-haul applications as well.
Microducts are empty tubes that can be blown or pushed into empty or partially filled standard ducts. Optical fiber units, specifically designed for this kind of application, are then installed as needed inside the microduct tubes by blown installation techniques.
In some known blown optical fiber units, a number of coated optical fibers (for example, four, in bundles or ribbon, but also a single optical fiber) are contained within an inner layer enclosed in an outer layer having greater hardness. In the outer layer particulate material (typically hollow or solid glass beads) can be embedded.
EP 0 521 710 A1 discloses an optical fiber package suitable for blown installation and a method of making an optical fiber package for blown installation in a continuous process. The fibers are held in a soft buffer layer. About this buffer layer there is a further resin layer which is a tough layer. For 4-fiber package units, a buffer layer is exemplified made of a material having a tensile strength of 1.3 MPa, a Shore D hardness of 49 and a 115% elongation.
US 2009/0087154 discloses cable designs for indoor installations wherein the cable comprises a dual-layer optical fiber buffer encasement of acrylate resin. The buffer encasement has an acrylate compliant inner layer that protects the fiber and minimizes stress transfer to the fiber; and a hard, tough acrylate outer layer that provides crush resistance. The dual-layer optical fiber buffer encasement is wrapped with reinforcing yarn and encased in an outer protective jacket.
EP 0 296 836 A1 discloses an optical fiber cable comprising an inner sheath containing at least one optical fiber member, and an outer sheath containing the inner sheath. The inner sheath is of a material which is soft and has a low modulus of elasticity. The outer sheath of a material has bulk and surface properties such that the cable can be propelled along a duct by a flow of air travelling along the duct. An intermediate sheath may be provided between the inner and outer sheaths.
EP 1 600 801 A2 discloses a fiber optic cable including a core of coated optical fibers embedded in an inner layer of acrylate material, having sufficient tensile strength when cured to lock at least the outermost fibers in place and still allow the fibers to be easily broken out of the assembly for termination and splicing purposes. Suitable materials for the inner layer have tensile strength greater than 10 MPa.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,164 discloses an optical fiber assembly for blown installation, comprising a fiber unit having at least one optical fiber. The unit has a coating comprising an external layer of a material containing hollow glass beads at least some of which project from the outer surface of the external layer. The coating also has an inner, buffer layer of a material having a lower modulus of elasticity than that of the material of the external layer and an intermediate layer of material disposed between the external and inner layers.

Blown optical fiber unit and method of manufacturing


A crankshaft flaw detection device (1) used for detecting flaws in the crank pin, web, and fillet section of a crankshaft comprises: a pair of shaft flaw detection heads (2, 3) configured so as to be capable of sandwiching the crank pin (C2) therebetween, and having a first probe (2b) capable of detecting flaws on the shaft surface of the crank pin (C2) or a second probe (3b) capable of detecting flaws in a fillet section at the base of the shaft; and a perpendicular surface flaw detection head (4) configured so as to be capable of coming in contact with the crank pin (C2) and having a third probe (4b) capable of detecting flaws in the side surface of the web (C3). The crankshaft flaw detection device (1) is characterized by the perpendicular surface flaw detection head (4) and the pair of shaft flaw detection heads (2, 3) being movable within the perpendicular surface

A crankshaft, which is a component of an engine, includes journal sections, crank pins, and webs each for coupling the journal section and the crank pin to each other. When the crankshaft is delivered, a quality inspection (ultrasonic examination) is required for these sections. The quality inspection is generally carried out through manual scanning of probes. However, the manual inspection takes a very much time, and thus requires many man-hours for a large crankshaft having a large diameter or many numbers of pins.
On the other hand, a system for automating a quality inspection for a cylindrical shaft used for turbine and the like without the crank pin sections (eccentric sections) is known as disclosed in Patent Literature 1. This system is a system in which a probe is brought in contact with a surface of the shaft, and peripheral scanning for flaw detection is carried out while the shaft is being rotated. The surface flaw detection for the journal section can be automatically carried out by rotating the crankshaft in this system. However, the surface flaw detection cannot be carried out on the crank pin which revolves eccentrically in this system. In other words, the crank pin cannot be rotated about the axial center of the crank pin, and the system cannot be applied to scanning for the flaw detection other than that for the journal sections.


An integrated device, used for selectively generating waking vibrations or sounds in alarm watches or in communications equipment such as cellullar or pager phones, is disclosed. In the device, first and second vibration members are set in a ring case and respectively generate waking vibrations and waking sounds. The second vibration member is made of a synthetic resin film, with two inner terminals being connected to both ends of a coil. A lead panel integrally extends from the edge of the second vibration member, thus being exposed to the outside of the device. Two outer terminals are provided on the outside end of the lead panel and are connected to the inner terminals through copper wires, thus connecting the coil to a PCB. The second vibration member, originally used for generating waking sounds, is thus used as a circuit board for the coil.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates, in general, to an integrated device used for selectively generating waking vibrations or sounds in alarm watches or in communications equipment such as cellular or pager phones and, more particularly, to an integrated device provided with a vibration member for selectively generating waking sounds in the device, the vibration member being made of a synthetic resin film, thus being used as a circuit board for a coil of the device.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In typical communications equipment such as cellular or pager phones, a vibrator for generating calling vibrations is comprised of a pendulum, which is eccentrically mounted to the tip of the rotating shaft of a rotor with a stator surrounding the rotating shaft of the rotor. When the stator is turned on, the rotor is rotated along with the rotating shaft, thus making the pendulum eccentrically rotate while generating calling vibrations. Such typical cellular or pager phones also individually have a buzzer, which is separated from the above vibrator and is to generate calling sounds. The typical cellular or pager phones thus allow users to select the operational mode between a vibration mode and a sound mode.
Since both the vibrator, with both a long rotating shaft and a large-diameter stator, and the buzzer are separately provided in a cellular or pager phone, the typical cellular or pager phones regrettably fail to accomplish the recent trend of compactness, thinness, lightness and slimness of the phones. The separated vibrator and buzzer also increase the number of elements of the cellular or pager phones, thus complicating the production process and increasing the production cost of such phones.
In an effort to overcome such problems, an integrated device, used for selectively generating calling vibrations or calling sounds in cellular or pager phones, is proposed. Such a known integrated device has first and second vibration members, which are set in a ring case and are used for generating calling vibrations and calling sounds, respectively. However, the second vibration member, which is used for selectively generating calling sounds, is made of a thin metal plate, thus being somewhat, insensitive to frequency and generating dull sounds. Another problem of the known integrated device resides in that it has been provided with a separate circuit board for connecting a coil of the device to the PCB of a cellular or pager phone, thus failing to effectively overcome the problems caused by the separated vibrator and buzzer.

Device for generating waking vibrations or sounds


The systems and methods described herein related generally to a device that enables the directional control of flow through an anatomical tract of the body. More particularly, the device described herein includes a valve from a plurality of projections. In some implementations, the projections are configured as flaps, posts, or any combination thereof. In some implementations, the device is implanted into a patient's esophagus to prevent gastroesophageal reflux disease. The plurality of projections allow flow into a patient's stomach while substantially preventing a backflow of undesired fluids from the patient's stomach to the patient's esophagus.

Gastrointestinal Reflux Disease (GERD) is an increasingly common chronic condition, with clinical effects that range from mild intermittent discomfort following dietary indiscretion to severe chronic pain and increased risk of esophageal cancer. GERD affects an estimated 23-34% of the US population, with about 8% suffering severe or daily disruptive GERD. In addition to the discomfort produced by GERD, it is a demonstrable cause of the metaplastic condition known as Barrett's Esophagus, which has been shown to substantially increase the risk of esophageal cancer.
About 20% of patients with chronic GERD require long-term acid suppressive therapy and conservative estimates for proton pump inhibitor treatment failure suggest more than 1 million inadequately treated US patients. The most severe of these patients may undertake surgery, resulting in tens of thousands of major surgeries annually.

Implantable device for directional control of flow within the anatomic tracts of the body

The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Inc.


The present invention refers to a method for compensating the non-linear distortions of high-frequency signals, especially when observing the amplitude modulated signals with narrow band receiver. The invention refers also to a device to carry out the said method. In the invention it is supposed that the ratio between the frequency fIN of the input signal SA and the sampling frequency fS that dictates the operation of the analogue-digital converter (3) is an arbitrary irrational number.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention refers to a method for compensating the non-linear distortions of high-frequency signals, especially when observing the amplitude modulated signals with narrow band receiver. The invention refers also to a device for carrying out said method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A device known as digital radio has been long used in processing high-frequency signals. The latter divides the processed signal to two parts and mixes them with internally generated sine and cosine reference signal of the same frequency as the processed signals. The resulting signals are known as I and Q branches. Thus the information hidden in the carrier frequency is brought to the baseband by the square amplitude demodulation.
Sampling frequency at such way of processing signals is usually chosen to be an integer multiple of the frequency of the input signal. But this may cause problems because of the non-linearity of the analogue-digital converters and other electronic components. This non-linearity can be described as an additional amplitude modulation of the input signal, resulting in the higher harmonic signals appearing in the frequency band of interest and distorting the amplitude measurements of the observed signal. Additionally, the integer ratio between the sampling frequency and the input frequency means that the analogue-digital converter is operating in only N points and not in its entire operational range. Thus, the period of the additional modulation repeats after every N points.
The said problem was partially solved by L. Doolittle (L. Doolittle, H. Ma, Digital Low-Level RF Control Using Non-IQ Sampling, LINAC 2006) who proposed such sampling frequency change that the ratio between the latter and the frequency of the input signal is a rational number. Once chosen, the said ratio remains unchanged. In this case the higher harmonic frequency signals move away from the frequency of interest and the analogue-digital converter operates in more points but still not in its entire range. If the analogue-digital converter operates in more points this means that the frequency of repeating of the additional modulation diminishes. There are more higher harmonic components in the output signal but the power of a single component is lower (the overall power of the error always remains the same).

Method for compensating the non-linear distortions of high-frequency signals and device for carrying out said method


Features are disclosed for estimating a noise level using a variable step size. An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may be configured to perform echo cancellation. The acoustic echo canceller may determine an estimated echo using a playback signal. The acoustic echo canceller also may determine an estimated error using the estimated echo and a microphone signal. A variable step size may be determined using the estimated error and the microphone signal. Noise reduction may be performed using the variable step size.

A device for bi-directional audio-based communication typically may include both a loudspeaker and a microphone. The loudspeaker may be used to play back audio signals received from a remote ("far-end") source, while the microphone may be used to capture audio signals from a local ("near-end") source. In the case of a telephone call, for example, the near- and far-end sources may be people engaged in a conversation, and the audio signals may contain speech. An acoustic echo occurs when the far-end playback signal emitted by the loudspeaker is captured by the microphone, after undergoing reflections in the local environment.
An acoustic echo canceller (AEC) may be used to remove acoustic echo from an audio signal captured by a microphone, in order to facilitate improved communication. The AEC typically filters the microphone signal by determining an estimate of the acoustic echo, and subtracting the estimate from the microphone signal to produce an approximation of the true near-end signal. The estimate is obtained by applying a transformation to the far-end playback signal emitted from the loudspeaker. The transformation may implemented using an adaptive algorithm such as least mean squares, normalized least mean squares, or their variants, which are known to persons of ordinary skill in the art.
The adaptive transformation relies on a feedback loop, which continuously adjusts a set of coefficients that are used to calculate the estimated echo from the playback signal. Different environments produce different acoustic echoes from the same playback signal, and any change in the local environment may change the way that echoes are produced. By using a feedback loop to continuously adjust the coefficients, an AEC can adapt its echo estimates to the local environment in which it operates.
The feedback-based adaptation scheme works better in some situations than in others, so it may be beneficial to increase or decrease the rate of adaptation in different situations. The rate of adaptation may be controlled by adjusting a parameter referred to as "step size." A larger step size will increase the rate of adaptation, and a smaller step size will decrease it.
Many communication devices also include a noise reduction ("NR") module. Noise spectrum estimation is an important component of speech enhancement or recognition systems. If the noise estimate is too low, audible residual noise may cause annoyance, whereas if the noise estimate is too high, distortion of speech may result in intelligibility loss.
Some noise-reduction systems estimate and update the noise spectrum during silent segments of the signal (e.g., pauses) using a voice-activity-detection (VAD) algorithm. Such systems may be used in environments with stationary noise that is unchanging (e.g., white noise). However, such systems have trouble performing noise reduction in more realistic environments with noise that may be constantly changing. Such systems that rely on VAD algorithms are unable to estimate and update the noise spectrum during non-silent segments of the signal during which noise in an environment may be changing.
Other noise-reduction systems estimate and update the noise spectrum using noisy signal statistics. However, such systems fail to take into account information gained from acoustic echo cancellation.
Although these problems have been framed in reference to an audio-based communication system, the same problems may be encountered in any field in which echo cancellation and noise estimation is performed. The disclosure described herein is equally applicable to any such fields.

Noise estimation algorithm for non-stationary environments


Operation equipment for a vehicle includes a display having a touch switch with a touch sensor for detecting an operation of a passenger or a driver of the vehicle; an electronic control unit; and a driving sensor for detecting the vehicle moving or stopping. The display displays the touch switch corresponding to a predetermined function. The electronic control unit determines that the predetermined function is allowed to perform when the driving sensor detects the vehicle stopping. The electronic control unit determines that the predetermined function is allowed to perform when the touch sensor detects the operation of the passenger.

Operation equipment mounted on a vehicle is suitably used for a vehicle navigation system. The vehicle navigation system displays a map of geography around the vehicle, calculates a route from a present position of the vehicle to a destination, and guides in accordance with the route. The navigation system includes a display having a touch switch for operating various operations such as a setting of the destination, a starting operation of guidance, a scrolling operation of the map, and a changing operation of a scale of the map.
The navigation system is disposed in an instrument panel between a driver seat and a passenger seat so that both of a driver and a passenger can operate the navigation system easily and view the display of the navigation system easily. Further, while the vehicle is moving, the passenger or the driver cannot operate the touch switch except for a certain switch because of a safety. Here, the certain switch provides minimum operations in the navigation system, for example, the changing operation of the scale of the map and the like.
The driver is required to concentrate on driving the vehicle. Therefore, it is preferred that the driver cannot operate any switch in the navigation system. However, the navigation system according to a prior art uniformly prohibits both of the driver and the passenger from operating the touch switch. Therefore, the passenger, who does not drive the vehicle, cannot operate the switch.
In view of the above problem, a vehicle navigation system is disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. H09-292261. This navigation system includes a sensor having a generator and a receiver. The generator generates and emits a supersonic wave, and the receiver receives the supersonic wave. The generator and the receiver are disposed on a driver's side of a front panel in a passenger compartment of the vehicle. The front panel includes a display of the navigation system. While the vehicle is moving, the generator emits the supersonic wave. Then, the receiver receives a reflection of the supersonic wave. When a hand or an arm of the driver crosses the supersonic wave emitted from the generator, the receiver receives the reflection of the supersonic wave reflected by the hand or the arm of the driver, so that the sensor detects the driver's hand or arm. Then, the navigation system prohibits some predetermined operations, which are operated with a touch switch of a display or a panel switch disposed around the display. On the other hand, when the touch switch or the panel switch is operated without detecting the driver's hand or arm, the navigation system determines the switch is operated by the passenger, so that the navigation system allows all operations, which are operated with the touch switch and the panel switch.
However, an outside sensor such as the generator and the receiver is necessitated in the navigation system to detect the driver's hand or arm. Therefore, a manufacturing cost of the navigation system is increased. Further, the dimensions of the navigation system become large, since the outside sensor is required to be disposed on the front panel separately.


A shift control apparatus for an automatic transmission includes a pre-shift device that operates a predetermined synchromesh, based on a prediction by a predicting device. It thereby couples together a transmission input shaft (with a friction transfer mechanism that has not been used to effect a current gear position) and a transmission output shaft, through a predetermined gear train, and brings them into a standby state. The time when it is determined that the friction transfer mechanism that has not been used to effect of the current gear position has been disengaged is taken as the timing with which the synchromesh coupling operation by the standby control is started, regardless of the completion of the achievement of the current gear position.

In recent years, an automated manual transmission (hereafter, abbreviated as "automated MT") has been developed in an automobile technical field. This is a system used for automating operation of a clutch configured with a friction mechanism and operation of a synchromesh as a gear change mechanism in a gear type transmission which originally used to be used as a manual transmission. In the automated MT, when shifting is started, a clutch for transferring/interrupting torque of an engine as a driving force source is disengaged and a synchromesh is switched, and then the clutch is engaged again.
In JP-A-2000-234654 and JP-A-2001-295898, twin-clutch automated MTs are disclosed; the twin-clutch automated MT has two clutches for transferring input torque to a transmission and drive torque is alternately transferred by the two clutches. In the twin-clutch automated MT, when shifting is started, a first clutch that has been transferring torque before the shifting, is gradually disengaged, and a second clutch for the next gear position is gradually engaged; and drive torque is changed from the one equivalent to the current gear ratio to the one equivalent to the next gear ratio. As a result, interruption of the drive torque is avoided and smooth shifting can be achieved.
With respect to the above-mentioned twin-clutch automated MT, a so-called pre-shift control is disclosed in JP-A-10-318361 and JP-A-2003-269592. The pre-shift control is carried out to shorten a time required for shifting to the next gear position. That is, the pre-shift control is done such that, when a gear position is in some position, a next gear position is predicted; a transmission input shaft whose clutch has not been used for a current gear position is selectively coupled to a transmission output shaft by a synchromesh and they are thereby allowed to stand by in the next gear position.
The pre-shift control where the gear position is pre-shifted to the next position makes it possible to enhance a response for gear shifting when the prediction comes true. However, provided that a driver's request shift operation is done by the driver during the pre-shift control for the next shifting, an operation of the synchromesh according to the driver's request shift must be started after the pre-shift control is achieved. And then, when the operation of the synchromesh is completed, the clutch to clutch shift in engagement is started. As a result, the response is degraded.
The invention is to provide a control apparatus for twin-clutch automatic transmissions possible to advance start timing of pre-shift control and enhance the response when a shifting request continuously occurs.

Apparatus and method for controlling automatic transmission


Techniques for data storage using disk drives. To conserve power and reduce heat generation so that higher packaging density is possible, only some of the disk drives in an array may be powered on at any one time. Disk accesses may then be scheduled so that appropriate drives are powered on and off at appropriate times. In addition, various levels of storage services may be provided depending, for example, upon how accessible the drives are to individual clients and upon a level of data redundancy provided. Another advantage includes off-loading of tasks to a controller or processor included within the disk drives themselves. For example, the disk drives themselves may compute error detection or error correction representations and perform data integrity checks based on those representations. Failure simulation may also be performed to verify the ability to recover lost data and the disk drives may be used to convert the data into general formats that may be expected to be more easily read in the future.

Due to such factors as advances in technology, reductions in computer hardware costs and growth of the world wide web, increasing quantities of digital data are being generated worldwide. For example, computer systems in homes, businesses and government are used to generate data in the form of text and other documents, databases, multi-media files, e-mail correspondence, web pages, and so forth. As a result, data storage demands are enormous and are growing over time.
An important aspect of data storage is in backing up the data for both data recovery and archival purposes. Backup solutions depend on some form of data redundancy and provide for the restoration of critical data that may be lost in the event of user errors, software errors, independent media failures (e.g., a failure of a disk drive or other component), correlated failures (e.g., a site disaster or power supply failure), and failed communication links. Data archival often requires that the data can be read back after an extended period of time.
Due to their cost effectiveness, magnetic tapes are most commonly used for backup storage. However, magnetic tapes have a number of drawbacks. For example, random accesses to data are difficult and time-consuming. This is because the tape may need to be mechanically spooled forward or backward in order to access certain data on the tape. In addition, tape systems typically have few tape drives relative to the number of tapes, resulting in low levels of parallelism. Also, tape drive head drift can result in a drive being unable to read data that was recorded by a different drive and may even prevent reading of data that was recorded by the same drive, but at an earlier time. Further, magnetic tape degrades over time, limiting its effectiveness for long-term storage and necessitating frequent testing.
Another important aspect of data storage is in obtaining faster, or nearline, access to data. For example, hierarchical storage management (HSM) systems provide varying accessibility to data by providing disk storage in conjunction with a tape or optical disk storage array or "jukebox." Disadvantages of conventional HSM systems are similar those of tapes systems, as described above. For example, having to load media from the jukebox to a limited number of readers tends to make random accesses unacceptably slow.
It has been suggested that the prices of hard disk drives are approaching that of nearline tapes and, as a result, disks could replace tapes under certain circumstances. "Rules of Thumb in Data Engineering," J. Gray and P. Shenoy, Proc. of Intl. Conf. on Data Engineering, February 2000. Disk drives, however, tend to have higher power requirements than other data storage devices, even when idle, and, thus, tend to be packaged less densely so they stay cool. In addition, disk drives tend to be inflexible in their handling of outstanding access requests in that typically only a small number of outstanding requests are permitted at any one time. Also, disk drives aren't used as removable media for archival purposes.
Therefore, what is needed are improved techniques for data storage. It is to this end that the present invention is directed.

Data storage using disk drives in accordance with a schedule of operations

Hewlett-Packard Development Company, L.P.


A system and method is disclosed by which an implantable cardiac device may deliver tachyarrhythmia therapy in the event of a system fault. A hardware-based safety core provides the logic circuitry for detecting tachyarrhythmias and delivering shock therapy in the event of a fault which disables operation of the device's primary control circuitry. The safety core defibrillator eliminates common mode failure of the primary control circuits used in the primary defibrillator system. Failures in the primary controller memory or execution will activate the safety core defibrillator.

Cardiac rhythm management devices (CRMDs) are implantable devices that provide electrical stimulation to selected chambers of the heart in order to treat disorders of cardiac rhythm. A pacemaker, for example, is a cardiac rhythm management device that paces the heart with timed pacing pulses. The most common condition for which pacemakers are used is in the treatment of bradycardia, where the ventricular rate is too slow. Atrio-ventricular conduction defects (i.e., AV block) that are permanent or intermittent and sick sinus syndrome represent the most common causes of bradycardia for which permanent pacing may be indicated. If functioning properly, the pacemaker makes up for the heart's inability to pace itself at an appropriate rhythm in order to meet metabolic demand by enforcing a minimum heart rate and/or artificially restoring AV conduction. Pacing therapy may also be delivered for the purpose of restoring synchronous ventricular contractions in patients with inter-ventricular or intra-ventricular conduction disorders, termed cardiac resynchronization therapy. Other cardiac rhythm management devices are designed to detect atrial and/or ventricular tachyarrhythmias and deliver electrical stimulation in order to terminate the tachyarrhythmia in the form of a cardioversion/defibrillation shock or anti-tachycardia pacing. Certain combination devices may incorporate any or all of the above functionalities.
CRMD's are complex electronic devices which are subject to failures of various kinds after implantation. It is desirable for such devices to be able to detect when these failures occur and then take action which minimizes harm to the patient.

System and method for providing tachyarrhythmia therapy by implantable device in presence of system faults


Disclosed are a method and device of converting data words into code words. This method inserts 2p p guided bits before inputting each set of data words, performs a pre-defined operation, and generates 2p data sequences with different guided bits. It chooses q data sequences from the 2p data sequences for coding, performs a run length limited (RLL) coding with a coding rate m/n, and generates q (d, k) constrained code word sequences. Finally, an optimal (d, k) constrained code word sequence is selected from the q (d, k) constrained code word sequences. The device reduces the circuitry of the RLL coding applied guided scrambling without losing the control of direct current and low frequency components.

Guided scrambling is a member of the multi-mode code. The feature of this technology is that guided scrambling only requires a simple mechanism to encode the data word into a plurality of sets of pseudo-random code words, and uses another mechanism to select the optimal set of code word.
FIG. 1 shows a schematic view of the structure of a conventional guided scrambling run length limited (RLL) coding device. As shown in FIG. 1, the number above the arrow indicates the amount of data in each region. If there are p guided bits, data candidate generating module 101 inserts p bits with value between 0–2p−1 in front of an (L-p)-bit data word and scrambles the word into 2p data word sequences for encoding. RLL coding module 102 receives 2p data word sequences and uses 2p sets of RLL coding circuits to code them into 2p code word sequences satisfying the (d, k) constrain, where d and k are the minimum and the maximum numbers of the consecutive zeros in the non-return to zero (NRZ) signals.
Selecting module 103 selects a code word sequence with the lowest direct current and low frequency components from the 2p code word sequences satisfying the (d, k) constrain for output. The selection is based on the calculation of digital sum value (DSV), that is, the difference of the number of bits between the high level and low level of all RLL code words prior to the calculation time; then, the minimum absolute value of the final DSV is outputted; alternatively, the DSV at different time is squared and accumulated, and the one with the minimum value is outputted. However, conventional guided scrambling RLL coding device requires a large number (i.e., 2p sets) of RLL coding circuitry, even though it improves the direct current and low frequency components of the RLL coding and avoids the appearance of synchronization pattern.
Guided scrambling shows good effects in direct current controlling for the RLL code words conversion, but the RLL coding circuitry is too complex. Therefore, the present invention focuses on a converting method and device satisfying two conditions: (1) the adding of the scrambled data words to the output RLL code words will not lose the control effect of the direct current and low frequency component, and (2) the RLL coding circuitry complexity is effectively reduced.

Method and device of converting data words into code words

Industrial Technology Research Institute


A noise reduction apparatus, an aircraft, and a noise reduction method capable of increasing the amount of noise reduction are provided. The noise reduction apparatus 1 includes a porous plate 2 disposed to face a fluid flow, the porous plate 2 including a bend region 5 bent toward an upstream side of the fluid flow. The bend region 5 is provided at the end portion 6 of the porous plate 2, and has a concave R-shape on an upstream side of the fluid flow.

As a technique for reducing a noise of an aircraft, for example, it is known to dispose a solid fairing or a porous plate in front of a main landing gear inter-wheel section (see Non-Patent Literatures 1 to 3 and Patent Literature 1). By disposing a solid fairing or a porous plate in front of an object, the flow velocity is reduced by suppressing the inflow of air to its downstream, and turbulence of the airflow is suppressed. This reduces the noise generated mainly around downstream objects.

Noise reduction apparatus, aircraft, and noise reduction method


A system is provided for measuring a distance within a railroad system. The railroad system includes a rail vehicle having a plurality of pairs of wheels, where the plurality of pairs of wheels are in respective contact with a pair of rails. The system further includes a transducer positioned on an outer surface location of the rail vehicle. The transducer is configured to emit a signal to an object located the distance away from the transducer. The transducer is configured to receive the signal having reflected from the object along the distance to the transducer. The system further includes a controller coupled to the transducer to receive transmission and reception data of the signal to determine the distance. A method is also provided for measuring a distance within a railroad system, as well as a kit for converting a rail vehicle from a first configuration to a second configuration.

The present invention relates to railroad systems, and more particularly, to a system and method for measuring a distance within a railroad system. In railroad systems, such as those including a locomotive traveling along a pair of rails, for example, various distance parameters should be monitored to ensure proper operation of the railroad system. The monitoring of these distances have varying applications. For example, when a locomotive is reversing toward an object positioned in the reversal direction, the distance between the back end of the locomotive and the object should be monitored to ensure that the locomotive does not make unintended contact with the object. In another application of monitoring distance parameters during the operation of a railroad system, relative distance shifts of the rails during operation of the railroad system may be monitored to guard against possible derailment.
As illustrated in FIG. 1, in conventional railroad systems, a truck 11 is employed to travel over a pair of rails, and includes a phased array 13 (FIG. 2) adjacent an undersurface of the truck 11 which is contacted against a respective rail 15 as the truck 11 travels over the pair of rails. As shown in FIG. 3, the phased array 13 of the truck 11 emits a plurality of radio frequency signals 17, which subsequently deflect from an imperfection 19 within the rail 15 and are detected by a detection mechanism 21. Although FIG. 3 illustrates an imperfection 19 located within one particular location of the rail 15, the imperfection 19 may be located at any location within the rail 15. Once the truck 11 has finished traveling over the rail 15, data supplied from the detection mechanism 21 provides a detailed analysis of imperfections 19 within the rail 15 at each location along the rail 15.
Although conventional railroad systems provide a truck (or similar vehicle) to travel over a pair of rails and provide a detailed analysis of the imperfections within the rail, such railroad systems neither provide an analysis of relative distance shifts of the rails as an indication of possible derailment, nor provide such an analysis under real operating conditions. Thus, it would be advantageous to provide a system for measuring distances related to the locomotive traveling along the rail under real locomotive operating conditions.

System, method and kit for measuring a distance within a railroad system


An exit obstruction warning device monitoring an exit door and broadcasting an alert regarding an obstruction blocking the exit door is provided. The exit obstruction warning device includes a sensor, a processing module, and an output module. The sensor monitors the exit door for the obstruction. The output module broadcasts an alarm notification in response to the obstruction. The processing module receives a signal from the sensor that describes the obstruction blocking the exit door. The processing module processes the signal and operates the output module based on the signal.

An exit door provides an easy to locate opening that enables quick egress from a building. The exit door is built into an outside door of the building to allow the quick egress. Most exit doors open to an egress area outside the building. Alternatively, an exit door can open to a structure such as stairs that lead to the egress area outside the building. Local ordinances and/or state laws necessitate proper operation of the exit door to allow occupants of a building to quickly exit the building in the event of an emergency. Furthermore, emergencies such as fires, active shooter, and/or earthquakes, among other events necessitate proper operation of the exit door.
Similar to any entry or exit structure associated with the building, a variety of obstructions are capable of blocking the exit door of the building. Items such as, boxes, pallets, containers, and/or mobile structures, among others can be accidently or purposefully placed in an area of operation associated with the exit door. Such obstructions prevent operation of the exit door and deem the exit door unusable during an emergency. Static warning signs can be helpful in deterring the obstruction of the exit door. However, such warning signs rarely stop most preventable obstructions of the exit door.
Various systems and methodologies are known in the art. However, their structure and means of operation are substantially different from the present disclosure. The other inventions fail to solve all the problems taught by the present disclosure. At least one embodiment of this invention is presented in the drawings below and will be described in more detail herein.


Nodes in a datagram network are arranged to route datagrams in dependence on a batch start time parameter contained in the header of datagrams belonging to a batch. A network operator is thus able to offer a service that is connection-oriented at the batch level, without necessarily being connection-oriented at the message level. This is advantageous to the network operator since it allows the packet flow generated by the user to be re-routed during the transmission of the message. The user can arrange those datagrams which are required to be delivered from the network in the same order as they are supplied to the network into batches. In that way, the user is not adversely affected by route changes made by the network operator in order to improve the performance of the datagram network.

1. Technical Field
According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method of operating a datagram network node having at least one input channel and a plurality of output channels, said method comprising the steps of:
2. Related Art
It is now common for messages (whether they be telephone conversations or data file transfers) to be divided into packets before transmission across a communications network. This is advantageous to the operator of the communications network because packets from one message can be interspersed with packets from another message. That enables a more efficient utilisation of the available network resources.
Some packet networks offer the user a connectionless service. This means that a user using the network to transfer packets cannot rely on the network to output the packets in the same order he or she puts them in. In applications such as data transfer between two computers, the burden this places on the user is found to be acceptable. This is because computers are often supplied with networking software which controls the computer to attach a sequence number to each outgoing packet when it acts as a sender and to order received packets in accordance with their sequence number when it acts as a receiver.
Other packet networks offer the user a connection-oriented service. Here, the network can be relied on to output the packets derived from a given message in the same order as that in which they are supplied to the network. In practice, in order to offer such a service it is found necessary to send every one of the packets derived from a given message along the same route. Most telecommunications networks provide a connection-oriented service and this requirement for persistent routes reduces a telecommunications network operator's ability to manage the traffic traversing its network. Over recent years, computer data has provided an increasing proportion of telecommunications traffic. As explained above, data transfer between computers does not require a connection-oriented service—hence a telecommunications network that can take advantage of this and offer a connection-oriented service only to those that require it is becoming increasingly desirable.

British Telecommunications public limited company


The cargo system of the preferred embodiment includes a container, a first mount coupled to the container, and a second mount coupled to the container for movement between an engaged position and a disengaged position. The cargo system is preferably attachable and securable to a roof rack of a vehicle having a first bar and a second bar.

Cargo systems that secure additional cargo to a roof rack of a vehicle are generally known. These cargo systems are typically designed with an individual adjustment point located at each corner of the cargo system. With four adjustments points (typically including nuts and bolts), these cargo systems require significant time to secure on, and remove from, the roof rack. This limitation typically dissuades a user from removing the cargo system when the cargo system is not necessary for additional cargo, which results in reduced fuel efficiency for the vehicle.
Thus, there is a need in the cargo system field to create an improved cargo system that is attachable to a roof rack. This invention provides such improvement.


The present invention provides a direct backlight module and a liquid crystal display module using the backlight module. The backlight module includes a backplane, a diffusion platen arranged inside the backplane, and backlight sources mounted to the backplane and located under the diffusion plate. The backplane includes a bottom board and side boards connected to the bottom board. The bottom board forms receiving openings. The backlight sources are mounted to a side of the bottom board that is distant from the diffusion plate to correspond to the receiving openings. With the backplane having a bottom board that includes a circumferential frame and braces collectively defining receiving openings and backlight sources being mounted to a side of the bottom board that is distant from a diffusion plate to correspond to the receiving openings, it only need to remove the backlight sources in maintaining or replacing the backlight sources.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of liquid crystal displaying, and in particular to a direct backlight module and a liquid crystal display module using the backlight module.
2. The Related Arts
Liquid crystal display (LCD) has a variety of advantages, such as thin device body, low power consumption, and being free of radiation, and is thus widely used. Most of the LCDs that are currently available in the market are backlighting LCDs, which comprise a liquid crystal panel and a backlight module. The operation principle of the liquid crystal panel is that liquid crystal molecules are interposed between two parallel glass substrates and the liquid crystal molecules are controlled to change direction by application of electricity to circuits of the glass substrates in order to refract out light emitting from the backlight module for generating images. Since the liquid crystal panel itself does not emit light, light must be provided by the backlight module in order to normally display images. Thus, the backlight module is one of the key components of an LCD. The backlight module can be classified in two types, namely side-edge backlight module and direct backlight module, according to the position where light gets incident. The direct backlight module comprises a light source, such as a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) or a light-emitting diode (LED), which is arranged at the back side of the liquid crystal panel to form a planar light source that directly provides lighting to the liquid crystal panel.
Referring to FIG. 1, a liquid crystal display device that uses a direct backlight module comprises a direct backlight module 100, a mold frame 300 arranged on the direct backlight module 100, a liquid crystal display panel 500 arranged on the mold frame 300, and a front enclosure 700 arranged on the liquid crystal display panel 500. The direct backlight module 100 comprises a backplane 102, a diffusion plate 104 received in the backplane 102, and a backlight source 106 arranged in the backplane 102 and under the diffusion plate 104. The backplane 102 comprises a bottom board 122 and side boards 124 connected to the bottom board 122. The backlight source 106 is mounted to the bottom board 122. The backlight source 106 comprises a printed circuit board 162 and a plurality of LED (Light-Emitting Diode) lights 164 mounted to and electrically connected to the printed circuit board 162. When some or one of the LED lights 164 is broken and must be maintained or replaced, the front enclosure 700, the liquid crystal display panel 500, the mold frame 300, and the diffusion plate 104 must be first removed. This may inevitably causes potential damage to these components of the front enclosure 700, the liquid crystal display panel 500, the mold frame 300, and the diffusion plate 104 and results in increased maintenance cost. Further, removing and re-mounting these components of the front enclosure 700, the liquid crystal display panel 500, the mold frame 300, and the diffusion plate 104 consumes a great amount of labor and materials, making the maintenance cost high.

Direct backlight module and liquid crystal display module using the backlight module

SHENZHEN CHINA STAR OPTOELECTRONICS TECHNOLOGY CO., LTD.


A zoom lens camera including a zoom taking lens having at least one variable power lens group movable along an optical axis direction thereof, a device having a movable member separate from the zoom taking lens, a rotatable cam ring, at least one cam groove formed in the cam ring to move the movable variable power lens group in accordance with the rotation of the cam ring, and a cam member made separately from the cam ring and secured to the cam ring and having at least one cam groove for moving the movable member.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a zoom lens camera having a zoom taking lens and an optical member which is moved in association with the zooming operation of the zoom taking lens.
2. Description of Related Art
A known zoom taking lens of a zoom lens camera includes a cam ring which rotates about an optical axis to move variable power lens groups along the optical axis direction to effect a zooming operation. In such a zoom lens camera, other optical members, for example, a variable power lens of a finder optical system or an illuminating angle varying member of a strobe unit are moved in association with the zooming operation. To this end, the cam ring of the zoom taking lens is provided not only with a cam groove along which the variable power lens group of the zoom taking lens moves, but also cam grooves along which the variable power lens of the finder optical system or the illuminating angle varying member of the strobe unit moves.
However, there are drawbacks caused by the provision of the various cam grooves on the cam ring.
Namely, since the track of movement of the variable power lens group of the zoom taking lens is different from that of the variable power lens of the finder optical system or the illuminating angle varying member of the strobe unit, it is difficult to provide the corresponding cam grooves within a limited space of the cam ring. Furthermore, the locations of the various kinds of cam grooves are restricted, resulting in a decreased freedom of arrangement of the finder optical system or the strobe unit and a decrease in strength of the cam ring. In addition, the presence of the cam grooves makes it difficult to intercept light or optically isolate the cam ring of the zoom taking lens.
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a zoom lens camera in which a variable power lens group of a zoom taking lens as well as other optical members are moved by the rotation of a cam ring of the zoom taking lens, wherein the freedom of arrangement of the optical members is increased without decreasing the strength of the cam ring, and wherein light interception can be easily realized.


Foldable, acrylic, high refractive index ophthalmic device materials containing a UV absorbing chromophore are cured by exposure to blue light using a benzoylphosphine oxide photoinitiator.

The two most common types of polymerization initiators for ophthalmic device materials are thermal initiators and photoinitiators. Typical thermal initiators, including free radical initiators such as peroxides, initiate polymerization as temperature is increased. In some cases, two or three temperature tiers are involved such that curing involves a schedule of temperature/time combinations. Thermal initiation generally requires holding the monomer composition at elevated temperatures for lengthy periods of time. Total cure times of twenty-four hours are not unusual. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,892.
Photoinitiators generally offer the advantage of relatively short cure times and, unlike thermal initiators, can be used at ambient conditions, eliminating the need for high-temperature equipment or special ovens. Photoinitiators are activated by light of one or more specified wavelengths, rather than heat. Photoinitiation of ophthalmic lens materials is known. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,290,892.
The most common types of photoinitiators known or used for curing ophthalmic lens polymers are probably UV-sensitive photoinitiators. UV-sensitive photoinitiators are, however, generally not suitable for use with lens materials that contain a UV-absorbing chromophore. UV-absorbing chromophores present in an ophthalmic lens composition can interfere with the ability of UV-sensitive photoinitiators to efficiently cure the composition. Today, UV-absorbing chromophores are frequently incorporated in ophthalmic lens materials in order to reduce or block UV light from reaching the retina. Although methods are known for temporarily "blocking" UV absorbing chromophores during processing, thereby preventing interference with a UV-initiator, these methods require that the UV-absorber be "un-blocked" after the composition is cured. The UV chromophore can be "un-blocked" by either chemical or thermal means. "Un-blocking" is generally complicated and can add 4-6 hours to processing times, offsetting some or all of the time advantages offered by photoinitiators.
In addition to UV-sensitive photoinitiators, visible-light initiators are also known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,957 discloses photopolymerizable compositions useful in forming an intraocular lens in situ. The compositions are delivered into the natural lens capsule or a thin plastic shell substitute and then polymerized. The reference compositions contain 90-99.99% by weight of at least one polyfunctional acrylic and/or methacrylic acid ester. Suitable acid esters include bisphenol A or bishydroxypolyalkoxy bisphenol A derivatives lengthened with ethylene oxide or propylene oxide.
The compositions of the '957 patent are cured using photoinitiators which absorb light in the range 400-500 nm. Suitable initiators include alphadiketones, in particular camphorquinone, benzil and phenanthrene quinone, and mono and bisacylphosphine oxides. According to the '957 patent, particularly preferred initiators are "for example 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylophosphine oxide and bis-(2,6-dichlorobenzoyl)-4-n-propylphenylphosphine oxide or bis-(2,6-dichlorobenzoyl)-4-n-butylphenylphosphine oxide" (see Col. 3, lines 12-16).
International Patent Application Publication No. WO 96/28762 also discloses photocurable compositions comprising acrylic components. The compositions contain specified amounts of di(meth)acrylates, poly(meth)acrylates, urethane(meth)acrylates, and oligomeric di(meth)acrylates based on bisphenol A or bisphenol F. The photoinitiator may be "any photoinitiator which forms free radicals when irradiated suitably." Suitable classes include benzoin ethers; acetophenones; benzil; anthraquinones; benzoylphosphine oxides (e.g., 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide); benzophenones. Photoinitiators particularly suitable for use with argon ion lasers include 2,4,6-trimethylbenzoyldiphenylphosphine oxide.

Method of preparing foldable high refractive index acrylic ophthalmic device materials


Disclosed is a disk drive to characterize misaligned servo wedges. A disk of the disk drive includes a plurality of circumferential tracks, in which, each track includes a plurality of servo wedges spaced sequentially around the circumference of the track wherein the servo wedges may be misaligned relative to the head of the disk drive that moves about a pivot. A servo controller is used to characterize the misaligned servo wedges relative to the head during a seek operation by implementing the following operations: commanding the head to perform a seek operation from a starting track to an ending track; obtaining samples of wedge-to-wedge time (WTWT) values corresponding to time intervals between identified servo wedges for sampled tracks traversed during the seek operation; calculating WTWT variations for each sample; and calculating a calibrated misalignment value for each sample based upon WTWT variations.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to disk drives. More particularly, the present invention relates to a disk drive that characterizes misaligned servo wedges.
2. Description of the Prior Art and Related Information
Today, computing devices such as personal computers, personal digital assistants, cell-phones, etc., are routinely used at work, at home, and everywhere in-between. Computing devices advantageously enable the use of application specific software, file sharing, the creation of electronic documents, and electronic communication and commerce through the Internet and other computer networks. Typically, each computing device has a storage peripheral such as a disk drive.
A huge market exists for disk drives for mass-market computing devices such as desktop computers and laptop computers, as well as small form factor (SFF) disk drives for use in mobile computing devices (e.g. personal digital assistants (PDAs), cell-phones, digital cameras, etc.). To be competitive, a disk drive should be relatively inexpensive and provide substantial capacity, rapid access to data, and reliable performance.
Disk drives typically employ a moveable head actuator to frequently access large amounts of data stored on a disk. One example of a disk drive is a hard disk drive. A conventional hard disk drive has a head disk assembly ("HDA") including at least one magnetic disk ("disk"), a spindle motor for rapidly rotating the disk, and a head stack assembly ("HSA") that includes a head gimbal assembly (HGA) with a moveable transducer head for reading and writing data. The HSA forms part of a servo control system that positions the moveable transducer head over a particular track on the disk to read or write information from and to that track, respectively.
Typically, a conventional hard disk drive includes a disk having a plurality of concentric tracks. Each surface of each disk conventionally contains a plurality of concentric data tracks angularly divided into a plurality of data sectors. In addition, special servo information may be provided on each disk to determine the position of the moveable transducer head.
The most popular form of servo is called "embedded servo" wherein the servo information is written in a plurality of servo wedges that are angularly spaced from one another and are interspersed between data sectors around each track of each disk.
Each servo wedge typically includes a phase lock loop (PLL) field, a servo synch mark (SSM) field, a track identification (TKID), a wedge ID field having a binary encoded wedge ID number to identify the wedge, and a group of servo bursts (e.g. an alternating pattern of magnetic transitions) which the servo control system of the disk drive samples to align the moveable transducer head with or relative to a particular track. Typically, the servo control system moves the transducer head toward a desired track during a course "seek" mode using the TKID field as a control input.
Once the moveable transducer head is generally over the desired track, the servo control system uses the servo bursts to keep the moveable transducer head over that track in a fine "track follow" mode. During track following mode, the moveable transducer head repeatedly reads the wedge ID field of each successive servo wedge to obtain the binary encoded wedge ID number that identifies each wedge of the track. In this way, the servo control system continuously knows where the moveable transducer head is relative to the disk.
In contemporary hard disk drives employing embedded servos, it is well known to provide framing of servo data via the servo synch mark (SSM) field. For example, in hard disk drives, a servo synchronization signal based on the moveable transducer head reading a servo synchronization mark (SSM) results in a read/write channel of the disk drive establishing a precise timing reference point for the reading of servo data and for read/write operations.
Today, disks, especially for small form factor (SFF) disk drives, are increasingly being servo-written by external media servo writers before being assembled into disk drives. During external media servo-writing, multiple disks are simultaneously servo-written to without having to be located in a disk drive. Typically, this occurs in a clean-room environment.
The external media servo writer typically controls a rotatable actuator assembly including actuator arms having one or more heads respectively attached to each actuator arm, in which the actuator assembly rotates about a pivot such that the heads are radially positioned over the disks, respectively, in order to write servo wedges onto the disk based upon a timing clock. Thus, servo wedges are written to disks based upon actuator arms and heads rotating about a pre-defined pivot.
Unfortunately, when the externally servo-written disks are later assembled into a disk drive, servo wedge misalignment often occurs due to the different mechanical characteristics of the actuator assemblies of the external servo writer and the disk drive. Particularly, the heads of the disk drive rotate about a different pivot than the heads that were used in the prior external media servo writing process.
Because of this, timing uncertainties are introduced into the servo control system thereby causing problems in seek operations. More particularly, due to this servo wedge misalignment, the servo control system may often be very inefficient in searching for and locking onto servo wedges resulting in long time delays, or in a worse case may never lock onto a servo wedge, resulting in the failure of the disk drive.

Disk drive to characterize misaligned servo wedges


Provided are example methods and systems for treating a subterranean formation. An example method comprises alternately pumping a volume of proppant-laden fluid and a volume of spacer fluid into a wellbore penetrating a subterranean formation. The proppant-laden fluid comprises an aqueous fluid and proppant. The spacer fluid comprises an aqueous fluid. At least one of the proppant-laden fluid or the spacer fluid comprises a synthetic clay. The volume of proppant-laden fluid and the volume of spacer fluid may be pumped in any order. The method further comprises repeating the alternately pumping a volume of proppant-laden fluid and a volume of spacer fluid at least once.

Stimulation techniques may be used to increase the amount of hydrocarbons obtained from a subterranean formation. For example, some subterranean formations may be fractured to improve well productivity by placing or enhancing fractures which run from a wellbore into a surrounding subterranean formation.
Once a fracture has been formed, proppant may be used to prop the fracture and prevent the formation pressure from closing the created or enhanced fracture. One technique for propping a fracture is to pump sequenced stages of treatment fluids into the fracture by pulsing the treatment fluids at short intervals and high pressures. Generally, the treatment fluid stages comprise pumping a proppant-laden fluid into the fracture followed by a "spacer" fluid which separates the next stage of proppant-laden fluid. This sequence may be repeated and the fluid volume varied. The proppant in the proppant-laden fluid may be agglomerated into pillar-like structures which prop the fracture and resist the closure pressure of the subterranean formation. The spacer fluid may be used to fill the voids between the proppant pillars and to temporarily support and prop the fracture. The spacer fluid may be removed and flowed out of the fracture, leaving behind channels between the proppant pillars. These channels may have infinite permeability and as such do not restrict through-flow as a traditional proppant pack would. Therefore, this technique may be used to create proppant pillars within the fracture by creating channels around agglomerated proppant particles. The proppant pillars may then stabilize the fracture in the same manner as a traditional proppant pack. However, forming the proppant into pillars allows for channels to form around and between the individual pillars. As such, hydrocarbons may flow through the channels, where permeability is infinite, instead of through a continuous proppant pack where flow may be limited to the interstitial spaces between the individual proppant particles.
Propping fractures with stabilized pillars provides increased conductivity in the fracture relative to traditional methods utilizing a proppant pack. Propping fractures with stabilized pillars is also beneficial in that less proppant is needed and expenses may be reduced. However; as less proppant is used, if the proppant pillars are not successfully formed the fracture may close or decrease in width. One potential cause of failure is that the polymers within the treatment fluids (e.g., the spacer fluid and the proppant-laden fluid) may hydrolyze over time and lose viscosity. Further, when viscosity is lost in the spacer fluid, the spacer fluid may fail to separate stages of the proppant-laden fluid, which may ultimately result in the closing of the fracture. This risk is more pronounced in subterranean formations with higher temperatures, as high temperatures (e.g., temperatures over 200° F.) may accelerate hydrolysis of the polymers, and stability of the spacer fluid may be important to ensure that the proppant aggregates into pillars spaced apart from each other in order to better prop the fracture and to ensure the formation of sufficient conductive flow paths between the proppant pillars.
The illustrated figures are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environment, architecture, design, or process in which different examples may be implemented.


In an embodiment of the invention, a biosensor comprises a semiconductor region having a doping polarity; a source region located at a first end of the semiconductor layer and a drain region located at a second end of the semiconductor layer; wherein the source region is in electrical communication with a source voltage; a current path from the source region, through the semiconductor layer, to the drain region; a sensing gate region in contact with a first surface of the semiconductor layer and having an opposite polarity as the semiconductor layer; a sensing surface in electrical communication with the sensing gate region; and a dual gate region in contact with a second surface of the semiconductor layer; wherein the dual gate region has a same polarity as the sensing gate region.

The present invention relates to a dual gate junction field effect transistor based biosensor and methods of making the same.
Biosensors can be used to detect ion concentration (such as pH) or the concentration of biomolecules (such as DNA, miRNA, enzymes, and antibodies) via a detector that can output a signal that can be more easily detected. Examples of output signals include optical signals, physiochemical signals, piezoelectric signals, and electrochemical signals.
Existing biosensors have a number of disadvantages. They are generally bulky, uncomfortable, and poorly suited for long-term use on an outpatient basis, for use with infants, or for use with uncooperative patients, such as patients with dementia who tend to remove existing sensors. Furthermore, many biosensors utilize cumbersome electrodes, for example, requiring clipping electrodes on the fingertips or using adhesive patches. These cumbersome electrodes can severely limit the user's mobility and can result in skin irritation.
An improved biosensor that can easily detect a chemical change or the presence of a biological substance is therefore desired.

Junction field effect transistor based biosensor

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS MACHINES CORPORATION


A method and apparatus determining head position of a data transducer head relative to a selected one track of a multiplicity of concentric tracks within a magnetic/disc drive is provided. At least one prerecorded servo sector within a data track includes four time staggered servo bursts. The first pair and second pair of servo bursts are radially offset from each other by generally a burst width such that an edge from each of the pair are substantially co-linear in forming a track null. The first pair is radially offset from the second pair by one-half of the burst width. The first pair is read to determine a first relative amplitude therebetween, and the second pair is read to determine a second relative amplitude therebetween. Additionally, the radially offset and time staggered servo bursts prerecorded on the servo sector can be of varying width and numbered to create the plurality of track nulls within a data track about which the head can be positioned.

The present invention relates to head positioning control systems in magnetic disc drives. More specifically, the present invention relates to a disc drive control system using a gray code and servo bursts provided in track sectors.
Computer systems, or the like, often times employ magnetic disc drives to store information such as computer programs or data. Magnetic disc drives typically include a transducing data head mounted on a slider which "flies" over the surface of a rotating rigid magnetic disc. The transducing data head is positioned over a selected portion of the disc by a drive controller operating an actuator. The data head is used to generate magnetic fields which are impressed onto the surface of the disc during writing of information, and to sense magnetic fields from the disc surface during readback of information.
Information is typically stored in concentric tracks on the surface of the magnetic disc by providing a write signal to the data head to encode flux reversals on the surface of the magnetic disc representing the data to be stored. In retrieving data from the disc, the drive controller controls the actuator so the data head flies above the magnetic disc, sensing the flux reversals on the magnetic disc, and generating a read signal based on those flux reversals. The read signal is then decoded by the drive controller to recover data represented by flux reversals stored on the magnetic disc, and consequently represented in the read signal provided by the data head.
Accurately positioning the data head over a track on the disc is of great importance in writing data to the disc and reading data from the disc. There are typically two steps in positioning the data head over the track. The first is referred to as coarse positioning, and the second is referred to as fine positioning. During coarse positioning, the servo system positions the head over a track on the disc based upon a track address position signal received from either a drive controller controlling the disc drive, or from a host system indicating data to be accessed. The data head is typically smaller than the distance between the tracks on the disc. Therefore, fine positioning is used to appropriately position the data head within the track over which it is positioned during coarse positioning.
When the data head is not properly located within the desired track, it is said to be "off track." The further off track the data head when either writing or reading, the larger the noise to signal ratio for the operation. If the noise to signal ratio is large, the error rate would be great in reading data from the disc. Consequently, the disc drive is not able to properly write and read data.
For thin film heads, wherein writing and reading are performed by the same transducer, fine head positioning can be accomplished by using a signal retrieved from the disc when information from the disc is read. The signal indicates when the transducer is positioned at its preferred location relative to the track, or "ideal track center"; which is typically the same for reading and writing.
Magnetoresistive heads (MR heads) are commonly referred to as dual element heads. An MR head has one transducer which is used to write data to the disc, and another transducer which is used to read data from the disc, i.e. a write transducer and a read transducer. MR heads have spatial separations between the read and write transducers. Additionally, read and write transducers on a single MR head can be spatially separated from one another to a greater or lesser degree than otherwise desired, based on manufacturing tolerances. Thus, when the MR head is finally positioned over a track during a write operation, that same position is not necessarily the ideal track center for the MR head during a read operation. In other words, the ideal center for operating the read transducer is not necessarily the same as the ideal center for operating the write transducer.
One method for providing head position information is to embed servo information in a sufficient number of sectors interleaved within the tracks such that servo information may be periodically sampled and held, and head position thereupon derived from the samples. To be effective, an embedded servo pattern should include information identifying the track as unique from its neighboring tracks, and the pattern should provide a centerline reference as well. The track identification number is useful during track seeking operations to indicate the radial position of the data head transducer relative to the disc surface, and the centerline reference is useful to center the data head transducer over the ideal track centerline during track following operations. Such servo information in the prior art has included a spatial quadrature relationship which may be used to indicate the direction of movement of the transducer relative to the tracks during seeking.
It is known that a data head transducer may function as a very accurate radial position measurement device relative to recorded patterns passing by the head transducer. If the head reads a prerecorded burst pattern, the amplitude of the recovered signal will be proportional to the degree of coincidence radially between the head transducer and the burst pattern. If the head is in alignment with the burst, a maximum amplitude is recovered. If only a fraction of the burst is encountered by the head, the amplitude of the recovered signal will be a fractional amount of full amplitude which is proportional to the radial displacement of the head. If the head misses the burst completely, then no burst amplitude is recovered.
With modern servo writing techniques, embedded sector servo patterns are typically written in multiple phase coherent passes of the data transducer head so as to record servo data field and centering burst patterns which are wider than the electrical width or head gap of the data head transducer. However, a head may be aligned completely with a servo burst, but incapable of resolving relative position within a dimension by which the radial width of the burst exceeds the head width. This dimension is in effect a servo dead zone. As the head moves throughout the dead zone, the amplitude of the signal recovered from the burst will remain substantially invariant. Thus, the servo loop experiences a dead band through this range.
The prior art has attempted to accommodate the dead band by providing two or four time-staggered, radially-offset adjacent bursts having burst edges of a pair of bursts aligned with the track centerline in each servo sector. The relative amplitudes of two selected bursts having opposite edges in alignment with the centerline of the track being followed are then compared to develop a centerline offset error signal. However, this prior approach has not provided accurate position information when the head is not in precise alignment between the two radially aligned edges of the time staggered bursts. This situation becomes important during track seeking operations and most particularly during a transitional operational phase between the track seeking mode and the track following mode, a phase known as track settling.
Moreover, an MR head typically requires operation at two positions within any given track. As such, the ideal MR head position is typically not in precise alignment with the edges of the bursts. Consequently, MR heads typically operate without precise alignment information, which leads to off-track errors. Thus, there is a substantial need to provide precise alignment information to an MR head.
Another drawback of the prior art in both MR and thin film heads is that typically the amplitude variance of each burst due to offsets or other irregularities creates errors and non-linearities in the position signal. For example, errors and non-linearities impede the ability of the drive to resolve head position when moving between bursts because the position signal does not exhibit monotonicity, and can include errors in the position signal of approximately 15%. These errors and non-linearities are exacerbated as track densities continue to increase, which require more precise and accurate positioning of the transducers. Thus, there is substantial need to overcome errors and non-linearities in the positioning of the data head in order to facilitate the increased track densities.

Disc drive system using multiple pairs of embedded servo bursts


A server-based system for generation of heuristic scripts for malware detection includes an automatic heuristics generation system for generating heuristic scripts for curing malware infections; a log database containing logs of events from user computers, including detection of known malicious objects and detection of suspicious objects; a safe objects database accessible containing signatures of known safe objects; a malicious objects database containing signatures of known malicious objects. The system retrieves suspect object metadata from the log database and generates the heuristic script based on data from the safe and malicious objects databases. For multiple computers having the same configuration and having the same logs, only one log common to all the multiple computers is transmitted and only one heuristic script is distributed to the multiple computers. A different and specific heuristic script is distributed to those computers that have a different log than the common log.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to antimalware systems, and more particularly, to methods of generation and optimization of heuristic scenarios for detection of malicious applications and objects.
2. Description of the Related Art
At the present time, the incidence of malware continues to increase. Similarly, the damage caused by malware also continues to increase. Existing computer anti-virus and antimalware systems, particularly those found in corporate networks, primarily rely on identification and detection of known malware threats. However, new threats appear with increasing frequency, and therefore, the problem of detecting and identifying previously unknown threats becomes ever more urgent. With the growth of communication networks, such as the Internet, the need for data exchange, such as through email or file sharing, leads to an ever increasing incidence of infection of computer systems with viruses and other malicious objects.
A number of different types of malware exists, such as Trojans, worms, viruses, links that lead to webpages with malicious programs, vulnerabilities in licensed software and so on. Other examples include malicious applications that cause financial crimes (crimeware), spyware, ransomware, and so on. At the present time, the number of different malicious programs continues to grow, which is due to the fact that the number of personal computers connected to networks continues to grow. Also, there has been a dramatic growth in online services, which also attracts fraudsters and criminals.
At the same time, the capabilities of anti-virus software vendors—both in terms of the equipment available to process new threats, as well as in terms of human experts available to analyze the threats—is finite, and it is impractical to increase these capabilities at a rate commensurate with the increase in the threats.
As the number of new users of the Internet increases, the vulnerabilities due to such malware also increases. Also, as the number of various services available online such as internet banking, virtual money (e.g., webmoney), journals and blogs, online applications, such as Google apps, also leads to increased opportunities for fraudsters and malware creators to practice their art.
The current generation of spammers and hackers is highly skilled in exploiting vulnerabilities in the software, since most of these are professionals with a high degree of computer skills, particularly where it comes to organizing network attacks, extracting money or financial information from witting or unwitting victims. Their activity frequently touches upon not just the banking industry, but also fraud through a technique called Trojan-Ransom, and similar types of attacks. The success of such fraudsters and criminals is at least in part due to various factors such as insufficient protection level of many network based resources, weak or nonexistent laws on the subject of computer crime in many countries, and a lack of awareness or sufficient level of computer illiteracy in many people who utilize computers that are connected to the internet.
It should be noted that conventional methods of combating malware, such as viruses, worms, Trojans, and so on, typically use signatures and heuristic methodologies, and have, for all practical purposed, reached their limits at this time. The traditional signature analysis still permits to quickly and accurately identify a malicious application, but only if the malicious application is already known. The signatures themselves are constantly updated (at this time, this is frequently done on an hourly basis), which has one obvious drawback—such a protection mechanism gives the malware source a substantial amount of time to distribute malicious applications. From the time that the malicious application begins to be distributed, until the anti-virus vender receives it, analyzes, adds it to the signature database, tests a solution to it, and then publishes it on its server, many hours or sometimes days can pass. The problem is even more acute at times because not every step of the process can be automated, and some steps still require manual involvement by human experts.
Heuristic analysis is based on detection of certain features that are frequently characteristic of malicious software (such as specific code fragments, attempts to access registry keys, file names or processes), however, development and testing of each heuristic scenario is a time consuming process. Additionally, there is frequently a risk of false positives with this method. The effectiveness of such heuristic methods is rarely higher than 60-70% (i.e., the percentage of detection of unknown malware at the time of their first appearance).
In the event of infection of a computer by a malicious application, there are a number of known approaches to addressing the infection. Typically, such an approach is based on the anti-virus vendor's server sending certain information to the client computer. An example of such a solution using known templates is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 7,346,928, which describes a system consisting of a server that receives requests from multiple clients for an anti-virus check of their files. Other known systems first generate a scenario for checking a computer for infection, and, based on the analysis of the infection, a cure solution is generated. U.S. Pat. No. 7,093,239 describes a system for analysis of a computer for the presence of malicious code. Such a system generates a template for behavior of each application, and then analyzes the applications for those with behavior whose characteristics match those of a malicious application. However, the conventional approach frequently overloads the network due to a large number of clients requesting resources from the server, and due to a large number of new applications that require analysis.
A review of the conventional techniques shows that existing techniques are not designed for a high rate of growth in the number of new applications, and, as a consequence, are unable to provide a satisfactory level of detection of malicious applications. A new approach to the use of heuristic algorithms is necessary that permits to increase the rate of detection of malicious applications by generating an optimizing new heuristic scenario of malware detection and identification.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for a system and method for automated generation of heuristic scripted algorithms for more efficient malware detection.

System and method for automatic generation of heuristic algorithms for malicious object identification


An Internet-of-Things (IoT)-enabled lock is provided to control access to a secure physical asset. Disparate authorized systems make requests for an access and receive authorization to access the asset. An authorized user with an authorized mobile device is dispatched to the asset pursuant to a request. Proximity-based mobile device authentication is performed when the mobile device is in a configured proximity of the asset and the mobile device establishes a wireless connection to the lock. A second factor authentication is performed on the user that operated the mobile device. A One-Time Code (OTC) is generated and provided to either the lock or the mobile device for access to the asset. Access events and service information for the asset are stored in a shared data repository. Each system has access through to the shared data repository to all auditing information associated with the asset.

Managing access to secure equipment and safes creates significant business challenges and overhead owner/operators and servicing organizations on several levels. Today, the most common way to manage access to these environments, such as a Self-Checkout (SCO) or an Automated Teller Machine (ATM) top boxes and even safes, is through management and distribution of physical keys to employees. This challenge is magnified by the number of different organizations that need to access the same system which typically include the owner, a repair and service organization, and a media replenishment group.
Some approaches may employ digital locks for these systems, with one-time-codes available by calling a call center and requesting access. However, each group that needs access to these secure systems manages and operates their own independent solution for access management and the systems are not connected.
As a result, auditing access to these systems is very challenging and time consuming. Furthermore, when discrepancies are encountered, each group with access produces their own audit records and the groups meet to figure out where the discrepancies arose, which is a very inefficient procedure.

Internet-of-things (IoT) enabled lock with management platform processing