A system, method, and article of manufacture for imaging tubular structures of the human body, such as the digestive tract of a living person, with a medical imaging device such as a computed tomography (CT) scanner and a computer workstation. The CT scanner is used to generate cross-sectional axial images of a human colon which are then transferred to the computer workstation. A colon midline is defined which follows the colon lumen. The computer workstation supports colon midline definition by generating and displaying reformatted cross-sectional images, volume rendered scouts, and interluminal views. Semi-automatic midline defining tools are also included. After the midline is defined, a montage of images is displayed for diagnostic purposes. The images include axial sections, transluminal cross section, and intraluminal volume rendered images.

In industrialized nations, colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of deaths from malignancy. In the United States, almost 150,000 people are found to have colon cancer annually and it causes approximately 60,000 deaths annually. Only lung cancer causes more deaths. Colon cancers are preventable because they usually begin as benign polyps which grow slowly for five to ten years before becoming cancerous. If these polyps are detected and removed, the risk of developing colon cancer is greatly reduced.
Unfortunately, widespread colorectal screening and preventive efforts are hampered by several practical impediments, including limited resources, methodologic inadequacies, and poor patient acceptance leading to poor compliance. In addition, a fecal occult blood test (FOBT) fails to detect the majority of cancers and pre cancerous polyps. Since sigmoidoscopy only examines a portion of the colon, it also misses many polyps. The accuracy of barium enema varies among centers and is therefore not always reliable.
Therefore, there is a need for a new test which can be used to screen for pre cancerous colon polyps. Like all screening tests, this new test must be relatively inexpensive, minimally invasive, and highly specific.
A technique using helical computed tomography (CT) to create computer simulated intraluminal flights through the colon was proposed as a novel approach for detecting colorectal neoplasms by Vining D J, Shifrin R Y, Grishaw E K, Liu K, Gelfand D W, Virtual colonoscopy (Abst), Radiology Scientific Prgm 1994; 193(P):446. This technique was first described by Vining et al. in an earlier abstract by Vining D J, Gelfand DW, Noninvasive colonoscopy using helical CT scanning, 3D reconstruction, and virtual reality (Abst), SGR Scientific Program, 1994. This technique, referred to as "virtual colonoscopy", requires a cleansed colon insufflated with air, a helical CT scan of approximately 30 seconds, and specialized three-dimensional (3D) imaging software to extract and display the mucosal surface. The resulting endoluminal images generated by the CT scan are displayed to a medical practitioner for diagnostic purposes.
The technique of reformatting 2D cross sections perpendicular to the colon midline is also described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,458,111, issued Oct. 17, 1995 to Coin. However, direct interpretation of the cross-sectional images is difficult because a scan of the colon consists of several hundred axial tomograms. Without advanced image manipulation tools, interpretation of the colon's complex three dimensional shape from these cross sections alone is very difficult for a medical practitioner.
One approach to improve accuracy involves production of reformatted 2D images at cross sections and orthogonal angles to the colon midline. These reformatted 2D images can provide complimentary diagnostic information when viewed with corresponding intraluminal 3D images. Exam efficiency can be improved with innovative 3D rendering techniques that allow fast, interactive evaluation on low priced computer hardware.
Therefore, there is a need for new techniques which provide efficient and accurate evaluation of the colon using helical CT data. There is a need for displaying coronal, sagittal, and axial views of the colon. There is also a need for displaying a three dimensional image of the colon. There is a further need for displaying an unfolded or open view of the colon.

System for two dimensional and three dimensional imaging of tubular structures in the human body

Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research


A seal arrangement for segmented turbine components comprises a sealing strip and a resilient cord element compressed against the strip to provide positive loading of the strip against the segment sealing faces. The sealing strip and the resilient cord element are engaged in confronting cavities defined in the end faces of adjacent segments. The resilient cord element is commonly held by both segments in a compressed state against the sealing strip.

A common approach to reduce gas leakage through inter-segment gaps between adjacent segments of segmented gas turbine engine components, such as circumferentially segmented turbine vane array, consist of inserting a thin sealing strip into machined grooves defined in the adjacent end surfaces of the segments. These thin sealing strips are referred to as feather seals. One problem with such feather seals is that they rely on the pressure delta across them to energize their firm contact against the segment sealing faces. Accordingly, under low pressure delta, these seals tend to not perform adequately. On the other hand, the high pressure delta needed to allow them to function can lead to other leakage problems.
It has also been proposed to spring load seals against the sealing faces. According to this approach, resilient sealing elements, such as dog-bone seals, are press fit into the adjoining grooves of adjacent segments. However, with today's complex segment axial profiles, it is challenging to obtain uniform sealing contact along all the length of grooves when using such resilient sealing elements. Known resilient sealing arrangements are also prone to assembly problems.
Accordingly, there is a need to provide a new inter-segment gap sealing arrangement.

Seal arrangement for segmented gas turbine engine components


In the high-frequency module of the present invention, an insulating resin is formed so as to seal a high-frequency semiconductor element mounted on a surface of a substrate and further to seal electronic components. Furthermore, a metal thin film is formed on the surface of the insulating resin. This metal thin film provides an electromagnetic wave shielding effect.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a high-frequency module and a method for manufacturing the same.
2. Related Background Art
In high-frequency modules primarily used for mobile communication equipment such as portable telephones, a high-frequency circuit including a high-frequency semiconductor element and a peripheral circuit is formed on a substrate, and a metal cap often is disposed so as to cover a surface of the substrate on which the high-frequency circuit is disposed, in order to protect the high-frequency semiconductor element and shield it from electromagnetic waves. In ordinary conventional high-frequency modules, a high-frequency semiconductor element 102 and electronic components 103 such as chip resistors and chip capacitors are mounted on a substrate 101, and electrically connected to each other by thin metallic wires 104 or a wiring pattern (not shown in detail), thus forming a high-frequency circuit, as shown in FIG. 12. A metal cap 120 is fitted onto the substrate 101 or soldered thereto.
In the conventional high-frequency module shown in FIG. 12, however, the metal cap 120 has made it difficult to reduce the package height. When the metal cap 120 is made thinner, the strength of the metal cap 120 cannot be maintained, and thus, the metal cap becomes pliable so that it may come in contact with the high-frequency circuit. In order to avoid a short-circuit due to contact between the metal cap 120 and the high-frequency circuit, it is also necessary to provide a clearance below the metal cap 120 in view of the pliability of the metal cap 120. In an example, it was necessary to set the thickness of the metal cap 120 to about 100 μm, and set the clearance provided below the metal cap 120 to about 80 μm If this total thickness of about 0.2 mm could be reduced, then the height of the high-frequency module could be reduced further.

High-frequency module and method for manufacturing the same

Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.


In a state where the entry word “account” retrieved from a dictionary and its explanatory information have been displayed, when the entry memo “Test point to notice” is input in handwritten characters at a handwriting input unit, the entry memo is caused to correspond to the retrieved entry word “account” and then registered. When the desired entry memo “Test point to notice” is selected from a list of the registered entry memos, the entry word “account” caused to correspond to the entry memo and its explanatory information are displayed immediately. Accordingly, as with a paper dictionary, an entry memo in which handwritten characters have been written as needed is related to the desired entry word and its explanatory information. Using the entry memo data as if it were a sticky note enables the desired entry word to be displayed easily and quickly.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
There has been known an electronic dictionary device that offers the functions of a paper dictionary. While having the advantage of being capable of squeezing data of many dictionaries into a small package, as well as many other advantages, the electronic dictionary device is less convenient to use than a paper dictionary.
With a paper dictionary, when you open the dictionary to a page on which, for example, an entry word to be referred to and its explanatory information have been printed, you can easily grasp the place where a suitable word meaning and examples to be referred to are written. However, with the electronic dictionary device, since the limitation of the display area prevents all of the retrieved entry word and its explanatory explanation from being surveyed at a glance, it is difficult to easily grasp the description parts of a suitable word meaning and examples to be referred to.
To overcome this problem, one of the conventional electronic dictionary devices has realized the function of enabling the user to obtain a quick glance at the dictionary by displaying not only a word meaning list corresponding to an entry word surrounded with a frame in a part of the display screen but also explanatory information corresponding to the word meaning specified in the word meaning list in another part of the screen. One of such electronic dictionary devices has been disclosed in, for example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2007-241711.
However, in the conventional electronic dictionary device, characters cannot be written by hand as needed in a place where a desired entry word and its explanatory information appear in such a manner that the former are related to the latter, or the place where a desired entry word appears cannot be found out from the contents written on a sticky note as with the paper dictionary.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

Electronic device having a handwriting input function, and non-transitory medium storing a control program therefor


A developing device has a bearing member that can bear a toner, a storing chamber for storing the toner, a waiting chamber disposed below the storing chamber for receiving the bearing member that can be filled with the toner and a buffer chamber positioned between the storing chamber and the waiting chamber for storing the developer material. A first horizontal connecting path connects upper portions of the storing and buffer chambers, and two second connecting paths connect lower portions of the buffer chamber and the waiting chamber. A feed member feeds toner from the storing chamber through the first connecting path into the buffer chamber. A first conveying member in the buffer chamber conveys the toner from one of the connecting paths to the other of the connecting paths, and a second conveying member in the waiting chamber conveys the toner within the waiting chamber in the opposite direction.

A conventional developing device used in an image forming apparatus for developing an electrostatic latent image with developing material such as toner has a storing chamber for storing toner, a waiting chamber for storing toner to be used for developing immediately afterwards, a feeder for feeding toner from the storing chamber into the waiting chamber, and a developing roller positioned inside the waiting chamber and in part opposed to an image bearing member or a photosensitive drum. The developing roller rotates and carries a certain amount of toner necessary for development from the waiting chamber. The toner on the developing roller is supplied to the photosensitive drum for the development of the electrostatic latent image into a visualized toner image.
For the developing roller to stably receive the necessary amount of toner from the waiting chamber, the waiting chamber needs to hold a certain amount of toner. In order for the waiting chamber to hold the certain amount of toner, an amount of toner from the storing chamber to the waiting chamber is controlled by the feeder which is driven on the basis of a signal from a sensor detecting the amount of toner stored in the waiting chamber. Additionally, a developing device disclosed in the Japanese Patent No. 2927656 has an opening, allowing excessive toner to flow freely out of the waiting chamber in order to prevent an occurrence of an excessive toner pressure in the waiting chamber which would hamper the stable rotation of the developing roller.
Another important consideration for the image forming apparatus using such developing device is that the developing roller should be arranged horizontally. Otherwise, the amount of toner calculated by the signal from the sensor such as pressure sensor can differ from that actually stored in the waiting chamber. This may result in that an excessive or insufficient amount of toner is transported from the waiting chamber.

Developing device and image forming apparatus

Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc.


A universal system (100) for support and positioning of building structural support members (20, 30) includes at least one longitudinally extended base plate (110) and at least one fixing member (120, 122). The base plate (110) has a plurality of slotted openings (116) formed therethrough. The fixing member (120, 122) has a pair of longitudinally spaced upstanding support members (1202, 1222) defining a structural member receiving space (118) therebetween. At least one of the upstanding support members (1202) is formed with a pair angularly extending flanges (132) that are elastically angularly displaceable to pass through a respective slotted opening (116) having corresponding portions (1164) at a different angle (C), and then return to their original angle (D) to prevent reversibly passing back through the slot (116).

1. Field of the Invention
This invention directs itself to construction systems utilized for properly positioning building structural members that typically span between spaced walls, beams or columns. In particular, this invention directs itself to a system wherein at least one fixing member having a pair of upstanding support members is secured to a base plate by a self-locking arrangement. More in particular, at least one of the pair of upstanding support members is formed with a pair angularly extending flanges that are elastically angularly displaceable to pass through a slotted opening having corresponding angularly directed portions extending at a different angle, and then return to their original angle to prevent the support member from reversibly passing back through the slot. Still further, multiple base plates can be joined together using the self-locking feature of the fixing members to bridge between base plates. One upstanding support member of a fixing member is secured to each of two longitudinally adjacent base plates. Additionally, the base plates may be formed with a multiplicity of slotted openings, so that fixing members can be selectively assembled in any of a plurality of spacings corresponding different construction standards for the building structural members being supported.
2. Prior Art
Construction devices for positioning and securing structural members to supporting walls are well known in the art. The best prior art known to Applicant include U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,672,014; 6,412,233; 5,884,448; 5,606,837; 5,412,920; 4,878,323; 4,704,829; 4,669,235; 4,637,195; 4,596,101; 4,490,956; 4,361,999; 4,246,736; 4,122,647; 4,080,771; 3,959,945; 3,421,270; 3,390,494; 3,289,362; and, 2,964,807.
In earlier systems having an inventor in common with the inventor of the instant invention, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,672,014 and 6,412,233, structural member receiving spaces are defined between vertically directed C-shaped channel members. The channel members are affixed to a base plate by a conventional means of fastening, such as welding. While the resulting mounting devices add considerable strength to the resulting building structure, their manufacture, packaging and storage are not highly efficient.
In some prior art systems, such as that disclosed by U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,080,771 and 4,669,235, there are provided truss aligning systems which become an integral part of the building structure when it is completed. In such systems, a flat metal member is provided which is mounted to the top plate of a building frame. The flat metal member has a plurality of pairs of upstanding flanges laterally spaced along the plate. Each of the pair of flanges are spaced apart one from another by a distance corresponding to the thickness of a roof truss or other structural member. Each of the flanges is provided with a plurality of apertures through which fasteners can be driven to secure the structural member thereto. However, the structures of such systems suffer from an inability to be inefficiently packaged for shipping and/or storage, and do not provide a significant amount of vertical rigidity and torsion resistance to building structural members. Further, such systems also require a multiplicity of different sized parts to be stocked to accommodate the different configurations common in the building industry.

Universal structural member support and positioning system


Disclosed is a multichip system and method of transferring data between memory chips in direct. The multichip system includes first and second memory chips, and a host system to control operations of the first and second memory chips. The first memory chip controls the second memory chip to transfer data to the second memory chip in response to local transfer information provided from the host system. The first memory chip controls the host system not to access the first and second memory chips while conducting a local transfer operation. According to the invention, since the data is able to be directly transferred between the memory chips without the host system, it enhances the efficiency of the multichip system and improves a data transfer speed.

A multichip system embeds pluralities of memory chips operable in various applications, and a chipset rendering the memory chips to be usable in correspondence with their applications. The chipset includes a memory interface block with various forms in order to assist operations of the various memory chips in accordance with their usage.
In recent, as the capacity of data is increasing as such multimedia data, it highly demands for a multichip system which contains a memory chip with large storage capacity in a small area and a memory chip with high speedy data rate. Such a multichip system is advantageous to compensating the demerits of the high-density and large-capacity memory chips each other in designing its hardware architecture.
For example, a NAND flash memory chip employs an increment step-pulse programming (ISPP) scheme because it needs to narrow a distribution profile of cell threshold voltages and is conductive with very small cell string currents. Therefore, the NAND flash memory chip has a programming speed very slower than that of a volatile memory chip such as a DRAM chip and an SRAM chip. In order to overcome such a demerit of the NAND flash memory chip in a programming speed, data to be stored in the NAND flash memory chip is preliminarily stored in a volatile memory chip that is operable in a high speed of operation. To the contrary, it is also frequent to store data from a volatile memory chip into a nonvolatile memory chip such as the NAND flash memory chip.

Multichip system and method of transferring data therein


A process for producing an aluminum alloy with high strength and toughness includes the steps of: preparing an alloy blank having a primary structure which is one selected from a single-phase structure comprised of a solid-solution phase, a single-phase structure comprised of an amorphous phase, and a mixed-phase structure comprised of a solid-solution phase and an amorphous phase, and subjecting the alloy blank to a thermal treatment to provide an aluminum alloy which has a secondary structure containing 20% or more by volume fraction Vf of chrysanthemum-like patterned phases each having a diameter of at most 5 .mu.m and comprising a solid-solution phase and an intermetallic compound phase arranged radiately.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a process for producing a high strength and high toughness aluminum alloy.
2. Description of the Prior Art
There are conventionally known quenching and solidifying processes described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 248860/85, as a process of producing such alloys.
The above prior art process can produce an aluminum alloy having a micro-eutectic crystal structure. However, this aluminum alloy can possess relatively low strength and toughness due to a partial change and a coalescence of the metallographic structure which can be caused by a service environment, a thermal hysteresis during hot plastic working, and the like.

Process for producing high strength and high toughness aluminum alloy


A board paddling training apparatus for assisting in improving a user's paddling technique and strength. In particular, the board paddling training apparatus includes a buoyant board, such as a board adapted for surfing, bodyboarding, paddleboarding, or other board-related sport that entails paddling, and includes a resistance mechanism that creates drag or resistance against a user's paddle stroke. Some implementations of the resistance mechanism can be adjustable in order to create a variety of resistance against a user's paddle stroke and board movement.

This document is related to exercise devices, and more particularly to an exercise device for training for board paddling.
In some surface water sports performed with a board, such as surfing, bodyboarding, and paddleboarding, for example, a person propels themself along the surface of a body of water using a modified swimming motion with their arms. For example, surfing is a surface water sport in which a surfer rides on the forward face of a wave, however, the surfer must usually first perform a "paddle out" through breaking waves using the modified swimming motion to get positioned near where the waves initially break, in order to optimize their take off on the wave in which a breaking wave's power is at its maximum. The paddle out can be very rigorous and exhausting, depending on the surf conditions at the time.
Paddleboarding is a surface water sport in which participants are propelled by the modified swimming motion while lying or kneeling on a paddleboard (an elongated surfboard) or surfboard in a body of water. These types of paddleboarding techniques are known as "kneeling" or "prone" paddleboarding, respectively. A derivative of paddleboarding, which is also a hybrid of surfing, is stand up paddleboarding (SUP), in which a person standing on a larger board propels themselves by paddling with a single elongated paddle.
Board paddling, the propelling motion of most surface water sports using a board, is referred to herein as a "modified swimming motion" because the person is usually lying prone on the board, or in other cases kneeling or standing. While prone on the board, the person is higher relative to the surface of the water than in a normal swimming motion due to the buoyancy of their board, and must maintain a wider lateral placement of their arms relative to normal swimming, to account for the width of their board. Thus, while similar, the modified swimming motion used in board-based surface water sports is quite distinct and uses different muscle sets, movement and motor skills.
There have been some attempts to develop land-based training techniques for developing skills to accomplish board paddling. However, these land-based training techniques often rely on weights or machines that cannot faithfully replicate the resistance effects created by water against the modified swimming motion one experiences in real board paddling. Further, land-based training often uses machines that are expensive, difficult to maintain and calibrate, and does not provide any realistic sensation for board paddling.
Another training technique is simply to practice board paddling as much as possible. However, such technique is time consuming, and relies on a calm body of water without waves.


A lithography method combines both high gap resolution and high processing speed. An electron beam sensitive resist is applied to a substrate, followed by a photoresist. The undesired portions of the photoresist are removed through photolithography. An electron beam flood exposure or oxygen ashing is used to remove those portions of the electron beam sensitive resist not protected by the photoresist. An optical flood is used to remove the remaining photoresist. Electron beam lithography is then used to define narrow gaps within the remaining electron beam sensitive resist.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a lithography method for processing large surface areas of microelectric devices. More specifically, the present invention provides a means for quickly processing large surface areas while maintaining high resolution.
2. Description of the Related Art
Microelectronic components are frequently processed using photolithography or electron beam lithography to define the surface area for which a milling, such as ion milling, etching, or doping operation will be subsequently performed. Such processes typically involve placing a shield over a surface of the components, and then removing portions of that shield located over sections wherein the subsequent operation is to be performed.
Photolithography typically utilizes ultraviolet light to define those portions of the protective covering to be removed, and to remain in place. The shielding substance is known as a photoresist. Photoresists come in two types: negative and positive. A positive photoresist degrades upon exposure to ultraviolet light, and a negative photoresist will undergo crosslinking of the polymer molecules within the photoresist upon exposure to UV light, so that the unexposed portions are easier to remove. Positive photoresists are more commonly used because they have superior gap resolution. The photolithography process involves spinning the polymer photoresist across the entire surface of the component to be processed, placing a mask with transparent and opaque portions over the photoresist, so that the desired portions of a positive photoresist (or undesired portions of a negative photo resist) are covered by the opaque portions. The photoresist is exposed to ultraviolet light through the mask, thereby causing a positive photoresist under the transparent portions of the mask to deteriorate, facilitating removal (or causing the portions of a negative photoresist under the transparent portions of a mask to undergo crosslinking of polymer molecules, facilitating removal of the unexposed photoresist). The mask is then removed, and a solvent capable of removing only the weaker portions of the photoresist is applied, thereby leaving photoresist over only those surfaces which must remain covered. The entire surface may then be subjected to a milling, etching, or doping process, with only the uncovered portions of the substrate actually undergoing the process. Although photolithography is a rapid process, the gap resolution attainable is limited, and is generally a function of the wavelength of the light used to affect the photoresist. For purposes of this application, the term gap resolution is defined as the ability to precisely expose only desired portions of the substrate. As light is traveling through the transparent portions of the mask, those portions of the light with a smaller wavelength will undergo greater refraction.
For creating extremely fine patterns, electron beam lithography is presently used. As in photolithography, electron beam lithography utilizes a substance known as a resist to cover a substrate, and then uses an electron beam to define those portions of the resist to be removed. A positive resist deteriorates upon exposure to the electron beam, and a negative resist hardens upon exposure to the electron beam, thereby facilitating removal of the unexposed portions. Electron beam lithography is frequently performed by directing the electron beam sequentially, on a pixel by pixel basis, across those portions of the resist for which exposure is desired. This is an extremely slow process.
Hybrid lithography is another presently available process, wherein both electron beam and optical lithography are performed using a single layer of resist. This process requires selection of a resist that is sensitive to both optical exposure and electron beam exposure, substantially limiting the available resist materials. Additionally, this process requires the use of equipment configured to expose the resist to appropriate, compatible wavelengths, greatly increasing equipment expenses.
Accordingly, there is a need for a lithography process having high resolution, but capable of being performed at a significantly faster rate.
The present invention is a lithography process, having the high resolution of electron beam lithography, which may be used to define narrow gaps, while providing the speed of photolithography for processing large surface areas.
The surface of a substrate for which lithography is desired is covered with an electron beam sensitive resist. The electron beam sensitive resist is covered with a photoresist. Both resists will typically be of the positive type, although negative resists may be used. A mask is placed over the photoresist, and the photoresist is exposed to radiation (most commonly ultraviolet light) through the transparent portions of the mask. The undesired portions of the photoresist are then removed by the appropriate solvent. At this point, a portion of the electron beam sensitive resist is shielded by the remaining photoresist.
An electron beam flood is applied to entire surface being processed. The undesired electron beam resist may then be removed by the appropriate solvent. Applying an optical flood to the entire surface removes the remaining photoresist, thereby exposing the entire surface of the remaining electron beam resist. At this point in the process, large areas of the substrate have been exposed with little processing time. Electron beam lithography may then be applied sequentially across the remaining electron beam resist, thereby permitting the creation of narrow gaps and precisely defined edges within the remaining resist. Because only a small portion of resist is removed through sequentially applied electron beams, the affect of this step on the overall processing time is minimized. At this point, the substrate may be subjected to a further processing, such as ion milling, etching, or doping process, with the electron beam sensitive resist protecting those portions of the substrate for which such processing is not desired.
This lithography process combines the advantages of other types of lithography while avoiding the disadvantages of the prior art. The lithography process of the present invention specifically utilizes process steps capable of being performed rapidly to expose large areas of the substrate, thereby reducing the time required for the overall process. Additionally, process steps capable of defining gaps and edges with high resolution are used only to expose smaller areas of the substrate, thereby increasing the precision of the overall process without substantially impacting the overall time necessary to complete the improved lithography process. Therefore, unlike prior lithography processes, the lithography process of the present invention does not require choosing between high resolution and rapid processing.
It is therefore an aspect of the present invention to provide a lithography process having high gap resolution.
It is another aspect of the present invention to provide a lithography process capable of being performed quickly.
It is a further aspect of the present invention to utilize electron beam floods, optical floods, and/or oxygen ashing to remove resists from larger surface areas, and electron beam lithography to remove resists from small surface areas.

Lithography for fast processing of large areas utilizing electron beam exposure


A current collecting shoe for transferring energy from a catenary wire to rolling stock, includes a sheath constructed and arranged for fixing to a pantograph carried by the rolling stock, a wearing strip including graphite mounted on the sheath, a longitudinal slot or boring in the wearing strip and a tubular section disposed within the boring or at least partially within the slot. The tubular section is thermally stable at a temperature of at least 400.degree. C., and constructed of a material having a hardness of at least 4 on the Mohs scale and an electrical conductivity greater than graphite. This tubular section acts as an electrical conductor to transfer energy from the wearing strip to the rolling stock, and is constructed and arranged for sealing with a fluid therein and connection to a fluid pressure detection means. When excessive wear or breakage of the wearing strip causes perforation or breakage of the tubular section and loss of fluid pressure therein, this breakage is detected by the detection means which separates the wearing strip from the catenary wire before damage can occur.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to carbon current collecting shoes with damage detector, sometimes also referred to by other names such as "wearing strip" or "pantograph pad". These current collecting shoes are used to transfer electrical energy between a fixed electrical power distribution means, typically a catenary cable, and a mobile device consuming electrical energy, typically an electric train locomotive, which is fitted with a pantograph carrying said carbon current collecting shoe through a sheath fixed to said pantograph.
2. Description of Related Art
A number of patents have already been submitted describing carbon current collecting shoes comprising a damage detection device. The current collecting shoe comprises a sheath and a wearing strip usually provided on its inside surface with a slot containing or forming a sealed longitudinal chamber containing a fluid, such that if excessive wear occurs in said wearing strip, or if it breaks, then said chamber will no longer be sealed causing a leakage or a change of pressure in said fluid, the leak or pressure change in said chamber being detected, causing withdrawing of the pantograph and said current collecting shoe before any excessive damage is caused to the energy transfer equipment and particularly before the catenary wire or cable is damaged.
In British patent GB 1 374 972, said chamber is a tube made of silicon rubber or any other material, and particularly plastics such as PTFE, capable of resisting an operating temperature of, for example, 200.degree. C.
In French patent FR-A1-2 663 592 in the applicant's name, said chamber is a tube made of carbonaceous material with the same mechanical properties as said wearing strip, in order to improve the detection sensitivity, particularly to the appearance of cracks in said wearing strip.
In U.S. Pat. No. 5,189,903 (=EP 415 972), said chamber is formed by the walls of said slot that are sealed by means of a sealing layer and by galvanic deposition of copper on said wearing strip and said slot.
In European patent EP-A1-402 666, said chamber is formed by the upper wall of said slot sealed using a resin, and by an Al or Cu or alloy metallic section open at the top.
The applicant has observed two types of problems when state-of-the-art current collecting shoes are used, and particularly current collecting shoes according to French patent FR-A1-2 663 592. The first problem is excessive sensitivity to the development of cracks in said wearing strip, and the second is its unsuitability for distributing electrical power at low voltage (and high current).
Firstly, it was found that unjustified detection occurs when there is a crack in said wearing strip when said wearing strip is still in working conditions; this is a prohibitive defect since it is unacceptable for a train to stop in the open country due to a simple crack in a wearing strip, since many cracks do not automatically and quickly develop towards damage or a risk of damage that would justify changing the current collecting shoe, the damage typically consisting in the rupture or breaking of the wearing strip and separation of blocks of carbonaceous material forming said wearing strip.
Secondly, particularly with Trans-European high speed trains it has been found that state-of-the-art current collecting shoes are not suitable for all types of electrical energy distribution systems in all the countries passed through, and particularly they are not suitable for an electrical power supply at relatively low voltage, for example 1.5 kV (but with a high current, for example 1100 A or more). In the latter case, and particularly with current collecting shoes made according to French patent FR-A1-2 663 592, a very high increase in the current collecting shoe temperature has been observed, which may reach or exceed 500.degree. C. which would appear to be prejudiciable to the life of the current collecting shoes and the strength of the bond between the wearing strip and the sheath (weld, bonding, etc.) and consequently reducing the electrical current between the wearing strip and the sheath, the role of the sheath being to support said wearing strip and usually also to conduct the electrical current between the wearing strip and the input to the motor power supply circuit in the locomotive.
Therefore, the object of this invention is a carbon current collecting shoe with a damage or wear detector which is not sensitive to simple cracks and which is suitable for the various electrical power supplies, and particularly a low voltage and therefore high current power supply particularly in the case of Trans-European high speed trains (TGV).
Furthermore, the current collecting shoe according to the invention must satisfy other criteria or constraints imposed by their use, in particular weight and aerodynamics, so that the current collecting shoe has a stable behavior at all speeds, and particularly at very high speed.

Carbon current collecting shoe with damage detector for operation with a high current electrical power supply


A switch includes multiple ports, a switching fabric, and a routing table module. The routing table module includes a multi-bank memory structure for maintaining routing information. The routing information enables the switching fabric to route packets between the ports based upon addresses within the packets.

Technology advances inexorably drive demand for increased speed of data communications. To meet this demand, network components must increasingly be designed to perform high speed operations. For example, to account for ever increasing speeds on transmission lines, switches must be capable of making high speed routing decisions in order to operate at these wire speeds.

Address learning to enable high speed routing table lookups


A system and method are disclosed for authenticating users and services communicating over an insecure network. Each user and service has a pass-phrase used for authentication. However, the pass-phrases are not revealed during the authentication process as challenge-response techniques are used to keep the pass-phrase secret. In addition, the users and services do not need to know nor do they learn each other""s pass-phrases making the process useful in a distributed environment. Pass-phrases are known by an authentication entity with which the service communicates to authenticate both users and services. Users may have identities in and services may support a number of realms, each of which may be viewed as large collection of users (e.g., CompuServe.com). Users choose the realm in which they would like to be authenticated. In one embodiment of the present invention, the system and method are adapted for use with the HyperText Transfer Protocol of the World Wide Web so that secure transactions may be accomplished between users and services communicating via the Internet.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to authentication of computer users and services in distributed environments. Particularly, the present invention relates to a Remote Pass-phrase Authentication scheme that provides a way to authenticate users and services using a pass-phrase over a computer network without revealing the pass-phrase.
2. Description of the Related Art
The importance of secure communication is increasing as world-wide networks such as the Internet and the World Wide Web (WWW) portion of the Internet expand. As global networks expand through the interconnection of existing networks, users may gain access to an unprecedented number of services. The services, each of which may be maintained by a different provider, give users access to academic, business, consumer, government, etc. information. Service providers are now able to make their services available to an ever-expanding user base.
The ease with which services and users are able to find each other and the convenience associated with on-line transactions is leading to an increase in the number of remote business and related transactions. However, users and services are not always certain who or what is at the other end of a transaction. Therefore, before they engage in business and other transactions, users and services want and need reassurance that each entity with whom they communicate is who or what it purports to be. For example, users will not be willing to make on-line purchases that require them to reveal their credit card numbers unless they are confident that the service with which they are communicating is in fact the service they wanted to access. Commercial and other private entities who provide on-line services may be more reluctant than individuals to conduct business on-line unless they are confident the communication is with the desired individual or service.
Both users and services need reassurance that neither will compromise the integrity of the other nor that confidential information will be revealed unintentionally to third parties while communications are occurring. Security in a global network, however, may be difficult to achieve for several reasons. First, the connections between remote users and services are dynamic. With the use of portable devices, users may change their remote physical locations frequently. The individual networks that comprise the global networks have many entry and exit points. Also, packet switching techniques used in global networks result in numerous dynamic paths that are established between participating entities in order to achieve reliable communication between two parties. Finally, communication is often accomplished via inherently insecure facilities such as the public telephone network and many private communication facilities. Secure communication is difficult to achieve in such distributed environments because security breaches may occur at the remote user""s site, at the service computer site, or along the communication link. Consequently, reliable two-way authentication of users and the services is essential for achieving security in a distributed environment.
Two-way authentication schemes generally involve handshaking techniques so that each party may verify he or she is in communication with the desired party regardless of each party""s location or the types of devices in use. The problem to be solved is one in which a user communicates with a service that wishes to learn and authenticate the user""s identity and vice versa. To clarify the problem, there are three aspects of network security that may be distinguished:
Identification
A user""s identity consists of a user name and a realm name. A realm is a universe of identities. CompuServe Interactive Services (CIS) user IDs and America Online (AOL) screen names are two examples of realms. The combination of user name and realmxe2x80x94typically shown as name@realmxe2x80x94identifies a user. Any given service recognizes some particular set of identities. A realm does not have to be large, though, either in number of users or size of service. For example, a single WWW server may have its own realm of users.
Often, a service recognizes only one realm: CIS recognizes only identities within the CIS realm and AOL recognizes only identities within the AOL realm. But, one can imagine a service that has agreements with both CIS and AOL. The service gives the user a choice of realmsxe2x80x94xe2x80x9cPlease supply a CIS or AOL identity, and prove itxe2x80x9dxe2x80x94and the user chooses a realm in which he or she has an identity. Identification, thus, provides the ability to identify, or to refer to, a user.
Authentication
Authentication provides the ability to prove identity. When asking to do something for which a user""s identity matters, the user may be asked for his or her identityxe2x80x94a user name and realmxe2x80x94and the service requires the user to prove that he is who he says he is. To accomplish this, most services use a secret called a pass-phrase, although it is not necessarily derived from text. Such a secret is sometimes called a secret key, but it is not necessarily used for encryption. In this context, the fundamental problem to be solved is: How can a user prove his pass-phrase without revealing the pass-phrase in the process?
Authorization
Authorization refers to the process of determining whether a given user is allowed to do something. For example, may he post a message? May he use a surcharged service? It is important to realize that authentication and authorization are distinct processesxe2x80x94one related to proving an identity and the other related to the properties of an identity. The present invention is not related to authorization, but it is designed to co-exist with authorization mechanisms.
Pass-phrase
A service that wishes to authenticate a user requires the user to identify himself or herself and to prove that he or she knows the pass-phrase. Generally, the service prompts the user for the pass-phrase. However, transmitting the plain text pass-phrases through a network comprises security because an eavesdropper may learn the pass-phrase as it travels through the network. X.25 networks have been compromised, and LANs, modem pools, and xe2x80x9cThe Internetxe2x80x9d likewise are not suitable for plain text pass-phrases due to the eavesdropper problem. Prompting for the pass-phrase, while sufficient in the past, no longer works for extensive world-wide networks.
Pass-phrase Encryption
Encryption of the pass-phrase provides additional security and addresses the eavesdropper problem. Using encryption, the user encrypts the pass-phrase, sends the result to the service which then decrypts it. Some techniques are based on a one-time key that prevents an eavesdropper from decrypting the pass-phrase.
There are, however, problems with this technique as well. Somebody elsexe2x80x94a spooferxe2x80x94may pretend to be the service. The spoofer decrypts the result, learns the pass-phrase, and gains the ability to masquerade as the user. Some people have spoofed services by getting users to dial into the spoofer""s computer. The spoofer advertises a dial up number for the service that is claimed to have been omitted from the directory of service numbers. The spoofer may entice people to try the xe2x80x9cunlistedxe2x80x9d number by claiming it is much faster than the listed numbers. Therefore, there is a need for a mechanism that will not reveal the pass-phrase to anyone, even if the user is interacting with a spoofer.
Challenge-response Techniques
Challenge-response techniques involve a series of exchanges between a user and a service. The service sends the user a challenge, which is a random number, and the user applies a one-way function to the number to calculate a result that depends on the challenge and the user""s pass-phrase. The user sends the result to the service which performs the same calculation and compares the result to the result sent by the user. Done correctly, this technique reveals no information to eavesdroppers, nor does it allow a spoofer to acquire the pass-phrasexe2x80x94if a spoofer pretends to be the service, he learns the result only for a particular challengexe2x80x94which is of no value. Although such a technique works, it does not solve the problem completely. The service must know the pass-phrase in order to reproduce the user""s calculation and verify the user""s response to the service""s challenge.
The service may not know the user""s pass-phrase for several reasons. A set of services may share a set of users"" identities. For example, a collection of Web servers, scattered throughout the world, may be part of a xe2x80x9cTotal Information Service (TIS).xe2x80x9d A user requesting access to TIS may use her TIS user name and pass-phrase to identify herself to any TIS service. In accordance with one implementation, each physical server may have a copy of all pass-phrases or access to a master database containing all pass-phrases. This solution may not, however, work under all scenariosxe2x80x94especially if some are third-party servers, not directly under the control of the imaginary TIS. Or consider a service that accepts identities in multiple realmsxe2x80x94for example, a service that has agreements with both CIS and AOL. The service gives the user a choice of realmsxe2x80x94xe2x80x9cPlease supply a CIS or AOL identity, and prove itxe2x80x9dxe2x80x94and the user chooses a realm in which he has an identity. It is unlikely that CIS and AOL will entrust a copy of their pass-phrase databases to a third-party service, or to each other. If the service does not know the user""s pass-phrase, then the user cannot prove to the service that he knows it.
One technique to address this problem is to have the service prompt the user for her pass-phase. For example, a WWW service may display a Hyper-Text Markup Language (HTML) form with two boxesxe2x80x94one that asks for the user for her user name and one that asks her for her pass-phrase. A protocol such as SSL or SHTTP may be used so an eavesdropper cannot see it. When the service receives the user""s reply, the service may use a challenge-response technique to verify the pass-phrase with a server that knows the pass-phrases. But, there is a drawback to this technique. It is important to teach a user not to type his or her pass-phrase just because somebody asks for it. This technique is commonly used for cracking others"" accounts. Teaching users to provide their pass-phrases in a HTML form is not a desirable solution because the pass-phrase is revealed, which is precisely what should be avoided, especially if the service is a spoofer.
The pass-phrase database server also has some undesirable side effects. Using this scheme, the service asks the user for a copy of her pass-phrase. Now, an ordinary challenge-response technique may be used. However, there is a need to get the pass-phrase from that database to the service, safely. If the service can look up the pass-phrase, then anybody else may do the same. Even worse, the entire pass-phrase database may be accessed so that pass-phrases for many users may be obtained.
Current authentication mechanisms are inadequate for the distributed systems, services, and users that comprise today""s world-wide networks such as the WWW/Internet. Users and services need a way to reliably authenticate one another that also meets specific design criteria. Users and services also have a need for a mechanism that is adaptable to the many communication protocols used throughout world-wide networks and that is straightforward for users to use. These criteria and others are met with the present invention.
The present inventionxe2x80x94Remote Passphrase Authentication (RPA)xe2x80x94provides a way to authenticate a user to a service by using a pass-phrase over an insecure network, without revealing the pass-phrase to eavesdroppers. RPA is designed so that the service need not know and does not learn the user""s pass-phrase. Consequently, RPA is useful in distributed environments where it would be difficult or inappropriate to trust a service with a pass-phrase database or to allow the service to learn enough to masquerade as the user in a future authentication attempt. In one embodiment of the present invention, users and services on the WWW/Internet use the mechanism of the present invention to authenticate one another.
Using the present invention, a service may authenticate a user and a user may authenticate a service. Authentication is accomplished using pass-phrases (which may be derived from textual phrases). The goal is to prove to the service that the user knows the pass-phrase, and vice versa. Techniques are employed to minimize the possibility that the pass-phrase is revealed to an eavesdropper or a spoofer.
Using RPA, a xe2x80x9cuserxe2x80x9d communicates with a xe2x80x9cservicexe2x80x9d that wishes to learn and authenticate the user""s identity. An authentication xe2x80x9cdeityxe2x80x9d knows the users"" and services"" pass-phrases. The service communicates with the authentication deity during the authentication process. If the service knows the pass-phrases, then it acts as its own deity, simplifying the implementation but, otherwise having no effect on the mechanism.
Identities for users exist in a xe2x80x9crealmxe2x80x9d which may be viewed as a relatively large collection of usersxe2x80x94such as compuserve.com or aol.comxe2x80x94but it may well consist of a small set of users (e.g., user names and pass-phrases associated with an individual Web server.) The service may specify a set of realms so that it may recognize an identity in any of the realms in which it participates.
This authentication mechanism of the present invention consists of three related processes: authentication, reauthentication, and reauthentication cheating. Authentication is the fundamental process by which a user and a service mutually authenticate one another within one of a set of realms, without revealing their pass-phrases to one another. Reauthentication is a process by which a user and service, having recently authenticated one another, may again authenticate one another. They may, of course, simply repeat the authentication process, but that requires interaction with an authentication deity. The reauthentication process is faster, requiring no communication with a third party. Reauthentication is useful when multiple connections between the user and service are established, whether sequential as in Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol (HTTP) or simultaneous. Preferably, each connection is authenticated, but the reauthentication process provides a shortcut.
Authentication
Three parties or entities participate in the authentication process:
the user;
the service; and
the authentication deity.
Each user has a user name and a pass-phrase in some realm of interest. Similarly, each service has a name and a pass-phrase in that realm. The pass-phrase is not text, but is instead a 128-bit (16-octet) string of bits. However, it is often useful to use pass-phrases in the conventional, textual sense, so a procedure is defined for converting a textual phrase to the 128-bit value used by the authentication mechanism of the present invention.
The service may specify a list of realms and the user may choose one in which he has an identity. For example, a CIS user may choose to be authenticated in the CIS realm. Thus, a service is not restricted to authenticating identities in a single realm. The service possesses a name and pass-phrase in all realms it specifies.
Each realm has an authentication deity that knows the names and pass-phrases of its members. The service locates an authentication deity for each realm. If the service knows the user""s pass-phrase, it performs the role of the authentication deity itself, but this does not affect the mechanism. The primary steps for a preferred embodiment of the present invention are as follows:
The service supplies a sequence of realms, with the service""s name in each realm, to the user.
The user chooses a realm. The chosen realm and the user""s name in that realm are communicated to the service.
The service and user exchange random challenges.
The user calculates a response and sends it to the service.
The service calculates a response.
The service sends a request to the authentication deity for the realm in question. The request contains the realm name, the user""s name, the service""s name, the user""s challenge, the service""s challenge, the user""s response, and the service""s response.
The deity uses the realm, service, and user name to look up the user""s and service""s pass-phrases.
The deity uses the values in the request, plus the service""s pass-phrase to verify the service""s response.
Having verified the requesting service""s identity, the deity uses the values in the request, plus the user""s pass-phrase to verify the user""s response.
Having verified both the user""s and service""s identity, the deity creates a random, 128-bit session key for use by the user and service. They may use it for session encryption or for the reauthentication process described later.
The authentication deity generates and sends to the service authentication proofs for the service and the user. The service verifies its authentication proof and forwards the other authentication proof to the user. The user then verifies its authentication proof.

System for remote pass-phrase authentication


A card connector includes a card-mounting seat formed with an insertion groove that is defined by opposite end walls, opposite side walls and a bottom wall. Each end wall has two opposite upright extension wall portions defining a receiving groove therebetween. Two anchoring blocks are connected pivotally and respectively to the extension wall portions of the end walls of the card-mounting seat. When an insertion side of an electronic card is inserted into the insertion groove in the card-mounting seat, conductive members, which are mounted in the card-mounting seat, contact electrically and respectively conductive terminals of the electronic card, and a protrusion of one of the anchoring blocks engages a notch in a lateral side of the electronic card while the electronic card is anchored between the anchoring blocks.

1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a card connector, more particularly to a card connector that can effectively avoid insertion of a non-matching electronic card thereinto.
2. Description of the Related Art
FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional card connector 10 for use only with an electronic card that is a fully buffered dual in line memory module (FB DIMM) card 9 and that has an insertion side 91, and opposite lateral sides 93, each of which is formed with a notch 932. In this case, the presence of the notches 932 in the electronic card 9 is used to distinguish from a double date rate memory module (DDR) card 9′ shown in FIG. 2 since the FB DIMM card 9 and the DDR card 9′ have the same size and terminal specification. As a result, the conventional card connector 10 also permits insertion of the non-matching DDR card 9′ thereinto. Therefore, insertion of only matching electronic cards into the conventional electronic card 10 cannot be ensured during use.


The present invention is directed to computer storage systems and methods thereof. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide an isolated storage control system that includes both a non-volatile memory and a volatile memory. The non-volatile memory comprises a data area and a metadata area. In power failure or similar situations, content of the volatile memory is copied to the data area of the non-volatile memory, and various system parameters are stored at the metadata area. When the system restores its operation, the information at the metadata area is processed, and the content stored at the data area of the non-volatile memory is copied to the volatile memory. There are other embodiments as well.

The present invention is directed to computer storage systems and methods thereof.
Over the last few decades, the use of communication networks exploded. In the early days Internet, popular applications were limited to emails, bulletin board, and mostly informational and text-based web page surfing, and the amount of data transferred was usually relatively small. Today, Internet and mobile applications demand a huge amount of bandwidth for transferring photo, video, music, and other multimedia files. For example, a social network like Facebook processes more than 500 TB of data daily, and that number is growing. With such high demands on data and data transfer, existing data communication systems need to be improved to address these needs. Companies built large server farms, where large numbers of computers together provide computational power to remote clients. Speed and reliability are two important aspects of server computers. For example, servers often has mechanism for data backup in situations such as power failure.
Over the past, conventional techniques have been proposed to improve computer reliability. Unfortunately, these conventional techniques inadequate, as explained below. Therefore, improved system and methods for data reliability are desired.

Memory controller system with non-volatile backup storage


A sound sensor implantable in a recipient of a hearing device. The sound sensor comprises a biocompatible housing comprising a cavity having an opening at a first end of the housing, and a membrane attached to the housing so as to hermetically seal the opening. The membrane vibrates in response to vibration of at least on a structure of the recipient's ear and fluid within one of the recipient's body cavities. The sound sensor also comprises a vibrational sensor disposed in the housing configured to detect vibrations of the membrane, and configured to generate signals representative of the detected vibrations; and a transmitter configured to provide the generated signals to one or more other components implanted in the recipient.

Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to implantable sound sensors, and more particularly, to an implantable sound sensor for hearing prostheses.
Related Art
Implantable hearing prostheses primarily comprise an implantable stimulator that provides electrical, mechanical, optical or other stimulation to a recipient's inner and/or middle ear. Such prostheses also include a microphone, that is configured to receive and transform an acoustic sound into an electrical signal that is supplied to a sound processor. The sound processor utilizes the signal to drive the implantable stimulator.
One type of implantable hearing prosthesis, referred to as a cochlear implant, delivers electrical signals to a recipient's auditory nerves via electrodes implanted in the recipient's cochlea. The delivered electrical signals cause the recipient's brain to perceive a hearing sensation resembling the natural hearing sensation normally delivered by the auditory nerve. Another type of implantable hearing prosthesis is the auditory brainstem implant that delivers electrical stimulation signals directly to a recipient's brain, thereby bypassing the auditory nerve. A still other type of implantable hearing prosthesis is the middle ear implant that uses an actuator to provide mechanical stimulation signals (vibration) to a recipient's middle or inner ear.
In some implantable hearing prostheses, the microphone is also implanted in the recipient. Implantable microphones are conventionally implanted subcutaneously in proximity of the ear. A drawback of subcutaneous microphones is that they are sensitive to body noise which may originate from the circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, digestive or other systems.

Implantable sound sensor for hearing prostheses


An optical prism assembly. The optical prism assembly includes an isosceles triangular prism and a plurality of prism blocks. The isosceles triangular prism comprises a base angle, between 30° and 45°. A first prism block and a second prism block are connected to two bounding surfaces of the isosceles triangular prism having equal lengths. A third prism block is connected between the first prism block and the second prism block. A first dichroic filter and a second dichroic filter are formed on the isosceles triangular prism and two adjacent bounding surfaces of each prism blocks, such that the isosceles triangular prism is combined with each prism block to form a first filter continuous plane and a second filter continuous plane.

The invention relates to an optical prism assembly, and in particular to an optical prism assembly for a digital light processing (DLP) projection system.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a conventional digital light processing (DLP) projection system disclosed by U.S. Pat. No. 5,826,959, utilizing a cross dichroic prism emitting synthesized light of red (R), blue (B), and green (G) for projection. As shown in FIG. 1, the conventional DLP projection system comprises a cross dichroic prism 100, three polarization beam splitters 102, 104, and 106, and three spatial light modulators (SLM) 108, 110, and 112. When images are produced via the combination of the cross dichroic prism 100 and the spatial light modulators 108, 110, and 112, each spatial light modulator 102, 104, or 106 operates on one of the red, green, and blue light components. The spatial light modulators 108, 110, and 112 are referred to as three liquid crystal (LC) light valves 108, 110, and 112, respectively. The polarization beam splitters 102, 104, and 106 are disposed between the liquid crystal light valves 108, 110, and 112 and the cross dichroic prism 100, respectively. Two dichroic filters or mirrors 120 and 122 intersected in the cross dichroic prism 100 can reflect only blue or red light components and allow other colors therethrough. Thus, when the red, green, and blue light components pass through the polarization beam splitters 102, 104, and 106, respectively, reflected by the liquid crystal light valves 108, 110, and 112, the cross dichroic prism 100 combines the red, green, and blue light components and transmits the synthesized light for projection in a perpendicular direction.
The conventional design, however, has the following disadvantages. Each colored light has a large incident angle of 45° inclined at the dichroic filters 120 and 122. If the incident angle is too large, the polarization light spectrum through the dichroic filters is shifted. The overall efficiency of colored light in the prism assembly is reduced, accordingly, reducing color purity and brightness.


A detachable door hinge for a motor vehicle door including a hinge pin for connecting two hinge flaps for a pivotal movement relative to each other and supported in a gudgeon of one of the two hinge flaps by maintenance-free bearing sleeve for a free rotation and extending into a gudgeon of another of the two hinge flaps, the hinge pin having a radially extending shoulder engageable between adjacent surfaces of the gudgeons of the two hinge flaps, a cone adjoining the radially extending collar and which tapers toward a free end of the hinge pin and is received in a corresponding conical enlargement of a gudgeon bore of the another hinge flap, and an attachment extending into the gudgeon bore of the another hinge flap and having an outer thread and a diameter which is smaller than a diameter of the gudgeon bore of the another hinge flap and a nut for preventing an automatic lifting off of the another hinge flap, and having a neck portion extendable into the gudgeon bore of the another hinge flap into a space between an inner wall of the gudgeon bore and the hinge pin attachment and having an inner thread engageable with the outer thread of the hingepin attachment.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a detachable door hinge for a motor vehicle door and including a first hinge flap connectable with one part of a door assembly, one of a door and a door pillar; a second hinge flap connectable with another part of the door assembly, another of the door and door pillar; a hinge pin for connecting the first and second hinge flaps for a pivotal movement relative to each other, with the hinge pin being supported in a gudgeon of one of the first and second hinge flaps by maintenance-free bearing means for rotation relative to the one of the first and second hinge flap and being connected with a gudgeon of another of the first and second hinge flaps, which is detachably connectable with a respective part of the door assembly, for joint rotation with the another of the first and second hinge flaps, and with the hinge pin having a radially extending shoulder engageable between adjacent surfaces of the gudgeons of the first and second hinge flaps, a cone adjoining the radially extending collar and which tapers toward a free end of the hinge pin and is received in a corresponding conical enlargement of a gudgeon bore of the another of the first and second hinge flaps, and an attachment extending into the gudgeon bore of the another of the first and second hinge flaps and having an outer thread, and a nut for preventing an automatic lifting off of the another of the first and second hinge flaps, with the nut having a conical collar engageable in a corresponding conical enlargement formed in the gudgeon bore of the another of the first and second flaps opposite the conical enlargement for receiving the hinge pin cone.
2. Field of the Invention
Detachable door hinges of the type described above are used in modern motor vehicles in order to detach a vehicle door, which has been attached to the vehicle body and adjusted thereto, after the vehicle body has been coated, to equip it with the accessories and to subsequently attach it to the vehicle body during the final assembly without any adjustment and alignment. With the detachable hinges of the type described above, a uniform cylindrical portion of the hinge pin, which extends in the gudgeon bore of the detachable hinge flap, should have a diameter smaller than the inner diameter of the gudgeon bore in order to enable or to facilitate a mechanized re-attachment of a motor vehicle door to the motor vehicle body.
Therefrom, it follows that centering of the hinge pin in the gudgeon bore, namely, of the hinge pin cone which, on one hand, adjoins the hinge pin shoulder and, on the other hand, adjoins the nut, with respect to a conical enlargement of the gudgeon bore of the detachable hinge flap for receiving the cone is necessary. A centering position of the hinge pin cone and the conical enlargement of the gudgeon bore is achieved upon screwing of the nut onto the threaded hinge portion. The retaining of the centering position of the hinge pin with respect to the gudgeon of the detachable hinge flap is based on the achieved, as a result of screwing of the nut onto the hinge pin, surface pressure between the hinge pin cone, on one side, and on the other side, the nut cone and the conical enlargement of the hinge bore of the detachable hinge flap.
In order to provide for a such implementation of the support of the detachable hinge flap on the hinge pin, with the gudgeon bore tilting relative to the hinge pin as a result of ever increasing weight of modern vehicle doors resulting, e.g., from mounting therein motorized drives, e.g., a window opener, the threaded connection of a nut with an appropriate attachment of the hinge pin is arranged above the gudgeon of the detachable hinge pin.
With such an arrangement, the screwing of the nut onto the hinge pin can actually be prohibited for heavy vehicle doors. This is because the gudgeon of the detachable hinge flap gradually occupies a position at which it extends at a certain angle toward the hinge pin axis, or because the door gradually sinks. It is also necessary that the threaded attachment of the hinge pin, onto which a nut is being screwed, is sufficiently long which requires that an unfavorable and relatively long detachment path for detaching the hinge be provided.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is a detachable door hinge for a motor vehicle door of the type described above in which the above-described drawbacks of mounting of the detachable hinge flap on the hinge pin is reliably prevented, without increase in the manufacturing and/or assembly costs.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a detachable door hinge of the type described above in which a stable radial support of the detachable hinge flap on the hinge pin is reliably insured.
A further object of the present invention is a detachable door hinge of the type described above in which the length of the hinge pin is reduced.

Detachable door hinge for a motor vehicle door


A system is disclosed for expanding a user query based on user learned popularity rankings. User queries often have no exact match, resulting in a user having to refine or abandon the search. The disclosed system obtains popularity rankings based on the content of a user query. The system expands the user query based on the popularity rankings. Thereafter, query results based on the expanded user query may be provided to the user. The system also regularly learns from user behavior and adapts the popularity rankings according to the learned information.

1. Technical Field
This application relates to search engines. In particular, this application relates to expanding queries based on learned popularity rankings.
2. Related Art
The availability of powerful tools for developing and distributing Internet content has led to an increase in information, products, and services offered through the Internet, as well as a dramatic growth in the number and types of consumers using the Internet. To sift through this immense volume of information, a user often submits queries to search engines that provide responsive information that meets the criteria specified by the queries.
For example, user queries that include geographic content may enable enterprises to identify entities, such as place names, street addresses, or other entities associated with a specific physical location. Geographic or other query types may provide an important source of revenue for e-commerce enterprises, such as Internet-based search engines, advertisers, etc. E-commerce enterprises provide results to a user based on the user's submitted query terms or other relevant information. In this manner, such enterprises may provide advertising and other information or content to the user.
However, a user query may not always result in an exact relevant match, often resulting in a user having to refine or abandon the search. In the example of a geographic query, an on-line search for "pizza in San Marino, Calif." may not produce any actual matches on "pizza" in the locality of "San Marino." However, there may be relevant results located near the location queried by the user, such as in a neighboring locality. Those results should be found and provided to the user even though the original search terms did not contain those specific nearby locations. More generally, there may often be information, advertisements, media, or other potential search results that do not exactly match a user's query terms, but would nonetheless be relevant to the user's query and should thus be found and provided to the user.
A need therefore exists for a system that expands queries to better match a user's preferred query scope.


A medical robot system includes a forceps arm provided with a forceps manipulator and a camera arm provided with an endoscope. The forceps manipulator and the endoscope are inserted into a living body through a common insertion implement. The system further includes an operating unit that generates a control signal to control the forceps manipulator and the forceps arm, a forceps motion control unit that controls motions of the forceps manipulator and the forceps arm according to the control signal from the operating unit, an endoscope motion control unit that controls motions of the endoscope and the camera arm, and an interference avoiding unit that controls an interference avoiding motion of the camera arm to avoid interference between the camera arm and the forceps arm while a visual point of the endoscope is kept constant.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical robot system for performing laparoscopic surgery using a forceps manipulator provided on a forceps arm and an endoscope provided on a camera arm, which are inserted into a living body through a common trocar.
2. Description of the Related Art
In laparoscopic surgery (endoscopic surgical operation), a few small holes are bored in a patient's abdominal region, an endoscope (e.g., rigid scope) and a manipulator (or forceps) and the like are inserted, and an operator (surgeon) performs a surgical operation while watching an image from the endoscope on a monitor. Such laparoscopic surgery is less burdensome because no laparotomy is required, and the number of days required for the patient to spend before recovery from the surgical operation or release from the hospital is greatly reduced. Therefore, it is expected to be applied to an expanding range of fields.
A manipulator system includes a manipulator and a control unit configured to control the manipulator, as described in Japanese Patent Laid-open No. 2003-61969, for example. The manipulator includes an operating unit to be operated manually and a working unit detachably attached to the operating unit. The working unit has an elongated shaft and a distal-end working unit (also called an end effecter) provided at the distal end of the shaft. Motors that actuate the distal-end working unit through wires are provided in the operating unit. The wires are wrapped around pulleys on the proximal side. The control unit drives the motors provided in the operating unit, whereby the wires are circulatorily driven through the pulleys.
On the other hand, a medical robot system in which a medical manipulator (forceps manipulator) is actuated by a robot arm has been proposed (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,331,181). Such a medical robot system can be remotely controlled by a master arm and various motions can be performed under program control. The medical robot system is provided with a plurality of robot arms, which can be selectively operated according to the surgical procedure intended. For instance, two robot arms are each provided with a manipulator and a further robot arm is provided with an endoscope. A surgical procedure can be carried out using an operating unit and a console remotely located from the robot arms, while the operator views the surgical site on a monitor.


Membrane permeable prodrugs of creatine phosphate analogs, pharmaceutical compositions comprising membrane permeable prodrugs of creatine phosphate analogs, and methods of treating diseases such as ischemia, heart failure, and neurodegenerative disorders comprising administering prodrugs of creatine phosphate analogs, or pharmaceutical compositions thereof are disclosed.

Precise coupling of spatially separated intracellular ATP-producing and ATP-consuming processes is fundamental to the bioenergetics of living organisms. Integrated spatially arranged phosphotransfer systems catalyzed by creatine kinase, adenylate kinase, carbonic anhydrase, and glycolytic enzymes provide efficient high-energy phosphoryl transfer to support cellular functions and maintain intracellular energy homeostasis under stress (see, e.g., Dzeja and Terzic, J Experimental Biol 2003, 206, 2039-2047). Creatine kinase catalyzes the reversible transfer of the N-phosphoryl group from phosphocreatine to ADP to regenerate ATP and plays a key role in the energy homeostasis of cells with intermittently high, fluctuating energy requirements such as skeletal and cardiac muscle, neurons, photoreceptors, spermatozoa, and electrocytes. The creatine kinase system has a dual role in intracellular energy metabolism—functioning as an energy buffer to restore depleted ATP levels at sites of high ATP hydrolysis, and to transferring energy in the form of phosphocreatine from the mitochondria to other parts of the cell by a process involving intermediate energy carriers, several enzymatic reactions, and diffusion through various intracellular structures.
Many pathological disease states arise from a dysfunction in energy metabolism. Cellular depletion of ATP stores, as occurs for example during tissue ischemia, results in impaired tissue function and cell death. Of foremost medical relevance, ischemia-related cardiovascular disease such as stroke and heart attack remains a leading cause of death and morbidity in North America and Europe. Thus, strategies that can prevent or reverse ischemia-related tissue damage are expected to have a major impact on public health. Energy depletion also contributes to tissue damage during surgery and is a common cause of organ transplant failure. Furthermore, reperfusion with oxygen-containing solutions can further exacerbate tissue health through production of oxygen radicals. Therefore, a method to rapidly restore ATP levels without causing reperfusion injury is likely to have many therapeutic applications. Neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, and Huntington's disease are associated with impaired energy metabolism, and strategies for improving ATP metabolism could potentially minimize loss of neurons and thereby improve the prognosis of patients with these diseases. Finally, impaired energy metabolism is an important factor in muscle fatigue and limits physical endurance. Therefore, a method of preventing or reversing ATP depletion in ischemic or metabolically active tissues is likely to have broad clinical utility in a wide range of indications.
A large body of research indicates that the loss of cellular ATP due to oxygen and glucose deprivation during ischemia is a cause of tissue death. To prevent this, mammalian cells harbor protective biochemical mechanisms for minimizing ATP depletion during ischemia and episodes of high metabolic demand as occurs in metabolically active brain or muscle tissues. The creatine kinase system is a key biochemical mechanism that prevents ATP depletion in mammalian cells. Phosphagens such as creatine phosphate (4):
are high-energy phosphate sources that can regenerate ATP when intracellular levels of ATP fall. The level of creatine phosphate in a cell is an important predictor of resistance to ischemic insult, and remaining stores of creatine phosphate are correlated with the extent of tissue damage. Studies have documented the importance of creatine phosphate levels in cardiac and brain ischemia, neuronal degeneration, organ transplant viability, and muscle fatigue (see, e.g., Wyss and Kaddurah-Daouk, Physiological Reviews 2000, 80(3), 1107-1213, which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety). Accordingly, the administration of creatine or creatine phosphate for treating these and other diseases is being explored (see, e.g., Kaddurah-Daouk et al., U.S. Application Publication Nos. 2005/0256134, and 2003/0018082, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,075,031 (use of creatine kinase analogs for treating glucose metabolic disorders); Kaddurah-Daouk, U.S. Application Publication No. 2004/0116390, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,998,457 (obesity and related disorders), Kaddurah-Daouk, U.S. Application Publication No. 2004/0054006 (transmissible spongiform encephalopathies); Kaddurah-Daouk et al., U.S. Application Publication Nos. 2004/0102419, 2004/0106680, and 2002/0161049, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,706,764 (diseases of the central nervous system); and Lambert et al., Adv Phys Med Rehab, 2003, 84(8), 1206-1210 (multiple sclerosis).
Creatine, (5),
supplementation increases intracellular creatine phosphate levels (Harris et al., Clinical Sci 1992, 83, 367-74). Creatine phosphate (2 gm/day) given to athletes during strenuous endurance training has allowed the athletes to train longer with less muscle stiffness. Because creatine phosphate is readily metabolized when administered orally it must be administered intramuscularly or intravenously to be effective. Creatine easily crosses the blood-brain barrier and brain creatine levels can be increased via oral administration (Dechent et al., Am J Physiol 1999, 277, R698-704). Prolonged creatine supplementation can elevate the cellular pools of creatine phosphate and increase resistance to tissue ischemia and muscle fatigue. However, creatine supplementation typically takes weeks to increase creatine phosphate levels, and the overall increase is generally fairly small (<50%). For example, human studies show that in healthy volunteers cerebral creatine phosphate can be increased only by about 10% by oral creatine administration (Dechent et al., Am J Physiol 1999, 277, R698-R704). Interestingly, increases in tissue creatine phosphate levels following oral creatine supplementation are long-lasting (>14 days), suggesting that strategies that increase creatine phosphate could have long lasting beneficial effects and would be effective with infrequent dosing. However, acute application of creatine is not effective in restoring tissue ATP levels, and therefore may have limited value in emergency care situations. Application of creatine phosphate to cells does not raise intracellular creatine phosphate, since due to its high polarity (hydrophilicity), creatine phosphate is not taken up into cells and does not readily cross barrier tissues such as the blood-brain-barrier. Creatine phosphate is also rapidly metabolized in biological fluids. Conjugating creatine phosphate with a protein moiety has been proposed as a strategy for enhancing translocation through barrier tissue (see, e.g., Kaddurah-Daouk et al., U.S. Application Publication No. 2004-0126366). Thus, although administration of creatine phosphate may have some therapeutic usefulness, a modified creatine phosphate molecule that is more stable and is more permeable to barrier tissues and cellular membranes would have enhanced therapeutic value.
Creatine phosphate analog prodrugs provided by the present disclosure are designed to be stable in biological fluids, to enter cells by either passive diffusion or active transport, and to release the corresponding creatine phosphate analog into the cellular cytoplasm. Such prodrugs can also cross important barrier tissues such as the intestinal mucosa, the blood-brain barrier, and the blood-placental barrier. Because of the ability to pass through biological membranes, creatine phosphate analog prodrugs can restore and maintain energy homeostasis in ATP depleted cells via the creatine kinase system, and rapidly restore ATP levels to protect tissues from further ischemic stress. Prodrugs of creatine phosphate analogs having a higher free energy, e.g., cyclocreatine, or lower affinity for creatine kinase, and which can regenerate ATP under more severe conditions of energy depletion are also disclosed. Creatine phosphate analog prodrugs provided by the present disclosure can also be used to deliver sustained systemic concentrations of the corresponding creatine phosphate analog.

Creatine phosphate analog prodrugs, compositions and uses thereof


A method of processing a digital image comprising the steps of:. providing an input digital image having an input size; PA1 providing the output size of a desired output digital image; PA1 inputting the provided input digital image and the provided desired output digital image size to a weight estimation sub-system which operates to generate several weight derivative estimates; PA1 inputting the provided input digital image to an x-direction derivative estimation sub-system which produces an array of x-direction derivative estimates; PA1 inputting the provided input digital image, the weight derivative estimates and the x-direction estimates to an x-direction interpolated value estimation subsystem which produces in intermediate digital image which has the same number of rows as said input digital image while having the same number of columns as said output digital image; PA1 operating on said intermediate digital image by a y-direction derivative estimation sub-system to produce y-direction derivative estimates; PA1 inputting the intermediate digital image, the weight derivative estimates, and the y-direction derivative estimates to a y-direction interpolated value estimation sub-system to produce said output digital image.

Interpolation is the process of estimating the intermediate value of a continuous event from discrete samples. Interpolation is used extensively in digital image processing to magnify or reduce images and to correct spatial distortions. Several interpolation functions have been used for image resampling (Maeland, E., On the Comparison of Interpolation Methods, IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging, Vol. 7, No. 3, September 1988, pp. 213-217). It is widely accepted that image quality can be improved by resampling using a high-resolution cubic convolution function as compared to the nearest neighbor, linear, or cubic B-spline functions. (Keys, R. G., Cubic Convolution Interpolation for Digital Image Processing, IEEE Transactions on Acoustics, Speech, and Signal Processing, Vol. ASSP-29, No. 6, December 1981). For this reason, cubic spline interpolation has become a widely used method in digital image processing. However, cubic spline interpolation generates objectionable image artifacts under a number of real world imaging conditions.
Lien, et. al., Lien, Sheue-Ling, et. al. Method and Apparatus for Shading Images, U.S. Pat. No. 5,063,375, Nov. 5, 1991 disclosed a method for generating shaded images based on surface normal calculation. Both Kimura, et. al., Apparatus to Improve Image Enlargement or Reduction by Interpolation. U.S. Pat. No. 5,301,226, Apr. 5, 1994 and Potter, et. al., Method and Apparatus for Enhancing Frequency Domain Analysis. U.S. Pat. No. 5,473,555, Dec. 5, 1995, present methods of interpolation based on frequency domain analysis. Takayama, et. al., Hybrid Interpolation and Non-Interpolation Method and Apparatus for Image Enlarging and Contraction. U.S. Pat. No. 5,400,154, Mar. 21, 1995 present a hybrid method to image interpolation. Each of these methods is disadvantageous.
Hrytzak, et. al., Method and Apparatus for Adaptively Interpolating a Digital Image. U.S. Pat. No. 5,327,257, Jul. 5, 1994, present an adaptive method for interpolation based on a system which switches between sets of precomputed kernels on the basis of image data. The drawbacks of precomputed kernels are the same as those of cubic convolution and linear averaging discussed above--these techniques being based on precomputed kernels.


Embodiments for a turbine-generator position in a compressor bypass flow path are presented. In one example, a method for an engine having a compressor comprises generating energy via a turbine-generator positioned in a bypass flow path of the compressor. In this way, the energy of the recirculated intake air may be recovered by the turbine-generator.

Turbocharging an engine allows the engine to provide power similar to that of a larger displacement engine. Thus, turbocharging can extend the operating region of an engine. Turbochargers function by compressing intake air in a compressor via a turbine operated by exhaust gas flow. Under certain conditions, the flow rate and pressure ratio across the compressor can fluctuate to levels that may result in noise disturbances, and in more severe cases, performance issues and compressor degradation.
Such compressor surge may be mitigated by one or more compressor bypass valves (CBV) located in the intake. The CBVs may recirculate compressed air from the compressor outlet to the compressor inlet. However, the inventors herein have recognized that recirculation of compressed air may waste the energy utilized to the compress the air, leading to degraded fuel economy under some conditions.
Accordingly, a method is provided to address the loss of energy associated with the recirculation of compressed intake air. In one example, a method for an engine having a compressor comprises generating energy via a turbine-generator positioned in a bypass flow path of the compressor.
In this way, the energy of the recirculated intake air may be recovered by a turbine-generator positioned in the compressor bypass flow path. Flow of air through the turbine-generator may be controlled by a compressor bypass valve. Typically, the compressor bypass valve is controlled to recirculate compressed air in order to avoid surge. During conditions of low flow through the compressor bypass passage, the valve may be controlled to recirculate air through the turbine-generator before reaching the inlet of the compressor. The position of the valve may control the mass flow that is allowed to recirculate around the compressor. This allows a metered amount of air to recirculate, providing compressor operation at a more favorable point on the compressor map. During transient conditions when larger amounts of recirculated air are desired, such as when the intake throttle closes, the valve may be controlled to a position that allows air to bypass the turbine and flow from the high pressure to low pressure side of the compressor via a compressor bypass passage. The compressor bypass passage may be relatively large and/or allow unrestricted flow around the compressor. In doing so, compressor surge may be mitigated under most operating conditions while generating additional energy via the turbine-generator.
The above advantages and other advantages, and features of the present description will be readily apparent from the following Detailed Description when taken alone or in connection with the accompanying drawings.
It should be understood that the summary above is provided to introduce in simplified form a selection of concepts that are further described in the detailed description. It is not meant to identify key or essential features of the claimed subject matter, the scope of which is defined uniquely by the claims that follow the detailed description. Furthermore, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any disadvantages noted above or in any part of this disclosure.


This provides methods and systems for the global navigation satellite system (GNSS) combined with the dead-reckoning (DR) technique, which is expected to provide a vehicle positioning solution, but it may contain an unacceptable amount of error due to multiple causes, e.g., atmospheric effects, clock timing, and multipath effect. Particularly, the multipath effect is a major issue in the urban canyons. This invention overcomes these and other issues in the DR solution by a geofencing framework based on road geometry information and multiple supplemental kinematic filters. It guarantees a road-level accuracy and enables certain V2X applications which does not require sub-meter accuracy, e.g., signal phase timing, intersection movement assist, curve speed warning, reduced speed zone warning, and red-light violation warning. Automated vehicle is another use case. This is used for autonomous cars and vehicle safety, shown with various examples/variations.

Vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) and vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I) communication, collectively referred as Vehicle-to-everything (V2X), is a wireless technology for increasing road safety and improving traffic management, with intelligent transport system. It can also include V2P (Vehicle-to-Pedestrian), V2D (Vehicle-to-device), and V2G (Vehicle-to-grid) communications.
The autonomous cars or vehicles are subject of intense research today. The safety is one of the most important issues in this technology. We believe that pedestrians are one of the main actors in this environment. Thus, the pedestrians safety is one of the main issues in our research and development. At Savari, our technology incorporates a platform for pedestrians' safety. The more we guard the pedestrians against the accidents, the less risk is imposed on public, and the more public acceptance for autonomous cars or vehicles is generated.
One aspect of the present invention relates to a system that uses an enhanced positioning system based on a geofencing framework for road vehicle navigation and V2X applications under large satellite signal errors.
There is no prior art or product in the industry that teaches the following features in our disclosure here.

Positioning system based on geofencing framework

Harman International Industries, Incorporated