A digital camera comprising an optical lens system (12) that picks up an image of an object, a CCD (13), a sample and hold circuit (16), an AID converter (17), a color process circuit (18), a timer (32) that records the present time or counts down a set time, a key-in unit (27) that sets an alarm time, a display (26) comprising a plurality of information means capable of selecting information with or without sound, a vibrator (30), an LED display (33), a speaker (35), and a controller (22) that selects at least one from the plurality of information means depending upon the pickup of an image being carried out when the timing operation by the timer (32) has ended, and causes the selected information means to inform the user that the set time has come or run out.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to electronic cameras, and more particularly to electronic cameras including digital cameras having information functions such as, for example, a timer alarm, and a voltage drop alarm, etc., and also including cellular phones with a built-in camera having an incoming-call information function, and information controlling methods for the electronic cameras.
2. Description of the Related Art Information
Recently, digital still cameras that convert an image signal obtained by picking up an image to digital data and record the data in a built-in memory or on a memory card have generally been put widely to practical use in place of conventional cameras using a silver salt film.
In addition to the digital still cameras as a simple device, many companies have sold cellular phones each of which records image data obtained by a camera function thereof in a built-in memory or on a memory card, displays the recorded image data on a monitor of the cellular phone, and sends another terminal the image data as a file attached to an electronic mail.
These cellular phones have an incoming-call information function that informs the user of an arrival of an incoming call signal by alarm sound or vibrations of a vibrator as a basic function, as well as an alarm information function that informs the user that a preset time has come or run out, by alarm sound or vibration of the vibrator.

Electronic camera with an alarm function


A method and system for reducing the power to average ratio (PAR) at the transmitter after the up sampling and interpolation filter. In the time domain, Side Tone Packets Injection (STPI) system and method detects the optimal peaks that will result in having a low PAR at a sampling rate of T/K and combines an optimal binary and a PAR-lowering sequence and an upsampled, interpolated original discrete time signal at the scale of one extended symbol for multi-carrier modulation and at the scale M of symbols for single-carrier modulation. STPI does not require peaks search and processing at the scale of many time samples, does not require iterative Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) and Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing thus, allowing the receiver not to perform extra demodulation.

High-bandwidth technologies which are prevalent nowadays use the existing copper wire infrastructure intended for plain old telephones (POTS) communication. One such technology is Digital Subscriber Line (DSL) which comes in multiple variations such as ADSL, HDSL, IDSL, SDSL, RADSL and VDSL collectively known as xDSL. Asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL) allows users a higher data rate downstream (i.e. to the customer) than upstream (i.e. the service provider).
These high-bandwidth systems use single-carrier modulation as well as multi-carrier modulation schemes, such as Carrier-less Amplitude and Phase modulation (CAP) and Discrete Multi-tone (DMT) for wired media and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) for wireless communication. One advantage of such schemes is that they are suited for high-bandwidth application of 2 Mbps or higher upstream (subscriber to provider) and up to 8 Mbps downstream (provider to subscriber). Quadrature Amplitude Modulation (QAM) utilizes a sine and cosine wave with the same frequency component to convey the information. The x and y components of the point to which the bits are mapped specify the amplitude of the sine and cosine waves and, because of the orthogonality between the waves, the data can be sent over the channel simultaneously. The amplitude (including sign and magnitude) of each wave conveys the information (bits) being sent. QAM modulation has been used in voice-band modem specifications, including the V.34.
CAP is similar to QAM. For transmission in each direction CAP systems use two carriers of identical frequency above the 4 KHz voice band, one shifted 90 degrees relative to the other. CAP also uses a constellation to encode bits at the transmitter and decode bits at the receiver. The x and y results from the encoding process are then used to excite a digital filter.
DMT modulation, sometimes called orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), builds on some of the ideas of QAM but, unlike QAM, it uses more than one constellation encoder where each encoder receives a set of bits that are encoded and outputs the amplitude of the sine and cosine waves. However, a different sine and cosine frequency is used for each constellation encoder. The outputs from these different encoders are summed together and sent over a single channel for each direction of transmission. DMT systems divide the spectrum above the 4-KHz voice frequency band into 256 narrow channels called bins (sometimes referred to as tones, DMT tones or sub-channels). These bins are 4.3125 KHz wide. The waveforms in each bin are completely separable from one another. One key to separability is that the sine and cosine frequencies used in each bin should be multiples of a common frequency known as the fundamental frequency and in addition the symbol period τ, must be the inverse of the common frequency. Another of way of producing a DMT symbol, other than mapping the output of the constellation encoder into a sine and cosine amplitude, is that the output can be mapped into a complex number in a vector. The value from the cosine axis, or X will represent the real part and the value from the sine axis, or Y will represent the imaginary part. If the outputs of all the constellation encoders are ordered in the vector, then each vector point represents one of the DMT bins and, if N bins existed in the DMT system, the complex vector would have N entries. A suffix containing the complex conjugates of the vector's original entries can be added to the vector such that the new vector has complex conjugate symmetry. An inverse Fourier transform (IFFT) on those N frequency bins is then used to convert the data from frequency domain to a time domain signal.
From a circuit standpoint, and in relation to discrete multi-tone modulation, the prior art shown in FIG. 1, is a transmitter side of a DMT transceiver. The transmitter accepts serial data which is then converted from serial to parallel form and to provide two hundred fifty-six signals n0–n255 via a serial to parallel converter 10 (SP). The sequences are then passed on to a symbol-mapper 20 where each bit is assigned or mapped into one of N-complex (QAM) multi-level sub-symbols. The two hundred fifty-six symbols are complex-valued and are fed into an IFFT 30 which provides five hundred and twelve output real signals by taking the complex conjugates of the two hundred fifty six samples. The parallel outputs of the IFFT are applied to a cyclic prefix 40 which helps to make a channel circular so that equalization can occur more easily in the frequency domain. The output of the cyclic prefix block is then applied to a parallel to serial converter 50 to provide a serial output signal which is upsampled and interpolated by a up-sampler 60. The output is processed by a interpolator 70 which converts the discrete time signal into a continuous time signal.
Spurious high amplitude peaks in the composite time signal occur when the signals from the different tones add constructively. Compared to the average signal power, the instantaneous power of these peaks are high, and consequently, so is the peak-to-average power ratio (PAR). These large peaks require a large dynamic range of the analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and analog front end (AFE) which result in inefficient amplifiers with excessive power dissipation and expensive transceivers. To overcome the drawbacks of the high PAR, many solutions and techniques have been proposed, one of which is, tone reservation method in which a pre-selected number of tones are set aside for PAR reduction. The information transmitted in these tones is used to subtract from the signal envelope, thus reducing the PAR, but at a cost of increased complexity at the transmitter.
Another method depends upon applying a combination of saturating non-linearity (clipping) at the transmitter and having the knowledge of the saturating characteristics at the receiver to iteratively decode the data vector without distortion by performing a number of tedious and costly fast FFT and IFFT computations.
Yet another method, known as selective mapping, involves generating a large set of data vectors all representing the same information in which the data vector with lowest PAR is selected. However, potential problems may arise with decoding the signal in the presence of noise where errors in the reverse mapping may result in the data of whole symbols being lost. Other drawbacks also exist.

Side tones packets injection (STPI) for PAR reduction


A reconfigurable processor and an operation method of the reconfigurable processor may include: a status register configured to store a status value used to determine at least one execution mode in a processor; a parallel processing scheduler configured to schedule at least one of a very long instruction word (VLIW) logic and a coarse grained architecture (CGA) logic to be used based on the stored status value; a VLIW register configured to store processed data according to the VLIW logic; and a CGA register configured to store processed data according to the CGA logic.

1. Field
One or more embodiments relate to quickly processing a program through adaptation to an architecture having two execution modes among various types of processors.
2. Description of the Related Art
Various types of processors have been developed.
Although a basic function referred to as execution of a program has been maintained as is, a method and architecture for executing the basic function have been continuously modified and enhanced.
A processor may have at least one execution mode. An example of a processor having two execution modes may be a reconfigurable processor that performs a very long instruction word (VLIW) mode and a coarse grained architecture (CGA) mode.
In the VLIW mode, program operation may be performed through predetermined pipeline processing by patching an instruction from an instruction cache, which is the same as a general processor. In the CGA mode, program operation may be performed by reading configuration information of a processor from storage referred to as a configuration memory.
Configuration information of a processor may include information associated with a functional unit (FU) to be selected from among a plurality of FUs simultaneously executable, an operation to be performed within each FU, and the like.
Such a processor may share a single register file.
Due to dependency that a result value of VLIW may be used as an input of CGA, or a result value of CGA may be used as an input of VLIW, a single register file is used. Thus, it may not be possible to perform parallel processing with respect to two executions modes, which may result in consuming a large amount of resources.
A processor having two execution modes may process a program that has a different characteristic within a single program through different modes. For example, among processors, there is a processor that may execute two modes, for example, a VLIW mode and a CGA mode.
In the case of processing a general instruction, the processor may be operated in the VLIW mode. In the case of processing a loop, the processor may be operated in the CGA mode. This is to enhance the overall execution rate by accelerating a loop portion.
Two modes may be sequentially executed since dependency is present between the two modes although the processor operates in the different modes. For example, a result value of VLIW may be used as an input of CGA and thus, two modes need to be sequentially executed.
However, the above sequential execution may use a relatively large amount of resources in many operators. When an operation is performed in a single mode, nothing may occur in the other mode. Accordingly, performance for resources may be degraded.
In general, the result of VLIW may affect CGA. However, in the CGA mode, an operation may be generally performed on a large amount of data. Therefore, in many cases, a result value may be stored in a memory instead of being stored in a register file.
Although not always, it is possible to remove the dependency by the register file since a result value may be input in a memory area in the case of generating a program.
Further, although a memory storing a result value of CGA may be used for subsequent VLIW, it may also be adjusted in the case of generating a program. In general, the VLIW may be used to control a program or to process a small amount of operations and the CGA may be used to process a large amount of data operations at a time. Accordingly, dependency on a memory may be relatively small between the VLIW and the CGA. A relatively large amount of data migration may occur between CGA and subsequent CGA.

Reconfigurable processor for parallel processing and operation method of the reconfigurable processor


A method is disclosed for monitoring and controlling the bit error rate (BER) in an optical communication network where an optical receiver in the optical transmission network is a monolithic photonic integrated circuit (RxPIC) chip. The method includes the steps of decombining on-chip a combined channel signal received from the network and then monitoring a real time bit error rate (BER) of a decombined channel signal. The determined BER is then communicated, such as through an optical service channel (OSC) to an optical transmitter source that is the source of origin of the channel signal. Based upon the determined BER, the chirp of a channel signal modulator at the optical transmitter source that generated the monitored channel signal is adjusted by, for example, adjusting its bias. The same channel signal received at the RxPIC chip can be monitored again to determine if an acceptable level for the BER has been achieved by the previous chirp adjustment.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to optical telecommunications and more particularly to the deployment of photonic integrated circuits (PICs), in particular, optical receiver photonic integrated circuits (RxPICs) and optical transmitter photonic integrated circuits (TxPICs) utilized in optical transport or transmission networks.
2. Description of the Related Art
The employment of photonic integrated circuits (PICs), also sometimes referred to as planar lightwave circuits (PLCs), are on the rise in optical telecommunication systems. These devices provide the integration of both active and passive optical components on a single device for use in such systems. The gravitation to PICs is strong because it leads to utility of providing an entire system function, let alone a component function, in a single chip in a single package. Compared to the deployment of discrete optical components, such monolithic PIC chips can significantly reduce the size of optical components necessary in the optical system, albeit an optical transmitter (TxPIC) or optical receiver (RxPIC), for example, as well as significantly reduce the over cost of the system.
Optical PICs are already known in the art. As related to an optical receiver on a chip, the article to M. Zirngibl et al. entitled, "WDM receiver by Monolithic Integration of an Optical Preamplifier, Waveguide Grating router and Photodiode Array", ELECTRONIC LETTERS, Vol. 31(7), pp. 581–582, Mar. 30, 1995, discloses a 1 cm by 4 mm PIC chip, fabricated in InP, that includes the integrated components comprising an optical amplifier (SOA) optically coupled to an AWG DEMUX having a plurality of different signal channel outputs each coupled to a respective photodiode (PD) in an array of on-chip photodiodes. The SOA boosts the multiplexed input channel signals. The AWG DEMUX demultiplexes the signals into separate channel signals which signals are respectively detected by the array of PDs. The optical receiver chip may also be placed on a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) so that the spectral response or wavelength grid of the AWG can be fine tuned. A similar PIC chip configuration is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,913,000 to Doerr et al. but relates to a laser structure without an array of photodiodes, but rather an array of second optical amplifiers in their place, and where the PIC chip facets include reflective mirror surfaces to form multiple laser cavities. Further, an article to C. Cremer et al. entitled, "Grating Spectrograph Integrated with Photodiode Array in InGaAsP/InGaAs/InP", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 4(1), pp. 108110, January 1992, discloses a 4 mm by 7 mm InGaAsP/InP chip comprising a grating demultiplexer integrated with a photodiode array. The grating demultiplexer comprises a slab waveguide having multiple input waveguides and output waveguides to and from the slab. The slab has one end as a reflective mirror and, thus, "mirrors" one half of a full slab waveguide structure. The output waveguides from the slab are respectively coupled to an array of photodiodes integrated on the InP chip. See also the papers of J. B. Soole et al., Integrated Grating demultiplexer and PIN array for High Density Wavelength Division Multiplexed Detection at 1.5 mm″, ELECTRONIC LETTERS, Vol. 29, pp. 558–560, 1993; M. R. Amersfoort et al., "Low-Loss Phased-Array Based 4-Channel Wavelength Demultiplexer Integrated with Photodetectors", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 6(1), pp. 62–64, January 1994; and S. Chandrasekhar et al., "Monolithic Eight-Wavelength Demultiplexed Receiver for Dense WDM Applications", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 7(11), pp. 1342–1344, November 1995.
A combination WDM/PD array is shown in the article of F. Tong et al. entitled, "Characterization of a 16-Channel Optical/Electronic Selector for Fast Packet-Switched WDMA Networks", IEEE Photonics Technology Letters, Vol. 6(8), pp. 971–974, August 1994, except that, in the case here, the InGaAs/GaAs PDs are on a separate chip integrated with electronic transimpedance amplifiers, selectable switches and output limiting amplifier. Light generated from the multiple output waveguides of a separate AWG DEMUX chip is focused through a lens array to the array of photodetectors or photodiodes (PDs).
See also the article of B. Glance et al. entitled, "Applications of the Integrated Waveguide Grating Router", Journal of Lightwave Technology, Vol. 12(6), pp. 957–962, June 1994, which shows multiple applications for AWG devices with multiple inputs/outputs and their integration with various types of active components.
In some of the foregoing disclosures, optical semiconductor amplifiers (SOAs) are employed to boost the incoming channel signals such as from an optical link. Thus, the first on-chip optical component is an active component comprising an SOA to amplify the channel signals. Since these signals are of different wavelengths, however, the gain of the SOA is not equally distributed to all of the channel signals and, as a result, the signals to be amplified do not receive the same gain. This is a problem because the signals should have substantially equal intensity or power before they are demultiplexed; otherwise, some of the channel signals will have significantly degraded BER due to the dynamic range of the receiver photodiodes and transimpedance amplifiers.

Method of monitoring and controlling the bit error rate (BER) in an optical communication network


The presently disclosed technology is directed toward the removal of plugs in a pipeline segment by installing one or more clamping devices onto a pipeline. The clamping device will have the ability to access the inside of the pipeline segment and inject media designed to dissolve the plug.

Currently, thousands of miles of "plugged" pipelines exist, for which no practical remediation solution have been found. Prior remediation art includes the use of electric, thermal blankets which are placed over the insulation thus having to pass heat through the insulation, while losing heat to the environment (cold seawater) which is a clear disadvantage.
Economic pressures drive the production costs down. Existing subsea facilities are handicapped for operation and maintenance cost, and pressed for expansion as existing reservoirs are exhausted. Long distance tiebacks exacerbate the plugging problem, either by paraffin (wax) or hydrates, as there are technical and cost limitations to the amount and quality of thermal insulation. As prior art, industry has recurred to high efficiency pipeline designs such as "pipe-in-pipe", which consist of an inner pipe surrounded by insulation, encased in an outer steel shell, the "outer pipe", or actively, electrically heated pipelines, or a combination of both technologies, in addition to regularly adding mitigation chemicals as part of the process to prevent plugging. These solutions have drawbacks, be it in excessive weight increase, thus requiring large and expensive installation vessels, or reliability issues (case of electrically heated pipelines), fatigue issues (case of the "pipe-in-pipe" design, where the internal pipe is subject to thermal expansion and contraction much larger than the outer pipe which is in contact with the cold seawater found in deep water applications. Also, prevention of accumulations in the inside diameter of the pipeline sometimes require passing a cleaning device called "pig", which scraps the pipe wall clean of debris thus keeping it clean. The pigging activity, however requires that two parallel pipelines are installed, one for sending the pig, and one for returning the pig to the launching facility. Installing dual pipelines almost doubles the capital expenditure for installing the pipeline.
The prior art cited as references include a number of hot fluid circulation solutions. Prior art includes U.S. Pat. No. 7,367,398, titled "Device for Heating and Thermally Insulating At Least One Undersea Pipeline" which is focused on circulating fluids from the surface, toward either a hybrid riser (a pipeline that connects the seabed to the surface of the ocean) and it's specific set of problems, or toward circulation of a hot fluid through a complex, multi-cased set of pipelines, and as such closer to a so called pipe-in-pipe concept (case of a pipeline inserted into one or more casings).
U.S. Statutory Invention Reg. No. US H2139 H title "Active Heating system for Oil Pipeline" proposes to install a hot media circulation pipeline inside the mainstream production pipeline, thus transferring heat directly to the transported fluid, thus being efficient in maintaining the pipeline at a given temperature and preventing the formation of plugs, especially when production is interrupted. While this system is appealing, its cost is significant, and the dedicated hot media circulation pipeline adds significant cost, installation weight and reduces the mainstream production pipeline flowrate since it reduces its cross section.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,679,598 titled "Subsea Pipeline Bundle" exemplifies another version of a multiple shell system were a hot fluid is conducted through an internal hot fluid conductor, starting at a platform side. The hot fluid exits the hot fluid conductor at the well end, and starts flowing back toward the platform through the "bundle" annulus, thus exchanging heat with the production pipelines. The referred invention is also perceived as being costly from the complexity of the arrangement, and expected to have high linear weight thus further increasing the installation cost.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,939,082 titled "Subsea Pipeline Blockage Remediation Method" proposes the use of a remotely operated vehicle to place a chamber over part of a pipeline with the objective of heating the pipeline to melt plug formations. This method is inefficient since the heating is conducted over only a portion of the pipeline, and applies heat to the pipeline external insulation, making it difficult for heat to reach the plug formation and consuming a significant amount of heat energy.
The proposed method extends the use of tried and proven materials, is installable through current, existing installation technologies and methods, will allow for significant capital expenditures and operational cost savings, and will have a benign environmental impact by preventing plugging.

Pipeline insulated remediation system and installation method


A fuel and gas mixing structure for an engine is provided. This mixing structure includes a body configured to be positioned between a fuel injector and a cylinder of an engine. The body defines an interior volume that is configured to receive gas (e.g., air) from outside the body and to receive one or more streams of fuel from the fuel injector in the interior volume. The body also includes one or more upper channels and one or more lower channels that are configured to provide a substantially similar amount of flow relative to each other to the interior volume The body also defines one or more mixture conduits configured to conduct plumes of the fuel and gas, while mixing, from the interior volume to one or more exit ports and therethrough to the cylinder.

In a compression ignition engine, fuel may be directly injected into compressed hot gases, such as air or a mixture of air and recycled exhaust gas. The fuel mixes with these in-cylinder gases near the site of injection of the fuel into the cylinders of the engine. As the relatively cool fuel mixes with the higher temperature gases, the resulting mixture reaches a temperature sufficient for ignition. This may be a dynamic event and fuel may be ignited and may burn at the head of a fuel spray plume while fuel continues to be injected into the other end of the spray plume.
As the temperature of the gases entrained into the injected fuel remains high, the delay between injection of the fuel and ignition of the fuel-and-air mixture in a cylinder may be reduced. This may cause the fuel spray plume to have a sub-optimal fuel-and-air mix ratio before initial ignition, which may produce soot. The production and consequential build-up of soot may degrade performance of the engine and eventually require cleaning or other repair of the engine. Additionally, certain regulations or laws may restrict how much particulate matter or other emissions can be generated by engines.


An axle for in-line roller wheels allowing quick release of the wheels and axle from the in-line skate blade frame. The axle is constructed and arranged to allow the distal ends of the axle to move longitudinally relative to each other. There is a spring or other such mechanism forcing the ends of the axle into the openings in the blade frame. The ends of the axle that protrude into the frame are designed not to protrude beyond the outer sides of the frame structure so that the ends of the axle are not subject to wear. The present invention provides for an in-line skate axle that is secure and never needs tightening. Since the wheels are retained by springs there are no bolts or threaded connections to become loose. Other types of construction retain the axle and wheel in the blade frame using spring forces in tension rather than compression. In such arrangements the spring is stretched through the axle and the end retainers are pulled into place thereby retaining the axle and wheel to the frame. Other such arrangements such as bayonet type retaining locks may be used to advantage in the present invention.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to roller skates and more particularly to the axles and wheels of in-line skates.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In-line roller skating has become a popular activity, and following this activity manufacturers have developed new and improved in-line skates. In conjunction with this development there have been many patents filed. There are patents focused on removing the blade from the boot. But no patents or improvements that provide for quick release of the individual wheels and/or axles of an in-line skate are known.
Traditional methods of attaching the wheel to the blade frame use a bolt axle bolted to the blade frame. The bolt heads are positioned outside the frame and are subjected to extreme wear since the bolt head comes into contact with the pavement when the in-line skate is angled during turns or scraped along by the user. In fact often the bolt heads become so worn that they cannot be removed using a wrench. In any case the bolts must be tightened to the frame using two wrenches one on each side. There may be other designs where the wheels are riveted to the frame and are essentially not removable from the blade frame.
This problem of nut and/or bolt wear has been addressed in at least one prior art design. In this design the axle itself is a bolt with a threaded tip, and the frame hole is tapped with a matching thread to receive the axle tip. In this design the axle tip need not extend through to the outside of the frame leaving nothing exposed to the wear described above. However, the bolt head must be recessed to prevent wear to the bolt head. However, this design requires tools for tightening, and re-tightening during use is often required.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,388,846 ('846) is an illustration of prior art regarding a bolt on wheel, see FIG. 1 (which is a represented in FIG. 13 of the '846 patent). There is a tapped axle that extends beyond the outer surface of the frame extension to which the wheel assembly is to be securely mounted. Two bolts 2 are threaded onto the ends of the axle securely attaching the axle to the frame extensions. There is a tubular spacer 6 that may be part of the wheel assembly. The spacer is between the inner surfaces 8 of the frame extension with the axle running therethrough.
There are two enclosed ball bearing assemblies 5 with the ball retained within a raceway. The inner raceway 3 rests on the spacer 6 so that the ball bearing can rotate freely around the spacer. The outer raceway 5 is formed in a ring that fits into or may be part of the wheel hub 7. In this assembly the wheel rotates via the ball bearings and the bolts are tightened to securely retain the spacer and the wheel via the ball bearings to the frame extensions. Also, the bolts may be retained in recessed parts of the frame (also not shown). Also, it is possible to have the axle threaded into tapped holes in the two opposing frame opening so that no bolt or nut is needed.
Other in-line roller wheels may be retained to the blade using bushings and other such methods as are known in the art.
Also prior art discloses systems where the in-line skate itself is disconnectable from the boot. U.S. Pat. No. 5,314,199 to Olsen et al. shows such a device.
All of the above designs require tools to disconnect the wheels from the frame, if at all.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a system where the individual wheels can be quickly and easily removed from the blade frame manually.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a more reliable attachment of the wheel in the in-line skate where the wheel never needs tightening.


A dual-inlet gear pump includes a drive gear and a driven gear. The invention utilizes the discovery that the drive gear will typically move a higher flow volume than does the driven gear, particularly when the fluid being moved is an air/oil mixture. The present invention takes advantage of this discovery to communicate a first higher expected flow source to the drive gear, and to separately communicate a second, relatively lower expected flow rate to the driven gear. A particular application is in a scavenging pump for a jet engine.

This invention relates to a dual-inlet gear pump wherein a drive gear is configured to receive a higher flow volume than its associated driven gear. The invention has particular application in scavenging elements that pump an air/oil mixture from an oil sump in a jet engine, or from airframe or engine mounted gearboxes.
Jet engines, such as utilized in aircraft, include a lubrication system having an oil pump for moving lubricant from an oil tank to several components associated with the jet engine. In particular, oil is delivered to gear sets utilized to take power from the jet engine and drive various accessory functions. In addition, oil is delivered to bearings for the rotating components of the jet engines, which may include gearboxes.
Typically a scavenging pump is included to return the oil back to the tank from these several components. The scavenged oil is typically mixed with air when moved by the scavenging pump away from the component.
Gear pumps are one pumping mechanism utilized as the scavenging pumps. A dual-inlet gear pump as has been utilized in this application, has included separate inlets for delivering the air/oil mixture to two rotating gears, with a common discharge. The dual-inlet gear pump typically includes a gear rotated by a gearbox-driven input drive shaft, such as from the jet engine power plant. This first gear is known as the drive gear since it engages and drives a second, or driven gear. This known scavenging pump was utilized in an application where each gear received the same supply of fluid volume.
The jet engine environment is one where space is at a premium. Thus, it would be desirable to have the scavenging pump be as small as possible, and to operate as efficiently as possible such that its size may be reduced.
Dual-inlet gear pumps are known wherein separate inlets deliver fluid to the drive and driven gears. However, these prior art gear pumps are not associated with the scavenging pump on a jet engine, nor have they been utilized as efficiently as may be desired.

Dual-inlet gear pump with unequal flow capability


A continuous operation and efficient device used for heat decomposition and purification of a malodorous objective gas is disclosed. The device has large-sized and heavy heat reserving materials in a stationary condition. The objective gas is supplied to a chamber of a rotary distribution valve. From there, the gas is conducted from a guide space through first moving valve ports of a moving valve member and a stationary valve port of a stationary valve member to a plurality of passages. The passages separated by partition plates in a housing and contain therein the heat reserving material (heat exchanger column), a pretreatment material and a catalyst. The gas undergoes endothermic reaction for heat decomposition of the malodorous substances by means of the catalyst and a burner. The objective gas then has its heat exchanged or temperature reduced through the heat reserve material, so that a purified gas is expelled from the stationary valve port and second moving valve ports through a chamber. A third moving valve port is provided to prevent the gas being treated from being mixed with the purified gas. A change-over section is provided to instantaneously perform change-over of gas flows through the plurality of passages thereby improving efficiency of operation.

A direct combustion apparatus hitherto employed for removing malodorous substances discharged from a paint plant and other various plants is designed to heat an objective gas to about 800.degree. C., oxidize the malodorous substances, and decompose into odorless carbon dioxide and water. It is known as a deodorizing apparatus and has a wide scope of applications. In addition, it is capable of treating all malodorous substances that are oxidized and decomposed at a high temperature. A drawback of this direct combustion apparatus is its high fuel cost. In other words, the combustion heat of the malodorous substances is lowered as the concentration of the malodorous substances is lowered, which leads to increase of the fuel amount, thereby increasing the cost.
A prior art device which uses a reduced fuel amount and has an exceptional heat recovery rate is disclosed in FIG. 22. First, second, and third columns 1, 2, 3 filled with a heat reserve material such as ceramics are provided. Burners 4, 5 are disposed so that the temperature of the top of each column reaches about 800.degree. C. The objective gas containing malodorous substances is guided into a duct 6, which is linked to the lower part of each column 1, 2, 3 through valves 7, 8, 9. The gas purified through valves 10, 11, 12 is discharged through a duct 13.
During operation, the objective gas from the duct 6 is raised, for example, from the lower part of the second column 2 through the valve 8, and is heat-exchanged. The malodorous substances are oxidized and decomposed by the burner 5. A heat reserve material 14 in the third column 3 is heated to reserve heat. The purified gas is discharged from the duct 13 through the valve 12, and exhausted to the atmosphere. The valves are changed over by a timer, and purging air is supplied from a duct 15 into the lower part of the second column 2 to move the malodorous gas in the second column 2 into the first column 1. The objective gas to be processed next is guided into the lower part of the third column 3 through the valve 9 from the duct 6, and is heated by the heat reserve material 14. The malodorous substances are oxidized and decomposed by the burner 4. The heat reserve material in the first column 1 is heated to exchange heat, and the purified gas is moved into the duct 13. Afterwards, the purging air is further supplied into the lower part of the third column 3 from the duct 15, and is conducted into the second column 2 through the burner 5. The objective gas is supplied into the lower part of the first column 1 through the valve 7 from the duct 6, and heated by the heat reserve material. The malodorous substances are oxidized and decomposed by the burner 4, and the gas purified through the valve 11 from the second column 2 is discharged from the duct 13 together with the air for purge. In this way, sequentially in time by the timer, the objective gas rises through the first to third columns 1, 2, 3, and absorbs the heat from the heat from the heat reserve material 14. The gas heated by the burners 4, 5 descends through the first, second and third columns 1, 2, 3 to heat the heat reserve material 14, so that the heat recovery rate may be enhanced greatly.
A problem of the prior art shown in FIG. 22 is that it requires a total of three large-sized columns 1, 2, 3 for the purpose of purging. Before changing from the heat absorption process of the objective gas into the heat release process, the malodorous gas remaining in the columns 1, 2, 3 without being decomposed must be purged. Although the amount of air necessary for this purge is substantially smaller as compared with the flow rate of the objective gas, the prior art device shown in FIG. 22 requires the columns to have the same volume as the columns for heat absorption-release, and the facility cost is high, and a wider area for installation is needed. Moreover, it requires a total of six changeover valves 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and also three purging changeover valves. Therefore, the construction is complicated and expensive.
Moreover, in the prior art device shown in FIG. 22, the changeover operation of the valves 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 is a so-called semi-batch operation, and the changeover operation is done, generally, every two minutes or so. The required amount of heat reserve material is determined by this changeover time. Thus, a changeover operation every one minute requires about half the two-minute amount, and the required amount of heat reserve material is about one-quarter the two-minute amount when changing over every 30 seconds. But the prior art device shown in FIG. 22 requires an operation time dependent upon the valves 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and the time required for purging a massive volume of air is long. Hence, it is difficult to shorten the changeover time of the valves 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and as mentioned above, the required amount of the heat reserve material increases.
FIG. 23 shows other prior art device which has an exceptional heat recovery efficiency and is capable of saving the fuel consumption for the purpose of downsizing the constitution. In this prior art device, the objective gas containing malodorous substances is supplied from a duct 17, and is moved into an upper space 20 of a housing 19 via a changeover valve 18. As it flows through the heat reserve material 21, it is heated by the heat reserve material 21, and is further heated by an electric heater 22 to about 1000.degree. C. The heat is released to a heat reserve material 23 beneath, and as a result heat is accumulated in the heat reserve material 23. The gas is then discharged through a changeover valve 18 and a duct 25 from a lower space 24. Then the changeover valve 18 is changed over, and the objective gas from the duct 17 passes through the space 24. The gas is next heated by the heat reserve material 23, and is further heated by the electric heater 22. The heat is then released to the heat reserve material 21 thereby accumulating heat. Finally, the gas is discharged from the duct 25 through the changeover valve 18 from the space 20. Such operation is then repeated.
In the prior art shown in FIG. 23, immediately after changeover operation of the changeover valve 18, purging is not carried out, and hence the objective gas containing malodorous substances is partly discharged through the duct 25. A different prior art device for solving this problem is disclosed in FIG. 24. In this prior art device, the corresponding parts similar to those of the prior art device shown in FIG. 23 are denoted with the same reference numerals. This prior art device has further changeover valves 27, 28, and also has a purge tank 30 communicating with the atmosphere.
In this prior art device, the objective gas containing malodorous substances is passed through the changeover valve 18 from the duct 17, and is heated by the heat reserve material 21 from the space 20 in the housing 19. The gas is further heated by the electric heater 22, and the heat is reserved in the heat reserve material 23. Then, a purified gas is discharged through the valve 27 from the changeover valve 18 and the duct 25. At this time, the changeover valve 28 is closed. Immediately after the changeover valve 18 is changed over, the changeover valve 27 is closed and the changeover valve 28 is opened. Gas is moved from the duct 17 through the changeover valve 18 and from the space 24 in the housing 19 through the space 20. In addition, gas is moved through the changeover valves 18, 28, and then stored in the tank 30. After storing a necessary amount for purge, the changeover valve 28 is closed, the changeover valve 27 is opened, and the exhaust gas is exhausted through the changeover valve 27. The air containing malodorous substances stored in the tank 30 immediately after the changeover is later passed gradually into the duct 17 through the duct 31, and is mixed into the objective gas.
This prior art device shown in FIG. 24 has problems that the large column tank 30 for purge is required, time for changeover operation of the changeover valves 18, 27, and 28 is necessary, and a large amount of heat reserve material is required. Such problems are the same as experienced in the prior art mentioned in FIG. 22.
A different prior art device is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,547. In this prior art, heat reserve materials are disposed in plural segments partitioned in a housing in the peripheral direction. A changeover valve having a valve disc disposed beneath the housing is rotated. The objective gas is then elevated and heated by the heat reserve materials, and flammable components of the objective gas are burnt in a combustion chamber above the housing. A purified gas containing no flammable component passes through the heat reserve materials and descends while heating the heat reserve materials. The purified gas is discharged outside through the changeover valve, and the changeover valve sequentially changes over each of such segments in the peripheral direction. Such fundamental constitution is similar to the principle of the present invention, except that in the prior art, a pair of purge gas passages are formed at positions deviated from each other by 180 degrees in the peripheral direction to prevent the objective gas remaining in the segment from entering into the purified gas. The prior art device thus prevents objective gas from being discharged at the time the segments of the heat reserve materials are changed over by the changeover valve so that the purified gas may descend.
A problem of this prior art is that a pair of purge gas passages are formed, thereby decreasing the heat reserve materials, i.e. the effective volume used to treat the objective gas and produce clean gas. Moreover, the structure of the changeover valve for forming the two purge gas passages is complicated. Furthermore, since gas is supplied into the pair of purging gas passages, the required flow rate of purge gas is increased.

Rotary distribution valve, and regenerative combustion apparatus and regenerative heat exchanger using same


A system and method for transmitting data from a utility meter, such as a power meter, is disclosed. A microprocessor housed inside the power meter obtains readings of various power indicia, stores the readings in memory, and determines an efficient means of formatting the data for transmission to a remote host computer for further processing and use. The data is selectively compressed to minimize the amount and size of data that needs to be transmitted. The microprocessor is mounted on a circuit board assembly within the power meter housing and interfaces between the meter board of the power meter and a transmitter. The transmitter communicates the formatted and potentially compressed data from the power meter to the remote host computer wirelessly or via hard-wired communication lines. The various power indicia include power usage or power quality information.

Conventional commercial and industrial electronic meters, such as the meter described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,112,159 ("the Siemens S4"), the meter described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,081,204, and the meter described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,094,622, which are all incorporated by reference herein, are primarily designed for reading via an optical port. Although collection of meter data by wired and wireless networks has been proposed and such meters generally include ports for connectors other than the optical port that are usable by automated meter reading ("AMR") systems, the widespread development of AMR systems has not been economically viable due to either high equipment costs or significant usage costs when compared to the generally low value of meter readings. One such cost is associated with transfer of data using wireless carrier services, such as paging service providers. In such cases, reduction of the airtime required to send data or reduction of the amount of data transmitted can result in significant cost reductions. Therefore, there is a need for a lower-cost method for collecting meter readings over wireless wide-area networks, such as pager networks.

System and methods for wirelessly transmitting data from a utility meter


A set of femoral orthopedic devices includes a first component having a first size and a second component having a second size. The first component includes a peg positioned a predetermined distance from a first reference point The second component includes a peg positioned said predetermined distance from said first reference point. The method calls for referencing a femoral condyle at a first reference point, locating a peg aperture a predetermined distance from the first reference point, selecting a sized femoral component, and implanting the femoral component. The size of the femoral component is defined by a distance from the peg to a second reference point.

The present invention relates generally to prosthesis and instruments used during knee surgery for the reinstatement of the natural knee joint. More particularly, the invention relates to a unicondylar femoral prosthesis and the instruments used to properly size and locate the prosthesis using anterior or posterior referencing.
For various reasons, the human knee fails at the tibial and femoral juncture causing great pain and suffering to the individual. To correct this problem, surgeons now replace all or part of the natural knee joint with artificial components. In one type of partial knee replacement, an artificial tibial component is placed on the proximal end of the tibia and an artificial femoral component is placed on the distal end of the femur.
Because each individual""s femur and tibia are different in size and because the extent of damage to the tibia and femur ends cannot accurately be determined until after the knee has been opened by the surgeon, the size of the implant components cannot be easily determined prior to the operation. Accordingly, it is common practice to initiate the operation, open up the knee, fully evaluate the needs of the patient and, at that time, determine the size of the femoral and tibial components required. In view of this practice, manufacturers of femoral and tibial components typically manufacture five to eight different size component sets to be available to the surgeon during the operation.
Additionally, once the knee is open, the surgeon evaluates the patient to determine which of two referencing methods will best suit the patient. In anterior referencing, careful attention is given to the patellofemoral joint by using an anteriorally placed feeler gage. This referencing system focuses on allowing proper ligament balance and stability in extension as well as consistent patellofemoral placement on the anterior surface.
A second type of instrument design (posterior referencing) is based on the concept that flexion and extension stability are more important than the patello transition location. Specifically, the flexion gap is better balanced to avoid laxity in flexion or tightness in flexion.
In the case of sizing the femoral distal end in determining which of the femoral component sizes to use, the common practice has been to measure the anterior to posterior distance of the femur and, utilizing this measurement, to pick an appropriate size femoral component. Unfortunately, this technique is relatively invasive because the instrument used to measure the anterior to posterior femoral distal end distance is relatively large and unwieldy.
Many surgeons wishing to avoid patient morbidity associated with the aforementioned invasive procedure have chosen an instrument free method of resection. In this method, the surgeon removes portions of the femoral distal end with a burr operated by hand without the use of a resection guide. While such a method is less invasive, the resected surface created by the burr is not accurately located relative to a reference point. Unfortunately, variation in the final positioning of the femoral component occurs.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a method and apparatus enabling implantation of a unicondylar femoral prosthesis with minimal bone removal.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a minimally invasive technique for producing reproducible bone resections using either anterior or posterior referencing.
The present invention relates to a set of femoral orthopedic devices and a method of implanting the devices. The set of femoral orthopedic devices includes a first component having a first size and a second component having a second size. The first component includes a peg positioned a predetermined distance from a first reference point The second component includes a peg positioned a predetermined distance from said first reference point. The method calls for referencing a femoral condyle at a first reference point, locating a peg aperture a predetermined distance from the first reference point, selecting a sized femoral component, and implanting the femoral component. The size of the femoral component is defined by a distance from the peg to a second reference point.

Unicondylar femoral prosthesis and instruments


A method includes enabling a power supply of a ground sensor device to provide power to one or more components of the ground sensor device based on one or more rotations of a rotor of the ground sensor device.

A network of ground sensors, such as unattended ground sensors, may make use of wireless sensor networks for surveillance applications. For example, the network of ground sensors may be used in wooded zones where surveillance using radar systems is not viable.
A network typically includes battery-powered devices that use various sensors to monitor physical properties or environmental properties, such as temperature, seismic waves, or magnetic fields, to detect movement of pedestrians and vehicles. The ground sensors send data via a wireless network to a base station that processes the data provided by each ground sensor.
Typically, unattended ground sensors are sophisticated and intelligent devices. Each sensor receives data and processes the data to identify events corresponding to passage of a pedestrian or a vehicle and possibly even to discriminate between different types of events (e.g., a pedestrian event, a light vehicle event, a heavy vehicle event, etc.) and/or to determine a position of the pedestrian or the vehicle. Consequently, each sensor may be relatively expensive. In addition, a size of the sensors is relatively large and the sensors are designed for long endurance in a semi-permanent deployment. Thus, much effort may be required to plan the deployment.
There is a need for a relatively simple unattended ground sensor that may be conveniently deployed, such as from the air.


A system for authenticating a memory card including: a memory card host device including a plural area authentication module which judges whether the memory card has plural storage areas, and an area switching module which switches a storage area subject to access a different storage area from among plural storage areas; a memory card including plural storage areas, at least one internal register which retains a value indicating the number of storage areas, and a controller which transmits the value indicating the number of the storage areas to the memory card host device; and a bus which transmits and receives data between the memory card host device and the memory card.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a memory card authentication system, a memory card host device, a memory card, a storage area switching method, and a storage area switching program, which are capable of switching plural storage areas.
2. Description of the Related Art
A memory card containing a rewritable nonvolatile memory, which does not lose information saved therein even if the power supply is turned off, is a storage device for saving digital information for devices for controlling digital information, such as a digital camera, a portable music player or a personal digital assistant (such a device will be hereinafter referred to as a "memory card host device"). The memory card host device manages data on a memory with a file system such as FAT 16. The FAT 16 file system defines a cluster address in 16 bits; accordingly, assuming that a cluster size is equal to 32 kilobytes, the file system can achieve a maximum area of 2 gigabytes.
Meanwhile, a storage capacity per memory card is increasing due to advances in the memory manufacturing technology, mounting technology, and the like.
There are disclosed technologies related to memory cards, namely, a recording device which physically loads two memory cards in order to increase storage capacity (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 2001-325127), a memory card which incorporates a protection switch and a protection circuit in order to protect writing (Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. 62(1987)-179037), and the like.
A file system has a limit in terms of storage area capacity for handling. Accordingly, a conventional memory card host device which does not correspond to the switching of storage areas, has problems in that the data managed by the changed storage areas cannot be handled by changing the storage area within the memory card.

Memory card authentication system, memory card host device, memory card, storage area switching method, and storage area switching program


A laminate circuit structure assembly is provided that comprises at least two modularized circuitized voltage plane subassemblies; optionally an interposer located between each of the subassemblies, and wherein the subassemblies and interposer, if present, are bonded together with a cured dielectric coating. The interposer comprises dielectric layers disposed about an internal electrically conductive layer.

A conventional technique of forming a laminate circuit board structures includes forming layers of dielectric material and electrically conducting material to provide multiple layers of circuits and voltage planes. Voltage planes can be either ground plane or power planes, and are sometimes collectively referred to as power planes.
Conventional printed circuit boards are typically constructed from glass cloth prepreg and copper. Normally copper clad laminates (CCL's) are circuitized and then "laid up" with other circuitized cores and additional sticker prepreg to form composites. Once laminated, conventional composite boards are drilled and then plated. While conventional boards can be either tri-plate or strip line constructions, both use conventional prepreg as sticker sheets. Both designs, especially stripline/buried via designs, also usually utilize signal to power plane referencing through the sticker sheet layer, on at least one side of the signal line.
Composites constructed using 2S1P building blocks offer a number of advantages over conventional construction techniques. One of these advantages is testable impedance prior to composite lamination. The impedance is also predominately controlled by the core dielectric. This is a major advantage as core layer dielectrics are not effected by the complex geometries and fill requirements that occur at composite lamination. 2S1P's built with glass cloth free materials facilitate very high circuit density by allowing very small, laser drilled holes to be made. One very important aspect of using 2S1P's to build high density composite printed circuit boards (PCBs) is the method used to adhere the 2S1P's into a composite board.
Prior methods of making 2S1P cores involve drilling or etching clearance holes in bare sheets, e.g., 2 oz., 1 oz. and/or 0.5 oz., copper and then laminating and fully curing these with conventional prepregs or coated foils to produce a core that could be circuitized forming the signal planes. Likewise, prior 0S1P's have been fabricated in similar manners. These methods are difficult to practice due to the problems associated with handling bare copper. 2S1P's can also be made by circuitizing one side of a core with the power pattern then relaminating additional prepreg or coated copper over the circuitized power pattern.
Regardless of the method used to make the 2S1P cores, they must now be stuck together using additional "sticker" materials placed between the 2S1P's and the 0S1P's. These additional sticker sheets contribute additional thickness and exacerbate all the problems associated with additional thickness.
More recently, techniques have been provided that provide a relatively inexpensive photolithographic technique of forming a composite laminate structure from individual discrete laminate structures into a composite laminate structure. Along these lines see U.S. application Ser. No. 09/203,945 entitled "Two Signal One Power Plane Circuit Board," Ser. No. 09/203,978 entitled "Multi-Layer Organic Chip Carrier Package" and Ser. No. 09/204,458 entitled "Composite Laminate Circuit and Method of Forming the Same," entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Although the structures and methods of these inventions provide significant advances and advantages over current printed wire board (PWB) fabrication methods, there still exists a need for further refinement. Therefore continuing efforts are underway in attempting to provide for even greater advantages.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

International Business Machines Corporation


Embodiments of the present invention provide methods, system and machine-readable media for dynamic configuration and/or support for application using multiple modes and/or devices. Generally speaking, dynamic configuration and/or support for an application using multiple modes and/or devices can comprise accessing a multimodal and/or multi-device application via a user agent of a user device. The user agent can determine a plurality of modes or devices supported by the application and request multimodal services based on the modes or devices supported by the application. A multimodal/multi-device infrastructure communicatively coupled with the user agent can be adapted to register components of a multimodal service in a central repository. In response to the request for multimodal services from the user agent of the user device, the multimodal/multi-device infrastructure can locate services supporting the one or more modes or devices based on the registered components of the multimodal service in the central repository.

Embodiments of the present invention relate generally to multimodal and/or multiple-device applications and more particularly to providing dynamic configuration and/or support for applications using multiple modes and/or devices.
Multimodal applications are applications that utilize multiple modes of operation or input/output such as presenting a Graphical User Interface (GUI), a voice interface, text, handwriting, and/or other modalities. Multi-device applications are applications that can be executed, simultaneously or not, on multiple devices of different types such as a cell phone, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), personal computer, etc. Furthermore, an application can combine multiple modes and multiple devices to, for example, present different interfaces to different types of devices, present multiple interfaces, present multiple interfaces of certain types to only particular types of devices, etc.
Generally speaking, the execution model of multimodal and multi-device applications can be described as follows. First, a user interacts with one of the available modalities. For example, the user accesses a web page via his personal computer. Interaction events resulting from the user's interactions with this modality or device are generated by an agent for that mode or device. The interaction events are passed to a synchronization manager that handles a representation of the interaction event and determines the impact of the interaction based on the state of the application and synchronization scheme. The synchronization manager updates its internal representation of the state of the application and sends update events to registered agents or applications for each of the other modes or devices. Any interaction or change resulting from the user's interaction with the first mode or device is then performed by the agent(s) for the other modes or devices based on the update events. Therefore, changes or interactions with the application made in one mode or via one device can be propagated through the synchronization manager to the agents for the other modes or devices to update those modes or devices.
However, such a model assumes that the configuration, i.e., the devices and modalities and the agents for each, have been established and remain static. That is, the synchronization manager is hard-coded to interact with the application and the modes and devices it is able to use as well as the individual agents for each modality or device. There is no way for the manager to dynamically discover and utilize an agent for a particular modality or device based on the application and the modes or devices it may support or utilize. Rather, to add or change modalities, the application, synchronization manager, and agents must be coded or re-coded. Hence, there is a need for methods and systems that allow dynamic configuration and/or support for application using multiple modes and/or devices.

Multimodal or multi-device configuration


Various methods, apparatuses/systems, and media for implementing an automated testing module are disclosed. A processor creates a draft test suite that incorporates a plurality of features, each feature including a test scenario that comprises steps that describe the test scenario in a human readable form. The processor also compiles the steps of the test scenario into a single step in a reusable format; receives a request to perform a testing for an application; de-compiles the single step, in response to received request, to create a complete list of steps used in the scenario; generates a final test suite based on the de-complied single step in response to the received request; and automatically executes the final test suite to test the application without rewriting code.

As software application becomes increasingly more complex, testing such software application may also become more complex as a large number of unique combinations of paths and modules may be tested for each program. Conventional tools may exist for automating software application testing. However, many of these conventional tools may require writing code that may require specific skill set and expertise to develop in order to test the software application. Software development in the Internet-era has grown increasingly complex. Software applications must not only handle and process complex calculations and tasks, but must be able to accurately and efficiently process a large variety of data types and data content.
Moreover, such conventional tools may have shortcomings that may make them highly unorganized. These conventional tools may operate with application features being the highest level of data organization. That is, entire applications may not have their individual features organized under a testing suite. In addition, the tests generated by conventional tools may also tend to be rigid and non-reusable in nature due to the peculiarities of an application business logic. Depending on the complexity of this logic, test steps may generally become highly specialized, hence not reusable. In addition, data used on these tests may be defined within the tests themselves. That is, changes to this data may require direct code and test changes, thereby necessitating re-packaging and re-distributing of the test application.

System and method for implementing an automated regression testing module


Deformation of a second optical carriage (B) due to heat is large on a (C) side where an inverter (31) is attached and small on a (D) side. A mirror supporting portion inside the second optical carriage (B) supports the mirror at one point on the (C) side and at two points on the (D) side. An angle of the reflecting mirror (8) depends on two protrusions on the (D) side where thermal deformation is small, and the mirror is supported at one point on the (C) side where thermal deformation is large. Thus, even if an angle of the mirror supporting portion (C) changes, the angle of the reflecting mirror (8) is not affected. Therefore, a change in the angle of the reflecting mirror (8) can be controlled to be small when temperature of the second optical carriage (B) rises during a reading operation, and decrease in reading accuracy due to thermal deformation of the second optical carriage (B) can be suppressed.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an original scanning apparatus for scanning an original, and particularly, to an apparatus having a reflecting member for reflecting light from an original.
2. Description of the Related Art
A reading optical system in an image reading apparatus functioning as an original scanning apparatus is constituted of a light source, a reflecting mirror, a lens, a reading sensor and the like.
Conventional image reading apparatuses include the following two types. One is an image reading apparatus with an optical system of an integral optical carriage system that has all elements of the optical system in one optical carriage. The other is an image reading apparatus with an optical system of a mirror movement system in which a lens and a reading sensor are fixed to a main body of the image reading apparatus and a first optical carriage having a light source and a mirror and a second optical carriage having a plurality of mirrors move while keeping a fixed optical path length.
In both the image reading apparatuses, in order to cause reflected light from an original to be accurately incident on a reading sensor, positions and angles of a plurality of mirrors for guiding light to the reading sensor need to be set in a carriage with extremely high accuracy.
In general, a mirror is a plate-like reflecting member and supported on supporting means by three-point support and this supporting means is fixed to a carriage.
In addition, a carriage of an optical system is generally formed of a resin material because it has advantages in terms of molding characteristics, costs, weight and the like.
Incidentally, the carriage has a light source and a heat source such as an inverter for driving the light source. Thus, when reading of images is continued for a long time, temperature of the carriage rises to cause deformation of resin.
Then, when the resin material is deformed by expansion or the like due to thermal deformation, supporting portions of reflecting mirrors move and deform, whereby positions and angles of the mirrors change to cause such a problem in that reflected light from the mirrors is not incident on a reading sensor accurately.
In particular, in an image reading apparatus according to an image flow reading system which is provided with an automatic feeding mechanism of an original and reads an image by moving an original in a state in which an optical system is fixed, since the optical system is continuously in a reading state while a plurality of originals set in the automatic feeding mechanism are read, deterioration of reading accuracy due to the rise of temperature is a critical problem.


An optical disk apparatus has a first optical system having an objective lens with a first NA, a second optical system having an objective lens with a second NA lower than the first NA, an addition mechanism for adding focus error signals detected by the first and second optical systems, and an alignment mechanism for aligning the objective lens in accordance with the addition result of the addition mechanism.

The present invention relates to an optical disk apparatus for recording information on or reproducing information from an information recording track of an optical disk by irradiating the optical disk with a light beam. More particularly, the present invention relates to focus error detection of a light beam in this optical disk apparatus. Also, the present invention relates to an optical disk processing method.
In recent years, various studies and developments have been made for the purpose of improving the recording density of an optical disk. In an optical disk apparatus, an attempt is made to reduce the spot size of an optical spot by increasing the optical NA (Numerical Aperture) or adopting a short-wavelength laser. When the optical NA is increased, problems of stricter specifications of the tilt of an objective lens and a short distance between the objective lens and optical disk surface are pointed out.
As is well known, the specifications of the tilt of the objective lens can be relaxed by decreasing the distance from the optical disk surface (light entrance surface) to the recording surface, i.e., the thickness of a substrate. A sample optical disk having a shorter distance than the existing DVD or the like (which has a substrate having a thickness of about 0.6 mm), e.g., adopting a substrate having a thickness of about 0.1 mm has been prepared.
On the other hand, a high NA also leads to a decrease in distance between the objective lens and information recording surface. The distance between the objective lens and optical disk in the existing DVD is 1 mm or more. However, when an NA higher than 0.8 is adopted, the objective and optical disk adjoin at a distance less than 0.2 mm. When the objective lens and optical disk adjoin via such a short distance, the most serious problem is a collision of the objective lens against the optical disk. Such collision takes place when focus control runs away upon a focus lead-in operation or upon mixing of any disturbance in light reflected by the optical disk due to the influence of scratches, fingerprints, and the like on the optical disk. Hence, a stable focus lead-in operation and a focus control system which has high resistance against the influence of scratches, fingerprints, and the like are demanded.
As a conventional method of avoiding such collision, a method of forming an arcuated pattern on the objective lens on the optical disk surface side is proposed (Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-20985). The objective lens with such a structure exploits the generation of a floating force with respect to the optical disk due to the air flow generated in the gap between the optical disk and objective lens upon rotation of the optical disk. The objective lens is passively aligned to a position where the floating force and the driving direction in the focus direction balance. However, in this method, since the floating force of the objective lens with respect to the optical disk changes depending on the rotational speed of the disk, the floating amount readily changes due to the influences of disk rotation variations. When the rotational speed of the disk is not constant, the objective lens becomes unstable in this control method.
In order to attain adequate focus control, servo control of a conventional optical disk apparatus, which uses a focus error signal of a focus system is preferable. For example, Jpn. Pat. Appln. KOKAI Publication No. 2000-011401 proposes a method of realizing stable focus lead-in operation by adding signals from focus error detection systems having two different focus detection ranges. According to this method, a stable focus lead-in operation is realized by adding a focus error signal obtained by a detection optical system that can assure a broad focus error detection range, and a focus error signal obtained by a detection system which has a narrow focus error detection range but can assure high detection sensitivity. At the same time, precise focus alignment is realized. However, when scratches, dust, fingerprints, and the like become attached to the disk surface, the amplitude of the focus error signal itself used as a servo signal becomes small, the signal is susceptible to disturbances, and so forth. Furthermore, when the NA is high, since the spot size on the disk surface becomes small, the signal is readily influenced by disturbances, and the focus servo consequently runs away. Such an unstable state similarly occurs even in a focus lead-in operation, thus disturbing a stable focus lead-in operation. That is, since two different focus errors are generated using return light from a single optical spot formed on the information recording surface of the optical disk, an unstable state of the optical spot formed by a high-NA optical system cannot be avoided. As a result, the conventional servo control is vulnerable to disturbances that depend on the surface state of the optical disk such as scratches, dust, fingerprints, and the like, and the focus servo readily runs away due to the influences of disturbances.
Once the servo runs away, the objective lens may collide against the disk to damage not only the optical disk but also the objective lens, and information recording/reproduction may be disabled. In this way, the factors necessary for realizing an optical disk apparatus compatible with high-density optical disks are to realize a focus error detection system with which a focus servo hardly runs away even under the influence of scratches, dust, fingerprints, and the like, and a focus error detection system which hardly collides against the disk, and to realize a stable focus lead-in operation at the same time.
As described above, when the conventional focus error detection circuit is applied to a high-NA optical system, the objective lens is highly likely to collide against the disk. Also, the focus servo itself inevitably runs away due to the influence of scratches, dust, and fingerprints attached to the disk. When the focus servo runs away, since the distance between the objective lens and disk is small, the objective lens collides against the optical disk.
Furthermore, in the case of a high-density optical disk having a two-layered information recording surface, a focus error detection range is inevitably narrowed down. For this reason, focus control performance deteriorates. When focus control fails, the objective lens inevitably collides against the optical disk. For this reason, it is indispensable to realize a stable focus lead-in operation.
Moreover, in an optical disk having a thin substrate, since individual optical disks have different substrate thicknesses, substrate thickness variation correction such as spherical aberration correction or the like must be performed. Hence, a control system which executes focus control while making spherical aberration correction that influences focus control must be realized.

Optical disk apparatus and optical disk processing method


An encrypted private session key for a private-key encryption method is quickly exchanged between a first device and a second device by computing encryption acceleration data using a public key for a public-key encryption method. The encryption acceleration data and the public key are sent to and used on the second device to encrypt a private session key exchanged between the first device and second device. The private-key encryption method is quickly initialized on the second device using encryption initialization data for the private-key encryption method computed on the first device using the exchanged private session key sent to the second device. The encryption acceleration data and encryption initialization data reduce a number of calculations needed on the second device to initialize and use the private-key encryption method, thereby reducing the overall time needed to create a cryptographically secure communications channel between the first device and the second device.

As is known in the art, "encryption" is the process of transforming information so it is unintelligible to everyone but an intended recipient. "Decryption" is the process of transforming encrypted information so that it is intelligible again. With most cryptographic schemes, the ability to keep encrypted information secret is based not on the cryptographic method, which is widely known, but on a "key" that is used with the method to produce an encrypted result or to decrypt previously encrypted information.
In general, there are two kinds of cryptosystems: "symmetric" and "asymmetric." Symmetric cryptosystems use the same key (e.g., a secret key) to encrypt and decrypt a message. Symmetric cryptosystems are also called "private-key" cryptosystems.
Asymmetric cryptosystems use two keys; one key (e.g., a public key) to encrypt a message and a different key (e.g., a private key) to decrypt it. Asymmetric cryptosystems are also called "public-key" cryptosystems.
Public-key encryption use a pair of keys, a "public key" and a "private key." The key pairs are associated with an entity that needs to authenticate its identity electronically, to sign data with a digital signature, to exchange data securely, to encrypt data, etc. A public key is publicly published and is used by others to send encrypted data. However, a corresponding private key is kept secret. Data encrypted with a public key is decrypted with a corresponding private key.
The well known RSA encryption method is one example of a public-key encryption method. The RSA acronym stands for Rivest, Shamir, and Adelman, the inventors of the encryption method. For more information on RSA, see U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,829. RSA has been incorporated into many security products including the Secure Socket Layer ("SSL"), Secure Shell ("SSH") as well as numerous security products used to send and receive data over public networks such as the Internet.
A "cipher" is a cryptographic method used to encrypt data and transform plaintext into cipher text using a predefined key. A "stream cipher" is an encryption technique that serially encrypts a stream of data, one-bit at a time. A stream cipher generates a "key stream" and encryption is provided by combining the key stream with the plaintext, usually with a bitwise exclusive-or operation. The generation of the key stream can be independent of the plaintext and cipher text (yielding a synchronous stream cipher) or it can depend on the data and its encryption (in which case the stream cipher is said to be "self-synchronizing"). Most stream cipher designs are for synchronous stream ciphers.
A "block cipher" encrypts data in discrete units called blocks, rather than as a continuous stream of bits. A common block size for block ciphers is 64 bits. For example, the well known Data Encryption Standard ("DES") is a block cipher. DES encrypts data in 64-bit blocks. DES is a symmetric or private-key encryption method that uses the same method and the same key for encryption and decryption.
Although RSA can be used for creating cryptographically secure communication channels, RSA turns out to be much slower than other encryption methods such DES. Thus, RSA is typically used for exchanging cryptographic keys in order to authenticate parties involved in secure transactions. RSA is often used in combination with DES and other such encryption methods to create cryptographically secure communications channels.
It has become common for two devices, such as client and server computers to establish a cryptographically secure communications channel to exchange data taking into account the privacy and security of the data sent over the communications channel.
The secure communications channel is typically established using some type of cryptography and exchanging cryptographic keys using messages. The cryptographically secure communications channel may be used for electronic commerce ("e-commerce"), to exchange financial information, subscription information, normal data exchange, etc. In many instances, a cryptographically secure communications channel may be established with client devices with limited resources.
In virtually all public-key encryption systems including RSA, encryption and decryption times are very lengthy compared to other block-oriented methods such as DES for equivalent data sizes. Therefore in most implementations of cryptographically secure communications channels, a temporary, random "private session key" is often generated for messages sent over the cryptographically secure communications channel. The private session key is typically encrypted by a public key from a public-key encryption method such as RSA. At the receiver side, the private session key is decrypted using a private key for the public-key encryption method and the recovered private session key is then used to encrypt/decrypt messages via a private-key encryption method. The actual messages sent over the created cryptographically secure communications channel are encrypted using a faster private-key encryption method (e.g., block cipher) using the private session key as the encryption key.
There are a number of problems associated with using a public-key encryption method to exchange a private session key for a private-key encryption method. One problem is that public-key encryption methods require substantial amounts of computational resources and computational time. For example, completing RSA encryption with a 512-bit key may require a minute or more of computation time if the RSA encryption is implemented in software. Such RSA encryption may be difficult, slow or virtually impossible to complete on a thin-client device such as a set-top box, mobile phone or PDA, etc. If the cryptographically secure channel is being used for e-commerce or some other type of transaction that requires a virtually instantaneous response, such long public-key encryption times are not acceptable.
Another problem is that the initialization of efficient private key block ciphers also takes substantial amounts of computational resources and computational time. It may take dozens of seconds to initialize a private-key block cipher if tile private-key block cipher is implemented in software. This is significant on thin-client devices and may not be acceptable for transactions that require a virtually instantaneous response.
Another problem is that the private session key may be generated with a stream cipher. Stream ciphers usually need more processor cycles per byte of data than block cipher methods resulting in lower encryption throughput.
There have been attempts to overcome some of the problems associated with creating cryptographically secure communications channels. The following U.S. Patents and others have attempted to overcome some of these problems.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,628 to Beller, et al. was issued for "Public key authentication and key agreement for low-cost terminals." This patent relates to a method for achieving mutual authentication and session key agreement between a pair of parties using public-key cryptography. The patent describes a system wherein one of the parties is computationally weak (i.e., has a minimum of computational capability), and one of the parties is computationally strong, (i.e., has a much larger computational capability). Authentication and session key agreement is achieved between two parties without the exchange of any permanent secrets through the use of only three (and in some cases only one) real-time large modular multiplications performed at the computationally weak party.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,125,185 to Boesch was issued for a "System and method for encryption key generation." This patent relates to a method to balance or level processor computational load during the generation of random symmetric DES type keys and RSA type public key encryption, whereby the DES type keys are pre-generated and pre-encrypted for known and expected receivers, and stored for immediate access during time-critical on-line communication between the sender and receiver. A method for authentication using the sender's RSA public key is also disclosed whereby the sender's authenticating signature is pre-generated and stored with the pre-generated and pre-encrypted DES keys.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,263,437 to Liao, et al. was issued for "Method and apparatus for conducting crypto-ignition processes between thin client devices and server devices over data networks." This patent relates to a crypto-ignition process to establish an encrypted communication protocol between two devices connected by an insecure communication link. This patent includes a method of creating an identical secret key for two communicating parties including a thin device and a server computer over an insecure data network. The thin device generally has limited computing power and working memory. To ensure the security of the secret key on both sides and reduce traffic in the network, only a pair of public values is exchanged between the thin device and the server computer over the data network. Each side generates its own secret key from a self-generated private value along with the received counterpart's public value according to a commonly used key agreement protocol.
However, these inventions still do not solve all of the problems associated with establishing a cryptographically secure communications channel. It is desirable to use a public-key encryption method to exchange a private session key for a private-key encryption method as quickly and as efficiently as possible between two devices, especially where one of the devices has fewer resources than the other device.

Method and system for accelerated data encryption