A system and method for providing a message service. Position information and/or security information is inserted into messages before transmission. A receiving mobile terminal may open the received message depending on its position or knowledge of the security information.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a message service method for a mobile communication terminal, and more particularly to a method and system for providing a destination user with a messaging service or a security messaging service when conditions reserved by an origination user are met.
2. Description of the Related Art
Conventionally, a mobile communication terminal (also called a mobile station) has provided a text message service or an SMS (Short Message Service) widely used for a special control function of the mobile communication terminal. Recently, however, a variety of message services, for example, a multimedia message service, an E-mail service, an instant messenger service, etc., are currently being provided to users, and other improved message services will be provided to the users in the future.
Accordingly, he aforementioned message service includes a basic service for providing users with only messages and an additional service for enabling a transmission user to establish a specific condition required for transmitting desired messages to a reception user. For example, the additional service may be an origination time reservation time for the SMS service. More Specifically, when the transmission user reserves a message origination time of a predetermined text message, a mobile terminal or a mobile communication network transmits a corresponding text message to a receiver mobile terminal at the reserved time such that a reception user can recognize the text message.
As another example, the additional service may be a text message broadcasting service for simultaneously broadcasting a text message to mobile terminals positioned in a specific area at one time. This function has been widely used for commercial purposes. For example, a specific company may distribute discount coupons to a plurality of mobile terminals positioned within a predetermined range of a business place.
The message service for the mobile terminal is required for transmitting a desired message to a reception user, and provides additional functions for reserving an origination time or determining a specific area, resulting in greater convenience for the user.
The origination time reservation function can reserve only a message origination time. The function for transmitting a message to a plurality of mobile terminals positioned in a specific area is unable to determine individual mobile terminals that will receive the message, and the mobile terminals not positioned in the specific area at the message transmission time are unable to receive the message.
However, when a specific mobile terminal determined by the transmission user is positioned within a desired range of the transmission user, the transmission user may wish to transmit a message to the specific mobile terminal user. For example, when staff of a specific company attends their offices, official announcement messages for all offices or all sections may be required to be displayed on mobile terminals of corresponding staff. For another example, if a user must travel on a business trip, the user may wish to receive a message indicating of principal programs that must be performed at the business place, upon arrival at the business place.
When receiving the message, the mobile terminal for providing users with message service functions displays a specific message indicating that the message has been received, in order for the user to recognize the message reception. Provided that a user establishes a function for displaying reception message contents, the reception message contents are also displayed on a display. Accordingly, if the reception message contents are automatically displayed at a message reception time, not only a mobile terminal user but also other users can see the message. Further, if a user leaves the mobile terminal somewhere in the view of others and then leaves the place even though a function for displaying the reception message contents is released, other users may operate the user's mobile terminal to view the message contents.
Commonly, a mobile terminal has a locking function to prevent others who do not know a password set by a user from fraudulently operating the user's mobile terminal. If the user establishes the locking function, although the user leaves his or her mobile terminal somewhere in view of other users and then leaves the place, the other users are unable to operate the user's mobile terminal and cannot view the message contents. However, the locking function is adapted to lock the mobile terminal, instead of locking just a message reading function. Accordingly, if the aforementioned locking function is established, the user must enter his or her password whenever the user uses the mobile terminal, and must re-establish the locking function after using the mobile terminal, resulting in greater inconvenience for the user. As a result, most users rarely use the aforementioned locking function.
Therefore, a mobile terminal requires a message security service to prevent message contents from being exposed to others. There are many technologies for implementing the message security service. For example, one method encrypts a desired message using an encryption key negotiated between a transmission user and a reception user. The transmission mobile terminal receives the encryption key from the transmission user, encrypts the message using the encryption key, and transmits the encrypted message. The reception mobile terminal receives a decryption key matching the encryption key from the reception user, decrypts the received encryption message using the received decryption key, and displays the decrypted result message. Therefore, only the reception user determined by the transmission user can view the message contents, resulting in message security implementation.
However, the aforementioned technology for implementing message security using an encryption key negotiated between the transmission user and the reception user must enable the transmission user to share the encryption key with the reception user. Therefore, the encryption key is in danger of being hacked when the transmission user and the reception user share the encryption key. Further, if the reception user forgets the encryption key, the reception user is unable to recognize the encryption message contents.
Provided that the user finds the encryption key and the message is initially opened, the message can viewed anywhere, such that it is difficult to guarantee message security when the mobile terminal is stolen or lost.
That is, although the message is encrypted, this message is preserved until the reception user deletes the message even when the transmission user does not want to preserve the message, such that the possibility of fraudulently exposing the message contents to others increases.

Message service method for mobile communication terminal using position information


A method for separating and processing successively different groups of sheet material in a sheet processing device that includes utilizing at least one separating card arranged to provide an indication of a separate group of sheet material to the sheet processing device and at least one information carrier arranged to provide information to the sheet processing device concerning a group of sheet material.

The present invention relates to a method for processing sheet material, in particular papers of value such as bank notes, checks, etc., by which different groups of sheet material are processed successively, the different groups of sheet material being separated for processing.
A method and bank note processing machine for processing different groups of bank notes are known for example from JP 62-82493A. The different groups of bank notes correspond to deposits by different depositors which are separated by separator cards. The separator cards are inserted between the different deposits to separate them. The separator cards may be disposed at the beginning, the end or the beginning and end of the group of bank notes forming the particular deposit. The separator cards may contain information, for example, about the depositor and/or the deposit. Further, the separator cards are designed so as to be recognized automatically by the bank note processing machine during processing. When a separator card is recognized, the bank note processing machine can enter in the books the associated group of bank notes for the corresponding deposit or depositor. For recognizing the separator cards, the bank note processing machine has magnetic sensors which, on the one hand, are used for reading the information coded on a magnetic stripe on the separator cards. On the other hand, the signals of the sensors can be used to recognize the separator cards even when the latter are masked by bank notes, as may occur upon multiple removal. Thus it is ensured with relatively high probability that the separator cards are always recognized, so that at least the boundaries between individual deposits can be recognized.
A similar method for semicontinuous processing of bank notes is known from WO 98/05006 A1.
However, known methods have the disadvantage tea;t the preparation, i.e. separation by an operator using separator cards, is error-prone, in particular when the operator must provide such separator card with information about the associated deposit, because this frequently involves transfer errors and mix-ups. In addition, when the magnetic stripe of the separator card is masked it is frequently impossible to read the coded information contained therein, which prevents recognition of the individual groups of sheet material.


A method of producing a cathode for use in an x-ray tube assembly is provided including machining an emission aperture into a cup emission surface portion of a cup structure. The cup structure is comprised of a cup base portion opposite the cup emissions surface portion. Electro-discharge machining is used to form an electro-discharge machining slot into the cup structure to provide access to the interior of the cup structure. Electro-discharge machining is used to form a transverse coil chamber within the interior by way of the electro-discharge machining slot such that the transverse coil chamber is formed between the cup base portion and the cup emissions surface portion while retaining an essentially contiguous emissions surface perimeter surrounding the emission aperture.

This disclosure relates generally to a cathode for use in an x-ray tube assembly and more particularly to a method for electro-discharge machining a cathode for use in an x-ray tube assembly.
Existing medical x-ray tube assemblies include a cathode assembly having an emitter and a cup. The cathode assembly is orientated to face an x-ray tube anode, or target, which is typically a planar metal or composite structure. The space between the cathode and the anode is evacuated.
A concern with existing cathode designs is that the emitter, often a helically coiled tungsten wire filament, tends to be large and electrons are emitted radially outward from all side surfaces of the filament surface. The filaments are therefore positioned within a cup that is designed to produce a tailored electric potential distribution in the vacuum such that all electron trajectories are redirected from the initial divergent motion toward a focal spot on the anode surface. This is accomplished by way of carefully machining the cathode cup to passively shape the electric field leading to the focal spot. This often takes the form of multiple transverse slots formed in the center of the cathode cup.
The use of common machining techniques, however, tends to result in a large transverse section removed from the cup. This leaves sections of the cup with sharp features at the edges of the cup referred to as ears. These sharp features lead to high electric field stress and undesirable consequences of high voltage stability issues. In order to compensate for such sharp-eared features, one approach has been to install a ring shield around the perimeter of the cup. This approach, however, introduces an increase in cost due to additional part manufacturing and an increase in complexity of the cathode assembly. A cathode cup assembly with improved design and manufacturing that eliminated the need for a separate ring shield while providing improved high voltage stability would provide for improved tailored performance of the x-ray assembly and may be used to reduce manufacturing and assembly costs.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a method for manufacturing a cathode assembly that has smooth cathode cup surfaces suitable for high voltage stability. Additionally, it would be highly desirable to provide a method for producing a cathode assembly that has adequate shielding without requiring additional part manufacturing and assembly.

Method of producing a high voltage stable cathode for an X-ray tube


Methods, systems, and devices for wireless communications are described. A base station may switch semi-persistently scheduled (SPS) or configured grant (CG) transmissions for a user equipment (UE) across component carriers according to a resource switching pattern to avoid resource conflict with control information on one or more component carriers. The resource switching pattern may have multiple flows spanning different component over a time interval for redundancy. According to some aspects, a base station may transmit a synchronization signal block (SSB) in one of a set of flexible SSB locations or candidate SSB locations, where each of the set of candidate SSB locations is associated with a respective SSB identifier.

Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. These systems may be capable of supporting communication with multiple users by sharing the available system resources (e.g., time, frequency, and power). Examples of such multiple-access systems include fourth generation (4G) systems such as Long Term Evolution (LTE) systems, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) systems, or LTE-A Pro systems, and fifth generation (5G) systems which may be referred to as New Radio (NR) systems. These systems may employ technologies such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), or discrete Fourier transform spread orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (DFT-S-OFDM). A wireless multiple-access communications system may include a number of base stations or network access nodes, each simultaneously supporting communication for multiple communication devices, which may be otherwise known as user equipment (UE).
Base stations and UEs may communicate using beamforming techniques and during such communications, a base station may transmit a synchronization signal block (SSB) burst. The SSB burst may contain multiple SSBs transmitted via beams in various directions around the base station. In some cases, the SSBs may be scheduled for transmission over time-frequency resources scheduled for other communications (e.g., data communications), which may cause a scheduling or resource conflict, interference, or dropped transmissions.


A lightweight utility vehicle brake lighting system comprising a brake pedal position sensor, a controller and a brake light circuit. The brake pedal position sensor senses the position, e.g., amount of depression, of a vehicle brake pedal. The controller of interprets a brake pedal position signal from the brake pedal position sensor to determine the position of the brake pedal. When the controller determines that the brake pedal has been depressed to initiate a braking operation of the vehicle, the controller transmits a brake light signal to an electronic switching device, such as a relay switch, of the brake light circuit. Upon receipt of the brake light signal, the electronic switching closes to complete, or close, the brake light circuit to enable a current flow through the brake light circuit, thereby illuminating at least one brake light of the vehicle.

Braking systems of lightweight utility vehicles, such as maintenance vehicles, shuttle vehicles and golf cars, generally include a mechanical brake light switch that is closed by depression of the brake pedal. Closing the brake light switch completes, or closes, a circuit that electrically connects a power source, e.g., a 12V battery, to one or more brake lights. Thus, closing the circuit allows electrical current to flow through the brake light(s) causing the brake light(s) to illuminate. When the brake pedal is released, the mechanical brake light switch opens, breaking the circuit and extinguishing the brake light(s). Such mechanical brake light switches often wear and fail over time, and are frequently susceptible to contamination and/or damage by liquids and debris, e.g., water and dirt, that can increase the occurrence of failures.


A device for feeding a light beam from a UV laser (1) into a laser scanning microscope (2) has a beam-alignment assembly (3) for aligning the laser beam with the beam path of the microscope (2) and an optical-fiber element (4) located between the UV laser (1) and the beam-alignment assembly (3). The aim of the invention is to design the feed device so that it can be used for long periods in order to keep the time and expense necessary to change the feed device as low as possible. To achieve this, the invention provides a beam interrupter (5) located between the UV laser (1) and the optical-fiber element (4). The beam interrupter allows the beam from the UV laser (1) to pass through the optical-fiber element (4) only during scanning, i.e., when pictures are being generated.

Two different possibilities for feeding the light beam of a laser into a scanning laser microscope are known in principle from the prior art. For example, reference may be made here to the published application of the International Patent Application WO 92/18850 and to the published application of the European Patent Application 0 592 089. Both publications describe direct feeding of the UV laser light via a mechanically rigid arrangement of optical modules such as lenses, filters, pinhole diaphragms, etc. This type of feeding gives rise to very large systems which are held together optomechanically and necessarily have long beam paths. Long beam paths lead, in turn, to instabilities of adjustment in the system. The vibrations of the laser caused by cooling represent a large problem in the adjustment of such systems. In the case of direct opto-mechanical feeding of the laser light beam into the scanning microscope, the vibrations of the laser cooling are frequently transmitted onto the microscope, thereby producing image interference and rendering permanent adjustment substantially difficult.
As an alternative to direct feeding, there is the possibility of fiber-optic feeding of light such as is described, for example, in the U.S. Pat. No. 5 161 053, for feeding UV laser light. The laser light is guided into the beam path of the microscope via a flexible optical fiber element. The laser can be quasimechanically decoupled in this way from the microscope, with the result that the vibrations of the laser caused by cooling are not transmitted onto the microscope, but instead are absorbed by the flexible optical fiber element. Furthermore, the beam lengths of the system can be substantially shortened thereby. Optical fibers for UV laser light are already on the market. However, tests have shown that their transparency drops back to less than 10% of the original transparency irreversibly after only a few hours when they are irradiated with more than 10 mW. This is presumably to be ascribed to chemical and photochemical reactions between the actual light-guiding fiber and its coating. For this reason UV lasers have up to now been fed directly into the microscope as a rule.

Device for feeding a UV laser into a confocal laser scanning microscope


An insulation container includes a flexible exterior container and a rigid interior container for maintaining stored items at a cool temperature. The exterior housing includes a lid for selectively sealing the entire open top thereof for selectively inserting or removing large or multiple items, the lid having an auxiliary door for quickly removing small or single items from the internal storage area. Opening only the auxiliary door also helps to maintain the internal temperature for a longer time than is possible if the entire lid is opened. The interior housing may be constructed of stainless steel for enhanced insulation with an intermediate housing sandwiched between interior and exterior housings. The intermediate housing may include a rubber material for preventing condensation from forming on the exterior housing.

The present invention relates generally to coolers and, more particularly, to an insulated cooler having a first quick access opening to access interior contents and a larger opening for initially filling the cooler with ice, food, or beverages. The cooler also includes a rubber-coated stainless steel insert for keeping items cool while being leak proof.
Insulated coolers are frequently used for keeping food and beverages cold for later use. Coolers traditionally include a full top panel attached with hinges or zippers for providing full access to the food or beverages therein. Unfortunately, frequent opening and closing of the cooler allows a large loss of the coolness therein. The construction and materials of other coolers lack a construction able to maintain a cold temperature for very long. A still further difficulty with some coolers is that their construction may cause a buildup of exterior condensation, or "sweat."
Therefore, it would be desirable to have an insulated cooler having a steel inner housing that provides superior insulation for maintaining a cold internal environment for a long period of time. Further, it would be desirable to have an insulated cooler which does not experience an undesirable buildup of exterior condensation. In addition, it would be desirable to have an insulated cooler having a large zippered panel that may be selectively opened for depositing or removing large amounts of the cooler's contents as well as having a smaller panel that provides quick access for removal of single items.


An electric power steering apparatus which quickly returns the steering wheel to the neutral position with a satisfactory steering feeling by switching a steering wheel return control for assisting the steering wheel return and a steering wheel convergence control for converging the steering wheel to the neutral position by braking a motor, according to the steering condition such as the rotational speed of the steering wheel is fast or slow when returning the steering wheel to the neutral position even when the vehicle speed is equal.

The present invention relates to improvement of an electric power steering apparatus for assisting steering force by rotationally driving a motor for assisting steering force under PWM control with a target value of the motor current for the motor determined on the basis of the detected amount of the steering torque used as a target amount for automatic control.
In an electric power steering apparatus for rotationally driving a motor for assisting steering force under PWM control based on the current target value of the motor determined on the basis of the detected amount of steering torque and the detected amount of the driving current for the motor, in case of turning back a steering wheel, steering wheel return current is led to the motor to carry out the steering wheel return control. And, when the steering wheel returns to the position near the neutral position of the steering wheel (steering angle middle point) by which the vehicle is advanced straight, the steering wheel return current is set to zero.
However, even when the steering wheel returns to its neutral position, due to the inertia force of the motor, the steering wheel does not instantly stop rotating in the position but repeats going beyond the neutral position (0.degree.) and then turning back like a pendulum until it converges on the neutral position. Because of this, it takes time before the steering wheel comes to be converged at the neutral position and stops, during which the vehicle running condition is not stabilized. The effect of this phenomenon is especially large in case of a high speed running.
In order to solve such problem, various proposals have been made such as one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,829 which is designed to effect braking the motor for the steering assistance when the conditions of steering torque and steering rotation speed are satisfied either one or both of which are changed by the vehicle speed, one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,544 which is designed to effect braking by short-circuiting between the two terminals of the motor for assisting steering force when the vehicle speed exceeds a predetermined value and the steering is stopped, and one described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,271 which is designed to brake the motor for assisting steering force when the steering torque is no more than a predetermined value, steering rotation speed is more than a predetermined value, and the steering system is at the neutral position.
Also, there has already been proposed one as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,735,271 which is designed to brake the motor for assisting steering force when the steering torque is no more than a predetermined value and the rotation speed of the motor for assisting steering force is higher than a predetermined value.
However, in those conventional arts, relation between the wheel return control and the wheel convergence control for converging the steering wheel to the neutral position is not considered.
Though the vehicle speed is equal, there are cases, according to the steering conditions, where the wheel return control is necessary and where the wheel convergence control is necessary. The wheel convergence control is necessary, for example, if the wheel rotational speed is high near the neutral position in middle speed running, but the wheel return control is necessary if the wheel rotational speed is low near the neutral position at middle speed running.


A Distributed Denial-of-Service (DDoS) attack by a TCP stateless hog is defeated with use of an enhancement to the keep-alive mechanism provided by RFC 1122. A TCP server receives a new TCP connection request from a possible attacker and sends a keep-alive probe packet back thereto using an “invalid” sequence number. Illustratively, this “invalid” sequence number comprises a random number selected to be reasonably distant from the actual current sequence number. When a responsive packet is received from the potential attacker, the TCP server verifies the accuracy of the acknowledgement number in the received packet, thereby determining whether the potential attacker may be a TCP stateless hog.

Denial of service (DoS) attacks cause service disruptions when limited server resources are allocated to the attackers instead of to legitimate users. A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack launches a coordinated DoS attack toward the victim from geographically diverse Internet nodes. The attacking machines are usually compromised zombie machines controlled by remote masters. The resources typically under attack include link bandwidth, server memory and CPU time. Distributed DoS attacks are more potent because of the aggregate effects of converging traffic, especially when the attackers have inside knowledge of the network topology. "TCP SYN flood," "smurf IP ping," and bandwidth attacks on root name servers are all examples of such attacks which have been previously deployed. (Each of these attacks will be familiar to those skilled in the art.) However, it has been reported that there have in fact been far more of such attacks than have been previously known.
There are numerous approaches to improve server operating systems to resist resource exhaustion. Some have considered better network protocol design principles to protect servers from attacks on stateful handshake protocols (familiar to those of ordinary skill in the art). IP trace back is another well-known approach—it is a network-wide coordinated effort to follow the offending packets back to their originators. However, such an approach obviously requires network-wide cooperation and coordination.
In fact, many previous attacks could have been prevented entirely if ingress filtering were deployed Internet wide or if a source address validation protocol were widely used. And, although many victims of recent bandwidth attacks were flooded by unspoofed ICMP reply packets, the corresponding ICMP echo requests were all spoofed. (As is well-known to those of ordinary skill in the art, a "spoofed" packet is one in which the source address is fictitious or fallacious.) Heuristic-based bandwidth attack detection by signatures have also been considered for monitoring and network congestion control. For example, one proposed approach classifies incoming packets into UDP, TCP, TCP SYN, and CGI categories (each of which is fully familiar to one of ordinary skill in the art), and then enforces class-based rate control and weighted fair queuing.
Moreover, DDoS attack tools may tend to mutate and evolve over time. With wider deployment of egress filtering, for example, attackers will undoubtedly exploit doors that are most likely to be left open (e.g., TCP, DNS). Attack signatures may change or disappear to evade detection. Thus, it is likely that sophisticated future attacks will become almost indistinguishable from legitimate ones. A filtering-based approach to the problem alone is, therefore, not only inefficient but also insufficient. Many false positives will force researchers to go back to the drawing board for new heuristics.
One particular type of DDoS attack on a TCP server can be launched by continuously creating new TCP connections with the targeted server until it runs out of memory and is therefore unable to accept service requests from legitimate users. (As is familiar to those of ordinary skill in the art, TCP is the well-known Department of Defense standard Transmission Control Protocol—see, e.g., "Transmission Control Protocol," prepared for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency by Information Sciences Institute, J. Postel, editor, Request for Comments (RFC) 793, September, 1981, "www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc793.html." RFC 793 is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.) The deleterious effect of such an attack results from the fact that each established TCP connection necessarily creates a state on the TCP server, and therefore, the amount of allocated memory for storing these states is proportional to the total number of open connections. Such an attack has heretofore been named "Naptha," and is known as such by those skilled in the art, but it will be more generally referred to herein as a "TCP stateless hog" attack.
There is no known defense against TCP stateless hog (i.e., Naptha) attacks. However, a TCP keep-alive mechanism is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art as an official specification for the Internet community—see, e.g., "Requirements for Internet Hosts—Communication Layers," Internet Engineering Task Force, R. Braden, editor, Network Working Group, Request for Comments (RFC) 1122, section 188.8.131.52, October, 1989, "www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc1122.html." (Section 184.108.40.206 of RFC 1122 is hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.) This keep-alive mechanism may advantageously be invoked in server applications that might otherwise hang indefinitely and consume resources unnecessarily if a client crashes or aborts a connection during a network failure. Although such a keep-alive mechanism could in principle be used to alleviate the TCP server during an attack in-progress, it can easily be defeated without much cost for the attacker.

Method and apparatus for defending against distributed denial of service attacks on TCP servers by TCP stateless hogs


Arterial perfusion cannula, for extracorporeal circulation and related uses. The distal end may be inserted into the ascending aorta, or into the femoral artery and the other part is to be connected to a cardio-pulmonary machine, comprising a multi-channel catheter formed by at least three pathways two of which correspond to the inlet of blood flow, provided with openings which, being interconnectable to the aortic vessel, are located in two different points of the cannula's distal end, the third pathway channelizing a fluid feeding at least one inflatable balloon, located between said interconnecting openings, as an arterial occlusive element adjustable against the inner vessel walls.

The instant invention relates to medical devices, and more particularly relates to a cannula for arterial perfusion, for extracorporeal circulation and other uses.
More particularly, the object of the invention is to provide a means capable of effecting extracorporeal blood circulating loop and depuration, without affecting the vessels from which said loop is connected.
Generally, it may be said that heart surgery requires quietness and vacuum of this organ. To this end the heart is connected to an extracorporeal circulating system which drains non oxygenated blood towards a device functioning as heart and lung, restoring oxygenated blood through an arterial perfusion cannula inserted into the aorta or the femoral.
In order to attain a heart free of blood, it is necessary to interrupt blood flow through coronary arteries, which is attained by clamping the ascending aorta applying pliers or clamps which strangulate the vessel thus occluding its longitudinal passage.
For a long time it was considered that, due to the natural elasticity of the arterial walls, the use of such clamps did not cause any problem.
However, recent studies, still under development, have demonstrated that the use of such clamps causes traumatic effects, as well as alterations of the aortic wall and wall thrombi running the risk of brain embolism.
Thus, the object of the invention is to provide an arterial perfusion cannula, i.e. of the re-infusion end of oxygenated blood which, in turn, through the provision of inflatable balloons, allows the function of inner clamp (non traumatic) and coronary perfusion through its proximal opening, infusion of cardioplegic solution or use of the same opening for venting the left heart cavities.

Arterial perfusion cannula for extracorporeal circulation and other uses


A web-page or customer interface, that enables a business to increase their customer satisfaction levels, etc. based on the business' improved capability to predict the wants and needs of their customers as a result of it using such an interface to assess the personalities of their customers, includes: (a) personality traits (b) images, including animated, to which are assigned ranked personality traits based on the psychological content of the respective images, (c) an image viewer adapted to present to a customer these images so as to identify with which of these images the customer elects to be associated, (d) personality types into which a customer is categorized, and wherein each of these personality types is differentiated by the specific set of personality traits associated with it, and (e) an algorithm adapted to categorize one into a personality types.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally data processing, including those related to business practices. Specifically, the present invention relates to a system and method that allows product and services providers to gain insight into the personalities of their customers for the purpose of better satisfying their wants and needs.
2. Description of the Related Art
Product and service providers are always striving to perform in such a manner as to better please their customers or clients (along with potential customers and clients, hereinafter, collectively referred to as "customers"). These improved customer satisfaction efforts can include various techniques that businesses use to strive to learn more about their individual customers—the theory being that "the better businesses know their customers, the better they can serve them."
These techniques for learning more about their customers can include the monitoring of customer or consumer behaviors and the keeping of a careful database of all the information that customers give to them or that the businesses assemble from outside information sources, including the answers to survey questions that many businesses will ask their customers to complete regarding the customers' level of satisfaction with a business' products/services, and its customer service activities.
Such techniques for learning more about a business' individual customers have historically not included any significant attempts to assess the individual personalities of their customers. The reasons for this situation are many. For example, an individual's personality is currently measured by traditional assessments such as the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) and Holland Themes personality inventories. These assessments, while generally regarded as accurate, are not easily translated into formats accessible through current non-textual, digital technology (mobile devices, tablets, etc.) because these assessment tools are text based and rely on the basic reading skills and comprehension levels of those being assessed.
Personality assessment information, assuming it could somehow be efficiently collected, would seemingly be of great value to businesses since it is widely accepted that a detailed knowledge of one's personality can, in many instances, be predictive of one's behavior in various situations, including the choices or preferences that one will exhibit in various retail or consumer situations.
It seems reasonable that if businesses had information on the personalities of their customers, such businesses could probably do a better job of developing for their customers those products and services that would be predicted to give them the most satisfaction. Thus, there is a need for new methods and systems that will enable businesses to efficiently assess the personalities of their customers.

This patent is subject to a terminal disclaimer.

System and method for collecting personality information


An exerciser includes a weighted base, a pair of spaced vertical beams, a resistance assembly mounted in each vertical beam, a lifting bar with two ends thereof respectively and removably mounted to each resistance assembly at a desired height, and a foldable bench.

The present invention relates to multi-purpose exercisers which provides weight lifting, hands and legs pulling, and horizontal bar exercises.
For modern people who do not have much time and space to exercise, exercisers provide an excellent means therefor. A conventional exerciser usually includes a weight lifting means in which the exerciser lies on a bench and pushes a lifting bar connected to a resistance means. The exerciser, however, might be injured if he does not have enough arm strength to slowly put down the lifting bar or the lifting bar does not align with the supporting seat on which it should rest. Another disadvantage of conventional exercisers is that the bench is not foldable and thus occupies a certain space. A further disadvantage of conventional exercisers is that the lifting bar is not adjustable in height. The present invention provides an improved multi-purpose exercise to mitigate and/or obviate the problems in the conventional exercisers.


Discussed is a display device with integrated touch screen including a panel including a plurality of electrodes; a data driver for converting RGB data inputted from a timing controller into a data voltage, and supplying the data voltage to data lines; a gate driver for sequentially supplying a gate signal to gate lines so as to apply the data voltage to pixels of the panel during a high logic period of a horizontal sync signal; and a touch IC for supplying the touch scan signal to the plurality of electrodes every low logic period of the horizontal sync signal, wherein the touch IC applies the touch scan signal, at least once, to each of the electrodes during one frame.

1. Field of the Disclosure
Embodiments of the present invention relate to a display device, and more particularly, to a display device with integrated touch screen.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Touch screens are a type of input device that is included in image displaying devices such as Liquid Crystal Displays (LCDs), Field Emission Displays (FEDs), Plasma Display Panel (PDPs), Electroluminescent Displays (ELDs), and Electrophoretic Display (EPDs), and allows a user to input information by pressing or touching a touch sensor of a screen with a finger, a pen or the like while a user looks at the screen of the image displaying device.
Recently, there is an increasing demand for a display device with integrated touch screen of in-cell type in which elements constituting the touch screen are provided inside the display device so as to realize slimness in mobile terminals such as smart phone and tablet PC.
In case of a general in-cell type touch screen display, touch data is transmitted to a system once every one vertical sync signal Vsync to define one frame period. In this case, a frequency for transmitting new data to all pixels of a panel is referred to as a display frame rate. In the general in-cell type touch screen display, the touch data is transmitted once to the system every one vertical sync signal Vsync to define one frame period.
Hereinafter, a driving method of a general display device with integrated touch screen of in-cell type will be described with reference to FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a timing diagram illustrating signals of display time and touch time according to one vertical sync signal in a general display device with integrated touch screen.
In case of a general display device with integrated self-capacitive touch screen of an in-cell type, as shown in FIG. 1, display time (D) and touch time (T) are time-divisionally driven according to a data enable DE signal during one frame based on one vertical sync signal.

Display device with integrated in-cell touch screen and method of driving the same


A cell culture substrate which promotes cell adhesion and the formation of focal contacts is disclosed. Polymer, ceramic and glass surfaces may be used. The surfaces are derivatized with peptides having less than 12 amino acid residues and containing one of the following sequences of amino acids: GRGD, GYIGSR, GREDV. The peptides are covalently attached to the surface throu. The U.S. Government may have rights in the present invention as relevant developmental work was supported by National Science Foundation Grant CBT-881020268, and National Institutes of Health Grant HL-39714.

1. Field of the Invention
The field of the present invention relates generally to the biospecific adhesion of cells to a surface. More specifically, the invention relates to the chemical modification of a surface and the covalent attachment thereto of small peptides to promote cell adhesion. Even more particularly, the surface may comprise a ceramic, a metal or a polymer. The small peptides include a minimal cell receptor recognition amino acid sequence which promotes cell adhesion and is common to a variety of cell adhesion molecules. The surfaces and methods of the present invention thus relate to cell adhesion techniques which are independent of culture media serum composition and adsorbed surface proteins.
2. Description of the Related Art
The interaction of cells with extracellular matrix in vivo is involved in a number of important biological processes, such as the regulation of cellular growth, migration, and differentiation. The role of eukaryotic cell adhesion in culture largely dictates the success of a particular cell culture effort or endeavor. Adhesion, spreading, and contraction on solid substances are prerequisites for growth of normal anchorage dependent cells in vitro (1, 2). This cellular bioadhesion is affected by several factors, including the particular type of cell, the cell culture media used, and the particular surface upon which the cells are cultured.
Many mammalian cells are cultured on polymer surfaces. Nearly all mammalian cell adhesion to synthetic polymer surfaces is controlled by adsorbed proteins and is receptor mediated. Fibronectin (FN), was the first cell adhesion molecule (CAM) that was shown to be involved in the adhesion of some avian and mammalian cell types to extracellular substrates (3, 4). FN is commonly provided to the in vitro environment through the addition of serum, in a form known as cold-insoluble globulin (CIg). For normal attachment and spreading of cells to occur, it was found that CIg had to be adsorbed to the culture surface (5, 6).
FN consists of several protease-resistant domains, each of which contain specific binding sites for other extra cellular molecules and for the cell surface (7). The cell attachment activity has been localized to a tripeptide sequence (RGD), located in the cell binding domain of FN as well as in several other CAMs (8). Substrate-bound, RGD-containing peptide, directly adsorbed to the substrate, or peptide cross-linked to adsorbed albumin or IgG, was found to promote fibroblast attachment and spreading. This attachment and spreading activity was found to be readily inhibited by the addition of soluble RGD-containing peptides to the medium (8).
Affinity chromatography of cellular extracts on cell attachment-promoting FN fragments combined with specific elution utilizing synthetic RGD-containing peptides yielded a receptor with two 140 kD subunits (9). The mammalian FN receptor and other RGD directed receptors are typically heterodimers of two subunits, alpha and beta (10). Families of these receptors consist of members with similar beta subunits, whereas the alpha subunits are more distinct and restrict the receptor's affinity to one or a few CAMs (11). Collectively, these structurally and functionally related receptor families are known as the integrin superfamily (12, 13).
A basic understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the process of cell adhesion has thus developed regarding the role of the cell culture substrates and other surfaces in promoting cell adhesion. Basically, after a protein solution is placed on a culture substrate, proteins are immediately adsorbed to the surface. If there are receptors for some of these adsorbed proteins on the cell surface, and if the conformation of the adsorbed protein is not so extensively altered by adsorption as to destroy the high ligand-receptor affinity, then cell adhesion to the culture substrate and cell spreading can result.
If the cells are seeded on a substrate in the absence of adsorbed proteins, then the proteins on the cell surface may directly adsorb to the surface and the cell will, provided favorable conditions, secrete its own proteins toward the surface in the form of an extracellular matrix. However, if the substrate does not support protein adsorption, or if it supports high affinity adsorption of a protein for which there is not a cell-surface receptor, then the substrate will not support cell adhesion. In no case has the cell in culture been found to actually touch the surface except through these intermediate adsorbed proteins.
Some investigators who study short-term cell adhesion have proposed the use of substrate treating systems which promote cell adhesion wherein particular peptides are adsorbed to a polymer surface. For example, Singer, et al. proposed the adsorption of a 13-mer peptide containing the RGD sequence onto a polymer substrate to promote cell adhesion (14). However, peptides of this length have been found to be highly susceptible to degradation at high temperatures and to the proteolytic action of the cultured cells themselves. Additionally, peptides adsorbed to a surface are subject to desorption upon repeated use. Thus, surfaces with long amino acid residue peptides absorbed thereto have been found to be unstable and thus unsuitable in preparing reusable cell culture substrates.
An alternative approach in promoting cell adhesion is through chemical modification of the surface to facilitate the attachment of peptides to the substrate. However, present technology for chemical modification of substrates is particularly non-specific and empirical. For example, treatment of polymer surfaces with various radio frequency plasma discharges, both polymerizing and nonpolymerizing, has been proposed. Alternative approaches of surface acid treatment or surface incorporation of charged groups have also been described. However, these various surface treatments alter only the pattern of protein adsorption on the culture surface, which in turn functions to modify the cells' characteristic adhesion and spreading behavior. Thus, the protein and peptide surface adsorption and desorption problems still remain, limiting the reusability of culture plates and other surfaces so treated.
An alternative to surface adsorption of peptides to promote cell adhesion has been to instead chemically attach peptides to a surface. For example, the method of polymer surface chemical modification was employed by Brandley, et al., (1988) (Analyt. Biochem. 172: 270), who proposed the inclusion of a 9-mer peptide in a polymer substrate to promote cell adhesion (Id.). While enhanced cell adhesion was attained using the Brandley technique, the method required higher concentrations of peptide to promote the same level of cell adhesion observed in the relatively more peptide efficient adsorbed peptide systems. For example, FIG. 1 of Brandley shows surface concentrations of peptide on the average of about 6 nanomoles per square centimeter (Brandley, at pg. 275). These high peptide concentrations suggest the Brandley method does not control for the inclusion of peptide at the polymer surface only, but instead permits the incorporation of peptide throughout the bulk of the polymer. Given that synthetic peptides cost about $5,000 per gram, this method would not facilitate the economical preparation of cell culture substrates commercially.
Thus, a need still exists in the art for an economical system of preparing thermally stable, peptide-coated surfaces with cell adhesion promoting characteristics which are resistant to the desorptive effects of repeated usage and proteolysis by cellular proteases or proteases added to remove cells. A more commercially feasible and economical system would be substantially more peptide-efficient than those proposed by Brandley and others of skill in the art of cell culture and polymer chemistry.
The following abbreviations are used by Applicants throughout the application:
D=Asp (aspartic acid) PA1 F=phenylalanine PA1 G=Gly (glycine) PA1 I=Ile (isoleucine) PA1 R=Arg (arginine) PA1 S=Ser (serine) PA1 Y=Tyr (tyrosine) PA1 CFN=cellular fibronectins PA1 FC=focal contacts PA1 FEP=fluorinated ethylene polymers PA1 fg=fibrinogen PA1 GREDV=glycine, arginine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, valine or Gly-Arg-Glu-Asp-Val PA1 GRGD=amino acid sequence glycine, arginine, glycine, aspartic acid; or Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp PA1 HFF=human foreskin fibroblast cells PA1 kD=kilodalton PA1 mer=amino acid residue PA1 nm=nanomoles PA1 PAE=porcine aortic endothelial (cells) PA1 PBS=phosphate buffered saline PA1 PDMS=poly(dimethyl siloxane) PA1 PET=poly(ethylene terephthalate) PA1 pFN=plasma fibronectins PA1 PHEMA=poly(hydroxyethyl methacrylate) PA1 PTFE=poly(tetrafluoroethylene) PA1 REDV=arginine, glutamic acid, aspartic acid, valine or Arg-Glu-Asp-Val PA1 RGD=amino acid sequence arginine, glycine, aspartic acid, or Gly-Arg-Gly-Asp PA1 SAM=surface adhesion molecule PA1 ug=micrograms PA1 ul=microliter PA1 YIGSR=tyrosine, isoleucine, glycinem serine, aspartic acid or Try-Ile-Gly-Ser-Arg

Chemical modification of promote animal cell adhesion on surfaces

Board of Regents The University of Texas System


The object of the present invention is to provide a golf ball having a paint film which is obtained from an environment-friendly aqueous paint and is excellent in the adhesion and the wear-resistance.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a painted golf ball and a process for preparing the same, more particularly to a golf ball having a paint film using an environment-friendly aqueous paint.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional golf ball has a paint film on the surface of the golf ball body. The paint film is formed to prevent the deterioration of the golf ball body due to the exposure of the sun light and the weather, as well as to impart a gloss to the golf ball body, thereby improving the appearance thereof.
It is required for the paint film to have adhesion against the impact, since the golf ball is repeatedly used and hit. Especially, since hitting the golf ball deforms the golf ball body, the paint film is likely to peel off in the case that the paint film covering the golf ball body does not follow the deformation of the golf ball body. In recent years, it has been expected to reduce the usage of the solvent-borne paint in view of the environmental problems, and an aqueous paint has been studied to replace the solvent-borne paint used for the golf ball. For example, Japanese unexamined patent publication No. H08-71177 discloses a golf ball where an aqueous polyurethane dispersion having a carboxyl group crosslinked with a carbodiimide compound is painted. Japanese utility publication No. H02-11095 discloses a golf ball where a high molecular weight of an aqueous polyurethane dispersion is coated.

Painted golf ball and process for preparing the same

Abstract: The gist of the present invention lies in improving the adhesion between the paint film obtained from the aqueous polyurethane paint and the surface of the golf ball body by first applying the aqueous liquid of the aqueous polycarbodiimide on the surface of the golf ball body, subsequently forming the primer layer comprising the aqueous polycarbodiimide, and then applying the aqueous polyurethane paint to form the paint film, while reducing the amount of solvent used in the aqueous paint for applying on the golf ball by using the polycarbodiimide liquid and the aqueous polyurethane paint.


A mechanical feedthrough for a pressure vessel having an outer wall including a cylinder extending through the outer wall. A piston is positioned within and movable relative to the cylinder to transmit at least one of rotational and axial movement through the outer wall of the pressure vessel. A flange of the piston engages a wall of the cylinder to define first and second pressure cavities on opposing sides of the flange. A first fluid passageway fluidly connects the first pressure cavity with a low pressure side of the outer wall such that low pressure forces acting on the piston are counteracted by low pressure forces acting on the flange. A second fluid passageway fluidly connects the second pressure cavity with a high pressure side of the outer wall such that high pressure forces acting on the piston are counteracted by high pressure forces acting on the flange.

Mechanical pressure vessel feedthroughs may be used to transmit axial and/or rotational motion into or out of a pressure vessel depending on the desired movement. When it is desirable to provide both motions into a single feedthrough, however, the mechanisms currently used are vastly different from one another. For a purely rotational feedthrough, for instance, a thrust bearing would usually be used to react to the forces imposed by the pressure difference across the feedthrough shaft. Depending upon the particular application environment these forces can be very high, thereby creating the need for large bearings. The complexity can result in high costs and the friction in such large bearings can be detrimental to system performance. On the other hand, for a purely axial feedthrough, for instance, a linear actuator is used that is large enough to overcome the resulting force due to the aforementioned pressure difference. Similar to the bearings used for rotational transmission, these actuators can be very large, thereby resulting in high costs and occupying more space than may be available for the device.

Force-compensated mechanical pressure vessel feedthrough


In a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device, a semiconductor substrate having a plurality of semiconductor chips formed on one of principal surfaces of the substrate is cut into the plurality of semiconductor chips through dicing. A first cutting process is formed on one of the principal surfaces of the substrate to produce two cutting grooves between two neighboring ones of the plurality of semiconductor chips, each cutting groove being adjacent to one of the neighboring ones of the plurality of semiconductor chips. A second cutting process is performed on the other of the principal surfaces of the substrate to produce a cutting groove overlapping the two cutting grooves produced by the first cutting process.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a manufacturing method of a semiconductor device in which a semiconductor substrate (wafer) having a plurality of semiconductor chips formed on one of principal surfaces of the substrate is cut into the semiconductor chips through dicing.
2. Description of the Related Art
In electronic devices, such as a sensor chip, in which the plurality of semiconductor devices are adjoined to each other and mounted as the module, it is necessary to shorten the distance between the adjacent semiconductor devices as much as possible, and make the sensor region continuous without interruption. What is required for such electronic devices is the technology which cuts the semiconductor wafer into semiconductor chips with high accuracy of the outside dimensions thereof.
To cut the semiconductor substrate (wafer) having the plurality of semiconductor chips formed on one of the principal surfaces of the substrate into the semiconductor chips, the dicing process which is known as one of cutting processes is performed. In this respect, the principal surfaces are usually the front and back surfaces of the substrate, and the semiconductor chips are formed on either the front surface or the back surface of the substrate.
In the dicing process, the wafer is cut into the chips while the cutting blade with the diamond particles embedded is rotated at high speed. Since the wafer is mechanically cut with the cutting blade and a region of the wafer corresponding to the blade width is lost, it is necessary to provide the wafer with the region which is needed for the cutting in the dicing process.
Generally, the width dimension of this region in the semiconductor wafer is determined by taking into consideration the blade width, the cutting accuracy, and the damage to the semiconductor chip.
Moreover, the dicing is classified into the two methods: the half cut method and the full cut method, depending on the quantity of cutting (depth) of the semiconductor substrate.
The half cut method is a method in which the semiconductor substrate is cut to a certain depth in the middle of the semiconductor substrate thickness. Usually, in the case of the half cut method, it is necessary to perform an additional cutting process (breaking) which cuts away the non-cut portion of the wafer after the end of the dicing process.
On the other hand, the full cut method is a method in which the semiconductor substrate is fully cut for the entire thickness of the semiconductor substrate. Consequently, the semiconductor substrate is cut to the depth at which the semiconductor chips are completely separated from each other.
In order to avoid scattering of the thus separated semiconductor chips, the full cut method requires performing, before the start of the dicing process, the process of attaching the dicing tape to fix the other of the principal surfaces of the substrate to the jig called the dicing frame.
Moreover, there are two kinds of methods: the single cut method and the double cut method, which are usually performed in the dicing process. In the case of the single cut method, a dicing groove is formed in the semiconductor substrate by performing a cutting action at a time. In the case of the double cut method, two dicing grooves are formed in the semiconductor substrate by performing a cutting action at a time.
For the purposes of reducing the influences of chipping around the cutting zone when performing the dicing process and reducing the influences caused by the decrease of the blade width due to the blade wear, the adoption of the double cut method attracts attention.
Concerning the dicing used for the semiconductor-device manufacturing method, there is known the conventional technology disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications No. 2003-045826, No. 10-083974 and No. 07-183255.
In the dicing technology of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Application No. 2003-045826, the semiconductor-device manufacturing method which uses the single cut method to form one dicing groove along with the dicing line is proposed.
However, in the above-mentioned single cut method, while the cutting process is advanced, the thickness of the dicing blade becomes thin, and variations of the dicing width in cutting the semiconductor substrate may be produced. This method is not appropriate for the case where high accuracy of the outside dimensions of the semiconductor chip is required. For example, the required accuracy of the outside dimensions is about +0/−15 micrometers to the target value.
In the dicing technology of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Applications No. 10-083974 and No. 07-183255, the method in which the cutting process is performed on both the front surface and the back surface of the semiconductor device is proposed.
However, in the above-mentioned method, the blade width becomes thin due to wearing of the blade produced every time the dicing action is performed at a time, and the accuracy of the outside dimensions becomes insufficient. Namely, the outside dimensions of the resulting semiconductor chip may be larger than the design values. This method is also inappropriate for the case where high accuracy of the outside dimensions of the semiconductor chip is required.
Accordingly, in the conventional dicing method using the single dicing blade, there is the problem in that the outside dimensions of the semiconductor chip vary depending on the change of the dicing blade width. To obviate the problem, the two-blade dicing method is proposed. In this method, two dicing blades are used, and the dicing is performed on the semiconductor substrate by placing the dicing blades in proximity to each other in the cutting zone.
FIG. 1 shows the structure of the dicing grooves in the semiconductor substrate which are formed according to the two-blade dicing method with the two dicing blades in proximity.
In FIG. 1, the reference numeral 1 denotes the semiconductor substrate (for example, silicon), 2 denotes the electrode layer which forms a part of the semiconductor chips formed on one of the principal surfaces (the front surface) of the semiconductor substrate 1, 4A and 4B denote the dicing grooves, and 6 denotes the inner side surface of each of the dicing grooves 4A and 4B. The dicing grooves 4A and 4B are located in proximity to the adjoining semiconductor chips and formed on both the sides of the dicing line between the adjoining semiconductor chips. The dicing grooves 4A and 4B are formed by cutting the semiconductor substrate 1 to the depth at which the other of the principal surfaces (the back surface) of the semiconductor substrate 1 is reached.
In the above-mentioned structure, the inner side surfaces (semiconductor chip side surface) 6 of the dicing grooves 4A and 4B are accurately cut at a fixed distance from the metal layer 2 at the outermost periphery of the semiconductor chip formation part. Thus, it is possible to obtain the outside dimensions of the semiconductor chip concerned at high accuracy.
However, the above-mentioned dicing process uses the full cut method in which the semiconductor substrate 1 is cut, on both the sides of the dicing line on the substrate 1, fully to the depth covering the entire thickness of the substrate 1.
For this reason, a crack may be produced on the back surface of the semiconductor substrate 1 at the back side portions 9 of the dicing grooves 4A and 4B. Moreover, the semiconductor substrate portion 7 located between the dicing groove 4A and the dicing groove 4B may disperse when the dicing is performed. This will become the cause of the damage of the semiconductor chip part.

Method of dicing a semiconductor substrate into a plurality of semiconductor chips by forming two cutting grooves on one substrate surface and forming one cutting groove on an opposite substrate surface that overlaps the two cutting grooves


A method adapts a filter medium to predefinable parameters, such as electrostatic charge, flow-rate behavior, dynamic pressure behavior or differential pressure behavior, fraction filtration efficiency and preservation of a constant quantity and quality of fluid additives. At least one of these parameters is adapted by the targeted influencing of the surface energy of the filter medium (18).

A method and matter for rendering germproof air filter materials hydrophobic, which are preferably used in the areas of anesthesia and surgery, is known from DE 38 19 583 A1. The hydrophobic matter in question, with which the surface of the aforementioned filter materials is treated, includes silicones and silicone compounds. These compounds are brought into contact with the filter material by spraying or dipping processes or vapor deposition. The hydrophobic matter in the form of a solution or emulsion or in pure form improves the air flow of the air filter material, is physiologically harmless and meets medical-hygienic requirements.
A fuel filter or tank filler neck insert is known from DE 199 32 383 A1 as a molded part having a body made of an electrically non-conductive plastic. Its surface is coated entirely or partially with a striped, linear, lattice or net-like structure made of an electrically conductive material, preferably in the form of an electrically conductive polyacetate composition. Different areas of this structure are selectively electrically conductively connected to one another. This molded part is advantageously produced according to the monosandwich method or the sequential injection molding method.
A filter element for filtering liquids, in particular, in the form of an oil filter, is known from DE 197 35 993 A1, having a zigzag-like foldable filter strip made of a non-woven filter material. The non-woven filter material may contain metal fibers, glass fibers and/or polyester fibers. The zigzag-like foldable filter strip is produced from pre-stamped panels of non-woven filter material or from a rolled strip of non-woven filter material. The filter element, if it is constructed of glass fiber non-woven materials, may be advantageously laminated or coated on one or both sides with polyester fibers. In this way, a type of grooving or other imprinting may be easily carried out. The sensitive glass fiber non-woven material may be processed to form a star-like pleated filter element without additional protective non-woven material on the inflow side or the outflow side and, if applicable, also with no backing.
Thus, the state of the art is to modify, in particular, to finish known filter media for air, fuel and oil filtration using corresponding coating methods, to thereby create improved characteristics for the respective filter medium. However, this finishing does not include a targeted adaptation to pre-definable desired parameters. Instead, depending on the parameter or requirement profile, the respective filter medium is coated more or less randomly and in a trial and error fashion with materials from which there is hope of corresponding improvements in the operation of the filter medium.

Method for adapting a filter medium to predefinable parameters and preferably a filter medium produced according to said method


The amount of speech output to a blind or low-vision user using a screen reader application is automatically adjusted based on how the user navigates to a control in a graphic user interface. Navigation by mouse presumes the user has greater knowledge of the identity of the control than navigation by tab keystroke which is more indicative of a user searching for a control. In addition, accelerator keystrokes indicate a higher level of specificity to set focus on a control and thus less verbosity is required to sufficiently inform the screen reader user.

1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to software for low vision users. More specifically, it relates to a screen magnifier application that automatically adjusts speech output verbosity based on how a user arrives at an object's focus.
2. Brief Description of the Related Art
Personal computers and the Internet greatly enhanced communications and access to information from around the world. Typically, visual information is displayed upon a monitor screen and data can be added or manipulated via keystrokes upon an associated keyboard. Feedback is provided visually to the user by the monitor screen. Blind users cannot utilize the information appearing upon the monitor screen while visually impaired users may experience difficulty doing so. Accordingly, screen readers have been developed to assist blind and visually impaired users when they use a personal computer.
A screen reader is software which interprets the output of a computer as sent to a computer screen and converts it into alternative output. Typically, the alternative output is in the form of synthetic speech or Braille characters. Screen readers are particularly useful for a blind or low vision user. One such screen reader is JAWS for Windows developed and sold by Freedom Scientific, Inc., based in St. Petersburg, Fla. When installed upon a personal computer, JAWS provides access to the operating system, software applications and the Internet. JAWS includes a speech synthesizer that cooperates with the sound card in the personal computer to read aloud information appearing upon the computer monitor screen or that is derived through communicating directly with the application or operating system. Thus, JAWS provides access to a wide variety of information, education and job related applications. Additionally, JAWS includes an interface that can provide output to refreshable Braille displays. It should be noted that reference to JAWS is made as an example of a screen reader but the novel and non-obvious software media and methods claimed herein are applicable to screen readers as a whole.
In addition to screen reading, low vision individuals often require magnification of computer screen interfaces to discern text and images. Magnification systems may be built into the operating system itself or may comprise feature-rich, third-party products such as those sold under the MAGIC brand also manufactured by Freedom Scientific, Inc. Screen readers and screen magnifiers may work in conjunction so that both interoperate to provide a full array of features to the end user.
One of many useful features that screen readers provide to low-vision end users is the ability to output a description of a control on a graphic user interface. For example, as a user navigates a screen the various buttons, menus, and lists are announced to the user by speech output controlled by the screen reader software. However, the current state of the art outputs the same description regardless as to how to the user arrived at the particular control in the graphic user interface.
Speech output is a double-edged sword to the end user. When needed, it provides the necessary information for the user to understand the context and identity of the graphic user interface control. However, when it is not needed, the speech output becomes a distraction which the end user typically mutes with a keystroke. An end user that navigates about a graphic user interface may invoke the screen reader's speech output seemingly on a continual basis . . . some of the output necessary and some of the output unnecessary.
What is needed in the art is for the screen reader software to evaluate how the end user navigated to a control on the graphic user interface and automatically adjust the verbosity of the speech output to better convey an optimal amount of information to the end user.
However, in view of the art considered as a whole at the time the present invention was made, it was not obvious to those of ordinary skill in the field of this invention how the shortcomings of the prior art could be overcome.

Screen reader with focus-based speech verbosity


A device for distributing a serial stream of commands and associated data to a parallel array of processing units so that the data processed by the parallel processing units can be recombined in the original order in which the serial stream was received. The command distributor of the invention hands out commands to the parallel processing units using a true "first come, first serve" algorithm using fast bus arbitration hardware. Each parallel processing unit requests data to be input when all of its data has been processed, and bus arbitration is used to prevent conflict when a plurality of requests are received. The ID of the processor to which a command is assigned is used in recombining the processed data into a serial data stream having the same order as the original. Means are also provided by which single commands which require considerable processing may be executed in parallel on more than one of the processors, with each portion of the result coming from a different processor, yet maintaining the sequentiality of the output data stream. Processing speed is further enhanced by broadcasting global commands to all processors at once.

1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for distributing serial instruction stream data to parallel processors, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for distributing a serial stream of command/data packets among a parallel array of processors for processing so that the data processing outputs of the processors can be readily recombined into a serial stream with the same ordering as the original stream.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is well known to use a plurality of processing units in parallel to improve processing speed. For example, for applications such as interactive 3-D graphics which require significant arithmetic processing in order to handle complex models, parallel processing units have been used for several years in order to improve processing efficiency. For such processing efficiency to be realized, a mechanism has been necessary for optimally allocating the input sequential data to the parallel processing units. Also, when the original data ordering is to be maintained, a mechanism has been necessary for reading the outputs from each of the parallel processing units and resequencing the processed data so that it has the same order as the original data stream. However, such prior art mechanisms have had only limited success.
For example, one technique in the prior art for allocating sequential input data to a plurality of parallel processing units has been to assign one parallel processing unit as a master while the other processing units operate as slaves. The master passes out commands to the slaves generally in accordance with an adaptive load balancing algorithm in which master selects a slave which has the least amount of work buffered up to become the next processing unit to receive input. If all slaves are completely out of input buffer space, then the master becomes the active processing unit. The master will remain the active processing unit until a slave has available input buffer space and a minimum number of commands have been executed. The minimum size of the master's block of commands, along with the size of the blocks of commands given to the slaves, may be adjusted to improve processing efficiency. In addition, in order to ensure that the processed data may be resequenced after processing in the assigned processing unit, the master may write to a RAM FIFO a value identifying the slave processing unit to which a particular command has been assigned. The order of the writes into the RAM FIFO enables the master to maintain the same rendering order as the order that the commands were originally received at the master's input buffer.
However, such a technique has the disadvantage that all of the processing units cannot be identical and programmed identically, thereby increasing the costs and complexity of the system. Moreover, if one or more of the slave processing units are kept busy with a complex data processing command, the benefits of parallel processing may be soon lost.
Another technique in the prior art for allocating sequential input data to a plurality of parallel processing units has been described, for example, by Torborg in "A Parallel Processor Architecture for Graphics and Arithmetic Operations", Proceedings of SIGGRAPH, Volume 21, Number 4, July 1987. Therein describes a graphics processor architecture having an arbitrary number of identical processors operating in parallel which are programmed identically as if each processor were a single processor system. In particular, Torborg discloses that parallel processing in up to eight arithmetic processors may be used for front end geometric and arithmetic operations to improve processing time for an interactive 3-D graphics system. Torborg also observes that the graphics commands must be adequately distributed among the processors for efficient processor utilization and that the multiple parallel processors must produce the same apparent results as a single processor performing the same operations.
For implementing his system, Torborg observes that many graphics commands are order-independent and hence their processing and rendering order may be changed without affecting the display. However, for those graphics commands which are not order-independent, Torborg proposes to delay the processors which are processing other commands until all processors are synchronized before processing the sequential command. Torborg indicates that due to the buffering of the processor output that this synchronization has a minimal effect on processing efficiency.
Torborg further proposes to transfer pipelined data to the parallel arithmetic processors whenever data is available and the appropriate arithmetic processor is ready for data. The graphics commands are distributed to the arithmetic processors depending upon whether the inputted command is a global command which is to be sent to all arithmetic processors, a command which is sent to the arithmetic processor most ready to accept the command as determined by a command arbitration mechanism, or a command which is to be sent to a specific arithmetic processor as specified within the graphics command. Command arbitration is used to determine which arithmetic processor should receive the command if it can be processed in parallel. The arbitration mechanism attempts to fairly distribute commands between processors in order to improve processing efficiency by giving priority to processors which will be ready to accept the command soonest. For this purpose, Torborg discloses that each processor may have a command input buffer which is used to buffer commands from a display list manager. The buffer is deep enough that it can contain several commands simultaneously, and the commands may be requested on different priority levels depending upon the amount of data in its input buffer. Distribution priority is then given to the processors executing the commands which take the least amount of time to process.
Sequencing is generally maintained in the system of Torborg by maintaining a small tag FIFO in each processor for keeping track of the ordering of all sequential commands being processed by all arithmetic processors and all commands being processed by the particular processor containing the tag FIFO. A two bit entry in the tag FIFO is used by Torborg to indicate whether the command is being processed by the particular arithmetic processor containing the tag FIFO and whether the command is a sequential command. The output of the tag FIFO is used to insure sequential processing of all order dependent commands and to control the order in which the processed data is transferred to an image memory unit for subsequent display. In particular, the output of the tag FIFO is used to control arbitration on the bus by which the parallel graphics processing units are connected to the image memory unit. For example, if the two control bits of the tag FIFO indicate that the command is not sequential, then the output controller will request the bus as soon as a complete command block is available. In this case, the order in which commands are transferred to the image memory unit will depend on the processor load and command distribution of all processors. The tag FIFO output will be clocked after each command group associated with a single graphics input command is transferred over the bus to the image memory unit.
However, if the tag FIFO indicates a sequential command, the output controller will wait until all other arithmetic processor output controllers have reached the same point in the original command stream for purposes of synchonization. In order words, the output controller will wait until all arithmetic processors reach the entry in their tag FIFOs corresponding to a particular sequential command, thereby synchronizing the arithmetic processors, before the sequential command is output for processing. Since every processor in the system of Torborg places an entry into its tag FIFO for every sequential command (even if the command is not executed by that processor), all processors' tag FIFOs will indicate a sequential command but only one will indicate that the command was processed by that processor. The processor which has processed the sequential command will then request the bus and send the group of commands associated with the graphics input command to the image memory unit. Once this command transfer has completed, the tag FIFO output on all arithmetic processors will be clocked. As noted above, Torborg indicates that processing efficiency is maintained in this system since the processor core can still continue to transfer commands into the output FIFO of the processors while the output controller synchronizes all of the processors to maintain sequentiality.
Thus, in the system of Torborg, a mechanism is provided for assigning sequential commands to a plurality of parallel processors and then recombining the processed outputs into the original ordering using values stored in a tag FIFO for output bus arbitration. However, the tag values must be maintained for each processor independently, and sequentiality must be maintained by synchronizing the outputs of all processors when a sequential instruction is received. As a result, processing efficiency can become quite low, especially when several sequential instructions are received in succession. Moreover, the command stream cannot be reordered to allow maximum use of parallel processing capabilities. Thus, when a complex input graphics primitive such as B-spline patches having a potentially long execution time compared with their input buffer size are received, processing inefficiency may be compounded.
Accordingly, there is a long-felt need for a command distributor which can distribute serial instruction stream data commands to identical parallel processing units for processing so that the processed data can be recombined so as to maintain sequentiality without synchronizing all processors for each sequential command, with the resultant loss in processing efficiency. Moreover, there is a long-felt need for a command distributor which may split complicated commands for distribution to a plurality of parallel processors for processing without destroying the sequentiality of the output data stream. The present invention has been designed for these purposes.

System for distributing command/data packets tagged by their unit identifier for parallel processing by a ready processing unit and recombination


A prone position pillow system has a head support portion, an elongated torso component with a cavity, and an insert pillow that can be inserted into the cavity to form an empty space below. The torso component includes a sagittal oriented face hole and an air tunnel having side openings sized and dimensioned to allow a patient to insert hands into the space below the face hole. A travel pillow rests on the head support portion to support a user's face. An adjustable leg elevation component and a cylindrical component support the user's legs in a comfortable position. The head support portion has one or more grooves that can hold a breathing tube. The torso component can have a second cavity designed to create space for the user's genital area.

The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
Difficulty breathing while laying down is a common problem that reduces sleep quality and may lead to snoring while sleeping as well as fatigue and drowsiness during the day. In some cases, difficulty breathing while laying down is caused by an underlying medical condition, for example, sleep apnea syndrome, where the patient has difficulty breathing during sleep due to blocked air passage. The difficulty in breathing is also a pressing issue during the COVID-19 pandemic. The problem is exacerbated by the lack of ventilators in medical facilities, both in the US and worldwide.
It turns out that laying in a supine position (i.e., lying face up) makes breathing more difficult. In COVID-19 and sleep apnea patients, the airway collapses during a supine position, making breathing in or out more difficult, and repeatedly forcing the patient awake. However, in a prone position (i.e., lying face down), the airway tends to be more open and relaxed. In a study of patients with severe COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) hospitalized on ventilators, researchers found that lying face down was better for the lungs. The research letter was published online in the American Thoracic Society's American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Lying face down requires a pillow or mattress that has a downward facing opening, through which the person can breathe. U.S. Pat. No. 5,652,981 teaches a cushion for supporting a pregnant woman in a face-down position for resting, and preparatory to and during a massaging procedure. Each of Japanese patent applications JP2011240098A and JP2008167898A teaches a pillow with elongated torso and a prone breathing space. However, these pillows can be uncomfortable because they lack the mechanisms to accommodate the person's arms, shoulders, and stomach. Furthermore, these pillows do not have space for medical tubing that need to be connected to a COVID-19 patient.
Thus, there is still a need for a prone position pillow that can comfortably support the person's arms, shoulders, and stomach.
All publications identified herein are incorporated by reference to the same extent as if each individual publication or patent application were specifically and individually indicated to be incorporated by reference. Where a definition or use of a term in an incorporated reference is inconsistent or contrary to the definition of that term provided herein, the definition of that term provided herein applies and the definition of that term in the reference does not apply.


A multiport valve has a plurality of inlets and outlets with selected positions to selectively direct fluid differently through the valve based on the position of the valve. A cylindrical exterior stemshell rotates internal to a housing to position channels and/or bores to provide the desired flow paths. Some flow paths are channels which extend linearly from one port to another, whether formed into an exterior surface, parallel to an axis of rotation of the stemshell, or pass from an inlet to an outlet in the exterior surface of the stemshell, preferably separated from flow from flow to an internal passage, which is preferably colinear with the axis of rotation, for at least some embodiments.

The applicant was requested by a customer to provide a fluid control valve which could operate in one of four different flow configurations amongst three inlet ports and two outlet ports. Specifically, the outlets ports are numbered 1 and 4, the inlet ports are numbered 2, 3, and 5. The customer requested that in the first position, port number 5 would be blocked off and inlet port 2 would direct to outlet port 1 while inlet port 3 would direct to outlet port 4. In position 2, inlet port 3 would direct to outlet port 1 and inlet port 5 would direct out to outlet port 4 with port 2 being blocked off. In position 3, inlet port 2 would direct to outlet port 4 and inlet port 3 would be blocked off and inlet port 5 would be directed to outlet port 1. Finally, for position 4, inlet port 2 would be blocked off and inlet port 3 would be directed to outlet 4 and inlet port 5 would be directed to outlet port 1.
Other than having similarly configured male fittings at the ports extending from the valve, the customer left the applicant to solve this problem. The desired flow paths needed to be provided to meet the objectives of the applicant's customer.


In one embodiment, a device to resurface a sealing surface of a fluid connector in a fluid delivery component is provided. The device may include a housing adapted to be reversibly coupled to the fluid connector. Included may be an arbor which is at least partially disposed in the housing, and both rotationally and axially movable within the housing. The arbor may have a first end proximal to the sealing surface and a second distal end adapted to receive rotational actuation. A resurfacing head may be positioned at the first end of the arbor, and may have a resurfacing face that includes a circular resurfacing groove adapted to fit a circular ridge on the sealing surface of the connector. Rotational contact between the groove and the ridge may cause the resurfacing of the sealing surface. The housing may keep the resurfacing head and the sealing surface aligned during the resurfacing.

Typically, fluid sources and fluid devices are connected to each other using various connectors. Often these connectors use gaskets to complete a seal between sealing surfaces on mating connectors. The gaskets are usually softer than the connectors, so as to cause some deformation of the gasket when two connectors are mated. This deformation causes the gasket to fill any discontinuities in the sealing surface which might provide an opportunity for the fluid to leak at the connection.
Various types of connectors and gaskets are used in the art. Some connections are made from two connectors with flat sealing surfaces and a washer shaped disk gasket inserted between the two flat sealing surfaces. In certain applications, however, more advanced sealing mechanisms are required due to the specific properties of certain types of fluids delivered from the fluid sources to the fluid devices.
In some advanced sealing mechanisms, the sealing surfaces of connectors are not flat, but contain a circular ridge surrounding the orifice on the sealing surface. Two connectors with such sealing surfaces can be mated together with a toroidal-shaped gasket in between them. For example, VCR-type fittings from the Swagelok Company of Solon, Ohio, and DISS-type fittings defined by the Compressed Gas Association include a toroidal sealing gasket (typically made of metal) that gets pressed into ridges on one or both sides of the sealing surfaces of the connectors. The gaskets in these mechanisms deform around the circular ridges to complete the seal at the connection. Those skilled in the art will recognize that if the ridges on the sealing surface are damaged, they may not form a complete seal between the connectors.
The ridges in such sealing surfaces may be damaged under a variety of circumstance including incorrect coupling of the connectors, perhaps without using gaskets, or merely by the corrosive nature of the fluids used in systems involved. Repair of these connectors often requires removing them from the equipment and sending them to an off-site machine shop to be refurbished. The resulting downtime for the equipment, which may be used to fabricate materials, parts, devices, etc., can be very disruptive and costly to a business.

Valve gasket sealing surface refurbishing methods and systems


A fixer includes a fixing belt configured to move around a center, a heating unit configured to induction-heat the fixing belt, a pressing member that presses an outer surface of the fixing belt, a resilient member disposed opposite to the pressing member across the fixing belt, and a heat generating member that is capable of being induction-heated and disposed along the inner surface of the fixing belt between a first position and a second position that is downstream with respect to the first position in a moving direction of the fixing belt. An upstream end portion of the resilient member in the moving direction is in contact with a third position of the fixing belt, and an angle formed with respect to the center by the second and third positions is equal to or smaller than 60°.

In one type of a fixer that is used to fix an image on a sheet, electromagnetic induction heating (IH) is employed to heat a fixing belt using a magnetic flux from an exciting coil. The fixer of this type typically includes the fixing belt, a pressing member, a fixing pad, a heat generating element, and an exciting coil. The fixing pad is urged towards an inner surface of the fixing belt to form a nip, and the heat generating element, which is disposed along the inner surface of the fixing belt, generates heat through the electromagnetic induction heating. However, a crack may be produced in a layer of the fixing belt while the fixer is used. As a result, the fixing belt having the crack may have a region that cannot generate sufficient amount of heat to fix the image. Further, another region of the cracked fixing belt may generate excessive amount of heat, and, as a result, the fixing belt may be damaged.

Fixer that forms a nip with an induction-heated belt and an image forming apparatus having the same


An information device and display processing method that allow any position in an image to be enlarged or reduced, and the degree of enlargement or reduction to be performed in an intuitive and intelligible manner The information device receives a predetermined touch operation performed on touch panel, retrieves a second image corresponding to a first image displayed on a display unit in accordance with the location of the touch operation, displays the second image within a ring-shaped frame image in accordance with the position of the touch manipulation, receives a subsequent touch operation of the touch panel along the ring-shaped frame image, and changes the second image in accordance with the operational amount and operational direction of the subsequent touch operation.

Recently, portable information terminals, such as smartphones and tablet terminals, each of which includes a touch panel, have spread widely and generally. This type of device includes a multi-touch function that realizes a functional operation called "pinch-out or pinch-in," in which an entire image displayed on a screen is enlarged or reduced by performing a touch operation by widening or narrowing the distance between two fingers on a touch panel.
According to this multi-touch function, it is possible to perform screen enlargement or reduction through an intuitive operation. However, for example, in an environment in which a touch operation is performed with one hand while hanging on to a strap in a train, the device body must be held with the one hand and the touch operation must be performed with that hand, thus making the operation difficult.
Additionally, besides the pinch-out or pinch-in operation mentioned above, a technique has been conceived in which a region in a displayed character string traced with a finger is selected, and an enlarged image of the selected character string is displayed in another window (for example, Patent Document 1).

Display processing method and information device